P.A.C.E.

Pimpin Ain't Eazy

2008-05-16T14:20:00.001-07:00

Breaking Wind

2008-05-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

I got this email from a co-worker I will keep nameless:

Hey Andy, while farting can be a joke, and I think everyone that signed the petition kinda did it as a joke, I have to agree with %^$#, being proud of stinking up the whole office is inappropriate. I have GAS-X tablets if you need them.

I am at a crossroad. While part of me (maybe 25%) thinks I should take this to heart and try to act a little more "appropiate" at work. The other 75% thinks this is freaking hilarious and impressive!!! I mean come on I didn't mean to stink the office up, it was an accident. What would be the appropiate thing to do... turn red and act embarassed? Hahaha. I rule. Someone suggested I walk in the back room to break wind next time.

Reimer's Ranch

2008-04-15T19:50:00.001-07:00

You know... this blog was way cooler when it was about my work, not my hobby. Well I suppose at the time work was my hobby. Anywho, last weekend I headed out to West Austin to get me some my MTB racing on. The trail was at Reimer's Ranch which is probably better known for its rock climbing. I headed out Saturday for a pre-ride since it was a techinical course and then headed back down to San Marcos to crash for the night. San Marcos is the bomb, its even better when you dont have to goto school! Word. Had dinner on the square at a local gem and then headed to buddies house for a good ole college party, well a graduate student party but whatever. Good times all around.

Sunday I headed back to the ranch for the race. All the usual suspects were around and its always good seeing everyone. I had a good start but kinda backed it off right before the singletrack for a some reason I don't know. I usually don't like these trails as much b/c my technical skillz have been lacking but for once I really rode well/confident on that type of course, and almost cleared everything tricky. I've realized my engine has left my bike handling skillz behind so I have been trying to ride the dirt much more which I think might be paying off a little. Anyways, long story short I had a pretty solid race and finished 3rd and got a cool trophy and some Ca$H! The course was awesome to say the least.

I watched Juno tonight and really liked it. The main character girl, Juno, reminds me of a girl I dated in college, Meghann... to a tee, crazy. Well minus the whole baby in the womb thing.

I swear this little drop/downhill is much sketchier than it looks... really, no really.

Weddings

2008-04-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Taylor and Kevin's wedding was this last weekend. It was a blast and we went out pretty hard as usual. I was a little dissapointed with the DJ. EVERY wedding needs to have the mandatory train dance around the reception, but it was no go at this one. It's cool, I let it all hang out on the YMCA dance.

Old People

2008-03-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

So yesterday after work I rode to the back of the Woodlands to do the weekly "Hammerfest" ride. If you live around here then you know the riding pretty much sucks. We are forced to ride out to a neighborhood that has 1-2 mile loop and do about 7 laps out there. However, we love it and will do what it takes. It's hard enough being a cyclist around these parts, too many hillbillies and fat women who have their head so for up there own #$%^ (or maybe not enough mental capacity) they can't yield to a cyclist for 10 seconds, possibly saving a life. I won't go on certain routes around here if I am not on the rode by 8 or 9 in the morning, becuase I am SCARED of other peoples stupidity and/or laziness, granted accidents do and will happen. I know some bikers ride like idiots causing drivers to get frustated making the rest of us look just as bad. Righteous rant over.

And now to my blog worthy story....

On about the 5th lap yesterday we cruise around a corner to find some old guy blocking the road with his F150. This guy was out of his mind, which I found to be almost entertaining. He had a huge beer belly and was sporting this old school LSU hat. I didn't think to take a picture with my camera phone which I am totally regretting now. There were about 20 of us and a few guys were trying to be cordial with the guy asking what we were doing wrong trying to reason with him. The only reason he could come up with was, "Cuz ya'll are pissin me off!" Then he would walk up to someone random and say "You want a piece of me!". It was awesome, the guy was 70 yrs old. Yeah, not having it. We spend 1 hour a week out there on a public road and the guy lost his mind. I pretty much was laughing the entire time and took off pretty quick with a few people b/c I wanted to ride my bike more. Supposedly, he tried fighting a couple of guys but kept falling on the ground. I don't know, maybe I should of stuck around. I feel bad for the guy's family having to put with him, he was out of control! The worst part is the Woodlands Cycling Club is probably going to have to move this route elsewhere, b/c you can't win with a guy like that and he may even do something crazy next time. The cops won't respond unless there is an accident and who wants to push it that far, not worth it. I just want to hear the guy trying to explain he problem to his buddies. Maybe somethng like this..

"Earl, mun you shood a seen them people last nuight riding around my neighborhood in tights and skinny bicycles! Shoot man I unt having nun of that. I parked my pickup truck in the road and gave em a piece of my mind!"

Keep Waco Wacko

2008-03-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

Drove to Waco this weekend to race the 3rd installment of the Spring MTB racing series. Eric lives in Waco so it worked out pretty nicely. Got to do little pre-riding, bowling, eating, and hanging out Waco style. Race went pretty good, I felt strong and can't complain. My only problem is my technical skillz blow. I use my brakes way too much I think. This weekend I am going to remove the brakes from my bike, that should up the learning curve! Word.

More importantly, my ping pong skillz are god like right now, I am peaking. Bring it. Yeah, we throw down daily at work, it ups production. Brian figured out my backhand is a little week in our daily tourney. Its cool, he is only making it stronger by hitting on that side every freaking point! I beat someone in the championship match a few weeks ago, they chunked the paddle at my face after the game. We don't horse around here. Bring your A game.

Shreddin some 1 track

The Pain Train

2008-03-06T14:43:00.000-08:00

So this last weekend I decided to go out pretty hard. Eric drove down from Waco to run the Houston Rodeo Run, this was his first 5k so I said I would run alongside him and have some fun but at the same time bring my "A" game.

Can you find me?

Eric #9080 dropped the hammer on this kid in front of us right after this photo was taken.

I think I am finally coming out of my shell.

Yes, That just happened.

After the race I drove up to Joe's parents house in Keller, TX, to spend the night in order to get up to Saint, Jo, TX Sunday to do some MTb racing (that last sentence probably should of been about 3, oops). The Walker's do it first class. Big pasta meal, 20 minute soak in the hot tub, followed by a little cheesecake, word.

Sunday went horribly. I started the race good and it all went backwards from there. I felt like I had never ridden a bike before, I was crashing and going backwards up the climbs. After a lap of this I decided it was no longer fun and pulled the plug, DNF. Quitting stinks, especially when you drove 5 hours to do it. Maybe I spent too much energy being a Rock God the day before. Oh well, looking forward to the next race so I can redeem myself.

Making plans in August to travel to Bozeman, MT to watch my cousin get married. I am going to try and fly up 3 or 4 days beforehand so I can shred some sweet Montana singletrack. Gonna be saweeeeeeeet.

Mas O Menos - Photoblog

2008-02-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

4 Skinny Dorks

I packed her to the limit

Sweet Pic - Behind us is the epic Tres Cuevas climb we had to do twice. This picture does it little justice.

Terlingua Sunset

A Race Report - Mas O Menos 100k

2008-02-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

I wrote a race report on my Team's forum, so I copied and pasted it here as well.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll give this race report thing a shot, never done one...

Terlingua is a SWEEEEET course or should I say "Nuclear" (a term created during the trip, well not created but you know what I mean. Seriously, drop it in a normal converstion tomorrow, everyone will want to be you). Eric the Red, Dan the Man V, Joseph "JoJo" G, and myself pre-rode the South loop on Friday and were pretty much smiling the entire time. How can you not smile while flogging the dog (aka riding in the big ring)? Anyways, we skipped the cllimb for obvious reasons but could see it looming in the background from the road crossing.

Anyways, the race started pretty fast as the 19-29 group went off with the PSE's. One of coolest parts was flying down the first road with dust/sand flying everywhere making it very difficult to see. All you could do was hold on and hope for the best. I tried to keep it at a decent pace but with tight singletrack ahead it was hard to back off the throttle in order to get in a good position. I entered the singletrack 2 behind the eventual Womens open winner. She is not slow. I figured the pace would slow down once we entered the singletrack and it did... a little. After jamming through the first loose/gravel/creek section I let her and about 4 others do their thing and I backed off the throttle and got into a comfortable pace, I still had 4+ hours of riding to do. I learned very quickly I ride much smarter if I am pacing behind someone on this kind of course. The funny part it is I usually hate when someone is following me really close. Oh well, this is the tactical side of MTB racing and I am still learning. I rode at a pace that I could enjoy myself but still felt like I was given'r a little as well. There was a pretty strong headwind on the road leading to the climb. I was with 2 other guys so we all started acting like goofy roadies and were taking shady pulls . At this point the 30-39 leader came flying by, we tried to jump on his train of 2 but that didn't last long, yup different league of players in that train-o-pain. So, the climb begins. I like climbing, it wasn't easy but there were some sweet views that made it all worth while. I can honestly say that just the excitment of being on the climb everyone was talking about all week made it fun, I may of busted out a smile a few times during it. I came up on 3 - 5 Mashers during the course of the climb and as usual friendly/encouraging words were exchanged. Once the climbing ended it was full spead ahead to the finish. My MAX on my computer said 29.5 mph and I am sure it came from that section. I felt surprisingly good at the feed zone, I think it was partly due to the game time decision of taking a camelbak on the first lap, I sucked that thing dry. I dropped my camelbak chugged a flat coke/H20 (Eric B convinced me to do this and man did hit the spot) and grabbed two bottles, power gels, and a clif bar.

The 2nd lap was windy and lonesome for the first 20 min or so. I got caught by some of the faster 30-39 or 40-49 guys and the coke kicked in. I new these guys were much faster but I felt good so I decided to hang in a group of about 5 and we were flying! Wheels were about a foot apart and all you could do was follow the bike in front of you. This was probably the highlight of my race. I was tired but still decided to nail it which I am proud of. Overall I think it helped my final time and my confidence. We all eventually split up and for me the 100k started feeling like a 100k. I didnt bonk but definitely decided to ride my own race. The road to the climb was BRUTAL and the winds were picking up on the climb and decent which was knocking my not so big body type around. I spun up the climb in the easiest gear and probably should of pushed it harder but mentally I was being a wimp. Of course this is easy to say when I am sitting in a computer chair. I few guys passed me on the climb and then the decent home was done solo finishing in 5:07. I can't complain, I felt good, didn't bonk, fueled right, no mechanicals, and had fun. Time for some vodka and beer. These 2 hour XC races coming up are going to be a piece of cake after this I just hope I can make them all.

The one downer is my 3 best kits (2 pedalmasher kits, 1 other) are more than likely laying on the side of the road in Big Bend somewhere. I had them in a black bag and believe they flew out of my truck. Anyone see some dirty chamois on the side of the road? Anyone have an extra set of medium bibs they want to sell?

Andy

Nike + in the Hizouse

2008-02-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

I decided to pick up Nike+ for a little fun, it's really simple to use but I am not a fan of hauling around a Nano when I have a Shuffle, so we shall see. I clocked my last mile with my watch at a pace of 6:50 ish but this thing has it around a 7:15 so I dont know. I'll have to test this little contraption a little further, maybe take it on a track. I'd be pissed if my watch has been making me look faster than I am! Boooo.

Make it Rain

2008-02-03T20:18:00.001-08:00

I was designed to be rich. Seriously. I would by so much useless crap (like heelys... read earlier post)

I did 6 laps out at Double Lake yesterday on my MTB, little over 4 hours, I felt pretty good too. This would be my 3rd weekend in a row to get a 4+ hour ride in. All for this...

http://www.desertsportstx.com/masomenos.php

Pretty much in Mexico. Word.

I banged out 2.5 hours on the road bike today, but the legs didnt have much zap to them after yesterdays ride. It's amazing what the body can adapt to, it just takes time and patience. Looks like I will start the traveling gig back up in the next month. My biggest concern is I won't be able to train as much on the bike. I am going to lug my road bike everywhere I go which is going to get interesting but I'm doing it NO MATTER WHAT. I am going to buy a Computrainer http://www.racermateinc.com, which will let me get everything out of indoor training. Man my hotel rooms are going to smell sweet. Well, girls from Northern Canadian oil towns probably like the smell of sweat. With the traveling schedule again I can do out of state races during weekends which is a bonus. I figure in a in a few years when the hotels finally get old I can hit all the local races up. I also started running again as a back up form of fitness for when I can't ride on the road. I have exercise OCD.

If you haven't noticed, I am slowly getting this blog back up and running. Any readers besides my mom out there?

Miles of DisComfort

2008-01-29T12:28:00.000-08:00

I did a MTB marathon race this last weekend out at Flat Rock Ranch (Comfort). It was 5 hours of absolute Hell, but thats why I love it! I dont think I have ever raced my MTB for that long but it was definitely a good time. I was hoping to beat 5 hours but ended up with 5:08. Oh well, this race course isn't exactly my forte when it comes to courses. My technical skillz are lacking at the moment. Did I mention my pedal fell off TWICE?! Well, enough with the excuses. Look who showed up to drop the hammer on us local boys? Lance Armstrong the Boss. It was pretty cool to see him out there. Kinda of a big deal if you ask me.

The Boss

Did I mention I am back at Terrapoint working. Yeah, I wasn't feeling the Master's program. It was fun and I love San Marcos but not worth the money. Oppsy. Just trying to live the dream a little longer! I am currently trying to get my old traveling job back so maybe this Blog will be the BOMB once again. I should find out pretty soon.

Shreddin'

2008-01-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a sweet vid of Eric shreddin/Roostin on my new Heelys. It was epic.

Please take notice to the camel bak and gloves. When you go big, you have to be prepared.

Going big at the office... Ya, I'm a natural...

Heelys

2007-12-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

Mine in 2-3 business days.

Rock N Roll

2007-11-30T21:43:00.000-08:00

With friends like this...

I could of gotten last place and this still would of been one of my best races.

Pure Rock

MTB Nationals

2007-11-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

Made the 18 hour drive out to Banner Elk, NC a few weeks ago to get my booty whipped at the Collegiate MTB National race. Word.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/apace626/sets/72157602817625600/

We may of not been the fastest team out there but dam we are cool!

Interbike

2007-10-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, I somehow forgot to mention in the previous post that I was in Vegas last week for Interbike. Interbike is the biggest, sweetest, coolest bike trade show or convention or whatever you want to call it in the US. All the big vendors and names are there. My buddy Brandon hooked me up and said I worked out a our shop here so i could go. It was amazing, we stayed at the Imperial Palace which was good enough for me but pretty low on the totam pole compared to other major casinos. We spent all day checking out sweet bike stuff and then all night partying. A lot of big names in cycling were there and we landed tons of free stuff and stickers. I want a new road and cross bike now. We also made it the big cyclo-cross race and a road crit which was cool. I didnt take any pics but I will leave you with Mario Cipollini throwing down some sweet Italian lines on Jen at Tao up in da VIP. If you dont know who Mario is then google him. BTW Lil Jon was about 5 ft from them in this pic. He didnt have his pimp cup... weak.

School

2007-10-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

I dont know about this whole school thing. I need to find motivation quick or drop out and go back to the cube. Yeah, I'll tough it out I suppose. There are two problems: 1. When I am in a class and I know the subject will not help me after school I get a horrible attitude about it and refuse to learn it (and yes i know its ALL part of getting a Masters). 2. I've been here for 2 months and that's the inevitable length of time where I start getting the burning for some moving, you know, thinking about elsewhere to live, other things to do, I got problems, yeah! You'd think riding my bike all the time would fix this but it doesnt.

I started a job last week. Well a 16 hour/week assistantship job. It's cool and I think I can learn/teach myself some valuable stuff. Right now I am sharing a office with my boss, her name is Yongxia, she speaks ok English.

Bike racing, I managed to get 3rd place at the last collegiate race finshing behind a semi-pro and a pro. A few things went my but that is bike racing so i will take it. I am sure the two pros were already in the shower when I finished but either way a solid result becuase I beat to Aggies that have been edging me out at every previous race. Next race is in College Station on their home turf so it may be a little tougher this time around. Looks the team will be able to send some of us Nationals in North Carolina this year which is going to be a blast. I just hope the profs let me skip another week of school.

Word. I am not spell/grammar checking this so good luck.

Camp Eagle

2007-09-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

Finally started racing after a few years off (minus my one DNF at Comfort last March). We headed out to Camp Eagle this last weekend for an awesome time. The trail got dumped on Saturday afternoon which made it pretty sketchy but come race time Sunday afternoon it was primo. I ended getting 3rd in the time trial and 5th in the XC event. The XC race was pretty much the hardest race I have ever done, but the trail was awesome so it was all worth it. Texas State as a team dominated this weekend. Sweet.

Entering the Pain Cave.

In the Pain Cave

Don't be mad...

2007-08-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

...I just bought the coolest/whitest sunglasses I could find. It was a 4 beer inpulse buy,

Also, I just booked a ticket to Vegas for Interbike. Thought I'd use some OnePass miles finally, flying around North America for my last job has paid off! First class was tempting b/c I am big believer in doing things "right". However, without an income currently, I kept it coach. Word.

San Marvelous

2007-08-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

I made the move back to San Marcos a few days ago. I'm going back to Texas State to get my Masters. After 3 years of the real world, i'm over it. The move was brutal, I've never sweated that much in my life and I can sweat with the best of them. Luckily I had good help on both ends of the move so thanks to all of you for sweating it out with me. It was sad to the leave the old apartment, Brian and I had some good times there. And as usual, it was hard to say bye to the rents, especially MamaPace. However, the road goes on.

To get back in to the swing of things, I had to do it right.

Go on bike ride in the sweltering heat. (No traffic!!)

Take a dip in the river.

Rocked out on Guitar Hero... Day complete.

This race makes baby jesus cry

2007-07-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

One day Big George Hincapie will win this bad boy.

2001 - Pretty sweet vid

4 Generations of Bobcats

2007-07-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic from this weekend at Flat Rock Ranch. It just so happened we all had jerseys from the last 4 years. I of course had the golden oldie b/c I am the golden oldie of this group.

L-R Andy aka "Fatty", Dan aka "Danimal" aka Dan the Man, Joe aka "Joe", Eric aka "Red"

Check it

2007-07-13T10:43:00.001-07:00

I don't know if I can live up to the top-notch blogging I was throwing down over the last 2 years. My life isn't traveling and flying in cool helicopters and planes, it's more of working in a the cube farm for 40 hours a week and then spending the other 10 or so riding my bike. Anywho, I'll try to bust the old camera out and start blogging about my riding. Blogs are worthless without pics.

I just told my boss here at me new job I am going back to Grad school in a month. Yup, gonna go live the dream in San Marcos for a few more years. I'm going back for Geography/GIS but I'm really going to try and learn as much programming as possible. GIS developers make more mula and I think its more interesting. So if you know a little ASP.NET, .NET in general with maybe a little VB or C#, etc., etc., holla at me. I need to learn both application and web stizuff.

Been training on the bike more than I ever have for the upcoming Fall season. Hopefully all the hard work pays off. I pretty much don't go out socially anymore and just spend my time riding and recovering. I think I have logged over 2000 miles since March. I am sure that's not much compared to allot of riders but I don't know how I could pull off anymore. Plus my longest race is probably going to be 2.5 3, hours so I really don't need to be riding 5 hours at a time. I'll leave that to the roadies. The last month it was raining almost everyday which I was loving b/c it kept the temps cooler and I was always able to stay dry between showers while out on rides. Now, its friggin' hot, but it's either go curl up in a ball in the a/c or go get r' done. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to going back to San Marcos for the riding (and school) b/c Houston kinda stinks for riding. Well I am sure that is debatable, but in my case I like hills and we have none.

Comeback

2007-06-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

Got a few things brewing on the life front, back on the bike, and thinking about cranking this bad boy up again. Anyone visit this ghost town anymore?