Back From Vacation

It has definitely been a while since my last post. I will blame this on finals, vacation, and possibly even my laziness. Finals went awesome and i am glad that is all over and that i will soon be a junior, but the best part is that i will get to really dive into my major next year. Now there is also a bad thing coming from school being over. My daily schedule of going to bed at a relatively decent time and working out every day is no more. This has made my strength on the bike suffer quite a bit. It also didn't help that i just got back from vacation in Ireland (wish i had brought my mtn bike, the place is awesome) and did not do anything but eat awesome food and see awesome places. Oh, did i mention that my first racer is Saturday and i got back yesterday? So i am both excited and in quite a bit of fear. But hey, whatch ya gonna do?

On another note, my father and i did the whole Teflon tape to the bottom bracket of my mtn bike so the stupid thing would stop squeaking. It was looking really good and i thought it would stop it for sure. Well, it didn't. It is much quieter but still quite annoying. I think there is one more thing we can do that they recommend. And it better work. I also installed the Token Titanium/Alloy Skewers. Stupid things don't work either. The front skewer loosens right up and falls out after no time at all. So frickin annoying. Whatever, i'll use them on my road bike.

Speaking of things with two wheels, i may or may not be picking up a Kawasaki KZ1000 on Saturday. This can neither be confirmed or denied at this time.

Whelp, that is all for now. Here's a sweet vid.

It's Been A While

It has been a few crazy weeks here at Ball State. I've had more test, exams, quizzes, and presentations than ever before. Now sure i could have had time but all i had on my mind was business etiquette in Egypt, accounting, and statistics. Not even a bit entertaining. So i'll try and make up for it in this post.

I went home the other day to do a little more work on my bike. I needed to install a new Niner Cogalicious Cog, put some more goo in the wheel because for some reason they are still not holding air like they should be, and do the whole Teflon tape on the bottom bracket. Everything went well and i can't complain too much about anything. Although i can say it is a little annoying right when i thought i could put everything back together i realized i needed another spacer for the rear wheel. But that was solved by using a headset spacer for now.

Cogalicious

Unfortunately i have don't really have any other bike related news. I haven't gone on a ride in a while (although i might today if i get all my studying done). The days it is nice out i can't go and the days it is gross out i can go. Story of my life. So i have had to waste my time in other ways. Like miscpix.com or reddit.com. Where i learn all sorts of interesting and useful things like:

Oh did i mention i made one of the best foods in the world last weekend? It's my kind of pre/post/during workout snack. Puts hair on you chest and will grow the length of you penis 4 inches in only 4 weeks!

Bacon Infused Pancakes

Well hopefully i will get to ride today and i promise to update my blog at least once a week.

Sweet vid.


PROJEKT ROAM: Chasing Gravity-Episode 1 from projekt roam on Vimeo.

Weeks End

The weather is getting warmer. Best news i have heard in a while. Other than that just the usual has been happening round here. Just school, gym, friends, and shenanigans. I didn't end up going on a ride on Thursday cuz the wind was about 30-40 mph. And there are only a few things i loathe more than riding against the winds.

On another not my dad just got a new bike. Haven't seen it in person yet but he sent me a picture of it on his phone.

Wit da skinny tires

And do big ones

It's a Salsa Fargo. Awesome touring/adventure/mtn/road/commuting bike. Hopefully when the weather gets warmer i will be able to go on a road ride with him. Note how the handlebars are curved. Can't wait to steal it from him and see how they feel.

That's all for now. Gotta go to a concert for class (awesome way to spend a Saturday night)

Hilarious vid.


BUCS 2011 X.C Carnage! from Joe Bowman on Vimeo.

SB 2011 Recovery Week

Just got back from SB (spring break) a couple days ago. It was a success. And went a little something like this...

Yep, Speedos

So pretty much every day was spent taking years off my life and eating amounts that could have saved colonies of African children (yep). It was staying up until four AM (or later) and then getting up at a beach the next day at 8 AM (or earlier). Didn't manage to work out more than once or even run on the beach. So all the squats and leg press and such were lost. All lost. I'm basically back to about where i was a month ago. This isn't going to help my cycling one bit.

I am not back into the grind of college life. Homework and quizzes and tests. Although the highlight of this week (other than sleep and working out and eating regular amounts of food) is that it may get up to 70 degrees on Thursday! I will finally be able to ride my bike that i just cleaned up for this occasion. I am, of course, planning on stepping on the bike and feeling that all my hard work has paid off. But with this last week i may not feel so well. But whatchya gonna do. It was a nice break before that last part of school. And then i will move on to who knows what. Anyone got a job they need filled?

Whelp time for a bit of homework.

Heres a sweet vid that has been going around the interweb for a bit now.

A Hill in Spain from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Oh did i mention i met my trophy wife on the cruise.

I do look like a strange shade of red, BUT look at her!

Well Poo

It's doing that stupid thing outside again. That cold, wet, white, and fluffy thing that prevents me from riding a bike. Snow. This has been one of the reasons i haven't been posting for a while. Absolutely nothing exciting has happened. Now sure i have found ways to entertain myself. Things that are both beneficial (like working out and eating right) and things that are not all that great (the regular college shenanigans). But still no bikes.

Stupid Midwest Snow

I guess it is not entirely that i haven't "done" anything with a bike. I did get out my single speed road bike (yet another single speed) and clean it. Man did it need it. Paper towel was black from the rims. No wonder i couldn't stop very well at the end of last year. Just need it to warm up so i can get it dirty all over again.

Spring Cleaning

I also came to the realization that i really need some QR skewers on this bike. Really inconvenient to be at college without all the necessary tools. So thats all i've been doing. Still not a whole lot of excitement, but what you gonna do.

Oh and my wrist still hurts. I can bend it back almost all the way now, but my palm still hurts a lot when i bench. So i haven't benched in like a month. My titties are shrinking...

Enough complaining, time to go work out, here is a sweet vid.

Part 1 of 2 is Finally Here!

So after a month of waiting my Token Titanium/Alloy Skewers are here. This is the first set of skewers i bought. And because i thought they were long lost i got an extra pair (USE Tula Spin Stix). Which aren't here. Of course not.

So i haven't had time to try em out yet. Just look at em, touch em, and weight em.

Light huh?

Very surprising. Thought for sure they would be at least 50grams. How nice of them to make it lighter. I did't have time to try them on my bike. And now that i am at school i don't have my bike.

And why was i at home? Just preparing for Spring Break 2011. Getting all the necessities.

Yes i  have a drag suit. From my many years of swimming. So me and Boner and Zombie and a couple other ladies are going on a cruise down in the Caribbean. Should be quite a time. Sure the only problem is that i will be doing many stupid things and eating too much and not being able to work out like i can while i'm here at school. So there's that. But it will be a good time.

Oh and the weather here is just delightful. Supposed to hit 61 here in a few days. Hopefully i can get out for a bike ride. Whelp gotta go work out.

My Unprofessional and Premature Niner One 9 Review

This coming review is highly unreliable. I have only really ever ridden one other 29er single speed in my life. It is now my long lost love. A 2007 Raleigh XXIX. Rigid and single. Another reason you should disregard most of what i say is because i have only ridden my new bike once. Indoors. For a few hours and even less miles. So think of these coming words as a First Impressions review comparing my old bike to my new. Here it goes...

First thing i noticed was actually during the final stages of the build up. The EBB. Those stupid things are just a pain in the butt. Seriously. To shift the EBB to the right place you have to put an allen wrench in the hole in the hole in the side of the EBB and shift the crankset abound so it actually pushes on the allen wrench. There has got to be something i am missing? Perhaps a tool? Anyways, this is just the one thing that bothers me. But everything is just awesome.

Needs Some Of These

The second thing i noticed while riding the bike is the acceleration. HOLY CRAP the thing moves. Just about flipped over backwards. Now this is mostly because of the fact that the bike weighs probably close to ten pounds less then my old Raleigh (by "my old Raleigh" i actually mean "my Dads Raleigh i sort of borrowed for an extended period of time"). Most of the Lbs coming from the massive WeirWolf 2.55 up front and the Maxxis Ardent 2.4 in the rear. Both with heavy tubes. Compared to the light wheelset and light Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25's on my new bike, they are beasts.

The third thing i noticed while riding was the feel of the suspension fork vs. the rigid fork. Now this took me some time to get used to. The Raleigh had a non-suspension corrected fork. Real low and real agile and real clean. The first time i went out on my Niner it felt a bit... sketchy. I really wasn't used to the extra few inches you sink down and when your weight shifts forward. Kinda made me nervous about everything. But after an hour of riding it around Ray's Indoor MTB i started thinking it was the best thing ever. It really made me excited for the Brown County Breakdown this year, becuse last year i did it on the Raleigh and after 40 miles thought my hands were going to just fall off (really wreck my career as a hand model). Maybe to the 60 or 75? Just have to wait and see.

Whelp time for me to go to class. Hopefully this shed just a shard of light on those who are thinking of purchasing a Niner One 9. I highly recommend it. And in a few months when this snowpocalypse is over, i will write a review when i ride it on some good old dirt.

Vid stolen from BikeRumor

Ray's Indoor MTB for the Weekend

I have put off posting about Ray's Indoor MTB for the past couple days because i have been trying to put on some weight for when we are stranded inside the dorms from the Snowmageddon 2011. But all was lost because it is now over and it wasn't nearly as bad as some were saying. Although it was enough to cancel all my classes until 11am today and one more class at 1 has been cancelled so i only have one class! Nice!

Now to the drive down there on Friday night. We (me and my dad) ended up going up there with about five other gentlemen. So we packed our bikes in a U-Haul and stuck it behind a buddies F-350. And went on our way in a rented minivan (which, by the way, are crazy machines). With so many interesting characters it kept the ride from having any dull moments. We arrived at our hotel about midnight and went straight to bed because we planned on arriving at Ray's as soon as they would let us in.

The Journey Begins...

So now we are at Ray's. In a few words, it was friggin' awesome.We started out riding the XC Loop, which is about 3/10ths of a mile long. And even though it was short, it had quite a bit crammed in. From a pump track to steep descents and inclines to a few skills things scattered about. After a few laps it really got your blood flowing. Now on to the Skills Section. You could really tell they spent some time designing these areas. There was a Beginner, Advanced, and Expert. None of which, even the Beginner, were even slightly boring. And the only place i really crashed hard was on the Beginner... um yaaaaaaa. So not too proud of that but it happened. To my defense i wasn't riding my own bike. I had just let my dad try mine out so i was stuck with his squishy 26er. So i thought to myself, "How bout i try out the full suspension out on the rocky section by going as fast as humanly possible". Well as soon as i hit the rocks i also hit the only big rock that wasn't set down in the concrete. Now i saw it a spit second before i hit it and slammed on my brakes. Between the suspension compressing, my weight being shifted forward, and hitting the large loose rock, i went over the handle bars (don't tell my dad). It seemed to happen in slow-mo. But it hurt right away. I protected my body with my hands and only seemed to slightly bump my ribs. But my hands.... ouch. They are bruised and i have been unable to grab anything in the past few days. Although the really important thing is that my dads nice expensive bike was uninjured. Thank goodness!.

Her Inaugural Ride

Ok enough about my injuries. Back to the Skills Section. So as you can tell everything there is fun (except for falling) and the expert section is just as ballin'. This was after my whole episode of falling so i really didn't spend a whole lot of time over there because it is usually a good thing to be able to hold onto the handlebars without pain. I did spend enough time to see that some parts of it were challenging but others were quite easy just intimidating. Oh and i saw one of they guys who we went with tearing it up over there. But enough about his accomplishments, my hands hurt...

So that is about the lowdown on the place. You should go. Now. Especially because it is likely a tornado of snow outside right now where ever you live in the Midwest. And if you are lucky someone from Milwaukee is with you to show you all the great places to eat (and order baked oatmeal!). Oh and did i mention Heather Irmiger was there?

Got to ride a lap behind her ;)

Next time will be my unprofessional review of my new Niner One 9.

Vid...


Whistler Bike Park From Top To Bottom from Jack on Vimeo.

Figured It Out

Well thanks to the nice people at USE and mtbr.com i know how the USE Tula Spin Stix work (well, basically). Word on the interweb is that they function a lot like the DT Swiss RWS style skewers.



Pretty cool huh? I think it may be a little different then the video shows but the people are say they have been riding them for years with little or no problems. When i get em i will put up some pics and hopefully a video of how they work.

Well time to go to class and then workout and do the home work i would normally put off till Sunday, but since i am going to Ray's MTB in Milwaukee this weekend i have to do it now (bummer).

Speaking of Ray's, here is another video (yes two in one post).

An Alternative

So the Token Titanium/Alloy QR Skewers are kaput. Lost in customs never to be found again. But the nice people at Chainreactioncycles.com said they could send me a "suitable alternative item" since they are now sold out of the Token's. At a comparable price i found a few but the only skewers with a good rep (but only a few reviews) are USE Tula SpinStix - Titanium. 

Notice how they don't function like normal QR skewers

Now i think they function a lot like the DT RWS but i'm not quite sure yet. I have emailed em and started a THREAD over at mtbr.com. Hopefully someone knows how they work. And, i sure hope they don't take long to get here. 


Just counting down the days until Friday when i leave for Ray's in Milwaukee!

Got Plans?

Why yes i do.

This next weekend my dad, his friend, his friends friend, and i are all going to the Ray's Indoor MTB Milwaukee grand opening. Which means, wait for it.... I get to finally ride my new bike!!! And from what i have heard and seen on the YouTube, it is friggin awesome. Lots of different "trails". Different levels of difficulty. All in the warmth of a massive warehouse. And i'm sure it will be totally different than anything i've ever done before. The only downside to this whole trip is that it is about six hours away. Now sure it will be worth it, but Ray... open one in Indiana.

Sweeeeeeeet

Now i just have to get through this next week without getting any more sick. Which, by the way, is much better but seems to have moved to my throat. Whelp time to go take some various drugs (oh, and how dumb is it you have to go to the pharmacy counter AND be 18 just to get Advil Cold and Sinus).

Vid of where i'm headed.


Ray's MKE Sneak Peak from RaysMTB on Vimeo.

Three Day Weekend: Fail

As of the day of the last post the weekend was a success. But in less then 24 hours, and only a few of those hours consisting of tomfoolery, it seems i may have the plague. Or leprosy. Or gangrene. Possibly all three. I was awake for about 26.333 percent of this last week. The other part was spent in agony sweating and tossing and turning in my bed with aches from hell. Not a good time at all. But i managed to go to all my classes but one. And luckily we aren't doing anything important still. There's a "rounded education" for you.

Actual picture of me

Today was a different story. Went to class at 8 AM (i know who does that!?) and ate a delightful breakfast with my nursing friends. Well it was a delightful breakfast until they started talking about enemas (ya i just linked the word enema). Then it got weird. But on a lighter and more cycling related note i managed to go workout for about 45 minutes. And i'm proud to say i can now squat more then i can bench. Slightly embarrassing but true. Both are over 200 now and i'm pretty proud. And it was even coming back after three days of now working out and having some sort of hybrid Zombie disease. Now the snow just needs to melt so i can see if it is really paying off or not.

Oh and something i haven't complained about lately, MY SKEWERS STILL AREN'T IN. Am i angry? Yes. Is there anything i can do? Well, actually, i can... Monday. They are supposedly held up in customs and they can take "further action" to figure it out. They will prolly just send customs an email. Oh well. Stupid Brits.

Sweet vid related to the one in the last post.


Nicolai All Mountain Trial from Whyex Productions on Vimeo.

Three Day Weekend: Success

Now that it is Monday and the final day of the three day weekend, it is time to do some actual work and stop trying to kill myself through various different acts. No cycling done at all last week. We got more snow and are still supposed to get more tomorrow. And with the temperature rarely getting over thirty i don't wanna chance getting frost bite on all my limbs. So now all i do is toil away in the weight room trying to get my legs stronger with Boner and That Guy. Seems to be working but like anything that need to be done fast it is taking forever.

Me, That Guy, Boner, Zombie = Successful Weekend

There were girls there too. I swear. In other news my Token Titanium/Alloy Skewers still haven't arrived. I was hoping to have them when it warmed up enough to ride but it looks as thought that hope is fading. Bloody Brits.

Gotta go try and work out after three days of shenanigans. Should be... interesting.

Sweet vid.


Nicolai All Mountain Trial 2 from Whyex Productions on Vimeo.

False Alarm

It has been about a week since my last post. Mostly because not a whole lot has happening around here (although a Qdoba just moved in!). So I have been trying to do all sorts of manly things like lifting weights and... baking. Yes, baking. We have an old bread machine that has sit for the last few years and i just discovered it while looking through the pantry for snacks. Now i am a pretty big fan of bread. Not just any bread but bread with a little character. Like Cinnamon Raisin bread or Maple Syrup bread or Crunchy Trail Mix bread. All of which i made.

Delish (The Maple Syrup Bread is gone)

So ya. There it is. On to the False Alarm. When i got back from the gym today i saw what could only be a miracle. A package on the front door step. My Token Titanium Skewers had finally came. Finally... after two weeks. Felt like Christmas all over again. BUT to my dismay the box said Pottery Barn. Seriously, what could be worse then not only the skewers not coming but seeing a box that says something gay like Pottery Barn. So now i have to pray that they will come before i got back to school so i can install em on my bike and get the weight.

Stupid Pottery Barn (But notice my ballin' Smartwool MTB Socks)

To add to my misery this is happening out side at this moment.

Stupid Snow

So i think i  might just go hibernate for the next month. Class doesn't matter that much does it?

Whelp, here's a video of the only time now is acceptable.