I think i am going to try and do a weekly thing on this here blog. I am going to post lyrics to a song that has been re-accuring in my mind over the last week. Sometimes i will have profound meanings behind these lyrics, and sometimes it will just be something that has been running thru my head non-stop. I think this is more of the latter than the former.
I've kept it bottled up for years
Instead of fighting or shedding tears
Now it's time to let go
My boiling point's about to show
I don't know if I'll lose control
Of my mind, my body, or soul
Boiling Point
Boiling Over
Boiling Point
Now it's over
CREATURE OF THE WHEEL... LORD OF INFERNAL ENGINES...
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Death to false metal pt. 2.
http://rocklobstershop.blogspot.com/2011/04/steel-26-wheel-mtb-frame-for-so-cal.html
Click on the link for the straight shizzle. You don't want to click, it's cool, I'll sum it up for ya. My bike>your bike.
Click on the link for the straight shizzle. You don't want to click, it's cool, I'll sum it up for ya. My bike>your bike.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Redlands Bike Classic Swiss Style Wrench Support: Day 2
Living in southern california, if you race bikes, we get an extra certainty among the ones everybody else gets. Death, Taxes, and of course, Criteriums.
I had to skip out of the second day of the bike classic, Stage 1 the Beaumont Circuit, due to my getting news of the advent of the coming apocalypse, or, my son being born. Dr. said the baby is coming but not for a good week, maybe two, so we may have to coax the harbinger of the end along a little bit. I'm certain there'll be more on that soon...
At any rate, day 2 for me was the Crit. Pretty simple, stand in the wheel pit and look for frantic racers or an arm indicating something was wrong with their rig, OR, a third option i had not really thought about, which was naive due to me racing more than a fair share of crits, crashes. The womens race went off without anything going wrong for a good while. Couple of little scrape type craches, but nothing too bad. One girl had twisted her shifter a little bit in a crash, but ultimately was fine. Pretty sure everybody finished who had the physical ability.
Then, the guys race. The first dude that coasted in at the beginning of the first lap indicated he had a front flat. Bart, being smarter than him on what i'm sure amounted to about 2 hours of sleep the night before changed the rear, because it was in fact the rear that was flat. I asked bart how he was so sure without even checking, then, without even touching me, he choked me from across the room and told me he found my lack of faith distrubing. The second guy that went down asked a medic to tape him up right quick. The medic was NOT prepared. He wrapped him up but didnt have scissors so was trying to tear the guaze. After a little while and while i was going thru his shifting and making sure his rig had survived the scrape. It was good to go thank heavens. I saw how quick Bart put a twisted bike back together and i was a little unsure of my abilities. Then came the snags. Snag number 1: when the race commissar came over she instructed me i had to hold him, which was fine, except he was holding himself up on the fence by an area that was other than the area indicated by bart to push the dudes in. No biggie i would just hold him right there. Official didnt seem to care, so why should i? Snag number 2: He starts barking at me to hold him more to the left. Thankfully i had sense enough not to just to what we said because A) the peloton was moving to the right, so that was dumb, and B) we were on the camber of the gutter, so it gave him a false feeling of leaning to the right. I just ignored him, i was holding him straight. Snag number 3: the official didn't give me instructions on when to push him out, and to be truthful, i was sort of waiting on feeling him take of, then pushing. Well, as soon as the chase came after the break, like, as soon as rider number one from the chase was in sight, secretariat starts to bolt. The official pointed and yelled for him to stop for s second, then take off, and he did. Then she lays into me saying not to push him out til instructed, to which i replied, "there was no push, he just...went..." She apologized and proceeded to lay into the rider's team manager. Then, i saw a guy indacate on his way up to the Lord's corner on olive and cajon he had a flat. He came around, i told Bart. Bart told me to take it, and the proceeded to heckle me the entire time. At least it went off without a hitch, he was way cooler than seabicuit before him. Also, he was an aussie, who while flinty, chatty, and from a country conceived by criminals, are really cool people. I have yet to find an exception.
Then the biggest deal of the day came. BIG crash in the final turn of the final lap. Dude who was second wheel goot pushed into the fence and a bunch of the people who were fighting for wheels went down. It was one of those crashes where there was a bunch of gnarled twisted bodies and then every once in a while you'd see a rear wheel pop straight up in the air if the blob of bodies sucked in another rider. It even seemed like Bart lost his cool a teency weency as he came out of the booth and was yelling "rider down" and motioning like a 3rd base coach telling a runner to slide. Nothing to support there though, so other than a mild cleanup and a short come to jesus speech by bart about the particulars for the next day, that was all there was to it.
I had to skip out of the second day of the bike classic, Stage 1 the Beaumont Circuit, due to my getting news of the advent of the coming apocalypse, or, my son being born. Dr. said the baby is coming but not for a good week, maybe two, so we may have to coax the harbinger of the end along a little bit. I'm certain there'll be more on that soon...
At any rate, day 2 for me was the Crit. Pretty simple, stand in the wheel pit and look for frantic racers or an arm indicating something was wrong with their rig, OR, a third option i had not really thought about, which was naive due to me racing more than a fair share of crits, crashes. The womens race went off without anything going wrong for a good while. Couple of little scrape type craches, but nothing too bad. One girl had twisted her shifter a little bit in a crash, but ultimately was fine. Pretty sure everybody finished who had the physical ability.
Then, the guys race. The first dude that coasted in at the beginning of the first lap indicated he had a front flat. Bart, being smarter than him on what i'm sure amounted to about 2 hours of sleep the night before changed the rear, because it was in fact the rear that was flat. I asked bart how he was so sure without even checking, then, without even touching me, he choked me from across the room and told me he found my lack of faith distrubing. The second guy that went down asked a medic to tape him up right quick. The medic was NOT prepared. He wrapped him up but didnt have scissors so was trying to tear the guaze. After a little while and while i was going thru his shifting and making sure his rig had survived the scrape. It was good to go thank heavens. I saw how quick Bart put a twisted bike back together and i was a little unsure of my abilities. Then came the snags. Snag number 1: when the race commissar came over she instructed me i had to hold him, which was fine, except he was holding himself up on the fence by an area that was other than the area indicated by bart to push the dudes in. No biggie i would just hold him right there. Official didnt seem to care, so why should i? Snag number 2: He starts barking at me to hold him more to the left. Thankfully i had sense enough not to just to what we said because A) the peloton was moving to the right, so that was dumb, and B) we were on the camber of the gutter, so it gave him a false feeling of leaning to the right. I just ignored him, i was holding him straight. Snag number 3: the official didn't give me instructions on when to push him out, and to be truthful, i was sort of waiting on feeling him take of, then pushing. Well, as soon as the chase came after the break, like, as soon as rider number one from the chase was in sight, secretariat starts to bolt. The official pointed and yelled for him to stop for s second, then take off, and he did. Then she lays into me saying not to push him out til instructed, to which i replied, "there was no push, he just...went..." She apologized and proceeded to lay into the rider's team manager. Then, i saw a guy indacate on his way up to the Lord's corner on olive and cajon he had a flat. He came around, i told Bart. Bart told me to take it, and the proceeded to heckle me the entire time. At least it went off without a hitch, he was way cooler than seabicuit before him. Also, he was an aussie, who while flinty, chatty, and from a country conceived by criminals, are really cool people. I have yet to find an exception.
Then the biggest deal of the day came. BIG crash in the final turn of the final lap. Dude who was second wheel goot pushed into the fence and a bunch of the people who were fighting for wheels went down. It was one of those crashes where there was a bunch of gnarled twisted bodies and then every once in a while you'd see a rear wheel pop straight up in the air if the blob of bodies sucked in another rider. It even seemed like Bart lost his cool a teency weency as he came out of the booth and was yelling "rider down" and motioning like a 3rd base coach telling a runner to slide. Nothing to support there though, so other than a mild cleanup and a short come to jesus speech by bart about the particulars for the next day, that was all there was to it.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Redlands bike classic Swiss style wrench support: day 1
Show up around 6 he says. That wakes me up (and I use this term as loose as possible) at 5:25. If I wake up early for a ride, I generally allow for about 30 minutes to get something in my belly and slip into my superhero outfit that I usually put out the night before. This morning it would seem is a little less labor intensive, however I did need to robocop some poor woman's expensive carbon bike yesterday, as chronicled here in her blog, so I figured I would give myself 10 minutes less at 5:20 to insure against any would be curveballs.
I roll in promptly at 6, lock up my whip due to the recent crime spree in Redlands, and due to the fact that the idiot that is now facing felony charges for stealing my somewhat suped-up commuting turd and I crossed paths notoriously not even a week ago. Now, on to what would normally be an item that trumps all others at this God forsaken hour: Coffee.
I visit the good people at Greater Good coffee (<---- see what I did there? It's not just a clever name!). Kris and her crew make me an iced coffee, which, by the way IS the best in town, as far as iced coffee goes. For everything else, Stell is still tough to beat. At any rate even though they were closed, they helped me out with my am fix.
Back to the start line, i sat waiting for somebody to tell me what to do, if i was doing something other than fix bikes. And if I was to fix bikes, i was somewhat un prepared. Limited tools, no stand, no solvents. At some point Scott Tickmeyer offers his truck to go beef up my tech setup, namely, get my stand. I do so. When I get back Tom Belaszka shows up with wheels and other support items. I go thru a girl's front shifting, which is throwing her chain outboard due in part to a bent derailleur cage. After some brief cave-man adjustments and an even brief-er come to Jesus conversation about finding a new derailleur, she was ready(ish). Then the best thing all weekend happened.
Bart miller to the rescue. To those who don't know, Bart is the man. USA cycling mechanic, former euro racer, all around bad ass MC. And with him, he brought his bad ass MC tool kit. More fairly shot girls rigs needed adjusting, the crowned princess of which was a girl who complained of being un able to shift into higher gear with her rear shifter. I checked it out, sure as day, just as she described. Bart was thinking it was the shifter, I was thinking cable, both of which would be and is equally plausible. Upon looking at the cable access while Bart shifted, i noticed the cable head stick out as he attempted to shift into higher gear, which confirmed it was cable. Bart checks the rear as i check the front portion of cable and housing, and bang, there it is. I ask her when she installed the aero-bars, to which she replied the night before. She had clamped the clip on bars around her shifting cable housing which prevented the cable from un-spooling and releasing the the derailleur further outboard. She felt bad. I didn't. I've seen normal people make similar mistakes, the REAL tragedy was this girl who somebody deemed talented enough to pay for her bike skills didn't have the means or desire (hopefully the latter) to hire somebody to make sure she had a proper running bike, which is somewhat important for a stage racer. Sucks. From then on it was tweeking people's bikes to fit the jig for aerodynamic standards and legality. The most difficult adjustment was a rider's clip on aero bars which extended him too far into a superman type position (not legal). From what the gentleman said, this particular set of aero bars were praised for their ease of adjustablity. What's true is they had many options of adjustability, but I assure you ease did not enter into any of the options. I won't bad mouth the company here, so if anybody wants to know what brand they were, lemme know, I'll give you the 411, and even adjust them for you, as after this ordeal, I have a black belt in adjusting them. It took me and Bart as a combo about 45 minutes to adjust those bastards. The racer who they belonged to assured me after that that was world record time compared to his installation time. Kind of a relief.
That pretty much sums it up for that day. I will say the most interesting part of the whole ordeal was that women were pumped on any help they got and dudes basically looked over both shoulders to see if their techs were looking to ask for a 5mm wrench or us to pump up their tires to an unreasonable pressure. One group with zero support, one group with more than they could handle. Interesting, huh?
I roll in promptly at 6, lock up my whip due to the recent crime spree in Redlands, and due to the fact that the idiot that is now facing felony charges for stealing my somewhat suped-up commuting turd and I crossed paths notoriously not even a week ago. Now, on to what would normally be an item that trumps all others at this God forsaken hour: Coffee.
I visit the good people at Greater Good coffee (<---- see what I did there? It's not just a clever name!). Kris and her crew make me an iced coffee, which, by the way IS the best in town, as far as iced coffee goes. For everything else, Stell is still tough to beat. At any rate even though they were closed, they helped me out with my am fix.
Back to the start line, i sat waiting for somebody to tell me what to do, if i was doing something other than fix bikes. And if I was to fix bikes, i was somewhat un prepared. Limited tools, no stand, no solvents. At some point Scott Tickmeyer offers his truck to go beef up my tech setup, namely, get my stand. I do so. When I get back Tom Belaszka shows up with wheels and other support items. I go thru a girl's front shifting, which is throwing her chain outboard due in part to a bent derailleur cage. After some brief cave-man adjustments and an even brief-er come to Jesus conversation about finding a new derailleur, she was ready(ish). Then the best thing all weekend happened.
Bart miller to the rescue. To those who don't know, Bart is the man. USA cycling mechanic, former euro racer, all around bad ass MC. And with him, he brought his bad ass MC tool kit. More fairly shot girls rigs needed adjusting, the crowned princess of which was a girl who complained of being un able to shift into higher gear with her rear shifter. I checked it out, sure as day, just as she described. Bart was thinking it was the shifter, I was thinking cable, both of which would be and is equally plausible. Upon looking at the cable access while Bart shifted, i noticed the cable head stick out as he attempted to shift into higher gear, which confirmed it was cable. Bart checks the rear as i check the front portion of cable and housing, and bang, there it is. I ask her when she installed the aero-bars, to which she replied the night before. She had clamped the clip on bars around her shifting cable housing which prevented the cable from un-spooling and releasing the the derailleur further outboard. She felt bad. I didn't. I've seen normal people make similar mistakes, the REAL tragedy was this girl who somebody deemed talented enough to pay for her bike skills didn't have the means or desire (hopefully the latter) to hire somebody to make sure she had a proper running bike, which is somewhat important for a stage racer. Sucks. From then on it was tweeking people's bikes to fit the jig for aerodynamic standards and legality. The most difficult adjustment was a rider's clip on aero bars which extended him too far into a superman type position (not legal). From what the gentleman said, this particular set of aero bars were praised for their ease of adjustablity. What's true is they had many options of adjustability, but I assure you ease did not enter into any of the options. I won't bad mouth the company here, so if anybody wants to know what brand they were, lemme know, I'll give you the 411, and even adjust them for you, as after this ordeal, I have a black belt in adjusting them. It took me and Bart as a combo about 45 minutes to adjust those bastards. The racer who they belonged to assured me after that that was world record time compared to his installation time. Kind of a relief.
That pretty much sums it up for that day. I will say the most interesting part of the whole ordeal was that women were pumped on any help they got and dudes basically looked over both shoulders to see if their techs were looking to ask for a 5mm wrench or us to pump up their tires to an unreasonable pressure. One group with zero support, one group with more than they could handle. Interesting, huh?
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Beer is for breakfast around here...
Pro women bike racers get the freakin' shaft from a mechanical standpoint. Every year droves of femme-powerhouses line up with the most hosed down death-traps to ever grace the peloton. A couple of years ago a girl came in with a headset issue. I literally don't know how she got it to the bike shop without breaking the frame. They were drop in campy style bearings, and the preload was SO loose, that i think the bearings might have been shook loose from their in frame races. No kidding. Last year due to some savvy negotiating by a mechanic, i glued about 8 sets of tubulars for a women's team, and the glue job that had been done previously, was insane. The ease of removal of said tires reminded me of this little ditty.
(sorry for the pause for corporate mind raping)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Pulling Teeth
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.
I BARELY pulled. Every year they are so appreciative. So appreciative that they bring bottle after bottle, case after case, growler after growler of everybody's favorite liquid: Beer.
Now, i know what you're thinking; 10 out of 9 mechanics love to receive an oat soda in return for for their mechanical prowess. Now that is pre-supposing that a mechanic likes the taste of beer. Now on that, i cannot argue, as i have yet to find an exception to the rule, including yours truly. However, being as if the taste of beer is accompanied by alcohol, it unleashes a ferrous, stark-raving animal that lurks in a black, normally ignored corner of my otherwise shiny and happy soul, i think everybody would agree it is best to let well enough alone, and just leave me dry. I'm a fast and loose unruly asshole as it is, you wanna add alcohol to that equation? That's what i thought.
So here's the thing, i'm thinking i wanna start making the standard bartering chip for bike mechanic's expertise something that i have been thinking is long overdue to get big among our ranks: Heroin.
Now hear me out. Everybody drinks beer. Especially bike mechanics. Even those who end up punting the job and send someone careening into the curb because the silicone polish on their braking surface actually made them accelerate when they applied the brakes. Even that dude gets beer. I seen it happen. So if i do an extra special job on your rig and you end up with a bucket of dates to show for your 25th lap sprint preem, wouldn't you agree i deserve something with a little more kick? Lou Reed seemed to enjoy the stuff immensely, and i am a huge Lou Reed fan.
Heroin bike racers, heroin. Where are you supposed to get ahold of this stuff? Your problem, not mine. My problem is "Perfect Day" on repeat with what i would imagine amounts to about a tenth of the potential understanding for the melody and lyrics. On heroin that song blows my mind. Guarantee it. Having said that, here's a glimpse of what you'd have on your hands if i had about a half a beer in my tummy. What can i say? I'm a cheap date.
(sorry for the pause for corporate mind raping)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Pulling Teeth
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.
I BARELY pulled. Every year they are so appreciative. So appreciative that they bring bottle after bottle, case after case, growler after growler of everybody's favorite liquid: Beer.
Now, i know what you're thinking; 10 out of 9 mechanics love to receive an oat soda in return for for their mechanical prowess. Now that is pre-supposing that a mechanic likes the taste of beer. Now on that, i cannot argue, as i have yet to find an exception to the rule, including yours truly. However, being as if the taste of beer is accompanied by alcohol, it unleashes a ferrous, stark-raving animal that lurks in a black, normally ignored corner of my otherwise shiny and happy soul, i think everybody would agree it is best to let well enough alone, and just leave me dry. I'm a fast and loose unruly asshole as it is, you wanna add alcohol to that equation? That's what i thought.
So here's the thing, i'm thinking i wanna start making the standard bartering chip for bike mechanic's expertise something that i have been thinking is long overdue to get big among our ranks: Heroin.
Now hear me out. Everybody drinks beer. Especially bike mechanics. Even those who end up punting the job and send someone careening into the curb because the silicone polish on their braking surface actually made them accelerate when they applied the brakes. Even that dude gets beer. I seen it happen. So if i do an extra special job on your rig and you end up with a bucket of dates to show for your 25th lap sprint preem, wouldn't you agree i deserve something with a little more kick? Lou Reed seemed to enjoy the stuff immensely, and i am a huge Lou Reed fan.
Heroin bike racers, heroin. Where are you supposed to get ahold of this stuff? Your problem, not mine. My problem is "Perfect Day" on repeat with what i would imagine amounts to about a tenth of the potential understanding for the melody and lyrics. On heroin that song blows my mind. Guarantee it. Having said that, here's a glimpse of what you'd have on your hands if i had about a half a beer in my tummy. What can i say? I'm a cheap date.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Alright alright alright
Pulled into goleta at 8-ish, went to dinner at outback, ready as I'm gonna be for the 100 miles tomorrow, headed for bed with dazed and confused playing in the background. Good times to follow, pics to prove it too.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Don't Believe the Hype..
About a month ago i decided i was done with the carbon spaceship bikes. Its cool that they're light, but in the end i'm a classic over plastic kind of guy.
Decided to sell the stumpy frame and fork; i first consulted craigslist, thinking i should ask for an amount higher for all the would be lo-ballers out there. Just after i decided to go ahead and list it on fleabay. Since paypal sho' do take a bite, i decided to list it for 100 more than i listed it on craigslist. Within 2 hours i had a bid.
So pumped.
That will more than pay for my new custom Rock Lobster as well as a sweet ass top-of-the-line Fox fork. So pumped. Who knows what its gonna end up going for? More than i was expecting.
To explain the title of the post, i was thinking, "Who in god's name is going to want a 26" hardtail for what i'm asking with all this 29er hype we have going?" Apparently, it was all for naught, thus the title of the post....
Decided to sell the stumpy frame and fork; i first consulted craigslist, thinking i should ask for an amount higher for all the would be lo-ballers out there. Just after i decided to go ahead and list it on fleabay. Since paypal sho' do take a bite, i decided to list it for 100 more than i listed it on craigslist. Within 2 hours i had a bid.
So pumped.
That will more than pay for my new custom Rock Lobster as well as a sweet ass top-of-the-line Fox fork. So pumped. Who knows what its gonna end up going for? More than i was expecting.
To explain the title of the post, i was thinking, "Who in god's name is going to want a 26" hardtail for what i'm asking with all this 29er hype we have going?" Apparently, it was all for naught, thus the title of the post....
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