Pav Thai

Just some summer pics

2009-08-14T10:51:00.001-07:00

New Car; Old One Exploded

New MTB; Old One Exploded

New Gravel Ride; old one Exploded

PR

2009-08-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

I had the state TT today, and the junk is sore again! I warmed up, per plan, but had one small mishap. Landen did not replace the magnet on my wheel following Nationals. Thus, I had no speedometer. Moving forward.

I got out of the gates well, and passed two people before the turn-a-round. Between passing cyclist #1 and cyclist #2, I noticed what sounded like a jet. No, it was this guy . My monologue was as follows: I immediately thought,"nice, a very, very fast rabbit." Countered by,"Dude, what are you thinking, that guy just put 2 minutes into you, how on earth are you going to stay with him." Rob English is a TT demon and clocked a 51:20 for the TT!

I passed four more people on the way back, but was caught by another guy in the 1,2 devision. I did manage to not loose any more time to the second person to pass, keeping up with his pace for the last 10 km. All and all, I felt really good with the new saddle position. I ended up with a time of 55:03, a personal best for the 40 km TT, and besting my firecracker TT 40 km time by 2:03. I think runners call that a personal record. So to recapitulate:

40 km State TT
55:03
27.5 mph
5th overall

Schedule For The Remainder Of The Season

2009-07-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here is what the rest of the year looks like. In leu of the fact that I haven't raced but 9 races this year, the next few months should be filled with a bunch of days, most notabally cyclo-cross. Below is a tentitive schedule:

Aug
2 OBRA State TT Championships
8 Willamette Epic TT
16 OBRA Hill Climb State Championships
28-30 Eugene Celebration

Sep
5 Mt. Bachelor Hill Climb or Cross over stage race
12-13 Everest Challenge
26-27 Central Oregon Cyclocross

CCC

2009-07-28T08:34:00.001-07:00

I met up with my friend Marco in Bend this weekend to race the Cascade Cycling Classic. If former Spanish National Champion, Climber extraordinaire, Oscar Sevilla say a race is, "Really, really, really hard" then you know that there is something to it.

Although the stage races had 4 races, the Aubrey Butte Circuit race was the Piece de Resistance of the weekend. 4 laps with ~1000 ft of climbing per lap, this races is arguably the most difficult race I have ever done. The trick is to keep good position on the decent and flat sections and reach the climbs in the first five positions. Very hard and very mentally draining.

I arrived with the lead group of ~40 (out of 100) at the start of the climb on the last lap. I was on the rivet. I needed to make it over the KOM climb and two other climbs to arrive to the flame rouge. I made it within 10 peddle strokes to the top of the KOM. Implosion. Fin. Finished 37th and 35th in the GC.

I have only raced 9 races this year and 4 were this weekend. It would have been nice to get another couple stage races in the legs before that one.

Here is a link to a video of me passing some dude at the 1 km Mark at the TT, I am almost certain that he was drafting me.

Podium Training

2009-07-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

I never realized how much energy and worrying I did in regards to training. When I missed a workout, or had a bad day on the machine, I went back to the drawing board, spending countless hours revamping the plan. Well, no more. To quote the wise and omnipotent Dr. Humphry, "I don't waste energy worrying about the unknown."

For three months now, I have been working with a coach and elite racer, Tommy Nelson owner of Podium Training. Last year was spent overtraining (15-25 hrs on the bike) with results that were, not up to snuff.
I had a certain criteria for a coach and tommy fit the mold, beautifully (he is an ex model, you know). Below is what I needed to justify a coach for my athletic pursuits:

1. A Coach had to be faster than me. I did not want someone that was some chump in a recliner with a little personal training background telling me what to do.

2. A Coach had to have a background in exercise science, preferably a b.s. or m.s. in the field. I personally, have a undergraduate degree in exercise science, and know how valuable this is in terms of coaching.

3. A Coach had to have an intricate knowledge of training and racing with power. A very critical component in making micro-advances in training.

4. A Coach had to be ACCESSIBLE. Often, coaches can only be contacted 1 X per week, or something silly like that. I think this notion is utterly rediculous. How can one accurately and effectively advise and coach a pupal without knowing his/her day to day progress and trials and tribulations? Tommy has UNLIMITED access.

Other than dedicating a large portion of my free time to cycling, getting Podium Training on the case helping me train effectively and efficiently has been the best investment I have made in my biking career.

Below is a picture of my coach, Tommy, spanking Ben Day from Flying V, Austrailia cycling team earlier in the year.

So Aero

2009-07-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

With the help of my friend and teammate Luke from Collin's, I got setup yet again with the specialized body geometry 3D bike fit, this time for my machina de chrono. Fitting a TT rig is always a game of mm, with a improper fit lending itself to sacrificing power for aerodynamics. I think I have finally got the best of both worlds. Here is a pic.

T-minus 7,6,5...

2009-06-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

One last big ride today, and then onto the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race in Baker City, Or. Gearing up to go do a large one, and then hanging out with the parents, for a couple more days. Rewind...

I forgot to mention that my folks are here from Iowa this week. We went to king estates for dinner, went to the coast, and saw UP last night.

Wolf Creek Ride

2009-06-07T10:38:00.001-07:00

Did some silly ride with my buddy Tim yesterday. I just wanted to show time the oregon biking scene. As well as a prospect race he and some of his teammates may do. Ended up with ~5000 ft of climbing and one tired pavlovich.

Scotch Egg

2009-02-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

Recently, my sister came to portland, we laughed, we danced( rot really), and we ate Scotch Eggs.
The scotch egg, pictured below is a little animal with a little more animal, and then deep fried. Delicious. Also notice the length of the hair in exhibit a. nice huh?

Rat Dog

2009-02-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

I was on the tail end of a 4 hour ride, kind of tired, legs kind of burning, when I happend upon north bank trail on the willamette river.

To preface this post, everyone has to understand one thing, people in Oregon; they love their dogs. I love dogs too. I don't even mind whe three borzois wake me up at night. I hope to someday have a pup of my own.

While 99 % of everyone on the trail had a dog, and had their dog on a leash, one lady had two little guy that apparently, did not need leashes.

I was winding down from a hard day in the saddle when one of the two rat dogs jumped infront of my wheel. Brakes locked up. Power slide. Near endo. Rat dog aprox two mm from getting spinal cord run over by yours truley.

We don't have leash laws to take away the "fun" from anyone. We have them for safety, and so I don't smush you rat dog.

Sauce Demi Glace

2009-01-31T11:51:00.001-08:00

A demi glace is a reduction made of equal parts sauce espangole and veal stock/veal reduction. I had everything in line to perfect this culinary treat that goes with a nice steak. I roasted my mirapioux, mushrooms, and beef bones. Then add water, veal stock, tomato paste, rosmary, thyme, and let the flavors get together, for 6-8 hours.

Things were going great, I was two hours into the process, and needed to step out to eat sushi with friends Randy and Greg. MY though process was a follows: put the stock on low, step out and eat, come back, finish stock. I came back to no stock, dried up burnt bones, and the inability to proceed with the demi glace process. Woops.

2009-01-26T11:10:00.002-08:00

To weight 200 lbs. I had the great experience, on sunday during my ride. My dur-ace cable broke off in the hood, while i was climbing a 8% grade/3000 ft climb. The rear der was set in the 12. The two otions were 1. turn around 2. continue climbing at 20-30 rpms. What do you think I did? Yeah, at some points, my computer was regestering a cadence 1 I was moving so slow.

What it feels like-

2009-01-26T11:10:00.001-08:00

What I do on my days off

2009-01-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

As the above/below pictures would indicate, I am indeed back on the bike. I have a ride that I do call McGowen Creek road in the Mohawk/coburg hills area. McGowen Creek road is a great road with tones of elevation, and a bit of steepness as well. Their are a couple finger extentions that come off of the road. One of which, Rd 16-2-29 which between 13-19 % grade and an additional 5 miles. I effectively call this road the many things but none of them are good. McGowen Creek to Mt Tom road is ~12 mile ( I though it was 8 before but it ends up switching to gravel at the 8-9 mile point) and Crests out at ~3000 ft. Its gradient is only 5-10%, only. Here are a couple of pictures of the road, the good Doctor would be proud of all the tarmac/gravel climbing I have been doing.

O.A.R, Bikeling, and like blind melon said...

2009-01-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

No Rain. Weird, I know. We haven't had rain in nearly a week. Not much sun either, but I'd rather have overcast weather and the occasional SSRI's instead of rain. My riding has consisted of night rides with the below pictured bike light. Instead of powering hours out on the trainer, the mild nights (high thirties) lend itself to the accumulation of hours outside. This week will make 15 hours, which throughly please my inner need to be on the bike non-stop. And a weight update, only 49,000 kcal left to lose!

Last night, I went to the O.A.R concert. It reminded me to that whimsical time called college. Ah, college, no waking up at 6 am and such...

The ride I am doing sunday has 4163 ft of climbing, sounds like a day at ragby if you ask me.

Git-fiddle

2009-01-11T20:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a picutre of my old acoustic gitbox. Nice, and it doubles as a christmas tree if needs be.

Here is the picture of my new jangling noise machine. Gretsch electromatic in wine color with vox 15 watt amp. Just picked it up is Seattle this weekend. Don't drool too much, or do as long as it is the safety of your own home.

Training, week two

2009-01-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

As we all know, I started training two weeks ago. And started weighing myself this week. I didn't have a battery in my scale, and it was finally time to update the equiptment this week.

Found out that skip a meal diet is in effect. I am 54,000 kcal heavier than I would like to be, 45,000 kcal larger than my lightest point last year. I guess that is what three + month away from exercise will get you. Not to worry, Two good friends have done this yo-yo approach, with good result. Jan Ullrich and Matt Landen. Diet starts, well monday.

In other news, I got a 5 mile climb up parsons creek road in during my long ride yesterday.

In the saddle

2008-12-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

Finally, for all our listeners/subscribers/etc, the blog is back up and opperational. As a houskeeping issue, I no longer live in the midwest, no loger am I in Puerto Rico, and I currently reside in Eugene, Or, "Worlds Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors."

More like worlds greatest city for rain and flat tires. I have been training for one week and Ian Gray came back into town for christmas. He is a ex-kaos/hopeful neopro that went to high school here. We went riding a couple times thus far, with so snowy,raining flat tire action was had by all. I flated right as we left, then 1:30 into the ride Ian flatted, then moments later I flatted again. Thank the spagetti monster that we stopped for tubes on our way out.

2008-09-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Or the fruit, durian. Read about it here. It seamed like a good idea to purchase said fruit from perhaps the largest Asian market ever (in Charleston). What ensued was not pleasant.

If you have read the wiki result for the durian, or as I like to call it "devil fruit". This fruit looks like the head of a mace taken from the middle ages and plopped down on your kitchen table. I has small spikes and horns, which is likely foreshadowing of how ones taste buds will feel following consumption.

The durian was described as tasting of custard strongly reminiscent of almonds. That sounds nice. The durian, however, is not nice. Thank that source very much, however sub "custard" with the word "Limburger cheese" and "almonds" with a "faint hint of poison", then this reference is correct.

Below is a picture of the durian. Try if your dare. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Baby Pearlz

2008-09-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

Went to get happy hour special yesterday at this place. Had 18 gulf oysters for cheep. Drank Beer. Enjoyed the evening. May have been the perfect day... except the 8 hours of driving up to South Carolina.

As for the flag, there are many stories about how it came to be, but this is probably the most accurate.

Pro baseball

2008-09-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

I attended a Tampa Bay Devil Rays game last night. It was high scoring, packed with home runs, and great... until the rays lost.
I thought I was attending the game and watching the future World Series champions. One the up side I got the drink Nascar beers with my cousin Chris and his friends.

Note: this was only the fourth pro game I have ever attended. Below is a chronicle of my Lifetime attendance. Dad please correct me if my dates are skewed.

1. 1989 Chicago Cubs. Ryan Sanburg blast gshr to win game. We left early.
2. 1990 Twins - no recorded memory of game. Must have sucked.
3. 1996 M's and Baltimore - game was called due to rain. Griffey had ~30 home runs, on streak to break record. Strike ensued following the all star break. Got to see Ripken Jr. though.
4. 2008 Devil Rays - Twins. Aforementioned game.

Elkhart la fin

2008-09-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

I just tuned in to the most recent post here. Found out that I placed second in the time trial series, behind lipold. Congrats dave. Hopefully, there is some cash for the second place. I'm in the red right now.

Eugene Celebration

2008-09-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post my results for the Eugene Celebration Stage race.

Maxon RR - 8th
Time Trial - 2nd
Crit - 7th
King RR - 4th
Overal GC 3rd

Not a bad end to the season. Many thanks to the Grays for their hospitality over the week.

Oregonia

2008-08-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

A heat shield is a thin piece of aluminum that protects the gas tank from other heat producing components of the car. Mine was dangling below my car, so that any change in road grad or surface inconsistancy yielded the scraping of said heat shield on the tarmac. Not only is it terribly annoying, It probably is a necessity when wanting your car not to combust.

Not to worry, Bob and I fixed the shield today. Then we went to the hideway bakery and enjoyed coffe/tea/cinnamon roll/brouche. We then discussed cycling and running. Fun was had by all.

Below are some pictures of crater lake. Enjoy.

Fort Collins/Denver/Boulder

2008-08-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

I arrived in the RM state In Fort Collins and went out with Ian, Jared, Matt, and Rob. We had some beers and were one of many groups commuting around on a friday night.

On saturday, Amanda took me on a ride up to Horse tooth reservoir. It was nice to get to know her a little more and hear her story. P.S. She dropped me.

On sunday Marco, Dave, and I went up to Greenwood on the bikes from golden. Muy climbing today. I felt way better here than I did at Puerto Rico. My theory is that the climbs here are more steady, one can get into a rythem, whereas PR gradient was widely varied.

More to come...

Puerto Rico- Coqui Dorado

2008-08-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Just returned from the states from the Coqui Dorado. Had Landen not had bad luck, he would have rolled into 5th place in the overall. Alas, he flatted and I gave him my wheel. Below are some pics and a recap of the weekend.

Day one Cayey road race.

Prior to the road races starts, Puerto Rican racing dictates neutral starts and sponsor acknowledgement. We had 10 KM of decent down switchback in the middle of the rainforest. Restarted the race, and then everyone there went for the hole shot. the first climb was supposed to be ~20 minutes, we trained on that road the day before. The race distance was apparently changed, and the climbing lasted for 40-50 minutes. I and a dominican pull our group around for the rest of the race. We did one more climb for the day and had a flat finish. I ended up 35th and landen got 5th. Marco was 15th in the masters race.

Day two Caguas road race

~80 km with 40 km of rolling hills prefaced by two 10-15 km climbs. I kept some matches in the book for the 40 km flat section. The first day, I tried to pull hard, keep wheels, and match the small climbers acceleration. Today, I road within myself on the climbs, setting a steady tempo when the pace slowed, or attacks were uncorked on the climb. I then had a lot left on the finishing flat section, taking second in a group of 30, while marco went up the road with 3 km to go.

Day three Cayey Circuit Race

96 km circuit race. I attacked at the end of the first lap and then landen attacked at the start of the climbing section. He got away, and then flatted. Because of his GC status and fitness, I stopped and gave him my wheel. Day over for both of us. the pace was to high to catch back on.

Sporting career - Aug 10 1997

2008-08-11T10:04:00.001-07:00

On the eve of my 16th birthday, a couple friends and I decided to go camping at a neighbors acerage. Following a bit of a docile evening, rain started as a drizzle, followed by a violent pour. My camping companions and I noticed a truck and light trespassing on our neighbors land, so we decided to go investigate this evil crime.

We drove down the grave road, and the truck noticed that he was not alone. The truck sped off, and we followed. After a mile of pursuit, the gravel came to a t-intersection. Our truck driver may have thought that this was a gradual turn, I am not positive, but what followed was us rolled over in the ditch, following a 30+ mph power skid. The cab eventually crushed under the weight, but luckily, we got out before the cabs metal gave full way.

My compatriots were badly bruised and cut, with possible head injuries. I had no shoes nor shirt, but decided I would go to the closest farmhouse, miles away. I ran on gravel that felt like shards of glass. In the freezing rain, I might add. I kept telloing myself, just one more mile. I got the the closest house, 5 miles away, but the was no answer to my evening call. I decided, for the good of the group, that I would break into the house, use the phone, and slip out under the shroud of night.

Having accomplished the aforementioned breaking and entering list, I noticed that the owner was, what I could only assume an avid hunter, or perhaps a marine. He had a gun rack and gun case at his back door, luckily, he was unaware of my B/E that night.

Tour of KC race weekend

2008-08-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

Lindsay, Bryan, and I drove from the beautiful land (IOWA), to Kansas City for the tour of KC.

The Twilight criterium friday night looked to be a good race. Two good climbs, and on sharp fast decent to take the juice out of everyones legs every lap. Following a fast start, 70-80 category 3's got up to speed around the course.. At 10 minutes into the race, I uncorked an attack. I am told, Justin and Bryan did a great job blocking for me following the attack. I was away for 4 laps, and then the field caught me. Following one lap, a racer road into me in the bottleneck portion of the race, and I crashed on the tarmac. After that bell ringing, I received my free lap, and got back into the pack. I immediately attacked and went off the front again, this time only for two laps. With 2 to go, bryan attacked and I went to the front to block, he stayed away with the win, and I road it in for 17 place.

Day two of the tour of KC. I woke up with a swollen arm and sore back from the crash. Luckily, the crash did not affect my breathing, or positioning on the bike. Today was the cliff drive classic, the race that everyone wants to win. It was wet and muddy, and the roads were slick. Luckily, no one in our field crashed today. 9 laps of a ~3 mile course with two substantial hills. After lap 4, I attacked and one rider was able to get my wheel. Kelly Benjamin from Cheerwine! Why was a female in the field of threes, you ask? She was training for next week at donner's grove, and needed some big pack experience. This was that big pack. I pulled most of the lap until the hill, and she pulled around me. She gapped me off on that hill, but I did not need to get here wheel, because I knew I would catch her on the crest of the hill. Following another mile, I flicked my elbow for her to pull around. She said she couldn't help. Oh well. I road tempo until the s-bend area, and we were swallowed up by the field. Ended up 29 on the day.

Day three was overland park. Figure 8 course. Bryan and I started very far back in the field. We moved up every lap. With two to go, I got in top 10, but a guy in front of me lost his grip on the road. I locked my breaks, ran up on the curb, and managed to bunny hop back on the course, and saved myself from another crash. I lost 20 wheels, and ended up getting 23rd on the day.

Four!

2008-08-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Notice the two Lines labeled "hook" and "slice". This is merely a visual diagram of my Monday.

I went golfing with my brother and his fiance, Heide. We were going to golf nine holes, catch up on life, and not drink.
It may be hard to stomach, but yes, I did golf without boozing. Interesting to note, one cannot golf once a year and expect one's golf game to improve.

Cogui Dorado cyclista international

2008-08-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

Following the RR, I had a chance to talk to Marco. Looks like I will be packing my bags and bike following KC this week and Spending my 27th birthday in Puerto Rico for the aforementioned stage race.

The three day stage race consists of two road races and on crit. The road races are not that long, but have 4-5 climbs that are 300-1000 ft in elevation change. I guess I shouldn't have had that DQ last night.

UNMC/Team Kaos - Marco, Landen, Spence, Dewey, and I. Will be a great week.

Iowa State Road Race

2008-08-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Competed in the Iowa State Road Race two days ago. Kip Spaude from Is Corp won the 108 mile race. My goal was to make the final selection on the fourth lap. That did not happen. I was pretty concerned about getting fed, so while everyone was attacking in the feed zone, I was stocking up on liquid. If you miss a feed in an 108 mile RR, you are screwed. Thinking of it now, I should have told the girls to set up in the other feed zone.

A big thanks to Lindsey Wetzels two friends for feeding us for 5 hours.

Ah yes, results. Of the 60 ish riders, I finished 19 overall and I guess 3rd in the 3s.

It was great to race with some good talent from Iowa, Cody, Dave L, Jared, Lou, Dewey, Sean, etcetera.

Iowa City

2008-07-31T11:03:00.001-07:00

I have been in Iowa City for three Days now. I am studying for my last Board. I know, kind of late... But better later than...whatever.

I went out with Kpav the last two days. And then yesterday with Lindsey Wetzel.

Last night I had Pizza with Bailey, and get this...I have been off the sauce for 5 days!

Tonight Lindsey ad I are going to roll out with the Thursday night ride, spin the legs, and then go carb load at Kristin's house. The State RR is Saturday, and it is a 1,2,3 field. Oh, it is also 108 miles.

Luckily, I road the course, via ragby, and it is going to be good. Good you ask? 12-15 climbs .4-.9 miles. Per lap. I need to go on a diet.

Hung out with Chris and Kristin Last night. We watch a movie and at Golden Grahams.

Below are two pictures... titled broken dreams

Ragby 2008 a recap

2008-07-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

The Ragby elders have spoken, and decided... This was the best Ragby ever. Hung out with many short bus folks, some trouser mice, BTY, KP5000, Pirates, ran with the bulls, shit... this week was awesome.

Started the 43 hour on the bike/10 day journey at the Orphanage in Des Moines. KP5000, Kim, and I did a wet 90 into Harlan... I mean Atlantic, where we munched on Chips and tamales, and Replenished the NACL with Margaritas. Later that night, Kim Fell asleep, so Kristin and I went to see the Dark Knight. Best Batman movie ever.

Next up a 67 mile day into Missouri Valley. Hot, muggy, and lots of hills. Ragby was lucky it did not choose our rout into MV. Nary a flat section... This day had more climbing than a amalgamation of all the hilly stretches this year on ragby.

The next day was Turkey day, or Diaz El Toro. Brendon dressed up and painted himself as a bull. We all wore white and red. A fun 65 all and all.

The century Take one. I road with Kim, Kristin, Flava Dave, Mark, and Chris. Things slit up and Dave, Mark, and I took some quality pulls en route to the hundee. We even managed to cook some turkeys on the way! I ended up first in town and road around trying to find larry and the short buss. Little did I know, Larry had a mechanical and also got a ticket from some federale. 105 total miles.

The next couple days kind of blend into one. Vong went to the Hospital/met ups with Fiona and Erica(australians living in BC and Corvalis)/heckling on the hill/riding/more riding/riding Kim's bike with the burley for a beer run with Fry-guy/Coffee/ice cream/and beer, lots of beer. I even got a preview of the state rr course on the way to tipton.

65,81,76,100 and 60 mile days. Nice. All said, 729 miles of the stuff. pictures to come

Proof in the pudding

2008-07-08T08:25:00.001-07:00

That I am not a complete moral and social drain on this society. Yes, that is what you think it is.... Those are 50 dozen toothbrushes for orphans in Jamaica.
Got those the other day for my sister's mission trip to the orphanage. Who's awesome now?

Ragby Training Camp

2008-07-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

Many of you may be kicking out century after century trying to sharped your sword for this years ragby. I can say that I havn't done my fair share of ragby centuries, but today I really got my training into full swing with this:

Fatness test

2008-07-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Did a Fatness test yesterday and friday. The proof is in the pudding; I am not as fit as any pro cyclist... but I did beat my old previous bests. Also of note, my heart, much like the grinches, grew three sizes(beats) yesterday. New max hr 185.

71.81 kg
20 min - 323 w
5 min - 396 w
1 min - 560 w.

These new numbers may have been due to the new wonder drug that I consumed, en nauseum over the forth of july... We grilled a whole hog, 220 lbs to be exact. I ate most of it. I can only assume that the new form was from pork loading.

Century two

2008-06-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I road up to visit my friend Chef KC Philips last week. 110 miles total. I helped him prep food all week for his restraunts, road my bike, and even got into a little wrestling match( as evidence by the face in photo one). Here are a couple photos from the weekend. Oh, and I had to find a way back to omaha, so I road, 113 miles. Not a bad week by anyones standards.

adendum

2008-06-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

A couple points of clarification regarding this century business:

1. Kristin did do a century last week, and I assumed Kim was in tow... he was not. So sayith Kristin.

Century Wars

2008-06-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

I got jelious... Kim and Kristin went on a century. They are always trying to out do ME, harder, faster, longer, etc.

Well, I staged my own 5:50 ride; suffice it to say that this particular ride was well under the distance from Omaha to Orange City.

Weekend events

2008-06-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

Things that happened this weekend -

Kristin came to omaha
Went to the Cresent Moon
Went to Travatos
Went to Upstream
Went to the Taj
Went on a bike ride
Went on another bike ride
Crashed Kristin out of our bike ride
(she didn't look so serious after that)
Went to Des Moines
Stayed at the Hopkins res
Played GH3
Went to the swimming pool for the first time in 3 years

Elkhart take two

2008-06-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Prior to the vegas trip, I raced the elkhart tt series.

I showed up, got the rig set up on the trainer, and then realized that I did not have any peddles on my bike. I ordered two sets of shimano peddles at the beginning of the season, but only one came.

As luck would have it, I talked to Donny, who informed me that Maria used those peddles. He said she would be happy to help out, following her TT.

Got the peddles dialed in with the help of Donny and Maria at 7:26. Start time 7:40. This did not leave much time to error. Marginal warm up, marginal time. 16:14:17. The exact same time as last month.

Kim pointed out, that in fact, I got slower. You see, last month I dropped my chain, this month I did not. Thanks Rev.

A hand full of people beat me, but I somehow managed second in the 1,2,3 field. Slow time across the board.

And as a consolation prize, I am leading in the 1,2,3 series. Ah consistency.

Read about the race here Elkhart TT

Vegas Olympic trials - wrestling

2008-06-15T09:14:00.001-07:00

Jeff, Dan, Dave, and I are currently in Vegas watching the USAW OT. We have seen some great wrestling in the past few days, with the best coming from two midwestern boys - Doug Schwab (osage, IA) and Jake Deitchler (Mn). Both won their best two out of three wrestle offs and are going to the olympics.

The more impressive things is the fashion in which Deitchler made the olympic team. He beat a field with Mark Rial, Harry Lester, Farin Sahid, and Oscar Wood. Two National Champions, one expatriot 2X National chamion from turkey, former olympian, etc, etc. All a the age of 18... Kudos.

Christmas in July(June)

2008-06-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

Got the shit that will kill yesterday. Look at this disc. You couldn't even get one if you wanted too. There are only three in existence. I have one. It is a Jet spoked wheel with carbon single weave on top. Ca be trued, has ti spokes, will have a power tap in it next year. Why? I am going to do some dentistry on Steve.

Townie Training

2008-06-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

On friday night, we all pinned our ears back and got some intervals in...
Kim, Bryan, Kristin, Chris, and I doing the Saturday night portion of the weekend omnium… We are all pretty shelled after the burrito race, er ride. However, we push through the pain with smiles on our faces.

Stoker

Horribly disfigured hands after Bryan's Memorial day crashes

The newest tech from Hed, Penta-stinger double disc. Seen first here.

Crawfish Bol

2008-06-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

Every year in Charles City. Unfortunately, I ate too much food and there was no space for much sauce. Oh well, off the sauce yet again.

XXX

2008-06-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

“You can save yourself the thirty years of research and stop right now.” That is how noted beer researcher, the Mostly Rev. Kim West describes my new favorite beer.

Mackeson’s XXX Stout – drink the stuff/look at us…

Fast, funny, witty, attractive, mustached. Need I go on…

Snakes-me = All 9 yards

2008-06-02T08:16:00.001-07:00

Scooters

2008-05-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

In addition to biking around the neighborhood, I have been looking into buying a scooter. The four brands that I am concidering are Yamaha, Vespa, Genuine, and Schwinn. I should have a decision and some pictures at the end of this week.

Why a scooter? Motorpacing, beeboping around, saving on gas, etc. Fun.

In race news, Kudos to Kristin, Kim H, Lindsey, and the ladies in pink at Snake alley/melon city.

Photosmachen

2008-05-20T15:15:00.001-07:00

Mid season photo hunt

2008-05-20T15:12:00.001-07:00

Spokiz

2008-05-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

These things are great. They are Kaos' new eyewear sponsor. Check them out

State Time Trial Thoughts

2008-05-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

The thing that I would like to talk about most is the NSTT turnout - Pitiful. It is the state TT championships, show up and race for that shit. Bike-a-lists and Try-Athletes alike. Anyone that has a bike should do this race. There can never...be...anything ...bad...about...going... 1 hr+... on... your... bike... as... hard... as... you... can. Repeat this statement silently. Now again out loud. Never. Bad at the Chrono you are; this even is made for you. Practice. Practice. Practice. The Elkhart TT had like 75 people on a Thursday night. We had 40 yesterday. There are ~500 riders that hold Nebraska State USCF licences. Math- >10 % attendance rate. Poor form.

Question: what would make the state TT better received?

Answer: Add Eddie Meryx division/Single Speed division/market to triathletes and bicyclist at shops/Free entry give-a-ways.

Change of venue… incorrecto. NCN does a great job at both the NFCSR and the State TT. There events are great and poorly attended. If a 14 year old girl from Nebraska City can talk here mom into drive hundreds of miles to do the TT, her first race ever, you too can attend the race also.

In summation- Kudos to those kiddies whom attended the NSTT. It was great to see you all. Shame on you; from Iowa/Nebraska/Minnesota, and so forth that did not attend. I have spent a great deal of my time on the bike trying to not embarrass my friends/family/country/religion/sponsors/teammates/Mom/Dad. Some success; some failure. Perhaps you too should adopt this mindset.

State TT Results

2008-05-18T09:31:00.001-07:00

I road the best time in my category (3). I road 1:00:10 for the 40 Km, out and back course. The shakedown went as follows –
Increasing winds throughout the day yielded suboptimal TT conditions. I went out with a tailwind and destroyed the first half of the course in 24 minutes. Note – race is not a true out and back, it ends one mile shy of the startline. I average over 34 mph on the way out. Perhaps a little too fast? That mean that I average ~16 mph on the way back. I just did not have the stuff on the way back. Imbarassing. Probably should ride 40 km smarter next time.

Good job Cody on setting the fastest time of the day. 56:40.

The Vegan and the Marathon

2008-05-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Vegan-noun
a vegetarian who omits all animal products from the diet.

I have bounced back and fourth between eating vegetarian and carnivorous foodstuffs for many years. I first started engaging in vegnik culture when I stopped eating meat during my freshman year in college. I operated under the modes operande that eating meat was then, morally offensive, and me being such a morally straight individual, would rather pull cuticles from my nail bed instead of eating meat. This was a lie. I just did not want to get fat like all the other freshman at Creighton.

To the other day, I still classified myself as pragmatically vegetarian. Definition - to abstain from meat unless doing so would inconvenience a host/parent/sister/friend/dining companion during a meal.

Until something fatefully interesting happened...

In the world of dentistry one scope of practice that I have is the root canal treatment. Yes. I do root canals. That is part of what I do. I enjoy them. I am good at them. It is one facet of dentistry that actually alleviates pain.

My professor Dr. Burrows also does these procedures. The difference is that he is a specialist, has had additional schooling, and his skill is far superior to my own. He has done RCT(root canal treatment) on humans, non-humanoid bipeds, tigers, cows, etc.

The interesting part. It may sound silly, but he(we) were asked to do a RCT on a Bengal tiger at the zoo. Apparently, the tiger had fractured an incisor and was in need of this treatment. So we went, we did the RCT; case solved.

On would think nothing of this experience, however, it prompted some thinking, some rationalization, and in the final analysis, I decide that like this large feline, life is too short to go around abusing our bodies(or teeth) consuming meat and subsequently the GRBH/grilling free radicals/etc. Hence vegan ism.

I went to cosco, bought large tubs of peanut/almond/soy/nutella/hummus/etc and started my life as a vegan. I feel great, and hopefully, the state time trial reflects my recent mood inflection wit a good result.

Marathon–noun
1. a foot race over a course measuring 26 mi. 385 yd. (42 km 195 m).
2. any long-distance race.
3. any contest, event, or the like, of great, or greater than normal, length or duration or requiring exceptional endurance: a dance marathon; a sales marathon.

I used to engage in this sport. Then I found out that this foot-race injures ones body. Ergo, stopped and biked instead.

I was riding on the trail, when I happen upon a male, early twenties, face framed with the entanglement of ipod cords. Egad, Jake Dendinger. I stopped to enquire what he was doing. Training for a marathon. He and all my friends from undergrad, the same friends that scorned me for Marathon, are now soon to have their marathon virginity taken away from Grandma(marathon).

Crazy that they are now addicted to running and love the sport. Best of luck. When you decide that you need to start biking, call me.

Elkhart TT

2008-05-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

A lot of you are probably asking yourself, “What is the deal with Pavlovich. He hasn’t posted on his blog as of late.” Well, I apologize. The family has been in town, and I had a little thing called graduation.

While my friends were busy tearing the legs off of fellow bike-a-list at Joe Martin Stage Race, I was in Omaha neglecting my riding, cooking for two days straight, and participating in commencement. Graduation is sort of anticlimactic when you have to go back to college on Monday after your graduation, but whatever. It was great to see the family and friends. Thanks to K,D,D for cleaning and helping with the preparation of the foodstuffs.

Now for the post point, the Elkhart TT series. Lindsey and I drove over on Thursday, competed, met friends, and returned to Omaha. Lindsey and I were excited to race; she having not raced the whole season, and me having less than a handful of races under my bibs.

My race – official start time 6:58. I was using borrowed speed, specifically the H3C Todd Lundberg edition. Hed is apparently really booked and has a backlog of wheels for weeks. Dear Steve Hed, I need a job for the next two months until I get my DDS in the mail. Think about it…Steve. Anyway, I got going and caught my minuteman in about three minutes. I can’t imagine he was happy. I was just trying to keep a high speed and push a monster gear, but did not think I could get on top of the 54X11 like I wanted. Lindsey asked me if a 11-23 would be appropriate for the race, I responded the she probably would not spin it out on this course.

Then came the turn-a-round. Routine right, wrong. I was doing a really satisfying TT and decide that I needed to make it harder on myself, so I went ahead and dropped my chain. You’ll love this, folks. I dropped the chain on the outside of the crank, the chain got caught between the crank and the 55. If that were not enough, it got stuck on some little nub FSA decide to put there for me. I fiddled with the chain, back peddled, front peddled, grabbed at it, nothing. I though the day was lost. My minuteman even caught back up to me. Embarassing. Some how, it got back on after a good 30+ seconds of toil and off to the races. All said, I came across the line in 16:14, 4 seconds in arrears of Lane for A9Y. A good day, a good effort. I could probably have not gone any harder, but I for sure could have traveled faster. Lesion learned - don’t shift at the turn a round.

LSD

2008-05-04T15:35:00.001-07:00

I know what your thinking, Pav had a bad week and went off the deep end. No, not the electric koolade kind.

I'm talking about on the bike. Today was the first time in over a month that I went on one. With racing, intensity, boards, etc, there wasn't much time for this great american past time. Well, fear no longer, there back.

Things that LSD reminds me of:
- Old people in crown vic's hate everyone, including bicyclists.
- I CAN get below 70 kilos, it just takes twice as much riding as I do, or half as much food as I eat.

The week

2008-05-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Sometime ago (probably at the beginning of dental school), I made a resolution to stay away from reading. In the beginning( of school), I was very much busy with studying and bookwork, and didn’t have time for reading… resolution, no books.

Well, I broke the resolution the other day when a friend loaned me a book “Into Thin Air”. Essentially, this book is about the shit show and amateur day during the summit season on Mt Everest, specifically the tragedy of 10 May 1996.

Apparently, there were people no more qualified than you and I climbing the tallest and one of the most difficult mountains in the world. Stupid. This would be like me starting racing as a cat five racing with pros, but with Thunderdome rules (two men enter one man leaves). Stupid.

Anyway, I would like to wish some good friends best of luck today at the tour of Gila in Silver City, NM. Ian and Landen are racing Gila and Joe Martin back to back. Ugh. I looked at the profile for Gila; 5-10k ft of climbing daily. Day one results Ian 35th (cat 1), Landen 25th(cat 2). Also, a colleague of mine from boulder, Brian Loflen won the cat 3 race. Kudos.

Quote of the Day

2008-05-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

I am at Caffeine Dreams catching up on some much needed Internet and email. The weather is encouraging for a good bike ride, so I went outside on their back porch to enjoy the weather. I walked up their staircase and made my way to the directly to the back porch when I saw the sign

"If you think you are two awesome to use the ashtray on the deck, then please do not smoke. They are there for a courtesy. Please protect the environment ."

'nuf said

Iowa City Weekend Results

2008-04-28T11:00:00.001-07:00

Here is the race recap from the weekend.

Saturdays road race main theme was wind. Crosswind, headwind, tailwind, 20-30 mph. I guess that is why Jason McCartney like Iowa. There is always wind. On lap two, a gap opened up in the field and Jon V was up in the lead group. I took care to not bring anyone accross, and attempted to jumop the gap. I did not succeed at gap jumping. I missed the break and then resigned my king to the field sprint.

Sundays Iowa City Criterium was less windy, more warm, and a better atmosphere. I had talked to Kim West earleir and a plan was brewing. He insisted that I get the hole shot and don't look back for a lap. I managed to stay off the front 3 laps but was quickly swallowed up. Apparently, no one wanted to sit my wheel while I try to lap the field. I sat in and rested and decided to try my luck at another break. Again, nothing. With what I though was one lap to go, I jumped off the front of the field to try to win the field sprint (two people were up the road ). I won. But apparently, it was two laps to go and not one. Silly me. I ended up 8th in the second sprint.

After the race, I was called up to the podium to talk with the officials. I quickly learned that I won the Kim West Radio Talk Show most aggressive riders award (a KWRTS TShirt). Sweet. The official proceeded to interview me for 5-10 minutes about the plan that was earlier formulated.

8th and 10th on the weekend. All and all, a good effort. I think from now on, I am just going to race for the most aggressive riders award, since I apparently cannot win races.

Pot Stirring

2008-04-14T09:23:00.002-07:00

Anyone wanting to stir the pot on aforementioned issues, like illegal practice of dentistry, let me know 1. if you are interested, and 2 how...

2008-04-14T09:23:00.001-07:00

News flash, American dental association sells out dentists; American people

2008-04-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well kids, there is something sinister afoot in Alaska. People are doing dentistry without licences, and your government is OK with it. Why go to undergrad, dental school, pass boards, apply for licencure, when you can just be an expanded function dental axillary.

These dental axillaries get a GRE, and go to New Zealand and get an 8 mo degree. With this degree, they can do stainless steel crowns, fillings, and pull teeth. Think I am kidding… look here. By the measure of the ADA, the 8 months of “advanced dental education” is equivocal to 8 years of education, hard work, and experience working toward being a dentist. You wouldn’t let your cat or dog get surgery from an accountant, would you? Why would you let your fellow Americans receive care from some high school kid? Thank you ADA, for selling your souls to satan.

Its official, I am sick.

2008-04-14T09:06:00.001-07:00

I came home from the WREB and took a nap. I though it might be cold in my house, so I turned up the heat. And then used two blankets. Three blankets. Four blankets. “F”, I’m sick. It turns out that I was burning the candle at both ends. Now I have a fever. Great. No 4-hour bike ride; just shivers, fever, and sickness. Good news, though, I weigh 154…

Benchmark 1 - WREB boards

2008-04-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

Many of you are probably wondering, why did we not see Pavlovich at the Spring Classic? Well, the last four days have been consumed by my dear old friend the WREB. The WREB is a third party, national testing agency that tests candidates over four days. Once a dentist passes the WREB, he is able to apply for licenceure in the affiliated states. Well, I finished my WREB yesterday.

From what I can tell, things went well; no pink slips, no yellow slips. All the dentistry I did this weekend was, from my perspective, good products. This is not to say that the weekend was not filled with drama or chaos, but then again a $1700 test is bound to stir some anxiety, right?

The weekend, on the whole for a lot of people was a shit show. Girls crying, people failing for leaving carious tooth structure behind, people breaking burs off in teeth for endo... crazy.

Now the good part...

A colleague of mine had a patient not show up on saturday. If this happens and we do not complete the exam, colleague gets to fly to Arizona and remediate the exam in June. Now, I had two patients for this exam, each having one ideal lesion in their mouth, and having a not so great lesion in their mouth. Aside- sometimes, boards automatically shuts off the reason(see above about crying) and civility from an applicant. Most people told me, why would you let our colleague work on your patient, you should look out for yourself first. Well, no one else was willing to help our colleague, and frankly kids, it was the reasonable and civil thing to do.

Now the good part...

Moral - If you do something good and altruistic in life, it has away of coming back and fucking you over.
Colleague and I both submitted our patient for acceptance on saturday. The goal was to have colleague do his filling on saturday, and me do my filling on sunday. I finished up with my saturday patient and went on a bike ride. mid-way back form my ride, colleague called (at 5:45) and said,"Pavlov, I am still here at the clinic, they just finished grading me after 45 minutes, and I have to temporize the preparation and work on it tomorrow."

"F", I thought.
Don't count on things happening the way you envision. Well, after consulting various sources, I decided to let colleague finish his filling, and me roll the dice with my back up patients, less than ideal cavity. I did not know if it would get accepted or not, but I guess that is what you get when you lend a hand...

Sunday came and went, stress city, and I finished WREB national boards. Now just 4 weeks to wait for the results.

Boards and McDonalds

2008-04-10T05:02:00.000-07:00

It is 6 am and I am having breakfast this morning with Bob at club McDonalds. The nicest one in town. They have plasma TVs and leather couches.

This was the first time I had been to McDonalds since last year driving to dead dog classic where we broke down twice in route to the race in Laramie, Wy.

I have boards starting this morning and for the next four days, dentistry is my life(wait, it has been for the last four years).

Big Creek Weekend

2008-04-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

Got 4th sunday, while teammate Jon V took 3rd. Read about it here

Race Report - Altoona RR

2008-04-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

Six team memebers travel to Altoona, IA to kick off the race season. Here is their (my) story:

Jon V. and I started the 65 mile road race, and had talked previously about riding the first part of the race conservitavely. If a break were to occur, the idea was to wait and then bridge up to the other.

On the first lap, some fellow racer stated that Cam, Landen, and Nathan got away at this very spot; a series of rollers with a headwind. It thought to myself, noted and concure. On the next lap, I attacked on those same rollers and got a small gap with two compatriote racers, some guy and Adam Price.

We traded a series of pulls and after two laps, had put 1:10 on the field. Some guy started to cramp up and was not pulling his weight, so this promped Adam and I to ride away from him. With another lap under our belt, Adam began to cramp also. Now a word about Adam Price - the guy is great, he will and does everything in his own power to get a break going in every race. Just today, he did not have the legs, and started to cramp up. I would have like to wait for him, but it wasn't in the cards today.

I started the last lap, the last 11 miles solo. I tried to ride on edge as well as possible, but looked back and saw three riders bridging up to me. Jon V, and two Bike to You guys. I was throughly cooked, and decided that I would do no more work for me the rest of the race. I had burned too many matches strying to stay away.

We road into the finishing stretch and Jon V took second in the sprint; I took third. A pretty big step up from last year; crashing out of the Altoona road race.

A word about the rest of the Team - Landen 3rd, Ian - 4th, Spence - 1st, Dave R - 4th. Everyone in the money, everyone happy.

Also, thanks to Dee Mable for the water bottle, you always need one extra.

Fin

Some new Pictures

2008-04-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

My New nutrition scheme

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New Felt F1

Some friends in Utah

Critical Mass (ride)

2008-04-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

One thousand apologies for the once a week blog activity. Many things have transpired in the last week, all of which have kept me from blogging.

1. I did not get the job in Bend. More news to come on that note.
2. I have been on Oral Surgery rotation, pulling teeth, scalping gums, placing dental implants. This does not lend itself to blogging.
3. Got a new race rig. Felt F1. Pictures of the updated stable to come also.
4. Watched one of the weirdest movies ever, Southland Tales. From the director of Donnie Darko.
5. Took one of three parts of my national dental boards.

Now to the most interesting thing that has happened:

I was driving home from college yesterday when the traffic rush slowed, and I noticed some orphans riding their bikes. The interesting thing about this motley crew was that it wasn't just 2-3 riders in the bunch, it was 30. This fistful of 20 somethings were riding their bike on crowed streets, had music strapped on their bikes, and a sign that read,"Omaha Critical Mass."

Now anytime one sees this many cyclist in the great city of Omaha, further inverstigation is needed. I followed these chaps to their destination, and asked about their mission. A slender fellow in black levi's and a black coat jumped up to explain that this was a Critical Mass ride. Commuters in other cities get together once a month and ride, to raise advocacy for fellow cyclists, he explained. The critical mass ride would be leaving every first friday of the month from the park by the bike coop in omaha. Nicely done.

And then their were two

2008-03-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

Six days have elapsed since I haven't ridden (a road bike). I sold that bike, you see, and have been rolling around on my TT rig. Which would be great if there were any time trials around the corner, but there really isn't. As one could imagine, I am getting pretty sore. That isn't really a position man was ment to ride 15 hour in a week.

I road with Dave Rogers today. I couldn't get ahold of Spence or Landen, hence the blog title. We went out to see the palace he is building by Blair/Ft Calhoun. Awesome. Although we didn't get Dave Lippold miles in today, we still had a great, long day in the saddle.

I called a good friend and made arrangements for the Altoona RR/Big creek RR weekend. Team Kaos is bringing 6 over. It should be a good weekend.

The MGT

Yesterday

2008-03-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

-Went to the shop to pic up some stuff I ordered.

-Saw Bryan, Chris, and Jack at shop. They too were spending money they didn't have on bike stuff.

- Talked to Kingsberry via mobile phone. Apparently, he hates school at Veturbo. He started a cycling team and ordered skinsuits. I told him to order me one. He said the team was 6 short. I told him to order me three. If any of you need a black skinsuit with an green alien on it, let me know.

-Did not make the shop ride because dentistry went long, again. I instead, road with Landen. We went up north to NP dodge park. He talked about his fitness test yesterday. I am probably going to the Jose Gonzalez show tonight at the slowdown

-Went over to Dave Rogers house to pick up some shoes. He ordered the shimano shoes one size to big. He bought new ones from the shop, and I took those big shoes off his hands.

-Watched dave ride for an hour. I read Velonews, Drank a beer, and watched Hell of the North.

All and All, a good day.

Race Sched

2008-03-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the long awaited and overdue schedule for the spring/summer. Notice not only the races, but the amount of weddings I have this summer. Enjoy.

April 5-6 Altoona RR/Big Creek RR
April 10 Elkhart TT
April 11-13 Western Regional National Boards (WREBS).
April 21 Chad Wendel Wedding
April 26-27 IC weekend
May 8 Elkhart TT
May 10 Graduation from Dental School
May 17 Nebraska State TT
May 24 Snake Ally Business
June 7 Anne Rottinghaus Wedding
June 12-14 Las Vegas for Olympic Wrestling trials
June 21-22 Ft Collins cycling festival
June 28 michelle Wilk wedding
July 11-14 Cascade Classic or Dave Babcock Memorial Stage race (job dependant)
July 20-27 ragbrai
August 2,3 High Desert Omnium (job dependant)
August 11 KC weekend
August 16 Boulder Roubaix
August 17 North Boulder Park Crit
August 29 Eugene Celebration (job dependant)
August 30 Santa Fe stage race Lamar CO

If I am forgetting anything, let me know

The Management

My friends

2008-03-17T19:42:00.001-07:00

I have alway been fortunate to associate with some cool dudes in my day. Landen, Ian, Rev, KP5000, Dave R, Dave Baxter, Sketty, Tango, etc.
Two people were very instrumental in getting me started with bike racing. One was my friend Tim. he took me to my first crit... where I crashed and broke my hand.

That is him sandwiched between Levi and Scott. He had a hell of a race and beat Scott, and only finishing second fiddle to levi. Congrats.

Weekend

2008-03-16T21:41:00.001-07:00

I got an opportunity to enjoy some good riding with some good folk this weekend. This morning, I awoke and quickly made my way to Scooters coffee on 120th and blondo to meet

Landen

Marco

and Dave

for a ride. The adgenda was that of non-seriousness and recolection, talking about the going away party that we went to last night.

You see, Marco is moving to Denver next week, and this may be the last time I get to enjoy his company on the roads circum-omaha. Be that as it may, he had better get ready for me in the area once I graduate in May. I am an avid couch surfer and I love the rockies.

Thanks for all your advise, wisdom, and the laughs etc...

The Management

George Washington

2008-03-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

I started watching Brad Neely's work one year ago. I watched his entire catalogue of cartoons ad nasuim, and then forgot about him. Sorry, Brad. His most notable work thus far include a cartoon rap about George Washington and Cartoon about two college educators apply named the Professor Brothers.

Here are two my personal favorites. These are a bit edgy, so don't watch if you are easily offended. Click on the Neely hyperlink to get his full catalogue.

1. George Washington
2.History Lesson

Rev, I think you will like this one...

Awareness Test

2008-03-13T22:49:00.001-07:00

Watch This

My good friend happened across this advetisement.

One thing that was missing from omaha

2008-03-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what it is? A Bike COOP. An acquantance of mine, Emrick Brown planned for this to go down almost 1.5 years ago. Thanks to all his hard work, we now have a bike COOP in omaha.

Come one, come all, to the open house 5-7pm this Saturday March 15th. The bike COOP is located on 33th and california, right next to california tacos and more. Come celebrate with food and drink and see the new place we can truely call home.

Small world

2008-03-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

I finally got home from bend, slept 12 hours to erase car ride fatigue, and then the obvious thing to do sunday afternoon was go riding. I went up to ft calhoun, around, and back. On the way back, I happened upon a rider. He was riding along on a green 1990's giant, cold weather parka, and cloths pins attached to his pants.

Instead of rolling along, I decided to see what he was up too. I later found out that he was training for a century ride. He was planning to ride to York, NE to help his best friend set up a new bathroom. Upon later inquiry, I found out that he was originally from argentina. In So. America, cloths pins aid commuter businessmen to keep their pants clean from the drive-side bracket. I wish I lived in Argentina. He said he had been out for 5 hour on sunday. That trumps my 3.5 hrs.

Third random fact, he went to grace university and roomed with my neighbor from Charles City, Nathan Kooyman.

Funny what you learn when you slow down and talk to someone who is enjoying the road with you. John Wright, it was nice to meet you

2008-03-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Nebraska and Iowa,

get your stuff together. Meet, call each other, or whatever. Just don't schedule races on the same day and then wonder why your turnout is half what you thought it would be.

Case 1 - the Dave Babcock Memorial stage race and Blue Booze and Barbeque weekend in Clear Lake. Both, from what I gather are great races. July 12

Case 2 - Race formally known as the Lincoln Plating (Spring Classic) and Finchford Roubaix. April 13.

Yes, I understand that not all races can be coordinated for separate weekends. But the there are 4 weekends in May that are free. Use them. A little communication and we would all be racing these weekend and not twiddling thumbs in the month of may.

Sincerely,

The management.

20 things I did on Spring Break

2008-03-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

-Experienced 81 degree weather in Ogalala
-Experienced 20 degree weather plus winter snow advisory in Boulder, Co next day
-Got food poisoning at the Med in Boulder, Co
-Saw Maria, Dave, Katlyn, and Kelli

-Stayed at the foot of snowbird ski resort in Castle Egbert
-interview for dental job

-road bachelor, skyline, aubrey butte, flagstaff
-Played shoot the box at JC's - Lindsey took all my money
-Ran out of gas
-Hitchhiked

-Stayed in palace on aubrey butte
-at dinner in a church
-drove 50+ hours in the car.
Ok so that is only 12. I ran out of time or attention. Whatever. enjoy.

Lost time

2008-03-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

I have lost time and realized that I haven't written a blog in over a week. A lot has happen this week- Boulder, Salt Lake City, Boise, Bend and now the Hampton Inn in Rock Springs.

A quick word of thanks to the 600+ people that have visited my blog!

As you may know, I had an interview and also looked at buying a practice in Bend. More to come about that, but I cased every road in Bend for team Kaos for the CCC. Skyliner Road, Piolet Butte, Mount Bachelor there all still there and are ready to tear our legs off.

The Rope-A-Dope

2008-03-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Many sports fan remember the rope-a-dope to be a specific pugilistic style where Mohommad Ali bested George Forman in their famous fight in South Africa. Well, the rope-a-dope I am talking about has nothing to do with boxing and more to do with the temperature change we have seen on our spring break.

Lindsey and I left the greater Omaha area Saturday morning being ushered out with 50 degree weather. The more westward we drove the higher the temperature rose. 50..63..69..78... In Ogala, NE the temperature climbed to 81. Crazy. We arrived in Boulder Saturday night and were quickly greated by Maria, Dave, KK, and Kelli. After offerings of food and drink, we went to bed fully expecting to ride outdoors with more warm weather. Bam! Rope-a-dope. I quickly woke and walked down stairs to hear Maria confirm,"Well, the weren't wrong about the weather." It had dropped 50 degrees, snowed 3 inches, and hit us off guard with a large left hook.

Now we are trying to decide which corse of action we need to take... Ride indoors, X/C ski or a combination plate of the two following.

Spring break

2008-02-28T06:45:00.000-08:00

I am currently enjoying the morning while drinking Vic's coffee from Boulder, Co. My sister and Kim brought me some coffee for all the good samaritian work that I have done over the last week. In two days, I go on spring break. Now, I know what you are thinking... Spring break? It is still winter. Well, Creighton University School Of Dentistry believes that they can just throw spring break wherever they want. Most likely, in an attempt to decrease the amount of fun we have over this week. My Plans for the week are as follows -

Saturday morning - Early ride and then hit the road to Boulder. Stay With Marie and Dave
Sunday morning - Ride with Marie, Lindsey, etc. Possibly, hook up with ralph for coffee
Monday morning - Drive to Salt Lake City and hang out with Nic Eggbert
Tuesday Morning - Drive to Bend
Wednesday - Interview for one job and look at a practice for sale.
Thursday-Saturday - Bend and then drive home.

Hopefully, I will get to see my friends Steve, Gina, Ed, Marie, Dave, Ralph, and that lady that owns Thai on the Fly.

Driving to Bend seems crazy, but I need a car, need my bike, and Lindsey is coming, so that cuts on cash expense also. (She also needs here bike and we were not going to pay 350 for two bike boxes). More to come...

Overreaction

2008-02-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

Sunday night - and right now I am watching American Gangster. I had two rides outside, totaling... wait, I'm not supposed to tell. It wasn't as much as those guys in the TOC guys. Anyway, I watched the TOC both days and those days looked epic. Tough guy points all around. You know a tour is tough when only 80 of 135 starters finish. Hats off to Tom Zirbel from Clear
Lake, he almost pulled off the stage. Note - Two guys in the top 5 in this last stage from Iowa (Jason and Tom).

I road with Landen, Spence, and Dave Rogers today; I was pretty happy that it got up to 49 degrees. Maybe those guys in so cal should have ridden in the Tour of Nebraska and not a tour of California today!

Now to the story...

After 4:30 of riding today, and various angry motorist, I was reaching the end of my ride when a red Toyota X-terra rolled passed me. He slowed down beside me yelled something inaudible, and advanced his rig 100 meters. Now the 3000 kcal defect had played its toll on my brain, and I was suffering from what we in the business call hypoglycemia. I screamed and waved my hands in the air and motioned for the X-terra to stop and discuss our interaction.

He reversed in the street, and I told him that I had every right to be in the street and I payed taxes also. I was livid and ready to through down. What I did not understand at the time was that this fellow was in fact a cyclist and just wanted to say hi, and that he had no problem sharing the road with me. I missed that one. Over reaction. I Felt like a huge asshole. Of all the people I could have ran into, it was a cyclist in omaha. Go figure.

Also, Happy 55th Birthday to my dad!

Week in review

2008-02-22T08:06:00.000-08:00

Above is Landen and Kim. Their speed makes me feel like a Cat 5 when I ride with them. Wish both of them a great season!

Above is my sister, apparently inspecting for blemished etc. Have fun in Colorado!

Above is a picture of my friend, vegas. He just shattered his wrist, so I have been told. Get well.

Enough of that. Now, this week has been the best in recent memory, with the TOC, friends stopping in, riding, and the prospect of nice weather this weekend.

First off, I have been sleeping great in the igloo called my apartment because of the invention know as the heated blanket. I had a heated blanket on loan from Lindsey, but it was more of a 2, and I needed an 11. Last week in Des Moines, my mom bought me the best gift ever. I heated blanket that crisps the skin if left on too long. Thanks mom!

Landen and Lindsey have been coming over to ride/watch the TOC that I tevo following work/school. I has been great to get some new cycling on TV. And the race is exciting. My dark horse for the TT victory today would have to be... Christian Vande Velde. I would think that Tom Zirbel, Jason McCartney, and BJM will ride a good time, they all did top 10 last year.

On wednesday, I got a call from Ian. "Pav, big favour". The favour was to let him and his dad sleep at my house that night. It was supposed to be a 10:30 ETA, ended up being a 12:30 ETA. Whatever the case, it was good to see Ian and Bob and get the update about Bob, his running, Eugene, his staph infected foot, and his daughter Erin's race walking.

Thursday was the day for me to take Kristin, Kim, Maria, Kelli, and KK to the airport. They drove in from Des Moines and were flying to Denver to get some skiing in this week. The picked me up, we got Noodles and Company, and enjoyed each others company until I took them to the Omaha airport. After we had finished our meal, a Noodles worker came by with pesto/ckicken pasta dish. "Is this yours," she said. "No, but I'll eat it if you are going to just throw it away," I rationed. 5 minutes elapse time, and she came back with the pasta dish for me to devour. Free meals... nice.

Weekend plans include watching to TOC, riding outside with Landen, and going to Marks secret birthday party... whoops. Not so secret anymore.

Unremarkable

2008-02-20T06:35:00.000-08:00

That sums up the restaurant, Old Mattress Bar and Grille. I went to lunch there this afternoon. The building was a beautiful historical landmark, and the interior was modern and urban. I perused the menu for something that caught my eye... nothing. I asked the server what course on the menu was so good that I would want to send friends/family to the Matt. She did not really have a good answer. She said that they were very busy, but mostly during the Quest center events. It may have location, but taste it did not. It is a pity that business now a days can rely on where the business is, and not the quality of product that it gives it consumers. I had the Smoked Salmon salad. It was ok, nothing like Kirk Phillips Smoked products. The salad had corn with some type of grainy accoutrement. Upon further inspection, the chef sautéed the corn in butter, let the corn cool, and the aftermath was this texture... weird. Oh, the salad came with a muffin, poppy seed, I think. Good, but didn't really go with a salad. Finally, we had "homemade" hummus. Now I am quite the lover of hummus... I eat it practically every day. This was the worst part of the meal, no Tahini, no garlic, no cumin. In one word, it was unremarkable.

Good things come in two's PArt 1

2008-02-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

2 Tacos
2 Tamales
2 Kims
2 new CD's
2 Parents
2 Breweries
2 Days
..oh, and 15 coffees/ 8 hours on the bike and one heated blanket.

Above is the weekend cliff notes. Study well, there will be a test.

I went to Des Moines this weekend for a couple of reasons:1. Dad's Birthday/see mom and dad 2. Watch State Wresting 3. See Des Moines friends.
We Started out the weekend on Friday watching state wrestling semifinals with my Dad and Kim. We could not find a seat, so Kim wandered with much purpose and more vicoden into a box seat marked "reserved - firestone tires"

15 minutes elapsed until we were kicked out of the box seating. Kim was way too slow on the explanation about who he knew from Firestone. We continued to watch Tanner Schmitt from Charles City clean some kids clock en route to his first state championships.

Following the wrestling and a trip to the post office we decided that it was 5 o'clock somewhere. We visited Raccoon River Brewery for adult sodas and snacks. I had their cherry wheat first and stout second. The stout was delicious, but more so served the purpose of washing the foul taste of cherry wheat out of my mouth. Then on to Granite City Brewery for some fish and chips, beer tasting, and conversation with the 'rents. It was great to see them, if only for two days.

Aside - I really appreciate my parents/my friends/my family support on the bike. They(you) all realize that I cannot always go do every tiny thing with them(you). I appreciate the understanding.

I then met Dave Williams and some of his friends to shut the box. A popular English dice game that takes entirely too much time, money, and patience. I started with 2 dollars and played until 3! I even saw an old classmate who coaches for Fort Dodge, Drew Kelly. The last time I saw him was 7 years ago in omaha at the UNO wrestling open (where he won).

Saturday was an exercise in forgetfulness. It started out with breakfast/coffee at the hotel, then the mall. My parents went to a movie and I had heard about a ride afoot at 1 pm. I made it to waterworks park with ample time, but forgot some crutial pieces of winter wear... gloves and booties. Lane, Dave, Chad, and new guy showed up, as did Jane, Kelli, Lou, and two other random whom I did not know. Luckily, Chad (saint/boy scout) had an extra pair of gloves to lone me for the ride. 4 hours later, two frozen hands + two frozen feet confirmed what I already knew... living in Iowa for winters blows. I also felt comfort in the fact that yes, dave still loves to pull everyone around, and apparently, Chad is the guy that drills the hills in Des Moines (in omaha, it is Landen).

Later that night at Dos Robles... my feet finally thawed. More to come (about that)...

so freakin' cold

2008-02-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

So, this is a picture of me in my apartment riding. Seriously. I have been sleeping with a heated blanked, using 5 blankets, and still freezing. I guess this is what you get when you live in an apartment building with 12 foot windows. I read a recent issue of outside magazine. Some blond model was telling us to go ecco and turn our heat down one degree. Well, I am pretty sure hot blond models don't live in nebraska. I'll make a deal with her, she can turn here heat down five degrees in San Diego, and I will turn mine up three.

Things I know not to be true

2008-02-10T16:31:00.000-08:00

I have been on the road and off the road quite a lot in the last few weeks, one stop in particular led me to Des Moines to see family and friends. Why, during that stay, I was welcomed in as a total stranger to a local cyclists house for a soup-er-bowl party. Some thoughts on my recent weeks experience or as the title of this column would suggest:

1. Valentines day. Silly ideas for this week include - buying into the commercialized holiday that is valentines day, auctioning oneself off on ebay for valentines day, and any thing associated with said "holiday".

2. To my friend that I talked to the other day at Costco; Don't let those cyclist freak you out. You joined the sport of cycling for many reasons, none of which involve letting someone stress YOU out about YOUR sport. Cycling is an activity that we enjoy and we make part of our life. We do it not to chase rewards, but to be healthy, athletic, competitive, and social. Racing is just one faucet of cycling. Pencil in a lifetime of this sport and with years of effort - rewards will come. And if they don't at least you were healthy, athletic, competitive, and social doing so. Furthermore, cyclist love to talk big; the ones that talk about their training are riding 1/3 of their mentioned hours, and are 1/2 as fit as they would like to be. It is cyclist way of compensation. Sort of like buying a big red truck with semi exhaust, for guys.

3. The hot tub is the not the social epicenter center of the gym.

4. waking up at 5 am to exercise is crazy and unproductive, unless suffering from insomnia.

Great Success

2008-02-09T15:30:00.000-08:00

The boys at the crime lab with all their forensics, erlamier flasks, and science came within minutes of apprehending the thief that
had stolen the below lobster glove in question. Here is a picture of the alledged criminal fleeing from omaha's finest earlier today. As you can see he has cleverly disguised himself as a coffee grinder, to fool the police.
Upon escape, the thief dropped a bag of what were assumed to be stolen goods, and recovered was one sugoi lobster. Case solved.

Figure 1

2008-02-08T07:04:00.000-08:00

The Case of the missing Lobster Glove

2008-02-07T09:00:00.001-08:00

Or Two gloves enter, One glove leaves.

Lost: Single Lobster glove (see figure 1)
Last seen: Monday evening in laundry room
Reward: Booze
Contact: Me

Above is the sight that I posted in my building this week. The task was innocent enough, wash some cloths and my lobster gloves. Wrong. Someone decided that the wanted one lobster glove more than me. And that is where we stand today. Popular press tells us that a crime is best solved with the evidence in the first 48 hours. Below are a list of sinister fellows, who may be to blame for the theft.

Quote of the day

2008-02-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

This is a quote that was sent to me last night. My friend Michelle is an avid coffee drinker and claims that this is the stuff:

f you can find this coffee i would recommend you try it. its like a kick in the face delivered by an innocent enough porcelain mug...

India Anohki (Liberica Varietal)

I would like to try the stuff, but I am hesitant to drink anything that should have a Warning:"may cause orbital blowout." attached to the mug.

But anything once... right?

New Flash! - Pavlovich named science editor

2008-02-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

It has alway been said that business takes some unexpected turns, and this bend is forcaseted shows the business smarts of CEO of Alagomaha corp., Bryan Redemske. In an interview with Redemske regarding current market trends and the devaluation of the U.S. dollar, Redemske said this,"It was a bold move, but Alagomaha needed to some momentum and something for the shareholders to look forward too... And that was the addition of Matt Pavlovich as our new director of cycling specific research and online science editor.

Pavlovich was unable to comment regarding this new move, his press manager said that he was out doing a ragbrai fitness test. Pav, as his friends call him, often takes an out and back against the clock from Missouri Valley to ames. Alledigely, this aids in measuring his early season ragbrai fitness.

Although the number that Redemske and Pavlovich agreed upon remains confidential, Redemske is no slouch when it comes to negotioations. "He was demanding a 15% increase from his current salaried position... but in this market... with the recession... he was lucky he got a portion of what he demanded." Insiders say that in addition to the lucritive salary, Pavlovich recieved Redemske's award winning fajita recipe.

In any case, Alagomaha readers should be excited to see that Pavlovich's first science editorial will be published following his Missouri Valley - Des Moines loupe.

Owl Rock - Aches National Park

2008-01-30T09:06:00.000-08:00

Below is on of the climbs that I did in Moab, years ago. Enjoy

Rock Climbing

2008-01-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

Athletic career: 2001

My first year at college (creighton university) was a exercise in undoing all the athleticism and fitness I had built up over the last 19 year. College calbre wrestler, undone. 2:02 half-mile, undone. Didn't drink beer in high school, fine. Now I will drink ten. Didn't eat mac-and-cheese or ramen noodles, fine. Now, three servings for late night. It was a exercise in glutny, and I was getting great marks. Interestingly enough, I some how managed some great grades that year. It probably had something to do with all the extra calories... or brain food that was going around.

I came home following my first year and decided that I no longer wanted the extra 20 lbs. It was unsightly, and I looked like a fat hippie, in my college tie-dye, flip flops, and shoulder length hair. I first got a job at an animal pharmicuticals company in charles city. One upside of the 6 am start time was that I could no longer go out and drink, at all. I tried it once, and things did not go well. Trust me. Standing up helping to produce drugs for barnyard animals in a moon suit does not lend itself to feeling hung over.

Another perk of the company was that the CEO had some kind of dispute with the local YMCA. Apparently, the Y wanted too much for membership for the 1000 employees, so in striking Mike Ball fashion(get it...) he said,"Fine..I guess I'll just build our own gym." And he did. 80-90k worth of fitness equipment... probably two years worth of what the YMCA wanted for membership. I started work in mid-may, and more importantly, I started workouts as well. Run and lift was the extent of my exercise, just did that 1-2 hours a day to start the path back to fitness. Apparently, I was the only one in the company that know that the gym existed. I would go weeks without seeing a soul.

One of the aspirations of a 19 year old returning to physical activity is to have the pecs, abs, and shoulders that is achievable with dilligence in the weight room and at the dinner table. Although I don't have any body for life pics, I assure you I was succeeding.

It was at this dinner table that my close friend and old wrestling coach posed the question,"Why do you want to get that way, anyone can do that. Why not do something challenging with your life, like climb a mountain." Brilliant. With that one statement, I know what was going to happen. I would start climbing. But how? I lived in Iowa...

Some quick recon shed some valuable information. The was a climbing gym at UNI in Cedar Falls. However, they charged 10 dollars per climb for non-students. Problem solved. Adam , my friend from high school purchased a summer long climbing pass for me... he was a university student. I was on my way to being a rock climber.

Another perk of my job was I only worked 4 days per week. This lent itself to more working out and some travel time on weekends as well. My schedule allowed me to go down twice a week and climb at their gym. There, I met some fellow climbers that offered a spot in their car that weekend to redwing minnesota to climb and camp... I accepted, learned how to climb out doors and the rest is history.

I came back to Creighton, started a rock climbing club that was financed by the university, took trips to minnesota, missouri, moab, and competed in the flat lands rock climbing competition in lincoln where I placed second. In all actuality, climbing may be my favorite sport. You don't have to do anything but climb and you body magically chisels itself under its own weight. Every climber I know, male or female has the ideal body, not too bulky not to lean, just right. Including the red-head that was imbarasingly good at UNO yesterday.

The reason I remember this stint, I because I went for the first time in 4 years, yesterday. I arrived to meet my friend from dental school, Nic. Right when I arrived to the UNO gym, I saw Nic working a bouldering problem. It was evident that Nic had traded in some winter weight, for the climbers physique, much like I had 7 years ago.

Climbing goes along with any other principles of physiology, use it or loose it. When I stopped climbing in 2004, I could sport climb 5.11-5.12 routes. In layman terms, I would have had to start climbing daily to see any greater gains if I were to continue with the sport. Or much like a good cat 3 cyclist trying to chase upgrade points in cycling. Everyday climbing workouts maybe hard, however, lifting my fingers(like right now) following my "every 4 years" climbing session trumps all of that business.

Monday

2008-01-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

The close call for today was not five seconds after I stepped of my bike following my ride... rain. Like every other cyclist in Nebraska, I took advantage of the 55 degree weather by riding outside. The roads were great, and it was nice to get reacquainted with the local truck driving blowhards. As previously stated, I am at the end of a training block so today is a recovery week. It would have been nice to ride for 3-4 hours, but my idea is when you ride, you ride lots and when you rest you rest lots. I finished my recovery ride and as luck would have it, it started to rain immediately after I returned from my ride. Moral of the story - stick to the plan and you don't get wet.

Team Picture of Kaos riders.

2008-01-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

Sunday take two

2008-01-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

Preseason meetings - ah yes. we met at the upstream, had pizza and veggies, and heard about sponsors, jerseys, races, etcera, etcera. It was great to see everyone at this time of year, and my initial impression about the upcoming season is that Kaos has developed into a team of sinew climbers. John -thin, James -thin, Bryan -thin, Landen -thin, Dave -thin. Next years prediction - Dave Rogers and John Vondrocek rip stuff in the 3's and in master. John weighed 168 lbs. I could hardly keep his wheel in LPSR when he weighed 180 lbs. He is going to be fast.

In other news, I just finished up a training block. Three weeks X 17 hours. Now it is time to rest. when I mean rest, I mean 10.5 hours. Not off the bike like some local endurance guru's would have us do. And that is what I just did got in... a 90 min nap. Ready to go spin the legs out and gum up my bike some more in this 55 degree weather...yeah!

Ride well,
Pav

Sunday take one

2008-01-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

While I make a last minute attempt at writing the sunday night coorespondence, I casually glance over at my bike. I wish that someone would clean that thing! It is amazing what accumulates on a bike after 4 hours. I started a long day by going over to Lindsey's house for some breakfast. I met Lindsey, Bob, Andy, and Nic for Coffee, Cinnimon rolls, salmon/bell pepper scramble, fruit, homemade granola, and yogurt this morning. If you couldn't guess, that girl know how to do breakfast! It was great to connect with everyone, and see how their winter seclusion was going.

"One roadie and four triathlete do breakfast." would have been the headline in Omaha. Luckily there is no anomosity between these two unique animals(in omaha). My plan was to roll out of town in the group, and following a warmup, get my zone 2 work in. This worked out perfect because everyone else was riding different lengths(2-4.5hrs) so it allowed for the group to break up and people to do their own thing. Whether it be for five minutes or five hours, riding with company after bat cave type winter seclusion is always a plus.

note: I would like to get a large weekly ride( ~4 hours) going at this early part of the season. I talked to a friend in Des Moines the other day and he sad that this is how their wednesday ride goes. No racing, just riding. I told him I did not know that such a thing existed. We will see how it works. Perhaps next Sunday (weather permitting), we can do my place for the caffeine and pancakes, and then a nice group ride?