PUSHING THE LIMITS OF STUPIDITY MUD TEST PLUS CROSS ITALIAN-STYLE VIDEO AND WHY NOT RIDE TONIGHT?

Did a little tire testing last night on the new Challenge Limus, pictured above. Limus means "mud" but I don't see how. Sounds more like a disease, and yeah the only cure is more cowbell? Right? Exactly. 

I always like that one. And so does this guy.

Well enough cowbell, now on with the tire testing. Oh it's so scientific - as you will see.

Anyway I mounted up the Limus, front and back, and took them out to the nearest piece of wet and muddy ground I could find, which wasn't hard, given the all the rain we've been having of late. I have a test track set up for just this purpose, by the way, set with laser speed traps, and, oh no, I'm lying again. Anyway with these thing mounted up on my new bike, I would finally, and for once in my life, be AWESOME on the slippery stuff or so I thought.

Change slide, and move back to reality.

Well here's the first part of the test gone wrong. Yeah I tried leaning the Limus as hard as a could on extremely slippery grass. Above you can see what I did - I took a perfectly good Campy Ergo lever and turned it into a garden weasel. See what I mean?

So how many gears/speeds does that Garden Weasel have? Does it go to eleven? Can I get an electric/tronic version?

To be perfectly honest (and this is the test part of this stupid post) those tires absolutely rock. Grippy, nice feel (more threads than previous Challenge tubulars) and didn't feel as draggy as the the Fangos rolling straight on in deep grass. And they blasted around loose turns on grass and slime faster than I've ever pushed a tire in those conditions Amazing. Well too amazing.

The above collection of crap all over my kit (always test new equipment in old team kit) isn't from a long ride on muddy roads, but just one crash. Yeah I put it down hard boys and girls. I was so shook up that in my addled confusion (photo center) I entered a neighbor's house and asked if I could borrow a class of Chablis to go with the plate of mussel I had in the drive way. I hate Chablis, so I knew I had a concussion. Plus I didn't have any mussels, either.

Actually I knew something was wrong because I could also hear a bell ringing, which indicated that I had "had my bell rung." If you don't know what that means, here's this Urban Dictionary entry should help:

bell rung	15 up, 2 down
	This word is a football term. It refers to when a player undergoes such a huge blow to his head that he can hear a ringing noise in his head. Coach: Why are you holding your ears you fuc*ing pussy?? Player: I got my bell rung.

Well enough of my whining. Time to suck it up and get ready for the Tailwind Stony Creek Race this Sunday. It's a beautiful setting for a race situated on the shore of a small lake. The grass is smooth, there are some fast paved sections and some swampy mud areas (new tires?). But best of all there's about a 150 yards of beach sand to test your sand riding (and running). So maybe I should put on my crash helmet and start hitting some deep sand as hard as I can. The landings should be softer, you think?

Also depending again on weather - who's in for riding tonight? We'll try 6 at Townsend, just for the hell of it.

NOW, ON WITH THE ENTERTAINMENT

No matter what race you're doing this weekend this ought to get you fired up. It's another great World Cup video, featuring the best women in the world - well, except for the best KfCompton - but a beautiful video. It starts a little slow but you have to watch the whole thing. Good lord is this a tough race and you get a feel for the absolute slaying that goes on toward the end, even without some announcer blathering about suitcases of courage and such. While she doesn't win, the guts of #4 on the Rabobank team is pretty inspiring. Thanks to Mud and Cowbells for posting this up.

Championnat d'Europe cyclo-cross 2011 from Petitesreines on Vimeo.