Final Day of 2011

the last of the year, sands in the hour glass are slipping away on 2011.

quite a year.

Different than 2010, and quite a remarkably better start.  Instead of losing the car, I won a couple pair of high zoot wheels.  one set of wheels carried me through a summer of TTs and a handful of crits, the other through a season of CX.

The car still was full of pain in the assedness.  First trying to pass inspection and now the broken spring and frozen strut tube, and now still sitting on parts.  A battle with this thing, a love hate relationship.  Resigned to it.  At least until things sort themselves out.  But then what to replace it with?  Not a question I can ponder now. although maybe i should pick up a pile of Power Ball tickets.

I did manage to get a ride in yesterday.  Was a ton of fun.  Planned on a road ride but then Syl rolled out of his house on his Scott 29r hard tail.  So me and the Croll with the 28c marathon tires (at 80spi - pumped em up for the ride) followed his training route and checked out a new off road loop that would work well for CX practice.  Except 80psi and road tires don't quite have great traction in pine needles or mud.  Still was fun. Definitely slowed him down in the sections on the trail (full fenders+ seat bag+ frame pump+ waterbottle = sub optimal cxing on an already heavy bike).  But made him pay on the bike path and a few intervals he tossed in there.  Couple 5 or 6 hill repeats on long gentle grades, I felt surprisingly good. Granted Syl's just starting his season, and mine just finished up so there's a bit of a miss-match.  But maybe I can work to keep this level and built on it for next year.  I won't be starting the year at 207, so maybe I can focus more on power, endurance and what not and less on dropping weight (but still not gaining any back).  Or I can just do what I've been doing and fuck around on the bike, putting life first and all those adult responsibilities the higher priority.  Kind of have to do that.  So we'll see how this all pans out.

It is supposed to start raining here soon. I'm not sure I am ready to ride in the rain just go get on the bike today.  Tomorrow looks pretty clear weather wise, might have to get out and pedal a bit.  No snow at all this year.  Just a bit around Halloween and the trace dusting on Christmas morning.

I am looking forward to 2012.  Lets see what new challenges the year brings.  But first we need to wrap up 2011.

heddwch
G

So good: Women's World Cup from Zolder

The Millennium Falcon is still sidelined

So after a few days of it being apart, I made a big circuit and picked up the used springs, strut compressors, a 17mm deep impact socket and a Makita 1/4" impact driver with a 1/2" adapter.

Trip wound up an extra 20+ miles or so when I found out that the driver wasn't where I was driving to, but that sorted itself out and i managed to do a much needed grocery run while out.

So I had ready to go everything I was hoping i would need.  Simple right? Just unbolt (driver worked perfectly - eventually - corrosion sucks) and put it all back together.

Problem is, there are a few bits that need to be re-used.  Specifically a 3-4cm long sleeve that acts as a spacer between the top cap and the bottom point.  Of the four possible ones to 're-use' (as per new gas tubes) three were completely and totally obliterated. Gone. Mushroomed into nothingness of rust.  Awesome.

And of course no one has them in stock, on hand, of course.  And of course this being the first run through with this particular job on the car I didn't know to be prepared to re-use them, honestly didn't even think there would be bits that I couldn't re-use.  Esp up in the top of the strut tower where most everything looked to be in decent shape (compared to the bottom).  Add to the equation that the parts had been replaced at least once before (the tubes at least) and maybe thinking the top bits would have been replaced at the same time.

I guess not.

So it sits.  Waiting on a delivery.  Options were paying extra 4x the cost for stuff tomorrow, or taking a chance that ground shipping would get the part here tomorrow, or the latest Monday.  2 day shipping would be the same, no faster.  Next day - yeah not going that route.   Other than going with the 4x more expensive part the third option would be to pick them up on the 5th.

Started off so simply.  Didn't need to cut anything to get the stuff out.  But the car now sits.  A bit longer, looking like a dune buggy with the rear end jacked up that high. On jack stands.

Waiting.

MFA trip yesterday was pretty cool.  So had hoped to button this back up today.

today started off so well, mood was good, optimistic.  BOOM crashing to the floor, haha, NO RESOLUTION FOR YOU!

Humph.

Gotta ride maybe. Mt Bike still isn't ready to go do anything, today - poof, no riding today. No riding since the 26th if you can call riding around doing laps waiting for no one to show riding.  I did get a hard lap in with Syl and a couple hard laps in with Burke so it wasn't a total waste of a day.  But that's been it.

Trying to stay positive, but all this shit is just making it tough. Oh and the keyboard on the laptop here got hosed with some apple cider.  I probably made it worse trying to clean it with windex instead of just going with water or IPA.  So now it is full size keyboard and mouse.  Decreases the portability/mobility of the laptop in a big way.  At least there are cheap new keyboards for the laptop on fleabay.  One more attempt at cleaning it with some ETOH and compressed air before that though.

New Years is coming up, locked into an event i'm not excited about in the afternoon.  But the other option is out of the question now that the race wagon Millennium Falcon is still out of commission.

Might just have to say f'it and go for a long solo ride tomorrow on the road to exercise the demons in my head.

It has been great watching kick ass racing from Belgium every other day.  Can't wait for tomorrow's race.  Definitely wish we were still racing locally.  Weather's freaking PERFECT down here.

But we're not.

And just those lucky few heading to Nationals and then to Lou'vull are keeping the edge sharp. Some how, maybe by going to Chicago this weekend.

Initially I kind of had in mind to do a bandit CX race today or Saturday, but that pretty much went out the window on Monday.

positive - gotta stay positive

heddwch
g

don't blink

not surprised

the shift key has apple juice under it. i'm not bothering trying to capitalize the web log today.
e e cummings style bitches

today there was a bandit cross race.  someone (me) fell off the wagon and landed in a mug full of equal parts coffee and powers whisky after a few celebration ales from sierra nevada, and as a result, someone was up wicked late last night, didn't sleep much and woke up with a solid hangover.  worth it i suppose.  got up. said fuck it and got dressed and headed out to do some laps and see if the wind did anything to the course yesterday.

got an hour of riding in.  there's a lot of turning on the course. a full mile long with the basic layout and honestly some tricky bits.  little elevation to speak of but lots of sand and shitty traction in most of the turns.

actually a pretty fucking fun little circuit. i wish i'd worked this hard to lay something out earlier in the season.

it would so totally work well to run a full usac race on. parking is good, land use is light esp this time of year, no neighbors to bitch and moan, idyllic setting, natural dismount features and lots of space to really work up a slick course with tape and stakes.

we'll see if it happens.

got some turning in, drank some coffee, watched Zolder (in kit from the morning - chamois time is training time right?) zolder was fucking insane. sven eating it on the pavement there at the end kind of sucked for him, usa dudes weren't really anywhere close to the top, but big boom was there and did well until he must be racing on my plan - blow up and drift way back.

after zolder i took a nap. got up ate a pumpkin brioche -was supposed to bring them to dinner yesterday, oops- made some more coffee, stuck my thermos mug, a water bottle and phone and stopwatch in my jacket pockets and headed out.  rode around from 12:15 until Syl showed up at 20 of maybe. he had to be home at 1 so i took him around the course.  his big fat 29er tires hooked up much nicer in the loose sand than the cx wheels but the course has plenty of power flat straight stuff where the cx bike is an advantage.  we did the course a few times, then burke showed up a few minutes late, syl left and burke and i did a handful of laps some faster than others, went and rode the other course across the bike path and i headed back home.

that was it. carl who said he would absolutely be there bailed. solobreak's threat to invade the house afterwards -it was ready for the old fart invasion- was an empty one...

i knew few if anyone would show up. but to be honest i was surprised kind of how disappointing it was to not have more than chris and syl show up. more so because it just brings up the old feelings i've tried to bury. having a party and no one showing up...  yeah everyone is busy, hanging with their kids, at their parents house, recovering from the day before or what not.  it is what it is, i didn't really expect anyone to show up.  it is in rhode island for fucks sake, no one leaves the greater boston area to come down here for a  bandit race.  that's silly.

the course is awesome, i'm sure rooter or myerspace would tear it up w/o any challenge, but i've been doing this cx thing for a while...  and i had fun with my course, it challenged me in areas i need work on -turning- but also played into my strengths of sprint, turn sprint turn sprint turn sprint turn with a couple good high speed pavement sections.

so i may not bother trying to do this again, can't take the let down, fuck it, i'm too fragile and emotional, for this shit.  but i'll be out there turning laps when i can... maybe not this year...  definitely next year.  maybe i'll even try and put together support and permitting to make it happen this time -on a saturday or sunday- next year. at least then if there's a bikereg thing i'll know in advance if people aren't going to be there.  it is like my brithday parties that no one ever came to. probably best that i didn't actually get to plan my own birthday party...  that wedding saved me from the let down and realization that all my good friends live too far away to show up for something like that

getting kind of grumpy about not going to nationals. sure i have no shot or prayer at being anywhere of any significance in any race there, but, it is nationals... worlds too.

i also realized that usac is getting money from a bunch of cx racers who would normally wait a few more months to renew their license.....  moving nats to jan gets them more cash sooner.

working desperately hard to stay positive with moderate success. laying out the course, practicing the turns, tweaking it, was a hell of a lot of fun. i can selfishly revel in my creation and keep it all to myself and i will

besides if people actually show up to a bandit race... well i'd get my ass kicked. as long as no one shows up i'm king of my course, no one can beat me.

heddwch
g

pre-ride post raking

When all ya got is oak trees and piles of leaves...  you make it work

Merry Christmas Everyone

I wish everyone the best.  It is cold and sunny here today on the eve of Christmas...  Good day for reading, playing with legos, snuggling with the dog and being a lazy bum drinking coffee and farting around on the internet (current activities of the house at the moment).

Nadolig Llawen
G

'bandit' CX racing?

well why not...  the one person who was "NO QUESTION I WILL BE THERE" is now sort of waffling, but i'll be there. 1pm. Haines Memorial Park in Barrington, over by the boat launch (look at the sat image in maps and it will be pretty clear where we're talking about).  A couple options depending on who shows up as far as courses and what not.

Dec 26th.  1pm.  Haines Park boat launch.

might just be me, but ya know what? i'm cool with that

No prizes, no medals, no categories, no fame, no press, just bikes... (I will say i kind of like the course I've laid out)

also only a few cones some raked up clean lines - planning a few laps at warm up pace to get a feel for the course... then we'll see what happens

this is cyclocross

just watch it in full screen...



This makes me want to order a set of FMB super muds... makes me want to train... makes me already look forward to next season, despite what is almost a full season left for the Pros.

great video from a consistently great source...

Last year...

hit full screen... sit back...  it was fun.

Thank You

I have been distinctly filled with gratitude this week.  For all my friends and family.  Cyclocross Family and the normal kind too.  For new friends and for the old friends who some how still keep putting up with me.

I can't really express my thanks enough other than just to say

Thank You.

all of you.

if you said hi, yelled/cheered my name while I was race, read this thing, thank you.

My life and journey on this planet, this short brief glimpse of time in the grand cosmic scheme of things has been made better by everyone around me.  An all inclusive thank you.

heddwch
-GeWilli

So much

To say, to write, to get down.  After a couple weeks of not the best sleep, stress and other stuff things feel different.  They aren't much different though.  Car is now broken again and the parts are pretty hard to find (rear spring for a wagon in a 2 year USA model run).  But it will work out.  No races to go to for now.

Couple things since I don't have time to write a proper introspective pile of words that no one really cares to read....

After this weekend you've got a Wonder Boy and Nasty Man taking turns standing on the top step of the podium on two of the most epic true Cyclocross (why we love this f'n sport) Races.

That video just seems freaking so appropriate now, both had been written off as washed up BOOM (yeah he showed up and got crushed - but BOOM for those two).

First Check this link.

Then this one.

I'm dying laughing at the second one with the first one setting the stage.  So funny...

Oh and in between WATCH OUT FOR THAT... doh! (smart horse)

One more...

After a bit of twittering last night Chip said something about his wife coming into the garage like she was driving the Millennium Falcon.  No way his wife would drive something that ratty looking.

The quote from Star Wars (i ain't calling it by that new fancy rename, it will always be Star Wars to me) "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."  (Han Solo to Luke).

That rusty race wagon with the busted rear spring...  yeah Chewbacca here (me) fixes it and keeps it running.  And yeah, it will make your ears hurt when it pulls into a race, and lay down a bitching smoke screen in the winter for a geataway (stops smoking after it starts driving, don't worry - Chewy is working on the fix for that).  But man it still has a decent top end for an old girl.  Motor purrs along.

The Rattling Rusty Race Wagon is now here by Dubbed: The Millennium Falcon.

And yes.  I did see Star Wars, IN THE THEATRE, the first time around.  At the Tacoma Mall.  I still remember it.

post race portrait

post race portrait, originally uploaded by kristof ramon.

And that's how it look like it feels after a race like that (or so I would imagine)

Tim Johnson post race

Tim Johnson post race, originally uploaded by kristof ramon.

TIMMIE

Jonathan Page post race

Jonathan Page post race, originally uploaded by kristof ramon.

now that looks like he was in a Cross Race.

challenging combo

Today with the 20 mph sustained winds gusting to close to 40 mph right exactly dead on as a head wind, coupled with the trailer made for a ride that wasn't exactly what I normally plan for a day before the race. 10 mph, 159 HR, on flat level ground (not the whole thing but there were a good handful of miles like that). Got a few recovery sections with the downhill sheltered from the wind but that was about it.

Stopped to grab a few shots of the blue blue blue water... and tired a self timer shot.  First attempt the camera blew off the fence post.  Second and third I stuck it down on the grass looking up against the fence post. Crappy results.  Ah well.

Pretty amazing day out there. Really.

Beethoven's Birthday is today.  So I'm making an attempt to listen to his works.  But my pretty solid Beethoven CD collection is still on CDs, and at home.  Pandora is sort of working, Spotify helped with the Emperor, King.org wasn't as much help as I had hoped.  They are playing Kodaly's Symphony in C right now.  not quite Beethoven.

A change from the regular audio emanations in the office.

Sleep still has been elusive lately. Probably not the greatest sign for Saturday, but hey, maybe tonight will be different.

here are the shots from this morning...

one more

One more official race on the calendar for me.  Not a hugely packed race, only 14 of the baby masters, but a decent representation from front to back, reg doesn't close till tonight at 5pm, and there will probably be a few more that sign up.  Weather looks to be actually cross like too, cool.  A bit of rain today to make sure it isn't dry and dusty.  I didn't race there last year (was in Seattle for the Concerts). I'm not headed out west this year, and even though I missed last weekend (Ice Weasels and DAS Beer Cross) I can't wrap it up yet.

Just have to race again.

Not sure how much I like the segregation of the races, going to miss hanging out with folks that only race the races on Sunday, but I can't make Sunday so that's not much of a factor.

The commute the last couple days have been focused hard commutes. And actually enjoyable.  We'll see if the trailer lasts through the winter though.  Already have blown out one zipper in the back.

But the whole missing the Seattle concerts seemed like a good idea, stay home, be with the family, the girls just finished a crazy week of Nutcracker, wife's working on Sunday, being gone from Thursday until Tuesday with Christmas as close on the heals of the weekend just didn't seem like the right thing to do for this side, and the last trip out there was for the wedding and that was a bit of stress which is probably still residually (sic) hanging on.  But now, now that the choice is made, I'm having some regrets about not going, these concerts me a lot to many many people, (many thousands actually).  But then I haven't pulled out the violin in a while to practice.  But then that's where the whole talent comes in.  Natural ability and muscle memory don't usually fail me.  I can't play like my sister the Pro plays but like with everything else, I don't suck...  and people appreciate musicians who don't suck.

Look for an announcement for a few bandit CX "races." Officially not races, mostly because i don't think i'll have an official permit for the use of the park, and there'll be a few cones and course that Paul Curley would win because there won't be stakes or tape and he's just skip the beach run, the stairs and probably turn a tree or too sooner.  BUT.  Honestly it should be pretty f'n fun.  Might not be a 7 min lap for the 'pros' but it will be more than 2 minutes and incorporate everything.  Sand, barriers, turns, pavement.

First edition is looking to be the 26th.  Probably around mid-day (can't miss the live Euro CX race that morning).

If it goes well there will be more, Sundays likely.  Until we get kicked out (and then I'll find another spot).  And now that I've added the beach and the stairs there is a touch of elevation and...  actually potential for a totally baller real race.

Okay - got some introspective shit coming up about art and impact and other stuff that came out of a meeting yesterday...  want to write about it but, well we'll see what happens.

heddwch
G

Tonight

Same spot as the last one.

No racing this weekend, lots of time to think.

There's good and bad to go along with that, esp for an over-thinker.

Great ride home...

That park bench I propped it on seems to be a bit closer to level than the railing angle I tried last time.

Pretty spectacular sky.  Would have been amazing to grab a shot with the lighthouse in the foreground but, nope, besides, we've all seen that a few times before (here).

Ride home was good, wicked hard a few places.  Motor pacing with the trailer isn't easy.  But that's the point.  I've got at least till April to make it easy.  Discipline.  Trailer = weight training.  Focus.

Focus.

Maximize every second on the bike.  Make each pedal stroke count, make it mean something.  But never.

EVER

ever forgetting that riding is pretty damn awesome.

Signboard meme today:

You can't buy happiness. 

But you can buy a bicycle.  

And that is pretty close.

yes it is, it is pretty close...

heddwch
G

Stem angle

remember me and cranking about the stem angle?

yeah...

guess what?  I looked at some pictures from Ice Weasels last year.  Stem was up.

And then I remembered.

I f'n flipped the damn stem before that first TT I did on the CX bike this summer.

And...

I

NEVER

FLIPPED

IT

BACK

such

an

idiot

*facepalm*

goosebumps

No matter how many times I see this trailer, it gets me pumped. I've borrowed the DVD from friends but one of these days I may just have to get a copy of my own so I can watch the whole thing.

I'm a throwback, and I recognize why we don't do 45min or 60min plus one lap, but that's what we used to do, and i liked that. of course freak courses like that year at Catamount with a 12 minute lap for the fast guys, that's not cross. That's a circuit race.

There's magic in those words though (back to the trailer).

This morning wasn't wet but it was 15 degrees colder and I had a headwind that was pretty steady at 20 with guests up to 40 that were doing a good job of trying to stop me. Even with the rain cover on the trailer, that headwind was tough.

No rest day today. Maybe it will be easy on the way home. But no more racing so I just need to go back to the spring training program. Ride all week, balls out or slowly, and take the weekend off.

The LG 0° Egro Grip shoes were awesome. Toes were toasty warm. Heck even with what ever the wind chill was, it was a totally comfortable ride in. Pretty big difference what cold puddles of water do to the ride. No chance for the water trapped in the leg warmers and in the shoes to warm up. Wool works but not if you keep dunking it in cold water, repeatedly. Ala riding in the cold rain.

But like I said last night, one can endure most conditions for coincidentally the length of a cross race. Stretch it into a road ride over a couple hours, and then that gets a bit insane.

People still shake their heads at me with the [empty] trailer but I'm pretty much okay with begin thought of as the crazy one, not trapped in a steel box, whatever it takes to get a bit of space on the road.

Life is pretty crazy.

What it throws at us is strange...  esp for the emotional over-thinkers.

heddwch
G

That was a cold one

Still cold.  I deal with the cold pretty well but I guess I really screwed it up today.

The ride to work was great. 56 degrees and fog. No rain, not too cold.  Wore my long sleeve jersey, a sleeveless baselayer, bib shorts and knee warmers.  Regular shoes.

The ride home?

Well, pretty much no matter what I wore it was going to suck.

45 degrees and pouring rain.  With lots of standing water.

The bike path is great.  Not too much standing water, no spray, wet? for sure. But the ride home in the road, well the roads here ain't in the best shape to put it in polite terms.  And there's a solid puddle of water in varying depths from the office to home.  Kind of a 7.5 mile swamp ride.  Sure there was a mile or two on the path before the detour and I was okay up to that point.  But then, even with the Planet bike full coverage fenders, and they do cover quite a bit of the way down, I was soaked.

Cold rain too.  Energy was low and I just didn't have it in me to go so hard that I could keep my toes warm.  My core was plenty warm. I'll never understand vests.  My chest wasn't cold.  My arms, and my feet.  Yeah those were cold.

I don't think full length leg warmers or tights would have made much difference.  When it is cold and raining, clothing that is getting splashed with cold water constantly doesn't make much of a difference.  Full waterproof gear might have been better, but, well it doesn't matter really.  I will warm up, anyone can tolerate 20-30 minutes of cold and discomfort, and now I'm working on making up some dinner.  Trying a bit of a beans and rice combo.  Not quite black bean soup and not quite burritos.

Smells really good...

I haven't written the NBX race reports up yet.  But it was awesome racing, both days, the whole race, chasing people, dropping people, catching people, not getting caught, catching a group and riding through them, racing.  Actually f'n racing not doing a little TT off the back of the race.

This season was very rewarding. It is over. For me. I have to face that. Resources and time just aren't there to do the stuff in January (Nats and Worlds).  These next two weekends have much higher priorities than bike racing.  But I am supremely grateful to have had the distraction, the focus and the fun that racing with the fast dudes here in New England was in 2011.  Looking forward to what 2012 brings, and the changes I can make to try and get just a little faster, that or at least not get slower.

heddwch
G

No rain on the way in...

And wow that rain cover on the trailer cuts down drag very significantly.

There was a dump truck making the run from one end of the bike path to the other (moving soil from the north side to the south maybe?) and we wound up hitting about 30 mph at the same time after the Hospital coming down the Parkway.

A little Scooby Impreza was keen and intent on sitting 3 feet off the dump truck for some reason.  And well heck I found that off the side of it at 35 mph was a good draft.  Not behind it, nope, just after it off to the side.  A surprisingly good draft.  And well down the hill, I had to hit the brakes a few times because I was coasting faster than the dump truck down the hill in a few sections.  And then we hit the flat section and he didn't speed up, but held that 35mph.  So, well shit I had no choice. Trailer and all, motoring along in the slipstream of the dump truck.

Then the road tipped up.

And things got a bit more challenging.  But I held his wheel until he slowed and pulled off the Parkway (to the left) and I sustained around 25 mph up the hill along the golf course.  Hitting the level section I was blown and settled into a recovery.  But wow that was fun.

Couple shots from the path before the road section.  Essentially the only stretch of bike path left that i use.  It is still very pretty along it but so short. (click more for the pictures)

Race coverage not to miss

For so many reasons it is best not to miss this, take a quick peak drinking that 3rd or 4th cup of coffee. Gotta have sound. Can't miss a gem of New England racing narrating the thing. And check out his interview with Maureeeeen Dude. Check it out. seriously funny stuff.
 
Watch more video of NBX GP Of Cyclocross 2011 on cyclingdirt.org

that's a wrap

The season that is for me.  There is a small outside chance for racing once on the other side of next weekend's Insanity.  But it is so slight that I'm mentally prepared for it to be over.

This one was certainly an up and down season.  But finishing solidly up.  I certainly learned a lot more about trying to get faster this year.  The power is coming along nicely.  The jump after jump after jump is there for a whole race.  I still suck massively at turning relative to the guys finishing in front of me (and to the frustration of those w/o enough watts to come around me after the turns).

Plymouth weekend was pretty awesome.  If I had just gotten a 3hr long hard ride in on my 'off' weekend (Velocross and Lowell weekend) and gotten some intervals done on that Wednesday I probably wouldn't have had such an off day at Day 1 Sterling.

It is what it is.  There were a few compromises this year, but on the whole it was one amazing season.  Getting to know some new faces, racing with the team, it was all pretty amazing. Surreal that it is more or less over though.

Ice Weasels sounds pretty amazing.  Flyover, Shimano Tech Support, all the people, the Zanc SS series Final race, not to mention the beer.  If you missed the beer this weekend, show up at Ice Weasels with a designated driver and prepare to have some fun.  If fun = drinking beer.

Fitchburg should be good.  I missed it last year, and probably will again this year.  And that's about it I think.  Nationals in January, and Master's worlds that week later.  I gave it a shot trying to put a series on in January last year, maybe someone else wants to try setting something up between fitchburg and nationals.  RI is a great place, but I might be too tapped out to contribute anything.

It is time to switch to full time commuter mode.  Put some wire spoked alloy rims with slick tires on the Blue and maybe get out for a long road ride or two.  One thing I'm going to try is flipping that stem around to get a bit more rise out of it.  I've got some thoughts that it could help with the handling and turning thing, of course just working on it and figuring it out will help too.  But I didn't want to flip with only a couple weekends left.

The flying rats have begun bombing the little bit of bike path they can still.  And the last few weeks have been sort of one clam here, one clam there.

This morning? Carpet bombing has begun.  Check the snapshots after the fold.

pondering

in the dead link excavation i came across a cool old quote:

The Long Haul
In college and at the world class level, the clock is always ticking. Athletes feel pressure to reach their peak "this year". In many cases, this leads to yearly cycles that do not consider the ongoing development of the athlete "the next year". As a masters athlete, remember that you are in this game for the long haul. Training is a long process of learning and physical and technical growth. Medals go to those who combine talent with patience, and intensity with intelligence. Ultimately, no matter what your level of performance, the satisfaction of athleticism is sweetest when it enhances your life, not just your VO2 max!

and a dead link to the source

So well lets head to the almighty Google and search for a complete phrase above.  And we get a document that pops up.  (yes that is a link to a *.doc file open it in google viewer if you don't want to save as).

So I get thinking, I wonder what is out there about this Heinz Liesen doctor that the little essay is based on.

And I hit this. And feel yucky.  A training document based on material from years of work by an east german doctor/trainer that is solidly Pro-Doping.  There's a lot of stuff in there.  His point of view is maybe not the best one, and his arguments certainly highlight why an athlete can substantially benefit from doping.  Esp if you read between the lines of the Brain-Body paper in the Testosterone bullet point.

It doesn't however detract from the mental/brain side of things.  And the questions asked just before 'The Long Haul."

But take a look at the der spiegel article (google translation is probably not perfect) and maybe you see a softer light.

Dead Velonews links?

Are you tired of going to a VeloNews link that sounds good but winding up at a

404 Not Found

 and wondering okay now what?

Well it seems the staff at Cyclocosm was too.  And they did something about it.

They created a Dead Link Article Finder.  Enter your dead link and voila no more 404!

For example.  I've included this link a few times in this web log:
http://velonews.competitor.com/train/articles/9344.0.html

Go ahead click on it.

For fun take that link and plug it into the dead VeloNews finder and see what happens.

Check out that technique

(video by the awesome HenryJ and here)
Elbow between saddle and body, set the bike down with weight and stabilize it before moving hand to bars and getting on.

I was going slow, I took too many steps between the barriers...

If you compare this slow end of the field with the fast end there are plenty of differences for sure, now, if I can just pedal as fast as my team mate up front.

Not all of the front set the bike down or run as far, so maybe I need to get on and pedal sooner, but this whole getting on and off isn't where I can gain any time.  But I don't suck at it...

NBX

Rumor is Matt's running us up the hill both days for the start. SO AWESOME.

not much of a fan

of contador...  not at all.  esp after that TT where he beat the big man with the motor.

I have been a fan of Frankie Andreu. Just like that guy for some reason. Okay for lots of reasons, dude was flat out baller on the bike.  The stories of him coming home and doing the Ann Arbor races and hanging out for a few laps, lapping the field, hanging out, lapping the field again.  Very much like when Frank and Mark McCormack showed up in Michigan to do the Saturn race in Lansing.  Although I think Mark only lapped the field once, and then sprinted away for a clean win with a lap to go.  I got a front row seat watching that race from the wheel pit. Not too many changes but the ones that came in got a clean change and a solid push out.

So I read the Andreu piece at Bicycling online there and there's some solid haterade being served up in the comments.

Kind of similar to the Nys Pauwels controversy.  I missed watching it live (in transit to Baystate) but watching it over on Cosmo's page Nys attacked into the corner, got position and then picked a line and rode it to the finish.  Pauwels chose the left side and had meters of space to go around on the way to the barriers but he couldn't, he could only pull up close along side but not around before the trajectory forced him into the barricades.  I don't see that as dirty.  He wasn't zigging and zagging around, he didn't slam the door, head butt him or anything else.  That and the last few races Stybar's sprint at the end of the race could use some work.  Comes down to a second here or there, one bobble, mistake here or there.

Happened to me on day 2 at Sterling.  I lost a sprint.  But not actually in the sprint.  I lost the sprint earlier when my rear tire slipped two pedal strokes in a row and I came to a stop in the mud on the hill.  I lost contact with Tim Young and Kyle Smith at that point.  I was so flustered and so deep in the game that my body thought I was racing Saturday and I autopiloted into the turn with the roots as if it was the log jump from the day before. I was halfway off before I realized "WTF DUDE" and I totally hosed that section and Smith and Young gathered another 5-10 seconds.  Sadly that put me back in the "motivate Carl Ring to pedal harder" zone, i became a rabbit.  And I knew it and I dug and gave it everything.  He made contact when I f'd up one or two more corners (surprise) and did a nice two wheel power slide.  I was going hard and he attacked just before the off camber hill just before the track.  The same place Mark attacked Brian.  Consensus from the peanut gallery and the pundits was the first person to that hill wins the race.  Carl went up first, and down first and I was at the limit of traction on the corner of that single track, tires flattened and holding.  Around the corner he had a couple bike lengths and was sprinting.  I pounced, but unlike Sunday at Plymouth, I fucked up the sprint and shifted way too early and only was able to draw up to his rear wheel by the line, not get around him.  As soon as I shifted I knew I had lost the sprint.

But if I hadn't blown that hill or thought about the horse jump...  like complaining that your favorite football team is losing their games because the Field Goal kicker sucks.  No.  look at Green Bay.  Who cares if their FG kicker sucks.  Or the Saints.  You put up numbers on offense, those three points don't matter.  If you miss one or two? So what.  I lost the sprint (in my mind) well before that.  But I will, without a doubt, credit Carl for making the move at the right place and having the legs to finish it off.  Kind of makes losing to him only slightly bearable.  Okay not really.  I'm still pissed that Carl beat me two days in a row.  But I think that is mostly because he didn't crash on Day 2. He some how managed to stay upright.  Beating the big freak in a sprint was just the frosting on his minicupcake.

NBX baby.  THAT is going to be f'n AWESOME!  Hell yeahs.
"You could be in Europe if no one told you otherwise. " -Jerry Chaboom
It really is one of the best.  And while Tom Stevens does great work, 6 of his courses a season are enough.  That and Matt B and his set up crew are total Ballah! The park goes all in on it to.  AND SAND.  RUNNING IN SAND (sucks but is awesome just the same).

See you there!

heddwch
G

Awesomeness

Just in case you haven't had enough Cyclocross video viewing after this weekend...


3ème manche CDM cyclo-cross - Koksijde 2011/2012 from Petitesreines on Vimeo.

A moment of Zen for the day

Moment of Zen from gewilli on Vimeo.

Sunset last night

Here in New England yesterday the Sunrise and Sunset both were pretty spectacular.  The folks over at Firefly caught this impressive display.

But the time I got out the door the sun had mostly set but there was still enough going on that I pulled out the camera, propped it on the railing at the bottom of the IPPPB and snapped this shot.

Lots of blooming going on in that exposure and some algorithmic artifacts but it does capture the view quite well.

I have a moment of zen video in line over at Vimeo right now, it will show up as a unique post soon.

The ride in today? Not quite bare knees like the ride home last night but I could have gone without the knee warmers.  Not as hot as Saturday but still plenty warm out there.

heddwch
G

Back in the Saddle again

Back towing the trailer again...

Headed out this morning, tossed a few extra clean shirts for the week, took too much food and grabbed my bag and stuffed it all in the back of the trailer. I had just hooked it up when my Neighbor was headed out the door and mentioned he saw me in the paper, and offered me the section (making sure to let me know he was already done with the paper).  As he was heading back in wicked tall Tatar rode past on the other side of the playground and didn't to much more than turn his head when I shouted his name.  Missed riding in with him but that's probably for the better towing the trailer.  I would have worked too hard and he would have gone too slowly, esp since he didn't race on Sunday.

So my neighbor came back out with the ProJo and we talked about his new used truck (it is pretty sharp) and then I headed in to test the potential effectiveness of a recovery ride with a trailer.  Not that it matters much - the season is almost over, sadly with little real cyclocross weather.

Fittingly it was a warm day today with a fiery start:

Sterling Day 1 aka Baystate CX

There was a bit of uncertainty going into this weekend.  A week off? Thanksgiving...  And a very tight and stacked field.  Plymouth weekend was a peak of my racing this season and well I didn't respond well today I guess.

Pre-ride felt good but just with the orange suit I was cooking in the sun on that first lap and it was still not even 9:30.  Got a full lap in before the women's 3/4 start, grabbed the number chatted, cheered, jumped on as soon as I could, got two full laps in.  Then pinned up.

Hit the line right behind GCDavid Cort and company, not last row but close.  Started and held my place but not really around the track.  By the time we hit the run up I was tail gunning, and after the other up down Todd Rowell jumped in front of me and I made sure I was last.  Poor old Shattuck ate a barricade at the start and had to work from absolutely last by a long shot, but I think he kept moving up the whole race.

That was my plan.  Hanging out at the end of the conga line Rowell started to move and I went with him... for a bit.  Lap 2 we started hitting it harder and I was doing okay until - poof, sweating, overheating.  It might have only been 61 today when we were racing but under the brilliant sun it felt worse.  And with that intensity my stomach actually started acting up.  it hurt to fold over a bit.  I was worried at the start about my back but nope, my guts were in pain.  Heat, guts and I just didn't seem to be able to actually pedal fast enough.  Molasses.

Sure - Chabot and the rest will mock and ridicule me about complaining about 60 degree weather a few days from December but man, I really much prefer Sterling when that pond has Ice on it.  I tried ditching the gloves, then unzipping then the glasses and kind of found a balance, but too late.  took 3 laps to do that, the final 3 laps? well everyone was so far gone even CTodd caught me.  Ringer was just up the road and there was nothing I could do to reel him in.  Shawn McC had set his sea anchor but my engine room was having nothing.

It was funny though from the left hand turn along the road up to the left hand onto the track and around until off the track I was plenty fast, every lap.  Distancing guys behind me and reeling in those up front.  But I'd just lose it all the rest of the course.  Couldn't really get the flow of the course.

And it was a bad day and every little distraction just sort of snowballed.

BUT

I finished on the lead lap.
I didn't take a dirt nap or impale myself on a stake (I hope Stacey's okay).
I feel like I raced my ass off right now, legs are destroyed.
My guts seem to have sorted themselves out.
And as much as I hated the heat, it was a pretty damn nice day to be on the bike racing with friends.
Tomorrow is a new day and it will be what it is going to be and it is all building up to NBX.

It is good.

Oh and I got home with 10 minutes to unload the car, and turn around and head out to my youngest's indoor soccer.  And her team won and she played really well.  Got home and cranked out some dinner.  Still no shower though. Food first.

heddwch
G

Have you had enough food yet?

I just watched this and have to say,  it sounds like a great cookbook.

I've read a bit of the buzz, some of the interviews, and just watched this clip: http://bcove.me/874ecxwi

Solid.  Okay, truth be told, i'm f'n jealous.  Food is important to me.

Curtis B gives me a hard time for my festidiousness but I'm trying to do what ever i can to make up for a shortage in talent and while the food and the timing of what i eat won't make me go faster, no it isn't performance enhancing, but by not getting it right, it really does slow me down.

I'm not racing for the front, I'm racing my friends.  I'm trying to beat them.  The friends up front, well they just go way faster, I'm in that race but my race is further back.

Food is a big part of it.

Alex H has a review of a recent study.  It strongly supports my personal philosophy of eat real food, not supplements, and in a beneficial balance.

The beet juice recipe video, makes a ton of sense.  Nutrients are good there is very strong and well done studies showing vegetable based nitrates are beneficial for cycling (non-veggie ones are still bad - no green light for bacon).  You can download the .pdf from Velonews. (here's a link from Peak Performance, a very good overview of the 'beetroot juice' science).

Tomorrow is Sterling.  Weather is going to be wicked uncharacteristic.  I think my favorite race there was the 20 degree start we had one year.  Bitterly cold and windy.

Eat well,
heddwch
G

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

The food at Thanksgiving has always been important to me.  Growing up it was a big deal. Very traditional and a major focal point and the food we served was strongly pulled from a southern tradition with a northern spin, but all made from scratch like my grandmother and great grandmother used to serve.

After heading off to College on the other side of the country flying home for Thanksgiving and then back for exams and then right back home for the Celtic Yuletide Concert Series was a bit impractical, but hopping in the train to my Dad's house in Maryland was ideal.

Food a for the longest time was all it was about.  The getting together, yeah that was nice, in that it was an excuse to eat that food.  I felt lucky too, back at home in my brother had decided to become vegan. So no more turkey, that seemed so odd and crazy, there just weren't as many vegan's in the 90's, no one knew what the word meant.  People understood vegetarian, but vegan was a foreign concept.

One year in Michigan I had the crazy idea that I wanted to make everything, and I did.  Michigan was a strange time in that we went places, but I guess buying a house and having a baby in it adds the incentive to give it a go.  Food Network was well established at that point.  And this morning thinking about writing this I had a realization that the Food Network alone would have failed.  It really needed the internet.  Depended critically on it.  For recipes.  You could watch your favorite celebrity chef cook something, and you could watch the process and then go download the measurements and specific ingredients.  It was brilliant.  So easy.  Watching Julia you'd almost need to take notes (and many did) watching, or more or less in her case, you would have her cookbook open to the dish she was making that show.

So I did what I always do.  I dug in, made lists, decanted recipes, pulled elements from cookbooks, childhood memories, tweaked it and wrote it all down.  These sheets are probably 11 years old.  Well a couple of them.

These pages represent what at the time I felt was the quintessential Thanksgiving Meal, and the ingredients and short hand notes for how to make it all.  Almost two full days of meal prep right there.

A semi complete list from these pages

• Turkey
• Brine for turkey
• Cranberry sauce
• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Stuffing
• Peas and onions
• Gravy
• Brussels sprouts
• Rolls
• Stock for gravy
• Aromatics for inside turkey
• Timing and when/where gets cooked

I would do many of the dishes differently now.  My cooking style has changed, my focus on quality ingredients has changed a bit, but that doesn't really change the flavors that mean Thanksgiving Dinner to me.

That's the meal though.  Turkey (no ham), peas and pearl onions (no green beans in any form), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, stuffing, piles of cranberry sauce and heaps of gravy, with a nice soft roll or two to wipe it all up with.

Until I made it here, at this house, while my brother was making it down the road and family went from there to here, I always felt the meal trumped all.  The meal made Thanksgiving, okay not 100% but I'm taking some liberty in that I did recognize it is more than just food, but food was always top of the list.

I had made the most brilliant meal. The turkey was amazing, the breast meat juicy and flavorful.  The stuffing and gravy a perfect balance and so good.  Brussels sprouts roasted not steamed.  I'd perfected it.  And we ate it.  And it was great just being the 4 of us, but it didn't feel right.

Most people figure this out long before I ever did. But I'm kind of slow to pick up on some things.

Thanksgiving is really about being with family and friends.  Getting together and being together.  My 1st grader's play they did on Monday afternoon was case in point.  As they presented it Thanksgiving was a feast prepared by the pilgrims with the purpose of thanking the Natives for teaching them how to grow food and survive in New England.  The event and the meal was a lavish thank you present, but again, it wasn't just about the food.  It was about getting together.

I am thankful for having family not so far away that we can go spend this day with preparing food, eating it and having fun.  My kids get to spend the day with their cousins, and I've finally been able to let go of the control of the food and just enjoy it.  Don't get me wrong, my brother is a great cook too, the food will be fantastic.  I'm bringing the brussels sprouts 4 pounds of brussels sprouts (going to try and sneak them in an oven over there instead of trying to cook them here this year).

Now I'm going to make another pile of coffee in my plug in moka pot/espresso thing and read this about the 10,000 hour debate and talent vs training in sport.  Because at this point even at the late hour, everyone is still asleep, and next to food, sleep is important. Oops, [not-so]mini-me just ran down the stairs...

Happy Thanksgiving my friends
-GeWilli

Making it look easy

Henry captures it perfectly as always.




Make sure to give the interview a read through in Cyclocross Magazine Issue #14.  Sully did a great job interviewing three cool guys.

I had a stack of Henry's videos.  They are pretty awesome.  If you race Cyclocross in New England, you really should pick up a few historic races from Henry (first link over there under big shot links - damn i need to change those a bit, so dated - so overlooked.)

Nationals 2005 35-39 race was epic with the weather, Henry's footage captured brilliantly what the racers and the promoters and the volunteers were dealing with that fateful Friday.  And he wasn't even filming the worst of it.  He was just filming that race.

It is hard to single out one of his races that he's documented as a favorite.  But that's got to be mine.  Gloucester with Vervecken is way up there. So many good ones.

Do yourself a favor, and I'm honestly saying this as a fan of the sport, buy a couple DVDs from Henry, if you have them, buy em for one of the new up and coming Cat 4 you know or met this year.  Giving a CX racing friend one, the DVD will last a lot longer than a six pack, even the way Coach Kurt P drinks.  Buy one of Gloucester so they can watch it in August and get pumped all over again for one of the best races on the calendar, in the country.

I don't pitch much here intentionally, this really just started out wanting to say that Curtis does make it look effortless there on the front.  And Henry knows right where to stand...  He always did know.

Thanks for being there with your video cameras Henry.

Thanks
-G

Post race embro glow

So y'all know how good that post race embrocation glow of warmth is?  Usually kicks in on the drive home, or in the shower and usually after the shower a bit.

That reminder of all that goodness that happened after slathering it on before the race.

Well I found the food analogy.

Eat a bit of home made beans and rice with half of a very large and very hot red Habanero pepper (I'd say bumping up in the 200k range - not nuclear like I've had a few but this was still way hot).

So this diced bit - nice warmth eating it.  Solid and robust belly burn (sort of like heat radiating from your stomach - it feels good).

After a bit that fiery burn in the mouth dissipates... and you go on.  The belly glow hangs out for a while.

Now...

now take a big sip of hot coffee.  Not burn your tongue hot.

And embrace the burn all over again.

So
good

my mouth is watering all over again thinking about it.

yeah

thinking about super spicy chilis and wicked hot food makes my mouth water.

writing about it makes it worse.

i'm making it worse.

This sip of coffee right now... is just coffee, no burn.

oh well.

what i needed

Well at least maybe in some small way.  I'm saying it is good. Because finally I'm at work and the legs feel like they've been pushed and worked.  That 46x12 even with the hills hasn't sustained enough torque resistance even with the overweight and under inflated Croll with the planet bike Speedez Hydrid fenders.  And the extra traffic I was dealing with honestly did kind of get to me for a few rides.

Not in the oh shit i'm scared but more in an annoyance.

I think I fixed two things.  The annoyance of the cars.  And added a touch (understatement) of resistance.

So happy with the revisiting of the old paradigm that I'm going to suggest the crazy.  Get a bike trailer. No not a BOB - that won't work.  No a beat up or new or cheap or expensive kid trailer.  But an enclosed one (not that cool ass C-dale molded kid chariot thing).  And toss your crap in there for the ride to work.

Yeah parking can become a monumental pain in the ass with it, but if you've got a spot to park, you'll be surprised as how much a trailer acts as a traffic calming device.  That and call it an early warning system, I won't spell out why, hopefully you have an imagination that will fill in those details.

So far it is as I remember it. And after a couple weeks of riding just as a bike, alone, it is a tangible difference with the cars.  Kind of cool.

And the added watt demand is working well.  Adding a bit more stress and HR PLUS torque load.  Taking easy days will be harder though so that's going to be a challenge, but I'm off the bike tomorrow until at least Friday, or maybe even Saturday.  Should be time to recover and be fresh for Sterling.

With the path closed until April the trailer, if used regularly should help step up to the next level of strength and build a base for 2012.  Yeah.  I said build a base.  HAH.  Not talking volume.  Really focusing on using it to add stress not every day, that would be the bad base, huge volume with no return.  No, this allows those hard days to be way harder, and the easy days to be focused.  And for that matter the easy days should be able to tolerate a bit more as the whole histogram moves in a positive direction.

Tweaking the offset in the digital world.

Will it work?  Who knows what life will bring.

Hell I'm getting way out introspected by a couple of friends lately.  First JONNY FUCKING BOLD puts his thoughts down in a way that very clearly describes what he's going through.  I can't really offer advice to someone who has won everything in a sport I struggle with being a mediocre elite master racer (yeah I'm totally hooked into the mediocre elite oxymoron that Resultsboy coined so well) but you do have to live with yourself and in a way solidly come to terms with what Zencycle wrote about yesterday.  Zen and Jonny have blown me out of the water in the Introspection genera as of late.  I wish I could nail the sound track to a blog post as well as Zen did.  Read Jonny's and specifically Doug's words in the comment section, then Zen's and well that's all you need.  Deep thoughts for us old fuckers to come to terms with.

I know 40 doesn't seem old from this side of the number but holy shit - from the other side, esp the far side of 30... well that's like a life time away.  Big gulf between, and while so many of my friends really are old fuckers who constantly remind me that I'm just a damn kid, I'm not.

But it doesn't matter.  Life doesn't change that much. Granted physically I'm feeling pretty close to 20.  Being skinny and having the near college BF% levels with some extra muscle mass doesn't suck too much.

Food - yeah I'll probably write some food stuff up late.  In a bit of a rut cooking wise.  Thinking very much in terms of feeding the machine for myself.  Food has become fuel.  A training tool.  An aid. Something that is required, applied at specific times.  Kind of takes the romance out of it.  That and the electron microscope images have given me a bit of a creative outlet that food was trying to fill 100%.

Life.  It is a strange thing.

heddwch
G

Ride Everything

on a cross bike:

Reclaimed Weekend

So with the insanity of Saturday's schedule (my wife left the house at 9:30am and returned at 9:30pm), there were enough things going on that one person couldn't possibly make it work.  And then it was her turn to work on Sunday and rehearsals that the girls needed to get to that meant hanging out and not racing.

There was an opportunity to get out and pedal on Saturday morning before doing the kid exchange and going to indoor soccer with the little one.  But I skipped it.

We cleaned up the back yard.  Leaves were off the trees, and well it was a gorgeous day and my oldest and I burnt all the small twigs and sticks that have built up in the twig pile and raked leaves in the back yard.  We dumped out our year old worm bin (55 gallon) and spread the rich black soil around the base of the maple.  The webber kettle grill worked well enough to make ash.  The stick pile burnt up nicely.  And heck, how often do you get to play with fire with your kids.  Fun.  And the weather was brilliant.  After a couple hours of raking and stuffing leaves into barrels we grabbed the left over pizza put the grate over the coals and had some wood grilled pizza.  Out side.  In the sun.  W/o any biting insects.  Just a begging dog.

It was pretty f'n awesome.

Then the soccer game, it is nerve wracking watching the youngest play.  So much potential.  She was a brick wall as a defender.  Defined objective: "don't let the ball go past you and kick it back down the other end." Their team finally started scoring goals.  And the opponents didn't get a goal until she was sub'd out.  She was WAILING the ball down the field.  Proud dad.  She's got a bit of work to do on offense and what not but she was also pretty worn out after back to back birthday parts going into the game.  Who knows if soccer is her thing or not but she doesn't suck, and she's not even 7 yet.  I think I can make both sterling M35+ and her game (if i don't dally on saturday).

So my kids haven't really taken to bike racing.  Oh well.

Sunday was similar - both days I caught the second half of the Euro Pro CX race (great video quality this weekend) and then headed outside.  Sunday was front yard time.  Rake up all the extra leaves and head into ballet rehearsal.

Today I took hold of the opportunity of an empty schedule this Morning and I took a few minutes of mental health playing with a bit of CX.  Note: Schwalbe Marathon tires at any pressure don't turn well on wet grass down hill with a skim of slick mud under the blades.

On the plus side India Point Park is, in every way, perfect for CX clinic work and skills training.  So ideal.  Not enough space for racing but there's solid elevation for shouldering drills and run up techinque, plus off camber turning and sterling like barriers.  Long flat grass sections for on and off drills and start drills.

Couldn't be more perfect.  And I like teaching this stuff.  My weaknesses aren't generally the fitness and speed side and I'm not quite cornering like the elite guys but I'm certainly not a cat 4 by a long shot.  Since I teach techincal shit on a regular basis, this no different.

A short bit of time turned into a bit more than a short period of time.  oops.

Hauled my barriers and cones and floor pump using the trailer today.  Certainly get more respect from the traffic when towing a trailer, even if it is empty.  And holy hell it is a solid workout.  It slows everything down quite a bit, esp with the mesh front (the clear rain shell makes it more aero).  After a weekend of no racing this monday is not a sub 100 HR day.  And with Thanksgiving coming up well there won't be much riding that day or probably friday so I've got to create some stress-response adaptation while i can and some how prep for Sterling.

The Damn weather forecast looks like it will be trying to entice Litka to race with mild temps.   I so love that race when it is 20 degrees and f'n cold.  So much better there when it is cold. But it will be what it will be and we'll make it work.

I wonder if Tom is out there today doing the monday course walk through design with his spray paint, tweaking the famous sterling course into some more awesomeness.  How many dismounts this year?  Stairs?  Horse Jump? Barriers at the bottom of the off camber? Can't wait.

heddwch
G

high volume [base] training is counter-productive?

How is that for a statement.  And like pretty much any training advice it is more or less individual specific.

I can see it being good if you're still new to a sport, or if you take an extended time off the activity.  Specifically new being 3-5 years into it w/o more than two or three weeks without doing the activity (running, cycling, swimming whatever).  After a month or more off of the activity rebuilding a base is probably a good idea but depending on the history of how long you've been doing it and how old you are and a huge variation of factors you may need a bit of time working at an aerobic level before being able to jump to the more effective intensities.

Of course you can find some evidence to support any position you care to take.  I've been listening and reading for a long time.  And lately actively thinking about working out my own personal philosophy and putting it into practice.

Is it working? Depends on your metric.  But mine has been body fat/strength/and cyclocross results.  And only relative to intrinsic markers.  There are positive extrinsic feedbacks happening but those aren't what I'm basing success/failure on.

Yesterday Alex Hutchinson posted "The case against antioxidant vitamin supplements" over on his Sweat Science web log.  A short read with a few good quotes.  It seems I can't get the full article, only the abstract and reference list so I can't read the original source article. But it does bring up a good point.

The antioxidants may not be providing the benefit they are believed to.  Reducing the stresses you feel after a really intense workout is sort of like just doing the work at a less intense level.

Stress is needed.  If you don't push the limits as hard as you can, you don't bump up hard enough against them to push the body to make the physiological change to allow you to hit that wall again and eventually push the wall further away.  The Antioxidants can be thought to cushion the the wall. A safer-barrier to higher performance.

It seems logical.  Something I hadn't thought of too much before.  Granted I'm not a supplement freak, erring on the side of a waste of money that I don't have to spend on little/no gain.

Now maybe there is a benefit to be found racing with antioxidants that may allow you to bounce against the wall a couple days in a row racing w/o inducing major stresses that would take longer to recover from.  But then again, racing is in a way the best way to bounce against the wall and get faster.

This morning it got interesting with a bit of commentary from 'Neil' over at Zone 5 Endurance discussing Poliquin's 'article' (it isn't peer reviewed but it is cited, really should be a blog entry on a sales page) about The (Many) Negatives of Aerobic Training.

Skipping ahead to the bottom of Poliquin's original post it says:

3)    Take a Probiotic and Select AntioxidantsYou’ll help your body detoxify from diet and environmental pollutants(they cause inflammation), and lower cortisol from daily stressors. Check out my Primal Reds for antioxidants and my ProFlora Excellence DF Caps.  if you’re considering  a probiotic.

and well - I'm sure he's going to disagree about the whole supplement findings from the review Alex commented on.  He really goes into that one quite a bit over in part 2 on how to counter the negative aspects of AT.

Of course he does a good job of summarizing his post here:

Top Five Ways To Protect Yourself From the Negatives of Aerobic Training1)    Do strength and anaerobic training instead. 2)    Do strength training in addition to your aerobic training. 3)    Get lots of antioxidants: vitamin E, selenium, zinc, red raspberries, tart cherries, etc. 4)    Take creatine.5)    Take omega-3s.

Only problem I see is that he's selling stuff for 3,4, and 5 (original source has a link for creatine and omega-3s).  Now selling stuff isn't bad, but there doesn't seem to be a good balance in his commentary about the benefits/use/need of those supplements, more along the lines of "hey you really need this stuff, buy it from me."  The studies were good about showing decreased inflammation, but did they talk about increased performance?

Neil in fact concludes that Poliquin's references do kind of suck (he uses positive phrasing: "his references aren't all super-compelling,")

This all gets back to Alex's comment about how poor most of the primary research is with study design to test what really matters [getting faster/stronger].

And this gets me doing the bobble head nod everytime:

Whatever the supplement, training method, or piece of equipment you’re talking about, there’s nearly always a crappy, poorly executed study that seems to “prove” that it works.

So true.

Get back to the beginning GeWilli.  Oh yeah.

Eat real food.  Train super hard but putting a focus on recovery will allow your body to adapt to those stresses, reducing the stresses with anti-oxidants might in fact be counter productive.  And really it seems to keep coming back to Vaughter's Bicycling article about the four things you should never do.

Yeah I have yet to get to Plymouth Day 1 or 2 race reports.  Might get them up sometime this weekend.

So yeah - read those links - form your own opinion... but more importantly have fun with it.

heddwch
G

Race Reports (Eco-X first up)

Yeah so I'm slacking. Race reports are hard to get out sometimes and then when they don't happen right away, well you kind of get the whole distance + apathy + not happening.

So Eco-Cross.  As a preface the plan was to make sure I didn't pull a NoHo day two lawn chair over the weekend.  Hoping to put together three days of racing at some level of consistency.

There is a bit of a choice for Eco-cross, which event to register for.  It is a pretty lightly attended race, which is good but also kind of sad because it is fun.  LOTS of fun.  A unique course.  Looking at the pre-reg page on Tuesday (when reg still closed at 5pm on Tues) it wasn't too bad.  No leg ripping pro's and with a slightly earlier time coupled with being the only race on the course at once I favored signing up for that.  Chip sealed the deal with his Cross Clash with Matt A and gave me the last push to sign up for the P/1/2/3.  I figured if nothing else me and Chip would be duking it out in the back.

Then Singmaster transfered into the P1/2/3 race and suddenly I felt some pressure.  Not going to lie.  Singmaster was killing me on the road.  I came close to him in the TT and he was riding cannibal (finished 10 seconds behind him in week 7 - his avg speed for the three races he did was 25.5, mine: 25.4).  And he was going well, never finishing outside of the top 10 in any of the Cat 4 races other than Gloucester this year.  He upgraded and well figured why not race me.  So here's a freshly minted Cat 3 with solid results kicking Cat 4 ass.  I'm a slow Cat 3 35+ racer, tagging in at the back end of the insanity that is the Elite 35+ races here.  It was on.

The Plymouth weekend always seems to go pretty well for me.  Either the competition or just the timing, things usually come together about now for my legs.  I did the triple last year and it wasn't so good, by Sunday I was screwed and had a pretty poor finish.

But back to Eco-cross.  Singmaster picked me up and we headed out.  Chatting for a bit then he popped on some tunes.  The opening chords had me reaching over and turning the volume knob up in his Truck.  F'yeah.  And then.

Then it got even better.

You can D/L the whole album.  And yes. It is worth it. So good. So many kick ass samples.  And fresh.  I hadn't come across it yet.

We pull into the Farm and find a prime spot behind Results boy's Fit and surrounded by the best of New England. Wilcox, McCormack, Hines, the Keoughs.  It was great.  We got there before the first race was about to go off.  We had about 10-12 minutes before the start, and despite needing to take a leak, I gave priority to getting on the course.  And we headed out just behind Mahk.  Curtis and I got just about a lap, maybe two before the 4 race took off.  It was the same old course but also has some great new wrinkles that made it pretty sweet.  That and it wasn't raining this year.  It poured like f'n crazy the day before but it was a dry morning (except for one passing bit of drizzle here and there).

Couple laps in, pull off the course as the first race is ready to hit the course.  And find Brier struggling with a front brake.  A bit of struggle with it, only to finally realize it was hosed, the plastic had busted on the spring cage.  Stupid design.  Oh and his drive side front brake pad was put in upside down.  Nothing we could really do and he missed his start.  A bit more fiddling after he got a number for our race and he eventually wound up racing without a front brake.  I guess it wasn't so easy to race for him with one back brake because he kind of mailed it in and finished 3 laps down to Luke.

Oh yeah - So Luke pre-registers and if Chip and Singmaster weren't in that race I probably would have dropped down to the 35+ open.  So glad I didn't.

We line up.  I take a close to back row start.  And we go off, and I tag in right behind the tag end of the 2s. And just freaking rip it up.  David Stacey had a poor start and was working through traffic and tried a sketchy pass only to crash.  But I was feeling pretty good sitting in.  For two laps I stayed at the end of the conga line.  Luke and company were stretching the front out but I wasn't getting too gapped.

The laps were short.  Really short.  I think probably 5 min or less for Luke K.  After two and a half laps of sprinting my ass off to hang on as the caboose I knew I was going to go thermonuclear if I didn't back it off a touch.  And I looked back, and shit. I had a decent gap.  On everyone behind. Singmaster and Baker and Stacey were just behind Matt but I could see with all the switch backs that Stacey was doing his thing working through people.  He reminds me of Timmie back when the 35s and 45s raced together.

Timmie Oshea would start mellow but just slowly go faster and faster passing people as the race went on.  Stacey does that.  Or seems to from my POV.  And sure enough.  After his first lap crash David was working up to me.

BUT

I was racing forward.

On the first pass through the barriers I caught a rock i my shoe preventing me from clipping in on the right foot.  Yeah.  it sucked.  I tried knocking it out by clipping in and out to no avail.  I could still pedal and it wasn't really not clipping in but it wasn't solid.  A couple times through the barriers and it wasn't coming out. So after the last hairpin on the up hill leading into the second pit entrance I just put my right foot on the top tube and picked the rock out and got pedaling again w/o coming to a stop.  And that was huge.  I could really dig into the pedals again.

After a bit I found myself with one of Matt A's team mates was right in front of me.  Dangling there.  And I was chasing him.  I wasn't paying attention to Stacey's progress as much as I was trying to hang with the Cambridge dude.  Pretty soon though Stacey came through, and then Luke lapped us on the way to lapping all but the top 10.  And I raced.  My.  Butt. Off.

Turn sprint.  Turn sprint.  I managed to carry more and more speed through the downhill gravity sections, finding the line I could run no brakes.  A huge leap for me.  I let it roll.

After Stacey went through he said "get on my wheel" and I tried.  I worked hard.  He stretched the gap out to about 10 seconds for a lap or two.  But with the leader doing 11 or 12 laps we were racing for 10-11 laps and that's a lot of laps.  We came around to get the bell with him about 5 second up from me and I knew I needed to pull him back.  And I pedaled and pedals and closed the gap, little by little.

Meanwhile I could see the Wilcox leading Results Boy getting closer and closer.  I wanted to stay in front of them.  I had the gap completely shut down as we turned right onto the finishing stretch there at the top of the hill and I sprinted...  Stacey knew I was coming and got a better launch, but I closed it down but not quite fast enough.  I needed another 10 yards or so to get the win, I lost the sprint but...

yeah but...

I crossed the line and hit the brakes and then freaking grabbed the brakes as Bill K was sitting there bike perpendicular the finishing chute on MY side of the course.  Shouted a warning as I was grabbing brake and he just sort of looked up as I came to a stop against his non-drive side of the wheel.  I was pretty much nose wheely'ing into him trying to stop with out t-bone'n his bike.  Son-of-a-bitch.  I said sorry and rolled around, and he started yelling at me "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING SPRINTING FOR LAST PLACE!" Um dude.  I wasn't last.  And even if I was last place I was sprinting to the finish to try and beat the person I had been racing the whole race.  It is a race.  And poor Bill chose a spot way too close to the finish chute to have a post race conversation with a friend.  I knew after watching the end of the first race that the run out was pretty long and with a downhill sprint, well speeds are high.  Anyway.  He was pissed and continued to yell and fume and blame me for "racing for last."  I was racing for 15th place.  I lost 15th place to David.  Once place behind Bill.  One small negative.

But as Geo pointed out, there was SO MUCH positivity from the race that nothing was putting a damper on how it went.  Tires held air. I smashed the hell out of a few rocks, tore through the mud, power slide on the slick turns and had a freaking BLAST.  Cool down ride with Stacey was good too.  He's been kicking my ass all season and to be that close in a tight race was huge.

So intense.  So awesome.  Singmaster and I booked out pretty quickly and we washed some bikes had some coffee and I got on with the rest of Friday.

And I ate.

And ate.  Ate food constantly and non-stop.

And even slept that night.

And then I headed over to Plymouth for the South for Saturday.  Fond memories there from 2008 when my youngest and I picked up Mark Nicholson and we raced. I beat Marvin for the first time there and Mark was 2nd in his race, and Lindsey announced after dropping Mark off that he was her favorite Mark.

Plymouth North (in 2007) was when Curtis and Dawn first introduced me to the quiet recluse living in VT.  It was cold and wet and everyone was hanging out in the school.  And the rest was history.

And I still have two more race reports to write.

I like this, right now I'm revisiting the post race glow from Friday.  That was F'n AWESOME.  Like totally completely awesome.  So good.  So good that I'm totally cool with missing Lowell this weekend (the activity list starting tomorrow and ending Sunday night is pretty f'n insane here at Casa GeWilli - nutter).

Cyclocross = so awesome.

heddwch
G

No aero bars in group rides

Video evidence of why it is a bad idea.


Busted spokes, he's lucky the crash was a minor as it was. Truth of the matter is that could have happened w/o aerobars. But not likely. Keep an eye out on those folks with sleeveless jerseys...

Reflections on the Commute

So the commute has changed.  Pretty dramatically.  Gotta see about borrowing a GoPro or something and just getting some footage of the new ride.

Problem is the drivers aren't used to cyclists on that stretch. Heck this city could be as anti-bike as you might find in the state despite having the best bike path in the region running through most of it.  Maybe the bike path helps reinforce the concept of bikes as luxury toys, things like your boat, an activity separate and distinct from normal daily life.  Riding a bike for transportation to get somewhere to get around certainly is pretty alien to folks it would seem.

For the most part the ride isn't bad.  Nearly all the cars are respectful.  But anyone on the road knows you don't remember the thousand cars that pass you without incident, honking or yelling.

You remember the one.

Today was not as good as yesterday with no honkers.  Had one honker.  I was actually waiting in the line of stopped traffic.  My logic? Traffic is going to start moving by the time I get three or four cars up and why make them all pass me again.  So I'm sitting there.  We start moving at about 5 mph.  And the guy behind me lays on the horn.  I look back and give the "I dunno what to say" gesture (sort of an open palm and shrug of the shoulders) and then match the speed of the car in front.  It is a slight down hill from that point.  And cars generally range in speed from the posted 35 up to about 45 with the rare numbskull trying to go faster.

Traffic is heavy but it gets moving and me along with it. get the spin up, downshift, smooth, leg speed, form, focus, stay on that bumper - but back far enough to see the potholes and manholes.  Pretty soon I'm out of cogs and have to spin up more.  And I hang onto that bumper well past the Dunkin Donuts.  The honker behind me pulls out into the left lane (it is a 4 lane road, 2 in each direction) and gives me no flack.  I would like to think maybe there was a measure of acceptance with my speed what ever it was (it is dark and I dunno how fast I was pedaling or going).  That or there was just plenty of space to pass finally.

I've been blissfully dissociated with this aspect of bike commuting for a while. The aspect of dealing with cars.

I can't wait to get back to the path but I think I will managed okay.  There is the problem of other mroe tentative commuters who use the sidewalk instead of the road.  Some of the less informed or more prone to assumption drivers might think all bikes belong on the sidewalk, and those commuters cruising on the sidewalk don't help with the acceptance.

The fact that the construction company is not cleaning up the roads isn't helping either.  But some people call these first world problems.  They probably are.

It does make me contemplate winter commuting, and riding at night and coming up with a list of suggestions about lights, and riding and safety and what not.  Lists of things that I see people do that could be tweaked for improved safety and visibility mostly.  I don't want to say they are doing it wrong.  Just getting on the bike and riding is enough of a good thing.  No negative label, positive suggestions and change.  Shoot. I'm sounding like JD or something now.

Gonna see about finding a GoPro to borrow.  I've tried shooting with the digi-cam, it don't work so well comparatively.

heddwch
G