Yikes!

Donn/Challenge got back to me about their “file tread” tyre availability:

“The Grifo XS (file tread) will be arriving mid to late July. This tread design will be available in the following configurations:

* Grifo 32 XS Tubular Black/Brown (black tread/brown sidewall)
* Grifo 34 XS Tubular Black/Brown
* Grifo 32 XS Tubular White/Black
* Grifo 32 XS Open Black/Brown
* Grifo 32 XS Open White/Black”

The open tread is the clincher version!

I’ll have them in stock when they are available!

White file tread clinchers!

–

I’ve also got a small handful of Dura Ace 46 tooth cyclocross chainrings available!

$120 each shipped in the conti USA!

So dope! And rare!

The dolphin, the goat and the moose. And the gerbil…

All of that. For what?

Glicker.

Cara.

Kenji.

You become your power animal.

—

On cyclocross tyres:

After some wrangling I am still technically a Dugast dealer.

Thanks to those who deserve thanks and… I’ve got a boatload of Dugast Rhino’s in stock!

More coming too.

Donn from Challenge writes:

“Hi Molly!

We should be able to release the new “mud” tire, Fango, tread design soon. We will have the tire ready to go for the start of the season.

I have Grifo Open (clinchers) in stock.”

…Fango eh?

Yes.

We packed the S H I T out of the rental.

4 bikes + 3 huge over packed luggage bags + 12 wheels + tons of CLIF product + double bike box + tired bike racers.

H O T T.

I’m back at the host house with my legs up.

The stage was 75 miles, with 1 x 15 minute climb and a bunch of rollers on the way in to the finish.

I was hoping to have more info about other riders but I got myself dropped from the peloton halfway through the race so…

The Gentle lovers were out in force. Hagens-Broadmark were riding pretty solid though, they were dragging their feet sitting on the front riding “tempo” up the start of the climb. No one understood that tactic. Bob’s cycling was riding really strong, there were a couple of Symmetrics guys bitching about how un-pro the racing was. I saw a Veloce rider nursing a shoulder on the side of the road as I chased the peloton on the run in to the finish.

We blew through the first feed zone around mile 25 and I looked down and my heart was pounding really hard! “uh-oh” I said to myself. I’ve been fighting a cold all week and I don’t know if it is that combined with a little bit of altitude and allergies and the heat but, my HR was really high the whole race and I had a hard time breathing.

I’m not even really that sore, just sorta out of breath. I gots a thousand excuses.

Well, shit. I wish I had more to write about. I saw Kenji and Even Plews in the pack.

My teammate Glick finished in the lead group. I think I was about 4-5 minutes behind him.

It is late and we are going to try and figure out our time trial start times based on the results from today.

I got roped into racing a stage race in support of this guy.

Racing on the Organic Athlete squad. There is a bunch of us here crashing in a couple of host houses. Using the wifi and eating veggies.

This is our morning. Coffee (stumptown, yes), oatmeal, bananas, coffee, jus d’orange.

Internet.

About the internet: we are googling all of our rivals and rival teams, looking up stats and race results.

The fabulous Cara Gillis and I packed the hell out of our full leather interior Mazda, put it into robo cruise control and hit the road mid day on Thursday.

Pete’s birthday was on Tuesday and the Cardinal’s hosted a bbq in her honor. It was super sweet. Elizabeth Cardinal baked her a layed cake and a bunch of super sweet pals showed up. We had an all vegan grill session which was pretty sweet. I NEED to stop eating those damn kielbasa. They destroy my gut. For days afterwards.

I’m going to keep a day to day update going on the site, if you want some info about a particular ride (Organic or not) let me know and I’ll try to get some info up here. The batteries on the camera are dying and my cellphone takes worthless photos.

PS: Cara has a race blog here.

SHOUT OUTS:

EDGE composites for setting me up with a last minute pair of “pre-release” clincher rims. (looks like EDGE has a fancy new website too. Check it out.)

Deep. Carbon. Clinchers. holy crap. I got them built up a couple hours before we packed up the car so, we will see how my quick build holds up. Suffice it to say, the rims are flawless, light, and aero. Per my coach’s recommendation, I am going to go for it it in the TT. We will see if I can do a sub 22 minute tt.

Alchemy bicycle works for getting me the fancy Sapim spokes just in time to lace up the Edge wheels!

Thank you EDGE, thank you Alchemy.

The sensations, they are good and the equipment, she is beautiful.

I raced a local crit last Saturday evening.

Finally felt decent enough on the bike to participate a little more than just sitting it! Not that I did a whole lot more than follow wheels. I misjudged the length of the sprint and finished 9th in the field sprint behind the winning break away. I basically gave the top fifteen a killer lead out.

My flatmate Steven raced in the “fast” race and I’m pretty proud of him. He hung in there and finished right up with the group. We shelled a lot of riders in the first bunch of laps and he was no where to be seen. Then with 15 minutes left he rolls right up and is mixing it up!

The coolest thing about racing the crit was riding it in between 2 pretty big workouts and coming out of the weekend tired but, not destroyed.

Photos are here.

“This is what a base progression should look like! Really nice, and still with a week to go.”

Tell Sven (any Sven) to watch out come December.

Lane from Cetma racks was in town with his wife Cara and we wandered around the city eating vegan french toast and far too much coffee. Got to see Portland’s Gay Pride festivities.

Heee-larious!

In a good way. Lots of bass. Boys in underwear. Bears in leather. The bass was rattling the shit out of the windows and the walls of the Stumptown in the ACE hotel as I enjoyed what must have been my 8th espresso of the day.