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...

A waste of a beautiful day

I'll keep this short...
State RR...
Felt really good...rode near front easily, even on the 'climbs'. In @ 20th when the group yelled aand split on a 60+ kph descent. I saw the paint on the road, but hit the GIANT FUCKING HOLE anyway. Thankfully, I didn't have the same experience as the guys in the 50+ masters field. They hit the hole and half the field crashed, sending about 10 guys to the ER with injuries. I kept it upright and thought everything was okay until we got to the 1k sign. I stood to climb and wondered why the front of the bike felt so soft. Nothing broken, other than my spirit...just a pinch flat. No wheels in the truck, so my day was done. $30 for 12.5 miles. My C/B ratio was for shit!
1/2 of the team kicked ass and took names. Bond defended as State RR champ. JayC was 2nd in his race. BGK and RW both finished very well in the 40+ as well. The rest of us, well...let sleeping dogs lie. On another note, our favorite Scot, Tom C. got pipped at the line to finish 2nd in the 50+. Good show mate!
Came home, packed for the beach, and went to Doog"s for dude's night dinner and some Pineapple Express. That's a funny movie!
Time to get going to the beach for vacay with the family. Same shit, different location!

I think so...

Just did a 90 minute spin with Doog...felt okay...I guess I'm a ready as I'm gonna get for the State RR. We did stop by the Old Columbia Speedway though...it's well on it's way to a proper restoration. The track itself is in horrible dis-repair, but the grounds are looking good. Can't wait until it's open and operating again.

I was going to post a mini-rant about the furor that is surrounding the death of Ted Kennedy, but my boy Hoovis beat me to it. I couldn't have said it better myself...

And I know there's a lot of vitriol towards Lance, but really, STFU! So what if he got some help to up the pace in the beginning of Leadville? The other top contenders got to use the same help. So what if he used sponsor clout to get some of his homies into the race? People are bitching that they missed out on the lottery and are aiming their collective spew at Lance. Do the math here people! Who is going to bring more $ and exposure to Leadville, and endurance mountain bike racing in general...Lance, or some weekend warrior from Flagstaff? Did the guy who missed the lottery have a chance of clicking off a top 10, or even breaking 10 hours?
Face it people, he still won the Leadville 100 by 30 minutes!!! He rode away from Wiens @ the 35 mile point and SOLOED for 65 miles!!!! I don't care who you are, nor what you think. That is fucking BIG RING, period!!


Time to sit around and rest until Saturday...

TNCWC

The group was smaller last night, but it didn't stop the race from being fun and action-packed. RW took off on lap two and was brought back a couple of short laps later. Break went and came back, but the break that stuck was a kind of odd one. It was brought back on a few separate occasions, only to re-form with new blood each time. No, it wasn't a new break, or a counter move, but the same break with a couple of guys getting in and a couple getting out every time.

(Relative) fitness is a funny thing. I felt pretty crappy all day and my legs were crampy when I left the house. Once rolling, I neither felt bad, nor great all night, yet I had little trouble chasing gaps, taking pulls and generally riding hard. I guess last week was actually good for me.
Anyway, I made the mistake of telling Meat to go with a little move right at the start/finish at the bell lap. It was waaay too early to start a proper leadout for Coco. In turn three, the Harrell's guys came blowing by and I saw that Coco was 5th wheel. Once their line went by, I jumped on the back and watched the sprint unfold. Dr. LP started it EARLY and the rest of the bunch queued up. @ 150, the group fanned out, pushing Coco into the gutter. No matter, he still took it out with relative ease.
PV put 5 in the top ten, including yours truly, who sat up @ 200 to go and still rolled across no-handed for 10th. Well, 9th if you take into consideration the fact that Freight Train missed the first 15 minutes!
Don't know why, but the 55 minutes seemed to go by quickly last night and it seemed fun, even though I didn't feel great and and a little unmotivated at this point.

3 days until vacation...

Oh Good God...

A bad penny always turns up...

Jesus...if I was Horner, I'd purposely ride off the side of the mountain and re-injure myself to keep from having to ride with that douchebag! I wonder if the new Astana kits will have Vinokourov's picture on them.

What Astana will be riding next year? Safe to say it likely won't be Trek products! I'm no Trek fan, but even THEY deserve better than likes of Vino!

And we're done...

5 rides/4 days...6 rides for the week.
Doog and I met for a little trip through the woods yesterday. The trail isn't in altogether bad shape. A bit viney and overgrown in places, but not horrible. There are a few trees down that need to be introduced to the old Poulan...though they did make nice barriers to practice dismount/remount on the cross bike. I had to make a few stops to adjust a complaining rear derailleur, remove a large stick and to put my back wheel back into the bike. Yep, the QR got knocked open at some point and the rear wheel parted company with the dropouts. Let's just say, when this happens, the stop isn't a gradual one. I got out of my pedals, but barely!
We went out around Weston Lake, up Old Leesburg and back into the trail.
2.5 hours on the cross bike made me realize that staying on the road bike all summer makes you soft. My knees hurt, my hands hurt and my back is very upset with me!
This morning, we rolled out into Lexington County for a little tempo work to end my block. The ride out was less than enjoyable. Once we got to Gaston, things started to get better. Doog starting pulling hard, forcing me to work to stay on his wheel. I started to open up aand by the time we got onto Hwy6 for the run back into town, I felt pretty good. I guess sometimes you just have to suffer and push through bad patches...
Another 2.5 hours on the bike...I'm done...tomorrow is an off day!
Next week---TNCWC...a couple of spins...State RR and then Edisto for vacation....this time next week I'll be sitting on the beach!

Double Day

Did the old double day yesterday...
Left the house @ 9 for a spin and felt terrible. Bad stomach, bad legs, bad lungs...you get the idea. The first 30 minutes was the very definition of suck. Something funny happened on the way home though. I had a tailwind the entire way and could just turn my legs over, get my HR up and give some effort. I did 3 5minute efforts and each one got progressively easier and seemed to push out the bad stuff. Going up Gervais wasn't so bad...going through USC campus didn't suck either. It made me feel old though. While I look at the young chippies walking around in their shorts and sundresses and think, "DAMN!", they look at me and think, "look at the creepy old dude on the bike!". The idea that I'm actually old enough to have children that age is one I really don't want to think about for long!
Anyway, I lazed about (read: did housework) for the afternoon, took a catnap when the MTs went down for theirs and generally did as little as possible.
I had to rush to make it to the group ride @ 6. The pace was quicker than usual on the way out and stayed pretty steady for the entire ride. The group worked pretty well together until the normal folks did their normal bullshit. Funny that they want to go hard when the rest of the group is just rolling through, but when the hammer meets the anvil, they tend not to be around...
After Airbase, we (the 4 PV) just rolled in.
I ended up with 110km and 3:30 on the bike.
This morning, I awoke to a crunchy back and some STIFF legs. I got on the bike and rode for exactly 55 minutes, never in anything bigger than the 39/15. Most of the stiffness is gone, but I will visit my friend the foam roller tonight!
3 hours tomorrow and 3 hours on Sunday...

Busy days

Monday was nutty...contactors, errands, general BS that takes all day...
Tuesday morning...same deal. Contractors, furniture breakdown and moving to make room for the new furniture...creating a grouchy back and some tired legs!
Then the TNCWC...
There was actually a decent turnout last night, yet it didn't seem that motivation levels were high for anyone. The race ebbed and flowed until a break of 3 got away. The chase would start, then stop, then start, then stop. All the while, the break was riding a steady pace and staying out by a full straight. The was enough horsepower to chase it down, but no one really wanted to do the work, I know I had zero interest in doing a whole lot of work. Oh, and one of the juniors needs to really work on some handling skills. He nearly took Meat out in turn two and about 10 minutes later, he missed turn four completely and nailed his brakes in the middle of the bunch.
Derek ended up taking the sprint from Jamie and Gordon. Ladd won the field sprint for 4th. Kenny, you really don't need a 54 chainring...or an 11!
Tomorrow is a double day, rain or shine. Then a spin on Friday morning. A shorter ride Saturday (likely in the rain) and then ride Sunday...nice little 5 ride/4 day stack.

yes and no

Doog and I met Saturday morning @ 7:30 to ride three hours. His mom is in town, so he needed to get back early. It was cool with me. I hate to get up that early to ride, but I like being home @ 10:30 with 3 hours and 50+ miles.
We rode relatively easy until we got onto Airbase. We were both feeling a bit flat, but did a nice, even, hard-ish tempo for the entire length. It felt pretty good and sort of opened my legs.
I got home @ the aforementioned time, cleaned up, and immediately started hanging cabinets in my kitchen. Got them all hung and now have very little use of my right hand and wrist. I really need to invest in a hammer drill! No leverage and 75 year old rough hewn oak studs make driving screws really fun!
I woke up this morning, got dressed to ride, spun through Shandon on my way to the Fort and just turned around. I felt fine, but my hand is jacked and I had zero motivation to ride. My ride partner had his phone on ignore...
When I got home, #1 son said he wanted an 'adventure', so we packed up Moby and headed to The Swamp. It's kind of nice to have a lightly visited National Park 20 minutes from the house. We, and I mean WE, walked the elevated boardwalk trail. The whole trail is nearly three miles through an old-growth floodplain swamp. Both of the MTs walked the whole way. That's a long way for short legs!!! #2 passsed out in the truck on the way home.

Specialized Toupe Ti 143 review...
It's not for me. Read all of the marketing drivel you like. It will either fit your body, or it won't.
I rode it for 160km+. It was fine when my hands were on the tops or the hoods, but in the drops and hammering, it just was not comfortable. There's very little padding in the nose and the nose is very short. I could feel my perineal nerve getting crushed with every pedal stroke when I was riding tempo in the drops. This is the second Specialized saddle I've tried over the years and neither have worked for me.
It's also very low profile. I was forced to put an 8mm spacer in my seatmast/cap to get my saddle height where it needed to be. The good? It's really light! 191 grams on the scale. If you are looking for a weight-weenie saddle and don't mind having your junk crushed, it may be the right one for you!

Trying a Fizik Arione next and then maybe an Antares...

Oh, and get well to TVH. He ran over (literally) a chihuahua on Saturday and went down hard. He's a little bunged up, but nothing on his person is broken. His Colnago didn't get off so lucky. Levers, hoods, saddle...all farked. He also smashed his helmet.
As for the dog, well, it got run over flush by TVH AND Dr. Jones. They said it ran off, presumably to expire quietly under the house.
See you guys @ the TNCWC.

2X

Yesterday, the plan was to go out and spin for an hour on the road. I dropped the MTs at school and as soon as I pulled into the driveway, the rain started to fall.
The cross rig needed a shake down ride, so I pulled it out and rolled into the rain. It wasn't bad. The bike worked fine with it's new parts and the rain actually felt pretty good. I can tell you that Ultegra SL cranks are waaay stiffer than FSA SL-K carbon ones and the new Look Quartz pedals are very nice...stomp and go.
Anyway, I did the HoP(tm) loop down around the river. The rain felt good, my lungs were working properly and the legs felt like they were attached, so once I got to River Drive, I rode hard. I ended up riding @ 92-95% for 20 minutes...in the driving rain...and it felt good.
The rain picked up on the spin through campus and the 'hood. As soon as I got home and leaned the bike against the stairs, lightning hit...CLOSE! And of course, as it always goes in my life, the rain stopped about an hour later.

The group met at 6, as usual, and went off through the Fort. Well, they did, I turned and headed home.
The Specialized Toupe saddle that I'm borrowing from Shrews is waaaaay lower profile than the Flite I took off. I measured seat height and it looked the same...well, it wasn't. I felt like I was sitting in a hole, so I blew home. I can't just raise the post on the Ridley as it don't have one...
I ran to the ManHole(tm), grabbed 5mm, 8mm, and 10mm spacers. I threw in the 5mm and took off, riding the loop backwards to meet the group. The 5mm wasn't enough, so I stopped, again, took it out and dropped in the 8mm...perfect. The rest of my wrong-way chase was a 45 minute effort at 90%+. I met the group just after the 4-way stop, turned and chased onto the back. I rolled in with the group and, even with my detour, ended with almost 70km and 2 hours on the bike.
I ended with just shy of 100km for the day and 3 hours of ride time. I feel like things are coming back around after being sick.
Doog and I are meeting @ 7:30 in the morning for 2.5 to 3 hours, including some tempo. All are welcome...

I'll give a more in depth review of both the Toupe saddle and the Quartz pedals in the near future.

A plug

If any of you fine folks who frequent my little pill party are in SE Pennsylvania, and need a good rub, hit up my friend Beth.
She specializes in Swedish, Deep Tissue and Sports massage. She's a CMT and a certified personal trainer. Beth knows her shit! She's also very cool and full of personality. No sense getting rubbed down by someone who can't carry on a conversation...

Check her site:
http://www.getzmassagetherapy.com/

I've also added site over in LINKAGE.

Thanks!

M