Knee-Do

You've heard of Dick-Do (some say dickie do - plenty of variations), but just to be clear - it is when your gut sticks out further than your, well, dick does.

Well i noticed at some point that, hey, I can't seem my knees without leaning forward... Hmm I've got Knee-do. Doesn't ring as well as dick-do, just sort of one of those things that pop in my head. Now it is out and it can leave me alone. Maybe it is just surprising for some super twig growing up. Big old knees, skinny legs, now not so much.

Someone asked why i suck so much road racing, I think maybe in a well intended way of getting me to work on those damn intervals alone. My reply was less of, "well because I just suck" and more of "I'm just road racing stupid."

Huh? Road racing stupid? Yeah. I ain't got no instincts. It doesn't come naturally and ya can do intervals till you're blue and probably make do, but then only if you are 2x as strong as the smart riders. (i know over doing intervals does as much good as not doing them - i'm using a figure of speech called exaggeration.) I don't have the pack racing instincts. Why? Cause I don't do enough road racing. Period. How can you get better if you race maybe 3 times a year well spaced out? I *know* exactly what I *need* to do, but I generally don't recognize it until it is too late. Then I realize it is too late and well, that's about it. How many road races have I done? Not many. 10 road races in 3 years. That's just a bit more than 3 a year isn't it? So maybe if I did 10 in one year i'd actually have it figured out. But well I don't, and I'm still lacking in that instinct (as I call it). I'm certainly lacking in the fitness to win, but I feel pretty certain in saying I don't lack in the fitness to finish with the group, I just lack in doing it.

Too introspective or whatever? Yeah maybe. It might sound like self doubt, but to me, it is more self awareness, and a positive. Something I know what to do and how to fix it. Yes. I need more L5 work, on my own, the tuesday nights actually do a decent job of that, and yes, I know it isn't the same as doing them alone, but I've also just started them and have already noticed improvement.

My focus is on cross. Wanting to do well in road races is more about pride and that determination that I know I can do better than my abysmal results show. But how to get better? Well that I know too. I just have to do more.

Time trials. I feel pretty confident about my TT skills, mostly from doing the Thursday night summer series that Bob at Bikeworks MA. Plenty of room for improvement, both in equipment and fitness, but at least I have a feeling for what to do and I don't find myself making stupid mistakes.

Well I'm not getting anywhere thinking about it right now, but then again, I am. Mostly because as opposed to other years getting beat up in a road race and feeling my natural lack of confidence take over, I'm positive about it, feeling good, not letting my insecurities get the better of me.

Drove in today. Yeah, bike to work day and I got in the car. I did because my wife said last night "Is my bike ready to ride to work tomorrow?" I was already going to have to pick the girls up so, hey might as well drive in and only being off the bike sunday in the past two weeks probably means taking a day off from riding into work isn't that bad from an athlete point of view. Got up early and got her bike together. Took off the headlight bracket and swapped out the clamp cage for the battery with a regular bottle cage put her cassette back on the wheels I was using on the Q-pro before battenkill aired them up a touch.

But the car's low on fuel. Haven't filled it up in a long damn while. 800 miles or more ago. So heading to Cumberland to get 48-50 gallons (24 in cans the rest in the tank) of that nice Newport Biodiesel. The extra distance is well offset by #1 the product, #2 the volume, and #3 frequency.

Since I have to do the car shuffle anyway so as not to get a ticket, might as well make it a bit longer and get that done once I'm in it.

Bought a nice 12" cast iron Lodge Logic pan on saturday. can't really explain why i've gone this long without one. man i do like it. made some lo mein last night (i'd quote the whole thing but then Colin would feel the need to apologize for being a dick again). I doubled the pasta and the sauce part of the recipe (used 2 sides of a chicken breast instead of pork) but used the 1 tablespoon of the chili sauce... well. Lets just say that maybe the Lee Kum Kee stuff is a bit hotter than what ever they used. Only the littlest didn't finish it, but there was a lot of water consumed! I added a bunch more chili sauce on mine so I couldn't judge just how hot it was plain, but I think it actually was pretty hot. Anyway that cast iron sure cooks a bit better than the caphalon stuff... holds heat much better when you dump cold stuff on it. Can't wait to try a batch of pancakes on it.

oh shit - the Giro is on - damn, well maybe it'll still be on when I get back from fueling up.

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