Here are two videos Suzanne took of the front goup at the 2006 Philadelphia International.

They’re about to see 1 to go:

And here’s the sprint:

Check out my new videos page that Curtis added today. It’s not much now but it should be getting better soon. It’s just a link to my YouTube page that hosts all my videos. Enjoy.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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To the man needing a hip replacement who still wins the Tour de France…………………I salute you.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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Well, well……where to start?

First off, the team’s not doing Tour de Toona anymore. Yeah, my bags were packed and I had my flight reservations in my hot little hand when I got the call on Friday. I was pretty pumped to be flying out Sunday and getting myself into another stage race. I came out of Cascade with some very good form and was very excited to do some good with it. Now, I’ll be tearing up and down the streets of Paradise Valley as I do interval after interval trying to stay sharp. If you train in Paradise Valley, fear me. I’m lean, mean and blowin’ doors off by the bushel……….Maverick to base requesting a fly-by………. By the way, it’s getting harder and harder to train here. It was 118 degree’s yesterday. Yes, that isn’t a typo…….118 degree’s. As in, one more than 117. I might be leaving town soon to get some longer miles in…… Anyways, ok, back to Toona…… apparently we didn’t get in because the field was full. Instead of the usual Pro-1 category, they now made it Pro 1-2 which bumped us out of a start spot resulting in high levels of suckiness……But, in the sporting world, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Actually, if I had a cookie for everytime in my carrer that my plans have done a 180 at the drop of a hat, well, I’d have an upset stomach from so many cookies. Speaking of upset stomachs…….I was a bit knocked off my rocker after the word on Toona so I decided to have a bowl of ice-cream for lunch. There’s times where you just got to do what feels right…….write that down.

I eat because I’m sad…..I’m sad because I eat.

It’s a vicious cycle.

I’ll type more when I know what my new scedule is for the rest of the season.

Cheers.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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This one comes from deep within the vaults of Austin King’s Chronicles From Across The Pond……………From a time long long ago, when a young man was in need. Have no fear young man, for Austin is here.

Enjoy:

“……….. well this is just what I want to hear from you. I liked the 7 Degrees of Suffering, but who wouldn’t….well some people I guess that is why I’m writing you. I’m constantly hagged by little cheerleaders who seem to think their 1hr long gossip session called cheer practice can be said as equal to my 90 mile races….haha, I would have brought in the 7 Degrees of Suffering, but all the sour growler stuff and what not might not work so well with them…..so if you could write something about why cyclist are the most hardcore out there, that would be great………..”

Show me more… »

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Howdy.

Sorry it’s been awhile…..

I’m at the Cascade Classic in Bend, Oregon right now. It’s been a great race that’s been going fairly well for me with the exception of the visit from my Uncle Crampy in stage one…….I don’t really like that guy, and man was he in a sour mood.

All week I’ve been on early break patrol. I found it on stage two and rotated my little you know what off for the next hour and a half. Neil Lavernen Shirley, Aaron Olson and I pretty much kept that party alive with a 48 km/h average for about the first hour and a half……. Ouch.

Another highlight was the time trial……………….No TT bike, aerobars, aero wheels…..um, aero helmet…..oh, and yes, no skinsuit. Nothing. A water pistol at a gun fight, if you will. Merckx style. For the record, that style sucks. I rode it fairly hard due to fears of the Nathan O’Neil-Chris Baldwin time cut. 7 miles later, O’Neil put 2:12 into me. Ouch.

That night in the criterium I almost snagged myself a big “W”. Evan and I slipped into the break that went after about 20 minutes of racing. The break built up a decent lead, then stopped working together, then prematurelly started attacking each other and then got caught by the bunch with a lap to go. Right before getting caught with one to go, I hit out and took it all the way to the last corner. 200 meters from freedom……..damn.

In the final circuit race Big Neil “Lavernen” Shirley pulled of a win. Early in the race a break of 4 went with Neil in it. Fast forward a few laps and Neil took the win in a sprint. I was really happy to see Neil get such a nice result. He’s had a few big setbacks this season so it’s nice to see his form finally where it should be.

That’s about it for now. I fly home tomorrow morning. I’ll rest up for a few days and then fly back out east for the Tour de Toona.

Cheers.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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Aero as can be…….,
originally uploaded by akingslife.

It’s 7:32 a.m. and I find myself already sitting in LAX drinking a cup of coffee and eating a bagel. What’s the X in LAX stand for anyways? I mean, it’s Los Angeles International Airport……..So where did that X come from? There aren’t too many “X” words in the dictionary to start with, let alone one’s pertaining to travel. Hm? Odd things can occur when reckless abbreviations are made. Write that down.

So, back to the story at hand. I had a most lovely 6:00 a.m. flight out of Phoenix this morning. Follow that up with the 3 hour layover I’m currently sitting through, then a few hour flight to Portand, Oregon, and a short drive to Bend and finally I will have made it to the Cascade Classic. It’s starts Wednesday and should be a beauty of a 5 day climbing slamfest! I’ve never done this race before but I’ve heard alot of good things about it. I’m ready to investigate those claims myself and get to the bottom of things. I’ll keep you posted. Maybe I can even get another one of my critically acclaimed rider interviews for you guys?

So, as you can already tell, Curtis (Lord of the Web), put together another header for me. A header’s that thing at the top of the screen that has my photo with AKINGSLIFE.COM added to it. What do you think? Or do you lay awake in bed, sleepless, late at night, tossing and turning, longing for the header of yourself on that magnificent tank to make it’s glorious and triumphant return?………

Was I thinking out loud again? Sorry.

I posted another photo of Suzanne from way back in her product testing days. She’s pretty aero. I’m trying to convince her to wear that helmet next time we go out riding our beach cruiser tandem. She lives on a residential road in Phoenix thats very popular with the local cyclists. You can stand in the kitchen looking out the window at all the cyclists riding by. I like to get on our 7,000lb red beach cruiser tandem named Lola and poach those riders. Basically, we’ll go out cruising easy, enjoying the beautiful day and I’ll gradually make my way to Lafayette in search of prey. I prefer to feed on the fitter looking men with shaved legs, but if all I can find is an older hairy legged weekend warrior, than that is suffice. Hey, lions in the wild don’t discriminate and neither do I. When I find my prey I light that tandem up, gears dropping, bells a’ ringing. The high cadence gets to be too much for Suzanne, so she puts her feet on the top tube as I savagly chase my prey like that lion in the wild. All they hear is the bell ringing, gradually getting closer and closer before they look over and a beach cruiser tandems pulled even with their $8,000 carbon dream machine. I’ve gotten a few quality drag races where the rider will accelerate and try and pump me. But honestly, with Suzanne on the back, I can’t allow myself to get dropped, right? I must defend my honor. I have no option but to take that rider one step further in the pain cave, fighting harder and harder not to drop the flashlight first. Actually, right about the time I’m ready to blow, I turn off on a side street and dissapear just as quickly as I had appeared only a few minutes ago. Just like lions and gazelles and zebras…..

I wonder if this competitive thing in me will ever die out? For the time being, if you ride on Lafayette, you’re safe through the summer. I’ll be standing in that kitchen window watching, thinking, planning. But as the weather begins to get nicer, consider yourself warned. Lola, Suz and I just might be out and about on a nice gingerly spin on a beautiful fall day. It all starts with a faint ringing bell sound, gradually getting louder………

Cheers

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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