The hockey player didn't seem to surprised when he yelled "car." Kind of like Garth in Wayne's World. But they were playing in the street.

Formula One is cool.
Driving on ice is cool.

More DH

Here is another video from the 2008 World Championships. This one is Gee Atherton, who won the overall. Ashleigh and I met him and his sister (also DH WC that year) at Interbike that year. Ash had no clue who they were and kept asking about some orange goo they were playing with. It was D30, the stuff that 661 put in knee pads nowadays. They thought she was crazy and gave her an autographed poster to settle her down. She ignored it and kept asking about the goo. She thought they were sales reps, not world champs. It was hilarious.



Notice also that everyone was wearing skinsuits at the '08 Worlds. The Athertons were basically the skinsuit killers who lobbied the UCI to illegalize them in favor of baggies. Naturally, they were both using them when the biggest race of the year was on the line. Now everyone just pins their baggies as tight as they can. Hopefully they never illegalize skinsuits for cross and cross country. Coz skinsuits are comfy, aero AND sexy.

Sam Hill

Sam Hill is fast. If'n you didn't know. At the 2008 World Championships, he was up 6.5 seconds on the current leader (who ended up 2nd overall), before that crash. 6.5 seconds is an eternity in a DH race. He recovered and still finished 3rd, just a bit more than 3 seconds behind. That is pretty incredible. 9 seconds is a lot of time to lose (it was the difference between 1st and 9th at this race) in a downhill race that is a little longer than 3 minutes.

That is kinda how my LSAT went. REALLY, REALLY WELL. Like I was flying over that rocky crap, just like Sam did. But I did have one bigger mistake. On my reading section, I missed 5 questions in a row. All on the same passage. (There are 4 passages in a reading section, 5-7 questions per passage) To draw an even bigger parallel, it was (I thought) a pretty easy passage. About some Japanese artist who was influenced by some American architect. Just like that easy turn at the bottom of the world's DH.

The difference? I'm no Sam Hill, and I was a rookie LSAT taker. Not the previous world champion. A 3rd at world's? I'll take it, and be darn happy with it. But it does make me wonder...

Intervals

I have committed myself to riding slow until March. I want to have a good base for this summer and going fast now won't help. I saw this on the interwebs and am now very excited for March. I have a few really good interval workouts planned for March-June, and can't wait to do them. Things that are going to make me super fast. Probably not as fast as Levi though:





I am also very excited for riding the dirty bike on the dirt. The snow is good and all but dirt is better. Until then, I guess I'll just have to watch this video of Mr. Levi riding his dirty bike and do long, slow, cold rides:

Squaw

I haven't ridden a bike since Friday, I really messed my back up racing BMX and could barely move Saturday or Sunday. I started feeling more normal on Tuesday and today Dan and I went for a ride. I had heard that Squaw Peak road was rideable, and I thought it would be super great to get back on my mountain bike. Squaw Peak road is my favorite road ride too so it was a good mix.

The road was packed down enough from snowmobilers and the rain yesterday that it was actually pretty easy going the whole way up, I only had to walk about 10 feet total.That is the air quality that the meterologists are calling "clean" and "clear" today. Uhhh...
Coming down was a blast. Loose/slippery enough to be sketchy, but soft enough to "feel fast" but be slow enough that hardly any braking was needed. (Which is good, coz Shimano brakes suck* in the cold.)

All in all, it was a great ride and great to get out on the mountain bike. Here's to making out again tomorrow!


*Shimano claims that their brakes are designed to perform well above 40°F. Which means that they are basically useless for 5 months of the year. No modulation, obnoxious squealing, loss of power, and pumping up were the symptoms I experienced.

Booties

A couple weeks ago on the group ride, Jason asked me if I duct-taped my shoe covers to make them wind proof. While that was a secondary benefit, I taped them because the soles are worn out. I've spent the early spring and late fall mountain biking in them and have worn away all of the bottom of the cover. If I don't tape them they flop up over my toes.
These have lasted longer than most of my bike gear, this is the 4th winter, and they're still going strong. (as long as I tape them...)

Two seasons ago I bought some mountain specific booties. I never used them coz I got a size to big. I passed them along to Dan, who passed them along to Chuck, who passed them along to Greggy. I noticed Greg wearing them on the aforementioned ride. Maybe some of those in the right size would be a good investment for mountain biking when these Descente's finally hit the dust. For now though, these taped Descente's are perfect for the dirt bike. Especially with the right tape.
There are a few different varieties of duct tape. There's that really cheap stuff that barely sticks and tears super easy. The 3M stuff has long been my favorite, Pretty sticky and tough. But last time I bought a role they didn't have 3M. So I went with this black stuff, which is pretty cool, becasue it matches my shoe covers and doesn't stick out as bad. This stuff is stickier than chewed gum on the sidewalk on a hot summer day. It's almost too sticky, and is very hard to tear. But it still doesn't leave residue when it comes off. Suh-weet.

BMX 1.1.10

Happy New Years.