Rock Stars Moment of Glory

I'd like to say thanks to my friend Mike Sorrenson from silver city NM for making me look like a bike racer in this photo....As you can see, Lance is a few wheels behind me, Horner is smiling like he always does when he is in pain, Levi is right behind me,(yes I know its hard to see. He's tiny, but you can see his Astana gloves and his white shoe, tucked inbetween me and Floyd Landis...)....With exception to me this could be a photo from the tour de france........These guys are racing in the Giro right now!.....How f-ing rad to be the one putting them in a spot of bother.......Ha!


This photo, which by the way should be on the cover of velo news, is from the crit in downtown silver city. It was a great day of racing and tons of fun....The field was super strong, obviously, and a break never went away. Consequentially the pace was fast and aggressive with the field strung out single or double file. Amazingly the front of the group seemed to be chasing the tail of the snake like peleton around each corner for the entire 1:36 min, 44 miles. That means 170 riders were stretched out almost a mile long. I stayed in the top 3rd of the serpents gullet for most of the race....and on a few rare occasions made it off the front for some sponsor time, but for the most part I was just enjoying the view....I think its safe to say that i was going no where....just lett'n the scrapper in me shine for a moment. Its not often that I get to race with a roster like this.

Thanks again Mike, for my moment of glory.

Home frome the gila

Well, I'm home......and I'm a wreck. I raced my heart out for 5 days, drove 2200..miles(round trip), and drank gallons of starbucks coffee....I'm not going to mention some of the restaurants I ate at, lets just say it wasn't organic and my driving partner was a bad influence. I'm glad the drive is over. I still wish I was racing...after pouring everything I had into a five day stage race I feel kind of lost trying to figure out what to do afterward. Luckily I have a sinus infection....a little one...and I'm going to kill it.

I just raced with Lance Levi, and Horner........Holy shit, LOL that's something I never expected to do. Now the fun is over and I'm trying to make sense of it all......

First....Lance is the real deal....after racing with him for 5 min it's obvious, He is one of a kind, untouchable, a rider with genuine ferocity and pure determination. He is focused and aware, but on a completely different level than the rest of us......its as if his singular purpose or resonate frequency is fully realized and boldly expressed through each movement on his bike. Its like a great white shark as it attacks its prey. TV coverage of the tour de france does nothing to convey this.


Some quick highlights are......cresting the pinos altos climb and then passing the entire mellow johny's team...(lance included) then leading them out on the first descent.......I hardly pedaled, just wanted a clean shot at the descent, 170 guys on a narrow gnarly descent like this is not pretty and I didn't want to get caught out behind a crash or miss an acceleration. It was actually really cool because they couldn't hold my wheel on the decreasing radius turns and I'm sure they thought I was a lunatic for going so fast. Needless to say they all sprinted past me on the first little climb after the descent.....

Second highlight was riding the tt on my steel pegoretti with clip on bars....at first i was disappointed that I wasn't riding the Parlee,( the carbon braze on mount broke the night before I left for the race) but as it turned out using the pegoretti was pure motivation and in retrospect I think the bike performed better than I did.

Thirdly, not sure if that's a word..I got dropped on the first cat 2 climb of the last day. Then I decided to blaze the descent like a possessed grey squirrel from Marin. The tenacious little bugger that just stuffed his belly on table scraps from an overpriced breakfast eatery and is laughing in the face of civilized comfort while decisively evading cars as he dashes down cameo alto on his way to his little stand of conifers not yet overtaken by urban sprawl . That said its was a blast whipping in and out of the draft of the team cars(a skill honed on the slopes of teton pass) as they almost went off the road, (They were having quite a good time also, no cops to dish out tickets meant free time to rally the company car). I caught them all by the bottom, then It quickly blew to pieces on the way back up....Shit really hit the fan at a hemorrhaging ridiculous speed and our group of 70 was shattered into about 20 fragmented little groups.....this was a definite vision quest of a climb.....I just tried to stay conscious.

Gotta run.......the crit was great too......check back later.... addios

Copperopolis Road Race

An epic battle in the sierra foothills...five 25 mile laps....5 brutal climbs....and roads that look like leftovers from world war I. Oh and Levi Leipheimer.....need I say more. I have a great story to go with this one, when I find time I'll wright it.

I love my pegoretti

I can't begin to say how awesome this bike is...almost zero interest in ever riding a carbon bike again...steel is real and plastic is plastic.......The Marcelo is pure magic, descending, climbing, sprinting, training, riding.....get one before you can't...I want another.

Carbon is instant gratification, a sugar coated, caffeinated, euphoric, blast to the head. After half of an hour the buzz wears off and your left riding a piece of plastic held together with glue. A limp, flimsy, lifeless piece of mass produced Chinese assembly line garbage. Its price jacked up like a monkey on bananas laced with coke. Then sold to you by a bunch of over zealous, and probably overweight, marketing dorks who eat at McDonalds and place propaganda in your cranium about how its the best bike in the solar system because it uses special waffle wing-nut, aero-splunk, plastico carbon. right? Don't you realize? Just because your American doesn't mean you have to walk around in a drunken stupor stepping on your own tongue as you drool over the newest fad in bicycle marketing technology. Ride a well built steel or aluminum frame crafted from the hands of an artist and you will be happy for the rest of your days. Or buy a carbon frame from china...pay $3500......believe in what they tell you, (believe that trans fats don't hurt you, and cholesterol is bad, that's bullshit too)... It only cost them $300 and their gett'n rich and gett'n fat. ....then realize you just got ripped and feel sorry for yourself when you buy another one in two years. That's just my opinion....

The Marcelo, on the other hand, is like a teacher. You hate it at first. You challenge the teacher, try to outsmart it, but in the end you realize your wrong. The teacher has life experience, something that your youth and naivety have hidden from you. Trust. Learn. You arrogant little twerp. This bike was built buy the hands of a frame building god. His knuckles and fingernails twisted and drenched, dripping with artful creation and wisdom that's been gathered through experience. The marcelo blossoms with this knowledge and timeless skill, but you must learn it. you must let it teach you....because most likely you know nothing...let it blossom and it will erupt and ooze confidence from which you can launch the cagiest most fierce attack the riders behind you have ever seen.

I deserve to eat three mouthfuls of dirt and gravel, garnished with dog shit and bird doo doo, for every lame and thoughtless remark I made when I first got this bike.

sea otter road race

Moments before this picture was taken, I was following Levi's move up the "wall." I thought to myself "holy shit this is the move and I'm on it, just hold it." I held it like i owned it until my anaerobic system blew sky high. i just don't think a 170 pounder is meant to go up a hill that fast. I was doing over 600 watts, just to keep their pace. It was fun and now I know how fast those guys go uphill....wow..

Back in the pack left to chase all day towing a bunch of wheel suckers all the way...














We eventually got Ian off the front and he soloed the last two laps for 15 place....However the guy recorded in the results for tenth place got dropped jumped back in on the next lap, got dropped again and finally after completing two less laps than the rest of us weaseled his way in for 10th.....those electronic timing chips work great if you cheat. Loser. I'm happy with our effort ...we rode strong especial since we only had three guys. We rode at the front when everyone elese was ready to give up and go home and then sent a guy up the road... perfect...now if I could only hold levi's wheel....

food for cyclist

cardamom nutmeg, zucchini carrot muffins,some with chocolate chips

blue berry coffee cake....

a green curry

Brisbane circuit race

Up the hill......Down the hill......repeat for 75 min.....This was a fun one. I decided right off that I would practice being mr conservative for at least the first 30 min, since this is something I need to practice. Especially after waltzing into yesterdays Wards Ferry road, dropping my chain, getting dropped, time trialing a constant distance behind the group for the last half of the race, and then finishing by myself in 8th place feeling like a total poser. That's what I get for plastering my stupid ego onto every available sponsor position of my jersey and leading out the first 20 miles attacking at random while still responding to every attack from every effing rider.
compared to yesterday this race was chill. I kicked back, enjoyed the view watching everyone else attack and then get smacked in the face by the wind...shut down! I just analyzed and sat on my pillow whisked up the hill like and angel blown by the breath of a mythical Greek god. Then with about 25 min to go I was following a move. I was only wanting to get to the front but when the wheels in front of me suddenly stopped, I was left with no choice but to launch an attack. It was to perfect of an opportunity to pass up so I pinned it ripping a trench through the headwind and opening up a huge gap over the top. Meanwhile the field was strung out single file throwing daggers at each other trying to determine the pecking order in the draft train. While they were dulling their knives I was motoring a hard but steady tempo burning up the descent opening up my lead with no one to obstruct my line. The next turn up the hill I was all alone cruising @ threshold. Near the top i could see a small group break off from the peloton and I was hoping they would join me without towing the rest of the field, but by my third solo run up the hill the small group caught me and promptly put on the brakes...I attacked again and chris phipps went with me, but a couple of cal giant guys were glued to our wheels. I threw down one more time but all of our stop and go had given the field plenty of time to catch on and it was back to an 80ish rider field. At this point I decided to sit in for a few laps...then another break went up the road and after a few laps Chris Turner took to chasing. He drove the field for a lap, then slingshoted me up the hill again chasing the group of three by myself...............It was in vein, I didn't make it but my efforts helped close the gap and I settled in, holding my position in the front for the last lap, (I actually paid attention to the lap cards for the first time)













I'm not super experienced at finishes so I was kinda tentative heading into the final meters mostly just following wheels, kinda boxed in...not sure when to sprint...Then when I realized how close the finish was it was too late, I put my head down and rocketed past a bunch of guys but ran out of ground while I was still accelerating...I managed the lowest place on the podium...5th...I learned a lot and its great to get one for the team but I feel like I definitely let this one slip through my fingers...and these opportunites don't come often....Overall it was a great race, and the first time the whole team was together....check the team website for more details. adios for now. acracer.blogspot.com