SteveAustin

excellent points tearz....like I said...I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to material. the really ironic thing here is...there is a huge possibility that I'll be riding a Cannondale next year. of course as soon as the season is over...it'll be on the auction block. there is also a possibility I'll be on a Moots. oh yeah...all the broken frames were on the mountain side. I have yet to hear of anyone breaking a road frame. definitely test ride them all...

yes on both sides. you'd never catch me stuffing my shoes in those death traps called toe clips and riding flats on the road is a sure way to get your ass handed to you.

yeah man the gram freaks rule road racing as well. a good quality steel frame will weigh the same as aluminum...a bit more in some cases...but its worth the grams for the ride quality. You can race cross on a mt bike...just be sure to take off your bar ends if you have that worthless invention. I guarantee you'll love cross. I'm looking at new cross rigs right now. I was going to get a Bianchi...but it looks like my sponsorship is going to be better on another team.

Tyrbol....I think there is a huge difference in materials. Aluminum makes a great stiff bike, but if you like a little ride quality and comfort...you wanna go with steel or titanium. My lower back used to hurt like hell after a race. I bought a titanium hardtail...problem solved. Have you checked out Cyclocross racing yet? If your solely a mountain biker thinking about racing road...I highly recommend cross. Its a nice little combination of the two. Some of us are highly addicted to it. something like two months to go. OE... you really need to try and find someone with a team bus. its the only way to go. the bus meets you at the halfway point with coolers of beer and you just get lit. we rode the majority of it in little 10 to 20 mile splurts. whenever we came across a town with beer...we'd stop and drink. I didn't do any "training" for it, but I'm already in shape...so I guess I didn't need to. any quality road bike would work...hell there were about 7 of us on 20+ year old fixed gears. there were people out there on huffies and 40+ lb Walmart full suspension mountain bikes. One guy was even pulling a fully stocked bar.

I shot 4 disposables on my vacation. I'm not sure if there is anything worthwhile on them...seeing as how I was drunk most of the time. When I get the prints back and go through them I guess I'll know. as always....nice shots ese! good to see the camera is on its way...even if it is in the tundra.

I'm a real bike snob when it comes to materials. I hate aluminum. The ride quality sucks. With that said...Cannondale is a really good company. They back their product and have a good customer service department. I only know this because I know several people who have broken their frames. Some breaks have been iffy and some were definitely being put way beyond their limits. The good thing is...they're pretty quick about replacing things. As always...my recommendation is going to be that you go to your local shops and test ride as many bikes as possible. Find out for yourself what the difference in ride quality is with each material. The first road bike I rode was an all aluminum Cannondale. I hated it. It was so stiff...I felt every bump in the road. I have a titanium frame and an all carbon fork that just flat out rides like a dream. Trybol...I just got to thinking...why do you want a road bike? Are you planning on racing on the road or is it for training purposes? You might want to check out cross bikes.

I'm back. Holy shit...that's really all I can say about Ragbrai. It was just insane. I went through almost 4 disposable cameras. I seem to remember there being some entertaining pics. I think I was drunk about 85% of the time. Some of the Highlights: cutters hitting 45 mph 3 feet off the back of a semi and still having power left wet t-shirt contests getting left in a Caseys and having to sag a ride to the next town something like 450 miles in a week the topless bus ride back to the start going through over 6 cases of beer on the return trip pictures...sometime this week

have a good week everyone...I'm out. I'm going to the madness that is ragbrai. plane leaves in 3....2....1....later.

nope...didn't touch the color...man...I'm really struggling to stay awake right now. T minus 1.5 hours before I'm on vacation.

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without a doubt. I'm trying to work some magic on this gorgeous little honey that is just a complete bad ass. so, so fine. anyway...Zinn and the art of (insert road or mtn) bike maintenance is what I've always used.

thanks...I absolutely love old signage. I've thought about doing a whole series on them. I'd love to get on of those for my house...hang it up right there in the family room.

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I believe Rage had everything worked out for using his 99 cent 35 mm with a 36 exposure roll. Last I heard anything we were all supposed to email him. yo Rage...whats the story? and yes...sneak trying for WWIII.

nice Kilo. Hey is everyone still interested in doing the project? If so...where are we at...who's on the list?

good lookin out kilo...you and PMB...always in the right place at the right time.

the tour has just been bad ass this year. if Lance wasn't going for the tie...I'd be rooting for Tyler big time. Of course...if someone gonna's beat Lance...I'd much rather it be Tyler. Just fucking awesome!

bump for another cyclist riding to the heavens. :cry2:

ha-ha...glad we could help you out with that seeking. I used to hate people in my photos. I've since realized that interesting people make things even better.

banjo...only thing I can think of off the top of my head is the chain line isn't straight. not really sure what could go wrong from the simple procedure of taking a wheel off.

Bump for the posties. Holy shit is all I have to say. Thirty seconds faster...and 8 of the 9 are in the top 10. Kinda cool that Pena has the yellow jersey. edit...It's Pena's 29th birthday today as well!

I've gone through the exact same thing Seeking. I'm gonna have to agree with Kilo and say its a plateau. There is a formula for everything and you're right in saying that its easy (when you have the talent or eye). I think art minded people in general have that eye. Talk to some of your friends that don't have a spec of it in their blood and perhaps you'll hear something refreshing. I agree that you could "teach" these people how to do it as well....and I'm sure the majority would be able to take some nice pics. Maybe that's just good teaching? I also think that I could do the same thing with photoshop in regards to blah photos. Of course, knowing me...I can attribute that to my cockiness in being proficient in PS. So anyway...back to the plateau comment. There are certain images that are in style now...and there are biters in photography as well. This is the one thing that changes the style and direction of things. This is why painters quit painting religous scenes and rubenesque women. This is also why in a few years time...we'll probably be laughing at our high contrast, gritty, no tonal value having photos. The end result of this thought is to challenge yourself to do something better that doesn't incorporate all those things. Some of those techniques should probably always be observed...(rule of thirds) and some are just styles.

this is just bad-ass. http://www.nothingbutfreights.com/12oz/contrast/rapids.jpg'> I'm down with the photo project as well. I'd prefer the emailing address option also. I'm already trying to think of spots worthy of a two shot max. pilau...I was thinking the same thing.

kick ass...can't wait to hear the idea. I got a few shots in this weekend. I'll try and post later.

I just spent the last hour or so reading all the updates from the weekend. It definitely sucks for Tyler and Levi both. I was surprised he decided to continue. Guess he figures its early enough in he might as well see how it feels.