Ryder's First, Rummy & More Otter

We had Ryder's Birthday Party at high noon on Saturday. He loved it & did great with a house full of people. Thanks to everyone who came. There are plenty of left-overs if anyone is interested.

The cake




Bella, the birthday boy & his new ball


A boy & his new trike

Drama & Treason at Work...
After a 2-hour doctor's appointment, I came back to work and found this ransom letter taped to my desk.

The ransom note was accompanied by this photo...


I did as exactly as the letter ordered & luckily, Rummy was returned in one piece to me, the rightful owner. There were some tense moments leading up to the Diet Pepsi w/Lime exchange, but as it turns out the kidnapper was bluffing. Typical Democrat.

On a Lighter Note...

I ran across this photo taken during the Pro Circuit Race at Sea Otter. Of all the awesome mud shots taken during the mountain bike racing, I like this one best. Must be the Angel guarding the roof of the Laguna Seca's Corkscrew. I'm sure she helped take the sting out of that last little kicker just before the top.

Happy Birthday Rydie!

I can’t believe it. Ryder will be a year old on Friday & to celebrate Denise & I are having a birthday bash on Saturday. Food catered by Cuca’s, & cake from Stater’s. The lawn is mowed, the new entertainment center is ready to entertain, the new dining room table is up & ready to dine on, and since I decided I’m skipping Bonelli on Sunday, I may even have a few spirits. I can’t wait to see how he does with his cake. The kid is hilarious just sitting around so I can’t imagine what he’ll be like with a piece of cake sitting in front of him.

What Else Is New?
Other than getting shelled at the Los Angeles County Cycling Classic, nothing. Actually, another cold, brought on by 4 days of sitting around in wet clothing up at Sea Otter, prevented me from doing much of anything. Thus, I skipped Friday’s TT (since it was an Omnuim) & showed up for Saturday’s RR, held on the Devil’s Punch Bowl race course. As a 3, I’d done well there, several times, but racing Pro1/2, we were scheduled to do 5 laps (2 more than the 3s). 4-time New Zealand National RR & TT champ, Gordon McCauley won Friday’s TT, so the entire Monex team was on-hand to protect his lead from some Successful Living & Labor Power dudes. Mission accomplished. Chris Walker tried hard early on to cut the fat. The problem was that some of the fat he cut was me. I ended up riding in a bickering chase group all day. Hopefully I’ll be more on form in a couple of weeks when the real Punch Bowl race takes place. McCauley won, with Ryan Yee just seconds behind.

There were a grip of local guys there racing other categories, like Jeff Padgett, who killed the 40+ III/IV field in Omnuim points. For his effort, Padgett was granted his Cat 3 upgrade. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Hoyt won the 3 race at Ontario.

Max Performance Bike Fit
Mike McKovich recently spent two afternoons working with Christie & me up on the CompuTrainer to figure out our current wattage output & then set our bikes up so our wattage would increase. My set-up called for custom soles, a shim underneath my left cleat, a raised & forward-shifted saddle and a new handlebar height. He also got me set up on my TT bike, so I can finally start riding it. On the mountain bike, my wattage output increased by 12-percent. I can’t remember Christie’s numbers, but they were also significant. I strongly suggest working with Mike because the CompuTrainer & the computer program can help to correct all kinds of stuff like uneven pedal strokes & pronating feet. He showed me how my inflexible body & hunched over riding position was binding up & preventing any kind of power output at the top in certain spots of my pedal stroke. I feel like I’ve been wasting my time for the last few years without his help. Thanks Mike!

Mike sizes up Christie's bike.

Random…

Johnson showed me a section of singletrack off of Crafton that I didn't know about. It was pretty sweet. Of course he railed it & left me in his wake, but it was fun enough stuff that I plan on doing it a lot so maybe next time I'll be able to keep up with Gecko.

Loren should be a 2 by the end of the weekend.

On Saturday at the RR, I heard that Roberto Gaggioli threw a bag of water bottles at another rider, from behind the wheel of the Monex team van, because said rider got in the way of a Monex feed. Go figure.

The Mesa Design House leaves for the Tour of Georgia today. When they get back we’ll have new photos on the home page & rider sections of www.inlandvalleyelite.com

Apparently I got off easy on the poison oak from Sea Otter. I talked to James on Easter & everyone up in Bend has it. Josh has a few spots on his legs. They got it pretty bad over at Sager’s and Nick Martin’s too.

Images from Mud Slaughter (a.k.a. Sea Otter)

Courtesy of Greg Pleiss...

Thank goodness our motel room was stocked with towels. The maid at the Rodeway Inn absolutely loved us.

I don't remember being this clean.

Shift you bitch!

This may explain the shifting problem.

Friday's Time Trial was short, but painful. Seeing the results was even more painful. My shifting problems cost me at least 10 seconds & in a 4 minute TT, that meant about 20 spots.

I found the hot line in the final turn of Saturday's Short Track...

...this guy didn't.

Mud Slaughter

I have nothing good to say about the 4-day mud fest that was Sea Otter except that at least I got to “race” against icon, Olympic, Commonwealth & World Champions like Bart Brentjens, Christoph Saucer, Liam Killen, Jose Antonio Hermida & Frishy. It was basically a World Cup - truly an honor I never imagined I’d get to enjoy. Think getting dunked on by Jordan, tee’n off against Tiger, going underneath Rossi in turn two at Motegi or lining the same grid as Schumaker. Granted, I royally got my ass kicked, but I don’t care. It's not my job to race bikes. My main concern is that my beautiful Trek 9.8 carbon frame has a massive abrasion on the chainstay due to 4 days of chain suck. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the NORBA Nationals now, although since the entire series pays UCI points toward the Beijing 2008 Olympics, I wouldn’t be surprised if some World Cup regulars show up every now & then to earn some points. I’m not worthy.

Check out the Schedule/Results tab on the Inland Valley Elite website for the down-low on the rest of Team K&N Performance. Thanks to Greg Pleiss, we’ll have images on the Photos tab soon.

Tuesday Night
Same shit, different Tuesday Night. Attack on the climb, hang on through the flats, attack on the climb again, hang on through the flats again. There was a bit of drama last night when two riders, who will remain un-named, rejoined the group after missing a lap. Another rider, also to be remain un-named, scolded their heinous action, resulting in a verbal battle. I hung back to make sure no punches were thrown, but once it was apparent it was just verbal disagreement, Trembly & McAfee had already staged a perfectly timed attack that only Norm was able to cover. Turner, some new lanky kid named Robert from Riverside & I tried to run them down, but no dice.

I really want to stay out of fights like this because it is just a training ride, but I’m not cool with people jumping in the break either. In fact, earlier in the evening some Citrus Valley Velo dude jumped in & I purposely took him wide into every turn until he finally popped off the back. So, I guess, I’m guilty of being an asshole. Nothing annoys me more than when someone jumps back in after losing contact (regardless of their reason). Even if they plan on just sitting in, how do I know they’re not going to use their fresh legs to blow us apart. When you get dropped, be a man & suck it up. Do something like: drop back to the next group on the road & try to help bring them up to the break or just TT it for the rest of the night. Don’t cut!

I’ve probably said too much already. No hard feelings…

Some lifted images from the Mud Slaughter Classic

I'm not sure who this unlucky dude is, but I did the same thing in Thursday's Super XC. I still have a swollen middle finger to prove it. And some poison oak too!

A guy could catch pneumonia waiting in line to wash his bike.

James missed his start time in Saturday's Semi-pro Short Track, but gave it a go anyway. So much for brand new clean K&N team kits.

Someone, I think JHK, was running these carbon tubeless wheels. Frishy had some Ritchey carbon tubulars. Awe, to be a legend.

I Guess I'll Race Myself Into Shape...

I've managed to stay healthy for about 2 weeks now, but the weather has been shotty, so quality rides have been few & far between. The K&N Performance team kits finally arrived on Friday & the fact that I wanted to show it off on Saturday morning was the only thing that got me out of bed & on to wet roads. I did the Raincross ride & it turned out to be a good one. I rolled off the front early on. Later Trevor & Padilla bridged up to me & that was all she wrote. The three of us stayed out on our own the whole way despite rain & a stiff headwind. Good work men.

Ryder's First Redlands Classic
Since I wasn't racing, Denise & I took Ryder down to the Classic on Saturday & Sunday. He was the perfect kid & it was cool to show him off. We saw a lot of friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. I opted out of Sunday's Pro1/2 crit & I'm glad I did. A pile up in the last turn left many dudes on the ground & one dude in the hospital for a couple of days. I'm sure I would have gotten caught up in since my sprint sucks & I'd be flailing around in the back.


The upside to Sea Otter is that the course is rarely dry & dusty. The downside to Sea Otter is that the course is rarely dry & dusty.
Yeah, that's right. Rain is in the forecast for Monterey & we're headed straight into the eye of the storm. I sure am glad Johnson put new cables on the 9.8 last night. Actually, he put XTR discs on it too. I swore I'd never have a race bike with discs again, but my XT-equipped 8500 made me a believer. Next thing you know, I'll be racing a full suspension bike.

I'm getting board with this post, so I'll end it with this info: Go to www.inlandvalleyelite.com & click on the Photo tab to see photos of Christie & Teri wearing the new team clothing. Josh, Templeman & the two girls went down to race Sagebrush as a Sea Otter tune-up last weekend, with mixed results. I stayed home & mowed the lawn, also with mixed results.