Gooble, Gooble

Turkey day has come and gone in the Prosser-Roughley household and better way to spend 4 work free days could not have been found. It's nice to be off work and at home with your family and growing 4 year old son (who ends pretty much every thing with "Of course...").

It was also a great way to get some long over-due riding in so we jumped at the chance. Thursday found us saddling up at Alston -Cari, Jake, Uncle David and I were trying to make a new tradition of riding on T-day. I was a little bummed that we missed out on the Fairfax ride with Curtis and 300 other MTB'rs, but the family thing was really awesome. Cari got to see first hand how fast Jake and I (I mean Luke and Han Solo) can go around Alston. Pretty sure it was a bit of a nail biter for her at first, but she warmed up. Cari also spent part of the ride trying to ride in SS gearing in anticipation of her new ride. I recommended something around 32X18, 19 or 20, believe she settled into 32x18 and was able to do most of it. Awesome! More practice and we will be off and riding elsewhere when her Surly is built up.

Friday was a slower day, I headed out into the freezing cold on my road bike and did a little Carneros action, just to keep the turkey flowing right.

Saturday I teamed up with a former Sunrace guy-Tony and headed to Annadel in Santa Rosa. I did not know what to expect as the last time I rode there was like 12 years ago, and I assumed it was a fire road climb, a technical descent and basically pretty short. Boy was I wrong! Tony is a strong rider and we set out to basically just cruise along to some trails he know. I kept seeing so many places I have ridden in this park. Parts of it reminded me of Recliner up in whiskeytown, while others reminded me of Tsali and Pisgah in NC (thanks Kirby). Overall, it was some of the sweetest, fastest singletrack I have had the honor of rolling over and I WILL be heading back quite often.

Jake looking sweet all cleaned up and dapper...


Jake and the Thanksgiving Uke-After I said it was Hawaiian, Jake went around telling everyone HE was Hawaiian!

Come on little buddy-you gotta help Daddy pedal on the hills!

The "Big" hill in the back of Alston where Han and Luke really let 'er rip!

Cari catches us in the act of speeding!

Dear Santa...

...If you think I have been good this year, I only ask for the little things, like some jersey's and stuff from my new drool-worthiest company-Rapha. Makes my Assos bibs look like rags and my Swobo jersey's like Hanes Beefy Tees...

Please Santa, I promise I'll be gooder.

Your pal-
Kenny


PS: Oh yeah and a Garmin Edge 305 so I always know where I am going...


PPS: Here is the website(you have internet right Santa?)-Probably need a size large now that my belly is bigger...
Rapha

Real attention to detail and wool...sigh...I dreama the Rapha gear...Now how to convince Cari that I NEED a $200 short sleeve jersey...


When even a cotton tee shirt cost $50, this little indian will have to look only...

Beep, Beep, Beep...Need more tech gear, NEED more tech gear!

Criss Cross Applesauce

Sunday Jake, cari and I packed up the Prosser family Truckster (Cari's Element) and headed to Es Eff to check out the Super Prestige Cyclocross race and ride around in the park a bit. It was pretty cool, we were dialed in to meet up with Curtis, Grady and Johnoss (with Johnoss bailing at the last minute) to check out the suffering and see the DFL'ers rooting on the riders with PBR cans stuffed with dollar bills on the rough sections.

Jake was loving the trail-a-bike and only wanted to do more dirt ridin', who was I to deny the boy! I was suffering a bit on the single speed, but it was worth it to hear him whoop and holler for "more dirt"! We hit up some single tracks and paths and then the time cam eto head back to Napa-dude.

Jake slept on the way home and was ready for more ridin' later on at Alston Park near our house. I have dreams, ambitions, to host a cross series at this park, it's perfect, wide, pretty smooth packed trails, a litle paved section and some ruts and technical bits would make a great, fast course and it's hella™ spectator friendly.

Anywho, Jake and I again saddled up and off we went. I have been mountain biking for about 15 years and nothing compared to hearing your 4 year old son tell you "This is what it's all about" after flying down a pretty big hill and snaking around on the single track. He was loving it and so was I. Little dude really has balance and a ton of fun on the dirt.

We're going again this week!

Check it:

Aunt Grady (as Jake knows him) and Cari talkin' about riding.


Cold kickin' it on the course. I can not believe Grady was going on a long road ride in Marin sans helmet-NOT smart.


PBR and a dollar--Cyclocross pro salary.


Some hot racing action on the DFL hill.


Our sweet rides...

Jake jumpin' for joy off the Element's tailgate-post ride

Eye C

Just picked up some new specs this morning-first pair in 5 years!

Sweet pair of Oakleys, oh if I was only still in the bike industry, I'd be as cool as Skippy...Well at least my prescription went DOWN instead of up and these things fit my melon better than the previous pair. Plus I like 'em!

Yo, Yo, Yo! Pretty fly for a white guy. You'll have to use your sweet photoshop (or MS Paint) skills to cut and paste onto any pics you have of me, since I don't have a camera to show you the real thing (right now)...

Old(er)

So last Sunday I officially turned 34 years old. Of course it was a perfect day to get out on my road bike, alone, and just celebrate my existence-so that's what I did.

In commemoration of the sacred day, I took the previous Friday off and goaded my brother and my wife to get on their mountain bikes and join me for a few hours in Angwin. I wanted to spend the time riding amoungst the trees with my friends and this was the best way to do it. Thankfully they agreed (I would have gone alone) and off we went.

Angwin is sweet riding all around, nice swoopy singletrack, sweet whoop-d-doos, and now-extreme Northshore action. Way over my head, but fun to look at and climb on. I'd have to say a highlight was getting Cari's MIchigan-flat land style caught up to Cail-Style and doing a rather steep little drop. It was about 15-20' high and I'd say maybe 65-70 degrees, not too technical, but scary enough. We coerced her to do it and she did! Repeatedly! Now if I could just get her to leave her rear shock in the open (not locked out) state for rides, we'll be onto something.

Much fun was had by all, even with me somehow snapping the pivot bolt on my Intense (which contrary to Intense's website, are definitely NOT available at your local hardware store). Thanks to Johnoss at CVC for supplying me with a new one the next day.

Yeah right, eh! Too North shore for me.


Here's a scale shot of the one BC style thing.


Hella hardcore Norcal™ stylee-C.Roughley in action.

bikes, Bikes, BIKES!!!!

This past weekend found the ol' stable of bikes in our family growing-yee haa!

Saturday, my good friend Steve stopped by to show me his sweeet new Rally Car and drop off a set of his old cyclocross wheels so I could get my Cannondale back on the dirt. After it's previous job as my touring bike from SF to Santa Barbara, complete with Cari's Campy Chorus Triple, it was time to get back to "normal" and help me explore new trails I have been seeing on my road rides...

That same day spurred Cari to begin a search for a new bike. She focused on Surly and found her "dream bike" on good ol' eBay.
A custom painted (baby blue, just like my old Ventana-RIP) frame, fork headset and seatpost. She's a newbie to the eBay experience and I had to calm her down to NOT bid until the last 5 minutes if she hoped to get her new ride. She didn't listen. She popped a bid approx 8 minutes to go and was outbid. I calmed her and had her wait until the last 2 minutes and spring the most she would spend, in this case $305. The tension mounted, the clock ticked, 30 sec, 28 sec, 18 sec, 5 sec...SHE WON! Now the patented Prosser Rationalization™ stage sets in. You know, I'm not really spending money, I'm selling X, Y and Z to cover the costs. Ahhhh, how nice it is to see my young paduan learn from the master...

Sunday AM found Jake and I heading to Fairfax in Marin to pick up a trail-a-bike for Jake to ride with me and Cari. I had sold a lanyard and 2 pins we were given at Disneyland for $40 and used the cash to pick up a used trail-a-bike. I don't know who was more excited, Jake or me! I got home, cleaned it all up and bolted it to my SS. Cari, Jake and I headed to the river trail behind the college to try it out. With his Cannondale Jersey, Trek gloves and Bell helmet, Jake was stoked. He loved riding behind me, kept yelling "Faster" and then showing me how he could stand up while we rode. A proud moment for all involved!

Finally came the resurrection (Kirby, you will appreciate this). My beautiful black Kestrel 200Sci has re-emerged from the ashes like the great Phoenix. Having been successfully retired from it's glorious past as my primary road bike (replaced by a 2005 Indy Fab Crown Jewel SE), old Black Beauty was languishing in the rafters of my garage (not as far back in the attic as it's sibling, the MXZ mountain Bike) awaiting a call to duty. With the purchase of the trail-a-bike, the call was set forth. It was time to transform Ketrel, transform! Step one found my flat bars and a SS configuration. However, even after attaining a perfect chain length with a 16T King Kog and my modified FSA Carbon Cranks (single ring, 39T), I thought the gearing was a bit much, so a deraileaur was in order. I'm keeping her single ring in the front and 8-9 speed in the rear and am happy as hell to get her back on the road...


Jake and I are so "parking lot" (as my old friend Fish used to say).



The Captain (Jake) and his stoker (me)



Like a couple of Fonzi's, "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy"...



Mommy and Jake chillin' by the river


This is what Cari got. Can't wait to get her out on the trails!



Sweet child o' mine! The Kestrel reborn as my "Townie".



Cockpit shot of the "new" Kestrel

Hella-ween

Our family successfully celebrated Jake's 4th Halloween on this planet yesterday.
Much candy was had and despite some neighborhood graveyards and witches giving Jake the scare (he would never make it in Kirby and Lyn's house), everyone had a blast.

Jake was convinced, coerced, directed to try something other than the "Truck Driver" he wanted to be. After a trip to our local fire station, Jake decided he wanted to be a fire truck driver. A costume was quickly procurred and mom and dad set off on their search.

Mom settled first on a Vampiress, then Dracula's bride, and finally into her interpretation of a Mark Reiden character. (Check her blog for pics, I couldn't find any!)

For my gig, I went back, way back, to a time when I might have been business up front, but all party in the back. A time when mini-trucks and JJ Fad ruled the scene. When white turtle necks could be worn with your freshest pegged acid washed jeans and white high tops. A slight modification had to be made to accomodate the chilly weather-there was no way I would make it in my original wife beater, cut off levis and sandals with socks, but over all I think I found my inner Billy Ray...

The cousins-Jake and Kaleb in a candy-induced coma...

Hella hardcore Norcal style, gimme yer candy!