What's been Up?

Since my last post I have been to Boulder, raced at Munson and have a new bike.

I took my daughter to Boulder to see the University of Colorado. She has been accepted there and they even were kind enough to throw some scholarship money her way, so we thought we owed them a visit at the very least. We opted for the 'Student for a Day' tour program. We arrived on time for our big adventure - interestingly enough, they charged us $15 each for the privelege of the tour. They did a nice job of presenting the school, tour, presentations, etc. They even broke us into groups - students and parents, for a panel discussion led by a group of students. It was pretty interesting, especially after Erin and I compared notes afterward. Same questions were asked but from the opposite side of the answer. The students that led it were interesting and we learned a lot. It turns out the $15 must have been for the delicious meal we were served in the dorm. Let me just say, dorm food still stinks. We sat by ourselves at a fairly large table. We were joined by 3 Navy ROTC freshmen in their dress blues (in honor of veteran's day). They were friendly and provided some insight into the dorms, etc. that was very helpful and not spun by the marketing folks of the University.

That night we had dinner at Andy Hampsten's house. It was great fun and very helpful to get the town person's perspective of Boulder and the University. The next morning, Andy and I went for a ride. 4300 feet of climbing later, I was one happy camper! He is a great guy and was nice enough to not leave me in his dust.

Yesterday was the Munson Park race of the Tailwind Series. It was cold and windy as usual at Munson. The course was similar to last year with a couple of different twists. I felt reasonably well and hoped for a top ten since Jeff Weinert and Mike Wissink were out of town. I rode pretty solid with a few technical bobbles, but nothing too serious. I rode with Joel B. and Mark W. for the first few laps. Then dropped Joel and rode with Mark. After two more laps, I gapped Mark and rode the rest of the way by myself. I had visions of catching the 6/7 riders, but could not bring the gap down to the point of that being in the realm of possiblities. I was 8th, somewhat satisfied with the ending. The best race of the day was the masters 35. Ron put on a clinic in how to use strategy to win a race. It was great to watch.

Now for the big news, I received delivery on my custom Nobilette frame last Friday. I wanted a bike that I could travel with and have as many options as possible for ride options. I had Mark design it for cx geometry and clearances and S&S couplers for traveling ease. Here it is:


Here is a view of the head tube:

Believe me, photos do not do it justice. The finish was done by Spectrum Powderworks. These guys are amazing.

I hope to have it built up in the next week or so. Looking at a Force group and some set of wheels that I already have. We'll see.

Pondering this whole blog thing. Does anyone really care what I have to say? Does it really matter? Is it just some therapeutic egocentric excercise? Read it now, it may disappear.