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.

This just in!

This just (literally) came across my desk... white chocolate. And I am here to tell you, it's the Devil's candy. Why is it Satan's own confection you ask? Much like Lucifer himself, it's masked as something good (ie giving yourself the name "chocolate") but inside it is pure, disgusting evil.

In fact, white chocolate is a disgrace to the word "chocolate." What Tom Cruise is to acting, white is to chocolate - an embarrassment.



The shape just makes your evil even more obvious.

***Alright, I just realized a huge error in my little "white ain't right" rant, when accompanied by his friends the macadamia nut and cookie, white is, well, OK. I still think brown would be better though...

Oh, new bike, thats me!

They say the best time to invest is when the market is down, so I have put all my money into Chinese Aluminum and will be selling off my American Carbon holdings. While the AC holdings were nice, I think the CA will be a better fit for my portfolio.

Thanks to Eric Pirtle and Bob Peters, the Ateam investment advisory board.



It's giving you that "oh, hello there" look.

New Bike?

who has one?

An Ateam Medical Minute

Welcome to a new feature here on the Clarksville Ateam blog were we spend a few minutes discussing (ie, me telling you and deleting your comments) medical concerns of the day. Todays topic is that of migraine headaches.

After much research (talkin to Garth on the phone), we have concluded chicks mainly get migraines. So to avoid this medical calamity, don't be a girl. If you're a dude and you get migraines, what's the matter with you? Haven't you heard migraines are a chick problem? Geez, toughen up nancyboy.

Next medical minute, I will solve the mystery of the common cold and the single simple step you can take to avoid it forever. Tune in to find out how!

Bored?

click on the title or go to this link and check out this game http://www.atom.com/spotlights/kung_fu_election/

2008 Wrap up

My neurosurgeon told me Friday, no riding for another 6 weeks. In fact, no lifting weights, hiking, running or caber tossing of any sort. The hopes of making a late season CX or Scottish Games appearance is pretty much out of the question. Good thing I'm mostly Polish and haven't ever tossed a caber, (be nice to have the option though), but it sucks about the CX racing.

Anyway, I begged, pleaded and promised to take his wife out for a nice meal at White Castle and he said I could ride outside in 2 weeks if I promised to take it easy, not ride off-road, let his wife get the cheese fries, and in general be VERY VERY careful (with bike riding that is, though one should take caution at the WC lounge as well), but preferred I wait 6 weeks to do any out of doors riding/activity. Nuts to all that.

So...

that pretty much wraps up 2008.

It's not who's fattest

...it's who stuffs the ballot box. So bow before the King of the fatties and thank the good Lord Mo doesn't have to hunt you down and kick your butt.

I mean, if I can't win bike races right now, I gotta get ego boosts from winning something. So take that housewives and invalids, Me an my cat beat you!

Cats don't travel well

You don't get to be a 25lb beast by gettin out much. Also, historically, cats are not the most social of animals. What am I talking about? A recipe for disaster is what. Lets take 6 cats from 6 different houses, put them in a car then stick em all together in a tv studio. Sound like a solid plan? I don't think so either.

I mean, Mo isn't a violent man, just a man who isn't afraid to mix it up if the situation warrants it (like when a possum wonders onto your porch or your sister is sittin on the best part of the bed). And I have a feeling being in a strange place with a myriad of odd humans, bright lights and 5 big ol fat strange cats might just get a fully clawed furry man fightin mad. But, I would bet Mo shredding 5 other cats, Dawn G's face then finally posting up on a camera man's head would be the best thing to happen to Wave 3 Listen Live's ratings ever. I would watch that.

So, tune in Wednesday at 10am for the day that will forever be known around Wave 3 as "what on earth were we thinking?", something about on par with Less Nessman throwing turkeys out of a helicopter, just more fur than feathers but hopefully equivalent bloodshed.

Last lap, he's gearin down for the sprint

Mo is in the lead, workin hard, the line is in sight. I'm heading to feeders supply for some after-party treats.

It's crunch time

Otter is comin down to the wire, gonna be a back breaker (so to speak) but things are lookin good!

And don't forget, go to
http://wave3nation.wave3.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=2112131
Watch it, refresh it over n over (views count), vote if you haven't yet - don't crush this poor cat's dreams of being King Fattie!

Besides, if he loses, he said he will trash this city Godzilla style.



Millie is watchin you vote Mo. She will take you down like that little white mouse if she doesn't get that years supply of Science Diet.

Ateam updater 2.3.1

This is the automated Ateam update for Tuesday, September 16, 2008. Aint nuthin happening.

Well, next to nothing. Good ol T6 the Vertebrate, still broken. Hopped on the rollers a couple times last week, prolly do it again tonight. Overslept my 6am MRI appointment, (I mean really, 6 freakin AM???), whoops. But I feel like it's slowly improving. That or it's healing all wrong and I'll have a hump like a ski mogul when I'm 50.

And what you really wanna know, Otter Madness is happening come h-e double hockey sticks or high water. Worst case scenario we have no power at the pavilion and have a shorter course. We'll deal with it, it's mountain biking after all. As they say, HTFU.

Oh yeah, if youre on a Mac and not on the latest OS, don't install itunes 8.0. It would be nice if the software updater recognized that you don't have the necessary software to run 8.0 BEFORE they overwrite your current version of 7.whatever, but it doesn't, so there you go.

CX Maiden Voyage XC

I took, what Anthony has called my Fred Sanford, cyclo-cross bike out for it's first taste of off-roading. As you can see, it is kind of junky. At least it was the junkiest cross bike out there tonight. We had a cross practice of sorts at veterans park. No, we didn't get to enjoy the two miles of sweet single-track out there. Yes, we did ride in very bumpy and rocky mowed fields. When we first took off my bike made a very loud metal breaking type noise which sounded detrimental but after looking it over I couldn't see anything wrong, I thought maybe a spoke had broken but not. So, facing the possibility of a stem, or handlebars snapping I decided to keep on going.




So about the bike, yes, it is almost as heavy as a surly cross-check.
Yes, that is a stem adapter that allows me to lengthen a short steerer tube.
Yes, that is butt sweat on the seat.
No, there isn't a front deraileur cable hooked up.
Yes, those cranks did come off of a 1980s low-end schwinn 10-speed.
No, I didn't leave handle bar tape off the drops just to be cool. I used all the spare tape I had laying around. Now, I'm thinking I need to go get another 2 rolls and tape the hell out of the bars.

That course was so rough I couldn't hang on to my bars. I didn't want to drop my tire pressure anymore because I was afraid of pinch flatting. Next week I'm taking the scalpel out there, I really don't see any advantages of running a cx bike over a mtb on the practice course (which may be the race course, I don't know). There weren't any paved sections and my mtb and cx bike weigh just about the same. Well, I gotta go soak my hands in some epsome salt now. Talk to you later.

-R

Part 2

Thanks for all the kind words, calls and emails. It is t-6 and they do expect an uneventful (good) recovery, but in the meantime, man it hurts.

Here is how it went down:
Sunday morning I'm waiting for Sarah to finish getting ready and I decided to run and pick up some groceries in the meantime (I am just so efficient). I wasn't in the store more than 2 minutes when I started feeling faint, flashing in and out of consciousness. I suspected it might be the onset of a seizure, but since I hadn't really engaged in any seizure-inducing behavior, I wrote it off to a blood sugar issue. I continued to try to shop but couldn't think or see straight. The last thing I remember was thinking "I need toothpaste" and heading in that direction. The next thing after that, I was coming to in the mens room, then surrounded by paramedics just outside of. The pharmacist said later it was one of the worst seizures he has ever seen. I don't imagine my writhing around in the broken jars of pasta sauce helped the scene much, I was covered head to toe in marinera and cuts from the jars.

So, it took a while to regain my memory; Sarah was surprised when I called her back (as she was wondering where I was) asking who she was and how long I knew her. Not much in this world scarier than not knowing who you are or what's happening to you. But, all things considered, things have turned out OK. Looking at the cuts on my neck from the sauce, I was fortunate not to open up the jugular.

Well, I have some more doctors to see and can't drive for 3 months, (gas is expensive anyway), who knows, maybe I'll even return to work soon. Nah, thats crazy talk.

Brokeback Mountain Biker

Yesterday i broke my vertebrae, number 6 to be exact. I've never been in so much pain. The season, is finished. They say 6 weeks to heal, no surgery will be needed. Pray for me. Thats all.

Before there were good trails and mountain biking was fun...

...there was Ceasar's Creek. Lets just say, comparing Ohio trails to Ohio trails, Mohican's the Brown Gargantua, CC would be the Green one that just wants to eat people. Plenty of mileage and ups n downs, but no flow, tons of ruts and even stinky, sloppy mud despite being bone dry mid-August. And I hate to loose to that troglodyte from Cleveland (I believe the official tally when we've squared off, year to date, is him; 2 wins, me; 25,000), but man I hate CC even more and was willing to roll over on this one. I just did it for the Benjamins.

I felt tired and had zero motivation to race knowing there was no redeeming quality to the next 2+ hours other than it would end, so I wanted to dictate the pace from the gun. I took the hole shot only to get passed when I slipped in some deep and funky smelling mud a couple miles in. Brad Wilhelm came shootin by and proceeded to light it up like it was a race or sumpin. Oh yeah, I guess it was, but thats not the point. The point is he was goin harder than I wanted to. Did I also mention it was hot? Center of the sun hot? Welp, it was. After hanging on Brad's wheel for a bit, I pulled aside and let Jean Shorts and Ben go around cuz I had no desire to try to keep that high a pace.

So, within a couple miles Brad had already blown it all out and I rolled by him. A lap later we rolled by Nano who had taken a wrong turn (despite only having to follow us. I love the Beaner) and was now hanging out trail side but jumped in for the rest of the ride.

Next (last) lap, I was considering the big ol DNF, cursing my current 3rd place hoping a buncha people would pass so I could be all "well, i'm out of the money, might as well put my butt on ice" but then the opposite happens and I catch Ben, (who was suffering a case of vacation legs) and I passed him to move into second. I had to finish now.

Jean Shorts was still impressing himself wayyyy off the front while I set back and rolled at a comfortable pace for second place. I'll make another trip to Ohio to make things right, just not to Ceasars.

Vote Mo in 08

McCain? Obama? Who cares, vote Mo in '08 and know your vote will count. I got a giant animal to feed, help a brother win some support via the wave3 fat cat contest. You'll be invited to the after-party, milk and catnip will be provided.
http://wave3nation.wave3.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=2112131&item_index=1&all=1&sort=NULL

or click the title

Brand new!

The all new Camelbak Hamster Bottle® System



This is just a prototype, but look for the product launch at the Louisville USGP.

Dust, sweat and pointy insects

I'm glad the weekend is over. I mean, wow, if it coulda happened, it was happenin last weekend. Not that it was a bad weekend, but it will be nice to sit here and get some down time. I mean, I'm not comin in here 40 hours a week to work, its recovery time.

So after not touchin the bike on vacation, the legs have been a bit slow to come around this week, I wasn't sure how Sunday was gonna work out. The weather was awesome though. Waverly can be like a broiler when it gets hot, so the relief in temps was especially welcome.

Rustys start line design, well, it looked like he was chasin his dog Hank around with some yellow tape attached to his butt, it ensured there was plenty of bumbin and bar rubbin. Despite that, I managed to get into the woods first. However, not 20 yards in, some bug with a pointy butt flew into my helmet and commenced to the stinging. I think at some point the little jerk was using my helmet to leverage himself to try to crack my skull with his stinger, man it hurt. I tried pokin it with my fingers through the vents, but he was crafty and was avoidin the poke every time like the hillbilly fleas livin on the dog on the old Warner Bros cartoons. I had to pop the helmet off (while trying to maintain pace) smoosh him and throw the lid back on. It felt like I had a hot match on my head the rest of the ride. But luckily it didnt swell up to twice it's normal size, otherwise people may have thought I was Mayor Jerry.

So while all this was goin on, Ben and I (surprise) separated ourselves from the pack. I wasn't feelin it. I just couldn't get the engines to really fire. I tried to attack a couple times, but just couldnt keep a high pace after the attack. Well, until lap 3. The legs didn't feel super strong, but I was giving all I had up Montanas and only getting a slight gap on Ben. As I was nearing the top, I saw RJ run down to meet Ben with a bottle. I happened to look back just as he was giving him a push up to the top and I got pissed. Not that I have never been pushed, or resented Ben for it, but man, if he was getting help up that hill while I was suffering alone, I was determined to make the rest of the race miserable for us both.

I dug deep on the next little up to Big Ring Ridge and then wound the 44x11 out. The next lap and some change went pretty much the same – paranoid Ben was catchin back on while I tried to keep the pace up. Some cramps set in the last time up to Big Ring, but I knew the worst of it was behind me from that point on and all I had to do was keep it upright and I managed to do just that. Good to keep the streak alive and arrive at the line un-bloodied for a change. Also, i would be remiss if I didn't throw out a special thanks to Sarah for handing up my bottles, (while snapping pics no less), like a champ and generally taking everything in stride. Youre the best.

So ending the day in a Beer and Benadryl induced stooper (note, many savings on beer can be had with the addition of just one of these little tablets. You may not be able to move, open your eyes or close your mouth after the second frosty one, but hey, you cant argue with the savings), it's nice to get back in the office for some shut-eye. Just wake me up when it's time to go-go.

KY mtbing's bad boy

I just checked out the point series updates. Looks about right. I was bound to get disqualified. I just can't handle rules. My momma raised a mad man. You ain't man enough to open this cage. Click on the title of this entry and you'll see.

WoW

Rowbears recap, it was like he had a camera on my shoulder. 'Cept I crashed on the first lap. And I was thinkin about my phone charger on lap 3.

Rode yesterday for the first time since the race. Its amazing what a week of beer, wine and fried fish will do for your form. Watch out Waverly!

And on that note, a vacation recap; best one ever. Pics to come for all you facebook losers.

I'm related to Ben Richardson

here is the proof, found it on the interweb today:

Solomon Turpin (quite possibly my kin), born: Pulaski Co., KY in 1854; died: Somerset 1910. Buried in Somerset, KY. He may have gone by name of "William" as that is name listed on his daughter's marriage license to Edward Gerrard in Warren Co., OH, 10/17/1908. Daughter was Elizabeth Turpin b: 1888 in KY. Solomon's wife and Elizabeth's mother was Lucinda Ford, b: 1858 in KY d: 1917 in Montgomery Co., OH, buried in Somerset, KY. Solomon Turpin & Lucinda Ford were married 6/13/1878 at the home of her parents Elijah T. Ford and Mary Ann Hopper from TN, in Russell Co., KY. Bond signed by James Burden.
Have some information on the other children. Would like to identify Solomon Turpin's parents. Will share pictures, etc., data I have in exchange for anything you may have on these ancestors of my husband. There are some Taylor and Richardson (quite possibly Ben's kin) connections possibly in and around Danville, KY., as well as Somerset, Pulaski, Russell Counties.
Thanks,
Carole J. Troup

Cherokee Classic

Umm, it was fun, hot, and dusty. Anthony is at the beach so I'll recap his race. He started out with Ben hot and heavy. Josh Gerlach and the mike stevens were chasing, I don't know if they were together or not. Josh had a wreck pretty early on cause you could see dirt on his jersey in the photos. Ben had a couple wrecks and anthony slipped away. He sang Flight of the Concords songs to himself as he and his get-away-sticks did what they do best, got away. At the end of the third lap he was thinking more about his packing list for the vacation trip to north carolina that was going to begin minutes after the race finished. He was trying to remind himself to pack sunscreen and his digital camera. During the fourth lap he slowed down for a minute to fart, then he took a drink of gu2o and then began pedaling some more. He also had a crash because he was trying out a new line and thinking about his motorcycle while trying that new line and subsequently the branch or sappling or whatever it was caught him by surprise. It wasn't enough to keep him off the top of the podium though. The end.

I got into the woods sooner than I should have so I let a gap open pretty quickly, I think it was McShane in front of me and I didn't want to be right behind him anyway because last time I rode behind him was winter at Waverly and he was going down more than a vegas hooker. Someone behind me said, c'mon clarksville, so at pulled the gap back a little and then at the top of hogan's fountain I pulled over and let a group through. Once they started to ride away I was like, oh, maybe I should try to get on a wheel. But man it was fast through that section and it was a new section to me. Then I had a small group behind me, 3 riders I think. When we got to the kymba downhill I opened up a good gap but anna jean/niki pulled me back in the flat section before the climb up toward cochran. On that climb I dabbed a bit so I let the three riders go through. See what a nice guy I am. Then I think it was only Bo King and the sport class behind me, slowly I would let many of them through also. My second lap was even slower than the first, the third lap was probably the best because Dulin yelled at me with disappointment (deservedly). And the fourth lap brought some leg cramps, prolly because I pre-rode a lap and sweeted a lot during it. I think it is dumb for me to stop on each lap, unzip my cooler, get a water bottle out, zip the cooler back up, take a big drink and then ride. Obviously, I wasn't very motivated. I think I need to start at the back and try to hang next time. All and all though, I had fun out there.

Laws? We dont need no stinkin laws.

The "cycling lane" on Second Street seems to be more of a suggestion than a rule now. It was nice, our bike friendliness lasted all of, uh, maybe a year? The sharrow markers on 2nd Street bridge are even fading as fast as the memory of Chips Chronan and the accident that spurred their creation.

But, thats a shared lane, I'm talking about the "bike only" lane that goes all the way from Oak to Broadway (because that 1.5 miles was really needed?). As pathetically short as it is, clearly just eeking out enough distance to meet federal requirements for some cash-ola, it is still a designated bike lane. Well, unless you are in a really, really big hurry it seems.

I have seen people driving the whole distance almost every day now, bowing out only to miss the occasional parked car or hover-round utilizing the lane (which I find really amusing for some reason). Even our beloved law enforcement officers are getting in on the action. In fact, this cop followed another car for almost 1 mile last week. I thought "Oh good, hes gonna site this chick." Nope. After she turned right, he just accelerated down to Broadway. At the light I asked why he was driving in the bike lane just to be ignored. I was pissed. I filed a report and am sure that absolutely nothing will be done, well apart from my anticipated, and totally unrelated, receipt of a moving violation in the next few months.

I was going through St. Matthews on bike one afternoon not long ago only to be almost run down by an officer blowing through a neighborhood stop sign. So I followed. He proceeded to blow through the next 8 or 9 signs (as did I, but I was on a mission of justice, so it's cool). Where was he going you wonder? Being the crime addled mean streets of St. Matthews, the mind races as to what the emergency could have been; murder, rape, robbery in progress, duck being harassed by some skateboarders in Brown Park? None of the above. He was in a hurry to get back to the station. I took a picture of the plate and car #, thanked him for his ability to both follow and enforce laws (well, as good as I could after sprinting my butt off for the last 12 or so blocks).

I know cops have a tough job, one I don't want. But geez, is not driving like a meth fueled redneck in a supercharged Nova SS asking too much? Polly is, so in the meantime I just want my bike lane back.

Clarksville Ateam mid week update

It's Wednesday, get back to work.

What I learned this weekend, part 2

I learned you can ride off a bridge and have yet another helmet cracking crash (I have no brains left) and still have more fun doing 9 laps of an mtb crit than I ever could riding circles with roadies.

Oh, and I'm now a gold medalist, a Bluegrass State Games gold medalist (the short bus cousin of the Pan Am games – thats a really short bus). Regardless, Ben made me work for it. I rode off the bridge on lap 1, chased my butt off only to crash hard when I was about to bridge up. That fueled some aggression and I was able to catch him with 3 laps to go and grab the win in the last 2.

Whew. I am starting to feel pretty beat down. I think I have some good form right now, but a total lack of sleep in the last few weeks and the cracked rib are taking a toll. (I planted a food hard in a corner in Cherokee yesterday and let out a loud welp as the shock rang through the rib. I think the troll about 20 yards down trail believed it to be a mating call.) An easy week of training followed by what is sure to be an absolute beat-down in Cherokee will be rewarded with a week of beaches, mountains and maybe some white water (I never tire of trying to kill myself). It's gonna be a good couple weeks, and hopefully, a real sweet 2nd half of the season.

Lots of racing yet to come. See ya there.

What I learned this weekend

Apparently, some roadies feel that you can avoid accidents by anticipating them. I tried to explain that it's no longer an accident if it can be anticipated, but hey, I'm the one who was almost taken out by not fault of my own, so what do I know, right? Pay for a race, get a little free advice thrown in. What an idiot. Another quick reminder of why I rarely put a race number on the road bike.

Anywho…the crit was OK. It was fast as heck and and just as monotonous, almost 40 freakin laps around the same course. Geez. Sorry, but you have to simple minded to find that crap fun. I made some moves, went for a prime, covered some breaks and tried for the big W, and prolly coulda scored at least a top 5 had I been smarter, but it didnt work out. Thats cool. I'm pretty satisfied considering it was my first road crit in almost 6-7 years.

On a semi related note, we went to see "Bigger, Faster, Stronger" (http://www.biggerstrongerfastermovie.com/) at the Village 8 yesterday. Great movie, (Floyd is in it so you get your little 2 wheeled fix). I think he may have been a bit biased towards the use of roids, but there was some good info in there, like the fact Carl Lewis tested positive for banned substances the same year Ben Johnson was disgraced. Whoops.

Frankfort is lookin like it will be dry and fast next weekend. I’m too tired to think of an amusing close, so make up your own joke or just giggle at this…

I'm a fancy lad

Much in the same way you sometimes just really have to put on a nice dress and go dancing from time to time (you do, don't you?), just as I ripped on the roadies, I will join them this weekend. I mean, heck, an NRC event 1 mile from my house, might as well go join in the fun.

Pressure is on though. I mistakingly invited people, important people, (maybe more important than you, but not as important as Neil Armstrong, he went to the moon. I wonder if Michael Collins is pissed he stayed in the ship. Who is Michael Collins you ask? Exactly), to come down and watch. Fish is getting just a bit outta water here. I know what I can do on a CX bike or MTB, but a 2-3 crit? Not sure how this is gonna play out, you can't just pound people into submission as easy on the road bike. But after a Kashmir buffet for lunch and lasagna for dinner, I might be able to just fart people off my wheel.

Anyhow, throw on a nice dress and come down and watch me go down in flames, should be fun.

Muscatatuck DINO

Well, it was fourth of July weekend, and man it was a bang. This week, we (by we I mean me and the flys buzzing around my office) are doing a photo recap of the race. Well, captioned photo. This and (ugh) 5th place sums it all up;



I was really hoping to win this one. I love the course and felt my build-up was good. I think I would have challenged had it not been for the unfortunate circumstances before and during the race. But hey, stuff happens.

NATZ!

So every local roadie over the age of 30 is justifying the large lot of time and money they spend away from their families by trying to win races against other accountants, dentists, doctors and lawyers within a 5 year age span (oh the drama!). While I am happy an event of this caliber is taking place in my fair city, it ranks up their with the 2010 Equestrian games as far as my level of enthusiasm is concerned.

However...

Not one to miss an opportunity to get a set of stars and stripes by beating 5 other guys in a race, (I have come to understand, in the local cycling community, the more "National Championships" you win, the bigger jerkoff youre allowed to be. The rewards come quick too, I can beat up children after only 3 titles. I can't wait.), we are entering the Tandem Unicycle road race. Word on the street there are a couple circus bears that are hungry (so to speak) for the win and are heavy favorites. They sleep at altitude for 6 months of the year, so they will be, uh hem, animals. The bears seem to be our only real competition so far. Scouting reports have come back with this shot of the only other team that will be lining up.



I think we can take em. We also might line the course with salmon related snacks that will hopefully distract the bears long enough for us to build a big gap and give them a little stitch in their sides. If the race goes well, the downtown hotspot "The Connection" will be sponsoring us in this event in the future. Wish us luck.

Get my motor runnin

So the Suzuki has been legal for almost a week now and man, it's awesome. Taking a bit of time to get used to; being an old bike, it's quirky and my motorcycling skills are on par with Rowbear's mountain bike skills. Also, I have to keep a stick mounted on it to beat the ladies back, now I know how the Beatles and Elvis felt. Yup, cruzin around, I'm feelin about like this...



But in reality, I know it's more like this...




And you know how you go to an event and have to park like 10 miles away just to see some jerkstore on a motorcycle pull up and make up some choice spot right at ground zero? Lets just say...



It's OK, you can get me back when you see me caught in that pop-up thunderstorm.

You've got it all wrong

It's not that I am too proud to ask for directions, it's that i feel someone who's career path has taken them to the heights of gas station cashier are dubiously qualified to dispense travel routes. Yes they work at a place that is a keystone for the traveler, but just because you provide the fuel for motorists doesn't mean, well lets just say, would you ask the cashier at McDonalds how long to cook a roast? Take your next 3 rights, I'll see ya there.

England Idlewild; hot, tight and damp

The title pretty much sums it up, but I love talking about things that involve me and you love reading it, so here's more.

Luckily the heat had let up a bit from previous days because despite only being in the low 80's, it felt like a broiler. Had it been warmer, it would have been a death-march. Laps were not super fast, about 40-ish minutes each and I felt each minute.

Weird little set of trails they got up there in Northern KY; tight single, northshore stunts and lots o roots. It was hard to get into rhythm with all the wash-out and roots. After sliding out in a corner, Ben ditched me and I was more than happy to just ride in second, I was feelin tired and just tried to roll a steady pace. Feeling a bit better by the last lap, Ben was sufferin and I caught him in the last few miles, just before he flatted. I didn't realize he had a mechanical so I kept pounding and rolled in for the win.

Anyway, the folks put on a great race; lots of food, great prizes and it's always good to see my Cinti peeps. Lookin forward to racing Cherokee this weekend. 8 or 9 years ago, who woulda thought that could ever happen.

I'm tired now, nothin else to say.

right place at the right time

fate smiled on me last night on the Tuesday night world ride in lex-town

we were doing a two lap race with an intermediate sprint. Coming around for the first lap everyone started making an echelon that started on the left side of the road, I was on the right so I was totally open. I went and I guess it was early cause only one guy went with me, he came around right at the line so he probably got me but it was close. Anyway, that wasn't the fortunate thing, about a mile later I was still up front with a few seconds all of a sudden I hear someone yell "slowing" and then I hear mass braking, scraping and thuds, I looked over my shoulder to see the pile up about 20 yrds behind me.

Something like 10 people involved, most got away okay except for Greg, he broke his collar-bone. I was lucky to be up front at the time, the rest of the ride I had been sitting on in the middle somewhere. I'm not sure what caused it since we were on a straight stretch of road, someone said it was this one dudes fault because he started braking for no reason, the guy he was talking about is the same dude that I saw sitting on the side of the road last week because he wadded it while riding with two other people, the guy seems pretty mouthy on the group rides. I'm definitely going to try to stay away from his back wheel in the future.

It sure is a good idea to stay up front, especially if you're just out for a work-out (like me) and not actually trying to win the race, unless there is an easy opportunity for it. I'd rather get in a good break than sprinting for 50 yards

Best pictures ever

An unusual break from the pics where I am either riding through a rather uninteresting grassy field or my mouth is just hanging open with some spittle dangling off my chin and i look a bit special needs...from Brown County...

Decisions decisions

So, the new (old bike is here. We were both made in 1973, so I am glad we could come together like this.



Now, I need to decide which helmet to get. I have it narrowed down to 2...



OR



Oh, and Brown County was hot and fast. I hit a tree, John Luc got a gap and then the win.

Brown Co. Beatdown

Me, Anthony, and Dulin headed up to Brown Co. for the 2nd D.IN.O. race of the season and more importantly the KYANA championship race. It was my first D.IN.O race in the expert class, I've never been able to win a Sport class race up there cause there are so many fast sport guys that have been racing sport class for years so they may be considered sandbaggers by some. Anyway, race started out with a pretty long road section that had a few steep ups then it was right into the woods for some blazing fast singletrack. Scary fast at times, a lot of the trail is like that so locals can kill it cause they know how much brake they can get away with. I started off slow and took the first two laps at about 3/4 throttle for fear of blowing up. By the last lap I still had some energy so I had a pretty good lap but was only able to catch two expert riders, one of them cheering me on saying, that's the way you finish a race. Unfortunately, the tactic of saving it all for the last lap never works. I was happy to have a strong finish with the added distance that expert class requires so I'll chalk it up as a positive day and some good training. I think what I need to be doing though is to ride hard enough to blow up about half-way through the last lap and then limp in for the finish cause it seems like that would be the best for shocking some fitness into me. Ky lost the title but we had some good results namely from Anthony, Josh Gerlach, and Keith Lucas who all finished in the top 10.

It all comes out in the wash

Just like leaving pieces of paper in your pocket and putting the pants in the washing machine, you end up with a big ol mess.

What am I talking about you ask? Well, misrepresentation is what. Why would you purposely misrepresent something? Take for instance, oh just off the top of my head, a motorcycle on ebay. It was delivered today and, man that picture must have been the Kawasaki's Glamour shot cuz in person, she wasn't pretty. A big dent in the tank, no working electric, speedo held on with zip ties, oil everywhere, cut seat, not the ready-to-ride machine advertised. Did he think I would see it, swoon and want it anyway? "Oh Kawasaki, I luvs you just the way you are." He did explain that big ass dents just happen when you trail ride em. Ok, fair enough. I guess front ends of cars can get smashed from driving on the street as well, but if I'm selling a smashed car, I'm gonna mention it's been smashed. Or I could just take a picture of the non-smashed side, list it and never say a word about it. Either or. I mean a big ass dent in the tank – with rust – it's worth noting even if it's, uh hem, "normal wear an tear." Sheesh.

This is the second one in a week too. Turpin and I went and looked at a Honda last week that "all it needed was points set to get runnin." Funny how that list grew by about 20 items by the time we arrived. Be honest and stop wating everyones time people. If youre not upfront about the obvious problems, I am not gonna buy whatever youre selling because I will assume there are 10 more things wrong that are not apparent that I wont find until next week, or next month, broken down in BFE.

So Kawasaki man did what any red-blooded 'merican would do in his circumstance and blammed his Dad who listed it for him. I would be more than willing to hang Grandpa out to dry too, but, I spoke to the guy 3 times on the phone after the aution ended and he never said "before I bring it over, ya might wanna know..." When we took it down off the truck, he did come clean that it prolly wasn't properly represented in the auction description. I think the other 46 bidders would agree.

Which brings me to my next question, which is how the bike came to arrive in its craptacular condition in the first place; why do so many people take Enduro and Dual Sport bikes, strip the electric to make em trail bikes? They make bikes that are already stripped down, that cost less and perform better, just for trail riding. It would be like me putting big knobbies on the Subaru and cutting the top off and calling it a truck when I could have just, oh I don't know, bought a truck. But hey, then I wouldn't have a heavy, underperforming retard-o-car worth 1/2 of what it once was.

So he's gonna take it and get it fixed to reflect how it was listed and I may or may not still buy it. In the meantime, the search continues. Oh, by the way, I have a Klein road frame for sale. I'll take a picture from it's good side later.

Hello?

I got a call the other day, here is the transcript.

me "Hello?"

caller "Hi, you know who it is."

m "H.G. Prices? Is that you?"

hgp "Yeah"

m "So you know what i just did, dont you?"

hgp "Yeah, thats why I have a friend on the line, it's a conference call."

G. Reaper "You may have beat H.G. Prices, but in doing so, you've brought us closer together."

m "Whatever Grim. You just wish you'd be scorin all the ladies on a green Kawasaki like me."



I really don't care about the gas, I'm just tryin to keep up with Turpin. Now i just need a wife and dog, you can't make me move to Lexington though...

Despite appearances...

...I am not making fun of Joe's fanny pack. Though had I noticed it, it would have been my moral obligation to do so.

Stump Jump 08

First off, what is it with oddball conventions and mtb races happening in the same towns? There has been the Ladies of the Southern Baptists, Quilters, Organic farming and rabbits, and most recently RC modelers (of course it just couldnt be a underwear modelers). So anywho, It was almost a whole new ballgame this year; new course and (gasp) no rain, but the constant being my outcome of suck.

The new course was a blast to ride. As Rusty said, a perfect mtn bikers course. Windy and warm, everything was good, well, almost everything. I didn't really warm up very well and even though I easily took the holeshot at the begining, I had to drop back to about 8th to recover from the effort. As the lap wore on, I started to feel better and bring back a few spots. I forgot my GU2O and borrowed some HEED from Nick which should be called HEAVE since it seems to induce many tiny barfs. So after getting used to this happening, going into lap 2, I grabbed another spot to move up to 3rd and was feeling pretty good. Then, at the end of the lap, my pedal snapped off. I went back to the car to replace it, but in doing so was going to be relegated to last by the official. I blasted out one more lap and decided suffering through a 4th lap was pointless so I hung it up. Nuts.

Some money and a result would have been nice, but we had fun and I at least got some riding/training in before disaster hit. Oh well, plenty more races to come in the season. Which reminds me, where is the "Smokin hot chicks and Micro-brew convention" this year?

Colon Blow

Just incase you ever wanted a squeaky clean colon, a big bowl of these for breakfast will do the trick.



I can't decide if something that cleans you out this mightily is good for you or not, but at least you can make your co-workers suffer. And at the end of the day, thats all that matters.

Speaking of smelly crap, Hilary is only 2 blocks from me right now. I bet she likes Oat Squares because I like Oat Squares.

Same thing, only different

So I was hoping my week off would make my legs feel all bouncy and ready to rock, but it was more of, "meh, we'll go if ya want." With that can maybe sorta do attitude I took off for my TT.

I had the advantage of already knowing the time to beat, although I only looked at my watch once as I tend to go faster concentrating on the trail rather than my bike. I got a huge stick jammed in my wheel at the bottom of a small up that killed my momentum, but it got me a bit mad and helped get me going, I think. I got to the top of the last long decent knowing it was about 4 minutes at a good clip to the line and I had a shot at it (the one glance at the watch). I passed Nikki on the 3rd switchback (worked out well for us both as it was a big wide one) and continued to try to hammer it home. It seems that keeping my concentration and goin fast is my biggest problem this year. My mind tends to wander and I just kind find myself riding along...doot doot da doo...oh crap, we're racing here, c'mon. So I cross the line with the best time, 13 seconds better than Schworm. I thought I was a genius cuz he wouldn't have enough time to do another run and the short track. Well, I was wrong, he did, he got me by 15 seconds and i didn't have time to do a second run. D'oh.

The old Slowinski Strategy Machine® worked a bit better on the STXC. Just 4 of us, but 4 strong guys still makes for a hard race. It was basic pacelining for much of the first 15 minutes with me and Schworm both putting in little "lets see what happens" attacks. I decided I was gonna attack on the back stretch on the 2nd to last lap and just keep it up enough to keep anyone from sprinting around. It worked great, I caught them at the right moment and just had to maintain my gap for the last lap and take the win.

Legs a bit tired Sunday. Garth and I took a slow warm up on the road and I just wasn't wanting to kill it today. I took The holeshot and but just couldn't generate much power goin up the hill. I stayed out front until the long climb about 1/2 way through when Schworm attacked and got a small gap. Not a minute or so later, I see him pickin his bike up off the ground right as I came to one of my favorite sections of Youngers. So I pushed the pace up a short climb and tried to keep it high, making Brian have to work to get back on. Then all sudden, I was on the ground. Somethin just reached out of the woods and pulled me down hard. I lost my glasses and lenses and took enough of a shot I had to take stock for a second as to what was happening. Brian whizzes past, now it was his turn. I got myself together and started to chase. I was able to bridge back up by the top of the long climb on lap 2 where I just sat on until about 1/2 way through.

I figured I needed to be in control and make him have to react, especially if I was gonna be slower on that second climb. So I attacked and he reacted. I was able to open a small gap on a long downhill and then started the long climb where he attacked on lap one. This was perfect. I suspected his legs were also getting tired and I might be able to hold my gap, until I passed Morgans daughter, Edie. She got too close to the edge of the trail and took a tumble. She landed upside down and started crying. I normally get my jollies beating up on children, the elderly and homeless, but it was Morgans kid, so I jumped off my bike and ran down to help. Brian also stopped and she said she was OK, just scared. Whew. So the good news of not being inderectly responsible for the maiming of a friends child was offset by the fact the gap I worked hard to create was now gone. And Brian is a competitor. There was no way he was goin down easy being right there.

I was only able to drink about one time that last 8 miles cuz I couldnt risk taking my hands off and giving him an opening for a milisecond and was starting to feel the bonk comin on. I tried to keep the pace high in the tight stuff and just accelerate any place he might have room to pass. I saw the fuzzy sign (well, the sign wasnt fuzzy, just the eyes I was peepin at it with) for 1 mile to go. Sweetness. I new I could take the downhill faster, as long as I could keep my focus. Well, Brian had a slight mishap on turn one and that was all I needed. That was the hardest I have worked for an entire race in a long time. It was great.

So the weekend turned out pretty well. Had some good hang time post race with some fine folks and made a little money. Lets just hope the good fortune of Youngers this year doesnt bring the curse it did last year (5 weeks of Bronchitis).

Younger's creek stxc and tt

Bout what I expected, I was slower than most but not too too far back. I did the tt first. Started out through a field, crossed a creek, then the road, then started up some switchbacks that were slick in some spots. Of the 6 or 7 I think I only successfully got up one or two so I was hoping off my bike and back on a lot, and not too quickly at that, my cleats were getting mudded up and I don't think I did a hard enough effort warming up to get myself ready for the pain so I kept just wanting to chill and asking myself, "why do I do this?" That was 3 minutes into the trail, haha. Well anyway, after I nearly slid down the side of the hill and stood in one place for a bit cause I couldn't get my footing I finally made it to the very top were things were in good shape. Rolled around for a while just doing my thing trying to figure out if I should over gear myself or do high rpms because of all the sharp turns. I think I ended up trying both. With about a mile to go I started thinking about how I hadn't clipped a pedal on anything and was pretty pleased with myself, so then I made a sharp right and clipped my pedal on a root which caused me to bust my peanuts on the nose of my saddle a bit. The rest was uneventful.

For the stxc there were only 5 of us. I got on rusty's wheel, he was on blaine's wheel who was on josh's wheel, who was on annajean/niki's wheel and someone was on my wheel for a minute, an older guy, we rolled that way for 3 or 4 laps and I was feeling okay but wondering if I could keep that up for 20 minutes then rusty started to pop a bit and I considered coming around him but then told myself I would definitely pop if I did that, so he and I chased for a while then after another few laps of taking turns he wanted to accelerate a little and I told him to go on, eventually we were both lapped by the other three. That field was choppy and unfast I would have hate to have done it on a hardtail. Josh ended up winning. I never caught rusty and now I think I should have tried to jump around him and got on blaine's wheel, then rusty might have gotten discouraged and slowed way down before I popped. Doesn't matter, I just needed to get a tune-up in, I'm done with school tuesday and should be able to start riding more than once a week at that point.

white and wet lightning

it just wouldnt be a trip down to western ky without some rain. not that rain has been a uncommon commodity lately, but without fail, like a trip to columbia, sc for stump jump, a trip to western ky for some mtb racin could always be a drought breaker. but like its SC counterpart, rain isnt a big deal for the sandy canal loop. the course had some bad spots, but was pretty good, def much better than staying in town for the road races.

the rainy cool saturday gave way to a sunny and perfect sunday. the race was fairly unremarkable; dustin and i were the only pro/semi to show and i was able to pull one out and actually raced a full race, which is always nice. i never felt great, but considering i had 100 degree+ fever 9 days ago and i'm still on antibiotics, i felt pretty good. so with a non-mechanical (apart from rolling my tire off the rim once) and non-bonking race under my belt, i got the fingers crossed that the rain will hold off this weekend for the switchback attack. thats about all.

Greenriver and the infection part 2

Greenriver sucked and I have Acute bacterial prostatitis. Lets hear it for antibiotics.

The Infection

Somewhere between Monday afternoon and Monday late afternoon, an otherwise uneventful stop to the men's room turned into what felt like trying to pass Frank's Hot Sauce through my urethra. Tuesday mornin I woke up sweating with the same wonderful burning sensation still downstairs. In constant denile, I took some Ibuprofen and rode my bike to work. By noon, I was in some kinda hurt with a full on fever settin in with a vengeance.

After realizing I was not feeling any better (despite endlessly trying to convince myself otherwise) Tuesday, I hit the emergency care center. Kidney and bladder infection. The good news being the antibiotics seem to have helped loads and it's not clamidia from one of the girls at the Dizzy Wizz. But the process of taking in (and therefore excreting) a lot of liquid over the last 48 hours seems like telling someone with a broken leg to do some extra jogging. Ouch.

Off to the doctor tomorrow where he will hopefully NOT want to put a scope anyplace that is normally reserved for exit purposes only and we can figure out how I may have got into this mess and therefore avoid another run-in.

So what? So if I race Saturday, I have my excuse for suckin published here ahead of time. Always thinkin ahead.

Tsali Tspankin

Man, that was tough. After days of radar watching and some last minute bailouts had me trying to decide if I should head south, a pleasant surprise call from Matt Batton Saturday morning got me off the fence and rolling down to Tsali North Carolina to get hammered. Anna Jean (Nikki) Dallaire joined for the fun and off we rolled into the rain and mountains.

We were the last wave to start, the sky was turning blue and the trails were shaping up pretty good. I had a decent start jumping in the woods about 7th. I had to take some aggressive lines right at the top of the fire road since I got pinned behind a guy for much of the opening climb that was making it hard to advance, and then made my way into 5th pretty quickly. From there we seperated ourselves and rolled along pretty well. Then, just because I cannot seem to get my stuff together, my camelback hose came loose. I ket yo-yoing on the back as I tried to fix it on the fly then finally had to stop 2 times to get it secured, losing many spots in the process. I mounted a good effort at the start of lap 2 to catch a few of the guys and get back in the top 5, but perhaps tried to do too much too fast and burned all my matches. The fire went out.

The last 5 miles were a death march. I would like to think if I hadn't had the problems and could have just stayed in with the lead group riding at a steady tempo and not been fallin off then chasing repeatedly, I woulda been able to maintain and finish better, but who knows. I still managed 10th and the season is young – there is much time to improve. Matt finished 14th and Anna Jean won her first Pro race in convincing style (congrats to her). We took the scenic route home through the Smokeys and Gatlinburg which always provides many a good spectacle. Next stop; Green River next weekend to kick off the KY series - Yee-Haw.

Chickasaw 2008

I came
I saw (mud)
I drank beer

In my own little way, I won.

why I could never have a six pack

Here is a picture of the awesome carrot cake my wife made for my mother's birthday and a picture of her trying to get me to try a bite of it with a potato chip on top. She said it was heavenly but I held strong.




and



Here are some more pictures of my motorcycle, I have it in lexington now so expect to hear stories of me getting in a accident and becoming paralyzed soon. Geez, I hope not.

The Colorado Express

So I made quick trip to Boulder Co last weekend. A brief recount with a couple words and some pics


If I was a tornado, I would try to kill Kansas too.



Could it be? YES! MOUNTAINS!



A neon sign beaconing me home. Are you a bachelor on the lam? The Silver Saddle is the place for you my friend.



Hello!? Is that a velvet painting of flowers? Why yes. Yes it is. I hope it gets better, if that's possible.



Another room? Well, maybe there's a treat in there...



Jackpot!



The view out the window paled in comparison to what the decorator had done but decent try anyway, nature.





The trails were up to par.



Saw at least 4 of our nations top xc pro's out riding that day. Not as awesome as riding with a buncha up-tight regional roadies that take themselves way too seriously, but it will do.



Mother nature did her best to keep me in Colorado, snow (it was tame, and hard to see, in this picture), 5 hours of rain that, well, if it had been like this in the Old Testament, the earth coulda been covered in 20 days with evenings off, and a complete ice-wash on the hiway with zero visibility in Missouri. By the time I hit Indiana I had to use WD-40 to unlock my hands from the wheel (I used my feet to pick up the can and spray if you must know). It was almost like someone was, (well, prolly many someones are), saying "Kentucky doesn't want you back." Odd thing too, the Subaru ran better and had it's best mpg's ever up there, I think it realized it was in Subaru Mecca since at least 99.9% of all vehicles seemed to be Subaru's up there. All in all, a kinda strange little place that loves beer and their bikes—a lot. I prolly I need to go back soon.

who's a good doggie?

Awww, she's a perfect little angel.

lexington news stories

if you watch the lexington news you might have seen a story about my mother's new husband. He had to make an emergency landing in his plane at the Lexington airport today. His landing gear wouldn't come down so he had to skid it on the belly. My wife, dog and I flew with him on Thursday. Luckily, everything worked that day and luckily everything turned out fine today. He bent the propellers but otherwise the plane is fine, didn't even scrape paint off the bottom.

they don't interview him but they do interview the passengers, here is the story

http://www.wtvq.com/midatlantic/tvq/news.apx.-content-articles-TVQ-2008-03-16-0001.html

oh man

how awesome would it be to ride in this race?

that was a great ride baby

that's what she said anyway. Hey-OOOO! Naw, but seriously, I had a good ride yesterday. Mitchell and Phil took me out to Ft. Boonesboro and finally I got to see where the hills are. They weren't too bad, but good enough. One took 4 or 5 minutes to get up. I could definitely tell I hadn't climbed anything in a long time. My chain came off on one hill and I wrecked, that was pretty awesome. If you want to know details about the Ft. Boonesboro crit I can give them cause we road the course for a few hot laps. Awesome thing about that place is that the bathroom is heated and has showers.

Plus, on Wednesday afternoon I got to have a phone conversation with Rahsaan Bahati of team Rock Racing. He is a super nice guy, especially to take time out of his day to let me ask him some questions about cycling and race. I was a little nervous talking to him though. Just like how I get nervous when I talk to Mike Stevens. You can check out Rahsaan's site www.bahatiracing.com he has a couple race clips, one of him drilling a metal barricade, looks painful.

Not Cool II - an Ateam style watch

Mohawks and mustaches - old and tired.

Egg drapes and neck beards - new and hot.

Trust me, everyone is goin clean on the top of the head and face and lettin the sides, back and neck go wild.

Not cool

You ever notice how certain people wearing/owning otherwise fashionable or nice things doesn't actaully make them look better, just makes that thing look less cool? Thats all.

Snake Creek Gap III and the Organic Rabbits

So there was an Organic Farming and rabbit convention suckin up all the hotels in Dalton Friday night. Nothing like paying $70 for the Econo-Lodge that looked like a low budget horror film set. I mean, why mount electric devices on the wall when you can just dangle em from the wires? And who sent the not to Pakistan - "Move to America, buy a hotel, it's a goldmine!" Not to be racially insensitive, just that wow, there are a lot of Hindu's runnin hotels these days.

So anyway, the race sucked. I never felt very together Saturday, definitely out of sorts. The laundry list of issues; oversleept didnt get properly caffinated prior to racetime, Camelback leaked on me until it just leaked dry 1/2 way into the race (nothing like the feeling of being wet and sticky) leaving me high and very dry, brake pad was stuck to the rotor (I didnt feel like I was working hard enough, needed the extra resistance), double flat on the front, dropped my 5mm tool in the leaves, went over the bars onto a rock. Seems like I am leaving somethin out, but that pretty much sums up the suck. I still finished around 3:12, which was bittersweet since without issues, I could have broke 3 hours.

Oh well. There is long season ahead, many more flawless rides and catastrophes await.

yee haw

anyone that wants to do some motopacing, come to lexington cause I bought a motorcycle today. Now I just need to learn how to ride it and get a permit. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lexington is putting me in touch with my inner Crab Orchard redneck side. Oh yeah, motopacing will be $1/mile regardless of the fact that the motorcycle gets 50mpg. It's a 1979 hondamatic cm400a with 7,400 original miles, it's been in the same family since it came off the showroom floor in '79.

waiting on the UPS man

It was a beautiful afternoon for a bike ride but I had to wait around for the UPS man. We had already missed him twice so this was the last chance and the note said he would be here between 2-4 or later. As soon as I titled this blog the doorbell rang, too bad it is 5:08 now and the sun is going down, it's getting cooler out there. Dang! Least I got my new phone (emergency only) I'm canceling my cingular plan and going to pre-pay wireless since I only use around 50 minutes per month. Now I got a t-mobile with the strength of Jan Ulrich. Also got a used Ipod from the ups man. Guess it was worth the wait, not like anyone wants me to go ride anyway cause then I'll just go too fast in the KYMBA series this year.

I'm glad Nick Barbieri isn't my ups man, he would have wrecked before he made it here.

Very special Valentine part II

Hash browns and bacon strips
I like the way that you lick your lips

Lemmy, youre so romantic, nobody could have said it better.

A very special Valentines Day note

So the big day is coming up, and let me be the first to say, I love love. From candy hearts to flying naked babies with weapons, what more can a person ask for? So on this most special of days were we celebrate our love for one another...

take hold of the one you love, look deep into their eyes and...

tell them you love them...

cherish them...

would be an empty shell of a person without them (you prolly still are, but work with me)...

and they will be getting nothing on this day created by the corporations to move product at a slow time of year. This should free up plenty of time to go ride. You're welcome.

What a weekend

What not to do the week before a race; most everything I did last week. Not so much on purpose, it's just the way things went. But, you can't sweat what you can't change and just gotta roll with it. So I did and what a great weekend, from top to bottom, it turned out to be.

The day was turing out perfect; 60's and sunny. Despite all the rain a few days prior, the trail was still in great shape. I rode smarter this time, took it easy at the start and kept my heart rate out of the red zone the entire ride. About 45 minutes into the race (most of that first section is climbing), I realized that I had been in the big ring the whole time and I just felt like I could push forever.

I caught the last rider to start before me just before the 1/2 way point, I didn't expect to reel him in. I didn't expect anything out of this ride except a marginal improvement over last race and here I was already catching someone who put 10 minutes on me last month. Once i crossed the 17 mile mark and started climbing, I checked my time and couldn't believe I was about 15 minutes better than my last TT and just felt like I was cruising. I started to come apart a bit toward the end and had to really focus my brains to forget my leg's pain and my body's completely depleted fuel supply. I came in at just a hair over 3 hours (by just 37 hairs to be exact), 9 minutes better than last March; 26 minutes better than last month. I hated that I was so close to a sub 3 hour time and not have made it, but still, couldn't be happier with my ride. I probably need another 5 minutes off my time next race to keep 2nd place for the series as I don't think I can equal Turners 2:50 from January. But hey, I never woulda thought I could roll a 3 this weekend either, so who knows. John wouldn't have thought he would pull 40 minutes off his time, but he did. Congrats man, thats awesome - 40 freakin minutes.

We got in another great ride at Raccoon Mtn on Sunday as the rain started to fall right as we pulled out of the parking lot. Perfect ending to a great weekend.

I had a wreck

In my bathroom last night. It was around 4 in the morning and I was taking a pee. I bent over to lean against the wall or sink or something and when I straightened back out the room started closing in, I thought about sitting down real quick but it was too late. I fell forward banging the right side of my forehead on a cabinet door handle and then went down to the floor nailing my adam's apple/throat on the toilet. Freaked the wife out pretty bad and today I can barely swallow plus I have a big knot/red mark on my forehead. I guess it could've been worse, I could've knocked my teeth out or something. My wife always tells me "the bathroom is the most dangerous room in the house." I believe her now.

Some good news though. Today I got a response email from a professional cyclist on the Rock Racing team. I want to interview him as a potential/likely source to use on my paper for my History 700 class this semester which may also go toward my thesis and dissertation work on cycling in the U.S. Anyway, he sent me his phone number and told me when I should call him. I think that is pretty awesome of him to make himself so available.

Thought you all might want something to look at. Here are two photos of me from my first mtb race ever at Capitol View park in 2003. It was muddy, I raced beginner and got 3rd in my age group.