RAPTOR DOWNHILL TRAINING DAY #1 AT BEAVER CREEK

Swiss skier Lara Gut was the fastest on day one...a day when announcing was a bit of a task on day one, glitches in connectivity and video feeds left me solo in the "announcer's booth" with information that was 5-6 minutes old if at all, which left it up to my imagination to create a race for the people who were there to watch day one. No live time splits, no video, delayed results...it was an interesting day. That's why they call them training days. If this happened to the "real" guys announcing this weekend, there would be a shit storm of unprecedented magnitude. Hopefully it goes a bit better tomorrow...

BIG WAVE SKIING....SICK!

This is pretty freakin cool.....

LINDSEY VONN WON'T BE THERE DUE TO INJURY, BUT I WILL...THE FIRST RAPTOR WOMEN'S DOWNHILL AT BEAVER CREEK

Training runs start tomorrow @ 10:45am at Beaver Creek for the first ever Raptor Women's Downhill, Super G and Giant Slalom weekend of racing. Call it a preview for the 2015 World Championships which will be held at the same venue..The Kestrel run will host the women's downhill and it parallels the men's famous and difficult Birds of Prey downhill course. The one major difference is a very long flat section before the infamous Redtail jump which will be a key to the race....flat speed will make a huge difference. I'm calling the action during the training runs the next two days...hope to see you out there.

I AGREE WITH MOST OF THIS.....ESPECIALLY FOR SO MANY OUT THERE.

I could not agree more....the bottom line of all of my social networking and blogging over the past years has been to promote a brand or my announcing career indirectly...for many, that is not the case. I've never truly cared if anyone ever read this babbling pile of crap blog or paid attention to my University of Facebook posts, where everything is true. But it has been a controversial and in the face way to promote....and it's free. Even if you hate it, you know it's there like a bad car wreck. Touche...

CYCLO X WESTMINISTER GOT REEEEAL GOOD SATURDAY...

With the Colorado State Championships less than a month a way, and Nationals in January, CX racers finally god a fair dose of snow and mud this past weekend in Westminister at Cyclo X race #7. Chris Baddock and Judy Freeman won their respective open category races...while other floundered in the greazzzy mud. It was a great day of racing. It's on Colorado.

A SPECIAL POST FOR THE BAYLOR BEARS...

THE BEACH

This is the beach that I hung out at as a high school teenager, it's also where I go back to relax on occasion....

D2 SHOES DOES IT AGAIN, THE POWER WIRE ROAD SHOE.

 This is the D2 Shoe Power Wire. This is the latest offering from Don Lamson at the Eagle based D2 Shoe offices and shop on Chambers Ave in Eagle, Colorado. If you are not familiar with the D2 custom shoe process, check out the website HERE. You will find a picture of Don Himself there as well as the history and the process involved if you want the finest cycling shoe on the face of the earth. They are pricey, but they will fit your foot like Keith Richards fits into the Rolling Stones when you receive them. I've been riding in a pair of D2 Mountain Bike shoes for roughly five years, and all though they are hammered and tired, they feel better on my feet every time I slip them on. The fitting process guarantees a perfect fit, with insole to match your fucked up foot shape perfectly. The latest offering from D2 seen here is the Power Wire road shoe. EVERYTHING about the shoe is custom, like all D2s. You can pick the colors you want and the fit is simply not to be matched by anyone any where. The wire closure combined with one velcro power strap guarantees you'll have the shoe snug to your own anal specifications on any given day. Just get off the airplane and have swollen feet? Loosen up the closures a skosh for comfort. The wire wheel adjusts incredibly easily and can be done on the fly. Turn until the desired snugness, or simply turn the wheel in reverse to loosen the wire and resnug to the desired tightness. The velcro strap is even easier to deal with should you need to on or off the bike.

And talk about customization, I asked don for 1mm extra last in the front of these Power Wires than I had in my MTB shoes and they were lasted to perfection. THE most comfortable road shoe I'll ever own, period.

 The carbon soles are light and rock solid guaranteeing every ounce of power you put into the shoe, is going to directly transfer to the pedals and insure 100% of your effort goes to moving you forward on the bike. The Power Wire is incredibly lightweight as well and worn by many of the top professionals in the world, including Peter Stetina and Matt Cooke. If you are that "custom" kind of rider that needs perfection in every aspect of your gear, D2 is the only choice for your feet...give Don a call to see what D2 Shoe has for you.

DOG DAYS OF WINTER....

The snow is flying in the Colorado High Country. Announcing season is winding down and the ski season is ramping up. The transition has been made to the winter gig. While the dogs sleep it's time to get out and rip it until spring...enjoy the snow, it's here for a while.

DID ANY OF YOU KNOW CHANNUKAH IS VERY EARLY THIS YEAR, IT STARTS ON THANKSGIVING DAY. HAPPY CHANNUKAH FROM A2B EARLY.

XILINX BARRIER VIDEO FROM LAST WEEKEND....JOHN DEIBERT EXCLUSIVE BLUE SKY CUP VIDEO.

Real men don't bunny hop, they face plant. I think there were a total of 12 shoulders and collar bones at this one and that's a good body count for Blue Sky Cup. The world's shortest barriers with the most carnage, every season.

Barrier Bloopers - Blue Sky Velo Cup highlights from John Deibert on Vimeo.

FLORIDA, VISITING MOM AND BASS AND BEACH

 Bass fishing in Florida is usually good, sometimes it's really good. Cold fronts get it really really good. Mom lives in a really really good spot where the bass fishing is really really good, and it's a thirty second walk from the bass.

 I'm glad my mom lives near a warm beach in November rather than having to go Minnesota or Iowa or one of those other sucky places in November.

 Of course the main purpose of these south Florida trips is to check on mom and make sure her ticker is still ticking and that I'm still capable of totally pissing off the neighbors when I just show up and start ripping all of the bass out of their ponds, which of course happened. Mom got an Ipad, and it is the world's job to teach her how to search for Eydie Gorme and Steve Lawrence videos on Google and Youtube because they are so adorable. She also knows how to open e-mail. It's a grand world. The Facetime app was bit of a whirlwind, mom kept aiming the Ipad to try and get a better look at the person she was talking to, she may never get that one, but it sure is fun to watch.

HOW TO PROPERLY BLOG...

If you really want people to occasionally pay attention to your boring as shit blog follow these simple rules. Stop talking about yourselves at nausium, please, nobody gives a shit. Don't post annoying pictures of yourself being obnoxious and douchie like this one of me below. If you were that interesting or good at something, then someone ELSE would post your pictures and write about you. Most of your blogs suck and are unreadable, just like this one. Those are today's helpful blogging tips from A2B. You are welcome.

photo Annette Hayden

PRO GOLD GOES BALLISTIC....AND CONTINUES TO EXPAND THE BIKE LINE OF PRODUCTS.

 
If you ride bike even semi seriously for fitness you know about Pro Gold lubricants/cleaners for your drive train. Did you know Pro Gold recently came on board with a gun/firearms lubricant? MFR-7 is the latest from them. I'm a hunting and target shooting enthusiast and was recently working with Mr. Pro Gold himself, Bruce Dickman, announcing along side him in Grand Junction. He mentioned Pro Gold had a new gun lube/cleaner and that he'd like for me to check it out. I'm an upland bird hunter here in Eagle, Colorado, where I routinely walk for Blue Grouse with my trusty shotgun, and I also target shoot with my girlfriend when we get the opportunity to do so, preferably at the NRA center in Raton, N.M. which is like the Super Bowl arena of target shooting venues in the Unites States. As soon as I got the chance, I lubed up my Beretta 390A shotgun and my Beretta FS96 hand gun to check out the lube. The lube comes in three containers, an aerosol spray, a 4oz. bottle or a Luber Pen size. I chose to use the Luber Pen for the initial lube/cleaning job for both of my guns and opted for the aerosol spray to clean the bore on my shotgun. The Luber Pen is sweet as it allows you to lube all the small parts which move on your trigger mechanisms without excess lube dripping all over the place and the gun, which creates a mess to clean up. The lube is thin and super easy to apply, but not too thin. As expected, once the guns were cleaned and lubed, the action was flawless and silky smooth. I'm no gun lube expert, but the performance of the lube seems impeccable. The fact that it is so viscous should keep it from gathering much grime and grit during use. I'm rough on my shotgun, and I need a lube that runs clean, MFR-7 should do the trick. 

The bike line has grown substantially over the years of Pro Link, which I've used exclusively on my road bike forever. There are now over a dozen great products from Pro Gold for your cycling pleasure. The line now includes grease, wash, degreaser and shine products, as well as chain lubes. The newer Pro Gold Extreme performs as well if not better than the original Pro Link but lasts a little longer, which saves you a few bucks in the long run. I've been running Extreme on my road bike drive train (formerly Pro Linked) for six years and thousands of miles on the original SRAM Force gruppo and it still performs flawlessly, and it's got a shit ton of hard miles on it. The stuff runs super smooth and quiet with no drag, which is a problem with wax products on the road bike.

The degreaser/wash is the best drive train cleaning product I've ever used on my bikes. If used in high concentrate, as in right out of the bottle, (I like to brush it on directly out of a bowl I pour it into with a soft brush), it will take the nastiest of nasty grime off of your drive train, and I'm even talking about the stickiest of wax lubes such as Squirt. There is also a citrus de greaser that does what citrus degreasers do, work. The Blast Off Degreaser is weird stuff. You spray the product on your stinky drive train parts and it flakes off the gunk, for real. If you are a lazy bike cleaning person, the stuff is perfect for you. The bike shine products have always been really good stuff, and the towels and wipes get your rig sparkling. But what I like best is that they protect your frame in the long run and the next time you take your mountain bike out for a muddy or dusty ride, it cleans up much easier thanks to the sheen left by the shine products. All in all Pro Gold has hit a big ol homerun like David Ortiz on steroids with all of their newer product. Buy a metric shit ton of it and never worry about the performance or look of your bikes and guns again. Bam,

AIR FORCE-ARMY....THIS IS WHAT IT SHOULD BE LIKE AT EVERY GAME EVERY WHERE.

I'LL GIVE YOU MIAMI AND 26.99 POINTS. DEAL?

ROCKIES ARE IN THE MARKET...

For some of them kick ass steroids that David Ortiz has been pounding for the past ten years. I mean really, look at the size of his fucking head? It makes Barry Bonds steroid swollen head look like the shrunken head guy in Beetle Juice.

Barry Bonds giant head from steroid use pictured below. You make a rational decision, both tested positive for pounding steroids. Can you say Ortiz, Bonds and Armstrong all in the same sentence? You can.