Knight Rider, but like during the day

Sure, we at Bull City Cycling have been known to brag about our bikes, but can any of them do this?


Actually, I've never tried this, but maybe that the secret of all well-built trails: you don't need to steer, the bike will just naturally follow the trail. I suggest you try it. Next ride, just take your hands off the bars, close your eyes, and coast.

Arrival Part Two.....From the Father

Yes it is true. There was a lull in the Brian house renovation/clean out process last night and with the help of Linus, my new Carbon S-Works hardtail is alive.

It is light and very sexy. Bling-tackular. Hopefully my back will survive with a few less aches and pains next season. The bike is light. Loaded with everything (pedals and 2 cages) it is right on 23 pounds. That is even with my heavy rear wheel on it. Not that I am going for super light......but I am personally in the superlight category, so this helps me. Plus with my move to Colorado coming up, I need every advantage I can get to hang with those boyz out there (like Dave Wiens, etc etc). Haha

Props again to Linus for the help! And thanks to Dr. Seven for the motivation. It will have to wait until next week to get dirty.

And as a bonus, my old Stumpjumper (previous race bike) is now a lightweight single speed and I have a Santa Cruz Chameleon frame for sale (size medium). Huck bike anyone??

Arrivals

This bike is, according to Hollywood, hotness. Expect a full post from Hollywood about his hotness in the coming days.

Long Rides and aching muscles...

Just checked the Blog, I have to say that I concur whole-heartedly with the Professor. I went out on a couple of extended MTB rides with Daniel this weekend, there were two results:

1. I am extremely sore all over my body...it feels like I was in a boxing match and had my teeth handed to me.
2. Daniel has a new nickname "Chef Caesar", the first part is obvious the second is a shout out to his brethren that hail from Germany, Big Jan...

The story behind the nickname began a couple of weeks ago but was confirmed on the Saturday ride. We had done an extended Umstead bridal loop, Hubcap, Sludge and were venturing out on 286 when Chef Caesar says to me, "Whoa, I am still in my big ring!" I mean come on, really? It wasn't enough that he was punishing me on the climbs, looking effortless, but in the big ring the whole time... I think he took a little satisfaction in that, personally. Mistake? not sure. Kicking a man while he's down? Probably. Good time shredding some dirt? For sure!

By the way, we ran into one of the trail builders on 286. He had just added an additional 2 miles of singletrack. According to his calculations, the trail tips the scales at 8 miles. As you can imagine, its pretty soft and fresh but feels pretty nice.

Anyway, I went home pretty sore from the effort but wanted redemption. ON Sunday, we loaded up the bikes and headed out to New Light for an evening ride. Feeling a bit better, I pushed it a little and finished with a great ride. Although I am feeling pretty tired as I type this message.

I am heading to Flagstaff for a 5 days in a couple of weeks so I am trying to prepare myself to get completely destroyed by my boys out there. Should be amazing as always...

less = more

Less riding = more suffering. Despite Greg Lemond's claim that it doesn't get any easier, you just get faster, things can be more difficult if you are off the mountain bike for an extended period of time, then try two races in one weekend. Case in point, NCSU collegiate racing.

Sure, if I had been training more consistently, I could have finished faster (although based on the level of other riders, probably wouldn't have placed much better). However, time off the mountain bike does more than just reduce your speed. 

1) Hands. My hands got soft and so I got blisters. Sure, a suspension fork and less rooty trails might have helped. But I got to toughen up again.

2) Lower back. My lower back hurts. Muscular, not spinal, fortunately. But still, I gotta get my core strength back.

3) Ears. I'm not sure how my hearing was affected, but somehow I missed the part about how we were only doing 4 laps on Sunday instead of the advertised 5. Don't get me wrong, I was happy for this discount. But I only figured this out on the last (4th) lap after getting caught by another rider (on a singlespeed, no less). Not to say that I would have done better (maybe one place, maybe not), but it would have reduced my level of dread.

Results:

Saturday, Crabtree: 6th out of 11

Sunday, Harris Lake: 8th out of 14

Other race notes:

* This was a collegiate race for Duke, so I was not able to sport my BCC kit. Maybe we need some logo stickers for our bikes.

* We raced at Crabtree (saturday) and Harris (sunday) and local riders were super cool about letting the racers pass. Thank you all very much.

* One non-racing person thought it would be a good idea to remove course marking tape in critical sections of the trail. This was not a good idea, especially for kids who drove down from places like West Virginia, only to have their race needlessly complicated by some petty jerk.

* I was the only person riding a singlespeed in the Men's A race on saturday, but people must have got the message because three other dudes came wielding singlespeeds on sunday.

* Also spotted, one UNC Men's B racer and a AppState women's A racer on singlespeed. Mad props to you as well.

* I got some props for sporting my neon green/pink/black Oakley brand "Blades". When asked where I got them, I told some dude that I bought them at some store in 1988. I think he was thinking I found these retro specs on eBay or something and seemed to pause while he did some complicated math. I realized that he probably was not born when I was spending my allowance money on these dope shades. 

fake race/fake win

some weeknight, everywhere around the world, local folks get together and host some sort of fake bike race. it's slightly more organized than a group of kids doing laps around the jungle gym, but it would never be mistaken for some UCI/ASO fiasco. no entry fees. no race officials. no neutral support vehicle. no photo finish. no prize money. it's just for the glory. oh, the glory.

and while i've given the tuesday night fight the ol' college try for most of the summer, victory has been elusive. partially because my tactics are often rash and impatient. mostly because i can't sprint my way out of a paper bag (try it, it's more difficult than it sounds). but, as i continue to tell myself, it's never about the win, it's all about the game. the action and drama of the way the fake race plays out. even into the fall, when weather is iffy, the days grow short and motivation grows even shorter.

but the fake isn't about the win, it's about the fight. it's a chance to throw down. make stupid attacks. make risky moves. suffer. at the end of the day, it's only practice. one part high-intensity training, one part testing out strategies. playing the pack weasel or just waiting for everything to come back together is lame (unless you're struggling just to hang on--then that's a workout and a strategy).

so like i was saying, i rolled out to the race this tuesday. it had rained pretty consistently for the previous day and a half, but close inspection of weatherunderground.com radar said that the rain was done and the ride should be on. long story short(er), the rain must have scared everyone else away so i rode the loops by myself TO VICTORY! and let this be a valuable strategic lesson to you all: training is good, but the best odds for winning a race is finding a race where no one else shows up. similar to G.I. Joe's mantra "knowing is half the battle", Cat. 4 Joe's mantra is "showing is half the battle". and i take this confidence with me to my first mountain bike races in months. enter the collegiate mtb season. wish me luck...luck that no one else shows up.

Finally Ready to Roll

I know all of our loyal fans have been waiting for the debut of my new 2009 race bike (mainly based on the constant reports from my PR Agent Ali aka....Dr. 7)


And here goes.......the first spy shots of the 2009 Hollywood Race Bike:

Despite the Professor's woes...

Just checked the blog and noticed that our token hammerhead, aka The Professor, is issuing a futile attempt to convince the riders of the Durham peloton collectively that he is losing fitness.

I say heed not the pontifications of this wolf in sheeps clothing. He is a menace on both the road and the mountain. His inactivity signals just one thing to me...he will merely rip my legs off on the next ride with not only the traditional smile and cordail demeanor but a sigh and maybe a head shake..."I must be feeling ok afterall".

I have made the mistake of thinking that I was on a good day and he was not, believe me don't take the bait. He will punish you and be as nice and polite about it. In fact, I am not even sure that he believe this living in Oregon thing, if I didn't know better I would say that he oozes Southern Charm and Hospitality. You know nice and sweet on the surface but a rattlesnake just below.

So do all you readers out there, don't believe the hype...Chris is fit, was fit and probable always will be fit.

The only hope that i have is that he takes up smoking...

Chris, you know I am just kidding...your my boy.

the end of the summer

the weather's been crampin' my style. it's finally getting cooler, but the rain prevents us from mountain biking and makes road biking kinda lame. actually, road biking's still fine, the rain just makes me lame about riding. and that's pretty bad, since i grew up in oregon, where even hype-clothed hipsters ride ancient schwinns in the rain. oh, what have i become? i might as well sell all my bikes, buy a serotta that shall never be ridden, and pour myself a glass of chardonnay. please! send help!

The Beaver Dam mtb race

Dam!

Postponed, due to excessive moisture. Rain is good to relieve drought conditions, but bad for mountain bike trail conditions. I haven't ridden the ol' mountain bike in ages, so it is somewhat fortunate that the Triangle MTB series finale has been postponed. Train more/slack less.

Lance is coming back!

If you haven't already heard. Lance Armstrong plans on winning his 8th Tour next summer. http://www.livestrong.com/lance2009/

How Hiedelberg could kill a man...

This is something I can't understand: how a bike can near kill a man.

Pressed for time last Sunday I headed out to the southwest of Albany to get a couple hours of riding in on the skinny tires. I'd planned to head about halfway up the Hiedelberg Escarpement, a ridge outside of town that begins to loom over you as you get onto progressively smaller country roads. Unfortunately I can't read maps (or wasn't paying attention), and my route took me winding to the top. (And you know it's the top by the beautiful views, and the cell phone towers.)

Here's my route:



There's no way that the map can convey just how out of shape I am, so let me say this: at the top of the ride I actually had to get off and walk the last hundred yards or so. I've never, ever had to do this on a road bike before and I have to admit that it was pretty humbling. I imagine if I had a 27-tooth cassette in the rear -- or a compact crankset -- I would have been fine, but on Sunday the choice was stop and walk, turn around with my tail between my legs, or fall over and hope someone found me. So I walked. Of course as soon as I unclipped the only car I'd seen for minutes pulled up behind me to make sure my humiliation was witnessed.

So yes, I have been beaten and unmanned, but I'm ready to go back for more: at my slow pace, the ascent took somewhere around 25 minutes, all but a couple hundred yards or so were uphill (there were two quick dips). Some was just steady climbing, but there were a few switchbacks and steep pitches. Needless to say it was quite a change from doing repeats on Mt. Sinai (which I was never very good at, and I haven't done for almost a year now).

There were a few minutes where the only thing that got me through were my snazzy new bottle cages. But survive I did, and I'll live to ride -- and walk -- another day.