I'll be here tomorrow morning.

My Ferrous

I'm probably going to sell it.
Anybody interested?
Depending on interest I might sell it sooner than later.
As with all my bikes, you can be pretty certain that it's RAD.
It has a sussy fork on it now, white with purple robot decals. I'll sell it with both forks- Salsa rigid and Reba Team.
So let me know if you are or might be interested.

all singletrack all the time

My plan this weekend was to get a lot of road miles in. To be perfectly honest I'm sort of dreading the WORS season. Cat 1. Ouch. I'm not interested in what place I take really, but at the same time I want to represent the Cat 1 category well. Ya know? Personally I don't think I'm a Cat 1 racer- skills yes, fitness, no, and I've told this story before, but I don't feel right staying in Cat 2. I don't know why I dread it so much, I mean I just have to ride my bike, right?
It's hard to explain how I feel about all this, but I know there are plenty of girls who have made the jump for whatever reason and know exactly what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I didn't help my cause any by spending these past two days in the dirt. I just can't help it. And this is why I will never be a decent Cat 1 racer. When it comes right down to it I just don't have the drive to "train". The couple races I did that last lap was a total and complete painful suffer fest- and the courses weren't that difficult as far as climbing, etc. If I want to not dread WORS so much I have to sacrifice and do rides I don't prefer. It's the end of March and I have maybe one ride over 30 miles. I struggle with all this really.
I don't care to make time to train, but I still want to race and not suffer too horribly. Yes I want it all. But whatever, I rode singletrack in March TWO DAYS IN A ROW! And none of what I cried about really matters, once May 2nd comes (or tomorrow) I won't care about any of this. I'll just do what I do.

Swallow Cliff

I rode singletrack today.
Tom and I headed out to Swallow Cliffs from our houses, we met up on the paved path and took that plus the road out to the multi-track.
The multi-track was in great shape, only a couple of watery spots to keep it interesting. So of course, being out there, and Tom never have ridden the single track there, we of course went to check it out.
The singletrack had some good, some bad and some OMG, but all ride-able.
The first section we rode was practically mint. It actually all went downhill from there conditions wise, but we were still able to ride everything. Seemed weird to be off-road.
If it wasn't supposed to rain I'd be there tomorrow too, or the Mesa. Looks like it might be a wet paved path ride. But whatever, I'll be on my bike. I hope.

I do this every year...

I remembered one of the links I wanted to post.
Brown County Sub-9 Super D. I so want to do this. Unfortunately it conflicts with the Border Battle, one of my favorite WORS courses. I lean towards the Super D only because it's a lot shorter of a drive and it looks like it's going to be a festival type weekend.
But who knows. I need to decide soon though as I see that filling up quite fast.
I have such mixed feelings about doing just WORS races. On one hand WORS is a lot of fun, we have a bunch of friends that we see every other weekend. But on the other hand I'd like to start riding different places again. As much as I love a lot of the WORS courses, I've ridden them over and over again. I miss riding different trails, and since there aren't many non-WORS weekends we don't travel to ride different places either. I miss that.
There are a lot of races to choose from this year in IL, IN and WI. MI too.
The new NIMBA series. I love racing Imagination Glen. But that race conflicts with Wausau24. We'll have to pick what we want to do that weekend. There is also the new IL Homegrown MTB Series. Lots of great places to ride on that schedule as well. Then there is DINO, which has a stop at Brown County, and MMBA, which has Ft. Custer (RAD course)- and of course conflicts with Iola.
This isn't even factoring in the one day races like the Cooper Harbor Fat Tire Festival- which I'd like to do this year.
So much to choose from and not enough weekends.
I also don't want to just race. I want to ride too. Brown County and Levis Trow are the destinations I'm looking forward to.

We'll see. It's still early. I have all these grand plans and then just turn into a sheep and do WORS.

Who needs water?

Apparently not my dumb ass. How annoying to forget your water. Especially since I've been a bit dehydrated lately.

I'm too lazy to do my link post tonight. I wanted to get in bed at 10pm- so I've failed twice. Besides I don't even remember what I wanted to post.

stupid blogger

I had to change the comments back to blogger because halo scan forced me to some other JS Kit or something and it wasn't free.
I saved my comments but don't feel like figuring out how to re-add them.
Meh. How annoying.

Nothing much over the weekend. Saturday was a shitter of a day weather-wise.
Sunday all I can remember is I was cold ALL DAY. Nothing I did could warm me up.
I finally warmed up in time just to go to bed.

Which reminds me, I should probably do that now.

I don't have much to say anyway, other than I hope the forecast for Saturday stays.
I know it won't, but I'll still hope.

Actually I do have things to talk about, but it includes finding links and stuff.
I'll save it for tomorrow.

I'll think of Sunday, but forget Saturday now...

Today was pretty uneventful.
I worked from home and snuck a 45 minute ride in after Liz picked up Zoe.
I just picked up Casey straight from my ride. I sort of felt dumb all spandex-ed out.
I shouldn't have, some of the things people will wear out in public amaze me, and I'm pretty chill.
John's bike is half built. Since we are short on wheels and brakes he hasn't parted out the Ferrous yet. Luckily there are brakes here to replace his XX, but no wheels.
I went to order rims today, but of course they are out of stock everywhere. Stan's site looks to have them in stock, so I'll look into getting the pro-form tomorrow.
Then getting all the hubs, spokes and rims to someone to build them all.
I may wait on my 190s though, but actually probably not. I really want the Crest rim because of its weight. I read somewhere that it wasn't as easy to set up tubeless and this turned me off. One of the reasons I ride Stan's (main reason being weight) is how easily they set up tubeless. It's a dream really compared to other rims. So I may just stick with the 355s. I'm really not that big of a weight weenie.
I need a fork for my Superfly as well. I almost wish the Bontrager rigids were available and then I could just take John's :). Someone did me a favor for his, so now I have to figure out how to get a 51mm for myself.
I guess it's good to have bike problems.

I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. Holly's coming by SRAM to drop off her Rock Lobster so I can ride it on the gravel trails. We're going to lunch, should be fun.

Weekend will be a little bit of spring cleaning, gettig rid of clothes and hopefully a ride. Saturday looks to be out at this point, but now Sunday is looking okay.

I don't even want to think about Sunday...

I left work about a half hour early to hopefully get a ride in.
Technically it was my last Kenpo work out and I sort of feel a bit, I don't know, bad for missing it seeing it was the last one, BUT IT WAS SUNNY AND IN THE 60s! No way I wasn't going for a ride!
It was only 45 minutes but it was oh so fun. It was so nice to be out there un-layered.
My feet still froze though. Drastic measures had to be taken when I got home so I could take a shower:



Kinda can't wait for John to build up his Superfly. It's driving me mad that all the parts are here and he hasn't started. I don't blame him necessarily, we haven't really had the time, but still. I need to see a new bike built dammit!

I'm hoping my gramma can watch Zoe for a bit tomorrow so I can take advantage of the weather.

decisions

Since I got this:



I'm not sure what I'll do with this:



I love the Ferrous. It rails the singletrack like a dream. I'm not sure how the Superfly will compare. The Ferrous has a pretty short wheelbase whereas, when I see photos of the Superfly, not so much. Huh. I guess I can't make a decision until I finally get it built up and ride to compare. So now, I'm impatient.

What I do know is that I don't need both. A part of me is hoping to super dig the Superfly so I can sell the Ferrous for one of these:



Chromag Sakura. I'd build it up non-race, like ith some riser bars, etc. More of a super rad trail bike (or Ray's) with their Ranger stem and riser bars, and the Juniper saddle.
I need a place for my Industry 9 wheels; they'd go well on there I think.

John still hasn't started his Superfly. He, too, loved his Ferrous and is unsure of what the Superfly will bring. He'll find out sooner than I will fortunately.

Our trip to AZ is like 3 weeks away. Time flies.

P.S.
I hope this is for real:

Sunday June 13

Anyone interested in doing this?

It's a WORS weekend but it's, um, Sunburst.

Looks like men are welcome- just not part of the clinic.

I dislike DST... at first

I wanted to make a point to get out of bed this morning at 7am (really 6am). I was awake, like my internal alarm woke me up exactly at that time, but my bed was too warm and cozy. I had nothing going on, no kids harassing me for breakfast and John left on a road ride, so I stayed in bed. Then... I didn't wake up til after 9am! Ugh.
I felt like the whole morning disappeared.
I dressed and walked downstairs and preheated the over for cinnamon rolls. The oven dinged letting me know it was ready but when I went into the fridge, NO CINNAMON ROLLS. Total bummer. I was too lazy to make pancakes so I just had a bowl of cereal. Talk about a let down.
I didn't feel well at all today so was pretty stoked when I actually did finish my scheduled workout (that was actually yesterday's). I even killed the ab workout, my best to date actually. I only missed about 8 moves. I planned to do some yoga tonight, but it just wasn't happening; I was too tired.
I was hoping to have some pics of John's bike done, but we didn't even get to it this weekend. He plans on tackling it tomorrow; I think his saddle will be in anyway so he'll have everything.
Essentially all I really wanted to do today was this:



Back to work tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it. At least it'll be super quiet with everyone being in Taiwan.

random

Lots of bike shit to do.
John's frame is here AND all the parts to hang on it, well, except for a saddle, that comes Monday.
My Eriksen is done. Superfly will be a bit. I have nothing to build it up with and our bank account is like NOOOOOOO!!!!!
So many things I want to get. Wheels are an issue. I need to buy rims to get shit done.
I hate buying rims; it's like a boring purchase. 3 wheelsets to REbuild and 1 to build new. The ones that need to be rebuilt are annoying; all three wheels were practically brand new when stupid shit happened that requires rebuilds. Meh.
I need to make a list. I love lists actually.
I started typing this entry at 9:42 this morning... I planned to get some pics of John's frame and some other parts but never got around to it.
There was a ride starting at the I&M trail today. I hemmed and hawed about going. Last minute I decided to go. 45 degrees and raining. I was prepared.
Wool jersey, wool knickers, wool tall snowboard socks, arm warmers and my new cutter jacket I scored on Bonktown. It was perfect gear for the day.
Towards the end of the 26 miles my feet were sloshy and my feet and hands were starting to get cold. I think I was cold more from waiting for Ryan, who bonked, rather than from what I was wearing.
Anyway, I guess what I like about the past two rides in the rain is that I remembered that as long as you are prepared it isn't so bad.
I missed my other workouts today. I have less than 2 weeks left in the program I've been doing... because of the weather and being back on the bike it may just be the hardest two weeks of them all.
The Goat and his fam traveled down from Wisco to hang out and pick up Gage's new bike.
It was nice to hang out as usual.
I'm not sure what tomorrow brings yet... I need to catch up on my workouts so I don't feel bad about it and I really want some cinnamon rolls. Riding is also of course a possibility. I'll be sure to get some pics too of John's good stuff.

meh

I feel like crap. Not like sick crap, just meh. Pissy.
Earlier I was all about posting up a fun post, now I don't even remember what that was.
Hopefully tomorrow my day will be brightened. I need to work on some bike part lists. Tomorrow though. I'm going to bed; I know, it's not even 10pm yet, but fuck it. I'll only get more pissed off sitting here me thinks.

Holy Shit... and I ♥ sheep

I rode outside today!
FOR REAL!

I didn't get a chance to ride on Saturday so today it had to be. I knew there was a chance of rain so I decided to run my errands later.
I hadn't been outside on a bike since the last CCC race at the beginning of December. Finding my clothing didn't take as long as I thought it would, but still.

First I have to share my shitter morning. I woke up earlier than usual to make some pancakes so I'd be fueled for my ride. I just about finished, there were 2 cakes left on the griddle, when I moved the batter bowl into my french press which was brewing my coffee. FUCKING THING TIPPED OVER. Coffee grounds and water everywhere including all over my freshly made pancakes. Surprisingly I didn't flip my shit. I just calmly put everything in the sink, cleaned everything up like it didn't happen and started over.
What a mess. Coffee grounds are the worst.

So after eating and internetting for a bit I decided to get my arse in gear to head out. I had an idea of what route I'd take in my head but it wasn't very detailed.

I pretty much fail as a roadie. To get to 76th ave I decided to take the path from 135th street. I knew it was going to be shady but a part of me wanted to have the thrill of almost falling and having to ride in the grass. Slicks on snow and grass kinda suck. But whatever. It was actually worse than I thought it would be. Really wish I had a cross bike.

Finally made it out of there and headed towards Archer Ave via Rte 83, 104th and 107th Ave. About a mile away from Archer the rain drops slowly started hitting my face. FUCK. I hated being on my road bike in the first place, but carbon rims in the rain suck. I had no desire to call John; I really wanted that road ride. I figured if it got sketchy and I had issues, I'd call him, but if not I was game to be a bad ass.

70 minutes of my 120 minute ride I was poured on. I thank the sheep that contributed to my wool clothing as they kept me insulated even though I was soaked.
About mile 26 I could feel the water splashing around in my shoe and my chamois was feeling quite heavy. At that point my only worries were to not get sick.

I arrived home, John was waiting for me, I think he expected me home way sooner (when I finally did get in the house my mtb was waiting for me in case I came back). Anyway, he snapped a pic for me... which was cool, I needed to show Russell proof I actually made it outside this weekend.
You can't tell from this photo, but the front of my socks are like a neon green.



Speaking of my mountain bike, my Eriksen is almost done. I have a few minor things to take care of (drop travel in fork, bleed front brake, and take off the white crappy stuff).



(Casey and the neighbor kids are gaming.)
This'll be my first time using triggers since 1994 or 1995. They say XX is actually a good trigger to transition to coming off twisters because of the feel of the lever... we'll see. There's rumor of us coming out with a twister in like 2012. *crosses fingers it's not just a rumor

For Sale

Powertap SL+ hub:
Pro Level Power Measurement

* Wireless 2.4 GHz transmission with Ant+Sport
* Alloy axle
* Carbon/alloy hubshell
* Hub weighs a mere 412 grams

laced to Zipp 303 clincher rim.
Zipp front hub laced to the same rim. Perty.

$1600 with head unit and HR strap.
Mostly used on the trainer.

Email me spicyride at gmail dot com if you're interested or want pictures or have questions.