Pointy Little Elbows

    It was beautiful weather today. Blue skies, a little bit of wind with touch of cool air in the breeze and the sun was shining and it felt warm. You all know, this was all happening, when most of us, was in work but I escaped at lunch time and sat in the suv with the windows open and sneaked in a nap.

    My original plan was to come home, change and grab my bike and head to the canal path for a spin. I planned it to be an easy ride because I have been super lazy over the winter and I'm taking an advantage of this cool weather to get some of the outside chores done. So I have been neglecting my bikes and riding. I had to make a pit stop, before I got home and get gas because the dam gas light came on, while sitting in traffic and stopping for gas in the morning is ridiculous. When I got home, pizza was waiting for me and oh it looked delicious so I ate a few slices, maybe more than I should have and definitely more than I needed to before a ride. The boys' beg me to play Legos and it's tough for me to refuse them, so we played and I of course laid on top of them. If you think stepping on a Lego, feels bad, there is nothing like laying down on one. Then the boys' wrestled me, 2 against 1 and they repeatedly drove their pointy little elbows into my pudgy side and I had to tap out. Now at this point, it was dark outside, I'm feeling even more sluggish and tired and I still have to do some freelance work before it gets too late. It's Pj time (them, not me), brush teeth, read some books and say pray's & lights out and so goes another chance to ride.

    So what's the moral to my long winded story, bring the bike to work with my gear, change at work and drive to the riding spot. DO NOT GO HOME FIRST!! Hopefully next time, I can do this but more importantly, feel motivated enough to get my $hit together the night before.

    So I like to pretend that, I got money to spend and still look at the "Newest Products" on Universal Cycles website. Some stuff is appealing, if and when I do eventually ride, I may need new jerseys or tech shirts to wear for mountain biking. Dakine Charger Camo shirt, caught my eye and so did the price of $45. It has a mesh back and underarm panels for ventilation and that is key for me because I sweat like a pig, in any season and a extended back hem, to prevent plumbers crack. Then I stumbled upon, Enve Composites Carbon Mountain Stem that is priced at $265!! I mean, that is a lot of cash to drop, on a mtn bike stem! Ok, it says it weighs, 85g –104g but that depends on what length you get. I also know that ALL Enve products, cost a lot of money. I think, the only Enve product, that I could afford or even want to buy is their Enve Black on Black 3D hat for $25. Even spending $25 for a hat, seems a bit ridiculous, to me. I guess if you can drop, $800 to $900 for 1 rim or $2800 for a wheelset, the rest of your bike has to cost at least 8k.

   

I'm a big fan of Skratch Labs. I like their products a lot and so far everything is delicious and settles really well on my stomach. I just saw, they are releasing Fruit Drops. They're made with glucose and fructose as the carbohydrate sources, with sodium, pectin and real fruit as the primary contributing ingredients. They added more water than usual to make them softer and less sticky than other gel chews. Each pouch has 10 drops for 40g of carbs and 160 calories, which they say is the upper limit of what the fittest athletes (which I'm not) can ingest in an hour when combined with their sports hydration drink. Technically, each pouch is more like two servings and it retails $2.45 per pouch. Read more about it here.

    Be Safe Out There & Happy Trails.

Taco Bash Guard

    i got this bash guard on my bike from Dark Cycles, called Black Guard. i gotta say it's pretty phat looking and it does its purpose well. it makes me look better in my non-graceful way of clearing logs.

    I just found this on E-Thirteen Taco Bashguard. for 45 bucks you get a quarter of what you really need in a bash guard. i like the idea, plain and simple and definitely puts its self in the ranks of "why didn't i think of that."

happy trails
~dirty bert

CLIPPIN' COUPONS, well kinda

    I like to save. Who doesn't. We all do. And when it comes to upgrading our bikes, some of us like to get it the cheapest way possible. I have only come across 1 bike store in NJ that will price match online prices. That's a pretty good deal but its gotta kill the store for doing that. I have been finding some deals online at some of these bike sites. Here are a few I'd like to pass along to you.

    FIRST up is Sage Cycles. I haven't ordered anything from them but I would and take the chance if I needed something. WHY would I order from them? Well first and foremost, they offer a 15% off on the 1st order and FREE shipping on orders over 50 bucks. Not a bad deal. But the 15% is excluded from complete bikes.

    And SECOND is Universal Cycles. I have order from them in the past and I received my order on time and it was correct. No complains from me and occasionally I will receive via email some VIP coupons like 10% off of 100 bucks using this code, febvip10 (original huh?) and 15% off 300 bucks using this code, febvip15. This coupon will end at midnight of 2/28/07. Also another plus, I like to say about Universal, is that there website is easy to navigate on. It's not overwhelming like these guys.

    Air Bomb.com has a fantastic price for Lake MXZ301 Winter shoe BUT only if yer a size 36! Or you can call this place, Lickbike for the 07 Lake MXZ301 Winter shoe for $194.88!

    Icycles has BB5's for $39 each.

    Colorado Cyclist tends to be EXPENSIVE. Check out there print catalog and look at the prices.

    Or look at Richard Bicycles and drool on all the big name custom mtn bikes out there. Major drool right here.

happy trails
~dirty bert