Happy Belated Birthday to Me!

For the past year Sonja and I have been sharing a Powertap wheel.  It really was not that big of a hassle because it was the wireless version so we just ordered a few extra mounts and were good to go.  That is unless we both wanted to use it on the same day.  Or the same ride.  Or I was in a hurry to get to work and didn't take the time to transfer the wheel from her bike to mine.    We rarely butted heads over the wheel until the ever so uncoachable Sonja hired Bill Gros to be her coach.  (I'm sorry, Bill.)  Now he was asking her to do specific power workouts and such and interfering with my wheel use.  There was only one solution.

I looked at SRM's (just too expensive), Quarks (do not come in a compact version, yet), and all sorts of Powertap wheels and decided on the above:  Williams Cycling 38 full carbon clinchers.  I wanted a wheel that could withstand training, yet be good enough to race if I wanted.  I've got a set of Williams 50 full carbon clinchers (they don't make this particular wheel anymore) and love them (even won the MABRA Cat 3 TT championship on them) so going with another Williams wheel was a no-brainer for me.  I've used my 50's in everything from road races, crits, wet weather, training rides, and TT's and they rock.  (The only other wheels that I've had this much luck with are my Rolf Vigors.)  Besides Rachel Lloyd, my favorite bike racer, uses them and I would just love some of her fast.

I took the money that I demanded from Sonja as a buy-out on our shared wheel, pooled together my birthday and Christmas money, and ordered the wheels on January 6th.  I was aware that they needed about a week lead time to build them, but as the weeks wore on, I started to get antsy.  Today I called the number listed on Williams Cycling to inquire about the status of my wheels.  I got a voicemail and decided not to leave a message, but to email instead.  About 10 minutes later I received a phone call asking for "someone that just called Williams Cycling."  Turns out none other than Keith Williams was returning my call.  Talk about customer service!  He informed me that Saris was having trouble keeping up with demand on the new hubs (as I suspected anyway) and that he would inform me the minute he got my hub and could start building my wheels.  We went on to chat about various wheels, etc.  What a great guy.  Anyway, I later received an email that he had just received my hub, so my wheels should be here soon.  I can hardly wait.

But seriously folks.  If you are looking to buy new wheels, check out Williams Cycling.  Awesome product combined with some of the best customer service around... you can't beat that.

West Virginia Day 8

Not much to say. After 6 days of riding out here, I'm pretty beat. I managed to ride 2 hours today and took Jen and Bill on a preview of the Lost River Classic race course. After that, I pointed them in the direction of Middle Cove Road and headed back up to the Barn by myself.

3 tired pups!

Maya, Rena, and Azucar posing for the camera after our morning hike.

When Jen returned to the Barn after her 4+ hour ride she saw Azu with what she thought was a weird looking stick.

Azu and her stick.

That was no stick!

Thanks again to Badger, Jen, and Bill for keeping us company in WV over the past week, and thanks for all your cooking. Now back to the daily grind in DC but with fond memories of my Lost River Barn vacation.

West Virginia Day 7

The departure of the Badger Friday evening left us sad. At least she left us with some yummy banana bread. We were asked to save some for our new guests set to arrive Saturday morning, but needless to say, that bread never saw daylight.

Badger's gluten-free banana nut bread.

Saturday morning Jen Ras and Bill arrived, along with a cold front. Jen and Bill prepared breakfast and we settled upon a route that included Old 55 and the climb up the "back side" of the Barn. Sidenote here: Bill was amazed at the amount of pancakes we ate. I guess 5 straight days of riding in WV builds up one's appetite.

We bundled-up and set off on our ride which we expected to take around 3:30 hours. It was bitter cold and snowing but we trudged onward. At one point I had so many snowflakes on my glasses I could barely see.

Bill descending Howard's Lick.

Jen descending Howard's Lick just a few minutes later.

Down in the valley I did my best to hold onto Jen's wheel. That girl is a beast and was pulling me at speeds I've never seen before. I was just thankful to be out of the wind as I was slowly losing feeling in my fingers and toes.

During a respite in the pace I noted to Jen that it looked like we were headed towards sunlight. The forever optimist in me, as Jen pointed out, turned out to be correct. The rest of the ride was under sunny skies, and even though still a tad too chilly for me, good company always makes a cold ride seem not so bad. The only hiccup of the day was a flat tire suffered by Bill.

Flat tire repair. We are looking at a dog and trying to decide whether or not he was going to come after us. He did not.

The last part of the ride included the climb up the back side of Howard's Lick. I don't have fond memories of this climb, but big thanks go to Jen who pretty much paced me up the entire way.

Afterwards, Jen and Bill prepared dinner, there was some beer/wine involved, and we sat in the comfort of the Barn comparing notes about the day's ride and as the Goat likes to say, chillaxed.

West Virginia Day 6

The day started with another round of Badger's awesome pancakes and discussion of the day's ride.  The Goat announced that she was done.  Seems that Badger and I wore her out the past 2 days and she was going to take the day off.  Or maybe it was the peanut-butter salmonella that I saw Zim sneaking into the Goat's pancakes.

The morning's feast.

Zim and I set out in arm-warmers and knee-warmers, and even then were overdressed.  The day was beautiful!  We scooted down the mountain from the Barn and did a lap of the proposed race course for the West Virginia Classic.

The only thing I can say about the course is bring your climbing legs.  This will definitely be one for the climbers.  But don't think all you skinny climbers can get by on your climbing legs alone.  You will also need to be a fearless descender.  I would download my Garmin data to show elevation gained/lost, but I don't know how to do that.

Zim and I stopped a few times along the route to say hi to some dogs and take a few snapshots.

The sign on the door says "Neighborhood Witch."  Zim was taking photos left and right.  I just wanted to get out of there.

And finally, the long climb back up to the Barn.

The last stretch before exiting the park and the real pain begins.

West Virginia Day 5

There's nothing much to say.  Badger, Goat and I took it easy today... just a cruise down the mountain and back up.  The day was one for the dogs.  And cookies.  Badger makes some damn good gluten-free chocolate walnut cookies.

Even Azucar loves my Specialized shoes.

I had to crop the Goat out of this picture.  She threatened me if I didn't.

West Virginia Day 4

I was too lazy to blog today.  Thankfully the Badger has me covered over here.

A Badger and a Chicken enter a bar...  Notice the smart choice of snack cracker that I made.  No peanut butter salmonella for me.

Maya begging for some of my gluten-free banana walnut pancakes.

West Virginia Day 3

It was too cold today to take pictures.  The thermostat read 12 degrees when we left for our ride so we decided to drive down to the State Park and ride from there.  No need freezing to death on the descent from the Barn down to the valley.  We did a nice 2:30 hour loop which was plenty enough time for our water bottles to freeze.

Sonja and I in the warmth of the car after our ride.

The highlight of the day was the arrival of Zim.  Thoughts of her kettle corn kept us going even though it was so cold.

What Sonja and I brought to the Barn.

What Zim brought.  Where are the melons?

Oh, there they are.

Zim did cook up a fantastic dinner of chicken, sauteed mushrooms, and corn casserole.  We are now ready for our ride tomorrow.

West Virginia Day 2

Sonja pretty much summed up our ride over here.

Before we hit the snow covered roads we took the dogs for a short hike.

Azucar is extremely athletic...

... and crazy for the fetch.  (However, Maya seems to be the Alpha of the bunch.)

For our ride we did a loop that consisted of going from the Barn out Shenandoah Mountain Road to Branch Mountain Road, down to Bergton, then back up to the Barn via Crab Run, Jenkins Hollow, and Howard's Lick.  

This snow plow driver was the only other person we saw on the road until we hit Bergton.

Most of the roads up high were covered in snow.  I was glad to be on my cross bike and the Challenge Fango clinchers worked surprisingly well in these conditions.

Sonja won this state line sprint.

Tomorrow we hope to ride Old 55 on the road bikes.  We'll see how this snow clears up overnight.

West Virginia Day 1

No ride today because we got here too late.  We did take the dogs for a hike.  This is what we found when we returned to the Barn.

It's like Sasquatch.  You know he's out there, but actual sightings are rare.  At best you find footprints in the snow.

Or maybe it's just payback?

Haiku by Zim

Many have asked how

Chicken crosses the road?  Fast.

On her Specialized!

Thanks to Robin for this edition of Wednesday Haiku.