Update

Been busier than hell around here. Between the holiday,work, and "training" there hasn't been a whole lot of blogging time. I also discovered a sweet used bookstore and that has been taking up some time also. They have their older hardbacks on sale for $2 and I've stocked up in that area as well. I shouldn't need any new books before spring.

Hope everybody had a good T-giving. We went out to the Winston-Salem area to Amanda's mothers house. Ate to much and, since I can't get it here, bought a months supply of Burn energy drink(liquid crack).

I believe I've got the build up of the new frame figured out. it's a little budget oriented at the moment but hopefully I'll be able to upgrade most of the parts over time.

Hope everybody is having a great week.
Later yall.

I need a band-aid.....

..cuz I am getting cut!!! OK. Not really. I can tell the strength w/o's are having some effect though. I can do 3 pull-ups now. :-)

Anyway. Happy Thanksgiving folks!!!!!! Hope everybody as a great holiday. ime to mentally prepare for the X-mas season.

Oh. Anybody who has any experience with the SRAM drivetrain components feel free to speak up about the pros and cons. Specifically the x-9 shifters and xo rd. I've never used anything but shimano stuff. The LBS has a sweet deal going on the previously mentioned stuff and I'm thinking of buying them for the new frame. Thanks for any help.

Later folks.

Shopping is over!!!!!!

A decision has FINALLY been made. Of course the final winner wasn't even on my previous short list but oh well. The money will be sent out for the frame in the next few days. Then I can start agonizing over components and such.

Oh. As for the final decision. I'm once again drinking the Odea Kool-Ade and going with the Vassago Bandersnatch.

WOOHOO!!!!!! Can't wait.

Ouch.....

..the first weight w/o is in the books. I can already tell that I'll be hurting tomorrow. It'll be worth it to stick with it though. Strength and power are my biggest limiters and I am bound and freaking determined to improve them this year. Not much else going on today. Getting ready to head out on a ride and spin the legs out some. Hope everybody is having a good day. Later yall.

Fall is now here

It's official. The first frost is here and it was downright chilly this morning. Time to hunt down the wool socks,arm warmers and knee warmers. Sigh.

I'm about 98% sure about the new bike. I'm not saying anything because as soon as I do I'll change my mind. I am graduating up to big wheels though. I know me. If I stuck with the FS XC 26er bikes I'll always be wondering what I'm missing so I have to give them a try.

I also dusted off the dumbells and bench,hung the pull up bar up, and(gasp) purchased a Yoga for Cyclists DVD. Sometimes I wish I didn't hate the gym so much. I might be more motivated to actually do that crap if I paid for it. Hopefully I'll be more committed this year. Lord knows...it can only help me do better than I did this past summer.

Ah well....hope everybody had a fun weekend. Later yall.

Blog theft

Been a boring time around here lately. I sprained my foot in a stupid way so I've been laid up for the last few days. Soooo..to help pass the time I've been creating workout playlists for my ipod. Yesterday I spent way to much time figuring out a playlist for climbing workouts. Anyway, out of sheer boredom I decided to share them with you folks(you lucky few ;-)) If anybody has any ideas to improve it..feel free to share them. Or even better..create a playlist you'd use and share it. I will then steal any ideas I like. You've been warned.

Red Hot Chili Peppers-Parallel Universe( bass line and tempo are perfect for climbing. plus, i love the way they jam and go off at the end of the song)

Slipknot-Wait and Bleed(pure primal rage and anger. Slipknot is on heavy rotation on my ipod for just about every ride or race)

Anthrax-Fueled(really simple and heavy song. works great)

Metallica-Battery(no explanation needed. if you've never heard it go get a copy of Master of Puppets now)

GnR-Welcome to the Jungle(in my humble opinion...greatest song ever..i know,i know..opinions are like assholes..it works for me though)

The Rollins Band-Starve(just for the line.."i make myself burn")

Fishbone-Sunless Saturday(Heavy and angry Fishbone style..which means they somehow make it sound happy)

Slipknot-Everything Ends(more Slipknot..like I said..they get played a lot)

Metallica-Master of Puppets(Metallica gets played a lot also)

Iron Maiden-The Trooper(no real reason....I really like Maiden)

Korn-Got the Life(Just really,really dig this song)

And there we go..it's still a work in progress so it will be added to and subtracted from.

Hope everybody is having a good week. We're finally getting some much needed rain here.

Later yall.

Oh..I titled this post Blog Theft cuz I've read other blogs like this and I was to lazy to figure out anything else to write about.

The leaf people are coming...

...and work is booming. Asheville is starting its annual fall population explosion this week. The leafs are starting to turn so the "leafers" are showing up. The Parkway is starting to become a dangerous place to ride. Nothing like tons of people driving 5 miles an hour looking everywhere but where they are going. Good times.

Not a whole lot going on here. Getting some riding in and working a lot. Started the diet this past monday. I shouldn't say diet. Started the reduced portion eating plan. That's better. You can tell it's slower than usual when I even mention this. Sigh.

Oh yeah. Some people(OK, only Brian) asked where the music went. It was a free service and I read somewhere about all the nasty viruses you can get from places such as that. Since I had to do a major computer overhaul last winter because of that I decided to play it safe. If I can figure out a way to stick my itunes playlist on there I will.

Hope everybody is having a good week. Later folks.

Buck fever

Hit up the Twin Six sale this weekend and picked up the 07 Buck jersey. Sweet. Can't beat a high quality jersey for the low,low price of $45. Other than that it's been a hectic weekend with 2 15 hour work days. I have the next 2 days off though so hoping to get in some nice, long days in the saddle. I'm just trying to decide if I wanna take the cross bike out to Bent Creek or the Giant out for some more technical stuff. Ah well...I have 2 days..I can do both. Hope everybody had a great weekend.

Ya'll come back now. Ya hear?

Help the ladies and the kids.

Anybody who hasn't does so and is able..please head over to Danielle and Bonnies blogs(links on right..under the good reading heading), click on their JDRF links and donate if'n you can. Any little bit you can give helps. Thanks folks. Yall have a good day.

Oh yeah...I do have a blog.

I seem to remember posting things about my "boring ass life" here from time to time. Things have been extra busy around here lately.I started my "bike job" last week. So far it's going o.k. We'll see how working 60-70 hours a week feels on my 39 year old ass in a few months though. The plan is to offset some of the costs of my biking addiction by working a little extra during my "downtime". So hopefully..finances aren't such a source of tension around mi casa. Not to mention I've depleted my bank account a little more than planned with the CX bike and I need to get that back up for the sake of my sanity.

Speaking of the CX bike. SWEET!!!!!! I'm loving it. I've been using it as a road/commuter bike. It does great at both. I've taken it down a few forest roads and it does well there also. All in all it's a really,really fun bike. I don't know if I'll have time to to shame myself at any CX races this year but I want to try. We'll see. Ah well. That's about all thats going on here Hope everybody is having a great time. Later folks.

Thanks

Thanks everybody for the b-day wishes. There was no cake but was plenty of snicker marathon bars and power gels washed down with gator-ade. Oh, and that night there was a lot of fried food washed down with sweet tea at the Moose Cafe. (love that place). I will be eating nothing but carrot sticks and celery for the next week. Not a lot going on around here. I've been scouring the net and bike catalogs since I'm planning on making a new bike purchase this winter. I've got it narrowed down to 3 bikes.

Trek Fuel EX8 ( the 08 model with that fancy new pivot)
Salsa Dos Niner
Trek Top Fuel 8 (not real likely..it's pretty much been voted off the island but who knows..it could make a stunning comeback)

Of course if I win the lottery then all bets are off and I'm getting a custom Titus Racer X Exogrid. :-)

Also got a cross frame for cheap so I'm looking to build that up into a commuter/road bike. We'll see how that goes.

Hope everybody is having a great weekend. Later folks.

"dadadadadada......

..today is my birthday. dadadadadada..gonna have a good time." 39 years young. Got the day off work. Girlfriend has given me a day off chores around the house. Hmmmmmmmmm..whatever should I do? Lay around sloth like and do nothing..or.....go out to Kitsuma and put in some ride time? Decisions,decisions. Riding it is.

Hope everybody has a great day. Later folks.

We'll have fun,fun,fun.....

..till Mother Nature takes the sunshine away. Crap. Getting dark sooner and staying dark longer. Fall and winter are sneaking up. We can pretty much ride year round here but, I'm a sunshine kinda guy. I like getting up early and watching the sun come up while I have my morning coffee. Not while I'm at work. Oh well.

Been having a blast with riding the past few weeks. I took my hrm off the bike and haven't been worried about a "purpose" for my rides and have just been riding. Such fun. My legs have felt like overcooked spaghetti but it has so been worth it.

Hope everybody is having a great week and will have a great weekend. Good luck to Chris at his Thursday crit and this weekend in Michigan.

Later folks.

They're coming to take me away

Going slightly nuts here with no goal ahead. Yes, I do enjoy riding just for the fun of it, but with no real goals or anything my "slightly healthy" diet has turned into a cheese,grease, and sugar diet. Sigh. My lack of discipline is depressing. Ah well.

Good luck to everybody racing this weekend. Dicky and Danielle at the SM100, Namrita and Eddie at Santos, and Jason doin the big solo 24 in PA.

Later folks.

Oh yeah

Good riddance Mike Vick. It's sad to see that much talent wasted but he deserves everything he gets. Sadly, I don't think he'll be the last guy busted for this. From some of the comments I've seen on the net dogifghting is a bigger problem than I thought. Sick and sad at the same time.

I know I'm slow but....

..11 hours to do 50 something miles? When I went in with dreams of doing my first hundie? Not exactly how I pictured the weekend going. I thought I'd prepared pretty well. I was going on longer rides to get ready. I hounded a few different people for tips. (Thanks Dicky, Danielle, and Namrita) I got more sleep. All that sorta stuff.

I got to Dahlonega late friday afternoon. Got signed in and went out to the truck to get stuff together. I had planned on sending out pre-mixed Gator-ade/Carbo plus jugs to the sag stops for refills during the race. Only problem was..I forgot my gator-ade and carbo plus....oops. I quickly scoured my truck for every energy bar and gel that I could find. I came up with 17 gels and 8 bars. It'd have to do. The sag stops were going to have gator ade and power bar products out there so I figured I'd be ok. I finished getting my bike ready,dropped off my drop bags, ate, and then started tryin to kill time before bed. I ended up down by the kegs with Tomato, Dicky, and Chris J. After awhile everybody shuffled off to bed.

Race day started dark and early. Got up, ate breakfast, drank some cold coffee, got suited up, went to the pre-race meeting, discovered one of the lenses had fallen out of my glasses, and 30 seconds later..we were off. The first 1,000 miles were steep forest road climbing. It usually takes me around an hour to warm up so I wasn't to worried about my super slow pace at first. I got worried when the 50 mile racers who started 25 minutes after us started passing me 40 minutes into my race. That's right..they covered the same amount of ground in 15 minutes that it took me 40 to cover. Houston we have a problem. I saw Jonathan go bye and since he seemed to have a good pace going I decided to grit my teeth nd hop on his wheel. I managed to stick with him for maybe 1/4-1/2 a mile before I started getting dizzy. This would be a re-occuring problem all day. Whenever I got my HR up I'd get dizzy and have to either slow way down or pull over til it passed. Not good times. Kept hoping I'd start going better but it wasn't to be. I finally accepted my fate when it took me over 4 hrs to hit the second checkpoint..which was only 20 freakin miles. I decided I was going to at least do 1 lap and set about making my slow progress around it. The course rocked. Not super technical but really hard all the same. Overall I had a blast. Met a lot of really cool people, rode(verrrrrryyyyyy slowly) some very nice trail and in general had a good time. It was the last race of the year for me and was easily the best time I had at a race all year. I don't know how much racing I'll do next year but I'll definitely be back for at least the festival portion of Fool's Gold next year. At least my light's helped Rebecca finish. She came into the last aid station after the cut off time for lights. She was super upset and Jonathan quickly threw my light's on her helmet, got her spirits up and sent her on her way. She ended finishing 3rd in the open womens group. That's the biggest thing I love about mountainbiking. Everybody is willing to help everybody else. It's always awesome to watch and hear about.

As far as the rest of the summer and fall(and let's face it..winter..we really can ride all year around here..aint it great) I'm gonna get one of those nifty map holders for my handlebars and start doing some all day rides in the woods around here. Those are my favorite kind of rides and I'm gonna take advantage of the weather and get a bunch in. Plus lots of long walks with the dog.
Hope everybody has an awesome day. Later.

Aint talkin bout love!!!!

Well now....75% of the original Van Halen are reforming and touring this fall. After over 20 yrs DLR is re-uniting with Eddie and Alex. The original bass player is gone and it looks like Eddie's 16 yr old son is playing bass. They're starting the tour on September 27 in Charlotte,NC. There is no way in hell I'm going to be able to resist this. Thier music brings back to many old, fond memories of junior high and high school.They were one of the first bands I ever really got into and I still crank the radio up whenever a VH song comes on(the original VH..was never a fan of the Hagar years and I prefer to pretend that album with the guy from Extreme never happened). I'm there.

4 more days to Fools Gold. I'm nervous and jittery as hell about it. At the same time, I can't wait.

Later folks. Ya'll have a good one.

Woke up this morning to a coffee free house. No good can come of a day that starts out like this.

I see that BALCO Bonds passed Aaron's HR record last night. I'm sure he never used performance enhancing drugs in his pursuit of the record though...right? I mean, after all, only cyclists cheat..right?

Bud Selig didn't even show up for the big night. He made his bed with this steroids mess, now it's time for him to lay in it. I'm almost willing to bet that a big steroid scandal is coming down the pike for the NFL also. Unless you really want to believe that 300 pd men are running sub 5 second 40 yard dashes naturally.

At least cycling is making an honest effort to clean up.

Yall come back now. Ya hear? ;-)

Blech!!!!

Yesterdays ride sucked. I couldn't get my HR up over 156 and my legs felt dead the entire time. Hills that I usually ride up with no problem had me gasping for breath. I meant to do 5-6 hours but I ended up pulling the plug at 2. I came home and was pretty much a slug the rest of the day Hopefully todays ride goes better. Later folks.

Haven't been around much. Been recovering, working and getting ready for Fools Gold. 2 more weeks!! I'm starting to freak out about this.