Fellet Done it Right & Geared Road 100

Fellet Brazing's Chris Fellet (Shop Gnome) has developed a custom brew that is likely to become a new standard with the good folk of Team Seagal, and then the rest of the world. Crafted from double-butted Dedacciai chromoly, Fellet makes a wonderfully compliant steel frame, but with super efficient energy transmission when you want to hammer.

The newest Fellet Brazed production: Shop Minister's Royal Blue Road Deluxe:



Pros: Lightweight, Fast, Sturdy, Fast-Back Seat Stays
Best Uses: Serious Racing or Training, Sprinting, Climbing, Rain
Bottom Line: "Yes, I would recommend this to a friend. It is laterally stiff yet vertically compliant" - Shop Minister.


It was time to put the new frame through a real world test, Shop Gnome and Shop Minister picked me up at 10:45am- both on new frames from Fellet Brazing . Shop Gnome is a grinch and personally prefers lugged construction and classic Campy 8 speed drivetrain to all modern componetry.







We took off east through Forest Park, encountered a bit of the CWE, took a right on Compton then a left on Choteau and then north on the MRT. We rode to Alton and then turned around. On the way back, approx 4 miles south of the Chain of Rocks Bridge (safely within the Missouri Border) we ran into the only person we saw the whole time while on the MRT...



That's right, it was Wes McLaren, MD. He was standing off of the paved trail by about five feet in the grass with a funny look on his face, sporting the '07 team jersey and fingerless gloves. It was great to see the Dr., but why was he so under-dressed and waiting for us in that Field?



We continued on the course towards home, stopping only in Forest Park for urinary purposes. The odometer said 71 miles, I parted ways with Shop Gnome and Shop Minister and reunited with The Doctor. Wesley and I retreated to his office for Chinese Herbs and a beer (read: O'Fallon 5-Day IPA). I visited for close to an hour, but there was still a bit of work left to do. I pedaled off towards 100 without any set route at a very leisurely pace. I let my mind drift and went for a tour of downtown Clayton, Maplewood, University City, Olivette and more. It was relaxing and I achieved almost all of the the necessary mileage. The final push came complete with a special treat at the end - I wound up at the home of Mason Storm. I was fed Seafood Gumbo, rice, coffee stout, 24oz PBRs and an ice cream Drumstick for desert. After dinner we shot each other up pretty good playing 007 James Bond Goldeneye on Nintendo 64.

This last shot is from Forest Park looking down a major street during Tuesdays' occurrence of thunder-snow; it was like being in a totally different world!

I hope to see you all again real soon.

-Nico Toscani

2008 Team Kits

Well the kits have been ordered, and we should be rolling up to the starting line in these bad boys mid/late April. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our 2008 sponsors. Kona Bikes, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and The Hub Bicycle Co. without them this wouldn't have been possible. On another note stay tuned for NON-Race # 3. I have been tossing around a few ideas/dates, and it looks like we will be hosting our 3rd installment in the NON-Series sometime this month.
Late,
Hoffmeyer

St. Joe's NORBA #1

Whew.

It really says "determination" (or maybe "unhealthy obsession") when one's idea of a good time is to get up before dawn, drive an hour or two, and then ride their bike in tons of slop, especially when it is expected to find slop. But that is exactly what Casey Ryback, Shop Minister, Mason Storm, Nico Toscani, and Dr. Wesley McClaren found themselves doing on this fine day. The temperature was actually in the upper 70s! Our cars were hot from sitting in the sun! We didn't need leg warmers and shoe covers!

After much discussion and pondering over just how the trails would look, it was decided that the race would for sure be held. Everyone was a little skeptical, but in the end it was worth it. We fought valiantly; and despite endo's, flats, defective replacement tubes, barbed wire in the brake rotors, soul-crushingly soft ground, and hub-deep mud holes and creek crossings, we emerged stronger for having gone through the experience, and better prepared to face the next challenge.

Shop Minister, on the other hand, still has some small lessons to learn about accepted style when on the bike, the first of which is that white cotton socks are never proper attire:

Rest assured that they didn't stay white for long. And besides, they could have been worse - sandals maybe?

Here we have the only podium of the day, Nico Toscani taking 3rd place in the Singlespeed class:


And here's an example of what your bike would may have looked like had you participate in today's events:


Btw, Hey Furby, you were driving in the same direction as us (away from St. Joes) but you had no bike - what gives? Better be at the next race...

Big thanks needs to be extended to Mark Grumpke, Bill H. and Dave Ploch (and all those who sacrificed a day of racing in order to put this on for the rest of us! Thanks Guys!

Steven Seagal makes appearance in The Onion Movie

Watch this movie trailer from satire news organization, The Onion - it will blow your F***ing mind:

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/305252/The-Onion-Movie/trailers

Big thanks to Chris Nitzsche (now known as "Cockpuncher") for exposing us to it!


In other news, it looks like there will be a small army of Seagal Soldiers venturing down to St. Joe's State Park near Farmington, since the first Heartland Race was cancelled. 5 d00dz - Shop Minister, Mason Storm, Dr. Wesley McLaren, Nico Toscani, and myself, Casey Ryback. The weird thing though, is that we've decided that we have a better chance of winning if we all ride the same bike:



Marshall Lawson will also be there, but under the guise of another, more well-funded organization. Results and photos will be soon to follow - don't touch that f***ing dial!


-C. Ryback

Update to keep you amused

Greetings. I'll keep this brief. You need to understand and be able to identify certain people in life. This website can help:

www.hotchickswithdouchebags.com

IN OTHER NEWS...

Looks like the weather is actually starting to break this week... This Sunday there are two XC races, a Heartland Race at Landahl, and a NORBA race at St. Joes. Many Seagal Soldiers are attending each. In the event they are cancelled, we will be taking aim squarely on Council Bluff - who's in?

Truly, A Managerie of Energy Drinks

Greetings, loyal Team Seagal fans. You are in for a treat today. Almost as much of a treat as my taste buds were just in!

Because on days when the ice/sleet in my parking lot is of the consistency of Cream of Wheat, there are few other things to do since I can't ride my bike to work in a steaming bowl of Cream of Wheat. (That would be amazing to be able to ride in Cream of Wheat though, because that stuff is delicious - I would literally lick my bike clean.) So here are my ramblings about these 3 new challengers.

The packaging made big promises, which inevitably got my hopes way up:


But would I get a "super power," let alone a "new super power?" Would I indeed be "stamin-ized?" Time would surely tell!

Let's look at the challengers:


These two of these cans were identical to a couple of challengers from our last energy drink exhibition.
Asian energy drink manufacturers, in addition to making their cans bite-size, seem to believe that animals give you supreme energy. These are all very powerful, verile animals - the panther, the "super" lion, the prancing horse; and if you remember last time, the bull! They also really rely on this 1980's-luxury-car-interior brown when coloring their cans.

"But Casey Ryback," you may ask, "What about the damn taste?!?!" Hold your prancing horses. I'm getting to that. But first I have to ask you a question - have you ever had canned fruit salad? You know, the rubbery chunks in the heavy syrup? Well, the Panther drink tastes and drinks like heavy fruit salad syrup. That's bad. And Super Lion, despite it's name, is no more "super" than the Carabao and Red Bull from last time. In fact, it tastes EXACTLY the same as those two. These Asian maketing execs better be careful, American consumers are very saavy and may catch onto this ploy to get at our propensity to submit to various types of packaging. Worst case scenario, they may lose valuable market share in this cut-throat energy drink market.

There was a trickle of hope in this trio of tumultuous tastes. The third drink, "Red Ice," was, I have to admit, quite tasty. Tasty enough that I would actually consider purchasing it for purposes other than practical jokes! Sort of a cherry taste, and with carbonation. In case you were wondering, the name "Red Ice" wasn't just a catch, peppy-sounding name. It is coincidentally an acronym!

Most energy drinks try to downplay the role that caffeine plays in their ingredients. (As if any of those Chinese herbs and Kung Pao BS actually will wake you up...)

All I have to say is, "Welcome to Flavor Country."

Moral of the story? Read this blog, and enter in some races this summer so we can snap your wrists shortly after consumer a random no-name energy drink. We have just over a week till the St. Joe NORBA Race AND the Truman's Big Love Heartland Race! What a great way to kick the season off. Be there or be a puh-ssay.

Planning a mid-week vacation? Why not beautiful Lake Chubb!

Greetings and a pleasant good day to fellow Team Seagalers and non-Seagalers alike. Look at the current state of the magnificent stretch of dirt designated to memorialize the great, late Robert Walston Chubb. The normally placid Meremac River has become rather angered by the recent snow and rain - it has been shown that when swelled the Meremac will go wherever the hell it wants. Lt. Col Austin Travis and I discovered these sights yesterday afternoon at the end of the first big rock garden parallel to the now mighty river.





Trail conditions encountered until this point were generally very good, only slightly sloppy and moderately manure-ly when descending from the Lone Elk trailhead. Although we were unable to continue on towards the rocky ascents of West Tyson Park via the normal channels, we did find our way around the newly formed Lake Chubb to complete our lap (we tried to hire the Destroyer's boat, but instead decided to think "tracks"). The Lt. and I are happy to report that the West Tyson portion is currently completely rideable, and as always very highly recommended.

The River bottoms portion of Chubb as Lone Elk park segues into West Tyson is under 5 feet of water, look at the sign pointing adventurers’ on towards West Tyson, it is almost completely submerged!



Let us all pray to the Lord of Chubb that the flood waters will soon recede, and that the trail is soon restored to its former glory. Until then, who's down to ride The Berryman? I haven’t been yet.
Thanks for stopping by,

-Nico Toscani

I wish I could build frames like this brutha here in St. Louis...

Bet you didn't think anyone in this town could make a respectable frame. If so, you were quite wrong. Check it, SUCKA!

http://www.felletbrazing.blogspot.com



Talk about snapped wrists! In fact, that should be the slogan - "Snapped wrists, not snapped frames!"

Not available for purchase.

Yet.

Its 70 degrees out - ride to Hog Hollow Rd or to the Chain of Rocks Bridge?

If you have a superior attitude you can do both. Monday the fourth of February started off very soggy and kind of chilly. Somehow the temperature began to rise and the promised overcastness pushed off to the northwest leaving sunny skies and relatively dry roadways. Lt. Col Austin Travis stopped by my apartment atop his Schwinn World Sport, sporting 27" wheels and a top tube that is not quite long enough to be comfortable. Lt. Col ordered me to throw on the chamois, we were going for a ride.



The night before was the Super Bowl - the game was OK, but nothing compared to the food consumed during it. Mason Storm and his captivating fiancée, Ms. Katemeyer, hosted an organized culinary competition at their home in South City. The guests of honor for this cook-off were 4 fantastically diverse pots of chili, and 1 pot of seafood gumbo. Diagnosis, delicious. The Shop Minister offered up some quick directions on how to do the Hog's Hollow Rd ride which I wrote down on post-it notes and stuck into my wallet.

Lt. Col and I left Dogtown around 12 noon under the direction of the post-it notes. Heading westward, we took Clayton Rd to Conway Rd to White Rd to Fairtrails Rd, and so on...about 20 miles had past when we stopped at the Phillips 66 station at Olive Blvd and Hog Hollow Rd for Red Bull and to take a leak. Austin almost forgot he was carrying the restroom key when we getting ready to depart, the store clerks should probably find something bulky to attach it to.




Descending Hog Hollow Rd is very fast and quite fun, cross the railroad tracks at the bottom and you've entered the Creve Coeur "flats," approx 6 miles of very smooth, velocious, and wide black top leading you into Creve Coeur Park.




We pressed on from Creve Coeur Park, traveling east towards downtown. Twenty-five or so miles later it was time for lunch, Lt. Col and I really needed to consume some calories. Double Cheeseburgers have just about as many calories as anything does so we ordered up a couple of them from the Hardees at 6th and Chestnut. This is the view east from the patio at the brand new Hardee's.



After lunch we traveled north on The Riverfront Trail in hopes of crossing the Chain of Rocks Bridge before dusk set-in. Unfortunately, we were a little late in the day and the gate to the bridge was locked, Illinois was closed.







We turned around from the bridge and rode back to Forest Park. It was past 6:00pm by now, we were at mile 75 and cycling under the cover of night. On accident Lt. Col and I overshot the only restroom facility open in Forest Park, located adjacent to the ball fields just west of the mounted police stables. We had planned to stop there for more water - after passing it we decided to just make a loop in the park and stop there on the flip-side. The loop was speedy and full of adventure so we stayed in Forest Park and repeated it four more times... finally the odometer read 100. It was almost 8:00pm, Lt. Col and I stopped by Mobil at Hampton and 40 for 24oz Busch cans and Snickers bars, a true reward for true champions equipped only with single speed road bikes, a superior attitude and a superior state of mind.

-Nico Toscani

Morning Wood

So I set the alarm nice an early to wake up today to get out and ride the snow at Castlewood before going into work at 10am. Woke up to the sound of Ice, Ice Baby on the clock radio. Did somebody call that in for me remind me why I was waking up so damn early. The alarm went off right before the beginning of the song. I can honestly say I remember way too many of the lyrics. After some bike technical issues and a slow drive out there I got to the gate right as Rich Love was getting ready to open it after plowing the front of the park. Not another soul there at first. Saw two jeeps drive in and then drive out while I was there. Rode up the Love trail, with some walking when the front end washed, and a nice steady descent down the grotpeter (pedaling) and then on into the river flats. 1 hour. Awesome. 2 snowstorms this winter and two snow rides. Double awesome.
This was probably the final ride for the old ebay find frame for a while. It served its purpose for a week or two. The new Lynskey has arrived.

For your viewing pleasure: