Never regret a ride

Hey,

I'm off to Taiwan tomorrow for the Tour of Taiwan stage race. Last year that was a new experience for me. I'm sure at times I had the "deer in the headlights" look. It just seemed some things were done with out any common sense. I'll have a better idea this time of what to expect and look forward to it. The best part is the Taiwan people. Very nice people and hope I'll see some of the folks associated with the race from last year.

Up until 3 days ago I thought I was pretty much set to go but once I started packing equipment and my stuff I realized there were a million little things to do. What I thought would be a few hours in the morning packing turned into all day and several trips to the store for little things. Thank heavens for GPS. I'm beginning to really rely on that now. It's pretty busy here in San Diego and I'd go even more crazy if I didn't have the GPS to use.

While I'm almost set to go, I won't be able to take a breath until the bags are checked in and all I have to do is sit on the plane. I'm not the greatest plane traveler and prefer to stay in the States but a few big trips a year is okay. My back and hips are knotted up which is probably due to a little stress I put on myself.



Yesterday I brought the truck to Campagnolo North America to leave in their parking lot. They were very nice to let me drop it off for safe keeping while we are out of the country. The only thing was that I had to ride a bike 35 miles south to get back to the hotel. Although I was hesitant about having to ride the road on the knobby mountain bike tires, it turned into a great ride along the coast which involved a few chances to ride right on the beach and even on some dirt next to a railroad line.



My friend reminded me that a ride like is good for the head since it takes you away from the work world for a bit. All you have to think about is riding your bike and not the million things that need to get done. How true! It really legitimizes while I insist on having something to ride on the truck. They'd have to pay me a million bucks to leave a bike at home.




Someone sent me this picture from Tour of California. That's the documentary film crew sneaking up again and filming nothing in particular that Doug is doing. If they make the film someday, I hope it shows me doing something cool. Usually they seemed to catch me washing the hub caps on the car or tying my shoe laces.
I'll try and update from Taiwan,

DOUG

I've been crazy busy since leaving Wisconsin on January 13th. Finally had a chance to take a day off the other day. The first one in a long time.

I tried to take a few short videos from the car one day during the Tour of California to show you what it's like at the office for me and the riders.

n

TofC Pic o the day

Wow what a boring picture! It does convey the cold and gray that is engulfing California though. Wish i was headed up the pass to Lake Tahoe. The rain I'm working in is dumping snow in the mountains for some good skiing.

Tomorrow is the start of the race.

DJB

Grand Canyon or Jacuzzi?

Is there anyone other than me, and one other guy I know, not on Facebook? That's all I hear about lately. Facebook friend this!

I'm in Sacramento, CA preparing for the first stage race of the season and one of the biggest on the world calender.

From what I hear it actually may be warmer in Wisconsin.

My hands are dry and cracking.

The haircut I got the other day was disappointing. I think the lady should have talked less and concentrated on work more. I usually do say, "just make it look good" , but perhaps that was too much artistic license for this particular woman.

In the hotel I'm at, the bathroom has a large tub or what is otherwise known as a jaccuzzi. There is no separate shower. The shower and jacuzzi are one in the same. There is no shower curtain and the step to get into the tub is a full stretch as if you are stepping into the Grand Canyon. Nothing like a naked wipeout to wake you up! It is strange showering with no curtain around you in such a large bathroom. Ridiculous design!

DJB

BUELLTON, CALIFORNIA-TEAM CAMP

THIS JUST ABOUT SUMS UP THE LAST 3 WEEKS OR SO. IS BEING A PRO MECHANIC REALLY LIVING THE DREAM? I WONDER SOMETIMES.


PHOTO SHOOTS ARE NOTHING BUT A WHOLE LOT OF "HURRY UP AND WAIT"! I DON'T CARE FOR THEM. WASTE OF MY TIME. ONE OF THE WORST THINGS I HAVE TO DO AT CAMP.


I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THESE NEWLYWEDS ARE. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO TAKE THEIR PICTURE AT THE TRUCK. THEY WERE NOT INTO IT AT ALL BUT THE GROOM'S MOTHER THOUGT IT WAS FUNNY.


THE BIKES.


BACK TO WORK!

CHEERS,
DOUG

Kid stuff

Over the holidays some articles of my youth were found at mom's house. I have a complete set of school report cards from kindergarten through 12 grade. I'm not sure why my mom kept these but i guess that's what mom's do.





As you can see bikes have always been on my mind. I'm dating this drawing of my brother's Schwinn Ram Horn to about 1st or 2nd grade. Pretty good detail but not sure why I didn't add the banana seat?


This was my teacher's comments from Pre-Kindergarten. If you change some of the words and place them in a different context it is almost the same evaluation I recently got from my boss during our annual meeting.


We believe this is my newborn announcement pic. My mom doesn't know but it was in my folder.

Cheers,
DJB

Jaw Dropping

Man, I suck playing guitar... compared to Gabriela. Wow!





Amazing stuff. Throwing some Metallica riffs in there too.



DJB

H-N-Y

Jigsaw

This is the song of the night I'm learning to play. It's taken me a year to really appreciate their latest album "In Rainbows". All the little nuances have clicked within my brain. When I try to play Radiohead songs I'm in awe how some songs take pretty simple ideas and turn them into amazing material. Some of the best versions of Radiohead songs are stripped down acoustic versions. If a song is that good stripped of all the electronic parameters it must be good. I haven't come across an acoustic version of Jigsaw Falling Into Space but this was a good concert shot.

invigorating

How come I seem to be the only one at work today?

I think it's important to commute to work no matter what. But, is it easier to say it's too bad out to drive or too bad out to bike? I'm stumped. To me it's too dangerous to drive but fine for biking. Only two people said I was crazy to be riding a bike in this weather on the way into work. I must admit I did almost bite it a couple of times but what a rush.


I wrote this the other day explaining to a friend that riding a bike, even if it's cold and snowing out, is worthwhile.

"...there is plenty you can do when it's negative zero. First you must have to say to yourself that it's not cold. It's "INVIGORATING." Yes, it's too cold to sit on a ski lift but classic skiing you can get great kick with just polar wax. Granted not much glide. Also, you get really excellent icicles in your beard that makes for a dramatic entrance to the ski center. Little kids stare in motionless wondermint and mother's run away. Okay, you won't get an icy beard so leave tufts of hair exposed so your breath vapor can attach to the strands leaving a halo effect around the face which should include the eyebrows and eyelids.

You can commute by bicycle and have tourists in Lake Placid point at you and exclaim, "Look at that crazy person riding their bike in this weather! That should be illegal." Those folks were probably from New Jersey. On other sub zero days, you could stop at Starbucks in Wauwatosa and the girl at the counter says, "This one's on me." In this case, you either impressed the heck out of her with your manly biking brovado, laughing into the face of winter's onslaught. Or, she thought you were a pathetic chump without a car and this would be her Christmas good deed even though I enthusiastically gave her the ol' "IT'S INVIGORATING" line to convince her I like riding my bike. Women?"

Come to think of it last night at the grocery store the cashier asked if I was on a motorcycle. She saw my bike helmet in my hands. I replied, "No. Bicycle." She had to think about it longer than I expected. She responded with a dumpfounded, "oh', and in a subtle way slightly shook her head as she handed me my change. Have a nice night... as I rode out of sight. Ho, ho, ho...on donner, on blitzen, on kona,

CHEERS and GOOD SHOVELING,
DJB

Putting it out there for Christmas

Okay, here is my attempt at spreading some Christmas cheer.

Yes, I often go home and wear a cowboy hat around the apartment. Who doesn't? It puts me in country mode in this case.

How does that saying go...if you can't laugh at yourself...



Did anyone else notice the squeaky floors? I can't stand squeaky floors.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS. HOPE I DIDN'T MAKE YOU CRINGE TOO MUCH!!

DJB

More Radiohead

I won't say much about these two songs. Form your own opinion of Radiohead's great-ness.

Thanksgiving

Hello,

I meant to post this picture of the family Thanksgiving. In the picture is mom, sisters, bros-in-laws, nieces, nephews and one dog.

Cheers

Guit-Steel

If you ever get a chance to see Junior Brown... DO IT! I saw him in a club several years ago and was amazed. He plays small clubs on a pretty regular basis. I'm hoping he comes back to Milwaukee when I'm in town.

Milwaukee often has great bands playing here but I'm usually not in town. Happens all the time.

Doug in action

Look who I found on YouTube. Doug in action at Philly.



DJB

3 meals

I just realized how long I've been working on my computer at the coffee shop. Long enough to have had breakfast and lunch. I'm pretty close to dinner time. I might as well stay to make it a trifecta.

Living the dream.
DJB

Clearwater and music city

I was down in Clearwater, FL for 70.3 Worlds. Nice weather and it was nice to see the triathlete gang. Within my cycling world there is the "road" scene and the "tri" scene. Both are circuses filled with great folks. The Timex team has great athletes and many of them are awesome people I call my friends. Timex posted some excellent results. 3rd and 8th in pro men. A couple of age group wins and several other podium spots.


Tristan, Erin, and I. Two weeks before this race Erin was crowned Amateur Exterra World Champion in her age group. While not exactly motivated to race the 70.3 event (she hadn't ridden the rode bike in months) she still managed a 4th place. What a great year she's had and hope to see more great things come her way.


Ian, Myself, and Hodges. While these guys may have not had the races they wanted, they still toughed it out. Hodges works at NASA so when you say things like, "It's not rocket science!", Hodges actually can say it is rocket science. Cracks me up.


Amanda, Myself, and Erin. I have a great job most of the time. Thanks for the laughs ladies!


On the drive back to Wisconsin, Tristan and I stopped in Tennesee for a mountain bike ride on the Tanasi trails which start at the Ocoee Whitewater Center, site of the whitewater events for the 1996 Olympics. Some great trails. Had a blast. Crashed a few times too. Ouch! A local joined up with us while out on the trails. With a strong southern accent and vernacular he said, "Hi, my name is Fenton Scruggs". Sounds made up but totally true.


Finally got a video to post. Not very exciting but worth it to view some moving pictures for once.




After the ride we continued driving and spent a night in Nashville. If you like music, this place has music playing in the clubs 7 nights a week. You can just walk up and down Broadway and hear what's coming out of the Honky Tonks. With 2 days until the Country Music Awards, things were getting busy.




Ernest Tubbs record shop. A piece of history right there in front of me.

Now that I'm back in the office, I've got several busy months ahead of me. This is usually the busiest time of year for me. Need to try and take it day by day and not kill myself over the eventual frustrations that arise when trying to work with deadlines and several vendors. The team will be using Shimano this year. It's nice to work with Shimano again. It's my role now to get the numbers together and get all the bikes and equipment ordered. Off the top of my head that's about 103 individual bikes that need consideration (not including the Timex team bikes). Wish me luck!

Cheers,
DJB

AS FAR AS I KNOW

As far as I know, the Lake Placid crew is the first I've heard of anybody skiing. The toll road has 18-20". It's days like that I miss Lake Placid.






All this skiing talk got me in the mood to look at some skiing coverage from last year. If you want the definition of throwing the hammer down, check this out. Even though I don't know any of the Finish or Norwegian language (other than Hueva Huamenta), the announcers always make it seem like the most thrilling thing ever. Just hearing the commentary takes me back to the days of high school racing as those videos were the closest thing people could find of any coverage. Of course they'd be about two years old and not current at all.

A Foot in LP

Hey,

I just heard from a Lake Placid buddy that they got around a foot of snow so I logged onto to the ORDA Web Cams to check out the view. I thought I'd share some awesome winter in October with you all. I can just hear the exclamations from the skiers out there hoping it is a sign of a good snow year.


This is the ski stadium at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Looks like some activity on the right. Maybe Randy's Tracks?


The view of the ski jumps.

I'm heading to Clearwater, FL on Sunday for Ironman 70.3 Worlds so if it happens to snow in Milwaukee I'll miss it.

Cheers.

Nice Video

Enjoy this short film I found.