This isn't the post I wrote. Go read fat marcs blog, its happy.

Thats not quite how I saw today panning out....

I'm reminded of this lesson a lot....it happens a lot. It happens a lot to all of us.

I was on the fence about heading up to the MAC Prom this past weekend. I didn't really have the money to spare for the tickets, and dinner is always expensive with the drink tab thrown in...not to mention gas and tolls. Whatever, right? I wanted to go hangout with everyone. Aside from Marc's annual party, and the ever amazing post-nats party, its the best non race event we have each year. This year I wasn't all that enthralled in it. Given, I was late, and missed most of it but still. Dinner is the real deal though, and thats what its about. After the banquet everyone disperses into downtown Manayunk for dinner with their teams. It's the shit. Needless to say it is always a good time, and a lot of people look forward to it.

I had a special date, that I was stoked to share my circle with and to show all my friends. I had to work from 11-1:30, gotta do it. I picked her up and blasted back to my apartment to shower and change in a flurry. Threw everything in the car and we were off. By my calculations, we were in perfect time, and would have arrived with 2 minutes to spare before the awards actually happend (4:28pm) Turned onto the exit for Belmont ave, and nothing. Nothing. No power brakes.....no POWER from the engine. Dead. Caput. Finito. Dead in the water. Pulled off to the left on the exit ramp. with plenty of room to spare. We can still be on time with a short walk. So we do. That was a mistake, but thats neither here nor there. Made it...missed it. My buddy started it early. Sweet. Whatever...I didn't want to stand on an empty podium when I didn't make the top tep, but I did want to be there when the team got called up, and I did want to see everyone else's. So we go to dinner. Spend ALL the cash in our pockets. Get dropped back off at the car after its over, and ITS GONE. Sweet. The rest of the evening was a mix of standing in the cold and getting driven around by the oh so nice Colin Bonnington. Not a good evening, especially when you are all dresses up and your date is in a dress and heels. And its freezing cold. So after staying at Kim's, we headed out again in teh morning, not sure where the car was, and tried to track it down. Long Long LONG story short, we found it around 2pm Sunday afternoon, and paid a shit ton of money to get it out of an impound, loaded on a truck and towed home to my garage, all the while missing two meetings I was supposed to be at. Monday morning she's headed back to school (yes, that was our last 48 hours together for I'm not quite sure how long) and I'm sitting in my mechanics office looking at a note with my car scribbled down and the words, "JUNK" scribed out next to it, haphazardly. Sweet. At least I can get a truck now. At least I don't have to worry about spending all that pesky extra money I didn't have.

In all reality, I'm not all that upset about the car. That shit happens. It happens to all of us, and we have to deal with it. So many worse things could have happened. And the experience was a good one to share and learn from, no matter how shitty and unenjoyable it was. So yeah....things don't always go how we plan them. It's a common trend.

The weather is great, so go ride a bike, boulder, kayak, hike, or do somethings outside!

Day Dreaming

I sit here on my couch, dreaming. Dreaming of romping along the hills somewhere in northern Europe....the Netherlands maybe. Maybe Czechoslovakia. There's actually a small little program going on this very minute with a group of really fast american racers doing just that....on cross bikes. Oh god how I wish I was there. Luckily, one of my buddies is there. Yes I'm really jealous, but more than I'm jealous, I'm proud of him and so so SO happy that he is there right now.

I think a lot of you know who I'm talking about. He's an outstanding young man from Newark, Deleware riding for Van Dessel-Thule. Check out the a website thats up for him and seriously try to help the brother out, this kid deserves it. Check it out HERE.

Popcorn post

Yes, you knew it was coming- this is the post you skip over because it takes about a week to read. It's the yearly wrap up. I've had about 8 hours of sleep in the last three or so days, have had a wonderful day, and am feeling rather sentimental right now...perfect time for this.



The passage of time is a wierd and relative thing I suppose. It feels like ages since this time last year.....truly. It doesn't feel like yesterday at all. A LOT has happened. I won't do it justice but I'll give it a shot.


i started this and its just too much to bite off, so this is turning to a list....with some pictures to suppliment:

-Winter trial at Cadence
-a week in west chester of parties, awards, and meetings
-slippery rock
-my first ride on a modern train and my first real big city experience.
-new sponsors for the year, great prospects shaping up with the camps and events, and I was all business.
-the closer I got to the end of the semester the better and then the worse things got
-Made some really good friends before I left (and made a big mistake before I left. I know she's not reading so I'm allowed to say it....even the lessons learned were shitty ones that do as much harm as good still)
-Classes droned on, I finalized my transfer and tried to shape up the place i'd live for the fall semester(ended up being home).
-lots of long long long rides.
-Lots of falling when I first got back on the mtb over the winter.

-A -5 degree ride.
-Trained for a 24 solo race.
-Thrashed the cat 1 field at greenbrier after standing on the start line in the back with my tire spinning around the sealent so it wouldn't go flat.
-Finished my last day at slippery rock.
-Went white water kayaking with a friend up in lehigh,
-bought a white water kayak
-got my first roll in white water
-almost dislocated my shoulder doing it, and got the largest rush off the bike in a looooong time.
-Living in Philadelphia for 3 and a half months. (thanks adam!)
-Burn was my 24 hour race.
-Burn was a lesson. Despite how well we may train for something and how much we devote to something, our reactions to how things unfold still mean everything.

It feels like there is just too much to have happened.

-One of the best weekends of all time at big bear being a support/slacker/massage bitch for a handful of adult teams (maybe the most fun I've ever had at a bike race)
-An awesome week of training, riding, and coaching with Kuhn and a group of awesome athletes in state college
-A horrible shity weekend in slippery rock, and the last time I'll ever go there. also another good lesson learned.
- kuhns awesome stage race, training, and philly
- Long Pine Classic was a first year Mass race this year. Had a low attendance but had one hell of an event
-ran myself into the ground with that and then driving straight to colorado with the team
-My first podium at a US National Championship (short track)
-the two weeks we spent in colorado may never be forgotten by any of us that went
-neshaminy may have taken the cake on rough patches for the year.
-Cross season was shaping up already with a mudfest at friday night lights at spectacross durign teh new jersey state fair. not bad to start off the year by working through an entire field to take 4th....I really enjoy racing in the evening, especially under lights in front of a crowd....I love that dynamic. That was an awesome trip with gunnar, what a great young man.
- My last week of so in philly was the best week by far. Kelley, kristin, and the others really made me feel like I had great friends there. Hanging out with colin and michelle out of the center was a blast too.
-Reconnected with a long lost interest
-Making friends with Mike Festa
-My first full pro cross season was a long season of learning lessons, taking my lumps, and it was awesome. Looking back over the season I'm pretty happy with it. Fatmarc takes the cake with the most meaningful quote of the season(to me). It went something along the lines of the following," Zach, you are and elite f'g U23 athlete, it doesn't matters who is here. You are fast, no go and race like you belong up there." Without that first kick in the ass, I don't think I would have done so well in all the little races and the PA series. My goals at the beginning of the season were pretty ambitious: win MAC series in U23, Earn 1 uci point, and race well enough to warrant the thought of going to europe. Once again that last one eluded me. As a matter of fact, all those things eluded me. There was some really amazing talent racing around here this year, and I'm not ashamed that I didn't achieve my goals, I accomplished some pretty good things. I raced my heart out in the races I raced, won two elite races in the PA series, took the 2009 Elite Mens series championship for the PA Cyclocross series, and found my bottom. Bottom happened to come in the form of a race I did great at last year, highland park cx. The mud found me begging to get lapped faster than i did. Whitmores found me on an off weekend, fighting with everything i had just to get one more lap in before Tim Johnson picked me off. I am actually really glad I got to become friends with chris consorto this cross season....I've seen him around at a few races for a long time now and never made friends, this cross season it happened. Thats a highlight for sure. Racing for Auer and C3 is something I look forward to all year long. It's the bestest. Cross is boss. But pro sucks.
- My cross race was a success despite its horribly low turnout. I was proud of that, and found the motsie to pull a pretty damn good ride out of my ass....I was happy with that. It was a perfect race for me. it was a crosser's race.
-a weekend spent in Northern california with some great people learning about the high school leagues
-waking up underneath mount Tamipika(speling) and overlooking a fog blanketed east bay
-Moving out of the house
-Getting Marc's couch and doing it proud.

Worst moments of the year:
1. that night in slippery rock
2. that afternoon in neshaminy before the race


Best moments/rewards of the year:
1. Backpacking in Colorado
2. Working with the kids of the Fast Forward Junior Development Team
3. Coaching athletes to; multiple wins, series podiums in XC, endurance, and CX, podiums in xc, cx, marathon, and 24 solo races, and seeing them all make the advancements that they made.


Thanks everyone for a great year and a few more weeks left to go. Special thanks to everyone who helped me over the course of the year, serving as friends, supporters, role models, ass kickers, teachers, and furniture: Brett and Donna Weiser, Don Pagano, Jake Davidson, Marc Vettorri, Sam, Sammie, kuhn, yozell, adam szcepanskie, Kelly Cline, Kris Auer, Weston Schempf, Bad Fuckin Andy Wulfkuhle, Mike Hebe, Kara Tustin, Mark Laser, Steve Kuhn, Gunnar Bergey, Matt Fritzinger, Tom McDaniel, Bradey Gibney, Colin Sandberg, Randy Bergey, that really cute chick from DC who traded prosciutto for a massage, Super fast jeffrey Bahnson, his mom lauri(for alot of things), Brian B (for the coffee cup full of triple strength espresso ;-)), that dude that gave me a CO2 that one time, ALL the sponsors, my parents, anybody who fed me when I was hungry, anybody who gave me a place to sleep when I needed it, and the cycling community for making this sport what keeps me moving all day and waking up in the morning.

Mixed Bag of Tricks

So....We do what we can do in this game. We do what we have to, and we play the lines and boundaries. Cycling and life are one for some of us....I feel like cycling and life are synonymous for me least ways. When one strikes the balance hard, the other is jerked into left field-hard sometimes. The dreaded left field...oh how I loathe that dump. Lets just say left field is a pretty bad place. I'm reminded of this fact a lot, and don't give much thought to it...until I'm unpleasantly reminded that is. It's not a totally negative trade though, good life can transfer into an aura on the bike as well. Normally I think we neglect that thought. We all know those rides....world and peace are one dooode, as the emphatic Californian would say.

Well....this weekend was a pretty mixed bag for me. Lets rephrase that, the last MONTH has been a pretty mixed bag for me. The best thing about this past Saturday(PA States) for me was a toss up between my cool down ride in awesomely warm and comforting leg warmers and I-pod on the roads around the parkway...and getting to soak in that changing of times with the ole kuhndog and yozell. Those two guys are pretty great, and getting to see those two as fathers to kids the same age-who will no doubt grow up together and be close friends- (you can see it I swear) it's just phenomenal. My race was pretty embarrassing honestly. And today was a mixed bag, but good for sure. My favorite part was bunny hopping the barriers every lap but the first. May not have been faster, but it was damn fun for sure.
Props to the very talented Anthony Skorochod for cathcing my almost endo at the barriers
I'm going to make the call and say my season is officially over. I'm pulling the plug on a somewhat high note.....today was pretty good in the end, and I'm happy with that. I am still going to the next two races...Rockville for obvious reasons, where I'll just race to finish and I'll catch a ride down to the MASS finals at Reston to work the pits and heckle all the people I will miss drastically over the next few months and longer for some. Now when to fold folks....know when to fold.

I wanted to mention something else, but I'm not quite sure how to put it in there better than just tacking it on at the end....I guess it can recall the mixed bag thing as well. It's the blog man...this pseudo-culture of bloggerdom. It's pretty phenomenal when you think about it. I don't recall who it was this weekend, a similar situation occurred last weekend as well, but I'm starting to get recognized and as stated a few posts ago called out just for having the blog. For better or worse, I think thats pretty cool. Way to live in a digital era, being recognized by your blog and texting to communicate with clients....I can dig.

Go register for the LAST PACX race of the series in Marysville, PA(central PA) coming up this saturday december 5th. It's going to be a really fun event, and thats what we want this time of year isn't it? Not just another race to go to, but a fun EVENT. Feels like we haven't had one in awhile.

Colorado was amazing.

Now THIS is worth talking about

What am I going to talk about?

My race of course! I just spent the morning out at the lions club.....let me just say there is a treat in store for everyone who makes the trip out....thats right marc, just for you. I haven't raced there(and there hasn't been a race there) since 2005- you may remember the pa state champs and the unofficially official state champs. I remember the course was pretty dope with a home grown set of stairs. I remember resetting the course and tearing down.....but I only have a vague outline of what it did in my mind. So with that in mind, I went out and threw together my take of a cross course at Marysville. I think it went better than it probably did.....I'm reeling right now to be honest. I used a good bit of the same course kuhn did, but I am pretty confident that I made it different enough to be my own. Well.....I don't know, it could be exactly the same.....but that wouldn't be a bad thing, it was an awesome course before. Yes, I'm jabbering and rambling now....I'm that excited.

So anyways, here's the scoop, on tap I have a few key attractions. The first one is what I called the "run-up of sunshine and rainbows" on my website. The name is a trick. It is rideable.....but barely. Which brings in the question, "To try, or not to try?". You will have to dismount at some point, because it goes straight into a staircase for shits and giggles! Had to put it in....it's a staircase just sitting there looking all alone...you get the point. The second attraction is what I'm going to lovingly dub the G spot, just to show ken how its done. For those of you who attended specta-cross this summer, you know what i'm referring to. If not- I guess I can let you in on it. The "g" spot was the center of a large wet- spiral. You'll know mine when you see it....I don't hide it ;-) Was that necessary? I don't think so, but it will be fun for the announcer all day long.

The course is fast. Bloody fast...in some parts. But its also slow and technical in others. Expect a lot of good flow, with a off cambers, two loose corners, some tight descending, wooded sections, field sections, two huge power sections and a few really steep ride-ups, steps, dismounts, remounts, unruly ragamuffins, amazing shicanes, a ton of transitions, and a really fun course. I haven't decided yet if i am going to put in a set of true barriers yet....but expect them anyways.

There are two people reg'd....so lets get some peeps on there! Get me amp'd up and it shows in the energy of the event. Come on people, lets race cross!!

Oh and there is indoor reg, bathrooms, kids selling coffee and foooood, and a band! Plus a guest appearance on the microphonothinger! And my race music is trance....

go HERE!