I don't want to even resemble Bambi

Today went so-so, I finished 26th out of like 40. My legs felt a bit flat too. I didn't care for the course. I was going to go to John Muir but when I listened to the trail hotline and they were strongly recommending that riders wear blaze orange I decided I didn't need to go riding that bad. Tomorrow will bring the Gibbs lake course, its not much fun either. We'll see how my legs feel and if somehow I bring home a decent finish I will continue on to Carpentersville for the Chicross race.

Is the impossible possible?

This weekend is going to be freaking crazy.

4 Venues
3 Races
2 Bikes
1 Racer

The 4 Venues

Whitewater Aero Modeling Park
John Muir trail system in the Kettle Moraine Southern Unit
Gibbs Lake Park in the Janesville Area
Carpenter Park in Carpentersville, IL

The 3 Races:

UW Whitewater Cycling CX @ Aero Modeling Park
Gibbs Lake CX
Carpenters Park CX

The Two Bikes:

2004 Gunnar 10spd
2004 Trek 8500 singlespeeded

The One Racer:

Me

would anyone like to take bets at how many miles I do this weekend? In actuality, it probably won't be that many

New Items installed

New Ritchey Post and WTB Saddle


Used and Forgotten but loved Tires


new Wheel (Rim, Spokes, Nipples, Hub, Freewheel)

Velocity VXC Disc Rim
DT Swiss Revolution Spokes
DT Swiss Alloy Nipples
White Industries Eccentric ENO Disc Hub
Generic Freewheel chillin' on the pre-loved wall @ Expo



Close-up of the new Hub


I will be taken all of the new components out for a test ride Saturday afternoon @ John Muir trails after the Cross Race in Whitewater. Be jealous, be very jealous. I always welcome people to check out my new equipment and even test ride it by request.

Have you seen my brother?

Hi I'm Front Wheel Neuvation R28 SL2 have you seen my brother, rear wheel. I really miss him. I haven't seen him for over a month. He's my partner in crime. My yin to my yang. I would greatly appreciate if you would help me find him. He was last seen wearing Michilen Pro Race2 blue Tires just like me with an Ultegra 6600 10spd cassette that has seen its better day well over 3000 miles on. If you find him please call me, I'll be right over with my owner Cody I miss him so dearly. No one can change that fact we have matching serial numbers, not time nor distance can seperate.

My Picture is seen below, we are identical twins basically so I hope this helps.

The Stand Alone SS Minus Singulator

Its official, 8500 #1 is now badass. I did two upgrades last night, yes I said two. Last night I stopped down by Expo and Aris and Marcus were there, I have been teasing Marcus about building a wheel for me and tonight he was like, "Where's that wheel" and I was like "Let me go get it". So I ran home and got my hub, spokes and rim and I got my new seatpost that I have been meaning to install. You might laugh at the fact that installing a seatpost is easy right and normally it would be but the bolt on my seatpost collar was stripped out. Its been stripped out for a while, I had a new one to put in we just had to get the old one off. A vicegrip did the trick, once I installed the new seatcollar I lubed the post and now I have a brandnew Ritchey WCS Alloy Post. Marcus in the meantime got the wheel laced and tentioned. For those of you who are wondering the new wheels weighed in at 970 grams with rim tape and no rotor. That wasn't enough for the night so we decided, we've come this far, lets install it. Well turns out I needed to buy a new chain because the 9spd chain is too narrow for the freewheel, o well. Installing the fancy Disc brake caliper wasn't to hard but what was hard was getting the caliber alignment correct that it wouldn't rub and the throw was correct. I'm a tad picky about my brakes besides to I like my throw short and firm. We worked on it till about 10:15 and couldn't get it right. We called it a night and Marcus said that he would work on it tonight some after he got done with work.

Pictures to follow in forthcoming posts.

New Goodies for my '08 effort

As some of you might know I intend to do some Singlespeeding next year. I don't want to buy full fledged SS bikes so you do the next best thing. Get the stuff you need to make it all the single speed bike it can be.

Such as White Industries Eccentric ENO Disc Hub.


The best Spokes, short of Titanium, money can buy, DT Swiss Revolution Blacks


Velocity VXC Rim.


I plan to Run a set of these on a pair of Trek 8500 for '08 Currently I'm just going to start with one, this whole wheel is going to cost me about $300 when all is said and done. It will be one sweet ride though. SS bike #2 needs prett much everything though, currently only has a seatpost, saddle, Seatpost collar and headset. I have a few cranks sitting around I could probably throw on there if I wanted to. I would like to get a few of the free wheels that White Industries offers, w/ sealed bearings and stuff, they run like $70 a piece. '08 WORS, '08 WEMS, and 24-9 2008 is still along ways off and my bank account is saying stop spending money. With a handful of cross races left you never know what could happen that might involve an unexpected expense in order to finish the season.

Verona CX @ Badger Prairie Park by Capital Velo Club (CVC)

Today was the second cross race of the Madison Cross weekend. Today started out to be a crappy day and never really changed. The only thing I had going for me was that I raced in morning, with a steady drizzle/rain and temps hovering around 50 it made for a very cross like atmosphere. Cross isn't meant to held in the 70s and 80s with the sun shining, its meant to be held in what would be described as crap weather. I found that after yesterday I knew what it would take to win. It seems that the weather didn't keep many people from racing, fields were about as big as they were @ Cam-Rock. The course picked and setup and promoted by the folks at CVC was great. Fun, challenging, and all round a separating the men from the boys kind of course. There were 3 barrier sets, but only 1 of the traditional sort of 2 by 12. the other were using features found on the course. There was a run-up w/ two logs. In dry conditions someone could go up that hill including going over the logs, but with conditions as slick as they were no-one was doing that. Theo and Aris Raced Juniors, I would have like to see Aris Race 4s but o well.

Anyway, When it came time for my race @ 1030 it seemed the rain picked up a little bit which sucked. I got a good place on the left side not the best spot, but pretty good, I just wanted to be top 10 to the first turn. Finally we started, I got going hard, it was one of my best leadouts ever, I think I was like 6th into the first turn which was a tight one I knew making it there before other people would help a ton. This course isn't the smoothest, not rough enough to warrant a Moutain bike, but you couldn't sit in the saddle much. The course had lots of sharp accelerations and dips dives, fast sections and slow section including haripins and 3 different types of barriers. This course had pretty much anything a cross racer aficianato could ask for. Back to the race I tried really hard to stay in the top 10, after realizing I had very little expierience in the mud particularly on a cross bike my only expeirience was at Janesville last year and that course sucked a bit as well as I was slow. I found that my legs didn't show up to race and I was getting passed left and right. I was still ahead of a lot of the 4s so I gave it about a lap or so and they never really came round. I was pushing harder and going slower, never a good sign. When we got to the run up on the second lap I made the decision that enough was enough, I was getting run over and being nothing more than a nusisance on a bike, Continuing would have been dumb and unsafe. I did well yesterday and this gives me all the more motivation to train harder for next weekends races. So ending result was a DNF or a W/D which ever term you prefer.

Someone I know didn't feel like getting Their pretty nice White bike all dirty, so he didn't come. Do me a favor and go give him crap.

Just to give you an idea of how dirty and muddy the race was today here are my friends from Team MARS, Nate and Mitch.




Check back tomorrow night, I already have a blog planned, just need to push it out.