Jeeze Louise, get me outta this season (in one piece and without any further hemorrhage of body and wallet).

Today started off chillier than a well diggers ass. The drive down to Red Rocks Elementary for the second to last race of the season was a cold one (see left). Got there and parking was abysmal. I lugged three bikes today (almost needed all of them!). Both CX'ers and my single speed. Warmed up on the SS.

Snowy and icy when we first began. I got on Kiester's wheel at the whole shot in 6th and rode it for 2 laps until my first incident (crash on the backside before coming down to the driveway. Got up and motored but could not close the gap and waited for Clay. Clay dropped the hammer and said adios on lap 3 and I settled into a rhythm for a lap or so. By this time Tim F, Kiester and some other dude (s) and are irretrievable. Gone. I can see 'em, just can't get 'em. So, I settle in. Cruising the course in like top 10. I am bunny hopping that barrier in the back consistently. Coming around to set up to do it again around the back side by the pits and then WHAM. Crash again. This time lever bent and no shifting on my primary bike. Pedal my perturbed ass all the way around and drop it off and pick up my other bike. Get into a rhythm again and WHAM. Down again. Oh yeah, I forgot, I have 2 season old Tufos on that bike which are bald. Good idea in the snow Greg This time it's worse. Cut the living crizap out of my knees, one worse than the other. Ball game, bad guys. This is where I F up my knees and I am just watching dudes pass me without a care to chase them. I end up 14th and I am happy to be out of it with 'only' a $100+ plus Dura Ace lever (2nd this season), pair of leg warmers and a shit load of skin.

BUT!!! (There's always a but!): All is not lost. Rocky Mounts scored (count 'em) THREEE wins today (35 + 4's via David K, 4's via Zach W and 3's bay "The WB" himself, Ward B). NICE WORK!! I went from being a sad sorry beeatch for myself to being so proud and pumped watching my bros. It was like an an anesthetic for my brain to watch them suffer and suffer well. Especially ward who won by 52 seconds and had this AWESOME bogger saliva thing dripping from his frozen face to his jersey. Sick.

Some shots from today's 4's and 3's:

That a certain group of folks containing 'crossers and town authorities with a certain collective interest in a certain park in a certain town in Colorado had a 'walk through' of what a cyclocross course would physically be like and how it would mesh with the other park's activities. More later. Keep your fingers crossed!

SIGN PETITION HERE!

I just knew you fashion mavens could not wait, so without further delay, here' s a sneak peak at our finalized design before we send to Verge. Black is the new Black:

The skin suits are gonna look SICK!

Tomorrow's race will be epic for sure. The secret will be warmth and MTB skills. Bring it the F on. Our new Craft stuff will keep the engine warm tomorrow.

Today, rollers. I am really becoming a fan of these. Been riding for years and never tried them. A bud who moved to Washington gave me a p.o.s. set of them like a year ago. With all this snow, I was getting bored so tried them out. Got up first time which was promising. Man, you need some focus at first. Aim sneaked a snap of me today in the cellar sweating a bit before I bring the boys to see Happy Feet.

So after posting this Tufo deal (and after learning essentially how to put these things on myself), my team mate sends me this handy link:

http://www.tufonorthamerica.com/instructions.php

Video instruction on how to install these things.

So after my blow out last weekend of my wheel and Tufo, I got around last night to putting on my Tufo clincher/tubular. I realize some secrets after struggling like a muthafugga to get them on in the past.

1) Let them sit for a few days inflated when you get them.

2) Keep them indoors (especially in the winter) to allow maximum stretching.

3) If you get the chance, stretch them during the time that they are waiting to be installed. How? Literally let the air out, put your foot on the floor holding on to the tire and streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch them like an old school Jack Lalane workout tool. Careful to have the valve on the side not where your foot is or near your hands. I did this like twice in two days for like 3 or for minutes.

4) When it is time to install, start with the valve area like you would with a tire and tube.

5) Get the valve in and start by squeezing the tire between two fingers to seat the lips that attach themselves to the rim. Work this system of squeezing and seating those lips about ¾ away around the rim.

6) Things at this point start to get tight. You need to more or less stretch that remaining part of the tire you’re trying to get on the rim up and upside down…almost as if the tire tread is looking at the nipple wells of the rim (remember with clincher Tubulars you do NOT use rim tape).

7) Note that to get that last part up and over the rim as you are stretching, I learned a secret from Brandon at Boulder Cycle Sport: You use your toes! Literally hold the rim like you see here while stretching that bitch over the last part.

8) You then flip and roll that remaining part of the tire up and onto the rim.

9) You’ll note that it is not yet seated in the rim in that last remaining area. I inflated the Tufo to like 20PSI then squeezed and seated the lips of the clincher tubular all the way around the rim.

10) Done! In like less than 4 minutes. The stretching and pre-inflation over the foirst two days is the key.

Go big!

OK, it's late in the season I realize, but my new custom frame Paul is building is done! I've been riding and racing (and testing!) Rock Lobsters in various connotations for years and I can not believe how beautiful these frames feel. For this season I order from Paul who still has my measurements a new Scandium beauty to have identical dimensional steeds with the same parts groups, gearing etc. First time I have ever been 'blessed' with this in my cross life. Together, the wonder twins looked like this when they were a happy family:

Once I dialed it with some FSA bling, the Scandium one, my primary looks like this:

So the old blue frame I cherished, raced on the West Coast, won Surf City races on etc etc met a horrible death: The low hanging garage at Vail Ski resort (which has seen a zillion bike collisions apparently). Brand new mini van, 4 brand new Rocky Mounts lariats and a Rock Lobster, Dean and Santa Cruz on top. Kids going OFF in teh back seat after a 2 hours in the car hingry for food. "Look! A parking garage!" I bang the left and errrrrrrrrr (metal scraping noise...). Done. The effect:

Anyhoo, the new one Paul worked his ass off on while finishing other frame jobs...oh and TAKING A 9TH PLACE AT THE USGP's in his age group! (SICK!!) he somehow found time to jam out my frame for me. A photo negative image of my black one...whote frame with black stickers. Boing! Thanks Paul!

Well, we'll be CX-ing in snow fo shoa this weekend. I remember when I first moved here from CA in 04 doing a race at Xilinx in a blizzard and thnking "holy crap, this is what it's like CX-ing in CO. Oh, and I can;t breath at this altitude...". Here's what it looked like then:

Come get 'em at www.rockymounts.com. Nice embroidery Bobby.

I guess we really can't complain about the weather....considering we haven't raced in rain or snow once this season. I guess the folks who did Arapaho HS got a taste of Pac West CX with all the mud but I skipped that and with it my derailuer. I'll be skipping the Wed CX workout as I suspect most will given the 7 inches of pow pow (and still falling...)