A Sweat Fest, A "Detox" & A Battle Roy-Al

Freaky weird temps here again today. Like near 70! Damn weird, but it looks like things are gonna get cold by the weekend. Maybe you'll get some snow at White Grass on Sat. eh Tom?

Hit the trainer for 1:23 and some serious sweating tonight. Last trainer ride of the week I hope. Looks to get cold/snowy here on Sat., but hoping to roll the Dos on some dirt or at least the rail trail for couple hours.

No workout on Friday. Looking forward to giving the meat sticks the day off.

Now some "Well If I've talked about my ballsacious getting operated on, I mind as well talk about this stuff"....

Been feeling more myself in the weight department this week. Felt like a bloated piece of human apathy last week. This has also been an odd week since I'm in the midst of weaning off a mild dose of a medication that I had been on for the past year to deal with some mild depression.

I feel surprisingly good, with no withdrawal symptoms to speak of right now. I believe it it was a major player in me putting on a few more lbs. than I've wanted to in the past year (close to 10 pounds!). A side effect that many experience with this drug, many way worse than me. Imagine if I ate like MOST Americans, and didn't ride 3,000+ miles a season?? Yikes!

The stuff worked wonders, and got me through a rough spot in my life, but I found that it also created some havoc with my metabolism (slowed it down way too much) and no matter how hard I worked, or how many miles I put in, the weight never changed or only increased.

I also found that it may have been a little too good at taking the "edge" off. Good in everyday life BAD when you want to kick it up a notch in a race, your body is good, but your mind says "easy big fella, what's the rush?" (See 7 Springs Race report)

For the record I want to say I wasn't suicidal or anything, I just needed some help getting back to the real me. I'm a wise ass, glass is half empty, cynical bastard kind of guy by nature. I mean I'm a guy who finds extreme happiness in listening to The Smiths and Morrissey for God's sake! But sometimes you just KNOW something's not right, you find yourself just not caring and hurting people who care about you. That's when you just KNOW it's time to get some help.

I'm not one of the "well I feel fine, I'm stopping people" I tried that before. I truly feel that I've learned a great deal over the past year and am better at dealing with situations the way I used to, and having more mojo-a-go-go. Having a great wife and the B-Man sure helps too.

If you ever experience a depression that just doesn't seem to go away, please don't feel embarrassed to talk your doctor about getting some help and if someone you know if feeling like that, be supportive and never make them feel bad about it. If you can't say something supportive, maybe just keep it to yourself.

As for me- for now I just want to concentrate on my training, loosing some pounds and look foward to 2007. It's gonna kick ass!

OK, enough time "on the couch" with the world wide web. Thanks for letting me vent.

____________________________________________

On a lighter side there's been a real Battle Roy-Al at the office lately. Moose Knuckle vs. Camel Toe. Who has 'em and how often? There are really only two contenders (chubby male manager/slutty dressed female sale assistant), although I was accused of having a Moose Knuckle today and was forced to come clean that it was really just an erection. I'M KIDDING!! RELAX PEOPLE PLEASE!! Anyway, it makes the day go by a little faster. Of course with all the crotch staring who's getting anything done??

Good night, and thank you.

Later

The Longest Week

I haven't worked a full week in about a month, so this week is KILLING me. Let it end!! Bring on the 3 day, 1/2 day work schedule.

Worked the legs tonight with an hour of 60RPM Seated Hill Climb Intervals. Did a 10 minute warm up followed by 5 ON/OFF in 53/Ouch for the next 50.

After my hour on the bike WIfey and B-Man joined me in the basement of some weight training. Wifey wanted to get pointed in the semi-right direction for some weight training, so we're gonna do some together. B-Man counted reps for us (1, 2, 3, 7, 2,..) and did some curls with a 2 lb. weight (why do we own a 2 lb. weight?). Cracked me up to see him doing the curls. It also cracked me up when I needed to explain: (A) Why I'm riding my bike and going nowhere and (B) Why I'm choosing to lift heavy things for now real reason. He really didn't get it and I'm not TOTALLY sure I do :)

The new Panaracer catalog is out, and Bikeman.com racers are all over it!

Cover shot, mulitple inside shots of Big Al (Team Bikeman.com manager), and a sweet back cover shot. Congrats guys! You make me proud, (except for Al's pastey white legs).

You can download the PDF version of the catalog HERE. If you see something you like check out the Bikeman.com site, if they don't have it, sure-as-shit, they can get it.

Given that the team is all through the catalog I'm assuming Panaracer is back as a team sponsor in '07. Hope they give some 29er love this year. I also hope they start developing a lighter weight 29er race tire similar to the Cinder 26". As I've said before I'll most likely be splitting time between and the Rampage, Maxxis Ignitor. I've also heard good things about the Geax 29er tires too. Hmmm.

Oh well enough of my cheezy workouts and pimping.

Later.

Burn, Baby Burn. Fat Burn Inferno

1,2,3,4 It's a pile of salty, sweaty, burnt, fat stank on my basement floor.

OK, I promise no more bad disco metaphor/puns. I did a nice Base Mile/Fat Burn ride down in my basement. Yep, 1.5 hours of Zone 2 spinning and going nowhere fast. Had a good time though. Blew over a 1000 calories and according to the CatEye 50% should have been from fat if you believe such things.

Found a new Morrissey bootleg today from Portugal's Paredes de Coura Festival. Good stuff. Got me through most of the ride. I like riding in Zone 2, since I can still sing like some sort of damn fool while I ride.

While I sang, and spun I had the TV going with a tape from the 2004 Tour. Stage 16 to be exact. As I'm spinning along I catch this...

I know it's hard to see, forgive my amatueurish photography ability, but there is a dude in f*cking Speedos (AKA Banana Hammock, AKA Euro Beach Nut Huggers) running along side Egoi Martinez I think (now with Discovery).

That shit cracks my ass up and is why no matter how many road dogs are found dopping, I'll end up watching. Damn them!

After that is was time to shower up and get some grub- Meatless Mexican Rice and Beans. Mmmmm..... Bag o' Brown Rice, 1 Cup Low Fat Mexican Cheese, 1 Tbsp Olive Oil, 1 Cup Kidney Beans, 1 Cup Black Beans, 4 Tbsp. Hot Salsa, 1 Cup of Diced Peppers and Onions. Cooked it, ate it, loved it. An entire 1200 calorie meal of home cooked, colon blowing, high quality food and it STILL comes in less than ONE of THESE.

Time to get some Zeees.

Later.

Can't Touch This!

Nice day off from riding yesterday, hanging with the B-Man out at Papa-M's.

Tonight it was back to basement to get on the trainer and "Booger"- my lime green, sweat covered, rusting, Jamis Nova. Hit it for an hour of Zone 3/4 work, focusing on leg strength. Big ring seating climbing intervals at about 70 RPM in 53/15 in sets of various length.

After the bike it was two quick sets of weights and core stuff.

Ordered up a pair of bib shorts from Hammer Nutrition tonight. They're having a Sale. $35.96 for these....

Sweet price for a pair of "Hammer Pants", better known as Voler bib shorts with the top of the line Voler Ion pad. Plus, you can pimp Hammer (since you KNOW you love their stuff) and they have that hip "instant nostalgia" thing going for them since they have the E-Caps logo on it. In case you didn't know the name "E-Caps" is going away and all products will be sold under the better recognized Hammer Nutrition name.

They also have lots of their other nutritional and clothing products on sale too, so order up,

Lastly, as I mentioned last week Twin-Six has launched their T6 Junior Collection. So if you got some spuds running around who are Two-Wheeled Loving Day Care Fashionistas like the B-Man, check 'em out.

Alright, bed time.

Later.

Trainer Mix 10

Been fooling aroudn with another mix to listend to on the trainer. I'm also experimenting with a new file host. You won't be able the "right click/save file as" anymore. When you click the link you will be taken to FileWind.com and then you can download the file. This works better since now I can make mixes larger than 50mb. Longer mixes = longer trainer times, which = greater fitness, I hope.

06/07 Off Season Mix 10 - 46:16



01. Colorado / Pavement
02. Wave Of Mutilation / Frank Black (Pixies remix)
03. Ultra-Powerful Short Wave Radio Picks Up Music From Venu / Yo La Tengo
04. Ihop / Luna
05. Losing My Edge / LCD Soundsystem Soundsystem
06. Modern World (Original) / Wolf Parade
07. Trimm Trabb / Blur
08. 3rd Planet / Modest Mouse
09. People Of The Earth / Graham Coxon
10. Get Up / !!! (Chk Chk Chk)
11. Wet Stuff / The Folk Implosion

Ok, my work is done here.

Later.

Not Much of A Rest Week

This was supposed to be my rest week for both my legs and the healing ballsacious. Well, who knew that it would be nearly 70 degrees in Western PA the week of Thanksgiving??

So I ended up with 7 hours of saddle time in a week that was supposed to have me doing light trainer rides. There will be plenty of grey/rainy days in my future, so I hit the road today for 2 hours. My normal loop with a new road that helps me avoid a busier road, and that's always good.

I felt a little sluggish from yesterday's ride and still having roughly 6 pounds of turkey hanging out somewhere in my lower intestine. I didn't push to hard. Stayed seated for most climbs and avoided big gears on many flats. Just spinning along keeping the HR as low as I could on WPA's steep little climbs.

Since I usually don't expect to get out for real rides this time of year I lacked any Hammer Gels or Heed, so I had to go with Gatorade and a Fig Bar. Hmm, not a great idea. The Gatorade is good enough for trainer rides, but not a fan on real rides and I hate having to chew and pedal so the Fig Bar was not a great idea either. Tummy was screaming for some quality food by the end of the ride.

Time to go fetch some Guiltless Gourmet chips to have with my Mexican food tonight. Then again, there's some cardboard in the basement, maybe I'll just cut that up. Same thing I think.

Later.

Holiday Calorie Burn & Product Testing...

Thanksgiving went great. Had my f/in-law and sis/bro in-law over for dinner. Cooked up a couple birds, and all the fixins. Everyboday seemed to really dig it. Later in the evening some old friends stopped over and we all did some catching up and tasted some good beers from Victory and Anderson Valley. Yum.

Great temps and weather here today. 50s and sun (can you believe it?? SUN!) Went to Boyce and got 2 hours of single track riding in and burned up close to 2000 calories of yesterday food fest. Little short of the 5,000 that I jokingly told Wifey that i wanted to burn.

This was the first ride on the Panaracer Rampage 2.35s. They left a pretty good first impression. They seem to corner very well, dug in nicely on the climbs and they didn't feel as heavy as I thought they would. They didn't fair well on some of the wet clay/dirt corners at Boyce. But then again I've yet to run ANY tire that could dig into that stuff.

They shinned at making me feel like I had some added suspension. The big balloon tires, pumped up to 35 psi seemed to soak up whatever the Dos Niner's Reba (80mm) and Salsa Relish (1") shocks didn't, and added some extra cush. Folks who run full ridgid 29ers are gonna love these tires.

Didn't have any clearance problems with the mud and leaves. On one service road climb I had the Reba locked out and was standing on the climb and I swear I felt the tire rub. I tried to replicate it a few more times during the ride and didn't notice anything, so it MAY have bee my imagination or some mud/gravel rubbing. I'll be keeping an eye on it on future rides.

On pavement they peformed as you would expect a knob headed 2.35 tire to perform. Little loud and a little sluggish. Would not be my first tire choice for a race like the Wilderness 101 or Mohican 100, that include road and forest road sections.

This is only one ride, so I have no final comment on them right now. Hope to get more in the coming weeks. But I am impressed with them so far.

Thanks to Twin-Six and Mr. FedEx Man I was also able to test out these today....

These are super nice. Nice weight to them and classy frosted T6 logos. I gave them a nice work out with some Anderson Valley Winter Solstice. You don't have to drink beer out them, but why you would choose not to is beyond my comprehension.

Hope you all had a great holiday and are getting some miles in.

Later.

Love The Jive

First things first. Got out of work early today and got home quick for a 1000 calorie session on the trainer, or 1:18 of Zone 3 tempo spinning.

Then on to making dinner, prepping my bird's brine and making up my smashed sweet potatoes with honey. I've been home since 4:00 and I'm just now (8:30) having a chance to set my ass down and relax a bit.

The relaxation is a tad more relaxing due to a couple pints of Anderson Valley's Winter Solstice followed by a Victory Golden Monkey (don't f*ck with the monkey. He'll burn you man).

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, eat up then get down on Friday with the NEW American trandition of riding your bike until you've burned off Thanksgiving's calorie mayhem. My goal for Friday will be 2+ hours in the saddle.

Give Thanks, then get some miles in- Jive Turkey!

Later.

The Boyz Are Back In Town

The boyz were back in town tonight, "town" being in the chamois and on the trainer without worry of ripped stitches. Sweet!

Nice hour of steady pyramid "cruise" intervals. After a warm up I went up and down the cluster 30 second, then 1 minute intervals in the the 39, then the 53. After I worked my way through I'd start all over again 'till I finished out the hour. Nothing too strenuous, keeping the HR in Zone 2.

Then I made up a batch of BTC (Beyond Tuna Casserole) and ate like a tuna loving hog.

More Twin-Six items that I'm geeked about, and oddly enough they're not for me...

The Junior Collection should be available any day now, hopefully this weekend, so you can get your spuds some sweet gear for the holidays. I know the B-Man is eyeing up some of these already and I have a feeling that a certain Floridian bun in the oven will be sporting one of these come April.

Also just an FYI on the 2007 jerseys. If your somewhat tall, (like me) you be happy to know that 2007 sizing will be bit more generous in length in both the body and arms.

Alright enough love to the sponsors- let's talk about me again. Oh, yeah, there's really nothing to talk about.

1 more day of work then off for 4 more days. Sweet! Lots of work on Thursday. I plan to brine and roast two turkey breasts as well as cook up some mashed 'taters, yams & honey, corn, beans and wash it down with some primo Anderson Valley brew. Then ride my ass in to submission on Friday and Saturday while the masses are out blowing coin.

Oh, I almost forgot... After 10 sunless days in a row the SUN WAS FINALLY OUT TODAY!! I forgot what it looked like, so I just stared at it for like 10 minutes 'till my retinas burned out.

Later

I See The Light...

Ok say day 10 of the "greying of Pittsburgh" is in the books, and it looks like we MIGHT see some sun in the coming days. Even if we don't, it looks like ballsacious might let me get back to the trainer a little more intensely, which is cool with me. Technically this a scheduled "rest week" so hours aren't that important, but
with the "calorie fest" that is Thanksgiving a few days away, I'd like to go in with some play calories.

Been thinking how this time of year most racers are in their "long slow distance" base training. LSD for short. Well, with a full time job, kid, wife, other family to please and a big time lack of daylight, this time of year still means I have a limited time to work with. So what I'm doing is during the week focusing on a mix of weights, threshold tempo riding, and steady recovery spins. Then on the weekend and days off I'll TRY to get outside to ride some multi hour base rides. Hey, just trying to hang on 'till March when daylight lets me get more riding in.

This kind of works for what I'm trying this year anyway. My goal is to work on my ability to hold my race tempo for longer periods so this mix of threshold training, weights and base miles should work fine for me. Keeping in mind MY race tempo is NOT an XC tempo, but somewhere just below it. Need to find and exploit my sweet spot like a... ah nevermind, just need to find it.

Good VeloNews bit with Jeremiah Bishop- HERE.

OK, now I'm gonna go exploit myself.

Later

Bad Vibes...

Sorry for the bad vibes post yesterday. The lack of sun (now in day 10) and lack of activity has made me a tad on edge.

Just got off the trainer. SUPER light 30 minutes in recovery zone. Just nice to see the legs move. Experienced no pain below the equator, but I wasn't exactly pushing to hard either. Followed it up with a few ab work outs for a grand total of 35 MINUTES!! Wow!

Looks like the weather may improve as the week goes on, so I'm hoping to take his gig outside onFriday for some time on the Dos Niner and my new Panaracer Rapages.

Oh well, off to fry up some egg whites and then to my Dad's to set up his new iMac.

Later.

No Mo or Jo

Damn, this not doing anything is getting old. Still pain free and that is good, but I need to do SOMETHING and doing my Turkey Day shopping at Wal-Mart does NOT count.

Sometimes when I'm standing in line at the check out, my eyes glaze over with disappointment with the human race and I mentally escape by thinking of climbing up Gothic Road in the warm sunshine and thin Colorado air, to the 401 trail head in Crested Butte, and for a few seconds I feel a sense of smug, self satisfaction only to be interrupted by some "double cart" lady pushing maximum density in pink, chocolate stained stretch pants, wolf howling at moon T-shirt and big, dirty puffy jacket with fake fur collar, yelling at her fat little kids and telling them to "stop being so ig-nernt"

Today's blurb of misery was brought to you by Day 9 of No sun (AT ALL).

I do have to give some props to Wifey today. We were supposed to go to a dinner party tonight and sensing my misery, she gave me the Stay At Home Free card. Thanks babe, I owe you. So me and my healing boyz will be couching it whilst she and the B-Man are out.

Later.

Pain? Where Are You?

Well, either my doctor was top notch or I'm one tough ass mofo (Sure it was the Doc), but I've yet to experience any pain in the nether regions from Friday's snip. Don't get my wrong the boys don't feel like they'll be fighting crime anytime soon, but I've had no need for the prescription pain killers the Doc gave me. Maybe I'll just hold on to them for "enterainment" later.

Spent like 3 hours in the Apple Store today. My dad's eMac bit the dust and they replaced it with a bad ass iMac. Just sucks that my Saturday was spent in the mall and not in the saddle (God I hate the mall). But I since the boys can't handle saddle time 'till at least Teusday it didn't really matter.

Best line today came from little rich girl pleading for new iPod with this genious line... "This one isn't even that expensive, it only holds 1000 songs! I don't even own 1000 songs! I don't even like music that much!" Nice try, now move along to Abercrombie & Fitch or Dateraper & Bitch or whatever it's called.

On the way home we stopped at the beer store. Treated ourselves to hands down the BEST of the BEST that the season has to offer... Anderson Valley's Winter Solstice. Daaaaaaaamn that is good stuff.

I've said it before, I'm saying it again... WHAT THE F*CK DO PEOPLE THAT DON'T RIDE DO???? It's only been about 37 hours since my ass touched the saddle and I'm bored.

F.Y.I. Day 8: NO SUN.

So this is my new "threshold mix" this set is a littler more of a d*ck slap to the face for steady spinning just below your max. I had it longer but couldn't find a host for it, so here's the abbreviated version.



06/07 Off Season Mix VIV 46:49

01. M1 A1 / Gorillaz
02. Reason Is Treason / Kasabian
03. Ganglord / Morrissey
04. Evil / Interpol
05. She's A Lady / Pulp
06. Juicebox / The Strokes
07. Vamp Scratch Whore (Rough Mix) / The Raveonettes
08. Cheapster / Spiritualized
09. Degenerate / The Jesus & Mary Chain
10. The Dope Feels Good (WADA Mix) / The Warlocks
11. Cigarettes & Alcohol (Live) / Oasis

So that's it. No rides, no weights, no crime fighting... What's the point??? :)

Later.

I'm Back Baby!

Well, at least until the anesthetic where's off. Procedure was e-z. In/out in 20 minutes. Never looked. Only felt the "shots". Now I'm just waiting for the pain to come. Need to ask myself the question: "Why am I sharing news of my reproductive health with the entire world? What does this have to do with bike racing?"

NOTHING! IT'S THE OFF SEASON BABY! It's all trainer rides, weight lifting, beer and vasectomies!!

Now the tough question. Beer?, Pain Pills? Or beer AND pain pills? I'm kidding of course. Just beer :)

Chilling watching the Food Network. The quote of the day is from Paula Dean...
"You girls who wear a lot of hair spray like me, watch it when you light this. You'll catch your whole head on fire".

I love it!

Oh yeah, by the way. 7th day of NO Sun. Again, I LOVE IT.

Later.

Pre Snip Eve

Hit the trainer tonight for what I call "the CateEye 1000 TT". Warm up for 10 minutes, then hammer in Zone 3 and 4 'till the CatEye HR monitor says 1000 calories. Tonight it took just about 1:12 (including warm up) and then I cooled down for a few minutes. Finishing with 1015 burned in 1:15.

Funny how freaking easy it is to blow through 1000 calories when I ride outside, but on the trainer it take a lot of hammering to keep the HR high enough to burn that much in an hour. Granted I never go anerobic in these work outs and keep an eye out on my HR so as not to be going to ballz out in freaking November!
I also try to limit these workouts to about once a week right now. Plan to increase as winter progesses though.

Made up one of my fave quick meals tonight... Soiled Chamois Brown Rice, Chicken & Peas (Should I re-think the name?) Takes 1 bag of Success brown rice, two diced boneless chicken breasts, and about 1 cup or more of frozen green peas. Cook rice & sautee chicken in some E.V.O.O., while the chicken's cooking put the peas in a microwave safe bowl, add some water, put in the microwave and heat on high for 3 minutes and drain, When rice and chicken our done combine all in skillet, add some kosher salt, pepper and lemon pepper to taste. Mix through and chow down.

Whole meal takes less than 15 minutes, has 850 Calories, 76 grams of protein, 77 grams of carbs, and about 20 grams of fat. I scarfed the whole thing. Mmmmm.

I'd like to spin for an hour before I got to get my boyz snipped since the chamois area will be "out of commission" for a few days. Well time to trim up and go to bed.

Later.

Sunless: Day 5

Another day without sun. Nice. Was going to just start embracing the grey. Thought maybe I'd go for a shirtless walk in the mist this afternoon, so as to work on my white. But I figured I'd look a little too gay, so I aborted the walk.

I see Dave Harris is about to get his shoulder cut. Good luck Dave and heal up quick. They're gonna put some Ti in Dave. Good stuff. Speaking of Titanium I continue to think about it. As I've said I'm 98% sure I'll be getting the ultra spank worthy Salsa Mamasita, and I'm geeked about that, but that 1% of the 2% left is a hope that I can find a way to get back on a quality Ti frame except this time in a Two-Niner. The other 1% is divided up amongst about 10 other bikes! You know me and lust... At least it's only bikes! Right Wifey? (don't answere that.)

UPDATE: Check out my Bikeman.com teamates- Matty D, Steve & Chuck on BSR88.1FM up in RI, talkin' Cross, bikes and Bikeman.com.

Legs were a bit heavy today, so I decided to take the night off. Do up another trainer mix (which is 2MB over my limit at File Lodge, F!) and finally post my last one properly.

So on with it...



06/07 Off Season Mix VIII - 49:43

01. Beagle 2 / Blur
02. Salud / RJD2
03. Pardon My Freedom / !!!
04. Kowalski / Primal Scream
05. The Room Got Heavy / Yo La Tengo
06. Disco Infiltrator / LCD Soundsystem
07. World In My Eyes / Depeche Mode: Remixed
08. Let's Go To Bed (Milk Mix) / The Cure
09. Computer Talk / Coldplay vs. Krafwerk by: Party Ben
10. Emperor Tomato Ketchup / Stereolab
11. Oh Happy Day (live) / Spiritualized

Hope to get on the trainer for 1+ for some long, steady threshold work.

Later.

Open The Window and Let The Grey In

I say GODdamn! Haven't seen even a ray of sun since last Friday. F*ck! I've lost all my bike-tan lines and the darkest thing on me are the dark circles that I'm working on under my eyes. Might need to start sucking down some vitamin D long with my morning coffee and SSRI.

Damn hard to be motivated with no sun, rain, grey, no riding, no crime fighting, no races, no nothin'! BUTTT I drug my ass down to the Stank Hole (a.k.a. my basement) anyway for some off/on bike strength training and core stuff anyway since I have to maintain my "form" if I plan on continuing my mediocre racing in OH-7 ;)

UPDATE: Was checking out Bikecentric and saw a link to Routeslip.com. This site is BADASS!! You can map out road rides, with turns, milage and climbing. I did a quick one of one of my road loops...

This one was a quick one with not directions typed in (since I know it) but it was cool to be able to get the mileage (34.17) and the climbing (2932') Check it out, get mapping and start riding!

Had more on tap tonight, but I'm a little spent. Later.

More Lists...

Wow Monday came in like a freaking lion. Soon as I walk in the office there was a 2 sided 8.5 x 11 insert stuffed with cars and a million rebate offers needs done by 5. Nice.

Oh well, the day flew by and before I knew it I was squeezing myself into the spandex banana hammock for an hour of Zone 2 tempo riding on the trainer. I know that the term "banana hammock" is not often used to describe padded cycling shorts, but a woman in my office call 'em that and it make me laugh.

Then I busted some Tuna Salad Samiches and some Baked 'Tater Chunks with E.V.O.O. and light Parm Cheese... Yum-ephing-oh.

Looks like Carl Buchanan(dale) is now on the "Bastard-ito" list too, since he apparently was "with" the Salsa Mamasita this weekend too. I don't care how many guys she's been with I still lust for her carbon stayed rear end.

Since we're getting close to the holiday season I figured I'd start a holiday lust list. So with today, in honor of much of the 2007 Twin-Six stuff being available online for purchase, I figured I'd start with a simple Twin-Six Tee and work way up.


I dig this tee the most right now. Hope to sport this soon. Click HERE check it out.

I won't pretend I was there a few years ago when riding a 29er was what only a few fringe riders and racers were using. I poo-pooed them, UNTIL I got my Salsa Dos Niner that is! Now in my opinion 29ers are no longer some cult item. I don't think they are for everyone, I just think they're another great tool to choose from; 29er, Hardtail, Soft Tail, Full Suspension, Full Rigid, CX, Road, townie, BMX, tri-cycle, etc., etc., etc.,

In other T6 happenings: you may know I was REALLY digging the wool jersey that was due to drop soon. Well, as it turns out, Brent and Ryan had some trouble getting a match for the shade of grey they wanted for the jersey, so for now this project has been put on hold. Shit! I say kudos to the guys for wanting to put out a great product and NOT settling for "good enough".

But you CAN get these... Wool Socks made by Sock Guy.

Hope to get my tootsies in these soon.


One last "list" . I've been compiling some of the possible races for next year. 1st one might be the Leesburg Bakers Dozen down in Virginia. 13 Hour race starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 21st. I'll have to see how it fits in with the schedule though. That should be about the time for the first M.A.S.S. 6 Hour Enduro. Sounds like it could be cool though.

Well, That's about all I got today.

Later.

The Bastard-ito List

I see that The Salsa guys paid Guitar Ted a visit this weekend and he got a chance to ride the new Salsa Mamasita. G.T. has now made my "Bastard-ito!" list. The "Bastard-ito" list is my list of folks that have had their cheeks on the yet to be released Mamasita before me. It's a short list so far that includes: Brent from Twin-Six and Guitar Ted. I KNOW there are more of you out there, I'LL FIND YOU!!! I promise! And when I do I'm gonna... politely ask you "Was it f*cking great or what???"

What did "Ted" think?,,,

"My impression is that Salsa nailed it when they went out to make this bike an all out 29″er XC racer machine. It’s lightweight feel, precise handling traits, and calm manner at speed will delight any fast single track lover or XC racer, in my opinion. All of this and it’s pinstriped good looks to boot!"

Oh yeah! Read the whole review: HERE!

The Mamasita continues her tight grip on 1st place in the 3 frame race of what hard tail I'll be soiling my chamois on this year.

Other than reading up on that tid bit, not much going down. No work outs today. Just family stuff and what not. Back to work tomorrow and more trainer and wheight time before Friday's "snip job" (gulp)

Later.

The Sights of Sound

Glad I got a nice ride in yesterday, because today was pretty rainy and shitty. Wifey and I are planning a night out tonight to Mad Mex, so I figured if I'm gonna ingest some high quality Mexican food and beverages I need to suffer a bit.

I got on the trainer for some steady Zone 3 tempo work and didn't stop 'till the Cateye told me I burned up 1000 calories. So an hour-22 later I was done. A sweaty mess with gelatinous legs. It was sweet!

I l,istened to a mix or two and watched Floyd's (possibly ball patched) escape to victory in last year's Tour.

When I told Wifey how long I had been on the trainer she said- "I don't know how you can do something so monotonous for so long" . Truth is, riding the trainer is not my first choice of work outs, but I don't hate it either.

One of the reasons that I don't hate it is that I love listening to music, but just don't have the time to do it like I used to. So an hour (or more) on the trainer gives me ample time to enjoy iPodious and burn some calories.

I find that the time passes better with some high doses of Mental Imagery. Focusing on form, using the music for tempo, and staying motivated by imagining favorite rides, races, or mentally placing myself in race situations or training rides according to the part of the work out I'm currently in.

Examples:

Seated Climbs: I'm grinding up the final climb Seven Springs or some of the steep grade, knee busting, nut dropping climbs of my road rides. Focusing on my form, trying to do better, etc., Thinking "you f*cked up Seven Springs in '06 you'll nail it in '07!!!"

Threshold Tempo Rides: I'm Time Trialing. Eyes focused on the reflection of legs in the mirror in front of me. Maintaining good form, good breathing, keeping the upper body still as I let my legs do the work.

Most often, I let the mix or music I'm listening to determine my imagery. An example would be Mix #4 (called Big Georges Pain Mix in the links to your right). When I made this mix I had the '06 Paris-Roubaix in mind.

How I see it: The mix starts with some easy tempo music of the Propeller Heads. I see race starting, getting legs warmed up and loose, As The Clash starts playing things are starting to take form, racers are planning moves, getting ready and motivated to hit the pave. Next the Verve's "Rolling People" the elite are moving to the front, hitting minor cobble sections, and leaving some of the weaker riders in the dust (or mud).

Now we have The Chemical Brother's "Setting Sun"- they hit the Arenberg section! Shit in going DOWN! Dust, mud, riders crashing all over. Do you remember the way the battle scenes from the movie Saving Private Ryan were filmed? That's how I see this section of pave going down. As the song reaches it's height with a total cacoughany of sounds. I see the horrific sight of Hincapie peddling, arms flailing, out of control with a broken steerer tube, inevitably crashing hard and ending his race.

As the the mix moves on to more Chemical Brothers I see George at the side of the road, trying to suppress tears as the pack spins by in a cloud of dust paying no attention to him, just focused on making it through the cobbles. As the song winds down and moves to the next slow tempo song by !!! (Chk Chik Chick) You ARE George. Pain shooting through your shoulder and arm, replaying the scene in your mind. What the f*ck just happened to me??

Next up is B.R.M.C. and "Red Eyes and Tears". Again, put yourself in George's shoes, but you're on the bike, gritting your teeth through some fast pace, big gear spinning and moving on as you contemplate what just happened.

Now we have a demo track from Artic Monkeys "Choo Choo". You see the lead pack of riders held up by the random train crossing. Doh!! Boonen with that "what the f*ck?" look on his face. Euro mullet swaying in the wind as a train load of god-knows-what zooms by.

Now we have "Aftermath" by Tricky. Slow trip-hop musings. See the slow motion velo drome finish? Arms raised. See the "look back" at George's crash? This is the recap. Spin your legs out and think about the race that was, the race that could have been.

Am I the victim of an over active imagination? Probably so. BUT during these wet, cold, winter months I'm spinning my legs, and not looking at it in the same way as most do. That works for me, the thought of spinning inside still might want to make you put your head in an oven. That's cool with me, but just know you have some options before your hit the gas.

Tell me, what are you thinking when you spin? Look at your time on the trainer as a time to explore your imagination, see the music, imagine the ride. HAVE FUN doing something people don't see as "fun".

Here's something to listen to. Tell me, what do you see when you listen to this?

Later.

On A Rampage of Sorts...

Wow, I LOVE global warming! Except for the all the melanoma and ice cap melting of course. Got out on the Dos Niner for 1:45/15.5 miles of single track today. Sweet! I think my eyes are getting used to all the leaves. The weather was great, my legs felt good, and the Dos rolled like buttah on bossom.

Came home to see UPS dropped the Panaracer Ramapages. Again I say- Sweet! Although I wish I would have had them for the ride today.

Since I know some folks love picts of knobs *cough* *cough* Rick, and are in to this sort of thing (not that there's anything wrong with that) I've included some picts of the new rubber. You can note the tire clearence on the Dos Niner. In my opinion there's plenty all 'round. It'll take some muddy rides with the fall leaves to get a good idea for sure though.

The rubber feels a tad "stickier" to the touch than my Maxxis Ignitors, they seem a bit knobbier and a tad bigger, but not freakishly so.

For the record the tires call for a minimum of 35 psi (and that's where I currently have them set to) and I have them on Salsa Delgado 29er rims. Anyone who's been on the blog in the past knows that I kinda don't see the point of a tire THIS big and THIS fat, but for the sake of trying out a some knobbier 29er rubber (easy Rick!) this fall/winter/spring I'm gonna give 'em spin.

For most race courses and my local training loops I'll most likely stick with the Maxxis Ignitors to save a few grams and roll a little faster. Unless of course I'm on a rocky course like Seven Springs or up on Laural Mnt.

Ok, 'nough blathering, time to cook up some turkey balls and pasta. Here's are the picts....


Holly knobs!!!





Later. Have a good weekend.

End of My Week

Oh yes the end of my week! (I have tomorrow off!) So It was to the basement for some big gear, low rpm riding with some light weight and core work outs mixed in. Nice work out.

Work was boring today and I spent the day cruising mtbr.com, Gutiar Ted's site and Kerkove's blog checking out the Cannondale Caffeine 29er they got in at their shop. I've been kinda anxious to see what people are saying about this frame and fork.

From what I'm seeing so far the unfortunate thing about the Caffeine is the complete bike specs. I did a look-see at 'em. The frame and fork look freaking boss! But the rest of the package is kinda lame for racing. I think it was a mistake by Cannondale to offer it with such low end specs.

$1600 for the complete bike and the only things I would keep are the frame/fork and Lefty Hub. There is some rumor (according to G/Ted and the MTBR.com boards) that an "upgrade" package may be available for racer types. That would be super cool and of course a carbon Lefty would be even cooler!

That price is cool for most bikes, but in my opinion if you're looking at a quality 29er frame and fork like C/Dale is offering, you know what you want and a frame/fork option would be nice.

It's also been said that the bike is basically all "pre" sold out. Eeesh. I think for racers the best option is if you're lucky enough to be hooked up with a good C/Dale shop or you're fortunate to be sponsored by the Big C, then you could get the hook up on a frame/fork package, spec it yourself and make one fast ass 29er. It's been a LLLLong time since I've bought a "whole" bike I guess certain concessions need to be made to keep it in a price point.

I will say just from what I've read the frame and fork look worth pursuing and it's in my rotating top three of production 29er hard tails that include; the Salsa Mamsita, The Niner AIr9 and the Cannondale Caffeine 29er. The Salsa and Niner get my strongest attention do to fork, hub, and build otpions, but if the Caffeine was available to me cheep in a frame set, well.... ;) I also beg you not to make me think of the lusty frames from Moots, Titus, Quiring (who's price vs quality seems to be the best right now) and Dean.

Looks like I'll be hanging in new bike lust limbo 'till spring, when the Mamasita drops her lovely J-Lo like, carbon stayed tush. 'Till then I'll spend my days mentally spending cash I don't have on various dream builds for it as well as lusting after other sweet 29ers. That should make winter nice and llllong.

Oh yeah, speaking of 29ers, don't forget to keep your ballz peeled to TwinSix.com in the near future for more info on the Walt Works/Twin-Six 29er. Gotta gut feeling Brent & Ryan are up to something damn cool.


Tomorrow looks to be some sweet-ass weather here so I'll be taking the Dos Niner out for a couple hours. My Panaracer Rapages are due here tomorrow, but Mista UPS usually doesn't come here till the PM. Ratz!

Later.

A Bad Ride and Worse Blogging

What the hell was up with Blogger yesterday?? Couldn't post. I know you were all heart broke. Anyway, here's yesterday's post today, and today's post later. Dig?

___________________________________

Eeesh, when your gut says "maybe don't ride today", maybe, just maybe you should listen to it....

Spent the day it a bit of a funk. The weather was nice and warm, but I would be stuck at work 'till 5, leaving the following as my ride options" ...
1. Ride the trainer. Mmmm, no.
2. Drive 40 minutes to do some "legal" night riding. Ah, no.
3. Drive 10 minutes to do some legal night riding alone in a city park and risk being mugged.
4. Drive down the road, and do some an easy night ride on the rail trail. OK we have a winner!!!

Can't say I was all that geeked to ride the rail trail, but hey, I'd be outside, and not in my basement. So come 5 (or as close to 5 as I can stand) I chamoised up and headed out. It was starting to get dark fast so I reach up to turn the HID on, and NOTHING. So I stop, play with the button for a bit and it comes on. Now I'm thinking "I did charge it right? Should I keep going? Is the light as bright as normal?" I knew I wouldn't enjoy the ride with these thoughts going through my head, so I head back to the Soob.

So as I come up on the Soob I say "F-it" and keep going, but as I got about 100 yards down the trail it started to rain. F*CK! I had no rain gear and I didn't know if this was a passing shower or the beginnings of a steady rain, so I had to abort. Damn.

Oh well, shit happens. Can I put that 15 minutes down towards my annual hours?

Later.

Bone Mending Karma

Hour spent in the pit tonight doing some time on the bike and weights. Felt good. Thinking about doing some night spinning on the rail trail tomorrow. Weather looks to be warm.

I've said it before I'll say it again- brown rice rocks! Cooked up a bag tonight with sliced chicken breasts and frozen green peas. Yum-ephing-O. Two servings of brown rice (1 whole bag) has 300 calories, ONE serving of white pasta has 200 and there's 8 serving in box, I usually eat about 3 or 4 servings of pasta when I eat it. That's a minimum of 600 calories JUST from the pasta! Yikes! I can't give up the pasta goodness, but brown rice makes it easy to make many of my fave recipes and cut calories. Great for winter.

Injuries are piling up. Fat Marc to a hard CX spill a couple weeks ago, Dagenham Dave Harris busted up the collar bone shoulder area REAL good and J. Bishop tried to slow down on a La Ruta decent using his face (that didn't work out so good). Thank God everyone's alright and will recover in time. Damn, I hate to think about shit like that. Good luck recovering folks thoughts go out to you all.

While you're recovering enjoy some ear candy. (Dave!)



06/07 Off Season Mix 7

01. Attack El Robot! Attack! / Calexico
02. Blue Hawaiian / Pavement
03. Satin In A Coffin / Modest Mouse
04. Leaves Do Fall / The Rosebuds
05. Lola Stars And Stripes / The Stills
06. Dakota / Stereophonics
07. Girlfriend / Matthew Sweet
08. Leave Before The Lights Come On / Arctic Monkeys
09. 12:51 / The Strokes
10. What / Brendan Benson
11. Baby C'mon / Stephen Malkmus
12. Back From The Dead / Babyshambles
13. Black Wave / The Raveonettes

Been listening to this this week. Kinda starts out with some odd ball Calexico and classic Pavement (one of my all time faves, then builds up to some more upbeat songs.

"Your cheeks have have lost their luster, luster, luster, luster...."

I'm like leaving. Later.

Forgive Me Father...

Well today was penance day for this weekend's debauchery. Diet and hydration back on track and spent an hour on the trainer doing some threshold riding, rocking my HR at about 80% max or zone 4 for the Friel heads. Really concentrated on good form and tried to keep the RPMs in the 90s.

I've used Friel's "bible" loosely over the past few years and will continue to use it as a guide, but I'm also planning (and doing) some other stuff. I also talked some folks who's opinions I value, and looking at some different plans that I haven't used in the past in attempt to boost my ability to sustain a faster pace for longer periods and TRY to become more competitive. Especially since my focus in '07 will be more 6, 12, and 100 mile races rather than 24 Hours.

The Panaracer Rampages should be here this week. Talked with Big Al today at Bikeman.com World HQ and after I get them I'll be spending some time evaluating them, then posting a review on the home page as well as right here amidst the stank that is my blog. I did see that the dude from Bike29 digs 'em.

Check out Adam Craig's La Ruta report. Nice 7th place finish even with some mechanical issues.

Oh well time to make make some mix magic and go to bed.

Later.

Good Times...

Troeg's Mad Elf, Thirsty Dog Siberian Night Imperial Stout, some EXXXXXXXcellent fall wheat, homebrew, roast beast, friends and a cold, late night, drunken mountain bike cruise with Y-Nizzle on the hilly roads of Monessan (that one got me in trouble with Wifey).

That pretty much summed up my Saturday night.

Back to training tomorrow.

Late Fall Riding And New Meats

Headed over to Boyce today for a ride under sunny skies although be it cold. It was in the mid 30s at the ride's start and would warm up to the mid 40 by the end. I'm not a fan of cold weather riding. Give me the heat, but a 1:30 ride outside on single track is better than and hour on the trainer any day.


This false flat up through the field is usually 6' tall weeds filled with Ticks in the summer.

What I could see of the trails were in good shape. Many trails had a ton of leaves, sticks and wind fall. It was like riding while looking through a kaleidoscope. Back in my art school days I would have paid for an "experience" like that. Now I just found it annoying.



The Dos did fine, but the Maxxis Ignitors were not the best choice for fall riding on wet leaves and frost thawed moist trails. Sssssoooo. I went against my earlier stance and ordered a pair of Panaracer Rampage 2.3s. See how they roll for fall/winter riding. Doubt they will see race time in the spring, but who knows.



That's about all I did today. Going over Y-Nizzle's crib for roast beast and some home brews tonight.

Later

Team Twin-Six: The Beautiful People?

No work today. That rocked. Cold as a Minnesota teet here today. I climbed on the trainer and did a lactate threshold ride. Damn, one hour at about 80% of max and the legs are a big woobly. Or is that from the 4 post ride, empty stomach Victory Hop Devils? Either way, good time.

Now on to some T6 news:

First- fellow Twin-Six teamate and super fast chicky-poo Melanie McQuaid won the Xtera World Championships for the third time! Congrats to Melaine!!!

Second- Desiree Ficker got 2nd place at the Kona Iron Man World Championships. Rock on wichabadself!

Third- Get ready, new T6 garb will be in stock soon!! Some items like the wool socks and pub glasses are already at T6HQ. Jerseys should be available soon and just in time for post T.Giving holiday credit card melting.... WOOL JERSEYS! Right on! I may have some pub glasses in the next few weeks to do some "product testing" so stay tuned. I betcha they hold the hoppy goodness just fiiiiiiinnne.

I was thinking... Is it just coincidence that those who choose to ride and sport T6 gear are part of what is known in society as... "The Beautiful People"?

Examples...


Melanie McQuaid, Xterra World Champ


Desiree Ficker, 2nd Place, Kona Iron Man


Fat Marc, Spot Whore, 3rd Place MASS Enduro, CX Freak, blog master, all round good mate.


Ryan Carlson, 1/2 of the soon to be giant that is Twin-Six


Brent Gale, the other half of T6. I call him "The Bastard" 'cause dude has already had a test ride on the Mamasita. Bastard!!! That and he's a damn talented designer. Bastard!!


Jeff Kerkove- Blog god, Endurance freak, He of fast legs and broken digits.

And of course...

ME! I mean really, tell me that face ain't beautiful! On 2nd thought, nevermind. One word: Microdermabrasion.

I could go one of course. I mean don't EVEN get me started on the other drop dead gorgeous Mid Atlantic Twin-Six folk like Paul, Fitzy, Matt and Buddy.

This of course was all in fun. All these folks are great racers. The common thread here is that Ryan and Brent make some cool threads, that folks feel good wearing. Whether you're a pro triathlete, or a shlep like me just having fun racing his bike.

Having fun is what it's all about. Hard to believe, but it's true. For some people, racing, pushing you body to it's limit, puking all over your top tube and smiling the whole way home whether you came in in 1st or 10th is FUN. I know it is for me. Only a little over 5 months 'till my first race of '07. WHOO HOO!!!

Later.

Thursday Mix Night...

Not much going on today. No work outs just hanging with B-Man and Wifey, eating Chicken Chili and watching Sponge Bob. I think I might hate Sponge Bob. I like the other characters, and the show as a whole, but S. Bob is a tad annoying.

UPDATE: If you're looking for the new Panaracer Rampage 29er tire. Check out Bikeman.com World HQ. They're in stock and ready to roll (pun intended!). I've poo-pooed tires this big, but if I can get some pennies together I'd like to at least try 'em out before I complain about weight. Get'em soon. They're on the way and will ship out Monday the 6th from Moose & Lobster country.

Now to lay some more music on you...

I'm pretty happy with this mix. Been listening to it for two days or so. My apologies to folks for when I reapeat a band. Sometimes it's just a mood I'm in.



06/07 Off Season Mix 6 - 47:33

01. Seventeen Years / Ratatat
02. Tomorrow Comes Today / Gorillaz
03. The Horror / RJD2
04. House Of Jealous Lovers / The Rapture
05. Give It Up / LCD Soundsystem
06. This Heart's On Fire / Wolf Parade
07. Heart in A Cage / The Strokes
08. Subbacultcha [@BBC] / Pixies
09. Hometown Blues / Rifles
10. Rudie Can't Fail / The Clash
11. Skip to the End / The Futureheads
12. Deeper Into The Movies / Yo La Tengo
13. Sit Down, Stand Up / Radiohead

Ok, that about wraps up Thursday. Off work tomorrow. Hope to ride.- Joy.

Later.

Another 29er Guru Weighs In...

Chris from Speedgoat (Sologoat pimp, Asylum frame brain, and 29er guru) has announced his "Best In Show" from Interbike 2006. SURPRISE!... It's the Mamasita.



"It sure doesn't hurt that's it's also just a totally badass 29er that's going to be fast as hell, which I guess takes me back to criteria #1: damn, I want one".
-Chris Curry, Speedgoat.com

Just thought I'd lay some Mamasita knowledge on you.

Later. Time to go to work.

Random Wednesday...

Another spin and light weight work out tonight. I think the lifting combined with the Glucosomine/Chondroitin that I'm taking is really helping my shoulder pain (thankfully).

I see La Ruta is getting ready to start. That sounds like a freaking epic! Mud, climbing, wet, etc.! Didn't Dicky do La Ruta before? I see Adam Craig, J. Bishop, and Tinker are down there this year. Look to Velo News for updates. This one of those race that I'd love to say I did someday. I doubt it though. Balls not big enough, and pockets not deep enough.

Check this movie out this movie to see some fun in the mud. And here's a link to the daily results page.


Later