Frisco Nordic Center tomorrow in scenic Frisco, CO. Just a snowballs throw away from Breckenridge at mad Colorado altitudes. Back to back races this weekend and Dubba, Pilot and I are heading up to get our game on. Should be fun and I'm again indebted to my rad wife for these weekends. It's huge.

The mystery blogger that is Mr. Bike Snob NYC himself sent his readers....and a mass of readers I must say....to M & C on his hilarious regular Friday quiz post. I hope my home boy is retiring because the amount of readers he gets a day is sick. Monitize, yo! His writing speaks for itself and he deserves every amount of readership he gets. It' makes me crap just a wee little bit in my pants when I laugh reading his site.

Lastly, my main man Brian Patrick from On Site Media...the folks who do a boat load of the race coverage you see on Velonews....gave the Boulderites some love in this video clip! Boups using is collegiate running skills is the first guy coming up the run up followed by a focus on Dubba. I'm in the next clip which was the group right after theirs, dangling behind that group the whole frigging race.

Reports from Frisco forthcoming. Huppity hup.

Pretty sweet.

I'm back from the trip and what a trip it was! I am going to do a re-cap post next week but wanted to share some pictures with you of InterBike and CrossVegas. What great memories! I am shocked at all the people screaming their heads off to push us all on lap after lap. Totally motivating.

This Flickr set includes my own personal photos as well race action shots from the incredible lenses of:

~Rob O'Dea
~UltraRob
~Andrew Yee of CXMagazine.com
~Mat Barlow
~Dan Farrell

Enjoy the pictures for now (I'll be adding more to this Flickr set too so come back and see these again!) and stay tuned for an upcoming post. 

On the road again, I just can't wait to git on the road again...

Yesterday was Durango to Flagstaff AZ. Fantastic drive seeing parts of teh country I've never been able to before. Surreal landscapes that went from desert to volcanic moonscapes to high elevation forest. Amazing.

Today I'm in route to Vegas. 250 miles and I should be there early. I have some meetings for work which I am excited about and my co-worker Perry is in flight to meet me today.

Dubba FINALLY gets here tomorrow and I am missing my compatriot. We're going to get our cross on.

Lastly my latest VeloNews diary is up and live! You can read the story of meeting Bryce Wright of AZ Bikes here in Flagstaff. Also, click on the picture above to see my Flickr album from the photos from yesterday.

Stay tuned!

It's on like Donkey Kong

~Dave Towle

The ingredients:

• Two smelly cyclocross racers
• One minivan
• 2 cyclocross bikes
• 2 single speed mounain bikes
• 2 laptops
• 1 Camera
• 1 MiFi
• Boulder--->D-town--->Vegas--->Boulder

There will be work. There will be bike riding. There will be beer. The road trip will be blogged.

I've got to tell you, folks, the people at Rodale Press' are tapping into the 'wave' that we all know is here and cresting: cyclocross. Rodale is demonstrating this support to us all by their Mountain Bike Magazine's sponsorship of marquee 'cross events like CrossVegas. Mountain bikers understand 'cross. It's just a slightly smaller set of knobby tires mounted another rad frame, right? So the sponsorship and support they're providing to the event is outstanding to see. Moreover, waves of folks (like you and me) who raced MTB's tons in the 90's, ultimately abandoning our Tomac-like aspirations to pursue careers and families are now pouring back into the racing scene on any given Sunday with 'cross as their focus and proxy to re-inject racing back into their lives. The demographic who slaved to build these careers and families is BACK...with their wallets...in force...and raring to get dirty again.

So with this understood, I got pinged by a dear friend of mine, Chris DiStefano about an interesting project going on. Chris is a passionate husband, daddy, worker bee, industry luminary and cyclocross evangelist out of the great cyclocross city of PDX. He asked me about my interest in talking about the 'state of cross' and what it means to me...at least from my specific voice. A voice that is sort of atypical...e.g. not from an industry insider, official or full time pro racer. I guess the intent was to capture it from the voice that you and I speak: passion and love for this game we devote so much to.

So, these words were parlayed into Mountain Bike Magazine's staple column in their monthly mag, 'The MB Interview' in preparation for the wave of cross Rodale/Mountain Bike Magazine are devoting air cover to. Below is the outcome of the interview in Mountain Bike's September issue which is on newstands or can be delivered right to your door. I am honored and indebted to Chris and Mountain Bike's Editor in Chief Jasen Thorpe for the opportunity to tell it the way I see it.

Photo: Dejan Smaic http://sportifimages.com/

I hope I did us justice 'crossers! I am so pumped for the season.

Ready?

I'm back at it this week...already traveling for work getting buried with lots to do. Getting the training in too as we have some fun races coming up in the following weeks. It seems like a month ago that I was getting my ass rightfully handed to me at CrossVegas...all the while having the time of my life. It was, as I reported, sick. Completely off the hook.

But something occurred to me. I totally forgot to tell you that I met my ABSOLUTE all time hero: Thomas Frischknecht!

Hype is not Frischi. Style is omnipresent in everything he graces when he’s on two wheels. Especially when those wheels have knobbies…which is most of the time. It was such a bizarre scenario at CrossVegas but perfect in the same sense. Hoards of cameras, lights, microphones, BlackBerries and iPhones….all pointed at Lance. Massive hype. Hype before the race. Hype during the race. Hype after the race. And all the while that spectacle is going on, Frishi is present, smiling and keeping consistent with, again, the grace he exhibits. It’s his RETIREMENT race. His last race after an amazing career that saw him race every Worlds since they decided it was probably a good idea to have a championship for these fat tire klunkers back in 1990. A Mountain Bike Hall of Famer. Anyways, the race ends and I crawl off my machine and see my friends from Ritchey at the Scott/Ritchey tent and I get waved in and handed a beer nearly instantaneously. The scrum around Lance is going off a ways away and there is Frischi. Just chilling, smiling, with a frosty Corona.

I hung out a bit with my bros recounting the race and the overall spectacle, having beers late into the already late evening and just couldn’t take it anymore. I walked up to Thomas and just laid it out. Simply and succinctly:

“Thomas, it’s bizarre for me to say this but I have to. I never had any typical ‘heroes’ in sports as a kid. OK, maybe Bucky Dent but I digress. But following your career and having put you on a pedestal of ‘core’ dope free mountain bikers who grit and get it done year after year, you have been that hero for me. I can NOT believe I just raced in the same race with you and for that I am honored. I love you Thomas. Have my children.”

Something like that anyways….

Thomas gushed. Again, grace personified. We talked a bit, clinked some beers and celebrated a great night.

Worth the scoping-out of...
Especially this one of my boy Lane getting the full on Missing Saddle interview. Good one, Lane. Just don't think you're having beers with LA next time you see him...

Finally back home and dove directly back into work today. Chaotic...much like Cross Vegas itself. I am inexplicably sore still...but not so much the legs...but my lower groin where I pulled something during the warm up on the very first lap when Boups and I first got there. It 'popped' and hurt, but I raced on that it anyways. Paying for it now. I'm on the fence for racing tomorrow....

Anyways, I put together a quick collage of things I saw/experienced in 'Vegas. I had camera issues (mainly I forgot it!) so used Boups' camera to capture some stuff. Enjoy....

Cross Vegas Run up lap 1 from Gregory Keller on Vimeo.

Boups and his larger-than-life portrait. You had a phenomenal race man!

My main Man Lance! This is the gentleman behind my lust for TRP brakes. He and his son were working the booth like champs....touting the virtues of their cherry carbon and magnesium stoppers to all who came by! Simply, the world's best brakes! Thanks for all your support Lance!

The RockyMounts booth was rocking and all the fellas were representin'!

Ergon! I FINALLY met up with my boy Jeff Kerkove (right) at the Ergon booth. Such rad equipment they have. I am LUSTING the to-be-released white sex ergonomic grips. Yum. To his left is Butch Peterson of SuperHumanMag.com. Check out his videos of the Leadville and CrossVegas!

I saw this anonymous bike at the Shimano booth displaying 7900...and behold! It was a custom Sycip!

Finally...the SRAM booth! I met up with many of the crew here and at the race venue and thanked them for all their GREAT support to me and my aging carcass. The bits are the REAL DEAL. In love with the feel of SRAM Red (and Force) now. I've definitively made the leap.

Lastly, I want to give a SHOUT OUT to my fellow cycl-bloggers!! I met all the homies that have been representing in their respective regions and blogging about it for some time now!

• The ATM of Mexler Werks!
• Ryan Knapp of The Pursuit of Rad Skills!
• Ben (and his Rock Lobsters!) of Ben Likes Bikes!

SO RAD to get to meet you guys. Absolute class, you all are.

I picked up an email from a bud when I got off the plane that simply said: 'Money' in the subject line. It linked to this person's Flickr site....me putting the fear of God into LA. Ha! Wishful thinking. Anyways, my boys will love this one some day...