My weight creep that is. Oof, Russ posted a trendline after eating a whole pizza last night and i decided to get on the scale for the first time in a very very very long time to see where i'm at.
Well...
Yeah so Smackdown last night. Had the day off, got the tires on the jetta rotated and balanced to stave off having to replace them prematurely, headed down to BR after, did the same loop I did in May, well the part before meeting up with David and Greve. No stops, I fucked up the line twice, not quite enough speed and then once just not the singlespeed line. But the bike felt good. Harsh, like fuck this is harsh, at first, but by the end it was normal and fine. Was good. Creaky and loud but good. I do kind of really like that bike, and miraculously it just fits really well. More or less has completely made my mind up as the 24hr bike for sure. I had been thinking about doing the FS-SS thing but nah, fit is more important that squish. Now it just comes down to tires. How narrow can I go, or do I have to drop a pile of money on new wheels. No, I don't really need three sets of carbon MTB wheels for two bikes, but it would be kind of nice. Oh, shit, wait I have a set of 50mm wide Durocs, hmm should maybe unload those, esp since they are in the wrong direction I want to go. Sell stuff? Me?
I should probably get around to trying to sell the Thule T2. Anyone need a 2" 2 bike hitch rack?
It was a good ride in the woods. Slow and solo and singlespeed but it was good. Only a little of it was chewed up by the Motos. Those fuckers. I guess it is all over FB but I dunno where, and i don't want to find out.
666 tt was last night, but I did the smackdown instead. On the way home I swung through the Asian market, got some bonito flakes, cabbages, three crab fish sauce, some three ladies rice noodles and a few other things. I couldn't decide on an indulgent weird snack (big surprised - couldn't decide? Me? Never).
Went home, finished the last couple episodes of Ghost in the Machine season 2, what a fucked up ending, maybe I'm not cut out for anime storylines. Hell I'm having a rough time getting through Dune, I'm all like HEY HEY HEY THEY ARE BAD! Kind of wish maybe Brian and that other guy had left it more mysterious and left the reader be clueless instead of the reader being aware of all this shit and yelling at the clueless characters who missed such obvious errors. over half way through the book - shit's happening but still a L O N G way to go.
Got through that with my feet up eating a late lunch. Then started dinner, did a carnitas style pork roast in the fancy pot, kind of pulled pork, braised in some stock and with an orange and cinnamon to make it more carnitas. Cut up a bunch of stuff for coleslaw (didn't dress), and with the pot on a low simmer I headed out to Smackdown. got there a little early.
But this is the, what 3rd in a row maybe? Fourth? Not sure. Longest most consistent stretch for me in years. Power and legs are coming back a little, had to work pretty hard but not terrible. The up hills were the worst but I managed to stay in visual contact and didn't get totally blown off on Carpenter this week. Hillside was still a monster chore to make it up and over.
Rocky Hill was kind of cool. I'm still a good bit off my fastest pace but this time, last night, it felt like a familiar tune, I knew what notes to play and when w/o thinking. I was just off the back after the first punchy kicker (because Justin and everyone just f'n LAUNCHED)... So I was a bit slow being alone w/o a draft heading into the downhill section. But Tom and Michelle were just up the road and Tatar too, once it kicked up I just kind of started pedaling, a mix of standing up then shifting and standing and shifting and standing and just keeping a pressure and knowing how much of the climb was left and I got to the sprint line 100% spent. It was a pretty awesome feeling.
And then for a change I wasn't the slowest going downhill. There were some really good moments when I felt strong. But I also felt a bit low on energy, like muscles running out of fuel. I was slightly underfueled going into the day, not as much ready fuel source consumed and I could feel it a few times.
We came down Reed (towards walker) and it, was, just, so, slow... i was not pedaling and slowly coasting to the front, and then eventually found a gap and just decided to go, launched and it felt awesome. And then I died shortly after, before getting to walked unfortunately. I guess sprinting up to 35 or so and holding it takes a few watts. How many I don't know. But happily I managed to stay in visual contact and dig deep to catch up not to far off the rest of the group by the time we hit 152.
Felt not terrible. Could have been better, I didn't managed to stay out of the wind and as we headed back to Rocky Hill (we did the long route and I PR'd on Carpenter) up hill I found myself in the lead. So I didn't manage to stay out of the wind. And there were a few people doing more yo-yo'ing than was nice so lots of pace changing and that kind of sucked.
I was feeling pretty good, considering that I was thinking I am riding at 220 or so, maybe 225 pounds and the fastest guys are all under 180 pounds and this route is pretty flat but not flat at the same time.
And considering I hadn't taken Monday off the bike and instead of a relaxed 7 mile commute to work I did 7 miles of punchy stochastic singlespeed single track.
The focus lately has been on recovery and fueling. Not riding fasted. Not unlike the process that lead to this weight and my peak Battenkill fatness. But not quite that bad. If I was just road riding right now I could probably get away with the old style fasted slow rides and not eating after and just being hungry, but I wasn't sober then and the beer both worked as an appetite suppressor and a source of calories for the next day (liver energy stores as alcohol was converted). Of course the last year has been trying to make sure the crew kid has been getting enough calories and well her calorie requirements are very different than old me. But still I felt like i was doing okay, stable at worst.
Delusional.
I jumped on the scale this morning and saw 105 kg. (in the moving the scale around someone must have pushed the unit button). That's 3-5 more kgs than I thought I'd be at. Sigh. That's a lot.
On the upside, that's some decently solid internal fuel source if I can tap into it, AND if I'm riding as well as it seems (I'm still slow but compared to me a while ago not so much) I should be going much better if I can drop a few kgs. Ideally I'd like to get under 100kgs, closer to 95 but hey, I'm old. that may not happen.
And with the 24 hours of Great Glen coming up in a month, now is not the time to start riding fasted. And I've tried riding in the woods fasted. It sucks and I think it is monumentally counter-productive.
This whole being sober thing plus getting old, is throwing GeWilli for a big loop, plus the feeding of the kid. Portion size maybe, hell i've even been eating more salads than usual. Got more to figure out I guess. 105 was an actual shocker.
Ain't no question that I'm solidly in the Clydesdale category.
Oh and Tomorrow is the start of the TT, didn't do it last year, planning on heading out this year but not tomorrow, timing obligations, can't be in two places at once.
So yeah, there ya go, a full old school gewilli run down of bikes and food and thoughts and all that jumbled into a big old pile.
Amor Fati Motherfuckers
Heddwch
G
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