Dan Hoffman

Subject: TRAGIC NEWS - PLEASE READ

We regret to inform you that on Monday the 28th of May 2007 Dan Hoffman, ourbeloved friend and manager, tragically passed away of a heart attack. Weare sure that this comes as a shock to you as it did to all of us. Ourhearts and prayers go out to his two children, Kelli and Shawn, and hiswife, Gail. Visitation is scheduled for Thursday, 31 May 2007 at KaulFunneral Home, located at 15 Mile Road and Garfield from 2P until 9P. Theservice is scheduled for Friday, 01 June 2007; as times become available tous we will pass them on to you. Any questions please call the shop at586.756.5400.

Jeff, Lauren, and the staff of Macomb Bike and Fitness

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My condolences go out. Dan was such a great guy; he used to let me get away with so much shenanigans at Macomb Bike, even when I wasn't employed there... bummer. Only good memories remain of Dan Hoffman.

There will be a memorial ride on Jefferson, where Dan often rode his bike. Check in at www.macombbike.com or to my blog for details.

Cool video

Got some time to kill?

It's a video of the Swiss mtb championships. It's a good video, but might take a while to download if you have a slow connection.

http://www.3dchips.net/files/CH%20Meister%202007.wmv

Brighton Stage Race

Here's what happened at the Brighton stage race.

Day 1 Time trial: The time trial was good for me. My technique was to be smooth and keep the tires connected with the ground. I ran an extremely low 15psi in the front and 18psi in the front with my Maxxis UST tires. It worked well in this application where the trail was loose and very technical. I came in 3rd with about a minute and a half deficit behind 1st place.

Day 1 Short track cross country: I hoped to take the lead off the start but I didn't respond quick enough to the starters command, as he shouted "go" with no warning. I raced well in the short track in spite of a bad start. When the eventual winner and another racer broke away, I was not in a position to respond as I was behind a long line of riders. So instead, I worked to pick as many racers off as I could by the finish. The race was to be 6 laps, but many lost count and did 7 instead. I kept track and rode into the finish shoot after 6 laps. The promoters gave the racers who did 7 laps a time for their 6 laps complete and I was 3rd again, now with a total 2 minute deficit behind the series leader.

Day 2 cross country: I had a clean start getting right behind the race leader where I wanted to be. Then on the first lap he broke away and I wasn't able to go with him. When the race came out into the start/finish area for the beginning of the second of the five laps, everyone started to surge, but I could not react. There was no power in my legs. Later I heard my brakes rubbing, but when I stopped to get an energy gel from my team manager I found that they were operating without any drag. I was discouraged with the way I was feeling and considered dropping out but I knew that I had to finish to get series points. I pressed on and finished this race in 8th place.

When I looked at my bike the next day I found that my brakes were indeed dragging due to sticky pistons. It must have been some intermittent problem and I can't say how much it affected my performance, if at all.

I lost a lot of time in the cross country race to finish 6th in the overall classification. My overall performance was not even close to my expectations, but sometimes you have a bad day for whatever reason.

I'd like to say thanks to my team mate Brent and his family for letting me stay in Brighton at their home between races.

results: http://tailwind.net/results/RESULTS-BRIGHTON%20STAGE-052007.pdf

Tech geek

Man, there's some juicy new stuff coming out soon... I'm already thinking about what my next bike is going to look like... or upgrades I might make on the one I'm riding now... mmm

Mantitou's new R7 MRD fork is supposed to weigh in under 3 lbs. I rode an R7 platinum for about a week last summer and really liked it. It had an efficient damping system and didn't flex nearly as much as my SID.

Also from Hayes Bicycle Group is the new Stroker Trail brake system. I'd like to try these. I love the white color. The non-carbon version of the R7 MRD is also white so they would look good together... I rode a set of Hayes last summer along with the R7 fork and the brakes had a good solid feel to them. They felt better than the XTR disks I'm currently using.

Everyone was all excited when the new XTR came out but check the '08 XT stuff. It looks to have received a lot of the same upgrades that the XTR got for this year. Despite advertised weights, I'd also be willing to bet some of this stuff is pretty gram-competitive with the XTR, not to mention probably way cheaper. I couldn't believe the prices of the 07 XTR upgrades. But I've always been a Shimano fan. I've had a short trial with SRAM 10.0 and X9 which was nice, but I think Shimano's designs are a bit sturdier. I like the looks of those new derailleurs, shifters, and the crank.

Well, I've had some excellent training sessions over the past few weeks so I'm excited to race again this weekend. During yesterday's session someone told me "I didn't think it was possible, but you look even leaner than you did last year."

I hope that means I'll be faster too...? ; )