Me and My Tranny

Everyone loves the curves on a sexy Tranny, and now I have my very own to play with in the woods...

Like most trannys; it's got just "one coque"

It will even open my beers for me;

Okay... enough silly Tranny references! At any rate, I broke down and picked up an Ibis Tranny. If you haven't seen one, it builds up a pretty versatile machine! You can run it with gear like a regular hardtail, or you can run it as a single speed. The unique beauty is in the "Slot Machine" rear triangle, which pivots/extends so you can adjust your chain tension without eccentric bottom brackets, chain tensioners, or trying to even-up your sliding dropouts. Heck, you can even take the rear triangle off, and pack the bike in a smaller bag if you want to do some traveling with it.

I was of course building this up as a single speed, and in this build, the bike has a nice sweet, clean look to the drivetrain.

To celebrate the new Tranny-love, I hid my road bike, and spent the whole weekend on the trails in Ned, testing out the new bike. My previous single speed was fully-rigid, so between the 100mm fork, and the buttery smooth carbon frame, this onen almost feels like cheating. "Almost"... it's still very much a single speed.

As I had hoped it would, it rides amazing... just like the Silk Road I had last year, and my Hakkalugi cross bike. It's fast, real fast. The 1,350g frame built up pretty light, right at 20lbs., though I was hoping for it to be slightly lighter. At the same time, I didn't really get any true lightweight parts for it. It will "get" a lot faster, as I spend more time on the trails, remembering how to ride the dirt - that always takes a couple rides during road season.

Now if I could just get out of this stupid cube... I could go play with my tranny.

Ever-Expanding

I ate a lot this weekend, but that's okay...

New Camera

Not just a new camera, but the new iPhone 4 camera. It's pretty damn sweet for a phone camera!

The video side of things might be even more awesome... I'll try to upload one of those soon. More updates on the phone soon as well, but so far, the screen resolution and cameras steal the show!

TGIF

The end of the fiscal year at work has been kicking my ass!

Summer is finally getting here, and staying, with a slight relief from the daily rain. First I had to get through The Rocky Mountain Omnium with ridiculous storms on the way out to Glenwood and literally a full day of rain on Saturday for the crit, including a hail storm at 5am. Overall, the racing was very "blah", but it was good to get out and see Harry, Danielle, and the ever-growing Nate. An evening storm cloud from a couple weeks ago;

This past weekend was pretty relaxing, and Jessica and I started a busy Saturday, with a short hike at Betasso with Tayler and Neo. "Senior Portraits" are always a must;


They were all-toungue afterwards, after the day was quick to heat up, and we had much more to do for the day!


I had a chance to treat myself a bit ago, and I never like to miss one of those chances! So I picked up the FSA Tensionometer that I've been lusting after for quite some time. I don't believe they're even making these anymore, their just selling through the ones that they made.

The link above has a great write-up on all the gory details of the little machine, if you're interested. It really is a sweet, sweet little device. Especially if you're into fun, overly designed tools such as this, and you take pride in particularly well-balanced spoke tensions. I love that this tensionometer functions without a million different charts, for each spoke that you use. Especially given the number of different types of spokes I tend to build with. I've built about 4 pairs of wheels with this meter now, and am really getting the hang of how it works, and how much change I need with the nipple, to get the measurement where I want it. Probably the coolest thing though, is the consistent repeatability of the measurements, compared to using the Wheelsmith or Park gauges. Expensive, but I love it... plus it's made with a carbon fiber body and jeweled dial movement that is shock, dust, and water proof.

Two of the pairs of wheels I built using the new tensionometer were a couple pairs of Edge 1.68 rims with Sapim CX-Rays and using the new Chris King road hubs.

Always a fan of King, I was excited to build up a couple sets of these hubs. As usual with King stuff, they were no-nonsense, simple, and beautiful. I was hoping for a slightly lighter bearing feel, but I'm likely just forgetting that Kings can be stiff till they break in after a few rides. Don't get me wrong, they were great! And the wheels, even with 20/24 spoke lacing, weighed in at 1,250g. Pretty awesome for a strong yet aero set of wheels.

Apparently never content with the amount of carbon fiber in my life, a new family member is about to join us!

No doubt... more details and pics coming soon!

Grilling Season

Summer season is upon us, and what could be more Amurican than grilling out on the patio!? Only one thing... grilling out on the patio with your shiny new Hot Rod Grill!!

And "only" $695. That doesn't leave much coin for high-quality hot dogs. Though you better have some money left over, because I can't imagine using this thing WITHOUT the spark plug-shaped cornholders!

Did the first of the Boulder TT series last night, it was somehow my first TT of the year as well. It only took about 30 meters before I remembered how painful TTs are. Mostly the good pain though... at least it helped me sleep last night. And I'm straight back to it, with another TT tomorrow night to kick off the Rocky Mountain Omnium. Should be a good weekend since we'll be visiting the Bergers as well. The weather might make it interesting though...

I hope you're bored... because you should sit back, relax and listen to one of the best radio interviews I've heard in a long while;

"On this edition of All Songs Considered, John Lydon shares some of his favorite songs with host Bob Boilen, and gets in some memorable digs along the way."

Don't be that douchebag that thinks Sid is the singer from the Sex Pistols.

Sightings

I wonder if the driver of this car was forced to make this declaration under duress?

I just hope that if I have a stroke, I remember to tell those around me, that I saw this great ad for Swedish and it's awesome treatment of stroke victims;

I love Porsche's... always have. But let's be honest, the Cayenne is far from the fairest beauty out there. And then people go and add a rear mount, external tire mount and carrier to it!? I tried to find a price, but wasn't able to. I can only imagine how much extra it costs to extra-uglify your Touareg... I mean "Cayenne".

The resale value of this sedan just went WAY up! I mean, check out the attention to detail that was taken, when the owner used a Sharpie to write "I heart Weed" all over both seats, front and rear, and all over the doors and dashboard as well. Watching this driver get pulled over, would make an awesome episode of COPS.

Have a great weekend!

Bikes and Snow

Just because it was snowing all through May, doesn't mean I can't get some new bikes at least! First up was the new TT rig; the Blue Triad.

It came out pretty sweet. I wish it was a bit lighter, but it makes up for it by being awfully "skinny". Not much for the air to bite into here;

It rides pretty nice too. Very stiff, and probably the quietest TT bike I've had. Position is good and it's ready to roll. Still getting used to it a bit, but I'm psyched to have it for some of the time trials that will be coming up over the next months. It works even better, now that the dreaded snow in these pictures is long gone (for now).

Also from Blue, I've been doing my road riding on a shiny new RC8, kitted-out with Dura-Ace and Aerus bits. It's been a pretty solid ride as well, and it's starting to feel like "home" now. I'm even remembering how to switch back from the SRAM shifters, to the light touch, and double levers of the Dura-Ace shifters.

Zac picked his TT bike up from me the other day, and being without a car, we made due with his RC8. So see? An RC8 can do everything a car does, PLUS win bike races! The funnest part of this picture, is that it doesn't even look all that much out of place here in Boulder.

Oh yeah, and the bike team... you may be wondering how the Subaru-Groove Auto Team is doing this year? Well, we're fucking crushing it! Two 2nd places and a stage win, plus the GC win in Cat2 at the Gila, 10 of 12 primes plus the win at Wheels of Thunder, 1,2 and 3 at Deer Trail, 1st, 4th and 6th at the Aspen crits, then 1,2 and 3 at the masters race in Aspen immediately after, 1st at Sunshine hill-climb, 1st in the crit at the Morgul-Bismark Omnium AND 1st and 3rd in the Omnium overall, 1st at the Ironhorse TT and 1st in the Ironhorse Omnium... and on and on... With any luck the team will stay on the roll. It's been great riding with a team that works so seamlessly together, always with a common goal, and everyone giving everything for the team as a whole.

Jessica's B-Day!

The week after Seattle, it was time to celebrate Jessica's 30th birthday! As a special treat for such a big occasion, her good friend Stephanie even came into town to spend the weekend with us.

Saturday a group of us met up for some bowling down in Golden, to start off the day.

Jessica was fully decked-out for the occasion;

Time to gear-up!

Perfect bowling alley lunch (with cheap beer of course)

After bowling, we went outside, where Baker had brought along a little friend in her car... fresh fruit, wine and seltzer.

Which we proceeded to drink outside the bowling alley, on the street in Golden.

And to wrap up the rest of the day, we went up to Blackhawk for some gambling, drinking, and eating entirely too much at the buffet. Good times all around.

That Sunday, we had a murder mystery dinner party at Jessica's mom's house. We had a wide variety of characters, including Red Riding Hood;

And Sherlock Holmes;

Another good party for Jessica! Delicious cake too, but that sure is a whole lot of candles!

Finally

I'm alive, really... Prepare yourself for some picture dumps, and fast and furious blogging in order to catch up!

Last month Jessica and I made the trip out to Seattle, to visit my dear friend Miss J9 Fierce, and her awesome, awesome family Nickle and the little ones. It was so great to see them, and to spend a bit of time out of snowy Colorado.

Typical party-time with J9, she picked us up from the airport and we went directly to a semi-pro wrestling match by SSP, at a local bar. It was beyond cool;

The next morning we got up, hit the first of many amazing (of course!) coffee shops, and then bummed around Seattle a bit. We saw Stalin;

Jessica met a new friend that wanted to give her a hug;

And we bummed around the market for a good while, doing some shopping for funky little things, enjoying the amazing flowers, and the incredible food... especially the sweet smell of fresh fish. While we were walking around, I noticed this great individual that was walking back and forth through the market. He was pretty amazing. After watching him for awhile, Jessica did a great job of asking him for a photo, and he didn't dissapoint. Probably my best capture yet, of random insane people. I mean, just take a few minutes to relax, look at the photo, and soak in all that he has to offer. The conversation with him, was more colorful and insightful than any photograph could ever capture.

That night was also Janine's birthday bash, which was sure to rock the house. We took over a karaoke bar - the best part being that the locals that usually spent their Friday nights there, had no idea that 60 people dressed up as the person they were most likely to sing karaoke to, were about to descend upon their bar. So I spent the afternoon making my homemade "Devo hat" out of a cardboard box, before letting 5 year old Damian paint it for me. Jessica was of course going as a Robert Palmer "Addicted to Love girl";

My girlz... including Janine in full Madona garb;

And Nickle went to the back of his closet for the leather pants and his best Hair-Band outfit;

Uh oh... as should happen, the party girl of honor, was having a really good time, with everyone that wanted to buy her a drink. The night was rocking!

Then before long it was time to take J9 home (sorry J9, the photo is just too damned priceless)

After a 4am bedtime, the following day was spent mostly recovering, chilling with friends, a greasy breakfast, amazing Thai food, and hanging out in general. But the following day, we packed up the punk-rock van (still showing battle scars from Friday night) and we were off to Deception Pass for some nature.

Washington is just a bit lush...

We were nearly attacked by sea monsters, but managed to scare them off!

Damien was more than happy to take "dramatic" photos for me, even helping to direct himself and how he would pose;

Sienna was of course happy to join in as well;

And we polished the afternoon off, with a perfect Puget Sound lunch. These little fuckers were swimming just an hour or two earlier, and were so incredibly sweet and delicious. I knew we were at the right place, when the lady behind the counter said disbelievingly, "Really? You just want one pound?". Mind you... this was after I had my fish, chips and hush-puppy lunch at the same place.

Not sure how I didn't get a picture of little baby Stella, but trust me, she is an absolute cutie! We had one more relaxing morning, before we had to hop back on the plane and head back into Colorado. A day or two before more snow was to come. But it was a really great trip, and I can't wait for our next chance to get out there! Thanks guys for hosting us!!!