Back Where I Come From

Huderite Colony
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

No, No, I'm not going to start doing a song of the day Danny, and don't take offense, but Kenny might not have been my first choice even if I were. Also contrary to the title of the picture, I don't come from a Huderite Colony. This is a picture of the majestic Lewis and Clark Lake west of Yankton, S.D. the town I call home. As the winter drags on, and we await another cold spell here in Colorado, I'm reminded more and more of home. Most people wouldn't think of South Dakota of a tropical paradise, and it isn't, not by any stretch of the definition. Lately, however, whenever I spend large amounts of time there it happens to have been summer. It's amazing to look at the beauty of Yankton now that I don't reside there. The whole time I lived in Yankton, 1985-1999, I was ready to get out. I knew my parents loved the town, and the surrounding country, and I sat on top of our hill with my dad as we took in sunsets and stared out into the valley. It was pretty and I knew he loved it, so I stood there and acted as enthralled as I could but in the back of my mind I was wishing I was watching the sun set over something more strikingly beautiful, such as the mountains here in Colorado. Now that I'm 650 miles away from the Yankton sunsets I can finally see the real beauty in them. I had the priviledge this summer to live on that very hill and watch the sun set over the same valley. Now I find myself here in Greeley, if I want to I can find somewhere to watch the sun set on the mountains any day that its clear. I can go drive or ride some of the most beautiful roads in the nation, but at the end of the day you know what image remains burned into my mind? Sitting on our deck this summer as the sun was setting, turning the sky red, orange, and purple makes me wish I'd never moved away. I guess what they say about the grass always being greener is the truth. Don't get me wrong, I love Colorado, and I'll probably spend the rest of my life here, but thats not to say I don't want to be back home sometimes.

I've got some homework to do before it gets too late so I better get on that. I know this update doesn't have a whole lot to do with my training or cycling at all, but to be honest, my cycling isn't all that interesting right now. Maybe I'll have more to write about a month from now when I'm tasting blood and trying not to puke at the end of every race. Thanks for reading, to those of you who haven't experienced it, hopefully someday you'll have the priviledge to watch the sunset from the deck of the Carlson Manor.

Along the Drive

Along the Drive
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

See, the picture speaks for itself.

Back when I used to pour 'crete' for a living....

The Good Old Days
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

I'm finally starting to get better. It seems like I've been sick forever, but not as long as I've been without a car. Today marks two weeks since I took my car in to get 1 dent and the tail light fixed and they're still waiting on a decklid, but once that gets in they'll "get 'er painted up and she'll be outta there tomorrow." I've heard this everyday this week when I call in to check on it, evidently the OEM parts from Subaru suck and the decklids are all dented when they get them, this is the 4th one they've ordered. Anyway, I just want my car back so hopefully they figure out how to fix a car and they can get it together in a day or two. Normally I wouldn't mind riding my bike where ever I want to go but its been cold and I've been sick. Today is really nice and I have a massage scheduled in one hour so the day just keeps getting better. I went in to iBike yesterday and built some bikes for Mike. They've been getting in high-end inventory like no other for the past couple weeks. It looks like a whole new shop. Anyone from the Greeley area, I urge you to stop in and check it out. I think I might go build some more bikes after my massage. I haven't had fun working on bikes in a long time but I really enjoy hanging out with the guys there. I posted a picture from the last awesome job I had. By far the most fun I've ever had on a job, but that's what happens when you have an outstanding boss and couple of foremen. Anyway, I hope you get better Mark so you can enjoy Brussels while you are there. Thanks for reading everyone, maybe I'll update two days in a row soon.

Pretty Big Day

TT Set Up
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

I woke up this morning feeling much better then yesterday, but still not 100%. My fever is gone, but I'm still pretty plugged up and my throat feels like crap and my voice sounds the same. I've been sucking down the Halls Mentho-Lyptus cough drops and they've been working their magic all day. My dad turned me on to these cough drops a long time ago, and I have to agree, they work like nothing else. I did my presentation in Espanol today and we totally rocked. We went 2 minutes 12 seconds and we only had to go 2 minutes. After that I came home and laid around for a while before Mike called me with the good news that my stuff had come in. Jordan took me out tonight for our belated Valentines dinner, so we stopped on our way out of town and I got my aero bars, mtb stem, chain, and aero brake levers. We went to a Cambodian restaurant in Longmont that was really good. We had some peanut chicken stuff that I loved (for those of you who didn't know, I'm a bit of a peanut butter fan). We also had this Vietnamese Coffee that was like an iced latte made with sweet and condensed milk instead of regular milk like a latte. Probably not as healthy as the non-fat latte, but it tasted kind've like a latte made with frosting, not a bad thing at all. After we got back I had the pleasure of putting the AB's on my bike. I think it looks pretty sweet with the whole TT set up. I don't have housing for the shifters yet, but I will tomorrow. We'll see how big of a pain it ends up being to switch back and forth between normal and TT set up. Hopefully it won't be too bad. I just need to get a 55t ring and I'll be ready for the TT's. Well I think thats all, once again I didn't get my car back yet, but what did I really expect. Maybe tomorrow I'll be luckier, and if I feel better Voy a montar mi bicicleta en mi casa porque el nieve.

Adios

I'm sick

Tylenol Cold
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Sorry I haven't updated in quite some time. I started getting sick at the beginning of the week, and it finally caught up with me today. I woke up feeling horrible, fever, cough, chills, shakes, sinus headache, etc.... Anyway, I called in to work and told them I couldn't come in so I hit up the Tylenol Cold Night Time and slept all morning. I woke up around noon or so and watched TV for a little while before I fell asleep again. This afternoon I took a little Day Time formula so I could get my homework done for tomorrow. Tomorrow could be a big day. I'm supposed to get my car back, my aero bars are supposed to come in, and most importantly I have a presentation in Espanol con mi amiga Samantha. Nosotros hablamos en la clase. Hablamos sobre nos padres, y perros. Es muy interesante. Thats all for now, I'm gonna go sleep a little more. Thanks for stopping in. I know this probably put you to sleep Chap, but you didn't have to read it if it's that dull.

Trainer Daze

P1010064
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

I hate the rollers. Thought I would start this entry in a very negative way since I've been hearing I'm too negative on here. Anyway, the snow hasn't melted yet so I rode the rollers yesterday. I only did about an hour and half though so it really wasn't that bad. Doing thirds made the time move twice as fast since every 5 minutes I'm doing something differently, and since I don't have a cadence monitor that works right now, I was counting and calculating every minute or so. It really makes the time tick by, plus we set my computer up out in the living room so I could ride with Scott and we watched Pro. Today I only had one class (mexican), and we got our tests back. I got a B, but I should have done better. I'll have to study a little more next time. It's warming up and everything is melting so I think I'll be able to bundle up and ride outside this afternoon. I got some new leg warmers yesterday so I'll have to give them a test drive. I let you all know how they work.

I wonder if I'll fail the whole semester if I miss a week of class for the Gila?

Weekend Visitor

Whoops
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Sorry I haven't updated in quite some time, but I had a visitor who I was trying to entertain. My buddy Bob came down from Vail this weekend, to get his car fixed on Saturday a.m. and just left Monday afternoon. I wonder why there was anything wrong with his car? He usually takes great care of it. By the way, this is a picture of Bob's car this summer after a thunderstorm. I know it's identical to my car, I copied him, look really close though and you'll see that is a Yankton license plate, not Sioux Falls. We had a good time this weekend though, Saturday we hit up all the great places of Greeley, Romas, the Rio, and topped it off at a concert at one of the classier establishments in town, Scooters. Scooters is a smoky little bar with a snaggle toothed bouncer who evidently didn't realize how to read an ID so I got to watch the show. The band was awesome, it was called Turn 4 and the stand up bass player is Steve from Roubaix Bicycle Company. He's one of the best mechanics I've ever met and he knows his way around a bass as well. They played a little Ween and Hank III, so of course everyone had a good time. I've got some cycling club stuff to do tonight, then early to bed. I got sick from Bob, Scott, and Jordan who have all been sick in the last week. Thats all for now, hopefully the snow will melt and I'll be able to get some good pictures from a ride tomorrow.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: Mark Chase

Mark Chase
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Wow, I just realized I must have made it big. I've begun to cut ties with people and Mark, you are the first one. I always knew once I started getting pretty well known I'd have to let some friends go, so what better time to start then now?! Anyway, I got this really mean letter today about how bad my site sucks, yada yada, so I figured he'd be a good friend to let go first. I guess it's just a part of stardom, have to make sure you forget all the little people. I appreciate all of your support and encouraging comments you've been leaving, do me one more favor though and shoot Mark a really mean email. His address is chillido90@hotmail.com so any words of anger or hate would be awesome. Other then this, my day was rather dull. I took my car in to get fixed from where it got hit in the snow a few weeks ago. A dented trunklid and cracked taillight and the estimate was 1800 dollars. I'm really glad now that the kid left his info and didn't pull a hit and run. I rode Scott's fixed gear home from that place, did some laundry, cleaned my room a little, then showered and went and got a massage. It was awesome, the last week of base and yesterday's world championship group ride had left me pretty tight and sore so Amy worked me good. It ended up going like an hour and a half so I guess I got hooked up once again. No bikes today, although I'm looking into what wheels I'll be racing this year. I've got my old Bontragers, Scotts Kysriums, or I might be able to wrestle Nicky's Kysriums, or Zipp 303's away from her after she gets all her team stuff, we'll see. Scott's need some work from a crash he had last year, so we'll see how much that will end up being. Check out this kids site http://patkennedy.blogspot.com Pretty funny story, I think he probably made it all up though (he's a pathological liar with a slight meth problem) Thanks for not hassling me the way some supposed "friends" do. I love you Mark

My New Helmet

My New Helmet
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

There is it ladies and gents, 40 bucks.

That'd be a good ride, ba ha he ha

P1010018
Originally uploaded by wenzelracing.

So I went for the group ride today from iBike and I have to say, it hurt. We did the normal MWF route, but the attacks were flying, every time someone would get realed in another person was flying off the front. Highway 34 was the worst, If I wasn't chasing I was attacking, and just when I'd get caught I'd be chasing some other flyer. Overall it was a great ride, and I think we definitely showed the other shops in town (you know which one I'm talking about) that iBike shouldn't be messed with, we definetely have got the horsepower. After the ride Scooter and I took this tandem around the parking lot a little, then down to the coffee shop. Note the coffee on the front rack. Also note the bucket that Scott has on his head. Sorry this has been pretty boring, hey Chap, is this more exciting if I use a bunch of !!!!!!'s in the middle, I wouldn't want to put you to sleep like you were giving me crap about at the shop today.

Justin called me today and asked for a couple movie recommendations, here they are in no particular order. Pro, School of Rock, Big Fish, Pro, Terminal, Wicker Park, Garden State, Gia, Basic Instinct, Mystic River, Pro, 21 Grams, Miracle, Monster, Fatal Attraction, Mona Lisa Smile, Pro, Anchorman, Unfaithful, Laurel Canyon, and finally Pro. That's all I can think of right now, if you have any questions or would like reviews on any of the above I'd be glad to help out, just let me know. As you can tell I'm pretty into Pro right now, I think I'll watch it.

Pro The Movie

Pro Banner
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Yesterday was quite a productive day. After sleeping in and drinking coffee I stopped in at Steve's to check on my TT bars but they were backordered. I just happened to get there as the Giro rep offered his demo helmets real cheap, I thought to myself, 125 bucks is real cheap for an Atmos, no thanks. After he told me it would be 45 for the special edition Atmos's, I'm now the proud new owner of a Cofidis edition Atmos. Scott got a white one. After this, we went and got some Quesadillas, dropped Scott off for a massage, and sat at iBike for 2 hours while he got rubbed down. I picked him up, took him to iBike to order some tires, then bombed down to Boulder to watch "Pro" the movie. It's a documentary about the USPRO championships in Philly every June. The race was awesome and the movie was just as cool. It's just my kind of deal, inside info on team meetings, pros standing around hanging out and a totally sweet race. 156 miles with 10 ascents of "The Wall" a huge hill plus 13 ascents of Lemon Hill, no small bump, as well as some insane leadouts leading into the Wall. Anyway, you should all see it if you want to know what the excitement of bike racing is all about. I bought it and already watched it again. The movie was a showing for this Family Learning Center to raise money to get kids on bikes so all the big names where there. Andy Hampsten spoke, Ann Trombley, Chris Wherry, Timmy Duggan, and Travis Brown, plus some more, I guess Eddy Gragus was there too, and Scott Moniger, well it was Boulder, everyone was there. It was a lot of fun and a lot of the Rocky Mounts / Izze guys were there. Scott is all suited up so I better get going, we're headed to iBike for a group ride with all the shop owners around town. I think I'm gonna put the wood to Andy on a couple climbs, you know I'll be pretty quick with that Atmos on my head. Cross your fingers for more pictures tonight.

Seems like I spent my whole day thinking about bikes yesterday?

Thanks for reading Mark, I'll get Bob's slip up on the site in a day or two.

Rest Day

Pat Kennedy
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

I was planning on going for a group ride from the iBike, but it was freekin cold today so I skipped it, so did everyone else. I ended up going down to Cherry Creek Mall with Scott in Denver to get his computer fixed. I was going to get a new remote for my iPod, but they are like 40 bucks, I think I'll wait and see how bad I need it. This picture is of my friend since preschool Pat Kennedy. I was worried that this site wouldn't reach the european population, but after I found out Pat frequents the site, I was quite relieved. On top of that, this is some downright good photography. Pat is a good looking kid, and this picture doesn't hide that. Anyway, I'm still tired from Saturday-Sunday ride-work, so I think I'm gonna go watch some crap TV until I fall asleep. Thanks for reading, sorry I didn't have much to report, but make sure you check out that photo album if you haven't already. Later.

My first century

Big day yesterday, Such a big day I couldn't pick out one picture to share the experience so I'm giving all you faithful readers an entire album to look at. I turned over a milestone that every cyclist has to turn over at some point in their lives yesterday. I know that to most serious guys it's not a huge deal, but I rode 100 miles. Scott and I rolled out about 10am to some brisk temperatures. It quickly warmed up as we headed through Milliken and Johnstown. We rode down to Longmont and west to Rabbit Mountain Open Space where we climbed the last little climb a couple times. We then followed our tracks back to Milliken, but rode up the "Russian" and in on 10th Street, did that climb in the 53x12's then down to the bike path on 34, and up to iBike where the computers turned over 161.5 kilometers. Converted to SAE, thats a hundred miles. The total ride time was 6 hrs, 13 minutes, which averages out to about 16mph. Not smoking fast, but hey, I'm not that fast this time of the year. Maybe we'll do a hundred mile time trial in August. We actually sat around iBike until it was dark and cold which didn't take too long, and we conned Mike into giving us a ride back to the apartment. Mike got a new Cannondale Prophet and just built it up yesterday so naturally we had to hit up the Rio for fajitas and margs (for those of us who were old enough) to celebrate the ride and the bike. Jordan came with too and we all had a grande time! Mike had us all cracking up by the end of a marg or two, he's always got a couple great stories to share. Ask him what would happen if he ever caught you stealing a bike off his car in front of a grocery store, I still think that is my favorite Feighny tale. After the Rio I passed out, I woke up 10 hours later feeling like I'd got 4 hours of sleep, I guess it's gonna take me a while to recover from this one. I worked a double today, I guess you could say I worked a triple if that is possible since there was no busser this morning so I bussed and hosted, then bussed tonight. After all that I have about 25 bucks to show for the day. The super bowl is finally over so I don't have to hear about it for another year, thank god. I even tried to get into the spirit by enter a little work super bowl pool. Something about pick a square, give us 3 bucks and we'll give you a bunch when the game is over. Turns out I have 3 more dollars of hatred for the super bowl now. I think I'm going to sleep great again tonight, I better sleep reall well, I'm plannin on riding Rist Canyon on Tuesday with my boss Christie. Mike, I'll be in to get that 26 from you tomorrow. I hope everyone had as good of a weekend as I did.

- I wonder how many drunken overweight hicks are pissed off right now because the Eagles ruined their whole year.

P.S. here is the link to the ofoto album

http://www.ofoto.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=frrqbo3.co9ubumz&Uy=r1im2g&Upost_signin=BrowsePhotos.jsp%3FshowSlide%3Dtrue&Ux=1

Just copy and paste it into a new window, I know it doesn't all copy, but just copy what you can and paste it, it will work.

Why can't I find anything in my room?

Messy Room
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Whew, it took a while to get ready this morning, since I was in a sleepy daze, had to give my alcoholic roomy a ride to a bar, and couldn't seem to find anything I was looking for in my room, but once I got out and got rolling, today was awesome. 60 degrees in February, this week has been amazing. Scott and I got in real close to 4 hours again today which felt great, and tomorrow we've got a little century action going down I think. I'll let you know how it turns out, but word on the street is Rabbit Mountain better beware cause we're gonna tear that thing apart. I worked tonight after our ride so I'm pretty thrashed right now but I think I'll throw in some laundry once I'm out of the shower so I'll have some clean duds to wear tomorrow. maybe my room will look better once I do the wash. It's time for me to finally get to bed, thanks for reading, sorry this was lame, I promise tomorrow will be better.

P.S. song of the day is Jessie McCartney, Beautiful Soul. My roommate is totally obsessed with that kid so I hear it like 5 times an hour.

Hello

Mack Grill
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

Anyone ever seen this up close? Today after a few hours on the bike I'd thought up a few pretty good update topics. First off, Scott and I made a friend on my ever famous RD72. This dog followed us for at least 5 kilometers before we finally hit some pavement and dropped him. He didn't give up easily, I had to put in a couple surges to wear him out then we both threw down and he just couldn't hold the pace, he gave us a few bark/whines and we went out separate ways. I hope he made it home alright. Then I considered writing about a song of the day or something like my good buddy Danny. Ideas for this were easy to come by as my iPod was pumping plenty of ideas into my ear, everything from Jurassic 5's, Concrete Schoolyard to The Street's, Weak Becomes Heros. Both of these are awesome songs, especially when you are on a bike, but just when I was trying to decide just what the picture of the day would be, the best update idea of week started to pull out right in front of me. I waved and he stopped, at least I thought he stopped, but he just waited for a car, then decided to pull out once it was too late for me to stop. I sprinted a few pedal strokes and got passed him by about 10 inches as he sped up onto the road. I think his window was down (I'm pretty sure he could have heard me yelling even if it was up) I gave him an earfull as he turned left and drove away from us. Scott thought he could chase him down, but gave up as soon as the adrenaline left him and he realized it was a "god knows how many ton" MACK truck and Scott was on his 17 pound Giant. My anger soon wore off, but I'd like to formally apologize to any of the kids that were on the playground across the highway. That was no way for me to talk and I'd appreciate it if we could just pretend like it didn't happen, thanks guys I knew you'd understand. Needless to say I was a little shook up for a while, but overall I had a great ride today. Got in a solid 4 hours before cruising down to the second Rocky Mounts meeting of the week. I think we're done for a while now but it was fun to meet everyone and eat some pizza. Dede Demot Barry was there too (Olympic Bronze Medalist in the ITT). She gave a little speech/presentation. Well, Jordan just emailed me a 10 page paper to read over for her, plus I have a little paper of my own to write, so I better get on that if I'm gonna get to bed in time to get up and get to class. Thanks for reading, and by the way, leave a comment sometime just so I know if I'm writing to myself or if someone is actually wasting their time here too.

P.S. I tried out some Speedplay pedals today, I loved them you should all give them a whirl. and if your drivetrain is ever filthy, take the bike into iBike, Chap works wonders on it. I swear it felt like I had a new chain, derailleur, shifter, and legs, all from a little citrus degreaser, chain cleaner, and one heck of a mechanic.

Mad Russian

Mad Russian House
Originally uploaded by coreycrlsn.

I think I've said "the mad russian" at least 500 times in my life, but until just now I never realized how wierd of a name it is. Around Greeley cyclist flock to "THE MAD RUSSIAN" its a good solid 2 minute climb on HWY 257 right next to the Mad Russian golf course. The hill is known to all simply as "THE RUSSIAN." I'd really like to hear the history behind the golf course now though, just to see who and why they came up with Mad Russian for a golf course? Anyway, I started my 3rd yesterday, for the leyman out there, 3rds are a type of cadence interval on a bike, I mash the pedals for a while, then I spin as fast as I can, then I pedal normally. Three parts, hence the name 3rds. Others know them as stomp and spin intervals, either way, I did them yesterday and its crazy how 155 bpm can feel like such suffering after I've gotten to be such good friends with 140. I rode through a housing development around the golf course and this huge John Deere caught my eye in someones driveway. My first thought was "holy crap that seems a little excessive to plow the snow out of one driveway." My next thought was "holy crap, they stole that house from the Jetsons." It's not as impressive as the Jetsons, or that house on I-70, but its pretty cool for Milliken, Colorado. I did a good solid two hours and froze the entire time because I was very underdressed. Oh well, last night made up for it. I went to a U25 meeting for Rocky Mounts and got hooked up. We got some stuff, and learned how the season is hopefully going to go for the Devo Team. I'm not really supposed to talk about it, you know, pretty top secret stuff, (I could tell you but I'd have to kill you) but if any juniors on the front range accidentally stumbled across this, get ahold of Matson or Couch from RM cause I have a feeling we could be the next serious developmental team in the state. I went to class this morning and then got some quesadillas at the Rio. I think its nap time now, thanks for reading, you probably won't want to anymore after a few more of these boring entries. I'll try and do something really exciting in the next 24 hours.