WHERE YOU WILL SUFFER TOMORROW....

Along with Trebon, Wicks, National Champion Johnson and so many others...Ned Overend (Specialized/Squirt) and Taylor Phinney will be on hand racing as well.

MORE AWESOME CYCLOCROSS VIDEO FROM BRIAN PATRICK OF ONSIGHT-MEDIA

Killer video link from Brian at the Boulder Revervoir last weekend, same place UCI race #1 will be tomorrow! Jdubs is a freakin rock star. Check out the Freakster as well...

http://cx.onsight-media.com/bouldercx3.html

PARADOX SPORTS, VERY SPECIAL ATHLETES..

This past summer while working for the TEVA games as the Road Bike Hill Climb Race Director, I met a bunch of VERY cool and motivational people, led by Malcolm Daly who is the Executive Director of Paradox Sports (http://www.paradoxsports.com/).

"Providing inspiration, opportunities and equipment to the disabled community, empowering their pursuit of a life of excellence through human-powered outdoor sports", is their mission statement.

I corresponded with Malcolm yesterday and told him SQUIRT wants to keep all their chains lubed for as long as I am around. He responded...

LG,Great to hear from you. How's life in Vail? Cold yet? Perfect bike riding weather here. Been out every day this week. Hey...mucho thanks for the offer to sponsor us with the squirtlube. We'll absolutely take advantage of that next season. Organized an handcycle ride from Boulder to Ft. Collins last month. Spent the night up there then paraded with the Tour de Fat. Awesome time. Crazy parade. Check out the photos from our adaptive ride on Boulder Open Space last month. http://gallery.me.com/mal.daly/100006 Good times. Cheers,Mal

When you get a minute, check out the rest of the pics and their web site, here are few shots from their ride.

These special athletes are just awesome!

THERE IS A NEW CX CATEGORY THIS WEEKEND IN BOULDER...

In an effort to get more woman involved in both spectating and bell ringing on the local Cyclocross scene, there is a new Category which has been added to this weekend's schedule. If you hurry you can still get in the 'short shorts with a nut hanging out" class. Just be VERY careful on the remounts boys as it would be awful to catch one of the family jewels during a flying remount. This guy aint no dummy, notice the WTB DEEP V saddle? Quite the "helmet" as well. Maybe if you ring those cowbells loud enough ladies, the other nut will flutter out for ya.
This pic was poached from "How to Avoid the bummer life"

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM ADDICTED TO BICYLES!!

It took me days to put this costume together....Hooters will never seem the same. I think it is safe to say that this qualifies more as a "trick" than a "treat".

WANT TO GET CAUGHT UP WITH THE AMAZING ADVENTURE OF CHRIS AND LELSIE K?

For those of you who do not know them, Chris and
Leslie Kehmeier have been traveling around the world for the past 399 days on their bikes, the story of their adventure has been kept daily at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bicyclegeography/ via pictures (1500 pics!) and the blog is http://bicyclegeography.blogspot.com/

They are two of the coolest people you will ever meet and live life as it should be lived. Two years ago they sold EVERYTHING (house included)they had here in Gypsum, Colorado and embarked on what has got to be one of the all time great adventures in modern time. They are currently in Portugal, check out their blog, leave them comments, read the tales of their adventure, it's amazing. To make it easier to follow I'll link them up on my cool blogs...

While the rest of us crawl through our otherwise mundane lives, Chris and Leslie have done something monumental, something everyone of us can choose to do at any time, but instead we come up with a million reasons NOT to enjoy our lives to their fullest. I think I feel another epic Elgee adventure coming in the near future. Cheers to you guys!

THE JAKE WELLS SHOW FROM BOULDER RESERVOIR

Last Weekend at the Boulder Res, Jake Wells (Mafia Racing) continued to make his pro rank statement by finishing fourth in the Men's Open Cat. Below are some pics I poached off of CX Mag of Jake in the lead group with a bunch of Big Heavy's including Jonathan Baker, Pacocha and others. Top five is a regular deal for Jdubs anymore, which officially qualifies him as a Super Juker. He'll be all over the UCI scene this weekend lining up with the Super Big heavys at the Boulder Cup. I missed this effort as I had to head back up the hill early with team grandpa.

WHY I MAY MOVE TO VEGAS....AND THAT AINT NO SHIT.

One thing the SQUIRT connection has provided to me this past year is the opportunity to meet some very cool people in very cool places around the country. I introduce to you Fastony from Las Vegas who races for CES, a team SQUIRT has hooked up with as a sponsor. Occassionally we meet someone who reeks of charisma, Fastony is one of those dudes. He sent me these pics from his possy's Goosberry Mesa trip this past weekend which is just over an hour drive from Vegas. The trails are marked every eight feet with six inch dots and the trail riding is off the charts. I'll be road tripping down there this winter to ride both the Goose and Vegas which has SICK single track as well with room for another rider, any takers? Thanks for the pics and the report Tony...you da man.

THE X-FACTOR CHECKIN BACK IN....

The X-Factor riding for SQUIRT at Moab

South African Roan Exelby checked back in yesterday from some far away destination in the world with some more pics from 24 Hours of Moab. Here is one of the best as the X-Factor (given that moniker by race announcer Bruce Hildenbrand) leads out Tinker Juarez in the early laps of the race. Roan finished an amazing 16 laps, the same as Tinker, and finshed third overall behind Tostado and Juarez.

A QUICK WORD ABOUT "EXPERIENCE"

Just a brief word about experience, experience and more experience. Am I wrong or did this guy pictured below have a shit pile of experience in the wonderful world of politics as well as follow daddy's footsteps who had another enitre shit pile of experience in the role of president when he took office? And could he have FUCKED IT UP any worse? So, how's about throwing that issue out of the books because the douche below has experience, he's obviously experienced at being a douche bag because he is wonderful at it. Experience that.

And speaking of experience, when's the last time you experienced a core shot down to your shin bone on a mountain bike ride? I mean, this one was a "scoop" so deep it did'nt start bleeding until 20 minutes later. When you "experience" hitting a piece of sage with your pedal and your shin grinds into the steerer tube cap you will "experience" the feeling of flesh being pulled off your shin and placed in a new spot for the ants to eat. Other than that, I urge you to go ride Mike's Night Out before the snow flies very soon. It's awesome and a great "experience".

I THOUGHT THIS MIGHT GET A CHUCKLE OUT OF YOU

"CYCLING WEEKLY" IN THE UK SAYS SQUIRT IS "THE HOLY GRAIL OF CHAIN LUBES".

But we kind of already knew that....

We've seen wax lubes before but this one has finally delivered where
others have failed. When applied to a clean, dry chain, the water-based
carrier ensures that the wax reaches all moving parts while leaving a dry chain afterwards.

Even in the wettest of conditions, the lube kept the chain moving freely and did not
wash off like others have a tendency to. Reapplication was only necessary once or
twice a week based on riding each day, although wet conditions would make it more
necessary. We asked if this lube was the Holy Grail of chain lubes and it would
certainly seem to be the closest we’ve come. BW Contact Squirt
www.squirtlube.com

AND IN THE WTF CATEGORY TODAY....

What the Fuck? This is actually pretty rockin..

I think this would be a better sport if everyone started together, I mean like 50 riders Chinese Downhill style.

SQUIRT SHANANAGAN'S FROM DOWN UNDER..

Squirt Partner Dewet Marais and South African racer Lieb Loots (Winner of the Masters Class in the Crocodile Trophy) have been in Australia racing and apparently drinking alot of wine, sounds like they are the only two lushes in this multi-day stage race to have stopped at the winery along the way and tasted some of Aussies best vino...I believe this comes from the knowledge of age and experience, why the hell suffer the entire route mates! Cheers!

BOULDER CUP 2008 IS ON THIS WEEKEND

If you are going to either race or spectate at a cyclocross event this year locally, this weekend is the one. With two monster UCI races at the Boulder Cup the fields and crowds and beer drinking will be world class....this is the closest you will get to Euro style racing this year in Colorado. Saturday returns to the suffering at the sand pit at the Boulder Reservoir and Sunday's racing will take place behind Fairview High School at Harlow Platts Park South Boulder. Register now as fields are limited in size to 100 and 80 riders on respective days and it is filling up fast. Register here

ALL the heavy hitters will be racing this weekend, the best in the country. It is guaranteed mayhem on the dirt, grass and sand of Boulder. The weather looks perfect for spectating with clear skies and temps near 70 for both days.

BOULDER RES SANDCROSS CRUSHES RACERS...

Faia trying to close the gap in the 35+ race

On a bluebird day in Boulder at the Boulder Res cyclocross racers battled a very tough course which included four dismounts and some very long jaunts through the notoriously long sandy beach runs. The course was a true test of power and handling skills as big numbers of racers showed and throwed during the day's races...Jake Wells (Mafia racing) had a great race as he geared up for the HUGE UCI weekend coming up at the Boulder Cup next weekend finishing 4th, and how about this...Ryan McFreakster (Mafia/Yakima) entered his first "open" race with the big heavys and finished top 20 in 18th place....pretty impressive Freak, job well done.

Power, power and more power..

A few barriers just to keep you on your toes... Uh, more power, will it ever end?
Burnsy psyched the suffering is over, as usual I chased his ass around for 45 minutes.

YES, IT CAN EVEN HAPPEN TO SVEN NYS....

Multiple time world champion Sven Nys racing in Lebbeke on 10/18/08, trips on the barriers and takes a viscious blow to his head which required 17 stitches to close. I'd say he got off lucky.

The aftermath....

photo from CX mag

PLEASE VOTE BASED ON THIS VIDEO LINK

http://www.minimovie.com/film-128460-McCain-Obama%20Dance-Off

BOULDER RACING PRESENTS RACE #3 TOMORROW AT THE RESERVOIR..

Get ready to crush or be crushed by the sand at the Boulder Reservoir tomorrow as Boulder Racing hosts race #3 of their series. Weather is predicted to be very uncross like with sunny skies and temps near 70 degress, enjoy the Indian Summer racers!

HOW I PERSONALLY KNOCKED THE BOSTON RED SOX OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS...

When I arrived at my brother's place in Boston last Saturday, I knew the Red Sox support would be at a fever pitch. Having won game 5, which was an elimination game for Boston, game 6 was that eve and we were heading over to some friends place for dinner and baseball watching. Not my first choice, but as it turned out, as entertaining as a Seinfeld episode. Pictured above is the Nicola Pizza shop. Apparently in 2004 my brother had started a tradition when the Yankees were simply inialating the Red Sox in the Playoffs and were up 3-0 in games when he decided that if his beloved Red Sox were going down, he was at least going to enjoy a wonderful Nicola Chicken Parm pizza. He ordered, picked it up and ate, the Red Sox won. For the next nine elimination playoff games that the Red Sox would play in over the next few years my brother called into Nicola and ordered up a Chicken Parm pizza for the game, the Red Sox won all nine games including the game we watched that eve. Funniest part of the story is that EVERYONE in Arlington and Boston had become aware of the tradition and made sure that he had ordered the pizza on the days of these elimination games, I mean the post man was even in. Everyone made sure on game day he was ordering the pizza so the Sox were guaranteed a win. On the eve of game 7 last Sunday, my bro and his wife thought it would be nice to head out for a great dining experience and decided to head out for dinner to a fantastic restaurant in West Newton where my nephew Ben works as an assistant to the Executive Chef. Dinner was amazing. Not sure how many courses we had but they were plentiful and a delight to the taste buds. ALL of the employees mentioned the Chicken Parm pizza from Nicola while we ate dinner and we reassured that we were picking it up on the way home for the game, we could snack on it for the seventh inning stretch or something. Only one problem, Nicola closes early on Sunday, we missed the call-in, did'nt get the pizza, and of course the Sox lost. So of course, taking me out to dinner actually is the reason the Sox got knocked out when it comes down to it. The final text from my niece who is away at college read, "you blew it for all of Boston" when she found out the Chicken Parm pizza was not ordered...I waited until I got back to Colorado to tell the story so I did not end up in this graveyard when the Sox fans found out, nice colors though.

BACK HOME, A PAINFULL RIDE, GET OUT AND VOTE..

It's fairly fascinating to me that I can be at the North End of Boston stuffing slices of pizza down my face like there is no tomorrow one day, and then hop on a plane and be home in Eagle the next day suffering because I have not been on a bike in a week and rippin The World's Greatest Downhill on my mountain bike..crazy world we live in, and the ride is free, which means even as the Stock market continues to rip the bowels out of everyone's bank accounts and retirement funds, it still cost me nothing to jump on the bike and ride, it's called evening the playing field I believe...

Yes, the riding season is creeping to a close with the first snowfalls in the high country...hurry Sea Otter

And while I'm at it,

GET OUT AND VOTE EARLY, I FULFILLED MY CIVIL DUTY TODAY. I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS WHO YOU VOTE FOR AS LONG AS IT IS NOT PALIN. GET OUT AND PUSH SOME BUTTONS PEOPLE, MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

INTERBIKE EAST, A CONTRAST IN WEATHER...

The ampitheatre at Roger Williams Park

Squirt Lube made it's appearance at the Interbike East Coast Demo Days this week at Roger Williams State Park in Rhode Island, which was the site of the Cyclocross Nationals in 2005/2006. Billed as the second oldest state park in the Nation, the place is perfect for Cross racing, however the choice to do the demo here for mountain biking and road disciplines was a bit of a FUCK UP as the venue really does not support the terrain for either. Day one saw fair numbers of people converging on the SQUIRT tent. Day two, well, when the rain started mid morning, the great guys at the BMC tent directly across from me fired up the bloody mary bar and it was game on...to which I responded, does BMC stand for "Bloody Mary Company?" The cocktails were outstanding as the guys used a slim jim for a drink stirrer and threw a stick of string cheese in for good measure...outstanding! Their bikes were nice too.

Day one set-up the weather was stellar


Day Two was a bit of a different story, great bloody mary day.
You may want to check in later for the story of how I personally was responsible for the Boston Red Sox getting knocked out of the playoffs, I swear to gawd.

TWO QUICK WORDS ABOUT JET BLUE

THEY SUCK!

I'd like to personally thank the folks at Jet Blue for getting me home promptly at 3:15 am this morning and making me sit in JFK Airport for 6 hours yesterday, it was wonderful.

WHAT THE HELL DOES PIZZARIA REGINA ON THE NORTH END HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH BIKE RIDING?

Home of the best pizza on the face of the earth, the north end of Boston, Pizzeria Regina.

Nothing other than the fact that the pizza which comes out of these brick ovens is responsible for how gall damn slow I'm going to be on my bike this weekend. This is the home of the best pizza on the face of the planet, bar none. English is seldom spoken behind the doors here, and the pizza cooks have to worry about rainy days as the moisture swells the wood in the pizza ovens and forces the cooks to bake pizza at a higher temperature which can burn the bottom of the crust, see if the guys at Golden Oven in Eagle even know what the fuck I'm talking about right now...it's a resounding NO. If you are ever in Boston, and you do not stop here, you are missing one of life's true pleasures. I've been eating here since my bro moved to Boston some 30 years ago.

More Color from Arlington

And then when in the Arlington Area, stop in and see Ben McGuire at Quad Cycles on Mass. Ave and talk Cross, great guy and a great shop.