Changes...

The old design was, well, looking a bit old after these many years and posts. Something new was called for! Fortunately, the big brains at Google do most of the work. All my low-capacity gray matter had to do was point and click to choose the design and colors.

Changes are also afoot here at The Corporation. A few things are in the works, one of which being a move of the corporate HQ.

Anywho...

I needed to hang around to spend some time with the H.O. and Junior Management (they got promoted for Christmas)yesterday, so I did a quick spin on the turbo to get rid of some junk. The rest of my day was consumed with cross-training. Raking leaves and walking around the zoo counts, right?

This morning, CR, CW and I did a nice 90km loop out through Lexington and Calhoun Counties. My aforementioned low-capacity brain thought, for some reason, that it was Saturday, so I changed to route so we could come in on 302. Well,as the rest of you know, it's Friday/NYE, and the natives where out in force. One close call (a bit too close as CR will attest) was enough for me to roll to the front and use whatever power/fitness/speed I have and give it some stick. We ran 40-42kmh most of the way down Hwys 6 and 302... (For you metric impaired folks, that's 25-26mph)
It was a good ride, on a nice day. Next time though, we'll stick to the initial plan!

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Be safe!

GvA Loenhout

The weather looked lovely...

And I sent Crank Brothers a note to see if they'll send Nys some Candy 11 pedals...

Day 3

Watch this at your own risk. I'm not prone to motion sickness, but this got me a little woogie...

royal h disc from bryan hollingsworth on Vimeo.

Another 2 hours on the bike today...only it was on the Ridley, and it felt weird at first. It was the first ride on the road unit since that nearly infamous, partially stupid, and completely epic day. The effort here is to pack in some saddle time this week, as the H.O. is home all week, and I have another throat 'procedure' next Monday. Thus, most of next week will likely be shot squarely in the posterior.

Back on the CX rig tomorrow...

The correct attitude

Ride and smile people! That's what it's about...

It was a bit breezy out there today...

Not terribly cold, but WOW, it was a stiff WNW breeze. At least I was smart enough to go out INTO the headwind, and come back with the tailwind. Weather Underground says 12-15mph winds...whatever! I'm no meteorologist, but I've ridden long enough to know that if one is pedaling, HARD, on a long downhill, and fighting to stay @ 20mph, the wind is stronger than 12-15mph!
2 hours on 30c tires @ <60 pounds was plenty for today.

Oh, enjoy the photo...

Something to look at on a dreary day...

BOOOOM!



The Muur on a snowy December day...

Merckx's hour record track bike geo. 12 pounds!!!


Wade's Posterous page and his blog, which is entertaining and insightful.

All things Big Ring.

Holds off? HOLDS OFF? Kate F'n Compton won by almost a minute...in the snow!!!

If you're a luddite, and like your cables, start hoarding parts...

Barney opens his hole once again...Mr. 60%...DB!

Dude...F.O. and go away...

Hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas...

I know I did...

Buncha riding on tap for the week, if anyone wants to join in the fun...

Dumpdate

See what I did there? Yeah...it was dumb...

McEwen and Hunter to Radiocrack

Speaking of RadioSmack, the rumor mill is spinning feverishly...Sastre and Menchov to RS should Geox and TMC pull out? Silly season has begun...

CR and I did a really good CX ride this morning. 2.5 hours of road, dirt, grass, mud, cold and wind. The only thing missing, thankfully was blood. We even did a bit of hard tempo. It didn't feel too bad...

I'm also working on a product review for the next update. I keep forgetting to take flipping pictures for it...
Maybe in the morning...

Anyway, this will be it until after Christmas, so everyone....

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

To all of my non-PC friends...

Merry Christmas!

Dump

Who says the altitude training systems are worth it? Robbie McEwen's mates, that's who!!! Hero!

Speaking of McEwen, poor bastard can't catch a break. First, Pegasus goes under due to the lack of sponsor dollars, then he is rumored to be going to RadioSmack. Others are jumping ship to wherever they can.
I guess this means killing a bear with a pen knife is going to be included in SpiderTech's training camp...

QuickStep's 2011 kits...yawn...

And there's been a large disturbance in the Force here in Columbia. Not saying what it is, as it was likely told to me in confidence, but if it comes to fruition, you'll shit...


As for your author, I did a solid 2 hours on the CX bike this morning. I tried to search out something that looked interesting on Google Maps, but it ended up being a bust. Still did the tried and true West Cola loop. About halfway back in on Old State, I was greeted by a pack of stray dogs. They seemed to have a loose hierarchy, as the big dogs ran into the woods, and the 12 pound punter is the one who chased me. He was either the leader, or going through initiation.

Now to the ManHole(tm) to pull the BB out of the Salsa...again. The thing goes along fine for about 4 weeks, then starts creaking and moaning. At least it keeps my skills up...

Peace!

A Winter Wonderland...

No ride yesterday as #2 was sick, so I was on duty all day. The H.O. took #1 to see 'The Nutcracker' with her parents. Both offspring were supposed to go, and I was to have the day to myself, but the best laid plans...blah, blah, blah...
The upside? #2 just has a virus of some sort...likely from the petri-dish, er...I mean pre-school. Upside #2? His illness kept the in-laws away from the house. Saturday was a push...

The plan for this morning was to go ride outside, but to be perfectly honest, I really didn't feel like throwing on 17 layers, so I rode the turbo. I'd scheduled 90 minutes. I rode 67 of those, and they were the longest 67 minutes ever. Normally, if I'm in the right frame of mind, the trainer isn't so bad. This morning, I felt like breaking out the torch and cutting the bitch up for scrap.

The cherry on this Sunday (sundae) was a trip to Lexington. They should really build a fence on the other side of West Columbia...right on the other side of the airport...

A lovely day in Antwerp...

DB

If you Google 'self-serving douchebag', it will say, see also: Richard Sachs...

I mean really, who the hell is he trying to convince here, the people dumb enough to drop a deposit on a $4000 steel frame with a FIVE year lead time, or himself?
Let's be serious for a moment...FIVE fucking years? For a steel frame made out of very average tubing, by a guy who has been building what is effectively the SAME frames for years. No pushing of the envelope, no experimentation, no imagination...
That ain't ''at the vanguard" homie!
And do the math...
$4k for a frameset that's made up of MAYBE $500 worth of lugs and tubing, plus the $250 or so for the paint. That leaves $3250 for labor, welding supplies and amortized equipment costs. You cannot, for a MOMENT tell me that he's not making money! My guess is $2k-ish per frame. The production numbers are never solid, but rumor has it that between 50 and 75 framesets per year are constructed. That's $100k to $150k per year in the checking account. Yeah, he's in it for the soul of it...
If you believe that, I have a ______ ______ to sell you...

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate steel bikes. Hell, I finally found one of my personal white whales and bought it. Yep, it's a Columbus Foco tubed Jericho Nightshade CX frame. It's beautiful. The tubes are mitered so closely that the welds are imperceptible.
I also have a raging woodrow for IF. Those guys are pushing the envelope on steel, stainless and Ti. And the paintwork? Unreal!
And Hampsten...Jesus!!! They are using custom drawn MAX tubesets. Yes please!!! I may have to throw down for one of these before too long!

Oh, and if anyone wants an old school steel Merckx, Pinarello, or Pegoretti, I have it on GOOD authority that GITA in Charlotte still has more than a few floating around the warehouse.

Just my two cents...

Tidbits

HTC unveiled the new team kit for 2011, and it's a yawner. Emilia Fahlin's ass on the other hand...

UHC finally gets some real gear...

WTF...and I mean WHAT. THE. FUCK???
The fucking guy knows he's guilty! Now he, and his attorney, are throwing out every excuse under the Sun, to see if they can create doubt. All they need is one complete asshat on the jury, and the guy walks...even though he ran over and nearly KILLED another human being. The problem? That human being was on a bike.
The new-car-smell triggered his sleep apnea? Has anyone brought up the point that sleep apnea isn't narcolepsy? It just doesn't work that way! Maybe his new Merc bored him to sleep! More likely, he was futzing around with some gadget on his new Benz, drifted over and lost control.
I'd seriously like to cut that fucking guy. I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep either!

Video goodness:

Trials. from Louis Vieira on Vimeo.

And a bit of local news. I spoke to Toby P. about a New Years' ride, and unfortunately, there's nothing in the works.

The cold weather abated this morning, so I rode outside. A nice CX ride through Lexington County. I'll take 90 minutes in 42 degrees and drizzle over the turbo any day! Speaking of, I did a double on Tuesday...both sessions on the trainer. I may have hallucinated...
A little action in the woods tomorrow morning...monster cross style...

Peace!

CX Nats Vid...

Cyclocross National Championships 2010 from mark colton on Vimeo.

Still searching for the entire race...

A new Member...

If you watched the CX Nats yesterday on the intarwebs, you saw a great race that was won by a guy who is, in fact, NAILS. Wells has been around a long time, and won a bunch of races, but it seems that 2010 was a banner year. US CX champs, US Short Track MTB champ and US XC MTB champ. Oh, did I mention that he finished 3rd @ Leadville in 6:30? Yeah, he's bad man! He's also an old man by pro dog standards at 34.
His Black Card is being sent to Durango as we speak...

As for the non-badass portion of this post, I did a solid 2.5 hours of CX bike goodness on Saturday. Went out and felt really bad, then crashed in a sandy turn, way out in the middle of BFE. It seems whatever was making me feel poorly leaked out as I laid in the soft sand on Old Wire Road. I got up, made sure nothing was protruding from my flesh, and continued on, feeling pretty damn good for the last 100 minutes of the ride.

Sunday was warm, wet and windy. I woke up STIFF from my meeting with the pre-historic beach in Lexington County, so I decided to go spin easy. One hour seemed to work out the kinks. Renick worked out the rest of them this morning...

Christmas is 13 days off...are you ready?

Oh, and if's you're anywhere close to Hoovis and his crew of misfits, get your shit together and go do his ride this coming weekend!

CX Nats

The Rev clicked off a 7th today at CX Nats in Bend. After a so-so start in the 20s, he put it in the RING and left it out there! He said he went so hard that he cried for the last two laps...not by choice. Fucking strong like bull!

Friday's obligatory post

God Damn! I love Cipo, and so should you!

CONI has morning wood for Bernucci...and his entire family!

Cancellara to Riis : "it's not me, it's you..."

What BIG bike looks like! Tree Farm's Kona CX

Did a nice CX ride yesterday. Figured out a way to do a full hour on the train yard without ever having to get out onto the road. Funny part? The dudes who work in the yard are completely okay with it. Talked to the Manager and he's absolutely cool with it. Sweeeet!

So my new pulleys arrived yesterday and I ventured down into the ManHole(tm) to install them, along with a new KMC chain. Well, when I pulled the Ridley off the rollers (yes, I use them for storage), the headset was no longer operational. I'm not talking 'kind of rough' or even 'notchy'. It was frozen in position. I'm beginning to think that the jaunt around Lake Norman, in the snow, was bad for the bearings. Ya think?
So the headset got completely pulled out, cleaned and re-built. It's working again, but is going to get replaced in the next 7-10 days. Headsets for tapered steerers are not cheap, and sort of hard to find unless you know what you're looking for. That being said, almost all 1-1/8" to 1-1/2" tapered HS bikes use the same unit. If you're curious, it's a FSA CF-40. I know that your day will now be fulfilled with that knowledge.

I'm starting to think that I may just need to pull the trigger and buy some new bikes....

Oh, and TCOTBR has put it down once already @ CX Nats in Bend. Kris Walker won the Womens' 50-54 age group. Bo Pitkin finished a strong 11th in SS. The Rev knocked down a 15th in the TT to grab a 3rd row starting spot in Masters Elite on Saturday.

Werd...

Things to look at...

Tommeke riding a decidedly NOT Merckx cross bike at his charity cross race last weekend.


Big Ringing

Full Gas: Riding a Time Trial with Fabian Cancellara (Intro) from Halo Films Ltd on Vimeo.

A few things...

I'm no Doctor, nor am I proficient in higher mathematics, but I DO know that there are a lot of angles going on in this crash that are contrary to proper neck/back alignment!


As you pull out the warm clothes to ride outside, remember, you could be in Flanders! Relish the big, bright sunshine and 30-ish degree temps! (pic by Jered Gruber)


Left the house in 27 degree sunshine this morning. Properly dressed, and in the warm Sun, it was a pleasant day for a ride. 90 minutes on the cross bike knocked down, and most of the residual stiffness from Saturday's drama has been worked out. Downside? I have a saddle sore, likely from being wet, cold and dirty for so long, and one of the pulleys on the Ridley came apart when the chain broke. Brady Bunch lesson? Don't ride superlight, aluminum pulleys! New VCRC ceramics are on the way.

7th day of Hanukah...

Epic? Nah...

Epic is a word that has been bastardized and diluted to the point where it is almost meaningless. There are days, and experiences, that bring the word back into proper focus.
As I mentioned yesterday, I rolled up to Charlotte (Statesville to be exact) to ride with my buddy Frank and some of his crew. As my latitude headed North this morning, I couldn't help but notice that the temperature on the dash kept heading South.
Once to the meeting spot, it had settled firmly @ 35 degrees. No matter, it was overcast and dry, with zero wind. It was all good.
We headed out a bit after 9 (JM was late...) for the 4-1/2 ish hour jaunt through Iredell and Catawba Counties. The first 3 hours were pleasant and convivial. Then, it started...
First, small ice pellets began falling, increasing in size and severity as we rolled. The beauty? They were dry and bounced off. Shortly thereafter, snow (yes, you read that correctly!) began to enter the (wintry) mix. At first, it was light flurries. These light flurries had higher aspirations though, and quickly turned into BIG, FAT, WET flakes. These lovely little beasts stuck to everything...the road, the grass, our bikes, glasses and clothing.
The road quickly went from dry to very wet and a bit slick. Remember, bridges freeze before roadways...
Cold set in for our little band of merry men, which turned to downright near hypothermia. With 30 minutes left in the ride, I no longer had use of my digits, which meant no holding the bars, no standing to climb, and no shifting...just plugging along, longing for the sweet release of death. We kept passing cattle pastures, which set my frozen little mind wandering, until it settled on a very Star Wars-esque fix for the problem. If I would have had a lightsaber, a lovely heffer would have met her maker, so that I may have crawled inside for warmth.
Once that bad, and admittedly a tad DARK patch passed, we turned back into Lake Norman State Park.
Here's where I received the final cock-punch for the day...
Last hill, just make it up and coast down the other side into the parking lot. Not so much...
I reached for the shifter with my frozen fish stick of a finger, pushed the button and all forward momentum stopped. I guess the chain had enough of the shit weather and let go in not-so-spectacular fashion. Nothing like breaking a chain to end up a ride that could only be called EPIC. At least the German-made rat bastard didn't give up 40 miles from the car...what a plus!
Frank hauled ass to the truck and came back for me.

I changed clothes and headed back for Cola. Once thawed a bit, I shook uncontrollably for nearly 45 minutes. Yeah, that cold...

Rules #5 and #9 were definitely in play today.

Overall though, it was a great loop with great guys. I'll go back and do it again, if they'll have me. That being said, if it snows again, screw you guys!

Friday pic dump

Who do I need to talk to about employment around here?




Rethinking my stance on the whole 'fixie' thing...




The Joy of Cycling



Going to Char tomorrow to ride with @pedal_junky and his crew. Should be a good time. We're rolling out of Lake Norman State Park (mountain bike trailhead lot) @ 0900. 75-80 @ base pace. If you read this, and are close by, feel free to join us!

Oh, and GO COCKS!

Peace!

WTF do you expect?

So the UCI says it will appeal any 'unsatisfactory ruling' that the Spanish Cycling Federation may, or may not, give in Contador's doping positive. As the title states, WHAT THE FUCK do you expect? Are the Spanish going to find him guilty, give him two years and recommend that he be stripped of his Tour title? If you said yes, I have a nice piece of property out off of Bluff Road that I'll be glad to give you a nice price on. Then Bertie says he'll quit if found guilty! Don't let the door hit you in the ass...
Even the Spanish beef producers think Contadope is full of shit!

Garmin-Cervelo are at 'training camp'. Looks more like a gay cruise/retreat. I say this, of course, with all the jealousy I can muster. I'd rather be hanging out in the Caymans than listening to my children whinge incessantly about, well, everything.

December has finally rolled around, thus it looks like it may be time to actually start riding my bicycle. The cocktail seems to be beating back the headcold, so I'm on the bike tomorrow with some sort of purpose. Maybe a double...shocking, I know...

Special thanks go out to SpokeJunky for helping the Jericho build along. Looks like the SRAM 1x10 is going to come to fruition. It'll be interesting, if nothing else!

Picture of the day: "I can't make it, go on without me..."