MIchigan Yo

That song gives me goosebumps every time. My wife did a lot of work researching the fisheries and shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, and so it was hard not to be touched/affected by the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I didn't catch every special but I caught enough of them to be impressed by these ore carriers and as a saltwater guy, the power of the mighty Gitchigoomie. That's some scary water. Waves coming at you from all directions, nothing nice and predictable like it is off the Grand Banks.

I missed this yesterday, so I'm posting it up here and now. And yes. I do like this gordon lightfoot song. I actually knew the song long before i knew anything about the ship.

heddwch
G

#passmeanotherbeer

A salute to the Veterans

I offer a salute to all the veterans out there. The decorated and unsung hero and all those that support their actions.

I want to say thank you for everyone who has served this country at war, thank you for putting your life on the line for our country and what it stands for.

May we never forget those who paid the ultimate price in the service of our great nation, these United States of America.

Thank you Veterans.

Thank you.

-GeWilli

Photos!

Got some GREAT shots by THE one and ONLY Mark SOOOOOOOOOOOOUPS Suprenant. You can see his photos in Velonews and on blogs of folks around New England.

The one shot I asked "did you get it" with me jumping. Well he got it, he got the launch. I stuck the landing perfectly, floated down rear wheel just before the front and zoomed off. It was wicked fun. There's another shot with me doing the BMX keep the wheels on the ground extension.




That green guy at the bottom of the hill between me and Kevin Buckley is the one I mentioned that was killing me in the flat sections but I'd gain lots of ground here and on the run up.
John Foley, 29er crew dude was behind me for a while, I actually passed him, but after the barriers before the sand he took off - sort of like he decided it was time to start racing and boom he was GONE.

Here's G-Ride....

BMX'n the 'jump' in full extension. Already putting pressure on the pedals at that point.

And G-ride doing the hop over in the same place.

Great shots thanks Soups!

Great race too. Awesome course. I love me some NoHo/CSI/whateveryawannacallit.

heddwch

G

qotd

I like an escalator because an escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. There would never be an escalator temporarily out of order sign, only an escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
- Mitch Hedberg

And then the Whistle blew.

And NoHo was officially underway.

I moved up a bit after the initial delay but only to get boxed in against the fencing. So I had to hit cruise control a second as the leaders were way up the road already, nice and strung out. Floating along, all boxed in when people freaking STOP dead infront of me to "ride up" the ramp.

SERIOUSLY? We went from rolling along at a pretty good clip to being basically stopped. Jamming on the brakes I barely avoided stacking the tire into the guy's cassette in front of me. It wasn't a good situation. Then of course it was a massive sprint out of that. I moved up a fair bit until I got boxed in there on the grass before the left hand turn. Everyone was moving up on the outside. I managed to gain a few spots- hit the turn and sprint towards the sand pit. People were stacked and piled up at the Post at the apex. Some tried riding it, I said screw it - first lap, we're running that sumbitch. Off, flying around, the carnage and tangled bikes parted as I hit the apex and I planted and cornered and ran to the other side and did a longer acceleration on foot than most and was up to speed and passing people again. Passing people running and then having enough speed to accelerate past them was pretty cool. Hit the next turn and back. I tried to keep moving up. I could see G-ride ahead at one point, pretty far ahead, but not that far ahead, cool, I made up a boat load of spots. It took a while to catch Essenfeld, I don't remember where I passed him but he was up there somewhere.

We hit the pavement again and I settled in. No passing here. but it wasn't a cake walk. We flew into the run up and came to a virtual stop. I managed to wind up on the right side and found perfect stairs in there. And effortlessly just walked up. Seriously. It felt effortless.

I hand not pre-ridden the course this year. We didn't get there with enough time. But I'd heard it was basically the same, some minor tweaks to the off camber downhill line but more or less classic NoHo (of the last few years with a start wrinkle put in). The roots felt good on the tires - I didn't bottom out much so I probably had a touch too much air in them and the grass was a bit bumpy so i could have had gone with a few pounds less, but either way it wasn't a big loss, the roots felt luxurious on the tubulars, relative to my previous years. I was moving up, passing when I could. Following lines assuming someone else had pre-ridden it. Found the big divot and rode through it on the set up for the right hand turn after the gazebo. Hit the down hill, yelled at the dudes in front of me "NO BRAKES" and they didn't put them on. Until we hit the left? Seriously? Braking for that left hand turn over the tracks? Seriously? No F'n way. Hit the track crossing, past the pits. Jamming on the pedals. Holding the gaps, staying in line. Around the tree, right hand u-turn 90 degree left over the tracks and UP THE HILL. It was touch and go making it up on the first lap no dab. But god damn it, i rode that fucking hill every time clean. I was even happy with the 8.2 one of the spectators gave me. Hell I'll take an 8.2. Esp since at that moment the guy who kept reeling me back on the roadies sections kept dabbing and riding that and then walking the top section (he eventually rode off and finished a couple places ahead of me).

Winding through the woods and paths I was unprepared for the lack of barriers up there. Woah. No barriers? Sweet. Hit the pavement, sprinted to stay on wheels, stuck like glue and rode on down to the first jump. first time through I BMXed it. I kept those tires stuck to the surface. NO AIR. Air is slow. If you bike is in the air you can't be pedaling or controlling where it is going. Landing can roll you a tubular or worse. Soups got a shot of me (he said he got it) when I deliberately caught air when I noticed him crouched in the photog position (the cane laying on his knee gave him away). We'll see if it shows up some time. That was the last lap.

So over that, hit the next turn wide and cut it and felt great- passed a few there. Hit the barriers. But that was a surprise. Oh, here they are. Took the inside (right hand) line first. Whoops, that's the slow way to get on and try and make the immediate 180 turn. Second time through I did the same thing. Then I got smart and started taking the outside and that was way faster for me. I could hit the turn without slowing down.

The next section heading to the sand was slow and windy. I tried to sit on wheels when I could but people were dying and I jumped around when I could. Hit the sand with speed and Cut left to right. I'd heard mention of a line to the left of the second pit where there was some grass. I beelined for it and found it. AWESOME. I so totally rocked that sand. Brilliant. Railed it out of there sand flying everywhere. Hit the return and headed back to the finish line. On the pavement I think Rob was there with me, or maybe that was the next lap. I've got an automatic reaction to sort of make it harder for people to stay on my draft unless it is a team mate. Even then I'll sometimes do it to G-ride. So we head through the finish line and back to the run up. Still decent traffic, but I had a clear shot at the right hand again. Vaulted up. Man that felt effortless again. I LOVE THAT RUN UP! I wish it was 2x as long. I was just killing it there and the right hand side of the run up was a perfect set up for a decent line headed to the roots.

Racing people here and there, Cole finally caught up to me thought. One of the few people who actually caught and passed me. He got me and gave me a little road runner meep meep as we dove down off the pavement up top heading down. Cole can hand the damn bike. He's a monster with it. So I figured I'd follow his line. Oh, that's the line i was taking. Okay. Damn didn't learn anything new. After the barriers he kind of wasn't going that hard. It was easy sitting on his wheel. But hell he finishes way ahead of me usually, maybe this is the secret. I hung out behind him for a while. A couple guys caught up to us and I decided I wanted my line through the sand and nailed it again, and I wanted first choice on the run up. There was one time on the run up that I had to take the left. It might have been this lap. I don't remember quite specifically.

Either way it was a battle and I decided to not wait for Cole, and he faded fast. Next time past the MRC camp I heard him say "out of gas" at least i think it was Cole.

Then I started a one two battle with a guy in a green skinsuit. Back and forth. he was very strong on the flats and "roadie" sections of the course but technically very weak and couldn't ride the "ride up" very well if at all. Turned out he couldn't run the run up well either.

He'd get a gap going into the pavement and I'd get everything and more back on the run up. back and forth. He finally put in a really hard acceleration or just a moderate one with me sliding a bit. Not sure which. Probably the latter. Kevin Buckley came up to me and as did a few others. Man Kevin's been killing me this year. There's just 2 to go or something. One of two things, he's having a bad day or i'm having a good day. I think more the latter. So we come out of the turn by the barriers and a EnCoeur-SkiVelo dude stacks it into the tape. We'd been shadowing him for a while. Kevin and the couple guys he was with jump around me. One of the guys being the green skinsuit roadie. He hits the sand first, "I'm thinking looks good he rode the first section just fine" we hit the second and he's taking the prefered outside line. But wait. Someone staked it in closer. And he bogs down and comes to a complete stop. I had a full head of steam and plenty of power to make it through. Had to do a wacky foot dismount. I got mad at him. But I nailed the wacky foot remount and gapped the whole group. They came all came by me at some point again though. Finally that SkiVelo dude gets by me. I think he attacked me on the paved path before the road section up top. He got a gap. Just a second or two. I was chasing, and he was motoring. I made up a bit of ground going through the sand.

We're on bell lap now. I know if I can just keep him sort of close I've got a good shot of getting him in a sprint for the line. He opens it up on the grass going to the pavement the whole time a friend of his was shouting instructions and encouragement in French. He hits the pavement and has a good gap. More than I wanted him to have. But I dug down. I got the rpms up. and started the sprint. Rpms up, shift, rpms up, Standup and wind it up. He looked back before i had gotten to the 46x12. I was coming for him fast. It was going to be close. He looked back, and I was headed right for his wheel to grab a draft and he dove a bit left to the barriers and I just let out a big braveheart roar and dropped it in the 12 and stood up and cranked with every muscle in my body. I pulled up even and timed it perfectly. I beat him at the line despite his bike lunge.

Last week at Canton Michael Zocchi was sprinting to bridge the gap to beat me. I was leading. I knew there was a chance he'd close the distance. So I focused on getting the cadence way up and when he jumped I was able to jump and drop cogs while keeping the RPMs up going up the finish and I held him off.

The finish at NoHo was the same. But way better. SkiVelo guy (Martin Valiquette) had more of a gap than I had on Zocchi, and I closed it down and I was elated.

I didn't care what place it was, other than it probably was better than I normally do. And I raced hard the whole time. I raced. It was amazing. The whole race i was battling. I had to think, I had to dig deeper than I knew I could a couple times. I rested (but maybe shouldn't have) sitting on Cole's wheel. I had maybe the most fun/best race this season. If I had started up with G-ride and hadn't had to battle from dead last? Who knows. As it was I battled from the back, beat 30+ people and had a blast.

But I crossed that line going very fast. I initially thought hey, probably 30mph or so. But I was in that 46-12 and I think i was not grinding the gears, so I may have been going closer to 35-40mph. Either way, pretty freaking fast. And I won the sprint. That and with Milliman and Person missing I was both the biggest and tallest in the field.

And then the something happened.

I'm riding high recounting the race. I finished 49th. That wishbone from Wright's Farm was prophetic. I did break into the top 50. I was 49th! Sure I was 44th and 50th at Providence, but the field wasn't as deep or as fast as it was here at NoHo on saturday. There were more people and many more faster people. Sure a handful of fast guys didn't show up but that's the the way the dice roll. So with this rolling good feeling, I'm not going to say anything now about what happened after the finish line. It happened so fast I'm not sure it would be right to try and put words to it here. It would be impossible to in fact I think, to capture it in words here.

So I'm not going to. At least not now, maybe never.

That's NoHo. Canton was pretty much the same. Racing people, awesome sprint at the finish. But I was sick and started out really easy, unlike NoHo where i started and was full gas for two laps trying to pass people. I got a bit in gappy land at Canton. Got shuffled off a wheel i wanted to stick on a couple times but it was still a blast, good fun racing.

Manged to get my run in this morning. Ten minute warm up run down to the beach, and the tide was out this morning unlike last week and I was able to run down the beach to the stairs, and i turned it up to 11! Hell yeah 11 sprints up the stairs, with 5 paces in the really dry loose sand before the first step. Finished those and ran back along the beach with my shirt off because IT WAS FREAKING HOT OUTSIDE (55°F) and thinking I would make a tall scrawny looking baywatch life guard. Popped the shirt back on before I hit the boat launch and jogged slowly home. Then had a nice slightly slow medium commute in maybe a Zone 2, slight bit of work but nothing too stressful.

I can't believe I rode in today with short sleeves. It is freaking NOVEMBER. Not supposed to start off the day with shorts and short sleeve riding weather?

But hey, I'll take it.

heddwch
G

part 2, in the works

I haven't had a second to work on NoHo Part 2. Made a few phone calls over lunch to my parents who had heard word of the accident via my siblings instead of writing. It is a regular monday with stuff breaking but i did make a breakthrough with trouble shooting a dead scope. Hoping to have it up and running tomorrow. With luck it will be.

Made a call to my Doc to give me the once over to make sure there isn't anything wrong with my neck or spine, and to leave it in the hands of a medical professional to give me the "okay, you're just sore, nothing is out of place." That's how I feel at the moment but I know things can creep up a few days out that weren't noticed right away.

It just good that I've got a head full of rocks. Lets see if I can find some time to roll the rocks around enough to get the words out of my head and on here about the actual race. And hopefully by the time I get around to writing about the incident and my perspective, things will be okay and headed to a full recovery for both parties involved.

I just realized I never even really got Canton's race written up. I'd better not slack off.

heddwch
g

"The only eyesore and disturbing thing [on the weekend ride] was the amount of obese men with loud, smelly leaf blowers. There were dozens of them, most wearing Patriots’ gear. They were everywhere. For crying out loud, PICK UP A RAKE. Burn off a few calories."

and then there are these two:
If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'
- Jeff Foxworthy
An executive is a person who always decides; sometimes he decides correctly, but he always decides.
- John H. Patterson

That wishbone from Friday night.

I think my race at NoHo really started with friday night. We joined the folks from my wife's work at a Rhode Island institution: Wright's Farm Restaurant. It was an interesting experience. The chicken was actually pretty damn good. The fries, and pasta and salad, not so much. I even managed to have a little restraint, finishing the remainder of the salad instead of the chicken or pasta, and I didn't leave feeling bloated or too full. A remarkable achievement for being my Father's son.

But one thing magical happened there. I was dissecting a chicken quarter (a slab of breast meat and bones) when a little wishbone appeared. Woa. Cool. So I turned to my oldest daughter who was sitting next to me and said, make a wish. We pulled on it and i got the big half. She asked what I wished for. And i hesitated to say it because, well you know, wishes are supposed to be kept secret. Well, I first said that but then realized, why not share the wish?

My wish? Simply: To be top 50 at NoHo on saturday. With 85 people pre-registered, me sitting in 57th in the race predictor with a good half dozen people or more people who are much faster than me listed as 'unknowns' a top 50 would be a huge achievement.

NoHo looked to be a stronger field than Providence, and even a bigger field than Gloucester (I'm referring to specifically the 1.2.3 35+ race). A lot of fast guys were making the trip. Granted a handful didn't make it, some didn't pre-reg due to illness, some didn't show for other reasons (Milliman, McCormack). But still for me to break into the top 50 would mean having a great race.

It would mean a great race for me personally, it would mean a steady improvement. Last year I showed up there with my new tubulars, and with strep throat. The rear tubular was destroyed on the first lap and I wound up getting lapped by everyone. It wasn't a good race by any means. At all. It was bad. I had registered for both days and didn't come back on Sunday. NoHo wasn't on my original calendar. But I didn't want to have a completely empty weekend and racing just on Saturday at Canton was a nice change. So I registered on Tuesday or Wednesday as number 71 (i think, my race number was 178). And most of the people who registered after me (besides Michael Cole) had verge points like G-Ride. Meaning getting a top 50 meant battling from the very very very very end of the field from the gun to hopefully beat 30+ people.

Certainly Possible, but my previous good finishes at PVD were from a first or second row behind the verge point holders. Quite a bit different than starting absolutely last. Even at Canton I managed to move up about to the back half of the middle of the field past the start finish line.

NoHo was going to be the test.

It proved to be more of a test than I had even planned or could imagine. I'd hooked up with a ride from my friend Ted. We rode around OTB at Bob Beals the one time i did it. He'd pull like mad on the hills, and i'd motor on the straights. Each of us just about dropping the other. And we finished. And a friendship was formed in battle. We raced together a bit that year in Cyclocross too. He's back stateside and in Newport and was heading up with space so I took him up on the offer with a planned pick up at my house between 7 and 7:30am.

So I've got everything outside and ready to go for the race at 7:15. The girls are getting ready to head to ballet and I notice the front tire on the golf is really low. under 20psi low. Shit. So the girls all head off in the Passat (race vehicle) but before they can take off i have to add some fuel.

That bit of craziness finished, I hung out in front of the house with Lucy. Then I grabbed the floor pump after a while and pumped up the front tire. It takes a while to fill up a car tire with a Silca Super Pista.

Wait some more. Now Ted gave up a cell phone when he came stateside this time. Something about being tired of having one glued to his ear for the last 6 years. So he was riding up w/o any means of letting me know if there was trouble.

8:15 and I started taking stuff out of the Golf. I had to go to the race. I was going to go and I couldn't wait around until it was too late to get there and race.

He showed up at 8:20 swearing appologetically. Between a gas pump that wouldn't pump more than a trickle or shut off and his own nearly flat front tire, a closed bridge he sat on for 30 minutes, and not quite wonderful directions from Google Maps he was very much delayed.

But we loaded up quickly and were on the road by 8:25. Now the whole time I was working hard to keep the anxiety level down. It took all my mental capacity to do it though. I just kept saying, relax, he will be here. He's got my number, if it came down to not getting here he would find some way to call. Heck I even contemplated cracking into one of the post race beers as a relaxation aid. But I didn't. Heck I didn't even race with any caffeine this time, no coffee, no caffeinated gels, nothing. Even skipped the sports legs.

After a nice ride up (sure is way nicer making that drive with someone to talk to) we got there at 10:25 or so. Not time enough to pre-ride, but time enough to say good luck to the 45+ guys lining up for their start. Got number, pinned up, got the trainer set up. Got some warm up in. Took wheels to the pit. Caught up briefly with Matt Simpson, saw a good number of folks, tried to heckle/cheer the guys racing but it was a focused short warm up on the trainer. My legs actually felt pretty crappy with the couple solid intensity efforts I did. Almost dead. But I hoped that the trainer would get the lead out of them. I'd seen the way they were starting and it looked good. Lots of room to drill it and move up if you could before getting to the steep run up.

Got to the starting line as Alan or Richard or someone was calling "Second Call To staging." Then the pointers started getting called up. I was chatting with Chapman for a while and mozied over and finally, my number was called up. Only Cole was still left to be called up. And he stayed back about 10-20 feet behind the last guy. We were jarring back and forth. It took me a good 20 seconds of standing on my toes scanning the massive crowd of 81 racers to find G-Ride in the bunch. Holy crap was he waaaaaaay up there.

Then the whistle blew.

and I'll have to get to the exciting part of the race and the finish line incident in a little while.

The girls have been playing outside for a couple hours now, such an amazing day today. I hope everyone is having a great and safe race up there at NoHo today!

heddwch
G

Medium Days Make Medium Riders

That's the mantra lately for the commutes. I've got two speeds since cross started. Slow and tongue dragging. And it feels like I have a handle on picking when to do each pretty successfully. Sometimes I can't pick and just have to full pursuit mode home, but those have been usually tuesdays or wednesdays. Both good days to over do it if at all. Yesterday I got some intervals in on the trainer before I left, nice solid ones and rode in super mellow.

This morning?

I was running a bit later than planned and I just turned the knob up and cranked it all the way in. There was a pretty strong perfectly head on wind blowing down the river to the bay, (NNW at ~23 mph gusting higher). And it felt AWESOME.

Maybe it was the pre-race leg shaving this morning and the post shower oil self massage of the quads and calves. I've noticed lately that my legs have taken on a different shape than they were at the start of the season. This racing thing is changing them. The ride in was pretty intensely fun, full gas, labored breathing, cranking it along. And when I came to the IPPB I launched up the stairs, flying up them carrying the bike. So yeah - I'm remembering now after I flew up the stairs pretty effortlessly - i wasn't going to talk about how my legs felt. You know, don't want to give my competition (G-Ride) any insights to how things are going today. Of course it could all backfire and I'll feel like dog poop tomorrow. But hey I fell pretty good.

Still a bit of a lingering sinus thing but it is going away, little to no nose blowing right now, fully clear nasal cavities at the moment. There was the whole bloody nose on the ride home incident (sinus infection + colder weather = me with thinner membranes and a propensity to popping nasal capillaries).

Is it too early to eat the first half of lunch? I'm hungry and I forgot to pilfer the Halloween candy on my way out the door.

Tomorrow WILL be fun. I'm excited to see what changes have been made to the course esp via the start/finish. I'm excited to race.

heddwch
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Don't flip off someone with a loaded gun.

I was reading Dave Moulton’s blog write up about the trial and a two comments in particular prompted me to want to share with everyone here.

Comment A:

Not to in ANY way excuse the doctor's actions, but we must notice the pattern of escalation here. The cyclist "flipped off" the driver, provoking violence. The only time I've gotten into a near-violent altercation with a motorist, I too turned back, sneered, and gave him the bird. He deserved it, but it didn't do anything except make him madder.

Comment B:

Thanks, I wanted someone else to bring that up first. Think, would you flip off someone pointing a gun at you?
Nuf said,

That’s a damn good way to remember to keep your cool when confronting an idiotic/impatient/impertinent driver is treat them like you would someone who is point a gun at you ready to pull the trigger. Sudden movements are not smart. Escalating the situation is not smart. Claiming you have every right and aren’t going to back down, well, you could easily be dead right. Being alive is much better.

Practice De-escalation on the bike, esp with cars.

Right now I’m eternally grateful that the Washington bridge is open and that combined with the India Point Park Bridge and the deserted East street, well, I see very very few cars except on Hope street, and that has a decent shoulder and people aren’t using it as a super highway (like the alternative commuting routes I take when the Washington bridge is closed).

Everytime you get the urge to flip someone off, yell at them, just take a minute, take a breath and if you have to do something, just smile and wave.

heddwch
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THEY ARE BACK

The Brants! My Birds. yeah MINE. They are my favorite and are here now to say it is my season. Brant power man. Those guys are awesome.

battery died on the camera (yeah I had to stop and get a few quick snapshots) so when it charges up I'll get the images up.

Managed to only get in 1/2 of what Coach had planned. Didn't get the 25 min run in before everyone woke up (I'm still pretty tired - sleep wins over getting up early), so I got my 5x 1 min Z5 in just after they left, 10 min warm up on the trainer and knocked out five one minute intervals of pain. Then rode in at a mellow Z1 pace. What a gorgeous morning. May toss the run in tonight after I get home. Maybe even take the dog out.

Pretty damn excited for NoHo. I'm glad I signed up. Missing it would be tough. There is something special about that race. And hell I'll get to see KEN SCOTT! Heck even race with him. It's gonna be a freaking blast. I hope the french fry guy is going to be there again. I could use a big plate of his stuff right about now. Toss up, eat halloween candy or an apple?

Stupid orchard didn't bring Fuji's this week. They had them last week and they were amazing. So good. I love that flavor, that crispness. $1.75/# wasn't a bad price for wicked local (non certified) organic hunk of gold. But they didn't bring em this week. And they didn't have them the week before either. WTF? Might have to just drive out there and get a bunch, or do the whole pick your own with the girls on Sunday. I got some Gala's instead. Bad choice. They taste funny, not bad, just different and don't make my mouth water like the Fujis do. Oh well, they are still damn good apples.

Some videos from the Master CX documentarian Henry of the 35+ Planet Bike team warming up at G-ster this year:

Hjurenka's Cutting Floor #2 from gewilli on Vimeo.

HJurenka's cutting floor part 1 from gewilli on Vimeo.

Heddwch
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sixty three

that's how many people will be lining up in front of me saturday - could it get higher before i get my ass in gear and actually register?

not sure why but I'm actually looking forward to the reverse hole shot. It means that unless I finish DFL (always a possibility) then everyone who finished behind me on the results sheet is someone I beat.

and now my daughter just walked up to me and said "I want you to WIN" and I said well I need to get faster. Her reply was perfect "You just need to practice MORE!"

Yes - NoHo is officially back on the calendar, only for one day but I'm there. I can't wait.

Cyclocross is a short season. Most of us pin a whole year of pining for this season and here it is, missing more than one weekend over the season is tantamount to expulsion. Race race race race. I am on track to have the heaviest year since I made my return to the sport I love so much. The sport that rewarded me with a plaque for the overall beginner winner back in '97. Yeah I came to the sport way later than many of my contemporary Masters racers, and I took a long time off (6 years) but I tell you, I couldn't be happier racing now.

I may not be getting as fast as I would maybe hope at this point, but who besides that skinny white dude moving up to Cat 1 status really is? Okay I'm sure more than just SWD are.

Okay- time to finish up dinner. I wonder what G-Ride is feeding his kids tonight. I also wonder how many dads who race would be nearly completely comfortable taking care of their kids as a single parent for 3 weeks while continuing to race cross. Heck SWD has nearly a week of kid coverage all alone as a single dad. Mad Props to the dads out there who race and do more than pick up the slack at home with the kids.

heddwch

G

Oh YEAH

Brilliant!

Being grumpy is good for you? Solo and G-ride, yall should be comforted by the news. Myette and the rest of the perpetually positive happy hippie goodies might not be. (I can't exactly explain why i'm picking on Myette, just feels right).

warming up for CX

Solobreak posted a link to Adam F*cking Myerson's "proper way to warm up" (everyone should read that no matter what kind of bike racing you do).

And the guys over at PEZ (stephen specifically) has a nice bit on warming up for cross. I gotta remember to bring my rear road wheel or a damn skewer that fits in the trainer. I managed to put the trainer in the car but no QR that fit in it. But i still found a nice road with a hill to do two solid repeats to get my HR and break a sweat before hitting the line. It was good.

warm ups are good

Some shots from the sunset on Friday Night.

Could it be the last sunset of the season? This whole shift in the time change sort of meant fewer sunsets during commuting time this year I fear.

So I stopped, and grabbed a handful. Here are my favorites.

relaxed verge registration?

FROM: NBX G.P. of Cross / Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross 8 and 9, UCI cat.2
-------------------------------------------------

hello everyone,

wanted to let everyone know we are opening registration on Nov. 3rd at 5pm. look forward to seeing everyone for another great weekend!

thanks,
Matt and the NBX Crew

So, Looking at the list of people with points, I've got absolutely no incentive to sign up early.

And I like that. I can sign up the hour before Registration Closes. Or better yet (if they accept Day-of reg) just sign up at the venue - pay cash, and have the extra fee (if there is one - there wasn't at Canton) go towards the venue. Although I have no problem supporting bike reg and what they do with archiving the results and all that (so Results boy and put them on his massive cloud computer/server at Crossresults.com). Anyway.

Signing up early, ie the race for registration may just now be over. And that is a damn good thing.

On the remount, reaching the peak of my day's misery, my take off foot simply failed to take off. My brain sent a signal down the nerves, but nothing happened when it got there. I don't think my leg even got close to clearing the seat. I simply tackled my bike. Hard. Right in front of all the runup spectators.

Best quote from the weekend so far. (Solobreak's putney recap)

Frazz is wearing a DZ Nuts T-shirt today. http://bit.ly/VteTQ

I checked the race predictor for Saturday. I'm contemplating heading over for one day. I skipped pre-reg to this point because I wasn't sure I was going. Leaning to just being there on Saturday. Can't do Sunday. So I check - hey 57 people are signed up and i'd slot in right about here in the finishing based on Crossresults.com points. But hey I wonder how many people have points now.

Turns out there are 54 people with points. Verge points. Awesome. That means either that there are only 3 people racing w/o points or a few people won't be there and even if i had pre-reg'd way early when it opened, well I'd still be starting in 50th or something.

It is what it is. Starting back there will be good practice for Nationals, at least that is what I'm telling myself. I probably can't get points here on out unless no one decides to go to Sterling or NBX, but I'm going to guess that the usual suspects will be there w/o fail.

I think all these points are great. They are working like a Crossresults ranking start to a degree. I'm going to hazard a guess that there isn't as much difference between the two (verge and crossresults). In a way I'd almost like to see the points go all the way down to the last person. Give more points to the winner of a race with 100 people in it than a 27 person field. Either way, I'm still wishing I had one of those points. But a handful of points is effectively the same as no points. I'm starting in the back no matter what. And that's fine by me. Maybe I'll get faster. But something someone said, maybe it was Resultsboy to Velocb: "at your age you should just be happy that you the same speed as you used to be" or something like that. A sobering moment of "You mean I'm always going to be this slow compared to everyone?" Not a fun realization. It could be false. I might be able to get faster. But there is a chance i'll be just as slow next year. But G-ride got faster this year, so maybe there is hope for me for next year if I can figure a few things out.

Right now I seem to be losing a good deal of time in the last two laps. At MRC and Canton there was an undeniable bit of "there isn't anyone close to me to catch me sort of relaxing" at a few moments. And a bit too much of trying to bridge a gap and going way too fast and burning a few too many matches. I almost got caught, well I saw them coming and more or less relaxed enough so they got close enough but then I knew I could beat them at the line at the sprint there at Canton. I need to figure that bit out.

So it sounds like Marro won a race. A Cyclocross race even. I had hopes that maybe he could ride smart enough to beat Curley there at Canton. Every time I saw him he was leading Paul around. I guess he went with the same wire to wire leading to actually win at Putney. Nice job.

Lost my old TDI commuter mug at Canton. I made the girls some Green and Black Hot Chocolate and they wanted to take some with them. When it came time to get some clam chowder and food, well the mug got set down. It was old and the VW logo was starting to come off and it didn't close all the way, and it served me well in michigan. I've got a nicer one that i use that actually closes all the way up. My guess is that it got tossed based on the condition and the coating of sticky hot chocolate.

I'll write up a race report one of these days. Canton's results are screwed up, at least in out group one person is listed twice and they got Tom Steven's name wrong, his team wrong not to mention my team got in there wrong.

Tonight I'm excited. I get to commute home with the Planet Bike lights. Debating about going over kill and using a pair of 1 watt Blaze headlights AND the two watt headlight. Not sure I need three Lights up front. Esp tonight. But hey, light is good! I used the Two Watt Blaze light trick or treating and man it was bright. Seriously bright. I even remember to toss the self leveling helmet blinker in the bag. I'll be lit up for the ride home. Big super flash tail light blasting anyone who dares follow.

Canton write up to follow sometime. Short version: It was a freaking blast. I took it way easy at the start and just surfed wheels and finished in a reasonable position given being sick. And it was a freaking blast. Legs were so cooked by the end of the day. Painful tough race. Sprinted to preserve my placing and "won" the sprint for 25th. Felt good but totally draining.

that's what i got right now
heddwch
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Canton tomorrow

Weather is looking downright horrible tomorrow. Windy (okay that's not normally bad but at Canton it can really suck), Warm, and dry. Seriously?

Canton has grown a bit in the last handful of years, really becoming the mid-season Suckerbrook. The second tier of races below the Verge ones. Just about as well attended. Add it to one of the oldest (Putney on sunday) and you have an epic non-verge weekend for those trying to do the double.

Me? Canton is it. After getting beat up this weekend with a cold/flu what ever it was (probably H1N1, hell that's what everyone around here is sick with apparently) I've got a slight lingering sinus thing, but clear lungs and pretty well rested legs. Not sure about how many minutes are in the tank, but we'll see tomorrow at Noon.

Too bad I didn't get a Pint Glass before some giant internet J-hole went and ruined it for everyone (man that was funny - mostly because it was funny to watch - probably not so entertaining for Todd C).

That course always has wind. And that running track is the worst. Guys have historically bridged up to me and then sat on my wheel into the wind, rested and the dropped me.

I was looking over the flier to see what the day of fee was (none apparently) and yet again, directions on how to get there from EVERY freaking location besides Providence. Wicked cool giant middle finger to that region. Love it. Its okay - i probably don't need directions anymore anyway.

This will be the first race the rest of the clan will be joining me at. I may see about grabbing a spot over by the track. And if not too windy set up a little shade. Gotta remember the chairs.

It has been nice having a weekend free of frantically running around and finding where I'd stashed my shit from the previous weekend and stuffing it in the car and heading to a race. Too bad it was a weekend followed by a day or three of feeling like crap!

See yall out there - way to distracted to make any sense (or say anything outrageously wrong - i hope) today.

heddwch
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Lucy

That's my big sweety

something totally different

learned something new - if you need drugs for your pets (like antibiotics) have you DVM write a script for the human equivalent. If you've got cats, well that might be hard to find dosage small enough, but dogs? Well even w/o insurance drugs like Ciprofloxacin cost less than ten dollars, vs the Dog version Baytril at $70-100.

puppy is happy now - so they aren't the liver flavor tabs. They are just normal pills. But the same thing - targeting the same bacteria.

Here's to a healthy dog in a few weeks! The two of us have bonded even more since thursday. She got sick, and then me taking care of her got me sick and a whole extra day at home with her. Hanging with your dog is good.

Dogs are good.

Life is good.

heddwch
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i'm an idiot

Yeah yeah - no big news. I'm just another monkey with a keyboard. And man did I finally bare a screw up for all to see.

I got it wrong, a false assumption, read a few things and missing the key: when food met caloric needs there is little lippogenesis and carbs above the current need saw a 2-3 fold increase.
Oops. Blindly reading is bad. Good thing everyone knows not to listen to me. And I’m wicked grateful to have friends who are more than happy to tell me when I’m wrong. Damn. What an Idiot I am.
It is rather funny how a couple misread articles tripped up a whole lifetime of my personal “conventional wisdom” – I find it funny now. Insufferably embarrassing but funny. Thanks.
Moment of “Oh Shit” happened riding home leisurely just thinking along.
Yeah the other related oops is 30 grams is a hell of a lot of protein when it comes down to it – that and the article is looking specifically at young adult and senior population. Small point but important – esp since few of either group that they looked at in the study actually are listening to me and telling me I’m wrong.


So now I'm going to go do some gluing of a tire.

sniff some mastik one pro

the good stuff

or at least the old stuff

that or i sit on my ass and watch TV

so far sitting on my ass is winning...

I can race on a clincher front if i have to...

heddwch
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