Spinning Wheels

This past week has consisted of many jobs. I think I've done everything but septic work. I've been getting to use some of the things I've learned in school to design some fun stuff for clubs and groups lately. The TCRC just ordered Tshirts and they let me come up with 3 or 4 designs for them. This is the one they decided to go with. One thing I have learned is that you NEVER please every person when it comes to design work. I'm happy with my progress so far and no my work isn't professional level but I've seen a lot of professional work that looks as if it needs a refresher course...

Yo! where did that longhorn come from below???? I came across a stellar deal last week and jumped on it, a 2009 Specialized Transition TT bike. This is one area of the cycling industry that I will freely admit I'm not up to snuff about. Positioning, seat tube angles and bike fitting for these machines are a whole different world. This was a medium and from what I could gather from all the Internet professionals in WWW land this would probably fit me. After riding it in a parking lot I felt it would not but the deal was a crazy one so I took it anyway. Well I quickly moved the bike down the super information highway (WWW land) and retrieved my money back so that I could get something I've been wanting for a while now... a dual purpose motorcycle! Nothing fancy just something I could ride back and forth to class to save some gas money and do a little USAC moto-reffing on. I inquired what size I would need from a few friends that already moto and when several of them agreed that a 250 was plenty big enough that's where I started looking. The big 650's are nice but they carry a heavy price tag well out of my shoe string budget right now.

This is what I bought above then this is what I ended up with. A Suzuki DR 200 but it's actually a 250 (motor mod). This is a '98 model but in pretty dang good condition. I'm happy with it so far and really that's all that matters. I've got requests now for moto-pacing. Yo homies..... I wanna pedal too! We will probably work something out so that one of the dads can moto a group of us.

My weekend was supposed to be an easy one on the training plan but my good friend Coach Letterman and Coach Kreiss from Virginia Intermont and King College respectively were hosting a Frazier Youth Clinic all week then having an open crit in downtown Bristol Sunday. Classes in the crit were combined so I would be chasing in the 4/5's most likely I thought. Remember I said it was supposed to be an easy weekend? I blew that plan out of the water big time. I managed to hang on til the next to last lap before I was propelled off the rear by a violent surge from the 4's up front of the 15 man group we were in. I managed an 11th out of 20 something in the end and probably did a good bit of damage to the training plan. At the start, below, I was heckling the guys on the front line trying to get a rise from them but it didn't work. I've sold the powertap and was running my regular Mavic SL wheel during the race so coming out of the corners was so easy, I had forgotten that the PT wasn't on the bike so the bike was super responsive when I mashed out of the corners. It felt great! I plan on building another PT with a carbon rim soon somewhere in the 50-60mm depth range. I was satisfied with my performance and where I'm at in the program so far but I'll have a decision to make in a few months about where to take this fitness thing. It really is a life style commitment. The next effort was to be at Bays Mountain the next day but "the plan" says nope so I'll let that lead into the next couple of paragraphs...

The Tankertots were hassling AC during our post race dinner at Jersey Mikes eating sammiches about commenting and comments made about le tour so I thought a little pun was in order..............

So we come to the annual Funfest Bay's Mountain Bike Rally. This is a local race that is held every year during the celebration that the city of Kingsport hosts each year in July. It's more of a beat your buddy type race. No USAC license or anything else formal is needed when attending this race. It's a mass start, smack talking, free for all 15 mile or so race through the park. There was a super rowdy storm rolled through about 2 hours before start time so I figured they may cancel, alas they didn't so I had to hear smack talk on Facebookland afterwards. Yes I was hammered for not attending but from several reports many locals did the same. I think half the small turnout of the field was from Kingsport the reports said. Sorry I didn't support funfest but I figured it would be a wash, oh well, my bad. I'll take the storm as a sign of fate.... stay home stick to the plan (you need it fatty)!









LAter G......................