Cool Bikes In My Garage.....

Last night, I was talking with a buddy about all the cool bikes that have been through my garage in the past year..... I built a few of them, tweaked a few of them for people, and just drooled over a few as well.....

Trek TTX - full DA and Zipp

Specialized Tarmac SL- Full SRAM and Zipp

Cervelo S1 - Full Ultegra

Cervelo S2 - Full Ultegra SL

Pinarello Prince - Full Super Record 11

Vellum Equilibrium - Full DA

Scott Addict R2 - Full DA

First Ride for Matt On His New Cervelo.

Picture says it all. He's enjoying his new ride....

11th Wedding Anniversary

Well, for our 11th wedding anniverary, my wife asked if we could go for a ride.

No better way to spend the day : )

Tough year for equipment.....

I've had a tough year when it comes to equipment....

Earlier this year, my cross wheels started to pull themselves apart, so I had to replace them.

Then I broke a computer wire.

Next up, I bent my road frame.....

And now........ I've destroyed my rear Easton wheel. Could not believe it when I saw it. I was riding at Shelby Forest, and heard some rubbing on the first big climb of the day. When I got off the bike to check it out, the wheel was pulling itself apart. Spoke nipples had pulled themselves right through the rim. Unfortunately, the wheel would not even spin, so I ended up having to have a buddy go rescue me...



The wheel is still under warranty, so hopefully I'll get a replacement soon.

New Harmonica : )

Got myself a new Missippi Saxophone. I've played Hohner BluesHarps for a long time, but wanted to try something new.

The Suzuki Pro-Master really lives up to its name. It sounds soooo good. The bends are very clean and easy to modulate.

I'm still not much of a player, but at least thats not because of having bad equipment.

While I was at it, I bought my first harmonica microphone. I got an Egg-Static harp mic. Very cool little mic. Works well with my Crate guitar amp and sounds pretty cool.

Kickin it SSCX style at Herbs

So this year, I really want to do better in the fall cross races. I've been riding the single speed a lot to get myself built up for it.

I think its working.

So today, I headed out to Herb Parsons for some SSCX action. I took my Labadie out there and met up with Allent17 from the MSTA boards and rode one and half laps. He's faster than me, and was on a full suspension bike, but I guess I held my own.

I really am finally starting to feel a difference when riding the SSCX and I have the power to punch it up the hills without problem.

The new wheels are super cool as well. I'm very happy with them.

Getting a new guy out on the trail!

Today, I got my buddy Matt out on the trail for his first real mountain bike ride.

Matt is in great shape overall, but definitely not yet adapted to the mountainbike. He did great, no doubt, and I expect he'll be stomping my ass pretty soon. Next time I get a buddy into mountainbiking or cycling in general, I need to pick a guy that is slower than me!!!!!

My First Road Race

This morning while most of America was asleep, and a few cycling fans were turning on the Tour on the Versus Channel, I was getting ready for my first road race.

My buddy, JR, convinced me to come over to Arkansas and do the Tour De Horseshoe road race. This is not a large sanctioned event. Instead, its a small local road race put on by the locals. Its a run-whatcha-brung deal with any bike accepted.

When we got there, we were the first to sign up....a little scheduling error there. Gradually the field began to fill up, and some more serious riders began to show. JR recognized a few of them as people who could really go. We headed out for a brief warmup and got ready.

The race took off from a Y in the road and we headed for the dam. Just before the dam, everyone surged, hoping to knock people off the back. Unfortunately, it almost shook me off the back too! I sprinted down the top of the dam and got back on with the front half dozen riders. A few other riders got there with me too.

As soon as I caught on, they surged again and the front 4 broke loose. A second intermediate group formed too with me in it. I held my position for quite a while then dropped......

After a few miles in the wind by myself, a guy blazed by me on a Merlin and I hopped on his wheel. We clipped along at a solid 25mph for a couple miles and got back to the intermediate group. Unfortunately, that effort was my undoing, and I fell off the back again, never to get back on.

I rode out the last few miles by myself in the wind and got passed by a couple people, dropping myself from 10th overall to 14th by the finish line....

In the end, I won my age group (no cats in this race) and took 14th. JR on the other hand kicked ass!!!! He won his age group and the overall!!!! He put in a very solid ride, and never went to the limit in the race. Congrats JR!

Cyclocross wheel score!!!!

Last week, a local guy posted a set of Bontrager wheels on the MSTA website for sale forum. The price was great, so I shot him a note and we made arrangements to meet.

I picked up the wheels, and they're pretty cool. They're Bontrage Race-Lites and I picked them up for a song. The rear even had a 9sp cassette on it.

With the blue annodizing on the rims, and the paired spoke setup, they are the schizzle!

Mounted them up on the bike and I'm pretty happy with them. They're lighter than the junkers they replaced as well.