Brother of Jackal....

Hanging in there....
That jersey was mine in 1987. It actually fit me then....

I think he had fun....

Jackal's brother, Adam, has decided that we are going to race the 12 hour race in Boone on Labor Day weekend while Jackal does the 24 hour gig. Team Stoopid. Singlespeeds.... We're going to try to get Eduardo to join us even though Katie is due to deliver their new baby that weekend. It's all good!

Anyway, tonight was Adam's first night on the bike. He did pretty good. Tough little buggar. I know it had to hurt a little but he's played hockey since he was 5 so he should able to deal with a little pain. It's all good. I threw the Trek singlespeed back together for him and he's happy as a pig in poop! We'll see how it goes.

Sounds like John Adamson and Mike Johnson are ready for their big race in Leadville. They've definitely prepared for it this summer. Good luck, guys!

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Read it here....


http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/?id=/features/2007/tour_rasmussen_post07

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Saturday....

Eduardo's 5/10 K this morning.... He has a sense of humor!
The New Bike with the new saddle and tape. I like it!

I got up this morning and went with Jackal to work at Eduardo's 5/10 K trail race. Sarah Gall was the overall winner of the 10 K with a time of 39 minutes. The trails were a little bit muddy but it didn't slow her down at all. She was flyin'!!! Whoa! Everyone seemed to have a great time. It was held in the Katoski Greenbelt, which was a great venue for this race. Jeff has had a great series of races this year! Good job, Brother!

We came home about 11 and I watched the ITT from Le Tour. It looks like Alberto Contador will be the overall winner of that beautiful race. Awesome! For an event plagued with so much controversy, I thought it was still one of the best in recent memory. Long live The Tour!!!! Levi had the ride of a lifetime and Cadel was awesome. What a great race! Contador will be only the 5th "Best Young Rider" to also take the yellow and only the second to take both in the same year. Cool!

I went and rode the C 50 this afternoon. Got a bit over 32 miles by riding up old 218 to Janesville then across to Joplin/Wagner Road and back into town. The more I ride it, the more I like it. It was a long time coming but it was definitely worth the wait. It's a sweet ride!!! :) Winds were out of the ENE at about 10 mph so the first 20 or so miles were into quartering headwinds but it really wasn't bad at all. The temp is around 80 today so it made for a nice ride! Ernesto Colnago is a freakin' design genius! That bike is soooooooo stiff and soooooo light and it rides sooooo nice! Primo!

Jackal sent me an email about the Jingle Cross on Thanksgiving weekend in Iowa City. It's gone BIG TIME!!!! He's pumped for cross season! He has the State Road Race Champiomships coming up next weekend over at Dubuque. That will be one hilly BEEOTCH! It's all good!

That's it for now.

Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

Group Ride....

At Jackal's suggestion we rode the New Hartford loop counter clockwise tonight. All 4 of us. It's hot and humid and breezy out there tonight. Jackal, Kerkove, Michael Fox, and I were all that showed up. It was good! They waited for me to catch up in New Hartford then pulled me over the first hill heading south out of town. Thanks guys! :)

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Thursday....

As much as I hated to see it happen, sending Michael packing was the right thing for Rabobank to do. I was all about Michael. I wanted him to win. He lied. That's bad. Go home.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Rant On....


We need to form a country someplace where all the athletes that want to do stupid shit can go to play and race. Football players, baseball players, cyclists, et al. Let them play with themselves. No media broadcasts outside of "their" country. Whatever. Hell, they could even have their own "hall of fame" for their "stars". That way the "real" halls of fame, the ones where true athleticism and good deeds are required for admission, wouldn't be tainted with 'roids and epo using blood doping "athletes".

On the other hand, the UCI could just tell WADA to get the F out and continue on their merry way. Or they could have 2 categories of winners.... Clean and unclean. Lot's of possibilities if the organizers are willing to "think outside the box". Those of us who believe that "our" athletes don't "dope" or use some form of chemical to enhance their performance are just naive. What difference does it make, anyway? Professional sports are nothing more than an entertainment package driven by marketing folk and promoters to get our dollars. The athletes get rich, the promoters get richer, and we foot the bill. Then we bitch when we get the product that we demand.

I think there used to be some honesty in sports, some integrity. Athletes competed purely for the love of the game, not for the money they could make. That's long gone, I fear. Now it's about the money. Nothing more. Nothing less. It's a job. The better you perform, the better your next contract. Lots of pressure to do well to make more money then more pressure to stay at the top. If you stay at the top, more of your sponsor's product gets sold and you make more money. And we wonder why they do what they do. All professional sports are corrupt. It's the norm. We make them that way.

If you don't cheat, you can't compete.

Did I mention that Rabobank dumped Michael Rasmussen today? For lying to the team about his wherabouts in June. He was on top of the world yesterday. Now he's in the gutter. Let that be a lesson. I'd like to think that Rabobank's motives were pure and honest but I suspect that it was an attempt to stave off a potential marketing nightmare in the days ahead.

Oh yeah. Christian Moreni of Team Cofidis tested positive today. He's gone. Cofidis is gone. Pulled out rather than being kicked out. I wonder if any teams will be left to finish Le Tour?

I hope Contador wins Le Tour. I do. Even though I'm not a Discovery fan. Never have been. Wasn't a Postal fan either. I do like Hincapie. I hope Contador wins.

I hope that this is all just a bad dream and we find out that the testing was flawed and no one was doping. Do you think that will happen? Hmmmmm.... Who's being naive now?

Rant off.

Tell me what you think, boys and girls..... Tell me what you think.

Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

The group ride last night was a good one. Kerkove showed up on his mountain bike and played hell with the field. I got dropped. Again. Kevin and Chad came up behind me and pulled me up to the trailing group, then they were gone. Thanks guys! :)

Le Tour. Well..... Vino was selfish. He screwed his team. What if his "B" sample is clean? Stupid. Just F'ing stupid.

It's all good.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

The ride....

Jackal and I went for a short ride yesterday evening and I got to try out the carbon fiber bike for the first time. He rode it first and gave it his "seal of approval".

I just got back from a solo 25 miler and I'm really liking the C-50 so far. I've ridden alot of miles over the years on steel bikes and I love them. My 1985 Schwinn Peloton is a sweet ride but my 2001 Colnago Master X Light rides nicer, hands down. Now I've ridden a carbon bike and it's awesome. You still feel everything that you feel with steel but the ride is somewhat muted compared to steel. Dampened, perhaps. And it's STIFF!!! Things that would be somewhat harsh on the Master are smooth on the C-50. Subtly smooth? I don't know how to compare the ride differences. Perhaps when I have a few more miles on it I will be able to describe it better.

Will it make me faster? No.

Will it make me ride more? Not likely. I already put in quite a few miles.

Will it help me keep from getting dropped on the group rides? Not a chance.

Why did I buy it then? Because.

My Master is a 56 cm frameset, which borders on the maximum size for me. The C-50 is a 54 and it fits a bit "better". It's sweet. It's beautiful. I love it!

The specs:

2004 Colnago C-50 54cm

Colango Star Carbon fork

110 mm ITM stem

Easton EC 90 carbon bars

Chris King headset

Fizik Arione "Acqua & Sapone" saddle

Fizik bar tape

Colnago carbon seatpost

Full Campy Record gruppo, all carbon (except brake calipers.... they are aluminum)

Mavic Open Pro wheels, 32 spokes

Michelin slicks

Tacx Tao cages (shouldn't lose my bottles with these!)

Cateye Enduro 8 computer

I'm guessing it weighs about 16 1/2 pounds or so

That's it for now.

Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

Oh Yeah...!

Jackal checking out the C-50....
Nice ride....

Ernesto's baby.... My baby....

Black, white, and red....

Red slicks....

Judy and I drove over to Chicago yesterday to pick up this beautiful piece of Italian artwork. Nice bike! The traffic in the city was horrendous with all of the construction going on but we made it through in one piece then immediately headed west to Serena to see my cousin Pete. We spent the night with him and his family then headed back to Waterloo about 10 this morning. It was good. He farms 1000 acres around Serena, Illinois and has some timber on the Fox River where we spent a lot of time as kids camping and fishing and hunting. It was great to able to take my wife over and spend some time seeing where I "grew up".

When we go back to Chicago in the fall I plan to stop in at Hartley Cycles and see Ari. It'll be good!

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

What's black and white and red all over?


I'll be in Illinois tomorrow. Have a great weekend.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

It's Monday!

I'm not ready to be back at work. The weekend was too short, for sure. I got some good miles on the Colnago yesterday but that's about it. It's all good!

Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

Clear Lake Road Race....

Jackal....
Fat Albert....

John Adamson wins his Masters 60 class....

Kathleen Porter wins her Masters class....

Jackal took 3rd in the Cat 5's....

Kathleen on top of the podium....

Kathleen Porter, Chris Congdon, Mike Johnson, John Adamson....

Heat, sun, and wind.... A great combination for a road race weekend.

Saturday afternoon found us making the trip to Clear Lake, Iowa for a road race that would take place on Sunday morning. The weekend was hot, sunny, humid, and windy. We went to the Surf Ballroom in downtown Clear Lake as soon as we arrived so that Jackal could pick up his registration packet, then we went and checked into the motel. Judy, Amy, and Baby Rhea went into Mason city to do some shopping and Jackal and I went to ride the roll out and finish areas of the course. The roll out area for the neutral start stretches about 3 1/2 miles from the Surf Ballroom all the way to the far side of Ventura. Plenty of time to get to know those around you in the group.... It was a 42 mile event so you may as well know your neighbors!

Jackal took 3rd in the Cat 5 race with a sprint that was decided by less than a bike length total distance between the top 3 riders. Not bad for an endurance mountain bike racer in his 3rd road race ever! He says he "Loves" his Cannondale Six-13 road bike!!!! I say it's time for him to replace his Cannondale Mountain Bike Team kit with Cannondale Road Team kit. (did you hear that, Smack_Down? :))

Local Bike Tech riders John Adamson and Kat Porter won their respective classes and Mike Johnson and Chris Congdon put in a valiant effort in the Cat. 4 race so all was good!

You can read Jackal's race report here.... He tells it much better than I could. The motorcycle that was leading the group through the finish line was in the way so I didn't get a picture. DAMN!!! It was an awesome finish!

It was a great weekend and a great race.

That's all I have right now...

Ride safe....

Peace out, yo!

Independence Day....

The bridge between Janesville and Finchford....
Jackal....

Jackal was planning to do something else this morning so we weren't going to ride together but his plans changed late last night and we took off at 9 a.m. with no specific route in mind. We ended up in Janesville and then headed toward Finchford to see what progress they are making in replacing the bridge deck on the old structure over the Cedar. Looks like it will be awhile yet. That makes a nice loop, when there is a usable bridge in place. HURRY UP and get 'er done! Please. We headed back to Waterloo the same way that we had gone out and now had a tailwind and saw much higher speeds while still spinning easily. Yippee! It was a good ride. Thanks, Jackal.

When I got home I noticed my rear wheel touching the brake pad and spun it over to see what was up. The wheel is a bit out of true.... Must've hit something harder than I realized. It hasn't been touched with a spoke wrench this year so I think it must be time....

Judy and I went to lunch at Toad's after I'd taken a shower. Lasagne, garlic bread, and apple sauce. Yum!

Take a moment today to reflect on the signifigance of Independence Day and what the celebrations represent. The fireworks are more than just pretty lights in the night sky. Just think about it.

Have a great 4th.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Happy Birthday, Jackal!!!

Doug E, Jackal, Fat Albert, Tony Kisch....
Heading out of town....

Brent Johnson showing his victory form....

Grrrrrrrrr....

33 years ago today my wife gave birth to our first son, Carl (A.K.A. Jackal). He was ornery then and he's ornery today. Happy Birthday, Carl. I'm lookin for you to take care of me in another 50 years or so when I get old.

Also, being Tuesday, it's group ride night at Bike Tech in Cedar Falls. There was a good group starting out tonight heading out of town and into a BRUTAL SW wind. My goal was to make it the 12 miles or so to the end of 27th Street and then head back into town. When I finally got there, Deerslayer and Scott and Sara Gall were heading back into town, having gotten their miles in. Brent Johnson waited for me and we rode back into town together. Thanks Brent! You're a Prince! The rest of the group headed south towards Dike and Hudson. Jackal had taken off almost as soon as we rolled onto 27th and Tony rolled up beside me and said "I hate the wind", then took off after him. I suspect that it turned into a category 5 sufferfest before it was over. Good training for this weekend's Clear Lake Roadrace, I 'spose. ;)

That's it for now. I think I'll ride the Surly tomorrow.

I hope that everyone has a great 4th of July! Be safe!

Peace out, yo!

TTT by Bike Tech....

Super Saul and I have the first corner under control....
Sufferfest.... The course was 19.33 miles of rollers....Cap'n Bob and crew.... Striker and his team....

Gettin' it done....

Rollin' across the line.... The Bike Tech "Old Guys"....

Bike Tech women......

All together now....Cap'n Bob....

The Bike Tech team....Kevin says "Hey!!!! This is fun!!!" Baby Rhea in Moab....
Looks just like her G'pa Paul.... (minus the mustache)

I worked the first corner at the Team Time Trial over at Littleton yesterday with Super Saul. Got a bit of sun. It was a good time! Jackal, Amy, Baby Rhea and Judy worked the second corner.... Check Jackal's blog for his write up. 3 laps around a 19.33 mile course comprised mostly of rollers. No truly flat sections. The guys and gals were working their butts off out there! The wind was out of the southeast and picked up in intensity as the race went on. Whoa! A good time was had by all! Also, check out the Bike Tech Racing site for pics and results.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!