A drive in the Cascades

Drove up to Winthrop, WA yesterday. Final concert of the series. Fini. Now, the problem is, it is a LOOOOONG drive. And. We are staying at the top of a mountain at a lodge (put up by the promoters of the concert). 10 miles of snow covered switch backs to get down to the snow covered road that takes us back to the valley to get us out of here. And, it has been snowing non-stop all morning. 6-12" of fresh snow up here, maybe more. At least it is only in the teens. Cold snow. Might have to put chains on to get out of here. Not to mention over either the low traveled pass or the two higher traveled passes (have to choose which way to go).

Should be fun. Assuming my passengers don't have a heart attack or try and mutiny and take over the driving...

Here's a few shots from the drive up. Mostly my wife's backseat out the window shots. But a few i snapped. Just snapshots.

No shots of the crazy snow up here yet. 4+ feet of it.







oh and the obligatory Apple shot... Washington state is, after all, the land of THE best APPLES on Earth:

peace
g

A walk around the house here...

Annonations to come...

vids

cool vid - via ErikV (~4 min)

And then - Erik also has the cyclofile vid up...

pro and amateur

pro and amateur... does cessation of the consumption of barley pop in the post season make you as pro as commencing the consumption of said beverage at seasons end?

where does that lead the amateurs who follow the pros and consume only at the end of season?

When does the season really end? Many know where this line of introspection is driven from... others might be left wondering wtf.

I got to thinking. Many domestic Cyclocross Pros race year round. They aren't like the Euro PRO pros on the cross scene there. So the minute cross is over they can start the much needed and required off season leading into the spring and summer road or MTB racing. That said, many amateurs can't spend the whole year racing furiously so cross is the one season they pick. Others just pick road. Some MTB. Fewer pick all 3.

Bikesnob's pointed hillarity about roadies and their calorie counting OCD nature isn't so far from the truth. And those who spend a season racing like that need a bit of time to let the gut flop out metaphorically. The rest?

It is still raining.
And as unmotivated as i am to go for a run, this isn't helping. I did have a moment of "I should just lace up the shoes and head out for a few miles of hills (nothing but on this dead end street)" before making some coffee and sitting down at the computer to try and read part of the whole internet.

I heard a pretty funny bit last night. Eating for blood type. Some wrote a book about that. I got a very brief synopsis of it, something along the lines of type O is original, or meat eating primitive folks - ie needing lots of protien; type A being agrarian, or grain folks - ie folks who do best on grains and what not. Of course i made a slight veiled attempt to point out that people really don't need to eat that much protien. But, well. It flew about as well as trying to suggest that to Dr Atkins.

Another conversation that came to mind just now was from earlier this week. Chatting with a family practice DO who happens to be a soccer coach at a high school, his bro was a Pro back in the Indoor days. We got talking about energy drinks and stuff. And that lead to recovery discussions. And the coolest thing i thought was he demand that everyone on the team eat something w/in 30 minutes of practice being over. If they don't the whole team stays and does more pushups and sprints. Eat or else. And what he found? Injurys went way way down. Inflamation? Way down. His athletes were far more effective in practice the next day. Win win for everyone.

maybe a lesson for those who are trying to coach teams or others... or just trying to 'train' themselves.

peace,
g

Rain... rain... rain

it hasn't stopped raining since we got here.

it is seattle rain, steady, light, and wet.

cold? Nah, well. Yes. Low 40s high 30s is cold rain.

sort of missing the whole snow, in a way, that i hear is landing on New England recently. Not missing shoveling or dealing with the traffic/riding that comes along with it. I saw that vid of Treefarm getting taken out by some pack marking 'pro' over on Mud and Cowbells. Sure that pack marker is way faster than me right now, but kinda sucks. Bad course design. No wonder Treefarm seems pissed. Here's to hoping Rachael Lloyd heads to worlds to team up with Compton. That'd be impressive. Rachael seems to have her best results in crappy conditions. But that's only from watching results and reading reports.

Cross ain't over.

Unless you ain't a real PRO. But then that's sort of devaluing what many do around the US and well, the US seems to grind to a sudden halt once Nats roll through. Bunch of fair weather racers. Yes. It looked like Nats would have been perfect GeWilli weather. Oh man how i would have loved to be there. Wet. Cold. Brilliant.

This cold rain here isn't bothering me. I love it.

I'd love to continue but, i have a little helper here who REALLY wants to watch Thomas. Thomas the juggler. I've got a tiny little video that i will try and upload soon of the dancers from Bellevue.

The Monday night concert there was sold out. that's pretty cool when you sell out a venue. But it really sucks for those who don't get to get in who were hoping too. So you'd think heading to Seattle would just be a 3 hour time difference... not when ya are doing a concert series. Ya jump right from East coast time to Hawaii time. The little girls aren't ready for bed now till midnight. The overcast cloudy weather has helped keep everyone asleep till well in almost noon! Gonna be interesting trying to reacclimated heading East soon.

It was CTodd's bday today (at least for an hour here out in the Left coast it still is the 18th). Happy Bday.

Murat has a new blog address... check it out.
GCdavid has a new one too. Jumping ship from blogger to wordpress.
I got a lot of work to do on the links to the left.

So what else?

Sign the Petition if you haven't already. Women absolutely deserve equal pay. Hey from the purely spectator point of view, i'd much rather watch some of the most atheletically trim females compete head to head in the toughest sport than some dudes wearing spandex leaving little to the imagination (think polish junior team photo that MIF uses as a screen saver). Title Nine, eh? Equal? Are they really? No. Not yet. But they will be. At least that is the hope i have for my daughters. Maybe when they reach competition age, at least college, maybe equal will mean equal. But then maybe this is the whole "do we comp junior race fees?" argument where no one really has a good answer, or everything is missleading. Either way. Equal pay for female cyclists is key. Make it happen. Go sign the petition.

Then go pre-reg for Dayville on the 6th.

New Belgium ain't done racing yet...

yall better not have too many "man sodas" before then!
peace
G

It ain't over YET

I'll be able to make it! Yall better too. Crossnut.com has a nice little bit, thanks for the email eyeBOB, i'd have completely missed the reschedule.

So i guess i shouldn't be gorgin myself and being totally slothish. But man, i'm EXCITED! Winter Cross! YEAH.

Congrats to TimmyJ. And did i call it on Rachael Llyod? HOW ABOUT THAT! WAY TO GO. Silver medal for her! Wow.

I felt a pang of what happened when i scanned the results sheet for Peanut. Just now figured i'd check on her web log for a reason... DOH. Ouch. Heal up CV, heal up!

No, i haven't had time to read any of the web. Maybe someday soon i can catch up...

peace
G

3 down, 2 to go

3 concerts down... two left...

going well...

playing the violin feels natural, like an extension of me...

now if i just had 30 years of racing cross like i've got playing the violin...

So not much web content on the concerts but... there is a good video of the juggler in the show.

He's out for three or four routines. The music in this vid isn't quite magical strings, but... it is still Thomas Arthur.


Yes, it is nearly midnight west coast time. Life of a musician. Sleep? Who need sleep. Ya can sleep when the tour is over. Right?

Passing of a Musician

Dan Fogelberg is playing with the angels now. Dan was a great friend of Magical Strings. They were his opening act for a tour back in '88 iirc (i got some tour stickers in my violin case with the correct year). Philip has recorded a bit on one of his albums. My mother said just now of Dan that "He truely wanted the world to hear Magical Strings music." I only met him once, but he touched my mother and philip quite deeply. He will be missed.

Left Coast

two days of travel and six thousand emails from eyeBOB with more killer shots from this weekend... (i might try and get one or two up but i might save em for the dry days of cross/off season)

riding home up and down the long long hills and steep grades my legs started itching, twitching for the quantum pro and some tiny climber to chase... (tiny climber so i can get pushed to the max up hill and then obliterate them on the down hill - or just make up the difference after the hill)... maybe it was just the travel pains from two days sitting down...

How is KCK going? First shots look good... at least over at CN...

so gewilli dot blogspot dot com (as notthewolverine called it this weekend) is going on vacation... random updates... odd thoughts... but cross season is over... holiday season is here... and i am long over due for a vacation... instead of trying to make all the links on the left reflect the current state of stuff i scan i dumped em all here. Yeah. Dats a lot of em, should tide ya over till i start jabbering again. Like CTodd say in one of his tunes... well yall know the song right? Take care, see yall out there. Look for something exciting about the whole RFLCS in january.
peace
g

Favorite shot of the weekend

Spit collecting in the whiskers on my chin...

helmet crooked from crashing...

Doonan breathing down my neck...

Trying to get on Madden's freaking wheel...


then there is the sunday random capture by my wife of this:

package arranging... damn skinsuit's lack of support

Cranking along...

Got me thinking...

Last year, going into nationals, pre-riding the course i busted a spoke on the rolfs... this time? busted a chain...

i'm holding back

someone posted a query about the conditions in KCK on the necx list...

i really kinda want to reply:

Don't worry, if the conditions are too dangerous they will cancel the race.

But, ya know, i don't think the humor in that statement would come across well as a one liner. I have visions of the trailer full of bikes getting there. Everyone flying in. And then the race director cancels it because there is still 6" of ice all over the course. And well, Adam M jumped there with the official word of 15 minutes 15 minutes and then cancel... But the whole line:

> *Upon the cancellation of the event it will not be rescheduled for that calendar year.

These are Nationals. Where is the contingency for awarding the jersey if the race(s) are canceled? Award based on UCI points? What about the age group titles? What about racers who peak for this race w/o regard to being the #1 UCI rider going into the race? Ah what am i saying... it isn't like i'm gonna be racing...

It is sort of like gambling with the Mt Washington hill climb. Esp. that dude who flew in from Cali to race, then changed his ticket to fly back a day later to try and race up the next day only to have that canceled.

Here's to hoping yall DON'T get fahked by the weather in KCK... and man, i'd prolly be in a hospital getting an IV drip to combat the anxiety i'd have built up being the promoter for this weekend.

Good luck to everyone, promoter, officials, racers... Look for Rachael Lloyd to be the dark-horse contender for a podium spot! I'll obviously be pulling for Peanut to kick some serious ass. And i'm torn abit. It would be great to see JP take the jersey, but then i'd be lying if i said i wasn't pulling for the twin towers to kick some ass.

Kinda all comes down to the course. And that, is what makes Cross so damn cool, no?

Stedman's Post Crash

Some epic shots from Mike P again. They all seem to be post crash as i'm missing my nose bridge on the glasses and grimacing in pain...

And there is mud. Not much mud but enough that i could feel the POWER from the soil coating my legs... And the water, fueling the pac northwest raised body...

Ya know what they say about washingtonians? We don't tan... we rust...
Water is important... fuel, two of the races i had the most fun and maybe the best results: Dayville and Stedmans... Sure. Stedmans wasn't an amazing result but damn it was wicked damn fun, sure the 4th place at Dayville was great but 44th was just as positive for me. But even the worst race was fun and a good learning experience...

Images from Sterling

From Mike Paskind:

(thanks mike!!!)

best reason to race the big race

The cameras. From Bill Hurley's Fast Shots. To guys like eyeBob and Mike P. The only downside is Paul Weiss is racing in that race. But hey how many shots can ya have???

So I'm gonna add a few images up of the races today... Probably also gonna put up the Link list...

might just have to nuke the links on the left and hot link the links to a thread page... i realized that ctodd's link over there has been wrong for a long time...

But we'll start with a few from Bob T.

The north sand pit... I found that riding the inside line and then dismounting and running was the fastest AND most efficient. As always there is a fine line between being fast and being efficient. Ya don't want to burn up but you also don't want to loose too much. Finding a section that lets you do both is key. This was one of them.


The barriers... even up hill i didn't have to jump them... but i wasn't riding them like Wells.

Ahhh the mulch. So ridable it was fun... Power up boy... power up...


more to come later...

g

linkage

remember - the order means very little... just being there counts

1. solobreak
2. Christine "Peanut" Vardaros
3. Algonquin Trips and Other Things
4. Belgium Knee Warmers
5. Cycling Automaton
6. gwadzilla
7. BikePortland.org
8. Union Velo Blog
9. Drunkcyclist.com
10. veloandvino-this cycling really cuts into my wine drinking!
11. time to get moving
12. Big Bikes
13. Green Apron Stories
14. Il Bruce
15. flahute
16. Citizen Rider
17. ...with a little luck (and a lot of hard work)...
18. Bike Snob NYC
19. Close the door!
20. Comics and Editorial Cartoons: Frazz on Yahoo! News
21. The Mad Dog Media Whirled Hindquarters
22. GoClipless.com
23. kerrylitka.com
24. Frank
25. Feltslave
26. What I Think
27. Above the Crowd
28. megA
29. Coach Curly Performance Systems
30. CTodd: /sea 'tôd/ - n.
31. KickSomeAsphalt
32. Cyclocosm - Pro Cycling Blog
33. Pedal Pushers Online
34. Ace Girl Races
35. Until the Snow Ends
36. Who's To Say What's Impossible
37. In These Woods
38. SUFFERING IN CYCLO-CROSS
39. Cyclocross Babble
40. Leave The Fan On
41. Victoria's Island
42. Independent Freewheeling Chicks
43. not the wolverine
44. Veggie Cycling
45. Cross Advice
46. Horst-Benidorm-Property Research Corp. Masters Cycling Team
47. legolord
48. Cross in New Belgium
49. Cyclocross Culture
50. the 44th parallel
51. Adventures of Oberon
52. Hydrophobik
53. Cambridge Bicycle Cyclocross
54. Gary David Training/Racing Log
55. Reports on Races of All Types
56. De Koppenberg Pers - All Things Flemish
57. Have a Snack
58. Cyclocross -eyed
59. Everything Askance
60. P.S. Burn this Letter
61. bad brad
62. it's not just about having good hair
63. Murat
64. mollycameron.com
65. fatmarc: skateboarding ruined my life
66. Basic blog - by Lee
67. Sans Auto
68. Cash for Chaos
69. kette rechts
70. Cycle and Recycle
71. Algonquin Canoe Trips
72. Anna Milkowski
73. Bobke Strut
74. Ride More, Talk Less
75. Little Roadie
76. Two Adventures
77. The Hobgoblin of Little Minds
78. Anne Jovi
79. Cycling Obsessions
80. Dan Action
81. Too Tall
82. http://rscyclocross.blogspot.com/
83. Too Vanilla For You
84. toddwells.net
85. CyclocrossWorld.com
86. Race Cyclocross!
87. Tristan Schouten
88. Cycling & Track Racing, Vegan-Style!
89. Bike Racin', C to the McC Style
90. lauren
91. Shufflin' with Shawndoggy
92. Hernando go lightly
93. cross videos
94. Destination: Suffertown
95. CXCN
96. Jacquesmayniacs
97. The Jonathan Page
98. cyclocrossnews.net
99. Mud and Cowbells
100. Plus One Lap
101. Davide Frattini Blog
102. 34x18
103. Cyclocross Magazine
104. cyclocrossELEMENTS: More Cowbell, More Cyclocross!
105. El Dolor
106. WeebelowOnWheels - Journal
107. Laatste Ronde - A cyclocross blog by an achtervolger on the move
108. erikv
109. http://crossniacs.com/
110. Unholy Rouleur
111. cyclo-X
112. http://www.fiddy.com/
113. The Everyday Athlete
114. Sprinter della Casa
115. Bolder in Boulder
116. Broken Spokes and Funny Clothes
117. 32sixteen
118. Dan Schmatz
119. Jeremy Powers
120. RACING UNION
121. Up in Alaska
122. Fat Cyclist
123. Michele's blog.
124. nicomachus.net
125. 3 Bicoastal Boys
126. Slow Your Roll
127. exit17.net
128. The Hub Providence
129. The HUB and Circle A Cyclocross
130. ::urban delicious::
131. The Pioneer Hoot
132. I dabble, I babble, I travel...
133. Moveitfred By Bike
134. pnwbuckeye
135. Chasing Singletrack

positive, positive

right? gotta end on one?

NBX was fun. riding BOTH the sand pits AND the bark almost every time (well eye-Bob got a nice view of me effin up the exit of the north sand section) I'll just duck walk it i think i said.

My wife said it looked like i was just riding around. And yeah. I kinda was. The start wasn't great for me. The guy i was lined up behind couldn't get in his pedals and i managed to be the last one off the line... Sprinted up past one or two... only to have a Stevens dude hockey check me off my line... Then, at some point the second time through the south sand pit i actually didn't ride it clean and bounced the chain off the damn bike setting it down... and well... Jack's pinch flat was some what awe man, and then seeing Steven change bikes a handful of times again after running around with his chain gone for 1/2 a lap. granted it all started off wrong well before the start. The music wasn't having the same killer eye of the tiger affect. When i got there, and realized... we were going to have to ride down the hill... the wheels of motivation started falling off. Pre-ride, things were looking better. More sand. But it was more ridable. Different bark chips. LOTS of turns. Uh oh. I was still feeling a bit timid about the turns after the previous day. Best part of warming up was talking with one of the guys from the amesburry race crew, and Eye bob, and Wayne C. It was very positive, fun, and being low key helped to erase the lines from yesterday in my head going around. The third time around, riding out of the north sand pit, i was in the 39-17 or 16 or something there in the middle. Just fahkin cranking the sumbitch around. Total torque monster. WAY over geared, but no way am i gonna try shifting with that load... and i feel a pop... and then there's a hitch in the chain... pedal over and hmm, seems to be on there... go to catch up to wayne and wow, i'm freewheeling. Busted a link. GD CHEAP ASS POC SRAM chains. ARGH. The only shimano chain i've broken was the one back at Eco cross and that chain was like 10 years old, 4 seasons of cross and so worn to the cassette that i had to replace both. This sumbitch only had a dozen races in it. Oh well. Merlin the SRAM guy is doing neutral. But. After waiting and waiting for the kids in the 9am race to get their issues fixed. Merlin finally got around to saying "I ain't got support for 9speed technology, we are going to have to shorten the chain." Just then Mark Gunslaves says hey i got a 9-speed power link you can use. Thanks to Mark G! Saved the day. But. I lost 1.5 warm up laps, and instead of getting my number at 9 i was getting it at 9:20. Okay. Okay, no big deal. Then, what the hell, gary and the 3/4 Masters are off first? THEY SWITCHED THE ORDER????? NO WAY!!!! Another not so good omen. Got in the car, number pinned on. Clothing (same as the day before), and i go to put the embrocation on. And i start with the left leg? WTF am i doing? Oh well, it doesn't matter right? Get out. stand up, 1/2 of one of the pins pulls out of the number with a snap. Great. GDit. Grab Pit wheels, start riding back towards the white trek corridor. Checking to see if G-Ride and Boivin are still warming up on the trainers... and i ride right into the fahking horse shoe pit. Ass over tea kettle... only the fact that i was able to use the wheels in my right hand to keep from going completely down did i maintain some shred of verticalness. And of course, G-Ride was there to see it all.

I managed part of a lap before the folks with the mike started calling ALL MASTERS TO STAGING. Great. Head on down. And well. that was that. G-ride was freaking GONE. CTodd was no where to be seen at the start (WTF at the time)...

And well. Even just riding around. I didn't get lapped. Doug seemed to feel about the same. So, not that it was comforting to have Aspinwall back there riding around with me, it was reassuring that yeah, everyone can have a bad day.

Looking back 2 of the last 3 races i did were awesome. And that's what is going to carry me through.

I transitioned to the 35+ A race comfortably. I ain't as fast as my team mate yet. But i know, i know that i haven't even come close to a plateau on my cross potential.

That is very encouraging. Yes i need more specific intervals. Hell a regimented training program would be pretty good. Anything remotely resembling training would be good. Getting more confidence in the corners. Defining my limits a bit more. Being less scared. I will add as an aside that the other tall freaks endorsement of tubulars isn't helping much. Reading someone's comments about clinchers folding and chattering at low PSI is what i experienced at G-ster in the B race. Not fun, and not good cornering. I hate to say it, but tubulars may just be the magic bullet. Time to call up the old shops and see if they have any old crappy ambrosio or other tubular rims laying around... maybe not. Getting the wheels is the easy part of the battle.

I raced, i added more to the experience data base. Encyclopedia Brown GeWilli has more info to draw on for next time. And my hip only hurts a little and my neck is okay as long as i don't touch it.

things are positive, esp positive are the folks out there who i got to know or got to know better at the cross races this year... that itself is positive enough to carry the burden of a bad race well off my shoulders.

peace
g

I hate driving to work

Esp when i'm, out of it.

I parked where i normally park in the morning. In a 2 hour spot. I always move the car at 10am to street parking that is all day (after 10). I didn't this morning.

I forgot. So exhausted that it wasn't until 3:30 that i realized with a sick sinking of my gut that i didn't move the car.

I aligned the new TEM filament that i had just replaced and walked out to see how many orange envelopes were on the car, or if they'd just kept replacing the inside.

Walking down i didn't see anything in the drivers door or the windshield. Wow. Did i get lucky today? Was parking enforcement short staffed today? Or were the two behemoth SUVs parked 1 foot from each bumper hiding my car? Maybe it blew away. But i took a quick walk around and found the place devoid of orange tickets. Usually there are one or two at least w/in a block. Hmmm...

i moved the car just in case...

I hate driving in and dealing with where to park... No, my place of employment does not provide parking... they have a lot 6-7 blocks away that i can pay almost $400 a year to park. It is good motivation/incentive to commute by bike. Ugh. I didn't need that stress/anxiety this afternoon.

I'll get the NBX report up someday... probably not today...

Day 1 the new W.E.S. Race

Last year it was my favorite course (up there with MRC). This year? It was hands down the best freaking cross course i could have hoped for.

Wicked killer slight up hill start, wide sketchy grass turns, slickness. Power power power. Perfect. I woke up, followed my MRC prep pretty closely. Drank some coffee. made more coffee, (no i didn't stop at Dunkin or anywhere else, i drank my own stuff). Mixed up some more salted and vit-C boosted gatorade powder. And headed to the race. And yeah. I was READY to go. Cranked the RHCP on the way over. Specifically the 1991 release: Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Apache Rose got things started and Sir Psycho was thrumming through my head as i pulled the bike out of the car, stuck the Sidi's on and my lid over my awesome IBEX beanie. Rolled over to unload the first batch of coffee and water. Then hopped on the course for 3-4 laps of solid pre-ride goodness. I don't know if i can describe the absolute mental elation i had when the course proved to go up the hill. THANKS JOEL!!!! The longish power sections were fantastic. The rest ya could really get into a rhythm on. Just one of the sketchy 180 u-turn is sections on pavement. This. If any. Was a GeWilli course. Gimme some longer runs or a Putney style hill to run up and it'd be cross nirvana.

The snow was melting. Melting snow means water. Water means mud. Mud makes me happy. So, mentally absolutely charged to max. Legs refreshed from a week off save two stints on the bike and man i'm amped. Everything was great. Saw the 3/4 masters go off after the Cat 4 - re-affirming my choice to start with the 1/2/3 masters. Got my number. Headed up to the car to take off the requisite pre-ride attire of jeans. Pin on my number, suit up. sleeveless base layer and skin suit. DeFeet Blaze socks (best damn socks for cross EVER), and my old faded verge cycling cap. With the wet i put on the clear lenses. And i was ready to go. Almost. I needed that last element. My embrocation. Plain pure clean lanolin. Yeah. No hot sauce in it. No oil to thin it down. Just lanolin. I always start with the right quad, then go to hamstring then lower leg finishing with the knee before doing the left leg in the same sequence. It is a bit sticky but it works like a freaking champ in the wet. So i'm ready to go. But ya know, to be even more pro i stick on my old PI wind pants in addition to the required Warsaw jacket for the final pre-ride. While the 9am race is finishing up i get my wheels to the pit. Plunk em down. And cruise around waiting for the final lap. Hop in and get a lap plus a little in before heading to the line. Got a 4th wide ass row start. Got a brilliant good luck hug from Zank, Stevens wanted one to so we reached our long gangly arms over and gave a shoulder bit. Then big belgium dave got jealous and wanted one but he was too far away and it was virtual... Chafed But was lined up behind me,Clit... i mean Curtis was lined up in second row. Doonan was there. CTodd too. JD even squeaked in on the outside behind Stevens. This was gonna be a freaking blast. I didn't realize till later in the race that Mahk M had snuck into the race and started at the rear. I was amped, wired and ready to go. Whistle blew and i was off. Good start. wiggled outside and jammed. JD was going hard too, but i didn't blow it. I think i actually balanced for me just the right aggressiveness. Not too passive of a start to set a bad tone, not to hard to set the stage for a pack slide. Motor motor motor. The big diesel was loving it. Motor motor motor motor. Pass people through the sand, or pick up time. Create demoralizing gaps on the pavement with minor accelerations. Jumping through groups. People were going down. It was slippery as hell. I was feeling awesome... till the third time through the twisty cinnamon roll section up by the heated stinky pooper house. Hannah was there and gave me a cheer and then my rear washed a bit. I thought, cool, i'm right on the edge, i'm on fire, this is fun, i'm FLYING, lets got get that next group!

CRACK

in a millisecond i was on my side. The centimeter of mud on the frozen ground decided to stop holding my wheels at the moment i came around the tree. It happened so fast i was still holding on to the bike with both hands and clipped in with both feet. This was no ooh here slightly sliding out boom. It was railing, sticking, wham. 6'6" 195 pound dead weight hitting the frozen ground. I slid a bit before i got up. I was in excruciating pain. That hurt alot. I dunno if i've EVER hit something so hard. at least in a long time. Hip bone was on fire. All the muscles and connective tissue around the left hip socket were sending waves of needles, my shoulder hurt, my knee wasn't in great shape. The left lever was tweaked a few mm in. Noticeable but not after a little while. And my head hurt. I was painful painful painful. From there to the sand i was screaming and shouting at myself in cries of agony to try and get the pain out through sound. I couldn't follow the same fast line i had from there to the sand. I was nailing that section before the crash, afterwards i was unsteady. But. After a handful of guys went past i managed to pull it all back together and start racing again. But. The blood lust and confidence through the corners was gone. I was sissy-footing it through them. I still was jumping out of the corners as much as i could and powering through the straights. But on the last lap or next to last the gruppeto including wade came through. I probably screwed up a few times in a couple places, needing to go harder in the straight, get in front of them into the turns, but i wasn't. I was getting slightly gapped every twist and turn. I'd work my ass to get back on and generally did. But each turn it got harder and harder to get back on. Then Jack came by. Where the hell did he come from??? Coming into the gazebo round about i couldn't hang right on his wheel. I just didn't posses the mental strength at that point to over-ride the fear of the wet and slick corners. I had planned to get on his wheel and jump around once we hit the pavement. We hit the little off camber paved section, i was on his wheel... and then... he had a gap. I reeled a bit back coming through the off camber before shooting down to the pavement. But, he freaking railed the 180 pavement U-turn. Bill Doonan was on my heals through the turn (i told ya i was acting like a chicken on the turns) but i clicked up to the 49 and grabbed a handful of the Bontrager CX drops and cranked the fueling and the boost and launched in pursuit of Madden. He'd really extended the gap through the turn. Damn damn damn damn. Power power power power.... Closing closing... not enough. Put the finish line 30 meters further up the hill and that whole group was mine.

I was pumped. I felt amazing. Totally spent. Sore as hell. Not just the crash spots. My legs were telling me i pushed it and i pushed it hard. I stuck around for a bit to see if i could get placing. Not really knowing where i was but hoping for a pretty decent result. It certainly felt amazing. But i had to leave to get home before they posted. Racing home so my wife and oldest could go off for an important event. Little one and i hung out. read some books, but she kept inadvertently touching my hip and that was agony. Ouch ouch ouch. Got everything cleaned up. Fixed my phantom shifting. Yeah. My shifting was suspect and jumpy in the back (i changed cables going into wrentham - and it settled a bit during the race it seemed) washed the bike and myself and fought off a few cramps (bad sign) in the hamstrings and upper calf area.

When my wife got back we headed out on the beautiful day to the beach. We've got an amazing sand beach 1 mile from the house. So the puppy and the girls and my wife and i headed out for a walk. I dunno if it was a good idea or not. Seemed that maybe moving was better than sitting for healing. I think it was just a stretch of time that i wasn't drinking fluid and further climbing into the dehydration tank. Ran a bit with the dog, but mostly just let her pull me along. Gorgeous day. Got home. made some dinner. read a bit and then tried to sleep. Problem is i typically sleep on my left side. I landed on my left side. Ever major contact point with the bed on that side was sore. Not gonna happen. but. it didn't stop me from rolling over in my sleep at least a dozen times that night. Successfully waking me up every freaking time. When the alarm went off at 6am i was NOT ready to get up. But i did... and that's another story.

Post NBX CX Race Comments from gewilli on Vimeo.

A Tale of Two Races

Not sure where to begin. Not sure if i should do a whole post for each one (yeah probably). But then i should have written one before racing the other. But i didn't.

It was really as different as two courses could be in the same place. I raced as differently as possible.

And right now. I broke down my body so much i'm borderline getting sick. I pushed way past the edge on Saturday. And then pushed a bit more on Sunday.

Saturday i 'broke' the body. Sunday i broke the bike. SRM chains can't take gewilli torque. And once gewilli goes down hard enough to break a helmet, bruise a hip, knee, shoulder and strain some neck muscles, he don't ride the corners with quite the same confidence. Sadly. No Crash and i'd have had an amazing result somewhere around 35th. Which, yeah. It ain't top 20. But. It would have been everything. But crashes are part of it and most people went down at least once, so i had to deal. I'm banged up still but right now the coldish/flu that's been lingering in the family for a while now grabbed hold of me on saturday and rather than being able to shake it free as i've managed to do despite the daycare, elementary school, and two university campus exposure sources all season... it kicked me in the head... I ain't gonna let it get me down for the count. But there is one hell of a lot of stress getting ready to come on line with the travel, packing, and concerts and everything. No. I'm not headed to Nats. I won't be around for the Natz race in CT either. I'm headed to the PacNW. Got some concerts to perform in. Check it out. I'm not in the publicity photos as i was racing getting lapped by Feldman at Nationals and getting a chance to play pro mechanic for a US CX World Team member. Next year we will see how the calendar sorts itself out. Maybe both? (doubtful but hey, never rule out a chance).

Right now my systems are still awash of pain and combat. Fighting what ever it is i've managed to get and pain from racing.

I got a little video that can hopefully tide everyone over until i sort out what to say in more detail about the race. But before that. I've got some rumors or hope that there a rumbling about a Bandit cross race series in january... potentially maybe people might show up some saturday afternoon, bring a cross bike and hang out and hope an informal ass kicking, i mean race, breaks out. Keep some ears open about it. I don't know if it will be an informal email to select individuals who are passionate about racing cross in weather something cooler than 80-90 degrees.

Anyway... Here's the video

First Lap of the 2007 NBX CX cat 2/3 Race from gewilli on Vimeo.

The next one is being uploaded now... a G-odcast...

peace
g

Kick ass this weekend

See ya at the races...

last weekend...

of cross

until next year...

sooner if next year is Jan '08 or

later if Sept '08

Getting some super double extra secret prep in tomorrow (j/k)

Two Cyclocross Superpowers

Right?

They both have a common language. Flemish=Dutch (basically the same, esp if you consider the local dialect of Eastport ME and Shreveport LA the same 'language' ie English).

And they've been handing back and forth the World Title for a while. Yah?

No question right? Sure, the good ol'USA will be their equal in a few years, but the past history belongs to the Hollanders and Belgique. No?

C'est vrai.

or

Het is de waarheid.

We here are New Belgium (in new england). But Zank has it pinned down brilliantly. With Portland's 'urban' cycling culture, and the climate. It is without a doubt.
New Holland. Hell all the pictures look like the little dutch boy was so tired from racing cross at the USGP that he was in bed instead of keeping his finger in the dike.

So there. Brooke and all can be New Holland. We can be New Belgium.

Let the competition begin! (Good healthy competition, not that crap that is masquerading as political/presidential competition).

So. Does New Holland get to keep the Stars and Stripes or will one of the hard New Belgian racers take it this year?

We'll leave those in the middle to decide if they want to be like the random country like Germany or France who occasionally wins a Rainbow between the Dutch and Belgium dominance.

in the words of New Holland's Shannon Skerritt:
Peace OUT
g

muddy goodness

Stuff (mid afternoon edit)

Here. If you are looking for something.

Go watch The Story of Stuff.

Good stuff.

When you are done watching stuff...

It might be time for the men (maybe it works for women too, i dunno) do some of Jim's cross training.









Too bad it is just an Urban Legend.

countdown begins

For saturday and sunday... Focus and mental preparation has begun. Physical targeting is underway. Systems check and optimal fueling procedures are being implemented as much as possible.

Murat's Vid of the Master's race. I'd say that was the start of lap 3 maybe?

Did some gerbil miles last night. Hoping to do it while watching Pushing Daisies. But Noooooo. ABC has some old annoying movie on. So... i found something on one of the 6 channels to watch. What? A tip of the hat to my design side and odd interest in fashion had me picking ANTM. The show was okay - as reality types go. But damn the commercials were horrid. Sure. I suppose i should have grabbed the Laptop and popped in the GP Sven Nys DVD or something. But. I didn't think about that until now. Next time. Got a good solid set of various intervals in. Why does time seem to slow down to a crawl when you are doing a hard interval on a trainer and when you are doing a moderate or easy recovery the time slips away wicked fast? A 1 minute interval seems like 10 minutes and a 1 minute recovery seems like 15 seconds.

Legs felt good. i also noticed something. the quad muscle definition has changed. I actually have visual definition of my Rectus Femoris! Some may laugh. Others roll their eyes. But i've been a super skinny low muscle mass kid my whole life. And cycling i've managed to get by with just a slight increase in mass of the vastus medialis and the vastus lateralis. Like as in i can look down wearing short cycling shorts (skinsuit and team bibs are long, so maybe that's why i haven't noticed it all season) and see the peak triangle of the Rectus Femoris. And yes my anterior superior iliac spine is prominent and visible. Enough anatomy. But it gives me a good excuse to pull my 29th American Edition of Gray's Anatomy off the shelf. Interestingly (I did not know that) it is available on line. There's something about opening a book up that is deeply satisfying. And the smell of the pages in this 1973 book is distinctive and pleasant. I didn't realize the TV show switched the letter a to e.

And yeah lets end with this:
The long-term rewards of doping

Birth defects for your kids - Physical deformities, mental handicaps

Emotional problems - Severe depression and suicide

Miscarriage and Still birth rates 32X higher

Steroid Nation Post on German Research

Let’s hope Tyler and Haven don’t have kids.

How about that.

And PHEW. Almost forgot. I turned on the car this morning (did a hybrid commute, it was 19°F this morning - drove to Daycare, left car there, rode the rest of the way in) and heard something that made me mentally say... i gotta remember that. Really really really tempted to use it as the Title of the post. But. I won't. It wasn't Pusillanimyass. It was even better. Vaginal Rejuvenation. On the radio. I only caught that before they moved on to talking about GEM plumbing and heating. But. Vaginal Rejuvenation on the radio? Wow. Ya want some surgeon down there messing/cleaning stuff up? Like a train wreck i don't really want to think about what would be the criteria to undergo that surgery (age, over-use or childbirth of giant babies were the 3 i thought of). I think it must have been an add for Skinsational Laser Center. And i think i missed the first part. It seems there is a "Laser" Vaginal Rejuvenation procedure (LVR). I just missed the laser part. I work with lasers all day but out of context - or in any context other than a microscope all i can hear when i see the word Laser (or type it) is Dr Evil saying "Laser Beam" Muahahahahaha.

Okay. We went from quads to LVR with a bit of doping in the middle (it was the birth reference in the dope quote that triggered the LVR reference.

Biologists have really weird trains of thought.

yikes

Lets get back to cross. If you haven't been participating over at the PureCX forum. Git UR ass over there. Zak has posted a few new MPEG4 races from this year.

I will also remark: That Slick Willy lube is DA BOMB. Da best stuff out there (when used appropriately and according to directions). As a true dry lube it really does work. Way better than White Lightening (crap). Doesn't build up like BoeShield T9 or Finishline Krytec. And it lasts a long time. Duration being judged by how long it stays quiet. Don't you hate those guys/gals who you pass or get passed who's chain is a squeaky loud mess? Also. It resists washing quite well. And washes nicely. As in it is clean. So you aren't getting as much black crap all over the cleaning brushes and such. For cross that is mucho important. No need to spray the Simple green on the drive train. Just spray and brush. Using a bit of it on the brush from cleaning other parts is enough.

Good stuff.

Get some as a christmas present for your favorite bike racer/commuter/gumbie.

Find it at Slick Willy Lube dot com , or in your LBS. The head dude of it just happens to be a major player in New England Cross. So. Buying and using that Lube supports the local scene. Just use it. M'Kay?

There. I should have covered and completely confused anyone who is trying to follow my thoughts. But hey. It is out of my head now. I am free. Free as a bird. And where the hell are the people who are late, oh well they are just giving me time to finish my thoughts. If you can call them that.

Oh and if ya ain't going to Nats. Go to Dayville. It is a super fun course. And all yall RFLCS, make it viable and possible to have something happening later in the season. It is right off of a major interstate. And i mean right off. So travel there shouldn't be an issue with any type of weather. Beer and cash prize money. I'd be there if i could.

Okay, enough PSAs for one (or really technically 5) sittings.

peace
g

my dogs are barking

long walk here after lunch + moving a big ass heavy object + a longish run last night = tired feet. Longish run. Clarified. ~3 miles. So that's like barely anything for those who actually 'run' but... for me, that's solidly significant.

I got a bit taken to task regarding contradictory and whining toned statements yesterday. Rightfully so. But it still had me pondering more than usual. Getting a bit introspective.

Maybe it is being off the bike for the 3rd day in a row. I wish i could say it was the weather keeping me off. But it isn't. I love this weather. Cold, brisk. But, here i am carpooling instead.

Monday night someone in seattle or somewhere in the PacNW was interviewed as saying something along the lines of happy to take the rain instead of the snow that New England is getting. Kinda funny though. They were on the balcony of a Condo/apt building looking down at a road washing out on the hill below...

Um... yeah, the snow floods houses, causes millions of dollars of damage, and closes down roads for days and days on end. Esp I-5. Snow can be moved. Flood water? Just gotta wait. Washed out roads? Um, yeah. even 10 feet of snow isn't going to wash out a road. Much less pile a couple tons of log debris across roads. Sure. Snow in seattle with hills like they got is scary. Shuts it all down. But. All those folks who have lost everything from unexpected flood water sure wish it was snow i bet. Maybe it was the vibes from all the cross racers in Portland wishing/thinking/hoping/praying for wet muddy conditions. Maybe that's what brought the weather.

Fortunately the family house out that was has survived the biggest onslaught. Not much to clean up when we get out there hopefully.

Speaking of clean up... this is kinda cool

And now that everyone has likely cleaned up from the USGP in Portland. Brooke is making a very valid point. Makes a ton of sense, esp if you are going to not line up based on speed clicking of the mouse and you are doing a double race weekend... That said. I thought the MRC use of the Crossresults ranking totally kick assingly awesome.

Complete success. All it required that you do was pre-register. Ya didn't have to be the first to click on the registration link to get front row. You just had to be wicked damn fast all season. Or race well in strong fields. The seeding is pretty damn freaking solid. At big events like the USGP or the Verge Series it might be safe to say that 100% of the riders have raced at least one or two other races before it and probably have some seeding/points. Granted. Having your name listed in the results by the officials is the very least requirement.

Well...

that's about all i got...

Might actually get on a trainer tonight... maybe? I should. We'll see what i can manage...

Light week. Heading into an important weekend. Optimal? I guess we'll see.

peace (or war - just call me the walking talking self contradiction)
g

Oh yeah....

Saw something unusual in the city yesterday.

Two Coyotes. Some might spot a bunch of wild turkey. But these were a pair of Coyotes. I know what they look like and these were prime examples. Looked well fed too. They were hanging around off the BLVD. No camera with me, too dark for camera phone even if i could figure out how to get the images off of it.

Pretty damn cool. Happy hunting to them!

Piano Man

Piano Moving Man to be specific.

No one got a hernia, damn upright is freaking HEAVY.

Really heavy.

Anyway. Music shall be blasting through the house in earnest tonight...

catchup time...

single fixie advantage

sure - Lemond called fixed gear training pointless for road racing... AC's question got me thinking...

and i thought about Yogurt Boy's commute. Up and down on the fixie. Yogurt boy's comments about the sensations, the under gearing, the lugging up the hills.

Got me thinking.

Disclaimer: I ain't ridden a fixie except for my bro's sakai track bike in a parking lot many eons ago.

It would seem that you would actually cover all the optimal points when training. The important strength and high force muscle groups up the hills or starting from a stop. The high speed coordination when you are flying down hill. And everything in between. Gotta be good. No rest means more work. Sort of like pulling a trailer no rest.

Fueling this line of thinking lately has been the switch from a 50t to a 40t on the Paramount. Riding it on Tuesday last week without the trailer showed the rig to be (seemingly for my 'taste') undergeared. And. I wonder. That ain't a bad thing.

Sort of kinda really tempted to set up one of the mt bikes as a winter single speed bike. Almost crazy enough to attempt to get the old giant '89 Chill back as the single. I might even have enough crap laying around to make that work, if i steal a front wheel off one of the Mt Bikes. Single ain't fixie, but... maybe it is the first step. Would be a great winter beater, certainly the heaviest/strongest bike i own. No chance of getting a new frame/bike any time soon. So if i am gonna do something different i gotta make due with what ever i can scrounge from the boxes and tool chest in the bike room... Maybe it is a good January project...

No chance of GeWilli joining the fixie crowd any time soon. He's gonna buy another cross bike long before he gets anything else. And even that will be probably further off in the future than he had anticipated.

GeWilli is done talking in 3rd person ala MIF.

GeWilli is wanting another pot of coffee... but will hold of in the name of making caffeine more effective this weekend!

It is all about this weekend. Like J. ColdBot said... this weekend:

GAME ON

-g

some times i feel like

an air traffic controller for this facility - staring at schedules providing recourses via voice support and making sure all the photons and electrons are flying smoothly...

but that's not what is prompting me to click the new post icon and peck away at the keyboard with fingers a blur blazing away.

No.

The realization that 'my' season is almost over. Hope for a winter series is constantly dashed by the negativity and tiredness projected by certain old tired and seemingly bitter promoters. I don't have the resources lined up this year to make it happen myself. Maybe next year or the year after.

But jan/feb cross aside. This weekend for me is it. Reading a few reports from the Portland racers about their last weekend got my feelings refreshed...

There is alot of me tied up in this thing called cross now. For better or worse, but generally better. The somewhat crowning grace is the last two weekends are the closest racing to home. Wrentham and now looking at Goddard Park. Closer means more time warming up and prep'n for racing. But. The end is what seems to be looming.

I'm not ready for it to end yet. I'm sort of now just figuring out how to put this all together. Better than i was last year. Last year i was fighting technique all season it seemed. I would be good until i got really fatigued and i'd just get slower and slower in the transitions. This year the transitions have become my strong suit. Staying with Steamboat over the barriers was some what of a validation of the hard work put in in the pre and early season. Our feet echoing in unison on the frozen surface after the barriers. My legs have come around a bit. And most importantly it seems my head game is working better too. Just racing helps. Finding the good parts. Slowly putting them together. The early season race anxiety has disappeared. Conquering that was a huge step. Experience. Yes. There is nothing like performing on stage going on 29+ years to get you over stage fright. Bike racing is also a hugely experienced based discipline. Like music, practice is critical. Preparation is important. Experience is invaluable. And much the same way, time and practice are great equalizers. There will always be the gifted ones. Those who start out winning every race and never look back. Those who pick up an instrument and are soloing at Carnegie hall before they hit high school. But passion, practicing, and experience are things that make music and bike racing fun fr most.

I do feel anxiety about the end of the season lurking at the edge of my consciousness. Thinking about it now is making it grow and swell. I desperately want to have good results. But at the same time, i want to savor these last two races. I want them to be fun. But not at the cost of a horrible finish. My starting position isn't great but with luck we'll have a wide open start where placing won't be as much of a factor. After the racing i will be off the bike save for a random ride here and there maybe until the new year. I guess the challenge will be the same for me as everyone else... trying to adjust the caloric intake to match the decrease in activity. But that's really just a distraction ploy on my part.

I felt i had a great lead up to MRC last week. Commuted every day. Realizing that i draw a huge boost from that. it is a fuel. motivation. But i'm hoping i can carry and sustain that motivation through this week. I think i can. I hope i can. I KNOW I CAN DAMN IT. Rest is just as important. Esp going into a two day race weekend. I'll be good. Gonna get through this weekend, even with the extra heaping of school concerts and what ever else is in the mix for the weekend... it is going to be awesome... holding around 60 rides in the Masters race at 10am, could balloon to 70 or more before the start. It will be awesome. Can't wait.

focus, diffused by chaos descending on me... i fear the steam and drive of the first thought train has been released... maybe more steam will fill the boiler before long... The old Croll has held together so far. All my old parts have survived almost. Two races to go. We'll see if they can do it. We'll find out.

peace
g

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
- Marie Curie

i remember

picking up at afterschool yesterday a grandfather was complaining about the daycare his g-daughter was at... going on and on about how the people running it have plastered everywhere "we don't eat anything with a face" and then belly aching about how can you get enough protein just eating corn, rice and bread... and... that was the extent of the foods he could list that didn't have a face... unbelievable... it was all i could do to pull out a few oft but effective vegan barbs like: How do cows get so damn big if they never eat any protein? They just eat grass! (many come back with:well they have 4 stomach and can process it) NOT THE POINT. We're pretty damn good a processing lots of foods, face-less ones even. One person arguing for the consumption of good meat protein used a gorilla as an example: "Do you know how much food they have to eat everyday when they don't eat meat?" My response is: "So what is the problem they can eat a plant based diet and still kick the strongest human's ass w/o breaking a sweat!"

Back to this old man. He was just going on and on. How incredible it was and how bad it is for growing kids not to eat meat. Ah for the love of all things good. I guess it is better for them to get FAT? It was just yet another case of ingrained ignorance. He has ever good intention for his grand kids, but, does he have the knowledge or the desire to learn and update what he knows?

A while back there was a news bit i caught about sodium levels in the diet. And how the UK has taken steps to mandate limits of sodium. The phrase that caught me there was processed foods. Limiting the sodium in processed foods. How about something novel. LIMITING PROCESSED FOODS. forget the sodium part, it is a secondary or lesser issue. Processed foods are the evil. Reduce processed foods and you reduce packaging, you reduce waste, you reduce extra consumption of energy/fossil fuels. and you control what is being taken in.

The childhood obesity thing on NBC (click around for the link, they got video) came down to two parts:

Prevention guidelines for doctors:
1- Check BMI
2- Routine Cholesterol Screening
3- Weight-related Guidance

Prevention for parents:
1- Encourage 1-hour daily exercise
2- Encourage Family meals, daily breakfast
3- Breastfeed exclusively for 6 months

Important stuff... for the health of the kids, and the health of the nation... our future.

be educated, be aware, be active
g

Freaking Windy

20+ steady headwind this morning. Temps just at the 20°F mark.

And being tired.

Sadly with great shame and remorse... i double cycled the glow plugs and drove my daughter to daycare. At least we "carpooled" together. Supposedly driving with your kids in the car isn't as bad as driving alone. Double purposing the trip is good better than going alone. I did kick myself this morning. I should have plugged the car in last night. I got a kick ass Zerostart in the diesel and, while i don't need it (still starts easily in 20°F weather and below) it is just nice having it warm. That and it reduces engine wear dramatically.

I feel bad about driving, but two days in a row off the bike ain't the worst thing in the world coming off a heavy week. Probably go for a short run tonight.

Thom's got his wrentham bit up... go give it a read...

I love riding in the cold. And that's sort of the double edge for today, but also what fueled me on Sunday. I nailed the clothes just right. no frozen 'junk' 'nether regions' 'twig and berries' it was good... all good... feet even were fine. Nothing fancy.

Acclimation plays a big roll, but then so does having 85-90kg of body mass generating heat when moving forward. not the most efficient compared to say a certain college kid's 125 set up when it is 100+ out there.

The whole being tired thing was the real deal breaker. The littlest has not been sleeping well the last few nights. fighting a bit of a stuffy nose and generally not wanting to sleep alone has meant a string of nights where i'm awakened 2-4 times a night. Fatigue is a tough combatant. Coffee is a good assailant, but sleep and rest is the best.

Went old school last night. Wanted to watch "the game" and was holding out hope that like in the old days if a local game was on cable, they'd broadcast it over the airwaves in the local market. No such luck. I guess it is assumed that if you want to watch football/sports on TV you are hooked up to a dish or a cable or something. So. I turned on the radio. Old school. Listening to football on the radio. Like driving back from a bike race only not. Got me thinking. Me? I had no problem following along, listening, knowing what happened. It didn't reduce the experience of the game not seeing it. Why do we all "need" super crisp perfect pictures on the TV? Isn't the impression good enough? Is real life ever that crisp and perfect? We want defined edges and clear stuff but our brain is wired to define things by focal length. staring at a damn flat screen can't be good for your spatial brain activity. Any reduction in brain activity is bad. Hell reading a book ain't much better but it is interactive and even turning the page, just the motion of turning a page is enough to fire up the depth perception motors... grabbing the remote and pointing it or stuffing another handful of chips in ya yapper ain't the same. But then that's just a ramble, pure speculation... I got something else rattling around up here but...

i can't find it...

sort of like when ya drop the pick in the sound box of ya mandolin... you can shake it and all that but it can be alot of work to get it out, and even then ya gotta shake it just right so it falls against the strings and slides out... i feel too tired to shake it out right now... maybe the idea will disappear or just be there next time i go to pull it out...

Fastshots props

Some great shots of the race over here! Thanks for point'n that out Cathy. That and my recollection of the race was a bit fuzzy, seems solo's got slightly more info about the pass than i remembered without his prompting, but then that's probably good.

was gonna go off on a few more things but... i dunno...

post lunch coma has set in...

Slushy

before i get into the race... it was slushy and slippery out there this morning. But, as much as i might have wanted to, it was carpool today. Schedules have it set that i gotta do pick up and drop off, pick up of 2 tonight. Trailer holds 1... and combined they are both over the weight limit of a double so no real solution there. I'm not torn up too much. Last week i took saturday off. That was about it. Got some good self massaging in watching some college football. how about that BCS mess. LSU and OSU back in the title match up. Crazy. Playoff? yeah right. But that said the BCS stuff and colin's foray into big time stuff with his numbers game got me thinking. I wonder how hard it would be to rank strength of competitors in his whole equation. IE who you beat becomes a component in the rankings. Sort of the strength of schedule. But that's alot and colin's already doing some cool ass stuff. Gotta give props to him for it all. So that's sort of the funny thing. Jumping ahead to the race. I picked up #220. And. I finished... 20th. Good predictor.

The MRC race was a blast. The guys and gals who made it all run, who made it work, who got up way early to get it set up. Thanks. Damn fun.

Where to start though? The cold forcast meant the girls, namely my wife, didn't want to go stand around in the twenty degree weather for a few hours with not playground, no real shelter and with parking not really anywhere near the course. I can't really blame them. It was pretty damn cold standing around chatting with folks after my race, watching curtis kick some serious ass. Like he was toying with them, something that looks remarkably like racing smart. It was very very cool to watch. HUGE WTG needs to be heaped on Thom P. Holy crap. Doing that well on a single speed. 6th? Sure it wasn't a USGP/UCI type field, but there were some very fast guys in that race.

So about the race. The introspective goodness of the MRC event. Gotta say. For some reason i really like this course. I think CTodd not so much, esp since he rolled both the front and rear tubulars. Momentary aside. He offered me the wheels to take and glue them for the upcoming RI race weekend. If it was gluing new tubulars to new wheels i'd probably have accepted the challenge and rolled the dice on my gluing reputation with the one super tubular rolling king. But. I don't have the time today or tomorrow to properly clean and prep the rim for re-gluing. Sure it isn't that hard to do. But it is time consuming. Scraping the old glue off, then using a bit of solvent to get the dust and other stuff off. Double scraping in case the solvent pulled a bit of glue off. Sure it can be assumed that what ever is stuck to the rim won't go anywhere. But if i'm going to do something as critical as this, no way in hell am i gonna make any assumptions. So cleaning and prepping two wheels with everything else that is going on, not to mention getting the glue on there and all that in time to let it set and be raced this weekend? Esp without a super stable park truing stand. (no i don't have a kick ass truing stand, yes, i've even used my trainer to true rear wheels - works pretty well actually).

So the race. Where was I? Love the course. Started in 3rd row. Had a decent start. Wiggled in behind Morse for a while, then someone came around fast and Morse jumped and gapped me for a minute going around someone else and he was gone for the race. I hung around behind Stevens for a while. In retrospect maybe a bit longer than i should have but this is my justification: how many times do you have the opportunity to sit on the wheel of a professor of the sport? Wondering if there was anything to learn about lines, cornering, all that sitting in behind him. That and well, he's big enough to provide a decent draft, and it meant i could settle the legs a bit after the first lap or so of going hard. Not that it was easy sitting there, but when i went around him, man it got tough. Not many people there in front, it had strung out a bit already when i went around. Honestly I felt pretty good about my line choices, and realized they weren't really any different than the ones Stevens was making. That said, it wasn't the most tricky/technical course. It was fun. I didn't go all cort and bare legged. Sleeveless baselayer, last years LS skinsuit under this years LS skinsuit. Some knee warmers, plain old cycling cap and my DeFeet Blaze socks. Folks, one thing you learn the hard way often is that more socks doesn't mean warmer feet. Toes gotta move. Gotta have air space, let the sock you are wearing create some air space. My feet were plenty warm all day. My head was too hot wearing the ibex wool cap under the helmet on my warmup laps so i ditched it. At one point pre-riding with the cycling cap my ears were freaking cold. But during the race everything was perfect. Except for the growing chunk of ice on my beard. Until it got so annoying i knocked it off. It felt like my daughter tugging on my whiskers. Hoard said it was humorous watching it grow lap after lap. Solobreaks's jersey front was covered in frozen spit (gross). Speaking of spit. There was on point, just after the barriers that i almost puked some phlegm got caught in my throat or something and i just slowed right the hell down trying to get it all out and... well i did and tried to ramp it back up to recover but that was when Solo and his train was starting to make their move. They swallowed up Stevens and they came around me there in the field and it was all i could do to hang on for a bit. I had passed Mark Super, feeling great, not knowing he'd busted two bikes and was riding with broken handlebars, and ya know that slight let down ya get when you catch and pass a marker with no markers in sight beyond them... well that let down kinda sucked the last bit out and i couldn't quite hang with the solo/matt h crowd. That Solo attacked matt on the uphill there after the little barriers and gapped both of us and i didn't have it to get around i guess. being the chasee sometimes sucks more than being the chaser. But mentally i felt like i had a great race. I wasn't the fastest out there, but i drilled it as hard as i could and i raced the whole race. A few bobbles here and there, maybe a perfect race and i would have managed top 15, but i'm very happy with how i raced. It was a wicked damn fun race. Good to see Il Bruce there with his better half, good to see Marro, and esp hanging with the awesome MRC crew. Those guys put on a good show and are all a damn fine bunch of people. Ya know it is cold when the beer freezes solid on top of the keg! Watching Curtis win was cold but worth it. Gave me a chance to hang out with some great folks while yelling and cheering for a team mate.

Good weekend. Good weekend.

One more weekend of cyclocross. And just as i am getting used to racing the later time slot, i'm back to being an early race. Kinda odd. The claim of "scheduling it like a verge race" is total horseshit. Show me any race where it has been even somewhat consistent? G-ster and NoHo and Chain and sterling? Were ANY of those the same? Um. No. That and with the somewhat confounding starting of the 3/4 masters BEHIND the cat 4, i would make a suggestion that all those cat 3 guys just move on up to the 1/2/3 masters field. Clean track, better racing. It ain't like Verge is going to give you any recognition for that race other than a medal. But then, a medal is kinda cool i guess. It is cross racing, and cross racing on a two great courses(we can assume, right?). It will be fun. It might even be cold again! Whooo!

peace
G