Photo Blog - A Salute to Suffering

But first...

A big thanks to Bart, from Cyclery USA, for giving me a wheel on Saturday after I punctured a couple K's from the Raincross sprint finish. Beat that. Wheel support on a training ride. Another reason why we (as in - us in Redlands/Riverside area) have it good.

Loren left a voice mail yesterday sharing that he had put in 6 hours on Saturday with some German kid from the German U23 Team. Apparently the kid also rides on the German-based T-Mobile Mountain Bike Team. Meanwhile, James has been doing cold base miles with some dude from the Broadmark Captial Cycling Team. Oh, and hanging out with Carl Decker.

The usual suspects in Saturday's break are about all I can handle. A couple of ex-Jelly Belly pros team members, a former Nat'l Team member, a one-time member of the Trek All Star Team & no credentials-but-just-plain-tough Padilla get the job done for me. I'm in pretty good company.

And Now... A Salute to Suffering

Blog Editing - It Shan't Exist

Have you ever reread something you wrote & realized, it either wreaked of misspellings and/or grammitical errors, or thought it was just plain dumb? That happens to me nearly every time I post a blog. After its post, I go back & find issues & problems; formatting problems, sentence structure problems, hyperlink problems. A man, sorry, I mean a blogger could spend his/her entire life rewriting, reformatting or rethinking a post. And nevermind trying to use the Blogger spell check feature because somehow I end up deleting my entire post each time I try to use it. Editing your blog can turn into a full time job, so today I'm sending out a Call to Arms to all bloggers: Let it ride. Misspelling, grammatical errors & poor formatting is now acceptable & expected. Agreed? Good!

I feel better already. What a relief.

Warning: Call to Arms does not include website neglect.


Wednesday Night Ride
Trevor is the man. After we declared Blue Mt. the ride of choice, it occured to me that Trevor probably won't show for the ride since his only working mountain bike is a single-speed. I was wrong. Not only did he show, he rode his knewly purchased Gary Fisher Rig up Alpe Bluez & only had to get off & push in 3 spots. The chances are his knees were so hammered, he probably couldn't get out of bed on Thursday morning, but who cares - on Wednesday night, he was triumphant. The rest of us; me, Al, Johnson & Templeman could only watch in astonishment as he pedaled squares toward the sky. Coincidentally, Johnson said that he was pedaling squares too & blamed it on the switch from his normal Fisher Ziggurat ride to a new Fisher Super Caliber ride. Nonesense! I say his legs were fatigued from running on the treadmill at L.A. Fitness w/Padgette. Never trust Padgett.


A Photo Speaks a Thousand Miles...

Nick Martin is getting some good base miles in this winter. I, on the other hand ride to work at dawn & ride home at dusk & ride in the rain on the weekend. No farmer tan here.

Random...

There's a CA State XC/Team Big Bear Schedule out finally. Nevermind that the year on the schedule is listed as 2005 instead of 2006 - a classic case of website neglect, not to be confused with blog editing.

No more fat kids! Why didn't I think of that? This may be the best news I've heard this year. Kurt the Cyber Guy on the KTLA Morning News (where L.A. Lives) did a piece this morning on kidsgetinaction.org It's all about getting kids to eat better & move their fat-asses away from the TV, Xbox & computer (just a little irony - don't you think?). Check it out.

I guess if you're going to insist on watching TV, you may as well watch something meaningful like The Office. Dry humor, car accidents, office olympics, e-mail surveillance. What more could you ask for in a show? Who cares about the Talies on Lost. Become a Dundie.

You are misunderstood my friend.

Someone once said, "In times of peace, prepare for war." Here's Saturday's road ride preparing for war. Raincross & then up Hwy 38. About 90.9 miles, 144 b.p.m. average heart rate.

Sunday
Josh & I had planned a road ride, but when Christie emailed me to tell me that Teri & her husband Jay were going to be in town to ride, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for most of Team K&N Performance to get together for a ride. We were joined by Trevor, Greg Pleiss, Joy, Toni Zukowski & Templeman. A 9 AM start made me believe that I’d be able to sleep in a little, but when I woke up somewhere around 4 & couldn’t get back to sleep, I got up. Maybe I was excited because I was going to be taking the new cyclocross bike out for the first time. Who knows. After coffee I took Sala out for an hour. I could feel Saturday’s ride in my legs while I was walking the dog around the perimeter of Redlands East Valley HS (REV). Walking the dog was two-fold. In addition to giving Sala some exercise, I was also scoping out a cross course for later this year. REV has a ton of potential, as I’ve mentioned before.

The actual ride was cool. We casually rode Crafton, went down Yikes! & then over to the wash. I skipped the wash fearing a hidden rock would taco my CX wheels. From Greenspot, Trevor, Josh & I rode Lower Workout, while everyone else continued into Redlands with a ride to the Pleiss’ house still ahead. Later that day, I rode into town & had lunch with Denise & Ryder at Jazz n’ Java (where the weirdos hang out). I won’t be heading back to J n’ J any time soon.

Sunday's mtb/cx ride & my ride to lunch.

Supercross & Red Bull’s Last Man Standing
While out riding, we Tivo’d Anaheim SX & Last Man Standing. These are my observations. SX was not nearly as entertaining as entertaining as Last Man Standing. David Knight is a bad-ass. The event, held in Texas about 2 months ago brought back memories (some bad) of Nat’l Enduros, so that part of it was cool. What wasn’t cool was that other than David Knight, Mike Lafferty, Nathan Kanney, Jimmy Lewis, Dudek, Guy Cooper, Fredette, Justin Williamson & 3 or 4 other B-listers, the 80-man field was full of no-name locals. With a field like that, of course guys like Knight & Lafferty are going look so much faster. Nice try Red Bull. Why take a small handful of the world’s best & then match them up against locals? Where the hell was everyone else? And even though Pat Garrahan finished around the top-five, they didn’t mention him once in the entire broadcast. No respect for the G-Brothers, ever. What the hell?

Regardless, Knight is a bad-ass (not shown above). Jimmy was his typical self, stating his strategy was to not begin racing until the night portion of the day-long event, which made the whole deal that much more amusing. I went to sleep Sunday night with flashbacks of the Wickenburg Nat’l Enduro.

That's what I'm talkin' bout

Meanwhile, in Africa...

They killed another motorcyclist last week at Dakar. It’s a bad trend. On a high-note, Chris Blais finished second in yesterday’s stage, so I guess my decision to quit racing motorcycles because I was tired of getting beat by Chris Blais, isn’t so bad if you consider he almost won a stage at Dakar. Did I mention David Knight is a bad-ass?

More reasons why Outside Magazine is a crock
This was something that James, Loren & I often discussed on our travels last year. We all agree that Outside is a watered-down sugar-coated rag that creates lame Top 10 lists, like “Top 10 Places to Ride” or “Top 10 Places to Live.” The bottom line is that everyone in the know, knows that most of their stories are not very factual & many of their Top 10 lists are geared toward weekend warriors. That’s not how we roll. However, with that said, Denise’s dad got me a free subscription to the crappy read through some on-line gambling thing he does. Even though I have little, if any, respect for their editors, I still appreciate the subscription because the advertising & photography inside Outside is top-notch. That, and my options were limited. My choice of free subscriptions were Bicycling, which sucks even worse (sorry Cush) & a long list of other crappy mags.

My February ’06 issue of Outside came yesterday with Bode Miller as the cover boy. Now, anyone who knows me well, knows that I don’t like the cold or snow, but I have the utmost respect for Olympians like Miller so I was a little bit anxious to look through this particular issue. Normally someone like Kelly Slater or Jack Johnson is on the cover (it seems like every month) so seeing Miller on the cover was a welcome change.

I have to admit, the Feb issue is actually pretty good. On page 21, there’s a BFGoodrich tire ad featuring my old Vegas to Reno teammate Larry Roeseler due to his recent four-wheel Baja 1000 win. On page 61 there is a sweet downhill ski shot of Daron Rahlves haulin’ ass down a slope in Chili. When I worked at Honda, Daron was in tight with Dunlop & the Honda Riders Club of America, so I spent some time with the World Cup winner talking about mountain biking in Tahoe & Truckee. Flip back a few to page 51 and here’s where Outside proves to be horrible. The story written by Josh Dean, titled Cool Millions about Action Sports Agent Stephen Astephen is not only poorly written, contrived & horribly exaggerated, it lacks facts. In my past career I ran & worked in the same circles as Astephen. I’m not blaming Astephen for what’s been written here. In fact, if I were him, I’d be embarrassed and pissed at the author. The bottom line is that, author Dean, depicts Astephen as the baby sitter of Travis Pastrana, Chad Reed, BMXers Dave Mirra & Ryan Nyquist, amongst others like snowboarders, skateboarders, etc. Here’s the best part of the whole crappy story: “Pastrana makes several million dollars a year flipping motorcycles instead of hamburgers, and for that he can thank Astephen…” He actually wrote that. Then the author goes on to write about a moment when Astephen pulls Pastrana aside at last summer’s Dew Action Sports Tour to give him some riding tips before the event. First of all, Pastrana was in the million dollar mark long before Steve Astephen came around & second of all, I don’t recall anyone ever giving Pastrana riding tips except for The Man. I know this for a fact. I was there. About the only thing that the author did get right is his depiction of Pastrana as an idiot - a rich idiot in his defense.

Dean goes on to talk about Astephen’s bread & butter being motocross, freestyle, snowboarding, skateboarding & BMX and how sports like mountain biking, kayaking & rock climbing are a waste of his time. Unfortunately, I can appreciate & understand that, however, the author totally ignores the fact that Astephen also represents a handful of sport bike & Superbike racers like Jake Zemke, who happens to have some pretty meaty sponsors himself. On the flip side, Astephen also represented young Tony Meiring & despite all Meiring's potential, the super agent of discussion failed to get the poor kid even an A-ride in ’05. That’s Outside Magazine for you.

The inside story – the story that Outside Magazine won’t tell you is that Astephen depends & relies on the manufacture’s PR Agencies like Vreeke & Associates, Freeman/McCue & Paine PR to get his clients ink & TV time. He’s not the one-stop shop that Outside paints him out to be. In fact yours truly use to call Jake & Tony directly when I needed something. Astephen was a road block.

What was my point? Oh yeah, Outside Magazine remains to be horrible & it's damn shame that writers like Josh Dean can get work from other publications like Rollingstone and Inc. I guess it goes to show that you can't believe anything you read, except for this blog. Being a whistle blower is hard work.

Speaking of outside, I found Aarron. He's no longer MIA.

In between my continuous work on the patio cover roof, working at work (imagine that), watching amateur football & watching motorcycle racing on TV, I managed to ride my bike this week – a lot. Most importantly I put together a good Raincross ride from start to finish without crying, “Uncle!” It still hurt (I even missed a pull or two) but not as bad as previous Saturdays & afterward, Turner, Trevor, Padgett & I even tacked on an extra 2 hours by riding up to the Forrest Falls turn-out on Hwy 38. Five hours, 90 miles & another 3 hours on Sunday = 16-plus hours for the week. I think I woulda' hit 20 if it wasn’t for last Monday’s storm. Anyway, riding back & forth to K&N puts the N & K in JUNK MILES. Meanwhile, Loren logged 24 hours in Austin last week. I talked to him today & he reported 80-degree temps in the Lone Star’s capital. I wonder what the temps have been in Bend? Sorry James. Loren made write that.

Back to Saturday
I finally gave the Madone a well-deserved rest & began riding my new Trek 2300. Johnson built it for me so I picked it up on Wednesday morning & began riding it to work on Thursday, but Saturday was a better test & it passed with flying colors. I spent plenty of time in the wind on one occasion after another; on short two-man break with Hoyt, then a longer 5-man break with Turner, Norm, Padgett & CVV Scott. Last, but not least Turner, Norm & I got off with about a mile to go. We had a huge gap so it looked like our break was going to stick, but in the final few meters, the chasing train of 40 or more flat-landers reeled us in. Still a great effort. Did I mention I missed a pull or two?

After the best cranberry bagel I’ve ever had at the Canyon Crest bagel shop, we headed up for an additional 2 hours. Needless to say I was useless the rest of the day & my aspirations of going to Supercross went south. Denise claims I was asleep by 7:30 that evening & that I missed Ryder falling asleep in bed between us – something that I’ve been looking forward to since he was born. I can’t wait until he’s old enough to split the bed between about one night a week. My favorite time of every day recently is his new-found evening energy. From about 7 PM to 9 PM every night, he sits in bed between us, crawling all over me, pulling my hair & using my head as a balance ball so he can stand. Anyway, he finally fell asleep between us on Saturday night, but it was too late. His old man fell asleep before he did.

Ryder photos courtesy of Old Man Crites.


I still haven't addressed the Sunday MTB ride, Supercross & Red Bull's Last Man Standing, but I will in my next post. Stay tuned for tall tales & interesteding observations...

Christmas Rides & Ryder's First Christmas

Christmas is cool again thanks to Ryder. Coincidentally, one of his many talents includes playing with & tearing paper, so the holiday season is right up his alley. There was no lack of wrapping paper for him to wade in, despite the untraditional apathetic nature of "wrapping" gifts in gift bags. That was another perk of having a baby around. Less gift bags & more actual wrapped gifts. It was like the good old days of Christmas. I haven't enjoyed Christmas since I was in high school & college & I worked at Sears. Ironically, I thought I hated Christmas back then because it meant working late, working early & dealing with the commercial mass. But, as soon as I left the cash register side of the shopping wars, I became less exposed to the holidays. Thus, the Christmas season, for me, went from last more than 2 months to lasting about 2 weeks. I can't even remember what my point was. Anyway, Ryder likes wrapping paper. On Christmas morning, my parents & Denise's parents came over for a breakfast feast. Ryder wore his new Discovery Cycling TdF leader's jersey, courtesy of Johnson. It fits perfect & he didn't even throw up on it. The breakfast menu included eggs, bacon, quiche & (my favorite) home-made coffee cake. I ate so much of it, I felt like crap the rest of the day.

On Christmas Eve, out of the goodness of my heart, I decided to walk Sala from our house to Suzie's. It's about a 15 minute walk. Once there, I got in Denise's car, which was already there, & drove the bad dog back home. Later that night, as we were wrapping up our Christmas Eve celebration, Suzie walks out into the garage & Sala walks up. The freak had gotten out (again) & sniffed her way to Jasmine St. Everyone there thought it was a Christmas Miracle, but I thought it was a Christmas Buzz Kill. Visions of Sala-proofing the fence (again) danced in my head that night. Another wrestless, stressful night.


CHRISTMAS EVE RIDE
The Raincross Ride had a descent size turnout considering the holiday. I suffered more on Christmas Eve than I would have liked to. Just before making the right up McAlister, I punched it & took Riverside Josh with me. At the top, I sat up & tagged on to the back of Andy, Turner, Padgett, a dude named Scott & some dude named Aaron from San Diego. Counting Josh, the 7 of us got away clean & even made the light on LaSierra, so that was the break. Cool. Finally, a break on Saturday that had some fire power to it.

Of course, there was a catch. Some dudes skipped the hill going up McAlister & jumped into the break after the light on LaSierra, which is total bull shit. If you want to skip the hill - fine; that's your own damn weakness. However, don't skip the hill & then jump into a break that you never would have made in the first place. Anyway, these guys jumped in with the 7 of us & didn't even have the decency to sit on the back. Instead, they sat second wheel & not one of them attempted to take one single pull. All they did was cause gaps & all the original 7 of us did was fill those gaps. Lighting match after match, filling their holes finally took its toll on little old me & it finally got to the point where I wasn't strong enough to take my turn at the front. Like a gentleman bike racer (and also, because it wasn't an acutal race), I made the following decision. If I can't take a pull, then I'm bowing out of the break. It's that simple. Have some pride in yourself man.

Meanwhile, as I'm reasoning with myself, Andy is yelling at said lame-asses, "Get out of the break." Maybe I'm getting older & more grizzled or maybe I've been riding with Turner for too long now, but I was glad someone finally spoke up. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. Still, I'm proud of myself for bowing out when I did. The original 7 of us are perfectly aware that no training ride is a race, however, these wheel suckers must remember that it's called a "training ride" because we (at least some of us) are actually training for races. No where on my calendar does it say, "Go out & ride in a group with slow riders & fill their wholes." I'm echoing Andy's words, "Get out of the break," unless you've earned your way in. End of story.

Oak Glen Ouch
We met at Stell's for the 9 a.m. jaunt. The draw was climbing up to Oak Glen or maybe the draw was Gardner (formerly known as Marine Tom) was back from Japan. Either way, I was looking forward to the day-after-Xmas ride. I let excitement get the best of me not long after crossing Bryant. Gardner & I decided to go up the road together & kick the shit out of one another as Andy & Turner watched it all unfold. I cracked Gardner just before reaching the Potatoe Canyon turn-off, but by that time I had already put in a massive effort. By the time I had reached the top of Potatoe Canyon, Andy had reeled me in. I was able to ride with him for a couple minutes before he shifted up a gear and left me for dead. My heart rate was in the 185 to 195 range throughout the whole climb. It hasn't been that high since Semptember in Mammoth. It felt good though & I remember what it was like to suffer again after months of riding around at a low heart rate. Padgett, who made his first trip up to Oak Glen in quite some time, & Eric Riser were also along for the ride.

Instead of freezing our arses off & going home through Beaumont, we turned around & went down the same way we came. At Bryant & Hwy 38 everyone else headed home while Andy, Gardner, Riser & I headed toward Forrest Falls for some extra climbing miles. At the turn-off for the falls we called it quits & headed home. Riding with Gardner is always fun. He's down to do anything & is never at a loss for words. Now that his career in the Marines is over, he's selling his house in the desert & will spend the spring in Belgium (lucky bastard) watching & riding some Spring Classics. Did I mention he's a lucky bastard? Then he's moving to Missiouri (unlucky bastard). I'm sure I'm not the only one who will miss riding with him. Hopefully I can make it out to his area so he can show me around Joshua Tree before he leaves.

Wednesday Night Ride
It may have been a small turn-out, but it was a big ride. Templeman, Johnson, Tito & I left from Hulda Crooks at 6:30 & rode over & up Blue Mt. For me it was just like old times & living in Grand Terrace. For Johnson, it was just like older times because he said he's been riding up Alpe Bluez since 1984. Damn. It was damn fine ride & took about 2 hours, which means there's no reason why we can't do it again. Templeman & Tito didn't even bitch, which is rare for your virgin voyage up Blue Mt. Good job guys.

Next week I ain't riding. There's a football game on. Granted, it's not NFL & they're just amateus, but I've spent plenty of days watching amateur motorcycle & bicycle racing, so I may as well watch some amateur football.

Happy New Year.

Watch Out Wells...

...I got a cyclocross bike!

And Ryder is going to help me build it.

Like they say over at Sager's, today I'm lazy, so I'm photoblogging.

We had a pot luck at work a couple days ago. I brought Orange juice, chips, salsa & Tums.

Templeman went back for thirds. He's bulking up.

Pot lucks are great. Luke warm food & dishes that are probably made in "B" rated kitchens.

One of Blum's horses came to the pot luck.

Today we changed the Giant Yard Sale to a 5-cent Mystery Grab Bag sale. This person single-handedly cleaned us out of grab backs, but she threatened my life if I posted her photo on the blog. I gambled a little bit (no pun intended) & smudged out her face. Good enough.

Lil' Bit recently bought a new taxi.

Lisa bought a taxi too.

CONVERSATION QUOTE:

Jeremy: "Irene is already bored & she's been only been on Christmas break for a couple days."

Trevor (in all sincerity): "Doesn't she have a bike?"

REWARD

Anyone with information regarding the theft of Greg Johnson's repair stand from his front yard, please contact me. We're pulling funds together to offer a reward of this.

A message to whoever stold this stand: I hope Santa Claus leaves this under your tree.

Giant Yard Sale

The mess in & around my desk became unbearable today, so I finally got around to my spring cleaning. Better late than never. Why not have a giant yard sale (I know, the photo sucks) outside of my cubical to get rid of some of the junk that has taken over my work space? Some of my wares included a digital camera that I dropped on the Tuesday Sunset ride & then ran over with my rear Bontrager Race X Lite. The camera is junk now, but people buy junk. My collection of Hood Hounds were some of the first items to go. Lil’ Bit bought those for a nickel a piece. Ironically, I think she bought them for me in the first place out of the gum ball machine at Miguel Jr’s. All the FranklinCovey propaganda & Robert Hordossy’s foam-core mounted vision statement is still up for grabs. And so is the cheese chub



Ryder's First Santa
I rushed home from the Saturday ride so we could take Ryder to sit on Santa's lap at the Redlands Mall. I had money riding on the chance that he'd cry when left on this strange man's lap. A safe bet, I thought. Turns out, I was wrong. The little dude didn't make a peep. He spent about 5 minutes just sitting there, tugging on Santa's authentic beard. As soon as I can scan the prints that we bought, I'll post them. It was pretty freaking cool. He's a good kid.

The following information could save your life…

Building on Joy Duerksen’s witch hunt (she does live in the woods) for “B” rated eating establishments in the greater Redlands area, Templeman found the following info online. It’s horrible news. Read 'em & weep.

Cha Cha's Tacos "B"
Hogi Yogi "B"
House of Blends "C"
Hustler Club "B"
Inland Buffet "B"
Long John Silvers "B"
Marie Calendars "B"
Pizza Hut "B"
Redlands Ranch Market "B"
Thai House Restaurant "B"
The Vault "B"
Tom's #1 "B"
Uncle Howies Pizza "B"
Wienerschnitzel "B"
Frank's Place "B"
J&H Market "B"
La Costa Mariscos "B"
Mill Creek Cattle Co. "B"

I’m guilty of eating at about 3 of these germ & rat infested incubators. I even had my last two birthday dinners at Uncle Howie’s. It’s a wonder we don’t all have the bird flu or something.

Dont' Forget: REV Parking Lot, Wednesday 6:15 PM

Shut up Donny

What a commitment this blogging thing has become. If I fail to post for more than 2 days I feel guilty. If I leave the house sans digital camera I feel guilty. Does life not already pose enough responsibilities? Must I be tied to my PC outside of my daily duties at work? When will it end? Who will help me break these chains? How long will the keyboard have this hold on my fingers? It’s a sickness that lacks a vaccination. I have a fever & the only cure is more blogging. Or is it cow bell? Anyway, the mistress that is my blog is calling & I’m once again adhering to her requests like a cheap middle-aged DJ at a junior high dance. It could be worse. My time could be spent risking life & limb hopping from the Lakers bandwagon onto the Clippers bandwagon.

The Chronicles of Base Miles
Why not ride to work on a rainy Friday morning? It was actually refreshing. The roads were wet, the cloud cover kept the temperature reasonable & I didn’t feel a sprinkle from the sky until I was within a mile from the office. The ride home was a greater effort. It always is. As the day matures, my backpack expands, my legs grow heavier & my sheer will to leave in the black of the winter night is feeble. The last two miles from the U of R to my front door are country miles.

Why not wake up at the crack O’ dawn on a cold Saturday morning, go hammer out the Rain Cross ride & then tack on an extra 40 miles? Trevor & Riverside Josh made going long on Saturday a lot easier than doing it solo. When it was all said & done, I recorded about 5.5 hours & 105 miles & change. No nap after the ride made me worthless the rest of the day.

Why not wake up at the crack O’ dawn (again) on a cold Sunday morning, drive up to Angeles Oaks with Johnson, Templeman & Trevor to ride 3 hours of the Santa Ana River Trail? It was cold, I was getting a cold & Johnson was riding the downhill sections like a man possessed. I think he was trying to kill me. I eventually threw it away on a blanket of acorns & nearly lost my bike over the side of an infamous SART cliff. Imagine, if you will, all in one fair swoop, me flying over the handlebar (singular) & simultaneously trying to prevent my bike from disappearing into an abyss. Meanwhile, visions of Trevor running me over danced through my head. I succeeded & Trevor failed. I only suffered a dent in my right shin. I was due for a crash. And not long after I (get ready Aaron…) faded like a cheap t-shirt from the Colton Auction. I counted my losses & spent the rest of the ride in my comfort zone & haven’t thrown a leg over a bike since, which is probably why said cold didn’t take. Today (Wednesday), I feel pretty good.

Dinner Debate
I don’t know if it were the miles I did on Saturday or if Macaroni Grill always cooks up a tasty plate, but our dinner with Joshua of the Great Northwest & Jeannie was worth the 45-minute wait for a table. Ryder was a champ the entire night. He passed the time flirting with the girls sitting behind us. I had grilled salmon, rice & spinach, while Denise opted for some sort of marinated chicken & pasta. Of course I consumed my entire dinner, a ton of bread & a quarter of Denise’s plate too. Did I mention the house chianti.

Here’s where the great debate comes in. Dinner conversation took an interesting turn when it went the way of attractive female celebs. Josh favors one newly separated Jessica Simpson, while Jeannie wants to adopt home wrecker Angelina Jolie. For a long time now, Denise has been bound to Gina Gershon & I feel the heat from Ashley Judd. You decide.

Wednesday Night Ride
We were 9 strong last night as we rolled from the parking lot of Hulda Crooks. Templeman, Josh, Robert Bender, Al, Si, Trevor, Johnson, TB & I headed into the canyon, road up Jedi & then took the ridge in a southwestern direction. From there we dropped back down into the canyon to Four Corners & up to Beaumont Ridge. At the top, near the power poles, everyone stopped to take in the view so I decided to punch it & initiate a chase across the ridge. That’s when Johnson tried to kill me (the second time in less than a week). I was almost to the end when out of the corner of my right eye, an unidentified crazy man comes flying by into one of the last corners of the route. He caught me off guard so I lost my line & started unintentionally pushing him out. At that point, I thought to myself, “I’m not sure who in the hell this is, but he’s not going to make this corner. He’s going off the cliff & he’s probably going to die. Good thing we’re close to one of the nation’s best hospitals & Montecito Cemetery.” Seeing that he was nearing his demise, this unknown rider knifed his handlebar hard to the left, saving the plunge off the cliff, but throwing himself into an uncontrollable tumble across my path. It was then that I realized it was Johnson, on a brand new Trek EX9. I was fairly sure that I was going to either run him or his bike over & was preparing myself for the impact when some sort of higher being accelerated Johnson’s roll & put him well out of my way. It was a Christmas miracle!

The aftermath. The EX9 held stury, but Johnson's helmet light didn't fair as well.

Templeman, Trevor & Johnson get ready to ride. Notice Johnson's helmet light started the night as straight as an arrow.

Warning From the Health Department: Joy broke some big news this week that all you Redlands Townies should be aware of. Turns out the Dirty Martinis that The Vault serves are really really dirty. "How can a Martini establishment get a B?," she asks. I wonder the same thing.

I Flaked

I worked late & missed the Wednesday night ride. Apparently Trevor, Josh, Aaron, Al & Art (that's a lot of A's) showed. Sorry guys. I'll see you next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at the office...

Blum got to work on the holiday decor.

For those with bad eyes the schedule of events on December 23rd reads:

"Airing of Grievances 11:30 a.m.

Feats of Strenght 12:30 a.m.

Conclusion: When Matt Freeman is wrestled to the ground and pinned."

Get in line suckas!

Meanwhile, at home...

Ryder eats Veggie Puffs.

Ryder likes bikes.

Meanwhile, in the shower...

"Low-flow shower heads. I don't like the sound of that."

So I replaced it with a $6.00 garden hose nozzle. Much better. And I saved some grams.

Playlist

I created a playlist on my iPod for riding the trainer, running the treadmill & warming up before the races. Just about the only thing it’s missing is Minor Threat & that’s because the dirty scoundrel who lifted one of my favorite albums of all time hasn’t stepped forward yet. I could use a little Dead Kennedys too. Anyway, here it is with a short explanation of how it made the playlist.

We’re Gonna’ Fight – 7 Seconds
Instead of starting slow & ramping it up, I figure, what the hell? Let’s go hard from the word go. This song makes me want to go out and kick some ass (hence the title) – under the straight edge influence of sobriety, of course. You see, 7 Seconds was a straight edge band.

Voice of God is Government – Bad Religion
As an adolescent, this song sent me into a rage. I probably snapped a few bed springs jumping on my bed uncontrollably while blasting good old (not new) Bad Religion. Today, the lyrics, “…dig real deep, until it hurts. alleviate your guilt…” is perfect motivation to keep suffering (pun intended).

Clean Sheets – Descendents
Hell hath no fury like a teenager rejected for another.

City of Angles – The Distillers
I love to hear Brody Dalle scream in my ear. She’s a nice girl & makes me want to ride real fast.

Barroom Hero – Dropkick Murphys
“Face down in the gutter, won't admit defeat though his clothes are soiled and black, he's a big strong man with a child's mind, don't you take his booze away!” Sometimes, when I’m singing this, I change the word booze to bike.

Selfish Man – Flogging Molly
My least favorite of the traditional Irish rock bands, Flogging Molly still gets it done. Selfish Man is fast, hard (for Flogging Molly) & has a lot of screaming. The tone & voice of Selfish Man is just plain bitter, which translates into power to the pedals.

Violet – Hole
I love to hear Courtney scream in my ear even more than I love to hear Brody scream in my ear.

Hurt – Johnny Cash
One of the only Nine Inch Nails songs I can stomach. This song is probably the slowest song on the playlist, but has some of the most appropriate lyrics. “I hurt myself today, to see if I still felt. I focus on the pain. The only thing that’s real.”

Kick Out the Jams – MC5
For no other reason than the Motor City 5 was one of the original "punk" bands.

So What – Ministry
Bruce Brown said, “Motorcycle racing is a violent sport,” and anyone who knows it well can say the same thing about bicycle racing. I don’t know of many songs more violent than Ministry’s So What. “Kill for a thrill.”

Where Eagles Dare – Misfits
In the old days before I had an iPod, even before I had a CD walkman, I used to listen to the Misfits on my cassette-driven walkman at the Rialto Sports Center. Danzig could keep me concentrated on the stair climber for hours.

Suspect Device – Naked Raygun
Originally a Stiff Little Fingers song, I believe Naked Raygun perfected it. “Naked who?” you ask. Check them out. You won’t be disappointed.

Sound System – Operation Ivy
The ska beat of this one makes for a good fast pedal cadence & that’s it.

Bottle of Smoke – The Pogues
Those who know me well, know that I’ve adopted Shane MacGowan, the longtime singer of the Pogues, as my own. Partially because of pity, but more because he’s a flat-out bad-ass. The Pogues & Shane have been a mainstay of mine for almost 20 years & I don’t see that going away. Bottle of Smoke is a fast & hard angry Irish number about horse racing, but more importantly, it’s a Pogues song.

Blitzkrieg Bop – The Ramones
“Hey ho, let's go Hey ho, let's go!” Need I say more?

Blank Generation – Richard Hell & the Voidoids
Blank Generation is just an awesome song. Richard Hell was just an awesome singer. With no Richard Hell, there would have been no Johnny Rotten, but that’s a story I’ve told many times. The bottom line is that the thought of belonging to a blank generation can stir up a lot of angst. And what better way to deal with angst than on your bike.

Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones
Don McLean said it best in American Pie. “Oh, and as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage. No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell.” Sympathy for the Devil will put you into a 6-minute trance controlled by Devil. Trances are good when you’re riding the trainer.

Zero – Smashing Pumpkins
I’ll try to make this story as short as possible. One of the first times the Pumpkins performed Zero was on Saturday Night Live & they did it as their second song, late, late into the night. A bunch of us were drinking at Jackie’s apartment at Azusa Pacific & had all fallen asleep on the floor & the couches by the time the Pumpkins came on to play their second number. Something in this song woke everybody up. We all sat up from the floor or couch & just stared at the TV as they played Zero. No one spoke; we just watched in amazement. It was a sobering experience.

Back And To The Left – Texas Is The Reason
Denise & I consider Back And To The Left a perfect song. The fast drum beat & guitar seem to move around flawlessly in a circular motion. It’s hard to put into words, but Texas Is the Reason puts words to the song that fit perfect with the music. This song is best listened to turned up loud and repeated over & over again, which is how we used to listen to it. It’s just over 3 minutes & when it ends you’re left wanting more.

Date with The Night – Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
Frontwoman, Karen O is just plain crazy. She sings like a nutcase. I think she’s insane or not right in the head. Either that or she’s in the middle of intercourse while she’s singing & for some reason, the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs make for good exercise music.

Irish Rover – The Tossers
“This is the last one you mailto:f#@s!” Any song that starts with a lead like that won’t disappoint. The Tossers are my current day Pogues & they do this old Irish classic harder, faster & better than anyone I’ve heard. On top of that, it’s a raw live recording from some small joint in their hometown of Chicago.

Now go out & do the right thing.

The Redlands X-mas Parade

The Redlands Christmas parade was a sight to see. It started at 6 p.m. Saturday with the police/fire department bagpipe band, which was sweet. Few things sound better to me than the echo of bagpipes. Despite the parade’s 2-hour stream of attractions, the pipers were most definitely the highlight of the show; not to say it went totally down hill as it progressed. Let’s just say the group of community service “volunteers” that strutted down State Street behind the pipers were the beginning of the end (although I did hear one of them declare, “Clean & sober and proud of it!”). Good for them, now get out there & keep those highways clean!

Denise, Ryder, Jeannie, Miss Belle, Katherine (the Noriega cousin) & I made the best of the frigid evening. The educators in our midst saw many of their pupils & Jeannie summed it up best when she said, “I like a town where you know people in the parade,” or something like that. I agree, unless the people you know in the parade are the community service “volunteers.” Ryder liked all the commotion, including a gang of Harley-Davidson riders, the open-header hot rods & the elementary, middle school & high school bands. None of it was too loud for him, although I could have used a few less decibels. Oh, I almost forgot. There were people in the parade handing out brochures about the West Nile Virus. Nothing says Merry Christmas like literature from a Public Health Agency. I must have missed the people handing out info on the Bird Flu when I went to buy coffee.

Apparently anyone can be in the Redlands Christmas Parade. Sign up here.

Anyway, down town was freaking packed. We had to park illegally at the bank across the street from the Redlands Mall. Not to worry. All the cops were either in the parade or patrolling the intersections that it traveled through.

Earlier That Day…
I woke up to wet roads & instead of doing the smart thing & taking advantage of prime trail conditions, I went out for the Rain Cross ride, leaving the mountain bike in the garage. Not only was it wet out, it was cold. Regardless, I rode until around 1 p.m. & logged 93 miles. Then I watched USC kick the crap out of UCLA.

Cross Dreams
Sunday as I was rolling home down Opal past Redlands East Valley HS, it suddenly occurred to me what a sweet place that campus would be for a cyclocross course. Its grounds are multi-leveled, there’s a lot of grass, dirt, a track, pavement, hills – everything you need for a cross course sans the barriers. Next weekend I’m going back over there to figure out a route. Now all I need is a cross bike.

Another Shirt I Don't Have... Yet

The Stuffed Animal I Want for Christmas

Jaws is still one of my favorite flicks.

This is a reminder: Wednesday 6:00 p.m. - Hulda Crooks.

Wet Rides on the Rise

It's raining as I type.

Nine of us made the Wednesday night ride this week. Eleven if you count us meeting up with Jeff (or is Geoff?) & Rita Ward late in the ride. Templeman, Josh, Trevor, Johnson, Art, Tom, Robert, Al & I grinded out Upper Workout for a change. It was a good ride. The only downside was the Mill Creek crossing was almost knee deep & freezing cold. Whether you cleaned it or not, your feet got totally wet. Last week the thing was almost bone dry. They must have flipped a switch up by the Ranger Station to diver the water in our direction. A burrito at Cuca's after the ride made up for the fridgid feet.

Next Wednesday, we've decided to switch gears & do Hulda Crooks at 6 P.M. See you there & that includes YOU, CycleTek dudes!

My Quest for Leg Power
I've made it to the gym twice this week, which is an accomplishment since my weight lifting workouts have been sparse. I broke things off with Bally Total Fitness & rebounded over to L.A. Fitness. It was a clean break. My contract was up. L.A. Fitness is closer to home, cheaper & nearly new. And they have an indoor lap pool, so when I get old & decide to start doing tri's, I'll have somewhere to swim for a change. At the Bally's outdoor pool, you had to dodge the aqua aerobic whales & PT patients in order to swim laps.

Ryan Trebon has joined the blogging masses. Already his first 2 entries are pretty funny. For example, he rants about USA Cycling denying his Cat. 1 upgrade for the third time. How jacked up is their system if arguably America's best cross racer & damn near best mountain bike racer can't get granted a Cat. 1 road license. Tree Farm goes on to bring up the $150 Pro mountain bike license fee & the fact that USAC just changed the first NORBA Nat'l to the same weekend as the Tour of Georgia kick-off. If it ain't USAC, it's the AMA & if ain't the AMA it's the IRS.

Because I got nothing else to say on this wet Friday evening, I'll leave you with some t-shirts I recently found online. I'm thinking about buying them.














This one's for all the Laker, Raider & Trojan super fans.




I used to work with this guy.
















Speaks for itself.













This one's for T.B.

It's About Time

FOR SALE

It's time to give up the 5900. I have it on Ebay right now. Hopefully that will pan out. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Ride & Eat
That sums up my Thanksgiving holiday (aside from hanging out with Ryder & Denise). From Wednesday evening to Sunday, I was either riding my bike or eating large portions of food. We’re not talking your normal Thanksgiving gorging either. I’m talking about Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday spent rolling around on the floor each evening, bloated & in serious regret. Regret that only lasted until the next day when it started all over again. My only justification for it all is that I rode my arse off.

Wed. = 2 hours mountain bike
Thurs. = 3.5 hrs. mountain bike
Fri. = 4.5 hrs. road
Sat. = 6 hrs. road
Sun. = 2.5 hrs. mountain bike
For a grand total of 18.5 hours (give or take half an hour)

Now we’re talkin’. If I can keep that volume up for another 6 weeks, I’ll feel pretty good about all things racing. Maybe.

The DVD Situation
The ever-growing stack of unwatched DVDs at our house is becoming unmanageable. We just can’t seem to find the time to sit down & watch an entire movie without interruptions. Yet, when I turned on IFC on Friday evening & saw Pulp Fiction (uncut) was about to start, Denise & I somehow managed to watch the entire flick, even though we’ve both seen it over a dozen times. I guess it just goes to show how good Pulp Fiction really is. Unless we start watching all the on-loan DVDs soon, I’ll be forced to put up a sign in the front yard that says, “DVD Storage.”

To name a few, we have Boondock Saints, Dust to Glory (which I may or may not be boycotting), some NOFX documentary & Wedding Crashers. And those are only the few DVDs that I can remember. It hasn’t helped either that we recently got a DVR, so watching half-hour episodes of My Name is Earl, The Office & Comedy Central Presents is more convenient than ever. Jon Sorensen, once gave me his copy of Army of Darkness & I kept it for nearly a year. I finally returned it; unwatched. There’s just not enough time in the day I guess.

A Google Satellite Photo of Friday's ride courtesy of Johnson...

According to Johnson's GPS, the ride was just over 70 miles. With the exception of us deserting McKovich, thanks to someone who will remain anonymous, it was a perfect November spin.

Yet again a X-mas tree went up instead of a Festivus pole. Will Ryder ever get to experience The Airing of Grievances & Feats of Strenght?

Speaking of Ryder: Denise just called to tell me that Ryder got the second of two flu shots & he didn't even cry. Kick ass.

QUOTE: "I thought of that while I was riding my bike." - Albert Einstein, on the theory of relativity.

New Email Address, New Team & Crawling Ryder

My new email address is mattfreemanrace@yahoo.com

Ryder is now mobile. He found his crawling legs this weekend & as he perfects his new skill, I'm quite positve rest & relaxation will be thrown out the window for Denise & I. Not that she's been able to rest or relax much lately. The little dude also took his first trip in the jogger stroller on Saturday & again on Sunday. He loves it, which means Denise may be logging miles again soon.

Speaking of miles, I guess you can say I began real base training this weekend. I did 85 miles on Saturday & 77 on Sunday. Both days were followed by four hours of working on the patio cover, so falling asleep that night wasn't an issue.

Sunday's ride was a good old fashion death march due to a headwind going up San Tim. To make it worse, I cooked myself trying to get home by 11:30 to start work on the patio cover. San Tim was my idea so I caught a ration of shite from everyone on the ride as soon as we turned into the headwind. Obviously no one present attends church on Sunday morning, so the way I look at it is - all the suffering helps pay for our sins. Only 9 of us completely cleansed our souls. Me, Turner, Trevor, Frank, Andy, Chris Hoyt, Zuke, J-Ro & Junior Josh are forgiven. Many others turned around half way up the canyon & many more called it a day once reaching the top of the canyon. I felt quite crappy afterward for a measly 77-miler, which means there's much work to be done.

Team K&N Performance
More details later, but that is the banner I'll be racing mountain bikes under in 0h-6. The team is made up of myself, Josh Underwood, James Williams, Loren Dodson & Christie Pleiss, with special appearances from Greg Johnson. We're currently accepting more sponsors so if you or someone else you know wants logo space on our team kit, let me know.

More details to follow...

The Rest from SEMA

After wondering around the Hilton looking for something to do, we ended up at New York, New York & to my pleasant surprise found an Irish pub. The band, whose name escapes me played some Irish classics as well as some current stuff. I was impressed.

In between sets, we walked over to a piano bar, but the place wasn't worthy of photos. Actually it was pretty good, but nothing compared to the pub experience.

Contrary to popular believe, Vegas does sleep. The place shut down at 2 a.m.

Wednesday Night Ride
It's still on. See you Wednesday night at my place. We roll between 6:15 & 6:30.

Halloween & SEMA Part I

It's been a long 2 weeks. Getting ready for SEMA & then actually attending the show is enough to drive a man to an early grave. I survived, but just barely. Of course I ended up catching a cold from lack of sleep, hotel air conditioning & Sin City second-hand smoke. And all I brought back for you all are some lousy photos.

Okay, this photo isn't from SEMA, but it's from the day before; Halloween. On this day Bridgette Jackson opted to come dressed in evening attire. Don't let her silky pajama bottoms fool you. Bridgette can & will pop a cap in your arse if push comes to shove. She runs with a rough crowd known as Configuration Management & has a sidekick whose street name is Lil' Bit.

This somewhat revealing photo is of Purchasing Manager Carol Fay & Internet Specialist Max Lopez. Right after this photo was taken Carol & Max did the Charleston right outside of my cubical.

On Halloween night my house turned into the Hall of Justice. Left to right are super heroes Logan, Ryder, Andrew & Jonny.

IMAGES OF SEMA YOU'LL ONLY SEE HERE

The Van Collection

Okay, this really isn't a van. It's better than a van. I'm not even sure whose booth this monstrosity was parked in, but its beauty immediately caught my eye.

Got Soy? If I were a couple of generations older, this would have been my ride. This is what Rick Daniel's milk truck was supposed to be before he started swinging clubs on a daily basis.

I know, I know. This isn't a van. It's better than a van. It's a bike and a God awful one at that. I'd ride it.

Unfortunately, this is the last van photo I have. All the other images didn't turn out because my hands were shaking with excitement & shakey hand makes for bad presentation. Anyway, this thing was a work of art despite lacking a finished interior.

While vans at SEMA are hard to come by, project vehicles like this one are a dime-O-dozen. This '06 Civic was one we did for the Honda booth. A similar image of it actually landed on the MSN home page.

Hear Yeah, Hear Yeah! Thou trade ye a beer for a broad.

To be continued...