My New Years Block

Mine came to an end today due to work tomorrow and the weekend... I still managed to stack Mon, Tues. and today for some quality time in the saddle (we all gotta pay our dues). Here's a few photos of each day.

Cross (Training)

We did a little 3 hour ride out to the Millerton Lake and the boys showed me more of our great backyard cross trails. We had perfect weather and the trail was damp and super fast today. Great ride and thanks to a well timed flat, couple of great picture opportunities!


Part of the trail is closed to bicycle traffic :-( , but just ask Steve where it leads :-)


And one more while we were double-backing to the trail head. We are lucky to have some really great scenery so close to home.

JC

Hey guys, not sure if you know my little bro JC (Josh), he worked at the shop for a couple of months. Well he fell yesterday practicing on a dirt bike in Tulare after landing on another rider that had fallen in a blind section on a back side of a jump pretty high speed. He hit his head pretty good so much that he doesnt remember much about the crash but he broke his tibia and fibula in his leg. He had to wait until this morning in traction devices to keep his muscles from contracting the broken bones together for surgery in Visalia. Ive heard in conversations with family who is with him a lot of the pain he's in and its not good, kinda gut rinching. So if you guys can keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
AC

Saturday morning ritual

There we were, 8-ish in the morning by Steven's, getting 'er ready for another cool morning spin. A few hardened soul (can I be considered one of them now that I did 2 winter rides? :-) braved the 37 degree weather up through O'Neils through the Walker Grade to the Shell station turnaround (BTW, how is gas cheaper here than it is in the 'no??).

Anyway, here is a proof (undoctored, this time around).

Oh, and if you cannot see the snow, here is another perspective:

You guys are suckers, I decided to ride Kaiser  for the hell of it today. Check out my new glasses I got for Christmas! Little bit of snow, but it was great.

The "real" rain-day spin!

Careful examination revealed doctored evidence produced to support the purported efforts of the flower-power portion of SBRT. After the image was washed and restored to its near-original form, it clearly demonstrates that ...I... was the only one (even if in multiples) braving the Christmas Day Rain.

Nice try boys. Come'n get me!!

Critter Bike

Well, as were were spinning in the rain, "Juan Pablo" Montoya got me all jazzed up about the spring crits. So back from the ride, after a nice warm bath, lunch and a power nap, I dusted off the old-faithful crit frame, stripped down to the bone (cross bike needed some parts).

I am going to put this puppy together within the next few weeks and strip the old aluminum/CF fork for a spare Giant FormulaOne fork I have left over from my Giant TCR. Which brings me to the story of what happened to the bike; that frame is sitting in the garage with a cracked down tube, courtesy of a kamikadze rider who took me down in the Harford crit last year. So for now I am going to stick with aluminum frame, because with my luck, I may be back at the shop looking for a new frame early in the season. Anyway, here it is, on its way to 18 pounds :-).

Spinnin' in the Rain

Well, we had some fun in rain today. We just had to respond to Stone's challenge... but where was Stone?? And where were You?

Awesome winter ride fitting of the first post

So with the holidays upon us, I am finally getting a chance to spend some time at home with the family and on the bike with my adopted Steven's Bicycle Racing Team family. Steve, Jeremiah and I were able to meet up for a nice ride through the valley yesterday. Riding the day after the storm is always rewarding, as the valley presents itself in its best color. With great visibility, air quality and awesome cloud formation, yesterday's ride was a real treat. We even ran into Peter and Ivo at Humphrey Station, where they proceeded to spank our butts on the way back home.