NBX GP

The NBX GP of cyclocross is coming...it's going to be bigger and better than last year. Don't forget to come.

So even when I suck...

I don't suck all that bad. I realized that this weekend at Gloucester. I had to work all week, even saturday, so I was tired going into the race on sunday. Not a good thing when your racing against the likes of Ryan Trebon and Tim Johnson...sort of. Anyhow, I had a good start, for me at least, and then I started to fade...and fade...and fade. Before I knew it I was fighting tooth and nail for a top 30 finish. This is not something I am too pumped about. But...on the upside. A year ago at this time I was pumped to finish a UCI race on the lead lap, and I had to have a near perfect day to make it happen. Now, even when I feel bad, and pedal squares, I don't have to keep looking over my shoulder. So yes, it's true, Ryan Trebon is a better cross racer than I am, but not a whole lap better...even on my worst day.

Don't taze me bro...

even though I havn't updated in a while.
So here's whats been going on. Cyclo-Cross is in full swing here in New England. My second weekend of cross racing brought me to the New England Velo Cross and the Sucker Brook cross. Both of these races were great, and although they were both small in terms or field size, offered great courses and gave me the chance to do a double race weekend before Verge round 1 and 2 in VT, and I was able to put a little money in my poecket...5 for 5 this cross season in terms of getting paid by the way.
This past weekend Hannah and I made the trip to VT for the verge weekend. Eric was kind enouh to let us stay at his house, which was literally 10 minutes from the race. The racing was great, and it was a good chance to test myself against a UCI field early in the season. I was 16th both days, which is funny, because the courses were totally different each day. But hey, thats still well inside the Verge points, so the rest of the series should be a little easier with at least a reasonable start position in the UCI races.
On a much more lame note, I still havn't worked out anything concrete for next season. If anyone knows about any openings...let me know.

Later

Fun, remember fun?

I raced my cross bike on sunday. It was awesome. A total change of pace from the stresses and strains of a full season of road racing. It was great to see some folks who I havn't seen since the end of last cross season, and I'm always amazed at how many people make cyclocross their primary form of competetive cycling. It's a whole different scene, different people, different places, different weather, no jerks...or less jerks at least, and beer.
The race was fun. I started off too fast and led the race for the first three laps or so, then totally imploded, and faded...then faded some more...then faded yet again, and wound up 5th. I was a little let down about how bad the wheels came off 30min into the race, but was equally pumped to walk away with a little cash in my pocket and covered with mud.
See you at some cross races!

Feldmax

Mulkunda Feldmax.

I love the NJ turnpike!

So in a little while here I'm on my way out for the last road trip of the road racing season. Down through CT, NY, and of course NJ. All the way to Doylestown, PA, for the Univest Grand Prix. I'm pretty pumped up about the race, it promises to be pretty sweet, in that bike racing kind of way. Needless to say, the 28 will be used, speed hooks grabbed, and many a gel bag consumed. Perhaps along the way we'll stop to visit Deron in the Mt. Holly Econo Lodge, assuming he wasn't killed in a hail of gunfire during the police raid.
More importantly, my return on sunday effectivly marks the end of the road racing season and the switch to cross, which is sweet as well.

Fall is here...

Well fall is seemingly upon us, and I couldn't be happier. The weather is getting cooler, road racing is winding down for the year, GMSR is over (unceremoneously so as it were), and cyclocross is just around the corner.
There is only one more hurdle to clear before I can hang up the tenspeed in favor of the knobbly tires however. Univest. This friday I'm headed out to PA for the univest grand prix, one of the biggest one day races in the country. Teams from all over the world are coming in for a throw down of epic proportions. It's going to be a tall order, but I'd like to have a solid ride. Who knows, maybe even a good result? I'm sure the field will be star studded, fast, and full of dopers as well, so it's gaurenteed to be a quick one. In fact, I believe that some recent Tour de France'ers are going to be in the house.
After univest, it't time for cross. In fact I've already started getting my bikes all squared away, and the race bike is going to be sweet. I've got the big rims on it...700c's with the deep dish carbon. Whut. Lemme check out them bikes son.

It's been way too long.

So to the 6 or 7 people who were reading this blog, sorry for the lack of updates. It's been way too busy, my life that is, and the good old blog got bumped off of the back burner into that dark space behind the stove.
There are indeed stories to share, and updates to write about. Can't do it all now, but you can be sure, I'm back.

Whats been happening.

So things have been pretty quiet around these oarts as of late. Last weekend, as planned, I stayed at home, with no bike racing in sight. I worked at the shop on saturday, which was nice for a change. Things are starting to really pick up down there, and the tourists are starting to pour into town, which is good for business, but bad for parking...EVERYWHERE. Oh well. I did some socializing as well, and a bit of bike riding. For the most part it was a pretty relaxing weekend.
The training this week however has been anything but. I've been really killing it lately in preperation for some of the bigger upcoming races. Hopefully my plan to be fast this year in june and july rather than april and may last year is working. We'll see. Today I'm going to ride to the Mystic Velo Crit at Ninnigret, race the crit, and ride home. Should be close to 6 hours by the time im done. Sweet. I'm also planning on making the Wells ave trip tomorrow. Hopefully I'll see some folks there, be able to get my fix of weekend bike race schmoozing, and a good workout all at the same time.
Signing off for now, it's too nice. I'm going to sit in the yard and drink 16 more cups of coffee before I hit the road.

Had is in the Big Speed Ring

So the NJ trip has come and gone, and was full of event. The trip started out on friday afternoon with a sweet drive, which I was totally not pumped to do, but went better than I could have hoped for. I left the shop a few minutes after 6pm, and was determined to make the drive non-stop, and by 9:30 I was there. I could not believe it. No way did I just do this drive in 3.5 hours, on the friday before Memorial Day. Sweet.
The digs were plush, although quite crowded with 6 Kenda Raleighs and six Raleighs piles into one hotel suite. We managed to find everyone something soft to sleep on, and settled in for the night with the Hills of Somerset Road Race in the morning.
The Hills of Somerset is a great race, with full road to race on the entire time, full rolling enclosure, and one big 80 mile loop. The team was smart, and I personally felt great. I was saving my matches for the last half of the race when the climbing started to throw down some attacks. However, it was not to be. At mile 42, just over half way, and just before the days first big climb, i pinch flatted. Normally a swift wheel change would have had me back in the race, but the support car was busy as a result of the rough roads, and the change was about 4 minutes too late. Oh well. I took a short (long) cut back to town. There I ran into Colin, who had made minced meat out of both his bike and his thigh, and Sean who had flatted. We hung out, and watched the guys finish up. They allhad great rides, and I'm bunned I couldn't have been there in the final.
After a sweet BBQ dinner and a great nights sleep we had a relaxing day and headed over for the bound brook criterium. The racing was fast, and we got Sean in what we thought was the winning move. The move came back much to everyones surprise, and we came away with nothing more than a hard workout.
Monday was the Big Show. The Tour of Somerville. The Kentucky Derby of Bike Racing. Tremble stomped the cat 2 race in grand style with a late race solo attack. Beerman Smooshed his collar bone. I crashed twice. Sean and I finished the race. 5 year old kids handed us beers on the cool down lap. It was a scene. I have never seen a race with spectators who are so fired up to watch bike racing. And, to cap off an eventful weekend. I made the drive home in even better time than the drive down. I'm taking this weekend off from racing. Time to recharge with some good training, and nights in my own bed, and maybe even some fun, you know, fun, it's what normal people do on the weekends.

Hey....I'm in New Jersey Over Here.

So it's been quite a while for sure. Things have been alright though. Racing has been going well, with the team throwing it down on a weekly basis and getting ready for the real racing season to begin. This weekend will be a huge test for the team as we're making the trip down to NJ for the Hills of Somerset Road Race, Bound Brook Criterium, and the Kentucky Derby of Bike Racing...The Tour of Somerville. The racing is going to be tough, and a great opportunity for some national level racing not too far from home.
In other news, I've been sick. In fact, the whole team got sick at Bear Mountain. Some sort of respritory thing or another had us down and out the following weekend, but Toby managed to not get sick, and kept it real for the team.
Look for us at the races soon in our new casual wear.

Check out my...

More and More Racing

So sturbridge and palmer have come and gone. Both races are new england institutions, and both days provided the Kenda/Raleigh Team with good riding, and some reasonable resuts. Saturday was sturbridge and we were treated to a new course, which was far more selective than it has been in the past. For the first lap we were all at the front, throwing down attack after attack with the hopes of having numbers in the break that was sure to snap the elastic at some point. When the dust had cleared from the initial volley we had placed Jason Beerman in the move, surprise surprise, and were content to martial the front of the field with some help from TargeTraining. The gap grew and grew, and halfway through the race, Toby Walch slipped into a chase group that would get across to the front of the race. On the last lap, I put in a small effort on the climb and got a gap. Not to my surprise, I drew out a group that was eager to get up the road, and with the help of Robbie King, and Brendan Cornett, we charged across a near 2 minute gap in about 10 miles. Once we reached the break it was on. I threw down an attack near the base of the finishing climb. Robbie countered, and up the climb we went. It was hot up the hill, and the pace was high. At the finish I hung on for a reasonably satisfying 9th after a hard effort to get across and a solid attack in the closing miles.

At Palmer we raced hard again, with countless attacks we tried to break the field. We were once again represented in every move of the day, and at the final had Colin and Beerman in the move. After Josh Dillon from FiordiFrutta Made the winning effort, our guys were solid with a couple more top ten finishes for the team. We're racing well, and are always there and thereabouts, can't be long now until we grab some wins.

Bad Luck and Breakaways

This last saturday was one I wouldn't mind forgetting. The team made the long trek up to Salem, NY for the Battenkill Roubaix. Now this is somewhat of a new race, and it seems to get better every year. This year was no exception. We raced 90 miles or so in a Pro/1 only with more than 100 guys. It was well done on the part of the race promoter. I'll certainly go back. It had the feel of an NRC race with the relaxed atmosphere of a local crit. The racing was going well for us, as we decided to not be too active early and wait to the end to show our colors at the frint. After one of the more decisive dirt sections, the team was in good shape, with four of us in the lead group, which was getting pretty small at this point. That's when things went to seed. In the span of little more than ten minutes we all had bike problems, flat tires, or simply came unglued. Oh well. Thats part of racing I suppose.
Sunday was Myles Standish. Our plan was simple. Be aggressive and get in all the moves. Which we did. Jason was in the main break of the day again, and wound up third. I got in a long chase group and took 8th at the finish. Not bad, two guys in the money. Can't wait for this weekend, I think we'll win one of these.

Euro Trash to the Extreme

Why are the belgians so damn fast?

So this was the scene at the tour of flanders last sunday. With paris roubaix this weekend, we could see the belgians notch up another win in the classics. Are they just tougher than everybody else? Is it the beer? Who knows. Any thoughts?

Im still alive...I swear.

So I know it's been a while...but not for good reason. The reason being that I've been busy as hell, and tired as hell. Training has been taking its toll on me lately with a ton of structured work on the trainer in my living room. It's pretty tiring, but on the plus side it's making me fast, as you can see from my picture, and I'm catching up on a ton of early morning (think 6:00am) television. There really isn't much on at this time of day either. Typically I choose between sports center, which is great for the first 30 minutes of my ride, but then repeats itself, and gets boring, and old movies on AMC. I watched a kick ass movie about moonshining with John Wayne the other day, all before 9am. He's pretty badass. I think he could take care of Chuck Norris no problem, although, it would be a good fight. But in my mind, sixguns beat karate any day.

On another note, I've been eating a ton lately and still loosing weight, which means I'm either going to be really fast this year, or I have a family of tapeworms living in my stomach. Either way, I'll be fast, you wait and see. This weekend racing comes to the ocean state with the chris hinds crit on saturday, and then heads to NH for turtle pond on sunday. Team Kenda Raleigh plans of representing with a full squad at both races, so watch out.

One more not of importance. If you ever had a raleigh when you were a kid, like a million years ago, and wondered where they went, and why they're not still making good tenspeeds, the are. But now they have twenty speeds.

Peace

Best Post to Date!

April Fools...
I got you good.

Marbles on the Brain

So the team was off to marblehead this weekend for the official start to the new england reacing season. We were ready for the speedfest that it was sure to be, and were ready for the moves as we weren't equipped to contest a no holds barred field sprint. The team rode well, representing the colors at the front almost all of the day. It lookes like we're off to a great season. And hey, even though we didn't come away from the race with any stellar results, everyone had good legs, and they are sure to come.

Nothing but the Speed Ring

So racing us upon us. Last weekend the kenda boys had our pre season get together. It was pretty sweet. We met in Great Barrington MA on friday afternoon, did an easy ride, then made a bunch of dinner and just kind of hung out. It was great to get to know the guys outside of their kits. It seems like it's gonna be a great group, and Makunda is a killer host. Many thanks to him and his girlfriend for a wonderful weekend. Saturday morning we rose early and headed out to NY for the johnny cake lane road race. It looked pretty pro when we showed up with eight guys and a team van full of bikes. We raced well, and looked great. When it came down to it, we got 2 guys in the winning break. Toby was 2nd, and Jason was up there as well. Justin Lindine from target was super stron and won after attacking the break. We all agree he's not getting up the road solo anymore. Good ride on his part. After the race we did a few more hours of training and headed back to chez makunda for christmas dinner...(getting our new stuff.) The new Gear is sweet. Sunday morning was the team throwdown, and we threw down. No holds barred, thunderdome style dustup. Long drive home to follow. This weekend is Marblehead, watch out for Kenda/Raleigh to get it done. We're on good form.

Trainer Time

Riding the trainer is more fun than a bag of clowns. I can't wait for the weather to warm up. The winter is starting to feel as if it isn't planning on coming to an end. This weekend marks the start of my racing season for 2008 as the Kenda/Raleigh boys are headed up to western MA for a team camp/get together and a bit of racing in New York. I'm excited to get together with the guys, do some training, grab the new gear, and pin on a number for the first time this year. My legs feel good, so who knows, could be a good weekend.

NBX Blog

So the NBX shop blog is up and running. Check it out. We're going to use it to keep everyone up to speed with what's going on at the shop. Look to it for information on upcoming events we're involved with, product reviews, promotions, the occasional race report, and other ramblings and musings. You might even have a few laughs.

Early

Im up at 5:10 in the morning to ride the trainer before work. I think I've lost it.

Check out the shit I been ridin' on.

So...this is a follow up to the last post. I know it's been a while, but I've been busy. Doing what you ask. Well, taping over all of the logos on the mystery bike you see here. The new team bikes are soon to arrive, but since the good ol' crack and fail did in fact crack, and fail, something had to be done. A bike was borrowed, and some sweet customization ensued. I have to say, I never realized how many damn logos there are on a bike these days. It took hours to get this done. The only one I missed was on the back of the seatpost, but fortunatly my trusty seat bag takes care of that. Any guesses on what kind of bike it is?

In other news, things are going well. I sent the claim to the airlines, so hopefully I'll be seeing something in the way of a check from those guys in the near future. Riding is going well, and the last two weekends have been great, as we've been doing some early spring pick-up style races down at ninnigret. Both times there has been a good break, and both times the field has been lapped. Sorry guys, I'm just trying to get the training in. We've been meeting early and riding down, racing, and riding back. It's been good training. Other than that, I've been doing one or two more endurance rides each week, one long, and one three hours or so, as well as a lot of structured work on the trainer...sweet.

I set up my new BBQ grill today, and it looks ready for some action. I think this week I'll have to fire it up and grill some big ol' meats. Maybe a Turducken.

Sons of Bitches!

NBX Blog

Keep an eye out for an NBX blog..it's in the works. I'll put a link to it here. You'll want to check it out.

smoooshed

Just in case you havn't heard yet...my bike got smoooshed on the plane. That's one of the reasons I havn't gotten around to an update over the last few days. After realizing it was broken on tuesday, I scrambled around looking for a new frame, stripped two bikes down, and built one up. Thanks to Matt for the frame. I rode the borrowed bike outside for the first time yesterday, and all systems seem to be a go. I'll try to get some photos of the broken bike on here. I have to take them anyway so I can send them to southwest airlines. I figure the deal will work out for me though. I mean, the bike was my team bike from last year so the price was $0.00, and the replacement cost for the frame is $2,700.00, so as long as they give me more than nothing, I'll be happy I guess. Maybe I'll get a free airplane out of it, or free plane rides for life...or those airline peanuts they have sometimes.
Time to get out on the bike.

Back

So it's been a few days. But I'm back in Rhode Island. Things here are more or less the same. The shop is going well, and it's still cold. Oh well, only a few more weeks of this I hope.
In bigger news...Chris Dale has decided to use clincher tires this upcoming season. Although he says only on his training bike, we'll have to wait and see. For now it's off to the shop. I'll touch base later on.

Fill him with Barbecue Sauce....

Because he's dumb as hell.
Turns out Adam St. G was wrong about his flights. All this time he thought he was leaving tomorrow, and he's not leaving until saturday.

Tucson says goodbye to St. Germain.

Today was Adam St. Germains' last ride in cactusville, and In grand style, it was epic. And, by epic, I mean it was windy as hell. We spent the first three hours of our ride fighting the headwind going 9mph out mission with a group of six guys. It was miserable.

On the plus side, we went out for dinner. Bison Wiches was had by all, with a beer or two, then of course, penguins. A perfect bookend to the story of Adam St. Germain goes to cactusville. Farewell to the White Knight a.k.a. Snowflake a.k.a. St. Girlmain. Until next time.

Dirt Bikin' and Such and Such

So all week St. Germain has been talking about how he's been practicing his "rock solids" into the foam pit. Not to be outdone, I was quick to lay down the gauntlet, as I've been working on some sick tailwhips myself. The task was simple, an all out, no holds barred, every man for himself throwdown on the dirt.

We've been doing some pretty epic rides out here and this one was to be no exception. The plan was simple, leave the house, ride some paceline tempo to madera, climb the base of madera canyon and then the battle would begin. At box canyon road, we were to turn left and commence throwing down whatever we had, in the battle of the century.

The ride started out as planned, but thats about as far as the planning went. On the way out of town, things got a bit wild. After stopping for a pee break in an alley, I decided that if I we're to beat St. Germain in the fight, I was gonna nead a little help. Knowing that Tucson is as shady as it is, help would not be far away. In fact, all I had to do was look down, and I found not only a very large kitchen knife, but an un-used .38 caliber bullet. Now all I needed was a gun, and victory would surely be mine, and failing that I could always use the knife for tire slashing or stabbing.

The pace-lining was good, and it was clear that the pace was on, as each pull to the front was harder than the last. After topping up the bottles at the lone gas station we passed, some more tempo was ridden up madera to the turn. This is where things got really hectic. In final preperations for the thrown down on the dirt, we all checked our gear one last time, let some air out of the tenspeed tires, drank some PBR, put on our NASCAR jackets, smoked some marlboro's and packed big old lippers. It was on like donkey kong from this point on.

Box canyon road is really more of a mountain bike trail, or at best a jeep trail, than an actual road, and it certainly never intented to be used as a speed biking course. With caution thrown to the wind we set out. Masing the big gears in an attempt to glide over the washboard surfaces. Bombs were going off left and right with gaps forming and attacks being launched. St. Germain got the gap first, and despite me closing it down a few times, would eventually switch to a mountain bike, and ride away. I settled for second place and enjoyed the view of the surrounding landscapes as well as the giant cows I almost plowed into. Once off the dirt, St. Germain stowed the rogue mountain bike, grabbed his tenspeed, and took all the glory and accolaids that come along with doing it best in the dirt.

After a snack and some BS'ing about how fast we eash rode certain sections of the dirt, and how many of the turns were taken "mo-tard" style, we set off for home, which turned out to be about 30 miles further than anticipated. No harm done though, we got there. It was rad. Remember that nintendo game with the dirt bikes, excite bike, where you made your own courses, the day was like that, but with cows.

In case you can't read:

We's goin muddin' today.

Rambone-Head

So today was a rest day. After three hard days of training, both the body and the mind needed some rest. Adam, Peter and I met Bob, whose last name, German, I learned after mentioning him yesterday, at the coffee shop at around 12:30. We did an easy spin of about an hour, and some sweet dirt jumps, on the way there, so as to ensure we had ample energy for sitting around and drinking espresso. Bob is a good kid, and seemingly is shaping up to be one heck of a bike racer. He's already a category 3 at age 19, and is doing all the right things to move in the right direction.

We killed some serious time at the coffee shop, and then it was time for a treat, lunch! Over the course of the trip my lunches have been eaten primarily on the bike and have consisted of whole grain breads with either nutella, peanut butter, jam, or some combination of the three and energy bars washed down with sports drink. Obviously, after a couple weeks, you are left wanting for some actual lunch. We headed out from the coffee shop and made our way a few blocks down the road to a market, sat down and ordered some delicious lunch. I had a pulled chicken sandwich with green corn tamale and veggies on sourdough, some salt and vinegar chips and a soda. It hit the spot. After the short and easy spin back to the house, the rest day was shaping up to be a good one. If you're asking yourself what could make this day any better, I've got an answer for you.

Rambo, In N Out Burger, and Miller High Life.

Getting My Swell On.....whuuuut.

So this is indeed where I went today. See that pointy white building on top of the mountain? Thats the Kitt's Peak Observitory. It sits atop kits peak, which is roughly 45 miles south west of tucson. To get there, you ride on one road, the entire way, gradually gaining elevation the entire time. It's greuling.

This morning myself, Adam St. Germain, Aiden Charles, and Bob set out for kitts peak. The ride out was hard, but not so bad because we had four people. We rode a double paceline of sorts, taking 10 to 20 minute pulls at a tempo style effort, and slowly but surely made our way to the base of Kitts. After 45 miles of straight uphill road, the left turn that signified the entrance to the park, and the beginning og the actual climb. The climb uf the mountain was awesome. 12 miles or so long, but steep, maybe 7% with big switchbacks and spectacular views. Aiden and I went pretty hard up the climb, harder than was comfortable in fact, but oh well, you only live once, and It was a great effort as fas as training goes. The ride down was fast, and very safe. Ate some snacks on the descent and then prepared for the long ride back to town with a re-fueling stop at the only store we passed the entire way.

When it was all said and done it was another huge day. Close to 4,000 kj's, 120 or so miles, and just under 7 housr. Not a bad bit of riding. Tomorrow is a recovery day, and then one more serious block before I head back east. I'll let you know how the coffee shop is. We also decided that since we've been on the bike so much during the day, we've neglected to eat actual lunches. So tomorrow, perhaps actual lunch is in order.

Dog vs. Car

So if you've ever wondered what happens when a sedan driven by some J-Hole hits a big ol' brown dog whilst rolling through an intersection, lemme tell you. The dog wins.

The other day I recieved word that Isaac, my chocolate lab from home, who is big as hell, had a run in with an automobile. I was alarmed at first, as anyone would be, but soon learned that he in fact came out on top. Yes, he was a bit banged up, but no serious injuries. His leg is in a cast as a precaution as they think it was in fact a severe sprain, but other than that, and being loopy due to pain medication, he's ok. The car is dented...and I can only assume the driver will one day get what's coming to him. A good old fashioned car hitting.

Chris Dale in 20 years?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaeeMh7qFhY

New Spandex

Just got ahold of the new kits for next year. Kenda/Raleigh racing will be styling. Check us out at your local bike race...or at www.tenetracing.com

Smoked...

Today was hard...Read all about it on the Other Adam's blog. Hard as hell
I need a beer. Maybe I'll write some more after I go get one.

Moon Mountain Mayhem

Today was the first hard workout with any real structure I've done so far this year. We headed over to Mt. Lemmon since it was the best place for the three of us to ride is we all had different agendas. St. Germain and I were intent on getting some serious intensity in, in the form of various intervals. Peter seemed content to cruise on easy street, and get some endurance style climbing under his belt with hopes of saving something for the shootout tomorrow.

It was warm so we stowed the vests and warmers in the back pockets and prepared to throw it down on the mountainside. I felt good. Three 20 minutes at a near threshold pace did a number on me, but as I sit and write this evening, my legs feel good. Probably because we stopped at Le Buzz on the way home and had some bitchin latte's. And St. Girlmain had a cookie because he's fat as hell. We'll know for sure when the pace hots up on mission tomorrow at the pointy end of the fastest and most hotly contested group ride in the world. We're going to do the shootout with Madera canyon tomorrow, and then if the legs feel good maybe a loop up and over gates pass. Then a coffee shop break of course. Then, I think we're going to grab some food and beers with Meghan, a friend of mine from college who's out here getting her graduate degree.

Oh, and speaking of food, I'm getting sick of eating rice, pasat, grilled chicked, salad, eggs, oatmeal, and bagels. I want some serious food, and I cant wait to get in the kitchen when I get back and make something that is bad for me. I'm open to ideas, so if you have any let me know. Cheers until then.

One more thing. We also did this...

Niiiice!!!

The last couple of days have been allllright! Epic day yesterday, you can ready all about it on the "Other Adam's" blog. He blogs all about it. Totally blogged it. I'm over it though, so i don't even need to write about it. Now what I do need to write about is today. Today was a rest day, and it was no less epic than yesterday. We got our rest on. That'r right, you heard me. Day started off slow as hell, as it should have, and let me tell you, it didn't get no faster. After a sweet breakfast of granola, yogurt, fruit, and coffee, we sat around some more. I made some phone calls. Called some people and told them it was nice as hell here, which it was. Almost 80 degrees today, and sunny. Called coach and talked business for a while, and let me tell you, business is good.

After sitting around for a while, and re-filling my coffee mug a couple more times it was time to kit up and pedal some 10-speeds, all the way to the bank. St. Girlmain and I hopped on the bikes about 2pm, and drove them all over the city. We saw some stuff, pee'd behind a few bushes, drove a little further, didn't get any flat tires, made some jokes, hopped some curbs, worked on our backflips into the foam pit, and then totally stopped at the coffee shop. That's we the recovery day really got going.

By this point in time it was about 1:30pm, so the riding portion was done except for the direct 12 minute spin back to the house. Time to get some EXPRESSSSSSO!!!!!! Because I'm a fiend. I had a cappucino, snowflake had an AMurrrricano. We chatted, hung out, watched people, made some more calls and told some more people about how nice is was, and chatted some more. Oh yeah, and got our tans did. Olive oil on the legs...that gets a mighty fine tan going, and you smell good all day. It was time for another round of coffee's and some more sitting.

When then 2nd round arrived, we were deep in a conversation about Tucson. Tucson is a hip town, so hip it hurts. Black tight jeans, huge ol' sunglasses, coats down past the skirts, not caring about stuff, smoking, looking angry, looking sad, looking pale as hell, looking tan as hell, huge handbags, tiny dogs, fixed gear bikes, smoking, Tucson has it all. Let me tell you, I'f you're hip, you should move to tucson. Now we didnt look to hip, but it was cool, the spandex suits fit in well too, lots of tenspeeding in the A-Zone. One other interesting thing, while sipping our drinks, we heard a college coed at the next table use the word "like" at least 35 times in the course of two minutes, it was crazy. My mind was blown. Thats about it. Hope my ramblings and babbelings kept you entertained. Keep it real, and check back.

NBX go-carting rules!

I've got my work cut out for me tonight...

So one oreo cookie has 53.3 calories. Thats where I'll start.

Today was a great ride. About 5 hours. Not that long, just the right distance really, 90 miles or so. After once again failing to get out of the house when we said we were going to, there was ample motivation among the housemates to go fast...so fast we went.

After a bit of a warm up, we rolled steady up gates pass and cruised down the descent on the other side. It's a fast descent, with a couple nice turns, but you can see the road way ahead of you, so using the other lane to take the turns fast is no problem.

We settled in to a nice 3 man paceline at the bottom of the decent and spent the rest of the day taking nice steady hard turns at the front. At the end we were each pulling through for about 10 minutes, and certainly were not taking it easy on each other. Towards the end of the structured part of the ride I threw down a vicious attack and only the Other Adam was able to respond. We traded blows for the next mile or so until he finally cracked and I won the world championship sprint to the Saguaro National Part Visitors Center where we were planning to fill our bottles. Now I'm the Cactus King.

After the spirited effort of the first three hours of riding, we were content to just ride smooth and steady the rest of the way home. Two hours and one espresso later the heat was on for the green jersey points awarded at the front door. Feeling slighted due to his loss at the cactus sprint, St. Germain jumped early leaving Peter and I looking at one another, and the win was his. He went from a long way out, and it worked. He was rewarded for his efforts with the first shower of the day.

Over the course of the ride today I burned 2817.8 calories on my bike. Thats 52.87 oero cookies. I'm going to round up to an even 53. So clearly I've got my work cut out for me. For now I'm off to get a glass of milk and hook in to those oreo's. Take it easy.

All is not lost!

So here's the deal.

It does in fact rain in the desert, and when it rains...IT RAINS.

We left the house today with temps in the low 40's and some good old fashioned new england style rain. Gross, I know. But hey...nothing else to do. May as well drive some bikes.

Up we saddled and off we went. 5 min Later Peter gets a flat...5 minutes after that Adam (not me) gets a flat. We debate going back. We don't. Off on the ride.

When we finally get out of town...some 45 minutes later, it's still raining and Peter decides that he's all set. Cold and wet he heads back home. Can't blame him because it was gross. Adam and I soldier on. THE RAIN STOPS!!! The sun comes out, and its nice, a little cold, but nice and sunny. We ride up mission intent on re-riding the shootout route. But this time, we're in no hurry at all. We rode steady all the way out mission, zoomed back down the other side and turned onto Nogales Highway with a sweet tailwind. Now, not wanting to catch back up to the storm that we just outran, we make a decision. Time to stop for some food.

In case you weren't aware of this, Tucson is pecan country. So as we rode through the endless pacan "farms?" we had the hankering for some pecan pie...so what did we do? Stopped and got one. We split the pie, it was oh so good. Hopped back on the 10 speeds and tenspeeded home.

Back into town Adam got another flat and his tube was broke. I gave him one of mine. Fixed it up, and coasted to the coffee shop. After a quick espresso it was finally time to go home. It was dark by this point, and the day turned out to be a great one. We're going long tomorrow, and will perhaps go out for mexican food at night. I'll let you know.

Easy Living

Today was pretty laid back.
Slept in...ate french toast...realized I'm still in the desert...rode my bike to the coffee shop...scone/coffee...back to the house.
Scone was good.
Patriots lost the super bowl.
More bikin tomorrow.

welcome to the infonet!

So I thought that I should finally get myself out there on the ol' internet. All these years of amazing experiences and no chance for you to read about them. Tragic I know. I swear it won't happen again. Check back.