tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83651561142294586042012-01-18T16:01:31.028-05:00Because a bike race is like a mullet.... business in the front, party at the backSHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.comBlogger1401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-1416381561434718612012-01-18T15:52:00.005-05:002012-01-18T16:01:31.037-05:00

How is it already January 18th, 2012? It seems like just the other day I was racing bikes in Chicago, beating Cosmo. But alas, it is now Mid-January in Massachusetts, during weakest winter I can recall, where it is relatively warm, dry and sunny. And this, presents a problem. For in past years by this time I'd have been a solid 4-5 weeks removed from bike racing, and if given this kind of weather

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-61986321585507524212011-12-14T10:17:00.008-05:002011-12-14T16:49:50.070-05:00

Having recently perused this investigative piece on Cyclocross Magazine's website about USA Cycling (USAC) putting down the hammer on the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association (OBRA) and the American Cycling Association of Colorado (ACA) I thought I'd take the chance to point out a few facts about nation's governing body that I've learned over the years. One major factor for the USAC enforcement of

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-60764171620464412132011-12-02T18:17:00.008-05:002011-12-02T18:49:32.245-05:00

OK, NEED TO CATCH UP ON BLOGGING.Downeast WeekendNothing to say, courses had lots of running due to mud, I don't do that so well..... Ho hum. One day I had an epic reverse holeshot... um.. I did not get rad, I did not get verge points... I don't want to talk about it anymore. Beacon CrossI have to preface this race report by describing the conditions. They were amazing and awful. How you might

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-58821220748649097012011-11-22T18:06:00.005-05:002011-11-22T18:21:31.234-05:00

I had big plans for the MRC Cyclocross race, I was going warm up, eat right and actually be ready to race when the time came for some single-speeding.Tragically, Greg roped me into announcing all the events with him, which meant standing around, talking on the microphone drinking coffee and eating donuts all morning until 10 minutes before my race. I got this!After changing and riding the course

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-78247469172456471032011-11-22T17:42:00.004-05:002011-11-22T18:06:17.089-05:00

Nards!I got really busy with LIFE and all of a sudden I forgot about my blog!Really, I know, it's upsetting. I mean, I have kept twitter going pretty darn well, but my blog. This thing is my baby and I've neglected it like I was neglected as a child. And now it is awkward, confused and can't pick out pants that fit. But that's ok I guess. The blog and I needed some time apart so I could get a

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-38580633265796007092011-10-31T11:48:00.004-04:002011-10-31T12:28:25.389-04:00

Oh, wow.It has actually been a month since I updated this blog. I probably should catch up with all the bike racing that has been totally happening!Right, let's get to it folks!Gloucester Day 1I don't exactly recall what happened, except for the fact that it was muddy. Which made me sad. I started 5th row, I think. I had a respectable start, moving up into the top 30 only to go slower as the race

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-45080330706065333812011-10-04T08:30:00.004-04:002011-10-04T09:29:57.791-04:00

You know what's better than racing and training to get ready for the Cylocross Mega-week? Doing nothing!And with that mindset I started the 2011 Cyclocross campaign in style at the Midnight Ride of Cyclocross in beautiful Lancaster, MA. I got to the race at about 4 after doing some traffic racing and did a slow lap on my new bike, that I built the day before with my new tubular wheels I had

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-26105521376537004222011-09-21T11:06:00.002-04:002011-09-21T11:14:50.514-04:00

A few quick notes about the 2012 cyclo-cross campaign:I am getting a new bike, it will look like this: I am yet to do a 'cross race, because of some extenuating life circumstances, but I am excited to do the Midnight RideI have tubular cyclo-cross tyres for the first time this season, I will undoubtedly roll them or flat them at some point because I am gluing them myself, they are by the fine

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-38512238317561710972011-08-22T10:00:00.003-04:002011-08-22T10:00:10.933-04:00

It is amazing how not riding your bike because you are tired all the time from work can affect your bike racing ability, this was most exemplified in 4 races I did from July 31 to August 10. July 31, Norwell Circuit Race Let's see, I went down to the race, hadn't ridden at all in a week and thought I could totally hang out, then I realized I had signed up for a P/1/2/3 race and I have no watts.

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-90048696293722177252011-08-11T15:03:00.000-04:002011-08-11T15:05:21.550-04:00

View 2011 NECX Calendar in a full screen map

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-83567362480368531542011-07-19T08:43:00.008-04:002011-07-19T09:29:10.141-04:00

Before going to the glorious State of Maine this past weekend I was pretty excited, because Maine is totally awesome and I had always heard great things about the Yarmouth Clam Festival race over the years.Anyhow, I left Newton on Saturday night, with two my GreenLineVelo driven by ZipCar teammates to sleep on the floor in Portland. Now, it should be noted that before we left Newton, I had a

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-53726600605828241952011-07-12T09:12:00.004-04:002011-07-12T09:36:03.234-04:00

That's right, I've done 3 in the last two weeks, and now I shall share some brief reports.Exeter CriteriumFor those of you not in the know, the Exeter crit is one of the "big deal" weeknight crits in New England each summer and has a Pro/1/2/3 race aka, it was going to be fast. It was. All you need to know is that I paid $30 to hang out in the bunch for about 27 minutes until I decided I wanted

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-17559384334145075692011-06-27T07:39:00.005-04:002011-06-27T08:04:54.277-04:00

I went on down to Connecticut on Sunday for the Keith Berger Criterium with my friends on Green Line Velo driven by Zipcar, because we like to go around in circles real fast.When I arrived at the venue I was amazed at how nontechnical the course was, and thus would be "wicked fast guy." Going into the race the GLV boys and I had big plans to win priemes and take the win as we had 7 guys in the

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-19719770425012348462011-06-21T22:13:00.005-04:002011-06-21T22:35:51.073-04:00

"Man it's rough, I don't know where to start or where to begin" -Patton OswaltWhich in this case means, I don't know whether to talk about the bike racey part of my Pinnacle experience or how totally amazing the course was. Although, I may just refer you to ROOTER'S BLOG, because his childlike enthusiasm is perfect for describing how totally RAD the course was. So I'm going to start talking about

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-27483429061948543852011-06-06T07:42:00.004-04:002011-06-21T22:32:50.475-04:00

For the second time this year I decided I need to GET RAD and thus did a mountain bike race, it was out in Central Mass at a farm, I was excited. Dr. PVB and I got a ride to the race from Joshua Robot, which meant I was going to get some Old Man Power from them (combined racing age over 60) on the way to the race, right?Finally arrive at the race, register, catch up with Uri, who was the top

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-41810653794830769002011-05-27T08:42:00.005-04:002011-05-27T09:11:46.720-04:00

After a 3 year hiatus from Mountain Bike racing (ok, I sort of did one in 2010 in Israel) I determined that it was time to return to my roots and get my RAD on at the Weeping Willow last weekend.I registered for the Expert Race because it was an EFTA race and I could pick my own category, because as I was informed by Internet Colin that I would be sandbagging if I raced Sport and I hate

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-6967791420749931012011-05-05T09:24:00.005-04:002011-05-05T09:48:44.137-04:00

"Be not intimidated," said my Lord,"Be reassured, for all is well with us;Do not restrain, but put forth all thy strength.Thou hast at length arrived at Purgatory;See there the cliff that closes it around;See there the entrance, where it seems disjoined.Purgatorio: Canto IX, Divine Comedy by Dante AlighieriThat's right boys and girls, the Purgatory Road Race is Back for 2011! Here are some

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-41226801190788469092011-05-01T15:42:00.005-04:002011-05-01T16:09:20.601-04:00

Ok, last week I hyped up my team, Green Line Velo driven by Zipcar heavily for the win at Blue Hills, as we were to have 8 riders at the start. I went into the day hoping to be a super domestique and help the team get the W. Sadly, as you will read on the inter-net we didn't really get it together and mustered two guys in the top 10.Anyhow, I had high hopes for the race at the start. The first

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-69007845768487529402011-04-24T21:11:00.003-04:002011-04-24T21:27:07.229-04:00

BIKE RACING! This morning I did the B race at Wells Ave, the greatest training series ever. I had to do the B race to get to work on time, so I was NOT Sandbagging, also, I DID NOT WIN. Anyhow, before the start I heard some Quabbin Reservoir Road Race horror stories. During the race I opted to not contest the muffin or cookie sprints (my favourite kind of prizes, yes I spelled favourite with a "U

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-27101123007348717192011-04-11T09:13:00.002-04:002011-04-11T09:18:39.630-04:00

I've been listening to this song a lot lately, thinking about the lyrics and how they relate to my life. I think it is because the song is about patience, and how I need to be patient for things to come together. I've been struggling with this whole concept of adulthood for a few years now and perhaps that I shouldn't be bothered by it. So long as I stay put, figure out a plan and work hard,

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-36890268523732952912011-03-30T09:25:00.005-04:002011-03-30T10:26:51.737-04:00

So, yesterday my old team sent an e-mail out announcing that they had successfully entered the year 2008 by creating a facebook page, but they are still falling behind without a facebook group, twitter account.Anyways, last week I also started playing with Foursquare on my phone which allows me to "check in" to stores, restaurants, arenas etc... and also see where my friends are. That led me to

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-91669497068036375362011-03-20T21:35:00.005-04:002011-03-20T21:46:21.936-04:00

If you know what I'm talking about, that's great, and if you don't, well, then I suggest you try and read between the lines to figure out what this post is all about. Anyways, I've been living the dream for a solid 20 months now, and frankly, it's starting to wear me down. The constant flux and uncertainty has lead to a lot of stress and now this week, keeping the dream alive took away bike

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-82141376442720493652011-03-14T08:34:00.005-04:002011-03-14T08:56:45.173-04:00

I'll be brief, because crit racing is not as exciting as a cross race and I didn't really do anything spectacular. But first, let it be known that the week leading up to the race I did a training camp with my GREEN LINE Velo boys in Harrisonburg VA and the night before the race I got a head cold and slept on the floor.Right, so I woke up on the floor at 6:30, got in the car drove the 15 minutes

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-55093972887839797432011-03-02T18:40:00.006-05:002011-03-03T11:13:05.505-05:00

I've always been enamored with sporting events that take place in non-traditional venues, there's something that adds to the spectacle more than when the sports you love are brought to environments you never thought possible.While Colin had told the internet about a downtown downhill bike race yesterday, I had been thinking about it for the last few months since the NHL Winter Classic. So below

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-47750653314782704082011-02-15T19:29:00.014-05:002011-02-22T08:19:31.859-05:00

For those of you who don't understand the title here's a brief glossary:The County, is Aroostook County, the largest, and northernmost county in the State of MaineFort Kent, one of the small towns in the county that borders New Brunswick, CanadaBiathlon, Nordic Skiing and shooting, see previous post. Ok, now that you know what I'm talking about I should also explain that the Biathlon world cup

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-20082524437486871952011-01-23T18:24:00.004-05:002011-01-23T18:53:25.433-05:00

This just came across the Facebook at me, wow, that is awesome. I should totally go, I bet I'd be the most experienced cyclocross racer in the field, and I'd still lose. Granted, it is one week away and I can't just drop thousands on a flight right now, but anyhow this is rad.For those of you who can't read Hebrew, the flyer reads as follows:CYCLOCROSS RACEFriday January 28, 201112:00SavyonFull

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-89896320159640541562011-01-19T09:00:00.000-05:002011-01-19T09:00:06.794-05:00

Since the dream of being a pro bike racer was totally killed at the 2009 USA Cycling Collegiate national championships, I've been able to free my mind from being totally focused on bike racing and have come to follow a few other athletic activities that I think are exceptionally awesome.First, Rally. Seriously, how rad is Rally? You drive a car with reckless abandon across dirt, pavement, snow,

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-33971020867023265942011-01-17T14:14:00.009-05:002011-01-17T22:25:43.541-05:00

Before I got into this whole bike racing business (although I shouldn't call it business because it sure hasn't been profitable) I rode mountain bikes around my hometown and I played some other sports.But when I got into racing in college my participation in other organized sports has totally disappeared, and as the cold New England winter sets in, I've decided to recap my glory days as an

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-65973299481691594182011-01-04T09:08:00.005-05:002011-01-04T09:23:59.295-05:00

Adam asked me to make some maps for a little project he is working on and I was happy to help, mostly because I like geography, cyclocross and internet. So, behold the 2010-2011 Cyclocross Calendar in Map form.View 2010-2011 Cyclocross Calendar in a full screen mapView 2010-2011 UCI Cyclocross in a full screen mapSome interesting things I take away from this are that there are only 3 races in

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-57408832737946126262010-12-27T09:08:00.005-05:002010-12-27T09:15:37.797-05:00

Do you like maps? I sure do, so yesterday whilst staring out the window at the Blizzard of 2010 that has shut down most of Southern New England I decided a good way to summarize the year 2010 was to do it by map. So, below please enjoy how I spent 2010 in map form. View 2010: A Map in a larger mapLegend:Royal Blue: January-Early March Red: MarchGreen: Late March-Late AugustLight Blue: JulyYellow:

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-31624253309750469652010-12-26T13:33:00.008-05:002010-12-26T14:08:05.981-05:00

I closed out the 2010 cyclocross season by heading on out to beautiful Fitchburg, MA to contest the singlespeed category at the New England Cyclocross Championships, I was originally planning on doing the category 3 race the next day, but I needed to fly to California that day for family vacation, so I converted one of my bikes to singlespeed in about ten minutes on Friday night and I was ready

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-5563647246536354912010-12-17T09:12:00.008-05:002010-12-17T10:20:14.603-05:00

Ice Weasels! Even the name is ridiculous and for the third year running the event was great.I spent the day prior to the race out in the cold slamming stakes into the ground with Colin, and his lunatic band of volunteers in balmy 22F degree temperatures for 6 hours. Which was great, especially because the ground was so cold we really had to force those suckers into the ground, or in many cases

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-49442948812033857502010-12-13T10:54:00.004-05:002010-12-13T11:26:04.956-05:00

After having a few moments of glory on the front of a UCI race on Day 1, I went back down to the kids (cat 3) race on day 2 in hopes to claim a few more Verge Series points as the series came to a close.Heading into the race I had a major problem, I was still sick. My head cold had decided that our friendship was not over and wanted to stay with me throughout the weekend, so I coughed and

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-55616974296975496132010-12-09T20:37:00.005-05:002010-12-09T21:14:42.251-05:00

(This picture sums up how awesome Lowell was, photo: Toro Loco Cycling)LowellSo, Lowell was a great event. I had a swell time. There was fun stuff there, such as ride-ups, hupcakes, barriers, hardpack, it was good. I also did the Elite (P/1/2/3) race because, I've pretty much had enough of the chaos of the cat 3/4 race for a while. Anyways, I started in the middle-ish, I think, and I had a decent

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-12197358179065548842010-12-06T10:15:00.008-05:002010-12-06T10:50:03.482-05:00

I think I've finally figured out the proper steps to totally ruin a bike race:Race in a category in which you do not belongShow up sickGet a good start positionRide your bike as hard as you can at the startThink it'd be a good idea to get in front of the people who can win the bike raceGo to the front Go into the first corner way too fast and almost eat dirtBlow up spectacularlyFor those of you

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-13666185938364935902010-12-03T10:53:00.004-05:002010-12-03T14:14:43.063-05:00

Aww yeah, I raced elite. It was great. Did you know that the elite race is insanely fast at the start? I sure didn't. Oh, right so I decided to do the UCI race at Bay State because, well, I had the license, and I figured "why not, right?"Anyhow, Jeremy Powers was there to win some small series title. If you don't know who Jeremy Powers is, all you need to know is that he gets paid to race his

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-28878253113343337742010-11-23T14:13:00.008-05:002010-11-23T15:00:47.570-05:00

This past Sunday at Shedd Park, in Lowell, MA, New England was privy to the appearance of one of it's most sacred treasures, Kyle Smith:Photo by Seth DavisKyle is often sought after by photographers and bicycle racers alike to bask in his cleanliness, and style, that sadly, modern photography can not truly capture. Let us take a look at some photographs from Sunday that attempt to convey the

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-48276184474608934322010-11-22T18:02:00.006-05:002010-11-22T18:21:19.913-05:00

(Here is a photo of me pre-riding with Adam, let's have a photo caption contest! Photo: Flickr de Julie)Day 2 of Plymouth had a similar to cast of characters to day 1, but it was a lot of riding around in the wind on soccer fields, I was not happy about that. Um, so at the start I started second row and quickly found myself in the Cat 3 race, because all the really fast people were gone. So I

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-24904178813219746042010-11-22T17:14:00.005-05:002010-11-22T17:35:42.971-05:00

This report is a week late, sorry internet, I've been busy being social and stuff.I was not expecting a good result, because well, the day before I thought I had defeated a head cold, which resulted in me going to a party. At that party I had some beverages that resulted in me not sleeping very well and the next morning, the day of the race, my head cold made a triumphant return. Also, I was

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-63107720775346010312010-11-19T08:53:00.008-05:002010-11-19T09:57:39.651-05:00

This is Uri:Uri is a bike racer, he has been at Cat 3 cyclocross racer for just over a week. After a solid run in the cat 4 field Uri decided he'd had enough of that nonsense and upgraded. At the first chance he got, Uri then decided that he would not be challenged enough by only racing with cat 3s. So, he decided that it would be a good idea to race the cat 2/3/4 races at Plymouth, then have a

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-85322020966195822152010-11-17T11:53:00.004-05:002010-11-17T12:16:07.100-05:00

(Running with bicycle, photo: Roger Cadman)Last Wednesday, if you recall, I was pretty excited to get lapped. That's because I was going to be doing a race with 3 other people two of them current masters' national champions, Jonny Bold and Kevin Hines.So, on Thursday, I drove down the cape to race my bike. When I showed up I learned a few things. First, Stephen Pierce had emergency oral surgery

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-21248651261467081892010-11-16T09:03:00.005-05:002010-11-17T12:46:15.457-05:00

Yes, I happened a while back, but, whatever.Ok, this is what happened:I had a decent start with a call up because I have VERGE POINTS, which is pissah guy. It was great until there was a big crash in front of me and I got a bit tangled all-up-in-it. So, I quickly got untangeled and saw this HUGE gap in front of me and I thought, "sweet there's another 20 spots I just got for free because people

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-58725786964968909342010-11-15T09:03:00.000-05:002010-11-15T09:27:44.638-05:00

At the far end of CambridgeWhere the street called Broadway goesPeople learn to ride their bikes, lined up in rowsThey listen to their teacher as the wind blows...This is the school of the Wilcox.At the bicycle school, some people have fear,for if you have a good ear, you can still hear,the Wilcox in training, even when raining, until the Wilcox decides to go.What is the Wilcox?And where does it

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-45423975232385705332010-11-12T16:11:00.004-05:002010-11-12T16:26:38.444-05:00

GO, it will be cool.I'm told there will be beer, roller races, music and "awesomeness."Middlesex Bar and Lounge, Cambridge Ma.

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-14482719341915732322010-11-10T16:04:00.005-05:002010-11-10T16:13:30.894-05:00

I love going into a race when I know I'm going to have my soul crushed. For some reason I get really excited. I like challenging myself against a higher caliber field, just to see where I'm at, and to remind myself that I am in fact, fairly bad at bike racing.Thus, I'm super excited to go to Coonamessett Farm Eco-Cross tomorrow because there are 2 master's national champions pre-registered for

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-16552292121168355042010-11-09T11:30:00.007-05:002010-11-09T12:44:41.246-05:00

Chapter 1: A good startAfter learning my lesson from day one where I burned out like crazy, I had a better strategy going into the race on day two to not suck as much. It was simple, ride within my limits early on and then wheelsuck my way to a respectable result. And, at first the execution was going well. I moved up on the first lap, slowly, rode my way into the top 30 or so and I was having a

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-31225344137010110702010-11-08T17:16:00.009-05:002010-11-08T18:04:27.878-05:00

Criticism A trend I've been noticing, and been a part of, during this cyclocross season is criticism from racers. They criticize other racers, they criticize promoters, they criticize the UCI, they criticize race officials, they criticize USA Cycling and occasionally they offer up solutions. But, and I know this is a large assumption, how many of this cavalcade of clamorous 'crossers are in fact

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-91865909660914659882010-11-01T19:44:00.010-04:002010-11-02T19:05:27.168-04:00

Thank Colin for that title, because that was his commentary on my race. Yes, contrary to everyone's expectations (especially my own) I actually had a great race at the Canton Cup on Saturday. How very uncommon.I'll start from the beginning, because well, there was a lot of hype going into the race on the twitters. In brief, my friends Kyle, Natan and Craig were all doing their first 'cross race

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-52040594877567883742010-10-31T22:30:00.008-04:002010-11-01T14:44:40.005-04:00

So I'm not to happy about this race, hence the week it took to get up the gumption to write about it.I'll do my best to use photos to tell the story, because Don and Dana McEwen took a whole bunch of sweet photos, and I'm assuming they live in Maine, which automatically makes them extra cool, thanks!Ok, enough prelude, time to talk about the bike race. I had a 2nd row start, because, I apparently

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-48715006182749819032010-10-25T09:07:00.007-04:002010-10-25T10:02:51.365-04:00

After a series of finishing in the top half of Verge Series Races a lot last year and not getting any top 25 finishes and thus Verge Series points I grew frustrated, and wanted some way to glorify my mid-pack presence each week, so I came up with the Fastest Guy Without a Verge Point standings and had Colin crank out the results using the power of the internet to determine if I was in fact the

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-62897638757525275932010-10-25T08:05:00.009-04:002010-10-25T13:28:43.635-04:00

LAST Sunday I did the MRC race out in Lancaster, I was forced to do the P/1/2/3 race because, well they didn't have a cat 3 race and I was ok with that.I started near-ish to the front and hoped to race well for sixty minutes.In short, I had a really good start, getting away from my primary rivals for the day, Ian, RMM, Dave Chiu, and my teammates Benny and Jeff Z. (Near Pete Smith on the Flyover

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-52972575350362086882010-10-19T19:52:00.004-04:002010-10-19T20:27:38.807-04:00

INTERNET! Yes, now I am excited to blog the shit out this past weekend, because A) it was wicked fun, and B) I just had a cup of coffee (it is 8pm as I write this). So, I raced bikes this weekend (that is a familiar sentence, right?) it was fun. I got things started on Saturday by heading down to the TCC Mansfield Hollow race in Connecticut. I drove down Colin (aka Internet Cyclocross Commander),

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-57099460469742392482010-10-11T11:33:00.011-04:002010-10-11T15:21:28.039-04:00

After my total lack of trying at the Night Weasels on Wednesday, I was determined to not suck at Providence. Day 1I started in the back near the usual suspects and had an ok start but I very quickly let all the people I wanted to beat get away (Jeff Z, Bramhall, Jeremy, and Jake) so I rode my bike really hard to move up, but on the day 1 course that was 7 minutes long and had about 30 seconds of

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-31356346953150624842010-10-07T11:43:00.006-04:002010-10-08T11:21:59.210-04:00

Um, so I totally rocked the Night Weasels Last night.But let me preface by saying that Chip, Colin and Linnea, along with the Ski Ward Crew deserve a ton of e-mails, thank yous, HUP-Cakes, beers, praise, less mean heckles for all the work they put into making the event happen. I helped a little bit on Tuesday with some course building and Wednesday night with course breakdown, also praise to the

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-30536556026000802782010-10-04T07:47:00.003-04:002010-10-04T08:26:55.252-04:00

Race reports! YES! I am so fricking excited to write them. This being the start of New England Cyclocross Superweek, I'll have to be on top of them. Prologue Since I was starting in the middle of the 130 person cat 3 race each day, I had decided to focus on people I know both days, and just do better than them.Those people were:Dave ChiuJeff BramhallJeff ZJeremy JoIan Schon (For valuble Hebrew

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-87207699880699917752010-09-30T12:16:00.004-04:002010-09-30T12:27:31.870-04:00

Over the last year, mostly thanks to others, it has become abundantly clear that I tend to make myself look like a total jerk on the internet. I think it has something to do with my tendency to type before I think. Which is actually more pathetic than speaking before thinking, as I can SEE WHAT I TYPE before I submit it to the world of the internet. Between angering the mob of masters riders on

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-43959175227642171192010-09-28T08:24:00.004-04:002010-09-28T08:43:31.484-04:00

Ok, I don't have a lot of time, so I'm just going to be brief, in theory that means people will actually read this post instead of just glazing it over for photos and videos. The CourseI'll start by saying the course was so hard, incredibly hard, harder than you think it could be, it reminded me of when Mel Gibson was put on the rack at the end of Braveheart. Two monster climbs, incredibly

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-9602578542847770622010-09-16T17:09:00.014-04:002010-09-16T18:16:44.470-04:00

Well after a rather rousing couple of days it finally seems like the nonsense is over, the anger either real or perceived has subsided and I can readily admit that Myerson set me up pretty darn good to have my internet ass totally kicked.I should have seen it coming, but I didn't much like this girl: Myerson has used his years of experience to trick poor me into a trap. I only wish Admiral Ackbar

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-71717571756945273402010-09-13T11:45:00.006-04:002010-09-13T14:53:54.653-04:00

Yesterday I had my Quads Crossed, it was rather painful. While it was nice to see so many familiar faces again after my 9 months away from Boston, that did not save me from embarrassment. In fact, I was going around before the cat 3 race, openly insulting the people I wanted to beat (Matt, Ian, AJ, Jeff Z, Dave) insisting that their souls would be crushed and that they were standing in the

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-344707323256590872010-09-10T16:30:00.009-04:002010-09-10T17:20:34.732-04:00

Oh, Hey America!Return to AmericaI made it home. The flight from Tel Aviv to Boston was not pleasant, as I totally f-ed up my strategy to beat jet-lag, and my connecting flight from JFK to Boston got cancelled and I had to rebook last minute the night of my departure from Tel Aviv. But, I did make it back to Boston, with both my bikes in the box I used to get them to Israel 5 months prior.Let's

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-85996635415023080532010-08-08T04:51:00.009-04:002010-08-13T05:44:31.824-04:00

Just a quick note on how dangerously hot it is to ride in Israel during the summer, an Australian died over the weekend due to heat stroke. Check out the link below for details.Australian cyclist dies of heat stroke in Jordan valleyYou know how hot it is? It was so hot the other day, that the little guy on the weather map in Tel Aviv was crying:Recently, I've been riding only in HaYarkon Park, as

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-46746516301664293462010-07-26T03:14:00.011-04:002010-07-26T06:59:16.669-04:00

After a poor showing at pretty much all of the races I had participated in within Israel this year, I was determined to have one good race before I went back to the states, so since my return to Israel from my Tour de France trip I actually had been riding a bit and getting back into some level of fitness.Having looked at the season calender, I realized that there was just one race left before I

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-79683702237737966622010-07-20T16:30:00.003-04:002010-07-20T16:40:41.658-04:00

So, after putting off this post for a while, I am finally getting around to posting some photos, and recapping my trip to the first 3 stages, and prologue of the 2010 Tour of France.(Note: Click on the pictures if you want a better look)It all started on Thursday evening July 1 when I took a 1:00 am flight out of Israel to land in Brusells at something like 5:30. When I landed I took a train into

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-18234314238910081282010-07-01T06:21:00.004-04:002010-07-01T06:27:32.265-04:00

I got bored at work this week so I changed the theme of the blog, hope you like it. Also added some tabs, (look up!), so check them out for more information about me and such.Oh, I did the Israeli Road National Championship on Saturday and got crashed and dropped, DNF! Awesome. But hey, my teammate (yes I have a team here) Niv won! It was sweet. Also, Ran (seen in the distance below) got 3rd,

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-92132932202032358022010-06-20T14:16:00.004-04:002010-06-20T14:46:51.743-04:00

This up coming weekend is the big show, the Israeli Elite National Road Championships, and I have just done something really stupid, I registered. Now sadly I can't win the national title, nor will I win. Why you ask? First, the National Championships runs like Philly used to, the first Israeli across the line will be the National Champ, where as the first person across the line will just win the

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-68882846634507449512010-06-16T06:28:00.001-04:002010-06-17T09:03:37.389-04:00

So, as some of you may know, Israel is HOT, and I don't mean like New England where we get that week or two in August where you can't breathe. No, it's been hot (in my opinion) since Mid-April. Now granted, my opinion of hot is a bit skewed compared to most people, and especially when compared to people from California and Israel. As I've explained to friends for years, my favorite riding (and

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-22919224315402438812010-06-07T12:26:00.005-04:002010-06-07T13:32:43.862-04:00

Oh yeah, I totally raced bikes this weekend in Israel. It was awesome, by which I mean it was pathetically awesome, epic, stupid and painful. Because not only did attempt to do two races in a weekend for the first time in 6 months(at NBX), but I also had not been training at all for over a month, and the scheduling was a total nightmare. Oh, and I had no clue how I was getting home from the race

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-13385389677790438562010-05-31T13:19:00.004-04:002010-06-01T00:57:05.763-04:00

As I sit here in my apartment, in the vibrant city of Tel Aviv, I can't help but think about the recent events that transpired. While, I will not comment on the actions of the Israeli Armed Forces last night on the Mediterranean Sea, I will however comment on the fallout. As the day went on further details were released, politicians made statements, and pundits predicted the possibility of a

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-8710425190660936732010-05-24T14:37:00.003-04:002010-08-08T04:38:08.103-04:00

Since I really haven't been racing, and this is a bike log I felt like I needed to start appeasing my readership in other ways aside from my thrilling pedantic race reports. And so it came to pass that I decided to start photoblogging like Dante. I have done this before on two occasions, last summer in Maine and the preceding winter in Schenectady. So, now that I've fully introduced the subject,

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-48271480439942676002010-04-29T03:33:00.006-04:002010-04-29T03:48:22.510-04:00

Ok, so because I'm a "wicked smaht" Mechanical Engineer, (or at least it says so on my college diploma). Ages ago I installed Google Analytics to keep track of the throngs of fans I have out there, to determine where they are from, how they find my blog and what they are looking at while on my blog. I guess I did this to boost my ego and add a sense of importance and significance to my life, or I

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-79966354174074299972010-04-27T06:59:00.009-04:002010-05-24T14:40:06.934-04:00

Ugh, it's starting to get frustrating. I've been soo busy that I rarely make time to ride nowadays. I mean, I've been riding, but just not as much as I want.Allow me to explain. Since my last post, I got into the habit of riding in the HaYarkon Park on the Road bike 1-2 times per week, with a big ride (100-150km) on the weekends and perhaps rip around the Jerusalem hiking trail on my mountain

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-53650492707456367132010-03-29T05:28:00.002-04:002010-05-24T14:40:28.273-04:00

So, as some of you know I'll be missing much of the racing in/around Boston this spring and summer because of an internship program I'm doing in Tel Aviv, Israel. But that doesn't mean I'm hanging up my racing gear!So, exactly 7 days after I got off the plane I took part in the Ashdod Circuit race, about 30 min south of Tel Aviv, along the seashore.I was signed up for the elite race and was

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-21128608136600327202010-03-26T17:00:00.001-04:002010-05-24T14:40:51.648-04:00

I made it to Israel, but more on that later. Here's a recap of my amazing bike packing skills.Those of you who read know me are aware that I often say, "I can make it work," when an item is working, slightly broken, or even busted. A recent example being when I thought I could fix my trusty Honda Accord by simply adding coolant when it was smoking heavily, and yes, I thought I could drive for 4

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-79396851863526093562010-03-15T14:24:00.007-04:002010-03-15T17:42:01.491-04:00

I went into the weekend with big plans, I was hoping to head on down to New York, race the Grant's Tomb Criterium, catch up with a few friends at the race, head out that night to see a few more friends, go to bed and then race the Steven's Circuit race on Sunday before heading back to Mass. Of course, it hardly went according to plan.Things started badly when I left the house to meet up with

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-46714789444984930692010-02-21T20:19:00.000-05:002010-02-22T14:49:35.467-05:00

Ok, so I remember reading on the twitter that McKittrick was going to give his opinions on the major cycling teams in and around Boston, but he hasn't yet so I decided to give it a shot. (And yes I know I'm doing this from Colorado, but I'll be back in Mass later this week.) Also, the descriptions are brief and probably inaccurate, but who cares.GREENLINEVeloThe cool kids, the up and comers, the

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-38743013731037742992010-02-16T16:34:00.003-05:002010-02-16T16:39:03.103-05:00

This past weekend I rode on down to Boulder for the big racer group ride called "The Gateway Ride," it's big, it can get fast and heck this particular day Tyler Hamilton showed up. But the highlight of the day goes to two guys who were behind me while heading north on the foothills highway, fairly early in the ride.Rider A: Hey, I see you got a power tap, how's it working for you?Rider B: Pretty

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-59290724566739624292010-02-08T22:41:00.017-05:002010-02-09T22:06:19.973-05:00

WELCOME TO THE SHOWDOWN, the ultimate battle, a battle of titans, the combatants: the People's Republic of Cambridge vs. The People's Republic of Boulder.Ok maybe it's not that epic, it more of a slightly skewed, brief, inaccurate comparison of the people's republics, but fear not dear readers it's mostly about bikes and things bike related. The winner may be the place I settle down in after my

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-76406881771945518862010-02-02T13:28:00.004-05:002010-02-02T17:25:52.894-05:00

I've determined in the past few weeks that the time has come to retire my trusty Cannondale CAAD 8 road frame, purchased as an employee during my first summer at Wheelworks, back in 2006, since then I've bought a new bike every year at employee pricing and now I'm in the unfortunate spot of having to replace the frame with no employee deal at my disposal and I'm lost. So, I've spent today

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-53187425505927210592010-01-17T18:51:00.011-05:002010-01-17T19:59:10.459-05:00

Hell yeah I went to Tucson, it's somewhere down in Arizona.Lemme explain: Shortly after moving out to Colorado I quickly jumped on the RMCCC list-serv as I will/hope to help out with the collegiate cycling scene out here in the Rockies. Soon after I saw an e-mail from Caley Fretz about the Colorado State U cycling team's training camp in early January. The cost was low, the weather would be warm

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-12994306168262194562009-12-28T11:57:00.005-05:002009-12-28T13:34:49.320-05:00

Yeah, that's right, as you can tell from the title I'm going to do a write up on 2009 and my personal highlights both on and off the bike.So, where to begin? Oh, I know! Internet accomplishments:The InternetI really did a lot this year on the interwebs, quite a bit in fact. Well, I helped a lot with the ECCC, where I was a webmaster, but mostly just updated calendars, results, etc... I also

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-52245026225667734172009-12-20T20:49:00.010-05:002009-12-21T00:24:06.017-05:00

Oh, so much has happened recently, and it's collectively been great. So, I guess I'll just dive straight into the list, (in no particular order).1) The Ice Weasels Cometh! As mentioned previously, it was the best race ever. I haven't had that much fun at an event in a while. I was even complimented on the interwebs on my incredible commentating skills on the PA: "Steve H. who turns out has some

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-64245897112452177342009-12-15T08:07:00.007-05:002009-12-15T08:55:12.371-05:00

Ok, I may have said earlier that Northampton was the best weekend of the cross season, I'm going to amend that. The Ice Weasels Cometh rocked! Using a very scientific scoring method which took in the amount of free beer, snow, donut hand-ups, heckling, heckling over the PA, general chaos, huge crowds and free beer I've made the following chart to illustrate just how cool the weasels was:How It

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-91345348100528570282009-12-10T17:14:00.002-05:002009-12-10T17:42:59.563-05:00

Oh, I am so ready for the Ice Weasels. I'm excited, it's for sure the biggest race of the season, I think there's some other local race out in Oregon this weekend, but WHO CARES? I mean the race has WEASELS in the name! How could it not be awesome!Anyways, I've got plans, big, enormous, outrageous, ludicrous, splendorous, fantastical plans for complete and utter domination in the 3/4 race. It's a

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-21349849999495857192009-12-09T11:48:00.004-05:002009-12-09T12:24:56.451-05:00

I'll be pretty brief with these two race reports, because frankly they are both pretty uninteresting.Day 1On day one the weather was cold and wet and windy and I started in the 3rd to last row. I was wicked timid at the start and spent a while at the back of the race. About 2 laps in I was moving up and found myself around the usual suspects but for whatever reason I just couldn't get going, my

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-73619742625724171722009-12-03T09:06:00.006-05:002010-10-14T08:40:51.031-04:00

Yeah, that's right, I'm doing a WNSP race report! Why? because I don't want to talk about Baystate 'Cross, and WNSP is way cool.The field was stacked. I couldn't believe it, there was UCI points hero Pete Bradshaw, the Alpha Colin ,McKittrick , the former enemy #1, Mashburn, Mr. White Sidi's Smith, Matt, Yash, Natalia, and Christine, along with a few others. Also, the weather was freakishly warm

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-9430512011710779012009-12-01T12:32:00.006-05:002009-12-01T12:59:05.098-05:00

Ok, well not really, according to the data I am actually the 2nd fastest guy without a Verge point. (DAMN YOU OWEN POPE!) Which is like being the king of the losers to the king of the losers, it's sad, it's pathetic, and it is gosh darn frustrating.So remember way back when I changed my season goals? Yup, I've failed, although I do have MAC points... Whatever, I've had fun along the way. At

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-66668737611443127442009-11-30T10:07:00.006-05:002009-11-30T13:15:33.054-05:00

Ok fans, the race report will be coming in a day or two, but for now here's some shout outs and call outs from the weekend:Shout Outs:Adam Snyder hopping the barriers both days, and the "horse" jump on day 1Powers hops the barriers on day 2, and wins both days.James Morrison wins the cat 3 race both days, with from what I hear a broken finger on day 2Pete Bradshaw comes up big with first UCI

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-46929495819642361642009-11-24T12:24:00.008-05:002009-11-24T15:56:37.200-05:00

Instead of doing the logical thing by staying local and racing in Lowell, I did the more awesome thing and headed on down to Southampton Long Island for the Whitmore Super Cross Cup. I spent the boat ride with Colin, Linnea and Sara and was picked up on the other side of Long Island Sound by Cornell Jake , who graciously hosted me all weekend.The major reason for going was that I had challenged

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-14192723355333356992009-11-23T10:00:00.008-05:002009-11-23T13:14:11.805-05:00

Over the weekend it seems as though I've caused a stir with you guys over this photo. But before you send out a squadron to:"smite him into the earth with the power and force of a jackhammer."Just let me say this, "Friends stab you in the front" ~Oscar Wilde.So here, hope this mends some fences:"UVM Sucks" Sign meets its end from SHopengarten on Vimeo.I love you guys, UVM cycling best embodies

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-83366105178622610102009-11-17T18:47:00.010-05:002009-11-17T20:32:51.486-05:00

First, let me just say McKittrick wrote a great wrap up of how terribly the event was organized and how lame the course was, which can be found here.Now on to my race report.Day 1I actually skipped day one to attend the ECCC annual fall meeting and add some input to the new rule changes as an "officer" of the ECCC (ok I'm the web guru). It was fun and followed it up by a dinner with some friends

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-85051444482345994232009-11-10T17:22:00.009-05:002009-11-10T19:34:31.536-05:00

Oh yeah, game on. Cycle-smart international so happened, it was awesome, the weather was awesome, the courses were awesome, the free beer was awesome, my team was awesome, I was a little less awesome, but whatever. Best weekend of the season for sure.FridaySo, here's how it went down. I started by heading out far too early and left home on Friday afternoon to head to the cool kids "Pick up you

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-70822348988278334522009-11-05T18:59:00.005-05:002009-11-05T19:51:55.588-05:00

Ok, first I'm just going to state that I am fighting for the little guy. I'm talking about all of those small collegiate teams out there with limited budgets, a couple of elite riders and even fewer resources.Now on to my rant.Eliminating aero gear from collegiate cycling is what best serves the collegiate cycling community as a whole. Primarily it is in tune with the basic principles that are

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-4540216237907175802009-11-02T12:34:00.007-05:002009-11-02T17:33:31.494-05:00

Update 5:27 PM: Photos Added!Some races happened. Mostly in the suck, here's how it went down. I was hoping to improve on my serious bad luck from Maine.Day 1 - Canton CupRight, so Canton is a wheelsucking super fast course, almost zero recovery anywhere and I decided before the race I was going to be in the suck for a littany of reasons:Got there early to volunteer, which meant standing around

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-56395679479833062822009-10-27T13:01:00.000-04:002009-10-27T13:21:35.807-04:00

What can I say? This weekend was so frustrating, nothing went my way, but whatever, there's always another bike race. I've just got to put this behind me.Oh, wait, I've started summing up before explaining what happened.Day 1Right, so day 1, was cold, wet and muddy. I had a slow start and didn't care. The course was so wide I figured that people would just fall over and I would move up. Which is

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-87477919383246469682009-10-21T12:07:00.000-04:002009-10-21T21:52:21.564-04:00

So, MRC Cross happened down in Wrentham on Sunday. It was "INSANE" according to Jeff Z, I would agree.(Best part of this post is the post race recap)Pre-RaceFirst, let me state that I decided to do the race THAT Morning. That's right, it wasn't a situation that I had pre-registered and I was like, "I paid, I'm racing," which happens on a occasion. Nope, I woke up at 8, got a call from Jeff Z and

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-69670816754744778292009-10-19T13:58:00.000-04:002009-10-19T17:45:39.485-04:00

I arrived pretty early, I'd say 10:30 for a 1pm start, just enough time to watch a couple of the Men's Masters races. Then I went around and checked out the course, pretty odd for a CX race. Had some woods sections with tough uphill turns, some single-track and some off-camber stuff and other wooded sections, followed by 3 or 4 incredibly tight turns on gravel. Then you went on a flat for a bit

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-50461474034709426122009-10-14T10:54:00.000-04:002009-10-14T21:41:59.650-04:00

I seem to be having a trend of crappy day 1 races at Verge events, and then doing way better on day 2. Providence was no different.Since then, I've realized that it's getting more important that I get to venues 2-3 hours early so I can get a solid course preview, cheer on friends and loosen up my legs. I think part of the problem on day 1 was that I really didn't warm up at all and then went all

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-35758571933798402802009-10-12T13:38:00.001-04:002009-10-13T10:18:29.263-04:00

I've had fond memories of the one time I led a cross race, it was WAY back when I did the Ice Weasels Cometh, I won the hole shot and it was pretty sweet, heck they even gave me a brownie for it. But then after a short while I realized that the front of the race is fast, so fast in fact that I bonked hard and went straight to the back. Funny how history repeats itself.But instead of doing a

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-20501414594823435332009-10-07T20:07:00.000-04:002009-10-07T20:25:08.878-04:00

What a difference a day makes and let me tell you, after my awful day 1. I was looking for a chance at redemption.I arrived wicked early for my 1pm start, probably around 9AM, which was great. Once again the Wheelworks crew was there with the tent and I had another home-base for the day. Shortly after arrival I kitted up and pre-rode the course. It was awesome, switchbacks, bumps, off camber

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8365156114229458604.post-38280188900773830922009-10-06T14:49:00.000-04:002009-10-06T14:54:54.653-04:00

Ok,I've got one new season goal and one amended season goal.New Goal: Determine just who is this Sandy Baggins character and find proof to determine if he is in fact a sandbagger and just trying to divert attention from himself. (Kind of like former Senator Larry Craig)Amended Goal: I'm going to change the original goal from a Top 10 in a Verge B race to a Top 25. Just seems more realistic

SHopengartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955496605877360914noreply@blogger.com0