from FLatness to the Stars all lining up!

Rode in this a.m. nice and early, beating the sun to get a long ride in. A little fog here and there, but otherwise the bike trail (when I am on it) and the trails were totally empty. A little chilly, seeing its been near 80 in the afternoons lately....um, isn't it almost Thanksgiving?

So I am about an hour into it and I take a corner...hmmm, a little squishy! I look down, sure enough I am slowly flatting. No biggee right? Well, seeing I had 2 flats the other day from my house and now this one.....WTF? I sat down went over my tire like I was looking for gold (keep in mind its a brand new tire), but nada. I am going to have to go tubeless, and trust in Scott's Stans-Mojo-Magic! We shall see! Despite that, it was a good ride...the worst morning riding is better than the best day anywhere else for that matter!

We shall see what the ride after work holds for me. Looking at another 1.5 to 2 hrs easy spinning.

On another front, Chris and I have made things interesting with a bit of a wager....details to come, loser buys a set of Chris King Salt and Pepper shakers of the winners color choice... Stay tuned, April 1, 2009 will tell all!!!!

Finally, I asked Marja what her and I should do for our anniversary coming up in December, figured we should do something big seeing she has put up with my annoying butt for three years, anyway, she responded, wait I am tearing up....she said, I am dead serious here....she said, "I want to ride my bike..."

I couldn't respond, I was speechless! Life is good ya'll!

What a difference a week makes...really?

Well, here I am a week later and now I have a cold...ah the joys of two kids in school. You get to share every illness with the entire community! Small price to pay I guess, it's just I am a WIMP when it comes to a stuffy nose....

Despite a lot of "garbage" going on this last week it was really uneventful. This week was full of kid craziness between gymnastics, soccer pizza parties, and more gymnastics! Annika will be starting on a team here in Cameron Park starting in December, she is already working on her front tucks (flips) on the tramp.

Commuted from Folsom both ways on the CX bike Thursday, wow it felt great just to ride after last weekend. I was falling into the depths of depression being off the bike for 4 days...sounds silly but my kids start asking me to stop whining when I haven't ridden for a few days, its ugly.... I then rode up to Pville from here in Cameron Park on the rail trail Friday...sticky and fast single track since the rains, but I still flatted twice...both punctures...WTF? The Stan's gods really want me to convert back to tubeless on the CX!

On that note, seems Stan's is suing Specialized, can you say KARMA? Where's my TerraLogic?

Anyway, its November and my favorite time of the year with cold days, some rain, leaves falling from the trees....can some one tell me why it was 80 degrees yesterday, more of the same for today? I was able to ride two days in the rain a few weeks ago, but after looking at Folsom lake, man we need rain! Maybe Chris can send some via the Washington-CA aqueduct!

Well we are out the door, Cam and Annika are going to ride Brown's Ravine today with the mutts, Marja and I running it. Annika's first single track ride, no more fire roads or Prairie City, she'll be on a single speed just like her old man!! :)

Happy middle-of-November!!

Humble Pie Anyone???

Well, if today was any indicator of my body's need for rest...wow! Marja and I headed over to the Sac CX race at Discovery, an NCNCA Cup stop, only a few miles from Marja's house. After the standard whining from her that she hadn't ridden in a while due to school, I decided she needed to race since she refused to make up her mind.....well she dropped her arch rival on lap #2 and finished about 6 seconds out of third place....remember she hasn't been on a bike in a month! Like it matters!

Then there was my ride....I say ride, because today I paid $30 to ride around a fun CX course Rich laid out in Discovery Park. I stayed home from Portland, SSCXWC, due to exhaustion and my body hinting that I might be getting sick...so after sleeping on average 9.5 hours each night since Friday, I figured I should be up for a middle of the pack finish- tough at an NCNCA race in the A's as there is a lot of competition, never mind I am on a SS...why not make it harder on myself!

Well I felt O.K. warming up, halfway through the first lap I was relegated to the back of the pack thanks to some schmuck trying to ride a six-pack of small barriers, seems his second bunny-hop left him on the ground sideways in front of me w/ nowhere to go....no worries, the next straight away I crept back up to the middle, passed a few on the next two barriers, another in the tight muddy single track in the tunnel, and then we hit a long grassy straight away...I came around one rider hammering to grab the wheel of the group he fell off of...then my head started pounding and I just felt weird....so I got on a wheel and held it for a while, but ouch!

"He's calling the engine room, but no one's answering.."

So began my slow slide to the back of the pack. Lights were out, and unfortunately I was home!

I couldn't even hold a wheel....now its one thing to be suffering while having a good race, and holding your position, its another when you are sliding down the field like a ball rolling down Stage Coach in Auburn....Lap 2 under the bridge, I puked....not that "wow that's awesome" puke you see because you are pushing yourself so hard in a CX race, but that "wow this is pathetic puke" that happens when you feel like you are going to lose it at both ends and your legs might pop as well thanks to lactic acid....one mouthful. What next???!!!

I fought every urge to ride off the course back to my truck and pack it in. After Humbolt, when after a mechanical I cruised and didn't realize until 9 hrs into a 12 hr race I was still in 3rd, I refuse to ever give up on a race. So I fought the urge, and I almost lost several times...

So, to somehow make one of the worst races a positive experience I look at it like this:

1. I did not give up and ride off the course...unless you have been there, this might seem silly, but it was something I needed to do for myself (never mind Marja felt I should never have started...she's likely right, but DO NOT tell her that)
2. I was not lapped..again sounds lame, but in a CX race, a bad day usually means you are getting lapped at some point...o.k. so the course was really long, but give me a break here!
3. I was not last...baby steps!!

So I have said it before, be positive...even my pathetic display today I can walk away from it with something, just not my pride, I left that in the truck before the race started!!

Gordon asked me at the end of the race, "You bring the wrong gear Brad?"

I replied, "no I brought the wrong legs!"

...all about timing....

...it had to happen, two days before the SSCXWC in Portland I get a little sniffle and then the body aches....long story short Scott and Linda are up in Portland eating some breakfast about to head over to Chris King in a few hours to take part in Saturday's time trial and here I am writing about it. I was jealous of those two last year, but its killing me now! I will be honest, I have slept more in the past 36 hours than I have the past week and a half it seems...my body needed a break. I have to admit part of me wishes I went just to go after the heckling award! See I played Lacrosse at UC Davis, and what we lacked in skill at times we could ALWAYS make up for with heckling the other team or even fans....


So enough, I wish Scott and Linda a great two days of racing, I will be buying Ciro's pizza upon their return to hear all about it!! I know they will do well, Scott has been on a terror lately at the cross races and Linda always steps it up at the big events!! Lastly I am bummed as I will not get to see my buddy Chris and his family, that would have been fun! Jake and Zack love the cow bells and we all know you can never have enough cow bells!

So 0n to rumors:

1. Coolest 24 hrs may not be in Cool...sources close to me say that the State Park folk may not let the event happen in Cool, using the Olmstead loop as the core of the race. Instead it may be moved to Granite Bay...now don't get your panties in a bunch and whine and cry, just like I did (it was ugly), the idea would be to run the course up toward rattlesnake bar and use the trails toward the Auburn Dam overlook and form a loop that way....I don't know enough of those trails to hypothesize.. Personally Cool needs to stay on the same course, create a little history, plus its the "COOLest" not the "Granite Bayest 24hrs"...I hope Jim can strike a deal...anyway, its all RUMOR at this time.
2. Sly Park 100 has approval, hard part is coming up with a course....I have no worries about the course, the trouble is Sly Park proper and the tight rules they have considering the reservoir is for drinking.... But how cool is it to have a 100 miler so close to home! Who ever can lend help to Jim to get this one off the ground!!
3. So No Mas 100 course has been mapped out, and I have to say, "ouch!" 2 weeks after the Coolest 24, this course is going to cause more than a few of us to cry. I have ridden only once out the Lake Sonoma way, but after talking to Carlos from Bike Monkey this one will be an EPIC...break out the 19 and 20's!!!
4. This is fact, Boggs 8hr in April is up to 300 registered so their are only 150 spots left, so sign up and enjoy a really fun early season 8hr race!

All in all Jim's series is going to be great, whatever the details might be. There's the Boggs 8hr, Coolest 24 (Granite Bayest), the So No Mas 100, Boggiest 24hrs in Cobb, Sly Park 100 and Tahoe Sierra 100...all in our backyard!

I am going to try and race out at Discovery Park manana, its an NCNCA Cup event in the Sac CX series...I just wish it was Portland, there is next year!

...to pay for bike racing habit...

85.5" tip to tip, adjustable either direction 45 degrees

Float bags included (2)

OCD...

I would be the last one to call myself OCD, in fact I don't know many that would even think of that acronym when they thought of me...ask my Ex-wife and see what she says :).... My friend Chris, he has been writing a lot about his obsession(s)...all bike related...and I give him grief. Truth be told, I might be just as bad as he is, and when Marja and I get together and obsess on bikes (when she is not slammed in school), we are really bad. Heck, I even get excited about new bar tape!

Back to obsession...carbon forks, canti vs. V brakes, no matter what it is bike I love it. Chris and I could waste entire days discussing and looking for whatever part we need, well okay...WANT. I guess what it comes down to is this, like Chris I have a problem, I acknowledge my problem and I accept full responsibility for it.

Now don't get me started on Scott, if I have a question, he will know the answer, if he doesn't, he will tomorrow and will have fully investigated the matter. Oh and Ti SS, of course I needed my Ti SS.... Then there's Marja, who got a job in a bike shop just to be around anything bike...bless her heart!

I don't really see any issues with it, I see it in Cameron already, his obsession at the moment is soccer, the moment he steps outside he has a soccer ball at his feet... Annika, well she is a cartwheeling fool where ever we may be.... They see/hear how much I ride, the trainer in the house all winter, etc. They know what it takes to get good at something and you ALWAYS can get better...so they obsess....I think it is healthy and the old cliche holds true, "IT KEEPS ME OUT OF TROUBLE..."

Anyway, I need to go read Velonews, check my order status at Universal Cycles, and see if I can't find a better price on a EC90X fork for Chris' CX bike....then I will work a little before heading out and riding for 2+hrs (I hope, work is TRYING to get in the way!!!)....

Getting ready for Portland...

Well the last few days have been nice...ride, work, ride some more! After last week with my "run-in" with a valet, actually he ran-into me, left my cleat mark on the front bumper of the Lexus he was driving....tried to do the right thing and caught up to him, oh no he didn't stop after he flew out of an alley and into me, told him to just slow down, it wasn't worth hurting anyone...he dropped the F bomb, blah blah blah...I think you know how it goes...

After a fun Halloween with the munchkins it was back to business come Monday on the bike in prep for the SS Cyclocross World Championships in Portland...good excuse for a lot of fun on the bike!!! Looks like Saturday we meet at Chris King headquarters at 11a.m. to find out the secret location of the time trial to qualify for Sunday's main CX race.... Hoping Chris and his family make it down from Seattle one of the days, it would be good to see them all and give Sharon sh%#, its been a while, and I need to get my fill.

Feeling under prepared as usual, I road for a few hours Monday on the CX bike on what felt like new trails, so tacky and forgiving, even the sand pits were fast and furious. We really needed the rain.

Monday night saw more rain, a lot, and I looked forward to riding after work. I rode in, played a little on the single track but needed to get to work in order to meet Marja for some coffee heaven at Temple before she had to run off to school. The day, like most lately, dragged on...lots of work going across my office, but mundane details that have to get done, but man it gets old! Hey, I am employed, working to live!!

I headed out at 3pm and noticed my newer SRAM Force carbon crank just won't stay on...maybe she has an aversion to dirt, but I am not impressed with it so far..super stiff and the bearings are heaven (ceramic with stainless cups), but if it won't stay on it poses some problems. So I borrowed a 8mm T at Mike's so I could get some torque and tightened that bad boy down...of course my arm is calibrated and I am certain it was tightened to the proper torque spec...surely. So off I went hoping it would not loosen up again.

After a 30 minute warmup, I started my race-pace ride where the dirt access roads turn to a great mix of dirt road and single track. Start the clock...the south side of the river (same side as Slac State (CSUS)) is twisty single track through trees with short stretches of dirt road along the base of the levy. After about 6 miles I wind out thru a neighborhood and have to get around some private property and cut back into Goethe, River Bend Park, to cross back over the river and head back...

I got a lot of weird looks as I was having a tough day...made it back to Slac State in 59:32 to end my "interval"....at this moment I noticed I had made a big miscalculation, my leisurely spin home turned into a tempo ride as I was pushing daylight and I still had about 13 miles to go on single track and access roads....figures. I actually felt okay after the lactic acid left my legs. I also had to make a detour back to my office to grab some things too...ah more downtown Sac during commute hours...

Got home and grabbed the mutts and threw them in the truck...well of course I didn't throw them...well I guess I could throw Phil, he's 40lbs, NO I wouldn't actually....anyway...we headed to the River so they could get their play time! They went nuts, the coolest part was they had some unexpected friends to play with....for several months now, two sea lions have been hanging out at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers here in Sac. Its odd to be on the river and hear the lions barking at you...seems like you should be at Pier 39, not Discovery Park. So anyway, as Phil and Maddie are pummeling each other along the beach, the sea lions are swimming parallel to the beach barking at the dogs....Maddie and Phil ran up and down the beach barking back at them, neither one getting in the water...I think they were thinking along the lines of Jaws...it was hilarious!

So here we are, another day in paradise (use sarcastic tone), saved by:
...and for those moments when you question your life, you see morons driving around with their kids in their car making statements like this (read the bottom of the license plate holder):
Yes I drove in, need to get up the hill to grab some parts/tools for Portland and see Annika and Cameron at A's gymnastics practice....Missing them this week badly!!

Finally, after last night I have a little bit more faith in the American people...seems more have been paying attention than I thought, good for you...for US...the beauty of this country is the fact that we all have the right to choose between riding on the dirt or riding on the road and we all can have our own opinion and call ourselves democrats or republicans without being persecuted...unless of course you actually choose to ride on the road...then obviously you are just stupid.

Take a joke and smile, you will live longer!