That's Hot

It's sooo warm right now I think I need to wear a DeFeet Un-D-Shirt to keep the swass under control.

It's all of 3 days post Faiview Circuit race....my legs are still hurting.

Here's a couple pictures I shot after we got set up.


More event photos can be found here Bill's Eye Photgraphy

What a great event. I think it will be even larger next year.

Sick!

Here's a shot of Kurt's SS all built up. It should net some wins this year.

Pimped

Marcroft Cycles gets a mention on BikeHugger. Awesome! They're right too, get your orders in for a sweet ass rain bike soon. With only 3 months before the rain hits there's no time to waste.

General Update

Here's a general update on my favorite subject...me.
(Ordered of importance in life)
Dude: He's doing great. I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since he's entered our lives. Here's a recent picture.

K$ (AKA: Mom): She's also doing great. She's back to working part time at two jobs Today's Hair Salon and SCR Management and taking care of Dude. I don't know how she does it.
Racing/Training: Let's just say there is no faking the funk racing at this level. If I'm not on top of my game I'm getting my ass handed to me. There's still plenty of time to get my ducks in a row before the seasons done.
Marcroft Cycles: Ti is in the works. I'm going to get a couple bikes done for display at the Crusades this year. That and I've had multiple inquires recently about rain bikes. It's getting to be that time of year you know.

Peace

Hot Damn!

Greg Oden is coming to Portland and Zach is going to New York. Kevin Pritchard is a saint.

Good Day 'Eh?

Guess where I'm off to:

Too Much Data

Me and bike computers have a fickle relationship. Most of the time I hate running one and other times I absolutely have to use one. Guess which phase I'm in now...

Now what do I do with this much information?

No Way

Mt Tabor= another DNF.
I'm going deeper now, into a funk I haven't been in in a while....

Followed by some

Singled Out

Check out Kurt "The Hurt's" new frame.

New Training Regime

After getting smoked at the rehersal RR yesterday, this is what I'll be consuming at an alarming rate over the next few weeks.

and

It should do my fitness wonders.

Not Really Much

I don't have much to blog about today but I figured I better post just to post. Although I'm getting a SS MTB back from the painter tomorrow so I'll post a picture or two when I get it.

Fitness-B-Gone

Here's how you eliminate any good fitness you might have.

Sit yo ass in front of the No-Friend-O. Luckily I only did it for an afternoon so I didn't get sucked in too much.
God damn it, I love me some video games though.

Dopes

Everyone doping or at least admitting that they doped, but only a little or maybe a lot. Even P-Dogg is admitting something.

I told dude that Zabel admitted using EPO in the past. He was pissed. Zabel, really? If he did it then the entire pro peloton is on the juice.


K-Man has been having quite a string of bad luck on the bike. Dog bites, busted tires getting his ass beat by me. The list goes on. Lets hope his luck changes soon....we'll not necessarily the last part.

I'm actually going to race this weekend.

Shocking, I know. Silverton road race is tomorrow. I train out there all the time, although I doubt that will keep me from getting thrashed by all the pros in town getting preped for Mt Hood.

Team Milram/Garmin

As you may or may not know, I work for Garmin and we are a sponsor of Team Milram. All the riders are equiped with Edge 305s. and they are racing the Giro right now. As time and internet access permit they are posting the stages to Motion Based. Good stuff, check it out.

The Odd Rolls Again

There's a nice article about how my good buddy Todd 'The Odd' Duncan is recovering from being run over by a car.

Final Push

It just goes to show you that running IS bad for you.

Lab Rat

Last Saturday I visited Herriott Sports Performance in Seattle to do a little testing. In all it was a good experience, the results where positive and somewhat expected; I'm a stud.

Now I can track my progress with follow up tests.

Basso.

Gee, I didn't see that coming, whatever. At least he was kind enough to leave Disco before the S hit the fan. What an ass. Do you think Riis knew about Ivan working with Funetes when he let him go last year from CSC? Hmmmm. It takes a doper to know a doper.

I better news, LWV alum Tom Peterson won a stage at the Gila this weekend. This is what he had to say about his first win.
"I've been waiting for this one for a while. I kept thinking it was just around the corner," he said. "I mean, I should be winning stuff because I'm fast, but I haven't been. I hope this is the first of many to come."
Classy. I like that kind of attitude.

Deal

I've got two brand new Reynolds Ouzo Pro forks that I need to sell. 1.125" Carbon steerer, non integrated, 43mm rake. Never been on a frame, still in the box. $215 ea.

I will consider some fitness in trade for the forks. I seem to be lacking in that department at the moment.

Pruitt take note, dude is none too happy about the quality and styling of eyewear avaliable to infants. Perhaps he can get dialed in on a pair of 'Baby Raptors'

Mother Ship Has Called

Monday I'm flying back to Kansas to visit the main office. It'll be a short trip, I'll be back Wednesday afternoon. Which is good since I don't think I can really be away from dude for much longer than that.

Besides what is there to do in Kansas? I've heard that the have good BBQ. Lovely...beef, that sounds delicious....gag. I've heard the riding is unique. I think ever bike that is sold comes with areo bars attatched. I'm not even taking my bike anyway. At least everyone I talk to at the facility in Kansas is super cool. Maybe they can clue me into why they like to live there.

Here's a picture of dude. He's growing soooo fast.

Bad Prank

I wouldn't normally post this but it's pretty funny.


Wife Prank Call Back Fires - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

Ouch...

Wednesday Night Worlds

There's a local ride in town that's been in existense since the dawn of time, The Wednesday Night World Championships. Basically a race paced ride that uses routes that have been passed down from generation to generation. Each route will use up exactly all the daylight remaining in the day and will be on roads that are vertually car free.

Anyway, today's ride had a first for me. While cresting a hill, I'm 3 wheels back, #2 rider hits the deck. I plow into him and over the bars I go. I land on my hands and nothing else hits the ground. Total damage to me, cut on my finger. Of course I'm too awesome to be riding in gloves so I thank my lucky stars that it's only one cut and not road rash all over my palms. Other guy...broken bars, banged up saddle, ripped jersey and some road rash on his back.

Let's hope that's the only crash of the year.

Fastest Builder

Who is the fastest on their own creation....I think I might be.

John Slawta is pretty quick. I rode with him in Ashland last June on the Mountian Lakes Challenge. He was gasing it pretty hard up Green Springs Hwy. I will say that it was the first climb of a 100+ miler for me. He only did 50ish and didn't drop me.

Sacha is pretty good with the cyclocross. I'm never in shape at that time of year, but if I did race it would be in th A's.

Ira Ryan does crazy long races. The longest I've ridden on one day is 155 miles. In any 'normal' road race i think I'd have him covered.

Mike D still rides when he's not up to his eyeballs in orders so that's not even fair.

Maybe we should have an exhibition race to decide it. Or maybe I should just sell some more bikes and not worry about who's fastest.

Hipster Bingo

Best played in downtown PDX or any Cross Crusade after party.

PoC

Piece of Cake...not really. I did manage to finish somewhere in the top half. Nothing like coming to a complete stop 300 meters before the finish line. They really should move the finish for that race.

Did I mention I might be going to the Sea Monkey. I'll find out next week. They always need help in the Garmin booth and since I'm the only cat 2 in the company it makes sense for me to be involed with the product line....right?

One Down

One more to go.

Ice Breakah was today and it was a family deal as Kristin and Noah were in tow. Dude is pretty portable and Kristin needed to get out of the house for a bit. As far as the race it's self went...Rubicon TTT off the front. Oh well, they basically get paid to race their bikes.

Tomorrow will be a whole lot of fun as Piece of Cake will be on the agenda. That race stinks...no hills, not even an overpass. Rumor has it Donald will be there sporting those tri-spokes he loves so much. That'll make the race much more relaxing I'm sure, nothing like announcing to the entire field what you plan on doing. Of course, lately, there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it anyway.

Marcroft Cycles T-Shirt

I'm going to order up some t-shirts to use as promotional tools. I'll be able to schwag out all the local shops and give me something to wear that isn't 6 years old.

Sleep Deprived Racing

Today was Banana Belt #3. When I showed up everyone was congratulating me on the arrival of the dude. I really didn't do much of the work to get him here but what the heck I'll take some of the glory. Thanks everyone.

The race went a little something like this. Pain, this isn't so bad, pain, not so bad, pain, not so bad....anyway you get the picture. I finished with the main bunch and thought about getting into position to sprint but thought otherwise. Some day soon I'm going to full on sprint in a 1,2 race. I think I can hold my own. BTW Zach won...barring a DQ'd.

Per request, here's another picture of dude.

Take That Suckas!

To all the degative Nellies out there that said 'As soon as the baby comes your riding days are done.' I give you this....4 days post birth and I'm heading out for a ride.

The Future of US Cycling

Introducing Noah Reed Marcroft. 8lb 1oz of fury. Bringing the pain in 2022.
Mom and baby are doing fantastic.

Thanks for reading

Not Yet...

So K$ is ready for the dude to arrive, as she's starting to get a tad uncomfortable. I say a 'tad' because as we're doing last minute mods to the dude’s room she's still moving the crib, rearranging drawers and such without much difficulty. Not to mention she's still working and the due date is the 8th.

As for my readiness....I'm taking a 'we'll deal with it as it comes stance.'

Whoa Now!

For some reason the rumor is floating around that JZA of RaceOregon is me. It's not. Tell your friends.

The site sure is getting people worked up though. It's going to make racing this year just a little more exciting.

O Money

So Omer put his name out there in a big way today. Nothing like spending 140km off the front to make your sponsors happy.

Way to go ace, I knew you had it in you. Just think, you were only 40kms from a custom bike from yours truly.

First Race Ever??

You'd think so by how wicked nervous I am. It's silly how shaky I am this morning, I'm trying to get my mind off this race by designing some bikes but it's not working. My head keeps coming back to this race and it's not even that important of an event.

I probably shouldn't have looked at the pre-registered athletes. Doug O is signed up which means he'll probably have Evan in tow. I've heard that the entire CMG squad will be there hell bent on smacking everyone around. We'll have at least 5 guys which means we'll need to be represted in every break or we get to bring it back. Today will be a bunch of suffering followed be another healthy dose of suffering. I can't believe I wanted this.

At least I'm not in Omer's shoes...first race of the year being to biggest race of the year for the squad. Ouch.

Piece of Pie

The OBRA road season is starting up this weekend. I think I'm ready for it...I don't know. I'm sure I' have more fitness than last year but I'm not sure. My wieght is about that same as it was 12 months ago but I can't seem to recall. I am positive of one thing, I really want to race. It's been too long of an 'off-season.'

Marcroft Cycles is chill'n. Ready to take orders. Any orders for bikes. If you need a bike let me know. My books are empty. I can fit you right in.....Actually it might be a good thing I'm not booked up with orders. With the dude coming soon, I don't think anyone is interested in a sleep deprived frame.

1980...

Like everyone else, I had a Big Wheel that I ripped around the neighborhood on. I also did a little racing on it. I won the Low Rider Rally two years in a row. I was five years old and it was my first taste of competition, leg powered competition at that!

I knew there were some photos of the race floating around my parents house and wouldn't you know it they found 'em. Check it out, 1980.


That's me in the blonde hair, #32 jersey and black big wheel. It even had rear wheel farings on it. I remember being super nervous before that heat race. I thought everyone was way bigger than me....story of my life really.


The start of a heat race. I'm second in from the right. That's my old man behind me. He looks pretty stoked about the start I got.


Little Brian wasn't aware of the proper finishline pose. Both hands in the air, pointing to the heavens.

2007 Race Bike

I got my new bike together yesterday and rode it today. Owning a frame shop means never getting to many mile on one bike.

It's made from Columbus Spirit steel. I have my wheels for training on it right now but it'll have carbons on it soon enough. I'm going to leave it set-up for racing only. It should be under the UCI weight limit. I'll get a scale on it soon.

2007 OBRA Digits

I received my OBRA membership in the mail today. After racing for 4 years with the same lame ass number, 565, I got a new number with my upgrade. 118. Funny because that's my goal wieght for the year too.

Rain Bike

Here are some pictures of a rain bike I did. Of course the fenders are off and the cross tires are on. I guess it's a multi-purpose bike too.

Been Known to Shred

I started off, back in the day, racing mountian bikes. It's been about 10 years since I've got a new frame, well that's about to change. Check it out, it's not quite done but pretty close. I'm going to pair this frame with a 100mm White Bros fork or a 100mm Fox fork. It should be a plush ride.



BTW, it's fricking cold out.

Count Down...

So the clock is counting down, only a month before the season starts and less than 2 months before 'the dude' arrives. Let's just say I'm less than prepared for either one.

My fitness is starting to come around but since this will be my first year in the 2's I have very little idea of what to expect. Sure it's going to hurt and be difficult, but by how much? All I can do is continue with my coaches plan and go out and race when the time comes.

As far as prepping for the babies arrival, we are set as far as physical belongings. It's the mental prep that I'm falling behind on. I'm a little freaked out about being responible for another life. Babies are so fragile in body and mind, how am I going to keep from hurting either one? At least I'm not doing this alone. I'm so grateful to have Kristin, she's going to make a great mother. With luck, she'll be able to mask any of my short comings as a father.

Quit Taunting...

I've been riding a lot lately, in the rain, in the cold, in the cold rain, and it sucks. Saturday was no different, cold and rainy. I was hanging out waiting for the 10:00 ride to start and my phone beeps at me, I got a text message. Cool, so off comes one pair of gloves, then the other pair. I undo my rain cape, fish around in my pockets to find my phone. Who is it....ODogg, he says, "Weather's great in Cali, have a good ride." Bastard! I don't want to hear it. Whatever, sure he get's nice weather to ride in but he also get's his ass beat on a regular basis by Levi. Who wants that? Not me...welll maybe for just a week or two.

Anyway, I have just the thing to beat the nasty NW winter weather. Here's some shoots of a rain bike I just got back from the powder-coater.





We got the bike built up last week in time to ride in the rain this weekend. I'll get some shots on the finished product soon.

Live and Direct

After some doing Marcroft Cycles has a web presence. Of course it's not the best, but it's a start. I have some tweaks I need to do to give the site a sharper look and of course get a better gallery added.

Saturday Extremes

Today I woke up to a 26°F temperature and icy street. Great way to start a 6 hour ride. I cautiously rolled down to Scott's Cycle for the 7:30 ride. When I get there nobody is kitted up and they're trying to figure out where to go to breakfast...whatever, it's not that bad out. Anyway Kyle Gritters was in town and he was at the shop ready to roll, so roll we did with two other brave souls. It was a great ride, a little sketchy at times but great none the less. About 1.5 hours into the ride disaster strikes. As we were all riding relaxed, feeling that the ice was not a problem, we turned left onto a side road. First down, Kyle. Second down, Matt, after rolling over Kyle rear wheel. Third down, Lauren. Of course I stayed upright because I was on my custom made Marcroft that tracks superbly in the snow and ice. After the melee we were down a rear wheel and a rear derailuer on Kyles bike. After jimmying it back together we limped back to the shop. Luckily the temperature was rising, Steve and John got the bike running again and we were able to continue the trek. Six hours, 3000Kjl.

Vertical Integration

I've been trying to get a website up for Marcroft Cycles for quite some time now. Well, after coming to the realization that someting on the web is better than nothing, I started work on the site myself. I'm no programer but I was able to get a program that writes all the html code for you. Here's a sneak peak.

I'm going to try to get the site uploaded this week and a better gallery dialed in.

I hope the pictures of me aren't too much. I'm just trying to bring sexy back.

It Figures

The day after Christmas and I don't have to work. Great time to burn off some holiday calories....in crappy weather. I'm so tired of riding in the rain.

Titanium Push

I've decided to push forward with offering titanium bikes. This is quite a large undertaking as the costs are much greater than building steel bikes. I only need to do a few things to the shop to get it dialed in for building bikes out of Ti. I'll need to do a proof bike too. I wonder what kind of bike I should build? I already have 4 road bikes, 2 mountian bikes, a TT bike, track bike and cross bike. It'll probably be another road bike, they get used the most.

Marcroft Cycles Flyer

I had this flyer made up about 6 months ago. It went up in a few shops around town. Check it out.

Frames

Here are some frames:


This is my new road bike for next year. Columbus Spirit tubing, it's sick light.


Doug's bike back from the painter. I'm looking forward to seeing this built up. Should be sweet.


David's rain bike finally with all the braze-ons. Still nasty with the flux too. It'll be back from the powder coater by Christmas and ready to ride for the new year.


Marcroft Cycles quality control going over a frame...it passed.

Finishing Up

I always do this. I'll end up with two or three bikes 80% finished. This weekend I should have them done and ready for the painter. I'll post a few pictures before they go out the door.

Trimmed Up

I almost busted a gut when I saw this.

Enough Already

Alright we get it, cyclocross racers are 'zany, cooky, dudes.' They like to drink beer and wear speedos while racing in knee deep mud. But you know what, when everyone else is doing it, you're no longer unique.

Cyclocross was at one time a fringe sport of another fringe sport (road racing). Now it's all mainstream. I mean the New York Time ran an article about it for christs sake.



Whatever.

Goes Around, Comes Around

After one seriously wet and nasty November, December starts out with blue sky and great rides. We'll see how long it lasts.

I have a theory: Every year we accumulate X number of inches of rain. Every year its roughly the same number. That means we ARE going to get X inches of rain. The question is how are we going to receive it. One week, 5 inches followed by a week of nice, or will it be steady drizzle for a month? I prefer a nasty week followed by a nice period. I guess we're in that nice period.

Some Bikes

I'm too tired to efficiently build bikes this evening so I thought I'd post some pictures of some bikes Ive already built.


Anthony's Road Bike. This photo doesn't do the finish justice. It's certainly the color of money


My TT bike. Don't let the 54T front ring fool you, I'm still slow on it.


Chris's TT frame. I really like this orange. In fact I think this will be the color for my next road frame.


David's rain bike in progress. It just needs brazing and a Canadian flag, eh.