found these sweet tubes on my last outing!  Lucky me!

I actually never have to ride with them!  If you look really close you can see two distant images just on the horizon….that is Greek and Stokes just riding as if they did not just drop the whole group for the second time.  The best thing of this short story is that at the next turn I was yelling up to them that we were turning left….but secretly we were turning right (I learned that one from Creed).  Just when we had turned left I yelled “SUCKERS!” and we continued on our way.  Then I called Greek to see if he was turning around…..”F-U Huff, F-U Huff, how about you guys just go on your own damn ride and we will ride on ours!”  I love Doug Greek!  
Then we reconvene at the watering hole about 10 miles away and he is still steaming and poor Stokes is just laughing and telling me how he was the one taking the wrath of the Greek the whole way since we split.

Maybe next time we can all ride together or maybe I should just train harder so that I can hold on to those two’s wheels?
 

I am not talking about the dominate MTB force of the 90’s and early 2000’s, but more so that insistent tinkering….constant adjusting of cleats, saddle position, stem, handlebar, thinking way too much, and what ever else falls in those lines!  Well most of the time this scenario ends up working about 20% of the time and back firing the other 80%.  Hind site is almost 20/20 here.  We have way too much time to think about what if’s and if it was just a tad this way or that.
Say no to Tinkering.
p.s. This post had no intentions of defamation against Tinker Juarez.

Mike Lange 3rd Overall tour of AR with a drink the size of his head!

Celebration initiated. Well actually this was for BVU’s 3rd overall in Joe Martin.

Jenny Rubio Birthday with Beast and Johnny Jones accompanying in the fun

J-Pow just rocking hard

Bummer….no test drives in cleats? WOW what a beauty SS350

Look Meatball I’m not as fat as I used to be!  but I cheated a little as I was increasing my blood pressure with some straining just when the photo was taken, plus all the blood had just rushed to my legs from waking up…so really they are fake

Please visit Jeremy Powers Missing saddle page for a short story of how Jelly Belly did over the past 2 weeks.  He would really appreciate it.
We Heart J-Pow! 

Ever seen a human Roman Candle?  Well if you were in the Tour of Arkansas you would have seen one.  Looking hot and flash as they are set to flight, but as fast as they are shot out they fizzle away.  So that is why they do not just put one shot in a roman candle, but more so like 8 or 10 colorful shots.  Mine were not so hot or flashy, but they did fizzle just as fast as the real ones.  This was quite fun but a very painful way to go about it.  Just train’n or just stupid?  a large amount of both……….

yes today I was a complete asshole and I have no regrets about it.  first I felt like totally poo poo this morning, with montazumas reveng making a light visit, super puffy legs and last night BarBQue with fake potatoes still stuck to my ribs.  I was thinking that I would rock today considering on how well last week went, but alas I was total shit on all fronts except for being a complete asshole in the Groupetto.  So when one gets dropped he or she should not be content to just ride in because he or she has been dropped.  Especially when the main group is just a mer 45 seconds or 1min up the road and has called a short truce?  All it would take is a few good pulls and !voilà! everyone now back in the main field, but this did not happen.  So I turned in to total asshole Brad.  I mean come one boys we are all cat 1/2’s here or even pro’s and you can not even do one little pull?  OK OK there were about 6-8 guys that were really giving it a go, although when one guy decides he wants to come up to the front for better position but does not pull through, then this is when the cyclical system gets thrown off and guys do double or triple pulls and fatigue early.  Well lets just say that we didn’t make it back and I pretty much bitched out about every guy in our group, ya I was the total asshole, but somebody had to do it and attempt to get all of our sorry asses that had been dropped in order and attempt to make it back in to the real race?  needless to say the only thing I got was even worse feeling legs and nearly dropped out of the groupetto by the end of it all…….oh oh oh but I think some of those guys that were sitting in did win the groupetto sprint! YES!!!!!!!!!!  If those guys would have used all that piss and vinegar earlier….like when we could still see the damn caravan in front of us, those wasted efforts might have actually meant something beside showing the groupetto how much of man one is?

If Danny Pate has not heard of you, then you have no right to be cocky!

Danny Pate has barely heard of me, only because I would park in his driveway while laying on the horn in the early morning sunrises in Colorado and make him get out of bed to come hike up a mountain with Friedman and I.
If you did not know, Danny Pate is part of the Slipstream squad that is making a huge statement in that pink jersey race over in Italy as opposed to the yellow jersey race in France….Giro d’Italia.

I think we need new T-Shirts made that say:

“Danny Pate knows me!”

“Don’t hate the Pate!”  

“Pate don’t hesitate!”

“Don’t underrate the Pate!”

“DP’s got HP!” (HP=horsepower)

“100% Pate…no artificial additives included!”

“Pate’s my homeboy!”

“Pate dropped me!”

or “Creed’s my bitch!” or “This Meatball isn’t kosher!”

you know I love racing at races that I remember suffering through my formative years as a racer, but when I know every single official in the start house and finish line how in the #&@^%! do they not realize that I actually raced and finished?  good old Joe Martin forgot to even state that I raced the first day, the on the second my teammate that was right beside me was TC at the finish, then luckily I was on the podium other wise they might have DQ’d me on the 3rd stage, then in the criterium I come closer to winning the damn race but they write me down as DNF?  Then I have to explain to every one of my friends that I actually did race, I actually did finish, and yes everything was actually great at my first race unlike the results show.
DNS-did not start

DNF-did not finish (or did not focus as stated by Pirtle and ATB)

TC-time cut

DQ’d-disqualified 

WTF-WHAT THE F!(*&$#?

So I am back in the saddle again…….I’m back in the saddle again…..I’m backkkkkkkk!
did some piss and vinegar attacks each that really led to nothing but pain for a few minutes and probably cost me finishing well.  Being this was my first real race with my team I was super stoked to be able to actually help the team and gain confidence in myself so that I can continue to prepare for some HUGE results in the future.
not disregarding all the small things and prayers that got me where I am now and faith in where I am going!