Those Crickets keep sneaking back up on me!!

I know i haven't posted in over a week. It seems like all i do now is work, bike and drive home to see Sara. This weekend i'll be in GA. I've got a friend from College coming over so we can fix his mtn bike so he can start riding again. It's always good to help get people back into cycling. After we work on his bike, we'll probably go for a ride, I might drag my dad along too.

Sunday i was toying with the idea of racing at Tsali, but Mike from Cartecay Bike shop, http://www.cartecaybikes.com/ said they were going to do a grueling 35 mile ride with lots of climbing. That sounds like the ride for me.

I promise i will work on keeping my blog up to date. Although i did join Netflix again, so that may cut into my blogging time.

14th Out of 25...not bad for the first race.

I spent the night in Atlanta Saturday night to shorten the drive down to Macon for the first race of the Georgia series. The course was made up of tight twisty single track that went up and down like a roller coaster. There were only a few spots where you could get any real speed. It was kind of like Camp Hilbert, maybe slightly hillier and with many more twists and turns. The loop was 5.5 miles and the race was 5 LAPS!!! That's 27.5 miles to you and me Rus. I started the race with my typical bad start, I was middle pack until the rider in front of me hit a cone and i had to stop, then i settled into DFL 100 yards into the race. Once i finally got the diesel up to speed i started to pick off other riders. As usual, i was strong on the hills and the flats, but left a lot to be desired on the downhills. I think i had too much air in the front tire, or the tread wasn't that great cause i washed the front wheel out 3 times on the first lap. It could have been my error too, but i'd rather blame the tire. I knew it was going to be a long race, so i pushed it close to the red line, but left a little to make sure i could go the distance. My hammies cramped up on the last lap, but i just pushed through it cause i knew it was almost over.
I need to work on my fitness some more, it's been tough since i've been in GA. But thanks to daylight savings i can actually get some rides in. Another bonus is that my Parents live on top of a mountain, so every loop from home or ride from work to home ends with a 1500ft climb.

BTW: i only ran the front kenda, it worked out fine except for the pressure/tread issue. I did a warm up lap with both of them, but the rear lost 20 psi in 30 minutes. I guess i need to swish the stans around a little more to see if i can seal it.

Keep well.

First Mounatin Bike Race Coming Up!!

I'm getting fired up for the first race of the season. I'm heading down to Macon, GA on Sunday. I splurged this year and got my Norba license to go along with my Road and Cyclo-cross. I better do a few road races to make it worth while, i can race cross and mtn bikes on just the Norba. I bet ya in a few years it will be an extra 30 for a cross license too.

I'm going to give this new tire set-up a shot. This was Jeffro's idea last year, I've got a set of Kenda Karma LR3 DTC 2.0's that i mounted on tubless rims with Stan's. The tires weigh 450-480 grams a piece which should save me at least 200 grams a tire. I guess we will see how they hold up. I'd hate to DNF my first race. I guess it could be worse, i could have a little trouble like Mr. Horvath last weekend. Maybe i should bring some extra shorts and extra wheels. Do they have pits in XC mtn biking like they do in Cross????

I found the Creator!!

It turned out that Steve wasn't as hard to find as i had feared. I was able to get a phone number from Thomas at SBC, http://www.shenandoahbicycle.com/home.html, and i tried Steve's old e-mail that he still checks. I talked to him last night and he is going to see what he can do to fix the frame. The nice thing is that the frame breaks into two pieces and is easier/cheaper to ship. I'm just sending him the back half. I'll put a fork and a wheel on the front half and gallop around the basment like i'm riding a toy horse while the back is being fixed. Actually i am transfering parts to my 29er frame so it will have gears.

So all is well in GA now, hopefully i get steve's address via email today so i can ship it out.

Just for the record, the seat tube setup on my bike was something out of the norm for Steve's bikes. With the exception of this problem the bike has been great, and thanks to Steve it should be again.

p.s. I didn't eat any food at all yesterday thanks to Mr. Horvath's comment. I'm shooting for 140 lbs. (I could probably do okay with only one kidney and one lung, wonder what they weigh)

O Stickel Where are't Thou!!

I found Steve. I don't want to give a negative impression of Steve or the quality of the Frame so i figured i would pull the pic's. I'll put up some new pics when i get the bike rolling again.

Congrats Mr. Russell

Now get out there and kick someBUTT!!!