Yum, frickin, yum. Today was a delicious taste of the sensations of Fall. Crisp and cool. Slightly wet tacky. Leg warmers and under shirts. Yum, cross is here.

AC2 and I got out for skills this AM. He's Belgian to the core. Late to bed last night after sewing up gunshot wounds in Aurora (a lovely Denver suburb), homie was out with me at Elks skills-honing while dog owners watched us, heads tilted in a 'huh' sort of way. "Why don't you just stay on that bike?" she says after watching us march up and down the field on/off/on/off/on/off-ing. Hilarious. Pics:

AC2 philosophizing on the merits of Dugast versus FMB.

A small stream of vomit can not be seen but its there

Czech candy

The brake pads are d-i-a-l-e-d now and the Dug's hooked nice in the mud.

...Joe B is comin' on home. After a small 'detour' to the Pac NW, The Joe B family is heading on back to the Bay Area. Sweet. The family is re-assembling. Joe and I crossed the snot out of the Bay Area during some of the best times of our lives. New wives, new friends, new babies. Epic. Some of the first sounds our infants heard were cowbells. We did it all together with Brian, Robbie, Bob Jones University....ah good times.

Anhoo, Jo-sef, welcome home brother and I'll be crashing on your couch on my virtually weekly trips back to SF.

Can I stash a cross bike at your house?

I'm not joking....

So, I got my copy of Procycling magazine and am flipping through it when I see this article on Taylor Phinney...highlighting the prodigy that he is and the pedigree that he comes from. What was cool to read in the blurb (see picture) is the commentary from my team mate, Neal Henderson who is part of the coaching staff for mini-Phinney. You go Neal! Get your fame on. Knowing the results I've seen Neal's 'students' achieve (some whom are very dear friends of mine), Taylor is in good hands. Very cool.

Went down to Amante today to snoop on who's 'crossdified and salivating this early in the pre season. Baker shows up with his beautiful little son Axel in the Burley (OK, check, he's geeked up already as much as I am if he's prowling!), Taro, Lane and some team Haul-n-Ass bros. Small, but cozy.

On the ride over, good to catch up with Baker. He is living the dream and moving family and life to Brugge and going to throw his hat in the world ring this cyclocross season....fully Belgium style. My mini trip for 10 days is a logistical needle in his giant haystack of preparations to live this out. Sick.

We hit up Elks, set up the Port-O's and got it on for a few laps. Just enough intensity for me on what is a very low key week for me. The body responded unbelievably. So, we'll see....

Change subjects: CROSS CLINIC PART DEUX:
For Boulder cross geeks, would Friday AM early be OK to do another round? I'm thinking 7:30 AM. Comment back if you are interested. Last time we did barrier work, this time I am thinking about porting techniques. This may have to wait till next week though.

The frame arrived today! In all honestly, I am so focused on 'cross now, I do not know when I'll build this thing up! But knowing me, the impatience will grow and I'll pull the trigger next week. The Mavics should be here end of month as well. Maybe I'll strip down my other bike but the 2004 XTR on it is absolutely hazed. The good news is that putting the tape measure up to it shows that the dimensions are all consistent with my other favorite frames so I should be golden. The shaped Easton tubing on this is sick as well (note the top tube and downtube junctions near the head tube). Similar to my Easton Scandium Rock Lobster.

The beauty of Mike's work is in the CNC. He's got ProE dialed and is integrated with some great CNC manufacturers in the area. He can get from design to prototype to production in fewer cycles. Very cool. Anywhoo, some bike porn:

So I took my lunch break today by going into the garage and working on these Reflex rims of mine with the new tubulars all glued on. I had mad issues with the green compound SwissStop brake pads (meant for ceramic and aluminum) due to unbearable squeaking and chatter in the front and rear. Further, I got some glue on the sidewalls of the braking surface of the Reflex rims. I initially swapped out the SwissStops for standard Shimano wet/dry pads for aluminum rims but I am STILL getting unbearable chatter. I got myself a Mavic Brake Surface Stone (per Nick's instructions!) as seen in the picture in this post and worked the rims to death. The stone is more like a big gritty eraser. $29 bucks!! D'oh! I also used some acetone to work out the bit of glue on the rim surface. While a wee bit better, it's still WAY too grabby. Modulation is nonexistent and the choppiness and stutter returns under hard braking. I wonder if it just needs some grit and surface grinding. The Shimano pads work SWEET with my Ceramic Mavic clincher rims.

Any experts out there with advice??

We had a great showing this AM at the first CX clinic at Elk's. We had some really great folks out there who are 'cross crazy. Essentially, we did a 1 hour 45 minute overview of my little 'system'. Basically a mind dump of all the little shitr I've learned and practice myself. Today was all in relation to barrier work wherein we learned:

• Phase 1: getting off the bike and all its little nuances.
• Phase 2: getting through the barriers properly and quickly
  
• Phase 3: the infamous remount and how it is learned at sloooow speed.

This is how we repeated the drills after we learned them and before we threw together some hot laps.

Some stills of the crew gettin'er done...

So says Georgie in this new documentary. I love that. Ken B used to have a saying on his site: If you write it down and hang it up, it will come true. I follow that rule, albeit electronically, since I saw that on his site year ago. Inspires me for Mol.

While I am psyched to see this DVD and even more pumped for Georgie to somehow keep the rubber side down and finally win this thing, the DVD is seemingly filmed in a very special place to my wife and I, Santa Ynez CA. We were married there in the Mission. Lots of this footage is on roads I know well and it'll me cool to reminisce on it while watching.

I'm throwing a free clinic for a couple of hours on Sunday at Elk's in Boulder. Feel free to come and get your cross on. We'll be doing some very specific barrier technique training to attempt avoiding looking like 'za ugly amerikan'. smooth is good and will help you enjoy your 'cross more.

See ya at 10 if'n yer interested.

Note that you do NOT have to be an RM'er! If you care to learn a bit and have some fun, join in. MTB's are fine, just remove the bar ends and bottle cages.

I love being back in the 'old home' of San Francisco. The work tip is intense these last few days but the head is staying together. I still manage to get in what I need to get in in terms of sensible 'training'...when I need to have my head in the work game but still need to keep the coals stoked in the furnace. The runs around here are epic and you drink the oxygen. Big difference from 6ooo feet.

More fun this weekend with some team CX clinics and some throw downs with the fellas. I am salivating. I just want to get going.

Mol seems so far away but it I realize it is coming quick. The planning is coming along and dear buds are considering making the trek....even if to help pit. Beer in hand, yelling at me lap after lap.