Decisions

These are the two bikes I'm looking at... just for fun mind you, nothing serious yet. Sorry they are different sizes. But anyways..

The one on the left is the Tarmac E5 from Specialized. I've heard it is fast, light, responsive, and comfortable. Erik says it is one of the best bikes he has ever ridden. The Boca, I've actually never heard of anyone riding one. It is titanium, much like my Roo.. and they would look really cool together in my room. Of course, this shouldn't be a deciding factor when it comes to road bike purchases. So, I'm sort of at an impasse.. I'll probably go with the E5 since I'm betting Erik could get me a better deal on it.. though the Boca is sort of exotic. Titanium with carbon.. oooohh. The Specialized I believe comes with better wheels, and I probably can get a better spec kit through them.. and I've been loving the dura ace 10 on my roo.. and then I could get a nice set of training wheels and use them on either my road of tri bike. Oh man.. I need to stop thinking about this and get back to work. Sorry of the sudden posts and their length.

later

Not posting enough

I would have posted last night, but the internet in my apartment decided to not work on me. Something odd about that, when it works it is slow, when it doesn't work, well.. need I say more? Ok yeah, but enough of that. I've not been posting enough, and I feel it is because I have nothing really to say. I want to get a new bike.. why? Since my old road bike is falling apart. Needs new hubs, spokes are worn down, only can use one bottle cage since I torqued the hell out of one of the screws and ruined the lug/frame combo. But yeah.. so the bike I want to get is the Javelin Boca, or at least that is the bike I've been spending a lot of time looking at. But I also want a fixed gear bike.. maybe I'll just get both. Crazy ideas I know.. or perhaps I shouldn't buy a bike since I'm not riding nearly enough. Damn, I just want to ride all the time and never have to work. That would be nice.

Ok I'm going to go before this turns into a "sean post." Take it easy everyone.. and if I get lots of comments perhaps I'll start posting on a daily basis. It is always nice to see lots of comments, and always sad when you realize that no one finds your posts interesting in any way.

Later

Bike Race

Had my first race of the season today. 38 miles or so of rolling terrian with some really crazy climbs in the middle. Basically it was two 20 mile loops with two nasty climbs on each lap. I felt that I did really well despite my significant lack of training. The first lap was felt really good, the second lap I felt awesome on until the big hill, which sort of hit me like a ton of bricks, then kicked me while I was down. But I still feel that I finished pretty well for only having rode maybe 10 times this year. Can't wait to get some more miles under my belt and really train hard.

Well, I am going to go to bed now.. need to get some sleep. Today sort of kicked my ass, and I think sleeping will help it.

Later

Not enough time..

There totally is not enough time in the day to do everything that I want to do. Stupid not having enough time. I need a vacation, or perhaps 2 weeks in the field. That is practically like a vacation that I get paid on.. and don't get to do anything fun on.. actually, it isn't like a vacation at all. It is more like easy, easy work.

Speaking of work, I need to get back to it. Posting has suffered, and I apologize. One of these days.. one of these days...

later

Being back in town..

Nothing like being back in town. It is great, since it is the longest time before you have be back in the field. Nothing like it. Seeing friends, bike rides, not working.. holy crap, I feel like a huge amount of weight has been lifted off my shouldars.. well mainly due to the fact that I could stop carrying the damn SPMs up the stairs.

Anyways, a few of us went out to IHOP last night.. it was fun. Creepy waitress, totally freaked me out a bit.. she seemed like one of those girls that would keep your credit card receipt and get your address and then start sending you random letters, and then showing up on your doorstep passed out from a cocktail of valium and blow.. an empty bottle of Carlo Rossi propping her head above the pile of vomit. And the wierd thing was.. she totally had the hots for Niki. Seriously.. she wanted Niki bad. So.. well.. I'm thinking I might have to install some sort of extra lock on the apartment just in case.

Anyways, The Ride had it's year anniversery today.. and of course, a ride accompinied it. There were probably.. I don't know.. 30-40 people on road and tri bikes there. A lot of Specialized since that is what Erik sells.. and it was amazing to see everyone come out who had obviously supported The Ride this past year. So after a few words, we all got started. We were doing the normal Morrilton ride with a little extra added at the mid-point so it isn't so out and back. But we had a head wind the entire way out.. and everyone was sort of complaining about the wind, but you know if you have a headwind going out.. you get a tail wind coming back (well not always, but usually.) Anyways.. we get to the bridge in Morrilton and started back towards Conway. We weren't even pushing it and were keeping 26 easily.. in fact, coasting at 26 sometimes. It was great. But then you could see everyone was getting ancy, the eyes casting about, waiting for someone to go.. and of course.. we went. Took it up to around 30.. and held it there for quite some time.. then big ol' Jeff just starts cranking and goes.. so everyone tries to grab a wheel. I stayed on for a few miles, but all the work and lack of riding didn't let me hold on for long so I had to drop off.. but I wasn't the only one. Another guy and myself teamed up a few miles later and cranked it up to about 28 until we found some more people that got dropped, scooped them up, and laid it down all the way back. Such a good feeling. Legs all wobbly.. calves cramping up when you stand to sprint.. holy crap.. such a good freaking ride. Endorphins rock.

Anyways, I'm about to jam.. get some more furniture for the 'partment and see about spending some more of this freaking awesome day outside for a bit. Oh yeah, the weather rocks. Perfect day for a ride.. I hope everyone got to spend some of it outside.. well, 'cept for those of you in places that don't have great weather.. in which case.. na naa na naa na.

Later

Required post

Alright, apparentely I lied about posting more. Thanks to Niki for reminding me. I can only assume it was her since she is always complaining about how bored she is, and how unfurnished our apartment is. So perhaps she could kill two birds with one stone and get some freaking furniture. But no.. if she did that there would be significantly less bitching that normal and we can't have that.

Oh yeah, I'm ticked off if you couldn't tell. Work has been a pain in the ass today and I don't really want to talk about it at the moment. Perhaps someday I'll tell a story about the shitty week that this has been. Instead I'm going to end this post without upsetting any more of the many people that I'm pissed off with at the moment.

Later

Fixed Gear Bikes

Whoa, a post about bikes, seems crazy huh? Well I'm currently incredibly delirious having not really slept at all today (foolish I know, but well worth it) so I figure it is time for crazzy delerious post about fixed-gear bikes.

First I gotta give a shout out to my AZ brother the J-LEE for sending me that cool link. I've always wanted to get a fixed gear bike. I don't know why, something about riding a machine that can't let you cheat (not that coasting is cheat, but well.. sometimes I do coast when I don't have to) and it just seems.. so perfect. I really want to get one, so I could ride it to work. Since i'm planning on getting another road bike.. I guess I could always ride the good ol' EPX to work.. but it would be really awesome I think to ride a Lancaster (I think this is the Specialized track frame.. I'm currently too lazy to spend 5 seconds and surf over to their page to check..) Much simplier I believe. In fact, driving around The Rock the other day I saw a guy on a beat up ol' orange fixed gear bike.. but he had a brake. I don't know if I would go with a brake or just let my knees blow out.. eh.. I could always decide later.

But yeah, there is the major issue of ruining your knees riding a fixed gear bike with no brakes. If you suddenly try to stop pedaling and the wheel is really booking.. well.. that is a lot of momentum to try to stop.. and when realize that you made a mistake and you can't coast.. trying to immediately pedal again might not do such nice things to your knees. And Sean can attest to the fact that sore knees are probably the worst thing that can happen to an athlete.. well in the running/biking world at least. I've gotten some pretty sore knees every now and again.. bad run.. or just a long ride when it is cold... but damn does it hurt the next few days. I can only imagine blowing out your knee wouldn't be the most enjoyable thing... oh man.. that would suck so bad. And i've heard a lot of stories about bike messengers blowing out their knees on fixed gear bikes.. but that could be due to the fact that dodging through busy traffice in NYC might cause a little more stress on the body. But yeah..

Con #1: Possibly blowing out your knee.
Pro #1: It would be badass to be able to ride your bike backwards..
Con #2: I'm sure I'd fall a lot trying to do track stands at lights.
Pro #2: Eventually being able to do a track stand to the amazement of bystanders.
Con #3: Buying another bike and convincing myself I need it.
Pro #3: Having another bike which to hang on my wall.
Con #4: The insults I'm sure I'd recieve from The Ride guys.
Pro #4: No matinence.

Alright, that is all I feel like doing. It seemed really easy at first.. I had all these great ideas.. but then when I tried to start listing them.. well.. I forgot. Stupid not enough sleep.

Anyways, I'm outta here.. sorry my posts have been so shitty and far between. I want to try to get back into a good posting schedule.. I don't know what has been wrong with me. I'll do better from this moment on.. I promise.

Later