Another weekend that rocketed by like a Josh Beckett fastball…

Saturday up early (see bike geek section below) – followed by raking and bagging 15 loads of fallen pine needles. Sunday was spent at work for 5 hours, followed by Lyza’s last soccer game, and a sweet visit to Target. If we had stopped at Olive Garden and Home Depot it would have been the All American Weekend. Don’t worry – we didn’t. Olive Garden has more saturated oil/fat than the former Exxon Valdez + they feature employees with FLAIR buttons. Home Depot has now officially become Chinese Depot since well over 51% of their products are made over ‘dere. Here’s a thought: Re-use other people’s discards (can you believe how much good sh*t you can find if you ask around…for free!) Also, frequent your local hardware store and pay the extra 8% to keep ‘em in business. OK – off my pulpit.

Bike Geek Section (warning – read only if you are a weight weenie, tech head, 2 wheel obsessed cycle junkie)
The test with the Stan’s ZTR’s paired up with the American Classic hubs was enjoyable – hell, it was the only thing that got me up at 5:50 on a Saturday morning. Let me just start by saying that when I left my house the sun was about 2 minutes from rising in the east and the orange hue was nearly blinding. I look to my left and the Hunter’s Moon was HUGE. It was truly one of those memorable sights where you say to yourself “I’m glad I woke up at the crack of ass for this”.

2 problems – first, I did not remove the 20tooth cog on the Stan’s wheelset. My wheelset features an 18 tooth cog. Second, the 2.3 high volume casing WTB Exiwolf tyres (do you like my Euro-trash spelling there?!) were significantly taller than the 2.1 Bontrager Jones XR tyres I’m shredding currently. SO – I couldn’t compare apples to apples on this test.

Net Result, Bottom Line, The Money Shot…….
Because of the larger rear cog, and the HUGE tires, I could not accurately gauge the impact of lighter rims when climbing technical stuff. What I did learn is this: The tubeless setup let me run a psi of less than 30. Talk about TRACTION. I got up and over everything without spinning out, and I felt like I had another ½ inch of travel on my hardtail RIG.

I believe that with the weight of 29” tires, any superlight rims have the potential of being made a moot point. For me, a middle to upper end line of rims (see Bontrager TLR’s) with a tubeless set up that allows around 27-28psi would be the ticket. This will save me some bread too.

Rest o’ the week…
I’m bailing on the MTB marathon this weekend in Phx. I’d rather ride in the pines up in Flag – and it won’t cost me $1 per mile. ‘Sides – I have a few repairs to handle on the Scalpel before its ready to roll again. We leave for Hawaii in a little over 2 weeks and I could use ever $$ I have for that bank buster. MAHALO baby, mahalo.

Modern Day Shakesperian Lyrical Poets

I'm ready for Funday Saturday. Racquetball went well last night. I pasted Softball Scott. The dude tore both of his hammies playing......are you ready for this.....SOFTBALL. Running the bases. Anyway, he has a cannon forehand, but he can't move much anymore, so I mercilessly just ran him from forehand to backhand and mixed up serves so he had a hard time getting to the balls. He started calling 'screens' and 'hinders', but it didn't matter.

Speaking of Hinder - could this be the single worst band in the history of Rock n' Roll. Check these deep, thought provoking, clever lyrics out....makes you wonder just who in the hell determines who gets recording contracts:

"I don't wanna know it's over
So save your goodbye kiss
I don't wanna know it's over
Cause ignorance is bliss
I can hardly see
What's in front of me
Cause the vodka's running on empty
I can't stay sober
If it's over "

Hey - I get a glimpse of Christmas this weekend. What's that you say? I borrowed a pair of Stan's ZTR 29'er rims laced to American Classic hubs to try for the weekend. Yup - I'll get to see what saving 350+ grams of rolling weight really means to a 29'er. I can't even wait for my ride tomorrow - it shoud be a blast!

Have a great weekend, and make sure you litter it with songs from Hinder, Hoobastank, Finger 11 and Tool - because if you like that crap you are a TOOL.

Finally, out of the f'n blue...

I felt strong again. I popped off a quick 1 hour singlespeed ride after work tonight, and I felt normal again. Damn - I think its a proven fact that I need to rock myself into the ground for 3-4 days of hard/suffering-type rides, rest for two days and then go shred it like a head of lettuce.

That 50 miler next Saturday is gonna be fun. One more training ride, and I am ready to rest and then rip. It should be a small field - maybe 10 riders max. I'll mark the 3rd place dude and make sure I keep him in my sights so I have a shot at the podium on the last lap.....unless he's too fast. Maybe he'll be slow and I'll pounce on #2 or #1. I've never outright won yet, so I'm gonna put the crack pipe down now.....but I'm racing to win that's for sure. As Josh said "go as hard as you can until you see the water cooler" I wonder if you put a pony keg of Red Hook Ale out there....I'd ride fast to that.

No shitburger for lunch today......just a nice burrito. It went down well. I'm ready for some more sh*t tomorrow, but that's tomorrow. As Sammy Hagar once said at a live concert in Fresno, Ca in 1991, "Tomorrow? F*ck tomorrow.....it's about RIGHT NOW". Well right now, I still have to do dishes, run a load of laundry, balance the chemicals in the hot tub, and sweep the f'n floor as Bodhi ate a plastic pitcher for lunch today - and left the remains on the living room floor. I'd call my life semi-charmed, and a lot less than glamorous.

The devastation in Southern California
has definately reached, and/or eclipsed Hurricane Katrina levels. I guess the only solace is knowing that our government seems a hella lot more prepared to deal with this type of disaster than before. Word via National Public Radio is that the state/fed/county officials are cooperating well to really help people. Hoteliers are selling rooms for 1/2 price to help stranded families and I would imagine that grocers and retailers are helping as well. It's always great to see how people respond in the event of a true emergency. All the greed instantly goes away and people are just there to help.

Although we had our fire here last summer, it was pretty small potatoes compared to this devastation. Sure, we were out of business for a week, but we didn't lose a thing - no structures, no lives. Just money which was recovered over time.

Make a red cross donation if you can...even $10 helps.

Steve has a take on this that hits home too....

Shitburger.com

Man, the shitburgers that I have been eating for the last couple of weeks are starting to accumulate. My gut hurts, my shoulders are tight, and my last three rides have been fun, but I have not been up to par. I mean I'm not stinkin' up the joint, but its almost like the passion to just rip is being kept down by the white man....wait, that's me.

Staffing at work is the primary culprit, and I honestly have NO IDEA what the hell we're gonna do after Dec 31st when the great state of AZ tries to enforce a no illegal alien policy. Tourism, construction, landscaping, restaurants, you name it - its gonna be f'd up for a long while.

Well - at least I did get in nearly 5 hours of singlespeed riding last weekend preceeded by 4 hours on the road. I'm outta here at 3pm today to de-stress.....of course the trade off is that I have to work from home tonight. It's worth it.

Happy f'n Tuesday

DNS

All you cycling fans out there know that DNS = Did not start. That was my status at the racquetball tourney last night. D had to work late, Lyza's soccer game ran over, and she had spelling words to study before Friday AM. Before I knew it, 8:00pm came and went and I wasn't playing. Ya know what? No big deal, because family comes first - and I'm not being cheeky with that comment. Fo' reals. Lyza passed her spelling test, and D keeps her job by showing up for a mandatory meeting. I still won the league, just not the tournament.

On a better note, I got in another 31 miles of outdoor riding this morning - that's 62 for the week with another 25-30 off road planned for tomorrow on the singlespeed. We had a warm spell blow through meaning 50's in the day and only 30's at night. Fall colors are peaked out right now, and I can't get enough of the Aspen trees changing to a luminescent yellow.

Wedding to attend tomorrow afternoon/evening, work Sunday morning (again), and then off for the rest of Sunday. Go Vikes - take the Cowboys to the house.

Supposed Former Beer Infatuation Junkie...

Yes Sheck, add Alanis to the list with Mimi, Aimee, and Posh

I am fully recovered beer snob. See there was a time when I only wanted a dark, imported, made by Monks, nearly unfiltered, full flavored brew with some hard to get rep and a unique bottle. I actually remember applauding a rant on some dude's website with the ridiculously overused cliche "life is too short to drink lame beer". Like those words haven't been uttered for nearly every high end product out there - or at least the well-marketed and positioned high end products. Well that was back in 1998, and I believe nearly 10 years later I am recovered.

A $1.99 25 ounce Tecate in a can looks just f'n great when I'm thirsty. How about a Fosters Lager in the oilcan! Say hell yeah to that! Really - I'll drink whatever is put in front of me especially if you're buying.

Wisdom, experience, and my pathetic habit of always embracing at least one thing that is socially 'cool' has taught me that my current infatuation with coffee will end within the next seven years when I'll be drinking microwaved water with a teaspoon of Folgers. Mmmmmmmm, sounds........just nasty now, but I am my parents and I just can't get around this......I don't even want to bring up the inevitable ventures into box wine, repeating the same stories, and slow driving.

Early start tomorrow - 6am at work, out at 3pm - off to soccer practice with Lyza, and then the club R-ball tournament. I haven't played in a week, but one thing is for sure. I'm well rested, and I'm pretty pissed off about not playing more - so I hope that helps. Everybody is gunning for me, and each match will be one game to 21 since we have so many players. One bad streak, and you're finished. I'm gonna win and if I don't I'll go down swinging/diving/swearing. I don't even want to think about losing, but if I do, I'm gonna fetch a cold MGD at happy hour prices and watch the remaining players whip up on each other.