I might as well go for it

I'm sorry for not posting in a while. Lack of Internet and working computer will do that to you. So too will major life changes. My wonderful girlfriend Jess arrived in Cincy two weeks ago, my job now has me working between two locations, and my immediate life goals have drastically changed.

About two months ago I realized that I lacked a goal for the near future of my life. I knew that I wanted my own bike shop, would like to teach art at some level, want a family, would love to travel, etc. But the next 5 to 10 years were lacking any clear goal to work towards. And you can only dream so big in the realm of bike mechanic (I mean I am not the next Julien Devrise, Leonard Zinn, or Sheldon Brown.)

So I went back to a dream that I have had since I was a little kid. Be it swimming, soccer, basketball, or any other sport that I had a slight desire to play, I have always wanted to take it to the very top. To be a pro, yes. But more importantly to go to the Olympics. But I was an awful swimmer, a mediocre futballer, and if you saw my stats from my one year of hoops you would know this white boy can't jump (or shoot: 0 point in an entire season). While I was a road racer I dreamed about it, but road racers are born young and didn't approach the sport with the intensity it required. But with mountain biking, things are a bit different. People start a little later, you don't have to have a good team around you to race at your fullest potential, and the local scenes here in the U.S. are more in line with international competition. So I thought I might as well go for it.

I brewed on it for a few days and called Jess. She said I should do it. My parents and sister agreed. My regular riding friend here in Cincy began dragging me to the gym for off season work. My best friend didn't laugh in my face (though there was some snide remark about having to order a Flash). So with an awesome support network I am going for it. My goal is become a professional mountain biker and qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Not a bad goal if you ask me. I might as well go for it.

Breaking Stuff

Originally this post was to be about prepping for a 24 hour solo race. But considering the amount of parts I am having to replace to keep racing, I decided to switch it up a little.

Since I decided to race in the 24 Hours of DINO (September 11th -12th) I have encountered several setbacks. First, I wore out the bottom bracket on my road bike (not the bike I will be racing, but the one I spend the most time training on). Then I found a crack in my night helmet. This led to me realizing that my back-up helmet is 10 years old and should no longer be used (it was being held together with electrical tape!). Then my speed sensor stopped working on the race bike (my trusty F1). Finally, I wore through my shifter housing on my race bike.

All of these are little things, but as I am maturing I am better understanding that all these little nagging purchases add up real quick and take a lot of time and effort to install and purchase. The real kicker is that that last "Finally" I wrote, wasn't it.

The real finally came last night when I realized that I have put a quarter inch dent in my rear race wheel. A dent I am not sure I can fix or race on. Yeah. I am kinda pissed that I jumped a flight of stairs on it. Stupid move, Steve.

Oh well. Lesson learned.... maybe.

To end this post I am sending out a plea for helpers for this coming weekend's race. I have some friends who might make it out for a bit, but if you have any free time and will be in/around Versailles let me know and I will get you directions to the race. Any support would be greatly appreciated.

So for now, enjoy the beautiful weather.

The Sweet Smell of Dinner

I am reaching the end of my week off of the bike. Granted, I have still logged in about 25 miles in group rides that I have had to lead. But still, for me this week has been all about relaxing, sleeping, and doing dishes, laundry, cleaning my apartment...!?! Wait a sec? This was supposed to be a week off. No waking up earlier than I had to, no staying up later than I wanted to, no standing for prolonged periods of time outside of work. What the heck happened.

It turns out, when you live on your own and take care of yourself and your home, you are working all the freaking time. I always thought that the adults (mature adults with houses, pets, kids, and significant others) where complaining about nothing when I would ask how their day off was. Alas, it is not so.

There is one upside to this. As I sit here typing this entry, I can smell fresh cracked pepper, rosemary, and olive oil wafting from my kitchen as I bake chicken and make some Alfredo. At least I still have time to sit back, read a book, drink my glass of white, and soak in the smell.

Too bad I will need to do dishes again in the morning.

Top 5 Worst Times Riding

Everyone has bad days on a bike. For some people it means struggling up a climb. For others it means loosing the Tour de France. Either way it sucks. In this post I am going to reflect on five of my worst moments on a bike.

5) Endless Headwind- A few years back I was competing in the PLT Time Trial series in Virginia Beach, I encountered a bizar, natural phenomena: the endless headwind. The PLT course is a lollipop- head strait out, make a loop, head strait back in. And the entire time I had a headwind. Impossible you say? Not according to every other racer there that day. All of our times where 2 and 3 minutes off.

4) False Flat of Death (aka Vail Pass)- The Triple Bypass takes riders over three Colorado passes in 120 miles in one day. And while Vail Pass (10,560 ft) was nothing compared to Loveland Pass (11,930 ft) it was by far the hardest of the day. It seemed like Jared and I fought up that climb for half of the ride. I think the only guy who enjoyed the climb was the one crazy enough to ride with a cooler of beer in a trailer.

3) My First Crit- A week after my first Wintergreen Ascent, I attempted my first criterium. For the three days before I had been hiding a cold from parents so that I could race. It turns out that was a bad idea. By the end of the race I was not only in dead last, about 5 laps back, but I was also alternating between fever and chills and had difficulties clipping out once I completed my last horrific lap. Funny thing is, I received a third place medal about two weeks later for my age group.

2) Today- This morning's ride was supposed to be a nice little outing. Unfortunately at mile 25 I hit the wall. For the third time in as many rides. The next 15 miles proceeded to push me to the limit of sanity (and humiliation). What really sucked was that Matt was having a bad day as well. I will finish with a little more on this later.

1) Cowbell Challenge 12 Hour Solo- On my first attempt at an endurance race I was greeted by 100 degree heat, a lack of water at aid stations, and a complete lack of preparedness. That and a random root caused my to abandon my first (and so far last) race. To add insult to injury (said root went into right knee forcing me to walk 4 miles back to the Start/Finish), my Explorer's AC was not working on the 4 hour trip home. And you all know how I get when I am overheated.


Back to today's ride. It made me realize something quite important about my training so far this year. I have been going hard for too long it seems. So this next week I am going to take a break. I will commute to work (some days), lead a group ride, and maybe hit the trails for an hour or so. But I am not going to go out with a specific workout or ride time in my head. I am just going to have fun and ride when and if I feel like it.

Enjoy the sleep...

White Bar Tape

I've said it many times. I will never use white bar tape on my road bike. I am a mechanic. Therefore my hands are always greasy, no matter how many times I wash them with GoJo (citrus/pumice based hand cleaner). The pink grips on my mountain bike are a stretch. I really need to spay them down to bring them back to life.

Back to the white bar tape. I wrapped my handlebars last night. With white. I can explain. Kinda. My old black Cinelli tape was at the end of its life (no longer sporting the cool "C" logos). A customer asked us to replace his white bar tape with fresh black bar tape. I completed the work order. I saved the tape. I now have fresh (o.k. slightly used) white Bontrager tape on my S Works (gasp... the B on the S bike!).

So this brings me to the meat of this post... why is it a faux paux to put say Bontrager (a Trek company) parts on a Specialized or Cannondale and vice-versa. I am now running Bontrager tape and tires on my Specialized and Cannondale respectively. I have long run Specialized tires on my most of my bikes. Yet I know people who refuse to throw a Specialized saddle on a Trek (ok... I might be one of those too if I can find a decent saddle from someone else). But really why?

All of the bikes I ride have a large assortment of mix-matched parts. Most of these parts, regardless of label, come from the same factory. The only people who should really worry about whether or not their bikes have matching parts are the professional riders who get paid to ride certain parts. Then they should make sure their labels match. But for me, a lowly Cat 5 and 3 racer (road and mountain... I know: confusing as hell) who cares? So this is my message to all of you who pay dearly to match brands... get a life. And does anyone know of a saddle that does not say "Specialized" that rides like a Toupe?