Austin Singlespeeds and Beer

Evolution versus IE

2009-01-23T12:04:00.002-06:00

The Texas State Board of Education had a recent debate on if the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolution should be taught in school. Thankfully that idea was thrown out and we will not be teaching creationsism and intelligent design in our Texas science classrooms. It also really irks me how people use the term evolution when what they are talking about is natural selection. They are two different things but that is not why I am writing this post. It is because one person had a great comment towards the people who belief in the biblical story of the creation of man. Here it is:

"The funny thing about all these bible thumpers and "Intelligent Design" believers is that, if they truly believe we came from Adam and Eve, then I guess their god is OK with incest. I mean, if we all did come from Adam and Eve, then how did we get here if not for their children having had sex with each other, with Adam having sex with his daughters, with Eve having sex with her sons? Makes one wonder about a god that's OK with incest. I prefer to believe in evolution."

Very nice!

2009-01-19T12:50:00.001-06:00

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Tuesday Road Ride

2009-01-11T22:02:00.003-06:00

Left the office a little early Friday to get some road miles in with my homeboy and teammate Rey and our friend Adam. Haven't ridden with Adam in some time and it was nice to catch up. Shoal Creek and some Tarry Town loops. Beautiful day with temps in the 80's.

Excruciation Exam

2009-01-11T21:55:00.005-06:00

Second marathon race of the season, but the first one for me. Did this one pretty much off the couch. Getting maybe 50 or so miles in a week. Fatherhood and work, riding during the week has been pretty low priority. 82 miles, start at the Flat Rock Ranch in Warda for a loop, off to Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville covering mostly dirt and some paved roads, 2 ten mile laps, and then back to Flat Rock for a short lap.

Finished 13 in the 30 plus and somewhere in the 40's overall with I well over 100 people. Same time as last year but got stuck at a train crossing right as the train was showing up. cost me at least 15 minutes. lack of gears cost me more than that. couldn't stay on the pacelines at 34x17. Would stay with them for a bit but trying to maintain a 18 to 22 mph pace with that gear for 25 miles I would not be finishing the race. Getting stronger now if I can just get motivated and get on the trainer in the morning before work at 5 am. Yeah, not as fun as riding, but its a way to get some saddle time in and not totally fuck my family.

thinking about maybe getting some gears. if it happens won't be till this time next year though.

2009-01-11T21:23:00.004-06:00

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Good group today for the ride. 7 guys including me. 9am meet up at Pure Austin for some coffee. Andrew Yates' Beef and Pie production company is providing their coffee shop the beans. Good stuff. Rolled out up along the Shoal Creek trail, through Pease Park, Shoal Creek and eventually to Walnut Creek. Covered pretty much all the trails out there and then headed out making our way to some trails off of 360. John and Drew decided to bail out at this point and headed back downtown. Did a little lap out there. I was getting pretty spent at this point. Probably wasn't taking in enough fuel. Plus being on the singlespeed with these guys takes its tole, especially on the road. End up getting spun out. My buddy Stewart Stafford is a stud. Texas State champ multiple times. Andrew Yates is pretty fast too. Old men, but they put me in my place everytime. Rode with a dude Brian Lampert for the first time today. Lot of fun, you can tell he just has a blast on the bike. Was like riding with a little kid. Brian, Stew, Andrew, and Brian headed down 360 towards the Greenbelt to finish it up. I had to bail at this point. No way I would have been able to hang on 360 with a tailwind. did the Far West climb over to Shoal Creek and back home on the East Side. 50 something miles before it was done. Perfect weather.

Levi's New Ride

2008-12-21T10:32:00.001-06:00

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Din Din Time

2008-12-20T18:57:00.001-06:00

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Morning Sup of Jo Before the Ride

2008-12-20T14:06:00.002-06:00

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Got about 5 hours in out at the Greenbelt this morning. Light rains we've been having are making the dirt real nice and tacky but the limestone's slick as snot. Only one wreck, canuck homeboy drew did a flying hipcheck into a live oak. He's okay but his bike has a bent hanger.

Testing

2008-12-03T18:31:00.001-06:00

Posted with LifeCast

2007-12-10T09:05:00.000-06:00

USA

2007-09-22T08:47:00.000-05:00

USA is advancing to play the winner of Brasil and Australia. The womens team looks awesome. Hope Solo is going on a shut out streak since the 2 goals she allowed against Korea. Abby Wambach is chasing the goal record.

Marta

2007-09-22T01:29:00.000-05:00

6:55 Eastern Time.

USA vs. England. Should be a pretty sweet match. The time difference to China kinda sucks, but I've been able to catch most of the first halfs this week while eating breakfast before taking the dogs for a walk with Tara.

Hoping for a match between Brasil and USA. That'd be pretty sweet. Marta is really awesome. Her ball skills are amazing.

I Luv Video

2007-09-07T23:55:00.000-05:00

Tuesday nights at I Luv Video is free beer. Tara and I have been on a sex and the city kick. I love it, funny as hell. Love how i see aspects of people I know in the characters.

Motorcycle Park

2007-09-07T23:48:00.000-05:00

Took a couple of pics before riding emma long last sunday. the willits for is super sweet. pretty much all i could ask for in a rigid fork and with the way i ride, there's no desire for a shock. shorter stem helps a lot too. more upright and way more comfortable. be pretty sweet riding one of his bikes.

More Rain

2007-09-05T00:34:00.001-05:00

Raining some more. They say, "in a drought, when it rains it pours." True for this year. This moring they were saying we might get 4 inches before its done. Water in the creeks is pretty sweet.

Planning on riding Monday, but it rained hard on Sunday. Walnut Creek is out, way to clayey. Green Belt would have been flooded with all the run off. Why not city park. The place was built for trials motorcycles. Its crazy! Surprisingly its super sweet for bikes, even rigid singlespeeds and there's not too much erosion from rednecks twisting. Shallow, rocky soil and steep grades allow this place to be pretty dry even after a hard rain. Only the second time I rode their since moving to Austin. Far enough to warrant a drive, but not enough trails to warrant driving to ride.

It'd be a bitch of a climb up to the park and its a bitch of a climb climbing back up into Austin from Bull Creek (the GPS said I got 3300 feet of climbing in on a 22 mile ride). I decided to ride back after my buddy needed to head home after the first lap. I didn't realize he threw my floor pump in his car. Ride home up Farr West was definitely fun carrying a floor pump in a messenger bag and 28 psi tires.

Whiskey River Don 't Run Dry

2007-08-11T00:02:00.002-05:00

Tara and I went and saw Willie Nelson at the Backyard tonight. Played with Asleep at the Wheel nad Jackie the Joke Man Martlin was there. Benefit for NORML and and some other Mary Jane cause.

There's been a lot of musicians who have passed who I would have like to see play. Mr. Nelson is still alive, but he is on the list of folks who I wanted to see play before they died.

Other than that I wasn't too psyched. Played Whiskey River during the set and then again during the Encore. The boy's got a lot of songs, he doesn't need to repeat.

My biggesgt complaint must be the venue. Some sweet Live Oaks, but the acousitcs (sp?) were lacking. Big open outdoor venue what do you expect. I've just been getting into music like Willie lately. Started with Doc Watson at the Lied Center. That was a sweet show. Great sound. To say this is similar to referring to something you don't like as "gay", but I've always prefered black music. Hip hop, jazz and the blues. After Dire Straits my the first group I considered my favorite was PE. I also got into Hard Core early in High School. Seeing that shit live you are more interested in moving your ass. Listening to stuff like Willie I prefer to sit back and digest. I want to hear it. Listen to the stories and the music.

All in all I was glad I went. It was a cultural experience. The only big cocerts I've been to in Tejas are Austin City Limts Festival and The Roots. Not typical Texas concets. This was ligit. Hot chicks, short denim skirts, Cowboy boots and Hats. An experience in itself. Woodstock 2007 for a NY son?

No Rain

2007-08-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Finally, a week without any rain. The trails were pretty sweet and mostly dry. A few gumboey spots, but dry and no dust. Took a break from studying and headed out to Walnut Creek. The new fork is pretty sweet. The greater offset seems to improve handling slightly. Not a suspension fork, but there is definately some movement in the legs. I notice it with how it is able to ride over things. Seems like the fork moves up and forward to glide over roots and rocks.

More Rain

2007-07-22T01:18:00.000-05:00

Its unbelievable how much its rained this year. Started getting hit hard again on Friday. Will it ever stop? I'm jonsin' for some dirt. Especially now that I got a WOW on the 29er. Replaced the bent Project 2 with a Willits. Little spin on the streets and this thing is sweet. Some nice action on the fork and its going to make for a sweet, smooth ride. Definately not suspension, but that's not what I'm looking for. Lost the long as stem I was running and went with a 90mm Thomson. Feels real nice.

Took some time to clean up the garage and get Tara's trainer set up. She hasn't been riding too much. Took the trainer out of the guest bedroom for when her mom stayed at our house to watch the dogs while we went to visit my family in New York. It never got put back up since we've been getting the room ready for the baby. Tara feels like she's slower, go figure, she's not showing at all! Being slow doesn't work for Tara riding in traffic, which is her favorite way to ride. But the trainer lets her get her rides in. The garage will work well. A bit hotter than the AC'd house, but that's fine for a southern gir.

Got everything set up while Tara was shopping for art supplies for her class. Went for a ride up and over Mt. Bonnel. Some great climbing. Love climbing the hills on the fixxie. Having to hammer is sweet and since your feet are being forced around it feels easier than a singlespeed. Got home and Tara was stoked to watch a movie and spin. The dogs and I chilled in the garage with her. Pretty sweet.

2 down in one week

2007-07-16T08:20:00.000-05:00

Two cyclist killed last week. Sounds like it was the cyclists fault ran a red light on Springdale crossing hwy 290. though maybe it was a brakeless fixie rider, but the lady was wearing a helmet and that kinda goes against the whole look. Pretty shitty though. We've all done it and do it, running the reds. Here's one reason not to, or at least stop. Pretty easy to miss an approaching car when coming to the rolling stop.

Pretty hectic week in Austin last week. 2 girls on a conoe got caught in the current on Town Lake and took a ride through the damn below Pleasant Valley Rd. There was a boating ban on Town Lake due to the high waters and strong current. Guess the person who rented them the canoe at the Austin Hostel didn't know about that or think they needed life jackets. Ooops. Both girls survived without major injury.

Haven't seen it in the news, but some friends told me a guy and girl took a ride over the top of a dam on a jet ski. Guess they didn't see the dam due to the hight water and over they went at high speed. Both survived.

Another dead cyclist

2007-07-12T09:40:00.000-05:00

Another cyclist killed by a motorist in Austin. At least the 2nd one in as many months. Technically the other was killed in Dripping Springs, but that's close enough.

Who knows what the hell this driver was doing when it happened. After he hit the cyclist he went into a ditch on the opposite side of the road and flipped into a parking lot on the other side.

Click the title for a link to an article.

Fucking nuts. Be careful out there.

Wa Wa Wee Woo!

2007-06-23T15:20:00.000-05:00

Got the 44c Mutano Raptors yesterday. They look crazy. Can't wait to hit some good trails. Been raining like crazy so I had to settle for Pease Park and some crushed stone out to 183. Through the East Side on the way home.

Cool tires and the fatties fit fine, but the bike was definately not built with these in mind. Bit of a toe overlap, but its only an issue with slow turns with the peddles turning.

360 to Spicewood Springs

2007-06-16T14:11:00.000-05:00

Yep, it was a good week for riding. I'm at 220 miles for the week. Its been a while since I've put over a hundred in during a week. Commuting helped. We'll see how it lasts, Tara's back home tonight from 2 weeks of traveling. Pretty stoked to see her. All but 25 of those miles were fixed.

The downhills on 360 are fucking scary on a fixed gear. My legs felt like they were going to explode.

Constitutional Law! What do you THINK?

2007-06-16T02:15:00.000-05:00

In 2005 a Supreme Court case decided the fate of 2 displays of the 10 Commandments at Kentucky Court Houses and our at the Texas Capitol (see photo). Click on the link, it'll bring you to the CNN report on the deciscion. I thought it was pretty good one. Heard it on NPR. Saw the display at the Texas Capitol before. Seems like a lot of road or mtn bike rides (if you ride to the trails) take you through the Capitol Grounds. I saw it before the decision and never really had a problem with it. I am a freak and a liberal so I really believe in the separation of church and state. I'd actually be very happy if our gov't was god less. Uncapitalized in order to not discriminate between those who worship many or One. I though Animism was pretty cool when I learned about it in high school, but although I see some reason for spirituality and even mysticism, I think I believe in the eternal Dirt Nap. Dirt to Dirt, dust to dust, literally. If you think about it, is that not eternal life, on the molecular level? Personally I think that idea is pretty cool. But fuck it, what do I now?

I ride beer and and drink bikes. Nobody is buying my training videos.

Better Week

2007-06-16T02:01:00.000-05:00

Picked up another 20 miles today. Buddy Brook called me up to go for a ride down to Town Lake. He was on his 24-inch bmx, I got to ride my 1x1 with platforms. First freewheel ride of the week. Up to about 170 miles for the week. Pretty nice considering only 20 miles were with a freewheel. First 100 were riding 39x13 fixed. Fixed that and switched the cross check to 39x14. Handled Mt. Bonnell pretty well and is great on the flats and I can handle steep downs with it. Just ordered some 700cx44 Mutanoraptors for the cross check. The thing is going to be bad ass. I'll throw those tires on the wheels that came with the Unit 29er. 39x16 free with that for the trails when I want to ride dirt with a drop and 39x14 fixed for the day to day. It going to be sweet. Ended the evening with some tacos and pitchers of Real Ale Full Moon Rye Pale Ale. My favorite beer. Pretty sweet.

My bro Brook rocks the short shorts! On the ride dudes were trying to pick him up and the ladies were telling him to put on a shirt. Except the punk rock chicks. They were telling him he was one hot bitch. My theory is all the punk rock men wear the tight ass jeans. Their chicks get a preview of their cocks through the pants. My boy was letting it hang out with those short shorts.

Red Rockets and Short Shorts. No mention of the gay-m here or the gay this or that. I know what my orientation is and I'll fly that Rainbow Flag with pride.

Who's the bitch?

Oh yeah. Here come an edit, so when I am talking about rides, if you're interested I'll probably be linking a ride map via the title to the post. You probably don't give ahit, but maybe I actually have some Austin Readers, so there you go. I'll try to remember for some time to remind that the link is there, but ya' know.

Good Week

2007-06-14T22:40:00.000-05:00

60 miles on the dam loop sunday. 2 days commuting to work. peddler tuesday loop tonight through some rain. took the long way up shoal creek to north austin. wore all my jerseys except long sleeve and wool. all the shorts are gone except the ones that are worn out.

What the Fuck

2007-06-13T23:43:00.001-05:00

Click on the title.

Yeah, it sure is friendly for cyclists down here. Just read about some downed brothers in Iowa on my homeboy Squirrel's blog.

Saw this on the local fox station tonight. Don't worry, I don't watch fox for news but was over at a friend's. This is really fucked up. The dude crossed the line and fucking plowed into this dude.

Pull Over Son

2007-06-12T10:24:00.000-05:00

Commuted to work today by bike. Got pulled over crossing under I-35 along Grand Avenue. Guess your not allowed to lane split in Texas, at least when a sherrif is around.

Dam Loop

2007-06-10T21:14:00.000-05:00

Rode the dam loop with my buddies Rey and Jeremy. Pretty sweet having the cross check back so I can do rides like this. About 60 miles when all said and done. 39x13 was pretty steep, but a lot less spinning on the way down. 39x14 would probably be perfect.

Title is a link to a google pedometer map.

Willits

2007-06-09T21:50:00.000-05:00

Rode by the Willits shop yesterday and KVUE was there doing an interview. Hung out and talked to Jared and Wes while they weren't being interviewed. Wes was having me ride some bikes. Got to ride one of his personal monster x's, built in 2000 as a concept bike. Strutted ti fork, custom stem and bent seat post. Fucking sweet. Maroon on the front of the frame, the stem and seatpost to match the schelacked (sp) bars and maroon swift saddle. Pimpin.

The clicking on the title should provide a link to the video on KVUE's website. There's a shot of me in there riding the monster x back up to the shop.

SINGLESPEEDING DEAD?

2007-06-07T14:40:00.000-05:00

Andy Corson writes a bit of an article in 63xc.com about singlespeeding and how its dead. Not so much dead, but the element of cool and fringe is gone. Interesting take and I am sure most singlespeeders have realized that for a while.

As someone who started singlespeeding cause i wanted a cheaper bike and didn't want to have to work so much on my bike, cool wasn't that big of a deal. i though it was cool and its pretty fun keeping up with someone with gears, but I got into it more for the simplicity. Probably why a lot of people who do already ride bikes get into it.

Now the newbies, that's a different story. I suspect many are doing it cause it is "cool". My buddy Ryan was telling me they get a few people now and then coming into the Peddler saying they want one of those bikes "without brakes", having no real clue what a fixed gear is and means. Ryan will explain to them that they want a bike that needs to be constantly peddled while movie, which they had no clue was the case. Okay, maybe they don't want to be like that hip cat they saw blasting through traffic on the Drag.

So singlespeeding and fixed gear are into the mainstream, no longer cool, and therefore dead. But there are people on bikes who may not have been on one otherwise if this certain type of bike may not be riding. And to me that's cool.

My question is, now that singlespeeding is dead, does this mean people aren't going to get way too much money for an old, heavy steel frame with horizontal drops on ebay?

Whatever, ride for yourself and fuck what's cool.

And its the end of 63xc.com. The offroad fixed gear forum. The link isn't goign to die, but its the end of the quarterly updates. Bummer.

Sweet

2007-06-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

Man, riding a gear other than 34x18 is pretty fun. Up Mt. Bonnel for a beer at the Dry Creek Saloon and on north up some more hills. 39x13 was a bit tough up, but pretty nice coming down.

The deer had some scary eyes.

Rode with my homeboy, Ryan. On the old school Basso.

Cleaned Up

2007-06-03T17:53:00.000-05:00

Garage has been looking like shit due to all the home improvement and it just being hectic in general.

Cleaned the shit up. Wow, I have a work bench.

bad luck with bikes

2007-06-02T17:57:00.000-05:00

Been having some bad luck lately. Bent my fucking fork riding the greenbelt today. My glove was wet from a stream crossing and my left hand popped off going off a ledge. Well, a big log was coming real quick and instead of wrestling the bike, I plotted a way to eject. Went over the bars real smooth and rolled out of it. Just some scratches, unfortunately my fork got bent back. Interesting ride characteristics and my toes really overlapped the wheel.

The creeks flowing pretty sweet and made for some good swimming on the way out.

Quality and Quantity

2007-05-31T21:44:00.000-05:00

Fortunately or unfortunately it ain't about biking, its about the rain. Riding has definately taken a back seat of late for a variety of factors. The rain and lack of a cross check keep me from riding. Have to aviod Walnut Creek cause the clay ruts up so bad and Greenbelt is a pain in the ass cause you have to dismount for so many stream crossing from all the rain. I mean its actually pretty damn sweet actually. Barton Creek had some water in it when Tara and I moved down here in May '05. The rain was minimal then so it mostly dried up except around springs. Well, its been raining like fuck since December and the creek is filled up. Swiming holes everywhere and tons of beautiful people enjoying them. seriously, until you experience riding some killer trails in hellaceous heat and stopping for a quick dip in the chilly Barton Creek and a glimpse of some eye candy in one of the many holes along the main trail you're missing out on one of the better reasons to ride a mtn bike. You risk some serious damage to your body riding in wet conditions cause the rocks or so slippery, but trail damage is minimal. Some areas puddle, but the soil is generally so thin your not going to leave ruts.

Not riding a ton right now isn't too big of a deal to me mentally either. I had aa real fun year from Cyclocross into some enduro style mtn bike races this spring. On top of racing I was just riding a ton and having fun. Just been super busy on top of the rain. Work is busy which sure as hell beats the alternative. We've also been doing a lot to get ready for the kid we've got coming. Found out we're having a son! Its pretty fucking exciting. Scary, but exciting. Tara's in full nesting mode. I'm like, "shit, we've got start saving up some dough," but she's, "no way, once that kid comes we ain't eva gonna do shit to this house, we got to fix it up now." So we've finally covdered up all that shitty old tile in the house, well the 2nd bath still has it, and laid down laminate flooring in every room. Somewhat expensive as a material, but I am not that skilled in carpentry and I made it look pretty good.

All the riding I have been doing lately has been good. None of those days when I'm riding cause I feel like I need to be riding even though I don't. Any laziness our lack of desire keeps my ass of the saddle and I'm doing something else. In an ebb but hopefully it'll start flowing again. I'd like to have a good cross season this year. I'd like to win a b race this year as a singlespeed and be there at the end in an a/b race at the tuesday nighter. gonna be difficult as Tara's due in October. we'll see. if baby's got me tied up this fall and winter i am sure i'll be pretty stoked on it. then next year hopefully he'll be starting on the path to kick some ass in life.

All the rain has been sweet. Everything is so fucking green. Our huge live oak in the front looks the best it ever has and all the other plants and trees are doing great. Shit's even growing in the compost pile. Guess it means that it ain't really working, but when its producing crops, who cares. Some big cucumber plant is going crazy. Pretty sure that's what it is, but could be a squash. There are some tomatoe plants hanging out in there, as well as two avocado sapplings. Squirrels must have miss placed some of their nuts and there are also 3 pecan saplings growing. Found another sapling growing in the front while mowing the lawn. Have to make sure from running it over.

The real garden is doing great. Had a bunch of artichokes already and the kale and chard are still producing. Three artichoke buds are still growing and will be eaten this weekend. The Texas heat makes them a bit smaller and tougher, but they've been really good. Although there not really producing that much, which isn't too unusual for the first year, the strawberry plants are getting bigger. Peppers are kicking, we're going to have pablanos, anahiem, and jalepenos. Tara make some killer chillie rellenos and I can't wait till she makes 'em with my pablanos. And the tomatoes! Tried a thing called the japanese ring. You make a center ring and fill it with compost and cirle it with tomato plants. Raing and water flowing through the center ring leaches the compost and feeds and waters the plant. My plants are pretty big and getting some nice fruit on them. A squirrel has been getting some, but we should still have plenty. One tomato they've been leaving alone are the tomatillos. Probably due to the protective covering. So needless to say with the tomatos and peppers all its going to take is some onions and cilantro from the farmers market and its homemade salsa all summer long. I can't believe I didn't plant any cilantro. what the fuck. oh well, I've got some friends growing it. My love of plants and gardens is something most people probably don't realize about me. I love this shit, mowing the lawn, weeding, trimming rose bushes, tending to plants, growning food. Mowing the lawn and shoveling snow have to be two of my favorite things.

Without a cross check, sounds like i might be finally getting a new one from surly, I can't believe i didn't do this sooner. The 1x1 has the cross check's wheelset on it as a 34x16 fix. It's a hella easy gear since it is what I like to ride mtn 29er off road if there are only short and steep climbs. The unit has been set up 34x18 since I've been riding the greenbelt so much. I've been too lazy to shorten the chain to go 34x16 with it. the chain was cut to ride oauchita challenge geared 34x20 and can take an 18t cog at the rear of the sliders. but this is cool, a 1x1 running fixxie with 700c wheels. gonna ride it to work tomorrow. I'll actually ride my bike to work during bike to work month. unless it thunderstorming. fuck 30 miles round trip in that shit.

been a while

2007-04-15T23:38:00.000-05:00

so been a while since i last posted. made the trip up to the ouachitas for the challenge. super fun. being a guide was sweet. had to stop a ton, but helping people was cool. trails were super fun. hoping to do it next year.

although i got 2 days of riding this weekend, greenbelt and walnut creek. haven't been riding too much. took an owner of my company out on some trails on the greenbelt to get in shape for the moab trip. he had a few nice crashes and drew some blood when he took a chain ring to the calf. we'll see if i'm still employed tomorrow. he wanted some technical riding to get prepped for moab and that's what he got. my homeboy hector also came in for a visit from idaho. rode walnut creek today. super fun. lent him the 1x1 and it was good to see thatot bike get ridden for something else than picking up beer. once you go to a 29er going riding a 26er just seems like your on a bmx bike.

the wife and I are going to celbrate 1 year of marriage this weekend, 4-22. heading out to truth or consequences, new mexico. renting a place on the rio grande that has a natural hot spring. should be pretty sweet. owners of the place are letting us bring the mutts. gotta like that.

ooohhh my head

2007-03-08T23:18:00.000-06:00

and neck too. took a bad crash two tuesdays ago at the dirt derby. tried to pass on the second lap a the top of a table top before a rythm section. went into some deep ruts at the motocross track and then over the bars straight to my head. with the taller headset on a 29er, bailing is a bit tricky.

saw some stars and then the whole pack go by while i figured out if i could keep racing or not. decided to go on. man, i fucking hurt. tried as best i could to get back in it, but all i could do is catch 5 men and the 2 women who were racing. strategy, len strategy. can't be taking risks like that on the 2nd lap of a 10 lap race.

11pm, sitting on the back porch, sipping on a jin and tonic. not bad for march.

nursing the neck. been a bit sore but makes a sound like the poltergiest neck when i rotate my head. not really painful, but i am definately psyched for that to go away. avoiding dirt, riding the 29er on the roads. takes longer than the cross check on the way to work, but that's probably gearing. 34x16 free instead of 39x16 fixed.

speaking of cross checks, here's some better pictures of the damage. fat chucks revenge this weekend. 60 miles, 3 laps at rocky hill ranch. going to be fucking sweet.

RIP

2007-02-12T21:26:00.000-06:00

The end of an era, or at least the my favorite bike I've ever owned. The do it all beast. Fixxie or free, I could ride this bike anywhere. Road, offroad, cross... This bike rocked.

A little scavenger hunt alleycat on Friday. Celebrating Ausitn Bikes one year anniversary. Riding with my GB, Eric Mills. Going down some stairs I locked up the rear wheel and my rear wheel really locked up. Thought it was just the chain that fell off, but the crank wouldn't turn all the way around. And then I saw the crank was getting caught on the drive side chainstay!

Shit, we were out on the east side and I had a long ass walk back to Austin Bikes where beer and party was waiting, let alone to get home. A little weight to the bottom bracket and my crank would pass. Easy ride back, but if I stood the crank would hit the chainstay on the drive side.

Took her apart. Yep, the chainstay is definately bent. You can see it got crimped on the little dimples Surly builds into the frames for clearance? Same place where my 1x1 broke a little over a year ago.

Brought it over to my buddies at the Peddler. Jeremy threw it up in the stand and put a frame allignment tool on it. Yep. Bent about 1/4 of an inch towards the drive side. Then we saw that the drive side drop out was also broken where it attachs to the stay.

They're going to try and take care of it for me. See if QBP will warranty it. Seems like they should. Thought steel should last more than a couple of years. The frame bent on an intentional dimple. Probably weekens the steel a bit when they bend it, I guess.

GB CVO Tribute Week

2007-02-07T20:50:00.000-06:00

been getting motivated by my homeboy. motivated to ride to work. twice last week and once to some downtown offices I had to get some reports from. 50 miles of unburnt gas.

Yesterday was a good day. rode to work and then rode downtown after for a meeting. 45 miles. pretty sweet that my truck didn't burn gas for those miles. Rode about 16 on Monday to meet my wife and grab some dinner. won a superbowl pool at work. didn't even know I won till i got to work. that pissed some people off.

planning on riding to work tomorrow. it'll be sweet. then some more miles this weekend. legs feeling a bit tired, but that's good.

biggest cvo tribute though is what happened while riding home from my meeting last night. was out in the left lane cause I had to make a left at lamar. some lady started honking at me and yelling what I was doing is illegal. caught her at a light. rode up to the window to have a conversation and to congratulate her for beating me to the red light. wise ass as hell but with a calm, collected voice. again comes the illegal shit. being up between cars. guess having a little shit lap dog on your lap while driving is not against the law. called me a little penis and I got behind her car. when the light turned green and the other cars drove off she put it in reverse and backed up into me! luckily she had a super small geo or something and when I put my hand on the spoiler the car stopped. I rode around her and then she started driving at me. rode past her and then really carefully tried to let her pass. came at me again. conneticut plates. crazy bitch. watch out.

Like a Dear in the Headlights

2007-02-01T07:49:00.000-06:00

Got a call at work yesterday from my homeboy, Jeremy to go for a ride. Finished up the things I was working on and headed home for some ride time. We decided to do the Mt. Bonnel loop. Nice and quick loop that heads over to Balcones from North Loop and then up Mt. Bonnel and across 2222. Some nice climbs and descents. The fixxie allows you to carry a lot of momentum on the downhills and then hammer the ups.

Sweet ride and everything was sweet till we hit Mesa. Lots of deer out last night. I was drinking some water and up a head were some deer and on coming cars. Jeremy called it out, put the bottle back in the jersey, and grabbed the brakes, figuring out which way I was going to go. The SUV missed the first buck, but the second buck got clipped and pushed into us. This deer was coming right for us, then at the last minute was able to change directions and miss us. Close call. Driver and passengers were cool, but a bit shooken up. I assume the deer was okay. No damage to the car and if the leg was broken I don't think the deer would've been able to change directions and miss us.

Close call. Like to think that maybe being cooler headed on the road and avoiding confrontations with motorists might have put some luck on our side.

Stay safe out there.

Sunday Mexican Martini Ride

2007-01-31T21:06:00.000-06:00

Couple of Sundays ago, Tara and I went on the Scenic Loop over Lake Austin. Beautiful day after the cold week before. Tara had her new SLR Digi camera. Stopped at the overlook and she had some fun with her new camera. I had fun being a poser!

Finished up at the Hula Hut along the lake. Sat over the water, had some Mexican Martinis, ate some grub. Pretty damn good way to spend a Sunday. Gonna make it a thing to do on Sundays.

Didn't get to do it this past Sunday, even though it was another beautiful Austin winter day. Tara and I did this seminar called Man-Woman Realationship. It was amazing. The facilitators were great, super interesting lives and stories. Great couples and there was a two day long conversation of partnering with the opposite sex. Big group date on Saturday night. Out late salsa dancing with a couple who have been married 30 years. On Sunday morning, you could see the energy in the couples who put there all into working on what we talked about during the day.

I am starting to buy into this whole energy that one puts forth. Begining to see that positive energy attracts positive energy.

Rock it.

Got a good story from tonights ride, but that's for the next post. Think deer, cars, and eyes in the headlights.

Webberville Cross Photos

2007-01-23T12:50:00.000-06:00

all stolen from the internut

The Ride Kicked My Ass

2007-01-18T21:04:00.000-06:00

My homeboy Jermey and I braved Ice Storm 2007 and headed down to Barton Springs. Took a cool route heading down and into Pease Park. Took Jeremy in on the section that just opened in the fall. First time he had ever been on it. Pretty cool to take him on a new route when the dude is the source for sweet biking routes in Austin. Road at least and here we were on Dirt. Super muddy and wet. Stopped for a beer at a creek crossing below 5th and decided not to cross the creek. Started getting cold, but warmed up for a bit on the way to the springs. Long way around Zilker Park, under MoPac. More puddles, slush, and mud. Layer of ice added noticable weight to the bike.

Another beer. Got colder. Springs were drained and the fence removed at the spillway, I guess in anticipation of the storm and the water flushing down Barton Creek.

Took the first spill on the way back. Hike and bike trail, front tire got stuck in a rut and spilled when over taking a runner. Dumb ass. Put a hole in the knee of the fleece pants. Bummer.

Second spill was going down the ramp on the north side of Pfluger Bridge. Black ice, Jeremy went down and I followed. Discovered I bruised a part of my shin in the first crash. Thoughts of friends who have recently broken bones. Knew I didn't. Lucky.

Got a little hot snack on a climb on the way home. Not so nice. Felt like puking a few other times. Jeremy was trying to get me to stop for a beer multiple times, but I knew if I stopped that was the end. I had to get home and I had to get home as fast as possible.

With a wash bucket between my legs, I stripped out of the wet clothes. Feeling like puking was imenent managed to hold it in and make it to the tub. Warmed up a bit and drank some oj, soda, and emergen-c Tara gave me. Felt better and finished with a shower.

Then I tried to eat some soup. While taking my first bite I puked in the bowl. Luckily it was only the begining and small. Puked once more on my way to the bathroom and held it in cause my bowl was full. Then it was on to 4 full on projectile vommiting into the bottom of the tiolet!

I was done. An easy afternoon ride really kicked my ass! Pretty sweet a day on the bike can do that to you. Now I gotta rest.

Ice Storm 2007

2007-01-16T12:25:00.000-06:00

Actually not that big of a deal, but down here it shuts everything down. Everyone from my office is staying home. The roads are not too bad, but the way people drive down here you gotta be careful of the other drivers. Gonna hit the roads later today for a ride and to check everything out.

Webberville Cyclo-X

2007-01-15T10:59:00.000-06:00

Some real cross conditions finally in Texas, but the weather likely kept the numbers slow. No juniors showed up to race. Small B/C field, under 20. Great course though, probably one of the better ones I've been on this season. Some of the sections at the States were more fun and the Camp Eagle had that awesome downhill, but this one had some good length, which kept people from getting lapped left and right.

My man Stuart Stafford, who is scary fast got talked into racing the B/C's before racing in A's. He went out fast and I jumped on his wheel. Put a bit of a gap on the rest of the field pretty early. At that point I decided to let Stuart go because I would have exploded trying to stay on that wheel. Kept my lead off the rest of the field for a majority of the race despite having to run one hill because I couldn't keep traction. Two guys from the Peddle Masher team on mtn bikes were giving me pursuit. With 2 laps to go one overtook me. I was cramping pretty bad at that point. Geared the bike easier, 39x17 instead of 39x16. Due to the soft, wet conditions, that was still a pretty damn hard gear to push. Felt pretty good for last lap, and started to close in on the guy who passed me, but couldn't do it. I'll take a 3rd place finish though. My homeboy, Rey had some bad luck. Tried to take a fresh line and got a stick caught in the rear der. Wrecked the der and bent the hell out of the hanger. Pretty shitty. Its steel though and probably can be replaced. Bent it bad enought that it opened up the space for the axle.

Should've lined up for the A's. Only 4 lined up and only 2 finished. Some pro from Canada who was flying (in the pink) and my man Stuart (other dude in the photos).
the money was 5 deep so I guess if i finished I would have pocketed some cash.

The Collegiate Championships were being held. It was kinda of funny. The place had the atmosphere of a frat/sorority mixer. Prior to the race, no one was warming up. All the racers were just hanging out in their team gear chatting in the pavilion. Strange? Saw the start of the B/C's. Not too impressive. Not one cross bike in the Mens and people were walking the run ups on the first lap. We decided to bounce rather than suffer watching that in the rain.

Good job Violet Crown on putting on a good race. Too bad the weather probably kept some people from showing.

Fresh veggies

2007-01-15T10:31:00.000-06:00

Had some good friends over Saturday night for some bbq and good times. Fueling up for the Webberville Cyclo-X race sunday. Freeze coming in so I decided to harvest some goodies from the garden a bit early. We've been having fresh arugula, spinach, swiss chard, mustard greens, and collards all winter.

Our friends, Yvette and Phillip gave us a late Christmas preasant. Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening. Pretty sweet book. Most people I know would probably never suspect me of being a gardener, but I love it. I spent a whole weekend just digging out our garden bed, removing a limestone/caliche layer. Removed enough rock to fill about 20 gallons worth of buckets. Makes for some good veggies.

New Wheels and Brooks

2007-01-15T09:58:00.000-06:00

Got the new Brooks Swift. Crazy expensive, even with my discount at Ozone. I think it worth it though, ti rails, and if its going to be anything like my B-17, super comfy once broken in.

New Paul hubs came in. My man, Todd over at Ozone built them up for me. He built my new rear cross wheel, old surly hub with a mavic open pro rim. I've already put it through a ton of abuse and the spokes haven't even needed to be retensioned or the wheel re-trued. If you need some good wheels go to Ozone and have Todd build you up some. They be good.

Rain

2007-01-15T09:41:00.000-06:00

The rain came in for Saturday and came in hard. Our back yard experienced some flooding. One of my friends I heard woke up to his living room being flooded. He is in the process of moving so all his pictures were floating. Bummer.

Gettin' spanked and Webberville Cross

2007-01-10T12:51:00.000-06:00

The Tuesday night Dirt Derby's started back up last night. got a good start and was up there. Body was feeling a bit tired from the previous weekend, but felt like I might be able to hang, till my chain popped off on the first lap and then again at the start of the second lap. Damn. Was starting to get back into it after the first time but was way off the back after the second. Went hard and tried to get back into it, but ended up hurting super bad. body is still worked from this past weekend. My man Stew Stafford just crushed everybody. After the first lap he was so far ahead of everyone. Gotta throw the bike in the stand tonight. I think what is causing this is a bent chainring. It was not popping all the way off and would actually be "stuck" to 3 teeth when it did come off. Been happening when my chainline is off just so slightly and I really mash on the pedals.

Webberville Cross this weekend. Gotta get everything fixed up before then. And rest the body. 3rd race in a week gonna take its toll. Plan is to stay off the bike till then. Maybe an easy spin Friday or Saturday.

http://www.txbra.org/db/events/raceflyer.pdf

Talon Trails Excrutiation Exam

2007-01-08T06:35:00.000-06:00

Formerly known as the Warda Torture Test and it lived up to its name this year. Lots of rain in the previous week and some light rain the day of and cold temperatures made for some cold, wet riding. All the trails were real slick and muddy. The dirt was hard enough where the trails weren't getting tore up, but traction was a problem.

Race started out as a run. I decided to go out pretty slow and went out near the back of the pack. Probably not the best idea cause I was behind some slow people for the first 7 miles of singletrack. I wanted to start out slow, but not so slow as to make it hard to push my gear. Passed a few people, people were real cool about letting you pass and headed out of the single track onto the roads and dirt roads to Smithville. Made a wrong turn going out of Bluff Creek Ranch. Got yelled at by all the people I'd just passed, so turned around and caught back up. Rode the 25 or so miles to Rocky Hill Ranch at Smithville mostly by myself. Only time I rode with anyone else was briefly when passing or being passed. Also managed to piss while riding and not get it all over myself. Thought that was pretty cool.

Was still feeling pretty good by the time I got to Rocky Hill Ranch for 22 miles of singletrack. That is when things got brutal. Geared pretty steep with a 34x17 and a 29er tire was great for the road, but hard on soft, wet, singletrack. The sketchiness factor was increased by the wetness and the disk breaks on the new unit decided to strech so I was pretty brakeless. Was able to get a little bit of brakes by adjusting the barrels on the levers, but I really didn't want to stop and really adjust. Cross definately paid off because my technique was to dismount and run a lot of hills instead of trying to mash the peddles up just to spin out. My lower back was already pretty sore from the steep gear and running seemed easier in a lot of sections.

About 5 miles left of singletrack a woman named Shontelle from Bicycle Sport Shop caught up to me. Offered to let her pass, but she opted to sit on my rear wheel, which she did till the end of the singletrack. We split up at the pits at Rocky Hills enteracne, but I caught up to her on the road. I was trying to hammer because there was a large climb out of Rocky Hill Ranch and I wanted to get up it with the highest cadence possible. Put some distance on Shontelle and I was kind of bummed cause I wanted to ride with someone. I guess a guy we passed earlier caught up to her and she was able to jump on his wheel. We all rode together and then he broke off. So Shontelle and I rode the 20+ miles back to Bluff Creek Ranch together, with me pulling most of the way. I was pretty stoked to ride with someone. At this point talking was much better than being left alone in my thoughts. Turns out Shontelle jsut got signed on by a pro Canadian road team. Pulling a professional roadie while on a singlespeed at the end of a 80 mile mtn bike race was pretty awesome.

Ended up 3rd in the Open 19-29 yrs and 19th overall with I believe they said over 80 starters. Felt pretty good about that finish. Was one of two singlespeeders out there and I have no idea how the other guy did. Was an older guy and I passed him in hte first 7 miles of singletrack

https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2007-13

New Ride

2007-01-02T21:47:00.000-06:00

Just in time. Pretty sweet deal, the whole bro deal thing. Kona also hooked me up with a couple pairs of socks and a pair of team shorts to make the Ozone kit look a bit better. Still am waiting for a Swift saddle and the paul hubs and delgado rims. I already threw on a pewter king headset, which looks pretty damn cool next to the purple , and swapped out the jones bar and stem from the 1x1. The stem ain't anything special, but it isn't oversized and it fits the jones bar. Other than that, its all stock. Pretty sweet.

Put some miles on it already. Rained a bunch this past week. Could be bad for riding, but not in Austin. I am sure Walnut Creek was pretty bad. Clayey soil and there actually is soil. Greenbelt sure doesn't hold the water. Rained the day before and in the morning, that afternoon was out riding there and not leaving any ruts or tracks even. Sure, there were some puddles, but rode threw 'em and no evidence I was there. All the creeks were flowing too, which made for some fun crossings. Rode travis country yesterday and it kicked my ass. Just too technical for it being that wet and having to cross creeks with over bottom bracket water, made climbing out of the creeks pretty damn hard.

Should be pretty sweet for racing this weekend. Warda Torture Test. I believe its about 87 miles, about half over singletrack. Should be sweet. My plan is to just ride it and if I still feel good halfway through, try peddling harder.

New Bike on the Way

2006-12-16T20:12:00.000-06:00

So decided to get myself a Unit 29er for Christmas. Figure I got a few long distance races I want to do and I can't beat the deal. So I am going to get a complete bike and swap out a few parts. Trade over the jones bar from the 1x1, King Headset, brooks saddle (swift, professional, or i might just pick up a brow b17 special at my buddy's shop to help him move it), longer stem, seatpost?, and new wheels.

So anyone want to throw me their opinions on wheels it'd be sweet. Thinking Salsa Delgado rims, and not sure about the hubs. Maybe Phil or Paul if the price isn't going to be more than the bike, white, simano, I don't know. Anyone, ideas?

Cross Nationals

2006-12-16T20:07:00.000-06:00

Corgratulations Will Black and Brian Fawley! Will in 2nd in the Masters 40-44 and Brian 10th in the under 23! Go Texas!

http://www.velocityresults.net/results/72/test

http://www.velocityresults.net/results/71/usa-cycling-cyclocross-national-championships-day-1-providence-ri

Texas State 'Cross Championships

2006-12-07T09:46:00.000-06:00

The above photo was ripped of the Texas Bicycle Racing Association website,

http://www.txbra.org/home/index.asp

Photo is of Will Black (Moots) and Bryan Fawley, shot by Richard Bonner during the Texas State Cross Championship Men's A race. Will tore the field up and lapped the fourth place rider, Craig Virr. I race with Craig out at the Dirt Dirby and he's hella fast. From what I've been told, Will came in 3rd in the Cyclocross Worlds a few years back in the Master's Division. It was a treat watching him race. Look at that form, absolutely textbook.

Raced the B's myself on a cross check, outfitted with a freewheel and rear brake. Decided to go for the single speed cause I just think I am faster on it. Don't have to think about my cadence, which I suck at, and the bike just fits me a lot better. My dismounts and mounts are a lot smoother on the surly over the jake, too. The setup is a little more stretched out which makes it easier to do the flying mount. Nice having the jake in the pit in case of a mechanical though.

Got a good start and was near the front. It was a wierd start cause the official was explaining some rules and then all the sudden blew the wistle. Although the course was a bit on the short side, it was a fun loop. Had a good battle with a few guys. They would pass me on the pavement section and then I would make up some time through the first double barrier which had a quick little downhill to a barrier and runup. Was nailiing that section and usually putting a few seconds on the guys I was battling with. After that it went into a downhill through some wooded double track. This is were I would usually retake the lead from the guys I was duking it out with. The b's were the on the course second after the jrs so the wooded section had a lot of leaves and there was no clear trail. This caused a lot of riders to take the downhill cautiously, whereas I would hammer it, no brakes. It was sweet. Finished in 7th place which I thought was pretty cool.

http://www.txbra.org/results07/

Another race on Saturday out at Moya Park. The above Mr. Black, dominated the Master's riding a Kona Paddy Wagon set up as a freewheeled singlespeed. He also took the A's lapping a good portion of riders.

Raced the B's again, which had us starting off with the women A's and B's. Kinda lame cause there was no staggered start. I showed up to the line a little late and was forced to be in the back. At the first double barriers there was a bit of a pile up. Caused in part by the woman who dominated the A's in the State Championship. She is fast as hell and was off the front. When she got to the barrier she actually stopped, lifted her bike over the first barrier, stepped over the barrier, trotted to the second, and did the same thing! Kind of amusing, but it didn't help that I was stuck behind her and my field was taking off. There was this awesome off camber section with a big root that about half the master's field was dismounting for. Had it pretty dialed during my pre-ride, so I knew it wasn't going to be a problem. Well on the first lap, being at the back some dude went down right in front of me. No problem, quick dismount and remount. Shit, my front wheel wont turn. My front canti got pushed under the rim. So while I fixed that the field again left me and I was dead last. Didn't stress, felt really good about my result the day before so I just hopped back on the bike and rode. Well, rode pretty well because in a couple laps worked myself into 6th place position. Started battling it out with this guy Rob Sisk from Houston. He'd pass me on the end of a lap where it got flat and allowed for a big gear. I would then usually pass him through the double barriers or right after and maintain a lead through the off camber section, run-up, and then an off camber, switchback climb. He'd then pass me on the flats after. We passed a rider from San Antonio and battled it out for 4th and 5th lap after lap. Not really making anytime on the leaders, but not loosing any either. With 2 or 3 to go he pulled ahead and I couldn't catch his wheel. Was starting to feel some pain and cramps. Got strong on the bell lap and started to close, but he was still a few hundered feet ahead at the line. He was far enough at the final sprint it looked like he was riding easy where I was giving it everything I got. 5th place in the B's on a single speed. Not bad considering down here B's are Cat 3/4 roadies. Cross is sweet!

Wonder how I would have done if I'd been able to get out with that lead group cause once I got back into the race they never really put more distance on me.

More cross in Houston this weekend, but I am going to sit them out. Gotta keep the wife happy and spend some time with her. Also got to get the house further dialed in after all the remodeling we've been doing lately for family visits during the Holidays.

ride

2006-11-10T11:11:00.000-06:00

Nice ride to work this moring on the Jake. Need to get more used to the frame fit and most importanlty the gears, like which gear i should be in when and the anticipation of the shift.

Pretty sweet riding a geared bike in. There are some small hills going in and out of drainages, so being able to shift up and down helps. made a bit of better time coming in than usual.

Wurst ride tomorrow. Going to try and jump on and ride it with my buddy Rey. Probably won't do the whole 65 miles to New Braunfels since we will need to ride back. After beers and brats turing around and riding 65 more miles might not be what we want to do. Think we'll do about 50 or so and then turn around, both want to get a century in. Wanted to do it on the fixxie, but figure it might be a real good ride to get more comfortable on the Jake.

Len

Humility

2006-11-07T22:42:00.000-06:00

Damn, dude.

Ass kicker, dropped chain on the run-up first lap, dropped chain on the barrier second lap, foot didn't come unclipped on the run-up, crashed, third lap, rode slow the rest of the race.

In a wierd sort of way, it was still fun as hell though!

More cross racin'!

2006-11-07T08:44:00.000-06:00

Seem to be getting pretty into this cross thing. Don't know why I like it so much, maybe its the pain, maybe that its short, maybe that beer tastes a hell of a lot better afterwards, not that beer needs to taste any better. Having a good time and learning everytime.

Raced two Sundays ago out in the Hill Country at a place called Camp Eagle. Super fun course, rocky, a nice uphill and downhill section, downhill complete with rollers and a burm at the bottom, and a sand section. Lesson learned, fixed gear ain't so sweet for cross.

Almost forgot. Gotta give credit to the photo to a lady named sssaaa

Race was going well for the A/B's. My buddy Rey and I figured that it was one catagory since they were racing together, but it wasn't. They put us in the A's, super sweet seeing there were a handfull of riders there that sponsors actually pay them. Not a big race, only about 15 or so racers. Testing out the Jake the Snake. Doing pretty well, but wasn't use to the narrow bar. Got a great start, just behind the super fast guys and was falling into a good position, riding by myself with a good gap behind me. After the first few laps I beleive I was leading the B's and wasn't in last place of the A's. All going well till a mishift on the uphill climb and a broken chain! Had to run about a 1/4 of the course to grab the fixxie, whereby I was passed by the guy who won the B's. Back on the fixxie things felt good. Getting back into position and looking as though I'd be able to catch the dude who passed me while I was running. With 3 or 4 laps to go I proceeded to get lapped by the 1st and 2nd guy right before the downhill, where I could have passed them, but figured that would be a lame move since they had lapped me. Well after that boost of confidence and wanting to catch the B leader I decided to really go for it on the hill the next lap. Bad idea on a fixxie. Lost control prehopping the third roller and somehow ended in the air, backwards, above my bike. Landed hard and it felt like my dick had become a snake tounge. Sat on the side for a while considering dropping out, till my buddy Rey, who had an earlier flat when my chain broke. He came through the pit after I dropped off the Jake and he snaked the rear wheel so he could keep going. When Rey caught up I jumped back on and eventually passed him, finishing 6th (2nd to last) in the A's. Not sure how we would have done in the B's but I think we would have come in 3rd and 4th (3rd and 2nd to last). Well, the cross check now has a rear break and an the option of a freewheel. Both of us were just stoked to be able to finish this hour long race as the Tuesday nighters are only 30 minutes.

Two days later we had the Tuesday nighter. Still a bit run down and with a cold coming on I was nervous, but feeling more confident after having now raced twice. Got a great start (not too hard when there are about 18 riders)and was about 3rd for the first 1/4 lap where the track heads into a hard 90 degree turn before a table top. Have this turn wired so take the furthest inside line which puts me out front and instead of trying to chill and let someone pass me I hammer. Bad idea! I manage to lead the rest of the first lap and am second for lap 2 and 3 with Rey right behind me. There was no way to keep up the pace and some riders started to pass. Was dying the rest of the race. Rey and I pretty much rode together, me pulling most of the way, some reason I couldn't just suck his wheel. My legs and back were just aching. Then about 2 laps to go Rey pulled ahead on a runup he was nailing and that was killing me. Had a little left for the bell lap and gave chase. Got pretty close to catching Rey and another guy he was passing on the runup with about 200 yards to go. That is where Rey solidified his lead over me and the other guy furthered that gap on me. He was weak on the downhill though cause its sketchy and there is another uneven turn right at the finish table top, that I new I had dialed. Got on that dude's wheel and the right into the last turn passed him on the inside and sailed up the table top. Rey finished 5th and me 6th, his best finish in the Tuesday night and by far his strongest ride yet. It was sweet. He's in 5th in the point series and me 6th which is pretty good considering I've only done 2 of the 4 races.

Lesson 2: Don't attack within the first 1/4 of the first lap and if you have some sweet time saving lines or tactics, don't show 'em off to everybody at the start of the race.

Cross is fun. Get out and vote today! Its another Tuesday nighter tonight.

http://www.dirtderby.com/

Photo credit to a lady who posts as sssaaarrraah

Jake the Snake

2006-10-26T12:16:00.000-05:00

Picked up the demo bike from Ozone last night and have already taken it for a couple of rides. Yesterday took it around town in the rain and through the mud. This morning headed to the hills for some practice shifting. Been a while since I haven't had to keep up with my peddles on a long road downhill. Pretty fun being able to go as fast as you want downhill. Oh, and gears are fun, too!

CBO Dirt Dirby

2006-10-10T08:24:00.000-05:00

Welll, raining pretty good here today. Should make for some fun cross racing tonight. Hopefully it still happens. We'll see.

Ridng for Ozone now. Vitus hooked me up with a shop jersey the other day and the Jon, the other owner gave me a pair of socks yesterday. Pretty sweet. Sounds like one of the benefits is the same deals shop employees get. Also they might let me ride a Jake the Snake demo for the season. That would be sweet, although I suspect it'll take a little while to get shifting down again.

Little cruise up Mt. Bonnell last night with my gb Jeremey and the owner of the Peddler, AJ. AJ decided to take out a Redline Conquest he's been having trouble selling. From vert ramps to the cross course. Sweet!

Tuesday Night Cross

2006-10-04T09:44:00.000-05:00

Cut my teeth last night on some cross racing. Must say I am hooked. Just super fun feeling like you're going to puke while riding.

The Tuesday races are held out at the Austin Del Valle Motocross track. Decided to ride out there even though its about 20 miles from my house. Pretty cool ride and just took it nice and slow. Ended up getting lost on the way, but finally figured it out. Was afraid I was going to miss it for a while.

Probably just under 20 people in the A/B race. Lots of loose dirt in the turns and one log crossing before a sandy burm and a mandatory run up on a steep table top. Was really suprised at how smooth my dismounts and mounts were since I haven't spent too much time practicing them. The log one was cool and I was actually mounting on the top of the burm or at least the on the backside. Since you were above the bike seemed like it made it easy to remount.

Figuring it was my first race and i was running a fixed gear feel like 5th place wasn't too bad. Had 2 crashes, one in a turn when my peddle struck the ground and the second on the runup when one of my feet didn't come unclipped and started going up behind my back. The field was pretty wide open. the 1st place was on a mtn bike and just hammered. due to the loose conditions a mtn bike was probably ideal and allowed for faster cornering. he also was cheating since he rode the runup and at the start of the race the riders decided it should be a mandatory runup. The guy was super fast, a collegiate race, and it probably didn't matter, but why cheat in this little local race? Sounds like we are going to have some real barriers next week and some barriers placed in succession. He was so fast and lapped me in the last 100 yards and almost lapped 4th and 3rd place. 3rd and 4th finished a bit ahead of me and there was another gap between 3rd and 2nd. There was also a pretty sizable gap between me and 6th. Anyway definately stoked on how it turned out. Also didn't hear their pussy little bell to signal last lap. My last three laps I eased up a bit because I wasn't worried about the gap between me and those behind, but didn't want to blow up before the last lap. So my last lap was actually a bit easy. Not saying I would have been able to catch the 4th guy, but at least I would have been trying to instead of just maintaining my position. I also might have been able to keep from getting lapped too. So after the 1st race i have some points for the series, which is cool, but i probably won't be able to race the entire series due to work demands.

Rey had a great showing too. Some chain problems, but likely finished 7th or 8th even though they had him at 11th. Looked like they missed him on one of the laps since they had him doing one less than me, which is bullshit since I never lapped him. took it well though with a who cares attitude.

Our women were out to chear us on. Definatley picked me up when I passed them each lap. The dogs were stoked on the racing, too. Rango was just wondering why he couldn't race.

Sativa Rollers Sunday Ride

2006-10-04T09:27:00.000-05:00

After a little breakfast and coffee at Jeremy's house, Jeremey, Fred, and I went for a Sunday ride out to Mansfield Dam on Lake Travis. A good headwind and hills on the way out. Made for some hammering on the one gears. Stopped off in Bee Caves and picked up some Tecate Tall boys to have at the dam. For some reason Jeremy took pictures of Fred's and my rides, but not his TURD (tactical urban recreational device). Fred showed us this nice trail down to the dams spillway, sweet downhill. Figure it might of been an old haul road for the dam. Took a dip and drank our beers. Nice and cold water since its a bottom spilled dam.

Some good climbing to get out of the spillway. Stopped to get another tall boy at the FM 2222 intersection, drank some at the store and then filled the waterbottles for a carb boost back in town.

Rode through a swanky neighborhood by a country club. Nice chill winding streets, then hit a bithc of a headwind on Jollyville Road. Stopped for more tallboys. Yum. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday, 60 miles of peddling on a fix. Sweet.

Cyclocross

2006-10-03T09:10:00.000-05:00

Fucking stoked and ready to get my ass kicked. The Tuesday night CBO cyclocross series starts tonight. Its going to be a blast. Regeared the fixxie last night to make it a little easier to peddle. Down from a 42x16 (71.3 gear inches) to 39x16 (66.2 gear inches). And why the hell doesn't anyone make a 130mm stainless chainring?

Can't wait. Mexican steak and potatoes last night for dinner, pesto and pasta for lunch today. Tara and the mutts coming out for some support.

Should be sweet. Can't wait to see what its like trying to dismount/mount in a pack. Especially since I havn't really practiced it too much.

Should be some photos of the Sativa Rollers sunday dam ride from this past Sunday and some then some race photos that TAra takes.

Wednesday Peddler Ride

2006-09-21T23:08:00.000-05:00

What a sweet ride. got in a few miles prior riding down to my buddy Rey's house and then back up north to meet up with the rest of the crew. Up Mt. Bonnel to the Dry Creek Saloon. What a sweet place. Drinking beers along the way. Had a beer there and then continued down the north side of Mt Bonnel, crossed FM 2222 and then continued north up and down a bunch of hills.

Has to be one of the sweeter rides I've been on since moving to Austin. Laid back, good people, and beers. Gotta love it. Really glad I stopped by the Peddler after riding the greenbelt last Saturday. If I didn't I wouldn't have been on this ride. Gotta thank Jeremey for getting this thing going.

Fixed Gear Good for the Knees?!

2006-09-20T15:08:00.000-05:00

I am sure you've heard it, fixed gear riding will kill your knees. Its always being said and I am sure there is some truth to it. lots of kids, see it all the time here in Austin, are riding track bikes on the street with track gearing and no front break. huge gearing that causes them to have to mash on the peddles and stopping that rear wheel with all that angular momentum must put some crazy stress on the knees.

i even had a saleswoman in Berkeley refuse to talk to me about a 1x1. "your going to destroy your knees" "did a singlespeed destroy your face?" well, i guess i won't be buying a bike from your shop then.

only problems or pain i've had with my knees is when they hit the dirt from crashing. in fact, it seems as though i've had less lower back pain than i used to, too. my guess is i used to love trying to push a big gear.

well, my man Sheldon Brown has an article by a guy who says fixed gear riding actually cured his cycling induced knee pain, gonna have to paste it but check it:

http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-knees.html

Sub 70 degree temps!

2006-09-19T09:09:00.000-05:00

Wow, I forgot what this feels like. Who'd ever though that temperatures in the high 60's would feel cold. Tara even had to wear a fleece jacket this morning. Great day for riding to work. Only problem if this weather keeps up there goes my excuse for jumping in a car. the brooks is breaking in real nice and is super comfortable. Already had to tighten it. Seems as though its breaking in real quick. Got soft as hell on the ride Sunday, but that was due to rain. Been proofriding in every 2-3 rides so that is probably helping it.

Tuesday night cross and mtn bike races coming up at the del valle motocross park. Should be sweet as its under the lights.

http://www.advmxpark.com/id82.html

Sweet Weekend

2006-09-17T17:48:00.000-05:00

bunch of riding this weekend. urban cross ride with my buddy Rey on Friday. Rode by Zilker Park and heard some music pouring out of the Austin City Limits Festival. Didn't get any tickets this year, although there were some acts I really wanted to see on Sunday, mostly Damien Marley.

Got to hear some good music this weekend though. WEnt and saw the Ephram Owens quintet last night at the Elephant Room. my favorite was when they played red clay by charlie hubbard.

http://www.ephraimowens.com/

Went on a sweet mtn bike ride yesterday. Figure all in all it was about 10 miles road and 18 miles of dirt. hadn't riddent the greenbelt in a while and I got worked. Super fun.

On the road today out to Buda with a new buddy Jeremy. Pretty nice to ride with someone who only had one gear. killer head wind heading out on congress, kept thinking the breakfast tacos were going to make a second appearance. the rain came down in Buda, but then it cleared for smooth sailing with the wind at our backs. Ended with a pitcher and some bugers. Sweet. Jeremy works at the peddler, a newish shop here in Austin.

http://www.peddlerbike.com/

Austin Moonlight Cruze

2006-09-10T12:40:00.000-05:00

The annual moonlight cruz. starts off at 2 am, lamar pedestrian bridge. There was even a bunch of ravers at the start. Around town with a couple stops. few hundred people riding around. finished at a parking garage near the capitol at about 4:30am. sweet.

Walnut Creek

2006-09-09T18:38:00.000-05:00

Walnut Creek is fucking sweet! Tight, fast singletrack, lots of turns, and short up downs. A lot of the turns are burmed too.

Cat

2006-09-09T18:34:00.000-05:00

This little kitten came by our house. Fed it. Came in the backyard as we were grilling, hung out, spent the night, and seems like she wants to stay. Lefty Lucy, for her clouded left eye.

Brooks

2006-08-24T18:52:00.000-05:00

Wooohooo! Tara bought me a B17 for my birthday. Nice. Finally can retire the old special edition turbo. Fucking thing was giving me saddle sores everytime I rode. Holes wearing in the leather. Gonna be fun getting this saddle to form to my ass.

DIE YUPPIE SCUM!

2006-08-18T08:03:00.000-05:00

Oh shit, I guess that includes me. Tara's and my new Jetta turbo diesel. diesel is the shit. fuel economy is great. epa rates this thing getting 43mpg while independent reviews i've read say about 49.9! Fuck hybrids. We thought about buying one, but their lack of track record and battery replacement/disposal didn't seem to cool. Most of our driving is highway also so the hybrid wouldn't be great.

Its hot. Tara's a hoss riding everyday to her new job. Five mile juant downtown. Me, I've been lazy. Its just too damn hot to ride 15 miles to work, not be able to shower, then 15 miles back home in the hottest part of the day. Been over 100 everyday now for a couple of weeks.

We need some rain too. Everything is browned out. Trails are so dry and hard traction is hard to find through the turns. No since washing the bike, just wipe down the chain cause your gonna be covered by dust first 15 minutes on the trail.

My fine lady's pimpin new ride

2006-07-13T22:13:00.000-05:00

In a week Tara is going to start teaching 6-7th grade art and english at our friends' school. Supe psyched, school is right downtown and she'll be riding every day. Might as well git yer self a new bike for the ride.

Bad ass commuter. Nice and light, what Tara was really wanting. Stout wheels, svelte (sp?) frame, road gearing, a little carbon, sold by Lancey pants.

Virgin ride tonight. Go get some ahi for the lady and pick up my epipens so I don't die the next time fire ants decide to attack, or next time dumb ass steps on a fire ant mound. Tara love it. Definately seemed faster up the hills and down. The higher gearing over the Dew so its pretty sweet riding along side Tara. She had a grin the whole time.

Only one little annoyance, heel kept hitting the end of the brake cable. Simple fix.

Not a bad day of riding for me either. 15 to work with a tail wind. Just enough that pushing my one gear was sweet. Good day to do it. 7 18-wheeler, 3 car, and a cement truck accident that closed the northbound lanes on I-35. One of the big rigs was a fuel tanker and spilled! My co-worker who live near me left before me, didn't make a breakfast taco stop, and arrived at work after I already finished a gatorade and a taco! Another 15 back home and then 10 with the wife.

Note to self, don't let the heat and humidity make you a puss.

thanks for the knowledge, Woodman

2006-07-13T22:11:00.000-05:00

I really don't know why more mechanics don't do this. Is this a Lincoln thing or something?

Midge Bars

2006-07-12T23:13:00.000-05:00

Well, my hands and wrists finally got fed up with the mustache bars. Found myself always riding in the curves since no other position, especially the ends were comfortable. Used to love 'em, but lately they are just kinda a drag. Probably started noticing it after putting the Jone's bars on my 1x1.

I've never loved traditional drops, so thought might give these a try. Ozone ordered me up a pair and they came in an astounding 3 days! Pretty awesome. Those guys rock! Vitus, the owner, is even trying to get me to go out on the Greenbelt with some of the Kona demo bikes. 4" of travel and gears, I wouldn't know what to do. Gotta take him up on it though. Will the dark side win me over? Doubt it cause anyone who seen my bikes know cleaning and wrenching often takes a back seat. Prefer the single gear where you can knock off the big mud chunks and just throw some more lube on the chain. Plus I'm too cheap for suspension.

Hopefully the heat and humidity wont bumb me out too much at 7:00 am tomorrow and I can test ride the bars on my way to work. Got a half mile ride in without tape to test the brake position. Felt damn good. Threw a dummy brake on there (with lever) cause I love riding on the hoods.

Enchanted Rock

2006-05-14T23:31:00.000-05:00

Bunch of dumped pics from my bachelor party. Untraditional bachelor party. 4 dudes camping, climbing, drinking and not doing much of it till the last night, and no whores or strippers. Pretty fun though.

One of the most laid back climbing trips I've been on. Even more laid back than trips it rained cause your always itching when rain is keeping you off the rock. Start drinking and getting all sentimental about those long days, high up off the valley, on the rock. A majority of this was spent chilling on our asses, drinking a warm beer, shootin' the shit, and puffin' courage.

A picture of a problem not sent, but there was only one half harted try. A fall from it would actually mean a long roll down the dome or at least till you could stop yourself via friction.

Cave Crack, 5.6 splitter, old school 5.6, super esthetic line that even a hardman would enjoy, but probably sans rope, classic.

the everest guide scraping his way up a 5.8 crack.

petron and cubans. developed quite a taste for tequila since moving to tejas. big fan of the dirty mexican martini. that sounds real un pc but i mean dirty in that i like a bit of olive juice in there with the lime.

spent to much time hiking and getting lost in the dark. pretty funny since we had an everest guide with us. 4 guys including a professional mountain climbing guide are lost overnight on a trail frequented by overweight, bluejean and cowboy boot wearing, SUV driving, supersizing, Texans. Found dehydrated, disoriented, and hungry. One headlamp with dead batteries to blame. Moon not as dark as they thought.

What would Backpacker subscibers think?

Nothing like the frontcountry epic!

Saw Clinton and H.W. Bush speak at Tulane graduation this weekend. Pretty damn cool. But the jazz band was better. Somber music to celebration, classic. As a person who can begin to understand hydrogeologic situation New Orleans is in, all I can say is, "REBUILD!" Rebuild smart and make some tough decisions, decisions that mean ignoring politics and taking some holistic measures to manage the movement of the nations water through the delta. The cultural loss would be too great.

If any of you people who might read this have eaten at Crabby Jacks, rub that ole gut. There are places I've lived that I never though I would and never had the desire too live there. Those are the places I hold dearest in my experiences. My fondnest for New Oleans has grown fonder with every visit. The food, the flowers, the oak trees, the music, the people, is all wonderful and to be a part of New Oleans rebirth would be something unforgetable.

Peace, ya'll.

ljm

CVO, finally some more pics for you to check out

2006-05-11T21:08:00.000-05:00

Got a great ride in yesterday. Rode with Tara, or should I say Mrs. Mason down to her improvisational dance class and headed out to the Greenbelt to get a little mtn biking in with my GB, rEy. Sweet riding. Especially since we've had so much rain since last Thursday. Tara and I went without power from Thursday through Sunday. Nice at first living by candle light, but by Friday evening we were like, "WTF!"

Riding was sweet. Nice having a trail that dries out so fast. Just a few puddles in low areas by the creek. Its cool though cause there is so little soil out there your not going to make ruts. Just as much dirt gets deposited during a rain in 'em that there's no net damage riding through. Problem is people ride around the puddles to the trail is wider in those parts.

Loving the two tubeless tires I bought. Ti Jones bar and the low pressure I can run with the tires are all the suspension I need. Felt the rocks on the rims in a few spots. Never could run 30 psi with tubes. I would've had more pinch flats than I could count, but these bad boys kept the air. Such good traction running the low psi. Unusually, rEy and I took the time to snap some photos. Both feeling tired from life, or at least for me, and him probably too much riding lately. Law of diminishing returns. Need to take some time off the bike, dude. But shit, what can you do. Ride it when you can.

Picked Tara up and rode home in a huge headwind. Tried teaching Tara the benefit of a draft. She was getting it but felt it was cheating. In fact she pulled me most of the way up Guadalupe. Thanks wifey, it ain't cheating to me, its the way forward.

Riding has been sparce since the wedding, but that's okay. Been having a blast when I've been getting out which is the imporant thing. Plus it feels like the skills are as good as they've been in a while. Just flying through the technical sections as fast as the gear on the bike will take me. Hell yeah, biatch!

Wedding Pics

2006-05-02T09:11:00.000-05:00

Couple pics taken by my Uncle Chuck at the wedding and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner shot is of my dad pulling out the old hockey coach skills and giving a inspirational speech. It was an emotional weekend and the ceromony brought most to tears.

oh the party was pretty good too. A dj was spinning till about 5 in the morning out at the lake.

Back from Jamaica

2006-04-29T02:06:00.000-05:00

Been awhile since I've been on a computer.

Lots of people in town last week. Over 10 people crashed out somewhere in the house. The wedding was sweet! Went off with no problems and was a great party. Having the cottages and cabins out there was rad. A dj was still spinning when Tara and I finally turned in about 4:30. Amazing how fast it was over.

Been chilling in Ocho Rios Jamaica at Couples resort. It was sweet not having to worry about a thing. All the food and booze you need. Had a sweet little limestone island on the resort that was clothing optional. Lot more chill than the main resort beach and they had a swim up bar. Don't know what I'm going to do now I can't drink rum punch and pina colodas all day.

Mrs. Mason and I brought back 2 liters of rum and I had to grab a liter of Bombay Saphire. It was so cheap. With the multiple leftover beer cases and case of wine from the wedding the party'll continue.

Bad to Good

2006-04-06T12:17:00.000-05:00

Riding to Walnut Creek the other day my friend rEy and I cut in through private driveway of some condos to access the trails. We came in hot and two ladies in a BMW were on the left side of the road coming towards us. Both swerved and missed but we received the double bird. rEy reacted with a big FU. I stayed silent. Over the shoulder I saw the break lights and reverse lights come on. I got off my bike, hoped these ladies didn't have a gun and weighted. Sorry came out of my mouth, some yelling came out of rEy, and after starting to yell, sorry came out of the ladies mouth who earlier gave us the double bird. It was cool! What could have been real shitty turned out great. We were laughing together. They helped me refind the access and explained how there is a public access up the road and a lot of people come in here and wreck landscaping to get in the park. "sorry, I knew it was private and I know about the public access up the road, we'll use that next time." "oh, don't worry, our access trail is fine, we just want you to go down that." How cool is that. We were in the wrong. Afterall it is a privately maintained road.

As a result I've decided to be less confrontational with the vehicles and bad drivers. I'm taking the high road. I'll still let drivers know they cut me off or came pretty close, but I'll try and do it in a non-confrontational way. Maybe that way the drivers will modify their habits instead of being even more pissed of a bike is on their road.

I don't know. I am either getting soft or the heat and humidity are getting to me.

Am I fat?

2006-04-06T12:08:00.001-05:00

No not really, but sometimes I wonder. Been thinking about this lately and was forced to think about it Tuesday when meeting some of those bike mojo folks. One of the older guys said to my buddy rEy and I, "Oh you guys look like the skinny fast type." How do you respond to that. I was tempted to say, "Well you may be fatter than me, but I bet I weigh as much as you." I weigh more than almost everyone I ride with, at 5'11" I will weight between 181.5 to 184 in a given week. I'll drop 2 lbs when I shit! Reading dirt rag yesterday looking at bike reviewers hieghts and weights they might be a inch shorter than me, but will have almost 20 less pounds of wieght. 20 pounds per inch? Maybe its the hair on my chest and back!

It'll be interesting to see if commuting 30 miles to and from work 3 days a week will help drop the lbs or add them as muscle mass. Maybe I can be a clydsedale by the end of the year.

Goals

2006-04-06T11:57:00.000-05:00

Gotta love goals. At least when you're making 'em. Ride to work 3 days a week. One day of the week left and one day of riding needed to make the goal.

Its pretty sweet. I've been on the bike everyday since Saturday. Thought I was going to have yesterday off. Was cleaining the rear wheel cause I was going to pull apart the Surly hub and regrease the bearings. Actually I'm a little afraid to see what those balls look like. Locking up a wheel while riding fixed can't be too good for bearing life. Tara gave me a call and said, why don't you ride down town and ride home from dance class with me. Probably only 4-5 miles each way, but my ass was on the bike none the less.

Found a bbq place, Amigos BBQ about a 1-2 miles on the way in from the office. Killer breakfast tacos on fresh handmade tortillas. One of the benefits of Tejas is the copious amounts of fresh handmade tortillas.

Gonna ride through Walnut Creek Park on my way home to get the off-road fixxie fix in. Rode out there Tuesday night. A group called bike mojo was out there to celebrate daylight playtime. Guess they do a tuesday night ride and then drink. Tuesday will be a commute by bike day from now on and I'll ride with some of those folks on the way home. Hopefully fill the MWC ride void. Plus now that I've got a working freewheel and brakes on the 1x1 I don't get any fixxie dirt.

Ride on!

Commuting

2006-04-04T08:34:00.000-05:00

Funny. When you ride your bike to work most everyone notices and is pretty suprised. When you don't ride your bike into work everyone notices too. Oh, decided to take modern transport today.

Needed to drive. Going riding for fun tonight. A group called Bike Mojo is having a keg out a Walnut Creek. Should be fun. Going to go ride with my buddy rEy and then do some drinking. Wont be as fun as a monkey wrench ride, but at least the dirt is dry down here.

The bike wins again

2006-04-03T13:53:00.000-05:00

Cool article in this months mother jones. sorry, my blog ain't uploading direct links so you'll have to cut and paste this if you want to read it.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/03/street_samaritans.html

Its about how medics in New Orleans were using bikes to get around post Katrina. With all the traffic jams and what not with evacuations leading up to hurricanes this year. One could have definately made better time on a bike than in a car. Will fat Americans ever learn?

Another day commuting to work on a bike. Bosses wife let me in on a good way to aviod the I-35 frontage road. Adds probably a mile or so on the ride, but after 13 or so miles, what's another mile?

Finally stopped being a loser

2006-03-31T08:49:00.000-06:00

and rode the ole' bike to work. Didn't ride at all to work last week. Doing an office move and had be able to run things to and fro. Didn't work monday and parts of town got up to 3.5 inches of rain tues. Wednesday there were still scattered thunderstorms and well thursday, they were calling for rain and i was feeling lazy. excuses are like ass holes, everyones got 'em.

rode today and had to do one of the CPO style glamour shots.

think its time to get some new bar tape? funny thing, the blue side is recycled off of tara's mustache bars.

and you think riding in city traffic is scary. how about riding on an interstate frontage road with cars traveling at 60mph+. you gotta love the shoulder.

Bachelor Boot

2006-03-30T09:07:00.000-06:00

Welp, a few good buddies came down to Austin this weekend. An old roommate from Cali who is now a high powered lawyer in NYC, a climbing buddy who lives in Santa Monica, and my roommate from undergrad who stores his truck in Seattle, but is usually down in Patagonia, up in Alaska, or over in the Himalaya guiding rich folks up big mountains. He's got a website if any of you are thinking about the big mountains:

Went to Enchanted rock to do some climbing. Well we didn't do too much climbing since none of us have been spending too much time on the rock lately, but it was real good to get some time to hang out and eat lots of bacon. 2.5 lbs. in 2 days between 4 people. Is that a lot?

The last night we cleared out of the E-rock and headed to Perdenales State Park. Even though the park was full we scored a camp site.

The Petron was so good for a while. Must have been that first shot I took, it was probably a triple shot or a mouthful. That stuff is so good. Getting pulled up of my crash pad and shaken didn't help too much either. Oh well. Those are the remnants of Texas Chili Cheese fries!

Fuckin Sweetness

2006-03-15T11:11:00.000-06:00

Finally did it. Managed to wake up early enough and throw the leg over the bike and ride to work. Mostly the delay was I'd never really explored the back roads between my house and office. Kinda hard to do when you just want to get home or to work as fast as possible. Finally saw one non-highway road up towards work the other weekend when I had to come back down south by ways other than the highway and came down Metric. Had the bed of the truck loaded with river gravel and anything over 50 felt real sketchy cause the front tires were unwieghted. Then the road my buddy rEy and I took to Walnut Creek was super sweet with a bike lane ran into Metric.

Sweet ride. Cool enough for knee and arm warmers. Super mellow, bike lane almost the entire way. Little crushed stone greenbelt trail action through Wells Branch. Finally a country road without a shoulder, but no traffic to an office park. Then came the sketchy part. Last probably 1/2 mile was all I-35 frontage road. Goddamn. A bit scary and some goddamn Dell employee came within about 4 inches of my leg. Fucker. These Dell people piss me off. Mostly cause their campus is so big it creates most of the traffic. They also seem like pretty idoitic and uncourteous driver, ya' know the type, the ones that are in a turning lane and pull up to block your left hand turn even though they got a red light. Oh sorry, didn't see you there I was on my cell phone, putting on lipstick, reading the paper.... Guess odds are if you employ a few thousand people odds are your going to get few jackasses.

Well, took about an hour with some stopping to look at the map along the way. Its about 13 miles by highway so its about that by the back streets. We'll see if I can manage 3 days a week. 2 hours everyday might make me neglect the home duties too much. Also see if work can manage a sweaty biker in their midst. No shower, but there is always the sponge bath in the office bathroom!

link working

2006-03-14T13:23:00.000-06:00

okay, the rocky hill ranch link is working. put the whole http:// thing in dere twice. oops. its a pretty cool website though. after riding there I felt pretty grateful to the people who opened up their land and made such kick ass trails.

god dangit

2006-03-13T21:54:00.000-06:00

tried to put a link up on the sidebar. kept coming up to microsoft. but if you like show tunes you should turn up the volume and paste this up top:

www.boomersrockyhill.com

Rocky Hill Ranch

2006-03-13T21:26:00.000-06:00

After a late Saturday night headed to Rocky Hill Ranch to do some riding. Private ranch in Smithville that allows biking, camping, and has a great saloon. Good climbing to get in and out of the trails. Super fun single track in the lost pines. In and out of dry washes that probably only have water during a big rain. As you can see the camera didn't come out much. Once at some coolers they had set out on the trail before heading back into the pines and once at the end of the ride, packing up. Had a couple of beers, a huge burger, a couple of bites of a way too hot halapeno, and fries. Pretty good for a lazy Sunday.

Project Free Weekend

2006-03-13T18:23:00.000-06:00

Pretty awesome weekend here. Feels like summer to me, but I guess this is still considered early spring. 80's and 90's with humidity is early spring I guess.

Tara's up in Arkansas with her friend Yvette. Schools on spring break and it was a little break from resposibilities for me. Lots of guilt free riding. Started with a short 3-5 miler with the mutts and my buddy Hector up at Walnut Creek. It was already hot and humid and Carmen was dragging so Hector rode on and I rode back to the car with the mutts. A couple of stops at some water holes got Carmen refreshed and ready to carry on. Only twice did she run off to a creek to go fishing. This dog is fascinated by the small fish that occupy these creeks. She can spend hours, oblivious to everything, trying to catch these fish. Bit easier getting her back that day. Maybe it was allowing for longer stops so she could get her fix. Rango on the other hand is always on the back wheel ready for when you try and put the hammer down.

Back home by noon. Cooking and then eating pancakes with my buddy rEy. Took out an Austin map and figured out a way to ride up to Walnut. Sweet ride. Better than I thought. The roads get pretty sketchy up north, but I knew there had to be a chill way. Bike lanes pretty much the whole way after we crossed 183. The sketchiest frontage road in Austin. Almost hit once by a guy pulling into a parking lot. Parkfield though brings you through some neighborhoods lined with live oaks and small hills through the drainages.

Dropped us into the loops at the southeast end. Did a few laps out on the back. Finally used my camera effectively. Saw a little side trail at a powerline that we were pointed at and decided to ride it. Its a trail that I don't really ride to often and couldn't remember it. Dropped us down this steep chute in the trees.

Rode on to the burm and the camera came out again. Usually when I ride I don't like stopping to set up pictures, but for some reason it felt like the thing to do. Maybe had to do with riding to the trail.

Used to be afraid to go high on the fixxie, always afraid I ride off the top into the woods, but its super fun on a freewheel. Coming down feels pretty steep when your on top of it.

Rey had a little trouble with the timing of the camera. He's a photographer, too.

By the end of that ride, that jersey was toast. Caught my inside pocket on a piece of tree branch going around a turn. Ripped open the pockets and one side to just under my armpit. All my tools flew out halfway down a cliff into the creek. Sweet. Thanks for the jersey, Carp. It was sweet while it lasted.

fixed gear

2006-02-28T23:17:00.000-06:00

new issue of 63xc is out. for some reason i really like bikes like this. probably the dirt bag mentality in me that likes things pieced together into functionality. for some reason links aren't showing up lately when i post 'em but here's a try

some good stuff to check out. how to reverse, a skill i haven't even tried to learn yet. author makes a point for its practicality on the trail. stop, stall, reverse, re-aim, go. 90rpm cadence, wha?

how to braze your own track ends. i'll leave that for the skilled like wills to learn.

oh yeah, i almost forgot. steve potts is in there and matt chester reviews the midge bars.

Louis Armstrong

2006-02-25T19:41:00.000-06:00

Check it out. On Best of Public radio tomorrow morning NPR is playing a program called Louis Armstrong's New Orleans. I know it on at 11 am on Austin's KUT. Maybe playing on other NPR stations, but if not you can alway check it out online:

Trips for Kids

2006-02-23T22:04:00.000-06:00

Talked to some folks at Trips for Kids tonight. i am signed up to help tutor students at the school tara is working at as prep for the state of texas exams. its a charter school for kids on their last chance to get a highschool diploma. throught it would be a good idea to find a way to get some bikes and see if any of these kids are interested in going for a ride. trips for kids is totally set up for helping get a program started at a school like this. the founder, maryln is sending me some info to help get me started. pretty big work to do that, talk to principle, get school to put program on insurance, sign copyright laywer jargon, find the interest, get some help, and plan two trips. that's the easy part. planning trips. there are a bunch of great rides we could do super close to town. stoked.

gityer pod cast on

2006-02-23T20:20:00.000-06:00

I love public radio. Pacifica Radio on the west coast was pretty good. lots of good music and programs, not just the occasional jazz program and classical music. KUT here in Austin is sweet. Lots of news in the morning and afternoon followed by Market Place, but in the evening and weekends they have great music programs. Lots of jazz, blues, soul, and on Saturday its American Roots and folkways. Listen online or gityer pod cast on

just filling out wedding invites. yahoo!

Frio

2006-02-19T17:14:00.000-06:00

Cold ass weekend in Austin. Freezing rain Saturday night. Ice in bowls Sunday morning. My parents were visiting from New York. Bummer for them. One good day of temps in the 80's, but cool the rest of the visit.

Dropped 'em off this morning for their 6:45 flight. Decided to go ride Walnut Creek. It was sweet. Don't know if was the early hour or the cold temps, but had the place to myself. Wool long sleeve, short sleeve, wool arm warmers, leg warmers, wool cap under the helmet, and carhart knickers. Perfect amount of clothes, light shells over my cycling gloves. Bottles had ice in them by the end of the ride and there was a thin layer of ice on the windward parts of the bike. Coldest ride of the year. Purdy good though and I'll take it cause I am sure to have a lot of hot ass rides the rest of this year.

DICK

2006-02-14T13:38:00.000-06:00

So, accident or divesion tactic to take America's attention off the domestic spying program? You decide.

Late Night Blog

2006-02-12T04:45:00.000-06:00

4:3o AM. Went and saw Grupo Fantasma at the Parish. Young group of guys, latin type jazz. Good music to dance to, salsa and more. Parish gets a bit crowded and its hard to dance amongst people standing still.

After Tara and I went to our friends Nick's and Pete's birthday. Kegs, dj's, and people making music come out of Mac's. Pretty sweet. Some dude's rappin' on top of the beats. Too bad the mike kept on cutting out.

Sweet Ass Bike

2006-02-11T12:14:00.000-06:00

My feelings for the cross-check were reaffirmed Thursday. Wanted to ride some dirt, but the front tire on the 1x1 is giving me problems. Damned stan's tubless. Guess that isn't really the problem. Air is coming out of the valve stem and having trouble sealing. I think its because the shop installed a regular liner when they should have installed a Sun Rhyno Lite specific strip, which they didn't have. Love it when mechanics err, makes me not feel so bad when I screw up wrenching my own bikes.

While Tara was getting a haircut I took a ride towards downtown to meet up with her later and grab dinner at Whole Foods. Rode down Congress, dodging and passing traffic at rush hour. Definately a rush on a bike, splitting lanes and making a hell of a lot more progress than the cars. Eventually made it on the Greenbelt about dusk and that's where my love of the cross-check came to light again. For a trail where the standard is a fs rig, that thing hammers. Maybe its the steeper gear, 42x16 (versus the 34x16 or 34x14 on the 1x1 free or fixxed), but it felt like I was flying through the rock gardens and around turns. The 38c tires fit through the rocks better and bumps just feel smoother on that ride for some reason. The bigger wheels, longer wheel base, and more streched out position don't make it as quick handling as a mtn bike, but its pretty damn good. The speed is definately real slow through real technical rock gardens, but real low speed through obsticles with your peddles just barely coming around is pretty radical on a fixxie. If you ride fixed but haven't tried it on your most technical local trail, you don't know what your missing. Granted, you may think it sucks once you try it, but now you know. You also know the feeling of riding and worrying about your peddles smaking everything. But odds are is on that first ride, you'll have that small moment of clarity, where you're just hammering, your bike seeming to maintain momentum on its own, and nailing those slight cadence stalls combined with a lean that allows the peddles to somehow snake their way through the rocks clean. Then reality strikes as your peddle smacks a rock at the lowpoint as your front tire nails a tombstone. One foot unclipped swinging out wildly as you try to hold on and keep the rubber down.

And back to the cross-check. The do everything bike. I take this on road rides with buddies. Granted since its fixxed they lose me on the downhills and I usually have to catch them going up if I want to continue to ride. Off-road, not as good as a mtn bike, but a different style ride that offers variety to your everyday trail. Gravel, and all day road rides. Around town. Tours. The only thing this bike might not be great for is racing. Jack of all trades, master of none? Don't know, probably depends on whose peddling the bike. Put the right rider in the cockpit and I sure its a master of all trades.

So if your in the market for a new bike and not looking for a bike to handle a specific task. You should think about going to your lbs and look at the cross-check. Such a fun bike to ride in almost all situations your other bikes might get to feeling a little neglected.

Wow, have times changed.

2006-02-07T12:00:00.000-06:00

My uncle sent me this quote. Something to think about when you throw a leg over that 27 speed cadence micro-manager that you call a bike.

Paul DeVivie invented the first derailleur gears in 1905, but Henri Desgrange (founder of TdF and bicycle racer) said they're "fine for invalids or district nurses, but not for true champions."

Elaina Ozitte Carpenter

2006-02-07T08:57:00.000-06:00

Some of you may have heard, Carp and Allison are parents! Elaina came into this world on Jan 29 or 30th. Carp didn't give me the exact date only how many days old she was so it would put here being born on the 30th

PUMPING IRON

2006-02-05T00:25:00.000-06:00

We took the keg over to our house for a little after party. My new buddy Moshu isn't too into dogs. Bit of a different culture in Saudi I guess. There is the universal language of beer though. Interesting talking to a person from a place where beer is illegal. Fuck that. Fuck religo-fascist states. I'm not into it, but it's probably not too PC.

http://www.hydeparkgym.com/

Pumping Iron. What a funny movie. If I had seen that movie before Arnold became Gov. of Cali-fuckin-fornia, I wouldn't have been so suprised he was elected. What a funny mother fucker. Hyde Park Gym. They have a website. Check it. Pump up pussy.