Gangs in Salt Lake?

"Salt Lake City police reportedly made an arrest in the home burglary of Garmin-Slipstream cyclist David Zabriskie on Thursday, but have only recovered one car of the numerous items taken. According to the Deseret News, the rider's Toyota Scion was recovered by a Salt Lake City gang unit while it was staking out the home of a fugitive in South Salt Lake. " (from Cycling News")

As God is my witness, I thought that only Osmonds lived in Salt Lake...

I hope that now that the leads are there that DZ gets his stuff back, especially his Marvel statues. A man has to have his stuff, you know.

I worry about my bike stuff all the time. But, I really do have the best security system... no, not the ADT, and no not the 12 gauge... its Dallas, my very sweet, very big, doberman. Yeah, come on into my house... Dallas looooves strangers. While Dallas has you pinned, little Petey-wheetie will rip out your ankles.

Things you don't want to see...

I work in the top floor of a building on the top of a hill. Prime buzzard territory. The buzzards use our building as a launch pad to soar. All in all, I think its pretty cool. Watching them as they glide, and change direction by twisting a feather... I have pure envy.

Except it's spring. And little baby buzzards come from somewhere. Buzzards inflagrante delecto on my window sill is just not one of those things that does it for me.

Really, get a room. Somewhere else. Please.

It could be worse. A friend of mine had the pleasure of working in the Old USFG building in B'more when the peregrines were such a big hit. He loved them. Except that they tended to choose to eat their lunch outside his window. Usually at the same time that he was eating his lunch. Fresh pigeon entrails anyone?

One week, no one died

It's been a whole week since I've run, ridden, or walked for more than a few hundred yards. I finally decided that if I didn't let my calf tear heal, I was going to be in for a long, and very frustrating season. So instead of that, I've been subjected to a very long and frustrating week.

So far... no one has died.

It's been a very close call though.

I have a new co-worker who insists on listening to all my negotiations from over the fence. Before I hang up the phone, he is prairie dogging it, wanting to know all the details. We may just have to play a game of whack a mole if this keeps up.

Its really funny how your body gets used to a certain level of serotonin from exercise. Quit cold turkey and its like your local crack head decides to mind meld with you. My body is screaming for a fix. Those nasty little lbs that have decided to join the crack head in my body haven't exactly been welcome guests, either.

Tonight I have my tt bike in the Queen Cab, and I'm going to throw it on a trainer and spin easy as the rest of the team does a maniac drill on the computrainers at Endorphin. I'm hoping that I can trick my body into thinking it has done something.

And maybe I'll get thru the rest of the week without getting arrested.

Saddle Review- Terry Butterfly

The saddle that works for you, probably wont work for me and vice versa. I've given away more saddles than I have shoes, and I have a lot of shoes. My saddle for the road bikes, the Terry Butterfly. Like 99% of women I know, its the one saddle that women can actually sit on their seat bones on, and that isn't so wide that it chafes. After about a year the saddle "stuff" gets too soft and I get a new one and give the old one to a new rider to start on.

I've had Fizik saddles, Bontrager saddles, the Felt saddle on my track bike is a torture device. Strangely enough, the only other saddle that I've tolerated for any length of time was the cheap Fuji saddle that was on my cross bike. Why that one was ok, I don't know as it was hard as a brick.

I went thru a whole mess of saddles to find one for the tt bike. Getting off the bike after a particularly hard tt and be bleeding... not too nice. Believe it or not, the best tt saddle for me was the cheapest one... the Performance Bike Forte TT one. I think I got it on sale for about 30 bucks.

Unfortunately, unless I saw about 5 cm off the front of the saddle, my bike is not UCI legal and I wont be able to ride it at Masters Nats unless I get an exemption. So I bought one of the Adamo saddles, and got a zip tie to cinch in the rails in the front to make it narrower. Its been sitting by my computer all winter begging to be put on the bike. And I keep looking at it wondering how bad its going to hurt me until I get used to it. I've heard the first few weeks are right rough.

Swannee got one though. I guess riding on the Adamo is much better than riding on his old tt saddle's rails!

Juice Plus is gone

http://www.velonews.com/article/88172/juice-plus-folds-in-the-11th-hour

All the women down here in Virginia were thrilled when little Rachel Warner got signed by Juice Plus. Here was a local girl, who worked her tail off, making good in a big way.

Then Tony Billota was so thrilled when the team signed Laura Van Gilder, and it looked like the team was poised to really do things in a big way. He was telling me how the Van Dessel team was going to put on a big women's race in Waynesboro, that would feature his girls.

Its a shame that when the economy tanks, so do women's teams. It takes so much effort to get a good women's team going, and so little to put them in the toliet.

I sure hope that all the girls, especially Rachel, land rubber side down.

Cure for what ails ya

Lets face it, saddle sores suck. J says that I have a Princess Butt, and I have to admit that she is right.

When I do my new women's rides, I always start off with the hygiene lecture. And everyone is always grossed out. Hey, hygiene is very important when you are talking about hot, sweaty, dark areas.

Rule 1: As soon as possible, take off those nasty shorts.
Rule 2: Never wear shorts two days in a row without washing them.
Rule 3: on short rides you probably don't need chamois butter
Rule 4: On long rides, and tt's you do. On really long rides you may need to add more later in the ride.
Rule 5: some chamois creams come off the shorts in the wash easier than others. Vaseline has a bad habit of not coming out...
Rule 6: deforestation is a good thing... (no, I'm not explaining it here, you know what I'm talking about!

I used to make my own chamois cream. Hey, the stuff is expensive. Usually we're talking about a tub of Vaseline, and some antibiotic ointment. The Vaseline has the added benefit of polishing your saddle for you. But see Rule 5 about stuff not washing out...

So I have a few favorites;

Moo Cream: What I really like about this stuff is that it was given away for FREE by the caseload at tt's a few years ago. i still have some of the individual packets which conveniently store in a back pocket for on the road usage. Its cool, not too thick, washes well, and does a decent job for a fairly long time.

Badger Balm: Comes in a little tin and is kind of pricey, but when you already have a sore, it does wonders healing them up.

Bag Balm: Almost as good as Badger Balm, but it comes in a bigger tin, and costs alot less.

Butt Butt'r: Ah, relief! I generally use this before I have issues and switch to the Balms when I have issues. Its good, it lasts a pretty long time, and it doesn't have that unpleasant tingling you can get with some creams.

If you get a boil... you have to take care of it. Hot washcloths, and sometimes a drawing cream will do. If you keep getting them in the same place like I do, you probably have a fit or structural issue. I have a structural issue, and there isn't much I can do about it. But having to have to get a scarred up saddle sore cut out is not fun. Trust me on this. Prevention is a much nicer option.

See I was able to say all that without having to resort to pictures. The girls on my rides will be shocked!

Hello from India

I used a JC Penny credit card a month or so ago, the first time I've ever used it. Got the bill and sent off a check. Then I got another statement with a 20.00 late fee attached. I mailed the check in plenty of time to get there, so needless to say, I was a bit miffed and decided to call.

Where did my call go? Why, India, of course!

Sorry. Please direct me back to the US. Not that I have anything against India, or people in India, but I live in the US, and I want US companies to keep jobs here. So I figure the more people who demand to be transfer ed back to the US, the more those companies who shipped the jobs off to save money will have to staff offices here, which at some point in time will negate any savings in shipping our jobs overseas.

Yeah, it probably wont work, but I'm a fan of tilting at windmills.

And kudos for JC Penny for taking the charge off. It never hurts to ask, especially when you are sure that you are right.