Cole

Slaw...

I made up a batch yesterday after the Beach. The Market at Cutler Mills had some local RI organic blah blah Cabbage. It looked good. I bought a 3 pounder.

Slice up 2 pounds of it (or if you wanna be less specific 2/3 of the head of cabbage). Turns out Lucy likes Cabbage. every sliver that dropped she sucked down. So i shred that cabbage up with the Santoku. Then, well ya can't have good ol' amurican cole slaw without some Carrots. 3 carrots get grated up. Then well ya need some zip, so i shaved 1/2 a small local red onion (organic too iirc, from the market).

Now that's just the base. I wanted to do get the dressing going. I didn't wanna do the old school mayo dressing tho. What about sour cream? Folks like that. SO i dig through the Gourmet cookbook/bible. Ahh there is sort of one. No like it. So i open up the old standby "The Joy of Cooking." I gotta say, when it comes down to the basic 'science' of cooking the Joy is bang on. I ain't wild about the recipies and generally find ways to make em better but the basics are there and it is a damn good resource.

So the mention i have is "use a bit of sugar and vinegar when making a sour cream dressing" most of the sour cream ones call for mayo. The whole point was to avoid mayo. So i grab some sour cream (ya could use the soy stuff if ya wanted it to be vegan) then add some seasoned organic brown rice vinegar, some apple cider vinegar, a touch of plain white processed sugar cane (old school white sugar) and a big bunch of celery seed. I like celery seed in my slaw. So i mix it all up. Wind up adding a bit more of the rice vinegar. And holy crap. This stuff is addictive. Mmm Mmm yummy.

With the wilted cabbage and the vinegar the dressing is not thick at all... almost a vinaigrette-ish. I'm just having a bit now (eating lunch early again).

And while eating lunch i'm catching up on the cyclocross news around the country or at least the pages i've got my fingers on.

First up is Victoria's recounting the Cycle-smart Cross camp. Sounds like it was a great time.

Crossnut.com has a video of the Milford Race.

JJ's write up about the course has it sounding not so fun, 180° turns on wet pavement ain't my favorite thing. But it was a cross race and well... how unfun can one be? Well watching the video it doesn't look too bad. Almost Brockton like though. Maybe because Brockton was the only wet race i did last year. Crazy eh? Granted the other wet race was UNH the day before. Oh well it did sort of rain at Eco-Cross. but not during my race.

Along the lines of JJ's post. Hannah even has pictures. OUCH. Kissed the pavement, more than a mere analogy. At least the new HUB and Circle A jerseys look good.

Then of course there is Anna's write up of the race. That's not a bad thing. Sign up for the race before yours (if possible) to pre-ride the course. Kinda makes alot of sense. Unless you can't. But if you can. Spend the extra couple bucks and double up. Esp if you are as talented as Anna and the likes.

Anyway. That's the lunch time round up. I'm rounding out my lunch with a bit of chili. but... i idiotically left the chips at home so, once again, i'm gonna be lacking on the carb side of things. For a while my body burned best on protein and fats... now... with the current commute and the level of intensity i usually throw at it, i need a much higher ratio of carbs... pretty much need to make sure i'm either making rice or pasta every night. Esp if i wanna avoid going into race weekends sub-optimally fueled. That said, it would be nice to be back to as skinny as i was last year at least in the weight category. But, in terms of sheer power? i can kick my ass from last year hands down. We'll see if that translates into cross. Might not, but... gotta be positive. I think it will. It'll be fun tho. How freaking cool is it just to be wicked excited to go race your bike?

It is like it should be. Ya should be geeked as hell to go race. It ain't a chore. I ain't racing to win to make a living. Racing should be fun. If it is a drag, a chore, a burden? Don't flipping do it! That said. I am very very excited about the season.

I was thinking, a recent conversation spurred this line of thought btw, anyway i was thinking, people call races by different names. Like Wayne Elliot vs Hey'vrill. Same race but different name. Brockton vs Travis. Sterling vs Bay State. BRC Shed Park vs Lowell. I realized i associate races with places. The towns. Destinations. And then thinking about that. I thought, one of the cool things about last year was going into each race completely blind. No idea of what the course had in store for me other than any bit of reports i could glean from the more experienced vets who'd share intel with me. The nicest guy in the peleton (cronoman) was one of the most gracious with his course descriptions, but he wasn't the only one. Many many rounds of thanks go out to those who gave advice last year. And in part, this line of thinking got me to sucker brook. I didn't do sucker brook last year. It is a new course for me. I can't wait. The kick off to a new season. It is like spring time when you see the first daffodil or the forsythia blooming... it gives hope, promise of a new life and an end to the darkness. The first cross race of the year is a bit like that in a way for those who love this sport. Many have tried to capture what cross racing means to them in words. I think though the best way to understand it is really a combination, a summation of all the words people have written about why the do it. About what it means to them.

Cross is special. Cross is different. If ya haven't experienced it and you have at least a mountain bike, take the bar ends off (if ya got them on) and register. Go out and have fun. Ya don't even need to worry about technique your first few times out. It will come. It is fun. And then at some point. Like me and many others, hundreds, thousands, maybe not millions but still there's a lot who have discovered that there just ain't more fun to be had on two wheels. There just isn't.

Eat sleep live,
Cyclocross!

G