Some Big Doin's

So things have been interesting (busy as per usual) lately. Probably the biggest news is that I will be changing jobs in about a month. This has NOTHING to do with poor working conditions, hating my job or a lack of money. I love the people I work with and really enjoy getting up to go to work every day for multiple reasons. But in the past couple of years I guess I kind of felt that something was missing. You all know about my obsession with beautiful, human powered, two wheeled machinery. Most of you are obsessed as well. I absolutely love working with bikes, so the summers around work have been fantastic. But when the summer draws to an end and we start getting ready for ski and snowboard season, I have a longing to still be focused on the bike end of things. It seems to me that every year this 'longing' sticks with me for a longer and longer period of time. So much so that I commuted (albeit not consistantly) through the winter and thought about what I wanted to do to my rides all winter long (when I usually think about snowboarding). I decided that because I am hopelessly obsessed with bikes, I should work with them year round. It was definitely a difficult decision to leave behind the job and the friends that I work with from the past five years, but working full time in a dedicated bike shop is where I feel I need to be. I will be starting at Pedal Power in mid May. Feel free to drop by and say hello!

On other news, I got my copy of the new Terrible One zine that contains some of my photo work. Head here to cop one. I could tell you which of my photos are in there, but just spend the measly eight bucks and get yourself a neat little zine you can put on your coffee table for guests to enjoy. $8 bucks for a zine you ask me?!!! Isn't that a bit expensive?! Not when you consider that it's a really nicely BOUND edition with GLOSSY pages and about 110 pages long! That's not all! If you order now you'll also receive a bunch of neato T-1 stickers that when applied properly, are sure to make your vehicle of choice the coolest on the block! But wait!, there's more! They'll also throw in a CD of music from Indie-rock sensations the Holy Ghost Revival! $8 for all that? They must be crazy! Or spend 23 bucks to get all of the aforementioned stuff, PLUS a limited edition T-shirt. What a deal! So I'm off to bed to finish reading my T-1 zine and then get some sleep. Hope that you all are doing well. Ride Fast, Ride Hard!

Passed By The Old Guys...

This past weekend the Root 66 race series held its second mountain bike race of the season @ Winding Trails in Farmington. Pat and I headed out there to try our hands at this race thing. I got up, ate, packed up my gear and my bike, caffeinated and headed out to the race. Got there around 8AM, got my number, aired up the tires and went out to pre-ride the course. Now all I read and had heard from other people who did the race last year was that it's flat and super fast. Well apparently things changed this year because there was a definite steep section that took me by surprise on the pre-ride. I finished the route noting little elements that could cause me trouble during the race. I met up with Pat on the way back to the parking lot. Put my bike in the stand that John C had so graciously lent me (thanks again John!) and cleaned my ride off. Pat and I stretched and hung out for a bit before the line up for our race. As we were lined up I was checking out some of the other bikes. A pretty good mix of stuff. Everything from the brand new XT group to older 7 speed rigs. Race starts and I try to stay with the lead group. Watch a kid spin 90 on a sandy patch and almost case it, not even 100 yards into the race. Great. Now I'm worried that someone's gonna lose control into me somewhere. At the 1/2 mile mark the pack kinda thinned out.

I'm riding behind this kid with a full Cannondale kit and full suspension rig. Just as we get to the first single-track section we pass his teammate leaned up against a tree heaving his guts. I guess that the 3 packs of Gu right before the start weren't such a great idea. We get to the steeps section and the kid leaves me in his dust as he just flows down the sketchy single track. Once we get to the climb though I get right on his ass. We turn to go up the next section of single track and he just stops dead on the trail. Wrong gear? Who knows. He grabs a tree and leans over to let me pass. He catches up to me a bit further in the race. I keep a pretty steady pace and he starts losing ground. Once we get to the end of the first lap, I sprint up the hill past the finish line and pour it on where it flattens out. He's way behind me and I never see him again for the rest of the race. I checked the standings and found out the he never finished. Mechanical? Poor nutrition? Alien abduction? Who knows? I went out a bit too hard in the beginning of the race. When I got the last 8th mile I could hear riders coming up behind me. I tried to keep the heat on to stay in front of them but started to feel my arms tingling. The last time I felt that was when I was under-nourished for a road ride and wound up dry-heaving on the side of the road for 10 mins a couple of years ago. I kept my pace to a manageable level, got passed by four guys from the age group above me, hung with them in the uphill singletrack section no problem. But once it flattened out, they took off on me. I wound up placing 9th out of a field of something like 21 in my age group. 50:59 for 9 miles (4.5 mile course @ two laps). Not bad for never having raced anything before. Had a great time and looking forward to riding in the next race in May. I found a couple of photos of me on the promoter's web site. Sorry for the small size but couldn't figure out how to enlarge them.


-beginning of the race. this is the top of the steep section. i look so focused (trying not to run the stupid photographer over who's framing up with one foot in the trail...fucker!)

-really starting to suck wind here...

That's it. Everyone should come out and race the next one. We'll get our own team started. Call ourselves Team Cock or something. Get out and ride!

Anger and French Fries

So here I am just getting over another small cold. Fourth one of the year! I don't understand it. I feel like I'm in great shape now riding into work, being active, eating relatively well, etc, and I got sick four times this winter! Oh well. It's been a bad cold year for everyone. I went with Joe and his lady to go see Henry Rollins @ Toads a bit ago. Great show. Only complaint is that we had to stand for something like the two hours that he was on stage. There were chairs out but not nearly enough for everyone. He told some great stories, almost made me piss my pants I was laughing so hard and made me think. Post show, we headed to Rudy's around the corner to ingest some greasy Frits [sp?]. All I have to say is 40 different kinds of dipping sauces! Good times. Got my first bike race this Sunday. If you're interested in seeing me flounder about all awkward-like feel free to come check it out: Winding Trails Fat Tire Classic, Sunday April 10th. My race goes off @ 10AM. Racing the beginners class. It's a brisk 10mi race and from what I hear the course is pretty fast. I'm anticipating it being pretty smooth and not really technical. If any of you have raced here in the past give me a shout about what I should expect. Got to go through my bike tonight and make a few changes here and there. I've got to go get ready to rock into work. Hope you're doing the same. High of 60 today! Nice!
RideFast! RideStrong!