Starcrossed

Bike. Run. Mud. Chaos. Repeat 6 times or until puking. Pairs nicely with a microbrew.

Had a blast, finished 26th out of 85 which was a huge improvement over last year. My teammate Ali took 8th place in her first cross race ever, riding her new bike for the first time that morning! Can't wait to see what she does in the series!
Do I look like I'm having fun?



Nancy and Ali at the finish.
I'm still digging the grass out of my drive train. I have it clean just in time for Evergreen this weekend!

I'm in love...

Just got my new rain/commuter bike! I've been drooling over this bike since it came out. I know the whole retro/modern thing is played out, but what I can I say? I'm a sucker for shinny stuff!
It is super light? No. But steel is real and it rides freak'in awesome. And the orange frame is a burst of sunshine it what is sure to be a crappy dark winter.

Beer Waxing

Leg shaving is one of those meaningless things that all of us "bike racers" do for one reason or another. But a guy draws the line at waxing. But what if beer was involved?

Slow News Day

WTF?!? I'm telling you, these vegetarians are getting out of hand.

Burglar victims wake to spice rub, sausage attack

By Louis Galvan / The Fresno Bee

09/06/08 21:59:50

A burglar who broke into a home just east of Fresno rubbed food seasoning over the body of one of two men as they slept in their rooms and then used an 8-inch sausage to whack the other man on the face and head before running out of the house, Fresno County sheriff's deputies said Saturday.

Lt. Ian Burrimond, describing the crime as one of the strangest he's ever heard of, said a suspect was found hiding in a nearby field a few minutes later and taken into custody on suspicion of residential robbery.

Deputies, he said, had no problem linking the suspect to the crime.

"It seems the guy ran out of the house wearing only a T-shirt, boxer shorts and socks, leaving behind his wallet with his ID," Burrimond said.

Arrested was Antonio Vasquez Jr., 21, of Fresno.

Burrimond said deputies headed to the victims' home in the 300 block of South Thompson Avenue near Kings Canyon Road shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday regarding a burglary in progress.

The victims, both farmworkers, told deputies they were awakened by a stranger applying "Pappy's Seasoning" to one of them and striking the other with a sausage.

Both the spices and the sausage, Burrimond said, reportedly were obtained from the victims' kitchen.

After the man fled, the victims discovered the home had been ransacked and that some money was taken, Burrimond said.

Burrimond said the money was recovered, but that the piece of sausage used in the attack was discarded by the suspect and eaten by a dog.

"That's right, the dog ate the weapon," Burrimond said.

"I tell you, this was one weird case."

Cyclocross Practice of Doom

OK, a bit dramatic but we were not without our share of issues. A good group of boys and girls from the team got together at SeaTac this morning for a little cyclocross practice. The blackberries are still out in force so we were not without our share of flat tires, or maybe Tim just kept running into the bushes. :)

Steve takes the cake for "best chain suck" I have EVER seen! He was womping on the pedals pretty hard when it happened. You could tell bu the sound of it that tings were not good. That is a SRAM Rival derailure in case you couldn't tell, and yes, it is coming out of the OTHER side of the wheel where it was supposed to be.

Things went downhill from there with Bart wrecking in the sand pit and finding a nice rock underneath, messing up his elbow. (hoping it's not broken) Can we get an update on that my friend?

To finish it off I took Tim out on a small uphill technical section while racing back to the infield. No major injuries and the new bike is OK. Whew!

Looking forward to Copper Cross next week!

And, it's official now! Starbucks Cycling Grad Prix will be November 1 at Pacific Raceways! Stay tuned for more details.

10 Things to look forward to at the Republican Convention

No, I did not write these but I thought they were worth sharing...

1. Men’s rooms specially designed to allow for a wide stance
2. Overenthused delegates start drilling for oil on convention floor
3. Sarah Palin stopped by security, asked for ID (NICE!)
   
4. Enraged, chanting crowd burns effigy of Keith Olbermann
5. Confused Ron Paul delegate forgets which convention he’s at, shows up wearing Iron Man costume
6. Repeated attempts to serve both God and Mammon
7. Angry women in heavy makeup who refuse to accept they haven’t been a trophy wife since 1984
8. Nights two and three entirely dedicated to explaining that Bill Clinton must be stopped before he destroys the world
9. Fred Thompson challenges Karl Rove to an old-fashioned Tennessee jowl-off
10. More black speakers than in the last hundred and fifty years combined

Is it November 4 yet?