D2R2 2009

70 miles on a bike usually doesn't take 5 hours and 42 minutes, but put
those 70 miles over the backroads of Western Mass and VT and they sure do.
D2R2 was a major goal for me. It kicked my ass in 2007 and I was looking
for redemption. No photos this year.(wish I did bring the camera
as ther were some amazing bike...next year) No fooling around.
Day started shrouded in fog- a truly grim and mysterious
way to start. The first 13 mile leg was tough, but familiar. Water stop
at a Hansel and Gretel house in the middle of nowhere. Phase 2 was a lot
harder . Got lost twice. Had to walk twice. Ran out of water(3 bottles).
Rest stop 2 came just in time to keep me from jumping in a river. PBJs and
whatever else I could cram down my throat. Baked potatos? Someone needs to
explain that to me. Eating a hot starchy gut bomb in 90+ degree heat???
Killed 2 bottles of water just sitting there. Refilled all 3 and rolled
out. River Road was up next, Shadey downhill run along a river. Very
relaxing. Maybe too relaxing as I missed my turn and continued on til I hit
some civilization (maybe the last time Colrain gets called civilized...). All I had to do to get back on track was climb back
the way I came. Only on a totally scorched by the sun main road. This 2
mile run up Colrain road was a nice prep for the patten hill/peckville rd
suckerpunch that awaited me. Dragged my ass up to the apple orchard rest
area. Saw an RB-1 there and a guy who made the climb on a fixed gear
(38x19). Damn. This ride really lets you know who is beast on
the bike. Also heard the best retort to a person who was whining for
bananas.... "sorry this isn't a banana orchard........" zing.
Last phase home was kind of anti-climatic except for a fear of getting
lost. That is until the Hawk's Rd descent. Rutted, washed out, with tons
of loose fist sized rocks. This thing was a real sting in the tail (not
unlike the last dirt climb)
So got lost three times, crashed once, walked three times. back again
next year with a lower gear and a couple less pounds.
The support on this ride is killer. For 50 bucks you get breakfast, all you
can eat at the rest stops, and a burrito and a beer at the end. Most of
the races you do are 2/3rds of that price and you are lucky to have porta
johns and neutral support.....
This is a ride I hope goes on for many years-at least long enough for me
to try the 170K

Martha Splatterhead and beyond

Southernlord are releasing a new Accused record-"the curse of martha splatterhead". Accused's splatter rock was always pretty rad. Kinda metal, kinda crust, one of a kind vocals. I am not going to try and compare or rank this against other splatter-classics, but it is hands down a good record. Still harsh and unique. You can mention D-beat or black metal, but the Accused were doing this before those things really became genres.
The real thing about this is it reminded me of a bunch of bands who had a similar style and one classic comp that bundled a bunch of them together.
Wild Riders of Boards was the 3rd Thrasher skate-rock comp. It came out at the peak of cross-over,hardocore. It was from the period when every Pus-Zone was a must read filled with crucial tunes. 1985 was the year and on purchasing this cassette, you got crushed by Beyond Possession,COC, and the Accused who were all pushing the hardcore/metal envelope. In addtion you had Slam, Christ on Parade,No Rules, and Septic Death bringing it. Top it off with the drunk-rock of Boneless Ones and the all time classic "Skate to Hell" by Gang Green and you have a timeless classic of perfectly executed hardcore pushing beyond the boundaries. Some went metal. Some went rock. Either way this is a pioneering comp. If you were really lucky, you got the die-cut lp.

Just as hard at the back.... odds and ends

Cool video of life at the other end of the race.


Thanks to DYKC for passing it on to me!

This is an odd one. Ugly Beauty or just Ugly?

Embrocation has stepped up their website. A couple good articles. Check it.
The Boston Globe has been running tons of pro cycling articles(as in "in favor of" not pro like Cipollini) lately. Then this. It has ignited a firestorm in the comments section. I will close with my favorite quote from the article.
“We have aggressive road conditions,’’ observed Nicole Freedman, the city’s director of bicycle programs, .... “The bikers are bad, the pedestrians are bad, and so are the drivers.’’

the tubular experience part one

I decided to take the plunge on tubulars for cross this spring. Took me til summer to pull the trigger. Williams came out with an affordable alloy tubular and it was cheap enough to leave money for tires-something that carbon tubulars were not gonna do. And seriously, a super rookie on carbon hoops? Sounds like a middle-age crisis to me.
I figured, I would be rolling on Challenges or Vittorias, but thanks to the interweb, got my hands on some FMBs. FMBs!!!! Talk about pearls before swine, but how can you say no. It was only about 3 years ago that I saw FMBs for the first time(had no idea what was up with the tires and the funky screen job on the sidewall.) and there is one person responsible for singing their praises and making this purchase happen(stealth shot of him in action early am december 08)

Who wouldn't take this guys advice seriously?
So 2 weeks after the frenzy of internet purchases, I have a mini Xmas in the garage. Boxes arrived

and were unpacked

and inspected

This is when the joy of consumerism ended and the cold, hard reality of a rite of passage began. The plan was to do it myself. I have read all the conflicting methods. Asked all the relevant experts. Now was the time to make it happen. There are many milestones you need to pass in life and gluing tubulars is one to be taken seriously.
First comes stretching the tire on the rim. How hard can that be? Having never done it-way harder than I guessed. I alternated between fear of ripping the tire and fear of being to feeble to actually be able to stretch it. Youtube videos made it look simple-even for triatheletes. Frustration caused me to stop one night and I actually let them sit while I went on vacation. First night back, despite working up an embarrassing sweat, I was able to get it done.

If stretching them was this hard, I can't wait for gluing. I'll save that for part two...... For now just fear my quiver of ancient rubber.........

21 days til first CX race of the year!!!!

The next few weeks should have plenty of moments to experience the patented Brad "burp-puke" training/riding technique
7 days til Tokeneke
13 days til Deerfield
21 days til Cross

Definitely need to get a time-share in the pain cave.

Vacation is over.

odds and ends again.

Do long down hill finishes make for boring stages? Did anyone think they would be watching AG2R controlling the field?
Countdown to the Alps. The transitional stages better have some breakaway fireworks.

Good new blog. Super Tempo. Sounds like Supertouch which is always a plus.

Mash SF trailer for their TOC is rad. (even with tri-geek bottle cages. Some of the climbing cadences look a little to close to mine-troubling since I have gears.

PREVIEW: MASH Tour of California 2009 from MASH TRANSIT PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.

So it this. GB still gets me pumped.

MASH-SF 2007: Garrett Chow from MASH TRANSIT PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.

the damage to be done

Today wasn't exactly the Passage de Gois stage or even the cobbled stage from 04 when Mayo crashed out, but it was the first oh fuck moment for a handful of contenders. The one common denominator between those older stages and today, is Armstrong being in the right place at the right time. Retirement hasn't affected that aspect of his performance. Conspiracy theories will abound tonight and tomorrow-did George let Lance know? Was it planned? Is there an alliance(is this Survivor or the TDF?) Did Contador really just lose a wheel and open a gap-a gap he couldn't close or wouldn't close? Can't wait to run the theories through babble-fish in the morning.
Contador should remember the words of Fausto Coppi, "Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill"
Anyway you cut it, this is a lot of drama for the third day.

The TTT should be interesting tomorrow. Without the Max 2:30 rule, teams could get knocked pretty hard with time that will be hard to get back. How can you not pick Astana? High Road and Saxobank are my next picks with Garmin in 4th-as JV's twitterized shaming fails to get them in gear.
It is shorter(38K) than previous editions(67K in 05,64K in 04, 69K in 03), but more technical so maybe the difficulty will be more of an issue than the length. On the longer TTT courses, a quarter of the teams would forfeit over 3 minutes to the winner! So hopefully for them reducing the length will reduce the deficits their leaders have to recover
Either way this tour is starting out right. Punch Ups, Echelons, Drama.