Here comes trouble

That's right: the new kits are finally here!!!

With anticipation of taking our new suits to the catwalk that is Umstead Park, Ali, Chris, Brian, Ben and I loaded up this morning and headed down to the Morrisville trail complex, where we met up with JD and Dave in his newest, Raleigh-housed incarnation. Mr. JD "I've got the" Powers hadn't had a chance to check out the new threads, and with a little cajoling we were about to get him to strip down in the parking lot. As you can see, it was pretty much like Christmas morning for him. Because we're all pretty sensitive to others' feelings, we stood in a circle and were sure not to make fun of him at all while he transformed himself in Bull City style.

Feeling rather fly, and with the smell of new lycra wafting behind us, the quorum headed out on the trail for what was a little more than a three hour tour. We hit one bandit trail, then cruised happily through Umstead Park, where we thought we could get the most attention. I think in NASCAR this is called "recognition for your sponsors," but as the Professor displays, it's basically just showing off:


Brian's black Stumpy might be the best complement to the yellow kit, Chris certainly gets some extra props for (unknowingly) matching his bike to the jersey. Now if we could just get him an orange helmet...

While we were stopped for water we caught B-Swad doing his best Andre the Giant impersonation, and it seemed like as good a time as any for a team photo. Eat your heart out Slipstream!


Oh yeah, look at all that Lycra! OK, so maybe our coolness doesn't totally translate to the (digital) image, but trust me, these things are hot, and Linus should be proud of all his designing work. (This coolness is so cool, in fact, that it makes Chris yawn.) I -- and anyone I ride with -- am a little concerned about the near-transparency of the white panels on the shorts, but as they're in a relatively non-lewd position, I don't have to be worried about breaking any state or federal laws when I wear them. (No one else seems to have this issue with the bibs, by the way.)

After spinning through Umstead, we worked our way back toward our cars on some singletrack. Dave and JD took off before we hit the Crabtree pump track for some good rippin' fun, during which I fell on my face (as usual), Chris was wicked-smooth, and Ali was in fine photog form. Brian has some more, um, 'innovative' pictures of our time at the pump track that he'll post later, so I'll just include one snap of Hollywood for now.

All-n-all not a bad day. It was my first time on the bike in a couple of weeks and I felt like I was being punished for my slackerdom. Back in Durham and fully refueled in the way that a good dosing of Cosmic only can, my legs are mud, and I'm pining for the days when a good Saturday leg-breaking wasn't so utterly destructive to my body. Ah, youth...