5.17.2006

Big Announcement Coming...

This is my new favorite treat. I like it over ice with equal parts milk and tea. Buy some.

Nothing new to report on out here. The weather has been perfect the last couple weeks. Today it's a little overcast, but the wind is cooperating. I've actually been riding without leg warmers! Training is going well. I am getting a little bored of the same routes though. Mileage is impressive so far this year. I'm just shy of 2700 miles.

I'm getting pretty excited to go back home. I haven't been in GF for like 3 years, so it'll be interesting to see all the changes. Just a little over a month to go.


Today's a rest day for the Giro. Tomorrow is a 50K TT. Basso should put even more time into guys like Cunego, DiLuca, and Simoni. I think Savoldelli and Danielson will ride good times and move up on GC.

Check back for some big news...

5.13.2006

TTT

Someone should tell Lance it's not nice to stare at the freaks.

5.12.2006

I Couldn't Think of a Witty Title

Hello everyone. Long time no blog. My life just isn't that exciting lately. It seems I'm at work every day, and the rare day I actually have off is spent lying around with a little bike riding thrown in. Today I'm working, but at home tied to an ambulance. If two calls go out during the same time, I have to cover the county. It's a pretty sweet gig, but it means riding the trainer inside, and no wine with dinner. Otherwise it's like PTO.

Mary's back from Indiana and Heather's bridal shower. She had much fun. She is really antsy to move. I've been looking at homes in the Madison area. It's amazing the difference between home prices there and here. I don't know how anyone could afford to own a home here.


The Giro is getting exciting. Yesterday was the team time trial with Basso's CSC team putting a decent amount of time on the other contenders. Today Robbie McEwen won his third stage of this years Giro in an amazing sprint finish. Tomorrow's stage should be pretty entertaining, but Sunday's stage features a mountain top finish that should shake out who the real players are. The cycling.tv video on demand thing is actually really nice. I can watch any stage whenever I want. It makes me not want cable tv. The only thing I really watch on tv is baseball and cycling, and both are available on the internet. Tennis too. I wonder if you can watch tennis on the internet?

The
Collegiate Cycling Championships are going on this weekend in Lane's neck of the woods. He saw some teams practicing for today's TTT and said they were flying. He said he might wander downtown and watch the crits on Sunday.

Here is a picture totally unrelated to this post.

If you ever find yourself in a hotel room with a bike, some delicious beers, and nothing to open them with, think outide the box and ask yourself: "what would MacGyver do?"

5.07.2006

I Should Be a Photojournalist

Hello my bloggies. Nothing too exciting going on over here, so thankfully, because of blogs, I can live vicariously through my friends. Andy graduated from med school yesterday, and Brian raced on the road yesterday, and in the dirt today. Good job boys. On Lane's blog he has some pictures himself and dad at a (KC) Royals game. Yesterday I went with Natalie and Lily Rainbow to Arcata to meet up with Natalie's husband and a couple buddies to play some disc golf. Due to the above average intake of beer, carting around Sampson, carrying a camera, and the seriousness of playing for money, this is the only picture I took to document the experience. Seriously. I threw pretty good, but inconsistent. I ended up losing $3.
Today I laid around and watched the Giro. I bought the OLN/cycling.tv on demand thing for $20. I feel slightly violated having to pay money to watch a bike race I used to get for free. And with better coverage. Thats how it goes, I guess. After the Giro I went on a little 30 mile ride.

I talked with Mary tonight. She's back home in Indiana for a couple more days. She had a good time with Heather. She's pretty frustrated we can't find a job. She saw some pictures Heather brought along, and made her want to move badly. Hopefully we can get out of here pretty soon. Cross season is right around the corner, and check out all these
midwest races.

5.02.2006

Mario's Quintana Roo Caliente

Here is our friend Mario's triathlon bike. Mario is one of the founders of Wild Rivers Multi Sports. Mario is currently training for Ironman Coeur d'Alene in late June. His weapon of choice is a Quintana Roo Caliente. The Caliente is QR's mid-level full carbon bike. An aero seatpost, and rear wheel cutout, and 60mm deep section wheels make this bike slippery through the air, while a shallow seat-to-aerobar drop make it comfy for the 112 mile bike course. Other cool features include a shaped head tube, aero fork and seat stays, and horizontal dropouts. The huge bottom bracket area undoubtedly makes the bike stiff horizontally, and the triathlon specific geometry ease the bike to run transition. The finish is beautiful with the unique wide carbon fibers.


Full Specification

Frame: Quintana Roo Caliente, size large
Fork: Real Design Aero HP
Wheels: Real Design SuperSonic 60
Tires: Vittoria Rubino Pro
Bar: VisonTech base bar with VisonTech TT extensions
Stem: VisonTech Sizemore
Headset: FSA Orbit IS
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace
Seatpost: Real Design Carbon Aero
Saddle: Quintana Roo
Chain: Shimano Ultegra 10 speed
Cranks: FSA Carbon Pro
Bottom Bracket: FSA Platinum Pro
Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra 10 speed
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace 10 speed
Brakes: Tektro Dual Pivot
Levers: Cane Creek TT200
Shifters: Shimano Dura-Ace
Cassette: Shimano Ultegra 10 speed,
Others: Arundel Trident bottle cages, cork bar tape

Sampson is Ready to Go

Holy moly its been windy here. Just windy enough that you don't want to ride outside, but not too windy that its unsafe. I've been doing a lot of steady state threshold work on the bike the past few weeks. My lactate threshold is down around 186 beats per minute from 193 during cyclocross season. I blame that on all the base work I did the past 4 months. Another 2 months of threshold develpement, and then a couple months of superthreshold speed work, and I should be sitting pretty for cross season.

I finished a 96 hour shift this morning. I picked up an extra two days this week to defer some of the cost of our vacation this summer. Mary, Sampson, and I are going to spend a couple weeks back in Grand Forks. Becca and
Andy's wedding is a good excuse to go back home. I haven't been home since Mary and I moved out here in September 2003, and I haven't seen my dad since my wedding in June of 2004. I'll tentatively be home June 22nd through July 5th, so if anyone knows of a good bike race to do, I'm game.

The 89th Giro d'Italia starts this weekend. I predict Basso, Di Luca, Cunego top 3, with little, tiny Jose Rujano killing everyone in the mountains. Ullrich, Savoldelli, and Simoni will disappoint. I'm thinking about paying for the daily coverage OLN has through cycling.tv. $20 gets you every stage live, with a daily highlight show. Basically what you used to get on OLN for free. I'll probably write another post later tonight on our friend Mario's QR Caliente. Stay tuned...

4.27.2006

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.