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.

Is That The Sun I See?

I recently heard on the news that we're having the coldest month of March since 1921. Even though it was the KTLA Morning News, I still believe it. This month has been, to quote Mark Foist & thousand of Bostoners, "Wicked cold." It finally began to warm up today & just in time for the Redland Classic. Good. I won't have to freeze to death as I watch from the sidelines. At least I'm over my sickness & back on the bike. I actually managed to get a training race in last weekend, which, by the way was wicked cold.

Ryder & Denise (not shown) kept me warm during the month of March.

VAIL LAKE XC

While everyone else was road racing around Bonelli at the San Dimas Stage Race, I got my sick ass out of bed long enough to race on Saturday morning. I haven't raced at Vail Lake in at least 2 years so it was cool to get to ride there again. There isn't much climbing, but it's a fun course & due to the recent rains, the dirt was perfect. Here's the short story. Chuck Jenkins & Ty Kady stuck it to us bad. Jenkins easily won the Pro class & Ty easily won the Semi-pro class. I was right in there - for about 5 minutes.

One cool deal was a gnarly up-hill that carried a $200 bounty for any Pro, Semi-pro or Expert strong enough to clean it. I never came close, but I'm told 2 dues made it. I'm not sure I believe it, because there was a horrible run leading up to it, but if someone did clean it, I want to know who it was.

My legs were soar as hell on Sunday, which means I'm not riding enough, but I didn't really need aching legs to tell myself that. I finished the 4-lap, 24-some mile race in 10th overall, allowing some Semi-pros & Experts to beat me. Templeman faired better in his class, winning the Sport 20-29 class.

A pirated shot of me at Vail Lake. So sue me.

Random...

According to Canari, Team K&N Performance clothing won't be done until April Fool's Day. No joke.

Someone I know got a speeding ticket doing 90 mph in his Civic Hybrid with this boss in the passenger seat.

Denise is running again. Here & Jeannie did a 10-miler last weekend & an 8-miler (pushing Ryder) the weekend before that. She's training for the Redlands Half, while Jeannie is training for her first 26.2, which will be the Rock n' Roll Marathon in San Diego.

There's a story coming out in the Redlands Daily Facts in conjuction with the Classic with some stuff about Christie. If all goes well, we may get our first sponsor plug.

Two more days until The Tossers...

Meanwhile, at work...

While most everyone else was time trialing 3.8 miles up Glendora Mountain Road, I was stuck at work. It wasn't all bad. We took one of the K&N vans out & hit some triple jumps. On the third go-around the front bumper finally came off, so we called it good & went back to work.

Tomorrow Templeman & I are going to Vail Lake for a XC race, rain or shine. Yeah, I've been sick, but I figured, "What the hell. If it doesn't kill me or give me pneumonia, it will make me stronger."

Before the bumper fell off.

An Email From Trevor

"Not sure who Scot Martin is, but ran across this and thought you'd appreciate it:

'To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport. Without pain, there's no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy. Might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks.' -- Scott Martin

-Trevor"

Purely Subjective

Gotta go. Ryder's waiting for his dad to come home & play with him.

No Redlands Classic, No San Dimas Stage Race, No Direction

They say bad things happen in patterns of threes. Well, they’re right. First, I find out that the composite team I was going to ride with did not get accepted in to the Classic. Then, I went to register for San Dimas & the 2s were already full. Finally, I had a ton of bad stuff happen at work. All the stress & disappointment finally came to a head & now I’m sick again – for like the third time in six weeks.

This all left me with no direction. I spent my time training for big road races & now that I’m out, I don’t know what to do. I suppose I should start looking toward Sea Otter. Since the weather was crappy last week, I did do more mtb riding than normal. I guess that means I've started training for Sea Otter. And while San Dimas is going on next weekend, I’m planning on doing a mtb race at Vail Lake (if my health gets better). So that’s the current lackluster plan.

Saturday's ride on Crafton.

Joey - the Bearer of Good News
He called last night to inform me that The Tossers are playing House of Blues in Hollywood on March 25. If I were to race the classic, I wouldn’t be able to go, so I guess one thing came out of not making the cut. I will be doing a road race in the Fresno area that day, but the current plan is for Denise to drop me off in Hollywood on the way home & then Joey & whoever else goes will drop me home. It doesn’t matter how worked I am from the race; The Tossers will definitely light a fire under my tired arse.

More of picturesque Crafton.

Southridge
Instead of racing the crap circuit race in Murrieta, I went out to Southridge to root Christie, Teri & Jeremy on. The dirt was perfect & there were times when I wished I was racing, until I put in a little bit of an effort & realized how crappy I felt. Turns out, I was only hours away from coming down w/a cold, so that explains everything. Anyway, Jeremy pulled off a second in his Sport age division class aboard a Trek Fuel 98 on loan from Johnson. The girls, in their first Pro race, lined up against Jimena Florit, which in-itself was a victory of sorts. Teri pulled the plug after the first lap. Turns out, she came down with the same bug that I did later that night. Meanwhile, Christie stayed in it & fought shifting issues all the way to the finish. They were both down on themselves, but they need to remember, it’s early & we have a long season ahead…

Evolution

You've Got Nothing on Jon Krakauer

I’m ashamed to say I don’t read much, but on a whim, Denise bought me Into Thin Air as a Christmas gift. I immediately got hooked & finished it quick. Many people I know have already read it (the book is almost 10 years old), but if you haven’t picked it up, I strongly recommend it. It will make a lot of your life problems seem petty – I guarantee it. I only had to read half the book before I removed “Climb Mt. Everest” from my list of life-long goals, which probably just should have said something like, “Make Denise a widow,” or “Die a slow, cold, painful death.” Suffering has a whole new meaning to me now.

Back on the Bike
The doctor said, “Ride, but take it easy,” so on Saturday I took it easy. Until a group went up the road & I proceeded to bridge to it. From there on out it was full throttle, on the front, taking pulls, burning one antibiotic laced match after another. I finally ran out of matches on Victoria about 2 K’s from the finish so I “took it easy” & sat up. Despite my efforts, the sum of it all is that I felt sluggish & slow. Needless to say, I didn’t race on Sunday even though the peer pressure factor was high. I figured why go sit in or put in half-ass efforts for Padilla, Turner, Norm, Zack & the likes, when I should still be taking it easy. Instead I put in a solid 4 hours of lonesome riding trying to sort out my head, gain back a little strength & endurance. I think I made the right choice.

I’m probably making the wrong choice today by riding in the midst of mist & on-coming rain storm…

I'm Sick. Again.

Here's the deal; my last post mysteriously disappeared. What the hell? Oh, well. Someone told me it was too long & wordy anyway. I'll dumb this post down as much as possible with pictures & simple sentences.

And as the title of this post states, I am sick again. It's a nose, ear & throat deal that I got while in Woodstock, IL. - 7 degree temps & late night press checks didn't help out any. And neither did the ride in the rain that Trevor, Templeman & I did on Sunday morning before I departed for Chi-town. Sunday was the last time I rode my bike. I was smart enough however to drive to urgent care as soon as I got home. The doctor hooked me up with some antibiotics, so I'm planning to be back on the bike by Saturday.

Anyway, without further ado, here's my dumbed-down photo blog...

Since I recently ordered the demolition of the Energy Drink/Santo De Vitamin B/Chris Roberts Shrine at work, I figured I’d snap a few photos of it first, to commerate its existance. Though magical, it was time to make room for a new radio.

The back story: There are a few people at work who actually beleive that they're getting some sort of nutritional value (specifically vitamin B) out of consuming mass quantities of energy drinks. They worship this crap, so we started an energy drink shrine for them to worship. Santo De Vitamin B was/is the shrine's mascot, if you will. I'm over it now.

On Saturday afternoon, Josh & I were able to get out & ride Crafton in between rain storms. The snow level was very low & Yikes (the single track seen above) was moist & in good shape. We made it back to my place just as the sky was opening up again.


In the last 6 weeks, I've spent a fair amount of time in Woodstock, IL on business. I hate business travel because it takes me out of my routine. My normal routine doesn't include scraping ice off windshields or driving fruity cars like the Chevy HHR. That's why I refused to drive the rental car & made Dave Coronado scrape the windshield. He was pretty good at it for a guy from Colton, CA. If I lived in place where the temps dropped below 0, I think I'd be a professional drinker or sleeper instead of a bicycle racer. It was wicked cold.


Finally our schedule let up enough that we were able to see some of Chicago before checking in at O'Hare. Coronado, Friztencarter & I toured the Field Museum a stone throw away from Soldier's Field & Lake Michigan. Our little field trip (no pun intended) wasn't exactly Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but it beat killing time eating biscuts & gravy at the Cracker Barrel

They don't have buildings this tall back home in Mentone. Thank God.

Sweet(ness). Sure, it's not Lambeau Field, but the way I see it - it's the next best thing. Later we cruised by Wrigley Field, but by that time, my batteries were dead. Oh well. Baseball sucks anyway.


Back at the Field Museum, I found this mobile Nifty Thrifty Honda 50 attached to a giant audio cassette storage case & radio. It was some sort of mobile boom box used in Africa.


The Lake Michigan side of Soldier's Field. No wonder it's so damn cold on that field. If a Bears kicker shanked a field goal hard enough, the ball could land in shallow end of Lake Michigan. The lake is that close.


Lake Michigan & the Chicago skyline. Impressive, yes, but I prefer the San Bernardino Mountains skyline.

That's that.

I can't wait to ride my bike...

I've Been Snowed In

This is what the last 3 weeks have been like.

Snow at O'Hare Airport

More snow at O'Hare.

Rock star. The guy at the printer was busy with another customer so he sent a limo.

Yeah, it was a limo, but it was the Loma Linda of limos. Dry as dirt.

Snow at the hotel.

Snow at the printer.

This guy has a Blackberry, but still uses an old-fashioned telephone.

I (second wheel to Amon Peace) sucked at Nelson's Landing Stage Race. I also sucked at Boulevard Road Race. Turns out, Pro1/2 is hard.

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.