First Long Ride of tjhe Spring!

The stars were finally properly aligned, no snow, rain, or crazy cold weather. So Scott, Bill, and I finally got out and got in a long ride. First the plan was to go South but a am weather check found the wind to be out of the north. Now that's not good as a north wind is a cold wind. Overall it wasn't too bad, it was 48 degrees with a brisk north wind. We rode up to Leavenworth and stopped by the pen to see if we could see Michael Vick and get his autograph. The gate was open but I couldn't get Scott or Bill to go inside. They kept saying something about the gate closing and getting stuck inside all dressed up in lycra.



The ride itself was painfull at best. I ended up cramping and riding painfully slow just to get back into town. At least Scott and Bill were riding well so we survived. 80 hilly miles in 5 hours had me completely crushed. Oh well....I just need to keep doing a few more of these rides and I should be ok.

STU part 2

Well............I'm back and not a day too soon. I told Sean that this was the first time that I couldn't wait to leave Colorado. Usually I'm super bummed to be heading back to the flatlands but after being sick all week it was time to leave. I took a few pictures with my phone since I left my camera at home so I'll have to post them up.

I wish I took a better one of a Team Fisher poster starring Cam. I bet he didn't know he was up on the Sram hall of fame. My other fav picture is the shot of Pikes Peak from outside our hotel window. Just a bit frustrating to be so close to the mountains and not be able to ride. Not that I could ride since I ended up bringing the wrong shoes to go with the bike! Never decide to switch bike at the last minute after you packed your clothes the night before.

School itself was awsome and totally worth the time spent. I may not be super fast at overhauling forks but I have no problem digging right in. Speed will come the more we work on the forks.

Now it's time to pry the Wii controller out of Jonas's hands. Nancy's gone for the weekend and since I'm still sick I've been too lazy to get out of the house.

TP

STU

I'm out in Colorado Springs at the Sram STU school for a few days. Day 1 was pretty cool, we went over Sram road groups and Avid Brakes. Half the day was class room and then the rest hands on disassembly and reassembly of a number of parts. It's nice to learn about some the tricks to service some of these parts. I'm less than psyched about the fact that I'm sick as a dog and it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon. Bummer #2 is the fact that I brought a bike to ride, but I brought the wrong shoes to ride it. So now I have MTB shoes and road pedals. Oh well...... I feel like someones sitting on my chest anyway.

More from day 2 at school later today.

Nice day for a MTB ride

I finally talked myself into a MTB ride. The last two times I went out on the MTB I ended up injured. To top it off both times were right before big cross races. Needless to say I've been a bit spooked to even try to ride when I thought there was any chance I might fall. But, I finally couldn't take the trainer anymore so I called Scott up and we headed out to Shawnee Mission Park.

We got in 4 good laps before the trails started to get a little slick and we decided to call it a day. We ran into a few other guys that we knew and ended up with a group of 4. Jim Cummings and John Tunaken made up the other two. John is an old friend from 20yrs ago when I still lived in Omahaand now he lives in KC. Nice to see him still riding.

So now I've got to start packing for a trip to SRAM School in Colorado Springs. I should be fun to learn all about all of the new components that they have and I definitely need a refresher on fork and shock overhauls. Sean and I will have lot's O' photos when we return. Till then............

Then again, maybe not!

Just when I thought I would have some time to ride...........I get an e-mail about SRAM school. Oh well, you can't lose fitness when you don't have it to begin with. On a related note, I just saw that ASO isn't going to let Astana ride any of their races. What a bummer for that whole crew. It will be interesting to see how that whole situation turns out.

"Amaury Sport Organization, the company that owns the Tour de France announced Wednesday that the Astana team of defending champion Alberto Contador will not be invited to compete in that race or in any other event it organizes in 2008.
In a statement citing "the damage caused by this team to the Tour de France and cycling in general, as much in 2006 as 2007," ASO noted it would be inappropriate to allow the team to compete despite a complete shake-up of team management and significant changes on the squad’s roster.
With Contador and American Levi Leipheimer on Astana, the team includes two podium finishers from last year’s Tour. Also affected is Germany's Andreas Klöden. All three men were widely viewed as race favorites. "

For me I'm more into following the Slipstream crew but I'll allways cheer for Levi and Horner.

Hmmmmmmmm....this picture just makes me feel warm.

Anywhere but here!

WOW! Look at those pasty white Legs!
Yeah, I know. As the title and picture state, I'd rather be racing cross than looking out the window at a 20 degree day in February. Why is it that I can get up for a race when it's freezing but you can't drag me outside to ride when it's below 32 degrees. Now maybe it's because it was 70 just a week ago and I went riding in shorts!

I also made it out for an attempted ride to Leavenworth. My usual route takes me past Wyandotte Co Lake but I soon found out that they don't even plow the roads around the lake. Makes sense, it's so hilly I'm sure that would spend tons of time pulling cars out of the trees. I did take some pictures of the climb up to the entrance to the park.

Yep, and it keeps on going. It's just a warm-up to the lap around the lake. Oh well, maybe in a week or two.

For now it's back to home life, the new car has been bought, the Pinewood Derby cars are all most done, and both kids should be healthy in a day or so. Heck I may even get to ride.