A tool in the wrong hands is nothing more than a toy

If i had ridden in, I would have missed the deluge that started around 9am. But we were sitting in the Docs office for a routine check up. Fun stuff.

More fun: FOOD!

Me love FOOD.

Someone (Aa ala AdamStG) mentioned issues with food. Say you do have an issue and eating a big plate of pasta with a brilliant sauce sets you off, either triggers an asthmatic response in the middle of the night, messes with your stomach some how. Be imaginative with the symptoms. Now say, you had a glass of red wine with it, it was a classic base (made from scratch not from a stupid over processed super sugared shitty jar or can sauce), a base with tomatoes, garlic, onion, olive oil, some basil, thyme, a few bits of fennel seed, maybe some oregano. Now stick some reduced balsamic vinegar in there, a bay leaf and some rich succulent crimini and prochini mushrooms, a bit of chopped caper berries and some nice chopped or sliced Kalamara olives. Serve if over a bed of (for this example) fresh pasta with a blend of freshly grated Parmigiano reggiano and Pecorino Romano cheeses.

Say you get a reaction. How are you going to determine which of that complex array of ingredients is causing a problem? A doc? Maybe but you could just as easily work it out yourself over time. Is it the egg in the pasta? The mushrooms? The Garlic or Onion? The Olives? The Capers? or maybe even the Tomatoes or the Wine? Maybe it was that particular wine? Maybe it was a bad bottle.

Maybe you just ate too much because it tasted sooooo good.

We had a small sample of a great ravioli fromage at lunch yesterday. So, having a pound of frozen local cheeze raviolis on hand and a bit of cheese, I managed to recreate almost the same taste as the mouthwatering one from lunch. Yes, we just had a sample, a single ravioli with the sauce.

Oh wow. It was good.

Another food item that has been added to the menu rotation: cranberries. No, cranberries are NOT just for Thanksgiving. Neither are Brussel Sprouts! I've been making an amazing apple cranberry sauce to serve with pork chops. naturally raise pork and let me tell ya, i got the secret for cooking it so you don't need a steak knife to cut it up. Slow cook starting in a cold pain over med-low heat. WOW. Juicy, tender. Add the apple cranberry sauce and a bit of potatoe and some greens on the side. ya got a scrumptious flavor intense meal.

The cranberry sauce though is the key. Sure cooking the pork is the hard part but, the sauce can go on anything.

Start all standard with a pound of berries, picked through and washed. Pop them in a non-reactive 2.5-3 quart pot (the taller the sides the better) with a cup of water and 1/2 cup of apple cider. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat so it won't burn but will stay at a rolling bubbling. Hold it there for 10 minutes or so. Then run it through a food mill or a strainer to mash up the berries and to remove the skins. Return the strained liquid to the pan and add 2/3 cup of sugar (I prefer the slightly richer more complex turbinado type), add some more apple juice and let it lightly simmer, stirring frequently to prevent a skim forming. About 5 minutes before serving blend in 1/2-3/4 cup of apple sauce (natural, no sugar as it should only be eaten).

Another variation on a non-turkey day use for Cranberries (and the trigger for this) can be found over on the Creekstone Farms web page. The market at Cutler mills in Warren is a local source (go support your non-corporate stores - they make a much more positive impact on the community than the big box ones like whole paycheck).

ImageBeef Tenderloin With Easy Cranberry Balsamic Sauce

Total preparation and cooking time: 1 to 1-1/4 hours

1 whole beef tenderloin roast (about 4 to 5 pounds)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

1 tablespoon pepper

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

*1 can (16 ounces) whole berry cranberry sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Combine thyme and pepper; reserve 1 teaspoon seasoning mixture for sauce. Press remaining seasoning mixture evenly onto all surfaces of beef roast.

2. Place roast on rack in shallow roasting pan. Insert ovenproof meat thermometer so tip is centered in thickest part of beef. Do not add water or cover. Roast in 425°F oven 50 to 60 minutes for medium rare; 60 to 70 minutes for medium doneness.

3. Remove roast when meat thermometer registers 135°F for medium rare; 150°F for medium. Transfer roast to carving board; tent loosely with aluminum foil. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes. (Temperature will continue to rise about 10°F to reach 145°F for medium rare; 160°F for medium.)

4. Meanwhile prepare sauce. Combine vinegar and shallots in small saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 3 minutes. Stir in cranberry sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 6 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in reserved seasoning and salt.

5. Carve roast into slices; serve with sauce.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

*Substitute home made if possible

Now. Yes, my girls basically have a live in chef preparing meals for them almost every night. Almost no processed packaging. That means the garbage can fills very slowly, reducing our impact on this place while at the same time eating very well.

Walking the walk is important, even if you don't talk the talk.

I may not have the presentation drive that pushes Thomas Keller to make each plate look like a work of art, but the flavor palate, the desire to make things TASTE amazing, to work the flavors so it is as savory as possible, is very important.

I can see flavor interrelationships in my head. I have a great feeling for what goes with what and how to make it unexpected at times but not funky and weird. I might not be able to train my way out of a paper bag but I feel pretty good about my grasp on the preparation of food. The big short coming is not communicating what I use, IE recipes, but in how to cook it and how to determine if something more is needed.

Most chefs rightfully rely on taste to determine seasoning. But most seem to have destroyed their palate with over salted foods starting from their culinary beginnings. I actually use smell first. Most of the flavor compounds are somewhat volatile and you can smell them in the cooking, a bit of tasting towards the end when it is timed to decide if it needs any salt at all.

Ah food. The best compliment to riding is eating.

heddwch
G

Urban VELO

#5 is out. Go get your copy while you wait for CXMagazine to get issue #2 out to us.

What else is out there? Stephen has a pretty good article at Pez about "What makes you fast?"

Then, believe it or not, there is something worth checking out at Velonews. I would prefer a more indepth coverage of the talks but, the juicy tidbits are enough to make you think a little bit.

Noisy

In my head. During a ride.

Got the full commute in today. Unloaded trailer but, the full distance, with the big rig. Slipped the damn wheel in the drop out again. That is getting annoying. Overwhelmingly my brain was working overtime. Jumping around like a spastic 5 year old who has spent months walking past the big plastic ball tank when they finally get a chance to get in there. Thought, racing to the next thought and on and on. But. I kept coming back to this thought:
"DAMNIT too many layers! I'm too HOT"

Out of practice layering for the weather it would seem.

Other thoughts? This Verge Warsaw jacket is totally kick ass. This jacket ROCKS (too hot but still). Who needs a $500 Ass/os jacket when my nice team kit VERGE Warsaw piece does well.

I had been warned. The sea rats were back in force and they had carpet bombed the path. No Joke. Crunch crunch crack - brush tires with glove - crunch crunch crack crack crunch - brush - repeat.

To make it worse. These fahking seagulls are getting stupid or really hungry. They are dropping mussel shaped ROCKS on the path. Dumbass BIRDS! THOSE ARE ROCKS! At least they don't crunch and break.

It has me to the point of thinking about bringing a broom with me, or maybe rigging up a rube goldberg like contraption on the trailer to sweep the damn bits off the paved section of the path.

Oh and the Scaups are back! Quite a bit bigger flock of them today than I remember seeing last year.

Scaups and Brants from gewilli on Vimeo.
Still pretty cool to see a giant raft of migratory birds from way up nort!

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, Nathan Spear has the Worlds up already. So if you didn't pay the money not to watch the live broadcast. He's got them up.

This made me laugh cruising through the internet between phone and emails. Nice job with the Peak Season series.

Was I the last man on the cycling side of the internet to see Liz's teaser picture from the photo shoot? Good stuff Liz. That's the kind of thing USAC needs to focus on to get more attention to the female side of the sport (or not I guess depending on your point of view).

And a good note to end on (as if the last random thought isn't enough): I love it when something breaks for the upteenth completely random time after it has been happening enough that you have narrowed down things to check, and you can go through and get as close to an answer as you can have. Trouble shooting random but very serious problems on highly complicated systems is what I love the most. But when things work perfectly 98% of the time, being there to catch that 2% is tough on a system that is used 24hrs a day. VICTORY WILL BE MINE! Damn I love fixing stuff!

Heddwch
G

Yes, another mention of a Deity

getting pulled
Originally uploaded by Bici Girl photos

OMG

i'm rolling with laughter...

I can't wait for this to be the next trend...
Bill Hurley and EyeBob, lets see if ya can get something this funny next year

LMAO

Thanks for posting it JH... ah hysterical

Better than the FSM?

The Church of the Big Ring!
This logic sounds far more sound than most literal translationist's interpretation of the "good" book:

From reading the Bible I found out that Jesus died on the ‘cross for our sins. The Church of The Big Ring interprets that to mean that cyclocross is the most sacred of all the velo sports.

Can we get an Amen to that Brothers and Sisters?

It is without a doubt the most sacred. Unfortunately it is now the off season. Lars BOOM has done it. My Hollander friend here was suprised and happy to hear something sports related that didn't have to do with the Patriots, Celtics, or Red Sox. That and happy to hear that the winner was wearing orange. Boom looks pretty freaking HUGE coming across the finish line, no? Oh and MAN that's FUNNY. I right clicked on the image by accident (honestly) and it get a big pop up from them! Followed by the normal right click menu (thanks firefox). Who would 'steal' CN images? Posting them elsewhere is kinda free advertising, no?

Killer props to rachel for finishing 9th. Well done. I can look up at my Cross poster here in the office and see the other north american that did well (wendy simms).

Ah someday maybe I will be fortunate enough to make a pilgrimage to Worlds.

I read Ben's entry up there about week's end. Then had to read the interview of his favorite bike mechanic. Lookin at his schedule for '08, I think maybe there is a chance to meet this guy and his gal when they come visit New Belgium!

Then that whole:

Ben has gone to UCI (International Cycling Union) events where they say you need a mechanics license to get in the pit, so I thought that if I'm going to continue being his pit support at U.S. Gran Prix and UCI stuff, I may as well go legit.

got me waxing poetically about a mechanic's liscense. A real one. Like Pro Pits real and all that. Not sure what I would do with it. Not sure really I could learn anything. Not to mention who wants to drive a Motorcycle with some 6'6" ape hanging off the back jumping on and off to do wheel changes?

This season though. Tough. Cross is over. Football is over this weekend. Got to wait till the fall for both to come back strong. And maybe I can focus enough to come back stronger when they do.

Heddwch
G

Back to the Roots

Yeah - so I'm doing the last one, except not spamming mail boxes. I'm not quite 100% but considering the last time I lived full time there was 1990 outside of a few summers (damn that was a long time ago), I'm suprised it is so many.

The Pacific Northwest According To Jeff Foxworthy

1. You know the state flower (Mildew).

2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.

3. Use the statement 'sun break' and know what it means.

4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.

5 You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.

6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant.

7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the 'WALK' signal.

8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it's not a real mountain.

9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Tullys.

10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho and Sockeye salmon.

11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima and Willamette.

12. You consider swimming an indoor sport.

13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food.

14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark
while only working eight-hour days.

15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.

16. You are not fazed by 'Today's forecast: showers followed by rain,' and
Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers.'

17. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.

18. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind.

19. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through
the cloud cover.

20. You notice, 'The mountain is out' when it is a pretty day and you can
actually see it.

21. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still
wear your hiking boots and parka.

22. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on.

23. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain.

24. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists.

25. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones
after such a long time.

26. You measure distance in hours.

27. You often switch from 'heat' to 'a/c' in the same day.

28. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat.

29. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, winter, Still Raining
(Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall).

30. You actually understood these jokes and will probably forward them

Thanks for the laugh dumper!

Ah Cyclocross

So, I haven't checked the results yet. No idea how anyone did. But by the time anyone gets around to commenting I will know (just to spoil those who would be spoilers).

Sunday rolled around and I found myself with a window of opportunity. Sit on the couch watching infomercials or head out in the snow on the bike. Grabbed the cross bike, and headed out. But not without some modifications. It was snowing, and in honor of the Worlds going on this weekend I mounted the camera to the handlebars (two toestraps with the froggy mojo underneath to hold a mini-tripod in place).

With the snow falling and the camera mounted, I rolled out. I recorded the first lap, and then followed up with three more. Just working on flow, corners, and just having fun.

After that I decided that a bit of exploration of the bike path construction was in order. The next thing I know, I'm past it and in the big ring headed north, into the snow, into the wind and it feels good. Turned around with the wind and did a test run of the timelapse function on the digi-cam. I wish it had a shorter interval than 1 minute. But i took it slow. 39-25 spinning zero effort, probably 50 watts maybe, the tailwind certainly didn't help slow my pacing. The sequence turned out well. But mid-way through I wanted to stop the recording and shoot a few stills of the snow on the rocks over the water. Amazing beauty in nature when you take a moment to look. A nice bit of cyclocross, some cruising on the bike path and 90 minutes of fun followed by a nice warm shower.

So after the ride and after pulling up the images and reviewing the video I started watching World Cup #4, Koksijde '07. Wow. What a race. Watching Sven work through the field, patiently. Just amazing watching those guys go at it. Not missed was the fact that it seems only JP was wearing knee warmers. And Boom and Sven were unzipping mid way through the race. Crazy. And when Sven dropped the hammer? HOLY crap that was amazing. Another interesting thing to note: course, doubling back on itself. Just like at Nats in KC. Just tape between. But the conditions were very different and even if very muddy the odds of someone going off course at those places looked to be pretty slim.

Much less riveting but significantly shorter is my lap:

One lap from gewilli on Vimeo.
Caution: Turn the sound down. Something got a bit sketchy, that or the wind/vibration/snow/tires crunching is just not recorded well.

It isn't a terribly long lap, and at speed it should be just under 4 minutes. But there is plenty of field and trails to expand the course and make it much longer.

Well, time to check the email, the results, and drink some coffee.

Heddwch,
G

Kick some ass Rach!

bgw prompted this last minute addition.

The cross netwaves are buzzing with who will win this weekend. Sadly much of the chatter and the blog polls (save a rare example) are about the men.

What about everyone else? Katie seems possible to bow out, but we still got a shot I believe. Maybe. Can La La Lloyd (good cymru name there for ya bgw) generate the speed that is needed to stay with the obvious front runners and kill em in the end? Man I hope so. That would be super cool. Sadly, no Christine to root for this year, but we will survive. The first name I will be looking for on the results sheet will be Rachel's.

Kick some ass out there Girls! And Juniors, Luke, Gavin REPRESENT BOYS! The unsung heroes of the U S of A. I hope JP does well, and TJ and JPow.
HUP HUP HUP
*violently shaking cowbell*

-G

Training (PS edit)

Or specifically my lack there of.

Lacking specificity. Just doing it. Of course you can't just do it. And I can't help but still believe in the effectiveness of Walden's Fixed Gear winter riding regime.

As has been the practice for nearly the existence of this web log, I quote the training program that Mike Walden used to lay the foundation of a winning season:

Michigan coaching legend Mike Walden kept his road racers on a 42/15 fixed gear at a heart rate never to exceed 65% of their maximum until they had logged 1000 miles for the season, and he claimed a single sprint would negate all the "capillary developing" of this phase

42/15, HR below 65% max, 1000 miles logged. THEN ya work the rest in.

Now the area around Ann Arbor where the Wolverine cycling team was mostly based isn't the flattest part of the state, but it sure ain't new england. 1000 miles of base foundation seems like a pretty darn good idea. Granted I only got in about ~5000 miles last season (as a rough guess). So 1/5th of the time could be dedicated to that. The hard part it would seem is keeping #1 the HR down and avoiding anything resembling a sprint while towing a trailer (would need silly low granny to achieve that goal). Pedaling that many miles does a few things. Over the last few years it has really smoothed out my pedal stroke. Chatting with other local big guys I'm somewhat shocked when they say 90 rpm is uncomfortably fast. To hear other 20+ year vets say you should be comfortable at 120 for extended times makes me wonder how the hell do they keep in the system.

I'm good at thinking about stuff. Thinking that doing ____ for ____ will make me faster than I am. Looking at the facts the studies the results and coming up with something that would work. Think tank. That's me. But those tanks don't win races. The transition from thoughts to action often get lost as life whips past.

Commuting (as much as i try to) consists of my foundation, or base if you prefer. When the weather warms up slightly and the construction on the EBBP permits passability I get around 10 hours a week M-F if I just purely commute. I had almost 4 weeks off the bike this year between the second to last and last cross race of the season.

For those who don't get that many hours in the saddle a week, or miles in a year, each ride becomes more important. I understand that you need a foundation/base to go fast. A power meter is the only way a Coach can say "Do THIS" and then "Show me the NUMBERS" and it works. If you follow a plan. But on the other side you don't need one to follow a plan, and it you can get just as fast without one. It is like religion or worse, politics. Trying to get the powermeter addicted crowd to say "I could be just as fast without it" would be like getting a Republican to vote for Hillary, it could happen, but you'll be knocked off your feet in shock if it does. You can't really get fast unless you train. Work in = Work out. Very simple. Racing on the road with the New England Masters is a solid dose of: you better put your "work in" or it is NOT going to be fun. Fun and those rewards are why many people race. I've been around and around. Raced road in the ECCC for a handful of years. Went to Michigan and started doing more and more MTB, started racing it, then discovered cross and felt at home. That feeling of belonging on a course, in a race, in a discipline is undeniable. I have fun racing on the road. I don't have fun racing in a Crit, maybe because I don't have the patience to put the time in to get comfortable enough on that type of course. When you aren't having fun it is hard to put the work in to get to the point of having fun. This morning riding in I was working to come up with a crit course that would mimic a cyclocross course in power/speed change demands. And the best I could come up with is a star shaped course. Ever corner being almost a hairpin with one set of sides with a long straight, speed changing up and down up and down. Yes, speed changes on a regular course, but no where near the same level in a crit like it does on a cross course. And of course there are the dismounts, runs and what not where your HR goes UP off the bike.

Hmm, where was I going with all that? I ain't got a clue. Talk about getting on the wrong train.

Honestly I hope to include a bit more structure to this year when it comes to my cycling. Not just going out and doing hill repeats for the hell of it because I *think* it might make me fast. I did intervals last year with the powertap. Wow effective and impressive. But I honestly think they would have been just as effective using a Lab Timer. Affix one of those bad boys to the handlebars, hit the T1,2,3 button for the different interval lengths (say you are doing 4, 8, & 10 minute blocks) and the T4 for your rest duration.

That makes me think about something to elucidate. When I said "sub-optimal" regarding FT results. If the FT is so critical to determine what the coach will prescribe what happens if it isn't your actual 'real' FT? Say in race mode, or just plain old physiological mode you are capable of 10-20% higher numbers than you do in the test. Will the training actually increase the FT? Or will it just help to keep you at the same FT? I don't have an answer. It was just a line of thinking that, if I was following some FT program, I would want to be clear about.

Back on the power. Many of the athletes I greatly respect do not use a power meter. Most of those have at one time or another tried to use it and found it unnecessary. Why did they find it not helpful when many swear it is the greatest thing since the heart rate monitor? I can guess, and have laid out a few thoughts on the mater already, no need to rehash them.

There is a bit of frustration with the evangelical nature of those who worship at the alter of watts. Sure you've found salvation in the data, but does the data make you a better cyclist? A faster cyclist? A smarter cyclist? If I gave you a bike with a set of classic 32 hole box profile rims and said you can have either a set of deep section aero wheels or the same 32 hole box rims with a power tap what would you take, assuming you are going to be racing on the bike and you cannot add wheels down the road? Rhetorical, don't answer the question.

Bottom line: You have to train, you have to put the work in to go fast. It doesn't matter what metric you use to do that until you are physically at or near the peak of your genetic potential. If you aren't anywhere CLOSE to determining your genetic ceiling, that powermeter isn't going to do any good, atmo. But at the same time, it still has to be fun if you aren't putting food on the table from your racing results.

Heddwch
G

Yeah - i'm adding a P.S. Riding back up to the big facility from the little one on the other side of the City I felt compelled to write this down:
I am contradictory. I've acknowledged that in the past, expounded a bit on that here as well. Think pendulum, metronome, or negative connotation version: flip flop. I prefer a yin yang type relationship, less negativity. But then I can be rather negative, at the same time positive or maybe not at the same instant. Emotions swing wildly, and ideas do as well. Some people constantly live in a grayscale world never really hitting the black and whites, sometimes I feel like an outsider when I see more black and white than middle ground. That causes tension. Lots of tension. If you can see the gray and can accept it, moving on is easy. So, I guess to get to the point:

If in my contradiction and confusion you realize some clarity on your own, that is good. One should always re-evaluate their position, retest the facts that they hold as the foundation of an idea. If through my muddled statements ranting against powermeters right now either helps you re-affirm your belief in them or solidify your reasons for not using one, that is good. Make your own choices. Follow the string of facts that make sense to you. Don't be afraid to challenge someone else's position, or to investigate why someone doesn't believe in what you do. The more you understand about how people who have different believes achieved them, the more peace there will be. You don't have to agree. But I makes communication and everything that goes with it easier when you can comprehend the position. It works in Politics, Religion or Training.

Food

Finally a topic I know something about. Cooking and food. Yes you can always get into a discussion regarding vegan, paleo and on and on which is better blahblahblahblah...

But. Reduce it down. What base elements you include, meat or no meat, animal product or none, the process to make the food taste good? That is a process I KNOW I can do. Some people can train to well beyond their potential. I can cook.

One of the most important things is what you start with. What ingredients you choose.

Choosing well does a few things.
#1 Quality and freshness tastes better
#2 Hidden dangers found in the processing/growing of the food
#3 Transportation costs and global costs

The first Walden post I dug up for the previous entry also included a link to the top 10 foods to eat organically.

Email this web page to everyone you know with kids, or who cares about what they are eating.
the-top-10-foods-to-eat-organically

SIMPLE SOLUTION: You can sidestep harm and still eat vitamin-rich foods. If you cannot find these foods organically, here are some great alternatives that contain the same valuable vitamins and minerals.

High-pesticide food: Strawberries
Main nutrient: Vitamin C
Healthy alternatives: Blueberries, raspberries, oranges, grapefruit, kiwifruit, watermelon

High-pesticide food: Bell peppers
Main nutrient: Vitamin C
Healthy alternatives: Green peas, broccoli, romaine, lettuce

High-pesticide food: Spinach
Main nutrient: Vitamins A and C
Healthy alternatives: Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus

High-pesticide food: Cherries
Main nutrient: Vitamin C
Healthy alternatives: Oranges, blueberries, raspberries, kiwifruit, blackberries, grapefruit

High-pesticide food: Peaches
Main nutrient: Vitamins A and C
Healthy alternatives: Nectarines, watermelon, tangerines, oranges, grapefruit

High-pesticide food: Mexican cantaloupe
Main nutrient: Vitamins A and C
and potassium Healthy alternatives: U.S. cantaloupe grown from May to December, watermelon

High-pesticide food: Celery
Main nutrient: Carotenoids
Healthy alternatives: Carrots, broccoli, radishes, romaine lettuce

High-pesticide food: Apples
Main nutrient: Vitamin C
Healthy alternatives: Watermelon, nectarines, bananas, tangerines

High-pesticide food: Apricots
Main nutrient: Vitamins A an C and potassium
Healthy alternatives: Nectarines, watermelon, oranges, tangerines

High-pesticide food: Green beans
Main nutrient: Potassium
Healthy alternatives: Green peas, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, asparagus

It Didn't Feel

Like a short week. But making it through has been good.

Worlds, this weekend. Very exciting. Wishing I could watch live, but I will hopefully score some content post race from one source or another.

The 16°F temps weren't too bad this morning. The ride up the hill was fun and I decided to try a 40x14 singlespeed. Worked pretty well. Good quad burn draggin the p-mount and my bag up the hill. Lungs got working, the cold air felt great. It got me thinking more about ThomP's singlespeed post. And thinking training on single speed is a good thing, if you are riding with folks who are geared. Good for you (maybe not for them if you impede their progress) good for getting faster/stronger. Moving to race situation though I would imagine switching to a geared bike would give you a significant advantage. Just thinking about it.

Food. Made a nice winter chicken/turkey noodle soup last night. It is crazy how simple making a good healthy not-from-can soup is. Yes it takes a bit longer than opening the can and dumping it in a pan on the stove or a bowl in the nuker. The results are well worth it. I will pop up a recipe when I get a chance.

till then
Heddwch (pronounced: heath-ook. Definition: peace. Language: Welsh).
-G

Anyone else?

Thinking about this at all?

04.10.2008 Providence Cyclo-Cross Festival/World Cup Providence, RI
05.10.2008 Providence Cyclo-Cross Festival/World Cup Providence, RI

Among those who "get it"

BSNYC!

Power Cranks

If cycling were an orange, roadies would take that orange, put it on a juicer, squeeze all the pulpy, delicious goodness out of it, and then eat the rind. And this is most apparent in their use of Power Cranks. When I see somebody out there on a bike with Power Cranks doing his idiotic prostrations, both his pedals in the 6:00 position as his lycra-clad taint bears the full brunt of his weight, I don’t know whether to laugh or just run him off the road. Users of Power Cranks cite performance gains, but it’s pretty obvious to me that once you’re determined enough to use something this stupid you’re going to somehow milk performance gains out of anything. As such, I’m issuing a recall, since these cranks are obviously broken. Duh. Not only that, but they cost like $1,000. If you’re considering these malfunctioning pieces of garbage do something smart and buy a mountain bike instead. Not only will you learn how to pedal, but you’ll also learn how to handle your bike. (And you might even have some fun.)

freaking brilliant. Made funnier by the random viewing of a cross bike with them on there. Goes right along with PowerTaps and such.

Feel the burn

of the cold air in the lungs, and the biting air through the thin old navy cargo pants. Jeans are much better winter commuting clothing than these pants i picked out today. My quads and shins have finally warmed up a bit.

These hybrid commutes are nice, but not good as base miles. But riding sure beats driving and parking, then moving the car and fretting about a parking ticket. The bike path is still under major construction and it has gotten worse. The section just before it passes under the bridge by the treatment plant is torn up and blocked with heavy equipment. It might be possible to sneak a single bike through there but from the drive by I don't see a clear path to drag a trailer through. Hybrid commutes it will be for a bit of time I guess.

I have been cogitating a bit on the whole power/base/training stuff. Yes I will admit to needing to pull my head out of the sand and start looking at a laying out a training program with defined goals and specificity targeted at getting better next season in cyclocross. Personally I do not believe someone needs a powermeter to get faster. Maybe I am wrong about that. Maybe I am incorrect in thinking that a human, given the cognitive power of our brain, can rightly measure out dosage of energy. One great invalidation of the whole system happened on a ride that I did not want to get dropped on. Climbing some steep power sections I was gapped, left in no mans land, everyone I knew was up the road and I didn't want to get dropped. I was out of my gourd in terms of average wattage. It was pretty insane. Uncharacteristic. Why? Well at that point I wasn't paying attention to the meter, I had a goal. I cannot motivate, generate enough intensity just doing a test, any FT I would have done would be sub-optimal. For me, I just need to find the right trigger, the right combination of mental strength to get me to hit the "numbers." I've raced a few cross events with the powertap running. I have a pretty clear idea of what the demands are for power, at least in relative terms. Much of the pro-power arguments are very salient for racers who compete primarily on the road, cyclocross is a different type of discipline, at least in my mind. Yes, you still have to be fast on the bike to be fast in cyclocross and there is good correlation between being fast on the road and being fast in cross. But, if you look at the type of intervals skinnywhity does, they are time based and generally as hard as you can go for x number of minutes.

It is somewhat dismaying to have such a preponderance of pro-powermeter chatter out there. There seems, in some respect, a prejudice, a negative stereo type of those who believe you can get just as fast without using a power meter as with one. Maybe one of these days I will actually buy and read Friel's book. To counter that, I have run across more than one or two instances of individuals who claim that the book is worthless. That said, I still probably should take a look.

Bottom line though. Riding is fun. No way in hell do I want to let go of the pleasure and the fun of going out with some friends on Saturday. In pure competition in our sport there is nothing as down right fun and rewarding as Cyclocross. I have very solid concrete areas I know I can target to get faster, and that is reassuring to me, and these areas do NOT require a recording meter.

Palate cleanser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoLKvWf4Fd0
i saw it first over here this morning.

That and I'm thinking a good trip out to Otis the weekend of the 16/17th of Feb is in order for some killer MTB riding. Maybe I can twist a few arms into joining me for some singletrack shenanigans. No powermeters allowed!

Heddwch,
G

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
- Herm Albright

Ahhhhhh

satisfaction.

Getting on the bike, even if it was a hybrid commute day, was brilliant. Feeling the burn in the quads heading up the long(ish) mellow grade. Feeling the cold air fill my lungs, clear my head. Ah, brilliant stuff.

Side note about the comments, yes, before opening my mouth about 6 hours at zone 4-5, i should have checked my source before pulling it out my head (through my ass). High rate of speed, rider maintained a high rate of speed, increasing the duration until he was able to ride at (picking an arbitrary number out of my head through my ass again) 25 mph alone for 6 hours.

Another side note. PowerTap. Been there, done that. It is a great and powerful data logger. Does wonderful things with graphs and averages and all that. It does not make you any faster. It makes intervals more consistent and (some argue) more effective. But it doesn't do it for you. And it doesn't make you faster. Wicked awesome toy. But ultimately a crutch. Sounds different from last year, no? Trust me, it is. Learning is a process. Some people have to do it themselves at times (me) to really learn it. Although, I will say I had great hopes that the toy would be the motivation to get a program in swing. But it showed me that it isn't important. RPE is as good of a measure as need be. Circular. Things go around and come around.

Yes, Base/Foundation, it is what is needed to build the 'house' proper foundation is important. I think I have the foundation laid pretty well (it is good to find a positive now and then, no?)

heddwch
G

In Response To

Solobreak's:

Did you have more Dale's Ale for breakfast, or are you just trolling for flames?

Maybe it is a nomex day - intent was not to troll for flames. I have never been a good intentional fisherman in that respect. Incidental trolling? That is more my oblivious style.

And rather than bury the response back in the comments (where all good responses should go, I know) I wanted to flush it out here a bit. Mostly because it seems to come down to a point of view, a perception, an interpretation of the 'term' base.

I'm not discounting 'base' per-say i guess.

Sort of pondering what it should be and what it means.

Does base mean going out for a 3+ hour ride with an average wattage around 2-2.5w/kg? Or does base mean getting 2 hours with 3-4 w/kg?

Then along the thinking lines:
Does base matter if you never stop riding? If your off-season includes your commuting but no racing, or commuting on a reduced schedule, are those base miles really important?

Do you need to re-teach your body how to ride if you never take more than 3-4 weeks off the bike? Sure your seat contact points will need to toughen back up that that takes (from what I have experienced) 2 rides.

My point of view is that base miles would be counter productive for me. Base miles in the traditional sense: long with easy to moderate pace. On a typical week (over the year average) I'm on the bike 45-75 minutes twice a day usually towing a trailer. Taking valuable extra time on the bike on TOP of that to ride around and 'accumulate' base miles, for me, seems pretty counter productive at this point. This point being the second full cyclocross season back and 3.5 years of solid nearly daily riding. Base miles? I'm probably the last person to need them. I am also, admittedly, the one who needs to actually follow one, any of them. Following something specific, doing something on a regular basis, is what I am lacking. No question. Someday I might look into actually sitting down and asking for advice to detail a specific training plan for my specific goals with my circumstances in mind. Someday.

I guess base just has a crazy connotation for me. Maybe for many people it does mean a bit less specific. For me, as I have thought about it, the word I would pick is 'foundation' training. Base and Foundation in cycling terms for me seem different. Maybe they aren't. Could be it is just that I am different (hold the comments, I KNOW I am different).

The Millwork1 Team Manager happened to stop by the office here today, random chance meeting, it is always good to see friends in person. Good stuff.

Changing gears, it would seem that King of Burlingame MTB TT has a race date set: April 6th, 2008. And that gets me thinking... have I missed the cyclingnews culmination piece on the 26 vs 29 test? Or are they still "working on it?"

Unfortunately, you'll still have to wait a bit to find out our results, but you know what they say about good things… soon, soon, I promise.

That was in 2006, we waited through 2007, it is now 2008. The results should be staggering and statistically rock solid. I can't wait.

That and reading Thom P's has me thinking that maybe instead of riding I can satisfy what I imagine heroin withdrawal like cravings would be like that are washing over me after a week off the bike by finally turning the Mantra into a singlespeed. I've got the wheel all built up. Just need to pretty much put it on and sort out which of the decimated and destroyed rear derailleurs I have kicking around in the craftsmen tool chest will work the best.

Ah, well enough spastic 30 second snippets of ramblings.

Heddwch,
G

Reading this a song pops in my head

*yes, i know, one race does not vindicate/redeem, but still i feel heaps better that Mr. Roll a Tubular did NOT roll one this time*

"The tubulars held like a mofo. Thanks GeWilli."

Song in my head reading that:


Not sure why. At least CTodd didn't roll a tubbie, and that lucky no luck son of a Beeeatch got to race at MOL! Damn, even with the bad luck he's wicked damn Lucky!

it is been cold enough in New Belgium for

Solobreak to get a cat!

Stuff I didn't Write

Our Father which rides in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy mountains come,
Thy will be rode, in The Big Ring as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily mileage,
And forgive us our drafting, as we forgive those who draft against us.
And lead us not into a field sprint,
but deliver a solo win.

For primes, the flowers and jerseys are yours,
For ever and ever.
Amen

And in a fortune cookie last night:
The philosophy of one century blog is the common sense of the next.

Turn the faucet off, please

The one in my right sinus cavity. Seems that the week off the bike, combined with the perfect elements starting Friday ending Monday were enough to put a solid beat down on my immune system. And to compound it all no chance today to get on the bike and let the cold air act as the damn best sinus decongestant. Maybe tomorrow but again, probably not likely.

The path does look clear, what can be ridden. The mile section from crescent view to riverside square is still closed. Major digging going on. No Good. The forecast today is looking potentially interesting.

Ran into a Bikeworks rider at the Y down this way on Sunday. He mentioned already having his base miles in, and starting to mix in some intensity.

That comment has me getting a bit more introspective about training. One in terms of his frame. He's a roadie, no questions, looking to peak in May. So it makes sense that he has been working on base. But, I wonder about base. And the efficacy of long steady miles. I recognize that going out and doing 4 hour rides makes the shorter rides not seem like much. But, how many(assuming reasonably fit, maybe not fast, but racers) cyclists have a problem riding forever? The problem more seems to be duration of intensity. Or number of stretches on the rubber band before it breaks. How many races are 3-4 hours of tempo riding with a sprint at the end? At least around here? Yes the base gives you some other benefits. But. I dunno, I innately want to question the benefits of doing long base miles compared to high intensity as much as you can. Not saying every single ride should be zone 4-5. But after a few years of riding and racing any time in zone 2-3 outside of recovery seems like a waste. No. I am not a coach. I have not read Friel's book yet. I look at successful folks. One person had a story of the training program of a young cyclist who wanted to make it big on the road and he made it PRO very quickly. His program was to ride at Zone 4-5 as long as he could. First the rides were short. Every week or two he added more distance, keeping the same intensity. Rumor has it he was doing 4-6 hour rides at zone 4-5. It took him quite a while (months) to get to that point. But, in my mind, that makes one hell of a lot of sense. No? Barring the luxury of time to ride 4-6 hours a day 4-5 times a week at that intensity coupled with enough rest between, it just seems intervals are the way to go. Longish intervals. Short ones. But essentially: only intervals. For me at least. Assuming I can start commuting again at least 4 days a week, that gives me the volume and saddle time without base miles. If I can figure out how to incorporate intervals instead of long fun social type rides (at any intensity) maybe I can step it up a notch for Cross. But then, as always, if GeWilli can figure out how to do any cycling on a regular basis outside of commuting or cross racing, well, then progress should be very possible.

I keep coming back to the first lap in Cross with this thought: If a rider can hold a certain pace for one lap, what is the hurdle to staying THAT fast all race? The answer that keeps coming back is training. Limiting factors in cross typically are #1 the engine (mental and physical) #2 technique #3 bike handling and a distant #4 bike (setup - fit - tire choice...). And it might not be correct but in general lately I know my improvements in #2 this past season have helped dramatically but as usual, GeWilli seems to hit his head hard on the #1 ceiling. I hope to some how change that in the next few years.

Well, not much else feels like flowing out of my fingers right now.

Heddwch,
G

Dale's Pale Ale

...is one heck of an expensive six pack in cans! $9.50/6. At least at the overpriced store here in the high rent district of town. But, they did have it and the cheap giant packie store did not. Word has it that a bar in Warwick has it on draft.

Why spend that much on a six pack of beer? We are going to be having a special visitor this weekend that shares the namesake of the Beer. It is to honor him. That and he will get a kick out of it I think.

Of note, it was the first place I've seen that Ommegagagon beer, Ome-something, you know that NY brewery that does all the belgian style ales and sponsors cross races. The've got a few other unique belgium beers that the super snoots were name dropping on the NECX list post Natz.

Good luck again to Ctodd and the gang racing at Masters Worlds tomorrow.

RS is an inspiration. Go read the words his sponsors are saying about the team. That is a noble organization with a great history and a bright future. Oh the lucky ones who get to ride and race a Richard Sachs Original. We can all learn a bit from Richard.

Heddwch,
G

type casting reflected

Someone decided to type cast in a broad sense. This is starting off as a simple #3. Yes, I have contemplated including #7 again to make it a true 'GeWilli' post. But for some reason there isn't anything compelling out there to include. Bobby Fisher? Nah. Everyone else is lamenting the death of the anti-semetic, anti-american former chess champ. Most of the people are overlooking his political views, either because they don't know them or they condone them but are afraid to come out in support of them. Me? Neither. Being anti-preservative isn't the same as being anti-'specific culture/group of people' well maybe it is if you delineate it enough. I'm trying to avoid turning this into a #8, so we'll leave that right there.

I've decided that while I love the collection of recordings on my hard drive, I am not thrilled to have them randomly selected in shuffle mode. I like listening to Grooveradio or Pandora because they pop songs in there I never would have selected. So, I've stumbled on some podcast. DJ Tiesto, Armin van Buren, and a few other long mix sets/podcasts. Those I like. But then they aren't perfect either. I don't have an uninterrupted hour or two to listen (off the trainer - but I have yet to ride the trainer post iPod acquisition).

Oh and I *LOVE* the Cooks Illustrated Video Pod casts. Good stuff. I need a dutch oven (to make no knead bread when the Bread lab is closed).

Bread is good.

And no wonder when I have a craving for beer, a handful of good bread satisfies. (Watch the No Knead Bread 2.0 podcast). Or is it the other way around.

Thinking off beer - hats off to the hard core New Belgian crew contesting at Masters worlds in MOL this weekend. Steamboat, The Mayor, CTodd... and who ever I've missed. We're all Jealous. Race well and REPRESENT!

Heddwch
G

And now for something more positive

Sunday Football.

How can you not get worked up and excited about the Packers playing at home in January or the Pats in Foxboro. Two open air stadiums. The way football is meant to be played.

Temps look to be amazingly similar. Unfortunately it probably won't be snowing like it was last week in Green Bay, but the cold should definitely make for an interesting game. Will the Chargers or the Giants be able to over come two offenses firing on all cylinders at home? Will their offense be able to solve the home field defense and crowd energy? My sources say no. Green Bay against the Patriots. Sure, the giants 'could' win, and the Chargers, no, they can't, but the Giants have Manning, and yes he has improved but this is Green Bay. At home. Cold with that intense defense of the Packers.

It will be a good game. It will be exciting.

It is football at the pinnacle.

Alot like cyclocross. Sure people can say racing in september is great. But much like football, the more adverse the conditions the more compelling the competition. Adverse weather requires more preparation, more focus. Hit that variable correctly and you have an advantage that can turn into a major psychological boon for a competitor and in the same vein, completely demoralize someone who isn't prepared.

The weather makes mistakes critical. A dry fast course like Gloucester is a party, affording racers the chance to take a bad line, to try and strangle themselves with the tape, yet some how stay in the top 20. Mud, snow, cold, wind. A bad line means you are down. It means not only getting dropped but it means the odds of working bck up are close to nil. That is the beauty of REAL cyclocross racing. The pure fact that you do really have to have a perfect race to win, IF the conditions are challenging. The strongest racer might not win. The BEST racer WILL win.

Here's to hoping that the move to a January National Championship date will correct the shifted season and provide the type of cross racing that sorts out the best riders and demands that you know what the hell you are doing with knobbies on that skinny road bike like ride.

Heddwch,
G

Sad news

The genius behind the best seatpost in history has passed away.

Ronnie, you will be missed! Rest in peace, your memory will live on in all those who have appreciated your product.

From the mission statement on the company web page:

“Throughout The Centuries There Were Men
Who Took First Steps Down New Roads
Armed With Nothing But Their Own Vision”
-Ayn Rand

How did I miss this

Eat right for 'cross?

Maybe I didn't miss it.

This iPod thing, been wearing it doing routine lab work. Damn thing is disrupting my thought process. Very odd. Last year's gadget was a Power Tap hub. This year, iPod nano (3rd gen).

Oddly I feel like I am forcing this out. I know I should just skip this content, but it critically documents something that I find curious.

Oh. There are two other confounding issues (see I am making a list now):
#1 Not commuting in by bike (carpooling instead)
#2 Reading a couple dozen pages of an engrossing Ken Follet Book before falling asleep.
#3 iPod iDiot iSyndrom

But after writing this, my brain suddenly feels more in balance. Odd.

-G

gadgets

Gadgets are cool! I was fortunate enough to win something. A little 4GB nano thing. Yes. Mr. Anti-iPod has an iPod. Crazy. Pretty damn cool though. Pretty damn cool. Now I can use the free audio training files that Chris lacking-Charm-ikle, and Bubba Rollski did back in 2006. Could be fun. Or could just be annoying.

Thinking about those training files, coupled with the frame work of carpooling to work the last few days has me thinking about doing something differently this year. Maybe not being so damn tired all the time from commuting and then riding on top of it. I did put in some big KJ weeks last year. But were they as effective as they could have been? Would I have been faster taking more rest?

I'm ruminating a bit on how to proceed for the new year. The snow has turned to solid ice on the path making trailer passage very tough and way too continuously jarring for any passenger, and making running more of a challenge (seeking alternate routes on busy roads and such). But, a rest 'week' is really not too bad. It is the 'off' season, right? Battenkill is month's away. I've got time to start doing the intervals. I wonder what the MTB schedule looks like this year... Hmmmm

heddwch
G

Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.
- Robert Orben

There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink.
- Booth Tarkington

exhale....

Blink - stretch - slump into jello

At least the day isn't flying by. Tedious work tends to have an uncanny way of making time creep past in a plodding pedestrian manner.

I read a bit around the virtual space over coffee this morning and lunch. There are a few great reads. Most of which everyone has stumbled upon themselves. But, in typical GeWilli fashion, I want to document them here for myself down the road.

Starting off with Fatty. This bullet caught my eye:

Lots of Reading: Susan reads about three books per week. I expect this will continue. On this subject, I’d like to take a moment to gloat that I used my ability to choose excellent gifts to unparalleled effect this Christmas: I bought Susan an Amazon Kindle. It’s a gadget you can use to buy — wirelessly — books, and then read them. No hooking up to the computer, WiFi, or Internet connection necessary. It’s like magic. The gadget press has pretty soundly trashed the Kindle in their reviews, but the reality is that if you buy it because you love to read (i.e., not because you’re a huge nerd who thinks social networking is an important part of your reading experience), it’s an awesome little device.

Cool. Very cool. I've been curious about the readers and what not. This one is the first that has me thinking "ME WANT." Like my cell phones that get used as (believe it or not) just as a phone. This dedicated device is wicked damn cool. I especially like the screen. gorgeous.

So in some what a contrary vein. I read this over at Gwadzilla:

article by anonymous in a marin paper
in this case
anonymous=jacquie phelan

I need to get to work
but I will read this later
it is only up till thursday

and i had to click over, and read. I made a quick digital copy to the hard drive in the event the content gets pulled and I want to read it again.

Dwight has a new entry at Velonews. Maybe one of the few remaining reasons to read it left? I don't know really where I stand on velonews. I have two print magazine subscriptions, Dirt Rag and Cyclocross Mag. That is it. Back to Brandon's report. This phrase caught my eye:

Since normal people don't really find January in Belgium to be an ideal vacation destination, I had no problem getting a ticket. With the flight booked I looked into entering the Masters Cyclocross World Championships and came to find out I can't race

DOH! The US 35+ Masters champ cannot compete in Masters Worlds? Serious? Brandon hasn't been following the Richard Feldman school of being a Masters racer, specifically rule #1: Do not ever enter an event that could even remotely possibly score you a single UCI point. He does bring up the point of the cherry picking Masters racers at Nationals. Or specifically all the elite racers who enter one Master race a year. We can honestly say that around here in New Beligum our fastest Masters racer at Nationals has a handful of Masters events under his belt. Usually a double day and yes, he is generally the fastest master on the course. No problem with that.

The recent snow on the bike path has me pining after the latest and greatest resistance training device possible: Here. Hook that bad boy up on Powertap'd bike and mash some monster watts!

Speaking of numbers. Frazz has a nice homage to Beaufort today:


That's about all I have at the moment.

So MIF/Solo which # does this post fit into?

heddwch
g

Apple Spice Cake

A plain name for a not so plain cake.

Topping - this gets baked on the bottom of the pan, make it first and let it cool down a bit so you can handle the apples.

1 XL Fuji Apple, peeled - cored and sliced about 2-3mm thick
3 tbsp Butter
3 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup apple cider/unfiltered juice
1 tbsp cinnamon

Melt butter and sugar in a 12" non-stick omelet pan. Add the juice and cinnamon and reduce until thickened over med-low heat (light simmer). Add apples and increase heat until they are well coated and just barely soft. Remove from heat and let cool while making the batter.

Batter - Two step batter, liquid and dry.
Pre-Heat the oven to 350°F
Coat 2 8" square baking pans (or their equivalent) liberally with butter. Line the bottom with parchment paper and coat the paper with butter (I just flipped the paper upside down after fitting it to the bottom of the pan).

Dry ingredients: mix/sift together in a large bowl
2 cups King Arthur All purpose flour
1 cup King Arthur White whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Wet ingredients:
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 jumbo eggs
1 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup of the Apple cider/juice

Beat eggs then add everything else except the butter and mix together, slowly add cooled (but still liquid) melted butter (hot butter in the eggs will just cook the eggs - that's NOT good - yuk, no I did not make that mistake).

Gently fold liquid into the dry ingredients. DO NOT OVER MIX. Once the batter is just barely incorporated stop.

Take the cooled apple slices and arrange them on the bottom of the buttered pans on top of the parchment. This is going to be the top of the cake, you can be as artistic as you want or you can just make a layer. Once the apples have been arranged pour the remaining sauce evenly over the apples. Carefully spoon the batter on top of the apples. If you pour it in the the apples will float away and it won't work.

Bake for ~45 minutes. They are done when a toothpick can be inserted and pulled out clean. Remove them from the oven. Before they cool invert the cake on a rack. If they cool down it will be very difficult to remove them from the pan and to remove the parchment paper. How long it takes to bake will depend greatly on how thick the cake batter is in the pan. Also baking times will vary based on the type of pan used, do not over cook the cake.

Optional glaze for the top of the cake or to make up and drizzle over some vanilla ice cream to serve with the cake.
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar
(melt together)
1/2 cup apple juice
reduce over heat as in the apple toping above.

Enjoy one of the most moist and delicate cakes possible.

HIT THE BRAKES

So, just getting ready to go and I remembered. I could STOP today. Yes. I could stop in the snow, the wet cold rim/bike cassette sticking snow. What ever gear I was not using in the back would build up with ice and snow preventing use. BUT. I could stop.

I could ALWAYS stop. Effortlessly. WTF. Maybe I need to put these brakes on the Cross bike. Late 90s XTV V-brakes, Ritchey Red pads, QBP Travel Agents and 9.0 ESP levers. Not to discount the braking surface: Sun Rims 0°XC rims.

Having brakes is cool. It took a few seconds of hard grabbing of the brakes on the Croll in Dayville for them to come close to slowing me down. Disc brakes sounded great to me there. But. Then maybe these XTRs would be the way to go!

That's all. Clothes are now dry enough to put on. WhooT! Nothing worse than having to put on wet clothes for the second training session ride home.

Ride/Drive/Be Safe
Heddwch
G

Scribblings

So i started something during my one spot of time today. Looks like this:

Football and cross

Cross bike ride Saturday

Snow ride in

Caramelized Apple cake

That is as far as I got. The first was going to be a few paragraphs expounding on the similarity of cross and football as seasonal outdoor sports that get better the colder and wetter is it outside. There was going to be a tie in to LFL (Lenny Football League - a college thing we did when it was cold and or wet outside, no pads tackle football on a small field with a few less than stellar athletes - I played as an indicator) and a few other tie ins.

Even not feeling 100% on Saturday I managed to get out for a glorious 4.5 laps on 'our' cross course. It could be a totally kick ass technical suffer fest if a race broke out on the course. Maybe it will be possible to get a few people to show up. Maybe a bribe with some food. The thing that kept going through my head: "How little tape can i get away will that could keep Paul Curley on the designed course?"

Of course the ride in. I really wanted to describe it in the epic sense. The battle with the construction vehicles. The reckless abandon with which the dump truck drivers were hurtling their unladen trucks down the bike path. The changing snow. The vehicular destruction passing me on flatbed haulers. The cold, the wind, the wet, the snow. And not least of which the beauty along the way and the ride of the 'Snaux' bike, aka my Carbon Mantra.

Last of which is food related. The clan met up with my brother last night. I brought desert. The result was impressive. Quite the delectable satisfying finish to a great evening. It wasn't a recipe specifically for what I made. I cobbled together a few different ones, exchanged a few ingredients for others, and made it work with what we had on hand. And holy crap, did it ever work. I spend a few minutes watching the Chargers and Colts to transcribe the complete recipe into the Moleskin book. I had planned to plunk it down here. Moleskin is at home. Soon.

Like everything, there comes a time to balance and sacrifice. Enjoy the pictures. And most importantly, remember to have fun riding your bike.

Heddwch
G

Pictures before the story

heddwch
G

(yes it was as fun, awesome, beautiful as it hopefully looks)

Finally

Urtica dioica

I managed to find one of the last U. dioica alive up in the Seattle region this holiday vacation. Managed to get it to the lab and prepared and ready to view. I need a few more demo/training samples for the microscope, and we need a few images as 'art' around here. Very exciting to see.

This is a plant that I have done battle with growing up. Perfecting a clearing technique in order to get through 6'+ tall thickets of them using only a long stick. No just bashing it back tends to send bits flying around. Those bits hurt.

I'd actually never heard a very common term for the plant in N.America till recently. To be honest I cannot remember who it was that said the term first. But it makes sense.

Those with itchy brains and trigger fingers might have googled the latin name. Remarkably beautiful plant. Especially under the microscope.

Now, microscopy is a lot of hurry up and wait. 30 seconds here. 5 minutes there. Rush pause rush pause rush.

Time to let the images speak for themselves.

Image 3 - Business trichome of the plant.
Image 4 (detail of 3)
Image 6 (detail of 3)

Image 7 - Base of a pair of trichomes on a leaf petiole (stalk of a leaf)
Image 10 - underside of a leaf with major and minor trichomes and vascular bundle
Image 12 - Minor trichome, bacteria and stomata
Image 13 - distinctive bacteria or fungi surrounded by small bacteria on under side of the leaf
Image 14 - An individual stomate with bacteria.

heddwch
G

Nice Read out of Seattle

Seattle Times article.

Good stuff. Go ride your bike.

You scumbag, you maggot

No. Those sentiments are not directed at anyone. In fact they key a song that I am quite fond of. Not the happiest of all songs. But it figures prominently in the permanent soundtrack in my head on the bike.

Last night, riding from work to daycare, it took over my brainwaves. Fairytale of New York.

Yesterday the 4 days of riding wore me down a bit. Coming back from having adjusted to no exercise and no increased caloric demands has been hard on me physically. Having half of the house sick was the trump card. Sinuses started to back up a bit yesterday. Hit pretty hard last night. Not feeling overwhelmed but energy levels are below reserves. Maybe I should blame it on the Fritos. Say their over-processed corn sucked the life force out of me. Or something else from that day or evening.

The rain combined with the necessity of dropping both girls off this morning meant i drove. Pulling away from daycare a few bolts of lightning flashed and the skies unloaded some torrential rains, validating the choice of commuting methods today. Burn a bit of BioDiesel, instead of pasta. I even remembered to move the car this morning.

I have a goal for tomorrow. To get out and ride the cross bike on my cross course. It is a shortish lap, but a nice mix of wide 'single track' sand, off camber turns, grass, wood chips, pavement, and a run up. I don't know if i will have the energy to suit up and ride, but I want to try. Maybe just go out for half a dozen mellow laps. Just to keep the flow in the legs and the body. To ride for fun. Maybe I can talk a few team mates or fellow New Belgian cross racers to show up for a few random weekend 'rides' around the course or other 'crossable' courses.

Right now, I just want to take a nap. Maybe eating lunch will help. I doubt it.

Ya know. I realized, i made it a whole cross season riding my old stuff. Frame: 1998. Wheels: 1997/8. Bits? 9 speed Dura-Ace (pre-Flight Deck stuff). Amazing. I managed to keep the shifters working yet another year with a magical combination of lubricants. T9? Nope. WD-40? Nope. GUNK Liquid Wrench sprayed in there until completely clean and LOUD. Followed by the magic bullet: Campagnolo Lubrificante. Not too much. But just enough. That bubbly effervescent goodness is perfect. Not so thin as to run off and leave it dry. Not so waxy as to turn to grease in the cold. Perfect. I swore with all the miss-shifts from Stirling and Wrentham that i would be buying a new shifter. A bit of that special treatment and it is shifting like new. Say what you want about Dura-Ace. That shit is bananas.

Here's another pro-tip from GeWilli. When packing your bike for traveling on the aeroplane, or boxing it up to hand to the Brown wearing folks, grab a handful of small thin garbage bags and a can or two of maximal expanding great stuff. Put the bags in the open spaces and then fill the bag with great stuff. Carefully so as not to have it blow out the top of the bag all over your nice big bits. It will lock it all in place in a special custom mold. Make the "bag blocks" carefully and intelligently and you have custom re-usable packing material.

One last tip from GeWilli. Go read today's Foaming Rant. Brilliant. Sort of. I am actually pretty tired of hearing about this Ball guy. It would be more enlightening and entertaining (even if it was a bit NC-17 or worse) if Big Jonny and I had a sit down to compare scrotum scars we've both acquired in 2007.

With that nice pleasant thought I will sign off,

Heddwch,
G

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRONOMAN

Happy Birthday Eric Marrrrrrooooooooooooo

Happy Birthday!

What happened today

Just one of those days. Apologies to Brooke for stating a disagreement without flushing out more concretely why I disagree. (Side note, I am trying very hard to break my "i" habit and reform it into the proper "I"... one word: difficult). There is a wee bit of discussion over at RBR.

Notes to get out of my head: RS is blowing his previous almost weekly updates away with DAILY updates. Crazy.

Steve is reporting that Interbike will have "East Coast Demo days" in my back yard. How cool is that! Might just have to "get on staff" with a local shop before that happens. That or pull the oldest/newest trick in the book and request a press pass.

Word on World Cup in the USA? Dare we bring it up yet? It was listed on the tentative calendar that Myerspace posted on the NECX list. Has the Media Director managed to secure funding from "Madison Ave" yet?

Back to the Nationals shifting to Jan.
What is the goal for US cyclocross?
Do we want to send the best cyclist to Worlds to hope to win?
As it is, a cyclist who peaks in early to mid December may not be as on form for Worlds as someone who might peak for Nationals in January.

The season has grown longer but in the wrong direction. As mentioned in the RBR thread, yes having a warm part of the season brings more riders out and into the sport, but it sort of strips the spirit of Cyclocross a little bit. Most places are not like the PacNW where it rains from September to January. We are stuck with crappy dry warm conditions most of the early fall. Moving the Nats to January should help I would hope. At least a step in the right direction.

From a spectator point of view, wet and sloppy conditions are far more exciting viewing than dry and hot. At least from a racing point of view. The courses are far more forgiving of bad line choices and what not in the dry stuff.

The Cross Camp issue is a bit tricky. Certainly it benefits from the compressed racing schedule between Christmas and New Years. But then. Why can't we have a series like that here in the US? Most everyone is on Holiday then. Create something with a focused intensity. No it won't compare to Belgium. But. Does it need to? What are the goals to begin with? If you take the Cross Camp resources and focus it on the top ten riders at our Nationals in the Junior and U23 groups and support them racing in Europe after nats, it might help grow the program just as much as Cross camp would. It certainly would go a long way towards potentially increasing the support for those who demonstrate the talent here domestically to go abroad. Maybe it compulsory for the top 5-10 finishers at the US Nats to head to Europe and compete.

I don't have any answers, I don't pretend to have any good idea or the solution. I just have a few thoughts that i wanted to try and flush out a bit. Even as poorly as I have flushed out just now.

Not to mention that about 50% of the time CX nationals conflict with a gig I have had for 29 years and counting. Moving Nats to Jan eliminates that conflict.

Also, moving Nats to January means considering locations that are slightly more temperate (closer to Belgian weather) than KCK, with a higher probability to be wet and muddy and sloppy, vs frozen solid.

I have to start mustering up the energy to ride home here in a bit. And responding to an email about a group ride possibility this weekend I was struck with something odd. I have not been on a group ride in a very long time. A few lunch time meetings with folks to do cyclocross drills and what not. The odd rides with folks on the bike path. Maybe August since I have actually suited up specifically to go for a ride with someone else or a group of someones. Wow.

That will definitely be changing soon, as the focus shifts to the TOUR OF THE BATTENKILL/Battenkill-Roubaix, aka BKR. A goal. A focal point in the future. Not a goal as in to win this year. But a goal to improve and build on what I did last year.

So, completely drained and pooped it is time for a nice 48°F ride home.
heddwch,
G

Money Back at the Door

Name that tune.

It was the sound track with lyrics in my head riding in this morning. Cool. Kind of funny in that I wore less layers and clothes today at 36°F than I did yesterday at 55°F.

Anyone notice something just flat out wrong with this statement from CN?

Welcome to our regular roundup of what's happening in cyclo-cross. Feel free to send feedback, news and releases to mtb@cyclingnews.com.

mtb@cn? Seriously?

Those of you with a domain or two generally know how "hard" it is to have a unique or extra email added.

Brooke's got a bit of somewhat compelling rational for moving cross nats to January in 2010. If i can find more than thirty seconds to string together it would be a good exercise to write up a rebuttal. Cross camp suffering? Maybe, but why not turn cross camp into Worlds preparation.

And then there's just life that happens.

Tied up with stuff. This has been sitting long enough.

When hunger strikes

Fight back with Fritos! "The original corn chips."

Ingredients (man i love this):
Whole Corn
Corn Oil
Salt

That's it.

109.8 gram bag costs $0.99
has 640 calories and
640 mg of sodium

Yeah. Loads of calories and salt.

Wash it down with a couple bottles of water (water bottles filled from water fountain, not those retarded wasteful single serving things) and ya golden!

Yes, I was tired of being hungry. Not hungry now!

And to top it off, the winds seem to be dying down a touch! Bonus!

Heddwch,
G

This could be a fun ride home

A WIND ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS ARE FORECAST TO BE
31 TO 39 MPH OR GUSTS WILL RANGE BETWEEN 46 AND 57 MPH. WINDS
THIS STRONG ARE CAPABLE OF DOWNING SMALL TREE LIMBS AND
BRANCHES...POSSIBLY CAUSING ISOLATED POWER OUTAGES. DRIVING CAN
ALSO BE DIFFICULT...ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES.

Head wind. Yes. Head wind. Heck it is already pretty damn breezy out there from my trip to the HUB and back. At least now i have 8 different gears instead of 3. Although i dropped to a 40-23 as the lowest. Here's to hoping the winds die down a bit by 4:30 - 5pm when it is time to leave.

My legs are getting a bit sore just thinking about that amount of headwind along such an exposed stretch. Yeah nothing like having open water for miles around letting the wind hit you unfettered head on. I can just pretend I am climbing juniper swamp road, desperately hanging on to the little tiny skinny 30+ master climbers.

Ah well. It will be fun, at least it will prevent me from strolling home with a resting HR.

Heddwch,
G

Ooph

Legs were toast this morning. My energy level is dragging a bit. Starting the 3rd day of double workouts is tough, esp. when the day before the doubles start you do a Cross race. The roads are covered in glass and sand, very noisy, hard to hear if you have picked something up (that rhythmic tick). And my tires are old enough to have a handful of gashes. And I got a flat yesterday. Felt it kind of squishy just at the "downhill" and it was loosing air as i was headed down the hill. Really fun to be going down hill towing heavy trailer as your rear wheel is going flat. Managed to stop and get it changed. Damn glass, second one in as many days. This time I slapped my second to last park glue-less patch on it. But. I knew as I was getting close to the house. I was loosing air. All the damn holes I seem to be getting are RIGHT along that big ass mold seam and well. The old glue-less patches don't patch so well. It was completely flat a few hours after i got home. Rode home with the rest of the gutter bunnies here at work. Great time. Nice to have a gaggle of lights, esp. when changing flats in the dark. One of the other guys got a flat too. We used the final glue-less patch on his tube. Yes I put in a new tube on Monday, no patch then. And I put a new tube in last night and added the failed glue-less patch tube to the pile of road tubes that I’ll patch up when i get a fresh glue patch kit. Run through and do them all at once. Over and done with. Nothing more frustrating than carrying a glue patch kit around only to find the glue all dried up when you need it most.

The Serfas tire on there (Seca) is pretty darn thin in the middle. This last piece of glass went through the "plastic" flat proof thing. So I grabbed a 28-35c tube with a valve that blew out around the rubber, and cut it open. Slid my 23-28 tube inside of it and installed that. It isn't a Mr. Tuffy, but I couldn't find my second one around and well, it'll be a nice bit of extra measure of time to hopefully allow me to pick the glass out before it works through the casing and the first layer of tube material. I picked out 4 chunks of glass out of the front tire last night. It at least has a real Mr. Tuffy in there.

Part of what is completely wearing me out is the lack of gear choices. 40x12,13, or 25. Now unloaded, those are great gears. But, loaded with a trailer, it's pretty tough, lots of force. And lately it is starting to skip under load in the 13. Yeah. I changed the chain, when I changed the chain ring (was 50, now 40). But the 25 cog and the 12 and 13 were not worn and i had the chain and ring laying around and it was a zero capital investment. Got to hit The HUB today. Time for more gears.

I'm sporting my favorite tan today. Makes me grin just thinking about it. A Belgian Tan. Not a cross reference. It is from back in the days before I knew about Cross, when winter rides in college in southern New England meant getting dirty legs. Pealing off the socks to reveal a pasty white foot and an almost black leg above the sock line. That was when I knew, who cared what the "roadies said" I'm wearing black socks on the bike. So my nice Belgian tan goes along with an incredibly dirty bike. My daughter said, as we were getting looking at the bike and trailer at day care before going in, "Daddy, you have to wash your bike. AND my buggy." Yes her buggy. And it is cross's fault. Me washing the bike way more often this fall than every before. She noticed. She thinks it is odd that I’m not washing the Paramount more often.

I might have been off on the style things. Solo says it makes me out to be a dumb hill billy. Maybe like my bro in his bike chains, it is a (un)conscious defense mechanism, putting up a front that is dissimilar to the inside. That said I have made an effort to clean this up. There are still a few fragments. But maybe focusing on my writing, spelling and sentence construction is a good goal for 2008. Goals are good. And that goal is both not out of reach, but not so easy that it will be unrewarding.

Battenkill 30+ is already full. Amazing. Our team has 5 guys in the 30+ race. Three big strong guys, one skinnywhity, and a hard core talented messenger. If nothing else. It will be a blast. That and I have been pretty serious about organizing an hour of intense cross on a regular basis. Maybe not once a week, but hopefully at least once a month.

There, that'll do it for now.
Heddwch,
G

Crap

The one guy who's managed to undo the bullshit that Snyder has loaded the 'skins with is leaving.

Joe, we'll miss ya.

Style.

Ah, writing style. For someone who reads as much as i often do, and who is as critical of scientific papers and writing assignments as i am, my style here definitely is not PRO. But, that is the point. Maybe i listened just a little too closely when we were discussing e e cummmings in english class. Written word is a form of expression, as is how we act, and what we do. I think i approach it too closely to art. Working to make the words represent my odd personality as closely as possible.

The words are coming late today. The weather riding in is fantastic. Just what i needed to refuel the motivation, the excitement, the passion for being a gutter bunny. Today's ride in was a blast. Legs are feeling pretty stiff from the last few days. The race on sunday started me off at a high level of intensity. And at least for two days i've managed to keep the intensity pretty high commuting. Not medium days. Not at all. Hard double work out days. Maybe there is hope that i can get a wee bit faster this year. Hope.

A construction outfit is ripping the crap out of the bike path installing some new sewer lines for the town to the south of us. There is about a mile of path that is closed, forcing a detour on surface streets. And it hasn't been too bad so far. Fortunately the detour isn't on the busiest roads in the area and they are all nice and wide.

Probably the best thing going was not riding outside between NBX CX race and Dayville (and then only once on the trainer the wed before the race). I'm feeling pretty damn refreshed. From a cycling point of view.

Couple of 'must reads'
copy cat

Marvin Z's new tool box article on Self-Interest and Cooperation. Cooperate more, Defect less. Lessons for all. Important ones at that. Go read it. eh?

Check your EcoLab score. Our house is doing pretty well. Could be slightly better. But way lower than the city, state, country and world average.

There seems to be more negative about poor Frankie than positive. And now Rock is getting the baby face doper sevilla, and maybe the testosterone and HGH using Landis (oh i know he was innocent :rolleyes: BS). Sure, i suppose you could look at Rock as a hey the past is past, if no one wants to hire these guys i will, even doped they have to have some talent and genetic gifts, i'll take em. Good, bad, i dunno.

Football. I was pissed on saturday. I had high hopes for the 'Skins and Steelers. And, it just flat out sucked. Depressing. Sure for New England folks this weekend is the first big playoff weekend. And if Jax plays like they did against the steelers that torn sweatshirt wearing coach is going to have his hands full. Sundays games i could have cared less about. TB Giants? Whatever. Chargers and Titans? *Yawn* This weekend should prove a bit more interesting. But only a wee bit. And to top it off i didn't realize till this morning that the BCS game was on last night. didn't even flip the channels and notice it. watched a bit of the polar express (3 kings gift - i'd never see it before). It is far better to participate in sport than to watch. Ya get a lot more out of it.

One thing, to close on a cycling note, i noticed last night riding home with a group of fellow gutter bunnies: My line was abysmal. I couldn't hold a straight clean line. No wonder i kept screwing up on Sunday. This morning was better. But, no where near the steadiness i often get complimented for on group rides. it'll come back. Next week. Too bad we ain't racing cross this weekend. Would be wicked fun.
I got a nice short 5-6 minute course down here. Maybe i can get out for a few fun laps to make up for no races. Two things i want to do: 1) keep riding the cross bike as a cross bike on cross type courses and stuff all year; 2) keep running one day a week through the year. Just short. But man it made a big difference in the cross this year and, actually i find it really helps the spinning and pedaling circles. My hamstrings are far more effective with the running than without it.

Ah shit.

Fire alarm. I was just going to sit down and eat lunch. Fahk