Today is the official last day of "classes" for my college career. It still hasn't sunk in but I keep reminding myself anyway. I have one final to take next Tuesday and then I will start my internship with the Boy Scouts. I have to turn in my part of a group project today, write one more paper that is due on Tuesday, and finally I must go to a meeting this afternoon to gain certification as a Child Abuse Mandatory Reporter. It will be the fourth and final certification that I am required to have for my major. Must work at the shop all day tomorrow to serve the greater good of the community. Hopefully everyone will just go out to Gateway Park and bother Kerkove and Guitar Ted instead. I could use a slow day to get my stress levels back down to normal. Of course a slow day will make the work load increase believe it or not, so maybe I should hope to be busy instead, eh? Camp Ingawanis MTB race is on Sunday. Kerkove says he has to work now? What's up with that? Of course, I'll probably be on the schedule to work too. I sure hope not, it will be my last race until the 24 Hours of Boone on Labor Day weekend. I sure hope I can keep my riding going all summer.

Well, I don't have a whole lot on my mind right now so I am out.

-Peace.

No way dude. Not completely anyway. Just becoming a more well rounded rider. I participated in the CVC Road TT last night with about eight or nine other riders. Very windy conditions with the wind coming from the west so the first five mile were with a headwind. The course is by no means terrible, mostly light rollers or longer strung out uphills but, nothing that requires out of the saddle pedaling. My CATEYE computer was reading 13-15 m.p.h. on some of the inclines. I didn't do a split time at the five mile turn time so I don't know how the headwind leg was. The leg back was absolutely fantastic though. Massive tailwind in the 15-25 m.p.h. range is my guess. (Sure could have used that for Trans-Iowa.) I was reaching 31-34 m.p.h. on the flats and downhills and I do not think I ever went below 25 m.p.h. My final time was 27:13 and I believe I was within one minute of John Adamson's and Chris Congden's finish times too. These guys are fast so it is definately a confidence boost to be so close. The last time I did the TT I was two to three minutes behind these two. I was the forth rider to go out so I had three "carrots" to chase down which helps me to keep going. Of course I was waiting for Adamson, Congden, or Boller to catch me at any minute on the way back and nobody did. Pretty cool feeling. So far I give the Salsa Campeon a thumbs up for the smooth ride and it definately gets a lot of compliments. I still think a new set of bling-bling wheels would make me faster. Might have to look into building up the Orbit into a TT bike. What do you think Ed? Good use for the Orbit? It is still just sitting there waiting to be built up and ridden.

Well I think the people need me to start working now,

-Peace.

This is the last week of classes for the spring semester. I have two papers due within the next week so I don't have a whole lot of free time to ride before the MTB race on Sunday. Finals week is next week. This also means that this is MY last week of classes. I am going to do a 13 week internship with the Boy Scouts over the summer and then I will be officially done with college.

I am contemplating participation in the Europa Road TT tonight for the intensity. I need to shoot for beating the best time in my age group (19-35) of 23:01:35. This record has stood for 11 years and I would love to be the one to topple it. I am not feeling that fast today but it is a goal that I have for the year, be it the spring TT or the fall TT. I know of a certain individual, who shall remain nameless, who has stated that I should be riding in the USCF class but I have also told them that I am not a road racer so I will stick with the age group class...for now. My personal best at the TT is 25:30 and that time was around two years ago. I feel that I have improved my form quite a bit since then although my form is still not perfect. I still start mashing gears when I begin to get tired and ending up slowing myself down. I really have to focus on spinning during a high intensity ride.

My Fox F80X fork on the XTC is leaking like none other. It only leaks when I go off-road but that is kind of what the bike is for so I hope to get it fixed soon. I really do want to race this Sunday without having to swap forks from my Fuel. The Giant XTC with the Fox fork is just plain fast, it's just so perfect that I cannot even put it into words. I think that maybe I have been spoiled a little bit too much.

All for now,

-Peace.

Well my truck started last night, haven't changed the fuel pump yet so now I don't know what the deal is. Maybe it's just time for a new one. Legs feel pretty good today, still just a hint of soreness. Need to get a few miles in this week to prep for the Camp Ingawanis race. It's a great race. Beautiful course, great people putting it on, and there are some relly good racers that show up too. This will be the third annual race and our only "local" race so I feel somewhat obligated to attend in order to support the local MTB community. Although it's not really an obligation if you love to do it. This year I am on the hunt for John Adamson. He passed me last year with two or three miles to go and I couldn't quite catch him at the finish. This year I hope that will change. My training for Trans-Iowa has put me in a position that is better than any previous year so I feel that I will do pretty good. I am also contemplating the Europa road TT on Wednesday night just for a boost of lactic acid in my legs. I haven't done the TT in a couple of years so I am somewhat excited to give it another go, especially with the new Salsa.

BTW, the Decorah TT was the first "real" test of the Giant XTC that I acquired from Jeff Kerkove after last season and I must say that I am totally impressed with the performance under race conditions. I think it actually performed better than my Fuel, but maybe I am just in better shape too.

Okay, I need to fight with my Mac for a while,

-Peace

The weekend started out to look very adventurous and it delivered all the adventure that a person can handle, at least me anyway. The fuel pump went out on the Exploder on Friday morning so a quick change of plans put two bikes on the roof of Amy's car and packed in enough food and equipment for the epic Trans-Iowa for myself and Slade. After the 4.5 hour drive to Hawarden we meet up with Kerkove, Guitar Ted, and Robert Fry and then went to get some sleep with our wonderful host family. Great people, midwest hospitality, and good cookin' to boot. There's not a hotel chain in the country that could have come close to these accomodations.

Saturday morning at 8:00 sharp we began the roll-out from Hawarden with around 51 riders who were all in great spirits.



Slade and I worked with each other, and a few of the other riders at times, to keep up a good pace for the first hour or so when we came to the 1st B-Level road and had to take to the grass and ride through the heads of cornfields. The B-Level roads looked to be completely mud and it looked like a few riders that were there before us had tried to ride through it with very little success. The wind was coming out of the North at around 25 - 30 m.p.h. and this proved to be too much for many riders including Slade and myself. We called it quits in Primghar after four hours which was only 49.44 miles into the race according to my computer. There was no way we would make Algona by the 6:00 p.m. cut-off time so we decided to call our support crew and throw in the towel. We drove on to Algona to help out the first check point and make sure that any riders who needed help had it. The first rider in was Ira Ryan on a cross bike with a check-point time of 8.5 hours to cover the first 13 miles which translates to over a 15 m.p.h. average. WOW!! We stayed at the check point and watched quite a few cross bikes and single-speed MTB's come in with some incredible times. Thewre were a lot of great riders who were unable to finish this race and it is my understanding that many of them stated that Trans-Iowa may be the toughest that they have ever tried.


Eventual race winner Ira Ryan


Jeff Kerkove of the Cateye Enduro Team and Robert Fry


Jordan Carr of the Kona Midwest Enduro team

After a few hours we took off for Decorah to find a hotel room and crash for the evening waiting for the finishers on Sunday. On Sunday morning we found out that Ira Ryan had continued on with his insane pace and completed the 310 mile gravel road course in 23.5 hours with a 13.2 m.p.h. average. Truly amazing. Of the 51riders who took the start in Hawarden on Saturday, only nine made it to Decorah by bicycle. Definately the toughest race I have ever attempted. I applaud all of you who took that start on Saturday and I give a huge congratulations to those of you who finished this epic journey. I also give a standing ovation to Guitar Ted for designing the course and to Jeff Kerkove for obtaining all of the sponsorship for Trans-Iowa. If only you had control of the wind.

Of course since I only put in 50 miles on Saturday I decided to participate in the Decorah MTB T T instead. No preride, little tired from the drive but what the heck I felt pretty good overall. This course has my vote for the best in the state of Iowa. Fast descents, technical, rocky, great climbs and a challenge for all levels of riders. What else can you ask for? I completed the 11.25 mile course in 75 minutes which was good enough for 44th overall out of around 140 starters. I am happy with that result considering how strung-out the weekend actually was. I felt great through-out my ride, clearing some pretty gnarly climbs and blasting down some rock descents all in the name of catching the guy/gal in front of me at the time. Definately fun and I feel great today. I told a few people that I was going full roadie after this weekend but, I think I'll stick with the knobbies as my primary rush for a while.

That's all for now.

-Peace.

I know I am. Not specifically for Trans-Iowa, well maybe a little, but more nervous because I have a presentation for my research class on Monday morning, I need to set up a mock interview with Career Services at UNI for Monday afternoon, I have an internship offer and I just need to finalize that, and finally...oh I don't know but there has to be something else too. Details on the internship as they become more clear to me.

Went over the Giant XTC one last time last night to make sure everything is accounted for and ready to roll. Awful lot of CATEYE product on there. You would think that they built a great product or something. Of course...they do build great products so why go with anything else?




CATEYE headlight (HL-EL500), tailight (TL-LD170), computer (Enduro 8), and helmet light (HL-EL120). Shoud allow me to see where I am going as well as the rest of you will be able to see me if you look over your shoulder...in the distance. Here's a picture of the cockpit that I will be sitting in for 300+ miles.




Ergon grips to keep the hands happy. I actually like the bar end version pretty well. There is just enought there that they don't seem overly balky. They do take a bit of getting use to though. Map holder to make an attempt at following the proper course as long as you can read. I have had a few people asking if I am ready for this yet. Well, I think I am. I have the greatest coach in the world (his words are golden), I also have a great pit-crew and the greatest people around me for insight and support. So yea, I think I am ready. I need to make sure that my list of equipment includes everything, including some cold weather gear, and get everything packed up in the Exploder. I also need to put the roof rack on tonight. Exploder always seems to get pretty full when I head off to a race.

Okay I need to get some homework done today while I am at work, multi-tasking.

-Peace.

Fairly boring day yesterday. There was lightning in the sky when the MTB class was suppossed to start so according to school rules we were not allowed to go out for a ride. It sucked because we have only gotten one ride in this semester (class only lasts for five weeks) and that was the first day of skills. Next week is the last week so hopefully we can get a ride in. Easy one hour credit for those students I guess. One of the students even asked me about Trans-Iowa. He came acrossed it on the MTBR forums and became curious. I gave him the low down and he said that it sound s like a good time although he also stated that he was in no shape to try something like that. Is definately good to see that people are taking notice of the craziness that goes down in the state of Iowa. See people, there are things to do around here afterall.

Shop was fairly steady last night, lot of customers still getting ready for spring and summer. Lots and lots of bikes coming in for assembly so it should be easier to sell product. It is a pain in the butt to sell bikes out of a catalog. Everyone wants to ride before they buy. Can't blame them for that. I would be the same way if I knew nothing about bikes. Wait a minute, do I know anything about bikes? Hmmm, that's a good question. I'll have to check into that sometime. Kerkove and Ted should be pretty happy to stay busy with all of the repair work during the day and running the floor and anwering all of the phone calls. It's no wonder they both run out of the shop at 4:00 when I get there.

I have the honor of "volunteering" at the UNI museum's presentation of the T-Rex. It is a pretty cool exhibit if you have never seen a T-Rex before but it does not take long to go through the whole thing. Good place to take the kids for an educational trip though.

Geoff Kabush finished in the top twelve yesterday during stage 1 of the Tour de Georgia. Not bad for a mountainbiker. Robbie Hunter takes the win and Jason McCartney is down a mere 22 seconds. Not bad at all for the first day.

Okay, that's about all for now. I am off to cyclingnews to "watch" Flèche Wallonne.

-Peace.

100 minutes of spinning along the local paved trail system on the Salsa yesterday afternoon. Nothing real hard just maintaining 90-100 rpm through all of the traffic. I did get stuck behind THREE college girls for about 250 yds. who were running side-by-side and taking up the whole trail out by the industrial park. They all had headphones on and could not hear a thing outside of their little world. I even got about a foot from their heels and they had no idea I was there. Someday they will all wonder who mows them down from behind. Other than that it was a good ride. I did Lookout Park hill twice but took it easy both times. 30 miles total, max. HR of 170, avg. HR of 148.

I did run into John Adamson and the Bike Tech guys out for their MTB ride yesterday too. Had a real brief discussion with John, I let him know that I was gunning for him at Camp Ingawanis this year. Yea, he's old enough to be my father but he's still fast, real fast. He caught me at the race last year and passed me in the last few miles. Won't happen again.

MTB class at school this afternoon as long as their is no rain. If it rains then we will probably do the spin class again. Butt-whopping spin class that is. Hopefully it will be dry so we can go for a real ride. Ullrich maybe? I went out there last week during my day off to do a lap. Definately need to get a group out there to do trail maintenance. Dead trees, branches, and sticks everywhere that pop up into your wheels as you ride by. Very annoying. I know that I should not complain because I have not been out there to do maintenance either, I am just bringing it up to get the word out.

I am suppossed to hear back about an internship today so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Work to do now.

-Peace.

The Salsa Campeon is all done. Maiden voyage of 40 miles yesterday and then I cut the steerer tube down to signify the final step of the build.



The final build list looks like this:

Frame: 58cm Salsa Campeon
Headset: Cane Creek IS 8 Carbon
Handlebars: Bontrager Race Lite 44cm
Bartape: Red Bontrager Gel
Stem: Bontrager Race Lite 110mm
Seatpost: Salsa Shaft
Saddle: Fizik Poggio
Shifter/Brake Levers: 105 STI 9-speed
Front Derailleur: Ultegra
Rear Derailleur: 105
Cranks: 105 53/39
BB: Ultegra
Cassette: Ultegra 12/23
Wheels: Shimano 2200 hubs - Mavic CXP 22 Rims

Final weight came in at 19.9 pounds. 3.1 pounds less than the Bianchi was. I should be able to keep up with Kerkove now. Just kidding.



It was definately fun building it from scratch, thanks to Ted for all of your insight. I can definately tell the differance in the ride compared to the Bianchi. The carbon sucks up bumps very well. The only change that I am considering is switching to a 120mm stem for a little more reach but I will keep what I have for a little while at least just to be sure.

The entire bike was covered in worm guts when I got done with my ride yesterday. It was so disgusting that it actually made me gag.

I was also able to wear my new road shoes too, Shimano SH-R151.





Very comfy, three strap design with super stiff carbon soles and easy to clean worm guts off; what else do you need? Mr. Saul thinks I am turning into a roadie. Part-time maybe, like 50-50 max. Ron. Okay, maybe 60-40.

Time to get some work done.

-Peace.

Well folks, she's almost done. I took some pictures but none of them turned out as well as I had hoped. Sorry. I will be sure to get some good pictures today when it is complete. I need to install the front derailleur and a FSA headset compression plug this afternoon and then it will be done. I will be at the shop from around 4:00 - 5:30 to finish it up if anyone wants to stop and check it out. It's really sweet even if I do say so myself. I put it on the scale just for a reference point (no front derailleur, chain, or compression plug) and the scale read 19 pounds. I am guessing right around 20 when all done, which is what I figured the final weight would be.

I got a little burnt yesterday by the sun. You can see where my watch was, my thighs are bright red, and my racing stripes on my calves are gone. It is a little tender right now but I get to sit all day so no big deal.

Took the day off work at POS so I could go for a ride on the XTC. 53 miles, most of it gravel, in four hours. I am happy with that. There's a mile or so of fresh gravel if you head west out of CF on 12th. Make sure you are ready for that stuff because it will tear you up quick. The road-grader was getting out there to spread it some more when I got back into town. I would hate to meet one of those things while I was out riding. They take up the whole road, I'd have to ride in the ditch. Speaking of ditches, I could have picked up five or six dollars worth of beer can during my ride too. Busch Light is still the prefered choice of alcohol consumption by those who get drunk while driving down gravel roads. Does that sound beyond stupid to anyone else, or is it just me?

Anyway, no wind, bright sun, very few cars, lots of dogs to initiate the sprints; what else could you ask for? I went to the New Hartford hills which consists of a six mile loop with quite a bit of climbing. Got me thinking about another element of gravel roads in Iowa too. Oil. Used to keep the dust on the road and out of the air. The oil near New Hartford had been poured a while back so it was not even a factor but if it was fresh it sure could get nasty. Lots of dogs in that area also. They sit in their yards waiting for you to come by and then they unleash their attack like a pack of wolves. During my first lap I could here a vehicle coming behind me at about the same time the pack began barking. Dogs didn't care about the Dodge Ram dualie one bit, all they wanted was me. I signaled to the driver and he slowed down as he went by...even waived a thank you. You really do have to love the farmers around here. They are such nice people...some times.

Kerkove e-mailed me to inform me that some more of my parts arrived today. I am getting so close to building the Salsa that I can taste it. Hot Salsa. None of that medium or mild stuff. I'm talking about the stuff that makes your eyes water when you smell it! Yea!! Whooo!! Sorry, got a bit excited there. I took Ted's advice, again, and made up a build sheet to create some sort of order during the whole construction process. It definately helps to have a list of all of the needed parts on paper in front of you. The scary thing is when you include a list of prices too. Bikes get expensive quick. Of course what else am I going to spend my money on? A new bumper for the Explorer maybe? Nah, it still works and it has character too. Anyway, the build sheet was a great idea. Thanks again Ted. I don't know what I would do with out your guidance. Rip out what hair I have left on my head maybe. I should just shave it all off and go with the "Jeff Kerkove - super aero" look. Then again, maybe not. Maybe I should just call Rogaine instead.

Okay, I need to get my dogs outside and then go to the shop to work at 4:00.

-Peace.

It's Wednesday, I am completely out of work at POS, I'm ready to build the Salsa but I am still missing vital elements, and I'm complaining too much which is what I do when I get frustrated. I am definately ready for the semester to end, it is just dragging along now. Couple more weeks until freedom.

No mountainbiking last night, the instructor offered an optional spin class for those interested instead or you could just go home. I opted to try the spin class since I had never done one and I had a few hours to burn before I needed to be at the shop. WOW!! I normally go 15-20 minutes of warm-up on the bikes before a regular ride but, the spin class included like a three minute warm-up followed by 35 minutes high intensity spinning. I may have to do this more often. Avg. HR was around 160 during the spin and everything felt great afterwards. Felt good to spin out the legs after the near 100 mile weekend. Ed and Kerkove are laying down the hurt on me lately. Maybe it's time I retired. I know, I'll start training with Whizbang! Of course he'll probably kick my butt too.

I am taking a much needed day off of work at POS tomorrow. Originally I was scheduled to do bike repairs at the school for the outdoor club but that got rescheduled so now I can not participate. I am thinking maybe 100 mile day in the saddle. I am not sure if I'll take the XTC or the Bianchi yet but I have all day today to ponder that. Hopefully it will give me time to clear my head and refocus on the things I need to get done. I still need a front derailleur w/34.9 mm clamp, 31.6 mm seatpost, and a 1 1/8" compression plug for the carbon steerer. If I do not get this built before May, I fear that my internship will take up all of my time and I will not be able to get it done until September. This is of course assuming that I will have next to no free time, which I do hope is not accurate, but if I do get this internship it sounds like I will be working more there than I am now. These are the joys of our lives.

Jared just came down to the dungeon to have me print out a poster for him. I have access to the large full-color printer so here I am printing off a NASCRAP poster for him. I didn't know what it was before I pulled it up on my Mac and he's lucky that he is my friend. I wouldn't print off NASCRAP stuff for just anybody.

I think Ted's right (see comment from Tuesday) I am going to give serious thought to the red bar tape for the Salsa. I think green would be a bit much but red will look sweet. Everyone in this area uses black and it is time for a change. Thanks for the boost Ted! Is it weird that I can think about nothing else except building the Salsa? Heck, I have brought it up twice in this post alone. I think I have a sickness. Must...be...spending...too much...time with...Kerkove. Speaking of Kerkove, he sent me a really cool article about the Campeon from 2003. He found it on Pez Cycling News. It's agood read so chick it out here. Thanks buddy!

I weighed the Bianchi last night. I weighed it with two bottle cages, a Cateye computer, Speedplay Zero pedals, and the POLAR HRM bar mount, and the scale read exactly 23 pounds. Porky by today's carbon fiber and titanium standards but, for a lugged cro-moly frame from 1988, not too bad. I wonder how much weight the Salsa will shave? We will find out...some day.

See that? Now I brought it up three times. I think I better call it a day.

-Peace.

We do need some rain so I am not complaining by any means. The mountainbike class is suppossed to go to Ullrich Park for a bit of off-roading today but I don't think that will happen. I do not promote or condone riding off-road in the rain/mud. There are a lot of people that get all bent out of shape when they close the trails at Sugar Bottom in North Liberty. If they had any idea how dangerous that place gets when it is raining they might, and that's a big might, understand why the trails get closed. They become nothing but a nasty, pasty, goo that will throw you to the ground faster than you can blink. Ullrich doesn't get that nasty, pasty texture going on but the technical aspect of much of the trail can still buck off even a seasoned rider let alone a group of beginners. I'll just have to put my foor down if need be and explain all of the environmental aspects of riding in an area such as Ullrich in muddy conditions and I'll finish it off with the personal injury speech if there are some that still don't get it. They are a really good group so I do not feel that there will be any problems but one never knows. I brought the XTC with just in case we go for a paved trail ride or something.

Still waiting for parts for the Salsa to arrive. Building it while it is raining would be great because I wouldn't be so tempted to rush through anything to get outside. Use the Force I will to control my temptations. Kerkove convinced me to stick with black bar tape but I still have a sliver of desire to put on some red bar tape. I have a strong ability to talk myself into these kinds of things. Any suggestions? All are welcome. Here is a picture to help you decide.



We are all caught up with our work at POS so there is not a whole bunch of stress here although it will quickly turn into boredom if the work doesn't start to flow in.

Enough for now.

-Peace.

I am so tired today that I could probably just fall asleep right here at work. We had some people over for dinner last night so I didn't get around to doing my homework until around 8:00 p.m. After that I had to watch the Paris-Roubaix road race and then the first round of MotoGP from Jerez, Spain. Paris-Roubaix is always a good race to watch. Lots of cobbles to tear the field to ribbons. It truly is a race where only the srong survive. Tom Boonen had a very impressive ride and definately earned the victory.

Speaking of earning it, Jeff Yielding finished on the podium this weekend while busting his butt throughout the whole race. Congrats on the 3rd place finish Jeff. You'll be kicking Kerkove's butt in no time.

The MotoGP race was spectacular. Non-stop battles for the top positions thoughout the entire race. There was even a bit of paint-swapping in the final turn of the final lap. It doesn't get any better than this for Motor Sports.

As far as attacking Kerkove is concerned during our ride yesterday, I still think that he let me beat him during the first attack because he is such a nice guy and my second attack was while he had his camera out because I know that is the only way that I can truly pull away. Beside, it gave me time to remove my cap so that my head could cool off after the air temperature started to go up.

I sure hope I get some parts for the Salsa soon. I am getting restless waiting to begin the assembly.

I have an interview for an internship today at 9:30 a.m. Hopefully it works out and then I can return my stress levels back to normal.

Gotta go.

-Peace.

Not really but it sounded good. 3.5 hours with Mr. 24 this morning before heading into the shop. His recovery rides are equivilant to my training rides. Well almost anyway. He did photo-documentation of our ride so be sure to check out his blog asap. Wind was out of the SE but mostly out of the East. Let's just say my heartrate was way up in the 180 range for a while. I relly don't have a whole lot to talk about right this moment except that I need to build the Salsa. It is all that I can think about. Arghhhh! I see the Salsa Queen thinks that her Salsa is better than mine. I don't think so Missy. Sounds like a challenge to me. Oh great now I'll get my butt kicked by a girl, I mean woman. Yea that's it.

Okay I better quit before I dig a bigger hole.

-Peace.

2.5 hour ride on the Giant XTC with Ed on his Specialized before I came to work today. I left the house at 5:30 with headlight on for the first 45 minutes. Did some paved trails, singletrack, and a gravel road into the wind of course averaging around 17.5 mph. Pretty good ride overall. 34 miles total.

Would you like to see the new frame by chance? Okay, I'll show you.

2005 SALSA Campeon 58cm. Scandium alloy with carbon seat stays and fork with carbon steerer.

begging to be built



seat stays



head tube/fork



seat tube



frame/fork



Hopefully I can get it built and on the road sometime this week...if the parts show up.

Busy at the shop, gotta go.

-Peace.

It has arrived...with a couple of minor setbacks. No front derailleur and no headset. I will be at work from 4-8 today and 9-5 tomorrow if anyone wishes to see it. Otherwise, pictures and such should follow soon...I hope.

Man I thought the weekend was never going to get here. This week has been a total drag fest. It looks like my new frame could arrive today. I am very excited about that. There is one catch however and I should have known better from the start. The front derailleur is on back order; Shimano Ultegra 9-speed, braze on. I should have just had the person at the shop that orders parts check availability of Dura-Ace, Ultegra, and 105 from the start and ordered something else if the Ultegra was out. Sometimes I really surprise myself with my idiotic decision-making. A. Lo. thinks that I should assemble it anyway and just worry about a front derailleur later. This might be kind of like driving a Ferrari and only using the first three gears. I don't know. What do you think? Should I (1) build it anyway and add the front derailleur later or should I (2) just wait and continue to ride the Bianchi? Maybe I'll call the shop and check on a Dura-Ace or 105 or maybe Kerkove or Ted will check on that for me out of the kndness of their hearts. Then they can call my cell phone and let me know if I have options. They're so sweet. I need the braze on style derailleur with the adaptor because the seat tube requires a 35mm clamp which is not available in the 9-speed gruppo.

I had a couple come in the shop last night actually requesting to see me. That's kind of scary. They ended up ordering a couple of bikes too. Even scarier.

Time to work.

-Peace.

...for comfort. Finding an intership before the end of the semester that is. I have an interview with a potential local organization on Monday morning. Would be a great opportunity to show off my skills and still work in a fairly familiar environment. It does sound fairly positive so keep your fingers crossed. Ed also dropped me an e-mail about another possibility that is based in the state of Iowa. Very interested in this one. I sent them an e-mail to see if there is a possibility and now I must sit and wait...patiently. I will release more information if one of them solidifies.

I need to get a few pictures of myself riding my bikes for my website at school. Any takers? I need a couple of action type shots on my road bike and mountain bike. Let me know. I think that the Cheese Queen is going to get some photos of me climbing for the same reason.

I "volunteered" at the UNI museum exhibit for "A T-Rex named Sue" last night. Two hours of handing out surveys. I only handed out one survey. Not a lot of people there on a Wednesday night. Nice exhibit though. Dinosaurs still fascinate me, always have. It must be part of the kid inside me still.

I have to actually work today so I better get to it.

-Peace.

Mountainbike class went really well yesterday. The class became larger than last week, something like 16 students. It was a pretty quiet group at first which left me doing a lot of talking. I did pick on a few of the students by using them as demonstration models. They seemed to be cool with it because most of them were actually talking to me and asking good questions by the end of class. Basic skills covered included changing a flat tire, going over obstacles, climbing, descending, mashing vs. spinning, body positioning, and then a three mile ride through the grass and gravel roads around the practice fields. Most of the students did really well but there were a few that are big gear mashers that wore themselves out pretty quick. I didn't feel like changing clothing yesterday so I rode in jeans and t-shirt with my Orange Nike YVRs, Answer gloves, Oakley Straight Jackets and Bell Helmet. It was a bit old school for me. Kind of cool actually. There were no injuries and plenty of them looked to be excited after the short ride. We'll see how many of them are still alive after next weeks trip to Ullrich Park. Should be a fun one...for me.

Still have people coming into the shop looking for the sale prices from the SUPERSALE. For some reason they thought the sale was this week. Of course then they want to know when the next sale is and they walk out empty-handed. Should be getting a large shipment of bikes in this week sometime. This is good because people are going down the street.

I have the honor of passing out a survey for the UNI museum tonight at the T-Rex exhibit in Cedar Falls. Two hours of time donated to the university in an attempt to find out what the local community wants to see as far as future attractions and exhibits are concerned. Should be a great time. I really can't wait. (sarcasm)

I need to find some food now. What do you think, apple or salmon? I think I'll go with the apple.

-Peace.

I'm in a really good mood today for some reason. I didn't sleep all that well but I'm in a good mood anyway. I had a test yesterday that just plain sucked. You know the type where you are certain that you are prepared and as son as the test is laying in front of you, your mind goes blank. I hate it when that happens. Oh well, four weeks of classes left and then who knows.

I was called in to work at the shop last night so that the boss man could get a ride in. I don't really mind because I need the cash so I went in to work for three hours with Kerkove and Ted. I was told that I could leave at 7:00 if it wasn't busy. I went with my gut and stayed and like clockwork business picked up at about 7:15 and I ended up unloading one of our used bikes. It's always nice to see those go back out the door. Make sure you check out Kerkove's blog, he is now giving photo-documentation of his recovery rides. Yielding, Ed, the Kona team are all doing photo-documentation also. I feel so left out all of a sudden.

Day 2 of the mountainbike class is today. I am scheduled to give a tire changing demonstration for those that are not in the know. I think a few of them are going to have that "I have to work to do this?" look in their eyes. I love it when that happens. We will also cover a few tech skills then it is ride time for the remainder of the semester.

That's it for now.

-Peace.

For those in the know...it has been ordered.

Wow. I can't believe that I am actually even thinking this, let alone typing it. I am GLAD that the weekend is over. Both Friday night and Saturday all day were really busy at the shop with the sale.

For starters I went for a two hour ride on the Bianchi with Ed on Saturday morning. I left the house at 5:30 a.m. to meet him at Lookout Park hill for a nice cool morning spin. I did a warm up lap through GW to scout the trails and then did five hill repeats up to Lookout Park. Max. HR between 183-186 as I creasted the top. Ed was driving down the hill during my final ascent so we got statred with the ride after that. Oh, I also found 45 cents in the road too. Did a few laps through GW/Hartman, couple more hill climbs, part of the Euro-crit, went down Main St. for a change of scenery, and I headed home for a shower at about 7:50 a.m. to get ready for the shop.

A. Lo. and I covered the store Friday night without any problems and Saturday was A. Lo., Whizbang, the boss man, and myself of course. Saturday was pretty steady almost all day. There were a few occurances that I choose to forget about but overall it was good. The people come in waves. We would be really busy for an hour or two and then there would be no customers for 30 minutes or so. It made the day a little more relaxing. We had a lot of good people come in the store on Saturday. A. Lo. and I even devoured an O.P. sausage pizza. MMMMMMMMM!

Sunday was a whole new ball game. Whizbang, the Golden Child, and moi. At about noon, the flood gates opened and we were up to our necks in customers. Somehow we ended up with a system where I worked the sales floor, Whizbang handled the register, and Kerkove did the shop work. The boss man showed up around 2 p.m. to help out at the register and everything went fairly smooth. I asked a wee child to get off of a $1200 Burley recumbent and then ten minutes later I told another one to get off of it. 20 minutes after that the first girl was scared out of her mind as she tipped it over when she got on it again. I quietly picked it up as her parents just stood there, speechless. Shortly after that their youngest child, maybe two years old, came out of nowhere to attack the Burley during here temper tantrum. Unbelievable how some of these people can reproduce like mad yet never have control of their own herd, I mean children. We all survived so it was good. Kerkove and rode the deposit to the bank and then I hit up the singletrack at GW/Hartman to get a fix. Oh yea! Felt great to get in some trail time, about an hours worth or so.

Random mode on.
I have a test today that I never studied for, that should be good.
I am losing the winter weight since I have finally got on the bike a bit more often. I feel like Jan.
A lot of work this week for my research class.
Still haven't found an internship, I need help.
Guitar Ted went out on a crazy mission this weekend. I wonder how that went.
Props go out to Mr. Yielding with a great performance at his road race this weekend. Way to go Jeff!!!
Random mode off.

Time to study or work or whatever.

-Peace.

Went up to the school to take care of a couple of bike repairs that came into the Outdoor office yesterday. One of them was a GT LTS-5 and the other was a Specialized Rockhopper. The GT had decent components on it but that ing was a tank. 35+ pounds at least. Good shape though and that makes me happy when I work on them. The Specialized was also in good shape except for the rear shifter. It was just plain old worn out. This bike was also in good condition overall so I hope the owners continue to take care of them.

A pleasant surprise awaited me at the bike shop last night, All of my tools arrived. WOOHOO!!! Pedro's, Park Tools, Truvativ. It made me happy. Even the boss man was a bit jealous of my new Pedro's Pro T-Handle Hex Wrench Set.



Kerkove belives that I should put a lock-on grip my new Perdo's pedal wrench. I think that he may be right on that one. It would look really tough like that. Not that it doesn't already.



A review will follow as soon as I spend a little time with them. I think I may actually need a larger toolbox now. Cool. I also picked up many of the basic tools that I was previously borrowing from Kerkove when I needed them. Park cone wrenches, chain whip, chain breaking tool, and the Truvativ BB tool along with many others. I think I will be set for a while now.

I have decided on which road frame I am going to purchase next. It is classified information so for those of you who do already know, SHHHHHHHHHHH! TOP SECRET. My final choice was not part of my original choices so that should add to the suspense for the rest of you. It will be pimp, that's all I can say for now.

Planning on joining Ed for an early morning ride tomorrow. 6 o'clock in the morning. Should be a good time, I am looking forward to it. Where do you want to meet Ed? 26" or 700c ? Your call. I wonder if Kerkove will make an appearance. He should be good for seven or eight hours tomorrow since he has the day off. I have to be to work at the shop at 8:30 so I should get a couple of hours in. Speaking of the shop, it's been really busy lately. We have been going through recumbents like they are going out of style. Should be chaotic tomorrow and sunday.

Enough blabber.

-Peace.