Yeah so I'm slacking. Race reports are hard to get out sometimes and then when they don't happen right away, well you kind of get the whole distance + apathy + not happening.
So Eco-Cross. As a preface the plan was to make sure I didn't pull a NoHo day two lawn chair over the weekend. Hoping to put together three days of racing at some level of consistency.
There is a bit of a choice for Eco-cross, which event to register for. It is a pretty lightly attended race, which is good but also kind of sad because it is fun. LOTS of fun. A unique course. Looking at the pre-reg page on Tuesday (when reg still closed at 5pm on Tues) it wasn't too bad. No leg ripping pro's and with a slightly earlier time coupled with being the only race on the course at once I favored signing up for that. Chip sealed the deal with his Cross Clash with Matt A and gave me the last push to sign up for the P/1/2/3. I figured if nothing else me and Chip would be duking it out in the back.
Then Singmaster transfered into the P1/2/3 race and suddenly I felt some pressure. Not going to lie. Singmaster was killing me on the road. I came close to him in the TT and he was riding cannibal (finished 10 seconds behind him in week 7 - his avg speed for the three races he did was 25.5, mine: 25.4). And he was going well, never finishing outside of the top 10 in any of the Cat 4 races other than Gloucester this year. He upgraded and well figured why not race me. So here's a freshly minted Cat 3 with solid results kicking Cat 4 ass. I'm a slow Cat 3 35+ racer, tagging in at the back end of the insanity that is the Elite 35+ races here. It was on.
The Plymouth weekend always seems to go pretty well for me. Either the competition or just the timing, things usually come together about now for my legs. I did the triple last year and it wasn't so good, by Sunday I was screwed and had a pretty poor finish.
But back to Eco-cross. Singmaster picked me up and we headed out. Chatting for a bit then he popped on some tunes. The opening chords had me reaching over and turning the volume knob up in his Truck. F'yeah. And then.
Then it got even better.
You can D/L the whole album. And yes. It is worth it. So good. So many kick ass samples. And fresh. I hadn't come across it yet.
We pull into the Farm and find a prime spot behind Results boy's Fit and surrounded by the best of New England. Wilcox, McCormack, Hines, the Keoughs. It was great. We got there before the first race was about to go off. We had about 10-12 minutes before the start, and despite needing to take a leak, I gave priority to getting on the course. And we headed out just behind Mahk. Curtis and I got just about a lap, maybe two before the 4 race took off. It was the same old course but also has some great new wrinkles that made it pretty sweet. That and it wasn't raining this year. It poured like f'n crazy the day before but it was a dry morning (except for one passing bit of drizzle here and there).
Couple laps in, pull off the course as the first race is ready to hit the course. And find Brier struggling with a front brake. A bit of struggle with it, only to finally realize it was hosed, the plastic had busted on the spring cage. Stupid design. Oh and his drive side front brake pad was put in upside down. Nothing we could really do and he missed his start. A bit more fiddling after he got a number for our race and he eventually wound up racing without a front brake. I guess it wasn't so easy to race for him with one back brake because he kind of mailed it in and finished 3 laps down to Luke.
Oh yeah - So Luke pre-registers and if Chip and Singmaster weren't in that race I probably would have dropped down to the 35+ open. So glad I didn't.
We line up. I take a close to back row start. And we go off, and I tag in right behind the tag end of the 2s. And just freaking rip it up. David Stacey had a poor start and was working through traffic and tried a sketchy pass only to crash. But I was feeling pretty good sitting in. For two laps I stayed at the end of the conga line. Luke and company were stretching the front out but I wasn't getting too gapped.
The laps were short. Really short. I think probably 5 min or less for Luke K. After two and a half laps of sprinting my ass off to hang on as the caboose I knew I was going to go thermonuclear if I didn't back it off a touch. And I looked back, and shit. I had a decent gap. On everyone behind. Singmaster and Baker and Stacey were just behind Matt but I could see with all the switch backs that Stacey was doing his thing working through people. He reminds me of Timmie back when the 35s and 45s raced together.
Timmie Oshea would start mellow but just slowly go faster and faster passing people as the race went on. Stacey does that. Or seems to from my POV. And sure enough. After his first lap crash David was working up to me.
BUT
I was racing forward.
On the first pass through the barriers I caught a rock i my shoe preventing me from clipping in on the right foot. Yeah. it sucked. I tried knocking it out by clipping in and out to no avail. I could still pedal and it wasn't really not clipping in but it wasn't solid. A couple times through the barriers and it wasn't coming out. So after the last hairpin on the up hill leading into the second pit entrance I just put my right foot on the top tube and picked the rock out and got pedaling again w/o coming to a stop. And that was huge. I could really dig into the pedals again.
After a bit I found myself with one of Matt A's team mates was right in front of me. Dangling there. And I was chasing him. I wasn't paying attention to Stacey's progress as much as I was trying to hang with the Cambridge dude. Pretty soon though Stacey came through, and then Luke lapped us on the way to lapping all but the top 10. And I raced. My. Butt. Off.
Turn sprint. Turn sprint. I managed to carry more and more speed through the downhill gravity sections, finding the line I could run no brakes. A huge leap for me. I let it roll.
After Stacey went through he said "get on my wheel" and I tried. I worked hard. He stretched the gap out to about 10 seconds for a lap or two. But with the leader doing 11 or 12 laps we were racing for 10-11 laps and that's a lot of laps. We came around to get the bell with him about 5 second up from me and I knew I needed to pull him back. And I pedaled and pedals and closed the gap, little by little.
Meanwhile I could see the Wilcox leading Results Boy getting closer and closer. I wanted to stay in front of them. I had the gap completely shut down as we turned right onto the finishing stretch there at the top of the hill and I sprinted... Stacey knew I was coming and got a better launch, but I closed it down but not quite fast enough. I needed another 10 yards or so to get the win, I lost the sprint but...
yeah but...
I crossed the line and hit the brakes and then freaking grabbed the brakes as Bill K was sitting there bike perpendicular the finishing chute on MY side of the course. Shouted a warning as I was grabbing brake and he just sort of looked up as I came to a stop against his non-drive side of the wheel. I was pretty much nose wheely'ing into him trying to stop with out t-bone'n his bike. Son-of-a-bitch. I said sorry and rolled around, and he started yelling at me "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING SPRINTING FOR LAST PLACE!" Um dude. I wasn't last. And even if I was last place I was sprinting to the finish to try and beat the person I had been racing the whole race. It is a race. And poor Bill chose a spot way too close to the finish chute to have a post race conversation with a friend. I knew after watching the end of the first race that the run out was pretty long and with a downhill sprint, well speeds are high. Anyway. He was pissed and continued to yell and fume and blame me for "racing for last." I was racing for 15th place. I lost 15th place to David. Once place behind Bill. One small negative.
But as Geo pointed out, there was SO MUCH positivity from the race that nothing was putting a damper on how it went. Tires held air. I smashed the hell out of a few rocks, tore through the mud, power slide on the slick turns and had a freaking BLAST. Cool down ride with Stacey was good too. He's been kicking my ass all season and to be that close in a tight race was huge.
So intense. So awesome. Singmaster and I booked out pretty quickly and we washed some bikes had some coffee and I got on with the rest of Friday.
And I ate.
And ate. Ate food constantly and non-stop.
And even slept that night.
And then I headed over to Plymouth for the South for Saturday. Fond memories there from 2008 when my youngest and I picked up Mark Nicholson and we raced. I beat Marvin for the first time there and Mark was 2nd in his race, and Lindsey announced after dropping Mark off that he was her favorite Mark.
Plymouth North (in 2007) was when Curtis and Dawn first introduced me to the quiet recluse living in VT. It was cold and wet and everyone was hanging out in the school. And the rest was history.
And I still have two more race reports to write.
I like this, right now I'm revisiting the post race glow from Friday. That was F'n AWESOME. Like totally completely awesome. So good. So good that I'm totally cool with missing Lowell this weekend (the activity list starting tomorrow and ending Sunday night is pretty f'n insane here at Casa GeWilli - nutter).
Cyclocross = so awesome.
heddwch
G
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
No aero bars in group rides
Video evidence of why it is a bad idea.
Busted spokes, he's lucky the crash was a minor as it was. Truth of the matter is that could have happened w/o aerobars. But not likely. Keep an eye out on those folks with sleeveless jerseys...
Busted spokes, he's lucky the crash was a minor as it was. Truth of the matter is that could have happened w/o aerobars. But not likely. Keep an eye out on those folks with sleeveless jerseys...
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Reflections on the Commute
So the commute has changed. Pretty dramatically. Gotta see about borrowing a GoPro or something and just getting some footage of the new ride.
Problem is the drivers aren't used to cyclists on that stretch. Heck this city could be as anti-bike as you might find in the state despite having the best bike path in the region running through most of it. Maybe the bike path helps reinforce the concept of bikes as luxury toys, things like your boat, an activity separate and distinct from normal daily life. Riding a bike for transportation to get somewhere to get around certainly is pretty alien to folks it would seem.
For the most part the ride isn't bad. Nearly all the cars are respectful. But anyone on the road knows you don't remember the thousand cars that pass you without incident, honking or yelling.
You remember the one.
Today was not as good as yesterday with no honkers. Had one honker. I was actually waiting in the line of stopped traffic. My logic? Traffic is going to start moving by the time I get three or four cars up and why make them all pass me again. So I'm sitting there. We start moving at about 5 mph. And the guy behind me lays on the horn. I look back and give the "I dunno what to say" gesture (sort of an open palm and shrug of the shoulders) and then match the speed of the car in front. It is a slight down hill from that point. And cars generally range in speed from the posted 35 up to about 45 with the rare numbskull trying to go faster.
Traffic is heavy but it gets moving and me along with it. get the spin up, downshift, smooth, leg speed, form, focus, stay on that bumper - but back far enough to see the potholes and manholes. Pretty soon I'm out of cogs and have to spin up more. And I hang onto that bumper well past the Dunkin Donuts. The honker behind me pulls out into the left lane (it is a 4 lane road, 2 in each direction) and gives me no flack. I would like to think maybe there was a measure of acceptance with my speed what ever it was (it is dark and I dunno how fast I was pedaling or going). That or there was just plenty of space to pass finally.
I've been blissfully dissociated with this aspect of bike commuting for a while. The aspect of dealing with cars.
I can't wait to get back to the path but I think I will managed okay. There is the problem of other mroe tentative commuters who use the sidewalk instead of the road. Some of the less informed or more prone to assumption drivers might think all bikes belong on the sidewalk, and those commuters cruising on the sidewalk don't help with the acceptance.
The fact that the construction company is not cleaning up the roads isn't helping either. But some people call these first world problems. They probably are.
It does make me contemplate winter commuting, and riding at night and coming up with a list of suggestions about lights, and riding and safety and what not. Lists of things that I see people do that could be tweaked for improved safety and visibility mostly. I don't want to say they are doing it wrong. Just getting on the bike and riding is enough of a good thing. No negative label, positive suggestions and change. Shoot. I'm sounding like JD or something now.
Gonna see about finding a GoPro to borrow. I've tried shooting with the digi-cam, it don't work so well comparatively.
heddwch
G
Problem is the drivers aren't used to cyclists on that stretch. Heck this city could be as anti-bike as you might find in the state despite having the best bike path in the region running through most of it. Maybe the bike path helps reinforce the concept of bikes as luxury toys, things like your boat, an activity separate and distinct from normal daily life. Riding a bike for transportation to get somewhere to get around certainly is pretty alien to folks it would seem.
For the most part the ride isn't bad. Nearly all the cars are respectful. But anyone on the road knows you don't remember the thousand cars that pass you without incident, honking or yelling.
You remember the one.
Today was not as good as yesterday with no honkers. Had one honker. I was actually waiting in the line of stopped traffic. My logic? Traffic is going to start moving by the time I get three or four cars up and why make them all pass me again. So I'm sitting there. We start moving at about 5 mph. And the guy behind me lays on the horn. I look back and give the "I dunno what to say" gesture (sort of an open palm and shrug of the shoulders) and then match the speed of the car in front. It is a slight down hill from that point. And cars generally range in speed from the posted 35 up to about 45 with the rare numbskull trying to go faster.
Traffic is heavy but it gets moving and me along with it. get the spin up, downshift, smooth, leg speed, form, focus, stay on that bumper - but back far enough to see the potholes and manholes. Pretty soon I'm out of cogs and have to spin up more. And I hang onto that bumper well past the Dunkin Donuts. The honker behind me pulls out into the left lane (it is a 4 lane road, 2 in each direction) and gives me no flack. I would like to think maybe there was a measure of acceptance with my speed what ever it was (it is dark and I dunno how fast I was pedaling or going). That or there was just plenty of space to pass finally.
I've been blissfully dissociated with this aspect of bike commuting for a while. The aspect of dealing with cars.
I can't wait to get back to the path but I think I will managed okay. There is the problem of other mroe tentative commuters who use the sidewalk instead of the road. Some of the less informed or more prone to assumption drivers might think all bikes belong on the sidewalk, and those commuters cruising on the sidewalk don't help with the acceptance.
The fact that the construction company is not cleaning up the roads isn't helping either. But some people call these first world problems. They probably are.
It does make me contemplate winter commuting, and riding at night and coming up with a list of suggestions about lights, and riding and safety and what not. Lists of things that I see people do that could be tweaked for improved safety and visibility mostly. I don't want to say they are doing it wrong. Just getting on the bike and riding is enough of a good thing. No negative label, positive suggestions and change. Shoot. I'm sounding like JD or something now.
Gonna see about finding a GoPro to borrow. I've tried shooting with the digi-cam, it don't work so well comparatively.
heddwch
G
Photo - EcoCross
I did love that section there. And this was one course where it was a delicate balance between "green means go" and riding the brown stripe. Some sections the green was faster and rolled faster, but the mud wasn't super tacky and the grass wasn't well compressed so the next section after this really was better in the groove, I tried it outside a few times, saw Mark McC ride the green but when I tried it the tires felt much slower and speed was harder to carry. Not always the case. Balancing grip and rolling resistance is what makes racing CX fun. Finding a line that works... Now a line that was faster in the green was the 180 behind the USAC official platform.
race report...
not yet - haven't pushed enough out of the way to get going on it.
heck that's more or less three. but three of the best races this season.
I really do want to thank those who've been supportive and encouraging and positive. It makes a different. A big difference. Thank you.
okay that happy fuzzy warm stuff is out of the way...
couple good articles out there today.
One from Alex H. at Sweat Science.
http://sweatscience.com/running-is-so-prone-to-these-sorts-of-trends/
takes more time to adapt to than most people expect.
Running, Cycling. Same thing. The older you are the longer the adaption phase (that's my thought - not from their article).
Running is pretty cool. No bike frame to fit on or be improperly fit on. And footwear does seem to play a big role in how your body adapts to the most efficient way to move forward.
And more cyclist targeted (but probably applies to all athletes) is the latest from Marv Zauderer over on PEZ.
Pre-Race Mental Preparation
---
The new commute sort of sucks, but it isn't too bad, or too much longer. If they would just clear the debris off the shoulder things would improve significantly. But someone here ran out of coffee. The afternoon training sessions will be pretty challenging without a tiny bit more #7.
This Otis Redding Pandora station is doing wonders for the few minutes I've been sitting her sporadically through out the morning. Good stuff.
heddwch
G
heck that's more or less three. but three of the best races this season.
I really do want to thank those who've been supportive and encouraging and positive. It makes a different. A big difference. Thank you.
okay that happy fuzzy warm stuff is out of the way...
couple good articles out there today.
One from Alex H. at Sweat Science.
http://sweatscience.com/running-is-so-prone-to-these-sorts-of-trends/
takes more time to adapt to than most people expect.
Running, Cycling. Same thing. The older you are the longer the adaption phase (that's my thought - not from their article).
Running is pretty cool. No bike frame to fit on or be improperly fit on. And footwear does seem to play a big role in how your body adapts to the most efficient way to move forward.
The point isn’t that we shouldn’t do anything that isn’t “evidence-based” — life is complicated, and we inevitably have to make lots of decisions armed only with imperfect knowledge. But we should be aware of that, and not mistake our current guesses and hypotheses for “the one true way.”I like that quote a lot.
And more cyclist targeted (but probably applies to all athletes) is the latest from Marv Zauderer over on PEZ.
Pre-Race Mental Preparation
---
The new commute sort of sucks, but it isn't too bad, or too much longer. If they would just clear the debris off the shoulder things would improve significantly. But someone here ran out of coffee. The afternoon training sessions will be pretty challenging without a tiny bit more #7.
This Otis Redding Pandora station is doing wonders for the few minutes I've been sitting her sporadically through out the morning. Good stuff.
heddwch
G
Monday, November 14, 2011
Eco-Cross at the farm
What was the course like? Didn't race it?
Check out Colin's bar cam footage. Fortunately I was fast enough that he didn't lap me. Close but not this year. There are a few glimpses of me but very brief and nothing remarkable about it.
Course was tough, but so much fun. A great mix of pedaling your brains out, turning, and pedaling your brains out. A short course and yeah that plastic diamond treat stuff was wicked slippery.
Eco Cross Bar Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo.
Results from the day: Bardwell was the last person on the lead lap, everyone else was 1 lap down, Brier was 3 laps down not really racing with a busted front brake. A couple DNFs at least. I thought there were three Keoughs in the race... but not on the results.
Check out Colin's bar cam footage. Fortunately I was fast enough that he didn't lap me. Close but not this year. There are a few glimpses of me but very brief and nothing remarkable about it.
Course was tough, but so much fun. A great mix of pedaling your brains out, turning, and pedaling your brains out. A short course and yeah that plastic diamond treat stuff was wicked slippery.
Eco Cross Bar Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo.
Results from the day: Bardwell was the last person on the lead lap, everyone else was 1 lap down, Brier was 3 laps down not really racing with a busted front brake. A couple DNFs at least. I thought there were three Keoughs in the race... but not on the results.
- Luke Keough
- Kevin Hines
- Mark McCormack
- Adam Snyder
- Synjen Marrocco
- David Wilcox
- Colin Reuter
- Jeffery Elie
- Don Seib
- Richard Bardwell
- Chad Wells
- John Peterson
- Andrew Krulewitz
- Bill Kenney
- David Stacey
- Geoff Williams
- Matt Aumiller
- Ian Whittle
- Curtis Singmaster
- Chip Baker
- Michael Brier
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Enjoy the Ride
Did I ever. This weekend was flat out spectacular. No, no winning money or what not. But wow what a great weekend racing. Matt A, Chip, Singmaster, Wilcox, Mahk McC, Stacey, Brooks, hell everyone out there. Such an amazing weekend.
I felt good. Felt almost fast, more importantly I was able to go hard. Not perfect, could have been better potentially, esp on Saturday, but over all. The weekend? SO... MUCH... FUN!
Full report(s) hopefully sometime this week.
I felt good. Felt almost fast, more importantly I was able to go hard. Not perfect, could have been better potentially, esp on Saturday, but over all. The weekend? SO... MUCH... FUN!
Full report(s) hopefully sometime this week.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
ring true
keeping positive right? Esp now that I've just gone and flabbergasted the domestic gods by registering for Eco-Cross, AND both days of Plymouth! Well my rationalization is that I'm not racing next weekend. Take NoHo, only riding wed this week, add three big races and then take two weeks off going into Sterling, and just shred the last couple weekends. Makes sense?
No I didn't think so either, but well, I have to cram it all in man.
So back to the post title:
I like it. Although I'm not really that familiar with what Winning feels like, but the couple times I have won, it is true, it didn't feel any different. Day 1 at NoHo was a win for me. Solid and awesome. Now. I just have to remember to STUFF MY FACE WITH AS MUCH FOOD AS I CAN until after the race on Sunday.
okay - be good - stay positive and all that new age hippie shit that is supposed to help with mental outlooks and what not
heddwch
G
No I didn't think so either, but well, I have to cram it all in man.
So back to the post title:
7. Best advice for racers?
Do what you can, when you can, and know that winning doesn’t feel any different than losing. Just get out there, ride hard, rip the turns, and enjoy the escape.
I like it. Although I'm not really that familiar with what Winning feels like, but the couple times I have won, it is true, it didn't feel any different. Day 1 at NoHo was a win for me. Solid and awesome. Now. I just have to remember to STUFF MY FACE WITH AS MUCH FOOD AS I CAN until after the race on Sunday.
okay - be good - stay positive and all that new age hippie shit that is supposed to help with mental outlooks and what not
heddwch
G
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
some stuff - links mostly
The whole Chris McDougall phenomenon is interesting to watch.
Of course he has the big book. Then recently a NYT article.
Good follow ups from both Alex Hutchinson 1 2 and Pete Larson 1 2 (they have multiple blog entries on the subject).
Bramhall has a good tumblr with some good links like the one about rowers making good cyclists. I'll tell ya why they make good cyclists. All those years of looking at where they've been, never looking forward. Put them on a bike and suddenly they are seeing the world in a whole new light and it is a most awesome way to look at it. That joy drives them. That's why they are successful at transitioning from rowing to cycling.
good reading from the weekend:
http://www.chasing120.com/
http://exit17.net/
http://untilthesnowends.blogspot.com/
http://mudstache.blogspot.com/
http://velocb.blogspot.com/
there are of course other web loggers with good stuff to read from the Northampton Race weekend with the kick ass running of the 21st annual CSI cx race... and don't forget to catch all of the insane video coverage Thom Parsons put together on http://www.cyclingdirt.org/ dig up the Cycle-Smart Day 1 and 2 coverage. Some very entertaining interviews and reports. Fortunately there is no interview with me this year.
Yes it is Lunch time. An honestly I'm needing some inspiration for cooking, some new recipes/combinations to try out. Not sure what direction to turn...
well now to finish lunch.
or go outside.
people are tweeting that it is a nice day. maybe I'll leave the desk for a few minutes.
heddwch
G
Of course he has the big book. Then recently a NYT article.
Good follow ups from both Alex Hutchinson 1 2 and Pete Larson 1 2 (they have multiple blog entries on the subject).
Bramhall has a good tumblr with some good links like the one about rowers making good cyclists. I'll tell ya why they make good cyclists. All those years of looking at where they've been, never looking forward. Put them on a bike and suddenly they are seeing the world in a whole new light and it is a most awesome way to look at it. That joy drives them. That's why they are successful at transitioning from rowing to cycling.
good reading from the weekend:
http://www.chasing120.com/
http://exit17.net/
http://untilthesnowends.blogspot.com/
http://mudstache.blogspot.com/
http://velocb.blogspot.com/
there are of course other web loggers with good stuff to read from the Northampton Race weekend with the kick ass running of the 21st annual CSI cx race... and don't forget to catch all of the insane video coverage Thom Parsons put together on http://www.cyclingdirt.org/ dig up the Cycle-Smart Day 1 and 2 coverage. Some very entertaining interviews and reports. Fortunately there is no interview with me this year.
Yes it is Lunch time. An honestly I'm needing some inspiration for cooking, some new recipes/combinations to try out. Not sure what direction to turn...
well now to finish lunch.
or go outside.
people are tweeting that it is a nice day. maybe I'll leave the desk for a few minutes.
heddwch
G
Trend Lines
For the last 4 years I've been heading to the annual benefits fair here at the picture factory. And I've been getting some numbers collected. The blood work is somewhat variable and according to my doc w/o fasting pretty meaningless (so I made sure I fasted today).
My numbers aren't bad in that regards, HDL is good enough to be good. Last couple years they've been doing the bone density thing but not this year - (no chance to see if there is a trend or a change) also no vision screening. At the docs for the tire kicking the eyes seemed remarkably improved over last year. Variability.
So what trend is most interesting? The Body Fat one.
Even without clicking on it there's a pretty clear trend.
In 2008 going into the 25hours of Great Glen (yeah 25 because that's how many hours I rode) I stopped drinking coffee. I had stopped drinking coffee two months before the test time above. The time points are all early november of the respective years.
Hard to make a trend, but that still is 10% of my life so far, I call it significant. The slope from '08 to '10 is surprisingly consistent. And the drop down to the 5% body fat range this year is pretty sweet.
A certain jackass turd ferguson tried to point out that I'm still slow. But I'm not as slow as I was last year, so I say I'm faster than before and being lighter has helped. No. Having single digit BF% isn't the secret to going fast, it is only a small part of it. One other trend is this year I have about 3# more lean muscle mass. So not only did the fat go down but the muscle went up. (I'll call that significant beyond the error range).
Coffee. Yes. Coffee = skinny GeWilli. the no beer thing helps too.
And probably hurt me this weekend. Instead of downing a thousand calories of alcohol I drank water. Dumb. Should have eaten 10x more. This skinny = no back up reserves to mobilize. Gotta eat.
Weight has stabilized lately around the 190 range +/- 2 pounds. Over the last few years my weight has a weekly/daily trend during race season in a 4# range, from fully hydrated and full of food and poop to dehydrated and empty. Yes. I'm always full of poop, somethings never change.
The three cups of coffee I had before the BP check probably didn't help those numbers at all. Oh well. I'm not dead yet.
heddwch
G
My numbers aren't bad in that regards, HDL is good enough to be good. Last couple years they've been doing the bone density thing but not this year - (no chance to see if there is a trend or a change) also no vision screening. At the docs for the tire kicking the eyes seemed remarkably improved over last year. Variability.
So what trend is most interesting? The Body Fat one.
Even without clicking on it there's a pretty clear trend.
In 2008 going into the 25hours of Great Glen (yeah 25 because that's how many hours I rode) I stopped drinking coffee. I had stopped drinking coffee two months before the test time above. The time points are all early november of the respective years.
Hard to make a trend, but that still is 10% of my life so far, I call it significant. The slope from '08 to '10 is surprisingly consistent. And the drop down to the 5% body fat range this year is pretty sweet.
A certain jackass turd ferguson tried to point out that I'm still slow. But I'm not as slow as I was last year, so I say I'm faster than before and being lighter has helped. No. Having single digit BF% isn't the secret to going fast, it is only a small part of it. One other trend is this year I have about 3# more lean muscle mass. So not only did the fat go down but the muscle went up. (I'll call that significant beyond the error range).
Coffee. Yes. Coffee = skinny GeWilli. the no beer thing helps too.
And probably hurt me this weekend. Instead of downing a thousand calories of alcohol I drank water. Dumb. Should have eaten 10x more. This skinny = no back up reserves to mobilize. Gotta eat.
Weight has stabilized lately around the 190 range +/- 2 pounds. Over the last few years my weight has a weekly/daily trend during race season in a 4# range, from fully hydrated and full of food and poop to dehydrated and empty. Yes. I'm always full of poop, somethings never change.
The three cups of coffee I had before the BP check probably didn't help those numbers at all. Oh well. I'm not dead yet.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Road Sage
The temptation to yell back is very strong. A hard one to resist. But that's the challenge, and a good challenge. Break the cycle of anger don't turn the gain up on the feedback loop. Be the offset. The negative offset specifically (negative as in the scientific term meaning to decrease, or reduce).
Esp important for me to internalize now that my bike path and a Nationally recognized bike path is completely torn up to run a sewer underneath it. Not only is it torn up but the city has decided deliberately to not post any signage regarding alternative bike routes (or so it seems, that is the only way it can be interpreted as I have many friends who have contacted them about this situation). AND on top of it all? They are doing sewer and gas work under the road and ripping it up and closing lanes on the only road that connects one end of the path to the other.
Yes.
Only one alternative road that doesn't involve adding 3-5 miles on even busier roads. Of course I could always just ride up into Seekonk and add 10 miles each way. But when time is critical... those options are not really on the table.
This whole driving thing is not so much fun, esp in the rusty race wagon.
heddwch
G
Monday, November 07, 2011
ouch
I might be more wrecked than I thought. I just got up to pour another cup of coffee and that hurt
a lot
didn't pedal in, drove in early to help my brother unload two stacks of wall board for an hour (he had a boom truck delivery and needed all hands to get it unloaded and put into rooms in a very short time window). might have to get some pedaling in later tonight maybe on the trainer after dinner. Or i just sleep.
probably just sleep.
a nap sounds good right now.
--
well after moving the car and running back to the office (walking is too slow)... i felt better.
Then I needed to head up and change a bulb on the 3rd floor. These floors are like 20' each. And I started on the basement (of course - that's where I work - basement, no windows). Started my normal two step 'sprint' up. Got to the 1st floor and slowed down a touch. By the time I hit the second floor my legs were hosed and that's all that was left in there.
Kind of like when you drain the battery on the drill, but ya have to pull the batt out of the charger before you get the green light and it dies right in the middle of the last screw. Sort of how my legs felt heading up the stairs.
I ain't got the quick charge plug in here. Battery was like those Trek E-bikes out of the box. So dead that you have to monkey with them to get them to start taking a charge.
Working hard to stay on the positive side. no negative tweets or G+ posts. had to stop myself a few times today. Seems to be helping.
Also have to figure out how to fix me for days like day 2's course. how to ride that better. might just need some driving lessons.
a lot
didn't pedal in, drove in early to help my brother unload two stacks of wall board for an hour (he had a boom truck delivery and needed all hands to get it unloaded and put into rooms in a very short time window). might have to get some pedaling in later tonight maybe on the trainer after dinner. Or i just sleep.
probably just sleep.
a nap sounds good right now.
--
well after moving the car and running back to the office (walking is too slow)... i felt better.
Then I needed to head up and change a bulb on the 3rd floor. These floors are like 20' each. And I started on the basement (of course - that's where I work - basement, no windows). Started my normal two step 'sprint' up. Got to the 1st floor and slowed down a touch. By the time I hit the second floor my legs were hosed and that's all that was left in there.
Kind of like when you drain the battery on the drill, but ya have to pull the batt out of the charger before you get the green light and it dies right in the middle of the last screw. Sort of how my legs felt heading up the stairs.
I ain't got the quick charge plug in here. Battery was like those Trek E-bikes out of the box. So dead that you have to monkey with them to get them to start taking a charge.
Working hard to stay on the positive side. no negative tweets or G+ posts. had to stop myself a few times today. Seems to be helping.
Also have to figure out how to fix me for days like day 2's course. how to ride that better. might just need some driving lessons.
Northampton 2011
Wow. What a weekend.
For me, I had a great race on Saturday. That course amplified my strengths and didn't expose my weaknesses too much. Sunday, more or less the opposite. But it really wasn't the course as much as other things.
It is a great venue. I love that run up on day 1 and the ride up. Those should be a part of every race version there. It had flow for me on day 1. day two wasn't terrible but I fucked up the sand on two separate laps, crashed hard into the right knee drawing blood and got some air time from Richard Fries "WILLI IS DOWN WILLI IS DOWN" I still have tread block stripes on the medial side of my right knee and a bit cut across the patella. That hurt and tweaked a muscle just below the shoulder blade somehow. Second time through I some how caught a pedal on the entrance to the second pass and catapulted my left knee into my bar plug. Except I missed my knee and planned the end of the bar firmly in the medial quad.
Two F'ups in the sand, two nights of shitty interrupted sleep, and I think Chabot was f'ing with us and brought decaf coffee in his machine because the headache I woke up with (no beers even on Saturday) never went away. Well until I plowed 10,000 calories into my belly, and took a nap before going to bed.
I was so wrecked I went to bed at 6pm. But the squirrels had other plans and woke me up and I climbed out on the roof a couple times. Being as wrecked as I was it was a struggle fitting through the half opened bathroom window out onto the shed addition. I think the stupid tree rats are actually stuck in the house now. Kind of worse than leaving it open and having them run in and out. I hate the damn squirrels. End of the night I was still tired but feeling more normal.
My knees are really sore, my lower back was killing me with two laps to go and started sucking watts and mental concentration. Got to the course with only time to get 1/2 a lap in before the 3/4 women started. Saturday I got two laps in before their race. And again for some reason I only managed 1 and a short section of a pre-ride before the 45+ race started. When I got 2 and a bit the day before. Warm up was fucked up. Headache was bugging me. No amount of coffee seemed to be helping, just one of those times when my body just wanted to curl up and sleep. It sucked. And it was warm. Hell I unzipped the skinsuit most of the way during the race I was so hot. As on the game as I was Saturday I was off the game sunday. Saturday I beat the race predictor by 8 places, Sunday I conceded three places but there was a guy with 516 Crossresults points in the race and so everyone was boned points wise because of him. So that really kind of just rubbed more sand in the open wound of how much of a bummer Sunday was. And of course the girls never do well with a full weekend of me gone, esp this time of year with as much going on as they have going on. I don't know if I can do these doubles away anymore. Might have to take a card from Coach Kurt soon, as in Lowell weekend soon. Actually it will likely be a break before Sterling.
Eco-cross is Friday, then there are the two days of Plymouth. So potentially I can pack two weekends of racing into one weekend. Saturday's options are both two hours away and Sunday is completely out of the question.
But NoHo 2011, all in all a fantastic race. I wish I'd been able to pull my shit together. I was holding off a group of 4 until we crossed the finish line to take the bell and they all motored past me in a section I usually am strongest in (not a good sign). And I held on to their wheel until we got into the trees. I was just riding that poorly through there. If I'd been able to hold that position I'd have finished 46th and maybe even caught Gary A. But I blew it and then two more guys came through and poof 6 places in one lap and I had no answer. The only consolation? Their cross results points sucked too, even if I had 46th it still would have been for disappointingly shitty points. But it was racing. I was racing dudes and getting my ass kicked. So could have used a driver for the way home.
Swung through my brother's farm and picked up a section of hardware cloth and said hey, headed home, up on the roof, stapled the shit in there. Was tough though. Car was good. At I-90 speeds even. Still took a long time. Staying up there was the right call, even if having dinner at The Dirty Truth and NOT drinking kind of sucks. Wait. I did that last year. Although last year I had enough High and Mighty beer before dinner that it didn't suck so bad.
I'm a wreck. A complete and total wreck. In a good way. Yesterday afternoon it didn't feel so good. But hey Curtis had a great ride both days, and he's just so god damn positive and happy all the time. That's pretty awesome.
Another awesome moment was Myerson saying "I can be emotional you know." Yes, Adam, we know, it is okay. Like Fatmarc said "most of us are all emotional, you have to be to race for 20-40th place like we do." Oh this is a great interview. Tom kicked ass covering the race this weekend.
In reflection here on Monday morning it really was a great weekend. I so want Tom's sprinter/VW. That thing looks H O T hot.
Eco-cross registration closes tomorrow at 5pm. People are going to be complaining if they miss it, like last year. Of course if I go I need to remember too, that $10 late fee is a good incentive to pre-reg.
Once I dig through the camera photos i might add a few up here or there.
heddwch
G
For me, I had a great race on Saturday. That course amplified my strengths and didn't expose my weaknesses too much. Sunday, more or less the opposite. But it really wasn't the course as much as other things.
It is a great venue. I love that run up on day 1 and the ride up. Those should be a part of every race version there. It had flow for me on day 1. day two wasn't terrible but I fucked up the sand on two separate laps, crashed hard into the right knee drawing blood and got some air time from Richard Fries "WILLI IS DOWN WILLI IS DOWN" I still have tread block stripes on the medial side of my right knee and a bit cut across the patella. That hurt and tweaked a muscle just below the shoulder blade somehow. Second time through I some how caught a pedal on the entrance to the second pass and catapulted my left knee into my bar plug. Except I missed my knee and planned the end of the bar firmly in the medial quad.
Two F'ups in the sand, two nights of shitty interrupted sleep, and I think Chabot was f'ing with us and brought decaf coffee in his machine because the headache I woke up with (no beers even on Saturday) never went away. Well until I plowed 10,000 calories into my belly, and took a nap before going to bed.
I was so wrecked I went to bed at 6pm. But the squirrels had other plans and woke me up and I climbed out on the roof a couple times. Being as wrecked as I was it was a struggle fitting through the half opened bathroom window out onto the shed addition. I think the stupid tree rats are actually stuck in the house now. Kind of worse than leaving it open and having them run in and out. I hate the damn squirrels. End of the night I was still tired but feeling more normal.
My knees are really sore, my lower back was killing me with two laps to go and started sucking watts and mental concentration. Got to the course with only time to get 1/2 a lap in before the 3/4 women started. Saturday I got two laps in before their race. And again for some reason I only managed 1 and a short section of a pre-ride before the 45+ race started. When I got 2 and a bit the day before. Warm up was fucked up. Headache was bugging me. No amount of coffee seemed to be helping, just one of those times when my body just wanted to curl up and sleep. It sucked. And it was warm. Hell I unzipped the skinsuit most of the way during the race I was so hot. As on the game as I was Saturday I was off the game sunday. Saturday I beat the race predictor by 8 places, Sunday I conceded three places but there was a guy with 516 Crossresults points in the race and so everyone was boned points wise because of him. So that really kind of just rubbed more sand in the open wound of how much of a bummer Sunday was. And of course the girls never do well with a full weekend of me gone, esp this time of year with as much going on as they have going on. I don't know if I can do these doubles away anymore. Might have to take a card from Coach Kurt soon, as in Lowell weekend soon. Actually it will likely be a break before Sterling.
Eco-cross is Friday, then there are the two days of Plymouth. So potentially I can pack two weekends of racing into one weekend. Saturday's options are both two hours away and Sunday is completely out of the question.
But NoHo 2011, all in all a fantastic race. I wish I'd been able to pull my shit together. I was holding off a group of 4 until we crossed the finish line to take the bell and they all motored past me in a section I usually am strongest in (not a good sign). And I held on to their wheel until we got into the trees. I was just riding that poorly through there. If I'd been able to hold that position I'd have finished 46th and maybe even caught Gary A. But I blew it and then two more guys came through and poof 6 places in one lap and I had no answer. The only consolation? Their cross results points sucked too, even if I had 46th it still would have been for disappointingly shitty points. But it was racing. I was racing dudes and getting my ass kicked. So could have used a driver for the way home.
Swung through my brother's farm and picked up a section of hardware cloth and said hey, headed home, up on the roof, stapled the shit in there. Was tough though. Car was good. At I-90 speeds even. Still took a long time. Staying up there was the right call, even if having dinner at The Dirty Truth and NOT drinking kind of sucks. Wait. I did that last year. Although last year I had enough High and Mighty beer before dinner that it didn't suck so bad.
I'm a wreck. A complete and total wreck. In a good way. Yesterday afternoon it didn't feel so good. But hey Curtis had a great ride both days, and he's just so god damn positive and happy all the time. That's pretty awesome.
Another awesome moment was Myerson saying "I can be emotional you know." Yes, Adam, we know, it is okay. Like Fatmarc said "most of us are all emotional, you have to be to race for 20-40th place like we do." Oh this is a great interview. Tom kicked ass covering the race this weekend.
In reflection here on Monday morning it really was a great weekend. I so want Tom's sprinter/VW. That thing looks H O T hot.
Eco-cross registration closes tomorrow at 5pm. People are going to be complaining if they miss it, like last year. Of course if I go I need to remember too, that $10 late fee is a good incentive to pre-reg.
Once I dig through the camera photos i might add a few up here or there.
heddwch
G
Friday, November 04, 2011
Canton's 4 things
So driving up to Canton I kept thinking about things I forgot to toss in the car. It was a hap-hazard departure being so close.
Rear fender. Not knowing how many puddles were out there I always like to toss my Planet Bike Flipper Rear in the car to keep the ass dry while doing pre-rides. But I forgot it. Didn't matter, only one real puddle and there was a somewhat dry line for pre-ride.
Jacket. Got a new wicked fancy jacket from the Cyclocrossracing.com team before the race and well it would have been nice to have. Didn't have it. Was f'n COLD after the race.
Shit - just remembered a 5th thing. BOOTS. I got some super nice wicked warm boots (on sale somewhere, REI maybe). They would have been nice post race stomping through the wet grass.
Gloves. Not the warm ones (brought those), not the race ones (brought those). No, the embro putting on gloves... Yes it was finally cool enough to slather up with my favorite stuff from Mad Alchemy. Running the JPow blend from last year. So cinnamony good. And nice and hot. I sort of was an idiot and didn't really make an effort to get it all off the legs in the shower, just the dirt. Well the legs were on fire sleeping. Very weird sensation. So anyway, had to slather up with bare hands. After chopping habaneros on a regular basis my hands seem pretty immune to the burn.
Clif Shot. I got there without packing Macca's Favorite: Double Espresso. So I just drank coffee up until just before the start. Seemed to work okay.
Today well, I am sitting here writing because I forgot to grab a few gloves for the embro application for this weekend. BUT I've got the car packed with most everything but the bike and race day and over night bags. Oh and shoes. Pre-ride warm LG cycling boots, the Bontrager racing shoes and my warm post race stomping boots.
But the back of the car finally got sort out and organized. Tools corralled. The canvas tool bag tipped over unloading from canton and spilled a bit of the few tools left in the bag around the back, so clean up and organize time. EZ-Up is loaded for tent row. Trainer and pump and tools neatly tucked in.
I had the chance to get it all done this afternoon because the youngest wasn't feeling well enough to stay at school. So I rode home. Called my sub 25 min time trial 'openers' (yeah baby - under 25 minutes even with the over the road detour - yeah bike path is closed and starting to get ripped up). Changed, jumped in the car and went to get the sick one (she seems to be doing fine - resting and napping).
We made a bit of lunch, watched Despicable Me, and napped. A phone call woke me up and heck it was nice out so then I got the car all set to go. A nice change of plans. Even managed to get the Deltron 3030 album ripped to a CD so I could listen to it in the car on the way north. Haven't figured out how to pull this CD player yet to see if there is a line in somewhere in the back so I can just hook the iPod up, so for now it is still CDs.
Oh have to remember the EZ-pass transponder too. Dang. Forgot that for the trip to Concord.
I'm sure I'll forget something. But with luck it won't be anything critical to actually racing or something that can't be sourced or borrowed once up there.
And with a snappy little camera I should be able to get a few photos from this weekend to break up all the damn text i've been tossing on up here.
Heddwch
G
Rear fender. Not knowing how many puddles were out there I always like to toss my Planet Bike Flipper Rear in the car to keep the ass dry while doing pre-rides. But I forgot it. Didn't matter, only one real puddle and there was a somewhat dry line for pre-ride.
Jacket. Got a new wicked fancy jacket from the Cyclocrossracing.com team before the race and well it would have been nice to have. Didn't have it. Was f'n COLD after the race.
Shit - just remembered a 5th thing. BOOTS. I got some super nice wicked warm boots (on sale somewhere, REI maybe). They would have been nice post race stomping through the wet grass.
Gloves. Not the warm ones (brought those), not the race ones (brought those). No, the embro putting on gloves... Yes it was finally cool enough to slather up with my favorite stuff from Mad Alchemy. Running the JPow blend from last year. So cinnamony good. And nice and hot. I sort of was an idiot and didn't really make an effort to get it all off the legs in the shower, just the dirt. Well the legs were on fire sleeping. Very weird sensation. So anyway, had to slather up with bare hands. After chopping habaneros on a regular basis my hands seem pretty immune to the burn.
Clif Shot. I got there without packing Macca's Favorite: Double Espresso. So I just drank coffee up until just before the start. Seemed to work okay.
Today well, I am sitting here writing because I forgot to grab a few gloves for the embro application for this weekend. BUT I've got the car packed with most everything but the bike and race day and over night bags. Oh and shoes. Pre-ride warm LG cycling boots, the Bontrager racing shoes and my warm post race stomping boots.
But the back of the car finally got sort out and organized. Tools corralled. The canvas tool bag tipped over unloading from canton and spilled a bit of the few tools left in the bag around the back, so clean up and organize time. EZ-Up is loaded for tent row. Trainer and pump and tools neatly tucked in.
I had the chance to get it all done this afternoon because the youngest wasn't feeling well enough to stay at school. So I rode home. Called my sub 25 min time trial 'openers' (yeah baby - under 25 minutes even with the over the road detour - yeah bike path is closed and starting to get ripped up). Changed, jumped in the car and went to get the sick one (she seems to be doing fine - resting and napping).
We made a bit of lunch, watched Despicable Me, and napped. A phone call woke me up and heck it was nice out so then I got the car all set to go. A nice change of plans. Even managed to get the Deltron 3030 album ripped to a CD so I could listen to it in the car on the way north. Haven't figured out how to pull this CD player yet to see if there is a line in somewhere in the back so I can just hook the iPod up, so for now it is still CDs.
Oh have to remember the EZ-pass transponder too. Dang. Forgot that for the trip to Concord.
I'm sure I'll forget something. But with luck it won't be anything critical to actually racing or something that can't be sourced or borrowed once up there.
And with a snappy little camera I should be able to get a few photos from this weekend to break up all the damn text i've been tossing on up here.
Heddwch
G
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Northampton... CSI time
For real. Getting serious.
Big weekend.
Needed distraction.
maybe words or photos later
camera acquired
new commute - no more bike path for 6 months
washed bike and lubed chain tonight.
felt good to get canton off the bike.
no pedaling today
tired
low coffee day too
sleep
heddwch
G
Big weekend.
Needed distraction.
maybe words or photos later
camera acquired
new commute - no more bike path for 6 months
washed bike and lubed chain tonight.
felt good to get canton off the bike.
no pedaling today
tired
low coffee day too
sleep
heddwch
G
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Linkage
Relative Risk in Cycling
Commuting and your health (aka ride a bike)
Bittman's Lotsa Links (from the 28th)
From that is Adam Platt's take on Food on the TV. Alas without cable TV or a paid subscription service like NetFlix I only see what is on the big digitally broadcast networks that come in over the rabbit ears. And I'm okay with that. Because if I had access to those shows i'd be sitting in front of the TV way more than I am now.
yeah that's all i got today - new commute, not so bad, not as good as old one.
might try and privateer the old way on the way home tonight (mostly because i have camera with me *yes*)
okay
heddwch
G
Commuting and your health (aka ride a bike)
Bittman's Lotsa Links (from the 28th)
From that is Adam Platt's take on Food on the TV. Alas without cable TV or a paid subscription service like NetFlix I only see what is on the big digitally broadcast networks that come in over the rabbit ears. And I'm okay with that. Because if I had access to those shows i'd be sitting in front of the TV way more than I am now.
yeah that's all i got today - new commute, not so bad, not as good as old one.
might try and privateer the old way on the way home tonight (mostly because i have camera with me *yes*)
okay
heddwch
G
not just for climate scientists
Source: http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v64/i10/p48_s1
| Terms that have different meanings for scientists and the public | ||
|---|---|---|
| Scientific term | Public meaning | Better choice |
| enhance | improve | intensify, increase |
| aerosol | spray can | tiny atmospheric particle |
| positive trend | good trend | upward trend |
| positive feedback | good response, praise | vicious cycle, self-reinforcing cycle |
| theory | hunch, speculation | scientific understanding |
| uncertainty | ignorance | range |
| error | mistake, wrong, incorrect | difference from exact true number |
| bias | distortion, political motive | offset from an observation |
| sign | indication, astrological sign | plus or minus sign |
| values | ethics, monetary value | numbers, quantity |
| manipulation | illicit tampering | scientific data processing |
| scheme | devious plot | systematic plan |
| anomaly | abnormal occurrence | change from long-term average |
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Canton Cup 2011 quick recap
Yeah so quick recap:
1st 42:00 Jonny FUCKING Bold
2nd 42:08 PETE SMITH
3rd 42:08 Paul Richard
19th 46:05 Me
31 finishers. 30 on the lead lap.
Felt great racing. Was actually racing until Whitey dropped the hammer on the last lap in the twisties to make sure I wasn't anywhere near him on the power sections. And it worked. And I rolled in from the barriers to the finish pretty easily. Yeah yeah I should have drilled it and finished down in the 45:50s or better but, well we race for a place, right? It isn't a time trial no matter how much it resembles one and feels like it. Still just about place.
I actually felt like I was racing (and I was). Brooks had a great start but he faded a bit. Whitey had a Kick ass start and I rode Sally's wheel up onto his. we stayed in contact with Sally most of the race. At 2 to go she took off and Todd R came by. He was just sitting on my wheel, I guess he got to the start grid at the 30 second warning, for most of the race. Or riding up onto my wheel.
The tires were packing up with the canton slop though. The racing ralph was not the tire choice to make. Would have been better off with a file tread that had good side knobs (like Whitey ran) than these. Wicked slick. Managed to keep it upright (by going too slow i guess) and have a good race and unload watts where I could. Today would have been a course for the Rocket Ron Tubulars. Or maybe the Limus, or the PDX, or Rhynos. Esp when the women got out there. Yikes. S'okay, I probably wouldn't have done any better with different tires.
First race to slather on some JPow blend from Mad Alchemy. Digging the post race burn right now. Topping up with #7 (coffee variety) right now before shower. Muscles feel TRASHED. But I felt good most of the race.
Sorry to everyone who picked tomorrow to race, but I'm glad I picked today. 19th is an improvement over previous years. Last year it was 24th 6 min back on the winner same number of finishers.
Time to get ready for the Halloween party.
heddwch
G
1st 42:00 Jonny FUCKING Bold
2nd 42:08 PETE SMITH
3rd 42:08 Paul Richard
19th 46:05 Me
31 finishers. 30 on the lead lap.
Felt great racing. Was actually racing until Whitey dropped the hammer on the last lap in the twisties to make sure I wasn't anywhere near him on the power sections. And it worked. And I rolled in from the barriers to the finish pretty easily. Yeah yeah I should have drilled it and finished down in the 45:50s or better but, well we race for a place, right? It isn't a time trial no matter how much it resembles one and feels like it. Still just about place.
I actually felt like I was racing (and I was). Brooks had a great start but he faded a bit. Whitey had a Kick ass start and I rode Sally's wheel up onto his. we stayed in contact with Sally most of the race. At 2 to go she took off and Todd R came by. He was just sitting on my wheel, I guess he got to the start grid at the 30 second warning, for most of the race. Or riding up onto my wheel.
The tires were packing up with the canton slop though. The racing ralph was not the tire choice to make. Would have been better off with a file tread that had good side knobs (like Whitey ran) than these. Wicked slick. Managed to keep it upright (by going too slow i guess) and have a good race and unload watts where I could. Today would have been a course for the Rocket Ron Tubulars. Or maybe the Limus, or the PDX, or Rhynos. Esp when the women got out there. Yikes. S'okay, I probably wouldn't have done any better with different tires.
First race to slather on some JPow blend from Mad Alchemy. Digging the post race burn right now. Topping up with #7 (coffee variety) right now before shower. Muscles feel TRASHED. But I felt good most of the race.
Sorry to everyone who picked tomorrow to race, but I'm glad I picked today. 19th is an improvement over previous years. Last year it was 24th 6 min back on the winner same number of finishers.
Time to get ready for the Halloween party.
heddwch
G
Friday, October 28, 2011
Canton Cup 2011 pre-game
Between 2006 and 2010 I only missed 2007 (for some reason i don't remember, i could dig back through the web log but i'm doing that right now).
2006 raced the B Masters and finished mid pack.
But looking at 2008-2010 I notice that there have been fewer and fewer racers in the 1/2/3/4 35+ category. There were 63 in 2008, down to 31 in 2010. This year there are 35 pre-reg'd, so I expect that we'll probably hit somewhere in the middle, but maybe not. Should be a few day of (usually are for this race).
Saturday: Rain, mainly after 4pm. High near 44. Northeast wind between 6 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. NOAA.gov
The weather might work in the Day-Of favor in that it isn't going to suck too much. I don't think we'll hit 60 but it might be a solid field.
Hoping for a top 50% for a change. We'll see if it is possible. Officially it is a cross clash with Nick, but any time Marvin shows up, it is game on. He's the target. Brooks too. I have a chance of getting close to him, esp if the baby keeps him up tonight (PLEASE BABY WAKE YOUR DAD UP TONIGHT - REPEATEDLY - BUT FOR CUTE REASONS).
Hopping the little barriers is something i've been grumbling in my head about. Kind of kicking myself for not riding the ones at Mansfield. I should be able to, I've been practicing my J-Hopping on the curbs here. Not the same but not much different. I hope. Going to treat this like any other race... that log... the one that sent Sullivan onto his lid, i ain't gonna hop that (if it is still there).
The Crossresults.com staging should help a bit with the start craziness. But the last couple years with 31 or 38 guys that's two rows plus a few stragglers and we sorted stuff out pretty cleanly. Unlike back in '06 when 80 dudes went off barging and bouncing into off of each other.
Yeah - thinking about it. A little race. But there is no such thing as a little race. They are all important.
The noon start is going to eliminate any confusion with the ritual. Car is full of fuel, B20 even so maybe there's a few more horses but stinkier smoke (sorry people who are around when I leave the race). fuel costs right now are sort of high, but ten cents a mile isn't terrible for operating costs, well fuel costs. Forget taxes insurance and shit that wears/falls apart. But those certainly are low compared to other vehicles. Ah well. it is what it is.
So we'll see the brave and the crazy tomorrow at the hospital grounds.
heddwch
G
G
Holes... TROOF
”Truth” according to religion is relatively immutable. It remains unchanged despite new evidence. There are no holes because the “whole truth” has been provided. “Holes”? Aplenty, but you are told not concern yourself with them.
“Truth” according to science is INHERENTLY mutable - it is provisional based on the evidence on hand. New evidence, new truths - or, more accurately, more complete truths. It never claims to be the “whole truth” as new questions are answered, new questions are asked. “Holes”? Yes, but they are simply questions yet to be answered.
Science is ABOUT the holes.
from russcam
Thursday, October 27, 2011
expanding
I'd say it was the waist line that is expanding from the 4 or 6 donuts I had from a J&WU classes work today, but no, it is digital.
http://nanoscape.tumblr.com/
yeah i hitched up to the tumblr train. Trying something - staying on topic and focused.
Tumblr seems to work pretty well. In fact I really like how the multiple images are displayed when clicked. Pretty slick. way better than i can do here. As much as I've been aware of the tumblr thing I've just never gotten into it - always seemed to be repost centers. But it actually seems to be good for original stuff... time will tell.
It also challenges me to select, edit, critique and collect more images. I see it as a good thing.
I should focus on food but with Nick Cz working on his cookbook for the manorexic cyclist, well maybe that project will come later.
So I even went one further, and am blasting new posts automatically to Faceplace and Twitterdumb. Because everyone wants to see it, right? I will not be carpet bombing this thing with the images, even though it might improve the look/feel of the place. Gotta keep this all consistent. Or inconsistent. A straight up reflection of me.
Canton timing has been tossed back into uncertainty. Looks like I might actually be better off with the rest of the schedules by racing the not as old dude old dudes race.
Took the day completely off the bike, and oddly work. Sick day, had my 40 year check up at the doc's office. Everything seems to be in decent shape. HR was kind of high when i was lying down, probably from the pile of coffee, but the doc seemed pleased that it was 50. Lets see what the blood work says, but it would appear I'm not doing to poorly on the health front. Which really must be a shock, i eat pretty well, exercise pretty damn regularly...
Salad tonight with some left over pasta options for those that want some more food. My friend Justin had planted the bug in my head about dry beans. I'd been 'lazy' and just spending the dollar or two for canned beans to make hummus or chili or whatever. But lately, well I've started the whole soaking and cooking thing.
And I have to say, it is not so bad. I can soak em, and then freeze half or put em in the fridge for a day or two, cook em and then eat em. Pretty simple, AND, I can remove one more source of BPA...
Just waiting for the oldest to get home before dressing the salad...
Remember - you need fat to benefit from a green salad. Seriously. Most of the nutrients that you need are fat soluble, fat free dressing means a couple things: #1 high in sugar and processed corn and soybean byproducts, #2 negative nutrient delivery system. Make your own. It ain't hard and use lots of good tasty extra virgin olive oil and whatever else you want.
heddwch
G
http://nanoscape.tumblr.com/
yeah i hitched up to the tumblr train. Trying something - staying on topic and focused.
Tumblr seems to work pretty well. In fact I really like how the multiple images are displayed when clicked. Pretty slick. way better than i can do here. As much as I've been aware of the tumblr thing I've just never gotten into it - always seemed to be repost centers. But it actually seems to be good for original stuff... time will tell.
It also challenges me to select, edit, critique and collect more images. I see it as a good thing.
I should focus on food but with Nick Cz working on his cookbook for the manorexic cyclist, well maybe that project will come later.
So I even went one further, and am blasting new posts automatically to Faceplace and Twitterdumb. Because everyone wants to see it, right? I will not be carpet bombing this thing with the images, even though it might improve the look/feel of the place. Gotta keep this all consistent. Or inconsistent. A straight up reflection of me.
Canton timing has been tossed back into uncertainty. Looks like I might actually be better off with the rest of the schedules by racing the not as old dude old dudes race.
Took the day completely off the bike, and oddly work. Sick day, had my 40 year check up at the doc's office. Everything seems to be in decent shape. HR was kind of high when i was lying down, probably from the pile of coffee, but the doc seemed pleased that it was 50. Lets see what the blood work says, but it would appear I'm not doing to poorly on the health front. Which really must be a shock, i eat pretty well, exercise pretty damn regularly...
Salad tonight with some left over pasta options for those that want some more food. My friend Justin had planted the bug in my head about dry beans. I'd been 'lazy' and just spending the dollar or two for canned beans to make hummus or chili or whatever. But lately, well I've started the whole soaking and cooking thing.
And I have to say, it is not so bad. I can soak em, and then freeze half or put em in the fridge for a day or two, cook em and then eat em. Pretty simple, AND, I can remove one more source of BPA...
Just waiting for the oldest to get home before dressing the salad...
Remember - you need fat to benefit from a green salad. Seriously. Most of the nutrients that you need are fat soluble, fat free dressing means a couple things: #1 high in sugar and processed corn and soybean byproducts, #2 negative nutrient delivery system. Make your own. It ain't hard and use lots of good tasty extra virgin olive oil and whatever else you want.
heddwch
G
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
New England through Jerry Chabot's POV
There ya go. There are loads of variations, as in turd polishing plant locations, race locations, and a few places he stays but hey - this is a start.
on the lighter side
Here's a few funny dudes who may or may not wear kilts to formal occasions joking as their hot air balloon crashes (don't worry no one gets hurt) http://youtu.be/V01gnjGrglk
and then Mr. Plywood. Maybe you've seen it before, if yes, still funny the second or third time around.
Crazy infographic: a brief history of Web Standards (credit RussC)
Today was a great ride in. Legs and lungs were working together, HR jumped and stayed above 160 for 4 miles, power was fluctuating a bit but goal was to burn the legs up with a variable wattage interval with the goal of keeping the HR pegged. Hurt but hurt so good. Potential for some intervals on the trainer tonight. I'm certainly trending to the 3:15 race. Heck if nothing else to race with JONNY FUCKING BOLD. Suck it murat, i'm putting the f'bomb in there because I want to. Got another day or two to commit (along with everyone else it seems who's racing that race). (Maybe JB will be tired by the second race and won't kick my ass so badly - yeah right).
Okay - this is pretty damn cool. Aerial coverage of a CX race. (direct link to video)GCD has the best quote: "Wow the shots from high up like that make the fields look really small." And seriously putting the Elites and the B fields together at the same time? Nuts. As in small fields.
The course does look pretty cool though. Neat helicopter thing (wait for the end for shots of it).
Hell last year (or the year before) we had Domarski doing a flyover taking pictures from a REAL helicopter at Canton.
One hundred fifty.
The field limit for the Cat 4 race at Canton. Seriously. 150. Last I checked (this AM) it was up to 148, it should sell out before race day. Todd brings up a good point, USAC needs to work on forcing some upgrades. That said, where are these newly minted Cat 3s going to go? Are they ready to get shredded by the wolves in the 1/2/3 races and in the big events where the cat 3 fields fill first, where are they going to go, esp if they aren't old enough to race Masters?
A good problem to have I suppose. (just checked 149!) Although it looks like a certain Tony Thissell is taking up two spots...
SINGMASTER? you're doing the 4 race? Talk about someone who NEEDS to upgrade. Shit. And Kirschner, damn you scotty aint ya old enough to race in the 35+ open?
Ah, well, it is going to be what it is going to be, no? That said you do wind up racing the same people, and after a lap or two it sorts out and with 150 people on the course there will always be someone to chase (even if you are the leader, lapper hunting). Is there a chance any of them will hang out long enough to say hey by the time i show up? Probably not. But damn parking won't be a problem! Assuming the rusty race wagon can limp up that far.
So see ya there - i've gotta get the Map according to Jerry posted.
heddwch
G
and then Mr. Plywood. Maybe you've seen it before, if yes, still funny the second or third time around.
Crazy infographic: a brief history of Web Standards (credit RussC)
Today was a great ride in. Legs and lungs were working together, HR jumped and stayed above 160 for 4 miles, power was fluctuating a bit but goal was to burn the legs up with a variable wattage interval with the goal of keeping the HR pegged. Hurt but hurt so good. Potential for some intervals on the trainer tonight. I'm certainly trending to the 3:15 race. Heck if nothing else to race with JONNY FUCKING BOLD. Suck it murat, i'm putting the f'bomb in there because I want to. Got another day or two to commit (along with everyone else it seems who's racing that race). (Maybe JB will be tired by the second race and won't kick my ass so badly - yeah right).
Okay - this is pretty damn cool. Aerial coverage of a CX race. (direct link to video)GCD has the best quote: "Wow the shots from high up like that make the fields look really small." And seriously putting the Elites and the B fields together at the same time? Nuts. As in small fields.
The course does look pretty cool though. Neat helicopter thing (wait for the end for shots of it).
Hell last year (or the year before) we had Domarski doing a flyover taking pictures from a REAL helicopter at Canton.
One hundred fifty.
The field limit for the Cat 4 race at Canton. Seriously. 150. Last I checked (this AM) it was up to 148, it should sell out before race day. Todd brings up a good point, USAC needs to work on forcing some upgrades. That said, where are these newly minted Cat 3s going to go? Are they ready to get shredded by the wolves in the 1/2/3 races and in the big events where the cat 3 fields fill first, where are they going to go, esp if they aren't old enough to race Masters?
A good problem to have I suppose. (just checked 149!) Although it looks like a certain Tony Thissell is taking up two spots...
SINGMASTER? you're doing the 4 race? Talk about someone who NEEDS to upgrade. Shit. And Kirschner, damn you scotty aint ya old enough to race in the 35+ open?
Ah, well, it is going to be what it is going to be, no? That said you do wind up racing the same people, and after a lap or two it sorts out and with 150 people on the course there will always be someone to chase (even if you are the leader, lapper hunting). Is there a chance any of them will hang out long enough to say hey by the time i show up? Probably not. But damn parking won't be a problem! Assuming the rusty race wagon can limp up that far.
So see ya there - i've gotta get the Map according to Jerry posted.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Another Butterfly Image
I'm honestly not super happy about it. The dark bar on there is a charging artifact that I don't want to remove via post processing.
Part of my challenge that I set for myself as an artist with the SEM is capturing an image that doesn't need to be re-touched. No levels or gamma tweaks. Straight up looking good. Part of that is because the output is only 8-bit and, well, that doesn't leave much room for adjustment. I have tried a bit of HDR with the SEM with some measured success but that's an arduous process involving taking three or more shots of the same sample (each shot is about 160s long or so) and sample stability isn't always a given.
The machine magnification was 1800x. And to get a judge of size the tips of the scale on either side of where it attaches to the wing are about 15µm apart (adult human hair is 60-90µm - red blood cells are 5µm).
If you follow me on G+ or Faceplace you may have noticed a repetition of the same images in both places. Marketing I suppose. Post it everywhere and someone is bound to take notice.
I do find great satisfaction in collecting these images... and also in sharing them.
So stop by the Culinary Museum, give them a few dollars, check out the diners, play some ski-ball, take a peak at the new exhibits and the soda fountain and then see the images up close and personal.
-heddwch
G
Monday, October 24, 2011
A pair of Images
...from today on the Scanning Electron Microscope.
If you are in the Providence area check out my Edible Nanoscape image collection at the Culinary Museum www.culinary.org (there is a fee to get into the museum - just FYI).
Butteryfly wing scale (10,000x ~750nm between ribs)
Used Halogen Lamp Filament (low mag)
If you are in the Providence area check out my Edible Nanoscape image collection at the Culinary Museum www.culinary.org (there is a fee to get into the museum - just FYI).
The Countdown Begins
Very soon my bike route will be changing. Piping for the shit plant is going to be installed under the EBBP for a good portion of the route. Honestly the best part of the route. The most scenic part.
The part with the lighthouse, the rocks, the birds... It might mean Seagull bombing season will happen on the heads of the construction workers instead of under my tires, but that's quite a small positive to take away from them taking away a big part of the route.
The part with the lighthouse, the rocks, the birds... It might mean Seagull bombing season will happen on the heads of the construction workers instead of under my tires, but that's quite a small positive to take away from them taking away a big part of the route.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Stretching
Do you stretch? Do you have a reason to?
Are you a hockey goalie trying to be more flexible? Or a ballerina that has to work wicked hard for the flexibility needed?
Now, stretching to help with tightness in the hamstrings or lower back or to improve range of motion aside, there has been some rumbling that it can help with prevention or reduction of muscle soreness.
Sweat Science posted and commented on a new review of stretching.
Before I mention anything else further I'm going to pull his summary of three reasons to stretch:
Are you a hockey goalie trying to be more flexible? Or a ballerina that has to work wicked hard for the flexibility needed?
Now, stretching to help with tightness in the hamstrings or lower back or to improve range of motion aside, there has been some rumbling that it can help with prevention or reduction of muscle soreness.
Sweat Science posted and commented on a new review of stretching.
Before I mention anything else further I'm going to pull his summary of three reasons to stretch:
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Mental War
Got a good solid mental war going on right now in my head.
The rational side says the latest change (expected - but not desired) is a good thing for cross racing (less time on my feet, more time to recover/rest/train) and hanging with the family (home to cook dinner more nights), but the other rational side knows sort of that the fine thread we're hanging on with just got thinner and all that is gained doesn't lighten the load or improve.
And it has been a struggle to focus on the positive to be honest. Nothing to do about it. At this point.
Good news side is the images from the Edible Nanoscape have been hung in the gallery at the Museum. Stop by and check them out (the museum has some pretty cool other stuff there too, worth it not just to see the images). Maybe I'll even get to have a mini-opening some evening. Not holding my breath on that one though. Esp since it has only taken 7 months to get this far.
I did manage to skirt the heavy rain clouds this morning and ducked into the office with barely a drizzle out there. Not sure I can make it home with as much luck but we'll see. I did was the drive train and the bike last night.
Settled on the ideal way to get the chain perfectly clean.
1st use the EVerLube in a Park Chain cleaner (clamp on things) and clean chainring and jockey wheels.
2nd wash with bucket of soapy water and hose with focused 'stream'
3rd dry chain
4th lube up with EVerLube, wipe excess off
5th let sit overnight. Perfectly quiet smooth like new chain.
Stupid brain thinks I should sell this stuff (and send a royalty to ErikV) but my other stupider brain says no one would buy it esp when they can make it so easily themselves.
Stupider brain probably will win out. I do need to pick some more raw materials up soon and make a new batch. Finally to the bottom of the gallon. Might as well get that done this weekend since I'm not headed to Maine for DECX, I've been putting off the oil change in the Rusty Race Wagon too. Might as well get all that stuff checked off the list. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
Gotta stay positive right? Keep plugging on in face of it all. That's Big Ringing it.
heddwch
G
The rational side says the latest change (expected - but not desired) is a good thing for cross racing (less time on my feet, more time to recover/rest/train) and hanging with the family (home to cook dinner more nights), but the other rational side knows sort of that the fine thread we're hanging on with just got thinner and all that is gained doesn't lighten the load or improve.
And it has been a struggle to focus on the positive to be honest. Nothing to do about it. At this point.
Good news side is the images from the Edible Nanoscape have been hung in the gallery at the Museum. Stop by and check them out (the museum has some pretty cool other stuff there too, worth it not just to see the images). Maybe I'll even get to have a mini-opening some evening. Not holding my breath on that one though. Esp since it has only taken 7 months to get this far.
I did manage to skirt the heavy rain clouds this morning and ducked into the office with barely a drizzle out there. Not sure I can make it home with as much luck but we'll see. I did was the drive train and the bike last night.
Settled on the ideal way to get the chain perfectly clean.
1st use the EVerLube in a Park Chain cleaner (clamp on things) and clean chainring and jockey wheels.
2nd wash with bucket of soapy water and hose with focused 'stream'
3rd dry chain
4th lube up with EVerLube, wipe excess off
5th let sit overnight. Perfectly quiet smooth like new chain.
Stupid brain thinks I should sell this stuff (and send a royalty to ErikV) but my other stupider brain says no one would buy it esp when they can make it so easily themselves.
Stupider brain probably will win out. I do need to pick some more raw materials up soon and make a new batch. Finally to the bottom of the gallon. Might as well get that done this weekend since I'm not headed to Maine for DECX, I've been putting off the oil change in the Rusty Race Wagon too. Might as well get all that stuff checked off the list. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
Gotta stay positive right? Keep plugging on in face of it all. That's Big Ringing it.
heddwch
G
When you've watched the Course Tape
Check out BtB Season 2 Episode 4
"Behind The Barriers" Season II Episode 4 from Behind The Barriers on Vimeo.
"Behind The Barriers" Season II Episode 4 from Behind The Barriers on Vimeo.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Going back
and re-reading this got me thinking about things in a different way.
Solid truth to what he's saying. The last four points have been quite effective for me. I haven't really done the whole motorpacing thing yet. I'm not really looking forward to jumping onto a dumptruck vs smashing into it.
But the others? I blew myself up last week doing the last one, in a very similar routine to the one JV outlines (i read this on Sunday, not last week - remarking that the novel shit up coming up with may not be infact novel but shit i've abosrbed from reading all the training crap I've gotten my hands on in the last bazillion years).
Riding so hard you puke? F'yeah. Well i don't puke easily but I know the intervals were good when i taste blood.
Recovery. Knowing when to pile on the calories and when to lay off are big factors here. Pile on the calories between races, esp following your saturday one. Sunday? Don't bother to fully recovery. Eat just enough to replace what you used and to do some of the repair, let the recovery rides on Monday and Tuesday and normal 'healthy' eating fix the rest of it. If you pile on the calories you'll just wind up over doing it and packing in the fat.
Epigenetics. Goes beyond athletic development. My parent's parent's generation probably set us on a epigenetic expression pattern change that is just now amplifying to the point where it is out of control. It may take a couple generations to repair the damage, or we just progress along the lines of Wall*E. We're moving in that direction.
Essentially evolutionary change, but faster because these aren't genetic changes, but changes in how things are expressed and how the body reacts. Food indeed affects your body and your genetics. Tiny tiny amounts make a big difference. Reversing the damage is not easy, and studies are showing these methylation and histone modifications and what not are inheritable.
You are what your genetics are but you have the ability to push the envelop a bit. So make sure you are pushing it in the right direction.
Traditional toxicology is inadequate at determining true health impacts. The insect neurotoxins in the pesticides and the broad spectrum antibiotics used and the preservative chemicals in foods do have an impact on gene expression, and that is not measured from what I am recalling about the tests for human safety. Food science is great but it is greatly flawed in assessing the true impact of chemicals we are exposed to that are labeled "safe," esp those that may be acutely toxic in high doses but in low doses are 'acceptable.'
Now, say you're cranking it out in the 55+ group... do you care? Maybe you should. You've got the potential to hang on for another 30-40 years. That's a long fucking time. And quality of life then depends on your bodies ability to keep that genetic machine working completely.
Anyone younger, shit. You don't have a choice. But then you do. You always have the choice. I've got friends debating tipping etiquette in a forum, and I have nothing to contribute. Not only am I really essentially not drinking, I never go to the bar to drink so tipping isn't something i've thought about lately, combined with the fact that we just don't eat out at all. The occasional pizza carry out, and my wife does take the girls to lunch now and then but me? I don't tip. Food. Make it yourself. Not having to think about the tipping issue sure doesn't support the restaurant industry but it really impacts the food I'm putting in my body.
I think some Pad Thai is on the menu tonight - lets see if i have any limes at home (could be a problem)
heddwch
G
Solid truth to what he's saying. The last four points have been quite effective for me. I haven't really done the whole motorpacing thing yet. I'm not really looking forward to jumping onto a dumptruck vs smashing into it.
But the others? I blew myself up last week doing the last one, in a very similar routine to the one JV outlines (i read this on Sunday, not last week - remarking that the novel shit up coming up with may not be infact novel but shit i've abosrbed from reading all the training crap I've gotten my hands on in the last bazillion years).
Riding so hard you puke? F'yeah. Well i don't puke easily but I know the intervals were good when i taste blood.
Recovery. Knowing when to pile on the calories and when to lay off are big factors here. Pile on the calories between races, esp following your saturday one. Sunday? Don't bother to fully recovery. Eat just enough to replace what you used and to do some of the repair, let the recovery rides on Monday and Tuesday and normal 'healthy' eating fix the rest of it. If you pile on the calories you'll just wind up over doing it and packing in the fat.
Epigenetics. Goes beyond athletic development. My parent's parent's generation probably set us on a epigenetic expression pattern change that is just now amplifying to the point where it is out of control. It may take a couple generations to repair the damage, or we just progress along the lines of Wall*E. We're moving in that direction.
Essentially evolutionary change, but faster because these aren't genetic changes, but changes in how things are expressed and how the body reacts. Food indeed affects your body and your genetics. Tiny tiny amounts make a big difference. Reversing the damage is not easy, and studies are showing these methylation and histone modifications and what not are inheritable.
You are what your genetics are but you have the ability to push the envelop a bit. So make sure you are pushing it in the right direction.
Traditional toxicology is inadequate at determining true health impacts. The insect neurotoxins in the pesticides and the broad spectrum antibiotics used and the preservative chemicals in foods do have an impact on gene expression, and that is not measured from what I am recalling about the tests for human safety. Food science is great but it is greatly flawed in assessing the true impact of chemicals we are exposed to that are labeled "safe," esp those that may be acutely toxic in high doses but in low doses are 'acceptable.'
Now, say you're cranking it out in the 55+ group... do you care? Maybe you should. You've got the potential to hang on for another 30-40 years. That's a long fucking time. And quality of life then depends on your bodies ability to keep that genetic machine working completely.
Anyone younger, shit. You don't have a choice. But then you do. You always have the choice. I've got friends debating tipping etiquette in a forum, and I have nothing to contribute. Not only am I really essentially not drinking, I never go to the bar to drink so tipping isn't something i've thought about lately, combined with the fact that we just don't eat out at all. The occasional pizza carry out, and my wife does take the girls to lunch now and then but me? I don't tip. Food. Make it yourself. Not having to think about the tipping issue sure doesn't support the restaurant industry but it really impacts the food I'm putting in my body.
I think some Pad Thai is on the menu tonight - lets see if i have any limes at home (could be a problem)
heddwch
G
well tuesday is here
and no race report.
or anything else...
odd.
Or not.
I had a decent list of stuff to write about, some I think somewhat novel in ways to think/approach food and eating and exercise and what not. Some stuff was nucleated by a blog post or a web page and something was from an analog bit of reading i did.
But right now.
Meh.
or anything else...
odd.
Or not.
I had a decent list of stuff to write about, some I think somewhat novel in ways to think/approach food and eating and exercise and what not. Some stuff was nucleated by a blog post or a web page and something was from an analog bit of reading i did.
But right now.
Meh.
Friday, October 14, 2011
nailed it
http://www.chasing120.com/2011/10/december-comes-early-its-not-title-of.html
go read it... wicked funny
go read it... wicked funny
Crazy week
Loss, Spirit Animals, Dubstep, CX Category, Training, Twenty Years...
I'm one of four brothers. And I do a half ass job of staying in touch with all of them, but that actually turns out to be pretty good. I talk to all of em at least once a week or so, feel pretty close to all of them. Thoughts are with Fatmarc and his brothers. I can't really imagine, well I can, my imagination is pretty hardcore, it has to be tough though, I've been lucky to this point. I'm 40 years old and haven't lost any immediate family. Grandparents, yes. But the rest are all hanging on. I like it that way. But I know it can't last that way forever. I'm going to be a pretty solid wreck unless I go first...
I'm one of four brothers. And I do a half ass job of staying in touch with all of them, but that actually turns out to be pretty good. I talk to all of em at least once a week or so, feel pretty close to all of them. Thoughts are with Fatmarc and his brothers. I can't really imagine, well I can, my imagination is pretty hardcore, it has to be tough though, I've been lucky to this point. I'm 40 years old and haven't lost any immediate family. Grandparents, yes. But the rest are all hanging on. I like it that way. But I know it can't last that way forever. I'm going to be a pretty solid wreck unless I go first...
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
epigenetic work
Well I managed to stay on track with the 'PROgram' this morning.
Honestly it is probably too late to tweak a huge amount of the DNA with methylation esp when it comes to developmental expression but hey, whatever, maybe it will make a change (fat chance), but it is possible. And with that possibility I managed to get some discipline.
Felt good. Wicked hard, but pretty good.
Honestly it is probably too late to tweak a huge amount of the DNA with methylation esp when it comes to developmental expression but hey, whatever, maybe it will make a change (fat chance), but it is possible. And with that possibility I managed to get some discipline.
Felt good. Wicked hard, but pretty good.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
New interface fup
So yeah, that last post, didn't realize I was writing it in HTML mode and totally forgot that hard returns aren't coded... (yes it is an option i just didn't have it checked - oops)
one giant block of text
not so awesome
sorry about that - to the three people still reading this stuff
And i'm playing with this jump break stuff
one giant block of text
not so awesome
sorry about that - to the three people still reading this stuff
And i'm playing with this jump break stuff
Distance
Yesterday was the first day I actually pretty much just took off and had as a vacation, in a while. The two weeks this summer with the girls and the stay-cations (one in July and one in August) were nice and a good/much needed break but mostly they were full of catching up with stuff. Yesterday felt like a Sunday, but without any sports to watch on TV during the day. No veg.
Woke up late (well dog woke up early and i fed her and then climbed back into bed), the girls got up a bit late too, and then we made waffles.
And hung out. Washed both the commuter and the Race bike, lubed the chains and assessed what was going on with each of them. Cleaned up the back yard a bit more, but generally didn't do much.
So needed.
Woke up late (well dog woke up early and i fed her and then climbed back into bed), the girls got up a bit late too, and then we made waffles.
And hung out. Washed both the commuter and the Race bike, lubed the chains and assessed what was going on with each of them. Cleaned up the back yard a bit more, but generally didn't do much.
So needed.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Cross is for Cold Weather
And a good deal of the guys who are racing in the Master categories can be typified as those who excel in the cold and feed on it.
This weekend has not been a weekend for us.
Cold and wet is best. Gloucester got close but still no cigar.
Will it get cold before Warwick?
Today was the antithesis of cold. 80+ is too hot. I blew up. I GeWilli'd the race. Mushroom cloud in the trees.
Kaboom.
But even with the epic implosion I still managed to stay on the lead lap, and wasn't DFL...
Bring on the cold please. And today's course was so f'n fast. SO fast. No rest. Power power power power power power.
I should have put a bottle cage on at the least. But I raced. And as my littlest said while we were walking to check the results, "It isn't about winning, you raced, that's what counts."
Damn she's smart.
My hip flexor took a beating with the super high speed barrier. And my back was enraged by the two step dismount on the new section by the reg tent. But I managed a finish.
and that's enough, for now.
This weekend has not been a weekend for us.
Cold and wet is best. Gloucester got close but still no cigar.
Will it get cold before Warwick?
Today was the antithesis of cold. 80+ is too hot. I blew up. I GeWilli'd the race. Mushroom cloud in the trees.
Kaboom.
But even with the epic implosion I still managed to stay on the lead lap, and wasn't DFL...
Bring on the cold please. And today's course was so f'n fast. SO fast. No rest. Power power power power power power.
I should have put a bottle cage on at the least. But I raced. And as my littlest said while we were walking to check the results, "It isn't about winning, you raced, that's what counts."
Damn she's smart.
My hip flexor took a beating with the super high speed barrier. And my back was enraged by the two step dismount on the new section by the reg tent. But I managed a finish.
and that's enough, for now.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Providence Festival of Cyclocross Day 1
Wow.
Painful course, esp for those who crashed. Thoughts go out to Rob Hult who went down really hard in the transition to the finishing stretch. Rumor has it that his arm bone was nearly poking through his skin it was broken and displaced so badly. I hope Jonny Bold is okay. I passed him as he pulled the plug by the Cliff Bar sugar station and then heard the rumor that he crashed hard.
Jerry kept his shit upright, but maybe that's because he says he didn't have legs and wearing gloves he couldn't drive the bike. Curtis squeaked into the top 10, but a whole new crop occupied the podium. Okay Wilichoski, isn't new this season but he's new this year. Results here.
My personal race? Lined up somewhere (on the left behind Wade). And we started. It was brutally hot (for a CX race) but off we went. At least much of the course was shady and we were carrying a shit ton of speed through most of it. It didn't feel nearly as oppressive as White Park up in Concord, NH.
I didn't have the same snap as Sunday at gloucester off the bike. Hoping to find a bit of that tomorrow.
Start was fast, fast, fast and faster. And I hit cruise control and parked it just below the redline and followed wheels. A few dudes tried to get a bit douchey, but most of them ended up behind me w/in a lap or two. I passed more people than passed me once we hit the barriers, but then that is what happens when you wind up close to DFL. But pass drill it and pass and I worked my ass off and didn't slide too poorly.
Matt B found some crazy mojo and was hopping the barriers and putting time in to me through them, skilz that I don't have. Oh well. I worked my ass off. Screwed up a few turns here or there. Botched it big time with Todd Rowell sitting on my wheel, pretty embarrassing really.
Best part was reeling Gary David in, until two to go when he found a second gear or i just screwed up and he got slightly more of a gap.
It really hurt. Brutal pain, not much rest and if you did rest you were losing time big time. I figured most of it out about the same time Gary A did, it got me close enough to sit on his wheel until Sean rode through me and inspired Gary to pedal just a bit harder.
I made the first page of results. 50/70 starters and 61 finishers, pretty far behind the winner by "those who do not suck" standards but for me? It was good. I'm happy with it, esp coming off of this week of course set up, life stress, and not riding again.
Got my normal pre-ride routine down pretty well, but the whole parking challenge fractured the team pretty well and there was no cohesive gathering point. Not that we needed to hold hands and say a prayer before the race or anything. The whole not drinking beer at the race does certainly change the social dynamic of the event. That's something that I'm actually grappling with a bit. The trade offs are probably worth it but it feels different. Still pretty awesome to see everyone and hang out pre-race. Post race I've been so cooked that I just feel like taking a nap. So that's part of it.
Racing with the fast old dudes is pretty awesome and pushes me to stay focused and work harder to improve, it is all good and pretty rewarding.
Tomorrow is going to be pretty brutal, esp wearing a dark long sleeve skinsuit (i'd wear shorts and a jersey if either of them fit well enough - i'm too skinny for them). But tonight is a load up with salt night and fill the body with as much fluid as I can to keep everything lubricated for 50 minutes or how ever long it takes me to finish.
Again, thoughts go out to those who hit the deck today. Heal fast.
Heddwch
G
Painful course, esp for those who crashed. Thoughts go out to Rob Hult who went down really hard in the transition to the finishing stretch. Rumor has it that his arm bone was nearly poking through his skin it was broken and displaced so badly. I hope Jonny Bold is okay. I passed him as he pulled the plug by the Cliff Bar sugar station and then heard the rumor that he crashed hard.
Jerry kept his shit upright, but maybe that's because he says he didn't have legs and wearing gloves he couldn't drive the bike. Curtis squeaked into the top 10, but a whole new crop occupied the podium. Okay Wilichoski, isn't new this season but he's new this year. Results here.
My personal race? Lined up somewhere (on the left behind Wade). And we started. It was brutally hot (for a CX race) but off we went. At least much of the course was shady and we were carrying a shit ton of speed through most of it. It didn't feel nearly as oppressive as White Park up in Concord, NH.
I didn't have the same snap as Sunday at gloucester off the bike. Hoping to find a bit of that tomorrow.
Start was fast, fast, fast and faster. And I hit cruise control and parked it just below the redline and followed wheels. A few dudes tried to get a bit douchey, but most of them ended up behind me w/in a lap or two. I passed more people than passed me once we hit the barriers, but then that is what happens when you wind up close to DFL. But pass drill it and pass and I worked my ass off and didn't slide too poorly.
Matt B found some crazy mojo and was hopping the barriers and putting time in to me through them, skilz that I don't have. Oh well. I worked my ass off. Screwed up a few turns here or there. Botched it big time with Todd Rowell sitting on my wheel, pretty embarrassing really.
Best part was reeling Gary David in, until two to go when he found a second gear or i just screwed up and he got slightly more of a gap.
It really hurt. Brutal pain, not much rest and if you did rest you were losing time big time. I figured most of it out about the same time Gary A did, it got me close enough to sit on his wheel until Sean rode through me and inspired Gary to pedal just a bit harder.
I made the first page of results. 50/70 starters and 61 finishers, pretty far behind the winner by "those who do not suck" standards but for me? It was good. I'm happy with it, esp coming off of this week of course set up, life stress, and not riding again.
Got my normal pre-ride routine down pretty well, but the whole parking challenge fractured the team pretty well and there was no cohesive gathering point. Not that we needed to hold hands and say a prayer before the race or anything. The whole not drinking beer at the race does certainly change the social dynamic of the event. That's something that I'm actually grappling with a bit. The trade offs are probably worth it but it feels different. Still pretty awesome to see everyone and hang out pre-race. Post race I've been so cooked that I just feel like taking a nap. So that's part of it.
Racing with the fast old dudes is pretty awesome and pushes me to stay focused and work harder to improve, it is all good and pretty rewarding.
Tomorrow is going to be pretty brutal, esp wearing a dark long sleeve skinsuit (i'd wear shorts and a jersey if either of them fit well enough - i'm too skinny for them). But tonight is a load up with salt night and fill the body with as much fluid as I can to keep everything lubricated for 50 minutes or how ever long it takes me to finish.
Again, thoughts go out to those who hit the deck today. Heal fast.
Heddwch
G
Friday, October 07, 2011
Gloucester Day 2 (for real this time)
Day Two really started immediately after Saturday's race ended. I recovered enough to make it back to the car, drank a bit of water till everything settled down enough to eat some food. I ate. Drank some more water and got on the trainer.
20 minutes of spinning out the legs was good, I felt much better after that was over. Headed down to the car, and changed clothes and ate a couple of bites of the bacon & egg pasta. So good. Washed the bike and then ate the rest of it while walking around to say hello and check things out. I think. Details are fuzzy a week later.
More or less that was the deal. Drank a TON of water. And not a drop of beer (big change this year). Headed home and finished washing the bike with soap and water, lubing the chain up. For the wet and muddy races I put the EVerlube lube on there and just let the mineral spirits evaporate after working it all in well (instead of wiping it off). Seems to work well. And the chain always washes clean.
(there's still mud on the bike from Sunday. and yes. it is friday)
Kit cleaned, bike cleaned and lubed, we moved on to Dinner. Baked potatoes, salad and some WF pork sausages (they were on sale). Simple. And good.
Sleep didn't really come easily but I did get some, maybe not enough but I got up with enough time to make some more of the same breakfast routine as I did the day before (oats, egg scramble wraps, coffee). Hopped in the car for the run north again.
Got there at the perfect time. Grabbed the number, checked out the course a bit, ran the beach with Nick and the stairs after that. Watched the leaders get through it and watched them race a bit. Got the stuff together, number pinned, joked around with Fatmarc, got props from his brother about my comment that the suit has room for two and moved on to getting the bike set up for pre-ride.
This time I got out there as soon as the race ended. Did a full lap before the women's race and then went back to sort through everything else and hang out a bit and kept getting ready. Relaxed, no stress. Hit the course one more time for a good lap before start of the 45+ race. After that lap I got on the trainer for about 30 minutes, and headed down to the start line to do laps with everyone else waiting for staging. And it felt cold.
And I LOVED THAT. COLD. finally. Temperatures that work for me.
We lined up and it was off. Very fast. And I was not agressive, but I wasn't slow, and that put me in probably about 60th place maybe 70th. Kind of far back. But you know what I did? I passed people.
And I passed more people. We hit the run up and it was a slow slog. Someone tried to grab me and push up on the right hand side, um yeah, no dice dude, we ain't going no where, chill. And we got up and around and pedaled. And we pedaled and we went hard. It was pretty fucking awesome.
The next feature of note was the beach run and the stairs. Again, people wanted to go faster, some how I wound up behind the gimp (he was really visibly limping off the bike esp after the stairs before the remount). Someone bounced his bike or pushed and Jerry snapped back to chill the fuck down or something. And I made like a wall. No one's passing me on the stairs. And we took off. And dropped Jerry.
And pretty soon I was racing. Catching groups, keeping a group from catching. Then a group did get on and one of them would wind up in front but he was so slow in certain sections. Every time we hit the pavement I drilled it like the day before and dropped people or really put them into deep pain to catch back up.
It was working really well for me. Pedaling so hard I was dying but then finding a spot to recover and before I knew it I was pedaling just as hard. If I had been able to ride the corners as fast as some people I'd have been way farther up, i was losing time in some of the sections but just destroying it in others.
The mud wall for example I literally sprinted up it every time on sunday. for some reason it was set up for me. I had made the catch on Carl with 2 to go (bridged up to him on the pavement). I had the group that had been dangling for a lap or two getting a bit closer than i wanted as I hit the stairs but I jammed it HARD up the beach (riding all the way to the base of the stairs is faster than getting off - i didn't get off). Carl was going hard and I was coming in hot and had gotten a good gap on the group of 6 that had been getting too close for comfort. Remounted and the rear tire felt soft, but I was thinking about the next section along the sea wall. Every lap I'd been able to absolutely CHARGE past people and gain time and Carl was in my sights.
Until...
the back end went all squishy.
flat
tire
AGAIN.
With barely more than a lap to go, my brain made a stupid choice to pack it in. No way to salvage the ride and get back to back top 50s at Gloucester, and I don't have spare wheels in the pits or a spare bike, and running the firecrest 303s (which are awesome) the neutral wheels probably would mean I wouldn't have any rear brakes. doing a lap w/o rear brakes assuming I survived the run to the pit meant... well all that created a defeatest mentality. And I pulled the plug. Pissed this time. Sure I am slow. Top 50 in the 1/2/3 35+ masters field is nothing for others, but to me that is a good result. Would have been incredible way to cap off racing on potentially two of the best cyclocross courses ever constructed (I'm serious).
But as it was I rolled back to the car. put the bike in, loaded the stuff, changed, and headed down to say hey to the really old dudes at the pop-up trailer and left. Got home in time to pick up the oldest from Rehearsal and take her shopping with me. And that was actually a great way to cap off the weekend, hanging out with her.
We did put 50ml of Doc Blue in the rear tire while at the shop on Sunday. took a bit to get it filled up, the previous batch of Doc Blue from Quad (not nearly 25ml - maybe 15) sealed the valve for a minute, but we got it all in there. It wasn't sealing well at the shop but I just kept rotating it around, and by the time we got home it was really very well sealed up and only dropped 20 pounds (60-40psi) from Sunday night until this morning. Which is pretty good for a latex tube.
So that's the Sunday story. A kick ass bike race defeated by a lack of air. Oh well. It is racing.
Bring on Providence!
heddwch
G
20 minutes of spinning out the legs was good, I felt much better after that was over. Headed down to the car, and changed clothes and ate a couple of bites of the bacon & egg pasta. So good. Washed the bike and then ate the rest of it while walking around to say hello and check things out. I think. Details are fuzzy a week later.
More or less that was the deal. Drank a TON of water. And not a drop of beer (big change this year). Headed home and finished washing the bike with soap and water, lubing the chain up. For the wet and muddy races I put the EVerlube lube on there and just let the mineral spirits evaporate after working it all in well (instead of wiping it off). Seems to work well. And the chain always washes clean.
(there's still mud on the bike from Sunday. and yes. it is friday)
Kit cleaned, bike cleaned and lubed, we moved on to Dinner. Baked potatoes, salad and some WF pork sausages (they were on sale). Simple. And good.
Sleep didn't really come easily but I did get some, maybe not enough but I got up with enough time to make some more of the same breakfast routine as I did the day before (oats, egg scramble wraps, coffee). Hopped in the car for the run north again.
Got there at the perfect time. Grabbed the number, checked out the course a bit, ran the beach with Nick and the stairs after that. Watched the leaders get through it and watched them race a bit. Got the stuff together, number pinned, joked around with Fatmarc, got props from his brother about my comment that the suit has room for two and moved on to getting the bike set up for pre-ride.
This time I got out there as soon as the race ended. Did a full lap before the women's race and then went back to sort through everything else and hang out a bit and kept getting ready. Relaxed, no stress. Hit the course one more time for a good lap before start of the 45+ race. After that lap I got on the trainer for about 30 minutes, and headed down to the start line to do laps with everyone else waiting for staging. And it felt cold.
And I LOVED THAT. COLD. finally. Temperatures that work for me.
We lined up and it was off. Very fast. And I was not agressive, but I wasn't slow, and that put me in probably about 60th place maybe 70th. Kind of far back. But you know what I did? I passed people.
And I passed more people. We hit the run up and it was a slow slog. Someone tried to grab me and push up on the right hand side, um yeah, no dice dude, we ain't going no where, chill. And we got up and around and pedaled. And we pedaled and we went hard. It was pretty fucking awesome.
The next feature of note was the beach run and the stairs. Again, people wanted to go faster, some how I wound up behind the gimp (he was really visibly limping off the bike esp after the stairs before the remount). Someone bounced his bike or pushed and Jerry snapped back to chill the fuck down or something. And I made like a wall. No one's passing me on the stairs. And we took off. And dropped Jerry.
And pretty soon I was racing. Catching groups, keeping a group from catching. Then a group did get on and one of them would wind up in front but he was so slow in certain sections. Every time we hit the pavement I drilled it like the day before and dropped people or really put them into deep pain to catch back up.
It was working really well for me. Pedaling so hard I was dying but then finding a spot to recover and before I knew it I was pedaling just as hard. If I had been able to ride the corners as fast as some people I'd have been way farther up, i was losing time in some of the sections but just destroying it in others.
The mud wall for example I literally sprinted up it every time on sunday. for some reason it was set up for me. I had made the catch on Carl with 2 to go (bridged up to him on the pavement). I had the group that had been dangling for a lap or two getting a bit closer than i wanted as I hit the stairs but I jammed it HARD up the beach (riding all the way to the base of the stairs is faster than getting off - i didn't get off). Carl was going hard and I was coming in hot and had gotten a good gap on the group of 6 that had been getting too close for comfort. Remounted and the rear tire felt soft, but I was thinking about the next section along the sea wall. Every lap I'd been able to absolutely CHARGE past people and gain time and Carl was in my sights.
Until...
the back end went all squishy.
flat
tire
AGAIN.
With barely more than a lap to go, my brain made a stupid choice to pack it in. No way to salvage the ride and get back to back top 50s at Gloucester, and I don't have spare wheels in the pits or a spare bike, and running the firecrest 303s (which are awesome) the neutral wheels probably would mean I wouldn't have any rear brakes. doing a lap w/o rear brakes assuming I survived the run to the pit meant... well all that created a defeatest mentality. And I pulled the plug. Pissed this time. Sure I am slow. Top 50 in the 1/2/3 35+ masters field is nothing for others, but to me that is a good result. Would have been incredible way to cap off racing on potentially two of the best cyclocross courses ever constructed (I'm serious).
But as it was I rolled back to the car. put the bike in, loaded the stuff, changed, and headed down to say hey to the really old dudes at the pop-up trailer and left. Got home in time to pick up the oldest from Rehearsal and take her shopping with me. And that was actually a great way to cap off the weekend, hanging out with her.
We did put 50ml of Doc Blue in the rear tire while at the shop on Sunday. took a bit to get it filled up, the previous batch of Doc Blue from Quad (not nearly 25ml - maybe 15) sealed the valve for a minute, but we got it all in there. It wasn't sealing well at the shop but I just kept rotating it around, and by the time we got home it was really very well sealed up and only dropped 20 pounds (60-40psi) from Sunday night until this morning. Which is pretty good for a latex tube.
So that's the Sunday story. A kick ass bike race defeated by a lack of air. Oh well. It is racing.
Bring on Providence!
heddwch
G
Great Deeds
Steve Jobs died a day or two ago. Maybe you've heard the news.
Not really a shock, we knew his time was limited. 2003 i think, right? That was the initial diagnosis. My dear friend Amy's father was diagnosed the same thing Steve had. The cancer was found at the end of March. Mr Anderson died on July 8th. Not nearly enough time for the trans-formative power cancer can give certain people.
I watched this unaired commercial and thought of someone else who wanted to change the world...
I made me think about Mark Louis Francis Nicholson enough that I had to take a moment to write this on Mark's FB wall:
Excuse me a moment. I have to close my office door.
We can all conceptually agree that to live life the way Mark and Steve did post diagnosis, to fight and beat the odds the way they both did. Add Dr. David Servan-Schreiber to the list even maybe. We know what we might do if we were given a short time, but without the certainty and the deadline, do we really ever push ourselves the same. Can we even push ourselves that much? For 99% of the people out there, no we can't.
Rolling through the growing list of friends and family who've fought and lost the battle with Cancer, I hate it more each day. I have great frustration in the lack of a desire to work on prevention in favor of a cure, there's far more money to be made in treatment than prevention and as I've said before much in the same way Type II diabetes is being dealt with.
I'm just reflecting a bit.
I have been more cynical and negative about the press and media hype about SJ's passing than maybe I should, that said, even reflecting as I am now I still feel it is a bit overblown. But the human race does involuntarily select single individuals out for greatness, despite the fact that they never act alone, and never achieve their greatness alone.
I tend to reflect on Mark's life more around Cyclocross season because of the few races I picked him up at and we went to together. The time talking with him in the car was awesome. He always did well too and nothing ever phased him except when he thought he lost the green fuzzy scarf, and then it was more sadness and resignation than anger or frustration.
To me, Mark will always be a great individual. And my daughter's words after spending the day at the bike race with him will ever ring true, "Daddy, he is my favorite Mark."
Yes, little one, he's my favorite Mark too.
Heddwch
G
Not really a shock, we knew his time was limited. 2003 i think, right? That was the initial diagnosis. My dear friend Amy's father was diagnosed the same thing Steve had. The cancer was found at the end of March. Mr Anderson died on July 8th. Not nearly enough time for the trans-formative power cancer can give certain people.
I watched this unaired commercial and thought of someone else who wanted to change the world...
I made me think about Mark Louis Francis Nicholson enough that I had to take a moment to write this on Mark's FB wall:
The passing of Steve Jobs, and all he accomplished after his diagnosis reminds me of all you accomplished in your short time with us. I think of all the people who's lives were deeply touched, all because you had cancer. It is a horrible thing that it ultimately took you from us, but at the same time allowed so many of us to be inspired by your soul, your courage, your compassion, your radiant light. I miss you Mark.And now I think I have something in my eye because they are watering so much that I can't really see clearly right now. I'm sure those who were close to Steve must feel the same way I feel thinking about Mark.
Excuse me a moment. I have to close my office door.
We can all conceptually agree that to live life the way Mark and Steve did post diagnosis, to fight and beat the odds the way they both did. Add Dr. David Servan-Schreiber to the list even maybe. We know what we might do if we were given a short time, but without the certainty and the deadline, do we really ever push ourselves the same. Can we even push ourselves that much? For 99% of the people out there, no we can't.
Rolling through the growing list of friends and family who've fought and lost the battle with Cancer, I hate it more each day. I have great frustration in the lack of a desire to work on prevention in favor of a cure, there's far more money to be made in treatment than prevention and as I've said before much in the same way Type II diabetes is being dealt with.
I'm just reflecting a bit.
I have been more cynical and negative about the press and media hype about SJ's passing than maybe I should, that said, even reflecting as I am now I still feel it is a bit overblown. But the human race does involuntarily select single individuals out for greatness, despite the fact that they never act alone, and never achieve their greatness alone.
I tend to reflect on Mark's life more around Cyclocross season because of the few races I picked him up at and we went to together. The time talking with him in the car was awesome. He always did well too and nothing ever phased him except when he thought he lost the green fuzzy scarf, and then it was more sadness and resignation than anger or frustration.
To me, Mark will always be a great individual. And my daughter's words after spending the day at the bike race with him will ever ring true, "Daddy, he is my favorite Mark."
Yes, little one, he's my favorite Mark too.
Heddwch
G
Thursday, October 06, 2011
a connection
To the man who said these words:
"Life is a continuum in which we all owe a debt to the past and are under obligation to the future."
-William Niering
A connection made more profound and personal after discovering something new lately...
He was a brilliant man. One who influenced me greatly. A real mentor. And probably the reason I hit the Botanical vs other focus of study.
"Life is a continuum in which we all owe a debt to the past and are under obligation to the future."
-William Niering
A connection made more profound and personal after discovering something new lately...
He was a brilliant man. One who influenced me greatly. A real mentor. And probably the reason I hit the Botanical vs other focus of study.
still waiting
Haven't written it yet - (day 2 report). Spent yesterday morning helping to set up the Providence Festival of Cyclocross Course. Stevens has some new wrinkles that should make it pretty interesting and while still PVD should be fresh and new (and harder).
Fortunately (in my opinion) the 'Tree Warden' is feeling the pain of losing 250+ trees in the Hurricane and had declared the tree and the roots around the trees off limits for the course. Which I like, but also means Stevens has added some crazy turny shit that is very new.
Those of you who showed up in 2005 and 2006 for Nationals might remember the whole Jelly Belly bowl and that side of the hill. There wasn't a blade of grass there. Or in a few other spots. What the crew putting on the race has done is pay for re-seeding of the whole place each year. They are the only group doing that and the Park doesn't do it. Because of a big time cyclocross race the venue has IMPROVED, not been degrade. The park is better due to cyclocross than the opposite.
Pretty cool bit of trivia I think.
Parking is going to nuts because the old racer parking (the road at the top of the hill leading from the Boathouse above the Carousel) is full of trees and limbs and leaves and all sorts of Hurricane Irene debris.
There's space but it will be a bit more creative than in the past. Pit tent parking is going to be on the backside, and of course, no open grills/fires/cooking at the race. You want to be subtle about it, fine, but this isn't a tailgate venue.
I'm going to try and get out and pre-ride tomorrow afternoon, come join the fun if you're local.
Heading back out today to help finish up. We got it almost all staked when I have to leave at 2pm, hopefully the wind will stay mellow and we can get the snow fencing up and most of the course tape up, and what ever else the crazy race designer has in store for those who show up to help.
heddwch
G
Fortunately (in my opinion) the 'Tree Warden' is feeling the pain of losing 250+ trees in the Hurricane and had declared the tree and the roots around the trees off limits for the course. Which I like, but also means Stevens has added some crazy turny shit that is very new.
Those of you who showed up in 2005 and 2006 for Nationals might remember the whole Jelly Belly bowl and that side of the hill. There wasn't a blade of grass there. Or in a few other spots. What the crew putting on the race has done is pay for re-seeding of the whole place each year. They are the only group doing that and the Park doesn't do it. Because of a big time cyclocross race the venue has IMPROVED, not been degrade. The park is better due to cyclocross than the opposite.
Pretty cool bit of trivia I think.
Parking is going to nuts because the old racer parking (the road at the top of the hill leading from the Boathouse above the Carousel) is full of trees and limbs and leaves and all sorts of Hurricane Irene debris.
There's space but it will be a bit more creative than in the past. Pit tent parking is going to be on the backside, and of course, no open grills/fires/cooking at the race. You want to be subtle about it, fine, but this isn't a tailgate venue.
I'm going to try and get out and pre-ride tomorrow afternoon, come join the fun if you're local.
Heading back out today to help finish up. We got it almost all staked when I have to leave at 2pm, hopefully the wind will stay mellow and we can get the snow fencing up and most of the course tape up, and what ever else the crazy race designer has in store for those who show up to help.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Day 2 Gloucester
Yeah, it didn't get written last night did it? Nope.
This morning?
Nope.
Did it happen?
Yup.
Enough about me - see how many times you can spot CycloWHAT? and Todd in this:
"Behind The Barriers" Season II Episode 2 from Behind The Barriers on Vimeo.
And then try and survive the first part to get to the end:
And yeah...
So I should write up day two, eventually. I wasted my lunch time watching B2B II 2 and reading Bittman's latest.
Really - go read it. And check the links.
Oh shit (yeah yeah i swear too much - is 40 too old to change?) I was going to do a bit of a food thing, about Oatmeal spurred by the comments from the other post.
And something else too... forget now.
Legs are definitely feeling sore from the weekend even after 20 miles of spinning lightly yesterday (with a couple forced hills of no choice in there to put an exclamation point on the fact that they need recovery). This morning's ride in was fast Zone 1... ala high 90s HRM and speeds between 15-20 (depending on the wind and slope).
On the plus side - Tubular is holding air still. 50ml of doc blue seems to do the trick. That and my new skinny ass is still probably too fat to run the RR tubies at the pressure I was.
So yeah I'll get to writing about Day 2. Soon. Maybe.
heddwch
G
This morning?
Nope.
Did it happen?
Yup.
Enough about me - see how many times you can spot CycloWHAT? and Todd in this:
"Behind The Barriers" Season II Episode 2 from Behind The Barriers on Vimeo.
And then try and survive the first part to get to the end:
And yeah...
So I should write up day two, eventually. I wasted my lunch time watching B2B II 2 and reading Bittman's latest.
Really - go read it. And check the links.
Oh shit (yeah yeah i swear too much - is 40 too old to change?) I was going to do a bit of a food thing, about Oatmeal spurred by the comments from the other post.
And something else too... forget now.
Legs are definitely feeling sore from the weekend even after 20 miles of spinning lightly yesterday (with a couple forced hills of no choice in there to put an exclamation point on the fact that they need recovery). This morning's ride in was fast Zone 1... ala high 90s HRM and speeds between 15-20 (depending on the wind and slope).
On the plus side - Tubular is holding air still. 50ml of doc blue seems to do the trick. That and my new skinny ass is still probably too fat to run the RR tubies at the pressure I was.
So yeah I'll get to writing about Day 2. Soon. Maybe.
heddwch
G
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