I'm late late late. Typhoon's still stretching on my RD-488's but a second set still need a home to get them selves glued on to. very late this season.

Look left. Tree Farm's set up. RD800's and Typhoons Light and super strong. I'll be running it this year. Mmmm.

There is rain like you wouldn't believe here in the Republic. Cold too. Belgie style. But I can not see getting out there and risking a fat cold which is going around with the kids having that awesomme booger nose syndrome....and school hasn't even started. So intervals on the rollers today instead in the garage. The ribs make me feel like I need to vomit when I am laying down but riding it seems OK as long as I do not take in huge volumes of O2. Wrist is healing like a champ. I wish it were the other way around.

Nothing's been perfect for this year's lead up but I am still psyched for the changing of the leaves. I need to be an opportunist this year. No goals but smiles. Sincerely.

More news forthcoming.

Oh, and if I see you on the road, RAISE YOUR HAND TO SAY HI. You are not some PRO in the middle of an interval on Broadway. You get a hall pass if you are liquigas guy.

Photo credit: Jeff C's awesome photog wife.

Single barriers are cake. Doubles are obviously 2 x as hard. JPow makes it look nijs.

The gluing will start in a week to get everything finalized on the wheels. I'm going Yellow SwissStops on the FSA's and Green on the new Reflexes. I'm actually thinking of getting that old Scott CX Team frame re built up as well to have a thrasher. I have enough parts as I was cycling through my parts bin. I may even 1 x 1 it. Dunno. Vee shall see.

What did you do today to get ready for cross?

I had lots to do today. Heavy duty spin and then weights for 3 hours in the AM, kid play all afternoon then unpacking all the boxes from Verge and re-packing into individual bags for all the team-mates today. Thanks to our Devo team for assisting! They basically ran the show! One other thing was to visit BCS and pick up my new Rock Lobster for next season. (Don't ask me why i had it built up. It's sort of like having a bad case of blue balls I suspect. I needed to 'release' and see the thing built up).

It came out sweet. With Mavic Open Pro/Hugi's, a bunch of Ritchey WCS (although I'll have other wheels this coming season to race on) and the Alpha Q, this Easton Ultra Light is 18lbs. Not stupid light (my Scandium RL with the FSA's is 17.3 pounds) but light enough. I am 6'2 and about 180 when I race so I figure I can skip a couple-a Newcastles before I get stupid light equipment.

An interesting twist was related to the Alpha Q. I had this fork on my Scott Team CX this season and while on ,it had a significantly longer steerer. Problem: When you buy and install Alpha Q's, they are essentially on THAT bike for life. Why? You cut the carbon steerer, then permanently glue in this Aluminum shim which holds the star nut in place with the same shit they bond rotor blades of Apache's with. So, I'm thinking I am humped and have to buy a new fork. D-Wayne (THE MAN) at BCS called True Temper directly and got the green light to cut RIGHT through that shit! Good as gold. He cut through the carbon and on through the aluminum shim, pushed down the star nut and voila, correct steerer length for this bike.

I blinged out this bike with some carbon fiber love. Some FSA CX carbon cranks (175 x 110BCD) and a 42t FSA ring. Note the carbon chain guides. Hand made by Joe De Paemelaere of Primus Mootry here in town. Dope. Super stiff.

Lastly, Brandon waranteed a few Fizik Arione saddles for me. The guys at Fizik were cool and swapped out the seats I broke this CX season (2 of 'em). Apparently there was some flaw that cracked right at the flex points directly through the middle of the underside of the saddle....obviously exacerbated by 'cross regardless of how smooth your remounts are. I run 'em on my road bikes and love 'em so I wanted to try for 'cross. C'est la vie. I'm going with 'em again this season.

Finally, to my earlier point, the 07 uni's are in and they are sick. Verge nailed the design spot on.

OK, it's late in the season I realize, but my new custom frame Paul is building is done! I've been riding and racing (and testing!) Rock Lobsters in various connotations for years and I can not believe how beautiful these frames feel. For this season I order from Paul who still has my measurements a new Scandium beauty to have identical dimensional steeds with the same parts groups, gearing etc. First time I have ever been 'blessed' with this in my cross life. Together, the wonder twins looked like this when they were a happy family:

Once I dialed it with some FSA bling, the Scandium one, my primary looks like this:

So the old blue frame I cherished, raced on the West Coast, won Surf City races on etc etc met a horrible death: The low hanging garage at Vail Ski resort (which has seen a zillion bike collisions apparently). Brand new mini van, 4 brand new Rocky Mounts lariats and a Rock Lobster, Dean and Santa Cruz on top. Kids going OFF in teh back seat after a 2 hours in the car hingry for food. "Look! A parking garage!" I bang the left and errrrrrrrrr (metal scraping noise...). Done. The effect:

Anyhoo, the new one Paul worked his ass off on while finishing other frame jobs...oh and TAKING A 9TH PLACE AT THE USGP's in his age group! (SICK!!) he somehow found time to jam out my frame for me. A photo negative image of my black one...whote frame with black stickers. Boing! Thanks Paul!