princeton tec review now served

blog review now up at the SPEEDGOAT BLOG on the Princeton Tec Switchback 3. I've now got about a half dozen rides in with the system and i am very impressed with the overall setup and the coverage area. read the full write up on the link above.

also coming up soon on the speedgoat blog will be the lighting system that i will be running during my 2007 season from Princeton Tec which will have me running their Switchback 2 for my main light and a modified head lamp system for backup.



another entry will include TIFOSI OPTICS with a couple of new frame choices for my 2007 season including their PAVE model.



and, don't forget NORTHWAVE SHOES. i ran their Iguana model from years ago, then to their Shields and now onto their KAMELEON model which includes a slimm carbon fiber sole, a micro adjuster and the ability to adjust the top strap if you have dainty small foot like myself.

and, in other news, my training schedule is now about 95% complete for 2007 - every single day has now been charted out pretty much through mid december which will again come to a glorious end at cyclocross nationals. looking to be a pretty full schedule with a lot of races, enduro's/utras -- with a few cross country races in west virginia thrown in for training purposes.

looking forward to warmer weather, new xtr, dt ceramic hubs, getting back to my roots by hitting up some west virginia cross country races, and to the feeling of pain that i thrive on.

sologoat out.

damn thy ice

ah, 30 degrees and dry roads yesterday.

35 degrees and ice covered roads today. the joy of living in ohio.

speaking of joy, HARLAN PRICE has got his write up for the razorback race up. and just to let you know a little race secret of harlan for 12 hour enduro's -- pre-cooked salmon. yep, read that again.

my pit crew has seen riders eat odd things - tinker ate burritos. chris e ate some chicken. cameron ate some pizza and a coke. rob l eats vegan donuts. eddie o ate a mcdonalds breakfast sandwhich.

harlan now takes top honors with pre-cooked salmon. had it stuffed in his jersey pocket and would take little bites every little bit.

also, harlan has a bike raffle going on right now - check it out and support a fellow racer.

in addition, he may be at the 24 hours of big bear snapping off some pictures this year -- which, do note that he was also the one that took the photo on the back of one of hammer gel's promo's featuring yours truely.

and, on the topics of other riders and bike stuff, if you are heaing out to sea otter, the gripped film guys now have tickets for the premier for sale. rumor is, trek is going nuts on this.

that's it for now -
sologoat out

let the fundage begin

oh razorback, where is ye warm weather? ohio still has winter, but the temps are on the rise. wind chills are above 20 degrees which makes this ohio rider pretty stoked.

with razorback behind me, i can now rest up a little and focus this week on getting bikes setup/organized. looks like my asylums are going to get their re-builds probably next week.

and, the dt 240 hubs have magically turned into dt 190 hubs through the wonders of dan the man at speedgoat and our friends at QBP.



this year, my bikes are getting a bit of a change around. i love single speeds, but since turning to 29ers, my surly 1x1 has not seen much use.

so, the above pink surly is for sale. most parts are brandy new with only a few rides on them, and the bike is sporting a sweet set of orange paul single speed hubs off an old bianchi i had years ago and a pink king headset to boot.



and you single speed and old school freaks will love this - the old skool wtb bars. this piece of bike history is up for sale as well.

any inquiries about the surly/wtb bars can be sent to my gmail account above.

that's it, gotta roll. stay tuned for a princeton tec blog entry at the speedgoat page by the weeks end.

now it's trainer time.

sologoat out

12 hours of razorback write-up

sorry for the delay on the write-up, work is pretty hectic right now and i am trying to figure out cross bikes for the 2007 season too.

headed out of town to the race with fellow ohio rider brett davis. slight snafu the night before left our support guy out, so this would be the first race in a long time that i went to a race un-supported.

left late on thursday and brett was my hero and drove straight through the night to get to the race course by friday AM.

course is a short one, around 10 miles long with no climbs, but has short little steep climbs that go straight up. and rocks all over. nothing big, but pointy sharp type that say "flat" all over them. and the flats, sometimes they were false, but they were generally swoopy with lots o' turns in them that made you sharpen your skills of dodging trees with your head.

got two laps in, got back and brett lost the keys to his call with all our stuff inside. long story short: brett rode around looking for the keys for over 2 hours and when he got back, he realized he had them with him the entire time. guess sleep deprivation had something to do with it.

friday night we camped out (for me, this was the first time i had camped out in about 7 years) and florida frooze over and got down to 22 degrees. i was quite warm in my nice sleeping bag, but my face got cold several times and i woke up.

prepped all my stuff as best i could for the next 12 hours and got ready to race in the AM. coming down to florida low-key like to get in some early season race hours with no pressure was not working out so swell - harlan, rob l, harvey and a some others all showed up to make this race pretty stacked. (side note - eddie o was there, but was racing the 6 hour)

race took off on what must of been 1/4 to 1/2 mile run. i was running good, got to my bike and made a few critical passes while still in pit row - i was either the first 12 hour solo male to get in the woods, or i was not far back.

things were going good, the trail was super tight so it was critical to get ahead early to avoid traffic. and then it happens.

flat #1 - ten minutes in.

i change the flat only to get behind slower traffic. i loose time to both the flat and getting caught behind riders, but i push on.

3 or 4 laps later, i start catching up to the top 6 - hey, what's wrong with my rear tire?

flat #2

i was near the pits, so i turn around and change it. i have now lost at least 15 minutes at this point due to flats and traffic. i get discouraged, but push on.

i push on, by slowly my back realizes i am probably pushing too big of a gear up the short climbs as it is killing me. i start shifting to easier gears more often, my back starts to feel better but harlan and rob have now passed me.

they are having a good day.

i ride out the remaing laps, coming in at 7th place. disappointed with results and the two flats, but glad i got through my longest ride for the 2007 season so far.

razorback - see you next year.

sologoat out.

12 hours of razorback - short version

results are in:
12 hour of razorback results!

i finished 7th on the day, making it my first race for the 2007 season, along with my first intervals of the year.

flatted in the first 10 minutes of the race, then flatted again on 4th or 5th lap.

hats off to harlan who took us to school and brett on one hell of a good race.

full race write up in the next few days - gots to unpack and get things organized for a possible stop at the shop in the next week or so.

sologoat out

off to... a race weekend.

will the sologoat hit up either a 12 hour or 24 hour?

hmmm..... stay tuned for the updates as i don't know what kind of internet access i am going to have access to for the next few days.

in other news...

sologoat dad and part of pit crew #1, is offically retiring this friday from "work" and starts his first day of full time asylum pit crew service on saturday.

the pay is a lot less, but the rewards are a plenty.



sologoat out

the mystery of love

is greater then the mystery of death
- oscar wilde

and now i bring you the greatest love song of all time, stand inside your love by the smashing pumpkins.

happy valentines day to all

sologoat out

battling mother nature

is the name of the game this weekend, no major snow hitting ohio, but the temps will hit highs today of the mid twentys with wind chills in the teens. almost heavenly compared to earlier in the week.



roller riding was the workout for me for the first part of the week - until i got my new "secret" cold weather riding weapon, my super ugly atv bar mitten contraption. they look hideous, but they are keeping my hands very toasty. no issues at all the past few days - and friday was around 15 degrees, with wind chills down to 4.



and, i have also been testing out the princeton tec switchback 2 and 3. (above shot is the 2 - the 3 uses the two main beams as well, and puts a frosted beam in the center, thus providing a wider beam).

watch out for a full review on the speedgoat blog within the next week.

sologoat out

new sponsor to the mix

along with JEFF KERKOVE and HARLAN PRICE, ernesto will be sporting some ergon stuff for 2007. stay tuned for more details.

parts are rolling in, got some changes coming for the bikes in 2007.

post will be updated to a thompson elite - about the same weight as the easton e90 carbon, but the price is a lot cheaper.

bars updated to a straight easton ec90 straight bar, coming in at tad under 100 grams. going with 25.4 diameter as the bigger diameter bars are usually stiffer, meaning more shock coming up to my shoulders. no thanks.

and, running a new lighter version of a ritchey stem, the WCS 4AXIS Stem coming in at around 120'ish grams.

and, good news on the wheel build ups, as we went with dt 240's, stan rims and the ever so kewl sapium spokes i have been dreaming about.

part update over, sologoat out

negative 15

is the windchill today, and the weather advisories are out because of it. damn this weather.

nothing new to update on, other then the new product i have recently picked up from northwave, tifosi and princeton tec are all being setup and tested.

the tifosi's are awesome as usual, got a few new types of frames to select from this year, along with my standard favorites, the q3's.

princeton tec lights are great - currently testing out the switchback 2 and 3. very nice setup overall. mounts for bars are good and cords are short and come with extensions (nice if you like to run the light as a bar setup). probably going to run the switchback 2 for my main light - comes in right around 500 grams. sweet.

and the northwaves - pretty hella cool. nice and light, carbon all around - ah, those italians sure do make great shoes. i've been running their shoes for about 7 seasons now and the one thing that is awesome about northwave is that their top line shoe always gets improved year to year.

xtr stuff for the aslyums are trickling in - still waiting for a few things here and there. and i need to make a decision on some bars - decided to go with a straight bar this year to save on my quest to lighten the bikes up.

that's it for today - superbowl watching to do soon.

go steelers!

sologoat out.

mucho updato

lots of updates today.

it is in the early works, but CAMBA, the producers from gripped films are trying to get cleveland on the list of film showings for their upcoming release 24 Solo.

the initial release of the film will be hosted by TREK and will be held the friday during Sea Otter. rumor is, the premiere is going to be a hella sweet party. yours truely will be attendance.

stay tuned for updates on both my blog and the CAMBA site as we are hoping for two showings in the cleveland area. we may also hold a "movie debriefing" during one of the CAMBA meetings as the dates get set in stone.

princeton tec lights have arrived, and not only have some of their systems survived the climb to the top of everest, it also survived a 3 hour 15 degree ride last night. check the speedgoat.com blog in a week or so as i'll have a full write up on them, but my first impression is that the overall setup of the system is very nice and the lighting is very good. stay tuned for updates.

asylum updates - jerseys will be updated with the new sponsors in the next week or so. last call for sponsors to get on the jersey, yo!

and - the Salsa El Mariachi Complete Bike
is now available at the 'goat, confirmed by my man steve. very nice setup, very nice price. i need one.

and - reading up on several websites, a UCI World Cup Cross race is looking like it is going to happen the first week of October in 2007. very cool.

that's it - gotta run. lights to test, work to do.

sologoat out