Son of a Son

OCD much?

LoneStar — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:07:00 GMT

So, as fun as the Kona was with the 100mm fork it was just too weird.

I found some coil springs (word to - Kronos Engineering for keeping old steel flying) to replace the busted MCU stacks in the old Judy SL I pulled off. The damper piston is still in good shape.

Now we are back to Laser Guided handling. God I love this bike.

J.

There's just something about the feel of a good mace.

LoneStar — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:41:00 GMT

I put the Kona Hot hardtail back together today.

Not to wax to starry eyed but, that 15 year old bike is still the most fun to ride MTB I've ever been on. It just "knows" what I want it to do. And, it will still pitch you over the bars when you go into an off camber turn over some logs too hot, because it keeps daring you to go faster - and I've got the fresh bruise to prove it.

The 100mm fork dulls the laser like handling a but, it's what I had lying around so, I'm learning the Kona's new manners.

J.

Is this mike on?

LoneStar — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:10:00 GMT

As much as the domain service reminds me about the bill for this thing you'd think that I post more often.

Maybe I will...

Good news is that Privateer is alive and well and looking forward to some racing. Maybe more TT's and MTB races this season but, racing none the less.

Jason.

HELLO RACE FANS!!

LoneStar — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:58:00 GMT

You know it, you want it, we're bringing it!!

Privateer proudly presents "Gone in 250m" at Encino Velodrome.

Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, get your bikes, boot up, and come race!

RACE FLYER

Also there are "Low Key TT's" in the AM before the race.

=================

APRIL 17, MAY 15, JULY 10

Encino Velo
Low Key Time Trials

REGISTRATION: Opens at 8:15am Closes at 9:15 am. Racing
starts at 9:30am. Track opens for Warm-up at 8:15am. Entry $10, Oneentry
fee and race as many events as you like. Race day entries only. Makechecks
payable to Encino Velo Cycling Club. Must sign Standard Athlete’sRelease
form. Racers under 18 years must have signature of parent or guardian on
the release form.

RULES: Must have track experience. All 2010 USCF rules apply. Helmets
must be worn at all times while on the bike.

Individual events
500m Time Trial
1000m Time Trial
2000m Time Trial
3000m Time Trial
4000m Time Trial
Flying 200 Encino style
Team Time Trial & Team Sprints
*Must provide holders for Team Time Trial and TeamSprint.

Team events
4000m Team Time Trial
3000m Team Time Trial
Team Sprint

Race information email:
Info and results http://www.encinovelo.org/
LOCATION: Encino Velodrome17301 Oxnard St, .Encino, CA. 91416

=====================

And a swap meet.

Bicycle Swap Meet

Saturday April 17, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Sellers only $10 Vendors & Bike Shops-$40

Buyers- FREE

Encino Velodrome –Oxnard and Louise streets in Encino Ca.

Encinovelodrome.org

Other track events on same day : 9:00 AM Keirin School P/B Prostate Cancer Awareness Project 12:00 PM Bob Hansing Memorial Cup Series Omniums & Madison RACING For more info: Ken Avchen TRCKRCR@aol.com

Please help spread the word!

=================

That is all.

J.

81.8kph

LoneStar — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:33:00 GMT

81.8kph is 50.8mph is my new speed record down Miguelito Canyon.

In the process of setting the above record I nearly slammed into a doe that decided her best plan of evasive action when faced with The Meat Pie flying down at her was to run directly in front of said flying Meat Pie. Since I know how stupid deer can be I backed off the gravity fueled fun and slowed allowing her to cross in front - at that point her two other deer buddies I didn't see jumped from the brush and decided they needed to run across the road in front of me too.

Deer are stupid like horses, only faster and more tasty.

In addition, today was the first 12C ride of the year and apparently it killed the battery in the SRM crank. Zero offset dropped from 565 to 0 in the first 10min of the ride. Seems that even though the SRM is from good German stock it's adapted to the SoCal weather completely. Now it's off to Colorado for service, and I'm on the hamster wheel if I want power data. Can I leverage this into a Quarq Cinco purchase though...?

Interbike was good. Greg did a good write up of the trip here: Interbike write up

I've actually ridden my bike a bit. At least to the point that I don't want to cry when I go hard for longer than five minutes. It's going to be a loooong winter...maybe I will go play with TjK in the mud on the CX bike.

J.

TdF

LoneStar — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:12:00 GMT

It's done. Now WTF the am I going to do with 5hrs of TV watching time I've built into my day?
-------------

3 weeks of being back on the bike. I'm still brutally fat and slow. CTL is up to a whopping 35. woo.

-------------

Since Assos changed the formulation of their chamois cream I've been at a total loss for friction reduction that keeps saddle sores at bay - while still providing that 'minty fresh balls' feeling. I'm happy to report that I have found two reasonable substitutes: DZNuts and Chamois Butt'r Euro style.

The DZNuts is the more expensive of the two and has the bigger burn factor on first application but the Chamois Butt'r is thicker and has a more lasting warming sensation. The one concern I have about the DZNuts is the toothpaste tube like applicator that I know will have me struggling to get the last bits out near the end of it's life.

-------------

For better or worse this race season seems to be the nadir of what is apparently my 4 year rhythm of racing. It seems I go three years real hard, race like crazy, then get tired of all the work required to get to the races and lose the motivation required to actually get out to the races. It's not the training or the pain of racing; I love that. It's the unidimensional nature of life as a bike racer that gets in the way. Maybe I just live too far away from the racing I like to do...

-------------

Locally I know there are big changes afoot with racing clubs.

This will serve as the first notification that Privateer will accept applications for review for new members.

It's an early sign up window I know, but if your team is folding and/or you want to race in new kit during the upcoming cyclocross season contact Privateer.

J.

Sisyphus

LoneStar — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:38:00 GMT

ATL = 8.6
CTL = 19
FTP=240W
Body Weight = "that's no moon, that's a space station!"

Jason.

Twitter is the anti-blog

LoneStar — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:34:00 GMT

Just like the title says. Twitter is the anti-blog. Or the lazy man's blog, or whatever. Point being, you can tweet your ass off and feel like you've blogged. Not the case. So, I'm trying to go "old school" and push past the 140 character limit. And I mean besides, what else are you going to read Tuesday afternoon when you should really be working?

--------------
Since it's been a while...
--------------
The Bos:

To all the pro roadies (and posers) that could never hope to even sniff at a 1:01kilo, or a sub 10s flying 200m - STFU about Theo Bos. You don't know what you're talking about and that's the end of it. I won't even validate your argument with any sort of response - well except to laugh in your face and walk away.

If you don't know what I'm talking about you can watch this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8K_7bJQaaI

-----------
Boom Boom the crack head?

Boonen. Tommeke can't you at least get caught in flagrante delicto with some "pros" and the Coke, instead of saying, "I get hammered and loose control" Pussy. Cipo would have, well, Cipo would have never gotten caught.

--------------
Great Giro - Bad Giro:

The coverage on Universal HD's webcast is what I've always wanted for a grand tour. No Phil. No Paul. No Bob. No commercials, just the RAI-TV live feed, and only one talking head to have to drown out. I don't care what the racer's back story is - I'm here to watch the racing thank you very much. Now stop talking so I can think.

Poor Levi. Poor VdV. Lance?

Poor Voeckler. (OK I didn't mean that one) hehehe. >:}

At least Menchov proved he wasn't a pod person by showing some emotion on the last day.

---------------
Collar Bones:

Breaking them sucks. 15 years of racing, and my first collar bone break on Cinco de Mayo. Totally my fault - I can be a dumbass at times I guess.

With no riding for the past 6 weeks, I'm getting fat enough to have my own gravitational field. If I throw the cats just right, I can get them to a stable orbit around me.

Just to add a little more mental torture on the whole IR list thing, my brother kindly setup a family vacation to Tahoe over Memorial Day weekend/week. I was stoked until I broke the collar bone and realized it meant I'd be sitting on my ass, drinking cocktails out of boredom because I can't ride. (The Gondola to the top of Heavenly was painful, so many cool trails to ride) No paddling, no sailing, no rock climbing - and I think gambling at the casinos is about as stupid as asking to get hit in the face with a hammer. I don't like to pay voluntary taxes.

----------------
No District ITT
No District TTT
No Master's States

Since Master's Nats isn't going to be at Indy I was hoping to at least have one event to salvage for the season, when it was rumored to be at ADT. Now it seems it's going to be in COS. Greeeaaattt.....

-----------------
Maybe this is the first season I "race" CX?

Christ, that means running at some point....without getting chased by a bear. Where will I find the motivation without the big snarling carnivore?

------------------
SuperDave at Felt has to be a little proud, and a little pissed that every bike manufacturer is following nearly all of the Felt DA design cues, while giving them none of the credit. Figures.
------------------
Mavic and the stupidity that most cyclists have about equipment choices:

"Crabon" performs poorly in compression. That's why you shouldn't use it that way. It might just break your shoulder to teach that lesson, as a Velonews tech editor has recently demonstrated. (props to BSNYC for conveying the general distaste and over use of the material with nothing more than a simple misspelling)

Even without the crabon spokes those wheels are a design travesty. They are slightly less aero than a standard brick and not nearly as attractive, while still weighing about the same as a steel wire spoked wheel. Wow. Where can I spend $2k with less effect? Stoopid Monkey.
---------------------

Whew. That's all for now.

J.

Powerless

LoneStar — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:04:00 GMT

The SRM is back in Colorado Springs.
No display, bad speed pin contact, and battery won't take a charge.

Hopefully it's not more to fix than buy a new one. $850 bucks for a bike computer (2x what I paid for the laptop I'm writing this on) is tough to choke back.

Rolling around on some new rubber from Challenge tires. Wow. I forgot what 300TPI "race" tires felt like. Spending 97% of my time on rock hard training tires has me thinking these are going flat all the time, they are that buttery smooth.

If I had my PM I'd do some rolling resistance testing. :-/

Blog has been a little abandoned lately. Not much racing for me, many house projects, and honestly I'm still a bit depressed about putting one of my dogs down. Not to get all Tyler Hamilton but it basically sucked.

Chance to race at ADT and Encino this weekend, and if I'm really feeling froggy there's the Long Beach Gran Prix! Or, I'm still moving furniture and doing prep work on the floors...

J.

The Meat Pie Flies Again!

LoneStar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:29:00 GMT

Raced the Piru 20km TT Sunday AM, carpooled with TnA. The first real ITT of the 2009 season.

It was windy. Strong tailwind on the outleg and a gnarly headwind home.
266WAP, 271WP, 49.6kph avg outbound.
Did I mention there was a tailwind?
260W AP, 271W NP, 31.0kph avg.
I did say wind right?
~12min to the turn, ~19:30 to the finish. 31:26 @ 262W AP, 271W NP, 38kph avg.

All in all, not bad for the first TT effort of the season. I was convinced that I had totally blown the pacing on the outleg and gone too hard because I was sailing the tailwind and it felt great. Can't believe that I even split the power. Hell, I was holding 65kph through some sections and couldn't help myself.

Well, no racing for me next weekend. Jenelle's birthday celebration and brew club - so I'm still a wiener.

J.

At the Crossroads

LoneStar — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:05:00 GMT

Today Commuter Man and Idiot Racer Boy met at the crossroads of an Amtrak station.

The Great Transportation Experiment started in October of last year and yielded mostly positive results through January. The benefits of a relaxing commute and the smugness that one can only get through use of comfortable mass transit, and riding their bike to get to work, make a compelling argument. Commuter Man was in full effect.

Now the race season is starting to spool up – Hell, racing has already started, and Idiot Racer Boy is back in town.

And the question must be asked, “Can the demands of training be met while still being both fiscally and environmentally responsible through continued use of the train?” To put this in terms I can relate to, “Can my inner 'David Banner' find peace with my inner 'Incredible Hulk'?”

We shall see. Today has been frustrating already on the way home. Delayed 15min due to southbound trains and no sidling rail access further North – UP is working on the rail. Another 15min waiting for the work crews to clear the main tracks. One full hour and we are still just at Gaviota.

A general question to anyone that is reading this out there on the interwebs – Flickr or Picassa? I want to put up more photos but don't want to hog all the bandwidth here (yes, I'm that cheap plus I think it clutters things). So, which photo service to use? Is one better than the other? Is there a service I should use for a photo stream instead?

Hello Race Fans!!

LoneStar — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:33:00 GMT

January racing - really?

Yep. Welcome to the 2009 season kids.

Friday night was my first swing at the Friday Night series at the ADT center velodrome in LA. We thought that Mini Phinney was going to come out - along with the rest of the U23 National team. We got a bit of a reprieve and they didn't show. I really kind of wish that they had been there just to get the world class beat down.

As it was, the A flight was still fast. Good clean racing and a nice way to ease my way back into racing this year. Motor paced scratch race, Miss-n-Out, and Points race. I got ripped off in the miss-n-out as some jack ass refused to pull himself from the race - for FOUR laps after he was pulled. I looked behind, saw a body hit the gas, and cleared him. Too bad he had already been DQ'd. My number was up then. By the time 16lp to go in the 60lp points race came round the engine room shut down and I was toast. I finished the race but went a lap down. Worst part was I forgot the Power Control and have no data from racing. In retrospect, probably better.

Saturday I rode with John and the Team Velocity group ride. LA riding is interesting, TONS of stop light sprints. By the time we hit the rollers 2hrs into the ride my legs were wobbly. When we hit the climbs I was hurting. Second climb I got dropped, then lost, then had to navigate back to Fullerton solo - with some phone help from John. Ended up with ~5+ hrs on the day which is cool but it wrecked my legs.

With wrecked legs I didn't make it to Mothballs Sunday. Sat on the couch, rode easy, and watched the Superbowl. Telling myself that's there's still plenty of racing left in the year - on the road and on the track.

J.

Training Camp Recap

LoneStar — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:09:00 GMT

Jan 16-23 saw the return of G.S. Tenzing to Santa Barbara for their California training camp. Privateer acted as host for the camp again. It was a great time and Thomas and I enjoyed seeing the guys from Texas. Mr. Steele, from wattagetraining, was able to join us for camp again too.

We finally had some decent weather for the boys this year and only fought the rain on the last day. We did Sunday worlds, with anywhere between 7-9 pros out for the fun and games too. It was the biggest Sunday Worlds I have seen in years. There were easily 100 riders out and it was fast as hell. Photos here. We also did the obligatory Gibraltar, OSM/Painted Cave/Stagecoach rides. Greg and I did two rides in the valley (Solvang/Figueroa Mtn. and Lompoc to Jalama beach) while the rest of the crew rode Hwy 33 on those two days.

For me, camp was a painful reminder of how hard cycling as a "hobby" can be if you don't train regularly. Take a week of vacation from work, ride your bike up 3500'+ cols for three to four hours a day, all the while feeling like someone is pulling your lungs out through your nose using a rusty coat hangar - hell of a hobby. I'd like to think that my crappy performance was a result of my "death" cold that I caught just before the guys got here - but I know better. I know it's from too many beers and not enough time in the saddle, thanks for the reminder.

J.

Badges?

LoneStar — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:27:00 GMT

I renewed my racing license for 2009 today.

I'm getting old. I've had a USCF license since 1993.

Looking forward to camp - hoping that it won't dump buckets on us this year.

J.

Saturnalia

LoneStar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:29:00 GMT

All hail the Sun and it's triumph over the darkness! At 12:04UT on December 21, 2008 the sun began the long march back to summer. I can tell there's a little more light every day - I know I can.

To celebrate I drank a bottle of wine, braised a lamb shank and banged on a pot in the moonlight in the backyard. No virgin sacrifice this year - none could be found. Oh, yeah, there were some Judeo-Christian festivals in there too.

My training has been sketchy. CTL still plummets after slight stagnation/upticks. Camp is going to be brutal for me...oh well.

Mark Tokar, the newest Privateer, has sent some pictures from his new rider training day at the Encino Velodrome.

I hear he may now be going to ADT for their new rider training...evidence of the addictive nature of track racing.

During the holidays we went to the store for groceries for the famn damily during their stay. Biggest load on the Xtracycle yet. I'm thinking this was somewhere in the range of 500lbs considering load+bike+meat pie for a pilot.

We even rode up on three guys out for a group ride and the comment was - "Now that's how you go to the store."
Right on. Power to the Xtracycle!!

Now to go find my motivation to go train....where DID I put that?

J.

Deep Fried Salad

LoneStar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:15:00 GMT

It's often been said that the great tragedy of Southern cooking is that we haven't figured out how to deep fat fry salad - yet. Turkeys we got covered though!

Well, as is always the case, the Turkey Day shutdown didn't produce the mega-mileage it could have.

I did go 5 of 7 days though this week, with some solid efforts, so it could have been worse. (Even did two days on the CT due to the rain.)

My brother came down from Berkeley and brought a buddy, and the guy's dad, to Thanksgiving dinner. I am always embarrassed to say this but deep fried turkey is the best turkey I've ever eaten. Moist, juicy, tender and delicious. Besides, nothing says redneck fun like the ability to deep fry a Snickers bar when the turkey is done - not that I'm saying we did - but you could....

Tomorrow it's back to the work grind. Time to get another monthly train ticket, and return to the rails after the week off. It's been nice. I'm fully sure I'm never getting up on time in the A. M. this week. I slip into the vampire circadian rhythm astonishingly fast.

I'm also set to try the new gym in town this week. I know weight lifting is counter productive to being an endurance cyclist. I don't care anymore. I like to pick things up and put them down. It has a simple finality that few things can provide. Besides, have you seen how bad sunken chest chicken boy cyclists look with their shirts off? It's not a pretty sight.

J.

Back on the Horse

LoneStar — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:19:00 GMT

Slowly getting back at training. Inertia not as bad now.

Starting to remember why I like hurting myself riding a bike.

I have a week long shutdown at work coming up for Thanksgiving. I hate to over commit and under deliver so I'm not making training camp like plans but., I do hope to take advantage of the week off as much as possible and get some good long high volume rides in over the break. We'll see.

Coaching Chester again this season. Hope to help him earn his 2 upgrade before the end of the season.

Speaking of training camp...dates for the G.S. Tenzing training camp have been finalized. The Texas Mafia returns Jan 16-23, 2009. Time to start racking up the miles!! (or they'll rip my legs off. )

Commuting has been tough. Lots of weirdness at work = long days, late meetings. In addition I've somehow developed a 45min cutoff on train lateness. Any more than 45min out and I bail and drive home. Really tweaks me that they can't seem to figure out how to make that whole "single track" thing workout.

J.

Volume

LoneStar — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:10:00 GMT

Need volume.

It's been six weeks since I've done any structured training. Inertia is a bitch. Can't seem to get moving again.

Last week was tough on commuter man. 3/5 days early in the office for work. The office lost flexibility last week. This week is better, although, I'll only ride the train for the next two weeks due to the office shut down over Turkey Day.

Need to hit the rack to start early tomorrow.

J.

Ride to Vote, Vote to Ride

LoneStar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:18:00 GMT

Normally this blog is about bikes, or racing, or racing bikes. I try to keep politics out of here as it sort of represents a the activities of the Team and not just me. Today is an exception, today my country needed me.

"Rosa sat,
So Martin could walk,
So Barack could run,
So our children can fly."

So to keep it on topic - I rode my bike to the polling place this morning. This is significant, and interesting, because I met up cycling friend in town that also rode his bike to the polling station. Now, I can't say with 100% certainty but, I'm pretty sure our votes canceled each other out today. That's cool, this is America, I'm allowed to be an asshole and so are you.

What's even more cool, to me at least, is that we both showed up and left to got to work - on our bikes. Hmmm, now I'm worried he didn't vote for Measure A.

J.

It's a "Major Award!"

LoneStar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:59:00 GMT

This weekend was the SCNCA race schedule meeting and picnic. Normally this wouldn't be news except that I was invited to attend and be recognized as the Second place Overall Endurance Track racer in Cat 3/4 for the SCNCA SoCal Cup. Whew, that's a mouth full.

Anyhow, it was cool to see that I had finished second in the Endurance series, and sixth overall - not too bad for not doing a single "sprint" event in the cup.

We didn't go to the picnic however because Jenelle found a bike she wanted!! We went Saturday AM and bought her an Electra Amsterdam. It's the "Tulip" model. Bright yellow paint, red tulip accents, full wrap chain guard, generator lights, fenders w/mudflaps, rear rack and skirt guard. It's the bomb of a city bike. Except for it's price, it's everything that Copehagen Cycle Chic would approve of - "Style over speed," indeed.

This is all part of my "Commuter Man" plan. Here I am formulating the beginning of my plan while at Interbike in Las Vegas this year, while coming back from the Crit finals. Photo courtesy of Dave Lettieri.

In trying to reach full Commuter Man Nirvana, in addition to riding my bike to the train station and then bi-modaling it to the office, I did some research on how to carry as much stuff on a bike as is safely possible. Racks, panniers, BOB trailers....

The answer: Xtracycle Free Radical. Here's the Free Radical with the Free Loader kit filled after a run to the grocery store with a full week of food. Both side panniers are chocked full. It's a fairly stable operation - about like riding a tandem with a well behaved stoker.

Here's an unsolicited product endorsement: if you want to try and live and do more on your bicycle in your daily life, buy an Xtracycle Free Radical. It will breathe new life back into that old hard tail mountain bike you've got taking up space in the stable not being ridden.

Later in the day I went to Home Depot for some 4x4's for a project. I never thought I'd haul lumber home on my bike, but today I did. I got some crazy looks from people on the way home. Other hardware was loaded in the pannier opposite.

Yes, that's right, those are three full length 8', 4"x4"s lashed to the side of my bike using the Long Loader kit. This was MUCH less stable than having the panniers fully loaded with the grocery run earlier. Frankly, this is not something I'd necessarily advise an inexperienced cyclist to attempt. Handling was squirrely, especially in right hand turns.

Both loaded runs today pointed out something very important to a good Xtracycle set up - bomber wheels. As soon as I can I'm getting a set of 36h high flange hubs with the gnarliest free-ride/DH rims I can find to put on the bike. The corollary to this is the Xtracycle performs better with 26" wheels. If you want to carry big loads don't waste your time with the 700c kit. In addition, tires that are symmetric (read: round with very little, if any, run out) will improve handling stability.

Tomorrow starts the fourth week of the bike/train Great Transportation Experiement. Let's just say I like it enough that come Friday, I'll need to go back to the SB station to get another mothly ride pass.

J.