Now that its October and I’m on to my post-season beer and laziness celebration, I should recap this year’s cycling adventures. After a successful year of track racing last year and taking a cue from my friend Chris Kelly, I made a list of goals for this year:

• Compete in Wednesday night racing at Dick Lane Velodrome, not missing more than three nights.
• Compete in all three Pro Race Series events at Dick Lane Velodrome and win points in one event.
• Mountain bike as often as possible.
• Use road riding as a training tool; don’t get frustrated about performance.
• Win the Faster Mustache 24 Hour Race, with team Dreadnok.
• Compete in the cyclocross season, for fun.
• Don’t get out of shape in the winter.

Second Pro Race Series. Photo by Chris Kelly
Continue reading “2009 Cycling Season” →

This year’s race was an interesting one. As always, I was worried in the days leading up to the race that something would go wrong or no one will donate any toys. Despite some setbacks, this year was perhaps a bigger success than previous years, but it took a lot of self-convincing before I was able to admit it.

Race Flyer. Photography copyright Michael Lemberger.
Continue reading “3rd Annual Santa’s Little Messenger Race” →

This year, I began cycling at the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point. It has been some of the most intense and exciting racing ever. I have been participating in the Monday nights “Advanced Training” and then the weekly training races. All competitors are split into 4 groups: A, B, C, and D, each decreasing in average rider skill and experience. Each rider starts his/her career in the D group and moves up by scoring points in the weekly training races. The points do not hold any real value and are mostly in place to encourage people to participate regularly. A new racer needs to earn 50 points to advance to the C group, an additional 84 points to advance to the B group, and an additional 105 points to advance to the A group.

The D group has its training races on 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, while the A, B, and C groups compete weekly on Wednesdays. The remaining 2nd and 4th Tuesdays host a Pursuit night where any rider can participate in individual pursuit, team pursuit, and team sprint events. The points earned during pursuit nights count toward a rider’s total when upgrading to a higher group.

Additionally, each rider is responsible for keeping an accurate resume of his/her points despite a master list compiled by the East Point Velodrome Association. My resume will be updated throughout the summer leading up to the 3rd Festival of Speed, a heavily spectated, tri-summer racing event boasting cash payouts!

My cycling resume at DLV for 2008:

Point Totals: 129 points
B-Group: 5 points
C-Group: 47 points
D-Group: 55 points
Pursuit Nights: 19 points
Friday Night Sprints: 3 points
Continue reading “2008 Track Cycling Season” →

This year, like last, I decided to hold the Santa’s Little Messenger Bicycle Race benefiting Atlanta’s Toys For Tots program. The concept behind the race is that individuals and businesses around town, who were going to donate a toy to Toys For Tots, register the toy with me via a web form instead of finding a local drop off point. Then, on the day of the race, riders picked up the toys and returned them to the “base”. Two categories of racers (solo and two-person teams) competed to earn the most “toy miles”.

The race began almost immediately with a terrible rain storm but all the riders really toughed it out and did a great job. This year, seventeen racers (six teams and five solo racers) collected 96 toys. The complete results are available on Faster Mustache.org.

Continue reading “2007 Santa’s Little Messenger Race” →

This weekend, I was part of Team Meerkat in the Atlanta Muddy Buddy with my friend Katie Davis. The race was held at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, GA. We won our division (Coed 45 and Under) and placed 21st overall out of 740 teams which finished. The race is one in which a 6-7 mile course is divided into five stages. For each stage one teammate mountain bikes and the other runs. Then at the stage intervals, the teammates switch positions and carry on for the next stage. Teammates are not required to stick together. In fact Katie and I only saw each other twice through out the race.

Continue reading “Meerkats Slay Muddy Buddy” →