RvV tomorrow...

Sounds like a solid plan to me...


Gotta know what's coming!

Awoke to the pitter-patter of steady rain.
Looked at radar.
Meh.
Left @0900...in the rain.
Rode in the rain for an hour.
Clouds broke...sun came out.
Rode in the sun for 1.5 hours.
Collected detritus dried to a crust on legs.
Came home wet, dirty, happy.
2.5 hours on CX bike.
End.

0900 @ Greene and Laurens tomorrow morning.

Namaste.

This and that...

As we all know, I'm not a Campagnolo kind of guy, but this 1984 Bianchi Speciallismo sort of speaks to me. It's kind of like that hot cougar you see every morning when dropping the kids at school. A little age, yet well maintained, and can still put it down when the time comes...

Really Tom? BoomBoom should have a serious conversation with his agent.

Ballerini. BALLER-ini!



The new Trek Domane. Possibly the worst kept secret in the cycling World. Looks pretty cool. I do wonder, however, if the guys at Volagi have seen it yet. The rear triangle seems to borrow the split tail design from the Liscio.

Flanders is Sunday. 0830 on NBC Sports HD...the old Versus...the older OLN. The DVR is already set...

Some good "getting over whatever sickness" rides this week.
I rode short Tuesday, as I was coughing up stuff that looked a bit like rubber cement.
Last night, I got cajoled into doing the whole ride.
Even though I'm still coughing, and I feel like I'm breathing through a silly straw, I tailgunned the front group until getting tailed off on the climb out on Gator...like that's a surprise, since I climb so well. (note the hint of sarcasm?)
Once on 302, I was off by about 400m. There was a big tailwind, so I decided to turn the screw down and see if I could chase back on. I made it to about 150m, coming to a stoplight. The group made it...I did not...DAMMIT. See you guys in the parking lot!

Definitely felt better last night, and this morning. Sometimes, blowing the carbon out of the pipes is a good thing.

And if you're in a thinking mood, spare a thought for Ladd today. He's suffering a few complications from his knee surgery, and is spending some quality time @ Palmetto Richland.


Oh, and Spring Break starts today...I may head to the beach...
6 days...

A day with Mario

(subtitled : Mario will touch you now...)



And they're riding Ultegra Di2...interesting...

Monday...

I hate you so very, very much...


Apparently, Cipo has yet to read the Sexual harassment policy handbook.

Here's the Ridley wearing it's new bits. 7900 w/Rotor cranks. Pretty much everything else remained, as it works flawlessly. And don't listen to the 'experts' who say that you have to run D/A brakes with 7900 b/c of the revised cable pull. The Mavic binders that I've had for years work perfectly...probably better than they did with the 7800 levers.
And the Vitt Open Corsa SC tires ride sublimely. Just billard-table smooth. It's about time the natural sidewalls made a comeback. Old school meets new school...I missed the look.

Check this track out! I'd like to build a small apartment on the infield and wake to this sight every morning.

...and check out Jered Gruber's write-up of E3 Harelbeke. Nice photos and a good synopsis. They chased the race around Flanders on their bikes! I'm jealous...

A warning...

Before you hit "play" on the embedded video, hit 'mute' on your speakers/sound...unless you like really shitty Euro-trash pop music.
I mean, I barely understand Flemish, but it's FAR preferable to the shite that's dubbed over the video.

You've been warned...

Edit : After a couple of complaints on YouTube, one of which was from yours truly, the Euro-trash pop was removed in favor of Flemish.

You're welcome!



So the sinus infection has nearly passed, but the lovely drainage that usually accompanies it has settled in my chest, giving me a nice case of bronchitis. I'm coughing like a coal miner...and it hurts. I've coughed so much, and so hard, that my abs are sore (core workout...woohoo!) and I blew some blood vessels around my right eye. The result is a slighty black eye. I just tell people that The Boss has taken to hitting me again.

No matter though. A week off the bike was making me itchy, so I went out on the resurrected Salsa yesterday for a shakedown ride. No real issues, other than the handlebar tape I put on it sucked a mile of ditch water...and the gear cable housings were about an inch too long. Both issues were little more than aesthetic and have been remedied. An hour on the bike was about all I could manage before an epic fit a coughing took over.

This morning, I rolled out with TVH and IP. Felt a bit better on the bike, but still just really hacky. They turned left to head into Calhoun, and I turned right and brought it to the house. It was a nice 90 minutes/50km.

The Boss has gone to Charleston to shop, and the Management Trainees are at the Lexington Branch Office until later today, so I believe I'm gonna take a nap.

Inspired

Unstoppables from black train films on Vimeo.

Okay...enough moping about feeling sick...time to go ride...

Upward swing?

As with most things, the first thing I'd do is remove the Campagnolo stuff...

Rollercoaster! This road, with a tailwind, would be more fun than a pillow fight at the Tri-Delt house...

Good pavement, but the climb out looks a bit steep-ish.

Cycling v. Futbol and Rugby. You decide...

Getting about 7 percent better daily, which if we count today, brings me to about 56%. Just damn tired. I'd planned on riding tomorrow, but the pollen count is supposed to be nearly maxed out, so I think I'll occupy the couch for another day. I'll definitely be out Saturday morning. Probably won't do the whole ride, but I need to get the body moving again. Not gonna do my normal shit after being sick and jump back on the bike like nothing happened. It always ends in me getting a bounce-back ass-kicking.

Peace...

Picture post

Eddy is displeased. Somewhere in the Flandrian countryside, someone is gonna wake up in the trunk of a large Mercedes.

Is you're gonna commute, commute HARD!! (pic courtesy of Firefly Bicycles)

Hey Cav, we get it, you're WC. Can you not wear shorts and a t-shirts to build a chair?

Another 'Back in The Day' test. If you don't know who this is, quit saying 'back in the day'!!!

Signs of life today. The aches are sub-siding, and judging by the puddle I woke up in this morning, the fever has broken. Still feeling pretty puny, and my head is swimmy. No ridey until Thursday, at the earliest. Even then, it'll probably be little more than an hour or so...

The Downward Spiral

Oy!

I knew I felt bad Saturday, but fell into some sort of flat-spin on Sunday. Racked with aches, sweating like a rented mule, ripping sinus headache that, in turn, produced waves of nausea that rivaled Teahupoo. In the past month, every member of the house has had one sickness or another. I think I got an amalgam of all of them...

No sleep at all last night. Toss...turn...sweat...breathe deeply and heavily to ward off the sick. Rarely do I tap out, but I couldn't see myself parenting today, so the Boss stayed home. My strength is gone...a nap will occur in the coming hour.




And I'm torn on these shoes. Rapha has produced some of the best looking shoes out there. Made from yak leather...yeah, I just typed that. They also employ Easton EC90SL soles. These were made in conjunction with Giro, who can do no wrong in my eyes. And the price you ask? No, they aren't $1000, nor are they over-priced just for the sake of it, like most Rapha stuff.
They're $450!! That's LESS that most high-end shoes.
I bet they feel like slippers...

Time for my nap...

MSR 2012

Can we start calling Ernesto "Goldmember"? I love gggoooooooolllllldddd!

Cancellara wrecking skulls at Strade Bianche. But more importantly, look at his watch!!! Oh, and he's on Trek's answer to the Roubaix. Look at the size of the downtube...and the skinny seatstays and fork. Funny that the bottom race of the headtube stayed 1-1/2" though.

MSR 2012 Poggio & finish (looking for better quality)




Brunyeel said the strongest guy didn't win. He was right. Fabi didn't win, but he sent a message to the bunch that they better get their collective shit together in the next few weeks.

Rode yesterday and felt like complete shit. I turned off from the group and rode home solo. As the day progressed, I went downhill. This morning met me with a full-on sinus infection. My head is like a football. Calls will be made shortly...from the comfort of my couch...or bed...

As an aside, I don't care WHO shows up to the Saturday morning ride. The more the merrier, BUT, and it's a Kardashian-sized butt, if you are going to show up to the standing ride, that you usually cannot be bothered with, show up on time, period. 5-10 minutes late (by regulars), when calls are made, is begrudgingly acceptable. 20 minutes late is ignorant and disrespectful, and isn't going to happen again. Go try that shit anywhere else in the World...
And if something I've said has offended you, maybe it should!

And keep Bond in your thoughts. He's finally getting his bum knee taken care of this week. From the way he explained it to me, the surgery is somewhere between reconstructive and having a bionic leg installed. Big fun....

Ok, enough...
I'm sick and grouchy. You don't want none!

Y'ever?

Y'ever had one of those rides? Probably...

Thursday was one of those for me.

I worked in the yard all afternoon, and evidently forgot to eat or drink anything. I knew I was in trouble on the way out 12th. when it was entirely too difficult to hold 40kph. Things started to go South on the climb out. I tailed off the back, but chased back on, which completely shot me in the ass.
On Gator, I tried to go with the group. The heart said "Go", the head said "Go", the legs said, "nope, sorry homie, we're out of gas". I was done. I watched the group ride away on 302, and went into survival mode. 45 minutes to get home, and 37 minutes of energy in reserve.

I got home, before dark, but was wrecked when I hit the door. Not a full-on, where-am-I sort of bonk, but I was definitely on the far side of a simple hunger knock.

Food, drink and sleep followed soon thereafter.

Then today, instead of relaxing and re-fueling, the entire corporation loaded up and went to Patriot's Point for the day. Nothing helps crampy legs and a grouchy disposition like running around an aircraft carrier with one's children. Seeing that parenting isn't about ME, I went Rule #5, and had big fun with Junior Management.

View from the Captain's chair on the bridge of the USS Yorktown (CV-10)


The real Captain around here.

Have a good weekend!

Check yo self

Let's see, what do we need to take on this ride...

Balls? Check!
Extra balls? Check!
Third set of balls? Check!

Happy Pi Day

This is the way sign in at races should be. USAC could learn a few things from the Belgian Kermesse circuit!

One of these things is not like the other...one of these things is totally different.

The boy is 7 months old and already knows what tires to ride. Smarter than most 'grown' folks around here...

And Jessica Biel for no other reason than, well...it's my page and I feel like posting a shit hot picture of her!

Really good OSR ride last night. Probably 45 folks rolled out. The front group got slowly whittled down throughout the ride, but stayed together, even though it was steady and fast-ish the whole way. Il Prof and TVH both rode really well, with the latter not letting Captain Red Shorts get any more than about 6 bike lengths away at any time.
It was what a ride should be. Hard enough, fast enough and fun enough...novel ideas all, I know.

Oh, and I'm thinking of unloading my White Industries wheels. 32h/3x on Kinlin XR200 hoops (less than 400g each). Hubs are WI H1 polished. Front wheel has Sapim CXRays and the rear was rebuilt with 2.0/1.8 round spokes. Wheels were built by Tim Wellborn @ CC, who has built more bulletproof wheels for me than I care to remember. They weigh @1450g, which ain't heavy for a bulletproof wheelset.

Anyway, enjoy your Hump/Pi Day!

Back to the Grind

Finished the Helium Friday night @ 10. Rode it Saturday morning @ 9. It needed a few tweaks, namely the shift levers needing to be moved further up on the bars, but the shakedown ride went well. The 7900 stuff works really well, and the Rotor cranks are the sheezy. Very stiff. Felt immediately stiffer than the old 7800 crankset. I did switch the 53 out for a 52 though. I couldn't get comfortable in the 53 after riding a 52 for the last 5 years. I always felt like I was in the incorrect gear. And the new rear wheel that Uncle Shrews built is perfect, as usual.

Yep, riding out on the Front Range can get hectic. Be prepared...like this guy!!

First neon yellow...now, burnt orange. These, I would rock ALL DAY!

As I babbled about above, Saturday was the shakedown for the new bits on the Ridley. Installation and setup was a breeze on Friday night, but I missed the placement of the levers by a wide margin.
The 7900 levers are flat (and longer) across the top, unlike the pronounced curve on the top of 7800. I placed them where I thought they would be kicked slightly up. Wrong answer. I struggle through the first half of the ride with old Sean-Yates-Double-Wrist-Bend thing happening. Between the incorrect placement, and the greater length of the 7900, I felt REALLY stretched out. After an 90 minutes of this, I stopped and rolled the bars UP, much like the old-school stolen Schwinn 10-speed style. It looked completely oaf-ish, but solved the lever issue. It did, however, render the drops completely useless.
We rolled a nice 90km in the sunshine, so it was all good!

Il Prof and I went off this morning, sans the coffee drinking, scone deliveryman, aka TVH. IP had a 6 hour ride planned...I did not. We rolled out together for the first 90 minutes, where I turned right for the ride home, and he turned left for a tour of Fort Motte, SC. As you can see, Fort Motte is just Southeast of Columbia, in a part of the State where the is NOTHING!
I can say with some degree of certainty that I'm really tired of driving it into the ever-present headwind. Every which way I turned on the way home today was a fucking headwind! It's like it knows...
Another 80km and 2:40 racked up.
Upon hitting the door, the thought of driving to Blythewood to watch the race passed through my head, but a better opportunity presented itself. It was a good nap.

Alright that's enough...Have a good Monday...

Last urban ride

Kristen Armstrong shows proper TT position. Yeah, that's why I posted it...

Handlebar Mustache just dropped a new shirt. At last, a candidate I can get behind!

Cancellara getting chased by a fan from decades long past, on roads laid out by the Romans. I changed it to B&W. It just looks better that way!


Yep...it was last night. Time changes this weekend and the road ride begins next Tuesday @ 6.
Anyway, the "A" group was pretty big last night. The loop got modified because the river trail was polluted with the normal fair weather walkers.
Out Old State, thru SCANA and back in.
It was punctuated by a HUGE house fire back in the neighborhood near the train yard. Scary stuff. The group rolled up before the FD got there, but it was too late to save the house. To say it was 'fully involved' would be a bit of an understatement. Flames were shooting 50-75 feet in the air, and the heat could be felt from one street over. Here's hoping the folks who lived there got out okay, because fire doesn't play reindeer games!
Once thru Cayce, I split off from the group and came home. As much as I like riding with those guys, I gotta get home by 8 to see Junior Management off to bed.

The 7900 shifters hit the door yesterday, so the Ridley will get built this afternoon/tonight. The Salsa will be getting the 7800 once I figure out what to do with the paint.

Happy Friday!

Sexy Time

Rotor 3D with SRAM Force 53/39 rings. 670.5 grams (observed) complete. Just waiting for the 7900 shifters to hit the door, then the real fun begins...

What. The. Fu......!!!

First we hear that Snooki is going to have a baby Oompa-Loompa...

And Now...THIS!



It's official, the World is, in fact, going to end very soon. Colnago is showing a disc brake C59 at the Taiwan Bicycle Show.

Time to start up-armoring the Yukon, hoarding guns and bullets, and collecting canned goods...

Ahhh...Monday!

So, this is an overlay of Wiggo's TT position compared to Andy Schleck. Will someone PLEASE take Schleck to the damn wind tunnel? Christ, I'm 42 years old, could lose (more than) a few pounds, and have a bad back. Even I can get more aero than Schleck!
Never win the Tour with that position...

Cav's scooter is, in fact, cooler than yours...

This should help any gloomy Monday thoughts you have...

So Friday night, it became quite clear that any Saturday ride I chose to do would be an affair that involved water, sand, dirt and grit. Lo and behold, I was correct.
I slept in, and got on the CX bike @ 10, right when the big part of the storm had passed. The WeCola Remix Dirt Loop got the call. The rain began anew when I got to the end of 12th St., and continued for the entire dirt section around Eastman Chemical, down Old State. As soon as I got to the new waste treatment plant, it stopped.
As it happens, detritus that had accumulated on my exposed, embrocated flesh dried out. I returned home wearing what amounted to a light meringue.
Even so, a ride in 63 degrees and rain still trumped the turbo. I should really clean the CX bike today...

Sunday, we headed into Calhoun County. The ride was pretty uneventful, other than the summary ass-kicking we took from the wind. There was no headwind...no tailwind. There was just a cold, swirling maelstrom that made 90km feel like much, much more. Coming in on 12th St., I seriously considered getting off the bike, sitting in the sun, and calling the Boss for pick. I wasn't bonking, or out of power. I was out of the want to ride anymore for the day.

When I got home, I just wanted to put the bike away and eat a nice proscuitto and mozz sammich on a hard roll. Upon rolling to Service Course, I noticed that the key to the front door was hanging at an acute angle. I tried to gingerly coax it back to prime operational position, only for it to break off CLEAN in the lock. Strike one for Management Trainee #2...
After chastising #2, cooling off, showering, and making the aforementioned sammich, I sat down in front of the 50 to eat. What did I spy with my little eye?
#2 thought it would be amusing to toss the rag he was using to "help" his mother (The Boss) clean, at the TV. Well, it found it's intended target, and left a big schmutz of who-knows-what on the screen. Have I mentioned that I do not own a plasma TV cleaning kit? Consider it mentioned...
Strike 2!

One more, and he would have been the inaugural student in the new kindergarten program at Valley Forge Military Academy.

A trip to Lowe's for a new door mechanism and lock, plus a 1x3 and a trip to Target for the cleaning kit immediately followed consumption of my oh-so-good sammich.
Construction and installation and cleaning filled the next hour. No rest for the wicked...

On the upside, my new parts are beginning to trickle in. Just waiting on the Rotor Cranks and shifters to hit...

Breath deep people, Tuesday is on the way...

SPARTACUS!

Hey, EuroDogs, be afraid...

Friday...finally...

It's been the longest week of seemingly short days, ever. And of course, the weatherman says it's gonna be completely shitty tomorrow, which means it'll likely be 75 and beautiful.
Either way, I'm riding...

Anywho, as my last post explained, new 7900 mechanical D/A was purchased. "Why not electronic?" I can hear you say...
Well, as I sold the Blazer, cash flow isn't an issue, BUT, I told the wife I wouldn't piss all of the money away in one fell swoop. Thus began, "Operation D/A on The Cheap". I'm not going to say exactly how much I dropped, but let's just say that it was considerably less than one would imagine.
I did, however, sell out, and get the Rotor 3D cranks...with round rings. No BioPace for me, thanks!

Now to hurry up and wait for it to hit the door. Then I'll have two bikes to build...

The question at hand is what to do with the paint on the Salsa? So many things are swirling around in my skull. Sounds like pennies in a coffee can...

Nice CX ride last night. 2 hours on the 1st of March in shorts and a SS jersey. 75 degrees when I left @ 6, and 68 when I hit the door @ 8:15. You folks of Northern persuasion can have your culture, liberal politics, and season changes. I'll take the warm sunshine of the South, thank you very much.

It's dreary today, and supposed to be the same tomorrow, so here's something to brighten your day a bit...