1979 was a good year for Detto's, TA, Suntour &...

Pflueger Medalist reels. If Pflueger made a crank set I am pretty sure that I would put one on my tangerine orange 49' Schwinn DX. I have a feeling that Grant Peterson probably pedals around with a couple of Pflueger fly reels in his bags. This 18 dollar baby showed up on the doorstep only needing a little Phil Wood lube and some novice fisherman love. It reminds me of a trusty Suntour bar end shifter - leaves you wondering what roads or rivers it has seen. I have to find a reason to pedal around with this thing in my mussete bag.



For the record: I think Paul Willerton would appreciate this photo

The Full Wilder - Ball Mauler June 22nd

Join the Ball Mauler crew as they serve up a plate of spaghetti trail criss crossing every boogie in Wilder. Make sure to say hello to Sunny in the maintenance yard. 

Geospatial Data Visualization or I spy for the FBI

The Edward Snowden issue was absolutely perfect for Google to slide off the radar screen. Ever seen the Google car with all the hardware strapped to the roof? Well, their little stunt they pulled with Keyhole Inc (now owned by Google) cost them 7 Million in settlements. They realized that those little cameras were able to capture endless amounts of Wi-Fi information from all of us. To celebrate all the spying that is going on we busted out our 1986 Untouchables Dance Party LP - side 2, song 2...enjoy.



For the record: I never saw the Untouchables at the Catalyst in June of 89' but I did stop and listen to them from Pacific Avenue with AC & Kev McGill on our grey and white Bridgestone MB-1's with Ritchey vector force tires, Nitto seat posts, and coski forks.

Sir Silky's boogie report of Gibraltar

Hi Jaker,

While you were away, I had the opportunity to support a tandem dealer of ours with a demo weekend in Ventura. Having scouted this area previously, I had my minds-eye focused squarely on an ascent of Gibraltar. I first heard about this climb back in '92 while swapping routes/rides with the collegiate team from UCSB. I allocated just enough time Friday to get this guy done. I sniffed around online and discovered a winding, hilly approach through the foothills; tons of twists, turns, up and downs. I think I racked up 2k in 'ele prior to hitting the foot of the beast! I hunkered down, found the comfortable cookie and spun for well over an hour. I shot a photo of my Garmin; it took me 2.5 hours to cover 24 miles! Indeed, turns out those 2.5 hours were about 6k in vert gain. Sweet satisfaction. I shot some snaps with the "right tool for the job" at the summit, spun around, and slid downhill. The views East were particularly stunning.

Check out the Garmin data; http://connect.garmin.com/activity/326565234#

Here's some "rider notes" on Gibraltar; http://www.toughascent.com/blog/2010/06/05/santa-barbara-gibraltar-road-climb/

Looking forward to pedaling with you soon.

Steel WÜl Trivia - "Remember the Alamo"

Question: Who are these two junior racers and what boogie did they just finish?

Hint: They both eventually turned pro and one of them road the TdF many times.He also pedaled with Postal, Cofidas, Telekom, Saturn, Spirit of St Luis. The other one road for Saturn and was hit by a car in the Tour of Mexico with Clark Sheehan and was evidently a SF bike messenger at one point.

We fought our own battle that day in the sweltering heat not unlike Davy Crockett at the Alamo. Hincapie finished that day only wearing a chamois. 

Corisca in 26 months, can you hear me now?

Steel WÜl pulled off a recon mission to Corsica to inspect the first three stages of the 2013 TdF. I hope those sprinters have been doing their climbing homework because the stage that cuts through Corte is going to split the field like a Corsican knife through wild boar sausage. Here is how we did it:

Step 1 - cultivate a disliking for AT&T

Step 2 - realize that AT&T will survive without your $125 per month 

Step 3 - pick your jaw up off the floor after you realize that 125 x 12 = $1500

Step 4 - discover that Air France will get you to Corsica for $1100 from SFO

Step 5 - complete the math equation: no cell phone bill + 26 months = 3 tickets to Corsica

Step 6 - find a large glass jar to collect monies (preferably a Martinelli cider jar)

Step 7 - live 26 months...stress free sans cell phones
Step 8 - be willing to sleep in a 350 year old stone cabin with an outdoor kitchen and shower

Bonus Step - provide emergency medicine to an unconscious passenger in seat 44B at 36,000' above Reykjavik Iceland and receive one extra cup of orange juice, a free headset, and two small packages of "cakes". Oh yea...and two complimentary round trip tickets on Air France. 

view from cottage

below cottage

Piana

Portu

Bonifacio

Spelunca Bridge

Stage 3 of the TdF

6000 year old Megaliths

Corsican boar sausage

For the record: Greg Shapleigh's former Corsican teammate was correct - Corsica does have better roads, mountains, climate, beaches, food, mountaineering, cycling, and scenery. We will return in 26 months to entertain this idea- GR20 .

George Meyer - Hornitos Ca

I had to think on my feet, rely on my memory, and use some verbal-judo to win over George this year. He entertained (verbally eviscerated) the group last year as we sat on the curb in front of his barn. We chatted about the inevitable early fire season, Sacramento politics and cycling shorts. 

Giro / Steel WÜl Spring Sportive

 .

Someone created a monster - DP was an Olympic caliber long distance swimmer for 20 years, he recently turned to road cycling, his kids are now in school 8 hours a day, he has "mandatory" physical training while protecting our state beaches four days a week, he has his own siogner acupuncturist as a spouse and he is eligible for retirement in 4.5 years. Come on Dan, with that line up you no longer need to look over your shoulder on the steep stuff because...you've done dropped them all.

For the record: Dan was chasing  SF Mash rider Dominic "Steve" Giovani for the unofficial KOM

I don't concider it a gate, I like to think of it as a filter

Backyard Boogie with a twist

Thor Hushovd's little brother is flying...

Boca Dam Boogie Cross Country - 1986

We found this little jem at Grandma WÜleur's house. Jeff Hoover was kind enough to give me those bull moose bars. These were the days when mountain bikers were more concerned with having enough water verses having enough "extreme" speed. I can't remember if this was before or after Matt (Kissinger) and I got exposed to giardia. We kept things pretty simple that summer all we needed were our- Chuck Taylors, vuarnet sunglasses, fanny packs, suntour shifters, chain tool, crochet gloves, and cheese whiz & crackers. Matt is now a petroleum engineer in Azerbaijan via Alaska. Oh to be 5' 9" & 130 lbs again.

Giardia Lamblia in all its glory

Steel WÜl Trivia - Sep Wolf

Question: What BMX track is this and what year?

Hint: Sep and I probably just finished watching the original Red Dawn, had a couple of pop tarts, and Mary Lou Retton was already a house hold name and folks just started planning for a large "festival" in Vancouver. 

Red Dawn

Pop Tarts 

Mary Lou Retton 

I'm So Glad as well

Jack Bruce still sounds damn good.

Shocks were designed for people who need shocks

Word on the street is that Mt Larry Hibbard was feeling kind and opted to race the "fast" age group at the CCCX Fort Ord in stead of embarrassing his contemporaries. Unfortunately for those folks 15 years his junior, he still issued a good old fashion ass whooping and added another Gold Medal to his collection. When I asked him how he won he simply said, "Some dude was chasing me-and I never let him catch me". This race did finish with a gnarly downhill section, kinda makes you wonder about over-suspensionization of our bicycles.


For the record:
The cycling gods were out in force as they issued him hwy 395 as a number. Larry road his mountain bike from Santa Cruz to Mammoth for a World Cup Race.

Meet Your Maker - Santa Cruz - April 13th

Come on out an support / mingle with your local builders. If we play our cards right, we'll probably even get dropped by some of them...

Pop Warner is too dangerous - Pop Wheelie is great

Sean Co's son is silky smooth as he negotiates some beautiful terrain. If you were to recalculate the size of that boulder he kicked loose in relation to his size, it would roughly be the size of a yoga ball to an adult. A dad who takes him to paradise for mountain bike rides and a National TT Champion for a mom - look out world!

Ball Mauler 2013 - at least half of it is downhill..

check out

The Ball Mauler

Alexi...It wasn't my idea, but you have to admit...

Ok...today I will come clean and admit to a prank that I was in on involving Alexi Grewal twenty two years ago. Let me set the stage for you.  I was seventeen and flanked by Justin Morgan, Chris Bauman, Simone Giachino, Tyler Kettenberg, Hans Bielat, Adam Riemer, and Chad Gerlach (enough said). We were in Wyoming for the 91' Casper Classic. I believe it all started with Justin launching bottle rockets out of the hotel window into the parking lot after the prologue.

Alexi tested positive prior to Casper and blamed it on a twelve pack of poppy seed muffins he ate before a race. We were in the same hotel as Coors Light and after a couple of stages we noted that Alexi happened to be staying on our floor. Word had spread through the peloton regarding Alex's affinity towards poppy seed muffins.

Our tomfoolery started off with some old fashion door bell ditching where we would leave him a twelve  pack of mini poppy seed muffins. The elevator rides started to get a little nerve racking as I was pretty sure he suspected the California juniors. At this point, his defense was common knowledge in the cycling world. Like clockwork, the muffins would show up everyday at his hotel room door. After a while we were leaving poppy seed muffins in the elevator, front lobby, stairwell, and ashtrays.

Alexi had a unique view of bicycle racing. He once said the only reason he races is that it is so damn easy. His 84' Olympic gold medal is still the greatest finish in cycling history regardless as to what he was on.

For the record:
The last time I saw Alexi was in 94' after the Mike Nields Memorial Stage Race in Colorado. We were out training in Ward and a skeleton of a man flew out of a dusty trail-head on a lugged Serrota onto the road in front of us. He took one look back and dropped us immediately.

Casper Classic

tomfoolery...

birds-eye view of Wayne Morgan grabbing a $1000 crowd prime

Simone, Justin, Jake, & Chris

Alexi the tactician & Bauer
LA games 84'

► 6:38► 6:38

Acrophobia: fear of pedaling in Hitchcock country...

...without a mussette bag full of Nutella 

        

the approach to Henrieta Peak

the crux...

calling all greyhounds- (Dain & Carmi), the road has turned skyward....wait for me at the top

Normally I don't engage, but today was different...

I did what any road cyclist would do after being floored by the infamous Santa Cruz Rhino Virus for the last few weeks - I chipped out a solo ride in the mountains, found two new roads, pedaled to my daughters latest playlist and had a heart to heart with a "gentleman" from the San Lorenzo Valley after he thoughtfully offered up the 'f' word (three letter word ending in ag). 99% of the time, I simply let those knuckle heads do their thing and then I call them in as a potential drunk driver (I have a really good sense of smell). However, this time was a little different - I think it had to do with the fact that we kept passing each other in heavy traffic due to road construction on hwy 9. Those of you that pedal with me know that I try to avoid hwy 9 at all costs (this new road was just too good though).

I tried to put myself in his shoes as I slowly approached his vehicle in bumper to bumper traffic in the bike lane. I took my sun glasses off so we could make some uncomfortable eye contact as we waited for the pilot car to turn around. It truly is awkward for the yeller and the yellee (not as much) when these situations arise. The funny thing about being on a bike is that you can maneuver in and out of traffic much easier than a maroon Honda accord can especially when cars are inches from your front and rear bumper. The vehicle on his rear bumper...wait for it...a CHP. The officer who happens to know me very well, was kind enough to let me lean against his vehicle as we slowly crept along. We did the obligatory finger pointing and chuckling. Traffic started to flow, so I rolled up to the Honda and simply said, "its because of my European under-jersey right?".

For the record:
I only rocked my Craft under-jersey to dinner once on a bet with Joe Pettinger.