damn thy coldness

global warming has now exited ohio and hell has offically frozen over. should make for lots of fun over the course of the week for riding as the temps are set to highs during the week of around 29 degrees.

ah, it is times like this that we must teach ourselves to suffer.



speaking of suffering, congrats out to the US cross riders who took 3 silver medals as cross world championships. most noteably, jonathan page took 2nd which makes the best ever placing for a US rider.

i am predicting a huge infulx of popularity and events during the 2007 cross season as a result - espcially with rumors of cyclocross world cup event coming to rhode island the first week of october 2007.

time to plan out your cross UCI points boys and girls.

sologout out

the salsa's are coming

looks like the SALSA El Mariachi complete bike is now available. check with the guys and girls at speedgoat for availability, but this bike is pretty hot with the eccentric bottom bracket, mechanical disks and the super kewl 1x9 setup.

i'll be swapping out parts (or should i say, dan the man will be?) and moving old parts over to a salsa 29er for training soon. all the new xtr groupo stuff is going on the 2007 bikes - they've trimmed down the weights and finally got a pod shifting system as i don't dig the whole integrated shifter/lever thing. so, with the salsa coming soon, i need to sell off the surly k monkey. anybody interested in the cleveland area, drop me an email as i'll offer it up locals first.

races, races, races. seems to be a lot of them out there this year in the form of series events and the prize money seems like it is going up, so it is going to be interesting to see what riders show up at what races.

for those going out to sea otter, the 24 solo movie by gripped films will make it's premier on friday of that week. i won't have too much face time in the movie, but i am trying to get out there to check it out and support the 24 hour scene. it's come a long way since i first started.

looking like the temps are going to be above 30 today in ohio, so we damn near got a heat wave. looking to get in a good ride this weekend and start dialing in the new equipment and laying down the plans for the race schedule.

with that in mind, gotta run.

sologoat out.

2007 Tire Sponsor - MAXXIS TIRES

an offical "no" the guess attempts of:
lazer helmets, squirrels taped to both sides of their faces

an offical "yes" to the guess of:
MAXXIS

MAXXIS will be the tire of choice for me during my 2007 season as i wil more then likely running their 29er Ignitor.


sologoat out

what do these two guys have in common?

it's 25 degrees and i feel cold

the temps have now lowered into the mid 20's, low 30's here in ohio, but the snow is still not packed up too much. rides that used to take two hours round trip are now taking 3 hours due to the ice build up and temps.

starting to sneak in my first longer rides of the year, jumping off the bike only for drink and when the feets gets cold.

in bike news, dan the man and chris has come up with two magic tricks to lighten up the stans/dt wheel builds - sapium spokes and ceramic cartride bearings. guess dt actually makes a "190" hub, but it is basically the 240 with the ceramic berarings. with the sapiums and new bearings, we are guesstimating another 50-100 grams of rotatinal weight savings.



Princeton Tec has come on for 2007 as my lighting sponsor with their new SWITCHBACK SERIES of lighting systems. 3 different systems in this line up with long run times. I'll be testing the switchback 2 and 3 in the upcoming days and deciding on which one to run for the season.



then, on the bar, we may be running their YUKON series light. running on 3 double a batteries, this system also sports long run times and comes in at around 220 grams.

that's it, gotta run. actually have some Yukon blend starbucks coffee just brewed up.

sologoat out.

random things on a random kind of day

working out of town a few days has left my mind wandering as i wrapped up another two hour roller ride. as a rider who loves to ride and ride and ride some more, when i am not on my bike, i am in a panic. that's why i had to lug a bike and rollers with me.



weather has been kind of fruity, but at least us east coast guys have had some decent weather.



on the sponsorship news side, firming up some things tomorrow and still waiting to hear back the details on a few more.

and, for you 29 fans out there, SALSA CYCLES has their hot new 29er frame coming out soon, the Mamasita. scandium and carbon, oh my. due out sometime around march'ish is the word on the street.

that's it - gotta grab some grub.

sologoat out

your lack of faith disturbes me

been a star wars kind of day as temps are in the mid 30's and a light steady rain has been hitting the ground since 9am. it's enough to make me go bonkers.

race schedules are up, and now that i have studyed the race schedules, it looks like the NORBA enduro series is kind of nutty. they have a 24 hour and a 12 hour back to back.

and - gotta watch the formats too, as some of the NMBS marathon's are NOT listed on the ultra enduro schedule.

decisions, decisions.

speaking of bad weather and thinking of inside roller rides, check out this
NUT.

over 80 hours on a stationary bike. he was allowed 5 minutes off the bike for every hour ridden.

and you thought 24 hours was a long time.

sologoat out

norba endruo series schedule announced

the schedule announced HERE

interesting, 9 UCI races in the states for 2007 and a seperate cross country and enduro champ.

looks like NORBA is finally taking the enduro scene a little bit differently in years past - i'm just glad to see that the distances of the races are long enough to be truely considered enduro events.

sologoat out

bike setup changes for '07

after a very short discsussion, xtr groupo is on the 07 build up's. i am opting for the pods because i am a pod kind of guy - really liked the sram, but the availability to get shimano at any random race location is much greater then sram.

forks will stay the same.

wheels will be built up again by george at the goat - dt 240's with stan's stupid light rims and double butted spokes with alloy nips. hells ya.

rest of the components... waiting to hear back on a few things, but all i can say is that it will be different and lighter then last year.

that's it - gotta run. big ride tonight in the 40 degree balmy weather of ohio has left me very tired at the end of a long week.

sologoat out

hammer nutrition renews sponsorship for 2007

the electronic ink will be drying soon on ernesto's 2007 sponsorship agreement for the upcoming season. i'm pretty pumped to renew it as they have made my nutritional needs of enduro racing (and cross as well) a heck of a lot easier.

in racing news, still debating the enduro race schedule - lots of 24's out there, bummed out that the vail ultra 100 race is not happening, and trying to figure out how i can sprout wings to get out to all the west coast races.

and NORBA hasn't really put out a lot of info on their enduro events - can we get some east coast races?

other then that, it is training as usual.

sologoat out

asylum has changed my life

or at least it has some for some us.

check out the post at SPEEDGOAT BLOG.

sologoat out

i am on the juice

the soma juice, that is.

the juice is the newest addition to my bike family and built up with some new old parts and parts off of my old winter/training bike, the surly k monkey.

i've got around 3-4 weeks of riding on it and the initial thoughts on the bike are pretty good - most noteably in the handling and weight areas as compared to the k monkey.

don't have the exact specs on it, but it feels noticeably lighter probably due to the tubeset (651 reynolds compared to chromoly) and the IRD fork (probably saving me about 50 pounds over the hefty surly fork).

handling wise, the frame seems to be a little snappier/quicker then the surly and the crazy slopped top tube is actually pretty nice as i like to throw the bike around quite a bit and don't like to whack my knees on the top tube when climbing and at full speed around tight corners.

full specs can be seen at the speedgoat.com website, but it gets my vote of approval for an excellent bike at a lighter option then a surly to get your foot into the world of 29ers without breaking your bank.

sologoat out

2007 Solo World Date/Venue Announced

per the email sent out today from adrenaline:

World 24 Hours of Adrenalin Championships – 2007

Building on last year’s epic solo races in Conyers, Georgia, we are happy to announce a new location and added benefits for all past solo Adrenalin athletes.

We hope you will join us in a celebration of what is possible. Since 1994 we have watched solo athletes participate in one of many locations throughout North America. In fact over 1,500 solo athletes have taken on there own personal challenge at an Adrenalin event.

From the very first solo 24 racer ‘Eddy Hunt’ (1994) to all that have inspired us throughout the years we are focused on making the 2007 the most memorable to date. Our goal in 2007 is simply to have the top international racers and the greatest numbers of age group athletes participate and returning home with memories of a life experience.

The 2007 Championships will take part on September 1st & 2nd 2007. The location will be the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California.


Nice to see that there is no other major conflicts with other 24 hour races, but for us east coast guys, there is the conflict with the epic and beautiful Shenandoah 100 on September 3rd.

hmmmm.... worlds on the 1rst and 2nd, Shenandoah on the third. almost sounds like a dare to me.

sologoat out

531 posts later

today marks the first day of the 2007 season and is my 532 post on the blog.

just wanted to give a shout out to all those who helped me during the 2006 season:

Speedgoat.com and Asylum Cycles
Supplied my bikes and support and will continue to do so for the 2007 season, with dan the man again wrenching with him secretly hoping my schedule includes moab. Thanks to Beth and Chris and the whole gang.

Hammer Nutrition
Supplied me with all my nutritional, gel and cap needs. I've been using their products for over 5 years now as their products are easy on my stomach, and their guides takes a lot of the guessing out during your workouts and races.

Tifosi Optics
Supplied my optics for the past few years and will continue on in into 2007. Great optics at a price that won't break the bank.

Schwalbe Tires
Supplied my little albert's 29er tires. These were my personal choice for their light weight and their tuff sidewall. Ran these the past two years.

Light & Motion
Helped me with lighting with their Vega and Arc Li-Ion that I have been running the past 3 years without issue. Very reliable and lightweight.

Crank Brothers
Helped with some egg beater pedals. Have ran these pedals since they first came out - have run the ti, chormo and stainless in training and racing.

Wobblenaught
Have been fitting me up for the past 5 seasons. Riding hours upon hours on your bike is hard enough - Tom at wobblenaught seems to make it a little easier.

M&P
My "silent partner" in my 24 hour adventures, Marenchin and Pierce Partnership. helped with every aspect of my 24 hour races from holding up a tent in torential rain with tornados nearby, giving me a cup of eggs at 6am in the morning, to helping me getting my shoes off because my hands aren't working too swell -- and everything inbetween.


thanks for all those that helped me during my 2006 season!

sologoat out