Klee Irwin

Have you guys seen the infomercial for Dual Action Cleanse? There's a half hour of this! The best thing on tv. Hands down. It should win an Emmy.

Hole Shot?

Yeah buddy. So I finished my first race since June 9th on Saturday. That felt good. I didn't do too shabby either. And as the title suggests, I got the hole shot as well. I took advantage of a weakened, lethargic field and without effort, surged to the front. 20 meters in I looked at Brian with baffled amusment and shrugged.

So I drilled it for two thirds of the first lap and then methodically got passed by 7 dudes.

I sorta forgot how to race for an entire hour.

The fitness and skills are there, I just have to pull my head out of my ass and race. The speed of the Pro/1/2 race isn't much different from the cat 3 race, it's just like 2 laps longer. If I was more focused and dedicated, I think I could have finished in top 4. There will be pics and video shortly over at Madcross.org.



Speaking of focus and dedication, I'm eating a slice of cana de cabra on mini toasts along with a bottle of tempranillo. Now that's some good shit. Next time you see a goat, hug it and tell it "thank you for making delicious cheese out of your milk." And then feed it a tin can or whatnot.

I unfortunately had to work on Sunday and couldn't race. It's too bad because it was a greasy, muddy mess. I did bottle handups for Brian and took a bunch of crappy pictures.





Monday I was off and drove to Viroqua for their Monday night cross race series. It's a pretty layed back, low key deal. It was still all slippery and muddy, which was nice. I settled in 2nd or 3rd wheel for most of the race and made my way to the front about half way through. A local guy passed me with like 3 laps to go and I didn't really contest the victory. I figured it was bad taste to beat the locals. He legitametly passed me and gapped me though, and I don't in any way want to dilute his win, but I didn't exactly give him a hard time passing me, and i didn't try to stay with him. So I got second place, $15, a pound of coffee, and all the chocolate milk I could handle. Sweet.

Now I have this to deal with.

Next race I might try some video.

Surly, 2 Ways

A couple posts ago I alluded to Mary's Surly Cross-Check commuter bike. Well, it's all finished and she's been commuting for a couple weeks on it now. It turned out really nice in my opinion, and she loves it. Here are some pics.

Surly bikes are based out of the Twin Cities where, coincidentally, Surly Brewing Company is located. While on my way through after visiting my parents earlier this week, I stopped and picked some up. In the beer geek world, its sort of a big deal. I picked up some Bender, Furious, and SurlyFest. It's unique in that they come in 16oz 4-pack cans. Surly is unequivocally the best canned beer made, and Furious is one of the best IPA's I've ever had.

Do You Know What's Painful?

Cyclocross. Holy moley. So the season didn't quite start out the way I wanted, but that's ok. My first race in the cat 1/2 field lasted all of about 15 minutes. I DNF'ed after 2 laps. I had a pretty crappy start, and played catch up for half a lap, then easily blew by a group of 5 on an uphill drag. Then I found myself in noman's land until we regrouped and I led the group around for a lap until I popped. Rumor has it my heart rate was 205 at one time.

So the season started like last year's.

I'm optimistic about the season. I won't ever be competing at the front of the race, but I'll have some good battles with other "also rans."

Brian put in an impressive race finishing an effortless 6th in the cat 3 race. It must be his newly implemented theory on tire psi. Or it could be the training and incredible amount racing miles he has in his legs.

So after the race I headed to Grand Forks for like 36 hours. It was nice seeing the family.

More pics and video can be found at Madcross.org.

---

I was going to do this in two seperate posts.

---

Here is the XO1 v3.0


Frame: Trek XO1
Fork: Alpha Q CX
Wheelset: Bontrager Race X lite tubular
Tires: Dugast Cotton Typhoons 32mm
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Dura Ace 7700
Cranks: Shimano Dura Ace 7700
Chain: Sram PC-991
Front Deraileur: what?
Rear Deraileur: Shimano Dura Ace 7700
Shifters/Brake Levers: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 right shifter, Shimano R-600 left brake lever
Brakes: Paul Neo-Retro
Cassette: Shimano Ultegra 6500 12-25
Headset: Chris King NoTreadSet
Handlebar: Ritchey Pro Biomax
Stem: Ritchey WCS
Pedals: Crank Bros. Candy SL's
Seatpost: Ritchey Pro
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR-modified
Extras: Bontrager gel cork handlebar tape, Swiss Stop GHP brake pads, FSA 42 tooth chainring, FSA carbon chainguides, Avid Tri Dangle cable carriers, Dura Ace cables/housing
Bike weight: 16.9lbs

Circa 1993 Avid Tri Dangles


No need for two chainrings


Why buy a $330.00 carbon SLR when you can make one out of a worn out saddle and some Krylon?


I like stickers


Dura Ace is so amazing. This deraileur has seen like 20,000 miles!


The backups


Sampson approves