Mainly because I was made fun of tonight

getting acquainted:

More later.

To be Fre-eeee!

"Who's your heroine honey!?"
"HUH! WHA WHA? HUH, I don't do heroin!......right?"
"You didn't hear all of that?"
"uhmmgggrrrrgle hear what?"
"Downstairs is practicing again...you slept through that?"
"It's 3 a.m....."

The Mrs. and I live above some fellas who fancy themselves rock stars. They aren't very good and the copious amounts of adult beverages they consume don't make them any better (Although they do play a mean rendition of New Kids on the Block and Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance).

3 a.m. seems to be their hour of bewitchment. Its their favorite time of the day to keep the beat with their feet, play the beer pong, yell and scream and play their music amped up and with full percussion.

What does any of this have to do with cycling?
I put in such a good week of training I was able to sleep directly above the sounds of a real life rocking roll band. There are times I'm sure that they have the "11" on their amps.

Double shammy gits'er done.

The eagle is airborne. Somewhere between here and the Giant warehouse.

The Baba received the Giant T-Mobile Team bike this week.

The same bike the T-Mobile team rides in the Tour, before the tour. Only 16 in the country spread out amongst 2000+ retailers and ATA got it. As I like to say when something is really really cool: It's the shit.

It's lookin' like another weekend of the Belgian knee warmers.

Should be fun. Next week it's all about my favorite four letter word.

Dirt.

What do I want to eat?

Long time eh?

The lack of posts have primarily been due to a lack of anything happening.

The snow/ice/sleet that old man winter hooked us up with last week made things interesting. Seemed like all the cars got stuck and I pitched in in pushing 7 of them out of 3 inches of ice in my hood. This includes the 2 times I had to free the Mrs. It was fantastic upper body work.

I went riding with a bunch of guys last weekend. Big rings were out, and bash guards were in and rightly so. The stunts some of the guys were riding was truly amazing. Overall it was a really great time and I look forward to riding with them in the (hopefully) near feature.

I haven't shaved the guns since CX Nationals and I got around to doing that this past week as well. It was an interesting experience. I had to stop about halfway through and grab some sun glasses because them things was white! The hair did a good job of making it look like I had a tan. Also, I was able to discover some new lines on the WMD's. Huston, we've got some more power.

The most popular word of the last two weeks has been "Lost". As in "where the hell am I? I think I'm lost again." Making already long days even longer, but with better stories for those that live in my world. When I got lost yesterday I put the iPod on video and listened to some 'Cross World Cup action in Flemish instead of tunes. It was like when you talk to Rice Krispies and you think they are talking to you, those Flemish speaking announcers were commenting on how I bunny hopped the pothole to China and made me feel super strong during the twilight of the ride.

Don't even act like the Rice Krispies don't talk to you.

Race bike!

My new race bike came in last night. The first thing I did when I came into work this morning was build it.

Giant really hooked a brother up this time. Its a Giant Animator and it's got everything an aspiring pro like myself needs in a race bike.
For whatever reason the industry is beating the 29 inch wheel drum saying bigger is better. I've been told that it's not the size, but how you use it. But I wouldn't know anything about that.

12 inch wheels are going to accelerate way faster than anything else out there. Hands down. Plus the low spoke count wheels will keep the weight to a minimum.

The over sized Bottom Bracket will ensure that the insane watts that I produce all go to the rear wheel. The checkered flag sticker gives a strong nod to the racing capabilities of this rig.

The stem/bar padding will keep more than one person happy and future generations a valuable option down the road should the eject button ever get hit while riding technical single track.

Platform pedals and a Chain guard are the only option for keeping my Tim's clean.

Having a bell will help me save the oxygen when trying to scream "on your left" to slower opponents. The fact that this option comes standard is simply insane.

Yea, I'd say I've hit the jackpot with this little number. Can't wait to take it down the chutes of Mount Snow.

This is the moment to save it

There really isn't anything to report. But I can only go so long without getting my blog on.
Things are humming along at a nice clip. Sometimes there is a cold snap and the temps drop into the digits, but for the most part, I'm excepting that my rides are going to be in the teens and 20s. Its kinda insane that I'll look at 25 degrees and think its a warm day. Makes me wonder if 40 is tropic. Its good to note that I am not the only one who is loosing my marbles:

Most nights I've been in bed around 9, a few times I've been lights out 8:30. Its not my fault really, its all a result of my training. Train hard, sleep harder.

That sweet look took me 10 hard hours in the sack to complete. Its a tough life being a cyclist.

Mainly, I am just waiting right now. Waiting for my bike to arrive. Could be hours, could be days, one never knows.


Hang in there folks, we've got some good things coming down the pipeline.

Take 'em in people.

I am so excited about the 'cross world championships tomorrow. I am deeply in love with 'euro cross. As Heather points out, I'll watch a cross race on the webs that is commentated in Flemish (I have no clue what they are saying, it all sounds the same to me) but I won't watch a foreign movie with subtitles.
I was checking out the start list for the elite men the other day...

Yea man, thats Dufaide Desgranges. Hatti got 4 slots in the mens race. He was the only guy I beat in my Elite debut at the USGP in Gloucester, so I'm pulling for the underdog. Forget Sven Nys, Dufaide is going to rock 'em.

I think the devil is giving free sled rides

Today was the first scheduled day of rest. Thank you coach A.T., you've got amazing grasp on whats happening next.
Yesterday was cold too, but not nearly as cold as today is. Near the end of my 4+ hour ride, I was pretty sure I had a brain freeze just from breathing the air. My watter bottles froze within 30 min of getting outside, so I had to sick the frozen mess under my jersey to "warm" it up. Once it got to the point where it was drinkable, I downed it fast but then was presented with another problem. I really had to pee. That was also fun.
I find things on the side of the road all the time. Free TV's, abandoned washing machines, dead animals (like a bat!), food, Mc D's wrappers, condoms, ladies undergarments (how you can leave a thong on the side of the road will forever baffle me) and even slightly new abandoned cars in the middle of the woods, smashed to bits. Yesterday I found this guy:

I have no idea why I like him so much, but he's pretty bad ass.

What else is pretty bad ass?
We started stocking Aegis bikes at the shop. They have the most beautiful bottom bracket junctions ever.

The Original G's got a mighty sweet bike.

And that my loyal 5 readers, is a blog entry.