Short but not bad

I added up my milage for 09 already. I am a little short of the 10k goal but 8554 is still the most milage I have ever put in in a year 1300 more than last year. I could blame the back injury in september or the weather or mountain biking or racing or my job or .... I could just man-up and do better next year :) So on the radar for next year, well as usual with me EVERYTHING.

This year I competed in 2 crits, 2 Mountain races, 1 cross race, 1 "allycat",13 Centuries (11 road(3 on fixies), 2 gravel(both on a Fixie), 3 days of ragbrai, countless rides. And its all worth it to hear 3 little voices yelling "go daddy go" every lap as I fly by 'turning myself inside out'.
So last thought for the year (or longer maybe). Win, lose, or walk always finish the race because, someone is looking up to you.

Last ride 09

New parts for retro bike.

From the junk bin.

Fixie for Anna

well "fixie" with the coasting function.

Dirty cup?

http://thecupodirt.blogspot.com/

With all the things to do and goals and other bs why not add this to the list? I can also piggy back this with some camping/touring since the best places are always found on a gravel road. I'm not going for all 3 but January will determine if I go for one a month. I also want to get a single track century in since my attempt this year got cut short by my physical limitations (fat,old,out of shape). Plus I'm running short on coffee mugs and those things can cost up to and including 10 dollars.

Snow ridin'

frosted

Calm in the storm

After this crazy christmas season last night was my friday night. I got stuck at work till almost 8pm I was really hoping that the clive trail would be plowed and I could have a nice peaceful ride home. It would be to much to ask though for a city worker to work on a weekend. I bogged through and hiked to the first turn off at 63rd street next to the budget storage place. I had purchased some Bud since it was friday so I decided to stop here and sit on the top tube and have a couple beers. I think the best part of winter riding isn't getting off the trainer or even the ride because at least half the ride is pretty bad most of the time it's the adventure it's not the destination or the journey but a few good stops along the way.

snow plow?

Nody Austyn

6yr olds title for this picture

Silly Bob

Trails are perfect get out and ride.

A little Snow storm

After a week I'm finally not working round the clock. So last week we had a little snow. I was at work for the most of it I left work on Tuesday night in the snow it was about 7-8 inches on the roads. I decided to take a good workout and ride the White Label home. If you have ever road through several inches of snow it's like climbing a non stop hill. So at 4-5 mph I can feel my heart pounding and the bottom of my lungs so I'm maxed out and there isn't even a slow down and rest other than stopping. Stopping involves putting my shoes in the snow (not good with cold feet) so I continue on. The streets are not plowed and with the chewed up snow from car tires at 6 inches to 2 feet tall the 2 mph snow drift jumping took almost 20 minutes from the bridge to my house (half mile). It was however fun to stop on my bike and help push out a car.

Pain Cave

this marks the end of the world for the second time this week

Little Hipster

fixies for kids.

Restudding the commuter

this is a ton of work. 40 new studs should help

Studs for the 26" Mountain bike

Wrong Route.

Where is my snowscraper

I'm not the only crazy one

First Snow

not the first set of tracks though

someone beat me to the trail today

nof said

Frosties With Daddy

nothing like cold ice cream for the first snow

Hillside

Round 3

Take 2 of each of these and call from another state.

All I need is 2 of each (black of course) and to be rich so I can ride south for the winter. I

also need tailwind fully loaded bikes pulling kids in burley trailers are heavy. But a bad day riding is better than a good day working.

Arkel XM-28

Front Bags

Arkel XM-45

Extreme touring bags for offroad

Cyclocross

Saturday morning was my first cross race. I choose Jingle cross because I've been down with my back for most of cross season this year and I felt good enough for jingle cross. Plus why not the hardest course first every thing else seams easier then. I started in the middle of the pack they have squares painted on the ground for were you are to line up they give you like 3 feet wide and 5 feet long. The size of the starting square is a little scary your less than a arms length from 4 riders, I fell back right at the start of the race my goal being to complete the race without hurting myself not to win it. As we got to MT Krumpit the first time I was 2 people from the back. After the run (2 mph) up the hill I was 4 from the back. All the mountain biking I've done helps on the muddy nasty decent as I watched other riders fall I passed 2 people on the downhill. Not sure after that I did feel great every lap when I got to the straight spots and picked up the pace. I did lap one rider I felt good about that (bad for him but good for me) I got lapped by the leaders (first 5 places) on the 3rd lap and started to have mechanical problems in the last half of the 3rd lap. I did have a good time and learned a lot about crossracing. I hope to actually compete in a lot of races next year.

Running Season

Started running last night for the winter. I ran my 45 minute loop however it only took 31 minutes so I'll be reworking my loops. I hope to do all my "exercise" running this winter and just ride for fun/zone 2 stuff. Looking good for the taco ride tonight however for the first time ever....skipping the beer after. The even hurts to type. I'm hoping to cut back the sauce a little the next 12 weeks or so and be 10-15 pounds lighter in the spring for road season. We'll see how that goes. Everyone insert comments about water and tea totaling.

Jingle cross

finished my first cross race

Turkey Day Ride

trackstand contest.

this is a little boring after 2 or 3 minutes

this is a little boring after 2 or 3 minutes

100 miles on the Masi

With my Sunday-Monday weekend this week I have been able to do a ton of riding. I however didn't, so only 100 miles or so. I had planned to do a proper century on the Masi monday but it turned into a half, oh well I can't complain anytime I get to ride in November in shorts. Cranksgiving was fun on sunday I might be the first intown ride I've done with gears, but the new bike thing overcame the fixie thing. I think there should however be a prize for DWI after the holiday lights ride, I did a little off roading off the side of the trail on the way home. Its only 12 foot wide so give me a break.

The new bike turned over the first hundred miles yesterday and it is great.

Grand Randonneur

Well a long time building but here is my first build from scratch.

09 Masi Special Randonneur frameset.

09 Rival brifters

10 Force front & rear derailleurs

1070 Sram 11-28 cassette

Trektro caliper brakes

Surly "Nice Rack" front and rear

Truvative Carbon compact double crankset

truvative gpx bottom bracket cups

Schmidt Nabendynamo 28 front hub

Velocity 40 hole rear hub

Busch & Müller Lumotec IQ CYO headlight

Mavic 719 40 hole rims

Some crappy 38c tires from my basement (upgrade later)

Crankbrothers Candy pedals

and of course Brooks B17

After the wheel build and riding on hand built wheels I'm not buying anymore prebuilt wheelsets. Also a full custom bike feels perfect when you get on it to ride there is non of that all I need is to upgrade this or that. So I will relearn haw to use gears, ya right.

Brake Clearance was very trick with the surly racks I guess most people use cantilever brakes on touring rigs

Like there is any other kind of rear Derailleur

Carbon Race crankset might be overkill. Like bringing a Chainsaw to a knife fight.

Bday drink at the tap :)

New Touring Bike

The tunnel stop after cummings tap seemed like the right place for the pic of the new bike.

Masi weigh in 32.26 lbs

not bad for touring bike with racks and 40spoke wheels

beer run

Sweet

Winter

Snow blower out studded commuter out

Skinny tires into the basement.

Gears :( . . . :| . . . :) . . .

I have 'Finished' reworking my old mountain bike to be a multispeed (whatever that is) cyclocross bike. Took a short ride to my dads last night to test out the gearing and adjustments. I started down vine ran through all the gears (42/32 Crankset and 11/32 Cassette) got it up to 28 mph (tail wind much) then turned on Giles and started climbing this is were the gears part doesn't allow me to slow down and climb but causes me to sprint and try to hold my gear. I'll ride the "new crossbike" tonight for the pavement taco ride to really make sure it is ready for Jingle cross and hopefully get used to the gears. All I need now are 26" cross tires.

Seven Oaks

a little torn up but they let me ride for no charge. not as technical as I thought

Off to Seven Oaks

No Rain !! So I'll be going to Seven Oaks for some new to me trails. It says Very Technical so it should be a ton of fun. Later posts today will be about the pain.

Bonus Time

Since my 3rd Quarter bonus came in right about were it needed to it looks like I will be buying the remaining parts for my touring bike (except bags/tires) I'll be using extras that are laying around my basement for now. So soon I can order Brifters, Brakes, Derailliers, and cassette. Good times but now I won't have any prodjects to work on. :( Next bike please. If anyone wants a bike built let me know its a lot cheaper for me to build bikes for other people.

More Drool.

I Think that these are the important parts af the XX group

X9 is good enough for everthing else.