6,000+ miles on a road tire!

Well, this Bontrager Hardcase tire certainly has convinced me to not talk ill of the Trek-manufactured product line ever again. I have about 6 large on this tire and still only have had two flats. This tire has soo many glass holes and slices in it, I have no idea how it held up this long. Today, I noticed that in one area, the rubber had ripped off completely down to the kevlar. RIP old buddy. (Pretty interest how a strip of the rubber literally tore from the tire. This isn't even from skidding!)

Dirt Rag TV - Interview with Jay Petervary

Interesting little interview with Jay Petervary who broke the course record in the 2007 Great Divide Race. It's a little goofy at times, and factually inaccurate (ex. You do not need to cover 150 miles a day to meet the cut-off time), but still worth a watch nevertheless.

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, I got out for a long overdue two rides this weekend. Saturday I did a 55.5 mile road ride up the infamous Mt. Tamalpais (or Mt. Tam -- the view from the summit is pictured above). That was brutal. I can definitely feel the time off in my legs.

Sunday I did a more mellow day, doing a 45.6 miles in more "flat" territory in Marin county (For those who don't know, there is no such thing as truly flat in these parts).

Anyways, I've been doing a lot of thinking. At this point, I believe I will have enough time to train properly for the GDR next year. I have no interest in doing the race half-assed this year, but I believe I can work out a more flexible work schedule and do the necessary training. So, for now, you can consider me in. However, I do not think I'll be lining up with the GDR on June 20th. I pretty sure I'll be doing the Canadian Section with a few others. I am very excited about what is to come...

Haven't been riding.

I haven't been on a bike in two-weeks outside of commuting to work and a halloween-edition critical mass ride. Part of it is I spent a week visiting Boston with no bike, the other is I just haven't found a good way to ride around my whacky work schedule. I'm hoping to get out for a decent road ride today, as I really need some time to think if I will have enough time to properly train for the 2008 Great Divide Race... If not, I'm going to try and find some other activity to do this summer (maybe spend a month section hiking the Pacific Crest Trail or the the Appalachian Trail)

In the mean time, this is what my cell phone looks like now, courteously of duct tape and me loosing the back of it...

24 hours of Whiskeytown

I went up to the 24 hours of Whiskeytown up in Northern Cali, just south of Mt. Shasta. It was held by Team Big Foot and was apparently their first 24 hour event. It was during their annual 9-5, so I figured there would be a good spill over crowd. I went up there with Matt and Kate, and arrived at midnight. Quickly learned that it would be around freezing at night! Didn't quite have the right cold weather gear.

The course was pretty awesome, an 8 mile loop that started with a long double-track climb up a sizable hill (read: mountain). The only problem? There were only 2 teams and 2 solo riders. The 9-5 field was huge, but after 5 PM, it started getting really lonely out there. A large part of keeping motivated during the night is being pushed by people on the trail and having competitors to talk to and ride with. This, unfortunately, was not an option.



I ate dinner at around 8:30 PM, it was already pitch black out and below 40 degrees. By the time I completed my next lap, it was 34 and my rear brake shit the bed. I could fix it, but I opted to take a nap instead. Tragically the nap lasted longer than expected, so that was my race.

Overall, I'd recommend it if they could deliever larger crowds. Maybe if they held it during the end of August when the nights are warmer. I'll give Bigfoot the benefit of a first time. Seems like a really awesome organizing team!

Been lazy.

Howdy all. I'm in SF/Berkeley now, working for Chapter Three LLC. They're a Drupal web shop, and they just hired me on fulltime Friday after doing a 6 week contract, so it looks like I'll be out here for a while. Still homeless, so I am not sure which side of the bay I'll be on. I will say though, I'm loving the riding in the Berkeley Hills/Orinda/Layfette (East Bay in general), I don't love the commute though.

I've been lazy about posting, I have some awesome ride pictures to post. 'will do that soon.