Weekend of the Great Nor-Easter (the Feb one)

Just read the post... holy crap what a weird start... but that's how it did it - just want to say... yeah i know... strange

What a weekend... great Ride in on saturday, big group - even though it took 50 minutes to go the first 4 miles.

I have 4 fewer gears than i did in college and they are more closely spaced... kinda funny, back in the day with 6 speed indexed Dura-Ace with a 53-39, now i'm riding road mostly with a single front 50 and 12-25... 12 to 8... no hills yet have been much of an impediment, no sprint too fast, although i missed out on the one big sprint... kinda saw them jump and let them go...

Did something amazing on sunday: Cleaned the bikes a bit! Yeah, me after talking big about dirt being good, as long as its greasy dirt. Well... Here's the kicker, i didn't clean the chain (just lubed it) and i cleaned the rest of the bike with T-9 boesheild and paper towels. It definitely looks sharp, and the snow didn't have a chance to stick to the frame on the way in! I put some new pads on the cross bike while i was at it. And my rear stopping power is back... i think the material on the old pads just sucked... Power still isn't great and mud clearance sucks, as i think i mentioned. But it was fun riding the cross in, no issues with slipping on the packed snowy roads even.

Cold (12°F) as hell, snow covered- but plowed -roads, nice mellow ride in. Belgian points for that ride?

I've also been farking with the saddle position. I found that even after raising the P-mount's saddle for a ride about 10 mm it was still 20 mm short of the 1000 mm pedal to seat height on the Cross bike. Now part of me said, well if the P-mount is riding fine, and the knees are okay, lower the cross bike... well i didn't, mostly cause i was headed out for the road ride and wanted to go back, cause i am fairly confident that i have the Cross bike and the Q-pro set up exactly the same. So i raised the P-mount.

I had issues with my medial quad being overpowered by the lateral ones from riding too long with a low saddle, the problem caused the patella to track funky and get all inflamed and painful. But i'm thinking that was from a way way too low saddle... But heck i can play with it for a while, cause i'm still not ready to race, much less ramp the training up pre-cross... donna wanna burn out, just wanna build base miles.

Well, re-capping the last notes of Friday's words: Yes, i enjoyed the lucious knobby traction this morning. The ride has not as much excitement to write about but here ya(really meaning mostly me) go:
The ride, started at Faunce, I was #2 to arrive, then a gorgeous, stunning bike showed up, yeah a Klein, a Quantum with berry chameleon paint. Oh how entranced i was seeing that paint shimmer in the cold morning sun. Yes it started very cold, 22°F. And people were bundled. Some more appropriately than others. Finally about 10-15 minutes after the scheduled departure, we rolled off (i was early so waited longer)... and got maybe a mile down the road and the cell phones were out hey! you gonna meet us? Okay - no worries, lets stop and wait in the sun. All the blacabsorbingng the sun, and it was warm, as long as we weren't riding. Finally the rider shows up, we roll out but are missing a few others. We hook up with them across the bridge, these are the heavy hitters... the old masters guys, they even just look fast. And by old i mean my age. Yeah some crusty 30 somethings... Well first delightful Dawn has issues with her new PowerTap hub display, not time, and she was planning to do x minutes of tempo and x minutes of something else... no time display makes it tough. So she grabs her guy (one of these fast old guys we meet up with) and they stop to work on the display... we ride on... slowly... figuring they'll catch, but realize later that the people in front had no idea they pulled off... and then someone gets a bag in the cassette or a flat or both or something, anyway we stop for a while... until finally, finally the ride really begins uinterrupteded. We get a nice rolling 30 miles or more in... No massive hills like FLatil has mentioned, but some decent ups and downs... a good pleasant ride. And a chance to discuss further about my "2 restaurant's make a chain" theory.

Of course there's the snow, we didn't get a ton, maybe 10-12 inches, maybe. Cooked up that soup that i mentioned a while back, but slightly different and it kicked ass once again. Its damn good but at this rate, once a week or so and i'm gonna get tired of it. That and its a hell of a lot of prep - lots of peeling and chopping.

Oh and on comment that i thought about this weekend and wanted to jot down, and then remembered where i usually remember stuff to write down (the shower).

Reading stimulates writing... or it could be the other way around (the shower addition to the thought). Does writing make me want to read more? or does reading make me want to write more?

I started that beaufort book a while back, and am still reading it... bit by bit, in stolen moments... its good writing, and while mine is different, not good, not bad, mine is my writing. Seemingly rather consistent in style, and as i look back at the pages of love letters i used to write, and how i wrote them (by hand of course) they aren't too much different. Well the subject is and rather than talking about bikes and all that, well it would be inappropriate to mention what i would mention... think romantic and add a bit more and you'd come close. All my good relationships were cemented and solidified with long and numerous letters. The couple relationships that really didn't work, either on my side or their side, were not.

Hmm kinda funny segway(sic) esp as it is unintentional and tomorrow V-day and i'm V-day present-less... meaning i'm screwed! Well not that lucky tomorrow unless i can overcome my historical ineptitute at selecting gifts...

Well the lecture today isn't writing itself, well in effect it is, and has been all weekend (i've been reading my text books and have done the lecture dozens of times before... just this one is different, the condensed version). So i best be cracking on that... maybe after i drop down to Thayer, hit the Post Office, and maybe give into my craving for a Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwich (eggs are brain food you know) - at least that's why my mother told me (the omega stuff supports the mother's tales - i didn't want to call her an old wife... that'd be wrong)...

okay...

babble machine must slow down. cause i'm feeling right now, like i could keep going. The secretary at the old place would get flustered and flabbergasted, cause i would show up, and check my mail and never stop talking... all that from a shy guy with no social skills, don't ask me to try and get a date from a woman i find madly attractive, noooo i couldn't do that, but get me talking about a bazzillion subjects and i'm okay, maybe a bit too much of a one way talking street, good at answering questions, not so good at asking. Really good at having something to say and really wanting tinterruptpt to add my super important side comment (bad habit re-inforced with UBB type forum discussions...)

oaky - there - just dribbled out another paragraph... and yes... in case ya skipped to this line (how can i not blame you) i will go back and read the whole thing and read every damn word... am i an egotistical mess or what? maybe just a mess... wait - no maybe about it, no doubt... a freaking gd mess...