A Dream

In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream - that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,
So trembled from afar
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?

By Edgar Allan Poe
~A poem I picked to memorize for my english class

Hampsten, Hamilton and the posties

Hampsten...the best!

My wall...

Saturn, Hamilton and the posties

Tyler's View ~ A Specialized Report

My father and I spent last night putting together my new Tarmac Pro and it was a blast. We had all of it put together by around 10 and then it was time for a test ride. Of course I started out with a sprint and in the middle of it while I was tugging on the bars they pulled sideways. The wheel was pointed right and I was headed left...not good. I pulled out of it and it was no problem, guess we should have tightened the stem down to the fork before my test ride.

Today was the first real ride on it and I was thinking about going for a couple hours around the lake, but as I got onto the road I decided that it had to go up Tam on its first ride. I got to test its ability at climbing and descending and it blew me away. Right from the start I could feel the incredible stiffness as I stomped towards town. As I began to climb Tam I was going at a relatively easy pace, but I was flying. The Beast and its carbon is so stiff that all of my power goes just where its supposed to. I made it to the peak above the golf course with relative ease before I was subdued by hunger. I still wasnt sure if I could head back home, I was hypnotized by this machine and its abilities.

Then came the real test, the descent. The road was relatively packed today so I couldnt push it to the absolute limit, but I would definitely go hard. I started my timer (Im not sure if anyone else times there descents but I love going downhill fast) and I was off. The first few corners were crisp. I started to glide through the next few and I began to notice that this machine was even better at descending than climbing. It was as if it found the apex for me. I was going well into hyperdrive until I met a car that decided to stop in the middle of the road. After a few valuable seconds were lost and a total loss of momentum I was off again. I took it back into hyper drive and flew to the bottom. Not bad 6 minutes flat. My record on the old machine was 5:52, I am going to blow that away. The Beast is very nearly a weapon of war.

Tyler's View ~ The Last Ride - A Tribute to The Old Beast

I have been riding on a red Specialized Allez for two years and it has been a great ride. That machine has carried me through a lot more than just miles of tarmac. It has helped me through my first Nationals and taken to the hospital during my recovery from a car accident to brighten the mood. It has been the center of my life for two years, but all good things must come to an end. My last ride on The Beast today was an appropriate ending, an epic ride.

I started out with the plan of doing the Roaster's ride and then going for a few more hours. I went out early and spun to San Anselmo, where upon I sat around for 30 minutes waiting for a ride that I finally decided must not be going on. I headed out into the cold for a ride by myself. When I started White's Hill I was sure glad that I was by myself because I was suffering. Over the past few weeks I have had decent legs on the flats, but I just get knocked on climbs. I think my legs are just tired. Well I fought my way out to the Cheese factory and the sun began to shine a little. It was the beginning of another beautiful day in paradise, well I thought it would be.

I had an awesome time riding out on the country roads towards Marshall, they have even repaved a lot of the sections of that road and it is damn beautiful out there. I grimaced my way to the top of Marshall and flew down to Tomales, where upon I fought a consistent head wind into Pt. Reyes. The last few climbs going into Pt. Reyes were just rollers but they were killing me. It felt as if my rear wheel was low or something. Five miles later its flat, I love slow leaks.

So, I have got my equipment to fix this, no problem right. I slap in a new tube and get the CO2 and then as I snap in the CO2 it shoots everywhere except for into the tube. What bloody luck, I am finished. The cell phone doesnt work and I thought that my parents were in Calistoga so it wasnt going to be much use anyway. I start looking around for some fellow riders, but the cold day seemed to scare most people off the road. So I tear the valves off of my tubes and slap the two of them in and begin to ride. I sit real far forward and try to put all my weight onto the front wheel, w/o going over the bars. After a bit I begin to realize that I am not going to pull this off for 15 miles and I start looking towards the side of the road. I see a mountain bike tire. I grab it with the idea of slapping this one into the wheel also and hopefully making it work a little better and not kill my rim. So this tube is pretty think and getting the valve off proved to be quite a challenge. I got a sharp rock and eventually punctured it and pulled the valve off.

Just then as Im thinking of how epic this is going to be a fellow riders shows up. He offers to help me out as I explain my situation. First he lends me a tube and I slap it in and try to get it going with his pump, but the valve is too short for my rims. I take that out and he offers me a tube with a longer stem. Everthing goes well and I get the thing all pumped up perfectly and just as I take the pump off, so does the tip of the valve come off. Just then another riders shows up, a real friendly guy that offers to help, but he only has a short valve tube. He hangs with us for a bit as we think of what to do. Then my new friend, Mark from Novato decides that he will be incredibly nice and take the long stemmed tube from his front wheel, let me have it and stick the short stem into his wheel. Jeze what a nice guy. Everything works out perfectly and we head out on our seperate ways after many Thanks.

After standing there for 30 minutes my legs our more dead than they were before. Plus it is getting darker and cloudier and I am starving. I finish up my last Clif-Shot but that does little help, as I am still starving. My legs dont seem to want to move but I suffer on. I make it to the San Geronimo golf course and begin to die as I am suffering into a headwind going about 12 mph. Just then a large man shows up and passes me. Hes cruising and I am able to jump right into his slipstream. Jeze, that was a great slipstream. We were cruising and I was barely pedaling. I made it to the base of White's Hill and suffered to the top. I made it home, and three bowls of cereal later I felt much better.

The time has come for a New Beast and after 4 hours in the garage it is built. It is time for the last farewells to the Old Beast and this is my tribute to her. I can not remember all the experiences that we had together, but I will always remember our last ride.

Mount Tam Hill Climb

That helmet hair!

4th Place

The day started out good and ended well, but the middle involved some dead legs. I got up early and Ryan and Ethan drove over to my house and we went for a warm up over Tam. I could already tell that my legs were not feeling good, but you definitely do not want to admit that to yourself before a race. I just kept rolling along hoping that they would come around before the race. We got down to stinson a bit slower than we would have hoped and that meant for a little bit of a rush of getting pre-race duties done. I made it to the line with plenty of time, but I couldnt find Ryan or Ethan, but they both made it there on time and we were off. Ryan, Ethan and I had ridden the course the week before and we were all excited and prepared. There had not been many tough competitors pre-registered so we had thought about doing a tough pace along the flats in order to get a really good time. However, quite a few other strong riders had showed up so we decided to just sit in on the flats and take it easy. It was a good steady pace around 22 mph, I would have liked for them to go faster, but I wasnt going to go on the front and waste myself, especially considering how my legs felt. We got near the hill and I made my way towards the front and started the hill up there. I soon realized that it was indeed true that my legs felt terrible and I was dying to hold onto the last wheel of the shattered front group. After a few miles of the climb I lost all contact and was left to fight it on my own. My legs felt horrible, but I just kept telling myself "Keep Fightin...keep fightin..." I was caught by Danimal (Daniel Tisdell) and I hung onto his wheel for a while. I was hoping that I could find my legs and catch some riders that would blow up from the front group. That did not happen and I gave it my all to the finish, but was definitely not happy about my result. I was more than 2 minutes slower than my time of last year! I was thoroughly dissappointed, but I had a lot of fun descending down Panoramic back to Stinson. Ryan, Ethan, and I plus my father and his friend Jeff rode out in the general area of the Lighthouse. On the way out towards Pt. Reyes I was suffering horribly, but I eventually found some decent legs. Ryan and I raced up a couple hill with one leg and we made our way back to my house. We were even able to drill it for the last 8 miles and we made it back with 100 miles under our belts for the day.

My new frame

This is not a toy. This is not a commuter's bike. This is not a yuppies showpiece. This is, very nearly, a weapon of war- a machine that reach's deep into the soul of the man atop the saddle and capture's his heart. This is the new Beast. Much Thanks goes out to The Godfather (Ben Vandevier) for the sweet deal on The Beast!

Tyler's View ~ Starting a Diary?

September 9, 2007

Well last week I went searching through the attic to find some old posters that I had put up there, but I couldn't find them. I did find something that was much more thrilling than posters though. I found some cycling magazines from the 1990's. It is pretty awesome to read interviews with Hinault, Hampsten and Lemond. Well in one of the Velonews there was a story by Bob Roll that I had read in one of his books, but I found the actual Velonew that it was in. It is a good story so last night I went to read it again. At the end Bobke said "I recommend that everyone keep a daily diary- so as the memory fades, you have a record to look back on." I thought it was a good idea, and since I had just started a blog I thought that I would go for it. I dont know how often I will actually write diary stories of each day, but I think it will be cool to look back upon. I mean I am definitely living the dream. I am still young and have my whole future to look forward to. I think that every day is pretty awesome even if I have a bad day, I mean come on were living on this beautiful planet you know. Well it is almost the end of the cycling season and I am sort of looking forward to having an easy month of little riding, but I also love to ride so much that I dont really want a month off. Plus I am getting a new frame and I dont know how I am going to last a month without riding the new Beast. It will be a Tarmac Pro and I am definitely looking forward to hopping on that. I went for an easy ride today around the Nicasio Reservoir and it was pretty cold, foggy and a bit windy, even though I did not head out until around 11. That cold weather started me thinking of leg warmers and booties, and that is actually exciting. I definitely enjoy riding in the sun, but I feel much more like a bike racer when it is cold and windy and I am the only one out on the bike, makes you feel tough. I've got some big dreams for next year and I cant wait to go on those long base rides through the blasting wind and rain.