Before and after the WOO WOO

It looks like Mandy wants to pimp her whip with a "woo-woo whistle tip." Here's a before and after for ya of her integra-a few more modifications than just a whistle tip. She's supa pimp now because she's got a VK licnese plate too.

BEFORE:



AFTER:

Mandy hates that she laughed

but omigod she is totally pimping her Acura

Daily Events

Fish said to me: "How long are you gonna' bang your head into a brick wall until you realize that it hurts?"
Steven: "Until I break through."

A customer came into the shop today that Jess approached and he just happened to be interested in a bike. Jess said, "Would you like to test ride it?" The customer responded, "I'd ride it but i've had a few beers. I really shouldn't be driving." Splendid!

The End

Police Unity Tour

This is a huge event in which I have supported for 3 years sraight, so far. Police officers from all around the country ride in memory of fallen officers-some ride all the way from Florida to New York, and others from Chesapeake, Virginia to Washington DC. Like every year, this ride is exciting in every way posible. With all the riders and support vehicles-it stretches out for about 3 miles and is police escorted. About 20 motorcycle cops, 10 police cars and about 25 other support vehicles. This year, we started off with about 400 riders. It split up and went down to about half, then they all rejoined on the third day-going into Washington DC. 2 mechanics in a Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter van for 400 riders. ouch! I rock at it though. Hangin out the side of the van, jumping out while it's moving, grabing the persons bike and hoping in the back while the rider gets in the side door. Once I fix the mechanical issue, our driver speeds up to the main filed as I stand outside the van while holding the bike on a platform extending from the reciever hitch that is just inches from the ground. Once we're up to the main field, I jump off and get the rider back in the ride. It's intense but very fun. We're talkin about a lot of 1 minute tyre changes-no spare wheels, just tubes and tyres. Damn i'm good. Because of all my amazing work, i'm always geting compliments such as...."I love your hair." I just can't get away from it all! But these women had handcuffs. uh oh. Back on subject...After 8 or 9 hours of riding, it's time for the fun to begin...
I couldn't bring my bike because of the lack of space; however, the manager of the shop drove up for 2 hours with my bike and some other supplies. I could only ride at night after our work for the day was done, but I loved every bit of it. I had my helmet light and I was set. I can honestly say that i've never been happier to see my bike. We had the kegorator in the back of the van will a full keg of Stella Artois. The riders/police officers loved it after a long day of riding. After that keg was gone, we had Sam Adams-not as good. After the first day, this hot officer babe, Cameron, that does the hotel room reservations had left us out of a room; all the rooms were occupied. It's hard when you have 400 people to take care of for hotel rooms. Since she left us out, we ended up getting the hotel suite and our rooms are paid for, free of charge. Sweet! After I discovered she got us the suite, because she played it off, I had to thank her. A little time in the hotel hottub should do it, ya? Some other donut sucking officers were there(and the donuts showed); however, I showed up after my ride and jumped in the hottub wearing my bib shorts. O baby! The second night of festivities involved about 100 drunk officers in a hotel parking lot. Thanks to the medical support from 2 of the 4 ambulances, we had gurney drag races in the parking lot. In each gurney, a person was strapped in, and about 4 people would push to the finish line. 2 of the paramedics disappeared for a while and showed up on the second floor balcony with water balloons and then the war began. Chucking water balloons at everyone in the parking lot below, it was time for payback. A few of the the big, Arnold Schwarzenegger type officers snatched them up and carried them to the indoor pool-throwing them in. A few episodes of this, the pool was shut down, schucks. Shortly after that, buckets of water were being dumped on people, including me, the mechanic! hey, uh guys....you do know that I work on your bikes, right? Rubbing breaks really suck when you get into the hills. ha. It was great though. We were also strictly told not to drink alcoholic beverages in the parking lot because it is considered drunk-in-public and if we got in trouble, the police would take care of it. Thanks Ms. Manager bi*** of the Ramada. We are the police! Another festivity that almost took place-bra bowling. Someone snagged one of the support lady's EE bra, and thought we could use it as a sling shot. It never went into action because of the pool dunking. Oh well.

The last day of riding, from fredericksberg to Washington DC, was great. When the riders from all the different chapters of this ride united at the pentagon, it was amazing. Over 1000 riders all wearing the same symbolic jerseys which says "We ride for those who died" on the back. Some of them haven't rode 100 miles on a bike in their life and they pushed themselves to do over 100 miles day after day; all because of the driving force behind the meaning of this entire ride-their friends and loved ones that have risked their lives and have died on the call of duty. Loved ones which were memorialized on their bikes by photos ziptied to their stems or saddles.



This was Just one of the rest stops on the way to Washington DC. Freakin' awesome!

Reporting from the Central Time Zone

on the day before the joe martin stage race, the mandy misses her buddy the manimal yet is content and feeling ready and rockin. or is it rockin and ready? mandy fondly remembers the jmsr being her first stage race as a pro last year. holy droppage! she is not as thin as in years past. this could equal more droppage or less...women's racing is strange that way. it's nearly every day that a skinny girl gets left in the dust by one with cottage cheese under her spandex.
ew.
compare. what happened?
jmsr 2006

pre-jmsr 2007

A few shout-outs and thank you's

JB-a fellow cyclist and also an awesome photographer. He might not have a fancy 600mm lens, because he'd rather spend that on a new bike, however, his shots are some of the best. His work consists of the U.S open Cycling Championships, Tour of Virginia, and many local races. In the Tour of Virginia, JB was the man to see. The supposed winner of stage 6 was later relagated because of the evidence that JB provided with his photos. Not ony that, he makes the manimal look good too-especially in the soon-to-come Cycling Manimal speedo calendar. Thanks JB. Check out his shots at http://love2ridephotoszzz.blogspot.com/

Kevin-a.k.a "dingo" as Rob calls him. His blog sometimes freaks me out with his crazy and distorted macbook photos of himself, but he's always about some manimal action-just cycling action! The rest is for...

Mandy-you know what goes here. For everyone else...she hates crocs, thinks they're horrendous. I know...I don't understand it either. Who cares about Donald Pliner boots, crocs are the shit! She should have her own cooking/baking show on tv(screw Rachel Ray), she's beautiful, funny, intelligent and very determined-saving the world everyday. And before soon, she'll be getting her MBA from one of the finest business schools in the world-awesome! Not to mention...she loves cats and has approved the cycling manimal's speedo calendar. Ha! She's supportive of my decisions and is always the one to say "go for it," no "shoulds." Simply the best.

Rob and Susan...what would I do without you two? Probably go crazy. Like the above said, supportive and always the ones to say "go for it." I've never met anyone who is more enthusiastic about the sport and lifestyle of cycling than Rob himself-a huge motivator for the manimal and always has me FIRED UP! If anyone can see the future, it's these two. No worries guys, it's right around the corner. Until then, lets meet on the roof sometime-bring some beer, fireworks, water balloons, and we're in business. Rob...Operation "kicking cupcakes" is complete. The unicorn has been rescued. I repeat, the unicorn has been rescued.

Mitch...i'm positive that he was one of the origional cast members of the Beverly Hill Billies. He just knows that i'm the best mechanic and rapper around. Wraping handlebar tape that is. I just like to turn my hat to the side when I wrap tape so I can call my self a rapper. Word!

Norfolk Classic

Moi in front, leading into the cobbles.

One of the most exciting races of the year, so far. First race with my 4 upgrade. After 5 laps, everyone in the field was like..."your name must be steven huh?" Thats because at every corner and every straight-away, there were people cheering me on. I had a lot of fans out and it was inspirational. Rob was standing on top of a statue(featured as a centerpiece in the cobbled section) waving a huge Lion of Flanders flag screaming "manimal" as loud as possible. My name quickly changed from manimal to steven because, apparently, manimal has too many syllables and is hard to scream-I dont blame him. Susan came out with Rob and cheered me on. The most unexpected person showed up-Jess. That's like getting someone who lives in the space station to come see me race. Absent for the start, but she was there by the second lap with her pops-i'm his hero.

This race was F-U-N! Pssh, wind shmend! Yeah, it was windy as H-E-double-hockey-sticks(50mph gusts), but it wasn't much of a problem. It blew me across the road like everyone else but I just blew back at it...like Boonen would do, only manimal style. I was in the front 5 positions for the entire race and chased down every attack. 38-40mph sprint finish-I threw my bike out for second place. Hoorah! A handful of these races and i'll be a 3. The best part: the cobble stone section with the bright yellow Lion of Flanders flag whippin' in the wind. This is gettin me pumped up for cross season-much like the long-femur cyclocross queen. :)

kevin, was this your doing?

http://www.bikereg.com/events/ConfList.asp?ID=4541

I was checkin out the race entries and saw my name listed as Steven (manimal) Locklear. Now thats freakin awesome! Thanks kevin for listing me like that.

What do bad-ass mo-fo's ride? White Regal saddles!

I'm no Tom Boonen, but I can pull this one off.