TheSeatPost

Now We're Racing

2010-07-26T13:14:00.004-04:00

Well, it's about time for a race report since I'm halfway through the season. I'm writing this from the backseat of the Motown Velo-mobile. Those guys were nice enough to offer a ride to me when the rest of the Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling Team decided to race elsewhere. Thanks guys!

We're on our way back from the little beaver chainring challenge wvmba race held at little beaver state park just east of Beckley WV. Those of you who pay attention will know that Beckley is about as far from Morgantown as you can be and still be in the same state.

That's why we started our drive at 6:30 a.m. That's right. Those velo boys like to show up early.

It seemed extra early since I hadn't gotten to sleep until after 1 a.m. and managed to wake up every hour on the hour for no good reason. This was all after a great night celebrating my girlfriend finishing up her Ph.D. dissertation and scheduling her defense. Go Laura!

Not to mention swapping tires, replacing a chain, a pedal bearing, and swapping cleats before going to bed. Should have done that days ago, but you work with what you have, no? I swapped from Kenda small block 8s to Nevegals. This race course is relatively flat but ridiculously tight twisty and rocky. The nevegals don't roll as fast and are a bit heavier, but are sticky like glue and have enough volume to tackle the rock gardens at speed.
I'd also like to point out how easy it is to work on crankbrothers pedals. It felt like my pedal bearing had a little play in it and it took less than 3 minutes to replace it and clean and lube the rest of the pedal. Plus a rebuild kit is less than $20 bones. Plus they have a new generation of pedals just hitting the market that look really impressive. Look for a review as soon as I get my hands on some.

After 3 hours on the road, an hour sitting around, and an hour getting ready and getting warmed up it was time to race.

It started up a quarter mile dirt road and then dumped the field into 7 miles of sweet singletrack.

Steve R. punched it from the gun and pulled his brother and newly crowned state champ, Jeremy, and Rob from North Carolina into the singletrack first. I jumped into the woods around 7th position. After a couple miles of following I saw some open space and made my move and managed to bridge up to and pass steve on a long flat rooty/rocky section. This brought me to the only real climb on the course, a 300 meter long wall covered with cross roots and loose rocks. I've won this race overall the past two years on my trusty Cannondale singlespeed, but I've never cleaned the wall. Until today! Which was really awesome because I caught Jeremy at the top and could see Rob just up the trail.

What wasn't awesome was my heartrate which was hovering somewhere near 5000 beats per minute. So my small victory over the wall meant I was spent the rest of the first lap trying to recover. With the heat and humidity it was no small task and I resigned myself to chasing the leaders down later.

Coming through the start/finish I was about 30 seconds down. My heart wasn't quite in it as I started that second lap though, more in ride fast mode rather than race mode and I wasn't making up time where I should have been.

By the third lap I was over a minute down but starting to feel better. That all fell apart the third time up the wall. I remounted at the top and promptly crashed into a tree while taking a drink. I slowly gathered myself and then slowly rode through the many many rock gardens over the next couple miles.

...
Ah the quiet trails baked in beautiful afternoon sunlight. Moss covered rocks, deer roaming around...*clunk clunk clunk* huh?

Rider back. Time to go! That's what I get for getting complacent.

I punched for the last half lap and managed to hold off Joey Riddle who had snuck up on me while I was lost in revelry. Felt good to race real hard for a bit.

So 3rd overall, first singlespeed. A nice confidence booster after the last few weeks. Plus my time was close to the (unofficial) course record that I set two years ago which was good given that I didn't feel that great and it was omg so hot.

We stayed for lots of food and friendly banter leading up to the awards. Another solid day of racing in the books.

Almost. We still had to get home! We packed the convoy and headed out into increasingly gloomy skies. They opened up with a torrent of rain just as we drove past our exit. 15 miles later when we got to a strange toll booth we figured out we were off course. So we got a bonus scenic detour through our states capital city. Only 45+ minutes out of the way. On top of a 3+ hour drive. Got home around 9. 15 hour day.

And loving every minute.

Keep the rubber side down.

~RoLo

What is worse than sandbagging? Special Guest Blogger!

2010-07-14T17:09:00.004-04:00

I don’t have a team blog, or a team for that matter. I have a road bike I bought used for $500 when I started riding bikes four years ago. For training, I ride with my friends. I race road bikes on Saturday and mountain bikes on Sundays in order to push myself and to take my mind off of graduate school. This is my first race report. I guess it is the first time I have been inspired to write one, or I should say inspired to write my own in response to one.

There were seven women’s Cat 4 (including myself), and two women’s Cat 1/2/3 at the start of the Barbour County Detour in Phillipi on July 3^rd. We began the race as a combined group along with the men’s masters’ field. Doing this always insures that the women’s Cat 4 riders get completely “strung out” from the beginning of the race as we get dropped from the main pack. I held the pace of the main group as long as I could as we travelled up the 2 mile climb out of downtown Phillipi. Tina Kirk was the only Cat 4 rider in front of me as I fell off, and she managed to hold on just a little longer putting a 30 yard gap between us. She crested the climb with a men’s vet rider and they begun to work together. Behind me on the top of the climb were two Steel City Endurance riders, one Cat 3 (Patty George) and a Cat 4 (Stacie Truszkowski). I decided to wait and work with them to catch Tina. I turns out this is where I made my fatal mistake. I incorrectly assumed that Patty, who just upgraded to Cat 3, had every incentive to catch Tina. Surely she wouldn’t want any of the Cat 4 women to finish before her. I made it clear to the Steel City girls that I wanted to trade pulls to bridge the gap, Tina was in sight and in my estimation, easily catchable if we worked together. However, it soon became apparent to me that Patty was just there to pull Stacie along, and Tina fell out of sight.

Because Betsy was the only other Cat 1/2/3, Patty could peddle with one foot and pick her nose the entire race and still get second. In terms of placement, she had nothing to lose. By this point I didn’t think I could bridge the gap by myself, because I knew Tina had at least one other person to work with. So, I decided to just sit behind the Patty and Stacie. Patty is a super strong rider and she spent a majority of the time in front. However, because of our unaggressive riding “tempo” we were actually caught by another Cat 4 rider (Nina La Rosa) who was riding by herself. My frustration grew, and I finally made an attack to bump up the pace. This worked and I was able to drop Nina. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get away from Patty, and I wasn’t sure if there was a big enough climb in the Detour to pressure her to leave Stacie behind. If could get away, I was pretty sure Patty would be able to pull her back on the flats. At this point I just decided to keep riding my pace. I attached up a small climb and put a sizable gap on them. I also passed a men’s Cat 4 Steel City rider, who had started five minutes ahead of us, riding with one other guy. I knew the guys would most likely catch me on the downhill, since they were much larger than I. However, I was surprised to see Patty and Stacy come around with them. We rode on, and then they dropped back a little again before the long downhill back into town. At the bottom, they caught me at the little riser before the final turns. I knew I was pretty much f#$k*d. They are way too smart to get in front of me even though I slowed down. I just tried to go as hard as I could as I made the right and then left turn before the straight away. Patty led Stacie out behind me and Stacie ended up passing me right at the line. The official said I beat Patty on the line, but it was really close. So in the Cat 4 standings, Stacie got 2^nd and I 3^rd. Patty was second in the Cat 1/2/3 race (Betsy was 1^st), but if you combined the women’s field, Patty got 5^th overall.

I’ll be the first to admit that Stacie and Patty raced within the rules. However, this event left a very sour taste in mouth. I am all about working as a team, in happens all the time in cycling. However, this approach was very unsportsmanlike in this instance. Normally, if a faster rider decides to ride with a slower rider, they have to give up their place in the standings. This wasn’t the case. Patty was automatically in second. If she hadn’t just moved up the Cat 3, she would have taken 4^th in the Cat 4 race. But, if she was still a Cat 4 I would assume she would be chasing Tina down. Since she moved up, she was able to meddle in our race the entire time and collect her 2^nd place in the Cat 1/2/3’s (with more prize money than Tina’s second place in the Cat 4 race) and then go home and blog about it. Really? It is hard enough to be a female Cat 4 racer in WV without crap like this. The fields are small, we start the race with some of the fastest men around, and we often end up riding the entire distance by ourselves. Frequently, people ask me why I do it. I tell them that life is just better when you have something healthy to compete in. In fact, I’ve never won a race. I’m just happy to be part of the competition.

But, how do you compete with negative racing?

I can’t say this experience was all bad. I learned a lot, and some good things came of it.

1. I got riled up enough to write about something other than science.

2. I learned Betsy is bad “teammate” for not hanging out in the Cat 4 race J

3. My actual name was used in the Steel City Endurance blog this year instead of being referred to as “the other girl”

Ride fast. Race fair. Respect other riders. Promote women’s cycling.

No Mo Sno! (mostly... kinda)

2010-03-15T16:03:00.000-04:00

Well. Here we are. Today was the fifth ride outdoors this year. It came with the wonderful quality of being the first real mtb ride of the year (woohoo!).

Tbott was extra excited to go ride his new Cannondale RZ120 which is a new model this year clocking in with 5 inches of travel front and rear, crazy awesome (tm) pedaling efficiency and all around good times garaunteed.

I was to be abord the all trusty scalpel ready to remind me that while racing is 95% about the motor, having one of the nicest bikes on the planet makes full use of that last 5%. And if you are just out riding with your friends, it is just that much better.

I picked Dr. T up at his place and after a brief pause for him to check the torque on a newly installed carbon handlebar (with a proper torque wrench of course) and fir me to inhale some pintos and rice that I'd grabbed from the fridge when I realized that I'd probably want to eat at least once before we rode, we were off. Breakfast had been lost when I sprang forward in the morning.

Weather was lower to mid 40s and raining. There aren't that many times during the year when that sounds appealing. Luckily for us, mid march is one of those times!

The optimism was running high and coopers rock was the destination. After a week of ear weather and rain we were sure that the trails would at least be melted enough to ride. On the way up from cheat lake we were encouraged by only seeing scattered spots of snow only to have the situation reversed to scattered spots of dirt on e we reached the top. Plus the compacted areas where the trails had been walked/skiied on were even thicker than the regular ground cover with snow.

Plan b was b for bakers ridge. We thought maybe we'd catch some of Dan's dirt queens out for the Sunday jaunt but the parkinglot was empty to the max.

Trails were a great mix of super fun not too wet loamy good stuff along with a major helping of thick deep sloggy mud and slick greasy mud.

Looked like someone had been out with a chainsaw recently so trail obstructions were at a minimum, though b-tal and I did do our bit of trail cleaning as well. After a few laps on top plus seven logs trail and rooster we headed back to the car for a recovery beverage and dry shorts.

The Beverage of choice was supplied by the good doctor in the form of Whole Hog Imperial IPA. I do appreciate a nice hoppy IPA but I find most imperial brews don't gain much from the extra alcohol. This was no different, with a full bold flavor and grain liquor aftertaste. It certainly did accelerate us through our recovery window though, so good for that.

Looking forward to a great season ahead. See you there.

Crossword Answers

2009-11-04T14:48:00.002-05:00

Answers to the crossword:

Across

1 Madam

6 IDs

9 Gere

13 As Dio

14 Nay

15 Alai

16 ThermoDynamics

19 edu

20 Cretins

22 Rudeness

27 Arisen

28 Inert

29 Tam

31 Astro

32 Alan

33 Pre-Edit

35 LVL

36 Pai

37 com

38 Era

41 Seraphs

43 In An

44 Ashen

47 Loa

48 Ragga

49 Stings

51 Integral

53Tie Suit

55 ict

56 FluidMechanics

61 Lean

62 Ala

63 Rossi

64 Eels

65 Nil

66 Dress

Down

1 Material

2 Ash

3 DDE

4 Air

5 Moment

6 Industrial

7 Day

8 Sync

9 Gamer Aim

10 Elitist

11 Racist

12 Eisner

17 Lyric Poem

18 Ara

21 Sno

23 UNLV

24 Deal

25 Ern

26 SAE

30 Mechanical

33 Par

34 Dos

36 Penguins

38 Engr.

39 Raga

40 Analysis

41 Sensual

42 Poi

43 IAG

44 ast

45 Stifle

46 Hie Lee

48 Retard

50 Sid

52 tch

54 Tman

57 Eli

58 Nor

59 ise

60 CSS

Engineering crossword

2009-11-02T11:56:00.005-05:00

So last week I was bored in class after completing both the crossword and sudoku puzzles in the Daily Athenaeum (WVU's school newspaper). This was a Thursday. This is important because I have three one hour and fifteen minute classes that take place each Tuesday and Thursday. I'd completed the puzzles in the first class of the day, which left me with little to do other than pay attention (god forbid, right?) in the latter two. If you've met me then you know that there is very little chance of that happening for a seventy-five seconds, much less seventy-five minutes.

So I made my own engineering themed crossword. Enjoy. I'll post the answers later this week.

ACROSS

1 Dear ______ or Sir
6 Passport and License
9 Richard of Pretty Woman
13 Like former Black Sabbath front man Ronnie?
14 A vote against
15 Jai ____
16 Engineering Class with Van der Waals
19 School address ending
20 Obnoxious persons
22 Audacity
27 Elevated or standing
28 Like some gases
29 Scottish cap
31 Chevy van
32 Alda or Greenspan
33 Revise before submitting for review
35 What you want to up in World of Warcraft (abbr)
36 Grand Canyon tribe
37 Business address ending
38 Epoch
41 High order angels
43 Aerosmith song Love ___ Elevator
44 Gray
47 Mauna ___
48 Type of Reggae music
49 Bees’ defenses
51 Area under the curve
53 Two things to wear to an interview
55 User: Add___
56 Engineering Class with Bernoulli
61 Recline
62 Winglike part
63 Italian MotoGP great
64 Morays e.g.
65 Zero
66 Garb

DOWN

1 With 40-down, what an engineer uses to evaluate substances
2 Fire leftover
3 34th Pres.
4 Broadcast
5 Force times distance from an axis
6 Type of engineer
7 7th of a week
8 Update your iPod
9 Self-improvement area for HALO?
10 Pompous one
11 Prejudiced one
12 Former Disney VIP
17 Lyric Poem
18 Heavenly Altar
21 Cold treat: ___ - cone
23 Nevada school
24 Hand out cards
25 Sea eagle
26 Tech. org. for car enthusiasts
30 Type of engineer
33 Expected score
34 Hairstyles
36 Pittsburgh pro team
38 Who will solve this puzzle? (abbr.)
39 Type of Indian music
40 See 1-down
41 Sexy
42 Luau treat
43 Niagra airport code
44 Ship’s cargo: Ball___
45 Muffle
46 Make haste to shelter?
48 Slow down
50 Sex Pistol’s Vicious
52 Scra___ an I___
54 Czech town
57 One Manning brother
58 Neither this ___ that
59 Suffix with real or prom
60 HTML formatting language

Wet Ride

2009-08-11T21:20:00.002-04:00

Ah, the joys of summer weather patterns.

It seems that these days, without fail, the skies conspire against the casual cyclist like a middle school bully slamming another student against a locker and throwing their homework in the trash (this may or may not have happenned to me) just when they thought it was safe to roam the halls.

In this same spirit, the summer thunder showers happen to break the skies open just the instant that we Lycra-clad warriors leave our day jobs to do our own homework on the bike. Just as soon as we hastily clock out so we can make the most of these long summer days, we see on our windows a sudden splash. We hear the unmistakable rythm of rain starting to fall, lulling us into complacency. And surrounded by the promise of a beautiful tomorrow, at least a beautiful 10 am to 6 pm tomorrow, our motivation drops ever so slightly. And with each subsequent rain drop it falls even more until before we realize it we are laying down on the couch with a beer thinking, "this isn't so bad."

Well brothers and sisters, the next time you hear yourself thinking those words, think not of the chance to ride again tomorrow. Think not of the empty promises we make to ourselves day in and day out.

Think instead of the days in February and March when you would love to be riding in the warm rain. Think of the days when you will get off work and the sun will have long since set. Think of the beautiful days when your off the bike responsibilities keep you from the open road. These days are limited, and we are not at the mercy of the weather, but of our own resolve.

Where we ride, we constantly test ourselves against the elements, against the road conditions, unclimbable hills and dangerous descents. We ride in extreme temperatures and humidity so high we might as well be riding in the rain.

So go ahead and ride in the rain. Take your blinky and arm warmers if you are afraid of the unknown, but go there boldly regardless of fear. Our days are numbered and each day we waste is a regret we will carry on our shoulders forever.

Tee Time

2009-07-24T13:03:00.001-04:00

Over a dozen years of racing on the WVMBA circuit have helped me develop strong legs, lasting friendships, and as I realized this morning, one gigantic collection of T-shirts.

I have nearly 100 Tshirts here with well over half from bicycle related activities. And that's not counting the ones that went straight to the rag pile, which is where about a third of these are going.

Thank you, race promoters, for your unwaveringly ugly shirts, your inability to pass up "exciting" colors, and your confidence in your nephew's Tshirt design talent. You have kept me stylish and given me a rag to clean my chain all at once.

I have a job.

2009-07-23T22:55:00.000-04:00

When you go to the bike shop in July, please don't greet your friendly neighborhood mechanic with, "did you see Contador drop Cloden?" or,"Andy Schlecks just couldn't drop the yellow jersey."

We have to work during the day. We don't have live updates on our phones. We aren't reading about it online. We certainly don't have versus on at the shop.

But we are huge fans of the sport that we love and though we don't have versus at home (we can't afford such luxuries), we do have friends with cable at whose houses we will watch the day's stage after the after work ride.

So come in. Talk about your ride. Talk about yesterday's stage. But please don't tell me about what happened today in the tour.

I have an iPhone

2009-07-23T01:34:00.000-04:00

So now I can mobile blog or some such nonsense. Just crazy.

Yippee.

Sunday Ride

2009-07-19T23:58:00.003-04:00

Had a great ride today. Didn't quite make 50 miles, though I did break 50 mph coming down summer school road. Did doug hill to the railtrail to reedsville to the kingwood pike to summerschool to the railtrail and then around town. All by myself which must mean that I'm going ok because I have to feel good to do something like that without external motivation. The mp3 in one ear for the rail trail sections certainly didn't hurt though. I'm getting into the meat of my season (which runs July through September pretty much. I don't like training when it is cold outside) and I'm excited to be racing and have it feel good.

A highlight was just as I crossed into Mon county on the bike, I saw writing on the road, which it being tour season I hoped said something like "go Robbie!" or maybe "go lance" but instead it said "I bang the slut".... In spray paint on the road. I guess they didn't feel they were getting enough credit for their great accomplishment. well, good for them.

Didn't do the race at Valley Falls today as I didn't get back to town until 3:00 this afternoon. I was in Cleveland attending my sister's wedding (congrats Summer!). Though I would look for just about any reason to avoid the Valley Falls race. It is evil and not much fun. The sport course had 4000 feet of climbing in 12.2 miles. That's just rediculous. Plus as I'm racing singlespeed class, incredibly painful. The climbs are steep. The trails are ok, but not great, and the descents are steep, fast, and dangerous without giving time to recover or being even relatively fun. On the other hand, I'm kind of a wimp and I'm sure the people who went had a great time.

More updates soon. A lot has gone on, but I'm going to reup it here.

See you on the trails.

Big Blog Update

2009-06-11T12:03:00.002-04:00

Big Blog Update

So I haven’t posted here in a while. It’s time for a big fat update! So what’ve I been up to in the Last Six Months (LSM)? Lots of exciting things.

For example I grew a stylish beard.

Then I cut it off and won $10,000 to start my business—SpokeArt. What??

Check it out at www.SpokeArt.com. There’s a lot o work left to do on the site, but check back often as we’ll be updating regularly.

So how did I win $10,000? Well, it was more than shaving off my beard, that’s for sure. Each year the WVU Entrepreneurship center (which I can now spell) holds a state-wide collegiate business plan competition. It starts in the fall semester. Any full time college student in the state of WV can enter a business idea in the form of a 3-5 page business summary. This past year, over 90 entries. A panel of judges composed of entrepreneurs, bankers, lawyers, businesspersons, etc reads the plans and score them.

The top 20 entries move on to round two, which is a two minute “elevator pitch” in front of the attendees of the West Virginia Entrepreneurship Initiative Conference, who double as judges for this day. The pitch is followed by a series of interviews with judges (again, all sorts of business persons) in a speed-dating sort of format. Eight minutes with each judge.

Here I should point out that entrants are teams of one to four students. Most entries are for new business ideas, but one can also enter an idea that is an expansion of an existing business into a significantly different direction. There are two different categories: Lifestyle (product/service oriented) and Innovation (technology oriented). I was the only person on my team. About a day after it was too late to add team members I realized that I probably should have tried to find someone to help me with the financial end of things. I did eventually, but I’ll get to that.

So the scores from round one and round two were combined and the top 5 in each category progress to round three. In the lifestyle category, SpokeArt moved on along with a business planning on marketing used books to prisoners, a calorie tracking Iphone app, a waterpark/lasertag/arcade indoor amusement center, and a comparison shopping website aimed at the growing e-commerce markets in Blugaria. Innovation finalists included two teams working on hybrid upgrades for cars, a waterproof remote for wake-boarders, a foundation stabilization specialty company (walmarts everywhere are sinking), and a company focusing on brining sustainable green practices to Marshall University and surrounding areas.

Round three is a doozy. It takes the entire spring semester. There is a weekend retreat filled with speakers and meetings with business coaches, lawyers, etc, a series of online classes on everything from getting a business license to market research to proper accounting processes.

This is all to help entrants create a full business plan. It is a 30-40 page document (not including any appendixes) that covers everything about the business from ownership structure, start up costs, management structure, sales projections over several years, marketing and advertising plans, and a bunch of financial analysis. Sounds like fun, no?

Before we got to any of that though, we had to complete a feasibility study, which is a bunch of research to see if your idea is as good as you think it is. This is where most business ideas stop. It’s an annoyingly long step that is apparently critical to business success. Mine showed that SpokeArt has a chance to succeed. Which is good, yeah? Another team found out that their idea was not anywhere near commercially viable. I’m not sure if they just sort of coasted in from there or if they tried to find a different product. They were in the other category and writing a business plan while working and schooling and training *cough cough*.

An aside—why did I sign up for this in the first place? Well, it wasn’t because I was convinced that bending spokes into pleasing shapes was going to make me rich. Not near it. It was because I realized that even though I’ve been around business people of sorts my whole life (my father, for instance has owned his own construction business for quite some time, and I’ve been working at a relatively successful bicycle/outdoors store for the last 6 years), that I had no real idea how business works. Sure, you buy things, sell them for more, and sell services, but there has to be more than that, right? So I figured the best way to find out more would be to toss myself into the deep end. So the night before the deadline, I typed up 3 pages of SpokeArt goodness, and submitted it. I hoped to make round two to learn more. I never really thought that I’d win 10 Gs.

The first go point was the weekend getaway, held in Morgantown in February. We had a variety of speakers and we met our business coaches (yep, each team got a business leader of their very own to help them with all this stuff. And there is a lot of stuff). My coach was a fantastic woman named Kim, who works for the Small Business Administration. She gave me the best help anyone could have. I said, “I’m worried about figuring out how to define my market, how to project sales, how to define my customer, how to figure out fixed costs. . .” etc etc etc. She just looked at me and said, “Oh, that’s easy!” It’s easy? Seriously? Sweet!

I left the weekend super-motivated to get to work. The $1000 stipend that each finalist gets to cover expenses such as business cards, business licensing, and business plan printing didn’t hurt. Plus, it is our money to do with what we please. Apparently a couple years ago a member of a finalist team took half the money and used it to take a ski trip to Colorado. He did it without telling anyone he was leaving or taking the money either. Another reason to pick your team wisely. That’s one reason I only picked me. I’m smart, I’m motivated, and I can deal with myself if I mess up.

I then proceeded to do nothing but occasionally brainstorming for the next two months. Did I mention that I’m a founding member of the National Association of Procrastinators Pursuing Extensions and Reprieves from Studies (NAPPERS)? Well, I am. Luckily, in addition to Kim, I found some more help. First, I hired my long time friend Mike to do research for me. That was a big time saver. Second, inspired by the contest I had signed up for a business minor and had enrolled in an introductory accounting course. My professor, a fantastic woman by the name Nancy Lynch, had at the beginning of the semester agreed to be a faculty advisor to me in the competition and I’d had maybe one meeting with her to ask her a few questions before the last three weeks before the business plan was due.

The real weight of what I had left to do settled in with about three weeks to go. I talked to a few other teams and found out that I wasn’t that far ahead or behind anyone else. So we’re all procrastinators! Surprise surprise. So I got down to work and started typing. Started compiling my research. Started working hard on my sales projections, working with a bunch of gigantic excel spreadsheets. I asked my accounting professor to help me go over the whole pro-forma (start up costs, sales projections, costs projections, projected balance sheets, income statements, etc etc). Turns out that Nancy, oops, Professor Lynch is just one of those fantastic amazing people you sometimes meet. She spent hours and hours helping me with each item, making sure it all worked together, making sure my balance sheets balanced, making sure my sales looked good. We worked daily for two weeks strait to make sure that my financials were in order. In the mean time, I got to writing and sent rough drafts out to several people including my friend Jeff, the journalist, my wonderful girlfriend Laura, my sister, Professor Lynch, and my business coach, Kim. Each sent back different and useful feedback.

The persons who run the competition, Mindy Walls and Kelley Kerns, strongly encourage contestants to go find help. It is part of the learning process and it is part of learning to be an entrepreneur. There are all kinds of assistance available to persons starting a business in WV, and if you are ever starting a business, you too should look for help wherever you can. It was just required that we wrote the business plan.

There was one other source of information that really helped me shape my plan. Dragon’s Den. It is a show on BBC where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of self-made millionaires (the Dragons) in an attempt to gain funding for their business ideas. The Dragons are very sharp and don’t hold back with questions and criticism. Just watching a few episodes showed me what information one has to have before they launch a business, and they have to have it down.

1) Cost of production. How much does it cost to make? How is it going to be made?

2) Target market. Who is going to buy this and how many of them are there?

3) Marketing Plan. How are you going to bring this to market?

If you can’t answer all three questions, you don’t stand a chance against the dragons. Plus, your answers have to be good.

I actually had managed to complete my business plan with a whole couple days to spare. I spent the last two days working with Laura to make sure there were no typos, and to make sure that my layout and formatting and charts all looked good. Really good. I figured out a long time ago that most of the time, if you sweat the details, you’ll be way ahead of the curve. Turns out I haven’t gotten far enough in life that sweating the details is just par for the course.

So, here we go. Got the thing printed on recycled paper, bound with a professional clear plastic binder, and turned it in with 10 minutes left to spare before the noon deadline on April 8^th. All done, right?

Well, no, you see that was only half of it. The second half of the final round is a twenty minute presentation followed by another twenty minutes of Q&A from the judges. Sounds like fun!

So the next two weeks was spent creating a 20 minute powerpoint presentation. 10 slides. As few words as possible. Cover the Bases. Anticipate questions and answer them in the presentation. Reference the Plan. Be charming. Speak clearly. Speak Loudly. Keep the pace slow. Cut the Chaff. Practice pra….

I only really got to run through it twice start to finish. And those were both drafts. The final speech had a different intro and had a few slides rearranged. This is where all my dorky high school extracurriculars paid off. I participated in plays and competitive speech competitions through-out high school. Even went to nationals my senior year. This public speaking experience (as well as story telling experience) is something that has consistently set me apart from yeah my peers. Get your kids into the arts. I did sports too and I can tell you that my experience in music and theatre classes did more to provide me with skills to be successful in life than any sports program.

Anyway, the presentation went well. Really well. Afterwards the judges had more comments than questions and they were all very positive. The other contestants weren’t quite so lucky as they mostly had hard questions or harsh comments. Woohoo!

After that I had a bit of free time to hang with the ‘rents before heading over to the awards luncheon where I was presented with a gigantic novelty check. And who doesn’t love giant novelty checks?

So now I’m in business. I’ve got a cube and a workshop and I’m going at this for real. SpokeArt is currently available at the Pathfinder, Tamarack, and Marathon Cycles in Fayetteville. It is on its way to numerous other bike shops, outdoors stores, art houses, and online.

Take a look at the website. Tell me what you think. Let me know if you know of anywhere that would like to sell something like this! And thanks again to all the people that helped me get here. Couldn't have done it without each and every one of you.

~Rolo

Sunday Ride

2009-02-23T22:23:00.003-05:00

Ouch.

4 1/2 hours with team bi-atch.

Left the house at quarter after twelve, sped down the hill and marvelled at the supersuit. I've had it for two years and it still astounds me that I can go out in 25 degree cloudy windy weather and be completely warm in just tights, base layer, jersey, gloves & hat.

Picked up James and Jake and headed up to the shogren's lair. Met up there with Gunnar, Betsy, and Chris and rode to bakers to meet the rest of the Sunday ride. 15 set off and hilarity and muddiness ensued. After everyone else left, we did a couple more laps, fixed chains and flats, had a beer, and dove over the hill behind the new University High School on mysterious logging roads until good ol' Legs of Fire spat us out on the rail trail.

Bonked at the base of the final climb up to the house. Had to stop and eat a granola bar. made it. Great ride. Check out fatboybikes or team-bi-atch blogs for photos and/or more involved ride reports.

Goal for this week: Ride again before Sunday!

Rubber side down, mostly

~Rolo

Tech Talk Tuesdays: Glue Your Tubies!!!!

2009-02-23T21:57:00.006-05:00

So, you've decided to purchase expensive wheels with glued on tires to "feel pro" and "maybe be able to win a race or something or at least not suck as much" because "this isn't near as effective a performance enhancer as getting a personal coach and/or just riding more, yet it is more expensive." Now what do you do next?

Read all instructions twice before mounting tires. I've been riding, gluing, and repairing tubulars off and on for the last 10 years. This is my method for gluing.

Robbie's Tubular Gluing Guide:

Things you need:

2 tubular tires with any valve extenders or sealant installed.

2 tubes glue. One is usually not quite enough, so it's nice to have an extra tube just in case. Note that at maximum you will need 1.5 tubes of glue, so 3 tubes should do two wheelsets.

Toothbrush for easy glue application. Don't use your good one as this will be it's last brushing.

Rubber/latex/nitrile gloves to keep your hands clean.

Acetone for safe rim prep and cleanup.

A week before you plan on using them.

Step 1: Stretching

Mount your tire onto your rim and inflate to 125 psi. Leave it there for at least a day, preferably a week. This stretches the tire out and makes mounting it with glue way way way easier. Note to see if there are any lumps or bulges in the tire. You may have to slightly widen the valve hole (not recommended for carbon) to get the valve to sit properly. Make sure to carefully inspect the tire because the warranty period ends when the tire is glued.

Step 2: Rim prep

This is an optional but highly recommended step. Dab a bit of acetone on a clean rag and clean the gluing surface of the rim. This assures a clean surface for proper adhesion. If you're extra paranoid about using glued on tires, you can rough the surface with emery paper (1000+ grit sand paper) and then clean with acetone.

Step 3: Gluing

Put your gloves on and get your toothbrush ready. You'll be applying a total of 5 coats of glue. Coats of glue need to be very thin. You don't want the glue on the rim any thicker than .5 millimeter. Glue needs time to set up between coats. I recommend a minimum of 8 hours between coats of glue, and prefer to let them sit for 24 between
coats.

Tire: 2 coats. Deflate the tire and roll inside out and hang on the back of a chair or similar. Be sure to protect whatever is around you because the tubular glue is tough to clean off fabrics (and, well, just about anything else too). Use your toothbrush to apply a thin coat covering the entire base tape. Let tire dry in a safe clean place, being careful not to contaminate the glue. After glue has dried, apply second coat in the same manner and let dry.

Wheels: 3 coats. Mount the wheel in a truing stand or on your upside down bicycle. Use your toothbrush to apply a thin coat of glue to the rim all the way around, being careful not to get any glue on the sidewall. Wipe off any glue on the sidewall with a clean rag with a dab of acetone on it. After the first coat dries, apply a second coat in the same manner and let dry.

Step 4: Mounting. This is the hard part.

Apply the third coat of glue to the rim and let sit for 15-30 minutes to let the glue get good and tacky before mounting the tire.

Wet your hands with water. This will keep the glue from sticking to your hands while you mount the tire.

Start at the valve. Install the valve and vigorously stretch the tire onto the rim, slowly working your way around the wheel evenly. When you get to the last few inches of the tire, you'll suddenly appreciate your patience in letting the tire stretch for as long as you did. Use your thumbs to lift the last bit of tire onto the rim. If you didn't stretch the tire vigorously enough when you started mounting, this will be impossible, or nearly so. You may have to start over a few times before you get the tire all the way onto the rim. Clean any glue off the braking surface with acetone.

Step 5: Centering

Once you have the tire on the rim, inflate the tire with just enough air for it to hold its shape. Use your truing stand or your brakes to center the tire on the rim. You need to make sure that the tire is centered and not twisted. You can use the base tape as a reference point, but don't rely on it as it may not be strait. Also make sure that the tire doesn't have any lumps or bulges and sits in the tire track all the way around.

Step 6: Waiting

Inflate the tire to 125 psi. Let sit for at least 48 hours before riding. This is to allow the glue to fully bond. The pros let glue
sit for a week usually. Skipping or skimping on any of these steps can result in a weak tire/rim bond and when a tire rolls off a rim, it isn't pretty. Just youtube Joseba Beloki's crash on stage 9 of the 2003 Tour de France.

Notes on tubular tires:

Just 'cause the max psi is really high doesn't mean you should run the max pressure. On anything. Ever.
The extra supple casing on the tubulars will allow you to ride slightly higher pressure than you might with a clincher, but I would recommend only going up maybe 10 or so psi. You want your tires to roll over little tiny obstacles, not bounce over them. 125 psi should be the max pressure for a big guy riding tubulars. I'm a small guy and I usually run 100 psi. It's more comfortable and there is a lot of evidence that it has lower rolling resistance than higher pressure.

The glue melts at high temperature. Don't leave your fancy carbon wheels in the back of a car on a hot day without cover. Don't do this for your fancy frame either actually. Also, your fancy carbon wheels don't dissipate heat like the old alu ones, which means you'll have to get better at descending. Dragging your breaks all the way down a long descent can result in glue softening and bond failure. You don't want that.

I don't have personal experience with the tubular tire tape, which is a dual sided tape made specivically for tubular tire installation made by Tufo. It saves you the trouble and mess of gluing your tires. It also elimintates the wait; they say you actually need to ride them directly after installation (which is quick and easy) to let the glue to bond properly. The advantages are that it is very quick and easy and seems to work just fine. The disadvantages are that it is difficult to replace a tire out on the road (as to say, change a flat tire. You have to carry the spare tire around with you), and is difficult to replace a tire in the shop without completely cleaning up the rim and tire and starting fresh. Doesn't sound too bad for most of you who will only ever race on tubulars and wouldn't repair your old tires anyway, which may someday be the topic of another post.

If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to respond to this post.

Rock on

~Rolo

Shut up, Craig

2009-02-14T17:58:00.006-05:00

Why is it that every american cycling comentator sounds like a dweeb? Take Craig Hummer (I like to call him "Humsies") on versus. He seems to have learned a lot about cycling (and about commentating) since last year, demonstrating his prowess with such incites as "He's not here to compete. He's here to win" and, "Still to come, more action from the Tour of California". Oh gee, I thought that the race was over in the middle! I was going to leave, but now I'll stay! The best part about watching Humsies is that if you stay tuned to OLN, err, Versus, you can see him commenting on everything from fishing to bull riding. yeehaw

I would say that it's just because he's a professional commentator, not a professional cycling commentator. But then what about Bobke, who commentates in kph and unapolagetically talkes with his hands? And what'shisname, the guy who sounds like he lost his voice from an all night screamfest at a Metallica concert. They know cycling inside and out, but they sound like total dufuses when they try to explain it to people.

I blame it on the American educational system. I think it's because they try to dumb it down too much to try to make it appeal to the average Amerrkan. Add in an olympic level of sob-stories and you have a recipe for success. Right? Or maybe it's because we're used to Brits talking down to us, so it doesn't phase us that when Paul and Phil speak down to us in their charming accents, whereas it is still offensive from our countrypersons. Thank you British colonial society.

More important though, is fashion.

For instance, while I've been a Tyler Hamilton fan for a long time when he's in his R&R kit with his GIGANTIC sunglasses, I feel like punching a kitten. He used to just be a nice boy. Innocence lost, no?. Could he look more like a poser? And speaking of things that once were, I miss Dave Z's mustache. Funny how he really only had it for a few months, but now I barely recognize him. Which brings me to my next point. Mohawks.

I think it must be spring. I can tell because I've spotted more Mohawks in the last 2 weeks than I've seen over the last several months. I've prepared a graph to help you see this trend:

As you can see, there are big spikes in Mohawks per capita in the spring and fall. I attribute this to those being the times when most breakups happen. Goes something like this:

Guy: This relationship is so great!

Girl: We're so over.

Guy: Damnit! I'm gonna get a mohawk 'cause I always wanted one and now I don't have to worry about you being all up in my business about it!

Girl: . . . don't care.

Guy: *gets mohawk* Hell yeah! Now I'm a Badass!

2 weeks go by...

Guy: This actually does look stupid and I'll never get laid like this. *goes back to generic land*

There's a similar trend with girls and shortish bob-type haircuts and/or gym memberships. The difference is that when a girl undergoes something like this, she does something to improve her look, whereas with guys, it's generally the opposite.

In personal news, I've signed up for fantasy cycling on Versus. This'll be my first fantasy sport experience. We've started a little league down at the pathfinder. I'll keep you updated on any ownzing that goes on. If you think you're tough enough to take us on, let me know and I'll let you in.

In the mean time, go ride your bike.

~Rolo

Suck it up and go ride

2009-01-25T15:51:00.004-05:00

Facial winterization!

Another fine winter day for a ride. The temperature as I left the house at 12:40 p.m. was reading steady at 19F. That's well above my "no long rides under 15F" rule, though that had to be confirmed with a call to James:

me: "It is effing cold outside"

James: "You're not wimping out are you?"

me: "I am almost wimping out"

James: "really?"

*moment of silence*

me: "No, I'll be at your house in 10" and I hung up before I could change my mind. Under 20 is still infinitely better than 34 and raining.

It was surely effing cold though. Especially always starting at the top of the hill. I picked up the James at the bottom of the hill and we headed to bakers. When we got there we ran into WVU team member Bob all by his lonesome, but it wasn't long before we ran into the MonBikeClub crew led by Mega-Man Matt Kettering and Gary "Not the ride A-hole" Rodosta. Steve "the animal" Rowand and Josh "Wildebeast" Chapman were there representing 2/3 of team RowMan. RowMan strongman Jeremy was aparrently on girlfriend duty out shoe shopping and could not enjoy the day with the rest of us.

And enjoy it we did. I was again pleased with my decision of two years ago to sell my trainer. Disgusted with riding indoors and inspired by the incredibles, I used the proceeds to buy my super suit. With the always perfect cold weather baselayer, it is always the right thing to wear. Tights, baselayer, jacket, gloves, wintershoes, headband--this what I wear between 10 and 50 degrees and I am always comfortable. Look for reviews on all these items in future posts.

After we found the group, we did a nice few loops on top, then tacked spagetti trail, 7 logs trail, a few others that I still haven't learned the name monbikeclub name of, and finished off with turbo (or do they call it rooster?). After that and some other random loopage, James, Bob, Jake and I headed out over riddle and home for a solid 2:45 of winter fun.

I followed it up with some stretching (back an knees feel good, which is a major improvement over this time last year. Thank you Robbie Acciavatti) and a snack of pbbj (peanut butter, butter, jelley) on a whole wheat english muffin and a chocolate milk and then a hot shower. A+ Thanks to James for not letting me wimp out, and for Tracy last week who "didn't believe that [I] would show up to the ride." Ha, where were you today?

poem for the week

2008-11-23T13:10:00.003-05:00

away with me to the woods of old
where the stories grow taller each time they are told
where the wind blows soft and the roots of the trees
form the floor of the forest and one only sees
his life ahead in the road behind
what lies in front is the place where we'll find
camaraderie, friendship, and experiences of a lifetime

I'm gone to the forest, be back in six days.
Go ride your bikes, eat turkey, and laze.

I am the calcamus

2008-11-10T12:23:00.003-05:00

Calculus is not like riding a bike, turns out. Who-duh-thunk?

But I can always make myself feel better by watching Johnny Math miscalculate these barriers (it's at the end).

Today's how to:

How to convince yourself to ride when it is 34 and raining! A crucial winter riding skill here in morgantown.

Actually, I have no idea how to do that. I recommend that you pray that it gets colder and turns into snow so you can actually go do something. Drink some tea. Do some yoga. Play video games.

That is winter training.

Carrera De Los Muertos

2008-11-03T09:50:00.008-05:00

The Thrilla at Marilla!!

When we last left our heroes, they had just eliminated the threat of, making sure that the city was safe for another day...

And what a day the first of November would turn out to be. A day after which, the city would never be the same again. A mysterious event called Marilla Cross was about to take place, and take the town by storm...

The excitement started early, as our heroes met at the secret "blue house" lair for coffee and power wafers, trying their best to recover from the previous night's festivities. Both agreed that the best idea was to quaff the caffeine and count on energy from the previous evenings luxurious allotment of libations.

"Jumpin Jack Daniel's, Batman, I'm HTFO!" exclaimed Robin.

"Now isn't the time, Robin." I said. "We must rally. News is out on the bat radio that there is something quickly developing at Marilla Park. We must go!"

Our heroes took the bat dog out, loaded her in the car, and meandered down to the park to investigate the goings on. They found cat-woman and bat girl already on the scene dressed as pumpkins.

Carrera De Los Muertos they called it.

The race of the dead. I didn't like the sound of it one bit. As the "Bee Men" began to swarm around the park, we made our way around the scene to collect some information and stay out of danger.

We found Lovely Laurie and asked for an update. "This course is a tough one!" she exclaimed, not taking the time to slow down as she passed. Probably best that way. Meetings with informants should be brief, concise, and inconspicuous. I understood what she meant though. The course of action we needed to take wouldn't be easy. But in the fight for justice, it never is.

We moved on. As the Bee-Men and also the Aw-Omen field flew about, all around us, we caught sight of another of our friends on the scene. She's known as 'The Moment'. No one quite understands why. Today she was decked out and ready to make some trouble.

She told us that this was some sort of "race." At least on the surface. However, Robin and I could see that there was more afoot than cleats and barriers. Curious individuals were all around. Some good, some bad. We booted up the bat-car's computer and started to search for identities.

Of course, how could we miss it! All the baddies in town were here. There wasy Gary, "The Promotor"; Mark "Mr. Glass" Glass; Aaron "LB" Yevuta, the head of the shady operations of the WV Night Club; Johnny "Blaze" Martin; Gunnar "The Gunner" Shogren "The Shogun"; Chris "The Baker"; The Brothers "Beardy Steve" and "Lanky J One Legger". Robin and I knew what we had to do. We had to defeat these evil-doers in shoulder to shoulder racing, in the name of justice, in the name of all that is right and good.

We registered ourselves just as the Bees had finished swarming. Matt the pirate put on a good show, narrowly losing position to "BirdMan" but holding off a strong charge from the Don and the Lion of Flanders.

We took to the line and sized up the competition.

Through the course of the race, we waged epic battle, and though we didn't cross the line first, we took the Victory in the name of Justice, successfully ousting a number of evildoers, getting help from many in the process. Gunnar made good on that closet full of stars and stripes jerseys by letting 2 other former national champions by (plus one other guy for good measure). Annon the Cannon took on Beardy Steve, and One-Legger J cruised to just miss the top 5. A glorious day for the forces of Good and Cyclocross.

results

Later, a rail jam, and previously, an adventure!

Big Ass Weekend

2008-10-30T15:42:00.002-04:00

Okay, mystery fan. It is time to show yourself because it is time for on giant weekend of fun!

Things kick off friday night with HALLOWEEN. Don a costume and hit the streets.

Saturday the fun continues with the Marilla Cross carrera de los muertos

It's the most legit (and most fun) cross race to hit morgantown in a long long time. Come out in costume ready to have a good old time. Bring friends. I'll be there somewhere, maybe dressed up as a celebrity from childhoods past. Or not. You'll have to show up to find out!

After a good flogging on the cx course, the afternoon will be even more exciting! We're trucking in dumptruck loads of snow for the 2nd annual MOTOWN THROWDOWN Rail Jam. We're closing off a whole city block downtown, with a 25foot tall ramp, big stair set, boxes and jumps. Pro snowboarders will sqaure off with local talent fighting for a big cash purse. RedBull will be there keeping the crowd and competitors on top of their game.

Oakley will be there with a jumbotron TV
A Hot DJ will be provided by DC
There'll be raffles, giveaways, and more
Ski, Board, Boot, and Binding companies galore

So Saturday at Four
Get your ass out the door
All the way downtown
for the Motown Throwdown

What I'm Listening to

2008-10-28T19:48:00.003-04:00

Maybe it is just my love of rube goldberg machines, but this is what I'm listening to right now

Bonus video: Time to goof off!

Tech Talk

2008-10-27T20:07:00.007-04:00

Welcome to a new feature here on TheSeatPost: Tech Talk Tuesdays!

We'll be featuring tech tips from your favorite mechanic(s) on all sorts of topics, from new technologies, hot trends to trail-side repair and routine maintenance.

Today's Topic: Broken Chains

First of all, broken chains are mostly caused by poor shifting technique. During a shift under load (like when climbing a steep hill or when starting off in too high of a gear), chainring teeth and chain links can become deformed, bent, and/or damaged. This doesn't always (or even usually) cause the chain to break right away, though shifting quality both front and rear will be adversely affected. Rather, these will become weak pieces of the drivetrain that will fail at that least opportune moment sometime in the future, most likely near the finish of an important event or at a point in the ride many many miles from the nearest road/phone/car/house etc.

So the first tip is, as always, use preventative maintenance and proper technique. Keep your chain well lubed, and ease up on the pedals when you shift front or rear. As a general rule of thumb, use an easier gear than you think you need and shift before you need to.

But, too late, you were really jamming up that hill and went searching for that extra gear and now you've broken your chain! What do you do next? Reach for your chain tool! You do have a chain tool, right? right? If you answered yes to one of the previous two identical questions, keep reading. If not, skip to the section that starts with "You Unprepared Goof". So you brought your chain tool! good for you. Do you know how to use it? No? Well, read on. The idea is to remove the broken link, and reconnect the chain in a usable fashion. Here's how:

First, take a deep breath and relax. This'll go a lot better if you're calm and focused than if you're shaky and panicky.

1) Locate the offending link. Usually an outside plate of the chain will peel off and get jammed in your chainrings, cogs or derailleur. It make take some force to get the chain out, so try to pull strait out so as not to further damage your chain. This is also a good time to look for other damage that may hinder your ride even after you fix your chain.

2) Inspect the break and determine how many links will need to be removed. These include any frozen, broken, or twisted links. Use your chain tool, with the chain firmly against the stop, to push the chainpin most of the way out of the side of the chain at each end of the offending links. Do not push the pin all the way out because it is very, very difficult to get one back in. Leave the pin so it just holds the chain together. You may then have to put gentle side pressure on the chain to get the links to come apart. Be careful to remove links so that both a pair of outside plates and inside plates remain.

3) Make sure your chain is routed properly through your derailleurs. Forgetting to do this will invariably cause frustration and is very likely to also cause damage.

4) Reconnect the chain. Carefully line up the inner and outer chain links, again being careful to have the chain firmly against the stop on the chain tool. Next, slowly begin to push the pin into the chain, checking every few millimeters to make sure that it is going in strait. Push it until it just begins to protrude through the other side of the chain. This may leave the link tight, in which case you can apply moderate side force on the chain to loosen the taught link. You can also use the second set of holders on your chaintool (if it has them. some small ones such as the Park Tool CT - 5 have them, but most chain tools that are part of a multi-tool do not) to loosen up the link.

5) Pedal the bike into a decent gear and go!

You Unprepared Goof, you don't have a chain tool. Way to go. You probably wouldn't know what to do with one if you did. Do you have a buddy who does and knows how to use it? Great! Whenever possible, utilize this course of action. That way when it breaks again, you can blame that person.

Okay, so you're alone in the woods with no one around for miles and your chain is broken. Eff. But you're not totally SOL. You can actually take rocks and bang that chain back together. I've done it before and you can limp out of the woods a lot more often than you'd think.

Whichever of these techniques you employ to fix your chain, be sure to treat it as a temporary fix. However, there is another faster, simpler, safer, semi-permanent solution to your problems. It takes more planning, but if you're already planning on carrying your chain tool with you, you're 90% of the way there.

For another great explanation, with photos, check out Park Tool's own HowTo

This is something that has allowed me to fix a broken chain during a race in under a minute, and help dozens of other racers and riders repair their chains quickly and safely out on the road and trail.

1) Go to your local bike shop
2) Purchase a SRAM or KMC reusable quick link. I find that a 9-speed KMC or SRAM link will repair any 9 or 10 speed chain and work safely in your drivetrain.
3) Attach it to your chain tool
4) Go ride!

The quick link saves you the hassle of using the chain tool to reconnect the chain and the risk of a bad connection that goes along with it. Also, since it is a strong, new connection, you can treat it as a semi-permanent solution. You may want to do this if you have a worn drivetrain and a new chain would cause moderate or severe shifting and power transfer problems.

Thanks for reading.

I decided

2008-10-27T19:58:00.004-04:00

not to write a story

but to leave you a little fall poem:

this week, two days
the autumn light
fell leaves
softly,

but in our rush
we didn't notice
once.

Lost and Found and Given Back

2008-10-25T13:11:00.008-04:00

Remember the last time you lost something? Lost your keys? Lost a sock? Lost your dog? Lost a footrace? Seems like a strange question. And it is. Because we (at least I) don't remember loosing things. We only notice that they're gone. I spent a whole year in high school trying to figure out what happened to my favorite pair of jeans. It was only after I realized I hadn't seen them in at least three weeks that I started to recognize their absence. And they really were gone. How does one lose a pair of pants? To this day I'm still flabbergasted by the disappearance, even 10 years later. And oddly, that is not the first, nor the last pair of pants I've lost.

This past Friday after a particularly reaming physics exam, I stayed in the room filling out a form for class registration until long after everyone else had left. On my way out I found a notebook and a TI-83 Plus graphing calculator, separately under different desks on different sides of the room.

They were just lying forlorn upon the floor underneath the desk of some carefree student who couldn't be inconvenienced with picking up their scholastic servants, whose services had been employed just minutes earlier in the good name of higher education. I waiting until the next class started to enter the room before removing the notebook, calculator, and myself. I wanted to see if the owners would come back, panicked and worried. They would scoop up their lost items, tell them it would all be okay, that they had never meant to leave them behind. They would make up some lame excuse like, "you know it's Friday and I had to get right home after class to start getting hammered" or, "I totally thought that I had put you away, but you must have fallen out of my backpack!" And that's the way isn't it. Always blame the victim. But alas, no one showed. I thought it proper to rescue these downed soldiers, forgotten by their commanders and left to be scooped up by the enemy. Tortured for their valuable information and cast aside like so many others.

I've resolved, however, to do my best to return them to their rightful owners, though no contact information was available for either. Maybe years ago my pants ended up in the hands of a good samaritan who would have returned them had only I written my contact information on the inside. So I'm going to go write my name in all of my pants. I recommend you do the same.

Viva la Tour

2008-10-22T22:15:00.008-04:00

The route for the 2009 Tour du France (thanks Bobke) as we Amurrkans like to call it was announced yesterday. This comes right on the heels of the news that two more riders who had very successful 2008 tours were found positive for being dopes. I'm all for it. It's satisfying that the cheaters are being caught and that the four real surprise performances of the tour have now admitted to doping. Personally I never liked Schumacher, Kohl, Ricco, or Piepoli and I'm glad to see them go.

The tour looks like an exciting one (and not just because of the scandals) with the team time trial returning (too bad for Cunego and Valverde) and a summit finish on one BFM the day before Paris (too bad for whatever sprinter doesn't make the time cut).

I'm more excited about the Giro though. Lance, Basso, Sastre, (again, too bad for Cunego) and bunch of quacky italians. Plus it's in May so I don't have to wait so long to see it--and I hate waiting. Luckily for me, not only is it months earlier than the tour, but it'll feature the comeback of mellow jonny. I'm on this side of the Atlantic so I still like Lance. I think there are about equal chances that he is either an ex doper or just the most amazing physical specimen to jump on a bike in the last 40 years. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt because that makes the world less depressing. Either way I'm excited because Lance means people aware of cycling and the more Amurrka sees, the better for all of us out there pedaling around. Now I hear a lot more "Go Lance" than I do "Get off the road, F*&%#$".

He's spreading the wealth around. Sounds like a good idea to me.

omfg blog

2008-10-22T21:54:00.004-04:00

OMFG. I m bloggin'.

'bout frikkin' time.

Welcome to The Seat Post. This blog will, if I follow through on my intentions, become a fervid file of flair, fuming with facts, photos, race reports, social commentary, news, editorials, jibber, jabber, jabber, and more jibber.

I'm Rolo. Wrench, Rider, Student, Cynic.

Welcome to The Seat Post