Wednesday, August 30, 2006

I'm back! (and jetlagged...)

I just flew in from Rome and boy are my arms tired...

Yeah, I know, stupid joke. You'll have to live with it though because my brain is still totally fried from the long travel, the delays caused by new security measures, the jetlag and the hiking my ass around Italy and Ireland every day!

Three weeks off the bike is too damned long, but if it weren't for the insane amount of walking I did, I'd be even further out of shape. Mostly I'm just damned tired. I rode yesterday and today at lunch for the first time in nearly three weeks and the legs didn't feel as bad as I feared, but the lungs sure did. I have been gasping for air on both of my rides and the legs have been talking to me as if the lungs were asleep, "hey, we feel fine, where the hell is the oxygen?" It has been pretty ugly. On top of the lack of lung fitness, all that traveling exposed me to the usual crawly crud and now I have a mild cold and feel "icky". I think it is already backing down though, so hopefully I'll be getting back to the fitness I had before I left within another week. I hope anyway, since I leave for Canada again on the 9th of September. Really looking forward to seeing all of my friends in Canada again.

I returned to the office to a crazy amount of email since I didn't travel with my computer and didn't check my email while away. Fortunately, over half was spam/ junk, so I have been getting slowly caught up with a bit of it. Please note: if you sent an inquiry to Masi through our company website, I will reply to you as soon as I possibly can. I still have about 100 website emails to answer, but I'm working on them. Sorry for the delay in getting your inquiry handled.

Speaking of the company website, the new product will be updated to the site soon. The "skin" of the site will remain the same, with a few cosmetic and feature changes, but it will remain mostly the same since it still looks really good. The new bikes will be up soon so that you can change the lusty images in your bike porn filled day dreams...

Speaking of bike porn, here's a little something to get your motor running;
Meet the long awaited and much ballyhooed (by me of course) new Masi cyclocross bike... the CXR.

It's the sexiest cross bike for the year. It's so purdy, looking at it is a near religious experience. I've seen it reduce grown men to tears. While in Rome, the Pope told me he thought it was the best cross bike he'd ever seen (the Pope is a huge 'cross fan). In other words... you're going to want one.

Ritchey cross crank and tires, 105 10 speed shifting and Ultegra rear derailleur, aluminum frame with carbon cross fork, Avid cantilever brakes (to stay UCI legal) and fo-sho, real-deal cyclocross race frame; top routed cables, cable pulley/ cam for front derailleur, barrel adjusters on the frame to adjust brakes and front derailleur cables. Essentially, a bad ass cross bike.

Let the worshipping begin...

Tim

13 comments:

dan23dan23 said...

Tim major props on the Cross bike. You should look into having the Pope bless your Cross bike, then you could run the advertisement catch phrase; "Ride yourself to health and salvation" on your new Masi Cross bike - as seen on TV being blessed by the Pope.

Any who, I think you should do it no matter the cost.

You did forget one huge thing on that bike... The killer Shimano wheels!

Donna Tocci said...

The sales guys in our office swear by the Airborne stuff for colds. I think they may have stock in the company they buy so much. But, they are rarely sick. You might want to check into that before getting on a plane again.

Nice touch sending a message out to the folks who sent emails via the website. That's nice customer service. Good goin'

Anonymous said...

You know, that's about as sleek as cross bike can get, Tim. Love the straight fork touch. Tough and sleek looking at the same time.

Anonymous said...

Tim, funny how things link up. I've recently become enamoured again with cycling and had the VHS tape of Breaking Away, a movie that had a strong impact on me when I first saw it in the 80's and has never left me. I finally had some time to view it last night and saw the name on his bike and started researching it today. Lo and behold you have a blog with mention of it and even got a bike. I still need to read more of your blog but would love to pick your brain at some point on learning more about road bikes.

Tim Jackson said...

Nostromo...

Glad to hear from you. Honestly. Send a question any time. That's what I live for!

Thank you for stopping by and please keep on coming back.

Anonymous said...

Psssst! Tim. Come over here. You know Hek and I are dying to test that cross rig out for you. Looks like nice work on the specs.

Anonymous said...

Dang gon Tim,
That is a sweet cross bike!!! Man you can really pull stuff together fast. I remember this spring when you were talking about the design.
I like the black paint job and the straight fork. It is just beautiful!!!!....almost as beautiful as the bikes we raced on this summer.

Anonymous said...

Tim - Welcome back. Glad you had a great time .. even without your bike:-)

Yokota Fritz said...

That is a beauty of a cross bike! If the Pope blesses it, will the "new" Masi haters change their ways (even if the Pope is German, but oh well).

Speaking of top-routed cables, why do many bike builders route them along the bottoms of the top tube? It gets in the way of frame pumps (for us dinosaurs who still carry frame pumps...)

Anonymous said...

cool cross bike....can i get in on the testing

Anonymous said...

Aewsome cross bike. Ditto on the offer if you need someone to test the bike for you. I will test daily on my commute to work. Any news on the A&F Challenge?

Tim Jackson said...

Matt,

The site will be updated with the pics and specs within a week or two. The only model currently available is the Alare (the least expensive model). All of the other models begin arriving in October and November.

Masiguy

Anonymous said...

"let the worship begin" - tim, I prostrate myself to you. you did an incredible job on the cross bike. you are to be applauded, lauded and exalted.