I considered riding this morning. The radar looked clear but I kept seeing a few raindrops on the ground and rain was in the forecast. I put off riding and if the weather was still good in the afternoon I was going to ride the road. Instead, the rain rolled in and I rolled on the trainer.

That was fine with me. I wanted to do some longer efforts and the trainer is always a good controlled environment. I warmed up for 20 minutes and started a series of 10-minute efforts. The were not killer efforts but enough to make the legs burn and by the end of the third effort I was glad they were over. I finished off with 40 minutes of tempo riding. Total ride time was 2hrs and I was happy to climb out of the saddle. Next time I try 2hrs it will be easier. Not all that long ago I was easing into the trainer with an hour ride. I am satisfied.

Viewpoint: Rider of the Year: Tom Boonen. Tom had a teriffic year with any number of sprint victories (2 at Qatar, 2 at Paris-Nice, 2 at the Tour, 2 at Tour of Belgium, 1 at Tour of Picardy and 2nd place at Het Volk) but ultimately it is hard to pass over winning Roubaix, Flanders and the World Championships. A teriffic year and worthy of Rider of the Year.

I still have the inclination to give this award to Hincapie, though. His year was better than his somewhat more well known former teammate. George didn't have the garish number of wins that Boonen had but consider what he did win and how. He won a sprint finish at Grand Prix Ouest-France, he won in breakaways at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and stage 7 of the Dauphine, he won the prologue TT at the Dauphine and of course the mountainous Stage 15 of the Tour. That is a teriffic well rounded season with wins just about every possible type of win. Add in 2nd place at Roubaix, 3rd overall at the Dauphine, 6th Tirreno-Adriatico, 7th at Flanders and 14th at the Tour. That is one hell of a year.

Last night attempt at adjusting the rear derailleur was maddening. I started fresh and the result was continually not being able to set the outer limits of the chain. I would set it up, tighten the screw that holds the wire. Then I would shift up and then it would not drop back down. Again and again, the same thing happened. With each failure my temper grew. I cursed under my breath, slapped the brakes and generally headed for a major blowup. If I hadn't been inside I would have likely done a Bjarne Riis bike toss.

Down to my last frazzled nerve I gave one more try. Voila! I must have done something different because now it would drop to the smallest cog. And then, miracle of miracles, my barrel adjustments seemed to get the shifting to the point where it was not skipping gears and generally screwing up in any number of ways.

This morning I thought it would be good to take the bike for a ride and see how it worked in on the road. I bundled myself up in 3 layers and all the usual winter gear, walked in to get the bike and remembered I need to get pedals. I'm such an idiot. At that point I did not want to mess around with swapping pedals so I took the 'cross bike.

I had no route in mind so I crossed the Meramec on 21 and took W. Outer 21 to Old 21 to W. Rock Creek out to High Ridge and back on Hillsboro-Valley Park and through Fenton. The weather was brisk. Temps in the upper 30's, cloudy skies and occasional spitting rain. Sounds unpleasant but the riding was not so bad.

Along the way I did some exploring. For years I have ridden past the road going into Paradise Valley Golf Course because I was under the impression that the course was the only thing in there. Today I rode in to check the road out and it is really kind of nice. Good roads and when you get in far enough there are a few subdivision streets. Too bad all the roads do not lead anywhere or I would go in there more often.

Today's damage: 2:30 of riding mostly in the 42x13, but I shifted to a little easier gear on a couple hills.

I've finally got the new 10-spd all set up. The rear derailleur is giving me a pain in the neck, though. The upper and lower limits are set fine but it does not shift completely right. It always either skips a gear or or the chain doesn't quite seat on the gear right. I fiddle with the barrel adjuster on the derailleur and I am able to affect which gears have the problem but the same problem happens further down the cassette. Unfortunately, I run out of adjustability before I can eliminate the problem entirely. Very frustrating.

Back to Spinning tonight after porking up over the holiday.

Four in a row... That is the number of days in a row that I have ridden. Not terribly impressive but not often do I actually ride four in a row. Usually I only do three days before taking a day off because I am not a voracious trainer. Kind of explains my extreme mediocrity, eh?

With Christmas and the Eve falling this weekend I couldn't guarantee much riding so it seemed wise to squeeze in a ride this morning. Besides, the weather was really nice again. Not as nice as the 60 degree temps this afternoon but quite bearable for late December. Why ride this morning? 'Cuz I'm a bad mutha. A hard man borne of the Belgian Classics. And, oh yeah, it was more convenient.

General route was down Kerth to the Bottoms and Baumgartner. Along the way I decided to take Heintz, a road I have not tackled in a few years. From there I got twisted around in a subdivision trying to get to Christopher but got along without too much trouble. Then down Christopher past the White House, down to the river and back up towards Bee Tree. Down Becker and along Fine to Telegraph before taking in the lovely industrial section of Arnold and then up Tenbrook. That was my second time up Tenbrook. There are steeper climbs and longer climbs but Tenbrook has a steep early section and is longer than expected as it levels off near the top but keeps rising gradually. All in all a good road that I'm not sure many cyclists have ridden. From there it was Telegraph to Jeffco Blvd and back home. With a little more time I would have gone down Richardson to Old Lemay to Missouri State, 141 and 21 etc. Still, I got in exactly 2 hrs with some nice hills. The legs felt a little better today.

Viewpoint: Worst Pro jersey anywhere on the planet A strong run for the top spot was put in by Naturino Sapore. Italians are supposed to be very fashionable, no? Consider that myth busted. You would be hard pressed to create a more garish design than Naturino's yellow jerseys with white "bolts of electricity" throughout.



Despite Naturino's stellar efforts, nothing could prevent the top prize being awarded to Kaiku.

Pinkish hues prevented me from possibly giving T-mobile the best jersey award. Kaiku used an even pinker pink than T-mobile as their main thrust into jersey hell. Not satisfied with only a pink top, they made the bold leap into pink shorts as well. You may be asking yourself "Why is pink so bad? The Giro leader wears a pink jersey." You are indeed correct. Something about the hue of "Giro Pink" looks okay but even that was too much when Pantani went with the pink shorts.

I don't HATE pink as a jersey color, but a good complimentary color is vital. This is what pushes Kaiku into the Ugly Stratosphere. What color did they choose to match with their pink? Blue? A little bit. Black? No. Red? Hell no. They chose a very exciting Light Gray, of course. Can it get any worse? Yes it can. Not only did they put light gray on pink but it is a light gray cow standing in a lush light gray field splashed across the riders midsection!!! Oh the humanity! Put on your protective eyewear my friends.

The hills are alive with the sound of... a lumbering cyclist.

I was thinking earlier today that with the exception of a few flat fixie rides I had not ridden the road since ???? The last time I remember riding any hills of any note was the Ste Gen ride back in September. I had the day off and Mother Nature blessed the area with moderate temperatures so it was time to hit the road.

After lunch I put some road wheels on the CX bike and aimed myself toward Meramec Bottom, crossed the river on 21 and took Romaine Creek Rd to its end at Rock Creek. The CX is still set up with the 42t single ring so the hills were a little more difficult than usual. I did two loops up the pine tree lined Romaine Creek and down E. Romaine Creek. I didn't ride hard but I got up the hills okay in the 42. In fact, Romaine Creek didn't seem as bad as it normally does. Maybe because I didn't try to ride it as fast. Stomach cramps didn't speed me up at all. That's what I deserve for riding right after lunch. On the bright side, I have lots of room to improve in the hills.

There seems to be something odd about the Spinning bikes. The day after my left knee is usually a little sore. Nothing bad but the joint feels weak with occasional low-level dull pain. Maybe I should take my own pedals

More trainer time tonight while watching Mizzou get led to slaughter by Illinois. They really suck. I started without any real plan so I settled into a good pace in the 42x18 and went up a gear every 10 minutes so that I kept working more as the ride went on. After an hour I worked my way the other direction, shifting down every 5 minutes. Total ride time of 1:25. I didn't set a brutal pace but I felt good considering the longer ride and bigger gears.

Spinning tonight.

As of yesterday, Missouri has gained next year's Master's MOBAR champion. Beware for I will wreak destruction upon the old farts of the state. Okay, enough of that silliness. Take it easy on me fellas

If you are ever on a JeffCo ride you're bound to ride by, or very near, a meth house. I know some people who lived next to a meth house. The called the cops and got the hoosiers arrested. There was the duplex on Tenbrook Blvd that I would ride by occasionally. The house blew up last year. There was the meth lab under the High Ridge water tower that we rode by almost all the time we ventured into JeffCo. The news today was yet another home explosion in an apartment complex in High Ridge. Every time we ride to High Ridge we briefly ride Williams Creek Rd. I believe that we don't ride that particular section of road but it really is amazing how big of a problem that meth is, just a few miles away. As much as I hate to see the development of all the subdivisions in some great riding areas, maybe it will help clean up the meth labs.

I mentioned a couple days ago that some of my handiwork may appear on another website soon. A few days have passed and still nothing. F#$% you, Pez! :) I will give them a couple more days to come to their senses and post my "Daily Distraction". If not, it will be appearing on this little corner of the web.

For those questioning the last post there were no grab ass pictures because I grabbed no ass (that I remember har-har). And, I'm not sure what details would lure a sick man out into winter's icy chill. Everyone was pretty well behaved.

Saturday morning, this old body felt remarkably good. No pounding headache and no achy bones. As I guessed, Joe did not make it to the ride so Mark and I soldiered on alone. We continued this year's tradition of exploring the 4 or 5 roads west of Levee Rd. It has been nice to see some different barren farm fields and rundown barns. Still, we rode only down to 156 before turning around

We were chilly at the start of the ride after a few rides we became comfortable. The sun was shining and the wind blew at normal speeds. On the return trip I mixed three efforts into the ride. The first effort was longer than the other two but I do not know how long the efforts lasted. I only wanted to make the legs burn a little and I managed to do that. After the third effort, I told Mark that was my last and he said "Good".

We rode for 2:15, for 42 or 43 miles. 18.5 avg

Another team Christmas/Hannakuh party is in the books and once again I imbibed too much alcohol. Still, it was a good time. I managed to stay sober enough to barely avoid playing grab ass with some poor victim. For the record, that would be a female's ass. Which one? They all looked pretty good.

This morning's fixed gear ride could be ugly. At least I was smart enough to not be lured into accepting the invitation to the nightclub after the party. What was Joe thinking? Seventy-five percent chance he will not make it to the ride today.

Some of my work may be appearing soon at website near you. If it appears, I will present a link.

I know you like these cryptic posts, Patrick.

I went to the shop today and picked up some cables for the 10-spd upgrade and a brake lever for the fixie. I got home and futzed around for a while trying to get the brake set up properly but without too much difficulty. I gave the bike a test run and it stopped when I squeezed the brake so I must have done things right.

Viewpoint: Worst ProTour Jersey I have bounced back and forth trying to decide this category. Liquigas, or Leaky Gas for the Paul Sherwen fans, is garish but I have grown to not mind the jersey. If nothing else the jersey is distinctive and still much better than the hideous paint job on their Bianchi bikes.



Then I considered Lampre for the honor. Ultimately, the jersey is really too normal to be considered ugly. That is if you consider it normal to have a black patch on the shorts wear the chamois is located that looks like a huge patch of pubic hair. Staying on the saddle and they look normal. If they stand up, you feel the need to cover the eyes of any youngsters that may be near.



But, in the last few days I finally settled on Rabobank. They switched to this orange and blue jigsaw puzzle jersey a couple years ago and I don't understand it. Is there some meaning that I do not see when looking at the jersey? Why the two blue sections and everything else orange?

The outside of my left knee was feeling odd all day yesterday. As if I had tweaked it somehow at Spinning. I still rode the trainer last night but did not go crazy with the workout. I did a basic hour at a pace that was a little more than tempo. Gearing was 42x17 or 18. I cannot remember. Afterward I was not tired and did not leave a puddle of sweat. My legs were good but were perfectly happy to stop at an hour. No sense in extending my efforts right now.

Earlier in the afternoon I thought that I might be able to put one of the two sets of brake levers I have laying around onto the fixed gear as a top mount lever so I wouldn't have to mess with the tape job. That was a no go though. The shimano clamp could not be stretched enough to fit onto the bar over the tape or opened up enough to be snapped directly over the untaped section of bar. The Dia-compe brake could have worked but the bar is a little fatter up by the stem and the clamp could not be closed up again. So, I guess I am left to buy a cheap top mount at the shop.

Viewpoint: Most "Hey look at me" Rider Ah yes. Attention whores in cycling. There are so many. I think there is a little attention whore in all of us. It could be the color of our bike or the color coordinating of accessories (shoes, wheels, etc) There are plenty of examples the local schlub seeking attention but usually it boils down to trying to look good on the bike.

When you move to the pro ranks, the actions become a little more garish. There are the victory salutes of winning riders, the special gear often worn by the winning team on the final stage in the Tour. Cipollini may have been the all time "Hey look at me" rider with his outlandish outfits.

That brings us to this year's winner Paolo Bettini. Ol' Paolo won Olympic gold in the summer of '04. What was the month? August? He had a great ride no doubt and was proud of his victory. He showed up the rest of the year with his gold shoes, gold helmet, gold handlebar tape and gold accents on his bike. Okay, he was proud of Olympic victory. I'll give him that. The '05 season starts and what is Paolo riding, the same gold crap. At the end of the '05 season, more than a year after his Olympic victory, he was still decked out in gold. Get over it, already. I'm guessing he intends to don the gold attire until the next the next Olympics or he retires, whichever comes first.

With Cipo, I always sensed a certain playfulness and showmanship with his antics. Bettini's constant wearing of gold, however, seems to have more of a bragging nature. As if he is reminding everyone that he won a gold medal and will not let you forget it.

Spinning class started easily enough but got tough soon enough as we did a series of "TT's" of decreasing length before finishing off with some shorter bursts. By the end I was pushing hard. At least I felt as if I was working hard. It took a minute or two to gather myself together and catch my breath. Considering I had not ridden for a while, I did okay.

A little later I will be popping a race tape into the VCR and settling in for some trainer time.

Viewpoint: Most Determined Ride Basso at the Giro. After taking ownership of the Pink Jersey and looking like the dominant rider in the race. He becomes ill, has a bad day and loses a minute to new leader Savoldelli. The next day and loses another 39 minutes to Savoldelli and looks awful as he stops on top of the Stelvio for a jacket from the team car. His determination paid off. A few days later, recovered from his illness, Basso won stages 17 & 18 and continued on to the Giro finish in Milan, ignoring the experts recommendations to save himself for the Tour. He still finished 2nd in France. I liked Basso as a rider before but he showed me a heart that will earn a Grand Tour win very soon.

Saturday's party at the Shark was a fun time. A little food, a lot of beer, music and some rather cool behind the scenes slides by a former 7-11 staff member. Good stuff. And, the parking lot TT on the little girls bike was good for a lot of laughs.

This, I swear, is the end of my down time. Starting tomorrow, at Spinning, I start to get serious in my prep for next year.

Next years race calendar should be coming out soon. The schedule never changes radically but I always like to see what is new, and what has disappeared. Rumor is that the Rolla Crit has passed on the Big Crit Course in the Sky. However, the Hellbender RR is still on. I also heard that Jeff City wants to do a RR on the State TT weekend. Thats about all I know in terms of changes.

I also have to decide whether to go to France again. L'Etape was cool last year and it is being offered again this year, but this coming year a trip to the Dauphine in June is being offered and that intrigues me. You still have the great riding in the Alps area. The race is expected to climb the Ventoux, the Croix de Fer, and Galibier. The actual course hasn't been announced, however. Plus, there won't the huge crowds that the Tour draws.

Viewpoint: Most Aggressive Rider Oscar Pereiro - Not so much on the flatlands but the guy was contantly in breaks if the stage went uphill at all. He was aced out by Hincapie at Pla d'Adet but kept on attacking and got his win a few days later. H was not only aggressive in the Tour but he was aggressive in the Vuelta as well.

News Item of the Day: At last Sunday's press conference, CSC team manager Bjarne Riis wasn't easy to get to talk about the roster for next year's Tour de France. But to the Danish newspaper Politiken, he revealed that there is currently a roster of 11 riders who will be battling for the nine spots: Ivan Basso, Carlos Sastre, Jens Voigt, Stuart O'Grady, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Fränk Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Jakob Piil, Bobby Julich, Giovanni Lombardi and David Zabriskie.

That doesn't look like a team that can lend much support in the mountains. Sastre yes, Voight sometimes, Julich sometimes, Schleck not sure. I dont think anyone else there is considered good in the mountains. I'd have to look at last years team. I can't remember Basso having much help in the mountains this year either but then he could sit on the Disco train whereas, this year, everyone expects a more wide open race.

News Item of the Day #2: With the three Grand Tours pulling out of the ProTour is it even worth having the ProTour? Losing just the Tours would be one thing but the ProTour is also losing the other races organized by the Tours. Namely, Paris Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Paris-Tours and the Tour of Lombardy. There are few good races in that list. Basically the whole Spring Classics season with the exception of Flanders. What a mess.

While laying in bed this morning I was debating whether to do the Columbia fixie ride. After all, it is cold out there. Then I remembered that I have a staff meeting at 1pm. Could I do the ride and be in Bridgeton by 1? Probably. If anything went wrong or we had a couple flats I would be cutting it close. Finish maybe by 11:30, get back home at 11:50, shower and dress 12:10 to 12:15. Drive to work 12:45. Not a lot of wiggle room in that schedule.

Tonight I will probably head to the shop's little customer appreciation party, partake of a beer or two and see what's going on.

Then, tomorrow is supposed to be a group of 'mates driving up to Hillsboro IL for a ride. I'd like to do the ride but that forecast looks unpleasant for a drive all the way to Hillsboro. I figure we would start riding at 8:30ish. At that time the temp is supposed to be 28, cloudy with snow flurries and a balmy RealFeel temp of about 15. YEEHAA!!! It will of course warm up. By noon or 1pm the RealFeel is scheduled to be a whopping 21. Sounds like a good trainer day to me.

I continue to vegetate and have not touched the bike since Saturday. I worked on the bike a little more today. Getting the rear brake cable was a bitch and a half. No wonder the rear brake ceased to work for the last few times I rode. It was so gunked up with what I guess was rust that I could not pull the darn thing through plastic covering. After a titanic struggle I worked around the stuck cable and got the cable and brake levers off in a different way that I really dont feel like trying to explain. I've got the new levers on but the cables from Jay's bike don't fit on my bike so I will have to buy some new cables. Once the cables are installed, all that is left is getting the derailleurs adjusted all that is left is putting the cassette on my wheel and installing a 10-speed chain. Oh yeah, and getting new pedals since my right pedal has had its threads stripped for the last 2.5 yrs and could not be removed from the crank.

Viewpoint: Most surprising Grand Tour performance George Hincapie - Stage 15 of the Tour de France. Having anyone other than Armstrong win a Tour stage was improbable, but to have George win the hardest stage after 5 climbs and a finish on top of an HC climb was completely unexpected. Because Armstrong was in yellow he didn't have to work all day. That is, if you consider climbing five mountains in a day at any pace not working.

Squeak, squeak. Thats how my ride started Saturday in Columbia. I almost did not ride. My inner sloth had come out. It was cold, my 'dale was in pieces, my track bike was noisy, and I did not feel like taking the time to swap wheels on the 'cross bike. At the last minute, I took my off my dress and grew some testicles. "Dam the torpedoes!" I threw the fixie in the wagon, and got dressed.

The problem with rush jobs is there is always something that you mess up. In this case, I couldn't find my booties. And, I knew my rear tires pressure was unusually low but I pumped it up and prayed it would last the ride. Creaky, creaky went the bike as we turned onto Bluff Rd. Damn thats annoying. We got past the golf course... Creaky Creaky Clanky. We turned away from the highway and headed south. Clank Clank Squeak Creak. Mark asked if the bike was going to last 2 hrs. Clunk Squeak Clank Thunk Creak Squeak Clunk. We decided we should take the next cutoff back to Bluff. We made the turn, went 100 ft and suddenly the noises stopped. Was it miraculously fixed or was the bike about to fall apart. The calm before the storm???? We said, !@$% it and soldiered on with our planned route. Everything worked out in the end. Except for the flat rear tire that should have been fixed if I hadn't been rushing around at the last minute. Oh yeah, my bootie-less feet were also half numb. About 2:20 ride time - 18.8 avg

It sucks to try and disassemble a bike without the all the tools. I was able to remove the brakes, chainrings and derailleurs. The cranks and bottom bracket are another matter. At the axle there is a dust cover type thingy that I need a spanner(?) to remove. If I get that and the cranks off, I don't have the wrench to remove the bottom bracket lockrings(?) They have six notches cut in them for a wrench to fit. I'm going to have to see if Jay has those tools.

Today I was looking for a small toolset in a closet and stumbled across 2003 Tour Caravan schwag. I had no clue it was in the closet. Among the items were a yellow jersey pin I had purchased, a French playing card game for kids that I have no way of knowing how to play and two packets of Haribo candy. The candy is like gummy bears but instead they are gummy cyclists. It's a little disturbing to eat a cyclist but they are mighty tasty. At least they were in '03 when they were fresh. I'm leary of opening the pack and eating one. Would that kind of food go bad? They are a little hard but should be okay.

Viewpoint: Biggest Grand Tour blowup This award has to go to Jens Voigt on stage 10 to Courcheval. The day before he got in a long breakaway group and grabbed the yellow jersey. Jens had been dropped on the earlier climb of the Cormet de Roselend but caught up to the Discovery led chase group on the valley road. Unfortunately for Jens, the road to Courcheval goes uphill. He hung tough for a short while but then got dropped like a 2 ft putt. He was creeping up the mountain. The suffering was plainly visible on his face. He crossed the line 31 minutes after Valverde and Armstrong. Voigt did not recover overnight and the next day was dropped on the big Madeleine only to face the Telegraphe and even bigger Galibier. I watched from above as he snaked his way up the switchbacks of the Galibier as the last rider on the road. Fans were giving him huge pushes of 200-300 ft up the road. He ride a little bit on his own and another guy give a healthy push. Voight had nothing in the engine. All the pushes went for naught. He still finished over 40 minutes later and did not make the time cutoff for the stage. In two days, he went from leader to out of the race. Boom, Boom and out go the lights.