looks like Stuart O'Grady wasn't the only person who's going to be missing days of work after a weekend crash. tv personality Matt Lauer appears to have been taken out by a deer. who knew he even rode. the article suggests that he either crashed trying to flip-off the deer in a fit of road rage. otherwise, he may have been trying one of these:
be careful out there.
Sorry for the delay but as some of you know,I got to go to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Results are as follows:
The Vanilla Workshop was, of course, in top form and seemed like they were a step ahead of everyone. All sorts of cool stuff is going on like seat masts and integrated bar/stem combos,
but my favorite feature was the special post mounts on the cross bikes that are meant to work with Paul canti brakes. They are even talking to Alpha Q about switching the studs on their carbon forks. Bad Ass.
One trend I noticed was color. It seems like everyone was doing everything in at least 6 colors. Not that I'm complaining.
Pictured here is my wonderful girlfriend Margaret who took me to the show for my birthday, along with a nifty solution to bicycle powered pet transport. The Rabbit in the cage's name was Enrique von Floppy-Bottom.
And of course here is me with my new best friend ever, Richard Sachs. I can't really describe how awkward/embarrassed I felt asking for a picture but it was worth it. What poise! What composure! Not only does he build bad ass bikes but he's also quite handsome and photogenic (unlike myself). I may have a mild man-crush... sorry Margaret.
BCC's own Notorious L-O-G will be travelling to this weekend '09 NAHBS. Stay turned for exclusive coverage.
after an aggravating defeat in a collegiate road race this weekend (i wasn't paying attention while 8 dudes broke away, then couldn't get around a four-Navy-guy blockade [cue Village People music] and was left to roll around the last 15 miles with a bunch of guys with teammates in the break and absolutely no motivation to chase but were highly motivated to sprint it out down to the 18th place (and to add further insult, i wasn't even listed in the results!)), i needed some solace. and after a run-on sentence like that, we all do.
so i escaped out for a wednesday afternoon beaver dam ride by myself. sometimes solo riding is meditative. especially when you want to ride slow, rather than get pushed by other BCC folks. things started out pretty swell, with nice weather and empty trails. and then i broke a chain. i haven't broken a chain in years, so that was a bummer. fortunately i had a chain tool. unfortunately i did not have extra links. i should have learned my lesson after the last ride when Daniel broke his chain. i thought i could remove the bad link and push forward the rear wheel (the vassago's rocks track-ends) but it was too short. which forced me to dig through the pine needles on the trail, find the broken parts of the chain and smash them back together. okay, problem solved, at least enough to get me back home. just don't crank too hard, right? it's better than a sharp stick in the eye, right? right. so then i got a sharp stick in my eye. some small branch, actually. it somehow jousted past my glasses and somehow hit me. i don't know if it actually hit my eyeball or just my eyelid, but it hurt. i could still see okay, so i didn't think i had done serious, pirate-style damage; however, i felt that this was yet another sign that today was not the day. go home, eat a donut, shake it off, and try again tomorrow.
when i got home, i was pleased to find that no one had stolen all my stuff.
Not to be outdone by the temporary theft of Lance's bike, thieves figured out that Dave Zabriskie was going to be out of town for a few days and stole all his stuff. Not that I'm jealous of his 14 bikes (not including the ones he was using in California) or "Space Legs", whatever they are. Okay, maybe a little. But who knew Dave was into comic books? I'd actually read a comic starring Dave--it could be pretty good.
In any event, to help solve this crime, if you see anyone riding a Cervelo, it may be stolen, so I'd recommend apprehending them by crashing them out...that is, if they don't do so on their own accord.
'Cause we get to make victory salutes like Mr. Mark "It takes two hands to carry it" Cavendish here:
(from ToC stage 5)
Tell it, Cav, tell it like it is.
Venturing out on the mountain bike today, I was pitted against my arch enemy......wind. Usually on windy days the mountain bike is a safe bet to avoid blustery conditions by seeking refuge in the trees. Alas, this is Colorado and we have hardly any trees. So in other words, nothing to break the wind but my face. Several interesting things happened to me today on the mountain bike.
1) I was blown off my mountain bike not once, but twice today.
2) While riding with a crosswind on a ridge, I had to ride at a 45 degree angle sideways to stay on the bike.
3) My ride today had four significant, sustained climbs and I was actually blown UPHILL on three of them. Seriously, I stopped pedaling and continued forward progress......uphill. It was like anti-gravity.
Now witness the power of wind.......
April (my fiancee) taking flight
So in summary, I learned a few things today:
1) Wind is equal to anti-gravity when applied in the appropriate direction.
2) All coal power plants should be recycled into windmills.
3) If Ali would have been out there with me today......he would be landing somewhere in Kansas right about now.
as not to be one of those bloggers who only finds fault with others and never gives any praise, i thought i'd point out a few "kits" i do like.
how about the AA Drink team:
primary and secondary colors (yellow + blue = green) are great. simple design. not totally jammed with huge logos. well done.
i'm not sure what AA Drink actually is, but it's either:
a) a sports drink
b) a sports drank
c) Drank, "anti-energy" drink
d) a non-subliminal trick to get recovering alcoholics to relapse
e) a non-subliminal trick to get non-geologists to drink molten aa lava (from the makers of Diet Pahoehoe)
f) an awesome beverage named after the initials of our very own Ali
whatever it is, it is my new goal in life to try some...unlike trendy jeans made by a certain bicycle racing team sponsor.
