brickhouseracing

It’s finally complete…

The headset will be here tomorrow

‘Til then…

Blue T16 sporting some SRAM Red and Zipp carbon fiber components.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Photos to follow

Danny- I feel your pain!

Danny Pate and three other riders had a successful breakaway in yesterday’s stage 15 of The Tour (first Alps stage so far w/2 huge climbs). As they approached the finish line, the Credit Agricole rider (Simon Gerrans), who was almost dropped at the bottom of the finishing climb, attacked and won the stage. Danny ended up in 3rd place- still an awesome feat of riding strength, right?

Not in Danny’s opinion!

In a post race interview, his disappointment was obvious (even though he was trying very hard to act slightly happy about his placing). He looked as if he were on the verge of tears. He and the riders had a heroic breakaway, and he was upset that he didn’t win. Most people would be thinking “WTF”? You won 3rd in a hard stage in the freakin’ Tour de France!! What do you have to be disappointed about?
Well, Danny, I feel your pain! I’ve been there before- albeit on a “slightly” lower level of competition… We’re out there to win- not “do our best” and come in 3rd. You can come over & cry on my shoulder if you want, because I’ve felt the same way after several races, and I understand

I found out last week that Trek was holding a demo day at a nearby park. So, after Ryan and I got home from the Outdoors group ride, we grabbed some lunch and headed out. Last time I tried riding off-road, I ended up falling off of an over-tree ramp/platform and coming face to bark with said tree. I was convinced that my off-road skills were just bad, but I was riding a heavy, rigid-frame Univega MTB purchased sometime in the early 90’s…

Enter the Trek Fuel EX-

Hey- I was curious to find out just how much of my bad off-road skills were due to a pretty crappy bike, so I asked which one of the many they had out there was the best. Ryan tried out a full suspension Gary Fisher 29er, and we headed out on the 6 mile Herb Parson’s Lake loop. Before we left, the woman at the demo trailer let me know that “this trail doesn’t do this bike justice”

Well, I don’t think I really did the bike justice because I chickened out more than once with log/bridge crossings, but what I DID realize was that (chickening out aside) I’m not that bad of an off road rider. I could definitely get more skilled with a decent bike. Riding off road really appeals to my ADD personality, so I’ll probably end up getting one for winter training/general shenanigans. Will it be a top of the line carbon rig? We’ll have to see about that…

I’ve been riding for about two years now, and I’ve never really felt the need to seek out very long rides, though I’ve done a couple of solo and group 70-75 milers without too much of a problem. Today I went out with the RB’s cyclery B group (which now includes other racers who are looking for a long, slow base ride). I swear that Ryan and I started that trend…

So Rod, the shop owner/ride leader mapped out a 75 mile route (he’s trying to help people prep for the upcoming MS150 ride). We rode to/from the ride and ended up clocking 87.5 miles- making today’s venture my longest one yet. Other than having a sore backside, I felt good at the end.

306 miles this week, and I feel better than I have in a long time! Time for another 75 miler tomorrow

P.S. I also found out today that David Lacek, a well-respected local, also has weapons-grade sweat. We talked about how to deal with it until he got tired of the sketchiness of the group and took off on his own. I don’t feel so bad now.

I like riding my bike in the heat. It suits me because I sweat like crazy. There’s only one problem…

My sweat makes stuff rust. Casualties of summer so far…

Bottle cage and brake caliper bolts
Headset bearings/races
Brake/shifter cables inside the housings
Worst yet… parts of my bottom bracket

Luckily, I caught the BB before any permanent damage set in (not the case with my headset, which I had to replace). Good thing, because it’s one of the badass ceramic bearing GXPs that came with my SRAM Red group. Looks like I’ve got a long summer of lubing/greasing ahead of me…

…and I feel good

After trying to race hard/recover for 3 weeks then  traveling for a couple more, I was feeling a bit out of form. So, I’m skipping the race in Huntsville to train & prepare for the last part of the season. The state TT is in a little less than two weeks, but I’ll most likely train through it so that I can be fully prepped for the state RR on August 2nd and the BMW Omnium (River Gorge) later in the month.

Right now, I love training. I’m so happy to be back into it after spending so much time taking it easy between races & travel, etc. I rode a hard 70 miles Sunday & an easy 62 yesterday, and, although both rides revealed some weaknesses brought about by the last month’s activities, I’m looking forward to working on them.

See you at the races!

New blog of awesomeness… Joe Daddio

Visit and see the greatness of Joe’s beard. You can read his training stories & stuff, too.

A preview:

Ryan and I made the 17 hour drive from Marquette yesterday & got home around midnight. Now, I’m packed up & ready to head off to the NSCA’s National Conference in Vegas to present my thesis data. I’ll be glad to get home on Saturday. In light of my recent race performances, I may end up not going to the Huntsville race on the 19th so I can prepare for the State TT Championship later in the month (as well as the remainder of the season!)

It’ll be a few days before I post again- in the meantime, if you’re bored with my blog, take a look at some of the links or go back to some earlier posts. Who knows- you might find something interesting… I’ve got some other good photos from my WI/MI trip to post. I’ll do it sometime in the next week once I get settled back in