lo batt

The Powertap was acting strange lately.. Downloads were all the wrong date and time, workouts from two separate days were being grouped together into one workout on one day, heart rate function isn't working.. So I tried a new battery and discovered that it was the old battery I changed out of the chest strap, which isn't working. So I stole the new battery from the dysfunctional chest strap and put it in the PT. Seems everything is back to normal now.
Back on the rollers for me, how about you? I keep mine in the frigid garage, such that I wear a long sleeve jersey, hat and gloves when I'm training in there. Mp3 player too. Though I'm quite sick of my whole collection of tracks. Boredom and crotch numbness.. I stop every 20 minutes or so, sit up and let the feeling return to the T.D.
Changing tempo, cadence, gearing.. all make the time go by more swiftly. Sometimes I'll see how long I can go one handed, or what I can do with my free hand without falling down. Some close calls. Sometimes I flirt with the edge of the drum, then go into a panic as I try to re-center. Mostly, though.. I'm re-living the best and worst moments of 2007.. mostly in the crits I've done. I'm also visualizing 2008.. in my new kit.. with a fresh perspective and fresh legs.
I've forgiven myself for cramping up in the Bob Beal Road Race.. I finished the miserable race after all, and not DFL.. I give myself more credit for taking 15 seconds off last year's time in the TT, and moving up 7 places in the TT results as well.. in spite of crampy legs. Most peoples' times were slower in 2007, than in 2006. So why beat myself up if I'm part of the minority of guys who posted a better time this year? Just one example of what can vex a racer who falls short of a goal.
My weight's up a few pounds, but still lower than my leanest day in 2006. If I can hold it around 170 max and drop 5-10 pounds by March 1st, I'll be in very good shape. Diet is my weakness, but I try hard to eat smaller portions and eat more often. It's what I eat which kills me. Traveling to jobsites a few times a week, often leaves few choices when I'm on the run.
Yesterday I discovered that Eddy Merckx himself, bought a LikeaBike Jumper for his grandson when he encountered it at a London trade show in 2006. Pret-ty cool.
We're planning on being at Wrentham this weekend and at Goddard the following weekend, promoting the bikes, putting them on display.. Waiting for the organizers to get back to me with their blessing first. If it means adding a little merchandise to the prize lists, so be it. I don't know if I'll be racing. My right foot/ankle still has a lot of weakness from a sprain in 2006. I can't run very well, or without pain. Why press my luck? Though last year I felt ashamed for being at Goddard as a spectator. It looked like so much fun. I know it isn't.. not until it ends. See you around..

Excellent LikeaBike Video from the UK

When my wife and I chose to proceed with starting a retail business selling children's bikes, we had the bike racing community in mind as a starting point. It made sense to market a high end children's bike to people who spend $1000 on a wheelset, or $300 on a carbon seatpost, or $3500 on a frameset. I guess I consider us collectively to be the LAST people on earth to settle for a cheap knock-off of anything bike related, especially for our kids. That said, let me present you with the finest LikeaBike video production I've ever seen. It's owned by a LikeaBike retailer in the UK, so I doubt they will hardly mind if my little blog or my little company uses it. Bravo.
In case you're in the market for a LikeaBike, please give our site a look. Buy local. Support a fellow bike racer. Join the Weebike.com racing team and buy your LikeaBike for cost plus 10%. Here's the vid:

Family Guy: Say you didn't miss it

Tonight's episode had a new character called "Guy who rides his 10 speed everywhere". Good stuff. Loved it.
I rode OUTSIDE today for 100 minutes. No booties or else I might have continued for a full two hours, like I had planned. Instead I jumped on the rollers for another 20 minutes when I got home. You know, just to satisfy my OCD. Now I feel whole.

Team Millwork One sponsorship updates

So here's a round-up of the sponsors that I've lined up so far:
WeeBike.com: Authorized dealer for all LikeaBike products
WeeBike is going to be the co-title sponsor of the new team, and offer the following benefits to team members: MATCH all cash prizes won, furnish one free kit (jersey/shorts) contingent upon the purchase of two kits (this is to demonstrate a commitment to training and racing), and offer all LikeaBike products at cost plus 10% (NOT 10% off retail! COST plus 10%)
MillworkOne.com: Architectural woodworking company. Millwork One's title sponsorship will pay for all FUEL costs to travel to races. This is especially favorable because it appears that the cost of traveling to races now easily exceeds the cost of registration.
TurinDesign.com: An industrial design company with expertise in brand creation and graphic arts, Turin is charged with designing the team kits and preparing the layouts for the clothing company.
Legaci Coaching: Todd Scheske is an accomplished Cat 1 racer who has been a friend for 20 years, and my personal coach for the past season. Team members will have access to a discounted rate on personal coaching services, for those with or without power meters.
GVCC.com: Genesee Valley Cycling Club will be the organization under which the Millwork One team will be registered. All Millwork One team members will be required to join the GVCC by paying annual dues. (Dues can be paid via Paypal)
Pactimo.com: The clothing company which I've selected for Team Millwork One. They will be represented on the team kits by default.

Bike shop: I am looking for a bike shop to take a sponsorship position, such that all team members get a 10% discount and favorable pricing on complete bikes too. This will hopefully be resolved soon! Suggestions?

There are a few other ideas and deals in the hopper. I'll keep you posted as things develop.
I've been a part of many small teams over the past few years, and I think that so far it's a pretty attractive package. If you're up for it, let me know: reiscotools@yahoo.com

I'm on my own.. it's official

It was inevitable, it's hard to deny and it's really happening. I am starting a new racing team and would like to hear from people who are interested in being a part of it. I don't mind being a one man show.. but why keep all of the sponsorship benefits to myself? I'm especially looking for masters and juniors. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more, please reach out to me: reiscotools@yahoo.com
A clothing order will be placed week of Dec 17th. There will be enough to cover 6 riders with three kits each, or 9 riders with two kits each.. or more if I get a big enough response from consistent racers. Not necessarily looking for superior genetics or single digit results and wins.. just people who train and race consistently.
The team will be under the wing of Genesee Valley Cycling Club in Rochester, NY. (GVCC)
Sponsors will include: Millwork One, www.WeeBike.com, LikeaBike, Legaci Coaching, Turin Design and others. No deal has been made with a bike shop, yet.. but I have a few of them in mind..
One thing which my little company will be offering as a sponsorship benefit is children's LikeaBikes at cost plus 10%, one free kit (contingent upon purchasing at least two kits at cost), and doubling of prize money.. Yup- if you finish in the money or win a prime, I will match it 100%. If any of this interests you, please use the above e-mail address to contact me.
Many thanks.

3-1/2 Hour Death March at Big River Watershed

I met up with some Union folks at Big River this morning: David, Schacte, and Paul. Their median and average age is about 50, I'm only 36. You'd think I had a big advantage and I was faster and all that.. NOT! Though I did have one handicap: my cross bike. These guys all had tricked out mountain bikes with disc brakes and suspension. I had none of that. Heck my brakes hardly stop me on a level road. What I thought would be a 2 hour fun ride turned into a 3-1/2 hour death march, featuring me, bringing up the rear and cramping up violently many times in the final hour. I had one bottle of water and no food, so towards the end I was getting chills, dreaming about the banana bread I stupidly left in the car, and feeling generally weak and miserable. One thing became quite apparent though: on the hard packed surfaces, even the twisty winding ones, I had a big advantage and could open some gaps.. but once we hit the roots and the melon sized boulders and the 25% inclines, I was screwed. My arms and shoulders ache.. My lower back was screaming in the first hour, and later subsided. I'm going to feel this in the morning, that's for sure. Can't wait for next Sunday. Going into Big River with people who know the trails very well is a lot more fun than winging it as I usually do and going in circles or doubling back when I panic about getting lost. I discovered today that mountain bikes are not simply overgrown bmx bikes with gears (my ignorance knows no bounds, I know) and that these 3 fifty somethings deserve a heaping pile of respect. I'm humbled and wiser for it.

Are you inspired yet? Look again you two legged freak..

Tobias Graf of Germany competes to win the gold medal in the men's individual 4,000 meters event in the Para-Panamerican of Cycling Games in Cali, Colombia, November 13, 2007.  REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga

What inspires you?

I salute this brave person. Me? I've been weaseling my way out of training indoors on the roller for the past week.. and I still have both my of my fore arms and my hands..

China's Xuetong Kuai competes in the men's individual 4,000 meters pursuit in the Para-Panamerican of Cyclist Games in Cali November 12, 2007.  REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga

Sponsoring choices

Say you had a small business (micro, actually) and you allocated about $2000 for advertising, via sponsoring a race team.. I see three choices:

1. Sponsor your current team/club (and maybe compete with other bidders/previous sponsors for the same kit space?)

2. Sponsor 2-4 other teams/clubs and spread the money around a bit. (getting much smaller spaces on the kits, no doubt)

3. Sponsor yourself as title sponsor, (with required affiliation to another club, per USCF rules). Add more riders later on if practical.

What would you do? This all sounds like a big head ache to me. I'd hate to feel regretful later on about getting myself wrapped around this axle.. no matter which path I chose.

We want to sponsor some teams

My ass is dragging big time.. New training program began Monday, I'm already behind schedule. Had to skip the program yesterday because of fatigue.. Wrapped around a lot of axles at work. Trying to develop a business with dear wife. Nothing's easy man...

Anyhow.. been thinking about new ways to promote our little enterprise to the racing community and wouldn't mind looking at some choices. Are there any teams out there which will accept my money in exchange for putting the WeeBike.com name on their kits? I'd be interested in seeing some proposals from New England teams. We can't afford to do more than a few teams, and there's a limit to the overall dollar amount we can afford. If this sounds of interest to anyone, please reach out to me using my e-mail address: reiscotools at yahoo dot com. Please be specific and let me know how much I will be expected to pay for different positioning on the clothing. Thanks! 

A lot on my plate

Holy crap it's been over two weeks since I've posted here. Few reasons for that. My father is here from Turkey getting treatment. Plus, my other blog www.amerikanturk.com has been taking a lot of my time and attention with all the recent news involving the Turkish Republic. (also, October 29th was sort of the Turkish version of "July 4th") My sister visited last weekend from NY.. My brother visited the weekend before that.. Add to all of this three new millwork projects at work and the time and money I've been putting into our new business venture: www.weebike.com... and it's clear to see that I've had no time or energy to ride for the past couple of weeks, much less blog. As for the new business.. it's really in it's infancy.. still developing. We have a lot of interesting ideas we want to try.. such as co-sponsoring a team.. sponsoring criteriums with some prize money.. starting a little bike club for kids age 3-5 with regular meets.. Setting up a display at some of the area crits and giving free trials of the bikes we carry.. even some "run-bike" kid's races at a few local crits. Not every idea is excellent, I know.. but if we're to have any amount of success selling these high end kid's bikes, we need to do more and do it differently than the typical internet retailer (most of which do nothing more than post a single picture of the bike, a list of features and a price.. Lame.)
The new blog contains detailed photographs and detailed descriptive information about every feature and component of the LikeaBikes. I'm hopeful that people make their buying decision based on the company which helps them more than any other, to make an informed buying decision. Makes sense to me!.. I'd love for people to weigh in and tell me I'm nuts or tell me I'm onto something. Hopefully you'll keep me in mind if the subject of kid's bikes ever comes up.
The LikeaBike product line is very strict about retail pricing. The prices are "fixed".. for lack of a better word. But by virtue of the costs to sell on Ebay, plus the cost to get paid from Paypal, plus the cost of shipping (which is free by all retailers) I'm convinced that it would be a reasonable exception to discount the bikes for direct sales.. meaning that with cash sales outside of Ebay and Paypal and delivered in person at a bike race, these cost savings should be passed on to the buyer. For this reason, I want to extend a 10% discount off the list price for any and all sales to my friends in the bike racing community. There are links to my Ebay Store in the www.weebike.com blog. You'll find the list prices there. Racers can take 10% off (but don't bid on Ebay!) Just leave me a comment here and I'll take of you.

Murat's Ebay Stuff

Stuff I have for sale is shown in the widget at top right, in case you didn't notice. Not interested? Cool! Scroll down and play Pac Man.

Murat is distracted..

..by the gray weather.. by my brother visiting this past weekend.. by my father being with us from Turkey for more cancer treatment.. by my other, much more famous blog.. Amerikan Turk .. where I vent about everything other than bbike racing. (Avoid clicking if you want to avoid crossing swords with me on matters of politics) Haven't ridden since Sunday.. and already I've added a couple of pounds. Can't seen to restrain myself! What does one do with all the time that they aren't riding? Eat. The end-of-summer/winter doldrums are upon me. Please click on a few of the Google links. It adds a few pennies to my account.. which I might need to help pay for anti-depressant meds. (Kidding. I've never taken any such pill in my life, and won't begin now) Seriously, click some links. Let's see if you can make a blip in my Google earnings. Be nice to see over a dollar a day for once. Make my day.. and you have a great one yourself.

Commuting again

Though I'm not sure for how long. It was cold this morning.. enough that I wore a long sleeve base layer, long sleeve jersey, leg warmers, wool socks and hat. Forgot the gloves and my hands hurt a bit, especially with the stubborn, crusty scabs still on my knuckles.. The ride home should be more pleasant.. I am really not interested in epidermal metabolism. It's not worth risking illness to burn a few more joules.. My fitness is out the window of course.. I shouldn't complain though. I took a nasty spill without breaking or spraining anything and I healed up almost completely in two weeks, didn't break or even scratch my bike (except for the slightly bent rear wheel, blown tire, ripped bar tape, and gouged pedal).. Others are not so lucky.. Like Solobreak.. who is nursing an open cavity next to his ass, once occupied by an ounce of puss. Get well brother..   

Road Rash Update

Pulled the last of the soggy scabs on my fore arm and shoulder OFF this morning.. after bathing of course or why else would they be soggy? Yuck. Seems the only thing really holding them there was some hair. Ablarge scab is left on my kneecap which will take at least another two weeks to heal completely- it's kind of deep. Since crashing on Sunday September 16th, I've ridden the bike twice. Once on a spin up/down the bike path last week, and again yesterday for a little over an hour. Actually pushed myself a bit yesterday, rode tempo the whole time (210 w avg) and it felt like I was friggin time trialing.. Legs feel fresh but weak. Have also added 3 pounds since before my trip Turkey. I'm up to 168-169. I may grab the bike at lunch time and ride to/from work the rest of the week. Kind of miss it, but not that much. I don't enjoy the morning chill.

Facial road rash: You have to watch this crash

Union Velo Cyclocross Training Races: Tuesday Nights

New content

I haven't anything real uplifting, sorry.

My father's health is poor. Been fretting about that quite a bit lately. No bike riding for 11 days now. Seems I'm in quite a deep funk. Spent the past many days clearing our extra lot of trees and brush, just had it hydroseeded yesterday so that our little one has a safe place to play outside. Gonna pave/gravel a little track around the perimeter for him to ride his bike on.. That's about 86 yards around- more than enough for a four year old. Other than that, my new hobby is picking at scabs.. especially the ones still held in place with arm hair. Snip-snip with the mini scissors in my Swiss Army knife.. Lunchtime already? I have no apetite. 

Sandy Martin: Addressing Bob Beal Issues

We received a recent comment from a reader who expresses severe dis-satisfaction with the Bob Beal Road Race. Sandy Martin stumbled upon it and asked that her response be posted here, as follows:

There were supposed to be police on every major corner, there is no way to marshal every drive or side road, I am sorry you felt that I blew you off, I took every comment and added them to the list to make the race better next year. The one road that the police left, which was Switch road, I completely understood as [I later discovered that] there was a fatal [traffic] accident [here previously].. I did not find out till that race was done, or almost done. I did have a talk with the police and we will have more of them next year, or MCRA will have marshals.I do not condone unsafe courses and whenever possible I would correct the problem. As for the arrows, most courses are not even arrowed, I spent 2 hours arrowing that course, and had no complaints about that. Sorry you feel I did not address the issue. Sandy

Pain in the ass: Hemmorhoid surgery

http://solobreak.blogspot.com/2007/09/pain-in-ass.html

Figured I'd mirror Solobreak's latest and weigh in, since I can't comment from work..

I know your pain Solo.. In 2003 I had multiple 'rhoids and on top of that, a spiral tear inside the rectum.. The result of lots of riding and racing, lots of straining myself to go faster on the bike, combined with a constipating high protein diet.. Long story short, I went in for surgery.. remember doctors looking down at me in the OR and then blackness.. Woke up in the recovery room, all doped up, with a special gauze and spray foam dressing applied to the inside of my exit. Threads from the stitches they had to apply in there, were hanging out.. I had to pee, bad.. or so I thought. Couldn't stand or walk.. Bring on the cathoter! (sp?) A very nice middle aged nurse came and inserted the tube for me (ouch) and I hardly peed a half pint.. As it turns out, they opened me up about the diameter of a can of Red Bull, and went to town stitchng me up INSIDE, and cutting away all of the 'rhoids.. Needless to say, the first time I took a dump a few days later, I thought I might pass out from the pain and terror of it.. Percosets make you constipated.. You will be given stool softening pills.. It will hurt when you pee (or rather when you clench your bladder shut) It will also hurt when you cough, sneeze, laugh, or lift anything remotely heavy.. I missed about 4 weeks of work, even collected disability for a couple weeks.. and I walked funny.. I took the pain medication non stop for 4 weeks. Always high and loopy! Addictive.. Watch out.. I had some withdrawel after stopping the meds.. Long story short (I said that earlier, yes) I am pain and 'rhoid and tear free ever since. Until I had surgery, it was always a chronic thing for me.. fine one month, then bad for a week.. repeat. I am sooooo glad I had the surgery. Everyone I know who's had this done is always a much happier person afterwards. So good luck with yours.. hopefully it's not as bad as mine was. And it's probably not much consolation, but fall is the best time to do this, after the road season winds down. May it pass quickly.