Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Amazing
Go full screen, turn up the sound...
it is amazing. i've never been overwhelmed by Danny's first couple films but this? Holy shit this is magic.
Fucking brilliant. Soundtrack, scenery, cinematography (okay it isn't perfect, i find the panning of the fisheye to be distracting but i've yet to find something perfect).
Wow...
just fucking wow
Monday, November 15, 2010
Race Reports... where
where at they?
I dunno. I guess I was holding out for some hope that maybe I would be able to turn the season around and hit stride like years past at Plymouth. But no.
And writing about the races just seems to drive home how well I'm not doing, reality has sunk in and I've got to come to terms with it all somehow. Somehow on a positive level. Yes I need to be reminded that it is fun. And yes, I am having fun racing. Well up until the perspective of "results" comes into play.
So writing about the races just hasn't been something I can get excited about doing.
Northampton was awesome. Great time racing, but explaining that I didn't fold on Day 2, and it was just the simple fact of being gapped off the group in front of me and having a monster gap behind me to sink safely into, well, it meant not that I folded physically but that it didn't matter a heap of anything if I kept the pressure on, time gaps? who cares. It isn't a f'n time trial. Who cares how many minutes you were behind the leader. This sport is based on placing, and places, not times. Time dictates how many laps we do, the only time that matters is if you are going fast enough not to get lapped. Time matters if you can close that gap to the guy in front, or keep the person from catching you.
I've done 5 races in 8 days. I managed to get a slow leak in the 3rd race, but start the 4th thinking it was slow enough that i could make it through. Hey dropping 10psi overnight? no problem. Oops. At least Sykes had the PRO-ness to have neutral support at his races (unlike say PVD) and I was able to take a very quick front wheel change and stay on the lead lap. Although instead of sitting comfortably on Grenier's and Stacy's wheel it meant i was solidly completely 100% alone in solo TT land.
Eco-cross was great, except the 9 lap part and the getting a flat. I was feeling okay, and I was nailing the lines riding behind Derek. He was railing the corners, but... but he got a slight gap when I f'ed up the down hill slalom and nearly hugged a tree and then just about took my head off on the corner of the greenhouse in the big loose round rocks. And with that gap I wasn't able to autopilot his lines and I started to see the trees that would send me on a trip in an ambulance instead of the fast way to ride the course. That and having driven there with my daughters, just the three of us put me into hard core self preservation mode. But doing 9 roughly 4 minute laps at least i had put enough time in on the first 5 laps that when I let Derek drift away i could screw up pretty badly and not get lapped. Yeah i just capitalized 1/3 of the 'I's in the last sentence. Awesome. DON'T CARE. Seriously.
Highlight of the race was coming into the barriers pretty hot and I stuck my left leg out as I hit the loose shit there, problem is, it ain't all that easy to dismount at speed with your left leg in a tripod (unclipped outriggering it). Oops. Managed to unclip the right leg and basically use it's momentum to carry my ass off and over the saddle just in time. No smashing body parts on the barriers in front of my kids. Phew. Scared me for a minute though. Old man instincts and reflexes kept that from happening.
My friend who's living down in South Carolina came up for this past weekend. Usually one of my best weekends racing, results and fun wise. It was really awesome hanging out with him, and saturday's field turn out was near verge in stackedness. granted pack fill like myette and company didn't show but the business end of the field was there. Ctodd made a rare appearance then took his pedal off the bike mid-race so that Paul would have to buy me a beer. Very nice of Ctodd to do that. The belgian that Paul came up with on Sunday was really very good.
It's all been a whirlwind. And instead of having more clarity about what *I* should do, it is even more confusing. But if you were to ask me to come up with a generic, sort of typical CX training program for someone else I don't have much trouble. I know what works, but some how in many ways miss applied it to myself. I didn't listen early to myself, I pushed to hard to get the program in and screwed it all up. That and all the negative stuff really has weighed heavily on me.
The season is effectively over. There are some great races coming up. Lowell, but 9:45 is wicked early, right now i'd almost pick staying in bed and watching the euro races on the buffer hell live internet feeds. I've got till friday at 5pm to make up my mind.
The thing is I really do basically live for the race. And it is fun, a rush... I love the racing, but getting stuck in the soloTT mode after a few laps is mentally tough.
So yeah, there ya go, that's about all I'm writing up about those last few races. Done. Moving on.
And that trainer is getting left in the car, running shoes are not going to be run in, no running hill intervals, no stair climbing, no sprints... just commuting to work and racing from here on out, can't get any slower, and that stuff takes time that i don't want to sacrifice and right now don't see any point/benefit in doing.
I did have a complete day off the bike today, first time in a couple weeks at least. But in those weeks there were some pretty light, walk the bike kind of riding, very little medium riding either, mostly commuting slowly or as fast as I could/working intervals into it.
So instead of sleeping I'm writing, trying to move on, trying to get a grip. trying to focus on the bounty of positives and not let the handful of negatives weigh me down...
not so easy this year...
the weight of the last 18 months is heavy...
I dunno. I guess I was holding out for some hope that maybe I would be able to turn the season around and hit stride like years past at Plymouth. But no.
And writing about the races just seems to drive home how well I'm not doing, reality has sunk in and I've got to come to terms with it all somehow. Somehow on a positive level. Yes I need to be reminded that it is fun. And yes, I am having fun racing. Well up until the perspective of "results" comes into play.
So writing about the races just hasn't been something I can get excited about doing.
Northampton was awesome. Great time racing, but explaining that I didn't fold on Day 2, and it was just the simple fact of being gapped off the group in front of me and having a monster gap behind me to sink safely into, well, it meant not that I folded physically but that it didn't matter a heap of anything if I kept the pressure on, time gaps? who cares. It isn't a f'n time trial. Who cares how many minutes you were behind the leader. This sport is based on placing, and places, not times. Time dictates how many laps we do, the only time that matters is if you are going fast enough not to get lapped. Time matters if you can close that gap to the guy in front, or keep the person from catching you.
I've done 5 races in 8 days. I managed to get a slow leak in the 3rd race, but start the 4th thinking it was slow enough that i could make it through. Hey dropping 10psi overnight? no problem. Oops. At least Sykes had the PRO-ness to have neutral support at his races (unlike say PVD) and I was able to take a very quick front wheel change and stay on the lead lap. Although instead of sitting comfortably on Grenier's and Stacy's wheel it meant i was solidly completely 100% alone in solo TT land.
Eco-cross was great, except the 9 lap part and the getting a flat. I was feeling okay, and I was nailing the lines riding behind Derek. He was railing the corners, but... but he got a slight gap when I f'ed up the down hill slalom and nearly hugged a tree and then just about took my head off on the corner of the greenhouse in the big loose round rocks. And with that gap I wasn't able to autopilot his lines and I started to see the trees that would send me on a trip in an ambulance instead of the fast way to ride the course. That and having driven there with my daughters, just the three of us put me into hard core self preservation mode. But doing 9 roughly 4 minute laps at least i had put enough time in on the first 5 laps that when I let Derek drift away i could screw up pretty badly and not get lapped. Yeah i just capitalized 1/3 of the 'I's in the last sentence. Awesome. DON'T CARE. Seriously.
Highlight of the race was coming into the barriers pretty hot and I stuck my left leg out as I hit the loose shit there, problem is, it ain't all that easy to dismount at speed with your left leg in a tripod (unclipped outriggering it). Oops. Managed to unclip the right leg and basically use it's momentum to carry my ass off and over the saddle just in time. No smashing body parts on the barriers in front of my kids. Phew. Scared me for a minute though. Old man instincts and reflexes kept that from happening.
My friend who's living down in South Carolina came up for this past weekend. Usually one of my best weekends racing, results and fun wise. It was really awesome hanging out with him, and saturday's field turn out was near verge in stackedness. granted pack fill like myette and company didn't show but the business end of the field was there. Ctodd made a rare appearance then took his pedal off the bike mid-race so that Paul would have to buy me a beer. Very nice of Ctodd to do that. The belgian that Paul came up with on Sunday was really very good.
It's all been a whirlwind. And instead of having more clarity about what *I* should do, it is even more confusing. But if you were to ask me to come up with a generic, sort of typical CX training program for someone else I don't have much trouble. I know what works, but some how in many ways miss applied it to myself. I didn't listen early to myself, I pushed to hard to get the program in and screwed it all up. That and all the negative stuff really has weighed heavily on me.
The season is effectively over. There are some great races coming up. Lowell, but 9:45 is wicked early, right now i'd almost pick staying in bed and watching the euro races on the buffer hell live internet feeds. I've got till friday at 5pm to make up my mind.
The thing is I really do basically live for the race. And it is fun, a rush... I love the racing, but getting stuck in the soloTT mode after a few laps is mentally tough.
So yeah, there ya go, that's about all I'm writing up about those last few races. Done. Moving on.
And that trainer is getting left in the car, running shoes are not going to be run in, no running hill intervals, no stair climbing, no sprints... just commuting to work and racing from here on out, can't get any slower, and that stuff takes time that i don't want to sacrifice and right now don't see any point/benefit in doing.
I did have a complete day off the bike today, first time in a couple weeks at least. But in those weeks there were some pretty light, walk the bike kind of riding, very little medium riding either, mostly commuting slowly or as fast as I could/working intervals into it.
So instead of sleeping I'm writing, trying to move on, trying to get a grip. trying to focus on the bounty of positives and not let the handful of negatives weigh me down...
not so easy this year...
the weight of the last 18 months is heavy...
Friday, November 12, 2010
Line Change
Yeah, it is hockey time.
No unlike half or more of the old farts I'm racing with I never played the game, but damn did I like going to see the Spartans in Munn Arena.
To start every game they'd play this song.
Whole fucking arena would be singing along. Religious ya know? Like singing the opening hymn at church, it is part of it.
I've been to two different College hockey games in this town, three if you could men and women teams from one of the schools. Did they play that song? Nope. Maybe it is some east coast vs mid-west thing. Michigan might as well be Canada when it comes to Hockey, compared at least to the rest of the USA.
Sokay, i've got a better tradition than going to a hockey game and watching other people play a game, I go play a game.
This weekend. Battle of the Mitten on Sunday. All I can do is hope my competition decides to go swim 10,000 yards tomorrow, I don't want him to crash on the way to the pits this year though.
No unlike half or more of the old farts I'm racing with I never played the game, but damn did I like going to see the Spartans in Munn Arena.
To start every game they'd play this song.
Whole fucking arena would be singing along. Religious ya know? Like singing the opening hymn at church, it is part of it.
I've been to two different College hockey games in this town, three if you could men and women teams from one of the schools. Did they play that song? Nope. Maybe it is some east coast vs mid-west thing. Michigan might as well be Canada when it comes to Hockey, compared at least to the rest of the USA.
Sokay, i've got a better tradition than going to a hockey game and watching other people play a game, I go play a game.
This weekend. Battle of the Mitten on Sunday. All I can do is hope my competition decides to go swim 10,000 yards tomorrow, I don't want him to crash on the way to the pits this year though.
The Mud of Flanders
http://www.cxmagazine.com/flemish-mud-veterans-day-2010
Go give it a read.
Powerful stuff. The poem there linked at the end of the article too, read that.
Pretty incomprehensible stuff that is. For me at least. I can try and imagine, but I know there's nothing close in my personal experiences to what my grandfathers and their friends dealt with in WWII, much less the generation who fought in the mud in WWI. The cruelty and destruction and absolute misery, and near certainty that you weren't going home.
(read the article before going any further please)
Dan't comments at the end:
We honor the dead by continuing to live.
Okay, fahk, I've got something in my eye and I can't form words, much less blink fast enough to keep the screen from blurring out of focus.
Christie, Greg, Elise, Michael, Mark, Bill, Nate...
And those names I don't connect with personal loss, I know how their loved ones feel and family feel:
James
Robert, Dakota, Anthony, Andrew, Dale, Aaron, Randy...
Of all those names I've written, one, just one was able to live their life to the natural end. The only acceptable loss, but one that is not without pain or emptiness.
We honor the dead by continuing to live.
I'm wrung out - this is an interesting week coming off NoHo, adding a mid week race in tire sucking glue like muddish soil course and to follow up with a pair of killer races at Plymouth.
Yeah - no NoHo report, it's like everyone elses: I had an absolute blast, I raced the whole race, had fun, did better than I had expected crossresults points still suck but who cares, it was a good course. Saturday was better for me, but sunday was fun once we got past the incident with a teammate at the off camber 180. Yesterday's race? ~4 min laps, I think we did 9. Tight shortened course at the farm. One dismount per lap, a handful too many tight single track lines with big tree or building penalties for screwing up, added with me there with the girls and having to drive em home i got off Derek's wheel and started riding conservatively in those sections, ie i slowed way the fuck down. On the flip side the RR tubies did well, some loss of traction but very predictably and hell I think where I slipped even a cubus would have had trouble and I never lost it just a minor slide out. it wasn't for lack of traction, more a lack of integrity in the soil.
now to cheer up and focus on this weekend. solid. of course this is my weekend to remember mark and ride my ass off in his memory. try to ride like he did.
awe shit there we go - i'm all emotional again. time to hit the reset button with a walk outside
Go give it a read.
Powerful stuff. The poem there linked at the end of the article too, read that.
Pretty incomprehensible stuff that is. For me at least. I can try and imagine, but I know there's nothing close in my personal experiences to what my grandfathers and their friends dealt with in WWII, much less the generation who fought in the mud in WWI. The cruelty and destruction and absolute misery, and near certainty that you weren't going home.
(read the article before going any further please)
Dan't comments at the end:
It is, I finally decided. Dulce et decorum est. It is sweet and fitting: we honor the dead by continuing to live. So pedal your bike, revel in the mud, but don’t forget its past.
We honor the dead by continuing to live.
Okay, fahk, I've got something in my eye and I can't form words, much less blink fast enough to keep the screen from blurring out of focus.
Christie, Greg, Elise, Michael, Mark, Bill, Nate...
And those names I don't connect with personal loss, I know how their loved ones feel and family feel:
James
Robert, Dakota, Anthony, Andrew, Dale, Aaron, Randy...
Of all those names I've written, one, just one was able to live their life to the natural end. The only acceptable loss, but one that is not without pain or emptiness.
We honor the dead by continuing to live.
I'm wrung out - this is an interesting week coming off NoHo, adding a mid week race in tire sucking glue like muddish soil course and to follow up with a pair of killer races at Plymouth.
Yeah - no NoHo report, it's like everyone elses: I had an absolute blast, I raced the whole race, had fun, did better than I had expected crossresults points still suck but who cares, it was a good course. Saturday was better for me, but sunday was fun once we got past the incident with a teammate at the off camber 180. Yesterday's race? ~4 min laps, I think we did 9. Tight shortened course at the farm. One dismount per lap, a handful too many tight single track lines with big tree or building penalties for screwing up, added with me there with the girls and having to drive em home i got off Derek's wheel and started riding conservatively in those sections, ie i slowed way the fuck down. On the flip side the RR tubies did well, some loss of traction but very predictably and hell I think where I slipped even a cubus would have had trouble and I never lost it just a minor slide out. it wasn't for lack of traction, more a lack of integrity in the soil.
now to cheer up and focus on this weekend. solid. of course this is my weekend to remember mark and ride my ass off in his memory. try to ride like he did.
awe shit there we go - i'm all emotional again. time to hit the reset button with a walk outside
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Thank you for your service
Thanks to all the Veterans out there who have/are serving this great country of ours.
Words cannot fully express our gratitude.
-GeWilli
Words cannot fully express our gratitude.
-GeWilli
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
nothing new
and man there are so many people who think she's way out in lala loony land...
unfortunately I don't think she is and the reality (i guess as I see it) is way to close to what she's saying...
hungry
so i took a look at the bookmarks I've been stacking up. Much like my office they are a crazy unorganized list (at least the bookmarkbar default location is) but i know where everything is that I use regularly. But sometimes it is good to dig through and see what you can find. Even better to sort it all out and toss the junk and put the rest somewhere that you'll never see them again, I mean organize them.
So I'm digging and I see this and I start perusing the recipes and damn, there are some good looking ones. The Guinness burgers look esp tasty. Okay the presentation of the Beef Bouruignon looks to die for tasty. And I'd make that in a heart beat. But that is one heck of an expensive meal. Two bottles of wine, and yeah no brandy or cognac in the house either... have to buy those, then the meat. Sure Chuck is cheap but you can't just use any crappy chuck. And then canned beef broth? Really? I suppose. it would be a fantastic holiday special occasion meal. Might get two meals for my family, but they way the kids are eating stuff that tastes good (like I know they'd devour this) it is probably 1.5 meals for us (ie 6 servings even if I double the number of carrots).
So I'm digging and I see this and I start perusing the recipes and damn, there are some good looking ones. The Guinness burgers look esp tasty. Okay the presentation of the Beef Bouruignon looks to die for tasty. And I'd make that in a heart beat. But that is one heck of an expensive meal. Two bottles of wine, and yeah no brandy or cognac in the house either... have to buy those, then the meat. Sure Chuck is cheap but you can't just use any crappy chuck. And then canned beef broth? Really? I suppose. it would be a fantastic holiday special occasion meal. Might get two meals for my family, but they way the kids are eating stuff that tastes good (like I know they'd devour this) it is probably 1.5 meals for us (ie 6 servings even if I double the number of carrots).
On The Turning Away
This song gets to me.
It doesn't directly draw in to the loss of another cyclists to GBM. Word reached new england yesterday and spread over Twitter first... ThomP has a nice post about Michael
There are greater songs, probably songs more appropriate to embed. but hey, when pandora throws something at ya, well take the moment and run with it.
Reading Michael's blog, posthumously is tough. Hearing his voice come out through words although the person is gone, the spirit and his memory live on. No I was never fortunate enough to get to know him. I saw him around at races... I remember running into him at the NBX with the snow for some reason. Might be my brain playing tricks, but Michael was one of those guys who you noticed, like Mark Nicholson. They had a glow, an aura.
Reading his account of the treatment is different than say reading fast boy's battle with cancer. Humbling none the less.
I was thinking about Michael, and Mark a bit on the ride in. These two guys loved cycling so much. Mark was on his bike pushing us all to the limit the day before he checked into the hospital for the final time. Michael at least went through hospice, although I'm going to guess what Mark went through after being transfered back to NY was not much different.
It is hard separating these two remarkable people. So much loss.
So much loss.
There was a big race last weekend. Two of them. A while back there was this Canton Cup race. Pint glass and everything. I got it autographed, but it seems while I was in Northampton it got stuck in the dishwasher (i was going to take it to work as a desk trophy) and it isn't signed anymore. Probably for the better.
The wind has been brutal every morning this week. Each day getting slightly better but still not so much fun/easy riding in. The ride home last night was crazy intense because I was so late. But I managed to tickle the 20 minute mark, well just over it, i don't know specifically, other than i when i turned the computer off it was 5:07 and I had parked the bike and taken my backpack off and was inside a few minutes after arriving and noticed the clock was at 5:30.
I've got a pretty good idea of one thing i was doing wrong early part of the season, hopefully the changes I've made will stick and make it a bit more fun/successful.
Hitting the Sykes triple play starting tomorrow. Hard to wrap my head around a 10:30 am race on a Thursday. Will do a few springs on the way home but not too many, The race will be interesting. Very much a B/C race, but you know what? Who cares. I've got a few friends in the race, and lets face it, it's going to be me trying to beat Chad for a change this season and Chad trying to keep his 3 race streak of beating me going. I bested him last year at Lowell and NBX, but he was the one who witnessed my hooking my shorts on the damn saddle going into the barriers are mach 5 and barely making the save to keep from stacking face first into the planks and came around and the adrenaline rush killed the legs and gave him a few seconds of a gap and I just didn't have anything left to sprint him at the line.
Lets see what the weekend brings. Hell lets see what Tomorrow brings.
Gonna be muddy I'm guessing. it might be way out in the sand pile that is the cape but this is a farm, with some nicely improved soil. Meaning it is going to be muddy and rich blackness. Should be fun.
Really want to revist the Northampton races, but so far, motivation and time haven't coincided yet.
This is all i have for now.
Heddwch
G
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Thursday!
Some of yall have the day off, some of yall have it off because your kids have it off.
Come out to the farm. Lets race!
(registration closes tonight at 5pm, in less than an hour)
Wow - timely reminder on my part eh?
Been meaning to post this for a couple days.
Also meaning to write up NoHo...
Maybe I'll get to it.
Come out to the farm. Lets race!
(registration closes tonight at 5pm, in less than an hour)
Wow - timely reminder on my part eh?
Been meaning to post this for a couple days.
Also meaning to write up NoHo...
Maybe I'll get to it.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Phuc U GBM...
So I'm casually cruising through the open tabs sporadically as I can between stuff on a crazy monday...
and I read Thom's post about Mike Patrick.
And then i'm left with this posted on a forum two months ago:
I was amazed by this guy's skills. Sure ThomP was crazy mad that race in '08 but I guess Mike wasn't much of a slouch either. He was dancing over the rocks and roots taking to burke and I was dying and had no hope of keeping up. That guy has more mt bike skills in one toe than i have total.
But the ominous post, and the stage four GBM? That's what Nicholson was ultimately struck down with. Brushes with greatness we have at times.
Somewhere is a post about this weekend, but I couldn't go on without a small memorialized of someone I barely knew and met maybe once, but watched from afar as his skills and legend were revealed to me. And yeah He and ThomP rode that course more than 2x faster than I was able to. Thom won that day btw.
Everytime GBM comes up I think of Mark Nicholson.
And yeah, I still miss that guy, his enthusiasm and attitude, just an awesome guy to talk to, go to races with and hang out with.
Next weekend is my weekend of racing to dedicate in his memory. He only did a few CX races but realizing i was at three of the five I know he did and I drove him to three of them and they were Plymouth North in '07 and both days at Plymouth in '08. That sunday at Plymouth south, he raced, finished 2nd then hung out with my youngest while I raced.
'07 was cold and raining and we had Lucy with us. She ate one of his bananas I think. Chabot was miserable that day (probably because I beat him). It was cold in '08 but not too wet. He had dropped the scarf mid race and I picked it up for him. the next day was cold but super sunny.
So totally didn't intent to head this direction today.
Northampton report will be coming up. Hopefully before this weekend rolls around.
and I read Thom's post about Mike Patrick.
And then i'm left with this posted on a forum two months ago:
I would like to update you on Mike's condition. Mike had a second-opinion de-bulking surgery August 10th in NYC. He had a number of critical post-surgical complications, and was not expected to survive. Mike pulled thru (are you surprised???) and has made it out of the hospital. Although Mike's surgery reduced the horrendous cranial pressure he was suffering, it also revealed that that his cancer is now a GBM IV and is very advanced. The remaining tumor has caused paralyis on his right side and near total aphasia. Amazingly, Mike remains strong and is now in a care facility near his home.I didn't know Mike well. But that fateful race at Gloucester Grind (I actually won a race - yeah I beat exactly one other sport clydesdale) I was starting to ride a bit of the course before the race with Burke and Mike comes riding up and Burke and Mike started chatting a bit.
I was amazed by this guy's skills. Sure ThomP was crazy mad that race in '08 but I guess Mike wasn't much of a slouch either. He was dancing over the rocks and roots taking to burke and I was dying and had no hope of keeping up. That guy has more mt bike skills in one toe than i have total.
But the ominous post, and the stage four GBM? That's what Nicholson was ultimately struck down with. Brushes with greatness we have at times.
Somewhere is a post about this weekend, but I couldn't go on without a small memorialized of someone I barely knew and met maybe once, but watched from afar as his skills and legend were revealed to me. And yeah He and ThomP rode that course more than 2x faster than I was able to. Thom won that day btw.
Everytime GBM comes up I think of Mark Nicholson.
And yeah, I still miss that guy, his enthusiasm and attitude, just an awesome guy to talk to, go to races with and hang out with.
Next weekend is my weekend of racing to dedicate in his memory. He only did a few CX races but realizing i was at three of the five I know he did and I drove him to three of them and they were Plymouth North in '07 and both days at Plymouth in '08. That sunday at Plymouth south, he raced, finished 2nd then hung out with my youngest while I raced.
'07 was cold and raining and we had Lucy with us. She ate one of his bananas I think. Chabot was miserable that day (probably because I beat him). It was cold in '08 but not too wet. He had dropped the scarf mid race and I picked it up for him. the next day was cold but super sunny.
So totally didn't intent to head this direction today.
Northampton report will be coming up. Hopefully before this weekend rolls around.
Saturday, November 06, 2010
road trip
up to NoHo.
time to find out if everything is coming together.
one small burrito eaten, steel cut train with grain oats are made (similar recipe to last year), car is loaded (did that last night). Need to toss in GCD and Pahke's tires in there and my clothes and waterbottles and i'll be out of here, with one stop for coffee on the way.
must remember to pre-ride a couple times
must remember to kill the start but w/in my limits
and
-advance as many places as possible at the start
-dial the turns and sprint the corners
-break the course up into focused sections and rip each one looking for the next
-gain advantage on transitions and the run up (if it is there)
-maintain speed over the bumpy root sections
-focus on the positive, language and actions
-have fun
-race my race
-have fun
time to find out if everything is coming together.
one small burrito eaten, steel cut train with grain oats are made (similar recipe to last year), car is loaded (did that last night). Need to toss in GCD and Pahke's tires in there and my clothes and waterbottles and i'll be out of here, with one stop for coffee on the way.
must remember to pre-ride a couple times
must remember to kill the start but w/in my limits
and
-advance as many places as possible at the start
-dial the turns and sprint the corners
-break the course up into focused sections and rip each one looking for the next
-gain advantage on transitions and the run up (if it is there)
-maintain speed over the bumpy root sections
-focus on the positive, language and actions
-have fun
-race my race
-have fun
Thursday, November 04, 2010
one of those in case you missed it
grab a bucket of pop-corn and read the post then the comments.
That is of course assuming you can read it. I have to copy and paste it because the green on green is maddeningly annoying.
That is of course assuming you can read it. I have to copy and paste it because the green on green is maddeningly annoying.
great ride in
yeah - commuting in the rain. My feet are still freaking cold, but hey, that's what I get for not digging the booties out from last year.
I saw one person walking, two people running and that's it. Rain and 43°F when I left. Not too bad. But not warm. Got a nice hard ride in. Felt great. I am hesitant to say that maybe it feels like things are coming around, but that's what the races are for. If no race I'd say I'm FLYING right now, but I know that the results sheet will give the answer this weekend. And flying is probably not how you'd describe my speed.
Now I just hope I can get the shoes dry for the ride home.
I saw one person walking, two people running and that's it. Rain and 43°F when I left. Not too bad. But not warm. Got a nice hard ride in. Felt great. I am hesitant to say that maybe it feels like things are coming around, but that's what the races are for. If no race I'd say I'm FLYING right now, but I know that the results sheet will give the answer this weekend. And flying is probably not how you'd describe my speed.
Now I just hope I can get the shoes dry for the ride home.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
SLACKER!
Yeah call me something unique, or at least truthful. But slacking I have not been unless you are referring to training because I've done absolutely nothing. Well riding to work easily yesterday and Monday, today I put the screws down and got a solid threshold paced commute. So yeah, I guess it has turned into more of a rest week than I planned. Sunday night I watched that football game thinking maybe the Steelers would come back and win and I'd be rewarded for staying up late, but nope. They lost. Monday somehow I found myself watching the last two innings of the baseball game. First baseball I've watched all year and it was the last two innings of the season. Timing is everything. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want the Rangers to come back in the bottom of the ninth to win it and push the series on. I dislike the National League, I've never lived anywhere that actually has a NL team. Seattle, Michigan, New England. Sleep? Yeah what about it.
I've been thinking about those training races I dismissed with such conviction this year. Writing them off as doing no good, too short. Yeah well I'm an idiot. Not that yall didn't already know that much. Seems I may have made it to MRC last year, although I'm digging through the archives (lots of good shit in there - i should recycle some of it) and it seems I spent most of September underneath that silly passat doing the head gasket. Hmm. Might have to work on getting to a training race series next year. Maybe that's what I am missing this year. Hell who knows what I'm missing this year. Chipper's coaching thing has me thinking quite a bit. But then yeah maybe I'm uncoachable, but maybe not. Done dwelling on it now.
Looking forward to two days at NoHo, can't wait.
Then comes Plymouth. The Elites are grumbling about the lack of prize money, or I should say the paying out cash for a non-elite category but only handing out medals for the elites. Not the most popular move by a promoter. I'll wager it'll give Putney a big bump. And I've been considering it but the 45 min drive to Plymouth vs the 2hr and 45 min drive to Putney is the final factor. Well no. A friend is coming into town to race next weekend. He's been talking about coming up to NE to race cross with me one weekend for the last 5 years. We race CX together in Michigan as Bs and well, he's making the trip for Plymouth. Not the best representation of what we have to offer for courses but hey, it isn't about the course, it is about who you line up with no? The race is made by who you are racing against.
The courses make it fun or hard or both. But when it comes right down to it, cyclocross is damn fun. I might have to see about finding a second trainer for him to borrow to warm up, maybe one of the 45+ or gals will have one we can use on race day. He's got a flight out on Sunday and the whole drive time to Putney before a flight all for a CX race is pretty insane, sticking with the close race and the extra time to chill and have a couple beverages post race.
Well we'll see if the season is coming around this weekend I guess. I am going to try and ramp up the intensity to go into the weekend pretty hot (meaning about lukewarm compared to the rest of the field). It looks like with no school for the kids on Thursday next week I might even make it out to hit the corner cycle race promoting trifecta. Someone's gotta pay Bold and Hines salary I guess.
It's getting darker out there and colder, Finally.
Although, honestly, i'd really rather it stayed nice and warm during the week, getting cold and shitty on the weekends. The weather has a snowflake for mid-day Saturday here. Weather could be exciting at NoHo.
I should suit up for the ride home, last dry ride of the week it looks like. No trainer intervals in the back yard, guess I'll make it work on the way to work for the intensity.
heddwch
G
I've been thinking about those training races I dismissed with such conviction this year. Writing them off as doing no good, too short. Yeah well I'm an idiot. Not that yall didn't already know that much. Seems I may have made it to MRC last year, although I'm digging through the archives (lots of good shit in there - i should recycle some of it) and it seems I spent most of September underneath that silly passat doing the head gasket. Hmm. Might have to work on getting to a training race series next year. Maybe that's what I am missing this year. Hell who knows what I'm missing this year. Chipper's coaching thing has me thinking quite a bit. But then yeah maybe I'm uncoachable, but maybe not. Done dwelling on it now.
Looking forward to two days at NoHo, can't wait.
Then comes Plymouth. The Elites are grumbling about the lack of prize money, or I should say the paying out cash for a non-elite category but only handing out medals for the elites. Not the most popular move by a promoter. I'll wager it'll give Putney a big bump. And I've been considering it but the 45 min drive to Plymouth vs the 2hr and 45 min drive to Putney is the final factor. Well no. A friend is coming into town to race next weekend. He's been talking about coming up to NE to race cross with me one weekend for the last 5 years. We race CX together in Michigan as Bs and well, he's making the trip for Plymouth. Not the best representation of what we have to offer for courses but hey, it isn't about the course, it is about who you line up with no? The race is made by who you are racing against.
The courses make it fun or hard or both. But when it comes right down to it, cyclocross is damn fun. I might have to see about finding a second trainer for him to borrow to warm up, maybe one of the 45+ or gals will have one we can use on race day. He's got a flight out on Sunday and the whole drive time to Putney before a flight all for a CX race is pretty insane, sticking with the close race and the extra time to chill and have a couple beverages post race.
Well we'll see if the season is coming around this weekend I guess. I am going to try and ramp up the intensity to go into the weekend pretty hot (meaning about lukewarm compared to the rest of the field). It looks like with no school for the kids on Thursday next week I might even make it out to hit the corner cycle race promoting trifecta. Someone's gotta pay Bold and Hines salary I guess.
It's getting darker out there and colder, Finally.
Although, honestly, i'd really rather it stayed nice and warm during the week, getting cold and shitty on the weekends. The weather has a snowflake for mid-day Saturday here. Weather could be exciting at NoHo.
I should suit up for the ride home, last dry ride of the week it looks like. No trainer intervals in the back yard, guess I'll make it work on the way to work for the intensity.
heddwch
G
Monday, November 01, 2010
Flashback
to 2006 and 2007... before I got hit the "i know it all" level.
Backpedaling a bit to mess with the cronoman and to make this harder to read/follow.
So there's this typical trend. Get excited about something, suck info off everyone actively, always looking for new stuff, new information, new ways to do something.
UNTIL.
You hit a point where stuff starts to click and you get faster and better and success sort of starts happening.
THEN
You hit the I know it all now level. And don't really improve much over the previous season.
And you start buckling down again, but it is harder, and more familiar and you try to add structure, stuff that others with coaches are doing and it sort of works.
But...
along the way, that newbie edge is gone.
What edge? Well some people never lose that edge. The course studying. Reading reports from the years past about the race. Digging around the internet reading everything that has been written about the race, what riders do better there, tire choices, pressures, gearing, number of dismounts.
Granted when you have written about racing on a course three or four of more times you start to be able to picture it.
You can visualize it if you want.
Okay so what's the point?
CSI.
No not the TV show.
THE RACE.
This race was famous, I remember seeing pictures and video of this long before ever venturing up there. It feels like a haul for me, well I guess it only feels long if I'm driving up alone, last year with Essenfeld (fortunately I had someone to drive me home) didn't seem too bad.
So it has this mystique. People either love the race or hate it. I kind of really like it. Maybe doesn't suit me well but they way I'm going this year nothing suits me well so it is a wash and I can like something even if I suck at it.
Damn where was I going?
Oh yeah.
All that study, probably wasn't a bad thing. Reading and re-reading the Marvin Z articles (haven't done that this year and did it in limited amounts last year). I found my Krabbe book in with stuff from my trip to Richmond in the summer of '09 which means I didn't do my annual reading of it in '10. So that whole positive reinforcement of thinking positive and thinking about things I need to work on to be positive and fast kinda didn't happen. Life happens though. Doesn't take much to get you off your game, esp when it isn't your job.
So it really was a two pronged inspiration to get this out of my head in as confusing manner as possible, thinking about taggin this with food just to mess with those who only read those posts.
Prong One. Not really the whole thing, just the mention of C-S's online article database.
And Prong two, the update to CSI. Specifically the mention of the larger course map and the UCI commissaire report. I took a look and got that flash back (to being prepared, not the medical sections flash back to last year). Preparation. Thank god for a welsh miner's skull.
The routine has become too familiar almost. Although for Mansfield and Canton I did quite a bit of visualization. More for Mansfield and then Ron changed the course on me, less for Canton, but I've already mentioned my dumb thing for saturday (dumb or not I still had a blast).
In 2007, at the start line at NoHo. It was cold. Perfect. I had won the race to registration scoring a front row with the rest of the computer jockey/B masters... driving around at the business end of the group was intense. Even if we were going slowly. And what did I just do? I went back in time. Wow. It reads like I wrote it. Weird. Wait I did. Oh and this should be read before that scribblins link.
Yes. NoHo kicks ass. And I held that hole shot for most of a lap, on no sleep, completely hung over and under caffeinated.
First time at NoHo: 2007 Race it on no sleep after drinking WAY too much with my brothers.
Second time at NoHo: 2008 Raced it on the new tubulars until the rear blew out on the first lap and the antibiotics I'd been on for a few days destroyed me "Put it this way. I was more fatigued driving home from Northampton than I was driving home after racing at 24hr of Great Glen."
Third time at NoHo: 2009... okay we don't need to go there today, still fresh in the memory.
But
What comes out each time is how much fun that damn course is. Like the people who designed it know what they are doing or something. It is technical but it flows. It is bitching hard but so much fun. No faking that course.
Time to take myself back to school. Read the articles. Study the courses a bit more. Go back and read about the last races, what did I do wrong and what could I have done better. I've actually got a pretty decent archive. Completely and totally uselessly unsearchable except by date, but the stuff is there, and I really should work on learning from my mistakes.
I wonder if I got to where I was going. Oh. Shit. Habit. I keep meaning to stop doing the double space thing after a period. Seems that's for typewriters and not computers. Oops.
heddwch
G
Backpedaling a bit to mess with the cronoman and to make this harder to read/follow.
So there's this typical trend. Get excited about something, suck info off everyone actively, always looking for new stuff, new information, new ways to do something.
UNTIL.
You hit a point where stuff starts to click and you get faster and better and success sort of starts happening.
THEN
You hit the I know it all now level. And don't really improve much over the previous season.
And you start buckling down again, but it is harder, and more familiar and you try to add structure, stuff that others with coaches are doing and it sort of works.
But...
along the way, that newbie edge is gone.
What edge? Well some people never lose that edge. The course studying. Reading reports from the years past about the race. Digging around the internet reading everything that has been written about the race, what riders do better there, tire choices, pressures, gearing, number of dismounts.
Granted when you have written about racing on a course three or four of more times you start to be able to picture it.
You can visualize it if you want.
Okay so what's the point?
CSI.
No not the TV show.
THE RACE.
This race was famous, I remember seeing pictures and video of this long before ever venturing up there. It feels like a haul for me, well I guess it only feels long if I'm driving up alone, last year with Essenfeld (fortunately I had someone to drive me home) didn't seem too bad.
So it has this mystique. People either love the race or hate it. I kind of really like it. Maybe doesn't suit me well but they way I'm going this year nothing suits me well so it is a wash and I can like something even if I suck at it.
Damn where was I going?
Oh yeah.
All that study, probably wasn't a bad thing. Reading and re-reading the Marvin Z articles (haven't done that this year and did it in limited amounts last year). I found my Krabbe book in with stuff from my trip to Richmond in the summer of '09 which means I didn't do my annual reading of it in '10. So that whole positive reinforcement of thinking positive and thinking about things I need to work on to be positive and fast kinda didn't happen. Life happens though. Doesn't take much to get you off your game, esp when it isn't your job.
So it really was a two pronged inspiration to get this out of my head in as confusing manner as possible, thinking about taggin this with food just to mess with those who only read those posts.
Prong One. Not really the whole thing, just the mention of C-S's online article database.
And Prong two, the update to CSI. Specifically the mention of the larger course map and the UCI commissaire report. I took a look and got that flash back (to being prepared, not the medical sections flash back to last year). Preparation. Thank god for a welsh miner's skull.
The routine has become too familiar almost. Although for Mansfield and Canton I did quite a bit of visualization. More for Mansfield and then Ron changed the course on me, less for Canton, but I've already mentioned my dumb thing for saturday (dumb or not I still had a blast).
In 2007, at the start line at NoHo. It was cold. Perfect. I had won the race to registration scoring a front row with the rest of the computer jockey/B masters... driving around at the business end of the group was intense. Even if we were going slowly. And what did I just do? I went back in time. Wow. It reads like I wrote it. Weird. Wait I did. Oh and this should be read before that scribblins link.
Yes. NoHo kicks ass. And I held that hole shot for most of a lap, on no sleep, completely hung over and under caffeinated.
First time at NoHo: 2007 Race it on no sleep after drinking WAY too much with my brothers.
Second time at NoHo: 2008 Raced it on the new tubulars until the rear blew out on the first lap and the antibiotics I'd been on for a few days destroyed me "Put it this way. I was more fatigued driving home from Northampton than I was driving home after racing at 24hr of Great Glen."
Third time at NoHo: 2009... okay we don't need to go there today, still fresh in the memory.
But
What comes out each time is how much fun that damn course is. Like the people who designed it know what they are doing or something. It is technical but it flows. It is bitching hard but so much fun. No faking that course.
Time to take myself back to school. Read the articles. Study the courses a bit more. Go back and read about the last races, what did I do wrong and what could I have done better. I've actually got a pretty decent archive. Completely and totally uselessly unsearchable except by date, but the stuff is there, and I really should work on learning from my mistakes.
I wonder if I got to where I was going. Oh. Shit. Habit. I keep meaning to stop doing the double space thing after a period. Seems that's for typewriters and not computers. Oops.
heddwch
G
A few moments of clarity...
this morning.
but right now I can't remember exactly the flow that I had and had strung together in a premeditated manner.
It started with something, maybe the rest day, maybe just wearing work clothes (jeans and a nice shirt) with a winter cycling jacket and gloves to keep the chilly 34°F morning tolerable. Riding in non-cycling gear is a good way to mentally separate a training ride or regular commute into a "hey take it easy man" kind of ride in. And I did. And it was nice. And because I wasn't focused on 1 minute-ish intervals or trying to get 10 100m bursts in w/o affecting any other users on the trail before getting home or getting to work to do something else, my brain was free to wander. Maybe that's one of those sentences that marro was razzin me about yesterday, although that one seems kind of short.
I did get a chance to watch the race on Sunday. It was great. In a way wishing for courses closer to that level of challenge than the wide open Canton Super Speedway. But I suck at Canton, what's to make me think I will suck less on a course like Zonhoven? And despite being a massive grass crit, Canton took a fair share of prisoners. Sadly watching Sully get hauled off in a meat wagon was not the highlight of the day, but fortunately he sounds like he'll be fine.
Hmm, now I'm remembering what I was going to call this post:
DAMN HORSES.
Lead off with an aerial shot of canton from google maps you can see the actual course pretty well. I noticed that last week, hmm interesting. Yeah it is from 2010 it seems (watermark there by the track).
How in the world do they keep a cyclocross course that clear year round.
About lap 2 or 3 trying to pedal through that first section of grass it hit me. One there isn't a smooth fucking line in that whole field, and from edge to edge it is worked into a bumpy mess by damn horses. Now yes, they are theraputic and do a wonderful job with the kids at the Hospital School. Don't get me wrong, they're GREAT (as tony would say). It's just riding on that is tough, esp if you don't pre-ride and take a WAG on air pressure for the first race using a new set of tires. Yeah. Awesome me.
38 was too high. No bottoming out, just bounced the hell around.
Oops.
And thinking about that, in reference to Zonhoven, and thinking about how few seconds separate those guys and ErikV's post kind of clicked. One spot, 3 seconds 5 laps is only 15 seconds (i think). But 15 seconds is the gap that Stybar made in 1/2 a lap and he was out of sight!
Not pre-riding really hurt my results because I was wasting a ton of energy on the first and part of the second lap trying to stay with the group up there. I'd take a second too long here or there, slow down way too much on the right hander after the log jump, and go deep in the red every time trying to overcome for my mistakes.
I was flying over and making up time on the barriers, but that's about it. Carrie said I looked really smooth, I felt it, but wish I could take that and make the rest of my race that effortless. Oh up the run up too. I felt like I was just lifted up. But that's three places where I could gain maybe 1 second if someone screwed up, not nearly enough to compensate for my not figuring out the course on the first lap. I mean it is Canton. I've been racing there a ton. I missed it one year now that I think of it, drove up there with my girls on a day my wife was working, but the course doesn't really change much. Long laps, wide open fields. Yet somehow I still haven't figured it out.
The fact that it was less than an hour away seemed to reduce my desire to get out of the house as fast as possible, until it was too late to get changed and out for a lap. I actually probably did have time to do a lap if I hurried to get the bike ready and I just pre-rode before I changed, or if I'd been waiting at the start finish line when the 45+ race ended and did a lap around. I didn't. I elected to be relaxed, and get warmed up, on the trainer while heckling. Really got a decent warm up. Actually felt pretty good. Wound up with a 3rd row start right behind Sally, looking good in her fancy Crossresults.com skinsuit. Didn't plan to line up there, actually lined up behind Chad but he said "There is a high probability that I'm going to miss my pedal." "No seriously Geoff, you don't want to start behind me." So I moved over one and lined up behind Sally.
Compared to the starts in the B Masters (back in 06, thanks Crossresults.com although I never did the Chimborazo Cross Race - weird) or maybe in 08 in combined 35+ race with a good number of people it was a mellow not so bar banging brawl. That or I just hung in, found a wheel and motored. Sally had a great start but the front row was bookended by 1st and 2nd with 3rd right in the middle. And like a seine net the two ends met in the middle pretty quickly.
Of note CTodd came out of "retirement/funemployment" to race. And man he's like wicked way skinnier than he was last racing here. Granted he was never a big guy but he's CurtB or KurtP skinny right now. And Marro was racing with us too. Along with Chad, Scott, Burke, Stevens and the normal fast 35+ guys. In reality all that was missing? Asphlom and Hines and Boivin and you've got the front of the verge race more or less in tact.
I hemoraged time screwing up the corners that first lap. I was reeling in CTodd pretty well, then we saw "2 to go" for the second time and I knew he was cooked and I had plenty of time to make the pass, not just cooked but I came around him (actually he stopped before the gravel S turns asking for a draft) and he folded like a lawn chair. A cheap chabot kind. I was making headway and then Burke suddenly appeared in front of me, and I got pretty close coming onto the section before the track but he had 200 meters on me when I got up the run up, and there was no contesting him for 23rd place. I was cooked, felt I raced better and better, and had fun the whole time. After the first lap it was just me passing a couple people.
I was slow, am slower than I was last year but I had fun. A metric ton of it racing. I wished I'd run maybe 36 or 35 psi in the tires instead of the 38 but hey, it wouldn't have amounted to much of a difference compared to all my other screw ups (over cooking that turn really screwed me up, even the last lap). But hey, it wasn't too hot and I was racing.
I did manage to slowly nurse the last couple gallons in the tank home, slowly, in the rusty trusty race wagon. I need to transfer the 18 gallons of 100% bio into that tank before NoHo that i have in the shed. The car seems to move on down the road okay though. No issues getting there or back, as long as the road stays nice and smooth.
Oh to add insanity to this post - not that there isn't enough rambling and stuff in here to begin with... I had this week as a planned rest week, but I'm not feeling fatigued, kind of feeling hungry for some more pain. So. I'm going to make a change based on how I feel. Since I'm not feeling anything more than a bit sleepy, I'm going to keep pouring it on going into NoHo and then hit the rest week before Plymouth. Yeah Plymouth is generally my highlight, but hey, this year is different, and maybe i can make it to Eco-Cross and that will fire up the engines for the weekend races. I think I just made up my mind. Now I just have to remember to register for NoHo!
*deep breath*
no way in hell am i going to go back and read that/edit right now
heddwch
G
but right now I can't remember exactly the flow that I had and had strung together in a premeditated manner.
It started with something, maybe the rest day, maybe just wearing work clothes (jeans and a nice shirt) with a winter cycling jacket and gloves to keep the chilly 34°F morning tolerable. Riding in non-cycling gear is a good way to mentally separate a training ride or regular commute into a "hey take it easy man" kind of ride in. And I did. And it was nice. And because I wasn't focused on 1 minute-ish intervals or trying to get 10 100m bursts in w/o affecting any other users on the trail before getting home or getting to work to do something else, my brain was free to wander. Maybe that's one of those sentences that marro was razzin me about yesterday, although that one seems kind of short.
I did get a chance to watch the race on Sunday. It was great. In a way wishing for courses closer to that level of challenge than the wide open Canton Super Speedway. But I suck at Canton, what's to make me think I will suck less on a course like Zonhoven? And despite being a massive grass crit, Canton took a fair share of prisoners. Sadly watching Sully get hauled off in a meat wagon was not the highlight of the day, but fortunately he sounds like he'll be fine.
Hmm, now I'm remembering what I was going to call this post:
DAMN HORSES.
Lead off with an aerial shot of canton from google maps you can see the actual course pretty well. I noticed that last week, hmm interesting. Yeah it is from 2010 it seems (watermark there by the track).
How in the world do they keep a cyclocross course that clear year round.
About lap 2 or 3 trying to pedal through that first section of grass it hit me. One there isn't a smooth fucking line in that whole field, and from edge to edge it is worked into a bumpy mess by damn horses. Now yes, they are theraputic and do a wonderful job with the kids at the Hospital School. Don't get me wrong, they're GREAT (as tony would say). It's just riding on that is tough, esp if you don't pre-ride and take a WAG on air pressure for the first race using a new set of tires. Yeah. Awesome me.
38 was too high. No bottoming out, just bounced the hell around.
Oops.
And thinking about that, in reference to Zonhoven, and thinking about how few seconds separate those guys and ErikV's post kind of clicked. One spot, 3 seconds 5 laps is only 15 seconds (i think). But 15 seconds is the gap that Stybar made in 1/2 a lap and he was out of sight!
Not pre-riding really hurt my results because I was wasting a ton of energy on the first and part of the second lap trying to stay with the group up there. I'd take a second too long here or there, slow down way too much on the right hander after the log jump, and go deep in the red every time trying to overcome for my mistakes.
I was flying over and making up time on the barriers, but that's about it. Carrie said I looked really smooth, I felt it, but wish I could take that and make the rest of my race that effortless. Oh up the run up too. I felt like I was just lifted up. But that's three places where I could gain maybe 1 second if someone screwed up, not nearly enough to compensate for my not figuring out the course on the first lap. I mean it is Canton. I've been racing there a ton. I missed it one year now that I think of it, drove up there with my girls on a day my wife was working, but the course doesn't really change much. Long laps, wide open fields. Yet somehow I still haven't figured it out.
The fact that it was less than an hour away seemed to reduce my desire to get out of the house as fast as possible, until it was too late to get changed and out for a lap. I actually probably did have time to do a lap if I hurried to get the bike ready and I just pre-rode before I changed, or if I'd been waiting at the start finish line when the 45+ race ended and did a lap around. I didn't. I elected to be relaxed, and get warmed up, on the trainer while heckling. Really got a decent warm up. Actually felt pretty good. Wound up with a 3rd row start right behind Sally, looking good in her fancy Crossresults.com skinsuit. Didn't plan to line up there, actually lined up behind Chad but he said "There is a high probability that I'm going to miss my pedal." "No seriously Geoff, you don't want to start behind me." So I moved over one and lined up behind Sally.
Compared to the starts in the B Masters (back in 06, thanks Crossresults.com although I never did the Chimborazo Cross Race - weird) or maybe in 08 in combined 35+ race with a good number of people it was a mellow not so bar banging brawl. That or I just hung in, found a wheel and motored. Sally had a great start but the front row was bookended by 1st and 2nd with 3rd right in the middle. And like a seine net the two ends met in the middle pretty quickly.
Of note CTodd came out of "retirement/funemployment" to race. And man he's like wicked way skinnier than he was last racing here. Granted he was never a big guy but he's CurtB or KurtP skinny right now. And Marro was racing with us too. Along with Chad, Scott, Burke, Stevens and the normal fast 35+ guys. In reality all that was missing? Asphlom and Hines and Boivin and you've got the front of the verge race more or less in tact.
I hemoraged time screwing up the corners that first lap. I was reeling in CTodd pretty well, then we saw "2 to go" for the second time and I knew he was cooked and I had plenty of time to make the pass, not just cooked but I came around him (actually he stopped before the gravel S turns asking for a draft) and he folded like a lawn chair. A cheap chabot kind. I was making headway and then Burke suddenly appeared in front of me, and I got pretty close coming onto the section before the track but he had 200 meters on me when I got up the run up, and there was no contesting him for 23rd place. I was cooked, felt I raced better and better, and had fun the whole time. After the first lap it was just me passing a couple people.
I was slow, am slower than I was last year but I had fun. A metric ton of it racing. I wished I'd run maybe 36 or 35 psi in the tires instead of the 38 but hey, it wouldn't have amounted to much of a difference compared to all my other screw ups (over cooking that turn really screwed me up, even the last lap). But hey, it wasn't too hot and I was racing.
I did manage to slowly nurse the last couple gallons in the tank home, slowly, in the rusty trusty race wagon. I need to transfer the 18 gallons of 100% bio into that tank before NoHo that i have in the shed. The car seems to move on down the road okay though. No issues getting there or back, as long as the road stays nice and smooth.
Oh to add insanity to this post - not that there isn't enough rambling and stuff in here to begin with... I had this week as a planned rest week, but I'm not feeling fatigued, kind of feeling hungry for some more pain. So. I'm going to make a change based on how I feel. Since I'm not feeling anything more than a bit sleepy, I'm going to keep pouring it on going into NoHo and then hit the rest week before Plymouth. Yeah Plymouth is generally my highlight, but hey, this year is different, and maybe i can make it to Eco-Cross and that will fire up the engines for the weekend races. I think I just made up my mind. Now I just have to remember to register for NoHo!
*deep breath*
no way in hell am i going to go back and read that/edit right now
heddwch
G
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