Oh and some stress and the last bit being the most important - but then if you're RSS'n this you're probably already hooked into the #TJROW thing just 'cause that's how connected you are. (it is lunch - I'm going to be writing for a bit - lots of words most likely - oh well - some days you write - some days you don't)
I've been using this for years. Works really well. I've resurrected many a dead Shimano STI with PB Blaster. Shifter overhaul in a can is true. Works on shitty XCE mtb shifters, or mark 1 rapidfire and even those '98 vintage 9sp Dura Ace STI levers I'm running on the Klein and the commuter bike. Yeah. Those two pair of shifters have endured years of CX action, racing, riding, rain, mud, snow, sand, and what not. Crashed a handful of times and they still work. Periodic blasting the guts with PB Blaster has been working. DO NOT USE T-9 on shifter guts though. Unless you want them to stop working.
Anyway - here's Kent's take on it, aka the inspiration for me spouting off the preceding ¶ (if you can call it that)
http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2012/03/fixing-gummy-indexed-shifters.html
Okay - The Cilantro. I've already alluded to Under the Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino, not sure I want to read it, and I am a bit sheltered and old but I haven't come across that book yet. BUT. Despite the fact, cilantro is good. Love it. That said I can identify the soapy flavor when i eat it raw but it doesn't bother me, as it is so essential to so many dishes I make. I don't buy parsley much, but it is rare that I don't have a bunch of Cilantro in the fridge ready. And yes, USE THE STEMS. Chop em wicked fine, they have the same flavor as the leaves and they soften very easily (unlike Parsley). it was never an item in my house, my mother swore she hated it. Didn't like it. Wouldn't cook with it. I had to discover it on my own. And I did. Very happily.
http://www.gilttaste.com/stories/4723-i-feared-you-cilantro-and-now-i-love-you-too-much
Steve. Oh Steve. Your comments are as good as the post some times. I'm glad I don't have your readers, but then, I don't have any where near the credibility on the same subjects we might both write about. Tehre were a few times in the ride last night where people jumped out to sprint around nearly taking someone out. BUT. It was a safe ride, a fast ride, but safe because everyone there was reasonably experienced. The ride forced you to practice the pack skills. The roads are narrow and I'm pretty hard core about the yellow line. Bellowing at offenders. Most of you know, I'm not really all that quiet when I crank the volume up. The forced proximity and the pace were both great training. Not because we were all riding at our physical HR limits in a pack, but because we had to engage those skills that only get practiced in those situations.
Sure - group riding is different. We've been over that. Who hasn't been over it. Sometimes the group rides are downright scary. And maybe if we'd kept the pace slow enough that we had a full 15 instead of the 9 together, things might have been different. In the end it worked. Close calls and all. I hit the sand a few times being pushed off by an elbow or an errant movement, and I wasn't alone but we managed to make it work. And wow did we work. Solobreak mentioned it at one point, road racing is great because unlike a TT or even a CX race or a running race, the strongest doesn't usually win. The smartest and luckiest wins. But the smarts you need to win, can only be learned racing, and doing, and practicing. Being fast, fit, strong, light, all that play into it. Big parts. But like last night, I knew dragging the group around into the wind at 20mph and then setting a tough tempo up Pine was going to kill my chances to win the sprint, but it would push the group hard enough to make people stop chatting. And that worked. And I worked. And I only won one sprint. If you haven't read it yet today - see if you agree with him or not.
http://stevetilford.com/?p=18474
Working into even more controversial territory. Lets talk about stress. No, not the kind that debilitate me and turn me into an insomniac wondering how I'm going to get through everything, no, the kind like I gave myself last night. Riding so hard that you cramp, but not from lack of salts or fluid, no from going harder longer than you had in the past.
Those stresses induce adaptation. My reading on the science of it over the last year or so has convinced me, but then I'm easily swayed by the latest and greatest study. If the science looks good to me, I jump on board. Bad habit, I know. Web Log readers suffer through it enough to know.
But without those stresses, and then letting the body work through it naturally, you may not get the full benefit of the stresses. Ala the epigenetic demethylation. Now that's a testable hypothesis, but not one I can test, maybe/hopefully some sports science folks will get some funding to do it and write about it.
I harp a bit on recovery. Like recovery. But my recover is riding wicked slowly. It isn't ice baths, or pneumatic compression pants like CCC wears, or massage, or drugs. It is slow pedaling between hard days. I was victim of the medium riding on the commutes. Never going slow enough, or fast enough to have them be beneficial. Despite all the good advice I've been lucky enough to be given, it took Chad's to click and make it work. And I think it might be working. Combined with bouncing between 185-189lbs I'm, if nothing else, a stronger and faster rider than I was in years past. More successful? Only racing will tell. I came into it a bit in a few CX race this season, but I was also myself in a few of them. There was an improvement in that I was significantly (minutes) close to the front of the race. But then so was everyone else, but that's a good thing. It means everyone else is upping their game and the field of fast old dudes really is pretty f'n fast.
But to get fast, you've gotta work at it. There's some interesting stuff being said here. Nothing new, it is a review article so to say, but it is a good cohesive one, touching on the difference between a pro and weekend warrior.
http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/recovery/Stress-Tested.html
Finally (maybe). Tim Johnson's Ride on Washington.
It is no secret that I would LOVE to join these guys (and a few girls) for the trip. No secret. I also feel extremely confident in saying I would be fine riding those distance day after day, as long as I had some control or input into what I was eating/refueling with. But if the picture is to be believed on Twitter it looks like they've got some solid "pro" support in food prep for the trip.
Speaking of support. They can use some. Pick a rider who hasn't hit their $2,500 fund raising goal and give them some help. Boost them a bit. There's a raffle if you need an incentive, $50 gets you a ticket... here's the list from the web page:
Every $50 you donate gives you one entry in our fundraiser raffle, which includes the following prizes and more!
- Custom Firefly bicycles titanium bike (1)
- Ciclismo Classico Classic Tuscany bicycle vacation for two (1)
- Custom Bikes Belong CatEye Strada Wireless bike computer (10)
- Mavic R-Sys SLR wheel-tire system (1)
- Mad Alchemy embrocation (5)
- Bikes Belong Primal Jerseys (to the top-10 donors)
- Smith PivLock V2 eyewear (10)
- Bronze road bike ring from GreenGoat Designs in Austin, TX
- Mavic shoes, choice of Zxellium or Fury (2)
- Kinetic road machine trainer (donated by CCB) (1)
- The Jeremy Powers and Giro Prize Package: one pair Giro Factor shoes, a Jelly Belly team jersey, and a gift pack of 50 flavors of Jelly Bellys. (1)
- Bruins and Celtics jerseys from VOmax (2)
- Signed Tim Johnson Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com skinsuit (1)
- …and more!
looks good? yeah? Don't have $50 laying around? Yeah neither do I. But, the cause, the cause is a good one, one that is critical, and needed. And as much as it hurts to part with, it is only $50. Money has been a big part of my personal stress lately, I'm just saying, if you haven't yet, you need to. Chances are you're somewhat bike centric if you're reading this my friend. And we all benefit from the work of Bikes Belong.
The bike is a powerful tool. You'll see me at McFadden's on Monday the 19th supporting the work of another organization. I can't make the full 5 day ride, I can't even make the party tonight, but I did send in some support. And yes, I will say I really hope to win the Firefly, you'd be crazy not to. But I have small chance, very small chance to, so no expectations. Just spend a few minutes and offer up a few bucks if you haven't yet.
http://rideonwashington.org/
okay - there - lots of words and not one mention of chamois cream and my thoughts on that...
Heddwch™
G
No comments:
Post a Comment