race ready???

race ready???
Originally uploaded by divine_gear

the bike is, but am i? time for the mohican one hundred this saturday.

i'm going with specialized fast trak armadillo tires. i put a water bottle cage on so i'm able to have a bottle of hammer perpeteum, i'll also have another in my camelback. i'll also have my 'gu' flask filled with hammer gel, i'll have two of those ready. they work well together; something to do with simple and complex sugars. don't ask me, i just know it works well together.

wish me luck. one hundred k in six hours is my goal.

namaste...

Macaframa SF Track Bike Promo

caught this over at twenty nine percent.

namaste...

last week's ride...

was down at the knob. much has changed since last year. so i took some pics, and tried to show what has changed. the first one says it all; 'super d'...


kilbuck has been closed for quite some time. i wonder if they are ever going to open it up. i has been pretty swampy, and some sections have been falling apart in the wrong places. i guess that is what you get for building over a swamp.


they added these new 'log' bridges over some muddy sections. on my first lap i took the easy route, around. but i made this one on my second and third lap.


this is one of the super d jumps...


o.k. let's see if i am able to explain this one. the orange is the new down hill course, and the red is the normal xc course. as you can see they cross (the first lap i hit the wrong cross, and almost found myself going over that jump), and the xc goes under the bridge, back around and down. the dh comes straight at the camera.


now this section of dh is interesting. if you are hardcore you can take the red line and jump from the left red arrow to the right most arrow and then continue to the middle red arrow. or you can take the green left arrow down and around.


the above pic is just before this pic. the red is how the route used to go. a couple of one eighty turns and over a bridge; where we would continue on to another one eighty and up a hill until the top to follow the green arrows under the bridge through a shit load of rocks, and wonder how to get down without falling. well now, they have us going up and around following the blue, and then into the green. i miss the red. that was always a challenge, but fun.


this is another log stump bridge. this one is a little harder, because they've got this one right after a one eighty turn from coming up hill. fell off this one a couple of times.


they then changed the direction of the 'furnas' which was a great climb in this open field. they now have you criss/crossing the field, and it doesn't make you 'jump, jump' (a little old school hip-hop referance there). they have you turning right and then climbing the hill at a zig/zag.


everything else after the furnas is the same. although i think they are working on something else on the down hill right after the furnas.

this is a pic of my new favorite piece of clothing from moots; their wind jacket that kicks ass. it's great on the not so hot days.


well i hope i shed some light on the new knob i wonder if they are going to try and go 'big time' with the super d course, because why have it? it's not like i see many dhillers there. oh well...

namaste...

crom is your god...

'the secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. you must learn its riddle, conan. you must learn its discipline. for no one, no one, in this world can you trust. not men. not women. not beast. this you can trust.'

updated with no brakes. no brakes. a king headset. salsa stem. salsa goma tape. campy crankset from seventy-four. salsa forty-six tooth chainring. street machine.

namaste...

i've been...

meaning to post pics of where and how i have to lock up my bike since cleveland really doesn't have any bike racks around. this was taken today at a local 'shopping' center in front of an outside seating area for the winking lizard tavern. it was before lunch time, so no one was outside sitting. but if they were i'm sure they would have had a problem. especially since i wasn't going there.

i would like to make a note or a review, if you will, about the planet x. simply...man, does this bike kick arse. it climbs like no other bike i have, or have ridden. effortlessly. except for my effort getting a single speed up the hill. i believe that this is due to the geometry of the frame itself. since is was a custom frame for me, set to my measurements; it handles wonderfully. solid. stable. comfortable. i just sat back and pedaled up the hill, and once and a while i stood up to get up the hill; but the bike felt great. smooth. i was skeptical about the set up at first, but ben at roll assured me that it was what was called for. it has a shorter seat tube than i'm used to, and some other things like 'no toe over' into the front wheel, the top tube is the length that i like, a taller head tube, to add to the c-cross feel. just a great feeling bike.

so a thanks to roll, and a big kudo's to i.f. for making a great bike that i am so happy with.

as a side note...i'd have to say on your next bike, if you are able to do it; go custom geometry. it just feels right.

namaste...

a lesson in life...

that i just learned yesterday...never go on a ride right after drinking a pot of coffee. yes, a pot. why a pot? well, i was just waiting my morning out to get a little warmer, and in that time i just kept drinking coffee.

plus the consant drinking of fluids. man. i tailered my ride to where the pissers were. i started thinking 'o.k. if i go this way, i'll hit that one,' and 'am i able to make it this way, up that hill, before i get to that other one?' i even had the contemplation of pissing while riding, but there were too many peolple around. 'i could pull it out here? man i'm in a head wind, that wouldn't be good. is that a girl up ahead, with her dog? i could just piss on the dog.' then there were construction workers on the trail. water some bushes.

it became a fun little game to play. however on the up side of the ride; i did put on some miles on the smoothie. less than a month till my hundred k mtn. bike race. there needs to be some fine tuning on the smoothie. i'll start working that out next week or so. the milage isn't bothering me, it's the quality of the milage that is starting to get to me. plus the fact that i would love to do it in less than six hours. i figure if i am able to keep an average of ten miles per hour i'm good. with the terrain of mohican; i might suck going up, but then make up some time going down. and then i'm thinking about my tire selection. do i go less knobby, for better rolling; or more, for better grip? we'll see...

namaste...

enjoy...

and no; that is not me...

namaste...

so i...

was hoping to show today a resurrection of sorts. some new parts on an sleeping steed. however in my vision to go cheap that is not happening.

this just goes to reiterate my old philosophy when putting together a bike. there are some corners that should not be cut. and this is specifically in regards to headsets. i thought i would try and save some money. cut some costs. but these costs should not be cut when dealing with headsets.

i go and try and put some final adjustments on the headset, and all the bearings go flopping out all over the freaking floor. and i'm already pissed, so screw it. i'll just put on a real headset, like i should have done in the first place, and set it up right.

do it right, the first time, with quality...is the lesson of the day.

namaste...

well i guess...

that does it for basso and once again hamilton. and cycling news is already calling him a 'fallen italian star.' hey guys; just admit it, and be done with it.

new concept...just let them dope. have an open policy with it. then when they start falling over from it, maybe they will wake up and come to a realization.

i know a guy, who is a cyclist, that states that he would never let his son play baseball or go to a game because of their lack of policing the doping in baseball. that the sport is not doing enough. well, neither is cycling. here you go again. and who is 'doing' something about it? it seems that it is in governtmental hands. not cycling itself. here we have a 'sport' where we can't even figure out the winner of the tour yet, and it is almost a year later.

nice guys. thanks.

namaste...