Bad day on my bike but it didn't last very long

I was planning a 40-50 mile ride with lots of hills in sunny 88 degree weather. It was gonna be a great ride. 7 miles in I hear sudden hissing and then flat. My front tire is flat but I'm undeterred. I fixed the flat and I was getting ready to go again and flat again. Not my fault, bad/cheap tube came prepunctured:( Left me sitting beside the road calling for the neutral support vehicle
(aka: corolla with my brother at the wheel) to come pick me up. Lucky for me he was home and willing to come get me:)
I'll try to do better tomorrow.

My dream bike is finally here

Today after months of procrastination I finally built up my dream bike, well almost. Last weekend I decided that since I will be riding my Florida bike for a while longer I should build it up with the usable parts from by Six13. So that was my mission for today. It was a pretty easy switch out since I wasn't changing most of the stuff. First I removed the rear deraileur pulleys from my destroyed DA deraileur on my Six13 and transplanted them onto the 9 speed ultegra deraileur that I have on my FL bike. Next I transplanted the handlebar/stem/shifters in their entirty from the Six13 to the FL bike. Finally I switched the Easton wheelset on my FL bike with the Ksyrium SL wheelset from my cross bike. Now I have my Cannondale Caad7 frameset built up with DA 10 shifters, 9 speed RD with 10 speed pulleys, 105 9 speed FD, and of course Cdale Hollowgram crankset and Ksyrium SL wheels. This is truely my dream bike. I'll add the SRM in the coming days and it will truely be a killer machine.

Oh yeah, I also stole the headset from my Six13 and replaced the Campy Hiddenset that came on the frame and was now completely trashed.

Amazing ride, amazing bike.

I can't wait to pick up a BB30 caad9 and Supersix later this year:)

Two Race Weekend

Friday night was the we toed the line for the 25 mile Washington Blvd track TT. The sky turned black several minutes before the start and the rain started to fall several minutes later. I felt surprisingly good, having only ridden my TT bike twice since the state ITT 3 weeks ago. I thought the track record was within my grasp but ended up falling 4 seconds short with a time of 0:54:25. The worst part of this was that I thought the record was 0:54:3? so I thought I may have beaten it by several seconds. Maybe next time. It won't be this year because I have to work the next time this TT is happening in a few weeks:(
Saturday was the Shannock Valley MTB race. I have a real soft spot for this race. Mostly because strength is placed at a premium and MTB skills are a distant second place. I showed up late at the start line and had to line up at the far back of the field (Bruce and Sheila) can attest to this. The race started out on a road section before hitting the first climb which always seems to go on forever. Between the two of these I was able to pick my way through most of the field and enter the single track in 22-25 place. I passed a couple more riders in the first section of single track and on the next up hill section. Then I held my position for a long time with no one passing me and only one guy on a single speed in front of me (he seemed to never get closer or further away). Later on in the race I was finally passed by one guy but I stuck close to his wheel and over took him on the final uphill section and then blew him away on the final downhill section of single track and then the short road section to the finish. I knew I had to pass him because at one of the final checkpoints the guy was telling everyone what position they were in and I was in 21st position so I had to kill my self to make that final pass to break the top 20. It's possible that I could have caught the guy infront of me (single speed guy) on the final road section but I thought it would be wrong to pass him at that point after he beat me up the entire course with only one gear. If the state ever starts to pay me again I may start a fund to buy some of these single speed guys bikes with gears. That can't be fun:) I ended up in 20th position overall and 6th in my age group.

A special thanks to , my great friend, Rich Seevers for letting me crash at his place for the weekend and cooking me lunch today:) Hopefully he will soon have to change his name from Afib Rider back to Rocket Rich and finally be able to train and race again.

Any can train...........

"Anyone can train when they feel like it, champions train when they don't." This is how I felt yesterday. I wanted to stay home and sleep but decided to get out for a ride anyway. I thought I'd feel better within a mile or so after leaving home and I did. Hopefully today will feel better:)

Who needs two 65 inch TVs anyhow?

I've been asked this question many times and the answer is "ME".
"Why?" You ask.
Because when one of them decides to blow a picture tube virtually making itself into an instant radio the day before the opening time trial of the Tour de France you need to have a back up.

Happy 4th of July!

Just returned from my ride and getting ready to watch the TdF. I was absolutely flying today. Sunny and 76* will do that for me. 46 miles at 19.5mph on my road bike. It wasn't flat either. It was through the hills of Michaux over to Shippensburg and back. A good hard ride on a georgous day. Happy Birthday America:)