i wasn’t planning on riding this weekend, but both eric and al hit me up so we decided to do the pv ride that i did last weekend. we kept a much faster pace than the last ride, and on the downhill coming over the backside of pv, i hit a top speed of 44 mph, which is pretty damn fast on a bike. i’m sure i’ll cruise through the event, and i’m planning on riding relatively easy anyway and enjoying the experience.

the ride we do is 25 miles and most of it is climbing with a very fast descent from the top. i’m gonna do my best to do the ride at least once a month even after the rosarito event, ’cause i really need to keep the gut in check.

in this retro bike build that i’m doing, i’m cannibalizing a lot of parts off of a 1996 gt karakoram. i decided to just take off the stem/handlebar set together and put it on the new bike. once i had it on there though, i realized i didn’t like the stem because it was too long, an ugly shape and had stickers instead of laser engraving. so i found in my stash of bike parts a stem that i liked, but the stem that was on there was a single bolt which meant i’d have to remove the shifters, brake levers and grips which would be a hassle since i had already got everything wired and tuned up.

so to save myself the hassle, i busted out the dremmel and just cut the old one off. this particular one is going for about $5 on ebay so it was no big loss and a big savings of time. the new stem had a multiple bolt design, so i could just clamp it directly on.

so i’ve decided to build up an era-specific mountain bike. mountain bikes in the mid-90′s were my main hobby. Back then i didn’t really have the money to buy the cool stuff, so i just bought the magazines and dreamed about it. i actually had a pretty decent setup that i eventually built up, with a lot of it being hand-me-downs from my buddy ken who was a great friend and a really hardcore rider.

having now gone through some many bikes and builds, i’ve decided to go back to my roots, and build a bike with components from the mid-90′s. this is really when mountain biking became a sport and again when it was most important to me. ebay is a great resource for the build since old (vintage to me) parts are pretty easy to come by, and for only a fraction of what they used to cost. so of course i started the build with the most important part of any project: the shoes. the answer (maker of the manitou suspension fork) accelerators were like $150 back in the day and i picked up this brand new pair (still has the seal that covers the cleat holes) for $10.50. sure the colors are tacky by today’s standards, but the nostalgia’s so strong, i really would’ve paid the original price for them.

beautiful aren’t they?

today the weather in the south bay was perfect. all day it was sunny, but hazy with a cool breeze, so in the afternoon taka and i decided to get on our bikes. she’s been pretty good with getting ready for the rosarito ride, going to spin class at least twice a week. i on the other hand haven’t really been on my bike at all save for a few short rides around town.

we pretty much just cruised our hood, enjoying the day and trying out new bike parts more than really training. i recently swapped out taka’s double crankset on her road bike (this will be the first event she rides the road bike) for a tripple so that she can make it over el tigre in a bail-out gear if she has to. my smallest gear combo is a 39 in front and a 26 (1.5:1) in back, and there are parts of that hill that i need to get out of the saddle for, so now she can go as low as 30/26 (1.15:1) if she finds the need to. i’m still getting used to my speedplay light action pedals that i installed earlier this year, and finding the perfect adjustment for my 2008 giro atmos that replaced my old atmos that had the usps color scheme that i was getting tired of.

we’ll probably get in at least one or two good rides before the actual event, but after tomorrow, there’ll only be two weekends left to get ready for it. i’m planning on just cruising (and maybe even ride my mountain bike if i finish it in time) take some pictures along the way and just enjoy the final rosarito to ensenada tour.

on september 27th, the sandiego association that has put on the rosarito to ensenada bike ride for almost 30 years, will host it’s final event. tourism in baja california has been way down in the year, and according to the company’s website, the last event only brought 5000 riders, which was their “financial break-even point.” while the decline in participants has been steady for the last 5 years, increased drug cartel activity in the region, coupled with new passport requirements for 2008 made for a very small event in april, leading to this final ride next month.

i had missed the last 2 events being busy with nothing in particular, but i’m pretty exicited to do it one last time. taka’s going to ride it for the 3rd time, having done it once with me on a tandem, and then another time all on her own. the ride can be pretty grueling — with some f’d up hills — but the weather and scenery is always pleasant, and the feeling of accomplishment (and beers and tacos) when you finish always make the effort and the trip worth it.

so far it’s me+taka, costin+lauren, al and ben, so if anyone else is interested in coming along, either for the ride or just to hang out, lemme know, i’m not gonna be asking about it next year.

I think it was sometime back in February that I hurt my shoulder while bench pressing around 200lbs, which was really good weight for me at the time. Around that same time, I moved up to the South Bay and started going to the gym with Eric 2-3x a week. While for the longest time, I wasn’t able to lift much weight at all, it all kind of worked out, because I was able to help Eric get into a good routine and he’s made some good progress. But after seeing those recent wakeboarding pics and how much muscle mass i’d lost over the last few months, I realized i needed to step back up, and on Monday, I was finally able to do heavy weight without any pain in my shoulder at all. I pulled out 6×185, 7×185 and 8×185 on the flat bench press, and I’m sure i could’ve done more weight. So i’m pscyhed to be back in the gym and doing it up right.

Now that i’m not working against any injuries and excited about the gym again, I thought i’d start another fitness blog. I killed getbig.kentomatic.com, because aside from me being injured and not lifting heavy weight, it was only about me and my routine, and i can’t imagine that many people were interested in following it. It did have a page rank of 2, but that might just have been from the kentomatic.com link alone.

The new fitness blog is going to be a general blog about fitness, probably focused on weight lifting, but cover all areas of exercise. It’s not just going to be about me and what i’m doing, although most of the articles will be from my experience and perspective. The problem is, I need a name for it and am looking for suggestions, so comment or email me anything you can think of.

Here are some that have been mentioned to me or that i’ve come up with that i’m thinking about:
onemoremile.com
fullrep.com
perfectrep.com
lookatmymuscles.com

gimme your input!

taka and i’ve been playing tennis once or twice a week on the weekends or after work. there are some really nice courts at wilson park in torrance and if those are occupied, there are about 10 courts at torrance high that we can play at too.

great exercise and we’re getting pretty good too!

anyone wanna challenge us? :)

so after two months of a busted shoulder and then broken finger, i’ve finally been able to get through some full workouts (with codeine, but whatever) and today did a chest workout and moved some heavy weight.

read the article on getbig.kentomatic.com

i usually drink an energy drink before the gym, but that much caffiene has really been affecting my sleep, and at $2-3 each, it’s getting too expensive. yesterday i bought a case of diet pepsi max, and i think i’ve found my new pre-gym and whenever i need a kick-in-the-pants caffiene drink. it tastes just like regular diet pepsi, and has 70 grams of caffiene (a redbull has 80) it’s just enough without being over the top. the 12 can fridge-pack i bought was only $2.99, so that’s only $.25 each!

too bad i’m not going to the gym for a while :(

after about 6 weeks of light workouts due to a shoulder injury during a chest workout, i’ve recently been starting to lift heavy weights again. yesterday while i was warming up for a dumbell chest workout (with measley 30lb weights), my left ring finger got sandwiched between them and it hurt like hell. i stayed around to spot eric in his workouts as my finger got more swollen and more purple. it hurt so much last night that i decided to go to the doctor this morning and it turns out that i fucking broke it!

so looks like it’ll be another 4-6 weeks before i can grip weights. i can use machines and focus on abs and stuff i guess, but it looks like it won’t be a very big summer for me :(