Boredom Can Be Dangerous...

Take a stock Mojave 8.0...Retail price of around $740.

Add a broken carbon mountain bike with high zoot parts

Mix with a slightly bored Product Coordinator

Wrench for a couple hours

Then stand back and smirk...you just made a 22lb Mojave 8.0

{Yup}

{Stock headset still...}


{That's a Deore front Der too...}

Keep an eye on all the Velo Press sites and blogs this weekend...its time for the NAHBS again!

Have a great weekend...I'm gona catch some turns instead of making revolutions.

Regrets...

I have a few. Like the time I was working in a fast food restaurant and I...(insert your own story here)

When riding the Pacific Coast Hiway on a cool California day, the last thing anyone would be thinking about would be regrets.

The scenery...amazing

The climbing...uppy, downy

The road...was out of a car commercial

Regret can however pose interesting dilemmas. This day I had the choice of extending this ride or getting on the road to Sacramento to do some work before the Tour. I chose to cut the ride short and have a slight twinge of regret for missing out on the rest of the ride, rather than the regret I'd have if I found myself serving Baconators...again.

What's Got 2 Thumbs And Is Whiter Than White?

{This Guy}

So I didn't come back from Cali with a tan. (sigh) However, I wouldn't let the Seattle Weather in a Non-Seattle location ruin the trip away from my desk. And neither would my gracious host...Brad.

Brad is the operations manager for the bicycle tour company Bicycle Adventures based up here in the NW and an old friend. So when he called me up and said that he had the first few days of the Tour laid out, a house with a hot tub, a bike for me to ride, and a fridge full of beer waiting for me....come on! Honestly, what would you do?!

I had to use my "word hole" to the best of it's ability to convince the powers that be that this would be a work trip. Weaving key words (meet dealers, talk to Mag Editors, swag) to create a tapestry of never ending meetings and schmoozing while there. It was beautiful.

Right off the plane Brad had us on Cross bikes and pedaling to catch the last rays of sun before it disappeared for the rest of my time there.

{Biggest, Fastest Vegetarian on a Bike}

{New sights, and an old familiar one to ride}


{Yup...it was a nice ride}


{The Sun beat us down the hill}

As we settled in the pot of human stew, beer in hand, Brad regaled me with tales of the foreboding ride we would to tomorrow...the (Damn that beer is tasty) 7 Bitches.

Up and Coming

If you're in Salt Lake this weekend...you could ride away with a Rush Hour Pro frame.

If you love my descriptions of how dry the NorthWest is...you should register now and swing through for this...

The fastest man AND woman will get a Rush Hour.

Can you ride shame away? I gave it shot on Sunday (after my Saturday evening indiscretions)...and I don't think it worked. All I really have to say about it is...Damn, that Kenny Rogers has a sultry voice! And Matt Case is no Dolly Parton!

Time

Apparently, I have too much of it on my hands these days.

As you can spy by the side bar not only have I been able to add a Facebook page to break Raleigh out of it's "shy" stage, but I've gone ahead and started posting pictures on Flickr. I'll be uploading pictures there on a pretty regular basis. I'm going to try and keep it pretty Raleigh related. Pictures of new bikes, events, Raleigh shops, Rides, Teams, company BBQ's, and maybe dress it up with a Bacon shot.

And since I was on such a roll, I thought...Why stop there?! If people would have stopped at Ham, we'd never have Bacon. If bicyclist were fine with P-fars, mountain biking would look completely different. And if Lance would have retired, what would the VeloPress have to write about these days?

I'm still learning the easiest way to work a lot of this...but trial by fire is usually the best way right? Playing Ultimate Frisbee taught me it was possible to slam a pitcher of beer out of Frisbee, dance all night, and wake up in strange places wearing an afro the size of Fletch's. So in the true spirit of the game...I'm going to the Tour of California loaded with all this new technology and see just what happens.

In all likely hood...this will be my last posting as I'll screw something up and the Raleigh Accounting Department will learn where my secret birthmark is, and my slurred Tweets will offend someone. Resulting in a very public pink slip on all these social media.

It's going to be interesting...I'm going to try and Sabotage some Gold Sprints.

Ride the first four days of the Tour.

Find Swobo HQ and set a flamming bag on their door step.

Try and catch a ride with CX Magazine just to name a few items on the check list.

Wish me luck...at any of it.

Never Saw A Tea Kettle

but my ass ended up over it.


Kids do it, amateurs do it, commuters do it, mountain bikers, roadies, p-far riders, shoot...even Lance does it. For one reason or another we all end up 'hitting the deck' while riding.

Sometimes you can see it coming, other times you're on the pavement before you even knew it. Is it better to see it coming and prepare yourself for the inevitable? Or is surprise the best way to handle the unknown?

Do 'bike handling' skills save you or break you? Do they get you out of situations? Or do they put you in situations?

What about experience? If you fall more often do you eventually become 'good' at it? In most everything in life, experience is considered a plus. Is it better to tense up and try to catch the fall? Or is it best not to know it's happening and let your limp body absorb the blow?



Wanting to test much of this, I put myself on the asphalt this weekend. I came up to a series of metal construction plates in the middle of the road. At the end of the first plate a wheel devouring gap formed, separating the first and second plate. Using my 'experience' I kicked my front wheel over the void and tensed in case my rear wheel was not so lucky. My front wheel cleared and it felt like the rear was in hot pursuit to keep me rolling. That's when my foot came out of my pedal and lodged itself in my front wheel. This action having the effect of an Italian stabbing their pump at my wheel (a la Breaking Away), swiftly locking up the front wheel and catapulting me through the air. I managed a mid air somersault and landed safely (?) on my bag and ass.





I've fallen off my bike...lots. Did any of my 'experience' aid me in being able to walk away from this episode with nothing more than a broken front wheel and a sore ankle? Did the spontaneity of it all happening so fast prevent me from doing something to try and 'save' myself? Did my 'skills' end up putting me into the situation, or prevent it from being worse?



I really don't know. What I do know is I have a new wheel to build now.