do I even watch football anymore?
Archive for November, 2008
why
Posted in Other than bikes on November 30, 2008 | 3 Comments »
My errr… Teammates?
Posted in Public Mocking on November 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Been a while since I have had any decent content for the ol’ public mocking category. But get a load of this:
Just thank the gods that Gewilli did not attend the team “drag race”. Not sure the internets could have handled that.
Although, it would have played right into my Deuce Bigalo, Male Gigalo chants of “Freak!” and “That’s a HUGE B*ITCH”.
What a bunch of skinny white dudes.
That was cold.
Posted in Bikes, race reports on November 23, 2008 | 10 Comments »
Got out at 5:30 to get down to Easthampton with the new bike. Wish I had a chance to ride it, besides in the basement. Oh well.
It was 7F on the car thermo until the Vermont border almost, where it was up to low teens, then it started a slow climb. I was watching it VERY anxiously. Got up to 25 at the venue. No wind though, which saved our asses.
Plan was to take it chill, ride the trainer alot prior to the race, and try to have fun for once.
I dont know how I have not ridden this course before! Its very much like NBX, only without the long windy paved sections! Yah, it was totally fun.
I manage to not preride, given the 10AM start, which meant I opted for a touch more sleep. Whatever, it happens. This was a bad course to do that on. Wow, I was totally lost for the first two laps at least. It was long, we only did 5 laps, which made it even worse.
I started slow, on purpose, so I could see where people were going. It was more like, oh, left, or right, not oh, this is the good line or bad line. It was ugly. I got behind someone who really wanted to stay in front of me, even though they were sort of slower then me. I put myself to sleep with the easy riding, and when the trane of Wayne came by, I did not get on it. I jumped, but missed it. Then I rode around by myself. That was fun, but not racing. I was loving the new bike, it turns nice and is really stiff. I focused on that. I had Mike Cole, who is really faster then me, dangling behind me for at least a lap. I finally sat up when he was close, as it was silly to ride hard alone, way off the back.
Once he got my, I rode his wheel. That was soooo nice I can’t even tell you. We were well matched fitness and skills wise, cleaning everything. I sort of wanted to lead again, cause I could not rail turns (for fun) on his wheel cause he had a double up front and the speeds did not match up well into and out of some sections. It was my turn anyway. I thanked him for the lap, he said your turn, and off we went.
We just took it chill, talking and riding stuff clean. At the last button hook tricky section, he gassed it. I was like whoa, what’s going on? Then I saw we were two turns from the finish.
That was fine, I took the time to heckle him to Skinny on the sideline (who had won, changed, and come back I think). I said, “Look, he thinks I am sprinting!” cause Mike was sprinting away but I was not challenging him. Pro tip, look back. Was sort of funny in a good natured way. I hope to catch his wheel again.
I am totally lacking race top end, either physically or mentally. I think the cold zapped me a bit today. Regardless, I am glad it was a fun course and I could focus on that. I wish I was able to race though. I think I need to go back to going out way to hard, cause it puts me in the red right away, rather then having time to think about it hurting as I try to slowly ramp it up over the course of a lap or two. I had ok legs, shit I was (am still) not even sore, I dont even feel like I did an interval session. That tells you something, and not that I am in wicked good shape, either.
New bike was fun, road trip was short, gas was 1.93!!!! gasp! I even got in a cool down lap with Eyebob, who I almost sat up to wait for to ride with for fun during the race. I was afraid if I did he would then drop me and I would be way out the back. You never know.
So far the new bike experiment has been good. Chainline is a bit off, I loose the chain if I back pedal in the 42×27. And the toe overlap is bad, but I did not notice it at all in the race. Braking is supremely good, thanks to the stiffness. Way better.
High BB felt weird at first (in the parking lot) but fine once I rode for a while (lap or two). I hope this is kick starting my systems so that the last couple races are not a big ass waste of time and money. I would love to finish feeling good about my results at least ONCE this year, preferrable at NBX. It aint gonna be Sterling, that is a given.
Ok, off to have a beer.
Flash Back!
Posted in Bikes on November 22, 2008 |
To last year at this time. We got an 8 inch dump. My header photo is from that day. It represents many things, many firsts, and many beginnings. Its an annual event – the first decent dump of snow.
It has been bitterly cold (well below 20F and windy) all week, which will feel warm in February, but feels bitterly cold in November. Riding was not happening. We got a couple storms of 2 or 3 inches that blew away into the woods. This is usually when I start my “taper” to Nationals, that is to say, I stop training altogether. But since I have already err, tapered, I have been trying to do another little surge of training the last week or so. That amounted to one bigger ride outside, and a couple trainer sessions, and one hard run with hill sprints. 4 workouts a week including races. For one week. We will see if I can keep it going.
So, last night it started to snow properly. This morning we had 6 to 8 inches, and it was COLD. Low teens. Right now its up to almost 20, and its 1:30 (the “heat” of the day…)
Well, first snow of the year means the following rituals around here:
1. Curse the fact that the damn plow truck (big scout) is not ready yet, again. Cross really cuts into winter prep on weekends. Its the one thing I really really dont like about it. Happens every damn year.
2. Shovel, and then clear all the patio furniture off the porch and move it up into my office without blowing out my back. We have super heavy, metal framed furniture, otherwise it blows off the deck and smashes. Yah. So I clear that off so I can shovel.
3. Find/inflate snow tubes so the kids can go sledding. First hint of snow, they are out there. We hold them back until there is like 6″ or they rip holes in the snow tubes.
4. Begin repeating my mantra, over and over and over again, at increasing decibel levels…CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR! ITS COLD OUT! The kids think they should just wander in and out, leaving the door open. I will be sitting in the living room and feel artic air blowing and walk across the house to find the door wide damned open, snow blowing it, etc. I dont understand what is so complicated and illogical about CLOSING THE DOOR when they walk in and out. Its ridiculous.
5. Start packing artic clothing with my race kit. Ugh. I hate the cold.
In other news, I picked up a new frame last night in Stowe. I stumbled across this new frame for sale on ebay, did not bid as I was not really looking, just sort of looking. Well, he got no bids, so I emailed him and set up a meeting. 8PM I am up at his place, buy it, strip the parts off of it (it was still built) and bring ‘er home. I then set upon stripping the Sachs and sliding all the parts across. All I needed to buy was a cable. Love it.
Top tube is about the same as the Sachs, maybe .5 cm shorter. But the Sachs is really too long for me. The frame has a high, Ridley-esque BB, unlike the Sachs, and 74 head and seat angles, with a straight blade fork with very little rake. Pretty much opposite in all areas from the Sachs. Its also a touch small for me. I have not had a frame that was my size, or a touch small, since high school. I buy what I can find, and what I can find is always a little big, and I deal.
I really wanted to try a different set up, and this is as different as I could go. Good for the database.
Anyway, by midnight it was built. Basement hot laps indicated that it steered REALLY quick. I love that. It also has wicked toe-clip overlap as a result of being steep and short. I dont love that. I will have to learn to deal.
Since is a square frame (74/74), I dont really understand why its so short. The top tube is horizontal, and low, as its a 48 c-c, but it has a 53 c-c top tube. So it should fit like a 52, only with an artificially low TT. That was the only reason I pulled the trigger on it. Well, that and cause I got a good deal on it, and its brand spanking new, and its a pretty nice frame. But I still dont understand why its so short. I measured the wheel base while it was built and thought it was 1cm less then the Sachs, but once home, I see its closer to 3cm shorter. Toe rub is the result.
I did plenty of basement hot laps at frightening speeds, cant do that on the Sachs…and its an honest to god 2 pounds lighter. Maybe 2.5 lbs. 18lbs feels really nice. And holy hell its stiff. So, I am going to race it the rest of the year. After last year, I am a bit remiss to ride the Sachs in these cold wet salty winter conditions. My seat post was rusted in this year, among other nasty stuff. It has frame saver, but KC was hell on the parts.
Anyhoo, everyone is gonna rag on my for all the headset spacers, like I said, a 50-52 would have been perfect, but the 48 is the same damn thing if its “square”. My intention is just to get some saddle time on this side of the geometry spectrum for future information, and to get a nice frame to hang my spare parts on so I can sell them off as a bike next summer, to fund future purchases. I would love to sell off enough stuff to fund a Ridley, maybe one of Page’s used frames or something. So for now, this is the race rig.
OK, I gotta ride the trainer so I can race tommorrow. Should be interesting, first ride on a completely new setup. Typical Chabot race prep.
Instant Classic
Posted in Other than bikes on November 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Thanks to Gewilli for the video links.
