out, out, damn spot!

you know you're getting old when the excitement for the week involves having a mole removed..

went to the doc last night to get cut. he sent the little buggar off to get tested. now i'll have a lame scar that I can make up cool stories about. "remember that time i impaled myself on the bell on my handlebars!?"

whew.. work suuuuuucks.. Wayne State's grad admissions open house next week. the beginning of a new chapter?

I should have my head examined

certifiably insane thought #1: I think I'll go for a bike ride today.
evidence: its 24 degrees fahrenheit outside, i'm still in my pajamas, it's toasty warm in my house.

certifiably insane thought #2: Oh, I know, there's a ride at Highland at noon, it's only 10:30, I can make it!
evidence: I'm STILL in my pajamas, I've got a history with Highland, it's 24 degrees out and snowed last week, do you really think this is wise?

certifiably insane thought #3: Hmmm I think I'll take my brand new single speed.
evidence: untested bike, first trail ride, first time on a fully rigid bike in over 10 years and I'm going to do ride it on a hilly ice rink?!

Ok, so it wasn't really that bad.. but I gotta hand it to myself.. the fact that I stayed after that first 1/2 mile or so of the A loop that was all rutty ice, go me.. after that the going got a little better, but it was still slow riding.. E, T, and I on single speeds, the rest on geared bikes... Climbed pretty well, though the descents were a little tricky when ice was involved, which was most of them. Ran 2:1 ratio until about mile 8. I bent the f*ck out of my surly 34t ring, and broke the chain to boot. Luckily E was there with a quick link, and I just happend to mount a second chainring this morning, a salsa 36t. so I had to ride the last 2 miles or so in 2.1:1... ughh!

but no broken bones or bleeding wounds.. so.. sweet..

me 1 winter 0

bittersweet sun..

dont' get me wrong, I love that the sun is out.. problem is, with this gorgeous sunny day just inches away on the otherside of my glass cage.. er, window, I can't seem to get anything worthwhile (to my boss anyway) done. all I can do is stare out the window and imagine i'm bombing down the trail at PLRA (or better yet, the 20 minute downhill on the Peaks trail in CO.)

spring is coming soon, right?

what would you do with 15 million dollars? i know what i'd do (see above)

on productivity at work...

OK.. if I'm blogging, I guess I'm obligated to do one of these things..

My WORK music library.... (not my home collection)

Open iTunes/iPod or Windows Media Player. Go to your library. Answer, no matter how embarassing it is.

1. How many songs: 2005

2. Sort by song title:
First Song: "#41(acoustic)" - Dave Mathhews Band
Last Song: "Zonepaging / Random Generator" - Carl Craig

3. Sort by time:
Shortest Song: "On/Off" - Daft Punk (0:19)
Longest Song: "No Quarter" - Led Zeppelin (20:18)

4. Sort by artist:
First Artist: !!!
Last Artist: ZZ Top

5. Sort by album:
First Album: "!!!" - !!!
Last Album: Youth Oriented - Happy Apple

6. Top Three Most Played Songs:
Allison Kraus - "Baby, Now That I've Found You"
Allison Krauss & Union Station- "Bright Sunny South"
A Tribe Called Quest - "Excursions"


7. First song that comes up on Shuffle:
The Dayton Family - "We Won't Fall"

8. Search ....
"sex", how many songs come up? 7
"death", how many songs come up? 23
"love", how many songs come up? 79
"you", how many songs come up? 164


That's it. I wish there was more to it. here I will throw in some fun facts.

Three most prolific artists/bands:
The Pixies - 28 tracks
Spoon - 26 tracks
Minus the Bear - 19 tracks

Most common genre: "Rock"

*pat pat*

there are few thingsin life that are more satisfying than a job well done, and being thanked for it!

eating is hard

the biggest challenge i'm going to have to overcome this season if i really want to get fast is learning how to eat. and no, i don't mean learning where the food goes in..

i seem to be stuck in a cycle of malnurishment, then over eating to compensate. one ride i bonk cuz i didn't eat well and so the next ride i eat more thinking that will do the trick.

i've never been able to train consistantly, and that seriously hampers my ability to produce good results on demand.

so i'm making an effort to learn more about food, what it does for your body, what's best for max effort and endurence, and what types of special considerations i need to make for my specific physiology. needless to say it's a slow process (i'm not very smart). i need a book to read. as much time as i spend on the internet, i'm not very good at using it as a research tool (unless i want to buy something =S ).

or i could keep stumbling in the dark.

joy and abandon

i think I've tried to live my life with joy and abandon.. why does it always seem to come back and bite me in the ass??

Setting the record Straight

ok.. for all of you that think the Cycletherapy Racing Team is nothing but a bunch of chauvinistic, elitest male pigs, remember, Cycletherapy has a women's team too.. they're called the Velo Bellas! We hope to share pits, cars, stories, beers, victories and defeats (note, I did NOT say beds.. I really really wanted to, but I refrained.. way to show restraint. I think I'll give myself a !GBD) It'll be like we're one big team

My Hooligan

so, you ask, why all the angst over one speed? well, I'll tell you. This year I plan to undertake not only my first full season of racing, but also my first full season riding a singe speed bike (if you discount all those years when I was a little tike one my bmx'er..) So I guess I'm just trying to get pumped for the pain to come...

Here is the fruit of my labor over the past month or so...



The frame is a Soul Cycles Hooligan 19" single speed frame with an eccentric bottom bracket allowing for different gearings. It is aluminum, and fully rigid.

This will be my first bike with disk brakes as well. I took the opportunity to put on some nice shiney red rims w/o that stupid silver machined sidewall. I like'em.. I built the wheels myself. so far with about 20 miles on they've held up.. I have yet to put them back into the truing stand, so we'll see..

The rest of the bike is nothing special. I'm hoping to get my hands on a red Chris King headset one of these days..

right now on the road I'm running a 42x17 (65 gear inch) ratio. I'll start the season on the trail at 34X15 (52gi) and work my way up. I dont' think it will take long before I can race 55gi around most of the trails in SE michigan. (famous last words)

so, there she is.. try not to drool on'er

soup

humping

Yay for hump day! I might just make it through the week after all...

How do you like the new banner? Still not sure how the f-bomb would go over with the sponsors if they new they were linked from here... still not sure if I care.. I can always take them off.

I think I'm settling on this look as the "permenant" look, for a few months anway.

Took the Hooly out for a spin to the bike shop last night to meet with mr. beertalker and Duke re: some website stuff for the team site.. Coming Soon!

Man I love the way that bike feels. Didn't think I could get down with the fully rigid thing again. While I haven't had it out on any trails yet, I'm amazed at how comfy of a ride it has for an alum hard tail..

So, what is this bike I'm talking about?? I'll post pics shortly... That's what this blog needs.. more pics!

oh, and in case you think I'm a dirty, filthy pig... shower's fixed..

Announcing

the 2006 Cycletherapy Racing Team!

Jay Atwater
Ernie Del
Tom Lining
Mike Campbell
Dustin Cheney
Andy Brown
Mark Terrian
Tim Woolard
Brian Keesling
Mark Ladwig
Ron Ressler
John Ressler
John Leslie
Tony Sebastian
Al Blasutig
Ed Barker
Jay Jones
Art Fleming
Dan Krajcovic

Yep.....

Shower's broken.

up late..

Added a background pic to the title box. Changed some colors and formatting. Why do I insist on trying to relearn CSS once every year. I wish I'd take a damn class, or give it up already.

I'm tired.

It's bed time.

soup

Cooooooold

Ok, so I would have posted yesterday, but I was still thawing out from riding on Saturday. Temp on the thermometer was about 8 degress fahrenheit, with wind chill well below zero. Woulda been a fine ride anyway, if I coulda kept up with the group. Ended up with only about 13 miles.

Didn't ride on Sunday... It was time to take Nero for a hike.. poor guy's been stuck indoors all winter.. I think he had fun.

Decided to skip the Paul Bunyon race. I woulda spent more time on the ground than racing anyway. So I'm still planning on opening the season at the Yankee Springs TT..

Oh, and I broke my shower this morning...... I love Mondays.. =[

soup

Take 2...

Ok, here we go again.. yet another friend has got me to venture back to blogging.. this is probably the last post you'll see from me, but wtf..

2006 marks the first full season I intend to race my mountain bike. I'll use this place to post the good, the bad, and the ugly of what comes... (and I'm sure there's going to be pleanty of ugly.. )

My first cunundrum is whether to kick the season off (sort of) by racing the Paul Bunyon race at Bloomer this Sunday. Registration isn't too much, but the temps are supposed to be in the single digits. I'll be doing a 40 mile ride Saturday, so perhaps I'll pass..

Pardon my dust, I intend to do a little construction.

soup