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Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Some of you know I spend about 5 months coaching basketball during the late fall and winter. Last year the mighty Cougars took second in the league and second in the post season tourney. It was a great year. Not just because of our results, but because we had a great bunch of kids who were all ready to learn and work hard. Practices with coach Mike aren't all about scrimaging you know! This year I got my team roster and saw that I had two other kids returning (besides my son Jordan). That was nice because I knew at least a little of what I'd have to work with. Our team winds up being split about 50-50 between 3rd and 4th graders. Last year, we mostly had 3rd graders. We've had about 5 practices now and our first game is tomorrow night. By some coincidence we happen to be playing the best team from last year. Hmmmm. How'd that happen? Our boys are excited and nervous too I'm sure. Our foundation is based on our four team goals: 1) Have fun. 2) Improve our skills. 3) Learn what it is like to be part of a team. 4) Show respect to all involved. I'm sure a lot you know what it is like to volunteer for something. Is it always easy? No. Is it always rewarding? Yes. If you aren't volunteering in your community or school now, consider giving it a try. It is an easy way to make something better, instead of sitting back and complaining. Peace out. Wish the Kings luck tomorrow night. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 6:27 PM 0 comments 
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Let The Drilling Begin Equipment plans are starting to fall into place as I continue to prepare my bike and body for the Arrowhead Ultra. Last night I began modifications of one of the Surly Large Marge rims I'll be using. Essentially I'm trying to make a big, wide, heavy rim much lighter. Or at least somewhat lighter. After talking to several knowledgeable folks, including our engineer Josh, I believe I can remove quite a bit of material from the rim for snow bike racing purposes. After a quick stop at the local hardware store yesterday, I headed down into the basement last night with an automatic center punch and a couple titanium drill bits. Now, plenty of people have suggested I use a drill press but since I don't own one I'm doing this the old fashioned way…with my handheld drill. While this might not sound like fun, it sure beats the heck out of making homemade snow tires with a screwdriver and no drill. I've done that before so drilling some holes in an aluminum rim seems like a piece of cake! Drilling holes in a rim is actually kind of addicting. I'm looking forward to getting home and firing it up to remove some more metal! You will see my efforts on rim #1 next week. The rest of the bike is also slowly taking shape. I hope to have it rideable by the end of next week although with some heavy training wheels and some parts that are just on there for now, but will be replaced in the coming month or so. Other equipment news: While I'm not sponsored by them I have some Patagonia clothing coming. Patagucci you say? True, it is not cheap stuff. But they also make some great gear and have an environmental stance that the rest of the world could take a lesson from. Check out their 1% for the Planet campaign. Among their clothing items that I'll have with me during the Arrowhead Ultra are their Das Parka (or Micro Puff Jacket) and Micro Puff pants. Those two items are for use if I stop to work on something or to bivy and sleep for a while. Using them I should be able to quickly put something on when I stop and then set up my gear. Also, they will let me use just one part of my two part sleeping bag system. I'm also excited to have a chance to work with the folks at Forty Below. Forty Below make mountaineering overboots among other things and they have graciously offered to send over some prototypes of a lightweight overboot that I hope to use in addition to my other footwear. At this point I will either be using some Keen winter boots one size too large or my Steger Mukluks. mukluks. I really hope I can use the mukluks but need to stiffen the sole to make it suitable for cycling. Of course, the challenge in this is to do it without removing one of the main benefits of a mukluk, which is flexibility. As per the abilities of mukluks to keep a foot warm in extremely cold weather, I will testify. They work great. The Forty Below overboot will be used if my feet start getting cold or if the temperature drops significantly. Forty Below also seems to have a heavy interest in beer-related insulation! And that can't be a bad thing can it!?! I'd like to thank my current sponsors for this event! Salsa Cycles. Yup, Salsa is helping me out with some of the components I need for my build. Yup, I work for them too. Better than the help with parts though is the fact that they are supportive of this endeavor and seem to understand how I'm having a hard time thinking of anything else! Surly Bikes. Surly is a sister company to Salsa in that we share the same parent company. The Surly guys generously offered me a special deal on the Pugsley frameset, Endomorph tires, and Large Marge rims. Thanks fellas. I love you too! Evingson Cycles. Specializing in frames, parts and accessories for snow bikes and bikes that run big fat rubber. Other sponsors? Stay tuned as I hope to have a few more signing on! Peace out to all of you. Happy Thanksgiving. Get outside and be thankful.. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 5:30 PM 0 comments
Friday, November 17, 2006
Chuck's got something to point out. See, last week while Jason and I were crawling down the snow covered highway heading to see Guitar Ted, Chuck was sitting uncomfortably in an air plane seat with a messed up shoulder. He had been out at the top secret Shimano 2008 product introduction in Cali and ate shite while demo'ing their new goods. I tell ya that's what warm weather will do to you. In the crash, Mr. Hood tore all the ligaments in his shoulder. That of course introduced a lot of pain to the brave lad. Surgery? He'll find out in a few weeks. For now, he has the distinct pleasure of having a drooping shoulder that hangs one inch lower than normal. It is making him walk in circles a lot too as his balance seems to have been thrown off.  So keep Chucker in your thoughts. And remember, if you want him to tell you about the secret new goodies the big S has up its sleeve, all you have to do is give him a gentle nudge...on the right shoulder! Don't let this happen to you. Enjoy your weekends. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 5:40 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
It Is All I Can Think Of Since signing up for the Arrowhead Ultra this coming February, it has dominated my thoughts. Training and equipment decisions and ideas are using up most of my brain space. It is fun, but it is also kind of serious. I intend to finish this event without damaging myself and that won't be easy without careful thought, preparation, and execution. Training wise, I am trying to make the most of my time on the bike or trainer. That's right, I said trainer. Thanks to someone at our parent company, I've got a Tacx electronic trainer that I spend a lot of hours on in the morning before taking Jordan to school. The nice thing about the trainer is that it shows power output in Watts. Talking to some of the guys who did the event last year, they said that the trail surface took a lot of their energy. Whenever they tried to coast, they would quickly come to a stop. So I'm currently trying to increase my power output. I figure I'll be pedaling the whole time and the more power I have the better. My friend James is helping coach me on power training. He's a U.S. Masters National Champ this year in the match sprint event. My goal is to develop increased power output while seated for long distance cycling, not sprint power. This morning he had me do a long interval at the maximum power output I could maintain for 20 minutes. That's one way to wake up! From that info he will set some benchmarks for future training. I'm trying to get two 3 - 4 hour rides in each week outside at this point. And will try to stretch one of those out a bit longer in about a month. I'm also riding indoors a lot, including intentional recovery rides on the trainer, spinning an easy gear and just keeping the blood flowing. Proper recovery will make me stronger, not just pushing and pushing and pushing. Bike wise, things are slowly falling into place. I'll be riding a Surly Pugsley. For those that don't know it, the Pugsley is an extreme terrain, extreme conditions frame that accepts extremely large 3.75” wide tires on very large rims. The big tires mean lots of floatation, which is just what a snow bike needs. You will be hearing much more in future updates about my setup and build for this bike. Rather than use the dual rear wheel system the Pugsley offers, I will be building my Pugsley up using a standard 100mm spaced fork from my friend John Evingson. John is a veteran of this type of event and I'm tapping into his knowledge as much as possible as well. I'll also be using John's lightweight racks on the Pugsley. Equipment wise, I'm taking inventory of the gear I have and looking into finding the gear I want. This past weekend I took advantage of a local sale to score discounts on some key pieces of equipment including Granite Gear insulated water bottle holsters and a nice titanium MSR pot for melting snow and potentially a bowl of soup. My goal of course is to keep the weight of bike and gear down, while still meeting the race safety rules…and more importantly keeping me safe! I'd like to thank my current sponsors for this event! Salsa Cycles. Yup, Salsa is helping me out with some of the components I need for my build. Yup, I work for them too. Better than the help with parts though is the fact that they are supportive of this endeavor and seem to understand how I'm having a hard time thinking of anything else! Surly Bikes. Surly is a sister company to Salsa in that we share the same parent company. The Surly guys generously offered me a special deal on the Pugsley frameset, Endomorph tires, and Large Marge rims. Thanks fellas. I love you too! Evingson Cycles. Specializing in frames, parts and accessories for snow bikes and bikes that run big fat rubber. Other sponsors? Stay tuned as I hope to have a few more signing on! Peace out. Enjoy your day. -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 3:43 PM 0 comments
Monday, November 13, 2006
This past weekend, Jason and I headed down to Iowa with a few 29'ers to hook up with Guitar Ted. One of those bikes of course was a Mamasita, so G.Ted was getting first crack at riding our latest endeavor. Iowa seems to be developing its own unique bike culture and hardcore cult following. They've got some fast 24-hour racers and are also developing cool events like TransIowa, a 350 mile or so slog across the state on gravel roads. Getting down there had been a trip, literally. Snow was coming down hard when we left the Twin Cities and we had a 15 minute delay when we stopped to make a 911 call for an overturned semi with a driver stuck inside it. All I could think of while we waited was don't let this engine catch fire. We met up with GTed in Cedar Falls on Friday and talked bikes for a few hours, checking out the local shops as well. Nice people, fun stories. Saturday we met up early to go ride at the Scout Camp. They've developed some good relationships with the camp and have something like 14 miles currently of singletrack. Fun singletrack at that. We had a 29'er posse going as folks tried out our bikes in a few inches of snow and fairly cold temps. The ride was really a whole heck of a lot of fun. Good trails that they say are ripping fast in the dry. That might be, but they were pretty fun slogging through them the way we did on Saturday too. The start of the ride especially has me planning on going back there to shoot sometime within the next six months. Jason and I had it lucky of course. After 4 hours with the group, we hit the car wash to shed some frozen muddy slushcicles and then it was pool time! Yeah, roadtrips are rough when you've got a pool and hot tub! Doh! The soak proved effective as proper preparation for a fun dinner with GTed and his lady that evening. Mmmmm...burritos and margaritas...life is rough. Special thanks to Guitar Ted for inviting us down to sample their superb singletrack. We'll be down again to check it out in the dry as well as to hopefully hit the Sugar Bottom trails. If you're ever in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Iowa area, stop in at the local shops and get the skinny on the riding they've got. You won't be sorry. Brraaaaapppppp! -Kid Posted by Salsa Kid : 3:27 PM 0 comments |
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