Monday, October 25, 2010
24 Hour race pics
http://www.bobcat13photo.com/Terra-Firma-Promo-Adventure/24-Hrs-of-Rocky-Hill-October
24 Hours of Awesome
The day after the race I was speaking with John about my various new ailments, prompting this potential quote of the year:
"Dude, anything that's wrong is totally normal - you just rode your bike for 24 hours"
Results:
Johnnie turned in 22 laps for a 2nd place in the Men's Solo Open. He tied the 1st place for distance with Greg "Caveman" Parham.
17 laps from both Tom and Lonnie secured a 1st place tie for the "coffee break" team in Men's Solo Sport. Their photo-finish is guaranteed to be the stuff of legends. I got to run 4 laps with these boys, I gotta say they are pretty damn entertaining when they are delirious.
Our only team, "Brawndo", turned in 17 laps for a 5th place in the 2 person open category. It was my first century!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Walnut creek and my bits
Thursday, August 26, 2010
FML
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Can you please stop the itching? How about deadly sweeper collisions?
If you have any constructive comments/concerns about sections of the trails you ride regularly go ahead and email Nadia. Hopefully she'll send out the poison oak patrol. Maybe they can cut some of the vegetation down in the sweepers at Walnut so you can see oncoming traffic before you're kissing a stranger...
“The City of Austin Public Works Department, Neighborhood Connectivity Division would like your input on specific urban trails and/or trail segments that need maintenance. With Urban Trails under our division, PW management is investigating support the department could provide, during the slower winter road maintanance period, in urban trail maintenance. This could be, but is not limited to, issues with the surface condition/erosion, vegetation overgrowth, limb trimming, trash/debris removal, sight distance and American Disability Act concerns.
The scope of your comments should be limited to trails which serve both a transportation and recreational function.”
E-mail your concerns to Nadia Barrera at nadia.barera@ci.austin.tx.us by midnight Wednesday, Aug. 25.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tubless. IMO
Tubeless systems are pretty commonplace now. You don't need UST rims or special tires. You can just get a special rim strip with a valve included from Stans.
Tubeless is great cause you can run lower tire pressure without fear of pinch flats. It is potentially a little lighter than a tube system (unless you're running those really light conti tubes) and the goo totally fills up small holes and tears.
The "Burp". If you are running a lower tire pressure, (which is the best reason for this system), you can actually pop the tire off the bead if you do a fancy maneuver that puts a lot of pressure on the tire perpendicular to normal travel. This is the "Burp". It's usually cool because the tire re-beads almost immediately and you only loose a tiny bit of pressure. It can be decidedly uncool if you Burp in a technical section and that new lower pressure causes you to loose some traction or flip or tank your rim. This past weekend I Burped on a ledgy downhill in the Greenbelt. The result was a graceful endo and a big missing chunk of skin from my finger. Gross.
Stan's Stalagmites. This is a rare occurrence but does happen. The Stan's will become it's own sentient organism and party hard in your tire until you set it free. This is pretty fun and it's good practice for being a dad, but at speed that 3 oz critter plastered against the inside of your tire makes it feel like you've been drinking...
The phenomena wherein impermeable substances become permeable and then, inexplicably, become impermeable again. OK - not really but this Stan's stuff is pretty volatile and subject to an almost unbelievable level of evaporation - it'll evaporate inside your tire (!!). Every few months you'll need to reapply the 2 cups of goo. Where did it go? Lookie here, Stans Schmeg...
Beading a tire without an air-compressor. This is the sux part of this system. You must have some way to quickly put air into the tire. Bike shops are all set with their compressors, but regular schmucks like me have to blow 3 bucks a pop on threaded CO2 cartridges? Nope - get a superflate or something similar that uses the Crossman 12oz bbgun cartrigeds. .50 a pop, and if you have the right device you can bead 2 tires with one.
These may seem like a real P.I.T.A. but seriously, I've only put air in my tires for the last 3 months. A little endo and a strange little boogerish friend are a pretty fine trade for all the tubes I haven't bought or changed...
Friday, August 20, 2010
FLASHBACK - WARNING
Bigotry Detection Accessory
Rant - etiquette or I KEEEL you!
- When your riding a backwards lap or you're new - scan ahead as far as you can. If you can't see around a sweeper or something, call out "RIDER!"
- When you pass someone going the opposite direction:
*Break RIGHT, just like a car
*Call back to the other riders in your group "RIDER UP!"
*Tell the oncoming rider how many you have back. E.G. - "3 back or clear back" - When you're being overtaken by a faster rider break right UNLESS he calls "ON YOUR RIGHT", then break left.
- When you're overtaking someone, first and foremost, don't be a douchebag. Overtaking riders tend to be viewed as dicks anyway, so be extra-cognizant of this fact and be super-cool. Call out "RIDER BACK!" early enough so the slower rider has time to break. If you want the right side call it. If you can tell the person is a novice (plastic pedals, shiny new bike, helmet tipped back, seat too low, white knuckles on the flats, no bike shorts) be extra-super-duper-cool. They are probably a bit scared so you MUST call your side - "RIDER BACK, ON YOUR LEFT". As you pass, thank them and tell them to have a great ride.
- If you pass someone who is broken down (flat,etc.) ask them "You have what you need?". 99% of the time, they'll say yes and you've just earned 1 karma point. If they say no, and you end up fixing a flat for some dude, you'll earn like 50 karma points. I always ask, and I've yet to have to fix someone's flat.
- At some point, if you're overtaking and the guy won't move (stubborn, iPod turned up to eleven, jerk) you'll have to pounce. You'll be annoyed but keep that to yourself. He obviously has enough social problems as it is, and your righteous indignation isn't gonna do anything but f'up your heart rate.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Wouldn't you know it..
Smoked a tree with extreme prejudice. It's currently blackening, more pics as it gets more hideous. Luckily it was a tree not a rock, or I'd probably have broken something. Jury is still out on the innards of the shoulder - there are some bits in there popping that weren't popping when I woke up yesterday morning...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Polar Heartrate Monitor Transfer Instructions
Uploading to Polar Personal Trainer using the Polar Weblink tool for my F6 (thanks Shawn!)
Simple but informative enough...
From Drop Box |
Monday, July 12, 2010
MAGIC PILLS MAGIC PILLS!
Shawn and I took those magic salt pills. They tasted like the ocean smells. About 15 min into our ride at the nut I felt like I had just got a quickie from an angel. Turned our fastest lap time out there ever.
EDIT -
These were the ones (I took 2):
http://www.amazon.com/Trace-Minerals-Research-Performance-Electrolyte/dp/B000AMR8YO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1278615923&sr=8-1
Thursday, July 8, 2010
CRAMPS

It's hot. I'm sweating balls. I think I need electrolytes (Brawdo has electrolytes - it's what plants crave)
http://www.succeedscaps.com/htu_scaps.html
or
http://www.amazon.com/Trace-Minerals-Research-Performance-Electrolyte/dp/B000AMR8YO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1278615923&sr=8-1
I'll try both and let you know.
EDIT:
Then there's this. Johnny raced 186 miles in 24 hours on this stuff. Says he was never hungry and never cramped.
http://www.infinitnutrition.us
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Shawn's temporary Ride
Carbon frame and fork. Ti saddle. Not quite as plush as he is used to.
From Drop Box |
And, on that note. I sent an email last night but it seems that the new iPhone OS sucks balls so you didn't get it. Ride tonight at 4ish at the nut. Trying to squeeze in one last roll b/f the slurricane...
Monday, June 21, 2010
Post Father's Day wrap-up
Saturday went out to the greenbelt with Damon. Started at the entrance behind the Toys-R-Us. Headed West for a few miles. Found myself hike-n-biking while hanging onto chains and navigating green mossy rocks in clip-less shoes. The trail could only be described as 'retarded technical'. We headed up some unofficial trail called sweet sixteen cause it crossed the little rocky creeks 16 times. On my hard-tail with ~3.5 inches of travel in the front I had a dual concern. Making sure I didn't endo over the 75 billion baby-heads and making sure that my seat didn't pop up and crush my prostate through my diaphragm. Since I can still pee and my collar-bone is in one piece (knock on wood) I'd consider the ride a total success.
Really though - I gotta work on some technical skills. I was like a piss-scared 10 yr old girl out there. If Johnny had been filming, he'd have titled the youtube upload "Sweet Baby Jesus Thad, If I'd have wanted to come on a fucking hike I'd have worn different shoes"