Trick or Treat Rules, And Race Nutrition?

Oh yes, Halloween. Not a fan. Not a fan of Trick Or Treat either. BUT you have to play by the rules in this neck of the woods or you'll find your car on the business end of a tire slash. TorT has sort of degraded into pan handling for candy.
Here's a pic of me and Wolverine. I wanted my secret character name to be "The Shocker" (A.K.A. Mr. 2 in 1, 1 In The Other). I told Wifey that and almost got a forearm to my wigged head. So I just went with "Brennan's Geek Dad"). BTW, my P-Tec lights on blinky made great lighting for the front porch during Trick or Treat.

Trick or Treat can enrange me. Many kids don't even wear a costume, mother's bringing infants, etc.. In MY rule book You MUST have a costume to get the good stuff from me. If you show up at my house with no costume and a pillow case, you get Milk Duds. Teenage mother with infant? You get Mike & Ikes. Why? I hate Milk Duds and I hate Mike & Ikes.

Same rules apply for kids with parents that are smoking cigarettes . Sorry kid, if your mom or pop is smoking, you have more important things to do than eat candy. Like research how all that second hand smoke is gonna rip up your lungs. And it looks trashy.

The last group of kids that get the shitty bottom of my candy bag, are kids older than 12. Dude if you're older than 12 and not thinking about anything but free candy, you need to really embrace puberty and talk to a girl. Eeesh. In contrast to those rules, a kid who has a killer costume gets 2 or more treats of the good stuff, a kid that says "Trick or Treat", AND "thank you" gets called back for more, followed by a happy Halloween! A dad or mom with a small child or infant who is cute, in a costume, and NOT acting like I MUST give their kid something also gets extras of the good stuff.

I Have Too Much Time On My Hands....

Then there's the treats that never make it to the front porch. Some treats enter the house in disguise. But I KNOW better!! They're race and ride eats! This past season I learned a few things about race nutrition. I learned to STOP believing the hype that is the marketing that Power Bar, Hammer, Clif, etc., feed us (no pun intended).

I learned that for ME those bars don't cut it. Trying to eat a Power Bar or Clif Bar while riding is about as easy as trying to swallow a whole chicken bone. I mean sometimes I think that these companies put no real world research into who uses their products and how and when folks used them.

Don't get me wrong. I dig a Clif Bar with a yogurt for lunch once in a while, and Vanilla Power Gel is gel from the heavens. But when it comes to solid food, I found what works for me is a good ol' fashion' candy bar.
Check out the stats (I really need to ride more)

#1 3 Musketeers (Fun Size, Marketing Speak for "small").
Serving Size: 1 Bar
Calories: 63
Fat: 2 Grams
Carbs: 11.3 Grams
Sodium: 28 MG
Protein: 0.3
Fiber: 1
Ease of Eating: 9/10 Any easier it would be a gel. You could chew this with you gums.
Taste 10/10


#2 Milky Way (Fun Size)
Serving Size: 1 Bar
Calories: 76
Fat: 3 Grams
Carbs: 12 Grams
Sodium: 27.5 MG
Protein .5 Gram
Fiber: .03 Grams
Ease of Eating: 7/10 (Caramel brought it down)
Taste 8/10 (Caramel again)

#3 Snickers (Fun Size)
Serving Size: 1 Bar
Calories: 80
Fat: 4 Grams
Carbs: 12 Grams
Sodium: 50 MG
Protein 1.5 Gram (I'll take it.)
Fiber: .02 Grams (Great. No one wants to Race Dump)
Ease of Eating: 6/10 Peanuts require more chewing and digestion.
Taste: 7/10 Caramel and Peanuts. You might not be in the mood. The peanuts
help give the Snickers the highest marks for protein out of the candy bars.

Fun Sized Candy Bar Averages:
Calories: 73
Fat: 3 Grams
Carbs: 11.7 Grams
Sodium: 35 MG
Protein: .07 Grams

Versus The Most Common Enemy:

Power Bar Performance
Serving Size: 1/3 of Bar
Calories: 80
Fat: 1.16 Grams
Carbs: 12 Grams
Sodium: 67 MG
Protein 2.7 Grams
Fiber: .03 Grams
Ease of Eating: 1/10 You could die while trying to eat this and ride. Sort of like eating hard taffy. Power Bars are the Milk Duds of the Sports Nutrition World.
Taste: Hmmm. 1/10 Depends on how desperate you are.

The clear winner for me based on taste, ease of chew, is 3 Musketeers Bar. These bars are great for unsuported rides too because you can just pop the whole bar in your mouth. Not need to worry about pulling a muddy, dust and sweat covered Power Bar back out of your jersey pocket.

I sometimes like Balance Bars, but at about $1.20 a bar, I can buy a whole bag of "fun sized" bars for about another $1.00. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, simple sugars, crashes, blah, blah, blah. BALLZ! Keep a bag in the pits. 1 bar each time you come through to keep a little solid in the gut, a gel on course, sip on a Carbo Pro/Gatorade cocktail to keep the body with running with more complex carbs and more electrolytes, and try to stay hydrated (my down fall) with Heed and/or water.

Take note: EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT! This is just my opinion on eating some solids during a race. It took several years, a lot of choking, and some serious bonks to realize that I need something more solid, that tastes great, is EASY to chew and I WANT to eat in order to keep going. What works for me might bake you sick as a beaten dog. My next test might have to be Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. Zip-zip-zang, yummmm.

To the forest roads of the mountians tomorrow. Must say no to single track again. Poop.

Later.

What? Foxy Is A Social Libertarian?

What? WHAT?? WHAT DID HE SAAAY?

So I go to the E.N.T. Doc today for the hearing issue in my left ear. I was pretty laid back about it. I want the issue cleared up and figured it was just an inner ear infection. But this IS ME we're talking about. It's could NOT be that simple. Since I like to stay on the cusp of new body dysfunctions and illnesses, I went and got myself a nice case of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing loss (SSNHL). Yep. No simple round of antibiotics for me. Instead I get to rock some steroids and HOPE that I get some or all of my hearing back in my left hear.

So in the past two weeks I have found out that I have a blood clot in my leg, and NOW have an issue that may or may not leave me mostly deaf in one ear. Whooo hoooo! I hate to bitch. There are some folks experiencing some tough times right now. An old friend of ours just lost his mother to cancer this week. F*cking blows! Then there is what Fatty and his wife Susan are going through. I mean, when you hear and read this stuff it's hard to bitch too loudly. That which does not kill me, blah, blah, blah....

So I WILL bitch, just not so loudly, and about REAL issues. Like the fact that apparently SSNHL has been in the media in the past few years. WHY? Well apparently right wing radio freak show host Rush Limbaugh had a severe case, as did everybody's favorite rapping ghetto queen Foxy Brown. Wow, there's two people I can really identify with.
Hmmm, who to choose as a my official SSNHL role model? The blow hard whose views make my skin crawl, or the female rapper who's music makes my skin crawl. At least if Foxy doesn't sing, she very well COULD (Edit: did) make a guest appearance it a fantasy or something. Rush on the other hand won't get any air time on my radio OR in my mind. He's one of those dudes that I kinda forgot existed. Either way I guess I'm closer to being an African American female rapper than him, so FOXY IT IS! What up Foxy?? You my girl Foxy!

As with my blood clot, the docs aren't sure what exactly caused it. Fantastic. Why can't I get NORMAL shit wrong with me like most people? Oh well, I'll take time on my week of steroids to lift some weights. Maybe my lean body mass will be off the charts? I'm gonne be huge. I'm gonna start racing track and callin' everybody "dawg"!

Oh well, I didn't let today's unfortunate news deter me from riding. In fact it fueled my desire to escape on my bike. I took the Mamasita to the rail trail and rode up to Sutersville and then hit a bunch of side and back roads. It was the same ride I did Sunday. Except that 90% of this one was in the dark. I put the EOS on my lid and the PTSB3 on my bars. The new EOS rocks! Again it's not as bright as my Apex, but it's SUPER light and throw a nice wide beam. It really complimented the SB3. I thought that the "3" would wash out the EOS but it worked out just fine.

I think the EOS works better on my lid than the (last year's) Apex, because even though it's "technically" not as bright (about 30 or 50 lumens less), it appears to me that the beam pattern is wider with less spot. And as I said the other day- NO WIRES! Really forgot that it was even on top of my helmet. With the SB3, the EOS and the SWERVE on my back, I think I felt safer on the roads at night than I do during the day. It was really cool to ride many of those back roads at night for the first time. Even if it was only 39 degrees when I finished. I'm sure I jacked some cars off with the "what the f*ck is that?" slow down, but they'll get over it.

Two almost funny tid bits.

#1. I was rolling along the rail trail on my return to Boston and I was thinking about how it was the night before Halloween and I had this lavish ghost storey concocted in my head to write tonight. It would be about an encounter on the trail. The funny thing was the more I thought about what I was gonna write, the more scared I ACTUALLY became!! One minute I was like "oh yeah, riding the trail at night, this is so cool" the next minute I was like "what the hell am I doing out here at night?? What was that?? What was that noise?". By the time I got back to the Soob I pretty much ditched the ghost story idea.

#2. I finish and roll up to the Soob parked down at the Boston trail head to see that someone spit a f*cking hawker on my driver's side window the size of a human head!! WTF?? Fucking disgusting! I'm sure it was some local wino making his way to the ball field dug out to sleep one off or something. That or some reject kid. I guess I should just be lucky it wasn't a big turd or something. Ended the ride with 2:30/33.5 miles of rail trail and night time nasty ass road riding. Good times. Good times.

On NOT talking politics...

Lastly, with election approaching fast, I do have to add that I know I've violated one of my own rules here on the Chamois tonight and a few times this month. That rule is never talk politics or express a political opinion. Why? Truth be told I don't really give a f*ck. It's no secret I'm pretty much a liberal/independent/libertarian/odd ball/clean cut hippie type freak who just doesn't want to be bothered by ANYONE. Republican OR Democrat. I really have NOTHING in common with either party.

I guess I have a more liberal leaning, but they always say or do something stupid to f*ck it up and look stupid. And I find conservatives just just constantly offensive and laughable (they're kind of caricatures of themselves these days). I have no time for politics. I believe our system is a great one, but is indeed f*cked. I just want to "be".

The last time I gave a f*ck I happily went to bed thinking that Al Gore was our president. I woke up to find otherwise and since then have not cared one bit and remain UN-REGISTERED TO VOTE to this day. I won't be voting next week because of that. And if I did vote I'd be forced to write in someone like Oscar Wilde and I don't think that would do anyone any good.

Beyond the major players, I know NOTHING anymore. I don't read the newspaper, listen to talk radio, watch the news, or watch pundits. It's all too depressing. Too many "experts" with too many "opinions" thus TOO MANY ASS HOLES. I am admittedly blissfully ignorant and uninformed. I know what I like. I know what I don't like. And NO one in American politics thinks like I do, so f*ck it.

So if I offended anyone here in the recent past, rest assured, I probably dislike the folks you THINK I like, as much as you KNOW I dislike the folks YOU like. Make sense? NO? Good? So don't be hating. And this NOW marks the last I will ever speak of politics.

OK, lets talk religion....

Later.

Just One More Chapter

First snow flakes of the year were blowing around here today. My friend D.K. will attest to the fact that this is usually the day I make my first threat to "take a rope to the attic" and usher in Winter Jason. D.K. seemed almost disappointed via e-mail today when I wasn't my usual over the top depressed self about the weather. Maybe I'm too wrapped up in my leg and ear issues to care if it's snowing or not? On top of that I guess whether I want to admit it or not, I'm still feeling pretty lucky that I rode for a month with an untreated blood clot in my leg and didn't kick it. So let it snow. Let the wind blow. Who the f*ck cares? Yeah, I hate it. But it can alternate between an excuse to not ride AND an excuse TO get all primal and ride in the cold like a testosterone pumping ice age cave man. I have .05% hearing in my left ear, I gotz more important things to worry about.

I'm nearly finished with the Dean Karnazes book "Ultra Marathon Man". What a great read! I can really see myself reading it again. During so much of the book all I had to do was substitute cycling for running and it was uncanny how similar some of his thinking is to mine and some other folks I know (probably you).

A couple of lines and excerpts really spoke to me. Towards the end he talks about how his "hobby" has taken a toll on old friendships and his social life. I can attest to that. There are a good number of folks that I just don't keep in touch with any longer. Not because I don't like them or love them. I often just get so wrapped up in trying to race, ride, train, work, blog, be a good son, father and husband, that often time for going out or seeing friends just slips away. I don't see friends as nearly as I should and I feel a lot of guilt about that. But I also know that in the end the racing and riding makes me happy on so many levels. And it makes me a better person on many levels too!

I completely understood when he talked about training alone most of the time. It's not that I don't enjoy riding with other folks. But I have my routine. I have a schedule. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy it, or won't try to do it. It just means that often, a post work ride needs to be two hours or 1.5 hours, or whatever time frame my schedule allows that night and that's it.

I love to ride, but I also love to see B-Man and Wifey during the evenings too. Their bed time is 8:45 or 9 P.M. So I do what I need to do and get home. Weekends can be different, at least on Saturday's I usually have more time. And that is usually my BIG ride day. Again, not that I don't want to ride with folks, but if I have a plan to ride for 3 or 4 hours in the mountain or elsewhere, I want to stick to that. Sometimes it can be hard to get folks to want to ride for that length of time at my pace (usually SLOWER than theirs). I KNOW I need to ride with faster folks. That's how you get faster. I know that this is why I will end up submitting to Don P.'s strong arming and race at least a few XC races next year. Even if it's Vet Sport. I need to make sure I don't plateau. Easier said then done, but it's at least in the plans for 2009.

I like how Karnazes points out that Ultra events are not for everyone and he knows he's sort of a freak. That what he and other Ultra runners do is NOT normal. The same of course could be said for endurance cycling events of course. I like when he says- "Somewhere along the line we seem to have confused comfort with happiness, I've now come to believe that quite the opposite is the case". Don't get me wrong I would never say that I ENJOYED the times I've spent dry heaving in the pits, dehydrating, cramped up like a pretzel, pissing butter, and bonking, but there is a certain something about knowing that "yep, I pushed it as far as I could. This is the lap or mile that will define my race for better or worse". It was right after the above excerpt in red that he drops a kick ass quote from Dostoyevsky- "Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness". Nice!

I only have a few pages to go and I find myself wanting to know more. So much of the time I spent saying "Hey I think that! I do that!" that I feel like I need to know more. No, I'm not putting myself in the same class of athlete as Karnazes. I mean dude ran 200 freaking miles! I've never even rode 200 miles! 150ish yes, 200 no. But there were MANY similarities regardless.

Maybe that's what Dean Karnazes wanted the book to be? Maybe in it's own way the book is a way for endurance athletes to identify with each other and see that we may run, bike, swim (or all 3 if you're a Tri-freak) various distances with various results, but we're really not all that different from each other.

Like I said I wanted to read more, but then maybe my (our) OWN riding, racing, and writing IS sort of a continuation of the book? Maybe that's how it is for all of us? Each ride, each race, each adventure is one more life chapter to enjoy. One more memory to cherish, one more way of LIVING life and not just stumbling through life. Whether you spend your post race time on the podium or dry heaving in the pits with me, each race tells you a little more about yourself. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but it's ALL part of growing as an athlete and as a person. Let yourself enjoy it.

Time for bed. I have 3 more pages to read, and sleep to get. I have an appointment with an E.N.T. doc tomorrow to see why I can't hear. My doc couldn't see anything, so if there's infection it's way down deep in my noggin. Oh well, shit happens, right? At least it's not supposed to snow tomorrow. Enter one chilly ass night ride.

Later.

Fall's Putrid Stank of Laziness

Watch out! The air is filled with the heavy, putrid stank of laziness. As much as I love to ride. And as much as I love burning calories so as not to become a rolling tub o'goo. A rainy, windy, cold day in October will shoot laziness out of my pores like a zit pus to a mirror.

For a non CX racing, recovering from various illnesses type goof like me, October is a month of transition. It's the month that bridges the end of one riding/race season, to the beginning of the next season's training. Or in my case "training" with two big super sized air quotes. So even though my lights were charged, the Mamasita's tires were aired up and ready to go. I did not ride.

My motivation to venture out into the dark, wet October night was at as close to zero as you could get. The allure of hanging out watching Bizarre Foods and a eating plate of my not so bizarre Veggie & Chicken Whole Wheat Pasta Stir fry was too much. There will be plenty of cold nights in the near future to roll base miles. I chose the "Bag The Ride Free" card tonight.

So now that my confession about not riding is over,
I can blather on about the cool mail I got today...

The new EOS BIke light from Princeton-Tec! It is indeed a mighy bright light.
OR Lumiére de la ville puissante!

This thing is freaking cool! You may have heard me mention my modified Apex that Princeton-Tec hooked me up with last year. This thing is even cooler! The EOS has been upgraded to 50 lumens, runs on 3 self contained AAA batteries and is bright! I was shocked! I think my Apex MAY have just got replaced. It doesn't pack the lumens that the Apex does (about 30 less), or beam length, but in wins out in being that in runs on only 3 AAAs and still puts out a nice bright swath of light for a light with a lens that is roughly 1" wide!!! I think the widh is comparable to the Apex, it's only a claimed 105 grams with battery, and NO wires!

I'm not talking main light here or anything, but the EOS is a killer choice for secondary or back up light. On high it will burn over 100 hours. 1 hour of that is regulated. Meaning that it's as bright at minute 60 as it was at minute 1. Beam length on high is an estimated 60+ yards. If you ask me that's a nice throw for a tiny light.

The EOS bike also comes with all the hardware you need to mount on on your bars or helmet. For rail trail and road riding at night I will most likely put the EOS on my helmet and and my SB3 on my bars. That way I can get my main light lower to light up the trail/road at higher speeds. For single track I will use it like I use my Apex. On the bars to light up the area immediately in front of me, and for the serious power use the SB3 on my helmet to see down the trail and around corners.

Retail the EOS bike goes for about $43 bucks. A lot of major sporting goods stores like Ricardo's Sporting Goods carry Princeton Tec products. On line bike shops like Speedgoat carry them too. You can score it for $37 from Brightguy.com. Hoping to get some real world ride time with it. By that I mean NOT walking around my house seeing how well it lights up a room. Big thanks to Princeton-Tec for the hook up. If you pick one up, you may want to make sure you get the NEW 50 lumen EOS not last year's model.

Later.

The Random Button

One thing that doesn't really change from race season to off season is that Monday is a day of sloth. Sort of. It's not void of ALL things bike, just no riding. I took the time today and tonight to do some random bike related things....

First I got the first official race report posted to the Pro Bikes team blog courtesy of Don Powers. You can check out the site if you care to. I know the heading below says 2009, but how the hell was I too know that guys like Don would STILL be racing at this time of year. NOT counting CX of course!

The Pro Bikes team blog is still a work in progress for me and I have a lot of links, logos, etc., to add.

I had an appointment with a Cardiologist today to try to get more info on my DVT recovery. Not too much different. He made some slight medication adjustments and reiterated that I can work out, ride, romp, cavort, line dance, jazzercise, and get my general freak on without worry of death. That's good. The bad was that he still pretty much said no to REAL mountain biking. As in the kind where I push myself hard and often crash. Because that could cause bleeding. Bleeding on blood thinners = bad.

I do hope to get to the mountain this weekend if the weather cooperates. There are miles of forest roads that I can ride and not have too worry TOO much about crashing. Although it IS hunting season now and I MAY have to worry about an arrow in my chest. Of course I have no real need to sport orange hunting gear when I'm riding the Dos Niner.... :)
I also threw the CrossMarks back on the Mamasita. Since I've been rolling the Mama on the rail trail and roads and will be for the coming weeks, I figured it would be best to get the fast rolling C-Marks back on. I have to say I have grown to like those tires more over the summer. My only gripe is that they are a bit more prone to flats from even small thorns. If I can get the hang of Stans in my tires, I hope to run the CrossMarks for some hundies next year. They roll fast on pavement, forest roads, and dirt. Just have watch 'em on trails that are even the SLIGHTEST bit damp or thorny. Yikes!

I also have started "Operation Lighten The Dos". In '09 I plan to have my (future) silver Dos Niner as my race bike. So I plan to have it done up with some nice carbon/ti/ceramic type bits by April (money permitting). I also am planning "Operation Lighten The Chamois". I plan on stripping 10 to 15ish pounds from my bod this winter. Gaunt is the new black, brown, pink, white, whatever color is hip. Mental note, get that gym membership taken care of.

Part of dropping weight will of course be from becoming WAY more strict with alcohol intake. I have to admit that first week were my weekend routine of riding, enjoying a few big beers, etc., was interrupted I was a real dick. But since then I don't miss it. I did have a few 3 beers over the span of last weekend. One of them (I can't believe I'm admitting this) was a Sam Adams Light. And it was pretty good!

I was shocked! It was good and only had 119 calories (oppose to 238 in my fave beer). So if I limit myself to 2 or 3 a week and make them something low alcohol/low calorie I should be able to control the weight AND also not affect my blood levels. Making sure I don't die and getting healthy to race well in the spring is my #1 priority. What's next for me, wine coolers? Now if I could just find a light cheese that I love!!

Found out today (via D.P.) that there are plans for P.T.A.G. to work with the county to build single track in White Oak Park. Yep, the White Oak Park that is 3 minutes from my house! I barely finished reading the e mail before I was e mailing the White Oak Park P.T.A.G. rep to volunteer my services. Helping to build some trails might be just the ticket to get me through the winter.

OK, I'm done. Randomness has worn me out. Off to ANOTHER Doc appt. tomorrow to see about my ear. I AM the worlds oldest 37 year old.

Later.

Sunday's Roll

Got a bone thrown to me today in the form of a "free" day to do what I wanted. And I of course wanted to ride. So after 2 to 36 oz. of coffee and some PB&J, I waited it for it to warm up with my one good ear. One good ear? Yep. As if recovering from a blood clot isn't enough, I now apparently have some sort of ear infection type thing, and have little hearing in my left ear. I am the world's oldest 37 year old. But hey, my legs still work and my anal cleft was craving some saddle time. I expanded my clot recovery today and ventured off the rail trail and hit a few back farm roads to get some climbing in and burn a few more calories than the rail trail rides will allow.

The weather was crisp and sunny with a cool breeze that was stiffer than a frat boy in Tijuana. It was so nice to get off of the madness that IS endless miles of flat crushed limestone. Enjoyed rolling the Mamasita with the Reba locked out. Full IRD Fire Pro knobbies working with the wind to hand my ass to me on the road sections and kick the work out up a notch.

There was no sign of Malachi anywhere.

Had a damn nice ride. Missing single track of course, but I continue to take what i can get. So I took 2:25 and 35 miles of rail trail, road, and shit farm roads on full knobbies. Hope to hit a similar loop Tuesday or so, but with lights ablaze. Speaking of lights. I should have a new 50 lumen EOS coming from Princeton Tec soon. Apparently there was supposed to be one in the swag package Justin sent me two weeks ago, but it jumped ship somewhere between his Jersey desk and here. The EOS will make a sweet little addition to my SB3/Swerve set up for fall evenings. Stay tuned, if such things interest you.

I call this photo my Rick Nelson...

Oh well, I'm done trying to make a 2:25 rail trail/road ride sound exciting. To quote the local soccer moms and cubical queens- "It is what it is". (God I feel dirty saying that).

Time to read and get some sleep.

Later.

That Sucking Sound: A Book

Did you hear it yesterday? You should have! It was amazing! It was the loudest sucking sound I've heard in a while. It was the sound of my whole body being sucked into a new (to me) book called Ultra Marathon Man, Confessions Of An All-Night Runner, by Dean Karnazes. I've picked the booked up once or twice at Borders to buy it, only to put in down and leave. Yesterday I went ahead and bought it and by about page 2.5 I was full on body sucked into the book and read 45 pages before bed.

I do not run. I sort of hate the thought of running. It doesn't matter. Dean Karnazes is an endurance freak, and the way he gets lost in his running is the same way as I (and many of us) get lost in our riding. I have no doubt that any of you who compete in endurance races will find this book hard to put down. Like I said, I've only read 45 pages and find it just amazing!
One of my main goals in 2009 is to try find a little more about the "why?". As in WHY I attempt Solos and 100s when I finish mid pack at best. I knew I was sucked in by page 12 when Karnazes has a conversation with a pizza delivery guy, who just delivered a pizza and cheesecake to him as he ran down Highway 116 in California around midnight. The conversation was classic and ended like this...

"As he was about to drive away again, the young man tilted his head out of the truck window and asked "So dude, do you mind WHY you are doing this?" Where to begin? "Oh man, I replied, "I'll have to get back to you on that one."

So that is sort of how the first chapter ends. I can't wait to read more and feel guilty wasting my time writing this when I could be reading. Or riding! I know 45 pages of reading is not a lot to base a book purchase on, but I'm THAT confident that at least the Endurance type folks who read my blog with totally connect. Maybe I'm late to the party and everyone has already read this book. If so, shame on me for being a non book reading doofus. Time to go read, and maybe look for my running shoes. ;)

Hope to spin the rail trail later with my DVT and Mamasita.

Later.

Some Changes...

Sort of had a shit week last week. I figured I was due for SOMETHING good to happen this week. And it did. I mean at least I THINK it's good news. It involves change. Something I'm not good with, but sometimes you have to mix shit up to stay motivated and grow.

So what's the change? In '09 I will no longer be racing for Bikeman.com. I can NOT thank Bikeman.com, Big Al, and Davis Carver enough for giving me a chance to be part of their team for 4 seasons. It really is one of the best, if not THEE best grass roots race programs in the country. The work that Big Al does for the team, on top of his shop duties and his own racing and training is stellar. When I applied to race for Bikeman 4 years ago, I had only a couple endurance races under my belt but Al dug my vibe and let me on the team. The rest is history as they say. Thanks Bikeman!

So where to? Well I've been given the opportunity to race for a local shop here in Pittsburgh. Pro Bikes. I've long been a customer of the shop in Monroeville (as well as back when the location was known as Pittsburgh Pro Bikes). Since then there have been changes. Pro Bike formed in the wake of the P.P.B's. demise and it was reborn by some good folks intent on keeping Pittsburgh full of local bike shops. Not only are the new owners familiar faces, many of their employees and team are friends and fellow racers of mine. I'm stoked to have the chance to be closer with my "team", enjoying the benefits of race support, training, and encouragement that comes with a team. Something that it was hard to do with Bikeman.com since almost all the team is located about 500 miles away.

Another very important thing for me is the wrenching assistance they will give me. I've always relied on my good friend Tom for wrenching. But I can't ask him for help ALL the time. Nor can I go into a shop and say "can you put this new drive train that I bought somewhere else on my bike? With 3 locations and Tim C. wrenching at the Monroeville location, it will be super nice to be able to take some of the pressure off of Tom. Now we can go back to being friends instead of racer/mechanic.

Much of the "sponsorship" (I hate that word) is "lateral" of sorts from what I had with Bikeman.com. That part is not that important to me. I knew it wasn't important when I realized that I was looking forward to supporting THEM as much as I wanted them to support me. I WANT to see the shop do well. Not just survive, but PROSPER! Keeping folks on bikes, on the roads, trails and race courses of the Pittsburgh area. In addition to racing for Pro Bikes I've created (and will maintain or help maintain) a blog site for the team to post photos, results, race reports, rides and more. I was pretty geeeked at the enthusiasm that Todd (co-owner) had when he saw the site. The site will grow and I will be sharing it here in the future when we actually have some stuff to post on it! So Aaron, how 'bout some CX race reports?? Get on Soupy and Todd too! I figured since I know my way around the blog thing, and that many of my races are NOT local, this is a way for me to contribute and get more exposure to the team.

So that is part one of this week's news. Now part two....

As I mentioned above, I hate the word "sponsor". I like "support" much better. Why? I look at sponsorship as a VERY two way street. They are giving me support for my racing. Sometimes it's free. Sometime it's discounts.Whatever it is, in turn I give them support by racing, doing my best and getting the word out about the products or shop. That's why it is MEGA important to me to have support from folks I WANT to support and be associated with.

I used to be impressed with folks with long lists of sponsors. But I'm the type that I'm not gonna use a product JUST because it's free. Oh, I'll TRY stuff, but I'm talking USE. I have to WANT to use it. I have to WANT to be associated with them. I've been damn lucky to form relationships with my "support" over the years. Just as with Bikeman.com before and Pro Bikes now. I want to see the folks I support succeed. To get folks using their products. Because the companies are cool. Because they make good stuff. That works! Because they are passionate about our sport and getting people out riding bikes and/or outside.

So in 2009 I'm VERY happy to know that my relationships with Salsa, and Princeton-Tec will also continue. Very pleased. My 2008 was a suck year. Illnesses, injuries, and race bonks left me with some suck results. But I'm giddy like a school girl that Salsa will continue to be part of my racing. Salsa and P-Tec saw beyond the results and saw a doofuss doing what he can, with very little talent but with some passion for the sport. On top of that, I of course will continue my relationship with Twin-Six and maybe one or two others.

I commented a few weeks ago that I was "toning down" the whole sponsorship thing. I thought I would. But then I realized I would be pimping these folks anyway, because I like their gear. I have the support of these folks because of the relationships that I've formed with them and the sharing of their passion. I WANT to see folk riding a Salsa that they bought at Pro Bikes, through the woods wearing Twin-Six gear, at night with the trail lit up by a Princeton-Tec Switchback. I feel proud when I see folks using stuff that I use. I would feel like shit if the products were shit, and I was just blowing smoke out my ass.

Maybe if I was a pro or an elite level racer my take on sponsorships would be different. Maybe I would be in survival mode just to race. But I have the luxury of NOT being that guy. Just a guy who loves to ride his bike, attempt to race, and would use this gear anyway. I'm extremely lucky that folks see me as a viable option to market their gear. I don't intentionally pimp shit. I like "bike stuff". I love the anticipation of the UPS truck showing up in front of my crib. I love going into a shop and sniffing the fresh rubber on a new build. I feel comfortable with my new situation. On some level I have real relationships with all of my "support" for 2009. That makes me happy. Jason, Justin, Brent, Ryan, Todd, Craig and others are good folks. I thank them for '08 and look forward to 2009.

Thanks again to Bikeman.com for 4 great seasons. Now Rick REALLY needs to really step up in the blog department!!

Later.

EDIT: I made some edits to my original post. My mind has been going 200 mph with thoughts this past week. It's hard to get it all down. And get it all down with proper spelling and grammer. I mean grammar.

Better Than Nothing

Today I took advantage of the fact that I hate my job and still have 5 or more vacation days left to burn. So I enjoyed a leisurely day at home fixing some house stuff, getting ANOTHER blood test, and rolling 2 hours on the rail trail.

The sun was out, temps were crisp (in that "I bet these things could cut glass" sort of way) and the leaves were giving off their last glimmers of orange and gold. I give 'em about another two weeks and the woods will be giving off nothing but various shades of brown and wet leaf smells.

I never thought there would be a day when I would actually be looking forward to time on the rail trail, but in my current "situation" I take what I can get. Speaking of my "situation" (sine YOU brought it up!) My sister in law works for a cardiologist who know more than a few things about veins/blood and is gonna see me next week to give me some more info on how to deal with the DVT and how long I can expect to have stay on blood thinners. He has already told me that for the most part I should be well out of the danger zone for having a P.E.. So at least I can burn some calories rolling the rail trails and probably the road without fear of sudden death.

Mountain biking while on blood thinners is still sort of a no go. One good hard fall and there could be the possibility of internal bleeding, death, etc., etc., So I have to hold off on that a bit. Snow/sleet will be here soon enough I guess. Big mega props to my S.I.L. for getting me the expert hook up. Muchos gracias.

The worst part of the day's ride was at about the 1:30 mark when the Nano ran out of juice. DOH!! Nothing but flat trail and lime stone to occupy my mind. The 2nd worst part was seeing a sticker on stop sign down near Boston that was promoting some White supremacist group. F*cking sad. Yep, the good ol U.S. of A.. So much for all men are created equal and all that. I took a pic and was gonna show it, but in the end, I felt too ashamed to show it. I'm not saying you need to like everyone, but everyone deserves a chance. Oh well, enough of that shit.

Glad to be out, glad to blow the stink off of me and glad to have my ass in the saddle. I also had some cool news (at least I think so) about my 2009 season today. I'll go into it more soon, but the right folks need to know first.

Time to get some rest.

Later.

If I Don't She'll Have Me Committed

Wow! The concerned response from my fan base (that would be Wifey) about not posting yesterday was unexpected. I barely had the sleep out of my eyes this morning before I was being questioned via .gov e mail about why I didn't do a blog post. I had to be honest. Yesterday I was not thinking about anything other than that thing that I'm not gonna talk about on the blog anymore and I had NO real bike related topic to talk about. I mean I GUESS I could have talked about how my Mamasita has been in our living room for a week now, just propped up by the fireplace and chillin' but that's not too interesting.

Today I took a shot in the dark and started checking some race dates for next season. Two of the N.U.E dates are up (that I saw). It looks like the Cohutta 100 will be April 25th. And the Mohican 100 will be May, 30th. Glad to see some dates up. Makes my legs and taint itchy for saddle time.

In my busy hours of not riding and doing little else, I've made a fashion choice for 2009. My go to socks for 2009 will not longer be my Twin-Six Argyles or my T6 Deluxe socks.

I think I'm officially declaring the new Twin-Six Greaser socks as my "go to" race sock for 2009. Remember you heard it here first folks! Checkers are my new argyle. Could a pair of checkered Vans be far off? Hmmmmm....
I made a bold move tonight by doing up some Chamois Ballz on a WEEKNIGHT! Need to fire up some mojo, and what better than some tasty meat ballz. Off work tomorrow. Chillin', maybe a low key spin, and some bike related bidnizz to take care of.

Time to get my ballz out.

Later.

Silver Foxes & The Apocalypse

Well this week is at least starting better than last week! I mean really any Monday that has me NOT in the emergency room of a Pittsburgh hospital is a pretty good Monday! I'm still laying pretty low ride wise. I might hit the rail trail to spin the legs a couple times this week, but other than that I'm still a bit too spooked to do any hard core riding.

I did take the time tonight to gussy up my Dos Niner. Getting off all the mud that still clung to her after my last ride in the mountains. I have to admit I was tempted to eat a hunk of mud off the down tube. To taste the sweet taste of the mountains one more time. But then I remembered all the horse shit I rode through. I wanted to taste mountain dirt NOT horse feces.

The Dos Niner sure cleans up nice, and man the Fox really pops when you get all the grime of it. Still not sure white was the best idea for a fork, but hey it's at least it's recognizable. Fox White now ranks up there with Judy Yellow and Sid Blue.

In a way it works, white goes with everything and their logos stand out more on the white background than they do on black. YOU might not think those stickers are marketing, but they are. I really loved the old Fox 100 that I had on my El Santo (now on one of my buddy Tom's bikes). Maybe they should have stuck with silver? But then again, maybe they thought they would have folks lusting everyone's favorite "silver fox" Bea Arthur?

That's a mmmmann baby!

Lastly I have to tell you that the Apocalypse is surely upon us! I now own a cell phone. Frig! I held out as long as I could, but last weeks health issue pushed Wifey over the edge and I'm now forced to have one. I guess it's for the best. It's charged and good to go. Not sure I know how to make a call, but it's charged.

Later.

Bike Crazy Slack Jawed Rants of Lust & Obsession

I know most folks are still in the midst of a season of some sorts. Cross is on the minds of many of my brothers and sisters, and others still have and endurance race or two left in them. Many others are out dodging rattle snakes with gal pals and enjoying fall riding. I still have a few good rides left in me, but of course we all know I've been slowed down temporarily by that thing that I swore I would not mention here on the Chamois for a while. With the cut in ride hours and too much time on my hands I have a raging case of the virus known as Velo Lust Syndrome™ or V.L.S.. I also seem to be fighting off the onset of Race Schedule Obsessive Compulsive Disorder™ or R.S.O.C.D..

I'll start with the 2nd of these two illnesses. R.S.O.C.D. has me obsessing about what kinds of races I want to do in 2009. Given my recent health issues (which I'm not gonna talk about) I think I may be done putting myself through 24 hour solos. I'm not ruling out a 12 or 13 hour Solo or a Duo or something, but it's just not worth it anymore. I've done a shit load. That's enough. I have no real urge to do too much XC. I do need to do some though. I think it will help me get faster. And I have to get the XC race monkey that is Don P. off my back!

My real urge is to do more marathons and hundies. They just speak to me more. Always have. It's more controled adventure. I think they're a blast and they give me what I want out of racing, which is to push myself and feel enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing such a race. Plus I can get it done (most likely) within a reasonable time limit (under 10 hours) and hopefully NOT have to spend a month recovering from health issues brought on from the race.

So the tentative plan is to focus on five or so races in the N.U.E. Series, M.A.S.S. Marathons (trying to avoid the lap races) and one or two in the W.V.M.B.A. Ultra Series. I of course also really want to do a lot of training/underground "racing" in our mountains as I've discussed in the past. The hard thing with these races is the travel. I hope that over the winter and spring I can come up with a cheap, yet comfortable travel plan to get to these races. I'll be looking to try to car pool and split hotel costs when possible with some like minded local peeps if possible.

OK, so I have my race plan sorta down, I can obsess about which bike/bikes I want to used. This is where it gets TOTALLY out of hand with the V.L.S. illness. I would love to get my back on a full squish for racing (to ease my back). I just can't find one light enough for what I want to do without going back to 26" wheels. Sadly there aren't many I fancy. There a couple from Cannondale, Rocky Mountain, I dig, but a 26" bike with too little suspension gives me about the same benefits of my Dos Niner. So I'm not sure I would bother. Plus I'm not sure my personality fits with those bikes. Maybe the Rocky Mountain. But finding a Rocky Mountain dealers in the States is not easy task. I'm not sure I want to give up my relationship with Salsa either. I really can't imagine straying from her spicy 29" bosom. Plus it's not easy, since it's sort of like a cult run by Minnesotan bike Zealots). :)

With my plan to do Marathons, Hundies and XC I think I already have a killer pair of bikes in the Dos Niner and the Mamasita. If ONE bike goes it will most likely be the Mamasita. It's replacement is a debatable. My Mamasita is freaking SEXY and fast! In fact the bikes is way faster than I am, which is part of the problem!

I really don't want to give her up. I want to keep her, BUT I'm also sort of shallow, and the one thing that is really bugging me about my Mamasita is the dent on the top tube. It poses NO structural problems but every time I look at the bike my eyes dart STRAIGHT for the dent on the top tube. It drives me loco!! I just feel so ghetto on it. That Reba's gotta go too. It's a pretty good fork, but not a great fork. See I told you I was shallow. But you knew that.

So what to replace it with? I like having two bikes in the house. I love my Dos Niner and I LOVE the fact that the 2009 Dos Niner is Silver (my fave bike color) and has been tweeked a bit to handle a 100mm fork better. Part of me wants to get the '09, do it up with lighter parts and MAYBE just MAYBE finally make the move to Stans (am I the only person still running tubes?). I would then use the Silver Dos Niner as my race bike. And the Orange Dos Niner as my everyday training bike.
But then there's another part of me that wants to track down a close out '08 Mamasita (ahem, cough, cough, Salsa? Bikeman?) or just wait and get a new red Mama , add a Fox fork to it (with the new remote lock out) and go back to being in a near constant state of Velosturbation® over my bikes. AND have the option for a fast ass hard tail for tamer courses.

There is a final option. In 2009 if Salsa tells me to piss off and Bikeman.com deems me too much of a doofuss (as most folks do). There would be the option sell one complete bike and use the coin to ease the purchase of a Ti soft tail. But I love having my two bikes and two Salsas! Why can't I be like 99% of the World's Male population and just obsess over porn and sports?? I'm cursed!! CURSED I tell you!!


This is where I am right now. Little riding, and lots of obsessing and it's only October!! It's going to be a llllllong off season. Whatever route I go I know I need to lighten up my race bike AND myself. I have a goal of loosing about 15 pounds off of ME by March and the goal of loosing some weight off my race bike by Race #1.

If you were able to follow this bike crazy slack jawed rant of lust and obsession, you are to be commended. I wrote this and I can't even follow the stream of conscience drivel that I just typed.

Later.

Done Complaining

As of today I sorta, kinda, refused to talk or complain about my DVT (aka my blood clot). It's there, I have to deal with in. Done. Thanks for letting me vents some penile craniumness here this week. But this is a bike blog, not WebMD. So DVT be gone. F*ck the clot. Lets ride....

Wifey is sick, so I hit soccer solo with B-Man today. Sweet nipply moobs was it cold!! I mean it wasn't cold by Ball Deep Snow, Minnesotta or anything, but after 80 degrees las week, this morning's 45 degrees with a stiff nipple erecting wind made for some chattering teeth watching B-Man do his thang.

Soon I was home and loading up NanoPodious™ with some new music. Man I found "2K7 Instrumentals", by Dan The Automator on eMusic. Totally diggin it. I totall dig it. Electro-groove-tastic without stupid rapping in it. My fave song title has to be "Ball Til You Fall". I love some of the production by folks like D.T.A. but man, nothing can make one feel whiter than paste than a 37 year old white man listening to rap music. So this fits my need to listen to some sweet electronica without feeling as stupid or as pasty. BTW I am all over my new Nano. Thes feature HAS to be the fact that you can cross-fade your song on it. Friggin' shweet..

So once said new NanoPodious™ was loaded, it was time to chamois up. I had reservation about it. I just kept thinking of the look my doc gave me when I asked her if I could ride. She said yes, but looked less than thrilled. So I took Wifey's cell phone just in case I felt a PE coming on.

I wanted to mountain bike. I wanted to road ride. But I thought it might be best if right now I did something that kept my heart rate lower than what it would be hitting climbs on the road or trail. So I headed to the rail trail. The air was burnt bacon crisp without the fat and my ass cheeks were all chubbed up to get in some saddle time. I rolled the Mamasita for 2 hours. Today was the first ride (in the day) that I have been cold on a ride in probably eight months or so. It was an unhappy reminder of what is to come over the next 5 or 6 months. But I was riding. And I'm not gonna complain about that. I don't care where it was. I was so mentally itchy to ride I would have ridden B-Man's bike with training wheels around the living room if it meant that I was in the saddle.

Not sure if I'll ride tomorrow or lay low. I might lay low. Wifey wants to go out tonight. To be honest the thought the thought of going to our fave restaurants and not enjoy the fine beverages they have to offer is not something I want to do. This is currently causing me to be hated in the way that a wife hates when she thinks that the only reason I don't want to go out is that I don't want to spend time with her. NOT that I won't be able to enjoy the experience of OK food, sub par service, and general annoyance I get by interacting with large groups of middle class suburban Americans without the aid of a fine malty beverage. I know that makes me sound like I have issues. It's not the alcohol. It's the comfort in the routine that I would miss. Plus do I REALLY want to sit in a restaurant like Mad Mex that has huge selection of beers on tap and NOT drink them. That's like asking a fat man to go to a bakery for salad. Oh well, I guess at SOME point I will need to venture out, but tonight is not the night. Unless of course Wifey hits me upside the head with something. ;)

I wanted to add to the above that I actually LIKE to stay at home and eat. I DO the cooking in the house and I love to do it. It's fun. I hate cleaning up, but I love cooking. I tend to like my stuff better than stuff out, plus I KNOW who cooked it. In a restaurant (at least the type we go to) often it's some dude making my burrito with the save hand he just scratched his ass or adjusted his stuff with. At least at home I know it was MY ass! HA! Also I will add that since my initial post over an hour ago I've been sitting here with shoes on, waiting for Wifey to come home. Still waiting. Still waiting...... UPDATE to confirm I'm NOT a complete dick head. Called Wifey. She came home. We went out for Mexican and had fun. I had two sips of beer, and a KICK ASS burito. I really need to get my head on. Why I felt the need to share this I have no idea? But why do I say half the shit I do? Issues.

Later.

Friday With Mr. Richard D. Head

One week down of several more months of suck. Yeah, I know It's not like I have cancer or anything, but this DVT thing still sort of sucks. I admit I've been a dick to about everyone I've come in contact with in the past week. My face really got rubbed in what is yet to come today when I picked up two big bag fulls of Loveox shots. Roughly 60 shots in the belly's worth. I really wish I could have just done the few days in the hospital and been done with it. But no. That's not how things work anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I mean I'm HAPPY to not be in the hospital but the prospect of 60 shots in the belly and a real crimp in beer and riding life has me not really giving a f*ck about anything or anyone. B-Man is about the only one who has escaped my Dick Headedness (although he may disagree). I have to say I'm also reserving a few double pump middle fingers for a one or two folks in particular who I won't not mention here. But I'm double pumping and loving it.

So yeah, I'm sporting a bad attitude. It's not pretty. I plan to do a low key rail trail ride tomorrow. I figure if the clot busts and a fall face first in the lime stone, there SHOULD be someone to pass and call 911.

So as to make this blog post a least VAGUELY bike related I urge you to check out a couple videos. First is from the recent 24 Hours of Moab and the other is a CX film clip of The Nine Ball Diaries. Check it and enjoy.

In the process of up my recently acquired iPod Nano. I've been wanting a non hard drive iPod for a while and the new 16GB Nano fit the bill. I still need to get my iPod to Tom to see if he can save the 35GB of music I have on it. Who's idea was it to put a hard drive in a freaking portable device?? WTF??

Later.

P.S. Sorry to all the bad attitude to all the folks I f*cked mentally today. My bad.

Oddly Enough It Felt Good

This week, this month, this year can not be over fast enough. This "no riding" shit needs to stop. I think no matter what, I'm at least gonna head out on the rail trail this weekend. What harm could come? OK, yeah sure a pulmonary embolism could kick in, but I highly doubt it. Usually I find comfort in not riding at the bottom of a pint glass or two, but until my blood is a little more stable I need to have nothing. No riding. No beer. And pretty much no crime fighting due to schedules and what not. What's the point of even getting out of f*cking bed??? HA!

Work has sort of sucked too. Lot of deadlines and my mind is just NOT on work, but rather on my leg. I did find a safe haven at lunch. I retreated to the confines of Pro Bikes to bullshit with Jesus Jason, Tim & Chuck. Man that was a mistake! Chuck had his salesman "game face" on and I almost walked out with a $6,000 Specialized Carbon Stumpjumper FS. Chuck was in the zone! One minute I'm asking him what's new, the next thing you know I was riding around outside on a $6K bike. I'm not sure but I think I almost reached for my credit card! I felt sooo DIRTY! I felt like I was with a hooker. A sexy bike, but hard to enjoy because I felt like I was two timing my own bikes. On top of everything... IT HAD 26" WHEELS!! I do have to say it felt damn good. VERY quick acceleration and light as hell. Chuck is a pimp. So watch it! Yeah I'm talking to you Don!!

The rear suspension felt great too. I didn't even notice until I went off of a small curb and felt it kick in. Nice stuff. As cool as it was the price was very UN cool. And there were just too many bells and whistles to contend with maintenance wise. More shit on a bike the more shit that can break. "Brains" "Terra-Logics". When they work, I'm sure they kick ass. But if they don't you're sort of f'ed. Unless you now how to take care of it yourself. And I don't.

Oddly riding a bike with 26" wheels felt kind of good. It had that "flick-a-bility" that I do miss. In 2006 I used an El Santo and a Dos Niner. In hind sight that was a pretty good combination. The El Santo rocked on technical courses and the Dos Niner shined in more open flowing courses. I don't think I could see myself on that Specialized, but it does make me think that if I go FS again in the future a lightweight 4"+ travel 26er might be the ticket. I think that 29ers are best as soft tails and hard tails right now. Who knows? There are so many bikes that I'd like to ride. I would need to be a millionaire to ride them all. Hell there are like 5 Salsa's I want to own, let alone all the other bikes out there. Drat!

As it is, I can't ride the bikes I DO own right now do to "The Clot" but soon I will be in the saddle soon. I hope. Blood thinners be damned!!

Later.

Bikes (The One I Don't Have)

How does a man who is pretty much obsessed with cycling in one way or another fill his spare time when he can not really ride (yet)? Well, first that man (me) worries that this DVT thing is just the beginning of not being able to ride and race mountain bikes as freely as I did the same way again. BUT after I realized I'm putting a cart load of cow dung before the horse, I sit back and think of bikes. I have and itch for a new ride. Road bikes need not apply. I have a great road bike. It gets the job done and is pretty easy on the eyes to boot. Nope, it's gotta be a mountain bike.

I flirted with the idea of going with a custom steel frame not long ago. I really had it in my mind I wanted a Walt Works 29er. Geared, regular bottom bracket, with 100mm Fox up front. But then I realized that if I wanted to go steel, it might be a good idea to see if I dig the feel of steel first. So of course I think I would go right for the El Mariachi. Looks damn sweet, has the EXACT geometry I want and is damn spanky looking. BUT I HAVE a hard tail in the form of my sexy carbon assed Mamasita. I've come to realize that I dig the geometry of my Dos Niner (which shares geometry with the El M), more than the quick handling Mamasita. BUT scandium/carbon is lighter and is less prone to rust than steel and it has no EBB. So the Mamasita beats the EM on that one. I have enough maintenance problems without worrying about a creaking EBB or slippage.

I got rid of my El Santo because I wanted a 29er hard tail. I missed the "feel" of the trail you get from a hard tail. But "feel for the trail" can also transfer into a sore freaking back after hours in the saddle. Now my back and my mind is sort of lusting full suspension again. The Dos Niner is my favorite bike and my "go to" bike for about every type of racing and riding I do. I'd love to have a Titanium Dos Niner. Why Ti? I would prefer Ti for a few reasons. The feel of Ti combined with a 1" shock, 29" wheels, and the geometry that I dig with the Dos Niner would be the TITS! A simple to set up, low maintenance shock, durable frame material, corrosion resistant. and sexy. BUT from what I can see there are not too many folks making Ti soft tails these days and the ones that are around (Moots) are DAMN pricey. I love bikes, but I'm not willing to sell a kidney for one. Yet.

I'm digging the idea of the Big Mama. My reservation with the Big Mama would be- Is it too much bike for me? I would have loved to have had one at Seven Springs this year. Other than the big climb, the Big Mama would have kicked ass on that course. Same with Big Bear. BUT most of my local riding would not call for such suspension. The big loops I've been doing on the mountain would not really have a need for it. PARTS of the trails would and my body would really crave one on Solo efforts. Leaving the Dos Niner for big loop races and hundies. Not to mention it's price compared with some other FS rigs is pretty damn nice.

Other than soft tails there just has not been any full suspension 29ers to get my attention. The Big Mama, the Titus Racer X29er, and the Pivot 429 are really the the only 29" FS bikes that have got my attention. I REALLY thought this would have been the year that Cannondale would release a Scalpel 29er. That would have rocked! I've always lusted the Scalpel (maybe the only 26" bike I would ride again) and one in 29" form would be about exactly what I'm looking for. Instead they threw some crap paint and cheezy decals one the 2009 F-29. I like the idea of XC type full suspension with a 29er. That's why I love my Dos Niner. 1 inch feels like a lot more with the 29" wheels. I think that's why the Racer X sort of speaks to me. 3" of travel with 29" wheels would be about JUST right. I just don't know why Titus seems to invest in updates in the 26" version, but really just keeps the 29er the same old same old. Not sure why.

I want/need full suspension in the future. BUT I want to be able to race it anywhere, not just 12 or 24 Solos. Not sure how many of those races I have left in me (back, blood clots, etc., etc.,) But I know I plan on doing long races and hundies. I want a bike that can race comfortable and efficiently in XC, Marathons, Hundies, Solos etc., I guess for now the Dos Niner will continue to fit that bill and who know having a Big Mama around for the gnarlier races might the way to go.

I guess there are some other 29er FS bikes that might be close to what I'm looking at. Niner, Fisher, etc, make some, but no sure I'm digging that vibe. Anyone know any FS 29ers or soft tails that sort of fit this bill? Sot of half way between a Dos Niner and Big Mama. Not sure I see one out there, but it's fun looking, since I'm not riding!

I hope no one wasted their time reading me blather on about bikes. I just needed to let some bike stuff out.

Later.

The Good & The Bad...

OK, so I have this stupid blood clot thing. Not happy about it. And it's easy to be jacked when I sit and think how I go out of my way to try to be healthy (minus a few beers and cheese) yet I end up with a freaking blood clot. It's also easy to think about how I can't enjoy broccoli, spinach, and peas (3 of my fave veggies) because they are high in vitamin K and vitamin K and blood thinners don't play well together. I can't really enjoy beer for good while either. Alcohol and blood thinners don't work well together either.

BUT I can pretty much still ride, I will need to avoid more technical trails and trails where I could be impaled on a tree. Since on blood thinners I could bleed to death. I will for sure be able to ride the trainer come winter and since I can't have beer (or at least more than about 1 or 2), I will be cutting a TON of calories out of my diet and that will help me shed that 10+ extra pounds I've tacked on over the recent months. I know I will enter next race season lean and ready to get back to mid pack form.

Thhhhheeeeee most important thing is that my doc caught the clot. I didn't die, and I will continue to enjoy riding, racing, and most importantly my wife and son.

I will deal with the shots, twice a week blood tests, thin blood and the fact that Wifey and my family are forcing me to get a cell phone (I made it 37 years!!). Frig! Do they still come in the bag? No you can't have the number. I won't answerer it anyway. The phone will be for me to call if I'm face down in a pool of mud during a ride alone.

Thank God I'm aloud to have beans. I mean no broccoli, no peas, no spinach. As Pat Henry once said "Give me beans or give me death!! So true Pat. So true.

Later.

We Have A Clot To Talk About...

Man, what a day. As you may or may not know I've been rocking a swollen right leg for a few weeks now. Kept thinking it would go away. It didn't. I went to the Doc on Friday and they said they were 90% sure I was fine. BUT they wanted to make sure I didn't have a blood clot in my leg. Well, they were 90% wrong, but 10% right in making me get the test, because it turns out I indeed DO have a blood clot in my right calf.

So after I got a scan of my leg today it was home to get Wifey (who thankfully was off work today due to Columbus sort of, almost discovering America) and headed down to Mercy Hospital to sit for 3+ hours in the waiting room to get admitted (so I thought). After I FINALLY got in, the Docs looked over my pics, talked to my Doc and decided that I can take care of all this on an Out Patient basis.

So now I get to pretend I'm a junkie for a few days and inject myself with some medicine in my stomach. I figure I'll just put on some Spiritualized or some Spacmen 3 and chillax as blood thinners course through my body. Oddly in talking to the Docs, it looks like I'll be fine to keep riding. I do need to find out if Lovenox is a banned substance though. If it is, I'll stick to road riding so I can feel all Euro Road Dog Cool throwing syringes away before my ride. I'm kidding. Eesh. The worst news I got today was finding out I've gained about 10 pounds. Eeeesh. I didn't take the blood clot news as bad. Maybe I'll be lucky and the 10 pounds is ALL in my right leg! HA! Yeah, right!

Glad to be home and NOT in a hospital bed tonight. Off work tomorrow to get the rest of the Doc appointments taken care of then back on Wednesday for week of deadline madness.

EDIT: Interesting Read!! And THIS! And THIS ONE. Sorry, but these make me realize that EVEN a fit person can be at risk.

Later.

I AM the Horse Whisperer

I took full advantage of my 'Play In The Mountains Free" card today and made it up to the said mountains by 11:15. I thought about exploring some options for "Epic" linkage, but in the end I opted to do my new favorite mountain loop, and see if I could shave some time off of last weeks effort.

The hills were alive with folks out to play today. Equestrians, hikers, etc., It was nice to see so many folks out enjoying our mountains rather than plunked down in front of the tube swilling bad beer and watching football. For the record so far in 2008 I've seen about 2 minutes of football. Watch big goofs knocking each other down, or epic rides in the mountains? Hmmmm. I don't know WHAT I'll choose to do. ;)

Now that I'm getting the loops down, I spend little, or in today's case, NO time looking at maps. Just rolling in the mountains and having fun doing it.

The trails, double track, forest roads, etc., were in primo shape today. I'm talkin' sweet. The sky was a blue as you could get, the leaves were a billion different colors, and even when snot, saliva, and breakfast was oozing from my face on the BIG climbs, it was hard not to have a horse shit eating grin on my face.

There were a TON of equestrian out today. The most I have EVER encountered during a ride. I think I came upon 5 to 6 groups. Each time I gave ample warning and dismounted or let them pass. You would not believe how gracious and grateful these folks were. I truly felt like I created some nice Karma with the Horse Folks. They all thanked me and a couple said how happy they were I stopped because the horses were younger and haven't been exposed to too many bikes and folks yet. I didn't mind stopping to let the folks by. I mean I was trying to make good time but I didn't want to see anyone thrown off a horse or see ME kicked in the head! The only real down side to all of this was the amount of horse shit on the trails. I'm sure I had more than a few morsels of dung hit my bottles and face. So if tomorrow I'm hovered above the toilet with with the fecal spawn of Satan trying to exit me, we'll all know why. Horse shit. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

There were so many different folks and things out today. This is a little list of what I encountered...

30 to 50 chipmunks WTF? is it chipmunk season??
30 to 40 piles of horse shit.
10 to 12 people on horses.
8 to 10 hikers
4 or 5 pheasants. Do they HAVE to scare the shit out of you? Is that a rule?
2 four wheeled golf cart looking things.
2 motocross bikes
2 quads
3 pick-up trucks
1 man playing guitar on a big rock. (I shit you not)
1 lost cell phone. Someone is pissed.
ONE cyclist (ME!!)

My fave number in that list is the 3 trucks. 4:08 of riding and only THREE trucks. I love it. I plan to spend less and less time on the road now that I know these trails and forest roads. I've done 4+ hour road rides. They are just NOT the same. These rides are FAR better at working on mountain bike racing's nutrition, pacing, muscle memory, etc., etc., At least I think so.

In the end I finished the big ass ride in about 4:08. Shaved about 15 minutes off of last week. Even the Camp Run Road Climb was a bit easier. I found a really nice cadence, some mental focus and a good mantra. My back continues to be my down fall. It gets so f*cking sore I have to stop now and again to stretch it out. I'm starting to think I have a serious issue (my luck it's the BIG "C"). The chiropractor is just NOT helping. But that's another blog post. Tomorrow I get my leg looked at via ultra sound. Fingers crossed for no blood clots. I was pretty stoked today that there was very little puffiness after the ride. I think something good is happening. I'll be happy when I have two normal looking legs. By normal I mean two shaved, sort of skinny, legs with a bunch of cuts and scars on them. ;)

Here are a few pics...

THIS is what you get when you try to NOT ride through a mud bog, making what the horses did even worse. Two wet, muddy feet and a reason to stop and take pic.


The colors on the mountain were so intense today. At times it was like bombing down through an Abstract Expressionists painting at 20 mph. Enough to make your eyes bug right on out of your head.


This the LAST bit of flat before the BIG climb to the Soob.


The Salsa Dos Niner. I LOVE this bike. I did this same loop on my Mamasita last week, but today it felt 100% better. The Relish shock adds JUST enough cush to make seated climbing a lot easier. Very little bouncing around. Not to mention my Dos has the Fox shock on the front. My God is that shock sweet. Soft and cushiony. It's like a soft, sweet, milky white bosom.

Time to make some food. I'm at tad hungry.

Later.