Livin Large

So i know Hilly Hundred is a LOOOONG way away - but i wanted to announce that THIS year - i was on the ball and hit the easy button EARLY. We will be staying at the Hampton Inn for Hilly 2008. That means breakfast at the hotel -AND - no paying $189 a night for super 8.

its about the same price for the Hampton, with better pillows for Trent to bite after the saturday outing.

STC indoor ride

Mountain Bike Matt showed up around 8 and we kited up for some indoor action. With the AM temp at -5, it was chilly just holding the door open for him.
We choose to do a spinervals workout, and it has been a while since i have done one, but it didn't take long to remember they are butt kickers.
2 separate 5min efforts and 2 separate sections of sprint efforts were enough to get the lung butter churning for sure.
In the end, we got 1:15 on the bike and about 30k
dork data includes 687kj, the 2 - 5min intervals were over 230w, and saw a nice 10 sec number of 737W

Mid month roll call

Ok - just got off the bike and downloaded the dork-data.
I'm not exactly on par to be ready for Amgen, but im ahead of last year
10 workouts
11 Hrs
265km
5474kj
190.0 lbs (down 1.0)

just gotta keep it rollin

2 am - 2pm

no - i wish that was significant of sitting on the couch, watching football - or our riding my bike on a marathon outing. but it IS 2 days of Am and PM rides.
The am rides are 45 minute efforts -with 2 x 10 min at or around 200-210W. I know i suck, wait - it gets better ( or worse)
the PM rides are 45min to an hour with 5 x 3min efforts between 280 and 290W - did i mention i suck?
well at least its a start, and the ones last night and today seem easier than the ones the day before.

Saturday at STC

I had to work today - so it was an early call to head down for the STC session today. Watched some sports center and know all the odds for todays games. I got in an even hour of riding with a few intervals thrown in to pass the time.
Geek Stats:
1 hr
2 x 10 min @ 220w
3 x 3 min @ 275W
604 kj

RDO

i was fortunate enough to get out and enjoy the warm temps on sunday. I was off work today, but the temperature was not as nice. I layered up and got out for a nice ride. A bit of a headwind heading out, but i got a nice push home. All things considered for Chicago in January, ill take it.

geek stuff:

2 hrs 15 min

61 km

189w ave

1307kj

Sloppy Sunday

We all agreed that usually there are about 3 good days in January in Chicago to get out on your bike. Today was one of them. It was 50 degree when i left the house at 8:30am. pretty wet from all the melting snow and drizzle, but pretty warm as well. We met up at the usual WS 'Bucks, and headed out southeast toward the theaters. It was a brisk wind from the south, so the roll out was tougher than the roll in. Tawse, Kind, Ritzler, Mountain bike Matt, Mike Herr, and i made an even 6. The SRAM boys had their fenders in place, King had an old Zefal fender for the rear, but we decided it was more of a water re-applicator and kept only a portion of him dry and no courtesy for the riders behind. I was fender-less, so i caught lots of crap when it was my turn at the front. Pretty good day to be out all things considered. Looking forward to another day soon to enjoy it.
I ended up with an even 3 hrs wheels turning and 70km for the day. NICE.

Holy January!

well - like the most of us, i turned the calendar to 2008 and like most of us - realized i am behind the ball; then again that's not too unusual in the Smott camp.
December numbers -
7.5 hrs - fooey
191.0lbs - im slipping the wrong way
0 outdoor rides - well ok, it was december anyway.

The Bad - im about 2 seasons short of having a good base coming into this year - hers a tip for you youngsters at home - don't take essentially 2 years off and think that a big january push will get you back to form.
The Good - i am in day 2 of the new lunch protocol partnered with a buddy at work. we are only allowed to go out on fridays now for lunch, and part of the friday outing is to go shopping for lean cuisines and lunch meat to make lunch. so far so good ( and the parts fund is now growing instead of my waistline - lol)

The Plan - looks to be a nice sunday for an outside pedal - WS bucks at 8am anyone?????

On the long side of Time..

Well, here in the frozen tundra of Chi-Town, we have made it past the winter Solstice, which occurred saturday the 22nd. The shortest day of the year means that we do have daylight from 11:27am till 1:52pm in the day time, or at least it seems that way. Just the other day i went to lunch and it was getting dark when we were walking back to the office. Hopefully the days of growing daylight will smile on us to get a few outdoor rides in, but with the temp in the teens, and windchills below zero - im staying on my cozy trainer for now.

Fat kid - out.

STC indoor Bike Practice

Sunday is calling for Warm, but rainy. If its dry i suggest an outdoor ride. If its wet, STC will be open and hosting Bike Practice at 8am.
Come one, come all.

Get moving

I needed a fresh face for Lenny at the top of the page.
Tomorrow will mark 4 months since we laid our friend to rest, and i have to admit, i think about him every day. Every day he makes me laugh about somethin. Today i missed getting the phone call about how T-Mobile is dropping sponsorship, and what trick new part just came out that we both need to get this off season.
I thought a lot of the hours we spent next to each other either on the road or on the trainer.
Its that time of year here that Chicago ends up being a pretty nasty place to ride your bike anywhere but the trainer; and its thanks to Lenny that we both suffered through countless sessions on the trainer together.
Tonight i drug the trainer out, locked down the road rig to it, and pedaled for 30 minutes.
Nothing special, just 30 minutes.
Not a singe pedal stroke went by that i wasn't missing him next to me joking and laughing, mostly because he left me his cyclops training block with the 3 different riser positions, and i figured i might as well use it.
Tomorrow i plan on getting another 45 minutes in before work. and the day after, and the day after.
It will be my own little honor to Leonard, to keep him fresh in our hearts and minds.

Happy Turkey

The usual suspects gathered in the woods for the Annual Turkey ride down at the willow springs woods. We did have some unusual suspects and a guest appearance by Christian Vandevelde.
It was fun to ride with CVV again, the guy is 1st class and funny as can be. He got style points for riding his new Felt cross rig - but threw away some of those points by riding road shoes and pedals, and then endo-ing into a mud puddle in front of me.
We got in 2 hours in the dirt. It was a little sloppy, but a blast.
The temp was pretty chilly, but the big snow flakes in the air made a pretty picture.

I'm typing this now, because i am one of the unlucky ones to have to work today. Blah. Isn't that what i went to college for?

Well this weekend does mark the opening of the 2008 season, and for all you youngsters at home - its time to break out the winter gear and start piling on the hours.

Fat Kid - OUT

LIQUIDATION SALE

Here at STC we are getting ready for the '08 campaign and that means we gotta make room!
Upper management says that this winter STC needs to be more organized and more streamlined...
Let our loss be your gain!

2005 Giant TCR Comp Carbon - Size Small– Dura Ace 10sp, except for cranks – DA 9 sp style. 172.5mm cranks – 39/53 rings. Deda Newton Bars and Stem – 12cm stem, 42cm bars c-c. 31.8 OS clamp size. Mavic Classics Elite wheels, 32sp. Its on Ebay for 1800, for friends 1600 complete.

2002 Schwinn Moab MTB – 17” size. This was the wifes MTB, never really rode it. Its got shimano 8 sp trigger shifters, and shimano components. Disc brakes F and R. Rock Shock front suspension. For friends - $100

2006 Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels – 20sp Front – Radial, 24 sp Rear – 2 cross. Velox rim strip, used 1 year, MAYBE 2000 miles. Friend Price - $150

Cant remember the year, but it’s a 52cm Jake the Snake Cross bike. It’s a Mix of shimano parts. Ultegra Rear derr, 9 sp. Dura Ace 9 sp shifters, Tektro top mount in line cross brakes, Avid shorty Canti’s, Spinergy Spox wheels and Hutchinson cross Tires. This bike has always been too big for me. It fits like a 54 or 55cm road bike would. 53.3 cm top tube.

Friends - $500

I have pics if you need them, call me or email with questions

Rich

708-284-3262

rjsmott@gmail.com

ride in.. ride out...

So i couldn't pass up the opportunity to enjoy some 50 degree weather in mid November. I packed my gear this am and pedaled into work. I think its the first time in a month, since the entire family was sick for what seemed an eternity. It was nice, brisk in the am, but they were touting high 50's late afternoon. They were also calling for high winds. Well, the wind was delivered as promised, but the temps were barely around 50 when i left to head home. It was motivation to ride faster.
I love the nite rider lights, they are tons better than some of the older lighting systems i have seen. I enjoy nite riding, but im much more comfy when its on a path, or at least out of traffic. The new route home is better than Ogden ave, but still gotta be alert no matter how dressed up like a Christmas tree me and the bike are.

All good... perhaps this will be the start of a new streak..
its about that time to start the 2008 campaign.

Cluck Cluck

Hilly pictures are in, i need to get them loaded in and get a link up for all of you to enjoy.
We have some winners this year and the added plus of NO pics of Nate's pecker.

cheers!

Old Skooooool...

For anyone who has raced a bike, and for those that have recently picked up the sport, its worth your time to go through all these segments and go though time with Superweek.

Teams: Saturn, LA Sherrif, Coors Light, Shaklee, Turin
Names: Wasko, Matush, Gaggioli, Ventura, Carney, Colletta, Wust, Mionski

Old skool indeed.... this was the glory days of Superweek, but i will say i like it better now, because Otto pays prize money the day you win it, not 3 years later like the good ol days.
Check out the trispokes, oakley sub zeros, and some sweet foam helmet covers

Segment 4 has a display of jerseys that is a great throwback to the day that racing had 20 teams show up with 10 guys each!

Go here to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX1mJd4YGLo

Fall construction

This weekend marks the start of construction for the upcoming winter season at STC.
I have organized the fleet of cycles, and i am trying to put more storage together to keep stuff up of the floor. STC doubles as the play area for the boys 98% of the time, so its my new imposed goal to make STC functional for bikes and boys. I havent been able to persuade upper management for a full coffee bar, but things are in the works to see some good traffic this fall.
I will send out the blanket invite now: all are invited to participate. Bring a trainer and a towel and your rig. Times are to be determined, but im leaning toward 7 or 8 am on saturday and probably 8 am sundays as well.
I do need to upgrade a few pieces f stability control for my trainer, since im pimping out the new eco friendly monster bike as well.

Here at STC, we have big trucks, monster bikes, and well... small junk according to upper management.

Hilly...

Well another year of the Hilly Hundred has come and gone, and i can honestly say that this one will go in the top 10 Hilly's. Enmark and i were pretty critical early on, a few of the regulars we're not going to make it down, and i was especially bummed out making the trip down without Lenny. For years i had tried to convince him to come down, and it sounded like this year he was on board with the trip. The weather forecast improved every day we looked at it, ending up chilly saturday morning, and nice in the afternoon, with sunday starting out nice and ending BEAUTIFUL! We had a good sized crew, good laughs, good chats, good fun. Not as many hand slings this year, but Barker and Hill get the "who is slinging who" award. I handed out a few t-shirts as prizes - Garland was to receive the Cougar Hunter shirt, but his pro contract came in early and he made the trip out west. He called us to let us know he missed us, we told him to hurry up and get on a plane! T-Rent was the early saturday contender for the "your retarded" shirt, but Enmark posted up a late ride chop in a corner of the hotel parking lot on Spencer, and i awarded it to him. That was short lived - after a meal with some beers, a stogie, and additional drinks, and late night taco bell, Trent reclaimed the "your retarded" prize by not only missing sunday breakfast, but passing on the entire ride due to it coming out of both ends of him.
I honored Lenny not making the trip by busting out a can of silly string for the bean blossom descent out of morgan monroe. I was able to blast most of the crew, but especially got Spencer with some really awesome cling on silly string pieces. That was some funny stuff.
I won the " how did you stay on your bike" award after blasting a pothole i never saw, getting the front wheel up off the ground and turned 90 degrees with no hands on the bars. Somehow i miraculously got my hand on it and got it straight before disaster hit. Barker and Hill both crapped their pants, and i never knew what happened until they told me.
A good time was had by all, i gotta give Credit to the G man for making me bust open some $2 bills from the bank - they were a HIT!
Good news is i am working on getting rooms reserved for next year already, so we are not hosed with triple expensive rooms in a dumpy joint.

Missing the good stuff...

Its that time of the year in the midwest when it starts getting light later and later, and gets dark earlier and earlier. I gotta thank the guys that decided to push back the time change by a few weeks in spring and fall, so we get to hang on to the last few bits of daylight for a few extra weeks now. It seems that we lose like 5 minutes a day.
I have decided that it is time to quit commuting on the road bike, and dust off (literally) the cross hog and get her ready for the task. Its more comfy to roll on, and im not as worried about the glass and road crap on the bomber tires.
I kitted it up with the lights and have been on it twice this week now for the commute.
I gotta say it - i LOVE my cross bike, but i want my SRAM back!!!
The Pumpkin (the cross hog) sports some older 9 sp Dura Ace, and i gotta say, DA is NOT where its at, especially the 9 sp stuff. I miss my SRAM Force!!! that IS where its at!!!
Now we all know im loyal to my SRAMies, and i have nothing but GREAT things to say about the Force, but even if i didn't know those guys, i need to spread the word that after a season on Force, the old DA just feels crappy. And to think for years it was the mainstay in my race rigs. Now its a 3rd class citizen, it feels more like an old Shimano Sante group.. ya the ones with the bad two tone paint and biopace? remember that travesty??

I gotta call up the boys and put my order in for some Force or Rival to bring the Pumpkin up to par with the rest of my fleet.

Moral of the story - if your not on SRAM, your NOT where its at!

@%&#ing ?\$!< shoes

well. my alarm went off right on time, i got up, checked the weather to find that at 630am it was already 71 degrees, a perfect morning for a ride. especially considering its october i was happy, so i grabbed my helmet and shades, my road ID tag, pulled on some shorts, filled my bottles, loaded the truck and off i went.
got about 2 blocks from the WS starbucks and realized what any astute reader knows already... i forgot my shoes. Stooooooooopid. Called Tawse, he had shoes, but no extra pedals and cleats. the guys were riding with the tower dorks, so there was no tme to wait for me to make a roundtrip home and back with kicks.
my 'friends' were gracious enough to point out funny things like 'no room in that big truck for shoes??' funny guys.. no really they are. funny like the time a former teammate made fun of me for having such a big bag of gear when traveling to a race. when it started raining he asked if i had a spare rain cape. i told him i had 2 spares in my big bag, but i didnt feel like riding back to the car to get it; i was warm and dry in my rain cape.
note to self - - take your shoes with ya dummy.
i will be riding to group rides in the future and packing my gear the nite before from now on.