That and ya gotta change it up ya know? Play with different styles...
Kinda like this morning. No trailer, but a Trail-A-Bike. Yeah we switched up the drop off. I took the big kid. 1st grader. So swapped the Adams trail-a-bike hitch off the GT Karakoram (1994 vintage, w/7sp LX ya know the black stuff) and bolted it up to the Paramount. Holy freaking CRAP. No wonder my wife seemed to be squirrelly that first ride she took with the damn thing. Unlike the trailer where it is just acting like a parachute, this is like some big dude riding behind you holding on to the seatpost trying to knock you off the bike!!! WOA NELLY. One sudden shift almost careened me perpendicular into a wicked sharp granite curb, talking wheel destroying curb... Oh and DO NOT try and climb standing with the trail-a-bike... we almost ate it there climbing the 8-10% grade (very short coming up off the bike path) when i stood up and tried to get a bit more force to the wheel through the 50x25. She had a blast tho.
Gonna be a wicked hot one today down here. They are predicting 90°F today (32°C for you canuks, euros and scientists).
And with that in mind i switched something else up. Helmets. I ditched the vintage Giro SuperMoto in favor of some (now old school) Giro Pneumo. Why, well because the supermoto's pads have all fallen out and i can't get the sticky crap that held the velcro dots off and if i wear it without a cycling cap under it... well it ain't no good to have black sticky glue in your hair (it doesn't wash out easily at all. So i was ventilated today. Ahhh felt so nice with the air flowing through my head.
But, curiously. It would seem that our oldest's Bell Trigger (2007 model IIRC) is wicked more advance and somewhat technically superior to my Pneumo. Hmmm $150 helmet or $30 helmet. WTF... I mean it is great that the kids have such totally kick ass helmets, maybe i should just go get myself some $30 adult version of the trigger and use the Supermoto as a... Hell i dunno, flower pot?
Gonna get serious for a bit. Big Jonny posted an email from John Samstad about Will G. It is well worth the read. I dunno, I feel like my feelings about this whole Landis "trial" are on a taffy machine. Constantly being pulled in completely different directions. Passionate argument followed by convincing argument. I'm going to post it up here. With the pre-warning that yes, Big Jonny at Drunkcyclists did post it first. I am not trying to pull content and claim it as mine, it is just that i know with all his "stuff" (p o r n) many people can't get there (during the day at least). This'll give ya something to chew on today:
From: John Stamstad
Subject: Uncle Ron
I was out there at the hearing last wednesday, it was nice to talk to Floyd and catch up, haven't seen him in a while.
The now infamous Will G, I have known for, christ almost 20 years. Trained with him nearly every day for years, toured the country in a VW van going to races, blah, blah.
You learn a lot about a person when you suffer with them....
I encouraged him to help floyd when floyd's team was a complete train wreck right after the whole thing broke last august. Will and I started the Chevy Trucks Team and hired Floyd to his first real pro deal, and we all rode together at the 24 hrs of Snowshoe. Will got floyd to switch to the road........
I knew Floyd needed someone he could trust and Will is a super smart, super sharp guy who helped floyd more than anybody knows.
The Uncle Ron call obviously is a disaster and impossible to defend.
But think about it from Will's perspective and remember everyone involved here is a former pro--including Will.
Every July my aunt ruthie asks (in a think wisconsin accent) Hey Der, why didn't those other guys take off when that little fella had a flat tire?
---Because the other guy will retaliate 10 times over.
----If you run a guy into a ditch in a race, what do you think he is going to do next time he sees you in a race? Can you really blame him?
What if Will knows Lemond is going to lie under oath (or maybe it is a misinterpretation--either way floyd tried to clear it up--that he never admitted to doping) about the phone conversation with floyd, last august.
If you and i share private details in a conversation, and i go to the
media (and court room) and throw you under the bus.......do you really
think that I would expect you to keep quiet? That is totally
unrealistic, crazy even. Lemond had to know it would come out at some point, and for the record, Lemond is the one who made it public, nobody else. I fully expect to see lemond on oprah sometime soon, desperately trying to be Lance.
I am not excusing what Will did, just shedding light on maybe why.
Will is an easy punch line right now, but I would encourage you to look
at the full picture.
Keep up the riding. I am headed out the door for a spin....
Coach Curly has a clip of one of the greatest movies ever. And sad state of affairs, this place, this Atwells ave that people rave about up here in Providence. Seems to be filled with the type of restaurants that the brothers are competeing with. Sides of spaghetti with every meal. Order an Omelet (turned out to be CALLED an omelet but looked more like a frittata- which is a closely related egg dish but totally differet) and ya get a side of PASTA. Oh and the "omelet" had potatoes in it. Starch with Starch.
Back on the Bike and the commuting thing... SansAuto again has a nice break down for yall. It ain't nuttin revolutionary, just a nice restatement of stuff we gotta keep in mind. Like that retarded are you smarter than a 5th grader show (no i don't watch it but hard not to be aware of it), simple stuff, if we don't keep refreshing it in our minds we can't recall it on demand when we need/want to.
The ride yesterday was more intense (energy wise) than i thought. The power curve was a hair below max from top to bottom. Now if i can just get that kinda ride in once a week that'd kick ass. Downside. The Big MiG is sidelined for medical reasons. Damn. And he's one of the few guys around here that #1 i can get a draft off of and #2 that can push me just to the edge of my comfort zone without leaving me for the wolves. It is nice to have a well matched training partner ya know? Kinda sucks to have him sidelined. But then he'll be back for cross and we can ramp the hell out of it then. I'm taking it easy now anyway. Need to get into a lull period. Let the body relax, chill, take it easy, so i don't burnout mid-season in cross.
Yes, i don't like crits and the only way to work on a weakness is to work on it, and the only way to work on getting better at it is to do it. Work on the weaknesses and become better all around. Problem is, right now, i have so many weaknesses that i can wait to focus on an "advanced" skill once i get the rest of the stuff in order. Like power, endurance, speed... that sort of stuff. Next year might be good to start working on that.
It is really the cool part of cycling, at least racing and all that. Building takes time. Esp when you ain't just wicked gifted right from the start. But even when you ain't wicked gifted you can still make gains and improve. That's the really cool part. Great bit of advice from fast guy: focus on the Joules... that's the secret to training with power...
I ain't revealing the rest of the secret just yet tho.
Friday friday friday...
Ah Friday.
Smile, Be Happy...
G
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