Cesar's Blog

I think this baby owns a review !! yeap, I bought a BMW R1200GS 2007, it is "the" top of the line mutli purpose bike out there for sure. After many years trying to own one of these babies I finally got my hands into one. I was a bit unsure on how much riding I could do now that I have 3 babies in diapers, but what the heck!! life is too short ! I took a day off yesterday and decided to venture with my wife to Water Valley, it is a town north west from my house, about 70kms, so after we dropped Nick at pre-school and left the twins with the nanny we put the helmets on and took off... My first impression of the bike was the handling (even though without the lower seat I couldn't quite reach the ground, I was able to stop on every light without falling sideways ::--)) We rode on pavement most of the time, but also took some gravel roads to test the handling. It feels sturdy and solid, but on a few deep gravel spots I was w...

Spokane, WA, Round and Round 24 hours MTB race 2014. Once again with the unconditional support from my wife and 3 kids we drove to another adventure in Spokane to race a 24hours mountain bike race. This time traveling with 3 kids wasn't easy but luckily my brother in-law volunteered to travel with us and help Maria with the kids while the race was on. Ashley Myers was coming to race as well and he managed to picked up a spot for my trailer right beside his so that we can race together.  Leaving from home Friday night we stayed at a hotel to ensure a good rest, however the twins didn't agree with the plan and didn't go to bed until midnight ! (teething babies are not fun at all) I was planning to mix my bottles and do some of the prep that night, instead I contemplated the idea of no racing at all after such a terrible night... so, I went to bed with one of the babies and gave up on the bottles preparation and other details... Saturday morning we all woke up a...

Oh yeah !! with my sister taking care of the twins+1 it is kind of easy to sneak out and ride... This days it doesn't feel good anymore to go out for an hour ride, I have to make it 3+ to feel good. Maria wanted to go to a shopping mall at Vero Beach (about 100kms north from my sister's). Honestly, if I am not looking for something I wont go to the mall, so I asked her (nicely) if I could drive up with them to the mall, but bring my bike with me, and as they were shopping, I would start my way back home. I had a nice tail wind today and it was easier to keep a 30k avg pace. I called them when I was getting closer to home to find out where they were at and I had an extra hour and a half time to keep moving. So, as I was getting home it was easy to find a looooonger way to get to the house. It ended up been 101kms in 3:20 I think. Yesterday I went out for a 8k run with my nephews, I know that if you can't have volume, intensity will help to keep your fitness, so it was a pre...

It is the best having my sister, niece and nephews living in Florida ! This year I managed to send via UPS my single speed road bike ahead of time and it was a great idea. With a 52/16 set up you can ride pretty much everything without spinning out in flat Florida..... After a short test ride around the area I asked my brother in law to drop me off next day in his way to work in the farest point south he was driving to. He had to work in Boca Raton this time (about 140kms from Port Saint Lucie via A1A which is the old hwy), so we left the house at 5:15am to grab coffee and pick up some tools he needed in his way out...Dropped me off at 7:20am on the A1A with a perfect sunrise just few meters from the coast. From there is all the way north on A1A along the coast or alternative routes to cross the bridges when the island has a dead end. The first 40 minutes felt like an eternity.... but right after that was manageable once again. My first stop was in a restaurant in West Palm Beach to h...

Well, another year went by and the Water Valley loop had to be done ! this year, with less training (probably due to the fact that I now have 3 kids !!), anyway, I didn't want to miss this great group ride and despite I couldn't chat much while pedaling this time, it was a great ride. Big group this time departing from Cadence, however the weather wasn't as nice as years before and forced lots of people on this group to get extracted from the ride along the way. Riding to Water Valley wasn't that bad, few crashes due to icy roads, but no one hurt. When we got to WV the coffee shop was closed, so had to hit the Saloon (which has nice food, but the service is slow...). right after that we left for the second leg of the ride (really hard section ahead of us). As soon as we hit the gravel section (next 60+kms I knew it was going to be a hard ride.... The gravel was to soft due to all the snow melting that it was very hard to pedal. The group split really quick and Kate ...

My super duper good looking Ridleys came to an end when I discovered a crack in the chainstay.... I called Competitive Cyclist (where I have purchased the bike in 2012 and due to a Lifetime return policy they have I got 100% refund for it :::--)) I put in 5,000km in a year of riding, including two laps of the water valley loop with Kate and Craig.. Awesome memories, but now is time to test the new Stevens Super Prestige cx bike!! it'd better live to its "prestige". Very sexy looking to say the least. I couldn't find a size 52cm which is what I normally ride, however for cx it seems like a smaller frame (50cm) will be a better fit. With three babies full on in the house building a bike is a real challenge, so last two nights after they have fallen asleep I managed to scape to the garage and work on for a few hours on it.. As always, building a bike is not an easy task, sometimes the parts you have don't fit quite well and then you either have to buy ...