pre-ride #2 complete

course is super dry, sandy almost... ha, ha...

course is very similar to sea otter - it's always going up or down. a few flat places, but not that often, and if you are going downhill at a high rate of speed, you need to watch out for ruts from hell.

climbs are a mix of graduals, false flats, short and steep - but in general, they are wide open, non-technical and open to the sun and elements.

just how i like 'em.

lack of trees/cover is good for the spectating as you can see riders from miles off (should make for some cool night spectating) but can also be bad if storms/rain come in as nothing stops the wind and/or rain from hitting you.

and if it rains - what little sand covers the ground turns to clay. oh the fun i had with this at sea otter.

luckily, weather man says the forecast is good - highs in the mid 70's and low's in the mid 50's. much better then the 105 degrees it was when i got into san jose.

other then that, just hanging out and resting.

dan the man has landed and is in route to monterey and today i ran into one of the tough aussie's - john claxton. watch out for him and andrew bell - they are sure to start putting the hammer down at 12:00:01 on saturday.. they left behind winter in their homeland to come out to race in monterey.

that's it. slow internet connection is killing me, so i may not be able to get a ton of pics up until monday or so. a few more posts will be completed before saturday, so stay tuned.

sologoat out

the goat has landed

adrenaline worlds - 001
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

after a long day, felt good to land in san jose and make the trip out to monterey.

course is dry, rutted out and hard as cement.

solo rider count in now around 87 riders.

that's it for now - need to catch up on some rest... tomorrow, more pre-riding, need to pick up dan the man and need to find a higher speed internet connect to upload some of the picks i took today.

sologoat out

stay tuned...

check out speedgoat chris last post on the SPEEDGOAT BLOG

this year will bring even more coverage of interbike as most of the crew (including yours truely) will be heading out to vegas.

tons of pics, lots of coverage, the vegascross race and an announcement from speedgoat.

stay tuned - same bat time, same bat channel.

sologoat out

first 24 hour race

first 24 hour race
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

little did i know that this race would start the addiction.

ernesto blog challenge - name that venue and year

sologoat out

6 days and counting...

Princeton Tec Apex (custom modified)
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

week of training completed and i am almost packed up for adrenaline worlds. will be getting an early head start and will be arriving in san jose this coming wednesday.

competition will be stiff - with chris e not in the picture, everybody is gunning for the win.

santa cruz will be sending out hendershot and a teammate and will more then likely have a sweet setup as the course is in Santa Cruz's back yard.

nat, brandon, steve s, a couple of aussies.. whew, there is no lack of big guns at this event.

stay tuned.

sologoat out

moots sl cross

moots sl cross
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

ah, the build is nearing completion after a minor setback due to the asylum fiasco last weekend.

this bike will make her debut at vegascross which is sure to be hella fast as it is very flat (held in a soccer field). the atmosphere will be chaotic with elvis doing the announcing and the race having a fully supplied beer tent.

reminds me of a cross race held in the northeast where the racers actually race through the beer tent.

hells ya.

sologoat out

manitou 29er fork pics up at speedgoat

first write up and pics are now up at the SPEEDGOAT BLOG

very cool looking fork - very clean and mean looking.

check it out

sologoat out

new asylum rides complete

steves asylum - 01
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

all i got to say is that dan the man does an incredible job and has worked his magic once more. (check out flickr for more asylum pics)

bikes are dialed in and are perfect - will need to play around with the rear shocks, but the bikes are flawless.

now, as my dad says, all i have to do is "pedal the bike"...

from wreckage, to rebuilt, to a tear down into a triall double bike box in less then 4 days.

speedgoat to the rescue.

sologoat out

from death

asylums rebuilt
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

to rebirth.

let me introduce to you, the new asylums.

tons of thanks to both jeremy and steve who gave up their personal rides so we could speed up the process of the rebuilds.

and to all the speedgoat staff who somehow pulled off a miracle today and also managed to get frames lined up for the upcoming 2008 race season.

sologoat out

month of mud race schedule up

for all you steeler fans and folks in western pa, the Month of Mud series is now up.

series has been running forever. little ernesto history - i actually won the single speed series the first year they had the class.

check it out.

sologoat out

a momentary lapse of thought

aslyum 01 - snapped01
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

lead to two broken frames and weekend of frustration.

came hame from the shop on saturday and drove my car right into my brick covered house. the result - two snapped asylum frames.

garage 1, ernesto asylums -2, ernesto roof rack -1

as i type, dan the man is stripping down and re-building what i demolished.

advance thanks to speedgoat for getting them back together - and for jim possibly using titus connections to get a new front triangle for one of them.

i hate mondays

sologoat out

jerermy's chopper

jerermy's chopper
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

ah... crazy bikes come into speedgoat all the time, and this one takes the cake.

this is a very old tandem that came into the shop (i'll spare you the story), but what is nutty about the bike is that you can either steer with either the front or the rear handlebars.

more pics up later today - but check out what i posted on flickr for today.

moots cross with couplers and a stainless indy fab that is too pretty to ride.

sologoat out

moots 96er?

ah yes... just when i think i have all the moots i could ever want...



check out the SPEEDGOAT BLOG

why?

three reasons:
1. check out the moots 96er

2. salsa mamasita's available now - IN ALL SIZES. hells ya.

3. '07 Reba SL 29er forks for only $100 with the purchase of nearly all 29er frames


with that, possibly more details tomorrow on the moots when i meet up with the speedgoat gang at the shop for hill repeats, picking up and test riding the re-built forks, and grabbing some cookies and a sub at the pie shop.

i love the weekends

sologoat out

i've said it before

sunburry ride - 01
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

tgif.

been a long week of work and riding. rib is healing up and has stop constantly reminding me of a crash that i wished never happened.

spent 3 days this week for work near columbus - if you ever in the area and need to get in a good road ride, sunburry is a great location. just a little north of the city, you can ride on roads that have ride markings all over. follow the arrows and you can't get lost.

and, there are some trails around, but i haven't hit those up yet. polaris has some trails as well. nice to have some options.

next up is a trip out to speedgoat. forks have been re-built as one was leaking some fluid and the other had a bent cartridge thus making the lock out to not lock out.

may also want to check out Speedgoat.com - they are taking pre-orders on the new FOX 29er forks and also have a few ARGON 18 carbon cross frames that they are blowing out.

sologoat out

salsa mamasita pics now up

salsa mamasita - 03
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

check out flickr for all of them - got about 20 pics of the build up so far.

handling is quck, bike is very nimble. what very limited single track i've hit up confirms my thoughts - that it rides light and stiff. pick your lines good and you'll fly - otherwise, that rock you forgot about will remind you when you hit it.

tire pressure would be very key - i have a tendency to run it high. with a full rigid, best bet would be to run it a little lower.

additionally, initial thoughts would be to possibly run something like a moots post to dampen up the hits a little. could go with the big suspension type of posts out there, but that would be too heavy.

check out the pics -

sologoat out

mamasita first ride

mamasita first ride
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

first and second ride on the mamasita now complete.

first impressions - wow, the bike is superlight and responsive. the scandium/carbon frame paired up with the rigid carbon white brothers fork make the bike light and nimble.

very odd feeling to ride this compared both the soma and the old surly k monkey - but one can expect that compared to the build up i have on the bikes.

watch for more pics up later tonight - for now, back to work.

you too.

sologoat out

weekend wrap up

sean and jimmy
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

14 bottles of heed/perpetuem, 2 flasks of hammer gel, 2 bars and a ton of other calories to get me through the weekend.

saturdays ride was a tempo ride with sean and jimmy - my cross race fellow freaks. this was jimmy's last weekend before his first year at cornell.

looks like we'll be hitting up all the early cross races and may even swing by to pick up jimmy for the early UCI's up in NY.

in 29er news, speedgoat will be getting in an early shipment of the new fox 29er forks you may have seen spec'd on the 2008 trek line up. they are taking pre-orders as you read.... and i've checked out the weights - they are coming in a tad under what the reba currently is, but check with the tech's at speedgoat and they can give you exacts.

that's it - gotta run.

sologoat out

tgif

bike only
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

ah... the weekend is within grasp.

so the forums are all a busy with news that chris e is not coming to adrenaline worlds. yes, that is true and everbody and his brother seems to be going out to try and grab the title - rumor is that tinker will also be out there too.

i'll be heading out as well - will be out there early in the week to check out the course which i have heard is running in reverse to how i rode it back at sea otter time.

no rocks/roots/etc on the course at all, mostly short steep smaller climbs that are for the most part, non-techy.

with that, gotta roll - tonight is sologoat pit crew appreciation night as we head out to the akron aeros baseball game.

sologoat out

check out flickr

blog update..

got my flickr account updated to the PRO version and i will be posting all the pics through this site.

blogger is awesome, but the picture upload is slow and can't handle higher res pics.

enjoy

sologoat out

hot hot hot

has been the feeling in ohio the last few days - heat index is in the triple digits and has me coming back from rides soaked even though it hasn't rained.

as my dad says, "it feels good on my bones"...

my rib and soreness is almost all gone at this point, which is a good thing as i was really starting to mentally drive me nuts.

asylums are still at the goat', getting some last minute care from dan the man, and the new moots cross and salsa mamasita are slowly coming together. maybe sometime this year i'll get them together...

interbike is just around the corner, so is the time to start thinking of next year sponsors, proposals, 2007 cross season.

cross season schedule is not 100% set yet, but I'll be hitting up the state/nationals championships again, will venture out to Michigan for the UCI weekend out there, then follow the MAC cup around with some of the PA cross freaks and i'm pretty much 100% on the vegas cross race, just need to figure out some logistics. vegascross should be a very fitting way to start the cross season.

and one other update - i'll be guest contributing to the old local website ohio outside in the next few weeks. stay tuned for updates.

that's it - gotta run.

on the road again...

for work.. just a few days, but it's always kind of hectic packing up my life for a few days. i must check to see if i have my riding shoes at least 5 times before i leave.

ergon grips and gloves have been working out awesome - so far this year, no issues with the hands. pictured above are the full fingered version of the gloves which are to see a splash of color added to them in the next version. fingers on the gloves actually have a mesh/venting type of material on them.

concept with the gloves was to keep the padding minimal as excess padding can causing the pad to bunch up - and when that happens, blisters and bad stuff is soon to follow.

so, in this case, less is good.



and my back/ribs are still on the mend - should be fine by the next race. got a few more 24's, some local WV ultra's and a full cross schedule should have me racing until december.

last year i went from the end of the enduro season straight into cross season less then 7 days later. this year, the season will overlap.

guess i can rest in january.

sologoat out.

101 update

while i didn't attend, shawn adams did..

chris e didn't show, but jerimah did and took the win away from harlan who was with him for 85 miles. a stick got in his derailler and he had to stop - harlan came in second. both of them beat chris's course record.

josh tostado showed up, double flatted early. came in the the top 7.

tinker was there as well - went out hard and cracked. not sure what place he came in.

shawn played it conservatively, double flatted too and rolled in 7th place.

last year 25 guys came in under 9 hours, this year 9 guys did - including brett davis from ohio.

in asylum news, reba's are getting rebuilt on both bikes and i got my carbon spooky brakes... but no pads... duh!

and in vegas news check out the VegasCross that will happen the first day of the vegas show.

elite's only, 9pm for the men on wednesday night. hmmmm... looks like i may need to bring a moots.

sologoat out

random updates and 29er news

random stuff coming at ya...

chris e not coming to 24 worlds - neither is gordon. hmmm... let the gossip begin.

chris from speedgoat has a new guy - jim is the house of the goat, coming from a major bike manufacture.

chris c from the old titus days has jumped ship to bh bikes. cycling news has a review of 3 carbon road bikes, with a mention of new mountain bike design. hmm... could this be a new 29er design? hmmmm...

i'll be booking flights and hotels for several up and coming events this week - most noteably, i will be making a trip out to interbike this year. as always, should be interesting.

that's it - gotta ride. rib feeling better - i can almost sleep through the night - yahoo!

sologoat out

on the mend

update on the rib - didn't go to the doc, but i am pretty convinced it is cracked as every time i laugh or breathe deeply it hurts.

back on the bike. riding actually doesn't hurt too much unless i stand up or hit a bump - so the wilderness 101 is definetely off for me this weekend. bummer because i pre-paid. good luck to all those who go out - chris scott puts on one hell of an event out there. when you finish up, drink a pint for me.

two flats today left me kind of bumming out until i saw the following:



i just had to laugh.

myself, i like to pillage and plunder. and ride a bike.

with that - sologoat out