"Why you smilin'?"

These past few days have been packed full of on the bike time. and it's been Good! Finished off the weekend with a bit of a change from the schedualed long ride with Wells Ave in the middle to its eqivelent around the towns. It was a late night and the opertunity to loose some more sleep and have a chance at a free pair of socks just wasnt apealing enough to get my but out of bed. Did a town loop insted, and, as has been the case latly, found a few new rodes worth throwing into the mix evry once in a while. Felt ok monday, and had just a quick easy spin to refresh the system. the majority of the day however, was spend on the golf course. ( my back yard ) i was out hitting balls ( pebbled, in a ziplock bag, wraped once in tin foil. then again in two layers of paper towel. then again in tin foil. the finished with a double layer of duck tape ) practicly all morning. then once i desinged the course and desegnated the hole ( manhole cover ) the games where on. i changed up the direction and starting spot evry now and then. the highlight was an eagle on a par 5 ( with a tow putt ) all wile playing lefty, hitting with the backside of my driver. ( gave the "ball" aditional loft ). im going to keep practicing over the next few days, maybe enter a few ternements or two ( whick i would have to create and run and attend. alone ) Tuesday was one of the best ride/s in a while. had a hard 2.5 on the mtb in the am that went very well. started off a bit sluggish from the earlyer than normal start time, but soon found my legs once i started hitting some of the more technical sections. got to ride with a few guys here and there, but overall, no one seemed willing to a) keep at that pace, b) run up sections of skyline, or c) were ofended by my constant smiling/laughfing. how do you expect me to do something so fun and not waer one ear to ear? ...Later that night, it was off to the Tues. night world championships. i felt really strong on the way there, but afried to jynix myself, talked myself out of it. " youve got a tail wind, thats all " The groupetto was massive! 50 guys at the start. this weather is bringing out all the pretenders who havn't been out since that " training camp" they did over the kids april school vacation. this were fast right from the start, and i was right there, top 10 wheels the whole time, all while avoiding taking more than a few short pulls. I was pumped to be able to ride seated, and still cover all the attacks on the first few hills. ive really put alot of focus this year on working on my pedal stroke and remaining seated as much as posible. once the bigger climbs started comming, and i did infact get out of the saddle, it was on ( yes. like donky kong ) me and another guy got away on the longest, but he wasnt willing to pull, and there was a group of about 20 only about a minute back, so we sat up and regpied the action. next was a moderate leagth decent folowed by a quick, steep, punchy climb with a long flat headwind section following.. unhappy with the size of the current group, i through down the attack up this climb and went away alone. i spent the next few k's crusing along by my self, hoping that eventualy a smaller group would bridge up. it never happened so once again, i drifted back to the pack. the move had shelled another couple guys so we were down to atleast 20 at this point. the rest of the way was just attck and cover. we came home with about 15 or so and took the sprint with a suprize move from 800m out. all in all, some good days. now its off to the BH for tonights hillpeats'. i just wish my knee would stop poping... later gater

Hot

This, is the sun. This, is me mountain biking. This, is what i did today. It was Hot today. i rode in a sleevless base layer and was still dieing. if i was that hot in the woods, under the canopy, and in-n-out of puddles, i feel bad for those poor suckers who were out on the tarmack this afternoon. The trails were in great condition after yesterdays little rain parade. I rode some new stuff and did some running work. the running isn't great ( with the bike on your back ) but its a breat opertunity to get up to the top of your favorite, otherwise unridable, hill. leaving just the sweet breeze of the desent. This new, 100% crandbury juice we got, SUCKS! its like drinking acid, since theres no sugar added to sweeten it up. its basicly fire water. im pretty sure if i checked, the ingredients would say, 99% liquid magma. This is exactly what i would imagine making out with a dragon would be like. I took advantage of the late sunset and clear night to stand on top of the world tonight. i climbed my favorite chillin-out-maxin-relaxin-all-cool tree. i biult a nice seat up there this past winter and i was suprised it was still intact. its a perfect 100+ footer right on the top of a hill, so the views are spectacular. the trudge to the top is made easy by its plethera of hand holdable climbing limbs. the clearing at the top faces due west, and lights up with the setting of the sun. bet of all is the birds eye vies of the courtyard. you can clearly see the goings-on back at home and were ben and goldie are at all times, even make contact with the ocation human as they pass thru the front door, unsuprisingly suprised to hear the voice coming from the sky. My two fashon tips of the day: 1st-If you really love your suroundings, and think nature is just beautiful, climb a pine tree in late may. the tree sap is garenteed to make sure you dont leave any thing from outside, outside. and unlike other fashons and make ups, this wont just wash away after a shower or two. youre blessed with natury, pine sapy godlyness for up to weeks at a time. 2nd- for the ultimate energy gel advertising cover shot, simply store all your empy, still somewhat gel-y gel rappers under the elastic of your bike shorts. then, come shower time, froget there in there, and spend several seconds wondering what that unusualy rough and plasticy groath is on the back of your leg. Good luck to those of you at the Iron horse and root 66 tomorow! While youre spending your evning scrubbing mud off your legs with a strip of sandpaper, i wont be. thats whats makes racing at wells ave worth it. later gator.

Flippin' Sweet!

Juan Manuel Garate, stage 19, 1st! thats my man. at least spanish cycling news will have something positve to report! ( no pun intended* )

tanning

i couldn't help but think of Judy... I got in a good 10 hours of tanning today. With breakfast in the yard, then play time with ben and goldie, then some work on the golf swing, then the 5 hour road/dirt combo, the tan lines got plenty of work today. rather than suffer through the dullnes of a 5 hour road ride, i suffered throug 3 ( made alittle easyer by some new tunes and an adio book ) then met up with the Thursday night MTB ride down in Foxburro. i stopped by Brumbles on the ride down to check in with him. first and formost, his mullet is Incredable. and the ear ring only adds to his apeal. hes been off the bike for a few weeks now and his knee isnt showing any sign of getting better any time soon. bummber budy. The was a great turn out for the ride. thanks in part to the rare aperence of the sun. new kits still havnt shown up in the mail. team cloathing is such a pain in ass. ive been having fun with all my retro jerseys since i dont have any short sleaved IF stuff. i even pulled out the 1992 Pan Mass Challange jersey for the Wednesday night masters worlds last week, and my old Escape Adventures top tonight. I'll be so happy when that SS skinsuit shows up in the next few days. i might just wear it around all day. last night i leared about 10 new ways to make fire in the wilderness. best of all is from a block of ice and a battery. im so redy to get to put the to use soon. as i remember, there was a nice fire pit at the house in PC. easy day up. and thats whats up! yo. chowder.

I'm wondering the streets in a world underneath it all

based on the 2 nights before sleeping importance, you should have a rather conclusive pictur as to how fast i felt on my ride today. ( no judy, not sick nasty fast ). I went over to Cutler on the MTB and did my best to tear the legs off myself. i had some really great AT's, just wasnt able to comfertably hold them as long as usual. welcome to the first ride back after a rest period. The conditions were much better than last week. Dry enough to rip thru without putting a foot out in the corners, yet wet enough that the moto cross course was perfect for a set of scinny bike nobs. i did a bunch of hot laps on that thing and i had a perma-grin for about an hour after. those jumps/whoops are such a blast. Ive been experemanting with some running lower tire pressures now that im on the stans band waggon. its amazing how these maxxis tires lock up in all conditions. I've been doing some reserch on the Adventure racing calandar for this year. something fun to do between the last NORBA and the begining of the cross season. Not an abondence of posibilitys, but some definite look-some-more-in-to-ers. the other optain is to just plan my own challing adventure. afterall, why do i need a number plate and a 200 dollar dent in my wallent to push my body to its limits. maybe desing a little 12 to 24 hour expedition here. some mtb, some trail running, alittle water sports, some climbing and ropes course. who knows? maybe make it official and map the course, time it, and make it a yearly event. plenty of time to think about it. my name is colt and i have a very mature sense of humor.

i wish

Today is the first day back after my mid ( i say mid becase i dont know the word to represent 35% ) season break. A woping 3 days off in a row! it was rough, but it was something that had to be done. now comes perhaps the hardest few weekes of training all season, right up untill the Next NORBA national in North Carolina. in essence, these are my last few weeks to train all summer. once NC comes along its show time. travling and nationals week in and week out. your eather racing or recovering at that point. the only let up will be after the national championships in july before the next race in Brain Head, UT. Just finished up setting most of my plans for the summer. I'll be comin' round the mountain June 26th to Park City. And heading back home for FC on Aug 15th. One perc is that after Sonoma, CA, im going to head down the San Fran for a few days to stay with Laurey. im going to buy a camera. and thats the 300th time of said that, but i am. i promise. if you have an old one your looking to get rid of for mucho chepo, we should talk. Maybe later I'll write a bit about my journey with ernie. the man i sat next to on the bus yesterday who had just been released after 30 years in prizon. talk about some good storys... Also, my child is going to be captain of the Quidditch team. and theres just nothing you can do about that.

Track Meat

Rochester is cold, yo! this being on a lake thing isnt all that hot when the winds a blowin'. Made it down to the Merzbachs rack meet this morning and they both ran quite well. Debbie even PRed in the 15,000. and Judy took second in the 800 and was still going in the high jump when i cut out. Sweet! If only i hadnt had to smell cheep cow being fried in the consetion booth. Aparently theres a lot of stuff involved in getting ready for prom. not for me. im putting aside 15 minutes to get dressed. just incase i put my pants on backwards or something. these folk have been up stairs preping for hours alredy. regular school kids are goofy. if home school had a dance at least id get to wear my hat and boots. why take pictures on the balconey when you can do-si-do, alimand left, and square up with your partner? WC#2 tommrow! I Think JHK could be the top dog with a 10th or better. And Sue and marry in the top 10, if not a podium. i wonder if Nick's seatpost is goig to hold up and if Burry is going to wear road shoes? it's time. Peace

...coming sooner than you think. IFcoltcouldfly is now also at NERDcycling.com/colt

Belltown Classic

The Belltown Classic, root 66 series # thres. it was such a cool race. This race ate me for lunch and dinner last year. i made it about 5 minutes in and rode the rest of the race like a young child. This year was a much diferent day. rather then the 80+ heat, we were welcomed by a perfect 55 degreas and light drizzle ( fo shizzle ) the course was that shinny, slippery kind of mud. the kind that was anoying on the gradual fire road sections, but smile-lishish in the single strack. the stuff that when right, you can actualy corner faster becase you can just slide the rear end around and into the burm. the first steep climb was replaced with a more gradual long one then soon turned ito going the wrong way up a river. i rode 80% of it the first lap and got a bit of a gap on the rest of the group there. ( note: i hadnt run since cross nationals. it hurt. its a good thing im going to get some merzbach time this weekend ) After hitting the single track first, i turnded down the burners a bit. afterall, i hadnt led a race this far in since exactly 2 years ago. ( watershed 04 ). Mr. no-name came up behind me and fell on and off my wheel for the remander of the first lap. i would gep him on the flats but hed come back on the DH's. he pulled a Halliday and attacked me thru the feed zone with 2 to go. i got a little chain suck, back pedled a tad and was causous not to loose my bottle with slipery gloves. the 10 foot gap he got was the closest id ever get for the rest of the race. after puuting 4 minutes on he-who-shall-not-be-named on the first 30 min lap, i rode on his wheel for a while. half becase he picked it up a bit in the single track, and half becase im so used to just folowing his wheels in races, i almost frogot to pass. as soon as i made the go-by, CRACK! same damb seat clamp problem as Sea Otter. so there i was, riding another 15 minutes of single track trying to stand/balance on the tippity top of an SLR and avoid penitration. finaly i got to the bottum of the decent and riped my tool off my top tube, and clamped her back down. then checked it to make sure she was locked. then checked again. by this point, he-who-shall-not-be-named-Tim had came back up on me. wearing the skinsiut, and having just lost the electrical tape the tool was taped on with, i passed the tool off to hasnt-got-his-skin-siut-yet to put in his pocket. i was off and rocking for the remander of lap 2, still sitting second and making up ground. coming back down the final decent before the feed zone, CRACK!. youve got to be kidding me. again i was left with a carbon spike of SLR facing UP. i tryed flipping the bike upside down and piledriving it into the ground nose first to crack it back into place. no luck there and was off, alredy prepared to loos another bunch-o-places due to seat clamp issuses, when i remembered the diference between this race and sea otter. Sea otter, 200 people passed me and not one of them had a tool. yeah. right. then i remembered this ISNT CALIFORNIA! low and behold, first guy by, in my catigory mind you, offers me his tool. bata-bing bata-boom, alittle bit of love and i was back in action. ( with his tool shoved down my shorts for lack of better storage space. not only was he nice enough to let me use it, he was nice enought to pull over, and take it back so i didnt have to carry it home. by this point i had just been passed by muscles mic mulse man and was back to 3rd. muscles attached hard up the stream bed and got a 10 second gap going into the single track. i guess he thought he was making a good move and riding me off his wheel, but i just kind of laughed a little at the vains i could see poping out of his forhead when he looked back evry 10 seconds to see if he had droped me yet. ( not to idiot: when your hurting, and you can here someone on your wheel. dont look back at them. all you r doing is throwing off your line and putting us both into a tree. ) i made the scetchyest pass of the day on the most technical down hill to get rid of him. he was half way over his bars when i brushed by, sitting on my top tube, dragginf my foot in the mud. never saw him again, but crused home like i had Policia on my tail just for good practice. Overall felt really well. maybe some of the best technical skills ive ever put together for race day. Podium presentation was pretty cool. what else would you win at the belltown classic but a Big Honkin Cowbell. this thing is sweet, and so rediculisly loud. i tested it out for cross season this afternoon, seeeing if i could still hear " Alright Todd, Up Up Up Up!!!" over the sound of the bell... It'll do. Next up is a diferent kind of goofy outfit event. this time i'll go where no colt mcelwaine has ever gone before. a formal ocation. thats right, Prom time. Chowder, Colt

Noahs outside. he wants to take goldie on a boat ride?

Canton, MA has been getting an obsean amount of ( make sure your speekers are turned on ) rain as of late. ever since i got back from fontucky its been dumping. i think it seems like more than it really is just becase of the size of the rain drops. these things are gargantuous. I got out on the MTB on Wed. inbetween some of the heavy stuff, and the trails were holding up just fine. im really loving these new Cross Marc tires from Maxxis with the stans. the tire just molds over evrything so much better and gives a reel boost in traction regardless of air pressure. i went back and forth on weather or not to keep them on for the rocky mud fest which will surly great us tomorow in Cunecticut. By the looks of them, you wouldnt think these tires would be the best for the gunky stuff, and at 2.1 there not exactly going to slice seamlesly thru the bogs, but i think there going to suprise me and kick but. seeing as how most of this course is so rocky and rooty, i think the bigger volume and lower tire tire pressure will really help the hard tail flot a little better. plus that center row is made up of many indevidual nobs that together actualy hook up on slipery stuff quite well. The road race today was a no go. the rain caused them to delay it and i wasnt about to sit around waiting for a chance to race in a flud. insted i put the trainer out in the tackroom, and caught up on whats hot on the radio these days. riding that thing is about as exciting as watching a movie about a guy riding his trainer in his tackroom. i've pretty much mastered the art of perfect french toast these past few weeks. this stuff is really excawizit ( go on, sound it out. you'll find it. ) afew of the new and improved steps include emptying the ramainder of the egg on the toast onece its inthe frying pan, and then lightly powdering the top with cinimon and powdered sugar about a minute before its redy to be taken off. whos doing what the week after FC? anyone wanna come backpacking before theve got to go back to school? Captains Practices v.s. Yellowstone? sleep on it, its a comfy thought. ...lets all take a second to look at Jerome and his sergical mask. ( incase anyone needs him to operate right there on the course )

deep ruts in the eastern empire

So yesterday was the big show. we had a desent sized field for a west coast, still kinda school year, race. XC was bright and early at 8 am. which ment early evrything, and not the best sleep/eat pattern. if theres one reason to upgraqde, its to get rid of this 8pm and 8 am racing schedual. The race went pretty well. bike worked great, ( now a firm beleaver in nontubless tires with stans set up ) and the legs felt desent for the most part. took the whole shot and was right on track to taking the single track climb first, but Blake snuck around me right belfore hand. another kind ( i say kid, but am thinking. " he must have been 30" ) came by on the paved section and those 2 were gone all day. i rode in 3rd for most of the first lap untill 2 others joind me from behind. i sat up[ a bit on the first of the 2 climbs on lap 2 and let them get a gap. i caught one of the kids along the long flat section on the back and never saw him again. i closed doen to 10 seconds on third at the top of the last climb on lap 3, but he got away on the DH in some lap trafic and i was never abel to get closer than " right around the corner". there was more important stuff to deal with as one of the Mexican riders had closed the gap down a bit from behind, and i caught a glipse of him a few switchbacks down right before the final DH and flat strech. i took it smooth on the last windy desent and avoided the shap stuff then drilled it on the flats. he must have used evrything he had to close on the first few climbs cause he lost more than 3 min on the last 4 miles. went back, showered, and made it to the course in time to check out the STXC's. Eathan tore the junior field apart only to loose out to chance noble at the end. women were exciting, and Chloe was desending the 1 DH like a mad women. quite impressive. then the mens race was " on like donkykong", a "huricane of pain" i you will. Sager was incredable and would have podiumed had he had a front row start. but 10th is still a great result. Tristan was riding way up front with the big boys for a while ( as JB chased behind ) but the enevitable happened and he blew to shreds. Nick rode like a girl... no, he actualy did pretty well. it was a hard course to not have a front row-ish call up. pictures soon ROOT 66 sunday?

Fontana...

...fontana bobanabana bananafana fo fana tanna... California. Got in in to Fontana wed. evning. Its not to bad a place aside from the smogness in the air. ( not to be confused with smugness ) al the air gunk from LA gets blown inland into the 10,000 ft'ers at our west and just biulds up. its been 3 days and i still avent seen the mountain chain right inforn of us it so thick. the course is pretty exciting. its in this urban park in the middle of theis huge development. mostly single track, super sandy and washed out/rutted out down hills, and steep climbs. the even shoot us down a few rain gutters for good humor. With about 80% of the course being relativly hard packed and rolling youd think yod be fine with a good 2.0 high rolling semi-semi-slick. but the other 20% is just so redonkulously washed out and breaking bumped, its just beggin for a 2.2 low presure widly spaced slow roller. after much deiberation and a sneak peak at Blakes ride, im going with front and back Maxxis Cross Marc 2.1's. and today, downat the Jenson USA head warhouse, i picked up some stans, so im going to run them no-tubes. wish me luck tomorow am with the sealant and the air compressior. this could get interesting. in the end, the 100 grams more than the karmas will sill end up the same or lighter without a tube, and the tires combinded with the bit lower pressure is going to make a huge diference in desending and cornering time. more later. some picks on nick and jason's pages. peace