Tahoe-Sierra 100

Tahoe-Sierra 100 MTB Race

Who wants to do it with me? Or, who wants to let me sleep in their house before and after, and maybe watch me come in and give me water?

Tripod Recommendation

If you're in the market for a tripod, I strongly recommend Bogen-Manfrotto. I bought a lightweight tripod from them about 4 years ago and carried it all through Europe. It works wonderful.

The real reason I recommend them, though, is that a small part on it broke last week. I contacted Bogen-Manfrotto, and despite the model being 4 years old, they still carry all replacement parts. They sent me a schematic, had me contact their parts department, and I ordered exactly the part I need. $7 later and I'll have a functioning tripod again. I think the ability to repair things is invaluable so I am very glad to see a company supporting their product like that.

Team Photo Shoot

The USC Cycling Team needed a team photo for our webpage and for our sponsors. As it would happen, a staff member at USC is a fan and supporter of our team and her husband is a professional photographer. Thus, a couple weekends ago we got together in our new kits (cyclists call their uniforms "kits" for some reason) and took a team photo. They also took individual photos and gave them to us, which was super nice:

Man, Roadies are so dorky. I also realized I'm an albino, since they made us take our sunglasses off for this picture and even though it was an overcast day, I was squinting like crazy and my eyes were tearing up from the bright light. No one else seemed to have this problem.

My mountain bike is so sexy. Hard to believe that was once Carie's dad's mountain bike; only thing left from those days (literally!) is the frame.

I won't be wearing that kit again until next MTBing season, since I don't want to wear it except for races. It's pretty much superstition, but that's the way it is. Speaking of which, the season opener is usually the course at UNR, so how about another visit up to you, Jeannie?

Do I Really Look That Young?

A cop just came to the door, asking if I had the phone number for the neighbors across the street. I didn't, so they asked me if I knew if their parents were home, which I also didn't know. They then asked me, "Are your parents home?"

I kind of spat out that I'm 25, and we exchanged odd stares and a moment of awkward silence. They then thanked me for my time and went back across the street.

Are my parents home?!? What the hell am I supposed to say to that?!?

I just keep telling myself that someday I'll be happy that I look 10 years younger than I actually am...but that doesn't make it any less embarrassing right now.

Epic Bike Ride

Carie and I rode up Mt. Wilson (5700ft) on Saturday and are still sore from it. It's 18 miles one way and 5,000ft of climbing. It's a burly road ride even when one is training a lot, which neither of us are. It's also very scenic, and at this time of the year, really cold at the top. The descent is a nice long downgrade with well-banked turns that you can ride without touching your brakes (provided you're willing to go 40mph). Sadly, we have no pictures since we don't have a camera small enough to take with us on bike rides. I'm thinking of getting one of those really cheap small cameras that I can just throw in my pocket for such a purpose. We'll have to ride it again and get pictures.