Pro License

License came in the mail USA cycling exchanged my bmx license for a mountain bike license.

I look forward to license time because I get to Photoshop an image for the back…

2008
Neanderthal hockey player theme


2009
devil theme

I don’t think the picture even matters , I’ve never had anyone who was processing my registration look at the back of the license.

sometimes when i'm bragging about how i am pro people think that means that i make a living riding my bike, have a mechanic, coach, someone who massages my legs after the race, that i am constantly sighing autographs and eating meals prepared by my team chief.

they confuse a pro tour de France rider with a pro American mountain biker.

from what i hear the top 5 in the nation make a salary they can live off of and are in magazines regularly fitting the description that you would think belongs to a professional athlete. the rest are just glorified weekend warriors.

i think there should be a sub categories in the pro field to distinguish between the different variety of pro mountain bikers.

best (best in the nation, On national traveling teams, in magazines regularly and make a living riding)

good (competitive, Still have dreams and ambitions of one day being in the best category)

poor (trying their best not to get lapped)

Cracked frame with a missing seat collar DIY

DIY

Cracked frame with a missing seat collar

use bondo and electrical tape

Why do mountain bikers have so many excuses?

Why do mountain bikers have so many excuses?

I think cyclists in general have a lot of excuses. If there was an excuse-o-meter that located excuses I am confidant that the highest concentration of excuses on earth would be at the finish line of bike races.


There are a lot of things that can go wrong with your bike and your self. So a lot of the excuses are justified but other times not so much.

Excuses aren’t necessarily a bad thing, they can be helpful. As long as you can convince yourself that the excuse you use are true you can reap the benefits of having more confidence and a better self esteem

Telling your self excuses helps build confidence by taking away all the blame from your self and putting it on things , events, conditions and other people.

“Its not my fault I would have won that race if it wasn’t for my (bad knee, crappy bike, other people getting in my way, my inappropriate tire tread pattern, bla bla bla Ect. Ect. Ect.)

In a way, you convince your self that you have no control over what happens to you. this creates some comfort knowing that things are out of your hands and that you arn't responsible for the outcome.

In my next deep thoughts I will give detailed examples of how mountain bikers can use excuses to their benefit.

monster bike fa fa fa freesyla

be be be be be be be ba boop fa fa fa freesyla!!!

Yea!!!

why i hate myself

Burns Pacing

Rode with John Burns yesterday. We did a road ride 2+ hours . John is on good form. I spent 95% of the ride staring at his rear wheel.

every time I tried pulling around him my legs protested so I just settled in and accepted that I am the weaker rider and that john is the alpha rider.

It was like a motor pacing. According to this persons blog, motor pacing simulates race pace and being in a peloton. Pretty useless for mountain bikers.

Here is pretty much how are ride looked (john is the scooter , im the other guy)...

my fat face

John being faster than me

me eating john's face... tastes like chicken

mount a ride

top of Mount Agammentiicus

Yesterday I hoped to get a ride in on some trails but they were snowed over so I passed on that idea and instead I went up and down the access road @ mount Agammentiicus a few times. Mount A isn’t actually a mountain based on the classification I heard but it has a steep access road that is nice for training on. I used only my rear breaks on the way down thinking it might wear off the layer of motor oil that got on my break pads while seading my rim.

not sure if it worked or not

I was feeling every extra pound I put on over the winter... I’m glad the first race doesn’t have much climbing.snow covered trail

i like big sunglasses

Elton John dose too

BMX race license replaced for a mountain bike license.

The kind people at USA cycling helped me out with getting my BMX race license replaced for a mountain bike license.

I don’t know what I would have done if they had told me i had to pay for another license...


i have more self control than that.

BMX license

i opened a letter from USA cycling today it was my license.... but it was a BMX license...

oops... hopefully i can get that straitened out before the first race (hopbrook dam on April 5th)

BMX dose look cool...



i wounder how many concussions and broken bones it would take to master that course?

Mike king was in that interview.
I had it brought to my attention by my editor that Mike king resembles a younger Version of Bill Richardson.


Mike has been around since the beginning of gravity mountain bike races.

race motivation

In case you need some motivation for the upcoming race season…
I got both kinds here; whichever works for you.

Tough love



kind love



I like the kind love.

My 30 year plan to cycling success

I’ve been riding more lately so when I went to the gym yesterday and stood on the scale I expected to have lost a couple of pounds. The exact opposite happened I weighed 4 pounds more!!! Guess I’ve been indulging more than usual in my post ride meals.

I now weigh 174 lbs that’s close to 10 lbs more than my racing weigh last year. I already didn’t consider myself much of a climber but I may have an even harder time this year.

I’ve been lifting weights regularly so I think its muscle, maybe it’s visceral fat but I don’t think so.

it might not be such a bad thing to have a little bit extra weight. I took a class in college on the biology of aging and the teacher talked about how the body loses muscle mass with age. In this article they mention how a person will lose half there muscle mass in their life time. Most people lose about 1-2 percent a year after your 30 years of age.

This article mentions even though fatter people need to deal with all the side effects that go along with being fat (heat disease, hypertension, diabetes) they normally they have more muscle mass and that can help them in their older age.

Women live longer than men and they also have on average more body fat.

Maybe its more healthy to have a few extra pounds of fat and muscle to live a healthy long life.

Here is my plan...

My goal is to pack on muscle, a little bit of fat and keep my bone density dense so when I do start wasting away I will be at a more advantageous stating point.



By the time I am 60 my body will have emaciated away to the ideal size to be an elite cyclist. My cycling Achievements will make me so popular and rich that I will be able to afford a lambo and will be able to get any 60-year-old girlfriend I want (hopefully by then there will be more money in mountain biking).

+

=

cycling success

mini team time trial

went for a ride with John Burns and Andrew Freye. we did are own mini team time trial the entire 3.5 hours. by far the longest and hardest ride i've done in a while. here is a reenactment of are ride...

MTB XC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS xc video

MTB XC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS



Yea!!!

MTB XC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS xc video

How would mountain bike racing egalitarianism work?

How could everyone feel like they had a equally valued racing experience, feel eaqally respected and not feel less than anyone else?

Since those who enjoy the greatest material and emotional benefit from performing well at bike races are not likely to wish to part with it willingly, some form of rules would need to be implemented to force a solution.

In this hypothetical race situation First you would have to do away with the names of the category’s that separate riders into bad (beginner) better (sport), even better (expert) best (pro). it would need to be a classless race where no body is separated out by skill or gender # of speeds, # of people on the bike. it would just be one lump group category.


No riders could be sponsored that way make unsponsored riders feel inadequate.


Results wouldn’t be posted because again someone might feel inadequate.

there wouldn’t be a typical first second third place on the podium


After the race everyone would shake hands and congratulate each other at the award ceremony where everyone would have their name called and an identical good job ribbon given to each participant.


There would be no motivation to get any better but also no reason to feel bad about your performance. We could focus more effort on loving each other and less on proving we are better than each other.

Send a letter to NORBA officials saying you want egalitarian races. they will know what you mean.

Mailing Address:
USA Cycling
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO 80909

How to sead a tire onto a rim?

How to sead a tire onto a rim?

When dealing with tubeless variety rims and tires this can be a real challenge. Tubeless are designed to be a tight fit so air won’t leak out. Putting something slippery on the outside edge of the tire will help make this process easier but don’t just use any slippery thing you see within arms reach like motor oil, like I just did 20 minutes ago.

What a mess, it did sead the tire but I wouldn’t recommend it, it was just too messy.
Based on what I read and what I normally use soap is the best thing (and be liberal about it) it can wash off with water afterward (unlike motor oil).

A fast influx of air using an air compressor is also a big help to get the tire to seal to the rim to start accepting air.

Pump the tire up to 75 psi, this will help make sure the tire is completely seaded.

I’ve never tried this technique before but it looks like it works well…

Should mountain bikers shave their legs?

Should mountain bikers shave their legs?

Lets weigh both side...

Shaving

Look pro: Shaving your legs is more popular amongst professional (high level) mountain bikers . so if you are trying to look pro shaving your legs will help

less chance of infection: less hair means less chances of infection, an easier to clean wound, bandages will stick on better and be easier to remove.

Washing made simpler: its easier to clean dried mud off legs

Massages made simpler: use less lotion and its less gross for the person doing the massaging

Not shaving

Don’t Look feminine: out side the cycling world it is considered weird and girly to shave ones legs

Time saver: shaving your legs a few times a week can add up.

No Razor burn: if you are new to shaving your legs, it can happen and be pretty annoying.

my opinion

I don’t shave my legs, mostly because I see it as optional homework. It might be helping but the benefits just aren’t that noticeable (benefits not worth time). However, I can understand people who do shave and if I rode more and got massages I would shave my legs too.

for your typical recreational rider or entry level racer I'd say don't do it. above that it's a maybe , once you get up to high level pro it seems like they all do it.