R O A D I E
Well, I guess it’s official. I am a ROADIE. Funny how that word used to make me cringe and now and I fully ready to embrace it. I am a bike rider, in every sense of the meaning. Today, I headed on down to Surf City Cyclery and picked up their last pair of 2009 Specialized S-Works road shoes (okay there may be another pair hiding). These babies are sweet! I don’t know what Specialized was thinking adding patent leather to the 2010 model. Patent leather? Really guys? Anyway, to match up with the new shoes I picked up some Speedplay Zero pedals. After talking to a few people I came to the conclusion that the Speedplay pedal should feel much like the Crank Bros. Candy pedals I use on the mtb.
I am heading back to Mike McKovich at Max Performance Bike Fit on Monday to get fit to my Roubaix. I transfered the measurments from the fit I received on the Allez, but the new bike has a different geometry so getting fit again is a good idea. Going to have him setup the cleats for me so I am dialed in perfect. Can’t wait to feel the difference!
New tape
I was finally able to track down some grey/black Fizik bar tape for my Roubaix! Been trying to hunt this stuff down for a few months, apparently it’s a hot seller. Not much to report today just a couple pics of the bike. Oh, I haven’t been riding with a saddle bag lately so I opted to fill a water bottle with my tube, lever and tool. Need to get some small CO2 cartridges soon to go in there as well. When I don’t need two bottles of water this seems like it will be a good option.
VeloDramatic
Tonight while sitting at the computer NOT sleeping I ran into a wonderful website, VeloDramatic. Some of the best road cycling photography I have seen to date. He captures the passion of the sport better than most of us photogs. I spent about an hour navigating, reading and reviewing nearly his entire blog discovering incredible photos and in depth stories along the way. A few of his images of the Tour of California really captivated as did reading about his personal stories shooting the Tour de France. I pulled a few images from his site to share with you in hopes it will drive you to click HERE and visit his site. His site is definitely going on my links page. Enjoy…
Click below for more images…
SCC – Now in Costa Mesa
Surf City Cyclery has just opened their new store in Costa Mesa off 17th street. Chris, Jay and I headed over today on our lunch break to check out the new dig. Good friend John Biting is also now working there! The shop is loaded with a ton of Specialized goods and more. This should prove to be a successful location for Sean Flynn (Owner) with no other “worthy” bike shops in the area. Check out some pics.
Come on in
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3,291 miles and 274,552 feet
WOW. It doesn’t feel like I did all that! I just checked Ascent and realized those are my final numbers for 2009. More than double what I did in 2008. I am still kind of in shock. When I scanned back through the year I also discovered that many of my rides were missing. So, it looks like the real numbers would be a little higher. Bike riding has changed my life in so many ways. My health has improved drastically, I have met so many amazing people, I treat my body like a temple and not a trash can now and I have a much more positive view on life. I can’t thank everyone who has been on this amazing journey with me enough. Thank you for pushing me, encouraging me, picking me up when I fall, riding with me, teaching me and caring. I can only hope 2010 is just as much fun!
The bike that started it all. My old Stumpy.
Click below to see a before/after image of me… whew
Cruisin through Aliso
The gang took a leisurely cruise through Aliso Woods this morning for some fun and to show Eddie around. Eddie was in town and wanted to hit some dirt on his vacation. Figured a good spin around Aliso would be fun and break him in to a little SoCal flavor.
Chris always showing his love
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Moments of 2009
2009 is coming to a close and so is another iphoto folder. I snapped away over 10,000 pictures this year combined with work. My trusty iphone took over 1200 photos alone! This year has been both good and bad for me. My health is better than it has ever been, my family doing great and my riding is getting stronger. On a down note, work is getting dismal. 2009 has also been a year of many firsts for me as you will see below! I can only hope that the good parts of 2009 continue into 2010 and that things get better around the office.
I pulled some of my favorite shots from 2009 to share with you. These aren’t the best pictures because of their quality, they are simply fun moments that have stuck in my head. Hope you enjoy them as much I as enjoyed living each one. The photos are in no particular order.
Happy 2010!
I haven’t had a surprise birthday party since I was 18! Thanks guys!
Click below for the rest of the images
Video – Old Camp to Luge
Another video, this time it’s Craig cruising down from Old Camp into The Luge closely following Chris. Enjoy the HD goodness!
Video – Motorway
Here is the video from today. Shot on Chris’ GoPro HD camera mounted to his seatpost aiming back at me. Sweet!
Ocotillo – Great Success!
My vacation has been a great success so far. Have been spending time with my family, friends, offroading, biking, relaxing, ahhh so nice. Over the past weekend, I headed out to Ocotillo Wells, CA with Ryan, Jen, Jen’s Mom & Dad and a few others that showed up as well. Polaris was nice enough to loan me a 2010 RZR-S for the trip so I could join in the fun. Ryan’s new RZR-S was fresh out of the fab shop just in time for the run. The TIG welding is impeccable on it! We put in well over 200 miles on the trails, deep fried 2 turkeys, lit of fireworks, burned 3 Xmas trees, it was an amazing weekend…
Don’s very well equipped RZR-S modified by Rose Racing
Click below for the rest of the images
