No saddle time but ............

' She said yes

And I said wow
And she said when
And I said how about right now
Love can't wait
Then I asked if she believed in fate
And she said yes'

Watch the Video!

So another week has come and gone with very little time in the saddle. I was going to post about the first real mtb ride I have gotten in this year where my heart was beating ridicoulous amounts of fastness and my legs had an unrelenting amount of burn in them. That was until I read my sister's blog last night about my pops.

Many of you have met him and for those of you who haven't have surely seen him while he has always so lovingly worked my pits filling waterbottles, making sure I eat and then always finding a way to convince into doing just one more lap a little faster than the last. He is the rock I lean on during those physically and mentally draining events we all consider to be hell while doing it yet smile and joke oh so unrelentlessly about afterwards.

Her writeup says everything so perfectly I am copy/pasting it below. Please watch the video she put together. Every time someone watches it Five for Fighting donates $1 to the Fisher House. For those who don't know, the Fisher House helps support military families.

_______________________________________
From B's Blog

Good Deed #29. Dad, this one was for you! I know it wasn't easy for you to be away from us for all those months and years, but we were always so proud to call you dad. Everyday I would look at the cross stitch mom made that said "Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Daddy" and would thank God that I was YOUR sweet pea. I made this video for you, the men you served with, the men who are serving now, and for all the children left behind. Friends and family please watch this video till the very end so Five for Fighting can donate $1/view to the Fisher House.

Another day of commuting resulted in another day of dead legs. Normally I can tell within a mire or two if my legs are going to free up or not. Oddly enough they felt good on the flats where I was comfortable cruising between 24 and 26 mph. Once the climbs around the U of R campus came about both legs looked up at me and started yelling at me like angry protesters, "HELL NO WE WONT GO!"

In other news, I've decided on a temporary race schedule for this year. Gonna try and focus on the hundies and 12-18 hr races. The season will start in March at the Camp Hilbert Series, where I am deciding whether to do the 5 hr or the shorter SS class. Leaning towards the 5 hr to help prepare me for the Baker's Dozen about a month later in Leesburg.

Sponsorship News - I am proud to announce I will definitely be pimping the Six again in '08. Got word from Brent and Ryan last week. Still haven't heard from Maxxis or Carbboom! but I should know something by the end of the month. I also have an application in to ride for Team Polar as well. They say that decision will be made by the 15th of Feb.

Its a new year!

At the start of New Year's Eve, I was 47 miles short of tripping the 3600 mile mark for the 07 season. Being so close I decided to take the new Salsa out for a nice ride.

With the rain passing over night, the weather was perfect. Upper 40's and sunny. I decided to take a spin through Powhatan which is something I had not done in quite some time. So I filled a couple of bottles and loaded my leg up with CarbBoom! and then the CarbBoom! unloaded itself on my leg. Maybe it was its way of telling me that my leg was too fat to fit both my leg and the CarbBoom! packets in my post holiday tighter shorts.

The ride couldn't have been better. Everything seemed to take place so effortlessly. Legs felt great on flats even while fighting through the random gusts of strong wind. Surprisingly my climbing legs were still there as well. Alright so they were there considering the limited amount of saddle time the last couple of months.

On the route home, I took a look at the computer and saw that if I turned towards home I would end up about 6 miles short of my goal of 47 miles. So I decided to take the around my ass to get to my elbow route home. Moments later, chain suck and gear skips from hell. Then nothing! A look down to find there wasn't a chain attached to the bike any longer.

Not having any Shimano connector pins in the bag ( not sure where they went ) it came down to, Do I start walking or call someone? Called someone I did! Dad picked me up and gave me a ride back to the house. I took the time to snap a few pics while sitting on the side of the road.

Hard to make the King hub spin with no chain.

Later that night, Jenn and I ate dinner with her family. Always nice to spend time with them. Afterwards I decided to try the Luna recovery smoothie sample that was sent to us at the store. Have to say I was pretty disappointed in it. It didn't mix well and therefore was a bit chunky. The taste was far from pleasant as well. The only good thing I can say about it was that I was able to finish the whole glass without vomiting. Now there's a quote they could use in their next ad. Ha!

After taking a day off from the saddle on Wed, I met up with Nate yesterday for another longer road ride. We left from his house and road over to meet up with some people from the local road club who were leading a ride from the Hanover Courthouse. On the way over, my chain started to skip around again. Not again I said to myself. A quick diagnosis was that the link I used to put the chain back together had frozen up in the cold. Being about a mile from Cobblestone Bikes, Nate and I swung by there to see if they could loosen it up. Less than 5 minutes later we were back on the road and riding fast over to the courthouse. According to the comp we kept about a 20-21 avg from the shop to the courthouse. My legs felt stupid good and were ready to roll!

Two other brave souls showed for the ride. The route was mostly flat with a two good climbs and one teaser. Again the climbing legs felt pretty good. About half way through the 28 mile loop we were doing with them, my hands began to freeze up. The wind was brutal on them. By the time we finished up that loop my hands had me wanting to step off the bike and cry. 16 more miles back to Nate's and I could do just that. Just that is what I did when we got back!

There were points were I had started to worry about frostbite as the pain would come and go but they would never warm up. Hands were whiter than my pale thighs when I got my gloves off. Took about 20 minutes before I was able to use them to load the bike onto the car. Once I got home I ordered a pair of Amfib Infernos. My hands will never get that cold again!

Commutes to and from work for the next couple of days will be the only saddle time I get until my day off on Sunday. Maybe I can get Jenn out for a ride Sunday afternoon. She is usually the one willing to ride these days. I on the other hand, usually find something else to do. This has got to change and thanks to the La Raza, change has begun.

Spicey-ness!

So I feel like guys up at Salsa will come visit in my sleep and repossess the new spicy ride if I post this picture as it does the frame absolutely no justice. Don't worry a better picture will be taken in the daylight with a better camera than the good ole camera phone. Which is new btw thanks to the good folks at Verizon! Jenn and I will be taking it out to Westcreek tomorrow night for its maiden voyage.

My new La Raza

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to take a second and wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Hope everyone is having a good time and enjoying all the delicious eats and quality time with friends and family. And if you are having trouble finding the spice in your holiday season, have one of these delivered to your door!

My new road frame from Salsa!

CED SO

Last week I got a PM on the local cycling forums from Cycles Ed. He is a local mechanic, frame builder and all around one of the nicest faces you will ever meet in the cycling world. The message said that "she was ready to go!" Which meant only one thing, the CED SO was complete and ready for a demo ride. The CED SO is Ed's latest Singlespeed frame. He asked if I would take it out and let him know how it road from a SSer's viewpoint. Not really sure why he asked me but to say the least I was completely blown away and excited to take it for a spin.

Met up with Ed at his place on Wednesday morning before work to pick up the bike. First impressions were purely astetic but the frame was breath taking. First thing I noticed as I walked up, was the paint. I'm not quite sure who he had do the paint but it looked great. As I got closer, I noticed how there seemed to be almost no welds holding it together. Ed described the type of welds as a Fillet Brazed frame which is a much more labor intensive way to join two pieces of metal. It definitely shows as every piece of tubing seems to melt into the connecting tubing and becomes one. The joints are virtually non-existent.

I was extremely excited to take it out for a spin on Thursday but was a bit nervous as I tried to decide where to take it. I hadn't been on a MTB in almost a month and Ed asked me to take care of it as he wanted to be the first to put a scratch on it. Do I go to PSP where I know the trails like the back of my hand or do I venture downtown where I only randomly visit a few times of the year and meet up with a few friends? Decided on showing off Ed's work and headed downtown.

Fast Forward Hubs also built by CED

Hit the trails a little early to ride from Reedy Creek to Tredagar so I could get used to being on the bike again and meet up with PiperJ and Carter. Arriving at Tredagar just as they were starting to roll out to head to Reedy Creek we hit the trails on top of Belle Isle before heading back over to the south side of the river.

The ride downtown as amazing except for the two seconds in which I heard Ed's words of no scratches run through my head about 50 times as I tried to save the bike from being dumped down a rock garden into a culvert near Reedy Creek. Thankfully the CED SO saved me from trying to explain what would have been described as the worst ride of my life if I scratched the bike, to Ed.

As most SSer's know, handling and climbing prowess are probably the two biggest characteristics one looks for in a bike. The handling of the bike was beyond ridiculous. And that is a good ridiculous! Many a time on the first ride on the slippery leaf covered trails of the JRPS the rear tire tried to wash out from under me. This is where the overall balance of the bike came shining through. A few pedal strokes and the CED SO just stood itself back up and continued on its way down the trail.

On the many ups of the JRPS trails the CED SO displayed it's climbing ability. I could feel only the slightest flex in the steel frame while I mashed up the hills. Never did it feel like it was robbing me of the power I was putting into it and like a goat, it got me to the top with as little effort as necessary.

The CED SO is setup as with a rigid White Brother's Carbon fork. This meant I not only got a chance to ride a new frame design but also it gave me a the opportunity to compare carbon forks as I ride the Origin 8 carbon fork on my Carver 96er. After about 4 hours on the bike I came to the conclusion the O8 had a bit more forgive to it but after I thought about it I figured out why. Basic physics, longer legs will flex easier than shorter ones. The O8 is designed as a 2-9er fork as the WB is a 26".

Finishing up the ride with PiperJ, Crankee and a few others inside the JRPS just before dusk, I decided to head over to PSP for the night ride. Spent another couple of hours on it and the bike seemed even faster once the lights went out. Smooth as silk the CED SO just floated over everything the local trails had to offer. The idea that after not being on a mountain bike for almost a month I could go out for a 6 hour ride and never start to feel fatigue from being beaten around speaks to the world of just how smooth the ride was. Hands down the CED SO was one of the most comfortable and fastest bikes I have ever ridden.

Normally I would complain about the relatively narrow chainstays as I like to ride a bit bigger volume tire ( read 2.35 - 2.4) on my ss's. But this became a mute point as the combination of the steel frame and the 2.1 rear seemed to soak up enough to prevent any premature fatigue.

Overall I give the CED SO a 5 blazing stars out of 5! Hardest thing ever to have to give it back, but I did. And scratch free nonetheless! If you see him on the trails be sure to check it out. Believe me, you haven't seen anything like it!