Dirty Danzing

Fin

2011-09-01T06:04:00.000-07:00

I'm letting the domain registration lapse at the end of the month. The last time I did this, Google was nice enough to post a bunch of porn at http://www.dirtydanzing.com/. I guess it's the "dirty" in the name? Whatever the reason, please loose this address from your bookmarks.

Thanks for reading.

Christopher

Cake

2010-12-30T09:42:00.001-08:00

If you're looking for something interesting to look at today, check out the cake Danielle made for Hillary:

http://bakers-cakes.blogspot.com/2010/12/piano-books-and-christmas-ornament-cake.html

It's super fancy and delicious at the same time.

Snowy Cyclocross Ride

2010-12-29T11:20:00.000-08:00

Sure. Riding across that log seems like a great idea.

Try 1:

Try 2:

Ok, maybe it's best to just ride.

Movember

2010-11-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pics right now. I just wanted to throw a quick post up here as some of you may have noticed that I've shaved my signature "Marty Van B's". Why this sudden facial hair change? Well I change my facial hair all the time, I don't know what the big deal is. This time it's for Movember! Yes the month formerly known as November in which men all over the world grow their mo to raise awareness and funds for men's cancer. The goal is to start on November 1st with a clean face, then to let it grow. Sound simple? It's not! Now I've got to choose a mo to grow! David thinks I should grow a The Rent Is Too Damn High:

I'm not sure if I could make this much hair happen in a month though. Now I've done a Fu Manchu in the past:

So that's a possibility but I had also been considering this little number modeled by Gary Fisher recently:

Thoughts?

Recap!

2010-11-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

Photo dump and a bit of a recap.

Excuses: I've been writing here: blog.performancebike.com and putting together things Bo says here: boisms.tumblr.com.

Now back to your regularly scheduled photo dump.

There I am looking bored at the Bull Moon Ride. It was actually a very fun ride.

There I am chasing some dudes at the Chapel Hill MTB race (I didn't win).

There I am chasing David (you can see my ~~left~~ right shoulder) at the Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race (didn't win that one either).

There I am at the Open Eye Cafe after the Chapel Hill Adventure Race (CHAR) which I did win. Basically. There were two people out there who were faster than I was but one was Kip (that's his thumbs-up) who plotted out the course and the other was Alex who made the trophy so they let me take it.

This was taken today. That's me riding the new rock section we finished yesterday.

I'm done racing for the year (probably) but still riding. I'm feeling more than a little burned out this week so that's why I'm taking the time to finish some of these trail building projects that have been on my mind for a couple of months. Everyone has been riding at Briar Chapel because they cleared the leaves off of the course for the race two weeks ago. We'll have the last laugh when those trails become a rutted out mess after the winter while the leaves protect our trails but for now no one can find their way around on our trails. I'm going to try to lay down some sticks in the tricky-to-follow sections so people will stop missing turns. Still, the season is beautiful when it comes to trail work. The bugs are down, the temps are down but the sun is still shining and people are still riding.

I've been contemplating the Dirty Dozen lately but the verdict is still out. It's a ride that encompasses the 13 hardest hills in the Pittsburgh area. I used to live on the first hill. It was brutal.

Ok, more pictures from Pisgah:

That's all folks!

Pisgah

2010-09-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

David and I are going back to Pisgah. You can check out our introductory write-up here.

You can also check out this video that Mark took over the weekend:

This is one of the sections that we get to do multiple times. It rips.

Still here

2010-09-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

Still here. Scraping on my Scraper Bike.

Oscar Ride

2010-07-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Remember Oscar?

Check him out now.

Video and more pictures to come later . . .

July

2010-07-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

It's July already.

I'm still riding quite a bit but not racing very much. This is good and bad. I don't feel very fast - a lot of the speed I've had in the past has come from racing. At the same time, I have time on the weekends! This means I can do things like finish the porch:

Also, with no real agenda on the bike, it leaves me free to do things like explore power line trails with David at lunch:

Of course, I would have done this anyways. I'm not one to follow too rigid of a training program. I'm sure this is one of the things holding me back but I've just never been motivated enough to follow a program. I've never needed one to keep me riding and I don't need one to keep me in good enough shape to chase David along some power line trails. I'm fairly certain that this is the most fun a person can have on the bike.

On that note, I've built up two new bikes in the last week. Neither are super light and neither have the latest parts/features. Both are steel and both are (hopefully) going to be very fun to ride. I'll try to get some pictures up here and elaborate more when I have a chance. Maybe over the weekend with all of my free time . . .

Porch day 1 and the Tarwheel

2010-06-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

The Tarwheel XC Challenge was two weekends ago. I came in 5th place in the Sport category. Weak.

I'm not even sure why I did so poorly. The course was one I'm familiar with and I was riding the Access hardtail. Oh, one thing that went wrong was riding a hardtail. I was the first one into the woods, but the Chapel Hill trails are so technical that a full suspension bike would have been a better match I think. Also, it was super hot (again). Hillary was there running the reg table and also support. She handed me a water bottle with ice cubes in it between my two laps. It was like mana sent from heaven. I passed two people back on that second lap no doubt because I was handling the heat better (and I wasn't handling it very well).

This past weekend involved no riding. It instead resulted in this:

We framed in our back porch so we can screen it. This was no small amount of work and I'm actually a bit sore, but it was good work. I borrowed a lot of tools from Mike and John without which, this would never have happened. Now we've got to paint it, screen it and get the doors on. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have this finished and I can start on the fence.

Burn 24 Additional Image Dump

2010-06-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

There's David and I setting up for the big "cookout" video.

There we are enjoying birthday cake.

There's David helping Tony put his chain back on.

Here are some professional images:

http://www.backprint.com/view_user_event.asp?PID=bp%1E%7CAp&EVENTID=68414&BIB=23&S=230&PWD=

And there's Tony, Myself, David and of course, Kasey.

Thanks to Lana for these sweet pictures!

Burn 24

2010-06-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

With David out of commission, it was all me for the Burn 24 Hour race this year. I was more than a little nervous lining up for the start, but let me back up for a minute. We rolled onto the starting field at about 3:00 on Friday under darkening skies. We set the tents up quickly and got to filming our food video for the Performance Blog (the video should be done sometime this week).

Then the rain started.

It started as a sprinkle, but quickly turned into a downpour. As we raced about getting things under tents and into the car, I wondered about the race course and hoped my chicken didn't get cold (it didn't). David and I soon found ourselves inside my tent eating dinner while the clouds dumped 1,000,000 gallons of water on top of us. Suddenly I realised that the floor of my tent felt weird. Sure enough, a lake was forming underneath us as we ate. Fortunately, the rain let up and we were able to move the tents before any water got in. When we moved my tent, we discovered a puddle more than 4 inches deep and probably 10'x20', right where we had set up. Nice start.

One good thing that came out of the move was that we decided to combine tents with our neighbors, two very nice racers named Tony and Lana (and their dog Casey). They set a great example of what to do with an extra tarp and soon we had a nice shelter erected.

That night, David had a birthday cake which we shared with our new neighbors. I blew out candles and everything.

The morning of the race started off very well. It was sunny and HOT. We ate a great breakfast and I tried to relax and warm up a little.

Here I am headed to the start. It was going to be a long race for me. I started out on my Access Carbon 29er and would actually do a good number of laps on this bike. David was ready with bottles as I came through and I turned three good laps at the start. Then things started going downhill (and not in a good way). I started overheating big time mid lap and decided to not do anything about it until I got back. By the time I made it back to the tent, I couldn't eat or drink as my core temp soared.

David claimed the "best race supporter ever" title as he had crammed a couple of dish towels down into the bottom of our cooler where there was a load of recently thawed water. This made for soaking towels that hovered just above the freezing point. When applied to a severely overheating body, these were sheer bliss. It took about 45 minutes of rotating the towels out, but I was soon able to eat and drink again. Then I was back on the bike. I rode (slowly) until the sun was about to set, then took a break for dinner. After dinner and a short time for my food to settle, I strapped on my lights and headed out for a couple of night laps.

With the temps dropping, the night laps were nice. On the other hand, my body still wasn't too happy with me for my earlier negligence regarding the overheating so my laps were slow and painful. Also, the trails that had just dried out somehow found some moisture from the mood and spread that moisture all over the many exposed roots on the trail. This made for a couple of rough laps and I soon called it a night.

The next day I got up early, got some breakfast and headed back out for another couple of laps. Feeling good for the first time in the race, I started passing people and had a fun couple of rounds. With about an hour and a half left, I took 20 minutes to re-group then headed out for my fastest lap of the race. I came in at about 11:50 and decided I was done.

There I am socializing with some of the other Triangle riders who made it out to the race.

And there I am with Tony, Lana and Casey.

All in all, I had a good time. I only did 12 laps (the same number I did last year when David also turned 12 laps). This was far below my hopes for the race, but the trails were in good shape and the people we met out there were great as always. This is a super-awesome event and a great one to be my first 24-solo attempt. Would I try this again? Probably not, but who knows. The funny thing about events like this is that as time passes the memory of the pain seems to dissipate but the memory of the good parts remain.

P.S. As I find more good pictures, I'll get them up here.

28

2010-06-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'm 28 now.

18th at Burn. 5th at the Tarwheel XC Challenge. Feeling weaker and slower than I was last year. More on that to come.

Burn 24 Buildup

2010-05-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

I'm officially registered to do Burn 24 solo. The event is sold out (400 racers). Oh, and it's going to rain.

Check out the brief write-up I did for the Performance Blog if you have a chance. We'll have a lot more to talk about once we return, I'm sure.

Lunch Break

2010-05-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

What did you do on your lunch break today?

Burn

2010-05-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well, Amber's got faith.

David bowed out today referencing his inability to turn his head quickly and occasional dizziness. As though that would make riding a mountain bike for 12 hours difficult. Pfaw!

No, seriously, we discussed this for a while and there aren't any hard feelings. David is actually recovering quite well, but didn't want to take any risks. He's making the best decision he can make under the circumstances and I wouldn't have it any differently. I've e-mailed the folks at Burn to see if they will refund some of his entry fee due to his medical reason; hopefully they'll be reasonable about this.

Now I have nine days to prepare, mentally and physically, for this enormous race. I'll be working furiously to get my bikes and gear ready (I'm timing a light battery right now). I'll also be trying to get a 24 Solo viewing in sometime this week. Nothing gets me psyched up to race a long race like watching Chris Eatough: Professional Mountain Biker really hurt some people.

I'll try to update this as the week progresses but one way or another, expect an interesting story in about two weeks.

Ride the Divide

2010-05-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

The Great Divide Race.

I raced against that Matt Lee guy at 6 BC. I was having a rough day and barely pulled out 10th place. He was having a very average day and won by a clear margin. That guy's nuts.

There's something primal about my desire to do an event like this. The record for this race is 15 days, 1 hour and 26 minutes. The record. Most riders take a month or more to complete this (if they complete it). Obviously the time and money necessary to do something like this is fairly prohibitive to most people. You'd have to have a good supply of light weight backpacking gear, a top of the line bike and the time to train for a month long race, then the time to race for a month. I don't know how people pull this off. Maybe I should pick up this movie.

Burn 24 is in two weeks. Last week David had a bad crash. In an attempt to save his bike (I can only assume), he took the brunt of the fall with his face. He had a concussion and now is doubtful about Burn. I told him I will do it solo if he doesn't think it's safe for him to race. I have no clue if I can pull this off or not. I asked him to make the call by next week so I'll have a week to mentally prepare. I think this is almost as important as the physical prep necessary for an event like this.

By this time last year, I already had a couple of races in my legs. I feel like I'm wandering into Burn mostly blind. I have more experience though. I know that in order to manage my nutrition, I need to start stacking endurance supplements a week before the event and I know that enough salt tablets will keep me from cramping (and too many salt tablets will upset my stomach). I know the value of real food and I know the place for gels and bars. I think I will be able to push myself farther this year than I have in the past. Time will tell . . .

"Broken Glenn" Trail Ribboncutting

2010-05-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

After literally months of work (20 minutes at a time) we finally finished our new section of trail. I selected a day and started pressuring all of the cyclists around work to don some baggies and check it out. Soon after, disaster struck.

About a week before the big event, a couple of us were "testing" out some of the trickier lines and Bo managed to crash spectacularly into a well placed (or poorly placed) pile of rocks, breaking his thumb. Suddenly attendance at my trail ribbon cutting was itself cut in half. Still, it was a bright and sunny Friday so we had a nice turnout. Lots of regulars:

As well as some new faces:

We all headed out as a massive group and made it to the trailhead intact.

Once there, I cracked a couple jokes, people groaned, I pulled out a ribbon, it didn't really reach, I broke it anyways and we all rode away.

Does my belly fat make me look fat?

The ride quickly split into two groups: those who could and those who walked.

Overby "can".

We rode the trail "backwards" or what we are now calling "the Bo Plunge direction". This made for some interesting climbing to get back to the rest of our trail network.

Mark and Randy tended to make it look easy though.

The remainder of the trail was in good condition, with the spring growth not yet a problem.

Lines were cleaned and there were only a couple of crashes (note the scrape on Jason's leg above).

Since this ride, we've put another couple of lunch breaks into smoothing out a couple of the trickier transitions and generally improving the "flow" of the trail. For those of you who don't read mountain bicycle magazines, "flow" is an immeasurable quality that some trails posses and others don't. It comes down to the ability to ride a section quickly without touching the brakes and without it being a straight line. This is harder to build than it would seem.

Now that "Broken Glenn" is finished, we're turning to our normal spring focus of keeping the growth from overtaking our older lines. If anyone reading this is interested in helping out, I'll be organizing a "trimming" day in the next couple of weeks to try to retain ownership of the trail.

On a separate note, if you're not using a blog reader (what's wrong with you?) you'll notice that I've removed mention of GT bicycle from the blog description. Sadly, my time with the Dirt Coalition has come to an end. I always knew this time would come and wondered whether I would be able to keep myself motivated to blog. Sure enough, my blog posts have been fairly sparse over the last couple of months but don't despair dear readers (both of you). Instead consider this a season of recovery leading up to a new season of blogging. The topic won't be racing for GT anymore but will still involve a lot of racing as well as stories about the rest of my life. Did you know I have a dog? I'm sure I've mentioned her, but she's growing like a weed.

Evey is the white one.

Yes, there is life outside of riding bicycles. If only I could bring Evey with me to the local trails . . .

David and I have once again signed up for Burn 24. We're discussing goals and trying to keep our bodies functioning until then. I'll try to elaborate on this for those interested over the next couple of days.

Thanks for reading!

it's a bike towing a bike

2010-04-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

You see, John wants to go mountain biking on Sunday but I don't have any mountain bikes at home. I could just ride the mountain bike home, but then how am I going to get the rest of my stuff home? This way, I can bring two bikes home and all of my gear.

Also, it's crazy.

Starting again.

2010-04-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm back.

We had a big "trail ribbon-cutting" today. I'll try to get photos and a recap up next week. Here's a sweet video of Overby to wet your whistle.

David and I signed up for Burn 24 last night so there's a training goal. More on that to come as well.

Dream Home

2010-03-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.survivalrealty.com/2008/12/waterfall-retreat.html

Dream Home:

80ft waterfall - check
Off grid electricity - check
12 acres of NC mountains - check
Pure spring water - check
Two trout ponds - meh
Wood burning stove to heat the whole house - check

10 Minutes away from Mt. Mitchell - check

still, I wasn't sure . . . then I read this part:

"One of the most unique features of this property is the NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) shelter, which contains a toilet, shower, cooking and sleeping facilities."

F-ing BOMB SHELTER - check

Sold.

Oh wait, $890,000? Anyone want to split it? There will probably be enough room in the bomb shelter.

I mean look at that thing.

Anyone?

Trail Days

2010-03-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

Last week we started Spring Cleaning on the mountain bike trails. We started by re-routing the creek at the Suicide Bridge. We were trying to get the water to go under the bridge instead of in front of it. This way, the rocks in front of the bridge dry out. If we can get the rocks to dry out, then the algae on the rocks will die and it will be safer to ride. Here it is after one day:
Then we dug and shoveled like crazy:
And then it looked more like this:

Then we gave it some more time and it rained once or twice. Then we worked on it one more time and now it looks more like this:

Sure enough, the water no longer flows in front of the bridge in any meaningful way. Also, the bridge is way more stable with the large rocks at the lower end and way smoother at the higher end. It's now easier to ride all around. Here's a view from the bridge:

Still working out what to do with the stone monolith that we set up. Here are some pictures of Bo and I riding it today:

Then this week we built up another bridge that had been washed out by all of our rain this winter. I didn't get any good "before" pictures of this project, but believe me, it was a mess. An old bridge was washed into our new one and both bridges became a dam that trapped all kinds of debris. This in turn made the creek wash over the banks and collect all kinds of crap. We cleared the dam and let the creek return to its normal course, then planted the newer bridge back in place, digging it into the bank on either side of the stream. This will help keep it in place and also make it much smoother to ride.
Oh, and we planted the old bridge in the middle of the creek on end to create another monolith of sorts.Today we just rode everything. It's nice to get out there and just ride. We also brought Bo and Devlin along with us. On the way back, we gave Bo the "Tour De France" treatment.

He was very motivated.

We also came up with a logo for the Corporate Trails:

Ok, my skills with Microsoft Paint are a little lacking, but you get the idea.

Next week hopefully we'll be able to re-start work on the piece of trail connecting to Briar Chapel. That's the main thing on the plan for the trail. Anyone want to volunteer?

The Bloggess

2010-03-03T11:52:00.001-08:00

This award has officially and unknowingly been bestowed on me by none other than The Bloggess herself. Check out her blog if you get a chance. I noticed her when she was nominated for a Bloggie Award and find her blog to be somewhat hilarious. She writes with such wit and makes it look so easy. She's at the forefront of what people are calling "mommy blogs" (in my opinion) and writes for a number of other places around the internets. Check out this post for a brief summary of what you can expect. Delightful, right?

Meltdown

2010-02-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

I raced the Meltdown at the Reactor 6 Hour race on Saturday. It turned into a very nice day, starting at about 40 degrees but warming up to almost 60. The sun was shining and I was feeling good (at least as good as one can feel racing for 6 hours). I did the whole race on my prototype 29er carbon hardtail. I can't tell you more about the frame right now, other than to say that it's freaking awesome.

I got 6th in the race out of 17 competitors in the "Open Male Solo" category which should put me in 4th overall for the series. Sadly, unless it's postponed by rain, I'm going to miss the last race in the series on the 13th of March so hopefully I will have enough points to keep me in the top 5.

I ran into Kip at the end of the race and congratulated him on his strong finish (he got 3rd and easily holds onto his first place in the series). He summed up the race very well when he said, "A lot of time in the pain cave."

Meltdown Preview

2010-02-21T15:49:00.001-08:00

So I raced yesterday. Got 6th in the "Men's Open Solo" category. More pics and a short recap to follow (and maybe some more pics).

2010-02-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

Today I took Evey for a short hike. Yesterday we had a long walk and between the two outings, she was whipped. Here she is sleeping on her bed.

Clementine on the other hand, had no such excuse.

Demons

2010-02-13T14:08:00.001-08:00

Hill repeats exercise the demons (and the body).

One more week until race time.

$10,000

2010-02-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

Does anyone have $10,000 they can spare?

Homepage? I am the homepage.

2010-02-08T11:24:00.000-08:00

I am the homepage today at work. I'm also an e-mail.

I am also a total slacker about updating this blog and getting pictures up from the Worst Day of the Year Ride. Devlin on the other hand, did a fine write-up on the Performance Bike Blog. Sorry. I'm working on it.

The Worst Day of the Year Ride Preview

2010-02-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

More to come.

My Lunch Break Is Better Than Your Lunch Break Is

2010-02-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday and Thursday turned out to be nice(r) days so we went cross riding at BC.
The singletrack was dry and fast (as fast as it can be on cross bikes).

There's SuperDave shredding it on Wednesday.

There's Devlin saying "I wish I had my cross bike out here today".
There's me saying "there's no f-ing way I'm riding that with no suspension."

The trails were 95% dry (give or take) so we got a little muddy as well.
The BC trails are very well made and mostly easy to ride so they make for great cyclocross.

On Thursday Devlin was all like, "wait up guys, I remembered my cross bike today!"

So we made him ride on the road.

Just kidding.

Bike Snob Bump

2010-01-26T13:45:00.001-08:00

Care to guess which day Bike Snob NYC posted a link to the Performance Corporate Blog?

I've been neglecting this blog again so I can work on that one. Sorry about that. If only I could get him to link to this blog, then I'd be in business.

Not much new to report here. I'm feeling tired on the bike, but still trying to push through another month of training until the last two races in the Triangle Endurance Series. I feel overweight, though I'm only 5 pounds heavier than I was 3 months ago. I'm working on diet changes to drop the lbs and also starting working in some intervals to try to get my speed up to par over the next 3 weeks. Then one week of tapering and it's game time.

BC Connect?

2010-01-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

We're trying to connect our trails to BC, or at least get them as close as possible. This will effectively double the size of the trail network. It's going to be a lot of work. Especially if we keep building the trails like this: There's Kyle lining up for the new section. Behind him lies a section of trail that may some day connect to a neighborhood right across the street from the BC trails. Here's David tackling the same section:

But the way I figure it, if we're going to do it, we're going to do it all the way! As John says, "If you're going to eat the donkey, don't stop at the tail!" We could have built on the ridge surrounding this rock garden/stream crossing and it would have been much easier to build and ride but why? This way we get to ride through it.

And it doesn't get any easier from there.

David and I are going to try to film a short introduction to our Transit bicycles this afternoon. If it works out, I'll share the results soon.

Driving

2010-01-14T12:04:00.000-08:00

The other day I was riding home and came to this point, which is fairly close to my house. I was stopped by a police car that had blocked the road and was re-routing people around what appeared to be a serious accident (by the quantity of flashing lights). I asked the officer how to make the detour and he said that I could go through. "Ok," I thought and was on my way. As I rounded the bend I came upon a car upside down in the opposite lane (but facing the same direction I was) and an upright smashed-up minivan. How on earth this car came to be upside down in the opposite lane is nearly beyond my imagination. It must have rounded that bend at break-neck speed (it's a 35 mph road) and clipped something, making the car slide sideways and then flip/rotate? The surreal nature of the scene, so freshly laid out with debris all over the road lit only by the lights from three emergency response vehicles and devoid of people (they must have all been taken away just before I got there) really struck me. If I was braver (or more prepared) I would have tried to photograph it, but it didn't seem appropriate as I didn't know the fate of the victims.

Oddly enough, I think the point of this video is to showcase the new safety features that we pack into our cars these days. Still, with people driving like maniacs all the time, it's no surprise that we have to engineer these kinds of features into our vehicles and the violent nature this clip should make us think twice every time we strap into our cages . . . er cars.

I saw a three car pileup on my way in this morning. I don't know what it is lately, but I seem to come across fresh accidents on a weekly basis recently. In each case, emergency workers are already on the scene and the general emotion of the victims is shock. It's always interesting to me to see surprise on the face of a traffic accident victim. Do people just think it isn't going to happen to them? Are they just not paying attention? Am I the only one that notices the weekly accidents along our shared route?

Another great sight this morning was right on route 54. I was crossing one of the side streets and a car had just pulled up, about to make a right turn (on red). The driver was in fact reading a magazine and eating at the same time. Wait, let me re-emphasize that. This person, the only person in the vehicle, was reading a magazine and eating while driving. Simply amazing.

I expect to be hit by a car every day. I'm constantly paranoid when crossing intersections, I ALWAYS wear my helmet and at night I'm lit up like a Christmas tree (Jeff told me that he saw me from a half mile away yesterday even though there were trees in the way). I wear high-visibility clothing and stick to wide shoulders, bike lanes and low-trafficked roads whenever possible. Still I expect to be hit all the time. I actually have the thought as I'm pulling on my reflective vest or turning on my third blinky light, "this is going to come in handy when I'm in court suing the motorist or petitioning their insurance."

What can we do? Is continued driver's education the answer? Maybe. Maybe we should require that people be re-taught to drive every 5 years or something. Our doctors and law enforcement officers certainly have to constantly learn new skills and take new classes. Why? Because our lives are in their hands and we want them to be the best, most skilled people possible. Along those same lines, we are in each others hands when we are on the road! I am in your hands and I want you all to be the most educated people possible when it comes to safe driving practices. I don't think this is too much to ask.

Better yet, let's all agree to stop driving like maniacs. Accidents can happen to you and will most likely. We all know someone who's been killed or seriously hurt in motor-vehicle accidents. Safer cars are only part of the solution. Please think of the lives in your hands the next time you have to drive. Slow down. Calm down. Stop driving like maniacs.

Thank you.

Taking Flight

2010-01-10T15:32:00.000-08:00

Our friend Meg is an amazing bird photographer and this weekend she turned her camera towards our dog; check it out.

What people like . . .

2010-01-06T06:50:00.000-08:00

People like these things:

Puppies . . .

. . . and comics.

At least I do.

It's a new year! We've got a new puppy so that's keeping us busy. Personally, I'm still riding as much as possible, even through this cold front. SuperDave is back on the bike so hopefully that will mean more trail-building in the very near future. I've got a handlebar-mounted speaker system for my mp3 player which is rapidly bringing my riding to a new level of obnoxiousness. SuperDave had the awesome idea to show up to the next endurance race with it and blast a book on tape the whole time. Maybe if I get people really into the story, they will stop riding away from me.

I've been considering doing a cross race this month, just for fun. Then again, there's really nothing fun about cyclocross so I may not. I've also been dreaming about a new mountain bike. I'm afraid of this dream though, especially as I try to line up a trip to the Handmade Bicycle Show in Richmond next month. Maybe I'll be able to convince someone to pay for me to go to that show. If so, I'll have loads of pictures up here for everyone to drool over. More on that story as it develops . . .

Christmas

2009-12-24T09:05:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas everybody! Lots of people have been asking me if I have any Christmas plans. Here's what I'm planning to do:

Lounge around with the new puppy. That's it. It's going to be marvelous.
As long as I can get her paws off the remote.

Puppies

2009-12-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

We're getting a puppy today. No doubt this is going to spawn all kinds of content for this blog for the next couple of weeks so if you don't like puppies . . . well, who doesn't like puppies?

One of these is going to be ours by the end of the day. We're still working on a name (Hillary doesn't like Ripley).

On a related note, check out this video of a cat riding a Roomba and punching a dog:

All I can think about is xkcd when I see this. This reminds me, I should post about blogs worth reading again. Check out the RSS feed to XKCD if you're a nerd.

It's mostly stick figures and it's mostly nerdy humor. There are some real jems in there and it won't clog up your reader with posts every day (much like my blog won't).

Here are some good ones:

I know. Nerdy. I like that though. Here's their RSS feed. Now go read some while waiting for puppy pictures.

Recent Riding

2009-12-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

I got this pic with my phone while really wishing that I had remembered my actual camera. This was last week. Devlin and I decided to take out some of the Access 9rs for a little ride on our trails. It was a good time. A wet time, but a good one. These really are solid little hardtails.

Most of the riding I've been doing recently has been on my new GT Force Carbon Pro. I finally got my Crank Brothers Joplin seatpost back from being re-built (the Pisgah Stage Race was hard on my gear). I really feel like it completes the bike. It's funny to think that I'm not satisfied with a bike that retails for $6000 without upgrading the seatpost but that's just how it is. I also swapped out the big ring for a bash-guard and changed to Ergon grips. Otherwise, I left the bike stock. This is my favorite 26" rig and I ride it almost every day.

This weekend is calling for "wintry mix". What the hell!?! I moved to North Carolina to avoid wintry mixes! Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pictures this weekend though as we're hoping to visit a puppy that we've been considering bringing home. Check him out. We're still in the heat of the debate (what size, can we really afford it, etc) but I think this could be a great thing for us. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Cyclocross

2009-12-14T12:17:00.001-08:00

People keep asking me why I don't race cyclocross. Check this out. And then check out what that guy missed by not going to Cyclocross Nats. The real question is: why do people invest in cyclocross at all?

It's the off season for me and apparently that applies to my camera too. I'll try to get back on that later in the week. Today I rode with one of our retail employees and he very nearly kicked my ass on a good sized climb. I think I'm going to try to ride with him more to help my goal of peaking in March and being burned out by April. Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to remember my "new" DA9 cassette and then tune up my commuting bike. The rest of the week should be riding/trail building. Anyone want to help?

Around the web

2009-12-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm supposed to share this with you:

There. If you're looking to spend money on bike crap, spend it with us.

Speaking of spending money, if you're considering doing so, I have a much better way: click here, then donate here. This is what I want for Christmas. Sure, you can put my name down, I'll never pass up a chance to win a tricked out Gary Fisher. Donations need to be in $5 incriments and each $5 = one raffle ticket ($50 donated would be 10 tickets). Now won't it be worth it to take your hard earned money and help fight cancer with it? I thought so.

Darkness.

2009-12-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

I thought I was making good time today having left work at 4:30 (an hour later than I usually leave on Fridays) but sure enough it was dark by the time I got home. Very frustrating. Two more weeks until the days can start getting longer again.

Luckily I had my NiteRider setup going on. I'm using an old Rage HID light with a taillight hooked up to the same (large, heavy) battery and a PlanetBike Superflash blinky taillight as a backup. The NiteRider setup is the ultimate and I've always been a NiteRider fan. It's so bright that I annoy oncoming cars and can be seen for miles. I've been compared to a UFO riding down the road. I also have a Blackburn Flea hooked to the back of my helmet as a backup backup taillight. It's always there and you never know when you're going to find yourself in need of a blinky light (at least that's true for me). Lastly I always have my Performance Cyclone Jacket with me and use it more than any other single piece of cycling clothing I own. It's super light weight, has reflective piping, and blocks the wind. It's also white so it's super visible.

That's my nighttime winter commuting setup. Now I'm off to fix the Performance Bike Blog. I hear it needs a link to the actual Performance page (thanks Amber). We're working on some very fun projects to try to promote that blog and get some actual (possibly interesting content) up there in the next week or to so add it to your reader if you will. Have a good weekend and quit using the dark as an excuse to not ride!

Oscar's Interview

2009-12-02T13:56:00.001-08:00

I will admit that I had someone help me with the Spanish on this one:

http://blog.performancebike.com/2009/12/02/employee-interview-oscar-matias/

Check it out, it's AWESOME.

Bike In a Box

2009-12-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

This is our latest project here at work. Yes, the bike shows up completely assembled. The boxes are amazingly large, but somehow still ship via normal shipping methods (FedEx, etc).

6BC Race Report - The end to my season

2009-11-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

6 BC (the Six Hours Of Briar Chapel) promised to be a good race. I wasn't thinking at all about placing well having been off the bike way too much due to my self diagnosed tendinitis. The weather was fair (though a bit cool) and there was going to be beer and food afterwards. The trails were mostly new which was fun. The first half of the six mile loop was very technical with a couple of challenging rock gardens.

After nine laps I was able to clean most of the small stuff though there was still one rock garden that eluded me (and almost everyone else).

Here I am coming in for another lap.

And here I am headed back out. Aren't you sorry you missed this?
The trail rode in nicely and I finished mid-pack. I still wasn't able to manage my nutrition that well. I raced for nearly 6 hours and didn't cramp but instead I bonked about four hours in. That put me about 20 minutes behind as I had to stop to eat and digest which cost me a few places.

This is it! My 2009 Season is over and thus, so is my GT Dirt Coalition Sponsorship. Here I am tearfully packing up my tent for the last time.
I'm going to miss that tent. Honestly, I'm going to miss that tent. It was my favorite part about the sponsorship. If someone wants a very slow endurance racer to sponsor next year, I'm available for the price of one 10'x10' tent. I'm a simple man.

There we are right after the race. SuperDave was nice enough to take these pictures for me (Hillary took the first few) and I thank them both. Soon after this picture was taken we were all sitting around enjoying Carolina Brewery Beer and eating delicious Carolina Barbecue. Yum! Every race should end like that!

Now it's time for a couple of months off. The next endurance race isn't until February so I am going to try to take a recovery period. This is not my strong suit. I like riding to work, riding at lunch and riding home so it's hard for me to get less than 15 hours/week on the bike. I'm thinking that a new trail-building push is in order and maybe some more carpooling.

This week Hillary and I are headed to my Grandmother's house in New York. It will be five days off the bike (!) and a lot of eating will be involved. I'll be back with pseudo-regular updates on Monday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Piano

2009-11-19T12:26:00.001-08:00

Notice anything new in the living room? Yes, it's a piano!

Many people are wondering how a piano that large ends up in a house so small.

Slow and steady, that's how.

Now I can finally start planning my Christmas Music Singalong Jamboree. If you're interested and have musical talent (or like to sing loudly when playing Rock Band like I do) please let me know. I'm thinking the 18th or 19th. Interested?

Oscar's Monster-Bike Part 2 - Finished!

2009-11-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

There he is, Oscar himself aboard his newly finished monsterbike.

I can see you drooling. Stop it. Let me give you a rundown of some of the highlights here. That's a Slime Tubular DH front tire that Oscar had to drill out the rim to make work (presta - schraeder adapter anyone?). He's running a Manitou Minute front fork (140mm?) and a Fox coil-over rear shock (which he takes the limiter off so it will drop like his old hose setup would). He's got a Princeton Tec headlight setup and a carbon fiber seatpost (not that you can tell) and a mostly Shimano drivetrain. Let's take a closer look at those wheels . . .
I doubt even the brains at Mavic had this in mind when they invented their Zicral Bladed Spokes - nail polish! Half orange and half pink on both wheels give this bike the "bling" factor that the Harley Davidson stickers alone couldn't manage.

I think this bike deserves a "best giveaway useage" award or something. Never when we put these parts into the giveaways over the past couple of months could we have imagined this bike being born. I couldn't be happier. Cheers Oscar!

Dogs

2009-11-12T14:15:00.001-08:00

I'm terribly busy today but haven't posted anything all week. Sorry about that. In lew of posting today, I'm going to leave it to Mental Floss (which I discovered through a link in Boing Boing). Check out this video of dogs greeting their owners who are returning from war overseas.

This makes me 1) want to see the rest of our troops come home and 2) want a dog. Something makes me think the dog is more realistic. Anyways, have a good weekend and go play with your dogs.

Back to Business as Usual

2009-11-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Yes, that rock pile on the right is part of the new line at the Corporate Trails. It was clean the other day, but now it's all leafy again. Stupid Fall.

My ankle is healing albeit slowly. I'm back on the bike a bit and feeling pretty good. Wish I was 100%, but I still have two and a half weeks until 6BC (my last race of the calendar year). This could be a cool event. They are going to have live music, beer, food etc. Maybe I'll start inviting people to come spectate. Hopefully it won't be freezing.

Turn around from that rock garden and BAM! Muddy sketchy creek crossing leading into a minor climb and then ???????????? That's as far as the trail goes right now. We've got some real work to do out there.

Winter's coming and that means that I'll have less and less bike events to fill my blog. In an attempt to hold onto the three readers I've garnered over the past few months, I'm thinking about writing summaries of other awesome blogs I've been following. What do you think?

This way, when you're bored with my writing you can just click through to much better writing. Check out Up In Alaska. Jill writes from Juneau Alaska where she rides her bike (and hikes and climbs crazy mountains) all freaking year long.

She'll wake up in the morning and be like, "I'm going to climb that crazy mountain today."

Then BOOM! She's at the top.But it's not a blog about getting to the top (in fact recently she's scrapped getting to the top in favor of things like enlightenment and staying alive), it's about her life experiences which are so far removed from everything I call familiar. At the same time though, her writing is personal enough as to bring an understanding of what she's going through as she rides her way through the snow.She's a newspaper journalist by trade so she writes well and she also takes a lot of pictures which you have to appreciate in a blog. Nothing will wear me out more than reading a blog without pictures. Hell, I think if you're not posting the occasional video clip in with your pictures, you're not fully utilizing the medium. Check it out if you have a chance, it's good stuff.

Pisgah Stage Race - Day 4

2009-10-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

The final day! We all lined up in the freezing cold (record low for that area) and the announcer gave us some news: "we are going to have to work out Farlow Gap as it's totally snowed in, I know this is going to make you disappointed . . ." At this point, I couldn't hear him over the applause of the racers. Someone behind me said, "Look at all of these disappointed people!" Yeah, we had been through the ringer and finding out that the last stage was being reduced to 40 miles and 9000 feet of climbing was a bit of a relief.

My ankle started bothering me right away when we rolled out. Gravel climb after gravel climb wasn't helping matters and I was in a lot of pain by the time we rolled across the finish line. I think it's some form of tendinitis in my left achilles. David was a champ and basically pulled me the whole stage. It was nice to roll across the finish line together. It was especially nice as they already had the grills going.

There's Harlan Price and I with our burgers. He's super fast and finished 6th overall in the Pro men. I'm super slow and finished 5th in the team competition (out of 5 teams). Ouch.

As is usual with this kind of mountain bike event, the dogs were roaming in packs begging for food when not tied down.

David and I had time to go get things a little packed up and to get ourselves cleaned up before the award ceremonies. On our way back over, we ran into Denise and posed for this quick picture. She was a trooper and finished about the same time we did each day so we saw a lot of her.

Then it was podium time. Sam Koerber managed to win the last stage with a sizable gap, but not enough to overcome his overall deficit which left Jeremiah Bishop on the top step of the podium with his comically large check (his time was 10:59:20).

"Retired" pro Susan Haywood led the race in a much more dominating fashion, winning every stage to take the overall (in 14:10:33).

Also sticking to mountain biking trends, the pros are super friendly and posed with us for some quick shots after the podium.

I was rocking the Performance Bicycle wool jersey trying to get the word out that Performance isn't just about the bottom line but is also nice enough to send guys like David and I to loose huge races like the Pisgah Stage Race (our time was 19:07:04).

Here's Stephen and James or "The Brits" as everyone took to calling them posing with Susan . . .

And later with us. Hmm, they seemed happier in the Susan Haywood picture . . .

Then it was our turn on the podium. I was happy as we made it onto Cycling News with this podium. We each won $50 and a crappy Specialized Alias Saddle. That reminds me, does anyone want to buy a Specialized Alias Saddle? I'll sell it to you cheap.

Should we make it back there next year (and we probably won't but who knows) I'd love to get my hands on one of these medals. They were super cool. Here's Denise showing off her's for 2nd place in the "Open Women" category.

With that wrapped up, we packed up the rest of our campsite and hit the road.

I'd like to seriously thank GT and Performance Bicycle for making this trip possible. The entry fee alone would have made it impossible for David and I to do this race otherwise. We had a lot of fun and rode some legendary trails at the same time. People asked us if we would be back to ride in Pisgah again. "Sure" we said, "when it's warmer and we bring bikes with more travel and we're not racing and we bring more clothes and more food and when the sun comes out and . . ."

Oh we'll be back all right.

Pisgah Stage Race Report - Day 3

2009-10-27T07:45:00.001-07:00

Day three started much like day two only colder. And wetter.

The race organizer got on his megaphone and gave us an outline of the day's course. We would start with about 7 miles on the road, then a brutal gravel climb for a couple of miles followed by a "sketchy" descent. Using the "Pisgah Scale Up" method we (correctly) deduced that the descent would be mostly unrideable. Next up we would come to a stream crossing that would be "waist deep" and 30-40 feet across. This means carrying the bike. "Get used to this," he said "as you will then do this seven more times."

No joke. We counted as we went to try to keep our sanity. Each crossing led to a very muddy bank, then a muddy section of trail that we would slip across before arriving at the next crossing.

There's Dave heading into a crossing behind Danielle and some guy who wasn't actually even racing I don't think. Here's video:

Yes, Dave gives me the "thumbs up" right in the middle of that crossing. He has no clue what is coming next.

There he is a couple of miles later pushing his bike up the side of Laurel Mountain into the snow. By this time, I was feeling good so I was able to get in front long enough to get the camera out. Our Performance Cyclone Jackets were quite possibly literal life savers out here. We had packed them in our packs, not knowing quite what to expect.

There I am making my way over the top. We had to stop to get pictures but didn't want to stop for too long as we would quickly get cold. Not knowing what to expect, Dave had on shorts.

There he is no doubt questioning that decision.

On the other side we started quickly descending back down into the warmth of lower elevations. Before long we came to this section (above) and a screaming horde of local mountain bikers who had set up camp there. Sadly, they didn't get any pictures of us as David took a spectacular spill on his way through this section. Luckily he and his bike both survived the tumble in the rocks and we made it to the next rest station where I had sent ahead an ugly pair of leg warmers and some extra socks both of which I gave to David.

We did another climb full of small rocks and a similar descent before arriving at Black Mountain for the second time. We didn't have to go all the way to the top this time though and were back at the finish line before we knew it.

One of the perks of this race was a free 1/2 hour of massage. You could divide that up any way you wanted between the days. David and I both made the decision to blow it all in one shot after this day. After getting cleaned up and grabbing some free beer, we very much enjoyed our free massages.

There I am feeling much more human outside the massage tent with my free beer.

That night, the rain mostly held off and we grabbed some pizza to eat in front of our fire. Here I am with a full belly, trying to get my M086L's to dry and trying to stay warm.

It would freeze overnight, but I would stay warm in my sleeping bag feeling very ready for the last day.

P.S. You can check out our other write-ups of this event at the Performance Bike Blog.

Pisgah Stage Race Day 2

2009-10-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Day two of the Pisgah Stage Race started early. We woke up at 6:00 so we could be dressed and have eaten by the time the sun came up. The stages all started at 8:00 so we didn't have much time to dilly-dally. A couple of packets of oatmeal later, we pulled on our new Performance Bicycle Race Kits and pedaled our way to the start line (which was only about a mile from our tents).

You'll also notice my illumiNITE arm warmers which are quite warm but react strangely to cameras.

The day's stage started with a 7 mile climb which gained us more than 1500 feet of elevation right away. At the top was the first rest stop which we promptly skipped. The resulting descent was exhilarating and very fast. We tore through tunnels of Rhododendron plants at break-neck speed and soon entered a very difficult section of trail. This trail went on for miles and was carved into the side of a steep slope. Because of the massive amount of rain that we had experienced, every root was a chance for a crash and every rock was as slick as ice. I went down hard a couple of times over this section and David managed to break his left pedal. It still basically functioned but he had to adjust it every time he wanted to clip in. There couldn't have been a worse place for this to happen as we were on and off of the bike every 2 minutes for over an hour.

Rest stop 2 couldn't come soon enough. We weren't quite sure what to expect (other than food) but after another grueling fire-road climb we were desperate for a quick break. As we pulled into the stop, volunteers leaped to our attention holding our bikes, getting us food, even taking our packs off of our backs so they could refill them with water or energy drink. Luxury!

After consuming three complete PB&J's and having David's bike looked at (they didn't have a spare pedal) we headed back out feeling much better.

After some more tame trail, we started up the backside of Black Mountain. This would be a recurring theme over the next three days as each time we finished by descending Black Mountain. Before we could get there though, we had to make it through the part that we started calling "The Miserableness". Some course marshalls told us that we were facing "just two quick peaks, a short hairy descent, then a punchy little climb before a HUGE descent full of rocks, roots, drops . . . well you know, it's like . . . Pisgah!"

We of course had no idea what that meant. Oh yeah, it's like Pisgah. It's like a place we had never ridden before that very instance. Terrific. This became a theme for the rest of the weekend. Course marshalls or rest stop volunteers would constantly stop us to tell us what to expect next. They would describe a section and it would turn out to be about 10 times bigger/longer/harder than they had described. As we would reflect on this, we would shout, "it's like Pisgah!"

Here I am at the top of "peak one". With the leaves changing it was truly a beautiful vista. Not so much worth the 45 minute hike-a-bike that it took to summit the two peaks, but pretty nonetheless. With this picture taken, we tore down Black Mountain to the finish line exhausted but happy. All in all, we got in about 40 miles that day and it took us 6 hours and 8 minutes or so.

Back at camp we were very happy to see everything as we had left it. We showered and ran out for some Mexican food before starting a fire to settle in for the evening.We cleaned and lubed our drivetrains using the camp spigot before hanging our bikes to dry.Soon it started to rain but not very hard and the temperature also started to drop. Not to be discouraged, we set up the GT tent over the picnic table and roasted some marshmallows. I fell asleep about 30 seconds after hitting the air mattress at about 8:00 and slept like a log while a gentle rain pattered against the rain fly of my huge tent.

Pisgah Stage Race Day 1

2009-10-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Finally! This begins my write-up of the Pisgah Stage Race. Before I begin, I'd like to thank Performance Bicycle and GT for helping us make this amazing trip happen. Without further ado . . .

Amazingly, even this over-packed I was wishing for more clothes by the end of the weekend. With everything packed, David showed up at my house at 6:00AM on Thursday to head out to the Pisgah Stage Race.

It was very cold and raining. Little did I know that this would be a trend for the weekend. We filled every cubic centimeter of my poor little Subaru and headed out!

There we are, warm and happy. The warm part was soon to dissipate. All four bikes were loaded onto the car thanks to some loaner roof racks and Hillary was kind enough to bake us some fresh biscuits for the road. Soon the sun came up and the rain even let up a little. While filling the car with gas, David noticed that there was a little grime on his rear derailleur pulley so he found a rag and cleaned it. Considering the disastrous courses that our bikes were about to tackle, this became quite comical (see below).

We made it to Pisgah in plenty of time and set up our tents in one of the forest service's free campsites. We tried to not leave too much stuff in the tents as they would be unsecured but soon learned that it didn't much matter how little we left.

Arriving with plenty of time to spare, we set up the GT tent right in the middle of the "vendor expo" area. This made for tons of interaction with fellow racers. We met a lot of people and had ample opportunity to discuss the joys of riding GT bicycles.

One of the other vendors at the expo was Industry Nine who had this beautiful wheelset on display (that is a DT Swiss carbon fiber rim by the way). With a tour of the other vendors completed, we set out to walk the course.

The course was only about a mile long and a lot of it was grass, but a good portion of it focused around this slope as it made its way into the woods. Here I am climbing it. It's steeper than it looks here and all mud. We literally slid down this each lap.

Balancing on the ropes of the ropes course was not part of the race.

The race set out at a furious pace and David and I held on to finish mid pack. I was about a minute up, but that was ok (we had to finish within five minutes of each other each day or we would suffer a one hour penalty but there wasn't much risk of that kind of separation on this course).

This bike was spotless before the race started.

Our tires and pedals were absolutely clogged with mud. We were lucky enough to have a Brevard College coach point us in the direction of the softball fields where we found some hoses and cleaned our bikes. This was more and more futile as the week went on, but we felt good about having the bikes clean if only for a little while.

There we are after the finish. We quickly got into some dry clothes and found ourselves some Carolina BBQ sandwiches.

And of course some Fat Tire Ale. New Belgium Brewery was one of the sponsors of the race and had kegs of beer for us at the end of every stage. Bonus! Truly, no better recovery drink exists.

We got to watch the professional riders do their thing. This was fun as we were not going to see very much of them over the next couple of days.

There's the start to the pro race. Jeremiah Bishop takes an early lead, one he will hold onto for the rest of the four days.

Here he is pushing through the muddy switchbacks. I swear, it wasn't that easy.

And there's the finish. Seriously, he looks like he barely broke a sweat. JB is truly an amazing rider.

Sadly, when we returned to our tents, things were not as we had left them. Some bastards had ransacked our campsite stealing our sleeping bags, an air mattress, my camp stove, lantern, cast iron skillet, David's magazines, a pillow and my pasta fork. Seriously? Magazines and a pasta fork? Our bewilderment rivaled our anger and frustration.

No longer feeling safe in that campsite, we packed everything back into the car and drove to the nearby Davidson River Campground. One of the employees, Nancy, was super friendly and found a sleeping bag and an air mattress for Dave to borrow during our stay (she had an awesome teardrop camper and didn't need them). David started setting up camp while I ran to WalMart to replace the rest of our stolen goods (I hate shopping at WalMart but necessity can make for strange bedfellows).

David pointed out that we needed to make a conscious decision to try to not let this ruin our trip. We had done a lot of planning and work to get this far and wanted to still have a good time. It was 10:00 at night before we were set up again and we slept uneasily after such a rough night. The morning would come too soon and the racing would only become more extreme . . .

Race Report - Little River

2009-10-20T06:15:00.000-07:00

Everyone has been asking me how the Pisgah Stage Race was and have I posted pictures yet. The answer is that it was epic and I haven't posted pictures yet. Stay tuned. I'm working on it.

With all of the excitement and business surrounding the stage race, I've majorly procrastinated posting about the 6 hours race at Little River the weekend before. It was a nice low-key race. I raced in the "Open Men" category and was able to come up with a 5th place finish (which seems to be about how I finish in Open categories). Here's the tent:

And here I am post-race:

And here was my focus post-post race:

Now that's a post-race recovery meal. All in all, I felt good. I raced hard and managed to not cramp which was a first for me over that distance. I credit this nutrition breakthrough to Lava Salts. This was a well timed breakthrough as I was gearing up for some of the longest stretches I have ever experienced on the bike. The race was well organized with timing chips and a nice cookout afterwards. This makes me very much look forward to 6BC (which is the next race in the Triangle Endurance Series).

Ok, one quick sneak-preview of the Pisgah Stage Race and then I will start writing up the actual event. Enjoy and look for more in the next day or two . . .

Getting ready.

2009-10-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

I still need to write up the race I did last weekend. 6 Hours at Little River. Let's just say ouch. I got 5th in the "Men's Open" category (I'm not a beginner anymore). I'll elaborate once I can get some more pictures.

I also resurrected the Hero Cam for our upcoming trip. Here's a test shot I took of my car. All ready to carry 4 bikes:

I have to say that the Thule T2 rack is the best bike rack I have ever used. Ever. I've been in the cycling industry for years now and many of those years were spent installing and helping people use their car racks. This one installs with ease and folds up against the back of the car, so it's out of the way. It's so easy to use my cats could do it. The bike goes in the rack, the bar goes over the front wheel, the strap goes through the rear wheel and you're done. The bikes don't bump into each other, nothing touches the frames and it's in the most aerodynamic position on the car.

Everyone knows how spoiled I am when it comes to bikes. My big bike dilemma when it comes to the Pisgah stage race is whether to bring my GT Marathon 9r . . .

or my GT Force Carbon Expert . . .

as a backup for my Marathon Carbon Pro . . .

Poor me. I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that I'm just as spoiled when it comes to everything else. As though there was any doubt.

Post Number 101

2009-10-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention yesterday that as a celebration of my 100th post I purchased the domain www.dirtydanzing.com. Those of you who are viewing this in the actual site (not a reader) will notice the change in your address bar. The rest of you will notice nothing. Nothing!

At Scott's advice, I also switched to Google Analytics. Now I can see you. Seriously, I can see you through your monitor. I know where you live and how long you've spent reading this. I know that most of the hits I get are because of that Patrick Swayze picture I posted a while back. In fact, I know that most of you don't make it this far into the entry . . .

Post Number 100

2009-10-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

Beneath a lower phenomenon suffers stealth.
Stealth tacks Bicycle.
Bicycle shoulders stealth.
The snobbery boots stealth.
Bicycle experiments.

Random.

Yes, this is what we do sometimes. We are trying to come up with some new names for some new bikes. Random word generators don't really seem to help us much but it doesn't really hurt either.

225 Days ago I started a blog. Since then I have written 100 posts. In the last 5400 hours I have participated in 10 races, worked a great number of hours and rode my bike only slightly less. Way back in my first post I thanked Devlin for helping come up with the name and Mike for creating the image that I still use as my header. By now there are far too many people to thank for all of the contributions, many of which came about simply by being involved with my life. Thank you all for being a part of my life. Thank you mostly to my wife who keeps cooking for me, coming to races, volunteering, encouraging me, telling me how big my legs are (they are huge by the way) and generally loving me. Here's to another 100 posts to come!

Pisgah Prep

2009-10-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

Dave and I are getting ready for the Pisgah Stage race. I've been focusing on this so much that I've barely prepared for Cry Me A River (6 hour race) tomorrow. Still, it should be a good chance to test things out.

Here's what I'm planning to bring to the Pisgah Stage Race (so far):

Bike Stuff
· Marathon Carbon Pro
· Force Carbon Expert
· Spare 26” Wheels
· Tires
· Tubes
· Repair Stand
· Floor Pump
· Camelbaks
· Helmets
· Shoes (2)
· Glasses
· Tools

Camping/Living Stuff
· Tent
· Footprint
· Airmatress, pump, batteries
· Stove
· Lantern
· Propane
· Sleeping Bag
· GT Tent
· Blanket
· Tarp
· Matches
· Skillet
· Kettle
· Salt/Pepper
· Dishes
· Dish Washing Stuff
· Cooler
· Umbrella
· Firewood?
· Camp Chairs
· Bug Spray
· Cell Phone, Charger, Camera
· Wallet
· TP
· Laundry stuff?
· Ibuprofin
· Caladryl
· Beer

Clothing
· 2x GT DC Kits
· Performance Kit
· Extra Kit
· Arm, Knee, Leg warmers
· Base layers - long sleeve and sleeveless
· SOCKS
· Cycling Caps
· Baseball Hats
· Gloves (3-4pair)
· Rain Jacket
· Warmup jacket
· Tights
· Glove Liners
· Jeans
· T-shirts (3-4 mix ss and ls)
· Sweatshirts
· Jacket/coat
· Warm Hats
· Warm Gloves
· Printed Weather Report
· Good shoes/boots

Food Stuffs
· Ice
· Eggs
· Bread or PB&J
· Oatmeal
· Water
· Gu’s, Gells and Bars
· Lava Salts
· 2? Dinners
· OJ?
· Chocolate Milk
· Snacks - Sun chips, Jerky

Come on. What am I forgetting? I know there are things. Let me know and I'll add them to the list. Thanks.

As Mike would say . . .

2009-10-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

. . . Shit.

(if you're using a reader, you're going to have to click through to my actual site or click here to view this at cyclingdirt.org)

Frogs, birthdays, cake, etc.

2009-10-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

Lots going on today, no time for idle chat.

Tiny frog! This little guy was a jumper. I had to chase him down to get this picture. Hey, there's a hole in my glove . . .

It's Devlin's birthday today and it's raining. Now many of you would think: bummer, he didn't get good weather for his birthday. Those of you who are thinking this don't ride cyclocross.

There's a picture of Devlin tearing through a section of new trail at the Briar Chapel Trails. Thanks TORC (or whoever's building these new sections)! The trails are great. They flow well and aren't too technical so we can ride our cross bikes out there.

How did I get such a stellar picture you may be asking? Well by climbing up a tree stand. No clue who's leaving a tree stand out there, but I think we will all be wearing bright colors when we ride out there in the future.

There's Devlin for some perspective. I'm saying, "Now turn around and ride it again."

The Pisgah Stage Race is in the news today. Singletrack.com had a nice little write up of the race here. Singletrack.com is the new branch of Velonews but it seems like they just put the cast off articles that were in Velonews anyways over there. At least you don't have to filter through all of the ~~latest doping allegations~~ road cycling news to get to the good stuff anymore.

One last thing. Since it is Devlin's birthday and we're about to eat cake (don't tell him, it's a surprise) . . .

This song goes out to my wife. She makes the best cakes. Everyone knows it. (Everyone knows that Danielle Baker's cakes are great too, but I'm biased in this selection and this is my blog)

There's just something about a Ukulele. It somehow has an inherently happy sound. How does an instrument do that? If you liked that song, check out Rocky and Balls' other songs. Harmonies and Ukulele's, there's just something about it.

Speaking of instruments, does anyone have a Tenor Sax I can borrow? Just wondering.

Wow! This short post turned into a longer sporadic wandering post in no time. I don't even have time to share my designs for a bicycle rack mounted pizza carrier. That will have to wait for another time. It's almost cake time . . .

Other Blogging Duties

2009-10-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

My posts here have been few and further between recently. Partly this is because I'm lazy. Partly it's because I've been pouring out my creative juices in other avenues. Check out the first of many interviews I've been working on for the Performance Bike Blog here.

If you have some time, check out the Kashiwa Mystery Cafe. This post led me to think of the "eighth" question in my employee interviews: What question should I ask the next person? This is being asked to each person without their knowledge of who the next candidate is going to be. Then the next person is going to have to answer this question and come up with a new last question for the next person. This not only creates continuity between the interviews and gets people to come back to the blog to see what the next people answered, but it removes some of my responsibility to have to come up with creative questions. Genius!

For the record, before it was tuned down, Devlin's question for the next person was, "Who Farted?" I know this is immature, but I am unable to think about asking people this question with a straight face. I think it's hilarious. Take from that what you will.

No race for me this weekend. Instead we got a lot of work done around the house. Hillary and I both have a busy month ahead of us, so it was good to get a few larger items checked off of "the list". Now I'm trying to taper for "Cry Me A River" 6 hour race on Saturday after which I will continue to take it easy leading up to the Pisgah MTB Stage Race which starts the following Thursday.

As it turns out, Jeremiah Bishop and Sam Koerber are already there working on the course and scouting things out. They posted some interesting pictures on the Blue Ridge Adventures Blog.

This is a picture of Sam Koerber doing trail work while taking care of his baby. Seriously, how can anyone expect to beat someone who is so talented?

Reading about these serious riders taking time to prepare for this huge race gives me all kinds of jitters. I alternate between "what the hell am I thinking" and "this could be the coolest thing I've ever done on a bike" about 100 times an hour. Hopefully skipping my lunch rides to write blog posts will help me prepare. We will be taking a ton of pictures and writing up detailed race reports for the Performance blog. I will either write DirtyDanzing dedicated write-ups (behind the scenes kind of) or just simulcast those write ups here so you, my three dedicated readers, won't be left out. Thanks for reading!

Super

2009-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is the guy you want as a teammate for the Pisgah MTB Stage Race. 38,000+ feet of climbing after all.

It's finally real, we're going. Now all we have to do is plan everything, get the time off work, figure out how we're going to live for 4 days in MTB heaven surrounded by some of the greatest names in the sport and race what could be the hardest race either of us will compete in . . . ever.

We've got two whole weeks to iron everything out. Should be cake.

As this is fairly dominating my brain right now, I'm sure I'll have many more thoughts on this in the coming days. Today, we're going mountain biking with Bob. I'll try to get some pictures.

Oscar's Monster Bike

2009-09-24T12:56:00.001-07:00

I know I already posted today, but this is too good to save for tomorrow. Check out Oscar's bike.

Oscar is one of our warehouse employees and has been mysteriously raiding our product giveaways for months now. Finally his reasoning becomes clear. With no real knowledge of how to assemble a bicycle, he has decided to tackle the most complicated build of all: the mysterious full suspension frame. We had this sample frame as a giveaway about 3 months ago. None of us know what shock it needs and it weighs a ton so it sat around for a while . . . until now. You'll also note the Manitou Minute fork and riser bar/riser stem combo. However, all of that pales in comparison to this contraption:

With no rear shock to speak of, Oscar has fashioned a piece of green translucent plastic tubing in its place. The way it's tied to the top tube, it actually does function as suspension to a degree (and saves tons of weight!).

We were all seriously impressed by Oscar's ingenuity and his willingness to tackle a complicated mechanical project he clearly had no background in. He actually correctly installed the bottom bracket/crankset/pedals and cobbled together a working headset. All of our jaws were on the floor when he proudly showed us how the suspension "works". It's exactly how he wants it, putting him in the position of riding a chopper. Nice job Oscar. Now let me find you a shock.

I'm number one

2009-09-24T06:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, I was number one. Then the actual racing happened and I became number 5. Just got this pic from the weekend. At the race, one thing that slipped through the cracks was the twist ties. Instead, they had a huge box of safety pins. What is this, a road race? Luckily I had ties with me but many riders didn't. Thus, they had everyone call out their number when they came through. Every time I came through, I got to say "I'm number one!"

I can't really fault the race organizers though, there was pizza afterwards. I'm easy to please.

I rode this bike in to work today, then I will ride it at lunch, ride it to Chad's house (ODST came out this week) and then ride it home. That should get me close to 50 miles on the mountain bike (though most of it will be on the road). I'm already dreaming about the Pisgah MTB Stage Race though it's a long ways off planning wise. I still have to come up with some more cash, logistics and permission. Still, it's a dream.

Garner 4 Hour Ride (Race)

2009-09-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday I did a 4 Hour MTB Race to benefit the Garner EMS. They needed workout equipment and we needed to tune up for the upcoming Triangle Endurance Series. One of the things that wasn't on the short list of preparations for the race organizer was to bring a tent for the timing table. Luckily for the timers, I had my GT tent along for the ride (of course). Above you can see it set up right by the large firetruck.

There it is again. It was a great event! It was small, but very well organized. They had tons of volunteers and rather than a race entry fee, they just asked that people donate to the cause. I was happy to make a donation and then to suffer for 4 hours.

I registered in the Open Men Solo category (the only men's solo category) and thus was interested to see how I would do. There were a lot of fast riders there, many of whom knew the trails a lot better than I.

I wasn't sure how serious people were taking this until I was passed by a guy early on in the race and he asked me how many riders "got away" so far (I told him that there were only 5 ahead of us). It was a good chance to work on my nutrition (which I still suck at) and get a feel for how my body's working past 3 hours of riding (what I call the "cramp zone").

There I am working on my nutrition. I picked up 5th place solo male (out of about 22 riders) so I was happy. Still cramped at about 3 hours and 30 minutes. I need to work on that. Especially if I'm seriously considering dropping that cash I won on an entry to the Pisgah Stage Race next month . . .

I'll have to save that for another post though. It's wet outside so Devlin and I are headed out on the cross bikes. Yaa for lunch breaks!

Spirit Contest

2009-09-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

This is from the latest GT Dirt Coalition Newsletter:

Yaa! I've got spirit yes I do.

Remember when I mentioned that I was in a recent issue of VeloNews? Well it turns out GT likes that kind of publicity. Here's the ad in case you missed it:

Bat House

2009-09-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

One of the difficulties of home ownership that we are only starting to discover is the constant maintenance. On top of that, we are realizing the constant struggle of living up to a beautifully built "green" house. If you want to know what I'm talking about, check out this article that Self Help wrote about us. Yikes! That's a lot to live up to.

One of our recent challenges in this domain has been insect control. We have quite the mosquito population in our back yard. It's so bad that when I get home from my daily commute, I can't even get my keys out of my panniers without getting 4 or 5 bites. When searching for a non-toxic method to help keep these pests under control, there are some truly "out there" ideas. All great names aside, we can't afford a fancy device and we aren't fond of the idea of having to pay for electricity or propane to keep some of these things going. What's the solution then? I'm glad you asked. Let me introduce you to our new Bat House.
Ok, that's a "before" picture, but I can't get to the good stuff right away or why would you keep reading? That's the bat house after I cut all of the wood and laid it out on my workbench to make sure that it would work. Mike was nice enough to give me some 2x4's and a bit of left over plywood and I had some leftover screws and mesh fencing from my compost bin.
Mike was also nice enough to give me some left over stain and caulk. I stained the inside of the bat house because bats like their houses to be dark and warm. Bats also like espresso but I'm not made of money here!

Then I caulked the 2x4's to the back of the house.
And to the front of the house where you'll notice I put some extra fencing. The bats will use it to climb up inside and also for something to hang off of while they sleep.

I made sure to fill all of the gaps with caulk, then used some outdoor screws to attach everything together snugly. While doing this, I had two citronella candles burning and had bug spray on but was still bitten by multiple mosquitoes.
Next I used some paint leftover from painting my shed to make the house beautiful. Bats like beautiful houses. They also like universal health insurance, so I hope I can convince them to stay in the US anyways.

Finally I added some roofing shingles that someone was nice enough to leave on the side of the road on my very street. Ta da! Now the bat house is complete. It's longer in the back so the bats have somewhere to land. Now all I need to do it attach it to a tree high up where it will get some sunlight in the morning and be out of reach of predators.
Bat view! When I get some bats in there, I'll try to get another picture (without having my face ripped off by bats, they can be quite camera shy when they are sleeping).

Will this rid our yard of mosquitoes? Probably not. I think the best I can hope for is that I will help some bats safely live while they cause the massacre of our local mosquito population over time. Bats eat their weight in insects every night. This can mean literally hundreds of insects. Yaa for the death of insects!

Beeline Video

2009-09-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Youtube has some new embedding options and what better excuse than a new MTB line to test them out?

Hopefully this works.

This is the new Beeline's final descent back to the main trail system. We really tried to make this a technically challenging, but manageable descent and it's certainly become the new highlight of our trails.

Building this line has sparked the purchase of a new shovel and rake which we put to good use. We also borrowed a nice pair of loppers (which I will buy for myself one day) from Bob. We tried to bench cut a line into the slope at the top and also at the bottom, right after the sketchy switchback. At the bottom of the switchback there was a pit in the ground, right at the turn. We pulled many rocks off of the trail trying to make it smooth enough to get over and with nothing better to do with them, SuperDave had the idea to make a rock pile in the pit. Truly, I've found a trail building partner with similar priorities to my own. The trail is more sustainable with the rock "armoring" and is also way scarier looking!

Here's a quick video of the final drop down to the trail.

Being very tired of Overby climbing all of our descents, this piece virtually guarantees that no one will ride up this section (as though they could get by the switchback anyways). It's also super sketchy as those trees have already claimed many a talented mountain biker. Love it!

This is another line that we bench cut a little bit to try to make it "flow" a little better. Also, we met two other interesting spiders on the trail yesterday. Hopefully this one does not become a trend like the last spiders did:

This little girl was right at face level in a HUGE web with another similar looking arachnid. Yikes.

Patrick Swayze

2009-09-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I don't know that much about him. He passed away yesterday after a fight with pancreatic cancer. Being that this blog was humorously named after one of his movies, there have been suggestions that I do a tribute to him or something. Sadly, I haven't even seen Dirty Dancing all the way through, I just thought it was a funny play on words. Still, I'm sure he will be missed and it's never fun to hear of people loosing the fight with cancer. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Leave It To Beaver Dam XC Race - Triangle XC Championship

2009-09-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Beaver Dam XC Race, the final race in the Triangle XC Series. The race started off with a great paved road section that lasted about 1/4 of a mile and was very steep uphill.

There I am pounding it up that hill with Reid right next to me.

Butt shot. Mainly of SuperDave. Hey, I've got a reader base to please and this is what the people want.

I made it into the woods ahead of Reid and managed to hold him off for about half of a lap. Finally he says "hey dude, can I get by?" I said, "Hell no you can't! If I let you by, I'll never see you again." He laughed and eventually made it around me anyways.

Therefore, I spent the rest of the race chasing Reid and being chased by Adam (here he is following SuperDave's ass).

I'm telling you, these are my most popular pictures.

Coming through the second of three laps, I was feeling good about holding on to second place. They Hillary gave me this motivation: "He's only 35 seconds ahead of you!" Shit. Now I've got to ride.

I poured it all out into that last lap. About half way through, Hillary gave me another time check: 22 seconds. Suddenly I could see him when the trail switched back on itself. Then sadly, he saw me and really turned himself inside out to stay ahead of me.

I finished the race 23 seconds back in second place.

Adam came in 52 seconds later. At least I kept him in check this time. In the above photo he's saying "see, what you needed to do was to ride past Reid, then you might have won."

Second place on the day, second place Sport under 32, second place Series Overall Points. Basically, I'm the Cadel Evans of the Triangle XC community.

Not to break with tradition, Eric finished second also. Eric, will you please start winning again so I can start winning again too?

All in all, we had a great time riding and racing the Triangle XC series this year. Thanks to everyone who made it happen and extra thanks to Hillary for being such an awesome support crew.

Now on to the endurance series!

Art Show on Friday

2009-09-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Come support SuperDave. That is all.

Argiope

2009-09-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

This beautiful Argiope spider set up shop in one of our bushes in our front yard. It's actually a bit larger than this now and I'll try to get a picture before she moves on. In Australia, this is called the Saint Andrew's Cross Spider because of that pattern in the web. They all make that same pattern. Isn't nature strange?

Our trails (the Corporate Trails) have been overrun by spiders recently. They are incredibly industrious! We will ride a trail one day, clearing all of the webs out of it and the next day, bam! They are back. I wish there was something we could do. We certainly hate having webs in the face and I'm sure the spiders equally hate having to rebuild their webs every day. Luckily for us the spiders on the trail are a bit smaller than the Argiope spider.

That's enough about spiders, here are some dates to watch out for:

September 7th - Our Labor Day party - if you're reading this, you're invited! Just please RSVP.

September 11th - SuperDave's art gallery official opening at the Arts Center in Carrboro (not to be missed)

September 13th - Leave it to Beaver Dam XC race (the championship for the Triangle XC Series - by invite only)

September 20th - Garner EMS 4 hour endurance "ride" (read: race). This seems like a great cause (all proceeds go to the Garner EMS which is volunteer) and I'd love to go. We'll see if I can fit it in.

October 3rd - Triangle Fat Tire Festival - this will be the first year that I've been able to make it to this all day MTB party. I haven't been able to for various reasons in the past. I'm still holding out on planning it for sure until I hear what some of the events are. Maybe there will be beginner clinics and Hillary and I can both ride? We'll see.

October 10th - Yet to be Named Little River Race (6 hour endurance race). Should I go for Expert? Sources say "no" but if there are only two options (beginner or expert) then expert it is! I won the beginner category last year and don't want to sandbag.

Basically, while I've had a couple of weeks off, things are going to pick back up for a few weeks. I'm ok with that though and I'm ready to get back to some racing. Hopefully my legs are feeling that as well!

Bee lines and star nuts

2009-08-26T11:10:00.001-07:00

Got Phil out on a ride today. This is not his norm, so it drew a nice crowd:

Also, we got to introduce a new line we've been working on - the Beeline (named for the fact that SuperDave was swarmed by bees while we were building it).

It's fairly steep and has a nasty little switchback right before the end. We got to try some bench cutting (which we haven't been good about before). This should help the trail be more sustainable.

Yesterday when we were building, I let John and Tony go ahead while SuperDave and I did the bench cutting. I figured they would go for a nice smooth easy line to connect the very challenging switchback to the main trail. Instead they did this:

While it's kind of hard to see, that line is almost straight down. I couldn't have done it better myself. Thanks John and Tony!

There's Overby taking on the same line. It's very fun.

Something else worth mentioning today is BackCountry's copy for the Pedro's Star Nut Setter. A Star Nut Setter is basically a tool designed to set a star nut:

Down into a Steer Tube like this:

How do you sell a tool like this? Here's BackCountry's take:

Pedro's Star Nut Setter
Working with 1-inch and 1 1/8-inch nuts can be a pain in the ass but, the nimble Pedros Star Nut Setter puts those nuts right where you want them. Balls. The Star Nut Setter uses a compact guide tool to ensure proper nut installation—minus the microscope.

Bottom Line: Show those little nuts who's boss.

Wow. I didn't even know "Balls." was a complete sentence! Nice job Backcountry.

Ok, this post is going on and on, but I've got one more thing to touch on before I go. You may notice (if you don't read this in a reader) a new blog on my blogroll. "Dancer, Lover, Fighter, Girl." is my friend Amber. Amber and I went to High School together. She's the only person I still keep in touch with from High School. That's how cool she is.

Amber's got me very interested in a fitness program called CrossFit. It seems very hardcore. If anyone locally is interested in checking it out with me, CrossFit Durham is offering a free introductory class on Saturday mornings at 11:00. I'm still working on convincing Hillary to check it out with me. All are welcome.

Bike vids and reposts

2009-08-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

I wonder what the ettiquete is for re-posting. I saw some interesting bike music videos today. I'm sure you've all seen the "Performance" video that's been floating around for a while now. Looks like the fever is spreading.

There's one in German (I think).

And one from that great city of bikes (Copenhagen):

Now the first one might have been humor, I'm not sure. There's a lot of bike stealing going on. The second one is also strange (running in the clouds?) but seems to be more serious. There's even a large crash which seems to involve all of the band members. I'm really not sure what's going on in either video, I just thought they had some interesting bikes in them.

Both of these have already been blogged my other popular bike bloggers. The first one was posted today by the incomparible Bike Snob and the second one was posted by one of my favorite bike blog, Copenhagenize.

Is it a cop out to just re-post video clips that I found interesting on other people's blogs? I know a lot of people do it, but I've always tried to be motivated to create my own content. I guess it's just a busy day.

I may have pinkeye. But probably not.

Race at the Reactor

2009-08-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

Well, this was the first race that we got to use the "new" (old) car for:
There I am airing up my tires before the start.
We have to line up where?
Here's my lovely wife and eternal race supporter Hillary proudly wearing her GT Dirt Coalition t-shirt (thanks GT!).

This is one of those shots that GT asks for every time. Here I am with the tent set up, right on the course.

There I am lined up with the largest field of Sport under 32 riders we've seen all season.We're off and I look like I just ate a rotten lemon. What I've been lacking in race results, I've been trying to make up for with awesome starting pictures.

There I am tearing through for the second lap. Normally in a race, this is when I really start to turn it on. Typically, I start strong, then fade, then come back even stronger. This time, I started strong, faded, then that was it. My race was over. SuperDave didn't have much of a better showing than I did on Sunday, though I didn't have a swarm of bees as an excuse.There I am securing my 4th place finish. It would have been a 5th place, but Reid flatted at the end of the first lap. Thanks Reid!There I am recapping with the winner, Adam Hawkes. He took the series as well, keeping me solidly in second place with a last minute push of volunteering (and kicking my ass).

There we are, the top 4 places in the under 32 sport men. I told Adam to get that Gary Fisher bike out of the picture, but he didn't listed.

The best part? Eric also got 4th so we could pose for another picture.
We were together on the "gangster pose" but only one of us was happy with his 4th place.

Now on to Beaver Dam, the series championship!

Recent rides

2009-08-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

Recently we've been driving all over creation for various reasons. On the bright side, I have an understanding wife who lets me bring bikes with me when we go. This is the street you get to ride going to her parents' house:

It's about a mile long and brutally steep. I got to do four such climbs that day and got more than 2000 feet of climbing in over 20 miles.

Then last weekend we went out to "the mountains" here in NC. This time I took a mountain bike.

There it is at the bottom of a ski slope.

And there it is at the top of the ski slope. It's Sugar Mountain and they have some killer DH trails. Now my bike isn't exactly suitable for it (I should have brought the Force) but I still managed to have a good time. Also, while only really riding for 6 miles, I did more than 2500 feet of climbing. It was a great day.

This week I'm taking it super easy so I can be strong in The Race at the Reactor on Sunday. 9AM start time is kind of brutal when the rest of the races in the series have had an 11 or 12 o'clock start but oh well. The pressure's off as I realized that the last race in the series is a "championship" race and not just another chance to score points (winner takes all). The massive amount of points that I do have will guarantee my spot in that championship already, so I have no need to place in this race (though that will of course be my only goal while there). Hopefully my pedals hold up!

Recent Corporate Trail Developments

2009-08-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

When we're not kicking a downed trees full of bees, we actually do spend some time maintaining and building new trails. Here are two little projects that we've spent our lunch breaks on recently:

1. Re-routing the stream to keep it flowing under the suicide bridge instead of over the rocks in front of the suicide bridge. As you can see in this picture, the water is flowing right in front of the bridge. This makes the rocks very slippery as they grow some algae and are also . . . wet. As a solution to this, I made the pile of rocks to the left of the bridge to try to divert the majority of the water under the bridge. Sure enough! The water has mostly changed directions, the rock has dried out and our slipping problem is . . . 'water under the bridge'. Ha!

2. Another large problem we've been having is a double log right before the 'suicide'. For a long time, one log was suspended just just high enough that you could duck under it while riding over another log below it. Unfortunately, the "headbanger" log has been slowly sinking to the point where our taller riders have been clipping their helmets or brushing their camelbacks on it.

I decided one day that I would start sawing through it with my hand saw.

This was no small feat and in fact took me three lunch breaks (with the help of Mark O on the second break) before I got through it. Then what happened? Well, the log fell about 4 feet in front of the already downed log. Perfect. Now it's completely un-rideable.

With just a little more help, this time from John, and a few more supplies (including a chain-pallet, another small log and some rocks) we made a sweet little jump out of it!
There's John showing us why he "needed" the extra travel of that new Santa Cruz Blur Carbon.

Nailed it!

2009-08-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

I was riding to work the other day when I suddenly realized that I had a flat tire. Not to be discouraged (and the day after I proudly told my wife that I "could fix almost anything that could go wrong with the bike on the road") I got out my spare tube, mini pump and a tire lever. I got the wheel out of the bike like I've done so many times before and then saw something I'd never seen before:

Sure enough, a nail had gone through not only the tire and tube, but through the rim as well!

It very nearly pushed its way out the other side of the rim.

Luckily for me, I was mostly to work and thus many other Performance would soon drive by. Two of them stopped and I hopped in the car with Tina (who had the larger vehicle at the scene). Disaster averted and lesson learned: never tell your wife you can fix almost anything that could go wrong with your bike on the side of the road.

Tomorrow's lesson will be taught by SuperDave and will be called "what not to do to a bee hive"!

Susan

2009-08-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

I was all set to catch up on some funny posts I've been working on when I read this:

http://www.fatcyclist.com/2009/08/05/dont-say-she-lost/

and it took all of the wind out of my sails. Reading Elden's posts recently has made it clear that this was coming fast but I still hoped it wouldn't happen just yet. My heart aches for the loss he and his children have to suffer right now.

My thoughts and prayers go out to you Elden.

Catching up

2009-08-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

For the first time since I started working on this blog, I've got more material than time. Still, I have to get this out there:

This ad is in the latest issue of VeloNews (Vol 38. Number 12, September 2009) page 39. Oh yeah, I'm spreading the word about the GT Dirt Coalition all right.

I came back from my little break to find this posted blown up almost life-sized in our office space.

Le Wiener

2009-07-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

After three grueling weeks of brutal competition, we have declared a winner! Despite coming into the second week of the tour with no points, Mike has come from behind to take the whole competition. Thanks in large part to choosing two GC leaders and two Points leaders, he swept in to steal the whole contest. Here's Devlin in his Astana shirt presenting Mike with the Maillot jaune:
He has taped a sign to the front that says "Le Wiener" which is apparently how French people say "the winner".

Ok, so I got a jersey that would fit me (a size medium) and why wouldn't I? Mike on the other hand typically wears an XL jersey. Here he is trying to raise his arms for his victory salute:

The last pics in case anyone is wondering how it all went down:

I took second and Devlin rounded out the podium with third. So it goes.

Huck-a-Buck

2009-07-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

Headed to the trailhead carrying a chair and water bottle for Hillary.

Here I am at the start chumming it up with Adam. We had a super small field with only 4 riders showing up in our age group in the sport category.

And we're off! The Specialized dude took an early lead. One that he held onto for the remainder of the race. I chased him as hard as I could with Adam and that other guy on my wheel.

There we are coming through the first lap. We are going so fast that light can't even properly reflect off of us!

Feeling strong in the second lap, I started to push the pace. Soon that other guy was dropped and I was hopefully putting Adam into some difficulty. Then, snap!

My right pedal came right off of the axle. Race over. DNF. Luckily for me, there were only 4 riders so I only lost two points to Adam. he now holds the lead by 2.5 points in the series.

Would someone please tell Crank Brothers that they owe me $25?

Dirt Work Days

2009-07-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

A little blurry but you get the idea. I rushed over to Lake Crabtree yesterday to get in a couple of hours of trail work. For the Triangle XC series, you get points for dirt work, points for volunteering at the races, points for getting other people to volunteer and of course, points for placing well. Sunday will be the third (of five) races and even though I got 1st in the 1st race and 2nd in the 2nd race, the guy (Adam) who finished one place behind me each time is in the lead in the series because he's got more dirt work points than I do. It's time to get serious!

Huck-a-Buck (the race on Sunday) is supposed to have a larger field so hopefully I'll beat Adam again and this time there will be people who place in between us so there will be a larger point spread. I'm happy to do the dirt work but he's got quite a lead on me and I just don't have that many more opportunities between now and the end of the series.

Anyways, back to my race prep (Jack Link's Beef Jerkey, lots of hydrating and riding riding riding).

Light in dark places

2009-07-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Riding through the woods today. It's damp out there. The trails are still in great shape except for the spider webs. Sometimes it seems like I'm still wiping a spiderweb off of my race when I ride into the next one. Suddenly in this world of dark earthy colors, there's an explosion just off the trail!

There's my foot for some perspective. These things are huge and they weren't there on Friday.

My crappy cell phone's crappy camera does little justice to the stark contrast of these bright mushrooms to their dark surroundings. You'll just have to take my word for it. It was beautiful.

Performance - Another Day on the Job

2009-07-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

You all got to see our lovely Tricycle Race from last week. I hope that was fun and vainly like to think that people are interested in what goes on here at Performance. Here are some more brief highlights:

For the 4th of July, we had a hot dog + hamburger lunch with "all the fixins". There I am working on a meal that's going to bring me mild intestinal distress in 3...2...1... I do so enjoy chili dogs though.

Here I am doing some "product testing". The new Giro helmets have moved away from the "Rock Lock" system (or whatever they called it) and now use a glorified rubber band to hold your head in. It doesn't seem like it's quite as secure as before, but it sure is light! Of course, the sample size helmets are all sent in a size medium which has no chance at fitting my gargantuan head:

For some people that would be a helmet with a chin strap, for me it's a yamaka with a mustache guard.

That same day (last Friday) I finally snapped a quick shot of the bikes that I'm working on sending to The Fat Cyclist for him to hopefully raffle off to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

I'll let you know when the auction goes live so you can go make a donation.

We also like to give each other free bike parts. In this arena, I have found particular talent. John and I have started a successful "recycled goods" program which we consider one of the better employee benefits. Periodically we collect enough goods to give away and we blow them all out at once:

Many people are hooked up. Many people are happy.

When we're not eating, giving each other free bike parts, trying out new products or giving other people free bike parts to raffle off, we're . . . working? no, riding!

Ok, there is some work squeezed in between everything else. Still, good times are had.

More Trike Pics and Vids

2009-07-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some other photos and videos from people who were at "the races" yesterday.

Leaning into a corner in the crit.

Lining up for the sprint.

Devlin about to change helmets.

Starting the cross race (the last time I saw the front).

SuperDave showing the "barrier" who's boss.

Pushing it up the run-up.

Devlin, DQ'ed by his bike's faulty chain.

The dastardly chain.

Cruising in.

Thanks to all of the spectators. Without all of you, this would have been just three lonely, poorly dressed (except for Devlin) guys racing trikes for our own sad pleasure.

Trike-athalon

2009-07-08T11:43:00.001-07:00

I'm going to keep posting pictures and video as people give them to me.

John took this sweet video of the first barrier/runup lap on the "trikelocross" course. If you look way down the road, you can see Devlin pushing his busted trike. :-(

Trike-athalon (finally)

2009-07-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

As much as this picture, through its sheer awesomeness, fairly sums up the Trike-athalon event that was held today, I'm a giving person so I'll upload some more and use them to tell a little story. Let's back up to the warm-up.

There's Devlin, SuperDave and I doing warm up laps on the crit course that I outlined some time ago. We cut the proposed 9 events down to three for the sake of our crowd's attention span. Then we only ended up doing two of the events but now I'm getting ahead of myself.

The competitors were:

Devlin. Resplendent in his full Scattante kit with matching aero-helmet and knee-high socks.

SuperDave with his T-Mobile Pink aero helmet and clashing Spinnergy Spox front wheel.

And myself. The only one who managed to mostly build his trike the way it was supposed to be built. I had the only complete basket and the only rear fender even though all of the bikes came with two rear fenders each. These bikes had been returned for various reasons and have been taking up space in the warehouse. What better way to put them to good use than to cobble them together and race them? In the above photo, Devlin and I are watching a security truck as it slowly circled the other end of the parking lot that we didn't have permission to be racing in (Dave doesn't care as laws don't apply to him). Luckily, they just kept making laps the whole time and never said anything.

I got out to an early lead while Devlin and Dave battled it out behind me.

The only way to corner at speed is to let the bike get up on two wheels while leaning with everything you've got into the turn to try to control the tilt.

SuperDave passed me on the third lap through corner one, but I caught him coming around the last corners and we had a sprint to the line (thus the first picture). I just edged him out for the win.

Next we moved on to our "triclocross" course.

There's Mark about to drop the kerchief and let us go. This time it was Devlin who tore out of the gate and dropped Dave and I before we hit the first dirt section. Unfortunately for him, he snapped one of his chains (this bike has two) coming up the climb before the barrier, so it was up to SuperDave and I to entertain the audience through the barrier and the run-up section.There we are rounding the corner to the sketchy descent:

Yes, for our barrier, we had a large pile of rocks. That descent is WAY harder than it looks in these pictures too.

For the record, my bike (with the basket) was about 35 pounds heavier than Dave and Devlin's. Picking it up to make it over the barrier just wasn't an option for me.

Then there was the run-up.

Ouch. Oh, and we did this whole insane lap twice. Coming into the second lap, I was trailing by quite a bit. I figured I would rip in to the descent-turn at top speed. Either I would close the gap to SuperDave, or I would wreck spectacularly. Either way, it would be a win. Instead, neither happened. Dave had too much of a gap and I somehow held the bike together through the turn.

The only thing between me and a strong second place finish was the barrier.

Well with a little help from Mike (who pulled the bike while I pushed it up the run-up), I finished the race.

I even had enough left in my legs to tow Devlin back through the parking lot.

All in all, we had a good time. The drag race never happened due to Devlin's bike being non-repairable. The spectators seemed to enjoy it and we certainly gave it our all. We declared the event a tie and look forward to our next event . . .

Beginner ride and Div 30 Tour recap

2009-07-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is a long overdue recap from a group ride that took place two Friday's ago at Harris Lake. Some great people over here at Performance organized a group ride for beginner mountain bikers to help introduce them to riding singletrack. One of those people was John:

We all gathered in the parking lot, then headed out as one big group. Before too long, we had split into smaller groups and then smaller and then smaller still. Each separate group tackled a different part of the trail so no one was dropped.

We all had a good time and hopefully some of the newer riders became more comfortable with their bikes.

Yeah, just another Friday afternoon here at Performance.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the Div 30 Tour De France Pool:

Bo and I each grabbed three points on Saturday by picking Cancellera. I gave myself the leader on the road jersey as I also had Cavendish in the Green Jersey (which he was after Sunday).

Today was more of the same. Hell, my Mom could have picked Cavendish for the win today and she's never watched the Tour before (no offence Mom). He took it easily and Bo and I remain tied for the lead. TTT? Who knows! I have Garmin on the board now, but am seriously considering changing it to Astana. Either way, Bo and I are on different teams so tomorrow should decide the lead.

Week in Review

2009-07-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

For more info about what my week has been like, check out my wife's blog. Needless to say, sleep has been a little lacking, but on the bright side, I only have to work two days this week!

Next week, I'll start updating you all on our Division 30 Tour De France Contest:

Since I took this, Bo has added his picks and Mike promises that he will add some before the start of the race. We'll be doing points for the podiums of the KOM, the Sprinters and the GC of course as well as bonus points for guessing who gets popped for doping during the three weeks of the tour.

There's Bo zipping Devlin into the leader's jersey (thanks Scott at Store #45!).

And Devlin pretending that he's the leader overall (which he may be as of Monday).

Here are my picks:

GC - Contador, Sastre, Armstrong

Sprinter - Cavendish, Boonen, Friere

KOM - F. Schleck, Nibali, Contador

Dope - Kirchen, Armstrong, Gerdmann

I choose Cancellera to win the prologue (fingers crossed!).

Devlin and I are heading out to CrabTree to pre-ride the next race course today. We also mapped out the Corporate Trails today. I'm not going to post the maps up here, but if you're interested, e-mail me. Ok, now off for a relaxing (hopefully) 4th of July weekend. Happy Independence Day everyone.

Days off

2009-07-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

Sure, it's nice to have a couple of days away from the office. Having 181 e-mails waiting for me when I get back kinda sucks though.

Tarwheel XC Race Recap

2009-06-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

As usual, I've spoiled the ending before even writing the post. Sunday was the Tarwheel XC race. It's the second race in the Triangle XC Series. The first one was Little River, where I got my first and only win. This race was on trails that I had ridden a hundred times as I used to live within riding distance, so I was optimimstic. Also, Hillary came to volunteer at the race. We both ran registration for a while, then when I went to get ready to race, she basically took over the race. Soon she was timing and figuring results as well. She had never helped at a race before.

There she is crunching away while the rest of the race crew looks on.

The race went by in a blur for me.

Ok, that was low, even for me.

Actually the race didn't go by in a blur, it was a long haul. Adam (who got second at Little River and was my only real concern before the race) and some high school kid got away from me in the first of the two laps. During a long fire-road second on the second lap, I caught Adam only to learn that the high school kid was leaving us in the dust. He ended up with one of the fastest times on the day between all classes.Eric and I finished together again, solidifying the fact that he's about 2 minutes faster than I am no matter what the course has to offer.
There's Randy, SuperDave, myself and Eric. The GT Tent was the place to be after the race. SuperDave's wife Annie was nice enough to take all of the pictures in today's post.
Randy got a boo-boo.

There's our second place photo to parallel our first place photo from Little River.

All in all, it was a good race. I'm glad to finally have some nice weather for once also. I thought I brought rain or oppressive heat with me everywhere I went. The second place will hold onto my first overall in the series as long as I can get some more volunteer hours in soon. I'll post some more pictures as people share more. Thanks!

Tarwheel XC Recap Preview

2009-06-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting to get more pictures before I post a recap. I got second on the day and held my lead in the series. More to come soon . . .

Cowbell Challenge XC Race Recap

2009-06-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

The day after the Cowbell Challenge Marathon was the Cowbell Challenge XC Race (part of the nationwide Kenda Cup XC Series). SuperDave decided to join us for the fun. Bright and early, we loaded up the car.

And drove to the race.

I lined up in the first group of the day. The announcer told us that the course would be the same as the marathon course, so I figured I had somewhat of an advantage over the tech stuff as I had already figured out lines for it.

Still, it took forever and I was bored.

Finally they let us go. I sprinted off the line poorly and took a position half way back in my field. Then they let Dave's group go:

By the looks of things, he had a better start than I did. Remember that part about the course being the same as the Marathon? Well, that was a lie. In fact, it was quite different and much shorter. Despite that fact, I followed another rider through a turn that was included in the marathon (but not the XC I later learned). It had been marked, but someone was out on the course messing with the turn signs. That put me severely out of the running for the race. Once I calmed down, I decided that I was just going to rip it through the second lap and have some fun. I passed about 15 people (including SuperDave who had passed me when I was on my little side trip) and finished strong by out sprinting some guy from a different category. I got 9th place (out of 12). Truly, a waste of my time and money.

There we are, trying to make the best of it.

To the race organizer's credit, when I e-mailed him a nasty complaint e-mail, he called me right away to apologize and explain. The announcer was basically talking out of his ass and didn't know what the course was. When he said that it was the same as the marathon, Hillary and many other spectators walked over to the rock garden to watch the action. The rock garden wasn't in the course anymore though, so they all sat there for about 45 minutes before they figured that we weren't coming through. Thus, on my first lap through, after missing the turn and getting way out of place, the start/finish line was a ghost town. The organizer explained that some other local race promoter was suspected of sabotaging the course. Why? I don't know. I don't really get it at all. Still, a frustrating experience and a waste of time and money.

There's Hillary and I with my cowbell from the day before. We did stick around to see the other racers off so I could ring the hell out of that cowbell.

Oh, one good thing that did come out of that day is that the photographer got this picture of SuperDave:

Bad ass!

I've got a photo shoot tomorrow morning, then I'm headed out to a local trail after work to help some new Mountain Bikers learn how to handle their bikes. Tomorrow I'm taking it easy and Sunday I have the Tarwheel XC Race in Chapel Hill. It should be a low key race, which will be a nice break from the Cowbell. Hopefully I'll get some good shots to post next week.

Cowbell Challenge Race Recap - Part 2

2009-06-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

Back to the action! I powered through the first two laps in fine fashion. I was eating and drinking just fine. I felt good on the bike and finally got to a point where people stopped passing me (though maybe because everyone who was going to pass me already had). When we were on the road section, we quickly caught and dropped all of the single speed riders. Thus, once we were on the trails, the single speed riders all caught and dropped me back. I was also passed and dropped by most of the masters and all of the women riders. Fortunatley, there weren't really any juniors to speak of, so I was safe from being dropped by them. I was having fun and cranking out the miles. I even managed to not have to walk any of the brutal climbs for the first couple of laps (5 categorized climbs and at least 3 that they didn't count per lap).

Then I started not feeling so well.

After lap 3 I wasn't able to eat anything and could barely keep fluids moving. I was ready to take a break but Hillary said those magic words, "You're in 3rd place, only 7 minutes behind the leader."

Damn. 7 minutes may seem like a long time to you, but in an endurance race like this one, it's really not that long. The announcer was nice enough to dump a water bottle full of ice water on my head and back (it was mostly ice I think). The ice had the interesting effect of getting caught in my helmet vents and melting onto my head for the next couple of miles. Maybe a new product idea? I'll have to pass it on to our product developers.

Back out on the course. Lap 4 is completed, I'm feeling terrible, but I'm now in 2nd only 3 minutes behind the leader.
Dang that kid is fast.

Just kidding.

A third of the course was over terrain like this, a third of the course was brutal climbs (not unlike our "cardiac climb" here on the Corporate Trails) and the last third was super technical rock gardens and the like (skinnys, drops, etc). The trail started out super wet, but after a few hours of 100+ degree heat, it dried out nicely.
There I am about to case a really tough section of the rock garden. Oh, and by "case", I mean "walk".

Ouch. My 5th and final lap was almost 50% longer than my first lap. Normally in a race like this I turn very consistent lap times (slow, but consistent). I just felt like crap. I couldn't get my heart rate up, I couldn't cool down, I couldn't eat and had to force myself to drink. My body basically just said, "not today."
There I am, pissed but alive. I didn't finish that 5th lap with enough time to get the 6th in before the cutoff. I wasn't really that upset.

As usual, about half an hour after the race, I was right as rain once again.
Despite sucking hard in the race, most of the other amateurs sucked just a little bit harder. Actually almost half of the riders in my class didn't even finish 3 laps and only one person in my category finished all 6 in the time allotment. That's how hard of a day it was. I was glad to go back to the hotel, order some pizza, have some beer and recover for the next day. Third place Amateur A (18-29 year olds). $30 and a sweet cowbell medal/trophy.

Cowbell Challenge Recap Part 1

2009-06-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

Pulling in to the hotel in Davidson, there was no doubt we had come to the right place:
Yes, we stayed in a hotel this time. I thought it might keep things simpler. It was a nice new hotel, so that was fun. We slept well and the hotel breakfast wasn't too bad. Then we headed for the trail!

Here I am bright and early setting up for the Cowbell Challenge Marathon Race on Saturday. I took the first open parking position I saw and it worked out well as we were very close to the start/finish line and right behind the truck that had the standings posted on it.
All kitted up and ready to go.

A shuttle then took all of the riders (in 4 trips) back to downtown Davidson for the start. We lined up in town and took off. The course followed two sections of greenway and a long road stretch (which contained the first KOM or King Of the Mountain climb). It then dropped us through a new housing development going in next to Fisher Farms (where the race was) and we entered the course right before the last two brutal climbs.

That guy is thanking me for trading pulls the whole way in. He was good to ride with as our pace was about the same for most of the road section.

He then pulled off and I rode on. This brings me to the difference between me and all of the other racers out there:

My beautiful wife Hillary was waiting for me at the line every lap with a fresh hydration pack (loaded with ice cubes), nutrition and my standings. It was 102 degrees outside. How hot is that? Hillary set out some citronella candles to keep the bugs away. Before she could light them, they had liquefied in their buckets. Still, she stayed outside and was the perfect support team. Thanks so much Hill, I couldn't have done it without you!

More to come . . .

Cowbell Challenge Preview

2009-06-21T16:25:00.001-07:00

Frustrating day

2009-06-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking. Wouldn't he be better off with a lower crown race? It's true, that the split in the upper race may cause irritation, but Devlin swears that it's the best monocle available in the parts bin. Just look at how productive he is! He's a spitting image for Joseph Chamberlain. Lord knows we could all use a little tariff reform . . .

It's one of those days where you just work like crazy but end up feeling like nothing gets done. My car is a fitting metaphor. I brought it to the latest mechanic today. They quoted me $1100 to get it back in shape (no squeaking, no popping, and no "check engine" light). According to edmunds.com, my car would be worth about $1100 if I had these repairs done (accounting for the fact that the car has somehow made it 160,000 miles). That puts the value of my car at $0. Nice.

The Cowbell Challenge is this weekend. It should be a good time. I think Hillary and I are both ready for a break from our routine recently. It will be good to be out of the house for the weekend. It's going to be a hot one. I've never been terribly gifted when it comes to racing in super hot weather, so this should be interesting. No doubt I'll be taking loads of pictures and have a full race report for you all on Monday. If I don't post again until then, have a great weekend! Don't forget about that 20% off coupon if you want to buy anything from Performance.

2009-06-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

Well I started advertising my blog yesterday in case you didn't notice. I posted a link to it three times in mtrb yesterday and got about 100 hits (that's about 98 more hits than I usually get). Viral marketing works! (sarcasm)

To all of my friends and family out there . . .

2009-06-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be sharing this with friends and family. I guess that would be my blog readers. This is not going to be sent out as a normal promotion, so if you want it, here it is. You'll have to print it out to bring into the stores if you want to use it in a store.

Does this mean I've sold out?

No race this weekend. It was cancelled because of all of the rain we've been having. Parts of the trail were literally underwater. Our trails dry out in a day, but the official (legal) trails at Carolina North don't have good drainage and take forever to dry out. They are killer trails when they're dry, I don't want to make light of the work that goes into them. They just don't have a great location for draining. That means I don't have any tune up before the Cowbell this weekend. That and I've decided to do the "mini stage race" option where I race the marathon race on Saturday and the XC race on Sunday. Ouchy. Then I'll have a week to recover before the rain date for the Tarwheel XC race. Should be fun. As usual, I'll keep you all up to date. Thanks for reading and happy shopping.