...As Seen On TV

ROCK & ROLL !!!

Feed My Will To Feel My Movement

Today, in Mongo's nape of the neck, it was 75 degrees and sunny...and I didn't ride. Instead, I stayed indoors, taking care of "bidness" on the computer. You know how it goes. One minute you sit down to check your e-mail, and then three hours later you're watching the "alleged" Chelsea Handler sex tape... It happens to all of us!

The day was not all for naught, because Mongo managed to get in a couple of runs at dusk on the Alva. It was cool, quiet, and peaceful...which I would have appreciated more had I not been lost in the rock and time signature of "Lateralus" on the mp3. Mongo got his "Fibonacci" on!

Umbilical Residue

April wine and Summer dreams

A hint of laughter in the breeze

Avenues enchanted with spirits divine

Alone we stand keeping pace with the time

Going Epic: The Monday Ride

Now that the 23/2300 Hammerfest season has ended with the time change, Mongo must find other outlets for my Monday riding. A small groundswell of support has risen for an 8:00 am ride each week, but I'll believe it when I see it. It seems like most people forget to realize that at that time of the morning...during the Winter...it's cold as shit!

Mongo was supposed to go on a noon ride yesterday with "Cat 3 No-Show" MC-Lean. It seems like the young man got drunk the night before, forgot about our plans, and overslept. Though somewhat groggy and remorseful on the phone when I woke him up, he bailed on the ride. Luckily for Mongo, while I was waiting at the shop, my old nemesis and rival, Snow Bunny, expressed interest in going for a ride on his brand new, $6500.00 carbon "whip".

After much lollygagging and dicking around, Mongo agreed to do a five mile climb to meet SB by his house so that we could start the ride. Once under way, we did some of the Hammerfest course backwards and then decided to follow a mysterious marked route that overlapped some of the streets we use...and the adventure was officially on.

If I had more time and inclination, I would describe in great detail how our neighborhood jaunt turned into a 50 mile ride into downtown Atlanta. We just kept getting deeper and deeper into the ride while following the markings, that it got to the point that we were "all in" and had to see where our course ended. We never really did.

After rolling through Georgia Tech, going into a few "hoods", and circumnavigating the Georgia Dome, we decided that it was time to head back. Battling rush-hour traffic, cramps (Snow Bunny only!), and overall tiredness, we made it back to home base over three hours after the ride began.

It was actually a good experience exploring these new routes. We get so caught up in planning and repetition that sometimes you forget how much fun it is just to ride your bike.

Lady Winter Will Be Here Soon...Time To Musk Up

Mongo literally (I usually hate this expression, but in this case it applies) owns more than fifteen different Under Armour base-layer combinations. Add in several leggings, knee warmers, ski socks, balaclavas, skull caps, gloves, vests, and jackets, and I am literally (Again appropriate) equipped to handle any cold weather situation. But the fact still remains that I am, and probably always will be, a hot weather guy.

I did a strong 35 today on LPE. It was cold and the trail was sparse, but Mongo managed to dispatch a Cannondale and a Trek along the way. I'm doing a "Nooner" ride tomorrow with MC-Lean and anyone else who shows up that doesn't have a job that requires attendance, so hopefully my training on the "heavy bag" over the past couple of rides will pay off.

Jar Of Flies

Occasionally on this blog, Mongo has talked about music. If truth be told, and it is, music has been as much a part of my life since childhood as anything else important to me. I am not unique in my feelings, thank goodness, for the more people that find inspiration, connection, acceptance, and love, through a beat, a chord, a lyric, or jam...the better. Music stirs the soul from the bottom of the pot...and that's where the real flavor comes from.

Maybe from time to time I'll throw in more snippets of my musical background, but let's just say that my "street cred" is impeccable. Mongo won't "out dork" anyone with discographies of bootlegs and imports, but since the mid seventies, when it comes to rock and roll...Mongo is down!

This is one of my favorite songs, bands, and singers, of all time.

Forty Two Miles And Three Hills Bombed

If you polled a group of road cyclists about their least favorite weather condition, the most frequent answer would probably be wind. Hot, cold, and wet can all be dressed for, but wind is the great demoralizer. Getting buffeted all day from the side, or even worse, the front, can ruin any ride. You might trick yourself into believing that you are gaining training benefits by riding into the wind, but there is no fun or joy in constantly over-exerting yourself just to maintain a tolerable pace.

When you combine drizzle and cold weather with gusty winds, as Mongo experienced today, the ride becomes a chore and motivation wanes. I had intended to do a 50 mile ride on the SCT...I only did 42...reluctantly! LPE and I had the trail mostly to ourselves except for a five-mile smackdown with a surprisingly in good shape old dude on a Serotta.

Pilots of these vehicles hover at the fringes of douchiness...though they are usually strong cyclists. An original Serotta owner, who takes the time to design his ride around the contraption pictured above, is a much more serious opponent than the second hand/ eBay buyer who is willing to ride a bike that doesn't quite fit in order to rock the nameplate.

Mongo finished the day off with a trip to the backcountry on the Alva. I got in a few runs on some intermediate, semi-dry hills, but after some sketchy corners and involuntary powerslides, I called it an afternoon while I was still in one piece...But it was still fun!

Back Pain And Cyclocross: Wrapping Up October

Mongo has rung in November with a whimper. My performances and time on the bike over the last few weeks have been both underwhelming and painful. A back issue, combined with weather and work-related problems, have kept my mileage to a minimum. I even had to sit out the last two 23/2300 Hammerfests of the season.

In the meantime, Mongo got to put his golden pipes to good use this past Sunday as the official "number caller-outer" of every race at the highly successful Georgia Cross stop at Life College...sponsored by Smyrna Bicycles. Teammates, Andy, Steven, King-A, and MC-Lean all raced...with MC-Lean crashing while leading the "B" race and recovering nicely for a seventh place finish. Andy finished top fifteen in a 60+ man field, King-A rocked the fairy costume, and Steven raced in two categories. Cyclocross races are a unique and fun atmosphere...I highly recommend it.

Tomorrow, Mongo and LPE have a date with fifty miles of cold, wet road...I can't wait!

Maybe You're Better Off This Way

"Wherever a man goes, men will pursue him and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate oddfellow society."

(Henry David Thoreau)

More Fun To Watch Than Road Or Mountain Bike Racing

(Photos:TravisNeumuller)

Ahh, Cyclocross!... You are the Hacky-Sack of the cycling world. One minute you can be dressed like a hot dog while navigating a tough switchback on your ironically expensive and under-maintained carbon "whip", and less than forty five minutes later you can be sitting on a wall, holding a Vuvuzela, explaining passionately to your girl how the guy on the Cannondale wearing the Bob Marley dreads cut you off right before the last stretch of singletrack...while still comfortably dressed like a hot dog.

Mongo's Man Crush...Mischo Erban

Turn the volume up and... Click Here For Awesomeness!!!

Brotherhood Of The Damned

Mongo has finally relented and given up. I once defended the ideals and magnificence of a sport built on cheating and lies. It has taken a long, long time, but now I see it clearly. Professional Cycling is a bubbling cauldron of incestuous, self-preserving, mob-mentality, Gumbo.

When was the last time you heard a top rider call anyone out...for anything? Sure, they'll bitch about rules or course conditions, but ask them to address doping, or other riders, or questionable teams, and they'll clam up like they're all patched-in members of SAMCRO.

Everyone...from team owners to team managers, from Tour winners to can't-miss prodigies, have either something to gain, something to hide, or something to lose. Nobody wants to threaten their own piece of the pie.

It will only be from outside agencies and pressures that any true reform will happen with the integrity, or lack thereof, of Professional Cycling. And do we really want it...or care?

What Will $1281.00 Get You On Ebay?

1979 Kryptonics "Micke Alba" K-Beam...Tracker trucks/Sims wheels