BFF 2008 New York Dates Announced

That's right the 2008 Bicycle Film Festival is slated for May 28 - June 1 here in the NYC.

Click HERE for more info on schedule, volunteering etc...

Richard's Night Out...

So we decided to have the the inevitable "boy's night out" situation on Wednesday night....This basically gives us the license to be dicks....hence the name Richard's night out.  (There isn't anyone named Richard by the way...but it seemed more clever than Dick's night out) Now for me, this is like any other night, (since I'm single) The rest of the crew can say all those things that their girlfriend would slap them for....and we can talk about bikes..ALOT without seeing anyones eyes roll.  We mobbed this kick ass Italian place in Williamsburg, called PT,  with a good crew.  Me, Kevin, Karl, Philippe, Eli, Shinji, and Billy...good times, good times.

We had some great wines, and great food...I have to say, I'll def. go there again....I have it notated in my phone as "good date spot". 

Of course that is making two VERY big assumptions:

1. That I convince some poor unassuming girl to actually go out with me. 

2. I don't make a complete ass out of myself, or bore her to death with bike speak before we actually make it to the restaurant.

I've figured something out though....as you get older (me a whopping 34) you realized that you still have to go to work the next day, and that torturous endeavor will pass more  

quickly and with less pain if you get some sleep and aren't still drunk when you wake up in the morning...That's what we get when you have Richard's night out on a frickin Wednesday.

After dinner we hit Zebulon for a beer, and that was bell lap....

Super good time...Richard needs to get out more often....

Oh...and for all those girlfriends that read my blog....everyone actually talked about how much they missed their better half, and about their burning desire to go outlet mall shopping.... for the record.

baby's first bath

That's right....the first scrub on the new stick for the year...

This is how we have to do it here in the NYC. In the bathtub.  The good thing about this situation is that it forces me to clean the bathroom after...WAIT WAIT WAIT....I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking that the only time I clean my bathroom is when I clean my bike...aren't you?  Well...YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!  This could be a contributing factor to my perpetual single-ness...but if you think about....my bathroom probabally stays cleaner as a result.  

Let's face it.  I clean my bike before every race, and after REALLY nasty training rides....so for the most part...I'm cleaning that unit once a week at a minimum!

The downside, is no amount of scrubbing bubbles will completely erase that grease ring....SORRY LANDLORD!  GOOD THING ITS A RENTAL.

Whatever...some people have hairballs in their tub...I have grease boogers...you know...the ones from you rear derailleur jockey pulleys?  I LOVE THOSE!!

Keep it clean...

another weekend gone

bummer...its monday.

I will say that yesterday's ride was as dope as they come on pavement. I rolled solo yesterday for about 4 hours of endurance.  I know there may be some controversey when it comes to ipods and bike riding, but i love mine when i'm riding alone.  guess what....I wasn't wearing a helmet either.HA!  The weather was cold and clear, sunshine, and just a little bit of wind. perfect.

I got some new music, so it was a perfect time to give it a spin....the playlist went something like this:

St. Vincent

Bon Iver

Pink Mountaintops

Black Mountain

That was the new stuff....then into a mix of old reliables with the likes of Shellac, Madvillan, Beasties, M83...blah blah blah.

It was fun, so there.

Tour of New Zealand is in the books!!

Congratulations Kristin....you deserve all the pancakes you can eat.. Full results here.....photos courtesy of www.WomensCycling.net

classics season

I'm gonna start by saying that CYCLING.TV SUCKS A BIG FAT HAIRY ONE!!!!  If someone out there has the inter web and computer know how, I am calling on you to start a competing internet TV channel that can PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS!!!

Me, Kevin, and Karl got all excited to watch Het Volk yesterday.  So excited that instead of watching the replay later in the afternoon, we decided to do it up over breakfast and watch the action live.  So that means we all meet at K. Molloy's at 8h30 (in the morning).  We were prepared for whatever....Oatmeal, scones, tons of coffee, and of course Belgian Beer.

So what happened?  Those knackers at cycling.tv must be using an old Commodore 64 as there server, because it crashed.  Basically we saw the last 6k of the race with Gilbert killing it for the win.  

Normally, we would have gotten over it and watched the re-run later in the day, but know the finish is spoiled for us!!! All because of those no talent ass clowns at cycling.tv.  Thanks boys. You suck.

In other news, it was the perfect start to the Classics season...We headed out on the bikes at about noon, "WE" being the Empire boys (my team), to get in some miles in what looked like it was turning into a beautiful day in Manhattan...42 degrees, with just a little wind.  So we all rallied, dressed for what was supposed to be a 46 degree day.  By the time we got over the GWB...there was no sun in sight, and temps clearly dropped.  Oh yeah, and it started SNOWING.   Did we turn around...negatory good buddy.  We rolled on, and the snow subsided, and it was just cold...no big deal.  We did a nice 3 hours into upstate NY, and when we got onto 9w for the final go back into the city....the snow stated coming down so hard we could only see about 100m in front of us, not to mention the nastiest head/cross wind you could imagine.  Now remember. We already got snowed on once, and there was still about 4 inches of the crap on the ground, so the roades were wet...so WE were wet too.  We immediately threw the endurance zone out the window and me, Karl, Kevin, and J.Lo started a paceline out of  shear survival instinct...we did that a good half an hour, and got back to the GWB...oh...yeah...then the sun came out.  It hurt alot...I was really cold...pretty much miserable....it was everything a good ride should be.

photo above courtesy of www.bettiniphoto.net

  

Kristin Armstrong gettin it done

Kristin is kickin ass in the Tour of New Zealand...this 

photo (courtesy of WomensCycling.net) is her winning Stage 3, 125k. full story and results here.   She's in the lead on GC with 2 stages left to go and an 11 second lead....COME ON KRISTIN!!!

Stage 5 is a 7K TT which is tommorow (er..today, tonight...crap these time differences screw with me)   and we know she's got the goods when it come to TT. 

Last stage, Stage 6 is a 40k Crit, and as long as she keeps the rubber to the road, no tme is gettin lost there....

Kristin is cool...she deserves the win, especially after putting up with us jackasses on the Coast Ride...she was even nice enough to fill my bottles one day...hehehehe (thanks for the photo Ben Hughes)

Follow the results here

Keep on keepin' on Kristin!!

take a flying leap

Happy Leap Day!

Once every four years and we don't even get the day off work? I mean come on....its just as random as Presidents day....or even Valentines day if you asked me...

This is a rare, limited edition of days, and that demands a certain amount of flexibility....especially when it comes to my behavior in or around the workplace....

It doesn't help that its Friday. I've been sick for what feels like a decade, and I am full recoop'ed and ready to roll like no other. I can't wait to get out on the bike this weekend...a little road riding, a little around town action on the fixie, and some hoopty hoppin on the bar bike.

ooooh...and Spring Classics are here!!!! Het Volk tomorrow on cycling.tv. I hate that site, but they've got me by the balls. I loves me some spring classics, and this time of year makes me buy all kinds of crazy cables and A/V crap so I can hook my computer up to the TV and watch it lifesize.

The pic above is pretty funny....I was cleaning out my messenger bag (a bad idea....I guess that counts as that thing I do every 4 years) and found that I had taken the pens from ALL the hotels we stayed in on the Coast Ride....kind of funny/neurotic/clepto...but cool(ish)

What else...I was checking out my favorite blog....here, and saw that Stevil posted this link to a Petition for Google Maps to put "Bike there" option in the Directions....so, click here to SIGN THE PETITION AND PUT BIKES ON THE MAP!!!!

Do something today that you would only do every 4 years....cause you have an excuse.

...and go ride you bike dammit

keep it poppin.

different angle

sometimes you have to do things a little differently to discover something new...and sometimes you just have to go with it.  My day yesterday started with Jury Duty...me, the courthouse, and 150 other strangers in misery.  I managed to wait in about 300 lines, and filled out various documents, and got myself out of the hole deal. At least until September.  In the mean time it put me in Tribeca...just so happened I ned to go to Brooklyn to pick up some parts for the fixie, and I was very close to the Manhattan Bridge.  I've never been across that unit, so I decided to walk it. Beautiful day, nice views etc...glad I did it.  Picked up the parts, then found this kick ass little car that looked like a vintage Smart car....and check the license plate...

then the day just kept going and going. I met up with Phillippe and Aya....some shopping, some coffee, and finally dinner at Freeman's...all in all...a pretty brilliant day.

old school

this is what happens when you have a cold, and can't go ride your bike.  you clean out that big box of cycling crap that is so over-stuffed and disorganized.  sometimes though....you find a kickass piece of cycling history....a remanant of a the days of EPO induced 1-2-3 podium sweeps....

sexywear 4 less

you see some funny ass low-rent shit in south florida. this is right off miami beach....in case you're in the market.

Danzig x Shakira

then there's this...

i don't deserve this thing...but its dope as shit none the less. 15.5 lbs, and those ain't the light wheels...

the dope shit

www.zerogravitybike.com

Limited edition...the magic words

only available here

how often...

do you get to ride with a world champion and olympic athlete....for 30+ hours? NOT THAT OFTEN!!   not to mention Kristin was giving me great relationship advice...cause i need as much of that as i can get. 30 hours of that was not nearly enough. kill 'em Kristin.

Thanks to Ben Hughes for the photo, and you can see the rest of his pics from the Coast Ride here

witch's tit-tay

that's how cold it was today.  11 american degrees.  i saw this frozen beer, or piss in the LES this am...either way, it has to be cold for that to freeze.  got to hang with my friend Steve Elmes today.  he was in from Boulder.  it was great to catch up, and it makes me really realize how many great friends i've made over the years, and i'm really happy that i have stayed in touch with the ones that matter.  no matter what else happens...i got that.

its coming...

click here for more info...

its that time of year again...

pimp ass new bike in pro build progress

Coast Ride on NBC

Kristin Armstrong has a cool blog on NBC Sports...its much more mature than the crap I write here...but she is an Olympian....She was on the Coast Ride, and she wrote about it here

Check out her site as well www.kristinarmstrongusa.com

Kristin is coached by my coach...the man, Mike Sherry and is partner Craig Upton...check them out too:www.performancelabshc.com

word.

back to reality

Smiley, Kristen Armstrong, Ben, and Mon Sherry chowin  some fish tacos J.Lo should really wear sunblock J.Lo and the man...Douggy T. Me, Bruce, J.Lo at the top of Latigo Look behind J.Lo and you can see the KICK ASS twisties we just climbed...LA is pretty cool.

Alas...Training camp is over...back to the cold, grey New York.  Monday was a big slap in the face since it was snowing...wet nasty snow.  not like the 65 and sun we had on the left coast...Never thought I would say it, but I could actually live in Cali....would be pretty cool...

Anyway...NY is NY....but I wanted to give the update on the last few days of the Coast Ride...

So Thursday Day 4, was Santa Barbara to Manhattan Beach...118 miles, again under 6 hours but just barely!!...5 hours, 58 minutes...3800 kcals down....this day felt like the longest recovery ride I have ever had...its nice to feel the fitness piling on.....Another massage from the master Douggy T, and all  is right in the world...its amazing how well you recover with massage, good food, and plenty of sleep...

Friday...Day 5...The Last (sniff, sniff) Day of the Coast Ride... Manhattan Beach to Carlsbad...

110 miles, 6 hours (headwind)  3900 kcals...

I won the final town line sprint into Carlsbad...I didn't shift gears, and I stayed in Zone 2 to do it...thats sweet...glory is mine, and the first beer was on Chris Hauth...

We finished the ride, then I rode directly to the Hertz joint and picked up the rental car....people really look at you funny when you drive a car with a bike helmet on..

Then back to hotel for Dinner, final Douggy T magic, and hit the road.  Me, Molloy, J.Lo, and Mike Sherry were heading up to LA to hang with our boy Bruce, and do some hill work in the Canyons...

THAT....Was a sweet ride.  4 hours, 70 miles, 12 miles of climbing, and some kick ass twisty descents...I love that stuff....

So all in all...7 days of riding, 670 miles total, 38 hours of saddle time.  Not a bad training week.

Word.