Beer of the Week

USGP #1

Wow, what a weekend.

It was a total blur.

Thank goodness I have some shots of the mayhem!

First off I need to thank the boss(for letting me go), mwi official sponsor for letting me crash for a couple nights, Bernie and Terry for letting all of us misfits stay and then cooking dinner for us. In misfits I mean Chili, Half Lap, Rosco P Fasttrain then the respectable Molly Cameron who graced us with his presence for the duration of the four days. Other mwi crew in effect were Chucker and Dr Crash, who also worked medical for the event. (BTW, maybe some local teams should have a consult with Dr Crash on what is needed, how to use it, and when to do to certain procedures.) Plus our adopted brother in arms PMS. I'm actually looking forward to a roadtrip with ya man! Two ADHD guys in the car! How sweet it would be!

Molly gave me the ultimate geekdom award for allowing me to pit for him for the weekend(Thank You Molly!). But nothing will top the weekend more than the fact that Half Lap had the honor of working pit for Erwin Vervecken. Many CX dorks graced our fluorescent pink tent to get a glimpse of either Vervecken, Molly, or Jesse Anthony cruising through the compound. To top off the experience Chili was in seventh heaven with KfC next to us also. Jonathan Page was also there, enough said.

Saturdays race went off with a spectacular start in our 2/3 race. Right from the get go the front row looked more like bumper bikes than a race. Someone from the far right thought it would be cool to miss a pedal then fall over causing the first three guys to create a wave of mayhem. All I saw was a tall fellow starting to superman on the pavement all the while trying to make Rosco P Fasttrain do his fabulous start from last year.

Instead of kissing the pavement with his melon, he decided how to ride with feet unclipped while testicle surfing the top tube. In the mean while I decided I would aim for the fence to see IF I could avoid running over my teammate. Some how we both made it out unscathed, remarkable. But from that point I was gun shy. Not knocking the boys in Wisco but damn there were some really sketchy fellows trying to ride. Bodies were being tossed to the ground at the most random times. Maybe because I was so far back! Oh well, my muddies worked perfect because I was riding sections many couldn't. I just couldn't make up the time in the straights. (On a side note: Half Lap DFF'd, which means crusty 1, Half Lap 0) 59th for me officially. I forgot how Chucker and Rosco P Fasttrain wound up.

Sunday's race went so much smoother. mwi crew had 4 in the top twenty for the first lap then I decided I wanted to see how the mwi crew were riding. The bad thing is that they didn't wait around for me to see how they tore it up. The course was just tacky enough I decided to ride my file tread, boy was that the right call, I had so much fun rippin it through the course but "Scotty didn't give me enough power!" Rosco P Fasttrain 5th, Half Lap 23rd? Chucker 24th? crusty 56th! (Side note: Half Lap decided to suck up his mangina and beat me.) crusty 1, Half Lap 1!

Unfortunately I don't remember Dr Crash or Chili's finishing numbers for the weekend. My bad fella's.

I'm totally shelled from the long weekend of working and playing. Again I want to thank everyone involved with our most successful weekend at the big show. I'm dying to see you guys already in a month. Good luck at the Ohio 3!

BTW: Any of you know of a women interested in Chili?

ARE YOU REEEAAADDDYYY!

On the gun gooooooo!

The New Venn Diagram

KFTC

Defined here!

Which Way Am I Going?

Yea that's how I'm feeling these days. I know, I know, boo phucking whoo!

My season looked really primed for the first time in two years!

Hours: manageable

Work: manageable

Vacation time: golden

Training: unbelievably great for me. Not racing, just solid training.

Then the man decides some really stupid chit! Now what?

I'm just going to let roll! Try to report when I can. Sooo hold on to your arse's the roller coaster is starting. Put your appendages in the safe zone, synch the belt, and take a deep breath.

Good to hear that the mwi crew worked out the bugs. So maybe the rest of the season will be spectacular for us. If not we look damn PRO. So be on the look out for bright colors or the SESS.

B2 is done. Its smooth. I went a little Euro with it. No still shots of the finished product. Look for some action shots this weekend!

Eyes Crossed or Star Crossed?

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

CX PRO Coolness

Watch the video, give you chills?

Now read the article.

SCHOOL OF CROSS from Dave Christenson on Vimeo.

No What On The Road?

The boss discovered this one. Thanks for sharing!

ToM

I Jackalope?

This Says It All...

Suburban Jungle

karls' jr and myself had a Super ride today!

It might be overcast, but you sure can see the mwi SESS.

Suburban part of the ride.

It got really dark down deep in the jungle/woods!

What goes down, must go back up again!

Going towards the light!

Elk don't like Jackalope, obviously! Thank goodness there is a BIG fence between the Elk and karls' jr!

Beer of the Week

Shakedown Ride

Well I had a shakedown on the Blue.

Now I will dispense my thoughts on the ride and such.

Some background info: the route is a mix of gravel, dirt, road, singletrack.

Things that grabbed my attention from the gitgo:

The fork is STIFF. NO deflection at all. Amazingly night and day difference between the Norcross fork and my Edge fork.

Two key points of difference of the Norcross.

1. It has 1 1/8 to 1 1/5

2. As the fork approaches the dropouts there is a slight bulge laterally on the both legs

The bottom bracket is HUGE!

Blue designed the BaBB not to move any which way. The Big Ass BB is one massive unit. The down tube is biovalized with raised backbone to add more rigidity to the frame, the seat tube is also biovalized creating a smooth transition to the BaBB. Blue also added squovial chainstays that are as large as the Dura Ace cups at the connection of the three tubes at the BaBB. I have only seen a BaBB this big on bikes that have press in fit bearings such as the Trek or Scott's.

Other things that I noticed:

The measurements of the ML say a 160mm headtube, well I'm measured the actual headtube and I'm getting 140mm, hmmm? The problem that this has created for me is

that when I go to portage the Blue? My longass arm hits the seattube due to a smaller triangle that I'm use to on my old Orbea. Small problem but I think a larger triangle

would help eliminate this.

Top tube also is biovalized with raised backbone down its length to make sure no twisting

is going on when in action.

I need to put more time on carbon frame before I will make my overall judgement. But my first impressions are positive. Wheelies seem to be a little harder. The flickability of the bike is very impressive. It is more confident inspiring than my old rig. I can't wait to put the race wheels on.

Oh yea, it's light, really light.

I'm Feeling Blue

Why you might ask?

First off my BFF has taken the plunge!

Introducing Kat and Gnome Gayherty!

Good times were had by all...

Oh yea, the other reason I'm feeling Blue?

Gotta say I'm really impressed with the work done on this rig! Next is the ride.

It's light!

It's sleek!

It's so couture!

It's fast sitting still!

The million dollar question?

How did I press the headset race?

Redneck headset race assembly kit! That's right PVC 1.5in coupling with 2in Slam rod.

Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit of That, And Some of This Too.

A little bit of this...

A little bit of that...

Some of this too..

New section of trail...

Perfect conditions

So yesterday I decided to hit the trail, (well, road, gravel, trail, road, dump trails, road) to get some excess energy out. Amazingly I had a Forrest Gump moment. 2.5 hrs of exploring, taking pics, and generally just spinning the legs out from two days of training did the mind somewhat good but I still needed to take my new prescription from the Doc.

Here are the rest of the pics...

CX Christmas is actually coming together JIT, baby! Hint, Hint, Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge!

I've Been Prescribed This...

I just hope it works!