Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Team in NYC.













































We Came.
We Saw.
We stole most of a trophy.
Then we ate dollar pizza.

Triumphant Return to NYC.





















































Not since I my leave to Wisconsin had I
returned to New York. When I was provided
the opportunity to travel to NYC for work,
I hastily accepted.

It was a weekend of reviewing my NYC
Pro/Con list. I miss the city dearly, but
was left with a reassured sense of making
the correct decision to leave.

Monday, November 28, 2011

George: The New Puppy











































































Kwame's new "Cousin".
Professional Sleeper.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Pumpkin Carving

































































































Getting some milage out of that Saws-all.
Kate went "scary face" where I went with a
"upset the neighbors/satanic" route.

Either way, the stoop is looking pretty
nice.

Bontrager RXXXL Road Shoes.
















The obvious thing to write here is how the shoes look amazing
and only weigh 295grams a piece. How the sole is hyper stiff
and the upper makes me feel like Dorothy chanting "theres
no place like the road". That is all well and good, but what
needs to be said is that they are far and away the most comfortable
bike shoes that i've ever owned.

and that's saying something.

John Grosz
















Straight and Steady Groszin'

Monday, October 10, 2011

Assorted Veggies.























6/$1.00.

CamRock Madcross.













































82 Degrees and Sunny.
Less Cyclocross. More "Dirt Crit".
Having fun and getting quicker.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

USGP: CAT 2/3 Mens.































Aaron Mock and John McNeil representing Trek Product
Development. I do not envy them at all. While the rain
may have died down during their race, the damage to the
course had been solidified by the previous two races.

Trek's making moves!

USGP: Environments.













































The rain makes it better.

Leah: 'Crossing.













































She had to slap her Ion CX frameset
together at the last minute using borrowed
parts, but she was looking strong on her
first race of the season.

USGP: Day Two. Jengineer.


















































































Jen P, an engineer at Trek was riding the race after my
Cat 4 mens outing. On the last lap my race, the rain came
and it came hard for the entirety of the women's race. Things
got slick and Jen wiped out a few times, but she seemed
to be doing really well in the Cat 4 women's field.

She rides a Cronus CX, so you know she's serious.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

USGP: Cronus Aftermath.





















































She took her licks and kept on kicking. After a
really terrible start, getting caught behind a few
crashes, we started our slow attack. Coming back
to reel in everyone who shot past in the beginning.
I would finish 2 spots north of where I started, a
success for my first outing. I aim to increase on
these results tomorrow.

Getting after it.













































The first race is in the books. Tomorrow is round 2.

Calm before the Storm.























38 degrees. Dew. Fog.

Cyclocross season has begun.

So has my amateur CX career.

Product Managers.






































With PM's like this, who wouldn't push themselves
to create awesome products?

And yes, the Obi-Wan on ML's tie is in a lightsaber
fight with his t-shirt doppelgänger.

Trash Night.
















By the amount of flat-pack furniture boxes out there, it would
appear that someone just moved in.

New Bike Day: 2012 Trek Gary Fisher Collection Cronus CX Ultimate.
















Weighing in at a scant 16lbs 15oz while with knobby tires
and heavy wheels makes this bike my lightest by a fair
margin. Perhaps it's not fair to compare the weight of my
race CX to a Madone that is set up more for commuting
and touring across Iowa, but weight is not the only advantage
that the Cronus holds over its Carbon brother. Benefiting
from a stiff BB90 bottom bracket, an E2 Headtube and the
Fisher Control Column front fork/wheels, this bike it
twice as stiff as the Madone with significantly more control.
The slacked out head tube angle and elevated bottom bracket
suit the bike more for the muddy stuff but after throwing my
RXL wheels on the Cronus, she soars as a road bike as well.
The dropouts have hideaway rack/fender mounts so she can
be converted to an Uber-commuter (but most definitely won't
be). I can say, with very little hesitation that this is the nicest
bike I have ever owned. She begs to be ridden hard on uncertain
ground and rewards you with responsiveness, stability and wicked
stiffness.

There is a small face with the words, "Mans best friend" at the
BB/Chainstay crotch.

Pretty accurate.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Kwame.






































That is all.

New Bike Day: 2012 Trek 9th District.



































































I was lucky enough to receive the proto for the 2012 9th
District. The Aluminum frame and fork were made in Waterloo
Wisconsin by Jarod Brown for geometry and styling evaluation.
After passing, it was broken down to frame and fork to eventually
be given to me. As a proto, it has no bottle cage bosses and a few
differences from the final production model.

I wanted to make the bike a tribute to Detroit, the city I
learned how to ride a bike in. Detroit is mostly flat yet has
some of the roughest roads in the country compounded by
broken glass and metal shards that line the shoulder. I started
with bomb-proof Bontrager SSR wheels and 4mm thick thorn
resistant tubes. I kept the gearing a shallow 11-23 9 speed
with a 48t SRAM courier crankset. To tell the story of robustness,
I went with the Shimano Saint downhill rear derailluer and crank
bros stem. The Bontrager Krivits bar is a fun MTB bar that really
gives the rider a feeling of control and stability over rough terrain.
Lastly, the graphics are derived from the production graphics, but
where the production bike shows Osaka Japan's streets, my bike
highlights some of the fun spots to mash around Detroit. The bike
is matte black with gloss black/gold decals and an unfinished raw
aluminum fork. This was to reflect Detroits incredibly technical
and developed engineering abilities while admitting to its "unfinished"
state.

The geometry is fun and whippy like all the Districts and it has
been a hoot to ride all over Detroit, Chicago and Madison.

I have been riding it for 4-5 months now and can finally show
everyone now that the 2012 model line up is out now.

Stop on by a Trek Dealer and take one for a spin!

New House.































3829 Busse St.
Madison, WI 53714

Send me your letters!