8.26.2011

Complete indifference- have I lost my mind

Something has gone horribly wrong.  Seems everyone I know is going crazy over some new item, just released!

So far I haven't seen anything to tempt me whatsoever. 

I'd take a free snow bike, or maybe an even lighter carbon 29er frame with similar geometry to my Alma-  but neither one is all that pressing.

Where is the release of the light, hydraulic cyclocross disc brakes.  I know I won't choose to be able to afford them, but DAMN IT!  I need something to drool over.  What about the 10 speed gripshifters that I wouldn't have to order from Europe? 




My road bike has been completely torn down.  My Viner now has a bunch of fancy 7800 DA bits hanging from it and some fancy new TRP stoppers.  The only thing that really remains is picking up some new tubular tires (racing ralph?).

Cyclocross is looming large.  I find myself daydreaming about it at my desk.  You better go back to yours-  this was a useless post.

8.25.2011

Cervelo R3 SL and Jamis Nova Pro carbon frame repairs

Cervelo was done for more or less an actual customer.  It had been in a low speed car accident and needed minor repairs in two locations on the headtube and a major repair on the non-drive side seat stay.  I wound up having to change the paint scheme a bit in order to make things easy on myself (3-tone jobs are beyond me...  I'll be sending anything more complex than this to my friend Lin who did my Look).









before shots (did take some pictures of just the carbon work, but they aren't on this computer right now.   We all know what they look like anyways)






I think it turned out pretty decent.



I also did a Jamis for Trevor Olson.  I've been bugging him to ride more cyclocross for about a year now and this will pretty much mean that he has to!  I believe it will be built with Ultegra 6700.

This one had a cracked drive-side stay.  I had to remove the cable stop, make repair and then re-bond the stop onto the frame. 







8.17.2011

Tuesday night rides

THE Tuesday Night Ride was right after the Tuesday night time trial with the tri-group. 

This, apparently, happened while I was in crushing Diet Cokes, Waffle Fries, Reubens and PBRs in a mad rush to find equilibrium.



8.16.2011

mafia racing/jagwire cable kit, tubulars, three stars cycles

I wrote a review of the cable kit and a bit of an ode to tubulars, Kruck is interviewed etc..

Go check it out at almanzo.com

8.15.2011

going to have to make another blog for carbon repair

Drew's Plastic Fantastic?

Acme Carbon Repair?














This frame has a relatively long story attached to it and a couple other small repairs needed.  I'll also be doing some sort of paint work.  The stay is strong enough to hold my weight.  The pictures show it with the repair complete, but it's obviously not cosmetically complete.

Great weekend of riding!

What an awesome weekend!




Dairyland Dare did not disappoint. The course was beautiful and the riders were awesome. Where else do you get to ride with Charlie Farrow and Robbie Ventura at the same time?  Overall, similar vibe to the gravel endurance races, just with even more and bigger hills than the Ragnarok. Very fast pace up front with a host of riders from "Vision Quest" coaching including Robbie Ventura. I was forced to let them go after about 100 miles. I didn't feel so bad letting THAT group go! I went into solo-time-trial-endurance mode as from the Almanzo and things began to feel like a sort of recital. My confidence was high and I was riding better than I'd have hoped. Everything came crashing down when I realized I'd missed a 50k loop. Long story short- use your maps and don't trust others (particularly if you are then going to drop them and ride solo for hours before noticing you've effed up). What made this possible was that the entire course was marked with the same color and as such there was no way I could tell that I'd made a mistake... I just followed the markers on and on until I reached a rest stop with no volunteers and realized something was wrong. I'd gotten there an hour before it was supposed to "open". It was a huge let-down, but the beauty of the route and the day did a lot to overcome that as I rode it in (going back was out of the question due to time constraints). I will be back next year.



Took out some of my frustration with a 110 mile trip to the Mississippi yesterday morning. Even nicer weather and an equally good route. We rode through such towns as Douglas, Oronoco, Mazeppa, Belvidere, Frontenac, Lake City etc. and got some great views of the river and bluffs. I was happy that I actually felt stronger on the return leg (and after eating a couple of burritos in Lake City).



I'll add a picture or two later if they become available.

8.12.2011

Dairyland Dare setup


That's what I'm riding and everything I'm carrying.

Decided to go with the ultra-light tubulars for many reasons.  Biggest ones are the weight and that I want to "prove" my rim repair by riding them in a long race.  More to come on why I like Tubulars soon (on the almanzo.com site).

I'm carrying basic tools and extra gels in my feed bag, the spare tubular on my seat post, 6 extra gels in case I get hungry away from a rest stop.

6 am tomorrow morning will come up early!

8.10.2011

My first race- getrevengeance.com response


This, was posted here---

http://www.getrevengeance.com/

with the caption "Drew's first race"


Which is quite flattering, considering THIS is the real "first race" picture...

8.03.2011

More on "why"

There are many reasons to ride. This isn't the first time I've tried to write about the reasons I do.




My recent, accidental, emphasis on road racing combined with the pending Dairyland Dare 300k has me thinking about the pull of racing a bike. At some point in endurance racing the finish begins to pull. You realize that you can and will finish. It's a sort of emotional epiphany. You've been riding along for hours without really thinking and then you REALIZE THAT. You become aware of your own ultimate awareness. That you've been pedaling along rhythmically with nothing on your mind but being. You've been "in the moment" and now you've received the gift of realizing it, enjoying it. My mind flips wildly from ecstacy to defeat and then I think about taking control back but never quite do. It's better just to continue on. In the moment.



On the road or in a criterium you get a burst of the same thing. It's just a hint, but you also didn't have to put in the same effort to get there. Approaching the final turns of a criterium or the final meters of a road race the pace goes up and it feels like there is nothing more left. Then I feel that same pull. This time there is not time to consider it and savor it, to realize it. Instead it shifts immediately into forgetting. The pain goes away, the thought only becomes the line and the pedaling. You get a few seconds of the ultra-endurance drug, but it's a very concentrated few seconds. Then you sit up and look around and know that you've shared that with the guy beside you.



It's all one and the same. I'm grateful for every time I get the opportunity and the strength to push through to that point.
 
 
 
 
 
Today I leave in an hour-  it will be my last long ride prior to the Dairyland Dare.  Plan to go explore for 6-8 hours with the OCR setup in a way that works for any road.  Probably won't even pick a direction until I start riding.  Hope you're planning a ride.

8.01.2011

Hillside result

Very sore hip, terrible headache and a DNF.

Ouch!  Glad I crawled into work this morning though.