Falling Back, But Springing Ahead (I hope)

Got out for a sweet 3+ hour ride today. Hit the back roads out near my Dad's as well has a few trail in the local Game Lands. I didn't spend too much time there, since there really isn't anything all that great AND I came upon some dude walking in the middle of the game lands with an aluminum baseball bat. WTF?? I rode by him, said hi, but he was having none of it. THEN I took a wrong turn and had to ride past him again. I just kept thinking he was gonna whirl around and slam me in the skull with that bat. So I got the heck out of there. Freaks man. I can't help but think someone or something is in a shallow grave out there. Thankfully it's not me.

Today was a perfect fall day. Crisp, clear, sunny. Not at all like yesterdays crap-ola. I spied some double track today that looks to be a nice ribbon of utility company dirt, but it's also near some private land. I ssooooo want to get my knobbies on it, but at the same time I don't want any pissed off farmers shooting at me or freaks with bats swinging at me.

You can make out the lusted double track through the utility lines above. Someday I'll get the balls to take it. Or maybe run into a non baseball bat carrying local to ask about it.

I had a great week on the bike with over 10 hours of riding in. Not sure how that happened. But it was nice to be able to get out that much at this time of year. And it was a big help with Operation Eating Disorder.

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As you may have noticed, I removed my "sponsor" logos now that I'm done racing for the year. In 2010 I'll still be racing for Pro Bikes and of course still remain tight with Twin-Six, Salsa and Princeton Tec, and Ergon. Because they're great people that make great stuff that I use and love. And they help me out a ton. But as far as "official" sponsors it will be just be xxcmag.com and Pro Bikes. And since I AM XXCMAG.COM, I guess it's just Pro Bikes.

My reasoning, along with coming to grips with my mid pack and dropping off the back like a freaking rock ability, and the fact that I will be cutting back on my racing to just a few events (I say this now, see me in the spring), is that I want the mag to keep growing. That means hopefully doing more product reviews and getting more advertising to help pay the bills. I want to be taken seriously and don't want to folks thinking that my opinions could be, or would be swayed by personal sponsorships.

Since I'm on the subject of the mag... right now I'm in that weird zone with the mag. There's not too much I can work on until the words starting coming in (and they are coming and I'm stoked!), so I've been doing up some ideas for some clothing type things (as you saw yesterday), and I'm kicking around the idea of a jersey design. You know to pimp the mag at the races. So I looked to some jerseys and styles that I dig for inspiration:

The Twin-Six Masher...

The classic Kelly jersey...

As well as hot American Apparel sock girls and one of my fave band The White Stripes.

So I know that stripes are nothing new, but seriously just about everything is played right now. Anyway I'm just kicking around some ideas. I figure If I'm gonna sponsor myself in 2010, I should have to swank duds, right? I'd need 10 folks to want one, or I can't get them done up. The price would probably be just my cost plus shipping. Probably about $50 total. If folks would be interested I'd probably have to do a pre order to commit folks, so that I'm not stuck with $500 worth of jerseys. Anyway, just been thinking out loud here. You can see IDEA #1 HERE. Have a few other ones in the hopper too with no stripes and more black.

Time to go eat- Buffalo Chicken & Rice Burritos tonight. Then to bed and ANOTHER Doc appointment to see if I can remain off blood thinners or not. Frig. (OOOPS! That appointment is FRIDAY! Wow, that would have sucked driving into the city for nothing. DOH!!)

Later.