Cyclocross and bike building

Two things on my mind as of late. The beginning of Cyclocross season is Oct. 3. There are 5 races in October, and 5 or 6 more through the middle of Dec. I was reading a 'cross article the other day and the smell of embrocation was immediately present, so much so that I wondered if the children had gotten into my embrocation, man would they be in for a surprise, that stuff is strong. Anyway, I'm down-right giddy with the thought of the new season starting and even though summer has blown by I'm quite happy about it now, bring on that fall chill and the ring of the cowbells. (I took a mental pause just now to take it all in). I've been riding with a guy from work named Dave Lindsey each Monday afternoon. We usually manage a 30 mile ride in the two hours we're out. This should help me get a decent fitness base going so I don't totally die in the first race like last year. Now... if I can just get myself to get on the trainer and do some intervals I'd be doing even better.

I bought some steel tubes and lugs about 3 months ago in my attempt to start building a bike. I just started my first practice miters last night. The problem has been mainly a time issue. The workbench in my garage was not exactly up to the challenge of filing steel tubes in the vise, so I've been working on making a new workbench. It's finally done and it's a beast of a table. The top is made of 2x4's that I glued together in a butcher block fashion. I got the idea from a Lowes website showing home projects. Framed it up with 2x8's and bolted on 4x6's for legs and I've got a workbench that will far outlast my earthly life. Seriously, this thing will last for generations. I hope some kid of mine wants it when I'm dead, because this thing took a lot of work to build.

So the workbench is up, the vise is mounted and I've begun filing some cheap chromoly tubes that I bought from an aircraft supply store. I had no idea that there were aircraft supply stores for people that make their own airplanes before I started down this path to make my own bike. Hopefully I can make a decent go of it. I have a cyclocross bike that will do just fine until I get the new frame done, but it will be awesome, once it's done and painted, to ride a bike that I actually made.

Make It Stop

I know I live in northern Utah so it should not be a big surprise that it's snowing every day but seriously this is too much. I think it has been a month since we went more than a day without it snowing. I can't even find icemelt so I just keep the 18" wide strip down my drive way shoveled so it doesn't ice up like the rest. Needless to say, I haven't ridden a bike outside in a couple of months and with all this snow it's going to take a lot of time for it to melt away so springtime riding is delayed except for paved trail and road riding. I'd even be willing to ride on snow covered trails but it snows every Friday and I'm not about to try pusing my bike 6"-12" of new snow. I'd be panting and covered in soon to be frozen sweat before getting 100 yards down the trail. Doesn't sound like much fun.

My motorcycle may be covered in dust by my ideas for great motorcycle trips are as fresh as the snow outside. I've been thinking about doing a Death Valley ride or maybe the Oregon coast. It's apparent that I have cabin fever.

I try to pass the time by putting newly acquired parts on my bikes and working out on the trainer. I have recently purchased a new handlebar and bar ends for my hardtail GT and some new wheels for the full suspension K2. The GT will be my bike for doing XC(cross country) races and the K2 will be for the Super D races that need some decent supension for the more technical stuff. I have a few races lined up which helps with the cabin fever. It looks like I'll be doing 2 or 3 super d races at Sundance, one at Brian Head, another at Bald Mountain and perhaps one more at Deer Valley depending on the date. I'm also going to try to do about 6 of the Wed. night races in midway this summer. They have races every Wed. night, the cost is just $10. They sound like a lot of fun without things being too serious. All this racing, especially the XC races, will help to keep me in shape by providing a little motivation to not come in last place. Although they are 8 months away I'm also really looking forward to trying cyclocross racing. Crazy mad fun in the mud on a skinny tire road bike.

Getting Back Into Shape

I've been getting on the trainer again this. That means two things: getting back into shape and crotch soreness. The former being a heck of a lot better than the latter. I use a mountain bike training DVD when I'm on the trainer most of the time. The DVD is really good and can be had on www.utahmountainbiking.com for reasonable price, well worth the money. Since I can't do the heavy DVD workout every night I have found it works well to watch movies or other things on my portable DVD player. Jen bought me a video of Cream's original farewell concert, they've since gotten back together for a one night show. Anyway, it was just the ticket to keep me interested while I slaved away on the trainer dealing with soreness.

I finally got the dough together to buy my new mountain bike wheels. I broke the front wheel last fall riding at Sundance. So I really stoked to get my full suspension K2 back on the trails. I'm hoping to do some snow riding before things get to soft and mushy. It'll be good cyclocross training and help get me back into shape while having fun. I'm really looking forward to getting back on the trails and road for some actual bike riding instead of the glorified hamster wheel that I ride on most of the time. Jen and I have decided we'll have to work out some sort of compromise. I think she's sick of trainers and stationary bikes in the gym.

2008 Resolutions for revolutions

I have two main resolutions for 2008. Eat only oatmeal for breakfast Mon. - Fri., no crap. Ride my bike to work at least 4 days a week. I want to get to a place where I ride every day, but I need a bike with some studded tires and fenders first. Right now all I've got is my trusty GT hardtail mountain bike, it works well but only has slicks on it and since the first part of my commute is down a dark hill I really don't want to take the risk without hedging my bets with some studded snow tires. Jen has been nice enough to save some money up for a cyclocross bike for me, this will enable me to invest in the studded tires I need and have a more commuting bike, not to mention a bike to race with come next year's cyclocross season. I will probably get the kids bike trailer hooked up to it so that we can go for family rides as well. Though, this will probably have to wait until it warms up a bit.

Cyclocross

Earlier this fall I when I decided to start commuting to work on a bike I started researching the best kind of road bike to buy for such a task. I soon found numerous references to a little known sport called Cyclocross. I had seen the word Cyclocross in my bike magazines before but never knew what it was. It is basically a 45 - 60 min race with multiple laps around a course generally consisting of mud, grass, obstacles that require you to dismount and carry your bike, and sometimes snow. Basically the worse the weather gets the more people say it's good cyclocross weather. Oh, I should mention that all of this is done on what is basically a road bike with slightly wider tires. After doing a good bit of reading on the sport I got quite interested as it sounds like quite a hoot. I attended my first cyclocross race last Saturday in Ogden. It was part of the Utah Cyclocross series. It was as fun as everyone says it is. The atmoshpere is pretty mellow and fun. It has to be when everyone including the women are covered in mud from head to toe. So, in addition to getting a cyclocross bike for my commuting needs I think I'll give cyclocross racing a try next fall. It looks like a fun way to keep in shape, make some new friends and try something new.