OK, if you’re going to cheer for anyone in cycling, this is the guy: Jonathan Page.
JP podiumed in Belgian cyclocross race today, which is freakin insane considering he’s been battling a bacterial stomach infection since Nats. First off, he finished third at Nats after spending the night before in the hospital because of food poisoning. I don’t know if you’ve had food poisoning before, but it’s pretty much of a downer on your body and energy. Racing a bike, uh, I don’t think so.

So JP went back to Europe after having had his Nationals ruined and he gets sick again, with remnants of the same thing. Remember, racing CX is how JP makes a living, so getting sick really sucks on a lot of levels for him. Popping a podium in Middelkerke today is really incredible.

Looks like I may be heading over to BE to profile JP for a magazine, then heading to CX Worlds in NL.

VN cover #2 for me. I’m psyched they used this shot. The Elite Men’s race was run late in the day and the sun dipped behind the clouds for most of the race, vast majority of shots used fill flash. But there was one spot on the course, a really muddy section, and for one lap the sun was shining directly on it allowing natural light shooting. So this was the result. Not bad.

Had a sweet 1.75 hr road ride out to Tunbridge yesterday. It was pretty warm ~35, but the roads were super wet in places. The climb up T’bridge was kinda rugged on the blinglespeed, pushing a 42×18 up a 3-mile climb that averages about 6% is pretty demanding. It was cool, though, there were deer and coyote prints on the side of the road as I climbed, just enough of a distraction to make it bearable.

Big old family Christmas in store.

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….yum. Todd Herriott, the world’s worst speller and an unrepentant lover of all things 1980s, enjoying a cup in NYC last summer. If you lived in NYC today you’d likely want a little something extra in that cup.

Two hours on the blinglespeed today and it was pretty chilly, wind chill under 10. But I was dressed just right, except for the toes which get cold not matter what. So here’s a run-down on what I wore. Legs: bib shorts w/knee warmers (Greyhound Juice smeared on the op knee), thin, really tall Smartwool socks pulled high, heavier SmartWools over that. Hincapie bib tights, Lake Thermal MTB shoes. Up top: Craft thermal undershirt, Ibex wool L/S jersey, HUP thermal jacket. North Face windstopper cap, Specialized Decibel helmet, iPod, Oakley M Frames, Ibex gloves. So that’ll keep you toasty on a cold New England day.

Met with my man Zak about redesign on the site and the blog. It should be a welcome change, including much needed update of images.

This is my favorite shot from CX Nationals. Doubt it’ll ever see the light or print, but thought I’d post it anyway.

Did a very last minute shoot this weekend. Got the call on Thursday night from the client’s agency, got the product on Friday, the camera body on Saturday, finished the shoot as the sun set on Saturday, and sent the processed image yesterday AM. That’s some hustle.

The downside of the shoot is I had to position the product in some odd places and it forced me to position myself in odd and super uncomfortable positions as well. Yesterday my hamstrings felt like they’d been wailed on by a bat. Strange.

Had an awesome winter road ride yesterday on the CX blinglespeed w/fenders. Riding a 42×18 for 2 hours is a bigger challenge than I’d expected, especially the 3/4-mile 8% climb. legs are kinda sore today. But it’s a great winter trainer, no gears to get screwed up. Maybe I’ll even put on the PowerCranks to make the torture complete.

We already have 6″ on the ground from last weekend and we’re supposed to get whacked again tomorrow with another half foot (or more). Oh, and it’s been like January cold, so road riding has been right out. My threshold for winter riding on the road is 20, below which road riding just really sucks, though the occasional MTB ride can be kinda fun. And the indoor trainer, oh the indoor trainer, I’m just not ready for it.

Making final arrangements for a trip to Utah at the beginning of the year to shoot Nordic Nationals. Looking forward to that: nice snow+good skiers=nice shots.

Think I may order one of these, because you never know.

There’s Aaron Olson getting interviewed by the Cuban media after the stage finish in Santa Clara at the ‘05 Tour of Cuba. I post this because I heard from AO last night, and, man, is he stoked. In case you didn’t know, AO signed with Saunier Duval-Prodir for two years, that’s big boy bike racing, after years of taking his lumps working his way up through the ranks. Here’s part of his schedule in his own words

“Setmana Catalan, and Tirreno-Adriatico, and then Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem, and Paris-Roubaix. How cool is that.”

So one year you’re racing the Tour of Connecticut, the next you’re drilling it up the Koppenberg. If you’re looking for one guy to cheer for next summer, consider AO. He’s a great guy, committed to racing the right way, and deserves a good amount of respect and support.

Oh, BTW, check out today’s www.bikemag.com, little ‘cross Nats action. Starting in the New Year I’m going to be doing a twice monthly column/gallery for them, throwing some East Coast flavor into their bowl and mixing it around.

Todd Wells definitely killed it this past weekend. I wasn’t too surprised as I’d seen how well he was going the weekend ebfore. The bad conditions don’t really effect him and he was super strong in the legs to boot. Spent the better part of the day processing images and getting them out, a lot of fun stuff in there. Then, just now, emptied the car of all CX stuff - helmet, shoes, “the box”, wheels, bikes, clothes, towels, water bottles, water, potions, etc.

Now, I guess it’s ski season…gulp.

That right there is Zac D, king of HUP, and he slayed it today down at Cross Nats. Cheering him on in his race was almost as fun as racing, and a whole lot cleaner. After the absurd weather on Friday we all thawed out and dried off and the last two days of racing were great. If you couldn’t have fun racing at this ‘cross Nats you probably should find another sport.

The shooting was good, though it’s getting towards the shortest day of the year so shadows were long and light very contrasty. Now I have to wade through the multiple Gigs of shots. Home for a while now, with Mike O’s infamous holiday party coming up next weekend. I still feel like riding a lot, which I guess is a good thing. We shall see…

First off, this is my man G. Proctor slaying it in the insane Euro kit at ‘Cross Nationals today. He’s the head guy at Montana Velo and he went huge with the white skinsuit. Perfect.

So the weather today was incredible, so bad in fact that they cancelled racing after our race finished. Snow, rain, sleet, high winds. You name it we had it, and that was all just in our race. It was the coldest, wettest, and numbest I’ve ever been on a bike. Tons of guys were quitting, but despite being pretty miserable I’ve was having a good time. I rode well, with only one major technical dab. Other than that I was as prepared as could be. Finished 17th out of the 160 rider field, though I think there were fewer than 50 finishers. Still, I finished on a day when it was easier not to…just wish I’d had a white skinsuit.

Yeah, this was the last time I saw the ground without snow, Saturday in RI. Just poked a look at the weather forecast for Friday, when I race the 35+ race. Uh boy: 3-6 inches of snow with winds picking up in the afternoon. Three straight weekends of snow racing.

So in order to get ready, and because it was way too cold to ride the road today, Ben and I went out for a MTB ride this afternoon, all studded out. It was so freakin cold, 22 with a windchill of 3! And it was snowing pretty hard at the end. Still, winter MTB riding is pretty great (as long as there isn’t too much snow). We were ripping down trails covered thick with ice with no slipping at all.