hey - just got a second. or maybe two.
i'm getting all my pics and stuff updated and posted on the speedgoat blog and then i'll post my sponsors stuff only here on my blog. i just have too many of them to post here. anyhoo, check it out as the goat had a total of 6 guys out at vegas (including myself) and we all got some pretty good shots.
got some great photos of me pulling a couple of baby carriers and also one of me in an cat like aero helmet. friggin hillarious.
oh, the speegoat blog.
SPEEDGOAT.COM BLOG HERE!
AND DON'T FORGET - if you are checking out the 'goat blog, remember to click on the "view older." we already have a ton of blog entries and they are running over to the older posts area - and just to note, there are probably going to be another 50-100'ish blog entries posted by the weeks end. check 'er out.
i already have about 5 blog entries posted, but they go through a review process, so they may not be up until saturday. the rest of the guys have the whole day there today and then off to the airport for the red eye back home so they proabably won't be up until saturday, at the earliest.
gotta run.
oops - got some funny shots of flat sally at the bike show. check them out here:
flat sally blog here!
sologoat out.
9.30.2005
09.30.05 - sitting in the vegas air port
hey all - the plane is boarding, so i am going to be short.
lots of cross stuff to post.
saw hendershot and kerkove today.
29er's stuff galore.
wierd freaks everywhere.
saw a guy in daisey duke shorts. wierded me out. funny. jeremy got a photo.
lots of stuff to post on - but i have to run.
check back 2 morrow.
later.
sologoat out.
lots of cross stuff to post.
saw hendershot and kerkove today.
29er's stuff galore.
wierd freaks everywhere.
saw a guy in daisey duke shorts. wierded me out. funny. jeremy got a photo.
lots of stuff to post on - but i have to run.
check back 2 morrow.
later.
sologoat out.
9.29.2005
09.29.05 - the chaos has begun
of interbike.
things are nutty here, walked around a TON last night. pics will be up later tonight but i am borrowing steve's from speedgoat computer and i don't have the time to download and do all that stuff.
here's a quickie:
tifosi - pink is here, new lenses that actually change when UV light hits them. smaller frames for the ladies and the Quam line will now feature inter-changeable lens options. lens kit will now feature 4 lenses, not the usual 3 you were getting in years past.
light & motion - new charger that now works on all batteries and charges things up in less time. sweet. new battery that weighs in at under 200 grams and holds up to two hours charge time. super sweet.
schwable - not much changing here. 29er little albert is here to stay but other 29er options will not be seen until the euro market catches up to the reality of "bigger is better."
alpha q - new road forks are out. lighter/stronger/cooler. nice orange metal flake paint on the high end road fork for the speedgoat freaks. also have some nice stems out, but i am not sure if they are new to the product line this year.
salsa - 29er specific rim that is super sweet. new road stem and new compact road frame out. super cool. oh, new colors on their 29er and a little change to the rear shock.
that's it - gotta run.
more tonight!
sologoat out.
things are nutty here, walked around a TON last night. pics will be up later tonight but i am borrowing steve's from speedgoat computer and i don't have the time to download and do all that stuff.
here's a quickie:
tifosi - pink is here, new lenses that actually change when UV light hits them. smaller frames for the ladies and the Quam line will now feature inter-changeable lens options. lens kit will now feature 4 lenses, not the usual 3 you were getting in years past.
light & motion - new charger that now works on all batteries and charges things up in less time. sweet. new battery that weighs in at under 200 grams and holds up to two hours charge time. super sweet.
schwable - not much changing here. 29er little albert is here to stay but other 29er options will not be seen until the euro market catches up to the reality of "bigger is better."
alpha q - new road forks are out. lighter/stronger/cooler. nice orange metal flake paint on the high end road fork for the speedgoat freaks. also have some nice stems out, but i am not sure if they are new to the product line this year.
salsa - 29er specific rim that is super sweet. new road stem and new compact road frame out. super cool. oh, new colors on their 29er and a little change to the rear shock.
that's it - gotta run.
more tonight!
sologoat out.
9.27.2005
09.27.05 - waiting for flight
09.27.05 - waiting for flight
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
me waiting for the flight to vegas.
i am so excited that i am drooling.
09.27.05 - sitting in an airport
yep, sitting in another airport. this time cleveland waiting for my flight out to vegas.
preliminary scan of my fellow passengers is that a few of them are fellow bike geeks the rest of them are looking to loose a lot of money on stuff other than bike parts. how silly.
what's the game plan today?
land, unload and meet up with tom from wobblenaught and one of his contacts from thompson. tom is the owner/developer of the entire wobblenaught fit system and regarding thompson - the bike fits most often usually result in some type of saddle and/or stem adjustment or change of length/rise/etc. this is where thompson comes in. wobblenaught supplies the fit, thompson supplies the bike stems and seat posts.
so, tom wants me to meet up with him to down some beers and i must indulge. good way to start the trip.
then i'll meet up with the guys from the shop who are out at bootleg canyon as i type probably riding some of the new products now that you'll be riding next year. last year we got a chance to ride the salsa 29er that is currently on special at the 'goat, so i am hoping the guys come back with some good product reviews and pics. i'll miss out on the demo's, but i will say that those trails are pretty cool as i had a chance to ride there a few years back. very nice stuff. not as nice as bend oregon though. THAT place was soooooooooooooooooo cool. i want to go back there soon.
back to vegas...
so tomorrow, the carnival starts at 8:30 i think. think of the day after thanksgiving when all those crazy shoppers are outside the doors of every stupid deparment store. that's what it is like. totally silly as you have 3 days to walk around, but everybody just gets so pumped up about it. there is so much cool stuff and only so much time. i'm just pumped up to see the new stuff, maybe give a different perspective of the show, soak it all in and maybe make some new contacts for next year. some people call it networking. hopefully, i can call it sponsorship for next year.
i'm going to try and concentrate on 29er stuff as much as possible, then maybe anything related to world of enduro racing. then, i'll just be roaming around. oh, and i am probably going to sit in with the guys when they meet with moots, titus and the independent guys. those guys have some of the coolest stuff. indepedent will have some killer paint jobs, for sure.
that's it - flight is boarding in a little bit. i'm hoping to post as much as possible, though i may just end up posting a ton of pics and little content - want to give you guys a good "picture" of all the new products and maybe fill you in on the details later.
really gotta run...
oh - check out this link:
flat sally blogspot
it was very unfortunate for sally to get flattened by a chalkboard, but the cool thing is that a very special friend of mine has sent me sally to enjoy in my travels. check it out and make some people happy. nice comments only!
sologoat out.
preliminary scan of my fellow passengers is that a few of them are fellow bike geeks the rest of them are looking to loose a lot of money on stuff other than bike parts. how silly.
what's the game plan today?
land, unload and meet up with tom from wobblenaught and one of his contacts from thompson. tom is the owner/developer of the entire wobblenaught fit system and regarding thompson - the bike fits most often usually result in some type of saddle and/or stem adjustment or change of length/rise/etc. this is where thompson comes in. wobblenaught supplies the fit, thompson supplies the bike stems and seat posts.
so, tom wants me to meet up with him to down some beers and i must indulge. good way to start the trip.
then i'll meet up with the guys from the shop who are out at bootleg canyon as i type probably riding some of the new products now that you'll be riding next year. last year we got a chance to ride the salsa 29er that is currently on special at the 'goat, so i am hoping the guys come back with some good product reviews and pics. i'll miss out on the demo's, but i will say that those trails are pretty cool as i had a chance to ride there a few years back. very nice stuff. not as nice as bend oregon though. THAT place was soooooooooooooooooo cool. i want to go back there soon.
back to vegas...
so tomorrow, the carnival starts at 8:30 i think. think of the day after thanksgiving when all those crazy shoppers are outside the doors of every stupid deparment store. that's what it is like. totally silly as you have 3 days to walk around, but everybody just gets so pumped up about it. there is so much cool stuff and only so much time. i'm just pumped up to see the new stuff, maybe give a different perspective of the show, soak it all in and maybe make some new contacts for next year. some people call it networking. hopefully, i can call it sponsorship for next year.
i'm going to try and concentrate on 29er stuff as much as possible, then maybe anything related to world of enduro racing. then, i'll just be roaming around. oh, and i am probably going to sit in with the guys when they meet with moots, titus and the independent guys. those guys have some of the coolest stuff. indepedent will have some killer paint jobs, for sure.
that's it - flight is boarding in a little bit. i'm hoping to post as much as possible, though i may just end up posting a ton of pics and little content - want to give you guys a good "picture" of all the new products and maybe fill you in on the details later.
really gotta run...
oh - check out this link:
flat sally blogspot
it was very unfortunate for sally to get flattened by a chalkboard, but the cool thing is that a very special friend of mine has sent me sally to enjoy in my travels. check it out and make some people happy. nice comments only!
sologoat out.
9.26.2005
09.26.05 - weekend update
got some things' done this weekend. here's a list/update.
asylum news:
1. there are still some secrets to be held, but there will be a slight change of team kits for next year. there is going to be two jerseys with one being already dubbed the "ernie" jersey and the other will be available to consumers.
2. frames - two wacky colored frames are up for me next year. they are going to be custom painted and colors/layout is honestly in the first beginings of concept. my name, logo and the asylum sticker will be on it. the only thing we have really agreed on so far is that these frames are going to be seen from a long way out. maybe hot pink, maybe purple... hmmmm....
3. web page - up and running for the "asylum" web page in january of 2006. you'll get the full frame specs and more than likely some of my race info, bio and maybe some type of blog type thing going on. development is in the concept mode at this point.
4. sponsors - looking to meet a few of them at vegas and maybe coming up with some new ones with the help from michael over at the shop. we are going to work up some proposals as some of them need to be out the door by the end of october.
5. new logo - yep, new design. and probably a head badge too. sweet.
a few more secrets will be popping up regarding the next batch of frames to come out soon. looks like we will be getting in some cool anodized frames - my favorite is the blue.
it's all good, yo.
in other news, bikes are pimped and primed up for georgia. dan the man spent most of saturday afternoon and part of the evening getting the new king wheelset setup for me which took longer then expected due to the time warp factor associated with the shop. but, the extra time he spent actually gave me time to work on moots cross bike #1 and tune her up for the 2005 cross season.
cleaned up the bottom bracket, installed new brake/shifter cables, cleaned/lubed the chain and then intalled some el cheapo kenda training tires. these kenda cross tires are awesome. even did some races on them last year because i was too lazy to switch to my tufo's. if you are on a budget, they are the way to go. watch for them in a review i plan to do on essential cross parts coming in the next week or two.
gotta run - maybe one more post b 4 vegas!
sologoat out
asylum news:
1. there are still some secrets to be held, but there will be a slight change of team kits for next year. there is going to be two jerseys with one being already dubbed the "ernie" jersey and the other will be available to consumers.
2. frames - two wacky colored frames are up for me next year. they are going to be custom painted and colors/layout is honestly in the first beginings of concept. my name, logo and the asylum sticker will be on it. the only thing we have really agreed on so far is that these frames are going to be seen from a long way out. maybe hot pink, maybe purple... hmmmm....
3. web page - up and running for the "asylum" web page in january of 2006. you'll get the full frame specs and more than likely some of my race info, bio and maybe some type of blog type thing going on. development is in the concept mode at this point.
4. sponsors - looking to meet a few of them at vegas and maybe coming up with some new ones with the help from michael over at the shop. we are going to work up some proposals as some of them need to be out the door by the end of october.
5. new logo - yep, new design. and probably a head badge too. sweet.
a few more secrets will be popping up regarding the next batch of frames to come out soon. looks like we will be getting in some cool anodized frames - my favorite is the blue.
it's all good, yo.
in other news, bikes are pimped and primed up for georgia. dan the man spent most of saturday afternoon and part of the evening getting the new king wheelset setup for me which took longer then expected due to the time warp factor associated with the shop. but, the extra time he spent actually gave me time to work on moots cross bike #1 and tune her up for the 2005 cross season.
cleaned up the bottom bracket, installed new brake/shifter cables, cleaned/lubed the chain and then intalled some el cheapo kenda training tires. these kenda cross tires are awesome. even did some races on them last year because i was too lazy to switch to my tufo's. if you are on a budget, they are the way to go. watch for them in a review i plan to do on essential cross parts coming in the next week or two.
gotta run - maybe one more post b 4 vegas!
sologoat out
9.22.2005
09.22.05 - givin' a shout out to my peeps
got some posts the last few days, thought i'd respond back via a post. straight up like, yo dawg.
brett davis is putting up a cross race with his team snakebite racing. happening on 10.16 in the cleveland area - think there is going to be beer drinking, bike riding and camping going on the night before. check it out - don't be afraid of that which is cross and support a local cleveland event.
kent over in youngstown ohio has a team sponsored by a mexican restaurant. i'll probably head over there in october'ish kent, so i'll look you up then. in the meantime, i think all you guys should check it out.Casa Ramirez Mexican Restaurant!
adam - probably a no on moab this year, though i am keeping it open if i get some kind of offer from anybody. cash fundage is low and i have put too much cash into going to the conyers race to cancel at this point. next year is definite for this race, along with norba nationals - roughly thinking at least 4-5 24 hour race next year at this point, and probably 2-3 NORBA's too.
and mr/mrs anonymous had some questions about going pro, which i think i'll save until tomorrow. there is a few things i wanted to say about it and it's getting kind of late.
and a pizza has been ordered and i need to pick it up.
so, big training week nearing an end. short days stink for daylight. it doesn't matter though. why? because i have a light & motion vega light. these things are awesome. super easy to setup, hella bright, simple. pretty much the light that saved my life when i was at big bear this year and my main light went out after a slight mix up on my main system batteries. i have converted over 3 teammates to this light now. can't wait to see what barret and the guys out in Monterey Bay have come up with for the vegas show.
gotta run.
oops. and i know one bike shop that has some vega lights in. hmmmm. could it be...
SPEEDGOAT.COM? i think so.
gotta get pizza!
sologoat out.
brett davis is putting up a cross race with his team snakebite racing. happening on 10.16 in the cleveland area - think there is going to be beer drinking, bike riding and camping going on the night before. check it out - don't be afraid of that which is cross and support a local cleveland event.
kent over in youngstown ohio has a team sponsored by a mexican restaurant. i'll probably head over there in october'ish kent, so i'll look you up then. in the meantime, i think all you guys should check it out.Casa Ramirez Mexican Restaurant!
adam - probably a no on moab this year, though i am keeping it open if i get some kind of offer from anybody. cash fundage is low and i have put too much cash into going to the conyers race to cancel at this point. next year is definite for this race, along with norba nationals - roughly thinking at least 4-5 24 hour race next year at this point, and probably 2-3 NORBA's too.
and mr/mrs anonymous had some questions about going pro, which i think i'll save until tomorrow. there is a few things i wanted to say about it and it's getting kind of late.
and a pizza has been ordered and i need to pick it up.
so, big training week nearing an end. short days stink for daylight. it doesn't matter though. why? because i have a light & motion vega light. these things are awesome. super easy to setup, hella bright, simple. pretty much the light that saved my life when i was at big bear this year and my main light went out after a slight mix up on my main system batteries. i have converted over 3 teammates to this light now. can't wait to see what barret and the guys out in Monterey Bay have come up with for the vegas show.
gotta run.
oops. and i know one bike shop that has some vega lights in. hmmmm. could it be...
SPEEDGOAT.COM? i think so.
gotta get pizza!
sologoat out.
9.21.2005
09.21.05 - a goat goes pro
part of the email i received from the guys/gals over at usa cycling:
Dear Ernesto Marenchin,
The following request to change your INTL category has been approved and processed by USA Cycling:
2005-09-13 21:22
Member: Ernesto Marenchin
License: INTL XC
Regarding: Request to change category from Semipro to Pro
Request was approved on 2005-09-21 17:58 by Kelli L.
Thank you for supporting USA Cycling.
--USA Cycling Support
yep, no longer a semi-pro. really doesn't make too much difference as i have been racing against pro's in mountain bike races since my first race about 10 years back.
so, with that, i leave these words of wisdom that i think about a lot and i have probably repeated a hundred times to myself:
the second you stop believing in yourself, you have failed. NEVER doubt yourself.
seriously, to think back a few years ago when i started all of this, all i wanted to do was to win one 24 hour race and somehow get a semi-pro upgrade.
so whether it's turning pro, learning another language, finding another job, etc - NEVER DOUBT YOURSELF.
so dream big.
sologoat out
Dear Ernesto Marenchin,
The following request to change your INTL category has been approved and processed by USA Cycling:
2005-09-13 21:22
Member: Ernesto Marenchin
License: INTL XC
Regarding: Request to change category from Semipro to Pro
Request was approved on 2005-09-21 17:58 by Kelli L.
Thank you for supporting USA Cycling.
--USA Cycling Support
yep, no longer a semi-pro. really doesn't make too much difference as i have been racing against pro's in mountain bike races since my first race about 10 years back.
so, with that, i leave these words of wisdom that i think about a lot and i have probably repeated a hundred times to myself:
the second you stop believing in yourself, you have failed. NEVER doubt yourself.
seriously, to think back a few years ago when i started all of this, all i wanted to do was to win one 24 hour race and somehow get a semi-pro upgrade.
so whether it's turning pro, learning another language, finding another job, etc - NEVER DOUBT YOURSELF.
so dream big.
sologoat out
9.20.2005
09.20.05 - crazy week
for me has started. last long week of training for the year, unless something happens and somebody springs for me to go to moab or something. hint, hint, sponsors...
not much exciting happening these days, just updating the race resume 'n such. vegas will not be the place to really hand them out, i'm just going there to meet the people whom helped me out this year. i'll mention them in another post, tonight i am kind of beat down.
cross season is just around the corner for me - and brett davis, TRANSIOWA finisher is putting a race on near cleveland the same weekend as the iron cross race out in PA. debating supporting the local event or driving out and chasing chris eatough in a 4 hour plus cross race. it's going to be a last minute call either way, i will have to see how i feel.
been riding my moots cross a lot lately - was riding it the other day and was spotted by a fellow cleveland cross racer. i think he was all frazzled that i was riding my cross bike already.
oh, and ordered up a couple moots frames yesterday. got a standard non-customized 53.5 compact road because i love that geometry and the look of the compact frame. and then i got another 53.5 cross frame because i am freak and need to have a spare bike in the pits. i think this mentality is coming from the world of 24 hour racing and the fact that I MUST be riding the same exact everything or else something could go wrong. yep, i got issues. anyhoo, this frame is somewhat customized. the rear spacing on the frame will be 135mm, which is diffent then the normal road 130mm spacing it normally runs. this will allow me to run either mountain bike or road bike hubs and allow for a little more clearance in the back. ALSO, one final thing. no water bottle mounts. yep, those little holes on our frames that hold the precious water bottle cages that in turn hold the water that we drink - will not be installed. why? because traditional cross frame normally don't have them because the bikes are strictly used for race of short duration (about 1 hour) so water is most times NOT really needed. also, in this type of racing you will be jumping on/off your bike numerous times and could be grabbing your bike frame in that same exact position where the water bolts would be. ya, ya.... i know it all sounds crazy.
speaking of crazy, it is crazy late. got to get some z's.
sologoat out.
not much exciting happening these days, just updating the race resume 'n such. vegas will not be the place to really hand them out, i'm just going there to meet the people whom helped me out this year. i'll mention them in another post, tonight i am kind of beat down.
cross season is just around the corner for me - and brett davis, TRANSIOWA finisher is putting a race on near cleveland the same weekend as the iron cross race out in PA. debating supporting the local event or driving out and chasing chris eatough in a 4 hour plus cross race. it's going to be a last minute call either way, i will have to see how i feel.
been riding my moots cross a lot lately - was riding it the other day and was spotted by a fellow cleveland cross racer. i think he was all frazzled that i was riding my cross bike already.
oh, and ordered up a couple moots frames yesterday. got a standard non-customized 53.5 compact road because i love that geometry and the look of the compact frame. and then i got another 53.5 cross frame because i am freak and need to have a spare bike in the pits. i think this mentality is coming from the world of 24 hour racing and the fact that I MUST be riding the same exact everything or else something could go wrong. yep, i got issues. anyhoo, this frame is somewhat customized. the rear spacing on the frame will be 135mm, which is diffent then the normal road 130mm spacing it normally runs. this will allow me to run either mountain bike or road bike hubs and allow for a little more clearance in the back. ALSO, one final thing. no water bottle mounts. yep, those little holes on our frames that hold the precious water bottle cages that in turn hold the water that we drink - will not be installed. why? because traditional cross frame normally don't have them because the bikes are strictly used for race of short duration (about 1 hour) so water is most times NOT really needed. also, in this type of racing you will be jumping on/off your bike numerous times and could be grabbing your bike frame in that same exact position where the water bolts would be. ya, ya.... i know it all sounds crazy.
speaking of crazy, it is crazy late. got to get some z's.
sologoat out.
9.18.2005
09.18.05 - another day, another ride
hey all.
kind of a not exciting day going on. 5'ish hour ride in ohio today on the bike paths. crazy busy on them lately in certain sections so i try and stay away from those areas. was ridding on them about a month ago and came upon this couple probably in the mid 50's or so. the guy was in the middle of the trail, the woman he was with was on the right. they were riding soooooooooooo slow and i could tell by the way she was riding that she was having a really bad day. she was sweating like a maniac and she kept readjusting herself in the saddle. ouchy.
i go to pass them but didn't say anything to them as i was going to blow right by them on the right. as soon as i went to do this (and i was going pretty slow at the time) the guy cut over into me and i had to hit my brakes and cut inbetween them. the lady literally screamed at the top of her drama queen lungs, and then started cussing about me not telling them that i wasn't behind them.
the next thing i know, her and her wimpy 120 pound husband are dropping f bombs on me. by the time i looked over at them to see their faces, they had already unleashed 4 f bombs - and when i did see her face she looked totally crazed. eyes about to pop out of her head, her face completely red and covered in a layer of sweat. total nut case.
so, needless to say, i try to stay away from that general area. too many fruit cakes around.
next weekend is my speedgoat trip to tune up the bikes for georgia, pick up the new king wheels, go for a ride and some more mexican food, and then to have a pow wow about next year. chris, beth and the guys (and now gal) over at the shop are working on some stuff - should be cool.
gotta run. ebay stuff to work on tonight and maybe even an order for some cross stuff. getting pumped for the cross season to start. looks to be about 7 races or so in the clevaland area. goal this year is to get another win against paul martin, local cat 1 and former-pro for navigators/go-mart. had one win against him last year, but he has really good form this year and is supposidly he is stronger then ever. really good guy - in fact, i think he was voted "nicest rider" one year by cylcing news.
anyhoo....
really gotta go.
sologoat out
kind of a not exciting day going on. 5'ish hour ride in ohio today on the bike paths. crazy busy on them lately in certain sections so i try and stay away from those areas. was ridding on them about a month ago and came upon this couple probably in the mid 50's or so. the guy was in the middle of the trail, the woman he was with was on the right. they were riding soooooooooooo slow and i could tell by the way she was riding that she was having a really bad day. she was sweating like a maniac and she kept readjusting herself in the saddle. ouchy.
i go to pass them but didn't say anything to them as i was going to blow right by them on the right. as soon as i went to do this (and i was going pretty slow at the time) the guy cut over into me and i had to hit my brakes and cut inbetween them. the lady literally screamed at the top of her drama queen lungs, and then started cussing about me not telling them that i wasn't behind them.
the next thing i know, her and her wimpy 120 pound husband are dropping f bombs on me. by the time i looked over at them to see their faces, they had already unleashed 4 f bombs - and when i did see her face she looked totally crazed. eyes about to pop out of her head, her face completely red and covered in a layer of sweat. total nut case.
so, needless to say, i try to stay away from that general area. too many fruit cakes around.
next weekend is my speedgoat trip to tune up the bikes for georgia, pick up the new king wheels, go for a ride and some more mexican food, and then to have a pow wow about next year. chris, beth and the guys (and now gal) over at the shop are working on some stuff - should be cool.
gotta run. ebay stuff to work on tonight and maybe even an order for some cross stuff. getting pumped for the cross season to start. looks to be about 7 races or so in the clevaland area. goal this year is to get another win against paul martin, local cat 1 and former-pro for navigators/go-mart. had one win against him last year, but he has really good form this year and is supposidly he is stronger then ever. really good guy - in fact, i think he was voted "nicest rider" one year by cylcing news.
anyhoo....
really gotta go.
sologoat out
9.17.2005
09.17.05 - another day in life of a goat
hello all.
just wrapped up a 5.5 hour ride - 3 hours of it in whistler like rain/cold conditions. thank you mother nature for recreating the horrible conditions i experienced at whistler. i enjoyed it so.
i did run into two guys. one teammate of brett davis whom was deciding to get a cross bike and is a cat 4 on the road. he does mostly road stuff. kind of funny though, he was talking on and on about his racing. first time in a long while somebody hasn't asked me about my season, so it was kind of refreshing to hear another rider so excited about his own racing.
the other guy i run into all the time on the trail - jeff. sold him some egg beaters i wasn't using as i am selling off a ton o' stuff. need to raise some fundage for some new moots frames i am ordering up. one cross, one compact road. more details on that later.
other than that, not too much happening here. trying to stay fresh for georgia coming up in october, so my little break at interbike will be a nice couple of days off. though, i may get to ride out there as i have a buddy that rep's for NIKE and he may hook me up with a bike for a couple of days.
ooh - speaking of which, somebody asked me about places to ride out in vegas. only place i ever rode was bootleg canyon - where interbike has their dirt demo days. do a google search and you should find it - pretty nice place to ride. really dry and the rocks are sharp.... believe me, i can tell you first hand. really fun stuff to ride, but be careful! it's the type of trail you are flying on and then the next second you are flying in the air and landing on some really sharp rocks. just bring plenty of water - that place is hot! and if you go into town and take your first right (from what i believe) is the local yocal bike shop. VERY nice guys - can't remember the name of the shop, but when i was out there last i busted up a wheel and they gave me one to ride for a couple of days at NO CHARGE. check them out. oh.. and they also had some super sweet old school anodized kooka like cranks (dang, can't remember the name of that company that had those cranks with the replaceable inner spider) in there - about 6 pair. you ebay'ers would of been going nutz for them.
gotta run - jennifer and the folks are on their way. mexican tonight, oh yes.
sologoat out.
just wrapped up a 5.5 hour ride - 3 hours of it in whistler like rain/cold conditions. thank you mother nature for recreating the horrible conditions i experienced at whistler. i enjoyed it so.
i did run into two guys. one teammate of brett davis whom was deciding to get a cross bike and is a cat 4 on the road. he does mostly road stuff. kind of funny though, he was talking on and on about his racing. first time in a long while somebody hasn't asked me about my season, so it was kind of refreshing to hear another rider so excited about his own racing.
the other guy i run into all the time on the trail - jeff. sold him some egg beaters i wasn't using as i am selling off a ton o' stuff. need to raise some fundage for some new moots frames i am ordering up. one cross, one compact road. more details on that later.
other than that, not too much happening here. trying to stay fresh for georgia coming up in october, so my little break at interbike will be a nice couple of days off. though, i may get to ride out there as i have a buddy that rep's for NIKE and he may hook me up with a bike for a couple of days.
ooh - speaking of which, somebody asked me about places to ride out in vegas. only place i ever rode was bootleg canyon - where interbike has their dirt demo days. do a google search and you should find it - pretty nice place to ride. really dry and the rocks are sharp.... believe me, i can tell you first hand. really fun stuff to ride, but be careful! it's the type of trail you are flying on and then the next second you are flying in the air and landing on some really sharp rocks. just bring plenty of water - that place is hot! and if you go into town and take your first right (from what i believe) is the local yocal bike shop. VERY nice guys - can't remember the name of the shop, but when i was out there last i busted up a wheel and they gave me one to ride for a couple of days at NO CHARGE. check them out. oh.. and they also had some super sweet old school anodized kooka like cranks (dang, can't remember the name of that company that had those cranks with the replaceable inner spider) in there - about 6 pair. you ebay'ers would of been going nutz for them.
gotta run - jennifer and the folks are on their way. mexican tonight, oh yes.
sologoat out.
9.16.2005
09.16.05 - pimp my ride
09.16.05 - pimp my ride
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
bling bling offically in the house of speedgoat.com.
gold king hubs, bontrager mustang rims with dt double butted spokes and alloy nips.
these are the new wheels i had built up since delta so kindly dinged up my xtr set. offically built by george over at the shop and will be picked up next weekend.
tgif and tgfcch (thank god for chris king hubs).
have a good weekend - keep the rubber side down.
sologoat out.
9.15.2005
09.15.05 - smashing pumpkins song of the day
time is never time at all
you can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth
and our lives are forever changed
we will never be the same
the more you change the less you feel
believe, believe in me, believe
that life can change, that you're not stuck in vain
we're not the same, we're different tonight
tonight, so bright
tonight
and you know you're never sure
but you're sure you could be right
if you held yourself up to the light
and the embers never fade in your city by the lake
the place where you were born
believe, believe in me, believe
in the resolute urgency of now
and if you believe there's not a chance tonight
tonight, so bright
tonight
we'll crucify the insincere tonight
we'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight
we'll find a way to offer up the night tonight
the indescribable moments of your life tonight
the impossible is possible tonight
believe in me as i believe in you, tonight
pumpkins - tonight, tonight
you can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth
and our lives are forever changed
we will never be the same
the more you change the less you feel
believe, believe in me, believe
that life can change, that you're not stuck in vain
we're not the same, we're different tonight
tonight, so bright
tonight
and you know you're never sure
but you're sure you could be right
if you held yourself up to the light
and the embers never fade in your city by the lake
the place where you were born
believe, believe in me, believe
in the resolute urgency of now
and if you believe there's not a chance tonight
tonight, so bright
tonight
we'll crucify the insincere tonight
we'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight
we'll find a way to offer up the night tonight
the indescribable moments of your life tonight
the impossible is possible tonight
believe in me as i believe in you, tonight
pumpkins - tonight, tonight
09.15.05 - some links n' stuff
hey all...
jason over at the soiled chamois blog website sent me a link from the 24 hours of big bear. little shot of me at the end on the podium, but lots of good footage. warning though, bettter have a good connection as the file is 8meg and could take a little bit o' time to download.
check out the video here on hillbillyproud.com: hillbilly proud 24 hour of big bear footage here!
jason is actually from the 'burgh (pittsburgh for all others). used to be my old stomping grounds back in the day and is really where i started racing a lot. moraine state park, pittsburgh zoo crits, etc. mucho fun-o.
and..
another pic from worlds. this is probably one of my favorites.
and here it is
(thanks to bikeblogs.com for passing along this site to me)
this was taken by roman roth (please correct me if i screwed up the name) and i believe he was the main guy taking photos for the organizers of the race. he had a super sweet digital camera. anyhoo, about the shot. this was early in the race as i still had my shades on - took them off later as they were pretty much useless from all the grit/mud. this is what i call my classic "race face" shot - a look of determination mixed in with a somewhat "don't talk to me" face. it is usually during these moments that i am going so hard that it is often difficult for me to speak. so, for all those guys/gals i didn't say a word to when they spoke to me on the course, thanks for the kind words.
sponsors, sponsors, sponsors....
with interbike coming up, that's all i am thinking about. great time to meet the people whom stuff i ride. should be good to meet up with the folks at wobblenaught, tifosi, hammer gel, light & motion. hope to get the ball rolling for next year.
sponsorship deals pretty much have to be in early the year before as proposals need to be made and submitted before the end of october'ish. a lot of people may think that riders get stuff for free and that is the end of it. NOT BY A LONG SHOT.
it is my personal feeling that a rider is an extension of the sponsor - you need to represent, yo. you need to give them feedback. you need to send out race results and recaps. you need to be at the races. you need to be wearing their clothing. you need to be using their products, doing write ups, etc, etc, etc. guys/gals, you need to remember this because it is the least you can do for them. how else do you think tinker has been sponsored by cannondale for something like 11 years? yes, he has the results - but he is also a great PR person.
anyhoo, enough babbling.
need to grab a quick lunch and maybe look around for some old smashing pumpkins singles at the local yocal used cd shop.
sologoat out.
jason over at the soiled chamois blog website sent me a link from the 24 hours of big bear. little shot of me at the end on the podium, but lots of good footage. warning though, bettter have a good connection as the file is 8meg and could take a little bit o' time to download.
check out the video here on hillbillyproud.com: hillbilly proud 24 hour of big bear footage here!
jason is actually from the 'burgh (pittsburgh for all others). used to be my old stomping grounds back in the day and is really where i started racing a lot. moraine state park, pittsburgh zoo crits, etc. mucho fun-o.
and..
another pic from worlds. this is probably one of my favorites.
and here it is
(thanks to bikeblogs.com for passing along this site to me)
this was taken by roman roth (please correct me if i screwed up the name) and i believe he was the main guy taking photos for the organizers of the race. he had a super sweet digital camera. anyhoo, about the shot. this was early in the race as i still had my shades on - took them off later as they were pretty much useless from all the grit/mud. this is what i call my classic "race face" shot - a look of determination mixed in with a somewhat "don't talk to me" face. it is usually during these moments that i am going so hard that it is often difficult for me to speak. so, for all those guys/gals i didn't say a word to when they spoke to me on the course, thanks for the kind words.
sponsors, sponsors, sponsors....
with interbike coming up, that's all i am thinking about. great time to meet the people whom stuff i ride. should be good to meet up with the folks at wobblenaught, tifosi, hammer gel, light & motion. hope to get the ball rolling for next year.
sponsorship deals pretty much have to be in early the year before as proposals need to be made and submitted before the end of october'ish. a lot of people may think that riders get stuff for free and that is the end of it. NOT BY A LONG SHOT.
it is my personal feeling that a rider is an extension of the sponsor - you need to represent, yo. you need to give them feedback. you need to send out race results and recaps. you need to be at the races. you need to be wearing their clothing. you need to be using their products, doing write ups, etc, etc, etc. guys/gals, you need to remember this because it is the least you can do for them. how else do you think tinker has been sponsored by cannondale for something like 11 years? yes, he has the results - but he is also a great PR person.
anyhoo, enough babbling.
need to grab a quick lunch and maybe look around for some old smashing pumpkins singles at the local yocal used cd shop.
sologoat out.
9.14.2005
09.14.05 - counting the days to vegas
ah... me and all my bike geek friends are meeting in vegas to check out all things cool. and some silly things too. we are all going to INTERBIKE!
silly things i saw last year:
1. remember how i said hot babes at some booths to attract the drooling guys to come over and check them out, er, the bike part out? well.... lets imagine the exact opposite. imagine an overweight lady in her 50's wearing a dress for a hot 20'ish model with makeup that looked like it was put on by a two year old. i was scared to go over and tried not to look at her. very scary.
2. a bicycle. with a skateboard for a front wheel. yep. so you turn fast. for some reason you can't turn fast with a normal bike wheel. (guess they haven't seen me...ha, ha...) when i asked the guy riding the thing what happens when you hit a little bump on the road and the wheels get stuck in it, he got mad and road away.
3. a cheap version of a segway scooter thingy. very annoying as they road up and down the isles. guess he didn't realize it wasn't a bike.
4. chopper bicycles everywhere. some people thought they were cool. how silly.
5. a boom box that worked off a generator on your back wheel. oh ya, and the generator also lighted some neon lights on it too. sweet. you can pimp your ride.
6. some guys made a dragster out of a REAL dragster and then had some intricate series of cranks to build the thing up to speed. took them twenty minutes to get the wheel going fast enough, but when they let it down, watch out! yep, it actually spun the tire and sent the "rider" and the "dragster" flying down the road 50 feet into a tree. it was all on video tape. quite spectacular.
that's all i can think of...
jeff kerkove will be at the show too, and i think karl will be there as well.
in other news, not much going on. freaking out about cross bikes, thinking of parting ways with my giant cross bike and picking up another -- and thinking of getting a new road bike. both are going to moots - the standard cross frame and the compact road. decisions.....
got some new links to get to all y'all, but don't feel like posting them yet.
ew, in other news, speedgoat has some new ASYLUM socks out. and, word around town is that there may be some more clothing with ASLUM on it.... going out to shop to find out what's up with next year right before vegas. should be fun, sneak in a ride out at the mountain. maybe challenge the best time record they have for the little jaunt of a climb they have in front of the shop. maybe come back down to the pie shop afterwards and celebrate with a choclate chip cookie or two. or three.
yummy.
well, gotta run. trash man coming tomorrow. i can talk a lot of trash, but i sure hate taking it out.
thanks for checking out the blog.
sologoat out.
silly things i saw last year:
1. remember how i said hot babes at some booths to attract the drooling guys to come over and check them out, er, the bike part out? well.... lets imagine the exact opposite. imagine an overweight lady in her 50's wearing a dress for a hot 20'ish model with makeup that looked like it was put on by a two year old. i was scared to go over and tried not to look at her. very scary.
2. a bicycle. with a skateboard for a front wheel. yep. so you turn fast. for some reason you can't turn fast with a normal bike wheel. (guess they haven't seen me...ha, ha...) when i asked the guy riding the thing what happens when you hit a little bump on the road and the wheels get stuck in it, he got mad and road away.
3. a cheap version of a segway scooter thingy. very annoying as they road up and down the isles. guess he didn't realize it wasn't a bike.
4. chopper bicycles everywhere. some people thought they were cool. how silly.
5. a boom box that worked off a generator on your back wheel. oh ya, and the generator also lighted some neon lights on it too. sweet. you can pimp your ride.
6. some guys made a dragster out of a REAL dragster and then had some intricate series of cranks to build the thing up to speed. took them twenty minutes to get the wheel going fast enough, but when they let it down, watch out! yep, it actually spun the tire and sent the "rider" and the "dragster" flying down the road 50 feet into a tree. it was all on video tape. quite spectacular.
that's all i can think of...
jeff kerkove will be at the show too, and i think karl will be there as well.
in other news, not much going on. freaking out about cross bikes, thinking of parting ways with my giant cross bike and picking up another -- and thinking of getting a new road bike. both are going to moots - the standard cross frame and the compact road. decisions.....
got some new links to get to all y'all, but don't feel like posting them yet.
ew, in other news, speedgoat has some new ASYLUM socks out. and, word around town is that there may be some more clothing with ASLUM on it.... going out to shop to find out what's up with next year right before vegas. should be fun, sneak in a ride out at the mountain. maybe challenge the best time record they have for the little jaunt of a climb they have in front of the shop. maybe come back down to the pie shop afterwards and celebrate with a choclate chip cookie or two. or three.
yummy.
well, gotta run. trash man coming tomorrow. i can talk a lot of trash, but i sure hate taking it out.
thanks for checking out the blog.
sologoat out.
9.12.2005
09.12.05 - my kankles are now gone.
oh yes. the swelling in my feet have now gone down and my feet look normal again. i'll spare you the details, but i guess all the fluid in my feet was caused by excess hydration and sodium. felt like i had a gallon of water in my feet. didn't hurt, just looked really bad.
so, got in rides every day last week except monday/tuesday as i was north of the border. feeling pretty recovered as i haven't done any major efforts on the bike since whistler.
got the bikes 95% together. the xtr built up bike will not get her new wheels for another two weekends when i go out to the shop for a super secret meeting before vegas. hmmmmmmmmmmm. should be interesting.
getting the race resume together and have a rough list of whom i am going to send them out to for next year. hoping to get this all in line before i head out to vegas for the interbike bike show.
for those of you whom don't follow the bike industry, interbike is pretty much "THE" industry show to be at in the states. every major supplier brings all their 2006 products out to show all the bike geeks - and you have to work for the industry to get in. everything from bikes to clothing to tires - anything and everything bike related. usually, the bike shops set up meetings with the companies to discuss things like supply/demand/pricing/etc. for me, it will be fun. for the guys at the shop -- well, for the most part it is work. most of their time will be spent meeting the guys whom they usually talk to on the other end a phone.
oh, and then their are the "things" to get you to come to their booths. some give little gifts - saddle bags, tools, coffee... some use other tactics.
like a scantly clad supermodel whom is hot and looks like she has never ridden a bicycle a day in her life.
so with that, i gotta run. getting ready for a double ride tomorrow.
sologoat out.
so, got in rides every day last week except monday/tuesday as i was north of the border. feeling pretty recovered as i haven't done any major efforts on the bike since whistler.
got the bikes 95% together. the xtr built up bike will not get her new wheels for another two weekends when i go out to the shop for a super secret meeting before vegas. hmmmmmmmmmmm. should be interesting.
getting the race resume together and have a rough list of whom i am going to send them out to for next year. hoping to get this all in line before i head out to vegas for the interbike bike show.
for those of you whom don't follow the bike industry, interbike is pretty much "THE" industry show to be at in the states. every major supplier brings all their 2006 products out to show all the bike geeks - and you have to work for the industry to get in. everything from bikes to clothing to tires - anything and everything bike related. usually, the bike shops set up meetings with the companies to discuss things like supply/demand/pricing/etc. for me, it will be fun. for the guys at the shop -- well, for the most part it is work. most of their time will be spent meeting the guys whom they usually talk to on the other end a phone.
oh, and then their are the "things" to get you to come to their booths. some give little gifts - saddle bags, tools, coffee... some use other tactics.
like a scantly clad supermodel whom is hot and looks like she has never ridden a bicycle a day in her life.
so with that, i gotta run. getting ready for a double ride tomorrow.
sologoat out.
9.10.2005
ok, ok... i'll promise i will stop googling myself and finding more and more articles. the guys over at bikeblogs.com had found a pretty cool pic that i'll post tomorrow, then that is it. unless it's super cool. so here is a few more...
MBACTION ARTICLE HERE!
mtb RACER HERE!
AND... as proof that germans love david hasselhoff and sologoat, here are some german sites...
GERMAN SITE #1
GERMAN SITE #2
don't know what those last ones really say, but i think they go on about me being 'hella fast. ha,ha... just joking.
been getting out the last few days for a few hours - so, i only really took off monday and tuesday. i don't take too many days off the bike as i have found that my body usually reacts negatively if i take too many days off. though, i do have to say that rest is VERY VERY important and during these "active recovery" days i am a huge stickler on not exceeding certain heart rate levels. everybody is different, so you just have to gauge your training accordingly. if you don't have a heart rate monitor though, you bettter get one silly!
so, three to four hours today at steady tempo and then head back for a little ride with jennifer. she likes to ramp up the pace to 13mph sometimes, so i have to keep a little in reserve for the last couple of hours.
other than that, gotta finish off some jittery joes coffee (very yummy!), sneak in a ride, put some bikes back together and possibly think about a new cross bike. i've had the itching for another moots - picked up a giant last year for my spare and i think i am going to put it out on ebay soon. nice bike, but i really wanted a moots when i got it. so, if anybody is looking for a basically brand new 2004 giant cross bike in medium, let the sologoat know.
with that, gotta roll -- and you better go too, get a ride in now!
sologoat out.
MBACTION ARTICLE HERE!
mtb RACER HERE!
AND... as proof that germans love david hasselhoff and sologoat, here are some german sites...
GERMAN SITE #1
GERMAN SITE #2
don't know what those last ones really say, but i think they go on about me being 'hella fast. ha,ha... just joking.
been getting out the last few days for a few hours - so, i only really took off monday and tuesday. i don't take too many days off the bike as i have found that my body usually reacts negatively if i take too many days off. though, i do have to say that rest is VERY VERY important and during these "active recovery" days i am a huge stickler on not exceeding certain heart rate levels. everybody is different, so you just have to gauge your training accordingly. if you don't have a heart rate monitor though, you bettter get one silly!
so, three to four hours today at steady tempo and then head back for a little ride with jennifer. she likes to ramp up the pace to 13mph sometimes, so i have to keep a little in reserve for the last couple of hours.
other than that, gotta finish off some jittery joes coffee (very yummy!), sneak in a ride, put some bikes back together and possibly think about a new cross bike. i've had the itching for another moots - picked up a giant last year for my spare and i think i am going to put it out on ebay soon. nice bike, but i really wanted a moots when i got it. so, if anybody is looking for a basically brand new 2004 giant cross bike in medium, let the sologoat know.
with that, gotta roll -- and you better go too, get a ride in now!
sologoat out.
9.09.2005
09.09.05 - more whistler pics - 02
09.09.05 - more whistler pics - 02
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
about 10 minutes before start. race face is off and the "don't screw with me" race face is put on.
09.09.05 - more whistler pics - 01
09.09.05 - more whistler pics - 01
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
about 15 minutes before the start. race face is on.
09.09.05 - more whistler pics - 03
09.09.05 - more whistler pics - 03
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
a secret photo of my fueling strategy. hammer gel, hammer heed, sustained energy. endurolytes, mito-r, anti fatigue and race caps washed down with some red bull.
mmm, mmm, yummy.
09.09.05 - a word from Nat at Fisher
hey guys - found this in the 29er forum on mtbr. Nat did a little write up mentions ernesto. sweet.
check out the link:
NAT write up here!
for those of you not in the know, Nat is a teammate of Cameron Chambers and they both ride for Gary Fisher and ride bikes with big wheels (29er's) just like ernesto. fisher was pretty much the first company to bring out a race level bike with wheels in this size.
nat is pretty much their full time euro/US racer, concentrating on the big events. cameron is younger and while he also does big events, he stays in the states and also does some "low key" events as well.
and thinking of 29er stuff...
SPEEDGOAT.COM
has just received in some new 2006 Rockshox REBA's. not sure what the deal is, or what they changed, but it is coming in at 100grams lighter then the 2005 model.
and...
do note, they also are selling SALSA DOS NINER'S for a buck under 2g for a complete bike. not a bad setup too. check 'er out.
gotta run..
sologoat out.
check out the link:
NAT write up here!
for those of you not in the know, Nat is a teammate of Cameron Chambers and they both ride for Gary Fisher and ride bikes with big wheels (29er's) just like ernesto. fisher was pretty much the first company to bring out a race level bike with wheels in this size.
nat is pretty much their full time euro/US racer, concentrating on the big events. cameron is younger and while he also does big events, he stays in the states and also does some "low key" events as well.
and thinking of 29er stuff...
SPEEDGOAT.COM
has just received in some new 2006 Rockshox REBA's. not sure what the deal is, or what they changed, but it is coming in at 100grams lighter then the 2005 model.
and...
do note, they also are selling SALSA DOS NINER'S for a buck under 2g for a complete bike. not a bad setup too. check 'er out.
gotta run..
sologoat out.
9.08.2005
09.08.05 - a link and some kings
hello all.
gotta check out my light sponsor light & motion. why? well it may just be a cool article. mentions the top three at solo worlds. and guess what light system they were running? hmmm.... could it be LIGHT & MOTION?
lights i am using this year:
LIGHT AND MOTION VEGA
LIGHT AND MOTION LI-ION
you can read my reviews on either speedgoat's blog on the review section on the light & motion web site.
heard from a few of the sponsors after the race - guess the news is getting out about the race, so it is going to make for an interesting interbike this year. hoping to pick up a few more sponsors this year, especially in the shoe/helmet area.
and, got my bikes yesterday from delta as they didn't make it when i switched flights. the dorks broke my new tri-all bike case - bikes were Ok, but my XTR wheelset is probably no more. rear wheel was bent pretty good, front one as well. thank heavens my kings were in a wheel box - they were perfect. everything else appears to be Ok. Taking all broken stuff to delta on monday as i just want to relax this weekend.
so, gotta get a new wheelset built. and it's going to be another king set. but what color? here's the choices:
1. pink - cool, but i already have a set. could be nice to have a matching set.
2. green - this is a pretty cool color. kind of a mixed bright/dark green.
3. navy - anodized navy. kinda cool. bling without looking out of place.
4. gold - super bling gold. pimp out my ride? hmmm..
5. red - have a set of these on my moots mountain bike. very cool.
6. black - have a set on my road bike. don't think i'll get black.
7. silver - with a thousand cool colors, why would i go silver?
vote tonight! i am personally leaning towards the green or the gold myself...
gotta run.
sologoat out.
gotta check out my light sponsor light & motion. why? well it may just be a cool article. mentions the top three at solo worlds. and guess what light system they were running? hmmm.... could it be LIGHT & MOTION?
lights i am using this year:
LIGHT AND MOTION VEGA
LIGHT AND MOTION LI-ION
you can read my reviews on either speedgoat's blog on the review section on the light & motion web site.
heard from a few of the sponsors after the race - guess the news is getting out about the race, so it is going to make for an interesting interbike this year. hoping to pick up a few more sponsors this year, especially in the shoe/helmet area.
and, got my bikes yesterday from delta as they didn't make it when i switched flights. the dorks broke my new tri-all bike case - bikes were Ok, but my XTR wheelset is probably no more. rear wheel was bent pretty good, front one as well. thank heavens my kings were in a wheel box - they were perfect. everything else appears to be Ok. Taking all broken stuff to delta on monday as i just want to relax this weekend.
so, gotta get a new wheelset built. and it's going to be another king set. but what color? here's the choices:
1. pink - cool, but i already have a set. could be nice to have a matching set.
2. green - this is a pretty cool color. kind of a mixed bright/dark green.
3. navy - anodized navy. kinda cool. bling without looking out of place.
4. gold - super bling gold. pimp out my ride? hmmm..
5. red - have a set of these on my moots mountain bike. very cool.
6. black - have a set on my road bike. don't think i'll get black.
7. silver - with a thousand cool colors, why would i go silver?
vote tonight! i am personally leaning towards the green or the gold myself...
gotta run.
sologoat out.
9.07.2005
09/07.05 - pic on cyclingnews.com
SOLOGOAT IN RAIN CAPE picture is here.
not sure when it was taken (sometime after 6am on sunday) - was taken by vic at velonews. word up.
and - "race of his career"..
find that article here:
CHRIS E mentions ernesto here!
not sure when it was taken (sometime after 6am on sunday) - was taken by vic at velonews. word up.
and - "race of his career"..
find that article here:
CHRIS E mentions ernesto here!
09.07.05 - whistler race pic 02
whistler05 startatbike
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
finish of the run and onto the bikes. came in around tenth place and would be up to top 5 by the end of the lap.
09.07.01 - whistler race pic 01
whistler05 startline
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
this is right before the start - 2:24 minutes to be exact.
09.07.05 - trek write up on whistler
TREK WHISTLER RECAP is updated. nice write up on chris with some mention of sologoat. sweet. great guy to race against. he reminds me a lot of paul martin on the road side - super fast and cool enough guy to go up to and talk after the race. no huge attitudes. i hate attitudes.
oh, and on a side note - had to add word verification to all those posting replies. getting too much spam. sorry for the added step.
gotta run.
sologoat out.
oh, and on a side note - had to add word verification to all those posting replies. getting too much spam. sorry for the added step.
gotta run.
sologoat out.
9.06.2005
09.06.05 - watching people in an airport
is what i am doing now in vancouver. i'm ready to get back. maybe jennifer made a choclalty surprise? mmmmmm....
yesterday i spent most of the day in bed - my ankles swelled up pretty good and my shins hurt really bad. this is the second time my shins hurt this bad and i guess my feet swell because of all the fluids i take in during the race. i don't know what it is, but my shins hurt like HELL.
i soaked them last night and this morning, so they feel a lot better today. last night when and got a good meal at a local pub and when i walked in there was a guy that was so smashed drunk that he couldn't even stand up. guess he was celebrating my results and got a little out of hand. (just joking...)
so, back to the states with probably only one more major enduro race of the year at georgia. i was thinking of some others, but i think this race took a lot of me. i honestly didn't feel that cold during the race because my heart rate was so high, but it took me until about 4pm on sunday to feel warm again. man, that shower after the race felt soooooooooo good. it actually felt wierd feeling non-gritty and WARM water on me.
talked to the gang over at speedgoat - they did a 24 hour at seven springs this weekend and did pretty well in the corporate class. pretty funny story, but i'll save it for later in the week. but - all of them raced asylums, so that was cool.
oh, and got some initial word on some donwn-low info on some asylums that may come in the form of a hard tail. also got some word on the full suspended's too, but that is too early in the game to start speculating.
well, gotta run - i'll send out a thanks tomoorrow, but thanks for everybody coming to this site, checking it out and believing in me, the sport and speedgoat. thanks!
gotta run and grab a flight.
sologoat out.
yesterday i spent most of the day in bed - my ankles swelled up pretty good and my shins hurt really bad. this is the second time my shins hurt this bad and i guess my feet swell because of all the fluids i take in during the race. i don't know what it is, but my shins hurt like HELL.
i soaked them last night and this morning, so they feel a lot better today. last night when and got a good meal at a local pub and when i walked in there was a guy that was so smashed drunk that he couldn't even stand up. guess he was celebrating my results and got a little out of hand. (just joking...)
so, back to the states with probably only one more major enduro race of the year at georgia. i was thinking of some others, but i think this race took a lot of me. i honestly didn't feel that cold during the race because my heart rate was so high, but it took me until about 4pm on sunday to feel warm again. man, that shower after the race felt soooooooooo good. it actually felt wierd feeling non-gritty and WARM water on me.
talked to the gang over at speedgoat - they did a 24 hour at seven springs this weekend and did pretty well in the corporate class. pretty funny story, but i'll save it for later in the week. but - all of them raced asylums, so that was cool.
oh, and got some initial word on some donwn-low info on some asylums that may come in the form of a hard tail. also got some word on the full suspended's too, but that is too early in the game to start speculating.
well, gotta run - i'll send out a thanks tomoorrow, but thanks for everybody coming to this site, checking it out and believing in me, the sport and speedgoat. thanks!
gotta run and grab a flight.
sologoat out.
09.06.05 - whistler write up (long version)
9.10.05
9AM
I did something I don’t have much time to do this morning so I slept in. Hotel had free breakfast so I cooked up some waffles, had some hard boiled eggs and downed some OJ and coffee. Oh, and had a warmed up cinnamon muffin thingy. Mmm. Yummy.
While I was doing this, pit crew #1 (dan/dad) was busy at work transferring bikes, food, clothing, etc. Slight issue was the rain. It was in the high 50’s, but the forecast was for rain until tomorrow. Seeing as I just raced in this a few weeks back, I looked out the window and laughed. At least it wasn’t as bad as Snowshoe.
10AM
Start getting ready. Hotel was super close, close enough to walk to from the pits if needed. The hotel cost quite a bit more than the hotel setup for the race, but the close proximity the venue is prime. Charging lights, extra clothes, etc – not an issue because we are so close. I don’t need issues this day.
10:45AM
Start heading over to the venue. Rain is still coming down. I am getting into race mode and I have somehow managed not to yell at anybody in the past few days. Amazing.
Rob L is there without a tent (what the heck?) and sends his wife out to pick up a tarp thereby “ghetto-izing” the pit area. Hats off to Rob a few weeks back at Snowshoe – he managed third place, but he ended up pulling out by the days end this weekend. Guess he wasn’t feeling well, but I don’t know what happened.
Get ready and do the pre-race run up and down the pits getting ready for the run start. Sloane, Hendershot and Chris E all join in. Lot’s o’ fun.
11:45’ish
Pre-race call out. They call out all riders individually and we line up. Top 10’ish get the front row for the race start because we are special.
Noon
Race starts and I am probably top ten by the time we jump on our bikes. Rain is still coming down as it will for the next 24 hours. Generally it was really not that heavy of a rain, but it was the type of rain that you didn’t immediately get wet, but after 2 hours you were completely soaked.
First lap I know I am flying – by the time we get to the first single track, I am in fourth position and was leading my group of riders into the first rooty/rocky switch backed section of trail. I am glad I made an effort to be in the position. As I look down upon the riders on the generally climbing turns, I am seeing some of the riders having a hard time with the rocks. Just like when a car in front of you stops on a single lane road, you have to stop and wait. Same roll applies here. I pedal on.
Second lap was odd in that I was basically riding by myself. I wasn’t catching anybody but riders were not catching up to me. This was good. Chris E is known for going out hard, something I have tried to incorporate into my race plans so I kept my heart rate just below lactic acid threshold and kept turning the pedals over.
Third lap was when I was really starting to realize what was going on. I wasn’t getting splits as I knew I was doing OK and I didn’t want to start worrying about time this early in the game. I was in the zone, flying through the corners, locking out the Reba fork and making every little last effort to keep the pedals turning over as fast as I could.
Then it happened. I saw something blue. There – I saw it again. Hey, that’s a rider. Hmm. That looks like Cameron’s jersey. Hmmm… is that? No.. maybe… I think that is Nat. Holy cow, that is Nat.
We rode together for a bit, talked a few words about 29er’s and the race conditions. We would ride together for the two laps.
Towards the end of lap four, in the section right before the last climb, I drop Nat in the single track. I put further time into him on the climb. I make a fast change of bikes and go out again. (We would end up pretty much switching bikes every lap as the conditions deteriorated during the day).
5’ish
Still going strong. At the top of the last climb, Nat had a helper whom called down to the pits via walkie talkie with food requests/bike change type info. He was also there to see how I was looking on the bike for signs of fatigue. When I got right next to him he asked me, “what did you do with Nat?” I smiled and rode on.
8’ish
Night time in Whistler is usually a beautiful thing. This night, it was a beautiful night with lots of pain being inflicted and felt.
Chris was about 20 minutes ahead, Nat was close behind me. This was going to be the first of two clothing changes. Fully stripped down wiped as much mud off me as humanly possible and put my arm warmers on as dan was putting on my socks and shoes. I am such a princess.
We go to put my helmet on and realize dan mounted the light bracket in a way that I could not adjust the helmet straps. As dan fixes this, Nat passes me. Dan tells me that Nat has passed me.
I pedal on and within two laps, I catch Nat again. Really didn’t talk to him at all this time as I was all business.
It was sometime during the night that the Trek boys finally realized what was going on. I was closing in on Chris and was at one point within twenty minutes of him. Some of the
Trek guys were actually standing around my pit watching my bike changes to see how things were going. I guess at one point they were pretty blown away by a twenty second pit after midnight when conditions were getting super bad.
4AM
About two miles from the start/finish and on about lap 167 (joking!) the rain is coming down heavy. The air is so cold I can see my breath. With only one layer of clothing on, I did not like the situation. I pick up the pace trying to raise my core temperature and get me to the pit area. I am not supposed to make a clothing change until after day break, but I am freezing at this point and I need to change into warmer clothing.
I get in, put on some winter knickers, winter jersey, a base layer and my rain jacket. The jacket is basically non-breathable plastic which is usually not that good in warm weather because you sweat so much in it, but when it is under 50 degrees, this jacket is ideal.
For the first part of the next two laps, I try to avoid any of the huge puddles of mud/water that are on the trail as I was trying to stay as dry as I could.
6AM
Splits had me at about a half hour back on Chris and about the same gap between Nat and myself. I decided at this point that any more changes of clothing would be silly and could jeopardize my position, so I continued on.
11:16am
Went out for my next to last lap. Tried to be careful as I wanted to get back in safely. I rode hard where I could, didn’t take any chances and must of looked over my shoulder 100 times to make sure Nat wasn’t chasing me down. When I was on the last climb, I took one last look behind my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t there.
When all was over, I finished about 25 minutes behind Chris – not bad considering I think he lapped me at least twice last year, and the first time he lapped me was before 6pm on the first day.
9AM
I did something I don’t have much time to do this morning so I slept in. Hotel had free breakfast so I cooked up some waffles, had some hard boiled eggs and downed some OJ and coffee. Oh, and had a warmed up cinnamon muffin thingy. Mmm. Yummy.
While I was doing this, pit crew #1 (dan/dad) was busy at work transferring bikes, food, clothing, etc. Slight issue was the rain. It was in the high 50’s, but the forecast was for rain until tomorrow. Seeing as I just raced in this a few weeks back, I looked out the window and laughed. At least it wasn’t as bad as Snowshoe.
10AM
Start getting ready. Hotel was super close, close enough to walk to from the pits if needed. The hotel cost quite a bit more than the hotel setup for the race, but the close proximity the venue is prime. Charging lights, extra clothes, etc – not an issue because we are so close. I don’t need issues this day.
10:45AM
Start heading over to the venue. Rain is still coming down. I am getting into race mode and I have somehow managed not to yell at anybody in the past few days. Amazing.
Rob L is there without a tent (what the heck?) and sends his wife out to pick up a tarp thereby “ghetto-izing” the pit area. Hats off to Rob a few weeks back at Snowshoe – he managed third place, but he ended up pulling out by the days end this weekend. Guess he wasn’t feeling well, but I don’t know what happened.
Get ready and do the pre-race run up and down the pits getting ready for the run start. Sloane, Hendershot and Chris E all join in. Lot’s o’ fun.
11:45’ish
Pre-race call out. They call out all riders individually and we line up. Top 10’ish get the front row for the race start because we are special.
Noon
Race starts and I am probably top ten by the time we jump on our bikes. Rain is still coming down as it will for the next 24 hours. Generally it was really not that heavy of a rain, but it was the type of rain that you didn’t immediately get wet, but after 2 hours you were completely soaked.
First lap I know I am flying – by the time we get to the first single track, I am in fourth position and was leading my group of riders into the first rooty/rocky switch backed section of trail. I am glad I made an effort to be in the position. As I look down upon the riders on the generally climbing turns, I am seeing some of the riders having a hard time with the rocks. Just like when a car in front of you stops on a single lane road, you have to stop and wait. Same roll applies here. I pedal on.
Second lap was odd in that I was basically riding by myself. I wasn’t catching anybody but riders were not catching up to me. This was good. Chris E is known for going out hard, something I have tried to incorporate into my race plans so I kept my heart rate just below lactic acid threshold and kept turning the pedals over.
Third lap was when I was really starting to realize what was going on. I wasn’t getting splits as I knew I was doing OK and I didn’t want to start worrying about time this early in the game. I was in the zone, flying through the corners, locking out the Reba fork and making every little last effort to keep the pedals turning over as fast as I could.
Then it happened. I saw something blue. There – I saw it again. Hey, that’s a rider. Hmm. That looks like Cameron’s jersey. Hmmm… is that? No.. maybe… I think that is Nat. Holy cow, that is Nat.
We rode together for a bit, talked a few words about 29er’s and the race conditions. We would ride together for the two laps.
Towards the end of lap four, in the section right before the last climb, I drop Nat in the single track. I put further time into him on the climb. I make a fast change of bikes and go out again. (We would end up pretty much switching bikes every lap as the conditions deteriorated during the day).
5’ish
Still going strong. At the top of the last climb, Nat had a helper whom called down to the pits via walkie talkie with food requests/bike change type info. He was also there to see how I was looking on the bike for signs of fatigue. When I got right next to him he asked me, “what did you do with Nat?” I smiled and rode on.
8’ish
Night time in Whistler is usually a beautiful thing. This night, it was a beautiful night with lots of pain being inflicted and felt.
Chris was about 20 minutes ahead, Nat was close behind me. This was going to be the first of two clothing changes. Fully stripped down wiped as much mud off me as humanly possible and put my arm warmers on as dan was putting on my socks and shoes. I am such a princess.
We go to put my helmet on and realize dan mounted the light bracket in a way that I could not adjust the helmet straps. As dan fixes this, Nat passes me. Dan tells me that Nat has passed me.
I pedal on and within two laps, I catch Nat again. Really didn’t talk to him at all this time as I was all business.
It was sometime during the night that the Trek boys finally realized what was going on. I was closing in on Chris and was at one point within twenty minutes of him. Some of the
Trek guys were actually standing around my pit watching my bike changes to see how things were going. I guess at one point they were pretty blown away by a twenty second pit after midnight when conditions were getting super bad.
4AM
About two miles from the start/finish and on about lap 167 (joking!) the rain is coming down heavy. The air is so cold I can see my breath. With only one layer of clothing on, I did not like the situation. I pick up the pace trying to raise my core temperature and get me to the pit area. I am not supposed to make a clothing change until after day break, but I am freezing at this point and I need to change into warmer clothing.
I get in, put on some winter knickers, winter jersey, a base layer and my rain jacket. The jacket is basically non-breathable plastic which is usually not that good in warm weather because you sweat so much in it, but when it is under 50 degrees, this jacket is ideal.
For the first part of the next two laps, I try to avoid any of the huge puddles of mud/water that are on the trail as I was trying to stay as dry as I could.
6AM
Splits had me at about a half hour back on Chris and about the same gap between Nat and myself. I decided at this point that any more changes of clothing would be silly and could jeopardize my position, so I continued on.
11:16am
Went out for my next to last lap. Tried to be careful as I wanted to get back in safely. I rode hard where I could, didn’t take any chances and must of looked over my shoulder 100 times to make sure Nat wasn’t chasing me down. When I was on the last climb, I took one last look behind my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t there.
When all was over, I finished about 25 minutes behind Chris – not bad considering I think he lapped me at least twice last year, and the first time he lapped me was before 6pm on the first day.
9.05.2005
09.05.05 - more links
mtbr forums - some guy named bigfoot was posting. four or five posts.
MTBR ENDURO FORUMS
another velonews recap:
VELONEWS RECAP
write up on cycling news
CYCLING NEWS RECAP
MTBR ENDURO FORUMS
another velonews recap:
VELONEWS RECAP
write up on cycling news
CYCLING NEWS RECAP
09.05.05 - links to check out
andrenaline results:
ANDRENALINE HERE!
velonews coverage:
VELONEWS HERE!
nick martin blogspot
NICK MARTIN HERE!
also, left out in last blog - may have some type of article with velonews coming up. talked to vic (author of the velonews aricle above) for about a half hour at the awards. cool guy.
gotta run. my ten minutes of free laptop time has ended up being a half hour.
don't tell me about time - just give me time splits.
dah.
sologoat out!
ANDRENALINE HERE!
velonews coverage:
VELONEWS HERE!
nick martin blogspot
NICK MARTIN HERE!
also, left out in last blog - may have some type of article with velonews coming up. talked to vic (author of the velonews aricle above) for about a half hour at the awards. cool guy.
gotta run. my ten minutes of free laptop time has ended up being a half hour.
don't tell me about time - just give me time splits.
dah.
sologoat out!
09.05.05 - 2nd place for sologoat (short version)
hey all - quick recap as i am at the free hotel wireless computer - got 10 minutes, so here goes.
saturday morning i woke up to rain and temps in the 60's. hoping that it would clear out, i ate breakfast and tried to think at the task at hand. got ready and headed down to the tents around 10:45'ish.
the pits were a buzzin' with the riders going over last minute preparations. nat ross and chris eataugh's tent were going crazy (think they must of had 10 people helping them, all together). it purely was a spectacle.
i went over my stuff, made some changes due to the weather and told dad and dan to get out my cold weather stuff because more than likely i will need it.
they called us to the start, gun goes off and we are in full flight.
single track was muddy, the crushed gravel trails were covering us with little pieces of gravel, but the first laps were fast. they made some slight changes here/there (one short/one long single track section). i knew i was highly placed after two laps, but i didn't know exactly were i was sitting place wise. i almost didn't want to know - but all i knew is that nobody was in sight.
on the third lap, a blue jersey comes in view in front of me. hmm. looks to be. no it can't. hmm.. is that? holy shi*! no it can't be. holy shi* - i just caught nat! i just caught nat! we talked awhile, went back and forth and then i just picked it up on some single track, put a little gap on him and then made the gap bigger on a climb.
all the while, rain was a comin' down. and down. and down. mud was prevalant and it looked to be very similar race course descriptions to snowshoe a few weeks back.
slight issues with mounting a light led to nat catching and passing me - putting 5 minutes into me. within two laps, i caught him, and reversed the situation, putting in roughly 5 minutes into him every lap.
by morning, the pits were a buzzin' with the guy on the 29r who was flying - and it wasn't nat ross. it was ernesto and he made a 40 minute gap to chris e go to twenty minutes.
by the end of the day, chris e put had about a half hour on me. i had over a 30-40 minute lead on third place nat ross.
quick results, as best as i can remember:
1. chris e
2. ernesto marenchin
3. nat ross
4. ? think he was from britian
5. mark hendershot
6. sloane anderson
that's it - gotta run before the hotel people get worked up.
longer version tomorrow sometime before i take off at noon west coast time.
sologoat out.
saturday morning i woke up to rain and temps in the 60's. hoping that it would clear out, i ate breakfast and tried to think at the task at hand. got ready and headed down to the tents around 10:45'ish.
the pits were a buzzin' with the riders going over last minute preparations. nat ross and chris eataugh's tent were going crazy (think they must of had 10 people helping them, all together). it purely was a spectacle.
i went over my stuff, made some changes due to the weather and told dad and dan to get out my cold weather stuff because more than likely i will need it.
they called us to the start, gun goes off and we are in full flight.
single track was muddy, the crushed gravel trails were covering us with little pieces of gravel, but the first laps were fast. they made some slight changes here/there (one short/one long single track section). i knew i was highly placed after two laps, but i didn't know exactly were i was sitting place wise. i almost didn't want to know - but all i knew is that nobody was in sight.
on the third lap, a blue jersey comes in view in front of me. hmm. looks to be. no it can't. hmm.. is that? holy shi*! no it can't be. holy shi* - i just caught nat! i just caught nat! we talked awhile, went back and forth and then i just picked it up on some single track, put a little gap on him and then made the gap bigger on a climb.
all the while, rain was a comin' down. and down. and down. mud was prevalant and it looked to be very similar race course descriptions to snowshoe a few weeks back.
slight issues with mounting a light led to nat catching and passing me - putting 5 minutes into me. within two laps, i caught him, and reversed the situation, putting in roughly 5 minutes into him every lap.
by morning, the pits were a buzzin' with the guy on the 29r who was flying - and it wasn't nat ross. it was ernesto and he made a 40 minute gap to chris e go to twenty minutes.
by the end of the day, chris e put had about a half hour on me. i had over a 30-40 minute lead on third place nat ross.
quick results, as best as i can remember:
1. chris e
2. ernesto marenchin
3. nat ross
4. ? think he was from britian
5. mark hendershot
6. sloane anderson
that's it - gotta run before the hotel people get worked up.
longer version tomorrow sometime before i take off at noon west coast time.
sologoat out.
9.02.2005
09.03.05 - the down-low from whistler post #4
hey all.
just got back from dinner. pretty low-key day, woke up to some rain covering the ground. looked like just a light covering, nothing major, but i was hoping that the roots would not be too slick.
so me and dan the man took a lap and about 2 minutes into the loop, we ran into steve schwartz - an Indy Fab rider whom got second to me at big bear in west virginia. the roots and rocks were slick, but not as bad as i expected.
we missed a little section of the course yesterday, so we rode that today too. nothing too exciting there too. the pics i have posted are of the rocky sections, but there are some long sections that are packed gravel - sort of crushed stone. really fast, about double track width. kind of boring, but when you throw in some really cool single track sections, it makes it super fast. loop is around 14.7km long.
rider meeting was today - course was mentioned, all the rule were gone over, and even some mention was made of the jeff kerkove situation. he didn't mention any names or any particulars, but went on and on for about 10 minutes about it. the first thing that he did mention was that he never said "no refunds." supposidly he is going to review this on a case by case situation at year end. i'm not going to go into what i think about all of this as i can go on and on about it - and today is really not the day to get into it...
so, with that - i must depart. bags and clothing have been packed and sorted into bags, initial stuff has been done.
later - sologoat out.
just got back from dinner. pretty low-key day, woke up to some rain covering the ground. looked like just a light covering, nothing major, but i was hoping that the roots would not be too slick.
so me and dan the man took a lap and about 2 minutes into the loop, we ran into steve schwartz - an Indy Fab rider whom got second to me at big bear in west virginia. the roots and rocks were slick, but not as bad as i expected.
we missed a little section of the course yesterday, so we rode that today too. nothing too exciting there too. the pics i have posted are of the rocky sections, but there are some long sections that are packed gravel - sort of crushed stone. really fast, about double track width. kind of boring, but when you throw in some really cool single track sections, it makes it super fast. loop is around 14.7km long.
rider meeting was today - course was mentioned, all the rule were gone over, and even some mention was made of the jeff kerkove situation. he didn't mention any names or any particulars, but went on and on for about 10 minutes about it. the first thing that he did mention was that he never said "no refunds." supposidly he is going to review this on a case by case situation at year end. i'm not going to go into what i think about all of this as i can go on and on about it - and today is really not the day to get into it...
so, with that - i must depart. bags and clothing have been packed and sorted into bags, initial stuff has been done.
later - sologoat out.
09.02.05 - whistler pic #06
09.02.05 - whistler pic #06
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
this is me catching big air at the jump park. after i landed this jump, i hit the next jump and launched an ultra rad 360 back flip and landed it no-handed. pretty easy trick if you really think about it.
;)
09.02.05 - whistler pic #05
09.02.05 - whistler pic #05
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
this is the second single track section. the good line is to the right of me, but i was trying a different line. either way, both are pretty fast - we'll see how the lines are after 18 hours of abuse when it's 6am sunday morning.
09.02.05 - whistler pic #04
09.02.05 - whistler pic #04
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
another angle from about half way through the lap. i was trying to pick clothes that did not match today and apparantly i did a good job.
09.02.05 - whistler pic #02
09.02.05 - whistler pic #02
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
this another shot from the first single track section from yesterday.
09.02.05 - whistler pic #01
09.02.05 - whistler pic #01
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
this is the first single track section from yesterday.
9.01.2005
09.01.05 - the down-low from whistler post #3
no shows - cameron chambers and tinker are the most noteable. there are 2 others that i do not know of that were in the top ten.
who i know is here:
1. chris e
2. nat ross
3. hendershot
4. sloane
5. ernesto (sologoat)
6. rob l
and - sorry didn't go any further down pit row, though i did ride with karl etzel today from www.ride424.com. nice guy.
so, tomorrow is the solo rider meeting/press conference thing. my first press conference as i totally missed it last year for some reason as i never received my pre-race packet.
solo area doesn't seem to be as full as last year, but i didn't see the actual number count yet - we'll get that tomorrow.
weather is same as last year, low in the 40's temps high in lower 60's. jump bikes all around, more silly bermed trails and downhill runs for the guys who love to go fast downhill. whistler is more setup for this type of riding then cross country, but it has something for everybody. skate parts, jump parks, bmx bikes - you name, it has it. oh ya, and plenty of pretty girls, guys wearing pants that don't fit and haven't taken a bath in a month and coffee shops.
more tomorrow - time to chill out.
good luck to all my comrades racing this weeekend.
sologoat out.
who i know is here:
1. chris e
2. nat ross
3. hendershot
4. sloane
5. ernesto (sologoat)
6. rob l
and - sorry didn't go any further down pit row, though i did ride with karl etzel today from www.ride424.com. nice guy.
so, tomorrow is the solo rider meeting/press conference thing. my first press conference as i totally missed it last year for some reason as i never received my pre-race packet.
solo area doesn't seem to be as full as last year, but i didn't see the actual number count yet - we'll get that tomorrow.
weather is same as last year, low in the 40's temps high in lower 60's. jump bikes all around, more silly bermed trails and downhill runs for the guys who love to go fast downhill. whistler is more setup for this type of riding then cross country, but it has something for everybody. skate parts, jump parks, bmx bikes - you name, it has it. oh ya, and plenty of pretty girls, guys wearing pants that don't fit and haven't taken a bath in a month and coffee shops.
more tomorrow - time to chill out.
good luck to all my comrades racing this weeekend.
sologoat out.
09.01.05 - whistler #08
09.01.05 - whistler #08
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
riding up to the hotel after 1 and half loops of the course. this is my "i have come here for business" look or "i seem to be mad" look. ah, it's going to be a good weekend.
09.01.05 - whistler #07
09.01.05 - whistler #07
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
dan the man riding the same section in picture #06, but a little bit higher up. about 100 feet past this was where i took my first of three very bad falls last year. i rode through that same section no problems.
09.01.05 - whistler #06
09.01.05 - whistler #06
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
about half way through the lap, looking the opposite way we ride. the section is at the top of a rocky/rooty section that i had difficulty with last year, but the asylum 29er seems to be flying over the stuff this year.
09.01.05 - whistler pic #05
09.01.05 - whistler pic #04
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
dan the man again. second section of single track. had to take a look at this a few times as it is quit rutty and has a few quick turns and big rocks. go figure.
09.01.05 - whistler pic #04
09.01.05 - whistler pic #04
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
dan the man. still on the first section of single track.
09.01.05 - whistler pic #04
09.01.05 - whistler pic #04
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
dan the man again. second section of single track. had to take a look at this a few times as it is quit rutty and has a few quick turns and big rocks. go figure.
09.01.05 - whistler #01
09.01.05 - whistler #01
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
this is going up the last climb on the course. wide open jeep trail with loose gravel. dan the man in the background.
09.01.05 - whistler #02
09.01.05 - whistler #02
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
solo pit area. i am number 5 which means since i got 9th last year, a few guys haven't shown up. more on this on my current day log.
09.01.05 - whistler #03
09.01.05 - whistler #03
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
this is the first single track. some of the beginings is slightly technical, but pretty low key and lots of fun. we actually climb up this as you can see dan the man in his speedgoat gear making his way towards me. it was on something similar to this that i took a bad crash on last year as these things can get pretty slippy when wet.
09.01.05 - the down-low from whistler post #2
got in about 6'ish last night, got the bike together and was riding by 7:30pm for a one hour ride.
course has changed quite a bit in the ending and opening kilometers, which is all i had the time to ride. the bogus hard last little loop was cut out (oh darn! i hated it!) and the section after the pits was changed so that the stream crossing was not impossible to ride and then the first little climb was completely changed.
instead of going straight up this little climb and then into single track, you missed that climb and then shoot right up some gradually climbing single track that is a blast to ride. really nice stuff up here.
the views are incredible, the weather is perfect, the ground is dry and the night is chilly. as far as i go, i am motivated, excited to be here, feel awesomely fast and am really driven for a good placement.
going to ride the entire lap today with dan the man whom brought his asylum along too, so that is cool. he's going to take some pics out on the course, some impromptu sologoat photo shoots. i figure when this enduro stuff is all over that i may need to get into a modeling career, so i am working on my "look".
ya, maybe i should just keep riding.
thanks for checking the site out dawg - more updates tonight/tomorrow as i got a wireless connection and a digital camera. sweet.
sologoat out.
course has changed quite a bit in the ending and opening kilometers, which is all i had the time to ride. the bogus hard last little loop was cut out (oh darn! i hated it!) and the section after the pits was changed so that the stream crossing was not impossible to ride and then the first little climb was completely changed.
instead of going straight up this little climb and then into single track, you missed that climb and then shoot right up some gradually climbing single track that is a blast to ride. really nice stuff up here.
the views are incredible, the weather is perfect, the ground is dry and the night is chilly. as far as i go, i am motivated, excited to be here, feel awesomely fast and am really driven for a good placement.
going to ride the entire lap today with dan the man whom brought his asylum along too, so that is cool. he's going to take some pics out on the course, some impromptu sologoat photo shoots. i figure when this enduro stuff is all over that i may need to get into a modeling career, so i am working on my "look".
ya, maybe i should just keep riding.
thanks for checking the site out dawg - more updates tonight/tomorrow as i got a wireless connection and a digital camera. sweet.
sologoat out.
08.31.05 - the down-low from whistler post #1
8.31.2005 – travel day to whistler
3:45AM – alarm goes off. For some odd reason, I could not sleep too well and I kept on having dreams about the race course. Got up, checked off things in my mental list of things to take and walked out the door into my dad’s pimped van. His van has a lot of customizations, including a leaky gas tank that was fixed the day before. It’s an old conversion vans (remember those) where all the customizations were made with wood, vinyl and wooly carpet. Sweet. Oh, and did I mention that my father is a policeman and this van was his old crime scene vehicle? Yep, has a bunch of shelves with labels on it such as “gloves, fingerprint dust, body bags, etc..” Now, we just have to find a label maker to replace those with “tires, hammer gel, helmets, and nutty bars.”
6AM
Check in was pretty uneventful. 80 bucks to ship the bikes one way, which totally sucks considering golf clubs and skis can go for free. Grabbed some hot java at Starbucks, sat around a little and waited for my flight to come in. My flight was leaving at 7am and had one layover, and then would get out to Vancouver at 11am West Coast time. Dan and dad would leave at 9AM and get to Vancouver around 2’ish when I will hopefully be cool chillin’ and ready for them to jump into the van for the drive north.
Oh, and before I forget – thanks to WWW.SPEEDGOAT.COM for picking up the flights for dan and dad. And – thanks to WWW.WECANSOLVE.COM for picking up my flight. Traveling out this far can get costly, so picking up the flights saved me a ton of cashola.
Noon – East Cost time
Pilot announces we are about two hours from Vancouver and we are currently somewhere over Montana. Listening to RJD2 on my IPod, thinking of sweet single track, thoughts of fighting off bears in the woods and fans at the air port, the 2005 solo worlds is about to come to fruition for me in a very short time. It’s been a good year and I am hoping for a good race, fast lap times and pits, no cramping, etc.
So, I must depart as I need to study up a little for my SQL exam as I did not pass yesterday. I have until December to pass, so I think I am good because I roughly scored twice as high as I did when I originally took it.
Anyhoo, gotta run. Not sure of when I’ll be able to post – but I should have the race recap to you guys by no later than Monday/early Tuesday as dad and dan go back Monday morning and I am hanging in Vancouver until Tuesday afternoon.
Sologoat out.
3:45AM – alarm goes off. For some odd reason, I could not sleep too well and I kept on having dreams about the race course. Got up, checked off things in my mental list of things to take and walked out the door into my dad’s pimped van. His van has a lot of customizations, including a leaky gas tank that was fixed the day before. It’s an old conversion vans (remember those) where all the customizations were made with wood, vinyl and wooly carpet. Sweet. Oh, and did I mention that my father is a policeman and this van was his old crime scene vehicle? Yep, has a bunch of shelves with labels on it such as “gloves, fingerprint dust, body bags, etc..” Now, we just have to find a label maker to replace those with “tires, hammer gel, helmets, and nutty bars.”
6AM
Check in was pretty uneventful. 80 bucks to ship the bikes one way, which totally sucks considering golf clubs and skis can go for free. Grabbed some hot java at Starbucks, sat around a little and waited for my flight to come in. My flight was leaving at 7am and had one layover, and then would get out to Vancouver at 11am West Coast time. Dan and dad would leave at 9AM and get to Vancouver around 2’ish when I will hopefully be cool chillin’ and ready for them to jump into the van for the drive north.
Oh, and before I forget – thanks to WWW.SPEEDGOAT.COM for picking up the flights for dan and dad. And – thanks to WWW.WECANSOLVE.COM for picking up my flight. Traveling out this far can get costly, so picking up the flights saved me a ton of cashola.
Noon – East Cost time
Pilot announces we are about two hours from Vancouver and we are currently somewhere over Montana. Listening to RJD2 on my IPod, thinking of sweet single track, thoughts of fighting off bears in the woods and fans at the air port, the 2005 solo worlds is about to come to fruition for me in a very short time. It’s been a good year and I am hoping for a good race, fast lap times and pits, no cramping, etc.
So, I must depart as I need to study up a little for my SQL exam as I did not pass yesterday. I have until December to pass, so I think I am good because I roughly scored twice as high as I did when I originally took it.
Anyhoo, gotta run. Not sure of when I’ll be able to post – but I should have the race recap to you guys by no later than Monday/early Tuesday as dad and dan go back Monday morning and I am hanging in Vancouver until Tuesday afternoon.
Sologoat out.
09.01.05 - hotel view
09.01.05 - hotel view
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
marriot at whistler. this is what i woke up to today. about 6'ish this morning.
09.01.05 - crossing bridge in vancouver
09.01.05 - crossing bridge in vancouver
Originally uploaded by solo_goat.
this is called the lion gates bridge and leads to route 99 which is pretty much the only road up to whistler. 90 miles of beautiful road that takes about 2.5 hours. lots o' contstruction due to the olympics coming in 2010, but the drive up was great and traffic wasn't bad.
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