I'm jealous....

JRowe asked me to work the Redlands Classic with him. To most that doesn't sound too strange. JRowe volunteers for the Mavic Neutral Support Crew (SSC) and he needed a jumper (someone who jumps from a car to change out a wheel for a racer) to help out. I'm in!

I drove up Thursday afternoon and met the team at the hotel before dinner. It's amazing how such different people can come together and make a solid team. Most of the guys are shop mechanics hailing from St. Louis to NorCal. 

Who hasn't noticed the yellow cars and moto's in large pro races. Take a look at some of the photos on Velonews or CyclingNews, you'll see yellow. Although unfortunately I didn't have to get out of the car I was stoked to see the race from that vantage point, the radios, the commraderie between cars and closeup view of the racers.

Stories soon....

The Del Mar Crit was last Saturday. I kind of wish there had been more this year. Saturday's race was epic though. My day started at 7:00am, setting up the tent and my pit.

The first few races were junior races and they were pretty harmless (a few flats, a derailleur adjustment, etc.). Lots of friends stopped by throughout the day which is always good. Stubby and Vanilla stopped by during their ride. Chris Allen from Specialized, BigAss stopped by after the Swami's ride, TeeBag hung out with his camera most of the day and loads of our team riders (DeWalt, SDBC and Jensifer) hung out in the pit between races.

During the 45+ race one of the UCCyclery racers wrecked pretty hard. He was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately the ambulance had to return before the next race could commence. That left the 35+ riders to warm up on course for close to 45 minutes until the ambulance returned. 5pence flew in from Jersey (the island off UK) a couple days before and decided to do the race. In spectacular form he pulled a fourth place finish. Good job little man

.
The Pro 1/2/3 race included a few Rock Racing guys, Jelly Belly and Toyota United. A Team Type 1 guy came into the pits looking for a neutral wheel, the pits are wheels in/ wheels out (riders bring a spare set of wheels to me, if they get a flat on course they ride to the pit and I change wheels for them). How can a pro show up at a race and not have a spare? It turned out he had his wheels at his car he just didn't want to use them. One of the Toyota United guys rolled in with a flat, also no spare. I offered him my trusty crappy 9spd spare. He was in the break so he took it. I rolled him back in and he stayed with the break. As soon as he was off I decided to fix his flat, it was a good thing he was back after 10 laps or so. I installed his wheel and rolled him in. He ended up getting third! 

I was completely surprised when he came by the pit after the race and thanked me for the help. That completely made my day.

It was a long day but, a good one.

Good God how long has it been.....

Wow the shop is kicking right now. Saturday I had a line out the door waiting for yours truly to work on their bikes plus we had 7 or so scheduled repairs to do. Tis the season!

So I was rocking my "Evil" T-shirt today. M&M, The Queen and I are sitting at the Tide and a bunch of people are staring at me. You'd think I would be used to it now that I am famous but, it was kind of wierd. I realized they were noticing my shirt. It's kind of funny people treat me differently when I wear anything that says "Evil". They are just jealous. 

I am getting back on the bike tomorrow. I haven't decided which bike though, maybe the Javaboy. We'll see if some exercise will cure me.

Today's links:

iPhone Atlas 

Software Training by Lynda

Alan Casagrande's Bongo Bay Studio

SyCip Headquarters

The Queen of Neoprene and I drove up to Solvang for the Tour of California.

I love road trips. Whether they are day trips or week long trips I am in. The Queen and I left after work on Thursday night. We drove up the Belmont Shores to stay at her friends house. On the way The Queen introduced me to Pinkberry.

I normally don't like frozen yogurt but, it was excellent! Too bad the closest one to San Diego is in Temecula. In the morning we left early enough to miss most of the traffic and made it to Solvang an hour before the Time Trial started. The atmosphere at the ToC races is pretty unique. It's not the spectators you would expect to see. Groups of kids, dogs and families milling about. There was the usual smattering of bike geeks, shop geeks and industry people. The race was fun to watch but, the best part for me was walking through the team areas. They had grouped the teams in a large parking lot and it was opened to the public. Thankfully not everyone knew it and it wasn't packed. We were able to stand 3 feet from Boonen, Bettini, Hincapie and everyone else while they were warming up on trainers. All the racers we saw were happy to talk to the fans and sign autographs.

The sickness has passed..... for now.

Two weeks ago most of San Diego and I caught the flu. The strain was impervious to most medication and is still lingering with me in form of a cough. I hate being sick. Most of the time when I get a cold, it lasts a few days then withers away, not this time. I missed 4 days of work and many times thought overdosing on Mucinex might be better. It took a little over 7 days to get my energy back. I am not yet up to riding but, soon.

Well do the math. I did not go to 24 hours in the Old Pueblo this year. It's the first time in 7 years that I missed it. Although I wouldn't go straight to "missed". The forecast had snow, rain and cold temps. With my flu condition there was no way I was going to risk a pneumonia. It looks like it was a good decision. The guys were held up getting out of town because of black ice, snow and mud slides on the 8 east. When they arrived in Tucson it was snowing and cold. Yuck.

At least it let up for the race. Unfortunately the weather was the only good change during the first lap. Elliott went first for the guys. On his way out the fire road toward the first climb, a jackass nudged his handlebar and he flipped over the bars breaking his collarbone and fracturing his elbow. Poor SOB. For the complete story and xRay photo's checkout the B&L Blog.

Jens turned 40 last night (at least thats what are waitress thought)!

Great turn out for another Jens slam-fest, sorry buddy. Dainty, RL.com + his better half, Kaiser, Tracy the neighbor, Mike &J, Aaron & Heather, Mattallica, BigAss, The Sheppard, Me and Tater Tot celebrated Jens' birthday at Masuo's.  

Fun was had by all, at little strange and confusing but, fun. 

Well.... where to begin. Here is a synopsis;

1) Had a nightmare date last week. She might have been an axe murderer but, I escaped narrowly. (Long story)

2) I started working out again to get back some fitness. I rode in the YMCA Spin-a-thon again this year and had my ass handed to me, I am still sore. I rode my bike Saturday, Sunday and Monday (I think I am riding to work today as well).

3) The Queen of Neoprene and I went to 4 Super Bowl parties on Sunday. I ended up back at #1 (The bearded ladies house) for beer pong spectating.

4) My new MTB cranks should be in this week! With Old Pueblo so soon, it might Tucson where I try them out.

I am officially jealous of Geri.....

(Any guesses what this is?)

Just my luck. As soon as I start feeling the urge to ride...It starts to rain and I get a cold.

Today was eventful to say the least. I was able to hammer out all the repairs for today, start a big one for tomorrow (Complete overhaul including new parts), Specialized calls to tell us that they are hooking Geri up with a new frame (Huge upgrade, pictures tomorrow) and I made it the entire day without coughing. Yay.

I am really lucky to have a kick ass job, a million friends (I think that is a literal number, everywhere I go I know someone) and a clean house. I have been noticing that I am happier than I have been in awhile. Oh well...I 'm sure things will change.

The project is 95% complete! It's a great thing being able to see your floor. 

Whenever I turn on the iPod or iTunes lately I go directly to this band. I probably will play it so often that I get sick of it (like TV on the radio, etc. DB puts that band on repeat all day. ugh.). Have any guesses who it is?

Wednesday's night ride was a success! The 6 of us explored Lake Hodges and found that the "upper" trails are still closed and the Highland Valley Trail is closed as well. It still was a blast. 

This photo was taken during the day but, you can tell the trails are coming back.

 This weekend Jensifer and I are cruising up to Vail Lake for another 12 Hours of Temecula. This is the cold one. I have to remember to bring every piece of warm clothing I own. Tommy T is also racing this one. It will be his first solo 12 hour race. Luckily he has the mental power, we'll see if he has the leg power. Good luck Tommy! 

Can You guess where this is on the trail? Looks different huh....

Now that Lake Hodges has reopened I want to start my night ride up again! Normal loop although the first ride will probably be slow and investigative. Supposedly it looks like moonscape. I hope you all try and make it out. The past rides were a lot of fun for everyone. Some of you I know are training for some endurance races and this would be a great way to train for them.

Hope to see you all out there!

G

(Some of you will be receiving an email soon about the ride, if you are not on my list email me at probikesupport at gmail dot com.)

Just when things were looking up....

Reality smacks me in the face and says "not so fast". Thursday I was working in the shop when someone came in and said, those in famous words, "Does anybody own the black Subaru?". Ugh. I start to sweat, my heartbeat starts to race and I feel sick. My car is important in my life. It's not as important as when I worked in the OC but, still pretty important.

At least the guy came in right? He could have left and I would have never known there was a giant dent in my fender....Yuck. The positives are that the dent isn't blocking the wheel, so I can drive it. The headlight isn't cracked and the guy is going to take care of it. I got a couple estimates and recommendations. My mechanic Niko at Charlie's Foreign Car recommended Fender Mender in Encinitas. They seem to get a lot of business. Several dealer tech's were dropping off cars while I was there, good sign.

So I have that going for me. My first Mac class is next Sunday. I am learning a lot just playing with the computer but, I want to find out the in's and out's of the OS.

That's it for now. I am going on week 5 without cable. I have made a considerable dent in the cleaning of my house. Maybe I can invite people over soon.....

Adios

If you don't already know, I am officially a member of the Mac community. I bought my first Mac on Sunday after my laptop finally took a dirt nap. I purchased the Macbook which I am completely stoked with. It's going to take me awhile to relearn computing but, I will take that sacrifice.

I also now have a better camera in my paws. So pictures should be streaming more regularly. 

I am back.... better than ever.

I have been letting y'all down. It wasn't completely my fault. Not only have I not had Internet service my crusty laptop died. Today I fixed part of the issue and bought a new computer, whew.... I finally have the computer I have always wanted and I am ready to start the next chapter.

I have been thinking about taking some computer arts classes down at MiraCosta. No time like the present. My computer will no longer hold me back. It's black just like I like my cars.

Any guesses what it is......

I am going to head home now and start transfering the files I managed to save on my external hard drive.  

So here is the story....

First off the sickness took a lot out of me (including not riding, not working out, etc.). Too make matters worse I was becoming more lazy by the day. I decided to cancel my cable and unfortunately that included my internet. Needless to say I was lost. My house doesn't have phone lines so I can't use my modem and there aren't too many "wireless" networks in my neighborhood.

I am an internet nomad. I use my friends internet when I visit or sometimes use my neighbors connection (when I can). I'll try to post when I possible. I am working on a new connection, cross your fingers.

B&L's Holiday party is the weekend! It's always a good time. Plus I am going to a concert tomorrow night, the 94.9 Holiday Hootenany. I am looking forward to Pinback and Queens of the Stone Age. The other bands I am not quite familiar with but, should be fun.

Well.....Let's see.

Yes, I am alive. I have been battling a month long strain of Bronchitis/ Allergy sickness. It started out just like a cold then progressively got worse. Cough, Nasal Congestion, Chest Congestion. Two weeks ago I was coughing on average 40 times a day. Today I have coughed once. I might have just jinxed myself. Other than that my weeks have been normal.

I worked for Jens at the conclusion of the 12 hours of Temecula series. The race is at Vail Lake in Temecula. The series consists of 3 races on slightly different courses. Jens raced his first 12 hour race (let alone his first MTB race) here in January and won! The second race (in June-ish), after placing an awesome 11th at the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo, Jens got 2nd place! Last month's race was the hardest by far. The climbing was brutal. Jens battled back and forth between 1st and 2nd. He finished the race in 2nd and clenched 1st place (Sport) in the series! Congrats Jens, I couldn't have done it without you! (hehehehehe.....)

More in awhile I need coffee.

I have been unplugged lately.....

My normal computer is having difficulties connecting with the internet so tonight I am rocking the tablet pc. I am working on my connection and should be 100% next week. What does that mean for you? You will be able to read my blog and see updates.

Thanksgiving is coming up! Everyone have plans? I am yet again avoiding the family and spending the day with friends. I will undoubtedly see the fam during the holidays just not for Turkey Day.I should ride there just so I can burn the calories I will be taking in.

Humberto, Dainty and I stopped at The Port after work this evening. I learned 3 things;

1) 3 beers are plenty 4 beers are too much.
2) Dainty is way too sensitive when he drinks.
3) Amber Marsh likes to dance to ABBA.

This weekend is 12 hours of Temecula! Come on out and support Jens (Solo) and Julia (Team)!

I just found this video from Interbike 2007. It's an interview by Dirt Rag with Jeremy SyCip (and Don Walker from the handmade bike show). He talks a litle about the Javaboy and their business. Definitely one of my favorite artists.

I am back on the bike....sort of.


I have been taking it easy and just doing some short road rides before work. The Queen of Neoprene adjusted me the other day (Yes, she does have a chiropractic license).

Other than that things are pretty mello. The shop has stayed busy past the sale. No big drama there lately. The week is young though.

Jensypoo is racing next weekend, 12 hours of Temecula. He and Dainty rode out there last week. Dainty claims the course really difficult. I just hope the past air quality doesn't damper Jens' performance. Brent raced yesterday (Redline Cup in Boulder, CO), he finished in a strong 14th. Especially strong when he is racing against the top 20 Pro's that don't have regular jobs. He is racing again today in Colorado (Boulder Cup), both races are UCI races.