car mechanic and cook

So what happens when you are both the car mechanic and cook in the family? Well. First you get home and take the dog for a run. First run for me and Lucy. She was cool running at my speed for a while. But she wasn’t smooth… kinda galloping/canter… loping along. And then about 800 yards later she decided we needed to slow down to a pace closer to what my wife has been running at. Good side, my HR went down and stabilized around 145-150 I think. And the other good side, we didn’t need to go quite as far to run for 15 minutes. Yeah. Only 15 minutes. I ain’t marathon, I just trying to keep the legs familiar with running, hoping I can take advantage of runs and run ups, at least to not make them a liability.

Yes. Going fast in cross isn’t about running, it isn’t about getting on or off the bike super style. It is about going fast. Going fast when ya pedal. Yes, having super fly style getting on and off means ya can carry more speed and burn fewer matches. Having running form means ya won’t toast a whole pack of matches every time you have to traverse a massive sand beach (say at Caster’s/goddard park for example). But doesn’t get you a podium. Riding fast does.

What’s the other “discipline?” Starts. Starts are wicked fun and pretty much what I do at intersections all day. And starting from the intersection with a trailer is great, gotta focus on getting power down and clipping in. Starting with a trailer in traffic means ya gotta have power going down with both feet right away. No flubbing. I think it is one reason why it was almost effortless to nab a hole shot. And yes, having a front row starting position is certainly a huge advantage to getting the hole shot, and there isn’t really a discipline in cycling where the start is so critical. It might not get you on the podium, but a bad start can keep you off it.

Back to the start of this entry. Car mechanic and cook. After the run (oh yeah that’s where I got side tracked). Head back and put the e-brake cable in. And no, you don’t have to jack the car up to replace them on the Golf (like it says in the book). And having done it before the only slow part is adjusting the stupid straddle nut. Oh. Straddle and brake. Two words recently thought a lot about.

Car finished. Does it work? I dunno. Maybe the lever is all frozen up. But buttoned down it “feels” like it works and at least the other side sort of work. Will have to play with it a bit tomorrow when the winter tires get put on. And feels like working AND at least locking up one wheel. That’s worth the few minutes (okay a lot – I always forget about the tool finding and problems like fasteners not releasing).

Get done. Time to make dinner. Simple. Grass fed Top Sirlon pan seared in butter (sliced then seared) with a sauce and diced potatoes cooked with red onion, oilive oil, salt and sage powder. Now this sauce was amazing. Take the butter, add some flour to make the roux. Cook that down for a bit scraping the bits off the pan (man I forget what that stuff is called) then once the flour has been toasted (floury taste gone) a bunch of wine was put in to both deglaze the pan and make the sauce. A bit of water was added to thin it out and some salt. That’s it. Simple. And unbelievably delicious. Stick some salad in there and you have a beautifully balanced healthy meal (with the one assumption that ya eat meat and all that).

Food is good. Food feeds the soul. Use the best ingredient possible and use pure simple ones. Process the food yourself. Cook it yourself. Put your energy and your love in the food that you make for people and you will nourish more than their physical being. You will nourish their emotional being as well.

Eat well. Eat simply.

Now if that was the secret to being fast on the bike, well then, I should be freaking FLYING!

Peace
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