Auffderbach's in der house

The Gig from Hell

2011-02-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

The other day a fellow drummer commented on the subject of bad gigs (The Gig from Hell), on a social site for us drummers and I thought I would write about mine. Every musician has one or thirty. Sometimes it's difficult to determine which one was the worst. Other times there is no thought needed whatsoever. Mine falls into the latter category.
Way back in the 80's (that would be the 1980's for those who aren't aware of the last century), I received a phone call from a band-leader who I will refer to as the world's worst saxophone player for a gig in which he needed a drummer. Being a "professional" musician means not turning down too many jobs otherwise you will no longer be a "professional" because nobody will call you. So with that mindset I gladly accepted the gig. Turns out this was an indefinite engagement at a now defunct casino in South Lake Tahoe. Most "indefinite" engagements typically last a month if you're lucky. Welllllll, this one lasted ten, a new record.
One of the interesting aspects of this particular gig was the leader liked to play the song, "Yakity Sax" by Boots Randolph. The song is OK, it was a big hit back in the 60's (1960's that is) and a good deal of saxophone players play this tune. The average tempo is somewhere around 120 beats per minutes which is two beats per second. This bandleader liked to play the song at approx. 3,000 beats per minute making it without a doubt the fastest that song has ever been played. Another interesting aspect was that at those speeds the song became completely unrecognizable. After 3 or 4 times through the tune, which was 6 or 7 seconds, it had become a cacophony of noise. As the time keeper, I basically waited for the pickups which is the introduction played by the saxophone player, and then played as fast as humanly possible while rushing the tempo for a couple of minutes until I heard the "shave and a haircut, ten cents" tag, which identified the song as being over. This bandleader had a reputation for playing many popular songs of the day in an unrecognizable manner but none as fast as "Yakity Sax".
Another thing he liked to do was play two (2) saxophones at once. Well, he tried to play two saxophones at once. The idea is to have two notes producing a harmonious musical chord. It was neither harmonious nor musical. Ever. It was, however, reminiscent of stepping on a chicken while skinning a cat. And he would try this more than once a night, every night, always unsuccessful.
About three months into this gig from Hell the world's worst saxophone player announced he had booked us into a lounge in Jackpot, Nevada for either two weeks or a month. I don't remember which. Having no choice, we packed up the equipment and headed east for Jackpot which was about an eight hour drive. I had the band leader in my car with me and the female singer drove her car with the keyboard player on board. Somewhere around hour number three a $5 piece of plastic broke and ended up dumping all of the motor oil onto the freeway, causing the engine to blow up. There weren't cell phones back then and the female singer with keyboard player on board never saw my headlights flashing on and off nor did they hear my horn blasting at them...they just casually disappeared over the horizon never to be seen again, until the next day. So there we were; stranded in the desert miles from nowhere with a blown engine. The band leader ends up hitchhiking to the next town and hours later shows up with a guy in his tow truck, who doesn't take checks. At that time the only one in the band who had a credit card was the female singer. Go figure. So the tow truck guy tows us into the next town and the band leader writes him a check all the while telling me he's going to pay for half of the expenses including having the car towed back to Lake Tahoe. Right.
By now it's evening and we are hungry so we check into a motel (he writes a check!), have dinner and end up in the bar shooting some pool and wondering what's next on the agenda. I have to point out that he was a recovering alcoholic and I had been clean, straight and sober for almost a year myself but for some reason he wanted a glass of wine. I didn't. Beer, however, was sounding pretty good at this point and not wanting to drink alone, he bought me one. Two bottles of wine, two six packs of beer and a pack of cigarettes later it was determined this was not going to be a good gig. I'm still not sure how he paid for all of this but we crawled to the room and passed out. In the morning there was a knock on the door and the keyboard player had driven five hours against his will to pick us up. I remember very little of the drive.
For the most part,all I remember was the daytime temperature never got above 18 degrees and the sun never came out. I do remember having a birthday and the two cute little keno writers who wanted me to take them to California had disappeared, never to bee seen again. And the cute cocktail waitress wanted nothing to do with me though she understood my predicament: I wanted a cute cocktail waitress for my birthday! It didn't happen. What did happen was I broke the cardinal rule of musicians: I ended up with the female singer. How I managed this I still have no idea. I remember a hot tub in a hotel suite and the next thing I know is I now have a girlfriend who happens to be the singer in the band. A note to young, up and coming drummers: Never, ever, EVER get involved with the female singer! Ever. It will scar you! Every drummer I know has done it at least once and look at us!! Now if you're a female drummer, well it's rather obvious this won't happen unless, of course...
Anyway, back to Tahoe and the rest of the story. The band has taken on a whole new demeanor as we're all a bunch of lushes now. I thought "Yakity Sax" sounded strange before. It was now on a whole new plateau this time around.
An interesting observation was that the club was about four miles from where I lived and at mile three of the drive to work the headache would hit. Every night. Without fail. On the bright side, at least at the time, was the fact that there was an open bar for the band. Needless to say, we got there early enough to make sure the headache was gone before the first song of the night! Most of our senses and abilities were gone as well but this truly was the gig from hell and that was how we dealt with it.
Another notable observation of this gig was the band was set up behind the bar on a very small stage with the drums being closest to the blender which made the strawberry daiquiris. I never realized the bartender would take the cover off while the blender was still churning to put some other substance in until that first time when the overspray got all over the drums! For weeks I complained about it and was told by the GM that if I didn't like it I could go...deal with it! I decided that if they didn't care, I didn't care.
Like all good rat packs I had numerous drum stuff laying around the pad and determined I would create a drum set just for this gig. I took all the hardware off the drums I had and wrapped the shells with white contact paper and proceeded to "camoflauge" them with a plethora of spray paint cans. I then painted all the chrome hardware white, threw it all together and schlepped it down to the club. The piece de resistance was the cover of a GQ magazine which had a deadpan photo of Woody Allen that the female singer duct taped to the bass drum! In a weird sort of frame of mind they looked pretty cool but in reality they looked like $#@t and sounded worse. "Blend away, Matey!" says I. In less than a week I was told I would be fired if I didn't remove them from the stage. They never got one bit of spray on them, either.
After ten months of insanity I was given a one week notice the night my female singer girlfriend was fired because, after all, I wouldn't want to be in a band that she wasn't a part of anymore. The good news is I broke up with the female singer shortly after, I cleaned up and have been sober since and I never had to play with the world's worst saxophone player again. Hallelujah!

some-mora-zamora

2010-03-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

This last Sat. (3-20) was my first race of the 2010 season. Snelling was 'sposed to be but I didn't even know reg. had opened until after it sold out in something like 1 or 2 days! Oy.
So Zamora it was. Located north of Woodland which is located north of Sacramento, Zamora is a little intersection that you will miss if you blink but most NorCal races seem to be that way. Don't want to irritate too many neighbors now.
So, turn off the freeway and roll along the rolling rollers to Bariani Winery, which is where the registration is and the start/finish takes place.
The course is a 10 mile loop on pretty good pavement actually and in the Springtime the area looks just like the default on my desktop, and probably yours too if you have a PC. You know the one; rolling green hills with the mountains in the background. This place looks just like that. Of course by June it'll be an UGLY brown just waiting to catch fire so it can go on a major rampage. But for now, it's really pretty.
So I get there a day early 'cause I don't want to spend the money on a motel, especially considering I'm by myself: no one to share expenses, so I took a tent and some backpacking stuff for cooking and it was good. I decided to ride the course lazily and just check it out to make sure there was nothing of immediate concern for the next day and stopped to chat with a couple of guys marking the finishing straight. You know, 2K to go, 1K, 500 meters, 200, and 100. Turns out one of them is Mark Switters, Adam's dad. For those of you who may not know who Adam is, just know that everyone involved in bike racing knows who Adam is. Chell and I had the pleasure of dining with Mark and his bride in (I think) Allentown, PA a couple of years ago when Micah went to Nationals. WRONG!! Just checked Google maps...Somerset, PA is where we ate. Anyway, chated with Mark and another guy who was helping out. Real nice guy but had a bit of an accent and it wasn't the easiest thing for me to understand, especially since I've become half deaf in one ear due to MANY electric guitars and kinda can't hear out of the other one. Wellllll, it turns out the fellow with the accent is Mr. Bariani! So now I'm glad I asked him if he thought it would be OK to pitch a tent instead of just doing it and acting as if I owned the place...sorta like some cyclists I know.
Anyway, got all setteled in, listened to some cool jazz and went to sleep. For awhile. A little, short while. Seems they have hoot owls at the Bariani Winery. Loud hoot owls that like to hoot back and forth to each other most of the night. In morse code they were spelling out the letters K followed by two T's. In music notation it would be an 1/8th note followed by two 16th notes tied to a quarter note followed by an 1/8th note rest, an 1/8th note, an 1/8th note rest and an 1/8th note! If you REALLY have to know what it sounds like, ask me the next time you see me.
Needless to say, I didn't quite get the nice long sleep I had hoped for. Ah well.
Morning comes and it's race day, baby! Got quite a few looks as I was frying up french toast with the morning coffee but all was good. Warmed up and went to the line for the start. 50 plus racers in the 55+ field! FIFTY PLUS!! Over 50 guys at least 55 years of age! Unheard of. Two years ago I did this race and we had something like 11! Yikes!
The whistle blew and off we went, all 50 plus of us. The Uber Geezers are coming out to play this year.
Anyway, hung with the leaders all the way to the KOM ( king of the mountains) hill when they really upped the pace and I got blown out the back. Nothing new here but normally it happens about 7 miles back down the road so I kinda felt good 'bout it.
So now I'm all alone, chasing, going after that perverbial carrot about a quarter mile up the road and by the 3rd of 4 laps I'm starting to hurt and am getting tired of being alone and thinking about packing it in. But I remember Bubba, who is parked in front of me back at the parking lot and am remminicing (sp), reminded of his liscense plate which says, NVRGVUP. For those of you who may not know who Bubba is, EVERYBODY in NorCal racing knows who Bubba is. Renoites know that he is a coach at Galena HS. Never give up...never give up...Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm ready to give up. Then I remember how Greg LeMond would always say to finish 'cause you never know what might happen, blah blah. Even coach Mel's words are racking my ears. "You'll never know how to win if you never learn how to finish." Not that I've never finished a race. I've finished almost every race I've done. It's just that I don't feel kike doing another 10 miles by myself knowing it won't make a difference as far as my overall placing.
So I'm heading up towards the KOM when the big boys come flyin' by me and when the dust settles lo and behold, there's two guys just up the road. Well, at least peddle up to them and see who they are, if they're even in my race, if they're going to finish or pack it in like I want to. Aw, mannnn...it's a Webcor guy in my race and a 45plus who's been dropped as well. Webcor?Webcor? Anybody but Webcor. AND, they announce that they will, indeed, be finishing. Now I HAVE to finish this stupid race 'cause there's no way I'm letting a Webcor guy beat me unless it's fair and square.
Dude had huge quads. Ripped.Veins bulging out and all...jealous I am. Looked to have quite the motor. Even though he would fall back anytime the road tilted upwards, me thinks this guy is playing possum. Didn't matter as he would always pace himself right back up to us in no time. So after the KOM for the last time we have a straight road for about a mile or two, then a left turn and approx. 500 meters ( 1/4 mile ) to the finish with rollers thrown in just for fun. Welllllll, I make sure that I finish my turn on the front at about 100 meters, ( 100 yards ) before the left hand turn so that I won't be on the front when the heat gets turned up. Sure enough, they both come around me and we make the turn and Webcor just puts the hammer down! From a sitting possition. Drills it. BUT, I'm expecting this so I jump around the 45+ guy and get on the wheel of El Webcor Dude and try my best to stay there. Almost got dropped but caught back on and I'm getting ready to jump around him at 50 meters when he SITS UP! What? He later said he thought he dropped both of us and had the sprint in the bag but he never bothered to look around to make sure. So I caught him by suprise and by the time he realizes it, it's too late and I beat him for something like 40th place!!!
So we cool down, shake hands and lie about how much FUN we had suffering out there when I ask his name. "I'm Lothar" says he. Lothar? LOTHAR? "Dude, You're a legend." Says I. He says he's been around awhile...ever so humble. This guy's been killin' it for a long long time. Hence the quads! But, I not only beat Webcor in the sprint, I beat Lothar as well, even if it was for 40th!
So my first suffer-fest of the new year ended pretty good, all things considered and I just can't wait for this weekend when I get to do it all over again. Only this time I'll be staying at the fabulous Motel 6 where they'll leave the light on for me.
NVRGVUP! L8R

I was there

2007-12-14T07:31:00.001-08:00

Live at Yoshi's in Oakland with
the Electrik Band...
Happy Birthday to Me !!!

News of the Day

2007-11-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official.

Mikey Hernandez has asked Junior to be a part of the new VOS P~1,2 squad. Waaaaaayyyy
cool!

He was all set to ride for the Lombardi U23 boys but nothing ever seemed to come of it.It would have been a good team for him, three of the strongest juniors he's had to race against, and with, over the years but things just didn't work out.

But now he has the perfect opportunity for growth and developement with Mike. If Hernando can't show him the ropes no one can. It's especially cool 'cause Michael has been Micah's hero since Junior got into racing about 5 years ago. Olaf used to live in Reno and was the guy who always crushed our poor little bike club when he raced for the Mighty Reno Wheelmen. We've since forgiven him. They've always had a good relationship as Mike LOVES to talk bike racing and I've always instilled in our
yoots to ASK QUESTIONS, especially ask those who know what they're talking about.

So now he's taking the next step to see how far he can go with racing. One day at a time, eh? Daddio is jumping up and down and trying to stay out of the way, (that's got to be the toughest part) and couldn't be prouder!
His grandpa is all excited as well...he used to race a Lotus sports car so can certainly relate. That's the reason I HAD to race Sea Otter this year, (see earlier post).

Now that he's going to be on a new team, maybe I can grab some of the AMD stuff!!!

caio

The Country-Western Bass Player

2007-11-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

So this kid decides he wants to be a country western bass player and moves to Nashville, seeing as that's the home of county music.
He seeks out the top bass player/teacher and approaches him about bass lessons.
The pro says that in order for him to teach the newbie, the kid has to show up on time and learn what was taught. "OK, I can do that." says the prospective student.
Says teach,"My house, 4:30 Tuesday next."

So the next Tuesday the kid shows up and the teacher describes the biggest, fattest string closest to his chin: "That's the E string. Start at the bottom and play the first 12 notes up the neck and back down. That's called a chromatic scale."

Next week the kid executes his first lesson and teach describes the next biggest,fattest string, calling it an A string and tells him to do the same thing as the week before.

Nest week comes and the student is a no call, no show.
Teach is angry, very angry, but there's nothing he can do about it so he forgets about it.

Many weeks later Teach spots kid at the grocery store and calls him on not showing.

Says Teach,"What happened to you? No call? No show?"

Says student,"I got a gig!"

The Jazz Musician

2007-11-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

So this jazz sax player comes back to New York from L.A. for a short vacation and runs into an
old buddy.
JSP: Yo, 'sup?
OB: Not much, you?
JSP: Oh man, I've been in L.A. for the last couple of years.
OB: Oh yeah? I hadn't heard about that.
JSP: Yeah, and shortly after I moved there I got a gig playing for Sting on his world-wide tour!
OB: Wow! I hadn't heard about that.
JSP: Yeah, and after that I got a call to record on Barbara Streisand's new CD.
OB: No kidding, I hadn't heard about that.
JSP:And if that weren't enough, I landed some studio gigs and have been heard on several TV shows and three movies in the last year!
OB: Amazing! I hadn't heard about that.
JSP: Yeah, man. But then I came back to New York for a short vacation and, not wanting to let
my chops go to waste, I took this stupid wedding gig and must have had a bad reed or something 'cause my playing really sucked!
OB: Yeah, I heard about that!

From there to now

2007-10-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

Oh, well, what the hay...

Many, many months since anything's been written on this site but I 'spose it's time to update now that the season is over.

A few things happened since Sattley ~ for me I missed the podium @ Esparto TT by 4 seconds and should have been on it except for the sandbagger who beat 2nd place by close to 5 minutes!
2nd place beat 3rd place by 1 or two seconds and 3rd beat me by 1 or two as well. Alll things considered, it was a very good day for me. AND, I didn't have to do Patterson Pass the day before. Got to hang in the feed zone and then follow Micah's Cat 3 race for the last lap. Once again he got top 10.

San Ardo was a blast...Actually hung with the pack the whole race. A first, me thinks.
And I didn't have to do University RR.

The only other accomplishments for me were placing 2nd in the Mighty Reno Wheelmen's Time
Trial Series for the "C's"...obvioulsy, not many of the heavy hitters showed up for that one but
I'll take it just the same. 5 free entries next year!

And I finished 3rd overall in the "C's" with Alta Alpina for the year. Next year = numero uno, baby!

Micah had a good year...11th overall in the RR at Nationals. Had the finish been at the top of the
hill instead of another couple hundred meters down the road, he would have been more like 8th.
I understand he JUST managed to avoid the crash, and a good thing as apparently he was flying
down the hill and it would have been ugly for him had he not. He was pretty shook up for the first lap until Ben calmed him down, then he showed some stuff. Finished in the chase group which was 3 or 4 minutes up on the pack. Not bad for some kid from Podunk, eh?

Next, he was off to Valdor, Canada for the Tour de l'abitibi, which was his first UCI race. Rode for the South Central team from Lubbok, Texas. This was the race Taylor Phinney won before
he won the World's Time Trial. Did I mention Micah beat Taylor at Nationals? Yeah, I know, Taylor's something like 6'2" and isn't a climber per sey and was kinda working for the team, but
nonetheless...
So anyway, Mi moved up an average of 10 places per stage and finished 60 something overall.
He also was the highest placed rider on his team which won him a trophy, which allowed him to
come up to the stage during the presentation ceremony and that gave him the opportunity to
kiss either the Commissare or Mayor on the cheek which brought down the house. Typical.
He was also the highest placed rider from the NCNCA so that was cool as well.

Next, he WON the Challenge in the 3's, finished 8th in the 3's at Everest Challenge, ( BTW, his
overall time would have placed him 8th in the Pro 1~2 ). He made the mistake of hanging with the P1~2 guys on the first two climbs of the day, which caused him to be dropped on the 3rd climb, but he was still the first Cat3 to make the turn-around at the top. Unfortunatly, the 4th
climb took him out. Nothing like bonking at the beginning of a 17 or so mile climb! He lost 30 minutes or so to the leaders BUT the next day made up for it. Being the smart just 18 year old that he is, he rode his own pace on the first climb and was sitting around 4th or 5th in the 3's.
The leaders of the 3's were 3 minutes up the road with the P12's at the top of the 2nd climb when he flatted. Good thing Daddio was there to give him a wheel, even though he felt kind of awkward about it. So, seeing as he flatted, his companions naturally attacked him, and seeing as
he was running junior gears, ( 14X25 ) he wasn't able to catch back on. So, with one climb of 21
miles with upwards of 20 percent gradient he set his own pace and one by one picked off every
one of those guys!!! By the finish he had worked his way up to 4th place for the day! Way to go,
Junior!

And last but not least, the Great Race Around Lake Tahoe.
Got there thinking it was a 7:30 start only to find out it went off at 7:oo.
So as the gun went off ( literally ), Micah was just getting on the bike and had to slot in at the back of the 150 or so riders that signed up for this epic race.
I was able to motor-pace him up to the back of the lead group and by the first real climb he was on the front drilling it. From my vantage point, which was behind the wheel of the loser cruiser,
which is what the juniors like to call the minivan, Micah was drilling it at the front every time it
went uphill.
By the end of the first climb, the lead group was whittled down to 13, including Jeff Angermann,
Chad Timmerman, Jason Walker and John Laine, not to mention Kat what's her name, the former National Champion up from Santa Cruz, who impressed everyone by staying in the entire race. When I remember her last name I will insert it where it belongs.
So everything stayed together until the last climb which was from Sand Harbor up to Spooner Summit. One of the Reno boys had rolled off the front and had a decent gap at one point, but Junior was able to bridge. Unfortunatly, the chase group caught them with about 2 miles or so to the top. Jeff then attacked the field but to no avail. No sooner was everyone all back together
Micah counter attacked and got away. He quickly opened up a 45 second gap and was looking like this might be his day.
I got caught in road repair hell and couldn't stay with the group as they were allowed through but no cars.
So I finally get through and drive like a madman down the hill towards Glennbrook and catch
up to them only to see that they have reeled Junior back in. Rats! I was REALLY looking foreward to him snatching victory on this one.
They all stayed together until the sprint and Micah ended up 3rd, according to the timing chip.
There was some doubt to the accuracy of the thing and he still hasn't received his prize money
yet, so we're sure of nothing at this point, but he had an excellent finish to his season. AND, he
WON the King of the King Time Trial up the backside of Kingsburry Grade. 39 minutes,16 seconds ~ 8 miles , 2,500 ft. altitude gain.

So now we are resting the legs and thinking about next year. Lots of new things happening. Too
bad I can't disclose any of it yet.

Until then,
Caio for now

Sattley

2007-06-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

As soon as I'm physically able to post a report on that Fabulous Sattley day in Hell,
I will.

OK...Well, it's now Wednsday and I'm starting to find my legs. You'd better! Don't forget tomorrow's
slugfest! Yeah, how could I? Another bout of pain against the mighty Reno Wheelmen. I think the
score so far for this year is about 735 to 12 ...them.

So anyway, Sattley.
Woke up around 5:30 or so and only had to drive 1.5 hrs to the race. Awesome. Normally we scoot for at least 3 hours minimum, 4 average. Typically, a NorCal race is 200 miles one way,
so this was kinda nice.

Got loaded up with some java for the drive..it was weird, though, I went alone and that almost
never happens...usually have a van full of juniors but Micah flew out to beautiful Lubbock, TX.
for the qualifying camp for l'Abitibi (hope the kid makes it, he deserves it) and Heath went to
some theme park for high school graduation. No other juniors this year. Wimps!!

Got there in plenty of time to register, ride up and down the parking lot otherwise known as a
road, said "Hi" to lots of folks and just chilled in taking my time getting ready. Just the way I
like it. I can't stand being pressed for time. The only thing I remember forgetting was getting
the right song in my head off the I-Pod before the start. Instead I had this cool big band thing
going on but it's not the song that keeps me going. I was, however, able to segue to the proper
tune about 5k into the race. Nothing normal about TT'ing.

So we're off!

Went a tad bit too hard and it took about 2K to get normal and comfy again. But then I was a
feelin' good. I was a flyin' by my standards. My 30 second man hadn't dissappeared and although I never looked back, at least not until after the turnaround, I could just tell that no one
was movin' up on me either.

And I'm thinkin' a podium might not be so far fetched afterall. And that jersey WOULD certainly
look good on me!

And all was good.

But then came the turnaround. In setting up the 180 degree uturn I managed to almost run
myself off of the pavement, loosing time. And then..Mariah! I HATE Mariah. I even posted a
blog on Mariah detailing just how much I detest her. And if that wasn't enough, that stupid song
tried to make an appearance in my head. That was the last thing I needed, so hunker down, baby,
and let's just git~r~done!

My calculations suggested I would cover the 40K in well under an hour...until that flippin'
turn-a-round.

I mean I was in a 21 or 23 at one point and could barely turn the pedals, all the time crying like
a school girl or Paris Hilton for my mommie. I have never had to hold onto the bars like that
before...it was everything I could do to stay upright. So bad that on the drive home my forearms
were killing my just holding onto the steering wheel.

Oh but that's not all. Nooooooo. By now my 30 second guy is out of sight and he's not coming back into the frame. Not only that, but now the Webcore guys who will remain nameless, fly by
and I now know there will be no podium. But I still have to get back to the finish! In a wind that
is just relentless. And I can't let up 'cause I'm going to allow myself to be beaten by only so many
riders. So, push on. And on. And on.

I actually catch and pass two guys that started in front of me. What? They're in the 60 + group?
Oh, yippee. Good for me.

So I slog it in for a 6th, which, all things considered, is acceptable, considering I did manage to
beat a buddy of mine who I have never beat before and I know he didn't have any excuses.

So even though my time sucked, it was just as hard for the fastest as was the slowest, and there's something about that that I like. But like they say, "Ya' gotta be weird to time trial."

Times and Trials

2007-06-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

Does it ever stop? I mean, it ain't even got Campy on it but it acts like it does. How do you tell
it there's a difference? It's probabbly pissed that I put the Jap stuff on it. "I'll show you".

Actually, it's not the componets that made me DNF in last night's Fabulous Cold Springs
Time Trial. No, not this time. Save that for another day. No, this time it was the rear wheel.
Gotta love those old Spinergy Rev X's. I do. Did. Never imagined one could explode .

Heard a "pop" and thought I had flatted. No such luck. "Ok, you've only given up maybe 30
seconds, you can get back in." Yeah, right. "What's that bump-de bump-de bump? Has
the rear gone out of true? How the heck can a friggin' carbon wheel go out of true?"

Stop~n~check...nothing. Over and over this goes on for the 1st lap of a 7 mile circut. Finally
I just sat up and chilled back to the van to find the carbon had separated from the braking
surface. Ya'll think spinergy will give me any advice? I didn't think so, either.

so now I has to use something else for Sattley, but the good news is the TT helmet arrived
today so maybe I still have half a chance.

Stay tuned.

Zoom Zoom

2007-06-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

Well,

I dunno how but I won another time trial Thursday.Woulda been 2nd in the B's. Even beat
an A rider, again! Howizit I can kick bootey like a dat in a TT but can barely hang in a crit
and practically puke trying to stay in during a road race?

Don't get it... But, I'm gearing up( pun maybe intended, use viewer discretion) for the fabulous Cold Springs International Time Trial tonight in, you guessed it, fabulous Cold Springs.
Should be about 50 degrees with a wind blowing from the west at about 24 mph, according
to the Weather Channel and possible showers thrown in for good measure.
Calling for snow up on the mountain tops.

Some fun, indeed.

No long sleeved skinsuit, the time trial helmet STILL hasn't arrived...it would've made it
here quicker traveling on the Mayflower then Pony Express than international shipping.

But even though I don't want to do it, I must forge ahead 'cause Sattley is this Sunday and
I'm excited.
See if'n I can't redeem myself for earlier nor/cal performances

I'm lovin' the fact that I now have the Colnago for crits and circuts and road and all and
have finally turned the Giant into a REAL time trial bike...no more clip-ons and such.
Sucker is fast, too. Fast enough to have certain folk gripe about me staying in their catagory.

Ya, well

Got one Guy I hope to beat tonight...haven't in two years but I haven't felt this good 'bout
TTing before, either and I think I have a shot.

Went for a work out up Tahoe way Sunday last and had that bumble bee FLYING! Couldn't
believe how fast the scenery was swhooshing by. 20 some odd minutes from Spooner Summit
to Stateline. A new record for me, for sure.

Till next time,

LVA

Local Stuff

2007-05-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

OK...The local racing scene is in full gear now and I'm a likin' it. Those pesky NorCal races that just trash me are less and less. Of course, I still take Micah and some of the other juniors, Heath
in particular, and love watching the boys tear it up Nevada style but I like to use those early Cal. races to try and get myself in shape for the weekly Tuesday/Thursday night slugfests. I know
I'll never really be in contention with the big boys of NorCal but locally I have half a chance!
So my first race was a TT and although I've been thinking of building up an old aluminum Trek
into a TT bike, I went ahead and put the aero bars on the trusty Giant instead. Good move as I
won the thing in the "C" category, which I never thought I'd do. So much so, that last year I made a bet with one of the juniors, Heath again, that if I ever won a "C" race or podiumed ( is
that a word?) in the NorCal races, I would shave my legs. As some are fond to say: "Le Ouch!"
Immediately I swore I would never do that again! Painful. First time in my life and those were
some OLD hairs removed. Now I'm sorta used to it and actually kinda like it.

Missed out on the first Diamond Valley RR as I forgot to put my shoes in the bike bag cause I've
been riding to work and left them in the backpack instead. Duh. Turns out it wasn't such a bad
move as it was about 34 degrees F, windy with dark clouds looming. Most miserable conditions
indeed. The bummer of it though was I missed out on points. Double bummer: The TT I won
didn't have any points because it was supposed to allow everyone the opportunity to figure out
what class they should be in. I, on the other hand, KNOW what class I should be in but still no
points.

Next up, Fernely Raceway. The Field of Dreams! Well, that's what the sign says.
This race is a blast. Closed road race course with the turns all marked at the apex and such,
nice banking, one really fast right-hander going downhill, and a climb that would be similar to
going up to the corkscrew at Laguna backwards. Steep sucker.
Hung with the pack for awhile...actually crested the hill first wheel one lap but after a couple of
lung busting efforts to stay near the front the HR said that I'd better let up or I will for sure
blow up. So I think I finished around 10th out of around 17 or so. I was happy with that.

East Valley Crit. I was surprised at how fast the pace was for this one. After the sprint for the 1st
prime it was indeed a sufferfest. For three laps it was an all out, 180+ HR, leg buster at a fast
pace. Not sure how fast we were going as I never bothered to look at the 'puter except for the HR, but it was fast enough that I couldn't hang after the third lap of it. Arrgggh.
We were able to form a chase group of at least four or five. I'm not sure because I never had the
time to actually look back and see. Most of them were just trying to hang on and couldn't
come 'round to help work so I never got an actual count. There were, however, three of us up
front doing the bulk of the work and with two to go I had no choice but to attack, knowing there
was no way I could outsprint either of them. I had to attack from 2nd wheel because no one would let me move back when I finished my rotation, thus keeping me at the front! I think I still
surprised them and was able to hold it for 8th overall.

Club Challenge, Reno AirCenter Crit. Last night was the first club challenge against the mighty
Reno Wheelmen and, once again, they pretty much had their way. I'd say we were outnumbered
four to one. But I have to say that this was the best I have ever felt at this crit. I even attacked!
After they brought me back I was still able to sit in and recover and never really saw the back of
the field until the last lap.
I thought I would help lead out a teammie so went to the front. Again, I had no difficulty getting
there.
Unfortunately, no other teammies went with me except Rick, who I was going to lead out.
I went too soon and couldn't hold it for as long as I had hoped to, resulting in me sitting up and
Rick being on his own. He was second wheel going into the last turn but all hell broke loose and he ended up around 10th.
A real bad crash with some guy cutting off another and taking him out. Ambulance and all. I still
don't understand why some of these guys think they can sprint like Robbie McK. or Cippo or Zabel, etc. Stupid. All over the road, thinking they're all pro or something when most of them, like myself,
are Cat 5's. "Yeah, well, I saw how they do it on TV and so there ya go!" That's why I would rather
attack the field and hope to stay away 'cause I had to be here at work today. Can't afford to take
time off because some idiot took me out in a local bike race. Actually, that happened to me last
August and it's only been maybe a month or two since I finally healed up completely. And it was
no fun having to work all bandaged up and in pain.
Now don't get me wrong... I don't mind sprinting. I actually enjoy it. But I don't like being in the
middle of 30 guys who don't know what's going on around them but don't let that bother them
and just launch balls out come hell or high water attitude. "Cut me off will ya? Ha! Watch this! I'm
super pro cause I've got booties and a skinsuit and all and if I take out enough of these slowpokes I'll move
right up the ranks." Oy!
On a brighter note: Bobby Julich showed up and impressed everyone but still just chilled in the
pack and stayed out of the way for the sprint. Class! Micah got to ride most of the race next to
him and got to chat with him as well. They ended up doing a ride together last Jan. when it was
about 28 degrees and Mr. J remembered it. He also commented on how junior really should do
'Lbittibe or however it's spelled. He said he won it twice when he was a junior and it would be
good for him. Now if we can just get the sponsorship.
Longest blog I've ever written. STOP, PLEASE

Haw-Haw-Hawente Road Race

2007-05-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

This was to be the race I was 'sposed to have peaked for. A Masters 55+4-5 going 6 deep? Oh, yeah baby, bring it. Been waiting for this one since last December. And except for getting dropped on the first climb of the first lap and spending the next 4 laps chasing and suffering like
I have never suffered before and spending the entire race arguing with myself about quitting or
not quitting and wanting to climb of the bike like never before, it was a great race!
Not only did I cramp in places I never knew existed, I somehow got bruises on the inside of both
legs just above the knee-cap, yet they never banged into anything. Very strange indeed.

So I roll up to the line and low and behold, who's the first person to roll up next to me but Larry
Wolf hisself.

Me: Larry! What are YOU doing here? Surely you must be at least a Cat 3.

Larry: No, not yet. Can't get any upgrade points 'cause there's not enough guys in the races
to qualify.

Me: You should do 45+ races. You'd kill 'em.

Lar: yeah, right.

So there I was...for those of you who don't know, I think Larry has won every race he has entered this year. It would kinda be like being a decent 2 or 3 and having Hernando or Nolan
or Sasser et.al line up next to you. In that split second of a moment your entire plans have just
gone out the window.
Plus, my training has sucked this year. It's like take two steps forward, one back. With sickness and work I've not been able to get the miles in. Oh, well, race myself into shape, right?

I think the most embarrassing moment came when the Pro ladies caught me on that steep little
kicker where the road turns right about 7 miles in or so. Cross Road, me tinks.
I was so dying already and knew they were a comin' up on me and wanted to stay out of the way
but this was the worst possible place to get caught as I was trying to pedal my hiney up that hill
and give them room as well and it was just a cluster. I don't think I interfered with anyone, it
was just the place I did not want to be at the time.
They all got around me before the top and I was so toasted I couldn't even draft behind them, which is a real drag because that's my favourite part of road racing! Well, one of them anyway.

So I spent the entire race chasing this one carrot that I caught up to one time but never could
get around. It looked like I had it made going into the final lap cause I was able to catch on to him on the flat part going into the start area and was able to hang on Altamont no prob.
But on the last lap he hooked up with a faster group which was lapping us and he was gone.

Well, what do you know?! I make the right hand turn onto the steep section of Altamont Pass
and there he is. 20 meters at best up the road. Wellllll, things are a lookin' better. But, try as I
might, I just couldn't bridge up to him this time. There was nothing left to the point that I think
people were walking up that hill faster than I could pedal! Excruciating is the one word that describes that race that day. But I did manage to finish with a top ten, so I 'spose it was worth
it.

Micah, on the other hand, had a good race with the 3's, finishing in 7th after five laps. Or was it
six? Can't remember. What I do know is that after his 3 race, he jumped in with the junior 17-18
kids and hung with them for two more laps. That kid has really turned into a stud.

He also got 2nd in the junior crit Sunday, just missing out on the win by less than the width of a
tire!

Big kudos to Darryl Smith and family for putting us up and putting up with us. It was great being able to watch both men's and women's Little 500.
Got to hang with some big boys Sat. after the races ( Dean Leberge, Craig Roemer and Daniel
Hollaway) at the pasta feed the Smith's had for us all. Daniel is a good kid and I'm really glad
he's not a junior anymore 'cause he just killed them when he was, and seeing as Micah was one
of the many juniors to get slaughtered by him, I didn't care much for Daniel then. Now...he's a
good guy.

Till next time...

dump dump dump, another one bites the dust

2007-04-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

Beleaguered Italian rider Ivan Basso has removed himself from his two-year contract with the Discovery Channel team at his own request just days ahead of a hearing before the Italian Olympic committee for alleged links to the Operación Puerto doping investigation.

Hmmmmmm, Does this mean Levi's the man for Le Tour?

Sea Slaughter

2007-04-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

Laguna Seca.
Man does that name bring back memories. This is the first time I had been to Sea Otter. I have heard about it from day one, if not before. Seems to me I was reading
about it long before they say it's been around but at my age...well, the memory apparently isn't what it used to be.
So anyway, this was the first Otter. It was pretty much what I expected it to be,
although I was impressed with the amount of cars in the parking lots on Sunday. Of
course, when I've been there previously the parking is where the expo was and on the
hill where the short track was as well, so there may not have been any more folks than usual.
OK, OK, back to the story...When I was a wee little one my dad raced a Lotus 7 and one of the tracks he raced on was Laguna Seca. It was different then as the hairpin
wasn't there; it was a left hand sweeper that swung around to where the hill starts
after the start-finish, so for autos, you would be screaming fast approaching the hill. I saw many "firsts" there as a kid...Sterling Moss making his only appearance
in a Lotus Elite (or was it an Elan? I was really young), Carol Shelby debuting the
King Cobra, Jim Hall debuting the Chapperal ( that was the one that introduced the wing on the back )and a few others as well.

When I was a young adult, my brother raced, among other things, Porches at Laguna.
There I saw Mario Andretti race in a Can Am car for the first time, Gene Hackman
(the actor) roll a Datsun(?) just past where the hairpin is now, (that sweeping left
hander), and a much younger Paul Newman in the Bob Sharp Datsun 240Z. My older bro'
would kill him every time!

Then, about six years or so ago, Micah and I would go down there and watch the American Le Mans boys in their factory sponsored Porches, Vetts', Ferarri's, Audi's
Beemers and so on. Always camped in the same spot overlooking the course, which is the same spot we camped in at Otter.

So then Micah starts bike racing and his coach Mel says that the juniors are going to
Sea Otter to race. And he does. And each year he gets better. But I have to work every time and can't make it. Except this year I'm able to get the time off.
So this is it: My dad raced that course, my brother raced that course and my son has
raced that course. This leaves me no option, I MUST race that course. So I did. And I
finished. Right behind the only other 55 plus guy in the 40 plus race. AND we finished ahead of a fair amount of younger 40 plus dudes, even though we were dropped
on the first climb and lapped by the field. But I raced it and that was all that mattered, and I can now boast that there are no more males in the Herman family that
haven't raced Laguna Seca, and that's a good thing.

One last note. There's no need to go into the weather as everyone knows about it. BUT, I must
say that the Pro women were right after my race so I was at the start when the rains came. So
as I turn to leave who should be behind me straddling a Schwinn Stingray with plastic flowers
in the basket on the handlebars but none other that Mike Hernandez! I look up an him and just
about fell over...that just really made my day! The only thing missing was the bumble bee outfit!

Reports, Reports, Reports

2007-04-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

OK, so I woke up Sat. morning sick but denied it until the inevitable. Copperopolis
was NOT going to kick my but even thought I knew it would. I'm not sick, I'm not, I'm
not, I'm not. Hangin' out in the feed zone was difficult but I was able to sit in the
lounge chair for awhile until I would hand off either to Micah, Heath or Danny, all of which were many minutes apart so it was up and down alot. Watching Levi come up behind the Junior 15-16 race and basically shove a bottle into his wife's face was
humorous. She was sitting right next to me with a friend and were looking at catalogs
and hadn't realized he was a comin' up the road. So all of a sudden here's this guy
in black leaning down on the right side of his bike shoving a water bottle into this
girl's face just about knocking her over. "Well, that seemed rather rude." I thought
as she is picking herself up. "Hey, Levi Leipheimer just handed you a bottle." I said
trying to keep from laughing out loud. She said, "Yeah, he's my husband." So I had to
comment about last year when Levi threw his vest and it landed on my feet. A girl
standing across the road came over and asked for the vest. Well, I was a little
hesitant, not knowing her and all when another girl asked the first girl for the vest
as I,m handing it over. Turns out these are the same two looking at catalogs.
So I ask if it's like this in Europe...Hmmmm...feels like the temperature just dipped
down a few degrees. So now I'm forced to share the story of how their little foo-foo
dog snuck out of their SUV at Wente last year and charged me, meaning all the commands of Levi shouting at the thing had no effect and that little pooch knew who
was going to pet him and make him feel like a real dog! So after Mr. Leipheimer walks
over to grab Fido I managed to coax him into a picture of him and Micah and Danny.
Mrs. Leipheimer still didn't feel like bonding so I set up the trainer and started
warming up for my afternoon bout of pain and suffering.

Pain...what a simple little word, yet so complex in deffinition. We've all experienced it. All felt its merciless hold on us, dictating our actions, like it or
not. Well, I have.
But pain was not going to have the better of me today. No way! I had been training on
roads similar to the ones that would challenge me today. Even velcroed the water bottles to the cages. Put an extra roll of bar tape over the current one. I was ready
baby. Ready, that is, until the fever started in. "Deny it." I kept telling myself.
"It has no effect. Got to keep rollin' on." So I did. After the smooth section of the
first climb I rolled on by myself, not seeing the group again untill I reached the lake and was able to see them on the other side. So now it's just a matter of getting
to the finish, finding everyone who rode to the race with me and going home.

I did manage to catch on to a girl off the back of the Lady 3's and chatted for awhile. As crappy as I felt, I droppedd her unintentionally on the final climb so she
must have been having a worse day than myself.

I had to stop at the top of the hill and put the arm warmers back on. I was told at
the start line that I would certainly overheat with that stuff on so I removed it and
put it in a back pocket, thinking I would toss it in the feed zone as the van was still parked there. I forgot to do it and was thankfull I did cause I was FREEZING on
that final descent.

Made it across the line for one lap and a DNF but didn't care. Went home Sunday, got
in bed at dinner time and got our of bed Wednsday morning!

Up next, Sea Slaughter and Wente!

and Mariah takes it !

2007-03-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

I went for a training ride yesterday with the local junior team. Only thing is, they weren't anywhere to be found. I like to ride with them cause I'm faster than a couple of them.

You see, after work I had to scoot up to Reno and pick up some Enduralytes before the ride, so
that made me a few minutes late what with traffic and all. The reason I had to go to Reno is that
it is still cheaper to drive 60 miles round trip than spend the extra money the local bike shop
wants for this stuff. I mean I'm all for shopping local but sometimes it's just so ridiculous.

So, anyway, back to the story; I'm headin' outta town and I notice it's windy. Real windy. Somewhat typical wind 'round these parts...it's just been awhile since we've had winds like this.
So, going into Washoe Valley they have the signs up in real nice Nevada-style lights "Caution:
wind area ahead, Campers and Trailers PROHIBITED." Now, you would think I would clue in to
something like that but we're used to riding in wind and it's not always windy in one valley when
it is in another.

Well, after steering the car left for 30 miles and then right for 30 miles I headed out to the start
spot for the Monday junior ride. I was about 5 to 10 minutes late but I knew they would be at
the local crit course doing a couple of laps while the slackers made their way out to meet up with
everybody. I couldn't wait to ride yesterday. I knew I would be a bit late so I think, "Well, let's
get prepared to be ready when you get there." meaning: Let's change in the car! While driving!
While driving @ 70 mph in a nasty wind storm. With lots of traffic that can easily see into my
dinky little Honda Civic while I'm trying to loose the pants and pull on bibs. Not to mention leg
warmers and jersey. Oops...forgot the HRM, has to go on UNDER the jersey AND bib straps.
Did I mention the Honda has a stick shift?

Driving and using the clutch whilst wearing cycling shoes is really overated.

Man, it sure is blowing out here.

Lots of people in a hurry out here.

Lots of people in a hurry to slow down out here.

Did I mention that the bike bag takes up the entire passenger seat? There were clothes all over
the place...civies coming off, cycling going on... what a loon I've become.

What's that? I failed to mention that I'm also a ham radio operator? And like any good ham, there are at least two radios in the car. Did I mention that radios take up space? Especially in dinky little Honda cars.

Now I finally make it to the meeting spot, jump out of the car and hop onto the bike and I'm off.
Off into a tail wind that has me thinking that it's normal to warm up in a massive gear cause I'm
cruising @ 30 mph and spinning @ 100+ rpm and this is good...until the right hand turn. Ouch!

Like I said, we have wind around here. But yesterday it was REALLY windy. My front tire was
almost swept out from under me on many occasions and more than once I had to stop to keep
from being blown over. A mile or so of this and another turn, this time to the left. OMG! I'm
Flying down the road with NO resistance and all of a sudden there are tumbleweeds passing me.
And sand, real fine sand, the kind that gets into everything, even with protection, is all over the
place, getting into everything. Even everything that has protection.

The crit course...one lap backwards and NO ONE is here. Ya think they canceled? This group?
Naw, not them. It turns out they didn't. Only one junior, being mine, showed up so he and coach went straight to the hill repeat spot we use. And people think I'm nutz.

Now the fun...mashing into a headwind that has me in something like a 39 x 21 and doing all of
7 mph with a heart rate red lining, not to mention the sand REALLY getting into everything now.

Mariah. They call the wind... I hate that song. I used to have to play it constantly when it came
out and I didn't like it then.
She was out in full force. It was like in the movies where they have a big fan just out of camera
range blowing sand on the actors and you can barely see anything. I could barely see anything.
The kind of wind that makes you hear a 747 or some huge jet airplane above you but when you
look there's nothing there. That's because there isn't.

More tumbleweeds. Only now they are coming from the left to the right, as is the dust and sand
and other blowing stuff. And the bike SO wants to lay down and rest, it doesn't understand the
need to get back to the car at all costs because now, off to the west, the snow is a headin' our way. Finally I make it back and all is well, sort of.

I didn't know junior and coach were still out there. I just figured it was too insane to be doing
hill repeats in this weather so he must of ridden home, although I didn't see him on the way there. Took a back road, I'm sure.

Get home and sure enough, Junior's not there. Good news - Coach calls to let me know Micah has just left the building and will have and awesome tail wind. Should take him about 15 minutes
to travel the 10 miles he has to ride to get home. Bad news - The wind has shifted about 5 miles
into the trek home and it's not only raining now,it's beginning to snow. Poor kid showes up drenched, freezing and looking rather Belgian. But that Disco kit he's wearing DOES look cool!
I guess he really is a "hard core biker dude" afterall.
Got a fire going and dried him off, all the while humming to myself: "Away out here they have a
name for rain and wind and fire"...

Tis' Friday, boring Friday

2007-03-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

Sketcherous

2007-03-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

Sketcherous : That inability to focus and keep a bicycle going in a straight line...swinging the bike
back and forth so much so while sprinting that you end up washing out the front end and launching over the bars! Or having contact with the guy next to you who is doing the same thing.

There was alot of that style of racing this last weekend at Land Park and Zamora. I was witness
to more crashes in two days than I've ever been involved in in my life and I race with the 55+
geezers! Fortunately, none too bad with the exception of the prime sprint in the pro1-2 race at
the end of Sat. The ambulance came for the EMC rider but am not sure if they took him away or
not.

The ladies, apparently not wanting to be outdone, had their own slugfest during the crit and car-
nage was spread out all over the course, from what I'm told. I personally saw a group hit the deck coming out of turn 1 in the 4 race and I have to say it did look rather spectacular. One girl launched over the bars and got big air before being planted." F-ing Vello Bellas" was the chant at
that particular moment.

Ah, well.......

Sunday had more of the same. My race saw someperson make contact with someperson else.
At least that's what I'm guessing. All I saw was a sudden void in the pack and guys shooting off
to either side of the road with the sounds of metal and pavement fusing together, yelling, shout-
ing, SCREAMING, rear ends locking up, not to mention the smell of burnt rubber. This not more
than two miles into the first lap. It looked like they were in the 45+ group...us 55ers are more
cautious cause we KNOW how long it takes to heal @ our age. So anyway, it forced me to shoot
off to the right side of the road sending me into the weeds, staying upright, albeit @ about 3 mph
and by the time I, us, we, got back on the tarmac the pack seemed to have upped the pace a bit.
Nothing like trying to chase an attacking group up a hill. Not today. So, regroup with a couple of
guys and get a good workout. The rest of the race was good. No idea how far back I was but, with the exception of the 3rd lap, I felt good. Had nothing left for the last climb of the day and
didn't contest for the sprint cause the boys I was with dragged me around that dreaded third lap and it wouldn't be right to sit in then go for the sprint cause I may need them to drag me around
again some other time.
Junior had a good race sitting up front with the 3's but couldn't hang for the sprint cause he's
running junior gearing and it wasn't an uphill finish. The downhill part of the rollers allowed the
non juniors to get around him in the sprint. That's OK though, as up next is Copperopolis and
I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the podium there, again.

Lastly, why do racers have to sprint like Robbie McKewin (all over the road, jockeying for position) when they obviously don't have the skills to do so? Boneheads! Imagine how impressive they would be if they were actually getting paid to put other people in jeopardy. I
speak of the Cat4 finish at Snelling. Thank God nobody crashed (I was totally AMAZED that
there wasn't one) on that finish. Guys were all over the road, swinging back and forth, side to
side...I couldn't watch. Maybe it wasn't all that bad in the middle of it but from where I was, it
looked like there wouldn't be enough ambulances to take everyone away. Must have good insur-
ance. LVA

Of things Italian

2007-03-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

I love almost all things Italian!

Their passion for whatever they do just inspires me to get in touch with whichever side of my brain it is that creates.

The food that comes outta that place is consumed by me on almost a daily basis...their autos, don't even get me started. Their bikes, oh my! I'm only sorry I don't own an Italian bike anymore BUT, Campy is to be found on my two most prized riding machines: a 2003 Giant Team Once screamin' yellow zonker and a 1984 Performance Blue Ridge touring bike with alot of chrome...they both get lots of oogles and such. I'm hoping to do a restoration on the Performance this Spring...new paint job with all the fixins'. Anyway, not to be too one-sided, Shimano is on most of the other bikes...I have an old steel framed racing bike with alot of Modollo and Sugino stuff on it as well. Sort of a half-breed.

I could easily see myself amongst these Giro fans waiting for the race to roll through...actually, I rode my bike up to the top of Spooner Summit way back in '86 to watch the Coors Classic blaze past me and it was AWESOME...Roberto Gaggiolli won that stage from Squaw Valley to Reno and those boys were flying! One reason was that it was considered a training ride for the upcoming World's to be held in Colorado which is where the Classic ended. And who won the World's you ask? An Italian, Moreno Argentin. On a Bianchi no less. Attsa nice.

The first real road bike I owned was a Bianchi but not green, sort of a rust color with a 48x52 up front. Not real good for a smoker living in the mountains of Lake Tahoe. But the good news was that I didn't know any better. Up to that point I only had some 35 pounder with ONE chainring in the front so this Italian job was really happening with two rings up there. Wish I still had that bike...gave it to a girlfriend who ended up driving over it while backing up her car. Duh.

I don't do girlfriends anymore.

LVA

My first blog that's not a "comment"

2007-03-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

I love the age we live in but sometimes I can't stand all the crap that's involved with it.
Ever notice when the page you're tryin' to navigate isn't in agreement with you and won't
do what you have COMMANDED it to do, the fingers start hitting the keyboard harder and
harder? Seems that's how the programmers want it, cause after awhile a key might stickkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. Drives me nutz. I'm sure they giggle at it.

On a brighter note...looking foreward to Zamora Sunday. Hopefully not as windy as last year.
At least it'll be warmer by about 20 or so degrees. My goal ( seeing as I'm in the 55+ group
this year) is to finish, and if possible, with somebody behind me. Tis really a drag living in snow
and cold and being a Cat5 and being old and trying to be competitive in a ridiculously hard sport
and knowing I will probably NEVER be much faster than I am at this point in my life, even with
mass amounts of training, which has been unavailable this year due to work, and also knowing I will probably get dropped on the first climb, if not before, and driving 150+ miles one way in order to do so. BUT...all I can think about is racing! I LOVE IT!! and I will still try to get faster
and train and ride and race and remember that if I hadn't stopped smoking, I wouldn't even be at the level of fitness I'm at now.

Note to myself: The spare tire went away last year and it shall again this year. It's only March,
afterall.

The good news is my boy, Micah is blazing fast, won Nevada City last year, is on a smokin' good
team and will be a Cat 2 way before his 18th birthday, Lord willing. So I shall rejoice in his
abillities knowing that some of them actually came from me and spend alot of time in the feed
zone with other dads and coaches enjoying the day. I look foreward to it.

So much for my first post on this site...