Riding the couch....

You can also follow us @ The Bean Team

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Oscar goes cross

This Fall, Oscar will be race a full Cyclocross season, mainly focusing on the Georgia Series but also trying to hit a few UCI races and the National Championships in December. The Georgia series kicked off in the mountains of Dahlonega. The course consisted of the usual 'cross distractions' along with some slick gravel roads and a jump-able log. Oscar took the 'hole shot' off the line and soon was in a lead group of three containing Rob Giannini of the Athens based Loco's team and mountain bike professional Thomas Turner (Outspokin). Mid race Oscar took a digger hopping the log and lost contact with the group. He quickly recovered to catch Giannini but never made it back to Turner and rode in for 2nd.

The second race of the series changed scenery and went to the beach in Savannah. The course was nearly dead flat, started and finished on a small town "dirt track" car racing oval, and included a serious mud pit and an intimidating "fly-over." The course provided little to initially split up the field, so for the first few laps a group of around seven riders stayed together. Mid race a selection in the mud left only Oscar, Nate Sibly (Specialized) and Ryan Leech (Visit PA) to battle for the win. Once it was only Oscar and Nate in the lead group, a last lap attack barely delivered Oscar to the line first for the win.

With the two podium performances Oscar is now the leader of the season long points standings and looks to defend the title in Conyers.

Sitting in with Thomas "Crash" Brown

So the end of my season was not what I expected. After crashing while training at the velodrome just three days before leaving for collegiate track nationals, I quickly realized my season was over. This realization was confirmed by the Orthopaedist's recommendation for surgery. About ten days after the crash, in order for the swelling to go down, I went in for surgery. They essentially took a twelve centimeter titanium plate and fastened it to my collarbone using sever screws. I remember getting quite angry with the anesthesiologist because he didn't understand how you could ride a bike on a banked track, but this was while he was giving me the magic potion to put me to sleep.

After a week of my mother feeding me narcotics for the pain and laying in bed watching TV, I started to feel better. I then started physical therapy after ten days. Since then I've been going to my PT twice a week, and a week ago I got back on the bike, which was four weeks after surgery. So I am essentially better, though my strength is not there-- at least that's what my PT says...though I think it really wasn't there before.

What's fast, growing, and everywhere?

What exactly is Kudzu? Well, if you are from the south you'd probably say that it grows everywhere on everything and is nearly impossible to stop (just like our team). For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of experiencing kudzu, this literally happened overnight.

http://evidencebasedonly.blogspot.com/2008/05/kudzu-root-hangover-remedies-are.html

The plant is native to Southern Japan and China but was brought to the Southern United States to help prevent soil erosion and has continued to grow almost exponentially. For a full kudzu history lesson click here .

Now that you know so much about Kudzu and the south, you can appreciate Kudzu.com, an online business directory that incorporates customer reviews. It is part of the Cox Enterprises family and title sponsor of the Atlanta based Kudzu.com U23 team. So the next time you are searching for a local business give Kudzu.com a try!

Google Search

Custom Search

Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones