Every other monday I've been heading down at lunch to get some spinning on. My times have dropped down to 21.82 for 500 meters. And that 21.82 was actually the most effortless of any of the runs.
Usually I can get a couple runs in over lunch between meetings and what not. Managed to get three in yesterday, negative split each one.
That last one was odd, felt strangely good. Often the last one leaves me cooked and unable to walk. It is surprising how just over 20 seconds of effort can leave you helpless. But that 21.82 was fine. I did a few things different and wow what a difference. But what did I do? I'm going to see if I can use the same technique again for similar results, and until i can repeat it, i'm not speaking about it.
So what are velosprints? Some people call them bold sprints or open sprints or roller races. Although these aren't roller races where you bring your own bike and run your own gear. These are fixed gear Masi track bikes bolted down to a Fork mount on some Kreitler rollers. The 2.75" ones. There's a pick up on each roller and the computer tracks and displays your progress.
The gearing, tires and everything is identical between the two bikes. They are set up with a 48t front ring and a 15t rear cog. Fixed.
Toeclips (short ones so i'm using my toes mostly to pedal).
You get on, check that the computer is seeing you turn the pedals.
You come to a complete stop. Poised ready to go.
There is a count down from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 GO
And you go as fast as you can until the computer says you've gone 500 meters.
I've given you enough information to go over here and calculate cadence (assuming my friends who are reading this can figure out how to convert a given time it takes to go 500 meters into a speed value).
So yeah. #1 get the pedals up to max cadence as fast as possible. #2 hold that cadence until you hit the 500 meter mark.
Sort of like this:
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
like a button
Just started reading it - a few paragraphs in before being distracted by something shiny or important.
And I get to this line
"The Declaration of Independence affords us the right to "the pursuit of happiness," not pleasure. "
And like a button, switched to contemplative melancholic mode.
I don't like it.
The article is really good.
Turn off pleasure, and you turn off the will to live.
But long-term stimulation of the pleasure center drives the process of addiction. Rich people are addicted to money, power, gambling; middle-class people are addicted to cocaine, amphetamine, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, heroin. The poor, well, all they've got is sugar.
Pleasure is exciting. Happiness is transcendent. More importantly, pleasure is dopamine. And happiness is serotonin.
But it doesn't make me happy.
It gives me hope, something to think about, but also points out, I haven't been the happiest person around in a while. I have no reason not to be though.
Something to think about I guess.
Maybe I'll just watch some more Kung Fu movies on free Hulu tonight instead.
So good
Oatmeal (rolled this am) cooked in whole org milk (yes omg i had milk) with 3-4 tblsp of this wicked most awesome chocolate peanut butter.
WF has those peanut grinding machines right? Well they have one of them with peanuts and dark chocolate chips in it. OMG SO GOOD
NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM
^--- meme reference i suppose
Not sweet like nutella and has that nice peanuty crunch and texture that the hippie peanut grinders in the store give you.
Mixed into oatmeal and wow - post commute fuel with coffee? soooo good.
I've been doing the peanut butter anytime I eat the oatmeal mostly because it seems to keep me full longer, and attenuates the insulin spike pretty well. So good.
That is all
heddwch
G
WF has those peanut grinding machines right? Well they have one of them with peanuts and dark chocolate chips in it. OMG SO GOOD
NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM
^--- meme reference i suppose
Not sweet like nutella and has that nice peanuty crunch and texture that the hippie peanut grinders in the store give you.
Mixed into oatmeal and wow - post commute fuel with coffee? soooo good.
I've been doing the peanut butter anytime I eat the oatmeal mostly because it seems to keep me full longer, and attenuates the insulin spike pretty well. So good.
That is all
heddwch
G
Monday, February 20, 2012
another weekend in the books
A glorious one at that.
How much riding did I get in? Well pretty much zip. Nothing on Saturday. Sunday's plan to get up and ride early before helping John with his TDI fuel pump, sort of turned into getting up, feeding the dog and going back to bed.
Managed to wake up in time to catch the second half of the Oostmalle race, make some coffee, shower and head over to play with cars.
No riding.
How much riding did I get in? Well pretty much zip. Nothing on Saturday. Sunday's plan to get up and ride early before helping John with his TDI fuel pump, sort of turned into getting up, feeding the dog and going back to bed.
Managed to wake up in time to catch the second half of the Oostmalle race, make some coffee, shower and head over to play with cars.
No riding.
Friday, February 17, 2012
nice days
Are certainly harder to get through when I'm sitting in front of a big window looking at the sun and blue sky vs down in my dungeon with no windows and no clue what is happening outside.
Catching up on the reading though. Sadly few people are writing, people are resharing (stealing) content and bombing each other with tumblr and other image memes and my old laptop here at home stack dumps into a blue screen if I open more than 5 pages at once (open tabs). Oh well. Stack dumps don't change the fact that there is much less to read.
And Podcasts. Fucking podcasts. If I was driving everywhere maybe I'd get into them (but probably not). People talk to slowly on them. Write your shit down. Let me read it. I read faster than the average wookie and can chew through a page of text very quickly. Far far faster than someone talking at a theatrical pace in a podcast.
Here's some reading a post with some thought provoking ideas... more later? we'll see. Sick day, daddy nurse, may pull out the trainer and pedal a bit but it might be just be scour for new reading while watching PRseason5 for the umpteenth time.
Catching up on the reading though. Sadly few people are writing, people are resharing (stealing) content and bombing each other with tumblr and other image memes and my old laptop here at home stack dumps into a blue screen if I open more than 5 pages at once (open tabs). Oh well. Stack dumps don't change the fact that there is much less to read.
And Podcasts. Fucking podcasts. If I was driving everywhere maybe I'd get into them (but probably not). People talk to slowly on them. Write your shit down. Let me read it. I read faster than the average wookie and can chew through a page of text very quickly. Far far faster than someone talking at a theatrical pace in a podcast.
Here's some reading a post with some thought provoking ideas... more later? we'll see. Sick day, daddy nurse, may pull out the trainer and pedal a bit but it might be just be scour for new reading while watching PRseason5 for the umpteenth time.
so cool
Jacob Sutton’s L.E.D. Surfer on Nowness.com.
i'm in a 'not going to write if i don't have anything positive to say' mode at the moment
this is cool... so very cool though
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Not just 'my' bike path
Syl posted a blog entry about our bike path.
I don't do as many intervals as he does on it with dedicated purpose of just riding, but it is my highway, and you've probably noticed I take a few pictures from the path. The lighthouse, sunsets, ships, birds...
Good stuff in there, deeper meaning of life and all that...
i'm not going to compete with it
I don't do as many intervals as he does on it with dedicated purpose of just riding, but it is my highway, and you've probably noticed I take a few pictures from the path. The lighthouse, sunsets, ships, birds...
Good stuff in there, deeper meaning of life and all that...
i'm not going to compete with it
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
BtB II-17
I'm sure everyone has seen it already.
To be honest, as much as I am a JPOW fan, sam's stretching a bit to get a full 20 minutes. I think half the stuff is inside funny stuff that makes him laugh that most of us don't get.
Still, it is well shot and gives a [seemingly] honest glimpse into the life of a wicked popular Pro CX racer. Worth watching. But still hoping and looking for some new/old magic on the next one.
To be honest, as much as I am a JPOW fan, sam's stretching a bit to get a full 20 minutes. I think half the stuff is inside funny stuff that makes him laugh that most of us don't get.
Still, it is well shot and gives a [seemingly] honest glimpse into the life of a wicked popular Pro CX racer. Worth watching. But still hoping and looking for some new/old magic on the next one.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
weekend has come and gone
The weekend flew by, and after not touching the bike since Wed night when I hauled the 30# bag of dog food home I had to ride on Saturday. Had to.
If it had been snowing I probably would have gone outside. But it was sort of raining/snowing, but importantly it was wet. Roads/path/wet. Not going to do it.
So I fired up the old Paramount and turned on some PBS and watched something before Secrets of the Dead came on and I learned a bit more about the German's invasion of Russia. A local connection on the interview was pretty cool to see. Learned a bit, got some varied intervals in just to screw around and have some fun. Nice long 15 minute standing 70 rpm cadence interval (what's the point, I know, just because m'kay?). It worked to get my heart rate way up. I did a 6 min 130 rpm interval a few minutes later, that hurt but in a different way.
If it had been snowing I probably would have gone outside. But it was sort of raining/snowing, but importantly it was wet. Roads/path/wet. Not going to do it.
So I fired up the old Paramount and turned on some PBS and watched something before Secrets of the Dead came on and I learned a bit more about the German's invasion of Russia. A local connection on the interview was pretty cool to see. Learned a bit, got some varied intervals in just to screw around and have some fun. Nice long 15 minute standing 70 rpm cadence interval (what's the point, I know, just because m'kay?). It worked to get my heart rate way up. I did a 6 min 130 rpm interval a few minutes later, that hurt but in a different way.
Friday, February 10, 2012
notes on paper
I should really take a picture instead of transcribing them...
but i'm going to type them out... replicating the lines no edit
but i'm going to type them out... replicating the lines no edit
pondering stuff about food
It isn't really a very well kept secret that I'm sort of focused on food and what the impact it has on the human body, focused on what really is needed, how things can be improved. Drawing exception to things like a major juice brand owned by the Soda company (minute made, tropicana, coke, pepsi whatever) using Givaudan flavors (naturally derived from oranges sourced somewhere completely different than the juice in most cases) because is it really juice if the primary component of what you're tasting is not from the juice squeezed but from an essence extracted by some means from the perfect orange and the organic chemicals that make up the very specific taste are always combined in exactly the same way, every single time.
No isomers.
If you've had organic chemistry, you may remember that reactions with carbon stuff don't create identical components. Esp if you let it all go and happen in nature. Isomers happen. But in the lab, when you are extracting components, you can't have those isomers in there, you need specifics.
Why choose an analog instrument when a computer and a synthesizer can make a pretty close approximation?
I didn't intend to start off about the infamous twitter juice wars, bringing back that blog post from the summer.
Juice, like sugar, has a place in the endurance (cycling/running for example) athlete's diet, because it offers a super concentrated does of sugar. The problem is, if you aren't consuming it in a sugar window (using Coach Kurt P's term) you're not doing yourself any good. Juice as alternative to soda isn't really doing the kids any help either. "But it has vitamins" yeah so does a carrot. Juice does basically the same in terms of insulin spike, making them fat, as Coke/Pepsi/soda stuff. If you strongly believe fruits are the secret, eat them.
Drink vegetable juice (that you made yourself - V-8 is just fruit juice, tomato fruit but same thing). That Lim guy's pre-race/training juice is a solid idea.
The sugar issue got me thinking...
No isomers.
If you've had organic chemistry, you may remember that reactions with carbon stuff don't create identical components. Esp if you let it all go and happen in nature. Isomers happen. But in the lab, when you are extracting components, you can't have those isomers in there, you need specifics.
Why choose an analog instrument when a computer and a synthesizer can make a pretty close approximation?
I didn't intend to start off about the infamous twitter juice wars, bringing back that blog post from the summer.
Juice, like sugar, has a place in the endurance (cycling/running for example) athlete's diet, because it offers a super concentrated does of sugar. The problem is, if you aren't consuming it in a sugar window (using Coach Kurt P's term) you're not doing yourself any good. Juice as alternative to soda isn't really doing the kids any help either. "But it has vitamins" yeah so does a carrot. Juice does basically the same in terms of insulin spike, making them fat, as Coke/Pepsi/soda stuff. If you strongly believe fruits are the secret, eat them.
Drink vegetable juice (that you made yourself - V-8 is just fruit juice, tomato fruit but same thing). That Lim guy's pre-race/training juice is a solid idea.
The sugar issue got me thinking...
Thursday, February 09, 2012
percolating
Like coffee, percolating ideas sometimes isn't the best. But sometimes that's all you can do.
I started writing last night, got interrupted, i forget what I did over lunch today while eating, but it wasn't going back to finish that writing.
Many ideas have been popping up, and on the fridge here at the house i've been writing on those magnetic pads. I have three pads going, front page on each has a totally separate idea that i want to write about. For me. To get it out of my head.
To flush or flesh it out. I had a few moments here and there on the tubes today, but there's gotta be a focus to write. Hard to believe I know. Fuckin hacktastic writing here.
Been doing better at keeping more positive lately. But i feel the need for a long hard ride. Riding and a few other things have been working to keep on the positive side of things. How effective? I dunno but riding is pretty low cost therapy.
So is writing, sort of. Sometimes.
heddwch
G
I started writing last night, got interrupted, i forget what I did over lunch today while eating, but it wasn't going back to finish that writing.
Many ideas have been popping up, and on the fridge here at the house i've been writing on those magnetic pads. I have three pads going, front page on each has a totally separate idea that i want to write about. For me. To get it out of my head.
To flush or flesh it out. I had a few moments here and there on the tubes today, but there's gotta be a focus to write. Hard to believe I know. Fuckin hacktastic writing here.
Been doing better at keeping more positive lately. But i feel the need for a long hard ride. Riding and a few other things have been working to keep on the positive side of things. How effective? I dunno but riding is pretty low cost therapy.
So is writing, sort of. Sometimes.
heddwch
G
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Clint... who's not a fan?
I missed this on Sunday I guess. Missed pretty much all of half-time being away from the TV. I'd heard mention of the "Clint" add but until I saw the recent political cartoons my interest hadn't been piqued enough to seek it out.
I think it is even better pulled away and separated from the game. With distance the message makes more impact. I find it apolitical, but no question the impact is political, I think more along the lines of we need to do something besides bitch and moan.
Enough editorializing. If you saw the commercial before, give it another look maybe. See if it rings any differently away from the big game. (It really works best in full screen high res and with the sound up).
I think it is even better pulled away and separated from the game. With distance the message makes more impact. I find it apolitical, but no question the impact is political, I think more along the lines of we need to do something besides bitch and moan.
Enough editorializing. If you saw the commercial before, give it another look maybe. See if it rings any differently away from the big game. (It really works best in full screen high res and with the sound up).
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
more sunsets
I hit the bike path as the sun was setting, bright orange ball setting. But there were trees and trunks and I didn't want to take a snapshot through them tonight. But by the time I got the camera out of the jersey pocket the sun had dipped below the horizon and I was left with this.
I really liked the layers and snapped an image with a vertical aspect...
It is my favorite time of year, riding home with the sunset. The timing is such that it is like Cyclocross season, never long enough, soon the sunset will be later than my trip home, and then there will be the time change... it is what it is, and man do I appreciate those sunsets over the bay.
I really liked the layers and snapped an image with a vertical aspect...
roller sprints
US Open Cycling Foundation has been putting on a few "VeloSprints" this winter. Every other Monday from 12-2 and 5-10 they set up at a bar/restaurant and people can stop by, make a donation to the foundation and race each other or the clock.
Durishin has been doing these for a couple years now, I had talked with him at the inception and until this year when he opened up over lunch, hadn't made it down to give it a go on his Masi's bolted up to the Kreitlers. Yeah. Fork mount. Kind of cheating when you're old and remember roller races being rollers and you brought your own bike. I'd be kind of screwed though. I don't own a track bike. I'll be blunt. I'm a track virgin. By the time I had heard about Marymoore Velodrome I'd moved from Seattle. Just as they got the track together in Michigan the commute sucked the cycling out of me. And there isn't anything reasonably close to PVD to give it a whirl even on a rented bike. Total pipe dream of mine to set up a high banked indoor track locally.
So anyway enough track dreaming. Fixed gears don't have much draw to me once you take them off the track. Maybe i'll have to head to NH to give it a try up there one day.
Yesterday I headed in. Took it easy but not as easily as I did today. At noon I hopped on the Croll and rolled down the hill. Handed over my cash and took my thompson post out and got the saddle high set up on the Masi. The bike is too small, the cranks are wicked short, and the seatpost is about 2" past the max where i need to be. First time I tried it I just pedaled with short legs. Second time after the first run I brought my bike in and took the seatpost/saddle and did a second run. Yesterday I just brought the bike in and did both runs with the seatpost at a decent height. Would be nice if there were clipless pedals on there, the toe clips are wicked tiny so i wind up pedaling with my toes essentially. And that kind of sucks but it is what it is. It is Durishin's show not mine. Saddle/post I can deal with easily.
Did the first run and Cameron was freaking neck and neck with me at the halfway point and i'd been a half second or more faster than him in the past and I found a bit of a kick to get a gap in the second 250 meters. Wound up with a 22.7 something for 500 meters (48x15 gearing - you do the math).
That one hurt all the way up to my throat. Saw this quote today: "Interval minutes are like microwave minutes. They take longer than normal minutes." These didn't feel like 23 second long sprints. They felt long. And take a bit to recover. At least if you dig and go 100%. Which for me? yeah whatever still MY 100%, i may not be a gifted athlete but it doesn't mean I'm not trying my hardest.
I just kept pedaling circles for a bit. Rubbery legs... Ahhh the burn. Not that I've been on the winning side of many crits but Yehuda Moon's strip here is about right.
Soon a few more people showed up and a woman who'd never done this before climbed on the bike next to me. Her group had just watched me and Cameron go head to head in a furious match. And in her words "racing you is great, there is no pressure." So run number two wasn't so much an attempt to beat someone as a chance to beat my first time.
And I did. 22.49. 500 meters. Ouch. It took me a few minutes of pedaling before I could even contemplate getting off the bike. And then it wasn't easy walking. But I had to get back to the office for an afternoon meeting. No lunch. And I still had to ride up the hill. 17% hurts. But it is short. The 9-10% grade later? THAT is what really hurts.
Got the meeting done and headed home. Of course as soon as I pull on the Waterman, two blocks ahead is a commuter with one pannier. And he turns on the street that means he's heading to the bridge. Well damn. I have a rabbit now.
Chase is on.
There is one little issue. I'm towing the trailer and we have a 20+mph wind. A slight cross headwind if you will. Sure enough I gain a bit of distance, just enough to mark that he's indeed heading on my route.
Oof the little rise up along side the parkway hurt. He slowed down a bit but I was near my limit matching his pace up it and still 50 yards behind. We hit the top part and he just cranked out 22mph or so. It didn't look like he was at his limit but he didn't look like he was going easily (based on pedaling motions from what I could see). I pulled him back but I was solid zone 5/5 on the HRM. No way could I pull past him. But then he stopped to turn his lights on just as we take the down hill past the construction and before the climb up to the hospital. Now there's no way I wanted him to catch me on the hill. And I unloaded there. Eyes popping by the time I got to the stop light. Then tried with everything to peg it into the wind at 20mph. Got onto the path, and started my recovery. No sign of him until I entered the Forest of Arnenberg section. Oh there he was. But. After all that. And the day. I was in 100% recovery mode. Rabbit caught, chewed up and spit out. I was smashed.
He came rolling past, pulled down his balaclava (it was 50°F when i left the office) and said "Ahh, nice to be on the bike path." And he pedaled on past.
And I let him go.
This morning was positively slow. 10mph maybe. HR even on the hills was kept under 110 today. nice spin, nice recovery. Let whatever stress I induced heal and build on what was there before.
I definitely need to get on the bike to BOS again. Maybe a trip to Firefly and then a second destination before returning to PVD. Better check the weather against the schedule. Really not sure I want to try it during minivan week with the likes of Chocolate Chip driving kids around during Winter break (just messing with ya Chip - I trust you - i think).
That's Lunch.
Catch y'all later
heddwch
G
Durishin has been doing these for a couple years now, I had talked with him at the inception and until this year when he opened up over lunch, hadn't made it down to give it a go on his Masi's bolted up to the Kreitlers. Yeah. Fork mount. Kind of cheating when you're old and remember roller races being rollers and you brought your own bike. I'd be kind of screwed though. I don't own a track bike. I'll be blunt. I'm a track virgin. By the time I had heard about Marymoore Velodrome I'd moved from Seattle. Just as they got the track together in Michigan the commute sucked the cycling out of me. And there isn't anything reasonably close to PVD to give it a whirl even on a rented bike. Total pipe dream of mine to set up a high banked indoor track locally.
So anyway enough track dreaming. Fixed gears don't have much draw to me once you take them off the track. Maybe i'll have to head to NH to give it a try up there one day.
Yesterday I headed in. Took it easy but not as easily as I did today. At noon I hopped on the Croll and rolled down the hill. Handed over my cash and took my thompson post out and got the saddle high set up on the Masi. The bike is too small, the cranks are wicked short, and the seatpost is about 2" past the max where i need to be. First time I tried it I just pedaled with short legs. Second time after the first run I brought my bike in and took the seatpost/saddle and did a second run. Yesterday I just brought the bike in and did both runs with the seatpost at a decent height. Would be nice if there were clipless pedals on there, the toe clips are wicked tiny so i wind up pedaling with my toes essentially. And that kind of sucks but it is what it is. It is Durishin's show not mine. Saddle/post I can deal with easily.
Did the first run and Cameron was freaking neck and neck with me at the halfway point and i'd been a half second or more faster than him in the past and I found a bit of a kick to get a gap in the second 250 meters. Wound up with a 22.7 something for 500 meters (48x15 gearing - you do the math).
That one hurt all the way up to my throat. Saw this quote today: "Interval minutes are like microwave minutes. They take longer than normal minutes." These didn't feel like 23 second long sprints. They felt long. And take a bit to recover. At least if you dig and go 100%. Which for me? yeah whatever still MY 100%, i may not be a gifted athlete but it doesn't mean I'm not trying my hardest.
I just kept pedaling circles for a bit. Rubbery legs... Ahhh the burn. Not that I've been on the winning side of many crits but Yehuda Moon's strip here is about right.
Soon a few more people showed up and a woman who'd never done this before climbed on the bike next to me. Her group had just watched me and Cameron go head to head in a furious match. And in her words "racing you is great, there is no pressure." So run number two wasn't so much an attempt to beat someone as a chance to beat my first time.
And I did. 22.49. 500 meters. Ouch. It took me a few minutes of pedaling before I could even contemplate getting off the bike. And then it wasn't easy walking. But I had to get back to the office for an afternoon meeting. No lunch. And I still had to ride up the hill. 17% hurts. But it is short. The 9-10% grade later? THAT is what really hurts.
Got the meeting done and headed home. Of course as soon as I pull on the Waterman, two blocks ahead is a commuter with one pannier. And he turns on the street that means he's heading to the bridge. Well damn. I have a rabbit now.
Chase is on.
There is one little issue. I'm towing the trailer and we have a 20+mph wind. A slight cross headwind if you will. Sure enough I gain a bit of distance, just enough to mark that he's indeed heading on my route.
Oof the little rise up along side the parkway hurt. He slowed down a bit but I was near my limit matching his pace up it and still 50 yards behind. We hit the top part and he just cranked out 22mph or so. It didn't look like he was at his limit but he didn't look like he was going easily (based on pedaling motions from what I could see). I pulled him back but I was solid zone 5/5 on the HRM. No way could I pull past him. But then he stopped to turn his lights on just as we take the down hill past the construction and before the climb up to the hospital. Now there's no way I wanted him to catch me on the hill. And I unloaded there. Eyes popping by the time I got to the stop light. Then tried with everything to peg it into the wind at 20mph. Got onto the path, and started my recovery. No sign of him until I entered the Forest of Arnenberg section. Oh there he was. But. After all that. And the day. I was in 100% recovery mode. Rabbit caught, chewed up and spit out. I was smashed.
He came rolling past, pulled down his balaclava (it was 50°F when i left the office) and said "Ahh, nice to be on the bike path." And he pedaled on past.
And I let him go.
This morning was positively slow. 10mph maybe. HR even on the hills was kept under 110 today. nice spin, nice recovery. Let whatever stress I induced heal and build on what was there before.
I definitely need to get on the bike to BOS again. Maybe a trip to Firefly and then a second destination before returning to PVD. Better check the weather against the schedule. Really not sure I want to try it during minivan week with the likes of Chocolate Chip driving kids around during Winter break (just messing with ya Chip - I trust you - i think).
That's Lunch.
Catch y'all later
heddwch
G
Monday, February 06, 2012
Support your local bike shop
I like Kent's blog entry that's up right now.
So True:
Stop in and ask them what they think about the Contador ruling (they will either care passionately or not give a shit and be happy to tell you why). Ask them about what new pre-season bikes they just built up.
In other words. Be social.
When you come back in the middle of the July rush your bike is likely to be recognized, your face elicit a touch more patience than the crowd you are in waiting for a flat fix, evaluation, sale.
So True:
I do my best on every bike that comes my way, but honestly the bikes in winter get more attention because I just plain have more time per bike. I have more time per customer. If you want me to show you how a barrel adjuster works or give you advice on toeing in brake pads or you want to debate the merits of various tires, I'll be happy to do it year 'round but I have much more time to chat on the dreary days. In July you get the Clif-Notes version, in February you get the Post-Grad thesis version.I'll push this advice a bit further. Stop into your local shop, or shops. All of them. Say hello. Give the mechanics and sales staff a break from the tedium of all the organizational crap they are doing. Or at least a break from the internet.
Stop in and ask them what they think about the Contador ruling (they will either care passionately or not give a shit and be happy to tell you why). Ask them about what new pre-season bikes they just built up.
In other words. Be social.
When you come back in the middle of the July rush your bike is likely to be recognized, your face elicit a touch more patience than the crowd you are in waiting for a flat fix, evaluation, sale.
Random bug squashed
Ya know, Cantador is a dope/joke whatever. I have never been much of a fan. So him getting a slap on the wrist is less than meh whatever.
Retroactive ban is dumb. if you have good lawyers you might be able to keep racing and taking a salary and spending money on your fancy house/boat/doctors/lawyers and then if the ban is retroactive? well oops, that money? yeah I don't have any, but If you let me race I will win again (with better doctors this time).
Also 2 year is dumb. Make it lifetime. And not just from racing. Ban from the sport. No need to have convicted/admitted dopers running the show, who cares how guilty they were about doing it when they did it and how much they profess they believe in a clean sport.
Awe fuck it. Does it matter? The sport is just fucking beautiful. There will always be some one who will try and cheat to win, in any competition. Human nature. Some people are so empatheticly [sic] disconnected that they will do what ever it takes to win, to get noticed, to succeed, to get a contract, to get out of where they are. There is little difference from the mentality of a doper and the mentality of a criminal. They are in it for themselves. Sometimes they are in it for those immediately around them.
Just the way it is. Would all of us (amateur bike racers, club riders) physiologically benefit from a daily/weekly dose of HGH? Absolutely no question. We would immensely. healthier, stronger, whatever. Pretty tempting to be able to get the feeling of being 20 years old again, esp once you hit that 40 mark. But the benefits are there for those in their early 30s too.
Oh well.
There will always be riders we love, and riders we hate. That's what it is to be a fan. Dale Earnhardt (Sr) fans hated with a passion that kid who drove the Dupot #24, by having a favorite rider/driver you almost have to have someone you would hate to see win. For a lot of people it was Contador. Probably still is. Some times we root for the under dog.
Or a cross over like Lars Boom, killing it in the spring classics, or making a break away. The rider across the line first may not give us as much joy as a suicidal breakaway, doomed from the start but ridden with so much passion as to be beautiful.
Bike racing is pretty amazing. The Classics are coming up soon. Cyclocross is basically over. Soon it will be time to switch to pirate feeds of road bikes with skinny tires. Maybe the mild winter will translate into some epic cold nasty brutal racing this spring in Belgium. Riders crossing the line with so much dirt that it obscures their paycheck backer.
Life. It is what it is. People want to cheat, to exploit the system for personal gain. To mitigate it is a challenge, a noble cause with far too few champions.
heddwch
G
Retroactive ban is dumb. if you have good lawyers you might be able to keep racing and taking a salary and spending money on your fancy house/boat/doctors/lawyers and then if the ban is retroactive? well oops, that money? yeah I don't have any, but If you let me race I will win again (with better doctors this time).
Also 2 year is dumb. Make it lifetime. And not just from racing. Ban from the sport. No need to have convicted/admitted dopers running the show, who cares how guilty they were about doing it when they did it and how much they profess they believe in a clean sport.
Awe fuck it. Does it matter? The sport is just fucking beautiful. There will always be some one who will try and cheat to win, in any competition. Human nature. Some people are so empatheticly [sic] disconnected that they will do what ever it takes to win, to get noticed, to succeed, to get a contract, to get out of where they are. There is little difference from the mentality of a doper and the mentality of a criminal. They are in it for themselves. Sometimes they are in it for those immediately around them.
Just the way it is. Would all of us (amateur bike racers, club riders) physiologically benefit from a daily/weekly dose of HGH? Absolutely no question. We would immensely. healthier, stronger, whatever. Pretty tempting to be able to get the feeling of being 20 years old again, esp once you hit that 40 mark. But the benefits are there for those in their early 30s too.
Oh well.
There will always be riders we love, and riders we hate. That's what it is to be a fan. Dale Earnhardt (Sr) fans hated with a passion that kid who drove the Dupot #24, by having a favorite rider/driver you almost have to have someone you would hate to see win. For a lot of people it was Contador. Probably still is. Some times we root for the under dog.
Or a cross over like Lars Boom, killing it in the spring classics, or making a break away. The rider across the line first may not give us as much joy as a suicidal breakaway, doomed from the start but ridden with so much passion as to be beautiful.
Bike racing is pretty amazing. The Classics are coming up soon. Cyclocross is basically over. Soon it will be time to switch to pirate feeds of road bikes with skinny tires. Maybe the mild winter will translate into some epic cold nasty brutal racing this spring in Belgium. Riders crossing the line with so much dirt that it obscures their paycheck backer.
Life. It is what it is. People want to cheat, to exploit the system for personal gain. To mitigate it is a challenge, a noble cause with far too few champions.
heddwch
G
Saturday, February 04, 2012
i can feel it
the lack of riding today, the itch, the scratch, the anxiety, the stress...
slightly closer to the breaking point...
a good long hard ride seems to help.
doesn't fix any problems but lately i've been finding I'm riding well, my form is solid, hauling the trailer is having the desired impact...
but i do want to ride, double whammy today, no riding and having to say no to a friend who asked for some car help locally, too much family stuff going on. Couple hours hanging at the dealer waiting for the car, not long enough to show up, check the car in and then go for a ride come back and get home in time to get some lunch in the kids and let my wife get her run in and then drive everyone to soccer.
my wife actually rode in the Millennium Falcon aka Rusty Race Wagon this afternoon. contemplated driving it to OBX but the lack of AC is a deal breaker for the carolinas in August. We made it to soccer and back and the car didn't explode, flip, fall apart. Even found myself going with the flow at 85 mph w/o realizing it... yeah i slowed down a bit.
Tomorrow is a no go for riding either...
might have to start looking at the long range forecast for round two of the PVD-BOS-PVD. Thinking stopping at Firefly before heading to the city and back. One crazy idea would leave wicked early and hit Cambridge, pick up a posse and ride out to RSC and then head south back towards PVD from there. Would be a bit longer, but a little change up. weather... schedule... but man that last mental health day did me some good.
heddwch
G
slightly closer to the breaking point...
a good long hard ride seems to help.
doesn't fix any problems but lately i've been finding I'm riding well, my form is solid, hauling the trailer is having the desired impact...
but i do want to ride, double whammy today, no riding and having to say no to a friend who asked for some car help locally, too much family stuff going on. Couple hours hanging at the dealer waiting for the car, not long enough to show up, check the car in and then go for a ride come back and get home in time to get some lunch in the kids and let my wife get her run in and then drive everyone to soccer.
my wife actually rode in the Millennium Falcon aka Rusty Race Wagon this afternoon. contemplated driving it to OBX but the lack of AC is a deal breaker for the carolinas in August. We made it to soccer and back and the car didn't explode, flip, fall apart. Even found myself going with the flow at 85 mph w/o realizing it... yeah i slowed down a bit.
Tomorrow is a no go for riding either...
might have to start looking at the long range forecast for round two of the PVD-BOS-PVD. Thinking stopping at Firefly before heading to the city and back. One crazy idea would leave wicked early and hit Cambridge, pick up a posse and ride out to RSC and then head south back towards PVD from there. Would be a bit longer, but a little change up. weather... schedule... but man that last mental health day did me some good.
heddwch
G
Thursday, February 02, 2012
reusing content
So if you woke up this morning and this was on your radio alarm clock (wait, i wonder if anyone uses those anymore...)
Well then you know you're on the set of the best Groundhog day themed movie EVER.
Maybe the only ground hog day movie.
Stupid fat rodent.
At least that Phat Phil in Punxsutawney PA saw his shadow so I maybe I can justify keeping the studded carbide noise makers on the bike a bit longer.
Oh and this is Bullshit:
Well then you know you're on the set of the best Groundhog day themed movie EVER.
Maybe the only ground hog day movie.
Stupid fat rodent.
At least that Phat Phil in Punxsutawney PA saw his shadow so I maybe I can justify keeping the studded carbide noise makers on the bike a bit longer.
Oh and this is Bullshit:
And while the group has records of Phil’s predictions dating back to 1886, what it doesn’t have is a tally of whether Phil was right.Someone should (maybe they have and i'm too lazy to look for it) do the work to see how accurate this over grown fat fur hat has been over the years.
Johnston said the reason is simple: “He’s never been wrong.” Phil is “incapable of error,” he said, because the groundhog smartly avoids being site-specific in his prognostications.
If Phil predicts six more weeks of winter, said Johnston, “I guarantee you someone’s going to have six more weeks of winter.”
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Quite the contrast
Feb 1 2011 vs Feb 2 2012
Who rode with bare legs on the way home in February? ME. Last year there was snow everywhere. Dumped on the first of the month. A plow truck caught year and it was a massive parking lot on the way in and I pedaled passed everyone in the icy slush and snow.
So yeah I took a picture to document it. It was positively balmy. Such a departure from last year's automobile parking lot in the snow on the way in and home. Still both last year and this year I'm off the bike path. Last year because it was impossible to pedal through it, this year with the sewer project.
And yeah if you think my legs are white, you should see my belly, BLINDING!
Who rode with bare legs on the way home in February? ME. Last year there was snow everywhere. Dumped on the first of the month. A plow truck caught year and it was a massive parking lot on the way in and I pedaled passed everyone in the icy slush and snow.
So yeah I took a picture to document it. It was positively balmy. Such a departure from last year's automobile parking lot in the snow on the way in and home. Still both last year and this year I'm off the bike path. Last year because it was impossible to pedal through it, this year with the sewer project.
And yeah if you think my legs are white, you should see my belly, BLINDING!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunset on January, 2012
Sunset on the last day of a grade A-typical January.
The little bridge is 'my' bike path. Nice and quiet on there. No cars. But right now it is ripped up while they put a sewer line in. So I am on the road.
This was shot from the road. Where car after car goes zipping by. Maybe they notice the sunset. I hope so. Despite an ample shoulder to pull over and look, no one was.
The beauty of the bike. It is just so much easier to stop for a second and snap a picture when you aren't in a steel cage zipping past disconnected from the world around you.
The little bridge is 'my' bike path. Nice and quiet on there. No cars. But right now it is ripped up while they put a sewer line in. So I am on the road.
This was shot from the road. Where car after car goes zipping by. Maybe they notice the sunset. I hope so. Despite an ample shoulder to pull over and look, no one was.
The beauty of the bike. It is just so much easier to stop for a second and snap a picture when you aren't in a steel cage zipping past disconnected from the world around you.
Color...
BUT WHAT ABOUT RGB?????
Good video but sets people up for major confusion IMHO.
This is the clearest way to think about it. Sure it is by a designer for designers but crazy helpful, esp when as it includes all the most important color theory terms.
Good video but sets people up for major confusion IMHO.
This is the clearest way to think about it. Sure it is by a designer for designers but crazy helpful, esp when as it includes all the most important color theory terms.
Monday, January 30, 2012
cycling literally and metaphorically
Yeah, both the pedaling and the metaphor for life... my waveform right now seems to have a very short wavelength, and some pretty high amplitude... I just need to figure out how to tweak the offset so the bottom of the wave isn't so dark.
Yesterday was good. Got up and watched the women's elite race at 5am, then went back to bed and woke up in time to watch the men's race. missed the start of both of them though. Oh well. Albert's domination was insane. Big old treefarm managed to sort of represent for the USA. But as others have said the USA's performance is not what I gauge the US cyclocross scene by. It is just different here. Louisville may or may not show that, but I think the US contingent will see a bit different results next year, but then we say that every year. Cockslide is just a very unique place. You have to be perfect, or hope that everyone else is screwing up too (ala the U23 race). Vos and Albert had brilliant and perfect rides. Albert said it best in his english interview, alone up front you can pick your lines, and you can slow down before the sand sections to get some recovery to go through them faster. So get the gap like those to and you make the race domination so complete, and even if there are racers as strong behind you, you win from having the lead and the ability to relax and ride the course faster (by going slower in places you wouldn't if you were chasing).
Yesterday was good. Got up and watched the women's elite race at 5am, then went back to bed and woke up in time to watch the men's race. missed the start of both of them though. Oh well. Albert's domination was insane. Big old treefarm managed to sort of represent for the USA. But as others have said the USA's performance is not what I gauge the US cyclocross scene by. It is just different here. Louisville may or may not show that, but I think the US contingent will see a bit different results next year, but then we say that every year. Cockslide is just a very unique place. You have to be perfect, or hope that everyone else is screwing up too (ala the U23 race). Vos and Albert had brilliant and perfect rides. Albert said it best in his english interview, alone up front you can pick your lines, and you can slow down before the sand sections to get some recovery to go through them faster. So get the gap like those to and you make the race domination so complete, and even if there are racers as strong behind you, you win from having the lead and the ability to relax and ride the course faster (by going slower in places you wouldn't if you were chasing).
Saturday, January 28, 2012
lazy day?
I suppose. Blue skies, mid-40s light wind, good day for lots of stuff.
I did manage to wash the bikes a bit, clean and lube the chains on the Blue and the Croll.
One thing i've noticed that is nice about the EVrLube is to clean you need some high pressure water, hit the chain and all the dirt washes out of it and it is nice and smooth again. Relube and all set. But to take it another step, after washing the drive train with water and soap (the soap never strips the chain down to bare metal and that's a good thing), I will dry the chain off and then run it through the park chain cleaning tool using the Lube. Works so well. After the water gets the grit out the lube and the cleaner tool gets the old lube and grease off and then everything is easy to wipe clean, the chainrings, the jockey wheels too. Pretty quickly the bike is clean and the drive train is ready to go. I usually add a bit more fresh lube, work it in and then wipe off the excess before calling it done.
Getting low on lube though. Need to make a trip to the hardware store to get some more mineral spirits.
Right now, 3 quad espressos into the day, really actually not that much for me, i'm ready for a nap. falling asleep on the couch, feet up. doing nothing. being lazy. exhausting all the new naked tumblr pages i've found and too lazy and uninspired to dig for more of them, so i'm writing. the ride has worn off completely now. or i should say that was the top of the roller coaster and now i'm down in a valley trying to find the momentum to carry on a bit in a way. No sleep last night. Just couldn't fall asleep, couldn't stay asleep, and surprisingly not legs related... all in my head. would be nice to get it out...
maybe i'll manage to fall asleep inspite of the coffee today
or not... probably should get back to laundry, unloading the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, and what ever else has to get done
I did manage to wash the bikes a bit, clean and lube the chains on the Blue and the Croll.
One thing i've noticed that is nice about the EVrLube is to clean you need some high pressure water, hit the chain and all the dirt washes out of it and it is nice and smooth again. Relube and all set. But to take it another step, after washing the drive train with water and soap (the soap never strips the chain down to bare metal and that's a good thing), I will dry the chain off and then run it through the park chain cleaning tool using the Lube. Works so well. After the water gets the grit out the lube and the cleaner tool gets the old lube and grease off and then everything is easy to wipe clean, the chainrings, the jockey wheels too. Pretty quickly the bike is clean and the drive train is ready to go. I usually add a bit more fresh lube, work it in and then wipe off the excess before calling it done.
Getting low on lube though. Need to make a trip to the hardware store to get some more mineral spirits.
Right now, 3 quad espressos into the day, really actually not that much for me, i'm ready for a nap. falling asleep on the couch, feet up. doing nothing. being lazy. exhausting all the new naked tumblr pages i've found and too lazy and uninspired to dig for more of them, so i'm writing. the ride has worn off completely now. or i should say that was the top of the roller coaster and now i'm down in a valley trying to find the momentum to carry on a bit in a way. No sleep last night. Just couldn't fall asleep, couldn't stay asleep, and surprisingly not legs related... all in my head. would be nice to get it out...
maybe i'll manage to fall asleep inspite of the coffee today
or not... probably should get back to laundry, unloading the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, and what ever else has to get done
Friday, January 27, 2012
a bit wet today
Started the ride off well, but got nailed by a bit of a rain shower up before dropping down on the parkway... by the time I hit the Washington bridge the rain had stopped. And it was just still and foggy...
Pretty amazing day. Felt great to be on the bike again, the endorphin supply from yesterday must have been still amplifying the senses because I was just digging being on the bike again. 7 hours yesterday. Completely alone on the bike, just trying to get there and back. On an adventure on a great day.
Today would have maybe not been so awesome if I had to spend 7 hours on the bike. it wasn't a problem staying warm with the temps right around 40°F yesterday (all the bank clocks were saying 39°F anytime I passed one) while it was dry. Today? Not a dry day. Supposedly 57°F when I left for the ride home. But it felt colder, esp with the rain pelting down.
Can't wait to try the round trip again. Might have to avoid Feb Break though. I expect the minivan moron contingent to be much higher during the day that week.
heddwch
G
G
Solo ride
A long solo ride.
At some point I got an idea in my head. It was after the end of cyclocross season and I was looking for something to get excited about, motivated about. Work's work and we've got cool stuff potentially coming down the pipe (after a mountain of hard work, duh), no I needed something bike related, a ride, a race. Battenkill just doesn't do it for me anymore. Road season? pfft Crits are short and like a CX and I can probably race well enough to do fine w/just the commute. I don't have a ton of time to do the hard work for Road races to be fun. Tim Johnson's ride on Washington sort of popped up on the radar but the logistics and all that and this year just aren't in the cards to lobby for an invitation. So.
Well I had this idea to ride to Boston and back. Since so many friends are working in the city up that way that I enjoy seeing in cross season, well, why not stop in and say hi. Nature of the trip though is not conducive to seeing everyone.
(lots of words below the fold, and pictures AND video!)
At some point I got an idea in my head. It was after the end of cyclocross season and I was looking for something to get excited about, motivated about. Work's work and we've got cool stuff potentially coming down the pipe (after a mountain of hard work, duh), no I needed something bike related, a ride, a race. Battenkill just doesn't do it for me anymore. Road season? pfft Crits are short and like a CX and I can probably race well enough to do fine w/just the commute. I don't have a ton of time to do the hard work for Road races to be fun. Tim Johnson's ride on Washington sort of popped up on the radar but the logistics and all that and this year just aren't in the cards to lobby for an invitation. So.
Well I had this idea to ride to Boston and back. Since so many friends are working in the city up that way that I enjoy seeing in cross season, well, why not stop in and say hi. Nature of the trip though is not conducive to seeing everyone.
(lots of words below the fold, and pictures AND video!)
Monday, January 23, 2012
who doesn't like studs
Esp for winter commutes. So nice to have this morning.
The way home there were only a few spots where they were really helpful. One loooong stretch was the washington bridge.
It was deep with drifted snow and was a challenge to ride through. Brought back memories of last year. Last year was without the trailer and a day like today would have been fast and fun. Bumpy and a challenge but with the tires traction was never an issue and it wasn't that slow.
Today. With the trailer? Oof was really tough to keep headway with the 46x23, esp after spinning my brains out at the US Open Cycling Federation's velosprints over lunch (knocked half a second off my 500m time from 2 weeks ago). Made it through though. Trailer plowed through some deep drifts with the left wheel, but it was a decent ride home. Studs are loud and I have a slight fender rub to address and when the rear tire picks up extra packed snow it can jam. These fenders are really boderline for a tire this big (35c Schwalbe Marathon Winter) Esp on this bike. But hey. My feet were dry when I got home. I like that.
Tomorrow is a car day. Can't get to demo the other SEM scope in time on the bike, so I have to resort to the MF aka Rusty Race Wagon... and with the rain potentially dumping on us tonight (so happy to not have any precipitation on my commute today) and temps staying warm for a while here's to hoping it all disappears leaving niceclean dry roads for Thursday.
Why Thursday? we'll see... might be long ride time.
okay - got some other stuff like food but i might save that for a bit...
heddwch
G
The way home there were only a few spots where they were really helpful. One loooong stretch was the washington bridge.It was deep with drifted snow and was a challenge to ride through. Brought back memories of last year. Last year was without the trailer and a day like today would have been fast and fun. Bumpy and a challenge but with the tires traction was never an issue and it wasn't that slow.
Today. With the trailer? Oof was really tough to keep headway with the 46x23, esp after spinning my brains out at the US Open Cycling Federation's velosprints over lunch (knocked half a second off my 500m time from 2 weeks ago). Made it through though. Trailer plowed through some deep drifts with the left wheel, but it was a decent ride home. Studs are loud and I have a slight fender rub to address and when the rear tire picks up extra packed snow it can jam. These fenders are really boderline for a tire this big (35c Schwalbe Marathon Winter) Esp on this bike. But hey. My feet were dry when I got home. I like that.
Tomorrow is a car day. Can't get to demo the other SEM scope in time on the bike, so I have to resort to the MF aka Rusty Race Wagon... and with the rain potentially dumping on us tonight (so happy to not have any precipitation on my commute today) and temps staying warm for a while here's to hoping it all disappears leaving nice
Why Thursday? we'll see... might be long ride time.
okay - got some other stuff like food but i might save that for a bit...
heddwch
G
obligatory
finally got duped into clicking on the link to watch it.
and am sharing it #1 for the people who made it and who they made it for...
And no, I didn't laugh, got a couple groans... but it is all accurate and well done.
and am sharing it #1 for the people who made it and who they made it for...
And no, I didn't laugh, got a couple groans... but it is all accurate and well done.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Crazy? Yes.
After riding the trainer inside yesterday for 70 minutes (20 min mid to low cadence threshold, with a bit of recovery followed by 10 min of standing in the 53x12). It was 67°F or so inside, plenty hot and sweaty. With Joe Lindsey's article still fresh in my mind, and needing to get the car spot shoveled before my wife got home I figured - what better way to get the body's core temp back down than shoveling. I did put the baselayer on (only wear it until I warm up inside). It was pretty effective, 10-15 min of shoveling snow while it was snowing in the 20°F weather helped switch from the catabolic phase, and hopefully into the anabolic phase.
The neighbor down the street was running his new snow blower wearing a full snowmobile suit while I was throwing snow in kit. Was funny but hey, it was effective, it takes a long time for those sticks I used to pedal to cool down.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Campy Delta Brakes
Maybe it is me, or my generation. Fucking Old Bike Mechanics or something but... Campy Delta Road brakes are #1 lusty coveted bit of work.
But.
So easy to fuck up the install.
I know how to set them up. How to make them work as they are supposed to. Because I have set many pairs up, either fixing hack mechanic jobs or just installing new ones.
I was never able to acquire a pair. heck my ball bearing Dura-Ace ones worked.
But a perfectly set up Campy Delta brake is something so beautiful. Sure they are heavy. But get everything perfect....
Shiny.
I had ordered a set of Mavic cranks (the ones on the Paramount) in college to replace the 170 Campy Chorus cranks. brand new.
They showed up. I tore into the box walking back to the dorm and my now wife, then just some super star on the college crew team was walking by and, man was I excited about them. Brand fucking new most gorgeous and stiff cranks on the market, in the original Mavic packaging... i had them out and I showed them to her "look at these!!!!!!"
She said, "oh shiny."
Crushed.
There's an intangible about those Delta brakes. Something magical about how they work. About how you have to cut the cable just right inside. how getting the length just right was critical. So much to fuck up in the set up. And yeah. They didn't stop for shit. But they modulated your speed. At the pro level who fucking stops in the grand tours? You just slow down here and there.
Run those brakes and you'll never brake check so hard that you'll cause a pile up and break a couple collar bones.
Brakes. Who needs them. And now the fix dorks have taken them over putting them on shitty cheap 90s bianchis Thom Kn is dead nuts to square when he said, "Sweet Jeebus! What kind of hipster d-bag puts them on a bike like that and then fukcs up the cable routing that bad?"
Would really suck if that's one of the dozen pairs of them that I've bid on over the years. Yes. I actually have placed Ebay bids on Delta brakes. Never winning. Thus preserving the lust and unsatisfied desire for something so obscure.
wrench and live
may your mechanic give as much of a shit about all this as I do
g
But.
So easy to fuck up the install.
I know how to set them up. How to make them work as they are supposed to. Because I have set many pairs up, either fixing hack mechanic jobs or just installing new ones.
I was never able to acquire a pair. heck my ball bearing Dura-Ace ones worked.
But a perfectly set up Campy Delta brake is something so beautiful. Sure they are heavy. But get everything perfect....
Shiny.
I had ordered a set of Mavic cranks (the ones on the Paramount) in college to replace the 170 Campy Chorus cranks. brand new.
They showed up. I tore into the box walking back to the dorm and my now wife, then just some super star on the college crew team was walking by and, man was I excited about them. Brand fucking new most gorgeous and stiff cranks on the market, in the original Mavic packaging... i had them out and I showed them to her "look at these!!!!!!"
She said, "oh shiny."
Crushed.
There's an intangible about those Delta brakes. Something magical about how they work. About how you have to cut the cable just right inside. how getting the length just right was critical. So much to fuck up in the set up. And yeah. They didn't stop for shit. But they modulated your speed. At the pro level who fucking stops in the grand tours? You just slow down here and there.
Run those brakes and you'll never brake check so hard that you'll cause a pile up and break a couple collar bones.
Brakes. Who needs them. And now the fix dorks have taken them over putting them on shitty cheap 90s bianchis Thom Kn is dead nuts to square when he said, "Sweet Jeebus! What kind of hipster d-bag puts them on a bike like that and then fukcs up the cable routing that bad?"
Would really suck if that's one of the dozen pairs of them that I've bid on over the years. Yes. I actually have placed Ebay bids on Delta brakes. Never winning. Thus preserving the lust and unsatisfied desire for something so obscure.
wrench and live
may your mechanic give as much of a shit about all this as I do
g
just saw this
total chain mail "email from mom/grandma" or how ever results boy calls it. but i don't give a shit
it is good
from the Whoa! (potentially NSFW)
it is good
from the Whoa! (potentially NSFW)
Compliment at least one person at least once a day. If you have something nice to say to someone... say it to their face. If they get weirded out by it, that is their problem... don't let it stop you from interacting with people. When you are amongst society take your headphones out of your ears. If you are inside take your sunglasses off. Interact with other human beings. You carry with you the potential to make another person feel good about themselves... do not let that go to waste. Compliment at least one person at least once a day. Don't say it to your phone or to Facebook, say it to someone's face. If you think someone is beautiful... tell them. If you like someone's shoes... tell them. You may make someone happy, you may even make their day, and in turn that will make you feel good about yourself. Compliment at least one person at least once a day... you will be happy that you did.
#TJROW
can you use a hash tag as a title?
no probably not.
I had the idea a bit ago to go through why I would be a great addition to the peloton headed to DC for the National Bike Summit.
Wavering about the wisdom of laying out all the reasons...
Planet Bike Supercommuter,
Commuting by bike since 1990 (with a * for the years 1999-2005 and the 150 miles a day in a car)
but then the rest sort of sound like a bit of yeah whatever...so what. So what if you did the 2 man 25HOGG, drove home and was on the bike a few days later with no issues. 2x a day 5 days a week on the bike most weeks. Halfway decent elite masters CX racer. Pretty knowledgeable about eating and fueling for long (all day) rides, mostly from fucking up. Full compliment of lights and clothing required for the trip in whatever conditions might show up. Big draft for the rest of the riders. Not a problem speaking about my passion for the bike as a mode of transportation. I can bring a totally different demographic to the fundraising angle between G+, FB, (don't worry blogger friends I don't expect anything from you two or three here), Local advocacy groups here in PVD/RI, and shop coverage that the BOS crew might not tap into. Optimistic about hitting the $2500? No clue. Not a freaking clue.
But immaterial. Do I want to make the whole trip from Boston to DC? yes. no question. Do I think I could do it? yes. no question. Esp if I add a couple trips to Boston and back over the next couple months on top of the commuting and trainer time. Would it be awesome to hang out with my friends who are already on the list? no question yes. It would be so cool.
But maybe this year I just need to pop on and hang out for the first day and split off and head home to PVD at some point and thing about it more seriously if Tim does this again next year..
Oh and if yall can talk to the weather gods/mother nature see if you can keep the weather on Thursday next week not so terrible. Might try and shoot for the first BOS trip that day.
heddwch
G
no probably not.
I had the idea a bit ago to go through why I would be a great addition to the peloton headed to DC for the National Bike Summit.
Wavering about the wisdom of laying out all the reasons...
Planet Bike Supercommuter,
Commuting by bike since 1990 (with a * for the years 1999-2005 and the 150 miles a day in a car)
but then the rest sort of sound like a bit of yeah whatever...so what. So what if you did the 2 man 25HOGG, drove home and was on the bike a few days later with no issues. 2x a day 5 days a week on the bike most weeks. Halfway decent elite masters CX racer. Pretty knowledgeable about eating and fueling for long (all day) rides, mostly from fucking up. Full compliment of lights and clothing required for the trip in whatever conditions might show up. Big draft for the rest of the riders. Not a problem speaking about my passion for the bike as a mode of transportation. I can bring a totally different demographic to the fundraising angle between G+, FB, (don't worry blogger friends I don't expect anything from you two or three here), Local advocacy groups here in PVD/RI, and shop coverage that the BOS crew might not tap into. Optimistic about hitting the $2500? No clue. Not a freaking clue.
But immaterial. Do I want to make the whole trip from Boston to DC? yes. no question. Do I think I could do it? yes. no question. Esp if I add a couple trips to Boston and back over the next couple months on top of the commuting and trainer time. Would it be awesome to hang out with my friends who are already on the list? no question yes. It would be so cool.
But maybe this year I just need to pop on and hang out for the first day and split off and head home to PVD at some point and thing about it more seriously if Tim does this again next year..
Oh and if yall can talk to the weather gods/mother nature see if you can keep the weather on Thursday next week not so terrible. Might try and shoot for the first BOS trip that day.
heddwch
G
Exercise "fads"
cross fit is not a sport
Tae Bo is not a sport
Yoga is not a sport
You can make anything a competition, but making it a competition doesn't make it a sport, no matter how seriously you take it. But then I guess maybe it does.
Just seems wrong. To me. To call it "the sport of fitness"
how about just calling it f'n fitness or something? The Sport of Fit?
I could probably go all GeWilli and be a cranky offensive bastard talking about how silly it is to discuss how many dead lifts of a 150# kettle bell you did or that you can dead lift 600# that for your body weight is an official world record but your gym isn't certified to record and report those sorts of things, or that if it was in competition it would be a WR.
I was fine with all the people talking about "oh my god cross fit is so amazing, can't wait to get punished tomorrow." Awesome. Wonderful. I guess it just means that I'm fucking old and cranky because I've heard it all before. And it all sounds the same. And people do it and then stop because the miracle of endorphins eventually wears off and the hard work becomes harder and there are fewer and fewer rewards and oh look at that shiny new thing... Does anyone do step aerobics anymore? Hell it used to be health clubs were packed with classes all day long doing only that. Now (from pictures) it seems people want a minimalistic gym, industrial, just shit piled around. Don't get me wrong, fucking K'Buck will (and can) kick my ass for disparaging it but he's smart, and he's faster than me on a bike and he runs the show. Different on that side i would think. Kind of like getting in on the top level of an MLM operation at the right time. Now maybe KBuck calls it a sport, but he races bikes. I'd wager (probably incorrectly) that he doesn't.
Lifestyle? Fitness regime? Strength conditioning? Fuck yeah that all hasn't changed and is totally noble and good.
But. Sport?
I guess if it gets people to be more active? great. But lately I think it just serves as an excuse to have that extra serving of ice cream or couple extra beers.
Now my wife was relating a story about a bunch of women runners online discussing some fast dude who was photographed mid running race in a pose that highlighted his quad definition. The women were going on at lengths (hersay via my wife) about how incredible it was that you could see three distinct quad muscles.
I looked down and then flexed and said, "like this?" One of the benefits/side effects of dropping 20 pounds. A no doubt 20 now, really actually more of a 10kg decrease currently. And i did it without touching a fucking weight, rope, kettle bell, box jump... incredible. Maybe.
Comes back to whole package.
call it a holistic approach but if you aren't paying attention to what you are eating, as well as what you are doing, you're doing it wrong. To phrase that more positively, until you focus on every aspect of what you eat, how much you rest and how much you train, you will never realize your full potential.
me? yeah i probably have realized my full potential. I have my strengths and areas that are better than others and some weaknesses that I may be able to improve on, slowly, possibly. But gone are my days of significant jumps in results/placings.
if it hadn't been for that Reebok add, well, i'd probably not have ranted at all about it. But hell it has been a long time since I've pissed anyone off...
Tae Bo is not a sport
Yoga is not a sport
You can make anything a competition, but making it a competition doesn't make it a sport, no matter how seriously you take it. But then I guess maybe it does.
Just seems wrong. To me. To call it "the sport of fitness"
how about just calling it f'n fitness or something? The Sport of Fit?
I could probably go all GeWilli and be a cranky offensive bastard talking about how silly it is to discuss how many dead lifts of a 150# kettle bell you did or that you can dead lift 600# that for your body weight is an official world record but your gym isn't certified to record and report those sorts of things, or that if it was in competition it would be a WR.
I was fine with all the people talking about "oh my god cross fit is so amazing, can't wait to get punished tomorrow." Awesome. Wonderful. I guess it just means that I'm fucking old and cranky because I've heard it all before. And it all sounds the same. And people do it and then stop because the miracle of endorphins eventually wears off and the hard work becomes harder and there are fewer and fewer rewards and oh look at that shiny new thing... Does anyone do step aerobics anymore? Hell it used to be health clubs were packed with classes all day long doing only that. Now (from pictures) it seems people want a minimalistic gym, industrial, just shit piled around. Don't get me wrong, fucking K'Buck will (and can) kick my ass for disparaging it but he's smart, and he's faster than me on a bike and he runs the show. Different on that side i would think. Kind of like getting in on the top level of an MLM operation at the right time. Now maybe KBuck calls it a sport, but he races bikes. I'd wager (probably incorrectly) that he doesn't.
Lifestyle? Fitness regime? Strength conditioning? Fuck yeah that all hasn't changed and is totally noble and good.
But. Sport?
I guess if it gets people to be more active? great. But lately I think it just serves as an excuse to have that extra serving of ice cream or couple extra beers.
Now my wife was relating a story about a bunch of women runners online discussing some fast dude who was photographed mid running race in a pose that highlighted his quad definition. The women were going on at lengths (hersay via my wife) about how incredible it was that you could see three distinct quad muscles.
I looked down and then flexed and said, "like this?" One of the benefits/side effects of dropping 20 pounds. A no doubt 20 now, really actually more of a 10kg decrease currently. And i did it without touching a fucking weight, rope, kettle bell, box jump... incredible. Maybe.
Comes back to whole package.
call it a holistic approach but if you aren't paying attention to what you are eating, as well as what you are doing, you're doing it wrong. To phrase that more positively, until you focus on every aspect of what you eat, how much you rest and how much you train, you will never realize your full potential.
me? yeah i probably have realized my full potential. I have my strengths and areas that are better than others and some weaknesses that I may be able to improve on, slowly, possibly. But gone are my days of significant jumps in results/placings.
if it hadn't been for that Reebok add, well, i'd probably not have ranted at all about it. But hell it has been a long time since I've pissed anyone off...
Thursday, January 19, 2012
hey what's this thing
Yeah, writing hasn't percolated to the top of the list for the last few days.
The lead in period to this half of the year is over, peoples stuff is ready to go and suddenly stuff is crazy here, not bad, a good change from the quiet. Although, the quiet was nice.
It does lead into some challenges with the whole planning my goal of riding to Boston and back once in each month this winter. Keeping a day on the schedule open isn't the hard part, but picking that day two or three weeks out with the wonderfully consistent weather we have here is. And the whole once per month is the kicker with January winding down fast and picking up speed.
Still a pile of stuff to do, flush this out a bit more. Maybe. I did actually manage to ride for 3 hours on the trainer on Monday. Yeah. 3 hours. Two 90 minute blocks actually. Was fun actually. Which means I probably didn't train hard enough in CX season if I'm fresh enough to pedal again. That said the last CX race was way back at Fitchburg so maybe that's long enough to reset.
Was fun enough I might actually consider doing it again... If i can find time between birthday parties and the rest of the weekend activities...
heddwch
G
The lead in period to this half of the year is over, peoples stuff is ready to go and suddenly stuff is crazy here, not bad, a good change from the quiet. Although, the quiet was nice.
It does lead into some challenges with the whole planning my goal of riding to Boston and back once in each month this winter. Keeping a day on the schedule open isn't the hard part, but picking that day two or three weeks out with the wonderfully consistent weather we have here is. And the whole once per month is the kicker with January winding down fast and picking up speed.
Still a pile of stuff to do, flush this out a bit more. Maybe. I did actually manage to ride for 3 hours on the trainer on Monday. Yeah. 3 hours. Two 90 minute blocks actually. Was fun actually. Which means I probably didn't train hard enough in CX season if I'm fresh enough to pedal again. That said the last CX race was way back at Fitchburg so maybe that's long enough to reset.
Was fun enough I might actually consider doing it again... If i can find time between birthday parties and the rest of the weekend activities...
heddwch
G
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
bikes... to lust after
High production values - wicked cool and I still totally want a Firefly
But this thing is pretty much what after all the riding of bikes I've done still is what I want, and kind of what I have in the Klein Q Pro.
Definitely would like that fancy fork in the green bike.
But this thing is pretty much what after all the riding of bikes I've done still is what I want, and kind of what I have in the Klein Q Pro.
Definitely would like that fancy fork in the green bike.
Monday, January 16, 2012
World Cup racer POV
We all get to watch the races live now, rare that anyone is complaining like last year about buffering and hanging and crappy feeds. The only thing we're still missing on the pirate feeds are the live women's races usually. Maybe that's next year's jump.
Since cyclocross season ended for me I've missed very few of the big races. and the Pros are pretty incredible. Learn much? no not anymore. But appreciate it? yes even more.
A GoPro on Christian Heule's bars was spotted by Chandler (CycloWHAT?) early in the race and well. Here's the video:
go to HD and full screen to watch it. That French course always reminds me of a bigger wider open, hillier and faster Providence at RWP, with no awkward barriers.
Watching that I can't help but thing about the Contour-Plus camera and how cool it would be to be a TV producer and put a handful of them on the bikes/riders. Not so different from auto-racing's in car cameras no? Go back and watch a crash unfold in front of the racer. Cyclocross is a challenge because of the bike changes and how well does the contour do with pressure washing and all that, best place to mount... not as easy as sticking something onto a car. But production value would be sweet I think. No, not an original idea on my part the video master HenryJ has mentioned it before. Just talking about it now, after watching Heule's footage.
Think about that sporza feed with racer pov! Although the sun angle is a challenge there in a few sections. Not quite ready for prime-time yet, but close.
Heddwch
G
Since cyclocross season ended for me I've missed very few of the big races. and the Pros are pretty incredible. Learn much? no not anymore. But appreciate it? yes even more.
A GoPro on Christian Heule's bars was spotted by Chandler (CycloWHAT?) early in the race and well. Here's the video:
go to HD and full screen to watch it. That French course always reminds me of a bigger wider open, hillier and faster Providence at RWP, with no awkward barriers.
Watching that I can't help but thing about the Contour-Plus camera and how cool it would be to be a TV producer and put a handful of them on the bikes/riders. Not so different from auto-racing's in car cameras no? Go back and watch a crash unfold in front of the racer. Cyclocross is a challenge because of the bike changes and how well does the contour do with pressure washing and all that, best place to mount... not as easy as sticking something onto a car. But production value would be sweet I think. No, not an original idea on my part the video master HenryJ has mentioned it before. Just talking about it now, after watching Heule's footage.
Think about that sporza feed with racer pov! Although the sun angle is a challenge there in a few sections. Not quite ready for prime-time yet, but close.
Heddwch
G
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Edward Abbey
From DC
I think his books might be on the list here soon after I finish 'The Wave' by Susan Casey.
definitely worth a watch...
“Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break….I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun.”Abbey was a huge influence on me growing up.
-Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness
I think his books might be on the list here soon after I finish 'The Wave' by Susan Casey.
definitely worth a watch...
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Mahogany Chicken over Salad
That's what it looked like so that's what I'm calling it.
Just a basic green salad, lettuce, shredded carrots, diced avocado, added a couple or hard boiled egg wedges and tossed it all with my trademark and perfected dressing.
The chicken, just as simple as the salad to put together. Heck almost easier because salad means washing lettuce (you're nuts if you think pre-washed lettuce is clean, but i generally just buy heads of lettuce) and all the rest of that.
So chicken, I used breasts, who doesn't love breasts. These were pretty freaking big (too big maybe) so I did a diagonal slice to get some more surface area for the marinate.
The chicken went in the marinate before I started doing the salad prep (and a few minutes watching the beginning of the NO/SF game).
The marinate gives it the color.
Shoyu sauce (use the good stuff - the crap with coloring and other stuff is just not worth anyone's time)
-----i use: SAN-J Organic Bronze Label Shoyu
Balsamic Vinegar (again there are different levels of it - basic point is that it is Balsamic and it doesn't have anything else in it).
Ginger powder (could use fresh but the powder works)
Olive oil
That's it.
get a skillet nice and hot, use a bit of fat/oil (i used some beef fat saved in the freezer) cook em hot and pour the sauce over the top. Flip them once and make sure it is cooked through but not too well done. Then slice and return to the pan to deglaze with the juices (the chicken soaks it back up, there won't be any wasted flavor or liquid).
Put the chicken on the salad and enjoy.
Not a great meal to eat the night before a race, but it is always good to mix up the ratios in the off season, for lots of reasons. You never want to get into a food rut eating the same thing and quantities every day, meals like this free up a night to go crazy with pasta or pizza.
That and no bike riding since Tuesday means no need to replace glycogen.
I did sort out the bike room a bit and set the Paramount up as a trainer bike. Not sure if I'm going to set the Croll up for the long haul bike or just stick some metal wheels and adjust the brakes on the Blue and go for some plastic for the long haul. But now it looks like winter. A century on a day that starts off at 13°F with a high of only 30°F doesn't actually sound wicked smart, staying warm for an hour is very different than 3+ even with a break to warm up at the halfway point. But it is a curious challenge and one that is intriguing and something that is oddly motivating.
heddwch
G
Just a basic green salad, lettuce, shredded carrots, diced avocado, added a couple or hard boiled egg wedges and tossed it all with my trademark and perfected dressing.
The chicken, just as simple as the salad to put together. Heck almost easier because salad means washing lettuce (you're nuts if you think pre-washed lettuce is clean, but i generally just buy heads of lettuce) and all the rest of that.
So chicken, I used breasts, who doesn't love breasts. These were pretty freaking big (too big maybe) so I did a diagonal slice to get some more surface area for the marinate.
The chicken went in the marinate before I started doing the salad prep (and a few minutes watching the beginning of the NO/SF game).
The marinate gives it the color.
Shoyu sauce (use the good stuff - the crap with coloring and other stuff is just not worth anyone's time)
-----i use: SAN-J Organic Bronze Label Shoyu
Balsamic Vinegar (again there are different levels of it - basic point is that it is Balsamic and it doesn't have anything else in it).
Ginger powder (could use fresh but the powder works)
Olive oil
That's it.
get a skillet nice and hot, use a bit of fat/oil (i used some beef fat saved in the freezer) cook em hot and pour the sauce over the top. Flip them once and make sure it is cooked through but not too well done. Then slice and return to the pan to deglaze with the juices (the chicken soaks it back up, there won't be any wasted flavor or liquid).
Put the chicken on the salad and enjoy.
Not a great meal to eat the night before a race, but it is always good to mix up the ratios in the off season, for lots of reasons. You never want to get into a food rut eating the same thing and quantities every day, meals like this free up a night to go crazy with pasta or pizza.
That and no bike riding since Tuesday means no need to replace glycogen.
I did sort out the bike room a bit and set the Paramount up as a trainer bike. Not sure if I'm going to set the Croll up for the long haul bike or just stick some metal wheels and adjust the brakes on the Blue and go for some plastic for the long haul. But now it looks like winter. A century on a day that starts off at 13°F with a high of only 30°F doesn't actually sound wicked smart, staying warm for an hour is very different than 3+ even with a break to warm up at the halfway point. But it is a curious challenge and one that is intriguing and something that is oddly motivating.
heddwch
G
Friday, January 13, 2012
recon: complete
am a bit under the weather, work had a gap mid-day and the weather was crappy for cycling so... recon time.
yes, the PVD to BOS ride. Or Ivy to Ivy (Brown to Harvard) or Art school to Tech School or just College Hill to Cambridge and back.
so i jumped on at 123 in attleboro and drove a bit of it, why not. I needed time away from the computer, from the office with something other than traffic to fight in a rush to get from point A to point B. Cranked the JPow DJ Shine mix and cruised.
The nice thing about checking new routes in the car is wrong turns don't cost you nearly as much time. But there is a spot on Bay that was wicked slick. Icey almost, and the MF decided to get a bit loose, as in SIDEWAYS - a bit of adrenaline rush but I held on (dirt track style) and stayed on the pavement. Yeah maybe the tires aren't the best eh? Ah well.
Was a bit of fun. Totally doable i think. Pretty long and not much daylight to get here to there. The drive south was f'n nuts. The wind was brutal. It would have made riding from BOS to PVD one hell of a long headwind slog. steady 20 gusting over 40 is not fun riding. that E-word? maybe.
Got back to the lab and checked out some wicked cool new (to me) samples on the SEM...
So, now, weather, schedule, timing. Days that get lightly or unscheduled (still stuff to do but ones without training sessions) with good weather, might turn into 'mileage' days. For what training good? Who cares. Time to have fun on the bike... Thinking about doing that ride up and back in the same day boosts the endorphin just based on the potential. I wasn't checking mileage today but I think it is a very easy and manageable 50 by bike each way. Providing lunch stop in BOS isn't too long I should be able to get home before dark or at least get into my home state as the sun is setting.
So windy today.
yes, the PVD to BOS ride. Or Ivy to Ivy (Brown to Harvard) or Art school to Tech School or just College Hill to Cambridge and back.
so i jumped on at 123 in attleboro and drove a bit of it, why not. I needed time away from the computer, from the office with something other than traffic to fight in a rush to get from point A to point B. Cranked the JPow DJ Shine mix and cruised.
The nice thing about checking new routes in the car is wrong turns don't cost you nearly as much time. But there is a spot on Bay that was wicked slick. Icey almost, and the MF decided to get a bit loose, as in SIDEWAYS - a bit of adrenaline rush but I held on (dirt track style) and stayed on the pavement. Yeah maybe the tires aren't the best eh? Ah well.
Was a bit of fun. Totally doable i think. Pretty long and not much daylight to get here to there. The drive south was f'n nuts. The wind was brutal. It would have made riding from BOS to PVD one hell of a long headwind slog. steady 20 gusting over 40 is not fun riding. that E-word? maybe.
Got back to the lab and checked out some wicked cool new (to me) samples on the SEM...
So, now, weather, schedule, timing. Days that get lightly or unscheduled (still stuff to do but ones without training sessions) with good weather, might turn into 'mileage' days. For what training good? Who cares. Time to have fun on the bike... Thinking about doing that ride up and back in the same day boosts the endorphin just based on the potential. I wasn't checking mileage today but I think it is a very easy and manageable 50 by bike each way. Providing lunch stop in BOS isn't too long I should be able to get home before dark or at least get into my home state as the sun is setting.
So windy today.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
now what
way back when i could write...
and write
what ever was in my head, it didn't matter who read it, but i had a chance to write it, and sort shit out in my head
now, not so much
not really a good thing but it is what it is.
i'm old now. responsibilities have changed.
racing season is over, as slow as I am i really still want to be in Louisville right now. so what if I don't make the heat.
i wanted to be in Madison too. but hey i don't have mud tires, i have the antithesis of mud tires. so yeah. i would have sucked extra. it attenuates the desire but doesn't remove it completely.
worlds.
sure - i would be a first heat participant most likely. such a tiny chance of actually making it to the main heat.
i see so many who are saying "fuck that season was long, i'm done."
i'm not feeling that now, but my season is done.
now what
guarded words
working on a sinus infection to add to it all
winter is slowly getting here
now what
and write
what ever was in my head, it didn't matter who read it, but i had a chance to write it, and sort shit out in my head
now, not so much
not really a good thing but it is what it is.
i'm old now. responsibilities have changed.
racing season is over, as slow as I am i really still want to be in Louisville right now. so what if I don't make the heat.
i wanted to be in Madison too. but hey i don't have mud tires, i have the antithesis of mud tires. so yeah. i would have sucked extra. it attenuates the desire but doesn't remove it completely.
worlds.
sure - i would be a first heat participant most likely. such a tiny chance of actually making it to the main heat.
i see so many who are saying "fuck that season was long, i'm done."
i'm not feeling that now, but my season is done.
now what
guarded words
working on a sinus infection to add to it all
winter is slowly getting here
now what
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
slacking - i know
hopefully for good reason (true)
what a weekend of CX eh?
JPOOOOOW
Behind the Barriers will have a new episode tomorrow at 8am.
I get to play with fancy scanning microscopes tomorrow, kind of excited. got the Millennium Falcon back together just in time I suppose. top off the tank tomorrow AM and see if it is any easier to drive on 95 up to Peabody MA and back with the new squish tubes and unbroken spring.
what a weekend of CX eh?
JPOOOOOW
Behind the Barriers will have a new episode tomorrow at 8am.
I get to play with fancy scanning microscopes tomorrow, kind of excited. got the Millennium Falcon back together just in time I suppose. top off the tank tomorrow AM and see if it is any easier to drive on 95 up to Peabody MA and back with the new squish tubes and unbroken spring.
Friday, January 06, 2012
Thursday, January 05, 2012
A Barenaked Ladies Afternoon
No not bare naked ladies (that would be awesome to have an afternoon full of bare naked ladies though, no?)
THESE
and then there's this one with the line: "I made you say underwear."
http://youtu.be/u3NE6UuaLiY
Parts may be going on the MF in the morning but at this rate we might be working on it this weekend, save some PTO for next week or a day when it is warm enough to get to BOS (that's the current goal adding a spark, ride to BOS and back before the end of the month - with a bigger goal of taking one day a month to make the ride). Take a day in the week when i need a mental health day... that goal alone is one I like, no where near enough volume (once a month that far is tough to make significant) but I think, that, just maybe, that extra mileage all at once (long day in the saddle no doubt) once a month has the potential to pay off for next season. That is if I actually do the trip and decide it is worth trying to do more than once. The trip with the 30 pounds of dog food in the trailer reminded me that while the empty trailer works as a highway impact zone on a truck...
yes that's how it is being used right now. Sure it isn't going to do much to slow down a car but it will give then a second to hit their brakes before i hit their windshield. And with luck give me enough of a push so that the velocity differences are slightly reduced.
So after the dog food adventure I'm now hunting for 'weights'. 30 pounds would be perfect. I'd prefer not to go the water or glass route... (just another thing to occupy my mind).
(Oh and it took me a surprisingly long time to find a picture of a truck mounted impact attenuator - like 3-5 minutes because i didn't have the wording quite right - but i won).
There is a significantly higher work requirement just hauling the trailer with my backpack in it. But getting the trailer significantly heavier makes the elevation gain on the commute very significant. And that is a good thing (when 90% of riding is between home and work on the same route).
BNL day. Yeah....
heddwch
G
THESE
and then there's this one with the line: "I made you say underwear."
http://youtu.be/u3NE6UuaLiY
Parts may be going on the MF in the morning but at this rate we might be working on it this weekend, save some PTO for next week or a day when it is warm enough to get to BOS (that's the current goal adding a spark, ride to BOS and back before the end of the month - with a bigger goal of taking one day a month to make the ride). Take a day in the week when i need a mental health day... that goal alone is one I like, no where near enough volume (once a month that far is tough to make significant) but I think, that, just maybe, that extra mileage all at once (long day in the saddle no doubt) once a month has the potential to pay off for next season. That is if I actually do the trip and decide it is worth trying to do more than once. The trip with the 30 pounds of dog food in the trailer reminded me that while the empty trailer works as a highway impact zone on a truck...
yes that's how it is being used right now. Sure it isn't going to do much to slow down a car but it will give then a second to hit their brakes before i hit their windshield. And with luck give me enough of a push so that the velocity differences are slightly reduced.
So after the dog food adventure I'm now hunting for 'weights'. 30 pounds would be perfect. I'd prefer not to go the water or glass route... (just another thing to occupy my mind).
(Oh and it took me a surprisingly long time to find a picture of a truck mounted impact attenuator - like 3-5 minutes because i didn't have the wording quite right - but i won).
There is a significantly higher work requirement just hauling the trailer with my backpack in it. But getting the trailer significantly heavier makes the elevation gain on the commute very significant. And that is a good thing (when 90% of riding is between home and work on the same route).
BNL day. Yeah....
heddwch
G
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Dinner
So tonight I cooked food.
Yeah yeah, I cook pretty much every night, esp now that I'm not working a few nights a week.
Tonight I tried something different.
I'd cooked up some chickpeas (been buying them dry in bulk from wholefoods) and they needed to be eaten or frozen. The were going to be hummus but that didn't happen and I thought I'd go with a frugal economy dinner but still shoot for flavor and something that makes you feel full and satisfied.
Started the Rice (organic brown medium grain bulk from WF) used about 1.5 cups of rice and 3 cups of water (bring to boil, turn to low and cook till finished).
Farted around checking on the SS race from CXnats.
Then chopped up two ribs of celery, 1/2 a sweet onion, and 4 medium carrots. Popped em in some wicked hot extra virgin olive oil in my big pan and cooked em.
Then chopped up a smallish sweet potato. Made little sticks about 2cm long and 3-4mm wide. Popped em in the pan too.
Added some oregano and more olive oil, some 365 Valle Del Sol Chili Powder, paprika, salt. Cooked it for a bit.
Some water in there to steam it all a bit. stirring and cooking.
Then added a bit of turmeric and black pepper, some more salt and some x-hot chili powder and 1 chopped red pepper.
and then a bit more water.
Not soupy but liquidy.
Then the cooked chickpeas went in and 3 big cloves of crushed garlic and the rice. And water to make it kind of a thick risotto.
I kept tasting it, which is a fun departure for me. Usually I have a pretty set idea of the spices, the balance and ratios and can gauge it really well by smell, and the progression of ingredients required. Since I'm not trying to duplicate any specific dish or taste in mind the flavors always vary when I'm cooking. But they are never disappointing. Always good.
This tasted not quite right before the garlic and was still missing something. Until I added 3-4 tablespoons (not much when you're looking at all the veggies plus 1 quart of cooked chickpeas and a huge pile of rice) of some organic seasoned rice wine vinegar (the org stuff has less sugar and sodium in it oddly) and a few tablespoons of Shoyu sauce.
Mixed it all up and - NAILED IT.
So good.
I added a bit of lee kum kee shrirachi sauce when eating mine to add a bit more depth and heat. But everyone kind of looked at it funny at first, but they ate it up. And my tummy is happy and full right now.
Was fun... And different. And pretty easy on the wallet, and wicked solid good for you too.
Heddwch
G
Yeah yeah, I cook pretty much every night, esp now that I'm not working a few nights a week.
Tonight I tried something different.
I'd cooked up some chickpeas (been buying them dry in bulk from wholefoods) and they needed to be eaten or frozen. The were going to be hummus but that didn't happen and I thought I'd go with a frugal economy dinner but still shoot for flavor and something that makes you feel full and satisfied.
Started the Rice (organic brown medium grain bulk from WF) used about 1.5 cups of rice and 3 cups of water (bring to boil, turn to low and cook till finished).
Farted around checking on the SS race from CXnats.
Then chopped up two ribs of celery, 1/2 a sweet onion, and 4 medium carrots. Popped em in some wicked hot extra virgin olive oil in my big pan and cooked em.
Then chopped up a smallish sweet potato. Made little sticks about 2cm long and 3-4mm wide. Popped em in the pan too.
Added some oregano and more olive oil, some 365 Valle Del Sol Chili Powder, paprika, salt. Cooked it for a bit.
Some water in there to steam it all a bit. stirring and cooking.
Then added a bit of turmeric and black pepper, some more salt and some x-hot chili powder and 1 chopped red pepper.
and then a bit more water.
Not soupy but liquidy.
Then the cooked chickpeas went in and 3 big cloves of crushed garlic and the rice. And water to make it kind of a thick risotto.
I kept tasting it, which is a fun departure for me. Usually I have a pretty set idea of the spices, the balance and ratios and can gauge it really well by smell, and the progression of ingredients required. Since I'm not trying to duplicate any specific dish or taste in mind the flavors always vary when I'm cooking. But they are never disappointing. Always good.
This tasted not quite right before the garlic and was still missing something. Until I added 3-4 tablespoons (not much when you're looking at all the veggies plus 1 quart of cooked chickpeas and a huge pile of rice) of some organic seasoned rice wine vinegar (the org stuff has less sugar and sodium in it oddly) and a few tablespoons of Shoyu sauce.
Mixed it all up and - NAILED IT.
So good.
I added a bit of lee kum kee shrirachi sauce when eating mine to add a bit more depth and heat. But everyone kind of looked at it funny at first, but they ate it up. And my tummy is happy and full right now.
Was fun... And different. And pretty easy on the wallet, and wicked solid good for you too.
Heddwch
G
still waiting
The Millennium Falcon is still chilling on the pad.
Even if the parts are on the doorstep when I get home it is likely going to sit like that tomorrow too. Maybe I'll take a bit of time on Friday morning to put it together and take the rental tool back. Assuming it is slightly warmer.
Not sure I'll put the inside back together right away. Call it a two seat extended coupe for a bit. But right away might last until the weekend. Supposed to warm up a touch.
Dune Buggy look would be pretty funny...
Not sure I'll put the inside back together right away. Call it a two seat extended coupe for a bit. But right away might last until the weekend. Supposed to warm up a touch.
Dune Buggy look would be pretty funny...
Cold? Yeah, not too bad.
Old CCC said it best: "its all about proper layering"
(DUDES THERE IS A PASTE AS PLAIN TEXT OPTION IN RIGHT CLICK NOW #IAMEXCITE)
So how did I deal with the temps? Besides dragging the trailer?
Conditions: temp somewhere between 11°F and 14°F with a wind directly head on with speeds in this range 19/14/9 (gust, avg, lull - in mph).
In other words a solid no question Jens Factor 5 and with the peak gusts combined with over ground speed into the wind a solid no question Jens Factor HC.
Cold.
So what does GeWilli wear in those conditions?
Top down?
Hugely vented Specialized Propero Helmet.
Ibex Wool beanie
Oakley Glasses
Badger Healing Balm on exposed facial skin
Team Issue Hincapie winter jacket
Team Issue Hincapie long sleeve jersey
REI long sleeve poly-pro base layer
Team Issue bib shorts over
Pearl Izumi Thermafleece bib tights (wicked old like 1996-98 old - knees are showing age)
Pearl Izumi thermafleece tights (no pad, just running tights)
Finally the feet.
Louis Garneau 0° Egro grips
Switftwick tall wool compression socks
And on the hands? My Helly Hansen Polar Mittens (no liners - hand got cold taking panda shots).
Got a decent warm up, felt a bit cold, but after about 5 minutes into the headwind I was starting to warm up and just elevated the work until I was holding about 155 on the HRM and pegged it there until the down hill section, and brought it back up until the next one and rode at a recovery HR once I hit the city.
Just started to break a sweat once I got going, feet were fine. Once I stopped pedaling and sat down the lack of activity and the cold sole kind of cooled the feet off a bit but for those 40 minutes or so, not so bad.
Couple of shot for the hell of it. (after the fold)
(DUDES THERE IS A PASTE AS PLAIN TEXT OPTION IN RIGHT CLICK NOW #IAMEXCITE)
So how did I deal with the temps? Besides dragging the trailer?
Conditions: temp somewhere between 11°F and 14°F with a wind directly head on with speeds in this range 19/14/9 (gust, avg, lull - in mph).
In other words a solid no question Jens Factor 5 and with the peak gusts combined with over ground speed into the wind a solid no question Jens Factor HC.
Cold.
So what does GeWilli wear in those conditions?
Top down?
Hugely vented Specialized Propero Helmet.
Ibex Wool beanie
Oakley Glasses
Badger Healing Balm on exposed facial skin
Team Issue Hincapie winter jacket
Team Issue Hincapie long sleeve jersey
REI long sleeve poly-pro base layer
Team Issue bib shorts over
Pearl Izumi Thermafleece bib tights (wicked old like 1996-98 old - knees are showing age)
Pearl Izumi thermafleece tights (no pad, just running tights)
Finally the feet.
Louis Garneau 0° Egro grips
Switftwick tall wool compression socks
And on the hands? My Helly Hansen Polar Mittens (no liners - hand got cold taking panda shots).
Got a decent warm up, felt a bit cold, but after about 5 minutes into the headwind I was starting to warm up and just elevated the work until I was holding about 155 on the HRM and pegged it there until the down hill section, and brought it back up until the next one and rode at a recovery HR once I hit the city.
Just started to break a sweat once I got going, feet were fine. Once I stopped pedaling and sat down the lack of activity and the cold sole kind of cooled the feet off a bit but for those 40 minutes or so, not so bad.
Couple of shot for the hell of it. (after the fold)
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
collection of babble from this morning
Part 1 (and yeah I know, I need just as much training of the legs and lungs as I need of the brain)
Train your BRAIN! http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=9981
Alex has mentioned it in the VO2Max not max article he wrote, the brain has more control than is given credit.
it is easier to buy a power tap and pay a trainer to write you a work out schedule do FT tests and pedal harder.
but what about the brain?
Marvin's been great over the years, and I'm looking forward to his writings on his blog:http://marvzauderer.wordpress.com/
I will also be curious to see what new ideas Jim Taylor brings to PEZhttp://drjimtaylor.com/2.0/aboutdrjimtaylor/
A bit about what the kenyans eat and stuff - (they're a bunch of fatasses)
I don't like how Active dot com does their articles (no dates on when they were written and sometimes recycled content from other sources) But this is a good one. (i pulled the active link... and left one to the miami)
Oh here - quick sourcing finds:
http://www.multisportmiami.com/blog1/2010/07/262/ (with a date on it).
The article doesn't seem to be new, the sources are no more recent than 2004.
Here is a more recent primary article about Ethiopian distance runners:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3117768/?tool=pubmed
With very similar findings. High carbohydrates. But these are also 'kids.' Metabolism is not the same as old master racers or the part of the population of athletes trying to hit race weight. Also, it would seem as noted from the Kenya study that they actually are 'fat' by my elite cycling friends.
http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:6KSTb2eXiRAJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,40
not sure that link will work but there is a PDF of the original floating around but it doesn't like to download well.
Interesting stuff to consider/think about. Even if I'm pretty lukewarm on Active's generation of content...
and finally
Train your BRAIN! http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=9981
Alex has mentioned it in the VO2Max not max article he wrote, the brain has more control than is given credit.
it is easier to buy a power tap and pay a trainer to write you a work out schedule do FT tests and pedal harder.
but what about the brain?
Marvin's been great over the years, and I'm looking forward to his writings on his blog:http://marvzauderer.wordpress.com/
I will also be curious to see what new ideas Jim Taylor brings to PEZhttp://drjimtaylor.com/2.0/aboutdrjimtaylor/
A bit about what the kenyans eat and stuff - (they're a bunch of fatasses)
I don't like how Active dot com does their articles (no dates on when they were written and sometimes recycled content from other sources) But this is a good one. (i pulled the active link... and left one to the miami)
Oh here - quick sourcing finds:
http://www.multisportmiami.com/blog1/2010/07/262/ (with a date on it).
The article doesn't seem to be new, the sources are no more recent than 2004.
Here is a more recent primary article about Ethiopian distance runners:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3117768/?tool=pubmed
With very similar findings. High carbohydrates. But these are also 'kids.' Metabolism is not the same as old master racers or the part of the population of athletes trying to hit race weight. Also, it would seem as noted from the Kenya study that they actually are 'fat' by my elite cycling friends.
http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:6KSTb2eXiRAJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,40
not sure that link will work but there is a PDF of the original floating around but it doesn't like to download well.
Interesting stuff to consider/think about. Even if I'm pretty lukewarm on Active's generation of content...
and finally
Great Advice:
1. Stop eating diet food
2. Don’t count calories
3. Spend more time with food
4. Eat before you eat
5. Don’t even try battling temptation
6. Go to bed hungry
7. Get off the scale
8. Don’t eat when stressed
9. Be forgiving
10. Your best advice here….please share!
1. Stop eating diet food
2. Don’t count calories
3. Spend more time with food
4. Eat before you eat
5. Don’t even try battling temptation
6. Go to bed hungry
7. Get off the scale
8. Don’t eat when stressed
9. Be forgiving
10. Your best advice here….please share!
Monday, January 02, 2012
New Year Ride
I did manage to get outside for a very very brief ride yesterday between feeding the girls and sunset.
I just jumped on the Blue and hit my course for three laps, two close to race pace, then did a couple laps over on the one Curtis laid out, one of those as full speed.
I was riding at the edge of control and it was fast, and it felt awesome. Lines that i'd had trouble with by design seemed easy yesterday. There was a synergy I felt on the bike, and with the course. Sure it probably has something to do with the fact that I laid it out and have ridden a couple dozen laps over a week or so. I added a new wrinkle yesterday that I liked. Always riding it with the thought, what would I do to make it harder, longer. Where would the stakes and tape go. I like riding like that. The last lap was a slower one, thinking about placement, and the one off camber drop in section seemed ridiculously smooth and fun. Thoughts of the different courses were bouncing in my head. What makes some better than others, more fun, harder. Watching a lot of the euro CX this week was different than normal. No "why can't we have courses like that here." More of a "How could we tweak out courses to be harder and more physically demanding?" I do think Colin has a solid handle on it. Most of the turns on his course are greater than or equal to 90° (or all acute angles if you measure the inside turn angle).
Look at the nationals course map that was published some time ago. All sweeping wide open turns, seems to be like a 22psi file tread course where you just put it in the big ring, disconnect the brakes and go as hard as you can. Compared to what it could be and the land they seem to have (from the overhead shot) I would expect more of a Bend course or something. Even Catamount has some good challenging turns you can't take a full speed. Plenty that you can though.
Weather is nothing anyone can control and is a huge factor. If Belgium had been rain free for the last two or three weeks the courses would have looked very different. Bit it rained. And they chewed the hell out of the course and it made for incredible racing. Well until everyone got sick and Sven showed why he is Wonder Boy.
I set out on the ride yesterday because I was not maybe feeling as chipper as I could be. It was 55°F mid-day but I wasn't riding, and by the time it was time to head out the thermocouple was saying it 49°F and falling. And the sun had disappeared behind the clouds.
Riding fixes everything, right?
No, plenty of stuff it doesn't fix of course.
But the ride kind of made it all worse in way. Everything was perfect on the bike. But the ride can't last forever. It had to end. Much like the cyclocross season. And right now there really isn't anything on the horizon that is taking the place of it. That kind of bums me out...
And yes... the horizon in the images are not level, just tilt your head.
heddwch
G
I was riding at the edge of control and it was fast, and it felt awesome. Lines that i'd had trouble with by design seemed easy yesterday. There was a synergy I felt on the bike, and with the course. Sure it probably has something to do with the fact that I laid it out and have ridden a couple dozen laps over a week or so. I added a new wrinkle yesterday that I liked. Always riding it with the thought, what would I do to make it harder, longer. Where would the stakes and tape go. I like riding like that. The last lap was a slower one, thinking about placement, and the one off camber drop in section seemed ridiculously smooth and fun. Thoughts of the different courses were bouncing in my head. What makes some better than others, more fun, harder. Watching a lot of the euro CX this week was different than normal. No "why can't we have courses like that here." More of a "How could we tweak out courses to be harder and more physically demanding?" I do think Colin has a solid handle on it. Most of the turns on his course are greater than or equal to 90° (or all acute angles if you measure the inside turn angle).
Look at the nationals course map that was published some time ago. All sweeping wide open turns, seems to be like a 22psi file tread course where you just put it in the big ring, disconnect the brakes and go as hard as you can. Compared to what it could be and the land they seem to have (from the overhead shot) I would expect more of a Bend course or something. Even Catamount has some good challenging turns you can't take a full speed. Plenty that you can though.
Weather is nothing anyone can control and is a huge factor. If Belgium had been rain free for the last two or three weeks the courses would have looked very different. Bit it rained. And they chewed the hell out of the course and it made for incredible racing. Well until everyone got sick and Sven showed why he is Wonder Boy.
Riding fixes everything, right?
No, plenty of stuff it doesn't fix of course.
But the ride kind of made it all worse in way. Everything was perfect on the bike. But the ride can't last forever. It had to end. Much like the cyclocross season. And right now there really isn't anything on the horizon that is taking the place of it. That kind of bums me out...
And yes... the horizon in the images are not level, just tilt your head.
heddwch
G
Sunday, January 01, 2012
truth
Remember that we're all the same assholes today we were yesterday. Every day is a new chance to smash this life, not just today -AM
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Every year brings new challenges, what is 2012 going to offer up...
we shall see in 2013, as we don't know till we're through and can look back.
Every year brings new challenges, what is 2012 going to offer up...
we shall see in 2013, as we don't know till we're through and can look back.
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