I held my position pretty much from the start to the finish. No sliding forwards or back. Well technically I think I went up one place. Good pacing I guess ;) or just a really crappy start. One way or another there was no sliding going on. Makes me think that if I actually started hard, maybe I could gain 20 spots and only lose 15 and be 5 places ahead of where I finished. Something to try next time. Of course I could do that and then blow up and lose 25 spots instead of zero spots. Or be like G-ride and have people stacking into the back of me...
Issue #7 showed up in the mail last night. One big note: Niels don't do Caffeine. How about that shit. But then all he does is train, eat spaghetti, and watch TV. Everyone else does everything else for him. King Albert is the right label. (it is an awesome interview by Christine, Nice JOB!)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A bit cold
to ride in w/o gloves this morning. I guess 38°F commuting into a stiff headwind isn't optimal for no gloves. Everything else was perfectly warm and fine.
Nice brisk morning. Woke up early - hit the trainer for some Z6 intervals. Really didn't want to do them. But blowing off riding monday and tuesday (even skipped the run) wasn't good and I know I needed to get back on track. Mentally still wasn't there. But man after the first couple, finishing up the last few felt good and by the time I got off the bike I had a fire burning and it felt awesome to get the work in.
Can't let up or skip anything else this week.
That's all I got - go read Jonny's Report from this weekend. Yeah that's the race I was in. Amazingly. So awesome not to get caught either day by those guys drilling it at the front the way they did.
Still working out details for the trip to Nationals. A bit crazy but I think finally the pieces are falling into place. It might be a bit of driving but the driving means seeing family. Worth it. Time to finalize it.
Oh and for a handful of days in a row now, i'm a tenth or two under 200#. I guess that's what 4 double weekends back to back will do. And yeah most of that seems to be lost from around the middle. Double score.
heddwch
G
Nice brisk morning. Woke up early - hit the trainer for some Z6 intervals. Really didn't want to do them. But blowing off riding monday and tuesday (even skipped the run) wasn't good and I know I needed to get back on track. Mentally still wasn't there. But man after the first couple, finishing up the last few felt good and by the time I got off the bike I had a fire burning and it felt awesome to get the work in.
Can't let up or skip anything else this week.
That's all I got - go read Jonny's Report from this weekend. Yeah that's the race I was in. Amazingly. So awesome not to get caught either day by those guys drilling it at the front the way they did.
Still working out details for the trip to Nationals. A bit crazy but I think finally the pieces are falling into place. It might be a bit of driving but the driving means seeing family. Worth it. Time to finalize it.
Oh and for a handful of days in a row now, i'm a tenth or two under 200#. I guess that's what 4 double weekends back to back will do. And yeah most of that seems to be lost from around the middle. Double score.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
destroyed
I'm feeling completely wrecked from this past weekend.
Finally had a decent night sleep and when the alarm went off i just did not want to get up. No waking up every 3 hours finally. No lying in bed trying to calm the mind down enough to sleep. Maybe it was the Leviathan plus tall boy that had the right combo to send me off to sleep land. Maybe it was mentally solving the problem I created by being tired earlier. Either way it was nice to finally get a good night sleep. Running on no where near enough sleep since, well, shit, since Cross started. Go figure.
Packing in the weekend stuff on the nights of the weekdays racing and travel and not resting well. Is taking a toll.
I needed a mental pick up.
So dug up this video:
And it worked for the first half of the what i've got written down to this point.
No where near as awesome footage wise as my earlier post, man that was so awesome, but I will have to admit to being somewhat bored by the Bicycle song being used in cycling videos, despite the on time brilliant editing. I need an audio and video double focused attack to get going some time.
And now that it has worn off I probably won't work in the links to Solo and G-ride and Colin and the rest.
But man - reflecting on last weekend. Everyone was there. Freaking brilliant weekend. Lots of fun racing and that venue really is all it can be. Really challenging racing. And I'm pleased with the results. Everyone seems faster this year. Curtis is faster this year and hell everyone has upped their game, esp freaking G-ride. Man he's on fire. And Myette! Damn that kid, top 20 both days at PVD. Nice.
That said - three weekends (6 races) of pressure cooker Verge racing is exhausting. Take a deep breath exhausting. That shit is INTENSE.
Looking forward to this coming weekend. Planning to hit Mansfield Hollow on Saturday. Where I rolled the front wheel that g-ride loaned me last year and I lost a handful of spots and hard won time. I did really have fun there. Not sure on which race to go for but probably will do the 2,3,4 35+ race. That or maybe man up and do the 1,2,3 for an hour. Hell I was on course for an hour at G-ster. I think I have a day or two to decide. Probably will race "up" to the 1,2,3. Enough mental cogitating. Just need to focus on right now. Focus on the task at hand (finishing the last of a smallish lunch for example).
Oh and Solobreak, it was just two bottles of wine between three of us, and Il Gordo left half of his OE 800 in the fridge. I'm not sure what to do with it, it is too late in the year to worry about catching slugs.
Tom and Richard and Gene and the rest of the organizers who put the show on this weekend? AWESOME. Really cool that so many people I knew were able to volunteer and help make it happen. Interbike was really pretty cool. I wish I could have been there on thursday in the sun instead of friday in the rain, but it is all what it is. Next year.
Next year hopefully it will grow and be bigger. There were definitely more people than at a normal cross race. Maybe dropping the entry fee to $5 would more than double the consumer attendance? It would have been nice to see more visibility by the local shops (with booths and stuff) esp on Consumer days, maybe in conjunction with some of the bigger brands they carry (EP at Giant, Casters at Specialized for example).
It was great. And it was hard. And I'm making improvements. Doing better than I have. There's more strength/speed to find before the big bang at the end of the season.
heddwch
G
Finally had a decent night sleep and when the alarm went off i just did not want to get up. No waking up every 3 hours finally. No lying in bed trying to calm the mind down enough to sleep. Maybe it was the Leviathan plus tall boy that had the right combo to send me off to sleep land. Maybe it was mentally solving the problem I created by being tired earlier. Either way it was nice to finally get a good night sleep. Running on no where near enough sleep since, well, shit, since Cross started. Go figure.
Packing in the weekend stuff on the nights of the weekdays racing and travel and not resting well. Is taking a toll.
I needed a mental pick up.
So dug up this video:
And it worked for the first half of the what i've got written down to this point.
No where near as awesome footage wise as my earlier post, man that was so awesome, but I will have to admit to being somewhat bored by the Bicycle song being used in cycling videos, despite the on time brilliant editing. I need an audio and video double focused attack to get going some time.
And now that it has worn off I probably won't work in the links to Solo and G-ride and Colin and the rest.
But man - reflecting on last weekend. Everyone was there. Freaking brilliant weekend. Lots of fun racing and that venue really is all it can be. Really challenging racing. And I'm pleased with the results. Everyone seems faster this year. Curtis is faster this year and hell everyone has upped their game, esp freaking G-ride. Man he's on fire. And Myette! Damn that kid, top 20 both days at PVD. Nice.
That said - three weekends (6 races) of pressure cooker Verge racing is exhausting. Take a deep breath exhausting. That shit is INTENSE.
Looking forward to this coming weekend. Planning to hit Mansfield Hollow on Saturday. Where I rolled the front wheel that g-ride loaned me last year and I lost a handful of spots and hard won time. I did really have fun there. Not sure on which race to go for but probably will do the 2,3,4 35+ race. That or maybe man up and do the 1,2,3 for an hour. Hell I was on course for an hour at G-ster. I think I have a day or two to decide. Probably will race "up" to the 1,2,3. Enough mental cogitating. Just need to focus on right now. Focus on the task at hand (finishing the last of a smallish lunch for example).
Oh and Solobreak, it was just two bottles of wine between three of us, and Il Gordo left half of his OE 800 in the fridge. I'm not sure what to do with it, it is too late in the year to worry about catching slugs.
Tom and Richard and Gene and the rest of the organizers who put the show on this weekend? AWESOME. Really cool that so many people I knew were able to volunteer and help make it happen. Interbike was really pretty cool. I wish I could have been there on thursday in the sun instead of friday in the rain, but it is all what it is. Next year.
Next year hopefully it will grow and be bigger. There were definitely more people than at a normal cross race. Maybe dropping the entry fee to $5 would more than double the consumer attendance? It would have been nice to see more visibility by the local shops (with booths and stuff) esp on Consumer days, maybe in conjunction with some of the bigger brands they carry (EP at Giant, Casters at Specialized for example).
It was great. And it was hard. And I'm making improvements. Doing better than I have. There's more strength/speed to find before the big bang at the end of the season.
heddwch
G
Gloucester Video can't miss
Gran Prix of Gloucester - A Cyclocross Film from Benjamin Eckstein on Vimeo.
from here thanks for the heads up Bauer.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Funniest part of the day
Curtis wearing the Planet Bike Blanco kit again but instead of pulling on his big knuckle white gloves...
he races in SHOCKER gloves...
seriously...
Shocker gloves... that and he was too shy to explain why they were called shocker gloves, with two fingers colored pink and one brown:
"Two in the pink, One in the stink!
And if i shouldn't have to explain it anymore than that.
Wow, what a weekend
First off. Flags at half mast for Soups. Mark Suprenaut crashed hard along the lake section and suffered a spiral fracture of his fibula (up near the knee). 'Soups' has surpassed Marro as the nicest guy racing, sorry marro, but it is true.
Toughest is that he busted the right leg, driving is going to be tough for a while (until he figures out how to drive left footed).
That put a big shadow over the end of the day today.
That and me and G-ride not winning the damn SRAM force group they were raffling off.
What a day. Wicked fun. Kerry Litka has a new slogan to yell at her "MAKE IT WORK" sure it is hard to yell at the top of your lungs in a Tim Gunn accent but hey it is the words and the sentiment that count right? So if you see her little pinkness racing, make sure to cheer by yelling "make it work."
It was a hard weekend of racing. I mean really hard. These guys in the 1/2/3 35+ race here in New England are wicked fahking fast. No joke. I'm sort of fast, but man - not like Jonny Fooking Bold, or Kevin motocross Hines, or Mahhhhhk, or Asphlom. Good god those guys are unreal.
Myette - wow he's coming into form and is on FIRE. FIRE. Everyone is faster this year - esp G-ride. Too bad a whole host of folks ran right up his ass and busted his rear der at the start. It didn't break right away but after the repeated bashing from the rear - his der gave up the ghost before he could finish and the worst of it - they didn't have a small enough bike in the pits for him to jump on and prevent a dreaded DNF. Oh the dreaded DNF.
I made it both days without getting lapped. and as fast as those guys were racing up front, it is amazing that I didn't.
Great, and I mean GREAT seeing the CX folks.
The Interbike thing was pretty damn cool too. The folks at Giant (wicked nice that they actually still make a bike that fits tall folks) hooked me up with a rear der hanger. My shifting's been slightly off and as much as I tweak the cable (replace it, lube it, mess with the tension - every damn adjustment) it still was flaky a bit. and It looks like the hanger (I'm not a fan of replaceable ones anyway) was tweaked a touch. It was passable racing in the 46 with the smaller ring is more sensitive to chain line perfection and it was not shifting well at all. Hoping it fixes it.
Another shout out to the awesome folks at Thompson. I've been riding a Thompson post almost exclusively (except for the American Classic breaking and ripping a hole in my sack, yes, that sack). I've bent posts, had issues with adjustments, on most all posts except Thompsons. They are unbelievable. UNbelievable.
If you are going to buy a new post, buy only Thompson. Seriously. I have been assured that the Masterpiece (the light one) is the 5th strongest post on the market. And one of those 5 stronger is the Elite (or the original one), and another of the stronger ones is the wicked heavy kalloy kind. So we're going to drop a few grams off the Giant cyclocross bike and hopefully cure the slipping that has been resulting from sticking a 27.2 inside a sleeve to fit a 30.9 tube.
So looking forward to swapping it in.
Saturday's race was bad. Well good but started bad. I had a first and a half row call up behind the Verge Point guys. Meaning I was mid pack in a field of 71 at the start. I just didn't have the grr i'm getting them at the start and slipped back a few spots into the first turns and settled in decently placed until after the barriers. First you go right down the hill up to the 180 degree right turn followed by the 120 degree left all while going up and down (highest points at the turns if you weren't there). so the final right, i had the inside line, passing people, moving up but then someone turned right in front of me and came to a complete stop. I was moving up hill. Not flat. Had to stop, and just slipped down to the bottom of the slope before i could gain traction enough to get going again. By that point - EVERYONE was ahead of me. All 71 starters. Everyone. And not by just a second, by a LONG shot. It turned into a reel people in race. Place by place. Never feeling super confident in any corner. Working hard to find a rhythm. But man it was still fun. Wicked hard. Any 1/2/3 35+ race is around here (heck probably anywhere).
Race race race, I rode the unridable hill nearly everytime, while not faster I was able to gap most everyone i hit the hill with on the following pavement stretch, and I feel that being able to ride it mean a lot to saving the legs/lungs for riding a very fast stretch. We did 6 laps. My lap time was wicked slow but I still managed 44th. 44th out of 71 starters, when i was 10 seconds behind EVERYONE a 1/3 of the way through the first lap. I HAVE to be happy with that. Yeah?
I am. It was a success. G-ride is killing it out there this year and he was up in the 30s. amazing stuff - he's found something good this year. I really need to focus and work on the power a bit. The knee sort of threw a wrench into things this summer. Not that I need a reason but it was a big factor over the summer, if I didn't screw it up in Maine, just think what might have happened. Maybe nothing really. Either way, it is what it is and I have to work with it. I'm feeling better each weekend and that's what counts right?
Today's race was a bit better focused. Left the house earlier. Got there earlier. Got PRIMO parking spots. Worked the trainer heckling action there as everyone went by. Really focused more, cranked the tunes on the way there. Death magnetic specifically. Cranked that in the iPod on the trainer while cheering/heckling. despite my more focus the start was a bit lackadaisical. But we hit the grass and well - people were stacking it left and right and I managed to slip around most of it all and came out in a decent position. Drilling it to stay on wheels. But I made a bad mental error as we came down the off camber. I had programmed a 180 turn to come back by the pits so I was in conservation mode until I realized - Oh shit - we go straight! Fuck. Hit the afterburners a bit to get back on wheels... and just worked it and worked it and tried to spin more than grind. Used the 46 on some sections.
*just got up to let lucy out and holy Sh!t my legs are KILLING me*
It was brutal. But. BUT i survived on the lead lap. Not lapped. Thought I had the bike barn guy (Kevin?). I attacked him going past the pit on the second to last lap, got a decent gap and killed it to stay in front of him, but by the time we hit the start finish line for the bell lap he'd erased my gains and went through me and I held the gap constant until we started the big pump track stuff up by the road. He gapped me slightly through there and extended it through the up hill before the beer tent (thanks for the cheers Karin) and I managed to pull him back a tough on the hills but was unable to close it down and kind of just worked hard enough not to lose spots before the finish.
*CRAMP CRAMP CRAMP*
hamstring
wow i really nuked my legs today...
ouch
It was a gorgeous day. Hard work. Wicked hard work. Great course.
Awesome as always catching up with folks and enjoying that side of the sport. can't really do that side of things well pre-race. Before the race it is focus, focus, focus on the course, gathering intel, not getting sidetracked from purpose... focus and all that...
Despite the flaky shifting the bike was great. Tire pressure dialed. I discovered that I could roll and mess the rear up adversely running 31 psi in the 34c Fango rear tubular. 36 was perfect. ran 48 up front in the racing ralph clincher and it was freaking HOOOOOOKED up solid. Need more watts.
Too bad i can't afford to fire my coach and hire someone who actually knows what the hell they are doing.
It is all good. Maybe there'll be a good photo from today or yesterday of me in the new kit and I can update the avatar/icon...
My voice is kind of toast after the photo shoot with ROB BAUER... Hats off to Coley for the beer! Those MRC guys are primo (second only to the Planet Bike East Gang of course).
Here's to hoping Soups heals up quick and fast! We'll miss you man! Seriously.
heddwch
G
Toughest is that he busted the right leg, driving is going to be tough for a while (until he figures out how to drive left footed).
That put a big shadow over the end of the day today.
That and me and G-ride not winning the damn SRAM force group they were raffling off.
What a day. Wicked fun. Kerry Litka has a new slogan to yell at her "MAKE IT WORK" sure it is hard to yell at the top of your lungs in a Tim Gunn accent but hey it is the words and the sentiment that count right? So if you see her little pinkness racing, make sure to cheer by yelling "make it work."
It was a hard weekend of racing. I mean really hard. These guys in the 1/2/3 35+ race here in New England are wicked fahking fast. No joke. I'm sort of fast, but man - not like Jonny Fooking Bold, or Kevin motocross Hines, or Mahhhhhk, or Asphlom. Good god those guys are unreal.
Myette - wow he's coming into form and is on FIRE. FIRE. Everyone is faster this year - esp G-ride. Too bad a whole host of folks ran right up his ass and busted his rear der at the start. It didn't break right away but after the repeated bashing from the rear - his der gave up the ghost before he could finish and the worst of it - they didn't have a small enough bike in the pits for him to jump on and prevent a dreaded DNF. Oh the dreaded DNF.
I made it both days without getting lapped. and as fast as those guys were racing up front, it is amazing that I didn't.
Great, and I mean GREAT seeing the CX folks.
The Interbike thing was pretty damn cool too. The folks at Giant (wicked nice that they actually still make a bike that fits tall folks) hooked me up with a rear der hanger. My shifting's been slightly off and as much as I tweak the cable (replace it, lube it, mess with the tension - every damn adjustment) it still was flaky a bit. and It looks like the hanger (I'm not a fan of replaceable ones anyway) was tweaked a touch. It was passable racing in the 46 with the smaller ring is more sensitive to chain line perfection and it was not shifting well at all. Hoping it fixes it.
Another shout out to the awesome folks at Thompson. I've been riding a Thompson post almost exclusively (except for the American Classic breaking and ripping a hole in my sack, yes, that sack). I've bent posts, had issues with adjustments, on most all posts except Thompsons. They are unbelievable. UNbelievable.
If you are going to buy a new post, buy only Thompson. Seriously. I have been assured that the Masterpiece (the light one) is the 5th strongest post on the market. And one of those 5 stronger is the Elite (or the original one), and another of the stronger ones is the wicked heavy kalloy kind. So we're going to drop a few grams off the Giant cyclocross bike and hopefully cure the slipping that has been resulting from sticking a 27.2 inside a sleeve to fit a 30.9 tube.
So looking forward to swapping it in.
Saturday's race was bad. Well good but started bad. I had a first and a half row call up behind the Verge Point guys. Meaning I was mid pack in a field of 71 at the start. I just didn't have the grr i'm getting them at the start and slipped back a few spots into the first turns and settled in decently placed until after the barriers. First you go right down the hill up to the 180 degree right turn followed by the 120 degree left all while going up and down (highest points at the turns if you weren't there). so the final right, i had the inside line, passing people, moving up but then someone turned right in front of me and came to a complete stop. I was moving up hill. Not flat. Had to stop, and just slipped down to the bottom of the slope before i could gain traction enough to get going again. By that point - EVERYONE was ahead of me. All 71 starters. Everyone. And not by just a second, by a LONG shot. It turned into a reel people in race. Place by place. Never feeling super confident in any corner. Working hard to find a rhythm. But man it was still fun. Wicked hard. Any 1/2/3 35+ race is around here (heck probably anywhere).
Race race race, I rode the unridable hill nearly everytime, while not faster I was able to gap most everyone i hit the hill with on the following pavement stretch, and I feel that being able to ride it mean a lot to saving the legs/lungs for riding a very fast stretch. We did 6 laps. My lap time was wicked slow but I still managed 44th. 44th out of 71 starters, when i was 10 seconds behind EVERYONE a 1/3 of the way through the first lap. I HAVE to be happy with that. Yeah?
I am. It was a success. G-ride is killing it out there this year and he was up in the 30s. amazing stuff - he's found something good this year. I really need to focus and work on the power a bit. The knee sort of threw a wrench into things this summer. Not that I need a reason but it was a big factor over the summer, if I didn't screw it up in Maine, just think what might have happened. Maybe nothing really. Either way, it is what it is and I have to work with it. I'm feeling better each weekend and that's what counts right?
Today's race was a bit better focused. Left the house earlier. Got there earlier. Got PRIMO parking spots. Worked the trainer heckling action there as everyone went by. Really focused more, cranked the tunes on the way there. Death magnetic specifically. Cranked that in the iPod on the trainer while cheering/heckling. despite my more focus the start was a bit lackadaisical. But we hit the grass and well - people were stacking it left and right and I managed to slip around most of it all and came out in a decent position. Drilling it to stay on wheels. But I made a bad mental error as we came down the off camber. I had programmed a 180 turn to come back by the pits so I was in conservation mode until I realized - Oh shit - we go straight! Fuck. Hit the afterburners a bit to get back on wheels... and just worked it and worked it and tried to spin more than grind. Used the 46 on some sections.
*just got up to let lucy out and holy Sh!t my legs are KILLING me*
It was brutal. But. BUT i survived on the lead lap. Not lapped. Thought I had the bike barn guy (Kevin?). I attacked him going past the pit on the second to last lap, got a decent gap and killed it to stay in front of him, but by the time we hit the start finish line for the bell lap he'd erased my gains and went through me and I held the gap constant until we started the big pump track stuff up by the road. He gapped me slightly through there and extended it through the up hill before the beer tent (thanks for the cheers Karin) and I managed to pull him back a tough on the hills but was unable to close it down and kind of just worked hard enough not to lose spots before the finish.
*CRAMP CRAMP CRAMP*
hamstring
wow i really nuked my legs today...
ouch
It was a gorgeous day. Hard work. Wicked hard work. Great course.
Awesome as always catching up with folks and enjoying that side of the sport. can't really do that side of things well pre-race. Before the race it is focus, focus, focus on the course, gathering intel, not getting sidetracked from purpose... focus and all that...
Despite the flaky shifting the bike was great. Tire pressure dialed. I discovered that I could roll and mess the rear up adversely running 31 psi in the 34c Fango rear tubular. 36 was perfect. ran 48 up front in the racing ralph clincher and it was freaking HOOOOOOKED up solid. Need more watts.
Too bad i can't afford to fire my coach and hire someone who actually knows what the hell they are doing.
It is all good. Maybe there'll be a good photo from today or yesterday of me in the new kit and I can update the avatar/icon...
My voice is kind of toast after the photo shoot with ROB BAUER... Hats off to Coley for the beer! Those MRC guys are primo (second only to the Planet Bike East Gang of course).
Here's to hoping Soups heals up quick and fast! We'll miss you man! Seriously.
heddwch
G
Friday, October 09, 2009
2,500
Damn. I went to write something simple.
This basically:
I have no motivation, like something has been unplugged. Zombie land. Sort of floating through the day. This can't bode well for tomorrow, unless my body is in energy star power save mode.
So that's what I was going to post. Short. Simple.
But this is #2500... not that numbers mean anything... i was going to use the race predictor but i hadn't figured out how to make it work - i missed the whole needing to log in with fb account...
Well that just fahking screws up that line of thought.
Typical for today.
Might as well pack it in, and go see what's to see at the Interbike Show. Perfect timing. The rain's about to start. Brilliant.
No jamestown this year for me. Kind of going to miss the race. Not going to miss the timing following a double weekend of Cross.
once through this weekend and the schedule should mellow. Mansfield, and then MRC. And that goes into a weekend off.
I'm planning to race like day two last weekend both days. That's the plan.
Just not feeling the flow - should just delete it all and leave it at that.
But no.
can't do that. must capture the moment of blah...
So,
I'm going to end with this
flipping wicked cool...
This basically:
I have no motivation, like something has been unplugged. Zombie land. Sort of floating through the day. This can't bode well for tomorrow, unless my body is in energy star power save mode.
So that's what I was going to post. Short. Simple.
But this is #2500... not that numbers mean anything... i was going to use the race predictor but i hadn't figured out how to make it work - i missed the whole needing to log in with fb account...
Well that just fahking screws up that line of thought.
Typical for today.
Might as well pack it in, and go see what's to see at the Interbike Show. Perfect timing. The rain's about to start. Brilliant.
No jamestown this year for me. Kind of going to miss the race. Not going to miss the timing following a double weekend of Cross.
once through this weekend and the schedule should mellow. Mansfield, and then MRC. And that goes into a weekend off.
I'm planning to race like day two last weekend both days. That's the plan.
Just not feeling the flow - should just delete it all and leave it at that.
But no.
can't do that. must capture the moment of blah...
So,
I'm going to end with this
flipping wicked cool...
Thursday, October 08, 2009
it is going to be a long day
wicked tired still - bailed on the morning run, rode in. But i kind of didn't eat any breakfast and was wicked hungry. So. I finished my lunch by 9am. I've got one dollar bill in my pocket.
I so didn't care until i finished the last piece of left over pizza from last night. Now I'm not hungry but thinking 1pm is going to roll around and I'm going to be needing more calories. Such a fcking idiot sometimes.
Oh and my spinning (i didn't even realize i was spinning at the start) is evident with Henry's 35+ Masters video. check it out. Lap one there i'm doing pretty good sitting in 30th place. A lot more people behind me than in front of me. But that went on to change over the next couple laps.
I don't have time to change the bike before this weekend anyway - i'll just spin the Roger Williams Park course. or something like that. There still is a hell of a lot of cross over between the 38 and the 46, no point changing it. Hell I'm not sure I'm going to have time to WASH the bike before Saturday at this rate.
Anyway - i really started this post to put up a link to Erik Mitchell's blog and the power rankings. Something to watch and keep an eye on IMHO. Cool stuff. I found it from Pavé's blog.
that's all i got, for now
heddwch
g
I so didn't care until i finished the last piece of left over pizza from last night. Now I'm not hungry but thinking 1pm is going to roll around and I'm going to be needing more calories. Such a fcking idiot sometimes.
Oh and my spinning (i didn't even realize i was spinning at the start) is evident with Henry's 35+ Masters video. check it out. Lap one there i'm doing pretty good sitting in 30th place. A lot more people behind me than in front of me. But that went on to change over the next couple laps.
I don't have time to change the bike before this weekend anyway - i'll just spin the Roger Williams Park course. or something like that. There still is a hell of a lot of cross over between the 38 and the 46, no point changing it. Hell I'm not sure I'm going to have time to WASH the bike before Saturday at this rate.
Anyway - i really started this post to put up a link to Erik Mitchell's blog and the power rankings. Something to watch and keep an eye on IMHO. Cool stuff. I found it from Pavé's blog.
that's all i got, for now
heddwch
g
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
PVD THIS WEEKEND!
So stoked. Weather isn't looking much different from last weekend! Granted it could change a couple different times between now and then but the model says Rain on Saturday! YES. Well maybe. That said wet day 1 is better, last weekend i hit the normal do better on sunday stride, hoping to be more equal between days but if I was to pick one of them to be wet? I'd go with Saturday. Rip up that crap that passes for grass down there and have some solid sweet lines set up for Sunday.
Saw this vid this morning. Good stuff:
Got thinking more about single ring up front. Everyone else is doing it. I've got a usable 40t kicking around to stick on there. An old chewed up 50t that can be ground down to make an outer chain guard. might stick with a Der as the chain watcher for now. But like taping the bars it means working on the bike. Between everything else that is happening I've finally put getting the intervals/training in before the wrenching (well before the optional stuff).
Actually thinking about it - that 40t i have is a 110 bcd, and my worn 50 is as well. Shit. Hmmm.
However, i do have a 42 on the Q-Pro. And as crappy as I'm climbing going to a 38 on that thing might not be a bad idea. Swap between the two and all should be good. Leave the 46 on there and have a pseudo half step. But then, I might as well stick with the 38. I didn't have a problem keeping up using it, could go plenty fast with the 38x12 gearing. Couple more races of trying to leave it in the 38 and just shift the chain around in back before taking any drastic (time consuming) move.
Almost forgot to move the car. Drove in today. And for the last two hours I've been having panic attacks that it was time to move the car. Got up to check on something and the wave of fear crashed over me. SHIT gotta move the car. I was parked there just a few minutes over the 2 hours... remembered right at the right time. Parking shuffle is why perfect weeks are so awesome (and productive).
I wonder if G-Ride is still trapped in his little man-cave.
heddwch
G
Saw this vid this morning. Good stuff:
Got thinking more about single ring up front. Everyone else is doing it. I've got a usable 40t kicking around to stick on there. An old chewed up 50t that can be ground down to make an outer chain guard. might stick with a Der as the chain watcher for now. But like taping the bars it means working on the bike. Between everything else that is happening I've finally put getting the intervals/training in before the wrenching (well before the optional stuff).
Actually thinking about it - that 40t i have is a 110 bcd, and my worn 50 is as well. Shit. Hmmm.
However, i do have a 42 on the Q-Pro. And as crappy as I'm climbing going to a 38 on that thing might not be a bad idea. Swap between the two and all should be good. Leave the 46 on there and have a pseudo half step. But then, I might as well stick with the 38. I didn't have a problem keeping up using it, could go plenty fast with the 38x12 gearing. Couple more races of trying to leave it in the 38 and just shift the chain around in back before taking any drastic (time consuming) move.
Almost forgot to move the car. Drove in today. And for the last two hours I've been having panic attacks that it was time to move the car. Got up to check on something and the wave of fear crashed over me. SHIT gotta move the car. I was parked there just a few minutes over the 2 hours... remembered right at the right time. Parking shuffle is why perfect weeks are so awesome (and productive).
I wonder if G-Ride is still trapped in his little man-cave.
heddwch
G
Pouring rain
Thunder and lightning.
I really hope Tom got most of the course put together yesterday. It's going to be brutal around here until about noon.
40-45mph wind gusts today too, really blowing out there right now. Looks like some folks are calling for rain friday and saturday. Are we looking at a repeat of last weekend? We'll find out I guess.
I've forgotten about Embro's site - it is hard to keep up. Came across Jon Page's link to his top ten over there. Kind of makes me wonder what his top ten list would look like for G-ster.
Man it is awesome sitting at home listening to the rain fall outside. Just the rain falling. Really doesn't help motivating to get on the trainer and make up for sleeping in this morning.
Lucy's back to sleeping by my feet right now. She seems to be doing much better.
time to get motivated.
heddwch
G
I really hope Tom got most of the course put together yesterday. It's going to be brutal around here until about noon.
40-45mph wind gusts today too, really blowing out there right now. Looks like some folks are calling for rain friday and saturday. Are we looking at a repeat of last weekend? We'll find out I guess.
I've forgotten about Embro's site - it is hard to keep up. Came across Jon Page's link to his top ten over there. Kind of makes me wonder what his top ten list would look like for G-ster.
Man it is awesome sitting at home listening to the rain fall outside. Just the rain falling. Really doesn't help motivating to get on the trainer and make up for sleeping in this morning.
Lucy's back to sleeping by my feet right now. She seems to be doing much better.
time to get motivated.
heddwch
G
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
I realized something
about G-ster weekend just now. It took someone telling me something that I didn't think was entirely true, well pretty much not true, to get me thinking about it.
I got chewed out by JD for bitching at the last edition of the Steadman's Cross Race down in south county. Calling as I saw it from face value was I guess not cool esp since I had no idea of the history.
I probably came off as pretty critical with the TJ tire rolling at Glahstah focus that drew all the attention off the race at the front. Yeah he rolled it, yeah he came back, but that's all anyone heard about from the point he went down until the end. Enthusiasm is nice. Local biased coverage is acceptable, heck home field, no worries.
it is what it is - i call it like i see it - and it doesn't always come off free from malice - like the new side bar says: "I am really not as much of a jackass in person as it would seem reading this at times..."
And so you bring it back to that cartoon that has JD written all over it. (I posted it originally here.)
And with that - (I'm realizing I'm doing it all wrong - waiting till the end to be positive but then, well I'm going to assume that one starts at the beginning and waits till the end to form judgement - at least in a short little bit of prose - or what passes for it) - where was I?
Oh yeah. The realizing something. I realized that Chris and Richard called one of the best G-ster's ever. Well the best in the last four years in my worthless opinion. They both hit the combo perfectly. Maybe I'm getting used to their style, but for the first time there wasn't a single phrase that felt like fingernails on a chalk board. Not one. That's a good thing btw. In case anyone gives a shit. Yeah and in case anyone hasn't noticed, i'm pretty hyper critical of everything... making me sound like a freaking insensitive asshole quite often.
Either way I've got a sleeping dog at my feet. She seems to be a bit better tonight. Coach is going to be pissed though, didn't get on the bike today. Oh well. Balancing fatigue is tough. Hopefully this won't throw the plan off. Going to see about getting back on the plan tomorrow. unfortunately I think that the 1 hour of Z3 work i was supposed to get in today probably is really needed. The longest ride I've had in the last few weeks was Gloucester Day 1 (not counting the warm up - and that was even longer than a single ride I'd done). Missing the long rides that the Smack Down gave me. Oh well hey - it is what it is...
alright - i keep falling asleep writing... this entry is going to go down as one of the suckiest... but it is what it is - a reflection of the moment. which is really what all this stuff is. No?
heddwch
G
I got chewed out by JD for bitching at the last edition of the Steadman's Cross Race down in south county. Calling as I saw it from face value was I guess not cool esp since I had no idea of the history.
I probably came off as pretty critical with the TJ tire rolling at Glahstah focus that drew all the attention off the race at the front. Yeah he rolled it, yeah he came back, but that's all anyone heard about from the point he went down until the end. Enthusiasm is nice. Local biased coverage is acceptable, heck home field, no worries.
it is what it is - i call it like i see it - and it doesn't always come off free from malice - like the new side bar says: "I am really not as much of a jackass in person as it would seem reading this at times..."
And so you bring it back to that cartoon that has JD written all over it. (I posted it originally here.)
And with that - (I'm realizing I'm doing it all wrong - waiting till the end to be positive but then, well I'm going to assume that one starts at the beginning and waits till the end to form judgement - at least in a short little bit of prose - or what passes for it) - where was I?
Oh yeah. The realizing something. I realized that Chris and Richard called one of the best G-ster's ever. Well the best in the last four years in my worthless opinion. They both hit the combo perfectly. Maybe I'm getting used to their style, but for the first time there wasn't a single phrase that felt like fingernails on a chalk board. Not one. That's a good thing btw. In case anyone gives a shit. Yeah and in case anyone hasn't noticed, i'm pretty hyper critical of everything... making me sound like a freaking insensitive asshole quite often.
Either way I've got a sleeping dog at my feet. She seems to be a bit better tonight. Coach is going to be pissed though, didn't get on the bike today. Oh well. Balancing fatigue is tough. Hopefully this won't throw the plan off. Going to see about getting back on the plan tomorrow. unfortunately I think that the 1 hour of Z3 work i was supposed to get in today probably is really needed. The longest ride I've had in the last few weeks was Gloucester Day 1 (not counting the warm up - and that was even longer than a single ride I'd done). Missing the long rides that the Smack Down gave me. Oh well hey - it is what it is...
alright - i keep falling asleep writing... this entry is going to go down as one of the suckiest... but it is what it is - a reflection of the moment. which is really what all this stuff is. No?
heddwch
G
long night
Plans to go to be early were derailed pretty solidly last night. The oldest has some standardized testing starting today, so the goal of getting them all in bed earlier than normal worked. But Lucy managed to confound my plan of sleeping.
not 15 minutes after heading to bed to read some more of the Julia Child issue of Gastronomica, well... Lucy started whining. That's not normal.
She'd been going outside rather excessively but not drinking much more than normal. Something wasn't right. Much like Miss Clavel, afraid of disaster, (I didn't run faster and faster - our house isn't quite like Madeline's) I headed down to find well. A liquid mess to clean up.
And then an hour or so later, much the same.
Various schemes were tried - outside, back porch, blocked in the kitchen. Not until it was all restored to normal, at 4am did thing settle down. But then they didn't really settle down. The alarm went off at 5:45 and i was down again cleaning up the tile and the hardwood, letting her out and all that.
Completely wiped out I should have just gone back to bed. But the girls had a big day, needed to get them up in 30 minutes. And my moronic coach (Solobreak called my coach a f*cking moron on Saturday - granted that was after he was pretty much finished with a 40 of Shaffer) had me scheduled to get a 25 minute run in. It is freaking dark at 6am right now.
I got 30 minutes in. The last 10 minutes were hard. I could feel the fatigue. Sleep is a terrible thing to miss. But so are workouts. Finish what you start.I started this planMy coach drew up the season and the plan, and if I don't stick with it he will never know if it actually had any benefit.
Called the vet when they opened. No appointments today but I could bring her in and leave her so the vet could see her between visits during the day. The Vet Tech seemed to be reassuring and thought it sounded most like a UTI. I'm hoping that it is.
After the girls headed to school Lucy and I were both on the couch, she looked tired and promptly fell right asleep, I was very close to dozing off with her.
But instead I broke the perfect week early and dropped Lucy off. I need to see if I can fit her in the trailer so if things need more attention I can take her with me.
This will make this week much more interesting, either from the sleep debt or working to get her back into full health again.
I hope Steamboat has a good crew today to get the course set up.
heddwch
G
not 15 minutes after heading to bed to read some more of the Julia Child issue of Gastronomica, well... Lucy started whining. That's not normal.
She'd been going outside rather excessively but not drinking much more than normal. Something wasn't right. Much like Miss Clavel, afraid of disaster, (I didn't run faster and faster - our house isn't quite like Madeline's) I headed down to find well. A liquid mess to clean up.
And then an hour or so later, much the same.
Various schemes were tried - outside, back porch, blocked in the kitchen. Not until it was all restored to normal, at 4am did thing settle down. But then they didn't really settle down. The alarm went off at 5:45 and i was down again cleaning up the tile and the hardwood, letting her out and all that.
Completely wiped out I should have just gone back to bed. But the girls had a big day, needed to get them up in 30 minutes. And my moronic coach (Solobreak called my coach a f*cking moron on Saturday - granted that was after he was pretty much finished with a 40 of Shaffer) had me scheduled to get a 25 minute run in. It is freaking dark at 6am right now.
I got 30 minutes in. The last 10 minutes were hard. I could feel the fatigue. Sleep is a terrible thing to miss. But so are workouts. Finish what you start.
Called the vet when they opened. No appointments today but I could bring her in and leave her so the vet could see her between visits during the day. The Vet Tech seemed to be reassuring and thought it sounded most like a UTI. I'm hoping that it is.
After the girls headed to school Lucy and I were both on the couch, she looked tired and promptly fell right asleep, I was very close to dozing off with her.
But instead I broke the perfect week early and dropped Lucy off. I need to see if I can fit her in the trailer so if things need more attention I can take her with me.
This will make this week much more interesting, either from the sleep debt or working to get her back into full health again.
I hope Steamboat has a good crew today to get the course set up.
heddwch
G
Monday, October 05, 2009
Planet Bike
Have I mentioned just exactly how cool it feels riding for a sponsor like Planet Bike?
Now this year I was planning to give the old 1996 vintage Nite rider 15W 6V headlight another go round and I might not be defunct yet, but it has been moved to questionable duty. Sure it has a big battery that lasts pretty much at least two weeks of commuting in the dead of winter. That's not to bad. Pretty convenient. But. It is wicked heavy. The cable going into the light is about ready to fall apart. Bottom line, it works but not reliably (cable is pretty finicky).
We had a chance to get some Planet Bike gear at a reasonable cost (no - not free) and I got a pair of Blaze One Watt and SuperFlash Light Sets. No, they aren't the cheapest. But they are nice. And those few nights riding home after the smackdown before the car stuff and the rest of life got in the way leading up to cross season I had a chance to try them out.
Pitch black is a good way to describe sections of the bike path when there is no moon out and the sun's gone down. The bike path's beauty is also part of a problem at night. It is black. The way the trees grow in places even with a moon you can't see sh!t. I put a pair of these Blaze 1W lights up front. Holy crap. The pair of them light up more of the bike path than the old 15W nite rider. Well I think they do. At least the pair make for a wider beam.
Coming through the city before the path leaving one on steady and one on superflash mode I could see and was making sure to be seen. The superflash mode of the headlight was illuminating street signs three blocks away. It was cool.
The mounting mechanism is nice. It works on oversize bars and even on the skinny old bars I still use.
And the rear light is (I've been told) rather painful to ride behind.
G-ride suggested I make a point to talk to Bob about my commuting and all that. I fit their definition of a supercommuter, at least *I* think I do. I don't commute the farthest but nothing keeps me off the bike, well except dentist appointments and doctor and other stuff like needed rest days. But once cyclocross is over a perfect week is the rule, not the exception. no matter what the weather.
So talking to Bob about all this he mentions a new two watt, well he doesn't so much mention as digs around in the Sprinter Van (yes, I would LOOOOOOVE to have that sprinter van he drove to Gloucester from WI) and comes out with a new light. Not even on the web page yet. Rumored to have sold out already.
This light:
Bob sticks some batteries in and here, on Sunday, bright sunny day. The light turns on and holy crap, it is bright. No I've learned my lesson, do not look into a headlight. That hurts. All in all it was very cool. Twice as bright (roughly) as the one watt Blaze. I got to play with it and handed it back to him. But he said, "No, you keep it." I was a bit floored and excited felt pretty cool being given hot cool stuff like that. Before my awkwardness resulted in my sticking my big foot in my mouth Bob pulled out a 1 watt superflash rear light - prefacing it by saying this is the only one I've got - a demo, can't give it to you but I wanted to show you anyway.
As my old commuting stuff wears out - I will be replacing it with as much Planet Bike gear as I can.
I'm eagerly anticipating the next chance I have to test out the two watt Blaze. The best part? Bob says it has the same battery life as the one watt. That's awesome.
get some planet bike stuff. If your shop doesn't carry it - get them to order some in. QBP carries their stuff. or get it direct.
Now, if someone would kindly get a nice shot of me in the planet bike kit while i'm racing, that'd be super. I've been kinda out of the camera shots lately it seems - that or i've been too busy to search the interwebs for images.
Oh. One more really cool thing about Planet bike?
They've got spare parts for their lights (and decent prices on size N batteries I just noticed).
As it says on the back on the back:
Tread Lightly
Tread Lightly indeed.
heddwch
G
Now this year I was planning to give the old 1996 vintage Nite rider 15W 6V headlight another go round and I might not be defunct yet, but it has been moved to questionable duty. Sure it has a big battery that lasts pretty much at least two weeks of commuting in the dead of winter. That's not to bad. Pretty convenient. But. It is wicked heavy. The cable going into the light is about ready to fall apart. Bottom line, it works but not reliably (cable is pretty finicky).
We had a chance to get some Planet Bike gear at a reasonable cost (no - not free) and I got a pair of Blaze One Watt and SuperFlash Light Sets. No, they aren't the cheapest. But they are nice. And those few nights riding home after the smackdown before the car stuff and the rest of life got in the way leading up to cross season I had a chance to try them out.
Pitch black is a good way to describe sections of the bike path when there is no moon out and the sun's gone down. The bike path's beauty is also part of a problem at night. It is black. The way the trees grow in places even with a moon you can't see sh!t. I put a pair of these Blaze 1W lights up front. Holy crap. The pair of them light up more of the bike path than the old 15W nite rider. Well I think they do. At least the pair make for a wider beam.
Coming through the city before the path leaving one on steady and one on superflash mode I could see and was making sure to be seen. The superflash mode of the headlight was illuminating street signs three blocks away. It was cool.
The mounting mechanism is nice. It works on oversize bars and even on the skinny old bars I still use.
And the rear light is (I've been told) rather painful to ride behind.
G-ride suggested I make a point to talk to Bob about my commuting and all that. I fit their definition of a supercommuter, at least *I* think I do. I don't commute the farthest but nothing keeps me off the bike, well except dentist appointments and doctor and other stuff like needed rest days. But once cyclocross is over a perfect week is the rule, not the exception. no matter what the weather.
So talking to Bob about all this he mentions a new two watt, well he doesn't so much mention as digs around in the Sprinter Van (yes, I would LOOOOOOVE to have that sprinter van he drove to Gloucester from WI) and comes out with a new light. Not even on the web page yet. Rumored to have sold out already.
This light:
Bob sticks some batteries in and here, on Sunday, bright sunny day. The light turns on and holy crap, it is bright. No I've learned my lesson, do not look into a headlight. That hurts. All in all it was very cool. Twice as bright (roughly) as the one watt Blaze. I got to play with it and handed it back to him. But he said, "No, you keep it." I was a bit floored and excited felt pretty cool being given hot cool stuff like that. Before my awkwardness resulted in my sticking my big foot in my mouth Bob pulled out a 1 watt superflash rear light - prefacing it by saying this is the only one I've got - a demo, can't give it to you but I wanted to show you anyway. As my old commuting stuff wears out - I will be replacing it with as much Planet Bike gear as I can.
I'm eagerly anticipating the next chance I have to test out the two watt Blaze. The best part? Bob says it has the same battery life as the one watt. That's awesome.
get some planet bike stuff. If your shop doesn't carry it - get them to order some in. QBP carries their stuff. or get it direct.
Now, if someone would kindly get a nice shot of me in the planet bike kit while i'm racing, that'd be super. I've been kinda out of the camera shots lately it seems - that or i've been too busy to search the interwebs for images.
Oh. One more really cool thing about Planet bike?
They've got spare parts for their lights (and decent prices on size N batteries I just noticed).
As it says on the back on the back:
Tread Lightly
- Ride (your bike)
- Rebuild (your stuff)
- Recycle (this packaging)
Tread Lightly indeed.
heddwch
G
Glohstah
What can I say. Day one was really really really really hard. I had a poor start (guy in front of me (with Verge points no less) Starts moving at the whistle and then full on STOPS. OKAY. That's going to go well. And Voom off we go. No pre-ride. I did the reverse hole shot really well. And well. that's about it. I managed to pass a few people here and there. Got muddy, crashed a couple times (slipped out in the mud mostly), and finished on the lead lap. I was excited to cross the line with one to go not having been passed by the freaking fast old dudes, esp considering HOW LONG THE RACE WAS. OMG I was out there for over an HOUR.
Yes. I know. Wicked way longer than the others. But hey. I finished. I wasn't last, I was on the lead lap. And as much fun as the mud is, doing a Tom Steven's nightmare course with 30 turns or so in 2-6 inch mud being 202 pounds is tough. Power only gets you so far in the straights. Those turns. Fahk. They hurt. Minutes were lost on each one it felt like. If the day had been normal Glahstah weather (dry and warm) it would have been bitching fun to rail the turns. However, I still would have sucked in the dry. No question there.
It hurt. It was hard. I just wasn't feeling it again. Dread and fear crept into my head for a few minutes, is VT and G-ster going to fore shadow the season? Shit this could suck. Somehow (fortunately) I completely forgot that thought.
Day two? Awesomeness. It wasn't dry, but it wasn't wet. The course was tightening up. Mud was drying. And the layout? Brilliant. REALLY brilliant. It was a bit long but man it was awesome. It just had flow.
I had a great start. And had a great first lap. Actually two really good laps before I started to really struggle. But it was awesome those first two laps. I CAN ride as fast as those top 20 guys. I CAN. But apparently just not for as many laps as they did. And maybe not two whole laps. More like that first lap (short one) then the next one, and half of the second 'full' lap. But we did 4.5 laps. And unlike VT and Day 1 at Gloucester the race was NOT over when the whistle blew.
Got the pressure just right for day 2. Day 1? Who knows. I couldn't turn anyway, didn't really matter.
And I did something I'd never done before. I forgot to start in the big ring. And I raced the whole first lap and a half before I realized I was in the little ring. What? I CAN ride fast in the little ring? DAMN. Day 1 I never shifted out of the 46 because I was worried I'd just slow way down. Day 2 I left it in there because I realized that I could ride with the top 20 in the 38. So. Yeah. GeWilli's thinking about a smaller ring for the big ring now. Hell I've even almost started entertaining the idea of going to a single front ring. We'll see if I wise up before Providence or not.
Lots more to talk about. Esp meeting the most awesome sponsor ever. Planet Bike Bob. What a great guy. It is with great pride I wear the team kit. (which is red btw, in case you were looking for the old tax kit this year). And being sponsored by a company as dedicated to commuting as I am? Awesome.
Their lights and pumps and gear and fenders are among (if not) the best on the market. Bob's passion was really apparent in the few conversations we had.
I was fired up from Sunday's race. Just a great freaking day. Great race.
All good.
Seeing all the great folks in the cyclocross scene... just was icing on the cake of a great weekend.
I can't wait for this weekend.
gonna be OFF THE HOOK!!!!
heddwch
G
Yes. I know. Wicked way longer than the others. But hey. I finished. I wasn't last, I was on the lead lap. And as much fun as the mud is, doing a Tom Steven's nightmare course with 30 turns or so in 2-6 inch mud being 202 pounds is tough. Power only gets you so far in the straights. Those turns. Fahk. They hurt. Minutes were lost on each one it felt like. If the day had been normal Glahstah weather (dry and warm) it would have been bitching fun to rail the turns. However, I still would have sucked in the dry. No question there.
It hurt. It was hard. I just wasn't feeling it again. Dread and fear crept into my head for a few minutes, is VT and G-ster going to fore shadow the season? Shit this could suck. Somehow (fortunately) I completely forgot that thought.
Day two? Awesomeness. It wasn't dry, but it wasn't wet. The course was tightening up. Mud was drying. And the layout? Brilliant. REALLY brilliant. It was a bit long but man it was awesome. It just had flow.
I had a great start. And had a great first lap. Actually two really good laps before I started to really struggle. But it was awesome those first two laps. I CAN ride as fast as those top 20 guys. I CAN. But apparently just not for as many laps as they did. And maybe not two whole laps. More like that first lap (short one) then the next one, and half of the second 'full' lap. But we did 4.5 laps. And unlike VT and Day 1 at Gloucester the race was NOT over when the whistle blew.
Got the pressure just right for day 2. Day 1? Who knows. I couldn't turn anyway, didn't really matter.
And I did something I'd never done before. I forgot to start in the big ring. And I raced the whole first lap and a half before I realized I was in the little ring. What? I CAN ride fast in the little ring? DAMN. Day 1 I never shifted out of the 46 because I was worried I'd just slow way down. Day 2 I left it in there because I realized that I could ride with the top 20 in the 38. So. Yeah. GeWilli's thinking about a smaller ring for the big ring now. Hell I've even almost started entertaining the idea of going to a single front ring. We'll see if I wise up before Providence or not.
Lots more to talk about. Esp meeting the most awesome sponsor ever. Planet Bike Bob. What a great guy. It is with great pride I wear the team kit. (which is red btw, in case you were looking for the old tax kit this year). And being sponsored by a company as dedicated to commuting as I am? Awesome.
Their lights and pumps and gear and fenders are among (if not) the best on the market. Bob's passion was really apparent in the few conversations we had.
I was fired up from Sunday's race. Just a great freaking day. Great race.
All good.
Seeing all the great folks in the cyclocross scene... just was icing on the cake of a great weekend.
I can't wait for this weekend.
gonna be OFF THE HOOK!!!!
heddwch
G
Friday, October 02, 2009
I noticed the weather for tomorrow
Doesn't really look all that great for the fans of dry hot dusty cross racing at G-ster.
At least it won't be too hot. And there is a much lower chance that I'll be painfully sunburned for Sunday.
GeWilli's cyclocross theme song: Someday I Suppose
Someday I Suppose I might not be wicked slow... Someday I suppose...
In the mean time - Saddle up boys and girls the biggest race in the country is about to happen and happen with the wrath of the gods pounding Stage Fort Park.
heddwch
G
At least it won't be too hot. And there is a much lower chance that I'll be painfully sunburned for Sunday.
GeWilli's cyclocross theme song: Someday I Suppose
Someday I Suppose I might not be wicked slow... Someday I suppose...
In the mean time - Saddle up boys and girls the biggest race in the country is about to happen and happen with the wrath of the gods pounding Stage Fort Park.
heddwch
G
Who has one or...
Where are they?
When this thing hit Paris-Roubaix I said it was the best thing going for those folks who's custom frame builder doesn't give them enough room to run a double chain guard on the bike.
But then, digging up the link and looking at the design, I realized. If these guys had a derailleur on then well they probably wouldn't drop the chain anyway and well there you go - pointless device I guess. But.
But how hard would it be to take that and add it to a dog fang/third eye chain watcher thing?
When this thing hit Paris-Roubaix I said it was the best thing going for those folks who's custom frame builder doesn't give them enough room to run a double chain guard on the bike.
But then, digging up the link and looking at the design, I realized. If these guys had a derailleur on then well they probably wouldn't drop the chain anyway and well there you go - pointless device I guess. But.
But how hard would it be to take that and add it to a dog fang/third eye chain watcher thing?
Can you FEEL IT?
The excitement building before New Belgium Worlds this weekend?
Actually it hasn't hit me yet.
But i'm fully expecting to go into panic mode after lunch. My plan to get the bars re-taped for G-ster hasn't happened yet. I haven't gotten the grass out of the bike from Vermont yet. Heck I haven't figured out which front wheel I'm bringing, nor which tire will be on that wheel yet. So in other words, i'm totally unprepared for racing tomorrow. Damn good thing I'm driving up tomorrow and not riding up with skinny today like i have the last couple weeks.
Top it off it was a perfect week. Good or bad I don't think it will matter for this weekend honestly. I'm not feeling excessively fatigued. Monday was a wicked slow ride in, yesterday was intense enough on the way in and the way home that I knew adding more riding would be bad, so I didn't. And today was a nice slow mellow ride in. Nice temp.
I'm now liking riding at 45°F. Too bad it will be warm this weekend. But maybe warm and wet is better than cold and wet right now. People will already be miserable enough in the rain. Not since 2005 has it be wet at G-ster, and that was snow (and I wasn't there). That was before I started racing in New England again.
The Mayor is bringing an umbrella to keep his beer from getting watered down. I guess he doesn't drink em very fast.
Now what I'm expecting is the fine dry dust just to be not airborne. Some how mud and that park do not seem to go hand in hand. Unless Paul has us going up and down the run up he added last year. I can see that loamy stuff getting muddy. But the grass will probably still be as grippy as ever. We'll find out tomorrow. Maybe it'll be a downpour of the quality that we saw at Thompson Speedway this summer. THAT would be freaking AWESOME.
Okay.
Sh1t. I'm wicked fahking excited right now. This is going to be sooooo much fun.
G-ster followed by Providence. WOOOT.
I guess I'm really hoping to have more of a chance to hang out and socialize with the rest of the best cyclocross scene in the world at one of the best venues.
But I'm not sure about hanging out on top of the rock in the rain.
And yeah - keep an eye out for the tall freak in the dirty orange jumpsuit - either to avoid him or to say hey.
heddwch
G
Actually it hasn't hit me yet.
But i'm fully expecting to go into panic mode after lunch. My plan to get the bars re-taped for G-ster hasn't happened yet. I haven't gotten the grass out of the bike from Vermont yet. Heck I haven't figured out which front wheel I'm bringing, nor which tire will be on that wheel yet. So in other words, i'm totally unprepared for racing tomorrow. Damn good thing I'm driving up tomorrow and not riding up with skinny today like i have the last couple weeks.
Top it off it was a perfect week. Good or bad I don't think it will matter for this weekend honestly. I'm not feeling excessively fatigued. Monday was a wicked slow ride in, yesterday was intense enough on the way in and the way home that I knew adding more riding would be bad, so I didn't. And today was a nice slow mellow ride in. Nice temp.
I'm now liking riding at 45°F. Too bad it will be warm this weekend. But maybe warm and wet is better than cold and wet right now. People will already be miserable enough in the rain. Not since 2005 has it be wet at G-ster, and that was snow (and I wasn't there). That was before I started racing in New England again.
The Mayor is bringing an umbrella to keep his beer from getting watered down. I guess he doesn't drink em very fast.
Now what I'm expecting is the fine dry dust just to be not airborne. Some how mud and that park do not seem to go hand in hand. Unless Paul has us going up and down the run up he added last year. I can see that loamy stuff getting muddy. But the grass will probably still be as grippy as ever. We'll find out tomorrow. Maybe it'll be a downpour of the quality that we saw at Thompson Speedway this summer. THAT would be freaking AWESOME.
Okay.
Sh1t. I'm wicked fahking excited right now. This is going to be sooooo much fun.
G-ster followed by Providence. WOOOT.
I guess I'm really hoping to have more of a chance to hang out and socialize with the rest of the best cyclocross scene in the world at one of the best venues.
But I'm not sure about hanging out on top of the rock in the rain.
And yeah - keep an eye out for the tall freak in the dirty orange jumpsuit - either to avoid him or to say hey.
heddwch
G
Thursday, October 01, 2009
why is it
that talking about my coach makes me feel much better? sure my coach is me, no big secret. I was just surprised how much better it made me feel when I started talking about what my coach said. When I say all that stuff to myself, here, it seems to work. It seems to make it better.
just a weird observation, i can't rationally explain it...
I mean i didn't even go through all these things, and if I did, well it might actually be too good of a match.
just a weird observation, i can't rationally explain it...
I mean i didn't even go through all these things, and if I did, well it might actually be too good of a match.
Getting cooler out there
Temperature wise.
Still not riding with gloves but yesterday and today I put an extra layer on.
This morning was perfect for running though. 44°F is ideal. Actually I could have tolerated it closer to 40°F, with shorts and a t-shirt I was still slightly overheated when I got back home and not the least bit cold. But then I only ran for 20 minutes or so.
Yesterday I rode in and with temps sitting at 55°F when I left I grabbed arm and knee warmers and wore the fancy new team vest for the first time. Oh man is that stuff nice. Vermarc clothing is really very luxurious. The arm and knee warmers really are very warm. And the vest was slightly overkill both days but I'll take being slightly sweaty vs freezing ass cold. Maybe it is a sign that I'm getting old. More I'm just taking it as a sign I'm not quite acclimated to the colder weather yet.
Still no gloves and that's good. Hands felt fine. Part of change for this year, racing cross without gloves - at least until the snow flies or something equally cold (like RI last year).
One of the cool things about separating the 45 and the 35 fields this year is having Paul Weiss not in my race anymore. He's out running around taking pictures. Even got a couple of me from VT day 2.
And well what's this? Tired of sorting through my links to see who's in New England? Go over to http://necxblogs.blogspot.com/ looking through it, well, it appears i've been slacking. I have been missing a handful of blogs. Damn. At least someone is pickup up where i've kind of let it slip a bit.
That and one I haven't seen "Party At The Back: Because Racing is Like a Mullet... Business in the Front, Party at the Back."
so true, and of course shopengarten is the one who seems to be behind the necxblogs thing...
another good one, and maybe the most appropriate person to ask if they are tired of the Zamboni Song. That said, being a former season ticket holder to Munn Arena, my bias lies with the Olympia. Seriously. They make the Zamboni look kinda boring. And kinda cool, they both have electric versions now.
And well, there really are only three up there that I haven't read/linked (I can't remember if EBT is over on the left, might not be because the page is impossible to read). The last one is the squirt gun show.
Oddly, this morning I had a bit of juice that the girls didn't finish and boom - instant runny nose. And i'm backing up a bit in the sinuses right now. WTF. I feel good, maybe it is a touch of the alergies. Damn heck of a lot of pollen in the air right now. Golden Rod is in full force as are a handful of shrubs and other late flowers. Could be just a touch of allergy? Hopefully? It was crazy watching the transition from mr. sniffles to completely clear as we drove from PVD to Burlington on Friday. Curtis went from completely plugged up to breathing free the next day. And sure enough the morning after getting to PVD, he sounded the same as when we left Friday afternoon.
We've got some crazy plants down these parts i guess. Out to get everyone.
Gloucester is coming up soon. And if i can get the work out in that's called for tonight i'll have nailed the week perfectly... at least according to the only Coach I could afford. Good thing he bought a book about this stuff, or I might not have hired him this year.
heddwch
G
Still not riding with gloves but yesterday and today I put an extra layer on.
This morning was perfect for running though. 44°F is ideal. Actually I could have tolerated it closer to 40°F, with shorts and a t-shirt I was still slightly overheated when I got back home and not the least bit cold. But then I only ran for 20 minutes or so.
Yesterday I rode in and with temps sitting at 55°F when I left I grabbed arm and knee warmers and wore the fancy new team vest for the first time. Oh man is that stuff nice. Vermarc clothing is really very luxurious. The arm and knee warmers really are very warm. And the vest was slightly overkill both days but I'll take being slightly sweaty vs freezing ass cold. Maybe it is a sign that I'm getting old. More I'm just taking it as a sign I'm not quite acclimated to the colder weather yet.
Still no gloves and that's good. Hands felt fine. Part of change for this year, racing cross without gloves - at least until the snow flies or something equally cold (like RI last year).
One of the cool things about separating the 45 and the 35 fields this year is having Paul Weiss not in my race anymore. He's out running around taking pictures. Even got a couple of me from VT day 2.
And well what's this? Tired of sorting through my links to see who's in New England? Go over to http://necxblogs.blogspot.com/ looking through it, well, it appears i've been slacking. I have been missing a handful of blogs. Damn. At least someone is pickup up where i've kind of let it slip a bit.
That and one I haven't seen "Party At The Back: Because Racing is Like a Mullet... Business in the Front, Party at the Back."
so true, and of course shopengarten is the one who seems to be behind the necxblogs thing...
another good one, and maybe the most appropriate person to ask if they are tired of the Zamboni Song. That said, being a former season ticket holder to Munn Arena, my bias lies with the Olympia. Seriously. They make the Zamboni look kinda boring. And kinda cool, they both have electric versions now.
And well, there really are only three up there that I haven't read/linked (I can't remember if EBT is over on the left, might not be because the page is impossible to read). The last one is the squirt gun show.
Oddly, this morning I had a bit of juice that the girls didn't finish and boom - instant runny nose. And i'm backing up a bit in the sinuses right now. WTF. I feel good, maybe it is a touch of the alergies. Damn heck of a lot of pollen in the air right now. Golden Rod is in full force as are a handful of shrubs and other late flowers. Could be just a touch of allergy? Hopefully? It was crazy watching the transition from mr. sniffles to completely clear as we drove from PVD to Burlington on Friday. Curtis went from completely plugged up to breathing free the next day. And sure enough the morning after getting to PVD, he sounded the same as when we left Friday afternoon.
We've got some crazy plants down these parts i guess. Out to get everyone.
Gloucester is coming up soon. And if i can get the work out in that's called for tonight i'll have nailed the week perfectly... at least according to the only Coach I could afford. Good thing he bought a book about this stuff, or I might not have hired him this year.
heddwch
G
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