With all the talk about health care reform is there really room for reform without first looking at the billing and charges and they way the government contracts service?:

A patient with insurance is billed $500 for a procedure. The insurance company pays $250, the balance is written off because that is just “what insurance and medicare will pay”.
A patient without insurance is billed $500 for a procedure and is expected to pay the full $500.
The reason… medicare hasn’t accepted the test as “normal practice”. Despite the fact that the diagnosis from this one test saves approximately $1500-$3000 by not having to administer other tests.

Another example…. A water main is “uncovered” during a road widening project. The project is halted… the contractors and subs are being paid while VDOT comes up with a solution. The General Contractor recommends solving the problem by taking the line and burying it a little deeper. Ahhh… but this requires approval because it didn’t fall within the scope of the project. 12 weeks later VDOT comes up with a solution! Bury the line 12″ deeper so that the road surface can be laid over top of the line. The contractor made money, the sub-contractors made money, ALL of the VDOT employees made money. Where did the funds come from? US!

A very old wood gymnasium floor in poor condition was in need of replacement on a local military base. Someone was needed to do the work. A minority contractor in a hub zone was hired. First off it was recommended by some engineer to throw a thin layer of concrete over what was already a poor slab to start off with. Next the general contractor hired another inexperienced, non-qualified sub-contractor, who in turn was a mason by trade. Not a concrete contractor. He hired a sub-contractor who pours driveways, not large slabs. Especially not thin slabs intended as a topping. What happened? The topping slab curled at joints, cracks formed where joints weren’t added, and thousands of dollars were spent correcting the issues because money was “set aside”

This is the way our government thinks on many levels…. until we can have the government thinking on the terms of the way modern business functions, not on the good ol’ boy (I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine) mentality we are always going to have every last penny sucked out of us in taxes and “government funds”!

Picasa Web Albums – Brian – Fat Frogs Cylcocross Bicycle Race 12-6-2009.

This was the Thanksgiving weekend project…

  It was a TON of work but I think the end result was worth it. The next polishing project will be the kitchen but that one is going to start with a colored “concrete” topping.  Trying to level and flatten a crappy residential slab is just too time consuming to be cost effective.  Unless of course you were lucky enough to have a good crew place the slab.

Picasa Web Albums – Brian – Polished & Stained Concrete Floor in Living Room.

This coming weekend I will be in Arlington for the “BIG” race. It should be interesting working my first semi-pro race as an official! I was selected to work as a volunteer official.
Work has been interesting at best, last week was some “schooling” in California. I got to experience my first earthquake, even if it was only a minor after shock. I alrwady knew most of the product line but it was still fun to see CA and meet some some new people. The economy totally sucks and the coomercial work is dropping off BIG time. I truly think that things arw going to get a good bit worse before everything stabilizes and we seem see some upturns. It sure would be nice to find some way to pull the cycling community together and “network” to help each other out!
Now if I could just get some drive back in to the cycling again!

It’s a little late, but better late than never right?  I decided to write this review because I recently changed out all of my old Look to Shimano.  When I first started on a “road style” clip I used a Look Delta pedal that was on a bike that was given to me.  They were old, but they worked.  So I stuck with them.  When I upgraded my Felt F90 to the Felt F5C I put those pedals on it.  When I was given the Time Trial bike for Father’s Day by my awesome wife I put on a set of inexpensive Forte pedals from Performance Bike.  Then came the track bike, that bike got a new set of Look brand pedals that use the older Delta style cleat as well.  I noticed no difference at all between any of the pedals as far as performance  I fully agree with what First Dropped said in regards to the Forte pedals: “These are just like the Looks in every way except the price.”

When my wife started cycling a couple years ago she was persuaded to go to the “other side” and put Shimano pedals on her bike.  So, we had my three bikes with Look and her Felt Z35 with Shimano.  Next came the trainer bike.  A mid-80’s Raleigh Technium Pro that came with authentic vintage Shimano pedals.  When I got home with that bike I hopped on it with my Look Delta cleats and clipped right in!  The weekend after I got it I rode 35 miles with the Look Delta cleats on Shimano pedals.  There was no play or slop when pedaling.  The only thing I noticed was a little extra float when compared to my other pedals.

This is getting a bit long winded so I’ll get back on track.  I noticed a clicking sound when riding my F5C on the road.  It sounded to be coming from the pedals so I swapped pedals.  It was still clicking with the other pedals.  I could always recreated the clicking sounding by lifting hard on the up stroke and then quickly bringing my foot in to the down stroke.  This sound was driving me nuts so the next step was to get new cleats.  That proved impossible locally seeing as EVERYONE is using either Shimano or Keo.  I don’t want to have to rely on online retailers for something as simple as a cleat.  I also did not want to have to wait for a local shop to order them in.  My trainer bike and Amber’s bike already were set up for Shimano.  The logical choice at this point was to go Shimano so that all of our bikes were the same.

I purchased one set of 105 pedals for the F5C and one set of standard Shimano pedals for the Track bike.  I rode the F5C on the 100 mile Tour de Cure the day after I installed then and noticed no major difference between the pedals.  I rode the Track bike last weekend in the wind for the Saturday morning Pungo loop and again noticed no huge difference between a Look Delta and Shimano pedal.  Ironically, the clicking continued when I was riding the Felt FC with the new pedals and cleats.  After much tinkering I think I fixed it by tightening the crank bolt and bottom bracket.

The arguments I was given when I mentioned switching to Shimano were that the Shimano pedal is slightly wider than the Look Keo or Speedplay and that Shimano was harder to clip in to.   The greater width meant more care when cornering.  The difficulty clipping in was not much of a concern.  When I compared the Shimano pedals and the Delta style pedals they were about the same width.  I found that I did like the Shimano better in one aspect.  The front of the Shimano cleat has more height which I found made it easier for me to clip in.  Ultimately, I think that the Shimano vs. Look argument is like the one photographers have with Canon vs. Nikon.  Both have advantages and disadvantages, what is right, what is better comes down to a matter of opinion.

Well it seems that I only can get on here and throw out one post a month so here it is… and it wont be too long… just a little update.  Work is going ok, the market is rough.  The construction industry as a whole SUCKS!  People are getting laid off left and right and the work isnt starting up fast enough right now.  We, Bay Equipment, are doing alright thanks to a great base that was built years ago.

On the cycling front… I used the Tour De Cure as a “kick off” to my training and have been riding a bit more.  I wouldn’t say I am in peak form but I have felt pretty good the last few times out on the bike.  I guess we’ll see on Sunday at the Fort Lee Sprint in to Spring Crit.  I actually paid the money to do the race.  I guess that means I have to be there to do the race.

There has been a lot of blogging and commenting about cyclists and their rights on the road.  I will stay semi-neutral and say this:  We move slower than the flow of traffic and are sharing the road with a lot of people who only want to get from point a to point b in the fastest way possible.  Keep that in mind when you are riding that narrow country road with no shoulder during rush hour as you get “buzzed” by the redneck in the big pickup truck.

So, I bought a new bike… but not a new bike… it’s an old bike… probably from the the late 80’s… it’s a Raleigh Technium Pro.  I went to look at it for a friend.  It’s was listed on craigslist.com as a Raleigh 50cm with Shimano 105 and the owner wasnt sure of the year.  When I saw it the bikewas so cool I had to have it.  The frame is a butted mix of aluminum and steel.  It has a 53/42 front and 7 speed rear cog.  Gum wall 700×20 tires and some crazy funky Specialized handle bars with a lower flat area.

Anywhoooo…. I decided to get the bike and if the person I purchased it for didnt want it I would use it for myself… by the time I got home that day I decided I was keeping the darn thing!  I rode it last night on the Pungo loop for the first time.

What a ride, the bike was SMOOTH!  The aluminum/steel combo made for an awesome ride.  New Bridge road was nice, I felt good, then a little further in to the loop the weight of the bike started to settle in.  The bike is HEAVY!  The “trail of tears” was hell!  A steady cross wind made the bike feel like it was filled with lead.  What is even sadder is that the wind wasn’t even that bad!!!!  I slowed down a bit through the ride and just enjoyed the old school retro ride.

When I got home I picked up the Technium Pro and my Felt F5C and was amazed at how much of a weight difference there is.  My Felt felt like it weighed 1/2 as much as the Technium, but in reality it was probably 1/3 as much.  One of these days I’ll have to weigh the bikes.  In the meantime I am going to enjoy the retro ride and get some good training in!

Oh… Kyle’s wife posted some great pics from the Jeff Cup this past weekend: http://amyjones.zenfolio.com/p746541536

I know it’s been a while, and I will post something of some substance soon.  But… I am curious to know is a 2006 Litespeed Vortex with Campy Record and Zipp 404’s worth 2200-2500.  Is this one of those deals that are too good to pass up?

So I watched American Idol tonight and saw our “track bike riding” friend, Kanye West. So what the heck was that performance?? yo,Yo yo and all that synthesized crap, come on! Why is it that Kanye can actually still get a TV spot? What happened to people that can actually sing?