I promised...

Late is better than never.

I am really proud of this machine.



I know, the first question in your head is "They have two of them?!?!" No we do not have two (I still hope to have exciting new pictures any day now, that is of course if what I paid for ever got ordered...). But I am as excited if not more excited than Allison about it (if you really know her, she hardly ever gets excited about anything; there are many funny stories just ask me some time)



The biggest thing for this race was the cassette. Threw a DA 12-27 on there for our recon ride on Saturday so Allison could test it out. After the first "easy" lap she was sold on using it, "for this course". The weight weenie in me likes the idea that it drops more than 60g from the XTR. I am always stoked to reduce the weight of the bike for her, and I know that if I reduce her gearing options she will go faster. I don't know if the posts are available anymore but back when I forced Allison to ride a 1x9 I learned that she can turn the bigger gears and go faster, she just doesn't always choose to!

Yes I know, we are running Shimano parts and a SRAM sticker. Thanks for noticing. I would be more than happy to slap X0 components on the bike but unfortunately our SRAM Grassroots deal has yet to come to fruition despite the fact that I wrote a $2k check... I am not experienced with the bike racer world but it seems that waiting is part of the game even long after you pay for stuff, so until our stuff shows up Allison is running the parts that came on her bike.

The bling chain caught your eye? The KMC chain is an experiment. I am only semi happy with it at this point. It is a bit lighter than an XTR chain but I don't think it shifts as nicely. To be completely fair I have not received the SRAM order to compare their hollow pin chain side by side weight wise with the XTR and KMC, I have been running SRAM chains for a long time and like their shifting and durability.

Whats this you say? That bike looks clean. Yeah thanks for noticing that too! I have made the commitment that I will be as serious in maintaining the girl's ride as she is serious about racing it. So far it is working out. She is out on course laying the smack down, I make sure that every day when she first throws a leg over her bike it is in perfect condition.

Back to the photos damn it! Okay okay, don't get pushy.



Just in case you thought Allison was the only one getting spoiled, a pic of my new shoes! These things are awesome! They are light, good fitting, everything you would want in a MTB shoe for racing. I hear Sauser even uses the Pro level shoes (Allison uses the Sworks of course :) )



So off we went on our recon mission. The three of us were sporting the Wiens kits. It feels cool rolling in a pack with the same kit on! Not to mention that Wiens wine is really good stuff and I don't mind helping them advertise!



Luke was taking it so easy on me that I wound up in front of him. What?! I had to take a picture! Anyone that knows the two of us knows that Luke can lay some serious smack on me when he wants, but I feel like all this training is paying off when on occasion Luke is on MY wheel! :)



OMG! Lucky day! I was probably maxed out on my HR to take this picture but I am actually in the lead with Allison and Luke both behind me! Oh I know what you are thinking, it was staged... NOPE. The two of them were chatting on the climb as I was maxing out which gave me the opportunity to get the KOM points and lead out on the single track. :) Can't let these moments slip by so I had to bust out the camera. :)



Look how green it is! All this rain is doing Socal some good. Wait, that is Allison coming down the hill. Yeah she is off the back, but this photo is like kicking a girl when she is down! She had an "unscheduled dismount" in a corner and took some time to put her chain back on and inspect her race machine. No glory in this photo, move along...

I liked this shot of Allison as she took off like a rocket down the hill.



Race day! What says RACE more than stickers!





I stole this photo from the blog of the third place finisher (he is the guy behind me in the photo). If you don't already know how the race went read the blog entry before this one. :)



No glory in this photo either. I crossed the line in 8th place. Still held top 10 but I have some work to do figuring out the cramp issues.



On the bright side my girl came home with gold for the weekend. If she doesn't upgrade to Pro we are going to run out of space for all the 1st place trophies.



Time to go do Anaerobic Endurance intervals. UGH!

Happy Tuesday!