My new fixed gear winter riding toy: REDLINE 9-2-5

No doubt the ugliest bike in my fleet, but that will change after I swap out those awful handlebars. I wanted a comfortable fixed gear bike with brakes and fenders.. This is by far the best value.. so it was a no-brainer. Many thanks to Rick at Union Velo for the great price and service, per usual.. Also bought some neoprene booties, a new wind trainer (to replace the one I gave to my dad) and a front wheel block (something I've never owned before). Tried to do a field test on the rollers last night and discovered that the resistance is too low. In the 5 minute "blowout" portion, I was in the 53x11 and plates in the cupboard were shaking.. Of course it doesn't help that my rearest drum has 1/4" of lateral play.. (I've owned those rollers since 1993) I eeked out 318 watts in the 5 minutes (had the 53x11 going at 102 rpm average) and it was quite apparent that the 1 minute "all out" efforts would be impossible. Field test aborted. Either have to do it on the frozen roads or on the new wind trainer.. but not in THIS thing, that's for sure.
The other night I discovered how to make one hour on the rollers minimally bearable: remove the stopwatch from the display and look at cadence. DUH. Yeah I was actually watching the minutes tick by before I had this forehead slapper of an idea. My mp3 collection takes me to about 50 minutes before I get really bored, then I check the time and switch to my favorite few track to get to the end of 60 minutes. One other thing which helps is basically goofing around occasionally. The other night I killed about 10 minutes practicing the rollers with no hands.. I've gotten quite good at it- I can now do it without holding onto anything- go from the bars to no hands and back no problem. Even recorded some of it with my camera, I was so impressed with myself. Maybe I'll show it later. Maybe not. Funny thing is, my pelvis tilts to the right uncontrollably when I go no hands. It's like my right leg is shorter than my left or something. Either that or the floor's not level. Thanks for reading.
Okay I'm back.. F-it.. Here it is. In this video, I actually speak.. which made me feel like a freak as I spoke to an inanimate object. CTodd, I don't know how you do it. I think it takes elephant sized testicles to put yourself out there like that.

Team MILLWORK ONE is born today

Its official. The President phoned me this morning to tell me that my proposal is accepted. Gasoline cost of traveling to races will be covered by Millwork One for all team members.. Which as of this date, is only me.
I'm fired up!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi gets a Pinarello

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi poses with a bicycle he received by Italian Cycling team during a meeting at Chigi Palace in Rome December 4, 2007. REUTERS/Tony Gentile (ITALY)

MRC Cross Race

Well if you were in Wrentham yesterday in the 21 degree absence of heat, you saw my dear wife and I freezing our tookas' off while promoting our line of LIKEaBIKE kid's bikes. To those who took an interest and stopped to chat, many thanks for giving us a break from teth chattering. For our part, we contributed two Frog Lights to the merchandise prizes, and the organizers were very accommodating to let us park in the area which was off limits to most. If not for a raw sore throat, I was seriously thinking about considering the possibility that I might want to try to possibly race.. Haha. Maybe next weekend at Goddard I'll show off my pitiful sloth like cyclocross inability.. We had three bloggers (CTodd, Solo and GeWilli) in the 35+ event yesterday and I felt like such a weenie for not counting myself among them. Recorded some video footage which I will share later.   

My coach..

..is in Peru for nine days.. presumably answering my e-mails with his Blackberry. How about that? I had this wicked frightening dream last night, which included among other displeasures.. reading a newspaper obituary of the guy and feeling really sad and isolated about it. Let me tell you, it's awesome to have a person you can bounce questions off of any time you want.. Anyhow, when I awoke, I didn't know where I was, or what day it was.. and at once felt relieved and happy that it was just a dream. I need help with disciplined training. Todd's no nonsense approach and the training program he tailors for me every month, makes a huge difference, if not for results, for motivation, enthusiasm and the satisfaction of knowing I'm doing everything possible, as correctly as possible in order to improve. I have four hour fixed gear rides scheduled for the next couple of weekends! Wish me luck. Anyone selling a fixie?

Reuters Slideshow of Homeless People

To me, these photographs really feel like a swift kick in the chest. I know they're a little dated, but doesn't it amaze you how strong, resilient and adaptive children are? I'm dying to know the stories behind these people's circumstances. There are a million ways to become poor. What was their path? If these photos don't choke you up or make your eyes misty, then check yourself for a pulse.. or have children- you probably don't have any. Or picture your young niece or nephew nuzzling the neck of their penniless mother or father. That's all kids need. Loving parents to cling to, caring parents to protect them. When my son Reis and I share a bed together, he falls asleep with his arm around my neck as if the world would end if I left his side. Here's the whole slideshow

A homeless Indian woman holds her son inside her makeshift house under a bridge in New Delhi, India, July 30, 2005. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

A homeless Indian man sleeps beside his child near a highway in Fuleshwar village, about 40 km (25 miles) from the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, February 15, 2006.  

REUTERS/Parth Sanyal

A homeless Indian man sleeps beside his child near a highway in Fuleshwar village, about 40 km (25 miles) from the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, February 15, 2006. REUTERS/Parth Sanyal

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..