Saturday, May 1, 2010

Foto bomb for the weekend!

There is sooo much going on right now. Noir B sample is dropping next week and we are going to celebrate the coming of our new kit in a big way. Not totally sure but I have some ideas doing back flips in my head right now and its gonna be fun. The form is coming around. The bike practice is helping sooo much. The ante got taken up a notch this weekend and I have to say I was pretty nervous that maybe I couldn't answer the call. We all throw around the term "smackdown" ride with such regularity it almost doesn't even have meaning anymore. But this one I was pretty sure was gonna be tough. SBZ doesn't mess around and when she says something is going to be tough you better strap your helmet on tight cause its going to hurt.

Not to beat a dead horse but I am trying to embrace the "ride to the ride" concept that so many of my friends live every single day on their bikes. SBZ showed me a great sneaky sneak route from weston to Lexington so I built an extra hr into the ride and rode to meet up with the group heading out on a fast century. I had to rock Blanco as the weather was promising to be summer like. I was happy with my choice but a few of my ride mates seemed a tad perplexed. Blanco you either get it or you don't. And if you don't I feel sorry for you I really do.

I had huge hopes of grabbing a quick espresso at the Ride Studio Cafe but it was not to be. Looks like they open at 8 on saturdays and I had a date with some serious pain in ahhhlington so had to be on my way.
I timed it perfect as they were just leaving and heading up Mass Ave. I did a quick 180 and bam it was on! The ride was the fastest I have been on in a long time. Basically I took a hammer and smashed every single weak muscle fiber in my quads and replaced them with hardened steel! Ha it was a good ride! Thanks for everyone who included me on the ride I hope I get invited back as it is a good group ride. Tight to say the least! Got a total of 5 hrs on the bike and got home with room to spare. Dog Haus avoided for once!
On Friday I took a trip up to Zank World HQ! That really got the weekend started and set the stage for one of the most kick ass 24 hrs in my biker life in a long time. If you don't know Mike Z you should. He is hands down one of the nicest men on the planet. A Mike Z hug is worth its weight in gold. And I gave him a good bear hug when I saw him. It was like visiting Mecca or Valhalla I stood in awe and snapped photo after photo...his shop is surrounded by so many icons and sign posts of all that I hold sacred it just blew my mind. I stayed wayyy longer than I had planned just because I basically didn't want to leave. We talked about cross (of course!) we talked about bikes (of course) I geeked out on all the tubing....what I really should have done was left him some cold hard cash for a PegoRichie tubing winter bike. That may seem bananas. Why would my winter bike be so high end? Because I ride my winter bike all the time and it needs to be more than a one trick pony...I need to talk to Mike Z asap.
While I was at Mike's shop I picked up the 11! OMG after mulling about what to do and being heckled by everyone for still being on my cross bike in May! I bit the bullet and am building my road bike up this week. I am doing it with a ton of help from my friends. Mike Z HOOKED me UP! with the Campy Chorus. Friends don't let friends ride sram. Especially friends who are campyphiles. I have a few friends who are on campy. Is it a coincidence that they are some of my closest friends? I don't think its a coincidence at all! So Mike has me covered with the parts. David Wilcox is building it up Tuesday at the Broadway Bicycle School and Sara is working her magic Thursday and fitting me! Damn I love, love, love my friends.
I leave you with this shot of Mike Z's handiwork! The man is an artist plain and simple. I need to do a full on profile/interview one of these days. Hopefully sooner than later. He has been getting a lot of love in the press and he had a great NAHBS but he is one of the next gen of great craftsmen that our sport is sooo lucky to have in our midst. I hope all your weekends were just as fantastic as mine was. I left the weekend stoked, sunburnt (it will turn into a savage tan in no time don't worry!) and shattered but soooo happy.

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