my public statement, part deux

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good stuff, thanks fellas.

i have to get a "real" car first that can handle driving that distance before i bring the bike with me. w/in the next couple months i'll be joining the audi club...not a chance the scrambler would make it...not to mention it would cost me like $200 in gas. one way.
 
The new A4 comes out in the summer. You can either hold out for the latest and greatest, or get a great deal on the current model.
 
dances with rain drops

so apparently NOAA didn't update their freakin' map images when i looked at it before and i headed out for a quick ride earlier today on the trusty, and newly named street fighter (that would be my trek 970 equipped with slicks). what, you thought that ms. alle was going to make a maiden voyage today? in this slop? please. she's but a virgin. my alpha. my numero uno. she's pretty, clean and sexy. dead sexy. did i mention clean? she'll be living in a nice, dry, grime-free environment until at least march. then maybe i'll let her out. maybe.

so anyway, about 10 minutes in, it starts raining. i've never really ridden the road in the rain before so that was interesting. most folks know when it rains you tend to get wet. i have, on more than one occasion, seen some idiot out in a downpour on a bike and thought "what a freakin' idiot". well, today i was that idiot. so, since i basically rode my 22 mile loop that everyone has seen on motionbased eleventy-billion times, i'll review a couple items:

item 1: a new pearl izumi vagabond jacket which i picked up cheaper than cheap over the weekend from gumby, pokey and the rest of the claymation squad. anyway, the jacket. i've been looking for something waterproofish and windproofish for the road since i don't have anything and i have to say, this thing was money. it kept me dry, warm (too warm infact with but a base layer and a long sleeve wicking layer) and generally very comfy durning the various levels of precip that fell on me over the hour and 20 minutes i rode. at the end of the ride, i was dry and that's a good thing when it rains. this item gets five out of five tasty crab flies, which in the bonefish world is perfection.

item 2: the answer "winter" shoes. they are winter shoes by definition and are supposed to provide some measure of weather resistance. well, not so much. in fact not really at all. my feet started getting wet by mile eight. by mile 22 it felt there was water in my shoes. not just a little water, but a cup a piece. when i got home and took them off i expected water to just pour out of them. it didn't, but i did manage to wring a good cup out of my socks. these have been suspect from the begining, but having picked them up on the super cheap last season, i can't complain too much. it's just clear that i'll need something better as i continue my quest toward world domination on two wheels. this item gets one out of five tasty crab flies which basically means you may as well be tossing a lego man with a hook on it. no bueno.

so, that's it. oh, i rode LM on sunday and to all you FREAKING IDIOTS who didn't have the common sense to stay the F off the trails on saturday after a hard rain and thaw, i hope you get flats ten miles from your car at alamuchy. LM was so rutted up that it was difficult to keep any traction. it was a mess and i'm glad it's been raining b/c the damage should be fixed on its own. but, c'mon folks, use those orbs on your shoulders for more than something to just store porn. JORBA busts their collective asses for us and you can't either get on the trainer or go to the gym? idiots, all of you.
 
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bonefishjake said:
so, that's it. oh, i rode LM on sunday and to all you FREAKING IDIOTS who didn't have the common sense to stay the F off the trails on saturday after a hard rain and thaw, i hope you get flats ten miles from your car at alamuchy. LM was so rutted up that it was difficult to keep any traction. it was a mess and i'm glad it's been raining b/c the damage should be fixed on its own. but, c'mon folks, use those orbs on your shoulders for more than something to just store porn. JORBA busts their collective asses for us and you can't either get on the trainer or go to the gym? idiots, all of you.
Click to expand...

You should post this in A&A.
 
dances with hail?

jeez, it's one thing after another for the street fighter these days.

i left my house and it was sunny. again, ten minutes in i get smacked in the face. i thought it was a little rock until i got hit again. and again.

i did my 22 mile loop today and it was just painful. i had some leg cramping which almost never happens on my road rides, then there was that pesky hail thing followed by almost gettting flattened by some F'ing whore talking on her cell phone in a white lexus SUV. i just generally felt bad today.

i think it all started when my dog, ms. emma the golden, ate my corn muffin off the counter before i left.

eh, whatever. tomorrow is another day, except tomorrow i'm in NYC eating sushi @ Koi. if you work in NYC i highly recommend it. directly across from bryant park on 40th. it gets five tasty crab flies on the bonefish grading scale.
 
your posts seem to have taken on a more angry tone this year. i think you might be missing a certain someone. i'll drop him a note and see if he will drop by and cheer you up
 
really? gee wiz steve, i didn't realize that. if you could send him a note that'd be just swell. :D

oh, i just realized i forgot to mention the wind that seemed to be in my face the entire ride.
 
Jake, if you're in the city tomorrow night then let me know. I've got some chums coming in for a bit of a mad sesh this weekend. Consequently I highly doubt I'll be riding on Saturday or Sunday.
 
instead of riding yesterday, since i thought that the trails were gonna be slop (which was confimed by a couple guys i ran into at cycle works that had just come from KVSP) i decided to go running. put in about 5.5 miles which was great until the last, i dunno, two miles when the wind was right in my face. running in the wind is even worse than riding in the wind. oh well. at least i did something. tomorrow the trails should be nice and frozen so i'm gonna venture out to LM (hopefully) and try to get in a 10 or so miles, hopefully if time permits two laps on the 05 race loop.

so far i'm pretty happy with my fitness for early feb. i've been riding a decent amount, trying my best to stay out of the gym, and running a decent amount. at this point, i'm looking at HOF (hours of fitness) as opposed to TIS (time in saddle) b/c some days it just i just can't get on the bike.

however, i remembered yesterday that my neighbor has an old trainer that i'm sure he'll let me borrow so when alle gets back from the shop (a WHOLE different story) i'm gonna start putting in some base miles on that. hurray beer!
 
Fear Me!!!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=4960756

this is my quest: to blast the 2005 race loop at LM in under 40 minutes.

today i took a pretty big step in the right direction towards that goal. this was my fastest average speed ever on an mtb in the woods, and considering my legs were sore from my run on sunday, i'm really happy with the results. my lap split was 40:55 seconds, that is far and away the fastest i've EVER done that loop. i wish i had more time to ride but i guess i should be thankful that i'm even able to get out at all.

overall, i felt really, really good and to say i'm happy with where i am fitness wise on feb 12 is an understatement. i'm stronger on the bike than i've ever been and i feel like i'm setting myself up well for the few races that i'm planning on doing this season. once i get the new wheels (which, i think at this point i really need to think about and consider UST) and some less agressive "race" tires, i should be able to drop a some serious weight off this bike. the next things are going to be dropping some weight off the fat @ss riding it and getting in some longer rides.

either way, i'm pretty stoked about the day.

oh, one thing to note, i did see one other guy on the trail (well, two if you count the rude trail runner guy that yelled at me for stopping to let him go by...whatever) on a van dessel ramble-tamble. it's the first one i've seen in person and that thing just looks sweet. the coloring reminds me of the early 90s trek "rootbeer float" bike that was just soooo dreamy back in the day. either way, next year if i decide to take the plunge on a geared bike, the van dessels will be pretty high on my list. live in jersey, support jersey.
 
apparently you still have to pedal..

well, today was my first ever venture out on a road bike. not ms. alle, mind you, as she is in the shop with some warranty work being performed due to a faulty shifter. who knew?

so, having a little time this afternoon, i decided to try out the new road shoes with a VERY old road bike that was my neighbors. he used to ride this bike when he was a competitive triathlete a few years back (he was ranked 101st in the country). i'm not even going to post the data since i had the GPS in my pocket and the reception was fair at best. i was really only using it for time so this is what i learned:

-apparently, despite this being a road bike, you still have to pedal the damn thing.
- the gearing is COMPLETELY different than a converted mtb. no way in hell i can handle riding the hills around here in the big ring on a compact double.
- those damn tires are TINY! i was afraid to hit a freakin' pebble.
- the wind really, really messes with you. way more than the street fighter.
- having the shifters on the down tube is hell in a hand basket. really. i completely fisted myself a couple times with the gears.
- it's gonna take some getting used to and a LOT of tinkering with the road shoes/pedals to get the set up right. my feet were rubbing on the cranks the entire time which i'm assuming isn't a good thing.

so, that's about it. i was going to try to ride tomorrow am but i may very well end up on the trainer since my wife got severly over-served this evening and puked. first time she's done that since we've been married. either way, it won't be an early am for the kid here which is a shame since i really wanted to try to get out. but hey, 20 miles is 20 miles. maybe i'll work on the road again tomorrow...and i pretty much have to since the street fighter has been completely converted to grocery duty: mary bars, rack and the circa 1993 toe clips. nice.

welp, that's it. time for sleep.
 
after a little "stomach issue" early this morning settled, i headed out to LM for some ice-biking action on the nokians. i sure was happy i had them. the conditions that bill and porp rode in yesterday must have been nice as i followed their tracks around most of the park. key point: they LEFT tracks. it was soft. this morning, even after a late start, the temp was well below freezing and all the thaw from yesterday was frozen today (as i prognoticated, mind you...). it was one of the slowest loops i've ever done in there as i slogged through the snow and tip-toed across the frozen sheets of "trail". it was quite a burner.

so, the nokains. i was glad i had them. much more gladder than i would have been without them. they certainly do inspire confidence. and, while don't keep you from slipping out ALL the time, but they provide much more traction than just the rubber. one place where i noticed them working overtime was on the teal trail (part of PP) where in the '05 race loop you'd make the left (off of green) and headed to the orange hill. this was literally a frozen pond. a skating rink. a luge run. i felt nary a slippage with the nokians and as most of us know, there are about three degrees in which you have traction between rubber and ice and none of them occur on a regular basis.

so, that's it. try to get out and enjoy the trails and if you don't have spikes be wicked careful. oh, that guy with the ramble tamble was there again.
 
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