First Impressions...

Hit Boyce Park today to try to get the Mamasita dialed in. A few factors skewed my impressions due to some component issues, but still a sweet ride.

First the GOOD parts: The frame rocks! It's light nimble and flickable.

My main race bike, The Dos Niner is not a "real" full suspension, but it's 1" Relish shock does add some weight, and there is some flex of course, there's SUPPOSED to be. Not here. Standing up, and locking out the Reba just pushes your forward, FAST without ANY flex. Just fast. It was like a road bike!

Climbing felt a bit quicker and steering was more precise with the Mamasita too. I love the Dos Niner's geometry, but for twisty single track (at least my first 15 miles on this frame) the Mamasita just seems to carve and steer better.

Now the rides issues...

First, I forgot my f'ing gloves!! F! So I had to ride bare handed and that was ok, but it made the fact that I didn't put Ergon grip on the Mamasita all the more apparent. Funny how FAST I got used to the Ergons. Looks like the Mamasita will get going green real soon.

2nd- I was getting some sort of rear brake rubbing/vibration. Didn't happen all the time, but enough that I had to stop and make sure everything was lined up right etc., Might be a rotor issue or something. Not sure. I did find some play in my SRAM cassette installed on the XT hub, but I doubt that's the issue. I could not replicate the issue when using my Hope/Bontrager wheel set so it has to be something with that wheel's set up. Need someone to look at it.

Speaking of the XT hubs. Amazing how fast one can get used to higher end wheels. The Hope Pro II's just BLOW XT's out of the freaking water! I used to think all that "pawl engagement" talk was a bunch of bunk. but not anymore. The XT's are mushier in their engagement and lack that quick precise feel that the Hopes do. XT's are a good "work horse" but for racing and performance riding, the Hope/Bontrager wheels are the shit!

3rd, my Reba was set a bit too stiff and I forgot my pump at home. I had double checked the air earlier in the week, and it seemed fine. Not sure if it was that I use different pump or what, but I needed to lower the psi by 10 today. NOW I got it plusher.

4th- the Maxxis Ignitors on the Mamasita. I found these tires excellent last year and they're still a great tire, but I think I'm spoiled by the all-round hook up cornering goodness of the Panaracer/IRD Fire Pros.

Lastly- the X9 triggers. They have a great shift and were great. I just need to get used to triggers again. Entering one corner with an immediate left had up hill, I shifted 3 times the WRONG way and hit the base of the up hill in a knee cap blower of a gear. By the end of the ride though I was getting it dialed in well.

All in all, not a great ride, but the frame has a TON of potential as soon as I work out my component issues.

Nice to get the frame on dirt, but I hated all the dialing in. Made the ride more "work" and less fun. I'm sure I'll get it though.

Later.

Enjoy?

Hmm, vacation is upon me. Gone are the days of travel to the West and weeks in Colorado, the scent of pine and the lure of high mountain single track. Hello White Oak!

I've NEVER been less thrilled to have time off than I am right now. Don't get me wrong, it beats going to work, but the pressure of "mandatory fun" is just NOT that appealing!

If my marriage survives the week, it will be a God damn miracle. Nothing against Wifey, everything against me. I'm the one with issues, not her.

Life goes in cycles, I know that. I've done the "fat cycle", the "lonely cycle", the dating and fun cycle", the "marriage and fun cycle" and currently (in it's 3rd year) birth of a great son, Wifey job loss, might file for bankruptcy, me being borderline retarded with no skills, only having fun when riding my bike cycle". Things will change. They'll have to. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. Just need to go with the flow and hope all the one's I love are still here when the dust settles.

So, until the credit limit is met, and or the divorce lawyers are called in, I'll just go with it, and enjoy. Right?

Hope to get out on the Mamasita tomorrow. THAT should at least be pretty f'ing cool! Hope to have some feedback on this frame in the coming days for you.

Later.

1 More...

1 more day of work and then my ass is off for 9 days in a row. Originally we were supposed to be hanging in Davis/Canaan Valley for the week, but due to some mis-communication with my sister (she didn't listen) our digs got lent to someone else. DOH!

Soooo, we'll be making the most of what he Pittsburgh area doesn't have to offer for the week. In between Wifey's break-neck "itinerary" of entertaining B-Man, I hope to get out a lot on my new (and oh so F'ing good) Salsa Mamasita.

Tonight brought more thunderstorms and more training c*ck blocks. So I ended up in the Stankment® again. I did an hour of sort of a "circuit". Time on the bike alternated with some light weights and core work. Felt good and sweat like a mo-fo.

Will Ramos Photography has some picts up from the Monkey 12. This is me looking like my normal D.Baggious self on a bike...

That's all I got.

Later.

It's A Bit Complicated

I was to be back on the bike for 1.5 hours of easy spinning on the Dos Niner tonight, but the obligatory "5 p.m. F*ck The Ride Storm" showed up and did just what it's name implies. So it was home to the 1147's humid as wool panties basement to spin my swollen grandma legs on the trainer for 30 minutes.

Should have done an hour but it was so hot I was sweating freaking buckets, so since this was a recovery spin I bailed at 30 minutes.

Oh yeah, how could I forget THIS???....

My Salsa Mamasita is finished.

And befor you ask NO that is NOT my car! It's a friend's Boxter. Tom was visiting him and thought it would be nice for my Mamasita to spend some time with some fast friends. HA! Looks sweet.

Some things will be and have been changed since the photo. The stem need to be droped a good 1/2" or more, I taped up the chain stay tonight and I still need to mount my wireless computer and get some bottle cages.

The grips will be switched out to Ergon's soon. I want to get black Ergon grips for this one to keep the stealth black and cut your pimp ass red look. The wheel set in the pict is my heavier Salsa/XT set. For races I'll use my Hope Pro II/Bontrager Mustangs.

I also need to play with the SRAM X9 triggers. These might take some getting used too and I'm not sure how long they'll last until go to X.0 Twisties on this bike too. Who knows?

Just in my spins around the neighborhood I found the bike to feel much "tighter" than the Dos Niner. I don't even feel like I'm on a 29er!

Anxious to get it on the dirt or out for an extended ride. I'll do a complete build run down in the near future when I get it dialed in (if you care). I'm damn stoked about this ride. Big thanks to Bikeman.com, and Salsa for hooking the team up! Also, as always thanks to Tom for a kick ass build job.

Music news: I'm geeked about this too...

Got tonight via my eMusic.com membership.

"Life is what you make it,
and I've made mine a mess"

Seems to be aces so far. Couple of the songs I already had via some live recordings, but nice to hear the studio versions too.

Also, if any my blog mates out east were going to see Mozzer in Philly on Friday, he had to post-pone do to illness. Stopped half way through a show in Mass. last night to apologize and ended the show.

Lastly, even though I wish she wouldn't have spent the cash, I am sorta pleased that Wifey and got 7th row tickets to see Social Distortion next month! One of the few bands aside from Frank Black and The Catholics that Wifey and I BOTH dig.

Saw Social D. with the Rev. Horton Heat years ago and it was one of my top 5 fave show ever.


Later.

Race Report: 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey

12 Hours of Cranky Monkey
June 24th, 2007
Quantico, VA

With the stress of the week behind me (that stress being breaking a frame, getting a new frame and getting that frame built up in 48 hours) I was able to take some deep breaths, and focus on "good stress" in the form of another Solo assault at the 1st (annual?) 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey at the US Marine Base in Quantico, Virginia.

Saturday a.m. I kissed Wifey and B-Man, loaded up the car with some CDs (new White Stripes and Arctic Monkeys, some recent Morrissey bootlegs, etc. in case you're wondering) stuffed the hatch with all my solo racing needs and strapped my new Dos Niner to the Soob.

I made it to Quantico, VA in about 5 hours. Sorta long, but my cabin/pit mate J.B. gave me some easy directions to keep my off the parking lot/death trap that is I-95, so that was cool.

Headed straight to the course at the base in Quantico. J.B. and one of his teammates were just getting ready to head out for a pre ride, so I parked the car, chamoised up, got Dos Niner V.2 off the Soob and hit the trails. Pretty cool way to shake out the "car legs" after 5 hours of driving!

The course was sweet! FAST single track mixed up with some nice climbs and some cool, twisty fast down hills. On the buff single track I kept wondering if my Panaracer/IRD Fire Pros where overkill, but then we would hit some sandy sections , or a climb with roots and loose rock and I knew that the tires would be just fine. I'm now up to over 30 hours of racing on them and they've rolled great in all conditions. THAT's a great tire.

After the pre-ride it was off to get settled into our cabin over at Prince William State Park. Rustic- yes, but it's low dollar price tag would make good enough to to flop before/after the race.

Since Wifey needed to be in Pittsburgh early a.m. for some work stuff, she and B-Man had to bail on the trip and I would be on my own in the pits for The Monkey. The pits were not the most convenient for quick bottle fills and food, especially with the "no riding in the pit area" rule. Not horrible, just not the best. But just like anything with this sort of racing, you need to adapt and roll with it.

I slept like shit Saturday night and woke up with a headache that felt like my head was in a vice. Not sure if it was from lack of sleep, lack of quality caffeine, or the piss poor pillow I brought with me that was about as comfy as a bag full of marbles. Thankfully the pain left after some Advil, PB&J and Starbucks iced coffee.

Got to the venue early and did all the normal race prep stuff. Check in, ready bottles, pinch a loaf, racer meeting, pretend to know what I'm doing, etc., etc., Side note: Damn I love my bib shorts, but there is NOTHING harder than dropping bibs to take a dump in a porta-john. I mean you have to get half naked just to dump. Yikes!

8 a.m. brought the 400 yard (seemed like 400 miles) run to the bikes. Runs suck. PERIOD. Can we PLEASE find a better way? No? Ok, the run will do. I sucked and was about 50th on the bike! I shit you not.

Once on the trail the 1st lap was filled with the normal back ups and what not. But that's expected on the first lap. 12 hours enough time to sort things out. Everyone relax!

My plan was to pit every two laps. I had my cooler of nutrition bottles, and I one Naglene bottle of Heed ready to pour in my pack, but what about the 3rd bladder fill? FFFFF! I left all my spare jugs of water in the car about 600 yards from the pit! Ohhhhh F!!! WHY am I such a moron? (don't answer that!) All that pre race prep and I forget WATER??? I mean I had everything going on and forgot the one thing that we human types sort of need for survival. Water!

Pre race. Time to check the shades and tighten the sphincter,
but apparently NOT time to think about where the hell my water is!!

I pushed through 2 laps quickly and then pitted for more Heed, a new bottle of Gatorade/Carbo Pro, a Power Gel and a few E-Caps. J.B. was out on course and no one else was around to ask about getting the water so I said "f*ck it", and went back out.

As I was riding, I was trying to formulate my game plan for getting my water as quickly as possible. As I pulled into the check-in after the next lap Fat Marc spied me and asked me how the lap was and if I needed anything. I usually decline such offers, but this time I had no shame and basically said "dude, I left my water in the car, can you get it or hook me up?" He said no prob and hooked me up with a 3 gal. container in my pit to get me through the race. Marc that was the ballz! You're so money and you don't even know it!!

While on the subject, I have to say thanks to ALL of the Henry's/Twin-Six folks. There wasn't ONE time I didn't come in the check in that one of them didn't ask if I needed anything or if I was feeling good. Thanks guys!

I had not looking forward to this lap race after my post Mohican 100 hundie high, but I was having fun with the course. I mean the course was a freaking blast, even as I started to get tired. One down hill had you launching off a water bar and then taking that momentum into some oh-so-sweet single track.

There was also some sweet relief from the climbs in the form of a 25 to 30 mph down hill double track. FUN. AS. HELL. It was on this (and many of the other) descents that I found my Ergon grips to be aces! I found that my down hill hand position is perfect for the grip and the flex of the grip's "wing" really provided some comfort and took that smash your palms with a hammer feeling that one often gets after multiple laps of rough descents.

Twisty single track

During one "nature break", Fitzy (who was riding damn strong in the SS solo class) comes up on me and jokes that pissing on the trail is a 5 minute penalty, I say "no, no SHITTING on the trail is the 5 minute penalty!" Not sure the racer folk behind him though we were funny or just stupid. Either way, you're putting your body through hell, mind as well have some fun, even if it's while forcing out a buttery piss.

Sandy double track.

Stomach was feeling good for the second race in a row. Nutrition consisted of Heed in my pack, Gatorade/Carbo Pro on the bike, every other lap a Strawberry/Banana PowerGel (with a hint of caffeine), and in the pits an occasional bight of PB&J or a hand full of trail mix.

By lap 8 I took on board T6 bottle full of Pepsi to keep going too. If you would have asked me 2 months ago if I'd being doing a lap with a bottle full of Pepsi I'd say you smoking crack! Now, I'm all about it when I need a quick fix, with no access to crystal meth.

Amazingly, cramping was put off until lap 8 when both hammies and both quads seized up and forced me dead in my tracks. More gushing racer love for the dude behind me that offered me a few E-Caps on the spot. Thanks dude! Doubtful that taking 3 pills, did much more than mentally get me back pedaling, but anything helps. I think the Heed had been doing a great job at keeping the cramps at bay, but the last batch I mixed up I think I made too weak.

There was one dude cramping so bad he was literally laying in the bushes writhing around. Once he said it was just cramps, I almost had to laugh. Felt bad, but still had to laugh. Dude was in a world of pain. Must have been a full body cramp!

Bike wise Dos V.2 was just like the old one- great! Maybe a bit stiffer (in a good way) but the same bike, so no real changes. I did have MAJOR chain suck at one point which left me having to use a end of my chain tool to poke it out from the front derailleur and chain stay, so as not to have to do something stupid like break the chain. It worked and all was good. Did mar up that sweet orange paint though. Shheeeeit.

Rockin' Dos Niner V.2

There were so many times that the 29" wheels bailed me out. Whether it was hitting a wide gaped log pile or bridge, coming off the back side of a big water bar, or rolling easily over up hill logs! On the other hand there was not ONE time I said "boy, I wish I had 26" wheels!"

The cut off for last laps was 7:00, so it was kind of like doing an 11 hour race. I pulled in with a few minutes to spare. After talking to the scorer I decided not to go out for lap 10. Felt pretty good, guess I just wasn't motivated enough to try to move up one place.

I felt like I accomplished a lot and just the possibility of moving up one place was not enough to push me out. I put in 85.5 miles of single track in less than 11 hours and finished in 6th place our of 35 male geared soloists, You take what you can get, and enjoy the ride that is racing a Solo.

I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't go out for that 10th lap, but shit, not going for lap 10 is just the tip of the iceberg that is '"Why Jason is disappointed in himself". HA!

At the same time I'm still happy with my results, considering the stressful week leading up to the race, and that, while not completely self supported, I didn't exactly have a "crew" either and truthfully I think I like it better like that. I don't mind the responsibility.

I've always raced my own race and let the placings fall where they may, and this race was no different. I might not be on the podium, but I'm usually close enough to smell the body stank of they guys who are. And I tell you what, it smells much better than the freshly showered scent of the guys who DNF!

Fitness was pretty good and nutrition felt real good at this race and I was very happy about that. This marks race #2 with NO vomit! Hooray for no vomit!

The Gatorade/Carbo Pro cocktail continues to help stoke the fire. This is also the second race that I used NO Perpetuem. I can't believe how my stomach revolts against it now, when in the past it was great. One day my tummy will probably have enough of what I'm using now too, and it will be time to move on again.

I might not have had pit support, but a bunch of folks still made the race happen for me and fun: Thanks to Salsa for getting me a replacement Dos Niner in time for the race (I'm still in awe of that!), Tom for getting it put together, John B. for taking care of reserving the cabin for us, support and good conversation.

Also to thanks to Marc and the other Spot/T6 whores, for the H20 and support. Course volunteers were awesome too. At about 3 different spots that they were there to there to offer up water or sports drinks and best of all encouragement. That's always cool during a sufferfest. You all rock.

Once I got cleaned up, I helped myself to the kick ass Papa John's Pizza that was provided after the race and then J.B. and I headed back to the cabin to sit on the front porch, have a couple Sam's and talk bikes. Next race might not be until the Wilderness 101. Not sure I can make it 'till August though. We shall see.

Thanks for reading. Later.

Monkey Cranking and Spanking

Short post. Super tired. Lack of sleep, racing, and travel has left me feeling like I got hit by a truck full of hot feecus.

Race report on the way. Short of it- 9/9.5 mile laps/85.5 Miles. Waiting on official results top ten but not sure where. My eyes were toasted and trying to read the results was not happening. New Dos Niner rocked and no vomit. More to come. Need sleep, Mexican food and MAYBE another beer.

Photo by Andrew Welch's mom. Thanks Mrs. W! Andrew won the solo single speed division.

Later.

Out of The Office

Gone racing. Back Monday. Later.

Mission Accomplished

6:30 a.m.- up, shower, roll through the blogs as I finished off my kick ass bag of Cyrious Java (which BTW you have to read JIMMAY'S! review of the roasty goodness on the site. Good read).

7:10 a.m.- Wake up the B-Man. Deal cut for another 5 minutes as I go get mug #2 of Java.
7:25 a.m.- B-Man up, dressed and goo to go.

7:25 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. B-Man and I eat, watch Fairy Odd Parents and play.

8:00 a.m.-8:20 a.m. More Java as B-Man and I watch Sponge Bob.

8:30 a.m. B-Man dropped at day care.

8:39 a.m. I return home to do some minor packing and look at (bike?) porn on the net.

9:30 a.m. UPS shows up. Two boxes. 1 from Salsa containing my replacement Dos Niner. 1 containing my new, highly lusted, higly anticipated, highly self-fornicated over Mamasita.


9:35 a.m.- Wake up call to Tom. Game on!

10:00 a.m.- Stop at Starbuck for some coffee for T., some muffins for his fam, and a No-f'ing-Fat Late for me.

10:10 - 10:30-ish a.m.- arrive at Tom's with frames, bikes, parts and goodies. Hang with Tom, Chris and their boys chatting and hdyrating with great coffee.

10:30-ish a.m.- Building commences. But first I snap a pict of Tom with the the Dos and a box full of lusty parts that will be going on the Mamasita.

Note Tom's is sporting his Bikeman.com T-shirt in honor of the build. Also note behind is Tom's recently eBayed SoftRide road bike. Quirky stuff.

10:45... Old Dos torn down, new Dos built up with LOTS of extra TLC from Tom.

Tom also cut down my new Ergon grips a little more for ultimate ease of grip-shifting and comfort, as well as put new pulleys on my well worn X9 rear derailleure. Not to mention ton of other little things that he either didn't tell me about or I had no idea what he was talking about.

2-ish p.m.?- Tom finishes up the build, and we get Chris to snap a pict of the results.

This job could have been don damn quick, no doubt, but Tom kicked it up a notch with the love, especially since it's a race week.

It was a fun time hanging out with him. Other than holding some stuff and testing out the bike, I did very little. Probably best, but it was great to hang with Tom, his Wife Chris, and their two boys.

Chris seem really taken with the frame and even started waxing poetic about "the bike streaking trough the forest like Mercury astride beams of radiant sunlight"... etc.,etc., She got pretty over the top, but I think she liked the frame! HA!

So the frame turned out damn sweet and I'll get to race Sunday. This is NOT how I imagined my week going, and I'm of course disappointed that my green Dos died, but it all worked out in the end.

Thanks to the great folks at Salsa taking care of me like I was a big shit and not the shlep that I am, AND to Tom who once again bailed me out of a race week melt down. I'm losing track of how many times the dude has saved my ass. Someday I'll hook you up good and proper Tom and not with the peanuts I hand out now. I promise!

But what about the Mamasita you ask???

Well, after I oooooed and ahhhhed over her for 10 minutes or more, she found a spare bike box in Tom's garage to lounge on. The frame is SO. FRRRRREAKING LIGHT!!! No scale, but it's hands down the lightest bike I've ever owned. The shapes of the carbon stays are freaking sexy as hell, the finish is sweet and it just OOOOOOOZES fast as shit!

The frame will be built up over the next week or so with that box (seen above) of SRAM goodies and a sweet RS Reba.

I have to admit some of the excitement got washed away due to the Dos Niner Incident of 2007, but it is gonna be boner SSSS--aaaaaahhhhh-wweeeeeeet!.

Finally got home close to 4 and THEN had to brave the masses at Wal-Mart to get groceries and supplies for the race. VERY UN-FUN.

5-ish p.m.- Home. Groceries put away and more minor packing finished. Time to make a Stromboli, have A beer, and chill. What a day!

Off to Va-GIN-YA tomorrow to meet up with J.B., pre-ride the Monkey, and rest up for Sunday's race.

Good luck to all my fellow bloggers racing this weekend. Too many good folks and rood races to list, but if you're reading this and you're racing. Consider yourself "good lucked"! SOIL IT!

Later.

Caliente

More later. Biz-EEE in race travel prep.

Later.

Limbo Before I Go-Go

Today was a day of some welcomed "lazy limbo". The non stop panic mode of last night has come down, I have frames hurling themselves towards me via land and air, and I have started to pack since it is likely I WILL be racing on Sunday at the Cranky Monkey after all, thanks to Salsa helping me get my replacement frame PDQ.

Orange Julio should arrive tomorrow, as well as Madre Caliente. Julio will should be pretty easy to set up (with Tom's help of course) since everything is the same. The Mamasita on the other hand will be something that will need to be left for another day, since it will require, cutting of steerer tubes, cables, etc.,

Time for sleep LOTS to do tomorrow.

Later.

Good News/Bad News/Great News

Let me tell you about my day.... I was in my typical work day (bad) mood 'till about 4 p.m. when I got the e mail from Bikeman.com World HQ that my Mamasita is on it's way! F*ck yeah!!! That's what I'm talking about!! Stay tuned later in the week of my being WAY too intimate with the frame.

I also got an e mail from Tom saying that the trails at Boyce held up well after the heavy rains last night and the P.T.A.G. MTB Fest County Park's ride was a go!

So after work I showed up at the park, met up with Tom and did a couple spins on some short trails to get warmed up. Tom had me leading the "fast" group. Not sure I would ever call me "fast". "Consistent" maybe, but not so fast.

Around 6ish the ride get's going. First I lead my group of about 10 straight into a pack of beginners. THEN I lead them into the tail end of the Intermidates. Then 1 mile later I get some tire rubbing. Thought I blew out my rear wheel. I held up the group. Checked my wheel, nothing. Got back on, pedaled, rubbing continues, stopped, nothing. Hmmmmm.

I sent Hal, my group's co-leader on with the folks and told them I'd catch up. Just before they got out of earshot I see IT...

So my ride ends. 1.5 miles in. Thank goodness Hal was there to take over ride leader duties. Thanks.

The rest of the story-

So I walked back to my car. The mechanical "walk of shame". Never good. Never fun., and NOT to be confused with the college era early a.m. cross campus "walk of shame" which usually at least had 10 to 12 beers and a pack of Trojans involved the night before. ANNNNNYway....

I cleaned up, loaded up my gear and headed for home in shock at my race week bad luck. Race on Sunday. I have no bike.

Once home, I made contact with Salsa. I can't say enough about how great they were and how fast they helped me out. I should have a new Dos Niner frame in hand Friday. Thanks Jason!!!

The '07 is actually beefed up in the area which my framed cracked that should help lessen the chance of future failures, see photo below:

Silver linings in all this?

Well I guess if the frame HAD to break, at least it was doing a local park ride, and not during a race I traveled 5 hours to get to or in the middle of a 100 miler!! Today also showed that having a sweet frame is great, but having a company watching your back with killer customer service is even better! Plus when the dust from this week settles I'll have two new frames and I'll be racing Sunday, on a spicy new Dos Niner.

It was also good to chat with Jason from Salsa on the phone. You get so used to talking with folks via e mail and blogs. It's cool to actually talk to the real person sometimes.

So goes another story of why I often want to put my head in an E-Z Bake Oven and turn the light bulb up to "11". Also another story of the great folks that keep pulling my sorry ass out of said E-Z Bake Oven.

Thanks again to Salsa for bailing me out and an apology to the good folks at the P.T.A.G. ride for only leading my group for about 1.5 miles. Good luck with the rest of the Festival.

Later. I need to TRY to sleep.

Some Mama-feedback-asita

Some folks have recently e mailed me asking questions about the Mamasita, so since I'm still in the waiting stages I thought I'd share some of the what I've seen.

It does look like folks are starting to get their cheeks on the Salsa Mamasita and I've been reading some good things.

Bikeman.com racer Ryan Rumsey had this to say in a recent race report....

"I will most likely never ride 26" wheels again... EVER (Unless it is on my Carver). The way the Mama rolls through everything really exemplifies the let it roll philosophy, but it really feels safer, faster, and crazier when you fly through stuff that you would normally bounce off. The flattened carbon seat stays are very flexible and you can feel and see them move when you compress the rear end. Plus traction is increased significantly since there is more tire contacting the ground."

Big Al, Bikeman.com team manager recently told me....
"I am drinking the Kool-Aid for sure... It is really quick handling, not sluggish at all"

As for me, Large team frames were reported to have shipped to dealers (Bikeman.com) last week, but no word yet from Bikeman.com World HQ other than Big Al reports that they SHOULD be on the way.

Waiting for this frame had taught me a good lesson in patience. I have to give Wifey credit for her patience too, since I've refused to move my box of Mama-build parts for the from the living room for 3 months. HA!

After this Sunday my season will be half over already, yikes! Still plenty of miles and hours of racing left though and hopefully I can get some of those miles and hours in on the Mama. Reading the good feedback at least puts me at ease that my expectations will be satisfied.

_______________________________________

Got my cabin reservation update for the 18 Hours on The Farm today. Got a sweet 4 man cabin right on the course. Can you remind me to send my cash? Thanks.

_______________________________________

Pissed down rain today/tonight. Not sure what the status of the Boyce trails will be for tomorrow's Bike Fest ride. Not real keen on doing a ride on the slick Boyce dirt a few days before a race. Maybe Wednesday's predicted sun will dry 'em out by the evening? Hope so. I know if this was a personal ride I would be aborting do to wet trails.

________________________________________

Namrita O'dea has a great R.O.O.T.M. over on the T6 site about Endurance racing. Good read and it's pretty spot on. Learn to suffer, love beer and ride 29". I couldn't have said it better myself. Check out her blog too. Always a good read.

_________________________________________

Was talking via e mail with Shey Lindner today and he clued me in on this site: Infinit Nutrition. Neat product that will even allow you to customize your nutrition powder or go with a ready made. I'm pretty damn intrigued. Might be worth a look-see.

Well time for dinner n'at.

Later

Icky thump, With The Lump In My Throat

Wow, I can't believe I squeezed a ride in tonight! Severe T-Storms can within what looked like mere yards of the trail today. BUT they didn't and I got my 13.5 mile loop in. Shhhhwwweet!!

BONUS: Ran into Bad Luck Glenn early on in the ride. Glenn is a "super fast I choose not to race, but can STILL kick everyone's ass, and don't even train" kind of guys. It's kind of annoying, ha! Glenn is B.L. Glenn, because EVERY time I ride with Glenn SOMEthing on my bike breaks.

With this being a race week I was on HIGH alert for bad mojo. BUT Glenn was on his new Raleigh single speed 29er and just hung on my wheel (with ease) and let me set the pace. NOTHING broke! I was shocked!

With a fast-ish pace and the chit chatting the 1:40/13.5 flew by. Too fast maybe! Good ride though and glad to have avoided the T-Storms! Still hot as freaking hairy dog balls! Damn! Still take it over 20* any day though!

One more mountain bike ride this week, as I'll used Wednesday's PTAG Bike Fest Ride at Boyce Park as a shake down for this Sunday's 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey. Looks like about 30 solos right now including my buddy J.B., not to mention FatMarc and his group of Spot/T6 whores will be there too. Marc, maybe this time you could work on NOT kissing me?? Thanks.

The following was some serious SUCK news from the Hardcore 24 in Naples, NY this weekend. Check this LINK to read this sad story. Thought and prayers go out to the family and friends of this racer.

Later.

Mag Musings Continued....

As some of you many remember I once did a little piece for my bros. over at T6 about blogs and mags. Now about a year later, I have to say I'm STILL feeling that way.

Well, maybe not blogs in general, but the Net for sure. I recently (today) got an issue of a well known one syllable bike mag in a Father's Day gift package. I read it in about 1 minute. One word: Full face helmet (OK, three) If I pick up a mag and there's ANY pict of a dude/chick wearing a full face helmet or hucking off ANYthing I am 100% NOT going to spend any money on that mag.

Now don't get me wrong, kudos to the folks out there who want to do the whole free ride/hucking/double crown fork thing. If that's your thang, then by all means work it. It's just not MY thing. I mean I'm not gonna pick up a mag about road riding, down hill racing, or recumbents either.

I still continue to find magazine mostly advertising, which I KNOW is necessary. You GOTZ to pay the bills, and hey, I admit it, I like seeing new shit to lust after. The rest of it is little f'ing blurbs about products and 5 month old news. The magazine I read today had a 2 paragraph "story" about the Cape Epic. The Cape Epic was in f'ing MARCH, it's now JUNE!!

I KNOW they work on deadlines, production etc., but if a mag is going to do a story on an INCREDIBLE race like the Cape Epic why not devote some pages to it?? Let me know how it unfolded, talk to some riders, clue me in on the popular equipment/nutrition and how to do it if I choose. Don't give me 2 paragraphs of outdated fluff. Jesus!!! Hell. seek advertiser out for that issue- "Hey, we're doing an issue with some editorial on the Cape Epic, the team that won, won on YOUR bikes or used YOUR nutrition, wanna advertise??"

Make me want to buy the mag, keep it, and refer back to it!!! Not breeze through it and throw it away!

If a mag wants to compete with rider blogs and forums like MTBR.com I believe they HAVE to start doing this. I continue to LOVE the fact that after a race like the Mohican 100 I can check out the blogs of friends and co-racers to see what their impressions were, what went right, what went wrong, what equipment they used, what they ate, and how the race turned out for them.

I know not everyone races. Not everyone wants know this stuff. But I have a gut feeling that if a 35 year old, with "no man's land" results (not good/not bad) wants to know this shit then there are a ton of others.

I have a few key sites other than my normal list of bloggers that I read. Here they are in no particular order:

1. CyclingNews.com
2. VeloNews.com
3. MTBS.cz (Czech site, can't read it, but the picts/vid of the Euro scene can be sweet)
4. MTBR.com Forums
5. SoloBike.it

There are a couple others, but this is the meat.

Magazines are going to HAVE to step up with their offerings if folks are gonna buy them. WHY am I going to spend $4.95 for old news, and advertisements???

I STILL am hoping a mag steps up and starts giving mountain bike racers something to look at, and I still hope that I can be part of a magazine that would do that, but right now it looks like that is NOT going to happen. So keep your mouse hand loose and enjoy the offering the Net can give you.

Sorry for the rant.

Later.

Saturday Continued..

So I was able to get out for a nice road loop Saturday a.m., got in my Big Ass loop at 45 miles. It was a pretty sweet day in the saddle. Lots of climbs, good weather and spanky legs.

Not too much else to say about it. Took some picts, here they are...

This is the rolling climb up Cool Springs Rd./A.K.A. Pork Grind Hill


This is the spring that gave the road it's official name. I've alway wanted to fill my bottles here, but not sure I trust the water. I always picture myself doubled over on the can with regret in my head and Giardia in my stomach.


This is the sign that gives gave Pork Grind Hill it's UNofficial Soiled Chamois name.


This MOFO of a climb comes at about mile 20 on this loop but mile 1.5 on my normal after work ride. It's MUCH easier (not saying much) after the legs are warmed up a bit. this is approaching 1 of 3 switchbacks with the 3rd being a knee cap blower.

No ride today. Just gonna hang with the family and start preparing for next week's Cranky Monkey.

Late.

Saturday: Long Ride/Quicky Post

Got out for 2:50 this a.m. and put in 45 miles. Mucho fun.
Time to help Wifey get ready for Papa-O's par-tay. More later.

Laaaaaaaid Back

Not much going on today. No ride. Just chillin'. Couple of Sierra Nevada's thrown down my gullet and baked up some white pizzas stromboli to fuel tomorrow's 2 to 3 hours on the road.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale could be the BEST standby beer EVER! Crisp 5.6% hoppey goodness, most distributors carry it, they sponsor a cycling team AND they provided some bevy at the Mohican 100! So cheers to Sierra Nevada!

On a "suck the joy right out of my Friday" note. I lost my freaking check card today. F*CK! Banks called, etc., etc., I've said it before, I'll say it again... I'm a moron.

Also a BIGGGGGGG cheers to my Father In-law- "Papa-O". He retired this week from a career spent getting the area's local "misguided" youth back on the educational track. The man has the patience of a saint and will be surely missed. Cheers Bob!! You did good. Your family is damn proud.

We're gonna have a big gig tomorrow evening to celebrate his years of hard work. Wifey and Jenny-Penny did good gettin' it all put together. Seriously, what could be more fun that letting your son-in-laws drink a bunch of beer to celebrate your retirement???

Later. Time to eat, drink, play, and fight crime (I hope). I might be a moron, I might be a dirt bag marginally talented bike racer. But damn, a summer Friday night with good food, good beer and a kick ass wife and kid is pretty damn cool.

A Short Thursday Post

Man, what a great ride tonight! Started at a "new for a weeknight ride" spot along Lincoln Way and did a nice 2 hours with some real nice climbing, including a nice 5 min./1 mile brute of a climb towards the end of the ride.

Above is the last climb. The grade in the last part of the climb is the junk kicker.

The Weather was tits and the legs felt spanky. Great to be out and enjoying the weather after yesterday's down pours.

____________________________________

For a good read check out Ricky Federau's write up on PinkBike.com of his adventures racing in Poland. Real neat story/article.

Later.

Lemons/German Porn

A wise friend once told me- "when life hands you lemons- make hardcore German pornography"

OK, I admit it no friend of mine ever told me that. Sometimes shit just pops in my head and my variation of the old lemons/lemonade saying just popped in my head tonight as my ride failed to materialize.

Today was AB-so-lutely beautiful in Pittsburgh. Sun, warm temps, and I was aching for some post work single track!

I knew we were supposed to get some storms later, and the radar showed some stuff north of the 'Burgh, but it looked like I had some time. But I was wrong. By the time I drove the 1 minute down the road to the trails, the skies looked a bit dark. By the time I got my bike down, the County Cop was stopping by my car to let me know there were some severe storms coming down fast from the north. F!

But COULD I get a quick loop in??? NO! All I got was 1.5 miles in. Yep. 1.5 miles of single track before the woods go so dark I needed to take my Q3s off just too see!

Got back to the car, threw the Dos Niner up on top the Soob and by the time I got my shoes off the rain was beating down hard and the wind was howling!

The normal 25 minute drive home took closer to 40 minutes and it was a bitch! Hail, wind, driving rains, flooded roads, etc., etc.,

All I could do was just think of the driving rains as a "bike wash" for the Dos Niner on mother nature's dime. I also felt so bad for the Dos up there getting pounded with hail. But what are you gonna do.

Once home I headed to the basement and spun the legs for 25 minutes just to get some of the drive home's nervous tension out.

A PERFECT day all day until 5:10 p.m. Just my luck. Oh well nothing in the forecast tomorrow so I plan to get a couple hours on the road after work. I'll salvage this week yet!!

So where does the German pornography come in? Well it really doesn't. Of course I did see an interesting "film" back in my art school days.... About all I have now are some links to the Craft/Bike Trans Germany going on now. Read up.

• Official Craft/Bike Trans German Web Page
• CyclingNews.com Coverage

Later.

Funny. I Don't Feel Slack.

Holy crap, a busy night tonight! The night had the following...

• Get home from work, do a quick game of "Socky Bomb" with the B-man. (you got a roll of socks, pretend it's some sort of Green Goblin grenade, lots of screaming, diving around and giggling).

• Cleaned my road rims and mounted new rim tape and put my worn, but better Maxxis Denonators back on The Trek.

• Quick mow of the yard so as not to have to cut into ride time for things like my ugly ass yard

• Cook up Wifey a birthday meal which was her choice of my special White Trash Mexican food.

• Eat said White Trash Mexican food.

• FINALLY got my Lake 230s back in action. Thank GOD too. Wore the Sidi Bullets to mountain bike in last night and they were KILLING my feet. The Lakes are super comfy. Got the cleat bolt replaced and then since they still smelled of mildew more cleaning was needed, followed my a spray of Lysol (green apple scent). You just KNOW I'm gonna get chased by a pack of bees tomorrow!!

• Adjusted my Ergon grips further. They still need cut down further so I can get quicker shifts on the my SRAM twisties. Tonight I just got the grip/bar end position a little more comfy. I am digging them. Once I get back over to Tom's to use his hack saw talents, they should be spot on.

• Loaded up WIfey's Shuffle with some of my tunes so as to brain wash her into liking good music.

• Got this blog on.

Later. Going to bed.

Angsty Goth Teen Monday Ride

Wow, my new office location may be a bit further for me to get to, and my lunch hour trips home are now gone, but damn it was nice to be taking my bike down off the Soob at 5:03 p.m.! Getting to the trails that quick now allows me to get a nice 1:40 in on dirt and STILL be home to cook a good dinner and hang with the B-Man for a bit as he winds down for bed with S. Bob.

Ride was good tonight, but I was feeling yesterday's 3 hours on the road a bit. Legs were just a little dead. The trails are ALIVE too. Warm temps and thunderstorms have the thorn bushes and weeds growing fast as shit! My arms are cut up like an angsty, goth teen, listening to too much Pornography era Cure with a drawer full of Xacto blades.

Lots of trees are down from last Friday night's storm too. Hope the chain saw trail folk can get out to the park before the Boyce Bike Fest ride. I don't mind cutting back the weeds, but me with a chain saw has "accident waiting to happen" all over it!!! If you recall I had a weed whacker to shin incident last month, not sure I'd be so lucky with a 1,000 RPM saw.

Went down to the basement to find my road bike with ANOTHER flat rear tire!! UG!! Since the holes are in the rim side, it HAS to be the old rim tape. No VISIBLE spoke holes but it must be worn enough that 115 psi is puncturing the tube. Need to stop at Pgh Pro tomorrow and get some new tape and tubes.

Might go back to my worn, but damn easy to put on Maxxis Detonators too. This is the 2nd year in a row that I've been less than thrilled with Panaracer road tires. I LOVE their mountain tires but not crazy about how damn hard these things are to get off and on. I might try the Maxxis ReFuse later in the summer too.

No ride tomorrow. Hanging with Wifey on her 36th Birthday. Or at least not riding my bike till 7:30 at night. Happy Birthday JoErin!!! Feel free to wear your birthday suit, I won't mind.

Later.

Redemption

OK, I admit it. I lied. I said I would not road ride today and I did. I said that it would be fat tires for me. Well, I needed to redeem the myself for yesterday's flat tire debacle and bagged scheduled hours on the road and that's just what I did.

I also needed to redeem myself for last nights 1 too many oatmeal stout home brews and 5 to 10 slices of homemade pizza over a Y-Nizzle and Ms. M's house.

I found redemption in the form of nearly 3 hours of ride time and just under 50 miles on the road. And it felt damn good. Weather was pristine again, I had no flats, and I was SURE to carry my tire levers ;)

Got slightly lost on one road, and you KNOW that to get back to where I needed to be it was ALL uphill. Penance comes in many forms my friend. For some it might be 10 Our Father's kneeling on pencils. For me today, The Church of 39/25 delt out slow grinds up steep grades. Hell, in between F-bombs, I may have even muttered an Our Father getting up that last climb today!

I finally feel 100% healthy. My legs felt good and nutrition wise Carbo Pro continues to impress me with it's power. I took 1 bottle Gatorade/Carbo Pro, 1 Bottle of Heed, and 1 smaller bottle of straight water in my jersey pocket. I still had a bit of Heed left at the end of the 3 hours. I never felt hungry the whole ride. Of course having about 7,000 calories from last night's pizza/stout binge still coursing through my veins might have helped too.

Most likely some hours in the dirt of Boyce Park tomorrow. Time to do penance at my OTHER church.

My Big Bear Solo prediction was spot on- Steve Schwarz took home 1st. This wasn't too much of a surprise. Steve won last year at B.B. and anyone who saw him at Leesburg back in April could see that he's got it going on. Also congrats to Holly on 1st place women's solo. I'm sure Tom will be sharing the weekend's detail with me soon.

Big congrats to my buddy Fernando for his team's 3rd place (Endura Factory Team) in Male Expert. Congrats man! I was watching you on the net! Wonder how Loretta did at the Stoopid 50?

Oh well, time to rest up and get ready for another week of work. Nice to have the sickness gone be able to look forward to a week of riding.

Later.

Road Rules Broken/Lessons Learned

Today's road rules...

#1 If you think about dropping your bottle on the first climb of the day, you WILL drop said bottle and be forced to stop and pick it up.

#2 If you're 3 miles from your starting point and think to yourself "I forgot to pack tire levers and these new tires are a bitch to get on/off without them" go back and get the tire levers!

#3 If you didn't go back and get your tire levers (and you know you didn't) you WILL get a flat 5 miles into your ride.

After the dropped bottle the ride was going fine (for the next 4 miles) the legs felt spanky. The weather was pristine and I was looking to do 3 hours on the road. At mile 4.9 I was flagged down by a dude wanting directions.

As I'm telling him where he needed to go I heard a noise that I assumed was his car's AC hissing. Well what it ACTUALLY was, was my rear tire.. pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss...

I realized this as I took about three pedal strokes and realized I was on my rim. Nice. I'm out in a section of roads that are NOT the greatest. Hick city. The types of roads where you would NOT be surprised to happen upon a bunch of shirtless guys, drinking Busch pounders and setting road kill on fire just to watch it burn.

I was in a pickle. No levers and those BEEEEEOTCH Panaracer tires. Well being that I wasn't gonna go knocking on any doors dressed like I was, I opted to try to get the tire off with just my hands. Ah, NO! So I took my Bontrager QR and used it as a lever. This was gonna work, but I would need another. So I had to take off the front wheels too.

Changing a road tire HAS to be one of the "levels of hell". I'm now at about the 20 minute mark for this tire change. Granted some of that time was spent staring off into space praying that if any locals stumbled upon me that they would be gentle.

I finally got the tire off and a new tube in. NOW I have to hope I can get the tire seated without tearing the tube. OK, did that NOW time for Co2. PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!! Done. Worked, Sweet!

Nearly 30 minutes later I have about as much interest in doing a ride now as I do about having a colonoscopy. Mountain tires are SO freaking easy to change! Why must road tires be the devil's work! Tiny little tires with tiny little tubes.

Rode back to the car, went up that HUGE hill I came down earlier (rather well, one of the day's highlights) and back to the Soob. Tomorrow I will ride my mountain bike, I will carry no tire levers and if I flat I will have it changed in a few minutes rather than a half hour.

Today I'm chalking up to a lesson learned. Now I'm gonna go work on some house stuff now. Which means f*cking things up and having to have someone come fix it for me at a later time.

UPDATE #1: Inspection of the tube showed a puncture on the rim side of the tube. There are no exposed spoke holes so it must have been a small tear from installing these new tires last week.

UPDATE #2: I successfully ripped out and installed two steps on my back porch! HOLY CRAP! I f*ck Everything up and I ACTUALLY got this right. Like I said HOLY CRAP!

Later.

Please Shed Some Light...

Why is it I get so many folk are finding my blog with the search words

"Boonen Shit Chamois"
"Boonen Paris - Roubaix Soiled Shorts"
"Boonen Shit Himself"

I can only think given these searches that Tom Boonen indeed shit himself during the 07 Paris Roubaix?
Anyone?

That OR he shit himself when he found out PO-lice raided some homes of the Quick Step team.

Later. Time to go ride.

Hop Head Friday WIth My Icky Thump

Office moved today. Great. Power went out for no reason at 3:45. I left at 4:00 p.m. Sweet!

WPA/WV got bitch slapped pretty good today 1st with 90 degree heat THEN with some BIG thunder storms. To paraphrase Ghost Busters 1 -"dogs and cats living together, real old testament wrath of God type stuff". In other words- we got a lot of rain.

My body still just ISN'T right. The cold is all but gone, and I don't see any reason not to ride, but there's just some sort of bug clinging on. I think when you ride and race lots, you really get to know your body. I was telling Wifey last week that I thought I was getting sick. She said I was crazy. A few days later... Sick. IN YOUR FACE WIFEY!!!! I mean whataya know, I'm sick.

Good luck to the folks racing Big Bear tomorrow. I got money on my man Steve Schwarz for a repeat of 06. Go Steve! And good luck to my man Fernando racing on a team and to Tom down there wrenching for Holly.

Tonight's down pours have pretty much negated a Saturday ride in the dirt, so looks like 2+ hours of pavement for me tomorrow.

Enjoying another freaking GREAT Pennsylvania beer tonight- The Weyebacher Hops Infusion...

BIG HOPS taste. Crisp and yummy. I may have few tonight. Weyebacher is just another in a sweet ass list of PA brewers (Victory, Stoudts, Troegs, Erie, East End, Lancaster, etc., etc., etc,

I also got a chance to listen to the new White Stripes today. Not great, but much better than their last. Much of it is growing on me.

Tomorrow night it's off to Y-Nizzle and Ms. M's house for pizza and Y's oatmeal stout homebrew. Yum-F'ing-OH!!!!

That's it. Time for food, beer, B-Man, and hopefully some crime fighting with WIfey.

Gettin' My Swerve Back

"I am on reprieve

lacking my joie de vivre
missing my gay paris "
-The Decemberists, "The Legionnaire's Lament"

With a lingering cough, chemical tasting drainage, and head full of angst I headed to Boyce Park tonight to attempt to regain my swerve, my "joie de vivre" if you will, via 13 miles of dirt.

Mission accomplished. Rode at a casual pace, enjoying the smells of summer in the woods- flowers, grasses, tree, skunks and all. Body felt pretty good and mind has slowly started to part the clouds.

Had to use my Sidi Bullet's tonight, because I forgot to take my Lake 230s out of the plastic bag I had them in since last Saturday leaving them smelling like a dumpster full of muddy, wet underwear.

Then (and this is sort of good luck) when I was scrubbing them last night I noticed my left cleat looked a tad odd. As it turns out, one of the bolts severed off (during the race?) and the other's head crumbled as soon as I attempted to unscrew it. Great. Two bolts severed off IN my shoe. Cleat is off, but the rest of the bolt is in the plate in the shoe.

Not sure HOW this happened. Had I over tightened them too many times and weakened the bolt? Did the rocky hike a bikes on Saturday jack them up? Who knows? JUST damn lucky that the cleat didn't fall apart DURING the race leaving me, chamois down and over a barrel of "what the f*ck!"

I have some old screws/cleat plates on hand so this shouldn't be an issue too long. Soon as the shoes stop smelling like the above mentioned dank underwear I'll put a fix on them. I hope.

I am moving house
a half-life disappears today
every hag waves me on
(secretly wishing me gone
well, I will be soon
oh - I will be soon)
-Morrissey, "Late Night Maudlin Street"

My office is moving tomorrow. Going to be about 20 seconds away from Boyce Park now. Gonna be sweet to get on the trail by 5:05, but it's gonna suck for my road rides which won't have me even starting the ride till about 5:35 (if I'm lucky).

Another suck thing about the move is that it's back to the building where I had my first graphics job 16 years ago. The first and WORST job I ever had! I used to typeset ads from 6:00 p.m. till 4:30 a.m. for $5.25 an hour. Now here I am FULL circle. Right BACK where I started from.

Maybe it's a sign that I've "completed" this chapter of life and something will change soon? Or I suck it up, enjoy 4 weeks vacation and the fact my fave trails are 20 seconds from my place of work.

As many of you may have read, in yesterdays Comments, Jason from Salsa gave the heads up that the most recent batch of Mamastia's are in at Salsa World HQ, and so if all goes well, I should have it soon. So to Salsa I say...

¡Mamasita! ¡Tu tanga rosada es tan fantástico!

(Sweet Momma! Your pink thong is fantastic!)

Not sure why, but the above line from the Urban Dictionary (with Mamasita spelling adjustment), just seemed right given my lustful longings for the frame. I'll also just add a simple THANK YOU to the fine folks at Salsa for helping Team Bikeman.com out. Muchos gracias!

And now courtesy of Y-Nizzle I give you tonight's Moment of Zen...

Now picture a shaved headed, 6'3" man with a gotee doing this.
If you can, you have a good idea of what Y. was up to tonight.

Later.

On The Couch: Session One

With too much time on my hands, too much time to think, and 3 races down already this season, I've been looking inward and thinking/writing out loud about my first few races, some equipment, and some other life shit. Bare with me.

Expectations:

Hard to believe, the season is moving along so fast. Three races under my belt already! In many ways the season isn't going how I expected. The thing is I don't know WHAT I expected in 2007. My goals were vague at best.

Results are about right on par for for someone of my mid packish abilities and training time. All I can do is my best. Folks are just damn fast and getting faster! Plus when you do these races, 95% of the time you're competing against pros and amateurs alike from ages of 19 to 50! That's cool as hell, but can also be pretty overwhelming if you let yourself think about it. I choose not to think about it ;)

Season (Races 1 - 3):

The season started with the Leesburg Bakers Dozen. It was a good race except for towards the end I kind of cracked and ended up 10th. Lodi Farms started good and quickly turned to feecus fast with stomach issues and bonk! That was my own fault. Racing too soon (2 weeks) after Leesburg. I did manage to squeak into the the top 10 with a 7th place finish.

Mohican was a great time and my results could have been better, but the field was big and stacked with some serious talent, so I feel pretty good about 39th of 71.

Formats:

The Mohican 100 was also yet another eye opener to what I enjoy the most. Riding my bike for long miles rather than riding my bike for a long times. Sometimes the two go hand in hand. But having the goal of finishing BIG miles as fast as I can, rather than going for a set period of time is much cooler to me and not as mentally exhausting as watching the clock (that's what I do 9 to 5, five days a week!)

Oddly I got a registration pack in the mail for the 24 Hour Champion Challenge (Seven Springs) yesterday. I opened just to see what the Solo reg price was. $230 again. Ah, no thanks. I also just got a "last call" e mail from Granny Gear for Big Bear. $330. NO thanks again! I paid that once, but a $330 T-Shirt only lasts so long.

Then I started thinking about those trails at Seven Springs. The course there is great, but thoughts of those great trails didn't make me want to ride them for 24 hours. It made me want to figure out a ride loop from Laurel Mountain, to Seven Springs, using road, service roads, single track etc., Putting together as much mileage as I can.

As I've mentioned before I regret not sticking to my plan of doing 4 of the NUE series or more this year. I wish I was heading to Michigan for the Lumberjack instead of gearing up for the 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey. But as it is, I'm signed up for the Monkey and hope to lay down as many laps as my flabby ass can put down.

The good news is I still have the Wilderness 101, maybe the SM100 and Iron Cross still ahead! Maybe some others too, if stars and planets align just right.

Bike and Stuff:

Last year I thought I was figuring out my nutrition pretty good, with a variety of Hammer Nutrition products. But stomach issues were a BIG problem in the first two races, but I think I've gotten that sorted out. Found some stuff that works for me and I'm done with sticking with things because they're SUPPOSED to work. Dude, if I have puke on my top tube- shit AIN'T working and it's time to try something else.

Bikes have been good. The Dos Niner continues to rock! My Reba 29er is now set to 100mm allowing me to set it pretty cushy and cushy makes me happy over the long haul.

I do plan to ride my mountain bike more on the road the rest of the season. One thing I noticed at Mohican was that I was coming to a hill (on the road) like I was on my road bike, but feeling slightly "off" with my gear choices. Plus, if I've never done ONE mountain bike race on my road bike, why not spend as much time as I can on my mountain bike?

I have some old CX tires, that I think will fit on my Mustang 29er rims and of course a nice worn down set of Maxxis Ignitors that should roll well on the pavement. This plan will work well once I get the Mamasita too. The Mama whata?....

Yeah, I would have liked to have commented on the Mamasita by now, but un-for-seen issues have delayed me from getting one in the early 07 season. News from Salsa and Bikeman.com is, that it should be soon though.

It's doubtful I'll have it shipped/built up by the Cranky Monkey, but that's ok, the Dos Niner is probably the right tool for that job anyway. Would be nice to finally have a back up though. In hind sight I probably should have held off on a 2nd bike in 2007 and done something more responsible like got a 2nd job! But that's another post I suppose.

My new Bikeman.com wheel build of Bontrager Mustang rims and Hope P2 hubs has been a nice addition to the Dos Niner. Spin up real nice and engage nice and quick. Aside from last weeks nipple blow out they have been great.

The late addition of some sweet Ergon grips/bar ends looks promising too. They felt good through most of Mohican and once I get them cut and adjusted a tad more, long term comfort should increase. I spent so much time gripping the bar ends over the road/dirt road sections I sorta didn't take advantage of the comfort that the grip offers.

My road bike,,, well it's my road bike. Not fuss no muss. Gets the job done. I like it just fine, but I don't lust for another, or worry about it. In a way that's pretty cool. In another way that's pretty boring.

Still lots of riding and racing ahead this year. Lots more to learn and lots more fun to have.

Why?:

Not to be all too "on the couch" about riding my bike, but In between all the racing/riding I need to find a some perspective on what I want out of my racing. Why does one put themselves through some of this stuff when you know you have VERY little chance to podium?

I guess if that's what racing was about for me I would have quit long ago. Competing feels damn good. Not against you or the guy next to me on the line, but against ME. Did I do more laps, more miles, feel better than last time? Did I make that climb this year? Did I possibly inspire someone younger or older to give racing or riding a shot?

Problem is, am I benefiting my team or sponsors with lack luster results? Does anyone care what bike the 10th place guy rode? Or what food he threw up on himself? I hope that the generous folks that help me out see beyond the results and see the work, passion and love that goes into the racing.

Real Life/Work:

Then after all that I also need NEW job. Not just a job, but a career. Not about making more money, but something I ENJOY, something I WANT to do for the next 40 years (YIKES!). Or at least something NOT art. Burned out. BIG TIME. Not sure if guys with a shitty art school degree and 15+ years experience in graphics are qualified for too much else. But again, that's all probably another post.

I need to get this cold the hell kicked for good, get some miles in, and crawl out of this fecal covered mood I'm in or else Wifey's gonna kick me to the curb.

*DING* Well, our time is up. you can pay the receptionist on your way out.

Later.

A Cold Recovery

My head cold's ass is all but kicked. NyQuil, DayQuil, Airborne, Water, Beer, fresh strawberries and some freaking tasty ass Mango that Wifey picked me up have done the trick! This might be my record for kicking a cold's ass. Glad the weather has gotten a bit nip right now. Hate colds when it's 85 degrees!

Spun my legs for a mere half hour tonight listening to disc to of HEY! Live Pixies . Sing it Frank Black Francis!

Legs felt ok, but I need to toss that Selle Italia saddle that I have on The Booger in the nearest dumpster. Like getting sodomised by a brick.

NOTHING like my Fizik Nisene....

Now THAT"S some ASS LOVIN'

This Sunday is the Mid Atlantic Super Series Stoopid 50 Marathon:

I would like to to race this, but I think I should focus on June 24th's 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey right now. Need to recover proper, and save my gas pennies. But that doesn't mean that YOU shouldn't do it. So get Stoopid this weekend.

Later.