Today, I was a hit with the fans.  Beginning with the first lap of the final Redding cyclocross race today at Shasta Dam, I was recieiving enthusiastic and loud shouts of "go Green Handlebar Tape Guy!"  It was great.  It's great to know the fine people of Redding, California appreciate the high fashion that is neon green.

Matt Dooley attacked late in the race and held off the horde of Owen's Health guys for the win.

January Jewel Johnson born at RVMC January 4, 2009. 8lbs, 4oz and ready to take on the women's categories (in about 12-16 years)!

I've now purchased and ridden four pairs of Challenge tires.  Three of those pairs have had tread separation within their first half-dozen rides.  That's a crappy record, and apparently I'm not the only one experiencing this with Challenge.

My latest is with some Fango 'cross tubulars.  In two spots, the tread is separating.  This is especially frustrating since I've ridden them just twice.  So we'll see if some Jevelot Tire Life liquid latex will re-seal the tread.

The people at Challenge are fairly new to the scene.  They're an Italian company, they purchased the former Clement tire manafacturing facility in Thailand, and are now rolling out lots of tires, both clincher and tubular, and featuring high-thread count tires with natural cotton or silk casings.  That's all great.  We need more companies making tires the traditional, time-proven way.  But their tires seem to fall far short of Vittoria, Dugast, and FMB in terms of quality control and durability.

Steve's last post touched on how commuters in the Rogue Valley need to be a bit more cautious than normal this time of year. In mid-June, after a $50+ charge for less than 12 gallons to fill up my little Mazda 3, I started riding to work every day. In the past, I had rationalized not riding to work because it would take me longer to change in and out of cycling gear than it would to drive (or ride) the 3 miles to work. Since June, I've only missed a handful of days - I've ridden every day since mid-October. This has had some surprising side-effects. On the positive side, I haven't had to buy gas since late September when gas was still pushing $4/gallon. On the quasi-negative side, I'm using my car so rarely that my car battery has drained completely a few times. As race season starts, I'll be travelling again and will need the car for more than the occasional trip to the store (etc).

Riding to work has also allowed me to get in an hour or so outdoors after work. In recent years, November through mid-January has meant trainer time if I wanted to ride on weekdays. The extra real-world mileage hasn't helped me keep or improve the fitness - if anything, I think my fitness is a bit behind the last couple years right now - but it's kept me sane. I've also been surprised how pleasant riding after sunset can be. I've found a few spots that are just plain nervous because of traffic, but with good lighting and clothing riding under the stars on a dark rural road with no traffic is soothing - much better than the mind-numbing tedium of the trainer.

The real perils of commuting though are in the morning. In not missing a ride since October, I've seen all of the bad weather that has been thrown our way this year. Fog, rain, ice, snow, wind, hail, sleet, slush... am I missing something? During the previous cold spell about a month ago, Steve went down and aborted his commute - I never had an issue. This last week was the week that got to me. The fog on the North end of the valley has stuck around all day and the temperatures barely rose above freezing. Combine this with the airport's seeding the fog in a failed attempt to help visibility, and the roads have been treacherous. This morning I was super careful and reached the parking lot at work unscathed.... then it happened. Within 10 feet of my ultimate destination, the bike rack, I carefully and slowly negotiate the icy turn onto the curb and without warning, my back wheel gives out putting my ass on the ground. No harm done and it'll still take something worse to keep me from riding to work, but my patience for these 1-2 week spells of bad weather is growing thin.

Another day in Medford, and another morning of patchy freezing fog to make your boogers freeze and your winter riding gear feel inadequate.

Lots of thigs run through my mind as I ride to work in 30-degree fog:

• We're about 20 minutes from California down here in Southern Oregon.  It's not supposed to be this cold!
• A week straight of this fog -- what made man choose to inhabit such a god-forsaken place?
• Redding is just two hours south, and it is 75 degrees there today.

This morning as I contemplated all this and cautiously naivgated a particular frost-and-ice-covered S-curve on the Bear Creek Bike path, a commuter dude on a Bianchi Volpe with panniers passed me.  Watching him take the S-curve, I was sure his rear tire would not stick.  It did, and I felt dumb for riding like an old granny.

But I rode to work, and I kept it upright, and I feel good about those two things.

Speaking of Redding, I think I'll make it down there again Sunday for the last of their late-season 'cross races.  It's supposed to be in the 70's again, and that sounds pretty good.

I sat down with my guru this evening to hash out some goals for the upcoming season:

1. Make other road racers say, "Good thing Steve can't sprint!"
2. Make other 'cross racers say, "Good thing Steve isn't very smooth over the barriers!"
3. Make other time trialists say, "Good thing Steve's TT position sucks!"

If I can achieve these goals, I'll be happy.  If not, I'd be pleased if I could work on meeting these secondary goals:

1. Improve my sprint.
2. Improve my cyclocross technique.
3. Improve my time trialling.
4. Race more than in 2008.
5. Race aggressively.
6. Incorporate more neon green into my kit and bike...