47 pound wheels!

http://www.hedcycling.com/wheels/hedstalingrad.pdf

this needs no explination.

First post in forever

I haven't had 2 seconds to update this thing. That's actually a good thing as it means I've been doing all the stuff that I was talking about during the harsh winter. Well its sunny and 60 degrees right now, so this won't be too long winded.

I won't try and right a massive update about everything from Old Pueblo until now, I'll just give the scrolling sports ticker a la ESPN:

Old Pueblo: team 16/100, me 7 laps/119 miles,7 hours + a little bit. If it rains or I am bored at night I will post a through update on this mess of an adventure. Saying it was ridicuilous doesn't even begin to do it justice.

Johy Cake nn1: CBRC rider Dan Owen gets in a 2 man break on the first lap. We never see him again. I led out Jay Thomas for the field sprint but he gets nipped at the line. Dog.

Johnny Cake 2: I attack on the 3 lap, the field splits in an attempt to catch me, I am caught by a group of 20 or so. We push the pace the rest of the way, I end up 11th in the field sprint. I've decided sprinting is not my deal, so this week its get a way or die trying.

Schenectady MTB Race: rode the single in a 2 hr endurance race the day after JC2. Not good thinking on my part results in crashing out half way through.

I now offically suck more at mountain bike racing than I do at road racing for the first time in my life.

The moral of the story is I can't wait for cross. I even here talk of a CBRC longsleve skin suit for the fall. Rad.

Time to ride my bike.

Have a nice day.

Arizona tomorrow

I leave for AZ tomorrow. I've been putting in decent hours on the trainer/outside on a bicycle (imagine that), so I should be good for my share of the laps. I just hope my bike actually shows up.

In other news there's been a disastrous malfunction in scheduling and the ADK Empire qualies are now on the same day as race 1 in the NY 6 hr MTB series. The Capital Region RR is also on the same day as the 6hr Series finale. Now I have to actually decide whether to be a leg shaving roadie or a dirty mountain biker this year; my years of successfully walking the line are over. Its too bad because I really like 6hr racing, but at the same time I really like the idea of being a bad ass roadie (please note that I am not currently a bad ass roadie).

This is another short post as I have to make sure I've got everything I need for old pueblo. Look for a big update when I get back.

Have a nice day.

Addicted to Cytomax

Hi, my name is Eric, and I'm addicted to Cytomax.

Cytomax is the best endurance sports drink ever. You should try some. It also makes an outstanding margarhita mix.

T-Minus 6 days until I leave for Phoneix and the 24 hours of the Old Pueblo. I hope my lights are charged.

Have a nice day.

Inadvertent copycat!

Zoikes- I just learned that there is actually another single speed blog called www.32sixteen.com on the internet. As it turns out mine is actually the younger of the two, so I guess I copied him without knowing it. 32sixteen is in Great Britain and appears to be pretty cool. His blog has pictures which means it is higher tech than mine. Perhaps I will finally purchase a digital camera and include some images up here shortly so my colonial version can be as cool as his majesties.

This past week has involved a good amount of riding as I'm getting "ready" for the 24 hours of the Old Pueblo. We've had very unseasonal weather so I've actually been outside riding quite a bit. I still have no idea how I will fair in the desert, but I am certainly in better shape than I was this time last year.

Today for instance, I headed out with CBRC riders for about 55 miles of pretty chill riding. Some of the guys and girls contested various town line sprints and I generally found myself embarrassingly boxed in, not knowing where the line actually was. The final town line was sort of a different story. I was riding 3rd wheel in the group when ultra strong man Andy Ruiz drilled it. I figured there must be another town line coming up soon so, to my surprise I grabbed his wheel and hung on. With 200m to go he just stopped peddling, I got confused and slowed, then he drilled it again, which was an effective means of shaking me. Another CCB Rider and my mate Jay saw my lousy timing and also blew past me. This may sound like a disastrous sprint, but at least I wasn't boxed in or dropped by a girl (both of which happened earlier in the day). I was satisfied to see I had some leg speed and could hold 35 miles an hour for a decently long time. Maybe I'll take up crit racing and forget about riding mountain bikes for 6 hours at a time. Ironically not 5 minutes earlier Andy and I had been discussing the complexities of tactics and how to do things like line yourself or a teammate up for a sprint victory. I have a lot to learn.

In semi-non bike related news I went to visit Quinipiac Law School in Connecticut last week. The campus is great and their is a state park that looks like it has some solid possibilities for mountain biking right next door. I am currently in the nether world of not knowing where I will be living in 6 months and it is sort of nerve racking. I half don't want to bother moving, and I half need to get the hell out of dodge. We shall see...

That's all for now.

Have a nice day.

Rocket bikes and Cacti.

First off, look at this:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/f5dec714c2648010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html.

Our team for 24 hours of dodging cacti, (formerly the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo) has been significantly modified to now be a coed 5-person geard bike team! Blasphemy you say? I must agree. Thinking about pushing my single speed around for 6-9 hours in February sounds rad. Realistically, having the aide of some suspension and hydraulic brakes will probably keep me out of the cactus and in the race. I know I could still ride my single, but if we're not a team of buffoons on one geared bikes than then we must be a team of guys drinking beer on geared bikes while our chick teammate posts the hot lap.

Secondly and even more importantly, there is an 06 cross calendar for NY/New England shaping up. I could post the whole thing here but instead I'll just say I recommend everyone takes August off, because there's not going to be any break from September through nationals. The east cost is hot.

I actually did a road ride of four hours and fifteen minutes Sunday with a group of about 25 CBRC and NAV brethren. I had the cross bike decked out with fenders and 25c road tires all euro style. It was a little portly but it will only make me appreciate my light bike more later. By the way I'm not selling the Professional after all. Fuji was out of stock on the Super Lights so I will stick with my manageable 18 pound 61cm bike. Maybe a pair of Ksyrium ES's would be cool though...

The hell with this myspace bar's notworking right.

Have a niceday.

The call it the Car Shot.

Jay Peak is not like most ski resorts. Normal resorts have trails that you ski on, and ropes that discourage you from going into the woods and, especially, away from the resort and lifts. Jay actually encourages this. On Tuesday Jason and Kevin of High Adventure Ski, Board, Patio, and myself, of CK Cycles went to Jay and after seeing that most of the mountain was covered in a concrete like surface, decided we would go into the easterly woods and ski unmarked terrain that leads away from the mountain and to the road. During lunch Jason parked his car on the road near where we hoped to come out and hitched back up to the lifts.

Upon getting off the lift we went directly into the woods. Jason and Kevin have done this many times and were not concerned. I had never done this. After orienting ourselves and leting me know which way to go to avoid certain doom off we went.

The interesting thing about alpine skiing in the woods is that you stop making turns and start making all these jump stop/go moves that keep you from flying into and off of things. Some times you have to just point 'em and run with it. I managed to negotiate the run, but found myself on progressivly steeper and steeper terrain. The shot ends up dumping out on pretty aggressive pitch (I will guess 35 degrees or more) and all of a sudden you are on the road skiing along a snow bank back to a car stocked with coors light.

What more could you ask for! The next time they get a foot of snow I will hit this thing in all its glory.

I have much news from the world of bikes, but its time to go to bed so that will be a post for tomorrow or the next day.

Have a nice day.