The technicIAn

Neither.

2010-09-06T22:19:00.008-05:00

Well a lot has happened since the last post. The Wednesday night ride has become a staple, and then receded into the past. After leaving the country for the first time, I have a skewed and renewed vigor for random tidbits for life.
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After leaving for Mexico, I was excited for my future. I couldn't imagine a world outside the country I had known. What I saw blew me away. If you are an American (from the USA, you will not be surprised) and travel to Cancun, Mexico, you will find what you are looking for. Hell let me put it this way. If I were going there to get completely wasted (a la Iowa City-tailgating style), I would be disappointed.

While the "luxurious" amenities abounded, I was significantly disinterested. I met some sweet people, but could not imagine a more watered down experience. Was it not a fabulous honeymoon? Of course it was. Emily and I experienced gorgeous views, beautiful seas and magnificent beaches in the company of our one true love. We were in heaven. Anything we wanted to eat or drink for 10 days, while in the company of the only individual on the planet that was significant.

So compared to Brazil, what did I experience? Everything. The beautiful people of the country emblazoned my memory with imagery that I cannot begin to describe. The love, care, and emotion with which they displayed their passion for their homeland left little to question, and much to be desired. I can only begin to describe the experience in picture rather than words.

I apologize as I struggle to find purchase on what my blog has come to be, but I have struggled to describe my personal experiences over the past couple of months as I see them now. I would say that things have changed drastically, but they haven't.

I haven't stagnated. I have advanced. I have raced. I have biked. I have loved. I have been overly corny. I have been a poor husband. I have grown as a human being. To say that I have done anything other than stagnated would be a travesty.

I apologize for being dramatic previously, and continuously. I was in a weird place, and quite honestly still am. This whole season has left me humbled on the bike and in my learning environment. Some might think that to be a weird statement, but I will leave you with this. Try walking in someone else shoes for a minute. It might throw you off for a while.
On to Gnomefest. If you don't know what it is. Listen up, learn yourself somethin'. Get to the 'Scons, and live a little. I'll be back soon.

Stagnate or Advance?

2010-06-25T23:49:00.004-05:00

I have been pretty flat since returning from vacation. After a wedding, the end of my semester (during which time I spent three decent weeks on the bike) I have been ultimately flat since my vacation. I don't even know where to start. Well I do, but I am lacking motivation.

A garage full of bikes. A body ready (but questioningly able).

I need some kind of rebound. I am ready to throw in the towel, but last season lingers in my brain. I overcame stupidity last year. This season brings struggles due to life decisions.

Where do I start? A long road to travel any way I slice it.

Got married, Finals, then rode my bike. Now in Brazil.

2010-06-06T22:19:00.001-05:00

Be back soon.

Iola Bump and Jump Race Report

2010-05-05T21:19:00.004-05:00

Well one week before my wedding and I knew I needed to get to one last bachelor race before marriage. Luckily instead of having to drive completely hungover up to Iola on my own, Kevin from the shop decided to head up there with me. He just purchased a brand new car and an awesome roof rack so he was definitely looking for an excuse to use it (and to lay the smack down on my hungover butt.)

We met up at 6:30am to make the 5 hour drive up to Iola, Wisconsin. Little did I realize that I had basically made this drive before for Gnomefest Quattro. We chatted and listened to some good tunes, peed one too many times and snacked on some good foods on the way up. We stopped in Steven's Point just down the road from Iola to grab some sandwiches before the race. We ran into the Eppen's who were doing the exact same thing.

I tried to cram some sandwich down and some chips which worked ok. I was still feeling my bachelor party from Friday night. Needless to say I enjoyed the evening and was home in bed by 11:30pm (I was lit beyond belief). We got to the venue and not to our surprise it was packed. There were countless cars everywhere. Right when we got there the Sport race was going off and the line of racers was longer than any I have ever seen. There were probably 250-300 people racing sport. Insane.

We got registered and perused what little of the course we could. With the races being so large, you cannot pre-ride the day of the race, so we checked it out what little we could. It was time to get ready so we suited up after finding Kyle and Robin and pre-rode a little bit. We thought we were going to nab a good starting position by getting to the line early, but it seemed that everyone else was there 10 minutes early.

We lined up somewhere in the 50-60's of our field. We didn't know at the time, but our field was 94 deep. Talk about nerve wracking. National anthem, waiting, call-ups not in that particular order. Then go time. With 50 people in front of you, you have time to make sure you don't slip a pedal or do anything stupid, unfortunately, it is the people hurrying in front of you you have to worry about. Two guys got a little tangled in front of me so I had to clip out. Not a lot of momentum lost and I cranked as hard as I could up the start hill.

The beginning of the race is really open and all doubletrack. There are some wicked steep climbs which were going to take there toll later in the race. I kept the pedal down, but on the open sections just wasn't feeling it. I made it through lap one unscathed and had moved up a little ways.

Lap two went on without a hitch until the end. Riding behind a 29er crew racer out of a singletrack section into a clearing, he took a really inside line near some course markers. I was gassing pretty hard and not paying as close attention as I should have. Totally being my fault I rode too far inside and smoked a pole. Nothing serious and no crash, but I came to a complete stop and had to rally to catch back onto the group after the opening climb.

I caught back on, but the damage was done for lap 3. I had to back off at the beginning of lap 4. So did everyone in the group except Kevin. He was riding really strong and just walked away on the start climb. I could have chased, but knew I had to sit in and let my legs come around. After the 3rd or 4th hard climb I hacked the most epic two part loogie of my life. And after the epic loogie, it was game on.

My legs out of no where came around! My hangover and stomach came out of no where and started working. I kept the pedal to the floor with only two or three guys hanging onto me. At the beginning of the 5th lap I could tell they were hurting and just kept the pace up. I felt great at the steady tempo. I was paying for Friday night on the climbs, but I just cruised those in the granny and kept the pressure on until the singletrack. There was no one in sight at that point. I rode to the end of the race solo on the remaining singletrack.

I ended the day 26th which wasn't too shabby for being more drunk on Friday than I have in probably a year (don't ask about that time). Eppen killed it of course and took 2nd and Kevin took 23rd. Robin did awesome as well taking down 7th in the Women's Elite. Dr. Kyle rode strong as well considering he had just defended his doctoral thesis two weeks before hand. Kim Eppen flatted/burped her tire of the remaining pressure and DNF'ed which sucked. She asked if anyone wanted to ride Sugar the next day, and we all declined. No way was I going to ride when she had some aggression to take out on the trails.

All in all a good weekend. Now time to get married. I have more butterflies in my stomach than you could ever imagine. I know that isn't a thing for a guy to say, but screw it it is true. I love Emily more than anyone could imagine and the anticipation of her being my wife is killing me.

I also have a bitching SS cross/gravel conversion coming up after I get Emily's wedding present all built up. The build has spiraled out of control as new parts that are just hitting the market have literally been falling in my lap as I need them. They have just become available pretty much exactly when I need them. I will detail that in the next couple of days.

Decorah Time Trial Race Report

2010-04-29T12:41:00.006-05:00

Knowing that the Decorah Time Trials were going to be on the IMBCS schedule this year, I knew it was a must do. About 3.5 years ago I had the chance to cruise up to Decorah to finally ride the awesome trails. With it being 3.5 years since I had ridden them (I have subsequently said year after year that I was going to get up there at least once) I knew I was going to need a refresher on the trails.

I contacted Shockey at the beginning of last week. Tentatively the plan was I was heading up on Thursday to pre-ride come hell or high water. Luckily neither of those came about and I was actually joined by Adam and Thomas B. We shoved off nice and early (8am, come on it was my day off) in gorgeously sunny weather. Shockey had arranged for Jeff O'Gara to ride with us.

Last time I rode those trails a couple of friends and I actually rode with Jeff and another individual who we figured out to be none other than Ben Shockey. Small world, but it is Iowa. So after some minor adventures on the way up we arrived just in time to meet up with Jeff.

Jeff knows those trails well enough that he could casually ride a fast pace and make us feel pretty worthless, but without that kind of pace, I wouldn't have gotten a good race pace feel for the trails. We rode just about all of the course (some or most backwards) and included the Palisades side just to round things off and kill the last of what was in our legs. I somehow remembered a lot of the trails and where we were which was great.

Come race day Adam and I met up even earlier at 7am to rainy cool weather. With a 10am start we knew that we had to get up there early enough to get a decent start time. We arrived right at 9:30 with just enough time to register and get the low down in the race meeting. We nabbed the 10:53 and 10:54 start times, and got suited up.

One thing I need to work on is warming up. I suck at it. The course started with about a 200 yard road stretch and then turned into the sky. I had been forewarned about the opening section. I knew there would reach a point that got too steep. This came a little earlier than anticipated due to the tacky/slightly muddy conditions. At this point my heart was beating out of my chest so I hopped off the bike and attempted to run. Not happening. So I hiked up the short section that led to the top of the bluff.

I thought that things wouldn't turn up again too badly, but I was wrong. I was 10 minutes in and had already passed countless people who were faced with the intensity of the climbs. The trail opened up into a double track section that again pitched up steeply. There were three more people here either off the bike or just trudging along. I dove in past the last of them thankful to find the trail finally at the top of the bluff.

This is where my heart finally slowed down and I got into a good rhythm. After this I was on cruise control. I was feeling great. I knew the couple of trouble climbs after this point and knew the insane dosage of elevation was better spread across the remainder of the course.

I got heckled twice going through Death Valley where all the party people were hanging out and was wishing I could stop, but I felt really good. I got down to the river trail and punched it as fast as I was comfortable with. Trevor was waiting at the line and said I had rolled across the line close the the sub-1 hour mark. I knew I had made the top 5 and was content.

I then proceded to drink way too many beers, eat some awesome chili, hang out with Shockey, Adam, and Marty, show up to the awards late (they started way earlier than anticipated) and then head home. I pulled out 4th on the day. I had hoped for more, but everything felt great. The stupid cramping problem was being caused by the Rotor rings and was remedied by a chainring position change. This race confirmed it.

Next up is the WORS race at Iola. I am hoping that my legs have a little Bump and Jump in them after my bachelor party on Friday night. I have a long drive up there on Saturday evening after work and a late start time on Sunday and then more driving.

After that I am on official house lockdown. No mountain biking for me until after the wedding. More self imposed than anything seeing as the beginning of the season has been laden with races already.

Sylvan Island Stampede Race Report

2010-04-26T09:35:00.003-05:00

So this is way late, but better than never. I headed down to Davenport early on Saturday for my cousin's wedding so I got a chance to preride the course with Emily. Riding the course backward from last year was very surprising. It rode great! Not a single hiccup in the flow of the course.

The wedding went off without a hitch, I probably drank too many beers, and then headed to the hotel to get some rest. I woke up nice and early to watch Paris-Roubaix. It was crazy to see Cancellara ride away from the rest of the field that well. After getting ready we headed over to the Island to watch the Sport/Women's race.

After getting all ready, we lined up for the Men's Expert race. Things were running behind all day long so it was an antsy start on top of the fact that it was the first IMBCS race of the year. I as usual was an idiot and didn't get a front row start which really hurt my chances. I was right behind Kevin who got bumped off the start which in turn caused hesitation on my part.

So getting into the singletrack somewhere around the 20's I knew I was going to need to do some work to get through the beginning of the field. What I didn't know was that I was going to darn near have to blow myself to do this. On the open sections of the course it seemed like everyone was riding really strong. I had to burn a couple more matches that I would have liked to just moving up.

I got up to around 4-5th by around the end of lap 2. I realized that if I held that "pace" I was going to blow up. Worst part was all the accelerations were causing me to slow instead of being able to settle in and hold a solid pace. The rest of the next two laps were damage control.

I over'Gued myself somewhere around lap 4. My stomach got all weird and bloated which turned out to force me into a comfortable pace. At this point I realized my fitness was lacking and that I was going to ride above my comfort level just to save face.

Lap 5-6 were when I felt the best. If the race would have ended at lap 6 I would have been happy. I would have been one place lower, but Jed Gammel rode stronger than I and should have beat me if not for a late race puncture. I also have to give it up to Brian Kingsbury. He rode the race of his life. His fitness looked great. He caught me on lap 6 and never looked back. Hats off to him.

I ended up 5th on the day. With guys like Brian Eppen, Jesse Lalonde, Cam Kirkpatrick there, you know it is going to be a tough day. And it was.

I promise to get the Decorah Time Trial update up this week. It went a lot better.

Ouachita Challenge Race Report

2010-04-13T22:49:00.002-05:00

So race day came. Woke up around 6am and got showered and headed over to Oden to pick up the race packets. We officially found out that we were going to run the race the opposite direction. My goal for the race was to stay with the leaders as long as possible to see what would play out.

At the start I made the group for the long dirt road section before the singletrack. I had to ease up on the climb to the entrance but caught back on the tail end of the line of 15 or so leaders. I rode in the group for quite some time while things stretched out slowly. I realized quickly that I was going to need to back off the pace.

I eased up and settled in climbing Blowout and Big Brushy. On the descent off of Big Brushy (after flatting) I found my front brake slowly leaking down. Shit. As it turned out, my brake hose banjo bolt was not torqued to spec (the bike had been built for 5 days, still my fault) so the last 40 miles were ridden without a front brake. Awesome.

Anyways after my mechanicals, I kind of shut down a little mentally. I was out of the top 20, and was yoyo-ing around the 30's. I decided to just ride and have fun. I started to have some cramping issues a little earlier than expected as well. I was hydrating well and eating, but cramping ensued early. I think I have tracked it down to my chainrings which leave you on the gas a lot.

All in all I still finished top 50 which was a good day on the mountain bike. I finished with Adam same as last year forgoing the opportunity to sprint it out for 39th or 40th or something. Seemed fitting to cruise in with him.

Next up Sylvan Island Report. More of the same (minus the mechanicals!)

Ouachita Challenge Race Report (pre-race adventuring)

2010-03-31T22:40:00.005-05:00

This past Friday, Adam, Karen, Agent and I all headed down to Pencil Bluffs, Arkansas to spend some time in the Ouachita Mountains. The main event was to be the Ouachita Challenge mountain bike race. I went down hoping for a top 20 finish, but what I came back with was a lesson in living.

Our travels began with many miles in the car. Goal number one was finding Doritos Burn. Our first stop left us chasing a behind production chip manufacturer. Adam contemplated that we would probably find said Doritos in some "small town in Arkansas." More on that story later.

We arrived at our campsite at the Ouachita River Haven around 7pm CST on Friday. We got the tents all set up and got ready for dinner. I could not imagine a better place to camp and hang out. This is my third time camping at this spot, and the owners are by far the closest thing to family you could imagine. On site firewood, grills, showers, you name it. I know that isn't really camping, but when it comes to camping for races, it sure makes a difference to have a hot shower.

We sat around and drank a couple of beers and enjoyed our surroundings. We knew Saturday was going to require some traveling to pick up essentials either forgotten, or at least a meal depending on the weather. The next day we rode some sweet gravel and cruised the trails near the campsite. After riding and chatting with some guys camping and racing the next day we headed towards Boxer's Crystals and Hot Springs.

Boxer's was a no brainer for a stop. We needed more race crystals, and little did I know how much I needed them for the following day. I shudder to imagine how my day would have unfolded if I hadn't had two new race crystals. Either way both Adam and I received two (count them two) new race crystals from Boxer. I would elaborate more, but it would blow your mind.

We headed towards Hot Springs in hope of finding supplies. We went to Wal-Mart and picked up a comforter for Karen and Adam (and Agent), and then were in search of food. We spoke to our cashier Heaven (I wouldn't make it up if I could) who said that there wasn't anything good in Hot Springs at all. We didn't believe her and set out to find something awesome.

We ended up cruising past McClard's Barbeque. It was a crazy busy place. We stopped in and parked around back. The second good sign other than it being super busy, was the huge pile of wood out back. Score. We headed inside to find not an open table, and a seat yourself arrangement. We ended up with a table after around 15 minutes of waiting.

The menu was pretty brief, so I got the tamale's, and Adam ordered the Rib and Fries. Tamale's you say? Yes, but with a barbeque twist. The dish was two tamale's covered with Frito's, pulled pork, baked beans, onions, BBQ sauce and a pile of cheese. Amazing.

We then headed back to the campsite to hang out and get ready for the next day. More on that later.

New Sponsor/Team News

2010-03-22T21:52:00.003-05:00

Well after great deliberation, many heated talks running late into the night, I have joined forces with Q7 Cycling. I am pretty excited to get together with a local clothing company trying to make a name for themselves. Check them out to check out their sweet duds.

One Mr. Adam Blake will also be killing it on the mountain bike side of the upcoming Q7 Team. This is exciting as well knowing that he has thrown out some trash talking (aka making me worried). Mr. Blake has also thrown out that he will be my race transportation to the IMBCS races that would typically not interest me in the least due to their distance from Iowa City.

Either way, with all of the other members of Q7 coming from different aspects of cycling, it is sure to be quite the mash-up of a team.

Things

2010-03-15T22:27:00.003-05:00

Lots of bike riding. Slow and fastish. First group ride of the season tomorrow. Got my White Industry hubs for my new bitching sweet CX/Road bike wheel build (I think I may end up really liking these wheels). Got some Rotor 3d cranks and rings for the upcoming Specialized build. They are crazy nice. Some of the nicest cranks I have laid hands on.

I will leave you with some Gorrilaz to catch how I am feeling.

Ouachita Prep

2010-03-12T20:48:00.003-06:00

Well since I am heading down to Ouachita again (Lance I still need to get some beer on the way to you. Sorry for procrastinating) I have been getting in some decent rides. The past two days were spent hitting it pretty hard. I got in a solo ride on Wednesday, and then a three man road bike mission on Thursday.

Thursday brought high winds from the south so it was officially time to pull out the weaponry. And by that I mean my Roubaix. I have made some nice upgrades to the bike over the winter which have made the bike fit and ride like a glove. I guess I should boot up some pics as this machine definitely warrants them.

Outside of that I am getting concerned about my Ouachita race setup. I know that my Specialized frameset is potentially out of the question, but I am still waiting on some other key components to make the bike rideable when it comes. That and I was hoping that I wouldn't have to ride my Karate Monkey with my Halo/Flow wheels. While bomber and nice, they are bomber and heavy.

I am also going to get some pics together of the upcoming build for my S-Works. The components pile is getting tall (and awesomely expensive as well as good looking.) I had been waiting on a crank decision, but that situation has been cleared. The crank arrived today and while still waiting on the chainrings that I hesitated to pull the trigger on initially, the cranks alone are my cup of tea.

Since I've had some good time on the bike in the past two weeks, I am gonna drink some beers and then go to sleep. Tomorrow should prove to be an interesting day at the shop.

Beer of the night: Samuel Smith IPA

One Week Down

2010-03-09T20:44:00.002-06:00

Got some things done this past week. Felt crappy and then I felt better. Ended with a busted up chain after 135 miles which was installed brand new 5 days prior. 5 cracked links and one completely broken. Got in some fun townie action on Adam's Birthday Ride. Got pulled over by some extremely nice cops. Rode some awesomely packed snow.

Otherwise we will see how the next two days go. Lots of time planned on the bike, rain or no rain. Planning on around 4 hours each day regardless of miles. Still waiting on all my crap. Good news is I am heading to Ouachita Challenge end of the month. Lance Andre was kind enough to pawn his registration off for a 6 pack.

Which reminds me I better get him some beer in the mail. And get a rider transfer.

Work to do. Change of plans.

2010-02-28T21:40:00.002-06:00

Well things are changing quickly and I am a lazy sack. While I've been working out, I have been severely neglecting working on riding outdoors. Yesterday was Cirrem. I missed out with work and all, but after today's ride, I don't know how I would have fared anyways. I got in my first road/gravel ride in quite a while and needless to say my legs weren't responding with the best answers.

I felt ok (especially on climbs) but my flatland bike riding ability is lacking. I know my legs are in there somewhere, I am just going to need a couple more days on the bike to find them again. I happened to choose to ride my cross bike as well which is a new frame that has been 85% built for about two months. So that wasn't the best decision (it was for the conditions, just not for the fit.) It just wasn't dialed in. After blowing my calves up after about an hour, I made some quick adjustments and all was good, but the damage was done.

I also rode 170mm cranks because that is what I had. Terrible idea. I know some people say it doesn't make that big of a difference, but I really dislike them. 172.5's just feel so much better. We will just have to see how I feel tomorrow.

Hitting up Sugar Bottom loop for the heck of it. I might even get the road bike dirty just cause I know the fit is dialed.

Getting that itch.

2010-02-23T21:34:00.001-06:00

And I don't mean anything but multiple mental ones. I am glad we still have snow on the ground, but I am really itching to hit the pavement. I had a great time last season on the road bike, and I already had a couple of long ones in this time last year. Now, I won't jinx it either, cause I love skiing as well. As long as it isn't cold, slushy and frozen, I am in.

I am itching to get my hands on my mountain bike for the season. I have quite a number of things on order, and I have a feeling that I have a wait ahead of me. Everyday I check on my frame, and I wait until the next. I am around the 1 month countdown to ETA. I am waning patience.

Otherwise school is going well. Not as well as last semester, but these Olympics are killing me. I get home after work and school, and it is too easy to hop on the trainer and zone out for a couple of hours instead of read or crank out math problem after math problem.

I want some new crap to play with for sure. I wish I would get my wheels so I could get at least get them assembled a look at them while I am sitting around doing nothing. I am just ready to ride. This week put it into motion.

Shoe Issue Solved.

2010-02-21T20:30:00.002-06:00

Got in 2 workouts today. Everything is coming along nicely, and I am planning on ramping up the bike workouts and tapering back on the lifting/Crossfit workouts. I have been questioning how the full winters worth of that work was going to go, but I am feeling really good about it. I have been on the trainer twice in the past week, and I feel way ahead of where I was last season. I am going into this season without a major long distance race to train for, so focuses are different.

I got some new equipment last week as well. I knew I was going to need to relegate my Sidi Dominators to townie commuter usage (weird thing to say huh?) so I ordered up some new ones. I was really questioning the white SWorks Mountain shoe, but quite honestly, the shiny white really doesn't stand out as much as you would imagine.

Well there was a little problem. The SWorks shoes are a synthetic plasticish outer. The problem I ran into, was even though my feet measure average for their size, I have a hard time with shoes that are too narrow. I had to size down on the SWorks, and they definitely were narrow. I wore them around with no change to their width.

I broke down and mounted up some cleats and my mountain pedals on my road bike. Hopped on the trainer to get them warmed up. I have been doing a little research to see what sort of stretching techniques you can use, but I did not find much info about stretching synthetics, especially plastics. So I thought about water, hot water, water and alcohol mixture, but none of that seemed like it would work.

After about 5 minutes on the trainer, it came to me. A toe warmer! Not only would it simulate extra width, but provide extra warmth directly where I needed and wanted it. Well after around an hour on the trainer and an hour sitting around my shoes are stretched and ready to go. One or two more sessions to ensure they are just right and I am golden.

Exciting I know, but these are awesome shoes. After feeling the comfort of the BOA closure and the stiffness of the sole, I knew they would have to work one way or another.

Hurtin'.

2010-02-20T18:22:00.002-06:00

So this whole curling thing is starting to get to me. It is affecting my school work, my working out and my entire lack of motivation. All I want to do is watch curling and drink beer (and the occasional shot of tequila.) I really need to crack down tonight and do some math homework seeing as my test is on Tuesday, but even though I haven't really done anything, I really am grasping the topics.

Otherwise things have been good. My little rest was good. I am scaling back to two days of Crossfitting with a day of cardio. I figure it is a good time to start cranking the cardio back into the schedule. The trainer has been a slight relief, but I really would like to hit the century ride going on tomorrow with most of the shop crew.

I also am hoping the Des Moines crew might be heading to Ouachita the weekend before the Challenge so I might be able to go with them. I would love to hit some trails before Sylvan Island. Last year was a good time, but I would love to head down there and just do some riding for a couple of days. Kind of like a mini training camp with drinking involved.

That's all I got.

Eventful Weekend.

2010-02-15T20:12:00.002-06:00

On Friday evening I didn't know it, but I apparently had dinner plans. After three consecutive days of skiing, I felt oddly good. Thursday Nate and I hit MNRA decently hard, with some emphasis on backcountry xc skiing. Got in some higher paced stuff on the groomed trails, and hit some steep downhills and hiked some steep uphills. I have had this sinus thing kicking me around a bit, and being 4 weeks into a training cycle with no more than a day off at a time, it was time for a break.

Saturday was spent being slightly hungover and working. Ate dinner at Emily's parents and otherwise hung out again. Sunday we did the church thing, then the lunch thing, then hung out watching the Olympics. We headed home for some Chinese food and Zombieland. Went to bed with the sinus thing still lingering, but Emily got me a humidifier which has been helping.

I was going to hit it again today, but I finally feel like I am clearing up. Tomorrow I will get back on it again for sure. 4 days off should be plenty of rest. It is crazy what I feel like now compared to even 3 months ago after a nice rest. Winter is getting easier to make it through with skiing, and some structured workouts.

Of course on the bike front, I am still impatiently waiting. I am starting to get really antsy. With about 6 weeks of more potential waiting ahead of me, I am reaching the final countdown. March 1st cannot come soon enough. Then I will feel like I am in the home stretch. I received my awesome little package from Hope this week, and I have to say the Race X2 brakes are super light, as advertised. My only slight quibble is the brake lever pivot setup, and I am going to see if I can ditch the aluminum pivot pin for one of their adjustable setups. If not, I'll deal.

I am still waiting on that nice shipment of Edge stuff though. If anybody over there is listening, I would love to build some wheels sometime soon. I have some road tubulars to build for the Gios, but I could use some fun carbon ones to lace as well.

Two days in a row

2010-02-10T16:06:00.002-06:00

I made it out skiing last evening with Nate. We finally got enough snow that they could groom the local Cross Country course for the University. I have been fighting a slight sinus thing so I was not 100%. Needless to say I felt ok, but after the mornings squat workout, I was in for it.

Nate has been putting in some pretty good time on the bike so I knew I would be in for a hurting even though we weren't out to kill each other. I couldn't have been more right. We skied in from IHOP which was uneventful. About 1/2 lap into the course, we ran into the Eppen's. They were out getting an evening ski in just as we were. They hung out on and off between just walking away from us.

I have been feeling ok on skis as of late this season, but it just goes to show you there are always people who are just plain better and faster. It felt good and I was surprised I wasn't that sore this morning.

I headed to class and then home for lunch. I knew as nice as the weather was that I had to get out again. I took the "grandma" approach today though. I just slashed around and enjoyed the sunny day. My legs didn't want to respond to anything so I didn't push them one bit. I can feel the sinus thing holding me back a bit so I am going to take a couple of days off and kick it's butt.

On the bike front, my brakes shipped on Monday. Hope had told me they wouldn't be in until next Monday, but the shipment came in a little early, so they rolled those suckers ASAP. So that means I might have brakes, a stem, a handlebar, a seatpost, and possibly (fingers crossed heavily on this one) wheels this week. On top of all that, the XX/XLoc Dampers came in stock at BTI today so I will be able to convert my Reba to a b*ithc*ing sweet hydraulic lockout right off the bat.

I also talked to the guys at SRAM and they said the funky non-traditional hex setup on the BlackBox Dampers are actually just machined 24mm socket heads. They just machined them down because the middle section of the wrench flats aren't engaged when using a socket anyways so they machined them down to save weight.

Well that is enough nerd talk for one day. Now to put some more Watchmen away (about half way done. What a crazy graphic novel.) I thought I said no more nerd talk?

Some parts on the way.

2010-02-08T21:02:00.004-06:00

I talked to Jason Sager at Edge Composites today. Most of the stuff I had on order was in stock, and hopefully on the way. I know the stem and seatpost at least, and he was checking on the Chris King hub status. I am really looking forward to getting my hands on the wheels in particular so I can start playing with tubeless setup on them. I also haven't seen the seatpost in person yet, so I am slightly anxious to see that as well. The Sweep bars are supposed to be in tomorrow, so hopefully the cockpit will ship in it's entirety (even though I still don't have my frame.)

I just can't wait to get my hands on the wheels. Chris King is tooled up and cranking out their new road hubshells like crazy which is pushing production back on the 28h CK ISO Disc hubs. I was waiting on black shells, but might be getting pewter instead. That is the color they stock, and I will take what I can get. I suppose that means that I should order up some rimstrips soon to get those ready.

I also talked to the gents at Hope, and as far as I know, they should have received a shipment of Race X2 brakes today. I will have to call them tomorrow to check on those. Otherwise I have the drivetrain all shored up besides cranks. I have my old Deus cranks, but I kind of want to slap a pair of XTR's on their to match all the other fancy parts that will be on the bike. If not, no sweat off of my back. Everyone is out of stock on 175mm's and I am kind of interested in trying some 172.5's on my geared mountain bike due to the fact I run them on my road and cross bikes.

Well enough bike talk. I took the weekend off besides the work commute on Saturday. I was feeling beat down and tired. It turned out it was a good thing, because I woke up this morning with quite a sinus jam. I was totally dried out. It sucked. So I am fighting that. I worked out today and fought my slight shoulder tweak. It actually feels quite a bit better this evening then it did this AM.

Well tomorrow brings some biking, some lifting, some relaxing, then some evening skiing with Nate.

Lots of things

2010-02-05T19:42:00.005-06:00

I have had quite a number of things on my mind as of late. The opportunities for various races are flying by this year. Everything is filling up faster than ever before. With the wedding happening I am just hoping to branch out a little this year, and hit Wisconsin and Illinois. I would love to make it to a couple of Minnesota races, but I don't think it is going to happen. Maybe one 12 hour WEMS to keep that doubt in the back of my mind.

This time last year, thoughts of Ouachita were flying through my mind while spending time on a trainer, and outdoors in nasty snowy conditions. And going to work all the time. This year couldn't be more different. Going to school, and working out like crazy (in the gym and a little on skis), and working part time. Now my thoughts are focused on what I can fit in this season. I know what my expectations or at least hopes are.

The wedding will take some time and focus, but I am planning on getting my time in whatever way necessary. Emily and I have talked about the situation and have been planning well ahead of schedule (all except those pesky invitations!) So now it all boils down to time availability. Everyone from the shop is planning their schedules pretty tightly and I am trying to stay a little loose with mine. The few Wisco and Illinois races will hopefully be pulled off the cuff, and the Iowa races were scouted last season so all should fall into place well.

I am still motivated and that is not going to change. I am just getting a little antsy. Similar to last season, just without the 80 mile monster to worry about.

Now for dinner, my beer, and Watchmen.

Think it will work?

2010-02-01T19:12:00.004-06:00

So I started to ponder whether or not the new XX Hydraulic lockout will install onto the SBC Reba that is spec'ed on the SWorks. I have been doing a little digging and from what I can tell, there is no reason it shouldn't. The only problem with that, is now I am questioning my brake spec based on that potential decision. It would be pretty clean to run either XX or CR Mag brakes and have the lockout, shifter and brakes, all mounted in one clean package.

I love my Hope disc brakes, but the new XX brakes simply function well. I'm not going to go crazy and spec the whole group (I wouldn't want to have a replica of the stock bike now would I?), but I would like to have everything super clean. I am unsure whether or not it will work with XO shifters, but I am thinking it should. Enough about that.

I am gonna head up to Cedar Falls tomorrow after class to hang out with Adam and Shockey to ride some gravel. I have been itching a little bit to get out on the bike, and this will be the perfect opportunity. I am going to make the mistake of taking my Litespeed fixie, but oh well. I want to ride something light. That reminds me, I better get my shit together. Riding bikes with those two practically requires a full-on epic ride setup.

I'm out to study and load up.

Late Edit- Looks like the X-Loc comes with a mount that will allow you to combine your lockout and shifter. So looks like the Hope's are still on tap.

New Hotness

2010-01-29T21:47:00.005-06:00

So I have been mulling over such minor geared related details as to which cassette to run. An XTR doesn't save that much weight overall, and is still pretty expensive. Well now SRAM has come to answer my concerns of lightweight and 9 speed compatibility (I actually really do like XX, just not the current price tag, or it's unproven to me durability and ability to perform in the nastiest of mucky situations). The XG-999 brings us steel cogs with one aluminum one that is replaceable. Supposedly 175 grams, which SRAM is usually accurate with, it sure looks like a gem. Time will tell, and hopefully will I.

On other fronts, a good friend wrapped up his new SWorks Stumpjumper HT 26er build. Needless to say, it came in under on weight and price compared to the complete version. The build is straight forward good stuff. It tipped the scales at 19.19lbs with pedals and a bottle cage. Specs are XO rear derailleur, XT Cassette, XTR Crank with 28-42t TA Chainrings, XX Front Dereailleur, XX Brakes, etc. Wheels are Kings on the new Alpines. Seatpost is a Thomson Masterpiece, Syntace F119 Stem, Syntace Duraflite Bar, seriously nothing over the top. Just goes to show, if you build intelligently, you can get lighter than stock, have something original, and have it be lighter and faster. It takes some work and planning, but it will be exactly what you want.

Now to keep waiting for my SWorks. I have my old crank with newer chainrings, and that is about it so far. I am still waiting on my Edge wheels, handlebar, stem, seatpost, of which Edge is waiting on seatposts, handlebars, and hubs to come in stock. I am piecing together the drivetrain currently as well. I will hopefully have an XX front derailleur on the way beginning of next week, as well as making a little trade for an XO rear derailleur. I am still deciding on what to do for shifters.

The other big thing I am waiting on is the brakes. Hope Technologies is still waiting on their shipment of the new Race X2 brakes to hit our shores. The guys down in Texas have been super cool to get me the scoop so I can score them before they hit the major distributors. I rode and owned my first set last season, and they simply work without notice or surprise. I love the fact that the levers are bushing based and that the play can be removed. I love the attention to detail. I think their floating rotor is as light as a performance based rotor should be. Their stopping power with even smaller sized rotors are impressive to say the least.

Well that's all I got.

Brutalized.

2010-01-26T14:04:00.003-06:00

So I have been doing a fair bit of working out this winter outside of riding. The workouts call for warmups of strength stretches, squats, sit-ups, back raises, push ups and pull ups. The three rounds of 15 each of those are enough to introduce some muscle back into the system that was lost, but this is where things are getting started.

The rest of the workouts vary greatly. Sunday it was sets of deadlifts followed by sets of pullups, then repeat. Yesterday was the killer though. Thrusters followed by rowing. I have never really rowed on a C2 before, but it is intense. I made it three rounds of this workout after my warm up and then I shut down. On the floor, completely inert for around 5 minutes. My arms felt like they were going to either burst into flames, or just fall off.

Some have been telling me these workouts are going to catch up to me. And I think they are right. I am just interested to see which end of the spectrum I catch up to.

Whirlwind Week

2010-01-24T20:35:00.002-06:00

Well after having a crazy time selling things on MTBR (and I mean that in the best way possible) I am rid of almost all things race mountain bike oriented. Plans are in full swing (and parts on their way) for the creation of the next race bike.

On a side note, the gears are turning and will possibly be soon set into motion on superlight SS project. My "Monster Truck" aka the Titanium Townie is gonna get a revamp as long as everything works. I have been dreading not having a superlight SS to smash Sugar Bottom on, but I think I have a solution for that. It is going to involve a fair bit of carbon (nothing too overboard), some titanium, and some inbetween-sized wheels (with the off chance of one being bigger or smaller than the other).

Some have called me crazy, and it is officially true. But really, who needs a titanium commuter?

Decisions made, sometimes poor.

2010-01-20T15:57:00.006-06:00

Well for some reason I decided it would be a grand idea to take an 8am class this semester. What's the issue you ask? Are you lazy and hate getting out of bed? Well only sightly on that one. More importantly, I live in Iowa. We have a little thing called winter that for the most part, enjoys messing with the residents of this fine state time and time again.
So today I was up at 6am. I got up that early to hit the pavement of the Zombie Monkey, and get in some winter riding. I knew foul weather was on it's way, I just had no clue when. I checked the Kirkwood website right before I left. No updates whatsoever on whether or not school was happening. So I took on the ride.

The incoming front brought a strong east wind which is strange. Gusts were strong and luckily my ride is about 50% east and 50% south. I got to work to change out of my sweaty gear and get into my class clothes. I thought it might be a good idea to check the website one more time. Sure enough. Cancelled! I was on my bike for 45 minutes only to find out I had to go back home. On top of that, the freezing rain started about 5 minutes before I got to work.

I worked out, then headed home. The pics are the aftermath.

A little love for Iowa.

2010-01-18T14:36:00.002-06:00

The boys at Edge Composites threw out a little love for the IC scene as well as Iowa as a whole. I hope I represented everyone well. Now time to do some homework after working out. I'm telling you, Crossfit is where it is at.

May I present...

2010-01-16T21:03:00.004-06:00

My semi, not so finalized, but quite possibly finalized plans for my 2010 race bike*. I present to you the 2010 Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper 29er Hardtail.

After the utter crushing blow was dealt (that I totally had a feeling was coming), I have decided to switch my prior insane plans to remain on a carbon SS, and give the dark side of gears a try. I am very excited to have the opportunity to still score one of these framesets for 2010, and even more excited that it should be here around March, which couldn't be any better.

The build is going to be an assorted mix of components I already have, but there will be some shining star highlights. Edge Composites will be providing the wheels, stem, handlebars, and seatpost. In conjunction with the specified fork, the custom SBC Reba with tapered steerer, the combination of oversized carbon bars, superlight carbon stem, and Edge Composites wheels, this bike is going to be a rocket ship that should take me straight to the ER.

But fortunately, it is going to be to let the good doctors at said hospital use, because this thing is going to be a scalpel. Also the transition of power through the drivetrain should be pretty incredible, considering the down tubes massive transition into the uber-wide 84.5mm wide BB shell. That and the near 45mm tall chainstays...

Ok, I will shut up there. I couldn't even imagine a bike/frame that could remotely compete with the Superfly after racing it this season. I knew components could be improved to gain marginal improvements, but the technological advancements put into this frame versus the 2010 Superfly absolutely blow it out of the water. Custom tapered carbon steerer crown assembly, Shimano BB-91 bottom bracket allowing the downtube to be increased in diameter in comparison to tradition 68 or 73mm threaded shells, even BB30 doesn't allow a downtube of this size.

*All future plans and specifications subject to change dependent on product availability (as well as the insanity of the future owner.)

Ok, I know...

2010-01-14T19:34:00.008-06:00

All I talk about is bikes. But imagine if you were in my brain. You would go crazy. Trust me. I have some serious bike issues. Not the kind of issues like gambling or smoking crack where you spend ALL of your money, but I think it may be something of a combined sickness.

I thought riding singlespeeds would cure the whole "I need" or "I want" syndrome. Well it could. It starts all nice and well, learning to ride your mountain bike all over again. Eventually you ditch your suspension fork and have to relearn once again. Then you come to the astounding realization that you need a bigger tire to compensate for the lack of suspension. After getting adjusted to that, you realize that your 17lb 26" machine is a little harsh. The weight of it is actually part of the problem too.

After a summer and fall's contemplation (and further destruction of a Litespeed mountain bike head tube..oh well at least when bought used they are cheap) you realize that maybe 29" wheels could be the wonder you were looking for as far as extra comfort and steel would bring "needed" durability. Research, research, then pull the trigger on a budget priced frame. Take the time to ride it geared, ultimately pulling them off in favor of the original SS setup. Spend too much money on nice, but burly-ish parts to ensure HTI (Head Tube Integrity) as well as cheap but over priced wheels.

Start realizing after a coupld of races that the bike is too heavy. Damn. Well it rides like a dream, but when you are trying to go all out, it comes up short (as well as realize that you are lacking fitness as well...I know what you were thinking). In the mean time a once in a lifetime opportunity (yeah f*ck*ng right, I've heard that one before...alas there is money to be made) and dreams seem to be coming true.

That dream brings upon ultimate realization. It doesn't matter if it has 1 gear or 30. Bikes can be and will be expensive. In the graduating syndrome that is racing, you get faster. Being more fit almost 100% demands better equipment, or simply just more new crap. Then after it all you realize that you are addicted. Crack. Carbon Fiber Lust. The performance. The speed, the ride, the precision. And ultimately, the failure. Whether manufacturing, or accidental, it inevitably happens.

And as with everything else in life, the addiction lingers, and as human desire and planetary forces dictate,

The cycle starts again...

Winter Commuting Time

2010-01-12T21:08:00.002-06:00

Well it is that time of year to get back on the bike. I have put it off up until this point, but now it is time to stop putting so much gas in my tank, and start putting some miles in the legs. I will hopefully still get to ski 2-3 times a week. Since the new commute is over two times longer than the one last year, it will be pretty epic. At this point I've really been enjoying skiing, but it just feels wrong to not put some time in on the bike.

The whole thing is being partially spurred by the fact that my car needs work again. It seems to be never ending the whole car repair thing. With my bikes, it seems worth-while to spend the money. On other bike fronts, it looks like I will be riding gears for 2010. I have to get a crash replacement for the Superfly. I have the chance to get another SS or get a geared version. Looks like the window of opportunity has opened. Now I am going to have to gather some parts to make it happen, but hopefully it will be worth it.

Well that is all I got.

Unsorted.

2010-01-02T22:03:00.002-06:00

Well after wiping down my SSuperfly, I found a couple potential issues. I am now left kind of bummed knowing that while in Mexico, I'll be wondering what is happening to my frame. I have more than loved that bike. It is hands-down the single fastest bike I have ever owned. That bike legitimately made me faster. I loved riding it which could have been part of it, but I know I would not have been as successful as I was last season if I weren't on that frame.

With the impending upgrades, I was looking forward to racing on it this year. How do you make a bike faster? Train harder and make it lighter and stiffer. Both of those were well on their way, now to wait and find out what the Big T says.

Hoping.

Sorted.

2010-01-01T11:31:00.003-06:00

Well for the most part, plans for the 2010 race bike are tentatively finalized. I talked to the fine folks at Edge, and I am getting their amazingly sweet set of XC carbon clincher wheels featuring King hubs and Aerolite spokes instead of the carbon tubulars. That also pushed me to order up their new Sweep bar, 75mm carbon stem, and one of their seatposts. Considering their generous prize and willingness to change the prize, I want to represent them to the fullest. All of those fine pieces of equipment will be landing on the Superfly.

Other finalizations are going to include that "little" revamp. A lot of the parts will be hitting MTBR's Classifieds as soon as I get them stripped off the bike. I'll have wheels, crank, bb, well just about everything that is currently comprising that build. I am planning some big upgrades to achieve full on ridiculous SS status.

Speaking of which, I am going to send my Fox fork out to the boys at Push Industries for a full Factory Service and System upgrade. I figure that the aid of suspension will help with fatigue during races. I rode it during the last part of the season, and it treated me very well. It will be especially awesome after the guys at Push get it all tuned up, I'm sure it will run even better than it does.

That means a busy off season again (not that it wasn't going to be already), but I will need to keep focused leading into the spring. Well, off to start the season right, I am going to head out for a couple of hours on the XC skis, and then get in the CF workout of the day.

5 days 'til Mexico.

So I was thinking...

2009-12-29T22:33:00.002-06:00

So would the idea of Superfly Version 2.0 (versions 1.1-1.9 followed minor changes throughout the season) be absolutely crazy? I would really like to get a geared race bike, but in all reality, I can't see myself on anything other than a super high end carbon race rocket. Now with the addition of some new parts, or should I say almost entire revamp of the SSuperfly, I could save some cash and go big for the 2011 season. Then I would also be able to keep the SSuperfly.

With the winter bike being secured for the coming seasons, I will have a little extra budget room for 2011. It would take a pretty big revamp to bring the bike around to where I would want it. The goal would be to be aroun 19.5lbs with the Fox fork, and somewhere right around 17lbs with a rigid (Niner or the new Switchblade.) I know it is crazy, but I figure I can sell off the parts that are on the bike now for what I'd need to put into it to get a crazy light build out of the machine. And that is including selling off some things that don't need to be replaced, but could be for the sake of fashion/changing things up a bit.

Those are my current musings. I went and XC skied today. Man am I terrible. Granted I do better when there is more than 2-3 inches of hardpack with ice beneath it, but man it was tough. It seemed like they had only groomed for skate as well. I am a classic kind of guy due to the fact that they are the type of skis I own and I am too cheap to get anything else. Well maybe I'm thinking about it. I just need to get better.

It's Official! CXMagazine Rules!

2009-12-21T09:43:00.003-06:00

Thanks to the guys at CXMagazine! Thanks to the contest they had, and semi-quick speed (similar to my racing) I landed a new set of carbon tubulars from Edge Composites. I am more stoked than you could ever imagine. I have been dreaming about a set of their mountain bike wheels for a long time, but as poor as I am at cross, these sure would help a lot. I am freaking out a little bit so that's all I got. Thanks Edge Composites and CXMagazine!

Crazy Week

2009-12-20T22:37:00.002-06:00

Well leading into finals, I had been pretty nervous seeing as it was the first ones I had taken in college ever. On top of that CX Nationals were held the Sunday before, which meant I would be doing some major cramming. I followed the live text based coverage over at CXMagazine which was awesome. They covered the Portland GP the week before, of which I only caught Sunday (didn't have a clue they provided free coverage.) Either way those guys do one heck of a job. It isn't quite the same as it being on TV, but until cycling gets larger in the States, that won't be happening soon.

Well CXMagazine had a contest to win some amazingly sweet Edge Composites wheels. The same ones in fact that Jonathan Page rides and races on depending on the course. I decided it would be in my best interest to see if I could give it my college best and attempt to win. I am still awaiting the official news, but I have high hopes. Either way just the coverage alone took some stress off for the weekend, as well as added a little with the last minute review on Sunday and Monday.

On top of that, the Big T finally handled my X0-1 frame warranty and got me a new frame. I really like to stand behind companies that stand behind their product (against defect) for life. There are many different situations that can occur, but I have seen them even warranty things that have easily reached the life's end. Thanks again.

Finals went pretty ok. I kind of slashed my English final, and my final paper was probably my least developed of the semester, but the revision schedule was a little short. The math final went a little more confidently, and I ended up getting a B+ in the class. Totally awesome. I did not expect to do that well in a math class that I hadn't taken in high school which was 7 years ago.

On top of that, I began this week with a nice 5 hours on my Karate Monkey (not the best idea seeing it weighs 30lbs) with Adam and Shockey. We hit all sorts of gravel roads as well as Level B's that were anywhere from ice and snow covered, to completely drifted over. Needless to say with about 3-4 hours of it spent with actual snow flying, things got progressively more interesting. We ended up starving and thirsty. Luckily Karen was in town and completely took care of us, getting us pizza and beer within 10 minutes of us arriving at Adam's. Awesome day and I'm cooked. Hopefully Shockey made it home ok.

And things have been moved around and with some finger crossing involved, it looks like my 2010 bike quest might be clearing up. I will have to see, but I feel much better knowing that I might actually have some perspective on what is going to happen.

I'm wrecked and going to bed. Maybe after one more beer.

New Years Eve

2009-11-30T22:18:00.002-06:00

Well things have been crazy and not this fall. Started going to that college thing again. Things are going well and are about to wrap up my first successful semester. About time. On the riding front I haven't been doing anything. Which for some reason is great. I am amazingly well rested. I started training 4 weeks ago to regain my off season strength. I am training with CrossFit. I know, I know it sounds cultish (and I'm pretty sure it is to some degree), but it is for real. I guess I don't have any results yet, but I am really stoked. It definitely reflects the type of strength training I was looking for, with major cardiovascular and nutritional/metabolic benefits.

I am eating better, and after suffering for the first three weeks, am ready to get back on the bike again. Even after 4 weeks, I can feel major core stability increases, as well as lower back strength. Also the additional upper body strength returning from a season of neglect, feel great. If you are a cyclist that is hesitant to hit the gym to lift, look into a the little phenomenon called CrossFit.

On other news fronts I am coming to another difficult decision. I don't know whether or not I am going to be able to afford a geared race bike for the 2010 mountain season unless I sell the Superfly SS. So the question becomes, stick with SS for one more season (maybe not a bad idea considering that in season training is going to be lacking due to wedding efforts), or sell that sucker and move on. What do I do? I have no clue. I know I like the bike, but there are definite improvements geometry wise SS or not that could be made to optimize performance on tighter courses. On the other hand, materials-wise, the bike is so far superior to anything else I have been on that I don't know if I want to sacrifice that.

I know I ponder the stupid bike thing too much, but with "training" becoming more dialed, and my focus clearing to mountain bike racing specifically, equipment is becoming more and more important.

Otherwise my new revelation is in regards to the New Year. I don't know about any other cyclists, but I would have to personally declare December 1 as my New Year. January 1 is all good and everything, but with the mountain bike season ending around October, and since I don't mind ignoring cyclocross, I am well rested by this point. I am a month into weight training/light cardio conditioning, and no signs of burning out. If anything I am going to start hitting those "base" miles. And by that I mean just riding to work. So today is New Years Eve.

Happy New Years to all the cyclists of the world. It all starts here. At least for me.

Let's just say I'm over it.

2009-10-28T21:53:00.002-05:00

In so many words I'm over it. I'm over the little slump. I'm over being lazy in so many ways it is refreshing. I got kicked out of my riding funk today by a cop. Well actually it was the other day, which I didn't realize. And then another one made me realize that the other one had kicked me out of my funk. Needless to say, F*ck cars. Bring on some snow. I am equipped and ready to go. I never did get around to setting the Monster Truck up with a freewheel and a rear brake, but screw it. I need a new rear tire (the Mythos is trashed) so it is either time for an XDX or some studs. Then I will have an ice bike, and a snow bike. I don't really know if a fixed bike is good for ice, but we'll see.

I have also been lazy in tearing down the SSuperfly. It definitely needs some love in the bb/hub area. Yeah they are both King, but screw it, they are easy enough to overhaul and probably should be done once a year (especially after what I put it through.)

I.am. over. it.

All right time

2009-10-13T22:37:00.004-05:00

All right it is time to start thinking about 2010. We are only a couple of months off and it is time as I am relaxing from riding to determine what the heck I am going to do in 2010. Number 1 above all else is get married. That is huge. So racing may take a little bit of a side seat to riding. I'll still be riding, and racing too, I will just be picking more selectively. Which means that my goals for 2010 vs. 2009 will be different. My winter is going to have to be pretty good to ensure that next season is going to be worth a darn.

So screw the racing stuff. What am I going to do for a geared race bike? I really want to give racing gears a chance next season. I have options upon options, but I really think I would like to go steel. Obviously in comparison to my Superfly SS, it would be a crazy decision, but my Karate Monkey is so stiff and comfortable ride quality wise, that I could save a little cash and go that route. I could just pull the drivetrain off of the Zombie Monkey and internal that sucker out. That option will also leave the Superfly in the garage instead of in the MTBR Classified section just in case I decide to scrap the geared idea.

So the next question is which builder? I have three in mind. All three are no frills, straight bike kind of guys. Nothing wacky, or cool, just no bull shit frames. One option is actually fillet brazed, and quite honestly I feel an industry secret. Not to bring it up, but one of his frames was reviewed in MTB Action years ago and even then they raved about how well the bike rode. I have wanted one of his frames for years, and now would be a great chance to own one.

So let me know, who should build my bike? Doug Curtiss would be my no.1, followed by Walt Wehner, then Tom Teesdale. Tom is a local guy and has been building frames for 30+ years. I would love to own a bike from him, but it would almost have to be a single speed. Remember, I don't want a show queen of a bike. If you've ever seen my Superfly, the frame is raced and well used (thus the reason I kind of want a steel bike for racing, ti is going to be my 5-10 year anniversary present). So let me know who else is blowing you away. I am picky, but these builders are top notch for sure.

I just don't know what to do. I am questioning everything right now about next mountain bike race season. I just want the ride to be the last thing I am worried about. There will be plenty of other things on my mind.

In the mean time, Suck it bike. I'm relaxing.

Where have I been?

2009-10-09T23:36:00.003-05:00

I've been racing, then not racing, training and now, after many months of training ( and then racing) I'm out! No more racing! Well except for Jingle Cross, and maybe a couple of other selected races. What has happened since Seven Oaks? 30 day's in the saddle (approximation) some of those hard days, some of them lazy. 30 beers (not an approximation, actually a down right lie.) One Gnomefest (and one super rocked, Iowa packed Alleycat top 3!) Many other things including cross bike and road bikes (although not in that order.)

Needless to say I wrap up my first actual season of racing with many thoughts in mind. All of which I have gained endless knowledge and good times from, but now which I happily leave in the past. Now is the time for Zombie Monkey's, studies, wool, snow, and XC skis. Oh and beer. Thanks to everyone for the craziness that has been the 2009 race season.

Thanks Kent for kickin' it off back on March 8. It sucked and I hate you. But you hate yourself for that day too. Thanks to the folks down in Arkansas. Not only do I hate you, but you hate you enough not to even run the 80 mile Ouachita Challenge again. I'm glad that I participated in that one before you axed it. 'Cause it was more brutal than 75/120 people realized.

Otherwise thanks to the new work family I so graciously was accepted into this season. Thanks for welcoming me in and kicking me in my ass. Sorry to all the family folk. I miss you Price, Lazio, and D'Quack Attack (Fridays just aren't the same...)

Otherwise I can't say enough. What one year brings. Not that this is the end of it, but hell if I am going to describe anything else that happened. Maybe a couple of other small details about the remainder, but it was a whirlwind ride that not even I was prepared for. I never knew how crazy racing some mountain bikes could be nor how far I could push myself. All in all a crazy awesome year of riding with all my friends. Now time for mas beers and many days spent on the Zombie Monkey.

Tranquility.

Seven Oaks Race Report

2009-08-26T21:22:00.003-05:00

Well I definitely felt about as unprepared as you could get for a race going into last weekend. I was completely trashed after the Lake Ahquabi weekend and just plain needed a break. I only rode into work for over a week. Finally last Wednesday, after getting all registered for school, getting my FASFA crap in line, I came home and knew I needed a ride. Having only been on a bike about 5-6 times for about 90-100 miles of commuting, I was interested to see how I felt. Rode some gravel and everything responded well after warming up. My back had also been really tight after Ahquabi and I of course did nothing before race weekend to make it better.

So Sunday rolled around and I rolled up to Boone with a crew of the usual suspects. The stupid weather made it so pre-riding the course sometime previously during that week an impossibility. So I was pretty much going into race day blind. I hate that. That is what this season is about though. Getting familiar with the IMBCS races. So I hit up a pre-ride lap that was quite abbreviated with Nick. Based on it I stupidly left my 36-19 on and called it good. That turned out to be a mistake.

The gear worked well for the start. Seeing as I hadn't ridden too much I was tentative at the start. Knowing full well I shouldn't but knowing that I had missed some of the course, I decided it was better to settle in behind some that were more familiar with the course. It turned out not to be too bad of a move. I should have grabbed Jed's wheel though seeing as he has been really strong and that we have been riding at a somewhat similar level. His fitness/strength is definitely higher that mine and he was definitely familiar with the course. My bad. I did however get into a group with Kevin and Shockey who after my fumbles gapped off of me a little.

So slowly things settled in and I found the backside of the course laden with freaking uphill switchbacks, punchy steep climbs, and slow weird drawn out climbs. About 3/4's of the way through lap one I felt like crap. My gear choice felt huge and I was sort of struggling to keep up with Kev and Shockey. I already knew I was out of the money (beer) for the unofficial SS MTB State Champs. Jed was checked out. Kevin pulled away from Shockey, and I finally gapped back up to him. Descending into the lower ski area, I came around Ben due to my larger gear and signalled for him to grab on and draft off of me. He was climbing well and I wanted to pull him up to Kevin. Didn't work out.

I got up to Kev and rode with him for around half of the lap. He got caught up where I had during lap one and I went around him. We rode together for a while, but I had to punch it on the climbs. At the end of the lap I was feeling a little squirrelyness from my front tire, but I had set my pressure low so I ignored it. I had a decent gap on the other two so I just held strong and kept trucking.

Going into lap 3 I ran most of the steep parts of the openning singletrack section and then dove into the descent to the bottom of the beginning of the course. Once I hit the base I heard the dreaded hiss of a cut. Shit. It was slightly spewing Stan's every revolution. I stopped and let the fluid pool to get it to seal. It did and I kept riding. Then it busted open again 100ft down the trail. I stopped this time and sealed it. I hesitated and knew I had to hit it with CO2. As I was hitting it Kev came around and gave me a little sympathy. He was riding strong and bouncing back. I never caught him.

I had to settle for 4th on the day. After the flat I was just a little knocked down. I haven't ever had a "mechanical" in a race before so I was due. I've been really lucky. After I hit the tire with CO2 I had too much pressure and just couldn't get back in the groove. I did manage to keep the gap at 20 seconds though and that was good.

Congrats to Cam for shredding our collective faces off one more time. You are on another planet. For sure. Gears might be coming, but not this season for fear of the of sticks and cable cutters. Jed good race. Wish I would have known the course and gotten my panties out of a bunch and just started as strong as I should have. You still would have cleaned house. Kevin, much earned "win". Keep those legs going during the week. Shockey good race too. Glad to be able to drink some beers with you and sorry about the van/beer incident. To everyone else see you sometime soon. Not the time trials weekend though. I'll be Gnomefesting.

Mid-Season Break.

2009-08-18T23:37:00.004-05:00

Well it is mid season. My legs are telling me so, and so is my mind. I can hardly even comprehend the races so far. CIRREM, Ouachita Challenge 80 mile, Sylvan Island, Banner Lakes, State Crit, ScoCoPa Chase, Camp Ingawanis, Lake Ahquabi. Somewhere around 8 races. One gravel metric, one epic mountain bike race, one road bike race, and 5 other mountain bike races. All the IMBCS so far have been Expert level races. All but two done 100% SS. One aided by suspension (yeah I know cheater cheater). My legs haven't been this used since.. well never.

Coming up on the schedule brings Boone XC, Des Moines Crit weekend, off weekend (supposed to be 24 hours of Boone) or maybe Colesburg gravel race, Gnomefest weekend, maybe SSWC09 weekend, Lake Manawa, off weekend, then Sugar Bottom Scramble. It wouldn't be all bad if most of those were just hour long cross races, but the shortest one so far has been 22.5 miles (other than State Crit weekend) and 1.5 hours in the saddle.

I need a mid-season pick me up. Tomorrow brings some testing, registering, and a road ride. Hell maybe I'll even go ride gravel to spice things up. This last stretch is going to tax my brain and body for sure. Anyone pushing me to race cross is crazy. My Zombie Monkey is just calling my name for some good rock bashing, town shredding, snow riding good times. Oh and chilling out and drinking beer. Just way more beer than average.

On top of all that I think tentative plans are beginning to be put into works for next season's race ride. A diversion of an asset and some funds to accomodate a change in the right direction for the future of my racing. A descision I thought would never come/be really hard to come to terms with is running through my mind with ease.

Oh what October 5th will bring.

Sunday Photo Session

2009-08-16T22:18:00.003-05:00

Getting the ZM a little dirty for the photo session. Found a sweet little side trail while returning a movie and seeing Brett before finding a photo location. In front of the garage just gets boring. It sure is nice to have a geared mountain bike again. This one is a bruiser in the weight category, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I do need to change out that rear tire though until winter.

Zombie Monkey Musings

2009-08-14T23:27:00.005-05:00

Tonight was a chill night following a chill week. Tomorrow brings DB's wedding and again a chill day in the saddle. The ZM project (Surly Karate Monkey, here on out known as the Zombie Monkey or ZM) officially wrapped tonight with the first test session being had. I had very little light beeming out of my puny Cateye. Initial impressions lead to too high of saddle height (gotta cut that post 20mm more), 10mm too short of stem (sorry NS) and short wheelbase. Hopefully I can slide the saddle back a little more, and maybe even rake the front wheel out a little more.

A custom fork would feel amazing on this thing. 472-474mm axle to crown, and 47mm of rake. Just enough to kick that front wheel out there a little more, and keep the handling in the ballpark. I might have to throw the old On One Carbon fork on the ZM for Gnome Fest.

I can't even believe how well balanced and behaved this machine is. Everything that led me to get the ZM turned out to hit the nail on the head. I now truly believe that if one of Surly's sizes fits you, you should have a Karate Monkey in some form. If you love 29er's you owe it to yourself to own one or give one a shot. Mine was transformed into the ZM though liberal usage of purple ano and lots of slow planning and care. Zombie's dislike purple and black. Known fact.

Only a true Zombie Apocalypse transportation device would recieve this much planning preemtively. Most post Apocalypse machines have to be whittled together from the last remaining remanants of post Apocalyptic society.

So to all: Do your homework. Prepare your bike well. If zombies should come, you are going to need some form of transportation, protection, etc. It's not like it's really going to happen, but hell, in my case it got me to build a sweet new 29er.

Lake Ahquabi Race Report

2009-08-12T22:11:00.002-05:00

Well going into this weekend I knew what was coming. Unless I put gears on my bike, Cam was going to walk away with this one, while a chase group sat back and duked it out between each other. Needless to say my expectations were to get smoked by 5-10 minutes and Cam didn't disappoint. He took it by 8 minutes.

On the other hand I avenged my worst race ever from last season. I ended up in a chase group with Jed Gammel, Nate Kullbom, and Kent Carlson. Kent did well to hang on and keep pulling back to the group, but Nate, Jed and I were keeping the pace high all race. I don't know why that was needed, but I wasn't slowing down for anyone either. All three of us worked together really well which was refreshing.

There were various times when things would get stretched. Jed dropped a bottle once. He was riding awesome, so I asked Nate to sit up til' he came back. Then at the end of lap 3 Jed had to stop for bottles seeing as he didn't have a hand up, so we let up to keep him in the group. He was riding way strong, so we kept things civil and gentlemanly seeing as he was earning his keep just as much as anyone else in the group, if not more.

At the beginning of lap 4 the three of us were all still together, so I upped the pace to see who still had legs/ who wasn't cramping yet. I sure was close but had been managing to really fight the cramps off. About 1/2-3/4 through the lap Jed asked if we were alone and I let him know that Nate had popped a while back. I also let him know that since everything had been cooperative and all that I wasn't far from cramping and that he'd probably pop me on the asphalt climb. He laughed at that and said he'd been feeling the same thing. He did open up the gap quite thoroughly and I thought I was done.

I noticed through the last 1/4 of the course that he wasn't openning the gap at all and it was holding. I gave it everything I had to keep the gap at 5 seconds. After the asphalt descent I saw the signs of him fading through the grass so I gave it the last of the gas in the tank and gapped up to his wheel. I don't think he liked seeing me there as I kind of came out of no where.

We hit the base of the finishing climb and I was on his wheel. I could see his strain pushing his 32-15 vs. my 36-18 and knew that the climb was mine. I put the hammer down. A couple of kids were caught unaware as we came flying by them uphill. Jed realized a little too late I was coming strong and moved over to try and block me. Shoulders were thrown from both parties. We went down about 50 yards from the line. I patted him on the shoulder as we laughed/cramped and decided to foot sprint for the line.

I took 2nd in the end. Cam gapped us big time. Jed took 3rd. Nate only lost a minute for 4th and Kent came in 5th. Thanks to Bruce Brown and everyone that volunteered on Sunday. Hopefully Boone will be a little better seeing as the course is a little more technical which suits my riding style very well. I am keeping the IMBCS points gap civil until Gnome Fest weekend. That will bury me into 2nd for sure. Still not bad for my first season racing Expert, and not hitting anywhere near all of the races.

Gears?

Shadow

2009-08-06T10:50:00.003-05:00

Bored

2009-08-05T22:48:00.002-05:00

Not much going on this evening. I actually got in a good but odd day of riding today. I had my crown installed this morning so the mouth is all back to normal. I cruised back home and met my Dad to get some corn he picked up after work. He hung around for a while and drank a beer. My tentative plan to ride Amana gravel out and back was being foiled by answered phone calls or not answered.

I finally got a return call from Brett at about 10:45 and Sugar was on the schedule. We cruised out and decided on a lighter ride and choose mostly greens with some blues/blacks thrown into the mix. The pace wasn't super high seeing how Brett was rolling his 32-18 on his Monocog, and I was rolling the 36-18 on the 'Fly. I set it up with front and rear S-Works Fast Traks the day before and was curious about the lack of cush in the front end, as well as traction.

Fortunately my fears/concerns were washed away when the Fast Trak just refused to give up grip under hard cornering. They didn't always hold the line I wanted, but they did admirable for a 50mm wide tire. What they did do awesomely was climb and roll flats. My 36-18 felt like nothing today. I was worried that gear at Sugar would feel ridiculous, but pushing the bigger tires I have this season made the setup feel effortless.

We rolled a lap and then headed to town for a beer and Mexican buffet. Yeah I said it. It was good. We got his chain retensioned after a mystery de-tensioning and headed back out. We cruised another green lap and Brett decided to head back to the truck. When we got there I was going to take my backpack and just cruise the road home, but a one Mr. Black's truck was there. He rolled up no more than a minute later and had only put in a half lap due to a lost bottle. I encouraged that we head out on a rescue mission to get it back seeing as it was an insulated bottle. Mr. Black agreed.

We proceeded to scorch a pretty fast 80% complete lap to end the day. It was an odd one seeing as the first two laps were really low pace, which I wasn't looking for. I think it turned out to be just right. We'll see after BBR ride Thursday, off-day Friday, and pre-race road bike Saturday.

Camp Ingawanis Race Report

2009-08-04T22:17:00.002-05:00

I had mixed feelings going into this past weekend. No riding on Wednesday or Thursday. Friday I rode to work and then home. Saturday I rolled the road bike and pushed some big gears on the way home. I was feeling ok, but after Banner Lakes and then a 3rd at ScoCo, I didn't if the legs had the big efforts in them. Plus the previous season held some pretty wicked terrain.

I was psyched about riding the opposite side of the Camp though. I had no idea of what was in store, but I had a feeling it was going to be fast. I heard that it was going to be flowy, which usually means really fast. I also didn't know who was going to be showing up. I rolled up to the race with the Geoff's crew. We had a strong showing 6 deep. 2 Expert Men, 2 Expert Women, and 2 Sport Men.

Kevin and I were signed up for the Expert open. We pre-rode the course and almost immediately I knew that it was going to be the first time I'd ever bust out a 2:1 gear on my SSuperfly. It was kind of intimidating, but I knew if I was going to hang with the big boys on gears, I was going to need to roll a big gear. I set it up and patiently waited.

At the line I was feeling good. My plan was to follow Cam and Kevin for as long as possible. Both those boys can roll, and I knew on this course it would be important. Luckily the gear choice was awesome and I got into the singletrack 2nd on Cam's wheel. Things settled in immediately and somewhat comfortably. I knew the pace was going to get elevated, but it seemed like Cam was willing to keep things mellow for a little bit. About 3/4's of the way through the first lap Kev had to hold up a little and settle into his own pace.

The next two and a half laps were uneventful. I just sat in Cam's wheel and tried to hand as best as possible. It was good to sit in as there were a couple of long doubletrack and he would punch it through these every chance he got. He definitely didn't want me to get around in these sections. I held it as long as I could.

About 3/4's of the way through lap 4 I knew I had to back off a little. I had no idea how for back Kev was, but my legs were just starting to talk a little. I still felt great, I just knew I couldn't match the pace. I rolled through the start/finish with Cam still in sight, but creeping away. I held my own pace through the rest of the last lap to hold onto 2nd. Cam only openned up 33 seconds this time around so again, I'm getting closer.

This race was important as I'd never actually hung around at that pace before. The boys at ScoCo had my number lap 1. I was overtrained going into that weekend, but was ok. I still felt great but I knew I had to chill out prior to race weekend. This weekend brings Lake Aquahbi which will be another fast one. My high end is definitely there, it's just a question of again how long I'll be able to hold the strongest rider's wheels. I'm not going to be able to attack them but hopefully I'll be able to keep it close. The course is Chequemagon-ish.

Hopefully I'll be able to roll a big enough gear to not make it a blow out. I'm also going to scout Boone tomorrow and the week after. I haven't ever ridden there, so recon is imperative to take away the "local" advantage. I have a feeling it won't be the same result as Banner.

Best Ride Home

2009-07-31T21:28:00.003-05:00

Had a great ride home. It was peaceful, serene, anything you would want in a ride home. It was right at sunset and there was all kinds of wildlife stirring. It was totally relaxing. Awesomely huge salad for dinner, followed by dessert. Now just lounging around. Tomorrow the same. Followed by racing on Sunday.

ScoCoPa Chase Race Report

2009-07-21T21:57:00.000-05:00

Raceday came this past Sunday. Two weeks previous of hard work and only two days on the mountain bike. I hadn't preridden the course, but from reports, I knew it was tight and twisty. I left tire selection to my heavy but trusted Rampage front and newly mounted and new favorite Racing Ralph Snakeskin. I pre-rode everything and felt pretty good, but never end up doing well with a pre-ride on raceday.

Plans for the day were to take the holeshot seeing how at Banner Lakes it had a huge outcome in the results. I had a "bad" day that day anyways (felt great, just didn't have it type day.) I got in a decent pre-ride, but knew that the legs probably didn't have a top spot effort in them. At the start there were a lot of unfamiliar faces. About 5 of them were from the Peoria area Guinness team. I could tell that they were going to be my main competition.

The start chute was about a 250-300 meter section of grass that was board flat. I kind of wrote off my chance for the holeshot. At the start the official asked if the distance was ok and there was a lot of mumbles mostly in the direction of us only doing 4. Myself being an idiot said we should keep it at 5 since it was an expert level race. Bad idea.

I definitely surprised myself and held off the rest of the field pushing a measly 36-19. From the pre-ride I knew things were loose in the first 1/4 of the course so I rode kind of conservatively. I couldn't hold the pace of Aaron McCombs and let him by probably around 2 miles into the lap. Shortly there after his team mate was tailing me and I just didn't have it and let him by as well. I just couldn't keep the pace as high as them through some of the technical stuff. Those guys were just plain shredding.

Anyways I held decently steady for the first three laps which was a terrible idea. I knew I'd have to back the pace off and it was getting warmer all the time it seemed like. Finally at the end of lap 3 I took my second bottle. I had a stupid fumble that lap and had a minor bobble (ok yeah I crashed trying to Gu in a way too short double track section) and lost some time. At the end of every lap was a super technical section. This would hold to be the descisive section to keep me in my place.

Anyways I held onto third overall from a hard charging guy on another SuperflySS. He rolled a tire no less than 20 feet down the trail after I let him roll through. I held him off all of lap 5. He caught me going into the last section on lap 5 but I had been saving my energy most of lap 5 and laid it down. He looped out again due to the pace/time/distance combo and came in a strong 4th.

I had higher hopes for the weekend, but the base I have going into the final stretch of the season is good. I took the overall lead in the IMBCS Expert series this weekend which I had no hopes of ever achieving. Cam won't let me hold onto that one for long, but I'll take it while it lasts. Not bad for my first season racing expert.

I also want to thank the QCFORC guys and gals for putting on an awesome race. They seriously do the best job out of anyone in the whole IMBCS series. I love going to their races. Plus they build and maintain ripping awesome trails and do wonders for trail advocacy in the Quad Cities area.

Holeshot.

Beginning of the End.

2009-07-18T20:10:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow begins the next 5 weeks of mayhem. 4-5 Expert level races in the next 6 weeks. One of the weekends might be a double header with State Road Champs and Waverly MTB race. I'm feeling really good and have gotten in a lot of saddle time in recently. I can't say enough about how much better I feel this season. It is mostly in part due to the people around me. I have a loving family, an awesome job, and an amazing group of friends around me. They have pushed me all season more than they realize to bring me to the level I have achieved.

If you asked me a year ago if I would be able to compete in an almost full season of expert level of mtb racing I would have laughed at you. I tried my first expert level distance in the end of September. At the end of the season I became a little mentally obsessed with doing some 100 mile NUE races. I got a wild hair to go down to Arkansas to try my hand at an 80 miler, but one of the toughest single day races around. I figured if I could survive that, I could survive anything. It helped push me through the beginning of the season as well as my compatriot in pain, Adam.

Things have changed more than I could have ever imagined in the past 6 months. What will the rest of the next two months bring. 6 weekends of racing, potentially including SSWC09, GnomeFest 7, and all sorts of other craziness. This stretch is going to be the most intense stretch I've faced. Nothing huge, just lots of mountain biking.

End of the Beginning.

Hard Work

2009-07-16T10:07:00.001-05:00

Things have been crazy at the shop leading up to RAGBRAI. I am ready for it to be over so I can focus a little more on riding. That being said I have been fitting quite a bit in. I have two early morning sessions at Sugar in before this weekends race. Got a good road ride in on Sunday. I have to thank the Sunday morning crew for picking up numbers and making the ride more and more fun.

I don't know what else to say. Feeling good. Broke my temp tooth. Eating a big bowl of eggs, corned beef hash, and toast. I like carbon by the way. The SS is still amazing. I'm not giving it up for a nothing.

Dentist.

State Crit

2009-07-08T10:49:00.000-05:00

Things went well at Gold Pointe State crit. Took a preem on lap 4 or 5, stayed upright when someone flaked out and went down in front of me, did some work on the front to pull back a solo break. Followed by having an intelligent rider immediately attack right off the front and and stay solo. One racer went down two turns to go and blew out a tire which made most of the field hesitate. Nate and I ended up sprinting it out in a drag race. I got him by about half a wheel. Felt good in my first Cat4 crit. Now I just need to do some work and a couple more.

My hipitis is flaring a little as well. I'm going to maybe just hang out today and do some stretching and core work. Maybe head out for a light spin on the road bike. No big ringin'.

Crit.

2009-07-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

Well since I haven't raced for about 2 months now, I'm diving in. I have a new road bike, no reason that shouldn't make me faster. NOT! But I'm going to try my hand at my first Cat4 crit anyways. Cedar Rapids here I come.

Rain Sucks.

2009-07-04T11:45:00.001-05:00

Dude screw all this rain. Time to get some restructuring done. I want/need to ride my mtbike sometime. And get in a good road ride or two. Tomorrow hopefully Adam and I can get in some gravel miles. Boring 4th.

Into the Blackness

2009-06-26T18:29:00.000-05:00

Night rides are in full effect. Vampires beware: I will be out hunting. Main objective is no exposure to sun. I am on drugs that make it so I can't be in the sun for long periods of time. Or I could roll biker style and rock a bandana. Which I'm totally going to do by the way.

I am looking forward to getting out on some night rides though. Too bad it isn't winter and that the days are the longest for a 4 week period of the year. Oh well the days are waning. And at least it will force me to get on the mountain bike one way or the other. I'm totally jonesing for some Levis Mounds singletrack right now. I've been having dreams about them.

Oh well PBR and night rides for now. And Levis will wait til September. I decided that's when the Gold Label will get popped as well. I also might have to make a trip down to Missouri to do some riding in August. Any suggestions?

Black.

Compact version.

2009-06-24T20:27:00.000-05:00

Last 30 days. Got drunk. Wrecked. Got a couple of stitches, chipped half a tooth. Still healing. Got a new road frame. Roubaix Pro SL. Barmac bars. Rebuilt old Record/CXP33/ Competition rear wheel into Record/RR1.1/Revolution. Used my 24h DuraAce/Venus/ Revo front for a light combo. The thing is a beast and rides like the wind and is super comfy and at home on everything from flats, to climbs, to shredding some gravel.

Things continue on in the shop and I am gassed after a bunch of coworkers being in and out. More out than in. I am in need of some serious mileage. I am getting out in the am tomorrow for more road miles. It is a good thing I switched to a lighter road bike seeing as I now live in Portland, WA (a suburb of Iowa City IA.) We are currently in the rainy season and won't be able to ride mountain bikes til August more than likely.

I am also collecting stuff for my future Winter Bike Project. So far all I am short is a Surly 34t Chainring, Salsa guard, X9 short cage derailleur, 9spd shifter (grip or trigger), Thomson stem, 73x110mm square taper BB. I think that's all. Oh and a frame and fork. I'm thinking Karate Monkey or maybe a Misfit Cycles DiSSent or even a QBall. Or maybe I might have a little something else up my sleeve. If anyone has any of those parts and they want to rid themselves of them let me know.

Road miles in the AM.

Amana

2009-05-28T10:10:00.000-05:00

I took the good old road bike out yesterday for the gorgeous ride that is the Amana ride. Let me say this though, while gorgeous there is a ton of climbing on the way out to drop into the valley. Then on the way home you have to climb out of it. The you roll across some big Iowa hills to get back to Solon. I clocked it in at around 3:15 which isn't trucking, but at 61 miles for the ride it ain't bad. Oh and almost got blasted by some lady head on. That was awesome. Probably the first time I've ever flipped someone off out of anger instead of just joking around.

The old road bike is still ticking along well, but I have some money coming my way and I already have a b*tchin' new handlebar/stem setup that is going to rip. I just can't turn down a good deal! Anyways as much as I've been riding road this year it's probably time to make the switch. The Gios will not be being retired though. It is going to be "restored" as close as possible back to it's original state. I use quotations because I'm not going to use the original Gios blue. I'm going to get the original decal package and then go from there.

Anyways it sounds like Banner Lakes got the rain it needed as opposed to getting trounced which is awesome. I don't know what gearing to run, but I'm going to get out there for the am pre-ride to check it out and get an idea. I'll be heading that way after work on Saturday and staying with the Short Cake's sister/brother-in-law/nephew/and niece. I'm looking forward to racing.

Resting today with short ride into work and back, then hitting it hard again tomorrow.

Indy

2009-05-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

Went over to Indianapolis this weekend to watch the 500. Most people look at auto racing and automatically think of NASCAR. This race is anything but. Imagine over three weeks of testing, qualifying, and racing. That's some serious business. Anyways I stayed at the farm as usual, and as usual got put to work after a late night Saturday night. We hit it off right, woke up early and then hit the yard for a couple of hours. John hadn't mowed his lawn for a week or so and it was looking long. I got weed wacking duty. Sounds easy enough, but the farm is a big place with a lot of buildings to go around.

After that I got to bust out the ladder and slap in some screens. That took about another hour or so. After that John called his friend Leo over to school Greg and I in some cribbage. Yeah yeah you're saying cribbage is for old people. Not so. Cribbage is for people looking to have a good time and drink some beer and count some cards. Probably the best card game ever.

Sunday brought around race day which brings about pandemonium. 300,000 fans and the 100th year since the inception of the Indy 500. Things filled up fast. The race was a little slow action wise for most, but I always dig it. Listening to those motors makes your hair stand on end. Easily one of the most awesome sounds ever. The only thing better are probably F1 cars or Moto GP bikes.

Needless to say I ate well, drank better, and had awesome company as usual. There is magic out there I tell you. Indy is a special place. Enough with the fluffy stuff.

Anyways that came right after a pretty intensive round of training. I hit it super hard 5 days before and could have used more over the weekend. That's life I guess. At least now the muscles are topped off with glycogen and such. The legs felt good today and I tempo'd home in the rain at a good pace. I've really been digging riding gears recently. I know that is a travesty and all, but my legs have really been digging the tempo thing. Especially at higher efforts.

Tomorrow will probably bring rain and crap. I don't know the status of the Indianola race this weekend so we'll have to see. I'm going to get out no matter what and straight blaze 2 hours on the bike. I need some super high levels of intensity. We're talking puking levels. And I don't puke while riding. I'm going to try tomorrow. I'm feeling a new road bike.

Pro SL.

Today = 25.

2009-05-20T11:32:00.001-05:00

Today I turn 25. What does that mean? A quarter century down and no significant change to the world's policies, beliefs or anything else for that matter. I'm getting "older" and don't give a flying crap one way or the other. If by older it means getting stronger, then I'm all for it. I've been working my butt of to get fit, stay fit, and train within bounds my body has never reached or felt.

One thing about cycling is time is a great factor. If you keep riding you will get faster. There will be times when you are slow. There will be times when you are fast. If you keep riding and training year round you will ineveitably get stronger. You will get more comfortable. I am on an upsweep that started 4 years ago and is still moving forwards. My legs aren't all there yet. Mentally I feel great.

Last night I got dropped off of College Green group ride so hard that some would probably shell out and quit. I mean bad habit. I mean guttered to the 'enth degree. Yoyo'd off the back. Making the dumbest decisions on which wheels to grab and not being able to do anything about it. My legs were toast. This came after 4 previously rough days of windy (both pronunciations of the word) roads and two days of big gear SS mountain bike riding. I saw that the old Creepy was rolling a similar gear up at Iola. Maybe I'm getting a little stronger. Maybe a little dumber.

Either way cheers to all of those hitting the grind and the pedals today. This is to you oh Biker Guy who rides his bike everyday. Keep getting on that saddle and riding. It'll only make you stronger. Maybe. Or dumber.

Life lesson of being 25- Riding mountain bike fixies with huge gears can be the dumbest decision you ever make. Think long and hard before you do.

Hair cut.

H1N1

2009-05-06T00:50:00.000-05:00

Not to be confused with M1A1. My computer got itself some swine flu. A dose of me f'ing with it for a week and sucumbing to taking it to the shop got it better. That and a half gB of RAM never hurts. Not much going on in my world other than theorizing the impending zombie apocolypse stemming from this outbreak of swine flu. Umbrella Corp is behind it and I know it. Too much Resident Evil 5 and Zombie Strippers for sure.

The computer is better and everything in bike land is feeling great. The 'Fly is well and now a new carbon project is being cobbled together in my head. Let me drop the hint that I'm glad I switched when I did.

Drank some PBR and GB Premium tonight. Rode my bike with no lights in the dark which was sweet. I am on a imposed 3 week fixie recovery plan as well. I read a mind breaking article on single speed bikes/riding a couple of weeks ago which went along with my early season/new bike assumptions. The beer thing is a humongous plus. Thanks GTed. And that BA guy from Twin Six.

Glad to be back.

I guess it's still April

2009-04-22T14:56:00.000-05:00

Well the wind hasn't let up around Iowa yet. But it is still April. We got a serious dose of temperature increase today which was amazing. On top of that the Big Boss Man let me take out his old 2008 Sworks Tarmac SL2 to get a feel for the frame sizing and ride quality. The wind was only noticible when getting hit with a decent cross wind. It was also my first ride on some decently deep carbon wheels which was amazing as well. Also my first ride on a bike featuring a BB30 standard bottom bracket. Whew that was a mouth full.

The bike rode awesome and I rode decent. I have a tweaked tendon running from my knee through my shin from the lack of warm up this weekend. It was cold enough and raining hard enough that I just forgoed it. It wasn't needed. Besides the whole slight injury thing. Oh well. That's life and racing. My legs felt pretty good as well. Big ringing some of the bigger climbs on Sugar Bottom like an idiot and then cruised into the headwind all the way home. Dropped it into the little ring for that whole stretch to let the tendon spin out and relax.

So now the decision comes down to do I pick up a 52cm or a 54cm frameset. The 54cm works with the 100mm stem that is on it and even with the 20mm offset seatpost. I took some measurements off the Gios and dropped the bars a little bit. The whole fit thing is really coming around when it comes to setting up my bikes. It really doesn't take me long any more to get them really dialed. I just don't know if I want to ride a 120mm stem. Looks goofy but even with that added length the shorter wheelbase of the bike will handle a little better as well.

Oh decisions, decisions. That new frameset will really help with the road training aspect of things. The old Gios just leaves you gassed and soaks up efforts on training rides. That isn't always bad, it just leaves you more fatigued. Also I might have to see what the old Boss man might take for his old SL2. The Sram Red components really worked well. Shifting was super fast and very snappy compared to Rival or Force. I would have to say that when next season comes around, I will definitely be thinking about them for a kit should I get just a frameset.

That's all.

Sylvan Island Stampede Race Report

2009-04-20T08:44:00.000-05:00

I crossed the line yesterday way faster than expected. The conditions were about as bad as they could have possibly been, which caters to my riding experience. The mud, slop, cold and sheer attrocious conditions were right up my mental alley. As I write this my eyes are still shedding crap out of them and go blurry every now and then. Talk about a crappy but good day to ride a bike.

I hit the singletrack in probably about 10-11th place and was ready to get my mud bearings pumping. It's been about 8-9 years since I've irresponsibly ridden singletrack in downright destructive conditions. Luckily most of the other people in the field were not ready to handle it. In Iowa, there aren't too many trail systems that are rain friendly. After working past 1 or 2 people in the first mile I had my first mud mishap. I slammed the front of my saddle and the nose of my saddle rocked down into a negative 45 degree angle. Talk about crappy.

I hopped off the bike in an open doubletrack section and with one solid punch put the saddle back to about a negative 10 degree angle. Far from great, but for a day like this one it was perfect. So I was behind a slower gentleman on a FS Hifi 29er who just kept tapping his pedals on just about anything he could. The weather was just taking it's toll. And at this point we were only 2 miles into the race! So I got to catch up to the two people who passed me, one on another SuperflySS and the other guy I don't remember. SuperflySS guy and I started to do some work. We rode the remainder of the lap together and into the second.

At that point we had picked off about 5-6 riders and were working well together. Only problem was all the mud he was kicking into my eyes! My eyes and face were getting slammed and it wasn't helping my situation at all. So come the next gravel section it was game on. Passed him on the short gravel and just headed into the singletrack pushing my own pace. Apparently this cracked him cause at the next trail overlap he was gone. It could have been the pits of mud that were 3-5 inches deep in places as well as all the roots and rock buried in them to immediately stop your progress.

At this point I was riding by myself. I felt really good, but didn't see anyone ahead, nor did I hear anyone cheering for anyone behind me. Oh well just keep pumping the pace. I finally got my second handup thanks to Adam doing some bottle searching. Nate had to drop out cause he smoked a tree with his knee. I felt bad, but that's mud racing on a course that is basically a rocky, rooty pump track. Attention, attention, attention.

I finally saw someone which turned out to be Kevin. He was about a while section ahead on the singletrack. I just kept riding my same pace because I felt like it was a good one and I wasn't 100% killing myself. I actually caught up to him as he stopped to tighten his cleat. It had worked it's way loose and luckily he hadn't lost a bolt. At this point I knew there could only be a couple of people in front of me. I knew it was Nenniger, Shockey, and Cam. As it turns out I had passed Shockey earlier, but hadn't even remembered or realized it. At this point I was on a mission. My mind and body just hit some weird rythym. I can't even explain it.

I caught Nenninger in the muddiest section of all. He tried to put some pace in during a couple of the little open sections, but these were now mud pits as well and his shifting was gone. I just motored past in one of the nastiest sections of all. I don't think he was expecting that. That killed off all but one rider (I thought it was actually two) and I knew next one in line was Cam. He kept pulling through just ahead on the next section of singletrack in multiple places. We kept crossing paths. I couldn't tell if I was gaining or not. I was getting pretty gassed at this point anyways.

I hit the 6th lap with hopes of just holding my position and that's what I did. I did end up putting time into Cam (as far as catching up) but didn't reel him back. My first lap was over 1 minute slower than his, and my next 3 were faster. My 5th was slower, but I know my sixth was faster. One of my lap times didn't register on the Accu-Split. He posted a 22.xx lap and I knew I closed some on that lap.

Overall I took second in Expert on my Superfly SS. The bike is amazing. It is the hands down best race rig I have ever had. My brake pads are 100% gone my the way. The rear brake stopped working with about .5 miles to go which was fortunate. My front isn't fairing much better but does have some pad left. Those are getting replaced as well as the chain.

Thanks to all the FORC crew for and awesome race. Next time I'm working on a better start position. Watch yourselves. All you all.

Muddy.

Ready?

2009-04-18T20:45:00.000-05:00

Well tomorrow is the first step up of the year. CIRREM brought pain, cold and good mental training. Ouachita Challenge brought physical hardship and training that brought about a better mood for the beginning of the season. Now it is time to stretch the legs on an actual race day. The course will be a load of fun. Rock, glass, and nothing but 2.5 hours of flowy technical singletrack. It will be interesting to hit a rythym and see if it can stick for that long. The course is short, fast and demands 100% attention at almost all times.

I feel ready. Legs felt about 80-90% today which is about perfect. Rain forecast looks like the gearing choice could be a tough one, but could bring about better than average performance. Or it could bring shreded legs. We'll see.

Concentration.

Sylvan Pre-ride

2009-04-15T18:30:00.000-05:00

All I'm saying is put on your beer goggles kiddies, cause things are going to get dizzy! Whoa! That course is tight, twisty, rocky, glass strewn in areas and above all else, pump track-a-riffic. I am all about it besides the fact that I won't be able to see straight after around lap 5. Gearing selection is spot on, and the On One carbon fork feels great back on the Fly. Front wheel is a little more tucked underneath me which is perfect. Also dialed in tire pressure front and rear as well. I am loving my Rampage on the front. As long as it doesn't rain too much the Python will be staying on the rear as well.

I was feeling a little tired early on today, but started to come around on lap two. After that is was game on. I also took a little too much pressure out of the front tire. No rolling of the sidewall, just a little too soft for race day. Conditions were 85% dry with a couple of sloppy parts and only a couple of tacky spots. The trails are pretty much ripping right now. Seems like they are eeking out a pretty decent course this year. And I know cause I didn't race it last year. So take that one with a grain of salt.

Grilling.

Legs are Officially Back.

2009-04-14T20:51:00.000-05:00

Hit up my first College Green Group ride since about 2006 or 2007. I don't remember that clearly which year. I rode well on that one but quickly got shelled during a chase situation shortly outside of Morse. Not smart riding on my part. This time around things went better. I rode smarter, pulled when I could, chased when I could, and sat in when needed. I probably could have worked a little more, but oh well. Screw it. I'm a Cat 5 right now (truly if I renewed my liscence probably automatically upgraded to a 4).

I was in trouble in a couple of spots, but it couldn't have gone beter. My back is starting to feel better now as well. My legs feel pretty ridiculously good. I couldn't ask for more. A week and two days after a single speed 80 mile race, I was hitting it up with some of the faster cats in the area. I know if they put the hammer down I'd get eaten alive, but hey, I survived on this day. The Sunday-Monday off didn't hurt and if anything really helped. Maybe it was the Taco Pizza following the Chili for lunch.

Feels good.

Coming back around

2009-04-09T10:40:00.000-05:00

What you know about crystals? Timeline crystal. Meditate on past and future. And across the alternate timelines. Mine is special because of the alternate timeline ability.

My legs are finally starting to come back to regular function. My lower back is still a little tender when really trying to crank out a decent pace seated up climbs. I upped the gearing on the 'Fly for this season which is a little early. I just rode Sugar Bottom and it is soft and there are about 2-3 inches deep of pine needles in areas. The 1.89 ratio is definitely high. I am hopefully going to get out to Sylvan this weekend to check out the situation. I also might have to order a 35t chainring for those inbetween gears.

I am really going to improve my singlespeed approach this season. I have been of the set it and forget it contingent for a long time, but it is time to kick that habbit. I just know that for certain courses I am going to need a little smaller or a little bigger. I know what my legs can push, but I need to step it up (or consequently down.) Only got one lap in this morning and I know I'll have to step it down a gear for the old SB during this early season wetness/needleness. I also was craving the rigid fork as well. I'll have to slap that on tomorrow or something. I also need to pick up a more serious spacer kit. I am just running those thin 4.5mm 7spd spacers right now and my cog definitley shifts a little back and forth even thought it is tight. I can hear the chain rubbing due to the torque and it not being super tight.

Yay pictures!

Before

After

Ouachita Challenge Race Report

2009-04-07T07:40:00.000-05:00

Well everything went down without a hitch. Well sort of. Pre-ride day left Adam with 2 nastily cut tires. We were just cruising some singletrack when all of a sudden down a really wet section, I hear hissing out of Adams tires. Upon inspection he cut the sidewall and side knobs on both his front and rear tires. They were nasty cuts at that. We drove to Hot Springs and loaded up on tires and Stans fluid. Adam decided on a Rampage front and XDX rear. The shop was Parkside Cycles and they were super cool and let us use their compressor. Thanks to those guys. They had a really nice and cool shop. We got back to the camp site and hung out and ate dinner. We headed off to bed to get some sleep before the big day.

We woke up to pretty gray skies. It was 6a.m. and cloudy. So it was a little dark and and looking like rain might be moving into the area. We headed over to Oden at about 6:45. We stayed at the Ouachita River Haven Resort which was a super nice little spot. It was located right in the middle of the race course and just 3 or 4 miles from Oden. We got there and picked up our race packets and headed to the car to get ready. It was really looking like rain at this point. We got over to the pre-race meeting and then headed to the start line. There was quite the crowd of riders. We aren't talking about Chequemagon big, but these two races are pretty brutal compared to that one.

The start rolled us out on some road for around 2 miles to gravel. Then on the gravel we turned into the sky and climbed and climbed. Once we were ready to dump onto some doubletrack it just kept going up. You could see peoples spirits drop when they saw that. My 32-20 had me spinning quite a bit on the road section, but once we hit the gravel climb and the doubletrack it was perfect. At the top of the climb we finally descended into some singletrack. I was really feeling good.

We road the Womble section I had ridden in the past and I felt like my pace was spot on. My gear selection forced me to take it easy which was great. I took one stop to grab some food out of my bag about half way through. At the end of the first Womble section 21 miles in was the first aid station which I just blew through. I had water and electrolyte drink so I just kept rolling. The legs were starting to twinge a little but nothing serious. This was my first serious singletrack ride of the year so it was going to get pretty brutal and I knew it. I rolled the next section pretty well. Adam caught back up to me and we hit aid station two at about the same time. I reloaded on water and this time some Cytomax, ate a 'nana and some cookies and rolled out.

The next section in store for us was going to be a long one. We were 38 miles in and the next aid the way I figured it was in about 22 miles. I was feeling fatigued now for sure, but I just kept on rolling. I knew that I had to stick this section as well as possible. I was worried about going to hard through this section, but I knew if I didn't I wouldn't make aid station 4 and the 4 o'clock cut-off. This section also had the first "real" hike a bike. There was a really good one in the previous section, but we knew one was coming up. We got to it and hiked for probably around 20 minutes it felt like. We got to the top and cruised for a while. By this time my muscles were really starting to feel some fatigue. My Ergon bag also decided to seperate from my shoulders in this section. Stupid short bolt. I knew I should have replaced it. Fixed it and kept rolling.

Adam started feeling a lot better through the end of this section and started actually riding the climbs again instead of hiking. Unfortunately my legs were way to fatigued at this point to even remotely think about attempting to crank even some of the lower grade rises. I came around a little towards the end of the section and rode some of the last grades and then popped off onto the fire road. Here we had an awesome warning sign for a dangerous descent. Finally! This race makes you forget what a descent is and puts climbing in your face all the time. I know you have to have descents, but it sure doesn't feel like it on this course. At the end of the descent I hit aid station 3.

I topped off with some water downed another banana and headed out towards Blowout. This section of trail had me hiking for probably around a good hour it felt like. Times can probably all be rounded down approx. 25% from what I thought it felt like. I didn't wear a watch (I forgot it) so I just kept one foot over the other. At this point, I had barely anything left in the tank. The decision to ride SS in a race of this distance and caliber this early in the season was kind of dumb, but a good challenge none the less. I know I would have been able to ride more of this race had I had a geared bike. Oh well. Should have bought a geared Superfly, not a single speed. Blowout felt like it took forever. It just kept going up and up. I just couldn't climb any of it unless it was a 2-3% grade. I just kept going into aid station 4. By this time at Blowout, I had some fellow single speeders around. We rolled into the aid together.

The other two I was with rolled out to Big Brushy ahead of me. I just got some Cytomax and headed the claimed 6 miles to the other side of the mountain to the last checkpoint. One thing about the checkpoints/aid stations the last half of the race was no one stationed at them that knew the actual distance to the next point. Oh well I just kept going. I knew that I was pretty much home free. I hiked a fair amount of the first two miles, but then it leveled out and luckily didn't go up the ridge. It just wound around the mountain so I was able to get back on the bike. My legs were spent but I hit that point where your body just finally shuts up and you mind takes over. I passed a couple of people in this section who were in bad shape. I was so happy to get to the top and start descending. There was a guy on a Specialized FS who was my carrot. We had gone back and forth earlier in the race a little and I knew the way I was feeling I would descend better than him. It didn't matter cause he got me back later.

I rolled up to the last checkpoint to find Adam standing there. He was just grabbing a last little hit of water from some bottles they had there. He had only been there a minute or two so I had made some ground back on him. He had a puncture before aid 4 and had to stop and pump it up there. We found out it was only 8.5 miles of gravel and road to the finish. We just cruised it in together. Adam was pretty cracked as was myself. My legs were just so happy to spin that it didn't matter that they were borderline balled up. I was hitting the climbs better than Adam, but I just waited up. We got into this mess together so we may as well finish it together. When we hit the gravel the major temp drop hit me pretty hard. About 1-2pm in the afternoon I put my arm warmers on to prevent sunburn and I was glad I hadn't thrown those in my drop bag to be returned to the school.

All in all we finished in 9 hours and 26 minutes. Slower than I had wanted, but we finished which is saying enough. The 80 mile race is designed for people not to finish. The amount of singletrack before the last 20 miles is great, but pounds you into the ground. The last 20 miles decides who is stupid enough to keep going. In the 60, they miss out on that 22 miles section of singletrack which is replaced by a road/gravel section that saves a lot of energy. I have no qualms with my slow time seeing as A.) I finished, B.) it was waaay early in my mountain bike season, and C.) this was my first race or mountain bike ride over 50 miles ever. There were a lot of people behind us that didn't even finish for any reason imaginable.

So I'm not sure if I got the bug for longer races yet or not. I hurt pretty thoroughly and even as I write this, I am thinking about driving to work. We'll see. I had a blast the first 40 miles and suffered pretty thoroughly on and off during the last 40. I will say one thing, I'll probably never go back and ride that race on a single speed. I would like to try it on a geared bike though.

I'm spent.

Lack of Riding

2009-04-02T09:44:00.001-05:00

Well not much riding has gone down this week. I have been doing a good core workout since Sunday. I've only ridden on Sunday and Tuesday. Things have been crappy around these parts as far as riding goes. I am really looking forward to riding Saturday though. I just have to get Adam to do it. If not I can always spin to the trails and get in some light road miles and just do about an hour to an hour and a half on the trails. I would really like to get some hurt and miles in the legs. I just feel better come race day when I do. Get's the glycogen in the legs juiced up after a storage cycle. That starts today.

Looks like there are some tornado watches for lower Arkansas right now as well. That is kind of crazy. I headed to work yesterday to get everything on the bike dialed in. I installed a Panaracer Rampage front tire and left the Hutchinson Python on. The newer Pythons have the knobs spaced out farther and taller side knobs. I am digging it. It can be run at a stupid low pressure as well. It is a firm feeling tire. The Rampage is going to be my new jam this season. It just rolls fast. Just as fast as the Weirwolf due to it's tread design, but the chunk of the knobs leaves it a gripper.

I also got some things worked up for my fuel storage. I had some awesome clips on a BioNuclear Hazmat suit bag my friend from the Army gave me that I taped up to my gel flasks. They are bad *ss. They have a sliding clip mechanism so when things get nasty, I can slide them down and then they cannot fly off. Otherwise they will stick in place really well.

I am decided on my setup as well. 32-20 gear and my rigid fork. Minus the gear, it is the setup I've ran for the past 3-4 seasons. I just don't think before a race is a great time to change the setup. I did change tires, but that was a no brainer. I got some good advice from Squirrel as far as the gearing. He was just down there this past weekend and said things were wet on the low parts and amazing anywhere there was elevation. I'm getting antsy....

Feeling Good.

2009-03-31T19:37:00.000-05:00

I don't know why, but I am feeling good. I got a good race shakedown, and as I thought, we are headed the direction on the Womble which I thought we were. That is a good thing. It has a pretty good climb early, but otherwise descends for a while. Then some ups and downs, then some flat, then some more ups and downs. After that I am unfamiliar. I am really questioning the 32-20 and I think I could handle something larger, but I really want to finish.

The other thing I had been worried about is whether or not the climbs on the Ouachita Trail would be punishing. I found out that they will, but that they are borderline unridable with even a standard triple/9 speed setup. I heard there was much hiking going on in that section last year. The only other thing I am hoping for is that I can switch my registration to the 80 mile SS class. If not whatever. Either way I'll be timed and know where I finished overall.

I need to do some planning and preping. I'm going to pick up a tent tonight and have a beer or two. I probably won't be back til after Ouachita so wish me good luck.

Up and up.

Screw Gears

2009-03-29T22:04:00.000-05:00

So I put gears on the Superfly SS. It was a good idea in theory, but a pain in the end. I snapped the head of my crank extractor bolt trying to take the cranks off. The first removal and it failed. Thin aluminum. I used some snap ring pliers to get the stupid threaded portion out of the arm. Then I tried to put on a Jump-Stop. The seat tube flares at the BB high enough to stop that from working. I could use a road FD I have but I hate that. Doesn't work well.

I got everything rigged up at home, then took it to the shop for finishing touches. It feels fast, but scares me that there is nothing to prevent the chain from falling off the chainring. F**k it. I'm riding Ouachita SS baby! Screw that s**t. I'm doing it. I hope I don't die. I'm slapping on the Fox fork and am going to ride a 32-20. It is going to feel like an easy gear at times in the beginning, but I'm banking on the fact that by the end, it'll feel imposible. Just the way it should. It's my first enduro so I just want to finish.

I'm also slapping on the Fox Fork. I don't want to have to swap my tubeless setup and the XDX tire I'm running on the front is large enough, especially if I have some squish. It has a lockout and compression damping. I'm getting everything setup tomorrow. I'm returning the XT cassette. I'm also going to be selling the Monster Truck. After much internal debate, there will be a new frame and fork coming along to take care of me. It just does not, I repeat does not work for my hip. I don't know what it is, but it didn't and still isn't working.

Those are my ramblings. The relief and fear are setting in. I'm relieved that I'm not riding gears in some ways. Then I think about the climbs on the Womble and think about how I rode them in a 34-32 on my 26 and how a 32-20 on my SSuperfly is going to be interesting.

I'm dreaming of rocks and singletrack.

Climb, Climbs, Climbing

2009-03-26T08:58:00.000-05:00

You ever look at that word? It's a weird word. Mega weird. Well that's how I spent yesterday. Hitting all the nastier rides in the area. I hit each of them around 3 times. I got in some off road action as well. I hit up the golf course trails as well as the east side mountain bike spot. Everything was a little moist but not terrible. Most of the ride was kind of forced. Temps were 35F and a little windy. As well as gray. Not rain gray but cold and crappy gray. I spent another Wednesday on the Superfly. I think all the work on it built as a single speed will be good prep for slapping some gears on for the climbfest that will be the 80 mile version of the Ouachita Challenge.

Even after a day of rain, I was surprised to find most of the trails in dryish conditions. Most low lying areas even after the flashflooding were in decent shape. There is a lot of rutting from the melt off though. And hikers. Oh man don't get me started. Where as most of the time I try and ride around muddy areas to avoid rutting, they decide it is a great idea to just plow through and leave 4-5 inch deep foot prints. I know that riding around creates a wider trail, but so do downed trees and other things and situations like flooding that cause reroutes. It's not that bad. Intentional damage is still intentional damage.

Anyways it was a good day. The sun came out around 4:30 or so. About an hour after my ride was done. I got 4 hours in the saddle which is about half of what I'll be doing in around a week. Gears while a cop-out, are going to be a welcome addition. I don't even remotely care. It'll be nice to have a 32-34 to ride at about mile 70. If I am even still riding then.

No pictures because it sucked out. Off to ride the Litespeed for a while before work. I need to work the kinks out of my legs.

BikeCAD Musings

2009-03-23T23:04:00.000-05:00

Well after learning of the possibility of an early production run, I might have the chance to yet again score another rather ground breaking frame. I can't let the who's go or the when's but I have steel on the brain. Don't get me wrong, for an aluminum bike I love my Dillinger, but I just have a hankering for anything not aluminum. Specifically nice steel. Oh and Titanium. But that is for when I make a ton of money. Which will never happen. I'm a bike mechanic. I'll have to build my own Ti frames for a living to even think about making myself one. I own one, but it doesn't count. At all.

Anyways, I found a little program known as BikeCAD. Probably the most fun and f*cking coolest thing I've played with in a while. Just seeing what angles and lengths can be used to make a frame is awesome. Just seeing the different tricks used to get various chainstay length's is crazy. I am currently a little obsessed with trail figures. The SuperflySS is built around an interesting set of numbers. I of course haven't even ridden it with the suspension fork it came with so it handles a little slower than what I expect. Once I get dialed to the ride though it'll be nice.

I have had a hankering for a while to order a custom steel frame. I just know what works for me, what I like, and how I would like it built. The only thing I would like to know is what butting profiles I'd like to run. The hookup option for the custom frame would have me picking the butting profiles. Kind of yikes. I have a pretty good idea though of what I'd do where and why. I've been keeping my eyes open when reading articles. I especially dig Merlin's philosophy on Top Tube butting profiles and their affect on ride quality.

The second option would be a little more guided. I really dig the geometry setup I've picked. It is around an inch shorter wheelbase, half inch shorter top tube, built around a ti offset seatpost (mmmm comfortable flex) and purple. I am getting some purple ano stuff for this build. The second option also custom builds forks as well. I am almost leaning this way as he is very experienced. Also if the first option is any more than $700 it's not going down. I just don't want to pay someone a ton of money building me a mountain bike who had never really built more than a couple before mine. I don't care how many frames you built before, switching to a completely new frame style with as many caveats and attentions to geometric detail I have in mind, I just don't want to pay for the screw ups. Cause they are going to happen.

Nothing is going to be even crazy bent or anything. I don't like Jeff Jones style monster bend bikes. The cruiser retro-ish 29er thing hasn't really caught my fancy. Except for Steve Garro of Coconino Cycles. He builds some clean frames. And I wouldn't call them cruisers so much as upward curving top tube sweet machines. Similar to Black Sheep except steel. I like classic double diamond frames. Maybe the would never be as vertically compliant, but I think it is more than possible.

I don't even know if Builder No.1 would understand some of the ideas I have concerning the build. Oh well screw it. It's a crazy idea anyways. I am just going to have some money to invest soon and well with the market the way it is, I'd rather invest it into a end of the world, zombie apocalypse style build. Not a ridiculously heavy frame, just custom fit to me with no carbon. My SuperflySS just seems to fragile in my brain. Maybe I'm just a slut for new bikes.

Play with BikeCAD and build your Dream!

A week it was...

2009-03-18T10:01:00.000-05:00

Yeah I know a week and no updates. Well things got crazy around here. Actually mostly in my head. I had a hard enough time waiting for the week countdown to the Shortcake's birthday. I had quite a gift in mind, and I just couldn't focus on anything. Planning, family cordination for the party, trying to keep the secret under raps. I'm talking about popping the question by the way.

I had the job switch as well which threw off my work day schedule, but luckily Mr.Price worked the last half of the day for me. I got to come home and get the black refried beans ready (home made of course) and chop up two baskets of strawberries. All while knowing I had to pop the question when she came home. Talk about pressure. I almost chopped my finger off more than once.

On the way home I grabbed the ring, the 23 long stem white roses, and then carefully drove home. I took my time so I didn't run into anything. I was having a hard time focusing. I also couldn't eat and had a crazy ringing going on in my ears. I don't know why I was so nervous, but I was. I got all the food ready and bided my time patiently.

Waiting for her to show up the last half an hour was the worst. She finally pulled up in the driveway and I got staged. Flowers in hand and ring box sitting on the table right inside the door. I didn't want to give her a second to react, think, do anything. I just wanted to hit her with it immediately. She walked in, I gave her the flowers, took her purse and jacket, sat them down, and got down on one knee. Then the question ( I was going to say some things before hand, but my heart was racing so fast that I just had to get it out.)

I pulled the ring out of the box to put it on and she tackles me! She didn't even let me put the ring on before she mauled me with kisses and I love you's. No crying went down, but tears were in the eyes. The next hour before heading to her parents house for dinner with the families was spent running around with huge smiles, completely speachless and dumbfounded actions, and kisses and hugs.

I know it sounds all girly and all but it truly was special. I was pretty shaken up throughout the afternoon as well as into the evening. Nothing a couple beers and a load of Mexican food couldn't solve. I hadn't eaten since 10am so one beer went down with the effect of three, and the food actually went down like it was half the amount.

Thank you everyone who knew and didn't say anything. Oh wait. That was just me. Her father was so excited that he "leaked" the info to his son (I'll give him that one, it's hard to keep things like that back) but then told one of Emily's sister. My mom went and snuck a peak at the ring two weeks before I popped the question. Pretty much Emily was the last to know. Oh well. The important thing was that she was the last to know.

Much Love. I'm out to ride the Superfly SS today. Time to start getting used to the ride of that mama-jama.

CIRREM Race Report

2009-03-11T10:40:00.000-05:00

Well CIRREM went down without a hiccup. It was cold, windy, rainy, snowy, you name it. 62 miles of balling up your hand in a fist to squish the water out of it. Awesomeness. I ended up in the lead group after about 5-6 miles or so. Kent had an unfortunate breakdown with his freehub. Which was later found out to have been fixed on a farm. Now that is Iowa for you.

The lead group was formed with Jed Gammel, Jared Osterlough, Sean Walker and myself. The gravel conditions kept things rolling well. It would have been slow, but Madison County seems to have some solid pack underneath it's gravel. Considering we had rain 48 hours previous to the race and the day of, the roads couldn't have been in better shape.

Once it started raining, any hopes of myself feeling good went out the window. I just couldn't get warm. The climbs on the course were the only place where I would get warmed back up again. My legs didn't want to respond on the flats. They just couldn't handle a very long pull into the head wind sections. So needless to say Jed and Sean did a lot of work, with Jared working by himself just off the back to avoid getting caked in sand.

Jared is definitely a strong rider. He put in a crazy two days with a gravel road race (rode out and back to the race) and then threw down on CIRREM. At about mile 48-50 my legs decided to give out. I couldn't keep the pace of the other leaders. I had let my "nutrition" regiment slide, which for me equals light top heavy bonkage. Luckily this day it meant light. I slammed two Powergels with caffeine and was ready to rock about 20 minutes later.

The climbing in the race was kind of broken up. Rolling gravel roads followed by a turn onto another road into the heavens. It was kind of crazy. You would be stomping the rollers one after the other only to forget that Kent Carlson put the race on and that it was going to have some elevation gain. Luckly the last major leg killer was in the 45-46 mile range. That is what killed off the last remaining fuel in my system.

Anyways Sean ended up hanging back and finishing the course off with me. If he hadn't I would have had to navigate and it would have been a brutal ride into Cummings. Which was another kick in the pants on this cold windy day. To hit the 100k mark, Kent had to bring us in just north of town and then run us back out two miles and back in. It was a mind f*ck and a half.

I had a good time and the legs are still hurting. On other fronts, I started my new job on Monday. I am working at a shop in downtown IC now. Working for the corp just wasn't working out. Hard to believe after that many years things would go down. Oh well. I have a new home and a group of people that feel like family. I had that before, except instead of having a positive owner figure, there was a douche eye in the sky. I love all the people I have worked with except a few who I will live on without in happiness. Here is to new beginnings ( I know, I know I keep saying that, but it is that time in my life.)

I am taking a true day off. My legs still need a little more recovery before I hit them again.

CIRREM

2009-03-07T17:09:00.000-06:00

CIRREM is going to be brutal this weekend. I'm not even going to look at the forecast. All I know is I found out I might have a wheel to suck for a while tomorrow. Or to not suck considering that wheel is going to be spewing crap all over me. So that'll be a terrible idea. I'm shooting for a finish time somewhere in the 6 hour range. It's going to be nasty with a capital every letter that spells nasty. I hope I made the right bike decision for the weekend. Skinny's with big knobs. It'll throw crap around, but knowing KC he'll be throwing some of his own tricks around the course.

I wish everyone luck tomorrow. I forgot to grab my flask of intestinal fortitude aka my flask full of Jame-O for the ride. It would actually be more like a mental relief. Oh well. Good hard miles are what I am in need of anyways. This will also be my first race reppin' under a different shop. That's right I made a move. It sucks and is good all at the same time. I'm going to make some other big changes in my life real soon. I'm looking forward to the future.

Race (suffer) On!

Things go around...

2009-03-05T09:18:00.001-06:00

Well I'm going to have a couple of days off before starting a new job. Crazy as it sounds I sit here a little relieved. I definitely apologize to those I've left behind, but man, are things going to be a little more mellow. There won't be as much free change floating around, but I've got a pretty nice stash laying around and in the garage. I am excited about the new beginning. New beginnings. Emphasis on the plural. Things go on as planned.

I tried to shore up my options immediately. That went ok, so we'll see. As for the rest of the details, I have a couple of days off. Weather today is going to be 60F. Oh shame. Then about the same tomorrow. Again. A shame. I'll edit up later with some details of the ride.

Gravel Nothing

2009-03-03T10:08:00.000-06:00

Temps this weekend stayed nice and chilly. I swore that I was hearing things last night on the radio. They said a high near 50F. It is currently 22F under cloudy skies (generated Weather Channel voice) and now your local Doppler Radar. That sucks too. The forecast for the weekend looks promising though. I am hoping to head to CIRREM on Sunday AM. The ShortCake is heading to MN to get her sister packed up to head to Brazil. Permanently. Crazy I know.

I am trying to bring myself to motivate and go ride outdoors. The hips is a little sensitive from riding the Fixie for the past couple of days. I haven't been off the bike for a while and am feeling really good. Last Tuesday was just such a nice day. I suppose I should get on a bike. I have people to pay, people to get registration from, people to ask questions. I really want to ride the Superfly. I just don't want to get the damn thing dirty! I'll just have to ride the Fixie, hip be damned. I don't want to put new tires on my cross bike and it's needs them terribly bad.

I suppose I should get that sucker all tuned up. It is going to be that bike or the Litespeed. This March is supposed to be spent with me being on a SS the entire month except when I puss out and ride gears on the trainer. I really want to give Ouachita a go on a SS seeing as I have a pretty awesome SS to ride. It would be a shame to try and strap gears on the thing. Oh well.

Who will win? Outdoors and the Superfly? Outdoors and the Fixie? The trainer? Or maybe a little of both. A nice cold cruise outdoors, pay up, reg up, then throw down mid-afternoon on the trainer. I think I'll go crazy if I ride the trainer too long, so I'm heading outdoors. I'll take the camera along to play with.

Inside Out! Out InSide!

Edit- I definitely hit all the above requirements besides riding indoors. That was a dumb idea anyways. I made it 3 hours in the saddle in strong 15mph SE winds. All on the Fixie. That bike is always a joy to ride, but after 3 hours and loads of climbing, my legs feel a little shot. Nothing that some wings ribs and one large Fat Tire couldn't take care of. The Fat Tire was to ease the nerves for one of the above requirements. More on that later. PEACE!

Gravel Explore

2009-02-27T21:57:00.000-06:00

I rode the trainer last night after dinner. It was ok, but my heart is officially outside. No matter the temps. There isn't enough snow to deter me now. I am going to get up early and pound some pavement and gravel. Hopefully a nice mix of both. I really need to pick up a nice little elevation recording device. Maybe I'll have to strap that evil computer of mine on, and overlay the details with GMAP.

Nate and I have been tooling around with this little dandy of a program for a couple of weeks now. It really opens things up in your mind as to riding locally. There is a lot of good terrain around here to be ridden, you just have to plan for it. I am hoping for a three hour stroll tomorrow morning. I also really need to crank up the intensity once it is 4 weeks and counting. Currently I am about 4.5 weeks out. So it is time.

In other news I just got the fit dialed on the 'Fly. The long wheelbase will be a little on the interesting side. I got a half link installed which helped. I got an 80mm XXX Lite stem as well. That fit like a glove once I hopped on. Cockpit length is a tad longer than on my Scout, but that is perfect. Or at least it feels longer due to the wheel base. I also figured out my little disc rotor click. It was rubbing the disc adaptor. I really wish we had a IS Disc Tab facing tool. That would help out a ton.

The biggest factor on this bike is going to be the G2 geometry. It rolls through corners. Kind of telepathically. As I said before it rips downhill, but once it gets tight (and this is on bike paths not offroad trails) it isn't the sharpest bike. But I don't have the discs fully bedded, nor do I have a 7" rotor, nor do I have metallic pads installed yet. I don't believe the 7" rotor option will be needed, but the metallics might.

Also I think that the Arches are pretty awesome rims, but I think I am already missing the size of my Delgado's. The extra width creates so much more stability to the tire at lower pressures. I might have to relace my front wheel with a Flow or a Duster. Probably leaning towards the Duster due to the 30gr lighter weight. Although I could probably just tape the stupid thing and keep it even lighter. Their bead hooks on their rims are what handles the tire's bead so well.

Enough babble. Sleep, Eat, then Ride.

Ride day

2009-02-24T18:12:00.000-06:00

It had been a couple of days since I got out for a good outdoor ride. I decided to take some time off considering my schedule and it was needed. Now it is time to hit the pavement again. This time around it is going to be brutal. Miles followed by intensity. I have to contact the man and have him work me up a little plan. He's good at that kind of thing.

Anyways today I completely lost track of time. And it was pretty self explanitory. Add one new bike + 48F max temp + a day off and you get a lot of riding and stopping to show off the new wares. I hit up work, then to Adams, then to "drop" him off at class. Then south of town, along the river and to Geoff's. Then across town again to get some climbing in on the way home. It was sloppy and the bike got real dirty.

The verdict is the bike feels long. I think the cockpit length feels pretty good. Within 10mm on stem length as well as within 5mm on saddle fore/aft as well as height. The bike is a straight up rocket ship. I can feel the huge difference that G2 offers. It almost doesn't make sense why it handles that well. It's just numbers on paper, but this thing bombs downhill. I definitely need to add a half link and minus one full link to bring the wheel in a little. That'll shore up the wheelbase situation.

The bike is a dream on climbs. This is where you can really feel the massive downtube/bb area doing it's job. It transfers all the power to the rear hub. I'm glad that I picked a pretty stiff rear wheel combo, because it thus intern transfers all that power to the ground. If it were lighter it would climb faster, but I honestly think I hit it out of the ball park in terms of all around build. 18.2lbs is good enough for anyone. The weight makes it so you just spin just the right rpm up climbs. Even off road.

I am going to have to step it up this year as this bike is straight fast. I am a huge damper on it's performance. The handling is going to take some getting used to. Especially on tighter trails. It'll be just fine though. The On One fork has kept things nice and crisp in the handling department, and is way stiffer than expected. I chose it due to the fact that it features no weight restrictions, and no rotor size restrictions. This equals stiffness.

Overall a great beginning to the week. If this is my race bike for the year the long wheelbase will cater to the longer distances that I'm planning on hitting up. Registration for Levis Trow 100 just openned up and I might have to hit one more of that series. They make you pay some trail fee or something, so it's worth it to do 2-3 races at least. Oh what a shame (Big wink inserted here.)

Done.

Long weekend

2009-02-23T23:16:00.000-06:00

Well UPS decided it was a great idea to route my frame to Spencer,IA. That is around six hours away from Iowa City. So needless to say my great week, ended with the predicted kick in the balls. I predicted that one on Thursday when I was on the horn with a fellow in Bloomington. Told him the week was going to well and that something had to go wrong. I just had to open my fat mouth.

So I headed to the great white north to hang with some bike folk, and the Short Cake and her sister. Frostbike was on tap and it was my first time going. So I was excited. I needed a little pick me up for the end of the week. As it turns out, Megan lives approximately 350ft. from QBP's front door. Kind of wild.

Brett and I stayed in Uptown with Ben-Ton. We hit up Famous Daves on Friday night for some BBQ, Beers, and some Blazin' Blues. We rocked out pretty thoroughly. Then we watched Tremors III. Awesome and not anywhere near as bad as expected. We awoke to around 4-5 inches of fresh snow. Didn't even eat breakfast just drank a cup o'joe and hit the road at around 10am.

This is where things got a little nerve racking due to the fact that someone tried to put the kaibosh of us getting in. Our work sucks sometimes. Luckily Brett and I are nice people as well as intelligent and called ahead of time and explained the situation. Obviously QBP understood, and agreed and said have a safe drive up and told us the weather. I still had my doubts. That is the last time I doubt them. We got in easy as pie.

Everything was awesome. Good food, nice reps, and even better people. I ran into a former co-worker, as well as my friend Dave from high school. We basically started our future foray into the mountain bike world at the exact same time back in B-more. It had probably been at least 7 years since we had seen each other. I didn't run into Squirrel or Mark which was unfortunate, but oh well.

I saw a lot of great products. I took crap for pictures though. I was too impressed by their facilities and the overall friendliness of their employees. I knew that both were going to be that was, but until you experience something, it isn't a reality in your world. Race Face is bringing back ano. Luckily my cranks are from a limited run which were a little higher quailty in that department. I got to meet Jeff from Ergon which was nice due to the fact that I don't blogwhore myself for products. Just kidding around a little.

We ran out to Luce's that evening for pizza. Can you say Garlic Mashed Potato pizza? I can and it was quite possibly some of the best pizza I've ever had. Brett and Benton and I also put back entirely too much booze that evening. Wayyy too much. Oh well. Shit happens. Especially when you are drinking. I laced up my wheels before all of that though. More happened Sunday (we were up until 3:30am) but it was all just sitting around wasted talking about politics, guns and then eating a breakfast burrito the size of my head. Literally.

Enough of that story though. I got my frame today and built the machine up. The complete pics suck so I'll update that situation tomorrow. In the box shots and in the stand frame only are good. Frame weight came in at 2.7lbs. Complete it's sitting at right around 18.2lbs with pedals. That's hot all around.

Pictures Thursday

2009-02-19T19:33:00.001-06:00

I'll let the pictures do the talking today. The P1 5.2 WSD showed up earlier than expected, and I forgot to take pics of that. The highlight of the day was I9 and Fox respectively. Pictures on!

It shipped?

2009-02-18T21:35:00.001-06:00

Well there is a tracking no. It doesn't show up in the Up's system yet, but it's there. I chatted with the nice lady that handles everything and she said it's good. I hope it's here before FrostBike. That'll make for a long weekend if it's not. Plus I guess my On One fork isn't here yet, so whatever. I really don't want to slap the Fox on at all for the time being.

I'm pumped. I gotta get some wheels built and with all the components here why not. I could always wait the two weeks as well to find out if the other thing is going down or not. Tomorrow is the tentative two week countdown. Come on guys! Give me an excuse to ride gears again! Or not to ride gears. Either way it's my choice ( I am assuming you wouldn't care if I did some SS tinkering.)

In other news I found out on my day off that a little package showed up for my customer from I9. Pics will be up tomorrow. Fox F32RLC 120mm QR15 (that's a mouth full) and I9's to round everything into a Ma-chine. EX9 man is going to crap! That bike is going to rip. I've been drooling over the EX 9.8 recently. That thing is dialed. Totally.

Well there will be some pictures tomorrow of a sweet bike that you've already seen, just finished this time. Early next week there will hopefully be some pics of the new ride, or at least a teaser until two weeks from tomorrow. Then I'll know who I can rep.

I also rode the trainer for 40 minutes today. I hadn't done anything for a week. It turns out that it is the nerve. The Ciatic nerve to be exact. It is just tweeked and I found out that it takes a long while to heal those suckers. I am going to stay on the Fixie Cross as it's been the best thing for it so far, and maybe stick a little faster tire on the rear. And maybe the front. Or drop the cog down one. Or just shut up and ride it. I am looking forward to CIRREM in two weeks. Hopefully I'll take the fixie for some gravel cruising goodness. I've only tooled around on gravel on it a little and I know I'm dropping a cog for that for sure.

Feeling Good.

Edit: Pics as promised. Except early. Goodness

Allocation Day!

2009-02-17T18:10:00.000-06:00

I have officially been allocated. Well at least my frame has. And it is "up for Rep review." Hopefully it gets released tomorrow. On top of that, I got a call from I9 and the EX9 man's wheels are on the way. Also the nice customer of mine who got struck by a car finally pulled the trigger on a P1 Madone 5.2 WSD in the Plum/Silver scheme. It looks awesome. On top of all of that I got my confirmation email from On One. So that stuff is on the way. Talk about a busy week.

Hopefully the frame gets here. Then the wheels so I can get the QR15 Fox fork and the bad *ss wheels on the silver bullet. I am pretty stoked. Pics to come. Oh and I haven't been on the bike or skis for a week to rest the hip. It still hurts a little, but in a different location now. It's down to rehabing that stupid nerve, and then full bore into April.

I'm up.

Nerve ending

2009-02-12T22:41:00.000-06:00

Got out for some more climbing today. I did around 28 miles on the cross bike with some nice elevation gain. I can feel the spin in the legs coming around, but after 8 hours on the bike so far this week, I can tell they need some big gear workouts again. I really want to push it tomorrow, but the hip is twingin' again. I know it's not muscle related any more. It's that stupid little nerve getting pinched. I am going to take 2 or 3 down days again. And get the chance to go pick up my fixie from the 'Rents place. So far that bike has actually done wonders for my hip. That and the road bike on the trainer.

I'm going to go over the fit on those two and really analyze some things. I think the fixie is good because of the more upright position and the bigger gear helps keep things revolution based moving slowish. The road bike is just an old school glove that's been taken care of well. I don't know why but it just fits well. I might have to bump the bars up on the cross bike, move the seat forward .5-1cm and slap a 120mm stem on it. The cockpit length feels great, I just think I'm leaned over too much right now. I'm also wondering if those Inform saddles have sucked me into the point of no return. I think that the extra cm of support is making part of the difference.

The fixie sounds like a great option though. Plus I'd like to get out and grind some gravel/mud sometime soon so I might have to upsize the rear cog to get up to Beverly sometime next week. That would be a long ride, but worth it.

Oh so Nothing

2009-02-11T22:24:00.000-06:00

Nothing of interest happened today. Nothing exciting at work, no riding anytime, only stretching eating and hanging with the Shortie. Antsiness is really starting to set in. I am restless to know when things are coming already. The only thing that makes it better is riding. And that kind of hurts my hip when I'm on the bike more than 2 hours. It doesn't hurt when I ride, just the next day. I felt great after the 4 days off, and I mean great. I will really have to hit the stretching hard before and after my rides if I'm going to be out that long.

I want the I9's for EX9-man to come in. I want my SS to come in. I want know how things are going to pan out so I can hit up Gnomefest followed by SSWC09. A week and a half of potentially amazing riding in Wisconson for 3 days followed by 4 days in Durango. That is going to be insane. SSWC09 would have been crazy enough, but to get to go ride Levis-Trow for a weekend as a tune up, well that's just freaking amazing. I can't begin to comprehend that whole situation.

I don't know about lodging for SSWC09 either. I might have to check out the hostel that's right off the course. It's about $15 a night which isn't half bad. I just want to have a good time. Access to a shower at least twice, and maybe have a roof over my head (last one not required.)

That's all I got. I head Durango's steep so I might have to get an order in for a 21t cog just in case. If I can't ride in a 32-21 I'll be in bigger trouble than anticipated. Oh and I'd also like to know what is going down in the next month so I can lace up some wheels. I have some pretty King black hubs laying around and want to know whether to lace them up to 26 or 29 inch rims. If the 26er's then I need to get an order in for either some I9 or CKing Red ano ss hubs. The black were going to serve as dual duty.

I'm out. Some cogs for your viewing pleasure.

Metric

2009-02-10T20:30:00.000-06:00

I decided with my day off and the promised 60F temps, I'd go for a nice road ride. With all the melt we've had, I haven't actually braved taking the road bike out yet. The roads were all pretty dry, but I wanted the option to hit some dirt should I have felt frisky. The cross bike also makes for a little more effort. I made it out on Sunday for about 2 hours which felt tough. Winds were low, but it was chilly at 32F. Monday was spent riding to and from work to restretch the legs.

I picked the north route out of North Liberty. Head west on Penn St. all the way to the highway, highway west to the Amana turn. North of Amana to Shueyville/Swisher turn. Through Swisher to Shueyville to Ely Rd. Then south to Solon, down Mahhafey Bridge Rd. To Sugar Bottom Rd for some more climbing, over the dam and then back into N. Liberty. Turned out to be a metric century, ringing in the ride total of 62mi/100k.

The first 14-15 miles the winds were in my face about 20 miles an hour. That made for some work. I took about 4 hours to do the ride which is slow, but the winds were high anytime riding west or south, and I was on the cross bike. I stayed fueled to perfection. I never cramped, only felt the burn the last 10 miles or so. The route features some really nice climbing and descending for Iowa. I am feeling really good on the bike. I could punch it when needed and pacing on the climbs was effortless. I could shift down a cog and crank, then back it off to a higher cadence and a lower gear. I still need some big gear tuning on the trainer though.

Hope all you other road pounders got out today and enjoyed the weather. Water levels are all very high with all the melt off we've gotten so far. Keep the rubber side down.

International Weekend

2009-02-08T19:59:00.000-06:00

Megan's wedding was a blast. Starting on Tuesday, Nabil's family from Brazil started showing up. His parents Simien and Diogenes, his brother Shogi, and his cousin Yan (spelling is probably all wrong.) His mother is Persian who immigrated to Brazil from Iran when she was 19. His father is Brazilian born. Wednesday was spent with the usual conversations over dinner and games afterwards. For some reason the Short Cakes' mother decided on Scategories. I don't know if you've ever spoken with someone who's main language is Portugese, but the learning curve for English is pretty challenging. So finding synonyms by the same first letter is challenging.

Wednesday was followed by another great meal prepared by the Short Cake's brother. Pork Ribs, a delicious salad, beans and other goodies. Jamie, Greg and the little ones also showed up to stay at our place since the parents place was stuffed to the brim. We came home to meet them and hung out for a while. As always the kids were ready to hang but ready for bed. We sent them packing to the bedroom and only hung out a little before bed.

Thursday night was haircut time. Got the shag hippieness off of my top. Then I picked up a new suit coat and a spiffy shirt and headed to the Rehersal Dinner. Just to find out I was supposed to be in Coralville for the actual dress rehersal. The Short Cake called me when I was all the way across town to ask me where I was cause it was starting in five minutes. Oh well. Instead I hung with Simi and Diogi while they finished up final preparations for the dinner.

Diogi speaks very little english. What english he does though is very good and he uses it like a sharp knife. Very efficiently. While him and Simi fired up some Brazilian and Persian treats (which I got to pre-sample before everyone) we chatted. How different life is in Brazil, but how similar that the families function. Simi needed to get ready for the dinner which left Diogi and I to hang together. We chatted a little which left me feeling pretty much like an *ss for not knowing any Portugese. I have to get some lessons as these people were some of the most loving and open strangers I have ever met. More on that in a minute.

The rehersal dinner. More people, more great food, and more new friends. We ate Kabob, we ate an eggplant/veggie/meat Persian specialty which was topped off by french fries. Yes they have french fries in Iran. I met Matsood and Adriana who were Nabil's Aunt and Uncle as well as their son David. I can't remember a better conversation of the weekend. Matsood is an engineer by education, but sells and maintains a very high end Persian Rug business. His wife was lovely and his son was a dead on balance of the two. We exchanged the differences between Emily and Amilia from Brazil. We found and agreed that Amilia did not exist (a reference to a song about a man who wants a woman that waits on him hand and foot.) On to home and then to bed for the big day.

Friday was spent in a blur of preparations, mishaps that come with the territory and running through the snow in leather shoes. Greg and I were enrolled (being the handsome gentlemen that we are) to be the ushers for the wedding. Unfortunately the parking lot for the wedding was a little small so we had to relocate the cars across the park into a different lot. We only had to move four. The challenge came when we had to cross the park. I go through this park everyday in the summer to get home and around it in the winter as they don't plow the paths. Megan was ensured by some bloke that these paths would be plowed. Huh. Yeah right. City of Coralville plow a multiuse path? In my dreams.

So we ran in suits through snow and did I mention that it was 45F the day of the wedding. So melt, mud, and snow was the course set for us. Since Greg and I are pretty much the epitome of James Bond/The Transporter Duo, we rocked it for everything it was worth and came away suave and cool without a spot of mud on us. The beautiful bride always has her day and I was happy to oblige. I will say that I'm not married yet. That's all I'm saying.

The ceremony was gorgeous and simple. The ceremony was in the Baha'i tradition. Megan was the defenition of a composed and gorgeous bride. She didn't bark, scream, or worry. I'm glad no one put on a bridezilla or bridesmaidzilla mask. Everything ran smoothly. The readings were done, with two being done by Shogi and Nuuri. Shogi had his memorized and was composed. The Baha'i writings are always used for readings and prayer. Nuuri sang his prayer in Persian which was awesome. The vows were exchanged, Nabil almost made Megan put her ring on herself which was funny. The kiss, voila man and wife. Then the lineup and everyone said congrats. Then more snow running, tearing down, then time to party.

The reception was great. The hall was almost completely dry except for wine for the first hour to two hour period. This threw some people off, but I was looking forward to it since I have been trying to drink very moderately in preparation for the 80. We ate well and mingled. Everything was super laid back. No special entrance for the Bride and Groom, no drawn out cake cutting process. Their were some appetizers and drinks, then an Italian buffet. On to speeches from Aubray and Shogi, and then the father/daughter dance, and the mother/son dance. Simi was very emotional during the dance. Then time for everyone to party.

This whole light drinking thing has been interesting. Usually I would have some beers, a drink, and a shot or two and then make an *ss out of myself on the dance floor and have fun. I had one drink at the wedding, grabbed the Short Cake; actually was grabbed by her Aunt Sandra (if you knew her you'd know that was a surprise) and cranked out some chicken dance. After that we went and grabbed Matsood and Adriana since they seemed like they were down to cut it up a bit. They rocked the floor. Megan's friends, the Shortcake's cousins, and both families joined in. I've never danced that much in my life.

I had a blast all in all. I can't explain to you the level of love and familial bonds that were forged this weekend. The cultures needed no time to blend. Barriers weren't broken, but were never there. The level of love that was brought to the table by both families could unfreeze the planet should it have been frozen. I'm not even married into this family, yet Matsood and Adriana, Diogenes and Simi, and Farsheed all welcomed us into their homes. And by welcomed I mean forced promises of visits.

The Baha'i faith is something I am only beginning to understand. They bring so much love and unity to everything they do. The love is physical, emotional, and unreserved. They truly piqued my interest. Being raised and educated Catholic, I have never understood the idea of a God that would only accept those baptised into it's faith into heaven, and forgive those who are baptised for murder. My education was very broad as far as religion. In my Catholic school we studied the teachings of the Koran and Mohamed, of Buddism, of the different sects of Christianity. All I could derive is that we need to be united. Religion is a beautiful mistress. She breeds strength, but dissent. She breeds love, but hate. She unites, but divides.

I learned this weekend that doesn't have to be the case. I learned that love can unite all. That there can be a religion that accepts all. And maybe this isn't 100% the case. Either way Nabil, your family shares my heart and my love. Megan, your family has always welcomed and accepted me as it's own. I love you all.

Sorry to get all emotional and stuff but it was a great weekend. Truly original. And sorry for the religious content. I don't like pushing religion onto anyone or into anything. It creates so many walls and bridges between people. It is not intended that way at all. I just wanted to share my experience of a wonderfully faithful group of people which can only be experienced first hand.

Oh and even though I missed the great weather, I got out today for about two and a half hours of pavement pounding. I think the four days off might of kicked this hip thing.

Busy week

2009-02-05T19:20:00.000-06:00

I have Megan's wedding this week so sorry to myself for the lack of E-info. Little birdies around the midwest are chirping with the temps of change. Mine was supposed to be here so I could chirp as well, but alas nothing yet. I only have a date. I talked to certain reliable sources that told me they are here, but I only have the date. With the late order who knows what will be the case.

The Brazilian crew is pretty awesome. I totally got misinformed and didn't make the rehersal. Talk about getting shafted. So I hung with Simian(sp?) and Diogenes for a while in the kitchen. Things are smelling tasty. I am a little let down with the Short Cake. Especially after a week of her talking about not being invited to things. She tried to call and all but come on hon'. You can do better. Too bad I don't actually get mad about stuff. I sure wish I could.

Tomorrow brings new friends and new family for the Short Cake, and new friends for me. I could consider them family, but until it is on paper I'll keep it at that. I am feeling the internal pressure these days. Both sides duke it out. Outsiders tell me I'm young. Others tell me to get my figurative sh*t together. I know what I am doing. I know when I am doing.

On the bike front I laid hands on my first QR15 equipped Fox Fjork (Dicky "fjear" shout out). It is nice. Axle to crown looks short, and I think my customer is going to want to Push it right away.

I am dying for some hurting. I haven't touched anything since Monday. I rode Wednesday morning, but I feel incomplete somehow. 3 more weeks before the real pain. Then 4 weeks of h*ll followed by one glorious hopefully sub-9 hour day on the bike. BTP baby.

Out of it.

Last night was cold.

2009-02-03T10:12:00.000-06:00

I had a nice 10 mile cruise into work on Monday mid-day. 20 mile per hour headwinds for the first two miles, then turned south and just cruised on the fixie. My fixie isn't your usual fixie. If your definition of a fixie is a 26" Titanium mtb frame, combined with 700c wheels, carbon cyclocross fork, Ti bars, Uberlight Carbon seatpost, and 44c 28.5in. mtb tires, then this isn't your average fixie. But it is mine.

Saw some crazy things on the ride. Mostly the helicopter chilling in the mall parking lot when I arrived at work. Nothing else was too crazy. Wrenched on a Madone I sold last season, and then overhauled a Specialized Roubaix. Otherwise things were mellow on the work front. Come time to go home and I realize I can hear the wind howling like a demon. Crap. Pop open the back door to be met by strong enough wind to hinder me marginally successful at actually openning the door. Plus temps had dropped about 25 degrees. There is a big difference between 30F and 5F.

The fixie was a great choice for the ride home though. It being around 8 pounds lighter than the monster truck make it quick and agile. It also climbs like a feather floating in the wind.

In other news birdies across the midwest have been chirping in my ear the past 24 hours teasing me with details of their carbon gems shipping from up north of the border eh. I haven't gotten such news from my inside "bro" but hopefully I'll hear today if the wait will be the ETA date. Either way about 1 more month won't kill me.

Thats the news for the beginning of the work week.

Single Speed + 100 miles (or maybe just 80)

2009-02-01T22:29:00.000-06:00

So one thing that has been coursing through my mind, and I mean coursing, is can I ride my mountain bike 100 miles on a real mountain bike race course. Is it physically possible for me. Am I strong enough. Am I level headed enough not to pick a stupid gear. Too heavy or too light. I don't think there is any real level of preparation that can drive me far enough to try a mock race attempt. The idea of riding 10 laps at Sugar Bottom makes me want to puke in my mouth a little (from the idea of the effort.)

Something about the idea of riding on terrain I've never crossed with views and scenery unseen by my eyes drives me to think I'd survive. I am going for 80 miles April 5th and am kind of feeling like a girl for wanting to ride gears. Also the thought of riding suspension kind of makes me question myself. I know my hands will love it, but my brain is having a hard time coping with the thought. I haven't delved into the realm of front suspension but once in the past 3 years and that was on full suspension bike. That I liked.

The two ends working in conjunction with each other to offer a balanced feel as opposed to a one sided affair. If you get one end moving, usually the other moves just a little after the first. This keeps angles fair, and makes bb heights low which I can deal with. If I ride gears I just feel like I may as well ride full suspension.

That brings me to number two. I've told myself since I was 20 something that I would by myself my first full suspension bike (or any bike with suspension) when I was 30. Consider it a long term investment in the interest of my own personal well being. Riding primarily single speeds (except for road and cross/gravel bikes) with no suspension is going to take it's toll. The wrenching all day long followed by 2-3 hour long mountain bike rides with no suspension leads to multiple beers consumed and Motrin and the end of any given summer night.

So can I do it? Will I have the intestinal fortitude. Well I figure right now I'm riding gears. March 1 begins my single speed only bike-a-thon besides road miles. I figure that way I will be self encouraging and building towards April 5th.

More mind drivel pouring out my ear to come on that subject. I just can't get my mind outta my head on this one.

Out.

Carbon Fridays

2009-01-30T21:35:00.001-06:00

Still no frame yet. Waiting and waiting. I put my name in for another waiting game just the other day. After all this time you'd think I'd be sick of it, but now I'm preparing for some more. A recent opportunity came along that might jeopardize my 2009 race bike selection. In a good way. You know I'm talking to you. I am ready to throw down big time. I am stepping it up huge this winter. I want some. I want to not falter once this season. I don't want to be the best, but be my best. I want to only be slow after ridiculously hard and long efforts of endless fun and pain.

If I don't trip your trigger. Don't worry. I'll fill you in on all the juicy details anyways. I'll dangle pictures of awesome rides and awesome friends (mostly new I hope). I'll give it my all either way. I'm just down that way. I also won't promise you that I won't falter. Sometimes those days just come a long. One thing I will do is drive myself into the ground to finish with out those little evil letters DNF after my name. Those letters are just about the worst letters I've ever seen in my life.

I also promise to be myself. That's all I ever am. I am obsessively technical by nature. I don't rest til I can provide the best possible service to my clientele. I know you can't ask them, but if you did they would tell you that they sometimes wish I would shut up. Others will tell you I go to know end to make sure their equipment is the most quality, smoothest running around. I come from a backround of techs that make me question how I opperate and conduct myself every day. I thank them for that. At my most impressionable time in life and probably the peak of my personal irresponsibility, they helped influence me to be that obsessive, but professional tech.

Enough rambling. I want this opportunity though. Got in the Gunnar Rockhound Roadie's fork in today. A brand new Easton EC90 SL fork. They had a nifty little threaded portion of their steerer tube so that you install the compression plug. That way there isn't any dropping it into the bottom of the fork and such. Nice. I love Easton's carbon products. I just wish they would make a wider carbon flat bar. Same with Bontrager for that matter. Salsa's wider bars are insanely popular in carbon and aluminum. Are you guys paying attention to the market? Oh well Bontrager's Race Lite Big sweep is as light as their Race X Lite carbon bar anyways.

On another note a customer of mine finally came back to talk about her replacement for her kind of ancient Trek 1600 WSD. We had talked about getting her into a 700c wheel since Trek has kind of dropped the 650c wheel. Which isn't bad. At all. So I thought she might want to get into a carbon frame, but little did I know she was ready to roll. She didn't buy but went straight for the 5.2 WSD. It had the Ultegra SL components she wanted, and after talking about their new seat mast design, she really was interested with the smoothness it provided. I wouldn't lie about something like that. It really is smooth.

Otherwise I had to deliver that little carbon goodness over to El Jefe's so that Rockhound could get his pretty in pink Roadie shorn up. I had ridden into work so I rolled across town and plowed some snow and ice. Got to Jefe's in decent time and hung out for a while. I'll tell you this much, riding with a backpack with a carbon fork box sticking out bumping up against your helmet is interesting. Everything went as planned. Then I turned around, rode back to Coralville for a minor beer tasting session at Regal Liquors. Drank 4 samples of beer I had never had. My father showed up and decided I needed a 6er to take home and a Samuel Smith Winter Welcome. This made for a heavy slow ride home. After 20 miles on the Monster Truck (50% harder and heavier to ride than my other bikes, but way more fun on snow) I had 6 more to go. With the majority of climbing to come as I headed home, I tickled my 30t cog and lived in my 26t.

Long day, long week. Now I just need to get out and ski sometime this weekend. It is going to have to be early am or late pm seeing as I work all weekend. I'm out.

American Routes

2009-01-29T21:38:00.000-06:00

I get kind of ticked when I have to work on Saturday nights. Then I remember that I get to listen to Prairie Home Companion, and American Routes. Prairie Home Companion you ask? You are only 24, not 45. Well kiddies I used to listen to this little gem of an old school radio show when I was but a whee lad. I went out on errands with my father on Sunday afternoons and we'd listen to jazz on the radio and on the way home, we'd listen to PHC. At first I didn't get it. At first I didn't listen. Then good old Garrison Keillor wiled his way into my brain as did most of the folk and country music.

As I turned to adolescence we moved and didn't do errands on Sunday anymore. I grew up, got irresponsible, and generally didn't care about anything but Delltron and the sort. Then some responsibility started to creep back as I started checking out some of the IC folk scene. Mike and Amy Finders, Ben Schmidt, that awesome old school fiddle player whose name eludes me. Edit: His name is Al Murphy. Do yourself a favor and check him out.

Well anyways I was working one Saturday and was looking for a little more out of the typical classic American rock that inundates Iowa radio. I landed on a familiar voice and fell backwards through time into that little blue Honda, cruising down Dodge Street towards I-80 towards our little farm home in Springdale. We didn't farm per se but rented the old house from our neighbors.

It was enough to make me sit down next to the radio and just listen for at least a half an hour. Guy Noir always got me piqued when I was a kid. The show ended and I just kind of hung out and tuned some skis. After doing some base grinds and edging (both loud activities) I started waxing. I don't know if you've ever waxed skis and just been listening to some tunes, but it is about as close as you get to getting high without doing anything illegal. It is pretty darn relaxing.

I start listening to some good soul that transitions to some down down blues. I was taken back again. This time not to my childhood, this time to the present. It took me out of the groove of scraping and sat me down again. American Routes is probably one of the best histories of recorded American music from the past century and some change I have ever heard. It covers a spectrum covered only found in text books and old record collectors homes.

To my local NPR carrier 91.7FM, Bring me back my American Routes. You see they reformatted and took my lone Saturday nights of relaxing music away from me. You did well and replaced it with 4 hours of jazz, but it just doesn't have that flavor. It doesn't have the same soul especially following up Prairie Home Companion. It has that old radio show feel that is dead. And due to these two shows, not dead at all.

Cheers American Routes, and cheers to you Prairie Home Companion. Now for the hazing.

Recovery Wednesday

2009-01-28T21:57:00.000-06:00

Nothing really fun today. I bled the rear brake on the Codes and then went on some repairs. Fixed and elliptical and threw a new AC cable on a Landice. Went and downed a hearty taco, a sourdough burger with swiss and mushrooms and half a plate of french fries. Got back to work to work out the minor headset kink with the EX9. It had a minor click coming from the lower cup. Seeing as I had never laid hands on a 100 headset I was a little suspicious of this little gem.

The I got to thinking. Old Mavic Crossmax ST wheels with aluminum spokes. Sure they creaked a litte, but they had a seperate creak from the headset one. I pulled the cups and cleaned them with isopropyl alchohol as well as the frame. I had already faced the head tube and was a little suspicious of the thin coating of cutting oil I hadn't cleaned up the best. But it is a press fit. And you think a little lube would do that? Neither did I.

So then I got to looking at my customers "crown jewel" which is his Push'd Fox XTT Trail Tune fork. This little beauty had me suspect when his old Cake had a cracked rear triagle and shock brace that ran between the seat tube to the down tube. My main concern was the condition of the stanchions where the bushings run over them. I mean how many cycles does it really take until these are worn enough to effect performance.

So I put on a RS Tora off of a EX5.5 and installed the Cane Creek crown race then put it on the EX9. No creak. I now started to suspect the crown/steeer assembly of the Fox. The Tora just had so much flex that I couldn't call that good. I pulled the EX8 off the floor and slapped it on the EX9. Torqued on the bar ends side to side. Nothing. The little mystery might be solved. Mind you I reinstalled the old Fox just to check it each time after installing the old for to confirm that I hadn't installed something incorrectly. Needless to say I installed and uninstalled a suspension for and changed crown races about 5-6 times in the matter of about two hours. Talk about getting proficient at something. By the time I was on the last swap it was taking not time at all to do the swap.

So the old Fox goes on one last time. Torque all bolts to spec, install the caliper. What do you know creaking/popping comes back again. The fork has just seen it's time come as has most everything from his old bike. We thought we might have been able to use it, especially since he loves the jewel, but sometimes old dogs just need laid down.

Next up Fox F32 RLC QR15. I better get on the horn to I9. And who says wait times are all bad....

My EX...

2009-01-27T11:43:00.000-06:00

Well not mine, and not an ex but an EX. More specifically an EX9. My customer finally brought me his frame, and bis old Cake to do some parts swapping. The only things we were removing was the Fox Fjork (shout out to Dicky) which is his baby. It's been Push'd and he cannot live without it. The chain and cassette were also removed considering their 2 months of use. And the front derailleur. That got replaced when I refused to work on his SRAM XGen front derailleur. Or should I call that pile of crap.

The parts were ordered and things look great. The Cane Creek 100 headset is awesomely smooth. I love the machined finish it sports. It wasn't buffed down before ano. The only thing tricky is Cane Creek only warranties it for 2 years! HEAR THIS. Only 2 years. So no lying to people and telling them they warranty it for 100 years like it's similar brethren the 110 headset. Not the case. Either way, My Dillinger will probably be getting one for the sake of carbon/suspension cross compatiblity between bike. So I don't have to swap crown races.

The bars and post sport some new jazzed up graphics for 2009 which look good. The basically added white. Hot. Race X Lite bars, stem and post. They held up to two years of abuse under this guy and never quivered. Tough stuff. Especially the post. Just as white will probably be making a little scoot out of style I bet this season. Maybe not though. Either way it looks good. Other control goodies feature Avid Code Disc brakes and X9's laced up with some Matchmakers to clean things up on the bar. Goodness.

Codes being overkill you say? No way. More pad life, later braking and only a slight weight gain over Juicy 7's. We were going to step up rotor size on a new set of Juicy 7's when I got thinking. The Juicy's feature lever bushings that go to sh*t over the course of a season. Yes the are easily replacable, but when you can have sealed bearings why not. Also when you can have that lighter rotor on a wheel which is rotating and larger pads for that extra stopping power, why not. Also the smaller rotors due build heat faster, but that's what the 4 pistons are for. Larger pistons dissapate heat faster as due more pistons. Also smaller rotors resist warping better I feel due to being stiffer at a similar thickness to the larger rotors. I always have more run out on my 180mm front rotor than the 160mm fronts I run.

The bottom bracket is brought to you by Chris King folks. Silvery and slippery smooth, and hopefully long lasting as this customer needs it. He kills 1 or two of the GXP style bb's a year. Hopefully this will take care of that. Also since his passion of hatred for Shimano (not his fault, he had a first run of the 960 XTR stuff, non shop guy mistake, never buy a first run of anything) I got him a clean looking Deus XC crank in silver. Classy and styley while featuring chainrings and spline interface that is worth a darn. Yes I am pointing at you FSA. Your old spline on the MegaExo carbon cranks that had to be loctited were a joke!

Otherwise the build rounds out with XO rear derailleur, his old X9 front derailleur, PG990 cassette. His wheels are currently in que down in Ashville, NC being laced up by the fine folks at Industry Nine. Black hubs, Silver spokes, and Black No Tubes Flow rims. Tires will be Weirwolf UST's with hopefully a future upgrade to a non UST but equally tubelessable 2.3 version.

So that was my Monday. The weekend was spent watching the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona while on the trainer on Saturday, and skiing for about 2.5 hours on Sunday. Rode into work on Monday and dominate some snow. Today I am going to get on the trainer and hopefully get the ache out of the legs. Enjoy the pics

I lied.

2009-01-23T20:23:00.000-06:00

Yeah I forgot the stupid camera so no sweet pics of the wheel build. Just google Inustry Nine or something. Anyways the rear wheel built up great as well. I did notice that the rear drive side spokes when up to tension were pretty much threaded all the way into the hub. Considering the customer had problems with his 355's I wanted to set these up towards the high end of the tension spectrum. We had a discussion about the possible results of this on the No Tubes rims (not eyeletted) and he is well aware of the benefits vs. the possible outcome. Which would be possible cracking over a shorter time period.

Edit: So cell phones continue to blow my mind. Pic of hub after lace up yesterday. Did you know you can upload your pics to your cell phone account online? That is crazy.

I figure with the switch to Arches and the consistent tension this should be enough to make them solid. Still I am surprised at their choice of drive side spoke length. The fronts run one length and have plenty of thread on either side to work with. I couldn't even over-tension the rear if I wanted to. The spokes on the front were setup towards the high end as well. The way they tension up even when properly lubricated makes it seem they would bind pretty badly even if you tried to over tension them. They definitely wind after a certain tension indicated by the (sometimes permanent) rotation of the laser etched logo.

Otherwise lots of exercise crap and a fair amount of downhill and xc skis. Tis the season I suppose. I got lazy and "forgot" to get a pair of our rentals so I could get some skiing time in this weekend. I think since the hip is better I might have to get the fixie out for some fun winter play. In it's current configuration it should handle the conditions well. I do need to gear it down though. The 35/16 combo is a little tough with the 42c Mythos out back. I am thinking of gearing down to 34/17 or even 35/18 and then switching the rear tire to match the front XDX.

My customer also left me the old 355's. The front is a little bent, but it would be nice to see if I could get that one straight. The rear is spot on and only ridden about 200 off road miles. I would almost like to relace my fixie cross to those rims. Then I can run the worry free tubeless. I might just have to try out the Cyclocross rimstrips first.

The other thing I want to have done is have my canti mounts relocated. The frame in question is made of ti so it could get costly. I might just have to try a Paul V-brake. That might take care of the issue as well as be a pretty sick match up to my Arch Supreme front brake (ironically the other matching brake would be relegated as it sits now to the drawyer where it is already residing.)

Peace out for the week. I'll post up something this weekend if I am feeling bored. Which this time of year happens. I am not down with the daily posting stuff, nor the norm/trend of not posting on the weekends. As nobody really reads this anyways, this is really starting to become some kind of "journal." I would like to think that it is more along the lines of a personal highlight reel and place to spew all the crazy bike related ideas I get.

Word up.

Edit #2- So Paul Components make a brake that rocks. And from what I remember they ask you if you either like pirates, or celebrate pirate day. I am ordering one of these brakes on Monday.

MOTO BMX

Do you want to put 1 3/8" (mini) wheels on your standard BMX frame? How about 700c wheels on your mountain bike? These brakes are the answer. Our unique pad mounting system made it easy to offer this variation. In both cases a short reach lever is recommended. Drop bar levers work great too.

I was Laced...

2009-01-22T18:46:00.000-06:00

Well not with drugs, but with wheels. A customer of mine came in yesterday with a rather shot I9 29er front wheel. Standard wheel with No Tubes ZTR 355 rims. The front rim was definitely jacked. I let him know after pulling the tire that he had some issues. So we talked it over and decided on relacing to No Tubes Arches. Easy enough swap. The 355 and the Arch feature the same ERD.

I grab an Arch down, and tape the two rims together to swap. I slap it in the truing stand to check out the situation. As it turns out I taped the Arch to the right side. Simple enough attack. Take out non-disc side outer spokes, clean and prep threads with silver based anti-sieze (they told me boiled linseed oil which I thought was crazy), and place on the counter. Then remove the inner right spokes one at a time clean and prep install in the new rim. Then move on to the outers.

The I9's are awesome because due to the design, if you mess up lacing them you are a jerk hole and shouldn't be working on bikes. Yeah it would be easy to cross thread a spoke into the hub, but if you take your time things go well. I make it to the disc side. This is where one of the problems was with the old wheel. There were two longer length spokes in this side of the wheel. I9 didn't seem to stoked to find that out, but whatever man. They handle thousands of spokes a day of numerous colors and lengths. Things get mixed up. No big deal. I can understand that. It isn't like it killed the wheel.

So anyways these wheels are bitchen to lace. They take a little time to prep, but once you get towards rounding and final tensioning things are amazing. The rigidity of the hub and spoke combo make rounding these wheels and exact science. An eigth to quarter turn and there is a visible movement of the rim. Steel spokes are just too elastic sometimes to get results such as these.

I'll post pics tomorrow of the rear wheel build as I do it. I forgot to take a long a camera. Plus I have to go out on deliveries. Cheers to I9 for building a crazy product.

I'm in...

2009-01-21T18:35:00.000-06:00

SSWC09 will see me toeing the startline with some heavy hitters. Well it was all hard work and crayons. I'd like to thank D9 for not hosting an online registration process so sleepy heads like me could sleep and then color my butt into the race. I'd also like to thank them for supporting the oncoming zombie apocolypse. I hope I don't have to pop a cap in one of your... All in all it has been stressful.

Seeing as yesterday was spent on the slopes of a major climb in France, I rode home in some snow and ate some food. Jame-o beckoned my name as well as the couch and the road bike is still in the automobile trunk. If I don't get off this damn computer sometime soon I might not have balls anymore so I'm out.

Cheers to Durango. Glad to see that the Omaha Connection made it in.

Computrainers for Obama

2009-01-20T16:32:00.000-06:00

Well today I spent some time on the trainer. Yesterday was about 30min. followed by 45 minutes of snow biking into work and 45 minutes home. Today I woke up to watch the Inauguration of our 44th president of the United States. Anyone else see the look on GW's face? Didn't look too happy. Oh well. I'm not crying seeing him leave.

So I decided to eat some oatmeal and hop on the trainer after soaking up some internet and 'tube. I spent about an hour on that monster and did some intervals. My favorites recently have been 2min on, 1min rest, 3min on, 1min rest, 4min on, 1min rest, 3min on, then cool back off for around 20-30 minutes. Over this course I watched Obama get sworn in, a lovely poem read, and his speach. All good stuff.

Ate lunch and got the bike ready to go to the Physical Therapist. He has been hashing out my lower back/medial glute issues I've been having. So we get the bike on their and plugged up to realize he forgot a cadence magnet. Not being the total bike geek I am, No I do not ride with a bike computer. End of story. Drove to work and picked one up and some gels to prepare for the pain to come.

He had an incoming patient at 2:30pm so I got to "play" on the trainer while I waited. Looking through the list being the genius I am I decide on the Alpe d'Huez file. Terrible idea. While fun, I had already put in an hour of work, and done about 25 minutes of warm up before tackling the Alpe. The first 5.5 miles of the program is flat, then you take a sharp left corner into the heavens. You go from 0% grade to 10.5% within about 1/4 mile. My heart rate pegs, and I am grinding (and I mean grinding) in my 39/23. Damn myself. Why don't I ride a 13-26t cassette on my trainer wheel.

After some damage control and suffering things start to level out a little. This holds for about .5-.7 miles to around 7 percent. Then things pitch back up into the stratosphere. Around 12% for about a mile. They drop back down to around 9 %. I hit the 9.5 mile mark. I am 20oz. of water in the hole, 2 Powergels (all this on the trainer you say? Just try it.) and I am gassing. I decide at the next major pitch up I am going to call it. at around mile 10.1 I am thrown into the stratosphere. The program ramps up to 13% and climbing and I give out. Done.

All in all not a bad effort. As I said before I don't use a computer or Power meter, but I do occasionally check out others efforts they post in their blogs. I wound out at 45 minutes. Average speed of around 13mph I think (I was a little dazed) Average RPM was 82, and average power output was 240watts for the effort. I refused the heart rate monitor due to the fact that it scares me to know how high it gets sometimes. It doesn't tell me jack other than confirming that I am pegged. And back off up a 12% gradient while riding a 39-23 equals more grindage of the 45rpm variety as opposed to the 55rpm I was rocking.

It was (and I can't believe I am saying this) a really fun day on the trainer. Now the Short Cake is coming home and I am taking her out to dinner. We are going to eat some pasta at the Brown Bottle. And she is going to have a glass of wine. She is handling a huge insurance roll over at her business and is feeling her first in depth carreer related stress. I mean big stress and exhaustion. She deserves a treat. Then a little pant shopping for Megan and Nabil's wedding. Can you say non pleated pants. I can "cause that's what I have been rockin' and that is apparently a huge fashion no-no.

Peace out. Alpe d'Huez I'll be back. Maybe someday for a taste of the real thing.

Rest

2009-01-19T23:12:00.000-06:00

After 17 of the past 20 days being spent at the Evil Place, I will be enjoying a day of relaxation. And by that I mean I'll either go back and pick up a pair of skis only to disappear immediately from that place. The second option would be pump up the tires in the cross bike and go cruise for a couple of hours. I can't decided if being on the bike is a great idea this time of year. The commute works out well on the Monster Truck. Slow and steady with punches only on the climbs. If I ride, I'll try and find some cool pics. I also might have to head towards Millstream and grab a beer. Been a while since I've done that ride.

Screw that. Today was coldest.

2009-01-15T22:15:00.000-06:00

Temps were bitter cold for IC today. I don't care if you live in Canada and it was -40F. Life around these parts got rough and fast. The wind wasn't terrible. Work sucked a little until a nice little package showed up to the shop. Apparently the boys and girls over at Chris King ship in an extra fast manner. Also if you are interested they apparently have all of their tools for their new outboard bearing BB's available. Tasty little morsels those are. They are going to make so many people's lives better with that little technilogical advancement.

I have a nice red one on the way and the previously named Cakeman, now named EX-Man has one on the way. The brushed aluminum of the EX9 will look mighty fine with a silver one stuffed in between a silver Race Face Atlas crankset. Little does he know what he is getting. Now I am regretting the black hubs on the I9's that he is getting. Still I think those wheels will be unstoppable.

On another front, LH Thomson should start making their 31.6mm layback posts in silver. Has everyone forgotten about silver components? They are getting rarer and rarer. You have to do some work to find metal as opposed to carbon these days. This coming from a guy loading up on carbon and all sorts of good bits to mate with his carbon frame. At least I'm not running carbon cranks. I know they look nice, but I am an aluminum crank kind of guy. Maybe Edge Composites should hook up with Mr. Stan and get some bead hook technology.

And in other note the Shortcake wants mentioned more often. Or more so at all. Her booty cheeks are cold. Not a surprise in these temps.

Cold, Colder, Coldest

2009-01-14T19:00:00.001-06:00

Well things are cold here. Not as cold as Canada. Nor as cold as Minneapolis for that matter. Either way it is the coldest it has been here since probably 2 or 3 years ago. My feet practically froze in my Sidi Boots on the way home. On the way to work I had the tail wind which helped seeing as we got 7 inches of snow last night into this morning. The plows hit the roads well, but not the bike paths ar 9:00am in the morning. Plowed through the deep stuff and went to the post office. I sent this to Durango.

The rest of the ride was pretty good. Just smooth sailing. Lifted a pool table off of another pool table. Heavy. Tried to move a treadclimber. Heavy. Then I realized how windy the ride home was gonna be. Oh crap. Picked up a face mask and some toe warmers before I took off towards home. I of course being the intelligent one I am didn't happen to think that I didn't need the face mask. That actually tended to be true. I also being the smarter person I am decided to be lazy and slap my shoes on sans toe warmers. BAD IDEA. An exclemation point doesn't even express the coldness that set in at about the 35 minute mark.

In other good news I went and XC Ski'd for a couple of hours yesterday. I ran into the local fast biker guys who were throwing down. I definitely got there after one, skied for 2 hours and left and he was still going. Ridiculous. It was a gorgeous day out there though. I had a blast. It was my first time out at Macbride Rec area on skis. The groom a lot of trail. Not Wisconson a lot, but darn good for Iowa. I picked up this nice shot while out there. If you set it up as a desktop it has a nice tunnel effect without me messing with any photo settings. Not that I know how to do that anyways.

In bike news I got my rim order in the other day. I got my confirmation on my "first" hub order, and got my account setup for my second "hub/rim" order. I got some stuff in the works as far as wheels. It is a little on the ridiculous side, but I am stoked. This bike is by far going to be the nicest bike I have ever owned. I have been diligently taking pictures of all the components I have purchased so far and will start posting them up around March seeing as that is the new date of arrival of my frame.

To Trek Bikes. Please (see I can ask nicely) do not mess with me. I hope you were sincere when you said March. I will jump with joy if it is Febuary, but will be a little dismayed if you were messing with my/our collective heads. By our meaning everyone else waiting on your frame. You know who you are.