I have crossed some sort of line

"What the hell is that guy doing?"

It was early in my racing days - maybe the second or third race I'd ever done - and I was getting ready in the parking lot at Pioneers Park in Lincoln. Beside the car was a guy slathering his legs with a cream of some sort.

"Wait," I thought. "That must be embrocation. I thought that was a Euro thing."

The day was cold and damp, and this guy looked like a complete nut job. After that, he pulled his two sets of wheels out of his truck and headed off to start the race.

"Wow, if I get to the point where I'm choosing which race wheels to go with and rubbing stuff on my legs, I've gone too far."

Ladies and gentlemen, I've gone too far ... according to new-racer me.

For starters, I've been digging embrocation lately. I got a can for on the cheap a few months back and have been using it if it's under 40 and windy or wet. Wow. I like it.

Also, as I was pondering my bike vs. storage dilemma, I settled upon an answer: service course. Pro teams, and a lot of manufacturers, have what's called a service course. Think of it as a big garage with a workstand or seven and plenty of storage.

Bikes are hung in the bike section, wheels are hung separately in the wheel section. Want to go for a ride? Grab a bike, grab a set of wheels and go. Could be the carbon wheels, could be the Dura-Ace tubeless, could just be a set of plain old training wheels.

As I was reimagining the space rearranged and cleared out for the service course, a couple of thoughts came into my mind. One, "embarrassment of riches." Two months ago I was worried about securing a bike. One, single bike on which to race.

And now I'm getting ready to rearrange the garage for four, perhaps five, bikes. I have wheel choices. I use embrocation.

Yup, I've gone too far.

In case you were wondering (but why would you be wondering?): Yes, this is an easy week for me. I have no training to do today and only an hour tomorrow. And that's good, because I'm still tired from yesterday's excursion with the Big Puma and his newly minted sidekick, Jackhammer (or Sean).

It was nearly four hours of wind and hills. We found a couple of new, ridiculous hills in Ponca Hills, along with a dirt road that winds around and leads to one of the most ridiculous climbs in Ponca Hills. I'll be hitting those frequently.

Also, the alleged ship date of my bike is fast approaching. Thursday, it says. I'll believe it when I unbox it.

Lab work.

For a couple of years now, the accompanying "get on a mountain bike" bit has been paired with "it's better in the winter because you're in the trees and it's warmer there."

OK, smart guys. Today's the day. It's 40, dark and windy. And it's only going to get windier. If I freeze my ass off in the trees, where it's supposed to be warmer, I'm coming for you.

As a disclaimer, I'll note that I'll be coming via automobile, because I'm not fast enough to actually catch anybody. And, as always, if I don't come back, look for me wrapped around a tree. Or, perhaps, crumpled at the bottom of one of those steep drops on the back side of the course.

No, not yet

Just a little more than a week away from the promised ship date of my bike, and still no change in status: "P1 in manufacturing."

The delay, at this point, is still related to the wheels. Checking the distribution channels at Trek, there just aren't many wheels kicking around. But the numbers are growing - slowly - so it shouldn't be much longer.

Training-wise, I'm on schedule. I've lost an hour or two every week because of something that pops up. Week 1 was Cranksgiving, Week 2 was taking Jack to the doctor. This week will be a breakfast meeting this morning that's going to take some time away. Despite that, though, I'm getting the most important bits in - the long rides. I've been able to get a pair of three-hour rides in each week so far, and this week shouldn't be any different. That's going to be big.

Other than that, it's just little things. And waiting. There's a lot of waiting.

Dark side

"Man, we've got to get you on a mountain bike."

I've heard that a lot in the past few years, and I'm not exactly sure why. What goes on out there in the trees that I need to be a part of? Why is there a need to get me on a mountain bike? Hmmm ... maybe mountain bikers really are a bunch of weirdos ...

But still, despite the interest in getting me out there, nobody really went out of their way to actually, you know, get me out there. As in, "hey, I have a bike you can ride. Meet us at the trail head at Tranquility, because you live, like, 5 minutes from there and have never ridden it."

But last week, that's how it happened. I have been on the dirt. I have ridden the 5 minutes from my driveway to Tranquility Park. I have jumped things.

I have gotten on a mountain bike.

Yes, it's pretty fun. It took me about a lap and a half last week on the maiden voyage before I got comfortable and started ripping it ... gently. Bike shop cohorts Chris and Sarah didn't even make fun of me very much when I looked at the two huge drops on the back side of the course and said, "ummm ... no."

(A note about the bike: Carbon hardtail with XTR components and rim brakes. Fun, huh? Oh, and on loan from one Jay Thomas. So, thanks.)

While riding on the dirt is, indeed, quite fun, there's a nice practical aspect to the whole thing as well. I dislike kitting up and doing the hour-long spin days in the training plan. Mostly because from my house, on a road bike, you pretty much always end up riding the same way. With a mountain bike, I can at least head over and get some handling work in, too.

Of course, this new addition to the stable gives me, inexplicably, four bikes at the moment. Bianchi, Madone (still not mine), TT bike and the one above. And while the awesomeness of having lots of bike is awesome, there's a bit of a storage issue. Two are on hooks, one is in the basement, another is in the garage on the floor. It's semi-ridiculous, but completely awesome.

I mentioned that, right?

Returning to form

Stop me if you've heard this before: I feel kinda fast right now. Not race-fast or anything (because it's November and that would be dumb), but snappy, light and energetic.

It's likely just a return to standard offseason bike-racer fitness, but it feels like a lot more. Example: I rode with Lucas and Mark last week and didn't feel extremely worked over. More importantly, I didn't feel like I had to kill it on the hills to hold tempo.

Now, Sunday was a different story - I felt tired from the start. But yesterday wasn't too bad and today should be solid. This bike racing thing may work out after all.

And that's it from Algomaha. Still no new Madone, still no mountain bike. Patience, though. Patience.

Eh, close enough

The aforementioned time trial/project bike is still a work in progress. I'm good with the position, the shift cables are run and functioning and -- with the exception of brakes -- it's done.

And with the weather taking a fairly uncomfortable turn (as in, actually getting cold), it seems like a good time to get on the trainer now and again. And, since brakes aren't required (this isn't the rollers, after all), why not ride the TT bike?

Why not, indeed?

So I did.

I'm pretty sure everybody knows how that turned out. Soreness in different areas, due to the fairly aggressive position. And, of course, I hadn't done an actual workout in months. Sure, I've been riding, but this one actually had target HR zones.

Regardless, I hit the zones and got a good feel for the shifting of the TT bike. It's basically just like my Force group from last year -- crisp, accurate and fast. I may have to move the extensions out about a centimeter each, but I'll mess with that later.

And speaking of later, there's been no change in status on the new Madone. I'm guessing two more weeks, at least. Serenity now! Serenity now!

Moving along

With the exception of a few administrative things, Cranksgiving is done for 2009. I love the event, and I'm always happy to to see it supported. But I'm ready for a nap.

Really, Cranksgiving is only about three days' worth of stress. The rest of it is just organizing and emailing and such.

On the Wednesday before, it's picking up or delivering little things here and there.

On Thursday, it's confirming who's making what, bringing what or donating what.

On Friday it's getting tables delivered, prizes organized and dealing with last-minute issues. This phase continues through Saturday afternoon. For example, I ended up making a batch of soup at 6:30 a.m. It happens sometimes.

All in all, despite the stress, it was a really good day. The full information is here, but this is a quick rundown:

1,700+ pounds of food, $600+ donated in cash. That's going to help a lot of people. We'll get final numbers soon, but it was a very good year.

As far as training goes, I had a good week. Minus the Cranksgiving-day missed workout, I was right on target.

The TT bike is going to take longer than expected, so when real workouts start, I hope to have it ready. It needs a little shim (not Shim) for the front derailleur. I may just circumvent the problem and put my 105 FD on it, saving the Force FD for a heretofore unmentioned possible secret project of awesomeness.

Plus, the TT bike has no brakes. Well, not yet at least.

Flavor of the month

Since the Felt departed in August, the one constant in the bike lineup here in Algomaha has been the Bianchi. Lovable, dependable Bianchi. Of course, it's much more of both when it has 10-speed Shimano stuff on it, but still.

Other than the Bianchi, though, three other bikes have spent a week or two in residence -- a Felt F1, a Trek Madone (orange) and another Trek Madone (black). The Felt and the orange Madone are long gone, but the black Madone has returned. I had it originally when Mark was out of town for a few days. This time, it'll stay until my bike arrives -- hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

Also, the TT bike could finally spring into action this weekend. After getting a good start on it earlier this week, it's back to square one. The cables were routed slightly wrong, so we tore it all apart yesterday. The proper way, we've found, is a complete and utter mess.

If for no other reason, this bike will be fast because I want to take it out and show it who's boss. Oh, and we drilled the holes for the base bar. Gonna be great.

And if that's not enough, there's another bike coming for a stay on Monday. I've spent more than five years living just a few minutes from Tranquility, yet I've ridden it once. Jay's bringing me a bike to mess around with on Monday.

No, I don't know how I'm going to fit them all in the garage. When I put the hooks up a couple of years ago, I couldn't fathom having any more than three bikes between Chris and myself. I could have four inside of a month.

Yeah, that's pretty awesome.

Cranksgiving: It's tomorrow. It's going to be sunny. It's going to be fun. We're having beer cheese/broccoli soup. Be there.

Project bikes: a project

By its definition, a project bike is more than a simple build. There are all sorts of dumb things that come into play.

Maybe you're like Chris, my bike-shop cohort who scored an old Raleigh frame from a customer (the customer was OK with that, by the way). Turns out, this thing was a one-off masterpiece of dumb components. So, after ordering a very nice BB and crank, he got it done. But then he swapped the bars. Modifications were in order.

Now I will say the bike rides nice. It's a low, aggressive zippy little thing. It's a fun bike. But it was a lot of work. My TT bike is turning into the same sort of thing. Of course, when handed a frame/fork/seatpost setup and nothing else, it's going to need some work.

So I added the Force derailleurs from my Felt, the clip-on aero bars I used previously for time trials and stopped. Then I scored a base bar, ordered some SRAM TT900 shifters and brake levers (both of which are in hand now) and got ready to build.

Whoops. Missing a couple of cable stops. I knew about that, but didn't do anything about it. Those are on the way. Whoops again. Oh, and one of the two stops that remained from its original build is ripped (they're rubber plugs, basically) and stuck inside the frame.

Also, the brake levers - which are awesome, by the way - have internal cable routing, meaning the housing comes out through the base bar farther down the track. That base bar, however, has no exit holes.

So ... yeah. It's officially a project. Before it was just a bike. I was reasonably busy at work yesterday and didn't have much time to dig into it. But the pieces are all here now. I just have to get it done. And maybe drill some holes.

Maybe this weekend, maybe at night, maybe fueled by beer.

Cranksgiving challenge update: We have four people who pledged to match my $50 donation. Here's a note about the online procedure from Mark. -- FYI - I made the donation online. A note to others: confirm your amount prior to filling out credit card and address information. (Otherwise, it reads the amount as zero and gives an error message.) Also, the "special instructions" option is at the end of the process, where you confirm payment.

I'm taking notes

For much of my life, I've been lucky enough to have a very good memory - I can keep track of times and dates and responsibilities with ease. And until recently, that system has been flawless. For example, I have no notes on Cranksgiving, or how to operate it. I just go through my mental checklist and it all happens.

But now, I find myself in the nexus of appointments, meetings and deadlines. And it's making my head hurt trying to fit it all in there.

It should be noted my lack of note-taking isn't because I don't have access to capable tools. I mean, I have an iPod Touch that had a delightful, syncing calendar feature. I've just never used it.

Yesterday, however, I started adding things. A lot of things. Story deadlines, work meetings, Cranksgiving reminders, project deadlines, training plans ... . The list got long, to be honest. And it kind of freaked me out a bit.

When I told Chris - a longtime and fastidious note-taker, planner-carrying organizer of the highest order - she smirked and said, "Well, look who decided to be a grown up."

Nice.

For the record, I've been a grown-up for a long time. I just haven't had this much going on. So there.

Sinking in

Somehow, despite being told numerous times exactly what my new job entails, the full gravity of its responsibilities hit me last week.

Maybe it was a happy fog, maybe it was "I'll ease into this," but ... ummm ... holy crap. I think the 2010 budget talk got my attention, followed by the strategic business plan bits, along with the capital expenditures and the marketing and inventory and charts and analytics and hiring (maybe firing?) stuff.

Wow.

It's not that I don't think I'm up to the challenge, it's just forcing me to think in an entirely different way. Rather than be an important piece of someone else's puzzle, I'm the one moving pieces around. And yes, of course, I have help. But the big calls will ultimately be mine.

In a way, it's a bit like changing my mindset in regards to racing. For the longest time, if I was in the mix at the end, I was happy. Even as a solid Cat. 4, I was thinking that way. It wasn't until the Omaha weekend last year that I really starting thinking about the win, rather than being there at the end.

So, rather than thinking about my little role in the big bike shop picture, I'm going to think about all of the little roles in the big bike shop picture. And which ones can be improved, or streamlined or ... this could go on for a while.

And no, my bike isn't here yet.

Cranksgiving: FAQ/information is here.

I'll put this challenge out here (and on Facebook and Twitter, too): I have $50 ready to drop into the bucket for the Food Bank.

Thanks to wholesale pricing and federal programs, the Food Bank can buy food for pennies on the dollar. The going rate is this: $1 = $10 worth of food for them. So with my $50, that's $500 worth of groceries at retail.

Anybody care to match me? Top me? Shim's already jumped into the pool, and you can only imagine how he swims. Leave a comment or send an email. Let's fill the truck this week.

The daily routine

Trek has an internal dealer system that allows for tracking of orders, research and such. It's called Dexter. It's really cool.

The graphic above is what I check on every day, sometimes several times a day. The bike on the top line is another Madone destined for an employee. It was ordered on the same day as mine. Note how it says "Shipped and Invoiced" while mine still says "P1 in Manufacturing?"

At some point late last week, the other Madone went from that same Manufacturing tag, to "Work Order Complete," to "Ready to be Invoiced" to its current status. All in about a day and a half. It should be in the shop today or tomorrow.

So that's what I'm looking for. Please, just a change in status. That way I'll be within a week of climbing aboard the new bike. In the meantime, I'm also waiting for my TT parts and riding the Bianchi. It's doing the trick, but faster is always more fun.

Cranksgiving is coming. Don't forget.

We're 10 days away from Cranksgiving. Prizes from sponsors are mostly here (I think we have a few more on the way) and volunteers are getting lined up. If you want to help out, send an email -- we have a need for cooks (it's really easy) and event staff. If nothing else, you get to eat free. Depending upon how many riders we have, you might leave with a sponsor prize.

And that's it for now. It's time to make the grocery list. OK, maybe I'll go for a ride, too.

Maybe we're getting somewhere

I think it's fairly safe to say that most car/bike confrontations begin with a lack of respect - often on both sides. Drivers too often don't respect the rights of a cyclist, and cyclists too often don't respect the rules of the road (and sometimes fellow humans). Yes, that's a generality, but rare is the city in which "too often" is replaced with "seldom." We're just not there yet.

Two bits of news came out yesterday that could be a good start to building more respect for cyclists rights, with real consequences if those rights are violated. The first item was a well-publicized , and can be found here.

The second item was in Omaha. A local cyclist was run off the road, confronted and assaulted. In both cases, judges rendered drivers at fault - cyclists have the same rights to the road as motor vehicles. And in both cases, the drivers will likely see jail time.

It's nice see a case in which a cyclist, who was riding in accordance with the law, gets the backing of a court. Too often I've read about cycling deaths that result in only misdemeanor charges. And too often I hear "you don't belong on the road."

Bikes do belong on the road. If respect is given, respect will be returned. We can do this, people.

A fighting chance

When this picture was taken last year, in early June, I was just a few weeks away from the kind of form that allows you to think about nothing but a win when you get to the starting line. By the time the Omaha race weekend convened a month later, I was on top of my game.

But since then I've had only tiny bits of that feeling. I was on it in April, at least for a day or two. And I had a good shop ride or two in early June again. Not even when I lined up for the state road race in September did I have any sort of snap in my legs.

Since then, each ride has been a flogging of sorts. Beating at the door to try to get back to the land of the living -- or at least the land of the bike racers. You can't be on your game at all times, but you can at least have a good day or two every week.

And on Sunday, finally it was my good day. I felt strong the whole time, I climbed well (on the Bianchi, no less) and chased a couple of attacks by the Big Puma. I was able to keep the tempo high, and yeah, it hurt, but I felt really good.

Now, perspective is an issue with all of this. Because it's not like I was off the front, drilling it, with wagging tongues behind me trying to keep up. It was more like being able to hold tempo with guys who have a full summer behind them and have recharged after a break.

Regardless of the circumstance, though, it was nice to get out and go fast again. Hopefully this is the beginning of a return to normal.