MikeyB wins the TWIN SIX Bottle! Congrats to MikeyB! A new prize will be up soon! Check back tomorrow or later today!

-pete

<-- Fred - Floor - Pete -->

Hi. Not much to say here. Going to Paintball tomorrow. I am going to Dick Cheney the crap outta everyone. Are you going? If not you should think about going in the fall. Mmmm...Fall Paintball...and beer...and campfire...and beer...

Hope you enjoy the picture above, Fred and I were sitting on Anne's kitchen floor in Madison last weekend while Anne was preparing a delicious meal. mmm...meal. Well I am audi 5000. Have a good weekend and check ya on Monday.

Linky3:
GS Lambo - Being a former Geek Squader(Agent 30), I know this would never work. No trunk room for the parts case and the 200 t-shirts I used to carry and distribute to all my friends and ghetto kids that would run up to the car. And, we played the Commando Arcade game not Pole Position. Jeez. :)
Fame Digest - Twin Cities Fashion by ex-dj/plhs graduate Eric Olson.
TV on the Net - Oh yeah, work will never get done now.

Later and remeber FREE STUFF!
-pete

Need to purge the Linky3 favorites cluster-fuck. Enjoy.

Linky21:
Dance! - It is now legal to dance in the street in MPLS.
M5 - Oh Car Gods, you will make her mine.
Lactic Acid - All I know is bullshit.
Warwick-Seltz - Type in Nice Glasses.
WeView - Entertainment and Product Reviews.
Chasing Windmills - Weird. Cool. Different.
Tucker Max - Old but good.
Woot - One Day, One Deal.
Honor amoung theives - Interesting...
dack.com - Good local stuff.
Lunatic Biker - Shitty Socks.
Sign Language - Cows and Cats, Cool.
Goathork - Bahhh.
How it should have ended - Movie Database that gets it right.
MST3K Baby! - All the posters.
braintoast dotcom - Jason is cool.
Doc Ozone - Old School Baby. Learned all my P-Shop stuff from him. Cool guy.
MTBR - MTB Stuff. Sweet.
World's Greatest Magician - I wish I could do these tricks..
Tolken Dorks Only - Seriously.
White Ninja - Comics

Remember to enter for free stuff. More coming soon!
Later.
-pete

The bottle is still up for grabs, you have until May 22nd to post-up!


I have changed the rules to make it easier to enter. All you have to do is post up in the comments and check back on the 22nd to see who won. That is it. So post up if you want to win. Good luck.

-pete

Hello and welcome back to the peteryan.com website. It has been a week since I last wrote you but much has happened.

First I must say Hello and Happy Mother's Day to my Mom! Second I have to say Happy Birthday to my nephew! He is so damn big now! I have a sweet present for him I will have to drop off soon, oh and one for Mom too! Here is D-Money with his future career outfit.

Here is my recap of early last week:
Monday: Work.
Tuesday: Work.
Wednesday: Work and drive to Madison.
Now it gets fun...
Thursday: Wake up, eat breakfast muffins that Anne made. We start making our way out to meet Ben from Trek to give us a personalized tour of the Trek HQ in Waterloo, WI. How did I get a personalized tour of the Trek HQ you ask? I am friends with his step-mom. :) I work with her and she was nice enough to offer that Ben give us a tour. So the original plan was to do the tour and then go for a ride. Ben had a 56cm Trek Madone 5.2SL all set for me in the cube next to his but we had to put that on hold because of the 15mph wind, downpours of rain, and it being 38 degrees. We still got the inside tour of the place. :)

The building looks new on the outside, it has just been remodeled recently. When you walk in the receptionist is right in front of you, we walked up and asked her to call Ben for us. While waiting for him we walked around to the left and on the wall was Trek's history. They had a few older bikes and then the Lance gold leaf bike. It was very cool to see the history on the wall there. On the wall there was a plaque that showed that Penn Cycle was Trek's first customer. I knew that Penn was a big customer but I didn't know they were the first. I guess that is why there are so many Trek's in the metro.

Ben greeted us and we started the tour. We got into the manufacturing section of the building, it looked much older and much more worn. Ben said it was because they just keep adding on to the building because they keep expanding. Trek has only been in business for 30 years so it makes since that they may have went from a barn to this much larger HQ.

We first got to look at how they stressed the bikes. I wish I had the job of destroying thousands of dollars worth of equipment everyday. They have a ram that destroys wheels by firing a chunk of steel into a bike wheel with a tire on it. It had one on there and it was destroyed but it passed since nothing flew off of it. The spokes looked like the letter J and where it hit made a V in the wheel. In the end the wheel looked like pac-man. They also had cut-aways from other bikes forks and frames. Many of them still had the bladder material still in them. Cough, Orbea, Specialized, Cough.

We moved on to where they assemble the highend aluminum bikes and anything with carbon. It is amazing how they build these things. They really do build the higher end stuff in small batches and do a lot of QC on these. We then moved on to the carbon stuff. We got to see the difference between real carbon and the cross hatched machined carbon everyone is used to seeing. It really is amazing how they put these together and make them strong enough to hold my fat butt.

We walked past a rack of Bontrager Race XXX Lite VR bars. These suckers retail for about $400.00 and don't weigh anything. Seriously. 166grams. That is like 166 paperclips for sweet bars.

After moving on to the finish area we got to look at more assembly and paint. Their painters have to have 2+ years of school to paint a frame. They are all really good. One lady was applying decals on an older fisher that was in for warranty work. They really do take their time and do the job right. It was cool to watch her.

Ben then took us over to see the Project One bikes. Wow. If you ever get a high-end Trek make sure to get a Project One(P1) bike. They really do put a ton more time into them and don't let anything pass QC. One of the Madone frames we saw hanging had a minor paint bump (like a needle point and less than .03mm high) no one would notice and will be sold that way. This on a P1 bike won't pass. It will need to be repainted. The P1 project hand picks the best frames and parts for the bikes and it shows in the final product. Ben is one of two people who deal with all the P1 stuff so we got a really in-depth tour of the P1 process. It is very cool to see how this stuff is painted, the P1 painters need another year of school (3 years) to become the P1 artists they are. I also have to note that I saw the ugliest bike I have ever seen before being painted by the P1 folks. I guess being able to customize a bike doesn't mean everyone is going to be a masterpiece. :)

After the plant tour and instead of the ride Ben took us to the Trek store in Madison to get me fitted for a bike. I got all my sizes and where everything should be so when I actually get to the point of purchasing a bike I know exactly what to get. It was cool to get fit properly so I can now see I need my seat forward a bit more and my bars wider since I have wide shoulders. Other than that I am pretty normal. Well at least that is what they said.

On another note the Trek Store in Madison East has this huge touch screen TV that you can use to customize your P1 bike right in the store. It sounds like there will be more of these Trek stores popping up all around the US in the near future. So if you are ever in the Madison area make sure to do the Trek Plant Tour. It is really cool.

After the Trek-fest we took Ben out to the Great Dane near the capital for a beer and some dinner. We had a good time and BS'd for about 2 hours. The Dane has great food and a good selection of fine beers, mmm...so that was Thursday.

Friday: Wake up, eat somewhere, do something. Take pictures... I don't really remember. Oh, watched Waiting... It was eh...
Saturday: Anne and I did a little shopping, some misc other crap, then had dinner at Lao Laan Xang. mmm...the #24...mmm. Awesome food, just as good reheated the next day. mmm.... Then watched Just Friends. Better than Waiting...
Sunday: Do some shopping, hang with the Fred and Anne, then go home.

The pictures are from Anne and I's day out taking pictures when it wasn't raining for 20 minutes. :)

Linky3:
Flood Maps - Man I love MN.
$599 - Blow me Sony.
Best Buy - Improv Everywhere

Later.
-pete

First off Thursday's work sponsored softball game. We beat 2 of the Lockheed Martin teams from down the road. I did better than I thought I was going to. I had a single at every at-bat and at catcher I caught 3 quick popups and 1 other I had to chase down. Since this is a beer league I am not too concerned about my stats or how we really do but I think I am 7 for 7 and our team, Six Minute Abs, has 2 wins under our belts.

Friday drove to Anne's in Madison, Wi after work. Traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was thinking since it was fishing opener in WI it was going to be horrible. Nope. Got to Anne's later in the evening and guess who was at the door to greet me? Fredo! See picture.


Saturday Anne made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we decided to go for a bike ride along the trail she usually rides on. We did about 20k and then decided to do some shopping. We hit the West Towne Mall and had some Potbelly Subs. Mmmm.. We then hit the REI to try to take advantage of the 20% off coupon but couldn't find anything really cool so Anne decided to just get the sale priced pants she wanted. Prana or something like that. She says they are the best and if you are a girl you should get some.

It was getting warm out now and Fredo needed a walk so I needed shorts and some shoes since I packed like a total moron. I hit AE for some shorts that are pretty nice but run pretty big. And then hit [gulp] Journey's for some shoes. I didn't want to go there but I saw the Adi Racer Lows in the window and had to try them on. Nice shoes. I purchased them. The sales tax on everything in WI was a little different for me since we don't pay tax on clothes.


Fred got his walk, saw 2 rabbits and chased them and Anne pointed out all the houses on Lake Mendota she wanted.

Sunday we went for another ride around campus and out to Picnic Point. They ask you to ride your bike or walk it slowly out to the point, okay, I will ride slowly. Here is the route from our ride that day. There was one good short climb that hit 31.6%. Yuck but it felt good. Well then I drove home. The end.



Distance:
Weekend: 36.00km (22.37mi)
May: 109.78km (68.22mi)
Year to date: 555.41km (345.12mi)

Linky3:
Space Imaging - Old Stuff!
Nam - A MORC'er and wife are going to Vietnam and will be photobloggin it.
Badges - We don't need no stinkin' badges!

-pete

See that sweet logo up there? Yeah the one that says peteryan.com. I am getting a whole bunch of stickers of that made. I am excited to get them so I don't have to Sharpie everything I own any longer. If anyone wants a peteryan.com sticker let me know. I ordered them along with the paintball stickers. Don't forget about this spring's premier paintball event. See here or here for details and email me if you wanna play.

Not much else new here today. Just getting ready to see Anne this weekend in Madison. Not quite sure what we are going to be doing out there but it should be fun. Usually is. Madison is a great city.

As for today's ride, I hate you wind, short ride today. I have a softball double header tomorrow and wanna hit Terrace Oaks for a nooner so I was hoping to keep the miles low and slow today.

Distance:
Today: 16.25km (10.1mi)
May: 73.78km (45.85mi)
Year to date: 519.41km (322.75mi)

Linky3:
MPLS Mess-up - Idiots.
ShaverSport - Can you name the movie?
MPLS MetBlog - Neato.

Later
-pete

Long ride today. Didn't get out of the house until around 615pm. Rode until 9pm. I need a new seat for these longer rides. The Selle Italia Flight Ti just isn't cutting it any more. I am looking at the Specialized Avatar Gel. MikeyB wrote up a nice review on his new one. He seems to really like it. Worth a try for $60.

My legs were dead after the first 2km of the ride. I lifted legs Sunday and Monday. Dumb. My quads and calfs are stong and feel good this year but my hammys just aren't as stong. They never really have been so I am have tried to work on them more. I am dumb. Why before a long ride? Well I will tell you. Because it has been raining and I got sick of not doing anything. I should have just put some rain gear on and went for a ride.

I have been comtemplating riding a single speed into work, no way. I need the gears or I am going to be pushing. Else, I would have to have a 1:1 gearing. The 16.5k ride into work has about 200+meters(700feet) of total climbing. Oh, and one part has a max grade of 27.9. Suck it. I will be adding a rear derailleur to the old Bianchi for my commuter ride. The old Bianchi was found durning pickup trash days on the far side of Bloomington. She needed some help but everything was stock on it. The tires were crusty but even had the little rubber fingers on it still. It also had a stem that had to be at least 150mm. I had to buy a 1" quill stem adapter for it. I want to add a shorter stem and rebuild the bar setup. We will see.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. A few sprinkles but other than that not much. Spin, spin, spin. Check out my helmet 3 row mowhawk. Jealous?


Stats:
Moving Time: 2:40:75
Moving Speed: 12.9mph avg. - 35.8mph max.
Elevation Gain: +/-643.43m - +/-2,111ft
Max Grade: 27.9 <-- Burning!

Distance:
Today: 57.53km (35.75mi)
May: 57.53km (35.75mi)
Year to date: 503.16km (312.65mi)


Linky3:
Girl Speak - Some of it is so true...
Virus Help
My T6 Bio

Later!
-pete

Not much going on today. Sorry. I am lame. It looks like tomorrow is going to be a bike day. The first day for May. Sweet. All this rain was getting a little old. Too bad we can't hit the trails until they dry out a little. Wednesday or Thursday maybe. I have my first softball game of the year Thursday night so I hope it is nice out. I hate playing in the rain, it makes me worse than I actually am.

Not sure if you noticed but now I have a little pr in the browser location bar. It works well with Firefox and IE7 but not so much with IE6. I had something similar with tarded.net years ago when the favicon.ico technology was first developed but IE5.5 and IE6 were crap. See here:


While watching Orange County Choppers I realized something. That is what life would be like if my father and I worked together. He would be Paul Sr. and I would be Paul Jr. He would yell and I would yell but shit would get done. Usually.

The big 27 is coming up in a little more than a month. Per Anne's request I will be posting my Amazon Wish List. Which can also be found here along with my sizes if you buy me sweet duds. I really already have too much crap so unless you are buying me my road bike I don't really need much besides $$$. I also like stickers. :)

WIN STUFF HERE - DETAILS!
Alright, now that you read through all my crap you may get to win something. What you ask? How about one of these(see picture top right)? MSRP $6.00. A sweet TWIN SIX bottle. How do you win? I will draw a name out of a hat May 22nd. How do you enter? If you have a website or blog link me and send me an email(pete at peteryan.com) with your web address. If you don't have a website or blog, register at the forum and post up with your email address. It is that easy. I will ship it out or you can pick it up. Your call. Also check out TWIN SIX for more cycling stuff.

Linky3:
Craigslist MPLS - Need something?
Cursor - TC Edition
Make Work Pay - $$$

Later!
-pete