Bring It Hippie!!

Get your credit cards and internet connections ready. Dec. 17th at 1pm Central the TransIowa opens for Registration. I know what your thinking, "I'll be in the middle of a cross race." Don't worry, get with me off-line. Brotha's Gonna Work It Out.

The Voting is also not over for Endurance Cyclist of the Year. The Single Speed love train is rolling in strong for Dejay. Lots of love coming from OneSpeeder and OneGear.

As a lover of board sports, I give anyone props who signs off an email as "PopShuvIt."

Fresh from the NewsWire

A. Holy Hell is it cold.

B. This guy may write for Outside, but he's a nancy boy. Bicycle Diaries my ass.

C. Shots fired at D Street? Tell me something I don't know.

Tattoos in Modern Cycling: Part One

Eric Roman. One of the key men in promoting Single Speed World's this year and a man not afraid to suffer in endurance events (not to mention at the hands of the needle).

When Indy Fab names a color after you, you better be able to back it, particularly if it's, as Johnny said, "really fucking pink." Iron Cross. Wilderness 101. Strong results and all done SS style.

Speaking of Johnny, he had mentioned seeing an article Eric Roman wrote for Dirt Rag outlining a bike setup he ran for Iron Cross that sounded ideal for TransIowa. If anyone happens to hold on to those, I would love to find that issue.

Just Chillin'

After an incredible day yesterday, today was just going to be mellow and it was mellow in spades with the way the weather has been.

Corey and I rode for three hours yesterday, virtually all of it in Wilderness. We were certainly not alone. We saw Don, Sean Craig, Matt Wills, Kevin Wilkins and a train of folks. My office was also well-represented as JK, Regina and I assume her hubby, were seen enjoying the day as well. (Apparently, they also finished their ride along the trail by Haymarket park and managed to flat each and every tire they had.)

Penciled in Races for 05 (Pending approval of the home office in Traverse City, MI.)

TransIowa. (Thank you, Mr. Obvious)
The 12hr. (You know which one.)
24hrs of Afton. (Scheduling your racing around your friends. Priceless.)

Fear the One Gear

TransIowa for the low low cost of $30 bucks. If you're looking at best value per mile, it can't be beat. A moment of silence is in order though. Rock D will be unable to join us in the suffering.

Excellent ride today with Big Skinny today in Wilderness. Nice tempo, nice weather, no head-ons. Priceless.

Ride tomorrow starting at D Street at 2pm.

A very cool video of the Minnesota State Cross Champion can be seen on Dan Swanson's site. No surprise that my favorite moment is Jesse Lalonde's quick comment before the start of the race. He also took 3rd riding a Rig.

The Fascist Killer has thoughts about rocking X-Maxx, then racing the last cross weekend of the year. Stranger things have happened.

Thanks for the emails, Pilgrims.

Dejay Birtch emailed to spread the word about the Experience the SingleSpeed ride happening in Tucson. What else are you going to be doing on Jan. 21?

RockD says I am a wuss if I don't do the Arrowhead Ultra. I wonder if Sam will want to kick me in the junk for considering this one.

You will also want to mark your calendar for the 24hrs of 9 Mile this year. Why? Because Sameron will be defending the National Title there. Maybe I will enter and block Eatough for folks every time he comes by (which would be pretty damn often.)

Off Season Questions

Here are some questions milling about my mind. If you have answers, I would love to hear them.

Is there a good reference out there for someone trying to remove simple sugars from their diet? I am trying to visualize what my fridge and cabinets will be filled with. The concern: Watts.

Is a CTS program worth the money for someone like the Snob?

Should I go with the Black Band of Anger for my birthday?

Are basemiles better on a geared bike, since no matter what the road does, you can still spin?

And finally, Jesse Lalonde asks, What would Danzig Do?

Pure Sweet Sunday

Great Day. Base miles in the morning with Jeff and Corey. Grateful Bread. Ride to the races with Johnny and watch everyone play hammer and anvil.

Here are a few of my favorite moments, Kodak style.

Sam and Matt playing engine and caboose. So that's how their team works.



Tony with the Folks From Lincoln banner making the run-up a bit easier. If you didn't see it, the key moment of the A race was at the base of the run-up. With Brad Cole coming up in front of Tony, Cole took a digger and went down hard, Tony gave him a quick look and, without getting over excited, powered up the hill. To Cole's credit, the next time he came to the hill, he tried to ride it to make up time. He wasn't going down without a fight.




My little man, Mohawk and I enjoying the show.

Press Row.

Matt working it fixed gear style. Note the socks. Those may need to become a mandatory part of the CW Team Kit.

Matt was also a part of the Banter Moment of the Day. Through the first couple of laps, some cat. on a Slingshot was stuck on Matt's wheel and not pulling through. Johnny and I wanted that to end. As Matt and Slingshot boy came through the barriers, Johnny yelled, "Get that Coaster off of your wheel." Then, after the two weaved their way to the start/finish line, Matt looked at John and said, "You need to say your sorry." Classic.

The Snob Recommends

"A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. This has nothing and everything to do with endurance. It is my current read and my read of the year and will be no matter what else I pick up in the next month and a half.

Here's a taste:

"I don't want safety or support. I want there to be me and whatever I have to face, be it alcohol or drugs or something else. I want there to be a fight because I know how to fight. There will be a Winner of that fight. If it's me, I walk away and I have beat the shit that I didn't think I could ever beat and move on with my life. If it's not me, at least I get it over with."

Grab your library cards or borrow it from me.

Back to the light and fluffy. Dejay Birtch, who apparently can't deal with cramped German automobiles, has an interview in cyclingnews today.

Of interest, Dejay says, "what I'm trying to work out with Gary Fisher (Birtch's primary racing sponsor), is to do some multi-stage endurance racing with Cameron Chambers; Trans Alps, Trans Rockies, Cape Epic, that kind of thing. That's where the sport is going. "

On a related topic, I have decided to refer to Sam and Cameron as simply, "Sameron."

Mark Your Calendars

Game ON!! Trans-Iowa V.2 will take place on April 29-30, 2006.

What bike to ride? Hmmmm.

What's the course look like? Double Hmmmm.

My question is, can I take this guy along? He certainly helped Frischy.

Needless to say, I'm pumped.

After

Before

Where are my LobsterClaws?

In case you haven't gotten the good word, our pedalling commute may be a bit brisk in the morning.

As if you could forget, CROSS is in town this weekend at Pioneers. Warning, I am bringing pom-poms.

Those of you who are considering TransIowa, might want to do a bit of browsing. Guitar Ted finished a recon of the course this weekend. The pictures of the 'B' roads don't do them justice. Look at the pics, the imagine riding through the ditch and up on to the high edge of the field; that was TI05. You'll also notice I have added Jeff's blog on to my links.

Anyone heard further rumors about a TransKansas?

Weekend Randomness

Thomas Frischknecht won the Ruta today and is the first non-Costa Rican to do so. Apparently he had a motorbike riding with him for support to negate the homefield advantage of the locals. Smart.

In terms of riding, it feels almost like the weekend never got started. There starting and stopping in the group ride on Saturday eroded the time I had so the ride felt really short. No one's fault, just one of those wierd mornings were things don't flow, including a chain-throw which somehow shot my bike out from under me, but left me standing. Strange.

Later in the day, I went for a short jog and somehow managed to tweak my back about 15 minutes into it. Good gravy. I took that as a signal to rest and plan out my off-season training, which made Sunday a coffee and family day.

Wasn't the barista in this pic at the pub crawl with the rest of the nuns?

Wasting Time with Frame Colors

Apparently, visuals have been my theme lately.

I've spent too much time lately wondering what looks our friends at IF can come up with. It's too easy to start looking through their gallery, then turn around and see what other riders have done with their frames. I most likely won't even ride an IF next year, but it's still fun. I would imagine you can do the same with Serotta and others. (Too bad my favorite paint scheme falls under the "might as well get Ti" category.)

Let me know how you like the new blog look. There are also uncomfirmed rumors of double-images, which I am not getting from my machine. Critical eyes are welcome.

Rides this weekend people? Sam, Corey, Rick, who's with me?

How about Endurance Cyclist of the Year?

You've seen its various forms on Velonews and read the MTB Omaha post with North American Male Cyclist opinions, but how about the endurance set? Somehow I doubt we will see this option in the year end issue. Endurance Cyclist of the Year.

Some folks who could merit your vote:

-Dave Weins. Crushed it in both Leadville and the Vapour Trail.
-Cameron. Do I really need to add anything here?
-Ernesto aka. Sologoat. Pushed Eatough at "Worlds" to finish 2nd and won nearly everything else he entered.
-Eatough himself. "World Champ."
-Jeff Kerkove. Got screwed out of his biggest goal, regrouped, then crushed it both locally and in Japan.
-Mike Curiak. No hamster wheels here. Set a new record in Alaska.
-Dejay Birtch. SS "Worlds" and National Champ.

You get the idea. Who have I forgotten? They all get mad props. Opinions?

I believe the proper name for this would be the "John Stamstad Award."

'Derailleurs are for Failures'

As some of you know, lately I have become a bit obsessed with single-speeds. It's pretty easy to trace things back to the source; a conversation returning from Leadville between Jeff, Mohawk and myself. By the time it was over, Johnny had offered the Fascist Killer to convert and it was game-on.

It didn't take long to see benefits. I am a mechanical nitwit, so life was easier there. But more importantly to me, it helped make me faster. It's funny how you ride better when you have to carry speed as opposed to over-braking, then cranking it up again. It was nice to longer be dropping back through the winding sections at Wilderness then having to fight back on. (If you haven't seen it yet, and I am sure you have, there is also some interesting comments on Folks from Lincoln in regard to 'why?').

It's now reached a level where I plan to race SS in any short races next year, while gearing up for anything longer. With two possible exceptions, TI and Leadville. Cameron and I discussed the prospects of racing TI on a single speed. It's also been done before by Todd Scott (4th) Patrick Humenny (5th) and others. I had also planned on racing Cross single-speed until life intervened.

To me the best scenario is two mountain bikes with identical dimensions, one single and one geared. That way, you can switch back and forth without causing your body to ask, "WTF?"

The quote used as the title of this post is lifted from Jesse Lalonde's site (see link on the side). Jesse won the Single Speed World Championship bike race, but not the carts.

I say ride it all, geared, single, fixed. It's all bikes and it's all good.

By the way, the pic's of Matt Slaven.

Low Drama Weekend... Priceless

It's hard to be snobbish when everything goes smoothly, but I will take it anytime.

Before Corey and I left for Wilderness, I got to talk with Johnny at the hotel, about bikes, life and his needle dropping neighbors who just lost their privacy curtain. We apparently share the same fall clean up gene that kicks in about this time of year. Strange but effective and neighborhood friendly, drug-addled neighbors being the exception.

It was nice to have Corey back on the bike. Without a doubt I have ridden with Big Skinny far more than anyone else this year, so it really felt that things were back to normal.

Below is an actual x-ray of Corey's leg.

Corey and I kept expecting to see the CVO and the rest of the rolling caravan but popped out in the south parking lot without a sighting. Not wanting to push Corey's leg to far, we headed to LBC to say hello to Sam. Of course, there was the usual bike chit-chat, but it's also always a bit more and that's what makes it sweet. (Even if Corey kept wanting to discuss bodily functions. )

There was also this bit of eye candy. Me likey.

Mr. Bike Shop Owner fared a bit better today, but still must not have been quite himself (scroll down to page two). I haven't bothered to do the math, but if you glance the the points standings, I would think he sealed the deal.

Remember my post about the 3 Peaks race? Of course you don't, but Keith Bontrager has a nicely written piece about it on CyclingNews.

The Assorted Saturday

Shrugging off a couple of no-shows, I rode gravel this morning at around 6:40. I tried to do a bit of photo journalism for the snob site, but ended with four very mediocre shots and one excellent one. The latter shot is being saved in an attempt to make a header for the blog. This will be a new level of geekdom for the snob, so we will see how it turns out.

The ride itself was nice, if a bit brisk. It's sad that TI jumps into my head every time I hit the farm roads. Speaking of, if you are considering it and also wondering what the bike of choice is, check out the following discussion. I haven't chimed in yet, but probably should. After about 50 miles last year, I was wishing I had ridden my cross bike. This year the plan will be a 29er with thin tires. I'd like the best combination of rolling spead plus some float. After having ridden in the grass on the edge of cornfields last year during the 'B' road section, getting some bounce per ounce seems key.

Speaking of 29ers, Intense appears mating big wheels and VPP technology. Check it here and here for your morning read over espresso.

It appears Mr. Bike Shop Owner had a rough day down South, but I couldn't find the details yet. Let's hope it's nothing that will impact tomorrow as well.

On a positive note, you have to love the people at Grateful Bread. I walked in and ordered a dozen scones, only to discover that the $10 and $5 bills I was holding were actually two 5 spots. No worries, just bring it in later today. Not to mention, when I arrived there were no scones out so the lady goes into the back and boxes them up fresh from the oven for me.

Now if they only served espresso.

Get It Done, Fellas. Get It Done.

The Mid-America Cross Cup has it's final weekend starting tomorrow and the local crew is one-two and looking to close it out.

Keep it smooth and fast fellas.

The Inspiration - Joel Gion

Joel Gion, formerly of the Brian Jonestown Massacre is primarly to blame for the current facial hair setup.

Here he is seen in the movie Dig! riding a conveyor belt saying, "Here we go top floor. Ladies underwear. Illegal Drugs and Cigarettes."

The fact that the chops tied into cycling so nicely was just icing on the cake. (And enough people have asked that it's worth its own post.)

Chops In Modern Cycling: Part V

Most of the shots I have seen of Deejay Birtch have involved a full beard and not chops, but we're giving DeeJay clearance, Clarence. This Soul Ride victory celebration picture shows great chop potential, so he's in.

In addition, Deejay took was the first SS man at both the US Nationals and "Worlds" 24hr events.

I'll take "Badass" for $100 please, Alex.

"Another Animal Entirely"

Mike Curiak just posted details of The Grand Loop race on MTBR, including photos and link were you can read accounts of previous attempts. While this could prompt another round of "pipe-dream" comments, this is exactly the kind of blend between adventure racing and mountain biking that fires me up.

Read it and weep.