nice weekend

Yeah it was pretty and the trails were probably dry today but did I ride my bike? No way. I needed to take some pictures of myself with my car instead.





I sold my mongoose cx frame on ebay for 49.95 and some dummy paid 93.00 for a right/rear 9 speed shimano 105 shifter, one that I bought for 20.00 a few months ago. Crazy people. I have a nashbar cx frame now, it fits better, guess I should take a picture or two of it and post it. I had forgotten how crappy aluminum frames feel when you have 100 psi in the tires.

Stupid Louisville

Spent the night in Louisville Saturday night. Woke up as early as I could Sunday morning to try to go ride some frozen trails at cherokee. I was a bit worried though since the sun was out and in full force, even if it was only 24 degrees. Once I got there I thought it might be okay and rode up the hill toward hogan's on the new section of trail, which was solid, but once I got to the top it was messy. So I quickly got off the trail and back to the road, I checked out a couple other spots and they were all muddy so I started riding back to my friend's house. Saw Bo King, who was also riding his mtb on the road. Then I came up on some dude on an old schwinn full-sus, that was covered in mud. I caught up with him by the bottom of dog hill. And he was all like, "I thought the trails would be frozen, I guess I stayed on em a little longer than I should have" then he proceeded to refuse to let me pass him going up dog hill. I let him win, I hope he feels better about himself. It might have been a certain squirrel chaser that races sometimes but I couldn't tell through all the clothes and mud. Either way, at least I can continue to tell myself that there are fewer retards on bikes in lexington than louisville.

Nothing like a hard effort

Nothing like a hard ride to make you realize your saddle needs to be adjusted. It wasn't a long ride but I did an Lactic threshold test yesterday, just cause I hadn't checked it in so long. So it was 30 minutes of seated pushing pretty hard made my right knee ache a little. After the test was over I pulled over and sat on a guardrail to remove a shim from beneath the cleat on my right leg. I keep having this problem about the dull ache when I push real hard so I think my seatpost slips a little cause I've adjusted it quite a few times and it feels better immediately after but then a ride or two later its back to the same issue. I don't know if it has a divet in it or something where it slides back to each time. Suppose, I should just get a new post.

Anyway, the LT test just gave me even less faith in using heart-rate than I already had. The result was that my LT is exactly the same as it was when I was "really" training. I did hurt to peg it for a while though, I don't think I have done an effort like that since I was racing sport class and trying to win races. I think there is something to be said for pushing yourself through the rough spots were you're saying to yourself "this is retarded, why am I doing this?" So LT stands at 180bpm. At least I don't have to reset the zones on my hr monitor. Someone buy me a powertap to play around with, but give me one for my mtb too. :)

sunofa

I fell over again today, this time in the middle of U.K.'s campus. Turns out a screw had come out of my cleat and it wouldn't allow me to pop my right foot out cause it kept moving around on me. I had a moment where I was like, "unclip your left foot, unclip your left foot, it will come out. Why? I'm already falling to my right and unclipping my left foot isn't going to do me any good." I said a couple bad words after I got up off the ground. I'm pretty sure the girl standing close by got a good kick out of it. Luckily it was a little before class so there weren't tons of people around. Anyways, I think I am becoming "that guy."

Big News

Because of the failing economy and general hard-times for Clarksville A-team we had to scale down the size of the team bus for this upcoming season. I'll attach some photos so that when you see this thing role into a race venue, you know it's gonna be ON!



Oh yeah baby! It's got a 1.0 liter 3 cylinder engine with 5 speed manual transmission, which is gonna net me an average of somewhere in the 40 mpg range and maybe even more if I do a couple mods, such as putting pizza pans over the hubcaps, installing an electrically powered heat pump for the engine, like they do on diesels in cold climates and maybe seal up the bucket style headlights



Be jealous

Idiot

I did 50+ miler today and went a little harder than last time which resulted in some dead legs by the time I got back into town. Once I got into my neighborhood I nearly died coasting down a hill and not paying much attention. I guess I hit some salt or leftover frozen crap. It was like hitting a speed bump which caused the bike to buck me a little resulting in my left hand coming completely off the bars but luckily I saved it and the only damage I did was elevating my heart rate for a minute or two. About 200 yards later at a four way stop I decided to unclip my left foot instead of my right for some reason and of course my legs were so dead that I couldn't get out and ended up falling over in the street with cars all around me. It was awesome, I was annoyed but hopefully the cars around me got a good chuckle. That was my day, now I have to do some serious reading (on a friday night LAME!)

It made me think of this guy

falling over in Waverly Parking lot while Anthony and I sat there laughing.

playing

I got out and played in the snow a bit today, I waited too long though cause it got warm and stuff was getting too squishy. I did have a pretty funny wreck on one of the neighborhood streets, where I was apparently doing my best impersonation of Jan Ulrich in the TDF time trial seen below at minute 3:03, also notable skids at 1:25 and :25. Hope you guys got out and played some too. I don't know what I'll do for a ride tomorrow, maybe do a road ride on my mountain bike.

So I sold out

Working for the man, gotta wear the seafoam in '09. On the plus side, not every team has like 2 doctors, several pharmacists and a couple drug reps at their disposal, so any success will be pure talent and nothing out. Now, where is my new bottle of skilz???

Knews

So, the news is out, Cycler's Cafe stole Anthony from us, but they're going to regret it cause I'm going to train like never before and beat them all (in the fastest vegetarian, U.K. grad student mountain biker challenge). Rumor has it that anthony only agreed to be on their team because they took Millie hostage, and he kind of felt sorry for them anyway. Cycler's also has a blog now, which I will put a link to on here out of pure good sportsmanship.

In other news, this snow and stuff is crazy, I don't know whether to try going for a mtb ride or not. Will the snow pack up on my tires? Will I wreck into a frozen creek? Will an Abominable Snowman appear in the woods and steal my cliff bar?

My biggest goal of the upcoming season is to do this at least once:

your loss

all you doody heads missed out, except for andrew who did half the ride. Nice day for riding, aside from the salt on the road. now I'm beat and ready to eat a pizza


Ft. Duffield 2005

Thursday mid-40s 3 + hour road ride

I guess you responsible types might not be able to make it away from work, but I'm thinking I'll probably do a 3+ hour road ride on Thursday at 12 p.m. starting from Park Hills Dollar Tree here (on the corner of pimlico and man'o'war) out to Delong to athens walnut to n. clevland? across winchester rd. across newtown pike and so on till we come in on the backside of masterson station and then come through downtown to get back to chinoe or wherever you need to go, I'll complete the loop back to Park Hills Dollar Tree. You all know it and you all love it. Probably in the low 17 mph range depending on winds and group size.

Greg you could cut out from Thoroughbred times for a while, I'm sure they don't need you.

Here is a picture of a Cougar if I've ever seen one

Third time is the charm

The third mountain bike ride this morning since the "incident" last summer. Despite a flat tire, under-inflated fork and less than clamped bars, it was awesome. After all that has gone on as of late, riding the mtb has taken on a whole new level of fun and escape. I dont know what this season will hold, but it's going to be great just being out there riding. It's going to be 5 degrees tomorrow morning, things should be fast and fun.

So anywho, with all the nuptializing and whatnot lately, not much time to blog. First "race" (Snake Creek Gap TT) is coming up next month. Not sure what to expect other than pain from many areas, but am looking forward to getting a bit back into the swing of things.

Which reminds me, why the fascination with large birds? I am not innocent of an "oh hey, a duck!" but why? Anything larger than a raven and it's nothing short of seeing bigfoot. I saw a loon or crane or something like that the other day and almost ended up riding right into the Ohio River. We swerve, stare, point and/or poke at there mere glimpse at anything with a long wingspan. Maybe it's the fact that they could hurt us if they so choose, I dunno, but they are cool.

wanna be starting something

I've been riding the road lately since it has been in the 40s a lot. However, this weekend looks like it might be a good chance to ride the old mtb. I'm thinking Frankfort but could do eastern ky, green river, or younger's since they're all near the one hour drive mark for me. Anyone got any long group rides going? Wanna? Gentle Ben, I may call you.

In other news, school starts back for me tomorrow. Booo! I'm going to try to shoot for 3 rides a week though. Ideally, one Long slow on the weekends, maybe a 1-2 hour tempo during the week and a trainer ride. Might get back into the spin class to substitute for the trainer since it's more interesting to stare at the goof-balls who show up for class.

In the meantime the A-team is working on making one of these

an announcement

My apologies to those of you who will be saddened by the news that Anthony is now off the market. On the other hand, getting married supposedly makes you a slower bike racer so some of you might get your chance to beat him in 2009.

Special for Ateam readers only!

Weakling. Yeah, you read that right. Are you tired of people calling you names like that? Tired of gettin sand kicked (or spun) in your puny little face? Want to be a big strapping lad like yours truly? Well Nancy Boy, I have the solution for you - a weight training system.

Bench presses, curls, squats, clean and jerks, leg lifts, rows. You can pepper these terms liberally and awkwardly into an otherwise normal conversations so people know just how hard you are going to be. And you can accomplish (or pretend to) all of these feats of strength on your very own Powerhouse in home gym. With almost 300 pounds of high quality pure 'Merican steel plates, you can make yourself the envy of all other men and desirable to the ladies (or vice versa).

While systems like this can (and should) sell for 1000's of dollars, if you act now, you can own this legendary piece of training equipment (used by local "athletes" Anthony Slowinski and Robert Turpin to hone their bodies into state title winning machines, earning the respect of their moms and significant others along the way) for the low price of $125.00.

This insanely low price includes all aforementioned steal plates (cuz at this price, they are just that), 45 pound squat/press bar, curl bar, springy things to hold the plates of steel on said bars, some strategically placed duct tape, an arm curl and leg curl/lift attachments. Other features that make this thing awesome and all other weight racks a joke are; heavy duty tube frame standard bench. Pop pin crutch adjustment. Pop pin leg developer height adjustment. Seat angle adjustment. 4 position flat/incline/decline. Proper pivot point on leg developer for proper muscle isolation. Thats some pretty serious stuff.

I hate to let this thing go, but I need the space and have to let some other people get a chance at the podium and some ladies (or men, whatever you prefer). So act now by calling 599-5739 (Anthony is standing by!) or emailing aslowinski@gmail.com!!!



Previous You...



The New You!

Soles on Ice

I rode for an hour and a half tonight. My toes got cold. Maybe I need some of those toe warmer packets. The rest was all good. I bumped into Travis Mullen and two Deutschers. They showed me another mile worth of trail out at Veteran's Park. The trails were in awesome shape. Sweet. There were actually people out there playing frisbee golf in the 25 degree weather out there. I guess the hoodies they were wearing were especially warm. The semester will be unofficially over for me Thursday but not officially over until the 16th because I have to take a test on that day. Tests are dumb at this point. If you're wondering about my syntax, I've been influenced by the posts on the Louisville Dirtclub's site.

The way-off season

So I have not pinned a number or tied one on my bars for 3.5 months now. Crazy. I haven't gone that long without racing in prolly about 12 years. While I miss many aspects, the lack of pressure to perform and train is kinda nice. Then again, it sucks to have to hear about who's racing well right now and thinking "I can totally beat that dude..."

The healing of the back has been way more than I could have ever imagined. Amazing what the body can do to itself. In a span of about 1 minute I managed to do months upon months worth of damage without having to hit anything more than the floor from a standing position (I try to excel in all things). Some days it really feels like things are getting better, others, I feel like I went 2 months back.

So if you kids are out there thinking you would like to break your back like your favorite Pro MTB racer Anthony Slowinski, I realize the dream is alluring, but have to warn you, it makes life kinda suck.

Next years race plans? Lets just say I thought I would be able to race again this season, so who knows. I obviously don't.

In one and a half weeks, I will see the back surgeon for hopefully the last time, maybe then I will have some answers. Till then, see y'all at the (sing it) whyyyyyyyy emmmmmm c-ay!

cross-training

I used a Wii fit to cross-train all during the thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately, it's not mine it belongs to the in-laws and they took it home with them. A couple more sessions on that thing and it's look-out Kentucky Point Series 2009.

Paypal is a steaming pile

If you have money in Paypal, take it out now. Why? Because apparently they can hold your money without having to prove why they are doing so. You on the other hand, have to prove that you: A - are who you say and, B - have a legal right to sell what you're selling. Wait, what? It's like your bank raiding your garage sale and holding your shoebox till you produce 3 forms of ID and some receipts for grandma's toaster oven.

So I speak to "customer service" (who politely read all the pre-written, stock answers to me) and ask what exactly they think they are doing and just what is it they are looking for in this "investigation." All I am told is that they have "detected unusual activity." Being the account holder, I guess I am not privileged to what exactly that may be. In the meantime, my customers have my stuff, Paypal has my money plus the 3% they charge for their service, and I have nothing.

I go on to tell her that if Paypal is concerned that I have broken the law, they need to alert the authorities, whom they are not, but in the meantime, no matter what they find in the course of "investigating," it is MY MONEY. I was assured they understand, but I have a feeling all they understand is the fact I am getting screwed and have little recourse.

It has been one week now and they have seen fit to only respond to 2 of my 6 emails and lost the information I have submitted, well, every time I have provided it. Even though I was also assured (lots of assurance, but little action from them) of a timely resolution, I think they may have a different idea of what timely is. (As in, in the grand scheme of things, what's 2 months?) Anyone know a good lawyer willing to work pro bono?

I got a new bike today

this one isn't as cherry as the hondamatic but it's got gears and 10 more horsepower while being the same size engine, it also holds a little more gas, which is good. driving it home from stanford today kind of sucked though cause of the wind and chilliness. It's my favorite color though and is supposed to be guaranteed for a year by the shop that sold it to me.