Jun 12, 2006


Did Ride Around the Bear on Saturday w/Fullford, Grant, Eric Riser, Trembly & a dude from England named Dominick. I wish we could do it more often, but you gamble w/your life riding up 330. On the Fawnskin side of the lake we passed Steve Gildea & I told him to jump on, but I guess he was out for a more “civilized” ride than we were. Good to see he’s riding. Because of the Irwin Lake fire that was still smoking, riding from the Sugarloaf area to Onyx Summit was like eating at a Waffle House. Our total rolling time was somewhere between 5.5 to 6 hours. I had to ride past my house to get in 100. If I have one observation about the ride, it’s how much difference a cassette with an 11 can make compared to a 12. Grant already has some pretty good top speed going down-hill, so I had a hard time even staying in his draft with my 12 (although the 25 sure was nice during the ascents).

After the ride I headed straight to the Hughes’ for Hailey’s birthday party. I finally got to swim with Ryder. He loves the water & has no reservations about dipping his head under water, which has its pros & cons. I’m thinking the kid should have a little fear in him. The rest of the party was fun and… interesting.

On Sunday Johnson pulled my ass around a portion of the Santa Ana River Trail. My legs were wobbly (at best) so we just middle-ringed it for a couple of hours. Then I finally finished the roof on the patio cover, pulled some weeds & did other yard work. Late in the evening I actually went back out, this time on the TT bike, trying to scout out a place to resume crit practice. No-such-luck. I found nothing.

Sunday was capped off with me BBQ’n chicken. Today, Denise & I both feel ill. The good news is that I’m not cooking this Wednesday at Denise’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Society/Team In Training fundraiser. Rubio’s is doing the cooking. If you buy dinner between 4-8 PM & give them Denise’s flyer – 20% of your dinner will go toward Denise’s cause & her next marathon. Or, if you despise Rubio’s because of their horrible advertising campaign, you can donate to the cause by clicking here. Anyway, at some point in the evening Denise & I will both be there passing out flyers. I think even the beer counts toward the 20%.

Any minute now I’m expecting a phone call or email, from my good friend Robert Hordossy because his country just shut-out the U.S. in World Cup play. Here Robert, I’ll even add some fuel to your patriotic fire. A Czech won the Pro Women Short Track race at the NORBA Nat’l on Sunday in North Carolina. I’m happy for you Robert. You guys are finally making up for decades of communist regime. Note: if you clicked on that link, expect a visit from the CIA in the next few days.
This about sums it up.


What else?

Last Thursday I retested with Mike McKovich on the CompuTrainer. After 6 weeks, I made some pretty good gains. It feels great to finally have some structure in all of this bicycle madness. If you’re already putting in the time, I highly recommend getting a coach.

The CA/NV State Road Race Championship is this weekend at Vandenberg. At some point on Friday, I’m heading up there because the 30+ race is at 9:30 AM on Saturday - 74 glorious miles. Sunday’s Pro1/2 is 109 glorious miles & I’m doing that one too. Let me know if you wanna come suffer.

Padgett won another crit this weekend.

Plane tickets are purchased for the Deer Valley NORBA Nat’l and I’m currently on the fence about flying up to B.C. for the Masters World Championships in early September. Maybe I can get Josh to go up there with me. No pressure.

I’m going to miss another Tossers show. It’s this weekend at the H.O.B. Anaheim & they’re even playing with Stiff Little Fingers. Sometimes it sucks to a bike racer, but not really.

I wonder what Ryder’s doing right now?

Jun 5, 2006

King of the Blog Slackers

I’m not the only one who’s been slacking on regular blog updates…

Anyway, I guess I have a lot of catching up to do. Here’s what I know:

Denise & I have concluded that Ryder is going to be one of those kids that talks non-stop. This - based on the amount of baby gibberish that currently comes from his mouth.

It’s been hotter than hell, so instead of frying in the valley I road the TT bike from Corona to the beach on Saturday. The headwind was so strong, I had a hard time keeping it much higher than 20 mph. Denise & Ryder picked me up in Huntington & we went shopping. I saw Fullford & Grant at the beach preparing to take some Bobs from their church from Huntington to Corona. I recommended they not go too far because on the way back, they’d be fighting the headwind. I wonder if they too my advice?

Speaking of Fullford, he just moved in to Brookside Park, where Nathan & Jake recently moved in, where Aaron has lived for a long time. Trevor used to live there & so did Bob & Lisa. Wow, I know a lot of people who have lived or live at that place.

Speaking of moving, Josh & Mad Cash finally closed down the Big House. Actually, Josh bought a place about a mile away just off of Lawton. Hopefully he’ll be able to handle his longer commute to work.

Ryder has fat feet.

On Sunday I was on the bike by 7 AM & on top of Onyx Summit (8443 ft.) within a few hours. I mainly just cruised. Cal Trans or someone took down the 7,000 ft. Altitude sign, so when I caught a glimpse of the 8,000 ft. sign off in the distance, I thought I was still 1400 ft. from the summit. As I got closer, I realized that I was only 443 ft. I did the entire ride in cruise mode & it only took 4:30. I should do it more often. It actually turned out to be a near-perfect day: knocked out Onyx before noon & got home in time to watch MotoGP, the Dauphine’ & AMA Superbike from Road America.

There were over a dozen cars parked at the Angelus Oaks turn-out off Hwy 38. I saw a lot of people up there I know: Johnson & Leo, Steve McKovich’s mom & step-dad, Adam Hart & Amon were all up to ride the Santa Ana River Trail.

Round 5 of the CA State XC series was up in Santa Barbara on Saturday. Something inside me told me to skip it. I’m glad I did because it was miserably hot. Click here for results.

Did I post this yet?


Padgett won the 30+ 3/4 CBR crit this weekend with the help of a Chris Hoyt lead-out.

Around the Bear: It’s this Saturday. I’m planning to poach it (as usual). If you wanna go, meet at Stell’s & be ready to roll no later than 7:15. I’m planning a “civilized” pace.

Since my last official post Denise & Ryder finished first stroller at the Run Through Redlands.

For those not in the know: Sunday was a big day for American cycling (and CSC). Zabriskie & Hincapie went 1-2 at the Dauphine’ Prologue. Meanwhile, a little further north, Vande Velde won the Tour of Luxembourg. CSC is straight bad-ass (for those not in the know).

Americans don’t suck at XC: A couple of weeks ago at a World Cup in Scotland JHK got fifth. I’m pretty sure that’s the best World Cup finish by an American man in almost 2 years. Good work! Then again I have to race that dude next month…

June will hurt: So will July, August & September. As far as I’m concerned, my real race season starts this month. It all starts with the CA State RR Championship & get this: I’m going to try & race the 74-mile 30+ race on Saturday & then the 109-mile Pro1/2 race on Sunday. Ouch! The following weekend is 3 days of racing in the San Diego Omnuim & then comes July. Park City, Sonoma NORBA Nat’ls. Then comes Brian Head & Snowmass in August. Finally, some real bike races.

Give Her Money: Denise is training for her fourth 26.2. This time it’s the San Francisco Nike Women’s Marathon in October. All the money she raises will go toward benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I’ll have a link to her website soon so you can make your TAX FREE donations online.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z: This week is supposed to be my rest week, but I think I’ll sneak out & do Sunset on Tuesday. Then I’m testing with McKovich on Thursday, so in reality I get to rest on M-W-F.

For Sale (Tentatively): The Van.

Back in Business: Colbert’s 2-week hiatus ends tonight. Thank God. It’s uncomfortable going that long without hearing any truth.

I wonder what Ryder is doing right now…


Can you handle the truth?