this morning i gave thanks for bikes.

today was the first in what im sure will be a long standing tradition for me in the thanksgiving morning mtb ride.

It was so much fun.

Pictures were taken, but it may take me a while to round them up.

highlights include: Johnson beating the piss out of Sergio's wheel, Stell coffee and bagels at the trailhead, Riding with a bunch of people i have never ridden with, Johnson passing me at warp speed on the descent, chit chatting about leadville with adam and post ride chill sesh afterward.

bummed that sergio taco'd his wheel. Hopefully we can pull some warranty shenanigans.

Good clean fun despite how muddy i got.

"Beer me that new front wheel!!"

Every time (including the time i rode 75 miles) i have gone to a cross race, i have had an extra front wheel. Or at very least had one lined up to borrow from sombody in the wheel pit. I have not gotten a flat yet. Kind of. I did develop a slow leak of some type in my front wheel. Its a vittoria sew up on there.

Now, before you accuse me of name dropping, let me finish.

I had a little of the tufo brand tire sealant, which i assumed was sort of a universal slime/fix-a-flat type solution to my problems. It is not. John Rubcic must have also thought it was ok, because when i explained to him that the course of action i planned to take was to use said sealant on my slow leak ridden tire, he gave an affirmative, shouldnt-be-a-problem type of response.

Oh how wrong we both were.

Apparently, the stuff in the tufo sealant is made to galvanize butyl rubber, which is what most tubes are made of. not vittorias. Those are made of latex. Apparently does it not only NOT work on latex, it dissolves it.

Unfortunately the situation came to a head just like you think it might about 50 meters into my race, when my front end felt a little squishy, then promptly washed out in the very first hair pin turn. I yelled out a cuss or equally ignorant word of frustration (i can be very colorful when im pissed), reached down and pinched my tire, which was holding about 5 psi at this point.

What bummer man. Of course i had no wheel in the pit, and once i found lisa crowe and matt breyer, who were glad to hook me up with a new wheel, i was just PAST the wheel pit and would have had to do another painfully slow lap on my mavic reflex rim, laced masterfully with 16 guage double butted DT swiss spokes, to a high flange phil wood track hub*. I just took the dnf and chalked it up to Odin being angry with me for going to see wicked after the race. As well he should be.

*due to a contractual obligation, the above subject must also add that this blog post was brought to you by arrowhead orthopedic, dominoes pizza, Padgetts Service Team Of Proffesionals, and in no way reflects the quality of service or product offered by the fine people at Redlands/Riverside Cyclery USA.

the cycling illuminati...

i was informed on friday, by a P.E. teacher who will remain un-named (we'll call her Roy Birkson) that she was impressed (although by the look on her face i think she meant annoyed) by the group i had been on a ride with the previous evening. As to weather she might happen upon a future similar ride, she seemed even more annoyed and quickly disengaged from conversation.

Im not fast. If i was in the story of the tortoise and the hare, i would be a distant 3rd.

I have the bike handling skills of a cataract stricken, thumbless orangutan.

If i have an asset to my cycling game, i think its lasting power. I have no problem coming in 20th for the rest of my life as long as im having a good time.

However, if i can crack the code to this bicycle secret society, maybe, just maybe i will see some podium action before i cash my last check. Perhaps i can sneak my way onto future rides with the big dogs. I just have to convert my work ethic into speed somehow.

now that been said, i think i will be breaking my teeth on some mountain bike action in the forthcoming season. All that remains is:
decisions
decisions
decisions

madness has begun..

and tomorrow is only day 2 of 3...

14 hours between the salon and the bike shop.

selling bikes. Oof. You should hear the lies i tell these people. "oh yeah, that 6 thousand dollar bike is just what you need to get you back into shape... what are you 230? 240? that bike was practically custom made for you!"

Sold a sweet bike that i wanted for me right out the gate today. Half bummed half stoked. Sold 2 bikes to an ex-girlfriend that i hadent seen since i was like 220 lbs and drunk 25 hours out of the day. Her mom commented that "oh yeah i barely recognize you, you! You used to be a LOT bigger. Again half bummed half stoked. Sold a 5.2 madone to a dude that is a "hard core mountain biker" that had to get permission from his wife. Half bummed half stoked....once again.

pretty draining selling bikes when you are used to wrenching on them. Special guest appearances were made by coach d, neighbor matt, bad idea lisa, young phillip, ry-g, kathy-jo and her little dog too, haoi (no idea how to spell his name, therefore, no clever nickname), and the incomparable jason keller. Big ups to those people.

At the end i felt like i was on an acid trip, and to think i only have to do it 2 more days. Here's a little something to describe my mindset at the close of the day.

ssssslllloooooooowwwwww mmmmmmmooooottttiiiooonnnn

wheels of confusion. The last verse. That's what i felt like when i got done racing yesterday.

Slow.

I dunno if i will ever be fast.

Nobody cares but me. Nobody can change it but me. How do you get faster? Im just gonna go out and try harder. It seems like try harder should equal faster.



i wanna ride my bike today, but i have the feeling im going to be disappointed with even a trip down to the grocery store on the bike. Bummah. I'll tell you how it went a little later.

i just hope we dont run into no muslims...

on halloween i borrowed a little material from my favorite comedian of all time, richard pryor.

here's a little excerpt from both references.




im sure people thought i was racist, truth be told i really dont like the idea of a democrat running the country, but im psyched most of all on the fact he's black.