Saturday Miscellaneous

1) Today is my wife's birthday. She's the cutest pregnant girl in San Diego at the moment. At 6 mos, she's very much starting to show, but she heads to the pool at the YMCA every morning and gets in a 1500 to 2000M swim nearly every day. We just got back from a nice lunch at Point Loma Seafoods and then a walk along the water in Point Loma, at the Cabrillo National Monument. We had some great clam chowder in sourdough and then walked and enjoyed the summer... I mean winter... sunshine. There's a pretty good surf swell coming through at the moment, so the view along the coast was pretty spectacular. She's beginning to enjoy life in San Diego, though she certainly misses home in Taiwan and her family. I'm blessed to have her here- something I do not take for granted.

2) I rode with the usual group of agitators on the Chili's Ride this morning. Unlike last week, rather than test my legs right from the beginning, I sat in the front group and stayed out of the wind instead of trying to get into the thick of things and go with attacks. Last week I was done in the first 40 minutes, so I wanted to relax this week and see if a week of riding would help me stay in things until the end.

I managed to stay out of trouble, for the most part, and was in the lead group over the first small "climb/ hill" through La Jolla Village. Once over that bump, I sat in and recovered until we hit the downhill into Sorrento Valley. Once on Sorrento Valley Rd, I was hanging on for dear life as the pace picked up and we went up the long incline before heading to Carroll Canyon. I managed to stay in the front group again, but it was by luck only. Once we hit the real hill of Carroll, I was shot out the back of the lead group and struggled to finish the climb in the top 20. Thankfully I had a minute to rest at the regroup spot before we headed along Mira Mar to Kearny Villa Rd. I started off a little further back than I like, but I was chatting with a guy who knew some friends of mine and was having fun before the fireworks started. Eventually, the entire Adams Avenue Bike Shop team hit the front and made life harder for me. I managed to work my way back to the front again, sitting in nicely in the group and staying out of the wind. As we got closer to the final big sprint, the sprinter's instincts began to kick back in, like Pavlov's poor dogs hearing a bell, and I began sizing up the sprinters in the group- looking for my free ride to the finish. As we got really close, I was sitting nicely and my senses were in "go mode". The move came with a jump of acceleration on the front, just two wheels ahead of me and then it happened... I nailed the deep, sharp-edged pothole that the rider in front of me dodged with a very loud "thwack". It sounded like I broke the frame! But no "pop" of the tires, so I thought I was safe and jumped back on the wheel ahead after a quick glance at my wheels. I wound it up and was feeling like I might even have a chance sitting in third wheel of the train... and then I could hear the sound of aluminum rim on asphalt as the front tire finally went flat after the pothole.

With the wheel totally flat, I pulled off to the left to the center median and let the group go by... quietly cursing my bad luck. I'd flatted in nearly the same spot from a piece of glass about a year earlier, with a similarly good shot at the sprint. As they say in France, c'est la vie. Fortunately, James- a rider with the Jamba Juice team and truly nice guy- stopped to make sure I had all I needed for the flat and to keep me from riding alone. I fixed the front flat and we thought we were ready to roll away... until I noticed the rear tire was now also flat! DOUBLE PINCH FLATS! That sucks! Since I was not out of tubes, James gave me one of his and saved me from having to walk the 10 miles home or call for a ride. Needless to say, I was very grateful he stopped. We finished up the ride and stopped by Adams Ave- I bought 2 tubes and a patch kit, giving one of the tubes back to James.

In the end, outside of the flats, it was an excellent ride and I was super happy to have been in the heat of the sprint before flatting. I don't know if I had the power to finish it off, but considering that I was so shelled out last week, it was a moral victory to even be trying to sprint!

Ride stats; 2:05:16, 18.7av/43.1mx MPH39.16mi, 72av/ 122mx RPM, 146av/ 183mx HR. Started morning at 208lbs (ugh...) and came home at 206.8... still way too heavy (fat), but getting better than the 215 I allowed myself to balloon back up to.

3) This weekend is also my team's mini training camp in LA at team HQ. Due to work issues, I wasn't able to attend this weekend's camp, but I'll be there in February (I hope) for the second mini camp and a chance to meet the team and hopefully offer guidance to some of our younger riders. Team Becher+ has been my home for the past 4+ years and I am very happy to be part of such a great group. Have a great camp guys and gals!

Heading to my wife's birthday dinner at my mom's very soon, so I'll see you kids later; don't spill anything on the rug while I'm gone. NO POPCORN ON THE COUCH!!

Tim

Her maiden voyage...

Today, the Masidaughter was feeling much better. Her fever has been gone since about Saturday afternoon and all that time confined to being indoors with Daddy was too much for her (and Daddy), so we headed out the door and got her a new helmet and gloves from my good friends at Adams Avenue. Once home, I finally got Kate's new Adams Trail-A-Bike built and ready to ride! My good friends (and distributor of Masi in Canada) at Norco helped me acquire the new bike for my li'l punkin'.

She was happy!

And so was Daddy.

She liked going fast once she got used to the feeling of riding without training wheels... though some might state that I should still have training wheels... but those people should hush...

We rode around the neighborhood for just about an hour to help her get used to the feeling of riding with me. It is my hope that this will serve as an introduction to the sense of balance of riding on two (three, actually) wheels. Then she'll have an easier time riding her own bike without training wheels and she'll have the added benefit of having the understanding of riding among cars and won't have that as a fear... I hope.

Regardless, it was fun and it made my heart beat a little faster... and not just from the added workout of lugging her weight and the trail-a-bike weight around. My son had one when he was much younger too, so it was trip down happy memory lane.

Ride on!

Tim

Getting better...

The weather has been cooperating and now the fires are beginning to lose the battle against the firefighters. Thanks to increased humidity, calm winds, firefighting aircraft and a little luck, things are getting better.

The sunset on Thursday was still a bit spooky...

... but the sunset Friday was a lot more like normal.

Once again, I got out for a ride Friday night on the Fixed. It felt great to get out again and spin the legs, even though they were feeling pretty beat from a solid week of hard riding. It's been a while since I've done sprint workouts... and my legs can tell.

This morning I got out on the local group ride. Well, I went TO the group ride and then found my good buddy, Andrew Lee- he's the owner of one of my favorite little bike shops- Adams Avenue Bicycles.

(File photo)

Andrew and I peeled off and rode at our own pace, which was just fine with me since I was on the Fixed and the group would have blown my legs to shreds today. It was good to get out and have a great time hanging out with a friend I don't get to see enough of. Since we were riding at our own pace, we got to be conversational and just be two bike nerds talking about bikes and the business. It was fun.

Conveniently for me (and my poor groin), I will be in Tokyo the night of the Adams Avenue Anniversary party- this will be the fourth one and the first one I've missed. I'll be thinking of them all having a blast while I'm in Tokyo (having a blast).

In the end, not a bad day.

Tim

I'm a ramblin, ramblin, ramblin, ramblin, ramblin man...

It's been a while since I've cut loose with a full-on ramblin' post. So go grab a beer, or other bevvy of choice, and hang on...

Ivan Basso- You have got to be kidding me! No... really! "I know it's hard to believe, but trust me- all my previous wins were done clean... I was going to cheat with all that blood... but I got caught before I actually cheated. I know it was wrong, but..." (Not an actual quote, so please don't come suing my broke bike nerd ass.) Seriously? Really? On top of it, Bruyneel says that he's really disappointed that Basso lied to him. Umm... really? No sh@t Sherlock! I am trying to believe that he/ Discovery didn't know what the outcome would be if the investigation in the Puerto case continued... but I'm having a really hard time. No... really, I am.

Floyd Landis- Floyd's arbitration hearing has gone from pretty good, to ok, to not so good, to downright freakin bizarre. Now-former manager Will Geoghegan makes incredibly stupid phone call to Greg LeMond to try and intimidate him the night before he is to take the stand as a witness for the other side. Ok... that alone is one of the stupidest things I think I have ever heard. Really, this puts him in a league of nearly his own on the jackass/ idiot lists. What a dumbass! But... poor Floyd... I love you brother and want to believe the very best about you... but how do you not fire the asshole the second you know he did something so stupid? You find out what he did, just minutes/ few hours after the fact and then you don't do anything about it and try to hope it just goes away? Really? Man, that was a bad, bad move. Prior to this bombshell, I was totally in the "I am waiting for the evidence" camp. Now, I am terribly frightened for Floyd. Even if he is innocent of the doping charges, it is safe to say that his days of racing are likely over. With this ugly circus, which many believed would highlight a shitty anti- doping system, what team would want to sign him? This really does screw Floyd's chances pretty badly. Unless the anti-doping folks do something even dumber (dumberest), there's pretty much nothing to do but wish Floyd a great post-cycling career. Like I said, I love ya' buddy... but, man, that was a pretty stupid thing. That said, I'll still happily buy you a beer if I ever get the chance.

Thursday was the bike industry bike to work Industry Cup Challenge- sponsored by Specialized. Haro had it's best turn out yet, with 17-18 of 26 employees riding in to the office. Me, I rode in and back myself. First time since I've been with the company too... since I live 40 miles from work. So my commute was a whopping 80 miles. Heck, I used to ride 80 miles a day nearly every day when I was seriously racing, but those days are long since gone. I was riding super strong, for me, on the way in to work- making it in less than 2 hours (and that's with all the lights and stops). However, the ride home was a totally different story... taking me more like 2 hours and just shy of 45 minutes. I bonked, blew up, cramped, fell apart at the seams and generally stunk to high hell. It was almost laughable, except that I could find the energy to make any noise. There is one good climb on the way home (Torrey Pines, for you locals) and I was nearly swerving up the hill in the bike lane. I love the climb too- it's one of my favorites- but my legs were simply ca-flooey. I saw the Care Bears, Smokey the Bear and that duck from the Aflac commercials. One of them, I'm not sure which because I was totally hallucinating at the time, encouraged me to keep pushing on the pedals so I wouldn't fall over and have the little old lady on the old touring bike run over me. Thanks for the words of inspiration, who ever you were/ are. All that whining aside, I'd love to find a way to do that more often than every 2+ years. It's actually a really great ride and I have always had a soft spot for early morning rides. All those years of hard training early in the morning made a mark on me.

As much as it freaks me out to admit, it is time to create the next Masi catalog. I've already begun putting some ideas down. I'm sketching out what and how I want to say all the things that will hopefully entice all of you who have not already purchased a Masi to realize that you simply must have one. (You know you want one... or a new one.) If you've got great ideas, suggestions, requests, or whatnot... lemme know. Let me just say that you are going to like what you see... I promise. Really.

A&F Pro Development team- I love my team! These guys just keep rocking! Not only did Mark Hekman win Athens Twilight, but he held on to win the overall for the Southeast Crits race series. Sweet! I mean... super sweet! These guys then went on to roll strong at the Joe Martin stage race. Mark finished a very respectable 18th overall- not bad for a guy who is a crit specialist. The team rode strong in support of Mark, since he is clearly on a roll. It isn't a win, but it is another strong performance from a team that keeps on fighting it out with the biggest domestic teams in the US. Way to go guys!

Saturday afternoon I got out for a little ride. Just an hour to spin the legs loose after a hard Thursday. I didn't ride on Friday because I had a very super top secret meeting with Shimano. I could tell you, but... you know the drill. Special warm and fuzzy thanks to our man Daniel and his Shimano credit card... sushi is so yummy. I guess this makes me something of a whore, since our very good friend from SRAM, Brian Billington, visited just the week before and went for a ride with us and then went to lunch with us. Jeesh... I guess I am a slut. Anyway, to my point... on my ride, I stopped by Adams Avenue Bicycles to visit with my good friend Andrew Lee. Andrew and all the guys at Adams are just amazing guys. I love'em... in a totally normal, bike nerd way.


Andrew and his crew are some of the finest mechanics around this town, which is part of why I stopped by to see them. I had a technical issue to ask them about my drivetrain- for some reason, no matter what I do, the chain skips on the 11t cog. It never skips anywhere else. The shifting is totally perfect on every other gear. No skips, no nothing. The lockring for the cassette is the proper one for an 11t cassette, so the chain isn't hitting that. If you shift up the cogset slightly, you can see grease marks on the integrated spacer for the cog, indicating that the chain side plates are hitting the spacer. It is a general theory that this is why the chain is skipping- if I apply hard pedaling force, the chain slips over the 11t cog, as if the chain isn't grabbing the teeth. It's weird... excluding Daniel and Brian, anybody got any ideas? The cogset, though a few years old, has only seen a few rides and the 11t is nearly virgin since I haven't been able to ride in it. You guys at Campy got any ideas?

Ok... I think I'm done for now. Maybe...