Feb 07 2008
Nothing to see here. Move along.
The UConn-Syracuse game was on last night. It was a close and exciting game all the way up until the end. Did I watch it? No. I was watching Care Bears II - A New Generation…in Hi-Def. Ingrid was sick, grumpy from just waking up from a nap and being left behind when Owen went to karate, and wanted nothing more than to tune out to Care Bears. I spend most of the game cooking and watching the GameCast on ESPN every 30 seconds. It’s just like being there. Really.
Nature abhors a vacuum and after 2 months of nothing, cycling is slowly creeping back in.
I finally got around to sending out my OBRA renewal stuff. $20 to OBRA plus another $30 for whatever. Even at $50 a year, it’s still a pretty good bargain.
So what else does that mean? Well, maybe I’ll start tuning race bikes to start the year. The Lemon(d) needs a pretty good overhaul. I have cables, housing, and bar wrap set to go. If I remember correctly, the chain and gears were in good shape.
I also want to get one of the Salsa Short n Shallow bars for it like I have on the cross bike. I have Michael Sylvester to thank for that. It’s comfortable and luckily one of the few bars wide enough for me.
I really don’t know what direction to head in with the Cannondale mtb. It’s old - about 9 years now, but still in serviceable shape. If I do more mtb races, like I hope to, I need to take a closer look at it. The rear dropouts look and feel funny to me. I wonder if the alignment is off. I’ve dished the rear wheel near perfect and it still doesn’t sit well in there.
The drivetrain is a huge POS. I need a new rear derailluer and front shifters.
So like I said, I need to think about what kind of cash I want to sink into it.
The cross bike, being new, is fine. I just need to get into the bearings and give them a cleaning and fresh lube.
It’s not much but it’s a start.
I’ve looked at the race schedule and I’m still trying to develop some sort of plan for the year. Nothing obvious has jumped out at me yet. I hope for a couple decent mini-seasons; an early one in the spring/summer at 75% or so and a second, full-out one for cross in Oct/Nov. I once thought that Mt. Hood would work as a 4/5 but that race has been scrapped. I could go in as a 35+. We’ll see.
The talk of the demise of mtb racing is hopefully just that - talk. The more I think about it, the more I’m more interested in racing off road than road this year. PIR bores the snot out of me. Even some of the other road races I’ve done feel like everyone is just noodling around for 90 minutes and then races for real the last couple miles. I like road riding, I’m just not sure how much I like racing it.