Chasing Points

I got a one page article and a front page photo published in Team Evergreen's Bike Beat Newsletter (The wife takes nice photos). It's a monthly newsletter that goes out to all Team Evergreen (TE) and Team Evergreen Racing (TER) members. I don't know the distrubution numbers but it's a respectable number, for a local cycling group.

As some of you know, I am currently the cyclocross director for TER. My intention for this article was to let people know about cyclocross (more importantly, get them to come out) and I figured the best to do it in the limited space was to tell my story from the past season. TE and TER are one of the largest, if not the largest, cycling groups in the front range. Unfortunaty we only have a small cyclocross group of about 5 riders. Hopefully this will grow our group... considerably... at least that the goal.

If not, I've been tring to network with other CX'ers in the area.

Check out the newsletter here, my article is on page 3.

Let me know what you think.

A little fun

Today was going to be a recovery day. But since it was the nicest day
of the year, so far, I had to get out. So I took the CX bike out and
hit some of the local trails. Including this BMX track... Oooh that
was fun. What an energizing ride.

Time machine..?

Wow! The stock market is down to what it was 12 years ago. Now that's progress! Twelve years of economic success, up in smoke. Tell me... where did all that money go? I know they've been printing it for the past twelve years. China? The middle East? Are people hording it under their beds?

Now that the government has a couple of bailout/stimulus packages, they're going to reduce the deficit. People across America have been discovering the limits to living on credit. I'm glad some of those folks work in the government. Now they know what most people already knew, bad things happen when you spend more than you make. Oh wait, that's what the bailout is for, if you haven't played by the rules you get a pass because the economy needs you to keep breaking the rules. Hmmm... is that fixing it or just pushing the reset button?

On a lighter note, I did get married 12 years ago. While life hasn't been perfect, that part has been pretty enjoyable. So, I think I'll go home and hug and kiss the family, because in the end its the only thing that really matters.

Lookout..

I made my first trip over to Lookout Mountain. This little gem isn't too far away and I've been using it to gauge my fitness for a couple of years. I didn't pushing things too hard but looking at the data after the ride, things are right on target if not a little ahead. In my quest to improve, its good news.

The ride started out a little cold but I wanted to get out early. I was on tap for Daddy time this afternoon.

Lots of folks out enjoying the day. The most I've seen this year. I have been surprised by the number of people riding on the road without helmets. As far as I am concerned, its their thing but I have blown out a helmet and walked away, making me a believer.

No pictures, the camera is still at my parents but the route is below. 4300 ft of elevation gain and 57 miles total. This time I went up lookout then down grapevine, I think next time I would go up from Morison to grapevine, its a nice quiet road but has a lot of gravel and dirt.

On a side note, I got a twitter account. You can see some of my posts on the left side of this page. Its been fun to play with. Still trying to figure it out. Check me out if you have an account.

I'm not watching the weather any more....

I have a new tool that is 100% accurate. If the weather folks here used it, it would improved their accuracy.

The Weather Rock

"dry rock means fair weather.
a wet rock means it's raining.
a dusty rock means a dust storm.
a swaying rock means it's windy.
a shadow under the rock means it's sunny.
a white rock means it's snowing.
if the rock is jumping up and down, an
earthquake is upon us.
if the bottom of the rock is under water it's a
flood."

Cycling Shorts… Part 3 – Sizing

Part 1

Part 2

Another area people believe they need to cut corners is in short sizing. They don’t want them to be too tight so the temptation is to get something too big. Can you get a short that’s too big? Why yes you can! Some places were you would notice a short/bib that is too big is in the waste, leg grippers or that sagging in the butt (just waiting to get hung up on the saddle).

A properly fitting short will be supportive of your muscles. After wearing them for a couple of hours you should have lines on your skin where the seams where located. Some manufactures are moving to “flat lock stitching” to eliminate those seams.

A final reason to ensure a correct fit…. It will keep the chamois in the proper location. No short will be comfortable if everything is sloshing around down there.

Blog

I came across an interesting article today concerning social networking. It's interesting because I have been quietly chewing on what I want to get out of this blog. While I originally put this blog together to just tell stories about bicycling, it's "collected" more than that.

This made me wonder if I had the proper outlet for my .... stories. I was wondering about Facebook but I'm really not looking to get back in touch with long lost friends. I am more interested in keeping and maintaining the friends I have. Before they become long and lost. I was looking for a way to keep in touch with people and meet others that have similar interests.

So far I don't think the stories suck (at least no one is complaining ... or reading).

Anyway, I think I'll keep posting about my interests (family and bicycling). - The family stuff will likely end up on the family blog. Maybe we'll get our camera back from my parents so we can add more photos.

Thanks for reading.

A get away..

It's in the books. A cycling/activity oriented get away. Melissa planned it all out. We are going to Moab this spring... No kids. We havn't done that in just over 4 years!

We both love Moab. Lots of outdoor activities! I love the mountain biking out there. She wants to do some road riding because last time we were there she road the slickrock practice loop and got a little freaked out. In all fairness this was just after Nate was born and she hadn't been on a bike in almost 2 years. Maybe this year? Maybe I'm pushing my luck.

More details when they become available.

New Chain

Last night I checked the chain on the bike, it was getting pretty close to needing a new one. After last year when I went a little too long, and had to replace my chain rings, I just bit the bullet and put on a new one. Today, the bike was riding great.

Got in a short lunch ride. So much warmer than yesterday, felt great to avoid all the extra clothing and really be able to feel the warmth of the sun.

Hope everyone had a great Presidents Day.

Down History Lane

We were in Loveland today for my sister-in-laws Birthday. After a giant helping of cake, I bundled up and hit the roads. I love riding up there. We used to live in Fort Collins; there are many roads, they have good shoulders and are generally quite. A great place to ride. After the ride it was back to the party.