Fashion Faux Pas

First, a disclaimer. I don't own this garment. Nobody should, but unfortunately someone does...

A bunch of guys I work with went to a charity auction silent dinner this week. Upon seeing the jacket, one clever individual put a bid down on the silent auction sheet. However, being clever (or a mischievous prick), he didn't put his name down.

At the end of the day, this cost someone, not him, more than one would rightfully pay for this jacket. Way more. But it's all in the name of charity.

Who's fast? Hint: not me

Today the Scalpel made it out for the maiden voyage.  What a treat to be riding after work in March.  I just can't wait until daylight savings time so that afterwork riding has a little more sunlight.

The Scalpel was fun.  I feel right at home on it.  I guess that's about as good as one can expect for the first ride.

I also felt right at home a few bike lengths behind Shawn and Jon.  We all say we don't feel fast at this time of year, but we then sort out who actually is faster, even though we're reminding ourselves that we're not fast at this time of year.  I however am telling the truth, because they're both faster.  Is there any logic in all of this?  Or does it even matter?  

Of course it doesn't, riding bikes is just fun.  Good times  and good hill intervals at Nose Hill!

2008 Cannondale Scalpel Team

I'll apologize in advance for the depressing picture of a sleek mountain bike parked in front of a desk that's doubling as my take out dinner table. How embarassing to see what's amounted to a regular habit for 8 years of my life through the critical lens of a camera (or more appropriately, the critical lens of a Blackberry Pearl).

The new mountain bike has arrived, and it looks fast. Maybe I'll even be able to ride it fast. But right now I'm just doing the odd lap around my office on it.

"Pay more, get less" is a recent catchphrase, and I actually like it more than the one about 18 hour work days. It applies to high end racing mountain bikes. This is the lightest mountain bike I've had... in the range of the first road bike I ever had. 22.68lbs on the Bow scale.

I saw prototypes of this model down at La Ruta last fall, and asked if I could hop on for a ride around the hotel to try it out. I've always been a fan of soft-tail designs; I like the simplicity of the lines and the complexity of the materials science that makes them possible. It felt good enough to try for at least a season. I hope it holds up to real world use. I've never broken a bike or frame before, so I operate under the assumption I'm a gentle user. In reality, it's like a road bike style mountain bike, fast and light. I don't think anyone is bragging that this is the plushest suspension or the best ride. I'm fine with that as my primary use is endurance racing, which in it's current form seems to have a lot of "mild" terrain - smooth trails or gravel roads.

The SRAM XO blackbox derailleur is pretty swank, a little flashy to have a carbon derailleur (full cable housing = joy and happiness), but I guess that goes with the territory. I rode this wheel set last year and it's super stiff and light, so no complaints there. The Avid Juicy Ultimates I think I can get my head around. The Thomson seatpost is perfecto.

Items I'll have to learn a little about are the following:

1. Lefty. Light, stiff... but how about that maintenance? Time will tell.

2. Gobi saddle. The colors are dapper, but I've become quite a Specialized saddle man, I like that Body Geometry gap.

3. DT shock. We'll see if it's up to the challenge... all carbon and looks snazzy. This bike is spec'd as a XC race machine, and I'm forcing it into endurance racing. I place a premium on robustness.

4. Cannondale Hollowgram cranks. Right now the double cranks are installed. I might give that a whirl for fun for a while, but my intent for endurance races is to go with the triple. Maybe if I keep riding with Craig I can develop the strength to get by with this as it is. In the back of my mind I'm craving XTR. Why? They're functional. They're durable. They're light enough. A path of certainty.

5. Cheapest Crank Brothers Eggbeaters installed... thanks. I drop serious coin on a bike, and you spec'd it with the eggshell model with the cages that crack if you ever hit them on a rock. I thought as a consumer I was signalling I didn't like cheap sh*t by looking at bikes in this range. I'd prefer the SS (stainless steel) model. They've proven to take a licking and keep on ticking.

MacBook Air

A MacBook Air is my recent new laptop. Maybe it appealed to me as I'm already a practiced road bike consumer, where "pay more, get less" is the mantra. I'm already conditioned, I'm not like all the laptop users outhere who are now baffled by this reverse intuitive thinking.

The Air beats my road bike hands down. For under $4k (yup, got the solid state drive and some options), it weighs only 3lbs. Road bikes can't meet that spec. My last laptop was big - 17" screen and heavy. I actually liked the form factor for what I used it for. What I didn't like is that Windows gets really cruddy over time. And it had a slow hard drive, and I don't like slow hard drives. In fact, I don't like them enough, that I spent over $1,000 extra for a smaller SSD option, just so I can say I don't have a hard drive. That's S-M-R-T.

I don't miss a DVD drive yet. What I do like is the following:

- Light.

- 35 second boot. This thing can boot a dozen times in the time it takes my co-workers new Viao with Vista to load up.

- Perfectly acceptable performance for email, browsing, Word, Excel, iPhoto, iTunes, youtube vids, etc.

- Did I mention light and small?

- Nice keyboard.

- Sync'ing with .mac account between that and my iMac at home.

Will I be bothered with only one USB port on the road? We'll see in next few weeks as I'll be travelling.

I know though that on the road I'll appreciate being able to run TrainingPeaks, SRM software, etc. in Windows XP, then go back to Leopard whenever for pictures, email, Office, web.

There's lots of opinions on the web about the machine, but it's sweet to me.

Motto

I can just picture Mr. Rogers explaining to me: "remember kids, it's hard to fit in an 80+ hour workweek if you don't start with 18 hours on Monday."

Or maybe my brain is already putty.

Transrockies "Partner Jam"

Trying to manage around some office time today, I let Craig know that I'd be riding northwest from my parent's house starting at around 8:30am.  Forecast was for -10C at that time, and he alluded to the fact that "leaving as early as we can to maximize our time in -10C" wasn't exactly #1 on his priority list.  I totally agreed, but modern wonder fabrics exist such that I can have a shot at riding when I'm not tied to the desk.  I honestly expected he'd pass for fairer weather later in the day, and I wouldn't have questioned that decision for a second if he did.

To my surprise, after a little trouble getting a phone connection going between the two of us (you know, when you look out your car door and there's a giant cell phone tower 23 meters away...), Craig saddled up for a morning ride.  It was cold off the start, my camelback was under 1 rather than two layers, and the hose froze solid.  I stripped down to my undershirt and re-layered which fixed the issue.  Rode north out to the corner of Range Road 25 and Township Road 274.  I've now examined it on google and next time I think west of that intersection would make for interesting riding.  Just like last week, gravel roads are a good workout.  What makes them better is a training partner.  Our pace on the way out was moderate.  On the way back, I could hear my chain stretching.  We were muscling it up the climbs in an attempt to build more muscle for the future.  We were huffing and puffing riding side by side instead of drafting.  And we were having fun.

I wished I could have stayed for the coffee invitation after, but I showered, loaded up my car, and drove straight downtown.  

I'm burnt out from lack of sleep and work.  There's heaps more I could/should/probably am expected to be doing, but I've brought home a stack of resumes to read, and emailed two models home to myself to check out and work on.  I'm not sure I can muster more.  I want to be in bed soon to give myself at least a half a shot of making it through next week with a minimum degree of style.

Trying to make the most of February

Road riding on a Saturday morning brings me a step closer to Shangri-la.  Even when I'm tired.  I showed up to Cadence Cafe at 9:30 to meet the gang, but I wasn't feeling very talkative.  Funny what staying at work till midnight on a Friday does for a guy.  Three nights this week I only got 6 hours of sleep, which is a bad recipe.  First symptom is attitude and cynicism.  Second is I'm worse at riding a bike.  Third is usually that if it keeps up I end up getting sick.

OK, back to biking, sorry 'bout that.  Dallas was flying on the 'cross bike.  Devin can still outsprint on his 'cross bike.  Craig, Jon, myself and Ed Roddy were just doing our thing.  We stopped at Cochrane Coffee Traders for some "magic" coffee, their new menu item.  I'm hooked.

From there it was to Bragg Creek, where while waiting for coffee, I heard "Erik" called from behind me.  I turn around and it's the client that I'm going to work for tonight to work on a term sheet for his next venture.  He hasn't seen me in bike kit, and I hadn't seen him in the full rancher getup before.  We chatted for a few minutes and went our own ways.

Jon and Craig rode southeast towards Millarville. Ed Roddy and I rode back to Calgary.  We don't get to ride together very frequently, but I enjoy Ed's company.  He dropped me on "the wall" west of COP.  I made my way home, showered, and promptly returned to my desk before the seat cooled off to much.