Push your weight through, Don. Push it through.

Getting up to drive the moto for me at 6am. Because you have a test at school and the weather report says rain by 9am.

We got on the road, and got the work done.

The second we finish the workout and head back in the rain starts falling.

What a perfect start to the morning.

Thanks Steven.

You are a true friend.

Dani Dance turned my attention to this poster for the Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships 2009. What can I say? It dances on my eyeballs in the same way that the sounds of a hand cranked music box delight the ears of a feral child.

Time to crawl back into my hole and dig out the bladed boomerang and tubular spinergy wheels. See you in November.

It’s a very hard race, and you should go out and enjoy the view.

US Gran Prix of Cyclocross – Portland, Oregon from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Honestly, you should go over and watch this on Vimeo in HD because it’s too good to view through the peephole above.

I think it’s important to glue your own tires. That way when you roll your tire on some off camber or with a shitty remount, you have nobody to blame but yourself. If you’ve done a great job you can ride all season with confidence knowing that your tires are going to stick and be your advocate with the mud. That’s a good feeling. If you screw it up the first time, you’ll do better next time. I promise.

That being said, I don’t enjoy gluing tubulars. It takes a long time, smells toxic, and in general feels like pure excess. It’s the price we pay to ride on pillows. My thumbs are raw and red from scraping old tubular glue off of rims. I’ve ridden the same set of Flexus tires for the last three seasons, and the rubber is stiff and the sidewalls cracked. Tearing them off the rims reveals this scene:

And after a little elbow grease:

And finally:

Now, many would argue that the glue should not be scraped off at all. I assure you this glue was so dried out and brittle that it was nothing but a liability to leave on the rim. If it’s still chunky and sticky, by all means leave it on.

Now on to three light coats on the rims and tires. But first, some other Saturday distractions:

Signal Cycles is building some last minute ‘cross team bikes and sharing the process through their blog. Always good stuff over there. They also posted this olde timey cross video. The announcer explains that the sport “combines all the worst elements of cycling and cross country running.” Notice the rider who takes the insane line through the crowd at the start. Amazing!

Also, I just found a whole pile of these stickers in an old box. I’d love to send you a couple. Just paypal brianellin at gmail.com with a buck or two, and include your address.

Richard Groenendaal zet punt achter carrière from Productiehuis.eu on Vimeo.

He gives a charming interview but on the parcours, he has a large chip on his shoulder.

To all of the lapped riders and Belgian fans he’s roughed up over the years he says:

“In your face! I rule!”

I like the part where he “hangs” his bike up for good.

Video weekend continues. Via Mud and Cowbells