Poor Jan and My Cookblog, Part 1

As was posted on Brian's blog, Chris Horner won today's Romandie stage ahead of some of the sports biggest names on a day where Jan Ullrich struggled and lost over 10 minutes. Here is a picture of Der Kaiser in his glory days. Lets hope we see him on the podium in July.

Here's a little Tour of Romandie trivia for everyone. 2 Americans have won Romandie. Tyler Hamilton in 2003 and 2004, and the man himself, Andy Hampsten, in 1992. Romandie is also cool because the leaders jerseys are made by Craft (everyone should own a Pro Sleeveless Crew Baselayer.)

Thats enough about cycling for today. I made some good food for dinner tonight, and I thought I might as well start sharing some of my recipies. So here is the first recipe of my cookblog.

Mediterranean Cucumber Salad:
2 large cucumbers
1 red pepper
1/2 medium red onion
1 cup pitted Katamata olives
4 oz. crumbled feta
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
Halve the cucumbers lengthwise and hollow them out like little veggie canoes. Chop them along with the onion and red pepper into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Throw all the ingredients in a big ass bowl and mix. Season to taste.

This is on regular rotation at our house. I usually serve it with couscous or rice and some grilled chicken, but pork or fish would also be delicious. Its super easy and nutritious, and for all you gastronomically inept boys it will impress your ladyfolk.

Mary's Cannondale Ironman 2000

Here is my first of hopefully many Cyclingnews-esque bike features. Mary and I know a bunch of people with really sweet bikes, and if I'm lucky they'll let me showcase them on Leedahl's Life. Here we'll look at the new Albany Triathlon winner's bike.

Mary's bike was built on the cheap with a hodgepodge of quality used parts. The goal was to create a sleek, aerodynamic machine with quality, race worthy parts as inexpensively as possible. The frame is a 2002 Cannondale IM 2000. Aluminum frames can be made quite aerodynamic with large, bladed tubes and smooth welds, but cost a fraction of what fancy carbon frames cost. A Shimano Ultegra drivetrian with a mix of VisonTech and Ritchey components kept the price low and ultra reliable. The wheels are spare no expense Reynolds Stratus UL's, and if crosswinds are not a factor, a Renn disc rear wheel is used.


Full Specification

Frame: Cannondale IM 2000, full aluminum
Fork: Cannondale Slice Aero
Wheels: Reynolds Stratus DV-UL (front) Renn 575 disc (rear)
Tires: Continental Competition tubular, 22mm
Bar: VisonTech base bar with VisonTech TT extensions
Stem: Profile H20
Headset: FSA integrated
Pedals: Shimano 105
Seatpost: Ritchey Comp
Saddle: Selle San Marco Aspide TriGel
Chain: Shimano Ultegra 9 speed
Cranks: Shimano Ultegra, 53/39
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Ultegra
Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra 9 speed
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra 9 speed
Brakes: Shimano Ultegra
Levers: Cane Creek 200TT
Shifters: Shimano Dura-Ace
Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace, 11-23
Others: Sigma cyclocomputer, Profile bottle cage, fi'zi:k handlebar tape, Zipp carbon brake pads

My Wife is Fast

Well we are back home after our fun weekend away. Mary did quite well in her triathlon and ended up the overall female winner. She has won her age group several times, but has never been the overall winner. Pretty cool. She was able to draft some fast kid in the pool, and had a decent bike and run. She did a 1:16 with a 750m swim, 20K, and 5K run. Here are some pics.

I have lots of material for future posts. What would you guys like to read about? Trappist Beer? Delicious food from this weekend? My strange virus/overtraining/headache/lead legs/insomnia/crappy feeling? America's dependence on oil from terrorist-friendly oil producing nations? The escalating cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Sweet bikes of our friends? Let me know.

A Case of the Mondays

Hello everyone. I hope everone had a nice Easter. I worked all weekend and didn't see or do anything too cool. The other crew went on a car accident with 4 fatalities. That stuff is kinda interesting to see for a while, but I believe you only have a set number of experiences like that you can deal with before you've had too much and become burned out. So I'm glad I didn't have to see it.It's gorgeous outside here today. I have a 60 miler planned for later this afternoon with an hour or so of hard efforts. This weekend Mary has a triathlon in Albany, OR. Should suit her well. Its basically a sprint distance with an olympic distance swim. It will be fun to get out of the area and eat some delicious food and whatnot.

One of Mary's tri friends went to the Tour of California and was able to finagle a press pass from the local newspaper. Here's her website with some very cool "all access" pictures.

I might post again tonight if the muse inspires me.

Boonen Can't Win Them All...

...but he can almost get smeared by a train. Paris-Roubaix was awesome. I hope everyone watched it. Cancellara winning on a stock Cervelo R3 frame. Increadible. That frame is getting a lot of attention lately with the huge win today, and the stiffness test in the latest Velonews. It's now overtaken the Look 585 for the top spot in the "what bike will Brooks buy next" list. I like the ultra thin seat stays. Hincapie's crash looked painful. Watch out for your corn hole Brian. Shit runs downhill, and you might get blamed for the steerer failure. Isn't that the flow of the algorhythm: rider gets hurt on Trek->rider blames mechanic->mechaninc blames Scott Daubert->Daubert blames some dingleberry at Trek in Wisco->dingleberry blames Brian the company computer guy. I think it goes something like that anyway. This morning I went on a 30 mile TT, and finished in 1:18. Not too shabby for me. Then I made some delicious buckwheat pancakes for brunch. Watched the Masters, then Paris-Roubaix. Then I finished gluing the Zipps, ate a yummy sang-witch for dinner, and watched the Cards blow it against the Cubbies.

I was going to publish a post on equipment choices for Paris-Roubaix, but I couldn't find enough pictures to pirate yet. Maybe on Wednesday.

Hell of the North

Imagine racing your bike over that. Paris-Roubaix is tomorrow. Andy Bakke isn't racing so my money is on Boonen (again.) If there is ever a bike race to watch on TV, this is it. Best race of the year, hands down. Watch it on OLN at 6:00p.m. EST.

I felt hungover when I woke up this morning. That wouldn't be that odd, but I didn't drink yesterday. I kicked my ass on the cyclocross bike though with numerous efforts above lactate threshold. Yesterday was the first day I'd really gone anaerobic for any length of time this year, so I'm attributing the "hangover" from that. Or the curry I had for dinner. I'm currently gluing some Challenge tires to some sweet Zipp wheels. I forgot to take pictures of the process, but I have to glue some cyclocross tires that I can document for my next tech segment. I'll leave you with some more pave.

Working for the Weekend

Hi again blogomers. Nothing too exciting going on here. Mary and I went for a road ride this morning, and Sampson and I went for a cyclocross ride this afternoon. Now, as surprising as it may sound, its raining. Tomorrow I go into work for a 48 hour shift, and then have the weekend off.

There is a rumor swirling around the blogsphere about a behemoth of a man terrorizing the upper midwest on a british racing green colored cross bike. It's reported he's making elderly men caress his leg hair. Physiologically similar to the mighty crocodile he tires quickly, and is not much of a theat to anyone not using a Hoveround. There is an unconfirmed picture of him on Dave Simmons' blog.

Bike Washing and Cleaning

Hi gang. This is the first of hopefully many tech segments that I'll post here on Leedahl's Life. This post will deal with how I wash a bike.

There are many advantages to washing your bike regularly. Regular cleaning keeps the bike running smoothly and keeps it looking pretty. Washing is also an excellent time to inspect parts for damage or wear. Remember that washing a bike is a dirty job and should not be done in your Sunday's best.

Supplies needed:
1. repair stand (optional)
2. 5 gallon bucket
3. large sponge
4. nylon bristled brush
5. chain scrubber (Park Cyclone)
6. degreaser
7. rags
8. dish soap
9. garden hose

Start by placing the bike in a repair stand. A stand is not necessary, but makes the job much easier. Get some good tunes to listen to. It will make the tedious job more enjoyable.

I start out by cleaning the drivetrain first, since its the grimiest. I like to paint diesel fuel onto the chain, chainrings, front derailleur, rear derailleur, and cassette cogs. Simple Green in a spray bottle also works well. I then scrub the chain with a chain scrubber filled with a 50-50 Simple Green-water mix. The chainrings and cassette are scrubbed with a stiff nylon bristled brush.

Next I rinse the drivetrain, and wet the entire bicycle. Using a bucket with warm, soapy water and a large sponge, scrub the entire bike, paying particular attention to small areas around the brakes and stays, and under the bottom bracket.

Scrub the wheels and tires with the soapy water, and rewash the drivetrain with the soapy water. Next, rinse the entire bike and dry with clean rags, making sure all bolt heads are free of water. Lastly, lube the chain, derailleur pivots, pulley wheels, and cables.

Go ride your bike, and remember to take care of the damn thing. Its expensive!

Ronde von Vlaanderen

Its Tour of Flanders time folks. 17 climbs and 20km of cobbles. Paolo Bettini said the Koppenberg is unridable due to all the rain. Should be quite exciting. Boonen is once again the favorite, but watch out for guys like Cancellara, Hincappie, and Flecha. Watch it Sunday afternoon on OLN.
I'm writing this post at work. I'm stuck here all weekend while Mary gets some quality sister time with Susan. I'm taking the rest of the week off from training since I reached the 200 mile goal after Wednesday's ride.