24 Hour's Eve

so today was supposed to be a day of rest. the morning was. we woke up leisurely and headed to the 'black bear diner' where we enjoyed an absolutely huge breakfast. i think i will be hitting this place up again tomorrow morning for a pre-race nutrition feed.

after breakfast, aris and i put our feet up for a couple hours at the hotel room, while the rest of the crew went to Cannery Row in Monterey Bay for some shopping.

mid afternoon dad, aris, trixie and i headed over to the race course to register and attend the racers meeting and check out the pits....followed by a trip to Safeway to load up on race day provisions.

just got home from loading up on some pasta from the local pasta joint down the street..aris and i need to get a few things prepared for tomorrow and then I hope to be in BED sooner than later.

Aris and I checking things out at registration.

The pit.

Mandatory riders meeting.

mentally, i feel okay. the course is the most climbing i have ever done in my life. my only concern is my hamstrings..which are very touchy and tender. i have not felt any pain down there..but every slight turn i take without thinking, there is a little tweak and/or twitch. my only question is, how the hell are they going to be able to last the long haul???

A big thanks to my operations manager(Pops), who has been haulin my butt back and forth to this and that while the rest of the fam went to play in the bay. my right hand man, aris, has once again continued to shine.. he has been by my side helping me prepare..again, while the family goes out to play. and of course, my thanks to trix for shifting from "vacation mode" to "race mode" literally in a split second. i am going to try and get the sis n law to make race updates for me..since we will be at the race site all day...although completely depends on her schedule.

It is going to be a completely CLOSED course, so any mid lap type hand offs are out of the question. So pits are going to be ultra important..and carrying enough foods and fluids for such a long lap. lap lengths run 13.8 miles with over 2,500 feet of elevation gain. if anything, i get to look at some spectacular views while enduring some never before felt pain. im ready..trixie is ready...aris is ready..dad is ready. lets hope the 24 hour bug hits the other 5/9 th's overnight.

haka dance > get ready

My new entry dance...eh?

a trixie posting

darwin enjoying the view from Uncle Aris'..also enjoying his last day being 21

stretching our legs at a pit stop off of highway 1

hello everyone..unfortuanately this is not fixedgeargus today, it is Trixie. Gus asked me to do a quick blog posting for him as he is currently out pre-riding the course with his right hand man, Aris.

first of all, i need to apologize that Gus has not made any postings the past few days. we were staying with our Uncle Aris in the middle of nowhere..literally. it was amazing!! we did not have any internet access and we couldn't even get a signal on our cell phones. we were at the hollister ranch..which is about 1 hour north of santa barbara.

today we made the drive up to monterey..on the way we dropped gus and aris off at bobcat cycles in salinas. gus and aris put together his second bike and now they currently are preriding. when they get back, we plan on doing a huge dinner for darwins birthday with friends of ours Mary and Pete Balistreri who also flew up for the race from WI.

tomorow will be a day of rest.

saturday of course is the big day. wish us all luck.

Jake Fitz

Jake Fitz! Jake Fitz! Jake Fitz! Surf, Frolf n some SC MTB. You want it? I can take you there!

True DH/FR style. 5bikes + 7humans + 6mile climb = super anxious WI MTBr's.

Courtney could barely get us to stand for even one pic. We were SO STOKED. You see it in the mags. We rode it less than 24hrs ago.

Awe. Every opening. Every turn. We were .25miles before our 850ft descent. You pumped?

Sorry bout no pics while going down. I was however able to snag this pic while we took a break at the half way point back up. While right behind me, Dar was in shock.


All the way back up, to do it all over again. The "Mail Boxes" trail was THE best riding I have EVER done. Aris broke his chain at the top and still beat everyone down. He did however need a tow from Jake Fitz himself.

Alex shooting on what is know to be one of the top 5 Frolf courses in the nation, De La Vega.

Darwin has been wanting to surf it up for a long time.

Jake Fitz again! He was all over the place this past Sunday.

Jake, Much thanks to a most rad stay in Santa Cruz. It was certainly a Sunday of firsts.

Maverick came thru big time. A new lower leg (disc side) is already on its way. Both bikes will be fully functional come Thursday's preride.

Off to Ragged Point for some more trail searching.

I spoke too soon

"So I hope" certainly came back to bite me.

Right after the bike box pick up we headed straight for Jake's house(Pics should be sometime today)

***We forgot two items so far. A floor pump and a card reader for the camera.***

to drop off the box(bike in) so we could quickly check in the hotel which was maybe a 15minute drive. We wanted to Fresh-up and ditch the bags. The hotel pit stop to a mere 54min23sec. We were off to Jake's to raid his really really really ridiculously good looking pad n yard.

Aris and I were absolutely stoked to build bike #1. We had every tool at our disposal and some very motivated riders. Jake's roommate has TWO Rocky Mountain Slayers. Deal was, if Aris tunes em, we ride em. Major score.

The grill was working hard, corn - BBQ chicken - dogs - brats - cheddar brats. Jake was the host of all hosts. What a great set up. Nice back yard with a huge porch, 4blocks from the pond! Can you dig it?

Work stand, park tool backpack and large porch had us looking like just Another bike shop, literally. Speaking of Another Bike Shop. IN STOCK - the entire Fox Fork line and enough King headsets n hubs to support their entire color line. The bike market, as you can guess, is much different round here. Single Speeds? One of 5shop guys said his buddy has one. 29er's? What are those?

The build was going great. Everything arrived in the same condition we sent it in. No missing parts. Un pack the frame. get it on the stand. I worked on the rotors while Aris installed the cranks....ENOUGH. You get the picture....No everything was done. All we have to do is install the front wheel and ride.



It's hard to explain. Disc side dropout is done for. A small part that allows you to thread a bolt in and out to adjust the tension of the dropout. SNAP! No more front fork. At least for 1/2 the day.

Due to last night's detour. The ride is getting put on hold until this afternoon. This morning Pops Mensa-Bansu and I are driving to Monterey to pick up bike #2 and drop off bike #1.

Will I get bike #1 fixed? I should. But it's Sunday. I can't even get hold of Maverick till Monday.

It is 6:50am local time. I must go. I really need to ride and a lot of pieces must fall in for that to happens. Starting with some breakfast burritos.

Bikes are Safe

So I hope. We made it to Another Bike Shop just in time to snatch the bike box before they closed.

Tonight will consist of building bike #1 and catching up with an old friend. All in a place I have wanted to visit ever since I started riding a mountain bike, Santa Cruz.

Sunday morning - Ride the much anticipated Santa Cruz single track.

2007 Worlds Team Bio

Motivational Speaker: Brenda Peters—Mother of five boys has led this woman down an intensive learning journey. Wisdom and nothing but optimism will never be in short supply. Mom is always there with a smile. I could DNF or take 1st; it’s unconditional.


The Mechanic: Aristotle Peters—This kid is the wrench. He is the guy that makes the bikes spin, handling any pressure with ease. Seriously, this pit man does not break. If he wasn’t in the pits, he’d be out there.

Security: Alex Peters—Expo’s number one super fan has recently been brought on as tour security. The popularity is rising and things are getting dangerous. We are lucky to have such an experienced gumba on our side.

The runner: Theodore Peters—I don’t have the luxury of passing the pits twice within 5 minutes like at Nationals. Theo will be there to run hand offs miles with me if he has to—and all with a Zoolander Blue Steel grin to match.

Documenter: Darwin Peters—I gave him a tripod, camera and some tapes. Gripped Films is going to be hounding this kid for employment at the end of this project. He is basically here to document the monumentalness of it all.

Creative Director: Courtney Renick-Mayer—She is here to make sure I look good. With a priceless sense of style and creative explosiveness, Courtney is sure to make sure everything is fresh. Rumor has it a romance is brewing with the film crew.

TRIXIE Team Manager: Christie Peters—Love drives this woman to support this lucky rider through it all. She is the only reason I use butt cream. Spoon feeding, massages, slaps on the butt and overall unconditional love.

Operations Manager: Ted Peters aka Pops Mensa-Bansu. You could call him the GM. He is there to oversee everything. He’s got the ability to step in for any position. He has earned his fame with the famous quote in hour 11 of 24-9 Nationals, “Let’s win this focker”.

SEXY

I Hope You Are Ready

The posts will be coming at a very fast rate. It would not hurt to even check sometimes twice per day.

Our flight leaves early Saturday morning. For where you might ask? 24 Hour World Solo Championships.

There will be 9 of us making the trip. Hmmmm...2bikes + 14bags + 9humans + 10days = 1 12passenger van with 1ERGON sticker on the bumper. Should be interesting.

Tonight I will have Full BIOs of each team member. Before we even reach CA, you will know us better than your first stepmother's second husband's step son. Weather you like it or not.

It will be just like your sit'n 3rd row bitch!

Creeky Bottom Bracket?? No problem. Just give Aris a call, he'd love to give you a hand.

Both 69ers got their BB's relubed before shipment.

Gotta love a "Madone" BOX. 19.5in frame, 26in wheel, 29in wheel and a spare rigid fork all fit really really really really really

ridiculously nice.

Hump

Much on the plate. Both bikes NEED to be shipped today. The scramble is on. One goes to Another Bike Shop in Santa Cruz and the other goes to Bobcat Bicycles in Monterey via Fed EX 2 day air.

The David Beckem FoHawk will be cleaned up today for action in the coming weeks.

I need to ride really really bad! Its been ONE WHOLE WEEK since a "long" training ride has been completed. I have been spinning though.

Here are a few pics from the No Bikes Weekend...

Saturday night dinner in Chi Town's Greek Town with the God Parents. Great people + great food = The way a No Bikes Weekend should be!!!

The monsoon decided to take a break which gave us just enough time to set up. Ravivia is one amazing place to see a concert. BYOB n chairs for a gay ol' time. Amazing setting. Great audio and again, great people.

Front row lawn space. A tad bit too crowded for me.

I thought Ravinia looked neat in the day light. At night, WoW!
I'm off to tape the bike boxes. pics to follow.

No Bikes Weekend

No bikes! What did you say???

Thanks much for the comments regarding a CX bike. Now we all get to dream. Reality says to take a chill pill, so I am. I'm not done drooling with a napkin in hand(so everyone thinks I'm done). By no means should you stop giving ur input. One of these days the Wife will say yes. Yes to a CX, a Track bike, a FJ, a HR monitor/GPS, a Madone and a big fat Leon's Sunday all in the same day.

A post from this weekend to follow as soon as I have time to upload pictures. I will supply a teaser though...

Price and or "more bang for the buck" aside...

Stay in the Trek family?
Gears or Single?
Steel or ALuminum?
Canti's or Discs?
Bonti or WTB?

Trek and Bianchi are 2007(imagine a 2008)

Take ur pick....

It's Friday in the year 2008

Floating Treks

squeezed limes

Red n Yellow Madones

Integrated baskets

The new RIG

My new CX bike....I wish
Trek definitely knows how to do it right. Very nice. Really soft carpet too.

The Grand Loop 2

It took me a while to go ahead and complete this ride for a second time. This time on the big wheel(wide) SAFG. 3hours to complete the first half(riding backwards to "F'). I took my jolly time to eat a small lunch and down a mini coke. 40minutes later I was back on the bike with a second coke in hand, refilled pack and some more electrolyte in the bottle.

Lunch time

Not sure if it was lunch, the two cokes or the rabbits on Lake Dr. Or a combination of the three. I made the second leg of the trip back home in 2hours 45minutes. I am not even sure if my lunch stop is half way either. Very close to 100 once again. I still have yet to get sick of the feeling you get after a ride like today's is completed.

Big Picture

Levis/Trow 25.....DFL

Red radar put me in the not so good mind set. Don't get me wrong, I love riding in the rain. But remember the previous post??? I so "strategically" placed the proper "outs". Hehehe.

No seriously. My fender wasn't enough to keep the grit out of me butt. 25miles and 2:37:57 of it and I was to call it quits. DFL. Although, I really don't feel all that bad for it. I pretty much secured 2nd SOLO SS for the series in the process, and after talking with most(I think all) of my 24-9 brethren... It looks like if you raced @ 24-9, you didn't hit the 100mark @ Levis/Trow. The reasons varied of course.

The course - Rocking! A tad over 1800ft per 25miles. Not much, but it came in clumps. Levis/Trow has got to be very close to the best around. So good, that I got an inside scoop. Maybe...just maybe for 2008

The wee little ones on the other hand. Did 25miles because that's all they had to do. Victory. 1st place 50mile DUO.

Two finger

vrrroooooooooom

Champ style

here it comes......

I have to be able to stay on the bike. Cutting it short this weekend made it possible to ride today. Tomorrow as well.

Big Picture