My prayers go out to Joplin

The devastation is unbearable, here is the hospital that surgically repaired my hand after a bike wreck years ago. I have many friends and some family in the area, I hope they are ok!

Stan's wins this time

Ok, so my little experiment had no controls. It probably had a hundred extraneous variables, and likely experimenter bias, but here is MY conclusion.
First, lets discuss why I even tried out the Caffe Latex. My friends at Scwalbe sent me a pair of the tubeless ready (430gram) Rocket Rons, these weren't the heavier UST version. The tubeless ready needs a sealant to hold air. No big deal, I would have used a sealant anyways. The 2.25 that I mounted on the front went on, and sealed with Stans without any issues, but the 2.1 that I mounted on the rear gave me a multitude of trouble. I had a heck of a time getting it to seat. I finally thought it seated ok only to wake up the next day with it bleeding stan's all over the floor. I then filled it with air again and it seated easily the second time around, so I thought. I rode it on a warmup ride the night before Bone Bender and all seemed well. So I get to Bone Bender and ride around a bit before I place my bike in the staging area, but when I start my first lap the tire is flat! I ride a friends bike for the first lap and he blast my tire with CO2 which takes hold and the tire does fine for the rest of the race.
I return home and a friend talked me into trying Caffe Latex, which foams up to force the coagulant throughout the inner surface of the tire, therefore making the initial seating process more efficient. Additionally, It's supposed to heal sidewall tears better.
I must say the tire mounted and sealed pretty easily, I rode it for a weak until I tore the paper thin sidewall on a prelap at Neosho. The tear was not very big , maybe 6 mm? Anyway, the Caffe Latex bled out without slowing the airloss at all. So I boot the tire and the Latex just reacts with my glue and the boot comes out with sealant blood everywhere. I then reboot again and use Stan's this time. The tire seals ok and the Stan's holds. To make this story shorter, the boot doesn't hold and pops in the middle, but the Stan's fills the gap enough that I limp home. So I go home and double boot the tear with a Park Patch kit, and a park emergency boot with shoe goo around the edges, and Stan's. It is holding air fine now.
What I noticed between the two sealants was that Stans has small gritty particles in it, to help plug the hole as it coagulates, whereas the Latex doesn't. The latex felt stickier than the Stan's to the touch, but it felt thin. When I cleaned the tires between sealant changes, the Stan's seemed to have bonded to the tire better than the Latex. The Latex peeled off of the tire much easier than the Stan's. Also the Stan's didn't react to my patch glue, whereas the Caffe Latex reacts to everything, including Stan's residue.
The idea of the Caffe Latex foaming is appealing, but with its lack of plugging such a small sidewall tear turned me off of it pretty quickly.

If anyone has any success, or horror stories from either of these sealants, please feel free to comment. I have my settings so that you don't need an account, nor do you need to be logged in, to comment on my blog.
When I'm not feeling so lazy I may do a full on experiment with these two sealants, I will be more stringent with my scientific method. But, for now I'm sticking with the Stan's.

Stan's VS. Caffe Latex...and the Big winner is....

The data has been compiled...Final conclusion to follow this evening... hint, foreshadowing involved in picture.

Victory Lap!

Well Today is the day! I didn't finish DFL but it sure took a long time.

A few years ago when I was supervising a team of hard nosed foundry workers, I would have popped you in the nose if you had told me I was going to go on to college to become a Psychologist! After the plant shut down, where I was responsible for casting aluminum wheels for GM, Ford, Mazda, etc., for many years. I found myself in great despair!

After a few months of depression, Jeff called me and said that a bike team was forming and they wanted me to be a part of it. I'm thinking to myself, what the heck, I'm about 30lbs overweight, but I have this severance check to blow, so why not? I bought my road bike and began training the very next day! It was while putting miles in on the road that it occurred to me that I should take this opportunity to finish my college studies. I knew I didn't want to go back as an engineering student so I changed my major to Psychology with an Emphasis on Human Resource Development, mostly because HRD(training specialist) was the job I enjoyed the most while working at the foundry. Within the first year back in school, I decided I wanted to do something that can help at risk kids, that is when the seed was planted to become a School Psychologist. So today... I do my victory lap, which actually is my warm up lap for grad school. If I hadn't of went on that bike ride sometime back in February of 2009, who knows where I would be now?

Cycling truly is a sport for body, mind, and soul!

Robidoux Roundup report

Well Saturday was one heck of a show down at the Robidoux Roundup! This was my 4th and hardest Expert(Cat1) XC race. The St. Joe crew once again did a killer job putting on a top notch local race. Thanks guys, I know its a lot of work putting on a race, and believe me, It was appreciated! For those of you that weren't there, see the bottom caption, and you missed an epic race. This course has more climbing than the XC national race I competed at in 2010 at Granby Colorado. Read more below.

In the above pick I look like a man who is possessed, but actually I'm trying to fake myself out into thinking that the climbs were my bitch! Notice the big clod of dirt in my helmet? Yes, I took a little dirt nap! LOL, well I saw some stars anyway, and knocked the ear piece off of my Oaks! I have a raspberry on my forehead and a slight blackened eye, but I don't think I was concussed. This race is definitely my nemesis, I had a difficult time last year also. I only felt OK at the start of the race, but I had a decent start. With a combined Cat 1 start, it was the biggest field start as a cat 1 that I have been in so far. Going into the trail head was pretty surreal, we had a little mound that we all hit at speed just a few feet before the singletrack. We were all catching air, which isn't unusual except we were all in close quarters. I had guys in front of me in air, guys next to me in air, myself in air, and guys behind me getting set for air. It wasn't like we were sailing that high, but it was definitely interesting none-the-less. Anyway, I hit the trailhead fourth overall and 2nd in my age group, shortly after, I let my teammate Travis go by me cuz he is much faster than I, and I wasn't about to block him! Unfortunately, when I gave him room to slip by, so did another guy in my class. This wasn't a big deal, I just got on his wheel and gave her hell, but within a few miles I took my digger on an off camber corner that was pretty loose. I came into the corner way too fast and immediately realized the danger, I tried to shave some speed with my brake, but grabbed a little too much. Over the bar I go! Not sure how long I was off the bike, but I think it was just a few seconds. After I climbed out of the bushes and pulled my bike out of the way, approximately 7 guys passed me while I was checking myself over. Once I found the pieces to my Oakleys I shoved them in my pocket and continued onward. A few minutes later JP Shores pulls up to me and gives me a call out, but I was dazed and didn't realize it was him until I nearly made a wrong turn off the trail. He then whipped by me like a man with a plan! I was a bit surprised that he had caught and passed me so soon, he has been training really hard, and man it showed on Saturday! When I made the wrong turn I had seen the ribbon blocking the way, but my brain processed it incorrectly and hell I don't know, maybe I was concussed afterall? Anyway, I chased JP for the rest of his race and kept him in sight until the last mile or so when he attacked the climb out of the lap. I tried hard to catch him but It wasn't happening today, he was just too strong. I pulled it together somewhat for my last lap and reeled in a couple of guys from my group, including Todd Fridley, to finish 5th. Todd had raced me at Neosho on Sunday, I was ahead of him by 30+ seconds when he flatted to finish his day at Neosho. So, in a way, the Roundup was our little rematch. He gave me the closest XC finish ever, I wanted to chat with him afterwards, but I couldn't breath and I was at a loss for words. The results say I got him by 1 second, but I know it was closer than that, because I felt him brush my rear wheel as we crossed the finish line. That guy is one heck of a climb sprinter!
The pick below is of JP Shores, he is one of my best friends and a fierce competitor. Look at the determination in his eyes! This pick was taken shortly after he passed me, so I know he was trying to bury me alive! With friends like that, who needs enemies? Right?? LOL. No he truly is a great friend, I would have been pissed if he would have raced it any differently. Great Job Bro!

The picture below is JP and I at Nationals last summer in Colorado, If it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't have been able to go! Someday I'm gonna pay him back for everything, but he just tells me to pay it forward. What a guy! OK, enough of the sappy shit, JP I'm gonna train harder then ever! YOUR goin' down! LOL.

Speaking of Nationals, I received my official qualification notice to race as a cat1 at Sun Valley Idaho this year for my 3rd place finish at Slaughter pen Hollow back in November. I don't think I'm gonna go this year, because I start grad school this summer. I think I will just concentrate on training this season and in the off season for an attempt at nationals in 2012. Realistically I'm probably a year of training away from contending anyways.

This guy was at the Robidoux Roundup and he is pissed at you guys that didn't show!!!

Hace Sol!

Hoy fue un bueno dia, hace sol y cielo azul para millas de gran bicicleta que cabalga! Ahora es tiempo para mi estudiar para un examen espanol.

Hasta luego mis amigos!!!!

Once again I have found myself too busy to blog, but since I finally won a race this year I thought I better brag a little! LOL. Really this win is nothing compared to my teams winnings this same weekend at Mellow Johnnnys Classic. Both Garet and Travis won their respective age groups in the Cat. 1 XC races and Karen Brockett placed 2nd in her group of cat. 1 ladies. I initially had intended on going with them, but since this would've been a training race for me anyway, it made financial sense to go to a local race. The best part is when you actually win some money for a training day! ; ) My race wasn't very stacked so I was able to jump 'em and get the hole shot, I led the whole race and in retrospect wished I had raced the open expert class. They had a bigger field and a minute or two head start, but that didn't stop me from catching them all and passing them. I felt really good on the day and after I caught the open class I hammered a little longer and then put it into cruise control for the last two laps. I didn't want to blow my training for the week by pushing too hard. I have found in my advancing age that it takes me longer to recover after a race. It rained the whole race and was cold, but this course holds up pretty good. In the second lap several sections became pretty sloppy, at the end of the race you couldn't even make out my jersey!

This picture is after I cleaned my jersey!

Looks like I will be over hauling my bike this week!


One of the Crossings at Tour de Tick, It's hard to make out in this picture but the crossing is going over an old rock cabin, probably dating back to the Civil war. Gary Lowden was the race promoter, and he did a great job.


I have been trying a lot of new products, at least new to me, at the top is my Shimano 315's. They are heat molded and vacuum formed to your feet. These shoes are very comfy, I have always used Sidi in the past. I love Sidi, but the 315's are sweet!!!!!!! I have raced with the 315 twice now and I think I will get a pair of them for my road shoe. Below is a picture of a different sealant I'm using in my tubeless tires, unlike the Stan's I have been using, this stuff foams up when it is aggitated. This forces the coagulant against the entire inner surface of the tire. I recently switched to the Schwalbe Rocket Ron race tire and had a terrible time with the Stan's, it took me nearly 3 days to finally get a good seal. Now I'm trying the Cafe Latex, and it sealed in 10 minutes!


This picture is of me at Bone Bender a couple weeks ago, JP Shores and I teamed up for the 6hour Duo. It's kind of funny because If you sort through the event pictures, you will find me racing on two different bikes! JP started the race and when we went to make the exchange My rear was flat! So I stole JP's bike for my first lap.
Last year we finished 4th and we were hoping to get on the podium this year. We had a strong race, but only finished 5th. We both were riding stronger than we did last year, but the field was super stacked. Our team mates Travis and Garet won, they were killing it!
JP also had a good weekend, he went to a road race in Leavenworth Kansas. He finished 15th in the Elite mens Cat 1,2,3 event. Thats super impressive!!!! I'm very proud to be on this Ethos Team! These guys and gals are super strong! In one weekend Ethos kicked butt in four states, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas. Kay Lehman placed 2nd at Slobber Knocker on saturday, and then raced Neosho in the marathon class! Thats insane because Slobber Knocker is like 60 miles! I said super a lot!