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Rants and Rambles -
Archived
06-February-2006
Well, boys and girls, spring is here. At least in Arizona! PG
Chang marathon and 1/2 marathon was a blast. I beat my last years
time by 3 minutes (screw you, father time). Holly ran her first 1/2
marathon and broke 2 hours! Some Ethiopian dude broke the world
record in the 1/2 marathon. He ran 58 minutes. That is just
sick. Bike race season is in full swing with the MBAA
series started and the 24 Hours In The
Old Pueblo coming up in 2 weeks. The Payson
Stampede 24 hour race is also scheduled again this year. Last
but not least dates and location are announced for the SSWC.
August 19th in Sweden. I get sweaty palms every day when I drive
past IKEA on my way to work.
20-
November-2005
Generation gap. While I sit on the couch eating ice-cream and
watching college football (essential winter training), my son just
completed running his first marathon. Photos HERE. Not bad for
a young whipper-snapper. Fortunately he has never taken to mountain
biking, so I don't yet have to live through the embarrassment of trying to
keep up with him. Tough enough keeping up with people my own
age. Speaking of keep up (as in up all night), a few of us have
registered already for the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo. Solo singlespeed
style.
23-September-2005
A little bit late, but here
is the photo gallery from the last Moab trip. Lots of nice
memories. Unfortunately due to everyones very busy schedule we're
having to postpone the next trip until April. Look on the bright
side - that leaves plenty of time to train (or to endure a long, dark,
cold winter). Ride on.
19-September-2005
Just returned from a gorgeous weekend in Cable Wis. at the Chequamegon
Fat Tire festival. Event results and photos are on line here.
The weather was perfect and the trails were fast. John Sr. took
2nd place in his age group in the 16 mile Short & Fat race, as did
Rob. Rob turned an amazing PR of 58:03. Way to go.
Tim, John and Dave rode the 40 miler (along with about 1800 other
riders). John and Tim cut substantial time off last years
result. Amazing there were over 60 singlespeed racers in the 40
miler. Look for our own personal photos soon.
12-September-2005
Summer has just turned the corner into Fall, which means the temperature
is now below 105 F. Looks like one good week of training prior to
Chequamegon. No problem. I'm racing (right) in the 40 miler on
singlespeed. Only hope is for colossal mud and rain that bogs down
all the shifties. But then I've still got a bunch of singlespeeders
to contend with. Ah, what the heck, it'll be fun anyway.
Looking forward to the cool temperatures of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
On a much more somber note it seems that we will have to delay the next
Moab trip until April next year. Just too much other crap going on
and we're not as good as clearing off the calendar as we used to be.
Hey, just for something to shoot for I entered the Los Angeles Marathon
for next March. I'll start training around February (wouldn't want
to burn my self out). Lastly, don't I deserve a pat on the
back? I've been CLEAN for 15 months now (I sold my geared mtn bike
in June 2004). I never even think about it anymore.
15-June-2005
Just returned from a great road trip to Colorado. We made a home
base in the cool town of Grand Junction. What a nice little main
street area with plenty of artsy fartsy stuff going on. All the
essentials readily at hand - WiFi, bagel shop, good restaurants, and bike
shops. We rented Rocky Mountain bikes at Over The Edge in Fruita and
headed for the Gunny Trail which is just outside of Grand Junction, a 3
mile road ride warm up from the hotel. Plenty of rugged climbing
then rewards you with some nice swoopy downhill singletrack. Also
hit some of the favorite rides in Fruita: Chutes N Ladders, Mary's Loop
and Horse thief Bench. We explored a new trail (to us) in Rabbit
Valley. More of a motocross trail, but it had some really nice tight
river singletrack sections. The weather in the Fruita and Grand
Junction area was not the most cooperative so we headed to the old
stomping ground in Moab and rode the fabulous Porcupine Rim trail.
This was the first time we had really ridden such worthy bikes as these
with 4" front and rear squish. And it didn't take long to learn
how to use every bit of it. I for one had one of the best times of
my life and was able to climb and descend aggressively like I've never
done before. The bike definitely allowed ride to get closer to the
edge. It was probably the fastest we had every ridden the loop as
well. Conditions were perfect and issued a great reminder of why
this website is called Road 2 Moab. Oh yeah, this weekend I ride a
24 hour race solo singlespeed just for the fun of it.
01-May-2005
A lot's been going on recently, but the one thing that's not going on is
the planned May trip to Moab. Seems like everybody's schedules is
all messed up with work and travel and stuff and we just couldn't pull it
all together. So we've postponed until October. This will be the
first time we've done the trip in the fall. No excuse not to be in
shape after a long summer of riding and racing. Still a lot planned
between now and then. Next month John and I are making a trip to
Fruita and Grand Junction to scout out new trails. And then in
August is the SSWC 2005 in Pennsylvania. I'm really looking forward
to that one. And then of course in September is the Chequamegon.
This year I'm (officially) signed up for the singlespeed 40 miler.
14-January-2005
We had a slight diversion from cycling during the first week of January as
5 of us completed the PF Chang's Rock'n'Roll Marathon in Phoenix.
OK, so we only did the half-marathon version, but a notable accomplishment
none the less. It was a little bit sketchy getting to the starting
area. Combination of shuttle bus getting lost and long bathroom
lines. But we made it off with the gun in downtown Phoenix (wow,
there's an irony - guns in downtown Phoenix). The weather was
perfect for running and it seemed not long before we were all the way to
the finish line in Tempe. But now it's time to get back in the
saddle and start getting ready for the upcoming events. 24
Hours In The Old Pueblo is just a months away. This year we'll
have an upgraded campsite with full RV.
Yeah, I know, we're getting old and soft. The appeal of a tent and a
Coleman stove isn't what it used to be.
24-November-2004
This may sound strange to most of the country, but the cycling season is
just about to get starfted - at least around here. For most of you
cyclocross season is over and you're busy lubing up the indoor
trainers. But in Arizona the weather is perfect and we're about to
get started on a new season. Dust Devil series starts this week and
the MBAA series is right around the corner. Already registered for
the 24 Race in February. So, life is good. By the way, I sold
my geared mountain bike so I'm no officially "Gearless
Dave". Can't say I miss it one bit, but damn I sure have a lot
of tools for taking care of a bike that requires no maintenance.
Actually I started to build up a new road bike, so that's keeping the
tools busy. Hopefully will also keep my legs busy.
24-August-2004
Congratulations to Rob and Carrie for a stellar showing at the SSWC
in Beer-lin, Germany. Lots of upcoming bike action planned,
including the annual trek to Cable Wisc. for the Chequamegon Fat Tire
Festival. And then later in October our very own Paul will attempt
the 100 mile off-road Soul Ride in Tucson AZ on singlespeed. Good
Luck, Paul. We can also look back on some fond memories of the
recently completed visit to Lake Tahoe, Truckee and Downieville
CA. Some of the best ride this guy has ever done, that's for
sure. Check out the photos here.
13-May-2004
Just got back from the annual trip to Moab and Fruita. We had a
great time and got in some real quality riding. As usual, Fruita
was the highlight for me - maybe I need to change the name of this site
to "Road 2 Fruita". Jesus, how do make such nice
trails? The Joes Ridge - Kessel Run - Prime Cut loop is just sheer
joy. Unfortunately the weather rolled in on us and we had to
retreat back to Moab, but there was plenty of fine riding there as
well. Rode the new Fisher Mesa singletrack which was real
sweet. Probably the most interesting ride was up on Kokapelli
Trail when it started to snow. Look for photos to be posted soon.
13-April-2004
Spring looks like it is finally here. The Moab trip dates have
been set and preparations are underway for what should be another great
time. Got myself signed up for the SSWC
in Berlin in August. Speaking of singlespeed, I used a friends
Thudbuster seatpost for a few rides. Really liked it, can't live
without it, gotta get one, blah, blah, blah. Then I took it off
and went back to my rigid post and guess what? I never noticed I
didn't have the Thudbuster. Go figure. The mind can play
strange tricks.
18-March-2004
Finally got around to digging into the Links
page and totally reformatted it. I added a bunch of new stiff and
got rid of all the old defunct links that I could find. Hope you
find the navigation a bit easier. Speaking of updates, check out
the new Team Bio page with a whole new layout
and new photos. This past week the temps in Phoenix have been
running 15 degrees above normal. Every day has set a new daily
record. It made for some nice riding, but what happened to
Springtime?
08-March-2004
Last week made a trek to Santa Cruz and hit some local trails on a
(rental) Santa Cruz
Blur. Very nice bike, although I don't think I could drop that
kind of cash on it. Well, maybe if was a singlespeed ... My
friend Andre from The Netherlands came along and we had a good time despite
somewhat wet conditions. Rode Narzine Marks park and Delevega
Park. Both had some very nice singletrack offerings. But now
it's back to Arizona where spring has finally hit. High temp today
was 84 degrees - Ya Hoooo. Had a great singlespeed ride and worked
up a pretty good sweat. yesterday did a fixed gear road
ride. Still way behind in my training, but at least I'm making a
(minimal) effort. Hey, speaking of The Netherlands here is a cool Dutch
Singlespeed site and they are having a SS Championship in
June. Hmmm, time for a business trip? The new MTB
Singlspeed Web Forum has been up for about a month. Check it out here.
25-January-2004
Just installed a bunch of cool new drivetrain stuff on my bike.
New chainring, new chain, and new ENO
freewheel. I couldn't believe how much my old chain had
stretched. The new one is the same length in inches, but is one
full link less in number. OK, three weeks to go until the 24 hrs.
race. This year we'll be joined on the team by Rider
Mel, filling in for Rob is getting some drivetrain replacement parts
of his own. Good luck Rob, from the Gearless Hero's. If the
scalpel is sharp, you won't feel a thing. Speaking of sharp - look
sharp for SSWC 2004 in Berlin this
coming August.
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