Oct 27
I believe Tyler
I've mentioned before that it just doesn't sound right that Tyler Hamilton was popped for blood doping. It just doesn't sound right. So, I used www.cafepress.com to make up some shirts saying that "I Believe Tyler". I had one made up just in time for Interbike and I wore it all day Thursday. I got a lot of comments, lots of thumbs up, and people asking me, "Where did you get that shirt?" So I told them.
Well, check out the link I got from Gary today and this to go along with it. Ha! Now, I have to admit, the "official" ones look a bit more aesthetically pleasing but I was first. I guess I should have copywrited that idea but oh well.
Lance Armstrong
The site www.cyclingnews.com
has a good two part interview with Lance this week.
Part
1,
Part
2.
Have you ever seen the Madonna di Ghisallo Church ? If I ever make it to Italy be a must see.
Big Johnny at www.drunkcyclist.com (Warning: adult content) gave me a little bit of crap when I gave him some crap in an email I sent him Monday. He posted part of the discussion and ended up giving himself a hard time for the way he over reacted.
Veloswap is coming up in a couple of weeks. I need to pick up a few parts to finish of my new fixed gear road bike. I spent a part of this afternoon at Cyclemasters basically turning it into a single speed road bike. We couldn't get the parts together to make it a fixie quite yet so I figured I'd just hold off until the swap.
Well, I need something to get me back on the bike and I think this fixie is just the thing. If I can get a hold of some brakes, I can just ride it as a SS until I fix it.
Oct 25
Something cool came out in the Bee last week. The Bee has done couple articles on local riders before and they've come out with a cool new article on Matt, SWD and Cyclemasters.
Oh, did you hear about Huffy? Man, if Huffy can't make money what does that mean for the rest of the bicycle industry.
Oct 17
Updates are getting few are far between
Been busy. One of the things that kept me busy was the 4 day trip to Vegas for Interbike. That thing is huge. I spent all day one day walking through hundreds of booths and then at the end of the day I realized that I missed a whole section. I'm still not sure I saw it all after 3 days.
Well anyway, I had a good time hanging out with the Cyclemasters crew and the SWDRacing crew. Saw lots of bikes, the mtbr.com crew, Al, Hollywood, saw Tyler, Fast Freddy, Magnus, Johnny T., Hairball, various downhillers, watched a lot of beer flow, went to a video premier, visited lots of casinos, and got to play poker at Binion's (I won some). I got very little sleep and I reeked of cigarette smoke when I returned. I wasn't smoking, but everyone else in the casino was.
If you're interested in what I saw at Interbike, you can check out mtbr's interbike page. Over all, I didn't overload on scwag. I got a few pictures, a few posters, some stickers, and all the sample gel packs I could get away with.
You can read O'Grady's version of events at Interbike and even his thoughts on the whole Tyler thing.
Gaspin' in the Aspen (a gathering)
That's enough for now.
Oct 3
Long time since I've updated. I've been busy busy busy.... not riding, just busy. I did manage to get a ride in with Fred last week at Demo. Lenny, Dave, and a new friend Pete showed up. Fred was tearing up the trails on his SS. I spent much of the trail climbing behind Fred and got a chance to check out his beefy calves. Fred is also making plans to head for Moab in the next few weeks.
Some Stuff to see
Oct 2 Tahoe (Pic)
Sep 29 Cannel Plunge (pics)
(Video)
I still believe in Tyler. I just ordered on of these.
The really big news
Matt from Cyclemasters is the National DH Champion. Read all about it.
Well, we're off to Interbike in a couple of days so I don't think I'll be doing any updates until I get back.
Sep 23
Henry Coe Night Ride
Fast Eddy wants to get a night ride together for September 29. Go here for info.
Tyler still has troubles.
Well, Tyler's B sample from the Olympics came out clean. That's good. But his B sample from the Vuelta showed positive again. I'm still in that wait and see mode. People I've talked to at work, who know nothing about cycling, have heard about Tyler's troubles.
Sep 22
It's been a while since I've had a chance to update. This last weekend brought some screwy weather to California. I had plans to get up early and go ride Hole In the Ground with Dennis and his brother. I woke up, it was cold, and drizzly so I went back to bed. Yeah, I'm a slug, excuses, excuses. I felt bad about letting Dennis down since I was supposed to be the guide. Dennis did say he had some directions but that first turn on to the fireroad can get confusing. Well, I talked to Dennis and he said that they got about 2/3 up the climb and the sky opened up and poured on them. They turned around and went to Auburn. I guess that means we still need to go back to HITG since I not many Trogs have made it up there this year.
Bear Valley Bike Fest
I hear some Trogs went, but that's about all I heard. This is what I got from Alex:
Yeah ! the Event was cool. Bars, Gu's, T-shirt, Water bottle, Killer ride and an awesome dinner. try getting all of that for your race entry fee. We took a new way up to Mt Reba it was cold in the morning that all ended quick when we started climbing. Glad I had the little rv with the heater it was 32 degrees (F) Sunday Morning. No rain at all. Some more trogs would have been cool to this one.
Say it isn't so Tyler
I really don't want to talk about it. It looks bad. Tyler Positive, Tyler says he's innocent, Phonak fires Tyler.
I was toying with the idea of going to a Tyler Hamilton Foundation event Oct 16, 17. How awkward would that be? It was really cool last year. We got to go to the Cliff Bar headquarters, grub on some pizza and beer, and then hear Tyler talk about his year.
Sep 16
Bear Valley Bike Fest
It's on this weekend, road and mountain bike rides scheduled. For more information check out Mountain Adventures website. There will be a Trog presence up at Bear Valley. In fact, I just got a call from Fred who is already up there camping. He said he has plenty of room. So if you show up at Pine Martin campgrounds, look for Fred at site number 19.
Sep 13
Colette and Steve do Tahoe (pictures) (video)
8 Hours of Sonoma
Joseph da Trog and myself raced in the 8 hour Sonoma/BillyCross 8 hour race on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
There were 6 teams in our division and we ended up taking 3rd...not bad for a 2 person team. I actually thought we were near last place, but turns out the top 5 teams were very close at the end.
Joseph and I both did 6 laps in a very, very hot race. We think it was about 100 degrees during part of the afternoon with little or no wind...ouch. Joseph was really suffering his 3rd lap (he went first) and it hit me during the 4th lap.
For those of you who haven't been to the Lake Sonoma Race, it is mostly singletrack, lots of switchbacks, very techical with rocks, some intermediate climbs, and some short and steep climbs which get your heart going and legs hurting. The course is fun for my style of riding but it was very slippery in many parts because of loose dirt. There are several places you have to get off the bike and run down gully's and over natural obtacles. Anyway, when you get tired, especially when its that hot, it is tough to pay attention and not get hurt. However, both Joseph and I came away very tired but unhurt. A few other racers were not so lucky.
Joseph did his last lap (number 6 for him) with about 5 minutes left before 6 p.m....so off I go for my last lap. Tired as hell but just wanting to get it over with, I actually turned a pretty fast lap. I was the last rider on the course and when I came in, there was a bunch of cheering. I assumed it was just because I was the last rider...but oh no....by doing that last lap Joseph and I moved from 5th place to 3rd. Cool....and as soon as I got off my bike they had me and Joseph get our medals and do the podium thing. Boy was I tired and surprised by the whole thing.
Our support for the race was Diana (whom I've been dating) who kept our waterbottles going and fed us. She kept us motivated, especially considering that heat.
Neither Joseph or I were that fast, but we were pretty consistent. It really helped to use walkie talkies to let each other know when we were coming in for the switch.
Well, maybe Joseph can fill you in more.
By the way, Joseph said that Alex wants the TROGS to do some type of team race against each other at Melones. What's your plan Alex?
Curtis Colaw
Impy goes to the SF Grand Prix
Well THAT was fun. A bunch of people BART'd in (Me, my friend Dan, Jrm,, Erich, Fred and John P) and we met up with Alex at the Expo. Jrm drooled over 29 inch bikes, Alex hooked us up with the free bags, Fred and I both got very cool socks, and , oh yea, there was this race thing going on. The Gran prix men's race got underway at 10am. It was cold as heck and foggy. Alex fixed that for us by making us climb hyde, then go down lombard street (the curvy part). Then up another steep hill (Leavenworth) then down to Fillmore, near the bottom to watch the peloton go by. Then, we climbed up Steiner (one over from fillmore) to get to the top of Fillmore. Then we ran into all sorts of folks - I saw my buddy Fireroad Ron, and we met up with Crazy Andy, who was climbing everything in his fixy of course, and Josh Jericho came on by to say hi. Then, after the peloton went by again and we took off for Taylor street. We climbed up the back way and sat up on the top of taylor and watched the race from there. Up here we ran into bikergrl, forrest from mtbr, mark weir and a bunch of other people. The sun finally broke through so we figured it was beer time and rode down to an Irish pub. FOod and beer was consumed, and by the time we were done it was after 3 and the race was over. Erich, Jrm, Dan and I split to go home, and Andy, alex , pimlott and fred went to the GG bridge. I understand that alex and andy were taunting some roadies and that it was really windy but you will have to ask them for details.
Fun day, thanks guys!
Dodge Ridge Dust up
Welll.... I question the 'trail conditions are perfect' phrase but
overall it was a great ride (even though I bonked and then endoed).
Somehow we had a mechanical before we even got to the trail. On the way
up to the trail George's van overheated. Kevin and I backtracked about
20 miles to pick George and Matt up. so we started out a bit behind
schedule when we pulled up the the trailhead.
Our next mechanical was less than 1/4 mile from the trailhead. Kevin's
chain broke within sight of my van. We got it fixed then hit the
climb. The climb was pretty rough for me until I added about 75 lbs of
air to my shock and it was MUCH better. After about 4.5 miles of up we
reached the top of the lifts where the downhill started.
The first downhill was very soft and loamy, some of the squishest stuff
I've ever been on. Dust was flying everywhere and there were invisible
rocks under the powder which would reach out and grab you. Overall this
downhill was a blast, technical, fast and just a bit tricky. The only
downside was the frequent logs across the trail. I wound up flatting on
the Downhill but fixed it fairly quickly.
After the downhill there was a small bit of climbing and a little more
down until we hit Crab Tree campground. After Crab tree there is a
bunch of hike-bike on and off for about a mile (not continuous). The
trail is totally different here, it's more maintained and is armored
with rocks and has big rock water bars which eat chain rings. The
downhills are fun but the uphill parts are about 50% hiked.
After a while we come to the contour trail which follows along the
contour of the hillside. The Contour trail is about 6 miles long and
should be a blast. It's all singletrack rolling up and down and none of
it is to steep to ride. Unfortunately it is also about 4" deep powder
which totally saps my strength and the water bars are huge here. My big
chainring took more dings here than in the last 6 months. Before we are
half way down the contour trail we are all walking sections which we
should be able to roll up.
At this point I am nearing a collosal bonk and I endo when my front tire
gets bogged down in some deep trailedge dust while trying to clean yet
another waterbar. Not too bad but frustrating.
Then at the point where I am about to just say to hell with it and take
the nearest bailout back to the car we get to the top of the final
downhill. The last downhill is a blast. It's a super skinny almost
trail which sort of fades in and out. The surface is still loose and
loamy but not as bad as most of the trail and I just fly down the hill.
There's a dirt waterbars where you can catch some air and lots of
swoopy/ fast curves.
Then we have a 1/2 mile grind up the asphalt back to the car which would
probably be gravy except we were all pretty much done for. My only
complaint was the soul sucking trail dust which ate me for lunch. All
in all this was a brutal, tough, fun day of riding.
-- Dennis
The Vuelta
Well, Tyler is done. He's 10 minutes behind Floyd. Floyd is barely hanging on to his lead and has to work to keep it. I wish this was on TV.
Sep 8
Vuelta Update
Looks like US Postal just keep trading Amarillo Jerseys. Today Beltran put it on but Floyd is still in second. I really wish I could watch this on TV. It's just not the same this year. Vinokourov is way back (17 minutes today) and the new T-Mobile leader is Cadel Evans at 5th place. But he keeps loosing team mates and will most likely have no team to help him out. Tyler is sitting less than a minute back from the lead in 10th place.
Downiville Record
Looks like the record for 5 runs from Packer Saddle in a day has been broken by some crazy guy named Dimitri, who works for Apple completed 6 runs in one day. I guess on one of his run for the record he crossed paths with our local friend Steve Wolf. Hear are some details from the thread on mtbr. The original post has been edited but it looks like the part where.
Looks like Steve, Colette, Al and others are headed back to Kernville. You're welcome to join.
Sep 5
Vuelta Update
US Postal won the prologue TT on Saturday and Floyd ended up with the leader's jersey. Petacchi is back winning the sprints today but Postal's Max Van Heeswijk picked up some intermediate sprint points to take the leader's jersey.
Speaking of Floyd, it looks like he's leaving US Postal and headed toward Phonak. With Tyler and Floyd both a Phonak, it'll be like having another US pro team.
Sep 3
Well, the Vuelta starts tomorrow but we won't be able to watch it this year on OLN. You can always read the live feeds at places like www.cyclingnews.com or maybe even a live audio feed at www.eurosport.com. I haven't really looked into who is going to have the best coverage on the net yet.
This just in
The (International Mountain Biking Association) IMBA is having their annual "Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day on Saturday, Oct 2nd. Up at Hogan, the Army Corps of Engineers have graciously cut a "groomed" fire road, and designated it a bike trail, very easy grades, and all off the road (one paved road crossing).I would love to see a group of our kids and their parents participate. How about we post something about meeting at the Acorn East Parking Lot (up at Hogan Reservior) at 9am for a gentle mountain ride? For the "older" kids, this ride is a 8 mile out and back course (from the campground heading toward the dam). The younger kids may have an option of turning back sooner (with an adult) once the get tired. RSVP to me if you have ANY interest, and maybe we can coordinate, car pools, snacks, beverages, and anything else.
Thank you,
Robert Fuller, Proud IMBA Member
Tyler always puts out the good word about what's going on with him. He's written a nice piece about winning gold in Athens. Since the Tour was a bust this year, Tyler is trying to follow up his gold with an Amarillo Jersey at the Vuelta.
In other news, Mayo is done for the season. He's got mono. Must have been sharing water bottles with the wrong person. He's blaming mono for his poor performance at the Tour. Is that what they call it these days.
Well, that's enough for now. Ride hard this weekend.
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