I thought you'd be smaller

The record to the top of Lookout Mountain is 16:04. Come to find out I can not beat that.

Tyler Hamilton won a stage of the Tour, and after last weekends crit I have learned that I can not beat him either.

Who would have thought.

Yaw

It seems I can't keep things upright. There was no getting out of this winter mess I keep hearing hasn't so bad. I sat with AKO+ in Lambert airport for 8+ hours hearing flight after flight get cancelled in this winter seasons fourth or fifth icing. Not able to travel it was back to trudging through the slop on the fat tires. My last outing I had enough of the endless chain suck that comes along with my crap crank and set a plan to purchase (blow more money) a new XT setup. Not thinking that ice is slippery I loaded up my bike in flip flops. The next thing I remember after loading my bike in the truck was seeing my feet above my head as I plunged to the bottom of the back steps. A certain feeling of flight made me nostalgic for the aeronautics experience that I missed out the day before. All I heard in my head was MP3 telling me to tuck my head. Landing on the last step and what appeared to be my kidney, I went to a darkness I had not seen since last years season opener in Albany, GA. That one fall was an expensive ER trip. So, this time, as I lay in a pool of slush blacking out and calling for help I managed a whimper to the cycling gods to spare me this season of formal or forced trips to the doctors office. Luckily, I just feel like I got hit with a bat, but no blood seems to be appearing. Yippie.

Hear is the good news. I got every dime we paid AA to fly to Texas back in my pocket.

The old in out in out

When it gets to be turn back time, things get hectic in the reconditioning world. Automobiles manufacturers get flooded by rental fleets and they have to move them in a New York minute. So they rely on Auto Auctions to broker the deal. Manhiem Auctions is the biggest auction on the planet and they move the cars back to your friendly neighborhood dealer. So once the auctions are flooded reconditioning companies are slammed. Thats when travel season starts for me. Playing "Major Backup' I come in and support local markets for whatever task is needed. I have seen so many cars in the last three weeks I feel like I actually have a job again. You might be asking yourself, "what's the problem." Well, working on the weekends sucks, living out of a hotel room with no kitchen is worse, riding the bike at night sucks after the first couple novelty rides and I haven't seen the temperature gauge crack 25º in the afore mentioned three week period. Yes, I work outside, and ride outside half the time. The bitching continues live somewhere in the midwest if you can find me to here it.

There is not much I know for sure. But, I do know this.....cars are coffins, I hate the auto industry, but I like what I do. Wrap yourself around that one if you will.

Today....

....I got up and had a cup of Coffee. Gotcha. I don't drink coffee, and I got up last night. Code Red works better than coffee, and it tastes like sugary goodness instead of dirt. Caffeine has its down side because rest stops suck to sleep in. I woke up in a hot sweat somewhere on I70 as the sun was coming up in a safeish looking rest stop with a handful of truckers staring at me (hot sweat). Not sure when I got there, but I am guessing since I was sitting in it I got there in my Danger Ranger. So the travel season begins. And, as it begins know this...if I am found dead on the side of the road in the afore mentioned Ranger, I hate that truck and it hates me. I love to travel and I like my job. But, my back hates to travel and standing on ice all day sucks.

Go ride your bike and pop a wheelie. Don't read this.

why did I start racing bicycles?

On the summer afternoon of July 29th, 1984 my brother and I sat in our living room watching the summer Olympics. We were swimmers and I would guess we didn't miss a single event that was broadcast from USC's aquatic center. But, there was something else that caught our attention.

I don't remember if it was live or just a recap of the finishing miles of the men's Road Race. In the closing miles, the break away included names like Grewal, Bauer, Phinney, and a Norwegian named Lauritzen. Obviously, my brother and I were filled with American pride and were going nuts because there were two Americans at the front. It was the beginning of my interest in bicycle racing.

Where are these guys now?

I met Alexi Grewal about 7 years ago at the Collegiate Cycling Nationals in Athens, Ohio. My team, Miami University, sponsored his presentation at the awards ceremony. I can tell you he is anything less than interesting, but truly out of his mind. In the span of about 10 minutes of conversation he managed to suggest that if he had a truck like the one I was driving he would probably kill himself in it, professed he had a running knowledge of systematic doping in European cycling and lastly pronounced his envy of my approach to cycling (the kind of approach where money doesn't exchange hands). Not the most stable of beginnings. He looks more like the uniBomber in this picture than an Olympic Champion. I did not tell Alexi this, but he is the reason that I bought my first road bicycle at age 15 and began racing. He isn't my hero, I'm not that kind of guy, but that race definately sparked the fire.

Steve Bauer runs a touring company and UCI Continental racing team, Team RACE (Race Against Cancer Everywhere), in his native land.

Dag Otto Lauritzen just appeared on the radar. 13 years after his bronze medal effort he is still dancing. Holy crap, if you are going to be embarrassed about something it should probably be in the past, not yesterday. Nice suit Otto!

home again

5 or 6 left over vacation days, 1200 miles, a dead battery, 2 bowls of gulf gumbo, three saddle sores, one roller derby girl with one broken leg, 28 hours of bayou saddle time, one sit down with a lawyer, a flat tire, 75º to 25º in 9 hours, one terrible band, two half eaten raccoons and 20 hours of drive time = quality vacation days.

within a mile of somewhere

Back on the Gulf Coast for another winter training session. 9 days, average high temp of 72º, great host housing and the smell of wet dogs. Perfect.
605 is a big wide state highway, but it also has a decent bike lane that stretches 12+ miles. It makes the connection to all the back roads up north.


The futher north you get the bigger the rollers, but the grade never really gets much over 6%. But, there are endless miles of backroads to get lost on, and it is a long way between intersections. Without a tour guide, its best to keep to the cloverleaf. Maybe its time for a GPS on board the two wheeler.



Took a lazy stroll down by the coast the other day. I-90 is high speed right here so no dice on taking that to NOLA. But, at the end of the outer road you can catch a serious draft to Loraine-Cowan. Just make sure you are doing 40 mph by the time you hit the pavement.