Saved. Again!

Damn, how many times can my buddy Tom bail me out? First he gets my Nitrider HID light rewired, saving me some nice coinage, and the worry of shipping to the west coast, THEN today my free hub decided it had enough of just SOUNDING bad and went belly up! Yep, you can pedal, but ya ain't goin' nowhere! Sheeeeeit.

So as luck would have it T. had a free hub in his stash of extra parts and we did some friendly bartering. By bartering I mean- he gave me the free hub. I gave him cash and watched whilst he fixed it. Works for me. Thanks so much Tom! Wish you could have joined us on the ride today.

Oh yeah, the ride. Hit Boyce Park with my buddy Yancy. Today was the first time I ever rode with Y-Nizzle (not including that drunken midnight ride around the streets of the "Valley" we did a few weeks back). It was nice to show off the Boyce trails that I love. Y. did real good on some of the technical sections. He admits he does need to work on the "engine" a bit. Ok by me, it was nice to keep a little be easier pace and enjoy some rare December sun and warm temps.

I was just glad I didn't lose him anywhere. I'm not the best ride leader and usually lose at least on rider if I'm leading a ride, but since I only had one rider I guess that made it a little easier to keep tabs. :)

Saw a few other riders out, including once couple, with the chick on a GF 29er. That's kinda hot.

The trails were a bit slicker than I anticipated in some sections, but other higher trails were bone dry. The Rampage 29ers gunked up in some of the sticky mud pits (as all tires do in the Boyce clay/mud), but overall floated down the trail with ease. You should have seen these tires compared to Y's 2.1s he was running. Made them look like road tires!

Short ride due to our late start, but I'll take it, that's for damn sure.

Later.

Sweet Panaracer 29er News!

Team Bikeman.com sponsor- Panaracer has announced the release of their Fire Pro XC in 29" form. Check out Twentynineinches.com for more info. The Fire Pro XC is a great all-rounder. The Fire Pro cakes up in mud, but other than that runs great in most conditions. Arguably one one of the most popular tires in the MTB world. Thanks to Guitar Ted, and Twentynineinches.com for the update.

I Love The Smell of Vulcanized Rubber!!

Got my new Vans via UPS today. Goddamn I love the smell of a pair of Vans. One big sniff and I was sent back to 7th grade gym class when I busted out my sweet checkered Vans to the surprise of all the kids who's mom were still buying their shoes. I'm a crack whore for the smell of new Vans.

Had planned to ride today, but that fell through when Wifey had to work a full day today and I found myself fighting off a bit of cold. 7,000,000,000,000,0000, IUs of Vitamin C via some Airborne later I'm feeling pretty good and ready to hit Boyce for some extended trail time on Saturday.

Spent "nap time" finishing up mix 13. Check out The Sounds of Soilage for the download and art.

Gotta fly. Time to toast the end the end of Mr. Mom Week with a couple brews and some Boca Mexican de la Jason.

Later.

A Witch Teet 35

Wow had a sweet ride out near my dad's house today. The weather was crisp and sunny to start but then turned a bit nip when the sun decided that 3 hours was all that WPA deserved today and spent the rest of the day behind thick gray clouds.

Put together a new loop that allowed me stick to farm and rural roads for 99% of the ride. The other 1% was scooting a couple blocks through a low/no traffic neighborhood in Scottdale. There was a nice bit of climbing thrown in too and that's always good for the meat sticks.


Always nice to see bovine along the way. Lets you know your'e out of the city/stank. I like this shot 'cause you can see I'm still in the sun, but the familiar gray of Western PA is heading my way.


There's not a cyclist alive who doesn't dig seeing one of these signs on a ride. Check near the "W" in Winding and the "E" in Miles. Yep. Them's bullet holes. Better yet, what you can't see in that behind the sign just out of view to the left is a house. Smart. Don't they know NOT to build a house behind a road sign out in the sticks????

As the ride reached the 1:30 mark I really started to regret my glove choice. In weather under 50 (it was about 43* at ride time) I like to put a thin pair of glove liners on too. The sun at the start of the ride made me ditch them, but now my thoughts alternated between hot showers, naked bootz hugs from Wifey, and sticking my hands the numerous random piles of burning garbage that some of the locals had raging. Do they NOT have garbage pick up out there? Or is is easier/more fun just to set shit on fire. Stupid question- BBBBBBBBBBBBURRRNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!

All in all 35 miles/2:10 minutes in late December. I love it! Hope to hit some dirt Friday or Saturday on the Dos Niner. If not, it'll be more road miles. As long as my wind chapped ass cheeks are in the saddle, all will be good.

Laterr.

Local Sugar

I usually don't like to post twice in a day, but not working this week has my mind doing double time. That and the fact that 4 p.m. SEEMED like the perfect time to make up a double espresso.

I just discovered a custom cycling cap maker, right here in Pittsburgh called Spoke Punchers. I'm a HUGE fan of cycling caps and of cool design. Spoke Punchers have put the two together by making hand dyed and printed caps.

Check out the site for examples of some sweet caps. My wheels are already turning on what I can have her conjure up for me. Hmmm. To match my team kit? My blog? My T6 Gear? Or something to make my mud encrusted eyes pop? (HA!)

I also learned recently that some über cool cycling/designer friends of mine (in conjunction with a local artisan friend of theirs in the upper mid west) have some sweet cap stuff up their well designed jersey sleeves. Look for one on my noggin in the early spring.

Love to see folks out there melding passions together for the sake of the ride. How do you do it? Blog? Photos? Jewelry? Writing? Painting? Music? All of the above? Weigh in, I'd love to know. One thing I've noticed over the years is the HUGE amount of racers and riders (myself included) that are in SOME aspect of the design, art or music world.

Later.

Auntie Anne- The Mall's Buttery B*tch.

Not much going on. Hung with the B-Man today at the playground at the mall. Dude was ripping it up running, sliding, climbing etc., whilst I charmed the hot moms. (I'm kidding!!!)

After his bit at the playground we headed off to the food court for a Pretzel. Damn, who knew they put BUTTER on top of a pretzel?? There I am toweling off a freaking butter bleeding pretzel in the middle of the food court.

How bad is it that the minute I get home I was checking Auntieannes.com to see how bad my daily nutrition got f*cked? FYI- 370 calories and 4 grams of fat. Suppose it's less if you KNOW they come drenched in butter and you can tell the chubby cheeked, burger eating, Auntie Anne's employee that you would like to forgo the bu-tahhhh and get a plain whole wheat pretzel.

Tried to do a spin tonight but just had no mental mojo. Did like 30 minutes and said FFFFFFFFFFFFFF this. Gonna hit the road tomorrow and will be outside the next 3 days in a row most likely so why waste the mental energy on the trainer. I aborted at 30 minutes.

Not to be forgotten and not to bring you all down, but this is the 8 year anniversary of my mum's death. Cheers mom. You're not forgotten. Hope you don't look at the dross I write and the shit I do and shake your head in disappointment.

On a lighter side... You all can rest easy. After weeks of deliberation and conferring with the powers that be in the finance department.... (cue trumpet blasts) I HAVE BOUGHT NEW SHOES!!!
Old school? New school? I dunno, I know they're just f*cking cool. You can't go wrong with a pair of Vans. Picked 'em up at Zappos. Should be on my tootzes in a few days time.

Off to Pappy-M's with B-Man tomorrow. B will hang with Pappy and I'll get some Base Miles in. SSShhhweeet.

Later.

Christmas Sins: Paid For

Looking back on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I did PRETTY good with my eating, but not great.

I made it through the whole holiday with NO ham. THAT is a good thing. Hate the salty swine. It tastes good, but soon as I eat it, I regret it as I sit there sucking down glass after glass of water watching my fingers turn into 10 ready to burst sausages. I failed in the cookie dept. Or maybe I should say the cookie DOUGH department. Wifey baked up some Chocolate chip cookies and I hovered over the kitchen like a vulture ready to pounce on that bowl of soft, sweet, chocolaty goodness the moment she turned her back.

Christmas day was pretty low key for us. After we visited Papa-O', Wifey and B-Man took a 3 hour nap and I organized the Christmas booty and my work out area in the basement.

Then later I watched some back episodes of Entourage on HBO and downed 2 to 5 Sierra Nevadas. Yum-f'ing-0!
____________________________________________________________________

Today I did my penance for my food sins and hit the trainer for 1:21, burning up 1000 calories. After a 10 minute warm up it was a 10 min. Muscular Endurance interval/1 min. break/20 min. ME interval/1 min. break./30 min. ME interval/then spin for the legs loose to the end. Ouch.

These aren't "puke bucket intervals", I'm trying to work on sustained efforts and just sorta keeping a steady burn. On 99% of my rides (except for the rail trail) it's impossible for me to keep a steady pace due to the hills that WPA throws at ya.

____________________________________________________________________

This is my FAVE Christmas gift of 2007 (THANKS WIFEY!)

____________________________________________________________________

Picked up this Oxygen Magazine's Clean Eating "special edition" today:

It's full of good nutritional info. It felt good to look through the mag and see that I already eat about 90% of the types of foods they recommend for maintaining/loosing weight, getting the nutrition you need to fuel your work outs and poop allot.

Please keep in mind the magazine is geared towards women, so you're not gonna see any articles about how to make your pecs "pop" or your biceps "bulge". I doubt any folks reading this blog are into that sorta crap anyway. You will however get a lot of good info and as a bonus get the chance to stare at some hot "gym bunnies" without looking like a big perv (unless you're doing it at the news stand).

Oh well, that's about it. More time with the B-Man tomorrow as my week off continues.

Later.

Views...

Something I want to start doing here is giving my view on a product (nothing new there) BUT also including some additional links or opinions on the product just so you're sure I'm not blowing smoke up your ass.

I mean I might think a product is the tits, but someone else might think it sucks. Put the two (or more) together, filter it through your noggin and make your own decision. We all gotta bung hole. We all got opinions. Best to form your own with research and word of mouth. Not 'cause some mid pack shlep (me) said something worked for him.

Going to start with my recent review of the Panaracer 29 x 2.35 tire.



Here's the link to my review via Bikeman.com. The Bike29.com review HERE. And lastly here's a link to the MTBR.com reviews on the tire.

Hope the approach will help you all out.

Later.

Merry Christmas.

No ride today of course. Lots of food and putting together of toys. Good times.

Merry Christmas!

Later.

December?

So it's two days before Christmas in Western PA and I'm out road biking?? What the f*ck? I'll take it, nnnooooooo problem.

It was a bit nip (mid to high 40's) with a steady wind that made the flats the worst part of the ride. Place I usually TT along at 20 or 22 mph I was going freaking 17 mph!! Yikes!!



The ride had plenty o'climbing and that was nice to keep the legs warm, BUT the descents were damn cold and seemed stiffin' up the muscles PDQ.

This is not bitching by any means. December 23rd in WPA and I'm riding out side- BRING ON GLOBAL WARMING!!!!!! Take a gulp of what fresh air is left and hit the road man, for we might not be here next year!



Why is it that I NEVER have road bike lust? When I was using my Jamis Nova as the main road bike I longed for a REAL road bike. Then 3 years ago I got my Trek 2200 with 105/Ultegra and carbone(r) seat stays and I've never looked back. Damn fine machine and all I need for training. Mountain bike lust is another story. I swear I could ride a new mountain bike EVERY year and not be happy.

_______________________________________________________

Beer News: Bought some Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA today. Hands down one of the WORST beers I've ever had. Bills itself as an IPA. Tastes like a German Pilsner (which I hate). Freaking Munich Malt is it it, I JUS KNOW IT!! I've liked some of DFH's "big beers" but god damn this shit is swill!!!! I was so pissed, that Wifey gave me the go ahead to go buy some Sierra Nevada Porter and I felt the need to e mail Dogfish Head to tell them that this beer sucks some serious rod.

________________________________________________________

Has anybody heard ANYTHING good about the Cannondale 29er?? The more I see and read it seems like a shit bike to me. Decent frame with bad tire clearance and a "shit for the bird parts" package. Don't get me wrong I dig a LOT of Cannondales (Scalpel, Rush, etc,). But the more I read it seems that this bike reeks of rushing out the door to be on the 2-Niner band wagon. Oh yeah, and make a limited amount, talk it up and make it the 2006/7 "must have", because none are available"

I mean look at the Gary Fisher Paragon. THAT is a good bike/parts deal Like $1700 for some seriously good part including a SERVICEABLE Rock Shox Reba. Sorry, rant off. I just hate seeing crap passed off as this year's must have. Give me a Niner Air 9, Orbea, or Salsa ANY DAY. Rant off.

I will say my buddy John got the C/Dale and I have a feeling he'll do the bike up pretty sweet. The reviews I've read basically target the parts, and the lack of tire clearance. Other than that all the "glowing" remarks pretty much say what MOST 29ers do- Roll fast, roll great through rock gardens, etc., etc.,

___________________________________________________________

Oh well, here we are the eve before Christmas eve, I got beer in my belly, soon to be followed by some Mexican food (for the 2nd night in a row). All is good. Except for Wifey refusing to wrap her own presents. :)

Hope all of you have a great holiday. KoKo, Jason, Rick, the Jeffs, Andy, Dicky, John, Tom, Alan, Graham, Adam, Marc, Spot Paul, Brent, Ryan, Buddy, Davis, Matt D., Travis, Yancy, All my Bikeman.com teammates, etc., etc., Thanks for reading Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, etc.,

Later.

Five Whatevers...

So I've been seeing the whole "5 things we don't know about you" thing posted on other blogs, and I couldn't imagine who would get me, and sercretly hoped that know one would. But Graham from Go Clipless found me, so in order to avoid any bad blogging mojo here it is...

Usullay I'm not into this sort of thing, but Graham digs my mixe, so I gotta throw a fellow music snob a bone, OR I'm doing it for the sake of not ending up on some bad karma list.

I will say, I'm pretty open about myself on the blog so much of this will not come as a surprise.

1. I used to be fat. Not "phat" FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFAT! Like 3 bills fat. Folks that have drug and alcohol issues talk of being clean and sober. I talk of being gaunt and skinny (about 14 years now) One day at a time, blah, blah, blah....

2. I've only had one girl friend in my life (Wifey). Get it right once and don't look back!

3. Most people that don't know me very well think I'm either shy or stuck up. Then they get to know me and think I'm loud and obnoxious. (right KoKo?)

4. Since the age 16 I've been totally obsessed with The Smiths and Morrissey. Nothing cheers me up like Moz. I can sing "Girlfriend In A Coma" on top of my lungs, with a smile on my face!

5. I barely graduated high school. Too busy being a fat, lonely, Moz Head. Thank God for art schools!

There. I won't be "tagging" anyone. Not my thing.

No ride tonight. Got out of work an hour early today and will not be returning until January 2nd! SSSSSweeeet!

Now there are many beers to drink, many miles to pedal and many cookies to eat.

Later.

F*ck Technology!

I've been having one of those days/weeks where I long for the days of a typewriter, a Walkman, and perceived efforts.

What's with the Ted Kaczynski-esque rant you ask? My computer (an iMac circa year 2000) is getting as slow as feecus rolling down stucco and it's driving me crazy. My (3rd) iPod (now 3 months old) is freezing constantly suring workouts and lastly- my Cat Eye heart rate monitor, while it working fine, sometimes totally lose where the stop watch is. Takes 10 minutes of button pressing and re-setting to get rid of the "warm up" feature, re program and get it going again. UG!!!!!!!!!!

_____________________________________________________________________

Ended up with only about 30 minutes of EEE-Z recovery spinning before I said f*ck it, scrubbed up and nuked some Boca. There will plenty of saddle time in the coming weekend and holiday break.

_____________________________________________________________________

Did get some interesting news today concerning some quality product that I'll get to use in 2007 via a personal sponsor. Just gonna leave it at that right now 'till I get all my team priorities straight.

_____________________________________________________________________

Been thinking lately (Yikes!). I'm no writer (as you can tell from my horrid spelling, punctuation and murdering of the English language, yet I'm sure there are writers that influence me from the literary, cycling, and/or blogging world. Been trying to peg 'em down a bit. I used to read a good bit, but now unless it's a cycling blog, website, or magazine I don't really have the attention span. I don't even read the news (and I work for a newspaper!!!

1. Bob "Bobke" Roll- If you read his books you'll laugh out loud at his tales of his days racing both road and dirt.

2. Hunter S. Thomson. Truthfully I've only ever read Fear and Loathing and some of his rants, but it was enough to find his "over-the-top" writing style and it left quite an impression. Dude's dead now. Killed himself. Issues.

3. Former cycling journalist (now sadly out of the mag biz and working for Santa Cruz, I think) Mike Ferrentino. His BIKE magazine column "The Grimy Handshake" was classic and to this day I still have a copy of a bit he wrote about being a " cycling dirt bag" it was freaking classic!

4. Pro Cyclist/Blogger- Jason Sager. Long before his present USADA stories, dude was making laugh like a damn fool in my cubical one minute and getting me geeked up to race the next. No one else (except FatMarc) has made me want to race and ride for the shear love of racing and the travel, fun and life experiences that it brings like Jason did, does, has, will, etc.

5. Fellow Twin-Six, MASS racing compedre/CX junkie whore- Fat Marc. Marc is second only to Sager in bringing out my want to compete purely for the sake of friends, good times, fun, and the love of riding. Marc's humor, self deprecation and honesty makes every post on his blog good read. This isn't to say that Marc and Sager aren't fast as snot, but they know that racing if supposed to be fun.

There are many more folks (Adam, Dicky, Rick, etc., ) who I also admire. I never try to imitate their writing, I just think I just see bits of my own personality in them and that is why I read them and what somehow inspires me to write this dross. Sometimes I might go to far with shit I talk about, sorry. The way I look at it. When you look at the human race we're pretty re-god-damn-diculous. Have a laugh and call 'em like you see 'em.

Time for some nappies.

Later.

No, No, No, It's Not Blogworthy

A.M. UPDATE: Great interview with Jason Sager on thebikegame.com. J. is one of the founding fathers of cool ass blogs and most recently the foremost authority on what not pissing in a cup can do to you. While you're there, check out how to get one of his FREE SAGER wrist bands. Word is, these are gonna be bigger than LIVE STRONG bracelets on the Pro Tour this year. I saw some mall ratz wearing them the other day and I hear that kids in schools are trading them like Pokemon cards! Huge.

Not much of note going on. Another basement bound 1:35 Zone 2 sweat-fest tonight. Really hoping to get some outside riding on the weekend. Nothing would take the edge of the holiday like going into it with some outside saddle time (and 10 to 15 beers).

You folks that were at CX Natioanls. Stay tuned to my buddy John's photo web site for some freaking great picts from last weekend. He has a few up already.

Für etwas Inspiration KLICKEN Sie HIER!

Later.

The Podfather

Good workout tonight. Only an hour, but there were two 20 minute threshold intervals in that hour. Legs were a tad spent at the end. I love that feeling.

I tried to focus on good form, heart rate and what not, but mostly I was just rockin' iPodious, giving the new Discovery lid a good soaking, pretending I was Discovery's newly aquired Ivan Basso high tailing it from blood thirsty Spanish Police.

Yes, I've changed my header. AGAIN! This is it though. The only change will be in the coming month will be adding 2007 sponsors logos to the bottome part. Still need to wait a few more weeks to get the final word on who those folks are gonna be.

You may know I love the Ricky Gervais podcasts. They were free, then they started charging, then I stopped listening, now there are a couple free via iTunes. Check 'em out. I love that freaking podcast. Makes me laugh like a damn fool.

Later.

Juice, Hot Dogs, Grape Husks, etc., etc.,

B-Man was as sick as a grass eating dog lat night. Copious amounts of vomit. Poor kid was so scared. He's doing much better now. Wifey was up all night with him so I took off work today to let her sleep and watch B-Man. He was feeling pretty good so we spent the morning watching Sponge Bob.

Later, when it was nap time I was able to finish up my Bikeman.com review of the Panaracer Rampage 29er. It's a damn fine tire. I gave it 4 Bikeman heads out of 5. I would have gone with a 3.5, since I can't judge it's long term durability right now, but since I've always had good luck with Panaracer mountain tires (not road tires) I bumped it up to a 4. I also had to hold back a bit since they may be a little TOO much tire for many race courses, and performance oriented riding/training, so come race season they won't be a "mount and forget do everything kinda of tire" Check out the site for the full review.

I got 1:20 on the trainer this evening doing about 4 ten minute force intervals. Big gears, using big muscles, and a big 1,000 calorie burn.

Speaking of calorie burn, check this shit out...













Still not great (I still can NOT believe I gained that much weight, while burning 5,000 to 9,000 calories a week training. It is nice to see progress and I should be right on track for a Frank Schleckian fighting weight come spring time. Sooner if I catch what B-Man has (that would NOT be fun though).

UPDATE: Adam checked in and asked where I got the above graph from. It's from TrainingPeaks.com. When you enter your workouts, you have the option of entering your Daily Metrics. Weight is one of the selections. You can then graph the data etc.,.

I've also been hard core about tracking my calories, carbs, protein and fat. At first it was a bit time consuming, but now that I have all my favorite foods and meals organized it's super easy to keep track of all my calories consumed, burned, etc.,


















Hope this helps. I use the "free" version of TraningPeaks.com. All you have to do is create an account and log in. There are training plans available for purchase from various coaches including Lynda Wallenfels (cool blogger, coach, mom, kick ass endurance racer, and teammate of Dave "The Titanium Bolt Shoulder" Harris.

Later.

Saturday AB/FAB ride

Today's ride was absolutely fabulous. Hit Boyce park on the Dos Niner for 1:40. Trails were in good condition and it was warm enough for a vest and knee warmers. IN DECEMBER! SWEET! Hit some newer stuff today with a ton of little dips and logs. Nice to be able to work on some skills in December rather than March.

Got some new tootz covers from Twin-Six this week....

That thing that looks like an albino salami attached to a sock is my "winter coat". Yikes! It looks like f*cking paper!

These socks rock! This sock is the Twin-Six Deluxe (gray). 6" wool made by SockGuy. Super freaking comfy with a nice classy design. I love these socks. Not just 'cause they're T6 either. I just love a good wool sock and these SockGuy woolies are the shit! Pretty geeked that along with the T6 ones, Bikeman.com carries a full line of SockGuy woolies. Ssssssssweet!

Was able to get some more time on the Panaracer Rampages 29ers too. Review should be forthcoming. The only thing I won't be able to comment on as of yet will be their durability. That's something that will take hundreds of miles.

There was a thin layer of glue like mud on some trails, while others where bone dry. You can see from the photo that the tire is a bit caked with Elmer's Mud and leaves. Can't hold too much against the tire since I'm not sure there's a tire out there that can shed this mud/leaf combo.

I will say these tires shine on slower, technical section. They add stability and on more than one occasion today they bailed me out on some bad line choice. More to come on these tires here and on the Bikeman.com site.



Took this shot rolling under a road underpass today. Thing is filled with graffiti as you can see. I would just like to know the though process of the person who takes the time to vandalize a wall, feeling all bad ass and writes "Hemi sucks wee-wee" WEE WEE???? Jeeeezus, at least throw out the Male "C" word Vandal-Sissy!


This is the view rolling through the underpass. Look to the light! After this starts a neat little climb.

That's about it. I leave you with this bad ass pict Wifey took of the B-Man. Maybe I'm bias, but God damn, he's a cute kid!!

He's even sporting the "casual disheveled indie rock look". Rock on B-Man!

Since I'm - 2,000 calories for the day, I'm gonna get my holday jag on with some Sierra Nevada and Mexican de la Jason. I think Y-Nizzle and the lovely Miss M. are stopping over too, so should be a good night.

Have a good weekend.

Later.

CX Nats, 'Tater Hunks, & Bike Builds....

1st. Good luck to Al, Matt, Steve, and all the Bikeman.com folks who are gonna throw down at CX Nats this weekend. Many of the Bikeman.com folks only race mountain bikes to stay in shape for CX season. So THIS weekend is their Super Bowl. Good luck folks!

Also, good luck to all my fellow blogging friends, and Twin-Six compadres racing in RI too. Do it!
_____________________________________________________________

Nice night off from training tonight. Hung with the B-Man and watched some Sponge Bob. Then I had a couple of Sierra Nevada's while I cooked up some Boca Chik'n Patties, and baked 'tater chunks for me and Wifey.
_____________________________________________________________

Been thinking (almost constantly about my bike situation for next season. The orginal plan was to sell the El Santo (done) and race the Dos Niner in conjunction with the new Salsa Mamsita with light go fast build.

As the fall and winter progress and various financial c*ck block occurred and I've been given cause to reevaluate and plan scenarios. They are as follows... (feel no pressure to read, this is more for me to see this all written down, so bare with me)

1. I keep the Dos Niner. Sell my left over El Santo parts and use use the coin to purchase a lighter wheel set, such as a DT Swiss/Salsa Delgados or Cane Creek Zonos 29ers, and extra parts. and adjust my race schedule to more accomodate 1 bike (1 to 0 Solo 24s)

2. Sell the Dos frame and the El Santo parts, and get a bad as Ti frame from Titus, Dean or Quiring.

3. Sell the Dos frame, and build up a bad ass Salsa Mamasita.

4. Hope someone says; "Hey Jason we're looking for a 35 year old consistent non podium mid-packer that writes a sophomoric blog to use our frames. Here you go mate!"

5. Get things back in order and can go forward with the my original plan of racing the Dos AND the Mamasita.

A recap: 1. May happen. 2. Could happen. 3. Also could. 4. Doubtful at best. 5. Hopeful.

Oh well poor me. Worst case I'm racing a Dos Niner. Thanks for letting me ramble a bit. Anyone have and opinion? For now I'm Just gonna keep focused on getting the "engine" in shape and getting my ass out of the mid pack ;)

Hope to hit some dirt tomorrow if the rain misses us. If not it will be some asphalt miles.

Later.

Short One

Quick 1 hour on the trainer tonight. This is a low key week and since the weather looks to be good for a couple "real" rides this weekend I just did an easy Zone 2 sit 'n spin.

Picked up some Dressy Bessy off of eMusic.com the other day. Good stuff. Indie-chik-fuzz-pop-tastic. So I'm off to listen to that and write some bad checks to "pay the bills". Anyone want to buy a Dos Niner?

Later.

Cap Blower

Only spent an hour on the trainer tonight, but it was pretty good. After a 10 minute warm up it was on to some slow grinding seated hill climbs in 53/13. Quads pumped, and knee caps ready to shoot across the room like a fat bastard's pant button.

Did three- 10 minute intervals with 5 minutes of easy spinning after each. Finished with a 10 minute sweat down. I like to alternate position on the saddle every so often too, so as to focus on the quads (front of saddle) or towards the rear for my ass and hammies. Seems to spread the muscle love around that way.

Yes, I'm fooling around with my header again. I can only post so many times before I feel the need to mix it up.

Later.

Frankie Says: That Tastes Good!

Back on the trainer tonight for 1:20. Did a nice LT workout of a 10 minute warm up followed by 4 sets of 10 minute LT intervals followed by 1 minute recover spins. Finished up spinning smooth and cooling down 'till I hit my 1000 calorie mark.

Speaking of calories and what not- I'm down 3.5 lbs. !! SSSWEEET Could be the Appestat, could be the vigilance in which I've been controlling my diet (except for dinner on Saturday), could be the sick amount of calories I've been burning on the trainer, could be getting the Lexapro out of my system OR It could be a combination of ALL that stuff. Sadly it's ALL of that stuff. There's no easy way to lose pounds.

Watched another one of my fave Tour Stages: Stage 16, 2003 Tour de France. If you could combine this stage performance by Tyler Hamilton with Floydis's breakaway stage win last year you would have the ULTIMATE video for working out. Sadly BOTH wins are tainted forever by drug scandal.

I hope Floyd at least can clear his name. Not sure if the "twins" ever will.

Made up a bad ass dinner tonight using some Frank's Red Hot. Want me to lay it on you? OK, here we go...

Cook1 bag of Success Brown Rice, Slice 2 chicken breasts and stir fry in 1 Tbs. of Olive Oil. When the chicken is about done add 1 diced onion, 1.5 cups of black beans (rinsed), 1 diced/minced garlic clove, and a BBBBBIG ol helping of Frank's. Then add some black pepper and red pepper flakes. Mix through 'till chicken is done and then add rice. Mix through again, serve and pound it hard.

The whole meal is under 900 calories with 62 grams of protein/98 grams of carbs/and 18 grams of fat and about 13 grams of fiber. Can you say "fire in the hole!"

This recipe SCREAMS for a plop of Fat Free Blue Cheese dressing on the side. Sadly, there was none in the house, so I went with a plop of Fat Free Miracle Whip.

Alright, That's it.

Later.

A Day Off Filled With Fresh Lemon Zest

Whole lotta nothing today. Work was spent alternating between lusting after various bikes on the Internet and working on our '07 rate book. The bike lusting was more fun, I can tell you that much. So many fine rides out there. Every time I think I know the new frame I want for '07 another one peaks my interest. I do know that I'm 95% kinda, sorta, certain that it will most likely be another 29er.

No workout scheduled for tonight. Hung out with the B-Man, finished up putting a new trainer mix up and cooked up some B.T.C. (Beyond Tuna Casserole- Whole wheat pasta, fresh spinach, low fat cheese, and tuna).

Tonight I kicked it up a notch (BAM!) by adding some Lemon Pepper to it. Yum-Oh I say. I've been putting Lemon pepper on EVERYTHING! Hell I'd put it on a hot dog if ate 'em!
At it's best on chicken, but was great with the Albacore Tuna tonight. You can't get this kind of sub par entertainment on other bike blogs. If you came here looking for bike racing, I'm sure you're thinking you came to the wrong place. My apologies. Only 4 months 'till the season starts!

Back on the trainer tomorrow. I'm sure you'll be tuning in for THAT ride recap. Did I mention there's only 4 months 'till the season starts?

Later.

End Of A Sweet Week

Headed out to Papa-M's with B-Man today. While B-Man hung with my dad, I headed out for 2+ hours of road goodness.

It was nice and crisp without a cloud in the sky. Had an annoying head wind for about half the ride, but it just made for a better workout. Tried to keep it slow and stayed seated on many climbs that I normally kind of attack (as much as I "attack").

Ended up with a 'bout 2:12 of ride time and a bit over 38 miles. I'll take that in f*cking December!!

Wifey and I watched the Iron Man coverage on NBC yesterday. Blubbered like a couple of babies watching it. Good stuff.

All in all today capped off a good week of training with 9+ hours of of trainer/road saddle time . Tomorrow will either be a day off or some light spinning.

Later.

Have you ever...

Have you ever started playing around with the Speedoat.com bike lab or the Orbea "Made To Order" page and found that you just spent 90 minutes, and $5,000 to build a super fly, light weight 29er only to hit close "command W"? Instead of "Check Out"? Yeah me neither. :)

The devil will make work for idle hands.....

2 Hours In The Books

Didn't have the mental mojo for a sub 20 degree a.m. ride outside, so after catching up with my wrench and friend Tom on the phone for a bit this a.m. I headed down to the basement for some time on Booger.

Knowing I wanted to do a long session I used the Fizik Nisene on Booger, kitted up with my new Hammer shorts (the best saddle and best pad I have), iPodious was set with 2 killer mixes back to back, and I had the VCR set up with stage 15 of the 2004 Tour (my fave stage, from my fave Tour in recent years).

Surprisingly the ride went super fast. Watching stage 15 was perfect. Just when I was getting tired and finishing my last 20 minutes LT interval, riders were attacking, riders were "popping" and blowing up! What could I do but throw Booger into the 53, stand and put the hammer down.

2 hours later I was done with 1600+ calories burned with an average heart rate right in Zone 4. SWEET! Enter one guilt free night of Mexican food and beer. Yeah I know I had Mexican food yesterday too. Can you ever have too much Mexican food? NOPE. Keep in mind "guilt free" for me will still have me cooking up with low fat cheese and Guiltless Gourmet chips. The only thing you can't skimp on is the beer. If you're gonna have beer, have a good one for Christ sakes!

Another sweet buy yesterday. As you may know I'm a fan of the cycling cap for riding the trainer, cool weather riding and riding with a helmet mounted light (helps keep the helmet a bit more snug on my melon). So you can Imagine how geeked I was to find the Discovery Team Cap for $5.00!! It's like free (except $6.10 with s/h).
Now I can roll like Georgie OR the middle aged rich knob that bought a Madone "team replica" so he can look like Lance with it hanging in his garage ;)

Speaking of Lance. Saw a blurb that's he got a stress fracture in the NYC Marathon. Yikes! I guess that's more motivation for us all to hit the weights and strengthen up our bones with some weight bearing exercises.

Last bit- time to pick out some new sneakers. Which pair will it be?...

Some old favorites:

or some new flavor

All that matters is that they look good paired up with my Twin-Six T-Shirt collection.

Later. Time to start Saturday night.

At The Boca, The Boca Burger....

Odd day today. Didn't go into work 'till the afternoon today. B-Man was rocking a slight cough, and we had a feeling that if we sent him to day care they'd be sending him home and we'd have to go through all that fun parent/work stuff- Soooo we split our time staying home with me in the a.m. and Wifey in the p.m.. Luckily B-Man seems fine and was even doing a wacky Christmas dance tonight.

Also an odd rest day for me. I seem to work out almost everyday during the winter (since the intensity and length is nowhere near what I go through come spring and summer) so when I'm not doing something it feels a bit odd AND like I'm slacking. Usually I just feel like that at work. (FYI today I started my 15th year of slinging art at the SAME job. It been just fannnnnntastic. I'll take the 4 weeks paid vacation no prob though.

Tonight I made up some Meatless Mexican Rice & Beans, but tonight I went back to an old favorite....

Boca Meatless Ground Burger. Check the web site for the stats. They rock and it allowed me to cheat tonight with two Sierra Nevada Celebration Ales. Yum-O.

Might try to ride the frozen tundra of Boyce or the Rail Trail tomorrow. High is gonna be 38* but probably won't see that 'till mid afternoon, long after I'm home. If I can't "man up" to ride, I'm gonna do a deuce on the trainer. My goal- ride long enough to enjoy FOUR guilt free Sierra Nevada's. HA!

Also, you all that have been enjoying some of my training mixes should note the link to the right titled Sounds Of Soilage. I decided to give 'em their own page now. They're not all on there yet, but in due time.

Hope it's warmer where you are. Time to warm up, snuggle up and fight some crime.

Later.

Easy Spinning & A Lust For Green Chili

Did and hour recovery ride tonight. These are NOT my favorite rides. They can get a little boring on the trainer even with the full on audio/visual assault that I treat myself to. But I like burning a few calories and stoking the core temp to try to stay warm (currently 19* outside).

Looks like Al and Bikeman.com will have a Salsa Chili Con Crosso up at the CX Nationals next week, so if you're up there, stop by the tent for a look at what looks to be one bad ass frame. Tell 'em I sent you! Ha! They'll be like "WHO? He races for us?" HA!
It will use the same type of flattened chain stays that the Mamasita 29er will have. Seeing it built up makes me want one. DAMN! Wish I could do it all, but I guess I'm gonna stick with the gig that brung me. That gig being enduros. If there were more CX like Iron Cross, I'd be in!

Speaking of Salsa and the Mamasita. Jason from Salsa posted the weight and some info and geometry the other day, here it is...

First, availability. Everything is set and raw material is in production. At this exact moment in time, I do not have a scheduled production date. My gut feeling is March/April. Again, this is my gut feeling and someone from Salsa Land will update once we get a final production date.

Second, Geometry. I'll share a few tidbits as I'm not technically advanced enough to get our pdf geometry chart on the blog. I know that the info below is incomplete, but these are the ones most of you have been asking.

Size - Weight - Effective TT - Head Angle
Small(16")- 3.3lbs -2 2.8" TT - 71 degree HA
Med(18")- 3.4lbs - 23.8" TT - 72.5 degree HA
Large(20")- 3.5lbs - 25.0" TT - 73 degree HA
X-Large(22")- 3.6lbs - 25.5"TT - 73 degree HA

This is one light and fast bike. And for those of you saying that's not that light, yep your right. Lowest possible weight was not a criteria. Fit. Function. Durability.

That last paragraph sums up why I want one. And WHO the F is saying that it's not light??? 3.5 lbs. for a 29er!! Sounds freaking sweet to me! I personally haven't seen any lighter 29er frames out there, except for the ultra $$$$$ carbon Orbea Alma 29er .

"FIT. FUNCTION. DURABILITY" Sounds good to me. Even more anxious for spring now. Or at least temps above 20 degrees!

Later.

Low Speed Riding/High Speed Reviews

Got a 1:15 on the trainer tonight. Tonight was on the bike strength training. Did 10 minutes of warm up followed by 5 minutes on/off intervals in 53/15 for 50 minutes. Good stuff.

Found a great site to find food info, particularly on low fat/low cal foods: Hungry Girl . Lots of good tips and infos for dropping el-bees. Why all good (in my opnion) fitness mags (Oxyen), and web sites are geared towards women, I have NO idea. I guess it's the pressure that American culture puts on women to be thin. Every men's magazine is about getting 6 pack abs, getting bigger (for god's sake why??), making more money, and having more sex.

How 'bout ride your bike, watch what you eat, and you'll look/feel good and your chicky-poo (or chicky-dude, if you're in to the whole Broke Back thing) will WANT to fight crime. The the making money thing I can't help you with. Just keep telling yourself being in debt is cool and disposable income is for knobs.

I'm calling this my Hi-speed review of several products I used over the past year. Many have been reviewed already or will be reviewed soon on the Bikeman.com site in the near future. I was gonna provide links so you could check the shit out, but didn't want to be too pimpy (plus I'm felling lazy). I'm not a pro, just a mid pack shlep doing my thing, but I still have opinions on works for me and what doesn't.

OK. now 1,2,3, let's go..

Salsa El Santo: Bitching to look at, comfy as hell, rode great, with little to no suspension bob from the Manitou 3-Way, BUT not as good or as light as my Salsa Dos Niner so it went bye-bye to make room for a 2nd 29er. Most likely a Salsa Mamasita or if I hit the Lotto a Ti HT.

Dos Niner: Can't say enough. Light, comfy, used it in many races this past season and I'm sure it will see more action in 07. 1" of rear travel with 29" wheel makes your feel like you got 4" in your rear (eeewwwww,) Maybe not that much, but takes a ton of the edge off without the weight penalty/maintenance of FS. '07 Version can come as disc only. I'd love to roll it, but I'm sticking with my green one.

Maxxis Ignitor 29 x 2.1s: I love these tires. I was a fan of the 26" version and dig these just as much. Not the most aggressive tire, but roll fast and shed mud decently.

Panaracer Rampage 29 x 2.3: I only have a few hours on 'em, so jury's out on this fat, aggressive 2.3 tire.

Panaracer Cinder 26 x 2.1: Very good 26" tire. A much better updated version of the Fire Pro.

Hammer Gel: Tastes great, great price, great company.

Hammer Heed: (see above)

Hammer Perpetuem: Taste on its own is so-so, but I mix up a hi powered version for my races with vanilla hammer gel and it tastes much better and gets the job done for 2+ hours on one bottle.

Hammer Appestat: Just got, jury's out. You'll know it works when I look like Kate Moss (the coked up version).

Hammer Endurlytes: Do what they're supposed to. No more, no less.

Hammer Bar: Great taste, easy to chew, but a tad expensive, so a no go for me unless it comes with race swag.

Panaracer Extreme Duros 700 x 25: a WIDE 25 road tire, hard rubber, a tad heavy. Rubber wore to the threads a bit quick for my tastes. Went back to Maxxis road tires after this one.

Maxxis Detonators: Great road tire. Multiple colors, nice width on the 25s and nice rubber compound for a good price.

Fizik Nisene Saddle: Hands down the best saddle I've EVER used. My buns and boyz love it. + I got it for a great price on eBay.

Lazer Genesis Helmet: The best lid I've ever owned. I did brake a strap lock trying to tighen it too hard with a cap on. Got a replacement one from Bikeman.com's Lazer rep toot-sweet. Mucho bucks retail price but damn good.

Twin-Six Jerseys: The ultimate cycling jersey. Cool looks to choose from made by some great guys. Do it!

Twin-Six T Shirts: The BEST! Great weight fabric, great fit, cool as f*ck graphics from some cool as f*ck guys.

SixSixOne MTX Full Finger Gloves: Great XC/Road glove. Used 'em all year held up like a champ. Not a rip not a problem.

SRAM X9/X0 Drive Train: First experience SRAM. I love it! VERY crisp shifts, good weight, Front derailleur took some getting used to. Rear never gave a problem.

XT Crank/Integrated BB: Reliable, stiff, and good price.You want to spend $600 on XTR for a few grams? Go ahead. I lust for them, but then use the extra cash for race fees and good beer.

Beer: From Troegs, Victory, Anderson Valley, Stoudts, etc., etc., Helps to keep the pounds on and me firmly placed in the mid to back pack at endurance events. Kidding. Sort of. But not really.

Like I said, take these brief comments for what you will. I've never won a race, but I HAVE been on the same course as the guys who did. HA!

Wow, lots of ranting, opinions and pimping. Looks like my work is done for the week.

Later.

Keep On Truckin'

Indoor base ride? Yep. 1:35 of Zone 2. I would have like to have spent a little more time, but for an indoor workout on a weeknight, not bad. I'll take it.

Saw a KICK ASS roller system that I'd dig. E-Motion rollers. Damn it looks sweet. Check out the video gallery to see how they roll (pun intended), then pony up $795!! FOR ROLLERS!! Then give them to me :)

I think I'll pass. That's more than a new f*cking frame or fork! To use a few month a year. Don't get me wrong I'd take 'em, but dddddddddddamn that's a LOT of jing for limited use.

Here's some art type stuff of my recent trainer mix found below for the (2) peeps who may want it for your iPodious...


Time for a nocturnal pinch and some shut eye.

Later.

Please Depressing Belgians

BACK! In the chamois tonight for 1:20 of Soilage. Did a 10 minute warm up followed by six 10 minute Zone 4 threshold intervals, foll wed by 1 minute ez spins. Finished with a brief cool down. Good stuff.

Started taking these today...

Trying out Appestat from Hammer Nutrition. Believed to have the following benefits:

• Help suppress appetite without stimulants
• Help increase rate of fat metabolism
• Help reduce potential for carbohydrate-to-fat conversion

Extra Benefits: 5-HTP not only has benefits for appetite suppression, it is also believed to be an ideal nutrient for improving mood. (Editors note: Word!)

Sounds worth at least trying over the winter months. The 5-HTP is a natural way to boost serotonin levels too. With the Lexapro (the anti-depressant that should be called a fat pill) now out of my system I could use little insurance just too keep things cool over the winter here in PA.

Since I'm trying to loose some pounds (about 10) and keep the mood good through the winter I figured what the hell. I'll keep you posted over the coming months on whether I think it helps or not.

F.Y.I. If you're on ANY kind of anti-depressant you should NOT try this supplement. Being that 5-HTP works with your serotonin and Anti Depressants do as well, you don't want to f*ck with that.

Speaking of Hammer. Should have the new bib short here tomorrow. Looks like they through in some free bottles too. I can always use those since I'm moving further away from using CamelToe® bladders. Thank Hammer! Also- Thanks Nicholas for using me as a referral. Much appreciated!

That's it folks.

Later.

P.S. Today's title is taken from the Smiths song- "Paint A Vulgar Picture". In a recent live version Moz changed a line to "MTV, MTV, Please depressing Belgians". I can't imagine Belgians are all theat depressed though. Not with all the freaking tasty beer! ;)