Our main man, teammate, and Slipstream soigneur Jonny Coln is on the scene at Paris Nice and is sending us mad BlackBerry shots from his time this week working in support of Millar and the argyle boys. This one's from this AM of the crew in the bus before the stage to the Ventoux. Sunny at the start/snow at the top of that God forsaken hill.

Go big Jonny.

I love that expression. Especially when Phil Liggett blurts it out when a sprinter comes across the line first, arms outstretched with a bike length or more in front of 2nd place....thus the guy relgated to 2nd getting to see the winners clean set of wheels.

And so it was the case for our HOME BOY Pete P-Lo Lopinto in his first two races of the season! Chalk two 'W's up for the small teams! Pete, a former crit guru on the Kodak Sierra Nevada Team last season is now using all his experience to mentor and lead his new THF Realty Cycling team. After pulling in the W at the Scottsdale AZ Grand Prix, P Lo and the THF Realty crew lined up with the Toyota United's and Rock Racing's of the world at the DU crit here in D-town and threw down. Read all about it on their web site but the most CLASSIC result of P Lo's victory here in Denver this weekend is again his truly CLEAN set of wheels, a set fueled by bread and water. You GO P Lo!:

Photos by Serge Desrosiers

Chalk one up for The Pros Closet! My homies, Ben, Nick et al sold my Moots to a lucky person and I wish the Buy it Now person the best. It's a fantastic bike, well loved and will bring smiles fo' sho'.

On my welcome-back-to-altitude lunchtime ride today, I swung by the shop to pick up my Specialized 2D helmet which was recalled due to someone in China not mixing the right kind of plastic for the buckle. D'oh! I wonder who got fired for that. I can not imagine the financial impact given name changes (the product is now called the S WORKS, not the 2D) in addition to the big S hooking everyone up who ran into this issue with brand new 2007 Decibel which are great lids. The 2D's/S WORKs are stupid light in comparison and we'll be running the Milram color style this year. I STILL think that Gerolsteiner pattern was way more trick with our uniforms, but I got outvoted. My homies have no style. What can I say? The helmet returned to me is great, but is the 2007 Milram style:

But when I saw the 2008 Milram's, I saw the logic. INFINITELY cooler in my obviously stylistically advanced and well informed opinion:

See? Way radder, right? The white sex is permeating it's way into all designs. Lovely touch methinks with the white band across the back.

And I repeated that phrase more than once over the last few days. Sorry for the lack of updates folks but the fam and I were in May-hee-co on some family R & R. I am sufficiently bloated and anesthetized by way of bad well drinks and Dos Equis served in plastic cups. Mmm.

The brief vaca was a great relief from the pressure cooker and at the epicenter of that relief was watching my boys absolutely free, running like mad men up and down the beach, through the surf without care 1 in the world. It's inspiring to see that. I distinctly remember doing that as a kid. Running up and down the beach on the water's edge, back and forth for hours doing the thrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp with my lips to sound exactly like a 1970's 2-stroke Yamaha until my lips were swollen and red all around. I saw my kids doing the same...occasionally interrupted with a bout of Transformers or Power Rangers combat between themselves, then back to moto's.

So, we're back, somewhat tanned and stoked that we just bucked the system and punched a hole in the chaos to circle our wagons and be with each other as a family, The getting out of the grind was good. It didn't change the core of how I feel about certain things these days on one side of the 3 part teeter totter, but did give me clarity over how I truly feel about it and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. As my beautiful wife has told me time ad infinitum: the cage door is open.

Moving on to 'cross things, no Cult Cross for me folks. As 'crossy as I am, I am not going to make it up to Eagle. I am not kidding when I say that my fingertips and toes are JUST back to normal after their 'nip from CO States on 12/7. Crazy and I'll not be inviting that back into my life any time soon so LG's 10-20" of snow on the course while 'fun' sounding send shivers up my spine on ho to work through that frost nip/bite stuff. I am entirely on the down low for now with training and even if just to attend Cult Cross and shoot photos and see my peeps, I personally want to stay close to home for the time being and not go yet one more place...one more trip...one more get up and go which I can't seem to make stop these days. Down low is the tempo these days. Enjoy yourselves though race fans!

'Cross on.

You gotta love the Southpaw. In the world of 'cross, the Southpaw's the chump who has to port the bike with the drive side jammed into their backs on every run up. This said, the 'chumps' that seem to be southpaw by birth are proportionally more than not world champions. Here we have 7 time world champion Eric De Vlaeminick railing it southpaw style with Guimard doing some of the hup hup behind him. Compare that with (2003 Junior World Champion) and perennial Sven Nijs chaser Sven Vantourenhout.

All of us need to be working on those 'weak side' dis/re-mounts. Perhaps a little something to practice over the summer boys and girls!

Thanks to Evan who found all of these EPIC old cycling mags on eBay and sent me some scans of the covers!

So as I mentioned previously, I am selling my 2004 Moots YBB to make room in the stable for my new custom Ahrens 29'er. There's lots of ways to sell your used stuff directly, eBay, Craig's List, local paper, blog...you name it. I'm perennially strapped for time, so I needed me some help. So, I opted to leverage the up-and-comer's "The Pro's Closet", conveniently located here in the Republic, and tap into their expertise and vast machine they are creating to provide an intriguing supply of pro-level stuff (most is used and hard to find 'last season' items from professionals) to cover the growing demand for quality stuff at the right price for shmoes like me and you to grab while it's hot.

So the more I dealt with this lot of folks at The Pro's Closet (TPC), the more I got intrigued with their growing business and how this whole operation runs...ironically 100 yards from my house. I swung by at lunch one day while working from home to see local blogger, MTB'er and all around nice guy, Nick Martin. I wanted to give you a perspective on this business that can be helping you find what you may have been looking for!

So, with that, let the five questions with fly!

1) M & C: Hey Nick! So, I'm here to tell the world a
little sumpin' sumpin' about The Pro's Closet. But,
before that, gimme a little thumbnail sketch of
Mr.RideWithNickMartin:

Nick: Well for the previous 4 years I had sacrificed
everything in the pursuit of my dream, to make cycling
my "job". In the process I took my camera and writing
background with me and shared it will cyber space over
at ridewithnickmartin.com. Pretty simple life really,
travel-ride-coffee-repeat.

2) M & C: So, from the starving Pro to The Pro's Closet. Intriguing. Can
you tell me about the genesis of TPC. Who's idea? In
fact, tell me exactly WHO is TPC?

Nick: Well in order to pursue my cycling habit I ended up
trying to sell all of my worldly possessions on ebay.
From my Grateful Dead bootlegs to last years kits, I
sold it all... Now this went on for about 3 years,
completely supporting my cycling until I simply ran
out of things to sell. At that time my good friend
and training partner Zack Vestal (now mgr for Trek/VW)
suggested I help him unload some goods.... from there
word of mouth took over. The Pro's Closet really
didn't evolve into what it is today until I hired
Pete Lopinto, Sierra Nevada Crit guru. Pete networked
with the roadie circuit and I spread the word on the
NORBA scene... from there we brought both worlds
together and The Pros Closet took off.

3) M& C: Sounds like a killer crew of folks who REALLY
know about the equipment you are selling to lots of
lucky people. So, speaking of the biz, how do people
find you?

Nick: Right now it is completely through word of mouth. One
guy/girl in a group ride will tell his/her riding
partners on their experience cleaning out their garage
with us and then before we knew it the spider web
formed. We have been growing consistently now for 2
years and today we are up to 6 employees and a consist
client base of up to 100 athletes.

4) M&C: OK, crystal ball time: Besides driving a Carrera
4 S and sipping Cristal, where do you see TPC headed.
What's the biz look like in 5 years?

Nick: You know there is so much gear out there that still
has many miles left in it and simply needs to find the
right owner to put it back to use. Ebay is an
exciting marketplace for both buyers and sellers and
it opens doors to items that you can't find at your
local shop. We are helping our clients free up
valuable space and putting gear into the hands of
people that will get outside and put it to use.

In 5 years I am hoping that the business will be
running itself and I can go back to my days
procrastinating the real world on my bike.....

M & C: Great to talk with you man and best of luck with the
biz! So one last question: Nijs or Wellens

Nick: They have put on a good show and it is a tough call...
Wellens

So go ahead and visit The Pro's Closet! Now you know a little more about the crew of folks makin' it happin' for you.

I forgot to mention this yesterday but Rocky Mounts - Izze would like to invite anyone who'd like to throw down...er, ah....ride along with the squadra this AM. 10 AM from Amante North.

Friday. Beer day. Pile that shit on, yo. Everybody's workin' for the weekend, right? Maredsous this evening. Pile it on, yes. I need the brown gold to somehow create the channel zero. Does that segment me into the 'he's got a problem/he can't deal' category? It is "off season" and man, I feel like I will never be fast, never be skinny, never be....waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!...young again. (you have permission when you see me to b-slap me for saying that). It is this incredible vicious circle that I can not seem to break out of these days with such intensity at work, that I am in an all out fire fight to combat the unbelievable dickness that seems to have engulfed my spirit. I will f-ing fight back. I will smash anything that gets in the way of my family or my spirit. Today I will keep in my pocket. I will take it out of my pocket like a stiletto when I need to and if I need to plunge it into the heart of the thing which presents itself smiling, with that smug smile it so often presents, while I look right at its smug eyes while it sinks in. "It" won't be so smug any more. I've tried, Lord I've tried, and it won't learn.

I like my world in its compartments. I admittedly fall apart when the compartments start to abut or, God forbid, bleed into each other. Chaos ensues. Herculean efforts to keep the compartments at bay but the reality is that the compartments are like giant cast iron boxes...as large as a house and they and I are on a pitching steel deck of a ship the size of the universe, the deck covered in grease, with me....arms outsretched, palms on each compartment...trying to keep them from colliding.

Too much. The deck is pitching too much. The iron boxes weigh too much. The grease, too slippery.

Chrissakes, why am I such a wuss. I think I may be manic.

Openers today to remove thoughts of compartments...or stillettos or...anything bad. Purge it. It ain't me. Taro in my head and it's not even the season. But to do them made me smile as it felt like fall even though it's spring and that was enough to proxy channel zero for the moment. And I didn;t even need to endure suffer-snow in my eyes. Crisp air in the early morning but enough sun that ensured all the black bits of my uniform warmed me up in those places. I love that.

High.

Low.

I guess this is the season.

The opposite of white sex, is white repulsion. And this guy looks like he got caught in a white wash. I dunno about these youngsters trying to unPRO the PRO white with this kind of nonsense. He looks like a ballerina fer chrissakes with those leg warmers. Weak. 2 out of 10.

So my homeboy Joe B, the gracious giving man that he is, sends me a package with this wonderful present in it. Rouleur Magazine...a UK publication which is available here in the US via Competitive Cyclist.

Pound for pound, it is a magazine that is synonymous with how I see and adore cycling. It's grainy, cult-y, artistic and printed on beautiful stock with writing that is engaging and interesting rather than the pedestrian drivel you unfortunately get in the usual suspect/volume-oriented rags.

To prove the solidity of their mag (OK, through my biased eyes), there is a fantastic article on 'cross which needs to be read and will be appreciated immediately by core crossers, but gives anyone interested in the sport a great lens into it.

I am subscribing ASAP.