Winter Hibernation

As you all have undoubtedly noticed... (or not)... I have been quite delinquent in my posting the past few months. I have had a few races (more on that later), a little travel, a cold, an injury, sold a bike, bought a new one, and completely procrastinated on this whole Christmas shopping thing. As usual.

First off- racing. I wrapped up both the DInO and OMBC series. My last race in the DInO series was a giant blowup. We ran flat out for 21 miles with no let up. Halfway through the second lap I was running second when I just ran out of steam. Had I raced more conservatively I could have held on for a podium, but instead I went for broke and wound up one step out of the prizes.

 My last OMBC race went much the same, except for the fact that I didn't eat breakfast before the race. And my left foot and calf cramped. And I wound up two steps off the podium. The good news out of both of these races is that I preserved my finish in both series. 1st in CAT 2 19-29 for DInO. 5th in CAT 19-29 in OMBC. Not bad for my first real season of racing.

I have also jumped into a few cross races. A ton of fun, but no results worth mentioning. That's what cross is for me though, the fun of racing without the stress.

As usual, for my sisters birthday. Only this time, I came back home with a sprained foot and ankle. From stepping in a hole. While spinning my cousin around by her feet. And dropped her on her head. She's ok. I am still limping around two weeks later.

And I still need to do my Christmas shopping. So with that I am leaving you all for a few weeks. At least. I'll have some exciting news on the other side of the holidays tune back in.

A long two months

It has been a while since I posted last, around two months actually. Longer than I would like, but life gets in the way sometimes. Over the past month I have raced in a handful of races, picked out a fourth place and a fifth place in two highly competitive races in Indiana and Ohio, raced (and stayed upright) in my first cyclocross race, and fell in love with road riding all over again.

There comes a time towards the end of every Summer that I get burned out on riding. I still enjoy going out for a romp in the woods, but I can't stand to go out and train on the road. It usually hits me late August or early September and last for a few weeks. This year it has taken me a full 5 weeks of not touching my road bike to get it out of my system. Last Tuesday Justin talked me into a hilly little route around Mitchell Memorial Forrest in Cincy. 34 miles and 2300 feet of climbing later I was back in love with skinny tires. The next day was my last group ride for the year with one loyal customer showing up for a pleasant evening ride. And Friday morning began our weekly staff ride. All in all it the perfect time of year to be on the bike. Brisk mornings that call for arm warmers and vests. Warm afternoons that leave you exhausted, but not soaked with sweat.

Last Thursday also brought about my first hike in quite a while. Jess and I headed down to Red River Gorge, KY for some hiking and light bouldering. Here is a shot of the Double Arch that we climbed up and around.

After that amazing week, I capped it off with an awesome dip into cyclocross. What a hoot. 30 minutes of all out racing in the mud and grass with piles of logs and barriers to run over... whats not to like as a spectator or a racer. Besides the lung searing, leg tearing pain of it all for the racer. All in all I had a blast and moved up form dead last (39th) to 19th over the course of 4 laps. Next time I will get a call up somehow and try and get a top ten. 

Well time for bed. Enjoy the awesome Fall!

One edit before I hit the sack: I took the Doing INdiana Outdoor (DInO) Series 19-29 Cat 2 championships for 2011! Should be getting a jersey sometime this Winter. 

Brown County riding and Soulcraft video

Over the past 8 days I have logged four days, 10.5 hours, and over 90 miles at Brown County. One ride came in at 27 miles and 1700 feet of climbing. Another included 32 miles of single track and over 2700 feet of climbing. For those of you who haven't ridden Brown County, make it a priority (if you happen to be in the Mid-West). BCSP offers everything from beginner friendly low climbing routes to trails like Green Valley that are like an extended pump track along a ridge line to routes like Hesitation that drop you several hundred feet with rocks and roots to bounce off of. Probably the best part about BCSP is that on weekdays there is hardly any trail traffic. Weekends sees a bit more use, but as far as I have seen, there are never too many people to ruin the experience.

For those of you who will never get out to Brown and hate me for sharing about this gem that is so far away here is a neat little movie from the guys at Soulcraft Cyclery.

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft from michael evans on Vimeo.


Enjoy!

Full Service Racing/CORA- Revenge of Mt. Mother- Harbin Park

This was a race that wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't going to race, but I have found over the past couple of months that the best way to train for racing is to race. So I drove out to Harbin and met Chris and his friend (and photographer) Randy. It was a surprisingly nice day... not too hot or humid.

For those of you who have never been to Harbin Park, here is one racer's description, "75% uphill, 5% level and 20% downhill." That pretty much sums up the course. Mt. Mother is a steep (some have measured it out at over 20%), loose, rutted beast of a hill that has a short, equally steep and loose run in. Each lap came in around 5 miles with a little over 500 ft of climbing. The cruel and unusual gang at Full Service Racing (ahem...Phill...ahem) put on the show, much like their wildly successful Hueston Woods race (a race I observed from a hammock atop the longest climb).

Chris was to race two laps while I was in for three laps of torture. My goal was a good workout. I let almost everyone go ahead of me down the grassy slope and into the single track. Slowly I picked up my pace and began picking people off... not in order to move up, but instead to go faster. I began catching some of the earlier waves towards the end of my first lap. I just kept chugging along passing people, hoping for the end, hating my lack of handling skills, passing more people, praying for the wretched race to be over.

Then I finished. I find finishing races very anticlimactic. There are rarely people cheering for you. Occasionally someone says your name over a loudspeaker. You find a nice patch of grass (hopefully near a water cooler) and lay your bike down and drench yourself as you try and consume as much water/Gatorade/recovery bar as possible in the short window that athletes have to stuff their faces after exercises. Harbin was no different. I rolled over the Chris (Mt. Mother + recovering knee = not good), sat, talked, drank, ate, drank, talked with random racers and friends, and drank some more.

Phill called us all over for hoagies and awards. Chris and I weren't expecting anything, but somehow, during my hour and forty minutes of suffering I had passed everyone in my age group save for one hardy soul. The photos throughout this post are courtesy of Randy. It is now time for me to hit the sack and get ready for my second trip to Brown Country in three days! I will post some thing about said trips in the next few days.

Kenda DInO- Versailles State Park

Hot. Everything about this race screamed hot. A fair bit of climbing, dusty trails, humidity through the roof in the woods. Hot. In the shade my Garmin was reading 92 F. That's hot to be forcing yourself to ride at your limit for an hour and a half.

But that is what we got at Versailles this weekend. Jess somehow had the day off so we drove out and met Chris at 7:20 in the morning to set up our pit area. Nice canopy and rocking folding chairs thanks to Chris (btw... rocking folding chairs are on my Christmas wish list- they are the perfect post race chill spot).

My race went off first at 10 am. We had about 10 or 12 guys in my start wave. I had pre-ridden the first mile of the course and felt very confident in my tire selection. Bontrager XR 0- a light tire with very little tread, but great roll. From the bullhorn (we don't use guns to start races here in the Mid-West) I jumped in to second place for the fist single track section. At the first gravel road crossing about 600 m into the race, I nearly took out some spectator by sliding out under the tape. Evidently my tire choice wasn't too hot.

For the rest of the race I was second guessing my line choice and sliding through turns like I was riding a road tire on ice. I had guys passing me left and right on some of the tight descents. I always caught and passed them on the fast flowing sections and the long climbs, but would give my advantage away at any sort of technical descent.

On the last fire road climb and subsequent single track slog, I build up a decent lead over what I assumed was sixth or seventh place. I then descended the rock garden to the finish line like there was not tomorrow. I didn't bother resting my index finger on my brake lever, just gripped the bar and let the bike bounce.

I gave this race more juice than I have ever given a race. I just let it all hang out there and ripped the climbs and the last few descents. Evidently that payed off, because I wound up placing third in my age group and start wave, which should bump me up nicely in the DInO overall. Here is me at the finish line, just thank full to be upright and done.

After about an hour of cooling off, Jess and Chris started their respective races. Jess met a few trees and rocks along the way, but ended the race with a nice sprint. Chris met a kid who couldn't quite stay on the trail, but never the less raced to a nice 2nd in the intro class. Looks like it's time to cat up! Here's Jess ripping the first section of single track.

For Chris' take on the race check out his blog @ Will Climb for Downhills.

OMBC#5: East Fork Race Report

I am going to preface this race report with a summary of my week.
Monday: 4th of July spent hanging around the apartment
Tuesday: Rode with Justin in the morning to show group ride route, then worked
Wednesday: Worked, then hung out with Jess, Jared, Caitlyn, and the rest of the D-clan
Thursday: Work and Shadowbox! Followed by staying up until 3 in the morning watching Top Gear
Friday: Work and sleep
Saturday: Work, short ride, sleep.

So it pretty apparent that I didn't get a lot of sleep and didn't ride much throughout the week. Which leads me to today's race.

Chris and I drove out to Eastfork together, in what is beginning to become a Sunday routine. We nabbed a nice little spot by one of several closed restrooms (evidently in this economy, the parks commission has decided to abandon parts of Eastfork). During our pre-ride we found that the course still had a lot of mud holes, some of which had branches laid across them to attempt to minimize damage to the trail. What probably was not thought of was how much damage the mud soaked branches could cause to the racers. Most of these spots where on the beginner trails, which I think we could have easy done without (this is a very biased opinion as you will soon find out).

The first mile and a half of the race was a paved climb to the beginner trail. My Garmin told me that this section of the race was about 110 degrees. Whatever the temperature, it was scorching form the top (sun) and bottom (pavement). In my normal fashion I nailed it from the get go and hit. Leading up to the trail head my legs began to feel a little dull. Not quite dead, but close, so I eased up and let a few people lead me into the woods. A handful more passed me throughout the woods, only to have me catch them on the road section on the second lap.

Shortly into the woods the second time I lofted my front wheel over a mud hole filled with branches. When my front wheel came down on one of the last branches, it shifted and my front wheel slid out sending me sprawling over the trail. And bashing the family jewels into my frame. And both knees into something hard. After a minute or two sitting of leaning over my bike and letting most of the race go by me, I was able to (gingerly) get back on the saddle and continue on my way. After what seemed like an eternity, I made it back to the pavement and caught one of the riders who had passed me while I was immobile. He had just enough left in him to out kick me to the line. Which is how I would up last by  3 seconds.

Now back at home, I am planning on taking these next two weeks to train and pick up a little more speed in my legs. Hopefully Versailles (two weeks away) will treat me a little better.

Two Very Full Weekends

I know two weeks ago I promised a few posts, but things have been pretty exciting and I haven't had the time or energy to sit down and write. So I will start in chronological order.

New Bike: I sold my Madone last week back to its original owner and picked up this thing of beauty...

It is a 2009 Gary Fisher Presidio cross bike with True Temper OX Platinum steel frame and all of my old standby components (all of the components have been on my last three bikes). Because of this bike Jess now has a brand new Rival drivetrain and brake and Bontrager wheel set up on her road bike.

OMBC #4 Race to the Hills: Lake Hope

It rained from 6 AM until halfway through my race. That should be enough of a description. There was mud everywhere. I wound up sitting 3 rows back at the start and had to fight tooth and nail to hit the trail head in the top 20. After that, I was thankful for mud tires and cursing my derailleurs. I had awesome traction, but couldn't shift. Chain suck was a huge problem (to the point of ruining my front mech) and my cassette (rear gears) was so clogged with mud that I could only access 3 gears. I wound up finishing 6th in my class, one spot out of the money.

England-Idelwild Time Trial series:
For the past month, Jess and I have made the trip down to Kentucky of the Thursday night mountain time trial series. So far I have posted two 6th and one 9th based off of average speed (I have been racing three laps which is the longest allowed). This past Thursday I not only bettered my personal time by a handful of seconds, but also slotted in the 5th fastest average speed. Things are looking up!

DInO #4: North Vernon- Mascatatuck Park:
First off, by the beginning of the race it was clear that I wasn't going to have reliable access to my large chain ring which meant that I was going to have to attack every climb in order to limit my losses on the descents and flats. When the gun went off I managed a good start, hitting the woods in third position. The second placed rider slid out in front of me about two turns in, allowing me to move up. On the first climb, with four or five guys sitting behind me, the leader let me pass, at which point I gave the hill everything I had. The rest of the three lap race I spent climbing like mad, and picking up as much free speed as possible when heading down. I never saw another racer from my age bracket, though one junior from my starting wave nipped me by a second or two at the line. I would blame my lack of a big ring, but at that point, I don't think it really mattered.

In other news... I have qualified for the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships! To bad I only found this out today and the race is in three weeks... in Idaho. Hopefully I will qualify again next year.

Enjoy the ride.

Brooks Swallow Review

The saddle. It is hard to find a more controversial product in the cycling industry. Everyone has a different take on it. Specialized likes the center cut out. Bontrager likes different padding. Fizik determines which rider should be on which saddle through a flexibility profile. And then there are the fringe saddles like ISM triathlon saddles.

And while all of these saddle makers have their "proof" and "science" claiming their seats superior, there is one saddle company that for over a century has captured the hearts (or would that be ischial tuberosities or sit bones) of countless riders. Brooks. This company creates saddles using a brilliant (and common) design dating back to the late 19th century: a single piece of thick leather supported at the back by a band of steel and at the front by a stretching mechanism. Over a quarter of the riders I have met crossing the country ride Brooks. A few of my instructors at UBI rode them. Several people I ride with day to day have logged tens of thousands of miles on Brooks saddles.

So I decided to give a Brooks a try. Not just any Brooks, but the top dog, racing saddle, the Swallow. My test saddle came to me through a customer who had found it to not be the one. He offered to let me ride it to see what I thought of it. I have put in about 200 miles on it over the past week or so and have reached the point where I can give you all something worthwhile.

Every time I jump on the Swallow it doesn't feel quite right. It is either too tight or too loose. On a few rides (one 26 miles, another 32) the saddle hit its stride about 20 minutes and I never thought of it again (a good thing in my opinion). On other rides I was still trying to find the right position as I rolled home. The one definitive thing that I have to say about this saddle is that it is not designed for riders who like to slide around. I found that I was comfortable in one particular spot. Too far forward and the bump from the tension mechanism pressed me. Too far back and I was sitting on the rivets. Unfortunately, I like to slide around. After talking with a few Brooks riders, it seems that the Brooks best suited for me is the Swift, a slightly flatter saddle.

This is a beautiful saddle. The honey brown of my model is amazing. It makes every bike it goes on look better (and a little heavier). But this saddle just isn't for me.

Up next: OMBC #4 Race to the Hills: Lake Hope report (racing it tomorrow) and sometime next week some photos of my new steed!

Coming up next...

Things have been a little crazy for me the past couple of weeks. Long days at work followed by lazy evenings at home have ended with me not riding as much as I would like. So after a few days off last week to rest and recharge and one XL pizza (evidently one shouldn't ride hard for two hours and then not eat for nine hours) I am back to feeling human again. Which means intervals.

For those of you who have never trained for an endurance event, intervals are a group of workouts where you ride (insert run, swim, row, etc.) at a set intensity for a length of time, then spin at an easy to moderate pace for another length of time, before repeating it all over again. Intervals have been found to be the key to increasing endurance and speed, two areas I wouldn't mind improving.

But intervals are not fun. Some varieties, if performed correctly, will leave the participant dizzy and on the verge of loosing said XL pizza. All of this is for a good cause though.

This coming Sunday is my next OMBC race. Supposedly there is a fair bit of climbing which I get to look forward to. We'll see.

Later this week I will post a quick review of my new saddle. I am not sure which way the review will swing as every time I ride it my opinion changes.

Kenda DInO- Brown County

Last Sunday I raced the Kenda DInO Series Brown County race- a 17 mile romp through one of the Mid-West's most spectacular areas of single track. With 1600 ft of climbing. My Cat 2 wave started off kinda slow up a brutish mile long paved climb. Being much faster on the road, I gunned it as soon as I got a clear shot and took two juniors with me all the way to the trail head. After leading for about a mile, but riders pulled around me and kept on trucking. Luckily both where outside my age group. Two more racers past me on the first lap, but I managed to bring both back (one flatted and one cramped). After recovering for most of the first lap (note to self... do not gun it right away if you don't have to), I got back into a good rhythm and really flew on the second lap and final three mile descent to the finish line. Here are my stats for the race.

Just for kicks here is a photo from last weeks EI TT. This week I bettered my time by over a minute for the 5.1 mile course.

Back in Action

Hey everyone. Just posting a quick one. Raced this past weekend at Brown County as part of the DInO series. Placed 1st in my age grouping, 3rd in my start wave, and 18th in Cat 2 overall out of 98 finishers. Not bad at all. Also, each Thursday Jess, Chris, and I head down to England Idlewild (EI) for a local dirt time trial series. Last week I had the second fastest lap and the 6 fastest average speed over the three laps I completed. This week i took over a minute off of my time. I can't wait to see the results. I will post with a better race report soon.

Also check out this short film by the guys and gals at Rapha. If you aren't motivated to ride yet, this may do the trick. Enjoy.


Rapha Continental – The Movie from RAPHA on Vimeo.

Rain, rain, go away!

The trails have been solidly wet for the past two weeks. The city is within half an inch of its all time monthly rain record. We are expecting more rain over the next two days.

What this means for me. I almost headed to Chattanooga, TN. Yup. I almost made the decision to drive 6+ hours to reach dry dirt in order to ride/train on my race bike. The only reason I won't be heading out tomorrow night... they are expecting horrible thunderstorms for the next two days. This leaves me with two options.

Drive 4 hours to Cleveland to ride inside at Ray's. Or take care of some chores and errands and train in the rain on the road. Tough choice. It sucks being a responsible adult.

So I will let everyone read this over the next day and leave comments as to what I should do. I am not saying that I am going to listen to you all... but it could be interesting.

Oh... and here is a long promised photo from the first race of the season. Yes... this guy really liked my socks. He took/posted three photos of them through out the day. I will try and get some good photos from my next race.

OMBC #1: Simonton Windows Challenge at Mount wood

Mountwood Park is located about 3 hours east of Cincinnati in West Virginia. This should have been enough of a warning for me. West Virginia = mountains. And being east of us... we had downpours yesterday = they had downpours last night. That pretty much sums up this race. But not really.

The sport course was 17.5 miles long with 2000 ft of climbing. The high temperature for the day (during the race) was 87 degrees. Yes there was some mud spots and some long loose climbs, but for the most part the trails were just tacky.

My start wave had about 50 riders in it so we really took off from the gun to try and make it to the single track first. A group of 4 got away about a mile in and I bridged up a minute or two after they got some distance. The rest of the race was pretty crazy. I made some pretty crucial mistakes like falling off of a ladder ride into deep mud, sliding out in way too many turns, getting stuck behind caught riders for too long, and, the biggest mistake, not taking two water bottles. I took one. One small one. And didn't take on more at the first aid station. Dumb. Because when it is 87 out and there are no leaves on the trees, you bake. Literally. We all looked like roasted pigs at the finish line. Stark white under our jerseys... bright red wherever we were exposed. So I was out of fluids by the halfway point with only one aid station where they would hand me a Dixie cup. Awesome.

I wound up in a group that contained 3rd, 4th, and 5th in our Sport 19-20 group. 3rd (not me sadly) put in a nice acceleration with about 2 miles to go that neither of us remaining guys could handle. So we let him ride off and I tagged on the back of the second racer for about a mile and a half of soggy, steep single track. We finally hit the pavement with about a half mile to go and I flipped my remote lockouts (amazing!) and gunned it with everything I had left. I looked back twice and he just couldn't match it. I wound up with 4th place and a nice 29er tire.

I'll post some photos once they are up on the website. Now off for a post race shower and BED!

Mid-Day Break

I am having an average off day for me. Here is the timeline.

7:30- Wake up to ride
8:00- Roll out the door
8:30- Meet Tom at the trail
12:10- Reach Trek Store: West Chester to pick up car and talk shop
12:30- Get home, throw on recovery tights, and slam milkshake down
1:00- Throw laundry in and lay in bed with feet on wall to drain blood; work on blog and race calender
2:00- Load car for mountain bike ride and head out
2:20- Pick up bibs at Trek Store: Blue Ash
2:30- Meet David to head for mountain biking
3:00- Hit the trails
5:00- Hit the road home
6:00- Get home

I miss the good old days in Damascus where I would roll out of bed in the morning eat a nice breakfast, watch Mike and Mike, and roll out for a 5 hour ride. Riding out of a city kinda sucks. I'll post more on my training and race schedule when I get a few minutes to breathe.

Enjoy the awesome weather!

Race Rig

So I have finally gotten the bike dirty (o.k. this is the second time she has been dirty) and feel comfortable posting pictures of it as my new race bike. Here's the spec. as of now.

Top Fuel 9.7 w/carbon mainframe and aluminum rear end, Fox RP2 w/ remote Pro Pedal, Rock Shox SID RLT w/ remote lockout, SRAM XO cranks and cassette, X9 shifters and derailleurs, RXL inform saddle, RL stem and bars, ESI Racer Edge grips. The wheels that are installed in the picture are the Bontrager RL run tubeless with XR2 tires. To protect my new (and first ever) carbon mountain crank I also used Crank Skins and Race Face end caps. Which I have already scuffed to hell. Thank goodness I didn't leave bare carbon down there!

My dry race wheels will be my hand built wheels (DT Swiss 240s hubs laced 32/3 cross with Competition spokes to XR 4.1 rims) run with tubes and Team Issue XR0 tires. set up for racing she comes in at 23.89 lbs. Once I have the cockpit set up to where I like I will get a slightly lighter/stiffer stem and handlebar.

Now here's the kicker. Today I went out for my second ride on her and it was... wait for it... legend....

not dary. About 5 miles into the ride my chain started skipping. Stretched cables, no big deal. Or that's what I thought. It turns out my brand new X9 rear derailleur tension spring (the spring that keeps the chain tight) had given up the ghost. With less than 10 miles of trail time. Yeah. I'm not happy. So tomorrow I will order a new one and attempt to warranty mine in order to have a backup. Load of rubbish.

And with that, enjoy the trails and your fully functional bikes.

Teaser

So things have been a bit crazy out here in Ohio the past few weeks. I am now the Service Manager at Trek Store of Cincinnati: West Chester. Make that really crazy. On top of the extra hours I have been putting in at work, I have been ramping up my training. Unfortunately, this increase in training has been met with an increase in precipitation, which in short means no mountain biking anywhere in the area.

That said I do have some good news. Some of the sponsored products have begun to trickle in.
Like these...

 

And these...

(Crank Skins and End Caps)

And this...

 Maybe I'll post some more photos and details tomorrow... maybe.

Portland

While I am out here in Portland, I figured I should post on what its like out here in the great North West.

It's awesome.

The people are some of the friendliest that I have met. My first night here I went to the local brewery to eat dinner with one of my room mates. We struck up a somewhat awkward (and drunken) conversation with to life-long Portlanders. Every time I go out, whether it is to the grocers, the coffee shop, a bike shop, or some random establishment, someone strikes up a conversation with me. Yesterday on a longer bike ride, I had no fewer than five people stop and offer me help when I was reading my map or adjusting my brakes. Great people.

Being down on the water and in the mountains has always appealed to me. Well, ladies and gents, Portland is a port, therefore it is on the water. Furthermore, it is surrounded by mountains. A ridge runs right up and into the city. The is the home of Forest Park, one of the largest parks contained in a city in the country. Pretty cool. This also leads to some amazing scenery from Skyline Dr which runs the crest of the park.

The city itself has some beautiful architecture. Most of the homes are of the craftsman/bungalow style, with tons of personality to set themselves apart form each others. Because of the hilly nature of the region, many houses and garages are built into and out of the sides of hills, which leads to some really neat terraced neighborhoods. Unfortunately, I have not been through the city during the day with a camera. But at night it is breathtaking.

From a foodies perspective, Portland is pretty darn good. Gelato, classic American, burrito joints, amazing (and surprising) doughnuts, even the bar food is above average. The grocer is a little pricey, but that is mainly because everything is organic, fair-trade, hormone free, and/or free range. Plus, their meat selection is second to none. I am not even sure that Jungle Jim's has the selection of high end meats that this grocer does.

 

My only complaint that I can come up with for this city is that I am afraid of getting hit when I am riding my bike. Not by cars mind you. There are so many cyclists out here, that there are no shortage of close calls. I guess one has to pay for having perfect riding weather, an abundance of bike lanes/paths, and a nuclear city that supports the bike movement. 

In parting, I would love to move to Portland at some point in my life. Sooner would be cool, but I think that living here at any point would be a wonderful experience. Not to mention, everyone I have ever known to have moved away from Portland has wanted to move back. I think that speaks volumes.

Post from Portland!

Hey all,

I am out in Portland for a few weeks for United Bicycle Institute (bike mechanic certification). I am just going to say amazing city and I will post more later. After next week I am heading up to Seattle for a few days to hang out with my awesome aunt.

So in order to keep some people entertained I am posting this video. The first double front flip performed by a mountain bike.



Enjoy!

Katelyn

For those of you who have read earlier post about Jess and mine's friend Katelyn, I am very sad to say that she has passed away a few weeks ago. Many people will say what an amazing person she was and how her art was inspired. And both of those are very true. What I wish to touch on here is how difficult it is to know how amazing something is until it is gone. I always knew that Katelyn was an exceptional individual. Just her art could tell you that. But beyond that she was caring person (though one who would not baby you). Katelyn could be curt and introverted, but she was always there when someone needed her.

On New Years Ever two years ago, our Italian Art History class was in Rome. Most people went out to celebrate the New Year. I was too tired to head out. Lindsey didn't feel like it either. Katelyn couldn't go out because of an allergic reaction she had had to something (one of her eyes had swollen shut). The three of us sat in my window that night watching the fireworks across the city. The Collesium was exploding with colors as was the Palatian Hill. Every hill top had its own display. For that matter, most building had their own amateur display. We sat there talking about who knows what. But I will always remember and cherish that night.

Bike

As Jess can attest, I really do have a one track mind. Every once in a while (ok, almost every day) she catches me staring into space and asks, "What are you thinking?" She usually follows this with, "Bikes, right?" And she is almost always right. Lately I have been preoccupied with what bike I will be racing for 2011. My trusty F1 is a bit tired and as I will be racing for the shop's team, I will have to race on a Trek.

My original pick was a Superfly Elite. This carbon 29er  hardtail is the first 29er to place in a World Cup and World Championships. That's pretty slick. However, I am not a fan of how the bike handles. Yeah, it's light, well spec'd, and has a racing pedigree. But it just feels sluggish.

The other bike on the table is the Top Fuel 9.8. This is a carbon 26er 100 mm fully suspended race bike. The spec isn't what I want, but the XT components are easy to sell and switch to an XO/X9 mix. Here is my plan.

Buy the 9.8 and sell off the XT components before I even ride the bike (this might be difficult for me to pull off). Purchase the follow tasty bits.

XO Crankset (carbon crankset that is slightly stiffer and lighter than X9)
X9 Rear Mech (not much different than XO other than price)
XT Front Mech (gota go with Shimano for front mechs)
X9 Chain (ummm- almost the same chain as the XO for half the price)
XO Cassette  (100 g lighter than X9 + half the price of XX= winner)
XO or X9 Shifters (this is where I have some issues, XO are identical to X9 but have adjustable reach for the levers)
Other changed tidbits will be ESI Chunky grips, possibly a flat handlebar and different saddle.
Wheels may get upgraded with something  hand built of my own creation (thinking Stans Crest rims, DT Swiss spikes, DT Swiss 240 s hubs).

So let me know what you all think of my build.

A Ride

So last night was pretty rough. I went to pick Jess up from work last night with plans to go night riding. We did everything right. I packed the helmets, shoes, socks, tights, jerseys, and so on an so forth. I even remembered the lights and batteries. We grabbed food to go, ate at the trail head, froze our butts off as we changed and were good to go. Until I realized that my front tire was flat. And I had forgotten my floor pump. So I sat there with a mini-hand pump trying to inflate a 2.3 tire. Yeah right.

I don't think I have ever been as angry with the world as I was last night. Just ask Jess. You see riding is my emotional vent. And I mean riding, not sitting on a bike locked into a trainer. And I haven't gotten to ride much lately, though my stress level is through the roof. Between Katelyn's accident, Jess needing to find, me having "fun" at work, and so-on-and-so-forth, I have been racking up the stress knots in my back. I was furious to the point beating my self up.

I did what I had to do. I called David, canceled our workout and fixed my flat tire. And man did I ride. I don't think I have gotten that much relief from a bike ride.


So life is almost good again. But please keep Katelyn in your prayers and thoughts. And for those of you who actually pay attention to my ramblings, here is a snippet of whats coming next.

Damn it!

So I am already addicted to one online comic (Yehuda Moon). While Sarah was up over her winter break, she and Jess stayed up until 2 a.m. reading Questionable Content. I really don't need another website to check everyday. Nor do I need over a thousand comics to read over this weekend. But guess what I have been doing for the past hour. Yeah, catching up on QC. Here's is a link to my favorite one yet. QC If you like art/have a basic understanding of art history, you will enjoy this. If PG is your thing, just ignore it. Enjoy.

A Friend

Some of you reading this might already know this. A friend of Jess and mine was involved in a car accident about a week before Christmas.

Katelyn was Jess' "Sociology Twin", dorm neighbor, and trailer mate over the past few years. For me Katelyn was a traveling companion in Italy and a fellow art freak in college. She is also a friend. A friend who will tell it like it is and take no b.s. A staunch vegetarian, Katelyn used to buy meat that was about to expire to paint. When she complained to me that if felt wrong to buy meat. So Jared and I (at that point living in the trailer that Katelyn and Jess would later share) began taking our spoiled meat over to Emory for her to photograph. For Katelyn I once carried a slightly rancid fish across campus!

Katelyn has been in a coma since the accident. She seems to be making some progress, but as with anything this traumatic, there are good days and bad days. If you read this and are the praying type, please pray. If not, then keep her in you thoughts.

Here's to a great friend.