two weeks of weak brakes

I'm starting to get used to the idea of having brakes that only kinda work on my cross bike. I probably should look more into how to tune the TRPs, but that's no fun. I did put some new kool-stop salmon pads on to replace the stock pads that picked up about 75 slivers of rock at the dirt crit. We'll see if those hook up any better.

Dirt Crit-good times. I got a crappy start to pair with my crappy warm up. Settled into fourth place after the first lap mayhem (especially the creek crossing). Being one of the few on the cross bike, my lines and technique was a bit different from the mtb riders. I was solo for a while, and disheartened by the fact that Thrower was up ahead of me kickin' my ass on a single speed. Got caught by Fuhrman and Bierman after a bad lap and let myself follow Dan's wheel. After banging my rim on a root and not being able to take Dan's lines, I realized I'd be better off on my own and surged on the grassy uphill, separating myself for the rest of the race and coming in for third. Bob Arnold flatted out of the race for second, which I didn't know about 'til later.

After the race I wanted to get out of my wet shoes and kit, only to find my car keys staring at me from behind my locked doors. And I had just told the story the night before of how I had broken a window on my old Caprice Classic (bought the car for $100 and spray painted some bitchin' flames on the hood of that beast) on a cold Thanksgiving night a few years back on the landing because I had neglected to bring my keys in to the show with me. I think it was to go see NIL8 (Jeff Williams' band). So there my keys were, just looking at me from the comfort of my front seat. I borrowed a cell phone to make the call and was able to get the keys before the start of the PF race. In the meantime I occupied myself with free sausages and energy drinks courtesy of Pfoodman. The beer looked enticing, but I decided to wait a while for that. Probably should've started drinking then instead.

I paired up with Travis Thrower for the PF race. We were all set to beat up on Chris Ploch and Carrie Cash and pick up $100 for our efforts. Travis would battle Chris on lap one, and then I would establish a gap on the ensuing laps that we would easily maintain/build on. That was a great plan until "Chain" Thrower dropped his chain 50 meters after the start. He was able to get it back on and get going for at least another 5 meters before it came off again. Hooray eccentric bottom brackets! When he finally came through after lap one I had a lot of traffic to navigate through, but everybody was very friendly and I was able to cleanly make every pass I needed to do. We got as close to second place as about 20 seconds, but then Travis had more mechanical issues and we ended the race more mid-pack. It was a great time though, and I hope they do something like this again next year. Now it's a weekend away camping (hopefully I can stay away from the ER this time) and back to Bubba cross next weekend.

cx is here

I guess I still remember the log on to my blog, so it's time for my yearly post. Cyclocross season is here, so happy days are here again. Sold the Colnago on the e-bays, and got hammered on shipping cause I didn't put much in the fine print. It costs $235 to ship a frame/fork to Alaska. Picked up a Felt F15X as a replacement-it rides great. Didn't have in time for the Hermann cross under the lights race, so I resurrected the cross check into a ss cross bike. 39X16 turned out to be about the perfect gear for me. I was able to push it through the mud bog (barely) and spin it on most of the rest of the course. Wish I could have had a better starting position than on the last line, I probably could've done top ten and maybe not have been lapped by Butthead. Ronde von Evergreen was this past weekend, and the race started in a different spot but used much of the same course area. The gravel pit was a new and challenging addition. I felt pretty good for the race, and was able to stay at and off the front the whole race. Unless you count the high speed wipeout going from the first gravel road section to the grass. Amazingly I didn't even get a scratch. It did knock out my back brake for the rest of the race, so I had to hope my front could scrub enough speed to negotiate turns. The only time I really needed the rear brake was coming off the gravel pit. Nagy and I rode most of the race together and ended up making it a Dogfish 1-2, with Mark taking the honors.

I'm looking forward to doing the short-track this weekend, I hope it'll be cross bike friendly.

P.S. McDonald's doesn't have $1 double cheeseburgers in Carbondale :( However, down there McRib is back!!!!

things to do different next year:

1) don't get a viral infection after thanksgiving and spend a whole week on the couch and in bed, effectively snatching any top-end power and motivation for the rest of the year

2) don't try and save my battery power by riding singletrack in near black conditions and then rip off my derailleur with a stick

3) ride more, explore new roads

4) ride to hollywood at dusk, ride home at daylight? hmmm.

Free Ladies Ride!!!!

moustaches not mandatory, but encouraged. and read the flier- no goatees!

who likes turkey legs?

This guy does.


Who likes knuckle sammiches?


One of these guys does.

In other news, it has been gettting colder out. I don't think it is summer anymore. I nearly got lost in State Park, IL last night on my solo ride. That wouldn't have been a good thing. I blame google earth.

I think yard raking season is upon us. Yard raking is one of my least favorite things to do; I hate it more than picking up my dog's intestinal refuse. If my city allows leaf burning, I might just set my whole yard on fire.

In case you were wondering...

this is what these devices are used for. I've got a funny story about this one in particular, ask me about it sometime.

in a haze

I've been hitting the bike earlier and earlier these days. 6:30 am on wednesday. 6 am on thursday. 5:40 am today. I wanted to get in a decent ride before work, since I won't be able to after work- going to the monroe county demolition derby tonight. Bring on the rednecks and fried foods! But with all this early riding, I really should go to bed earlier too. Not the case last night. But how could I pass up free third row tickets to the Cards game, plus free booze? To boot, it was a good game and redbirds win for once. So after coming home around midnight in an alcohol influenced haze, my 5am alarm was quite the rude awakening.

I was able to drag the wildman out with me with a promise of free coffee at the halfway point. Riley's Coffee in lovely Belle-Vegas offers free double shots on Fridays, and I was in dire need of some sort of pick me up. So we geared up and rode south to caffeinated salvation. The espresso was pretty good, at least to a layman such as myself. I might have to learn me some of the finer points of the espresso so I can appreciate it more. So we drank, ate and then left to find much more traffic on the return trip. I headed back home while the dub (w) scurried up to edwardsville and employment.

here's a picture of what i've been up to recently, albeit not as prolific as furby. good times nonetheless: