spin2win

If you like to Blog here let your voice be known....

2007-03-08T14:28:00Z

I do not know about you but I get a kick out of all the random this and thats that I get to read here. Ryan B coming straight outta provo....Sandie....The Mop...all a good read! Well word on the street is if you want to read from these personalities in the future you will not be able to do it here! The UCA has decided that this site does not need Blogs or Forums so they are having them taken off. Along with a bunch of other information.

Isn't it great to have a commitee of people (better said one or two in that group) that know exactly what you want and what is best for you. They just know if you were not here waisting your time blogging you would train more and race more....but only on the weekends! They are sure that forums and blogs offer nothing to the common good of cycling in Utah. Sometimes Less is just Less... Less racing durng the week does not equal more racers on the weekend...it just equals less racing. Less little cool places to talk about racing and shoot the bull do not make for a better site....it just means less time to enjoy all the cool people who race.

Hey is it still ok to race a UCA event if I am running Campy or is that going to be out as well?

Goin back to Cali...

2007-02-28T21:34:00Z

It is that time again... Time to take the BRT over to the early season races in Cali. Merced... Central Valley... Sequoia... All great events! Nothing like seeing the best of the best duke it out three weekends in a row. Health Net and Toyota United put on quite a show last year...as did Victory brewing for the ladies side. Cant wait to see Nicole Evans in her new TEAm Lipton kit going at it with the big girls. Props to her for coming so far so fast!

My all time favorite from last years Cali swing was a cat 3 at the Central Valley Crit trying to tell me he was 5th when he was closer to 15th. Nothing out of the ordinary exept this clown was wearing a long sleeve leopard print skin suit (I kid you not). I showed him the pics of him crossing the line and counted back from the leader to him... I gave him my stand by line... "The eye in the sky doesnt lie" He looked me dead in the eyes and said "thats not me"! Keep in mind I am shooting pics at 2500 frames per second... so not only could you see the spots on his hag bag, you could see his red goatee and the rubber bands that tied it in a point. Oh and the sparkly red diadora shoes were clear as day as well. Even with all of that... yes we are having this go round while he is still in his kitty shammy and wizard of OZ shoes... he still swears its not him?! So I zoom in and point out the tighty whitey under wear lines he is rocking in the picture and I ask the announcer Dave Toll what he thinks. Dave says into the mic with this kid standing on stage " Dude in that outfit anything less than an arms in the air, 30 second beat down WIN and I would be hiding under this stage" I swear all 10,000 spectators stopped pointed a laughed! Needless to say the leopard slinked away...presumably under the stage as Dave had recommmended.

yes... goin back to cali...to cali....to cali

Day 12 just for the FAT of it

2007-02-21T17:19:00Z

Day 12
178lbs
Food: Not enough of it..
ride time: 1hr upper to lower Z1

Wow! Ready for spring/summer! This one nice day followed by two bad days is the crapps. Going from trainer to outside and back again makes for less then prime riding. I used to never ride the trainer...I would go ride in the snow if I had to...then I got into riding the trainer alot! I could sit there for hours and just toil away. Now I am good for 1hr max on the trainer...partly due to the kid factor. It is hard to say no to my 4yr old when she walks up and says "play with me daddy". The other apparently has to do with my music selection...I listened to Leftfield...leftism yesterday. Soon we will all be free of the trainer and the cold...Opening day at RMR is the 17th (weather permitting) and everyone who can not travel can get their race on.

As for me I am getting ready to head to Cali for the first 3 NRC races...hopefully the weather will be nice there! Last year it rained and was cold every event up to Redlands. There is nothing worse than standing around behind a bunch of computers in the cold and wet watching everyone else race. Though I have to say I do get the best seat in the house. Bike racing in the USofA is in pretty stellar shape right now...Tour O Cali...Tour O Missouri...Tour O Utah...Draper Days! Does it get any better than that!!

Fat Bloggin in the 801

2007-02-15T16:35:00Z

Day 6
179lbs
2 day old pork chop for breakfast...lots o water
ride time??? Heat of the moment, ASIA. Hazey Shade of Winter, Bangles. song from 8mile sound track, Em. God Will Cut You Down, Mr Cash. Rock U Like a Hurricane, Scorpions. I Alone, Live. Charma Techno, ????. Beautiful Day, U2. Red Skies at Night, Fixx. Terminator X, Public Enemy... However long it takes to play those 10 songs was the ride time.

I was thinking about this while turning over the pedals today....but I wonder when it went from a ride to training? I went on my first ride at age 4...tried a friends bike. Pushed off the curb and started pedaling for all I was worth. Right before I crashed into a parked car was when I decided that riding a bike was why I was here on earth. Did my first BMX race at age 5...webco was the bike...astrabula forks weighed as much as I did. I won because I had to pedal the entire time...I couldnt coast because my free wheel was bound up. I had to jump off after the finish because the handbrake didnt work.

I rode/raced all through high school...I could not get enough! I rode to school and then when school was over I rode until I had to go home. There were a bunch of us always out messing around...launching of the hood/winshield of feiros...making jumps and trails in the park...we rode everywhere!

In college when all my BMX buddies decided to start mountain biking I took to the road. The road bikes felt faster and less...well...stupid...more refined! I road off and on but just about veryday I could... There was no reason behind it...just fun. Then I showed up at a crit in the parking lot of BYU...I was dropped the first lap....then the international center...same thing happened. Sometime between getting dropped those two days and now everyride became a training ride/race. How did that happen???

Day 3 of the FAT blog...

2007-02-12T01:28:00Z

Day 3
180LBS
Rest Day
Oatmeal...Peanut Butter Sandie...Steakhouse Salad... Lots of Water!!

Tomorrow the real training begins...That is when we hit the program HARD! Well as hard as one can when you are 50lbs over weight.

My "FAT" Blog!

2007-02-09T15:24:00Z

Disclaimer: Al references to “fat”, “being fat” or how fat appears are in no way referenced to the reader. All mentions of such or like phrases including but not limited to “fat arsse” are directed to the writer himself. The reader is in no way encouraged to apply these statements both factual and non to themselves or someone they know. Any names, events, house plants, mentioned in the content of this blog have been changed to protect the identity of the innocent. By reading the content of this posting the reader understands and agrees to the above message.

So I went to lunch with two friends yesterday…Two guys that I have raced with over the years and have enjoyed their friendship and competitive nature. As we were eating I noticed that the combined weight of both of the gentlemen with me may very well not equal the weight of myself. I also noticed them dining on some form of salad while I was eating a very tasty Italian Sausage Grinder with extra Steak Fries! It was at that point I asked myself…..could I be fat?

When I arrived home I decided to put my notion to the test. So I grabbed a handful of mini éclairs and went down to step on the scale….. 181 pounds!? (Yes I set the last éclair down before getting on) Now I am prone to something my doctor calls “sympathy weight” My wife gets pregnant and starts to put on a few pounds and in support of this grand cause so do I. The problem is… here it is 3 month after the birth of our second kid and my wife is somehow her svelte toned beautiful self and I am…well…not! In fact I am 50 pounds heavier than my go uphill fast race weight and 40 pounds over my good crit/TT weight. In short I am FAT!

I look like someone you once knew…but..wait that can’t be him…there is no way he is that big. In the realm of field sports I have gone from all other positions available to goalie. I am not yet big enough to be nuisance to the person sitting next to me on the plane but definitely occupying the ENTIRE seat. It is not a pretty sight!

After spending some time wondering what to do I came up with a plan…I am taking my fat to the streets…I am going public…you are reading the diary of a fat man! I am going to blog my way back to race weight…well…bloging and riding.

So here it goes…

Day 1 weight: 181LBS

Goal weight: 145 LBS

Exercise: 40 min on the trainer

Now what to eat???

DMV!

2007-02-08T17:21:00Z

Just got the call from the Clinster and it looks like the DMV is offically part of the crit series again this year! I am very happy about that...It is a cool venue with high speed turns and a short death climb. My favorite memory from DMV is watching a certain team mate of mine go way off the front solo...after he had a huge a gap he took the opportunity in a long straitaway to check out his lead. While looking over his shoulder he went off the side of the road and wound up in a heap! Wow that was funny...Myself and Arron Jordan nearly took each other out laughing...ahh the good old days.

Point of the story is come on out to DMV this year and have fun...or at least make a fool of yourself in front of your friends.

It is so hard to go faster than that guy...

2007-02-07T03:04:00Z

Two things I love about cycling...The people and the competition

Two things I hate about cycling…The politics

That said I am going to go sit on the couch near my bike and read about Dave Z in Velonews….yes it is a rest month!

Lets talk Crit Series....

2007-02-06T17:26:00Z

By now everyone knows that I am running the Crit Series from 2007 going forward...I have had a hand in it in years past but this is the first year of marek gone solo. I personally have always loved the week day racing...riding out to the race on a tuesday evening with the crew...chewing the fat...then racing with reckless abandon....loading up at sinclair and riding back again.

My favorite memories are of the old Rhodes team days....working on opperation "human shield"....learning team tactics from the front and the back. Ryan Littlefield yelling at me to GO!! Tom Cook yelling STOP! Ahh those were the days....

My point...I guess? It has always been a cool series but what to do to make it better!?

In 2007 we will see leaders Jerseys and monthly Prize money....The mid race sprints will be back....plus a bunch of cool admin stuff to make doing it all easier. I have managed to keep the price at $8....

But what else???

Back in the saddle again...

2006-09-02T14:20:00Z

Like the words to that old song...." I am back in the saddle again". 18mo off does takes its toll to the tune of 35lbs. It is much harder to ride when you are fat...except cornering. Having a little extra weight to toss onto the crank when in a high speed corner is pretty cool. My normal race weight is 134lbs if you are doing the math that puts me at 169!?!? Plan is to shed the extra hip doughnut by march of 2007 and then single handedly dismantle the world domination of the Seiena Development team.

Sorry for all the spelling errors...it is tough to type and eat my jelly cruller.

A year of NRC racing....

2006-08-31T20:09:00Z

After a year of traveling the country to just about every NRC event on the map I think I finally figured it all out. The reason I am not pro is that the pros are just damn fast! Granted part of the problem is you can count the number of times I have been on a bike this year on one hand but that is neither here nor there.

At Central Valley four guys hit the line at the same time in the crit...even zoomed in all the way you could not see who won. I had to let the computer pic the winner (Gord Frasher)by the first pixel in the picture. The Jelly Belly rider with his arm in the air who thought he won got fourth.

At rochester the average speed was over 32mph....and it was hot as a mother there. I watched a Toyota United guy get a flat and just before packing it in he arm slinged one of the guys behind him back into the lead group! I should probably mention this happened at 30+mpn and the guy getting the arm sling was not a team mate (Redlands).

At Boise they were crashing like mad....Sea Otter was Levi against the world...Tula we watched a guy bunnyhop two curbs to avoid a crash and he still beat out 11 other guys in the sprint! IT HAS BEEN COOL!

What prompted all of this was an article saying that USPRO cycling was where those with little to no talent came to race and none of them would make it in "the big time" europe. Not only do I doubt that to be true (many have gone on to win in europe) but from my behind the scenes viewpoint US cycling can be some of the most fun to watch....and most of those guys have mad skills!

I am tired of the rain already...

2005-10-28T21:51:00Z

It has been raining for less than 24 hours and I am already tired of winter. I am back on the bike as of tomorrow 10/29/05 and I know it will rain the entire ride. I used to like riding in the rain/snow but I was young and stupid then. Thats it the day after the UCA meeting I am moving to Yuma AZ...it aint cold and rainny there.

Mt cross...

2005-09-15T21:29:00Z

I am with travis...MT Cross is just BMX on mountain bikes! I can ge into that...The gang at Cougar Mountain made it look easy! I never seen so many people case it on a set of triples but with 8" of travel it doesnt seem to matter much. I remember casin a huge set of doubles at a South Park (pittsburg) national in the semis...I was ass over tea kettle!

yeah I would like to give Mt Cross a whirl next year.