Wheels of life...

I received this cartoon in an email today.

However, I felt a few modifications needed to be made to the cartoon so it would hit a little closer to home.

Fade to Black

"Twilight: A time of pause when nature changes her guard. All living things would fade and die from too much light or too much dark, if twilight were not."

~Howard Thurman

Bicycle Downgrading. The Gateway Drug.

This morning I spent some time posting a message about muni (a.k.a mountain unicycling). While posting it, I remembered a post I had written written at the beginning of the 2004 season called "Bicycle Downgrading. The Gateway Drug." Little did I know back then that muni would start to become a popular sport on Colorado mountain trails. I felt the post was worth of a re-post on my blog. Enjoy!

Bicycle downgrading. The gateway drug.
Originally Posted: April 22, 2004

4 years ago I met a man, no, make that, a mysterious man. He was chillin' on a particularly technical section of trail doing some yoga. Lets face it, that isn't all that uncommon in Boulder. What struck me when I met this guy wasn't his muffled breathing and his look of unconsciousness, but his bike. It was one of those single speed bikes. A bike so pure stripped of its gears, fancy paint, and suspension that in a silent way demanded respect.

When I bent down to move his bike from the trail, he appeared not to care that he left his bike on the track, I heard a muffled "help me" from the rider that appeared to be doing yoga. I then realized that he wasn't doing yoga, but had just taken a nasty digger! As I untangled his limbs I kept taking glances at his simple bike and started to wonder, why in the world was he riding that here?

2 years ago I became so bored with my mountain bike that I needed something new. I looked through all the popular mail order magazines. I looked to see what the most popular racers of the time were riding, but you know what? I'd been there and I'd done that. I had reached the limit. I had tried everything there is to try and as physics can prove; "What goes up. Must come down." I had nowhere to go but down and I realized this. I then remembered the tangled mountain biker on the technical trail with a simple bike. I thought, "Maybe I'll give that a try."

The next 2 weeks I built a bike that looked exactly like the mountain bike the, now crippled, mystery man was riding. Ok, I don't have an extreme personality, I ended up just building a hard tail and it only took 2 days to build. I then took a week and a half off.

When I took it on its maiden voyage I was incredibly disappointed. It was uncomfortable, it was primitive, and it was making me walk sections that I could normally ride. I hated it! I hated it so much that I was determined to ride it for a straight month.

Soon I was clearing obstacles that only a month ago made me put my foot down. In a way, I started to enjoy it.

It wasn't long after the 2-month anniversary that disaster struck. I broke a chain and didn't have a replacement. I saw the once noble, full suspension, steed collecting dust in the corner. I dusted it off and took it to the trail.

Have you ever experienced a time when you were conditioned to riding in a new car, lets say a Honda, and then you got into an old LTD or Scout. The LTD was big and awkward, it's old school, pure metal, but you felt safe and you didn't feel any bumps.

I got that same feeling when I jumped back on my full suspension rig after a couple months of riding my hard tail. I loved that feeling, but like anything else, the feeling started to fade the longer I rode it.

Determined to get that feeling back I once again rode the hard tail for a straight month, all the while anticipating that wonderful feeling I would have when I jumped back on that comfy full suspension rig.

The day came, the full suspension rig was taken to the trail and moot, nothing, zero. That feeling was gone! On the ride home I analyzed what could have gone wrong. Why didn't I get that "lazy-man sitting in his lazy-boy" feeling when I rode it? Then I figured it out.

I needed to go even more basic. This pattern of a little more basic to appreciate the excess has helped up until now, but it is getting more and more difficult to get more basic. All the while, my need hasn't wavered to once again be able to jump on the full suspension rig and feel like I'm driving that 2 ton LTD, 50 mph on a dirt road covered with washboard, while the coffee in the cup holder doesn't even ripple from the constant beating on the suspension that each wave in the road delivers.

Well, it's present day and I've taken it a step further and gotten rid of the front suspension and all the gears too. I'm beginning to understand why that crippled mountain biker had such a simple bike on such a technical trail. He needed the fix! He was caught in this horrible downward spiral that I am caught in, the crew has bailed long ago, but like any good captain, "I must go down with the ship."

This realization is almost more than I can handle.

What next? There is only so much deprecation a bike can withstand before it is no longer a bike. Scared of my future and hoping to get that feeling each time I ride on full suspension I know there is a finite limit and an end in site. Needing that feeling, I contemplate more ways to simplify my bike. I need it to be more difficult so I can truly enjoy the full suspension.

Maybe unicycling.

Yeah, I can start with a simple trail. Full suspension will feel great after that. But after a while that too will fail to satisfy the Cadillac feeling the body so desperately wants when choosing to ride the full suspension rig. I entertain thoughts of unicycle free riding. 10, 20, 30-foot drops. Rounding corners at full speed on loose ball bearing sand, the very tread on my single tire barely holding on, all the while thinking about how good it will feel when I do this same trail on that polished beauty sitting in the garage with all the right curves that bend in all the right places.

But I know my fate and I will continue to spin, downward, until someone on a slick, high tech rig, mistakes me as a mysterious man doing yoga on the trail.

And now a couple videos for your viewing enjoyment:

Widgets (Part II)

A couple days ago I posted about the business model of a widget. I was confused by the business surrounding the bits of functionality and I asked for help with understanding it.

Brad Feld left a comment to my query and directed me to a couple of his earlier posts on the subject.

Another View on Widgets - March 4, 2007
YAWP - Yet Another Widget Post - March 15, 2007

The cool part is that Brad has since posted a couple newer posts on the subject of widgets and those posts have lead to even more posts archived in the blogsphere.

The Unbearable Slowness of Javascript Widgets - August 15th, 2007
Resources for Widget Performance - August 17, 2007

Thanks, Brad, for leaving a comment and starting me down a path of better understanding.

Side note: I'm still pretty new to the blogsphere, but when you can learn, teach, and communicate ideas and information so easily, I can't help but be happy to be part of it.

How Pennies Turn Into Air

If you haven't visited my website, TrailCentral, you should. But when you do, don't just look at the content. Go ahead and look at the ads too.

Why you ask?

Because the great people of the world who have visited my site, opened their eyes to the advertisements, and clicked them have dropped a few pennies in the virtual tip jar.

The cool thing about those pennies is that after a while they start to add up to dollars. Those dollars in turn add up to an amount that meets the minimum amount of money that Google feels is necessary before cutting a check to an ad publisher (a.k.a. TrailCentral).

So where am I going with this?

Well, the virtual tip jar was recently cashed in and delivered to me as a real check from Google. Thank you, everyone that has tipped me.

How do pennies turn into air?

Well, I could go spend the money on bike parts. Believe me, I could use them. Let's just say I'm glad the end of the season is coming because my bike needs some serious work and it will take a winter of savings and shop work to get it back into shape for the 2008 season. But I'm not going to spend it on that.

Instead, I'm cashing the check and buying new trees. Trees that will produce wonderful oxygen and a shady spot. So you see? Your pennies are literally turning into air. Yeah, I know... That sounds so Boulder, CO of me.

However, I wanted to still be frugal since this wasn't a huge check. So I found out that the Tree Farm is running a promotion of buy one get one free this weekend. I'm very excited about this! As a matter of fact, I'm heading there in just a few minutes to go pick out my trees.

Thank You!

Thanks to all of you that have looked beyond the content on TrailCentral and clicked on the ads.

A month ago today.

It is always a great idea to live in the moment, but have you ever taken a break and thought to yourself, "What was I doing a month ago?"


Well, I had that thought this afternoon and it dawned on me that I was riding my bike up the highest paved road in America, Mount Evans. How cool is that!


July 14th was my brothers birthday. He had set the goal early in the year to ride his bike in the Triple Bypass promoted by Team Evergreen, which happened to fall on his birthday. Although his intentions throughout the year were good, the responsibilities of work and family kept him from reaching his optimum fitness. He didn't feel as though he was ready to tackle such a major ride.


Still wanting to challenge himself on the bike he gave me a call. I didn't have anything planned and a couple minutes of chatting and we had made plans to ride Mount Evans on our mountain bikes. This way he would still be able to challenging himself, but without having to ride 120 miles to do it.

The morning of the 14th was spent climbing the 14er on our mountain bikes and I had an absolutely great time. Not just because I was riding such a challenging mountain, but also because I saw my brother revisit his roots in cycling.


My brother was a hard core rider back in the 80s and 90s when mountain biking first made the scene. I remember he would let me borrow his Specialized Rock Hopper in the early 90s after he upgraded and bought a StumpJumper. Man those bikes were cool. There was no suspension back then and my brother had clipless pedals, which I was always jealous of when I strapped myself into toe clips. We would ride up and down Horsetooth Mountain several times a week since it was just across the street from where we lived at the time.


The years have passed and neither one of us ride as much as we used to, but a month ago today, we both enjoyed the company of the other as we did years ago while riding Horestooth. What a great day.


*Picture: My brother cruising towards the summit of Mount Evans.

Would somebody please explain the business model behind widgets?

Would somebody please explain the business model behind widgets?

We appear to be entering a phase of the Internet where the major players have surfaced. Don't get me wrong, I believe others will emerge, but I think the days of needing to create a website to have a presence on the web are gone.

Players such as YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook, and many other mega-sites have millions of users. These same sites are starting to attract developers by offering APIs. These APIs allow developers to create small pieces of functionality (a.k.a widgets) which users of mega-sites can download and plugin with only a few click, thus enhancing their online experience.

The appeal for a developer to create a widget is great. In a matter of weeks you can take a general idea, develop a small piece of functionality, and put it to market where it can be exposed to millions of potential users. Beats the hell out of the old web model of building a website, crossing your fingers, and hoping the search engines brings you some traffic. Plus, it keeps developers from reinventing the wheel. Instead, they are finding ways to make the wheel roll smoother, look better, turn faster, etc.

I'm a fan of widgets. I think they are fun and I've actually plugged several of them into my blog. However, I didn't pay for any of them, and I don't see any blantant advertising being done by them.

So it leaves me a bit confused on how they make money???

Recently I was reading Brad Feld's blog where he was pimping developer job openings for one of his portfolio companies call J-Squared. I'm not a devote follower of the company, but the claim to fame for the young company is that they have created a very popular widget for Facebook.

Apparently these widgets are able to make money. I'm still confused as to how???

Do people have to pay for these widgets (ie. $0.10/download)? A dime a download is nothing for a single person to spend, but multiply that times a million downloads and things get a bit more interesting.

Is it advertising? I see that as a viable means, but the more ads that start popping up on a users browser when they install widgets could be a downfall (ie. I install 5 widgets on my blog and each of them have their own advertisements. That is a quick way for me click the delete button associated to that bit of functionality.)

Is it created to be sold? Maybe the idea isn't to make money from advertising or downloads, but to be sold to a mega-site. (ie. Yahoo thinks your widget is the bomb. They are willing to part with an insignificant amount of money (to them) and in return you get a healthy purchase price for a rapid to release product.)

I'm not trying to judge. In fact, I'm trying to learn. I'm hoping someone will enlighten me on how "stable" companies can be formed and make ends meet when their product is a widget?

Suprised To See Winter Park So Clearly In Google Earth...

Today I spent some time working on new code for the GPS mapping section of TrailCentral.com.

To test the code, I opted to upload some of the race courses that I've raced this year in Winter Park.

When I uploaded a GPX file of the hill climb, I noticed that the satellite images displayed on my web page map were much clearer than I remember.

I've visited Winter Park in Google Earth many times to try to get a feel for some of the courses, but the images of the ski mountain were extremely blurry. It was difficult to get any detail or even make out trails.

I quickly downloaded the KML file from TrailCentral to verify what it looked like in Google Earth. To my surprise, the images in Winter Park are now crystal clear. Clear enough, to get me excited about posting some more of my GPS routes in Winter Park to TrailCentral. And clear enough to be able to do some recon of the area trails.

Have fun checking out Winter Park in Google Earth!

*The image displays the course used for the Hill Climb, which is part of the Winter Park Mountain Bike Race Series.

Hill Climb Links:
GPS Map
Trail Information
2007 Race Report

The Power of a Team

Have you ever been a part of a team? Have you ever been a leader of a team?

When I ask these question, my intention is to find out if you have ever been on a team outside of your workplace? Being compensated to be a member or a leader of a team is completely different than being a part of a group of people that work with you because you all believe in a common goal.

I've always been a guy that hasn't asked for a lot of handouts and in the past I believed that if it is worth doing, it is worth doing alone. Now, don't get me wrong. I've always excepted help from those that offer, but I rarely asked for help. I don't know why. I think it was mostly because I didn't want to disturb those around me with my ambitions, goals, or problems.

I was recently sent an eVite from a friend that was getting married in his backyard. He had purchased a new house and the backyard was in no uncertain terms appropriate for such a special occasion at the time of purchase. However, my friend has a strong social network and he invited 17 of his friends for a day of work in his backyard. He simply offered lunch and beer as an incentive. In return he asked that trees be torn down, dirt be moved from one place to another, a large amount of ground be prepped for sod, the list went on and on.

Of those 17 people that were invited 15 showed up to work.

Over the course of a day the amount of work that was completed was almost unbelievable. There was no doubt in my mind, when I left that evening, that the yard was going to be ready for a wedding.

I try to imagine the amount of work and how long it would have taken him if he hadn't asked for help. 15 people x 8 hours = 120 hrs, which is 3 full "work" weeks of back breaking labor for a single person, done in a single day by a team of friends.

That day was a turning point in my way of thinking. Gone are the days of being a lone crusader. The idea is noble, but lets face it, it isn't the most efficient way to get things done.

I've since done a home improvement project for which I invited the friend that I had previously helped. Again, I was amazed at how quickly we were able to get the project done. The team members not only help by sharing the labor, but they also help keep the focus on the goal, while taking your mind off the work by keeping you company. The combination is amazingly simple, efficient, and effective.

I still get nervous when I step out of my comfort zone and ask for help, but that will get easier as I continue to strive towards the lead and member balance. Yes, there is a balance. You can't always be the lead and ask others to follow. At times, you need to be the follower and help others as they take the lead.

The lead role will give you a sense of satisfaction when you see your project finished. However, never underestimate the feeling of pride and accomplishment that you leave with when working on a project for someone else.

What I'm Reading Now... "Powder Burn" by Daniel Glick

This last week, I have been plagued with a stomach bug that has left me without energy and housebound. I figured there would be no better time than the present to crack open a book and start reading, to my wife's surprise.

My wife, who was an English major, reads books as quickly as I watch sitcoms. I on the other hand only get the urge to read about once a year, which coincidentally happens to be around the same time I get really sick and have to stay immobile. So...

This year's book is called Powder Burn by Daniel Glick. I burned through the first quarter of the book yesterday (pardon the pun) and so far it has done a fantastic job of keeping my interest. Daniel Glick, who is a journalist that writes for Newsweek, does a fantastic job of packing a lot of information into a small amount of writing.

I'm lousy at summaries, but here is what I've read so far...

Vail Associates, a company that is loaded and well hated by locals is about to make an expansion to its already large ski area during the fall of 1998. This expansion will encroach on wildlife, including the elks breeding grounds and the much needed space of the endangered lynx.

On October 19th, 1998 a series of fires destroy 12 million dollars of chair lifts and ridge top buildings. The number of structures on fire at the same time could only be the result of one thing, arson.

The question currently isn't what caused the fires, but who had the motive to start the fires. Vail Associate VPs have a long list of enemies, from disgruntled workers, pissed of locals, and extreme environmentalists.

Which leaves the question of whodunit???

Personally, I'm interested in finding out, so I'm heading to my reading spot now for a nice lazy day on the couch with my book.

The Chase

"Living in a constant chase after gain compels people to expend their spirit to the point of exhaustion."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Give Me A Head Start, Please...

Why, oh Why, couldn't my start time be one row lower!!! Ok, so tomorrow will be the longest race of the season to date and I'm a bit scared.

The beginners will be doing 17.25 miles while everyone else will ride 24 miles, including the clydesdale Men.

To be completely honest, this will be the longest distance I will have ridden on dirt the entire year. Plus, I hear there is a ton of climbing. Not what I wanted to hear from my teammates.

At the end of the last race, one of the riders in my category said that he believes that riders who have pre-ridden the course can easily knock two minutes off their time. I believe that. The only course I've pre-ridden this season was #2, which happens to be my best result of the series.

So, that being said; I would like to ask those who have pre-ridden the course to please sit back and allow those of us that haven't a two minute head start.

Please, I'll really, really, need it...

Speed

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
~Mario Andretti

Stupid Weeds!

Tonight was the last short track race of the season in Boulder. I snapped a couple pictures, but wouldn't you know this damn weed hogged the spotlight. Of course, you could look at these pictures and say to me: "You must be very talented with a camera to be able to take the picture at the very moment a riders face is completely obstructed by a thin weed." Well, you could say that...

Mike West hiding behind a weed as he leads the Men's A race

My teammate, hiding behind the same weed during the Men's C race

El Diablo a.k.a. The Tour de France Devil

The Tour has entered the Pyrenees and so to has the Tour de France Devil. It seems as long as I can remember reading and watching the Tour, I would see pictures of El Diablo on the side of the most grueling roads in the race.

Honestly, I thought it was a great costume and an obvious way to be recognized in the crowd, but in the back of my head I thought the guy was a bit cuckoo. That is until recently when I heard Bob Roll speak of him.

According to Bob, the devil will appear, jeer, and cheer the riders at the toughest point of the hardest climb. Brilliant!

I'm hoping that is true, because if it is, this guy just gained a whole lot of respect from me. He does have a method to his madness.

If you look in the picture, you'll notice he also has a hell of a vertical for an old guy!

Great Start... So, So, Finish

Yesterday was the the fourth race of the Winter Park series. The Valley Point to Point was the longest so far at 18.8 miles of racing. The great news for me was that the start line was in Winter Park and the finish line was downhill near Frasier, which meant more descending than climbing. I liked that!

Having had some time to think about it, this wasn't the best course I've ridden for the series. I loved course #2 a.k.a The Mountain Circuit. However, race #4 was the most fun I had while racing this year.

Let me tell you a story. Imagine if you will...

Pre-Race Day
I hadn't done a lot of riding in the past two weeks. After my bonk in race number 3, I had a rough time getting motivated to get back on the bike. I took a full week off the bike and then hopped onto the bike to summit Mount Evans with my brother. Once that was ridden I got another surge of energy to ride. However, work didn't play nice and I ended up not riding again until Wednesday.

The week and a half off the bike wasn't a waste. In fact, it was very helpful. During that time I focused on my diet. I asked people on my team and people I trust about diets that they have had success with before a big effort or race. I told them of my bonk during the previous race and I got one reaction that stuck with me a bit.

While I was at the Boulder Short Track I spoke with a Teammate about his diet. When I told him I bonked, he started to laugh and said, "It was only an hour and a half..." He wasn't being mean, or a jerk, but he made a good point. My body shouldn't bonk in a race that is only an hour and a half unless I really screwed up my nutrition. After that discussion, I started to think about my diet a bit more.

Friday
Evening
Pre-Race Dinner time! That means BBQ chicken. I'd been on good behavior the last couple days by not drinking any soda and tonight I opted not to have any beer either. I ate a healthy meal that included a green salad, corn on the cob, and BBQ chicken. It was delicious!

Saturday
Morning - At Home
I went to bed a bit earlier than usual last night, which made it all the easier to wake up and start the morning. I walked downstairs and started up the coffee. While the coffee brewed, I flipped on the TV, and starting to hydrate myself by drinking two full glasses of water. I eat a couple hard boiled eggs and fix myself a bagel with peanut butter for the road.

I hop into the car with my bagel and a cup of coffee and start the long drive to WP

Saturday
Morning - At Winter Park - Pre Race
I show up at the parking area about 40 minutes before my start time. I, of course, park next to a guy that is showing off his car's audio system by playing it very loud. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded that much, but the music he was playing was like a techno dance mix that just looped through the same beats over and over and over and over..... MAKE IT STOP!!!!!

I finish getting ready as quickly as I can so I can avoid getting that horrible beat/song stuck in my head.

As I start to warm-up my legs feel like lead. I take this as a good sign. When I was in high school I ran cross country. Every race that I did really well in started with my legs feeling like lead weights.

After a bit of a warm-up my legs still feel heavy, but I make a mental checklist of things I have going for me. I ate well, slept great, the sky is overcast, the race is on time, and I was able to sneak in a warm-up before my race.

The only question in my head is if I should push the pace from the beginning or sit on a wheel and let the other set the pace.

I line up to start my race...

Saturday Morning
Morning - At Winter Park - Race
The race begins I decide to let the other rides set the pace. My legs are still feeling heavy and I don't want to push any harder than I have to.

I'm the last in a group of four riders that climb the first ascent to the single track. A bit of a gap forms between me and the others, but I know that the dirt road is about to end and the single track begin. The single track brings with it a long descent. I'm not a very good climber, but I like to think that I do have some skills on the descent. The fast guy, Nigel, and I leap towards the single track and start the descent in spots one and two.

The two of us tear down the descent and Nigel even starts to gap me a bit as I get caught in some narrow spots behind riders in previous heats. I won't let him get out of sight because at this point my legs are no longer weighted and I feel damn good! When we are about to come out of the descent and start another climb, Nigel pulls to the side of the trail and waves me on. He had a flat tire, which put me in the lead!

I continue hammering away, passing people in previous heats as fast as I can when I come to what I thought was the river crossing. It wasn't! In fact, it was about a 30 foot, waist deep puddle. I high gear into the puddle and get stopped in my tracks. Waist deep in muddy water, I try not to think about what is growing in there as it would have made me stop in the river crossing - actually 100 yards ahead - and bath myself.

I try to push my way through the river crossing without dismounting, but I fail and I have to pull my bike through the water. As I get back on the bike, I notice the chain has fallen off. I quickly get off and yank the chain in place. I jump on again only to have the chain fall off a second time. This time it isn't so easy to put it back on and I waste about 1 minute messing with the chain.

A few obscenities, a couple riders in my heat passing me, and a minute later, I'm back on my bike riding as fast as I can to make up the time. I manage to catch up with one of the riders that passed me and I thought I was in luck because we are about to start another descent. However, my gloves are wet from the water, which makes my grip on the handle bar very slick. I hold back because I don't want to have an accident due to loosing my grip. I watch him ride away on the descent.

During the next several miles, my gloves dry, and I try like hell catch up. I'm slowly able to catch the lead group. Once I catch them on a dirt road descent I ride past them as quickly as I can. This is where it starts to get really fun. The final portion of the race is rolling terrain. Some of the terrain is uphill, which they do very well and some of it is downhill, which I do very well. So the battle starts. So many times in mountain bike racing you will start the race and then you will time trial as you try to keep your position. Not today. For several miles we play cat and mouse. Each of us taking turns as the mouse. I love it! That is racing!

As we reach the last couple miles, the roots and rocks on the trail really start to take their toll on me and I'm no longer able to play mouse. In fact, I'm no longer able to play the cat either, and I slowly watch the lead 3 riders pedal away from me. In the next two miles the three riders are able to put a minute on my time.

I finished the race and found it necessary to congratulate the other riders. They did a great race and really enjoyed it! I found the leaders and said my congratulations. I then bumped into several other riders from my heat and we struck up a great conversation, which I truly enjoyed. The day really encompass the spirit of racing.

Sunday
Evening - Post Race
Yesterday was a great day of racing, which I really enjoyed. I'm proud of myself for working on a better diet pre-race. I'm also happy to have challenge the other racers up to the point that I couldn't challenge them any longer. Truth be told, I felt great, well within my limits the entire ride. I didn't come in 4th because I bonked. I came in 4th because there were three guys that were faster than me. That makes me feel good and makes the race totally worth it.

Tire Confusion

Riddle me this, Batman.

what weighs only 4.4 lbs, feels like a ton, rides like a cadilac, and is able to make a 200+ pound man stand in a bike shop looking like idiot?

If you said the new Continental Traffic tires that I put on my mountain bike yesterday, you would be correct!

So let me explain a bit. The evening before last was spent at the local bike shop. I needed a new set of tires and was going to get a pair of slicks for my mountain bike. I've been riding a lot of roads lately and I'm sick of having to replace the tire due to worn tread. So, I walked into my local shop and right away a friendly sales person came to me and asked "How can I help you?" I simply said that I'm looking for tires and tubes and elaborated on my situation. He quickly took me to the back and pointed out the tubes that were on sale and a set of semi-slicks that were also on sale. The story could of finished there and everything would have been just fine, but I had to see what other tires I could choose from.

I started to browse the tire section and I came across a continental brand tire called Traffic. It is designed for on and off road. Basically, there is a lot of tread, really close together, which allows a smooth roll on the pavement and a bit of traction off road. The trade off is that these tires weighed a frigg'n ton at 800+ grams.

The semi-slicks that the salesman offered weighed in at a much slimmer 400 grams and they were about 5 bucks cheaper. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Not so.

For about 15 min. I went into a trance in the middle of the bike store. Trying to figure out the physics of rotating weight... And I don't know squat about physics!

As I stood there with the semi-slick in one hand and the Continentals in the other I had an internal battle going on. Cheaper and lighter vs. more expensive, heavier, but going to last a long time.

What to do? What to do?

Several times the salesman snapped his fingers in front of my eyes, obviously concerned that I was going to suddenly collapse. Several times he asked if there was anything he could help with. There wasn't, so I continued to stand there in confusion.

So you may be wondering what I decided to do.

Well, the more expensive tire that weighs more ended up being my choice. I came to the conclustion that these tires are for training and I shouldn't be concerned with the extra weight (4.4 lbs tubes + tires). If anything, it will make me appreciate my racing tires that much more. Plus, This tread is going to last a long time and I have no concerns about riding this tread on the road.

Finally, it gave me a great goal. I plan to put so many miles on these tires that I'll wear the tread down and with it the weight to sub 400 grams.

Wish me luck!

The Will To Suffer

Post Inspired By:
There Will Be A Light
from Ride with Nick Martin by Martini

Quote:
This past weekend's Firecracker 50 was a quick reminder that I need dig deep within myself to find my "will to suffer". Some call it a "broken motivator" others call it "the pain cave" some even refer to it as the "check engine soon light". Whatever your lingo, once you loose it, it takes some serious soul searching to bring 'er back.

It isn't easy when your passion is a sport that can literally bring you to your knees week in and week out.... you would think after 10 years of racing I would have it figured out?

This past weekend I was in the hurt locker when I bonked during the third race of the Winter Park Race Series. The story is pretty simple. A simplest change in diet made for a bad race.

For the last several years I've found that I need protein and lots of it the night before a tough ride. The morning of a hard ride, I'll again have some protein, but will also work in some carbs. I find this works for my body. This also means I get to eat a lot of BBQ chicken the night before a tough race. I'm not saying this is right, but it works for me.

This past Friday I went out to eat with the family and my In-Laws. Instead of the traditional BBQ chicken, I instead opted for a couple beers and a calzone from CB & Pots (I'm a big fan of their porter). Holy Carbs, Batman!

So in a feable attempt to regain some of the protein I needed, I ate some chicken the morning of the race and like an idiot, some of the left over calzone...

My race was at 11:20 and the carbs from the calzone were burned by 10:00, leaving me hungry by my start time. To make matters worse, the race was post-poned a half-hour, which made my starting time at noon (a.k.a. lunch time).

I had a good start and was able to use my race day adrenaline as a motivator for the first 7 miles. By mile 8 I was hot, hungry, and had no energy left... I BONKED!!!

At that point I was no longer racing. I was trying to survive. Looking back at it, the thing that bothers me the most is that I didn't have the "will to suffer" or the "check engine soon light" as Nick refers to in his post. I was spent and didn't have it in me to fight. I just wanted to finish the race. I never use to be that way. In addition, somewhere on the course I left a piece of me that I haven't been able to recover; my motivation to ride.

I figured with the Tour de France on TV, I'd watch a couple stages and be totally psyched to ride my bike, but even though I'm enjoying the Tour a lot, I still haven't got the itch to even ride, never mind train.

As Nick says, "Whatever your lingo, once you loose it, it takes some serious soul searching to bring 'er back"

So, it is soul searching time...

This week will be spent resting and this weekend I'll plan on a nice long bike ride. The perfect opportunity to search the soul.

Mud Covered Water bottles

Post Inspired By:
Wipe off that water bottle: 200 mountain bikers vomit
from Singletracks Mountain Bike Blog by jeff

I was really intested in the article that Jeff refers ( 200 mountain bike racers fall ill ). No, not because I'm a lover of gastrointestinal symptoms. More because I've always loved water bottles and have never even considered purchasing a camel back. Ok, I owned a camel back when they first came out (It was given to me). I'm sure they have improved since then, but I hated it. There is nothing like a blast of water that a water bottle can deliver on a hot, hot day. Granted, I'm not a distance rider and the most I ever need is three water bottles, which is very easy to carry between the bike (2 holders) and the jersey (center rear pocket). But I digress...

The reason I found the article so interesting is because I've wrapped my lips around the nipple of a water bottle to open it more times than I can possibly count. Many of those times I felt the grit, mud, and dirt on my teeth from the mud covered nipple. I never thought that was a problem. Pretty interesting to think about all the bacteria that could potentially be in that dirt.

Is it enough to make me convert to a camel back? Hell no, I still love my water bottles and I will continue to risk the chance of a gastrointestinal meltdown as a result.

Determination

"Confidence is the result of hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication."
~Roger Staubach