so many heavy hitters and fast kids showed up. It was awesome.
it was also brutally hard.
Most of the time initiating and setting pace with co-old guy who's faster than me CB... was great and then he hit a bump and his cervelo made a weird crack noise and i went to take over and someone went around both of us... and then BLEW through the stop sign.
Oh, sure, no cars were coming, no big deal, but if there was a car coming that guy would have been a hood ornament with his fancy Zipps and fancy frame.
Woodward was fast. Prospect was pretty pedestrian, We rolled down Broad/Jacob me coasting and fat ass rolling over 30 mph w/o pedaling in the lead, and then the kid Jonathan attacks at the bottom heading towards the townline that Brier splatted himself with the worn out cleats, and we sort of chilled and let him go sort of. Bailey took up the chase, maybe David or BG or i dunno someone else too. Hit Pine?
Ouchymotherfucker.
Sonsofbitches kind of crushed it.
But i dangled just off but sort of close enough to lead the charge from the danglers... we rejoined a 4 wide road hog gaggle of the fast guys chit chatting on Homestead.
And then Rocky Mother Fucking Hill.
The kids hit it hard, I was 3rd wheel into the turn and it felt not terrible, then second then, fuck it we're going downhill and i'm coasting faster than the little guy pedaling in front of me so I might as well pass him and drag everyone along in my draft....
and then it pitches up... I'm in contact but paying for early efforts. drift back... we get close to the attack point, Burke asks if I want a lead out, I admit my legs are hosed and that maybe he should lead out the kid Jonathan.... He jumps but Justin C is listening and gets on the wheel before Jonathan can and Burke drags him up and JC crushes the sprint. It was good, it was fun and I got kind of dangled again. Shocking.
Regrouped at the bottom, lost a handful, a good handful with the Rocky Hill blast... I took the lead when I finally got back to them and held a steady tempo in the 20-22 range up to the base of Hillside... Then KABLAM
the attacks happened and I did the big guy thing of holding my own fucking tempo, as fast as I can go up but sustained in a i got a second climb soon manner. Could I have gone faster? Maybe, but man it didn't feel like it. Maybe if i was motivated by something not there... I'd said re-group at the stop sign.
I was going so slow up the second half that Kyle and his gang of awesome people (brent, greve, mary, whoeverelse i forget) caught me and we all coalesced on Pine.
Fancy Audi wants to pass, I shout SINGLE UP, and not one motherfucker who's 2 wide does shit. Greve Orlando, I dunno who else, 2 wide and WIDE and we're going slow and I'm palpably feeling the animosity we're creating.
Eventually we crest the hill - there's no cars coming so I sit up and wave Audi guy past despite the idiots who decided that the world exists for themselves and yeah - grumble... and I go to the front, and drag everyone up to Read, oncoming car, we wait, then head down my favorite stretch.
Last week though Fox got me on the segment by enough seconds to make a difference on Strava and that's aggravating but also cool, he's gone. But given the firepower tonight I decided to tone it back on that section, save it for the next one, Bailey liked that idea, why dump so many watts? We chilled, we rolled on through, and lined up for the final stretch on walked and Bailey fucking LIT IT UP.
ZOOM
Oh shit - i latched on... and shortly he peeled off... so i drop every watt saved and burn through the matchbook and pull off and got promptly dropped, but wound up just setting my own tempo and not feeling bad about that interval/effort.
And we rolled back in grand style,
to the new start point
where there were markedly few Poke your Mom, OK? players than when we rolled out.
It kind of sucked being slow as I was, but not being the slowest and having some legs now and then even with the equipment handicap, i suppose not so terrible.
Progress... i guess...
we're doing the motherfucking TT on Thursday, so show up for that.
Tonight was good. 14 people at the start which is pretty big for us, we picked up a 15th, lost one or two somewhere along the way, maybe more, I dunno, but it really wound up being a great night on the bike.
A group ride with rules and a loud big slow pissed off asshole yelling at people who were fucking up.
aka order was demanded...
or something...
a good night... dinner of salad and beer maybe not quite enough.... still hungry but not really hungry, sort of ambiguous, am i hungry? i dunno i could eat, but what? i dunno, does that mean i'm not really hungry? maybe, have some water and go to sleep knucklehead.
next up... whatever is next up...
whatever that brings...
oh the Bandit TT... that's what's up.
6pm Tremont street, the old bikeworks course, we're making it happen, i guess maybe i'm just not cut out for doing the whole sanctioning body thing, more of a bandit race kind of person...
show up and race yourself. we'll give you a time and rank you, but for nothing more than practice for ourselves... and for incentivizing y'all to do a nice 8 mile TT, for 4 weeks, maybe even having some momento to take as being fastest or slowest or just there all the time. Don't worry, i'm ineligable this time, no double bottle of champagne for just showing up. Not sure i actually even ever drank it, may still be at my brother's... brunch and mimosas and contributions and probably only if maybe had a sip of the bottle. All for the best. Perhaps.
gotta make it happen... one way or the motherfucking other...
now maybe sleep?
or complain about the Okay Go Poke your mom zombies that are making the bike path menacingly dangerous?
or be grateful that my kids aren't hooked on it?
tomorrow's gonna kind of suck by maybe there will be something redeeming about it that I can find.
probably easier to find that if i stop writing and actually go to sleep... or try to...
or go find something to eat...
hmmm
best probably to end the blog post before i go on about Lucky's or something...
heddwch
G
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Monday, July 11, 2016
resignation
admitting that i'm pretty much a failure at most everything, well so maybe I'm also mostly resigned to having higher aspirations than I can attain.
Too many Outrageous goals, not enough realistic goals, and zero easily attainable goals.
Outrageous goal that hit the dust? USAC sanctioned TT...
oh well...
next year, at least i have dates and will be better at getting it all lined up and organized at that point, now that i've just gone through the list of shit that needs to happen, reaching out to the LA was good but when i asked about deadlines and help i kind of got nothing useful regarding deadlines or what needed to happen - but that's okay, I probably asked the questions wrong or was given the assumption that I knew more than I do. All my fault.
But hey. Gotta do the gd TT anyway right? Line that shit up, even if we just Strava score it.
Yesterday i just gave up, so tired, needed to go shopping, rode bike in with trailer instead of working at the shop down in Warwick again. Kind of sucks but kind of needed the break.
Fewest miles/week in a long time. Fewest hours too. But also some decent ones. good quality (well until i hit the wall saturday night riding home).
This week's gonna be tough but hopefully new start location for the Smackdown works and hopefully we can get started with the TT this week.
or not...
or
i should probably have eaten lunch instead of writing.
oops
heddwch
G
Too many Outrageous goals, not enough realistic goals, and zero easily attainable goals.
Outrageous goal that hit the dust? USAC sanctioned TT...
oh well...
next year, at least i have dates and will be better at getting it all lined up and organized at that point, now that i've just gone through the list of shit that needs to happen, reaching out to the LA was good but when i asked about deadlines and help i kind of got nothing useful regarding deadlines or what needed to happen - but that's okay, I probably asked the questions wrong or was given the assumption that I knew more than I do. All my fault.
But hey. Gotta do the gd TT anyway right? Line that shit up, even if we just Strava score it.
Yesterday i just gave up, so tired, needed to go shopping, rode bike in with trailer instead of working at the shop down in Warwick again. Kind of sucks but kind of needed the break.
Fewest miles/week in a long time. Fewest hours too. But also some decent ones. good quality (well until i hit the wall saturday night riding home).
This week's gonna be tough but hopefully new start location for the Smackdown works and hopefully we can get started with the TT this week.
or not...
or
i should probably have eaten lunch instead of writing.
oops
heddwch
G
Saturday, July 09, 2016
late writer the morning after revision
more and more, wind up writing late at night.
And that's not a good thing. But then there are mountains of things as smart as me writing right now.
like bringing up politics
watching how keen people are pretty on justifying their allegiance to the dem party's selected heir no matter what sort of conspiracy bullshit has happened to rig the delegate vote, or how they never really ever bring up any policies or what this one brings, as in none of the issues matter and very sounding like the other party. Funny thing is, those who are rabidly socially promoting or defending that one really don't sound any different than those supporting the guy wearing a weave on his head. Pretty much no different.
Yeah it still bugs the ever living shit out of me. And yeah shouldn't write about it but... i am eh?
Don't care, well i do, or I wouldn't say anything. Totally care about something else but have laid low for a while about it I guess. What else?
Sugar,
Sure, I've identified recently that is has a place in sprinter/CX training/racing but for the baseline diet? Well you know i've been railing against sugar for how long? YOGURT WARS BITCHES, that NH company who over sweetens everything who's owned by Dannon yeah, remember way back when? If yogurt is good why do you need to add soda level amount of sugar to it? I like it plain, if you don't like it plain well fuck off and don't eat it. But funny thing is, take sugar out, or like Necco found out, take artificial coloring out (hell even leaving sugar in there) and people stop buying it. And to me? That's a fucking WIN. but companies don't make as much money when people don't buy as much so that's kind of not good.
And hey remember that anti-cancer book? the one with menus that sound a whole hell of an awful lot like what Tim Noakes and Taubes have been saying for years? The point that i've been making for 8-9? (Solobreak can probably give you a date without even looking it up) is that the increase of cancer and the rise of type 2 diabetes are linked.
But, yeah, I know, I'm punch you in your face confrontational, w/o ever laying a hand on anyone, polarizing, i remember too much, see too much, connect the dots too well. Yeah no, you can't both ask me nearly the same questions w/in an hour of each other and expect me not to make the connection.
I could barely keep my eyes open when I got home tonight. I shoveled food into my mouth, nearly passed out, then turned on rabbit ear TV, watched the end of the last boy scout, and all of Mercury Rising. A couple of stinker 90s films from Bruce W's prime, and yeah, in his prime good films, nah better unedited, but so 90s and so actually topical for today.
but i guess only topical if you're being blind to the conspiracy...
or not, i'm just an unhappy middle age white dude, working his ass off
At least my storyline will be easy to write. Oh wait, not really...
I've gone from top 20 in the country participating in the NBC to top 100? fuck, what a slide man...
and hey, btw, it sucks.
can i re-do the month of May? maybe starting next week? oh wait, no, maybe the week after... nvm... month out... booked... maybe August? I can dream, no, wait. They involve stuff about riding with... yeah nope, no dreaming.
But I can still ride. I can still ride even when i'm wishing i'd brought more lunch while trying to ride back home totally cracked.
I could say I don't give a shit who reads this, I could say that, it might be true, but probably isn't, but also? Totally don't care.
and that's kind of the point, but also not the point, point is to get it out of my head, take a snapshot of the state of the brain, document. FOR science bitches... or because science or because I dunno.
why bother otherwise?
I've never had anything worthwhile to talk about before, to say, nothing worth anyone's time more than just being entertained by the creepy tall guy in the corner who's being quiet and unknowingly staring at people.
on display... how can you not be as freakish as i am?
latest shake up at the bike shop has me a bit worried to be honest... not that anyone would care, of if they did could do anything about or, would be more than like "shit sorry, life sucks i don't control the purse, good luck"
and yet i'm awake after nearly passing out at 7pm....
was wide awake from 4:40 until 6:30, slept really well until 8 then tossed guiltily knowing i had intended to leave the house at 8:30 to go to work, but didn't get out of here till much later, but still got enough done to make it worth riding over, offer is open to head back today, contemplating driving, but then when do I ride, probably as soon as I wake up, if i get up early enough, and then it would be a solo ride...
I'd keep rambling...
but to what end?
#onelove #ridingbikes
heddwch
G
And that's not a good thing. But then there are mountains of things as smart as me writing right now.
like bringing up politics
watching how keen people are pretty on justifying their allegiance to the dem party's selected heir no matter what sort of conspiracy bullshit has happened to rig the delegate vote, or how they never really ever bring up any policies or what this one brings, as in none of the issues matter and very sounding like the other party. Funny thing is, those who are rabidly socially promoting or defending that one really don't sound any different than those supporting the guy wearing a weave on his head. Pretty much no different.
Yeah it still bugs the ever living shit out of me. And yeah shouldn't write about it but... i am eh?
Don't care, well i do, or I wouldn't say anything. Totally care about something else but have laid low for a while about it I guess. What else?
Sugar,
Sure, I've identified recently that is has a place in sprinter/CX training/racing but for the baseline diet? Well you know i've been railing against sugar for how long? YOGURT WARS BITCHES, that NH company who over sweetens everything who's owned by Dannon yeah, remember way back when? If yogurt is good why do you need to add soda level amount of sugar to it? I like it plain, if you don't like it plain well fuck off and don't eat it. But funny thing is, take sugar out, or like Necco found out, take artificial coloring out (hell even leaving sugar in there) and people stop buying it. And to me? That's a fucking WIN. but companies don't make as much money when people don't buy as much so that's kind of not good.
And hey remember that anti-cancer book? the one with menus that sound a whole hell of an awful lot like what Tim Noakes and Taubes have been saying for years? The point that i've been making for 8-9? (Solobreak can probably give you a date without even looking it up) is that the increase of cancer and the rise of type 2 diabetes are linked.
But, yeah, I know, I'm punch you in your face confrontational, w/o ever laying a hand on anyone, polarizing, i remember too much, see too much, connect the dots too well. Yeah no, you can't both ask me nearly the same questions w/in an hour of each other and expect me not to make the connection.
I could barely keep my eyes open when I got home tonight. I shoveled food into my mouth, nearly passed out, then turned on rabbit ear TV, watched the end of the last boy scout, and all of Mercury Rising. A couple of stinker 90s films from Bruce W's prime, and yeah, in his prime good films, nah better unedited, but so 90s and so actually topical for today.
but i guess only topical if you're being blind to the conspiracy...
or not, i'm just an unhappy middle age white dude, working his ass off
At least my storyline will be easy to write. Oh wait, not really...
I've gone from top 20 in the country participating in the NBC to top 100? fuck, what a slide man...
and hey, btw, it sucks.
can i re-do the month of May? maybe starting next week? oh wait, no, maybe the week after... nvm... month out... booked... maybe August? I can dream, no, wait. They involve stuff about riding with... yeah nope, no dreaming.
But I can still ride. I can still ride even when i'm wishing i'd brought more lunch while trying to ride back home totally cracked.
I could say I don't give a shit who reads this, I could say that, it might be true, but probably isn't, but also? Totally don't care.
and that's kind of the point, but also not the point, point is to get it out of my head, take a snapshot of the state of the brain, document. FOR science bitches... or because science or because I dunno.
why bother otherwise?
I've never had anything worthwhile to talk about before, to say, nothing worth anyone's time more than just being entertained by the creepy tall guy in the corner who's being quiet and unknowingly staring at people.
on display... how can you not be as freakish as i am?
latest shake up at the bike shop has me a bit worried to be honest... not that anyone would care, of if they did could do anything about or, would be more than like "shit sorry, life sucks i don't control the purse, good luck"
and yet i'm awake after nearly passing out at 7pm....
was wide awake from 4:40 until 6:30, slept really well until 8 then tossed guiltily knowing i had intended to leave the house at 8:30 to go to work, but didn't get out of here till much later, but still got enough done to make it worth riding over, offer is open to head back today, contemplating driving, but then when do I ride, probably as soon as I wake up, if i get up early enough, and then it would be a solo ride...
I'd keep rambling...
but to what end?
#onelove #ridingbikes
heddwch
G
Thursday, July 07, 2016
F'n A
Cruising back final 8 min suffer session done, I felt awesome.
Felt good.
Just lost in the music, the pain, the inability to go more than 12 mph into the wind shelled kind of good.
And dancing. How do you dance when you're pedaling? with your upper body, and Tiesto's Club Life always has good danceable tracks.
of course i forgot that i had put A.C. Reed's 'These Blues are Killing Me' as an rest track between Metallica's 'The End of the Line' and Voodoo & Serano's 'Blood Is Pumpin' (Club Mix)'
oof
But man so much better. So it was only an hour, Three ~8 min sessions that i hope were kind of consistent, i haven't looked at the data yet, but I did record the data. It wasn't blistering fast but I was on the slow wheels on the black blue and there was a very light tailwind in one direction and well yeah the opposite in the other.
YES - i know terrible, doing intervals on the bike path. HORRIBLE. Except it had just rained, and super humid. And well, true to form the path was almost empty, a few very fit looking women intently running, a few dudes matching the same description, one clueless chinese couple, and a few other regular walkers and commuters. Not bad.
And it felt good.
And I came home and made a Tahini dressing for the salad for dinner.
1/2 lemon, juiced and zest microplaned off
1" ginger root (microplaned into pulpy deliciousness)
3 good size cloves of garlic
equal parts:
Balsamic, Org. Apple Cider, Org. seasoned Rice Vinegars. (1-2 tablespoones each if i was going to guess)
2-4 tablespoons (until it looks good) of Organic Shoyu sauce
Fresh ground black pepper (1 teaspoon)
1/2-1 teaspoon of mustard powder (bind the oils with the other stuff)
Put all that in screw top container and shake the everliving shit out of it. I mean seriously Shake it until it is totally consistently homogenous.
then add
1/4-1/2 cup Tahini
and then add some kick ass olive oil (i am totally going for the best $/flavor and the 365 brand crushes it)
how much? Until the Tahini/oilve oil layer is about 60% total volume.
Put the cap back on the jar and shake the ever loving shit out of it again. And then do it again.
and serve over whatever you want, salad, chicken, steak, it will even make ditchweed the most delicious meal of the day. Don't take my word for it, try it yourself, or if you're culinarily challenged cut and paste the important parts and hand it to your designated cooking person and let them make some magic for you.
...
And yeah so much heavy shit coming down... in the midst of it I haven't been able to work on the collection from my Dad on the SEM/Nanoscape stuff, haven't been able to go for a long all day ride much less commute to work on the bike or even take the long way in, AND the TT is hanging over my head, gotta make that happen too.
That's what's probably getting to me most, that and phone totally absolutely fucking with me at the wrong times. It is working totally good when I don't really need it and when I need to rely on it (like picking up my daughter) it completely fucking flakes and that's just not cool, but fathers and daughters aren't supposed to have smooth good relationships between her age of what 14-24? or something? I dunno, just guessing. And the phone issues are definitely helping work on that.
The collection though. I have a few images that are scheduled to post on nanoscape tomorrow... more and more artist friends keep showing up with .net profiles... maybe .com ain't all it is made up to be, which means I need to find time to work on the page and get shit together.
When though? I dunno.
I never could juggle very well at least in the literal sense... but man, this performance of keeping all these objects from hitting the ground probably would impress the most cynical critic, but then probably not, because that's me and i'm kind of thinking i could do better.
Goddamn i'm gonna mix Fox, but he was right, David B has enough positive mental attitude to give Fox 50% of it and me 50% and still have enough left over to be the most positive motherfucker you'll ever meet. And that's not taking away anything from the intensely amazing GOLDBERG, and yes Cutler and all the single track between there and the Washington Square Tavern that day are probably still echoing me shouting 'GOLDBERG'
I am one lucky SOB, but the alignment of everything never feels like it... but that's probably me being a hyper critical motherfucker who's not willing to settle for this bullshit the establishment is pulling... or something.... but it doesn't matter, mostly because there was at one point the glimpse of perfection, the glimpse at everything lining up.... I saw what maybe could have been, could be, because i'm me, i had to be unselfish and was allowed to be exploited. To be honest another fear is the hope that my spidy senses are telling me something that isn't correct... but that's another tale for another day...
Bike pedaling is good, and while i was dancing to the tunes on the bike path after the rain... I realized....
I really like bikes, and I really like turning wrenches on bikes and I really like riding them... even if I completely suck and may never ever finish on the lead lap at nationals, if I ever finish another one.... Would have been kind of cool if the juiced up roid rage Feldman who hasn't made an appearance recently didn't lap me at the first one (how many did lap me? maybe just him, i was so traumatized by his abject assholeness hostility i didn't notice anyone else).
I should head over to Lucky's in EP and raise a pint in honor of Fox, and the waitress we had, but yeah that's not happening.
So I'm gonna wash the grime off and maybe just f'n sleep. Or not.
Maybe I'll write more tomorrow, or maybe not.
Who knows. I want to know what book it was I read, and then loaned to my HS gf with the words "this book is more me than anything I've ever read" which book? I dunno, but it was in the pile she gave me to put in the car just before she broke up with me on a day off... when I was working full days but with the commutes I was tied up 14+ hrs a day that summer... not good for social life I guess, or maybe there were other reasons (that i'm crazy and no one who actually gets to know me every still stays friends with me - but then that's probably a good thing - and some day I'll figure out how to deal with it.... maybe).
I don't bottle it up and pack it in very well do i. nope. but that's okay, lets have another beer, finish cooking the beans for the burritos tomorrow and maybe fall asleep way too late.... and not talk about any of this on the internet or in person ever again.
this weblog doesn't count as internet, not with as little traffic as it gets....
so yeah,
heddwch
G
Felt good.
Just lost in the music, the pain, the inability to go more than 12 mph into the wind shelled kind of good.
And dancing. How do you dance when you're pedaling? with your upper body, and Tiesto's Club Life always has good danceable tracks.
of course i forgot that i had put A.C. Reed's 'These Blues are Killing Me' as an rest track between Metallica's 'The End of the Line' and Voodoo & Serano's 'Blood Is Pumpin' (Club Mix)'
oof
But man so much better. So it was only an hour, Three ~8 min sessions that i hope were kind of consistent, i haven't looked at the data yet, but I did record the data. It wasn't blistering fast but I was on the slow wheels on the black blue and there was a very light tailwind in one direction and well yeah the opposite in the other.
YES - i know terrible, doing intervals on the bike path. HORRIBLE. Except it had just rained, and super humid. And well, true to form the path was almost empty, a few very fit looking women intently running, a few dudes matching the same description, one clueless chinese couple, and a few other regular walkers and commuters. Not bad.
And it felt good.
And I came home and made a Tahini dressing for the salad for dinner.
1/2 lemon, juiced and zest microplaned off
1" ginger root (microplaned into pulpy deliciousness)
3 good size cloves of garlic
equal parts:
Balsamic, Org. Apple Cider, Org. seasoned Rice Vinegars. (1-2 tablespoones each if i was going to guess)
2-4 tablespoons (until it looks good) of Organic Shoyu sauce
Fresh ground black pepper (1 teaspoon)
1/2-1 teaspoon of mustard powder (bind the oils with the other stuff)
Put all that in screw top container and shake the everliving shit out of it. I mean seriously Shake it until it is totally consistently homogenous.
then add
1/4-1/2 cup Tahini
and then add some kick ass olive oil (i am totally going for the best $/flavor and the 365 brand crushes it)
how much? Until the Tahini/oilve oil layer is about 60% total volume.
Put the cap back on the jar and shake the ever loving shit out of it again. And then do it again.
and serve over whatever you want, salad, chicken, steak, it will even make ditchweed the most delicious meal of the day. Don't take my word for it, try it yourself, or if you're culinarily challenged cut and paste the important parts and hand it to your designated cooking person and let them make some magic for you.
...
And yeah so much heavy shit coming down... in the midst of it I haven't been able to work on the collection from my Dad on the SEM/Nanoscape stuff, haven't been able to go for a long all day ride much less commute to work on the bike or even take the long way in, AND the TT is hanging over my head, gotta make that happen too.
That's what's probably getting to me most, that and phone totally absolutely fucking with me at the wrong times. It is working totally good when I don't really need it and when I need to rely on it (like picking up my daughter) it completely fucking flakes and that's just not cool, but fathers and daughters aren't supposed to have smooth good relationships between her age of what 14-24? or something? I dunno, just guessing. And the phone issues are definitely helping work on that.
The collection though. I have a few images that are scheduled to post on nanoscape tomorrow... more and more artist friends keep showing up with .net profiles... maybe .com ain't all it is made up to be, which means I need to find time to work on the page and get shit together.
When though? I dunno.
I never could juggle very well at least in the literal sense... but man, this performance of keeping all these objects from hitting the ground probably would impress the most cynical critic, but then probably not, because that's me and i'm kind of thinking i could do better.
Goddamn i'm gonna mix Fox, but he was right, David B has enough positive mental attitude to give Fox 50% of it and me 50% and still have enough left over to be the most positive motherfucker you'll ever meet. And that's not taking away anything from the intensely amazing GOLDBERG, and yes Cutler and all the single track between there and the Washington Square Tavern that day are probably still echoing me shouting 'GOLDBERG'
I am one lucky SOB, but the alignment of everything never feels like it... but that's probably me being a hyper critical motherfucker who's not willing to settle for this bullshit the establishment is pulling... or something.... but it doesn't matter, mostly because there was at one point the glimpse of perfection, the glimpse at everything lining up.... I saw what maybe could have been, could be, because i'm me, i had to be unselfish and was allowed to be exploited. To be honest another fear is the hope that my spidy senses are telling me something that isn't correct... but that's another tale for another day...
Bike pedaling is good, and while i was dancing to the tunes on the bike path after the rain... I realized....
I really like bikes, and I really like turning wrenches on bikes and I really like riding them... even if I completely suck and may never ever finish on the lead lap at nationals, if I ever finish another one.... Would have been kind of cool if the juiced up roid rage Feldman who hasn't made an appearance recently didn't lap me at the first one (how many did lap me? maybe just him, i was so traumatized by his abject assholeness hostility i didn't notice anyone else).
I should head over to Lucky's in EP and raise a pint in honor of Fox, and the waitress we had, but yeah that's not happening.
So I'm gonna wash the grime off and maybe just f'n sleep. Or not.
Maybe I'll write more tomorrow, or maybe not.
Who knows. I want to know what book it was I read, and then loaned to my HS gf with the words "this book is more me than anything I've ever read" which book? I dunno, but it was in the pile she gave me to put in the car just before she broke up with me on a day off... when I was working full days but with the commutes I was tied up 14+ hrs a day that summer... not good for social life I guess, or maybe there were other reasons (that i'm crazy and no one who actually gets to know me every still stays friends with me - but then that's probably a good thing - and some day I'll figure out how to deal with it.... maybe).
I don't bottle it up and pack it in very well do i. nope. but that's okay, lets have another beer, finish cooking the beans for the burritos tomorrow and maybe fall asleep way too late.... and not talk about any of this on the internet or in person ever again.
this weblog doesn't count as internet, not with as little traffic as it gets....
so yeah,
heddwch
G
so close to pulling the plug
on riding today,
but can't really,
feeling compelled,
knowing it will help,
so much smashy needs to happen...
Looking at the mileage totals and everything and knowing tomorrow isn't a commute to work day (stay home with kid day) ... maybe can make something happen tomorrow.
Possibly just go out and cue up the old 3x8min playlist and do some leg smashy intervals.
This probably is going to be the lightest week, although who knows what is going to happen this weekend. Working at the PVD location looks sketchy, i don't have a bench yet and the second stand really isn't ready to go either so one stand makes it tough. Not sure how that's going to resolve itself.
But, hey, lightest week? okay, I got some sort of okay and pretty consistent hill repeat 2 min high torque low cadence work on Monday, smackdown tuesday, recovery day wednesday and some 8 min smashy now?
Not bad. But dinner is going to be late. Or we're having leftovers (totally a serious possibility).
Also phone was dead when I got home. Massive miss-communication trying to pick my daughter up because my phone is having major issues with fucking everything if anything changes (like going off wireless or trying to unlock it or whatnot) so that raised the holy crap smashy level and got asked "can you just ride without it?" NO HOW WILL I STRAVA IT I CAN'T NOT HAVE RECORD BECAUSE I'M ADDICTED TO THE DATA AND IT AUTOMATICALLY REPORTS TO NATIONAL BIKE CHALLENGE AND IF I HAD A STAND ALONE GPS DEVICE THAT I COULD UPLOAD W/O NEEDING A COMPUTER (using phone would work) THEN I COULD JUST RIDE. I didn't say that, i just said, "not really".
okay - maybe there's enough power in it now, mobile data is the big drain and that's off nearly 100% of the time. Because yeah, what's the point of having a mobile device that's dead when you need it, might as well be able to turn it on if needed but only when needed. Or something.
Man i need a whole day in the saddle on the bike away from everything. Which I shouldn't if everything was awesome and all that. But things aren't bad, and spending a day on the bike to help, well does help in lots of ways.
Just would help if I could.
smashy time
heddwch
g
but can't really,
feeling compelled,
knowing it will help,
so much smashy needs to happen...
Looking at the mileage totals and everything and knowing tomorrow isn't a commute to work day (stay home with kid day) ... maybe can make something happen tomorrow.
Possibly just go out and cue up the old 3x8min playlist and do some leg smashy intervals.
This probably is going to be the lightest week, although who knows what is going to happen this weekend. Working at the PVD location looks sketchy, i don't have a bench yet and the second stand really isn't ready to go either so one stand makes it tough. Not sure how that's going to resolve itself.
But, hey, lightest week? okay, I got some sort of okay and pretty consistent hill repeat 2 min high torque low cadence work on Monday, smackdown tuesday, recovery day wednesday and some 8 min smashy now?
Not bad. But dinner is going to be late. Or we're having leftovers (totally a serious possibility).
Also phone was dead when I got home. Massive miss-communication trying to pick my daughter up because my phone is having major issues with fucking everything if anything changes (like going off wireless or trying to unlock it or whatnot) so that raised the holy crap smashy level and got asked "can you just ride without it?" NO HOW WILL I STRAVA IT I CAN'T NOT HAVE RECORD BECAUSE I'M ADDICTED TO THE DATA AND IT AUTOMATICALLY REPORTS TO NATIONAL BIKE CHALLENGE AND IF I HAD A STAND ALONE GPS DEVICE THAT I COULD UPLOAD W/O NEEDING A COMPUTER (using phone would work) THEN I COULD JUST RIDE. I didn't say that, i just said, "not really".
okay - maybe there's enough power in it now, mobile data is the big drain and that's off nearly 100% of the time. Because yeah, what's the point of having a mobile device that's dead when you need it, might as well be able to turn it on if needed but only when needed. Or something.
Man i need a whole day in the saddle on the bike away from everything. Which I shouldn't if everything was awesome and all that. But things aren't bad, and spending a day on the bike to help, well does help in lots of ways.
Just would help if I could.
smashy time
heddwch
g
Tuesday, July 05, 2016
HOLY CRAP THAT WAS HARD
#TWSS
sorry - honestly referring to how hard Smackdown was... i'll refrain from any further comments about hardness or more appropriately lack their of, but hey par for the course as i get older and older...
Was nice, one of the young kids tonight said 45 wasn't that old.... BWAHAHAHA fuck... I just wish I was this fast when i was young enough to do something with realizing the potential... although i don't think I had it then. It took 20 fucking years to become a cyclist and I really didn't start until I was already drinking so - do the math... double screwed except divide that by 2 and multiply by zero to get the number of screws.
Although that math doesn't work out if you're screwed? State of my brain right now.
Shit going sideways in a hurricane... summer round here.
Dogs freaking out with the booms, not sure what else, ever constant changing wild card schedule all summer, ever week different, can't plan for anything. How to make it all happen.
Kind of want one more beer but it is 11:10 and well... i dunno, gonna write and stuff instead of cracking another one. Probably should NOT write and should crack another one, but then that would be smart and i've never been anything of the sort. Ever.
So many things just simmering, don't bump the stove, and increase in the flame will cause a boil over and that's messy and impossible to clean up.
Tonight? All i can say is smackdown/TT fueling? DEFINITELY gotta go with the Bagel Gourmet Burrito in PVD. The other element from '13 probably didn't hurt but maybe it was just the burrito after all?
missing miles, need miles... need lots of miles... days of miles... but hey, wait, shit's gotta happen. Next week is already totally fucking booked and it is only Tuesday. Not sure it is really a good thing that there is only one of me, and that only I do my job. "Yay" for job security, "boo" for holyshit i have to work double when i'm there to not be there when I'm not which is weird from a support position when sometimes just being here is reading and writing and not doing much (happening less and less lately, why? -oh right- expansion, more PIs more grad students more people using the same resources... theme repeated everywhere I know).
Smackdown, I made it work, I hung on, was given a gracious reprieve by the super fast three and allowed to re-join. We picked up a few more and had a grand old group returning and it still was tough, about puked twice, and I have an iron stomach. Effort was that intense.
Fox's farewell... gonna miss that crafty little son-of-a-bitch more than he'll realize.
Sucks but at least got to celebrate his departure in style at Lucky's. Maybe i'll have to go back to mourn his loss. Or have a pint in his honor.
I should sleep, the one commodity that's been fleeting that i have control ovecr except i'm kind of wide awake at the moment.
At least the boom booms have subsided and the dogs are calming down. Thanks alot a-holes.
Or maybe it is my fault for having a member of the family who's terrified of the explosions, yeah, i'm sure that's it. Smash shit? yeah sounds like fun. Except i shredded my legs tonight and can't really stand well despite having no where near enough beer to make them not feel like shit, but that's sort of the balance between may and june, right?
May is frustratingly angelic and June's the devil so when you get in the arms of July you think you're in heaven... copywrited and shit but it probably already has been said but if not, it doesn't matter.
tomorrow brings what tomorrow brings... today is and was... moving on...
one foot,
in front,
of,
the,
other...
heddwch
G
sorry - honestly referring to how hard Smackdown was... i'll refrain from any further comments about hardness or more appropriately lack their of, but hey par for the course as i get older and older...
Was nice, one of the young kids tonight said 45 wasn't that old.... BWAHAHAHA fuck... I just wish I was this fast when i was young enough to do something with realizing the potential... although i don't think I had it then. It took 20 fucking years to become a cyclist and I really didn't start until I was already drinking so - do the math... double screwed except divide that by 2 and multiply by zero to get the number of screws.
Although that math doesn't work out if you're screwed? State of my brain right now.
Shit going sideways in a hurricane... summer round here.
Dogs freaking out with the booms, not sure what else, ever constant changing wild card schedule all summer, ever week different, can't plan for anything. How to make it all happen.
Kind of want one more beer but it is 11:10 and well... i dunno, gonna write and stuff instead of cracking another one. Probably should NOT write and should crack another one, but then that would be smart and i've never been anything of the sort. Ever.
So many things just simmering, don't bump the stove, and increase in the flame will cause a boil over and that's messy and impossible to clean up.
Tonight? All i can say is smackdown/TT fueling? DEFINITELY gotta go with the Bagel Gourmet Burrito in PVD. The other element from '13 probably didn't hurt but maybe it was just the burrito after all?
missing miles, need miles... need lots of miles... days of miles... but hey, wait, shit's gotta happen. Next week is already totally fucking booked and it is only Tuesday. Not sure it is really a good thing that there is only one of me, and that only I do my job. "Yay" for job security, "boo" for holyshit i have to work double when i'm there to not be there when I'm not which is weird from a support position when sometimes just being here is reading and writing and not doing much (happening less and less lately, why? -oh right- expansion, more PIs more grad students more people using the same resources... theme repeated everywhere I know).
Smackdown, I made it work, I hung on, was given a gracious reprieve by the super fast three and allowed to re-join. We picked up a few more and had a grand old group returning and it still was tough, about puked twice, and I have an iron stomach. Effort was that intense.
Fox's farewell... gonna miss that crafty little son-of-a-bitch more than he'll realize.
Sucks but at least got to celebrate his departure in style at Lucky's. Maybe i'll have to go back to mourn his loss. Or have a pint in his honor.
I should sleep, the one commodity that's been fleeting that i have control ovecr except i'm kind of wide awake at the moment.
At least the boom booms have subsided and the dogs are calming down. Thanks alot a-holes.
Or maybe it is my fault for having a member of the family who's terrified of the explosions, yeah, i'm sure that's it. Smash shit? yeah sounds like fun. Except i shredded my legs tonight and can't really stand well despite having no where near enough beer to make them not feel like shit, but that's sort of the balance between may and june, right?
May is frustratingly angelic and June's the devil so when you get in the arms of July you think you're in heaven... copywrited and shit but it probably already has been said but if not, it doesn't matter.
tomorrow brings what tomorrow brings... today is and was... moving on...
one foot,
in front,
of,
the,
other...
heddwch
G
Last smackdown with Fox
It is a hot one and I have a feeling there's gonna be a big showing. A handful of the local fast guys have been tricking over to our ride, and that's awesome. I just wish I was one of them.
It'll be interesting tonight. Hot temps, relatively low wind, somewhat humid.
I channeled the inner 2013 to a degree and had a bagel gourmet steak burrito for lunch (no leftovers in the house and yeah - burrito seemed fitting for the day).
We'll see what my legs have in store. Been more tired than not lately, more struggling than not lately. Kind of lost a bit, all these friends physically leaving or ghosting. Freddie said on Thursday at me trying to figure out evening "you're the most anti-social social person i've ever met"
ding ding ding
lots to talk about, no time or brain too fried or words won't come out
but now we ride...
one last time with Fox.
i'm getting older, and so is my bike, creaky and heavy and slow,,, but it is still my bike and has served me well... well over 10k miles on this bike just since 2013, and yeah mileage is spread over a couple other bikes in not insignificant amounts but this one has born the brunt of the miles.
lets hope it can bear me a bit longer...
heddwch
G
It'll be interesting tonight. Hot temps, relatively low wind, somewhat humid.
I channeled the inner 2013 to a degree and had a bagel gourmet steak burrito for lunch (no leftovers in the house and yeah - burrito seemed fitting for the day).
We'll see what my legs have in store. Been more tired than not lately, more struggling than not lately. Kind of lost a bit, all these friends physically leaving or ghosting. Freddie said on Thursday at me trying to figure out evening "you're the most anti-social social person i've ever met"
ding ding ding
lots to talk about, no time or brain too fried or words won't come out
but now we ride...
one last time with Fox.
i'm getting older, and so is my bike, creaky and heavy and slow,,, but it is still my bike and has served me well... well over 10k miles on this bike just since 2013, and yeah mileage is spread over a couple other bikes in not insignificant amounts but this one has born the brunt of the miles.
lets hope it can bear me a bit longer...
heddwch
G
Monday, June 27, 2016
a bit early
Hit the goal for the month early... comparing one of the worst years on the bike with this year... unfortunately I have no good records before getting smaht phone in '13, can only guess... but given results and Verge points in 2013 I'd say it was a peak performance year.
The data in images... lets see how the next 6 months shape up:
Mostly obviously all in large part to a monster month of May. June's still not doing too badly though. However going based on the Strava M-S week last week was the lowest mileage total since April. Which I suppose isn't a bad thing.
Smackdown tomorrow... and still a continuous streak of not missing a day on the bike. Although both May and June have a wee little barely a ride in on one day. But that's okay, can't do a century everyday (although actually given enough food, I probably could do that pretty easily at this point).
NBX is moving the shop from 4th up to Hope street with window space on the busiest street in the area and also at a stop light so much much more visibility. Moving day is Thursday. Gonna be an adjustment, but hopefully just more bikes for me to build, assuming I can squeeze more hours out of the day.
The ride with Deano was great. Much needed discussion and idea stimulation, back and forth a bit but it was good, despite the craziness in the previous 12 hrs. Super motivated to get going on this project, I think the goal is to give it a go at producing a book level set of images of the stuff my dad collected in Colorado. The story and sheer number of images lend themselves to a book more more readily than any other collection. Now to see if I can produce the content and then shop it around and see about getting someone to publish it, I can't come up with my own capital to do it, and I don't/wouldn't feel right doing the whole crowd source funding thing to publish it, but maybe that's last resort. But it is going to take a lot of time to generate the content. But ideas about how to document both the actual samples and help interpret the scale of everything along with the images, and the stories and locations, and to have something physical to share seems appropriate for this...
Now to clear off the rest of the mountain of work in between here and there.
And to make the TT happen.
And keep the Smackdown going.
And everything else...
heddwch
G
The data in images... lets see how the next 6 months shape up:
Smackdown tomorrow... and still a continuous streak of not missing a day on the bike. Although both May and June have a wee little barely a ride in on one day. But that's okay, can't do a century everyday (although actually given enough food, I probably could do that pretty easily at this point).
NBX is moving the shop from 4th up to Hope street with window space on the busiest street in the area and also at a stop light so much much more visibility. Moving day is Thursday. Gonna be an adjustment, but hopefully just more bikes for me to build, assuming I can squeeze more hours out of the day.
The ride with Deano was great. Much needed discussion and idea stimulation, back and forth a bit but it was good, despite the craziness in the previous 12 hrs. Super motivated to get going on this project, I think the goal is to give it a go at producing a book level set of images of the stuff my dad collected in Colorado. The story and sheer number of images lend themselves to a book more more readily than any other collection. Now to see if I can produce the content and then shop it around and see about getting someone to publish it, I can't come up with my own capital to do it, and I don't/wouldn't feel right doing the whole crowd source funding thing to publish it, but maybe that's last resort. But it is going to take a lot of time to generate the content. But ideas about how to document both the actual samples and help interpret the scale of everything along with the images, and the stories and locations, and to have something physical to share seems appropriate for this...
Now to clear off the rest of the mountain of work in between here and there.
And to make the TT happen.
And keep the Smackdown going.
And everything else...
heddwch
G
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
thwarted
but waking up awake and way too early...
only to get in early to test the system to find it not working, after being flawless yesterday. But only took two hours to get it back this time. Progress. But still frustrating. Totally counting on having to fix it again tomorrow morning.
Gorgeous morning ride this morning though.
Almost felt cold at 62°F when I left this morning. So i pushed the pace a touch and it was perfect.
The creative chef mojo seems to be lagging along with everything else. No idea what to cook, for dinner, broke down and got a slice of pizza from Nice Slice because... i dunno what else to order 'round here in the current state of mind. Which is not a good one, but not a bad one. Mostly just lost a bit, but too busy to look around and figure it out metaphorically.
oh well, one foot in front of the other...
maybe a quick grocery trip will help... we'll see what I can fit in my backpack.
heddwch
G
only to get in early to test the system to find it not working, after being flawless yesterday. But only took two hours to get it back this time. Progress. But still frustrating. Totally counting on having to fix it again tomorrow morning.
Gorgeous morning ride this morning though.
Almost felt cold at 62°F when I left this morning. So i pushed the pace a touch and it was perfect.
The creative chef mojo seems to be lagging along with everything else. No idea what to cook, for dinner, broke down and got a slice of pizza from Nice Slice because... i dunno what else to order 'round here in the current state of mind. Which is not a good one, but not a bad one. Mostly just lost a bit, but too busy to look around and figure it out metaphorically.
oh well, one foot in front of the other...
maybe a quick grocery trip will help... we'll see what I can fit in my backpack.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Fueling to match the session... and the O.G. Smackdown
two days of frantic crap with my microscope, the one that fuels my artistic vision, the one that i identify with more than any of the others. the one i might sacrifice all the others for....
it was down... it is up and maybe, after another couple hours over the next couple days, it may be better than ever.
news from my dad wasn't easy, hasn't been easy is impossible in some ways but hey it is only parkinsons, MJFox has had it for like a million years, no big deal. Right? Well my dad isn't MJF and doesn't have the same level of resources and well is older than I am and most people call me old so there's that but his mother is 103 and she's still kicking strong, although his father died in 1972ish.
And news still isn't easy.
Mini-muse has been around and that's been helpful, a strange dynamic but infectiously positive. So helpful, but also amidst this insanity with the system and the massive frustrations with Monday... an equalizer in on otherwise shitty day.
Full muse in full absentia, but to discuss a muse, is nuanced and delicate and complicated, not something i can do with shattered legs from Smackdown.
So little sleep, disruptions, extra beers since Sunday, I get Shoogs totally, even if what i'm wrestling with pales in comparison and no I'm not comparing but it doesn't really matter does it?
Smackdown tonight.... back on Mark's original route. Me being the nail on the first half... and dropping the motherfucking clydesdale hammer on the second half.
I've been thinking about this route. The original one, not the modified one by Brent and company.
It is fucking brilliant.
We're on the lowest traffic roads or going in the opposite direction of prevailing traffic the whole time. The dynamic of climbing climbing climbing climbing until the top, then flying down home... but not straight elevation gain, no, some undulations and all that.
It really is a pretty fucking perfect Smackdown/Tuesday Night Worlds ride.
It is also a bit long when you add a 8-9 mile ride home, or 7 from work or whatever. Late night.
Also smashy. Extra quad before i left for work in the morning. full pot of coffee at work... and sugah... on the woony path i sucked down a gel. Clif citrus (no preservers good flavor) downed some water... at the regroup point as we hit 44, i sucked down another, more water. Plus bottle full of Skratch mix that expired in april 2015. Why? Fuel the fiber type for the exertion type. This is a smashy sprint ride, getting the extra glucose in the system is good, in theory, and tonight? Kind of confirmed in practice.
From the top of T hill i was in the front/pushing the pace pretty much until we hit 44 again, then a recovery and a sprint win at the top of Greenville, then sitting in behind PKS and J, and just as we rounded the bend towards the chicken place I launched, and I launched HARD. Holy fuck. WOW.
I got SHELLED on Austin, sucked up Douglass Hook, but somehow felt much much stronger in the second half.
PKS protesting saying i need a doping check. Haha, me? doping? FFS i don't even have the cash to replace the fucking worn out tires i was riding today, and to that matter I was on the heavy all day riding wheels and tires, not the fast one from last week.
AND i only had one 44T chainring.
AND - fuck it do the excuses matter? Nope. What matters is that no matter how hard I push it, give me a few-5 min recovery and I feel good again. I'll lead you out but you better come around and win, or maybe you should have been leading me out.
I miss crits, I think my legs are kind of close. Give me another month like may (the part w/o the beer, not quite so many miles part) and take away all the responsibilities and the second job and maybe i could be something on the bike other than a lame lifer Cat 4. I might even make it to cat 3! Not that i care. Or need to focus on it.
Reading mayhew's CX mag article got me thinking about CXy time and intervals and David B's talk about signing up for Cycle Smart Coaching program with the discount for registering for the CX camp augmented it. What do i need to be doing now?
In my mind I need to be doing whatever I did on the bike with B in '13. But also analytically pulling back it isn't all about the bike... but then undeniably there's the mother fucking TT... goddamn I need to make that happen.
If the rest of my life would calm down enough so i could ignore it long enough to set this up, hey, well, that would be great.
Fox was bitching about being slow up Toureletott. well fucking knucklehead you took the lead at 16 mph and pulled off leaving the strongest but youngest in front but what did he do? kept pedaling at 16... i was getting sleepy at that pace, but also knew the longer I waited the better and well eventually I went, maybe halfway up? And then Fox and PKS attacked me and fine, went clear, i expected that, but the text complaining about how slow we were... well.. hey, you can't always sit on wheels if you want to go fast.
Also a 50 mile ride shouldn't seem like anything impressive, a normal typical couple (3+) hour ride. NBD.
Tonight on the bike was kind of a proof in concept. absofuckinglutely crush it on higher carb days and take it chill to make it all day on others. Training the fueling, all the fueling pathways, make everything flexible and functional and use it appropriately.
Today was a CXy race, kind of two of them. The first one was more like Assville, all hilly and ill suited to me, the second half? Like some totally flat CX race that suits me well of which there are no comparisons, other than maybe Plymouth south but that doesn't exist anymore so my anomaly race that i do way better than expected on is gone... but still was there and is worth using as comparison.
I've got a shit ton mountain of work to do, first to get anywhere near as fast as I was in 2013, likely not possible fwiw given all the factors, second just to get life sorted out enough to lay in plans and make shit happen that others have let drop.
And I need a beer. Downside to those cliff shots? and yeah, i'm a super coffee junkie, but those couple doses of 25mg are fucking with me right now.
All that means is more and more and more and more words...
Hell Giulia asked about CX season, I don't have a clue how to approach it this year. Kind of thinking of totally skipping SSCX because i don't have a bike purposefully built for it and because the Zanc series is focused so far away. I do know, much like last year, distance driven is going to be a big factor. Too far? no dice. Knocks out anything in VT and anything farther than G-ster, NoHo is the tipping point, too far but also I've always stayed over, at least since almost killing the UCI official. To stay or not to stay. Supercross is a big asterix, and maybe i'll head south on Friday this year, maybe won't race at all. But who knows.
Quad? to double up? probably not. Why bother? I dunno, this all needs to be sorted out at some point.
But is starting to simmer in the brain.
Lots of work to do before then.
too much to do...
and hell maybe I should just quit... my bikes are ancient and heavy, if functional sort of, def not on par with the rest of the 45+ field, but then, it is CX, and can I not? I don't think i can not do it.
What I cannot do is stay awake much longer... after 11pm and i gotta get up and make E coffee and breakfast before she leaves for work and then get my sorry ass sorted and to work and fix all the rest of the shit i ignored while fixing the tool a lot of people (other than me) need to use.
so..
heddwch
G
it was down... it is up and maybe, after another couple hours over the next couple days, it may be better than ever.
news from my dad wasn't easy, hasn't been easy is impossible in some ways but hey it is only parkinsons, MJFox has had it for like a million years, no big deal. Right? Well my dad isn't MJF and doesn't have the same level of resources and well is older than I am and most people call me old so there's that but his mother is 103 and she's still kicking strong, although his father died in 1972ish.
And news still isn't easy.
Mini-muse has been around and that's been helpful, a strange dynamic but infectiously positive. So helpful, but also amidst this insanity with the system and the massive frustrations with Monday... an equalizer in on otherwise shitty day.
Full muse in full absentia, but to discuss a muse, is nuanced and delicate and complicated, not something i can do with shattered legs from Smackdown.
So little sleep, disruptions, extra beers since Sunday, I get Shoogs totally, even if what i'm wrestling with pales in comparison and no I'm not comparing but it doesn't really matter does it?
Smackdown tonight.... back on Mark's original route. Me being the nail on the first half... and dropping the motherfucking clydesdale hammer on the second half.
I've been thinking about this route. The original one, not the modified one by Brent and company.
It is fucking brilliant.
We're on the lowest traffic roads or going in the opposite direction of prevailing traffic the whole time. The dynamic of climbing climbing climbing climbing until the top, then flying down home... but not straight elevation gain, no, some undulations and all that.
It really is a pretty fucking perfect Smackdown/Tuesday Night Worlds ride.
It is also a bit long when you add a 8-9 mile ride home, or 7 from work or whatever. Late night.
Also smashy. Extra quad before i left for work in the morning. full pot of coffee at work... and sugah... on the woony path i sucked down a gel. Clif citrus (no preservers good flavor) downed some water... at the regroup point as we hit 44, i sucked down another, more water. Plus bottle full of Skratch mix that expired in april 2015. Why? Fuel the fiber type for the exertion type. This is a smashy sprint ride, getting the extra glucose in the system is good, in theory, and tonight? Kind of confirmed in practice.
From the top of T hill i was in the front/pushing the pace pretty much until we hit 44 again, then a recovery and a sprint win at the top of Greenville, then sitting in behind PKS and J, and just as we rounded the bend towards the chicken place I launched, and I launched HARD. Holy fuck. WOW.
I got SHELLED on Austin, sucked up Douglass Hook, but somehow felt much much stronger in the second half.
PKS protesting saying i need a doping check. Haha, me? doping? FFS i don't even have the cash to replace the fucking worn out tires i was riding today, and to that matter I was on the heavy all day riding wheels and tires, not the fast one from last week.
AND i only had one 44T chainring.
AND - fuck it do the excuses matter? Nope. What matters is that no matter how hard I push it, give me a few-5 min recovery and I feel good again. I'll lead you out but you better come around and win, or maybe you should have been leading me out.
I miss crits, I think my legs are kind of close. Give me another month like may (the part w/o the beer, not quite so many miles part) and take away all the responsibilities and the second job and maybe i could be something on the bike other than a lame lifer Cat 4. I might even make it to cat 3! Not that i care. Or need to focus on it.
Reading mayhew's CX mag article got me thinking about CXy time and intervals and David B's talk about signing up for Cycle Smart Coaching program with the discount for registering for the CX camp augmented it. What do i need to be doing now?
In my mind I need to be doing whatever I did on the bike with B in '13. But also analytically pulling back it isn't all about the bike... but then undeniably there's the mother fucking TT... goddamn I need to make that happen.
If the rest of my life would calm down enough so i could ignore it long enough to set this up, hey, well, that would be great.
Fox was bitching about being slow up Toureletott. well fucking knucklehead you took the lead at 16 mph and pulled off leaving the strongest but youngest in front but what did he do? kept pedaling at 16... i was getting sleepy at that pace, but also knew the longer I waited the better and well eventually I went, maybe halfway up? And then Fox and PKS attacked me and fine, went clear, i expected that, but the text complaining about how slow we were... well.. hey, you can't always sit on wheels if you want to go fast.
Also a 50 mile ride shouldn't seem like anything impressive, a normal typical couple (3+) hour ride. NBD.
Tonight on the bike was kind of a proof in concept. absofuckinglutely crush it on higher carb days and take it chill to make it all day on others. Training the fueling, all the fueling pathways, make everything flexible and functional and use it appropriately.
Today was a CXy race, kind of two of them. The first one was more like Assville, all hilly and ill suited to me, the second half? Like some totally flat CX race that suits me well of which there are no comparisons, other than maybe Plymouth south but that doesn't exist anymore so my anomaly race that i do way better than expected on is gone... but still was there and is worth using as comparison.
I've got a shit ton mountain of work to do, first to get anywhere near as fast as I was in 2013, likely not possible fwiw given all the factors, second just to get life sorted out enough to lay in plans and make shit happen that others have let drop.
And I need a beer. Downside to those cliff shots? and yeah, i'm a super coffee junkie, but those couple doses of 25mg are fucking with me right now.
All that means is more and more and more and more words...
Hell Giulia asked about CX season, I don't have a clue how to approach it this year. Kind of thinking of totally skipping SSCX because i don't have a bike purposefully built for it and because the Zanc series is focused so far away. I do know, much like last year, distance driven is going to be a big factor. Too far? no dice. Knocks out anything in VT and anything farther than G-ster, NoHo is the tipping point, too far but also I've always stayed over, at least since almost killing the UCI official. To stay or not to stay. Supercross is a big asterix, and maybe i'll head south on Friday this year, maybe won't race at all. But who knows.
Quad? to double up? probably not. Why bother? I dunno, this all needs to be sorted out at some point.
But is starting to simmer in the brain.
Lots of work to do before then.
too much to do...
and hell maybe I should just quit... my bikes are ancient and heavy, if functional sort of, def not on par with the rest of the 45+ field, but then, it is CX, and can I not? I don't think i can not do it.
What I cannot do is stay awake much longer... after 11pm and i gotta get up and make E coffee and breakfast before she leaves for work and then get my sorry ass sorted and to work and fix all the rest of the shit i ignored while fixing the tool a lot of people (other than me) need to use.
so..
heddwch
G
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Happy Father's Day
To all you who are dads, or to your dads or to the father's of you children or hell i dunno that should cover it all?
Today I got to sleep in, the girls are old enough that they LIKE sleeping in, and the dogs are young enough that they are patient enough until I am awake enough or showing signs of waking up enough to let them outside.
It is a good combo for sleeping in. When Sleeping in is an option.
It was today.
Realized just now I didn't go to work today. Well that's strange. WTF?
Gonna make Friday's paycheck smaller and given the next cycle of holy fuck we're so screwed bills coming up that's really not a good thing but oh well. I can't work 7 days a week EVERY week, six is enough with the occasional seven tossed in there? Right?
Dogs were late on Rabies and RI is the toughest state in the nation which is weird because rabies don't give a shit what state you live in but it is what it is and well need to get dogs renewed so headed to Vetco for the basic just get them legal vaccine. Got back and walked in the door and my phone, my 3+ year old stupid slow and painfully annoying but barely functional but use for everything even though battery life is lame was ringing. It was close to dead so I had it plugged in, and forgot to bring it with us.
My dad was calling.
He never calls, I usually call him on Father's day, and I was going to do that as soon as I walked in the door.
But he beat me to it.
He was strange on the phone, not normal, and I not being normal either when I got done with describing the insanity lately and the struggles and everything, I asked, (again, not normal for me) how he was doing, and he paused, talked about cataract surgery on one eye this week, about joking with the doctor saying "Isn't this a disease for old people?" And the doc laughed (my dad will be 78 this year, his mother/my grandmother is doing well at 103). But then he paused...
And I took a deep breath, and he said "I've been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, I haven't told any of you yet because I've been in denial for some time."
Those words were tough to hear.
Impossible almost.
Parkinson's isn't the worst, but if it is your diagnosis, or your father's? It still kind of sucks.
It was impossibly hard for him to tell me, but he did, finally.
He's okay, at least once the coordination comes back in his left side mid-day or so.
I'm thinking this has been a long kept secret.
Which kind of sucks.
And so that's my father's day.... and my Father's Day.
I got off the phone with my Dad and coordinated a ride with the smartest PhD neuro/Psych person i know and it was nice to talk to someone who could comprehend the depth and nuances of the disease... at least well we didn't get crazy talking about it but the understanding was there and we did talk at more in depth than I did/have so far with anyone else.
The ride home was slow. I would stop pedaling on the downhills... I was in total thought distraction mode going into the headwind.
How do... fuck... goddamnit... i dunno... feel like such a bad son not getting out there more often but then feel doubly and exponentially worse because I can't even afford to go out there and see him much less bring his grand-daughters for a visit.
But then I look back and he was always much the same way, locked in, doing what had to be done.
this pretty much...
esp since from my when i was 8 he was on the other side of the country...
never easy for us to talk, we seem always to be more comfortable in silence hanging out being together.
Which is funny because in our own element we both have more words to say than most...
apple... tree...
I dunno what to do
but yeah the last part of the ride was a struggle... esp once Giulia headed home and I was riding back alone....
my relationship with my Father has always been different than my brother's... but hey when you're the oldest of four brothers and the youngest two are twins, well someone has to take charge and sometimes you don't see the same that others do because you were the oldest and you went fishing with your dad, or pretty much everything because I was old enough to be with him before he moved to DC.
I make everything a bigger deal than it needs to be...
but...
this kind of isn't a little deal...
and once i get the SEM fixed on monday I'm going to spend a good deal of any element of free time working on imaging the Colorado collection my dad sent back to me...
So, Happy Father's Day.
heddwch
G
Today I got to sleep in, the girls are old enough that they LIKE sleeping in, and the dogs are young enough that they are patient enough until I am awake enough or showing signs of waking up enough to let them outside.
It is a good combo for sleeping in. When Sleeping in is an option.
It was today.
Realized just now I didn't go to work today. Well that's strange. WTF?
Gonna make Friday's paycheck smaller and given the next cycle of holy fuck we're so screwed bills coming up that's really not a good thing but oh well. I can't work 7 days a week EVERY week, six is enough with the occasional seven tossed in there? Right?
Dogs were late on Rabies and RI is the toughest state in the nation which is weird because rabies don't give a shit what state you live in but it is what it is and well need to get dogs renewed so headed to Vetco for the basic just get them legal vaccine. Got back and walked in the door and my phone, my 3+ year old stupid slow and painfully annoying but barely functional but use for everything even though battery life is lame was ringing. It was close to dead so I had it plugged in, and forgot to bring it with us.
My dad was calling.
He never calls, I usually call him on Father's day, and I was going to do that as soon as I walked in the door.
But he beat me to it.
He was strange on the phone, not normal, and I not being normal either when I got done with describing the insanity lately and the struggles and everything, I asked, (again, not normal for me) how he was doing, and he paused, talked about cataract surgery on one eye this week, about joking with the doctor saying "Isn't this a disease for old people?" And the doc laughed (my dad will be 78 this year, his mother/my grandmother is doing well at 103). But then he paused...
And I took a deep breath, and he said "I've been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, I haven't told any of you yet because I've been in denial for some time."
Those words were tough to hear.
Impossible almost.
Parkinson's isn't the worst, but if it is your diagnosis, or your father's? It still kind of sucks.
It was impossibly hard for him to tell me, but he did, finally.
He's okay, at least once the coordination comes back in his left side mid-day or so.
I'm thinking this has been a long kept secret.
Which kind of sucks.
And so that's my father's day.... and my Father's Day.
I got off the phone with my Dad and coordinated a ride with the smartest PhD neuro/Psych person i know and it was nice to talk to someone who could comprehend the depth and nuances of the disease... at least well we didn't get crazy talking about it but the understanding was there and we did talk at more in depth than I did/have so far with anyone else.
The ride home was slow. I would stop pedaling on the downhills... I was in total thought distraction mode going into the headwind.
How do... fuck... goddamnit... i dunno... feel like such a bad son not getting out there more often but then feel doubly and exponentially worse because I can't even afford to go out there and see him much less bring his grand-daughters for a visit.
But then I look back and he was always much the same way, locked in, doing what had to be done.
this pretty much...
esp since from my when i was 8 he was on the other side of the country...
never easy for us to talk, we seem always to be more comfortable in silence hanging out being together.
Which is funny because in our own element we both have more words to say than most...
apple... tree...
I dunno what to do
but yeah the last part of the ride was a struggle... esp once Giulia headed home and I was riding back alone....
my relationship with my Father has always been different than my brother's... but hey when you're the oldest of four brothers and the youngest two are twins, well someone has to take charge and sometimes you don't see the same that others do because you were the oldest and you went fishing with your dad, or pretty much everything because I was old enough to be with him before he moved to DC.
I make everything a bigger deal than it needs to be...
but...
this kind of isn't a little deal...
and once i get the SEM fixed on monday I'm going to spend a good deal of any element of free time working on imaging the Colorado collection my dad sent back to me...
So, Happy Father's Day.
heddwch
G
Saturday, June 18, 2016
"like a majestic dragon rearing up"
Friday...
What a motherfucking day.
Too late maybe to re-cap appropriately.
But I may try anyway.
Devastated by the unexpected precariousness of a friendship, battling schedule curveballs and insanity... Friday's planned ride (two weeks of mental heart setting on) was coming either at the perfect time or at the absolutely worst time.
The answer to both is yes.
The worst. Free fall, yeah if you're reading this who ever you are, you know last week kind of wasn't one of my better ones.
But perfect timing. But man. I think honestly at one point it was the lowest, worst, hardest, most difficult 31 miles. Given what I did in May, and the fact that I never hit that point the whole month, well hey well, maybe I was just on borrowed time.
Or lucky, or good. My mother-in-law is fond of saying "better lucky than good" and I've certainly fallen into that more than not, despite trying to be good, but failing obviously most of the time. Lucky? Happens rarely but it does, just enough to keep from giving up totally.
The morning was a cluster. but i got the bike ready, I made coffee but i had no time to make a proper breakfast, or prepare a proper fueling for the hundo attempt. I had fuel, but new/different. And starting the day with what I ate was a total handicap.
Also, to make it even more challenging? A handful of the best guys i know joined in for the first loop but then bailed because of kids and being awesome dads and stuff like that.
I felt mostly great in those first 50+ miles. Dropped back and struggled on the steepest pitches but hey - outweighing everyone by 30+ pounds is a price to pay. But I also really pushed it on that first loop.
And I didn't eat anything or drink any calories. And I started the day once i stopped being hungry, actually was hungry. Kind of perfect storm.
Set it up well though.
Finished that first loop. Def cracked a bit on the last section. Made it to the second seven stars bakery. And bought a big cookie and a large ice coffee. And drank 2.5 bottles of water.
So yeah - first plan, three loops, stop at all three Seven Stars bakeries, hit the Scituate reservoir and the one up there by Diamond Hill and after that realized that the Turner counted as the 3rd and that's just after the 3rd Seven stars. And then Goldberg pointed out that we hit three different bike paths.
The Second loop was the struggle. But only after 20 miles.
Mile 71 was remarkable. Holyfuck the wheels just fell off. I dunno where that was, but i do remember toggling through on the cateye velo 7 to find the mileage.
Bloated, energy stores depleted, just totally fucking off.
But i'm a stubborn motherfucker, no way, not giving up and Goldberg is the best, literally, the best. He was patient with me as I struggled every time it pitched up. And yeah, hey fuckhead, you picked a not hilly route for the first two loops.
Awesome.
But it kind of was. Goldberg's kindness, his demeanor, his aura, his awesomeness.... totally transformed me and was the catalyst that allowed me to go from super negative to super positive. A total polarity switch.
I was negative and touch and go getting to the ride, a handful of things had triggered hulksmash. I let them go mostly but the triggering was a bad sign. emotional batteries totally at zero. hey go figure, careful.... Don't make connections that will call out people's life choices. Sorry, woops.
I struggled. And struggled. We made it to the Blackstone bike path visitor park center, and a very attractive RI blonde park ranger asked where we were from because we were definitely not from RI (accent) but allowed us use of the bathroom and i was able to get some water.
And we paused, at the most crazy display on the picnic table, and talked. And I ate my last bit of food. But it was a pause...
very much pivotal point... the next handful of miles weren't great, and I looked at the mileage, was doing mental calcs, i could ride home and get in the hundo, skip that last loop, just ride home into the headwind.
Goldberg held me to the storyline. Held me to the goal, but in the most gentle encouraging supportive way possible. I need that. I can see it but i need someone to guide me at times. We stopped. Mostly just to fill waterbottles. The woman there looked SUPER familiar, can't place her face with location. Initially the idea was to get a shot of espresso for the final loop...
Sticking with water was the right choice.
We crossed over the Turner resevoir, my initial thoughts were to totally bail and just turn right on Arcade and take the easiest way home, but... that was the same point my legs came back, I felt good. Sore, and feeling the miles but I felt like it was time to ride another hundo. And called an audible and we headed the long way home.
With the headwind I did NOT want to ride south on the bike path.
But at that point, a switch flipped, maybe Goldberg was flipping it the whole time but boom, it worked. And wow.
What a change. I felt kind of freaking SO MUCH BETTER!
Goldberg... he's done it time and time again, this time more needed than ever, he's got this transformative healing power, maybe it is the fact that I know how hard he worked the days leading up to Friday so he could take the day and ride with me. I know the effort and sacrifice he put in to make it happen.
Not just Friday, but the 31st of May, also the ride to Plymouth.
Indebted. Wishing I could replay in the same currency that i was paid in, but my account is so overdrawn that all i can say is that I'm forever in his debt, and I'm happy with that.
I completed the storyline... finished all three loops... doesn't look much like a Poison Ivy plant, def more of an orchid (wife suggested it was very suggestive) or my dear friend Russ "like a majestic dragon rearing up"
or whatever...
completely...
storyline complete...
and June Hundo done.
Mileage is slacking but May was an asterix.
4,000 miles but the end of June is still in reach and if I can make that happen it will be good.
Not sure I can make it happen alone.
But I didn't get to this point alone.
And those who got me here, thank you.
Looking for the bright spots.
Friday was absolutely the brightest. and the darkest.
Today was tough, realizing most people my age aren't working two jobs just to make ends meet and still being the butt of the joke "hey lets by something with GeWilli's credit card, oh wait, we need to spend a couple thousand, there's only like $50 on there" truth hurts... life sucks but sacrifices are hopefully worth it and well, my perspective is different than most.
We'll see what tomorrow brings... maybe a ride with my #PVDvelo best friends, maybe I'll just go to work esp since my good bike is called into question as to being a good bike, "what is you good bike" this is it, "no really, you work at a bike shop, what is your good bike?" "this is it and no it isn't good and it is a reflection of pretty much everything." But hey.
whatever....
Friday was an awesome day.
I'll have another day like that.
I don't think I'll repeat what JLSCX and I did last year on the longest day this year. But I don't think i really want to repeat that ride as it would dilute the memories I created with James.
Life's pretty crazy.
but damn i bet it beats the alternative...
I'm indebted forever to so many
heddwch
G
What a motherfucking day.
Too late maybe to re-cap appropriately.
But I may try anyway.
Devastated by the unexpected precariousness of a friendship, battling schedule curveballs and insanity... Friday's planned ride (two weeks of mental heart setting on) was coming either at the perfect time or at the absolutely worst time.
The answer to both is yes.
The worst. Free fall, yeah if you're reading this who ever you are, you know last week kind of wasn't one of my better ones.
But perfect timing. But man. I think honestly at one point it was the lowest, worst, hardest, most difficult 31 miles. Given what I did in May, and the fact that I never hit that point the whole month, well hey well, maybe I was just on borrowed time.
Or lucky, or good. My mother-in-law is fond of saying "better lucky than good" and I've certainly fallen into that more than not, despite trying to be good, but failing obviously most of the time. Lucky? Happens rarely but it does, just enough to keep from giving up totally.
The morning was a cluster. but i got the bike ready, I made coffee but i had no time to make a proper breakfast, or prepare a proper fueling for the hundo attempt. I had fuel, but new/different. And starting the day with what I ate was a total handicap.
Also, to make it even more challenging? A handful of the best guys i know joined in for the first loop but then bailed because of kids and being awesome dads and stuff like that.
I felt mostly great in those first 50+ miles. Dropped back and struggled on the steepest pitches but hey - outweighing everyone by 30+ pounds is a price to pay. But I also really pushed it on that first loop.
And I didn't eat anything or drink any calories. And I started the day once i stopped being hungry, actually was hungry. Kind of perfect storm.
Set it up well though.
Finished that first loop. Def cracked a bit on the last section. Made it to the second seven stars bakery. And bought a big cookie and a large ice coffee. And drank 2.5 bottles of water.
So yeah - first plan, three loops, stop at all three Seven Stars bakeries, hit the Scituate reservoir and the one up there by Diamond Hill and after that realized that the Turner counted as the 3rd and that's just after the 3rd Seven stars. And then Goldberg pointed out that we hit three different bike paths.
The Second loop was the struggle. But only after 20 miles.
Mile 71 was remarkable. Holyfuck the wheels just fell off. I dunno where that was, but i do remember toggling through on the cateye velo 7 to find the mileage.
Bloated, energy stores depleted, just totally fucking off.
But i'm a stubborn motherfucker, no way, not giving up and Goldberg is the best, literally, the best. He was patient with me as I struggled every time it pitched up. And yeah, hey fuckhead, you picked a not hilly route for the first two loops.
Awesome.
But it kind of was. Goldberg's kindness, his demeanor, his aura, his awesomeness.... totally transformed me and was the catalyst that allowed me to go from super negative to super positive. A total polarity switch.
I was negative and touch and go getting to the ride, a handful of things had triggered hulksmash. I let them go mostly but the triggering was a bad sign. emotional batteries totally at zero. hey go figure, careful.... Don't make connections that will call out people's life choices. Sorry, woops.
I struggled. And struggled. We made it to the Blackstone bike path visitor park center, and a very attractive RI blonde park ranger asked where we were from because we were definitely not from RI (accent) but allowed us use of the bathroom and i was able to get some water.
And we paused, at the most crazy display on the picnic table, and talked. And I ate my last bit of food. But it was a pause...
very much pivotal point... the next handful of miles weren't great, and I looked at the mileage, was doing mental calcs, i could ride home and get in the hundo, skip that last loop, just ride home into the headwind.
Goldberg held me to the storyline. Held me to the goal, but in the most gentle encouraging supportive way possible. I need that. I can see it but i need someone to guide me at times. We stopped. Mostly just to fill waterbottles. The woman there looked SUPER familiar, can't place her face with location. Initially the idea was to get a shot of espresso for the final loop...
Sticking with water was the right choice.
We crossed over the Turner resevoir, my initial thoughts were to totally bail and just turn right on Arcade and take the easiest way home, but... that was the same point my legs came back, I felt good. Sore, and feeling the miles but I felt like it was time to ride another hundo. And called an audible and we headed the long way home.
With the headwind I did NOT want to ride south on the bike path.
But at that point, a switch flipped, maybe Goldberg was flipping it the whole time but boom, it worked. And wow.
What a change. I felt kind of freaking SO MUCH BETTER!
Goldberg... he's done it time and time again, this time more needed than ever, he's got this transformative healing power, maybe it is the fact that I know how hard he worked the days leading up to Friday so he could take the day and ride with me. I know the effort and sacrifice he put in to make it happen.
Not just Friday, but the 31st of May, also the ride to Plymouth.
Indebted. Wishing I could replay in the same currency that i was paid in, but my account is so overdrawn that all i can say is that I'm forever in his debt, and I'm happy with that.
I completed the storyline... finished all three loops... doesn't look much like a Poison Ivy plant, def more of an orchid (wife suggested it was very suggestive) or my dear friend Russ "like a majestic dragon rearing up"
or whatever...
completely...
storyline complete...
and June Hundo done.
Mileage is slacking but May was an asterix.
4,000 miles but the end of June is still in reach and if I can make that happen it will be good.
Not sure I can make it happen alone.
But I didn't get to this point alone.
And those who got me here, thank you.
Looking for the bright spots.
Friday was absolutely the brightest. and the darkest.
Today was tough, realizing most people my age aren't working two jobs just to make ends meet and still being the butt of the joke "hey lets by something with GeWilli's credit card, oh wait, we need to spend a couple thousand, there's only like $50 on there" truth hurts... life sucks but sacrifices are hopefully worth it and well, my perspective is different than most.
We'll see what tomorrow brings... maybe a ride with my #PVDvelo best friends, maybe I'll just go to work esp since my good bike is called into question as to being a good bike, "what is you good bike" this is it, "no really, you work at a bike shop, what is your good bike?" "this is it and no it isn't good and it is a reflection of pretty much everything." But hey.
whatever....
Friday was an awesome day.
I'll have another day like that.
I don't think I'll repeat what JLSCX and I did last year on the longest day this year. But I don't think i really want to repeat that ride as it would dilute the memories I created with James.
Life's pretty crazy.
but damn i bet it beats the alternative...
I'm indebted forever to so many
heddwch
G
Friday, June 17, 2016
Ok, but first coffee
June Hundo prep this morning, so spastic so crazy, so much going on, nothing predictable, no routine, and no where near as much riding as I want.
Ok, but first coffee.
that's kind of the prelude to everything now.
yeah i'm struggling
yeah i've said some shit maybe i shouldn't have
life's pretty freaking crazy
today's loop should be fun, start the day off with the local gang.
The first loop will be able all most of them will be able to do but that's fine, Goldberg has worked his butt off to clear a schedule today so he can do the whole ride with me. And I will forever be indebted to that guy, his company on the long rides in May and every other ride together are wonderfully appreciated.
I'm a lucky asshole to have friends like him.
I guess i'm also lucky that i got everything ready and felt hungry and was able to make a quick PB&J for breakfast (skipping the eggs today for some reason). Lunch/fuel packed. Trying something different in the pockets. I think it may be a bad idea but why not. And lucky in that i have a chance to sit down and reflect a bit.
AND MAKE MORE COFFEE.
in a few minutes I have to drive in kit to drop oldest kid off, then race back and jump on bike and hopefully get to ride start in time.
The initial plans were changed by kid's schedule change. Drop her off an hour earlier then get to ride start and order coffee and chill and wait for everyone to roll up. Perhaps others will chill and enjoy a coffee waiting for me to roll up.
Three Seven Stars June Leaf Ride -in memory of all the trees on the west side of the state that lost all their leaves to hungry gypsy moth caterpillars. Lets see if i remember that title when I hit stop on the phone. Also yes, annoying still that i'm text only on rides, but hey, whatever, it is only an inconvenience to others for the most part.
And hey - it keeps me off social media, which probably is a good thing, at this rate i won't have any friends left on there, just the bots. But hey maybe i can figure out a way to get bots to block me too!
Five minutes.
more coffee.
Also wishing i have some of those white sun sleeve things for my arms. Sunday's sunburn was enhanced on Tuesday and Wednesday. First coat is on, will re-apply just before I roll out the door. I do have confidence in the Blue Lizard, i just probably should have used it Sunday. Oops.
time for crazy to get moving
heddwch
G
Ok, but first coffee.
that's kind of the prelude to everything now.
yeah i'm struggling
yeah i've said some shit maybe i shouldn't have
life's pretty freaking crazy
today's loop should be fun, start the day off with the local gang.
The first loop will be able all most of them will be able to do but that's fine, Goldberg has worked his butt off to clear a schedule today so he can do the whole ride with me. And I will forever be indebted to that guy, his company on the long rides in May and every other ride together are wonderfully appreciated.
I'm a lucky asshole to have friends like him.
I guess i'm also lucky that i got everything ready and felt hungry and was able to make a quick PB&J for breakfast (skipping the eggs today for some reason). Lunch/fuel packed. Trying something different in the pockets. I think it may be a bad idea but why not. And lucky in that i have a chance to sit down and reflect a bit.
AND MAKE MORE COFFEE.
in a few minutes I have to drive in kit to drop oldest kid off, then race back and jump on bike and hopefully get to ride start in time.
The initial plans were changed by kid's schedule change. Drop her off an hour earlier then get to ride start and order coffee and chill and wait for everyone to roll up. Perhaps others will chill and enjoy a coffee waiting for me to roll up.
Three Seven Stars June Leaf Ride -in memory of all the trees on the west side of the state that lost all their leaves to hungry gypsy moth caterpillars. Lets see if i remember that title when I hit stop on the phone. Also yes, annoying still that i'm text only on rides, but hey, whatever, it is only an inconvenience to others for the most part.
And hey - it keeps me off social media, which probably is a good thing, at this rate i won't have any friends left on there, just the bots. But hey maybe i can figure out a way to get bots to block me too!
Five minutes.
more coffee.
Also wishing i have some of those white sun sleeve things for my arms. Sunday's sunburn was enhanced on Tuesday and Wednesday. First coat is on, will re-apply just before I roll out the door. I do have confidence in the Blue Lizard, i just probably should have used it Sunday. Oops.
time for crazy to get moving
heddwch
G
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Slowest ride home....
Yeah, had a tailwind, with a headwind I might never had made it home.
Bright spots today were interactions with people who were blind to internal struggle.
They helped.
They made it better.
For a moment.
I tweeted about the new feeling lately, not sure which of the six different twitters i used to say it but different feeling lately, not so much darkness, more like major tom floating in space, peace but recognition that shit's so fucked up and you're floating in a fucking vacuum and there's not a fucking thing you can do...
because choices you've made....
posted three instagram photos tonight...
trying to counter the mood...
depressed thinking that the hub there and skewer have been on every 700c bike i've owned... reminded that the bike is what i love but it kind of doesn't love me back. and that i don't have a nice bike. or nice wheels...
but hey that's just shit to overcome right?
barriers and such... get off and run that shit...
hoping friday can turn the page, maybe i can let go of the guilt of responsibility and just enjoy the ride...
the slowest ride home didn't help much...
it did remind me that I have an amazing commute home, that it is beautiful and amazing here in RI...
I'm lucky, it isn't michigan...
but yeah lets not talk about Michigan, might have to bring up the whole K-zoo thing, and that might lead to connecting an overpowered SUV with an assault weapon. I mean shit - how much power do you need?
touchy subject - dancing around it i suppose...
not that i can dance... decidedly can't....
radio...
dogs
me...
waiting....
not sure for what...
waiting to figure it out?
if i haven't yet i'm pretty confident i won't...
i should watch something entertaining and uplifting... but i can barely see the screen over my hairy knuckles on the laptop... sticking with radio i suppose...
but hey...
i'll do what i do...
one foot in front of the other...
keep moving forward...
hulk's good a smashing but mostly just good at keeping forward progress through mountains of rubble....
for whatever good that does....
but
yeah...
heddwch
G
Bright spots today were interactions with people who were blind to internal struggle.
They helped.
They made it better.
For a moment.
I tweeted about the new feeling lately, not sure which of the six different twitters i used to say it but different feeling lately, not so much darkness, more like major tom floating in space, peace but recognition that shit's so fucked up and you're floating in a fucking vacuum and there's not a fucking thing you can do...
because choices you've made....
posted three instagram photos tonight...
trying to counter the mood...
depressed thinking that the hub there and skewer have been on every 700c bike i've owned... reminded that the bike is what i love but it kind of doesn't love me back. and that i don't have a nice bike. or nice wheels...
but hey that's just shit to overcome right?
barriers and such... get off and run that shit...
hoping friday can turn the page, maybe i can let go of the guilt of responsibility and just enjoy the ride...
the slowest ride home didn't help much...
it did remind me that I have an amazing commute home, that it is beautiful and amazing here in RI...
I'm lucky, it isn't michigan...
but yeah lets not talk about Michigan, might have to bring up the whole K-zoo thing, and that might lead to connecting an overpowered SUV with an assault weapon. I mean shit - how much power do you need?
touchy subject - dancing around it i suppose...
not that i can dance... decidedly can't....
radio...
dogs
me...
waiting....
not sure for what...
waiting to figure it out?
if i haven't yet i'm pretty confident i won't...
i should watch something entertaining and uplifting... but i can barely see the screen over my hairy knuckles on the laptop... sticking with radio i suppose...
but hey...
i'll do what i do...
one foot in front of the other...
keep moving forward...
hulk's good a smashing but mostly just good at keeping forward progress through mountains of rubble....
for whatever good that does....
but
yeah...
heddwch
G
minor detail
as i'm driving around all day shuttling here and there having to be places in less time than it takes to ride because i was given a schedule at the last minute...
cars... what makes a car an AR-15 vs a black powder musket rifle?
Power.
Disclaimer I know a LOT of gun people, hunters, collectors and otherwise enthusiasts.
And I think too much.
And I make connections others don't.
And it usually takes too long to explain to make it worth while.
But...
Why do people (the collectors and recreational shooters) want an AR-15? Same reason why the dentist wants a trek Project One in Livestrong colors. Same reason why someone would buy a 911 vs a two door economy hatch back.
Power.
A smart car could plow into a pack of 9 riders and maybe all of them would survive. Hit them with a 3/4 ton Pickup truck or some other oversized overkill vehicle of personal expression or luxury that has way more power and capacity than needed to move one person around yeah... that's the missing bit in the horrible post i wrote that is probably all wrong.
I can keep drawing out this comparison to the absolute minutia. There's a fucking mountain of parallels that I can draw on to justify my controversial claim that a large car with excessive power is the AR-15 of cars. Do I need to? Maybe but maybe take emotions aside and it seems understandable but yes - cars are accepted killers to the tune of 30-40k people a year and millions more injured. If we were all driving low power boring cars with barely appropriate horsepower to get out of their own way... well ya know what? That number would be considerably lower. It might go lower than gun deaths if we some how implement a cell jammer in ever car.
But hey.
we gotta get to bike races somehow and cars are cool and we're amuricans and shit man - cars rule this country and guns.... no matter how much people filibuster...
Tomorrow is a Hundo day. Today was great... end of day a cluster.
We'll see how it goes.
Still have to figure out dinner.
heddwch
G
cars... what makes a car an AR-15 vs a black powder musket rifle?
Power.
Disclaimer I know a LOT of gun people, hunters, collectors and otherwise enthusiasts.
And I think too much.
And I make connections others don't.
And it usually takes too long to explain to make it worth while.
But...
Why do people (the collectors and recreational shooters) want an AR-15? Same reason why the dentist wants a trek Project One in Livestrong colors. Same reason why someone would buy a 911 vs a two door economy hatch back.
Power.
A smart car could plow into a pack of 9 riders and maybe all of them would survive. Hit them with a 3/4 ton Pickup truck or some other oversized overkill vehicle of personal expression or luxury that has way more power and capacity than needed to move one person around yeah... that's the missing bit in the horrible post i wrote that is probably all wrong.
I can keep drawing out this comparison to the absolute minutia. There's a fucking mountain of parallels that I can draw on to justify my controversial claim that a large car with excessive power is the AR-15 of cars. Do I need to? Maybe but maybe take emotions aside and it seems understandable but yes - cars are accepted killers to the tune of 30-40k people a year and millions more injured. If we were all driving low power boring cars with barely appropriate horsepower to get out of their own way... well ya know what? That number would be considerably lower. It might go lower than gun deaths if we some how implement a cell jammer in ever car.
But hey.
we gotta get to bike races somehow and cars are cool and we're amuricans and shit man - cars rule this country and guns.... no matter how much people filibuster...
Tomorrow is a Hundo day. Today was great... end of day a cluster.
We'll see how it goes.
Still have to figure out dinner.
heddwch
G
SMACKDOWN MLFN CELEBRATION EDITION #2
Last night we gathered again to celebrate Mark's life with the ride he created.
Good but small group showed up. Mostly the core PVDvelo gang, Fox, Goldberg, Brent, JPalm and we had a new guy join us, we'll call him Oregon Dave. Super fit looking, everything labeling him as a very experienced and fit cyclists (except for the rear facing rear skewer).
We rolled out a few minutes late but we didn't pick up any stragglers until we got to the Woony path and found Andrew on his commuter bike.
It was social on the path a bit of discussion, introduction, some idle talk. Then we hit greenville, Fox sets a bit of a pace, peels off pretty quickly, JPalm sets the pace for a bit, then peels off (or the other way around - i don't remember I lost a handful of braincells on the ride), and I get to the front, and up the tempo and just set a nice steady pace. All the way until 44. I push it and bury myself on the last incline and legs feel oddly not terrible, didn't die where they did last week.
Rolling on to Austin, Brent takes the first pull, I sit on his wheel after rolling through the intersection first and second but I'm still feeling pretty cooked from the Greenville effort and drop out of the rotation pretty quickly after Brent pulls off. But that left Andrew leading and suddenly the pace up the hill goes up. And stays up... I'm sitting in behind Goldberg and he eventually pulls out and signals that he's loosing the wheel and I jump to close the gap, and I'm kind of surprised that i could and did. And then we got more towards the top and a wee gap opens that I couldn't close and we roll onto the right turn wondering how far back Brent and Goldberg are, I soft pedal and wait a bit, don't see them then finally see them, Oregon Dave and Fox are up front and well, cars between and sprint lines coming up and well, time to motor.
I time the first sprint line kind of perfectly but JPalm almost timed it better and nearly got me, the next riser gapped me a bit but it was good, we wound up making it through the hillier stuff kind of more or less as a group of four or five, i forget where JPalm got distanced but it may have been on those risers as when we started Douglas Hook I'm kind of thinking it was the four of us. Me and the climbers.
wait what the fuck.
As we're about to make the turn up Douglass, Fox has his arm out signalling a left and an old beat up SUV comes flying past nearly clipping him and passing us on the double yellow as we're signalling for the left... it was a close call.
But we start the climb and Fox and Oregon Dave are kind of pacing eachother, Andrew's hanging on my wheel, perhaps his commuter is a good equalizer, either way we're both on single rings, I think I had a few more teeth on mine. And while those lead two establish a gap I'm kind of surprised I can keep the gap steady and then towards MLFN's sprint line start pulling them back. Andrew the whole time sitting there on my wheel. I pay for it a bit later as they gap me on the start of the big down hill. But I do catch on and am able to have some fun crushing the pace leading into the final pitch up towards 44 where I get super smoked.
We gather and re-group, I talk with Oregon Dave a bit while JPalm and Goldberg and Brent all roll in. We pause for a few minutes and then roll out on 44.
By the CVS as the road is bearing left and we're following the road another beat up SUV come FLYING around us to take the right turn. Another very close call. But hey, close calls kind of don't register the same way anymore. I'm talking with Dave, it comes out that i work at a shop and he asks where my good bike is.
I have to say, honestly, I don't have one, and this is met with baffled confusion, he doesn't know enough to understand that yes, I'm in the extreme minority of people who work in shops who actually ride who have only old or shitty bikes and nothing new or fast or nice to ride. Sure the Quantum Pro is cool but it is old and not up to date and doesn't have cool wheels or 11 speeds or anything nice by current standards.
So we turn up Tourtellot Hill, I'm setting the pace, Dave's sitting on my wheel asking questions. It is a mile long hill 3-4% grade and I'm working as hard as I think I can to sustain the pace to the top. We get close and then Fox jumps and leaves just Jpalm there with me... it hurt.
But they weren't that far ahead... Goldberg and Brent weren't in contact though, and we headed out down Paris Irons. Under naked trees. Pretty much all the trees have been defoliated by the gypsy moths. Normally shady and dark roads were lit like it was winter. Very surreal.
But high point means motor time. And I did what big guys like to do once the high point of the ride is reached. I pedal my ass off. And that's kind of the rest of the ride. Me on the front spinning the 44x11 from 25-30 mph most of the way back.
Andrew commented that all those miles in May were good to me. And then I had to explain why I rode them all and of course I had to tell the story about those 9 miles I missed the title by and of course everyone's response was "why didn't you go out and get them if you could have checked" and well I still get kind of sad/mad/depressed thinking about how close I was and that the win was in my hands and I let it go because of some stupid thing that seemed like integrity saying "it will be what it is" which still hurts to say.
But even if I lost the extra miles are making a difference, the challenge lately has been to keep the mileage up. Keep riding.
Stresses flying at me from every direction.
But last night was a perfect tribute to Mark, we were able to ride, to ride fast and push each other hard and still enjoy a group ride and good company on a beautiful tuesday evening. And tell part of the story of MLFN's dream and goal for the ride to the new guy.
And of course I made my sunday sunburn worse. And got home late, and maybe riding on my wedding anniversary was a wee bit selfish but leading these rides, i do for everyone who shows up and for Mark's memory, fortunately my wife is understanding of the weekly ride routine.
Hopefully I can escape Friday and be selfish and get the June Hundo in. Current idea is the Three Seven Stars clover ride. Kind of the distillation of cycling options in RI into three loops and three spots to get ice coffee and pastries...
But next week we'll be back at the Tuesday Night Smackdown, the Rhode Island Smack Down ride or as MLFN called it the R.I.S.D. ride. Same route as last night next week. Same time.
Be like MLFN, don't be like a GeWilli,
Heddwch
G
Good but small group showed up. Mostly the core PVDvelo gang, Fox, Goldberg, Brent, JPalm and we had a new guy join us, we'll call him Oregon Dave. Super fit looking, everything labeling him as a very experienced and fit cyclists (except for the rear facing rear skewer).
We rolled out a few minutes late but we didn't pick up any stragglers until we got to the Woony path and found Andrew on his commuter bike.
It was social on the path a bit of discussion, introduction, some idle talk. Then we hit greenville, Fox sets a bit of a pace, peels off pretty quickly, JPalm sets the pace for a bit, then peels off (or the other way around - i don't remember I lost a handful of braincells on the ride), and I get to the front, and up the tempo and just set a nice steady pace. All the way until 44. I push it and bury myself on the last incline and legs feel oddly not terrible, didn't die where they did last week.
Rolling on to Austin, Brent takes the first pull, I sit on his wheel after rolling through the intersection first and second but I'm still feeling pretty cooked from the Greenville effort and drop out of the rotation pretty quickly after Brent pulls off. But that left Andrew leading and suddenly the pace up the hill goes up. And stays up... I'm sitting in behind Goldberg and he eventually pulls out and signals that he's loosing the wheel and I jump to close the gap, and I'm kind of surprised that i could and did. And then we got more towards the top and a wee gap opens that I couldn't close and we roll onto the right turn wondering how far back Brent and Goldberg are, I soft pedal and wait a bit, don't see them then finally see them, Oregon Dave and Fox are up front and well, cars between and sprint lines coming up and well, time to motor.
I time the first sprint line kind of perfectly but JPalm almost timed it better and nearly got me, the next riser gapped me a bit but it was good, we wound up making it through the hillier stuff kind of more or less as a group of four or five, i forget where JPalm got distanced but it may have been on those risers as when we started Douglas Hook I'm kind of thinking it was the four of us. Me and the climbers.
wait what the fuck.
As we're about to make the turn up Douglass, Fox has his arm out signalling a left and an old beat up SUV comes flying past nearly clipping him and passing us on the double yellow as we're signalling for the left... it was a close call.
But we start the climb and Fox and Oregon Dave are kind of pacing eachother, Andrew's hanging on my wheel, perhaps his commuter is a good equalizer, either way we're both on single rings, I think I had a few more teeth on mine. And while those lead two establish a gap I'm kind of surprised I can keep the gap steady and then towards MLFN's sprint line start pulling them back. Andrew the whole time sitting there on my wheel. I pay for it a bit later as they gap me on the start of the big down hill. But I do catch on and am able to have some fun crushing the pace leading into the final pitch up towards 44 where I get super smoked.
We gather and re-group, I talk with Oregon Dave a bit while JPalm and Goldberg and Brent all roll in. We pause for a few minutes and then roll out on 44.
By the CVS as the road is bearing left and we're following the road another beat up SUV come FLYING around us to take the right turn. Another very close call. But hey, close calls kind of don't register the same way anymore. I'm talking with Dave, it comes out that i work at a shop and he asks where my good bike is.
I have to say, honestly, I don't have one, and this is met with baffled confusion, he doesn't know enough to understand that yes, I'm in the extreme minority of people who work in shops who actually ride who have only old or shitty bikes and nothing new or fast or nice to ride. Sure the Quantum Pro is cool but it is old and not up to date and doesn't have cool wheels or 11 speeds or anything nice by current standards.
So we turn up Tourtellot Hill, I'm setting the pace, Dave's sitting on my wheel asking questions. It is a mile long hill 3-4% grade and I'm working as hard as I think I can to sustain the pace to the top. We get close and then Fox jumps and leaves just Jpalm there with me... it hurt.
But they weren't that far ahead... Goldberg and Brent weren't in contact though, and we headed out down Paris Irons. Under naked trees. Pretty much all the trees have been defoliated by the gypsy moths. Normally shady and dark roads were lit like it was winter. Very surreal.
But high point means motor time. And I did what big guys like to do once the high point of the ride is reached. I pedal my ass off. And that's kind of the rest of the ride. Me on the front spinning the 44x11 from 25-30 mph most of the way back.
Andrew commented that all those miles in May were good to me. And then I had to explain why I rode them all and of course I had to tell the story about those 9 miles I missed the title by and of course everyone's response was "why didn't you go out and get them if you could have checked" and well I still get kind of sad/mad/depressed thinking about how close I was and that the win was in my hands and I let it go because of some stupid thing that seemed like integrity saying "it will be what it is" which still hurts to say.
But even if I lost the extra miles are making a difference, the challenge lately has been to keep the mileage up. Keep riding.
Stresses flying at me from every direction.
But last night was a perfect tribute to Mark, we were able to ride, to ride fast and push each other hard and still enjoy a group ride and good company on a beautiful tuesday evening. And tell part of the story of MLFN's dream and goal for the ride to the new guy.
And of course I made my sunday sunburn worse. And got home late, and maybe riding on my wedding anniversary was a wee bit selfish but leading these rides, i do for everyone who shows up and for Mark's memory, fortunately my wife is understanding of the weekly ride routine.
Hopefully I can escape Friday and be selfish and get the June Hundo in. Current idea is the Three Seven Stars clover ride. Kind of the distillation of cycling options in RI into three loops and three spots to get ice coffee and pastries...
But next week we'll be back at the Tuesday Night Smackdown, the Rhode Island Smack Down ride or as MLFN called it the R.I.S.D. ride. Same route as last night next week. Same time.
Be like MLFN, don't be like a GeWilli,
Heddwch
G
a physical manifestation of the verb 'Love'
MLFN was one of those who was able to transcend and connect and want to know, to reach across and figure it out. Or maybe he wasn't, I think he was, but I've realized it has been a very long time since we've lost him and the ride was going only a handful of years before cancer took him. And the world was a different place then.
Yesterday's ride [Celebrating the life of a friend we lost too soon by carrying on his tradition, his ride, and carrying on his spirit.] was such a high that the end of the night kind of was set up for the pendulum swing and well, physically depleted brain function is not always a good one. So, um, sorry about that.
Yesterday's ride [Celebrating the life of a friend we lost too soon by carrying on his tradition, his ride, and carrying on his spirit.] was such a high that the end of the night kind of was set up for the pendulum swing and well, physically depleted brain function is not always a good one. So, um, sorry about that.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Odd happenstance
this not working... (yet today - still a chance to change it up)
Almost like a day off. Almost like a sunday for a cycling enthusiast.
I needed today's ride. Maybe should have kind of sort of put some sunscreen on, but hey I was riding at 6:15am... no big deal... except that I didn't get back till after 11am.
Oops. Plenty of time to get my first sunburn of the season, maybe first one in year or two.
It was a great ride with PKS and his buddy who grew up in Seattle and I can't remember his name at all, other than starts with T, me and not good with names, but good with faces. After the PTSD inducing viewing of Pretty in Pink last night, yeah go figure that movie reminded me of all the bad shit from high school, cliffnote version: i was pretty fucking miserable back then... Finally got to sleep, grumpy and tweaked... didn't sleep much as is the case when a ride is planned for the next morning, even with an alarm I kept waking up... "is it time yet" no "is it time yet" no got an email at 4:20am... NOT the email I wanted to get. Was figuring it was PKS with his reply saying he'll be up at 4am and check see who's coming along for the ride. That email didn't come through until 5:30ish.... Nah it was the GoDaddy auction notice that I'd been outbid. Out bid for the domain I woke up at 5am weeks ago to try and snag before I figured out how this whole thing worked. I spent the morning and the ride wondering what to do. How much was I willing to attempt to figure out how get? Not easy when you have zero dollars to spend and you need to spend to make stuff happen. Hem and haw and think and process... introspect and pedal... dangle off PKS and T's wheels, snap out of it and recover... discussed with Erin when I got back... agonized and got worked up, heart rate jacked, heart palpitations, hands trembling, and then the outbidder was outbit... and then it went up and up, and then I put my first counter bid in, and boom, auto-overbid. agonized another 5 minutes, I upped my high limit by $50 and re-bid. Same. Outbid. Well fuck. Hey guess who lost again. ME. Yup. No shock there, and soon enough maybe I'll be able to add another name to the wall of people who've won what I'd so desperately wanted but missed out on. But then my outbidder got outbid and it went up and up and up and WAY higher than I could have even hoped to come up with the cash for.
Not meant to be. But kind of drives home the whole Pretty in Pink PTSD, and the rest of the big triggers I have. If I'd only had enough cash resources to make it happen... and then ya know what? If i did my stories would be shit and boring and what's the point there. No agony no issues. Would seem easy and fine. Hard to make those stories sound engaging. Not that I'm TRYING to make my story more of anything.
Just kind of hoped to solidify the digital identity, but maybe I need to re-evaluate, come up with a truly unique digital ID for this... something other than GeWilli fwiw.
Now this ride? I got there, no problem, we started heading towards Douglas State Forest or whatever the forest area that is north of Buck Hill where the North South Trail starts. We were going the opposite direction compared to when I did the ride with Jason and Goldberg, and the roads there are starting to be very familiar. Still a bit lost getting to them if we deviate from the previous rides but hey it was good.
Except the roads were wet, and covered with gypsy moth caterpillars and caterpillar poop and leaf debris. We all got completely covered with the poop, the bikes picked up a pound or two if the stuff, it is insane out there. Nuts. And while it would be nice to have an easier gear than a 44-28, it actually worked pretty damn well. Nothing too steep or too long that I couldn't get up w/o much stress, and the high end? still able to crank a 25+ average down greenville and catch up on a wheel down hill at 30-35 mph.
Looking forward to riding out that way on Tuesday for the smackdown. The OG loop again. Full gas down Snake Hill. As Braaaaapy as you can get on a road bike. 5pm DePasqualle Square on Atwells Ave in PVD.
24 miles/day to get to the 4k mark by the end of the 6th month in comparison with trying to get to it on the 12th month in 2014.
Well... down time is over, gotta get up and get working on the next thing.
Arms are a bit red. Oops.
not too painful yet,
heddwch
G
Almost like a day off. Almost like a sunday for a cycling enthusiast.
I needed today's ride. Maybe should have kind of sort of put some sunscreen on, but hey I was riding at 6:15am... no big deal... except that I didn't get back till after 11am.
Oops. Plenty of time to get my first sunburn of the season, maybe first one in year or two.
It was a great ride with PKS and his buddy who grew up in Seattle and I can't remember his name at all, other than starts with T, me and not good with names, but good with faces. After the PTSD inducing viewing of Pretty in Pink last night, yeah go figure that movie reminded me of all the bad shit from high school, cliffnote version: i was pretty fucking miserable back then... Finally got to sleep, grumpy and tweaked... didn't sleep much as is the case when a ride is planned for the next morning, even with an alarm I kept waking up... "is it time yet" no "is it time yet" no got an email at 4:20am... NOT the email I wanted to get. Was figuring it was PKS with his reply saying he'll be up at 4am and check see who's coming along for the ride. That email didn't come through until 5:30ish.... Nah it was the GoDaddy auction notice that I'd been outbid. Out bid for the domain I woke up at 5am weeks ago to try and snag before I figured out how this whole thing worked. I spent the morning and the ride wondering what to do. How much was I willing to attempt to figure out how get? Not easy when you have zero dollars to spend and you need to spend to make stuff happen. Hem and haw and think and process... introspect and pedal... dangle off PKS and T's wheels, snap out of it and recover... discussed with Erin when I got back... agonized and got worked up, heart rate jacked, heart palpitations, hands trembling, and then the outbidder was outbit... and then it went up and up, and then I put my first counter bid in, and boom, auto-overbid. agonized another 5 minutes, I upped my high limit by $50 and re-bid. Same. Outbid. Well fuck. Hey guess who lost again. ME. Yup. No shock there, and soon enough maybe I'll be able to add another name to the wall of people who've won what I'd so desperately wanted but missed out on. But then my outbidder got outbid and it went up and up and up and WAY higher than I could have even hoped to come up with the cash for.
Not meant to be. But kind of drives home the whole Pretty in Pink PTSD, and the rest of the big triggers I have. If I'd only had enough cash resources to make it happen... and then ya know what? If i did my stories would be shit and boring and what's the point there. No agony no issues. Would seem easy and fine. Hard to make those stories sound engaging. Not that I'm TRYING to make my story more of anything.
Just kind of hoped to solidify the digital identity, but maybe I need to re-evaluate, come up with a truly unique digital ID for this... something other than GeWilli fwiw.
Now this ride? I got there, no problem, we started heading towards Douglas State Forest or whatever the forest area that is north of Buck Hill where the North South Trail starts. We were going the opposite direction compared to when I did the ride with Jason and Goldberg, and the roads there are starting to be very familiar. Still a bit lost getting to them if we deviate from the previous rides but hey it was good.
Except the roads were wet, and covered with gypsy moth caterpillars and caterpillar poop and leaf debris. We all got completely covered with the poop, the bikes picked up a pound or two if the stuff, it is insane out there. Nuts. And while it would be nice to have an easier gear than a 44-28, it actually worked pretty damn well. Nothing too steep or too long that I couldn't get up w/o much stress, and the high end? still able to crank a 25+ average down greenville and catch up on a wheel down hill at 30-35 mph.
Looking forward to riding out that way on Tuesday for the smackdown. The OG loop again. Full gas down Snake Hill. As Braaaaapy as you can get on a road bike. 5pm DePasqualle Square on Atwells Ave in PVD.
24 miles/day to get to the 4k mark by the end of the 6th month in comparison with trying to get to it on the 12th month in 2014.
Well... down time is over, gotta get up and get working on the next thing.
Arms are a bit red. Oops.
not too painful yet,
heddwch
G
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Might explain last post
This http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824146/ seems to maybe explain that last blood work. And why I was so tired for a while.
Also suggests I was properly hydrated after the ride and that morning. Salts in the lab results were good so I hit that mark too.
Slept in this morning, going to make hitting mileage mark more difficult. Oh well. Maybe I can make up for it tomorrow.
Heddwch,
G
G
Thursday, June 09, 2016
f'n bloodwork
Nothing like getting the every other year labs back from the Doc (she doesn't see the point in doing them every year if my numbers keep looking like this, but she's gonna be testing Vit D 25-Hydroxy annually until I actually start taking a supplement regularly.
Lipid panels crushed it, so that's nice, but I think that's both genetics and diet.
My RBCs were low 4.1 on a reference range of 4.2-5.4 and well you know what that means as a cyclists, yup, i'm fucked.
HCT was unsurprisingly 38.2% yeah i have no idea how fucking awesome it would feel to have that number at 47 (the high end of reference range, low end is 37 btw).
So I did that whole ride to Boston and back and then the smackdown and all that wish super shitty numbers eh?
Impressively predictable.
Point to those numbers, hey, I'm slow, this is why. But I'm fast given how low they are and as much as I have to overcome. But that 'fast' is still slow.
Maybe I should get a referral to an aging clinic, does up on some T-gel, HGH, EPO... that is probably a better way to get fast than getting a divorce and dating a 22 year old cyclist. Probably cheaper too.
I rode the long way in today.
It was good. Def going to try and do that tomorrow too. Need to get out the door early enough for that to happen, with luck....
Blood work is buggin me though... but it makes sense...
Explains kind of my racing [aka lack of] palmares. No watts williams also has no where near enough RBCs for what he wants to do.
It sucks.
Also... very funny that the labs have my sex as F.... seriously? Hey, that's kind of funny actually.
Need to get shit together... too much sitting here contemplating numbers my body regulates that I have little control over.
it is what it is and i guess that explains lots of stuff...
#beerme
heddwch
G
Lipid panels crushed it, so that's nice, but I think that's both genetics and diet.
My RBCs were low 4.1 on a reference range of 4.2-5.4 and well you know what that means as a cyclists, yup, i'm fucked.
HCT was unsurprisingly 38.2% yeah i have no idea how fucking awesome it would feel to have that number at 47 (the high end of reference range, low end is 37 btw).
So I did that whole ride to Boston and back and then the smackdown and all that wish super shitty numbers eh?
Impressively predictable.
Point to those numbers, hey, I'm slow, this is why. But I'm fast given how low they are and as much as I have to overcome. But that 'fast' is still slow.
Maybe I should get a referral to an aging clinic, does up on some T-gel, HGH, EPO... that is probably a better way to get fast than getting a divorce and dating a 22 year old cyclist. Probably cheaper too.
I rode the long way in today.
It was good. Def going to try and do that tomorrow too. Need to get out the door early enough for that to happen, with luck....
Blood work is buggin me though... but it makes sense...
Explains kind of my racing [aka lack of] palmares. No watts williams also has no where near enough RBCs for what he wants to do.
It sucks.
Also... very funny that the labs have my sex as F.... seriously? Hey, that's kind of funny actually.
Need to get shit together... too much sitting here contemplating numbers my body regulates that I have little control over.
it is what it is and i guess that explains lots of stuff...
#beerme
heddwch
G
Wednesday, June 08, 2016
ugh slug
Scotty B's words of wisdom, "your problems are still your own problems..."
Point being they are yours and they are impacting you, they may be super trivial but they are yours.
But then reflecting on what others have overcome it sort of opens the trapdoor of negative feedback and it gets worse and worse and those predisposed to it wind up in a frozen state of basically wing stall, there ain't nothing you can do, everything is out of your control. Dead stick. You're along for the ride and it feels like you're going to crash.
The TT is dead in the water a little bit. Why? I'm going six ways to sunday every minute I'm at work lately. At home? Heck I just filled the dishwasher with stuff in the sink. If the inhabitants of the house can fill the sink so efficiently you'd think the dishwasher would be even easier. Yeah it was not full of clean dishes. I know, i know stop focusing on the negative. Hey. Dead Stick Motherfucker. TT, huge commitment has been put in action, sadly the action part is lagging. Grass crit is in question, brother's kind of backpedaling after over enthusiastic commitment and of course some people are going to be "I told you so" and yeah i dunno.
Commute home was fucking cold. It is JUNE. The Rain was F'N COLD. At least it was a tailwind and all that. But still, bike path was pretty empty and that's pretty rare for June.
I think perhaps the lack of long rides in the last 7 days have not been good. Saturday was kind of a long ride but not really. Last night was kind of a long ride but it was fucking crammed into a high speed train wreck of a day. And i felt like crap, was not recovering after efforts well at all. Anyway, grappling with unknown demons despite positive building of great stuff. Want to take the long way but no time. Maybe tomorrow morning but that's also up in the air.
Yesterday's end point of the post - very much on point. May ended and rather than pedaling furiously I switched gears and have been going 100% non-stop w/o the reward that pedaling affords. Also maybe explaining the cliff note version of 2013/2014 to Soctty B wasn't the best thing to do on the ride.
Mentally have set a goal maybe I can't reach and each day that passes makes the goal more impossible. I wanted to match 2014 annual mileage by the end of this month. And looking at the numbers... 574 miles by the end of the month. Heck I did almost that many miles in a week in May. And look how it set up my June. But it is within grasp. Need only to average 26 miles a day for the rest of the month. Still possible but man, feels impossible at the moment.
But hey - my time is up, i created a handful of minutes and used them to write. Now to get the timing of diner correct I have to stop being a pathetic cranky asshole and get back to work... and all the while not be mentally challenged enough to stop thinking about everything else I'm failing at.... But hey, at least when I got home the bike was wet and the gypsy moth guts from the west bay were softened enough to wash off with the hose. Bike's dirty but not covered in shit anymore. And despite sucking balls as a CX bike the black blue is a pretty good road bike for me. Chain stays are too long and it is about as slow as I am but we've come to a good understanding over all these years and miles.
It is a good bike.
Oh and my tires are fucked. Go figure, ride a lot and you wear shit out. #SHOCKED (noticed as I rolled into the house). Hopefully I can get a few more miles out of them before they shit the bed.
Heddwch
G
Point being they are yours and they are impacting you, they may be super trivial but they are yours.
But then reflecting on what others have overcome it sort of opens the trapdoor of negative feedback and it gets worse and worse and those predisposed to it wind up in a frozen state of basically wing stall, there ain't nothing you can do, everything is out of your control. Dead stick. You're along for the ride and it feels like you're going to crash.
The TT is dead in the water a little bit. Why? I'm going six ways to sunday every minute I'm at work lately. At home? Heck I just filled the dishwasher with stuff in the sink. If the inhabitants of the house can fill the sink so efficiently you'd think the dishwasher would be even easier. Yeah it was not full of clean dishes. I know, i know stop focusing on the negative. Hey. Dead Stick Motherfucker. TT, huge commitment has been put in action, sadly the action part is lagging. Grass crit is in question, brother's kind of backpedaling after over enthusiastic commitment and of course some people are going to be "I told you so" and yeah i dunno.
Commute home was fucking cold. It is JUNE. The Rain was F'N COLD. At least it was a tailwind and all that. But still, bike path was pretty empty and that's pretty rare for June.
I think perhaps the lack of long rides in the last 7 days have not been good. Saturday was kind of a long ride but not really. Last night was kind of a long ride but it was fucking crammed into a high speed train wreck of a day. And i felt like crap, was not recovering after efforts well at all. Anyway, grappling with unknown demons despite positive building of great stuff. Want to take the long way but no time. Maybe tomorrow morning but that's also up in the air.
Yesterday's end point of the post - very much on point. May ended and rather than pedaling furiously I switched gears and have been going 100% non-stop w/o the reward that pedaling affords. Also maybe explaining the cliff note version of 2013/2014 to Soctty B wasn't the best thing to do on the ride.
Mentally have set a goal maybe I can't reach and each day that passes makes the goal more impossible. I wanted to match 2014 annual mileage by the end of this month. And looking at the numbers... 574 miles by the end of the month. Heck I did almost that many miles in a week in May. And look how it set up my June. But it is within grasp. Need only to average 26 miles a day for the rest of the month. Still possible but man, feels impossible at the moment.
But hey - my time is up, i created a handful of minutes and used them to write. Now to get the timing of diner correct I have to stop being a pathetic cranky asshole and get back to work... and all the while not be mentally challenged enough to stop thinking about everything else I'm failing at.... But hey, at least when I got home the bike was wet and the gypsy moth guts from the west bay were softened enough to wash off with the hose. Bike's dirty but not covered in shit anymore. And despite sucking balls as a CX bike the black blue is a pretty good road bike for me. Chain stays are too long and it is about as slow as I am but we've come to a good understanding over all these years and miles.
It is a good bike.
Oh and my tires are fucked. Go figure, ride a lot and you wear shit out. #SHOCKED (noticed as I rolled into the house). Hopefully I can get a few more miles out of them before they shit the bed.
Heddwch
G
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
A celebration
MLFN...
he left an impression... initial reaction to his passing is here
This year my idea to celebrate Mark and his influence and to carry on his spirit was to switch the route up and use his original planned route. Crazy sprint lines and all. Painted Turtle rock sprint line? Hell yeah. Sprint line at the first false flat peak on Douglass Hiill? Yup. Austin sprint finishes at the water tower AFTER the turn? Yep.
Tonight was good. My legs were half baked, stressed and oddly fueled after today's insanity, but you make do with what you've got.
There were mechanicals, we started with 5 and wound up with 3.
Next week maybe we'll have more? and better finish ratio?
So many memories on that ride, from times when Mark was there, from when Mark had passed...
Celebratory memories.
Greve and I started going through who's been in the team and who's left... other than Dr Flats and me the only one going back to '05/06 is Burke... turnover, but everyone who has left still has a place in our cycling heart, in the club, from Skinny to Not Skinny... and we're losing a bunch this summer. PKS to PA, Fox to Seattle, Kyle to DC/NASA. Sometimes it isn't easy being the core. It takes work. But also, there is a recognition of responsibility. no Shirking duties...
If you have a chance and a free tuesday evening, come out this month, ride with us... we'll tell the best stories of our best friend that is no longer with us.
Today has been going 100% since 5am. Time to clean up and pass out from exhaustion.
heddwch
G
he left an impression... initial reaction to his passing is here
This year my idea to celebrate Mark and his influence and to carry on his spirit was to switch the route up and use his original planned route. Crazy sprint lines and all. Painted Turtle rock sprint line? Hell yeah. Sprint line at the first false flat peak on Douglass Hiill? Yup. Austin sprint finishes at the water tower AFTER the turn? Yep.
Tonight was good. My legs were half baked, stressed and oddly fueled after today's insanity, but you make do with what you've got.
There were mechanicals, we started with 5 and wound up with 3.
Next week maybe we'll have more? and better finish ratio?
So many memories on that ride, from times when Mark was there, from when Mark had passed...
Celebratory memories.
Greve and I started going through who's been in the team and who's left... other than Dr Flats and me the only one going back to '05/06 is Burke... turnover, but everyone who has left still has a place in our cycling heart, in the club, from Skinny to Not Skinny... and we're losing a bunch this summer. PKS to PA, Fox to Seattle, Kyle to DC/NASA. Sometimes it isn't easy being the core. It takes work. But also, there is a recognition of responsibility. no Shirking duties...
If you have a chance and a free tuesday evening, come out this month, ride with us... we'll tell the best stories of our best friend that is no longer with us.
Today has been going 100% since 5am. Time to clean up and pass out from exhaustion.
heddwch
G
Saturday, June 04, 2016
Need to recap
But cracked a Take 5 tallboy, not feeling the writing mojo... also middle of making dinner so that's kind of a distraction.
Noticed that even after 120 miles I had a couple great times on the Smackdown loop that I was able to join, encouraging.
Also noted today that I had a couple PRs and actually felt pretty damn good (but was hurting) on the climbs around Tower Hill.
Also encouraging. Wondering perhaps maybe I can get faster than I was in 2013 and erase that chapter as the fastest I ever was. Would be mentally much easier if that was the case.
How many miles did I ride in May? Over 1700.
How many hours? So many hours.
Had a good re-hash of 2013-2014 with Scotty B today, at the same time, he was going through his stuff but I was so wrapped up in mine I only kind of was aware of what his struggles were and that made me sad, but also can understand very well.
The recap will be forthcoming, when I can catch up on everything from being gone so much. I was going 100% the whole month, just didn't feel like it because a good amount of the time I was going 100% for myself and that's pretty rare. But choices we make, eh? It also mean that when I wasn't going 100% for myself (on the bike) I was going 100% everywhere that I usually try and cruise at 80 and only kick in that last 20 when needed, which is far more frequent than is sustainable but hey - do I have a choice? at this point? nope. Way back when? Yeah.
It is true though...
Gonna end with a quote from a good friend...
"Listen, life is about making stories. Sometimes second is a better story."
the lack of level playing field in the following sentences equally true across the board, but those two sentences... truth... i just hope/endeavor to tell 'the rest of the' story soon.
heddwch
G
Noticed that even after 120 miles I had a couple great times on the Smackdown loop that I was able to join, encouraging.
Also noted today that I had a couple PRs and actually felt pretty damn good (but was hurting) on the climbs around Tower Hill.
Also encouraging. Wondering perhaps maybe I can get faster than I was in 2013 and erase that chapter as the fastest I ever was. Would be mentally much easier if that was the case.
How many miles did I ride in May? Over 1700.
How many hours? So many hours.
Had a good re-hash of 2013-2014 with Scotty B today, at the same time, he was going through his stuff but I was so wrapped up in mine I only kind of was aware of what his struggles were and that made me sad, but also can understand very well.
The recap will be forthcoming, when I can catch up on everything from being gone so much. I was going 100% the whole month, just didn't feel like it because a good amount of the time I was going 100% for myself and that's pretty rare. But choices we make, eh? It also mean that when I wasn't going 100% for myself (on the bike) I was going 100% everywhere that I usually try and cruise at 80 and only kick in that last 20 when needed, which is far more frequent than is sustainable but hey - do I have a choice? at this point? nope. Way back when? Yeah.
It is true though...
Gonna end with a quote from a good friend...
"Listen, life is about making stories. Sometimes second is a better story."
the lack of level playing field in the following sentences equally true across the board, but those two sentences... truth... i just hope/endeavor to tell 'the rest of the' story soon.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Talk about a M'F'n Grand Slam Home Run Hat trick Triple Double Shutout Perfect Game!
Maybe my longest title ever but it f'n fits.
I won today with a solobreak off the front from the start.
Would never have been this awesome with my friends.
Brian Goldberg who worked his ass off for 12+ hours yesterday so he could take the day to ride with me.
Dave Foley aka Solobreak aka Negacoach aka nicest guy around for meeting us and bringing us to his house to fill water bottles and then giving us the goddamn best route I hadn't found yet from his place to Dot Ave in the most kick ass maner. SO GOOD. So good to see Robin there while we were refilling bottles.
Kevin, Jamie, Tyler and Brian(?) at Firefly for more water, a destination and a peek at their new adaptive butting (trademark) tubes and all that. Oh and for the donuts. Yeah I had a couple donuts.
And Tyler esp for the encouragement that Barrington Coffee is only 2 miles away... well duh yeah how can we NOT go for coffee (OMG STILL THE BEST). Memories of stopping there with Dean and meeting JLSCX and Cait there.
And Dave again for offering to refill waterbottles again, and then giving us best route to avoid Bay on the way home. It was kick ass again! Goldberg almost didn't die a couple times but he made it home.
AND THEN 118 miles into the ride I tagged into the Smackdown on Pine. Yes. I figured a nice long warm up was my problem.
Guess what? It kind of was awesome. I felt strong and felt really good. Once I got some fluid in me. Goldberg and I were out of water at mile 105 or so.
IT WAS REALLY HOT TODAY. OMG SO SWEATY AND HOT HOLYFUCK.
We needed one more water stop between Dave's house and the smackdown. I managed to survive and even drop everyone (well not the kid John on the solobreak or Fuller chasing him) but the group of Fox PKS Greve and ? I missed who the other strong looking PKS sized guy's name was. Anyway, I felt good. Hillside kicked my ass but I wasn't quite last and kept Fox in sight.
Rode back with them, out of water though, drained Fox's bottle and a handful of swigs from PKS's so critical and so appreciated.
Then while I'm wondering where the hell or how the hell am I going to make it home, Justin C shows up coming down the Linear park and I drain his last half of a bottle and make it home to be greeted by the dogs being walked with soccer kid and my wife.
Can you get a better welcome home than dogs that are soooooooper excited to see you?
Not really. And yes, my wife was very happy I was finally home, also that I was safe. And she got pizza and driving to RIC to get dancer kid so I can sit here and eat pizza, drink water and write (I should really get in shower and wash off sunscreen).
Goldberg was very much influential and helping get over the whole stupid competition, Fox said more or less that my competition was cheating all for the same reasons: "Is there a catergory for a guy with two jobs, a wife, two kids, two dogs, a guinea pig, and who does all the food shopping and the cooking (except when we order pizza)? NOPE THERE ISN'T! Yes I took a bunch of time off to get these miles in, and when I'm retired (if i ever retire) I'll then contend with the competition again. Till then? It is all good. It was a good incentive to get me riding more and more and more.
Benefits? Me. I think I need about two weeks of active pedaling recovery to start to begin to reap the full physiological response of this massive month, but either way anyway, even if i'm not any faster or different after it, it was worth it. It was awesome.
And thanks, thanks Fatmarc and Chip for you comments, your encouragement along the way, I appreciate it.
Good place right now GeWilli feels. Worked through it the way I usually do, pure abject stubbornness and unwillingness to quit. Keep going, do the right thing, keep doing the right thing...
So thank you.
Everyone. Like I told Jason and Goldberg on Saturday's hotter than hell 80 miler... in response to "it takes a village" i fired back "Yup, It takes a village to raise an idiot, like me!"
So thanks village [people] Hugs to all, heck maybe it was the Shoogs has a Posse sticker on the seat tube that has created the magic. Or not washing the bike, or ... the village....
I'm now full of pizza time to shower...
again.. thank you everyone, esp those I missed naming specifically, my brain is not so perfect (duh no shit knucklehead) so forgive me...
heddwch
G
I won today with a solobreak off the front from the start.
Would never have been this awesome with my friends.
Brian Goldberg who worked his ass off for 12+ hours yesterday so he could take the day to ride with me.
Dave Foley aka Solobreak aka Negacoach aka nicest guy around for meeting us and bringing us to his house to fill water bottles and then giving us the goddamn best route I hadn't found yet from his place to Dot Ave in the most kick ass maner. SO GOOD. So good to see Robin there while we were refilling bottles.
Kevin, Jamie, Tyler and Brian(?) at Firefly for more water, a destination and a peek at their new adaptive butting (trademark) tubes and all that. Oh and for the donuts. Yeah I had a couple donuts.
And Tyler esp for the encouragement that Barrington Coffee is only 2 miles away... well duh yeah how can we NOT go for coffee (OMG STILL THE BEST). Memories of stopping there with Dean and meeting JLSCX and Cait there.
And Dave again for offering to refill waterbottles again, and then giving us best route to avoid Bay on the way home. It was kick ass again! Goldberg almost didn't die a couple times but he made it home.
AND THEN 118 miles into the ride I tagged into the Smackdown on Pine. Yes. I figured a nice long warm up was my problem.
Guess what? It kind of was awesome. I felt strong and felt really good. Once I got some fluid in me. Goldberg and I were out of water at mile 105 or so.
IT WAS REALLY HOT TODAY. OMG SO SWEATY AND HOT HOLYFUCK.
We needed one more water stop between Dave's house and the smackdown. I managed to survive and even drop everyone (well not the kid John on the solobreak or Fuller chasing him) but the group of Fox PKS Greve and ? I missed who the other strong looking PKS sized guy's name was. Anyway, I felt good. Hillside kicked my ass but I wasn't quite last and kept Fox in sight.
Rode back with them, out of water though, drained Fox's bottle and a handful of swigs from PKS's so critical and so appreciated.
Then while I'm wondering where the hell or how the hell am I going to make it home, Justin C shows up coming down the Linear park and I drain his last half of a bottle and make it home to be greeted by the dogs being walked with soccer kid and my wife.
Can you get a better welcome home than dogs that are soooooooper excited to see you?
Not really. And yes, my wife was very happy I was finally home, also that I was safe. And she got pizza and driving to RIC to get dancer kid so I can sit here and eat pizza, drink water and write (I should really get in shower and wash off sunscreen).
Goldberg was very much influential and helping get over the whole stupid competition, Fox said more or less that my competition was cheating all for the same reasons: "Is there a catergory for a guy with two jobs, a wife, two kids, two dogs, a guinea pig, and who does all the food shopping and the cooking (except when we order pizza)? NOPE THERE ISN'T! Yes I took a bunch of time off to get these miles in, and when I'm retired (if i ever retire) I'll then contend with the competition again. Till then? It is all good. It was a good incentive to get me riding more and more and more.
Benefits? Me. I think I need about two weeks of active pedaling recovery to start to begin to reap the full physiological response of this massive month, but either way anyway, even if i'm not any faster or different after it, it was worth it. It was awesome.
And thanks, thanks Fatmarc and Chip for you comments, your encouragement along the way, I appreciate it.
Good place right now GeWilli feels. Worked through it the way I usually do, pure abject stubbornness and unwillingness to quit. Keep going, do the right thing, keep doing the right thing...
So thank you.
Everyone. Like I told Jason and Goldberg on Saturday's hotter than hell 80 miler... in response to "it takes a village" i fired back "Yup, It takes a village to raise an idiot, like me!"
So thanks village [people] Hugs to all, heck maybe it was the Shoogs has a Posse sticker on the seat tube that has created the magic. Or not washing the bike, or ... the village....
I'm now full of pizza time to shower...
again.. thank you everyone, esp those I missed naming specifically, my brain is not so perfect (duh no shit knucklehead) so forgive me...
heddwch
G
Monday, May 30, 2016
resignation
the penultimate emotion?
maybe...
Got to the shop, put a handful of bikes together, headed home...
but...
couldn't mentally turn and take the long way home. 5 miles or 25 miles to home and i went with 5. I sort of rationalized that I was hungry and didn't want to ride through backyard grill after backyard grill, and maybe all the people partying and heading home or i dunno... mostly I think i was just tired.
I also was feeling the pressure to take a look at the Van, see what the vibration issue was. Dunno. Felt something but could be EGR fluttering (it needs to be replaced - gonna order that this week) could be something else. My ancient Vag-com laptop won't talk with the new car, may need to order one of those little bluetooth devices and get an Ap for the old phone to finally talk with these cars. In the mean time - replace EGR and then check codes and then??? And if I took the long way home doing that, getting kit washed for tomorrow and making dinner would be compromised. I'll compromise myself, not going to wash the bike. Tossed some fresh lube on the chain but that's about it. Dirtbag bike FTW, resigned to shitty but functional bikes.
So, tired, time conscious, and resigned. I haven't looked at NBC since this morning. Fuck it. I will be where I am and will ride tomorrow and really just enjoy the hell out of the day. Second? That's fine. I pushed and he pushed back with a level I couldn't quite muster. Maybe tomorrow's miles will be enough? I doubt it esp since today is the shortest I've ridden since being sick after the Plymouth Hundo.
And I opted for the shorter route home to maybe not be quite so dead tomorrow, to have a bit better quality leg left and so maybe I can hang on over the Red Bridge at the start of Smackdown after the Hundo.
I rode more slowly than I have since I was sick.
Get through tomorrow. Get through tomorrow.
Truth be told, I'm pretty stoked about tomorrow. A bit worried about the end of the night and how kid pick up will work but hey, There's 24+ hours until that. Plenty of time to figure it out.
Super stoked for tomorrow. The last day of May. #everydayinmay success. More miles than I've ridden in a week, ever. More miles than maybe I've ridden in a month. EVER. Doubling the mileage for the year before the end of the month was kind of cool. Doing it all and not having any issues with the contact points or the legs? Not bad. Even getting super sick for 38 hours or so I still managed to get on the bike every day.
I'm particularly fascinated by the complete lack of control over my emotions lately. But mostly frustrated that the riding and friends haven't fixed anything really.
But goddamnit I do love to ride my bike. Even my craptastic dirty creaky needing new drive-train brakes and who knows what else... heck it doesn't even fit! And no, not riding the Klein tomorrow, mostly because it has a flat ride and secondly the hoods just aren't as comfortable as the beat up old but bombproof 10sp 105 levers.
Well dinner is served and consumed... still giant pile of stuff to do, but watching my first hockey of the year... oh and weak analog signal > weak digital signal...
Tomorrow... big day, looking forward to it.
heddwch
G
maybe...
Got to the shop, put a handful of bikes together, headed home...
but...
couldn't mentally turn and take the long way home. 5 miles or 25 miles to home and i went with 5. I sort of rationalized that I was hungry and didn't want to ride through backyard grill after backyard grill, and maybe all the people partying and heading home or i dunno... mostly I think i was just tired.
I also was feeling the pressure to take a look at the Van, see what the vibration issue was. Dunno. Felt something but could be EGR fluttering (it needs to be replaced - gonna order that this week) could be something else. My ancient Vag-com laptop won't talk with the new car, may need to order one of those little bluetooth devices and get an Ap for the old phone to finally talk with these cars. In the mean time - replace EGR and then check codes and then??? And if I took the long way home doing that, getting kit washed for tomorrow and making dinner would be compromised. I'll compromise myself, not going to wash the bike. Tossed some fresh lube on the chain but that's about it. Dirtbag bike FTW, resigned to shitty but functional bikes.
So, tired, time conscious, and resigned. I haven't looked at NBC since this morning. Fuck it. I will be where I am and will ride tomorrow and really just enjoy the hell out of the day. Second? That's fine. I pushed and he pushed back with a level I couldn't quite muster. Maybe tomorrow's miles will be enough? I doubt it esp since today is the shortest I've ridden since being sick after the Plymouth Hundo.
And I opted for the shorter route home to maybe not be quite so dead tomorrow, to have a bit better quality leg left and so maybe I can hang on over the Red Bridge at the start of Smackdown after the Hundo.
I rode more slowly than I have since I was sick.
Get through tomorrow. Get through tomorrow.
Truth be told, I'm pretty stoked about tomorrow. A bit worried about the end of the night and how kid pick up will work but hey, There's 24+ hours until that. Plenty of time to figure it out.
Super stoked for tomorrow. The last day of May. #everydayinmay success. More miles than I've ridden in a week, ever. More miles than maybe I've ridden in a month. EVER. Doubling the mileage for the year before the end of the month was kind of cool. Doing it all and not having any issues with the contact points or the legs? Not bad. Even getting super sick for 38 hours or so I still managed to get on the bike every day.
I'm particularly fascinated by the complete lack of control over my emotions lately. But mostly frustrated that the riding and friends haven't fixed anything really.
But goddamnit I do love to ride my bike. Even my craptastic dirty creaky needing new drive-train brakes and who knows what else... heck it doesn't even fit! And no, not riding the Klein tomorrow, mostly because it has a flat ride and secondly the hoods just aren't as comfortable as the beat up old but bombproof 10sp 105 levers.
Well dinner is served and consumed... still giant pile of stuff to do, but watching my first hockey of the year... oh and weak analog signal > weak digital signal...
Tomorrow... big day, looking forward to it.
heddwch
G
I slept.. and slept
was good at least once I fell back asleep at 5am...
added diagnose and fix car to the list of shit I haven't done or need to do but will be riding instead.
added diagnose and fix car to the list of shit I haven't done or need to do but will be riding instead.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
madness
why? because I'm ready to head out and ride 9 miles right now just to keep the 1st position for tomorrow...
so tired though.
so angry at how it is making me feel to be this close, angry that I can't look at this as amazing incentive, angry I can't turn it around like I know is possible, like i know I should, turn it around into motivation and fuel, not desperation and fear.
Looking at all this sacrifice as not in vain but for what I've gained.
Should be able to do that, no? Yeah I should. Can't seem to.
Will keep trying too.
Guess I'm taking the long way in to the shop to build bikes tomorrow.
on a positive note I did hit the number of miles needed today to have a 1000 mile 14 day stretch. 70.8 was enough for that... just not enough to keep the lead...
two days left...
two...
so tired though.
so angry at how it is making me feel to be this close, angry that I can't look at this as amazing incentive, angry I can't turn it around like I know is possible, like i know I should, turn it around into motivation and fuel, not desperation and fear.
Looking at all this sacrifice as not in vain but for what I've gained.
Should be able to do that, no? Yeah I should. Can't seem to.
Will keep trying too.
Guess I'm taking the long way in to the shop to build bikes tomorrow.
on a positive note I did hit the number of miles needed today to have a 1000 mile 14 day stretch. 70.8 was enough for that... just not enough to keep the lead...
two days left...
two...
Saturday, May 28, 2016
had it for a day
back down to 2nd... plenty of cushion to 3rd... but still - difference is 10 miles. I would have had to head back after dark to get it done, to keep the lead.
We'll see what today brings. Heading out with KOM Goldberg and Jason, hoping they are kind to me on the hills, or hoping my legs felt like they did last night on the way home.
It is odd. I'm not fast but I can find much longer sustained power now wondering what it would be like if I was able to get some long night sleep (dogs were a pain last night and half of the house left early for soccer tournament - i'm here to get oldest where she needs to be).
A mark I never thought i'd make is the doubling of the annual mileage in the month of May. Looks like that'll happen easily. Today likely, way early. Also potentially setting new weekly record for myself, AND maybe getting enough miles this weekend to hit 1000 miles in two weeks.
I think given that the legs are feeling just a wee tired and I'm not resting much that I'm ready for some of Matt's adventure. Something I'd never thought I'd see is these side by side numbers
But they are just numbers and he'd kick my ass anyway, this extra mass isn't inconsequential and my elevation gain is minimal and I actively (lately) have avoided going up. Climbing is suffering lately. Even on high carb, full glycogen loads. Possibly fatigue maybe. We'll know in a couple weeks.
Thursday's ride with DB was fun, it was hot but manageable, ice cream maybe less than ideal mid/end ride fuel, but it tasted good at the time. hysterical trying to meet up with Chip. esp after seeing his twitter stuff when i got back.
Yes I'm riding with my phone just in GPS mode. No mobile data, the only radio on is the GPS and the old fashioned text/voice stuff. I will say swipe text is super easy one handed while riding. I just happen to pick the bumpiest sections of roads while riding to try and get a location lock on Chip.
We wound up stopping for a 10-15 minutes in the shade. I ate my second breakfast sandwich of the day (third was at chip's house, then ice cream then 4th sandwich on bike path home) That's it. no other food, no gels, no blocks, no bars. Just food, and not very frequently. And it was fine. Went through more water than I normally do but it was also in the high 80s with bright full sun.
No routing issues really. Most of the roads we were familiar with, or DB's garmin gave us heads up (it waited to die until we were in familiar territory. I remembered most of the route from the one ride to Chip's last summer, at least once Jason's route merged onto the one I took. Jason's route was much better, but it doesn't have any ice cream along the way so we headed home via Diamond hill.
But we still checked out the end of the bike path, and we still hit some single track with a few rocks. Chip was on his IDGAF monster bike and DB and me on our road tires. Issokay no one died in the woods.
Chip did pull an abrupt right turn in front of me and I kind of nearly went straight into his rear robot der but somehow managed to avoid destroying his bike and supermanning onto the pavement. "Thanks for the heads up chip"
Saw the Pirro handi-work, got some water and coffee, some shoogs stickers and DB and I headed back home. We opted for the dirt instead of the busy roads and popped back out on Noon Hill. Then rode through Wrecktham (it sucks a bit) and the road to Cumberland from there isn't great, but we had very few issues. Found Ice cream. (coffee) ate it, decided to ride around the reservoir to make sure we got the full hundo, headed back into town, stopped at the bike shop for cold water and to pause for a minute, then parted ways. I did a few extra miles on the bike path just to pad the number (and because I felt still pretty good and had plenty of time) and fortunately those extra miles were what got me that one point lead on yesterday's leaderboard.
But you know the story, Jan got 11 more miles than I did yesterday despite my attempts to maximize my limited time by pushing the pace and trying for higher average speed...
I should fire up the ride fuel machine (and make a shit ton more coffee) and make the breakfast sandwiches. Route looks to be about 78 miles. Jan probably will do 80+ again, but i've gotta work when I get back from the ride and then drive the kid to the cape in the afternoon (yeah no way out of that - hopefully evening traffic won't be terrible - it will be what it is).
Now to pick which bike to ride today.... need climbing advantage and also want to match Goldberg's bike so I'll ride the Klein. Give the worn out old black blue a rest.
Looks to be another scorcher. Too bad white kit is dirty! Better get it washed up for Tuesday!
heddwch
G
We'll see what today brings. Heading out with KOM Goldberg and Jason, hoping they are kind to me on the hills, or hoping my legs felt like they did last night on the way home.
It is odd. I'm not fast but I can find much longer sustained power now wondering what it would be like if I was able to get some long night sleep (dogs were a pain last night and half of the house left early for soccer tournament - i'm here to get oldest where she needs to be).
A mark I never thought i'd make is the doubling of the annual mileage in the month of May. Looks like that'll happen easily. Today likely, way early. Also potentially setting new weekly record for myself, AND maybe getting enough miles this weekend to hit 1000 miles in two weeks.
I think given that the legs are feeling just a wee tired and I'm not resting much that I'm ready for some of Matt's adventure. Something I'd never thought I'd see is these side by side numbers
But they are just numbers and he'd kick my ass anyway, this extra mass isn't inconsequential and my elevation gain is minimal and I actively (lately) have avoided going up. Climbing is suffering lately. Even on high carb, full glycogen loads. Possibly fatigue maybe. We'll know in a couple weeks.
Thursday's ride with DB was fun, it was hot but manageable, ice cream maybe less than ideal mid/end ride fuel, but it tasted good at the time. hysterical trying to meet up with Chip. esp after seeing his twitter stuff when i got back.
Yes I'm riding with my phone just in GPS mode. No mobile data, the only radio on is the GPS and the old fashioned text/voice stuff. I will say swipe text is super easy one handed while riding. I just happen to pick the bumpiest sections of roads while riding to try and get a location lock on Chip.
We wound up stopping for a 10-15 minutes in the shade. I ate my second breakfast sandwich of the day (third was at chip's house, then ice cream then 4th sandwich on bike path home) That's it. no other food, no gels, no blocks, no bars. Just food, and not very frequently. And it was fine. Went through more water than I normally do but it was also in the high 80s with bright full sun.
No routing issues really. Most of the roads we were familiar with, or DB's garmin gave us heads up (it waited to die until we were in familiar territory. I remembered most of the route from the one ride to Chip's last summer, at least once Jason's route merged onto the one I took. Jason's route was much better, but it doesn't have any ice cream along the way so we headed home via Diamond hill.
But we still checked out the end of the bike path, and we still hit some single track with a few rocks. Chip was on his IDGAF monster bike and DB and me on our road tires. Issokay no one died in the woods.
Chip did pull an abrupt right turn in front of me and I kind of nearly went straight into his rear robot der but somehow managed to avoid destroying his bike and supermanning onto the pavement. "Thanks for the heads up chip"
Saw the Pirro handi-work, got some water and coffee, some shoogs stickers and DB and I headed back home. We opted for the dirt instead of the busy roads and popped back out on Noon Hill. Then rode through Wrecktham (it sucks a bit) and the road to Cumberland from there isn't great, but we had very few issues. Found Ice cream. (coffee) ate it, decided to ride around the reservoir to make sure we got the full hundo, headed back into town, stopped at the bike shop for cold water and to pause for a minute, then parted ways. I did a few extra miles on the bike path just to pad the number (and because I felt still pretty good and had plenty of time) and fortunately those extra miles were what got me that one point lead on yesterday's leaderboard.
But you know the story, Jan got 11 more miles than I did yesterday despite my attempts to maximize my limited time by pushing the pace and trying for higher average speed...
I should fire up the ride fuel machine (and make a shit ton more coffee) and make the breakfast sandwiches. Route looks to be about 78 miles. Jan probably will do 80+ again, but i've gotta work when I get back from the ride and then drive the kid to the cape in the afternoon (yeah no way out of that - hopefully evening traffic won't be terrible - it will be what it is).
Now to pick which bike to ride today.... need climbing advantage and also want to match Goldberg's bike so I'll ride the Klein. Give the worn out old black blue a rest.
Looks to be another scorcher. Too bad white kit is dirty! Better get it washed up for Tuesday!
heddwch
G
Friday, May 27, 2016
quick NBC update
https://nationalbikechallenge.org/state/ri
30th? that's nuts, but the ride yesterday pushed me into 1st by ONE point... one fucking point with a full day and little time to ride. We'll see how far I slip today, but that's actually just pretty cool to jump back in the lead... and damn, 30th in the country? Kind of seriously nuts.
more later if i have a few moments of idle time.
30th? that's nuts, but the ride yesterday pushed me into 1st by ONE point... one fucking point with a full day and little time to ride. We'll see how far I slip today, but that's actually just pretty cool to jump back in the lead... and damn, 30th in the country? Kind of seriously nuts.
more later if i have a few moments of idle time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
