Poncho and Lefty

I knew something was wrong when I first heard the little squeak from my shock as it bottomed out on the rollers on Twilight. Then there was the little bit of oil on my rear tire. And finally after riding Kudzilla Saturday, I reached for my water bottle, and my hand slipped off, it was drenched in oil. Stumpy had blown a seal. I know my massive legs deliver a lot of power but I am surprised how quickly these bicycles wear out components. Stumpy will be down for a while.



I won't get into how I came to possess this trick Cannondale. Suffice to say if you spend an exorbitant amount of money locally, and cry and whine enough, things can happen. Lefty is only mine until Stumpy gets a new rear end but I have enjoyed riding something different. It's made of carbon fiber, has only one fork, and is pretty to look at. No it hasn't made me any faster or better (I was secretly hoping it would) but it has opened my eyes to how different bikes handle and ride.

Somethings missing here.

Nice to look at isn't it?




We attended the Trek Demo last weekend, got to ride some very exotic bikes, and eat free pizza. I discovered that $9,000 mountain bikes are wasted on someone of my skill level. It was good to see some faces I haven't seen in a while, the shops should do this more often.

T. C. has the ability to always make me laugh.

For some reason the regular crew has been hard to get up with lately so I've been forced to find some new folks to ride with. Fortunately they have allowed me to tag along even though I have the habit of insulting everyone withing the first few minutes of meeting them. It's a talent I have honed with years of practice.

All of these different groups have their own ride rituals, their own trail selections, and a preset pecking order in the conga line. I usually take my place at the rear unless it makes someone else uncomfortable. Some like to talk while we ride and sometimes I get the impression they wish I wouldn't. Everybody has been friendly and we're fortunate to have so many fun people to ride with.

The Tour of Amsterdam is shaping up. I already have one large sponsor and there's been some interest generated from the Facebook posting. I found another section with some serious hills and feel confident I can get the mileage to 30 with the addition of more trail. The single track will be short but the additional ATV trail should make up for it. My only real concern is that the faster bike riders might catch the slowest ATVs. They know it's not a race but I saw the pace at San Felasco.

I'm toying with the idea of doing the 12 hours of Santos and maybe the Adventure Race scheduled for Tom Brown in April. Isn't it great to have so much to look forward to?