Stop the Madness Spinervals 26.0

There isn't much worse than locking your bike into a trainer and trying to keep some fitness hammering away in the basement. There was a time that I could set my rollers up in front of garage door and train, those days are gone. I need distractions-movies, tvs, etc. Without a doubt doing some kind of intervals helps a workout go by and based on that Spinervals should be a good choice. Wrong!
Why would I want to ride my bike looking at a large group of people suffering on bikes looking back at me? Why would I want to endure the heinous instrumental madness that they use as background music(think "I Can't Drive 55" minus vocals)? Why do I want Type A do-gooder Coach Troy barking "Come On" at me every couple of minutes. I guess in the quest to get a workout done, I can put up with alot and maybe the "mental toughness" angle is actually from dealing with all the goofiness.
But there is one Spinveral tape I cannot comprehend at all. 26.0 "the Hardcore 100" 3DVDs and over 5 hours??? That is not a selling point it is a death sentence. Why would you spend 5+ on a trainer??? That is insane.(my longest trainer ride was length of the GodfatherDVD and I don't intend to improve on that). Do you live in the Arctic? Are there no cross-training activities you can do? How will pedaling a static bike for 5 hours really help you? In the real world you have to steer, pay attention, and think. On the trainer you zone out and suffer. I would like to see the people that are buying this thing.
For me the least possible amount of time on the trainer is the best time. 40-90 minutes max. And as far as intervals? Leg Speed drills, I don't think that a trainer replicates real road conditions well enough to build strength. Maintain yes, build no. The trainer is a necessary evil, but extened abuse obviously is addtictive.

End the Year with Jalabert

Happy New Year!

Bike Repair is like Xmas come early

My winter bike was on the back of my car when I went into a Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee. I come out and a bunch of people are kind of looking at me and the car funny, but nobody says anything so I jump in and go. I get to my destination and as I'm taking the bike off the back, the teeth of the big ring pop out of the bumper as if something had forced them into the bumper-as if maybe a car backed into my car and that is why the silent people were staring.... Thanks for the heads up people.....
Bike won't shift for shit and feels funny so I take it into the shop. Older aluminum frame so I am prepared for the worst. An examination revels only a bent big chain ring-everything else fine. Not bad-short money to replace a chain ring, but since this is my winter/training bike, and I have been thinking about trying a compact crank, maybe now is the time??
Before I can think about the repercussions, I price it out and get ready to leave. Expecting an FSA crank, the shop dude comes back with a compact Campy Centaur with the new "ultra-torque" set up. Cool, more bells and whistles. Bike will be ready the next day.
When I pick it up, I was suddenly blown away like a kid in front of the xmas tree, the cranks looks sick. Arms and spider seem super beefy. High polish finish (like Record had before they went all carbon-maybe those expert metal polishers now do the lower end aluminum gear???) And the kicker, thanks to the Ultra-torque set up you can see through the bottom bracket, so like Rube Goldberg I am just staring going "golly gee".
Upgrade worth it on looks alone. Road report to follow...............

I have had about 10 rides on the new cranks. I was expecting a real black/white experience, but it was more subtle. As far as increased stiffness from the outboard bearings and new bottom bracket, no massive change. The bike (Canondale Caad3 Saeco team issue) was stiff and is still stiff.
I expected more difference between the gear ratios of a standard vs compact crank, but it was not that extreme. Worth it, but not as life changing as the endless web entries led me to believe it would be.

Thumbs up to Campy for finally changing from the square taper.

The biggest dilemma now is with the new design on cranks, older Record and Chorus parts(even carbon) are getting their prices slashed-so do I upgrade my main road bike which is old style Centaur using the old system or wait and redo it with the new Ultra-Torque at whatever level I can afford as well?
Tough choices for sure, so I guess in the end it's a hearty "thanks" to the asshole that backed into my car and helped me upgrade some parts....

Top Tunes of 2007

I actually reviewed a lot of records this year, here's my top.

1.Fix speed of twisted thought cd reissue(touch and go).
2.Dan Higgs Metamppsychotic Melodies CD (holy mountain)
3.Versoma Life during wartime CD (robotic empire)
4. Merciless Death Evil in the Night CD (heavy artillery)
5.Prodigy Return of the MAC
6.East of Underground (waxpoetics)
7.White Lace and Strange Compilation (psychic circle)
8. Bovachevo S/T CD
9 amy winehouse back to black
10.Bone Awl meaningless leaning mess (nuclear war now)

On the Bubble.
Manzuran LP,Ted Leo Lp, Black Cobra Bestial CD,Snake Apartment LP,Amnesty CD,Watain CD,Villians, Dead Child,Pissed Jeans, Cloak/Dagger,Neurosis, Jay Z, Ghostface,Wu-Tang, all the other Psychic Circle Comps, Jabaldav

What did I listen to the most? Both Clipse CDs,Lil Wayne mixtapes, classic rock reissues, and krsna rock nuggets. If I made a list of top singles or most played, not much of my top ten would be on it. "Whamp, Whamp" would most likely be number one.

Tragically it was a year without Wrest/Leviathan/Lurker of Chalice. Hopefully some grim masterpieces await for 08

Gone Epic Trilogy CD

For every timeless SST Band there was an oddball or junkball band or side project release. Gone was Ginn's instrumental project. Flagish for sure but no vocals. 2 records on SST. Fast forward to 2007 and Gone is back with a 3 song double disc**. Not three songs over 2 discs like ELP or something, but the same 3 songs twice. Once instrumental and once with HR singing. HR as in Bad Brains/Soul Brains/Internet rumor king.
The opening track gives Ginn some room to stretch out, but he lays down some Flagish shredding around the 6 minute mark. Most of the track has almost an All/Descendents type feel with a weird breakdown(reggae failure?) in track one. Despite the length the first track gets the thumbs up. Despite the reputation for "getting gone" it is pretty straight ahead rock.
All three songs are over 15 minutes and they all have everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. At times it veers into a NoMeansNo/late Dead Kennedy's type sound.
Once again on track two, some Flaggish noodling emerges at about the 6 minute mark and disappears just as quickly.

As far as the HR vocals, his opening salvo of "yummy,yummy,yummy,yumpcious" would be enough to make you think he has been watching too many TV commericals. It is amazing that he keeps scatting and singing for almost the entire song. They don't ruin the tunes, but I would be unlikely to pick this disc over the insturmental version. HR is a living legend, but his vocals here lack the power of some of his classic performances.

**According to their website Gone have released over 10 records, that was news to me as I have only seen the 1st two.

Gregginn.com and sstsuperstore.com if you are interested. Or of course myspace....

Burial Chamber Trio 10"

Another release from this doom supergroup. Like their LP, this is low and slow with some demented vocals. Music sounds like heavy objects being pushed along a floor at times, but is allegedly all bass, guitar, and analog effects..... Vocals are creepy and sparse. Think random Melvins fucking with the crowd low end feedback,drone, and scrape.
Somehow this manages to be more arty and kult than SUNN, but more enjoyable to me.
Costumes for the stage show are probably heading to a more Peter Gabriel than WickerMan level and they might not hold up as well as the music over time.
Graphics are totally over the top and impressive. Picture disc 10", multiple layers on clear backgrounds. Skulls, Worms, killer.
Sounds good on 45 or 33.
Their infrequent gigs are documented on Youtube for those of you without frequent flyer miles.
Grave Temple too for all you necro doom drone completists.
Rock on Southernlord.

Cycling Year Wrap Up

Top Moments of 07
1.O'Grady wins a dusty Paris Roubaix and survives a heinous crash and then comes back to win a track race before the end of 07! Harden the Fuck Up!
2.Ballan wins Flanders. I had him picked for something special-maybe a Het Volk win or something, but he comes up big
3.Riccardo Ricco, the Schleck Brothers and other young guns starting to win. Hopefully some fresh faces to close the door on the EPO generation.
4.Kemmelberg controversy in Ghent Wevelgem. The crash was no highlight, but this stretch of road needs to stay in the race. Remember back to when Cipo bridged up to a breakaway containing Hincapie to win on this stretch? History.
5. Jens Voigt. Period. Like Jackie Durand, but with tactical savy and the ability to win races.
6. Zabel stepping up to support Altag and admitting to doping. Stand up move.
7.Monte Paschi Eroica. White Gravel Road Race in October in Italy. Cool. A lot of newer races don't seem that exciting, but this is something I want to see again. Kolobnev's performance here and at the worlds was impressive.
8.Bettini caps a not so good season and last minute political fury with a commanding win at the World's. Italian team rode as a team and set it up nicely.
9.Pavel Brutt and Mikhail Ignatiev from team Tinkoff battling at the Giro. Tinkoff seems like an idiot and his signing of tainted older riders was a bad move, but these two guys have promising future. Hopefully these 2 Russian maniacs are not going to follow the Eugeni Berzin example and flame out.
4.Slipstreams power moves for the future??? They have grabbed a curious array of riders, but what can they do with it? Big Maggy in argyle? Bring it on. The expansion concept seems a little shakey but maybe some luck at Pari Nice or Roubaix will help them. Millar better ask Mike Jordan about the whole onwer/player problem.
5.Svein Tuft in Virginia at US Open Championship or whatever is was called. Hard Man for Hard Day. Snow and cobbles in Virginia?
6.Het Volk not cancelled due to bad weather.


Worst
1.Watching the O6 tour on the trainer and realizing all the strong performances of Gonchar, Mazzolini, and Sinkewitz were chemically enchanced.
2.Rock Racing. The big mouth on the owner is bad, but signing Botero and Hamilton is a joke. How is Hamilton going to stay upright in the crit based US racing scene? How long til they sign Kasheckin or worse? Maybe a Dario Frigo or Rumundas Rumsas could come out of retirement.
3.Horner to Astana. Don't know why, but it's a bummer. Kinda like Han Solo joining the Empire.
4. DiLuca has the season of his life tainted by drugs. Hard to not be suspicious as he is the right age to be part of the asterik generation.
5.Sinkewitz running into a dog being the primary media highlight for this years TDF.


I know I am missing out on several things but this is it for now