Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Sunday, 3/4ths of the team got out on the wet/salty/icy roads for a nice, long, training ride. Jeremy, Steve and I met at the courthouse and then headed across the Westover Bridge where we saw Leiw standing beside the road like a stray dog. We proceeded north on Rt. 100 and made a right off that lovely piece of tarmac onto Taylertown Rd. From here all I can recall is the name of the towns we road through. So I remember Bobtown, Carmicheles, Garards Fort, Kirby, Mt. Morris and back to town. I need to get one of those fancy GPS thinys. I like to play around with maps and just looks like a cool toy.

Man it was great to get out for a good road ride. Steve was feeling fresh, he road out front most of the day. Jeremy was working on his spin, while I was just trying to hang on after an already full week of riding. Had a bad cause of acid legs.

Jeremy was giving me some good technical tips on the P.A. big rollers.....Thanks, dude.

I ended up with around 4 hrs. in the saddle and one crud covered road bike........Breaks my heart to see her that filthy.

Got back home in time to go to a friends house to watch the Steelers squeak out a Super Bowl wim......Way to go Steelers! Super Bowl XLIII Champs! #1 Football team in the world!

This week I start a new job, so I'll crank it down for a recovery week before ramping up for another phase. This weekend's weather is looking promising, maybe I'll see you crazy kids out play'n on your bikes.

Later,

Josh

All yeah, Chip came upon on old picture of Steve and Jeremy when they use to race at the Velodrome. That's Jeremy on Steve's wheel if you couldn't tell.

I've got some hot sneak peak pics. of Steve's Trek 69er 3x9. Not much right now, but if this is any indication..............WOW!

Steve swears by the 69er, but hopefully we'll hear his own comments on the subject since he is now an official author. 2 down 2 to go. Ok, Ok enough suspense.........Check it out.

While down at the LBS, I was able to sweet talk Jeremy into fixing the free hub for my Rig's rear hub. Blew out a paw.......Ouch! Turns out he'll do about any thing for an Arby's Melt.

Then it was back to the house to drag myself down to the "Man Cave" to ride the torture device (aka the trainer) for a few hours. But I got to look forward to some Tia, Guinness and a movie. All quite worth it.

Later,

Josh

Josh's Race Bike - In Progress

So I want to do some continuing posts on the team's race bikes and how they are coming together/coming apart. Take some pics. and comment on how things work for us.

I'll start with my SuperFly, since that's all I have pics. of right now.

1st off, THIS BIKE ROCKS! Nude carbon frame, 29er wheels and throw in some cool components and you've got a bad A race machine. Big hoops smooth out the trails and the light rigid frame is solid for the ups. I like it a loooot.

This bike has a few races on it last year but has been hung up since the Dirt Derby. I've been slowly collecting some new components/upgrades.

1. New 29ers, Bongrager Race X Lite. DT Swiss Hubs

2. New drive train/Shifters: Sram 990 Cassette/Sram 991 chain/Sram XO Rear Derailleur/Sram XO twisties

I've switched to twist shifters cause I have short stubby fingers so the less reaching I have to do the better. And I like the positive action of the 1:1 twisters.

I still need some new chain rings and BB. Both are shot. Half way through the Dirt Derby I was limited to granny gear and big ring cause middle ring was crapped out. BB hasn't been the same since the Blackwater race, probably still some blackwater in there.

3. New Seat Post: Bontrager Race X Lite. Had to replace cause the old one had a real nice crack in it. Side effect of being a 185 lbs. rider.

4. Got a couple sets of new tires. Bontrager Jones ACX 29er & Bontrager XDX.

Haven't put em on yet. Going to wait to see what conditions are as we get closer to race time. Anyone that remembers me from last year probably saw me along the trail a lot fixing flats. Hope to change that this year. Ran the XDX's towards the end of last season and had a lot more success than Specialized Captain's. XDX has higher air volume and hooks up well. Haven't used the ACX's yet, but hear good things from the Rowand bros. Think I'll use them for early season wet/muddy conditions. Both will be ran tubeless. I'm crossing my fingers that they fix this problem.

So that's whats going on with my race'n bike. Can't wait to get it all put together and dialed in. Hold'n off though so I'm not tempted to take it out in this sucky, nasty weather. Want to maximize the race life of all the components.

Here's what I'm riding in the mean time:

Trek Fuel EX 9 & Gary Fisher Rig SS & Specialized Allez Comp

Stay tuned for updates on the rest of Team RowMan+'s rides.

Later,

Josh

And Here We GOOOOOOOO!

Welcome one and all to the Team RowMan+ Blog.

We are a group of somewhat like minded friends and cyclists from Morgantown, WV that have combined our efforts and organized our energy to throw down at the races. Mostly do the fat tar thing but we'll hit the tarmac too. The team preference is for 29er variety of nobbies cause they roll smooth and easy over the rough and hard stuff, yeah baby!

Team Members:

Josh (Director Sportiff/Racer) -

Race bikes: Gary Fisher SuperFly, Trek Fuel EX 9, Specialized Allez Comp

Ryan (Coach/Racer):
Race bikes: Gary Fisher SuperFly

Jeremy (Racer/Wrench):

Race Bikes: Gary Fisher SuperFly, Specialized FSR 29er, Specialized Tarmac ProSteve (Racer/Wrench):

Race Bike: Trek 69er 3x9, LeMond noodle thingy?

So thats us. We can be found riding around town, riding Bakers Ridge, White Park, Coopers Rock, Big Bear Lake and roads all around Motown. Some work at the local bike shop (lbs), Wamsley Cycles others just come down to fix crap we have broken the day before. By we, I mean me, I have a bad habit of crushing bike parts. A habit I am trying to remedy.

We've got some high hopes for this season on the WVMBA circuit and going to branch out to some big regional races. The team has been training hard, riding in the cold, snow and ice and prepping race rigs to be ready for better weather and come on better weather. This winter riding is fun for awhile but I'm starting to miss that thing called traction.

Thats all for now, just a short intro but stay tuned for more kids. I'll try to get the rest of the team involved, but some resist this techy type stuff.

Trainer riding time, Oh No!