Too Many Wins?

Well, I humbly submit that in fact Strangelover's wins are fabrications of the left wing media. In fact, Anonymous was the true winner, and correctly identified the Overhyped Sissy early this year.

Bring the dirt back

I will miss Rainier Roubaix.

StokedHats

Stoked left me another StokedHat over the weekend; I guess the rumor was I had lost mine. In fact I did not. Now I have 2. But I thank stoked anyway. If you do not have a StokedHat you should go beg for one.

I also want to give a shout out to B-Bam. They do our logo'd t's, hoodies and various products I have a line of people asking for. I highly recommend you use them. They are quite good and the product quality is great. It's honestly the best quality shirts ever.. I bet you did't even know there was a difference in tshirt quality.

Oh and I have distress Axley Baseball caps now.

There's No Place Like NY?

Here I am, sitting across the Hudson from Manhattan. I expected to hate NY but it isn't so bad. The weather right now is the same as Seattle, which is good for me (sorry Mrs. PDog, I like overcast). The only problem is the magnet like need people have here to bump into each other.

And personal to Russell: You may be in Seattle now, but you know what they say. You can take the DS out of Portland, but you can never take the Portland out of the DS.

Off to NY

Well, PStache says that I am too sensitive so I am off to NY to toughen up. While there I will be hanging with those crazy mo-fo's of the Vision Industry at Vision East Expo. Yo man it will be off the hook.

I'll be hanging with my Carl Zeiss lens forshizzles, yo!

Getting crunked with the master DJ's at IC! Berlin.

And then getting those dope POPs finished up, courtesy Pacific Vision.

Now go hurt yourselves at Independence Valley and Sequim.

Confidential

Confidential to Old As Dirt:
It's not the calibration. You are fast man. Now quit moping and ride.

Ask Desslok

I am super busy with work this week, and the kid is crying right now. So I won't have time to post today. And man have I gotten a lot of emails. Luckily, I've managed to get Supreme Commander Desslok of Starblazers (AKA Yamato) fame to step in.



Dear Dr. Desslok~
I was always taught that attacking in the neutral zone was a sign of stupidity, not just a lack of social skills. Thoughts?

Big Booty, Kirkland

Dear BB~
I can't stand a man who laughs at his own jokes.

Dear Dr. Desslok~
There appears to be quite a commotion in Oregon over Zac Winter's tactics vs. Team Chemistry at CMG/AlpineMorgan/ORStatePennitentiarySystems. What is your take?

Stirit Up

Dear SU~
If I let myself become involved in the little matter of the Star Force's last moments, I wouldn't have any time to do any other work; any time to conquer other worlds...

Dear Dr. Desslok~
I was racing Market Street this weekend and I can't help but notice that half the 1/2 field quite on the 4th lap. What's up with that? The race wasn't that hard. And does this mean another 365 days of Darth Tubb's reign of terror?

Where's My Team

Dear WMT~
Soon the Star Force will feel the full power of the Gamilons...I think their time has come.


Well.. ok..... it looks like someone has Star Force on the brain and is having a hard time focusing.

No Comment

I really have nothing witty to say that is any funnier than the faux-cover.

Letting It All Hang Out

photo courtesy of Hone's Photobucket.

Ya. That hurt. After Shawn's break at Sequim I guess it was my turn to roll the dice. So close, yet so far.

Now, I've been reading JZA and it appears that the best way to drive up traffic would be to complain about Higgin's juking me in the break. But damnit, the guy actually was ripping my legs off. I was dying just trying to hang on the riser so I could actually take pulls across the flat. So no hurled insults here.

Mr. Boots rolled the dice earlier and was off for a good 2 laps at least with McLung and J.O. Pretty good for the guy with tendonitis and no sleep and the guy witha cold.

Although I suspect my inability to fly up the bumps had something to do with this side profile shot than my tendon issues.


Damn. That helmet makes me look fat. Looks like I got to get on the dramatic weightloss program post PPuppyV2. But, I should be getting a nice bonus check from Bon Appetit considering all the real estate they got on that side panel.

Now Michael was probably a bit tired from his victory celebration at Mason the day before. Pumping that fist repeatedly can wear a man down.

Don't Call It A Comeback

Cause I ain't been gone.. just sleepy.
I got mild tendonitis and a sick family so you all will have to race without me this weekend. Best case I race Sunday on 0 days of riding since last Sunday (which I raced on 0 days since the previous Tuesday).

Anyway, the Over-rated Sissy owns all of you in...

The Washington Cup Standing after Rd 2.

Elite Men
Place Rider (Team) Total
1 James Strangeland - Wines of Washington 130
2 Michael Emde - AxleyUSA.com p/b Seigler Sports 110
3 Mike Gallagher - Team Bobs-Bicycles.com 100
4 Rob Campbell - Team Bobs-Bicycles.com 75
5 Brian Griffith - Excel Sports 75
6 Ian Tubbs - Hagens-Berman 60
7 Lang Reynolds - AxleyUSA.com p/b Seigler Sports 50
8 Michael Gaertiner - Vertical Earth 45
9 Jake McArthur - Arlberg Sports 45
10 Derek Archbald - - Team Bobs-Bicycles.com 40
11 Nikos Mills - Garage Racing 40
12 Justin Hofeldt - Vertical Earth 35
13 Gavin Groves - Benaroya Research Institute 35
14 Steve Higgins - Beneroya Research Institute 30
15 Eric Kapfhammer - AxleyUSA.com p/b Seigler Sports25
16 Warren Atkey - Wines of Washington 25
17 Shawn Ongers - AxleyUSA.com p/b Seigler Sports 20
18 Nick Clayville - Hagens Berman 20
19 Mark Knokey - AxleyUSA.com p/b Seigler Sports 19
20 Galen Erickson - Recycled Cycles 19
21 Jason Hobson 18
22 Chris Hill - Recycled Cycles 18
23 Michael Pruitt - AxleyUSA.com p/b Seigler Sports 17
24 John Lackey - Team Zoka 17
25 Paul Nelson - Hagens Berman 16
26 Jason Williams - Team Zoka 16
27 Walt Nestall - Old Town Bicycles 15
28 Tom Peterson - Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 15
29 Ted Chauvin - Hagens-Berman 14
30 Patrick Stanko - Hagens Berman 14
31 John O'Donnell - Recycled Cycles 13
32 Patrick Zahn - Recycled Cycles 12
33 Chad Brothers - Wines of Washington 11
34 Bob Dewing - First Rate Mortgage 10


Elite Women
Place Rider (Team) Total
1 Kari Bolton (Avanti / TiCycles) 118
2 Amy Schmid (Wines of Washington) 100
3 Allison Beall (Avanti / TiCycles) 75
4 Dana Robertson Halter(Team Group Health)75
5 Lee Smith (Group Health) 60
6 Carrie Eller (Avanti / TiCycles) 60
7 Tricia Bailey (Wines of Washington) 50
8 Jadine Riley (Team Group Health) 45
9 Suzie Weldon (Wines of Washington) 40
10 Lisa Dunnwald (Team Group Health) 35
11 Gina Kavesh (Wines of Washington) 30
12 Skye Brothers (Wines of Washington) 25
13 Victoria Reinholz (Avanti / TiCycles) 20
14 Liz Nettles (Avanti / TiCycles) 19

Masters Men
Place Rider (Team) Total
1 Todd Gallaher (AVA / Counterbalance) 175
2 Jeff Middlewood (AVA / Counterbalance) 100
3 Martin Criminale (ByrneInvent) 75
4 Craig Graecyacny (AxleyUSA.com p/b Seigler Sports) 60
5 Tom Hackleman (Old Town Bicycles) 60
6 Damon Pettinger (California Giant) 50
7 Robert Wade (Excel Cycling Team) 50
8 Steve Matson (Old Town Bicycles) 45
9 Jeff Scott 40
10 David Katz 35
11 Ryan Morgan (Team Zoka) 30
12 Mark Papineau (Bike Café) 25
13 Brook Brainerd 20
14 Di Bryan (Wines of Washington) 19
15 Bill Bogue (ByrneInvent) 18
16 Jim Trout (Team Zoka) 17

Elite Men Team
Place Team (based on top 5 riders in each round) Total
1 Axley USA p/b Seigler Sports 224
2 Team Bobs-Bicycles.com 215
3 Wines Of Washington 166
4 Hagens Berman LLC 124
5 Vetical Earth 80
6 Excell Cycling Team 75
7 Benaroya Research Institute 65
8 Recycled Cycles 62
9 Alberg Sports 60
10 The Garage 40
11 Zoka 33
12 Old Town Bicycles 15
13 First Rate Mortgage Cycling Team 10

Team PR: TEAM CLIF BAR MIDWEST CYCLING PROGRAM

*TEAM CLIF BAR MIDWEST RENEWS CLIMATE-NEUTRAL INITIATIVES*

*Squad's environmental focus earns mention in Sports Illustrated*


*Chicago**, Ill. – *Team Clif Bar Midwest, a second-year cycling program
based in Chicago, Ill., is proud to announce the renewal of its
climate-neutral initiatives for the 2007 season. Carrying over a successful
endeavor from its inaugural season, Team Clif Bar Midwest will join title
sponsor Cilf Bar & Co. in supporting Native Energy, a privately-held Native
American company focused on the production of renewable, sustainable energy
through wind farms. Team Clif Bar Midwest is also sponsored by Whole Foods
Market, which is recognized as one of the nation's most dedicated proponents
of wind energy.



All of the miles driven or flown by members of Team Clif Bar Midwest for
cycling-related activities will be tracked over the course of the 2007
season. At the conclusion of the racing calendar, for every 300 miles
recorded, the program will purchase a two-dollar 'Cool Tag' that
benefits Native
Energy's *Wind*Builders program. The
*Wind*Builders
endeavor assists Native American communities in constructing and maintaining
wind farms that deliver energy without releasing carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere. Each Cool Tag represents a savings of 300-pounds of carbon
dioxide emissions, the approximate amount generated by traveling 300 miles
in the average car. Additionally, Clif Bar & Co. – in an effort to "Start
Global Cooling" - will match all of the Cool Tags purchased by Team Clif Bar
Midwest, effectively doubling the effort's positive impact. Earlier this
year, Clif Bar & Co. partnered with Native Energy for California's Sea Otter
Classic, reducing the environmental impact of one of the nation's largest
cycling events.



"I think the success that Team Clif Bar Midwest had with its Climate-Neutral
campaign during its very first year of existence shows that, with a little
effort, even a small group of individuals can band together and spread a
positive message," said Clif Bar & Co. Midwest Field Marketing Manager Joel
Feinberg. "The Cool Tag purchases the team made were a key component of the
campaign, but getting the word out was just as critical. The real impact
will come when other programs from the area pick up on how easy it is to
take part in something like this."



Following the 2006 season, Team Clif Bar Midwest offset approximately 66,000
miles worth of carbon dioxide. The team's efforts to have a minimal
environmental footprint were recently mentioned in an article titled "Going,
Going, Green" by Alexander Wolff, which appeared in the March 8, 2007
edition of *Sports Illustrated* magazine. In addition to the Cool Tag
program, Team Clif Bar Midwest will again ally with Chicago's Friends of the
Parks to help clean up local parks and playing fields in urban Chicago this
year. New for 2007, the team will travel to many of its events in a new
bio-diesel-powered Dodge truck, purchased by Clif Bar & Co. to support the
company's regional marketing operations.



To learn more about Clif Bar & Co., its products and the campaign to "Start
Global Cooling," visit www.clifbar.com. Additional facts about Native Energy
and its mission can be obtained at www.nativeenergy.com. For more
information regarding Team Clif Bar Midwest, visit
www.teamclifbarmidwest.com.
* *
**
*Link to Sports Illustrated article:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/03/06/eco0312/index.html*

Moves of the Week

PDog's Top 10 Weak Moves of the week
10. Dropping your water bottle in the field
9. Refusing to help your team chase because the break "is gone". On lap 1. With a 30 second lead.
8. Following the local pro around the flattest course in the northwest.
7. Attacking in the neutral zone. Now that's weak.
6. Making PruDog take the ferry to Bremerton to pic up frames. That's right Holmes! I am talking to you.
5. Not relegating the whole field and declaring PDog the winnner at Sequim.
4. Attacking the yellow jersey after one of your teammates crashes him out. After the neutral finish of 6laps to go.
3. Letting The Overrated Sissy win Sequim after he spent 3 laps in the break.
2. Not washing your helmet.
1. Reading my blog.

Mrs PDog Feels Sick

Mrs. PDog is sick. That means P-Pup and P-Puppy 2.0 have no one to protect them from my childish behavior.

Way to go

Personal to UC Davis. Way to show a complete lack of sportsmanship or class. You lost. Deal with it. The neutral with 6 to go rule was in the race bible and announced before the crit. To cause a crash sweeping the corner and then punch it to drop the race leader is a pretty tasteless act to begin with. To then protest a rule that you didn't see fit to question before a race isn't the way a self respecting program conducts itself.

You must be proud. And frankly, if I sponsored your team I would pull it after that crap. And if any of you road for me, I would show you the door.

Classless.

Sequim?

Oh boy. It's gonna hurt my feeble legs.

Before you all blog it

Yes I attacked on the neutral roll out. And yes, I dropped my waterbottle in the middle of the field. I am a tool.

The World is really going to hell

When Seigler Sports gets it's own MySpace page. Joe? WTF?

Stupid Cyclist: Local Strong Man or Overated

While I was in Minneapolis freezes my ass off, all hell broke loose on Strangelovins' blog. Now I am all for a good dust up. But frankly it pisses me off that after all my efforts to get a flame war going earlier, one anonymous blogger was able to drive up a slacker sight like the Stupid Cyclist's blog traffic. And now Stranglelegs is taking full advantage by fanning the flames.

In a transparent effort to capture what could be the hot subject of Spring, I now will try to capture that flame war for my own aggrandizement. By asking:

Stangeland: Local Strong Man or Overrated Sissy?
In the Strongman category we have Stangleland's meteoric rise from Cat 5 to cat 1 in 3 days. His fiesty ride at Walla Walla despite being outnumbered by Broadmark (now HB) by 10 to 1 (I counted Darth Tubbs 4 times). His tendency to break my eyewear. His singlehand destruction of the #1 ranked cyclist in the 98105 zip code last year at the first PR.

On the otherhand we have an anonymous comment.

I know which one I am voting for.

Flame on!

No I in Team

The best parts of Boot's win?

I found out from Emde-nator who didn't even race cause he was so excited when he found out he had to call.

And Lang's race report?

a big thanks to Shawn (do we have a nickname for him yet?) Ongers, who covered a bunch of moves there at the end and without whom I definitely would not have been in a position to win.

How about the Train.. cause he's a first class ticket to the front.

Team Baby!

Boots!

Yes, Minneapolis is cold. But Mr. Boots is colder. The Cottage of Wattage wins Mason.

Hell freezes over!

Stangleratifinator updates blog! New at 11!

Frickin' Cold / Weekend Blog Roundup

I head out for Minneapolis in about 12 hours. Since I may be to busy to post, I offer you my Oracle Posting service. This is were I post today the post I otherwise would do tomorrow.

Tomorrow's Post: It's frickin' cold. What was I thinking????? OMG it's cold.

There. Done.

Now on to the blogs. Here is were I summarize the NWCyclingBlog (tm) scene so you don't have to miss any training to be up on the latest.

Strangelands Blog of Antiquity... oh for chriminies sake do I even have to write "it's ballard.." anymore? Isn't it funny just to say Stanglenator's Blog now?
Stoked: Whereas Pruitt travels to far away places to be cold, I race a tandem in local places that are cold. Or perhaps that temperature was just Mick's jealousy of Big Boooty's New Do.
MagicLad: The whole time I was in the break, I just imagined you were driving the lead caar PDog and the anger made me strong. Plus
my coach rocks.
Sideshow's Marcrofticles: Super serially guys. I am not JZA. Serially. Please put down the tire iron. I have a child.
MurderingMurdin: It's cold.
OAD: That's right. I only do 1 post. I change up the words, but it's the same post. I AM OLD. Really really old. I raced in 1977. See how old I am.
Haringtonbone: The doctor says I am fat, but I can't figure out why.
2xC: As a cycling related blog, my hits have been to low. I am changing the target demographic to a group I feel will be more supportive. My dogs.
The Stache: I am coming at you just like the Buckeyes came at Ohio State.
CoachCurly: Fix my damn link you jackass PDog and by the way your bike's name is Mr. Pants.

Ranting on my mind

As I am wont, I have a rant. I've sat on it for 2 or 3 days to see if I would change my mind after a bit. But I am still a tad irked. I share it with you because it is a sponsor side irk that I believe you can learn from.

Axley Sport Optics works very very hard to support events. A recent event, not located here, asked if we would donate product. We had wanted to bring a booth but were unable to but thought that it would be good to support the event nevertheless.

Until I got a call the otherday from one of the events volunteers. Who had recieved *all* 5 vouchers we sent as prizes.

1st off, I don't know what anyone is going to do with 5 pairs of the same model of Cat eyewear. So in terms of rewarding the volunteer it seems a waste. And second, where's the goodwill I am supposed to collect from that? I mean part of the point is that people know you support athletics. If the promoter gives all the vouchers to 1 person after the event, how does anyone learn about Axley Sport Optics?

As Axley has grown I have noticed that people pay lip service to sponsorship a lot, but don't seem to understand what they need to do to build a healthy relationship. I am going to give both Joe B. and Gina a lot of credit for really really being able to articulate sponsorship from a sponsors point of view.

At the end of the day, your sponsor needs to make money and teams/individuals/etc need to be able to articulate and then act in ways that will drive up sales. There are many ways to achieve that.

But giving away all my promotional investment to one person so no one else knows about it is not the way. Essentially I invested $500 in retail value to ensure I have 1 guys who probably won't need another pair of eyewear for 5 years.

Not taking the bait

I am afraid we are in for a long season of serious and respectful racing. Not only did no one take the bait on Cherry Pie, most everyone informed me in solemn tones why they thought the tactics were ok.

Damnit. What has our community come to when we actually, you know, respect/talk to/appreciate each other.

Well then, can we at least mock the weather? Snow? Serially?