Get your game face on…
February 9, 2010
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Even though we’re still technically in the throws of winter, preparations for the upcoming season are in full swing. If the road season starts in the preceding winter, then February is the time when you begin to find out if you’ve put enough coins in the fitness bank to cash for a profitable season..
Now is the time racers start getting ready: getting their bikes and equipment ready; getting their form ready; and getting their minds ready. In the new few weeks people will be coming out of the woodwork, showing up for the local hammerfest to scout out the competition and test their own legs. The shoes will get ratcheted down an extra click, one step closer to race tightness. Layers will be shed to get acclimated to going hard in the cold, trading the extra comfort of warmth for the increased flexibility and mobility of minimal layers. The heavy, trusty 32 spoke trainer wheels get swapped out for the lighter, faster racing wheels. Fenders will be removed and winter bikes will be hung up as the racing rigs get dusted off.
Its time to start dialing in the form and equipment. Dust off your white podium shoes and re-glue the tubulars. Start adding in the intensity and hitting up the fast rides. Put a call into your aerobic system and tell it to set aside some bandwidth for anaerobic efforts. Trust me, you’d rather get them out of the way now because the first few hurt like a mother f*cker. Better to suffer through them in training than in your first training crit; that is NOT the time to get reacquainted with the long-searing, cross-eyed inducing efforts that you haven’t done since the end of last season. You may think I’m crazy but the season is going to be in full swing before you know it. Do you want to be ready and rolling the throttle, or standing around saying “when the hell did everyone start going so hard?”
I love this effen time of the year. The anticipation for the race season is reminiscent of being a child on Christmas Eve. There’s no other feeling like taking the line for the first time of a new season…even if its just a “training” race.
If that’s not enought to motivate and excite you, then I don’t know what will.
Categories: cycling
Weekend update…
February 8, 2010
8 comments
It snowed. A lot.
I didn’t ride much…at all.
If chamois time counts as saddle time, does shoveling time count too? If so I had a decent weekend. If it doesn’t, then not so much.
You know I was complaining because the snow was going to hit us over the weekend, but effen-a man…it took me a solid 1.5-2 hours to shovel on Sat. No way I would have wanted to do that after a full 8 hour work day.
I did have the foresight to stop by Shangy’s on the way home Fri to pick up a case of beer for the weekend, being a snow storm kind of weekend AND Super Bowl weekend.
Easy drinking...maybe too easy...
I also got a late bday present from my aunt & uncle…a REAL espresso machine. My God, just look at the crema:
The LOF.com mug is tested to improve crema by 15-25%...
So happy with that thing.
If you’re like me and you put your race sled away for the winter, then its that time of the year to start putting that b*tch back together. New cables, chain, bartape, plus a few other goodies. Plus I’m changing the tires on my carbon tubular wheels. For ‘10 I’m going with a new theme for the ol’ trusty Ridley…call it version 3.0 if you will. Here’s just a little sneak peak:
White hot...white is the new black...or is it white is the new white?
Categories: cycling
Friday business…
February 5, 2010
5 comments
TGIF, MF’ers and DB’s!
I didn’t get to mention it yesterday, but Wed afternoon I got in a real bike ride…after work…outside…in Feb. It was uncanny as that usually doesn’t happen until at least next month. It was only 1.5hrs but I had an oppurtunity as I got out of work early and I struck while it was still hot. Felt good to not be on the trainer during the week, although I was right back in Trainerville last night.
For all you fans out there, today is World Nutella Day. I enjoyed mine for breakfast on some English muffins with a shot of espresso. Get some.
Big news in PA is the snow storm moving up the coast, headed our way. Reports are anywhere from 6-24″ depending on who you talk to. I’m hoping for minimal, or even better zero, snow accumulation. Nothing would piss me off more than 2 feet of snow this weekend.
So Billet sent me this pic — the subject was “team training camp” and the message was simply “Miller and I have been getting in some great riding.” I’m not sure what that’s all about.
The Flask hasn’t done any of his shameless promotions lately so I figured I’d go ahead and do one for him. Its Fri, why not enjoy a comic? Everyone loves comics! (Robin is the Shovel, in case you’re wondering)
Don’t forget to head over to LionOfFlanders.com for some dope products. (I said “dope products” not “doping products”…don’t want to get Ricco all excited only to be let down).
This is funny because its true…I get that a lot.
USAC bans radios, wages war on style…
February 3, 2010
10 comments
Dammit. I just read that USAC is banning race radios this year, in all races except UCI and Cat I events. Way to shaft the Cat II’s. I mean, I was really looking forward to using these this season:
I guess I’ll have to return them to RadioHack and get my money back, or at least store credit towards some other useless mediocre electronic device. Using race radios for our team in this year’s March Series training races would have offered a modicum feeling of being PRO, and now that’s been stripped from us. While you may not find this banning to be as flagitious of an act as I do, consider this:
Where does is end?
Sure it starts with banning race radios, but what’s next? Forbidden carbon tubulars from training races? From training rides and every day use? Not being allowed to wear shoe covers in the summer months? Banning WHITE shoe coves? No more custom powder-coating and matching anodized bolts? Next thing you know Velocity will start their new custom rim program – any color you want, as long as its black. Hipsters will weep in the streets. Is that what you want, seeing hipsters littering the streets with tears?
This has to stop! These iniquities can not be ignored; if left unchallenged we’re going to find ourselves knee deep in plain black knee warmers with non-matching accessories and aluminum clincher racing wheels. Is that any way to race a bike? Is that the world you want your children growing up in? Yeah, me neither.
Speak up people, don’t be a robot. Write your local USAC official and/or regional coordinator and tell them you want radios for all and you want to keep the sexy in bike racing. If its war that USAC wants, its war that we’ll give them…
Its on...
That’s a bingo!
February 2, 2010
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Is that the way you say it? “That’s a bingo?”
You just say “bingo”.
Ahhh! BINGO! How fun! But, I digress. Where were we?
Oh yes, LeMond and Trek have settled out of court and thus managed to avoid a sh*t show of a trial next month. We’ll never know what really happened behind closed doors and what deals were made with the devil, however Trek is making two donations of $100,000 each to LeMond’s charity and supposedly he is happy with the settlement. But is LeMond ever really happy? I kind of doubt it. I’ll tell you who is happy though: Amstrong and Bruyneel. The last thing they wanted was another *false* accusation of doping trial. Glad they could avoid that.
We really dodged a bullet, huh Johan? Jaaaaaaa!!
Speaking of happy endings, looks like Rock Racing isn’t dead in the douchey waters yet. Just when you thought they’d be all dressed up in skulls and over-priced denim with no place to go this season, it looks like they may be getting a life line from the Mexican team Murcia to combine into one big happy disfunctional continental team. Rumors of Landis being on board are looking to be true.
And finally, some signs of life in the local racing scene. With the help of a tweet I got a hot tip (that’s what she said!) on a new team – PBR p/b Talksoft. I did a little digging around and found clues (followers, riding Rev Wheels, etc) that have led me to determine its a Philly-based team. Armed with this knowledge I’ve come up with the following formula to solve this variable:
x = new team
x = (HumanZoom p/b PBR) + (Talksoft Racing)
subtract the Human Zoom…
x = PBR + (Talksoft Racing)
subtract the Racing…
x = PBR + Talksoft
carry the 1…divide by zero…round to nearest decimal place…
x = PBR p/b Talksoft
I’m no math wiz, so that’s just speculation and such…but my guess is a merging of the HZ guys with the Talksoft guys, sans Human Zoon as a sponsor. We’ll see. Any Philly-based peeps care to comment?
And I’ll leave you with this advice – the following is an example of bad form. You see, you’ve got potential for real problems by keeping your chamois crème and embrocation side-by-side in nearly identical containers. In my haste last night, I nearly pre-lubed today’s bibs with some hot chit. That, my friends, would have taken the jam right out of my donut tonight. There is nothing worse than embro on the coinpurse…nothing. Do youself a favor and store these items in separate locations.
This is bad form...
Ok one more thing — the Shovel and I both agreed that we were disappointed to see that the Gotham kits did not make the cut for yougotdropped’s ugliest kits contest…so I sent in a pic of the Flask to nominate them. Fingers crossed we get in!
Categories: cycling
Weekend Recap…
February 1, 2010
7 comments
Wow, what a freakin’ weekend. Its hard to believe its that its Feb already and the season is just around the corner. There’s much to talk about, but first I’d be remiss to not look at the most recent doping news.
Riccardo Ricco is back in the spotlight again, this time as an indirect result of girlfriend and new mother Vania Rossi. She was popped at the Italian cross championships for having….wait for it…CERA in her system. Now naturally Ricco is claiming innocence and being a victim:
Ricco explained he hasn’t been home for three months and doesn’t know more than anybody else. “Now they add two and two and ask who gave it to her. I will be guilty again,” said Ricco.
The climber also doesn’t like Rossi to cycle. “People know I don’t like it. Cycling is not for women, it is too painful.”
Oh Ricco, even in the face of adversity you’re always a class act. I commend Cav for openly speaking his mind about Ricco before any of this went down and really would love to hear what he has to say now. I’d also love to see him knock Ricco out. Kudos to Dopers Suck for responding quickly with a hilarious t-shirt design:
Remember folks, the family that dopes together…are f*cking douchebags together. Rossi is of course denying taking anything, despite their baby testing hot for CERA as well after a recent breastfeeding session. Weak.
And for a story that’s much closer to home…or at least on this side of the pond…Tom Zirbel’s B sample came back positive. There’s not much to say here, sans I told you so. How many times has a B sample NOT come back positive? He’s naturally maintaining his innocence and will be mounting a trial to appeal, but we’ve all watched this drama unfold before. I wonder where all his “he’s such a nice guy, he’d never do this” supporters are now.
Enough of that. Fri night I headed over to SMC for a little happy hour and pregame action. The roller races were going down across the street at the Emmaus VFW and everyone was getting stoked…and tanked. SMC was packed to full capacity and everyone finally made the long walk over to the VFW. It was a great turnout, and you absolutely can’t go wrong with $1 PBR drafts. Bonzai made the trip out all the way from Wind Gap, though Shovel did not. He was at home watching a movie and changing his iPad.
The Shovel's gonna dominate the Cat 6 Supreme cat this year.
I heard one of the funniest stories ever of how Taylor had his face chewed on by one of Boonen’s cousins last year @ Paris-Roubaix. I kid you not, I was nearly in tears.
At one point late in the evening Kuklis was at the bar ordering a round of Lunch Boxes (part beer, part OJ, part Vodka, part Amaretto) and he began to worry that he didn’t have enough to cover with a mere $26 in his hand.
Flask says, “dude its the VFW. I can make it rain with $26…I could shoot a rap video with $26.”
He was right. Rain it did.
Its $26, in case you were wondering.
Sat morning I helped out Kill Bill with an LT test, and as an example of how small the world is the dude was someone who had just stumbled upon 8+2 last week and commented on the iPad debate. Funny stuff. After I got home I hit the trainer for an easy spin in the afternoon…wasn’t in the mood to suit up and brave the cold solo that late in the day. I knew I’d be getting enough of that the following day.
And yesterday was of course the derby…a brutal cold derby. I rolled out @ 9:00am, after doubling up on the embro, to get a little extra saddle time in. It was 12 degrees. My face hurt. Maybe not as badly as say having it chewed on, but it hurt. I got to the velo and as expected found a small crowd. The Columbia U team was in town but surprisingly they were standing around not fully dressed or even on their bikes at about 9:55am. I thought “huh, that’s not good.” Needless to say when Paul made the call 5 minutes later they were left behind. We ended up with about 20, maybe a few more, riders. The turnaround was plenty hard. A small group means less places to hide and I nearly effed myself by pulling early on. I know better…at least should. I managed to sit on as the group yo-yo’ed a bit, up over Topton and things came back together a bit thanks to a red light. I popped before the last roller, but none other than the Flask took the “W” aboard his new Stealth Killer Ridley. He’s 1 for 1 on that rig.
Black is the new black.
Speaking of which, I’ve got to start getting my Ridley ready for another season. Luckily I’ve got a plan put down on paper for it…
1)make it ballin’
2)rock it like a hurricane
That’s all the detail I can go into for now. It sounds like a good idea on paper, no?
Kill the headlights and put it in neutral…
January 29, 2010
8 comments
TGIF, MF’ers. Its been a long strange week but I made it through…let’s do a recap and also bring up some new stuff:
Yahoo Cycling finally showed signs of life with an official announcement and the launch of their website. You know, I had pretty much given up hope on those guys after countless times of visiting the site only to hear that stupid yodel and nothing else. Looks like they’re going to be doing mainly a Left Coast schedule with some NRC mixed in for good measure. Plus one of their sponsors is MUSCLE MILK!! I hope that means more of this:
And less of this:
Adageo Energy Pro Cycling is stepping up and offering some help to Haiti with sales of their team jerseys and bibs. For each $75 jersey or $85 bibs sold $3 will be donated. Good on them for helping out.
Speaking of charitable donations, Ted King is helping out the Krempels Center via sales of his Iamnottedkind t-shirts and brand new frame stickers. 50% and 100% of profits, respectively, will go to the center. I’m not going to lie, reading the story of his dad (even though I had read it before) still chokes me up. Plus I must admit that I absolutely love his logo design: clean, simple, bold. So support that cause.
Finally, some good old fashioned bike drama. I stumbled onto this blog, the SandbaggerKC. Basically some dude anonymously calling out local cross riders for being sandbaggers. He goes for the jugular on most of these people, and this post clearly struck a nerve with a dude named Josh Taylor. I was kind of hoping it was THE Josh Taylor from Rite Aid…but alas it was not. Read through the comments and the blogs…funny stuff.
If there’s one lesson that I’ve learned through all this blogging, its this: you can’t take back anything you publish on the internet. I bust balls on a lot of dudes…mainly my friends, and also myself. But my intention is always good humor and I don’t hide behind my blog (pretty sure everyone knows who I am). It comes down to cycling is a small community, especially at the local level. So just remember that you’ve got to line up against the dudes you’re slamming on your blog. I’ve called out others, but myself as well. I’ve thrown bottles in races…douchey. I made fun of Hudz then bought a pair….douchey. I’m not impervious to my own criticism. But that R5 dude…one day people will figure out who he is, and it won’t be pretty for him. He ain’t making no friends, that’s for sure.
Snow way in hell…
January 28, 2010
11 comments
Someone really dropped the ball on today’s weather. Nobody forecasted snow, yet I woke up to find a powdery coating when I let the dogs out. Not that big of a deal, less than an inch of accumulation however nobody was prepared for it including PENNDOT. Typically they salt the hell out of the roads with just the thought of snow coming, but not a thing this morning. Made for an interesting commute…saw plenty of accidents. Not cool. I don’t know what it is that makes people forget how to drive when it snows. You’ve got the people who do 5mph on a highway…NOT safe…and the people with 4WD that go flying by because they think they can. I remember when I first got my WRX, reading a forum online about driving with AWD. The first thing it said was “its AWD, you’re not invincible.” No matter what you’re driving it doesn’t make a f*cking difference on ice.
Sadly I’m thinking its going to be messy for the weekend for riding. The forecast looks clear but with another “arctic blast” coming through its not likely that this little bit of snow will melt, thus leaving us with wet roads and sloppy shoulders. Such is winter riding. HTFU, right?
Listen, I’m not an Apple/Mac person…and the new iPad certainly isn’t going to sway me over. I don’t know what it is with Apple fans but they flock like lemmings to ANYTHING that Steve Jobs puts out. I mean really Steve, the iPad is the next great revolutionary and magical thing? Its an over-sized, over-priced iPod touch. It can only run one app at a time so if you’re doing anything else and want to check your email you have to stop what you were doing to check it. Sounds great! I guess you missed the whole DROID campaign about running multiple tasks at once…way to take heed to it. And if you want to use the Wi-Fi option you’ll have to pay an additional $150 for that feature; setting the top of the line model at nearly a grand. Not to mention the service is provided by…drum roll…AT&T. WTF Steve? People’s biggest gripe with the iPhone is AT&T’s sub-par 3G network which is already inundated and can’t keep up. I don’t know, I don’t see the big hype…I give it two FAIL’s up. And Jobs…maybe you should stop doing the new product releases. You had to sit down half way through…you’re looking a little rough these days.
I use a Blackberry and people always give me sh*t for not having an iPhone. Let me explain…the iPhone is a great toy, but a crap phone. What the iPhone well does is run cute little apps…that’s it. The Blackberry is a much more stout, robust phone that runs more useful/practical applications. Sure there’s no level app, but then again I have a level in my garage. By the way I was at my brother-in-laws for Thanksgiving and someone was showing off their iPhone. He brought up the level app…I took the phone and set it on the closest counter top; it said it was off be 3 degrees. The house is brand new construction. Pretty handy app, huh? If I was going to go to something with more apps, I’d go to a phone that runs the DROID platform…open source coding. Its not like I’m going to write an app; my days of programming and writing C++ code are long behind me. But no matter what the app, there’s no way that it would make me want to strap an iPhone to my handlebars. That would be the day. I don’t need an iPhone app to tell me how hard I’m not going…I’ve got a Powertap for that.
Anyway, I’m way off tangent here. Actually I’m not really sure what my point way. Oh right…my point is that personally I’d rather spend my money on a useful tech gadget, like this Ultimate scale. I’m not really sure why you’d need to weigh you bike parts, but Mr. 420 has one on his kitchen counter so I guess there must be some kind of use for it…
It warms the heart…
January 27, 2010
8 comments
You smell that in the air? Part stupid cold weather…part block head / cross wind…part pain cave. It smells like…
The March Series!
Ah yes, you know its getting close when the flyer has been posted. And I’ve been counting down daily its not like I’m counting but there’s *only* 38 days til the first race.
Does anybody know if the USAC insurance fees went up this year? I can’t remember what the cost was last year for the March Series, but $15/race or $20 for both seems higher? Maybe it’s the same. I know that the Thu Night Worlds has gone up to $8…that’s definitely higher. Times are tough I guess…or something like that.
You know what I never understood? Why charge an unattached fee for a training series? I mean, most new riders are unattached and early season training series are most times their first exposure to testing the waters. Why charge them extra? I digress…doesn’t affect me anyway.
Oh and glad to see the good ol’ Brancbrook Park series is continuing this year. I’m not sure that I’ll hit any of them up, being as I’m no longer on the border of PA/NJ. Though looking at the schedule the 1/2/3 doesn’t start til 9:00am, which is great, so maybe I will.
If you haven’t started yet…get training motherf*ckers. Feb is the time for packing on the miles of smiles…saddle time, baby, saddle time. Get at it. It warms my heart just thinking about the inevitable suffering that will go down at the March Series.
Categories: cycling
march series, pain cave
Setting up shop…
January 26, 2010
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One of my favorite parts of my new house is by far the garage. What guy doesn’t long for the garage of his dreams one day? To have a domain that’s truly his own…his own private area where he can get his hands dirty, escape the perils of the work day, and fine tune bikes? While its not quite the 4 bay garage with a lift and upstarts loft I sketched out, my new garage is both ideal and practical.
Aside from being a 2 car garage, its also over-sized with a few extra feet around the perimeter and a 8×12″ bump-out. This section, the bump-out, is now the location of my new shop…my service course…if you will. I’m still early in the set-up and design stage but it is coming along nicely. Right now I’ve got storage for 5 sleds to hang, my Park workstand, some shelves, and a utility sink. The sink was already there, and let me tell you how absolutely clutch it is to have a utility sink in the shop. Last night was a great example, as my bike was a mess…especially the drivertrain…from Sun’s rainy derby. I ran the chain cleaner, dumped and rinsed in the sink right behind me several times, and it couldn’t be an easier.
It still needs work: I plan to complete the dry-wall and insulation, add a work-bench, a pegboard for tools, and probably some more shelving for organization. Some other finishing touch items will be a wall-mounted bottle opener, mini-fridge, and some kind of means to play tunes.
And even Trainerville got a make-over, just check out this new basement set-up:
Its a bit crude but again it will get some refinement. New amenities include DirectTV, some 18+ year old Technic speakers, and an old Kenwood receiver to power them. I’ll be testing out that new set-up tonight…can’t wait.
Categories: cycling
Trainerville, work shop
