Crapped Out Weather

I'm usually not ne to complain about the weater but I've had enough rain for the year. Every frickin ride is in the rain. I looked at the alminac for January and we've had like 9 extra inches of rain above the average for the month. How much does that suck?

I hate my rain bike right now. It's heavy, not aero, barely shifts, and rides like a wet noodle. I think I'm going to market the ultimate Oregon winter training bike. It'll be Ti with disc brakes, big tire and fender clearance. The cockpit geometry will match the riders road race bike. I think I could sell a ton of these around here.

What A Releif

so, my dad and I went to Springfield to check out a Bridgeport mill. I wasn't getting my hopes up for this machine to be the right one. When we arived at this dudes place he took us to hs back yard where he had the shop. This yard was nasty, tons of leaves rotting on the ground, an old dune buggy in the corner of the lot. This wasn't you normal setting for buying a machine tool. As we entered the shop he explained to us that he was in the proccess of moving back into tis shop from his old location in Eugene. Fair enough, that explains the mess. We made our way to the far end of the building into a bay that was filled with machines. New mills, old mills, CNC mills, mills that had gone though fires, probably $150K worth of equipment. We zig-zagged between machine to the one he thought I might be most interested in. I was a beauty. I had to restrian myself from yelling out within the first 30 seconds, "I'll take it!" We talked back and forth about the mill and its history and what needed to be done to it, then I said "1300 bucks huh, well, I guess I'll take it." Hell yah I'll take it! I scored big time. He told me later that if he did any work to it it would be listed for $2000+.

This is the final piece to the Marcroft Cycles puzzle. I'll be up and building bike in my garage by the second week of February. It looks like I might actually get my demo/race bike done for the first race of the season.

Mill Arrh Time

I realized I needed too get a mill of my own when I was leaving the shop I was using with nothing to show for my 5 hours of work other than a bunch of frustration. This sent me into panic mode. I need to find a mill of my own. I've been on the phone to every used machine tool seller in the state trying to find a good mill. You would think with all the industry around I could find one with the quicks but you'd be wrong. After spending a better part of the day on the phone leaving messages I found one in Springfield that I'm going to check out this Saturday. I hope it'll work for me, I've got a pile of Marcroft decals to get on frames.

Bo-Yah!

I'm in business, well sorta. At least the welder is up and running.

I'm checking out a used milling machine tomorrow. If I get it I will be completly self sufficient and can work at my own pace. Where the hell am I going to fit the machine though?

Power On

It looks like I'll be welding this weekend. I have everything I need to fire up my Lincoln welder. I'm pretty stoked to get that thing dialed in because I'll have mittered tubes for my road and TT bike I'll be racing next year to weld up. It's going to be bad ass.

Pizza

I haven't posted for a while now and Anthony was giving me shit about it so here's a post just for him.

In my fatty days I've been known to put a hurt into a large pie from any and all pizza joints. Now it's a treat to mack a slice of heaven so I have to make it count. Here's my top 5 pizza places in town.

5. Pizza Peddler in Aumsville. I know it's outta town but they have a garlic crust that rocks and everytime we roll through town you can smell the pizzas cooking. Mmmmm.

4.Prime Time. They deliver. It's not super greasy and heavy.

3. Lefty's. New York style pies and they have specialty pies too. My favorite is their chicken pesto.

2. Wallery's. I grew up (and out) on this pizza parlor style pie. Damn it's good. 10 bucks for a large one topping. At that price everyone gets their own.

1. Padington's Pizza. Hands down the best in Salem. Order a pepperoni and mushroom, you won't be disapointed. Maybe after I win my first race I go there and celebrate.

2006: Year of Breakthroughs, I Hope.

After this weekend of rest and relaxation I had at the beach I'm ready to take on the challenges of 2006. Kristin and I got away for the weekend. It was great to be away from the bike for a couple days. It was also good to step away from Marcroft Cycles for a bit. Now I'm refreshed and ready to rock.