Update long over due

This is crazy late but let's just say I've been pretty busy!

I left my job at Finn Marketing for the Sales Manager position at Chainwheel Drive bike shop in September, traded in my beat company minivan that I bought cheap for a used 2009 Mini Cooper,

retired the Ellsworth Scant and am riding a 2012 Specialized S-Works Venge

I did the Horrible 100 also (more on that later) with folks from Gearlink & the MCC crew.

....and Melissa & I are still seeing each other

and are going to move into a house

(that's right a rental house) together.

Things are not easy but definitely worth it and much better than before. I have much to be happy about and not due to processions but how life is going in general.

I'll do a break down on the above as time allows.....I hope everyone is having a great Holiday season!

In with the new (track bike) Felt TK4130

I sold the Pinarello (gasp!) and purchased a Felt TK4130. WHY??? Well, I have been working part time at Chainwheel Drive bike shop in Clearwater, FL since May 14th in sales there and they do not sell Pinarello, the Pin was/is a great bike but being aluminum and not spec'd as a true track bike I thought I'd be better off with a 4130 steel, true geometery track bike. I was able to sell the Pin on eBay and buy the Felt for close to the same money so the cash flow of the deal was good. I got it in right before the 12 Hours of St Pete "alleycat race" and wanted to use it for that (more on that race on a different post). I have it rigged up two ways; as a "pure track bike & for training/racing on the road fixed. More reviews on it later but I love it so far. Ciao, Rick

The Tampa Crit

Wow....this happened the 31sdt of March and I'm finally putting it down "on paper". Yes, I actually did a road race/Crit this year and this one is one of my all time favourites. I signed up in the 50+ Masters class....which is a lot tougher than it sounds....lot's of really fast "old guys" out there! The course is a great one in downtown Tampa....nothing like racing downtown in a "big city". Even though I was about 10 lbs over (race) weight, I really didn't want to miss this one, so I sucked it up and registered. I had just gotten the Ellsworth Scant back and set up...it felt pretty damn good and I was wearing the (new) Go Pro Hero2 video/camera to record the race. I did some warm ups with the Go Pro on and felt I was using the wrong mount (very shakey vids)so I took it off. I felt pretty good at the start but after 3-4 laps a split developed as 2 Gearlink and 2 FLVelo riders went up off of the front. That took some of the pressure off as I wasn't going to kill myself trying to close any gap down since we had two (good/fast) guys up in the break. After awhile the shifting was getting to the point that during and coming out of the turns, I'd drop or gain a gear without doing anything and it kept getting worse. I tried to adjust the cables myself but really didn't have the time to do so and was getting worried about causing a crash due to the yo-yoing of my bike due to the shifting so I decided to go into neutral support (SRAM/Specialized) to have it checked out and corrected. I thought I'd get a "free lap" but the official said it was a maintainance fault and not a mechanical one. The SRAM/Specialized tech said it nmay be a busted shifter and put me on a 54cm Specialized and got me back out in the ace and would try to fix/find the problem. I'm down a lap now. The Specialized felt pretty good and am glad I swapped bikes. I finished the race and due to confusion at the finish I sat up instead of finishing another lap hard and let two guys in front of me. I returned the Specialized bike and picked the Ellsworth back up that the tech had done a great job "fixing" the shifting so it's all good. I should have given more time to get the Ellsworth dialed in before racing but I just didn't have the time to do so. Still a great race and afterwards, Missy & I hung out at the VIP tent and had yummy food and Cigar City Beer to watch the rest of the rainy then perfect condition races. A bunch of folks I knew were there so it was great to hang out in non-racing gear with riding buddies from The Mid County (riders) Club. Race data is here and photos that I shot are here. Good times. Ciao, Rick

Moving....AGAIN?

It's been crazy....I actually moved in Febraury and am still not completely moved in! It's a great location - I can see the intercoastal from my front porch and it more like a house and not a big apartment complex.

Plus the view is pretty nice....more later. Ciao, Rick

The Velodrome

Well I finally made it to the FL Velodrome in Cooper City, FL. A 333 meter oval track made of concrete and situated in the Brian Piccalo Park. It's a great track and more fun than I thought a 333 meter track would be; I've been at ADT's 250 meter and Bloomer Park, MI 200 meter tracks....this one was a blast to ride also. My Garmen data is here & a Go Pro Hero2 vid Ciao, Rick

Back into Motorcycling - Honda FT500

I've been itching to get a motorcycle that I could commute to work on every since I sold my Honda Element. I've been watching eBay and Craigslist for an older Thumper (single cylinder) or twin to make a cafe racer type of bike with (on a TIGHT budget).

I happened to see a, 1982 Honda FT500 for sale on the east coast of FL pretty inexpensive with low miles and a single owner so I put money down on it to take it off the market and drove there that weekend.
It has minor issues but was really clean and fun to drive so I bought it. Her name is Thumper, btw...these photos show how it looks now to what I started with.

I ended up having to tear apart the front end when the forks started leaking badly and by doing so I saved $100.00 on the fork rebuild.

I ended up putting brag bars on it and lowering the spedo & tach along with replacing the small square headlight with a larger round one....it was much lower than the square one also.



I ended up putting some clubman bars and bar end mirrors on it and really liked how it came out.


It's been a blast to drive...it gets almost 60 mpg and it's saving wear n tear on the 200K+ minivan.

Ciao,
Rick

FL CX Championship - Dade City

What turned out to be the last race of the season for me....the "State Championships". My back got pretty messed up (I don't know what I did but it's f'd up). I have been taking it easy to rest it but really wanted to do this race...they promised it wouldn't be a dirt crit like last year so I wanted to support it.
I brought Sadie with me....she's been acting weird lately so I didn't want to leave her at home.
I warmed up and thought the layout was pretty sweet. The race started and I was in good position...barely missed a guy biting it hard in the first gravel turn....I was 15 back in the combined 35+/45+ field....and was doing well for 2-3 laps. I was actually catching and passing some folks and thinking I could finish well. Except for the buddy of mine that I've beaten in the other races....he was on fire that day and just pulled away.
The last 2 laps were terrible.....my back was seizing up and I was doing everything I could to loosen it up. I thought the hell with it and I'm going to finish this damn thing. I hung on to keep 10th.
The garmin data is here....