(dis)featured.

video mondays!

keeping pete hanna awake at work since last week!



rad!



planet unicorn!



immortal technique!
live at 1st ave july 21st!

rock tells haters to shove it.

after all the "micheal ball is going to ruin cycling" talk that was going on just a few months ago before the tour of california...
and the bike industry sponsors dropping rock racing like it was hot...

well, it seems that the racing in the usa and elsewhere is still ok.
the sky has not fallen.

rather than destroy cycling, rock stepped up with the cash to help fund cash strapped events like the tour of georgia.
and philly.
and the harlem crit.
and more.

"that's all fine and good", you say, "but he's just out to sell jeans, he's a dick, and i still hate him".

well, mr. ball just gave all the haters a big middle finger, as he launches a fund to help cover medical cost of injured cyclists at the elite and amateur levels.
funded both from his own pocket, and the sales of r&r clothing.

i stand by my earlier statements that rock is good for cycling.
ball may be a jerk, but he likes cycling and he does more for it that anyone i can think of.
(lance).

scott bikes, look bikes, and hed wheels really "dropped the ball", in my opinon, by dropping ball.

but i know no one really cares about my opinion.
and why should they?

successs!

thanks to everyone that made it out to the bday festivities!

there were so many awesome people there that it was actually tough to get around and chat with everyone! not a bad problem to have! sorry if we didn't talk it up as much as we should have, but i think everyone still had a good time hanging out with each other too.

if you missed it, i feel sorry for you. here are some of the finer points;

- there were only two small fires at the bbq. successfully extinguished.
- dan wold is real.
- littleguy has the pete samprus (sp?) look down.
- caitlin is too good at hide n seek. she could go pro.
- the national champ does not wear the stars n stripes to the bar. (anymore).
- blb has a fine ginger ale, thanks falconer!
- fpa and jimr successfully avoided each other. (to everyones benefit i'm sure).
- coach tim was in rare form.
- margarets potato salad was a runaway hit.
- recyclingisrad is rad.
- the blue circles grande sport. very interesting.
- no live updates on bikethrow. lame.

thursday night lights.

you are letting me win.

saturday is my birthday.

i turn 30 god damned years old.

if you bastards out at square lake don't pace me back up to the group when i get dropped, or don't hit the brakes just before the line.... i'm gonna be pissed.

ha.

jerks.

so, yeah. getting old. (not old like skibby, but old).

so the party is a BBQ at my place.
if you didn't get the invite, well that's because i don't like you.

...i'm kidding. i don't have everyone's info, and there are plenty of folks i would like to see. so, get in touch with me and i will give you the lowdown.

...or i will find you at the track tonight or square lake.
you cannot escape.

end communication.

rolling into bootown.

so at about 9am saturday morning i decided i should probably go do the richmond roller road race.
there were a few reasons for this; but number one was that i had nothing better to do, and it was a surefire way to make sure i got on the bike and got some riding in. (which has been lacking lately).

all was ok, climb was not too bad, (at least no one was doing it alot faster than i was), and the rest of the course was chill.
apparently no one in the 3/4 field knows what to do in a crosswind, besides ride single file along the yellow.

all you need is one little echelon and 8-10 guys are up the road and gone for good.
oh well, good for me i guess. i didn't realize the turn was coming up so soon and wasn't in great position going into the crosswind anyway.
so the gutterballin' was fine by me, and after that section i made my way to the front and stcuk there...

...until i flatted.

bootown.

oh well. first flat ever in a road race or crit in 4 years of racing... no complaints.

square lake is next.
love the hill, or it will eat you alive.

new (dis)feature!
video monday!



(why not?)

oof dah!

yeah, so... uh.


...hmmm, how do you do this again? i guess just type out some random thoughts. right?


ok, i think i can get the hang of this again.

well, first off, i would like to *not* apoligize for the lack of posting. i've been having a plenty good time not updating it and doing, you know, outdoor things.

i don't feel bad.

so nvgp has been done to death everywhere, so i'm not gonna spend much time on it, other than to say thanks to all the local boys and girls that were able to race it, mix it up, put on a show, and give us all someone(s) to root for.
awesome. (yeah, even flanders).

i was all over the place last week. trying to work and also be the assistant to the time pro team (link in the sidebar), but it was a lot of fun.
my favorite part;
jared gruber gets the 'most aggressive' jersey in mankato, and comes up to me before stillwater and asks,

"dude, what can i do to keep this jersey today?"

to which i reply; "well jered, since you have little hope of finishing the race, you will have to pull a super-rookie".

eyebrows in the van were raised in question.

i explained further;



and jered was an attentive student;



magical.

prior to these events i was able to have a turn at the course in the 2/3 race. it was a blast. i was unsure what to expect from the climb or the decent, so it was rad that i thought both were super fun to ride.

once a pretty serious weak point, my high speed cornering is getting so much better that i may have to admit to liking crits.
...and no one wants to do that!

i sure do wish i had a 25 tooth cassette though! that hill is a tuffie on a 23!

if any of you retired racers or sram converts have any old campy cassette collecting dust let me know!

so, now that-
nvgp is done
out-of-town work trips are done
and, i'm done moving

i may have some time to ride my bike!

but the question is now; will i ride it for fun, or will i ride it at the richmond roller race?
i can't decide!

Sponsors! Some teams will eat this year!

There are alot of teams in the hunt for new/more sponsorship these days. Soon we will find out who will eat and who will be starving this fall... Highroad, CSC, Slipstream, Healthnet, who else? Yeah, there's a few.


As we are all well aware, professional and amateur cycling teams rely heavily (or solely, in the pro teams cases), on sponsorship cash money to survive.

Yeah, that is no secret, but what is is how these teams convince corporations to give them the big bucks. Part of it is pretty straight forward: winning.


Easy for some. And with winning comes press for the pros... but, not so much for us in the "minor leagues".


The other part is exposure- can you convince some bigwig or company marketing uber-dude that a cycling team will do something for them?


It's a hard sell, and I've been pretty lucky in that i have been able to convince some folks to give us some of their hard-earned cash. I spend most of the racing season trying to figure out where that money is going to come from next season. It's awesome. Helps the focus for racing. (or at least the anger and frustration needed to go harder! ha!)


Anyway, Bjarne Riis' CSC team has a new title sponsor, Saxo Bank, Team CSC will appear as Team CSC/Saxo Bank at the upcoming Tour De France, and as just Team Saxo Bank in 2009.


Hopefully this will help the pro pelotons ugliest kit morph from the Caterpillar that it is into a beautiful butterfly. or even a moth, seriously, that kit can't get worse. Can it?

What is Saxo Bank? I have no idea.
A bank?
I'm sure I will know soon though. I guess that is exactly what the new CSC sponsor is paying for... Too bad I have no cash to deposit in their bank. I bet some one does though...

Oh, and the other rumors I've heard are that everyone's favorite team Slipstream has a big money co-sponsor lined up for le tour!


I haven't seen it reported in the press... so maybe i shouldn't spill the beans...


Oh what the hell. no one reads this blog anymore anyway. Maybe someone will sue me and I'll finally be famous! Well, bike dorks, i hear a certain gps and bike computer manufacturer is to be part of the burrito fueled squad during the tour de france.
After that, who knows?


Locally LGR is looking to step up our game and become a regional powerhouse, so please forward our information to any potential investors you may know. $100k would be great, $40k is sufficient, $10k will get in you in the door.


Oh hell, $1 will get us into talks.
(...and you think i'm kidding).

lies.

there ain't no fgc webcast on fox9.com, and there ain't no updates on bikethrew.dorks.

worthless.

...time to check smithersmpls.com, he's the last stop to see if there is anyone is paying attention to the track racing.

*update*

as usual, no one could give a damn about the velodrome. i spent 45min's looking all over fox9's shitty ad-filled website... nothing. a search for velodrome? no results. a search for fixed gear classic? no results. a search for bicycle? no relevent results.

total b.s.

the link on the nvgp site that says "click to start watching!" doesn't work.

sometimes life just won't stop kicking you in the crotch.