Poor George! Churning and Burning

It's been a relatively sluggish weekend. I've been making it outside for rides, as well as some endurance work on the trainer but nothing intense, and nothing near the 3 hr trainer torture fests that I'm supposed to be doing. I really should get on that- the Spring series Races start in a week.



The new saddle came in, and It's offered my crotch much-needed relief. I'll have to take it on longer rides to see how it does, but its definitely made trainer time a tad more bearable. Anyway, I needed an excuse to add more carbon to the bike...



the Trainer Movie of the week award goes to: Run Lola Run. It was up on my Netflix Queue today, and is a great movie to churn to. a Great German techno soundtrack accompanies the manic pace and is well suited for trainer time. However, it's a bit short, (80 min) so you'll have to piggy back it with another movie.

I took the fixed gear out for an hour yesterday just to switch things up. It reminds me that coasting is a privilege, not a right. It's so nice to get on a simple machine and just ride. no gears, no fancy stuff. just wheels, steel and one gear. you're directly connected to the machine and the road. you'll only go as fast as your legs will spin.

The ToC finished today. I though Disco did a fantastic job, and Congrats are in order for Levi. I think Levi was a good person to win the Tour of Cali, although i still don't think he has a shot for the GC in the TDF. That being said, Levi's team did a huge amount of work, and without them he would have been dead in the water. (especially after that silly little crash in stage 2 and the one today.) Speaking of which, it's time to talk about the real Disco MVP- Big George Hincapie.
Already and accomplished cyclist in his own right, George's best quality is his true sense of selflessness. I think the Disco and USPS boys have really shown us in the past few years that a good team structure will guarantee wins in cycling. Sure, you need a great team leader to ride you to victory, but without teammates like George, there would be far fewer disco wins.


George was involved in a crash early in today's stage and broke his arm/wrist. That didn't stop George from joining a chase group and re-joining the Peloton. Long story short- George rode over 100 mi with the broken bone. Without George pulling the chase group back to the peloton, Levi very well could have lost the Yellow Jersey. Hardcore points for Saint George.


That's fantastic. That's why I love George. It's why i begged the guys at the shop to give me the poster of him. I'm sure it'd be pretty easy to have a big ego when you're the US Pro champ and a TdF stage winner, but this guy is selfless and a great teammate in these situations.

What sucks is that the big guy is out of commission for 6-8 weeks. Another year of Dashed hopes for a Paris-roubaix win. I really though he could win this year. Let's see if he can rock out next year. And who knows, maybe he'll set himself up for a good stage win in the tour. He had also been spanking the TT's lately, which was always fun to watch.

George, while you're down and out, I'll race for you. I'll wear those ridiculous glasses and do my best out there (although as a cat 5 with a few lbs to lose, I don't know how much that really counts for).


If I had your address, I'd send you a Case of Brooklyn Lager- you deserve it. Thanks for showing everyone what it means to be a class act in cycling.

Christophe on TV with Floyd, New "Free Floyd" T-shirts and frigid riding. Woot!

What a weekend. a great way to kick off a week of unemployment!

I quit my job on Thursday, and start my new job on the 26th. That equals a whole week of Christophe doing nothing but combinations of laziness, Bike riding, and food/alcohol!

What a life!

I made myself ride outside this weekend on sat and sun. both were pretty cold days, with the temps starting in the mid-twenties and ending around the low 30s. i couldn't feel my toes after the rides, but I didn't care. I took the cross bike out so that I could give the new build a solid test run.


I'd say it passed with flying colors! I can't wait to get this baby muddy on a cross course. The handlebars are super comfortable (especially with the cushy green deda tape), and the Campy Centaur gruppo shifts life BUTTAH. the new centaur right shifter has the new escape mechanism, which only allows for you to shift up (harder), one gear at a time. Campy did this to save weight and simplify the internals. I was a bit worried at first that I would miss being able to upshift 5 gears in one motion, but I realized that In 'cross it may be better to only be able to shift one at a time. I could see me shifting up too many gears by accident when hitting rough terrain if i had the same mechanism that they have on their shifters in Chorus and above. They've also refined their front derailleur mechanism. while you cant trim it as much, there's no need to. its the most responsive front derailleur I've used thus far.


a Dirty 'cross bike is a happy 'cross bike!


In other News, the Tour of Cali started on Sunday. To my pleasant surprise, I got a call from Jason saying that I was on TV.


Huh??


Apparently VS (OLN) did a piece on Floyd Landis and the Fundraisers that he has been holding. Little did I know that Camera crews were recording footage at the Brooklyn Brewery and they used the part where I was talking to Floyd and giving him one of the t-shirts I had designed! F-ing Crazy!

Since Then I've been getting a ton of feedback from people who want to order shirts. I figured, in order to please everyone, I should set something on on cafepress.com - so i did just that.



http://www.cafepress.com/cjammet

This way for all your "Free Floyd" apparel needs! I designed T-shirts (in different colors), Women's shirts (tank tops, tees cut for women), Stickers, mugs and greeting cards! Go wild!

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Floyd Fairness Fund.

Get a T-shirt and Show Mr. Pound who the real "Dick" is.

As for the ToC itself, Congrats to Levi on the prologue- that was a great job. I don't think you have the gusto to win the tour, but you're a great rider still.


Even bigger props to my homeboy Big George for coming in 9th- great job Georgie! George is just a fantastic rider with a great attitude. He probably won't win the tour, but without him, Disco/USPS and Lancey pants would have been dead in the water.

Levi Held on to his yellow jersey today, but BARELY. a big crash in the peloton felled Levi, who jumped back on the bike with his but showing from the ripped shorts and booked it back. I believe the refs let him keep the yellow since it was so close to the finish. and of course big George was there helping him play catch up after the accident.

God, I'm starting to sound like a Fanboy.


I hear its supposed to get warmer this week. That means more riding outside. Wheeee!


Keep training hard, kids- racing is coming up fast! (and has started for some already)

I'd rather be numb than have (or watch) cabin fever

And winter's REALLY in full swing now! we just got a few inches today as a Nor-easter comes on through. I can still remember the 70 degree weekend we had in January. Why couldnt Global warming keep it up? It was making for such an easy training season. Thanks for nothing, Al Gore. That was more of a Convenient truth for us cyclists!

But noooooo. now its cold. too cold to ride.

Which means that most of the 6 workouts a week I'm assigned to do have been on a trainer or set of rollers.

The novelty of watching a movie or thumping to loud Techno during intervals passed a loooooong time ago. I've got full on cabin fever. It makes me desperate to get outside, and I've found myself rationalizing whether 20 degrees is too cold to go out (yes, it is. )

This weekend it came to a head. low 24/ high 32 for both days. I had to get out. i didnt care. I bundled myself up and off I went with some team members on both days. I was so glad I did. Got a nice 55 miler in with 4 teammates on saturday and did a nice (and slower) 45 miler on sunday with Chad.

the ride on saturday was a good strong one. we headed on out to Nyack and returned via some backroad hills that I had never done. I didnt expect to do hillclimbing work that day, but it's always refreshing to get a little variety in. However, Both days I had to stop at the Piermont Bike shop and pick up some Hand and foot warmers as my patties went numb on the way over. Such is the price one pays for not being cooped up in an apartment, watching breaking away AGAIN while you're pedaling away your life and going nowhere. it gets kind of depressing. That reminds me, I have to return my netflix DVDs. I've watched all of my DVD's already and I'm running out of trainer time distractions.

I'm sure many of you are at that point now or have been there before. Cabin fever. Not just a horrible movie, it's also an affliction that strikes the morale of the cyclist in the dead of winter. I'm beginning to develop a hate/hate relationship with my trainer. not enough to stop me from using it, but i cringe every time i look in its direction. Its responsible for me having to get up at 5 AM, sweat buckets, get to work late, and have to take a 15 minute naparoo in the stall cause i'm so friggin tired!


Racing season is but a month away, so we're in the home stretch! soon it'll lbe warm enough to ride outside again on a regular basis. instead of doing brain-dead trainer sessions, I'll have Mundane central park loops to do! (don't mind my scarcasm, it really is infintely better)


I had another Impulse buy on Ebay today- picked up a nearly new Fizik Aliante (in blue, of course) for $57 bucks. considering they go for $220 new, I think I did pretty well. Carbon shell, Ti rails. I hear good things. Hopefully my taint will be pleased. As pretty as my Fizik Arione is, I end up going numb after 40 min on the trainer.


Random Tip- Don't forget to change your chain once a season or every 1500 miles- the more you change your chain, the longer your cassette will last! I found a great deal on campy record chains at probikekit.com - 45 bucks! so remember, kids- change early, change often. it'll make your cassettes last and it'll keep your shifting crisp.


on that note, I've got an 85 min tempo workout in a few hours. time to hit the hay.

But I leave you with my newest friend, Unemployed Skeletor!

Floyd Landis and Beer

I just got back from the Town Hall/Auction/presentation/autograph session/beerfest that was put on by the Floyd Fairness Fund. It was a great event and I think it allowed for Floyd to make his case in a clear and direct fashion. He's doing exactly what he needs to to clear his name, and I applaud him for it.



The event was put on at the Brooklyn Brewery , home to many a fine beer. The taps were open and a-flowin' for this event, which made it all the better.

When Floyd came in, the place erupted. obviously this place was filled with more supporters than skeptics. And that's fine- this event was meant to allow people to 1) Be properly informed, and 2) ask him questions.

One of the people in the crowd Asked Floyd to look him in the eye and tell him that he never used performance enhancing drugs. Point blank, in front of all those cameras.

Floyd did just that. without hesitation. This was him as his most genuine- there wasn't any legal-ese or any run around questions. He looked everyone straight in the eye and told them what he believes to be the truth.



Arnie Baker gave a great presentation on the various flaws the regulators and powers-that-be had made in taking on Floyd. I won't bore you with the details- you should read it, and it can be found on Floyd's site. That presentation gives enough scientific, empirical, and logical arguments that should satisfy even the most jaded skeptic. However, it's up to you (the jaded Internet troller) to read it. It's obvious that we can no longer look to the media for objectivity in cases like this, where sensationalism is what sells.

It's obvious that the doping-related accusations and scandals in that past year have turned many a starry-eyed aspiring bike racer into jaded and dismissive elitists. It's a defense mechanism. If you just brush off any great rider in cycling by saying he/she probably dopes, it prevents you from hoping for the person- from believing in them. It's not surprising, but it's still sad.

Yes, sometimes cyclists have doped. However, to believe all or most of them do is to adopt an attitude that is destructive to the very sport that we love and believe in.



Afterwards there was an auction and an autograph session. I had designed some "Free Floyd" T-shirts on my own (inspired by the "Free Wynona" T-shirts that were made when she was caught shoplifting). I gave one to Floyd, who seemed to like it- i think told him where I got the inspiration from.

"Oh, great. That's exactly who I want to be associated with- Shoplifting celebrities!"

I got him to sign an extra I had, shook his hand, and told him thanks for everything. He then asked how in the hell I ride up here when it's this cold. I said I don't! That's what a trainer and rollers are for (even though I'm starting to get some serious cabin fever).



All in all, a great night. It was great to see, hear, and converse with a fantastic athlete and a great guy, and I'm sure that more than a few skeptics had their questions answered.

There's no doubt in my mind that Floyd will have this case overturned. At least that's where my hopes will lie. Maybe we all need to take a chance and believe in someone again. And I think Floyd's our man.

Bike Porn- 1st Edition: Me! Me! Me!

I figure that since it's my god-damned blog, and that makes me self-centered and narcissistic by default, it shouldn't be a problem to feature one of my bikes as a Bike porn contestant.

So, Ladies and gentleman, cyclists and Internet stalkers, friends and enemies, I present to you: my Fondriest Domino Plus.



This bike is the current love of my life. I bought all the parts up and had it built.

My previous bike was a Fondriest Don racer U107 ultralight. The frame on that bad boy weighed 1050 gr. AND 'twas the same frame used by Gilberto Simoni when he won the 1st stage of the 2002 TdF. (a little trivia for ya). it was a light, beautiful climbing bike, decked out in ultegra, some carbon bars, and a lovely set of used Mavic Ksyrium SL's. a beauty in it's own right.

I had ridden that bike pretty hard and it was starting to show its age. Actually, that's a dirty lie. the bike was riding fine. I was just looking for any excuse to buy a new bike! YOU ALL DO IT! Don't lie.

"oh, my bike's got a scratch" turns into "i need a completely new frame!"

so over a few months, I started scanning around for a new Fondriest. I love their frames. Their bikes have beautiful, clean lines. They do things with carbon and aluminum that set my loins on fire. ouch.

I found a brand new Domino Plus carbon frame up for sale on Ebay in Australia. For 1/3rd the price of the MSRP. At the time, Fondriest was going through a rocky time and had pulled out of all their US dealers, so they were/are extremely hard to come by. The domino's frame weighs about 1250 gr- not a stupid-light frame, but light enough. Plus, they shaped the carbon to have a super-nice ride- responsive but compliant (so their advertising says!) big bonus- It was a beautiful blue color. oh yeah.

This frame completely struck a chord with my aesthetic sensibilities. I love the clean lines, the form, the naked carbon, and the blueeee. blue is the fastest color.




once the frame came in i started dreaming up what parts I'd slap on there. I knew that Maurizio (Fondriest) would consider it blasphemy to slap on shimano onto one of his Italian bikes (like i did last time) , so i decided that everything on that bike would either be Italian OR carbon. yay for me, boo for my wallet. I bought the components from Total Cycling and Reparto Corse. I found they had the best prices at the time. Total cycling was a steal for Euro stuff, and reparto corse had great prices on FSA goodies.



specs:
Gruppo: Campy Chorus 10 spd (except for the Fr Derailleur- which is carbon Record)
Wheelset: Campy Eurus (fantastic wheels- these are now race day wheels, with my Mavic Ksurium elites being relegated to training duty and maybe crits)
Bars: FSA k-wing carbon (fantaaastic)
Seatpost: FSA K-force Lite
Crank: FSA SLK Mega Exo Compact (yummy carbon)
Pedals: Look Keo Carbon
Saddle: Fizik Arione
Bartape: Fizik Microtex



And there you have it, my pride and joy (pathetically so). The bike's smooth as butter, climbs well, descents like its on rails, and sprints super-well. built up, the bike comes in around 17 lbs, which is fine for me. I'd be better off losing 5 more lbs than worrying about shaving off 400 gr on my bike.

i look at this bike and i want to ride. sure it may be fred-ish to buy such a high-performance machine when I'm just a dinky cat 5, but I don't care. It gets me out there, it makes me want to ride, and that's what counts.



Plus, i get points for Italian flair. Anyone can buy a Colnago- but Fondriests reek of cool cause no one has them.

Graze Mille, Maurizio Fondriest!



Who's Next? If you want your bike featured as bike porn, email me some photos and a description of your whip at cjammet@gmail.com. If it's (as Paris would say,) Hot enough, I'll post it up!