Prolonging the Madness

Add Iberia To The Airline Blacklist

2009-01-08T18:04:00.002-05:00

Well, the remaining piece of lost luggage arrived tonight after 5 days of being missing. Irene was so happy to hear the delivery guy was on his way to the house with her suitcase. Unfortunately when we got the suitcase up to the apartment and had a look inside we're shocked and dismayed. Somewhere along the way, the suitcase had been opened. I put some zip ties on the zippers and usually they never get bothered, but in this case they were gone. There was no paper from the TSA, so we can assume it wasn't them who opened the suitcase. Immediately we could tell everything has been rummaged through because the album that Patty Peters gave us was on top and Irene had packed it on the bottom. Then we realized we had been robbed. Irene is missing at least 11 things that she bought as gifts (rings, bracelets, Christmas tree ornaments, wallets, etc.) and some clothes that weren't even new. Of the few things that I had in that suitcase, the Rolling Rock and Mt Hood Brewery pint glasses were stolen and the Stoudts Brewery American Pale Ale pint glass was broken. The only one that survived was the Pretzel City Brewery glass. I can't believe this has happened with all the times I've traveled and had lost luggage, I've never had anything stolen. From now on, I will not travel without some kind of extra trip insurance. I looked on eBay and there are a few original Rolling Rock pint glasses still out there. Mt Hood Brewery I think will be harder to get, but Irene won't be able to replace any of things she bought. What a terrible trip back, 10 hours waiting for a flights because of cancellations and delays (because of some stupid pseudo-strike there pilots are doing) and on top of that we get robbed. Merry F'ing Christmas.

Return of the Merlin

2008-10-18T09:56:00.002-04:00

I finally got the Merlin put back together this week. I sent it off at the end of July to have disc tabs welded on. They're on there but they are ugly has hell. I should have been a little more careful choosing the welder. Anyway, when I finally got it back, I did the Scotchbrite trick to refinish the frame and put new decals on it. Up close, the frame looks brand new. I don't have a very good pic of it yet, but for now this will have to do. I'll be putting the Merlin to use tomorrow in Cordoba.

Pyrenees!

2008-09-09T14:15:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted anything for a while because sometimes I just don't feel like spending the time to mess with this. However, I figured I should post something about my trip to the Pyrenees. About a week after I got back to Spain from being home in the US to visit, I got the opportunity to take off to the Pyrenees for 3 days of mountain biking. After having been there last year for a race, it was impossible to pass up the chance. I got the OK from the powers that be and off we went.

The rides we did were all rather similar, long fire road climbs with loads of singletrack at the top that finally bring you back down to the bottom. The first day we started with an 11km climb that took us up to about 2500m. The second day had less climbing and was somewhat more arid but it was an equally good day. We finished it off by riding a trail almost back to where we were staying. Finally, the 3rd day we added a bit to the end of the ride and did a 14km climb up to a glacial lake. On the way up (and down) we passed piles of hail from the storm the night before. The way back down was all singletrack and it was a blast.

It only took us about 12hrs to drive there, so I'm hoping it becomes something we do more often. Here are a few pics from the trip. A lot more can be seen here:

http://www.surmtb.com/GALLERYWEBAINSAGOSTO/index.html
http://picasaweb.google.es/victoraragon74/PirineosMTB2008

http://picasaweb.google.com/ircbike/ElPueyo

Cracked helmet

2008-08-13T11:27:00.008-04:00

While I was home, I had the pleasure/misfortune of riding the new trail at Govener Dick Park in Mt. Gretna. The trail is definitely interesting and adds some nice extra miles to the trail system there to say the least. It is also VERY challenging since it is so rocky. It is a trail you must come to know in order to ride well and even then I wonder how it will be. Since I was only home for such a short time I only got to ride it twice. On the first attempt I took a slow ride over the handlebar and even though I was able to get my hands out to break my fall, the momentum of it carried my head forward and smacked my head off a huge flat rock. The result of all of this was cracking my new Bell Sweep XC helmet. In 14 years of mountain biking I've never cracked a helmet (a good thing I would say), and now that I have I'm really happy with the job that it did. I had a slight headache the next day and that was about it. The other good thing is that Bell replaced it for $35 through their crash replacement program. Here's some pics of the helmet and the trails.

What's old is new again

2008-07-21T13:26:00.002-04:00

Or will be soon. The Merlin is all stripped down, boxed up and ready to go tomorrow off to Barcelona so it can have a disc brake tab welded to it. Once I get it back I'll be building it up with mostly parts that came off the Oiz with the exception of a new SID Team and Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes.

Recovering an old post

2008-07-07T11:30:00.002-04:00

This is post from last year on another blog project I had going that really never went anywhere. It's hard enough to keep this one going, let alone two. Plus, the Lebrija Team never really materialized. Anyway, I didn't want to loose record of this so I'm re-posting it here. Get your translators ready folks, it's in Spanish.

24 Horas

Hice MUCHO bici este fin de semana pasado. En total, 24 horas dando vueltas de un circuito de 12,4 millas (+/- 20km.). Hice 15 vueltas que son 300 km. Estas 15 vueltas fueron suficiente para terminar tercero de los 12 locos que decidimos afrontarlo solo.

¿A ver, por donde empiezo? Las carreras de 24 horas son como las carreras de coches de LeMans. Normalmente se hacen por equipos y lo más común es un equipo de 4 personas, aunque ahora tienen categorías de solo, duo, 4 (sea 4 hombres o 4 mujeres) y mixto (equipo de 5 que tiene al menos una mujer). Bueno, vuelvo a lo que estaba diciendo de las carreras de LeMans. Empieza con todos lo pilotos (en este caso ciclistas) corriendo a pie hasta los coches (bicis). Desde la salida tuvimos que correr entre 800m y 1km hasta las bicis.

Creo que en la salida yo fui el segundo de los “solos” para coger la bici pero poco después me pasó él favorito para ganar la carrera. En mi opinión iba demasiado rápido para intentar seguirle porque yo nunca había hecho esto y no quería ponerme malo en la primera hora. Sobre el km 3 en la segunda vuelta el eventual segundo puesto también me adelanto pero tampoco me preocupó mucho porque sabía que fue su primera “solo” sabía que había posibilidades que no iba a poder seguir con su ritmo.

Empecé la carrera con la 29er (o sea la bigfoot) y en principio iba bien. El recorrido fue bastante técnico y lleno de piedras. También la mayoría del recorrido fue singletrack. La carrera se celebró en una estación de esquiar en el oeste de Pennsylvania. Bueno, iba bien con la 29er pero sobre las 7 de la tarde de sábado (ya 7 por encima de la bici) pensaba que la horquilla estaba demasiado duro (una queja común de las Rock Shox Reba 29er) porque ya me dolía los brazos y el cuello. Así decidí quitar algo de aire de la camera positiva pero tampoco estaba contento. Cuando salí para mi siguiente vuelta, cambié la 29er para mi Trek STP y de verdad iba mejor. No sé si es porque la Reba Team es MUCHO más suave que la Reba 29 o no, pero estaba mucho más cómodo y así hice lo que quedaba con la Trek.

Sobre la cuarta o quinta vuelta empecé a pensar en el aburrimiento en que me he metido pero ya cuando hizo noche y tuve que poner las luces todo cambió durante un par de vueltas porque tuve que casi aprender el recorrido de nuevo. Hablando de las luces, tuve un problema gorda que gracias a una mujer de un equipo mixto a final no tenía tanta importancia. Fue mi novena vuelta, e iba bien cuando la batería de la luz que tenia montada en el manillar empezó a avisar que estaba casi descargado. Vaya aviso, creo que me dio 30 segundos más de luz y se apago. Así encendí la luz que tenía montado en el casco, que iba turnando con la de manillar y usando las dos en las zonas más técnicas, y pensaba que tenía que correr un poco más esta vuelta para llegar y cambiar las baterías. Pues, nada en 5 minutos me quedé sin luz ninguna. Por suerte, esto pasó justo cuando iba a adelantar a esta mujer. La explicó lo que me estaba pasando y que si no importa, iba a terminar la vuelta siguiéndola porque podía ver con su luz. En principio bien, pero creo que ella estaba nerviosa tener a alguien siempre a rueda y entonces paró y me dio su luz de manillar (tenia otra en el casco). Llegué a mi “box” y puse dos baterías nuevas. Mi equipo de soporte (mi madre) llevó las baterías al sitio designado por la organización para cargarlas. Aparte de machacar los rodamientos de mis pedales Eggbeaters esto fue el único momento de mala suerte. Sobre los pedales, de pronto note que el pedal derecho estaba mal pero pude llegar a mi “box” y entonces quité los pedales Candy (otro modelo de Crank Brothers) de la 29er y los puse en la Trek.

Durante las ultimas horas de la noche, antes del amanecer, pensaba que a ver el sol iba a recuperar un poco la fuerza y como iba a poder ver mejor ir un poco más rápido. Por desgracia no fue así. Ver el sol me puso en un infierno mental porque empecé a calcular las vueltas que me quedaban antes de las 12 y las horas que quedaban. Además calculé mal y estaba contando en hacer menos vueltas y cuando me daba cuenta me daba me decepcionó un poco.

No sé cuando pero por la noche él que iba segundo paró un buen tiempo en su “box”y por la mañana me dio cuenta que yo iba segundo y él estaba 40 minutos detrás. Cada vez que termine mi vuelta comparé el tiempo de su ultima vuelta con la mía. Vi que estuvimos haciendo vueltas en más o menos el mismo tiempo y así solo tenía que mantener mi ritmo. Lo que no esperaba fue que durante las dos ultimas vueltas antes de las 12 de domingo (fin de la carrera) que él iba hacer dos super vueltas. Cuando yo estaba terminado mi decimoquinto vuelta él me adelanto pero yo pensaba que él todavía estaba terminado su decimocuarto vuelta y que no había ningún problema. Pues no, cuando me adelantó nos pusimos en la misma vuelta. Llegué a la meta a las 11:55 que significó que pude salir para una vuelta más. Él ya había salido para su vuelta 16 y si yo quería recuperar el segundo puesto iba a tener que perseguirle y llegar antes. Como sabéis todos, normalmente tendría la mentalidad de hacerlo pero ayer estaba contento de parar y estar contento de terminar tercero en la carrera. Hice mi ultima vuelta casi sin sentarme porque la combinación de sillín culote ya fue como un rallador de queso y no quería hacer casi dos horas más así.

Pues eso fue mi carrera. 24 horas de correr en bici sin dormir. En realidad creo que el máximo tiempo que pasé parado fue +/- 10 minutos, posiblemente 15 como máximo. Lo curioso es que en ningún momento me encontré cansado o con ganas de dormir pero a terminar y sentarme en una silla, mi encogió mi cuerpo entero y cada movimiento fue un esfuerzo máximo. Anoche dormí 11 horas y hoy me duele más que nada mi espalda pero también un poco las piernas. Iba a hacer una carrera de 80 km el domingo que viene pero ya no estoy tan seguro. En fin, no creo que haré otra 24 solo. Estoy muy contento haber terminado y con un buen puesto pero a final lo encontré un poco aburrido. Seguiré con las carreras largas como Los Pedals de Foc y cosas así. La próxima vez que afronto una de 24 horas sería con al menos un compañero de equipo.

PD: Como no he escrito mucho por aqui en bastante tiempo supongo que es un buen momento informarles que tambien gane la version "plata" de Los Pedals de Foc en junio.

Adiós Oiz

2008-07-05T07:57:00.003-04:00

Yep, the Oiz is gone. I shipped it off to its new home in Catalunya on Thursday. I know, I know, it was supposed to be this year's super bike for me, but it just never quite worked out. Some relationships just go that way. I first layed my eyes on the Orbea Oiz last summer when I went to the Pedals de Foc with Isaac and Genci. Isaac had just bought his frame and on the second day of the race, the bike really impressed me. We were racing down a choppy dirt road and I was having trouble keeping up with Isaac (something that had never happened before). I automatically chalked it up to the bike with its softtail full suspension design (very similar to old Cannondale Scalpel except with a Horst link). I had to have one. So, after doing a lot of searching I finally got a good deal on eBay and it was mine to start using in January. At first I really liked the bike but little by little I found it just didn't work for me. In the end it was a combination of things. One the bottom bracket is really high on the Oiz, which makes for a tall frame. In some situations this is good, like not hitting your pedals on rocks and roots, but for me in general it made the bike feel less than stable in a lot of situations. I think the tight headtube angle also made the bike feel strange at times, and finally it just had a general "dead" feeling about it. My Merlin Taiga feels so much more "alive" than the Oiz ever did. Part of the other reason to sell it has to do with the fact that it is definitely overkill for the races we do here in Andalucia. The marathons mostly consist of dirt roads and for that a good hardtail will do the job. In Portugal the Oiz performed well and over eight days having the extra "squish" out back may have helped me a some but at the same time all the guys that finished in front of me were on hardtails. So, off it went on Thursday. I don't plan on replacing it for the time being. I'm going to do some upgrading to the Merlin, like sending it off to have a disc tab welded to the frame, and probably a new SID Team and Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes.

Just as a side note, I thought I'd mention that Isaac sold his and our friend Fernando who also had one sold his too. Fernando was the first to sell, saying it didn't have enough travel and it was too heavy. He moved on to a Scott Spark with integrated seatpost. Isaac was next and he sold it more than anything because I think he was bored. He then bought a Liteville which he just started riding this week. Finally, I sold because it just never performed the way I wanted. Adiós Oiz. I hope your new owner gives you a good third chance at life.

TransPortugal Garmin 2008

2008-06-15T07:38:00.004-04:00

Well, I’m back home now and honestly it’s difficult to decide how to begin to describe my experience in the TransPortugal Garmin 2008. First, I’ll say this; I think it might have been the longest week of my life (in a good way). Also, after having done this I think doing 24-hour races solo might be easier. It was an incredible experience even though I didn’t finish as high up the list as I would have liked when I started I must say I’m happy with sixth place. I realized very quickly that I was out experienced in this race and the people truly racing it were top-notch competitors. We’re talking about people who have done the Cape Epic, the TransAlps, the Crocodile Trophy and previous editions of the TransPortugal Garmin. Sixth was also easier to digest when I realized that my time this year would have won last year.

The people who organize the race, Ciclonatur, are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and by far the best race organization I’ve ever seen. We’re talking about 18 people whose only interest is that the races enjoy the race and that everything is taken care of in every moment. Every day at the end of the stage after crossing the finish line there was a “buffet” of real food and drinks that you really want to eat and drink, no more “artificial” energy food and drinks. After refueling and a quick pass by the bike wash it was nice to find your bags already in your hotel room every afternoon. After stretching and a massage (in my case done by me, but there were masseurs on site for a small fee), I would go down, lube my chain, look the bike over and put it way for the next day. Then it was time for dinner, which in most cases was buffet style and never lacked in quality or quantity of food. The same went for breakfast, except a few days when there weren’t any bananas.

The concept of racing by GPS and not having any course markers turned out to be really easy. It was quite difficult to get lost. Once in a while going down hill really fast it was common to miss a turn because I was looking at the trail more than the GPS, but with a quick glance seeing my blue line was no longer on the purple race course line it was easy to turn around and get back on track. I think this is something absolutely everyone did a couple of times every day. During the race, the races are completely self-sufficient. That means no water or food provided by the race organization. However, on the GPS route for each day there would be indicators if there was a place to get water when you passed through a town. This served as good reminder, but everyday had to be planned carefully in terms of how much and what kind of fluids and food to take. Only on the second to last day did the race organization set up a neutral water point because it was a long hot stage and there really weren’t many towns to pass through to get water. I started the first couple of stages with water in my HydraPak and a bottle of Clif Electrolyte mix in one bottle and Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem in a second bottle. However I realized that when I would stop to mix a new bottle of electrolytes I was loosing time. Starting with the 160km stage I changed my fluids strategy and began putting the electrolyte drink in the pack and taking two bottles of Perpetuem. This way when I finished a bottle it was quick and easy to fill it with just water at a town fountain. I think I benefited in many ways from this approach considering I didn’t cramp at all and I was getting “food” and fluids all at once through the Perpetuem, which reduced the amount of solid food I ate during the race (something I don’t normally do at all).

In the TransPortugal Garmin, there is only one general classification, no age groups or gender separations. They have a “handicap” system that depending on your age and gender you get a time percentage head start every morning. Being 31, I wasn’t eligible for a handicap and had to go out chasing everyday. The forty year olds for example started more or less five minutes in front of my group everyday and since some of them were really fast it took a while to reel them in. On the first day, it took me two and a half hours to reel in last year’s winner and then when I stopped to mix up a bottle of electrolytes I lost him again.

The first day I was quite cautious about how much effort to put out because I’ve never raced for eight days straight. The eventual winners took off like they had been shot out of a cannon and I decided to just let them go. Soon I found myself with a Portuguese competitor named Renato and we were riding together really well until he started to push harder than I thought was a good idea for the first day. Looking back on it, I really should have stated with him considering he finished fifth and I finished sixth on GC. The terrain the first day really wasn’t all that difficult, mostly dirt roads, except for the old Roman cobble path that we had to climb part way through.

The second day was more of the same, but I was able to start to reduce the time gap between to the guys in front of me. Just like before the leaders went out like rockets, but now I was able to stay with them for a bit longer. Each day I was able to stay with them longer and longer. One day, I’m not really sure which now, I stayed with them until about km 30, fell off pace a bit and then got back to them around km 50. At this point I was beginning to realize that it was going to be very difficult to break into the top three or even four my race came down to a battle between Renato and I for fifth place. I thought I had it wrapped up the day that Renato flatted and I turned a ten-minute deficit into a ten-minute advantage on him, but at the end of the stage my right achilles tendon was becoming sore and the next day turned out to be my downfall.

My bad day was due to a combination of things, starting with my bad tape job on my achilles. I was in the group with the leaders (João and José) and Renato until we hit a wide stream crossing. We got off the bikes to cross and between my bad tape job, the soreness of the Achilles and the stiff bike shoes it was difficult for me to cross the stream. I must have looked like some 80-year-old man. They got across quickly and started up the climb. I never saw them again until the finish. This stage was mostly flat and it paid to ride in a group. I was alone all day reeling in whomever I could, but at the finish Renato had nearly a ten-minute lead on me again. That evening I did what I should have done the day before and called my friend Victor in Spain who is a physical therapist of sorts and found out what to do about my achilles.

With the right tape job I went out on the attack the next day when I saw Renato wasn’t feeling so well. This stage started off rather flat and so by getting a group I had the same advantage that he had the previous day. I put the hammer down and pulled João, José, and another guy Marco across to the fast 40 year olds. We blew through that group and picked up the 3rd and 4th place guys. At this point I went to the back of the bus to enjoy the ride for as long as I could. My goal was to at least make it to the big climbs in the second half of the stage. On the first descent Marco flatted and the group was reduced to five. I did two more climbs with them and then pushed the button for my bus stop. The remaining climbs were tough and I knew that I would end up climbing alone regardless. The race went from a paved road climb back onto a dirt road that climbed up through a eucalyptus forest. The surface was very loose and there were some really steep grades that made me thankful to have a 22x34 option. If you’ve never been though a eucalyptus forest on a hot day, I don’t recommend it. These trees apparently have a very vast root system that sucks up all the water and the ground around them is very arid. The climb was like an oven. At one point I started to think I might see the devil around the next corner it was so hot. From this climb we descended by dirt road until we hit another paved road climb that seemed to go on forever. It was definitely road bike and bike race worthy. When I crossed the finish line I began watching the time to see when Renato would come in. When he did, Carlos Borrego (one of the mechanics) came running over to tell me that it had been about 11 minutes and that I was back in front of him. Now I only had just under a two-minute advantage.

On the last day my initial idea was to just sit on Renato’s wheel all day but during the first climb he seemed to be in difficulty and I decided that maybe the best defense was a good offense and attacked. I opened up a gap but today instead of coming with me, João and José stayed with Renato and pulled him back up to me. I attacked again on the next climb and to my dismay they pulled him back again. This is when I realized that I was racing against Portugal for the day and that it was better to just sit in. However, on a series of “punchy”, short climbs they decided to attack me. Their style of out of the saddle big gear climbing against my seated high cadence on these climbs worked me over after about three of them. They’d open a gap and I’d close it but eventually I just couldn’t close it anymore and I had to throttle back. The 800mg of ibuprofen burning a hole in my stomach like battery acid didn’t help much either, but the day before it hadn’t bothered me and at breakfast it seemed like a good idea to reduce some of the inflammation of my achilles. In the end I ended up alone until I caught a pair of the 40-year-old group that was in front of us. I stayed with them and rode into the finish on the beach in Sagres together.

1000 kilometers of mountain bike racing in a week is a lot, but I was able to see a part of Portugal that maybe I’d never have seen otherwise and now I know that I’m capable of something like this. Quaint little towns, beautiful views and countryside (yes, I was able to look up enough to see things), some fun singletrack and downhill sections and of course people of all kinds. Someday I’m sure I’ll do this race again, but probably not until I get a “handicap” at the start everyday. Also, I think that races run on GPS really could be the future of long distance racing in mountain biking. It was worth every penny spent to go and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to do a mountain bike stage race. In my opinion it has got to be among the best because the race is a challenge, but off the bike it’s not. No camping or waiting in lines for food or showers. Great hotels and food everyday. Very personal due to limit of 50 racers and you get to meet so many different people.

Experience = 10
Race Organizers = 10
Physical Effort Required = 10
Technical Challenge = 6

Results can be seen here: http://www.supertravessia.com/indexIng.htm

Bollullos Marathon

2008-04-04T17:53:00.002-04:00

Round 2 in the Province of Huelva marathon series. This time the race was in the more coastal region of Huelva and therefore quite flat. Actually, I think over the 80km the accumulated elevation was just under 600m. The course was a lot of dirt roads and double track with some horrendous sand pits that were difficult to ride through. The required real patience and a lighter gear with a higher cadence to get through them.

I got off to an ok start, but got popped from the leaders and had to give it everything I had to get back to them. I finally did, right as we went into the winding doubletrack with the sand sections. Unfortunately about part way through it, the guy in front of me let a gap open up and the leaders got away. We worked like crazy riding a two man pace line on the dirt roads to get back to them but we just couldn't get there. With about 5km to go I could see the 2nd place guy in the Elite class riding with a Masters 30 guy and I gave it everything I had to get up to them. I pulled them within a minute but that was all the closer I got before the finish. I ended up on the third step of the podium in Elite. I'm now third overall in the series after two races.

This Sunday and next Sunday we're back to the Province of Cadiz XC series. These should be like long Short Track XC races (if that makes any sense).

Two More Months

2008-04-01T01:26:00.000-04:00

In two months, I'll be in Portugal for this race.

Tharsis Marathon

2008-03-17T18:39:00.005-04:00

Well the first long race of the year is in the books. It's about time I did one since this is where my real focus is for the year. The race was the first race in the Huelva Province race series for MTB Marathon. The race started and finished in Tharsis, a town founded by the Phoenicians. We were supposed to do 89km but in the end we ended up doing something like 95km.

All in all it was a good day. I finished 5th, losing a spring to my friend, and ex-teammate on the road, Lucas. After the last water stop, I worked really hard to drop him, but when I made a wrong turn off course, he caught back up to me. We came into the finishing stretch together and he barely nipped me on the line.

The course was nearly all fire roads, nothing very technical, but yet a little dangerous at times. There was a decent amount of tough climbing, not long, but long enough for how steep some of the climbs were.

This coming Sunday I'll be back on the XC circuit and then on the 30th the next round of the Marathon series in Huelva.

Podium!

2008-02-26T16:03:00.003-05:00

Well, it's February and I'm on the podium. Not bad, eh? To make it even better, my team swept the podium. Dani in 1st, me in 2nd and Antonio in 3rd in the Elite race. This was the first race in the Province of Cadiz XC series of races. It was another short one, almost like a cyclocross race. With all the training I've been doing for the longer races, it took me a while to get going. I didn't really feel good until about 40min into the race that only lasted 1hr5min, and it took me all 5 laps to finally get into second.

It rained a boatload the day before and we were wondering if they would have the race and if so, what kind of shape the course would be in. The ground was very sandy and so the water drained well. Actually, I think the rain was a good thing because the sand really packed down in a lot of places and there was one climb that wouldn't have been ridable with loose, dry sand.

This coming Sunday starts the Andalucia Cup XC series. The competition should be stiffer an the course should be longer and more demanding. We'll see how it goes...

RAIN

2008-02-17T05:47:00.001-05:00

Well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much because we really need the rain but my 6 hours of mountain biking got traded in this morning for sitting around the house doing a whole lot of nothing. At least I can listen to the top 100 of 2008 on WXPN. Maybe I'll finally put the real cadence sensor for PowerTap on my road bike...

Here we go!

2008-02-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

Well, the season has started. Much earlier than any other year but this year I started my prep earlier too. Also, being in southern Spain means the weather is great and the urge to race kicks in sooner. My first race was the second to last in the Diputacion de Sevilla race circuit. These are short races with a lap typically between 3.5 to 4km and the best part is they are FREE. We did 5 laps of the the course on Sunday and I finished in just under an hour. The course was mix of a good cyclocross course and a decent mtb XC course. There was a really fun technical downhill section and a few steep short uphill sections. I even got to break out some old 'cross skills which helped me finally open up a gap on my group and stay away from them until the end. There were about 30 of us at the race and I ended up in 10th when the dust settled. Not bad for starting from the back row and having done nearly 8hrs (or 200km) of training the two previous days. Here are some pics that I found from the race.

One more thing. You want orange? You've got it!

The new ride

2008-01-28T16:58:00.000-05:00

Well, here she is. My new ride for 2008. So far I'm really happy with it. Don, do I owe you any royalties for the use of orange bar tape?

FYI... The 29er project died during the 24hrs of Seven Springs race back on Labor Day and the bike was parted out and sold off before the end of Septemer.

COMMING SOON!

2007-12-25T21:51:00.000-05:00

Updates. Yep, in 2008 I'm gonna try to fire this thing back up. Until then, Merry Christmas!

I Hate Virgin Atlantic!

2007-09-08T22:36:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I should have posted this awhile ago but it's still valid. I flew home from Spain with Virgin Atlantic and what a diaster it was. I left Malaga, Spain with British Airways and flew to London Heathrow. First of all, let me just say Heathrow is one giant cluster f#$k. So after going through security after getting off my flight I went to the Virgin Atlantic desk to get my boarding pass. When I get there, they tell me the flight is already closed. What? I was there with plenty of time and they tell me the flight is closed. So, they offered me to go standby on a flight to JFK. I was supposed to fly to Newark, but ok, JFK if that will get me home. So, they tell me to come back at 5pm to see if there is room on the 6pm flight. If they had followed the same procedure as before, at 5:15pm they should have closed the flight to people in line and put the standby passengers on as they did to me and many others just an hour an a half before. So finally at 5 minutes until 6 they gave me a boarding pass and I had to run to the gate to get on the plane.

At first I thought wow, business class on a transatlantic flight, that will make up for some of this mess. Not in a million years. When we got to New York, my luggage had obviously not made the trip. They wanted us to just fill out a form and leave, without getting some kind of file refernece number. Yeah right, I stayed to get the number. The following day I started calling the 800 number to check on my luggage. Low and behold I'm connected to a call center in India, where nobody really seems to care that my luggage is missing. This went on for a few days and finally I asked for a number for general customer service. Well, Virgin Atlantic doesn't have a phone number for customer service, you have to email them and the automated response says they will get back to you within 21 days. 21 days! That's 3 freakin' weeks!

Well, days went by waiting for them to find my luggage. That turned to 1 week, then 2 weeks. At this point I was going crazy because I couldn't talk to anyone on the phone who seemed to care, just some guy in India. I finally decided to take a chance on calling Continental Airlines because my original flight was a code share with them. I was connected to a call center in the good old US of A and the person there was the most helpful of the whole experience. They check all the bag info they had for bags at Newark (my original destination) and even gave me a phone number for Virigin Atlantic at JFK (something Virgin Atlantic's people in India wouldn't do).

Finally, 3 WEEKS later (Yes, 3 weeks later!) I got my luggage back. Oh, and a wheel had be broken off the bottom of my suitcase. To make this all that much more humorous, I got a response to my email the day before (when I already knew my luggage had been found) saying Virgin Atlantic was sorry my luggage was lost and that they were trying to find it. What a joke!

My advice, stay far, far away from Virgin Atlantic and probably Virgin America and even Virgin Mobile if you value customer service. Richard whatever his rich ass name is should stop putting the money in his pockets and spend some on good employees in the US and UK to have people that care.

Hasta Luego

2007-06-25T23:54:00.000-04:00

I know I've pretty much neglected this blog, but I did warn anyone who still stops by. Check out the post about two down or so about the new project. It's been kind of slow too but with a good internet translator you should be ok.

Just to fill you (anyone who still cares) in, I'm off to Spain tomorrow. Sort of just a vacation because I'll be back on August 1st to do my visa paperwork.

I went out with a bang yesterday by winning the AMBC Expert 30-39 race in NJ. That should be enough to get me my semi-pro upgrade. Oh yeah, I guess this automatically qualified me for nationals, but they are in July and I'll still be in Spain. Opps.

Friday I head for the Pyrenees and Saturday/Sunday I'll be doing the Pedals de Foc race. Two days, 220km, 5000m of climbing. Should be interesting. Check the other blog for a post race report when I'm finally recovered enough to write about it.

See ya in August...

Wow!

2007-05-14T09:42:00.001-04:00

Look what I just found. I had no idea.

New Project

2007-05-03T21:51:00.000-04:00

I know the posting here has been few and far between, so I thought I'd let anyone who stops by know that I'm working on a new project. It's in Spanish, but that's because I'm headed back to Spain at the end of June and technically I'm already riding for a club over there. Check out the latest over here, Lebrija MTB Team.

I'll still post here ocasionally so check back every once in a while. Actually while we're talking about it, I am going to post something new soon. I just got a PowerTap SL after using the Polar power meter for the last 3 years. I'm going to post my opion comparison of the two. Look for it in a week or so.

Another New Toy

2007-03-25T20:28:00.000-04:00

Here's my latest fun on two wheels.

UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup #1

2007-03-23T15:23:00.000-04:00

From the latest USA Cycling newsletter:
The opening round of the 2007 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup took place Friday in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain. Nathan Deibert (Hummlestown, Pa./Ciclista Lebrija) was the sole American competitor, placing 120th in the 90-kilometer off-road race. Diebert finished with a time of 4:33:45 to finish 1:06:21 off the pace of winner Leonardo Paez of Colombia.
The next round of the 2007 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup is July 8 in Villabassa, Italy.

What that little snipit didn't say was this:

The race started really fast, and I was feeling really good, but a flat at about km 20 really set me back. I was running tubeless and messed around with the sealant for way to long before I realized it wasn't going to take. I thought I had it and I started off but realized right away I needed to put a tube in, so I had to stop again. All in all I lost about 16min messing with it. What a novice mistake! Subtracting that 16min would have put me in about 85th. What a difference! There were 240 starters and 209 finishers. I've got to admit, I'm somewhat disappointed in the result but see what I could have done makes me feel a little better.

I'll be heading to Italy in July so hopefully luck will be on my side then. Oh and by the way, not only was I the only American there, I was the only one on a 29er!

Big Wheels

2007-02-12T17:02:00.000-05:00

And so the experiment begins...

What are you doing?

2007-02-06T23:06:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no new posts. I know. I'm training. What are you doing?

Finally!

2007-01-01T10:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I got my bike back finally on Saturday. I was on my way home from a group ride that I did on my 'cross bike when my phone rang. I fumbled around forever trying to get it out of my jersey pocket with a pair of winter gloves on. About an hour and half later a delivery guy showed up at the house with my bike. He was a really nice guy. I opened the door and he says, "You must be Nathan?" and then practically yells, "I'll bet you're happy to see this!!". He hit the nail on the head. I was pleased to see that the case had not been opened on the way home by security in Spain or customs here in the US. I still just can't figure out why it is so difficult for my bike to arrive on time. The lady at US Airways in Philly didn't help much by telling me that the bar codes on the bag tags don't mean squat to US Airways because they don't have the technology anymore to track luggage that way. She said they sold it all in the first bankrupcy. That was real reassuring, thanks. Then what really upset me, although at this point I have the bike so I don't much care, but when I called on Friday to check the status at 10pm they claimed they hadn't found it yet. However, for me to have received it during the afternoon of Saturday it had to have come in on the 3:50pm flight from Madrid. So how in the world could they have not located it yet? Whatever. I don't think I'll fly with US Airways and Spanair next time. I think instead of trying to buy Delta, US Airways should put their money into other things like fixing their terrible customer service issues and buying back the technology to track luggage.

Surprise, Surprise

2006-12-27T20:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back on the American side of the pond, and guess what, NO BIKE. I HATE AIRLINES!! I wonder how long it will take to get it this time?

What, it's time to go home already?

2006-12-26T06:18:00.000-05:00

Yep, I can't believe I've been here since Nov 17 and Christmas has come and gone, but it has. The English Cert course I was taking was SUPER INTENSIVE. Seriously, I had to get up every day at 6:50am, catch the train at 7:55am, get to Sevilla at 8:45am (if the train was running on time) then walk to the place where my class was. Get to the center at 9:15 - 9:20am and start class at 9:30am. If it was a morning I had to teach I was really stresses, trying to make copies and stuff. We had to practice teach until 12:30pm and then we got a quick break before feedback from the teachers. Then we'd have from 2:15pm to 3:15pm for lunch and then class until nearly 6:30pm every day. I'd hang out and prep a little for the next day before I'd walk back to the train station to get the train at 8:00pm to arrive back in Lebrija at 8:45pm and finally home by about 9:00pm. Not much time to do shit. One evening we went to the velodrome for an hour. Can't beat it at 50cents/hour. It's pretty cool having an indoor velodrome about 20min from home. I went mountain biking one weekend and we rode 5.5hours around the Sierra de Malaga. It was a good ride, even if it was muddy and my new chain kept jumping on my old cassette. Then I got sick and class got really busy and I didn't ride for 2 weeks. What a disaster. Oh well, Jan 1 starts the next season.

Speaking of next season, anyone out there who reads this looking for an Elite level MTB racer who prefers Marathons/Enduros to regular XC, although I'll race those too? I need to renew my license for 2007, but I have no clue if I'll find a team or not. I guess I can go it alone like last year, but it's more fun to have teamates.

We'll, I'll be back home (in PA) tomorrow evening. Unfortunately I haven't had time to do much other than my course. Oh well. Next time. :)

Got It!

2006-11-21T15:55:00.000-05:00

My bike showed up this afternoon. Everything was in it´s place, and it looks like it was never opened in any of the airports. I´ve got it all together again, but unfortunately I probably won´t be able to ride until Saturday. I start class tomorrow so we´ll see how that goes.

Real Quick

2006-11-20T17:46:00.000-05:00

Err, should I say REAL slow. I haven´t used a dial up connection in a very long time. This is so slow it´s unbelievable. DSL is on the way, but not for a week or so. Until then there will probably be very few updates. Well, I got here ok, but unfortunately my bike has shown up yet. I called today and they told me it´s in Madrid and they are waiting for it to be put on a flight to Malaga and then they will send it to me where I´m staying. Hopefully I´ll have it by Friday so I can ride this weekend. No turkey day ride for me this year. I´ll be in class. Oh well. I´m going to try and make Thanksgiving dinner on either Saturday or Sunday for everyone here. We´ll that´s about all for now. I´m going to disconnect because this dial up stuff is driving me crazy!

That's All Folks

2006-11-14T20:18:00.000-05:00

Yep, my 'cross season is unfortunately over for this year. I had a pretty good race for me as far as UCI races go on Saturday at "HebeCross". I finished on the same lap as the leaders and was ahead of the a number of the guys that I usually gauge my results against. I even won a wopping $17! Oh well, if I was in this for the money I would have quit a long time ago.

Sunday was MUCH worse. It rained for most of the night and all through the day. I got to use my little tent/canopy thing to warm up under. $$ well spent, considering it seemed to be working as an insurance policy against bad weather this year. Anyway, it was WAY muddy and I just couldn't make the power to push through it. It reminded me of Portland a couple of years ago. Not exactly the same conditions, but the same performance on my part. Quite the unfortunate way to end the season, but it does make me want to go out and make it all better in 2007.

So, that's it. I'm off to Spain on Thursday night and 'cross is over. Not sure it's the right thing to do but it's what I'm doing. I'm lucky that work is on hold and I'll be able to get back to it in January. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but after 2 days off with not a whole lot to do I sort of miss work.

One more thing and then I probably won't be back here until I get over to the other side of the pond. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who cheered for me this year at the 'cross races and once more I'd like to thank Fort James and Fat Marc for always kind of keeping and eye on things for me in the pit even though I never asked them too. Thanks! Hopefully I see you all soon. Hasta luego!

Last weekend of MABRA CX & stuff

2006-11-05T21:25:00.000-05:00

Well, that's it. The MABRA Cyclocross Series for 2006 has come to a close. Turns out it was pretty good series for me, although after the first race in Baltimore things weren't looking so good. Yesterday at the race in Leesburg, VA I made the third spot on the podium after falling victim of the good teamwork by the Fort duo of Wes Schempf and Gregg Wittwer. They played it perfectly, putting in attack and counter attack, making me close the gap every time because the other guy in the group wouldn't do anything. Wes finally got away and I was left with Gregg and the other guy. He finally popped and it came down to the last lap of Gregg and I trading little attacks. He hit the barriers fast and got a little gap. I was chasing and started to accelerate too fast out of a corner and my rear wheel slipped out, bringing me to the ground. Gregg rode off to second and I rode in for third.

Today in Sykesville, MD, my luck wasn't so good. The course was really bumpy and a bit more demanding than yesterday with more steep power climbs and some tricky off camber turns. I was leading into the corner before the barrier on the first lap and my front wheel washed out, causing me to get up close and personal with the ground. I got up fast and didn't really lose much. I was back in the main group quick. In the group were Marini, Wes, Gregg and Kham. I put in a small attack the next time around and didn't get much out of it. Then on the next lap Kyle turned on the gas and took off. While chasing, Gregg dumped in a grass/asphalt transition corner and Marini and I jumped on it. Wes fell of pace too. As Marini ratcheted it up to get across to Kyle I popped. I just couldn't push it as I felt my back getting seizing up. Gegg and Wes eventually got back to me and as they came around I just couldn't hang. They eventually got the whole way back to Marini as Gregg finished 2nd and Wes must have fallen back a bit and finished 4th. I rode in for 5th. I would have liked to done better, but I can't complain. It was a good weekend. I think I've got the points estimated correctly I should finish the series in 3rd place.

Ok, enough race stuff. On to some other news. As a few people already know, I'm heading back to Spain in about 2 weeks to take a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certification course. Well, I was all ready to quick my job at Tyco and since I'm a contract employee and Tyco has a policy about contracts not being longer than 11 months I figured when Dec 22 rolled around my contract and job would be over anyway. Little did I know my boss was trying to get the company to bend the rules and let me stay longer. So when I went to give my two weeks notice, it was a surprise for both of us and by 3pm that afternoon I was presented with a chance to negotiate. They wanted me to stay and not go at all, but I had already paid for the course and the plane tickets, so I made a counter offer of, let me go take the course and then I'll come back to work after the New Year. Well, it worked out. So, I'll be off to Spain for a month and a half and then I'll be back to work for about 3 more months or so. I'm honestly happy with the situation because it allows me to go back to Spain and test the water, but then come back and make some more $$. If things are good in Spain, I'll go back when the contract is up. If things aren't good, I'll stay and maybe try to get my job made permanent. Who knows what will happen. That's all for now.

Iron Cross IV (condensed version)

2006-10-19T12:50:00.000-04:00

This is a VERY condensed version of my Iron Cross experience from last weekend. I had a good start but then was left in the second group when the first separation happened. It was tough to get anyone to work together to chase and our group eventually dwindled to three (me, Joe Reynolds and Kyle Hammaker). We had dropped a couple and two had attacked us. We were in 6th, 7th and 8th when I got a flat on a downhill dirt road section. Tried using a Seal-N-Flate but that just blew the sealant right out of the tube which meant I had to change the tube. As I was changing the tube a bunch of guys went by me. So I got a new tube in and got going. Caught a group of three pretty quick and they told me they were probably in 20th place or so. I traded pulls with them and got things going and when we hit the climb after the third feed station I lost them. I just started reeling people in at that point. I caught the last person I would get before the finish right before the last hike-a-bike section. Hit the paved descent with him and then made the left onto the rolloing paved road toward the finish. On the first hill I stood up and tried to attack him. My legs felt terrible and I figured there was no way I had opened a gap on him until I looked back and realized I had. I started working had to make it stick and in the end I got away and crossed the line in 9th place. So, not too bad considering I had been in 6th and then fell the whole way back to 20th. Faster time and better finish than last year. Also, 1 less flat and no debilitating cramps.

Should be fun (not) chasing UCI points this weekend at Granogue and Wissahickon.

Laziness

2006-10-12T13:03:00.000-04:00

I was hoping this post would be titled "Repeatablity" but instead it is Laziness. Yep, I've just been kind of lazy since my last post. I went to last weekend's race in Hagerstown, MD (MABRA #3) with the hope of repeating my podium finish from the previous race, but it just wasn't to be. I did finish 5th, which is nothing to be unhappy about considering who was in front of me, but I was outside the $$ (only paid top 3) so I was a little disapointed. I woke up on Sunday feeling like I had a hangover and I didn't have anything at all to drink on Saturday. I guess I must have pushed it pretty hard.

So here's how it went down, if I remember correctly through my delerious haze during the race. It was cold (colder than it's been for quite some time at least) and the lap was really short. We did 14 laps! It had a really short steep hill that was worse than Lilypons because there really was no way to carry speed into it but it was rideable. That really took it out of me and a lot of the others I think. According to Hebe (the newly dubbed Godfather of 'cross) it was what did him in too.

My start was good I got the holeshot into the first corner and it was all strung out. I decided to move over and not lead but then Gallager got away and I decided we needed to chase and try to splinter our group a little. It was me, Reynolds, Butts, Hebe and Wilson. First popped Hebe and then Wilson. I was driving three of us pretty hard (me Reynolds and Butts). Reynolds took a few turns too. Just as I decided it was time to go to the back and try to push Butts to the front (he hadn't really worked much yet) Joe attacks and Brian goes with him but I was unable to close the gap. Then just before the end of the race Wilson clawed his way back up to me and passed me.

Not a huge fan of the "new" course. Really short although they definitely had the space to make it bigger. Also, the ground was SUPER bumpy and so trying to remount smoothly was though as the bike was boucing around all over the place as I was pushing it trying to jump on. In the end I probably worked to hard and rather than trying to break everyone early I should have sat in and waited until later to attack. To top it off I started to get cramps in my calves and hamstrings in the last 2 laps. It sucked everytime I went over the barriers. I even clipped them once with my toe studs but luckily didn't go down. Oh well, maybe this weekend.

Podium!

2006-10-01T21:44:00.000-04:00

Yep, I turned around my mediocre start to the season 19th place from last weekend and finished 2nd in the sprint at the Lily Pons MABRA #2 race. Andy Applegate beat me in the sprint at the end of a race where we both came from behind to take the lead. The race started off with me in the back row. There were some narrow sections on the course and it was tough to pass until we hit this gravel road section. At that point, Wes, who got the hole shot, was way out in front. I got around a few guys and started leading the charge. Our group started to dwindle and finally it was Andy and I chasing Wes and two Hunt Valley riders. We got a break when on of the HVB guys rolled a tubular. Then Wes blew from riding solo out front all day and the other HVB rider bobbled just a little and Andy and I took off. We traded jabs with 2 laps to go, just to see how the other was doing. Going into the last lap, I got him out front, which I thought is where I wanted him. Then as we were coming into the last corner I realized I gave him the line being out front and it would be hard to get the sprint off to get around him. In the end he took it. So, Holmes Cycling / Body Logic gets our first podium finish of the season. It felt good to have such a good race and result today. I had been feeling good all week about things, but when the race actually got started I wasn't sure since I was so far back to start. Next week, MABRA #3 in Hagerstown, MD.

Oh yeah, one more thing. The new Bianchi is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!

Traffic Sucks!

2006-09-28T12:16:00.001-04:00

You know what, I hate traffic. Then again, I'm sure pretty much everyone does. Where did it all come from? I was late getting over to Lower Allen park last night for 'cross practice thanks to TONS of traffic. I guess it could have been worse, Kera said it took her an hour to get there! To make things worse I realized later that we were contributing to this traffic mess because we could have easily carpooled. Opps :(

This week has been going pretty well so far. I did my Monday rest day in Chris Horner style and went for some burgers and fries. There is something about racing that afterwards I crave the worst greasy food. Oh well, tasted good.

Tuesday I met up with frame breaker Carney for a ride. I was doing the crazy 15/15 and 30/30 micro intervals the whole time. I was really wiped out the rest of the evening and even yesterday during the day. I left work a little early to get a siesta in before 'cross practice.

This weekend is round #2 of the MABRA series. Hopefully I can get out to a good start again but hold it this time. Gunnar will be there, so it should be a good race.

Hey All You Dopers

2006-09-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

READ THIS

If the link doesn't work, try copying and pasting this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060927/hl_nm/testosterone_dc_3

Although, by the time you get to the end of the article you may not remember what you just read, or maybe you'll get so enraged you'll smash your computer. All I know is nothing is worth risking your health. If you can't win and earn a living clean, look for another job, you weren't meant to be a professional athlete.

Pphhuuu!

2006-09-24T19:42:00.000-04:00

What, two posts in two days? Yep, I'm gonna try to update a little more frequently now. How about the new look? Anyway, today was a bit of a bust a the first cyclocross race of the season. On the way to the race I debated over which bike to ride, the Giant that I've had together for two weeks and ridden or the new Bianchi I just finished putting together last night. When I got there I opted for the Giant. I had a great starting spot, thanks to my final placing in last year's MABRA series. I took advantage of the good start spot and an uphill starting strech and got out front right away. I could tell Flyn' Ryan Leech was close by and I didn't want to be the leader. Maybe a mistake. I let a few guys come around, but held 4th or 5th for about a 1/4 of the first lap. Then I either started going backwards or everyone else was finding their legs and going around me. I should have just stayed out front when I had the chance. I'm not saying I would have won, I may not have even been able to hold it for a whole lap, but I know I'm better when I set the pace rather than try to follow. As the race went on things got worse. I just didn't feel right on the Giant. I'm not sure what it was but I decided to switch to the Bianchi. Immediately I felt better. Unfortunately part way through the lap my seat moved and forced be back to the Giant for a lap. Thanks to Fort James and Kelly (and anyone else involved) for fixing my seatpost and on the following time around I grabbed the Bianchi again. I lost too much time with three bike changes and just feeling bad in general (too warm for 'cross for me). The day ended with me in 19th of a claimed 39 starters. Not great for the first race, but I got some bugs worked out. We'll see what happens next weekend. One thing is for sure. The Giant will be relegated to "pit" bike from here on out. Nothing against Giant, but I'm trying to make a loaned frame (very grateful for that) that is a size too big fit me properly. Until next time...

It's That Time of Year

2006-09-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

Yup, cyclocross starts tomorrow! I've got to say I'm nervous. No idea what kind of shape I'm in and what kind of shape everyone else is in. It's supposed to be warm tomorrow which is bad for me for 'cross. Also, I just finished putting together my new bike.

I doubt I'll use it tomorrow since I haven't ridden it yet. I'll be riding the Giant TCX frame with my Alpha Q fork and parts that my friend and teammate Don is lending to me as my "B" bike for the season. The "A" bike is a new Bianchi Cross Concept (scandium front triangle with a full carbon rear). It is nice and light at 2.5lbs. I've got the stock Bianchi fork on there now, but it will be upraded to a Ritchey WCS hopefully next week. Oh, one other new thing for this season, I got a set of Empella Frogglegs brakes. Wow are they nice! Way better than the stupid Avids I've been messing around with for the last few seasons. Well, it's time for sleep. Gotta be on my A game tomorrow. There are nearly 30 pre-reg for the Elite race. Should be a good race.

Time To Post

2006-08-23T13:08:00.000-04:00

WOW, I just checked my page counter's states and was really surprised to see 30 people checked in to see what's going on in the last two days. I didn't think anybody read this thing anymore since I'm very slow to update. Well, I guess I'll have to try a little harder since there still seems to be some interest.

Here's the latest. A friend of mine from Spain was recently here to visit. He was to bring his mountain bike in order to ride and race here over the last two weeks. When he got here on Aug 9, his suitcase showed up, but not his bike. US Airways said it would come the next day and it didn't. Then they seemed to lose info on it and eventually seemed uninterested in finding it. After calling them every day, sometimes two or three times a day they finally called me at midnight this past Monday to say the bike had arrived. I said that's great but you are TWO WEEKS LATE. Keep the bike at the airport in Philly and we'll pick it up on Tuesday when we come to the airport for him to fly home. Yep, that's right, the bike showed up just in time to get it from the baggage office and then go to the ticket counter and check it in to go back to Spain. The airline industry sucks! How can they lose something like a hard shell piece of luggage specifically made for a bike for two weeks when it has a bar code tag on it that should tell them where it is at all times? They could learn something from UPS or FedEx. Lesson to be learned. ALWAYS TAKE OUT EXTRA INSURANCE WHEN SHIPPING YOUR BIKE. You never know what could happen and trying to make a claim for reimbursment of $7000 for a bike and all that goes with it is not an easy task.

Testosterone

2006-07-29T22:31:00.000-04:00

How's this for a defence?

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=72248

Floyd's the Man

2006-07-24T10:49:00.000-04:00

That's what the sign says and after the way he won the Tour I don't think there should be a question in anyone's mind.

Great job Floyd! We watched the ups and downs and for a moment it looked like it might be over but your persaverence, patience and strength showed us it's never over. I remember seeing you at MTB races back when I first started in 1994. You were already a national champ and I was a junior beginner. I've followed your career since I started and always looked up to you as an athlete. All I really want to say is thank you. May your surgery go well and I'm sure I speak for a lot of people, we can't wait to see you again next year.

Race Report

2006-07-11T13:33:00.000-04:00

The race was pretty good, really fast, and I think I just wasn't quite as sharp as two weeks ago. Maybe I was still a little tired from last weekend. Each lap was just about 7 miles and we were doing +/- 30min laps. When the race started, I was second into the single track and the guy who was leading definitely knew the trails, which was a big plus on this course since it was so fast and had a lot of banked turns, etc. He finally faded and I went around him. I was really pushing it pretty hard to distance myself from the rest. Then, I felt like my rear tire had lost some air pressure so I kind of backed off a little to see what was going to happen. During this time, the guy who finished 2nd in the NJ race caught up to me and was riding on my tail. When we go out on the gravel/asphalt road were the start/finish was, I could finally tell my tire was ok, so I picked up the pace again. The other guy stayed with me so I started putting in short accelerations and gapping him but then he'd come back. I did this some more, trying to break him with the pace change but I couldn't seem to get rid of him. Then when we were finishing lap 2 it looked like I finally dropped him. I was still riding hard, but conservative when again my rear tire felt soft and then suddenly the guy was back on my wheel. I figured it was now too late to play the pace change game again and that I would let him through and ride his wheel to the finish and try to take him in what would be an up hill sprint. This is where I messed up. He went through and put in a hard turn and got away from me. For whatever reason it appears I'm better at setting the pace and holding people off rather than sitting second wheel riding someone else's pace. I lost contact and didn't see him again until we hit the finishing stretch but he was too far in front of me to get him back. Oh well, 2nd is still pretty good. At the end of the race I checked my tire and it was fine. Maybe it felt soft because the little bit of riding I did this week was on my road bike and since my mountain bike has that rear shock it can feel squishy when I ride it for the first time after a break. We'll see what happens next weekend.

Oh yeah, in case anyone still reads this and is interested, I finished 2nd the previous weekend in the M.A.S.S. Enduro race. I did 9 laps in 6hrs 30min. Only Rob and I did 9 laps so that made me feel pretty good. The weekend before that I won an expert race in NJ that is part of the Campmor NJ/NY NORBA series. It was muddy and I felt great. Next weekend is Fairhill, MD, an old favorite.

Customer Service

2006-07-08T10:49:00.000-04:00

Customer service is something that in my opinion can make or break a company for people who have bought their products. For example, if I buy something from a company and then need to deal with their customer service department and have a bad experience, I'll think twice before I buy something from them again.

My latest bad experience with customer service comes thanks to Polar Electro Inc, you know Polar the heart rate monitor company. They have the WORST customer service I've ever dealt with. I've been on hold trying to talk to someone there for up to 45min. Then, they don't really answer you question very well. Not to mention last year I sent the wrist watch back for a battery change (something I now do myself) and they lost the watch for over a week in their facility. This year, I got a new computer and the USB IR device I had won't work with the new computer. After getting a nonresponsive "we not sure" from the guy on the phone, I emailed the Polar Help Desk in Finland, where the company HQ is, and the people there were very helpful and figured out the problem almost immediately. Unfortunately I had to send the IR device back to Polar USA for an exchange. So I sent it off, UPS w/ tracking #, and watched online that it was delivered. About this time, I started to think my chest strap was dying and I wanted them to include a new one in the box when they ship back the IR device. Well, the had no idea my IR device was there. This was on Monday after the IR device was delivered on a Thursday. What? It took until Wednesday for them to find it. Here we go again. Now yesterday my power meter seems to be acting up and I'm dreading having to send it back. Just as a side note, for the first 3 years I had the power meter I had to send it back every year for a new one. Luckily back then I was in Spain and Polar Spain was super responsive and with a week every time I had a new power meter. Polar USA could learn something from them. I love the Polar products, but I had the company.

Now for a good experience. Giro/Bell helmets. I have a Giro Atmos helmet I bought 2 years ago and the Roc Loc retention system is falling apart. The helmet is in new condition otherwise. I called up Giro and they took my info and like that the customer service rep says I'll have a new Roc Loc and a new set of pads within 2 weeks at my doorstep. What a difference and pleasure to work with a company that cares about their customers. Polar USA could learn something from Giro too.

noticias antiguas

2006-06-28T08:19:00.000-04:00

Bueno, aquí tenéis mis últimos reportajes de carrera. Son dos de MTB, ya que creo que no competiré más este año en carretera. La de montaña me va bien de momento y no tengo ganas de carreras en asfalto. Cuando tenga tiempo pondré algo de estas carreras en inglés.

6/25/2006 AMBC No. 22, 11th Anual Bulldog Rump, Andover, NJ
Despues de hacer la maraton en Quebec (más info abajo) hace una semana parece que he podido recuperar bien y tenia muchas ganas de carrera todavia. Asi que hice una carrera de cross country ayer en New Jersey.

Primero una noche antes de mucha lluvia y en camino a la carrera tanta lluvia que lo hacia dificil conducir, pero llegando a la carrera dejo de llover y pude calentar y hacer las primeras tres vueltas sin mojarme mucho. Durante la cuarta y ultima vuelta empezo a llover pero no muy fuerte.

Sin decir, MUCHO barro, casi como una buena carrera de ciclocross. Ademas la carrera empezo como una de ciclocross. En una trayectoria llana en un campo de cespedes altos con un carril cortado +/- 5 metros de ancho y despues entrando en un bosque girando a la izquierda para una subida que fue imposible subir montado en bici. A la palabara "GO!" me fui como una bala y entre la subida primero y intente subirlo montado y eso fue un fallo. Un amigo mio de otro equipo me adelanto pero ya arriba le caze rapido y fuimos juntos hasta su cuadro rompio donde entra la tija de sillin. El hizo la primera vuelta sin sillin y despues abanondo. Yo entonces me fui solo esforzando al maximo en todos los sitios que me daba ventaja. La carrera fue 80% singletrack con piedras, raices de arboles y barro, claro. En mi segunda vuelta empece a cazar los corredores del clase "pro/semi-pro" que empezaron un minuto antes de nosotros (clase expert o sea elite). Cuando estaba acabando mi ultima vuelta ya estaba en 7a position de los pro/semi-pro pero ellos tenia otra vuelta todavia. Gane completamente en solitario y no pude creerlo. Pienso que si tuviera que dar una vuelta mas con los pro/semi-pro pudiera alcanzado al menos la 5a position. No se como describirlo, todo encajaba perfecto y me encontre muy alerto, muy fuerte, y con muchas ganas. Estaba disfrutando sin sufrir aunque estaba dando todo que podia durante todo el tiempo. Los habilidades de ciclocross me ayudaron un monton porque habian varias subidas cortas en el recorrido que tenian mucha pendiente, piedras y barro que las hizo muy dificil subir montado (a lo mejor fuera posible subirlas montado en condiciones secas). Baje de la bici y subi corriendo pasando gente intentando subir en bici. Llegando a final de ultima vuelta no pude creer que iba a ganar y empece a pensar que estaba notando problemas con la bici. He pinchado o no? Esta todavia cambiando de pinon bien con tanto barro? Y tonterias asi. A final subi el podio pero no habia azafatas. Creo que las ninas no les gusta mucho el barro.

6/17/2006 UCI World Cup Marathon, Monte Sainte Anne, Quebec
Después de 12 horas en el coche llegué a la estación de esquiar, Mont Sainte Anne. Está situada a +/- 45min noreste de la ciudad de Québec. En principio tenia mis dudas de la provincia de Québec porque a entrar del estado de Nueva York, terminaron las montañas y todo fue muy llano. Pasando la ciudad de Québec empecé a ver montañas de nuevo.

Viernes por la mañana fui a ver un poco del recorrido porque al llegar a Mont Sainte Anne en la carrera íbamos a tener que dar una vuelta de +/- 25km. Pensaba que estaría bien conocer el terreno donde íbamos a tener que subir más y lo que pensaba que iba a ser la parte más técnica porque en la carrera iba a llegar ya tocado. Pues como dije antes en el foro no había ni un metro de singletrack. Todo fue suficiente ancho que podía pasar un quad por allí. Aunque no había singletrack, no fue liso tampoco. Había suficiente piedras para hacer algunas partes incomodas. Bueno luego fui a un paseo turístico por la ciudad de Québec, pero vamos a FFWD a domingo.

Domingo, tuve que ir al centro de la ciudad para la “Depart” de la carrera. A las 9:45 empezar a poner la gente en su sitio para la salida. Nos pusieron en orden de numero de dorsal para la salida y el tío estaba hablando muy rápido en francés y de pronto oí mi nombre y otro indicando que tenía que avanzar a mi sitio para la salida.

Los primeros 10km estaban controlado y era más cabalgata que carrera. Una cosa que no me gustó nada fue las chicas profesionales intentando a mezclarse en nuestro grupo. Gracias a una suiza casi había una caída en la parte de carretera controlada. Luego el primer corte de la carrera fue por culpa de dos de ellas que no cogieron una curva bien.

Bueno ya con el asfalto y la mayoría de las chicas detrás empezamos a rodar por unos doubletracks y luego unas pistas forestales, también mezcladas con secciones de pista de acceso a una línea de red de alta tensión. Esta pista en particular fue como arenal y en algunos sitios fue casi imposible pasar montado en bici.

Yo durante este tiempo iba bien. Cogí un grupo y fui con ellos pero sobre el km 45 tenía un pequeño bajón y no podía seguir con ellos. Así que me encontré solo pero en carrera de mtb así me gusta. No me gusta ir al ritmo de otros en carrera de mtb. Poco a poco iba recogiendo fuerza, gracias a una barrita y media de algunas que tengo por aquí que tienen 80mg de cafeína cada una. Creo que mi bajón fue por no beber mi café (muy fuerte) de siempre. Tuve que tomar un café de agua sucia (tipo americano) y no mi espresso de siempre.

Bueno, llegué a la estación de esquiar con un tío de Ontario, pero cuando empezaron las ultimas subidas le deje atrás. Creo que esto también ayudó a animarme y empecé a encontrarme mejor poco a poco e ir cada vez más rápido. A falta de 14 km me quedé sin agua pero ya no me importaba. Quedó poco y los últimos 7 km (+/-) fueron bajada. Llegué a la línea de meta y paré mi crono, 5horas 9min y..., estaba contento con el tiempo porque sabia que el año pasado el tiempo de 5hrs 19min fue suficiente para el puesto 20 pero pensaba que llegué mucho más atrás que el 25. Así que estaba contento ver el 25 con mi nombre pero no puedo dejar de pensar que si no fuera por el bajón que tenía a lo mejor pudiera haber entrado en los primeros 20. Quien sabe. Bueno fue más o menos así. Contaré más si hay preguntas especificas. A lo mejor nos veremos en Italia o Francia este verano.... Ya he mirado los precios y va a ser que no.

Race Report

2006-06-03T19:40:00.000-04:00

Ok, here goes I'm gonna do a little race reporting on the blog. I know I suck at updating this thing so for anyone who still reads this could be a little treat. Two weeks ago I did my first cross country MTB race in 5 years, yep 5 years since I did Iron Hill back in August of 2001, or was that September, I don't remember. Anyway, some of you will say but you did some MTB stuff last year and this year, yes but they were MUCH longer than your typical 20mile XC race. So two weeks ago I finished 14th in the expert class and I was pretty happy about it. Today could have gone way better but luck got the best of me.

Today's race was the Tour de Tykes up in Danville, PA. Never been there before but Kuhn and Ray were telling me there is a lot of climbing so it would probably suit me. I rained a boat load yesterday so the trails were a little soggy but not bad really, actually I'm starting to think that I like it that way. Before the start of the race Fort James came over to say hi. I knew of him from racing 'cross and reading his blog but never actually met him before. I recognized his face right away so it's nice to put a name with a face.

The start was up a paved road that turned into a dirt road and then a turn into some single track. All climbing, great for me. I went into the single track in about 6th or 7th position. Did a little jockeying around eventually ended up in 5th pretty early on. I had a chance to over take little KHamm of Trek Regional fame but for whatever reason I didn't and then on a steep climbing switch back I spun the rear tire and had to jump off and run a little. That was the last I saw of him. Things were going well though and I was enjoying myself (yes racing is painful when when everything is going right it is an enjoyable pushing yourself to do more pain).

Ok so fast forward to just before the 3/4 mark. I've got a pretty good idea how far back the guy behind me is because I could see him a few places were the course sort of doubled back on itself and I started to realize that I've probably got 5th wrapped up barring and freak disasters or fitness blow up. Then about 5min later I it happened. I must have jinxed myself or something because I punctured the front tire. I don't if I hit a cut off sapling or what but there was a hole in my tire and the Stan's inside was flying out all over the place. I tried to turn the wheel so the Stan's would flow through and hopefully do it's job, dry up and plug the hole but no luck. Then as I was pumping air into the tire to try to get the Stan's to flow the stupid Bontrager valve broke off in my pump. I said stupid because they don't have replaceable valve cores. So at this point my only choice was to put a tube in. If I had just put the tube in from the begging this all would have been much faster. I watched people fly by me during this mishap, including my coach (Kuhn) and tried to stay calm. Got it all fixed up and off to chase those guys down. I got back to where I could see Mike on the last climb and almost caught him as we crested. I thought there was more climb to go and tried to go about my chase in calm manner but suddenly we were on a downhill and then all of a sudden the finish line. I ended up 11th on the day. Yes it's an improvement from the last race results wise but it was disappointing because I could have been further up the results list. Oh well, it was a "training" event for me so I guess I should be happy to see the form is coming along nicely. The real deal is June 17 at Mont Sainte Anne, Quebec for the UCI World Cup XC Marathon.

Looking ahead, race the CAT 1/2 Crit in Lancaster tomorrow before the Pro Men's race. Hasta la proxima!

A race not to win

2006-05-24T12:20:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know my updates are almost every month at this point. So shoot me, I'm busy.
Anyway, as I was registering for races this weekend I found this great little typo on BikeReg for the 2006 Snitger's Cycling Classic. This is great. Make sure you don't win the overall for the weekend because it could be the last race you or your team win for the year.

This year our race is in conjunction with the Ligonier State Road Race Championship and there will be a plague for the best overall team of the two races.

That's right, you will put a PLAGUE on you and your team if your team wins the overall for the weekend.

Extreme Tiredness

2006-04-26T13:03:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me well knows I hate the word "extreme". It was so overused in the '90s that it lost its meaning. However, I'm so friggin' tired today that I can't think of another word to describe just how tired I am. Sunday's MTB race really took it out of me but then that was followed by getting up at 5:40am the next day so that I could leave work early and drive to Philly to have my coach do a fit for me to make sure my position on my road bike is correct. Things went well and I found that my position wasn't too bad but there were some positive changes that we made. One was putting a shim under my right cleat to help with the very minor leg length discrepancy that I have. The other was that my seat height was fairly low. I didn't get home from Philly until 10:30pm and I had some things to do before I could get to bed, like putting the first layer of glue on a set of tubular wheels. My head finally hit the pillow at 11:30pm.

Yesterday I got up at 5:40am again so I could leave work early to go to Reading and ride with Nick (one of my Dynaflo/Technocycle teammates). We rode from the bike shop out to the TT course for this weekend's Tour de Ephrata. It's more of a hill climb with a bit of flat section leading up to the hill. The promoter describes it like this: 1279 Feet of climbing in 7.87 Miles. Total elevation gain of almost 800 feet. Most in the last two miles! 12 % average grade in last mile with pitches of 17%. It's definitly going to be tough. I got home at about 8:15pm, ate dinner, put another layer of glue on the wheels and one of the tires and crashed at about 11pm.

Today I was up a little later, 6:10am. I'll probably jet out of work at 4pm and I've got to head over to Holmes to pick up a few things and put my new Easton EC90 SLX fork on the road bike. Then it will be back home and hopefully out for at least 1.5-2hrs of riding. My bike should be nice and light for this weekend with the new fork and my carbon wheels, plus I'm going to put my American Classic BB back in and put on a set of FSA Carbon compact cranks. I'm hoping for right around 15lbs! One thing is for sure, I've got to get to bed early tonight.

Ok DK, you asked for it.

2006-04-24T13:35:00.000-04:00

So, here's that update you were buggin' me about on Saturday. It will however be a short one because I feel like a$$ today and I can't concentrate on anything. That would all be thanks to the Michaux Monster I raced yesterday. I rode out a Michaux with "the champ" a couple of times this winter but riding @ Michaux and racing there are two completely different things. All that rain we had on Friday night and Saturday made for nice damp conditions. Mud wasn't to bad, but where I did encounter it, it was like grease, especially on that fun new cut off camber trail where the guy in front of me snapped the head off of his carbon EC-70 seatpost.

35miles (~56km) of Michaux probably wasn't the best way to start off the racing season, but hey you've got to start somewhere, right? Things were going fairly well at the beginning but once it rained and I got a little cold it started to go downhill from there. Leg cramps were the biggest problem of the day. Actually for the first time in about 10 years I made it through a Michaux race without breaking anything, chain, spokes, etc. I finished 28th overall but didn't stick around to see out of how many or in my age group. That will hopefully be online at www.gettysburgbicycle.com tomorrow.

In more bike related news, I'm riding a new (to me) frame now. I've finally gone soft, but not completely full suspension. I traked down a Trek STP 300 frame on ebay a couple of weeks ago. So far I'm really diggin' it.

Let's see, what else... Oh yeah, I was over to Spain for 6 days around Easter. Got to check in on things and see the woman. Not really sure if I can say "my woman" right now but things are good. We'll see there could be some changes on the horizon, say August or Sept. Some friends of ours got married and it was good to see everyone else, Migue, Isaac, Alexis (getting married next weekend), Manuel, etc...

Ok, what else. Oh, so I get to work this morning and I feel like crap so I'm just surfing the web a little, reading the news, etc and my boss comes over and asks if he can speak to me. I can't really say I'm guilty of anything but I got the feeling something bad was coming, you know, like when you pass a cop and your not doing anything wrong. So I go to his office and he shuts the door, now I'm really worried, and he says that they want to consider making me a full time permanent employee if I'm interested. So obviously I was like, WHAT? Ok, umm, this really took me by surprise. Can I think about it for a few days? So, I guess I'm doing too good of job here that they are offering me a position I didn't apply for. We'll I've got to get back to work and mull this over.

How's that for an update?

Being Sick

2006-03-07T12:57:00.000-05:00

Being sick really sucks! I'm not sure what I've got but it has really knocked me on my ass since last Wednesday. I've had a fever on multiple days, really bad sore throat, and now I'm just so freakin tired it is all I can do to stay awake. It probably hasn't helped that I've gone to work like this and even worked overtime last Thursday and Friday. What are you gonna do? I've got bills to pay. Obviously I haven't been able to do any training since I started to feel sick. At first I decided not to because I wanted to get better as quick as possible and now I'm so tired it would be a joke for me to get on my bike. To make things worse I'm starting to get nervous about lost fitness due to all of this an how much of a set back it's going to be in my training. So, for now I'm sick and training is on hold. YUK!

El mentiroso del Código Da Vinci

2006-03-02T21:18:00.000-05:00

Ya era sabida la noticia de que el autor del Código Da Vinci estaba escribiendo un libro ambientado en la Sevilla de los 90. También era sabido que este escritor no hace honor a la verdad en sus obras, y con la excusa de vender ejemplares y engrandecer su cartera, se permite el lujo de escribir lo que le apetece sin haberse informado previamente. El domingo 29 de Enero, en El Diario de Sevilla, salio una noticia referente a su último libro,"La fortaleza digital", que esta ambientado en Sevilla y donde se hace apología del espionaje en Internet como una forma de protegerse del terrorismo.

Hasta aquí todo puede parecer normal, pero el verdadero problema escomo enseña Sevilla al mundo:

* Pág. 101: " En la pared (se refiere a una clínica de salud pública), una cesta de baloncesto colgaba flácida de su tablero. Diseminados por el suelo, había unas cuantas docenas de pacientes sobre catres" Aaaaaaaaro, y los médicos juegan con las cabezas de los muertos, como el veterinario de los Simpsons. Muy bien Dan.

* Pág. 127: " Se preguntó si debía patearse el barrio de Triana, donde los camellos campeaban por sus fueros " Vaya, si dijera que había ido a las 3.000 viviendas todavía, pero ¿¿Triana??? Sr Brown, se esta pasando al insultar uno de los barrios con mas arte y tradición. Y lo que dice de los españoles:

* Pág. 172: " El zumo de arándano era una bebida popular en España " Zumo de arándanos???Mira, zumo de cebada fresquito y con mucho orgullo.

* Pág. 337: "La comunión. ¡Los malditos españoles! Comulgaban al principio de la misa!" ¿¿Los malditos españoles?? ¿¿Comulgar al principio de la misa?? Tu no serás tonto, ¿¿no?? Y que me decís de la ignorancia en la información??

* Pág. 92: " Becket se dirigió a la calurosa explanada de baldosas de la plaza de España. Ante él, el ayuntamiento se alzaba entre los árboles " Sí, tonto del todo. Pero si el Ayuntamiento está a 10 minutos andando de la Plaza de España. Dan, cariño, que un callejero de Sevilla lo encuentras en Internet...

* Pág. 357: " Los escalones eran sumamente empinados (se refiere a la Giralda). Más de un turista había muerto aquí. Esto no era Estados Unidos, Las señales de advertencia y los pasamanos brillaban por su ausencia. Tampoco había a quien pedir responsabilidades. Esto era España" Bueno, esto ultimo es para examen. Vayamos por partes: ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Escalones en la Giralda!!!!!!!!! ¿¿¿Tu no serás tonto??(uy, perdón, eso ya se confirmo antes).¿¿¿Que han muerto turistas?? Sí, claro. Eso seria que iban leyendo una de tus fantasiosas novelas. Pero si en "Ángeles y Demonios" no se muere un tío que se cae de un helicóptero a miles de metros sobre el mar....¿¿¿se va a morir alguien por subir rampas?? Que pasa, que no los dejaban descansar?? Que había un tío con un látigo acelerando el paso?? ¿¿Señales de advertencia?? Anda Dan, pásate otra vez, o mejor dicho, pásate alguna vez. ¿¿Pasamanos?? Con un black&decker vas a hacer un agujero en un monumento patrimonio de la humanidad??? Si quieres también ponemos Ambigú en alguna rampa. ¿¿Pedir responsabilidades?? ¿¿Esto era España?? Vamos a ver, como quieres que haya policías, si estaban tomando zumo de arándanos con un pitillo que habían pillao en Triana..??? España...te vas a meter con España... Pero si ustedes no sabéis ni quien descubrió vuestro continente, si los policías tienen talla XXL de tomar donuts, y solo queman grasa cuando apalean a un negro o le meten un tiro a alguien. Vamos, hombre. Este libro salio a la venta el día 10 de Febrero. Ruego que todos los que se sientan españoles, o amantes de la verdad, no compren el libro. No podemos consentir que este impresentable se compre una mansión con mentiras sobre nuestro país.

Fin de Semana

2006-02-28T11:47:00.000-05:00

Este pasado fin de semana, logré salir en bici de montaña los dos días. Bueno, básicamente tuve que entrenar con la mtb porque había demasiado viento para estar en la carretera. En el bosque estaba bastante bien protegido del viento. Sábado fui a Mt. Gretna e hice 2.5hrs solo. Como fui solo, llevé mi reproductor de MP3. Esto es una cosa que hago mucho en carretera cuando salgo solo pero fue la primera vez que lo usé con la mtb. En realidad no me gustaba tanto como cuando entreno con “la flaca”. Sábado, aunque había mucho viento, la temperatura subió bastante y a final tuve que quitar la gorra que llevaba de bajo de mi casco y los manguitos que tenía puesto debajo de mi abrigo WindStopper. Como había restos de nieve todavía y la temperatura subiendo, había también mucho barro. Así que domingo decidí ir a otro sitio.

Domingo fui a Swatara State Park con mi amigo Hans. Bueno, llegué tarde y tenía suerte que llegué. No sabía pero media hora antes que pasa por una zona entre mi casa y el parque había una tormenta rápida de nieve (a squal). Dicen que todo fue completamente blanco y la visibilidad cero. En el otro carril había un accidente de coches que a final en las noticias de la misma noche dijeron que implicó +/- 50 coches. A final llegué al parque y allí ya estaba Hans dando vueltas por el recorrido. En realidad había poco nieve pero fue del tipo seco que resbala mucho. Hicimos +/- 2.5hrs y fui a casa. Menos mal que llevé bastante ropa porque la media de tiempo durante mi salida fue -2oC.

Ayer, pues la vuelta al trabajo y rodillo por la noche. Hoy intentaré ir al gimnasio y luego más rodillo. Este fin de semana mi equipo de carretera ha quedado para entrenar junto. A ver si nos da buen tiempo. Solo falta un mes y medio para que empiezan las carreras.

Update? What?

2006-02-16T22:30:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know I'm neglecting this place again. It doesn't surprise me though because now that I'm back to working 40hrs a week, plus training, and tutoring algebra it doesn't leave me much time for this.

So, where were we? Well, I got out for a two hour mtb ride last Saturday morning before it snowed and probably ruined any chance of mountain bike for a couple of weeks. I've been training so much indoors lately due the the lack of daylight hours when I get out of work, so I bought a new trainer. I got a Trek branded Cycleops fluid trainer. It looks nice, but I was lucky enough to not have to use it today. It was in the mid to upper 50's today so I got up at 5:40am to get to work early so I could leave early today and I got about 2hours in on the road this afternoon.

Well that's the quick and dirty on what's up. Sorry no pics this time y tampoco había tiempo para escribir algo en español. A lo mejor escribiré algo nuevo muy pronto en castellano. Later on yall.

Twist of Fate

2006-01-31T15:28:00.000-05:00

Well, that settles it. I'm going back to being an engineer. I'm sure my dad will be happy, since this is what he paid for me to go to college to learn. I helped pay too, so I guess I shouldn't feel to guilty about about not using my degree for the last three years. Anyway, I've got mixed feelings about the new job but it will pay the bills, put money in the bank and most importantly allow me to buy all sorts of new bike goodies. One nice thing is I'll be in Mt Joy, so I'll be right around the corner from Tuesday Night World's when that starts up again in the spring. It's a means to and end. It is a six month contract that should allow me to be financially stable again and ready for something new (or old) come August. For now, it's time to enjoy the rest of my last week off.

what a week?!

2006-01-28T22:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a week! At least it started off good. I was out at my grandparents' house in Bedford on the weekend. There is a little Mennonite grocery store we always hit up while we're out there and I hit the jackpot. Right in the middle of all the coffee was a can of Illy straight from Italy. Those Bedford folk probably had no clue what it was. Needless to say I'll be having some rockin' coffee this week.

The rest of the week was up and down and just a little chaotic for my taste. I stared doing some tutoring, but the lady who runs the place is a disaster. I expected to walk in tutor and leave. Especially because I'm only getting paid for the time I'm with a student. This lady just talks and talks and can't organize her thoughts or herself very well and so she just wastes my time. I missed yoga and a gym workout this week thanks her.

Also on the job front, it looks like I might go back to being an engineer for awhile. I guess it only makes sense considering it is what I went to school for. I interviewed with Tyco and FCI for the same job. Yup, the same exact job. Kinda strange. The really funny part is it is a project I worked on three years ago when I worked at Tyco. So, if all goes right I'll have a 6 month contract and working for real again in a week or so.

Made up for some lost ride time yesterday with a couple of hours on the mtb with Hans and by riding 4 hours today with the Faulkner crew. Tomorrow a few hours with Ray "the champ" and I'll actually get pretty close to my hours for the week. Not bad.

Hasta la proxima!

PCA Meeting News

2006-01-16T21:51:00.000-05:00

Well I wasn't at the meeting on Saturday but I just heard some disappointing news. The proposal to cut the 30+ events from racing this year was voted down. I think it is a real shame because with so many events to cover each race day, each event can only be so long. This means the other races are cut short so some guys who are over 30 can race twice on the same day. Some of the 40+ers even race three times. This really stupid. Why not do a longer distance ability categorized race than three short races? IMHO this is unfair to those who are not eligible to do age category races. To make it worse most of the ability categorized races in the all famous PA BAR aren't long enough to qualify for USCF upgrade points. So once again the young people are screwed because they aren't organized and don't have strong lobby like the AARP. I just didn't realized that it had spilled into bike racing. I guess the way around this would be for the promoters to nix the 30+ category on their own. It is up to them what categories to race. The could get rid of it just like those who don't offer junior's or women's races.

End of the Year

2005-12-31T18:37:00.000-05:00

Well, there are only a few hours left in 2005 here on the east coast. My friends in Spain have already seen the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006. 2005 has been a strange year. In cycling, it saw the end of my desire to race on the road in Spain, my rediscovered interest in mountain biking (anywhere in the world). I made some really good new friends (Isaac, Migue, Alexis, Manuel, and Marcos). I was able to start doing a lot of things that I really want to do, but not realize I was doing it until after I quit(?). I learned the importance of forgivness and just being able to move on. Who would have guessed that I would be teaching high school Spanish. I also finally tried cross country skiing after years of wanting to give it a try.

So, as I get ready to move into 2006 I hope I can learn from my mistakes in 2005 and find a way to stay positive and keep climbing the hill toward "the dream". Happy New Year everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2005-12-23T13:44:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know it's been almost a month since I posted last but I've got my reasons. I started teaching Spanish at a local high school and it has really taken up all of my time. So, I'm on vacation now and I'll try to get things back up to speed. In the mean time I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Click

HERE

to see my "Christmas Card" to everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

2005-11-24T13:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to a dusting of snow on the ground. I'm not a big winter fan but I do like the look of the first snow. It wasn't that much so it didn't keep me from my favorite Thanksgiving tradition. Mountain biking on Thanksgiving morning. I rode this morning with Hans, Joe and Corey. It was a lot of fun, kind of sloppy, and just nice to hang out with those guys again. It was strange though because we ran into a lot of other people out riding. I don't think I've ever seen so many people out riding at the same place.

Noticias y Más Cosas

2005-11-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

Bueno, hace tiempo que escribo aquí en español. Tengo una noticia buena y unas noticias normales. ¡Primero, la noticia buena es que ya tengo un trabajo! Lunes empiezo a dar clases de español en un instituto cerca de aquí. Estoy muy nervioso porque nunca he dado clase así y, además, no he tenido mucho tiempo para pensar lo que estoy haciendo pero bueno, llevo tiempo pensando que me gustaría dar clase y así lo puedo probar. Tendré el puesto durante +/- un mes y si todo va bien a lo mejor hasta junio. Ya veremos…

En otras noticias, hoy fue el campeonato de Pennsylvania de cyclocross. Pues nada, no pude repetir como campeón. A final fui el sexto. El campeón, Ryan Leech, lo merece mucho y por lo menos tenemos un buen tío como campeón de estado. La carrera pareció mucho a una carrera de copa del mundo y el estilo que usan los belgas. Ryan escapó solo y en el grupo de perseguidores él tenía 3 compañeros de equipo y cada vez que alguien intentó a atacar y así controlaban la carrera durante todo el tiempo. Mañana tenemos una carrera de ‘cross de estilo nuevo. Es una carrera de relevos, con 4 personas en cada equipo, y la duración de la carrera es 2 horas. Ya veremos como va. Aquí tienes una foto de la carrera de hoy.

Update Time

2005-11-15T21:47:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've been told I'm not doing a good job udating this thing. Yeah, you're right. I haven't been updating but I haven't really been up to much either. Let's see what have I been doing? Well, racing cyclocross, job hunting, feeling like I made a huge mistake in my life, doing ok but not great at cyclocross (somewhat lack of motivation), getting turned down for a job because I'm overqualified, getting a job offer I can't afford to take, and pretty much just feeling really blaahhh. So, if I go a while without an update it's probably becuase there's nothing to tell or because things just kinda suck and I don't feel like talking about them. Hey, you guys don't leave any comments. So, until next time...

Mountain Biking en Casa

2005-10-27T19:05:00.000-04:00

Bueno, este mensaje es para mis amigos del "otro lado del charco". Hoy por primera vez desde que he llegado aquí. Ha sido muy divertido y como podéis ver hace un poco de frío. He incluido dos fotos para que veáis un poco mejor como es el terreno por aquí. ¡Saludos!

2005-10-27T18:39:00.000-04:00

The podium: 1st Andy Applegate (Easton/KONA), 2nd Ray Adams (VisitPA.com), 3rd Andy Gorski (North Hills Velo).

2005-10-27T18:38:00.000-04:00

Nate rolls into the finish on his second flat.

2005-10-27T18:37:00.000-04:00

Nate on part of the "Run Up from Hell".

2005-10-27T18:36:00.000-04:00

Nate leading the chase group trying to put away the mountain bikers before the singletrack.

2005-10-27T18:34:00.000-04:00

Andy and Nate on the 'cross course.

2005-10-27T18:33:00.000-04:00

Andy Applegate leads through the barriers.

Iron Cross III – America’s Longest Cyclocross Race

2005-10-27T18:14:00.000-04:00

Longest cyclocross race, what? I thought cyclocross was a timed event. Yes, cyclocross normally is a timed event, however Iron Cross, now in its third edition, is like a cyclocross race on steroids. This race is based on the Three Peaks Cyclocross race held in England, http://www.3peakscyclocross.org.uk/.

So, what exactly is the Iron Cross? It’s a bike race that is designed to be cyclocross bike friendly, if not favor a cyclocross bike over a mountain bike. The race is 62 miles long and has an accumulated elevation change of 6,500ft. The course consists of some paved road, dirt roads, single track, a few unrideable sections, and it all starts and ends on a traditional cyclocross course with barriers and all.

In the previous two editions, mountain bike pros like Chris Eatough and Jeremiah Bishop have taken the honors on their mountain bikes. This year, the organizers made a few changes to cater the course a little more to the guys on cyclocross bikes. It seems to have worked since there were only about three or four mountain bikes in the top 10 and the top three were all cyclocross bikes.

Ok, so how did I end up doing this race? Well, it’s close to home and it’s something I’ve been wanting to try since its inception, but for the last few years I’ve been focusing my cyclocross season the Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross Series and didn’t want to miss any races for fear of not accumulating any series points. This year things have been different. After doing a few long distance mountain bike events in Spain, I figured this would fit right in with all that.

The day before the Iron Cross, I did a traditional cyclocross race at the same venue and the weather was sunny and unseasonably warm. When Sunday morning rolled around it had cooled off but the sun was still out and things seemed like they would be ok. Wow was I wrong about that. I got my stuff together, a couple of energy bars, some gels, a bottle of mixed Gatorade and a bottle of water, some small tools, two tubes, and my mini pump. I was rolling around in my PEZ gear, with my nice warm vest on and my arm warmers. I had knee warmers on but at the start I took them and the vest off thinking it would warm up as the day went on.

There were 95 of us on the start line and when the organizer said, “GO!”, we took off up the gravel road as if it were a short race. We hit the cyclocross course and coming out of the barriers, I was in second position. As we went out onto the long course, Andy Applegate (Easton/KONA) started to pull away and another guy came from behind me to try to go with him. I looked over my shoulder and saw a group of about 8 to 10 guys coming so I let up a little until they bridged up to me. In the group were my coach, Mike Kuhn (VisitPA.com), and a good friend of mine Ray Adams (VisitPA.com).

When we hit the first climb, which started as pavement and then turned to dirt, we started setting a pretty good pace, trying not to let Andy and the other guy get out of our sight. I started feeling like my rear tire was going flat and decided that if it was, the best thing I could do was get up the road as far as I could before having to stop to change the tube. I mentioned this to Mike and as I road off the front of the group Ray came with me. Luckily, it turned out I wasn’t loosing air and Ray and I started working together to get away from the group behind us. We got away but after a long downhill section, they were right back with us. We got out on the road and a few guys tested the group again but nothing happened until we hit the next hard climb.

The next climb was a steep, rather long, paved climb that the guys on the cyclocross bikes tried to take advantage of and put it to the mountain bikers in the group. It seemed to work, and as we hit the top, the group was reduced to five. We hammered across the next dirt road section riding a decent pace line trying to close the door on the mountain bikers before we hit the first singletrack section.

In the singletrack section, Mike came past Ray and I to get a 30 second gap. When we exited this part, Mike sat up and waited for his teammate Ray. The two of them got an initial gap of 20 seconds over me and Andy Gorski (North Hills Velo). We worked very hard, each taking turns pulling, trying to get Mike and Ray back but we wouldn’t see them again until the “run up” from hell.

The run up from hell is where my problems started. I’m not sure how long this hike-a-bike section was but it was almost a straight up wall at times. My calves were screaming as we slogged our way up it. It was very deceiving too as Andy Gorski and I could see Mike and Ray just ahead of us but when we got to the top, they were gone.

From the top of all the hiking sections we started riding our two man pace line again but slowly my cramps started to get the better of me. I had been constantly taking in water and Gatorade the entire ride with a periodic gel pack but my legs just seemed to get worse. In fact, I was the one reminding everyone in the early break to remember to eat and drink.

My cramps went from bad to worse, as now it wasn’t just my calves but my hamstrings too. Slowly Andy road away from me as I started to hold back a little in order to limit my loses. When we hit the next long climb Andy rode out of sight and I was on my own. Afterward I concluded that maybe my cramps had to do with the cold weather. It got colder as the day went on and I think my blood just wasn’t getting out to my muscles. Not to mention that it was the first real cold day for me since, well, umm, February.

I was out on my own now and somehow I felt like I was starting to bonk. I still can’t figure this one out as I had been eating and drinking the whole time. This is the worst bonk I’ve ever had because I started to feel like I was going to vomit. I’m not sure how but I kept going with my feeling of vomiting and my cramps. The desire to puke eventually went away. I thought maybe things were getting better and then my curse of the year struck me, I flatted. Just into the last true singletrack section, I flatted. I stopped to change the tube and that’s when three guys on mountain bikes passed me. I got going again and shortly thereafter a group of two cyclocrossers and another mountain biker joined me. I rode with them until we hit the last hike-a-bike section followed by a climb. Somehow, even with all my bodily troubles I got away from them there.

I rode out the last dirt road and hit the final couple of miles on the pavement. I thought I was in the clear and that I would be able to hold them off. Boy was I wrong as I suddenly started to go flat again. Now I had another tube with me but I decided that since I was on pavement with only a few miles to go that it was faster to ride out the flat than to stop again and change it. I was almost right. The two cyclocrossers caught me on the pavement and the mountain biker caught me just before the finishing circuit.

It was a lot of pain and suffering, but it was a great time. I really can’t complain with finishing 11th of 95 considering the adversity I was up against. Would I do it again? You betcha! Hopefully I’ll be doing it next year and I’ll have a little better luck and maybe even hit the podium. This year’s podium was rounded out by Andy Applegate (Easton/KONA), Ray Adams (VisitPA.com) and Andy Gorski (North Hills Velo). Congratulations guys, you deserve it.

Check out more on Iron Cross at: www.highspeedcycling.com
Extra thanks to my mom and Ed Hidden of www.keystonebiking.com for the photos.

Cyclocross Mud Weekend

2005-10-10T20:59:00.000-04:00

Check out these pics of my first cyclocross weekend for 2005. Way too muddy for my taste.

Thursday, Oct 6 (Jueves, 6 de octubre)

2005-10-02T13:25:00.000-04:00

Well that's it, the day I'll be back in the U.S. of A. I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing, but then again, lately I never know if I'm doing the right thing. Call it a break, a vacation, a permanent decision, I'm not really sure but it's what I'm doing. I've come to a complete standstill here in Spain and I just can seem to get around it. So, for all three of you who read my blog I'll probably see you soon. Also, if you haven't noticed, I've changed my name again because it's who I feel like I am now.

Bueno, pues es la fecha en que volvere a los EE.UU. No estoy seguro que lo estoy haciendo bien pero ultimamente nunca estoy seguro de lo que hago. Llamalo un descanso, unas vacaciones, una decision permanente, realmente no estoy seguro pero es lo que voy a hacer. Estoy completamente estancado aqui en España y parece que no puede avanzar. Por los pocos aqui que leen mi blog espero que nos veremos pronto en el futuro. Tambien, si no has visto, he cambiado mi nombre otra vez porque creo que representa mejor quien creo que soy.

How I feel lately...

2005-09-18T12:45:00.000-04:00

So I was listening to the radio the other day and a song came on the radio that I haven't heard in a while. It was Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve. Part of the chorus of the song says "And I'm a million different people from one day to the next". That's exactly how I feel as I'm trying to make way back home. After having lived in a different place and in this case, a different country and culture it becomes part of you and it makes it difficult to know who you are sometimes and therefore difficult to make decisions as to where you are going. Things aren't as bad as the rest of the song's lyrics make it sound, but I thought I'd put it up here anyway.

Bittersweet Symphony... The Verve

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Try to make ends meet
You're a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet yeah,
*No change, I can change
I can change, I can change
But I'm here in my mold
I am here in my mold
But I'm a million different people from one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no
Well I never pray
But tonight I'm on my knees yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now
But the airways are clean and there's nobody singing to me now
*
'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Try to make ends meet
Try to find some money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the things meet yeah
You know I can change, I can change
I can change, I can change
But I'm here in my moldI am here in my mold
And I'm a million different peoplefrom one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no
I can't change my mold
no, no, no, no, no,
I can't change
Can't change my body,
no, no, no
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been downBeen down
Ever been down
Ever been down
Ever been down
Ever been down
Have you ever been down?
Have you've ever been down?

¿Qué Pasa Neng?

2005-09-11T12:33:00.000-04:00

¿Qué Pasa Neng? Well, you'd have to be here in Spain to understand that one completely. However, the ¿Qué Pasa? part shouldn't be too hard to figure out. So, what's happening? It's been quite a while since I've written and many of you who stop by occasionally have probably stopped doing so. Sorry. My life's kind of in the dumper right now and I just haven't had the motivation or interest in posting to the blog. My time here in Spain is winding down. I came back in January looking for answers to some difficult questions. It turns out that I've had the answers all along, I just didn't know what the questions were. So I guess it's time to pack my bags and get the F#%k out of Dodge. I just can't seem to do it though and if this goes on much longer, I'm going to have to ask for a rescue team to come and get me. I've already missed a couple of races I wanted to do back home as a warm up for 'cross and now it looks like I'm going to miss the first 'cross event of the year too. Now I guess instead of focusing on the MABRA series I'm going to focus on the Iron Cross race and defending my PA State Champ status. I'll do the other races in the MAC and MABRA but mathematically I probably won't be able to pull off anything too spectacular considering I'm going to skip a race in each series. Oh well, that's life. So, if you're in PA I'll probably see you in a couple of weeks. When I finally set a date, I'll be sure to post it here. Hasta entonces...

2005-08-17T12:06:00.000-04:00

Hey Don, this photo's for you. For anyone else out there that is interested check out the story on www.antibike.blogspot.com.

More MTB pics

2005-07-31T10:37:00.000-04:00

Check out some more photos of the the MTB excursion to the north of Spain.

http://www.surmtb.com/burgos.grafica.julio.html

MTB Update

2005-07-27T12:10:00.000-04:00

Heeeeeeeyyyyyyy Everybody! I'm back from 4 days of rockin' mountain biking. The trip was a blast, even though it was a lot of time in the car back and forth. We stayed in a small town north of Burgos, Spain. The town has maybe 10 houses but it was pretty cool. It's tucked into the Rio Ebro Canyon, built up against one of the Canyon walls. We did three days of riding and then on the last day we went further north to do an MTB marathon race. The course was kind of short because it started as an Alpine Marathon running race and in the last couple of years they added the MTB event. No problem, it was still a lot of fun. I ended up finishing 14th of about 450 riders and that was with a terrible start position. I must have passed about 300 riders on the first climb. The over all winner was ex sub-23 World XC champ Inaki Lejarreta, so I didn't feel so bad about the result. The course was in some places much harder than I expected. There were some climbs that were vertical walls and the only way up was pushing the bike. The downhills were less technical than I expected, but overall it was a good time. The race organization was excellent and there was tons of free food at the end! Hopefully I'll be able to track down some photos of the race. Until then, here are some pics of our three days of riding.

More Mountain Biking

2005-07-17T13:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I had so much fun mountain biking back in April that I've getting out now and then whenever I can borrow a bike from someone here. Lately I've been riding my friend Alexis' Fuel 100. It's ok but I don't like it all that much. Maybe it's because it's a little too big for me. Either way, I think I'm just a retrogrouch hardtail rider. So, I'm headed to northern Spain this week for three days of guided mountain bike rides and then on the fourth day we're going to do an MTB Marathon. Check out the info about the rides here. I know the stuff is in Spanish but you can at least look at the pictures and the daily route plans. On Sunday we'll be doing the Marathon. It shouldn't be too difficult as it appears to be mostly down hill. Check out the pic of the course profile above. I'll hopefully have some good stories (and pics) to post when I get back.

2005-07-06T15:21:00.000-04:00

The Pack

2005-07-06T15:20:00.000-04:00

What's Inside

Decathlon

2005-07-06T15:08:00.000-04:00

No, it's not the next sport I'm going to take up, it's a sports store here in Europe, you know the store that sponsors Ag2r and used to sponsor Cofidis. Imagine a Dick's Sporting Goods with better quality stuff and their own brand that is nearly as good as the name brand stuff. The only problem with it is the chain is French. Oh well, I guess you can't have it all. I stumbled across a really sweet deal yesterday. The Michelin Pro Race Pack. Check it out, it comes in tube all packed together; 2 Michelin Pro Race tires, 2 Michelin Ultra Light tubes, rim strips and a "free" shoe bag. The whole thing was on sale for 49€. One Pro Race tire normally costs at least 32€. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with my find.

Bike Repair

2005-06-29T10:49:00.000-04:00

One of the things that drives me crazy here in Spain is working on my bike at home. I have about 1/4 of the tools I really need to do the job because they are too heavy to try bring them all over in my bike box. The lack of a real work stand really sucks too. Check out this mess that I rigged up yesterday to clean my headset. What a disaster!

2005-06-21T13:50:00.000-04:00

No wonder I feel completely out of gas and burned up. This is just way to hot for 7pm. HELP!!!!!!!

New Neighbor

2005-06-20T12:56:00.001-04:00

Just the other day I was telling you all about adopting greyhounds or any dog for that matter from your local animal shelter. Well, it must have been some type of karma or something but on Friday at the front door of our apt building I encountered a small stray dog. It was easily 100F out and I thought the poor thing might have "gone to the dogs" (Muppets reference). Sure enough she was ok but seemed very weak. I brought the dog upstairs and gave her something to eat and drink. Then for whatever reason I decided to give the poor thing a bath too. Afterward, I took her back down to the street. She seemed to be doing better already and ran a couple of laps around the plaza. Since then I see the dog just about every day. I've noticed too that at the one bar they give her water and maybe something to eat. I was really surprised this afternoon to find the dog asleep on in the stairway of our building on the 3rd floor. I gave her some water and then took her back down to the street. If it was up to me I'd keep her but a certain someone here isn't into pets at all. This could be a future problem. For now I guess I'll just give the dog some water and some food and say hello when I can.

2005-06-20T12:56:00.000-04:00

kind of scruffy but very friendly

Justice Is Served

2005-06-18T08:05:00.000-04:00

Some of you may know that I used to work for Tyco Electronics, which is part of Tyco International. I was extremely pleased to see in this news this morning that former CEO Dennis Kozlowski was convicted for stealing $$ from the company. In reality he was stealing money from me. During my two years at Tyco I had to take numerous weeks of unemployment because the company was in financial turmoil thanks to this bastard and his CFO sidekick Mark Swartz. I hope they rot in prison and that their cell mates "like" overweight white collar crooks.

Check out the story:

Former Chief Executive Officer Dennis Kozlowski and co-defendant and former Chief Financial Officer Mark Swartz were both convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud and eight of nine counts of falsifying records. Both men were charged with stealing money from Tyco to fund an elaborate lifestyle of luxury homes and parties. "These guys ran the company like a personal fiefdom," Jacob Zamansky, a securities attorney who represents investors at New York-based Zamansky & Associates, said. "They did what they wanted and took what they liked. They stepped over the line." (Watch footage from the infamous "toga" birthday party hosted by Kozlowski: Part 1, Part 2.)

See the rest of the story at:

CBS MarketWatch.Com

or

Yahoo News

2005-06-17T11:10:00.000-04:00

Looking for a good home.

Saving Greyhounds

2005-06-17T10:46:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not talking about the buses that might be one of the worst ways to travel in the U.S. I'm talking about the dogs. Greyhound in English, Galgo en Español. The other day when I was on my way back from a ride I came across a stray greyhound. It was really hot out and the poor dog had his tongue hanging out and he was nothing but skin and bones. I stopped to try and give him some water but he wouldn't come close. He was afraid to get near me. Unfortunately there are lots of stray greyhounds and dogs in general here in Spain. The greyhounds are not only used for racing but for hunting and when they are no longer useful the owners just turn them loose. Most of them have been mistreated and are afraid of people, like the one I saw. I would have gladly brought the dog home if he would have come closer. It's a real shame how some people treat animals, especial those like dogs who just want to please their owners.

So, I started looking around on the net and I found some interesting places to adopt greyhounds or galgos. If you are thinking about getting a dog, consider adopting a greyhound. If a greyhound is too big for you, check with your local Humane Society before buying a dog. The Humane Society is a great way to resuce a lovable mutt. Check out the following links:

http://www.hsus.org/pets/animal_shelters/

http://www.adopt-a-greyhound.org/

http://www.greyrescue.com/

http://www.sosgalgos.com/

http://www.galgosinfronteras.org/home.htm

Subida El Torcal

2005-06-13T07:16:00.000-04:00

My race yesterday was ok, not great but ok. I didn't have any flats or other problems which was a victory in itself. However, I got stuck in the chase group behind the main peloton after the first climb and the group didn't seem very interested in doing anything. So, I decided to ride up to the front and start moving the group along. I looked back and I had a gap and a teammate on the front apparently blocking so I decided to take my chances and took off down the road in search of the peloton. A couple of times I could see them but I just couldn't close the gap. I didn't see the group behind me again for the rest of the race. So basically I soloed about 75km of a 116km race which was not a good thing considering the last 20km or so where up hill. When I got to the last climb about halfway up I could really feel my previous effort in my legs and was worried I wasn't going to make it. I've never suffered up a climb the way I did yesterday. Check out the profile here (http://www.salite.ch/torcal.htm), however we did the climb a little differently and it was much longer the way we did it. My risk in going off on my own paid off though I guess as I was the last rider included in the classification. If I would have just hung out in that group, I would have been a DNF. I'm feeling kind of burned out now and am going to take maybe 2 days off to see how I feel. I've got to tear apart my rear hub and go shopping for bearings anyway.

Nothing New

2005-06-10T11:58:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know I haven't posted anything new in a while, but there really hasn't been anything going on worth writing about. It's hot as hell here and I'm kind of bored. I'm supposed to race on Sunday and then the calendar is pretty much open until July. What a bunch of shit. And to think these people consider themselves a "cycling nation". Whatever.

One thing that has happened is the bearings in my American Classic Sprint 350's are starting to wear out already. I've got 8000km in and the bearing in the rear hub on the drive side is shot. I'll have to suck it up and deal with it for this weekend but next week I'll have to go shopping for bearings. I'm actually thinking about getting rid of this wheelset. Don't get me wrong, they're light and they are good and stiff but the rear hub mech is just to finicky for me. If they were a "race only" wheelset I probably wouldn't have any trouble but as my "only" wheelset here the hubs just aren't standing up too well to my durability test. Hell, I haven't even had to true these yet but I've had to pull the rear hub apart 3 times now. I'm thinking of building something with DT Swiss hubs or even getting a DT Swiss pre-built wheelset. We'll see...

End of an Era

2005-06-08T14:39:00.000-04:00

Today was the end of an era. The GarageMahal Blog was taken down. It was a good site to read some stupid shit and laugh, especially if you knew the people involved. It was always in good fun and unfortunately some dickhead couldn't figure that out and caused a lot of problems for the blog's writer. So, I'm offering to "Spice" if he wants, I'll glady publish anything he sends me, and since I've got nothing to do with his team's sponsor there shouldn't be an issue.

2005-06-03T05:32:00.000-04:00

Just when I thought I'd seen it all here in Spain, and trust me I've seen some pretty crazy things, a recently married couple hops in some pony drawn carriage and does a couple of laps around the plaza. WTF!!?? (picture taken from our balcony in the center of town)

2005-06-03T05:29:00.000-04:00

Anyone want to ride in the pony drawn carriage?

What a disappointment

2005-05-29T11:06:00.000-04:00

Today's race was a huge disappointment. I was surprised to find it was raining when I woke up this morning, considering it has been sunny and about 90F most of the week. So, it was rainy and cool, which minus the rain is much better for me. So I get to the race and get ready. We were supposed to do 142.5km but since the weather was shitty and nobody really wanted to be there the race officials decided to cut the race down from 4 laps to 3. We got going and things were going well. I was tucked into the peloton just hanging out. I marked a few moves off the front but the pack wasn't letting anyone get away easy today. So, it was as some of here say a Belgium/Holland type day (rainy) and as I said I was just hanging out in the middle of the peloton on a slight down hill when BBBOOOOMMM!!!!! My fantastic Dutch tire, Vredstein, blew off the rim. I have no idea how I didn't go down and take half of the bunch with me. So there I was, riding half rim and half tire on the front on a wet road down hill. I couldn't brake well and the slightest movement meant I was on the ground. Somehow I finally came to a stop and our team car pulled up to give me a wheel. Then as if things couldn't get worse. I rode my ass off to get back up to the last group. In the group were two of my teammates, Jose and Chopo, two riders from Paul Versan/Andalucia, a Cordoba Patrimonio, and an Avila Roja. We hit the right hand turn and got a tail wind. Jose and a PV/Andalucia rider got a gap. I waited and the bridged up. We rode away from the rest without a problem and started reeling in riders spit out of the group in front of us. At one intersection the traffic guard told us it was 3min to the next group. With a lap and a half to go, I thought it might be possible if we continued to work together. Then to my complete disbelief my jackass teammate Jose, as we'll call him now, decides to attack our group of three. What an idiot, as if he was going to close that gap by himself. The PV/Andalucia rider went after him but couldn't get him back. I tried to catch them but couldn't get back either of them. So, now we had jackass then at about 500m, PV/Andalucia then at another 500m me, giving it everything. So instead of riding a paceline, which is much faster, the three of us were absolutely killing ourselves individually for nothing. I knew any hope of getting back was now gone and at the end of the second lap I decided it was time to exit. After the race I told my director that unless something changes I'm done racing. I've had enough of jackass Jose doing whatever he wants during races and not applying any kind of tactics or listening to the DS for that matter. Hopefully we'll see this issue resolved.

Giro: Finestre

2005-05-28T11:18:00.000-04:00

I just found this page with some pics of the Finestre. Use the green arrow at the top of the page to advance through the 10 pics.

http://www.altimetrias.net/foro/fotos/verFotos.asp?id=1047

2005-05-28T11:05:00.000-04:00

mmmmm.... pancakes. That's really about only half of what I made. I just couldn't eat any more today. Oh well, breakfast tomorrow.

Saturday

2005-05-28T10:44:00.000-04:00

Well, it's Saturday and since my race was cancelled I figured it was good time to update. So what to do on a Saturday that would have normally been devoted to racing? I went out for a short spin this morning and did few sprints to get my legs ready for tomorrow's race and then proceeded to make a boat load of pancakes. Yeah, I know I don't normally like pancakes all that much but it's different when you can't have them whenever you want. It's not like I can go down to the local Denny's and order pancakes 24hrs a day. I actually had to mix up the batter and make the damn things. Then what? Well since I don't have satelite tv, I had to settle for following the Giro on the internet. It's ok, but not the same as being able to watch it and hear it. It's a good thing I'm relativly imgainative and can picture it all in my head. As for my cancelled race, you can more or less thank the Pro Tour for that one. I'll explain this one in more detail later.

2005-05-24T09:02:00.000-04:00

Milage update. Since Jan 1 I've ridden 7298km (4535mi). I know that time is what really matter so I've included my hours since Jan 1. Total hours, including time in the gym, 278hrs.

Monday

2005-05-23T15:48:00.000-04:00

Wow, I feel like my ass got run over by a train. I'm walking around like a zombie today. I even decided to take advantage of siesta which under normal circumstances I can't stand. I guess it has to do with training over the weekend and the fact that it is progressively getting hotter here. I rode 150km on Saturday and did some intervals on the ride and then did another 90km on Sunday. Today I didn't do squat. I started to replace my shifter cables and bar tape but only got halfway done before lunch and the bike is still sitting there half done now at almost 10pm. Oh well, I finish it up tomorrow before I ride.

2005-05-20T10:34:00.000-04:00

KACY!!!!! Here's a pic of one the things I miss most about being away from home. What a good dog!

Anybody Out There?

2005-05-19T09:30:00.000-04:00

Hey, I know some people have checked out the page, but nobody has left any comments yet. Feel free to comment, even if your comment is "Dude this page sucks". I'm trying to make this a better page. I'm just not there yet.

2005-05-19T09:28:00.000-04:00

Mike (my coach) concentrating on the race. Hey, where's the VisitPA.com clothing?