Farewell

Everything is packed, and in a few hours I'll get on a plane to fly down to Chile for the next 3 months. Thanks to everyone for their support this year: friends, family, sponsors, training partners, race promoters, directors, hosts, the list goes on and on. Thanks for everything, you made this a great season.

I'll see you in April.

-Brian

The New Ride

A bit of tweaking to the geometry and a new color, my new frame is in the queue with Tiemeyer. It will be waiting when I get back from Patagonia.

Awesome

Unintended consequence of all this: Come spring, I'll have the hottest commuter around, as the dented Tiemeyer is taking to the streets.

Name This:

Big Ben is having baby.

So begins the naming contest! I'll be looking for the best male and female names, with the winner getting some sort of prize, sometime. The contest ends Tuesday night, before I skip town to Patagonia on Wednesday.

Here's what you have to work with:

My Rounds

Here it is: the last installment of my Lap Around series from different track across the world this year.

A lap around Burnaby Velodrome

I think I'm one of the few people who managed to race on all 3 indoor velodromes in North America this year. No one else comes to mind, but I'm sure they're out there.

Burnaby wrap and return to Minnesota

The last night of racing in Burnaby was huge, as far as spectators go. About 600 came through the doors, and most of them took to the infield and beer garden. It was a good time.

Tuft and Bell of Symmetrics were the overall winners, but the racing was only part of the excitement on night 6.

If the strategy of getting lapped in a fashion that would allow Brad to sprint off against Friedman wasn't enough, things got even goofier. There had been talk of finding a rainbow clown wig. A rubber chicken accompanies Brad everywhere that he travels. And inspired by some highly fashionable teens in Starbucks, we decided that some oversized sunglasses would really complete the look. Inquiring with the barista, we found out that there was a costume shop just a block down the street! How lucky are we?

Andrew Armstrong, who stepped it up from the A's omnium to race with Brad when I had to abandon was warned that there would be some shenanigans going on, but that was it. No specifics. So when Brad pulled the rubber chicken out of his jersey in the first madison and tried to hand it off to Kirk O'Bee (he didn't accept), no one quite knew what to expect. Jeremy Storie, the organizer and announcer, took it all in stride, and actually seemed pleased and amused.

It probably would have been a good idea to clue Andrew in on what Brad was about to do. But where's the fun in that?

Bothered with nagging knee problems, Brad decided to call it a night after the first race. But what to do with the clown wig and giant sunglasses? Serendipity in finding them could not be denied, so despite the possibility of causing further bodily harm, he took the to rail, decked out in all his finery, with the intention of being the first out in the elimination. Well, he actually (and I believe accidently) was the second eliminated, but no one could match his mad style.

Brad taking to to rail for the elimination

This was probably the most educational few hours I've ever had about bike racing. The lesson: Don't take it so seriously. If you stop having fun with it, bike racing just sucks. You work your ass off, don't make squat, live out of a suitcase, and are usually either injured or recovering from an injury. If you can't throw on a rainbow wig and put on a show every now and then, it's probably not worth it.

That's the look of a true champion. And notice how good the wig and glasses look with the LA Lighting jersey. Just like it was meant to be!

I'd go as far as to say this could be applied to most jobs. If I ever have a job where I would be fired for showing up in oversized novelty sunglasses, I probably don't want to be working there. Try it. See what your boss and coworkers say. I'm curious to hear what happens.

Sunday was uneventful travel, save for a painful arm and lost luggage, but everything turned up the following night. I also went to the doctor and had a bunch of blood drained out of my arm. I don't know why the Canadian doctors were so reluctant to do this; the doctor here told me they could have gotten much more out, alleviated almost all of the swelling, and vastly sped up the recovery if they had drained it within the first 24 hours. Thanks for nothing, Canadian health care.

Check out the latest Bike Throw podcast, where I dropped in Tuesday morning to talk about the race. It was pretty fun.

Last day!

Last night of racing in Burnaby tonight. Last night Andrew Armstrong from Dallas, Texas stepped up from the A's race to partner with Brad. It's great that they let him do this, as I would have really felt bad if my needing to abandon the race would have meant Brad had to quit as well.

Tonight should pack some excitement. Two regular madisons plus a madison elimination. And a rubber chicken. Watch out Colby. Just because we can't win doesn't mean we can't have some fun.

Alex, one member of our homestay crew, cooling down after a night of racing.

Look what I found! It's Der Kruser's old bike, all the way out here in Burnaby.

Burnaby Pics

Ryan McKenzie: The fanciest of pants. I bet Lindstrom is jealous.

This is never going to be the same, but rumor has it that Tiemeyer can weld in a new seatstay. If not, then I've just gotten myself the most badass commuter frame around.

Hey Timmer, can you fix this trispoke? It's only got 3 rides on it.

Or maybe this blade. It's also hosed.

The damage done. That disc is never going to be the same either.

My elbow, as it looks now. I found out this afternoon that it isn't broken (good) but that the doctors won't drain all the mystery fluid (bad).