You’re perhaps thinking that I have a somewhat kinky blog title, huh? Well get your mind out of the gutter! I’m obviously talking about pizza here. Sheesh.

I checked in this morning with my behind-the-scenes-access to Missingsaddle which allows me to write blogs, moderate comments, and basically organize this site. (Tech-mology!) There’s this cool feature that somehow tracks what else is happening out there on the blogging information superhighway related to “Ted King” …the cyclist that is, not the soap opera actor by the same distinguished name. The first one I checked was www.exit17.net. He’s an east coast UNH buddy of mine with a laugh out loud hilarious blog. Dry humor. If you don’t get it, well then you just don’t get it.

The next one I checked was titled The Central Scrutinizer. I’m pretty amped that there are people interested in my life to such a degree that they blog about me… especially since my life is consumed by three very rudamentary things: eat, internet, ride. Alas, I’m flattered and found this blog quite entertaining. It recaps my experience of finding my cell phone in my pocket during stage 3 of California. You may notice, however, that calling Dominoes just won’t do, when there’s HOT AND READY LITTLE CEASARS pizza readily available throughout California…

(And to answer the Scrutinizer’s question about the mirrored pictures, when I close my flip phone, the camera feature still works, but you’re taking the pictures upsidedown and backwards from the standard camera feature. Then the camera has the sense to put the upside up, but doesn’t know to mirror it back to normal. Hense backwards pictures.) 

Sooo a Tour of California recap? It rained a lot. Oh, and it was pretty hard. And for those of you who wonder why I’m listed as DNS, I actually DNF’d. And as lame as it is to blame it on mechanical problems, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I had some very untimely flat tires towards the top of the final stage’s 40 mile climb. In fact two flats within about three miles. I chased once, caught on, hit a massive pothole so that it was a near miracle I even stayed upright, but flatted again. I chased a second time in vain, so please understand that I’m not one to quit a 700 mile tour with less than 50 miles to go without (semi valid) excuse. And don’t blame BenO for the flats, because they were both on account of some pretty horrendous Californian roads that haven’t been paved since the advent of asphalt sometime around 1921.

Good day.

11 comments in the previous post.  A new record. Bam.

I generally try to avoid writing about racing and instead focus on tidbits of life off the bike. However, on stage 3 of Tour of California this year, I had a funny experience that’s worthy of the blog: After about 4 hours of racing, I reached into my right rear pocket for a delicious 1st Endurance bar and instead yanked out my cell phone! I’d eaten a couple of bars already, but apparently hadn’t yet felt my cellular unit and was totally surprised with this discovery. I admit felt like some thing of an idiot since I rarely ride with my phone and definitely don’t purposely race with it, but also decided that I’d be a fool to not take advantage of this situation. Much to Nick Reistad’s dismay, I didn’t go as far as make a phone call (although that would have been pretty awesome), but I did take some discrete camera phone pics.

The groupetto climbing Sierra. Mind you, half of this group is ProTour, so we’re still pretty darn elite:

Garrett planning his last minute groupetto attack to overtake Pipp, who was talking smack earlier in the stage:

Self portrait. Beautiful:

So the lesson learned here today is this: if you’re lucky enough to find a cell phone in your pocket, be extra cool and call me. (Caution: USCF/UCI rules for in race communication are probably strictly applicable to radios. You might get booted from the race for making a phone call.)

I never know what she’s doing back there?

I’m looking for a new cellular unit and the EyeFone is looking pretty sweet. If anyone knows where I can score one in the sub-ten-dollar price range and correspondingly monthly service fees not exceeding two quarters, please let me know.

MOM, THE MEETLOAF!

This time of year, riders often experience aches and pains because of relatively minute changes in one’s bicycle fit. Cyclists in general are typically very particular in how their bike fits them, so that even the most microscopic change in saddle height or pedal position will throw their entire position competely into cahoots. You could call it the Princess and the Pea Syndrome. As I was saying, this time of year is particularly tough because we’re hopping on new bikes with new saddles, new shoes, new pedals, and so forth. These knee, ankle, hip, and back pains can also segue into other problems, such as the much dreaded saddle sores. When those get bad, as a rider, it seems that there’s really nothing worse. There are the obvious physical problems, but it’s also a mental battle wondering when you’ll be healed. In a word: ow.

I believe, however, that I’ve found a cure for the uncomfortable saddle issue in my day to day interactions around our house! I’m often found in the same position for as much as an hour or two, once or sometimes twice a day. Sleek ergonomics and a supple yet stiff material make this particular seat a must try for every cyclist. Notice the waviness and angles accentuated by the shadowing. This is more than your average “saddle.”

I present to you the SuperPooperComfort-2000.