drifting like major tom...
feeling at least,
i'm pretty fucking exhausted after the last couple days...
today wasn't much better, or was significantly worse...
i'm aware of my blessings, but somehow cursed with the awareness of my shortcomings and failings... guess which carry more weight in my being?
could have been okay if first thing I heard today was "Happy Birthday" but no I heard "can you make me an omelette pocket?" yes of course... i can and will and... not trying to martyr but just being open and honest
maybe too honest, and maybe I shouldn't say that today would have been perfect if i'd heard the greetings sometime before i left for the retreat. Sometime before BG texted me in the late morning.
Yeah, everyone else had big things going on, first day of 7th grade and all... and that's awesome, I def don't want to take anything away from that.
but i'm fucking exhausted and still awake (been up since 5 am it is closer to 11 pm than I would like) .
my oldest did make a wonderful dinner, with significant consultation help from me though, but i respect the fact that one must ask those who know when you don't... it was very satisfying.
i shut down my FB wall, didn't want people posting there, granted it is usually one or two but they all know how to contact me off of FB so let them.
I got a wonderful email from TD today, helpful, and positive and good... def was what kept the scales from tipping wildly out of balance... that and the beer at lunch perhaps... and the sheer exhaustion preventing me from being able to even emotionally give much more than a tiny shit.
where to go?
forward, ever forward, never straight....
the next good number of days are going to be tough,
but hey, not like the last 9-20 months have been easy... should be a piece of cake.
yeah, sorry TD, I know, I know, i'm blessed, i've been gifted the choicest of all, but the white guilt, the awareness of the success of my peer group relative to me (shit they all have fancy cars, some even have a cabin) i know i'm happy with the choices I've made, i can live with them in peace but doesn't reduce my awareness...
stupidly negative for today, so totally just hands in the air like we don't care at this point...
even the TSP gang overlooked it....
all i can be thankful for is that I'm not drinking more than a sixpack tonight, and there's two left. I'd crush them but tired, finding odd restraint. Not sure who I am anymore.
best of luck to you all... i'm going to do what I can and keep putting one foot in front of the other, content with being ignored, 40+ yrs of experience is helpful in that regard.... life...
it is what we have and is all we've got....
peace,
but i like it in welsh so much better:
heddwch,
G
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Why still awake
I feel an odd ethereal detachment. Tired but not sleepy.
Strange.
Smackdown was equally confusing did not expect to make the first group. Despite the five pints of Foolproof farm house ale at the retreat, and then neglecting to bring a water bottle, some how I survived.
Perhaps I'll have time to work tomorrow.
Now thinking, well maybe I should sleep.
Tomorrow I break the streak. I break it not for love or money or sex but for work and to continue another streak.
Tomorrow I break the streak. I break it not for love or money or sex but for work and to continue another streak.
But damn, I have to wake up really early and get moving sooner than I like. I just hope it is done raining when it is time to ride. We need the rain, weeks without may be fine for me, not so much for the plants. But still riding to a new venue, not showing up like a drowned rat would be good.
Heddwch
G
G
Sunday, August 27, 2017
So... GeWilli bought a new bike
Finally.
So much busted shit. Last NEW bike was 2010 or so with the purchase of the big white blue frame for $390. And that was just a frame. It fit but it was heavy and i'm down a crankset and a wheel set and it doesn't single speed well.
Sure, yes I bought that Orange Surly 1x1 from Derek last year. Best $300 i've spent. But it is legit 40# right now and while it drives like a dream, don't try and lift it up. Also is currently ensconced in full fenders and the rear brake has to be taken off just to change the wheel/tires/freewheel. I love that bike, my commute is pretty damn perfect for a single speed. Disc brakes and fenders and Schwalbe Marathon Plus and I'm happy as can be.
As a SSCX (singlespeed cyclocross) race bike? It could be better.
Well there's this company who made a bike for Stan Nice to race the SSXCWC last year. They put that frame into production in 2018. Singlespeed w/o eccentric BB, singlespeed with sliding flatmount Disc brakes. So it is aluminum and is heavier than carbon but, meh, they haven't put the stranglehold dropouts on the carbon CX bike, yet.
I've been looking, urged on by E "you've worked so much more this year at the bike shop, you really should get a new bike." This is the truth, the first saturday I haven't built a single bike since???? was yesterday.
Okay so a Trek Crockett Disc it is. Boom. I was looking at the Crockett 7, but I don't like SRAM, won't ride it, but thinking Force could be easily sold off and i could make it mine. Started looking at Brake options and was thinking cable, and well Flatmount you've got Spyers and whatelse? Not sure, but Spyres are nice, work. and the BB7 aren't avail as flatmount yet (could use same pads on both bikes).... And it turns out I can run XT cranks (180 baby) on that bike..... BOOM. Done.
So I start looking at the Crockett Frameset, not so bad priced, add some Paradigm Elite wheels (DT240 internals 12mm thru axles) and I can make it work easy enough.
Turns out though, those two together cost more than the Crockett 5 Disc. The Crockett 5 Disc is the same frame as the 7 and the F/S. But comes with, guess what, Spyre disc brakes but really shitty TLR wheels. But hey, fuck that? So what. I'll get nice wheels next year. But Frameset and wheels were ready to ship now. Crockett 5 disc was available on Backorder. So I waited until I could check ship dates at the shop. September 11th earliest ship date. Hell that's soon enough.
So I ordered this: https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/road-bikes/cyclocross-bikes/crockett/crockett-5-disc/p/2484000-2018/?colorCode=black_green not keen on the sprintmint but maybe some orange vinyl will help with that. I'll find a home for the Rival 1 group, toss on some hoods, the XT crank and BB and a SS cog conversion and we'll be rolling.
I agonized over this for a long time. Waiting for the 2018 with the strangelhold dropout to come out. Hell I almost bought a Stache instead, it has strangle hold and i could toss drop bars on it and have both a CX bike and a 29r+ MTB. but... well I didn't.
Will I race it? maybe. Maybe not. Will i ride it? HELL YEAH MAN. can't wait.
So yeah... GeWilli bought a new bike... thru axles and disc brakes... can't wait.
heddwch
G
So much busted shit. Last NEW bike was 2010 or so with the purchase of the big white blue frame for $390. And that was just a frame. It fit but it was heavy and i'm down a crankset and a wheel set and it doesn't single speed well.
Sure, yes I bought that Orange Surly 1x1 from Derek last year. Best $300 i've spent. But it is legit 40# right now and while it drives like a dream, don't try and lift it up. Also is currently ensconced in full fenders and the rear brake has to be taken off just to change the wheel/tires/freewheel. I love that bike, my commute is pretty damn perfect for a single speed. Disc brakes and fenders and Schwalbe Marathon Plus and I'm happy as can be.
As a SSCX (singlespeed cyclocross) race bike? It could be better.
Well there's this company who made a bike for Stan Nice to race the SSXCWC last year. They put that frame into production in 2018. Singlespeed w/o eccentric BB, singlespeed with sliding flatmount Disc brakes. So it is aluminum and is heavier than carbon but, meh, they haven't put the stranglehold dropouts on the carbon CX bike, yet.
I've been looking, urged on by E "you've worked so much more this year at the bike shop, you really should get a new bike." This is the truth, the first saturday I haven't built a single bike since???? was yesterday.
Okay so a Trek Crockett Disc it is. Boom. I was looking at the Crockett 7, but I don't like SRAM, won't ride it, but thinking Force could be easily sold off and i could make it mine. Started looking at Brake options and was thinking cable, and well Flatmount you've got Spyers and whatelse? Not sure, but Spyres are nice, work. and the BB7 aren't avail as flatmount yet (could use same pads on both bikes).... And it turns out I can run XT cranks (180 baby) on that bike..... BOOM. Done.
So I start looking at the Crockett Frameset, not so bad priced, add some Paradigm Elite wheels (DT240 internals 12mm thru axles) and I can make it work easy enough.
Turns out though, those two together cost more than the Crockett 5 Disc. The Crockett 5 Disc is the same frame as the 7 and the F/S. But comes with, guess what, Spyre disc brakes but really shitty TLR wheels. But hey, fuck that? So what. I'll get nice wheels next year. But Frameset and wheels were ready to ship now. Crockett 5 disc was available on Backorder. So I waited until I could check ship dates at the shop. September 11th earliest ship date. Hell that's soon enough.
So I ordered this: https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/road-bikes/cyclocross-bikes/crockett/crockett-5-disc/p/2484000-2018/?colorCode=black_green not keen on the sprintmint but maybe some orange vinyl will help with that. I'll find a home for the Rival 1 group, toss on some hoods, the XT crank and BB and a SS cog conversion and we'll be rolling.
I agonized over this for a long time. Waiting for the 2018 with the strangelhold dropout to come out. Hell I almost bought a Stache instead, it has strangle hold and i could toss drop bars on it and have both a CX bike and a 29r+ MTB. but... well I didn't.
Will I race it? maybe. Maybe not. Will i ride it? HELL YEAH MAN. can't wait.
So yeah... GeWilli bought a new bike... thru axles and disc brakes... can't wait.
heddwch
G
Saturday, August 26, 2017
smackdown
i changed up a variable, Leland had to keep under a certain wattage...
it wasn't the worst, about the same as last week, a touch faster maybe, hurt way less. Progress? Consistency?
Coming around? Maybe. Too close to tell, but trying to make stuff happen. Working? We'll see.
It was funny, we were rolling out, three of us, Kurt, Syl and myself. Two kids on raleigh fixed gear bikes actually showed up. They were all fire and energy until we turned onto Woodward, Leland bumped the pace up to about 24 or so and they were gone by the turn on to prospect. we worked together pretty well over a bit. On Pine Syl or Kurt jumped a bit and Leland kept his watts low and I hung on his wheel, not easy for me but i was not alone, we caught the other two at Homestead, then went into Rocky Hill. We crested pretty close together, Kurt's knee was a bit wonky so he took it easy at the finish of Rocky and I waited and we cruised over to hillside and he kicked my ass. But we found the other two before Reed and rode back together.
Nice hard pace on Walker, I was last wheel, working, then Leland attacked the finish, I could tell he was just trying to do a high cadence sprint workout but fuck it,,, i sprinted too, 44x11 at a peak 109 RPM, I was comfortable at that cadence, felt good to spike the HR that high, took a while to recover. But coming around.
The ride home into the wind was mitigated by the fact that it shifted a bit.
But Smackdown was not so terrible.
Not sure next week will work timing wise but we'll see when the department retreat I'm giving a talk at finished. May be in time.
And no Birthday ride for me this year. Streaks are meant to be broken.
But another post soon, about something else, will take a bit to explain, but short preview: I ordered a new bike.
heddwch
G
it wasn't the worst, about the same as last week, a touch faster maybe, hurt way less. Progress? Consistency?
Coming around? Maybe. Too close to tell, but trying to make stuff happen. Working? We'll see.
It was funny, we were rolling out, three of us, Kurt, Syl and myself. Two kids on raleigh fixed gear bikes actually showed up. They were all fire and energy until we turned onto Woodward, Leland bumped the pace up to about 24 or so and they were gone by the turn on to prospect. we worked together pretty well over a bit. On Pine Syl or Kurt jumped a bit and Leland kept his watts low and I hung on his wheel, not easy for me but i was not alone, we caught the other two at Homestead, then went into Rocky Hill. We crested pretty close together, Kurt's knee was a bit wonky so he took it easy at the finish of Rocky and I waited and we cruised over to hillside and he kicked my ass. But we found the other two before Reed and rode back together.
Nice hard pace on Walker, I was last wheel, working, then Leland attacked the finish, I could tell he was just trying to do a high cadence sprint workout but fuck it,,, i sprinted too, 44x11 at a peak 109 RPM, I was comfortable at that cadence, felt good to spike the HR that high, took a while to recover. But coming around.
The ride home into the wind was mitigated by the fact that it shifted a bit.
But Smackdown was not so terrible.
Not sure next week will work timing wise but we'll see when the department retreat I'm giving a talk at finished. May be in time.
And no Birthday ride for me this year. Streaks are meant to be broken.
But another post soon, about something else, will take a bit to explain, but short preview: I ordered a new bike.
heddwch
G
Friday, August 18, 2017
Aero is faster than Cannibal
That's kind of an obvious statement.
How much faster? maybe a minute for me.
I felt much faster last night, more streamlined, definitely could feel the reduction in drag on that bike. Heavier it is indeed but it rolls well and I've done a few TTs on it.
I have 14 strava efforts on this course. The first effort was 18:57 from 2012, the day after we rode to Woods Hole and back. Using borrowed Garmin.
Then the next pile of progressions were in 2013. Did it once in 2015, Prov Velo decided to bandit last year, I made three of those. and then I made three this year. First two were on the slow bike, the old cross bike. I mean holy crap slow, but the effort was there and I pushed myself.
Last night, pre-race prep def not like 2013. No ritual Bagel Gourmet steak burrito, and I probably did a bit to hinder my time but maybe not. Times are kind of how I would expect them to be even without anything screwed up that day.
I'm there and well, there were a couple carrots. First up the bike. the helmet, the rest of the gear. There's an undeniable mental boost using that crap.
Second, I'm starting behind Ciril again, and he brought Pizza, that he made, for us to eat at the end. I CAN PEDAL FOR PIZZA... only better carrot would have been beer.
I felt pretty good, but also it hurt but I was totally comfortable in that tuck, tip of the Giro teardrop helmet firmly and always in contact with my spine, shifting to the nose of the saddle, trying to keep the cadence in the mid to high 90s range, grinding it out only now and again for a shift of pace.
hitting Reynolds I almost thought I caught a glimpse of a jersey up in the distance? What? NO WAY.
Hello motivation. I pushed it hard on reynolds, yet still watched my avg speed drop... but just before crossing back under the powerlines I applied some torque then with that speed boost jumped back up to a higher cadence and worked the next section, took a breather through the slight downhill into the left hander and attacked into Peck, absolutely drilled it up Peck (see HR)... actually that's kind of cool, looking at the HR chart for the TT I can tell you exactly why the HR went down each time it did, the stretch before Reynolds, I think I had eased off a tiny bit in prep or thinking about the turn.
So I nuke it up Peck, out of the saddle initially then back in the bars on the nose of the saddle driving up the hill. Crest it and crank the speed up and Coast... recover... settle... and yeah that's someone up there but they don't look like they are on an aero bike (Ciril is) too high up... Oh well, still someone to catch. But at that point once I was done with the moment of coasting and speed dropped a bit I left it in the 53x11 and just fucking pushed it as hard as I could. I think i yelled at my legs and just dug deeeeeeep.
Sure enough I could see the Golden Monkey Victory beer jersey Ciril was wearing. I used to love GM, now i get queasy when i take a sip.
I'm pouring everything into it and holy shit he's turning we're almost done? FUCKING TIME TO GO, I launch out of that last turn, perfect turn no brakes, no cars, perfect apex, pedal through it and then Attack, out of the saddle full sprint accelerating all the way to the line. I passed him before the cemetery started and cleared the line first.
Give me someone to sprint and something happens, i find extra stuff I didn't know I had.... took me a long time before I could talk again, much less stumble around well enough. to find some water.
We ate pizza, i found out i had broken the 20 min mark, won a couple things in the raffle, just getting ready to go and the PVD crew takes off. Garber leading the charge with his E-bike. I had hoped to ride back with a group.
I didn't have my backpack on and when I did? They were gone.
Long solo ride home. It was difficult. Legs were really tired. ever present was the kid who was killed the other day in riverside near my house. A close friend to one of the bikeworks guys.
I made it home safely, in the total pitch black darkness. and cracked a Mighty Squirrel Mocha Stout. I had a couple. And i think maybe there's more coffee in there than is good to have before bed. I didn't sleep well.
And tired coupled with sore legs made this morning's commute a bit tough. Fortunately I got here and the morning session was cancelled. So I had a chance to catch up, and now write.
I'm still feeling pretty slow, but there is some magic I feel on that course. I know those turns, the road, it is never boring racing it, same as it is, always was but still, for me, that familiarity feels like an advantage and I kind of like it. Even when I'm going slower. Maybe next year I can find that bit of speed again.
heddwch
G
How much faster? maybe a minute for me.
I felt much faster last night, more streamlined, definitely could feel the reduction in drag on that bike. Heavier it is indeed but it rolls well and I've done a few TTs on it.
Then the next pile of progressions were in 2013. Did it once in 2015, Prov Velo decided to bandit last year, I made three of those. and then I made three this year. First two were on the slow bike, the old cross bike. I mean holy crap slow, but the effort was there and I pushed myself.
Last night, pre-race prep def not like 2013. No ritual Bagel Gourmet steak burrito, and I probably did a bit to hinder my time but maybe not. Times are kind of how I would expect them to be even without anything screwed up that day.
I'm there and well, there were a couple carrots. First up the bike. the helmet, the rest of the gear. There's an undeniable mental boost using that crap.
Second, I'm starting behind Ciril again, and he brought Pizza, that he made, for us to eat at the end. I CAN PEDAL FOR PIZZA... only better carrot would have been beer.
I felt pretty good, but also it hurt but I was totally comfortable in that tuck, tip of the Giro teardrop helmet firmly and always in contact with my spine, shifting to the nose of the saddle, trying to keep the cadence in the mid to high 90s range, grinding it out only now and again for a shift of pace.
hitting Reynolds I almost thought I caught a glimpse of a jersey up in the distance? What? NO WAY.
Hello motivation. I pushed it hard on reynolds, yet still watched my avg speed drop... but just before crossing back under the powerlines I applied some torque then with that speed boost jumped back up to a higher cadence and worked the next section, took a breather through the slight downhill into the left hander and attacked into Peck, absolutely drilled it up Peck (see HR)... actually that's kind of cool, looking at the HR chart for the TT I can tell you exactly why the HR went down each time it did, the stretch before Reynolds, I think I had eased off a tiny bit in prep or thinking about the turn.
So I nuke it up Peck, out of the saddle initially then back in the bars on the nose of the saddle driving up the hill. Crest it and crank the speed up and Coast... recover... settle... and yeah that's someone up there but they don't look like they are on an aero bike (Ciril is) too high up... Oh well, still someone to catch. But at that point once I was done with the moment of coasting and speed dropped a bit I left it in the 53x11 and just fucking pushed it as hard as I could. I think i yelled at my legs and just dug deeeeeeep.
Sure enough I could see the Golden Monkey Victory beer jersey Ciril was wearing. I used to love GM, now i get queasy when i take a sip.
I'm pouring everything into it and holy shit he's turning we're almost done? FUCKING TIME TO GO, I launch out of that last turn, perfect turn no brakes, no cars, perfect apex, pedal through it and then Attack, out of the saddle full sprint accelerating all the way to the line. I passed him before the cemetery started and cleared the line first.
Give me someone to sprint and something happens, i find extra stuff I didn't know I had.... took me a long time before I could talk again, much less stumble around well enough. to find some water.
We ate pizza, i found out i had broken the 20 min mark, won a couple things in the raffle, just getting ready to go and the PVD crew takes off. Garber leading the charge with his E-bike. I had hoped to ride back with a group.
I didn't have my backpack on and when I did? They were gone.
Long solo ride home. It was difficult. Legs were really tired. ever present was the kid who was killed the other day in riverside near my house. A close friend to one of the bikeworks guys.
I made it home safely, in the total pitch black darkness. and cracked a Mighty Squirrel Mocha Stout. I had a couple. And i think maybe there's more coffee in there than is good to have before bed. I didn't sleep well.
And tired coupled with sore legs made this morning's commute a bit tough. Fortunately I got here and the morning session was cancelled. So I had a chance to catch up, and now write.
I'm still feeling pretty slow, but there is some magic I feel on that course. I know those turns, the road, it is never boring racing it, same as it is, always was but still, for me, that familiarity feels like an advantage and I kind of like it. Even when I'm going slower. Maybe next year I can find that bit of speed again.
heddwch
G
kind of brilliant song
except need to swap AS for DT....
I think about this song every time Ahhhnold turns up on Facebook ranting against the idiots in office trying to gerrymander or dismiss global warming, or in the most recent case say nazis aren't bad.
wouldn't take much to re-write it for 2017
I think about this song every time Ahhhnold turns up on Facebook ranting against the idiots in office trying to gerrymander or dismiss global warming, or in the most recent case say nazis aren't bad.
wouldn't take much to re-write it for 2017
Thursday, August 17, 2017
consistency
is not something that has happened here lately.
Haven't managed to sit down and write.
Kind of forcing it now but hey, it'll either work or not.
Last week I managed to get two rides in. Commuting counts but not the same. Tuesday last week was brutal, it hurt. Smackdown was a disaster. About the same as when Dave and Brent chilled and had a slow ride home with me. Last week it was Goldberg who kindly waited for me I was going so slowly up the hills. It was a disaster. And I had a bit of extra coffee just before the ride and it meant TOO MUCH COFFEE so my heart did a few weird things, IE 201, it felt weird. It kind of sucked. And every hill hurt like a motherfucker and my legs were screaming and it was rough. Sucked it up and headed to the TT after that on thursday and felt much better. Rode an OK time (21:00) left it all out there. And riding home was a disaster, couldn't go up hill. Caroline was happy to chill and Golberg waited and Ronan kept looping back. It was probably a frustrating ride home for them. Goldberg is confused though, if I am so much slower than he is riding on Smackdown and to and from the TT, how did I go faster in the TT? I dunno. Not a clue.
So, Tuesday rolled around again. Smackdown again.
I did the same thing, sat on the front, social chat until we got to Prospect. Sure, it delays the speed attack a bit, woodward isn't a highspeed drag race, but it is also the first stretch when we can double paceline w/o much traffic. Good time for forced socialization. Yeah me sitting on the front from the start to there is dumb. But we made the turn and I swung off and to the back and right on big Eian's wheel. Except, well, my HR was pegged just trying to stay in his draft. And I told Caroline that I'd fix her shifting if she showed up, even if only on a TT bike. She is totally new to the group riding thing and just sort of tagged along, but got gapped on Prospect so I delayed a tiny bit because last time she came out she got dropped and lost. Fuller sat up a bit as the big boys hit the gas hard on Jacob/Broad. and we pretty much rode together as a trio. Pushing it as hard as I could, which was much harder than the week before. But still no where close enough to hang with the fast guys like the old days.
The fast guys actually turned around and rode back and met us on Pine, but then they had a brutal attack on Read and I couldn't quite hang but then actually managed a wicked hard effort on Walker and we all joined back up again. Fuller got a bit gapped but managed to catch up before we turned onto King Phillip.
It was good. Headed back to the lab to get my shit and then rode home. A good long bit in the saddle. Haven't been sleeping as well as I would like lately. And while things are good, and pretty well balanced and managed, every once in a while something small perturbs the equilibrium and everything falls apart.
I am extremely grateful for what i have, for my friends, for my family and my health and current stability in most all things. But that goddamn spark plug is still giving me fits (no haven't touched it) and I still haven't had a day off since spending four hours of the day in the car in intense traffic.
But the weekends have been shorter work days, but a work day isn't a rest day and the list of shit I have to deal with is long, but not growing at an any more unmanageable rate.
We've pretty much finished up with all the intense work shit here. Got a couple projects that i need to work on but there's a ton of little things I need to make happen. BUT going to be chipping away a bit more slowly here. Pace myself a bit more.
Tonight is the final TT. dug out the paramount, spent an hour this morning getting it ride-able. Haven't touched it since last summer's TTs, took the seatpost out to put in the big surly Singlespeed CX/Commuter.
but it is ready to go... mostly.
we'll see if i'm up to pedaling it much and we'll see how different the times wind up being between this bike and the black 'super not aero' blue. Def feeling more tired than usual. Not a good sign but hey, i'm still headed over there tonight.
maybe i'll even write about it sometime afterwards.
heddwch
G
Haven't managed to sit down and write.
Kind of forcing it now but hey, it'll either work or not.
Last week I managed to get two rides in. Commuting counts but not the same. Tuesday last week was brutal, it hurt. Smackdown was a disaster. About the same as when Dave and Brent chilled and had a slow ride home with me. Last week it was Goldberg who kindly waited for me I was going so slowly up the hills. It was a disaster. And I had a bit of extra coffee just before the ride and it meant TOO MUCH COFFEE so my heart did a few weird things, IE 201, it felt weird. It kind of sucked. And every hill hurt like a motherfucker and my legs were screaming and it was rough. Sucked it up and headed to the TT after that on thursday and felt much better. Rode an OK time (21:00) left it all out there. And riding home was a disaster, couldn't go up hill. Caroline was happy to chill and Golberg waited and Ronan kept looping back. It was probably a frustrating ride home for them. Goldberg is confused though, if I am so much slower than he is riding on Smackdown and to and from the TT, how did I go faster in the TT? I dunno. Not a clue.
So, Tuesday rolled around again. Smackdown again.
I did the same thing, sat on the front, social chat until we got to Prospect. Sure, it delays the speed attack a bit, woodward isn't a highspeed drag race, but it is also the first stretch when we can double paceline w/o much traffic. Good time for forced socialization. Yeah me sitting on the front from the start to there is dumb. But we made the turn and I swung off and to the back and right on big Eian's wheel. Except, well, my HR was pegged just trying to stay in his draft. And I told Caroline that I'd fix her shifting if she showed up, even if only on a TT bike. She is totally new to the group riding thing and just sort of tagged along, but got gapped on Prospect so I delayed a tiny bit because last time she came out she got dropped and lost. Fuller sat up a bit as the big boys hit the gas hard on Jacob/Broad. and we pretty much rode together as a trio. Pushing it as hard as I could, which was much harder than the week before. But still no where close enough to hang with the fast guys like the old days.
The fast guys actually turned around and rode back and met us on Pine, but then they had a brutal attack on Read and I couldn't quite hang but then actually managed a wicked hard effort on Walker and we all joined back up again. Fuller got a bit gapped but managed to catch up before we turned onto King Phillip.
It was good. Headed back to the lab to get my shit and then rode home. A good long bit in the saddle. Haven't been sleeping as well as I would like lately. And while things are good, and pretty well balanced and managed, every once in a while something small perturbs the equilibrium and everything falls apart.
I am extremely grateful for what i have, for my friends, for my family and my health and current stability in most all things. But that goddamn spark plug is still giving me fits (no haven't touched it) and I still haven't had a day off since spending four hours of the day in the car in intense traffic.
But the weekends have been shorter work days, but a work day isn't a rest day and the list of shit I have to deal with is long, but not growing at an any more unmanageable rate.
We've pretty much finished up with all the intense work shit here. Got a couple projects that i need to work on but there's a ton of little things I need to make happen. BUT going to be chipping away a bit more slowly here. Pace myself a bit more.
Tonight is the final TT. dug out the paramount, spent an hour this morning getting it ride-able. Haven't touched it since last summer's TTs, took the seatpost out to put in the big surly Singlespeed CX/Commuter.
but it is ready to go... mostly.
we'll see if i'm up to pedaling it much and we'll see how different the times wind up being between this bike and the black 'super not aero' blue. Def feeling more tired than usual. Not a good sign but hey, i'm still headed over there tonight.
maybe i'll even write about it sometime afterwards.
heddwch
G
Saturday, August 05, 2017
Sorry for the lapse
It has been a tough week.
Not a bad week, but a very... challenging... week. Nothing like what my friends have to deal with, or some friends, or most friends,
but it hasn't been easy...
These dates, impact of dates and numbers are always there, 8/4... such symmetry...
We made pesto tonight, youngest had a new cookbook so I honored the excitement and we made the recipe from that book.
it was pretty fucking delicious.
i added a few more garlic cloves than called for though, because garlic is awesome. And why not.
Also...
anyway, words I set out to write aren't flowing forward, but maybe sleep and another day of work before another week of work will help produce content...
heddwch
G
Not a bad week, but a very... challenging... week. Nothing like what my friends have to deal with, or some friends, or most friends,
but it hasn't been easy...
These dates, impact of dates and numbers are always there, 8/4... such symmetry...
We made pesto tonight, youngest had a new cookbook so I honored the excitement and we made the recipe from that book.
it was pretty fucking delicious.
i added a few more garlic cloves than called for though, because garlic is awesome. And why not.
Also...
anyway, words I set out to write aren't flowing forward, but maybe sleep and another day of work before another week of work will help produce content...
heddwch
G
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