Minus Ten Review- 30

No pictures from ten years ago- So you get this pic of my Inbred instead!

Ten years ago on this blog there were no pictures posted for the entire week! I have no idea how I attracted readers back then, but I must have, because the thing kept growing here.

Weird.

Anyway, the chit-chat ten years ago was all about the "Nationals" that were to be held up at Nine Mile. That would be the 24hr racing "nationals" and was held up in Wisconsin. That used to be a pretty big shindig but I don't hear anything about it anymore.

Of course, Jeff and Carlos were going up, the two mechanics I worked with at the shop at that time, and they were both sponsored by Cannondale at the time. It was a pretty crazy era at Europa Cycle & Ski then, as the guys would be chattering about training rides, strategies, what worked for nutrition, and gear. One thing that stood out to me looking back is how backward the lighting technology was then compared to now. There are lights these days that are self contained that run longer and are far brighter than the Cat Eye Stadium lights Jeff used to use back then. His lights were bright, for sure, but the battery was a water bottle sized affair, weighed a ton, and ran his lights for maybe a lap or a little longer. That meant he had to have a box of charged water bottle sized batteries just to get through one race. Crazy!

The bikes they rode really, besides wheel size, have not changed nearly as much. Standards changed, yes.....but really. Those things have been done to accommodate incremental changes, different wheel sizes, or are just being done to be different. Lights, on the other hand, are in another universe compared to 2006.

Minus Ten Review- 30

No pictures from ten years ago- So you get this pic of my Inbred instead!

Ten years ago on this blog there were no pictures posted for the entire week! I have no idea how I attracted readers back then, but I must have, because the thing kept growing here.

Weird.

Anyway, the chit-chat ten years ago was all about the "Nationals" that were to be held up at Nine Mile. That would be the 24hr racing "nationals" and was held up in Wisconsin. That used to be a pretty big shindig but I don't hear anything about it anymore.

Of course, Jeff and Carlos were going up, the two mechanics I worked with at the shop at that time, and they were both sponsored by Cannondale at the time. It was a pretty crazy era at Europa Cycle & Ski then, as the guys would be chattering about training rides, strategies, what worked for nutrition, and gear. One thing that stood out to me looking back is how backward the lighting technology was then compared to now. There are lights these days that are self contained that run longer and are far brighter than the Cat Eye Stadium lights Jeff used to use back then. His lights were bright, for sure, but the battery was a water bottle sized affair, weighed a ton, and ran his lights for maybe a lap or a little longer. That meant he had to have a box of charged water bottle sized batteries just to get through one race. Crazy!

The bikes they rode really, besides wheel size, have not changed nearly as much. Standards changed, yes.....but really. Those things have been done to accommodate incremental changes, different wheel sizes, or are just being done to be different. Lights, on the other hand, are in another universe compared to 2006.

Going Round In Circles

Formerly known as Mr. 24, aka Banned From World's, aka Jeff Kerkove

It was 2006, and I had not been blogging very long, when I last pontificated on 24 hour racing's "World's", as they were known. Back in those days I worked with a fella by the name of Jeff Kerkove, who went by the Moniker "Mr. 24", because he lived and breathed the 24 hour racing scene.  Through Jeff I got interested in the 24hr, endurance junkie racing thing, and of course, hooked on the train that would become Trans Iowa. Jeff was profoundly influential on my views of endurance racing, not only from a training point of view, but really from an organizational and philosophical viewpoint as well. I know I am not alone in that respect.

24 hour racing was a "big deal" back then. Gravel road racing was about as well known as Jimmy Hoffa's grave site, and "ultra-endurance" stuff like the Great Divide Race was almost unfathomable by most folks. XC mountain bike racing was still around, but not what it used to be. That was the scene back then.

Well, something happened to Jeff back in 2005, a year before I last spoke of the "World's" here on this blog. That event, I think in retrospect, was a watershed moment for the both of us. It wouldn't be long before neither one of us had much to do with 24hr races, and the subject went off my radar, (and off a lot of folks radar screens), until just yesterday when I saw the a link to this posting on Facebook.

So, what do I think of that? Karma? Justice served? No......nothing like that at all. I was shocked, and actually, a bit sad for those who were busting their butts to do this event. I know what it meant to Jeff back in the day, and I saw first hand how hard he worked to get there and have a good result, if possible. I saw him handle the situation with grace and aplomb when the carpet got jerked out from underneath him. He moved on to better things.......

No, I think it might serve as a signpost that the 24hr racing genre, which is not dead by any stretch , has maybe waned like XC racing did. Maybe the grassroots racing scene, like the gravel racing events, has taken a bite out of the base of participants for 24hr racing. I don't know for sure, but it seems that way to me.

Going Round In Circles

Formerly known as Mr. 24, aka Banned From World's, aka Jeff Kerkove

It was 2006, and I had not been blogging very long, when I last pontificated on 24 hour racing's "World's", as they were known. Back in those days I worked with a fella by the name of Jeff Kerkove, who went by the Moniker "Mr. 24", because he lived and breathed the 24 hour racing scene.  Through Jeff I got interested in the 24hr, endurance junkie racing thing, and of course, hooked on the train that would become Trans Iowa. Jeff was profoundly influential on my views of endurance racing, not only from a training point of view, but really from an organizational and philosophical viewpoint as well. I know I am not alone in that respect.

24 hour racing was a "big deal" back then. Gravel road racing was about as well known as Jimmy Hoffa's grave site, and "ultra-endurance" stuff like the Great Divide Race was almost unfathomable by most folks. XC mountain bike racing was still around, but not what it used to be. That was the scene back then.

Well, something happened to Jeff back in 2005, a year before I last spoke of the "World's" here on this blog. That event, I think in retrospect, was a watershed moment for the both of us. It wouldn't be long before neither one of us had much to do with 24hr races, and the subject went off my radar, (and off a lot of folks radar screens), until just yesterday when I saw the a link to this posting on Facebook.

So, what do I think of that? Karma? Justice served? No......nothing like that at all. I was shocked, and actually, a bit sad for those who were busting their butts to do this event. I know what it meant to Jeff back in the day, and I saw first hand how hard he worked to get there and have a good result, if possible. I saw him handle the situation with grace and aplomb when the carpet got jerked out from underneath him. He moved on to better things.......

No, I think it might serve as a signpost that the 24hr racing genre, which is not dead by any stretch , has maybe waned like XC racing did. Maybe the grassroots racing scene, like the gravel racing events, has taken a bite out of the base of participants for 24hr racing. I don't know for sure, but it seems that way to me.

A Texas Sized Trip Recap Post!

First off, I wanted to let those folks know that were wondering what I thought about aluminum as a frame material that I will get to that soon.....


Okay, now sit back and grab a beverage. This will be a long one!

Here we have a scene fron western Kansas on the first day out from Iowa. Kansas has some big, wide open spaces and the sunsets here are always spectacular.

This one is from north of Tucumcari, New Mexico. It's a picture of "The Hat". When you see this "hat shaped" mesa, you know you aren't far from Tucumcari. many a Route 66 traveler longed for the site of The Hat at the end of a long westwards drive back in the day.

In fact, "Tucuncari Tonight!" can still be seen on billboards all around the area.

Here's a shot of the Jarilla Mountain Range just north of El Paso, Texas. We were still in New Mexico here. The really cool thing about the trip is all the mountains that we get to see for the last 300 miles or so. I always look forward to this part!

(Sorry about the ghost image here. I took most of these shots through the car window traveling at 75mph!)

I've said it several times: El Paso's Franklin Mountain State Park trails are nothing but rocks! No dirt here folks.

Here the trail traverses an arroyo. Yes, that path of white fist sized and larger stones running into the backround is the trail!

The Lower and Upper Sunset trail loops are super technical, tough, and give you a workout. This is what fried my legs last week.

Okay: here you go from lower right to upper left. That's the trail. You will notice that as the trail steepens the rocks get looser and bigger.

This was pretty typical of how the climbs were there. Loose, big rocks in every climb that wanted to spit out from under your tires, sapping your climbing speed, and in many cases, shutting me down.

An FS rig that excells at seated climbing is the e-ticket for this stuff!

Okay, one last trail shot for ya all. This is a sweeper turn that comes down from the upper center of the photo to the lower left. And no............those rocks are not packed in solid!

It's like cornering on shards of bricks! Even the color of the rocks reminds me of bricks right here.

Amazing trails for sure! I really like the challenge of riding here.

I've been trying to get a shot of this for years! The Cowboy of Conlen Texas!

It's just a metal painted statue of a cowboy drawing his six shooter on the side of the road. What it was put there for, I have no idea, but I am sure it has been there for years.

Just a cool part of Americana that I was lucky to squeeze a shot off of while zooming by at 75mph!

Seen in Stratford, Texas headed north was this "Ergon" tanker. Could it be a secret sauce is contained within that is used to make Ergon grips?

Maybe these top secret squeezin's will find there way into the latest health shake used by Mr. 24 and the rest of the Ergon Team to dominate the upcoming mtb events they enter.

Whatever it is, I was there to grab this photo and start the speculation!



So that's a wrap on the Texas trip of 2010. Now it's time to get down to matters at hand, not the least of which is getting T.I.V6 recon finished!

A Texas Sized Trip Recap Post!

First off, I wanted to let those folks know that were wondering what I thought about aluminum as a frame material that I will get to that soon.....


Okay, now sit back and grab a beverage. This will be a long one!

Here we have a scene fron western Kansas on the first day out from Iowa. Kansas has some big, wide open spaces and the sunsets here are always spectacular.

This one is from north of Tucumcari, New Mexico. It's a picture of "The Hat". When you see this "hat shaped" mesa, you know you aren't far from Tucumcari. many a Route 66 traveler longed for the site of The Hat at the end of a long westwards drive back in the day.

In fact, "Tucuncari Tonight!" can still be seen on billboards all around the area.

Here's a shot of the Jarilla Mountain Range just north of El Paso, Texas. We were still in New Mexico here. The really cool thing about the trip is all the mountains that we get to see for the last 300 miles or so. I always look forward to this part!

(Sorry about the ghost image here. I took most of these shots through the car window traveling at 75mph!)

I've said it several times: El Paso's Franklin Mountain State Park trails are nothing but rocks! No dirt here folks.

Here the trail traverses an arroyo. Yes, that path of white fist sized and larger stones running into the backround is the trail!

The Lower and Upper Sunset trail loops are super technical, tough, and give you a workout. This is what fried my legs last week.

Okay: here you go from lower right to upper left. That's the trail. You will notice that as the trail steepens the rocks get looser and bigger.

This was pretty typical of how the climbs were there. Loose, big rocks in every climb that wanted to spit out from under your tires, sapping your climbing speed, and in many cases, shutting me down.

An FS rig that excells at seated climbing is the e-ticket for this stuff!

Okay, one last trail shot for ya all. This is a sweeper turn that comes down from the upper center of the photo to the lower left. And no............those rocks are not packed in solid!

It's like cornering on shards of bricks! Even the color of the rocks reminds me of bricks right here.

Amazing trails for sure! I really like the challenge of riding here.

I've been trying to get a shot of this for years! The Cowboy of Conlen Texas!

It's just a metal painted statue of a cowboy drawing his six shooter on the side of the road. What it was put there for, I have no idea, but I am sure it has been there for years.

Just a cool part of Americana that I was lucky to squeeze a shot off of while zooming by at 75mph!

Seen in Stratford, Texas headed north was this "Ergon" tanker. Could it be a secret sauce is contained within that is used to make Ergon grips?

Maybe these top secret squeezin's will find there way into the latest health shake used by Mr. 24 and the rest of the Ergon Team to dominate the upcoming mtb events they enter.

Whatever it is, I was there to grab this photo and start the speculation!



So that's a wrap on the Texas trip of 2010. Now it's time to get down to matters at hand, not the least of which is getting T.I.V6 recon finished!

Gravel Road Dreamin' And Schemin'

It all started when I got a notification that my Woodchipper bars had come in at the shop. I ran a few errands and stopped by to pick them up. I wrote the check happily, because you know, one can never have too many Woodchipper bars around!

So, later on I went down and strated in to messing around with the drop bar rigs. I finally had my Tensile freewheel together and working again after it had frozen up solid due to a slurry infestation on a ride with MG on gravel almost two years ago now! Well, at any rate, the freewheel is working and it went on the Karate Monkey to help raise the gear inches a notch for some single speedy gravel grunge training rides. You see, the KM has fenders! Now I know the fender thing caused some folks grief at CIRREM, but not to worry. I think I'll be just fine. Can't wait to get that rig out there again. Oh yeah.......I already have Woodchipper bars on that one!

Then I started resurrecting the Badger. I swapped out a few things, found a few "parts bin" parts, and made a couple decisions on where to go with that bike. It will be a dedicated geared gravel road rig with STI 9 speed shifters. I'll have to score a few bits before I can finish it up from my parts bin horde at work, and buy some new brakes, but it should come out nicely. (No- this one isn't getting Woodchippers. It is staying with the Gary Bars I had for it already)

Then I turned my attention to the Singular Gryphon I am building up for testing. Woodchipper? Definitely! I figured out the basic set up with stems I had and now I can move forward with getting the steer tube cut, a star nut installed, and all of that. I need just a few more tiny bits to get this one done, but it will be done quite soon. And of course, it will need to be ridden out on some gravel roads to start with. Yes! Another excuse to ride gravel. Good!

Finally, I was forwarded a link to the Alaska Dispatch by Mr. 24's parents. It mentions Trans Iowa, and the story has some former Trans Iowa vets and one future one in it. Check it out here. It is a great read, and is about another epic event going on now.

Gravel Road Dreamin' And Schemin'

It all started when I got a notification that my Woodchipper bars had come in at the shop. I ran a few errands and stopped by to pick them up. I wrote the check happily, because you know, one can never have too many Woodchipper bars around!

So, later on I went down and strated in to messing around with the drop bar rigs. I finally had my Tensile freewheel together and working again after it had frozen up solid due to a slurry infestation on a ride with MG on gravel almost two years ago now! Well, at any rate, the freewheel is working and it went on the Karate Monkey to help raise the gear inches a notch for some single speedy gravel grunge training rides. You see, the KM has fenders! Now I know the fender thing caused some folks grief at CIRREM, but not to worry. I think I'll be just fine. Can't wait to get that rig out there again. Oh yeah.......I already have Woodchipper bars on that one!

Then I started resurrecting the Badger. I swapped out a few things, found a few "parts bin" parts, and made a couple decisions on where to go with that bike. It will be a dedicated geared gravel road rig with STI 9 speed shifters. I'll have to score a few bits before I can finish it up from my parts bin horde at work, and buy some new brakes, but it should come out nicely. (No- this one isn't getting Woodchippers. It is staying with the Gary Bars I had for it already)

Then I turned my attention to the Singular Gryphon I am building up for testing. Woodchipper? Definitely! I figured out the basic set up with stems I had and now I can move forward with getting the steer tube cut, a star nut installed, and all of that. I need just a few more tiny bits to get this one done, but it will be done quite soon. And of course, it will need to be ridden out on some gravel roads to start with. Yes! Another excuse to ride gravel. Good!

Finally, I was forwarded a link to the Alaska Dispatch by Mr. 24's parents. It mentions Trans Iowa, and the story has some former Trans Iowa vets and one future one in it. Check it out here. It is a great read, and is about another epic event going on now.

It's Not Easy Street

<===If he gets anymore excited, he'll knock that tent down!

I was cruising the web for North American Handmade Bicycle Show pics when I ran across J-Kove's mug here as he was setting up shop for the Indianapolis event.

I thought the expression on his face was priceless. Yeah, he gets to go to Germany. Majorca, and warm environs while we freeze our arses off here in the winter, but he also works. Don't be fooled folks!

It ain't all a bed of roses!

Jeff, if ya see this, I hope it got better before you packed up and went back to the Rockies. Doing shows is not a whole lot of fun. Especially indoors shows. I know......I've been there!

It's Not Easy Street

<===If he gets anymore excited, he'll knock that tent down!

I was cruising the web for North American Handmade Bicycle Show pics when I ran across J-Kove's mug here as he was setting up shop for the Indianapolis event.

I thought the expression on his face was priceless. Yeah, he gets to go to Germany. Majorca, and warm environs while we freeze our arses off here in the winter, but he also works. Don't be fooled folks!

It ain't all a bed of roses!

Jeff, if ya see this, I hope it got better before you packed up and went back to the Rockies. Doing shows is not a whole lot of fun. Especially indoors shows. I know......I've been there!

Everything Is Training

<====The sun setting on my last day in Lost Wages.

I'm back....safe and sound. 36 hours of being awake left me in recovery mode for Saturday night and Sunday. Circumstances being what they were, I chose to be up that long, but hey! Count it up as training for Trans Iowa. It wasn't all that bad!

So, just what were the highlights of the trip? Here's a short list in no particular order.........

Good Plane Rides: Not being a fan of flight, I really appreciated the smooth flights. Hey......that's just me!

Outdoor Demo: Riding bikes is always on top of the list and riding bikes at Bootleg Canyon is really an unusual kind of place to ride for me. One part dust, one part big chunk, and one part gravely rocks, the terrain out there is challenging in a different way than what I am used to riding here. Of course then there are the bikes themselves. Stuff you don't normally get a chance to swing a leg over. As far as I am concerned,Interbike could be five days of Outdoor Demo and nothing else.

Meet The People: Then there are the people. Lots of cool people. Really cool people. More people than you could have great conversations with in a months time. At least I get to catch up a little bit with these folks.

Adventure On The Strip: Riding bikes in a big group down the Strip to the crit races was a lot of fun. Racing home on a 26 inch wheeled Dahon folder single speed was crazy. Dodging traffic was sketchy, but everyone was pretty cool about it at least.

Meeting The "GF": On the first day of the indoor show I caught up with Gary Fisher for a bit. It's interesting to have a conversation with him that doesn't have anything to do with bicycles. For one thing, I found out he is a bass player, which I thought was pretty cool for obvious reasons. Hey! I ain't Guitar Ted fer nuthin' ya know! Then I met another "GF", as in "girl friend". Sonya is "J-Koves" girl friend, (GASP! Yes....I said it!) and she is a most delightful, smart, and attractive young lady. Definitely a highlight of my trip right there.

Expanding The Responsibilities: I am taking on more responsibilities with Crooked Cog now which will demand more of my time. I'll be doing some adjustments to my daily schedule in the future, so I look forward to that. It'll kind of be weird to be the main guy with the network now, but I look forward to the challenges it will bring.

So there are the highlights I can remember off the top of my head right now. I'm sure there are some things that I missed, but chalk that up to a foggy mind still reeling from being awake too many hours in a row. At least I had a little help staying awake all that time. Niner Bikes put there press kit on a i-pod Nano. So, I downloaded a bunch of tunes to pass the time on the jet, which helped a ton. Thanks Niner! That was awesome!

Now back to my regular scheduled programming...................

Everything Is Training

<====The sun setting on my last day in Lost Wages.

I'm back....safe and sound. 36 hours of being awake left me in recovery mode for Saturday night and Sunday. Circumstances being what they were, I chose to be up that long, but hey! Count it up as training for Trans Iowa. It wasn't all that bad!

So, just what were the highlights of the trip? Here's a short list in no particular order.........

Good Plane Rides: Not being a fan of flight, I really appreciated the smooth flights. Hey......that's just me!

Outdoor Demo: Riding bikes is always on top of the list and riding bikes at Bootleg Canyon is really an unusual kind of place to ride for me. One part dust, one part big chunk, and one part gravely rocks, the terrain out there is challenging in a different way than what I am used to riding here. Of course then there are the bikes themselves. Stuff you don't normally get a chance to swing a leg over. As far as I am concerned,Interbike could be five days of Outdoor Demo and nothing else.

Meet The People: Then there are the people. Lots of cool people. Really cool people. More people than you could have great conversations with in a months time. At least I get to catch up a little bit with these folks.

Adventure On The Strip: Riding bikes in a big group down the Strip to the crit races was a lot of fun. Racing home on a 26 inch wheeled Dahon folder single speed was crazy. Dodging traffic was sketchy, but everyone was pretty cool about it at least.

Meeting The "GF": On the first day of the indoor show I caught up with Gary Fisher for a bit. It's interesting to have a conversation with him that doesn't have anything to do with bicycles. For one thing, I found out he is a bass player, which I thought was pretty cool for obvious reasons. Hey! I ain't Guitar Ted fer nuthin' ya know! Then I met another "GF", as in "girl friend". Sonya is "J-Koves" girl friend, (GASP! Yes....I said it!) and she is a most delightful, smart, and attractive young lady. Definitely a highlight of my trip right there.

Expanding The Responsibilities: I am taking on more responsibilities with Crooked Cog now which will demand more of my time. I'll be doing some adjustments to my daily schedule in the future, so I look forward to that. It'll kind of be weird to be the main guy with the network now, but I look forward to the challenges it will bring.

So there are the highlights I can remember off the top of my head right now. I'm sure there are some things that I missed, but chalk that up to a foggy mind still reeling from being awake too many hours in a row. At least I had a little help staying awake all that time. Niner Bikes put there press kit on a i-pod Nano. So, I downloaded a bunch of tunes to pass the time on the jet, which helped a ton. Thanks Niner! That was awesome!

Now back to my regular scheduled programming...................

Friday News and Views

Hey ya'all! It's the weekend already! Didn't we just have a weekend? (I get thrown outta whack by this mid-week holiday stuff!)

Anyway...............here's a shot of that RST fork that didn't make the Twenty Nine Inches story. It's the new M-29 air shock with 80mm travel. So far I've got it mounted up to my Dos, but I had to order a part. A disc mount to be precise. You see, everything fork-wise from here on out is going 74mm post mount, so I had to invest in the proper Avid mount to get me up and rolling. Well, not rolling just yet! The part is on order. I'll be really rolling it by this time next week.

In other news, Specialized's newest 29"er offering that I linked to yesterday is getting mixed reviews from a looks standpoint. I don't like the way it looks, personally, but hey! Maybe it performs just fine. If so, cool! I just don't think it's going to add up to a bike that will rip Mid West single track. I'm hoping the Big Red "S" has some of these at Interbike to test ride so I can check it out for myself and see if I'm wrong.

The Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational has been moved to Saturday, August 4th. If you can not make the new date, I appologize, but since it is my ride I thought it might be important for me to actually be there! The previously mentioned date was already committed to something else that I had mistakenly thought was on a different day. Whoops! My bad!

Anyway, this gives me time to get the Pofahl Custom together to ride and also gives myself and my "route finder extrordinaire" Wuzbeen, a chance to get a handle on the route. It's been a challenge so far what with all the flooding. Roads under water and whole bridges washed away! We hope to have a finalized route by next week.

Camping option: We are putting out the chance for a group rate at a local to the ride campground. We could get a rate of $25.00 if we see enough interest. That would cover us for one night, as I understand it. There is an e-mail link under the "My Events" column at the right here where you can contact me if you are interested in this option.

Well, I pretty much negated any reason for you to click on the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational site, but do it anyway so you can see Mr. 24's cool banner he did up for me!

By the way, anybody spot the FJ Cruiser yet?

Ride yer bikes this weekend and have some fun already!

Friday News and Views

Hey ya'all! It's the weekend already! Didn't we just have a weekend? (I get thrown outta whack by this mid-week holiday stuff!)

Anyway...............here's a shot of that RST fork that didn't make the Twenty Nine Inches story. It's the new M-29 air shock with 80mm travel. So far I've got it mounted up to my Dos, but I had to order a part. A disc mount to be precise. You see, everything fork-wise from here on out is going 74mm post mount, so I had to invest in the proper Avid mount to get me up and rolling. Well, not rolling just yet! The part is on order. I'll be really rolling it by this time next week.

In other news, Specialized's newest 29"er offering that I linked to yesterday is getting mixed reviews from a looks standpoint. I don't like the way it looks, personally, but hey! Maybe it performs just fine. If so, cool! I just don't think it's going to add up to a bike that will rip Mid West single track. I'm hoping the Big Red "S" has some of these at Interbike to test ride so I can check it out for myself and see if I'm wrong.

The Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational has been moved to Saturday, August 4th. If you can not make the new date, I appologize, but since it is my ride I thought it might be important for me to actually be there! The previously mentioned date was already committed to something else that I had mistakenly thought was on a different day. Whoops! My bad!

Anyway, this gives me time to get the Pofahl Custom together to ride and also gives myself and my "route finder extrordinaire" Wuzbeen, a chance to get a handle on the route. It's been a challenge so far what with all the flooding. Roads under water and whole bridges washed away! We hope to have a finalized route by next week.

Camping option: We are putting out the chance for a group rate at a local to the ride campground. We could get a rate of $25.00 if we see enough interest. That would cover us for one night, as I understand it. There is an e-mail link under the "My Events" column at the right here where you can contact me if you are interested in this option.

Well, I pretty much negated any reason for you to click on the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational site, but do it anyway so you can see Mr. 24's cool banner he did up for me!

By the way, anybody spot the FJ Cruiser yet?

Ride yer bikes this weekend and have some fun already!