day 9

9 pounds in 9 days. wow, that means 24 in 24. at that rate i'll be down at 140 with the beagle. i wonder how many watts i'll have at 140. have not been that light since 96'.

in case you think im stupid. dont, its supervised and approved with daily interaction, support and smart people. besides im no rookie, its not what i would call fun but its fun when you see people stuffing their faces and wonder they probably ate 4 hours before that, and i did it last week.

im not just starving myself, its a plan. so lighten up.

i wonder what 140 pounds and 375 watts translates into on race day?

we'll see

race season starts april 12th

this march 1st stuff is too much

8 days with no food, 16 more to go.

do you think im joking?

jc did 40 days so 24 is no prob

2 guys who shouldnt sit together

is your sun out

just for caveman

in search of the best burrito, i have been to a few places around the planet, most recently if i must say it again, down under.

im always on the look out for something that matches my faves of slc.

like rubios, barbacoa, lone star. those are the top 3 all time.

out of state in kansas, wisconsin, colorado and here in seatown you get qdoba which is a copy of barbacoa and just as good. some of these places claim to have almost organic or fresh ingredients and are prepared quickly with no seating and waiting required which is a must for my style of instant gratification.

down in arizona you get la salsa. that used to be my all time fave but they moved out of slc for some dumb reason. i used to go there every day back in the 90's and all my biz couldnt keep them around. if you care they used to be right next to cafe rio on 4th south. right in my hood.

while down in canberra gram said once there was a mexican place in town but it moved and he didnt know where.

that sucks because i have not had any mexican food in 3 weeks, and its going to be at least 3 more weeks the way things are looking now.

anyway, canberra australia is the capitol of the country and its roughly the size of slc, less populated but the same size as the valley.

we found one burrito shop in downtown and i must say it was very lame, no black beans, "brown refried paste" smeared on a very white tort like a butter spread????

heaps of white rice, some creamy sauce that was so bad i wouldnt tell atrain to eat it

no less than 6 pieces of dry cubed chicken?? eeewww

some kind of cheese sprinkled so lightly i couldnt even see it.

oh generously piled green lettuce, probably iceburg but it was pretty green.

the old stand by...cubed tomato pico salsa.

all this for 10 bucks. really bad and lame. i didnt even eat all of it. i was pissed and wanted to throw it at the lady but didnt.

they have no clue how to make mexican food. i could be rich if i opened a barbacoa franchise down there.

who wants to eat indian and chinese all the time???

cuz thats all they have down there

hungry in seattle

in the last 4 days i have eaten 2 apples and 1 pro bar.

and im not lying,

im going until march 15th, if you think your hungry now you dont even know.

im trying to match this girl, shes been doing it for 11 days straight!!! but its a race, and if its a race then i will win!

i'll try to get some strength today for some better pics. the weather here is quite rare, sunny blue skies.

you can even see the mountains.

that happens here like 8 days a year.

yesterday was busy, im tired and trying to sleep off an 18 hour time diff.

i scored this sweet road bar and 200 items of new cycling clothing.

if you're wondering what kind or style of clothes come to the slc bike swap march 8th, i'll be unloading it all there for premium prices

hair

seatac, back to my roots

compliments of the green lantern

camera phone pic of rainer. the 14,000 glacial monster that looms over the seattle valley.

perhaps my pics will be better.

on a clear day, which is rare in the northwest you can see this mtn from afar.

heres j's view from ptown, 150 miles away.

14,000 might not sound huge but when you are at sea level it looks big.

that thing is going to blow soon. hope not this weekend.

i used to live in seattle 91'92'

i was a bike messenger and i loved ripping in traffic all day. 8 hr shifts 5 days a week. non stop action.

i'll be headed up there today for a bike swap, its good to see the old stompin grounds. i have not been up there since the 06 edition.

i wonder if it will rain

i remembered this song while i was over the pacific

reminds me 1985 when my homies used to do the break dance

movin up movin on

kday crossing

8 foot high termite hill

puffy lizard, he blows up with air to look mean

didnt bring the granny

unloaded the 19 lb scalpel for 6500 cash.

looks like monopoly money

heading to seatac tomorrow, see whats goin down in the city of rain.

maybe sager will be in town

out in the bush

i've been out in the bush, laying low this week. i will something more for you tomorrow afternoon. it will envolvea little bit of this

riding, sun, sun burn, bla bla bla

beaches, jungles, aussies, sun burns, what else can i say that you dont want to hear?
you want more pics, more stories about nothing to do except riding?

well its kind of boring so i'll leave it up to your imagination.

today i rode a bit through a rubbish dump, it was lots of plastic bags in the jungle in the bush all over, i didnt take a pic, it was ugly.


there is a show here called bush doctor, i also will leave that up to your imagination.


i will leave you with this to think of.
i have not met this guy paul crake, but he is here in town, he used to live here and now lives in italy. hes was a road pro racing here about 2 years ago. he got hit by a car and now is paralyzed from the neck down. when you are riding and in the pain cave think of him and others who cant ride anymore. or walk or whatever and how much it sucks and then think of how much he would give to be in your shoes right then suffering like a dog.

from what i hear, he is pretty depressed and wants to end it all. knowing what he had, or what has been he has a hard time going on day to day. when one cant feel the urge to go to the bathroom and it just goes on its own with no warning.
days like that he said he wants to flip the switch.

i cant imagine what i would do if that were me, but if you think your life sucks from time to time then step back and look at the bigger picture.
i didnt meet this guy, but he makes all my problems look like nothing.


back to lazy days down under...

birds on the beach

see that island, thats new zealand.

i had some bread so i gave it to the aussie birds, looking east bound over the pacific near batemans bay.

i rode some different trails yesterday and today, well everyday i have been. but we did that lame mtn park in bermagui, ber ma gooey.

then stayed at his mates house near the ocean. we got up early at 630 and rode some coastal trails, some pics below.

went back to the race track that was last sunday, i did it about 15 mins quicker so must have been jet lag. still got wooped but felt a bit better. thats good, 28 mins off the win is pretty lame.

they think 60 is cold here

pacific at 7am, a day ahead of USA

its late im tired, i rode this crazy trail in the forest somewhere today. it was crazy, like blair witch.

hell everything here is like blair witch, if you dont know blair witch google it.

anyway we were out 2.5hrs on dirt roads mixed with mtb arrows directions were sparse, rows and rows of plantation pine forests mixed in with portland like ferns steep short climbs, mixed with the most twisty 1 track ever.

these trails never go straight, they constantly go left or right, up and down on the gas the whole time,

almost every trail around here is like that. i found a 7 foot high termite hill it was huge.

need sleepy,

outback picture blog

stromlo mtn park, they race a lot here, and its 2009 worlds worthy. stress tested for multiple hrs yesterday.







i found the worst park in the country. dont go here.





















black berries grow wild, if youre blown and bonking just stop and chow down

more stromlo

near bates bay, nicole kidmans house is round the right bend there. so i hear.

look close and you can see new zealand

grams back hurts, hes old

mini allbon, 1yr 2months atop black mtn tower.

atrains IGA and wine store

this & that, stromlo mtn park

we took the lift ride up the black mtn tower, more pics on that later. or check it here.
thats some big lake in the dt.

same great taste, diff bottle.

bad pic, its possum night. they are all over like racoons. rats, or cockroaches.

we went to check out the 2009 worlds courses, the tracks and trails over there at stromlo mtn park

its sandy like phoenix area or mcdowell mtn, doesnt look like a big mtn from afar, but it has 1 track all over, the trees are dead. no forest, its more like riding in a field on a mtn.

7 yrs ago a big fire came and burned the whole place down.

i think we're going back tomorrow, i'll see about gettin better pics.

i forgot to tell the story about eatough, one year about 2002 me and chippo went to the 24 hr worlds in temecula we did the duo team and had a lap lead at midnight then he decides hes blown and im like, we got almost a lap lead lets just keep going, but indoran was cashed in. anyway i kept going for a few more hours in the middle of the night until i was blown. i was creepin along and came up on eatough, he was hatin it, earlier that day this climb was big dog big ring, but he was hangin tough in the granny. throwin up off the side while riding. i told him he was crazy and said keep going. im sure he didnt care, feeling like that during a race is pure agony.

i did a few more 2 man teams after that and was to the point of throwing up, cant eat, no energy, blown and tired. i just quit, that guy keeps going for 24 hrs or 25.

i have to say this is a different kind of sick, not like going hard and throwing up, its like some electrolyte imbalance that happens usually for me after 7 hrs of riding. it makes me not be able to eat or drink. anything forced down comes up, even plain water. its not fun.

like i said hes a machine.

while sager is in pr i called and woke his ass up at 5am, didnt think he would answer the phone but it said "unavailable" on the ID so he was curious.

brad k. in vietnam. wow, anyone else out there jet setting the planet?

words to learn while down under

gyp rock is sheet rock

possums are not skunks or racoons

washing powder, laundry detergent

lolli's is candy

lolli bag is not a halloween candy bag its between the legs

petrol is $5.50 a gallon, so stop bitching about $3

ya petrol, gas, fuel whatever.

at customs they say im on holiday, not xmas or new years. a vacation is the holiday. ok then.

doona is the the feather bed, wow thats way out there

everyone has said bloke 4 or 5 times a day, maybe its like guy or dude or something.

they say it on the news so its formal.

get in the lift, not the elevator.

saw and jaw, anything ending in w sounds like jawr, or sawr. dont know why.

and the final word lesson of the day is al u min i um.

probably heard that one a few times, al yoo min ee um.

this is not culture shock, i like english speaking countries. i will probably only travel to them. i think china, japan, india, that would be culture shock.

living or staying longer than a week in any other place like that would make me crazy. i can barely take england, new zealand and here. where else is there,? canada and south africa.?@?@!?!?!

mexico for 5 days is ok, brush up on some mucho comida words and im fine, frijoles negros con arose is all you need.

time for sleepy

canberra is australian capitol territory

that means the white house, parlimant? congress, all that shiz is here in town, there is a big cycling community and lots of fast pros in town. like boulder or something.

i finally watched 24 solo , grams into this stuff, he rides 24 hr solo races, night rides, does track, 1 speeds, hes all over the place


this crazy bloke craig gordon,

gram says he lives around here somewhere and hasnt been the same since he won that race, he killed himself so hard for that win it ruined him 1.5 years later.

crazy,
eatough was in park city last august for the E100, he won in under 10 hrs or something, spannring was riding ahead of him for 5hrs and blew bad, didnt have enough energy to finish.
eatough treats the 100 miler with 18,000 vertical as a warm up. for longer days in the saddle. that guy is machine.


the trail systems here are all over in pine forests, 10 min ride from the house you can rip twisty 1 track, it just goes for as they say k's and k's.
if its early or dusk watch out for roos, they run all through the trees and smash into you.

oh ya if youre wondering why the aussies have good dh pros its cuz the trails here are not deer valley, straight dh with switch backs. this is why bikers get good, they have twisty trails to ride all over, close to town, that are so tight and turny, you ride that all day every day, then there you go.

giant rider, jared rando was out as we rode by, mid summer ridin for the norba dh. ya and they ride a lot, not some dh clown hiller usa style ridin lifts and droppin cliffs, complaining about pedaling courses and gettin blown off the back by real mtn bikers who pedal all day, then race 3-4 min dh courses.
















got in a few hours of the twisty trails and some urban assault, up some steep paved road to a tower and some inner city lakes, still cant comprehend the wrong side of the road driving. went to a museum,

ya wow, culture, im sophisticated.

maybe we might head east to the beach and ride some coastal trails.
3 hrs a day doesnt sound like a lot but riding this, my arms are tired. its not sitting a road bike spinning on smooth roads.

its warm and sunny, 80 yesterday

flog the dog

the dog is known as the big ring,

so what better way to haul ass then, flog the dog.


get a dog up ya mate,

kangaroos in the paddock??

rubbish bin??

everyone drivin on the wrong side of the road

pass the rubber,

whaa??

the eraser on that pencil there!!

well hot damn?!?!?!?!

a race and a ride?

its 12am midnight here ok 1202, thats monday morning. home its 6am sunday.

thats wild,

i tried this race here in a pine forest and got pretty blown up, or as they say here smashed.
lots of funny words and the heads turn when i talk.
thats real comedy right there.

this race was about 300 total entrants, its mid summer here. nationals were here in town last week and these guys are fast anyway, throw in peak summer fitness and my fat ass. well thats a laughing stock, i pulled up the rear and got last,

hell ya, work it.

get a dog up ya mate, that means ride the big ring.

ok, well it was a big ring course, the most twisty bitch i've seen in years, lost in the pine forest 30 miles of pure 1 track and rocks.

wow only if i would have put in the hours last month, im only 28mins off the win so i gotta start somewhere.

wow thats crazy,

worlds xc course is here in sept 2009 so i'll go check it out, its only 30min ride from the house.

after i had a 4 hr nap we did some local trail city shredding, kangaroos all over, like 4 feet high, staring like a deer and hopping off. deer kind of hop,
we went to grams mates house this guy is insane, he has over 100 bikes and he collects bike tools off egay, has to my estimation over 500,000 worth of old bikes and tools in his garage. drawers and drawers of tools, in packages and old collector type campy tools.

his laptop was on the desk with ebay dialed up so i had to check it out, funny thing was he emailed my pal dale at bikewagon and he shipped him some tools from SLC and showed me the goods, straight outta madison, to SLC to canberra.
its gets more crazy,

his wife is american and is from madison. wow, thats a brain cooker right there.

i wonder what will happen tomorrow,

dont know but its wild as is.

up early, oh wait its noon at home

how we roll, euro style. yaa

this bike shop is a fresh market, its all in one, the owner like food and bikes so he sponsors gram, he gets free food so we stopped in and got some.

the shop is in the same building, nice idea.

thought i was getting up early sunday morn, turns out its noon in utah. 18 hr time dif. thats 6 hrs before you back home, but its sunday.

here are some pics from yesterday,
i was trying to stay up late last night to get the lag kicked, it was 930pm, sat, or 430am sat morn, i cracked.

my pal gram lives in canberra, he picked up this new van so we can drive around for 2 weeks. he works at the australian olympic center just a mile from his house, we rode over there, i was on the wrong side of the road a lot and the cops stared at me with my no helmet wearin ass, they dont really care bout that law much unless your in the big city causing havoc..

a lot of international bikers live here, since its like the colorado springs of USA, mick rogers, some dhers, cant remember all the names, jared rando,

and a few xc racers, these few guys raced in the pro norba a few years back and even in utah a few times about 6 years ago, jones used to wax them on the ICUP.

perrin delacour and josh fleming are top 20 norba pros, they live here and are supposed to dominate the race today.

dont expect much from me, im far off that fitness.
that will come soon, it was raining in sydney yesterday so we left and headed inland.

stopped at this bike shop which is grams pal and sponsor, they want to buy my scalpel for $7500, or maybe sell it there, as retail here on that is 10,000.

i think i will leave it and they can sell it for me before i leave.

today is a 46k mtn race in the forest above canberra, seems to be the local ICUP with 300 entrants, flat twisty 1 track in a pine forest, my style.

we rode around last night on a trail system 1 mile from grams house, its right on that olympic centers property, local mid city trail shred.

this is where the roo's live, you can see them dead on the side of the road like deer in utah. they are all over.

i want to try to ride one.

enough typing i need to get in some hours in the sun, next weekend we are goin back to sydney for a local tour on coastal 1 track,

on the 22nd we drive down to melbourne for a 12 hr race the otway odyssey, which tinker is supposed to be doing, i might be on a 2 man team but we'll see.

thats about a 12 hr drive south, i need a short flight back to sydney after that to get back to the snow covered mtns of the mother country.
70 today nice,

but it feels like im riding upside down for some reason.

they like lance here

gotta turn your head for this one
what thaaa