Signing off for 2013. #CXmyHeart

I know I'm not the most verbose blogger but even I need a break.  I have all these plans and ideas and they mostly just sound like garble, or a Chris Horner interview gone...well, garble.  I'm going to take a couple months UnderTheRugg if you will, and come back in 2014 with something a little more entertaining, or at least distracting.

In the meantime, I've joined forces with World Bicycle Relief to spread awareness of their cause and to use my voice in cycling to raise support.

The announcement is HERE and you can donate HERE

Getting sexy at Pro Tested Gear

#CXmyHeart @TimothyRugg
For the rest of the year I intend to donate any prize money made at races to my fundraising page and I want to challenge as many people as possible to match that contribution.  Unfortunately the first race I did after announcing this initiative resulted in a broken CX bike and concern as to whether I will make much, if any!  I will, but regardless of the initiative, I have a birthday coming up November 24th and Christmas is right around the corner.  Give the gift of a bike to someone in need.  Just $134 is enough for one bike.  Follow me on twitter when I make announcements of my contributions.  I really hope you will be a part of this with me.

So yeah, Happy Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Years!

Ride safe and stay Rugged.

Monday Ramblings

I've been laying low since my last open letter to Red Bull.  The post accomplished my main goals of exposing a void, getting people talking, and getting things moving for next year.  I don't have the answer to revitalizing the sport, but it's nice to know others are thinking about it and some even proposing ideas.  I did not get a response from Red Bull.

Jordan Cheyne contributed to PezCyclingNews A Roadmap to Repair Professional Cycling which lays out an ambitious and intensive 4-point plan to heal cycling’s image, make the sport economically viable and establish effective long term governance.  I've raced with Jordan a few times and appreciate his contribution to cycling.  He is also one of those riders that for no real good reason, minus the lack of options, isn't a pro.  But I like racing with him because he goes all out and doesn't hold back.  And despite his lack of opportunity, he is all-in with the sport and will continue to go after it in a positive way.


I think the majority of cyclists racing in USAcycling appreciate the structure of Category racing because it provides that video-game mentality of getting to the next level.  Novice, Category 5 to Elite, Category 1 with a points structure based on results through the categories keeps riders in the system for years until they are indoctrinated into loving cycling because it becomes such a long process that they have no choice but to love.  Or hate... there are definitely those riders who realize how much the system has taken over cycling for them and have abandoned ship. But all-in-all I like the system because it keeps riders itching for that next level, with the promise that if they make it to Cat 1, they can race at the professional level.  Unfortunately that's where I think the fault is.  I don't want to elaborate right now, but the Pro-Am racing scene in the US is a joke.  If professional racing is ever going to be successful, there needs to be enough professional teams to fill a field.


There were 42 starters for the Professional Criterium Championships this past season.  Every other professional field has anywhere from 100-150 starters, with 50-100 of those riders usually being Category 1 racers.  How much longer will amateurs prop of a broken professional development program for non to hardly non-existent salaried rider teams?


I'm looking forward to reading the book from Phil Gaimon regarding his experience racing on division 3 Pro Cycling on $10 a Day: A Hand-Me-Down Guide to American Bike Racing.  Now I'm a little worried that this book will inspire kids to put up with the norm of domestic pro cycling since Phil has made it to the "Big Leauges".  Phil is going to race on Garmin next year and make lots of money and be considered a success in bike racing.  I don't want to distract from his accomplishments at all, anyone who can put up with a system for 10 years and overcome and succeed is a hero in my book.  I just hope that this book exposes some major problems in the system and it elicits some change.  


Again, I don't have the answers.  I just want people to think about it and to understand that currently, cycling is not a viable career choice!  Alright that's about the fifth time since I started writing that I almost blew up in rant.  I am calm and collected.  I just get nervous when juniors come up to me at bike races and treat me as if I have made it and I can see pro dreams in there eyes and can hear ambition in there shaky voices.  I hope they have more opportunities and viable ones.


And then again, again..., I don't really relate well to the junior cyclist.  I was never good enough to make the team for organized sports when I was younger and didn't start riding and racing bikes until I was already twenty-three.  Hard to be super-frustrated about a system you are still so ripe to and with little real influence being a 27...racing age 28 year old recovering corporate world Information Technology specialist.  Then again, that might be more influential than I had previously thought.


Oh well, without further ado.  I'm returning to work.  maybe I needed to spite and spout to feel better about going back to my day job.  It's a good thing really, I need health and dental insurance and a paycheck gives me the opportunity to sponsor myself!  Woohoo!  RuggRacing is coming to a city near you in 2014.  Sort of a joke, but not really.  I'm still working a few angles and plan on racing individually where I can and guest riding on teams when that's required.  



I'm going Rugg, er... Rogue  

Nick Waite is a badass, but I look cooler.

Two Weeks Notice

It's Friday night and most people I know have left work and probably moved on to somewhere fun like a bar or getting ready for a long night on the town.  I've got too much on my mind.  I mean, I guess I am at a bar at least. I'm at The Artful Dodger self-described as a coffeehouse and cocktail lounge.  I'm drinking both a coffee and a cocktail, so it seems appropriately defined.  I have spent a lot of time in here lately sending my race resume out to teams and talking to other cyclists about what I and they are doing next year.  I don't think I've talked to a single cyclist that is thrilled with what next year has in store for them.

The scene around me is getting a little overwhelming.  At least 50 JMU students have walked in and I think they are preparing to do some acapella performance.  Yep, I just heard a dude blow into a tuner. The barely-can-hear-yourself-think atmosphere just focused all its attention main-stage and my previously annoyed demeanor just opened up.  I love this, so much culture in this college/mountain/farm city in rural VA!  The artful dodger is known for its support of the arts.  There are paintings all over the wall displaying local artists visions and performances almost daily.

I've spent my afternoon and evening finalizing a proposal that I just submitted to Red Bull.  It just so happens that my cocktail, Blue Ridge Haze, is made with Red Bull ice cubes.  More importantly, I have a vision, the riders, and the motivation to help create the next professional team in the US if there's a sponsor out there that shares in my vision.

Below is the open letter I submitted to Red Bull.  This is what transparency looks like.  I hope Red Bull or someone reading, anyone, steps up.  If not, and I fall on my face for trying, I'll get back up and figure something out for next year.  I'm not scared and I'll be criticized for simplifying something very complicated, but I have to try because someone has to.

Do me one favor, despite the attention this gathers... Blast this.  Facebook share, Twitter Retweet, Email, Text, etc.  Let's at the VERY least get people talking.  One last thing, the deadline for Pro-Continental team submission is in about two weeks.  This is your two weeks notice.

RED BULL

I have an idea, and I need Red Bull to give it wings.  

Background:

Road cycling in the U.S. is in a really tough place.  It is expected that there will only be six registered Continental Pro cycling teams for the 2014 season.  Depending on whether a race has a 6 or 8 rider limit per team, that leaves approximately 36-48 pro riders in most US pro races that have open fields to amateur teams to fill the remaining 100-150 spots.  Promoters must do this to satisfy budget and eligibility requirements.  One would hope that this would create an opportunity for amateurs to expose themselves to professional teams, but it degrades the quality of racing and continues to weaken a system designed to develop riders to the next level in professional cycling.  

Furthermore, it’s created a system where pro teams can offer riders zero salary for a spot on their team due to the number of racers available in the pool of elite level cyclists and the shortage of professional teams available.  This is not sustainable and the system needs to be corrected to offer athletes an opportunity to continue to develop in the sport while being able to provide for themselves due to the dramatic commitment required to race at the professional level.

In the lowest places we have the opportunity to achieve the greatest success.  Each day I hear stories from cyclists that are arguably some of the best in the country, considering to throw in the towel because they are offered no salary to race at the professional level.  I want to start a project that changes the norm that is slowly damaging the sport of road cycling in the U.S. and eliminating a demographic of riders that need support to succeed.  A demographic of riders that deserve support.  I want these riders on my team.  I want to create a team that is considered the underdog that gets this sport back on track.  If you can’t join them, beat them.

Project:

I want to propose that Red Bull become the title sponsor of the next UCI registered Road Continental cycling team in the United States.  The team would consist of 4-8 riders through consideration of sponsor ambassadorship and athleticism and supported primarily by its title sponsor.  

Goals:

• To be “THE” badass team that generates national and international media attention for its sponsor(s) due to its existence*.
• To provide team riders an opportunity to develop to the highest levels in cycling achievable to them, while providing them with the support they deserve and need to get there with the least amount of resistance.
• To win and podium multiple national caliber races throughout the US and...
• To explore international racing and elevate sponsor(s) exposure if requested and supported by the sponsor(s).
• To work with USA Cycling and professional teams to redefine the system in place to develop cyclists and to support the sport of cycling and its athletes in a sustainable way.  

* The team will use every social media outlet available to them to generate positive attention to itself and its sponsor(s).  The creation of this team will be exploited as pro-cycling and not  anti-establishment.  The existence of this team alone will come off as “punk-rock” and will develop a “David vs. Goliath” story that will resonate throughout the world of cycling.  This will be big, no matter how small it is. I have riders in mind already with amazing stories, and I want to tell them.

Management and Organization:

The management of the team will be in its first year of existence an all-volunteer operation.  The roles of General Manager, Sports Director, and Operation/Finance Manager will be fulfilled upon successful registration of the team.

The General Manager will be the primary contact for sponsor(s) and final operational decisions.  As the proposal author, Timothy Rugg, I volunteer to assume this role for the first year of the team’s existence.

Each rider on the team and its sponsor(s) will create an Advisory Committee designed to review operational opportunities and provide recommendations for race schedule, budget allocation, social media outreach, and other awareness strategies.

Implementation:

Provided sponsor(s) can provide firm commitment, the General Manager will proceed to establish the team within the framework provided by USA cycling.

All application materials, bank documents, race calendars, roster selections, budgets, and correspondence will be transparent and publicly posted on Google Docs or however the Advisory Committee recommends.

The deadline for applications for UCI Road Continental teams to submit for the 2014 season is October 31st, 2013.  If the deadline is impossible for sponsor(s), it is possible to register an “Elite National Team” at any time.  The differences and requirements for both classifications can be discussed upon further consideration between the team and sponsor(s).

Budget:

In 2014, the budget request is as follows.

• $40,000 to $80,000 Salary for 4 to 8 cyclists. (~$10,000 per rider)
• ~$10,000 Registration and Application fees for USA Cycling and UCI for pro license.

OR

• $650 Registration fee for Elite National Team. (amateur team with professional race opportunities)
• $40,000 to $80,000 Race Registration, Transportation, and Race Lodging for 4 to 8 cyclists competing in 50 calendar race days throughout the 2014 season.  (To include National Racing Calendar, National Criterium Calendar, and regional events.)
• $10,000 to $20,000 Other race and media equipment not met by sponsor(s).

Total - $100,000 to $190,000 for 4 to 8 riders registered as a UCI Continental team.  This budget is subject to change depending on further examination by the Advisory Committee, yet is smaller than any UCI Road Continental budget for USA Cycling.  There are elite national teams with upwards of $250,000 budgets and UCI Road Continental teams with budgets ranging from $400,000 to over a million dollars.  I can do more with half and Red Bull’s support.

Benefit:

This proposal is designed to both inspire and directly support cyclists at the national level through a competitive, prestigious, and exciting team program.

American or Americant

Six years ago I had my first Americano.  I had never had anything besides coffee at this point and I didn't even know what an Americano was.  It's espresso with hot water.  Nothing fancy really.  In fact all my experience with coffee to that point was mostly milk and sugar with a splash of coffee used specifically to stay awake and not for taste.

I've ordered thousands of dollars worth of coffee and even worked for a short period of time as a barista at a gourmet coffee shop where I made "Latte Art". Since then coffee has become more than a utility for me and my expanse appreciation and knowledge of the process, taste, and international business for coffee is as serious as my love for cycling. And let's be honest, anyone who rides a bike without coffee is at a disadvantage.  Sorry tea-lovers or caffeine-haters.

This really isn't about coffee. But that Americano and the story behind it is all I can think about today. I ordered that drink specifically because it had America in the title. I'm not pointing that out to incorporate some sort of patriotism. I had been living in East Africa for six months and I was homesick and I was confused. I had gone to Uganda for one reason, bounced around several organizations trying to help in some way or another, and ended up in Kenya for some other reason and left with very little fulfillment in myself and the work I had done. I'm being very broad, but I can imagine anyone who has set off on a mission to "Save The World!" spends a lot of time feeling like they fell short. I knew what America was and I figured an Americano just had to be good. It needed to be good.

I had that Americano at a coffee stand searching for an internet hotspot in Nairobi's Westgate Mall to write home or search for jobs back home.  Something insignificant enough that I can't remember. This past Saturday that mall was terrorized resulting in at least 72 deaths and 200 injuries. This past Saturday I was racing cyclocross in Baltimore, MD. I'm reminded that I have unfinished business. I'm reminded of why I went to East Africa and not what I did. The why is more powerful and will hopefully get me back on track. 

I want to tell about an amazing story about my two-day adventure ride with JB, Dave, and Joe D from Harrisonburg, VA to a ski resort in West Virginia last week. I want to complain about the how I haven't been able to get an insurance company to underwrite my pre-existing conditions and give me insurance. And about how all the recent politics revolving around Obamacare impacts me. I'm hesitant to tell anyone recent considerations that deviate from dreams that I've outlined before in fear of letting anyone down. Yet, each time I try to write anything about any of that, I just delete it. Just one of those days you feel guilty talking about yourself. It's a weird feeling having stories to tell but not being able to tell them for whatever reason. Timing is everything and life is not fair. Make the most out of every ride and every adventure.

It is always worth it.

CX: Tim Rugg p/b Friends

I rarely come up with a title before I finish writing but this was just too cheesy to resist and something that's been heavy on my mind.

I believe I can fly.

It's hard for me to just stick to the coaches plan of using cyclocross just for training and fun.  Don't get me wrong it's fun no matter how seriously you take it, but winning is the most fun!  I didn't look for sponsorship soon enough for cyclocross because I just didn't know how committed I could be with my focus still being on the road.  Plus I have PTSD from my bike failure and collarbone explosion from last year.

When I knew that I was definitely going to race I had a week to learn how to ride a cross bike again and a week to get a bike and some support.  Immediately my friends at Pro Tested Gear offered help getting me in the races and a sick looking kit to wear during the races.  I was telling my friend Simon while hanging out at The Bike Rack in DC that I was just not having any luck, and he handed me his Pake C'mute to race until and if I find anything better.

Now there's no denying that the Pake is a tank, as heavy and indestructible, but with my ENVE fork and wheels, it's getting me to and through some training and racing.  I was sitting 3rd before rolling a tubular tire Saturday at Jamestown and landed 5th on the podium in a stacked field in South Germantown Sunday.  My favorite moment from Sunday's race was when Joe Jefferson made a comment over the sound system that it looked like I was riding a bike a newspaper delivery boy would use.  Joe is about as good as it gets when he emcee's.

With the Charm City UCI 2-day weekend in Baltimore, MD coming up this weekend - I knew the Pake needed to spend more time as the spare bike.  Within minutes of reaching out again, I had multiple friends offering to let me ride there whip for the weekend.  Let me emphasize that these are friends that know how much I crash and are still there to support me.  My buddy Michael and Marc came through both offering me a place to stay and to be able to use there bike.  Amazing.  I've been feeling really lucky lately to have support for what I'm trying to do and what people believe I can do.

I'm really hoping a race-ready bike will make a difference this weekend as I try to grab some UCI points and some off-road cred' to add to my street cred'.  Speaking of off-road cred', my friends at Diamondback have really made my week rewarding me with a Mason 29er Full Suspension Mountain Bike for landing on the podium in both an NCC and NRC professional race this past season.  I'm going to take my first stab at mountain bike racing at the 26th Annual Tidewater Mountain Bike Challenge in Williamsburg, VA.  Thanks Phil, it's been a pleasure racing for Diamondback this year!

Calm Before The Storm

Team H-Burg - Waite, Bishop, and Rugg

There's never a dull moment with my new lifestyle of cycling, trumpeting, and soul-searching.  Rather, there's never a moment where I don't have something I could be doing.  I'm not saying "I'm busy", nor complaining, because I've realized the negative connotation that reflects after reading the Harvard Business Review blog post "Please Stop Complaining About How Busy You Are" by Meredith Fineman.  The humble-brag of being busy can often be interpreted as "I’m busier, more in-demand, more successful."  I'm not busy.  I have just been aware of how much time I have and that there are so many things I can do to fill my time, and me being terrible at being lazy I resort to doing different things almost constantly.  That's what I mean.

Another good read this morning when you are done reading that HBR article... Wait,  let me say one more thing about that before I move on.  The article misses a notion I think is relative to a lot of people I know.  I believe a lot of people say they are busy because they realize what they can't do, what they want to do, because of what they are currently doing.  So really these people should just be saying, "I'm distracted right now."  In the realm of training to be a world-class athlete, it's very easy to get distracted since everything you do, absolutely everything, has to be considered.  In the pursuit of fractional gains and small percentage improvements of fitness and growing more importantly every day, social media presence - everything has to be considered.  I just got overwhelmed with thoughts of the meals I need to eat for the rest of the day, the training I need to complete, the overdue blogpost, the bike maintenance I need to perform before this weekend's cyclocross races, the outreach to pro teams I need to make, the medical bills I need to manage, the trumpet practice schedule I need to write to optimize my training on the horn when I'm not training on the bike.  There's more.  There's always more.  I'm not busy, but it's very easy to get distracted.

CX is BOSS

That other good read I was talking about, right.  Over on Kevin Cross's blog he writes about the uncontrollable desire to ride hard, even when you don't have to.  To clarify, I don't mean he feels like he has to train.  But he rides hard because he wants to feel the effort that takes him to that familiar place. Sure, the setting sunset, deer that line rock creek park, and the summer fleeting breeze are all things that we tell ourselves are what we ride for.  But it's not.  Those things are fine and all but we really only use these experiences to explain to "non-cyclists" why we ride so much to excuse ourselves from being masochists or suffering from addiction.  I ride, and Kevin rides, for the effort.  We ride for that feeling that makes us feel everything.  We ride hard to remember where we've been, where we are, and where we want to be.  The effort makes us feel like we are home and completely in control.  It's actually pretty simple and only something that "cyclists" understand.

I got on my bike for the first time in ten days after feeling the wrath of Campylobacter Jejuni in my GI tract.  Food poisoning.  Doing my own detective work I imagine I contracted this bacteria while training in the rain on one of the farm roads around Harrisonburg.  This kind of food poisoning is usually contracted from animal feces.  So my breakdown has me riding in the rain, kicking up some cow poop run-off from my tires onto my water bottle nipple, and then taking a swig unknowingly while training, ending five weeks of intense training and not having a result to show for the effort.  Today's my last day of a 5-day probiotic pill regimen and although my insides are still in a twist, the realization I won't get another chance to prove myself on the road for 5-6 months is the hardest pill to swallow and is causing me the most discomfort.

But like Kevin, I found comfort in the effort when I rode Wednesday with Jeremiah Bishop and Nick Waite.  Despite not riding in some time, the 10 pound lighter and super rested (muscularly at least) version of me, made for a day of proving to myself and reminding myself where I had was, where I am now, and where I am going.  I'm not good at easing into anything and went for it on the 211 climb from New Market named "Super Lee".  I surprised myself and set the Strava KOM with a vertical ascent measure above 1400 and a climb averaging 6.9% gradient and 5.9km in distance.  Season is already over and that effort to most seems pointless giving that I'm not even supposed to be training yet.  It's the off-season!  But I needed that effort.  I needed to know I was okay and that my mind was strong and could handle it.  Sometimes the efforts that don't matter or lead to a goal, the ones you can't quantify or qualify, are the ones that matter the most.  With all the distractions I have going on I couldn't be more ready to focus on the training and goals that take me from the coffee shop I am sitting in write now, to the top step of the podium at an NRC race next year.

Calm before the storm.

The boy with the wolf tattoo.

Only 24 hours left until the start of the Bucks County Classic.  A race with a rich cycling history and promise that anything is possible.  In 2000 Tornado Tom Boonen himself raced, still as an amateur, placing second in the race I've been training so hard for.  Boonen went on to win the World Road Race Championships in 2005, the green jersey in the Tour De France in 2007 and Paris-Roubaix, 4 times!

Alright I'm not even trying to create some comparison between the path that I think I'm headed and the path Boonen took, primarily because he's a sprinter, and I am not.  I will also never try cocaine.  So there's that.

In fact, I will not even finish second at Bucks County Classic.  At least not this year.  Six days ago I started running a fever and soon after my whole system went haywire.  I eventually had to go to urgent care and was put on antibiotics for some issues with my intestines.  I can't take chances when there's something wrong with my GI tract due to a congenital defect.  I had to send in the bug bomb to clear everything up.

Things started to feel a little bit better yesterday but I had my name pulled from the roster.  It's hard to explain what this race meant for me, or could have meant for me, and how hard this week has been as result.  But I'll save you the sob story.  I'm in good spirits.  I played my trumpet yesterday, twice.  I bought some valve oil from the local instrument repair shop to play some more today.

I dug into my old chest of books and found my Arban's Complete Conversvatory Method for trumpet. This is no ordinary music book.  It is well known in the trumpeter community that the ability to conquer this book would mean you would have all the skills required to master the trumpet.  Now this book used to always overwhelm me and I'd just flip through and do something here and there back when I was in school.  But I swear I immediately started thinking of a periodization training plan to break up articulation, slurring, and ornament training such as appogiattura into a well structured plan to help me get back to the heyday of my trumpet playing ability and hopefully beyond.

Wow, the road season is really over.  Still so much on my mind.  The trumpet seems like a weird deflection, but there's more to the story still to come.  There's a lot more to come.  A new season has begun.  I'm in a new place.  I am getting healthy.  I am recharging looking forward to some fun cyclocross racing and mountain bike riding.  I am hopeful for what next road season will have for me. Most of all, I'm really happy with what the next six months looks like.  I'm happy.

Stay Tuned.  Ride Safe.