Andy STi

Dude! You killed it, nice job,

canuckbelle

Hired the coach of the elite racers on our team. Really looking forward to working with him

globecanvas

If we rain on it, it will turn into mud!

Seriously congrats. I hope you wear the medal around casually, and when people say "what's that for" pretend like you didn't remember you had it on.

TheKillerPenguin

big john

Or if you tell them what it's for, they will still have no idea.

TheKillerPenguin

Travelling without a bicycle feels an awful lot like one of those dreams where you show up at school/church without pants on.

Ygduf

Packed up and about to drive up to the RR course. I hate this sport. So many nerves.

furiousferret

Good Luck!

spdntrxi

Good luck Chris

caloso

Crush it, Fudgy.

grolby

Good luck, Fudgy.



I start the CX season for real this weekend with a race on both days and I am feeling a really weird combination of supreme confidence and total anxiety. I know that I am in good form and technically sharp and it is going to go fine, but also very afraid of disappointing myself by not meeting the goals that my confidence in my condition is letting me set for myself. It is very confusing and I am so not used to entering races with high expectations that I just don't know what to think.

hack

get 'em fudgy

Also, read the communiques and surprised to see that there is no neutral feed for Nationals. That's rough.

revchuck 

I'm already doing two centuries in October. This makes it tempting to do a third:

mike868y

so. i'm taking some time off between christmas and new years and want to go somewhere to ride. i've ridden in tucson and san diego and will be going to austin in october. i'm thinking of heading out to somewhere in central/northern cali. any suggestions? san luis obispo?

misterwaterfall

SLO is super nice though might be a bit of a pain to get to in comparison to the others as flights in/out of the tiny airport there are on smaller planes typically. Cool town, good roads up and down the coast and plenty of hills to be had. Pismo is a cool spot, and Paso robles has a ton of good wine if you're into that.
I would also look at Sonoma. Good beer/win/food and decent roads though I've only spent my time there tasting the grapes not doing any amount of training.

hack

Weather can vary quite a bit in that time window and qutie a bit depending where you're at in NorCal/CenCal. Expect anything from buckets of rain to frosty mornings to sunny skies. With that ... The greater Monterey area has some nice riding and great sites. You could make it into a rolling trip by staying at the following (south to north):

-SLO
-Monterey/Santa Cruz
-South Bay or Half Moon Bay (hang with fudgy and co.)
-San Francisco
-Marin and north bay
-Sonoma/Napa/etc

Plenty to see and plenty to ride and even plenty to race (cross of course) in those areas.

furiousferret

I'd go either Santa Barbara or SF.....SF itself sucks for cycling but there's Marin one way, and the Peninsula on the other.

big john

If you like climbing you could stay in the Lake Tahoe area and many big climbs are south of there. You could hook up with the Alta Alpina club, they'll show you around.
If you like to mtb, some of the best trails anywhere are around Lake Tahoe. There's also Casinos, shows, hiking, golf, boating, etc.
I've had great trips to the Napa area, too. Lots of good roads, wine, and restaurants.
Paso Robles does have awesome roads, quiet with rolling hills, and you can ride over to the beach.
If you want to do some epic climbs and don't care about nightlife, etc., you could stay off of hwy 395 in Lonepine or Bishop, or even Mammoth and do the White Mountains, Onion Valley, Horshoe Meadows, and Whitney portal.

caloso

Tahoe in December is hella cold. I would recommend SB or SLO.

aaronmcd

Makes it tempting to visit NOLA again.

spdntrxi

we hope anyways.. really really cold

Heathpack 

I would agree that Santa Barbara is a great option from a weather perspective. Plus there are some great rides in the mountains that you can get to from wherever you're staying in town. You could also ride down the PCH to Malibu or over Casitas Pass to Ojai. You could even ride the TOC stage that went from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita, but don't go all the way to Santa Clarita, take the train back from Simi Valley. Lots of stuff to do in SB too, and great food & wine.

We did a great trip last April- Carmel & San Francisco. I rode Pebble Beach & Carmel Valley (which was maybe the most beautiful ride I've ever done) & I got up with @sarals for a ride & coffee in Monterey. Then from SF, I rode Tunitas Creek and over the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin Highlands then up to Tiburon. I have all those routes if you need the.

Golden Gate Bridge from Marin Headlands:



Me in Carmel Valley with some glossy black cows:



Tunitas Creek Rd:

mattm

thought race was Sunday, since that what it says on USAC's site.. fb comments & flyer reveal its actually tommorow!

big john

Should be, if we ever have a winter again. I'm ok with cold if there's no ice on the road.

hack

Uh oh ...