Six Point Elk Steaks All The Way From Colorado

and lifting with the linebacker squad before work.

I'll never win the local hill climb but I hope to cut my sleeves off by September.

The wind is up some and I hope to have a decent smokeless ride on Hamilton tommorrow.

Mt Diablo Hillclimb- the juniors do some sufferin'

Snuck back into town Saturday afternoon and was able to ride Sunday- the 3 days off the bicycle was just perfect and my legs feel human again.

I rode the mountain from the south side alone, the smoke was stronger there and I could feel it a bit, turned around just below the elbow and headed back down to catch some finishes at the Mt Diablo Hillclimb.

I wish I had the big camera- because every finisher had the suffer- face on.Way to go.

Big props to "Dave Stoler" in his first year, the dude has been a pleasure to help this year, a open book with a great sense of humor. I think with another year of tempering he's going to be on fire.

And Jasmin winning the JPS was great, every JPS winner got a huge goodie bag and other prizes.

Thanks to the organizers of the JPS, all volunteers. I could tell the kids really dug it.

Juniors cycling, way cool and much more interesting to me than a lot of old guys right now.

Various Camping Pics

Myself and Little C- up on the Russian River for a couple of days. Kayaking was good times and chilling with a book was real nice as well.

No bicycles for 3 days, a good thing.

Casini Ranch Campground- not so nice. Dusty, absolutely no privacy in the spots, and too much party in the adjoining spots for me or my kid.

Seems like more and more people when they leave home, whether to camp, go to a sporting event, or just drive around,leave their brains and common courtesy back at the house.... sigh.

I've been having to have the talk with the neighbors/ phone call to security or sheriff way too much the last couple of years. Bummer.

Anyhow- we'll learn not to go there again.

Headed up to Fort Ross on Saturday, I haven't been here in years, and I forgot how nice and well restored it is- a sweet half day trip.

A beautiful bell next to the chapel.

These guys were well- armed. The Spanish took a look around and decided the Russians could have this remote little corner of California, maybe they realized the fur trade wouldn't last forever.

Best Wishes......

To the happy couple.

Off camping for a bit....

Wednesday Track Night

Took a vacation night off and went to Hellyer- I took a rest for a few days after Sierra Century, but still had quite a bit of fatigue in the legs, but as Pops used to tell me when he would get the old pickup hauling ass down hwy 20 while flipping Oly's into the bed- " sometimes you gotta blow the carbon out".

Lotsa fun and some decent racing save for the occasional sitting on even with a OK split forming- BORING!

I was there to get some starts, help Mike a bit if possible, and go hard- so tactics and whatnot were not what Iwas looking for, just hammer and lots of it, plus I have very little sprint anyway right now, so I would prefer everything to come down to something like the pic on top, some suffering times three.

Beautiful night, warm and the lighted racing was a kick!

Now can someone give me a idea how many TSS points a omnium of racing should generate?
Geekarama with the WKO continues....

Sierra Century and a Williams Wheel Story

Ummmm, I shoulda inspected the profile a bit more before clicking yes, especially with the whole MTB racing team going.

Always either up or down, not a easy day for a crit monkey.

The up was steep and the down had holes with steep.

Ejected the PT CPU on one of the damn bumps, but I found it in the bushes and it's all good.

The data is all there which is good because I'm fascinated on geeking out with the WKO and getting the CTL up, how many TSS points, etc. Great way to train and my hour power has risen every week and is the highest ever .

My Williams story- I have some 30X's with a PT that Keith built up for me this winter, my first PT wheel and the wheels have been phenomenal, I raced them through the Valley swing and at Madera, just loved them.
The back one developed a squeak after I skipped a pedal at Visalia, although I couldn't find the source. The rim was true, the hub was OK( good to check this though, I hear it is a common problem with PT hubs to be loose), and the spoke tension was perfect on the drive side with a few off tensions on the non- drive side.
My only guess was the spokes rubbing a bit, and I tried a few different things with that, oiling the j-bends and crosses, but I still couldn't track it down.
Swiss DT 14/15 spokes as well, usually very reliable.

I called Keith on a Monday afternoon and he called me back a half hour later. I really was just curious if he had seen anything that solved this and could help either me or my LBS, who was a bit confused as well.
After talking a bit, Keith offered to rebuild it and check the rim, just to get those variables out of the way, then mentioned he could come by and pick up the wheel on his way home- WOW!
My teammates have had several stories of the fantastic service, but this was a new high point.
I headed out to Stockton on Friday afternoon and picked up the wheel at Keith's' home office, I visit my dad every week anyway and I was headed to Escalon/ Oakdale for a team thing so this was perfect.
Keith had the wheel ready to go and I popped the cassette back on and rode it all day at Sierra ,very rough pavement, banging through holes and shaking the old fillings loose.
Not one noise.
Not one.
I lost a water bottle cage, some allen bolts, and broke my PT mounting bracket.
But the wheel was flawless.

Hmm, will Miz C let me have some 50 carbons?

" If it was smart, that's what I'd do."

VN- Adam Craig on Todd Wells' early season training regimen of " hanging out in Tucson, riding a bunch and doing the group rides"