I should have gone to the races tonight. But dishes and food and life had to happen at home.
A colleague at work said "just take a day for yourself" I'd love to but then how do i explain taking last weekend completely focused on racing? Granted, when E goes out for a marathon between a week before and a week after? shit's so unsettled and strange. We're a week or two out from Marine Corps marathon BTW. But i have a big weekend and have to be on point every moment. Do i manage it? probably not. Do I try? yup. But taking a day for myself, mid-week? It was pointed out i do that too, usually it means riding my bike all day. I'm okay with that, but that's not as restful and low stress as sitting in bed sleeping, watching movies and just turning the brain off and relaxing.
I'm not going to watch the debates tonight. Nope, nope nope nope.
I suggest watching this instead.
Curmudgeons from Jersey 2nd Avenue on Vimeo.
It is good, very good.
Not as long as the debate will go, probably barely register on the timeline, also watch out for the language, not that anyone here reading this has a fucking problem with motherfucking shitty language.
But it is a message about love. And falling in love. Life. Fucking motherfucker.
recognition? it was a topic of the weekend at one point. If someone didn't introduce and connect someone, who cares, someone else would have if it was destiny, right? Would have happened anyway. Probably. No big deal. Whatever. Except it wasn't someone else, it wasn't anyone and it did happen due to very specific and direct influence and the success of the individual is absolutely not surprising in the least, duh, i'm a fucking no talent hack on the bike but i somehow can recognize outliers in the field when I see them. I'll figure it out someday.
That kid's story about nailing stuff into the wall, then pulling nails out then being shown the holes in the fence... That.
It is strange, that short movie seems almost more relevant than anything to be honest, on so many levels.
Tonight on the ride home I was struggling to hang with the department prof with his new fancy bike, i had backpack with groceries in it and was riding the under inflated slow super worn drive train black blue, and suddenly a tiny kid runs out in front of me.
The rear tire skid i left will be on the path for a while. I moved left as much as I could without landing on top of her, I slowed as fast as I could without endo'n on top of her, in the end, if she'd have kept going in the direction she was running it would have been fine, but prof dude and I were riding side by side and well she could have kept going straight and nothing would have happened but she didn't. She turned back into me.... but I was almost completely stopped, but not quite. and she made contact. and i havn't been the same since.
It took me an hour before the adrenaline, cortisol and stress dissipated. she was lucky, i had decent instincts, i was and am still horribly shaken, her parents there on the scene were calm and collected and graciously apologetic and i was shaking too much to pedal... out of nowwhere. screened by a double stroller and her parents, dashing across to her brother on the other side of the path. right in front of me. Disc brakes help? not considering i was as close to locking the front wheel up as possible without endo'ing on top of her, rear was skid. couple thousand miles lost in that length of tire. It was horrible and it sucks. Revisiting past collisions.
PTSD.
much like the lack of acknowledgement... PTSD... triggers, no need for warning, there never is warning.
people w/o it? don't get it. I'm fortunate not to have gotten mine from overseas in the war... doesn't change the impact, just the context.
But i'm working to try and deal with it.
Riding bikes helps.
Need to do more of it.
which is strange in that i'm almost not quite recovered from the weekend and the week leading up to it.
At least it looks like i'm only racing once this weekend....
I'm sad, broken, i'm confused as to what muscle in my but/hip/back is fucking with me, but then I realize how much this shit hurts when I touch it and how little pain actually registers anymore. my D.O. may be right, i have an insane pain threshold that would cripple anyone else. Well that kind of makes sense, physically and emotionally.
Carry on tho. carry on.
Looking forward to Saturday. Even if the course is the antithesis of GeWilli friendly. Still looking forward to it.
heddwch,
g
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Monday, October 17, 2016
G-ster Day 2 ... 2016 edition
I just took a peak back at last year's results.... consistent. And not bad. But I had a couple weeks of racing going into that. Not just racing but doing double days. A double at Quad, a Double at Riverpoint and then the triple at Midnight Ride. I also worked the pits for the same crew so both days were long days. Although I think maybe not having a club row spot and not having to set up the tent and get there early was a bit less stressful perhaps? Also I've slept like shit for the last week or so and have been super tired, but still waking up early or just not sleeping.
Kid also had a bad sport day, didn't play much at all, only went in the game to touch the field basically for about 30 seconds. But she's got more games ahead of her still. As I hopefully have more races to do.
This year's goal going into G-ster on little racing fitness was simply to finish on the lead lap and have fun. I had a great day yesterday. Did I have fun? It was painful. I couldn't find the rhythm on the course yesterday and my back was killing me the whole race, sucking power. Lower back, lower right side at the top of my butt specifically. I finished and even w/o a sprint I was completely and totally dead. But not last. And not lapped. But i basically couldn't move for a bit. Quite literally.
Kid also had a bad sport day, didn't play much at all, only went in the game to touch the field basically for about 30 seconds. But she's got more games ahead of her still. As I hopefully have more races to do.
This year's goal going into G-ster on little racing fitness was simply to finish on the lead lap and have fun. I had a great day yesterday. Did I have fun? It was painful. I couldn't find the rhythm on the course yesterday and my back was killing me the whole race, sucking power. Lower back, lower right side at the top of my butt specifically. I finished and even w/o a sprint I was completely and totally dead. But not last. And not lapped. But i basically couldn't move for a bit. Quite literally.
Saturday, October 15, 2016
G-ster day one
Holy crap i'm physically wrecked. Everything hurts, it is tough to move. Less pain and most just can't move so well.
It is a struggle to find muscle strength and coordination to unpin my skinsuit so i can wash it tonight.
The 63 mile opener ride with Goldberg yesterday must have worked. it was so fun, so good. I had a very conservative (translate = slow) start, but saved lots of matches and was able to light them until the final climb up the hill when i torched the whole book blowing past a fading Tim Young who tried to sprint but kind of got gassed and then passed by another one of us middle age race cat dudes. Also happy that this year only the first three 55+ guys passed me and two were on the final lap. So, not so bad. I didn't blow up (slower middle lap but last two were as fast as 2nd and 3rd (we did 6). I had plenty of power for the brief climbs and generally rode around thinking GODDAMN I LOVE A TOM STEVENS COURSE. SO PERFECT. Which probably means I wasn't going as fast as I could mostly it meant i found that magical rhythm. Blast yourself to bits, recover in the turns and use as little brake as possible and blast yourself again. Racing with friends was awesome. I feel bad that Carl decided to collected a mile of course tape in his rear wheel but secretly delighted in the fact that I beat him today. I spent time in the Paul Boudreau zone, so many cheers for him, but they faded a bit.
I had fun racing. I probably should have warmed up more but I also slept for absolute shit last night. Not too late to bed but awake at 2:30 and dozed back to sleep at 3 but then awake again from 3:30-4 and at that point i was thinking just get up, it is only an hour, but I kind of forced myself to stay there in bed until the alarm went off, so i added a few more minutes of sleep but i was there and was TIRED today. But legs decided they were here to play and i beat the race predictor by 8 places, saw tons of friends, raced with more of them.
It was good.
Also worked for Natasha, Derek and Michael. Also fun. Cut into the socializing and cut out the drinking, okay i did have a Tall boy post race, and i had a couple of Kurt Maw's session beers, but 12oz session beers don't count.
Traffic was FUCKED from about halfway to 95 and then until 93. Car is almost out of gas but at home and I am tired. Was painful getting out of the car when I got home. Arms hurt, legs hurt, hands hurt, back REALLY hurts. That was a proper CX beat down.
Oh and 30 min into a 60 min race when you're pitting for two guys nearly a half a lap apart is the WORST time to have to pee really badly. Did the dance for the last half of the men's race. But survived.
Tomorrow is the same thing one more time. I should have probably ridden way more today? I did cool down for 20 min on the trainer. Pedal'd out the kuck, but then stood around on the legs until 5:30-6pm.
5am alarm, gonna see if i can get my leaving down to less than I did this morning. But tent's already set up so i have a wee bit more buffer today. Other end of the day's gonna suck more though. BECAUSE BREAK DOWN.
Oh well. maybe the drive won't be so sucky (yeah right).
I'm okay with being as fast as I am if i can race like I did today.
I may not quite crack the top half ever, but there's some great racing going on where I am with some really great dudes, and really, what more could i ask for? Not like I'm gonna stop drinking beer, and ignore all the responsibilities that don't pertain to me living like an athlete. Still it was good, it was fun, and tomorrow's another day.
Holy fuck i'm tired....
heddwch
G
It is a struggle to find muscle strength and coordination to unpin my skinsuit so i can wash it tonight.
The 63 mile opener ride with Goldberg yesterday must have worked. it was so fun, so good. I had a very conservative (translate = slow) start, but saved lots of matches and was able to light them until the final climb up the hill when i torched the whole book blowing past a fading Tim Young who tried to sprint but kind of got gassed and then passed by another one of us middle age race cat dudes. Also happy that this year only the first three 55+ guys passed me and two were on the final lap. So, not so bad. I didn't blow up (slower middle lap but last two were as fast as 2nd and 3rd (we did 6). I had plenty of power for the brief climbs and generally rode around thinking GODDAMN I LOVE A TOM STEVENS COURSE. SO PERFECT. Which probably means I wasn't going as fast as I could mostly it meant i found that magical rhythm. Blast yourself to bits, recover in the turns and use as little brake as possible and blast yourself again. Racing with friends was awesome. I feel bad that Carl decided to collected a mile of course tape in his rear wheel but secretly delighted in the fact that I beat him today. I spent time in the Paul Boudreau zone, so many cheers for him, but they faded a bit.
I had fun racing. I probably should have warmed up more but I also slept for absolute shit last night. Not too late to bed but awake at 2:30 and dozed back to sleep at 3 but then awake again from 3:30-4 and at that point i was thinking just get up, it is only an hour, but I kind of forced myself to stay there in bed until the alarm went off, so i added a few more minutes of sleep but i was there and was TIRED today. But legs decided they were here to play and i beat the race predictor by 8 places, saw tons of friends, raced with more of them.
It was good.
Also worked for Natasha, Derek and Michael. Also fun. Cut into the socializing and cut out the drinking, okay i did have a Tall boy post race, and i had a couple of Kurt Maw's session beers, but 12oz session beers don't count.
Traffic was FUCKED from about halfway to 95 and then until 93. Car is almost out of gas but at home and I am tired. Was painful getting out of the car when I got home. Arms hurt, legs hurt, hands hurt, back REALLY hurts. That was a proper CX beat down.
Oh and 30 min into a 60 min race when you're pitting for two guys nearly a half a lap apart is the WORST time to have to pee really badly. Did the dance for the last half of the men's race. But survived.
Tomorrow is the same thing one more time. I should have probably ridden way more today? I did cool down for 20 min on the trainer. Pedal'd out the kuck, but then stood around on the legs until 5:30-6pm.
5am alarm, gonna see if i can get my leaving down to less than I did this morning. But tent's already set up so i have a wee bit more buffer today. Other end of the day's gonna suck more though. BECAUSE BREAK DOWN.
Oh well. maybe the drive won't be so sucky (yeah right).
I'm okay with being as fast as I am if i can race like I did today.
I may not quite crack the top half ever, but there's some great racing going on where I am with some really great dudes, and really, what more could i ask for? Not like I'm gonna stop drinking beer, and ignore all the responsibilities that don't pertain to me living like an athlete. Still it was good, it was fun, and tomorrow's another day.
Holy fuck i'm tired....
heddwch
G
Friday, October 14, 2016
Gloucester is tomorrow...
And this morning i spend an hour getting the bike rack to fit on the Volvo, only to take it off and not use it once I got home and plans solidified.
Mostly this morning I just wanted to go back to sleep. Super tired, not sleeping great plus everything else.
White Blue after swapping out the self destructing Concor for one that Doug V sent me.
Whats in the car now? Tent, weights, stakes, and work stand.
Need to load: Bikes (both) Tools, Food, Beer, Clothes (need to find them), "stuff"?
Bikes, going with white blue and SSCX. The gearing on the single speed is probably faster than riding geared bike for me but also leg shredding. But has my favorite tires on but still gonna hang out in the pit. Why? Why not. I have 4 rideable CX bikes, might as well bring two of them with me.
The White blue is filthy. And has road tires on it still. Need to fix both, probably only get the latter sorted out before tomorrow. May not dial the brakes on it until tomorrow if i do the wheel swap. Def bringing extra tubs, the 303s may implode on pre-ride.
But dinner has to be made. Mostly for the family to eat but I guess I need to eat too. Can't raced on no fuel.
Can't race on road tires. Even if Andy Bishop did it once. I ain't no Andy Bishop.
Tough place but good place maybe? So awesome to ride with Goldberg on his birthday. I wish I was stronger and faster and not so broken. But it is always a blessing and magical to ride with him.
okay... enough of a procrastination break. Time to get down to making shit happen so i can sleep a couple hours.
Maybe...
heddwch,
G
Mostly this morning I just wanted to go back to sleep. Super tired, not sleeping great plus everything else.
White Blue after swapping out the self destructing Concor for one that Doug V sent me.
Whats in the car now? Tent, weights, stakes, and work stand.
Need to load: Bikes (both) Tools, Food, Beer, Clothes (need to find them), "stuff"?
Bikes, going with white blue and SSCX. The gearing on the single speed is probably faster than riding geared bike for me but also leg shredding. But has my favorite tires on but still gonna hang out in the pit. Why? Why not. I have 4 rideable CX bikes, might as well bring two of them with me.
The White blue is filthy. And has road tires on it still. Need to fix both, probably only get the latter sorted out before tomorrow. May not dial the brakes on it until tomorrow if i do the wheel swap. Def bringing extra tubs, the 303s may implode on pre-ride.
But dinner has to be made. Mostly for the family to eat but I guess I need to eat too. Can't raced on no fuel.
Can't race on road tires. Even if Andy Bishop did it once. I ain't no Andy Bishop.
Tough place but good place maybe? So awesome to ride with Goldberg on his birthday. I wish I was stronger and faster and not so broken. But it is always a blessing and magical to ride with him.
okay... enough of a procrastination break. Time to get down to making shit happen so i can sleep a couple hours.
Maybe...
heddwch,
G
Thursday, October 13, 2016
the race...
yes... I should write about it.
How a week of prep, carefully carved out minutes here and there to get things ready, a saturday of tweaking and swapping and everything.
The SSCX surly was ready to go.
But the pedals I wanted on that bike were on the black blue, the EX... and the drive side pedal has stripped too many 8mm and isn't coming off. So that's totally fucked. Incredibly fucked.
But whatever. Last ditch effort at the shop with breaker bar resulted in nothing. And I even forgot to get single ring bolts so I can ditch the other ring.
But of course everything went to hell. Because it is the week before G_ster and sleep? FUCK THAT YOU CAN'T SLEEP. Pedal time? HEY YOU ARE GOING TO SHRED LEGS! Oh right while you were shredding legs all the shit that you're a pro at, that you get paid to keep working? Well it all broke. Works great and flawless while there, not so much when i'm not. Awesome.
But hey, how does this weekend work? probably only if i drive there and back. But thats okay. Covered it. Right?
But... somehow everything is unhinged.
Despite the race I had on sunday. Spent the day getting the bike dialed. Bars swapped, cranks swapped (Mantra is now TOTALLY unrideable) but not pedals swapped. Tires swapped. And that leads into another issue. Them 303s are fucking HOSED MOFO. Like held together with a prayer and some residual epoxy. No rain in the forecast so... the Limus are gonna be a watt sucking pointless endeavor. The one set of tubeless tires are set up with tubes on the SSCX, disc brakes (front brake is contaminated and chattery and fucking sucky ATM, aka fine before MRC, not it is not).
yes... i shut down some video someone tried to show here just now, to make me listen to the GOP's candidate railing against Natives and their casinos, because they are all just rigging the system or something. unlike what he's doing.
Did you see the video of the white dude in the white pickup truck running over peaceful native protesters? Probably not.
Did you see a dozen more other things that are egregious and offensive and horrifying that happened in the same time span?
probably not.
why?
who knows.
life.
fuck.
this shit would have been so much easier if someone hadn't rigged the fuck out of the primaries and it would be clear cut and we'd be moving forward and Sanders would set the way to have Michelle Obama as the succeeding prez. As it is now? Fuck this shit we're still threatened with some cheetofacedfuckwad sexual predator running for the most powerful office in the world. And the Russians are preparing their population for the possibility of a nuclear winter. SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK MOTHERFUCKERS.
But.
hey, it doesn't matter, who ever is in the office has so little power it doesn't matter.
FUCKING BULLSHIT.
But hey, lets show more damning evidence and videos of this loser cheetofacedjackass doing something offensive. It'll surely make a difference. EXCEPT IT WON'T. DISCONNECT and if not disconnect totally absolute doe eyed worship of it. suuuure HRC is fine. Except she's been endorsed by every major conservative outlet and pundit. Oh hey, she's a republican and that's great, she always has been. Her husband too kind of mostly. And that kind of sucks, duping of the democrats. NO question women's rights are in the balance, as is the whole stability of the nation and we're left with precious little choice. Or we are left with choice,
Take the BURN THIS PLACE DOWN option and pick trump and pray to god you have no debt and you have a salary/job that isn't impacted by the country's economy or interest rates. Total option sure, some of us can't pick that option.
But burn it down. why not?
because this is not the time and place to do so.
life, is too precious.
nails in the fence....
but it is challenging and complex and confounding and I'm just totally lost.
I hope, upon hope, that when the whistle blows on Saturday and Sunday that I can forget everything, I hop that I can go as hard as I can to the point where nothing else matters.
Just me against the course.
Finding the right line, pushing through for the whole race.
Then cleaning up, eating, drinking some water, maybe a beer, and getting to work, focused on making things as perfect for the people who've put their trust in me until they finish their race. Pack it up and go home, sleep wake up and do it again.
So tempting just to bring the orange bike as the pit bike.
I was trying to remember how many times I've raced G-ster. How many years? 07 to now. How many times? all but one year I think I raced both days. That's a bit of familiarity with the course. I looked at the course map and could close my eyes and almost ride the course with confidence. It'll be dry so no big deal. There'll be big rocks, and grip for days or no grip, speed and flow will be utmost of importance. Do I have it?
I dunno, i shredded my legs today. will try and regain some form and function with the ride tomorrow. Stresses both maybe controllable and totally out of my control.
Life motherfuckers.
It is so fucked.
But hey, time to make the cyclocross. Well in a few days at least.
Life. Scars that never seem to heal.
we keep moving though? No?
Tomorrow is Goldberg's birthday. It also happens to be 25 years since the first kiss/date with my wife. The same day i scarred my cornea with a bit of errant compressed norway maple trunk that glanced off my cheek and deflected under my safety glasses and created the most subtle scar that is so subtle it never heals properly, even now.
A physical manifestation of my life of internalizing everything.
But hey, cyclocross this weekend.
No sleep all week. No big deal. Legs were dead today. No big deal. It is what it is. or not. or whatever.
good night and heddwch
G
How a week of prep, carefully carved out minutes here and there to get things ready, a saturday of tweaking and swapping and everything.
The SSCX surly was ready to go.
But the pedals I wanted on that bike were on the black blue, the EX... and the drive side pedal has stripped too many 8mm and isn't coming off. So that's totally fucked. Incredibly fucked.
But whatever. Last ditch effort at the shop with breaker bar resulted in nothing. And I even forgot to get single ring bolts so I can ditch the other ring.
But of course everything went to hell. Because it is the week before G_ster and sleep? FUCK THAT YOU CAN'T SLEEP. Pedal time? HEY YOU ARE GOING TO SHRED LEGS! Oh right while you were shredding legs all the shit that you're a pro at, that you get paid to keep working? Well it all broke. Works great and flawless while there, not so much when i'm not. Awesome.
But hey, how does this weekend work? probably only if i drive there and back. But thats okay. Covered it. Right?
But... somehow everything is unhinged.
Despite the race I had on sunday. Spent the day getting the bike dialed. Bars swapped, cranks swapped (Mantra is now TOTALLY unrideable) but not pedals swapped. Tires swapped. And that leads into another issue. Them 303s are fucking HOSED MOFO. Like held together with a prayer and some residual epoxy. No rain in the forecast so... the Limus are gonna be a watt sucking pointless endeavor. The one set of tubeless tires are set up with tubes on the SSCX, disc brakes (front brake is contaminated and chattery and fucking sucky ATM, aka fine before MRC, not it is not).
yes... i shut down some video someone tried to show here just now, to make me listen to the GOP's candidate railing against Natives and their casinos, because they are all just rigging the system or something. unlike what he's doing.
Did you see the video of the white dude in the white pickup truck running over peaceful native protesters? Probably not.
Did you see a dozen more other things that are egregious and offensive and horrifying that happened in the same time span?
probably not.
why?
who knows.
life.
fuck.
this shit would have been so much easier if someone hadn't rigged the fuck out of the primaries and it would be clear cut and we'd be moving forward and Sanders would set the way to have Michelle Obama as the succeeding prez. As it is now? Fuck this shit we're still threatened with some cheetofacedfuckwad sexual predator running for the most powerful office in the world. And the Russians are preparing their population for the possibility of a nuclear winter. SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK MOTHERFUCKERS.
But.
hey, it doesn't matter, who ever is in the office has so little power it doesn't matter.
FUCKING BULLSHIT.
But hey, lets show more damning evidence and videos of this loser cheetofacedjackass doing something offensive. It'll surely make a difference. EXCEPT IT WON'T. DISCONNECT and if not disconnect totally absolute doe eyed worship of it. suuuure HRC is fine. Except she's been endorsed by every major conservative outlet and pundit. Oh hey, she's a republican and that's great, she always has been. Her husband too kind of mostly. And that kind of sucks, duping of the democrats. NO question women's rights are in the balance, as is the whole stability of the nation and we're left with precious little choice. Or we are left with choice,
Take the BURN THIS PLACE DOWN option and pick trump and pray to god you have no debt and you have a salary/job that isn't impacted by the country's economy or interest rates. Total option sure, some of us can't pick that option.
But burn it down. why not?
because this is not the time and place to do so.
life, is too precious.
nails in the fence....
but it is challenging and complex and confounding and I'm just totally lost.
I hope, upon hope, that when the whistle blows on Saturday and Sunday that I can forget everything, I hop that I can go as hard as I can to the point where nothing else matters.
Just me against the course.
Finding the right line, pushing through for the whole race.
Then cleaning up, eating, drinking some water, maybe a beer, and getting to work, focused on making things as perfect for the people who've put their trust in me until they finish their race. Pack it up and go home, sleep wake up and do it again.
So tempting just to bring the orange bike as the pit bike.
I was trying to remember how many times I've raced G-ster. How many years? 07 to now. How many times? all but one year I think I raced both days. That's a bit of familiarity with the course. I looked at the course map and could close my eyes and almost ride the course with confidence. It'll be dry so no big deal. There'll be big rocks, and grip for days or no grip, speed and flow will be utmost of importance. Do I have it?
I dunno, i shredded my legs today. will try and regain some form and function with the ride tomorrow. Stresses both maybe controllable and totally out of my control.
Life motherfuckers.
It is so fucked.
But hey, time to make the cyclocross. Well in a few days at least.
Life. Scars that never seem to heal.
we keep moving though? No?
Tomorrow is Goldberg's birthday. It also happens to be 25 years since the first kiss/date with my wife. The same day i scarred my cornea with a bit of errant compressed norway maple trunk that glanced off my cheek and deflected under my safety glasses and created the most subtle scar that is so subtle it never heals properly, even now.
A physical manifestation of my life of internalizing everything.
But hey, cyclocross this weekend.
No sleep all week. No big deal. Legs were dead today. No big deal. It is what it is. or not. or whatever.
good night and heddwch
G
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
problem is
i can't really talk about the race without talking about the bike, and getting it set and ready to race, or about how the bike came about to being mine and how i managed to make it work w/o really actually buying anything but still some how keeping all the other bikes intact (with the exception the black blue needs a bit of bar tape put back on the narrower bars with the weird angle stem).
Also some how the odd shifting on the black blue seems to be due to the fact that I put near abouts 4k miles on in from June to now and well, despite keeping well lubed and clean for the most part, it is blown. New cassette and chain at the end of May and now it is toast.
And somehow gotta figure out tire situation, current tubeless are on the SSCX with tubes, leaving the beat up barely functional waiting to implode 303s with the PDX and Fango combo (F/R) or the mud loving but grass sucking Limus on the alloys. And while functional, it leaves kind of my favorite tires on the SSCX with tubes in them or i get a pair of Super Swans, heavy but UST aka beefy and fat and new to go on the Ultegra wheels (until they blow up).
Was going to steal these moments to get most of that story written, to set the stage for racing on Sunday. But, well... My wife came home from the chicago marathon at about 1pm on Sunday night. Sick and exhausted. Stayed in bed most all of Monday (holiday) and then Tuesday morning gets in the van, starts it and remembered that the tire low indicator was on Sunday, but forgot to tell me when I could do something about it (Monday), couldn't do anything about it yesterday and if I want any daylight to see if it is just low pressure from the temps or if the van has picked up its 5th screw, well I gotta leave now. Because, well, not only dinner cooker, food buyer, house fixer guy, dish washer, i'm the only one who can deal with stuff regarding the cars. And yes, I still need to get the van inspected, where's the fucking time to get everything done? Oh and get stuff ready for G-ster. AND RIDE MY BIKE SO I CAN STAY SANE!
Been bugging me that I haven't managed to get anything together with the Nanoscape, there's a call for proposals that I missed two years ago, (two year exhibit cycle) and I think I know what collection I want to submit. So I'm kind of stoked about that, need to gather the needed materials for that, that sort of crystalized in my head last night as I lay in bed most of the night not sleeping for some unknown reason.
G-ster.
Soon.
Next.
Details need to be worked out. kind of back to resigning to drive back and forth. Even if it means getting home late and just going to bed. Time in the car is time I can relax and then sleep in my own bed. Worth the extra ~200 miles? and 4+ hrs of driving? maybe. But I'm also uncomfortable asking for a bit of floor to sleep on. Oh well. I do def sleep better in my own bed and that's a big difference when it comes time to recovery between races. And that's extra time not drinking beers, also a good thing.
Burning daylight writing words.
heddwch
G
Also some how the odd shifting on the black blue seems to be due to the fact that I put near abouts 4k miles on in from June to now and well, despite keeping well lubed and clean for the most part, it is blown. New cassette and chain at the end of May and now it is toast.
And somehow gotta figure out tire situation, current tubeless are on the SSCX with tubes, leaving the beat up barely functional waiting to implode 303s with the PDX and Fango combo (F/R) or the mud loving but grass sucking Limus on the alloys. And while functional, it leaves kind of my favorite tires on the SSCX with tubes in them or i get a pair of Super Swans, heavy but UST aka beefy and fat and new to go on the Ultegra wheels (until they blow up).
Was going to steal these moments to get most of that story written, to set the stage for racing on Sunday. But, well... My wife came home from the chicago marathon at about 1pm on Sunday night. Sick and exhausted. Stayed in bed most all of Monday (holiday) and then Tuesday morning gets in the van, starts it and remembered that the tire low indicator was on Sunday, but forgot to tell me when I could do something about it (Monday), couldn't do anything about it yesterday and if I want any daylight to see if it is just low pressure from the temps or if the van has picked up its 5th screw, well I gotta leave now. Because, well, not only dinner cooker, food buyer, house fixer guy, dish washer, i'm the only one who can deal with stuff regarding the cars. And yes, I still need to get the van inspected, where's the fucking time to get everything done? Oh and get stuff ready for G-ster. AND RIDE MY BIKE SO I CAN STAY SANE!
Been bugging me that I haven't managed to get anything together with the Nanoscape, there's a call for proposals that I missed two years ago, (two year exhibit cycle) and I think I know what collection I want to submit. So I'm kind of stoked about that, need to gather the needed materials for that, that sort of crystalized in my head last night as I lay in bed most of the night not sleeping for some unknown reason.
G-ster.
Soon.
Next.
Details need to be worked out. kind of back to resigning to drive back and forth. Even if it means getting home late and just going to bed. Time in the car is time I can relax and then sleep in my own bed. Worth the extra ~200 miles? and 4+ hrs of driving? maybe. But I'm also uncomfortable asking for a bit of floor to sleep on. Oh well. I do def sleep better in my own bed and that's a big difference when it comes time to recovery between races. And that's extra time not drinking beers, also a good thing.
Burning daylight writing words.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
well I finally pinned a number on, and it was
everything I could have hoped for. AKA kind of the opposite of SSCX nats (even though i ended it on my own terms it wasn't really on my own terms).
But I also totally burned the day away w/o finding a moment to sit down and write and only now getting ready for not-smackdown tuesday night right. Brown kids took over the evening with a non-drop ride.
And yes, if it wasn't for Derek Griggs and him finding a big freak size SSCX rig in the proper color and at a price i couldn't pass up i may not have even raced yesterday.
But I did, my kids came up to the race, just like they did last year. Enticed by the promise of going to Bolton Orchards after the race. And in fact once bikes were packed up i was cold enough that we bolted to the orchards.
maybe I can find time to tell the story tonight.
writing, and the rest of the creative outlets have been slipping lately, not sure what they are being replaced by other than work and life... need to write some more...
and i'll start with maybe doing a legit CX race report.
cliff notes? It was muddy and my gearing and tire choice was f'n perfect (for me). I wasn't the fastest but I finished behind people who've i maybe never really beaten before so there's that? And I had fun. And I surprised myself with while feeling pretty terribly and totally spent and gave it my all, it was more than I expected to have in the legs.
Don't worry, not overconfident going into G-ster. Full expecting to not finish where I'm gridded up based on points. Just looking forward to racing.
Nixon kind of said it best the last time I rode out to the Brewery, "You get to a point where you know how good you can get." translation my absolute best probably even making it a full time job won't get me on the podium, it'll never make me fast enough to ride and race with Al and Adam and Mark the Shark and all the rest of the guys at the front of the race. Meaning? Having fun, as long as it is fun I'll keep lining up, try to start on the lead lap even if that's my only goal, that and to race who ever I'm around, maybe handle one section well enough to gain an advantage over someone when it comes to the finish. Anyway.
Now i'm close to being late.
Racing felt good. I'm looking forward to more.
heddwch
G
But I also totally burned the day away w/o finding a moment to sit down and write and only now getting ready for not-smackdown tuesday night right. Brown kids took over the evening with a non-drop ride.
And yes, if it wasn't for Derek Griggs and him finding a big freak size SSCX rig in the proper color and at a price i couldn't pass up i may not have even raced yesterday.
But I did, my kids came up to the race, just like they did last year. Enticed by the promise of going to Bolton Orchards after the race. And in fact once bikes were packed up i was cold enough that we bolted to the orchards.
maybe I can find time to tell the story tonight.
writing, and the rest of the creative outlets have been slipping lately, not sure what they are being replaced by other than work and life... need to write some more...
and i'll start with maybe doing a legit CX race report.
cliff notes? It was muddy and my gearing and tire choice was f'n perfect (for me). I wasn't the fastest but I finished behind people who've i maybe never really beaten before so there's that? And I had fun. And I surprised myself with while feeling pretty terribly and totally spent and gave it my all, it was more than I expected to have in the legs.
Don't worry, not overconfident going into G-ster. Full expecting to not finish where I'm gridded up based on points. Just looking forward to racing.
Nixon kind of said it best the last time I rode out to the Brewery, "You get to a point where you know how good you can get." translation my absolute best probably even making it a full time job won't get me on the podium, it'll never make me fast enough to ride and race with Al and Adam and Mark the Shark and all the rest of the guys at the front of the race. Meaning? Having fun, as long as it is fun I'll keep lining up, try to start on the lead lap even if that's my only goal, that and to race who ever I'm around, maybe handle one section well enough to gain an advantage over someone when it comes to the finish. Anyway.
Now i'm close to being late.
Racing felt good. I'm looking forward to more.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see....
riding with dreamy ginger dave, Dani, Syl on his CXy bike, the freshman Tyler, and big Fuller tonight was awesome.
First - the While blue is about 2-4 mph slower by RPE than any other bike I could ride. And that's not good on smackdown. But it is good for GeWilli because I have to work even harder.
Second, we kind of were pokey but going hard, which was fine with me because I was pretty much going as hard as I could given I needed a rest day not a smackdown day.
But hey - this was going to be the last smackdown but Dani lobbied for one more and Dreamy Ginger Dave said he'd do it again. I'll go out and get dropped one more time. Why not!
So, slow bike, tired me, it wasn't record setting but it was fun and I kicked my butt. Rolling down the hill on Jacob/Broad, well Fuller was pedaling and I was coasting fast than he was pedaling and well, fuck it, I boosted that gravity fed kinetic energy and launched it. Like HARD. Little Dreamy Dave was the only one to tuck into my wheel and we were doing what? looks like 41.1 just after I punched it crossing the bridge, decent amount of work, not finishing sprint level but it was an effort, and he tucked into the vacuum that is my draft and once we passed lincoln he took a pull as I started fading and I managed to hold his wheel a bit then I faded and he eased back to keep me in what little draft the tiny leprechaun offered, and we hit Pine with a good gap, I held close to his wheel as we pushed it but waited until the others made contact, and once contact was made Dave attacked. Ouch. Those MoFos dropped me hard. Took me until partway down Homestead to catch. Granted I had visual at the top of pine but Tyler and Syl weren't slowing down to wait they were bridging forward.
I kept my head down and worked extra hard to keep the slow bike going as fast as I could. and then...
WINSLOW ARIZONA... SUCH A FINE SIGHT TO SEE... the five of them chatting taking up the whole road talking and being smart and stuff (so much Ivy, Syl gets bye 'cause he's all collegiately employed and psycologisty and stuff)... and I rolled in and gave the SHHHHH symbol to Tyler so they'd keep talking and rolling slowly towards Rocky Hill.
And well, we turned and I said BRAPP and Dave said: "Well" damnit... so I brapped it and launched them up Rocky Hill. I pushed it until it turned up, and they all rode away from me.
And I rode solo until I got back to pine where I found Dreamy Ginger Dave doing circles waiting for me. And we rolled up the hill and the rest of them were chatting on the side of the road.
Can i just say how awesome it feels to have them wait? And yes, someone with a flat tire that we passed probably wishes we'd have slowed and stopped for him but the flat didn't happen on the ride and two out of 14 knew who that was and that maybe they were riding to smackdown, it kind of sucks.
But it was kind of awesome that at what seemed like the last smackdown they waited for the big old slow guy. BOGS.
It was a great night. and enough light as we all rode back into the city together, well, enough light that, lets do it one more time. Why not. It is a goddamn good workout, and fun. And Watching Dani f'n shred the dudes more than any other woman who's ridden smackdown? Pretty amazing. She's got some massive potential.
So yeah, twice seeing them waiting/riding slowly letting me catch back on? So fucking awesome.
Downside I've had this song in my head since:
but hey, i'll take it... Gonna be taking it easy tomorrow. Mileage wise I *should* hit 5,000 since May mark on the way home (unless I take the long way in). I don't think I can hit 7k by the end of the month for the year or 1k miles for the month of September, but I'll take what I can get. (damnit another earworm). But I should cement my podium for RI as #3 in the National Bike Challenge. I fell off the chart nationally down to 169 or something, but hey, not every month could be May, if it was? Fuuuuck I'd be winning this shit! Well probably not, there are motivated people who don't work who ride this just to be in the lead, I'd probably still be 3rd but I'd have pushed them to ride even more than they did, and well? Is that a bad thing? Nope.
So Take It Easy.
Looks like my first cross race will be in the pits, not on the course. And goddamn I'm super stoked about it. It does create a bit extra family stress as I had said I wasn't racing this weekend and plans were made (I wouldn't have been racing this weekend, well maybe with a comp'd entry fee and some start money and a 45+ category and it being at the old venue - aka not happening) but i'm gonna be there. For the Men's Pro race at least. You hire me to pit? I don't care what else happens, i'm there for you. So at least the ORange jumpsuit will make an appearance finally. When will I race next?
Who the fuck knows.... At this point maybe I'll race G-ster and just ride my bike the rest of the year. CX has changed or i have or i've felt really alienated and ostracized from the group I felt most comfortable in. But like fuckn solobreak's tweet tonight, yeah, i'm sensitive as shit. It sucks. But it is what it is.
Sorry for the long blog silence, hit Instagram for microblogging/photos, strava for the bike riding... i've really tried to stay off twitter because the in-crowd bullies all hang out there and it hasn't been fun for a while, but well addictive and all, i gotta still check in.
Working intensely on the stuff for Nixon and Indy Ferm, even if it doesn't show publicly. Also having serious looks at trying to figure out how to do the book for my dad. I'd ask that photog guy in NH but stuff's still awk probably better to do it on my own anyway. Too early to figure out book anyway, content still not totally ready to go. Working on it though. Overthinking it like only I can,
Going to try and have Haines Park CX on thursday night... help the newbies, the beginners, help them get good enough to kick ass on the world cup some day maybe...
for now... i guess I'm just gonna keep riding my bike.
because, it has always been there for me... riding... but like everything else, if gives back so little compared to how much I put into it... but hey, that's my fate....
fuuuuuuck - Great smackdown, really shitty transition in/via words on the blog.... whatever, tomorrow i'll wake up and it will be a new day and nothing else matters... except i'm not sure really what does matter... def no GeWilli, even myerspaces words he DM'd me way back when (they helped then but) are little comfort now. BUT HEY at least i'm not on FB or twitter being a sad mopey knucklehead.
hey -if you're reading this: be well, do good, have fun
heddwch
G
riding with dreamy ginger dave, Dani, Syl on his CXy bike, the freshman Tyler, and big Fuller tonight was awesome.
First - the While blue is about 2-4 mph slower by RPE than any other bike I could ride. And that's not good on smackdown. But it is good for GeWilli because I have to work even harder.
Second, we kind of were pokey but going hard, which was fine with me because I was pretty much going as hard as I could given I needed a rest day not a smackdown day.
But hey - this was going to be the last smackdown but Dani lobbied for one more and Dreamy Ginger Dave said he'd do it again. I'll go out and get dropped one more time. Why not!
So, slow bike, tired me, it wasn't record setting but it was fun and I kicked my butt. Rolling down the hill on Jacob/Broad, well Fuller was pedaling and I was coasting fast than he was pedaling and well, fuck it, I boosted that gravity fed kinetic energy and launched it. Like HARD. Little Dreamy Dave was the only one to tuck into my wheel and we were doing what? looks like 41.1 just after I punched it crossing the bridge, decent amount of work, not finishing sprint level but it was an effort, and he tucked into the vacuum that is my draft and once we passed lincoln he took a pull as I started fading and I managed to hold his wheel a bit then I faded and he eased back to keep me in what little draft the tiny leprechaun offered, and we hit Pine with a good gap, I held close to his wheel as we pushed it but waited until the others made contact, and once contact was made Dave attacked. Ouch. Those MoFos dropped me hard. Took me until partway down Homestead to catch. Granted I had visual at the top of pine but Tyler and Syl weren't slowing down to wait they were bridging forward.
I kept my head down and worked extra hard to keep the slow bike going as fast as I could. and then...
WINSLOW ARIZONA... SUCH A FINE SIGHT TO SEE... the five of them chatting taking up the whole road talking and being smart and stuff (so much Ivy, Syl gets bye 'cause he's all collegiately employed and psycologisty and stuff)... and I rolled in and gave the SHHHHH symbol to Tyler so they'd keep talking and rolling slowly towards Rocky Hill.
And well, we turned and I said BRAPP and Dave said: "Well" damnit... so I brapped it and launched them up Rocky Hill. I pushed it until it turned up, and they all rode away from me.
And I rode solo until I got back to pine where I found Dreamy Ginger Dave doing circles waiting for me. And we rolled up the hill and the rest of them were chatting on the side of the road.
Can i just say how awesome it feels to have them wait? And yes, someone with a flat tire that we passed probably wishes we'd have slowed and stopped for him but the flat didn't happen on the ride and two out of 14 knew who that was and that maybe they were riding to smackdown, it kind of sucks.
But it was kind of awesome that at what seemed like the last smackdown they waited for the big old slow guy. BOGS.
It was a great night. and enough light as we all rode back into the city together, well, enough light that, lets do it one more time. Why not. It is a goddamn good workout, and fun. And Watching Dani f'n shred the dudes more than any other woman who's ridden smackdown? Pretty amazing. She's got some massive potential.
So yeah, twice seeing them waiting/riding slowly letting me catch back on? So fucking awesome.
Downside I've had this song in my head since:
but hey, i'll take it... Gonna be taking it easy tomorrow. Mileage wise I *should* hit 5,000 since May mark on the way home (unless I take the long way in). I don't think I can hit 7k by the end of the month for the year or 1k miles for the month of September, but I'll take what I can get. (damnit another earworm). But I should cement my podium for RI as #3 in the National Bike Challenge. I fell off the chart nationally down to 169 or something, but hey, not every month could be May, if it was? Fuuuuck I'd be winning this shit! Well probably not, there are motivated people who don't work who ride this just to be in the lead, I'd probably still be 3rd but I'd have pushed them to ride even more than they did, and well? Is that a bad thing? Nope.
So Take It Easy.
Looks like my first cross race will be in the pits, not on the course. And goddamn I'm super stoked about it. It does create a bit extra family stress as I had said I wasn't racing this weekend and plans were made (I wouldn't have been racing this weekend, well maybe with a comp'd entry fee and some start money and a 45+ category and it being at the old venue - aka not happening) but i'm gonna be there. For the Men's Pro race at least. You hire me to pit? I don't care what else happens, i'm there for you. So at least the ORange jumpsuit will make an appearance finally. When will I race next?
Who the fuck knows.... At this point maybe I'll race G-ster and just ride my bike the rest of the year. CX has changed or i have or i've felt really alienated and ostracized from the group I felt most comfortable in. But like fuckn solobreak's tweet tonight, yeah, i'm sensitive as shit. It sucks. But it is what it is.
Sorry for the long blog silence, hit Instagram for microblogging/photos, strava for the bike riding... i've really tried to stay off twitter because the in-crowd bullies all hang out there and it hasn't been fun for a while, but well addictive and all, i gotta still check in.
Working intensely on the stuff for Nixon and Indy Ferm, even if it doesn't show publicly. Also having serious looks at trying to figure out how to do the book for my dad. I'd ask that photog guy in NH but stuff's still awk probably better to do it on my own anyway. Too early to figure out book anyway, content still not totally ready to go. Working on it though. Overthinking it like only I can,
Going to try and have Haines Park CX on thursday night... help the newbies, the beginners, help them get good enough to kick ass on the world cup some day maybe...
for now... i guess I'm just gonna keep riding my bike.
because, it has always been there for me... riding... but like everything else, if gives back so little compared to how much I put into it... but hey, that's my fate....
fuuuuuuck - Great smackdown, really shitty transition in/via words on the blog.... whatever, tomorrow i'll wake up and it will be a new day and nothing else matters... except i'm not sure really what does matter... def no GeWilli, even myerspaces words he DM'd me way back when (they helped then but) are little comfort now. BUT HEY at least i'm not on FB or twitter being a sad mopey knucklehead.
hey -if you're reading this: be well, do good, have fun
heddwch
G
Thursday, September 15, 2016
a couple mile markers
only one that bears mentioning (the 200+k barrier in google's blogger thing is confusing and i dunno about it since it wasn't there when I started but numbers are always cool)
Oh, right, the one bears mentioning? Hit 6,000 miles for the year today. Probably somewhere around where I was getting dropped by Goldberg and Wetters on a hill or two...
Kept happening until we hit the 30-35 mile mark. Aka the 90-120 min mark. Aka my legs finally feel opened up and warmed up.
And that's very strange. I used to be able to go full gas the moment i got on the bike, now? I get shelled inexplicably until a couple hours go by and then, I feel pretty damn good. Managed to frustrate Brent on the hills. When you can frustrate the hill climber, that's not so bad? right?
Happened a bit in NH. After 2 hrs (and sugar) I started climbing better. Today? Same.
Also - first 60-70 miles there was close to 3500' of climbing. Plenty of elevation and we didn't leave RI or hit the biggest climbs. Granted the last 30 or so we deliberately chose the flattest possible route (BIKE PATH FTW).
6k miles. Pretty sure this is the biggest volume year, esp considering up until May it was on track to being one of the lowest. The time it takes to warm up before i feel strong is a bit unsettling going into CX season, but I'll keep mulling it over and figure out how to make it work. That is if I actually show up and race.
Today's hundo was fun. It was a very good time. Good people, good roads, good weather.
Getting home, making dinner but not eating it, going to open house night, and then finally eating food at 8:45 after finishing the ride at 4:45?
Probably less than ideal. But hey, whatever.it is what it is and it was what it had to be.
I am now not hungry, i am almost ready to fall asleep.
Given I started the day off watching the rest of everyone drive off in the minivan, i took the ritual morning shit, emerged and saw the 'van back in the spot... WTF? and the Volvo gone (it has dead/dying battery) only means something is wrong. Low tire.
I found a screw in the passenger front tire. I then took time out of all day hundo prep to get that plugged. New Silca schrader valve thing doesn't work for shit so i left it under inflated but plugged and not leaking.
This car has collected 4+ screws since we got the new tires. Freddie used one of his plug strips and then I bought a set with three, there are now three screws sitting in that packaging and no strips.
So that's how the day started. ended with no food for a while.
now ending with me writing... getting ready to crash/zzzzzz
lots to say, which is odd, after last post maybe i'd said it all, nah...
for now though - check the 'gram feed and we'll catch y'all later, at least those of you with the graciousness to reach out occasionally. But hey I have to recognize that this growing list of former friends that won't talk to me, well probably says more about me than them. Maybe better just not to have friends.
heddwch
G
Oh, right, the one bears mentioning? Hit 6,000 miles for the year today. Probably somewhere around where I was getting dropped by Goldberg and Wetters on a hill or two...
Kept happening until we hit the 30-35 mile mark. Aka the 90-120 min mark. Aka my legs finally feel opened up and warmed up.
And that's very strange. I used to be able to go full gas the moment i got on the bike, now? I get shelled inexplicably until a couple hours go by and then, I feel pretty damn good. Managed to frustrate Brent on the hills. When you can frustrate the hill climber, that's not so bad? right?
Happened a bit in NH. After 2 hrs (and sugar) I started climbing better. Today? Same.
Also - first 60-70 miles there was close to 3500' of climbing. Plenty of elevation and we didn't leave RI or hit the biggest climbs. Granted the last 30 or so we deliberately chose the flattest possible route (BIKE PATH FTW).
6k miles. Pretty sure this is the biggest volume year, esp considering up until May it was on track to being one of the lowest. The time it takes to warm up before i feel strong is a bit unsettling going into CX season, but I'll keep mulling it over and figure out how to make it work. That is if I actually show up and race.
Today's hundo was fun. It was a very good time. Good people, good roads, good weather.
Getting home, making dinner but not eating it, going to open house night, and then finally eating food at 8:45 after finishing the ride at 4:45?
Probably less than ideal. But hey, whatever.it is what it is and it was what it had to be.
I am now not hungry, i am almost ready to fall asleep.
Given I started the day off watching the rest of everyone drive off in the minivan, i took the ritual morning shit, emerged and saw the 'van back in the spot... WTF? and the Volvo gone (it has dead/dying battery) only means something is wrong. Low tire.
I found a screw in the passenger front tire. I then took time out of all day hundo prep to get that plugged. New Silca schrader valve thing doesn't work for shit so i left it under inflated but plugged and not leaking.
This car has collected 4+ screws since we got the new tires. Freddie used one of his plug strips and then I bought a set with three, there are now three screws sitting in that packaging and no strips.
So that's how the day started. ended with no food for a while.
now ending with me writing... getting ready to crash/zzzzzz
lots to say, which is odd, after last post maybe i'd said it all, nah...
for now though - check the 'gram feed and we'll catch y'all later, at least those of you with the graciousness to reach out occasionally. But hey I have to recognize that this growing list of former friends that won't talk to me, well probably says more about me than them. Maybe better just not to have friends.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Smackety Smackety Smack.
Someone sent out the P/1/2 bat signal tonight.
We had a HUGE turnout. Turns out my ride announcement was a bit prophetic. But in the opposite direction. I'd kind of hoped to encourage the old guard to show up. And one of them did. He showed up to celebrate his 25th anniversary of being the President of the Brown Cycling Club. But that left only two of us old guys. I'm not sure where Garber fits into the age thing. He's seemingly as fast as the 20 something kids.
But Tonight? Kipp saw him get worked OVER. And the kids were looking like they were on a recovery ride.
For Jules it probably was a recovery ride.
I got popped BEFORE pine. Sure I did the ride leader thing and set the pace most of the way until we got to the turn on to Woodward, because that's just what has to be done. It was pretty chill heading to prospect, we had to work to get back on headed down Prospect at first but it settled in. 14-15 people showed, I was probably the slowest, Kipp may have been giving me a run for the money but he's still Cat 2 so, he's faster by default and everything else.
Seriously. Jules snagged the KOM on the Lincoln to Pine stretch. That fucker. I was working so goddamn hard that I was gapped by the turn up Pine. and well Fucking lights out. You think I have the W/KG to stay with some dude who raced the Tour of California?
Fuck. No.
From there? well I just killed myself up pine. Kipp steadily dragged himself back up to me at the top and the two of us picked up the new kid and then we gathered Fuller. Who I don't think still quite gets group rides. But that's okay. I set a pretty nose bleeding pace for me and we kept at it, no break, all the way to the top of Rocky Hill. I set early part, Fuller came around, then declined to pull any more and I emptied everything only to have that gangly knucklehead who's losing 30-40 watts with his upright position nab me at the sprint line.
Then we get to the bottom, he's soft pedaling and the four of us are together, the other 10-11 are fucking GONE. Buh Bye. SO FAST. And so i say - dude we're together, lets go. And set pace till the base of Hillside. Fuller attacks, Kipp ain't no where to be seen and Peng has a broken fucking spoke, rendering his $20k wheels useless. Okay maybe they're only 5k. But not rideable, so I chat, offer to go back get car, all that. Nah he'll get a ride.
Fine.
I get to the top of hillside, i'm dead, legs are like dude - this hurts, and get to Pine and Fuller and the new kid are no where to be seen, really? dudes, wait? no that's okay we weren't really riding as four, it was two and two, i only caught up to up to you and pulled you for miles because you were softpedaling waiting. Thanks for waiting at Hillside.
I looped back, Kipp had dropped a bottle and looped back to retrieve it, also talked with Peng. I had crazy idea that we should piggy back him home, Kipp seemed less keen on that idea. So the two of us old fuckers rode home together.
Burke's grumpy now because he got a flat, presumably on his way to the ride, but he never made the start and i have 10-14 20something hot shits on the ride and he's wondering why we didn't stop? He didn't even make the start and we rode by him but he looked in control and well, not really sure if he was wanting to join us and yes Kipp and I lamented his lack of presence because it would have increased the old guy quotient, but he sent me grumpy weird text that sounded odd, maybe he had a few beers after fixing his flat.
My legs hurt. I was so fucking slow but I was able to tap the limit of my legs and lungs. I ain't no cat 1. Never probably ever gonna see Cat 3 on the road. And I haven't raced once this year outside of bandit TTs. And those guys that showed up? Podiums, and shit. Impressive. Also, Dani is poised to make Becca look wikked slow, genetic freak and so young. Not sure about getting her into CX, we'll see, there are some CX focused kids on the team, maybe they'll get her to show up for a race or two. Will she get to the level of hitting the second spot in a C2 of a C1/C2 weekend? Probably not. There's something extra special in that person, super cool to see her success.
But hey. it is late. Recovery means sleep. I was going to have a couple beers but maybe i'll have just one more and catch up on the facebook and THEN go to sleep.
Was good riding hard, even if my hard is slow for some. I ain't ever been blessed with althetic ability. anything i have is hardwork. Nixon said it best, you know pretty much what your ceiling is. You know there's no way to get higher than that (fitness/results wise), and I do, and where is mine? mid-back pack of the Masters. Maybe a powermeter and a coach and a feedback based training program might eek a bit out of me, but you know what?
Fuck it.
I really just like riding my bike.
Bikes are awesome.
heddwch
G
We had a HUGE turnout. Turns out my ride announcement was a bit prophetic. But in the opposite direction. I'd kind of hoped to encourage the old guard to show up. And one of them did. He showed up to celebrate his 25th anniversary of being the President of the Brown Cycling Club. But that left only two of us old guys. I'm not sure where Garber fits into the age thing. He's seemingly as fast as the 20 something kids.
But Tonight? Kipp saw him get worked OVER. And the kids were looking like they were on a recovery ride.
For Jules it probably was a recovery ride.
I got popped BEFORE pine. Sure I did the ride leader thing and set the pace most of the way until we got to the turn on to Woodward, because that's just what has to be done. It was pretty chill heading to prospect, we had to work to get back on headed down Prospect at first but it settled in. 14-15 people showed, I was probably the slowest, Kipp may have been giving me a run for the money but he's still Cat 2 so, he's faster by default and everything else.
Seriously. Jules snagged the KOM on the Lincoln to Pine stretch. That fucker. I was working so goddamn hard that I was gapped by the turn up Pine. and well Fucking lights out. You think I have the W/KG to stay with some dude who raced the Tour of California?
Fuck. No.
From there? well I just killed myself up pine. Kipp steadily dragged himself back up to me at the top and the two of us picked up the new kid and then we gathered Fuller. Who I don't think still quite gets group rides. But that's okay. I set a pretty nose bleeding pace for me and we kept at it, no break, all the way to the top of Rocky Hill. I set early part, Fuller came around, then declined to pull any more and I emptied everything only to have that gangly knucklehead who's losing 30-40 watts with his upright position nab me at the sprint line.
Then we get to the bottom, he's soft pedaling and the four of us are together, the other 10-11 are fucking GONE. Buh Bye. SO FAST. And so i say - dude we're together, lets go. And set pace till the base of Hillside. Fuller attacks, Kipp ain't no where to be seen and Peng has a broken fucking spoke, rendering his $20k wheels useless. Okay maybe they're only 5k. But not rideable, so I chat, offer to go back get car, all that. Nah he'll get a ride.
Fine.
I get to the top of hillside, i'm dead, legs are like dude - this hurts, and get to Pine and Fuller and the new kid are no where to be seen, really? dudes, wait? no that's okay we weren't really riding as four, it was two and two, i only caught up to up to you and pulled you for miles because you were softpedaling waiting. Thanks for waiting at Hillside.
I looped back, Kipp had dropped a bottle and looped back to retrieve it, also talked with Peng. I had crazy idea that we should piggy back him home, Kipp seemed less keen on that idea. So the two of us old fuckers rode home together.
Burke's grumpy now because he got a flat, presumably on his way to the ride, but he never made the start and i have 10-14 20something hot shits on the ride and he's wondering why we didn't stop? He didn't even make the start and we rode by him but he looked in control and well, not really sure if he was wanting to join us and yes Kipp and I lamented his lack of presence because it would have increased the old guy quotient, but he sent me grumpy weird text that sounded odd, maybe he had a few beers after fixing his flat.
My legs hurt. I was so fucking slow but I was able to tap the limit of my legs and lungs. I ain't no cat 1. Never probably ever gonna see Cat 3 on the road. And I haven't raced once this year outside of bandit TTs. And those guys that showed up? Podiums, and shit. Impressive. Also, Dani is poised to make Becca look wikked slow, genetic freak and so young. Not sure about getting her into CX, we'll see, there are some CX focused kids on the team, maybe they'll get her to show up for a race or two. Will she get to the level of hitting the second spot in a C2 of a C1/C2 weekend? Probably not. There's something extra special in that person, super cool to see her success.
But hey. it is late. Recovery means sleep. I was going to have a couple beers but maybe i'll have just one more and catch up on the facebook and THEN go to sleep.
Was good riding hard, even if my hard is slow for some. I ain't ever been blessed with althetic ability. anything i have is hardwork. Nixon said it best, you know pretty much what your ceiling is. You know there's no way to get higher than that (fitness/results wise), and I do, and where is mine? mid-back pack of the Masters. Maybe a powermeter and a coach and a feedback based training program might eek a bit out of me, but you know what?
Fuck it.
I really just like riding my bike.
Bikes are awesome.
heddwch
G
Monday, September 12, 2016
Monday morning hangover
I should have one, got a bit lit at the farm last night. But I don't have one. Which is both weird and awesome at the same time.
Attempt to catch up? Mostly to see if i can distract myself long enough to eat lunch close to lunch time instead of right now.
Birthday week was the first big riding week in a long time. The Hundo to Plymouth to see Nixon and to get more samples for Nanoscape imaging (till i get content up on nanoscape.net go to fb for images),
The hops look awesome fixed properly for the SEM. So used to looking at dried up dead samples, which are still very cool, but it had been a while since the prep for Nanoscape stuff went beyond mounting and coating. There's a handful more samples to image and another series to create. But reaching a completion of that project right now. Another week of found time on the SEM should get me close to finished with that. Then back to revisiting the book project. Gonna have to figure out the publishing thing. Or just go with something like snapfish for this particular project. I dunno. Need to figure out who's publishing books like this and see if they want to make it happen. First have to actually gather and curate and write the content. Lots of work. Kind of overwhelming but I want to get it done.
Attempt to catch up? Mostly to see if i can distract myself long enough to eat lunch close to lunch time instead of right now.
Birthday week was the first big riding week in a long time. The Hundo to Plymouth to see Nixon and to get more samples for Nanoscape imaging (till i get content up on nanoscape.net go to fb for images),
The hops look awesome fixed properly for the SEM. So used to looking at dried up dead samples, which are still very cool, but it had been a while since the prep for Nanoscape stuff went beyond mounting and coating. There's a handful more samples to image and another series to create. But reaching a completion of that project right now. Another week of found time on the SEM should get me close to finished with that. Then back to revisiting the book project. Gonna have to figure out the publishing thing. Or just go with something like snapfish for this particular project. I dunno. Need to figure out who's publishing books like this and see if they want to make it happen. First have to actually gather and curate and write the content. Lots of work. Kind of overwhelming but I want to get it done.
Friday, September 09, 2016
is it a bad sign
when the one thing that actually gets me excited to race is the idea of capturing the particulate on an SEM stub during the race and having a story to tell for each race, and being excited about comparing what is collected on each stub?
my commute produced the dancer...
what would a cross race discover?
Would Gloucester look different than Plymouth? First instinct was to compare G-ster to Night Weasels but I looked, wasn't full, kept thinking, then oops full. Guess I'm not driving up this year.
Plans keep changing, mostly because I've only reg'd for G-ster. Was that a mistake? At this rate it might be my first "official" CX race. Not a bad thing.
A great thing.
but then again everyone else has either already started racing or will start this weekend. Hartford is stacked, Quad is stacked.
I'm working tomorrow and going to my daughter's soccer game and having some family time on Sunday.
I will say i'm enjoying my two year deal on USAC racing license. $75 for two years was a deal.. Esp compared to this year. And man maybe the price hike alone is enough to keep me from racing it this year.
Also struggling with the personal hype machine. I love the fuck out of CX, but right now... kind of tired of being the last stand in the 2nd violins. Yes, i'm here with the best, but i'm in the back. Slowest of the fast guys. Smoothest of the slow? maybe not... Dan Coady won that title when he 'retired'.
Other side? no friends are hyped on it... no one i talk to, directly, really give a shit about CX.
Don't get me wrong it is me and i want nothing else than to reclaim that speed i found in 2013. But this year? ain't fucking gonna happen. Never happen again most likely. Last year took too much out of me maybe.
half of me is saying fuck it - who cares, you suck, you can't even finish on the lead lap at nationals, what the fuck are you doing even thinking you should be racing?
bigger problem is, i can't rationally find arguments against that... maybe i hang it up and just get fat. Fuck it.
but then the art side - the scientific exploration documentation in my way counter balances it...
scales are not steady at the moment...
balance is precipitous.
where do i go from here...
not sure...
keep wanting to take the long way to work, or the long way home but something totally screws with that idea, May was blissful in that regard, September sucks.
life goes on...
i'll keep instagraming it
and strava'n it
and being a mopey sad loser, with punctuated moments...
the contact/social vacuum i'm in kind of does what a vacuum does... sucks everything up... in a bad way... if it sucked it up in a good way i'd probably be super stoked on everything.
you'd think as long as my legs are i'd never even notice the hurdles... 45 years of them? fuck that shit...
but hey - i hear short people have it even worse, except that's what they say, and they've never tried being me so when they say it? just makes it worse because they demonstrably have no clue.
i'll shut up now....
dinner's ready... has been but now that everyone else has theirs i'm gonna serve myself.
heddwch
G
my commute produced the dancer...
what would a cross race discover?
Would Gloucester look different than Plymouth? First instinct was to compare G-ster to Night Weasels but I looked, wasn't full, kept thinking, then oops full. Guess I'm not driving up this year.
Plans keep changing, mostly because I've only reg'd for G-ster. Was that a mistake? At this rate it might be my first "official" CX race. Not a bad thing.
A great thing.
but then again everyone else has either already started racing or will start this weekend. Hartford is stacked, Quad is stacked.
I'm working tomorrow and going to my daughter's soccer game and having some family time on Sunday.
I will say i'm enjoying my two year deal on USAC racing license. $75 for two years was a deal.. Esp compared to this year. And man maybe the price hike alone is enough to keep me from racing it this year.
Also struggling with the personal hype machine. I love the fuck out of CX, but right now... kind of tired of being the last stand in the 2nd violins. Yes, i'm here with the best, but i'm in the back. Slowest of the fast guys. Smoothest of the slow? maybe not... Dan Coady won that title when he 'retired'.
Other side? no friends are hyped on it... no one i talk to, directly, really give a shit about CX.
Don't get me wrong it is me and i want nothing else than to reclaim that speed i found in 2013. But this year? ain't fucking gonna happen. Never happen again most likely. Last year took too much out of me maybe.
half of me is saying fuck it - who cares, you suck, you can't even finish on the lead lap at nationals, what the fuck are you doing even thinking you should be racing?
bigger problem is, i can't rationally find arguments against that... maybe i hang it up and just get fat. Fuck it.
but then the art side - the scientific exploration documentation in my way counter balances it...
scales are not steady at the moment...
balance is precipitous.
where do i go from here...
not sure...
keep wanting to take the long way to work, or the long way home but something totally screws with that idea, May was blissful in that regard, September sucks.
life goes on...
i'll keep instagraming it
and strava'n it
and being a mopey sad loser, with punctuated moments...
the contact/social vacuum i'm in kind of does what a vacuum does... sucks everything up... in a bad way... if it sucked it up in a good way i'd probably be super stoked on everything.
you'd think as long as my legs are i'd never even notice the hurdles... 45 years of them? fuck that shit...
but hey - i hear short people have it even worse, except that's what they say, and they've never tried being me so when they say it? just makes it worse because they demonstrably have no clue.
i'll shut up now....
dinner's ready... has been but now that everyone else has theirs i'm gonna serve myself.
heddwch
G
Thursday, September 08, 2016
#dogsrule
This is for Fox... until I can actually find words to write:
Ace and the Desert Dog from Stefan Hunt on Vimeo.
Friday, September 02, 2016
he was my japanese brother from a different mother
i'm sitting here in self imposed offline status...
which doesn't exist really...
but i'm cuddled up with a dog, my dog who wouldn't let me touch her for 6 months and is now one of my best friends... she's amazing...
probably much like Kentaro's dog, who's still wondering when he will be coming home, and not getting it but probably getting it as much as his wife is grieving.
http://news.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/2016/09/02/kentaro-inoue-killed-in-bicycle-crash/
reading the comments... fuuuuuck maybe his influence was deeper than i thought, or we really were connected.. like brothers...
we hit it off pretty quickly... no question, or maybe there's a question but there's no one to dispute it and i'm pretty sure we did but my memory is failing and who knows, that emotional connection though...
both of our CX bikes on the roof rack of my golf and we're going 90-100mph home and the car doesn't even notice... he was impressed... so was i... turbo diesel FTW... also
he pushed me to keep riding after i took on a 40k mile a year car commute to work. we'd meet at the various MTB locations between Lansing and Mt Pleasant. Alternating chasing each other. There were times when I was faster, and times when he was... meaning we were well matched.
My childhood and schooling in Seattle meant i was much more familiar with the japanese idiosyncrasies than most anyone else who wasn't japanese there in Lansing, but recent epiphanies as to personalities have me postulating that there was always some other common bond, esp after reading everyone else's memories.
That was an era for... i went to bars after work, i shut them down, like now, even then as a damn kid i could drink anyone but my brother's under the table. It was different. Kentaro was this bridge, a bridge between that life and the next one, of a father, of a car commuter... but he kept me grounded until he left to follow his career.
When i got word he became a professor at UC Davis? overjoyed, SO FUCKING COOL... and if you're a plant scientist from the 80s-90s you'll get that.
But that Saturn jersey... his photo wearing it has popped up a good number of times...
for reason...
and one of them is cripplingly emotional...
we all wear the jerseys with the most significance most frequently...
there's a pile of petty bullshit going on... some may resolve, some may not... some literally have my imagination transforming me into the hulk picking people up and throwing them into cars or bushes or bodies of water.... some of the other stuff? all on me and yeah then what... i suppose i can toss myself... but that's kind of more akin to stepping off the bridge... or walking out into the sea... neither of which i'm inclined to do.
and then i read a few more of the comments people wrote... and tear up again... as they either stirr memories or evoke a longing to have some how if possible had more contact as we seem to be cut from the same cloth...
his of much finer thread though, i'm too coarse, too big, too scary, too tall, too terrifying... jokes get taken wrong, truths taken as mean, trying to be funny as terrifying...
but we're all gonna die...
at least he died on the bike i suppose, but is that worse? esp since so often it happens out of your control?
i may get over it... but given how people talk about me? i may not...
maybe now i should just say fuck it and test Mike F's quote in Pure Sweet Hell... "can i not?"
almost thinking maybe i can walk away, racing CX feels intrinsically absolutely right, but so much pain ...
pain is just something some of us have to suffer through
overly empathetic types seem to suffer the most...
would be cool to have enough of an ego to just say fuck all yall a-holes... but i can only say that in theoretical as if it was possible to...
So much for being offline... but if you're just writing and posting, is it really being online if you aren't seeing anything else anyone is writing (or most likely not writing)?
create not consume
heddwch
G
which doesn't exist really...
but i'm cuddled up with a dog, my dog who wouldn't let me touch her for 6 months and is now one of my best friends... she's amazing...
probably much like Kentaro's dog, who's still wondering when he will be coming home, and not getting it but probably getting it as much as his wife is grieving.
http://news.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/2016/09/02/kentaro-inoue-killed-in-bicycle-crash/
reading the comments... fuuuuuck maybe his influence was deeper than i thought, or we really were connected.. like brothers...
we hit it off pretty quickly... no question, or maybe there's a question but there's no one to dispute it and i'm pretty sure we did but my memory is failing and who knows, that emotional connection though...
both of our CX bikes on the roof rack of my golf and we're going 90-100mph home and the car doesn't even notice... he was impressed... so was i... turbo diesel FTW... also
he pushed me to keep riding after i took on a 40k mile a year car commute to work. we'd meet at the various MTB locations between Lansing and Mt Pleasant. Alternating chasing each other. There were times when I was faster, and times when he was... meaning we were well matched.
My childhood and schooling in Seattle meant i was much more familiar with the japanese idiosyncrasies than most anyone else who wasn't japanese there in Lansing, but recent epiphanies as to personalities have me postulating that there was always some other common bond, esp after reading everyone else's memories.
That was an era for... i went to bars after work, i shut them down, like now, even then as a damn kid i could drink anyone but my brother's under the table. It was different. Kentaro was this bridge, a bridge between that life and the next one, of a father, of a car commuter... but he kept me grounded until he left to follow his career.
When i got word he became a professor at UC Davis? overjoyed, SO FUCKING COOL... and if you're a plant scientist from the 80s-90s you'll get that.
But that Saturn jersey... his photo wearing it has popped up a good number of times...
for reason...
and one of them is cripplingly emotional...
we all wear the jerseys with the most significance most frequently...
there's a pile of petty bullshit going on... some may resolve, some may not... some literally have my imagination transforming me into the hulk picking people up and throwing them into cars or bushes or bodies of water.... some of the other stuff? all on me and yeah then what... i suppose i can toss myself... but that's kind of more akin to stepping off the bridge... or walking out into the sea... neither of which i'm inclined to do.
and then i read a few more of the comments people wrote... and tear up again... as they either stirr memories or evoke a longing to have some how if possible had more contact as we seem to be cut from the same cloth...
his of much finer thread though, i'm too coarse, too big, too scary, too tall, too terrifying... jokes get taken wrong, truths taken as mean, trying to be funny as terrifying...
but we're all gonna die...
at least he died on the bike i suppose, but is that worse? esp since so often it happens out of your control?
i may get over it... but given how people talk about me? i may not...
maybe now i should just say fuck it and test Mike F's quote in Pure Sweet Hell... "can i not?"
almost thinking maybe i can walk away, racing CX feels intrinsically absolutely right, but so much pain ...
pain is just something some of us have to suffer through
overly empathetic types seem to suffer the most...
would be cool to have enough of an ego to just say fuck all yall a-holes... but i can only say that in theoretical as if it was possible to...
So much for being offline... but if you're just writing and posting, is it really being online if you aren't seeing anything else anyone is writing (or most likely not writing)?
create not consume
heddwch
G
art feeds the soul
 |
| Queen Anne's Lace seed pod |
I wrote the below over on facebook... figured I should at least put it here as well...
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
HBD to me
again...
also - the comment from months ago "if you want a party plan it yourself"
so i did what i always do - ride my bike. but damn it is hard to find anyone who wants to ride bikes all day on a tuesday at the end of August...
so i rode alone. got totally lost, stumbled on roads I'd ridden before, found my way back to where I should have been with sheer luck.
probably should have just turned on my phone's data and looked at a map but that would have killed the battery and i just barely made it home as it was.
but i made it to the destination and home.
all day riding on my birthday. alone. avoiding people like a boss (phone on airplane mode YEAH) the three people that called me knew i'd probably do that and they waited... and still called me.
i still hate today...
the beginning of the ride was pretty fucking bitter, lonely, but hey a handshake with Paul, a sip of his magic brew and everything was rosey. until i tried to make it home on one 3 egg omelet and a pint of beer. never cracked but man i got slow. Guess i should go back to normal fueling for September hundo.
radio silence i suppose of late... sorry... busy and nothing positive to say, not that this is positive... just hitting the zero fucks point.
time to sleep... 4am was a long time ago... yes alarm went off at 5, but a very vivid dream woke me up at 4 and I lay there thinking "just relax fall asleep, a little more sleep before the alarm" and then before i slept the alarm went off...
oops...
maybe i'll write about the ride tomorrow (no wifi) and post later... we'll see how that works...
thanks for reading
heddwch
G
also - the comment from months ago "if you want a party plan it yourself"
so i did what i always do - ride my bike. but damn it is hard to find anyone who wants to ride bikes all day on a tuesday at the end of August...
so i rode alone. got totally lost, stumbled on roads I'd ridden before, found my way back to where I should have been with sheer luck.
probably should have just turned on my phone's data and looked at a map but that would have killed the battery and i just barely made it home as it was.
but i made it to the destination and home.
all day riding on my birthday. alone. avoiding people like a boss (phone on airplane mode YEAH) the three people that called me knew i'd probably do that and they waited... and still called me.
i still hate today...
the beginning of the ride was pretty fucking bitter, lonely, but hey a handshake with Paul, a sip of his magic brew and everything was rosey. until i tried to make it home on one 3 egg omelet and a pint of beer. never cracked but man i got slow. Guess i should go back to normal fueling for September hundo.
radio silence i suppose of late... sorry... busy and nothing positive to say, not that this is positive... just hitting the zero fucks point.
time to sleep... 4am was a long time ago... yes alarm went off at 5, but a very vivid dream woke me up at 4 and I lay there thinking "just relax fall asleep, a little more sleep before the alarm" and then before i slept the alarm went off...
oops...
maybe i'll write about the ride tomorrow (no wifi) and post later... we'll see how that works...
thanks for reading
heddwch
G
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
idea... i don't have many but this is one
Yes - #CXISCOMING
fuck it - can't stall the inevitable even if i'm absolutely in a riding/fitness slump. I'd rather be fitting in time for a six pack than doing 20/20s, which is kind of more or less what I've been doing. (the six pack not the intervals).
Reading Mayhew's article over on CX Mag (not that i'm gonna learn how to warm up better, just always reading collecting data- refining how i describe stuff - words and shit yo)...
this line struck me
and thought - holy shit - big races should hired/get a volunteer who is a known quantity to be respectful and mindful of the lantern Rouge on the course. Leaving enough distance because that's their job, and keeping all the jacked and juiced agro Masters and Cat 3s off the backs of the last rider, and anyone seen passing said sweep/buffer rider gets either relegated at the start (last row) or DQ'd.
Not needed in many races but some of the bigger ones it would be both a selling feature and something comforting for those who are last. You're not gonna have a gaggle of joking uber fit wanna be pros mocking you and breathing down your neck complaining. You'll get your race.
It would have to be someone who can't be intimidated by anyone but who respects everyone who's racing no matter how fast. And someone who's easily visible. Could help officials easily spot last rider, this broom wagon of sorts would be placed on the course by the officials, in an official capacity perhaps. Maybe even better if said person was an actual official (or at least a radio to communicate those who violate after a verbal warning of course).
just an idea - too many words to toss out places...
and yes #cxiscoming and i'm not ready
heddwch
G
fuck it - can't stall the inevitable even if i'm absolutely in a riding/fitness slump. I'd rather be fitting in time for a six pack than doing 20/20s, which is kind of more or less what I've been doing. (the six pack not the intervals).
Reading Mayhew's article over on CX Mag (not that i'm gonna learn how to warm up better, just always reading collecting data- refining how i describe stuff - words and shit yo)...
this line struck me
get out on the course (as I’ve said before, only do so without tailgating people racing or impacting a current race)
and thought - holy shit - big races should hired/get a volunteer who is a known quantity to be respectful and mindful of the lantern Rouge on the course. Leaving enough distance because that's their job, and keeping all the jacked and juiced agro Masters and Cat 3s off the backs of the last rider, and anyone seen passing said sweep/buffer rider gets either relegated at the start (last row) or DQ'd.
Not needed in many races but some of the bigger ones it would be both a selling feature and something comforting for those who are last. You're not gonna have a gaggle of joking uber fit wanna be pros mocking you and breathing down your neck complaining. You'll get your race.
It would have to be someone who can't be intimidated by anyone but who respects everyone who's racing no matter how fast. And someone who's easily visible. Could help officials easily spot last rider, this broom wagon of sorts would be placed on the course by the officials, in an official capacity perhaps. Maybe even better if said person was an actual official (or at least a radio to communicate those who violate after a verbal warning of course).
just an idea - too many words to toss out places...
and yes #cxiscoming and i'm not ready
heddwch
G
Monday, August 22, 2016
somethings get me more than others
my oldest wanted to watch a movie, PRIDE... i didn't know anything about it going into it other than based on the title it was likely something to do with LGBT...
yeah, the whole Welsh thing got to me, the whole re-awakening as to what it was like growing up in the 80s, growing up straight but with so many gay friends who were awakening to what life could be like.
So... it was one goddamn good movie. And that's not just the welshman in me saying that.
I'd tweet about it but yeah no.. facebook? forget it.. can't really 'gram a movie... so i come here to talk to myself, and process it.
i mean what's to process? it is a fucking brilliant movie.
and since it turned into dinner and a movie... i'm left with cleaning up after dinner... as everyone has gone off to get ready to bed.
of course Billy Bragg's song is now echoing in my head...
back to the kitchen with me... yes i know it is almost 11pm... stupid movies... i'll be untired someday (not likely)
heddwch
g
yeah, the whole Welsh thing got to me, the whole re-awakening as to what it was like growing up in the 80s, growing up straight but with so many gay friends who were awakening to what life could be like.
So... it was one goddamn good movie. And that's not just the welshman in me saying that.
I'd tweet about it but yeah no.. facebook? forget it.. can't really 'gram a movie... so i come here to talk to myself, and process it.
i mean what's to process? it is a fucking brilliant movie.
and since it turned into dinner and a movie... i'm left with cleaning up after dinner... as everyone has gone off to get ready to bed.
of course Billy Bragg's song is now echoing in my head...
back to the kitchen with me... yes i know it is almost 11pm... stupid movies... i'll be untired someday (not likely)
heddwch
g
alternative idea
The time in Maine was good, didn't fix much in me, it was sort of a restart when what was really needed was full a power down. It will buy ya some more time but it doesn't really clear all the random shit causing issues. But it really did feel like I was gone for a week even though it was two nights. And that's one of the best signs.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Talk about a Taper
So yeah... that's some taper eh? And by most people's accounts who are smart and fast cyclists and coaches and stuff may actually suggest that this is not such a bad thing.
Lowest weekly mileage total since April 11-17. Tuesday this week was the first time since April 29th that I didn't ride a bike... I didn't ride on Wednesday either, but i did go hiking and threw in some running on the way up.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
The streak is broken
Long live the streak!
Yesterday was the first day since April I have not been on the bike.
Trying to get to 6,000 miles by the end of the month was a bit excessive... but I still have goes and plans to make September a copy of May.
Very long day yesterday but a great one.
Going to have to find some more coffee though.
Or try and take a nap.
I have the bike here but now that I'm not compelled to ride to keep the streak, and since I'm on vacation, maybe I'll just leave it in the car again.
Coffee, need, coffee.
G
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Race for the registration ... again
Craft upped the G-ster reg game this year.
Got this playing right now...
i'm out of practice with the reg thing, but hey, how much can Colin and Company have messed with the UI since last year?
The Race to Register
In order to perform at your highest ability no matter the weather you need to be able to manage your body temperature. That is why for the Craft Gran Prix of Gloucester, Craft Sportswear is giving away their world renowned Cool Mesh Superlight Sleeveless Baselayer. Its ability to efficiently pull moisture away from your skin results in keeping you cool and dry. The Cool Mesh Superlight Sleeveless Baselayer performs at the highest level so you can enjoy the hard work.
Winners Include:
First Person to Register for Craft Gran Prix of Gloucester
First Person to Register per non-UCI Category
18th Person overall to Register (18th Year GP Gloucester Anniversary)
Got this playing right now...
i'm out of practice with the reg thing, but hey, how much can Colin and Company have messed with the UI since last year?
Thursday, August 04, 2016
sometimes ya just gotta take a walk
and not strava it...
just go for a stroll...
and only take one photo...
Clearing the head i suppose...
just go for a stroll...
and only take one photo...
Clearing the head i suppose...
Wednesday, August 03, 2016
Figured wait till noon
to get started doing the brakes.... on the minivan. Because that's when the sun will be the highest and stuff... also I'm a cup or two behind in the coffee and am tired as hell.
Sleep last night a little I did. but the ride back to get the backpack and pick up the brake cleaner and oil (oil change time too) tired me out.
Maybe should eat something as well as make more coffee.
Sleep last night a little I did. but the ride back to get the backpack and pick up the brake cleaner and oil (oil change time too) tired me out.
Maybe should eat something as well as make more coffee.
Tuesday, August 02, 2016
smackdown tonight, the welcome back Leland edition
Welcome back to that crazy guy. He brought his legs and his wife, Oregon Dave showed up with #DreamyDave, Fuller finally got his Tarmac back (no more CX bike) Davies showed up, Bailey put a new fancy carbon fiber stem on and brought his A game, Old man JPalm was there in new kit and Goldberg make an appearance. We picked up big Eian on Massasoit.
Eleven.
Massive horsepower.
It was a watt fest worthy of welcoming Leland back. And I brought a cross bike with a 44t ring and 46c-c bars and my old legs. Womp womp.
Eleven.
Massive horsepower.
It was a watt fest worthy of welcoming Leland back. And I brought a cross bike with a 44t ring and 46c-c bars and my old legs. Womp womp.
unrelatable
"Dude there's no way it could be that bad for you, you're so tall! It sucked being short!"
yeah here's the thing. If you weren't there, telling me it couldn't have been that bad makes it worse. It increases the frustration and triggers all the pain because while it may not have been worse, it likely was just as bad and having it completely dismissed, discounted and being told it couldn't have been bad for you is pretty cruel.
instead of saying have you been stuffed in a trash can/locker/hung on coat rack? Maybe "hey it wasn't easy for any of us, and leave it at that." Cocksizing about being bullied is/feels like bullying. There are lots of ways to de-escalate but it takes practice and some people just can't do it. I get that. Some people don't want to. Most people just don't care. I probably am just as guilty as everyone else but recognizing how it makes me feel and hopefully being able to catch myself most of the time is all I can hope for. I know in face to face interactions I've gotten much better about it. Internet maybe just is still too rooted in the past. And bikes that fit? Few and very far between. Say lets talk about road bikes specifically from the Trek brand... how many do they have that would fit and not leave me feeling like I'm riding a chopper? Meaning how many H1 fit bikes are there in my size? Well, there's the Emonda SLR and the Madone RSL. Or project 1 which winds up just being a more customizable but barely less expensive option than an RSL. Makes a Firefly look affordable. Not that any of it matters but it was one element of push back that I got "there are plenty of off the shelf bikes for you" yeah not really. But it is too complicated to explain i suppose.
"Why can't you just live totally in the present?"
Because part of who I am is anchored like a tree through my roots. My weakness and my strength.
Starting the evening having an in depth discussion with one of our users about life and direction and choices and stuff probably set the frame work for extra heavy introspection and all that. At least I only had a couple beers, you know smackdown today, can't get all my pre-smack calories from beer the night before.
I'm going to get so f'n wet on the ride in today. Ugh. So tempting to drive honestly. But that's not what GeWilli would do. No. He'd ride no matter what.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU RODE [your bike] IN THIS WEATHER"
Absolutely pouring right now. And I haven't left yet. Catching up on emails, eating breakfast, E & K are on late schedule it seems, and i've been tired lately. More rested today even after a moderately interrupted sleep but it wasn't terrible. Feel better than usual. Which I'm sure will translate into shit legs tonight as is often the case.
Gonna go with the new 28s though, not the heavy almost continuously blue striped pluses. Gotta switch those wheels over before I leave. But first food. Maybe I can drag my feet enough to miss most of the rain.
NVM, just checked radar... gonna be wet no matter what.
resigned ... and grumpy ... resolved to keep going, one foot in front of the other, do my best at interacting in person... help people as much as I can, as I can, do what I can w/in my means.
And I need to ride more. July kind of sucked again. 833 total miles!?!?!? WTF That's it? August... maybe we'll make it different. Starting next week. Got a car to fix tomorrow, maybe I'll go for a quick single track spin in the morning, maybe even throw knobs on the garbage truck. At least I haven't missed a day on the bike since April. So that's a solid streak. And today if Smackdown rolls out as planned I'll crack the 5,000 mile mark for total mileage in 2016. Maybe I can hit 6k by September. Seems like a reasonable goal to me.
Still unsure about the CX race calendar. haven't even sat down to look at it yet.
And yes, totally procrastinating. First session for me at work isn't until 11am, and yeah... totally not keen on heading out in the downpour at the moment. Oh well. It is what it is.
Moving forward, one foot in front of the other.
heddwch
G
yeah here's the thing. If you weren't there, telling me it couldn't have been that bad makes it worse. It increases the frustration and triggers all the pain because while it may not have been worse, it likely was just as bad and having it completely dismissed, discounted and being told it couldn't have been bad for you is pretty cruel.
instead of saying have you been stuffed in a trash can/locker/hung on coat rack? Maybe "hey it wasn't easy for any of us, and leave it at that." Cocksizing about being bullied is/feels like bullying. There are lots of ways to de-escalate but it takes practice and some people just can't do it. I get that. Some people don't want to. Most people just don't care. I probably am just as guilty as everyone else but recognizing how it makes me feel and hopefully being able to catch myself most of the time is all I can hope for. I know in face to face interactions I've gotten much better about it. Internet maybe just is still too rooted in the past. And bikes that fit? Few and very far between. Say lets talk about road bikes specifically from the Trek brand... how many do they have that would fit and not leave me feeling like I'm riding a chopper? Meaning how many H1 fit bikes are there in my size? Well, there's the Emonda SLR and the Madone RSL. Or project 1 which winds up just being a more customizable but barely less expensive option than an RSL. Makes a Firefly look affordable. Not that any of it matters but it was one element of push back that I got "there are plenty of off the shelf bikes for you" yeah not really. But it is too complicated to explain i suppose.
"Why can't you just live totally in the present?"
Because part of who I am is anchored like a tree through my roots. My weakness and my strength.
Starting the evening having an in depth discussion with one of our users about life and direction and choices and stuff probably set the frame work for extra heavy introspection and all that. At least I only had a couple beers, you know smackdown today, can't get all my pre-smack calories from beer the night before.
I'm going to get so f'n wet on the ride in today. Ugh. So tempting to drive honestly. But that's not what GeWilli would do. No. He'd ride no matter what.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU RODE [your bike] IN THIS WEATHER"
Absolutely pouring right now. And I haven't left yet. Catching up on emails, eating breakfast, E & K are on late schedule it seems, and i've been tired lately. More rested today even after a moderately interrupted sleep but it wasn't terrible. Feel better than usual. Which I'm sure will translate into shit legs tonight as is often the case.
Gonna go with the new 28s though, not the heavy almost continuously blue striped pluses. Gotta switch those wheels over before I leave. But first food. Maybe I can drag my feet enough to miss most of the rain.
NVM, just checked radar... gonna be wet no matter what.
resigned ... and grumpy ... resolved to keep going, one foot in front of the other, do my best at interacting in person... help people as much as I can, as I can, do what I can w/in my means.
And I need to ride more. July kind of sucked again. 833 total miles!?!?!? WTF That's it? August... maybe we'll make it different. Starting next week. Got a car to fix tomorrow, maybe I'll go for a quick single track spin in the morning, maybe even throw knobs on the garbage truck. At least I haven't missed a day on the bike since April. So that's a solid streak. And today if Smackdown rolls out as planned I'll crack the 5,000 mile mark for total mileage in 2016. Maybe I can hit 6k by September. Seems like a reasonable goal to me.
Still unsure about the CX race calendar. haven't even sat down to look at it yet.
And yes, totally procrastinating. First session for me at work isn't until 11am, and yeah... totally not keen on heading out in the downpour at the moment. Oh well. It is what it is.
Moving forward, one foot in front of the other.
heddwch
G
Friday, July 29, 2016
definition of insane?
This week on the bike maybe kind of it.
Weather - it has been hitting the mid 90°s all week until today. And has been sunny, some days more humid than others. I need an adaptive overnight setting on the AC so it tracks one or two degrees cooler than ambient so I don't wake up with the system saying "we're not going to move any air and make it gross because it is now cooler and super humid outside than inside" but thanks to modern technology and a free wifi thermostat i can pull it up on my ancient little phone and dial it down a degree or two and boom, ah sleeping much better.
And this week more than any i've been asked "I can't believe you rode in today!"
Use that as an indicator is probably better than the weather as to how adverse it is.
Smackdown on Tuesday night. It was hot.
Light turnout and that was perfect. No Bailey, Wells or Kessler, we did have Alec B, Fuller, Goldberg, Jason and... um oh Orlando showed up by the Italian bakery, was on the far side of the road and nearly got run over trying to cross and join us.
Knowing what I had planned for Wed I deliberately kept it kind of chill, full regroup, the group stays together. Strava title was that homage, the musketeer thing. All for one one for all. We went as hard as we could where we could, and we aggressively re-grouped. We weren't slow but we weren't super fast but it was a good ride. A good day on the bike. And Goldberg got to finish the ride with everyone.
Wed? July's NECX HOTM (hundo of the month) so yeah I started it in May... gotta get a 100 miler every month until April to complete the challenge.
Gonna start getting less easy. Also we kind of picked probably not one of the best days to spend on the bike.
Strava has the stuff... link it later maybe I will.
128.8 miles total. Down to westport and back. it was exposed. it was wikked hot in the interior, and it was pretty brutal.
But we finished.
THEN the TT last night. First night for me on the old Paramount. Left my backpack in the office because there was a chance of no car being there. Rode there and home wearing that aero helmet that is too small, that was pretty tortuous. 14 people showed up. Golberg and Dean did the timing. Had a few challenges, Wells got lost, his phone died and some people freaked out a bit. But he turned up at home okay.
My legs were hurting, while i PR'd on Brown on the way there, it was a struggle and felt like I could have been going faster.
Garber started only 2 min behind me and surprisingly didn't catch me until part way down Reynolds. I faded hard but not hard enough for Kessler to catch me, he could see me but never caught me so that was super cool..
I wasn't sub-19 but hey I rode 128.8 miles in the heat yesterday and def didn't eat enough food wed night or during the day on thursday. could have really actually used an extra heaping pile of carbs.
But next week. We'll see what happens. It'll be fun. We'll have a good time and now I've gotta race back home to hang out with the kid and her friend (sleep-over tonight but she has big plans for today and tomorrow morning).
super brief... instagram has a bit more... strava...
i'll write em up this afternoon if they are doing their thing and I put my feet up and chill for a precious blessed minute.
heddwch
G
Weather - it has been hitting the mid 90°s all week until today. And has been sunny, some days more humid than others. I need an adaptive overnight setting on the AC so it tracks one or two degrees cooler than ambient so I don't wake up with the system saying "we're not going to move any air and make it gross because it is now cooler and super humid outside than inside" but thanks to modern technology and a free wifi thermostat i can pull it up on my ancient little phone and dial it down a degree or two and boom, ah sleeping much better.
And this week more than any i've been asked "I can't believe you rode in today!"
Use that as an indicator is probably better than the weather as to how adverse it is.
Smackdown on Tuesday night. It was hot.
Light turnout and that was perfect. No Bailey, Wells or Kessler, we did have Alec B, Fuller, Goldberg, Jason and... um oh Orlando showed up by the Italian bakery, was on the far side of the road and nearly got run over trying to cross and join us.
Knowing what I had planned for Wed I deliberately kept it kind of chill, full regroup, the group stays together. Strava title was that homage, the musketeer thing. All for one one for all. We went as hard as we could where we could, and we aggressively re-grouped. We weren't slow but we weren't super fast but it was a good ride. A good day on the bike. And Goldberg got to finish the ride with everyone.
Wed? July's NECX HOTM (hundo of the month) so yeah I started it in May... gotta get a 100 miler every month until April to complete the challenge.
Gonna start getting less easy. Also we kind of picked probably not one of the best days to spend on the bike.
Strava has the stuff... link it later maybe I will.
128.8 miles total. Down to westport and back. it was exposed. it was wikked hot in the interior, and it was pretty brutal.
But we finished.
THEN the TT last night. First night for me on the old Paramount. Left my backpack in the office because there was a chance of no car being there. Rode there and home wearing that aero helmet that is too small, that was pretty tortuous. 14 people showed up. Golberg and Dean did the timing. Had a few challenges, Wells got lost, his phone died and some people freaked out a bit. But he turned up at home okay.
My legs were hurting, while i PR'd on Brown on the way there, it was a struggle and felt like I could have been going faster.
Garber started only 2 min behind me and surprisingly didn't catch me until part way down Reynolds. I faded hard but not hard enough for Kessler to catch me, he could see me but never caught me so that was super cool..
I wasn't sub-19 but hey I rode 128.8 miles in the heat yesterday and def didn't eat enough food wed night or during the day on thursday. could have really actually used an extra heaping pile of carbs.
But next week. We'll see what happens. It'll be fun. We'll have a good time and now I've gotta race back home to hang out with the kid and her friend (sleep-over tonight but she has big plans for today and tomorrow morning).
super brief... instagram has a bit more... strava...
i'll write em up this afternoon if they are doing their thing and I put my feet up and chill for a precious blessed minute.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Clarity? Sanity? Concession?
As much as I hate to say, i think there's some brilliant shit in the Kung Fu Panda series. 3 is really good.
And actually kind of timely for me, that or maybe if I go back and watch the others i'll find the message in there too. But I think kind of not, but hey, it matters not much really.
Not going to review the movie.
"if you only do what you can do you'll never be more than you are, now."
And actually kind of timely for me, that or maybe if I go back and watch the others i'll find the message in there too. But I think kind of not, but hey, it matters not much really.
Not going to review the movie.
"if you only do what you can do you'll never be more than you are, now."
Sunday, July 24, 2016
rest day
got some sleep, a little, woke up late, always good but late was 7:20... let the dogs out, made coffee (more to stave off headache than to wake up with) and got back in bed.
I could, I suppose ride into the shop build a couple more and head home but I could just stay here, sleep/rest/nap/relax until the kid wakes up (double movie feature at home last night) and then get on with what we need to get done on a sunday. Just two of us means we gotta get it all done.
No big ride today, or yesterday, def a low ride week. But that's okay, there was some good intensity. No racing though, kind of jealous of all the racers to be honest. But it is what it is. And hey I ain't got time for the racing stuff yet.
But next week should be better mileage and saddle time wise. We've got smackdown on Tuesday, planning a Hundo with Goldberg on Wednesday (come hang out, we're headed down to Westport and that area - no not going over the Mt Hope bridge, going the freetown forest route) with the TT the day after. Sounds either good or really dumb but I know I need to be better rested this week than I was last week. Something's gotta give. Something's gotta change.
Maybe. Or I just need to take today off. Have to pick up E and K from the bus stop late afternoon today, then we can go back to sort of on schedule-ish, got a good bit of work to do around here still. Need to probably use vacation days more than one at a time and have a real break. But that's a bit uncertain as to when it will happen. Which bugs me a bit but also, I know i need it. Need to get the van fixed, rear brakes and EGR valve, just gotta order the parts... and make a window of time to do it in.
Why? For What? I dunno. dark cloud of politics is still scary, but hey this is a plutocratic country anyway, i should just get used to that...
July is almost over, August goes by in a blink, soon School is back in session... and the next chapter will start.
for now i'm going back to bed, i'm tired.
heddwch
G
I could, I suppose ride into the shop build a couple more and head home but I could just stay here, sleep/rest/nap/relax until the kid wakes up (double movie feature at home last night) and then get on with what we need to get done on a sunday. Just two of us means we gotta get it all done.
No big ride today, or yesterday, def a low ride week. But that's okay, there was some good intensity. No racing though, kind of jealous of all the racers to be honest. But it is what it is. And hey I ain't got time for the racing stuff yet.
But next week should be better mileage and saddle time wise. We've got smackdown on Tuesday, planning a Hundo with Goldberg on Wednesday (come hang out, we're headed down to Westport and that area - no not going over the Mt Hope bridge, going the freetown forest route) with the TT the day after. Sounds either good or really dumb but I know I need to be better rested this week than I was last week. Something's gotta give. Something's gotta change.
Maybe. Or I just need to take today off. Have to pick up E and K from the bus stop late afternoon today, then we can go back to sort of on schedule-ish, got a good bit of work to do around here still. Need to probably use vacation days more than one at a time and have a real break. But that's a bit uncertain as to when it will happen. Which bugs me a bit but also, I know i need it. Need to get the van fixed, rear brakes and EGR valve, just gotta order the parts... and make a window of time to do it in.
Why? For What? I dunno. dark cloud of politics is still scary, but hey this is a plutocratic country anyway, i should just get used to that...
July is almost over, August goes by in a blink, soon School is back in session... and the next chapter will start.
for now i'm going back to bed, i'm tired.
heddwch
G
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Habanero Mayo (for BLT fish tacos)
Loosely adapted from a recipe in a book...
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
half of a bunch (roughly 1/2 cup packed chopped) Cilantro
1 large green de-seeded Habanero (use two if you want it spicier this is milder than anticipated with just one)
2 egg yolks
Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Blend that stuff until smooth-ish but don't over blend.
Then Turn blender on and SLOWLY drizzle 3/4 cup super good olive oil in (the slower the better for proper mayo)
Recipe says it'll keep for two days, I'm not sure how much will be left after tonight.
We're going to put it on some fish (cod) tacos
Fish is going to be at RT (room temp) and patted dry and coated with chili powder and pan fried in Bacon fat, served on Corn tortillas with:
bacon
fresh chopped tomatillos
radish slices
habanero mayo
caramelized onion rings
fresh cilantro
shredded swiss chard leaves
and for me some more fresh chopped (with seeds) Habanero peppers
so ya figured it out yet? well, the swiss chard is the "lettuce", and instead of tomatoes we're using tomatillos (kid doesn't really like tomatoes), and bacon, duh, this mayo, all piled onto some corn tortillas
If I can hold off enough after assembling a few of them i'll probably add that photo in here too... or just on the 'gram.
heddwch
G
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
half of a bunch (roughly 1/2 cup packed chopped) Cilantro
1 large green de-seeded Habanero (use two if you want it spicier this is milder than anticipated with just one)
2 egg yolks
Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Blend that stuff until smooth-ish but don't over blend.
Then Turn blender on and SLOWLY drizzle 3/4 cup super good olive oil in (the slower the better for proper mayo)
Recipe says it'll keep for two days, I'm not sure how much will be left after tonight.
We're going to put it on some fish (cod) tacos
Fish is going to be at RT (room temp) and patted dry and coated with chili powder and pan fried in Bacon fat, served on Corn tortillas with:
bacon
fresh chopped tomatillos
radish slices
habanero mayo
caramelized onion rings
fresh cilantro
shredded swiss chard leaves
and for me some more fresh chopped (with seeds) Habanero peppers
so ya figured it out yet? well, the swiss chard is the "lettuce", and instead of tomatoes we're using tomatillos (kid doesn't really like tomatoes), and bacon, duh, this mayo, all piled onto some corn tortillas
If I can hold off enough after assembling a few of them i'll probably add that photo in here too... or just on the 'gram.
heddwch
G
note to self
i shouldn't write about serious politics stuff after drinking a few tall boys while watching movie and picking up themes and memes on faceplace and jabbering on twitter.
was gonna get up early, but didn't set alarm. 7am is early enough....
currently wanting to go back to sleep but really just waiting for coffee.
then i get on the bike, ride in, build bikes, then head home about noon, just a half day...to make a full day, then we run around getting shit done all afternoon.
gonna see about maybe not getting into it about the politics but man... obviously it is bothering me...
gotta drink the coffee and get on the bike...
not get back into bed and sleep till noon like i feel like i can because i'm so tired.
heddwch
g
was gonna get up early, but didn't set alarm. 7am is early enough....
currently wanting to go back to sleep but really just waiting for coffee.
then i get on the bike, ride in, build bikes, then head home about noon, just a half day...to make a full day, then we run around getting shit done all afternoon.
gonna see about maybe not getting into it about the politics but man... obviously it is bothering me...
gotta drink the coffee and get on the bike...
not get back into bed and sleep till noon like i feel like i can because i'm so tired.
heddwch
g
Friday, July 22, 2016
how do you deal?
friends who think Trump is the answer, friends who think Hillary is the right choice, now more friends who are all about Johnson, or Stein...
NONE OF THE ABOVE.....
I want Bernie.
I want to vote for Bernie.
Sure, Hillary is the safest option but it sucks, she's horrible but the horrible choice among the choices...
If you think Trump doesn't sound like Hitler you're probably white and probably afraid of what might happen if you lived life like a cyclist, constantly in fear of your life.
Johnson? The libertarian cat analogy doesn't hold water well... cats do really fucking well on their own, it is just everyone else suffers if they are successful... making cats work on their own is possible but godamn we're not set up like that.
Stein? yeah.. sorry, not buying it...
Bernie... why the fuck does he have to have done everything right his whole fucking life, worked for what is right. yet the Hillary machine has decided he's not wanted in the corporate party.
Because he'd destroy the party by bringing in all the people who they've lost over the years.
Here's the deal.
media, pundits, people, don't know what to do w/o an enemy. DNC RNC is there a difference other than yeah, if you don't know the difference... then what?
if Someone other than Hillary (big bad corporate US) or Trump (white racists aka evil empire scared people unite)
but people don't get it? do they?
"if you only do what you can do you'll never be more than you are, now."
don't make any changes, shit's fine the way it is now, or not?
I'm sad because i saw it, the option open. Briefly. Johnson and Stein aren't the same. My state's gonna vote blue no matter what so does it matter? me here? no not really. so then what?
I've said it before, it scares the crap out of me. How can anyone legitimately support Hillary if you're not a white protected class who will not be affected by how the election goes? Don't get me wrong, Trump's bad all the way around unless you want to see the rise of the fourth Reich, and in that case he's great.
but yeah - who the fuck cares. CNN/MSNBC/FOX will make sure that the one they want elected will be elected... and we're all plebes in the scheme of things. Worse than plebes, pawns... manipulated by the puppet string holders, aka the CEOs... the exploiters.
Hmmm i've used that word before maybe...
i'm tired, my wife's out of town, i'm ready to crack another beer, and that's all really not good news if you are me... because you aren't me and you're going to judge me for posting this and i'm guessing going to be unsympathetic because probably you're a Hillary supported and aren't any better than a Trump supporter in your logic fo such and hey... i have to stop caring at some point.
blocking me on twitter is the first step to unleashing the unbridled honestly... and don't worry, everyone else can block me, i probably won't notice, unless you sent me a DM just before you block me so when I reply to it I can't and start to wonder why.
clarity...
openness...
life...
blocking's not a problem, i blocked solobreak for a good god danm while... different story and different reasons.... different logic and super long build up, not hot point moment...
but hey... what did that movie say tonight?
"if you only do what you can do you'll never be more than you are, now."
i strive constantly to do more... was challenged today, "don't you get tired of this all?" my response: "No, i fucking love this shit, honestly and totally." under my breath i said, i wish i got paid at a level comenserate with my knowledge, skills, experience, and all that but no, that 'LEVEL' is reserved for those who play the game i refuse to play.
congrats. happy you're playing the game and kicking the rest of us in the nuts..
bad night? nah, good night, you don't want to hear me on a bad night...
maybe you have, if you've read this before I've woken up and fixed it all....
not going to say what's in my head... storm seems to have passed...
not nearly enough beer is consumed (i haven't lost count yet and they are low ABV beverages extra bad/good) and sleep needs to happen...
and the storm i missed from having the windows closed and the AC on? just about past us... Zzzzzz
Tomorrow is a new day, washed clean. Let us see what it brings.... oh right. i'm getting up early and going to work...
heddwch
G
NONE OF THE ABOVE.....
I want Bernie.
I want to vote for Bernie.
Sure, Hillary is the safest option but it sucks, she's horrible but the horrible choice among the choices...
If you think Trump doesn't sound like Hitler you're probably white and probably afraid of what might happen if you lived life like a cyclist, constantly in fear of your life.
Johnson? The libertarian cat analogy doesn't hold water well... cats do really fucking well on their own, it is just everyone else suffers if they are successful... making cats work on their own is possible but godamn we're not set up like that.
Stein? yeah.. sorry, not buying it...
Bernie... why the fuck does he have to have done everything right his whole fucking life, worked for what is right. yet the Hillary machine has decided he's not wanted in the corporate party.
Because he'd destroy the party by bringing in all the people who they've lost over the years.
Here's the deal.
media, pundits, people, don't know what to do w/o an enemy. DNC RNC is there a difference other than yeah, if you don't know the difference... then what?
if Someone other than Hillary (big bad corporate US) or Trump (white racists aka evil empire scared people unite)
but people don't get it? do they?
"if you only do what you can do you'll never be more than you are, now."
don't make any changes, shit's fine the way it is now, or not?
I'm sad because i saw it, the option open. Briefly. Johnson and Stein aren't the same. My state's gonna vote blue no matter what so does it matter? me here? no not really. so then what?
I've said it before, it scares the crap out of me. How can anyone legitimately support Hillary if you're not a white protected class who will not be affected by how the election goes? Don't get me wrong, Trump's bad all the way around unless you want to see the rise of the fourth Reich, and in that case he's great.
but yeah - who the fuck cares. CNN/MSNBC/FOX will make sure that the one they want elected will be elected... and we're all plebes in the scheme of things. Worse than plebes, pawns... manipulated by the puppet string holders, aka the CEOs... the exploiters.
Hmmm i've used that word before maybe...
i'm tired, my wife's out of town, i'm ready to crack another beer, and that's all really not good news if you are me... because you aren't me and you're going to judge me for posting this and i'm guessing going to be unsympathetic because probably you're a Hillary supported and aren't any better than a Trump supporter in your logic fo such and hey... i have to stop caring at some point.
blocking me on twitter is the first step to unleashing the unbridled honestly... and don't worry, everyone else can block me, i probably won't notice, unless you sent me a DM just before you block me so when I reply to it I can't and start to wonder why.
clarity...
openness...
life...
blocking's not a problem, i blocked solobreak for a good god danm while... different story and different reasons.... different logic and super long build up, not hot point moment...
but hey... what did that movie say tonight?
"if you only do what you can do you'll never be more than you are, now."
i strive constantly to do more... was challenged today, "don't you get tired of this all?" my response: "No, i fucking love this shit, honestly and totally." under my breath i said, i wish i got paid at a level comenserate with my knowledge, skills, experience, and all that but no, that 'LEVEL' is reserved for those who play the game i refuse to play.
congrats. happy you're playing the game and kicking the rest of us in the nuts..
bad night? nah, good night, you don't want to hear me on a bad night...
maybe you have, if you've read this before I've woken up and fixed it all....
not going to say what's in my head... storm seems to have passed...
not nearly enough beer is consumed (i haven't lost count yet and they are low ABV beverages extra bad/good) and sleep needs to happen...
and the storm i missed from having the windows closed and the AC on? just about past us... Zzzzzz
Tomorrow is a new day, washed clean. Let us see what it brings.... oh right. i'm getting up early and going to work...
heddwch
G
the TT that didn't happen but did report
More later, short version? first the gram post from right after the ride
Traffic was a royal cluster and there was no getting kid to Soccer at WWIS North Kingston, and traffic was twice as bad going back north. I'd never have made it for the start and would ahve been stressed the whole time. So i picked no stress, high winds and warm temps and did the WeeBike gran prix... finally, kind of wanted to make a go at getting the KOM from the guy who's in Cali, but the winds and my slowness kind of only got me w/in 20ish seconds, oh well, next time maybe.
Traffic was a royal cluster and there was no getting kid to Soccer at WWIS North Kingston, and traffic was twice as bad going back north. I'd never have made it for the start and would ahve been stressed the whole time. So i picked no stress, high winds and warm temps and did the WeeBike gran prix... finally, kind of wanted to make a go at getting the KOM from the guy who's in Cali, but the winds and my slowness kind of only got me w/in 20ish seconds, oh well, next time maybe.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
gotta get dinner made
but thinking while driving in to get kid home...
and that's never a good thing...
esp when i start thinking about what i was thinking about but as a total deflection, once I got home and sat down for a minute to relax before starting dinner, i checked into the twitters and faceplaces and realized how much quieter my twitter feed has been. When chatty mc chatterbox blocks you, shit gets chill. It bugged me for a while, now? getting used to it. change ain't easy but sometimes it isn't bad.
The thinking though isn't good, but i'm also tired, strung out, and burnt out, with no good end in sight and again, maybe no vacation again. Not that it is ever easy to see, but hey glad for people can take them, but vacations seem to be these very much in your face reminder of the differences.
I am me, no one else... i'm currently skeptical that i'll beat last week time at the TT tonorrow night, even with the TT rig.
we'll see...
about everything...
and shit - i just dozed off... damnit... 10:1 odds I'll be wide awake from 9:30-midnight despite just wanting to sleep, and just now falling asleep.
Dinner.. gotta cook the foods...
heddwch
G
and that's never a good thing...
esp when i start thinking about what i was thinking about but as a total deflection, once I got home and sat down for a minute to relax before starting dinner, i checked into the twitters and faceplaces and realized how much quieter my twitter feed has been. When chatty mc chatterbox blocks you, shit gets chill. It bugged me for a while, now? getting used to it. change ain't easy but sometimes it isn't bad.
The thinking though isn't good, but i'm also tired, strung out, and burnt out, with no good end in sight and again, maybe no vacation again. Not that it is ever easy to see, but hey glad for people can take them, but vacations seem to be these very much in your face reminder of the differences.
I am me, no one else... i'm currently skeptical that i'll beat last week time at the TT tonorrow night, even with the TT rig.
we'll see...
about everything...
and shit - i just dozed off... damnit... 10:1 odds I'll be wide awake from 9:30-midnight despite just wanting to sleep, and just now falling asleep.
Dinner.. gotta cook the foods...
heddwch
G
SMACKDOWN - farewell ride for Kyle, lunch version
So yeah I wrote about it already. But I dunno, kind of want to hit it one more time when I'm not a couple beers deep and tired. However, I'm STILL stupid tired. Need to maybe start going to bed earlier but the current schedule is really messing with that. Week long evening soccer for the kid is totally tweaking everything but she's having fun and learning a bit and getting touches so that all good and worth it. I'll sleep sometime. Maybe. Also, yesterday did NOT feel like Tuesday, felt more like a Thursday, maybe likely because I worked Saturday AND Sunday this week.
Okay so writing and eating didn't work so well. But I finished eating and am back at writing, and avoiding emails for a few more minutes. I think there's some suggestion to not work non-stop, taking a break during the day isn't the worst thing and I can't fathom clicking on faceplace, twitter isn't much better lately, although a little better. At least in the twitter feed the important shit is mixed in with the deliberately miss-leading/distracting shit.
Tuesday Smackdown, right... Kyle's last ride. He had a big gathering at his place on Sunday, I stopped in to say hey on my way home, but with a trailer full of groceries, dinner to make and an impending storm I moved on quickly. Caught some amazing images with the phone, put them on instagram of course.
Okay so writing and eating didn't work so well. But I finished eating and am back at writing, and avoiding emails for a few more minutes. I think there's some suggestion to not work non-stop, taking a break during the day isn't the worst thing and I can't fathom clicking on faceplace, twitter isn't much better lately, although a little better. At least in the twitter feed the important shit is mixed in with the deliberately miss-leading/distracting shit.
Tuesday Smackdown, right... Kyle's last ride. He had a big gathering at his place on Sunday, I stopped in to say hey on my way home, but with a trailer full of groceries, dinner to make and an impending storm I moved on quickly. Caught some amazing images with the phone, put them on instagram of course.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
SMACKDOWN clif notes version maybe
It is late, i'm tired, we killed Dr, Flat's array of La Fin du Monde w/o the frenchy (because he's not belgian and too good to hang out or ride with us now i suppose, or he already said his goodbyes like David B did on sunday - and me just before that f'n INSANE STORM (check the instagram dude)) shit... too many ()())((()()()(
wooops...
so clif notes... #oldmanwords
We gathered, I felt like shit, Chris Bailey showed up at last minute, but before the David's did, the fast one and the old one (they are both really f'n fast - also the old one is super good friends with Catherine Sterling so that's an automatic absolute total free card - also - i know him from somewhere, not sure where, when or what but he's way too familiar just to feel familiar... gotta figure that shit out, but first gotta get fast enough to hang long enough......that tiny guy is fast, also the young fast one is respectful AND fast and humble and smart and has his shit together, no faulting on either case.
I haven't slept well in a great handful of days, maybe the central air and the outside cooling off and it not cooling it off and i dunno, or other factors.
Top it off - just before i headed out i got a text "the van is doing the helicopter thing and the brakes are squealing and it is really bad" AWESOME NOW I'M WORRIED ABOUT THEM GETTING HOME AND WHAT I HAVE TO DO OVER THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE!
Fuuuuck...
And i yes - bad sleep, food not bad today but was hungry after lunch and ate my pre-ride snack too early and then ate emergency food stash way too early and then forgot to suck down a sugar gel just before the ride like i planned (distracted by the Davids and that smooth power house that Chris Bailey is, man i wish he'd go back to riding that heavy aluminum specialized he has)...
it went as it went.... i was conservative but still got popped on Pine. Caught back on with Greve and Kyle (last ride) on Homestead traded pulls early with Bailey on Rocky Hill before being absolutely spit the fuck out the back, but I felt good pulling but legs decided, yeah fuck you asshole. And while I dragged them up at a decent clip, when Bailey dragged everyone past me, poof - magic gone.
Bottom of Rocky HIll with Fuller, okay, fuck this where are those assholes. Hammer down, fuck recovery lets pedal, no one... where the fuck are they... turn on to River, WHERE DID FULLER GO (tendon issue - totally forgivable) damnit... power up Hillside OH HEY THERE THEY ARE.. get close... and then they go up the hill and I don't go up the hill as fast but I give it everything.
And they disappear.
and I find them at the stopsign. Not on Pine fortunately, not fucking with traffic more than a dozen cyclists can. Yeah we had 12 at roll out. Missing Orlando meant there was zero aggravation or aggression or concern for people acting like squirrels on crack with a death wish.
Then we head back and crush it down walker again, same time as Fox send off time, but Colby gets scored first despite Kyle going clear before the end of the segment (maybe I need to go back and check it).
we rolled back into town, i gather my stuff from the office and rolled down hill to Dr Flats. We had beers, we talked, the kids left to get ice cream and I headed home discussing the week/options/year/TT/life with Goldberg.
You gotta love Goldberg. He's literally the best. Literally. Get to know him, you'll agree.
Fox is pretty solid but he left for Seattle and well - we'll leave it at that, he's obviously not tough enough to hang out in New England. He had to move to the land of the Sea Chickens... good luck with that mofo.
I really hope next week my legs come around for smackdown. BUT FUCK THAT SHIT
we have TT ON THURSDAY.... damn I wish I could re-wind a couple years, thems TT days were the best ever freaking imaginable... possible.... and ... nvm
Bailey pointed out though, that w/o all that off bike emotion, struggle, the pedalin would be less meaningful.
Life's wikked fucked up.
"we can choose facism or we can choose not to change, but we can't seemingly choose to change because neither of the other two choices will allow anyone to actually choose...."
If you choose not to change just because not changing gets you Bill Clinton's wife in office doesn't mean you're a good person, it just means you are just as bad as Trump's supporters, but for different less bigoted reasons. Not better though. don't delude yourself. First horse to the first post doesn't always win eh? But some how this race was rigged and now we are here. and I shouldn't say much about it but I will..
because there are too many who stand to lose too much because of those who decided to vote for privelage and legacy, no right and what's needed.
Butterfly effect may just make some shitty ass butter but fuck it, maybe some good comes of it.
don't make me delete this shit in the morning....
smackdown was tough, i'm def failing in the getting good sleep department, def failing in the mental stability one too, def not as relaxed and able to focus on pedaling as usual.. but it was still good and we'll miss Kyle, but maybe not as much as Fox....
and so much for clif notes...
but then if i hadn't deleted massive amounts of words well... this would be a clif not version....
so
many
words
deleted....
you have no idea...
or maybe you have an idea...
but it is probably wrong, but hey it seems right in your head now... and that's valid so we'll go with it.
anyone have a beer? the Fin Du Monde was a long time ago, i have a hankering for a bit more... but life is funny like that, you want more? ha, try going w/o for an indeterminate length, or at least until we've decided we're done torturing you...
life...
i'm done... more Wu-Tang tomorrow on the sound track
heddwch
G
wooops...
so clif notes... #oldmanwords
We gathered, I felt like shit, Chris Bailey showed up at last minute, but before the David's did, the fast one and the old one (they are both really f'n fast - also the old one is super good friends with Catherine Sterling so that's an automatic absolute total free card - also - i know him from somewhere, not sure where, when or what but he's way too familiar just to feel familiar... gotta figure that shit out, but first gotta get fast enough to hang long enough......that tiny guy is fast, also the young fast one is respectful AND fast and humble and smart and has his shit together, no faulting on either case.
I haven't slept well in a great handful of days, maybe the central air and the outside cooling off and it not cooling it off and i dunno, or other factors.
Top it off - just before i headed out i got a text "the van is doing the helicopter thing and the brakes are squealing and it is really bad" AWESOME NOW I'M WORRIED ABOUT THEM GETTING HOME AND WHAT I HAVE TO DO OVER THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE!
Fuuuuck...
And i yes - bad sleep, food not bad today but was hungry after lunch and ate my pre-ride snack too early and then ate emergency food stash way too early and then forgot to suck down a sugar gel just before the ride like i planned (distracted by the Davids and that smooth power house that Chris Bailey is, man i wish he'd go back to riding that heavy aluminum specialized he has)...
it went as it went.... i was conservative but still got popped on Pine. Caught back on with Greve and Kyle (last ride) on Homestead traded pulls early with Bailey on Rocky Hill before being absolutely spit the fuck out the back, but I felt good pulling but legs decided, yeah fuck you asshole. And while I dragged them up at a decent clip, when Bailey dragged everyone past me, poof - magic gone.
Bottom of Rocky HIll with Fuller, okay, fuck this where are those assholes. Hammer down, fuck recovery lets pedal, no one... where the fuck are they... turn on to River, WHERE DID FULLER GO (tendon issue - totally forgivable) damnit... power up Hillside OH HEY THERE THEY ARE.. get close... and then they go up the hill and I don't go up the hill as fast but I give it everything.
And they disappear.
and I find them at the stopsign. Not on Pine fortunately, not fucking with traffic more than a dozen cyclists can. Yeah we had 12 at roll out. Missing Orlando meant there was zero aggravation or aggression or concern for people acting like squirrels on crack with a death wish.
Then we head back and crush it down walker again, same time as Fox send off time, but Colby gets scored first despite Kyle going clear before the end of the segment (maybe I need to go back and check it).
we rolled back into town, i gather my stuff from the office and rolled down hill to Dr Flats. We had beers, we talked, the kids left to get ice cream and I headed home discussing the week/options/year/TT/life with Goldberg.
You gotta love Goldberg. He's literally the best. Literally. Get to know him, you'll agree.
Fox is pretty solid but he left for Seattle and well - we'll leave it at that, he's obviously not tough enough to hang out in New England. He had to move to the land of the Sea Chickens... good luck with that mofo.
I really hope next week my legs come around for smackdown. BUT FUCK THAT SHIT
we have TT ON THURSDAY.... damn I wish I could re-wind a couple years, thems TT days were the best ever freaking imaginable... possible.... and ... nvm
Bailey pointed out though, that w/o all that off bike emotion, struggle, the pedalin would be less meaningful.
Life's wikked fucked up.
"we can choose facism or we can choose not to change, but we can't seemingly choose to change because neither of the other two choices will allow anyone to actually choose...."
If you choose not to change just because not changing gets you Bill Clinton's wife in office doesn't mean you're a good person, it just means you are just as bad as Trump's supporters, but for different less bigoted reasons. Not better though. don't delude yourself. First horse to the first post doesn't always win eh? But some how this race was rigged and now we are here. and I shouldn't say much about it but I will..
because there are too many who stand to lose too much because of those who decided to vote for privelage and legacy, no right and what's needed.
Butterfly effect may just make some shitty ass butter but fuck it, maybe some good comes of it.
don't make me delete this shit in the morning....
smackdown was tough, i'm def failing in the getting good sleep department, def failing in the mental stability one too, def not as relaxed and able to focus on pedaling as usual.. but it was still good and we'll miss Kyle, but maybe not as much as Fox....
and so much for clif notes...
but then if i hadn't deleted massive amounts of words well... this would be a clif not version....
so
many
words
deleted....
you have no idea...
or maybe you have an idea...
but it is probably wrong, but hey it seems right in your head now... and that's valid so we'll go with it.
anyone have a beer? the Fin Du Monde was a long time ago, i have a hankering for a bit more... but life is funny like that, you want more? ha, try going w/o for an indeterminate length, or at least until we've decided we're done torturing you...
life...
i'm done... more Wu-Tang tomorrow on the sound track
heddwch
G
Thursday, July 14, 2016
TT OMG TT again....
There's a pretty complicated back story.
But I really wanted to have this TT series be USAC sanctioned, but well, life, right? $200 late fee + each day + everything was just going to be too much also? Who knows how many will show up. A year off is a big deal in the short memories.
Graham Garber has been doing this TT for longer than I have, he was here when Zoe was racing it and we were finishing at the VFW (I did it a handful of times that year), and Brad and Zoe were incredibly supportive and encouraging.
Kipp would come out and crush it. Jonny FUCKING BOLD would should up, Kevin Hines, and most of the fast guys around have laid down numbers on this course over the years.
Bringing it back made sense.
Bandit is my style, it seems. CX TT whatever... I do bandit better but still have huge respect for organizing body but the rules make them tough to work with sometimes when you have no idea how to work with them and when you ask you get no help. So. Next year? I think we'll do it sanctioned... this year? F'N BANDIT.
I do bandit okay i guess.
But I don't do it alone, can't do it alone. Goldberg came through, Deano also, huge support and timing and those guys crushed the results, so good, so much appreciation so much thanks.
So much unprepared for me, ate too late, but not badly. it was hot, the bike was slow, bars too wide, wind too cross to use invisible aero bars, so slow. But still not so slow, and with Eian, Jonathan and David K beating me in the cannibal category? TOTALLY FINE WITH IT.
So humid. So hot.
I had the cateye bike computer i won at one of the Bikeworks run TTs and i kept looking at the avg speed and suffering, so slow. but tonight was the best/least differential at the Reynolds turn. Usually I hit that turn and whatever the avg speed is I lose 3-5 mph at the finish. Today? Hit the turn with 24.8 MPH avg and finished at 23.8 mph, best differential ever, at least that I can remember.
Yes, Reynolds has been repaved, no chip/seal, it is smooooooooth Asphalt. Fresh. So nice.
But it is still all uphill and it still sucks.
Eian, started behind me, not in sight from the quick glance as I turned onto Reynolds but man, cresting the top of the hill on Peck? he was there, shit. But he didn't pass me until we hit 118 and he hit it HARD and blew by me. Major hat tip to him, nice job.
I was first off the line, first to start. I've never started first at this thing. Never not had someone up the road. But tonight? When I started sorting the riders, Eian and Jonathan were the equals, and Eian bested JD but not by much and my guess for finishing times was actually pretty damn good for everyone but me. I thought I'd turn a 22. I turned a 20:34 or something. TOTALLY HAPPY with that.
Next week? Maybe I'll have the Paramount ready to go. This morning I tried but couldn't find my 8sp cassette. Riding out alone for a while then Jonathan caught up to me and we were talking and in talking I realized I think the cassette is still on the trainer wheel I used at NBX for the indoor series. Would explain why I couldn't find it this morning.
Next week I'll try the TT w/o 46cm wide bars, CX long chainstays and big fat non-aero tubed frame.
at least that's the plan. we'll see how it goes between now and then.
But momentum, spread the word, show up, race, we'll score you if we can and you'll have the motivation to compete against everyone there and I'll get the luxury of deciding the start times, at least if you didn't show up the week before when we use that to sort the start order.
I'd love to see Solobreak bring his TT stuff down, anyone else not too afraid to measure up against the clock?
The race of truth.
Truely...
I broke down, so humid, turned on the Central Air. First time this summer. Tomorrow is gonna be a scorcher and tonight it is ball breaking humid. And the 14th...
giving in to the luxury of central air, but with the bummer of the duct work being set up for heat, not AC meaning it kind of sucks for AC, but hey, AC better than no AC, esp when it gets MD swamp ass around here.
So... hey, Smackdown is on Tuesdays, maybe you want to join in? India Point Park 5:30.... Thursdays? TT? rehoboth 6pm... but i think most people are way too much of a wuss to line up for a TT... they suck, they are hard, no excuses ever work... come prove me wrong.
heddwch
G
But I really wanted to have this TT series be USAC sanctioned, but well, life, right? $200 late fee + each day + everything was just going to be too much also? Who knows how many will show up. A year off is a big deal in the short memories.
Graham Garber has been doing this TT for longer than I have, he was here when Zoe was racing it and we were finishing at the VFW (I did it a handful of times that year), and Brad and Zoe were incredibly supportive and encouraging.
Kipp would come out and crush it. Jonny FUCKING BOLD would should up, Kevin Hines, and most of the fast guys around have laid down numbers on this course over the years.
Bringing it back made sense.
Bandit is my style, it seems. CX TT whatever... I do bandit better but still have huge respect for organizing body but the rules make them tough to work with sometimes when you have no idea how to work with them and when you ask you get no help. So. Next year? I think we'll do it sanctioned... this year? F'N BANDIT.
I do bandit okay i guess.
But I don't do it alone, can't do it alone. Goldberg came through, Deano also, huge support and timing and those guys crushed the results, so good, so much appreciation so much thanks.
So much unprepared for me, ate too late, but not badly. it was hot, the bike was slow, bars too wide, wind too cross to use invisible aero bars, so slow. But still not so slow, and with Eian, Jonathan and David K beating me in the cannibal category? TOTALLY FINE WITH IT.
So humid. So hot.
I had the cateye bike computer i won at one of the Bikeworks run TTs and i kept looking at the avg speed and suffering, so slow. but tonight was the best/least differential at the Reynolds turn. Usually I hit that turn and whatever the avg speed is I lose 3-5 mph at the finish. Today? Hit the turn with 24.8 MPH avg and finished at 23.8 mph, best differential ever, at least that I can remember.
Yes, Reynolds has been repaved, no chip/seal, it is smooooooooth Asphalt. Fresh. So nice.
But it is still all uphill and it still sucks.
Eian, started behind me, not in sight from the quick glance as I turned onto Reynolds but man, cresting the top of the hill on Peck? he was there, shit. But he didn't pass me until we hit 118 and he hit it HARD and blew by me. Major hat tip to him, nice job.
I was first off the line, first to start. I've never started first at this thing. Never not had someone up the road. But tonight? When I started sorting the riders, Eian and Jonathan were the equals, and Eian bested JD but not by much and my guess for finishing times was actually pretty damn good for everyone but me. I thought I'd turn a 22. I turned a 20:34 or something. TOTALLY HAPPY with that.
Next week? Maybe I'll have the Paramount ready to go. This morning I tried but couldn't find my 8sp cassette. Riding out alone for a while then Jonathan caught up to me and we were talking and in talking I realized I think the cassette is still on the trainer wheel I used at NBX for the indoor series. Would explain why I couldn't find it this morning.
Next week I'll try the TT w/o 46cm wide bars, CX long chainstays and big fat non-aero tubed frame.
at least that's the plan. we'll see how it goes between now and then.
But momentum, spread the word, show up, race, we'll score you if we can and you'll have the motivation to compete against everyone there and I'll get the luxury of deciding the start times, at least if you didn't show up the week before when we use that to sort the start order.
I'd love to see Solobreak bring his TT stuff down, anyone else not too afraid to measure up against the clock?
The race of truth.
Truely...
I broke down, so humid, turned on the Central Air. First time this summer. Tomorrow is gonna be a scorcher and tonight it is ball breaking humid. And the 14th...
giving in to the luxury of central air, but with the bummer of the duct work being set up for heat, not AC meaning it kind of sucks for AC, but hey, AC better than no AC, esp when it gets MD swamp ass around here.
So... hey, Smackdown is on Tuesdays, maybe you want to join in? India Point Park 5:30.... Thursdays? TT? rehoboth 6pm... but i think most people are way too much of a wuss to line up for a TT... they suck, they are hard, no excuses ever work... come prove me wrong.
heddwch
G
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
cracked and broken
words, lots building up,
what now
interesting night
cooked dinner,
waiting now...
fingers on fire, ghost pepper end of the scale habanero, wiped sweat off eyebrows too many times...
words to say, but solobreak, yeah emotions, so dumb, by acknowledge them...
if but for th new realization that they're just freaking brain science and emotions are pretty easily explained...
if you get how the shit works...
good luck knucklehads...
go find your rare pokey mommy, ok?
oh, if the weather doesn't screw me like everyone else, well... we'll have TT tomorrow night at 6pm, old Bikeworks course...
what now
interesting night
cooked dinner,
waiting now...
fingers on fire, ghost pepper end of the scale habanero, wiped sweat off eyebrows too many times...
words to say, but solobreak, yeah emotions, so dumb, by acknowledge them...
if but for th new realization that they're just freaking brain science and emotions are pretty easily explained...
if you get how the shit works...
good luck knucklehads...
go find your rare pokey mommy, ok?
oh, if the weather doesn't screw me like everyone else, well... we'll have TT tomorrow night at 6pm, old Bikeworks course...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
