Thursday, October 15, 2009
It's Official
I am legit online now. all blog posts as well as photo updates and many other items will now be found at www.katstatman.com Check it out!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
New Site Coming Shortly
For the past couple of weeks I have been tooling around in iWeb on my wonderful macbook. I am not the most computer savvy person in the world. As long as it is logical I can generally figure it out but I have not spent enough time trying to learn basics like HTML to be really good yet. For me iWeb has been great. I can either mess around or use a template and build a complete functioning website that doesn't look like I put a blind fold on my face and typed with my toes (oh Kevin James you make me laugh sooo much!). Now that I own my domain and have hosting in the next day or two you will be able to find all updates on http://www.katstatman.com. I hope you enjoy and watch Twitter for when the official change comes.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Rejuvenation
The past year so far has held a lot of ups and downs. From a lack of motivation at school to a lack of motivation on the bike over the summer I have in general been feeling beaten down. However the past month has been a huge turn around. For the first time in a year I am motivated to actually "do" philosophy and be actively engaged in the issues, not just get by. I am also more motivated than ever to race and train. In fact I am pretty giddy about the remainder of my season with Pioneer Racing.
On the racing front being a part of a new organization that really has all of it's ducks in a row has helped. Knowing that Travis, Dave, Brian, and Anna are doing everything they can to make things happen for us is awesome to say the least. The new partnership with GT Bicycles is super exciting as well and I can't wait to get my hands on the CXi.
As far as school I don't know if it is the need to write my thesis this year or if it is that I took last year so easy that I am now able to really get behind my course work and non-course work with all burners. Regardless it is a nice feeling to not dread a paper being due or having to accomplish reading before class each week.
One down side is definitely that I have been a lot more tired in general. Between heading out on the bike nearly every day of the week and racing a fair bit while accomplishing a very significant amount of school work and tutoring 4-5 days a week takes a lot out of me both physically and mentally. Maybe the sheer pressure of everything is weighing down on me, but I seem to be slightly short tempered of late. I hope that Shannon can forgive me when I finally get a break and can relax. And if you're (Shannon) reading this I'm sorry, you definitely deserve a better attitude from me since without your eternal support I would never be able to accomplish all I have up until now. Maybe I should slow down on the coffee a little bit and that will slow things down just a hair for me.
The weather is looking sketchy for cross racing this weekend down in Broomfield. I guess I'll finally get a chance to have a muddy cross race (oddly in the 2 years of cross racing I have done I have never raced in the mud, just slick conditions) and if not, well it'll be fun anyways.
That is all for
On the racing front being a part of a new organization that really has all of it's ducks in a row has helped. Knowing that Travis, Dave, Brian, and Anna are doing everything they can to make things happen for us is awesome to say the least. The new partnership with GT Bicycles is super exciting as well and I can't wait to get my hands on the CXi.
As far as school I don't know if it is the need to write my thesis this year or if it is that I took last year so easy that I am now able to really get behind my course work and non-course work with all burners. Regardless it is a nice feeling to not dread a paper being due or having to accomplish reading before class each week.
One down side is definitely that I have been a lot more tired in general. Between heading out on the bike nearly every day of the week and racing a fair bit while accomplishing a very significant amount of school work and tutoring 4-5 days a week takes a lot out of me both physically and mentally. Maybe the sheer pressure of everything is weighing down on me, but I seem to be slightly short tempered of late. I hope that Shannon can forgive me when I finally get a break and can relax. And if you're (Shannon) reading this I'm sorry, you definitely deserve a better attitude from me since without your eternal support I would never be able to accomplish all I have up until now. Maybe I should slow down on the coffee a little bit and that will slow things down just a hair for me.
The weather is looking sketchy for cross racing this weekend down in Broomfield. I guess I'll finally get a chance to have a muddy cross race (oddly in the 2 years of cross racing I have done I have never raced in the mud, just slick conditions) and if not, well it'll be fun anyways.
That is all for
Friday, October 2, 2009
Finally Truly Ready for Cross Season
After last weekend's attempt to shake out the legs a little bit at the Boulder CX Series #1 and Cross at the River I knew my bike had a significant amount of work that needed to be done in order for me to be really ready for cx season.
First step: get rid of that silly shimano shifting. I've been running sram shifting on my mountain bikes for about 3 years now and have found that when the going gets tough Sram always comes to the rescue. So with my sram rival shifters from the destroyed road bike and a new force derailleur I was ready to roll.
Second Step: drop the double front chainring. Since the end of August I've been running a single ring setup on the mountain bike and have found that it is far superior to any system that requires shifting in the front. Front shifts, at least as far as I'm concerned, are always super sloppy and definitely kill momentum when making fast changes from downhills to uphills. With a double guard set up, extra long chainring bolts and spacers, and a 42 tooth single ring I was rolling (granted it did take some thought on how to make the double ring actually fit my frame, but I solved it and am stoked now).
Third Step: New saddle and seat post. With my physical proportions I am forced to ride straight seat posts (i.e. no set back) and 100 mm stems on all of my bikes. It allows for better comfort and my arms to not have to completely lock just to reach the bars. Plus, as many racers are, I am picky about my saddles. For me WTB saddles fit the bill and I have found that the silverado is by far my favorite, so I tossed one on for good measure.
Final Step: New bar tape and brake/shift lever hoods. With some nice white fi'zik bar tape and hudz clear sram brake/shift hoods I was ready to go with some awesome matching technique (it's not how fast you are, but how fly you look, man I wish this were true).
Well here's the final product:
I apologize for the grainy image, my camera is still not into my macbook, so....
If you're in the boulder area you can see me ripping around the course on this in our brand new Pioneer Racing skinsuits on October 11th and 17th at the Boulder CX Series #2 and the Valmont Bike Park Ground Break Party/Cross race. Anyone and everyone should come out to these events with beer tents and good times to be had by all!
First step: get rid of that silly shimano shifting. I've been running sram shifting on my mountain bikes for about 3 years now and have found that when the going gets tough Sram always comes to the rescue. So with my sram rival shifters from the destroyed road bike and a new force derailleur I was ready to roll.
Second Step: drop the double front chainring. Since the end of August I've been running a single ring setup on the mountain bike and have found that it is far superior to any system that requires shifting in the front. Front shifts, at least as far as I'm concerned, are always super sloppy and definitely kill momentum when making fast changes from downhills to uphills. With a double guard set up, extra long chainring bolts and spacers, and a 42 tooth single ring I was rolling (granted it did take some thought on how to make the double ring actually fit my frame, but I solved it and am stoked now).
Third Step: New saddle and seat post. With my physical proportions I am forced to ride straight seat posts (i.e. no set back) and 100 mm stems on all of my bikes. It allows for better comfort and my arms to not have to completely lock just to reach the bars. Plus, as many racers are, I am picky about my saddles. For me WTB saddles fit the bill and I have found that the silverado is by far my favorite, so I tossed one on for good measure.
Final Step: New bar tape and brake/shift lever hoods. With some nice white fi'zik bar tape and hudz clear sram brake/shift hoods I was ready to go with some awesome matching technique (it's not how fast you are, but how fly you look, man I wish this were true).
Well here's the final product:
I apologize for the grainy image, my camera is still not into my macbook, so....If you're in the boulder area you can see me ripping around the course on this in our brand new Pioneer Racing skinsuits on October 11th and 17th at the Boulder CX Series #2 and the Valmont Bike Park Ground Break Party/Cross race. Anyone and everyone should come out to these events with beer tents and good times to be had by all!
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