Sea Bear Attack!

C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E -S-O-N-G Song

After yesterday's suck work day, I slept like shit last night. Tossed, turned, and prayed for morning to come just so I could get up and start fresh.

The work day went well and I was anxious to get home to get on the trainer to clear my mind. My throat was a bit raspy and I felt a tad run down. I thought I might be getting sick, but I'm pretty sure it was a combo of no sleep and chasing B-Man around the house this a.m. growling and pretending to be "sea bear" from Sponge Bob, Season III, "The Camping Episode"

I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea
and I think about leaving the house

The first 5 minutes of tonights 1:20 on the trainer SSSSSSSSUCKED. I felt like shit. But then my the end of my warm up I felt great and knocked out some nice tempo work with a few standing hill climbs. Still enjoying the CX Worlds DVD and iPodious gave some love with a huge collection of Blur B-Sides.

Post ride, Wifey and B-Man were at Papa-O's, so I busted a solo dinner of "Meaty Meatless Red Sauce Pasta" Whole Wheat pasta with ground Boca Burger, diced tomatoes, a dash of sauce, onions, red peppers and some mozerella cheese. As Emeril would say- "Oh yeah babe!"

Box of Love

I got a box full of goodies from Bikeman.com today. Needless to say I'm SO Gellin'. 3 big containers of Hammer Gel, plus an assorment of other stuff for my road bike and for a frame that's not even on the same continent as me right now.

I also got a couple sets of brake pads for my Hope Mono Minis. I've used Hope, EBC, and now Kool Stop. Hope gives you all the little pins and retetion springs but cost a chunk o'change more. EBC doesn't give you ANYTHING but pads, and Kool Stop gives the retention spring.
For me the retention spring has proved to be the most important over the years. The times I have worn my pads down completely (see French Creek 2006), the spring, is sure to get bent up like a dried bull's dick. Nice to save some coin over the Hopes and still get the spring.

Got 4 sets of pads (2 fronts/2rears) for the same cost of 2 Hope brand. The Kool Stop Mono Mini pads aren't on the Bikeman.com website, but if you call 'em up they can get them for you no problem.

G4 Goodness Coming My Way

In computer news: My ace mechanic and good friend Tom, is not only an incredible bike mechanic, he's has become a Mac guru. He's refurbished a Mac G4 just like the I use at work and is selling it to me at a great deal. Sweet!

MAYBE I can actually watch those sweet YouTube videos that are on the Belgium Knee Warmers site! Or at least get through an evening and not want to throw my Y2K iMac out the window.

Oh well, time to attempt sleep again.

Later.

Work Rant, Shoes, Team Stuff, and Blown Pipes

Work Rant:

Work. You gotta do it or you don't get paid. You don't get paid, you can't have fun, you can't pay bills, you can't buy food, you'll starve and you'll die.

Those who dig their jobs are few and far between. I envy you. I want to be you. Mine helps to pay the bills. So until I give up and join that commune of wispy folk in the Colorado hills, I gotta keep doing what they tell me to do for another 30 years or more. Joy.

What's that smell? Oh yeah, it's me burned out. Again.

Rant Off:

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Enough Sad Bastard Crap. Lets' Talk Passion- Let's Talk Bike Stuff!:

Made my shoe choice (I know your day is set now). Going with the Lake MX 230. Best features for my racing. Light(ish), non slip rubber out sole. Good for hike-a-bikes, running, etc., No carbon soles make it just a little more durable for me over the long haul as well. Sweet looking too. Bikeman.com red and black for we fashionistas. NO fashionista does not mean gay! At least I don't think it does. Does it? Nahhhh!

The 230 does have a buckle (something I'm usually against) but I like being able to just reach down to snug it up when riding, and I figure I know buckles, I'll wait and see what folks think of the BOA retention over the season. Plus as Big Al (team manager) jokingly pointed out to me, 5 years ago when I broke the buckle on my Sidi's and had trouble tracking down a replacement (starting my hatred of shoes with buckles) I didn't have Bikeman.com for a sponsor! Nice Al.

Lake's U.S. website is not up to date with the 2007 lineup. If you want to check out some PDFs of the catalog click the following 2 links...

Lake 2007 Pages 01 thru 14
Lake 2007 Pages 15 thru 28

Thanks again to Lake for helping the team out in oh-seven.

Other Sponsor News:

Most Salsa frames are in stock at Bikeman.com with a couple more to coming in the next week or so. Sadly the time frame for the Mamasita still looks to be April. I hope EARLY April. Daddy has a race on the 21st!

Also, now that all team sponsors are in place I'll be updating the Soiled Chamois banner this week. Adding sponsor logos. I think we have some real good folks helping Team Bikeman.com out this year and I use and appreciate the assistance they give the team.

The only sponsor we have who's products I don't utilize on my race bikes is Avid. Nothing against them, It's just that I've been running Hope Mono Mini brakes for a while now and figured why go through the hassle of switching over if I dig the Hopes?

Often I wish I did run Avid discs. Would make getting disc pads easier and cheaper! You can walk into pretty much any shop in the world and get Avid brake pads.

Of course on personal side T6 gets some representation in the main header. Two good guys making great duds and letting a shlep like me be part of it.

Anyway, don't think me a whore, a pimp or and asshole if you see the new banner show up. I'm just happy that there are folks out there willing to take a chance on helping a guy like myself out. A guy who spends most of his post race time trying to keep from puking or passing out rather than on the podium.

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Did You Workout Slack-a-Lotta-Puss?

Nothing tonight. Work had me run down mentally, and I've had 3 days in a row in the saddle, so it was time for full on rest tonight. Made up some of my Spicy Brown Rice, Buffalo Chicken Breast, Black Bean Casserole. Blow out the pipes and set 'em on fire!!

Later. Time to make up a mix.

Later.

Happy Cheeks

Got my cheecks back in the saddle for 1:15 of trainer tim tonight. Busted out a 50 minute LT inteval while watching the DVD I made yesterday of the CX World Championships.

The race was perfect for doing the LT interval. The DVD turned out pretty good, and I'm amazed at the coverage that Belgian TV gave the race. That race got the kind of attention that the NFL gets here, except with REAL athletes! ;)

I also finally recevied my new Fizik Nisene saddle today. Oh, so sweet it is. Now I have one for the Dos AND the yet to be conceived Mamasita. Do I dare seek another for my road bike? Nahhhh!

Alberto el Grande at Bikeman.com, let me know that my wheels are in limbo right now as QBP is having trouble getting the Hope Pro2 front hub in stock. Drat!

Also, got word that my big ass pre season order of parts and Hammer Gels has shipped from Bikeman.com World HQ. So now all I need is the weather to cooperate so I can get my cheeks outside!

I leave you with a new site I've been digging -SOLOBIKE.IT, it's an Italian site, but if you click on the British flag it will come up in English. It has a ton of World Cup XC an Marathon news.

Oh well, gotta get some sleep.

Later.

In My Belly: Fiber One Oats & Chocolate Bars

As I mentioned last week the folks at General Mills and EatBetterAmerica.com sent me a box of their new oats & chocolate Fiber One bars to snack on and give and drop an opinion.

My first thoughts last week were that they tasted great, but I wanted to look at 'em a little more. Wifey and I have now finished off the box and I've made my conclusions, so here we go...

First some stats on the F1 bars and some of my fave comparable snack bars and meal co-hosts:

Fiber One Bar: 140 cal., 4g fat, 29g carbs, 2g protein and 9g fiber.
Little Debbie Fig Bar: 160 cal., 1g fat, 31g carbs, 1g protein and 1g fiber.
Nature Valley Granola Bar: 180 cal., 6g fat, 29g carbs, 4g protein and 2g fiber.
Clif Bar (Black Cherry Almond): 250 cal., 5g fat, 44g carbs, 10g protein and 5g of fiber.

First Impressions: The bar looks identical to a Nature Valley Trail Mix Bar. Not surprising, they ARE made by the same parent company (General Mills). At first I poo-pooed the 9 grams of fiber. That was wrong, since I was comparing it to my normal colon blow breakfast cereal cocktail and NOT comparable snack bars. This is a "snack bar" not a meal replacement bar.

Taste: I must say- Yum-Oh. Hard to go wrong when something has chocolate in it. I think I was thinking that it would taste like Fiber One cereal (not that there's anything wrong with that, it's a fave of mine), but it's some good chewy and chocolaty goodness.

More On The Stats: The F1 Bar does have more fat than some of my normal daily snack foods (apples, pretzels, yogurt, oranges, etc.,) but compared to some of the other bars that I eat as snacks or with breakfast sometimes, they are not that bad or better.

Having kept track of my fat intake for many of my season months, I'm also aware that fat is one thing I actually come in too low in sometimes, so a few extra grams won't kill me, especially when you add in the fiber that they pack.

Oh yes, the fiber. Compared to the other bars, it's off the charts! 9 grams/35% of your recommended fiber intake. In doing some of this research I was a bit shocked that the Clif Bar has 5 grams of fiber (as do Hammer Bars). I'm also shocked that a fig bar only has ONE gram. I mean it's fig! You should be blowing that stuff right out! Of course compared to my "normal" cereal blend it falls well short, but I'm a bit of a fiber freak.

Because of the high fiber content of the F1, I personally would not use it DURING exercise or less than a few hours before a planned workout. Why? Lets just say I don't ride with any t.p. in my seat pack! And this is coming from someone with an off the charts daily fiber intake.

WIfey: Wifey had one or two of the bars as well. She's on them like white on rice. Wifey has been following the Weight Watchers diet plan and was pretty geeked that they are 2 points of tasty, chewy, chocolate. She also like the added fiber to the diet too. When I asked her if she would BUY the bars, without hesitating she said YES!

Me: Would I buy them? Yes. Since I do 95% of our grocery shopping and I know Wifey digs them I would buy them. and I WOULD eat some of them. If she didn't like them I'm not sure I would buy them. I usually opt for an item like fig bars that I can snack on AND use during a ride or race. Since I wouldn't eat these during a ride, they are religated to my 2nd string.

I also tend to lean toward a bar like the Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bar. It's stats aren't as good, but the crunchy granola makes you feel like you're really chomping on something and working for your snack. Combined with some yogurt and/or fruit it makes for a good breakfast bar too.

How I Used Them: In my few days with the freebies I ate a couple as snacks and 1 with a carton of low fat yogurt and a XL cup of coffee for breakfast. I wouldn't eat them as an afternoon snack on ride nights. Having said that, I also refrain from eating snacks like raw fruits and vegetables less than 3 or 4 hours before a ride too. I don't need any "gut rumblings" during the ride or any trail head dumps.

I would most likely use them as an a.m. snack at work, with some yogurt for a light breakfast or as an after dinner snack to satisfy a sweet tooth if one should develop. It's etter than sticking my finger in the peanut butter!

My Final Rating: 8 out of 10. I'm sure Wifey gives them a full 10. I'm hesitant to get too lovey since I would refrain from using them during a ride or in the pit at race. But for a snack with a colon kick, they're very good.

Oh yeah, one last thing. A little disclaimer for you and your colon: As you may be aware, health professionals often recommend gradually increasing fiber intake to help reduce gastrointestinal discomfort that initially may be experienced by some people when more fiber is added to their diet. Note that each Fiber One Chewy Bar has 9 grams of fiber—about 1/3 the Daily Value. If you're not used to eating a high fiber diet, you may want to begin with just half a bar and gradually work up to a full bar as your body becomes used to the fiber.

A Do Over And A DVD

After yesterdays sub par day in the saddle I made amends today with a "do over". Hitting the trainer for 1:40 of tempo work. I aimed for 2:00 hours, but at about 1:35 I was having trouble keeping my HR high enough to feel like I wasn't wasting my time, so I figured I'd go to 1:40 and end it.

After the workout it was out to my dad's with B-Man. While there I downloaded the .WMV of this years CX Worlds. Then I went on the pursuit of free software that would allow me to convert it to an acceptable media file for Mac's iDVD. After some searching, I found it. Converted it, and burned it.

The whole process took a while, but now I have a decent looking DVD to watch rather than sitting in front of my p.o.s. iMac watching a choppy and annoying .wmv file. The quality is not bad considering it came from a download .wmv file. Why is it that I got mor satisfaction out of figuring that out and getting myself a CX DVD than I get from my real job???

That's it.

Later

Who Did I Piss Off??

As you know I NNNNEEEDED to get outside today. And I did. Had to be better than 2 hours on the trainer in the Stankment, right? WRONG!!

1. Get up, coffee up, fuel up, bowel out, chamois up, layer up and and out the door. Figured there's been a lot of snow melt and the ground is frozen solid by this a.m.'s 15 degree temps, so I'm heading into the woods to do some single track. (enter mistake one)

2. Get to Boyce. Looks like they must have got a little more snow and a little less melting than we had. Trails are covered in snow. How hard could it be? Hard.

Did about 3/4 of a mile. Had to do a couple of hike-a-bikes, took a pedal to the shin, took a piss and called it a day. Headed for the rail trail. Enter mistake two.

3. After hitting every red light from Monroeville to Lil' Boston I got to the rail trail 35 minutes later. The sun is out, there's not a cloud in the sky and the temps are up to about 22 right now. This should make for a nice flat tempo ride of 2 to 3 hours. Wrong!

4. The trails were covered with snow that was walked in, then frozen over. I was riding the Dos Niner with a 80mm Reba, a 1" Relish in my rear (that STILL sounds perverse to me) and BIG, F*cking FAT Panaracerer meats (hence forth known as my B.F.F. tires) and even with ALL that I shake, shook, rattled and bounced along like vibrator on hardwood. If I could JUST make it to some un-walked in snow it will be fine. WRONG! Enter mistake three.

5. I FINALLY got a few miles in and hit less of the frozen foot prints. The un-walked in snow was even harder to ride in. It was hard, crusty and giving way under my weight. It did force me to be "light on the pedals" and keep a fast cadence. So that was good.

There ware a couple thin XC ski tracks. I tried to stay in the tracks, but the B.F.F.'s were just too F.F. to stay in the groove. F*ck! If I could just make it to some hard pack snow it will be fine. Enter mistake four!

6. Finally someone had ridden what appeared to be a quad on the trail making for 2 nice, wide, hard pack trails to follow in. I was finally making time. I was up to a 8 mph! Keep in mind I usually average about 18 or 19 mph on the R.T.

I rode along feeling pretty good for about, oh, 5 minutes before I realized that I was NOT riding on hard pack snow. I was riding on hard pack ICE!!! I found this out the hard way when my B.F.F. front tire hit the side of the quad's trail and SLAMMED me down to the ice and snow. GREAT! My first crash of 2007 comes on possibly THEE easiest trails to ride on in the whole f*cking world.

So I get up, pick the snow out of my nose and start off again. Now I'm going much slower, careful not to hit the edge of the "hard pack". If I can just make it to the dump off to my road loop I can salvage the day and get some miles in.

7. FINALLY I make it to the dump off to my road loop. Once on the pavement I couldn't decide if I wanted to head directly back to the Soob via the road (about 5 miles) or just do my normal road loop from that point. I was so spent from the trail (mentally, not physically) I compromised. Hit a "pretzel loop" of hills and then headed to the car.

8. The road was uneventful. I locked the Reba out and the B.F.F.'s were remarkably well on the pavement given their knobby girth. Mentally it was hard though. This is my road bike's turf. It just didn't feel right. I tried not to look at my computer. I didn't want to be mentally comparing speeds between the Dos and the Trek.

All I could do now was just try to focus on the positives of the day and not think of the feecus that the morning had given me: It's sunny, I'm on my bike, iPodious is giving me some nice road love, this Craft jacket ROCKS! Less than two months 'till my first race, my legs feel good, the Dos kicks ass, I have a new bike on order, there's Wild Goose Oatmeal Stout's back at the house, HEY I'm back at the car! SWEET!

In hindsight I regret every second that I was outside today. I should have just stayed on the trainer this week. At least I escaped the crash with no injuries to my bike, or me!

I can't help thinking of what Cycling God I pissed off. I've been good. I've watched the Tour of Cali, I've done my workouts, bought new gear, etc., etc.,

Must have been calling the weather man "swarmy" yesterday. OK, I take it back. He's a DICK! And so is Old Man Winter. Bring on a snowless spring, a hot, sweaty, iceless summer and a warm "Indian summer".

Time to curl up on the couch with a good beer, make some Mexican food, hang with my son, watch Sponge Bob, then fight some crime with my #1 busty, red headed super hero of a wife.

If it's warm where you are... SCREW YOU!

Kidding. Have a good weekend. Hope you got some miles in without freezing your tits off or eating snow.

Later.

Soiled Pizza Night

Thankfully the week and two days of no workouts has ended. Wanted to rest the back again tonight and gear up for a longer workout tomorrow so I just sat, watched yesterday's tape of the Tour O'Cali and cooked up that White Bean and Spinach Pizza that I mentioned yesterday.

Tuned out real well. I used the dough that you get in the cardboard tube in the refrigerated case. The only thing I would do different is use either fresh Roma Tomatoes instead of the sun dried, or give use the SDT's, but give 'em a few spins in the food processor. Either way it was tasty stuff.

I ate way too much of it though. I guess that's better than eating way too much of regular pizza since this one had only a few pinches of low fat cheese and a bunch of good vegetables. Wifey dug it too. If it looks yummy to you check out yesterday's post or check out the EatBetterAmerica.com website.
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My back is feeling a little better. I've been dealing with some back spasms this week. I think last weeks combo of high intensity workouts, snow removal and slipping/sliding on the ice took it's toll. Been using some ice on it and it's feeling about 90% better! Found some good tips over on the L.A. Laker's web site of all places! Check it.
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Tomorrow is up in the air on what I do. The weather man is a swarmy bastard and the forecast for the weekend is MUCH different now from what it was two days ago, I'm not sure WHAT kind of riding I will do. It WILL be outside for sure though. I NEED to get outside. Aiming for 2 hours minimum, but would LOVE to go much longer. Just depends on how long my tootzes can handle it.
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Gathered all my CamelBak bladders tonight to clean, soke and disinfect before the season. I do NOT need any mid race bowel evacs come April.
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Is Nissan the next UCI World Cup Sponsor? Check this story at SoloBike.It. If so, kudos to Nissan for believing in the sport.

Later, gonna hang with my boy.

Jens And Some Food For Thought

Wifey unfortunately was attending a funeral tonight, so I was hanging with the B-Man doing things that dad's and son's do- Watch Sponge Bob, draw circles, race cars, fix Avatar's broken arm, watch bike racing, and cook dinner.

We watched the tape of Jens Voigt taking yesterday's stage. Jens in the man. Always enjoy watching him in races. CSC is stack with some cool ass riders. Maybe I need one of these:

Food Talk:

For dinner tonight I tried remembering a recipe for Tuna Cakes that my late grandmother used to make. TRIED being the key word. Turned out ok, but not really worth the trouble. I have Pappy-M on the case looking for the recipe.

In other food new: Got a box of Fiber One Cereal Bars in the mail today from the folks at General Mills and EatBetterAmerica.com. They've noticed the blathering I do about food and how I dig and their site, so they sent me a box of bars asked me to throw down a review of the bars.

This of course prompted Wifey to say- "They asked a guy who keeps a blog called "THE SOILED CHAMOIS" to wright about a high fiber cereal bar???"

I'm big fan of Fiber One Cereal and for me many a breakfast consists of cereal cocktail mix of 1 cup Fiber One, 1 cup Raisin Bran and 1 cup milk for a total of 36 grams of fiber/350 calories. Keep in mind for an adult, about 25 grams for the WHOLE day is recommend. Yikes!!

I have had one, and it did tastes damn good, BUT I need to look at them more, check out the ingredients etc., I do know I was surprised the fiber content WASN'T that high, there's more fat in them than I expected and at 140 calories they might be falling in to a "no man's land" of snacks for me- To little calories to be a meal and too much fat/calories to be a mid a.m. snack

I need to look at them a little more and compare the stats to some of my regular snacks before I lay the stats on you and before I make any decisions. I also want Wifey to try 'em out. See what she thinks and how they might fall into her "Weight Watchers" cult stuff ;)

More Food....

After tonight's sub par tuna experiment I'm hesitant to try to make something new, but since I already bought the stuff I'm gonna giver' tomorrow. Here it is:

CLICK TO RECIPE TO ENLARGE

I'll let you know how it turns out. I will say I'm going to use refrigerated pizza dough rather than the shell.

Oh well, sorry for all the food talk. I feel like Oprah or something. Time to head over to Jeff's blog to eye his picts from Mallorca.

Later.

Lake in Za Haus

Tonight was one of those nights that I just did NOT want to get on the trainer. I normally I would not have been riding tonight, but tomorrow night I have some family commitments, so I needed to adapt to tonight.

1 hour seemed like an eternity. I did score a freaking sweet live Cure "boot" today, so hat made the hour a bit better.

Another old Tour video tonight. 2001 I think. I hate the Team Time Trial. Just do. So boring.

I think the plan for the rest of the week will be some light core stuff tomorrow and then rest until the weekend, when it appears that I might get out for some real riding. YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYESSSS!!!

My back has been a bit jacked as of late. Think I aggravated it shoveling snow last week and slipping around on the ice like a damn fool. Yet another reason to hate winter.

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Alberto El Grande @ Bikeman.com gave the word today that Lake Cycling is on as a shoe sponsor for the team this year.

Shoes are one of those things I hate to buy, but comfortable ones are important when you might be spending 24+ hours in them.

New race shoes were in my future for Oh-Seven and now with Lake throwing us a generous deal on their '07 kicks I have some decisions to make.

Do I go with the Lake 330, with the Boa® lacing system?
Or the 230 with straps and side buckle? Is there such thing as TOO much color coordination??

The Black Lake 330 with the BOA system intrigues me, but they're are a few dollars more than the 230. Alberto El Grande had chance to use the 330's BOA system at Frost Bike last week and said that they are damn comfy, and that's coming from a staunch Sidi user.

They both look to be a good choices comfort and performance wise, with the 330 weighing in about 100 grams lighter. Both do violate "no mechanical device" policy. I always seem to break 'em or get 'em gunked up. Overall comfort may win in the end. Who knows, I may end up just rolling what I have, but It's nice to have choices though.

Big "thank you" to Lake for supporting the team!

Later.

Meltdown!

No, I'm not having a mental "meltdown", the snow is melting RRRRRapidly and I gotta tell you, I'm stoked!

The dripping of the snow and ice off the roof is music to my ears. Weekend temps look like I might get some road time in. Hope so.

With thoughts of spring riding in my head, a PayPal account full of recent eBay dumps, and a credit card in hand I made a BIG pre season order to Bikeman.com today. I got all the little stuff that I'll need to get my Trek road bike in shape for big spring miles, to get the Dos Niner "race ready" and all the tid bits that I'll need to make sure that the Mamasita build can commence as soon as the frame comes in, my wheels are done, and the goodies from the fine folks at SRAM and Rock Shox find their way to me in the spring.

Speaking of the Mamasita. If you've been on the new Salsa site and looked close, you may have noticed that there has been a misprint with the geometry. They're aware of it, and it will be changed soon. To know if you're seeing the correct specs, the Large frame should be listed with a top tube (horizontal) length of 25". Or you can check out THIS link over on Bikeman.com of the correct specs.

I also ordered up my early season Hammer supplies. Last week I got my Heed direct from Hammer and today via Bikeman.com I got all my gels and some extra Perpetuem. I'm anxious to try out the Tropical Gel. It has 25 mg of caffeine per serving to give you a little kick in the junk during those night and early morning laps. I went with all the flavors that go well mixed with Perpetuem (Vanilla, Banana, and the above mentioned Tropical)

Road Cassette Opinion: 9 Speed Shimano 105 vs. Ultegra 12/25

My road bike came with an Ultegra rear cassette, and each time I've got a new one, I've gone Ultegra. UNTIL NOW. The more I thought about it, I could not come up with a reason to justify spending and extra $30 to save 46 grams.

I believe a road bike is THEE training tool, but when you race a bike that weighs 27 lbs., 46 grams on your 20lb. road bike is not much at all, and not worth $30. I mean I log a TON of road miles and everyone one of them is done wearing my muddy mountain bike shoes, black socks and occasionally a CamelBak! GASP!!! HA!

All this bike stuff put the legs in a snappy mood for some nice tempo work on the trainer tonight. Good times. Sure hope spring is around the corner.

Later.

Monday. Mind As Well Suffer

Since Monday tends to honk the hairy one anyway, and I tend to take Sunday's off from riding this time of year, it's the perfect day to do some intervals on the trainer down in the Stankment.

Why is it that riding is essential a series of "uncontrolled" intervals and it's about the most fun you can have with spandex clothes on, yet "controlled" intervals in your basement hurt like a hell both physically and mentally?? Oh well, they're over with.

Got an e mail today that 24 Solo is now available for Pre Order from Gripped Films. It's due to ship in April or May. (click the pict to go to the site)

Totally geeked for this movie. If it's even half as good as Off Road To Athens, it'll kick ass!

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Made a SERIOUSLY delicious meal tonight (if I don't say so myself). 2 cups of whole what penne, mixed through with chopped onion, and garlic sauteed in 1 tablespoon of E.V.O.O. Then I added some fresh chopped baby spinach (about 2 cups) and 1 can of diced tomatoes (drained). Top with some kosher salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and a dash of shredded mozzarella cheese. Yum-F'ing-Oh!

From VeloNews.com...

Levi sporting some "tatered chamois"

He was ok in the end, and didn't finish in the rear (poor, poor joke. I apologize)

I need to go get some feecus done and set my tape for the Tour O'Cali. Later,

eBay Ass Comfort & Easy Chewing Goodness

I found another Fizik Nisene HP on eBay this week. Had the winning bid and took if for a sweet price. Now I'll be able to have one on both the Dos Niner AND the yet to get, but coming in April- Salsa Mamasita.
It's not the lightest saddle by a long shot (290 grams), but I love it! Smooth flat top with no odd placed seams to tear up the taint & cheeks after hours in the saddle. Retails for $90. I'd probably pay that if I had to, but I'm sure content paying less than half that via eBay.

Also got my Hammer Heed on Friday. Hammer as usually through in some extra goodies. This time it was two Hammer Bars. Damn I love these things! Hands down THE best tasting, easiest to chew bar on the market.
The only downside to the Hammer Bar is the price- $2.49 a bar. YIKES! Even when I get them through the generous folks at Bikeman World HQ they're more than the .99¢ that I can get Clif Bars and Power Bars for at WalMart. Sooooo I learn to suck down the the 99¢ bars and cherish the free Hammer Bars I get thrown my way every so often.

Why? WHHHHY did I let Wifey convince me to get Chinese food for diner last night???
Don't get me wrong, I love it! In fact I ate a WHOLE family serving of General Tso's Chicken. Now along with about 2,900 grams of fat in my stomach I have a wad a chicken that feels like a the long dead general himself is in there, and when he comes out he's gonna leave me in a world of pain. Now where did I put my butt speculum and stirrups?

Oh well, anxious to read the reports from J.B. and the folks out in A.Z., Tour of Cali on Versus tonight.

Now it's time to "fiber up" and head out to Pappy M's with B-Man.

Later.

Couldn't Do It... (updated)

I could NOT ride outside today. Only part of if was due to my sheer lack of interest in freezing my tits off!

The main part was that my rack was frozen and encrusted in ice. My neighbors already think I'm a whack-job, seeing me outside trying to melt my rack with a lighter might just get me committed.

So it was to the Stankment® for 2 hours on the trainer. Included a 60 minute LT interval and 60 minutes of tempo pyramids through all 18. Not bad. I had a bunch of new tunes I got my hands on to listed to as well, so that helped pass the time.

Got my regular blogger banner back by re-uploading to Flickr, but for how long I'm not sure. The last time I checked the original upload, the Large sized header came up as a Chinese woman smoking a cigarette. She was pretty hot, but still not sure if she would have made for a good Blog banner.

The plan for the rest of the day is unclear. I MAY leave the house, or I might just crack one (or six) open and watch some bad tv.

Tour O'Cali starts tomorrow. I'm going with The Big Z, Dave Zabriskie! My fave U.S. rider in the pro peloton. I love Hincapie too, but you gotta back a flake.

Obi-Wan Zabriskie...

Wifey pointed THIS "seperated at birth" between DeeZee Version 2K7 and Sith Era Obi-Wan (easy KoKo!!)

So I finally eft the house to go pick up the new VeloNews (the first mag I've bought in over a year) and nearly got killed by an irate driver. A small piece of ice blew off my car and hit the car behind me. The dude went off his nut, gunned it to about 90 MPH, chased me down and rode beside me screaming like I could hear him, or cared at all.

Shit happens dude. It'sot like I threw it at you. It was my bad, just chill your ass out. I was going to blow him a kiss, but the last time I did that I think the guy reached for a gun. People: The main reason why I want to move to a cabin in the woods.

Good luck to my buddy J.B. down in Florida. John is doing a 24 hour road race this weekend. Also good luck to Adam, Dave H., and Lyda W. out in Aye-Zeee at the Two-Four of OH-Pee. Wish I was with all of your racing in the warmth of the sun rather than in this little patch of frozen hell.

Later.

Flickr???

Does ANYONE know wha the f*ck is going on with Flickr?? All hacked up? Photos were all jacked. I think I got hacked! F.

Have a new temp head in place till I get it sorted.

UPDATE: Seems that this is happening to a lot of folks. Just don't be surpised if randomly my heading is a brick wall or a man in a wheel chair. Odd.

New Salsa Web Site In The House!

Clicky the pict-y

I Have Russian Fever

I'm not sure, but I think Russian Fever is when you're exposed to the cold, snow and Ice for so long that you turn to the comforts of "liquid refreshments" to warm yourself up. If that means throwing my beer periodization schedule out the window, pretending it's spring/summer and having three (ok four) Troegs Dream Weaver Wheats tonight than so be it.

I SO need to get outside and do something. Might hit the rail trail for some snow riding tomorrow, but given the super cold temps and my "sore from being so cold nipples" I might just do my 2 hours on the trainer. I need more cold weather gear.

Or MAYBE I'll do a "Russian Nap". Drink 24 beers (equal to 1 bottle of Vodka) and go lay naked in the snow . I'm kidding of course, I got too much training and racing to do!! ;)

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Simoni Part II

A week or so ago I mentioned that Gilberto Simoni is aiming to take part in the 2008 Olympic Mountain Bike event. Looks like the 35 year Italiano is even more serious now. CyclingNews.com and todociclismo.com report that he plans on taking part in all the UCI World Cup events this year as well and MAY go all dirt after the Giro.
Now from what I've read, Simoni always seemed to come off like sort of a dick, but in an age where rider after rider leaves the pro mountain bike scene to actually make a living (damn them!!) by racing on the road, it's refreshing to read about the opposite.

No I know that at 35 (hey, I'M 35!!) his best days are probably behind him on the road, but it's cool to see someone who's won two Giros say "I'm not dead yet!" and head to the dirt.

OK, I have Mexican to eat, a beer to finish, a son to kiss goodnight, and crime to fight.

Later.

Maybe Jasper Does The Astro

Finished off my 4th day in a row of working out tonight. I was way less than thrilled to climb on board the trainer again, but once I got on and got warmed up, it got better.

I watched an old OLN (now Versus) video of the Montezuma's Revenge Race and iPodious was cranking out a live White Stripes that I obtained not long ago. I was doing some 5 minute tempo pyramid intervals mixed in with some short bursts. Staying focused on the minutes, my form and heart rate.

But then....

But THEN I hit tracks 16. Let's Build A Home/Going Back To Memphis and 17. Astro/Jack The Ripper. And HOLY PETE, I felt freaking rage! It was great! I swear i went from 135ish BPM to 170 and my RPMs went from 90 to 105+. Structure was out the window and I just let my legs fly along 'till things chilled a bit. Ah the power of music.

Be warned. If you download those tracks you WILL lose control during workout. You WILL break into a full on sprint. If in the gym, you WILL push the muscle headed guy on the machine next to you onto the floor and start screaming "MAYBE JASPER DOES THE ASTRO!!" in his face. THEN you WILL get your ass kicked while he screams "WHATS' YOUR PROBLEM YOU SHAVED LEGGED MOTHER F*CKER?!"

Also, a little F.Y.I.- The second half of track 16 "Going Back To Memphis" is a cover of song by the Soledad Brothers. I've seen them live twice, not on purpose. One time they opened for the White Stripes (and were good) the 2nd time they opened for Spiritualized and kinda sucked. Oh well.

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In other news, Brent and Ryan A.K.A. Twin-Six have teamed with Litespeed to do some t-shirt designs. Check out Litespeed's blog to see the story, and keep you ballz peeled to the Twin-Six site for the Litespeed designs.

Speaking of T6, have you seen the jerseys they designed for the Fat Cyclist? If not, check 'em HERE. Freaking sweet stuff.

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Lastly I have to give some thanks to Tech Head/Blogger/Marathon Mountain Biker Travis Swicegood for hooking me up with some space for some of my trainer mixes. I've only experimented with one right now (mix #9), but in the future I hope to have it set up some you can just directly download a mix to your desktop if you want. Thanks Travis!

Later.

What Not To Do...

1. The night before Valentine's Day DO NOT post a photo of a Polish pro mountain bike chick on your blog and called her "hot".

2. DO NOT not buy your wife a Valentine's Day gift (in my defense we've been kinda "snowed in" here the past couple days.

3. DO NOT try to do more anaerobic intervals after you've done a big set once this week, followed by two days of dealing with snow/freezing rain removal and all the work and commuting stresses that come with it. Body is revolting. I'm winning though ;)

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Have you ever worked on something all day, put all your thoughts and creativity into it, proof it a million times, make it a PDF, send it out and realize you've made a horrific spelling mistake in the e mail's title, and the recipient is most likely gonna think that it's spam and kill it, or just think you're a moron? Yeah, me neither

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I know by posting another pict of a kick ass female mountain bike racer I'm walking a fine line with Wifey, but I've never been one to take advice well (especially my own).

Kinda of a neat ad, featuring Norwegian XC "Fem-Thor" Gunn Rita Dahle. I must admit it's better than the Tom Boonen "gladiator" pict!

There's another pict of Gunn Rita, that out of respect for Valentine's Day I'm not going to post. I'm holding onto for now.

Speaking of Gunn Rita. Why are Merida Bikes not available in the U.S.? They make some pretty freaking swank frames.

Check out the "flex-stay" that is available on the Merida FLX Series. It's pretty much the same concept that the Salsa Mamasita will have. The Mamasita will have flat shaped Scandium chain stays that will allow some flex, and some sweet ass flat shaped carbon seat stays to take the edge off.

Unlike the FLX, The Mamasita will be a 29er, and available in the U.S.. Me thinks (if I can trust it) a good carbon seat post could potentialy dull even more trail chatter and not add any weight. Anyone recommend a reliable CF seat post? They kinda scare me. I might just stick with what brung me.

Oh well, time for some rest.

Later.

California Dreaming and Dry Heaves

Old Man Winter Is Giving Out Purple Mushrooms

Today was just FFFFFFFFantastic. About 5 inches of snow, then some freezing rain and sleet, followed by more snow and more of the same on tap tonight and tomorrow.

B-Man's daycare was closing early and since I have WAY more vacation time than Wifey right now, I just took the whole day off, kept B-Man home and hung out with him. So in a way, for a Tuesday in February, it was pretty fantastic.

I got to dress the B-Man up in his snow suit and give him shovel rides around front yard (He loved it!) then hang out and watch some of his favorite movie with him). Better than slinging hack art for 8(ish) hours.

California Dreaming

Once Wifey got home in the early afternoon I climbed on the trainer to spin my legs for an hour. I listened to the new Shins album. Damn it's good! It would be THE perfect soundtrack for some easy spinning under the warm California sun (not that I would in anyway know what that's like).

So of course those laid back sounds and images had me thinking that the Tour of California is coming up. So I hoped on the Mac to confirm the dates and HOT DAMN, it's starting this weekend.

While I'm no HUGE fan of events like Tour of California and The Tour of Georgia I'll still watch it damn it, cause right now it's the only game in town!

Whoooo, hold on! Before you ask Why I'm not a huge fan of races like the T.O.C. and T.O.G., I'll tell you...

Don't get me wrong I AM a fan. I'm just VERY mistrusting of big cycling events on American soil. I just get a sick creepy, look at those guys in funny outfits riding bikes, clogging up our streets, freak show vibe. Followed by dry heaves containing chunks of big business all pissed off because they're phones aren't ringing off the hooks from their sponsorship!

Anyone remember the Coors Classic, Thrift Drug Classic, Tour DuPont, and mountain biking's Mercury Tour?? Well, every time I watch a race like the Tour of California (or at least watch the condensed highlights), I think of those defunct races and I can't shake the feeling that one day I'll be adding the T.O.C. and T.O.G. to that list as well. I do hope I'm wrong in a BIG way!

I just can't imagine hearing that The Giro, Tour de France or other major European stage race was cancelled due to lack of sponsor or public interest. I guess it could happen, but I doubt.

So anyway enough negative vibes, lets support these races while they're around. Here's the Versus TV schedule for the upcoming Tour of California:

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And now I leave you with a Soiled Chamois Moment Of Zen...

Oh Maja. You might look silly, but you're still damn fast.

And hot.

Later.

Gobs of Blue, Frozen Salsa, and A Clean Bum

As expected, tonight's Anaerobic Intervals hurt. A lot. But It gave me the opportunity to see what I'll look like when I inevitably stroke out. Red faced, neck veins bulging, making a face like Popeye, etc., etc.,

Also as expected, by the 4th or 5th interval a blue wad of Gatorade flavored mucus exited my wind pipe at hyper speed and made contact with the old top tube. Nice.

But the job got done and that feels good.

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Frozen Salsa?

You have to check out the race recap by Kid over on the Salsa site! He recently competed in the Arrowhead 135 race in Northern Minnesota.

The temperature at the start was -28F!!! And dipped lower than -35F at times. MOTHER OF GOD!!! Kid's recap is a gripping read and after I finished I knew without a DOUBT that I will NEVER do a race like that.

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Time to go buy milk and toilet paper so I can brace for tomorrow's predicted snow storm. Why do folks rush to buy milk and toilet paper whenever a snow storm is in the forecast? I guess if you're trapped inside for the day you would want a high calcium beverage and a clean ass.

Later.

On It's Way...

With this 4 hour week of slack over I'm gonna turn out a few weeks of high instensity stuff, so I figured it was time to ditch the winter training kiddy fuel that is Gatorade and once again start ordering up the real deal....
For intensity training and REAL riding, there's nothing like HEED. It's subtle flavors are the best! You never get that sticky, sugary taste in your mouth. Sometimes with Gatorade, it's so sugary that it creates a thick mucus, that under intense training's heavy breathing can cause me to almost gag on it, hacking up nice ball of sugary flem (and sometimes breakfast) all over the top tube.

I'm not saying I never use anything else, For winter's training's hour reductions it's nice just to walk into WalMart and pick up a $4 can of Gatorade powder, but for "real" riding and training Heed is the tits!

Over the course of a long race I'll drink wide variety of stuff. Heed, Water, Perpetuem, Coke, Red Bull, Gatorade, and coffee! Whatever it takes to help me get through and not die, ha! But Heed is consistently the easiest to get down and help me stay hydrated.

Shameless Sales Pitch: If you want to order some up, drop me an e mail and I can shoot you a code so you can save 15% on your order.

Time to go watch Open Season with the B. Man.

Say Goodbye...

Say goodbye to most likely the last international cycling team sponsored by a U.S. company. Discovery Channel will end it's sponsorship of the team this year.

What does it say when a company can't see any value in sponsoring a team that is stacked with MAJOR stars of the sport?? Now put yourself in the shoes of a U.S. pro (or amateur shlep) mountain biker trying to get some sponsorship dollars!

It's really no surprise at all. Lance Armstrong gave some exposure to the sport here in the U.S. through his cancer comeback story and 7 Tour victories. But lets face it, if it wasn't for "the story", even WITH the 7 victories 80% + of America with would be saying "Lance who??"

I had a guy at work last year asking me if I thought LeMond could win the Tour!!! I replied if he was 20 years younger and 50 pounds lighter. (no offense Greg)

I also GUARANTEE you that other than we cyclists NO ONE in America knows or cares who folks like Ivan Basso or Tom Boonen are!

We live in a country where Floyd Landis gets exposure not because of his Tour victory, but because of the ensuing drug scandal. Bikes that run on "human power" are considered "toys", where obesity runs rampant, where whole entire news shows and specials are devoted to a dead whack job, washed up model/junkie, and where basketball/football/baseball players being or ACTING like they are gangsters and/or dicks is considered "cool".

How companies spend their dough is their business, and obviously they have to spend their marketing and advertising dollars in a way that is beneficial to them, their shareholders, customers etc., It just saddens me that other Americans don't share my love of the sport, and the admiration I have for the athletes who do it.

Sorry for the Sunday rant. The coffee was turned up to "eleven" this morning.

Later.

FREE SHIPPING!

Little heads up for you all. Bikeman.com is having a special now through Monday, February 12th.... FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $100. Pretty sweet deal. I mean you're already dropping a hundred+ beans, who wants to drop more just to get it??

Just in time for Valentine's Day too! I know I'm ordering up Wifey that '07 SRAM X.9 long cage derailleur and few other items she's been pining after. Nothing says love like crisp shifting. ;)

B-Man's 3rd!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my B-Man!

Here's the cake that Wifey baked and we tag-teamed decorating. Dude likes race cars and the "Cars" movie, ssssssso we made hime race track cake. We'll add some more funk to it tomorrow for his party, but this is it as of today.

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Pretty low key Saturday. As you may have noticed from the last week's posts, it was emotionally up and down week. That is what Wifey calls "Winter Jason". I got me some SERIOUS cabin fever and need to get out on some dirty PFQ. And not SNOW covered, hard nippled, frozen face, can't feel my feet dirt. REAL dirt. Ahhhhhh spring, you better bring it, quick!

I did hit the trainer for two hours since it was 11 degrees out when I planned to ride. I had good work out and oddly two hours FLEW by. I had my newest mix flowing via iPodious, some good mojo in my legs.

Well time to go hang with B-Man, watch Muppets Take Manhattan, and have a couple Troegs.

Later.

My Favorite Sponsor

A new sponsor? Not a new one, but my favorite and my most important- Wifey.

Sometimes doing this bike racing thing it's easy to get caught up in who's letting you ride the next trick frame or giving you some cool new duds to wear.

In reality if it wasn't for folks like, (in my case) Wifey, there wouldn't be the time to do this at all. So this is my public thanks to Wifey for all the evenings and Saturday mornings she spends taking care of B-Man and other stuff while I'm out riding my bike.

For the road trips, nights spent at home rather than going out, for letting me blow coin on bike parts, for putting up with whole wheat pasta, low fat cheese, and fake meat.

Because yes, I do all this stuff because it makes me feel good and I love it, but if you didn't think it was "cool" it wouldn't be fun. And lets face it. I'm a simple man and I'm just trying to "score".

Thanks JoErin. Love ya.

Jason

Taking It Easy?

No ride today, and none scheduled tomorrow. Hope to do something longish and low key Saturday, then start in hard on some high intensity work on Monday.

I wish I could say I was just chilling and not doing anything, but sometimes life's everyday stresses are more than anything a 24 Solo can throw at you. Married guys with kids should get endurance "bonus points" to use in events. Kidding! Sort of.

Spent a bit of time tonight checking out the Granny Gear site. I'm 100% sure I'm doing Big Bear, I just have to decide whether pony up the dime out of pocket, do the American Lung Association fund raising route, or start soliciting "co-sponsors" to split the cost of the $320 entry fee. Anyone have an extra $160? Yeah, that's what I thought, I think I'll try the ALA ;)

Seriously, I'm really excited to go back to Big Bear. Riding the 12 hour race there last fall really made me want to do the 24 again. I let money stand in the way last year, but not this year. You only live once, and there's nothing like kicking yourself square in the junk as hard as you can for 24 hours to remind one's self of that.

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Most of today, tonight, and this week can be summed up with a quote from one of my favorite TV characters- Al Swearengen from the HBO series Deadwood...

"In life you have to do a lot of things you don't fucking
want to do. Many times, that's what the fuck life is...
one vile fucking task after another"

What the hell is wrong with me, that THAT quote "speaks" to me?

Later.

The Day of Me

Today was declared a Mental Health Day at 7:25 a.m.

Work was aborted. An hour on the trainer was done, a BIG ass mix was made, eBaying has been done and my Yakima rack will ship out tomorrow to the high bidder.

This time of year is hard. It's hard core winter outside, new parts 'n stuff aren't in yet, races are still far off, but the dates and info are being finalized so needless to say I'm anxious, pent up, and ready to get going.

Makes me think that next year Wifey, B-Man and I should schedule an AZ trip and do Old Pueblo.

Speaking of O.P., Dave Harris is going to putting out some SERIOUS lumens there with his homemade LED light set up. This is how he describes his LED light- "so obnoxiously bright the helmet light is going to be redundant...apologies in advance to anyone that'll be at OP and gets blinded by my luminosity." Dammmmn. Sounds like one of the fastest Solo guys, just got faster with some ingenuity and brain power. Go Dave Go.

Pre season I really need to focus on some night riding. Not my strong suit. I'll be running what is soon becoming "old school" H.I.D. lights. Even though most racers agree that on the helmet is the best location, I may switch to the bar.

Who knows, going to experiment for sure. Been using it for 5+ years and I still haven't found my "sweet" spot for the light. Having shitty night vision anyway doesn't help.

Funny how my season has changed. Just a month or so ago I was saying how I was going to key on the hundies. Now my schedule has a 12, 13, 18, 24 hour race, plus one or two Marathons/100s thrown in. But as is every season, this is all written in sand. If the bod says "no" it means NO! I don't want to race half assed this year.

Oh well, mental health day is nearly over. Time to get some rest to bet back to the grind tomorrow.

Later.