again.

raise the driving age. i know thats a re-post but for fuck's sake, this kid was by my house.

and it just goes to show, in general, people are fucked. what the hell is wrong with us?

heavy.

rider down. this one right by my house. damn...

Who would have thought: I made my first money in a pro/1/2 race. It helps that it was a TT against 10 other 2's on a course I did this year already (Cascade)... but I'll take it. $40 for 3rd? Wow, this must be the big leagues now.

I wasn't going to do the Omnium's Saturday evening crit but ended up talked into it - where I watch capt'n OB take a sprint prime for a case of Black Butte Porter. He doesn't drink. So it was a good day.

The RR Sunday was anticlimatic - tho Adam Craig seemed intent on getting in some tempo workout and sporadically put the hammer down in the cross wind sections. That was amusing. The Captn' and I did our best to get away but CMG was sitting on everything for some reason, and it took a while before anything rolled away, and wasn't until lap 4 that we got in a move. OB managed to roll away with a couple of guys, including Craig, and I proceeded to sit on everything that moved to chase. Heading into the last lap my legs were finally blown, I tried going with Hosmer and Hamilton when they awoke from their slumber and decided to go chase 10th place, felt the rubber finally snap, and I did lap 7 with like 5 other guys at what was finally a reasonable pace, and called it a day.

In other news, I measured my '04 Fuji frame last week and found that the rear dropouts are shifted left about 3mm. So, my rear wheel doesn't and can't align with my front. It turns to the right just beautfully but kind of hesitates going left. Maybe that's why. Anyways, I have an RA# from Fuji to send it back and we'll see what they send me instead. Even if it's NOS, a new frame is a new bike, and I love new bikes.

fixin' to.... barf?

Yet another fixed gear crit. Or, if you prefer: Me, Richard, Gary, Les, and Lou Swing riding around in circles for a half hour. I won a beer, a buck, a bottle, and ten bucks to a muffin shop on prairie road. Not bad for an informal, yet OBRA sanctioned ride. I feel kind of silly doing something I would do for shits on any given weekday anyways, and getting BAR points for it... so it goes. Hanging out with nobody but 6 or 7 Paul's guys, a couple others from the local road scene, and we've got an oh-feecial race and everything. Rock and Roll.

This week, tho, the too-cool-for-school, hemmed up ladies' jeans wearing, no-helmet, 12inch-flat-bar no-brakes fixed-gear wanna-be-messenger art-school-dropout types stayed home. Or, more likely, strutted around Mcmennamin's bikes locked up outside with a ten pound chain, having ridden all of three miles from their room in a drafty dusty house on Broadway, so they can get shitfaced and make sure everyone sees them in their new black women's tightie's off the clearance rack at Sears, 'cause you know, trendy is defined by actually being seen, I mean, what good is it to stand apart if Joe Public doesn't know about it, right? So you better be loud and get some attention from all those squares, so you can feel all good inside about how square they all are, and how way too cool you are. Yeah, you're different all right. Strut it. Preen in public. Get that 'ol cycling cap at a good rakish angle, you devil, you. Yeah. You're anti establishment. You drink micro brew and won't listen to music by any artist who has more than 50 fans, 'cause that makes them a sellout. Yeah. Your bike is powered by smugness. Go, Rocky, go.

Get the fuck out.

Far be it from me to lash out on a whole group of people digging their own private little scene, because hey, that's sort of my MO as well, but I get a little anti when it comes to the poser bike scene. Bikes are a bunch of things, from everyday tools to racing weapons to pleasure toys, but I sure hate to see something as blatently utilitarian as a fixed gear get made into a fashion accessory. It's sort of like trying to mooch the real bike rider's (commuters, racers, enthusiasts, people who go for actual bike rides for fun) vibe to get some sort of better-than-tho stature out of it. I'd have a little more respect if there were full fenders, a rack, a trailer hitch, front and rear lights, and road grime in the drivetrain. I'd give a nod if these guys actually rode a bike in the winter when it's pissing down rain. I'd give props if these were a tool, or an exercise machine, or anything other than some sort of fucking fashion accessory. Sorry, bikes are a lot of things, including toys, health clubs, shopping carts, and tools, and for a lot of different reasons, but if you spend more time posing with your bike than riding it, you're the tool.

That's just what I think.

MRT

It's been a bad week to be a pro cyclist. Arguably the most successful team in professional cyling over the last decade can't find a sponsor for next year, despite winning the Tour and putting another on the podium. The Kazakh juggernaught now has three positives from the last month, and no-one in the upper reaches of the sport's management is atually any closer to doing anything about it - tho the ASO-UCI screaming match seems to have quieted down a little bit like children throwing a temper tantrum finally hyperventillating and running out of air. Rest assured, after they get themselves under control, they will soon be back at it, flinging feces and screaming random obscenities.

Not only is man obviously descended from monkies, but some of us still are monkies.

I feel bad for monkies. Way to make them look bad.

Meanwhile, I finally got out and did the McKenzie River Trail yesterday, with Doug and Muyskyns. We rode up from the bottom until the Trail Bridge Reservoir, then turned around and came back. Somewhere around 4hrs, nice pace. And a sixer of Golden Stone amber ale awaited at the bottom. Mountain biking rocks. My skills even seemed to improve towards the end - I got going trying to rail all the turns and hit my pedals and cranks about 10 time in the last 15 minutes, occasionally knocking my feet off and once launching my rear wheel sideways, but the miracle of fat tires kept me upright and I swear, I didn't even crash. Who woulda thunk.

Keeping up the theme of avoiding road bikes this week, I am skipping both the Crawfish and the State Champs crit up in PDX this weekend. Not only is it a painful drive for an hour of racing, I just can't be convinced to give a damn. There's some wiley native rainbows in the upper reaches of the McKenzie, and I have a box of fresh flies ready to do some damage. I might pack in with a propane burner and a frying pan, and have me some fresh lunch on the river somewhere.

Sounds even better than riding...

things i learned

This I learned this week:


My cross bike is excellent. My skills are not.

My mountain bike can obscure that, but only on nice smooth trails like Ridgeline.

I can go faster on my cross bike, but safer on my mountain bike.

Blackberries are a good excuse for not riding a section that you are afraid of. Mmmm, tasty.

I really don't give a shit about my job anymore. Constant long days that are basically the new paradigm for the company are simply not attractive.

I can't wait for my Alaskan hunting adventure next month. In fact, I might go up early. Like, now.

When my woman is away, I have more chores to do. However, they don't take as long.

It is possible to make enough pizza on a Monday night to last for all meals, all week, and not get tired of pizza.

Do not eat pizza before a hard ride.

Beer is an excellent recovery drink.

The science channel rocks. When they go to commercial, I still have the military channel, the biography channel, the history channel, the history channel international, the discovery channel, HBOs, the food network, comedy central and the cartoon network. All evening and night long.

55x11, 44x16

State TT: 4th. Eh. Course was long again, which was annoying. My ass still hurts.

So I followed that up with a 20 lap time trial in the new Monday fixed gear crit to ride away from 5 other dudes, spinning my 44x16 for all I was worth(gear restricted to 48x16, 21' rollout, which I am pretty sure everyone else had on), and took the victory. Yay.

And so begins the week of computerless riding. I'm skipping the crit, skipping the Thursday nighter, skipping all group rides. It's all about the cross bike, the mountain bike, and the fixie if I need skinny tires.

You see, the woman is out of town. I have 10 days of uninhibited riding ahead of me. After work, as long as I want. Weekends, wherever I want.

Tonight, tho, I'm going fishing.

It's not all about the bike.