se7en days

1 week. 168 hours. 10,080 minutes. 604,800 seconds.

Next Friday is the big day, Shannon and I will get married down in NOLA. Wedding prep and wedding work is a ton of work. Just ask Shannon. She has handled about 90% of it, and has been incredible at it. It's one more day in the office and then it's down to NOLA and then on to Cabo. By the way, once in Cabo all forms of public contact- phone, blog, facebook, twitter and email will all be removed from my access. Score.

What eles has been keeping me busy? I have been jam packed with work, including a couple days in Vegas for Interbike. Below are some of the highlights from the show.

Engin was beautiful at the Edge booth.

As usual, Vicious made my mouth water.

White-walls are so yesterday. It's all about White-alls.

Nino Schuter. World Champion and his special little stem.

Independent Fabrications was showing off their showstopping track bike. It was started on the American new year and finished on the Chinese new year. Get it?

This is so gold. Anyone who knows Troy can appreciate this.

Lance Armstrong's Leadville 100 winning whip.

Of course, the one and only Mark Cavendish bike was on display. It was the most viewed bike at the show, hands down.

Also, did I ever post this? If not, I sure meant to. My dad took this at his house. So Gold.

Single Speed World Championships

Durango, CO 2009

Here I am again, sitting in Durango Bagel like it's 2008. I am back in Durango for a part homecoming, part bachelor party, part single speed worlds. Combine those for on exhausting but overly satisfying weekend.

The fun began about an hour after my plane landed on Thursday. I went on a great mountain bike ride to stretch the legs out, and more importantly feel the Durango dirt again. Schmidty, Jesse and T Wells threw an awesome bachelor party for me. We know it was a success because it did make the police blotter in the Durango Herald.

8:15 p.m. There was a loud party in the 600 block of Valentine Drive. Police responded and learned it was a bachelor party, and the participants were about to move it downtown.

After we moved the party downtown this is how things began-



And this is how it ended. At Denny's like any other successful evening on the town.


The next day I made sure to make it into the backcountry for a little hiking a my first ever attempt at fly fishing. And yes, that is a black bear we saw on the way to the trail head. Then, we found it's tracks on the trail we were hiking. Sketchy.




Finally, Saturday was here and it was time for teh Single Speed World Championships. Over 2,,000 people showed up, 987 of them in full costume. Everything ranging from cops to penguins. It rocked. The course was 22 miles on literally the most difficult course possible. There was an epic hike-a-bike lasting about 25 minutes as we crawled out way up the mountain side. Once on top, it was Raider's Ridge. If you don't know the Ridge, here is what you need to know. Hold you line and balance at 3 mph while riding the most technical terrain imaginable and don't fall to the right or you wont touch ground again for a thousand feet or so. There was a small prop plane flying overhead for that entire section, I will source out the video/photos they shot.

After about 2 1/2 hours of grueling singletrack and climbing I made it to the finish line somewhere in the top 50 I've heard. Oh, and I can't forget the hilarious feed stations on course- about a half dozen beer feeds, a pot feed, more beer feeds, a live band, and then finally a whiskey and bacon feed just before the final section of trail. Epic. I did not take part in them all, only some.

Check out this sweet picture of Danny Pate. You may remember him for this years Tour de France where he rode for Garmin-Slipstream. He totally rocks, and on this day he was rocking the penguin suit.


To wrap things up, Saturday evening belonged to the party at Ska Brewing. It was 'hosting camp'. This is where there is a compition to decide where Single Speed Worlds will be held the following year. Chad 'Chainsaw' Cheeny put together a basketball game, with New Zealand and Italy represented. Try to imagine a bunch of cyclist throwing down in a b-ball game. It was a joke and it was a funny one.

The outcome... We will see you in New Zealand in 2010.

The ultimate full carbon fiber townie

This was for sale. Now it's not. I thought you may want to read about it anyway.

This full carbon Argon 18 Krypton has been turned into the ultimate townie. Just a year ago it was a bad to the bone race machine. As a matter of fact this exact frame won the crit at the Tour of the Gila in 2008. It was in the cat. 3 field but that is still pretty badass. It was a owned by a buddy of mine who was just going to leave it in his garage, naked of components. I adopted the beauty and put a good bit of work into it, starting with the naked but very sexy frameset.



Yes, this is a full carbon frame and fork which makes it the most bad to the bone townie… in town. I began by dropping in a pair of Velomax Circuit wheels that were also slightly used on the road racing scene. These wheels sell for $300 alone (they are now renamed as Easton, if you’re a searching or them). Wrapped around the wheels are two different tires for two different purposes. In the front is a Continental Grand Prix 4000 clincher tire. Conti tires are known for durability so having this as the first line of defense against you and the unforgiving payment is a must. On the back is a Michelin Pro Race 2, known for speed. It is also known for the tubby Michelin Man that would ride a bike almost as cool as this one.

The wheels are attached with Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 skewers. Yes, that is true. These skewers alone retail for $129.00 alone! Feel free to Google that up!



I then inserted a full carbon Truvativ Team seatpost, with a Fizik Arione Wingflex Team saddle. The saddle and post combo alone have a $270 value. But to be honest the saddle has a crack across the bottom, but that only adds a slight suspension feeling. Think of it as a Buick turned into a Cadillac. I keep the setup in place with a Salsa Lip Lock seat collar. So pro.


Up front is the full carbon Argon 18 fork mated to a Cane Creek IS2 integrated headset. Not to be one to miss a detail, I have even outfitted this machine with carbon fiber headset spacers.


The stem is a totally modded out and custom with a On-One 4-bolt frontal faceplate. For aesthetic sex appeal I dropped a small hole through the center of the stem for the routing of the front brake cable. No, it does not interfere with the structural integrity, nor does it have a practical purpose. It just looks sick and that’s all that matters. Right?

The front brake uses an Avid Speed Dial 7 lever and Shimano 105 brake caliper. This just slows you down so I don’t recommend using it if you’re a hard-man.

I have a pair of upside down mustache bars mounted to the front of the stem. They really set off the bike and scream it’s purpose – cruising the strip and looking like the man. You can stand up and hammer down to beat the next stop light, or beat the riced out ’97 Honda Civic with a spoiler sitting next to you. The bars are wrapped with Arundel Gecko Tape. Again, Google that up if you don’t know about it. It’s some fancy pants handlebar tape.


Let’s talk drivetrain- Shimano Compact cranks in 170mm length keep this guy turning. It has a 34 tooth single chainring. I opted for a shorter length crank so there was never a hesitation to stop pedaling while railing a turn and trying not to skid out and bust your butt on the painted cross-walk markings in front of you. They use an external Shimano bottom bracket, pretty much what all those hunks rode in the Tour de France this year. This bike could live in the streets or Portland or slopes of the Pyrenees.

The rear wheel is 9/10 speed compatible but I have spacers setup to run a single cog. No, it is not a fixed gear. Again, no it is not fixed gear. This means you can stop pedaling and use the single mounted front brake to stop instead of blowing out your knee’s acting like a NYC messenger. I used an STS singulator which works flawlessly and can accept any size rear cog. The bike has a 15 tooth cog on the wheel. With a 34/15 setup I find this to be the perfect gear for cruising town. It will keep you at a good clip when on flat streets but will allow you to crank up the hills. Of course you can tear apart any cassette and change the gearing to your sweetest little desires. If you’re a manier man than me just drop a smaller cog on the back or a larger ring on the front.


There was a small scuff on the non-drive side rear chainstay. The bike was like this when I received it from my old racing buddy. I put some JB-Weld over the blimmish and I’ve been riding it for 8 months like this. Trust me, it will not break at this point, its not even close. I bet the baseboard of your bed has bigger cracks then this thing would ever turn into. It is shown in the pictures, it has black sharpie over the JB-Weld to hide the band-aid.

There is a SRAM PC-991 chain with master quick link for cleaning in after you ride through street grime of the knarliest degree.

Sizing up:

The seattube from center-top is 56.5cm
The seattube from center-center is 52cm
The top tube center-center is 55cm

Like father like son.

Here is a hint of my wedding present from my dad. I'll just say that
this blog will come back to life shortly. In a big, colorful way. Stay
tuned...

Unreal. My first ever CD was Michael Jackson History, double disc set that my dad bought me. You will be missed.

To break the seriousness. This if from The Onion: Last piece of Michael Jackson Dies was headline yesterday.

Last week there was an absoultely beautiful shower for Shannon and I. Hosted at the home of Mike and Beth Coulson, along with our great friends Barbara Graves and Barry McDaniels. They have always been extremely nice to our family, and that was shown to everyone in attendance.

Shannon and I are in Fayetteville for a three day weekend. Her friend Kati is getting married on Saturday. Shannon is a brides maid and gets to do all the fun stuff that goes along with that. I get to do fun things to like mountain bike and kayak at Lake Fayetteville, then join in for the rehearsal dinner at Theos. Congratulations Jeff and Kati! I will bring my notepad, Shannand and I get hitched in just four months.

I was excited to get a new iPhone today. Well, really just update my existing one to 3.0, but the updates always feel like a new phone. I should be careful what I wish for. I did get a new phone but in a beatup old body. iTunes thought it would throw me for a loop and totoally restore my phone to factory settings. Then I used the backup copy to get it back to normal, but it forgot all of my 3rd party applications. This new cut/paste/copy feature better be better than and iced mocha with a scoop of gelato inside (ZaZa).

I don't claim to be a top 100 Twitter'r by any means. But when people use their updates to say "driving" or "working out" or "taking a dump" this is when I unfollow them. Just shut up... or compile all of your lame Tweets into one jumbled up one like "out driving taking a working dump".

If your not doing it already, follow my Twitter account for work. You will get huge deals like 50% on things that are never even 30% off. @compcyclistroad and @comcyclistmtb

Billy Mayes just came on TV.

We finished up the 4th and final round of the Ronde van Burns crit series on Wednesday. Competitive Cyclist's own Zach Martin powered to the win and overall series victory. Sam Keesler was 2nd that day, and 2nd overall for the series. I ened up 3rd in the series and 4th that day after jumping away from the field with four laps to go, chasing down the Heiniken Keg Can preme, bingo. Also, I want to give HUGE props to the guys coming down from Jonesboro each week to keep it fast. My buddy Michael (Trent) Talley and I had a personal sportmanship rivalry each preme lap of each race. We literally would look at each other in the eye and start laughing, waiting for the first attack from one another. I am not afraid to admit it, I never passed him for a win. Never, he has tree trunk legs. A few times I got the jump early and earned a preme, but if he jumped first I off his wheel like a dress on prom night. Thanks for the good clean fun Trent, and enjoy your BMC Swiss Technology belt!

Does anybody have a kayak for sale? I am really itching to somehow get a playboat, creek boat or something slightly larger in volume. Give me a shout, especially if you need bike stuff so we can work something out.

Happy Fathers Day.

Here is my virtual present to all the dads out there. 95-piece
Craftsman Socket Wrench Set.

Lets backtrack a few days; Wednesday (6/3) was the Ronde Van Burns crit series. Our company is putting the race on, and naturally we rolled to the line with a solid team of a half-dozen. The 60 minute race began with a break away, but was eventually brought back. Kris French and I were somehow 'expected' to dual it out, and that's exactly what happend. We literally attacked the field at the exact same time, and just went with it. To be clear, neither of us attacked first, with the other one following, rather we attacked at the same moment. He and I got a huge gap on the field thanks to my team shutting it down and us hammering down. Five laps later it came down to a sprint, and I held him off in what turned out to be my fastest eve sprint to date. 40 MPH on flat ground (perhaps a slight tailwind).

Here is a video of the finish:



Shannon is gone for the weekend, down to New Orleans to lots of fun wedding stuff. Various food tastings, seeking out chocolate brown tuxedos, hanging with family and of course eating crawfish. Me, I stayed home to hold down the fort. On Saturday I will finally do the Ouachita Vista Trail. It should be a good 3 hours of fresh singletrack. I can't wait.

Mr. Illy Espresso

I will start by introducing today's espresso. He has such a
personallity it had to be done.

International moments from the Pro peloton at the Joe Martin Stage Race:

Italian- Ducati Monster riding the middle of the peloton working its way to the front. Deep, deep rumble.

French- For the second year in a row, a LiveStrong rider rode through the grass field next to the road at 40mph. He somehow pulled it off. Reminiscent of LA at the 2003 tour.

American- Chris Baldwin (Rock Racing) impersonating Billy Mays.

Romantic- Michael Creed (Rock Racing) and Brad Huff (Jelly Belly) riding through the peloton while holding hands for five minutes.

r.o.n.a.d.m

Troy Wells stayed with me this past weekend for the Joe Martin Stage Race. He is a good friend from Durango. Quick. Funny. Story. - I was dropped half way through the 95 mile stage 3 of Joe Martin when Troy attacked the field to try and jump across to a break. When he did that, all 125+ riders followed, or tried at least. I was left shot out the back and riding to the feed zone for an easy trip home in Shannon car. At the time, I didn't know it was Troy attack that shelled me, we figured it out when reviewing his power numbers that night.

For the record, yes I beat Floyd on stage 2 of Joe Martin. For the record, Floyd was at the front all day working his tail off, his teammate Rory Sutherland went on to win. I went on to drop out.

I am getting him back by watching Quantum of Solace right now, he forgot his DVD.

Girls of Fayetteville: They all talk like they have a clothes pin over their nose. They all wear really short shorts. Too bad the former trumps the latter.

"I am done racing."-Noah Singer late 2008.

Wednesday I am signing up for my second stage race of the year. Rocky Point Stage Race.

Summer is coming, I bought a new pair of Rainbow's today. Only my second in 7 years, these things last forever and age like a fine Bourbon. Until they smell like a cheap Bourbon at the same time.

I have always known that BikeSnobNYC was funny, but I was mostly going off reputation. I checked him out today, truly hilarious. Add him to your RSS feed.

Speaking of, I finally started using RSS my self. I suggest Google Reader.

Wednesday is the first Big Ballin Dirt Track Classic. Hopefully it's not flooded out like last week. One question for the promotoers though; why 60 minutes? Heck, even local road crits average 45 minutes. A NORBA short track is 20 minutes and has 100 riders, it is very intense 100% of the time. These will have 1/4 that many, and A) one or two riders will ride off the front and the race will be over B)Everyone will stare into each others eyes for 45 mintues and the race wil never begin. -- I will act like I am standing at the start line right now: " I vote for 25 minutes of racing."

I hope I am wrong on the previous comments, I am looking forward to them either way.

Man, the new Bond chick is beautiful.

Speaking of, I am getting married in October. Shannon, my lovely bride to be, is beautiful as well.

That TMZ TV show is stupid. Really.

For the first time in my life I texted in my vote to American Idol. Hell, the kid does live 20 minutes from me, that is cool.

Got my dillies on the pepa tane.

Twigger

Twitter sure is getting in the way of my Blogger. Weird, that sentence sounds like a babies first with a bunch of fake words. Anyway- we are here at Joe Martin, although it doesn't feel that way because I am out of my normal routine. Usually it's a semester of school, spring break, collegiate racing, Tour of the Gila, then finally Joe Martin. This year my preparation highlights include a few Tuesday Night Worlds and watching the 1976 Paris-Roubaix on DVD.

Thursday was the opening hill climb time trial here at Joe Martin Stage Race. It's my 'home race' so I have to do it, form or no form. The TT actually went alright, I am well rested to say the least. I was hopping to ride a 9:47 for the 2.5 mile climb. I did a 9:38 during the 2008 edition. To my surprise I somehow pulled out a 9:22, but that was only good enough for 102nd in the Pro field. With guys like Ben Jaques-Maynes (eventual winner at 8:03), Floyd Landis, Rory Sutherland and another hundred fast dudes it was stacked. Hell, even the reigning Criterium National Champion Rahsaan Bahati was time cut, along with about 25 others. Here are the results.

In about two hours we depart for a 112 mile road stage, it has been pissing rain all morning and, well yea... The Weather Channel just showed video from a Tornado an hour and a half away, yikes!

Happy Monday to all. My buddy Tiny Tim (he's like 6'18") and I saw this on the way to the Ouachita Challenge MTB Race a few weeks ago. It was sitting outside Martha's Quilting Shop, you think it's really Martha's?

I will try for a proper update soon, but Mondays are crazy now that I am a 8-5er.

I can't believe I'm doing this...

Shannon and I are at the lake. The water is cold. We found this. Splash.

I wrapped up yet another endurance mountain bike race last weekend. For the record, since my "retirement" I said I would not do any training or racing longer than one water bottles worth of fuel. Well, 2009 has seen two 75+ mile road races and two 60 mile MTB races, so much for that plan.

I went into the Ouachita Challenge with a mighty goal, to finish. With over 200 starters it was a blast to be back in the MTB world with so many fun loving people. To start the race I didn’t even fill up my Hydrapack all the way because the plan was to stop at the three aid stations, refill on water and PB&J and continue on in a swift, but not race pace. Coming into the first station I found my self inside the top 10 and said, screw it, I'm racing now. I skipped that station in order to stay with my group for the 15 mile road/dirtroad section. We road well together, dropped some guys and hit the singletrack with a sizeable gap over the chasing 200 guys. I was now in the top five. After a quick stop at aid station numero dos I came out of Blowout Mountain in 2nd place and held that for the remaining 25 miles. My Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon rode like butter (good thing) and, and by the end my legs felt like butter (bad thing). I was beat only by Jeff Kerkove of Team Ergon. He had it wrapped up early on, and deserved the win. According to his blog he was doing five hour winter rides in 22 degree temps, while I was 8 hour cubicle days in 68 degree temps.

Now Shannon is begging me to do the Joe Martin Stage Race in May. The good news is that Troy will be in town for it, perhaps he can convince me.

Also, Competitive Cyclist is now on Twitter. Twitter.com/compcyclistroad and Twitter.com/compcyclistmtb.

Have a good day folks!

Turn up the volume and enjoi


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

I need help deciding which bike I should ride at the Single Speed World Championships. The Bianchi is a dedicated single speed, so it looks clean. The Ventana has a custom paint job and is more unique, but would require a singulator. Use the poll on the side of this page to cast your vote!

Check out my new Santa Cruz Blur Carbon, she is a beauty. It will be put to the test, along with my self this weekend at the 60 mile Ouachita Challenge MTB Race. After my first few rides I can say it is the best thing I have ever ridden. Feathery light, ubber efficient and sexy as an Aston Martin Vanquish.

Congratulations Sam Schultz for signing with Team Astana! OMG, that is the team of Lance Armtrong, wow wow e wow. Read the entire story here.

Wow.

Very humbleing, I just saw my 2006 FLC Cycling National Champion team
picture hanging in President Clinton's residence. For those who know,
it is the pic of our team in Nat'l jerseys on the side of the highway
in New Mexico.

Spring Classics training.

My new secret training spot. I'll say it's West of Little Rock, no
more clues.

Serota is always shows something to drool over, check out the new Cyclo-Cross bike. Cool new graphics too.

Black Sheep cycles of Fort Collins, CO.

Wooden Rims by Wheel Fanatyk

For great material follow your browser to CyclingNews.com and check out the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

February 28th, 2009. Thor Hushovd wins Het Volk. And does so an a Cervelo S2...

It has been way to long since I dedicated a good minute to my blog. While I'm not racing, it's hard to find quality material that others can enjoy and follow. March is almost here, warmer temperatures are around the corner (despite the sleet/snow falling right now), and more exciting material will begin churning any day now.

I plan to get back in the pack, and back in the singletrack in the coming weeks. The weather has been brisk and work has been hot n' heavy, that combo keeps my bike stay pretty clean. Speaking of a clean bike, I finished building up my new Cervelo S2 about an hour ago. Two words; Sex E. It's beautiful of course, and from what I felt while sprinting in our warehouse it likes to ge the hell out of Dodge. The internal cables are a total bitch to setup, but considering its done only a few times a year I won't bash it too hard.

Thor on his way to victory. These are the same roads I suffered on while riding the Tour of Flanders in 2008.

The plan was to wake up and ride 130 miles today with the owners of Competitive Cyclist and a few good friends. The budgeted time was 8 hours with lots of wind, I was somewhat motivated. However once the weather moved in last night, and I didn't finish my bike I had a self perscribed doctors note. Turns out the boys left this morning but were back in an hour, after sleet and freezing rain moved in. I am happy I opted for the extra sleep instead.

I just spoke with my buddy Zach Martin who went down to the Lago Vista road race in Texas. Apparently it was very fast and very windy with some big guns in the pack. Did you know Heath Blackgrove and Chris Wherry are riding for Hotel SanJose, what a change from Toyota United just last year! That is a true sign of the economy of racing, ouch. On the other hand that means they most likely be at more local races and speed them up to a national level pace.

I'm officially at a parade now.

Corn + Dog = Dinner

Vail, Co float

Mardi Gras '09. New Orleans, LA

It's official!

My diploma came in the mail today.

...so did The Departed, from Netflix.

As you can see the frequency of my posts have been way down. That's because the frequency of the rest of my life has been on full volume. Despite the recession we have been hard at work in the brand new Competitive Cyclist headquarters. On top of that, and more importantly, Shannon and I have been planning our wedding (she has done the majority thus far).

I have used my input to design a new website, check it out here at ShannonandNoah.com

So I have realized that in my first year of not officially racing full time I will be doing at least four races. BUT, those four races add up to a total of 40 hours of racing time. They include:

• Ouachita Challenge, 60 mile MTB race
• Syllamo Revenge, 50 mile MTB race
• Syllamo 24 Hour Race
  
• Single Speed World Championships
  

Oh, and if you happen to be at Single Speed Worlds you can take part in my bachelor party, or vise-versa. September 16-20, 2009.

I'm not getting in the miles I used to because of work, so my lovely future-parentals in law gave me a Wii Fit for my birthday. I think that if I knew about it last year I would have quit racing, that thing freaking rocks!

What else... if you haven't noticed yet you can follow my every move on Twitter. You can either go to www.twitter.com/noahsinger or see the updates as they shoot automatically to the right of this page. Feel free to comment on each Tweet.

Here I am popping the question at the top of the climbing wall. Enjoy. I sure did.

BIG NEWS

www.shannonandnoah.com

Have you ever wondered how Kiva.org really works? This video is phenomenal. Music, cinematography, and most of all the cause.

I don't care who you are, even Obama could take eleven minutes to watch this one.


A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.

The new Competitive Cyclist world headquarters!

My new BMC Pro Machine

Tis this season.

I figured out why everyone out shopping looks so depressed and pissed.
Look at their role "model."

Follow my every move at www.twitter.com/noahsinger

The posts have been scarce lately. My apologies, in the past few weeks I have finished racing, finished school forever, finished driving across the country. I have begun my semi-permanent life in Little Rock, working full time at Competitive Cyclist. I will give a solid written and photo update in the next few days.

Ventana Scraper

We have begun selling scraper bikes at Competitive Cyclist.

What a busy few hours. Thanksgiving break began the moment Sarah Sturm and I left Durango in route to ABQ. She lives there and her awesome mom and sister were kind enough to let me sleep at their house again. We got in just in time for dinner, then Whitney and Miles from Fort Lewis drove down and arrived just before mid-night. Saturday morning we all woke up for the local cyclo-cross race. It was a 100% dry, which was a pleasant change from typical Durango races. But that was the end of my fun for a while, here is why:

Fifteen minutes before the race I am warming up and get a flat tire. I don't have spare wheels so we went to the car to change it, after scurrying to find a tube. Once I'm riding again, I realize I have a broken link in my chain, race starts in 10 minutes. I thank 6 lb. 8 oz. baby Jesus that Whitney Jones was around with his wrench hand, he had me rolling with two minutes to spare before the start. I arrived at the line and boom, I kept up my good streak and got the hole shot. I lead most of the first lap, with a sizable gap at times. I let two guys catch up so I wouldn't blow my load in the first five minutes of the one hour race. On lap two, I had de-je-vue, I heard air escaping from my tire. Turns out it wasn't Vietnam flashbacks, I had my second flat tire in 15 minutes...darn thorns of New Mexico. I made it to the pit, found Sarah who ran her bike over to me and I stole her rear wheel. I was back in the race, but now in almost 15th place. For the next 50 minutes I rallied my way back up, finishing somewhere between 6-8th place. Whitney hammered to 5th after taking over my lead for most of the race. Miles was just one spot behind me.

The announcer was great, cheering on the FLC riders and reliving my frantic flat tire(s) moments. For only $8 they put on a super sweet race, incredible course and even had green chili, burritos and coffee at the finish.

I don't know my final position because it was straight to the house to grab my bags, then to ABQ airport for my flight home. Now that I think about it, less than two hours before my flight I was still racing, nice. Any-who, now I'm living large on a Southwest Airlines flight, entire exit row to my self. I get to see Shannon, my puppy, and my house in just under an hour. What a day.

Wells & Wells are so damn hot right now

Congratulations to Todd and Troy Wells for knocking the 1-2 punch on Saturday in New Jersey. Check out the full story here.

(L-R Troy and Todd Wells)

(Ditto)


(Todds new jersey is the only good thing to ever come out of New Jersey)
I am funny. Seriously.

My weekend cyclo cross race had its ups and downs, literally. I finished a personal best just behind our Jewish and German imports, yes they get along.... and Ned Overand and Travis Brown. However I also busted my butt on the ice section and then fought fire with fire by using this futuristic beer cooler to run ice water around my grapefruit sized kneecap.

p.s. The new James Bond film kinda, as in totally, rocks.

Even the morning after the big cocktail party I managed to get serious and race cyclo cross.

I want to give a shout out to the lesser known part of the mixed drinks. I also want to give a shout out to Frank Mapel who sponsored the Coca-Cola side of things.

Troy Wells getting cocky with the Beijing opening ceremonies jacket, and no this was not purchased, it was earned... by Todd.

Schmidty and Sabina, the other 1/3 of the party planning experts.

Teal Stetson-Lee showed up looking like a movie star. She cleaned up real nice.

Another successful cocktail party is in the books. The full update and a few pics coming in the next 24 hours.

Halloween was a blast as these pictures will show.

We started the evening by Dylan Stucki applying my makeup. The total process took about an hour.

Noah Singer is the Joker. Thank you Dylan for the Hollywood worthy makeup.

Rotem Ishai, and yes he was a certain man that has yet to be found in Afghanistan or Pakistan. He can do it because he is from Isreal.

Rotem showing the moves.

Jess Lathrop as Sarah Palin signing an agreement with Osama.

Noah as the Joke and Brittany as a Zebra

This is one of my favorite by far. Ian Burnett as Guby and Allie Johnson as Pokie.

Sabina was the Bill or Rights.

Big Mig Ramos was the Incredible Hulk!

Sarah Sturm as Sushi, Osama and the Joker. What an ecelctic gang.

The Joker and Osama

Just a little preview of my Halloween.

Obama v. McCain dance off.

2008 Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships

(Banner Elk, North Carolina)

Last weekend Lees McRae College held Nationals so Fort Lewis Cycling and my self had a lot of pressure to win. I have been part of the winning team for the past two years, and I wanted more than anything else to finish my final year of school with a trifecta. We started off the weekend with the XC, our defending champion Ben Sonntag repeated his success and rode away with the win. Then it was two Lees McRae riders and Rotem (FLC) got 4th. I finished back in 13th after passing about 60 riders during the course of the 25 mile race.

Our women rode well but after the day we were down on Lees McRae by several points. The next morning was our short track race, and Ben once again dominated to the win. Only three times in history has a rider won both the XC and Short Track and all three times they have been Fort Lewis riders. They include Anthony Colby, Alex Hagman, and Ben Sonntag. I finished 6th in that event, just off the podium of 5. Later in the day our women absolutely dominated the downhill by sweeping the top 3. 1st Emma Miller, 2nd Sage Wilderman and 3rd Alisha Gibson. Our top man was Cody Wilderman in 6th.

Going into our final day we were behind Lees McRae by just 2 points out of 500 total. Both our mens and womens squad rallied the dual slalom course and that earned us the overall national championship title by 20 points at the end of the day.

My mom, dad, Shannon and Ryder drove out from Arkansas to give their ultra support on the trail and at the dinner table. It was awesome seeing the family, and my little Ryder puppy is getting huge. He was the hit of the weekend with all the spectators. Oh, and he pooped in the downhiller's condo, HA!

(Our girls downhill team that totally rocked, 1,2,3 on the podium)

(This is the side of Ben Sonntag you won't find in the magazines)

(Noah up close and personal)

(Chad Wells in the creek)

(Noah riding down a running creek)

(Chad Wells in the rock garden)

(Noah in the super technical section)

(7 time Israeli National Champion, Rotem Ishay)

(Startline of the mens XC race, yes it is still dark)

(Jordan Rupe and Big Mig after the downhill)

(Me afte the short track)

(My mom and I after the ST)

(My dad and I after the ST)

(Shannon and I)

(Super German Ben Sonntag and I after the ST)

(Shannon, Ryder and I after receiving my new stars and bars jersey)

(Rick Crawford, Ben Sonntag, Noah Singer, Rotem Ishay, Chad Wells, Dave Hagen, Ruthe Matthes, Michael Engleman after our successful short track)

(Ben Sonntag, Noah Singer, Rotem Ishay, Chad Wells aftet the ST)

(Our finest imports, Ben Sonntag (Germany) and Rotem Ishay (Isreal) with there American clothing)

(Noah Singer, Chopper)

(Rick Crawford and Noah Singer with our new trophy stating who is the fastest in the country)

(Yellow and Blue team...)

(...soon became the Red, White and Blue team)

Major mobile update!

The final race of my career concluded with another National
Championship! Everyone at FLC Cycling is amazing! More to come!

-Noah Singer

Mobile update

Our women dominated the downhill! Alisha Gibson (3rd), Emma Miller
(1st), and Sage Wildernan (2nd).

Lees McRae leads us by 2 points going into the last day of Nationals.
The final event is dual slalom.

Mobile update

Rotem Ishai (4th) and Beb Sonntag (National Champion) after their
podium at Collegiate MTB Nationals.

The Carbon Cruiser

After living in Durango for over four years, it's about time I made a dedicated townie bike. The body is a full carbon Argon 18 Krypton, courtesy of Jesse DeKrey. I turned it into a singlespeed, using the only true townie way, a third chainring to pick up the slack. Durango Cyclery provided the sweeping handlebars and Stalker at Hassle Free Sports hooked it up with the Bontrager Cranks. I stole the rear wheel from Troy Wells, crap I guess he knows now. My roommates Schmidty and Dylan supplied the stoppers, pedals and front wheel. I guess this truely is a "town bicycle, everybody gets a ride".

The whole package comes in just over the UCI weigth limit, not bad for a grocery getter.

Introducing Jesse DeKrey

This year the USA Cycling National Road Championships were held in Orange County, CA. Pretty much every day Jesse and I made an excuse to visit Venice Beach after (or during) our ride. We stopped that ritual when Jesse was picked to dance with a street performer. Watch this white boy try to move!

I'm not racing this weekend, so I will be studying this. Nationals after party... get ready.

My dads response to the video:

So a little girl asks her dad if God is a man or a woman? And the dad says, well honey, God is neither a man or a woman.

So then she asks him if God is young or old? And dad says, sweetie, God is neither young OR old.

The little girl looks a little puzzled and asks her dad if God is black or white?. Again, the dad says, well, God is neither black OR white.

The little girl gets a bright smile on her face and says... Daddy, are you saying Michael Jackson is God?

Squawker short track

October 4, 2008

(Left- Right: Noah Singer, Rotem Ishai)

(Left-Right: Rotem Ishai, CSU rider, Noah Singer)

Thanks to Mike Wilk for these pictures.

Fort Lewis brought the broom today and we swept the podium clean.

Jesse DeKrey won the Squawker short track!

April Fools!

Fort Lewis brought the broom today and we swept the podium clean.

1. Ben Sonntag (FLC)

2. Rotem Ishai (FLC)

3. Noah Singer (FLC)

4. Bryan Alders (CU)

5. Chad Wells (FLC)

6. Stevens John (FLC)

7. Downing Trevor (FLC)

8. Whitney Jones (FLC)

9. Matt Wiebe (CU)

10. Greg Carpenter (FLC)

(Jeremy Powers, Clinton Sparks, Lil Jon)

My buddy J Pows somehow ended up with world renowned DJ Clinton Sparks and Lil Jon (he invented the word Crunk). Apparently Sparks is into cycling and got in touch with Powers. Once Powers landed in Vegas for Interbike it was to the back of the club where he just hung out with Jessica Simpson and contempalted if "they" were real. Who says it's tough being a domestic pro cyclist? Oh, I do.

Tuesday Night Worlds. Seriously.

In what other city do describe your Tuesday night race finish as First American? Well that's how we roll here in Durango. A few days ago we did our weekly short track race, on the course we will use this weekend for the Fort Lewis Squawker Classic MTB Race. From the gun, Ben (Germany) was off the front with Trevor and my self in 2nd and 3rd. A few minutes later I passed Trevor, but then I was overcome by Rotem (Israel) as I snagged my head on a tree and cracked my helmet. I held that spot until the end of the race and finished 3rd; first American! Ben slipped up on the final lap and was passed by Rotem for the W.

Final results:

1. Rotem Ishai (Israel)
2. Ben Sonntag (Germany)
3. Noah Singer (USA)
4. Dustin Wanstrath (USA, I think)

Like I mentioned, our home race is this weekend so I am stoaked on no traveling. It looks like rain will try and ruin the show on Sunday (XC), hopefully we will get to race at least the short track. Last year I wont that event, but we also weren't out-sourcing riders then. Crap.

Armstrong: 1 LeMond: 0

Greg Lemond makes a scheduled apperance at Lance's press conference last week at Interbike Las Vegas. As I watched the YouTube of Lance vs. Greg LeMond I noticed this interesting little detail at the 3:25 second mark. Naturally, LeMond interrupts with the first question of the meeting. It refers to Lance doping and the current state of the Tour de France.

Greg LeMond: Let's just face it, the Tour has got major problems, it's basically on it's death bed. I was there this year, I talked to people and I see what's happening to the sport.... And then the totally awesome happens, while LeMond is spitting out that comment Lance puts on an obvious smirk and (coincidently) scratches his noise with the most powerful (and tallest) finger on his hand. I love it.

Derby 2008

Theme: Caveman

Here are some pictures Greg Thomas took at Derby last week. You can view his entire Flickr photo album here. He has a lot of other great shots, many from Cambodia and Thailand.

The CU Collegiate MTB race was this past weekend in Boulder. I have to say they had two of the best courses on the circuit. The XC was a very well maintained boy scout hiking trail, and the short track was the course built by Travis Brown and other pro mountain bikers. It is basically a BMX track made for 26" bikes with gears. Our latest our sourced rider, Rotem from Isreal won both the XC and short track. Now at least half of our team going to the US National Championsips wont even be American. That's so American.

(Here I am tearing it up in the downhill race)

(Brandon showing he can ride something beyond a roadbike. And yes ladies, he is a former Abercrombie & Fitch model. He now runs "Super Extreme Cage Fighting Mastermind.com")

(Previous Derby DH winner, Chopper Daley)

(Chopper .224 seconds later)

(My roommate Dylan Stucki kept the family proud)

(Dustin Wanstrath is on the juice)

(Big Mig and Sarah were in full costume)

Happy Birthday Shannon!

(My girlfriend that is, the puppy is Ryder)

Shannon is the big 23 today. I was lucky enough to make it to Little Rock last weekend for lots of big events. My flight landed just 40 minutes before the closing on our first house, so it was straight to the title company. Then Shannon her mom and I went straight to our new casa. Thanks to my mom, dad, Patty and Ed Watford for giving us such tremendous help over the weekend, not to mention the entire process. I will post pictures of the house once we finish the slight renovations, it should only be a few weeks.

On Saturday we drove out to pick up our 9 week old black lab, Ryder. He has lived his entire life exclusivley outdoors up till now, so he only potty's out there. That's good news for us. He will sleep 12 hours a day inside, but the second he gets in the grass its all play.

I am now back in Durango playing catch up at school after missing a month straight of weekends. The pattern continues this weekend where I will make my 2008 debut to Collegiate MTB season at the race held by CU Boulder. It's just four weeks until Nationals and as always we are all competiting against each other just to make the Nationals Team. FLC Cycling also just hired a new coach, the famous Ruthie Matthes. She was the XC World Champion in 1991 and raced the 2000 Sydney Olympics, among her many other great acheivements.

(Shannon and the little rascal)

Mobile Update

It's ours now! Shannon and I closed on our new home in Little Rock
last Friday. This is from my phone but an official update is just
around the corner...

Below is the quick video I made of the Italian Pursuit. Each rider does one lap, we finish when the last rider crosses the line. The order is Ashley Grubbs, Missy Erickson, Cody Stephens, Noah Singer, Ian Burnett, Dan Sullivan. We got 5th.






Click here for the full photo album which includes the above pictures.

(Me in the 3K. 3:41:326)

(Podium from men's Team Pursuit. 1st: Marian College 2nd: CSU Fort Collins 3rd: FLC)


(The jolly 'ole Italian Pursuit team)

(NoahSinger.com on the chest, I just gotta spread the word so I thought the podium was a nice opportunity)

(Full podium for the men's team pursuit. Sorry to the Marian guy who's shoulder I was digging into so I could get my dome in the picture).


(Dan in 5th, far right, after the 1K)

5th ain't last. Italian Pursuit.

(FLC Cycling includes a few thugs and Jesus) Photo by Jessica Lathrop

(The riders had to hide out from the storm inside the tunnel under the velodrome.) Photo by Jessica Lathrop

Photo by Jessica Lathrop

(This is one we are hoping will flood the internet like Ike. Brandon Emmert begins his 3K while not only getting fisted by the holder, but notice is he grabbing his ankles like a true pro). Photo by Jessica Lathrop

(The combination of half mast flags and National Championship jerseys were all the motivation we needed)

(Here is the week old scaring from Brandon's crash last week in training)

(Yorgos had a sexy start... so here it is)

(Ian Burnett threw down a new PR of 3:36, 8th place)

(The Mens podium)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0c8_1216516703

If your not familiar with track, check out the link above.

I did my 3K today, and I must say it went well. I took a full 13 seconds off my personal record, finishing in 3:41. I felt great and my entire team was lined up on the back straight to cheer me on. I also managed to lap the other rider on the track right in front of my team.

Ian Burnett posted out teams best of 3:36, good enough for 8th and team best. I think I was just inside the top 20. Dan from CSU won in 3:30, blazing fast. Now its time for a nap, I race the 1K in five hours.

It's go time. 3,000 meter.

(My new whip)

Finally an update! I just moved into a new place in Durango and were still working on getting the Inter-Web hooked up. So the biggest news first, Shannon and I bought a house in Little Rock, Hillcrest to be exact. After graduation in December I will return to Little Rock and begin my full time position at Competitive Cyclist. just got a new pair of double-kneed Carhartt's which will be put to work during my Thanksgiving break, while I paint, improve and build onto the new house.
Right now Shannon is trying to find a lab puppy so if anyone has leads shoot me an email.

Now I'm on the way to Collegiate Track Nationals in Colorado Springs. Yea, I am somehow racing on the Velodrome at the top level with just 2 weekends of practice under my belt, it should be interesting. I will be racing the 1K, 3K Individual, 3K Team pursuit (team time trial) and Italian Pursuit (6 person co-ed time trial). Overall we have a really solid team to compete in all the events, and we hope to improve on our 3rd place overall at last years Nationals in San Diego. Last night the President of Fort Lewis College, Dr. Brad Bartel spoke to our cycling team. It was an honor to have him speak and give us some serious motivation so we can perform up to his expectations from here on out.

When not taking left hand turns my two days of actual class allow lots of time to ride my new Ventana mountain bike. My MTB season officially begins the day after track nationals. I will once again try for the National mountain bike team for Fort Lewis College.

There are two ways to have your name in a bathroom stall at a truckstop:
A) Troy Wells: For a good time call Troy @ 555-5555

B) Todd Wells: Your name on a sticker to stare at while taking a dump at the
Gunsmoke Travel Plaza.

Monday = Pllayday.

One day, one driver...

...but I will make it back to Durango after nine months off the radar.

I promise a real update soon, as long as I survive the velodrome this
weekend at the Olympic Training Center

I am still a bit in shock at what happened at the USA Cycling road race National Championships...

Here is the brief story of what happened; We began what was to be the worst 115 mile road circuit most of the riders had ever ridden, I don't mean challenging terrain, but suburbia hell. That became the least of our worries when we came through after our 4th of 6 laps. We had already raced 79 miles, and there was a group of 5 guys off the front, with about 12-15 chasing them. My self and 50 other riders made up the remaining peloton, by now almost 30 riders had dropped out of the race voluntarily. We were sitting 3:25 (three minutes 25 seconds) behind the leaders and when we come through with 35 miles remaining in the race, we are all asked to pull off and retire from the race. We all look at each other in shock and disbelief. Without warning, the California Highway Patrol who made up our rolling enclosure said they would no longer enclose our race, because we were more than three minutes behind the leaders. They have no clue how a bike race works but were somehow able to control and ultimately rob the majority of the riders of a national caliber race.

My dad has written the below letter to USA Cycling, Velo News and CyclingNews.com. I'm sure many more letters like have already been sent out.

What the heck happened to the officiating in the men's U-23 Championship road race in Irvine, California? Why was the entire main peloton of approximately 60 riders pulled for being just 3:08 minutes behind the leader at the 70 mile mark of a116 mile race-- one that still had over an hour and 45 minutes to go?

The response of USA Cycling officials on-the-scene was that it was the police that made this"3-minute-behind rule." When did the police start making race rules? Did anyone explain to them this is not how a road race progresses? But even if this absurd rule WAS going to be in effect, why wasn't it made clear to everyone before the race? And why wasn't it applied during the women's race?

Here's the worst part. The riders, who were prematurely told to stop racing had trained a whole year for this event and who spent their money to travel and stay in California, were completely robbed of their fair chance to compete. For many, their future contracts were at stake. These riders are owed more than an apology-- they are owed an explanation.

How does USACycling, who is supposed to control their races and represent their riders, explain this fiasco? And more importantly, what are they going to do about it?

Leslie Singer
Little Rock, Arkansas

BMW X6

Look at the new toy we found. Possibly the sexiest car I have ever seen.

10:43am. Todays TT start, 10:25am.

While the skinny tire bikes were racing the Ark. State road race, I
spent a good four hours finding cool drops like this on my MTB. We are
experiencing record heat so I bailed on the road race at the last
second. It's a hood thing because the 1-2 field only had 5 people show
up. That's what happens when there is no money on the line.

Anyway, E2 Ryan and the rest if ArFreeRiders.com built this among the
other toys in Burns Park.

Now that the Tour is almost over, are they going to stop showing Bacardi Mojito commercial? God I love that ad.

I decided to make it an early morning and was on my bici by 6:30. Zach, Drew and I met up for the CARVE ride around the lake. After some post ride riding we got in about 80 miles so now Shannon and I will head to the lake for the evening. Hopefully I will post some new wake surfing pictures soon.

80 miles...before the race starts

Last Saturday was a solid day at the office. My coaches had me do 80 miles with one major climb, the day of the Arkansas State Crit Championships. Ben took me on a beautiful loop starting and finishing in Conway, AR with Petit Jean mountain in middle. After doing the 80 miles, we headed over to the crit course where it began to rain cats and dogs, literally. With only nine guys on the start line I didn't think it would be such a tough race, then I realized there were 5 Mercy rider, 3 BMC riders and me. Yep, I was the only one flying solo. I covered the first few attacks by each team then I was blown. Some older guy rode away from us and ended up lapping me twice, which was by design so my race would be over two laps sooner. Then I got my first ever Lantern Rouge, by getting dead last! haha, at least I had a heck of a work out and won a sweet old school wool longsleve jersey on a preme lap.

Suffer. Relax.

Dr. Ben Stone put me through my second Vo2 session of suffering my ass off for 15 minutes while breathing through a tube. He is a professor at UCA and a very cool dude, even cooler now that he wants to make me faster. Notice my face in this picture, that is on acting.

After testing Shannon and I went to Eureka Springs, AR for the weekend. We went to our favorite little cottage and clocked some time in the canoes. However thanks to all the recent rain the bugs were out in full force and let their presence be known. Finally, of all the things we have done in Eureka we have never been to see the oversized Jesus that just creeps on the city.

In all seriousness, I took a half dozen pictures of the thing as shown below. It would not show up in the picture as I stood right in front of it. This was one of the top one creepiest things ever. For real. Then I changed my camera to "fireworks" mode and vau la, Jesus re-appeared back. Creepy. I guess he is made of fireworks.

(normal mode... that works for EVERYTHING else in life)

(fireworks mode)

Mobile update

Shannon can drink with no hands!

The latest jerk to the list is Manual Beltran, seen here with my pre-school level photoshop. He tested positive for EPO on day before the Tour started. The results were released today. Read on here.

This will be my neighborhood in a few months if I don't find somewhere to live in Durango. If anyone has or knows of some rent please let me know. September - December 2008.

I'm going to Eureka Springs this weekend with Shannon, its gonna be an awesome time. Does anyone have a hardtail MTB I could buy, frame only?

Ok, enough of the classifieds I'm outta here...

Happy Birthday mom!

We finished up the Fitchburg Classic with Adrian in 31st overall. We rode our butts off and he was the strongest on the team by far. Marcus the Germanator had a great ride last night getting in a break with one lap to go, but was then caught by the pack just before the finish. John Murphy (HealthNet) won the $1,500 lap and the final. I finished the crit was my main goal after having terribly tired legs after the previous three days, but we were all in the same boat. Just to help put into perspective the style of crit racing here; our local crits are 40 minutes long, about 17 miles and with 25 riders. The crit here was 2 hours long, 55 miles, and 129 riders, all are Pro/cat 1.

I just talked to my mom, she is doing her annual birthday ride down at the river, clocking in her age in miles. Awesome work momma!

Mobile update

Two hours of racing to go and the ponies are ready. I'm going to
attempt a MTB style start for the crit. Given the feeling in my legs,
that's about all im good for now.

Happy Independence Day.

(Thank you Peet's for the complimentary coffee before the race.)

You wouldn't know it by this picture but this is just before the race that eventually got called short because of thunder storms. After a night in a sketchy hotel we made it to Bedford, NH to our host familys house. They are very cool and very nice. My race started off today pretty bad, really bad. I found my self a career worst finish of 101st in the uphill 10km time trial. There are 139 guys in the race. Adrian is fresh off his 9th place overall finish at the Tour of Pennsylvania, and it showed in his form today as he was our teams best in 63rd. Well work for him the remainder of the week, and I hope to punish my self getting him a solid overall placing be weeks end.

While most people will spend the 4th of July relaxing by the lake, we will start our 104 mile race at 12:30pm in the heat of the day. The course does 12 laps of a rolling loop then finished off with a three mile climb to the local ski resort. Wish us luck.

Boston

New England Speed Week

I'm up here in New England for some long overdue racing with my team. We are taking part in a series of races ramping up to the Fitchburg Classic which is on July3-6th. Saturday night we did an NRC crit in downtown Providence, RI. The course was exactly one mile with a pretty solid power climb each lap, for 50 laps. I felt really good and finished up 30th, the last spot in the money! Both Anthony and Matt were in early breaks going for the gold, but both were brought back so they finished in the pack with me.

Sunday we did a 52 mile circuit race in downtown Newton, MA. The call-up for for the riders at the start was one of the most impressive I have ever heard for a race I'm in. We had multiple Giro d'Italia finishers, Paris-Roubaix riders, world champions, current 2008 USA Olympic team members and about 10 other solid guys. The race went up Heartbreak hill (from the Boston Marathon) 20 times. The rain began with 7 laps to go, so I pulled out because of dozens of manhole covers and cracks in the road, not to mention sketchy riders. Anyway, my real race begins on Thursday at Fitchburg so I didn't want to begin that with roadrash. Well, they end up calling the race off two laps after I pull out (lightening) so that kinda sucks, but hey I could have crashed and been screwed, plus I didn't feel good. Yep, I said it.

Marcus ended up getting 9th after a break was off the front, so he is buying our beer tonight.

Speaking of.....

Mobile update from our ride.

On Tuesday I did some super fancy testing with Dr. Ben Stone over at UCA. We tested Vo2 max, lactate threshold and a whole sheet of other numbers that are still foreign to me. Bascially what I had to do was ride a stationary bike for 15 minutes while the resistance increased every minute. I had a mask on my face measuring how much oxygen my lungs were hold, which also meant it felt like I was sprinting in a race while breathing through a straw. Fun Stuff. The results weren't exactly as we expected so we will be working together to get them up to super human.

On Wednesday I did the last CARVE summer crit of the year, and all the locals hot shots were at the start for one last shot of local glory. Every single week that a breakaway gets off the front, they stay away and someone in that group wins the race. I was going to be in that break no matter what it took. From the gun I moved to the front and covered every single attack incase one was able to stick. Eventually, about 15 minutes into the race I found my self in a break and was doing the yelling and pushing for us to stay away. Our six man group started getting caught and half the guys sat up for the group to swarm them. I literally yelled out some choice words and did one last huge attack as we were getting caught and now a three man group formed again. Luke Porter, Craig Z and my self worked well together to gain a 40 second gap on the field and stay away for the second half of the race. Brendan and Drew worked like teammates should and rode defensive back in the pack, not letting anyone catch us. Now with one lap to go I see Super Ernie flying up to us from the pack, I attack the break with half a lap to go and Luke never came around me before the finish. I got the win with old school power and no sneaking attacks out of site, each time I had to attack while at the front.

Thanks so much to Craig, Drew and Brendan for riding so well and I know everyone worked their butts off this race. Hell, our early pace was enough to make overall leader Jim, Used 2 Be Hunter East and Luke Muscleman (yes that's his real name) all drop out of the race before the end. Thanks to the Pat Barron, Steve Shepard and the whole Chainwheel crew for putting on a sweet crit series.

Now just 9 hours later I am sitting in Little Rock National Airport heading up to Boston for some crits this weekend followed by the Fitchburg Classic.

Going back to my roots.

(Here is an old picture from my Junior Expert NORBA days at Mt. Snow, VT)

I suited up on Sunday for my first mountain bike race since October '07, and boy did it feel like it. My "mud bike" arsenal is down to just the single speed, so thats what I rode, but in the Expert/Pro classes rather than the smaller single speed category. After a good start I was sitting in second place then blew a corner and five guys passed me all at once, but I had it coming. I actually felt pretty good on the technical stuff and just rode my own race. Luke Porter took top honors sprinting ahead of Chris Renshaw of the Trek regional team.

I've always known the MTB scene has much more friendly people and a personal vibe all the way around, but it really came out today. Bell & Company had a huge set up and were giving out free burgers, hotdogs and all the fixings. Even though I finished one spot out of the prize money, I loved hanging around with all the hold faces and shooting the shit for about two hours after the race. Man that NEVER happens at a road race, its just bashing everyone else for how poopy you did.

Ok, I will get off my rant, but for the record this is all stuff I would say to any road crew, I mean its a fact. With that said I do love the road scene, just in different ways, and I am looking forward to heading up to Boston on Thursday to begin the Fitchburg Classic.

Does anyone have a place for me to sleep in the Boston/Fitchburg, MA area from June 26 - July 7? I will be traveling all around the area within that time frame doing some racing, but we need some FloorSpace+. If you know of someone that can help out a temporarily homeless cyclist email me at the contact info on the right side of this page.

Tiger Woods writeup in The Onion.

Rabbits are so last year...

I knew I had to have the name in this picture or no one would believe these are my pets. My dad threw the turtles a few extra pieces of food in exchange for this money shot. Pass it along.


Shannon and I bought some Pei Wei after work today, Tiger Woods probably bought the company Pei Wei after work today. I made him this little tribute with our edamame. What an impressive few days he and Rocco Mediate put on for the 108th US Open. I am officially a golf fan after seeing their skills. However, I still wont pick up a club.

In actual bike racing news I finally got my tickets for the Fitchburg Classic today, so Boston or Bust baby!

I have officially jumped headfirst into the training pond. I’ve done three separate races in five days, which also includes two motor pacing sessions and a crit in 24 hours. After taking a week off the speed and power have come back mighty fast though. I was flying incognito at my first CARVE summer crit of the summer while wearing my LaGrange kit but working with my trusty Competitive Cyclist crew. We were all active throughout the day and I ended up taking the win to make it all worth while.

About an hour after the crit Shannon, Chris and I were in the car heading up North to St. Louis for the annual “Big Money” Tour de Winghaven. I had better luck last year than this edition, as I rode 20 of the 25 laps composing the 75 mile race. The 95 degree temps and two breakaways up the road talked me into pulling with out with 15 miles to go. That’s the major problem with that circuit race, we pass the custard shop every 6.5 minutes which is within a water bottles throw of the start/finish/pull out and get custard line.

Chris had a better day then my self, taking home the K.O.M in the 3-4 race. For that he won the Baker’s whicker/liquor basket of fun. Chris Wallace of KC, MO got a top five in the same race, aint to shabby for a 16 year old.

Last nights crit was pretty fun in Burns park as Competitive Cyclist rolled 7 deep looking for the big W. I flated with four laps to go, thankfully a cool guy named Jim at the start/finish let me take the wheel off his bike so I could finish. By the time I got back in there was a big break and I did all I could to make it half way across. Hunter East won, and yes he has been training despite what he says.

Shannon says hi.

Bobby McMullen is the man. The full movie is titled "The Way Bobby Sees It" and you can buy it here. You can see the trailer below if you don't wanna take my word for it.

So I'm back from the cruise and all tanned up. Everyone's initial reaction was that I didn't get any sun, but what we have to look at is my lack of tan lines, rather than darker arms and legs. A few of the pictures below show my early in the trip, racing lines and all. Now not so much. We ate tons, drank a few choice beverages and just worked on the 'ole CNS (Central Nervous System) all around. Shannon and I even made it to the 110 degree onboard gym for some serious sweat burning.

After my three week stage racing block I feel nice and refreshed and should be much stronger than before the trip. This weekend I will do the local CARVE crit at the Natural Resources center on Saturday, then drive up to St. Louis for the Tour de Wing Haven and put in my 2 cents for the $20,000 purse for one days racing!

They took the towel animals to the next level. I didnt even shower for two days so I could leave this guy monkeying around our room.

After just one day in the sun my mid section couldn't take any more UV rays.

It doesn't take much to see who's tougher in this pic, but I did hold my ground.

The sweetie pie even gave me a back message.

Rumor has it that this house belongs to a certain owner of Microsoft.

For the next week I will be totally unreachable. If you want to hang out, put on your swimming fins and head somewhere between Jamaica, Cozumel, and the Grand Cayman Islands. Shannon's entire family has invited me to crash their party. I hope to come back with good some quality pictures, including some underwater shots with her new Olympus waterproof camera.

...now you see why I'm selling old cycling clothing on eBay.

Team kit sale on eBay

I have about 20 items for sale on eBay, mostly team issue jerseys and shorts. You can check them all out here, and if you need a good deal on some "new" summer clothing now is your chance. All the items are in good shape with no significant damage or holes. Bid away and help a brother get to some races this summer. And if you want a buck off, I will sign it. Isn't that how it works at my level?

Link: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbikernoah

Congratulations to Levi from Fayetteville, AR for nailing the "where am I at?" question. Answer: Cracker Barrel. He gets this Cannondale MTB team issue jersey.

Free jersey!

The first person who emails me and can identify where I am by this
picture will receive a free jersey from my collection. One guess only.
Sorry family members, outside fans only.

My email address is on the right side of the page, click the envelope.

I'm such a baby that I'm on Pedialyte for electrolyte recovery after 300 miles in three days and nasal spray with Shannon's secret potion for allergies.

Friday went much better than the previous day. We climbed Petit Jean mountain twice, each side, before hitting Mt. Nebo at mile 95. Its said to be the steepest finish in America with majority of the 3 mile ascent at 18%. I finished 24th, 10 places better than last year.

No official results yet for todays stage but I think I finished just inside 25th after the 10 mile climb to the top of Mt. Magazine.

Tomorrow is the crit, it was my breaking point last week at Joe Martin, let's hope for something better this time. Hosevsr I will admit I left everything on the table today heading up Magazine.

Big fat baby

>

(It's official, Shannon's part of the real world now)

Tour of Arkansas is giving me a beating from the start. The opening stage today was 110 miles with 10,500 feet/climbing. I had stomach pains at mile 45 and it was downhill from there. After ending up in the second main group on the major climb I just did all I could to ride in for the day. I ended up 34th today which is still 10 places better than last year, however in my last showing I was in the front group. I guess Gila and Joe Martin are catching up to me as far as fatigue goes. I have a break after this week, as long as I can make it through the weekend. We still have 2 more 100 mile days and a final crit on Sunday.

As I mentioned in my last post, I projected correctly and have awesome host housing. In fact, I have an entire house to my self, so I reckon I am the host. It is kinda lonely but it turns nice for the much needed 2 hour nap after todays demoralizing ride. Shannon comes in tomorrow so team manager will be working in full force for Saturdays stage.

Shannon graduated!

The Joe Martin race was a success overall. I had an OK time trial to
start out the week then finished in the front group in both the 110
and 92 mile road races. Actually, in all we did 202 miles in a 16 hour
period. Troy Wells and I drove straight from the second road stage to
Shannon's graduation at the University of Arkansas, then directly to
the after party. We kept ourselves under control in the party scene in
preporation for the next days final crit.

The only thing I had going for me was a third row start in the crit.
After that I fell backwards quickly with tired legs and no power. I
only lasted about 20 minutes of the race then just rode strong until
getting pulled. I finished the week in 52nd out of 102 in the Pro-1
field. Overall I was happy with the week, being only my second race
of the year it went well.

Now I'm at the lake with Shannon, Wells and Jill. Wells and I have
already gotten in 2 solid rides while the ski boat and adult beverages
try to distract us. I begin the Tour of Arkansas on Thursday and it
sounds like I have more sweet host housing coming my way!

Also, I'm no longer moving to LA for the summer. After considering the
location of the remaining races and several other major factors it
made more since to stay in LR. Yippy.