R & R

There is nothing sweeter than escaping to vacationland for a few days of R & R. However with the twin chaos machines in tow, it's less R & R and more hanging out by the wiggly bridge, town dock and the Fort. All of which is fine by me. A weekend spent eating fried clams, ice cream with some good beer can really help recharge the system not too mention a night out with good friends talking like adults over some Tapas and wine. We had a great night here: CAVA. Food and wine pairings were perfect although it did put hurt on the wallet, it was worth every penny. Since we were having such a good time, we had to round the night out at The Rosa (Rosa's) with some pizza and mussels. Probably the best mussels in new england but don't take my word on that. An epic evening of food, wine, and good conversation. I think over the course of the weekend the elder chaos machine and I must have thrown a few hundred rocks into the harbor, terrorized a dozen or so green crabs and had at least three of the most interesting conversations with the local lobsterman.

The Giro is moving along and Levi is not. I'm not sure if he has the fitness yet or the killer instinct to really put the hurt on. Either way, its been a fun one to read and follow. The Weather this week isn't that spectacular so commuting should curtailed which is fine becuase there are too many errands to run after to work that can't be done if I were biking. Its kind of tough to strap a case of Size 5 diapers to your back (192 count) or 5 months of long overdue dry cleaning. Now that wedding season is approaching, time clean the suit and the few dress shirts. Get rid of last years wrinkles, stains, dust and spit-up (not my own). Can't beat 99 cents a shirt. But we will see, might just ride the iron giant anyways since the legs are feeling good and the temperatures are still relatively mild and nice (despite the rain).

In the next few weeks there might be an ESC sighting along the river....but I'd believe an economist before I believe that.

New Gloves

With my commuting time increasing and summer temps rapidly approaching, its time for new gloves. I generally like gloves with some minimal padding, gel or extra layers of fabric material. I was using a pair of Pearl Izumi Aerator, or something like that. These gloves were light but the padding was terrible. There was a HUGE gel strip at the base of your palm that was too thick as well as a large gel pad at the base of the fingers, also to thick. The gel pad never really shrunk down over time and if the gloves were just a bit off and not fitted properly the gel pads were more of a nuisance than a benefit. However the space between the thumb and pointer finger did not wear out from riding on the hoods too much, an added bonus. A down fall of two other brands of gloves (Addidas and Sette) These full finger gloves were good for cooler days and warmer days. I wear full finger gloves becuase if you wipe out, picking gravel and sand out of your scrapes is not an enjoyable experience. Just a matter of personnal preference.

So this leads me to my latest acquisition. AXO - Kicker Full gloves. They retail on PricePoint for 9.95 right now. Price subject to change depending on what day you look at the website. These gloves are simple. The have a very light palm fabric that is thin, filled with breathable holes. There is ZERO padding....so you feel the bars and all the road vibrations 100% of the time. These gloves don't have a velco strap but rather they are the new slip-on-cuff style. I like that feature. Also each finger tip has PLENTY of silicon gripper material so your fingers stick to the levers easily. The two down sides i see to this glove are that you get what you pay for. A glove that will breath really well but not last that long. The palm material is thin and not reinforced on the high-contact areas and more importantly, where do i wipe by running nose? The Pearl Izumi's had a nice terry cloth section for booger collection, the AXO only have a synthetic leather peice that could be quit abrassive later on. However we will see how they stand up to the commute and weather. They are plain and easy on the eyes. Graphics and logos are not obtrusive. Maybe i'll get techinally advanced and take a picture and post it. Off for the weekend......

The daily Commute

Since i got two young chaos machines at home....the time to train let alone race is non-existant. My commute begins at 6:15am and i'm in the office by 7am...back out the door at 4:15 and home by 5/5:15 depending on traffic. Then its family time which is currently more important than training. I want to say that in a few years i'll get back into it when the chaos machines are older and off playing soccer and more independant. I do miss the racing, the preperation of the day before, the start line nerves, but I see the bigger picture and few years off maybe with some limited handfull of events will only make it that much better later on down the road

So the long of the short is...pedals. Right now I'm commuting on the Redline and or the Giant. Both of which have Crank Brother Candy SL pedals. The Cross bike and Road bike also share Crank Brother products. The Road pedals, Quattro SLs have been pretty awsome and smooth, no problems, however it is the Candy's that are crap. I have broken three pedals in less than 12 months. The tines just open up to much and won't accept the cleat. The spring slides out of place. Luckily crank brothers has decent customer service and will repair them for free ( i just pay shipping). I think there is problem with the design on the longevity of these pedals. I might have to save up and switch all bikes back over to Shimano XT pedals. I liked the platform of the pedal but the constant un-reliability of the product is wearing thin.

Hopefully i'll get my commute photo's up and you can enjoy those artistic masterpieces.