Friday, June 20, 2008

Time.

Well, lately, I have had quite a bit of time on my hands. Apparently not enough time to keep my blog frequently running. but oh well. I finished school up without a problem and entered the beginning of summer with practically nothing to do. I have been riding my mountain bike a lot, and commuting to work on the cross bike. I am only working a couple days a week(there can only be so much christmas in the midst of June) so things are alright. Soon enough I should be working a little more to help build some funds for the never ending expenses of the cycling world. In a couple of weeks, Evan, the fam and I are headed up to a private cabin in grand lake to stay for a week and relax. We have a HUGE party raft, and all the time in the world to just float around and kick it. We are also staying there for the 4th of July, so there should be an impressive fireworks show to watch somewhere. Also, Evan and I decided to pre-register as a relay team for the Firecracker 50, also on the 4th of July. I am excited to race my mountain bike for the first time, I am having a blast recreationally, and can only imagine the race perspective. Aside from the race, I have a nice whole vacation to look forward to. In other bogus news, school starts for me on August 12th. Bull s***. This year we got released on the same date as always, and we usually return to school on August 22nd. Oh but not this year. 2 weeks of summer just POOF! gone with the wind. Oh well, I won't dwell on that right now. Atleast I will be the lower level of the upperclassmen. Class of 2010 baby!

Well life goes on.....

Eric

and oh PS. Evan has ebay things up. check it out.
www.evansandstrom.blogspot.com

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Counting the Days

Well, I and other people, well hell, everybody I think is counting the days until summer arrives. I don't think I have ever been this stoked for summer to arrive. Should be one to remember. I will slaughter the singletrack with my big wheels, donkey tuck the dirt hills on my cross bike, and just experience pure bliss. Also, I am counting the days until cross season arrives! Just 136 days away! Well first off, I have to get my bike to start working properly. I had a tiny crash last week, but I guess it was just enough to fill the shifter with dust and cease the whole f***** up, My Luck! Oh well, I think I may have found a deal somewhere. Other than that, life is just cruising along. Going to classes, I have worked a couple of days (I cannot believe Christmas is back) and am trying to get out and pedal as often as possible. Evan and I are riding our mountain bikes well, knowing how much fitness either of us have. Poor Estrong is so busy with class and work he barely has time to ride, but he still squeezes precious saddle hours in.
On second thought, the tan lines are coming in. I guess anything looks nice after being covered with leg warmers for the past 8 months, my upper thighs look like the course at the state champ cross race!
Well thats all for now, time to hit the books. Shoot an email to my brother and I if you are ever in Littleton
mine is ejsands92@gmail.com
ask my brother for his.

Well, life goes on.....


Eric

P.S. my new name to people from littlefun is officially E-Weakling.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Nothing quite like a new bike

Well, I finally had my bike ordered, and Evan and I drove up to Greeley and built it up. And boy is it a sexy machine. But, when we pulled the wheels out of the box, we all noticed that the back wheel had a huge dent in it and the was completely tacoed. Mark decided to swap them out, so instead of the sun rims that were supposed to come on the bike, I now have black mavic rims. Everything else worked like a charm though, the 2008 shimano XT is awesome. It shifts just as well as my dad's old V-Brake XTR. Also, the Hayes brakes feel like a million bucks too.



In other news, me and Evan's trip to Fruita went off without a hitch and we had a blast.



Even though it was practically my first time doing actual mountain biking, I did surprisingly well. I was able to climb well, and descend just as well. I had so much fun, and I cannot wait to slaughter the singletrack on my new 29er.



It was also my brother Evan's first time up this season, and Fruita definitely got him pumped up to mountain bike to help train for road and such. But, he still did some very Estrong like things up on the mountain....



Oh Estrong, always hungry. Eventhough it looks like Evan chowed most of our trail food, I was able to find some to keep me energized. All we need now is Evan to squirt a water bottle all over his face to make him look a modern day super male model.
Despite such good looking fellas up on the trails, we actually saw someone in town, who, believe it or not, was NOT a mountain biker. He still had the idea of two wheels and two legs to get around, but his diet is nothing compared to Estrong's.



After we got back from Fruita, Evan and I decided to go mountain biking with his buddy Justin. We headed up to Waterton Canyon, and made it to the trailhead in record time. We team time trialed it all the way up but once we got to the singletrack switchbacks, things took a turn for the worst. There was still probably a good 6 inches of snow/ice/mud/pine cone combination covering the whole trail. It gave me nightmarish recollections of the state champ cross race. We decided to turn around since a climb that would normally take us a few minutes would have eventually taken atleast an hour to climb, plus, the three of us had places to be.
Well thats pretty much all I have for now.

Life goes on....

Eric

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

mmmm Spring Break....

Well, it has been quite a while since my last post, but not much has changed. I have pretty much just been going to school, and riding every once in a while. I was able to tag a long with Evan to the City Park criterium in Denver a couple weeks ago. It was nice, the weather was perfect and I got to see some faces I hadn't seen since cyclocross season. Also, last weekend, Evan and I rode up to Greeley to help out Dana "El Presidente" Curlee put on the UNC criterium at Promontory Point in Greeley. The race went off without a hitch but there was a huge fiasco involving an overweight rent-a-cop and a parking situation.......
In other news, I placed the order for my brand new 29er which should be here within a couple of days. Evan and I will have to go back to Greeley, build/pick it up, and also pick our new fixed gear frame from Steve at the Roubaix in Greeley.
Spring Break arrived at a perfect time this year. I was getting a little fed up with school at the moment and needed a break. Evan, my Dad, and I decided to saddle up and head west to Fruita,CO. In Fruita, there are some of the gnarliest mountain bike trails in the state and my brother and I had a blast. My dad couldn't ride because, earlier in the week, he crashed his bike and jammed the snot out of three of his fingers on his left hand. His whole hand is nice and swollen and ripe. So, for the trip, I got to use my Dad's awesome mountain bike. He has a custom Yeti ASR with full V-Brake XTR, and believe it or not, it fits me like a charm with only a minor adjustment of the seatpost. I will have some pictures up of me and Evan's adventure, along with my new mountain bike coming up soon on the blog, so stay tuned.

Well, Life goes on....

Eric

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Just Hanging Around

Well the past few weeks have been pretty laid back. I hit the rollers every now and then just to keep a little bit of my slowly declining fitness. Also, work ended, so I have not had a whole lot to do besides school. I have been looking around at different mountain bike teams as well, since I will be purchasing a new mountain bike soon. I plan on doing as many mountain bike races as possible. I think I have decided on the Kona 29er, but to make sure my older brother Evan and I will talk to Mark at I-Bike in Greeley and go for a test ride. I cannot wait until I get a new mountain bike. Also, I will also be upgrading my cyclocross bike with a few new parts. I will be getting a new Alpha Q cyclocross fork, gold TRP euro x brakes (match the chain guard), and a pink chris king headset (as some of you know, I use pink crank brothers candy series pedals). I would really like to succeed in the '08 cyclocross season, maybe win a couple races and defend my BCR title! I am super excited to ride for Boulder Cycle Sport in '08 as well, I will be one of few juniors racing for BCS. My dad also just ordered all of the parts for his cross bike today, which will be really nice. He picked up Troy Wells' old javelin cyclocross frame at veloswap a few months ago. He will run 10 speed ultegra shifters and cassette. An ultegra front derailleur, 10 speed dura-ace rear derailleur, sram crankset, Alpha Q cyclocross fork, green chris king headset, avid shorty 6 brakes, and to top it all off, 32 spoke mavic open pro rims with ultegra hubs. Evan and I are strongly encouraging him to come train some mornings with us and perhaps show his face at a few races in '08. As some of you know, Evan got his road bike built up with 10 speed sram force. Sram force is a great groupset with very high quality components and he loves it. He also got accepted to Rocky Mounts/Izze Racing Team out of Boulder as well. I am excited about his new team because I can drink as much Izze as I could ever dream of, and chug enough energy goo too make a man go crazy, possibly free of charge! Today I hit the rollers hard for a good half hour or so, and felt real good. I cannot wait until i can ride outside again without getting dirty and cold. I personally try to avoid getting covered in grass or mud and freezing my ass off while enjoying the off season from cyclocross.

Well life goes on......


Eric