Oh and it would seem that having this song in your head from listening to it on repeat for an hour is GOOD for the TT speed.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Bikeworks TT Results
For those who showed up today:
Name and then time based on week 1-5 and cumulative avg time
Chris Burke 20:27 19:45 20:37 20:21 20:40 23.9
Matty Burke 20:30 20:20 23.8
Gary Stafford 19:39 19:14 25.0
Geoff Williams 20:24 19:13 19:58 19:57 19:16 24.6
Jack Tickle 19:32 20:54 19:06 24.5
Aaron Derdowski 19:58 20:12 24.2
Dave Foley 19:43 20:08 19:53 24.4
Jack T and Gary S both beat me today on TT bikes with aero helmets. I thought it might have been faster this week, it felt faster to me, but looking at the times it is hard to say other than I knocked a hell of a lot of time off.
I felt good.
Packing the ice for the end was a nice treat to cool down with. My backpack and lunch box got a bit wet from the melting of said ice in a leaky ziplock combined with the high humidity but they will dry off.
For the record, last week Jonny Bold came out and ticked off a 16:47, the next fastest was Brier at 18:27 and Mike Mederos at 18:31 and then Chris Phenix at 18:51 (all of them on full TT bike with aero helmet, disc wheel, the works).
The only concession to wind i'm offering is the aero bars and the 60mm deep dish wheels (front and back). Other than that it is a bike mechanic time machine. Y'all know the bike, right? Hell I think I could drop the bars another 2 inches and still be able to pedal pretty well.
I almost thought I could have gone harder in a few spots but, by the end I laid it all out and it was what it was. The headwind coming home on the bike path off the water wasn't so hot, at least it felt okay until I walked into the air conditioned house.
Made some kick ass pasta tonight, ate three big bowls of it, now am trying to unwind. These Thursday night TTs usually get me 2h45m on the bike for the day. Counts as long day and really hard day.
Felt good... felt good. Now to unwind enough to fall asleep.
Name and then time based on week 1-5 and cumulative avg time
Chris Burke 20:27 19:45 20:37 20:21 20:40 23.9
Matty Burke 20:30 20:20 23.8
Gary Stafford 19:39 19:14 25.0
Geoff Williams 20:24 19:13 19:58 19:57 19:16 24.6
Jack Tickle 19:32 20:54 19:06 24.5
Aaron Derdowski 19:58 20:12 24.2
Dave Foley 19:43 20:08 19:53 24.4
Jack T and Gary S both beat me today on TT bikes with aero helmets. I thought it might have been faster this week, it felt faster to me, but looking at the times it is hard to say other than I knocked a hell of a lot of time off.
I felt good.
Packing the ice for the end was a nice treat to cool down with. My backpack and lunch box got a bit wet from the melting of said ice in a leaky ziplock combined with the high humidity but they will dry off.
For the record, last week Jonny Bold came out and ticked off a 16:47, the next fastest was Brier at 18:27 and Mike Mederos at 18:31 and then Chris Phenix at 18:51 (all of them on full TT bike with aero helmet, disc wheel, the works).
The only concession to wind i'm offering is the aero bars and the 60mm deep dish wheels (front and back). Other than that it is a bike mechanic time machine. Y'all know the bike, right? Hell I think I could drop the bars another 2 inches and still be able to pedal pretty well.
I almost thought I could have gone harder in a few spots but, by the end I laid it all out and it was what it was. The headwind coming home on the bike path off the water wasn't so hot, at least it felt okay until I walked into the air conditioned house.
Made some kick ass pasta tonight, ate three big bowls of it, now am trying to unwind. These Thursday night TTs usually get me 2h45m on the bike for the day. Counts as long day and really hard day.
Felt good... felt good. Now to unwind enough to fall asleep.
Bring on the Heat
So I popped outside to get a slice of pizza to supplement my peanut butter and home made waffles for lunch. Figured the extra sodium is going to be pretty critical going into tonight's TT effort.
Gonna be warm. Someone shared this article. Makes me feel a bit better about it. That said two weeks ago was pretty tough, at the end of the ride we were all pretty damn warm, last week not so bad.
The heat, it is all in your head.
Assuming you don't dehydrate too far or get heat stroke. Which oddly are usually coupled together. The body cooling system works really well on the bike as long as you are moving and are hydrated enough. Once you drop below the critical hydration level body says "fuck, i can't spare any more water - we're in trouble - no more sweat" well yeah you're gonna do some major damage. hydration isn't just during though. Right? Yall know that.
It is all about the previous 24hrs. Not just water but sodium intake in that time too. Excessive sodium chloride will boost your ability to hold water and since you sweat both... hey that's how it works.
WUGAZI has been pretty f'n awesome. Cranking this stuff.
Soundtrack for the day - at least after the Tour finished (I have a lot of cleaning to do at the desk, i'll actually get started on it tomorrow maybe). Oh language warning. (what would expect from a mix of Wu-Tang Clan and Fugazi). Props to one of the nicest guys out there Jeff carrying the SLAMMABAMMA HAMMAH Bramhall for the link and suggestion.
grab a quick read of this... about food
And then there is this on Google+
That alone makes Google+ the antithesis of Facebook. Facebook has been taken over by brands, companies. Sure why not you have a huge massive captive audience. 'Your' "advertising" is even more effective there than on TV. Some people are joking that all anyone does on G+ is talk about how awesome G+ is. Have to say, I disagree, that is what FB is for!
Track 10 is on repeat... and LOUD
heddwch
G
Gonna be warm. Someone shared this article. Makes me feel a bit better about it. That said two weeks ago was pretty tough, at the end of the ride we were all pretty damn warm, last week not so bad.
The heat, it is all in your head.
Assuming you don't dehydrate too far or get heat stroke. Which oddly are usually coupled together. The body cooling system works really well on the bike as long as you are moving and are hydrated enough. Once you drop below the critical hydration level body says "fuck, i can't spare any more water - we're in trouble - no more sweat" well yeah you're gonna do some major damage. hydration isn't just during though. Right? Yall know that.
It is all about the previous 24hrs. Not just water but sodium intake in that time too. Excessive sodium chloride will boost your ability to hold water and since you sweat both... hey that's how it works.
WUGAZI has been pretty f'n awesome. Cranking this stuff.
Soundtrack for the day - at least after the Tour finished (I have a lot of cleaning to do at the desk, i'll actually get started on it tomorrow maybe). Oh language warning. (what would expect from a mix of Wu-Tang Clan and Fugazi). Props to one of the nicest guys out there Jeff carrying the SLAMMABAMMA HAMMAH Bramhall for the link and suggestion.
grab a quick read of this... about food
And then there is this on Google+
That alone makes Google+ the antithesis of Facebook. Facebook has been taken over by brands, companies. Sure why not you have a huge massive captive audience. 'Your' "advertising" is even more effective there than on TV. Some people are joking that all anyone does on G+ is talk about how awesome G+ is. Have to say, I disagree, that is what FB is for!
Track 10 is on repeat... and LOUD
heddwch
G
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Seattle weather...
Yeah - I'm one of them.
I love the summer weather they are getting this year.
L
O
V
E
it
what are they getting? 78 minutes of summer.
Hell we've got more heating in 20 minutes here in RI today than they've had all summer. I'd be cool with that. Ecstatic about it in fact. Riding in 65-75 degree weather is brilliant. Perfect. A bit of rain? No worries. No sun? No problem.
That said, I did grow up out there. I am firmly one of those who rusts, and forever am on the look out for the rust stained T-shirt that proudly states:
"Washingtonian's don't tan they RUST!"
Check out the Seattle Times and then the KOMO weatherman's web log.
It has been a challenging day and reading those two just now has made me much happier. Of course now I have to get on the bike and ride in the nice cool - oh wait, it is cool. 85° out there. Hey it is a nice dry 50% humidity too. Um. Yeah that sounds awesome.
Tomorrow, TT. When it is over 90° the air is less dense right? Lower drag=faster times, right? No update on the web page yet. We also have to wait to see if they have a substitute for Dave (not foley) the time keeper/official. Will check w/them tomorrow pop an update here, twitter or on G+...
heddwch
G
I love the summer weather they are getting this year.
L
O
V
E
it
what are they getting? 78 minutes of summer.
Hell we've got more heating in 20 minutes here in RI today than they've had all summer. I'd be cool with that. Ecstatic about it in fact. Riding in 65-75 degree weather is brilliant. Perfect. A bit of rain? No worries. No sun? No problem.
That said, I did grow up out there. I am firmly one of those who rusts, and forever am on the look out for the rust stained T-shirt that proudly states:
"Washingtonian's don't tan they RUST!"
Check out the Seattle Times and then the KOMO weatherman's web log.
It has been a challenging day and reading those two just now has made me much happier. Of course now I have to get on the bike and ride in the nice cool - oh wait, it is cool. 85° out there. Hey it is a nice dry 50% humidity too. Um. Yeah that sounds awesome.
Tomorrow, TT. When it is over 90° the air is less dense right? Lower drag=faster times, right? No update on the web page yet. We also have to wait to see if they have a substitute for Dave (not foley) the time keeper/official. Will check w/them tomorrow pop an update here, twitter or on G+...
heddwch
G
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
everyonce in a while
I actually read something that makes me want to share with everyone.
Yeah. So I found one. The headline that got me to click was "How fat saves lives." It isn't a short read. But then again it is in an Ivy League Alumni magazine, a place that by design or demand often has long, in-depth and complete articles. I think there's a bit of overlap in those three adjectives, no?
despite my fumbling with the written word, that article is great. Now bittman and others have been pushing the no meat thing. CCC pushes back with his woody for the paleo fad. And then you have the folks saying gluten protein is like sand paper to your guts and screws you up even if you don't have celiac's.
There is information, mostly opinion sadly, proliferating itself supporting all aspects of what we should eat, shouldn't eat, when we should eat, how we should cook things (or not cook them).
My first nugget that sucked me further in was this:
Physicians seem to primarily spend their whole time as med students focused on diagnosis and treatment of acute medical issues. Common chronic issues become not so much how to prevent them and what people really should do and how they should fix them but more how to manage these. Type II diabetes for example. Treatment vs cure. Type I could almost fall under the acute conditions because it is very specific, and the cause is something you can put a finger on. Type II not so much.
Food.
All comes back to food.
Last night, trying to wind down and fall asleep, I grabbed the latest issue of Gastronomica and read the article (a memoir) titled 'Bodily Souvenirs' by Alexis Schaitkin. It is a chronical of dealing with an intestinal parasite and reviewing the potential sources and all the food that was consumed that may have lead to the invasion.
Big clincher there for me, we are what we eat... the drugs that cleared out the parasite killed her appetite and as such it acted like a transition, a cleansing or a real manifestation of change from being made up of thai food to being back into USA food.
We are what we eat. Every word on the ingredient label you cannot pronounce becomes part of you. Do you want that all to be part of you?
back to the original article, the catalyst for this extra post today (one that actually gets a label for the first time in a long time), it is a pretty crazy low amount of "animal" protein as my friend Mark pointed out over in G+. Yes 6oz of poultry and 8 oz of seafood a week is not much. Hell how many people essentially eat that much every day? There is probably a balance somewhere between, but if you are looking for ways to reduce the food budget, or to make room for fancy organic fruits and veggies (in season or flown in from Chile), animal protein is a good place to cut back.
heddwch
G
Yeah. So I found one. The headline that got me to click was "How fat saves lives." It isn't a short read. But then again it is in an Ivy League Alumni magazine, a place that by design or demand often has long, in-depth and complete articles. I think there's a bit of overlap in those three adjectives, no?
despite my fumbling with the written word, that article is great. Now bittman and others have been pushing the no meat thing. CCC pushes back with his woody for the paleo fad. And then you have the folks saying gluten protein is like sand paper to your guts and screws you up even if you don't have celiac's.
There is information, mostly opinion sadly, proliferating itself supporting all aspects of what we should eat, shouldn't eat, when we should eat, how we should cook things (or not cook them).
My first nugget that sucked me further in was this:
Flynn, a nutritionist who studies the relationship between diet and disease, believes strongly that most physicians are poorly equipped to give their patients nutritional advice or to help them lose weight.Bombshell.
Physicians seem to primarily spend their whole time as med students focused on diagnosis and treatment of acute medical issues. Common chronic issues become not so much how to prevent them and what people really should do and how they should fix them but more how to manage these. Type II diabetes for example. Treatment vs cure. Type I could almost fall under the acute conditions because it is very specific, and the cause is something you can put a finger on. Type II not so much.
Food.
All comes back to food.
Last night, trying to wind down and fall asleep, I grabbed the latest issue of Gastronomica and read the article (a memoir) titled 'Bodily Souvenirs' by Alexis Schaitkin. It is a chronical of dealing with an intestinal parasite and reviewing the potential sources and all the food that was consumed that may have lead to the invasion.
Big clincher there for me, we are what we eat... the drugs that cleared out the parasite killed her appetite and as such it acted like a transition, a cleansing or a real manifestation of change from being made up of thai food to being back into USA food.
We are what we eat. Every word on the ingredient label you cannot pronounce becomes part of you. Do you want that all to be part of you?
back to the original article, the catalyst for this extra post today (one that actually gets a label for the first time in a long time), it is a pretty crazy low amount of "animal" protein as my friend Mark pointed out over in G+. Yes 6oz of poultry and 8 oz of seafood a week is not much. Hell how many people essentially eat that much every day? There is probably a balance somewhere between, but if you are looking for ways to reduce the food budget, or to make room for fancy organic fruits and veggies (in season or flown in from Chile), animal protein is a good place to cut back.
heddwch
G
Not as funny as I was hoping
I'm Comic Sans, Asshole from joehollier on Vimeo.
esp since the rec came from RTK3000 on twitter but hey - decent enough
F'Yeah Bike RACING!
Nah I sure as hell am not doing much more than the Thursday Night TT (still no results from last week posted). Jonny Bold came out and kicked everyone's time in the nuts, and of course went out and stomped some mountain biker nuts this weekend. He's a nut stomper that guy is.
When he went flying by at the finish on thursday not only was there a vacuum following him that sucked even those of us sitting on the stone wall in towards the road but his bike was protesting the 6,000 watts he was generating, that thing sounded worse than Domarski's Dura-tech CX bike rattling over the roots in Goddard Park.
So this bike racing i'm giving a F'Yeah to is the Tour. Last year it took me a while to get sucked in. The Giro this year was dead to me half way through, snooze fest. The tour this year? HOLY HELL this has been some fucking KICK ASS bike racing. Yeah. so good it deserves all the fucking eff bombs I can throw at it. And you know I can fucking throw eff bombs with the best of them.
Tommy V has no chance really, he knows it, he's said as much. But fucking hell how awesome would it be if by some miracle he managed to hang on to it going into the TT on Saturday? Could the race really come down to the TT on Saturday?
There was complaining that the last mountain finish was lame, why didn't someone attack, why didn't Frank and Andy go one two one two one two until there was no one left. why didn't condadork attack, why didn't evans? it was still pretty good racing. a bit cat and mousy but it stayed tight and more importantly Voeckler hung in there.
Fucking Tommy V. Who doesn't love that guy. The emotional choice to win, no?
Then we've got fuckin THOR HUSHVOD. World Champ stripes and he's killing it. Two stage wins and the team TT win? Rainbow curse? NO WAY. Dude goes downhill like he actually practices it.
Unlike Frank and Andy. man did they look pathetic. Tilford makes a few good points about descending. You've got to practice is. Yah. Actually spend some time doing it.
Shawn P tweeted that it looks like most of those guys are reverse downhillers, practicing riding to the top of the mountain but then getting a ride down. probably some truth to that. They do definitely practice going up hill and man going down is cold and they are tiny and like a hummingbird might die if they get too cold or stop moving.
Scotty D suggests it is best just to not use your brakes. But watching THOR SMASH the down hill, there was definitely some braking involved. But compared to the Frank and Andy show, he didn't touch them. Pretty funny actually. Not so much the braking is the issue but getting back up to speed. Like a crit, slow down for the corner but then get back to speed as fast as possible, and that actually requires WATTS, not watts/kg, real honest to goodness WATTS (that THOR has in spades). That and big brass balls (Tommy V has those).
And it takes practice. you have to know how fast you can take a corner and you have to make that judgement quickly and when you see the next turn. The only way to think fast enough and to react in a way that gets you down the mountain faster than others is to practice it.
I disagree with the tweet from Keith C that Steven the MasterBaiter retweeted. CX racing won't help them with their descending skills. At least I don't think it will. It is very different, CX is pretty slow motion compared to going down a mountain.
but then what do i know (not much - you can all say it together).
I do know that for me personally this tour has been one of the best in recent memory, not good that so many guys have been taken out of the race due to injury. that's not good. Take all that away and it has still been pretty f'n exciting.
Oh right. Some people are actually going to be racing tonight, tomorrow and thursday night up at WMSR but not me. Tried that once. Can't actually really get much work done and do that race living down here. Either go up there and stay somewhere near the course each night or pretty much bail on working during the day, in part just to get there on time w/o an anxiety attack (i was w/in 5 min of missing the sign in due to unexpected traffic on 95) and getting home so late and so wiped that getting up early enough to get to work to actually get anything done is next to impossible. It was fun, and I'd love to give it a go sometime again. For now, I'll sit back. Brier says this would be his last race as a Cat 4. We'll see if he keeps to his 'plan' and upgrades (I think he's just hoping to win the stage race as a 4).
One thing that has been eating me a bit. A team-mate mentioned that a decent Saturday morning road ride has a huge number of people that show up and ride it with earbuds. A group ride with an iPod/music device? Seriously? That actually makes me angry. not in a good way. In a rant and swell up and go all HULK SMASH on people who have the selfish audacity to show up on a group ride and use them. By yourself is one thing. But in a group? On a group ride? Really? It is a ride i've been meaning to try and get to, but hearing that really lowers the priority/desire to show up.
I'd better hit publish before i get myself more worked up about it.
heddwch
G
When he went flying by at the finish on thursday not only was there a vacuum following him that sucked even those of us sitting on the stone wall in towards the road but his bike was protesting the 6,000 watts he was generating, that thing sounded worse than Domarski's Dura-tech CX bike rattling over the roots in Goddard Park.
So this bike racing i'm giving a F'Yeah to is the Tour. Last year it took me a while to get sucked in. The Giro this year was dead to me half way through, snooze fest. The tour this year? HOLY HELL this has been some fucking KICK ASS bike racing. Yeah. so good it deserves all the fucking eff bombs I can throw at it. And you know I can fucking throw eff bombs with the best of them.
Tommy V has no chance really, he knows it, he's said as much. But fucking hell how awesome would it be if by some miracle he managed to hang on to it going into the TT on Saturday? Could the race really come down to the TT on Saturday?
There was complaining that the last mountain finish was lame, why didn't someone attack, why didn't Frank and Andy go one two one two one two until there was no one left. why didn't condadork attack, why didn't evans? it was still pretty good racing. a bit cat and mousy but it stayed tight and more importantly Voeckler hung in there.
Fucking Tommy V. Who doesn't love that guy. The emotional choice to win, no?
Then we've got fuckin THOR HUSHVOD. World Champ stripes and he's killing it. Two stage wins and the team TT win? Rainbow curse? NO WAY. Dude goes downhill like he actually practices it.
Unlike Frank and Andy. man did they look pathetic. Tilford makes a few good points about descending. You've got to practice is. Yah. Actually spend some time doing it.
Shawn P tweeted that it looks like most of those guys are reverse downhillers, practicing riding to the top of the mountain but then getting a ride down. probably some truth to that. They do definitely practice going up hill and man going down is cold and they are tiny and like a hummingbird might die if they get too cold or stop moving.
Scotty D suggests it is best just to not use your brakes. But watching THOR SMASH the down hill, there was definitely some braking involved. But compared to the Frank and Andy show, he didn't touch them. Pretty funny actually. Not so much the braking is the issue but getting back up to speed. Like a crit, slow down for the corner but then get back to speed as fast as possible, and that actually requires WATTS, not watts/kg, real honest to goodness WATTS (that THOR has in spades). That and big brass balls (Tommy V has those).
And it takes practice. you have to know how fast you can take a corner and you have to make that judgement quickly and when you see the next turn. The only way to think fast enough and to react in a way that gets you down the mountain faster than others is to practice it.
I disagree with the tweet from Keith C that Steven the MasterBaiter retweeted. CX racing won't help them with their descending skills. At least I don't think it will. It is very different, CX is pretty slow motion compared to going down a mountain.
but then what do i know (not much - you can all say it together).
I do know that for me personally this tour has been one of the best in recent memory, not good that so many guys have been taken out of the race due to injury. that's not good. Take all that away and it has still been pretty f'n exciting.
Oh right. Some people are actually going to be racing tonight, tomorrow and thursday night up at WMSR but not me. Tried that once. Can't actually really get much work done and do that race living down here. Either go up there and stay somewhere near the course each night or pretty much bail on working during the day, in part just to get there on time w/o an anxiety attack (i was w/in 5 min of missing the sign in due to unexpected traffic on 95) and getting home so late and so wiped that getting up early enough to get to work to actually get anything done is next to impossible. It was fun, and I'd love to give it a go sometime again. For now, I'll sit back. Brier says this would be his last race as a Cat 4. We'll see if he keeps to his 'plan' and upgrades (I think he's just hoping to win the stage race as a 4).
One thing that has been eating me a bit. A team-mate mentioned that a decent Saturday morning road ride has a huge number of people that show up and ride it with earbuds. A group ride with an iPod/music device? Seriously? That actually makes me angry. not in a good way. In a rant and swell up and go all HULK SMASH on people who have the selfish audacity to show up on a group ride and use them. By yourself is one thing. But in a group? On a group ride? Really? It is a ride i've been meaning to try and get to, but hearing that really lowers the priority/desire to show up.
I'd better hit publish before i get myself more worked up about it.
heddwch
G
Monday, July 18, 2011
Seriously cool kit
Have to give props and a shout out to one of the coolest kits I've seen in a while.
I've got way too much plastic clothing to think about adding to it at this point but if I lived any closer to the 541 (translation if I lived in the 541 or anywhere else in that crazy state, heck if I was up in the state to the north i'd probably not think twice).
No this isn't really a plug for the kit, although it is seriously cool (the coolest part of the kit is the pure universality of it), it is more a plug for a guy running a shop, that from way over on this coast sounds pretty awesome. I like the media presence he's got.
Anyway, solid products, solid skills and if you find yourself in the 541 (yeah i know it isn't the smallest area code but hell if you're out there scale is different) stop in and say hey for me (and buy lots of shit).
heddwch
G
I've got way too much plastic clothing to think about adding to it at this point but if I lived any closer to the 541 (translation if I lived in the 541 or anywhere else in that crazy state, heck if I was up in the state to the north i'd probably not think twice).
No this isn't really a plug for the kit, although it is seriously cool (the coolest part of the kit is the pure universality of it), it is more a plug for a guy running a shop, that from way over on this coast sounds pretty awesome. I like the media presence he's got.
Anyway, solid products, solid skills and if you find yourself in the 541 (yeah i know it isn't the smallest area code but hell if you're out there scale is different) stop in and say hey for me (and buy lots of shit).
heddwch
G
SNR
Can't quite get it right today. Brain not working flawlessly.
People showing up 15 min early for an appointment and then expecting you to drop whatever you are doing and start the session because they are there throw me off.
Being early is good. Esp if it is your job.
My grandfather always said: You are on-time if you are 5 min early, if you show up on-time you are late. Suggesting that you should be ready to work at the appointed hour. Works well in retail. One shop in particular that I worked at was like that. We opened at 9am or something, but staff hours were always 30 min before opening. The sales dudes would vacuum and dust and organize the sales floor and the mechanics would get a head start on the repairs for the day. It worked well. Mostly because the manager was pretty dedicated and was always the first one there.
Lead by example. It works. Setting an example, even if you set yourself up for ridicule isn't such a bad thing, right?
Google +
i like it
it works
it is cleaner and has a better interface than other places
unlike other places you can control which group of friends sees what you post
it is slick
and has the potential to replace a blog... a public post there is akin to a blog post. But it is also very different writing there... vs here.
This is more comfortable. But if you want to explore Google + and need an invite send me an email, who doesn't have my email? gewilli at gmail pretty simple. Drop me a note and I'll fire off an invite.
heddwch
G
People showing up 15 min early for an appointment and then expecting you to drop whatever you are doing and start the session because they are there throw me off.
Being early is good. Esp if it is your job.
My grandfather always said: You are on-time if you are 5 min early, if you show up on-time you are late. Suggesting that you should be ready to work at the appointed hour. Works well in retail. One shop in particular that I worked at was like that. We opened at 9am or something, but staff hours were always 30 min before opening. The sales dudes would vacuum and dust and organize the sales floor and the mechanics would get a head start on the repairs for the day. It worked well. Mostly because the manager was pretty dedicated and was always the first one there.
Lead by example. It works. Setting an example, even if you set yourself up for ridicule isn't such a bad thing, right?
Google +
i like it
it works
it is cleaner and has a better interface than other places
unlike other places you can control which group of friends sees what you post
it is slick
and has the potential to replace a blog... a public post there is akin to a blog post. But it is also very different writing there... vs here.
This is more comfortable. But if you want to explore Google + and need an invite send me an email, who doesn't have my email? gewilli at gmail pretty simple. Drop me a note and I'll fire off an invite.
heddwch
G
Friday, July 15, 2011
Heading to the Girls Rock Showcase Tonight
Going to be loud. And fun.
TT last night was intense. Game was upped mostly because JONNY BOLD showed up and KILLED IT. Slayed that course. It was about the same as the previous week for me. w/in a second or so.
I'll wait for the results before going nuts with the analysis.
That said I left it all out there. Finding time is going to be less about going harder and more about going smarter on the course. Granted going harder is good and hopefully going my hardest will slowly decrease my time. There are a few weeks left before the series is over and CX season starts.
Party tonight. I'm actually going to a Show. Insane.
TT last night was intense. Game was upped mostly because JONNY BOLD showed up and KILLED IT. Slayed that course. It was about the same as the previous week for me. w/in a second or so.
I'll wait for the results before going nuts with the analysis.
That said I left it all out there. Finding time is going to be less about going harder and more about going smarter on the course. Granted going harder is good and hopefully going my hardest will slowly decrease my time. There are a few weeks left before the series is over and CX season starts.
Party tonight. I'm actually going to a Show. Insane.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
TT tonight
Wind is going to make it slow, just how slow will remain to be seen.
Results are up.
Going to try and take it easier on the first section on Tremont and hope to have a bit extra for Reynolds so I don't die catastrophically. Here's to hoping the old fashioned bike computer thing works and I can get some feedback to help with the pacing. That first recorded time on the CX bike isn't helping my 'avg speed.' BUT, BUT that is not why I'm doing this thing. Okay part of it is, I'm competitive, face it. Really though I win by just making it out for as many as I can. THAT is winning. And that will hopefully make a difference in the Fall.
it might not, but I think it is already making a difference.
Leaving the shop at 5:45pm.
Results are up.
Going to try and take it easier on the first section on Tremont and hope to have a bit extra for Reynolds so I don't die catastrophically. Here's to hoping the old fashioned bike computer thing works and I can get some feedback to help with the pacing. That first recorded time on the CX bike isn't helping my 'avg speed.' BUT, BUT that is not why I'm doing this thing. Okay part of it is, I'm competitive, face it. Really though I win by just making it out for as many as I can. THAT is winning. And that will hopefully make a difference in the Fall.
it might not, but I think it is already making a difference.
Leaving the shop at 5:45pm.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Buttah
Smooth like buttah.
That's what a new drive train feels like. Tossed a much needed new chain, cassette and some salvaged pulleys on the Croll last night before riding home. Holy crap what a difference.
The drive train on there (chain, cassette) were new in 2009 when I put them on the Giant TCX at the start of cross season. Raced that season and commuted on that drive train until yesterday.
Worn? Duh. Stretched? Holy shit yeah.
But it was a shimano chain I took off, and you know what? It still hadn't broken. Imagine that. Durafuckingballer that stuff is.
Shifted still, but man it was all notchy and janky and noisy and felt weird.
New stuff? Sooooo smooth. With the Ritchey Drop outs in the back of the Croll the hanger is as rock solid as any you will find. Super strong too. Just not great with the trailer attachment on the other side.
The Jockey wheels were super pointy. Almost to the point of being little circles. The ones that I had salvaged off an exploded tiagra der (someone's bike fell over in the garage, lightly, and then the next ride it was shifted into the spokes ripping the der in two). So they didn't have the sealed bearings that the Ultegra ones that were worn but they worked, probably less friction than the old ones.
Chain was an LX/105 9sp one. Tend to have good luck with those on the 9sp bikes. Replaced it with the same, but I will admit to using a SRAM 9sp quick link. Yeah. I put a quick disconnect in on a shimano chain. And no, I haven't noticed a shifting issue.
Cassette now, here is where I'm dubious as to my choice. I went with an HG50 12-25. Figuring it is just going to see commuter duty and if it wears out sooner, well then I'll just replace the chain sooner. it isn't going on an alloy freehub so i dudn't need to worry about a carrier or anything. And it was cheap. And so am I. I also have a couple other (three?) drive trains to be replaced sooner than later so there was that. The rest will probably go with an XT/Ultegra (9sp) chain and 105 cogsets.
My donated Sigma computer/HRM is being a bit flaky. Speed is dropping out, sometimes HR drops out too. Sort of frustrating. New batteries all the way around too. I'm the second user of the system so maybe it is just tired and dead. Maybe I should take a chance and go with a new Bontrager system or just order a mess of batteries for the polar 720. I like that feed back of the HRM and speed, I'll admit it. I like the data. Mostly because it really does seem to help go both easy enough and hard enough. Oh well.
I'm off the bike today. Either going to be really fresh for the TT tomorrow night or stale. Hoping the former. The week is going well and so totally worth being off the bike.
That and the Rusty Trusty Race wagon is buzzing right along, shake rattle and rolling but still putting along. The lack of AC hasn't been so bad.
Ate all my lunch before 11:30. Going to go grab a Nice Slice To get me through the afternoon sessions.
heddwch
G
That's what a new drive train feels like. Tossed a much needed new chain, cassette and some salvaged pulleys on the Croll last night before riding home. Holy crap what a difference.
The drive train on there (chain, cassette) were new in 2009 when I put them on the Giant TCX at the start of cross season. Raced that season and commuted on that drive train until yesterday.
Worn? Duh. Stretched? Holy shit yeah.
But it was a shimano chain I took off, and you know what? It still hadn't broken. Imagine that. Durafuckingballer that stuff is.
Shifted still, but man it was all notchy and janky and noisy and felt weird.
New stuff? Sooooo smooth. With the Ritchey Drop outs in the back of the Croll the hanger is as rock solid as any you will find. Super strong too. Just not great with the trailer attachment on the other side.
The Jockey wheels were super pointy. Almost to the point of being little circles. The ones that I had salvaged off an exploded tiagra der (someone's bike fell over in the garage, lightly, and then the next ride it was shifted into the spokes ripping the der in two). So they didn't have the sealed bearings that the Ultegra ones that were worn but they worked, probably less friction than the old ones.
Chain was an LX/105 9sp one. Tend to have good luck with those on the 9sp bikes. Replaced it with the same, but I will admit to using a SRAM 9sp quick link. Yeah. I put a quick disconnect in on a shimano chain. And no, I haven't noticed a shifting issue.
Cassette now, here is where I'm dubious as to my choice. I went with an HG50 12-25. Figuring it is just going to see commuter duty and if it wears out sooner, well then I'll just replace the chain sooner. it isn't going on an alloy freehub so i dudn't need to worry about a carrier or anything. And it was cheap. And so am I. I also have a couple other (three?) drive trains to be replaced sooner than later so there was that. The rest will probably go with an XT/Ultegra (9sp) chain and 105 cogsets.
My donated Sigma computer/HRM is being a bit flaky. Speed is dropping out, sometimes HR drops out too. Sort of frustrating. New batteries all the way around too. I'm the second user of the system so maybe it is just tired and dead. Maybe I should take a chance and go with a new Bontrager system or just order a mess of batteries for the polar 720. I like that feed back of the HRM and speed, I'll admit it. I like the data. Mostly because it really does seem to help go both easy enough and hard enough. Oh well.
I'm off the bike today. Either going to be really fresh for the TT tomorrow night or stale. Hoping the former. The week is going well and so totally worth being off the bike.
That and the Rusty Trusty Race wagon is buzzing right along, shake rattle and rolling but still putting along. The lack of AC hasn't been so bad.
Ate all my lunch before 11:30. Going to go grab a Nice Slice To get me through the afternoon sessions.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
hangers
That cyclingnews tech bit about the hangers had me thinking a bit. Almost blog expansion worthy. Certainly too many words, too little specificity for twitter, hey lets use this thing.
some may have remembered my issue at Suckerbrook. The first race on the Blue.
The weekend before (or day before, I don't remember) after building it we had a bit of CX practice. During some start races (foot down race from a dead stop to a tree 50 meters down the way) I slipped the rear wheel out of the drop outs. Seems the QR wasn't tight enough.
I built the bike with that QR tension. Cranking it down seemed to be fine right? Should do much more than hold it all together better.
Well that assumption sort of screwed me at Suckerbrook where under load i shifted the rear der into the spokes and ripped the hanger in two bits. Fortunately I stopped pedaling before I damaged the chain or the derailleur. But no hanger = no more races.
With the new hanger the shifting was spotty at best all season. Hangers are supposed be bolt in and straight right?
Turns out they aren't. Building lots of bikes lately there are a surprising number of replaceable hangers that are out of alignment right out of the box. Matt at Caster's PVD suggested that maybe the rear hanger is out of alignment.
From my perspective that hanger alignment tool was for fixing tweaked steel frame hangers, not replaceable aluminum hangers. But being open to new mechanic tips and tricks, I checked it (early in the spring/late winter).
Holy hell. It was twisted and slightly wacked but in a subtle way not easily noticed visualizing the der cage alignment. But what did you know? The f'n bike shifted perfectly. Sonofabitch.
Now yes, they save the der, sometimes. More often than not though I still see destroyed ders and chains and sometimes wheels. I guess though they still do the part of saving the frame. And that is what they are designed to do.
But.
When you slightly bump those hangers or more specifically the derailleur itself these hangers are so soft that boom they move and suddenly your limit screw settings are meaningless. Most of the exploded bikes that seem to come into shops are a result of a slight miss-alignment from (for most people) unremarkable contact.
Where are the break away bolts? Personally I'd rather have one of these fitted to a wicked stout hanger like Gary Klein (and Stork) used.
Got me thinking. Yes it was nice that the hanger ripped off and didn't chew up the chain or the rear der or destroy the wheel. BUT a stronger hanger, better design, would have eliminated the problem in the beginning.
Heck they are lighter too. And don't seem to affect shifting performance or limit screws like the plastic-like flexi alloy hangers being installed on most carbon bikes.
Now I have said it before, destroying the frame is bad and often more expensive than blowing a der, chain and wheel even. But... a stiffer hanger would save lots of people headache and wallet ache and stuff would shift better.
ah well...
got that out...
Tour just got exciting, still a pile of paper work to get through. Best quote ever:
"Having things organized is only for small-minded people. The genius controls the chaos." - Jens Voigt
Like he says, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
heddwch
G
Oh and Big Shout Out to Curtis Singmaster for winning the Attleboro crit (cat 4). Nice job my friend. Nice job!
some may have remembered my issue at Suckerbrook. The first race on the Blue.
The weekend before (or day before, I don't remember) after building it we had a bit of CX practice. During some start races (foot down race from a dead stop to a tree 50 meters down the way) I slipped the rear wheel out of the drop outs. Seems the QR wasn't tight enough.
I built the bike with that QR tension. Cranking it down seemed to be fine right? Should do much more than hold it all together better.
Well that assumption sort of screwed me at Suckerbrook where under load i shifted the rear der into the spokes and ripped the hanger in two bits. Fortunately I stopped pedaling before I damaged the chain or the derailleur. But no hanger = no more races.
With the new hanger the shifting was spotty at best all season. Hangers are supposed be bolt in and straight right?
Turns out they aren't. Building lots of bikes lately there are a surprising number of replaceable hangers that are out of alignment right out of the box. Matt at Caster's PVD suggested that maybe the rear hanger is out of alignment.
From my perspective that hanger alignment tool was for fixing tweaked steel frame hangers, not replaceable aluminum hangers. But being open to new mechanic tips and tricks, I checked it (early in the spring/late winter).
Holy hell. It was twisted and slightly wacked but in a subtle way not easily noticed visualizing the der cage alignment. But what did you know? The f'n bike shifted perfectly. Sonofabitch.
Now yes, they save the der, sometimes. More often than not though I still see destroyed ders and chains and sometimes wheels. I guess though they still do the part of saving the frame. And that is what they are designed to do.
But.
When you slightly bump those hangers or more specifically the derailleur itself these hangers are so soft that boom they move and suddenly your limit screw settings are meaningless. Most of the exploded bikes that seem to come into shops are a result of a slight miss-alignment from (for most people) unremarkable contact.
Where are the break away bolts? Personally I'd rather have one of these fitted to a wicked stout hanger like Gary Klein (and Stork) used.
Got me thinking. Yes it was nice that the hanger ripped off and didn't chew up the chain or the rear der or destroy the wheel. BUT a stronger hanger, better design, would have eliminated the problem in the beginning.
Heck they are lighter too. And don't seem to affect shifting performance or limit screws like the plastic-like flexi alloy hangers being installed on most carbon bikes.
Now I have said it before, destroying the frame is bad and often more expensive than blowing a der, chain and wheel even. But... a stiffer hanger would save lots of people headache and wallet ache and stuff would shift better.
ah well...
got that out...
Tour just got exciting, still a pile of paper work to get through. Best quote ever:
"Having things organized is only for small-minded people. The genius controls the chaos." - Jens Voigt
Like he says, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
heddwch
G
Oh and Big Shout Out to Curtis Singmaster for winning the Attleboro crit (cat 4). Nice job my friend. Nice job!
Saturday, July 09, 2011
I had no idea
Other than Horner Crashed. I missed the whole aftermath and the fall out.
Seriously? He didn't know where he was, bleeding from his head and they put him on the bike and let him ride the rest of the way to the finish?
Really?
Neil's perspective is great, well said, thanks to Google+ and GCD for the link. It is encouraging to hear the Garmin-Cervelo team plan for head injuries. The inference is that Horner and Boonen probably would not have been allowed to continue on their squad.
Oh and there are some helmets that don't look like they are offering much more protection than the old leather hair nets. And I won't point a finger (a gewilli departure).
I like that giant melon cap of a helmet that saved my grey matter once already. It isn't as stylish, small, or light. But I have confidence in it.
--
Had a chance to drive the rusty trusty race wagon to the shop today. It was nice not having the pulley making a huge racket. Down side? I can now hear the rest of the rattles and sounds that I have been missing. Oh well. It is a work in progress, right? Slowly replacing everything, more or less.
Lots of smoke out of the gate, probably burning crap that had built up in the valves (Crankcase vent is still stock and blowing right into the intake as designed so there's a bit in there). Took a few miles to burn clear. But I noticed that the car wasn't rolling freely.
Weird.
It usually rolls brilliantly. Something wasn't right. Then it got a bit stinky. And the braking sucked more than normal.
Parked it at the shop, checked the corners, oh hey the left front wheel is a bit hot. Damn. Kind of put a bit damper on the first part of the day, about as much as the heat in the shop put on the rest of the day. After it cooled down I moved it up the hill to a flat section and it seemed okay, other than the blue rotor. And it seemed to release sitting there (heat usually works to fix somethings). I jacked it up and sure enough it spun okay. oh well, that wheel has a nice well mated pad/rotor now.
I've got wheels again, wheels that I don't have to pedal. I can now maybe think about going to a bike race... this fall.
Oh and Google + is pretty cool...
heddwch
g
Seriously? He didn't know where he was, bleeding from his head and they put him on the bike and let him ride the rest of the way to the finish?
Really?
Neil's perspective is great, well said, thanks to Google+ and GCD for the link. It is encouraging to hear the Garmin-Cervelo team plan for head injuries. The inference is that Horner and Boonen probably would not have been allowed to continue on their squad.
Oh and there are some helmets that don't look like they are offering much more protection than the old leather hair nets. And I won't point a finger (a gewilli departure).
I like that giant melon cap of a helmet that saved my grey matter once already. It isn't as stylish, small, or light. But I have confidence in it.
--
Had a chance to drive the rusty trusty race wagon to the shop today. It was nice not having the pulley making a huge racket. Down side? I can now hear the rest of the rattles and sounds that I have been missing. Oh well. It is a work in progress, right? Slowly replacing everything, more or less.
Lots of smoke out of the gate, probably burning crap that had built up in the valves (Crankcase vent is still stock and blowing right into the intake as designed so there's a bit in there). Took a few miles to burn clear. But I noticed that the car wasn't rolling freely.
Weird.
It usually rolls brilliantly. Something wasn't right. Then it got a bit stinky. And the braking sucked more than normal.
Parked it at the shop, checked the corners, oh hey the left front wheel is a bit hot. Damn. Kind of put a bit damper on the first part of the day, about as much as the heat in the shop put on the rest of the day. After it cooled down I moved it up the hill to a flat section and it seemed okay, other than the blue rotor. And it seemed to release sitting there (heat usually works to fix somethings). I jacked it up and sure enough it spun okay. oh well, that wheel has a nice well mated pad/rotor now.
I've got wheels again, wheels that I don't have to pedal. I can now maybe think about going to a bike race... this fall.
Oh and Google + is pretty cool...
heddwch
g
Thursday, July 07, 2011
a week... dang
so it's been a week. but then it has been a week since I raced. Make it race report here right? Why not.
Busy.
Hooked up the trail-a-bike to the Tandem for the 10 mile trip down to the Parade. 20 mile round trip hauling them around wasn't too bad, other than the heat, kind of fun. Crazy number of reactions, my wife liked hearing them all. We were quite the spectacle. And we were passing people, passing everyone. Kind of sketchy a bit, took quite the zen focus planning to pass everyone.
Then it has been a stay-cation week. Took the short week as a vacation week to hang out and have a couple days with the girls here at home. Got the car fixed. It purrs nicely now. No A/C anymore but hey, it is what it is, so quiet. Turns out the pulley bearings exploded. Got a junk yard compressor with a good clutch/pulley, makes all the difference. Back to two cars. Just in time to potentially need it next week.
Managed a commute into the shop for tuesday, wed night was a one way commute home, so not a total relaxed week. But mentally it has been very nice. Not quite total vacation but I've managed to catch ever stage since monday. Oh Sunday.
Right. So has anyone ever ridden 3hr 10min with an avg HR of 87? Reed had announced a coffee shop ride on Sunday morning. It was billed as a 2 hr ride, 20 min or so ride down to the start at the coffee shop. I figured a nice decently long mellow ride would be good to work out a few kinks and just sort of loosen everything up. And hell it was a great morning and I had the opportunity, so I grabbed it and wound up working with a guy on the ride who'd only been on a bike for two weeks. It was pretty damn cool. He made it the whole ride. Totally knackered at the end but he survived and learned a ton.
Hm. Not as much of an off week physcially as much as mentally I guess.
Tonight of course was another running of the BikeWorksMA.com time trial (bob is supposed to be putting the results on the web page, guess it hasn't been up there yet).
Much hotter tonight than last week. Wind definitely NOT favorable. But I felt much better going into it. No side stitch/cramps, decently fueled and two bottles of water. Took up position behind a not fat Burke (he's regaining form, watch out CX season). Eddie O came rolling in with Jack T just as we were lining up. Eddie started last, just like Solobreak did last week.
I hit it hard after a flubbed start (hitting the wrong button on the stop watch on the bike computer doesn't work to get it started). Anyway. Hit it and hit it hard.
Heart rate was in the 170s most of the ride. I pulled it back a few times but mostly just kept the pressure on. Hit my max for the season so far at 177. It was pretty brutal.
I felt like the effort tonight really eclipsed last week, but coming in about 100 yards out of the final turn and I checked the stop watch seeing a number higher than I expected was a wtf moment. It felt much harder, felt almost like i was going faster (but I wasn't).
19:58. Still kept it in the 19 range but barely. Eddie O was on his cannondale TT bike (normal helmet) and set the fastest time at 19:08 or something around there. Within a handful of seconds of my time last week. We were all way off. But pretty consistent.
I was a few seconds slower than big Joe, and Burke didn't let me get too close. Certainly hurt, and the interval was absolutely max effort, despite the crappy time I'm still happy with the effort. All this on a bike from 1986... at least the wheels are somewhat modern.
Earlier this week I was going to write about sunscreen and some more evidence or reasons not to use the hormone based chemical types but that got side tracked.
Some other ideas have been rolling around, like that Morgan Blue stuff, the photo in velonews with the SRAM approved wicked long rear-der cable housing loop. I should get my ass back in a routine. but hey. i don't want to force it. I should have mentioned the slight changes to the hummus recipe (add lemon zest and extra garlic) or pancakes (add choco chips and orange juice). Or the increasingly popular bean salad, and the knife work my oldest is getting chopping tomatoes for it (she's getting pretty good with the santoku).
Attleboro crit is this weekend. I don't think I'm going to make it. Oddly it might just be the closest race (aside from the Cox crit) and i've never done it.
Just going to keep plugging away at what I hope will pay off down the road. Suffering is good, right? 50 miles after 5pm isn't bad either. Right? Not so slow either. Well the last 5 miles were pretty slow. Fuel gauge on empty.
heddwch
G
Busy.
Hooked up the trail-a-bike to the Tandem for the 10 mile trip down to the Parade. 20 mile round trip hauling them around wasn't too bad, other than the heat, kind of fun. Crazy number of reactions, my wife liked hearing them all. We were quite the spectacle. And we were passing people, passing everyone. Kind of sketchy a bit, took quite the zen focus planning to pass everyone.
Then it has been a stay-cation week. Took the short week as a vacation week to hang out and have a couple days with the girls here at home. Got the car fixed. It purrs nicely now. No A/C anymore but hey, it is what it is, so quiet. Turns out the pulley bearings exploded. Got a junk yard compressor with a good clutch/pulley, makes all the difference. Back to two cars. Just in time to potentially need it next week.
Managed a commute into the shop for tuesday, wed night was a one way commute home, so not a total relaxed week. But mentally it has been very nice. Not quite total vacation but I've managed to catch ever stage since monday. Oh Sunday.
Right. So has anyone ever ridden 3hr 10min with an avg HR of 87? Reed had announced a coffee shop ride on Sunday morning. It was billed as a 2 hr ride, 20 min or so ride down to the start at the coffee shop. I figured a nice decently long mellow ride would be good to work out a few kinks and just sort of loosen everything up. And hell it was a great morning and I had the opportunity, so I grabbed it and wound up working with a guy on the ride who'd only been on a bike for two weeks. It was pretty damn cool. He made it the whole ride. Totally knackered at the end but he survived and learned a ton.
Hm. Not as much of an off week physcially as much as mentally I guess.
Tonight of course was another running of the BikeWorksMA.com time trial (bob is supposed to be putting the results on the web page, guess it hasn't been up there yet).
Much hotter tonight than last week. Wind definitely NOT favorable. But I felt much better going into it. No side stitch/cramps, decently fueled and two bottles of water. Took up position behind a not fat Burke (he's regaining form, watch out CX season). Eddie O came rolling in with Jack T just as we were lining up. Eddie started last, just like Solobreak did last week.
I hit it hard after a flubbed start (hitting the wrong button on the stop watch on the bike computer doesn't work to get it started). Anyway. Hit it and hit it hard.
Heart rate was in the 170s most of the ride. I pulled it back a few times but mostly just kept the pressure on. Hit my max for the season so far at 177. It was pretty brutal.
I felt like the effort tonight really eclipsed last week, but coming in about 100 yards out of the final turn and I checked the stop watch seeing a number higher than I expected was a wtf moment. It felt much harder, felt almost like i was going faster (but I wasn't).
19:58. Still kept it in the 19 range but barely. Eddie O was on his cannondale TT bike (normal helmet) and set the fastest time at 19:08 or something around there. Within a handful of seconds of my time last week. We were all way off. But pretty consistent.
I was a few seconds slower than big Joe, and Burke didn't let me get too close. Certainly hurt, and the interval was absolutely max effort, despite the crappy time I'm still happy with the effort. All this on a bike from 1986... at least the wheels are somewhat modern.
Earlier this week I was going to write about sunscreen and some more evidence or reasons not to use the hormone based chemical types but that got side tracked.
Some other ideas have been rolling around, like that Morgan Blue stuff, the photo in velonews with the SRAM approved wicked long rear-der cable housing loop. I should get my ass back in a routine. but hey. i don't want to force it. I should have mentioned the slight changes to the hummus recipe (add lemon zest and extra garlic) or pancakes (add choco chips and orange juice). Or the increasingly popular bean salad, and the knife work my oldest is getting chopping tomatoes for it (she's getting pretty good with the santoku).
Attleboro crit is this weekend. I don't think I'm going to make it. Oddly it might just be the closest race (aside from the Cox crit) and i've never done it.
Just going to keep plugging away at what I hope will pay off down the road. Suffering is good, right? 50 miles after 5pm isn't bad either. Right? Not so slow either. Well the last 5 miles were pretty slow. Fuel gauge on empty.
heddwch
G
Friday, July 01, 2011
Does it get any better?
Than this?
Now, maybe if it wasn't a 29er and it was a CX style, and they didn't cover up all the gorgeous metal with paint (not that the paint is bad - pretty bad ass paint but stainless or ti should be left alone to appreciate the craftsmanship).
Simply perfectly amazingly awesome.
can't wait to see the rest of the bike.
Now, maybe if it wasn't a 29er and it was a CX style, and they didn't cover up all the gorgeous metal with paint (not that the paint is bad - pretty bad ass paint but stainless or ti should be left alone to appreciate the craftsmanship).
Simply perfectly amazingly awesome.
can't wait to see the rest of the bike.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
ouch
damn that hurt. not as much then as it does now. felt like i left something on the table today... but about 15 min before we got to the course i had a side cramp/stitch that just wouldn't go away. Stayed with me the whole TT, hurt. It is gone now but i think it sucked a few seconds out of me.
19:13 today. huge improvement. We did have a tailwind, that made it faster a bit and the frankenbike worked well. Well it worked well other than the Reynolds free-hub sounding like i was grinding rocks or something. Disconcerting.
Went too hard in a few places before the right turn but it was good. Burke set pretty tough pace on the way home. At least it felt pretty brutal, I was at my limit until they peeled off across the bridge and I rolled on to the bike path.
doing that on one water bottle was stupid but i'd at least had enough water and salt leading up to it that i was okay.
20:42 - then 21:42 and today 19:13.
might be close to my fastest time ever on the course. going to work on getting some consistency with the TT going and focus on making the commutes either super super easy (like tomorrow morning will be) or really really intense, either intervals or steady state.
Maybe it will work.
falling asleep writing.
heddwch
G
19:13 today. huge improvement. We did have a tailwind, that made it faster a bit and the frankenbike worked well. Well it worked well other than the Reynolds free-hub sounding like i was grinding rocks or something. Disconcerting.
Went too hard in a few places before the right turn but it was good. Burke set pretty tough pace on the way home. At least it felt pretty brutal, I was at my limit until they peeled off across the bridge and I rolled on to the bike path.
doing that on one water bottle was stupid but i'd at least had enough water and salt leading up to it that i was okay.
20:42 - then 21:42 and today 19:13.
might be close to my fastest time ever on the course. going to work on getting some consistency with the TT going and focus on making the commutes either super super easy (like tomorrow morning will be) or really really intense, either intervals or steady state.
Maybe it will work.
falling asleep writing.
heddwch
G
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
electrolytes, laxatives?
Really?
Hmm.
interesting
http://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/2011/06/27/hydration-tips/
i don't buy it mostly because the one "electrolyte" used as a laxative is consumed on a 2-5 gram dosage and Na+ and K+ are very different than Mg^2+ (former are easily absorbed latter not so much).
nothing relieves cramping symptoms like a quart of (commercially sold) tomato juice (or V8 for that matter - still mostly tomato but with just as much sodium chloride).
Tempting to point it out in a FB comment but kind of figure just to say something somewhere else.
I never cramped as badly for as long as after chugging the whole camel back of water through one hot lap at Great Glen... cramps lasted until I started pounding PILLS (multiple) of those electrolytes (mostly just salt).
Granted most people get enough salt in their diet (because they eat out too much - or don't prepare their meals from scratch) so it doesn't matter really. But if you eat well, wisely and all that, water often won't cut the mustard in the summer.
Gotta get your salt somehow.
Gatorade powder with some plain old salt added makes it work well. I should dig up the amount needed to add to the cheap powder to bring the levels of sodium up to the endurance formula. teaspoon or two iirc.
It's getting to be summer. Cramping isn't just loss of water. It is fatigue but more often your electrical system getting fucked up because there aren't enough ions to allow the signals to flow properly.
Hmm.
interesting
http://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/2011/06/27/hydration-tips/
i don't buy it mostly because the one "electrolyte" used as a laxative is consumed on a 2-5 gram dosage and Na+ and K+ are very different than Mg^2+ (former are easily absorbed latter not so much).
nothing relieves cramping symptoms like a quart of (commercially sold) tomato juice (or V8 for that matter - still mostly tomato but with just as much sodium chloride).
Tempting to point it out in a FB comment but kind of figure just to say something somewhere else.
I never cramped as badly for as long as after chugging the whole camel back of water through one hot lap at Great Glen... cramps lasted until I started pounding PILLS (multiple) of those electrolytes (mostly just salt).
Granted most people get enough salt in their diet (because they eat out too much - or don't prepare their meals from scratch) so it doesn't matter really. But if you eat well, wisely and all that, water often won't cut the mustard in the summer.
Gotta get your salt somehow.
Gatorade powder with some plain old salt added makes it work well. I should dig up the amount needed to add to the cheap powder to bring the levels of sodium up to the endurance formula. teaspoon or two iirc.
It's getting to be summer. Cramping isn't just loss of water. It is fatigue but more often your electrical system getting fucked up because there aren't enough ions to allow the signals to flow properly.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
cooking for a crowd
Big pile of Potato salad, some of the Ecuadorean bean salad, hummus, and locally made sweet Italian sausages and yes, hot dogs (those un-cured cancer salt free ones, yes wicked processed still but hey - it is summer f'it).
gotta finish cooking up the sausages and dogs, slap some sunscreen on and get the canoe over there. two edge sword being this close to the water. takes as long to get it on the car and back off as it does to walk it over...
oops time to flip the sausages.
pop the hot dogs on.
get some sunscreen
okay - one last coffee (lost count but fortunately losing count of how many cups of coffee isn't as dangerous as losing count of how many beers)
time to haul a canoe!
the weather has cooperated, paddle time!
gotta finish cooking up the sausages and dogs, slap some sunscreen on and get the canoe over there. two edge sword being this close to the water. takes as long to get it on the car and back off as it does to walk it over...
oops time to flip the sausages.
pop the hot dogs on.
get some sunscreen
okay - one last coffee (lost count but fortunately losing count of how many cups of coffee isn't as dangerous as losing count of how many beers)
time to haul a canoe!
the weather has cooperated, paddle time!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
TT today
So I saw the forecast and I saw rain. Original plans were for me to hang out with the girls today and then head out to the Bikeworks TT, weather permitting.
Oddly the weather folks were bang on with their forecasting. They were saying it would rain, and it did. In the afternoon. Game changing was the trio of strep infected girls I picked up from the airport yesterday. My wife called in sick (or it was suggested by the director that maybe an extra day home to let the antibiotics work some more would be good). I wasn't scheduled to be in today so we had a great morning together.
Then well my brain hatched a rare decent plan. Finish the last bits of the frankenbike and hit the TT course on the way in and get a few much needed things done today instead of trying to cram them into the afternoon.
TT bike is finished. Standard 53/39 for a change (which wasn't standard when they were purchased, most everyone was still staunchly 53/42 in 1991) - a change from my either 40t or 50t that had been on the TT bike or the 46 on the CX bikes. The stubby cranks on the blue opened up the option to use the Mavic cranks again (also 177.5). I slapped the bar cons that had been used on the Croll into the ends of the bolt on aero ran some new cables and boom - 8sp 7402 rear der shifting between each of the 8 cogs wicked solidly.
With the potential of rain I declined to test the Reynolds carbon braking surface for the commute part of today's riding and put some Ultremo DDs on the Zipp 101s. The Dura-Ace 7400 calipers (yes, circa 1984 6sp D-A brakes that go with my 6sp D-A downtube shifters i have for the bike) have some rim friendly Scott-Mathauser pads on there and they worked great.
Now because I hadn't had lunch and was headed to tweak a few scopes and then hit the bike shop I had lunch and some dry socks and the tubes and what not in the backpack. And the TT is just out of the way enough that it is easier to ride there and do it than try and drop the bag off somewhere.
So now while I was on the newly put together TT bike (and amazingly getting this together meant I have 4 700c bikes to chose from) with faster tires and taller gears, the backpack took a bit of the aero advantage away.
Not to mention there was a decent wind blowing today, coming out of the NE to ENE, somewhat variable from 10-20mph. Pretty much a headwind on Tremont (the long leg of the course). Last week the wind was light but if it was blowing it was a few mph as a tailwind on Tremont.
Headwind, Backpack going against CX bike and durano plus tires. Wheels were the same, helmet same. Position different gearing different...
Result? I only managed to record a 21:40. There were two spots where I mentally lapsed (no one timing me who cares this hurts oh shit i'm slowing down damn it jackass fucking pedal), and i was pretty lazy with the starting the stopwatch and getting going. Over all though a minute slower into a solid headwind wearing a backpack, I'll take the workout. I pegged the HR, managing to average it right at 92% of max. Which is either the bottom of Zone 5 if you use a 5 zone tool or the very top of Zone 5 in a 6 zone setup. But really? who fucking cares. Well actually I do. I was missing that specific stuff last year. The time is slow, but I'm pretty happy to have managed to pound out a solid 20 min effort at that intensity two weeks in a row. Will it pay off? Too early to tell if life will get in the way, or the weather or what.
I did manage 2 hours on the bike just riding there and doing it and heading back. It felt so luxurious but also really pretty awesome. The ride out I worked hard, not insane but right at that 75% HR zone so I would be good and warmed up, and also because that's how I rode out to the last TT. Weather was cooler today. Heck it was almost cold riding in the rain.
Bike was great. Worked flawlessly. Even for really old shit. It looks like an abomination, I really should see about getting the crown replaced on the original fork, maybe Zanc or the guys at Circle A can work some magic to replace it, it would be nice to have that bike 'complete' again. Not sure if that crown lug/cast is around or if there is something similar enough to use. Anyway, that's what I was thinking about trying to pedal back into the office to eat lunch.
Putting it mildly there has been very little that has made my legs hurt like these TTs have. Granted I could probably get my ass kicked on the Tuesday Night smackdown, but there's a weird theory bouncing around the collective crap in my brain that is seeming to suggest that a 20 min effort at those HR levels sustained is going to do more, esp if I add in the 30-30-30 or some 20/20s or other max intensity intervals in the week. I've also come to the conclusion that my commute is good for recovery rides but way too short to be effective at kicking my own ass. At least with a 46x12 on the commuter/cx bikes. Some how that TT course kills me. In a good way.
If I can swing the timing I might actually try and get one in before the real timed one, but I said that already. However the way i've felt at the end, not sure i can put two decent times back to back yet. Maybe in a couple weeks.
Still haven't managed to get the passat running yet. It is driveable but based on the condition of the ribbed belt i've got between 5 and ? minutes of driving before it shredds itself and the water pump and alternator stop turning - which would not be good. I'm good with changing the headgasket on that car, I just would prefer not to do it again. A salvage yard in town has a pile of AC compressors listed for short money, just have to find the window to get the old one out and then grab one with a good pulley and clutch and get it in there. Managing as a 1 car family again for a bit.
Damnit. getting in the bad habit of being up too late. And it is officially too late.
damn words... leading me astray...
honestly i feel pretty crappy about not heading up to boston yesterday, should have tried to make it work somehow...
brain
turning
off
fingers
oops
there
finally
feel
finished
heddwch
g
Oddly the weather folks were bang on with their forecasting. They were saying it would rain, and it did. In the afternoon. Game changing was the trio of strep infected girls I picked up from the airport yesterday. My wife called in sick (or it was suggested by the director that maybe an extra day home to let the antibiotics work some more would be good). I wasn't scheduled to be in today so we had a great morning together.
Then well my brain hatched a rare decent plan. Finish the last bits of the frankenbike and hit the TT course on the way in and get a few much needed things done today instead of trying to cram them into the afternoon.
TT bike is finished. Standard 53/39 for a change (which wasn't standard when they were purchased, most everyone was still staunchly 53/42 in 1991) - a change from my either 40t or 50t that had been on the TT bike or the 46 on the CX bikes. The stubby cranks on the blue opened up the option to use the Mavic cranks again (also 177.5). I slapped the bar cons that had been used on the Croll into the ends of the bolt on aero ran some new cables and boom - 8sp 7402 rear der shifting between each of the 8 cogs wicked solidly.
With the potential of rain I declined to test the Reynolds carbon braking surface for the commute part of today's riding and put some Ultremo DDs on the Zipp 101s. The Dura-Ace 7400 calipers (yes, circa 1984 6sp D-A brakes that go with my 6sp D-A downtube shifters i have for the bike) have some rim friendly Scott-Mathauser pads on there and they worked great.
Now because I hadn't had lunch and was headed to tweak a few scopes and then hit the bike shop I had lunch and some dry socks and the tubes and what not in the backpack. And the TT is just out of the way enough that it is easier to ride there and do it than try and drop the bag off somewhere.
So now while I was on the newly put together TT bike (and amazingly getting this together meant I have 4 700c bikes to chose from) with faster tires and taller gears, the backpack took a bit of the aero advantage away.
Not to mention there was a decent wind blowing today, coming out of the NE to ENE, somewhat variable from 10-20mph. Pretty much a headwind on Tremont (the long leg of the course). Last week the wind was light but if it was blowing it was a few mph as a tailwind on Tremont.
Headwind, Backpack going against CX bike and durano plus tires. Wheels were the same, helmet same. Position different gearing different...
Result? I only managed to record a 21:40. There were two spots where I mentally lapsed (no one timing me who cares this hurts oh shit i'm slowing down damn it jackass fucking pedal), and i was pretty lazy with the starting the stopwatch and getting going. Over all though a minute slower into a solid headwind wearing a backpack, I'll take the workout. I pegged the HR, managing to average it right at 92% of max. Which is either the bottom of Zone 5 if you use a 5 zone tool or the very top of Zone 5 in a 6 zone setup. But really? who fucking cares. Well actually I do. I was missing that specific stuff last year. The time is slow, but I'm pretty happy to have managed to pound out a solid 20 min effort at that intensity two weeks in a row. Will it pay off? Too early to tell if life will get in the way, or the weather or what.
I did manage 2 hours on the bike just riding there and doing it and heading back. It felt so luxurious but also really pretty awesome. The ride out I worked hard, not insane but right at that 75% HR zone so I would be good and warmed up, and also because that's how I rode out to the last TT. Weather was cooler today. Heck it was almost cold riding in the rain.
Bike was great. Worked flawlessly. Even for really old shit. It looks like an abomination, I really should see about getting the crown replaced on the original fork, maybe Zanc or the guys at Circle A can work some magic to replace it, it would be nice to have that bike 'complete' again. Not sure if that crown lug/cast is around or if there is something similar enough to use. Anyway, that's what I was thinking about trying to pedal back into the office to eat lunch.
Putting it mildly there has been very little that has made my legs hurt like these TTs have. Granted I could probably get my ass kicked on the Tuesday Night smackdown, but there's a weird theory bouncing around the collective crap in my brain that is seeming to suggest that a 20 min effort at those HR levels sustained is going to do more, esp if I add in the 30-30-30 or some 20/20s or other max intensity intervals in the week. I've also come to the conclusion that my commute is good for recovery rides but way too short to be effective at kicking my own ass. At least with a 46x12 on the commuter/cx bikes. Some how that TT course kills me. In a good way.
If I can swing the timing I might actually try and get one in before the real timed one, but I said that already. However the way i've felt at the end, not sure i can put two decent times back to back yet. Maybe in a couple weeks.
Still haven't managed to get the passat running yet. It is driveable but based on the condition of the ribbed belt i've got between 5 and ? minutes of driving before it shredds itself and the water pump and alternator stop turning - which would not be good. I'm good with changing the headgasket on that car, I just would prefer not to do it again. A salvage yard in town has a pile of AC compressors listed for short money, just have to find the window to get the old one out and then grab one with a good pulley and clutch and get it in there. Managing as a 1 car family again for a bit.
Damnit. getting in the bad habit of being up too late. And it is officially too late.
damn words... leading me astray...
honestly i feel pretty crappy about not heading up to boston yesterday, should have tried to make it work somehow...
brain
turning
off
fingers
oops
there
finally
feel
finished
heddwch
g
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
this lytro stuff
so I've been seeing it pop up in a few places today.
The vector based sensor is curious, but I'm wondering what the array really is like. Light can only do so many things. collecting the vectors may just mean engineering a directional sensor and that's probably what they did, but how much focus choice do they have and how much is it really a through focus series and how much is processed?
They folks at Keyence have been doing something similar for a while. With data rates and camera speeds now you could actually do a true focus series and with software just move back and forth like we do with Z-stacks, or using their software put everything in focus.
I'm not impressed much more than mildly. (shocker)
At a cheap price point it would be interesting. I'm guessing the images are data hogs (no big deal when 2TB external drives are selling at $90 right now), but the quality of their samples images stinks. There is an aliasing/artifact/something doesn't look right quality to them. Neat? Yes.
But a solution to a problem that doesn't exist? Mostly. DOF on most point and shoot cameras (phones included) are very close to pinhole style and while sucky at lower light they don't suffer too much from what the Lytro is trying to 'fix.'
New and cool? Yes.
The vector based technology could actually be pretty cool for scientific imaging applications, potentially fitting in somewhere between a high end point scanning confocal and a widefield scope. But the vectors that determine in and out of focus on a microscope are probably indistinguishable on their current array. (just guessing).
If nothing else it will be interesting to see how this technology/application progresses to market and what the reviews will be like when they actually release it.
Okay.
Now that I wrote that, (just to show native a priori thinking) All Lytro is doing is making a consumer Plenoptic camera (i'm going to wager that page changes pretty soon).
Okay link run down:
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/graphics/pubs/thesis_jcyang.pdf
http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/lfcamera-150dpi.pdf
http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/
if you search for Plenoptic camera you'll get more varied info than light field...
Now put that shit in a GoPro? 3D video from Resultsboy would be pretty cool (case in point of pinhole style where everything is in focus but just imagine crashing into a tree in 3D).
There - something I didn't know about (and the raw process of a lug-head learning). And most definitely not really a solid application for microscopes.
The vector based sensor is curious, but I'm wondering what the array really is like. Light can only do so many things. collecting the vectors may just mean engineering a directional sensor and that's probably what they did, but how much focus choice do they have and how much is it really a through focus series and how much is processed?
They folks at Keyence have been doing something similar for a while. With data rates and camera speeds now you could actually do a true focus series and with software just move back and forth like we do with Z-stacks, or using their software put everything in focus.
I'm not impressed much more than mildly. (shocker)
At a cheap price point it would be interesting. I'm guessing the images are data hogs (no big deal when 2TB external drives are selling at $90 right now), but the quality of their samples images stinks. There is an aliasing/artifact/something doesn't look right quality to them. Neat? Yes.
But a solution to a problem that doesn't exist? Mostly. DOF on most point and shoot cameras (phones included) are very close to pinhole style and while sucky at lower light they don't suffer too much from what the Lytro is trying to 'fix.'
New and cool? Yes.
The vector based technology could actually be pretty cool for scientific imaging applications, potentially fitting in somewhere between a high end point scanning confocal and a widefield scope. But the vectors that determine in and out of focus on a microscope are probably indistinguishable on their current array. (just guessing).
If nothing else it will be interesting to see how this technology/application progresses to market and what the reviews will be like when they actually release it.
Okay.
Now that I wrote that, (just to show native a priori thinking) All Lytro is doing is making a consumer Plenoptic camera (i'm going to wager that page changes pretty soon).
Okay link run down:
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/graphics/pubs/thesis_jcyang.pdf
http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/lfcamera-150dpi.pdf
http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/
if you search for Plenoptic camera you'll get more varied info than light field...
Now put that shit in a GoPro? 3D video from Resultsboy would be pretty cool (case in point of pinhole style where everything is in focus but just imagine crashing into a tree in 3D).
There - something I didn't know about (and the raw process of a lug-head learning). And most definitely not really a solid application for microscopes.
Word[s]
coupled with the Moon strip today add in this column and that's some hope. yeah?
Of course if you want to be fair and balanced good news like that should be read with complete wack job stuff like this one (no - not bike related - yet).
So today is a big day G-ride actually turns 40. That crazy jackass is officially old. Well by some standards. At least by the measure of his doctor sticking a finger up his ass on a regular basis for the rest of his life, or until medicine finds a better way to check his prostate.
Happy mother fucking birthday Jerry.
The revival of urban cycling in this country follows a fairly predictable pattern: nervousness and ridicule, followed by the realization that the truth never matches the fear-mongering. The supposed choice between bikes and everyone else is a bogus choice. More bikes in a city doesn't merely benefit riders; it reduces congestion, saves money, improves quality of life, elevates the experience. No one returns from a city and says, "Oh, it was great—except for all the biking."
Of course if you want to be fair and balanced good news like that should be read with complete wack job stuff like this one (no - not bike related - yet).
So today is a big day G-ride actually turns 40. That crazy jackass is officially old. Well by some standards. At least by the measure of his doctor sticking a finger up his ass on a regular basis for the rest of his life, or until medicine finds a better way to check his prostate.
Happy mother fucking birthday Jerry.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
quiet night
on my feet all day and feel it.
sat down twice.
legs weren't so happy, but oh man, when I sat down it felt great.
the dog hasn't been thrilled with me for coming home, heating up some left overs and plunking my ass down on the couch and putting my feet up.
i think she was hoping i would be making a big mess. I did make a salad and she did get the core and the ends of a few carrots, so not all is lost but I think she was hoping for more. No way was I going running, heck too burnt out at the moment to take her for a walk. Maybe in the morning we'll head out.
I got looking over at photos collected somewhere and there's a ton of shots that reminded me of Bend and the ice, and the f'n cold. of course it is 75F here and the humidity has crept up to the point where i'm not finding it comfortable, and i'm thinking about cyclocross.
and i realized, yes, it is hard, but you know what? it is pretty f'n awesome, bring on the season. Lets see what we can do to make it start differently than last year.
I don't know what it is about the end of August and all of September but it is one big f'n drama year after year. The car, the bike, this thing that thing... takes until October for stuff to shake out.
2009 Bend Nats were pretty awesome. Being in the pits for Bold's win, the Clydesdale Champion of the Universe race (man I crashed hard a few times in that race)... hmm i'm not a clydesdale anymore. Shit. Well nothing three or four bags of chips and a two cases of beer can't fix.
I did start thinking about the Thursday night TT, thinking that Avg speed and time to the Reynolds right hand turn reflects more on how aero you are and from Reynolds to the finish might reflect more on how strong you are. And maybe (yeah maybe I'm overthinking it again) maybe using the two avg speed differences as a ratio might work. Avg Speed to Reynolds:Avg Speed overall. I'd wager Graham and Bold don't drop a whole hell of a lot of speed (or didn't) from the turn on. Relative to others on full aero kit bikes.
Still have to get the car fixed. Meaning I need to head to a junk yard that has a compressor in who cares condition with a pulley that spins nice and free... don't need AC during CX season anyway.
randomly writing now. for no reason. other than why i write many other times, a vain attempt to connect... and really to try and get this shit out of my head. time to stop wiping the sleep induced watery eyes with habanero laced hands (sort of a perpetual motion - wipe water, apply pepper, wipe water apply pepper) and just close up shop.
and see how much sleep my dog will let me get tonight.
heddwch
G
sat down twice.
legs weren't so happy, but oh man, when I sat down it felt great.
the dog hasn't been thrilled with me for coming home, heating up some left overs and plunking my ass down on the couch and putting my feet up.
i think she was hoping i would be making a big mess. I did make a salad and she did get the core and the ends of a few carrots, so not all is lost but I think she was hoping for more. No way was I going running, heck too burnt out at the moment to take her for a walk. Maybe in the morning we'll head out.
I got looking over at photos collected somewhere and there's a ton of shots that reminded me of Bend and the ice, and the f'n cold. of course it is 75F here and the humidity has crept up to the point where i'm not finding it comfortable, and i'm thinking about cyclocross.
and i realized, yes, it is hard, but you know what? it is pretty f'n awesome, bring on the season. Lets see what we can do to make it start differently than last year.
I don't know what it is about the end of August and all of September but it is one big f'n drama year after year. The car, the bike, this thing that thing... takes until October for stuff to shake out.
2009 Bend Nats were pretty awesome. Being in the pits for Bold's win, the Clydesdale Champion of the Universe race (man I crashed hard a few times in that race)... hmm i'm not a clydesdale anymore. Shit. Well nothing three or four bags of chips and a two cases of beer can't fix.
I did start thinking about the Thursday night TT, thinking that Avg speed and time to the Reynolds right hand turn reflects more on how aero you are and from Reynolds to the finish might reflect more on how strong you are. And maybe (yeah maybe I'm overthinking it again) maybe using the two avg speed differences as a ratio might work. Avg Speed to Reynolds:Avg Speed overall. I'd wager Graham and Bold don't drop a whole hell of a lot of speed (or didn't) from the turn on. Relative to others on full aero kit bikes.
Still have to get the car fixed. Meaning I need to head to a junk yard that has a compressor in who cares condition with a pulley that spins nice and free... don't need AC during CX season anyway.
randomly writing now. for no reason. other than why i write many other times, a vain attempt to connect... and really to try and get this shit out of my head. time to stop wiping the sleep induced watery eyes with habanero laced hands (sort of a perpetual motion - wipe water, apply pepper, wipe water apply pepper) and just close up shop.
and see how much sleep my dog will let me get tonight.
heddwch
G
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
ouch
that hurt tonight.
weather conditions were pretty favorable.
TT is 8 miles. First couple hundred yards are slightly up hill before the road tips down gently until the Chartley store, then there's some flat, and a couple very slight rollers before turning on to Reynolds which it slightly up hill and a chip and seal road.
IIRC when I hit my fastest ever time on there (25.4mph avg) my avg speed hitting the right turn on Reynolds was close to 28mph or so. There's a lot of loss in that last little stretch, hills and bad roads and just being cooked from over doing it early.
Today I paced it out, not too hard and I knew I wasn't going to match my best but I didn't want to leave anything out there.
I hit the turn with a 24.9 mph avg. Way slow. But then I was on the Blue, bars still way up in CX racing position, 46x11, durano plus tires. The Zipp 101s were the only concession to speed. But then they were also what were on the bike. And with the Shimano 105 10sp stuff with the shift housing under the tape there wasn't anything to hold on to in invisible aero bar mode.
I thought I'd saved a little something, planning on hitting reynolds hard and not losing too much time, but boom, it is like turning a corner and suddenly riding in a sand pit.
"WHERE IS MY SPEED?" Fuck it hurt.
I dug and pedaled.
Brier started 2 min behind me on his Cervelo with the Zipp 909 front and the disc wheel in the back, LG fancy aero helmet and skinsuit. And he's going pretty good lately. He caught me with less than a mile to go. Carbon disc rumbling past.
Leaving it all out there I wound up with an okay time for a cannibal run at 20:24. Good for a 'reported' average of 23.8 mph. I was 5th IIRC (Brier was 1st), two cannibal riders in front of me, Kirk S and Paul S (no relation). Paul killed it, but then he's also racing and racing pretty well. Kirk's been riding the Tuesday night smack down and training too. Me? Yeah, I haven't been training. At all. Not really much since before Mystic Velo.
I was slow, no question. But it hurt. A lot. In a good way. I suffered. And can't wait until i get back. Oddly debating heading early next time (if I can) and doing a "warm up" full gas interval/TT before the real one just to put two 20 min efforts back to back in the same training block. Why? Mostly because I hear it is supposed to make you better. I also know it really really really hurts to try and do two. And suffering is good. Assuming you rest enough to allow that shit to work.
It is a good TT, you should try and make it out if you are in the area.
time for bed
heddwch
G
weather conditions were pretty favorable.
TT is 8 miles. First couple hundred yards are slightly up hill before the road tips down gently until the Chartley store, then there's some flat, and a couple very slight rollers before turning on to Reynolds which it slightly up hill and a chip and seal road.
IIRC when I hit my fastest ever time on there (25.4mph avg) my avg speed hitting the right turn on Reynolds was close to 28mph or so. There's a lot of loss in that last little stretch, hills and bad roads and just being cooked from over doing it early.
Today I paced it out, not too hard and I knew I wasn't going to match my best but I didn't want to leave anything out there.
I hit the turn with a 24.9 mph avg. Way slow. But then I was on the Blue, bars still way up in CX racing position, 46x11, durano plus tires. The Zipp 101s were the only concession to speed. But then they were also what were on the bike. And with the Shimano 105 10sp stuff with the shift housing under the tape there wasn't anything to hold on to in invisible aero bar mode.
I thought I'd saved a little something, planning on hitting reynolds hard and not losing too much time, but boom, it is like turning a corner and suddenly riding in a sand pit.
"WHERE IS MY SPEED?" Fuck it hurt.
I dug and pedaled.
Brier started 2 min behind me on his Cervelo with the Zipp 909 front and the disc wheel in the back, LG fancy aero helmet and skinsuit. And he's going pretty good lately. He caught me with less than a mile to go. Carbon disc rumbling past.
Leaving it all out there I wound up with an okay time for a cannibal run at 20:24. Good for a 'reported' average of 23.8 mph. I was 5th IIRC (Brier was 1st), two cannibal riders in front of me, Kirk S and Paul S (no relation). Paul killed it, but then he's also racing and racing pretty well. Kirk's been riding the Tuesday night smack down and training too. Me? Yeah, I haven't been training. At all. Not really much since before Mystic Velo.
I was slow, no question. But it hurt. A lot. In a good way. I suffered. And can't wait until i get back. Oddly debating heading early next time (if I can) and doing a "warm up" full gas interval/TT before the real one just to put two 20 min efforts back to back in the same training block. Why? Mostly because I hear it is supposed to make you better. I also know it really really really hurts to try and do two. And suffering is good. Assuming you rest enough to allow that shit to work.
It is a good TT, you should try and make it out if you are in the area.
time for bed
heddwch
G
TIME TRIAL
tonight.
Bikeworks time Trial Series
When
Thu, June 16, 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Where
Rehoboth Mass
Description
Bikeworks Time Trial Series
6.00 entree fee
Flat to rolling hills
8 Miles
Where exactly?
Here.
If you are driving, park over at the Chartley Store (Fairview Ave and Tremont st) mid-way down the course and ride to the start or park at/near the finishline in the dirt lot at the corner of Tremont and Anawan St.
It is a good course. Deceptive at the start and you'll get burned after you turn onto Reynolds if you go to hard. Essentially rolling down hill to Reynolds (with a rise or two) then a slight incline on chip and seal with a couple hills and rollers that loop you back over onto Anawan/118 for the finish. Save something for Reynolds.
it is pretty easy to hold a high 20s mph average going into Reynolds only to see your avg drop to mid or low 20s by the finish. Bold probably averages 35 by the turn onto Reynolds fwiw.
20 min times are good, sub 18 are pretty solid and 15s are inhuman.
No time to put the P-mount together in TT mode so I'm riding the short cranked plastic bike cannibal style. Focusing on the effort and intensity not on results, because it is well documented and Solobreak keeps reminding me: I just flat out suck because I'm slow and don't suffer enough or race enough or train enough or ride the bike well enough to expect to beat anyone.
so
new positive shit = fuck the results, who cares. Time to just pedal hard and have fun.
See you out there (or not)
heddwch
G
Bikeworks time Trial Series
When
Thu, June 16, 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Where
Rehoboth Mass
Description
Bikeworks Time Trial Series
6.00 entree fee
Flat to rolling hills
8 Miles
Where exactly?
Here.
If you are driving, park over at the Chartley Store (Fairview Ave and Tremont st) mid-way down the course and ride to the start or park at/near the finishline in the dirt lot at the corner of Tremont and Anawan St.
It is a good course. Deceptive at the start and you'll get burned after you turn onto Reynolds if you go to hard. Essentially rolling down hill to Reynolds (with a rise or two) then a slight incline on chip and seal with a couple hills and rollers that loop you back over onto Anawan/118 for the finish. Save something for Reynolds.
it is pretty easy to hold a high 20s mph average going into Reynolds only to see your avg drop to mid or low 20s by the finish. Bold probably averages 35 by the turn onto Reynolds fwiw.
20 min times are good, sub 18 are pretty solid and 15s are inhuman.
No time to put the P-mount together in TT mode so I'm riding the short cranked plastic bike cannibal style. Focusing on the effort and intensity not on results, because it is well documented and Solobreak keeps reminding me: I just flat out suck because I'm slow and don't suffer enough or race enough or train enough or ride the bike well enough to expect to beat anyone.
so
new positive shit = fuck the results, who cares. Time to just pedal hard and have fun.
See you out there (or not)
heddwch
G
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
hmmm
maybe my crappy climbing has nothing to do with the fact that i don't train and everything to do with the fact i'm on cranks waaaaaay to short proportionally for my leg length?
Put G-ride on some 150s and see how well he can make it up his driveway.
it is like he wants all us tall folks to buy his product... is he making one with a BB30 spindle yet?
No but he does have something rather cool.
One thing in the article I don't buy:
I can pretty easily hit 150rpm and push over it with 180mm cranks.
I still would like to find a BB30 180mm crank... why the heck doesn't SRAM make one at least in the Red. Oh well. Pretty clear that equipment isn't my limiter.
Put G-ride on some 150s and see how well he can make it up his driveway.
From my own decades of experience and testing with different crank lengths, if you venture a lot shorter with the crank than 21-22 percent of your (measured) inseam length, you won’t climb as fast.
it is like he wants all us tall folks to buy his product... is he making one with a BB30 spindle yet?
No but he does have something rather cool.
One thing in the article I don't buy:
Tall sprinters cannot get a high enough gear to work with a long crank, as 80kph on a 53 X 11 gear is 135RPM, a cadence that is unrealistic when the crank circle gets much bigger than 180mm in radius
I can pretty easily hit 150rpm and push over it with 180mm cranks.
I still would like to find a BB30 180mm crank... why the heck doesn't SRAM make one at least in the Red. Oh well. Pretty clear that equipment isn't my limiter.
How slow can you go?
Challenge this morning.
How slow? I Made the inaugural ride in with the HRM to signify the start of time to get serious again an easy one. Okay so this wasn't the inaugural ride in, well it was with the croll.
HR was at 65 walking the bike out to the road along the side of the house, and leaving with a bit of a time cushion it was a goal to see how low of a HR i could average. What's the point? I don't know, mostly some crazy notion of avoiding the middle zones. Full gas either in a sustained effort or short bursts or as chill as I can go.
As chill as I could go, including the two short pitches wound up being an avg hr of 76 with a max at 103. Only took 45 min to get in.
No smack down for me tonight. Going to build a few bikes and then head home and make a 17 year anniversary dinner.
TT starts thursday... lets see if i can make it out there...
How slow? I Made the inaugural ride in with the HRM to signify the start of time to get serious again an easy one. Okay so this wasn't the inaugural ride in, well it was with the croll.
HR was at 65 walking the bike out to the road along the side of the house, and leaving with a bit of a time cushion it was a goal to see how low of a HR i could average. What's the point? I don't know, mostly some crazy notion of avoiding the middle zones. Full gas either in a sustained effort or short bursts or as chill as I can go.
As chill as I could go, including the two short pitches wound up being an avg hr of 76 with a max at 103. Only took 45 min to get in.
No smack down for me tonight. Going to build a few bikes and then head home and make a 17 year anniversary dinner.
TT starts thursday... lets see if i can make it out there...
Sunday, June 12, 2011
every once in a while...
You come across something new. Brian Chapman featured in ESPN. Sure just a web feature, but still that's pretty cool.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
no parallel
but it does tend to offer doubt to those who say you must race your way into shape.
"what you talking about?"
Doucheblog's thing here
Tilford mentioned something along those lines before, a while ago, haven't found his post yet. Maybe implying that the only reason to take a big block of time off before a bit race is to enhance your training in a situation where you're less likely to be tested every day.
It is curious to see the pros take a month off then come kill it in the tour. Sure, they are pros they know how to train hard enough. But what about those who claim you can't train hard enough to simulate racing?
Conflicting information, enough to make even the experts look questionable. Such is life with most everything.
Oh hey look. It is raining.
Yes. I know the difference between some over thinking master and a pro is a huge heap of talent.
just a quiet morning contemplation, while oddly everyone else sleeps late. Must be the eating dinner late or something. Seems i'm the only person here not getting much sleep. Even the dog has gone back to sleep after waking me up very emphatically to feed her.
Birds singing out side the open windows, rain falling on the leaves and street, cup of coffee, my own odd meaningless pondering...
heddwch
G
"what you talking about?"
Doucheblog's thing here
Tilford mentioned something along those lines before, a while ago, haven't found his post yet. Maybe implying that the only reason to take a big block of time off before a bit race is to enhance your training in a situation where you're less likely to be tested every day.
It is curious to see the pros take a month off then come kill it in the tour. Sure, they are pros they know how to train hard enough. But what about those who claim you can't train hard enough to simulate racing?
Conflicting information, enough to make even the experts look questionable. Such is life with most everything.
Oh hey look. It is raining.
Yes. I know the difference between some over thinking master and a pro is a huge heap of talent.
just a quiet morning contemplation, while oddly everyone else sleeps late. Must be the eating dinner late or something. Seems i'm the only person here not getting much sleep. Even the dog has gone back to sleep after waking me up very emphatically to feed her.
Birds singing out side the open windows, rain falling on the leaves and street, cup of coffee, my own odd meaningless pondering...
heddwch
G
Friday, June 10, 2011
Birthday Dinner for my oldest
This is what she wanted, and wow it was good. Timing was perfect on everything, almost like I know what the hell I'm doing in a kitchen. HAH. It was really actually pretty amazing if I do say so myself. And very very special. It takes quite a bit to get me to swallow the price tag on those loin chops, but they are really quite the treat and were cooked absolutely perfectly, so tender, so flavorful, so good.
Here it is (text copied from the FB note)
Lamb Chops, Beet Salad with Cous Cous and corn, Potato Salad and grilled Red peppers.
Here is the break down:
Lamb:
Lamb is an American Loin Chop marinated pre-grilling in a Rosemary pesto.
in the pesto:
Garlic (lots)
Fresh Rosemary
Parsley
Coarse Sea Salt
Dried Thyme (didn't have any fresh)
Olive Oil
(first 5 were pulsed to a fine consistency in a food processor - then oil drizzled until I hit the desired consistency)
I covered both sides of the loin chop with the pesto and let it rest at Room Temp for 20 min while I made everything else.
Then they went on the grill, 4 min on one side (lid off - very hot fire), 6 min on second side, rested covered with foil for another 2-3 min and then served.
Beet Salad:
Started with our new favorite salad we created:
2 raw peeled beets
4-6 med size peeled carrots
1/2 of a med vidalia onion
all that gets grated in a food processor, you don't want to handle beets more than you need to. Trick to peeling them is to do it under cold water. No staining.
Then I picked up two ears of the first crop of florida corn and put the cob (husk removed) directly on the grill. Got it nice and carmelized and cooked.
Took the kernels off and added them to the mix.
Dressed it with Balsalmic Vinegar, Shoyu soy sauce, 1 tsp of the pesto I just made, olive oil, lots of fresh black pepper, dried dill. Mixed that up and let it sit until the cous-cous was finished.
I cooked two cups of dried cous-cous in two cups of lightly salted water, added about 2/3 of that to the beet salad about 10 min before serving/plating.
Potato Salad:
3 pounds of yukon gold potatoes cut into 1cm cubes, boiled till tender. Drained and cooled with cold tap water.
4-6 ribs of diced celery
2 large scallions
1/3 of a bunch of curley leaf parsely (more texture than flat leaf and holds up better to potatos) finely chopped.
Mixed that all up with a dressing of:
Dijon Mustard
Balsalmic Vinegar
Orange Juice
Colman's Mustard Powder
Olive Oil
Tossed well to coat and then added some paprika, black pepper and some salt (to taste).
Peppers:
red bell peppers seeded, halved, grilled/blackened then roughly chopped and served hot.
The potato salad was cold, beet salad not cold about room temp, peppers warm and lamb hot.
Here it is (text copied from the FB note)
Lamb Chops, Beet Salad with Cous Cous and corn, Potato Salad and grilled Red peppers.
Here is the break down:
Lamb:
Lamb is an American Loin Chop marinated pre-grilling in a Rosemary pesto.
in the pesto:
Garlic (lots)
Fresh Rosemary
Parsley
Coarse Sea Salt
Dried Thyme (didn't have any fresh)
Olive Oil
(first 5 were pulsed to a fine consistency in a food processor - then oil drizzled until I hit the desired consistency)
I covered both sides of the loin chop with the pesto and let it rest at Room Temp for 20 min while I made everything else.
Then they went on the grill, 4 min on one side (lid off - very hot fire), 6 min on second side, rested covered with foil for another 2-3 min and then served.
Beet Salad:
Started with our new favorite salad we created:
2 raw peeled beets
4-6 med size peeled carrots
1/2 of a med vidalia onion
all that gets grated in a food processor, you don't want to handle beets more than you need to. Trick to peeling them is to do it under cold water. No staining.
Then I picked up two ears of the first crop of florida corn and put the cob (husk removed) directly on the grill. Got it nice and carmelized and cooked.
Took the kernels off and added them to the mix.
Dressed it with Balsalmic Vinegar, Shoyu soy sauce, 1 tsp of the pesto I just made, olive oil, lots of fresh black pepper, dried dill. Mixed that up and let it sit until the cous-cous was finished.
I cooked two cups of dried cous-cous in two cups of lightly salted water, added about 2/3 of that to the beet salad about 10 min before serving/plating.
Potato Salad:
3 pounds of yukon gold potatoes cut into 1cm cubes, boiled till tender. Drained and cooled with cold tap water.
4-6 ribs of diced celery
2 large scallions
1/3 of a bunch of curley leaf parsely (more texture than flat leaf and holds up better to potatos) finely chopped.
Mixed that all up with a dressing of:
Dijon Mustard
Balsalmic Vinegar
Orange Juice
Colman's Mustard Powder
Olive Oil
Tossed well to coat and then added some paprika, black pepper and some salt (to taste).
Peppers:
red bell peppers seeded, halved, grilled/blackened then roughly chopped and served hot.
The potato salad was cold, beet salad not cold about room temp, peppers warm and lamb hot.
Big Week
Double 'graduations', in-laws in town, dance school performances this weekend, rehearsals all week, huge storm, a ride w/o a back pack, a birthday...
The graduation thing I understand but only sort of, in a way I feel it diminished the real ones HS and College. Should be only two, amiright? Sort of like if cross was year round it wouldn't be as special or cool and rather than coming together intensely for three short months people would cherry pick the season like they do on the road and then events would disappear (like on the road). Yes, stretching the analogy. Oh well. Stretching is what Stretch does best. amiright?
Okay. Gotta stop with that.
That said recognition for their achievement, as incremental as it might be, is still valid and good. I'd prefer we call it something other than graduation though.
Oddly in a great mood today. Maybe it isn't so odd. I've been mentally in a better state than I have in a while. Could be the coffee. Or the artwork. I put a piece in the staff development day and with zero promotion or lobbying for votes I wound up being recognized (voted into 5th place). One of these days the twelve prints will be on display in the gallery, and when they do I will let everyone know so they can come down and check it out.
Sarcasm is good? YES! I'm a winner! Wait.
There was a good bit of manorexic weinermeasuring this morning on twitter. Entertaining at least. When you read every book you can get your hands on from age 5 until 20 hard core outside school work, and then add being a good student to the mix and then pile 20 years of reading everything on the internet, you make an expert on experts and everything. Mostly. No, not really. That's more sarcasm. Maybe.
I have been cogitating way too much about how to approach CX season this year. Unknowns are really out of control at this point, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm in a serious quandary about how to approach the training. Esp since the reality is I will not be able to race my way into shape in July and August. Will have to be the hard way.
To add running or not? Not is an intriguing option this year. It makes sense on a whole self bit, bone density, core stability (esp lower back) but it does take potential time away from cycling specific stuff. But if you look at what Katie Compton's coach has her do there is running involved (thank you for that article in Issue #11 of Cyclocross Magazine), and then you have Jeremy Powers mentioning in his interview in Issue #12 of Cyclocross Magazine that he runs 30 min twice a week all year. I'm leaning towards if I do any running it will be along the lines of the 30-30-30s that KfnC does (or did).
Another part of me is just inclined to say fuck it, go into the season how ever I make it, set the bar really low and just have fun and if I find some fitness by November so be it... But that isn't like me so much.
The Thursday night time trial starts on the 16th. Would be nice to try and make that. Not sure how in the cards that is. Would be a good thing to do though.
I am cautiously optimistic that I can figure it out. I certainly have been given enough good advice from people who are way faster (or just way older) about what to do, probably should sit down and shake the brain a bit and see if I can pull some sense out of the information. The UCI overlord who isn't the most popular person in New England's book probably isn't where i'll go to this year. I will likely pull some elements out of that, but also stick a bit more with tweaking the commutes, maybe adding in a loop on the BLVD or something else. That is when I'm not driving curtis's tandem again with a kid on the back this summer. But really as big of an issue as it may seem, it isn't something I'm worried about or thinking too much about right now.
Put together a quick amazing dinner last night. My oldest REALLY liked it. She had a small serving even though she'd already had dinner, and went back for more because it was so good. It was good. It means a lot to me that my kids like good food. And yes, I just qualified the food I make as good food. Truth.
there was something else rattling around that i wanted to get out of this head - but it hasn't shaken loose yet... maybe later.
heddwch
G
The graduation thing I understand but only sort of, in a way I feel it diminished the real ones HS and College. Should be only two, amiright? Sort of like if cross was year round it wouldn't be as special or cool and rather than coming together intensely for three short months people would cherry pick the season like they do on the road and then events would disappear (like on the road). Yes, stretching the analogy. Oh well. Stretching is what Stretch does best. amiright?
Okay. Gotta stop with that.
That said recognition for their achievement, as incremental as it might be, is still valid and good. I'd prefer we call it something other than graduation though.
Oddly in a great mood today. Maybe it isn't so odd. I've been mentally in a better state than I have in a while. Could be the coffee. Or the artwork. I put a piece in the staff development day and with zero promotion or lobbying for votes I wound up being recognized (voted into 5th place). One of these days the twelve prints will be on display in the gallery, and when they do I will let everyone know so they can come down and check it out.
Sarcasm is good? YES! I'm a winner! Wait.
There was a good bit of manorexic weinermeasuring this morning on twitter. Entertaining at least. When you read every book you can get your hands on from age 5 until 20 hard core outside school work, and then add being a good student to the mix and then pile 20 years of reading everything on the internet, you make an expert on experts and everything. Mostly. No, not really. That's more sarcasm. Maybe.
I have been cogitating way too much about how to approach CX season this year. Unknowns are really out of control at this point, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm in a serious quandary about how to approach the training. Esp since the reality is I will not be able to race my way into shape in July and August. Will have to be the hard way.
To add running or not? Not is an intriguing option this year. It makes sense on a whole self bit, bone density, core stability (esp lower back) but it does take potential time away from cycling specific stuff. But if you look at what Katie Compton's coach has her do there is running involved (thank you for that article in Issue #11 of Cyclocross Magazine), and then you have Jeremy Powers mentioning in his interview in Issue #12 of Cyclocross Magazine that he runs 30 min twice a week all year. I'm leaning towards if I do any running it will be along the lines of the 30-30-30s that KfnC does (or did).
Another part of me is just inclined to say fuck it, go into the season how ever I make it, set the bar really low and just have fun and if I find some fitness by November so be it... But that isn't like me so much.
The Thursday night time trial starts on the 16th. Would be nice to try and make that. Not sure how in the cards that is. Would be a good thing to do though.
I am cautiously optimistic that I can figure it out. I certainly have been given enough good advice from people who are way faster (or just way older) about what to do, probably should sit down and shake the brain a bit and see if I can pull some sense out of the information. The UCI overlord who isn't the most popular person in New England's book probably isn't where i'll go to this year. I will likely pull some elements out of that, but also stick a bit more with tweaking the commutes, maybe adding in a loop on the BLVD or something else. That is when I'm not driving curtis's tandem again with a kid on the back this summer. But really as big of an issue as it may seem, it isn't something I'm worried about or thinking too much about right now.
Put together a quick amazing dinner last night. My oldest REALLY liked it. She had a small serving even though she'd already had dinner, and went back for more because it was so good. It was good. It means a lot to me that my kids like good food. And yes, I just qualified the food I make as good food. Truth.
there was something else rattling around that i wanted to get out of this head - but it hasn't shaken loose yet... maybe later.
heddwch
G
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Woa
Mosher is writing now?
What's next, Kevin Hines will start a blog? solobreak will come out of retirement? Chabot will get as fast as he would like to be?
insanity!
Thanks for the heads up Master Baiter
- i had a great post, a story line even, crafted in my head ready to get down on the ones and zeros, then the power went out and we all just shrugged and headed to bed.
Saw my first lightning bugs of the season on the ride home last night. Last night was also the first time on the bike w/o a backpack since the Mystic Velo crit. Seriously. It was nice, except it felt like I was riding in a hail storm. So many bugs. And big ones too. had to ride the last 1/2 with my mouth closed and my head tilted forward to keep em out of my nose.
Some other stuff was rattling around, thoughts about how our nose evolved and why we have a nose like we do (think infants). But I'll leave it at that. Oh and those indestructible stylus tough 6000s ain't so tough after all. Esp when the strap fails in a gym while it is on in movie recording mode. Dead camera. Oh well. Such is life.
Interesting video
3-Way Street from ronconcocacola on Vimeo.
Intersections are definitely the most dangerous for everyone. A bit of defensive riding in the middle of one and your head on a swivel and you're generally going to make it through. And reduction in your senses can cause a problem...
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
From last week to this week
what a change. or maybe it was two weeks ago. I don't remember. They are all running into eachother right now. One into the next.
Cool cold and misty in the morning and overcast during the day? Sounds good to me. The outside thermometer here at the house is a degree shy of 90F.
TRANSITION please.
Or is that too much to ask. Maybe too much.
Today was the 5th grade graduation. Hard to believe that we headed back to New England 6 years ago. Six years seems like such a short time, but at the same time a very long time.
We took them into school and then parked it in the auditorium and got some prime seats. And I had a chance to read the JPow interview in Issue #12 of Cyclocross Magazine in one sitting.
Wow. Josh, killer job! J-POW certainly cemented his place as the #1 Cyclocross personality.
I read most of the interviews with the Natz winners too, the move to Jan Natz question was interesting and you don't have to be Resultsboy or ExcelDork to see the trend. Pick up the magazine and check for yourself.
Okay - off to the orthodontist! Yeah! (there i made sure to include some sarcasm today).
heddwch
G
G
Monday, June 06, 2011
morning snap shot
a quick snap shot for this morning.No racing, not much in the way of riding this weekend. I did manage to dig out and get the Trail-a-Bike together and the little one and I headed into the city. That was pretty awesome.
Friday, June 03, 2011
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
IT IS HERE- YES
Issue #12.
Solid. Someone's name is on the cover, first he joins forces with the only registration company with a server farm powerful enough to deal with the Cyclocross Race before the Race, and now he's on the cover (okay just his name is) of THE best MAGAZINE. Yes. It is the best, but only by a muddy dismount filled lap to Gastronomica. (Yes Cyclocross Magazine just put Gastronomica one lap down, that said the course is so tough that only the two of them finished the race.)
Seriously - if you race cyclocross, you need to subscribe to the print magazine. This issue is brilliant. I'm sure there's something other than Viner's ad with the CX bike and road pedals and road gearing amiss in there but on my cursory glance, nothing stands out (okay the photohackchop of the mouse in Resultsboy's interview could be better). Some of the photos are AMAZING.
Huge props to Andrew and the crew. Really impressive to see how far it has come in 12 issues.
I can't wait to chew (that's what mice do, right?) through it.
Oh and their latest "hiring" in the web front gets all the cred' in the word because she drove up from NJ to help Jerome Townsend, Rusty and myself set up one of the craziest (and most awesome) things of the year. I'm getting all warm and fuzzy thinking about that race. F'n Nuts. Esp, f'n nuts that DONNIE f'n rode up IN THE SNOW AND SLEET from PVD to race!
Oh and the headwind was good (both ways) today/tonight, as was moving the saddle forward (and then back down to 1004 mm). They say subtle changes in frame geometry make all the difference in how the bike responds. I believe it now. Dare I say I kind of do really like the way it rides? Who knew that chopping 2-3mm off the bottom of the steer tube could solve my big complaints about the bike? (Okay, besides Zanc).
Monday, May 30, 2011
Comment from the shop
"Yesterday you were taking a hacksaw to a bare frame and today you rode it in..."
Yup. The ancient Real(tm) bottom bracket that i used because it had a totally adjustable chainline and worked with the 180 Suntour XC Pro cranks seized in the frame (technically the splines to remove it broke off). Hacksawed it out. Took 2-3mm off the bottom of the head tube, faced and chased the bottom bracket and it was ready for parts.
stripped the Giant down, dug out the brakes that were on the Croll last (black shimano Low profile LX circa 1994).
And built it right back up. Chain is a bit toasted but rather than use a shimano pin to re-install it i grabbed the 9sp SRAM quick link that saved my bacon that one NBX in maybe '06 - thanks to Corner's Mark G). Used the old Ultegra instead of the D/A rear der off the Giant. and for the first time ever the Croll has STI. WOO. no bar ends on it!
the build went pretty well.
The ride in yesterday actually even better. That bit of head tube removal seems to have it driving differently. When I had it built I asked them to make the head tube 10mm taller but make it 10mm above the headtube. They cut it 10mm longer but biased it, so it always rode kind of funny and slow. It isn't wicked twitchy but it doesn't seem to be as terrible as I remember it. I'll have to bounce back between that and another bike just to see if it is just the pride in getting it put together or a real improvement.
It is smoother. It is flexy as hell but it definitely conveys the buttery ride of steel. Lots of chain rub on the front der under load even with a 46 ring but hey, it ain't so bad.
Bad side is the wheel that I tied and soldered the spokes after putting the new CXP22 on there, well the brake wear indicator track is pretty much gone, as in that rim is going to go soon.
The bars felt a bit stretched but I also am slowly recalling that I never had the saddle all the way back, might have to move that forward and see if it fixes the reach issue. One bolt quill stems are a pain to deal with, and it really is pretty close.
Just wish I'd had them put fender eyelets on the bike or something. There isn't a hole drilled in the seatstay brace, and no chainstay brace or fork crown hole either, I suppose a set of Speedez Hybrid might be in order. Will have to do the double ziptie on the bottom of the rear, the front might not fit through the fork, but it can be trimmed...
maybe it is better to have a broken frame stripped down and hanging than a rideable one. Although until saturday the Croll was not due to that busted and stuck Shell (hacksaw in two places and some hammering - should have done three cuts instead of two, would have meant less pounding).
beat around commuter bike is ready to go... for a total cost of... nothing, yet, fenders and brake pads may make cost a few $, rim's going to take a couple too, but hey... it is all good.
heddwch
G
Yup. The ancient Real(tm) bottom bracket that i used because it had a totally adjustable chainline and worked with the 180 Suntour XC Pro cranks seized in the frame (technically the splines to remove it broke off). Hacksawed it out. Took 2-3mm off the bottom of the head tube, faced and chased the bottom bracket and it was ready for parts.
stripped the Giant down, dug out the brakes that were on the Croll last (black shimano Low profile LX circa 1994).
And built it right back up. Chain is a bit toasted but rather than use a shimano pin to re-install it i grabbed the 9sp SRAM quick link that saved my bacon that one NBX in maybe '06 - thanks to Corner's Mark G). Used the old Ultegra instead of the D/A rear der off the Giant. and for the first time ever the Croll has STI. WOO. no bar ends on it!
the build went pretty well.
The ride in yesterday actually even better. That bit of head tube removal seems to have it driving differently. When I had it built I asked them to make the head tube 10mm taller but make it 10mm above the headtube. They cut it 10mm longer but biased it, so it always rode kind of funny and slow. It isn't wicked twitchy but it doesn't seem to be as terrible as I remember it. I'll have to bounce back between that and another bike just to see if it is just the pride in getting it put together or a real improvement.
It is smoother. It is flexy as hell but it definitely conveys the buttery ride of steel. Lots of chain rub on the front der under load even with a 46 ring but hey, it ain't so bad.
Bad side is the wheel that I tied and soldered the spokes after putting the new CXP22 on there, well the brake wear indicator track is pretty much gone, as in that rim is going to go soon.
The bars felt a bit stretched but I also am slowly recalling that I never had the saddle all the way back, might have to move that forward and see if it fixes the reach issue. One bolt quill stems are a pain to deal with, and it really is pretty close.
Just wish I'd had them put fender eyelets on the bike or something. There isn't a hole drilled in the seatstay brace, and no chainstay brace or fork crown hole either, I suppose a set of Speedez Hybrid might be in order. Will have to do the double ziptie on the bottom of the rear, the front might not fit through the fork, but it can be trimmed...
maybe it is better to have a broken frame stripped down and hanging than a rideable one. Although until saturday the Croll was not due to that busted and stuck Shell (hacksaw in two places and some hammering - should have done three cuts instead of two, would have meant less pounding).
beat around commuter bike is ready to go... for a total cost of... nothing, yet, fenders and brake pads may make cost a few $, rim's going to take a couple too, but hey... it is all good.
heddwch
G
Friday, May 27, 2011
Busted stuff
car, the metallic clacking noise was a seized AC compressor. Need to replace that, but at least the noise and problem are diagnosed and the solution is in process.
Getting the old one off will be more of a challenge than I might like, but it won't be as bad as pulling the transmission.
the Giant TCX has been creaking a bit more than usual.
stopped at the shop while running errands yesterday and took a look at where ErikV and other's have cracked their frames, AFTER i checked the pedal, crank arms and BB (and chainring bolts).
Oh hey.
This doesn't look so good:
Time to recom the croll. and figure out how to get the full coverage fenders on there even it if takes zip ties and duct tape.
There was a point yesterday before I determined the course of action for the Passat when it all bugged me quite a bit. The unknown doesn't sit well with me for some reason. Gotta have a plan.
As far as bike racing, the plan right now is no plan. I'd given some thought to attempting Purgatory again. But accurate and cutting commentary about me and road races has me acknowledging the fact that I don't even have close to the training I need to be competitive. Hell I show up to the easiest crit after a week of no sleep and get dropped. Even if I slept 48 hrs before Purgatory I'd get dropped. But then Matt's house cheering section wouldn't have a hard time picking me out.
Bike Racing? What's that.
In itself, the lack of potential and reasonably races to attempt in the near future is actually somewhat depressing.
Oh well.
There's more to bikes than racing and the Fall will be here soon enough.
heddwch
G
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
i've been saying it for years
The LA camp has never addressed any issue directly. Always the "I've never tested positive." double negative never saying explicitly "I never used PEDs." I think there was one rare moment when LA slipped and nearly said that but then had a quick mental panic look that lasted a ms before he realized he was about to perjure himself and quickly emphasized he's the most tested and blahblahblah.
LA's group has never offered facts, other than "I've been tested 500 times." And such. Nice strong number eh? Exactly 500 times? Or are you just pulling that number out of your PR ass because you don't know. Or have you become so unable to distinguish the testing the WADA/USADA/UCI administered and the ones you do constantly to make sure you'll pass those?
It is a good few moments for the skeptics. The doubters. We get to watch all the "naive bubble-headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine" turn into sad doe eyed cry babies that their hero wasn't winning on bread and water and gods genetic gifts alone.
Going to be interesting to see how this plays out. Landis is looking more and more like Mrs O'Leary's cow (even though the cow was only implicated in myth and legend).
“It’s really a sign of weakness,” Manderson said. “Frankly, anger is not an effective strategy, but it has been their primary tactic for years: Attack the messenger and avoid dealing with the real issues at hand. Sooner or later they will have to actually deal with the facts instead of just trying to spin them.”I have to agree with Manderson's evaluation.
LA's group has never offered facts, other than "I've been tested 500 times." And such. Nice strong number eh? Exactly 500 times? Or are you just pulling that number out of your PR ass because you don't know. Or have you become so unable to distinguish the testing the WADA/USADA/UCI administered and the ones you do constantly to make sure you'll pass those?
It is a good few moments for the skeptics. The doubters. We get to watch all the "naive bubble-headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine" turn into sad doe eyed cry babies that their hero wasn't winning on bread and water and gods genetic gifts alone.
Going to be interesting to see how this plays out. Landis is looking more and more like Mrs O'Leary's cow (even though the cow was only implicated in myth and legend).
Monday, May 23, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
After the Deluge
The ride home started off having to cross 20cm deep fast moving water flowing down the gutter of Hope street. My feet got soaked with that one. Followed by 3 miles of absolutely some of the heaviest rain I've ridden through. Saving grace was that it was only about 65 so I was just one thin layer of lycra soaking up water (and my backpack).
But it stopped and started clearing and then I had to stop and dig out the camera and grabbed this.
Oh and it seems while I was at a school arts night (choral concert and middle/high school art show) twitter exploded and pooped out another doping allegation. Does it seem to anyone else that Lance's lawyer's excuses are getting more insane and ridiculous each time someone else comes out to say they saw him dope?
Goes back to Jerry's child argument (hopefully results boy is happy with me hyper-linking for a change), Lance's camp is starting to really act more and more like the kid G-ride described.
Boom.
Lets see where this goes. What bothers me is that Horner's going to get screwed by this. Timing sucks. I want to believe he is one of those few dudes who has raw talent to get where he is. If Tilford stands by him, that's good enough for me, for now. Besides, he races CX, or has, and always seems to be on the outside looking in, until now. Maybe now he's a leader because he's just as strong as he always has been and everyone else is mostly off the juice. The ToC timing hasn't been good for me to catch much of the racing live. Giro's been interrupted but that's not maybe a bad thing, although it is a pretty amazing race to watch. One of the best. I didn't think I could get excited about a race with Contadork but you know what? It is a pretty cool race. Hell it is Italy. What's not to love, esp with reliable live video with Sean Kelly and Harmon talking, the two best English language cycling commentators. P joked that Sean Kelly is the only one who has answered every question of a radio interview by nodding.
Okay.
I think the fire that Landis started is spreading...
and todays rains are not going to put it out...
heddwch
G
But it stopped and started clearing and then I had to stop and dig out the camera and grabbed this.
Oh and it seems while I was at a school arts night (choral concert and middle/high school art show) twitter exploded and pooped out another doping allegation. Does it seem to anyone else that Lance's lawyer's excuses are getting more insane and ridiculous each time someone else comes out to say they saw him dope?
Goes back to Jerry's child argument (hopefully results boy is happy with me hyper-linking for a change), Lance's camp is starting to really act more and more like the kid G-ride described.
Boom.
Lets see where this goes. What bothers me is that Horner's going to get screwed by this. Timing sucks. I want to believe he is one of those few dudes who has raw talent to get where he is. If Tilford stands by him, that's good enough for me, for now. Besides, he races CX, or has, and always seems to be on the outside looking in, until now. Maybe now he's a leader because he's just as strong as he always has been and everyone else is mostly off the juice. The ToC timing hasn't been good for me to catch much of the racing live. Giro's been interrupted but that's not maybe a bad thing, although it is a pretty amazing race to watch. One of the best. I didn't think I could get excited about a race with Contadork but you know what? It is a pretty cool race. Hell it is Italy. What's not to love, esp with reliable live video with Sean Kelly and Harmon talking, the two best English language cycling commentators. P joked that Sean Kelly is the only one who has answered every question of a radio interview by nodding.
Okay.
I think the fire that Landis started is spreading...
and todays rains are not going to put it out...
heddwch
G
Bike To Work Day Tomorrow
A gaggle of fredly commuters will be heading north on the East Bay Bike path bound for the Providence BTW Day festivities. Planning to raid the coffee and bagels when we get there. Departing from:
View Larger MapAt 7:15 am.
Meet up there or catch us along the way.
Great video:
Human-Powered Health from solve on Vimeo.
skillsets
"It sucks to buy something you can build."
It sucks to pay for food you can make better.
or (since taking things and spinning them in a positive way is better)
It is rewarding to fix something yourself instead of paying someone else.
It is rewarding to make dinner that uses better ingredients and has better flavor than you can get at a restaurant.
It is satisfying to self reliant and skilled.
I'm sure it would be more than satisfying to ride around in this car:
It sucks to pay for food you can make better.
or (since taking things and spinning them in a positive way is better)
It is rewarding to fix something yourself instead of paying someone else.
It is rewarding to make dinner that uses better ingredients and has better flavor than you can get at a restaurant.
It is satisfying to self reliant and skilled.
I'm sure it would be more than satisfying to ride around in this car:
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
bias and bs
7th grade, we were taught to investigate bias.
it made a huge impression on me.
always figure out the bias the author has, esp when it comes to news and reporting, before deciding how relevant it is.
bias is the bullshit that George is talking about. investigate the bullshit/bias and things start to make sense.
if you push the kids to question bias/bullshit, you're fine if the adults in the house aren't making shit up just because. Questioning of the authority is the only way you figure out if the policy is sound or just fucking bullshit.
Monday, May 16, 2011
thankfully
there are a few good folks out there still bothering to write a race report or a ride report or just plain flat out write.
Twitter is one thing, and fortunately the number of "totally bitching ride" are out numbered by the creative and witty 140 character bits. And most of them actually also write something, on occasion. Okay some rarely. Some never.
Point being it is that FB thing. It sucks to hear about stuff. Good for conversation and getting your momma digs in with parke and how much of a dude cali MJ doesn't act like. But not for telling a good story.
I'm happy that guys like ryan and colin and zen and a few others are still writing. Sometimes rarely, but then it is a refreshing change. I'm not going to bother linking because i like to have the two monitors so i don't have to jump from tab to tab, window to window is more my style, and i'm not working on half a window to writing this now.
Tooth fairy duty tonight. The youngest lost a tooth today at school and somewhere between showing her mother and getting in the car the tooth was lost, as in really lost, not just fallen out, collected by the school nurse and put into a plastic tooth box (yes she has a big(ish) molar shaped plastic container - it's about a cm or two). Which it was. But then subsequently lost in the excitement of getting it out and then putting it back away.
So, she wrote a note and said it was lost at school. No big deal. She's been asleep for a long time (I wish I could say the same thing for myself). Older sister however had some practicing to do for tomorrow and some printing of a report and hair to put up and all sorts of stuff and didn't go to bed till much later and now if the tooth fairy is going to come at all, well I dare not lay down. Really very real possibility that this will push me over the edge and join the rest of the sicky mc-sickenstiens, but I hope not. Maybe I should go chew on a few cloves of garlic before going to bed to ward off any bacteria or virus that might decide to take advantage of my sleep deprived depressed immune system. But then again they are probably well entrenched by now, just waiting for the defenses to weaken just enough.
It is a constant battle to stay healthy. A battle I've been doing pretty okay at.
I keep coming back to a comment someone said after the race "it felt really easy, pretty slow race." This person did make the lead group, but I never saw them put their nose in the wind more than once or twice and that wasn't ever to do much more than jump to a wheel. Yeah, that's smart racing, if you can take advantage of it at the finish. I'm trying to tell myself that I am happier with having blown my guts all over the course on the first half of the race animating or chasing or driving or launching than I would have been just sitting in. Hell I know i could have survived till the end no question had I not wasted watts. But they weren't wasted. And some how I have to get over the negativity of being an idiot. I am my own biggest critic. I am harder on my self for my mistakes than anyone else and I take them far more personally than I really should. I raced as part of a team and am more pissed that I wasn't around to help Paul block or to launch him for a bunch sprint or to help Curtis at the end. Oh well. Dat's racing I guess.
It is what it is. Not much racing (that seems to fit with the schedule and be somewhat close) in the next couple months... hate to leave the spring season (if you can call three races at Ninigret a season) with such a sour note, but I have to tell myself, there are more important things than racing a bike and what I was doing that drain the batteries was/is pretty important for what is really important.
It is what it is.
be good
heddwch
G
Twitter is one thing, and fortunately the number of "totally bitching ride" are out numbered by the creative and witty 140 character bits. And most of them actually also write something, on occasion. Okay some rarely. Some never.
Point being it is that FB thing. It sucks to hear about stuff. Good for conversation and getting your momma digs in with parke and how much of a dude cali MJ doesn't act like. But not for telling a good story.
I'm happy that guys like ryan and colin and zen and a few others are still writing. Sometimes rarely, but then it is a refreshing change. I'm not going to bother linking because i like to have the two monitors so i don't have to jump from tab to tab, window to window is more my style, and i'm not working on half a window to writing this now.
Tooth fairy duty tonight. The youngest lost a tooth today at school and somewhere between showing her mother and getting in the car the tooth was lost, as in really lost, not just fallen out, collected by the school nurse and put into a plastic tooth box (yes she has a big(ish) molar shaped plastic container - it's about a cm or two). Which it was. But then subsequently lost in the excitement of getting it out and then putting it back away.
So, she wrote a note and said it was lost at school. No big deal. She's been asleep for a long time (I wish I could say the same thing for myself). Older sister however had some practicing to do for tomorrow and some printing of a report and hair to put up and all sorts of stuff and didn't go to bed till much later and now if the tooth fairy is going to come at all, well I dare not lay down. Really very real possibility that this will push me over the edge and join the rest of the sicky mc-sickenstiens, but I hope not. Maybe I should go chew on a few cloves of garlic before going to bed to ward off any bacteria or virus that might decide to take advantage of my sleep deprived depressed immune system. But then again they are probably well entrenched by now, just waiting for the defenses to weaken just enough.
It is a constant battle to stay healthy. A battle I've been doing pretty okay at.
I keep coming back to a comment someone said after the race "it felt really easy, pretty slow race." This person did make the lead group, but I never saw them put their nose in the wind more than once or twice and that wasn't ever to do much more than jump to a wheel. Yeah, that's smart racing, if you can take advantage of it at the finish. I'm trying to tell myself that I am happier with having blown my guts all over the course on the first half of the race animating or chasing or driving or launching than I would have been just sitting in. Hell I know i could have survived till the end no question had I not wasted watts. But they weren't wasted. And some how I have to get over the negativity of being an idiot. I am my own biggest critic. I am harder on my self for my mistakes than anyone else and I take them far more personally than I really should. I raced as part of a team and am more pissed that I wasn't around to help Paul block or to launch him for a bunch sprint or to help Curtis at the end. Oh well. Dat's racing I guess.
It is what it is. Not much racing (that seems to fit with the schedule and be somewhat close) in the next couple months... hate to leave the spring season (if you can call three races at Ninigret a season) with such a sour note, but I have to tell myself, there are more important things than racing a bike and what I was doing that drain the batteries was/is pretty important for what is really important.
It is what it is.
be good
heddwch
G
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