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.