Up on SoCalCycling...

This poll was up on SoCalCycling.com:

Will the high price of gas effect how much racing you can do?
Seriously California?? Yes, gas prices are high, but why would you sacrifice going to races before considering to carpool? I feel like if this poll is taken on the East Coast, the car pool option would have much better representation.

Some other stats I've heard in the last few days, I think on NPR: aggressive driving can lead to a 30% knock in efficiency. Think of how much $$ you spend per mile driving, because really this is more fundamental than $$ per gallon. You can get 30% further if you just don't drive like a jackass, accelerate like you're in a NASCAR race, or average over 70 on the freeway.

Also read in a magazine article that the vehicle in the US that has the lowest cradle to grave energy requirements is the Scion xB. Just imagine if they used a wind tunnel to design it next time!! The cradle to grave analysis takes into account all the design work, material sourcing, manufacturing, use, and disposal/recycling. The Toyata Prius isn't far behind considering you have to sacrifice three and a half lambs and cut down three acres of trees to make the battery.

Mel-ben

I usually get pretty carried away with things at times. When I was looking for grad schools I had a monstrously large excel spreadsheet with all sorts of crap in it, most importantly the average daily temperature, which obviously dominated my decision making process to come to Irvine.

I've recently become really interested in the area of sustainable, or green building. I first heard about this back at PSU I think, and it seemed like a fringe hippy-ish thing that was being done up in Vermont. Enter: energy crisis, and companies wanting to go "green", and sustainable building is quickly becoming mainstream. To be fair, knowing what I know now, it would have become mainstream anyway, because it makes so much sense. If you'd like to nod and smile politely for 20 minutes, ask me about it.

Anyway, the carried away part is that I've gone back to my aspirations of getting a Fulbright, this time to study green construction in where else? Melben. That is Melbourne, Australia. Turns out there is a university there, RMIT, that has the perfect program. How sick would it be to go live in Australia and get experience in some sweet nitch between engineering and the environment. Applications are due in the fall, and if I were to do this program, I'd probably be starting there February 2010.

Royale with cheese

It's the little differences,

example: here in California no one takes off their sunglasses when they talk to you. That might not seem weird, but I've found that sometimes it can be. Maybe it's just natural, but whenever I'm talking to people I usually take my glasses off so you can make eye contact. This point was first brought up to me by Munas one day when we were on the side of the road educating a police officer about the laws of the road. We took our glasses off to talk to him, and I think he was more receptive, in part, because we saw him eye to eye.

Anyway, back to California- everyone has dark sunglasses, and you usually can't see people's eyes, so it's a little weird sometimes I think. I bet there is some cognitive difference that is present and depends upon eye contact for communication. I'm almost certain, however, that I don't care that much, and am far too lazy to even google the subject.

they put mayonnaise all over the shit.

What else... more racing.

Did Barrio Logan on Saturday, and CBR Dominguez "I've raced this course 8 times this year" Hills.

Barrio Logan was an EXPERIENCE. Man, I haven't seen that many crashes in a race for a LONG time. The first few were in straightaways. I swerved and jumped my way over guys who donated their skin to the pavement. Sucks. Was not near enough to the front when two guys, Scott from SDBC, and Albert from T-mobile, ended up rolling away. Definitely would have jumped to go with that, but the trouble is I tried to bridge far too late... and ended up just torching myself before the finish. Oh well.

Next day was the CBR race, where Ernie is still leading the series. He couldn't make it, however, so our strategy going in was to get Ted, our next best placed rider, the victory, and limit the points that Max, from SC Velo, got... who was sitting 2nd.

Well we only had about 30 riders at most, because San Luis Rey was going on the same day. So my thoughts of sitting in and leading Ted out full throttle were probably not going to happen. They were certain not to happen once Ted decided to shred people to death about 3 laps in. Originally it was Ted and a Banning's Rider, so myself and some Bannings guys were slowing what was left of the field down. I basically just sat on Max's wheel the whole race. After only a few laps Ted had dropped the Bannings guy, and was drilling it out there all by himself. I was already thinking of where I would counter once Ted's Andrea-like move came back.... but it didn't, ever. I sat in the wheels of the chasers, who were for the most part not all that organized, and not fully committed to anything. Most people didn't realize I was just marking Max, and some dude started swearing at me to pull- needless to say I did not, just made sure to gap him off the back a few times. I basically sat 4th wheel for half the race while three guys just rotated in front of me. Wonderful!

At one point I had actually let Max slip behind me, and I was still sitting 4th wheel... so I figured, what the hell, I'll let these three go, and that is 3 more spots that Max can't get into... so I just sat up, and so did everyone behind me. So 3 guys went up the road, and I can imagine that with only 3, they worked better, because they stayed away too. One dude actually caught Ted, but Ted still beat him down in the sprint. Going into the final lap, I should have just continued to sit on Max's wheel, but a little lull in the pace invited me to attack with what I thought should be significantly fresher legs than everyone else... but I guess not. I almost got to the last corner, but was rushed by four guys, and then a few more... I think I ended up 15th- bummer. But Ted got the victory, and Max only got 5th, so even though he'll definitely take over the lead, it's still manageable.

Rare Political Sidenote

So I hadn't really made up my mind about who I'd vote for come November, other than the fact that it would not be a white male. That is until the last few days have produced some daylight between the two donkey candidates. I found this excerpt from the NYT (full article) particularly telling:

For all the similarities between the two Democrats, there is also a core thematic difference between them. Mrs. Clinton tends to favor narrowly focused programs, like the gas-tax holiday, that speak to specific voter concerns. By suspending the tax and replacing it with a new tax on oil companies, Mrs. Clinton told a rally in Hendersonville, N.C., on Friday, she was standing with “hard-pressed Americans who are trying to pay their gas bills.”

Mr. Obama, on the other hand, leans toward broader programs meant to help nearly all middle- and low-income families. At a steel factory in Northwest Indiana on Friday, Mr. Obama called the tax holiday a “gimmick” and said he instead favored a cut in the payroll tax, which finances Social Security, of up to $1,000 for middle-class households “to offset the costs not only of gas, but also of food.”

After reading this section I think I've made my choice. Seems that Hill-Rod is full of political tricks, while Barack is actually looking to improve conditions for a large number of people. This even coming from a newspaper that endorsed Clinton- check here for proof of that from the most reputable of news sources.

Anyway, keep filling up those SUV gas tanks America- the gas tax will probably happen, because politicians are ridiculous. Just remember that when the tax comes back, and it pushes gas back over the $7 per gallon mark, Obama didn't want it.

El Dorado

Did my first El Dorado since racing it last August when I had zero fitness. That one was interesting... it was the last race of the series, so everyone was there to nab points, and there I was with three days of riding in the last month and a half. Wasn't fun.

This time was much better. Met up with a group of folks at Bike Religion, located conveniently for me right on UC Irvine campus. After a late start we rode the ~27 miles up to the course at a pretty high pace, with help from an unusual tailwind. Plenty warm for the race, and I settled in allright despite the relatively suicidal pace set from the outset. Tony Cruz came late and somehow they let him enter, what bullshit!!!! (kiddddding). So I happened to be on his wheel when he decided that it was time to give it gas. I figured, what the hell- I'll never get to ride on the limit with a Tour rider again, so let's go. Despite being a very stupid thing for someone who is struggling to really hold his own in this relatively fast field, I jumped with him. The move also brought out Alexi Martinez, who jumped and attacked after Tony had relented. Tony obviously saw this was going nowhere, probably as soon as he saw that they had drawn out a fat cat3 dude to work with. I pulled through once with Alexi, and then we were caught. That is what Tuesday night crit racing is for... putting yourself at 195 10 minutes in and not feeling bad about it.

I sat in and recovered as much as I could, which I did much better than I thought, and managed to get myself to the front for the last two laps. I was sitting 5th or 6th wheel when we got the bell, which as I learned on that course is WAY too far forward.... we were hauling ass, and the guys who got the armchair ride were like 20 back. Guess the total non-technical nature of this crit is why it doesn't matter if you're in the top 10. I still gave it a real good effort to not get swarmed too bad on the last lap, but as soon as people were jerking me around from both sides for the chance at Tuesday night glory I pulled the plug and rolled it in without any drama. I felt good about the effort though.... I think if I stay tucked in man-up for that final sprint instead of being a wuss about it, I can do allright there.

Now recovery time for Barrio Logan and the worst named crit ever "The Pounding Idiots Criterium" where hopefully Liquid Fitness can pound some idiots around and set up the 8 foot tall giant for the V.

More crit-ing

Did some more crit racing this Sunday- drove up to Valencia to do the Chuck Pointus crit, where they had a 3 and a 123, so I signed up for both in order to fully enjoy the 90 degree weather....

First race was just Ted and I, so we didn't have a big team plan going in- just possibly follow any big splits, and then see what the sprint looked like if we were all together. Ted went off in a promising move for a bunch of laps early on, with an enigma that became known as "bearded dude" because he had a massive beard- clever. They came back maybe about midway through the race, and a little while longer there was a solo guy who had taken off for a prime and continued on with his effort.... about 3/4 of a straightaway ahead.... he looked like he was holding a good strong tempo, so I figured, what the hell, and dug in hard for about a lap and a half to catch him. Once up there, we worked real well together... though he always made me pull on the uphill windy section... douchebag. I thought we were golden...15 or so mins left.... and then two more came across, but before they were able to recover and help drive the move, we were swallowed up. Got caught with about 4 laps to go. I figured I didn't have a good leadout in my legs for Ted, so after watching Andy Schleck try to set things up earlier that day in Leige by attacking, I followed suit, and right when we got caught countered... umm.. myself. So I was only out for about half a lap before I died.... but all I wanted was to make a few guys jump and work to get to me... and I think they did. The sprint turned out to be real slow, which made it relatively unsafe, and Ted wasn't able to navigate the traffic furniture of a field to pull down a good result, but was still around top 10ish, while I just rolled in with the back of the field. I think you can see everything from this HR plot:Pretty clear when I was in the break...

The "anomaly" HR spike up to 205 was real I think- I had some real weird heart rhythms for about half a lap...and I was about to pull out and dunk myself in some water. I think it was due to the heat and some dehydration- I used to get them pretty bad when I was younger. Hopefully that is not a recurring theme.

The 123 race was just pure pain. Freeking hard the whole time. I never saw the front. I made it until the lap cards were put out, then slipped off the back and watched as one of our foreign recruit riders (I think a kiwi) attacked the break and soloed the last lap for a sweet looking victory- props.

San Diego Omnium DayIII- Crit

Going into the crit, I was in 10th on G.C., with hopes of moving up. There were two sprint laps with 5,3,2,1 points up for grabs for the first 4 riders, and then the finish where the points went ~15 deep or so, and started at about 25 I think.

I hatched a plan with the guy who won the road race to try and take a flyer after one of the sprint laps to catch people off guard, and hope that no team was around in enough numbers to bring a concerted effort back. It probably would have worked.

The first sprint lap came, and Ted and Jon lead me out well, but maybe a tad early- I tried to jump and get around to the points, and got up there for 3rd, so 2 points in the bag. Jon then stayed off the front for a while, and Ted managed to slow the field down for a few laps while I just tried to stay out of the wind and recover as much as I could.

Second sprint lap comes up, and we get the leadout much better- I ended up 2nd without too much effort, and shortly thereafter Steve takes off for our planned break. A few other guys are with us, which is allright, and we all pull through once. At this point I just sprinted and am now trying to drive a break... fucking DEAD. After pulling through once I barely get back on, and then loose them through the start/finish. I claw my best back to them, but it's not happening. They build up a good lead, blowing guys out the back... finally just Steve and another dude who couldn't help him pull anymore, and it comes back together. I really think had I been able to stay up there and recover in the break for a second, then help drive it, we could stayed away... but oh well.

Finish comes around and I find the trusty wheel of Ted, but we're a bit too far back, and he doesn't quite have it to punch us both out through the wind back to the front of the field. We needed an Ernie. I was pretty tanked as well at this point, and even with a perfect lead out, I would have just been holding on for dear life. So no points in the finish... bummer.

To my surprise this mediocre result in the crit was still good enough to move me up to 8th overall. I mainly have Ted and Jon to thank for that for drilling it going into those prime laps, and for helping to control the race. I'll have to return the favor at some point and see if I can't play lead out man next time...

San Diego Omnium Day II-Boulevard RR

The second day of the race was a road race. ~20 miles per lap... roughly a bowl, so 10 miles descending followed by 10 miles of mostly climbing. It sucks. I did it already once this year in April, when it was cold as shit- got dropped on the first lap of the Collegiate A race.

I was determined to get some points out of this one, though. On Saturday morning, most people figured the races would be canceled, what with 50mph winds making riding a bike, especially in a pack, pretty dangerous. The winds subsided *somewhat* and the races went on... albeit a bit late.

I wanted to be aggressive and not let the race be about the long uphill finishing climb, which is not my specialty. Our race had been cut from 3 laps to 2 laps because of the late start, and some jerkoff at the start line clued me in to what I should do to be aggressive. He yelled out to the field before we started that the first few miles, which are generally downhill, were pretty dangerous because there were high cross winds, and that we should go slow. I immediately thought, "you are an absolute pussy- I should attack from the gun".... and I did. Except there was no gun (thank god, who knows what the disorganized promoters would have shot with it). But about 20 seconds into the race I just took off. Not usually a smart move, especially on a downhill start... but with the weird conditions, the field just let me roll off.

So I rode as hard as I could for the next few miles, then settled into a pace. Once I had a moto-ref up with me, he started giving me time splits- first one was 1:27. Not all that promising I thought... if this was going to work, I want someone to bridge, and 1:27 is a lot to bridge, or I want to get a lot of leash so I can try and stay on my own. I figured, what the hell, and just kept going. Surprisingly after the first few rollers on the uphill section the gap went up to 2:00, then 2:30 when I went through the start/finish.

I kept the pace high on the next lap, just trying to keep it within my limit so I could still climb well to finish the lap. I think I did a relatively good job of this, but the field was starting to come alive a bit... at the bottom of the long uphill section, I had 1:45. That was down to 1:30 a little further up the climb. Turning onto the last section of the climb, with just a few miles (though uphill into the wind!!) I had less than a minute... the field was likely blowing up at this point, with only the strong dudes coming across to me. About halfway up this last climb, 10 guys went barelling past- I tried to tag on at first, but it was clear I had used up most of my energy already....and away they went. Thankfully, though, everyone else behind them pretty much gave up, so all I had to do was ride it in..... and I still got 10th- more points than I got from the TT!!

So going into Sunday's crit, which normally IS my speciality, I have 20 points. Though official results aren't posted online yet, so I have no idea where that puts me. The top 3 guys from the TT didn't start and/or finish the road race, so I think I should be up amongst them now... so certainly still top 10- probably top 5. Hopefully the crit can get me into the podium....

San Diego Omnium Day I- Fiesta Island TT

First day of the San Diego Omnium on Friday was a 2 (long) lap (~8mile) time trial around Fiesta Island. I was feeling pretty confident heading into it, with the new TT bike, comfortable fit, disc wheel, trispoke.... oh yeah. I definitely left it all out on the course... averaged 185-190 HR on the first lap, then just pegged it at ~195 on the second lap. Not much more I could do! I caught my 30 second man just a little bit before the finish, and didn't get caught... so I knew I beat one dude. Ended up 8th place.

Catching the 30 second man...

going into the finishing chute...PAIN

From these pictures, and the picture from my 40K, I think I'll be lowering the handlebars some more.... flat back = fast.

Saturday: Windy Boulevard Road Race.... stay tuned.

Back to racin'

After recovering from some sort of "bug" or just being tired, I decided that I should just jump head first into some racing. Figured 3 races in one day ought to amount to that.

5:15AM- wake up in San Diego and eat copious amounts of oatmeal
6:00AM- sign in at the Fiesta Island TT- start warming up
7:13AM- start my first 40K TT

I forgot my shoecovers, and could only borrow one from Lisa- so I took the suggestion of the guy who was overhearing this perdicament, and put it on the outside foot... it travels furhter... and isn't sheltered by the island like the inside foot is... riiiight, but I had to choose one foot...

The time trial went fairly well, for my first 40K. I did this course a few weeks ago, as a 20K, and basically went out hard, held 190 for a while, slipped to 180s, before rallying back to mid 190s on the final few K's. I figured for a 40K I should ease off that a bit, and was happy to sit between 180-185 for the first few laps. As far as time trials go, this seemed very easy, but I didn't want to blow up. It went much faster than I thought, and the last lap (8K to go) came and I had too much in the tank. I opened it up full throttle, but would have been better served by laying it out a little more evenly. Still a great ride for my first effort- got in under the hour for 59:30. I think I'll try to hold 185-190 at districts, then just ramp it up in the second half. I want to be DEAD after that puppy.

8:15AM cool down
8:40AM driving up to Irvine
10:30AM sign in for Collegiate A race
10:45AM Racin' again

Start of the Men's A crit

My legs felt much better than I thought they would after the 40K, and the first few laps went by very easily. I just sat in the group, followed a few moves just to cover, and also because I don't know any of these guys that well- not sure who can power it off the front. I think I got some prime points... but whatever! Teammate John was a beast attacking a few times, and hanging himself off the front- but no one came across to work. I just hung in for as long as I could- about 45 mins into the hour race it all of a sudden turned into survival racing. Once you cross that line from thinking race tactics, to thinking "shit hold this last wheel", it doesn't take long. I pushed myself for a few laps, then just eased off and cooled down while the race finished.

12:00-3:00PM Hung around the race, ate any food in the vicinity, drank a few sodas.
3:00PM Cat 3 race

By this time I was feeling tired, just being out there all day, and having two races in my legs. Again though the first few laps felt fine, and with such a big group it was that much easier to sit in as opposed to the Collegiate race. I once again followed a few moves at the beginning just to make sure we were in anything serious, but avoided burning any matches for socks or water bottles, or whatever the primes were. The most fun was certainly getting three of us across the front and really slowing it down once we had people off the front. The moves that I was blocking for eventually came back, but just afterwards, the main split occurred. A few laps afterwards, Ted hero-ed himself across the gap in about a lap. Meanwhile I was sitting at the back of the field playing survivor again. The break was big enough that no blocking was needed, but even the relatively slow pace of the field was too much for me- I popped, and hung out for the last few minutes of the race, and watched Ted pull a top 10- not a bad result, though better luck in the last lap would have had him shooting for the podium.

4:00-6:00PM Clean up trash and pack stuff up.

All in all- good day on the bike. Monday I felt destroyed, but that was ok, because I just ate food and stayed off my feet. Went for an easy spin on Tuesday.... and I'm charging the batteries back for another 3 race weekend... but this time it will be spread out: Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Cyclovets Omnium. I'll keep ya posted.

Dispatch...

I became a fan of Dispatch at PennState sometime- easy to do... good band with some jamband type vibe, short catchy songs too- good mix. I recently got into three other bands, which I thought I had found all on my own, with the help of iTunes recommends thing.

1.State Radio
2.Braddigan
3.Pete Francis

Now, I bought the first State Radio album last summer, Braddigan not too long after that, and just started listening to some of Pete Francis' stuff online tonight. All of it sounded really familar, however, and it wasn't until tonight when I actually hauled up wikipedia, that I realized why...they're all from Dispatch. So... there you have it. If you like a band, and they break up, don't be too upset, just buy up all of their solo stuff.... works most Dispatch, works relatively well for Phish...

Earthquake

I am now officially a resident of Southern California... I've driven the freeways, seen chicks in puffy magenta sweatsuits with oversized glasses, spotted upwards of twenty mazarattis and now... finally, experienced an earthquake.

It was only a 3.1, but it was enough to jostle my bookcase for a second.

The earthquake is the blue square near the center.... it was about 2.75 miles away from me..

John Muir Trail

The John Muir Trail "starts" in Yosemite National Park, and winds through the high Sierras, ending up at Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48. I've recently decided that a thru-hike of this 211 mile trail, which in reality would be more like 240 when all is said and done, is necessary at some point before my life gets too complicated to leave for three weeks.

What I didn't realize, however, was that if you look at google map's "Terrain" feature, and zoom in real tight, it follows the JMT. Check out the beginning here. It's not difficult at all to follow it all the way South, to Mt. Whitney. Another cool thing I found out online is that a town nearby Whitney Portal offers bus service up to a small town near Yosemite National Park, where a different bus can then take you into the park, where you can park for extended amounts of time for free.

So... here's to another reason why I can't wait to get my masters, so I can get some real world experience.

Stroke It...

StrokeIt is the coolest software I've downloaded for my PC in a long time. You can do all sorts of things by just right clicking, and tracing a certain pattern. I close windows by just tracing out a "C" on top of the window. I added my own shortcut to close just a tab in FireFox when I do a "C reversed" which I learned after about 20 minutes of fooling around is actually just tracing it backwards.... not like a C you see in a mirror... if you know what I mean.

Anyway, if you have a PC, download this thing- it's sweet... and plus, its called strokeit.

L.A. Circuit Race

This was a hot-dog style flat circuit race. The big decider was not any inclines towards the end of the race as with many other circuit races, but was the wind. The course was just two 180 degree turns on one medium sized California road (so like, 18 lanes).

One direction was a headwind. The other was a tailwind... it was blowing about 20mph the whole time. In the tailwind direction we'd hit 30 without trying too hard, and then be sitting in at like 12-15 dodging all over the place to grab wheels without loosing too many spots.

Ted, Ernie and I were there, and Ted and I both tested out the waters off the front early on, but quickly realized that nothing stood a chance. Even if you had a gap, the tailwind section just blew everything back together. There was one guy off solo for a few laps, and he must have thought he was flying... probably the only time a cat3 field brought back a solo dude who was doing 30+mph.

We were all careful to stay near the front, and took the last 180-degree turn into the tailwind finishing straight in the top 20. Ernie, Ted, then me. We stayed put, and when the time was right, Ernie blasted it.... Lots of people were watching his wheel, and for good reason- he's a beast in the sprint, but he was a train that day instead- Ted and I rode it up to the front, and managed to snag 4th and 6th. A jump a bit sooner on maybe would have gotten us further up.... it's hard to go too early in a 20mph tailwind we learned.

6th place is good enough for one more upgrade point though, so I'm now sitting pretty at 5. 15 more to go... I'd love to grab a big chunk of that at a stage race, but that is unlikely to happen with the SanDimas including an uphill prologue, and CycloVets being much more attainable, but still difficult by including the Boulevard RR course. Stay tuned.

Racing

One weekend.
4, maybe 5 legitimate break-attempts
zero results.

goal for this weekend: don't get in the wind until I can hear the bell for 1 to go.

Speedplay Overhaulin'

One of the speedplay pedals on my old TT bike has really been feeling junky recently. Spins very freely (which is actually not good-sign that it needs lubing) and very loose. Well, I found out why tonight, when I finally sat down with all the necessary tools, including a head lamp.

It actually didn't take too long to take the pedal completely apart, trickiest part was getting the snap pliers to work well- I bought a pretty flimsy pair. Speedplay's instructions are actually pretty.... pretty..... pretty... pretty clear. I was confused once I got everything apart, though- I was missing a whole cartridge bearing somewhere.There are two cartridge bearings inside the pedal body of speedplay Zero pedals- and I only removed one. The other was completely destroyed. The outer race was so fangled and broken apart that I didn't even realize it was a race.

yup, that's what a bearing bracket looks like after you beat it to shit. The other matching piece that would have held the balls secure was ripped to shreds. Check out how small the ball bearings are.

The bearings themselves are TINY! most of them fell out without me even realizing it- it is likely most were already gone anyway. The inner race was the real bitch though, it was stuck to the spindle of the pedal itself. I took the other pedal, which is pretty healthy, apart to prove to myself that the thing stuck on the spindle was indeed the inner race. Once I knew it was junked anyway, I set out to tear it off with some pliers. Still took some work, but it came off. Now I just need to find someplace to buy some new Speedplay bearings...

The spindle once I had gotten the inner race removed

New TT rig

Well it was about time. I had my federal tax return in my account for almost 48 hours, and then I found this prize online. $340 for a proper TT frame from a relatively reputable manufacturer? Hell yes I will!

The new TT rig, pictured with the seat post about where it needs to be- plenty of drop.

Also obtaining some new carbon TT bars from Aerus. That'll compensate weightwise for the aluminum steerer tube

My old TT bike was a Titanium Airborne, which was a great road bike (albeit a tad heavy) and was an allright TT bike, but I really needed something with more upright geometry- a real TT frame. The Jamis has rear facing dropouts, so I can slide the rear wheel right up into the slots for it in the seattube. Also has some aero tubing. The seatpost above is roughly placed where it's going to have to be, which looks like a lot, because it is... but that is good- plenty of room for drop to the handlebars. I'm also scheming on making some sort of fairing to make the seatpost aero... because you know I'm an engineering dork.

I'm also flirting with the idea of, ocasionally, rigging this bad boy up for the track. Would require a bit of work- taking the ders and brakes off, taking all the cables out of the frame, but all the housing could stay attached to the handlebars. Then just throwing a different crankset on, another seatpost/saddle combo, and a track bar (and likely a different stem). Complicated enough that I don't want to do it all the time, but for a few weekends a year, I say its definitely worth it until I get a track frame (next year when I get my tax return back).

So if you have any of the following laying around, let me know:
1. Track crankset (144BCD) Octalink. Not sure about crankarm length- 170??
2. Track chainrings / cogs
3. Track rear hub, or rear wheel
4. Handlebar for the track- what do people use compared to their road bars?? smaller?

Going Solar

I haven't plugged in cell phone into the wall for over three days. I haven't used the car charger either. No, thankfully I am not cut off from society (yet). I've been using this small solar/battery system:



I bought it off eBay for about $50, and considering its replacing the electricity that I don't pay for... it has a pretty long pay back period. However, the bad ass period has already elapsed, it is very bad ass. I think it's really cool that the energy running my phone was not created somewhere in a big dirty central plant, then pushed through a grid where something crazy like 40% of the energy is lost in transmission. The energy is right there in the sunlight. Goes through the little cord, and right into my phone.

It took a day or two to find the optimum place for it. For all the ladies out there who have slept over at my place, you know the sun shines into my window in the morning, so I can get about 3-4 hours of charging then, and depending on where I'm parked, I catch the afternoon rays in the parking lot. It takes about 6 hours to fully charge the battery, which is 1800mAh, or roughly twice the size of my cell phone battery. Assuming that both batteries operate between relatively similar states of charge, that correlates to being able to charge my phone twice on a days worth of sun. Easily enough for all the use I have for it.

I bought it with the intention of using it while camping and bike touring- it could recharge my phone, an iPod, and a Garmin. Keeping me in touch, entertained and on track.