Sunset on January, 2012

Sunset on the last day of a grade A-typical January.  

The little bridge is 'my' bike path. Nice and quiet on there.  No cars.  But right now it is ripped up while they put a sewer line in.  So I am on the road.

This was shot from the road.  Where car after car goes zipping by.  Maybe they notice the sunset.  I hope so.  Despite an ample shoulder to pull over and look, no one was.  

The beauty of the bike.  It is just so much easier to stop for a second and snap a picture when you aren't in a steel cage zipping past disconnected from the world around you. 

Color...

BUT WHAT ABOUT RGB?????


Good video but sets people up for major confusion IMHO.

This is the clearest way to think about it. Sure it is by a designer for designers but crazy helpful, esp when as it includes all the most important color theory terms.

Finally

(worth it)

NOW can we kill this meme?

cycling literally and metaphorically

Yeah, both the pedaling and the metaphor for life...  my waveform right now seems to have a very short wavelength, and some pretty high amplitude...  I just need to figure out how to tweak the offset so the bottom of the wave isn't so dark.

Yesterday was good.  Got up and watched the women's elite race at 5am, then went back to bed and woke up in time to watch the men's race.  missed the start of both of them though.  Oh well.  Albert's domination was insane.  Big old treefarm managed to sort of represent for the USA.  But as others have said the USA's performance is not what I gauge the US cyclocross scene by.  It is just different here.  Louisville may or may not show that, but I think the US contingent will see a bit different results next year, but then we say that every year.  Cockslide is just a very unique place.  You have to be perfect, or hope that everyone else is screwing up too (ala the U23 race).  Vos and Albert had brilliant and perfect rides.  Albert said it best in his english interview, alone up front you can pick your lines, and you can slow down before the sand sections to get some recovery to go through them faster.  So get the gap like those to and you make the race domination so complete, and even if there are racers as strong behind you, you win from having the lead and the ability to relax and ride the course faster (by going slower in places you wouldn't if you were chasing).

lazy day?

I suppose. Blue skies, mid-40s light wind, good day for lots of stuff.

I did manage to wash the bikes a bit, clean and lube the chains on the Blue and the Croll.

One thing i've noticed that is nice about the EVrLube is to clean you need some high pressure water, hit the chain and all the dirt washes out of it and it is nice and smooth again.  Relube and all set.  But to take it another step, after washing the drive train with water and soap (the soap never strips the chain down to bare metal and that's a good thing), I will dry the chain off and then run it through the park chain cleaning tool using the Lube.  Works so well.  After the water gets the grit out the lube and the cleaner tool gets the old lube and grease off and then everything is easy to wipe clean, the chainrings, the jockey wheels too.  Pretty quickly the bike is clean and the drive train is ready to go.  I usually add a bit more fresh lube, work it in and then wipe off the excess before calling it done.

Getting low on lube though.  Need to make a trip to the hardware store to get some more mineral spirits.

Right now, 3 quad espressos into the day, really actually not that much for me, i'm ready for a nap. falling asleep on the couch, feet up. doing nothing. being lazy. exhausting all the new naked tumblr pages i've found and too lazy and uninspired to dig for more of them, so i'm writing.  the ride has worn off completely now. or i should say that was the top of the roller coaster and now i'm down in a valley trying to find the momentum to carry on a bit in a way. No sleep last night.  Just couldn't fall asleep, couldn't stay asleep, and surprisingly not legs related...  all in my head.   would be nice to get it out...

maybe i'll manage to fall asleep inspite of the coffee today

or not...  probably should get back to laundry, unloading the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, and what ever else has to get done

a bit wet today

Started the ride off well, but got nailed by a bit of a rain shower up before dropping down on the parkway...  by the time I hit the Washington bridge the rain had stopped.  And it was just still and foggy...

Pretty amazing day.  Felt great to be on the bike again, the endorphin supply from yesterday must have been still amplifying the senses because I was just digging being on the bike again.  7 hours yesterday.  Completely alone on the bike, just trying to get there and back.  On an adventure on a great day.

Today would have maybe not been so awesome if I had to spend 7 hours on the bike.  it wasn't a problem staying warm with the temps right around 40°F yesterday (all the bank clocks were saying 39°F anytime I passed one) while it was dry.  Today? Not a dry day.  Supposedly 57°F when I left for the ride home.  But it felt colder, esp with the rain pelting down.

Can't wait to try the round trip again.  Might have to avoid Feb Break though.  I expect the minivan moron contingent to be much higher during the day that week.

heddwch
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Solo ride

A long solo ride.

At some point I got an idea in my head.  It was after the end of cyclocross season and I was looking for something to get excited about, motivated about.  Work's work and we've got cool stuff potentially coming down the pipe (after a mountain of hard work, duh), no I needed something bike related, a ride, a race.  Battenkill just doesn't do it for me anymore.  Road season? pfft Crits are short and like a CX and I can probably race well enough to do fine w/just the commute.  I don't have a ton of time to do the hard work for Road races to be fun.  Tim Johnson's ride on Washington sort of popped up on the radar but the logistics and all that and this year just aren't in the cards to lobby for an invitation.  So.

Well I had this idea to ride to Boston and back.  Since so many friends are working in the city up that way that I enjoy seeing in cross season, well, why not stop in and say hi.  Nature of the trip though is not conducive to seeing everyone.
(lots of words below the fold, and pictures AND video!)

who doesn't like studs

Esp for winter commutes. So nice to have this morning.

The way home there were only a few spots where they were really helpful. One loooong stretch was the washington bridge.

It was deep with drifted snow and was a challenge to ride through. Brought back memories of last year. Last year was without the trailer and a day like today would have been fast and fun. Bumpy and a challenge but with the tires traction was never an issue and it wasn't that slow.

Today. With the trailer? Oof was really tough to keep headway with the 46x23, esp after spinning my brains out at the US Open Cycling Federation's velosprints over lunch (knocked half a second off my 500m time from 2 weeks ago). Made it through though. Trailer plowed through some deep drifts with the left wheel, but it was a decent ride home. Studs are loud and I have a slight fender rub to address and when the rear tire picks up extra packed snow it can jam. These fenders are really boderline for a tire this big (35c Schwalbe Marathon Winter)  Esp on this bike.  But hey. My feet were dry when I got home.  I like that.

Tomorrow is a car day.  Can't get to demo the other SEM scope in time on the bike, so I have to resort to the MF aka Rusty Race Wagon...  and with the rain potentially dumping on us tonight (so happy to not have any precipitation on my commute today) and temps staying warm for a while here's to hoping it all disappears leaving nice clean dry roads for Thursday.

Why Thursday? we'll see...  might be long ride time.

okay - got some other stuff like food but i might save that for a bit...

heddwch
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obligatory

finally got duped into clicking on the link to watch it.

and am sharing it #1 for the people who made it and who they made it for...

And no, I didn't laugh, got a couple groans... but it is all accurate and well done.

Crazy? Yes.

I might be crazy but it ultimately was effective.


After riding the trainer inside yesterday for 70 minutes (20 min mid to low cadence threshold,  with a bit of recovery followed by 10 min of standing in the 53x12).  It was 67°F or so inside, plenty hot and sweaty.  With Joe Lindsey's article still fresh in my mind, and needing to get the car spot shoveled before my wife got home I figured - what better way to get the body's core temp back down than shoveling.  I did put the baselayer on (only wear it until I warm up inside).  It was pretty effective, 10-15 min of shoveling snow while it was snowing in the 20°F weather helped switch from the catabolic phase, and hopefully into the anabolic phase.  

The neighbor down the street was running his new snow blower wearing a full snowmobile suit while I was throwing snow in kit.  Was funny but hey, it was effective, it takes a long time for those sticks I used to pedal to cool down.

Campy Delta Brakes

Maybe it is me, or my generation.  Fucking Old Bike Mechanics or something but... Campy Delta Road brakes are #1 lusty coveted bit of work.

But.

So easy to fuck up the install.

I know how to set them up.  How to make them work as they are supposed to.  Because I have set many pairs up, either fixing hack mechanic jobs or just installing new ones.

I was never able to acquire a pair.  heck my ball bearing Dura-Ace ones worked.

But a perfectly set up Campy Delta brake is something so beautiful.  Sure they are heavy.  But get everything perfect....

Shiny.

I had ordered a set of Mavic cranks (the ones on the Paramount) in college to replace the 170 Campy Chorus cranks.  brand new.

They showed up.  I tore into the box walking back to the dorm and my now wife, then just some super star on the college crew team was walking by and, man was I excited about them.  Brand fucking new most gorgeous and stiff cranks on the market, in the original Mavic packaging... i had them out and I showed them to her "look at these!!!!!!"

She said, "oh shiny."

Crushed.

There's an intangible about those Delta brakes.  Something magical about how they work.  About how you have to cut the cable just right inside.  how getting the length just right was critical.  So much to fuck up in the set up.  And yeah.  They didn't stop for shit.  But they modulated your speed.  At the pro level who fucking stops in the grand tours? You just slow down here and there.
Run those brakes and you'll never brake check so hard that you'll cause a pile up and break a couple collar bones.

Brakes.  Who needs them.  And now the fix dorks have taken them over putting them on shitty cheap 90s bianchis Thom Kn is dead nuts to square when he said, "Sweet Jeebus! What kind of hipster d-bag puts them on a bike like that and then fukcs up the cable routing that bad?"

Would really suck if that's one of the dozen pairs of them that I've bid on over the years.  Yes.  I actually have placed Ebay bids on Delta brakes.  Never winning. Thus preserving the lust and unsatisfied desire for something so obscure.

wrench and live
may your mechanic give as much of a shit about all this as I do
g

just saw this

total chain mail "email from mom/grandma" or how ever results boy calls it.  but i don't give a shit

it is good

from the Whoa! (potentially NSFW)

Compliment at least one person at least once a day. If you have something nice to say to someone... say it to their face. If they get weirded out by it, that is their problem... don't let it stop you from interacting with people. When you are amongst society take your headphones out of your ears. If you are inside take your sunglasses off. Interact with other human beings. You carry with you the potential to make another person feel good about themselves... do not let that go to waste. Compliment at least one person at least once a day. Don't say it to your phone or to Facebook, say it to someone's face. If you think someone is beautiful... tell them. If you like someone's shoes... tell them. You may make someone happy, you may even make their day, and in turn that will make you feel good about yourself. Compliment at least one person at least once a day... you will be happy that you did.

#TJROW

can you use a hash tag as a title?

no probably not.

I had the idea a bit ago to go through why I would be a great addition to the peloton headed to DC for the National Bike Summit.

Wavering about the wisdom of laying out all the reasons...

Planet Bike Supercommuter,
Commuting by bike since 1990 (with a * for the years 1999-2005 and the 150 miles a day in a car)

but then the rest sort of sound like a bit of yeah whatever...so what.  So what if you did the 2 man 25HOGG, drove home and was on the bike a few days later with no issues.  2x a day 5 days a week on the bike most weeks.  Halfway decent elite masters CX racer.  Pretty knowledgeable about eating and fueling for long (all day) rides, mostly from fucking up.  Full compliment of lights and clothing required for the trip in whatever conditions might show up.  Big draft for the rest of the riders.  Not a problem speaking about my passion for the bike as a mode of transportation.  I can bring a totally different demographic to the fundraising angle between G+, FB, (don't worry blogger friends I don't expect anything from you two or three here), Local advocacy groups here in PVD/RI, and shop coverage that the BOS crew might not tap into.  Optimistic about hitting the $2500? No clue.  Not a freaking clue.

But immaterial.  Do I want to make the whole trip from Boston to DC? yes. no question. Do I think I could do it? yes. no question.  Esp if I add a couple trips to Boston and back over the next couple months on top of the commuting and trainer time.  Would it be awesome to hang out with my friends who are already on the list? no question yes.  It would be so cool.

But maybe this year I just need to pop on and hang out for the first day and split off and head home to PVD at some point and thing about it more seriously if Tim does this again next year..

Oh and if yall can talk to the weather gods/mother nature see if you can keep the weather on Thursday next week not so terrible.  Might try and shoot for the first  BOS trip that day.

heddwch
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Exercise "fads"

cross fit is not a sport

Tae Bo is not a sport

Yoga is not a sport

You can make anything a competition, but making it a competition doesn't make it a sport, no matter how seriously you take it.  But then I guess maybe it does.

Just seems wrong.  To me.  To call it "the sport of fitness"

how about just calling it f'n fitness or something?  The Sport of Fit?

I could probably go all GeWilli and be a cranky offensive bastard talking about how silly it is to discuss how many dead lifts of a 150# kettle bell you did or that you can dead lift 600# that for your body weight is an official world record but your gym isn't certified to record and report those sorts of things, or that if it was in competition it would be a WR.

I was fine with all the people talking about "oh my god cross fit is so amazing, can't wait to get punished tomorrow."  Awesome.  Wonderful. I guess it just means that I'm fucking old and cranky because I've heard it all before.  And it all sounds the same.  And people do it and then stop because the miracle of endorphins eventually wears off and the hard work becomes harder and there are fewer and fewer rewards and oh look at that shiny new thing...  Does anyone do step aerobics anymore?  Hell it used to be health clubs were packed with classes all day long doing only that.  Now (from pictures) it seems people want a minimalistic gym, industrial, just shit piled around.  Don't get me wrong, fucking K'Buck will (and can) kick my ass for disparaging it but he's smart, and he's faster than me on a bike and he runs the show.  Different on that side i would think.  Kind of like getting in on the top level of an MLM operation at the right time.  Now maybe KBuck calls it a sport, but he races bikes.  I'd wager (probably incorrectly) that he doesn't.

Lifestyle?  Fitness regime? Strength conditioning? Fuck yeah that all hasn't changed and is totally noble and good.

But.  Sport?

I guess if it gets people to be more active? great.  But lately I think it just serves as an excuse to have that extra serving of ice cream or couple extra beers.

Now my wife was relating a story about a bunch of women runners online discussing some fast dude who was photographed mid running race in a pose that highlighted his quad definition.  The women were going on at lengths (hersay via my wife) about how incredible it was that you could see three distinct quad muscles.

I looked down and then flexed and said, "like this?"  One of the benefits/side effects of dropping 20 pounds. A no doubt 20 now, really actually more of a 10kg decrease currently.  And i did it without touching a fucking weight, rope, kettle bell, box jump...  incredible.  Maybe.

Comes back to whole package.

call it a holistic approach but if you aren't paying attention to what you are eating, as well as what you are doing, you're doing it wrong.  To phrase that more positively, until you focus on every aspect of what you eat, how much you rest and how much you train, you will never realize your full potential.

me? yeah i probably have realized my full potential.  I have my strengths and areas that are better than others and some weaknesses that I may be able to improve on, slowly, possibly.  But gone are my days of significant jumps in results/placings.

if it hadn't been for that Reebok add, well, i'd probably not have ranted at all about it.  But hell it has been a long time since I've pissed anyone off...

hey what's this thing

Yeah, writing hasn't percolated to the top of the list for the last few days.

The lead in period to this half of the year is over, peoples stuff is ready to go and suddenly stuff is crazy here, not bad, a good change from the quiet.  Although, the quiet was nice.

It does lead into some challenges with the whole planning my goal of riding to Boston and back once in each month this winter.  Keeping a day on the schedule open isn't the hard part, but picking that day two or three weeks out with the wonderfully consistent weather we have here is.  And the whole once per month is the kicker with January winding down fast and picking up speed.

Still a pile of stuff to do, flush this out a bit more.  Maybe.  I did actually manage to ride for 3 hours on the trainer on Monday.  Yeah.  3 hours.  Two 90 minute blocks actually.  Was fun actually.  Which means I probably didn't train hard enough in CX season if I'm fresh enough to pedal again.  That said the last CX race was way back at Fitchburg so maybe that's long enough to reset.

Was fun enough I might actually consider doing it again...  If i can find time between birthday parties and the rest of the weekend activities...

heddwch
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bikes... to lust after

High production values - wicked cool and I still totally want a Firefly


But this thing is pretty much what after all the riding of bikes I've done still is what I want, and kind of what I have in the Klein Q Pro.

Definitely would like that fancy fork in the green bike.

It is that simple

World Cup racer POV

We all get to watch the races live now, rare that anyone is complaining like last year about buffering and hanging and crappy feeds. The only thing we're still missing on the pirate feeds are the live women's races usually. Maybe that's next year's jump.

Since cyclocross season ended for me I've missed very few of the big races. and the Pros are pretty incredible. Learn much? no not anymore. But appreciate it? yes even more.

A GoPro on Christian Heule's bars was spotted by Chandler (CycloWHAT?) early in the race and well. Here's the video:


go to HD and full screen to watch it. That French course always reminds me of a bigger wider open, hillier and faster Providence at RWP, with no awkward barriers.

Watching that I can't help but thing about the Contour-Plus camera and how cool it would be to be a TV producer and put a handful of them on the bikes/riders. Not so different from auto-racing's in car cameras no? Go back and watch a crash unfold in front of the racer. Cyclocross is a challenge because of the bike changes and how well does the contour do with pressure washing and all that, best place to mount... not as easy as sticking something onto a car. But production value would be sweet I think. No, not an original idea on my part the video master HenryJ has mentioned it before. Just talking about it now, after watching Heule's footage.

Think about that sporza feed with racer pov! Although the sun angle is a challenge there in a few sections. Not quite ready for prime-time yet, but close.

Heddwch
G

Edward Abbey

From DC

“Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break….I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun.”
-Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness

Abbey was a huge influence on me growing up.

I think his books might be on the list here soon after I finish 'The Wave' by Susan Casey.

definitely worth a watch...

Mahogany Chicken over Salad

That's what it looked like so that's what I'm calling it.

Just a basic green salad, lettuce, shredded carrots, diced avocado, added a couple or hard boiled egg wedges and tossed it all with my trademark and perfected dressing.

The chicken, just as simple as the salad to put together.  Heck almost easier because salad means washing lettuce (you're nuts if you think pre-washed lettuce is clean, but i generally just buy heads of lettuce) and all the rest of that.

So chicken, I used breasts, who doesn't love breasts.  These were pretty freaking big (too big maybe) so I did a diagonal slice to get some more surface area for the marinate.

The chicken went in the marinate before I started doing the salad prep (and a few minutes watching the beginning of the NO/SF game).

The marinate gives it the color.

Shoyu sauce (use the good stuff - the crap with coloring and other stuff is just not worth anyone's time)
-----i use: SAN-J Organic Bronze Label Shoyu
Balsamic Vinegar (again there are different levels of it - basic point is that it is Balsamic and it doesn't have anything else in it).
Ginger powder (could use fresh but the powder works)
Olive oil

That's it.

get a skillet nice and hot, use a bit of fat/oil (i used some beef fat saved in the freezer) cook em hot and pour the sauce over the top.  Flip them once and make sure it is cooked through but not too well done.  Then slice and return to the pan to deglaze with the juices (the chicken soaks it back up, there won't be any wasted flavor or liquid).

Put the chicken on the salad and enjoy.

Not a great meal to eat the night before a race, but it is always good to mix up the ratios in the off season, for lots of reasons.  You never want to get into a food rut eating the same thing and quantities every day, meals like this free up a night to go crazy with pasta or pizza.

That and no bike riding since Tuesday means no need to replace glycogen.

I did sort out the bike room a bit and set the Paramount up as a trainer bike. Not sure if I'm going to set the Croll up for the long haul bike or just stick some metal wheels and adjust the brakes on the Blue and go for some plastic for the long haul.  But now it looks like winter.  A century on a day that starts off at 13°F with a high of only 30°F doesn't actually sound wicked smart, staying warm for an hour is very different than 3+ even with a break to warm up at the halfway point.  But it is a curious challenge and one that is intriguing and something that is oddly motivating.

heddwch
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recon: complete

am a bit under the weather, work had a gap mid-day and the weather was crappy for cycling so... recon time.

yes, the PVD to BOS ride.  Or Ivy to Ivy (Brown to Harvard) or Art school to Tech School or just College Hill to Cambridge and back.

so i jumped on at 123 in attleboro and drove a bit of it, why not. I needed time away from the computer, from the office with something other than traffic to fight in a rush to get from point A to point B.  Cranked the JPow DJ Shine mix and cruised.

The nice thing about checking new routes in the car is wrong turns don't cost you nearly as much time.  But there is a spot on Bay that was wicked slick.  Icey almost, and the MF decided to get a bit loose, as in SIDEWAYS - a bit of adrenaline rush but I held on (dirt track style) and stayed on the pavement.  Yeah maybe the tires aren't the best eh? Ah well.

Was a bit of fun.  Totally doable i think.  Pretty long and not much daylight to get here to there.  The drive south was f'n nuts.  The wind was brutal.  It would have made riding from BOS to PVD one hell of a long headwind slog.  steady 20 gusting over 40 is not fun riding.  that E-word? maybe.

Got back to the lab and checked out some wicked cool new (to me) samples on the SEM...

So, now, weather, schedule, timing.  Days that get lightly or unscheduled (still stuff to do but ones without training sessions) with good weather, might turn into 'mileage' days.  For what training good?  Who cares.  Time to have fun on the bike...  Thinking about doing that ride up and back in the same day boosts the endorphin just based on the potential.  I wasn't checking mileage today but I think it is a very easy and manageable 50 by bike each way.  Providing lunch stop in BOS isn't too long I should be able to get home before dark or at least get into my home state as the sun is setting.

So windy today.

now what

way back when i could write...

and write

what ever was in my head, it didn't matter who read it, but i had a chance to write it, and sort shit out in my head

now, not so much

not really a good thing but it is what it is.

i'm old now. responsibilities have changed.

racing season is over, as slow as I am i really still want to be in Louisville right now. so what if I don't make the heat.

i wanted to be in Madison too.  but hey  i don't have mud tires, i have the antithesis of mud tires. so yeah. i would have sucked extra.  it attenuates the desire but doesn't remove it completely.

worlds.

sure - i would be a first heat participant most likely.  such a tiny chance of actually making it to the main heat.

i see so many who are saying "fuck that season was long, i'm done."

i'm not feeling that now, but my season is done.

now what

guarded words

working on a sinus infection to add to it all

winter is slowly getting here

now what

oh seattle

slacking - i know

hopefully for good reason (true)

what a weekend of CX eh?

JPOOOOOW

Behind the Barriers will have a new episode tomorrow at 8am.

I get to play with fancy scanning microscopes tomorrow, kind of excited. got the Millennium Falcon back together just in time I suppose. top off the tank tomorrow AM and see if it is any easier to drive on 95 up to Peabody MA and back with the new squish tubes and unbroken spring.

CX video goodness

Does anyone else want this to be longer? Thumbnail still is pretty awesome.

A Barenaked Ladies Afternoon

No not bare naked ladies (that would be awesome to have an afternoon full of bare naked ladies though, no?)

THESE



and then there's this one with the line: "I made you say underwear."
http://youtu.be/u3NE6UuaLiY

Parts may be going on the MF in the morning but at this rate we might be working on it this weekend, save some PTO for next week or a day when it is warm enough to get to BOS (that's the current goal adding a spark, ride to BOS and back before the end of the month - with a bigger goal of taking one day a month to make the ride).  Take a day in the week when i need a mental health day...  that goal alone is one I like, no where near enough volume (once a month that far is tough to make significant) but I think, that, just maybe, that extra mileage all at once (long day in the saddle no doubt) once a month has the potential to pay off for next season.  That is if I actually do the trip and decide it is worth trying to do more than once.  The trip with the 30 pounds of dog food in the trailer reminded me that while the empty trailer works as a highway impact zone on a truck...

yes that's how it is being used right now.  Sure it isn't going to do much to slow down a car but it will give then a second to hit their brakes before i hit their windshield.  And with luck give me enough of a push so that the velocity differences are slightly reduced.

So after the dog food adventure I'm now hunting for 'weights'.  30 pounds would be perfect.  I'd prefer not to go the water or glass route... (just another thing to occupy my mind).
(Oh and it took me a surprisingly long time to find a picture of a truck mounted impact attenuator - like 3-5 minutes because i didn't have the wording quite right - but i won).

There is a significantly higher work requirement just hauling the trailer with my backpack in it.  But getting the trailer significantly heavier makes the elevation gain on the commute very significant.  And that is a good thing (when 90% of riding is between home and work on the same route).

BNL day.  Yeah....

heddwch
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Dinner

So tonight I cooked food.

Yeah yeah, I cook pretty much every night, esp now that I'm not working a few nights a week.

Tonight I tried something different.

I'd cooked up some chickpeas (been buying them dry in bulk from wholefoods) and they needed to be eaten or frozen. The were going to be hummus but that didn't happen and I thought I'd go with a frugal economy dinner but still shoot for flavor and something that makes you feel full and satisfied.

Started the Rice (organic brown medium grain bulk from WF) used about 1.5 cups of rice and 3 cups of water (bring to boil, turn to low and cook till finished).

Farted around checking on the SS race from CXnats.

Then chopped up two ribs of celery, 1/2 a sweet onion, and 4 medium carrots.   Popped em in some wicked hot extra virgin olive oil in my big pan and cooked em.

Then chopped up a smallish sweet potato.  Made little sticks about 2cm long and 3-4mm wide.  Popped em in the pan too.

Added some oregano and more olive oil, some 365 Valle Del Sol Chili Powder, paprika, salt.  Cooked it for a bit.

Some water in there to steam it all a bit.  stirring and cooking.

Then added a bit of turmeric and black pepper, some more salt and some x-hot chili powder and 1 chopped red pepper.

and then a bit more water.
Not soupy but liquidy.

Then the cooked chickpeas went in and 3 big cloves of crushed garlic and the rice.  And water to make it kind of a thick risotto.

I kept tasting it, which is a fun departure for me.  Usually I have a pretty set idea of the spices, the balance and ratios and can gauge it really well by smell, and the progression of ingredients required.  Since I'm not trying to duplicate any specific dish or taste in mind the flavors always vary when I'm cooking.  But they are never disappointing.  Always good.

This tasted not quite right before the garlic and was still missing something.  Until I added 3-4 tablespoons (not much when you're looking at all the veggies plus 1 quart of cooked chickpeas and a huge pile of rice) of some organic seasoned rice wine vinegar (the org stuff has less sugar and sodium in it oddly) and a few tablespoons of Shoyu sauce.

Mixed it all up and - NAILED IT.

So good.

I added a bit of lee kum kee shrirachi sauce when eating mine to add a bit more depth and heat.  But everyone kind of looked at it funny at first, but they ate it up.  And my tummy is happy and full right now.

Was fun...  And different.  And pretty easy on the wallet, and wicked solid good for you too.

Heddwch
G

still waiting

The Millennium Falcon is still chilling on the pad.

Even if the parts are on the doorstep when I get home it is likely going to sit like that tomorrow too.  Maybe I'll take a bit of time on Friday morning to put it together and take the rental tool back.  Assuming it is slightly warmer.

Not sure I'll put the inside back together right away.  Call it a two seat extended coupe for a bit.  But right away might last until the weekend.  Supposed to warm up a touch.

Dune Buggy look would be pretty funny...

Cold? Yeah, not too bad.

Old CCC said it best: "its all about proper layering"

(DUDES THERE IS A PASTE AS PLAIN TEXT OPTION IN RIGHT CLICK NOW #IAMEXCITE)

So how did I deal with the temps? Besides dragging the trailer?

Conditions: temp somewhere between 11°F and 14°F with a wind directly head on with speeds in this range  19/14/9 (gust, avg, lull - in mph).

In other words a solid no question Jens Factor 5 and with the peak gusts combined with over ground speed into the wind a solid no question Jens Factor HC.

Cold.

So what does GeWilli wear in those conditions?
Top down?
Hugely vented Specialized Propero Helmet.
Ibex Wool beanie
Oakley Glasses
Badger Healing Balm on exposed facial skin
Team Issue Hincapie winter jacket
Team Issue Hincapie long sleeve jersey
REI long sleeve poly-pro base layer
Team Issue bib shorts over
Pearl Izumi Thermafleece bib tights (wicked old like 1996-98 old - knees are showing age)
Pearl Izumi thermafleece tights (no pad, just running tights)
Finally the feet.
Louis Garneau 0° Egro grips
Switftwick tall wool compression socks

And on the hands? My Helly Hansen Polar Mittens (no liners - hand got cold taking panda shots).

Got a decent warm up, felt a bit cold, but after about 5 minutes into the headwind I was starting to warm up and just elevated the work until I was holding about 155 on the HRM and pegged it there until the down hill section, and brought it back up until the next one and rode at a recovery HR once I hit the city.

Just started to break a sweat once I got going, feet were fine.  Once I stopped pedaling and sat down the lack of activity and the cold sole kind of cooled the feet off a bit but for those 40 minutes or so, not so bad.

Couple of shot for the hell of it.  (after the fold)

collection of babble from this morning

Part 1 (and yeah I know, I need just as much training of the legs and lungs as I need of the brain)


Train your BRAIN! http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=9981

Alex has mentioned it in the VO2Max not max article he wrote, the brain has more control than is given credit. 

it is easier to buy a power tap and pay a trainer to write you a work out schedule do FT tests and pedal harder. 

but what about the brain? 

Marvin's been great over the years, and I'm looking forward to his writings on his blog:http://marvzauderer.wordpress.com/

I will also be curious to see what new ideas Jim Taylor brings to PEZhttp://drjimtaylor.com/2.0/aboutdrjimtaylor/

A bit about what the kenyans eat and stuff - (they're a bunch of fatasses)
I don't like how Active dot com does their articles (no dates on when they were written and sometimes recycled content from other sources) But this is a good one. (i pulled the active link... and left one to the miami)

Oh here - quick sourcing finds:
http://www.multisportmiami.com/blog1/2010/07/262/ (with a date on it).

The article doesn't seem to be new, the sources are no more recent than 2004.

Here is a more recent primary article about Ethiopian distance runners:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3117768/?tool=pubmed

With very similar findings. High carbohydrates. But these are also 'kids.' Metabolism is not the same as old master racers or the part of the population of athletes trying to hit race weight. Also, it would seem as noted from the Kenya study that they actually are 'fat' by my elite cycling friends. 
http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:6KSTb2eXiRAJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,40 
not sure that link will work but there is a PDF of the original floating around but it doesn't like to download well.

Interesting stuff to consider/think about. Even if I'm pretty lukewarm on Active's generation of content...




and finally

Great Advice:
1. Stop eating diet food
2. Don’t count calories
3. Spend more time with food
4. Eat before you eat
5. Don’t even try battling temptation
6. Go to bed hungry
7. Get off the scale
8. Don’t eat when stressed
9. Be forgiving
10. Your best advice here….please share!

http://www.thesweetbeet.com/losing-it-best-advice-for-weight-loss-and-health-gain/

Hard Core and so cool...

http://www.bigringriding.com/post/15235654969/ricardo-ovalle

JPOW - the epitome of Joy

New Year Ride

I did manage to get outside for a very very brief ride yesterday between feeding the girls and sunset.

I just jumped on the Blue and hit my course for three laps, two close to race pace, then did a couple laps over on the one Curtis laid out, one of those as full speed.

I was riding at the edge of control and it was fast, and it felt awesome. Lines that i'd had trouble with by design seemed easy yesterday. There was a synergy I felt on the bike, and with the course. Sure it probably has something to do with the fact that I laid it out and have ridden a couple dozen laps over a week or so. I added a new wrinkle yesterday that I liked. Always riding it with the thought, what would I do to make it harder, longer. Where would the stakes and tape go. I like riding like that. The last lap was a slower one, thinking about placement, and the one off camber drop in section seemed ridiculously smooth and fun.  Thoughts of the different courses were bouncing in my head.  What makes some better than others, more fun, harder.  Watching a lot of the euro CX this week was different than normal.  No "why can't we have courses like that here."  More of a "How could we tweak out courses to be harder and more physically demanding?"  I do think Colin has a solid handle on it.  Most of the turns on his course are greater than or equal to 90° (or all acute angles if you measure the inside turn angle).

Look at the nationals course map that was published some time ago.  All sweeping wide open turns, seems to be like a 22psi file tread course where you just put it in the big ring, disconnect the brakes and go as hard as you can.  Compared to what it could be and the land they seem to have (from the overhead shot) I would expect more of a Bend course or something.  Even Catamount has some good challenging turns you can't take a full speed.  Plenty that you can though.

Weather is nothing anyone can control and is a huge factor.  If Belgium had been rain free for the last two or three weeks the courses would have looked very different.  Bit it rained.  And they chewed the hell out of the course and it made for incredible racing.  Well until everyone got sick and Sven showed why he is Wonder Boy.

I set out on the ride yesterday because I was not maybe feeling as chipper as I could be.  It was 55°F mid-day but I wasn't riding, and by the time it was time to head out the thermocouple was saying it 49°F and falling.  And the sun had disappeared behind the clouds.

Riding fixes everything, right?

No, plenty of stuff it doesn't fix of course.

But the ride kind of made it all worse in way. Everything was perfect on the bike.  But the ride can't last forever.  It had to end.  Much like the cyclocross season.  And right now there really isn't anything on the horizon that is taking the place of it.  That kind of bums me out...

And yes... the horizon in the images are not level, just tilt your head.

heddwch
G

truth

Remember that we're all the same assholes today we were yesterday. Every day is a new chance to smash this life, not just today -AM

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda 


Every year brings new challenges, what is 2012 going to offer up...


we shall see in 2013, as we don't know till we're through and can look back.