coffee time

no - i don't typically have a shower at work, but i also tend to sweat the least of the folks i ride with i notice... not from effort, maybe its surface area?

Anyway - the cooler weather kicks ass for commuting. Never over heating. Today would have been perfect if my shitty worn out Pearl Izumi knee warmers had any stickyness left in the upper band... they went slip sliding away... damn annoying...

Clocked the distance the wheel sucker drafted, a mear 2.2 miles or so. Nothing incredibly long... but mind ya, that was with the trailer, wearing the messenger bag, and the kid in the trailer. just go with the weight alone that's an extra 75 (probably more) pounds not counting wind resistance.

Working on the spin this morning. When i hit the sun my arms almost felt too hot with the black DeFeet armskins soaking the solar radiation in. Its a good day, bike path was slightly under used. Still saw a good number of the regular walkers.

Had a run in with a roofing company van, coming up a street the dude was wicked damn close, needlessly so, and he was stopped at the red light and we 'chatted' i tried to be polite and well it went well. he was genuine and not agressive at all, i didn't accuse him or yell at him, just asked that next time he might consider not runnin me off the road. HurlyRoof i think was the co. Maybe Murat's seen them. I'll hold off on naming the truck number because it was so positive.

Chalk one positive up for the commute. M-M-Good.

I've got Kozy Shack on my mind. Not sure why. I think its Shannon's influence. No not the girl shannon, the 35-39 Cross Nat Champ ('05)
His Cross Tips are almost as good as Kerry's Cross Top Ten list.

Sad note for the innovative Steel bike builders gang. Reading over at 32x16 it seems DeKerf is going TU. One of the kids back at Velocipede Peddler had one. A Mt hard tail painted a gorgeous rootbeer color. Bike looked incredible. Really really well built.

There are lots of builders i've seen come and go. Ralph Cycles. Croll (at least i think they've headed off to do something else).

Do you think Zabriski could have won if he'd chosen to wear the long sleeve skinsuit?

Hmmmm

I like it when a product review starts off like:

If you’re in a hurry – I’ll cut to the chase: Does it work? Yes. Does it work well? Yes. Maybe I’m steppin’ out on a limb here, but I’ll say the new SRAM gruppos are gonna be the rage at Interbike this year. At last consumers have a choice beyond the big two, and PEZ Fans know we’re big on choice… Here’s our close-up look at the SRAM Force group set.

I wonder if SRAM needs a loud mouth cross racer to 'try out' the products... wait... IIRC the crank ain't avail in a 180mm...

I heard some chatter about Merlin (the mechanic) giving the pitch to some of the master's racers... they were saying the features he was focusing on were the ones most important to the mechanic, fewer moving parts in the shifters, and the little details that make it easier to set up and more dependable. Good stuff.

The crank on the road group looks remarkably like the Truvativ one and that carbon ain't in the 180 size... would have to sub the Force crank for the Rouler 2.2, which wouldn't be all bad. Still would be SRAM all the way baby.

Hell i've got ESP 9.0 on the Klein Mantra. Anyone remember that old stuff? Oh and Xray shifters with an XT rear der on the Adroit. Damn bikes need some saddle time.

The rain forcasted for sat might interupt my morning cross workout, but me thinks it'd be a good thing. Wake up at the buttcrack of dawn, hit the EBBP in the rain (should be deserted) and have no witnesses to my uncoordinated self falling all over my bike...

Cross... Tonkin on Training... yeah baby - the cycling discipline for those who can't win anywhere else... j/k those Kona kids on the cross team do pretty damn well on the dirt circuit. The full article is damn good - the essence pic is perfect!

How long to stretch? 6 minutes or 30 seconds? Well for me, ANY stretching would be an improvement. But seems maybe now that i'm getting old i should do what we did back in the XC days and make sure i get all my stretching done. I remember most all of them and occasionally do them... but i really should start stretching. Esp if i'm gonna be running more often than during cross races.

This is the nugget from the Tonkin article that i really like:

Cyclocross is a lot like skate-skiing or hockey or golf—all these sports require a tremendous amount of thought, skill, coordination, and…you name it. Proper technique of anything is complicated, but an expert will make it look easy, whether it be a chef cooking crepes or a cellist making music. The shared truth, however, is that technique is learned behavior: experts are not born; they are made. We need to be conscious of that when in pursuit of cyclocross glory!

Pop quiz: Define these words:
Egocasting
Incestuous Amplification
Topsight

That and now biketopia is admittedly stealing content from gwadzilla... not that its anything that hasn't happened before or been done by anyone else...

but then the random stealing, reposting, revisiting is all just more egocasting? no? We may each put our own spin on things but in the end... well in the end... fuggedaboudit i don't have anything insightful to mashout right now...

It might because the littlest decided that she wanted to wake up pretty much ever hour or two last night... Sleep... would love some sleep...

peace out - and no one in New England better be using Kozy Shack other than me for cross races... at least until i determine its performance enhancing benefits.