Karma

Its taken me a while to adjust to the east coast style of mountain biking. When I moved out to Norcal an eon ago I left Boston having never pedaled a bike since childhood. I came back from the west coast a total biker slacker. On the west coast I pretty much identified myself as a mountain biker. I dabbled in cross as a fun fall/winter pursuit. I was never any good to be honest. Back of packer at best. Upon returning "home" like a Coho Salmon to spawn and die I got a pretty rude awakening. East coast riding is hard...way more technical than I was used to and sort of slow...

I'd been torn up pretty good mtn biking around the SF bay area. I broke my arm...more like destroyed it...blown out ligaments, pulverized elbow, chattered radius...broken collarbones, ribs, etc...wait a minute maybe I sucked as a mtn biker on the west coast? Certainly the injury report would attest to that. But I loved it. Big Mtn riding is so awe inspiring. But they don't really embrace the mtn bike out west if you get my drift....sure fireroads are cool and all but singletrack is pretty locked down. Poaching becomes the only option....and while being treated as some kind of second class trail user/miscreant is kind of a buzz kill it does teach you a few things...top of the list is respect. Respect the shit out of the other trail users at all times. Be nice. Smile. Say hi to everyone. Get off your bike if you come across someone on singletrack to let them by. I still remember getting totally chewed out by Marylin Price in the Marin Headlands for descending a fire road like a jackass...I almost t-boned her in a blind corner. Well...this 5o year old founder of trips for kids chased my ass down and laid into me. Not in a Masshole I want to kill you fashion but in a learn to respect the trails elder manner. I learnt a lot that day. And Marylin is incredible in so many ways. Least of all her cultivating good will on the trails of marin county. I've seen a 60 year old irate hiker try and push Tom Ritchey down a steep embankment for our being on singletrack. Seriously. Did Tom smack the guy upside the head? No he kept it all under control killed him with kindness and we were on our way. I wanted to beat the guy with my frame pump ( we actually used those way back when...) Tom was having none of my east coast angst...since then being nice and respectful has become a part of my dna on the trail. And while I struggled getting used to how technical and hard east coast woods riding is what blows me away every time I hit a Cutler Park or Hale is that we are allowed to ride on these trails. Seriously. Its incredible. And I don't know if its all legal or cool but people build trails here...holy crap. Arizona, Marin County they'd put you in Federal Prison for building trails. Seriously.

So today when I "had" to get off my bike two or three times to wait for some hikers to clear a section of boardwalk. I reverted back to my west coast ways and just smiled and said have a great day. Sure when I came through the sketchy railroad tunnel and there was a dude taking a nature break i just assumed the best, ok I did have a little alarm bell going off in my head screaming its Jeffrey Dahmer, said "sorry" and pedaled my ass out of there as fast as I could...

Being The Jan

Ulrich of course..nobody packed it on like The Jan.  Three weeks of family vaca etc have not been pretty. 162 says the old trusty scale...8 weeks of base starts.....now.  Well tomorrow am anyway. Tick tock...

My new favorite cap! Thanks Mike Z!

Hmmm legs are pretty scruffy....

Brewster leg of Cape Cod Rail Trail was a gateway into a CX wonderland

Great vaca. Got some fantastic cx rides in the woods at Nickerson State park. Nothing cleanses the soul like a cx ride through the woods. And the cape...oh my. All that sandy loamy singletrack....I am fatter and certainly not any fitter for it but my head is in the game...Rock Lobster once again impresses. Can't wait to get a full season on it. Not a lot I have to do to it at this point. Its race ready. A couple of Special Service Corsa tricks up my sleeves...lots of cross specific work to do but that's what makes the cross game so addictive...

Dirty Pictures

Have had the sola for 2 days...2 rides in 2 days and to be honest I may never ride my road bike again...well I will but its going to be a while...Seven did an amazing job. The boys at Landry's dialed it in soooo perfect. Really ride 1 was a night ride in crazy conditions with a severe lacking of lumens...hmmm what is that shadow ohhh shit...saved by sid, disco brakes and the sola. Haven't even had to adjust my saddle, bars or any other point of contact...now that is custom. More details later but I'll state the obvious: SRAM xo kicks ass, disco brakes rule and seven ohh my....

Mid-life crisis in full effect

I turn 44 next saturday...Mid-life crisis is in full swing. Paw print is tres massive, had hoped for a subtle job but when you are getting a tramp stamp there is no "subtle". So boutique ti mid-life crisis trumps booze and fast cars...I think...

Heavy Metal Gods Deliver!

Jeff B has the new Hup Sola in hand! Its en route to Valhalla for some tweaking by the hammer of the gods....enough of the Metal/Nordic references...That is one Hott Sola! Should be built and rocking east coast nastiness by sat am! Kudos to all that made it happen...

I'm too sexy for my...

Blanco...so sexy it hurts...

My apologies to all Right said Fred fans. I am an ugly bastard...seriously. That is a mug only a mother, wife or offspring would find attractive. But Blanco makes you feel like Zoolander. Seriously. It flat out rocks! On a hot day in NE that smacks of summer words can't even describe the sheer awesomeness of this kit.

Fitting that my first ride in Blanco would be Memorial day. Any earlier would have been tres gauche...non? Took 2 pics before my battery died and frankly it was starting to feel way too Narcissistic clicking photos of myself ( i contest its of the blanco but...) on such a gorgeous day that should have been my sole focus. Found the double edge to the Blanco. Its not unlike going on a sunday ride in a Hotrod red Porshe Boxster. Sure you could be that old guy that just goes soooo painfully slow or you are going to have to get ready to redline it everytime some dude in an Audi TT, or Vette or 3 series comes rolling along. 

For me it was out near the realm of the Dover Demon. Dude came up on my bumper at warp speed. If it wasn't for his crappy drivetrain and shifting he would have smoked me. And mentally there is no way I would have chased him. He would have broken me. But I heard his clikkity clack slam shifting and just pulled out all the mental gymanstics. I slllooowly and silently started going down the cogset and ratcheting up my cadence. Still on my wheel. 

I thought let's see how this feels. And put it in the big ring. Still casually. That's the beauty of campy its a silent killer and smooth. No dice he was a man possessed. Or was he a man at all? We'd all been joking of finding the Dover Demon for weeks. Had I finally found him on this wooded lane? We descended at about race pace and on the next riser he made his move. He half-wheeled me to come around mais non I accelerated and got over the riser first wheel. Next bomber descent I came back to the real world and thought to myself what am I doing? I let safety take first priority. I'd made my statement. I wasn't going to be a dickhead or endanger an obviously more fit rider on a sketchy descent. I let him pass and followed his wheel. Up past col de charles we rode at a fast tempo. Once up on farm st we exchanged pleasantries. It appears the Dover Demons name is Nestor and he hails from Chicago. He has a husky Italian accent. We shook hands for a battle well fought And he departed with a "ciao" The Dover Demon has been found he lit my lungs on fire and has a warm and welcoming smile....

Summer whites

Blanco C'est Arrive´!