adiós to 2008, hola to 2009

sunday ride 02
Originally uploaded by solo_goat

another year down, another starting up - here's some of my "best of" 2008 times...

Best Ride Buddy:
Would have to be my Ipod. no more talking to myself for 6 hours.

Best clothing purchase:
Craft windstopper base layers. Wish I would of bought these products 4 years ago. Nice for riding when you don't want to wear a ton of bulky clothing and nice for cross season to wear under the skinsuit when you decide to race in 20 degrees instead of staying home and sipping hot coffee.

Best Ernesto kit to date:
Hats go off to Jeremy and Speedgoat for hooking me up with Pactimo clothing for 2008. Nice winter long sleeved jerseys, the vests and jackets rule and the jerseys are racer cut. Awesome. Glad to see they will be back for 2009.

Best Bike shop of 2009:
Wild guess - Speedgoat.com. A lot goes into getting my s*it together every year from clothing to sponsors to wrenching - and everything inbetween. I've said it a million times, and I'll say it again - I couldn't do all of this without Speedgoat.

Best Bike component:
Is a no brainer - Ergon grips. I race many a season trying different grip and glove combo's and none of them ever worked. Now I run Ergons and thin full fingered gloves with no padding - hand issues are gone.

Best Bike ride of 2008:
Jeff and the Toastman in Breck - wish the rain would of stayed away though.

Best race location of 2008:
Would have to be the Mas o Menos. A tiny town in Texas 100 miles away from anything. The atmosphere and silence was golden.

Race you have to go to in 2009:
Cross nationals - you need to get there at least once at some point, even to spectate. Atmosphere is nutty, the racing is awesome - overall great vibe and awesome way to end the season.

Best "what the hell" look of the year:
Was on the faces of a lot of riders one day in Brian Head at the AMC stage race when Pua and myself rode and pulled together for most of the stage, catching and dropping riders all along the way.

Best I think I almost died on my bike today moment of 2008:
Happened ripping down one of the local bike paths when a 50 pound beaver (about the size of a small dog) decided to run across the trail - I bunny hopped over the huge fatso of an animal with my rear wheel actually hitting his fur.


That's it to 2008 - see you in 2009.

sologoat out