Are you mad?

Yesterday, Hungary along with most other countries had their XC National Championships. The first thing you should know is that it was a huge pain for me to even be able to register for the event, partially due to me being a Hungarian citizen but not a Hungarian resident, partially due to my dual citizenship, and partially due to the fact that my UCI license was being secured through the USCF and not Hungary and I therefore needed to complete a bunch of paperwork through USCF in Colorado and my residence in Georgia. There was apparent to me some doubt as to my eligibility to race, especially in the Elite category, in the national championships of the country in which I was born but do not permanently reside.

Anyway, so I arrived at the venue in Zalaegerszeg in the foothills of the Alps yesterday morning relieved to find at registration that my bib number and timing chip were waiting for me in the hands of a very professional and friendly race staff. The spectators and media seemed really keen to talk to me about my foreign kit and my super sweet carbon Jamis D-29 (I was one of maybe 10 racers total with a 29er, one of maybe two or three in my category and the only one with a carbon 29er) given that both the type and brand are still very much a rare breed in Europe.

I lined up at the start, called up to the second row directly behind Olympians and multiple Hungarian Champions. We took our first parade lap around the field and I went into the woods in the top 15. There were to be 6x 5.1 km. laps. The temperature was 33ºC (over 91ºF) and very very dusty. The course was short but extremely hilly with very steep grades throughout. We were wheel to wheel the entire time with nobody able to pass with the exception of a few racers who were able to take advantage of the small mistakes made by others to gain a position here or there.

Towards the end of the first lap, we entered a section of the course with a long downhill of increasing grade and speed. The soil was hardpack that had degraded from the wear from previous races to a very fine chalk-dust. Into the sun on this steep downhill, nobody was able to see anything and we were basically flying blind and following only the wheel in front. At some point, I hit what I presume to be perhaps the trunk of a small tree that had been felled. The obstacle was no more than 20 cm tall but rigid and I went over the bars, with the riders behind following me off the course and into the trees. I somersault off my bike and landed on my feet, able to look back to see a column of riders two abreast aimed right for me, some already with their rear wheels in the air preparing to crash. I braced myself as my bike was pulled from me again. I finally was able to grab my bike and head downhill, having lost only around 10 places because some of the obstruction created by the crashes. I got towards the bottom of the hill and and realized that my rear brake lever was coming to the bar and there was barely any force on the rotor. I had maybe 10% from the rear brake.

I finished my first lap and got my first bottle feed; rolling through the start-finish I thought I had a chance to pump my brake and get rid of the air bubble in the system. So I set off on the second lap and on the first hard downhill I completely lost the rear brake and saw hydro fluid at the junction of the master cylinder and the line. The line was out of the lever.
I climbed one more hill at full gas just out of frustration and took off my jersey at the top with the photogs snapping away and asked which way back to the start-finish.

Game over.

At the start-finish, I gave the chip back to the promoters and officially was officially DNF. A kid with a camera came over and started taking photos of me and asked me what happened. I didn't even want to talk to him but I remember when I was his age and Elite racers were my absolute heroes. He asked if I was mad and I wanted to just yell "YES!" but in reality, there was nothing I could be mad about. Frustrated, yes, but this was as random of a problem that anyone could have. I told him there is always next year and he seemed OK with that answer.

Usually, when something goes wrong during a race, there is at least something you can learn from it. This was my second DNF of the season, the first one being a SERC race back in the U.S. earlier this season due to a crash. At that race, I was comfortably in third place, but got greedy and crashed into tree and twisted my ankle because I was trying to chase for second. What I learned from that is that I have to get better at weighing risks against benefits when I'm cross-eyed in anaerobic hell. Fair enough. But there was nothing I could do here at Nationals. I would have needed a second bike in the Pit which I didn't have.

I had to look back to Dave Z.'s Twitter quote from when he had to abandon at the TdF this year: "So be it." True indeed.

And last but not least, a massive shoutout to my amazing parents without whose unyielding guidance and support I would never have had these opportunities.
I am not one to let my fans down. I will keep pushing always.

No blog for a year and a half!?

Sorry guys. Generally I don't blog because I don't think that my stories are all that interesting but you can follow me on Twitter here:Sorry guys. Generally I don't blog because I don't think that my stories are all that interesting but you can follow me on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/DavidSagat
and read shorter, more manageable bit of things about me which you may or may not find interesting.
Also, you'll notice that I have a Facebook again. Don't bother bothering me on it because you'll be ignored.

But I WILL tell you a fun story of What Happened This To Me This Past Weekend As I Tried To Race My Bicycle (it's a working title):

The race was the SERC/US Cup East #4 race at Fort Yargo here in GA. I know, sounds amazing. And it was (almost).
At the start, which someone deemed appropriate to stage on effing PINESTRAW I spun out and basically almost took out the guy to the right of me and in a fashion extremely unbecoming of someone with the nickname of Holeshot Dave, I entered the woods in DEAD EFFING LAST place.
After about half a lap on the super exciting and seemingly not-at-all dangerous 18 km (11 miles for you kids who didn't go to college or live outside of Uhmerica™ [copyright Tristan Cowie]) course, I decided that last place was probably not where I wanted to be for the rest of the race so I attacked like some kind of moron for the rest of the lap and after the first lap was completed I found myself in third place, behind Victor (in first, who I was not going to catch under any circumstances) and R. Marion from the AmClassic Factory Team, who I wanted to catch pretty badly because, well, the payout for second is higher than the payout for third. Yes, you read right, that entire previous paragraph was one single run-on sentence. Applaud freely.
So, after the first lap was completed in 40-something (41?) minutes, I was less than a minute back from Marion and I was chasing like V. Petrov in Malaysia and taking all sorts of stupid chances (if you don't watch Formula 1, ignore that last reference) and long story short, your Protagonist (?) ended up in a tree sideways with my knee twisted 90º and my ankle smashed between my bike and aforementioned tree, plus I got a nice little gash on my knuckle which in and of itself is quite complaint-worthy.
After extracting myself from the tree, I finished the second lap in pretty bad pain (this part is not the joke so don't laugh) while going very slowly due to my right leg not really being able to contribute to the whole "forward motion" thing.
I hobbled over to the promoters and given a bag of ice and the EMS were called over. The EMS Good Ole Boys looked at me funny (on account of my spandex, I assume, or maybe they were gay and impressed by my abs) and twisted my foot to and fro and said something rather non-technical sounding about what may have happened to my ankle but that it was probably not broken and nevertheless that it probably was a good idea if I didn't try to go ride my bike again that day.

Moral of the story is that if you're in third by a comfortable margin and on a course that doesn't suit you, don't chase second on the off-chance that you may be able to catch him, because then you're still going to have to pass the dude and if that guy is Robert Marion then he'll probably outsprint you anyway with his cyclocross-derived sprinting abilities. So just ride your ride, shake hands, get your check, and go home happy/uninjured.
You think 10 years of racing would have taught me this already but like they say, you never stop learning.
My record for 2011 mountain bike races stands at 2 podiums and 1 DNF. Tragic.


Next weekend is the Dirty Spokes endurance race (same venue). My participation is contingent upon what I hear back from the promoter about payout but I'll probably be there racing 6 Hour Open.

winter

First off, I'd like to point out that the first thing you see when you visit the team website is me. Try it: http://www.realitybikesracing.com/
Well, depending on the size of your screen you may have to scroll down but the point is I'm standing there holding our sweet trophy and that's that.

Next subject.

Two nights ago, I was about to go to sleep when Ryan Murray called me. "Let's do the WBL ride in the morning" he sez. "It'll be fun and not dangerously cold at all" he sez. He talked me into it within two minutes and I have no idea how.

So we did the ride and of course it was actually 0ºC and not warm at all.

Then today was the fantastic Ridley party at the bike shop and of course I was talked into yet another ride in the cold except this time we were going fantastically slow AND it was drizzling.

That's quite enough of winter, thank you. We can have spring now.

Woah buddy, calm down.

I decided that for my first blog post I'd be positive because I'm tired of being heckled by Neely about always being negative. So here goes...

Today is my last final. I'm going to ace that shit for sure. So if there's something you'd like to know about Existentialism or Nihilism or about the Übermensch or The Reflexivity of Human Consciousness, go ahead and ask me now before I forget (roughly two hours from now).
Please note the pile of notes in the photo. This is what needs to be in my brain by 10:15.

Also it's freezing cold today but that's OK by me because I don't have time to ride outside anyway. See? Pos-it-ive. I'll ride the trainer tonight maybe. I need to dial in the fit on the new road bike.

One negative thing: skinny jeans are for skinny girls. This is not discrimination. This is physics. Think about it.


Peace out.