Baby, Let me "Upgrade you"

After buying a new Road bike in the Spring and a Wedding in Vegas in the Summer (Yes, a wedding in Vegas is a pretty penny), it’s time to change all the vital organs on the Fire truck Red Racer X.

Right to the action!

What’s out? 2005 Bontrager Race Lite X Wheels
What’s in? 2007 Mavic CrossMax SLR’s
Why? The Bontragers have been good to me, but it’s time to move on up. I have them Mavic’s on the Felt F1C, and I now know why I need the upgrade.

What’s out? 2005 Avid Juicy’s
What’s in? 2007 Avid Juicy Ultimate’s
Why? It’s simply long overdue. Last year, I bought the Marta SL’s and didn’t like them at all. I think it was because I had the Juicy’s so dialed in.
What does the upgrade do? It gives me the same type of brake system, but a major upgrade. Plus, I’m shaving down some weight.

What’s out? Q-Rings with XTR Cranks
What’s in? Agilis Crankset, with Self Aligning Bottom Bracket.
Why? I have enjoy what the Q-Rings have done for me in the form of faster lap times, less lactic acid build-up, longer time until threshold, and more climbing traction. Now the entire system is by Rotor, the crank arms, the 24-34-44 chainrings, and the bottom bracket that is supposedly self aligning. I can also change the settings on the rings if I’m riding on a flat course or a climb course. I had the 23-33-45 with the Q-Rings last year, so I’m looking forward to the extra teeth.
What do the Q-Rings do? Rotor Q-Rings help to minimize the time spent in the dead spot while pedaling. While oval chainrings have historically been controversial, we believe that allowing a rider to fine tune the chainring position offers opportunities to minimize the dead spot never before realized with conventional chainrings.
What I’m upgrading to? Agilis Crankset with SABB
What does the upgrade do? Ágilis (Latin for lightweight) road crankset is an innovative conventional crankset and bottom bracket technology developed by Rotor that incorporates hollow alloy cranks, an adjustable length semi-integrated axle and self aligning bottom bracket cupset (SABB). Ágilis is the first crankset to be offered with Rotor Q-Rings as original equipment, and were designed to be used with the SABB Cupset.


What’s out? 2005 Fox Rp3 (It came with the Racer-X)
What’s in? 2007 Fox Rp23.
What does the upgrade do? I have no idea! I was happy with the shock that was on their. I do notice that when I’m climbing slowly, I can here it squeaking. I’m going to have it overhauled, and use it in my training months. Since the wife has given the OK, I’m going to get it. I hear all this stuff about the propedal setting. I don’t have to know exactly how it works; I just need to know that it’s an upgrade.

What's out? Trashy WTB saddle that has not lasted 6months. I had the Bontrager Race Lite X saddle that lasted for 2 years, but the one of the rails broke.
What's in? WTB Rocket V SLT Saddle
Why? It's going to go nice with the fire truck red.

What's out? Eggbeaters pedals.
What's in? Shimano's 2007 M970 clipless
Why? I have had too many problems with the eggbeaters just not working for me.


I’ll report back when I have changed all the vital organs and post the before and afters.

Pacer Out!

Alkalize or Die

That’s my new attitude for this season. I’m not changing my training program for this bike for this upcoming season. I’m changing the training program for what goes in my mouth. Last year I went into the season at 188lbs at 8.3% body fat, and this year I’m shooting for 180lbs and my weapon is alkalizing.

Now, I have known enough about what alkalizing does for the body. But after reading Robert Young’s book, “Sick and Tired” and “ Alkalize or Die “, I realize I can really take this healthy eating to another level. Check out what he has to say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z24Jy7YnzA4. So from the day I got back from my wedding trip at a weight of 197lbs (Normally, 190lbs at this time of year), I have changed what I put into my mouth and I’m going to stay steadfast in the new program.

The book states that your ratio of Alkalizing to Acidic should be 80%/20%, to the sight. That means if you have a salad, it shouldn’t be loading with chicken, bacon, and croutons to were the ratio is more like 65%/35%. It should be 80% food that is alkalizing, and 20% anything else.

The plan is to get as lean as I can, and by eating Alkalizing foods and I hope it’s going to make my body more efficient when it comes to training, racing, recovery time, flushing metabolic waste, etc. I also read up a lot about how bad for the body the 2 mercury filling I have and what they are doing to my body. The second project is getting the mercury filling out. When I was up at Hippocrates Institute for Health, I got my blood analyzed and Dr. David said he thinks one of my fillings was cracked and did an X-Ray. Sure enough, it was, and he stated that the body is magnificent in its ability to neutralized toxins and poisons. He said the body will encapsulate any bad toxins and store them in the colon in mucoid plaque, or in the kidney or liver in the form of stones to keep the ph of the body at 7.365 and prevent the body from being flooded with these toxins and poisons. This process those overtax your liver and kidneys. This process of eating foods that are high acidic will make your body retain more water to store the poisons and toxins in the fat along with vitamins. That is why a person can go without food for several weeks. It’s because the body is using the vitamins that is stored in the fat as energy, while it’s flushing out the toxins and poisons.

I’m secretly aiming for a little bit of weight loss during this time, but what I really want is to be able to race stronger because my body is more alkalized. I worked for the vitamin company that owns Metrx/Worldwide, so I’m just going to put all the knowledge “In Play” for this season and see how it goes.

I wont’ really report anything on this; I’m going to wait until just before my first 13hr race in Santos. I will post before and after pics, though.

Wish me luck

Pacer Out!

Mallied to the Max!

Yes, I’m the next rider that has been “Mallied to the Max! I have been following the blogs of Eddie and Nam O, Harvey M, Harlan, Bonnie, Danielle, and Speed Goat, for a long time and I kept thinking, “I’m going to jump on “Blog”, I mean on board and get one of these in 2007. It’s such a great tool to see what the other riders do, how they think, and how they describe there experience in this great sport.

Well, 2007 came and went, and I didn’t create a blog. But what I did do was blog all my training and racing and kept it. I was a little bit intimidated at the other blogs and was thinking they would cost a lot, or would consume too much time. So, I kept writing up all my training and racing with hopes of getting on board. Then I started to notice that riders like Bonnie, Mallie, and Nam were getting a total redesign for their blog. When they all thanked Mallie for the work, I thought, “Great, this is my chance”. So I contacted Mallied and told her I would like for her to design a blog for me from the ground up, and she could use here creative freedom. She contacted me back the same day and said it would be a couple of days. Dam!! I’ve been waiting 6 months, and she said it would be ready in a couple of days. She just wanted me to make a donation to her race and that would be enough, that was easy. I went on her blog, made an $85.00 donation and told her to take her time building it. She then asked for a bunch of things about me that would help fill up the blog. I told her about my career as a professional table tennis, sent her pics, etc. She said that would be enough. She actually came up with “From the table to the Trails”. Now this chick is really good.

So “All Hail to Mallie”, she is the new blog Design Queen!

I'm married

I'm married, I'm married, and I’M MARRIED! Never thought I would find someone that would laugh at my jokes, let me ride my bike as much as I want without complaining, and accompany me to the races and hand out my water bottles in the hot sun. I did, so I thought I better go ahead and take her off the market. We got married in Las Vegas on 07/07/07, which is a great date by the way. Here is some pics and video from the trip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEREYQ_YC2A

I'm actually off the bike for the rest of July because I'm getting 2 mercury filling from 15 years ago removed, and it's going to set me back. I went to my blood doctor at Hippocrates Institute for Health, and after he analyzed my blood, my mercury content was way too high. He then suggested that I get the filling replaced. He also stated that the body retained more water to neutralize the mercury, and getting them replaced could take 10-12lbs off my 190lb frame. Sweet!! If I could get under 180lbs, boy those riders better watch out. Anything could help to keep up with to 150lb Experts and Pros I have to race.

I'm going to use this time to recharge the battery. All the road racing and 4 hr mtn bike rides in the hot South Florida sun has me a little bored, tapped out, and ready to race XC already.

I'm getting my Titus Racer-X repainted, and I'm looking forward to the Gold Titus come early August.

Pacer Out!