Two new links

Check out CX Republic and Velothreads

Both are subsidiaries of TCOTBR and produced by The Rev and Blaze Rippington. Real names will not be revealed to protect the innocent!

CX Republic is up and running. Velothreads will be up and full of product very soon.

If you have any questions about any of the above, give me a shout.

Tired and in need of a stretch

5 days on the bike has made this old man stiff. I feel okay, but my back and legs are protesting this morning.
I will be partaking in an hour of yoga as soon as I punch out this entry.
Friday- Doog and I rode for 2 hours at a pretty relaxed pace.
Saturday- I was supposed to go out with the fellas, but woke up feeling like crap, so I bailed. Yeah, I know, it was a pussy move, but the idea of 60+ miles of Calhoun/Lexington county roads, in the wet, while not feeling great, didn't exact light my fire. I ended up doing two hours on my cross bike. It didn't help the way I felt. My rear Ksyrium finally gave up on me about 20 minutes from home too. Of course, it's a 1st generation SL, I've beaten the shit out of it, and it's had multiple sessions of repair at the shop, so it's not surprising that it finally succumbed to the abuse.
Sunday- I went out solo again and felt shocking okay. I planned on going on and doing a 20 minute effort. That effort went from 20 to 30 to 45 to 60 minutes and I found myself all the way out in Gadsden. It was quite easy rolling along at 40-42kmh with the tailwind. I paid full retail when I made the turn home. A lovely head/cross to full headwind was the cost. My 40+kmh speed got knocked down to 32-35kmh on the run down Airbase. Our worthless weatherguy said the wind was 5-10mph...well, he's full of shit. It was easy 15mph with gusts to 25+. It made for a long slog home. I still ended up with almost 75km and a 35kmh average speed.
Monday- Something different. I did my road HoP(tm) loop on the cross bike with skinnies on it. I got to test the new Thorne 46t big ring that I got from Cyclocrossworld.com. It's a nice gear to roll over and very usable on the hills. It was windy...again!
Tuesday- 2.5 hours at the zoo w/the MTs will, in fact, make legs tired. The last TNCWC of the season went off and the turnout was light. I'm batting around the idea of mixing it up a bit next year by throwing in a road race or two and possibly even a time trial once in a while. I think the repetitive nature of doing the crit every week burns a lot of folks out by the end of the season. I know I'm tired of doing it...and I missed a bunch because of illness and my crash. Coco is the unofficial 'WC' since he won a third of the races and finish top 5 a few more times.
I'll have to come up with some sort of logo to put on his kit for next year...
Dr. LP's little one made an appearance last night as well...she's a cute, little, fat thing!

Thanks to everyone for coming out all summer! See you guys over the winter!

Yoga time...

For sale

Bond is lightening his load of Zipps...hit me up if you want more info about the wheels.

Zipp 404. Dimpled. Bought 2 seasons ago used. Very low mileage Continental Tubulars: $1,000

Zipp 808. Dimpled. New in the box, mid season 2008. Light mileage Continental Tubulars: $1,200

Zipp 900 Disc. Dimpled. Bought, used, in 2008. Vittoria Tubular: $900

Front Zipp 1080. Dimpled. New in the box, end of season 2009. 40 miles. Very, very low mileage Continental Tubular: $950

These are all in excellent shape and a race wheels ONLY. Bond doesn't believe in riding carbon wheels for anything other than racing!

When does time change?

All of the rides have dried up. People are tired and a bit over it all...

The Thursday rides have all but disappeared and the TNCWC had a less than stellar turnout this week. Next week will be the last one until next spring, so get off your dead asses and come out.

Of the people that showed, the HP went up the road early and stayed out. Although they had a bunch of big power, they got some help when some dumbass in a little white pickup decided to drive straight into the course. I/we were about halfway across the gap when we were forced to scatter and slow down. I went into the corner first and had to turn it in HARD to keep from running into this chucklehead. After this excitement, I just sat up.

The break of 6 stayed away and Coco and JC went 1-2 pretty easily.

Doog and I are riding in the morning @ 915, from the gate. Saturday/Sunday are up in the air, but I'm sure we'll be out both days. I'm planning on doing a 5 day stack, starting tomorrow, to jumpstart my fat ass into some sort of fitness for cyclocross.

Speaking of, the Salsa is finally finshed. Same old scandium frame, but pretty much everything else is new. I even drank the Kool-Aid and went with a set of tubies for race wheels. Easton EA70X wheels wrapped in Vittoria EVO XG cross tubs.

Sub-18 pounds w/cages...

I was going to pop for a carbon cross frame, but since I'm a schmoe, beat the living shit out of a cross bike and actually have to PAY for my stuff, the life-span of a carbon frame would probably be very limited. My carbon road bike, I take care of...the cross bike, well...not so much!

The only thing I'm waiting for is my Thorne 46T big ring...

Pssst....

Hey Chris King...

If you are going to completely shit on a derivation of a product, it's probably better NOT to start making that product after the fact...

Yet another reason NOT to buy King's over-priced, heavy shit...I hope you enjoy writing that patent royalty check to Cane Creek every month!

(insert title here)

Nothing real witty to put up in the title so...
After three days on the bike, I'm ready to go take a nap.
Friday- rode the cross bike for a bit over an hour. I felt like complete shit, but was within 90 seconds of the average time for the HoP(tm) loop. The cross bike needed some tickling too. Bars needed to be rolled up and the saddle needed to be raised a bit. I'm trying to replicate my road fit as closely as possible. the low saddle gave me a bit of knee pain...dammit!
Saturday- Met Doog out and we did a bit over 2 hours easy through LR. When we turned, I spun down past the football stadium. There were people out tailgating @ 1030! The game was @ 7pm! Nothing like being shit-faced ALL DAY!
The H.O. was painting, so I ate lunch w/Doog and then went down to the shop. I'd planned on hanging out for an hour or so, but the floodgates opened and I was pressed into service on the floor and turning wrenches. 3 hours passed quickly!
I came home, rested a bit and then took the H.O. to Mr. Friendly's for dinner. That ish was gooood! Blackened chicken and creamy grits...mmmmmmm!
Sunday- Meat, Doog and I met for a little tempo work out through Lexington/Calhoun county. We did the normal 90km loop and got in a really good ride. Doog is extremely strong/fit right now, which is great. The downside is the fact that he's a little fucker, and when he's on the front, there's not a whole lot of draft behind his narrow, 130 pound ass for widebodies like Meat and myself.
I'd planned on riding tomorrow morning, but I need to pack up and ship all of the Ebay stuff that I just sold. Nothing like selling off crap that's just laying around and making an easy $600.
The penultimate TNCWC is this Tuesday. Still starting @ 630, but will probably only run for 40 minutes+2.

Nap time...peace!

A note:

Evidently, my tweet about Cadel Evans was re-tweeted by Cadel himself and caused more than a few grains of sand to work their way into more than a few Aussie vaginas.
Here's what I say:

Cadel is the...

The Aussies who need the vagina wash should call the:

And feel free to fill this out:

Thanks for playing:

Almost over

I think the TNCWC has just about run it's course for the season. We did the normal 50 + 2 again tonight and it just seemed like everyone was just going through the motions. And turnout was light...maybe 20 at the start. We'll shorten it to 40 minutes for the next two weeks and that'll be it for the year.
Derek and FK diced it out for the win and Derek took it by a tire. There was very little excitement to speak of...

And I had to watch this a few times to make sure I was hearing Big George correctly...



Yes, he said he was doing right at, or just above threshold work @ 500-540w! And his 'medium' effort up Caesars' Head was 385w!!
More proof that we ALL suck and take it way too seriously!

My new Easton tubulars and Vittoria EVO XG cross tubs are in transit...

Douchebaggery run amok!

WTF? Was there a polar shift over the weekend that caused people to lose their minds?
First, let's deal with Serena Williams...
Yeah, it was a bad call, but mistakes happen. There's a human element to tennis line judging. She went after the line judge and threatened her with bodily harm. Did I mention that the line judge was a very diminutive Asian woman? I'm willing to bet that if the line judge was 6' tall black man, nothing would have been said...
And I know that certain people who read this will immediately call me a racist, but it just isn't so. A dumbass is a dumbass, regardless of race.
And PLEASE, do not bring up McEnroe and Connors. Neither of them EVER went after an individual line judge. They ALWAYS argued with the chair umpire. And neither of them were EVER profane when arguing/shouting/ranting. Serena dropped the F bomb multiple times in front of a packed crowd and on live TV. She also went after the line judge TWICE! She had also been warned for a conduct violation for smashing her racquet after losing the first set! Not our fault that Kim Clijsters was kicking your ass and you had trouble handling that fact!

Second, Kanye West...
If there was ever a 'man' that deserved a beating of biblical proportions, it's this douche. so Taylor Swift wins a MTV video award and this talentless dickweed jumps up on stage, takes the mic and proceeds to ruin her moment. Did I mention that Miss Swift is a diminutive 19 year old GIRL? Way to go you big knob! It's only about the fifth time he's pulled this kind of bullshit. Betting it wouldn't have happened if Toby Keith's big redneck ass was standing up there! And as much as I hate Beyonce, she showed absolute class after her own win last night by handing the mic over to Miss Swift so that she was able to give the acceptance speech that Captain Dickweed interrupted. Let's all hope that Kanye gets MRSA somewhere near his taint...

Third, Cadel Evans...
What a fucking whiney crybaby! God man, tone that shit down. It's getting really old and tired.
Yeah, Shimano neutral support was slow, but they gave you the correct wheel. When your team car finally arrived, they wasted more time by stopping you again and switching bikes. Sure, it was a mistake, but you lost approximately 45 seconds. Where were your teammates? Oh, yeah, I forgot, Silence-Lotto has basically given up on you after your collapse at the Tour. Maybe you should look at switching teams, or learning how to replace a wheel yourself! Man up, take the wheel from the fumbling Shimano guy and do it yourself!
It isn't the first time Cadel has had a meltdown either...
You know what Lance would have done? Gotten pissed off and ridden across the gap. It wasn't like it happened with 4 km to go! In the mountains, 45 seconds is 500-600m and you were 15km from the finish!
Let's see how 'useless' neutral support is the next time you get a flat.

Rant over!

I went out to the crit course this morning and swept turn 4. And there was, indeed, some glass in the short chute between turns 3 and 4. Looked like a broken Bud bottle on the outside of the racing line, near the gutter. My apologies to those who flatted. I haven't been as attentive to the condition of the course this year.
See you guys Tuesday night.

Oh, and JB kicked ass @ IMMOO yesterday! 10:12!! Nice job Jeff!

I'm tired...

Saturday, Doog and I met at the Gate @ 9 to go out into LR and scout some of the new dirt sections I discovered. Lo and behold, the 'group' had their ride planned for the same time. Although we had ZERO plans to ride with them, we rolled out through the Fort together. Once out of the Fort, Doog and I turned to do the ride we'd planned and headed off down Ridge towards Hopkins.

Once out, we rode out Airbase to the G Mart, turned on Cabin Creek and headed towards the dirt. We actually found two completely different sections that could both be easily used in The 2nd Annual Richland-Roubaix Ride (date TBD). One section was great, while the other was a little gravely (is that a word?). Once back on Cabin Creek, Il Prof snuck up on us from behind and we all rode in together via Double Homey. I ended up with right at 80km and 2:45 on the bike.
Once home, I did some bike maintenance, cleaned up what amounted to an entire group to sell on Ebay, and got a gooood nap.
This morning, I got up and met Doog again. I guess he felt better than yesterday and wanted to ride hard. I let him go and just rode a steady solo 20 mph for 95 minutes and rolled home.
A week of no sleep takes it's toll on riding and the motivation to ride. Tonight, I'm medicating so I can sleep!
Back to the full week schedule next week...oh joy!

Oh, and the TNCWC may get shortened a bit on Tuesday as darkness seems to be falling very early these days. I'm going to go out tomorrow morning to look at the course as well. Karl said there was some glass between turns 3 and 4 that may have caused the flat tire issues last week.

Brand New Funk

Big fast, big fun

The TNCWC was pretty fast last night, but it didn't seem too horribly hard. Breaks went and came back all night, but there was just too much horsepower for anything to stay away. The first break lasted the longest...all of 15 minutes or so. From that point, nothing was given much rope.
There seemed to be a spate of flat tires last might as well. FK, Damon and another Harrell's dude all had tire issues. The Harrell's guy flatted his front in turn 4, promptly locked up his rear brake, blew out his rear and cartwheeled spectacularly into the median. Fortunately, no one else went down. The Harrell's guys might need a handling clinic after two crashes in two weeks. Brakes are for slowing. They aren't on/off switches!
Anyway, the 55 minutes seemed to go by pretty quickly. I never really noticed the time until Bond asked @ 38 minutes.
Everything stayed together and quick until a lull in the action with three to go. This led Bond and a couple of Harrell's guys to roll of the front. The gap was steady and it seemed that no one wanted to chase, so I took it upon myself to commit harakiri. Coming to 1 to go, I drilled it in turn 3 and absolutely buried myself until the break was brought back in turn 1. At this point, I had no chance in hell of tagging onto the back for the finish, so I turned around and rolled back to the line.
The finish was predictable. You just cannot take Coco to the line, as he's pretty unbeatable in a bunch gallop these days. He won easily...again. Let the haters yap all they want, because until you can drop him or come around him, just STFU! PV finished 1st and 3rd...

The H.O. is off to Chicago for a business trip, so no ride for me Thursday.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

So we'd planned on doing 3 hours on Sunday...
It turned into 2.5 with a short bit of tempo down Airbase. Tired legs were in abundance and the wind seemed to pick up the longer we stayed out.
Again, plans went to hell in a handbasket this morning. As soon as I turned on my BB, texts started flowing like cheap wine at a sorority house. The plan was to do a long-ish ride. We actually did 2 hours and it was probably for the best. I looked at my watch at 90 minutes and thanked whomever you may pray to that I was close to home. If we'd gone the long way, we would have been out on 601, heading towards Eastover. I guess there's really no reason to do long rids at this point in the year.
I came home, cleaned up and immediately went to the ManHole(tm) to install a new computer on the Ridley. It seems that Specialized computers have a finite shelf life and tend to fail in about 6 months. It jumped, or was thrown, depending on how you look at it, off the I-77 overpass about 15 minutes into the ride. Back to Cateye products for me...!
Then it was on to Lowe's for an axe, a 5 pound sledge hammer, a wheel barrow and some 3/4" PVC. Axe was for wood-splitting, sledge for some demo, wheel barrow for the H.O., and the PVC to build a barrier for a little cross practice.
After my busy day, I slept soundly from 2:30 until shortly after 5...and it was goooooood!

See you guys tomorrow night at the TNCWC.

A little Justice

http://www.kcci.com/news/20718982/detail.html

http://jalopnik.com/5350298/id-this-partial-logo-help-find-a-hit-and-run-suspect

http://miobi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2757

See, the internet isn't all porn! The guy who hit the cyclist needs to be prosecuted to the furthest extent of the Law, period! Pretty crazy how the guy was tracked down...restores a little bit of faith in humanity!

We're back from Edisto and I'm whipped. Vacation is not restful when you have a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Oh, and we took both dogs as well. I'm used to just opening the door and letting them go out in the backyard to do their business (the dogs, not the kids...but it's a idea!). Harnesses, leashes and marching up and down stairs to walk the dogs 5 or 6 times a day makes one want to have a fishtank.
I got two good rides in on Thursday and Friday though. Bombing the crushed tabby/sand trails as the sun rises is pretty centering. Nothing big and exciting, just some fun spins on the cross bike. Possibly even some quality cross training as my metered efforts were @ 45 minutes in length and I started to get used to the bike sliding around under me again.

Back on the road unit this mroning with Doog foor a 3 hour jaunt through LR. We're doing 3 hours tomorrow as well, if anyone wants to join in.

1/2 way point

Well, we're at the halfway point of the the old family vacay...
I've had some very good meals, eaten too much and generally feel like bloated hog, ready for the spit. Operation "De-fat my Entire Being" begins Sunday! After vacation, of course...!
I did ride on Monday and Tuesday though, and plan to ride tomorrow and Friday. I did 2 hard hours on the cross bike Tuesday and felt pretty good. I tried to get some video, but had the camera aimed too low and got nothing but trail. I'll re-adjust tomorrow and post something up.

The weather has been iffy, but no matter. I didn't come down here to lay on the beach...well, yeah I did DAMMIT! The MTs don't mind though. They just run around like headless chickens, regardless of the temps.
We've chartered a boat and are going on a little 'tour' on Friday. We'll see how the boys enjoy a boat ride up through the Sound.

As an aside, if you are in Charleston, seek out 'Fiery Ron's Home Team BBQ' in West Ashley. It's easy to find and has the best St. Louis style BBQ, well, east of St. Louis. Much like Jules in Pulp Fiction, I normally don't dig on the swine, but I made an exception for these ribs. HOLY SHIT, but they were good! Just do it, and thank me later!

2 hours on the Salsa in the morning...