Its Officialy Cold!

You know you shouldn't be riding when you have to warm up your bikes computer to get it started. But, against all good judgement I went out and met Zach for a short ride. Mind you, it was 20 deg. outside this morning! I now understand that the theory of thermic value in clothing is complete BS! I don't care how many layers of tight warm stuff I put on, when that wind hits your face you might as well be naked. With this weather rides get exponentially shorter with today's only being 15 miles compared to my usual 30.

My new Chris King headset just came in, along with the expansion nut for the new carbon steering tube on the Sid. When I get a spare second (probably after the holidays) I'm going to start tearing down the Jamis and slowly upgrading everything. I'm a firm believer that parts don't make you faster, I'm doing this because I am becoming concerned that the older parts may fail soon and I'd like that not to happen in a race. Plus it doesn't help that I've been looking at WeightWeenies. Some of the mtn. bikes just don't look safe, but they all claim to race them.

Might be heading up to Milwaukee for a cross race this weekend! Granted I'll just be watching and drinking free Half Acre. According to Ben the racing up there is great and some real good competition, so we figured it'd be nice to go support him and keep Julie company in the pits.

Just a quick little post. I was playing around on You Tube and found this great video of Jeremy Powers of Team Jelly Belly explaining how to bunny hop barriers.



Cookies should always be offered as preems!

Back to the Grind

I haven't posted much in the past couple days because nothing has been going on! We spent the days after Thanksgiving just taking it easy around the house. I was hoping to get some rides in the next couple days but my schedule is packed and the weather doesn't look to promising.

On the bike front I just ordered a new Chris King headset and compression cap for the Jamis! Hopefully I'll have the new fork installed soon. I've also been on the lookout for some good mud tires so I don't end up doing another messy race with the Larsen TT's next season! That didn't work out so well. On a side note, check out the pic of Ben lining up with Todd Wells at a cyclocross race in Iowa! He even got a high-five from him at the start.

I was going to post some pics of the great food I had for dinner at Lao Sze Chuan but I can't figure out how to get them off my new Iphone! Gonna have to save that for later.

I'm very excited about heading down to FL for xmas. I'm going to buy Ben's old case which will hopefully fit the Tarmac. I've never ridden on the road down there, not that its any more exciting than here, but I'm hoping to do a group ride over the holiday.

I also just got Negative Approach's "Total Recall" and Badlands' "Flame Still Burning". Never been into HC all that much but the NA album is great, real raw early hardcore with some real bad demos thrown in, great stuff. Badlands on the other hand is a little disappointing, I'm hoping it will grow on me but its nothing compared to "Hands of Time". They still have that nice early RAC sound but it almost sounds forced on this one. Also got D.Y.S's "Brotherhood" album the other day, and I have to say I've been nicely surprised. I never got into much Straight Edge stuff but this album is just plain fun. I gave a listen to their second album and I had to laugh, they basically made an overproduced terrible metal album. This in no way means I'm going to start sportin' X's or getting the whole Youth of Today discography (I can't stand them btw). Since I'm on the subject of music purchases, Leyla and I went by a record shop not long ago and of course I spent to much money! Found some interesting stuff though, Killed By Death #6 (all FL bands), Last Rights "No Guts, No Glory",Negative FX "Government War Plans" and The Templars "Pure Brickwall Oi Demos". Mind you, none of this is original pressings!!! I'm not that rich....yet. What is original is The Cramps "Bad Music For Bad People" Leyla found in mint condition! All in all it was a good day of record shopping, and I believe there were hot dogs that day also, so even better.

Not so Turkey Day

Quick little post for post Thanksgiving. This is what I ended up making for dinner: Quail pan seared in butter with truffled mash, parsley salad and roasted beet salad. The app didn't work out which is to bad since I was looking forward to it.

I'm also fairly disappointed in all these so called "Black Friday" sales! Not one thing worth buying. Looks to me like they just put overstocked junk out there and figure people will buy it since its such a "good deal". Whatever. Went for a chilly ride this morning and put in 25 miles in 30F temps. There was ice on the ground, thankfully I missed it!

Punk Rock Warlord

Just got finished watching "The Future is Unwritten" the Joe Strummer documentary. Funny thing is I'm reading his biography also, both have kind of hit a note with me. I'm not very impressed with fame or icons, but Joe was a person that I would have given anything to be around. He embodied everything I've always loved about punk and music in general. He understood that it's a community meant to make people aware and a force for change, to make young people get up and look at the world they live in. This was not limited to only his music. I loved that towards the end he was doing a world music show on the BBC World and he was still out on the streets just talking to kids and getting them to discuss music and the world. Yeah punk started as a fashion thing but Joe is the one who made it a cause, he gave it attitude and brains.
I know I can be very judgemental about what others listen to but I think I do it because they don't want to see what else is out there. The idea of going out and creating something from scratch no matter what your talent was why everything happened in '77, and now we're back to square one. Kids are spoon fed crap music, fashion and opinions without thinking twice. The concept of DIY is something we need to bring back, and quick. Thankfully I have always been able to surround myself with friends who create there own opinions, weather they are wrong or right. I feel this is why Leyla and I get along so well, we rabidly disagree with each other but in the end its about ideas. I don't like being proven wrong (which happens very often) but it opens my eyes to new things everyday. I like to think I've become very good friends with Pablo and he is a prime example of just living your life, something I realy admire. We've both followed the same path in life, from angry bootboys to laid back joes content with nothing more than some food, music and being outside.
Needless to say the film was great and I have a renewed love for Joe's music and life. On another note its the first snow of the season here! None on the ground but pretty none the less.

World Cup Goodness

Well if this ain't sexy I don't know what is! Look at his cute little WC colors! Finally came today in the mail and there is not a nick or scratch on it. For a used for it looks like it was never ridden. Unfortunately it's been pouring all day and is supposed to snow tonight so I guess I won't be riding it for some time. I'd like to get a Rotor Q1 stem (among many other things) to keep the cockpit looking nice. I think winter might be a rebuild period for the Jamis. Considering the drive train is from '01 I'm very surprised the fork is the only piece to have worn out. Ben has suggested that in order to improve my tracking around corners I should upgrade to disc brakes, of course this would involve new wheels and brake setup which does not come cheap. I'd like to see how this stiffer fork performs before jumping into that kind of financial commitment. I think I was loosing a ton of speed and steering with the old fork, more than I originally thought, causing me to loose control while entering a high speed turn. Of course none of this is going stop me from getting a SRAM X-O drivetrain and some stiffer cranks for next season! Here's to hoping my new discount kicks in soon (I can not reveal any more info than that since the team is not official yet)!

The rest of my day today was occupied with Thanksgiving, not really mine but a clients. I spent the morning transporting turkeys and wine, one of which was a '98 vintage Veuve Clique Grand Cru, and shopping at Whole Foods. Surprisingly it wasn't that full, which made for a quick exit only to get caught in holiday traffic. As much as I despise shopping at Whole Foods I enjoy the fun produce section. They had some really nice baby beets which I'm going to roast for our dinner and make a little salad. Leyla asked me to do quail this year so I think I'm going to roast them under real high heat and then pipe the cavity with some truffled mash potatoes. For a little app I'm stealing a page from Fergus Henderson's "Nose to Tail Eating" and doing his "Roast Marrow Bones with Parsley Salad". If it all turns out I'll take some pics.

Before writing this I was playing around on worldcycling.tv and I found the '95 San Sebastian Tour. This is a great 3 part video with Phil Ligget doing the commentating. Its also interesting for the fact that its Lance's first huge win (I think) and the first time an American won a single day classic. Pay attention at the end of part 3 and look at what a machine Lance is, he looks completely spent and then takes off with another rider leaving the rest of the break waaay behind. No hesitation just turns it on and goes.

Morning Ride

Somebody please explain to me the weather in this city! I was actually overdressed for my ride on the LFP. How is this possible at the end of November? I ended up rolling up my leg warmers and removing my gloves on the ride back north. This is by no means a bad thing but some consistency would be nice! Anybody who has some control over this please fix immediately, my morning routine would greatly appreciate it.

Weird thing about the path this time of year is the people on it. Summer is a mix of rich guys on their Cervelo TT bikes (getting aero of course) and joggers who only jog to prep for the Chicago Marathon. Winter seems to be a whole different crowd, and its great! The only joggers out are women (seriously), don't know why but more power to them. The cyclists out now are the real diehards. Like the older rider today in a full vintage Team Peugeot Kit on an late 80's Massi doing the only hill on the path over and over again. Gave him a nice little wave and he smiled and nodded while hammering up the incline (didn't stop me from passing him). I also had somebody go out of their way today to warn me of glass up ahead on the path! The cold weeds out the slackers and leaves a great ride for the rest of us. No weaving in and out, slamming on brakes or getting drafted for 2 miles by some jerk who won't return the favor. Just a nice pace, concentrating on form and speed. I know we only have a couple more weeks of riding out there, but I can assure I'll ride every chance I get.

On a completely different note, I've decided not to post anything about work on here. I tend to rant and complain and frankly that wouldn't be good for business! What I will try and do is post menus that I do and hopefully some pics of the food. I have a big xmas party coming up with some fun items that I came up with, we'll see how that turns out.

In other food news, I had my first experience at Hot Dougs! For those of you that don't know, Hot Dougs is an "encased meat emporium", ie he makes all his own hot dogs. Marco Pierre White (famous English chef) called it the best food in Chicago, even better then Charlie Trotters place!
I was having a real stressful day so I went on my own during the week (much to Leyla's chagrin) since the wait wouldn't be so bad, it was still bad. But holy hell it was worth it. The interior is small but set up like a 50's food stand with the waiting line curling out the door and around the corner. Some co-workers suggested I get 2 dogs one special and the traditional char-dog. For a special I ordered a Linguica sausage with herb and roasted garlic mayo, which was excellent! But the crowning achievement was the greatest Chicago dog I've had yet. Lots of celery salt, caramelized onions, and a damn fine piece of sausage (among many other ingredients). Needless to say I dragged Leyla out there on Saturday in the freezing rain to wait outside, actually I waited in the rain she stood under the awning. After we got in and started eating she declared it was well worth the suffering. Hopefully the Saveur magazine effect will wear off soon and the line will drop, but probably not.

Somebody with some talent please make me this stencil, it sums up so much in so few words!

Well here it is! In all its mediocre glory and bad grammar. This will be a nice cathartic exercise for me and great way to post my training and race results. One little problem....it's not racing season now. So, in the meantime you'll have to put up with other non-sense posts about food, music, bikes and other peoples races.

I wanted to do this after reading Ben's blog and Belgium Knee Warmers. Both of them are great motivators for me and I look forward to all new posts. Also, since I work late sometimes I spend a ton of time in front of the computer and this seems like a better pursuit of time then figuring out how to shave 100 grams off my race bikes. Speaking of that I am currently waiting on my new Sid World Cup front fork since the old Mars fork has decided not to hold air anymore. I've heard good and bad stuff about this fork but its white and has the WC colors on it! So, frankly it can be made of lead and use bed springs with its looks. Seriously I'm hoping this will correct some tracking issues I've had while cornering at high speeds. This is where I've been losing a ton of time during races and I'm trying to improve on.