CTodd has a nice interview with Christine Vardaros up right now. Go give it a watch.
Yogurt Boy is rolling around Euro-Land like a pig in slop and writing about it.
Litka decided to add some diversity to the local with some videos.
Murat's decided that he's solved his knee issue.
You can buy genuine crappy cowbells for about a dollar at iParty Stores (online seems to be about double or more the price in store). By a couple dozen in a team color, slap some stickers on it - sell em for $5-10 or give em away or both.
The ride in was pretty solid. Just a shade less Ice and snow than yesterday, but it was definitely more ice and bumpier. But Staying seated I was pretty much able to power through it. Loads of woah - i'm riding on sheer ice draggin a trailer. Power power smooooooooth.
Got me thinking yesterday riding through the stuff. Truly the best way to approach hitting ice and what not is to pretend you are on a fixed gear and just never stop pedaling and KEEP the power output ABSOLUTELY smooth. If ya got a powertap that means pedal using the hub sensing cadence and watching the cadence go from 60 to 141 to 80 to 60 to 141 all the time keeping the same pedal speed. Ya see when the hub can't sense your retarded monkey power pedaling I has no freaking clue what your cadence is. Pretty funny, I think. And yes, I spent many hours on the bike duplicating, testing and determining what the hell was happening. An example would be pedal smooth until the cadence starts going all berserk, then without changing gear or speed pedal lumpy squares - boom cadence settles down perfectly - smooth it out - berserk - lumpy - stable. Annoying as all fahking get out. Anyway. That's how ya have to ride through ice. Light in the bars, weight on the rear, smooth and flowing. Very zen like. A challenge, esp with slick 28c tires at 95 psi dragging an 80-90 pound trailer.
Got some images from yesterday morning and last night. Will post em up soon.
Also. Yesterday and then today, I saw the first Brants. Six of them. Unmistakable. Very cool to see our visitors from the Arctic. They are beautiful Birds.
This time of year there are more different species of Birds along the bike path than any other time of year. Mostly ducks and waterfowl of various types. And then of course the damn carpet bombing flying sea rats. I will say though. When they start chattering, it softens me right up. Something about the sound of seagulls chattering that brings me home to a happy place. But, these gulls here on the Bay are super quiet compared to the ones out around Puget Sound. At least that's how I am remembering it right now.
I sat down to read the intro of Maynard's Half-wheel book. I'd forgotten his stint with Winning magazine. I'd forgotten that I subscribed to Winning very soon after they started publishing it and that it was probably there that I'd first read Maynard's writing.
And in retrospect Mike F's writing wasn't a whole heck of a lot different. And then I got more introspective and realized, these cycling writers, those who fictionalize in a way and capture the emotion and spirit of riding are my heros more than the guys who race the bikes. Maynard, O'Grady, Ferrentino, Krabbé and really the compellingly written web logs that abound. These web logs embody the spirit that the trio get paid to write (draw) about. They might be unpolished (or bright and shiny) but they tell a story. Reading about a race can be compelling. But not from a reporters point of view trying to cover everything. Reading about a race written by a competitor, now that's compelling.
And in the words of Krabbé:
Losing the final sprint had been a bitter disappointment, but now that was a blessing - success, especially your own, is not a good subject; failure is.
Reading, writers, books. I am a sucker for a good book. Well written. Maybe not the best crafted book. But often I do find books I just can't get through. Ones that even with a subject matter that draws me in, I just can't finish. I usually have 3-4 books in process at a time. The most compelling ones I tend to try to devour first. Then I just randomly try and sort through the rest. And without fail typically I can pick right up, recalling instantly my place in the book as if I had just put it down.
Might explain the jumping around. Like for some reason why I want to remember to talk about my socks. My wife picked up some size XL smart wool cycling socks from the REI closeout sale. $4 IIRC. On the package it talks about all temperature comfort. Well. They aren't bad at 28°F but they aren't exactly warm. Not like the Blaze. But they are about 1/8th as thick as the Blaze socks. It got me thinking riding in that most cyclists would say temps below 60°F are cold to ride in. Requiring extra layers, booties and what not. I'm probably one of the few just putting a thin pair of socks in my Sidis and nothing else.
I got some images to put up I guess. Oh and the novelty of bouncing over the icy snow had worn off for my passenger this morning. She's a darn good sport. Good Karma ride, two pedestrians made approving verbal utterings as I rode by, and a car paused and waited for me without need or yield. Good stuff.
Work that Karma.
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