Reach the Beach.
Earlier in May I embarked on "Reach the beach", what the bugger is this you may say... well it's is an annual organized bike ride, it's not a race, it's a fund raiser for Lung Cancer. 104mile trip from Portland to the Beach (Pacific City, west and south a bit of Portland). There was quite a posse of Team Beer, one of the lads had a stereo on his bike, made for some good head turnings and entertainment. One of the lads ate 4 corndogs at a petrol station and washed it down with some cheap PBR. The other tins went in my musette bag, so I could practice being a domestique. It was a chill enjoyable ride there. The team rented a house at the seaside and a few of us stayed over and rode the trip back to Portland. We rode back via a different route, alongside the Nustecca River, very pretty, great ride musch faster pace on the way back.
some rest stop, somewhere. This is where we had to persuade Kristin
(girl in black n yellow) that she could not use the porta loos with no shoes on. :-).
While chilling at the seaside, some dillwhacker decided to
drive their big car onto the beach, what a nob! america ya cannot buy class.
not a great picture, but anyway, the boys on the ride back. John,
Clint and Corey
Clint and Corey
Velodrome
So track season kicked off a few weeks ago, sorta strange since it's still pissing down most days here, and obviously you cannot ride the track in the wet. I have not been to the track in two weeks due to rain, but prior to that there was a Memorial track race on the 8th of May and I got my arse handed to me, royally. This marks the point of "riding my bike to work too much and getting my arse handed at race time" has begun.
New bike
I finally put together my new road bike, it's been a long time in the works. I feel like I have been riding my all steel heavy rain bike with fenders continuously for the last year... but it has not been that long, so on the new bike, well so far so good, not ridden it a ton, because it's still super crappy weather in Portland, yes, nearly June and tons of pissing rain. The bike is super light and super stiff (which translates into efficient forward power), it weighs in at a hair under 14.5lbs (6.5kg) for a 59cm bike.Here's a picture. (*bike specs at end, or go here and look at some pics)
Work
Work is still good, good to be having a job, working for a company that likes outdoor stuff, other than that, there's nothing at the moment that inspires me, bit of a flat time. We have some cool new stuff coming out, but not for a bit. Time to ramp it up. Since I have been riding my bike to work a lot, I have made an active decision to take my bike on the train and avoid massive hills, this is in part to focus some energy on racing and not feel too burnt out from all the commuting miles.Home
The house is fine, not much new. The kitchen sink broke, oh F I hate plumbing, went to the DIY shop, bought a crap load of plastic parts and a sink thing ... 40 quid later and a bag full of stupid tubes... maybe i'll get it fixed. The rest of the house is ok. Still no new roommate, still have not painted one of the spare rooms (one where Ruth was). The house next door to me has sold, I have not seen any people though.
Other Shits.
Nathan (nautilus) is getting married soon, so is Clint (Team Beer), which mean going to some wedding fhlarkee, Nathan is an old git so I doubt there will be much action, but I am very happy for him tying the knot, as he needed to con someone into changing his incontinence nappies for his old age. Now Clint, he's a young lad, fast on a bike, not much to say there, but his soon to be woman is a good lass and I wish them the best.
bike build:
- Cheapy china frame with integrated seatpost.
- Cheapy carbon fork 267g
- Cheapy china seat post topper
- Shimano Pro Bars
- DuraAce 7850TL Wheels
- Hutchinson Fusion 3 Tubeless
- SRAM Red Groupo
- BB30 Red Cranks
- SLK Saddle
- Alpha Q Bottle Cages
- Look Carbon Keo Steel Spindle Pedals
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