Yesterday, I got my new wheels that I've been waiting about 3 days for. They're pretty much your run of the mill aluminum clincher wheelset, but for me they're a pretty significant upgrade because I seemingly try to find the shittiest, most bombed out wheels I can find to put on my bike. Witness the last two sets I've been racing on, in reverse chronological order:
1. Bontrager Race wheels (~$250 retail) with tires so thick and puncture resistant that you really only need to pump them up to about 20 psi to ride on them...
...which are a lot nicer than...
2. Rear 8 speed 105 hub, front mid 90s (that's 1990s) Deore XT hub with slotted out spoke holes, laced 3x to $40 rims with bladed spokes cut out from a warranteed wheel from work, which I rode for the longest time with a broken axle even though I just thought the front QR was bent which was why it was so hard to get it into the wheel.
There's a pretty big discussion about irony over on bikeportland.org and bikesnobnyc, so I guess I'm liking the idea of being ironic by putting crappy wheels on nice carbon bikes (I should point out that we're talking about Alanis-Morrisette-irony, not Ethan-Hawke-Reality-Bites-irony).
Along with my new wheels, I got something I'm even more excited about: a Dura Ace 10 speed 12-21 straight block cassette. Yeah, that's right, that's 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20- and 21. I really like how it looks. And since I choose my gearing for the day depending on my mood, I now have proper gearing for both "happy" and "morning mist".
Ok, that's a lot of talk about bikes. I'm also excited to read this book I got today, the Commons by Jonathon Franzen. Mostly because I like the Simpsons episode where Moe goes to a literature conference. Franzoooooooooooooone!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Bloggers win
Let's look at some of the results from this past weekend:
Cirque du Cycling
1. www.supersteveo.com
2. pgroblewski.blogspot.com
3. ???
4. ???
5. raceoregon.blogspot.com (not updated in a really long time)
Oregon state champs
1. ryantrebon.blog.com
See what I mean?
My performance on Saturday was pretty much what I expected for only having done one entry. After a few more weeks of writing (I mean riding) I promise I'll start showing up on the second page of results.
Lunch.
Who's excited for summer?
Cirque du Cycling
1. www.supersteveo.com
2. pgroblewski.blogspot.com
3. ???
4. ???
5. raceoregon.blogspot.com (not updated in a really long time)
Oregon state champs
1. ryantrebon.blog.com
See what I mean?
My performance on Saturday was pretty much what I expected for only having done one entry. After a few more weeks of writing (I mean riding) I promise I'll start showing up on the second page of results.
Lunch.
Who's excited for summer?
Saturday, June 14, 2008
First!
I'll do anything these days to procrastinate the ride. Like starting a blog.
Some people may know that I work with Shannon Skerritt, and he had a blog, and he is fast. The secret's out: I did all the writing on his blog. Yeah, sure, I got some ideas from him, but there wasn't a single word on there that he wrote. I was hoping that fake blogging would eventually lead to a job in fake news reporting, but it hasn't yet. Perhaps there's the intermediate step of real blogging? Also, it seems like a lot of fast bike riders out there have blogs. Is that the secret to being a good bike racer? I guess we'll find out.
Today's plan includes a ride (but first I have to fix my bike), then lounging around and hydrating until the Mississippi crit this evening. Then probably some dehydrating after that. The last race I did was on Mt. Tabor this past Wednesday. I only made it halfway through the race before I dropped out. But I didn't have a blog then, so if I make it through more than half the race tonight I'm chalking it up to the blog.
Some people may know that I work with Shannon Skerritt, and he had a blog, and he is fast. The secret's out: I did all the writing on his blog. Yeah, sure, I got some ideas from him, but there wasn't a single word on there that he wrote. I was hoping that fake blogging would eventually lead to a job in fake news reporting, but it hasn't yet. Perhaps there's the intermediate step of real blogging? Also, it seems like a lot of fast bike riders out there have blogs. Is that the secret to being a good bike racer? I guess we'll find out.
Today's plan includes a ride (but first I have to fix my bike), then lounging around and hydrating until the Mississippi crit this evening. Then probably some dehydrating after that. The last race I did was on Mt. Tabor this past Wednesday. I only made it halfway through the race before I dropped out. But I didn't have a blog then, so if I make it through more than half the race tonight I'm chalking it up to the blog.
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