teased

proper joe

this past weekend i was lucky to get a block of time to visit a really great coffee house in battle creek. during the big event at team active, i jumped next door prior to the big bash to get re energized. the brownstone coffee house is the shit.

i think i have become a coffee house aficionado in my days. i simply love coffee. i drink it a lot and i'm pretty picky. i sat down and ordered a double shot of espresso. the first thing that bugs me about wanna be coffee houses is when they say it wrong. its not expresso....its espresso. no x. the second thing that really pisses me off is when you order it, if the jackass serves it in a paper cup, he has no idea what he is doing. this friendly young lad did things right. he served it right with some other small details i'm picky about and of course the taste was spot on. i got talking with him later about things. i told him i appreciated the excellent pick me up and he replied that they take things very seriously here. he finished by saying that if the staff doesn't they get fired! the folks at starbucks had better take a training course from the brownstone cafe'. since i don't get to battle creek but a couple times a year, my choice of the finest coffee in the area goes to my pal john drake of drakes fine coffee roasting in sylvania. good stuff.

warm surge

Levi

this whole tour of cali has got me all pumped up. levi has a really good shot at winning this thing. its really cool to see some big hitters here too riding in wine country. voight has always been one of my favs in the pro peleton. it was awesome to see him power away and get a win. way to go bettini!



i don't know where the time has gone. its already feb 23. next week is march! some friends of mine in warmer climates are already racing. their season started this weekend. i'm really excited about the A2 training series. it starts a little late but at least we have something. i've been spinning my ass off with dybo and john. they just kill us. core workouts are starting to pay off too. maybe some ab def! nope that was just another fat roll left over from the beer in belgium.

to americans and an italian. i think bettini likes racing here. it probably helps that he has won a stage. i wonder how george will do in the classics. i can't beleive the paris nice politics. kinda sad. that is one of the coolest races.

if i wasn't working all weekend in battle creek i would be riding outside letting my imagination wander. thinking of warm air and smooth roads in wine country. it will be here soon.

again

warm weather on the way

taken aback

so i found a sloppy shop with an empty stand to get started on my artwork. i got it about 80% complete and decided to see what it would read. mind you i'm not completely done. no cages, pedals, bar tape or computer. i was a bit startled to see these numbers on the digital scale. under 15 - no way. on the manual scale, 14.75. i'm shocked. how can this be? i guess the 55GSM carbon really is ripping light.

so i kept building. my buddy ron hooked me up with these sweet new carbon keos. i've been riding look pedals forever. i had the first generation carbon keos. rode the shit out of those and they are a bit worked over. these are new and super light. i really don't even care. but ron said these were the ti spindle ones. great. i'll take'em. that shouldn't add too much weight to the ultra light frame. i found some old race lite cages lying around. threw those on. wrapped the bars up all nice. i'm ready for spring. i want to race some road.

after i posted the pic of my artwork i had just gotten, cross crazy dave was so stoked on my new ride for the year he wanted me to order him up one. we'll have to keep that on the DL dave man. yea this ride is bad ass.

full weekend

Grote Prijs de Eecloonaar Eeklo, Belgium

Nys wins!

1. Sven Nys
2. Niels Albert
3. Lars Boom
6. Erwin Vervecken
7. Sven Vanthourenhout!

Nys wins yesterday....

Heerlen Nederland

Lars Boom wins!

1. Lars Boom
2. Richard Groenendaal
3. Klaas Vantornout
4. Erwin Vervecken
5. Jonathan Page

....Lars Boom wins today!

i have to say that seeing Lars Boom 3rd yesterday in elite men with Albert and Nys, then posting a win today with the other elites is pretty impressive. Albert and Boom are exceptional athletes both having won big elite races at under 23 years of age. easy to say they are the future stars.

so feb is clicking by nicely. looks like a lot of people are starting to get there new rides in. mine just came in and i'm pretty stoked about it. too bad i haven't completely gotten it together yet. i'm hoping to have it done for a nice spin on tuesday. she is pretty.

2 6.5 SSL 55GSM carbon madones in my room. thats a lot of carbon and a lot of $ sitting in one place. i don't think they will be this clean for very long. i'm itching to take her out for a spin. she is so sexy.

driving Gary Fisher around all weekend was a project. no time for a run or a spin. and of course no time to finish building my spring treat. flights, hotels, functions is enough to stress anyone out. time deadlines everywhere. either way the weekend went really well and i got the father of mountain bikes back to the airport with time to spare. of course we were both tired from the festivities but i think we both had a great time. now maybe i can get to work on getting that road bike built!

indoor sweat

looks like i had better get out the knobby bikes for some outdoor riding.

this one hasn't been touched since iceman. stuffed into the corner only to be riden in emergencies. well this day was an emergency. my cross bike was still in the trainer at the store where i rode it last. time to take extreme measures.

time to cut that damn number off first! get that thing off before i head out.

even robert heriman would be proud that i braved the cold on sunday. i think i had on every piece of cycling clothing i own on sunday. i think that was the coldest day so far. i just had to do something. each day since i landed back from worlds i've done something. i don't want to lose the rythem. i've been doing really well and feel better everyday. i've been running and spinning a lot. just getting home late tonight from another class. dybo worked us over again. i'm glad feb is a short month. if i can knock out this month, before i know it we'll be into march!

mirror image

Superprestige # 7 Hoogstraten Belgium

Nys wins!

1. Sven Nys
2. Richard Groenendaal
3. Gerben De Knegt
4. Jonathan Page
5. Petr Dlask
6. Erwin Vervecken
7. Sven Vanthourenhout!

wait a minute, isn't this the same podium as yesterday in Krawaten? no. and no groenendaal is not pissed at nys. in a couple photos he is flipping off his teammate at the finish. not very sportsman like for the old dutchman.

i used a translator site to make out what the hell happend here today. apparantly it was all in good fun. the three rabo's went off the front and nys danced to the win. groenendaal new his teammate was the best on the day and was just funning at the line. neither have any bad vibe and the gesture was not intended to be a direct slam on nys. they were playing. they have been teammates forever. however i did read ( i think) that groenendaal may be looking for a short term new contract with a new team to finish out his career. he was saying he hoped people were noticing lately that he has had good results and still able to finish with the best in the world.

and again from what i could make out in the translation, it also sounded like fidea was interested in page! holy shit. thats really cool. it was saying that his recent performances were not going unoticed and that he would likely be getting offers from some bigger teams as the season draws to a close. add the amercian to the fidea squad - wow. that would just be awesome.

world champ doing what he does best. gotta love the guy.

off to get some more running in, freezing my ass off.

krawaten cross

GVA trofee veldrijden # 7 Lille Belgium

Nys wins!

1. Sven Nys
2. Richard Groenendaal
3. Gerben De Knegt
4. Niels Albert
5. Kevin Pauwels
6. Sven Vanthourenthout!
15. Erwin Vervecken
30. Ryan Trebon

Womens Race

1. Reza Ravebstein
2. Loes Sels
3. Sanne Cant
8. Christine Vardaros

nice consistant podium of rabo riders. probably the best of the bunch right there.

very typical spectator conditions. this is what i walked in for 2 days in hooglede. big time amature here not having the rubber boots.

looking at this picture makes me want to be back in the land of cycling. i've done really well since the day i landed. i've been running every day and i did a spin class and got my ass totally kicked. my diet has been spot on and i feel really good. today i could tell though i had to fight a little in the mental department. i mean its really cold. but i've been braving it. it was really good to read that an acquaintance of my mine reported to be struggeling pretty bad. he is a pro mountain biker! i just want to be fit. and maybe hang on to equal competition during a race. if i want that i had better start sucking it up. so i'm feeling good about myself on that front. reading about everyone else though is hard, they are all in warm places getting buckets of miles in. i took a pretty good break and now i'm very motivated to get going. i've really been thinking about the road again and am excited for the coming season. i have my schedule pretty much picked out. the team is coming together which is also motivating. i really want to do as many out of state big races as possible this year. i love the big intimidating races. whether its cross or road, i think the bigger the better. i've really found my comfort zone with being on the line the past few years. i think this year will be another step up and another adjustment to what is ahead. doing the big races just makes the small time stuff so much easier. plus its just so damn fun. single digits today and through the early week but i'll be training. before we know it, we'll be riding ourselves dizzy at runway plaza. should be a good year.