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.

George: The New Puppy

Kwame's new "Cousin".

Professional Sleeper.

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'

Assorted Veggies.

6/$1.00.

CamRock Madcross.

82 Degrees and Sunny.

Less Cyclocross. More "Dirt Crit".

Having fun and getting quicker.

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.

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.

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!