You know your iTunes library is getting big when....

you don't even know what song is playing.

But you know your iTunes library is spiraling out of control when a jesus song comes on. Especially if you've had the pleasure of hearing me spout off about my feelings towards "religions" (the quotes should give you a hint towards my feelings towards the subject). What the fuck Jars of Clay, I didn't know you sang his praises and held up his name upon high until you "fall in love with him all over again."

Delete.

delicious....

17 lbs

Realized one thing today....

if you are wearing suspenders

and you are in a movie

you are a douchebag.

S'more crit racin

Did some racing out in Ontario this past weekend- it was looking like another flood-race, with 50% chance of rain for the 3 race, and 80% chance later in the afternoon for the 1,2,3. Not being a California pansy yet, I regged up for both (nevermind that I registered weeks before I knew the weather...)

The 3 race was real frustrating. I felt fine in the first few laps, and after my last race spent mostly off the front, I decided to try and sit in and just wait for the end. About mid-way through the field slowed down considerably for a whole lap, with two guys just dangling a few seconds in front. They sloooooowly pulled away as the field basically just raced around real lazily. I should have bridged (while it was still a small gap) or taken some pulls, but being afraid of doing too much work again, I just sat tight. The break at some point became 3 people, and they started working.... and I figured it'd just come back, but despite the monstrous efforts of my teammate Ted, who pulled hard enough to line out the field for at least three or four straightaways at a clip, the break stayed out. Even as the sprint came up for 4th, I found myself a bit too far back on the bell lap, and didn't have the legs, finished somewhere in the field. Bummer.

The 1,2,3 went much better, considering my goal was to finish, and to get 90 minutes of hard crit racing in. Well I got 90 minutes of good crit riding in. Very quickly into the race a break was established, and the field eased off and let them get a considerable lead. Nothing much happened as I just stood tucked in as much as possible, hanging out in the front 1/2 of the field whenever possible. With about 20 minutes left, Rock Racing thought it was a good idea to have it all back together, so in about 4-5 laps, they did just that-taking about 10 seconds back each lap. Took about 6 of their guys, and they had the entire 100 man field strung out... but the break came back. Despite all that work, they set up Rashaan Bahati for a win. I was pleased with my effort, and even managed to work my way up to the front of the field in the last 3 laps, with gleams of hope at a top 20, but once we turned the last corner, there were plenty (read most) of people around me with more in their legs for that last kick than I had.... still a good race.

It was cool to see that the 1,2,3's aren't world over my head, so I'm confident that if I had a good day, and if the race was right, I could pull a top 20.

Frame building....

Lately I've had a hankering to try my hand in a whole new part of the bike world: framebuilding. Now, for those that don't know, this would entail welding together my own bike- maybe sounds simple, but to keep everything in line and to have good strong joints is much harder than it seems. Using lugs to join the tubes helps both of these problems, but the construction still isn't simple at all.

I just got the Paterek Manual, a pretty through resource written for beginning frame builders. In order to keep the idea of building a bike even within the realm of possibility, I need to limit myself to steel, and use lugs. TIG welding required for aluminum and titanium (Ti is much much further complicated even than Al) is much harder than the type of welding required for brazing the lugs and tubes together.

Here's my dilemma, though. I have a desire to race the track at some point.... and the one thing I'm afraid of there is finding a bike that fits me just right. Now I'm sure I could make a stock one work, but maybe I could really ensure I'd get one that fits me right if I just built it?

I've also been thinking about touring at some point, but with my road or cross bike, I can't get panniers on there. This issue might be mute if I just use a BOB trailer, but it'd be cool to have a custom built touring bike too though...

So, even though this project is likely at least a year away... what should I build??

Joshua Tree National Park

Crossed another National Park off the list- visited Joshua Tree with Nicole this past weekend. While this wasn't all that spectacular of a trip (thinking back to Rocky Mtn, and thinking ahead to Yellowstone) but it was still more than worth the two hour drive from the Los Angeles area.

Sunset the first night

Cholla "jumping" cactus. Don't wear crocs near them, you will regret it.

We camped two nights out in a pretty nice campground- the second night we were basically alone in the campground, except for the coyotes...a little unnerving, but fun. (and we say we want to do back country!? we need to grow a pair). There was a huge rock formation behind us that we climbed up on the last morning for the sunrise, pretty sweet.

Longest hike we did (7 miles in the desert sun) was to a fan palm oasis. Ate some lunch under these bad boys.

The legit shot from the top of the one summit hike we did, Ryan Mountain

We did almost all the hiking we could have done, and saw almost the whole park. I'd definitely recommend going and visiting for a day if you're within a few hours drive, but nothing to travel across country for (unlike Rocky Mountain- everyone should go there, three times.) Make sure to go during the spring (March - April is blooming season, pictures we saw looked amazing) or in the winter. The houses nearby had GINORMOUS A/C units, so I can only imagine how flipping hot it must get out there. I mean.... Death Valley National Park isn't that far away...

Yo.

Well no posts for a while mean I have been doing nothing, or too much. Thankfully its the latter.

Took a trip to Joshua Tree National Park this last weekend with Nicole, that was fun. (I'll throw some pictures up later)

Ate at the Veggie Grill three times. Legit.

Took and likely failed a midterm (though I hope everyone did)

Finished off a project for a class I learned will not be graded

Just gave a presentation at our lab meeting.

So suffice it to say, I'm going to go ride my bike now.

Cannondale....

For the past year I've been racing a CAAD9 on the road, and LOVE it. Great bike- light and stiff, and cheap! However, I've always wanted to get a 613 or SystemSix or something along those lines one day.... looks like I'll have to hurry up and do that before Cannondale takes a turn for the worse. Cannondale owned by the same company that owns Schwinn? Scary.

Hope Cannondale (aluminum frame) production stays in Bedford...

Second weekend of racing

Did a roadrace and a crit this past weekend. The roadrace was the annual start of the racing season: The Boulevard Road Race. The course was pretty rolling, with a few kilometers of uphill that stretched up to the finish. So not exactly my kind of race really. I decided to do the collegiate to see what that was like out West. Not feeling like racing at 6AM in the desert (FREEZING) I signed up for the A's race at noon. Didn't go so well- Stanford guys tore the small field to shreds on the first lap's climb, and I was basically just riding for training after that.

Next day was rainy and windy- great time for a bike race. It was a crit though, so I was feeling much more motivated to go get wet. I raced the 3's, and like last weekend's wet crit, the field was small likely due to the weather. Maybe 30-40 guys. I made sure to stay right near the front, knowing that the group would probably split up after not too long. Turns out I didn't even realize when the split happened (good thing I guess!). A few laps after it had happened, I let myself drift 6 or 7 guys back, took a peek what was behind us, and.... nothing. No one else in sight! So... that was the race. From that point on I just sat on- we were clearly not getting caught (we actually lapped everyone else) so there was no point to get stuck in the wind. Things got a little more animated when we lapped the field- people used teammates to try and spring off... but it was all together coming into the final lap. One dude went off the front at the bell, and was working up a decent lead. I was getting worried, but didn't want to do any work just to drag other people up. We were slowly bringing him back in on the last corner, which I carried more speed through by going wide.... jumped from 3rd or 4th wheel to the the first guy chasing down the leader... stayed way outside and started my sprint... WAY too early. I got almost all the way up to the guy off the front, but then three guys came barreling through with 50m to go. If I had been smarter I could have easily have been top 3, but I ended up 5th- so more upgrade points! Not bad... but I'm hoping for better next weekend.