stuff for sale

Hey all, In the process of trying to scrape some money together to buy a cross bike, I've decided to sell two of my trusty steeds. I'll have better info (and pictures) about them after the weekend but I figured I'd better hurry up and get the word out there.

Bike 1: Van Dessel Country Road Bob (http://www.vandesselsports.com/crb.php?bike=9). Its the older version with the curved top and down tubes. I believe it is 59cm but will confirm this weekend. Its a sweet commuter/light trail single speed/fixie. Its super fun to ride and virtually maintenance free.

Bike 2: Trek Fuel 98 (http://www2.trekbikes.com/bikes/bike.php?bikeid=1167610&f=14) frame size large. Full carbon front and rear triangles. I replaced the carbon rocker with an aluminum version because the carbon wore out really quickly and I got tired of replacing it. It rides the same with the new rocker and the weight difference is negligable. This is a sweet ride but I stripped it to build my Dos this spring so now it is lonely and looking for a new home.

Both bikes have been used a fair amount but have been well taken care of and will provide many more years of use.

The first reasonable offer for each will be accepted. If I don't hear>from> > anyone they'll be going up on ebay and mtbr next week.

If you have any questions or want more info, give me a shout.

Time to breath

Phew, coming up for a breath of fresh air before diving back into the fray. Its been one serious ass kicking at work and home recently. I have about a bazillion projects behind schedule at work that have been working me over plus B-Girl’s one year b-day party this Saturday which we’ve been frantically trying to get the house ready for in the evenings. All of this has lead to little posting and even less riding.

Here is a quick rundown of the last weeks riding activities:

Saturday I finally watched “Off Road to Athens”. It’s pretty lame that it took me this long to see it but it was a cool video and it really makes you realize that the selection process for the Olympics is retarded. Nothing like burning everyone out just trying to get to the big O.

Sunday I lead the slow ass group ride for the local bike group. 1 ¼ hours with an average speed of less than 11 mph. Ouch! I really wish I had had B in the trailer with me so that at least I’d have a reason to go that slow plus the extra resistance would have been nice. It was a nice day though and I was able to work in some hard efforts on the way over and back from the rally point so it wasn’t a complete waste. It was interesting to do the warm up and cool down in the middle of the ride with the intense efforts crammed into the beginning and end of the ride. Gotta shake things up right?

Monday was spent at home while a couple of electricians spent Brynna’s college fund. Two guys x 8 hours each + materials = one huge bill. At least the house isn’t likely to burn down now and we have functioning lights and outlets in the living room again.

Monday I also got the XO derailleur put back together and will get in back on the Dos in the next day or so. I’ve decided to sell the X-9 to the bro to free up some cash. I had initially planned to save it for a spare but fund necessitate a different approach right now.

Wednesday was my first ride day since Sunday and I tried to make the best of it by getting up at 4 and taking the Dos for a long, meandering commute to work taking in all of the trails on the way. It was good fun but my night riding eyes are quite functioning yet so I ended up riding pretty damn slow on the trails but I’m sure the night time skills will come back to me quickly enough. After work, I took a more direct route home only hitting the Schmid Preserve. Soon after leaving the office, I realized I had forgotten my pump so was hoping to not have a flat. Sure enough, about ½ mile from the house I got a puncture and ended up jogging the final 15 minutes down my road. I must have been quite the sight running in full kit with my bike by my side. What a dork.

Ok, that’s about it. Time to dive back in.

Say it with vomit.

You know your daughter loves you when she's kind enough to projectile vomit from your nose to your ear lobe. Love ya right back. 

"B" ride

Loading her up. Pimpin the sponsor.

Ready to roll.

No pooch for you!

Off we go.

Chip off the 'ole block

Brynna takes after me. Check it.

Also, I got the new "lower unit" for the xo rear derailleur yesterday and now I have no clue what to do with it. I had thought it would be an easy switch but it looks like it requires a complete tear down of the piece. A quick call to Bikeman to confirm and sure enough, they suggested I bring it in so that I don't F up the whole thing. Damn. I had hoped to have that puppy back on my steed this weekend. Oh well, such is the life of a rider with sub-standard mechanical abilities.

Knock, knock

During Sunday's race, my bike developed a concerning knocking noise that was coming from the rear end. Initially I assumed it had something to do with the new derailleur I had installed Friday night (which shifted perfectly by the way) but after the race, when I inspected it, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. Tuesday, when I finally got around to cleaning the bike, I found out what the problem was. The plastic carrier for the lowest gears (4 I think) had somehow managed to notch itself a bit over the pawls (I'm not sure if that is what they're really called) on the freehub body which allowed them a little bit of play to move back and forth thus creating the sound. To fix it, I had to pull the cassette off which turned out to be quite a freakin ordeal. The aluminum hub body so completely chewed up by the top 4-5 gears that it took a rubber mallet and a wrench through the other side of the wheel to get them to come off. F! So not only did I somehow ruin a perfectly good cassette (which I've decided to save along with the chain for this fall) but I munged the hub body as well. I know that alloy hub bodies tend to mark up a bit because they're softer than steel but damn, this shouldn't happen. Thankfully, before the season started I bought another cassette and a few chains so I had a new one to slap on and everything is good to go now.

This bad boy went on and an older style 980 came off. After checking the SRAM website, apparently they no longer make them with the plastic spider. Good move.

my new lust

Team manager Big Gay Al has got me lusting for this beauty. For a few more bones than what the El Mariachi frame would cost me, I could have a complete, pretty well spec'd cross bike and with cross season quickly approaching that would be a good thing. I know, I know, to die hard cross racers disc brakes are a no no but really, what are the odds that I'll ever race at the elite cross level? Zero, zilch, nada. Truthfully, in the two cross races I did years back I was barely able to hold my on in the C races and the disc brakes would be really nice on winter commutes. So the hemming and hawing continues... 

Gross

I have a creamy favorite that is served by hand... oh, never mind. 

Attack of the Zombies

Ever wonder what you might look like riding at 4 am? Well, here is what I look like. I sort of look like I'm staring down the business end of a semi. Talk about dilated pupils! 

Recap #5

Well, race #5 of the year is in the books.  I’d like to say I went out and kicked ass but sadly I didn’t.  I did manage to finish 1st expert in my age group but that is of little consolation when about eight others finished ahead of you.  I have to admit it was good to get my first win of the year though.

As usual, I got a horrible start despite having a good position at the line.  I really need to learn how to start because it really sucks to have 12 people beat you off of the line (many coming from behind you).  I don’t know what it is about me but I’ve never been a good starter.  It was important to get a good start yesterday too because about a mile into the course was some freshly cut single track that was super soft and tight and passing was not an option so I found myself bottlenecked unable to ride at all while the leaders scampered off into the distance.  Kudos for them for getting their asses off of the line faster.

Finally out of the singletrack, I picked up one or two place until the climb started.  Sugarloaf has one of the tougher climbs in the series and yesterday it kicked my ass.  Not only was I not passing many on the climb (as I usually do), I was actually getting passed by a few.  To be honest, one was good ole Skip Brown so I don’t feel too bad about that but a few others who wouldn’t have usually passed me did.  I’ll chalk it up to a no-go leg day.  Thankfully, when I reached the top of the main climb and started to rocket down the rough descents and ripping through the technical singletrack, I found that dos and I were one and I was able to really make up time.  It was one of those days where you could just let the bike go where it wanted, making slight weight and direction changes but mostly just going with it.  It was a blast.  

Unfortunately I had two more of those climbs to do in order to enjoy the descent again.  Oh well.  Over the course of the next two laps (3 total) I picked off a few more guys and finished strong, totally spent and the legs on the verge of cramping, but strong.

Series points haven’t been posted all year but I’m fairly confident that this “win” puts me solidly in first place.  The only question is whether Boobar shows up for the next few races or not.  If he does I might be in trouble but I welcome the challenge.  Bring it on!

I quote

I saw this quote today while surfing MTBR during lunch.  This probably sums it up pretty well for a lot of people.

Dee Zee “I am just going for a ride and you act like I am going to a strip club”.Non-biker wife“ I would rather have you go to strip clubs.........it would take up less time and money”.

For the record, Marcy has never said this.  She is very supportive of my riding.  Right up until I start smashing expensive carbon bits that is! (

His spot

You know you get too many packages when the ups guy doesn't even bother marking where he left the package and simply writes "my spot".

 

Morning commute

I rode the dos into work today. Notice anything wrong with this picture? 

Here's a hint.

Suprisingly, despite having no bottom pulley I was able to complete the ride which included an additional 1 1/2 miles of singletrack and a few miles of pavement. The pin that holds the plates of the cage together acted as the pulley and it actually continued to shift really well. Thankfully, you can replace the lower cage and pulleys without replacing the whole derailleur because these suckers are too expensive to just throw away.

Turn your head and cough

Here I sit, at my home computer waiting for someone to stick a finger up my butt.  I’m actually not kidding.  A nurse is swinging by this morning to give me a physical for my life insurance policy.  Hopefully no violating will take place but just to be sure I’d better give the ole cornhole a little extra love while in the shower this morning.  You want it to be squeaky clean, ya know?  I bet that went way past too much information and straight to deleting any shortcuts you have to this blog.  I apologize.

As part of the physical, I had to fast since midnight last night and I’m not allowed to do any strenuous activity.  Damn!  The one day that I would actually have a couple of hours to kill in the morning and I can’t ride.  Instead I sit here with both my legs and stomach growling.

To try to make up for today’s missed ride, I snuck out for a quick mtb spin with the pooch after we put B down for the evening last night.  I didn’t get to the trail head until 8 so it was an artificial light ride from the start.  I haven’t been on a real night ride in a couple of months and it showed.  I felt like a monkey fucking a football, bouncing off of every rock and root in sight.  The cobwebs were also unreal.  I had so many hanging from my head and chest that I felt like a freaking party favor.  Nothing like a big ole mouthful of web.  All bitching aside, it was still nice to get out though and got in a quick 1:15 to keep the systems happy.

Probably no riding tonight but tomorrow I plan to commute to and from work with the Dos via as many trails as I can hit on the way.  KWood should be accompanying me on the way back so it should be a good ride.

Ricky's Knee 8-15-06

Never, ever use Greyhound Juice or any other warming lotion when you have razor burn on your legs. It sort of feels like slowly setting your legs on fire. You have been warned.

Nice work

Got word yesterday that the team fared really well at the 24 hrs of Great Glenn this weekend. We had a 4 person women’s expert team that totally cleaned house taking 1st for women and 22nd overall. Congrats Mary, Emmie, Olivia and Alyssa. Also, this years new addition, Ellen Noble, who is only 10 yrs old won the junior (0-18) female solo class. Yeah, you heard me right, a 10 year old did a 24 hr race. How kick ass is that?

Edit: I just checked out the Men's Pair results (the class my brother and I raced the last two years) and it looks like the winners had 26 laps. Last year Rus and I did 30 laps total to take second place (of 15) and the year before we did 27 laps for first (of 12). Huh, maybe we should go back again next year and put the hurt on.

tweeked nipples

This weekend finished out a fairly good week ride wise for me. Not a ton of time in but what I got was good and I was able to shake the illness that I felt creeping in. All in all pretty decent considering.

Saturday we were going up to Marcy’s mother’s place for her b’day party so I headed out early to get in a couple hours of nice hilly road riding in. It turned out to be a killer ride. I always like riding up to the in-laws because at 30-ish miles away it allows me to take different routes up each time to check out new roads and to try to find some new hills. Saturday’s route has one of the longest sustained climbs in the area and had me begging for mercy the whole way. The best part had to be when I thought I was at the top so had really honked on the last rise only to find I had another ¾ mile of climbing to go. Blast! I guess it did teach me how to recover on a climb after a hard effort. Maybe that’ll pay off at this weekend’s race at Sugarloaf. Who knows, but it couldn’t hurt.

After the ride I noticed my rear tire is about shot with threads showing in several location. I training tire down, one to go. I guess I’ll be throwing a race tire I have laying around on there now so that I don’t have to pony up and buy a new tire. Things are getting expensive enough without having to buy any new tires right now.

Today after work I have to drop the Dos’ front wheel off at the shop. I’m not sure but I think they have the wrong length spokes on one side since I can’t get the proper tension and dish without bottoming out the nipples. Hopefully they can get it fixed up soon since I’m racing this weekend and don’t want to have a pull a wheelie for 2 hrs straight. I can barely ride one for 10 seconds straight so I’m not sure that’ll work.

Some observations.

Here are some observations from my ride in this morning.

Coffee from a water bottle is really bad.
The full (or at least close to full) moon was beautiful.
Bats seem to love the early morning hours because I have at least a half dozen flutter past me in the 45 minutes I was out.
For some odd reason, I worried that I was going to hit a deer.
My blinkie light died this morning so I should have been more worried about ME being hit by a car.
4 a.m. is early.
I’m lucky to have a wife who understands my need to get up at 4 a.m. to ride.
4 a.m. is early. What? I already said that one? Well, it still is.

Feeling crappy

Yesterday, Marcy took pity on me and told me to ride my bike home from work and she’d pick up B-Girl from daycare. At first I resisted since Marcy is still sick but finally relented because I was starting to feel like that dog you see tied to a tree compulsively pacing back and forth, killing an arch shaped path of grass in the process.

The day was beautiful but despite that, the ride started off a bit ho-hum with the legs feeling like crap and the mind not much better. Within 10 minutes, I began to worry that maybe I was coming down with what Marcy and Brynna have been fighting for two weeks now. Shit, now is not the time to get sick. By the end of the ride I felt a bit better and was able to get in a few hard efforts to try to open the legs up.

As a final test to see if the body is ok, I got to bed early and got up at 4 this morning to try to get in 2.5 hrs before work. Unfortunately the morning ride was no better than yesterday’s so as I approached my office I pulled in instead of riding past to do the planned Southport loop. I figured it was better to take it easy than try to push it an make things worse. Plus, I need to make up some work time anyway.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’m just having a blah 24 hours and not actually getting sick. I’ll be hitting the hay early tonight. Hopefully that helps because if all goes well, we’ll be heading to Vermont tomorrow morning to spend a couple of days hiking and biking. Fingers crossed.

Meat Up

Just saw this over at Bike29. It looks like they're going to have a weekend shindig for 29'er riders on Sept. 8-10 at the Kingdom Trails in Vermont. Man it would be sweet to get over there for that. I've been dreaming of riding those trails for years but every summer slips away from me before I get the chance to get over there. Hopefully when Brynna is old enough we'll start getting over there every summer. For now, I'll have to live vicariously through others. Thats what blogs are for right?

In the trailer

 

A bit behind

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Marcy and Brynna have been sick (Marcy especially recently) so with work, taking care of both of them and trying to squeeze in a quick ride here and there, there has been precious little time for riding. This past weekend though, I did get out for one ride. As I mentioned ages ago, there is a new bike group that was started over the winter in my town. Its geared more towards recreational and geriatric types so I hadn’t ridden with them yet but had thought it would be the perfect place to go when I have Brynna in her trailer. Well Sunday morning I decided to take B for a ride while Marcy tryed to get some sleep to beat her illness. As I was in the garage getting B into her trailer I noticed the Sunday morning organized ride cruise past my house so I quickly finished up the prep work and hit the road in an attempt to catch them. I managed to catch the stragglers of the group after a few miles and then put my head down and pushed it to catch the leader. This can be tough with a trailer with a touchy baby inside though because I was unable to stand on any of the climbs because it rocks the trailer too much for her right now so I was forced to sit and grind. For a double ring set-up this isn’t always ideal on a normal ride but throw in a 20+ lb baby and a 10+ lb trailer and you’ve got the making for some nice tough climbs. Once with the group it was easy though since the pace rarely went over 15mph. An hour into the ride I decided it was time to head back since Brynna would likely wake up soon and be royaly pissed. For some reason if she starts the ride awake and stays awake she is fine but if she falls asleep and then wakes up mid ride she freaks out. I’m not sure of the reason, maybe it scares her, but I decided to try to get back before she managed to wake up. Unfortunately about 2 miles from the house, the demon awoke and screamed to high heaven until we got back. Thank god I turned around when I did, that would have been quite nerve wracking had I listened to it much longer.

I also stole away for a bit last night after putting B and Marcy to bed to get an hour of night ride in on the dos. I hit up some trail where it is frowned upon to ride in so I always wait until all mud is gone and go at night so that I don’t piss anyone off. Unfortunately though, it appears that no-one has been using the trail because it was getting extremely overgrown in areas and extremely un-fun in sections. It would probably do the trail a world of good if they publicly allowed bikes to use it after mudseason to keep it packed down and weed free. Maybe some day.

What a week!

Well, this week has been all balled up.  Both Marcy and Brynna have been sick most of the week so its been rough riding-wise but not totally horrible.  This morning I got up at the butt crack of dawn (4) to get in a couple of hours before work so I got my fix for today.  Its this weekend that I’m worried about.  On Sunday, we’re supposed to heading to Vermont for a few days of relaxing, hiking, swimming and of course a bit of biking but with Marcy and B’s illnesses, I’m not so sure we should go.  There will be 3 other babies under 1 yr old there so we don’t want to risk getting them all sick with the dreaded PINK EYE! (ominous dum, dum, dum).  I guess we’ll just see what happens.  They’re both medicated right now so maybe by the time we’re supposed to go over on Sunday things will be cleared up a bit.

Ricky's Knee

Going along with my advice column over on DAMNelsons, I’ve decided to do some of the same over here at RacinRick.

Episode one: Nipple chaffage.

Apparently I have very sensitive little nips because whenever I race while wearing bib shorts my nips are practically on fire by the end of the race.  I love wearing bibs but unfortunately the straps fall directly over my man boobs and cause serious chaffage.  To combat this, you can cover them with little band aids or as Marcy suggested, some nursing pads.   Both good options but if you forget they are one when you finish the race and strip your jersey, you might have some serious explaining to do.  Sunday, at Bradbury, I tried a new tactic.  I put a little dab o’ Assos chamois cream on each little nub.  Not only did this work to keep my bits from chaffing, it also kept them nice and cool and minty fresh.  Try it next time you go out for a long hard ride.

Take two

I do 100 nipple presses a day to keep these babies in shape. Notice how nicely I glisten?



















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