Its november already

And I just realized I haven't posted anything since July. I'm a lazy bum when it come to writing so tough titties. I haven't hit the road much at all, but have been hitting the dirt pretty regular. both geared and single speed. Its showed in the racing. Im a little pudgy, even though I haven't been putting the road miles in I have been eating like I was. so there's that. I got 13th place in the first race of the season, missed the second race due to a slight drug overdose/oversleeping incident. got my ass handed to me in the third race for another 13th. but this time I was DFL. Got a 12th this past Sunday out of 25. not terrible in the single speed class, but I should do better.

Ragweed and Mt cedar have been very high. So my allergies have been pretty bad for a couple months now, making it hard to breath deep and ride like I really should. Other than that, I have no excuses to be a back/ mid packer.

the new Gary Fisher frame has not turned out as great as I had hoped. the seat tube is reamed a couple of thousandths big allowing the seat post to slip down during the ride. Sometimes as much as 1/2 an inch a lap. so I have it rigged with double clamp setup. This is temporary though because I ordered a new custom frame.YEAH MAN!!!! A sweet hand built, brazed steel single speed frame. It coming to me raw so I can paint it myself ( its been a while..10 years) with the team colors. Black and white, some scallops, a name panel, and some hand pinstripes. I hope it turns out as good in real life as it looks in my head. may even have it by Christmas, just in time for my birthday.OH YEAH!!

Thats all I gots....... later

fianally

I got the new replacement frame from trek/fisher. A nice white frame. as opposed to the black one I had. Oh well. One think I dont like about it is it can be run geared, so it has cable stops on it that I will never use. It also has new geometry that going to take some getting used to. I had to buy a new zero stack headset for it, which sucked. I cant run the Chris King I was using in the old frame. Again, Oh well. It rides good and thats all that really matters anyway.
the dating previously mentioned came to an unexplained screeching halt while I was at the race at Lances ranch, dont know why, dont want to know why. SO I set my attention to someone new only to find I move so damn slow that I was beat to the punch by a metro guy I really thought might be gay. damn. She's still fun to hang out and ride with though. SO my sight are sorta without a target right now. Thats not really true. There is someone, but she's a bit out of my league, and runs a bit faster than me, but is really fun to hang out with. damn the luck.
Oh, I have moved. My previous housemate bought a house moved without me. I now live in a great place( my sisters house) closer to my family and alot less stress here. so far so good. My bikes hang out in a garage now instead of a climate controlled room, but again, oh well. most peoples bikes hang out in the garage.
I now sleep in a brand new room, with my new bedroom furniture, in a new queen sized bed alone. kinda sad. I know. I find, the thing I miss the most in a big bed is having someone else in it with me.And I mean just having someone there. I need to work on that a little more.
Until then I guess its alot of riding. The fall MTB series starts the end of august, hottern' hells pretty soon too. lots of riding to be done...........

Ok, Ive been busy

So summer came in early for Texas. Its been lows in the high 70's and the highs in the low hundreds. Heat index's suck, mid 100's. Kinda hard on the riding and its really picked up at work which makes riding even harder. The last thing I want to do after being hot at work is go ride in the heat. But I do it anyway. A couple of times here lately Ive had some inspiration to ride. New blood to ride with is always good, even better when its a girl. Not expecting anything, just a good riding partner as far as I can tell. Anyway, she's fun to ride with, doesnt bitch at all, not afraid of anything on the trail and jumps right up after a tumble. Just refreshing i guess.
A few weeks back i did the regular shop Tuesday road ride and made a slight tactical error at some rail road tracks and burped the rear tubeless tire. Waived off everyone, thinking that I would just air it right up. wrong! got it seated, then took off on the way back to the shop. it went flat again. Since i didnt have anymore CO2 or a phone, I just road it in flat. got back to the shop and realized I did more damage than I had hoped. new rim is being laced up as I type(not by me) so should be back on the road soon. Dumbass move I know. live and learn.
on a side note, Trek has the pictures of my broken frame,but with all the madone 6.0 fork problems and absorbing Gary Fisher into Trek bicycles, they haven't got to my warranty yet. as long as I get it back before the middle of august I'm fine. Until then I'm riding the geared bike.
Thats all I got for now. Not really a WTF random post but its what you get

weekend recap

So I headed down to dripping springs Texas to race at Lance Armstrong's ranch. Got there Friday afternoon to sign in and hit the trail for the pre-ride. the trial might be one of the best,read hardest cross country trails Ive ever ridden.Including Moab,Colorado and New Mexico. loose chalky soil, gnarly rocky drop offs and lips and some pretty good climbs.Especially for someone racing single speed.
Saturday was the cat 3 racers and the pro tour men and women races. got there in time to catch the finish of the cat 3's and the start of the pro womens. by the time we parked and got on course they pros had already done one lap. They had a UCI/Olympic course of about 5K so it didnt take them long. Made it over to the 1K to go climb just in time to catch the leaders fly up the climb and see Heather Irmiger walking her bike. She cut a tire, tried to air it up to no avail and walked it in for a DNF, we walked in with her, chatting a bit and then once at the top and on the road she hopped on and rode in on the flat.
The pro men, man those guys were flying, they made it look so easy. Gliding over the rocks, airing it over the lips and drops and making the climbs look flat. At least they looked gassed at the end and complained a bit about the "oppressive" heat. but then they got to go over to Lances house for a dip in the pool once it was all over, so they got over it pretty quick.
So, Sunday was my race day, got there with some time to spare, kitted up, did some warm up spinning, rode down to Lances gate a couple of times then off to stage for the start. It was a pretty big group nearly 40 guys in the single speed class. I was pretty wound up and got a decent start, mid pack. the first few K's are pretty crappy, tight twisty loose switchbacks down then back up. then it opens up for some passing and then back to tech stuff. Lots of flats and attrition so I was making up places and then passed a few guys, then got passed on a climb but got right back on them and stayed there in the top 20 until they pulled off and I got by just in time for the end of the first lap. 8K down, 8K to go. Kept up my pace even though I was redline in the heat and was standing on the gas on the first hard climb and kept getting tire rub in the rear. then a few creaks and squeaks so I looked down to find a big crack in the frame. Shit! I stopped, pondered finshing out the last 5K standing up until the coarse marshal looked at it and said the pending failure would definitely cause bodily harm,SO, I walked it up to the road and pedaled over to cap carter and DNF'd. IT sucked to pull out in first race as a Big Pig, but it seemed like the smart thing to do.
I did get to cheer on Charity a little though. And was pretty impressed at the reputation that the jersey has, lots of people holler'n for the Big Pig to push it harder. The one consolation was the free beer in the expo area courtesy of Michelob.
Next year Im going back to kick that trails ass, or break another frame trying, whatever it takes.

road ride today

35 mile road tonight. dinged the rim on some RR tracks and flatted. to my dismay i only had enough CO2 to barely re-seat the tire(tubeless) so I had to winnie the poo myself back to the shop. 2 miles out flat again.So much for thinking thin? rode it in anyway. result.... new rear rim and tire needed, but Dang-it, i was going to finish my ride..

At least I have another bike to ride for the next few days, I still need a few more road rides before the mellow johnny race.

got little trail work and trail in

so, did another 3 hrs trail work saturday. the trails in much better shape and is just about ready to be down to nothing but mowing now. Dang I was wore out when I was done. got home, got cleaned up, took a little nap, then I got ready for a night out with a beautiful girl and had a great time. looking forward to repeat.
today, got in a good 3 hr ride on the northshore trail. had some great company and other than a slight altercation with an oncoming rider and the trail was uneventful but needed.
looking forward to the mellow johnnies classic the weekend, a little nervous because its a big national event, But looking at it as a paid "fun" ride with a bunch people I dont really know. I hope to do the Big Pig racing proud.

road miles today

Did my road route from the house. 36 miles, then hopped on the single speed for a few more miles of urban riding. ended up right at 50 miles total. felt pretty good. kinda shredded the legs a bit, but was a good ride.
The ride of silence is tomorrow, so no real mileage to be had. As long as the weathers decent, thursday will be another 36 mile road ride.

thats it.
Ahhh, the saturday plans are back on.