Uh, yeah...

Five Guys makes a healthy burger. See, there's tomatoes, lettuce, jalepenos, that's at least 3 veggies...

More pics for nails.

You can have a lot of fun with a big old' drill and a holesaw.

Taillight upgrade

This blog is dead.

Well, not really. It's more that my cycling life is dead.

A year ago this weekend, I raced the heck out of the Breckenridge 70, knowing my fitness level would be dropping as I entered law school. What I didn't know is that my fitness would spiral out of control and plunge into depths I've never known.

I'm kind of fat now. Not in the obese sense, but I weight 10% more than I did last year. Yes, that is almost as much as the bike I raced at Breckenridge weighed. And while my body's weight has gone up, my muscles have shrunk, meaning I'm fatter than just the weight gain say I am.

I rode my bike two nights ago for the first time in 3 weeks. It felt...weird.

So, it's not that this blog is dead, it's just that there isn't much to write about. Well, not much that is cycling related. I could write about how many tax returns I've prepared, how it's not a good idea to not pay taxes for 10 years, how we feel like true Arizonans now that our windows are tinted extra super dark, or my lame commentary on the Tour de France, but that wouldn't be that interesting would it? Plus, I'd have to turn this into a tax blog which is already boring me to death.

So bear with me while I go through this 'don't exercise, eat gross food, watch TV instead of ride phase. I'll get over it. And then the blogging can resume.

Whiskey Pics

The Reward

After 50 miles and 7000 vertical, it doesn't get much better than green grass in the shade:

I like the tail light one.

Via www.systemcomic.com.

Or, if you're fast enough, you could chase them down for 10 minutes and lecture them like someone phast in Provo does.

GF Pargaon

2009 Gary Fisher Paragon, size 17.5 (Medium)

Fox F29 G2 fork

Stan's NoTubes Crest rims on ZTR (stan's) hubs with DT revolution spokes and blue alloy nipples

XT crankset

SRAM x.9 shifters and rear derailleur

XTR front derailleur

Truvativ Stylo Seatpost and Stem (white WC stem) Avid BB7 brakes with 160mm front and 140mm rear rotors

XTR brake levers

Continental Race King 2.2 tires, set up tubeless

White Ridley seat, Blue cable housing and blue Oury grips

Crank Brothers Eggbeater SL's with custom US made and machined titanium spindles. (lighter than 2tis)

This bike was ridden by my wife, which means it was ridden very lightly. She keeps both wheels on the ground. I would estimate that it has 2-300 miles on it. There are some very light scratches on the seatstay. The bike has been VERY well taken care of, and was definitely a fair weather bike: no mud, no wet rides.

Dawn, Dusk, and Finals

So, it's finals week for me. I'm done with two, have one to go. Anyway, that's boring. Where it gets interesting is during the part where 3 months ago, before I knew how much work finals were in law school, I signed up with Dan and Nails to do Dawn to Dusk on one of my reading days.

By the time raceday came around I was burned out on studying and ready to ride pedal bikes. I was also behind on studying and could really have used the time to study. Luckily I had already committed to this race.

We ended up getting in 10 laps, 4 for Dan, 3, for me and 3 for Nails. I was pretty nervous about keeping up with those guys, I've been riding but no intensity and had a few weeks off of riding due to school. I feel like I rode pretty well, although my heart rate was through the roof the entire time. There was a section on my third lap where I was at my max - 200bpm for 2 minutes straight. My legs felt good though so I kept pushing. It was also my first ride with suspension in over a year. That was pretty nice. Good times!

Below are some photos of the race experience.

Denial

Sure, I tell people that I'm not missing racing cyclocross this season. Given the Arizona climate I live in, I ask rhetorically, "Why would I want to go race on a dry grass field at a city park when I could go mountain biking?" Tame cyclocross over real mountain biking? Mountain biking, of course!

But, my true feelings come out, and show that I'm in a state of denial. In the last week, I've posted 2 cyclocross videos on facebook. I spent part of Sunday afternoon watching the US Grand Prix of Cyclocross on the internet. I look up Utah results every week. I watched Todd Wells crash- - over and over today. The truth is, I miss cyclocross. I miss the mud, the wet grass, the loose drifting feeling in turns, the run-ups, the barriers, and the 'scene'. I miss having so much fun racing that I jump in the next flite. (I really miss the Heber course, but I guess its gone for good.)

So why the denial? I think I'm scared. I remember the pain. The most miserable night of my life was after my first 'cross race. I was so sore, and kept having dreams that I was racing. I didn't stop racing all night, and I'd wake up so sore, only to drift off to sleep and dream of the pain some more. I remember watching Racer and Dan throw up after their races but before mine. Cross, as fun as it is, sure ain't easy.

I won't be racing any cross this year. I missed last year too. Someday though, I will race cross again. Until then, however, I will keep on my face of denial, although I'm sure you'll be able to see my love for the sport if you know where to look.

Flagstaff and Sedona

Brother-in-law Tim and I met up in Flagstaff last weekend to do some mountain cycling. We had originally planned to go to Moab, but the weather forecasters thew us off. Cutting 6 hours off of my drive time and a couple hours off Tim's was a bonus too. From the looks of everyone's Fall Moab pics, it seems like we went to the wrong place.

Nonetheless, we found ourselves in Flagstaff. I rolled in around 9:30 in my Arizona clothes: t-shirt, shorts and flipflops, and proceeded to make camp in 35 degree weather. Luckily it wasn't raining while making camp. Once again, Ashleigh and I registering at REI when we got married paid off, as I slept warm in my 0 degree bag and our nice tent kept us dry. Who needs pots, pans, and linens right?

It rained off and on throughout the night. Just enough that the trails were damp but not soaked that morning. We rode up Mount Elden that day. We realized that it's probably more of a hiking trail after that last turnoff... we were rarely on our bikes for more than 20 yards. But we did get a good 2500' climb in, in just over 8 miles of riding. We literally rode right up into the clouds above Flagstaff. Coming down it started sleeting and raining, and the trails got wetter and slicker. There were some fun sections coming down, but we were ready to be done by the time that, uh, we were done. Some gross chinese food and a movie later, we turned in for cold and wet night number two.

We decided to break camp and ride in Sedona on Saturday. Then we'd both drive home that afternoon, rather than camp another cold night and drive home in the morning.

The weather was warmer further South and closer elevation-wise to the sea. We had a good time riding Cathedral Rock trail in Sedona, and only added about 5 miles of riding by getting lost repeatedly. Of course, we were the only ones on the trails that missed turns. (Apparently I'm good at taking wrong turns. Just ask the pro women at 5 mile pass...) Sedona is Moab like with some steep ledge-laden climbs. Super fun riding. We ran into the Crank Brothers crew, there were like 15 riders all with CB wheels. We stopped one and asked them why they all had those wheels? Did thy know something we didn't? Well, they knew someone we didn't, the owner and product manager of CB, who were also in the group. I told the guy to tell his CB buddies that I have fallen out of love with their pedals and am switching to Shimano's, and we went our different ways.

We ended the ride and had a good late lunch at the Blue Moon Diner, and headed home. A good weekend, except for the cold and wet.

Tim was constantly trying to talk me into getting a suspension fork and some gears for my bike. I kept trying to talk him into buying his own bike so I could ride Ashleigh's (geared and suspended) bike instead of him. I'm caving into the suspension...will he cave into a bike? BTW, Tim, Ashleigh says you can't borrow her bike anymore coz she's riding it from now on.

Niner Fork for sale

So, rocky Arizona has turned me into a wimp. I'm selling my rigid carbon Niner fork. For a low, low price of (email, call, or leave a comment, and we'll discuss prices in the range of $275) this fork can be yours. This isn't just any niner carbon fork either. It has a resume. Like, winning the inaugural hell-o-ween hillclimb, coming close to the podium repeatedly at ICUP and Sundance races, not winning the Sea Otter Classic, as well as being quite the looker. This fork will enhance the look of your bike guaranteed, making you and your bike look younger, fitter, faster, and crazy. Guaranteed to raise trailside questions and comments including "Wow, a fully rigid fork, you must be so hardcore*, and "how can you ride that bike here?". At which point, you will smile, tell them how nice it rides (for a rigid fork) and how much lighter it makes you. Only you and I will know that you only do it for the attention. So, if you want to be the attention getter on the trail, if you want to be a true "hardcore*" cyclist, then take a look at the pictures below, and let's get in touch. Steerer tube is just under 7 inches.

*please replace "hardcore" with "insane".

Which is better?

Cactus Cup

I remember reading about the Cactus Cup back when I was like, 14 years old, I guess. It was held at McDowell Mtn. which is about 45 minutes away from our home in Arizona. Ashleigh and I made it out there last Saturday and got a good morning of riding in. It's been 15 degrees cooler this week than last so we'll probably start riding mountain bikes a lot more, since we won't have to get up as early to avoid the heat.

There is a pretty nice pump track and some jumps at the parking lot. The pump track was a lot of fun. It's like BMX but smaller and without the pedaling. Definitely would be nice to have the BMX bike too.

Upgrades

Ashleigh's single speed had a terrible gear ratio (39x18!) and she was spun out all the time. So we decided to get some fixin's. The handlebar is a downhill bar and I had to cut almost 7 inches off of it!

My favorite part is the machining on the back of the chainring:

Flagstaff

We made it out to Flagstaff for Labor Day Weekend. And we got on our mountain bikes which was excellent. We had a good ride in the hills. We were climbing up and I was thinking, 'oh man this is great I haven't gotten out of shape because I can hammer up these climbs'; then we came down and I was in that awkward too-fast-to-pedal-but-too-slow-to-be-fast place that you get in sometimes on a single speed. It was then I realized that this wasn't Dry Canyon or the altar. It was still a blast, it just wasn't Utah steep. Which is probably a good thing. There were some good technical sections and I'm sure we'll be there again soon.

Sunday we went to the Grand Canyon, which is a big whole in the ground. The whole time I kept on thinking of TroubleMaker's description of White Rim: You go down into a hole and then you ride around another hole. Ashleigh and I both agreed that we'd rather be in the bottom looking up.

It was a good weekend, and made me remember that mountain biking is fun. I'd like to ride mountain bikes again someday...