bikes... to lust after

High production values - wicked cool and I still totally want a Firefly


But this thing is pretty much what after all the riding of bikes I've done still is what I want, and kind of what I have in the Klein Q Pro.

Definitely would like that fancy fork in the green bike.

It is that simple

World Cup racer POV

We all get to watch the races live now, rare that anyone is complaining like last year about buffering and hanging and crappy feeds. The only thing we're still missing on the pirate feeds are the live women's races usually. Maybe that's next year's jump.

Since cyclocross season ended for me I've missed very few of the big races. and the Pros are pretty incredible. Learn much? no not anymore. But appreciate it? yes even more.

A GoPro on Christian Heule's bars was spotted by Chandler (CycloWHAT?) early in the race and well. Here's the video:


go to HD and full screen to watch it. That French course always reminds me of a bigger wider open, hillier and faster Providence at RWP, with no awkward barriers.

Watching that I can't help but thing about the Contour-Plus camera and how cool it would be to be a TV producer and put a handful of them on the bikes/riders. Not so different from auto-racing's in car cameras no? Go back and watch a crash unfold in front of the racer. Cyclocross is a challenge because of the bike changes and how well does the contour do with pressure washing and all that, best place to mount... not as easy as sticking something onto a car. But production value would be sweet I think. No, not an original idea on my part the video master HenryJ has mentioned it before. Just talking about it now, after watching Heule's footage.

Think about that sporza feed with racer pov! Although the sun angle is a challenge there in a few sections. Not quite ready for prime-time yet, but close.

Heddwch
G

Edward Abbey

From DC

“Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break….I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun.”
-Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness

Abbey was a huge influence on me growing up.

I think his books might be on the list here soon after I finish 'The Wave' by Susan Casey.

definitely worth a watch...

Mahogany Chicken over Salad

That's what it looked like so that's what I'm calling it.

Just a basic green salad, lettuce, shredded carrots, diced avocado, added a couple or hard boiled egg wedges and tossed it all with my trademark and perfected dressing.

The chicken, just as simple as the salad to put together.  Heck almost easier because salad means washing lettuce (you're nuts if you think pre-washed lettuce is clean, but i generally just buy heads of lettuce) and all the rest of that.

So chicken, I used breasts, who doesn't love breasts.  These were pretty freaking big (too big maybe) so I did a diagonal slice to get some more surface area for the marinate.

The chicken went in the marinate before I started doing the salad prep (and a few minutes watching the beginning of the NO/SF game).

The marinate gives it the color.

Shoyu sauce (use the good stuff - the crap with coloring and other stuff is just not worth anyone's time)
-----i use: SAN-J Organic Bronze Label Shoyu
Balsamic Vinegar (again there are different levels of it - basic point is that it is Balsamic and it doesn't have anything else in it).
Ginger powder (could use fresh but the powder works)
Olive oil

That's it.

get a skillet nice and hot, use a bit of fat/oil (i used some beef fat saved in the freezer) cook em hot and pour the sauce over the top.  Flip them once and make sure it is cooked through but not too well done.  Then slice and return to the pan to deglaze with the juices (the chicken soaks it back up, there won't be any wasted flavor or liquid).

Put the chicken on the salad and enjoy.

Not a great meal to eat the night before a race, but it is always good to mix up the ratios in the off season, for lots of reasons.  You never want to get into a food rut eating the same thing and quantities every day, meals like this free up a night to go crazy with pasta or pizza.

That and no bike riding since Tuesday means no need to replace glycogen.

I did sort out the bike room a bit and set the Paramount up as a trainer bike. Not sure if I'm going to set the Croll up for the long haul bike or just stick some metal wheels and adjust the brakes on the Blue and go for some plastic for the long haul.  But now it looks like winter.  A century on a day that starts off at 13°F with a high of only 30°F doesn't actually sound wicked smart, staying warm for an hour is very different than 3+ even with a break to warm up at the halfway point.  But it is a curious challenge and one that is intriguing and something that is oddly motivating.

heddwch
G

recon: complete

am a bit under the weather, work had a gap mid-day and the weather was crappy for cycling so... recon time.

yes, the PVD to BOS ride.  Or Ivy to Ivy (Brown to Harvard) or Art school to Tech School or just College Hill to Cambridge and back.

so i jumped on at 123 in attleboro and drove a bit of it, why not. I needed time away from the computer, from the office with something other than traffic to fight in a rush to get from point A to point B.  Cranked the JPow DJ Shine mix and cruised.

The nice thing about checking new routes in the car is wrong turns don't cost you nearly as much time.  But there is a spot on Bay that was wicked slick.  Icey almost, and the MF decided to get a bit loose, as in SIDEWAYS - a bit of adrenaline rush but I held on (dirt track style) and stayed on the pavement.  Yeah maybe the tires aren't the best eh? Ah well.

Was a bit of fun.  Totally doable i think.  Pretty long and not much daylight to get here to there.  The drive south was f'n nuts.  The wind was brutal.  It would have made riding from BOS to PVD one hell of a long headwind slog.  steady 20 gusting over 40 is not fun riding.  that E-word? maybe.

Got back to the lab and checked out some wicked cool new (to me) samples on the SEM...

So, now, weather, schedule, timing.  Days that get lightly or unscheduled (still stuff to do but ones without training sessions) with good weather, might turn into 'mileage' days.  For what training good?  Who cares.  Time to have fun on the bike...  Thinking about doing that ride up and back in the same day boosts the endorphin just based on the potential.  I wasn't checking mileage today but I think it is a very easy and manageable 50 by bike each way.  Providing lunch stop in BOS isn't too long I should be able to get home before dark or at least get into my home state as the sun is setting.

So windy today.

now what

way back when i could write...

and write

what ever was in my head, it didn't matter who read it, but i had a chance to write it, and sort shit out in my head

now, not so much

not really a good thing but it is what it is.

i'm old now. responsibilities have changed.

racing season is over, as slow as I am i really still want to be in Louisville right now. so what if I don't make the heat.

i wanted to be in Madison too.  but hey  i don't have mud tires, i have the antithesis of mud tires. so yeah. i would have sucked extra.  it attenuates the desire but doesn't remove it completely.

worlds.

sure - i would be a first heat participant most likely.  such a tiny chance of actually making it to the main heat.

i see so many who are saying "fuck that season was long, i'm done."

i'm not feeling that now, but my season is done.

now what

guarded words

working on a sinus infection to add to it all

winter is slowly getting here

now what

oh seattle

slacking - i know

hopefully for good reason (true)

what a weekend of CX eh?

JPOOOOOW

Behind the Barriers will have a new episode tomorrow at 8am.

I get to play with fancy scanning microscopes tomorrow, kind of excited. got the Millennium Falcon back together just in time I suppose. top off the tank tomorrow AM and see if it is any easier to drive on 95 up to Peabody MA and back with the new squish tubes and unbroken spring.

CX video goodness

Does anyone else want this to be longer? Thumbnail still is pretty awesome.

A Barenaked Ladies Afternoon

No not bare naked ladies (that would be awesome to have an afternoon full of bare naked ladies though, no?)

THESE



and then there's this one with the line: "I made you say underwear."
http://youtu.be/u3NE6UuaLiY

Parts may be going on the MF in the morning but at this rate we might be working on it this weekend, save some PTO for next week or a day when it is warm enough to get to BOS (that's the current goal adding a spark, ride to BOS and back before the end of the month - with a bigger goal of taking one day a month to make the ride).  Take a day in the week when i need a mental health day...  that goal alone is one I like, no where near enough volume (once a month that far is tough to make significant) but I think, that, just maybe, that extra mileage all at once (long day in the saddle no doubt) once a month has the potential to pay off for next season.  That is if I actually do the trip and decide it is worth trying to do more than once.  The trip with the 30 pounds of dog food in the trailer reminded me that while the empty trailer works as a highway impact zone on a truck...

yes that's how it is being used right now.  Sure it isn't going to do much to slow down a car but it will give then a second to hit their brakes before i hit their windshield.  And with luck give me enough of a push so that the velocity differences are slightly reduced.

So after the dog food adventure I'm now hunting for 'weights'.  30 pounds would be perfect.  I'd prefer not to go the water or glass route... (just another thing to occupy my mind).
(Oh and it took me a surprisingly long time to find a picture of a truck mounted impact attenuator - like 3-5 minutes because i didn't have the wording quite right - but i won).

There is a significantly higher work requirement just hauling the trailer with my backpack in it.  But getting the trailer significantly heavier makes the elevation gain on the commute very significant.  And that is a good thing (when 90% of riding is between home and work on the same route).

BNL day.  Yeah....

heddwch
G

Dinner

So tonight I cooked food.

Yeah yeah, I cook pretty much every night, esp now that I'm not working a few nights a week.

Tonight I tried something different.

I'd cooked up some chickpeas (been buying them dry in bulk from wholefoods) and they needed to be eaten or frozen. The were going to be hummus but that didn't happen and I thought I'd go with a frugal economy dinner but still shoot for flavor and something that makes you feel full and satisfied.

Started the Rice (organic brown medium grain bulk from WF) used about 1.5 cups of rice and 3 cups of water (bring to boil, turn to low and cook till finished).

Farted around checking on the SS race from CXnats.

Then chopped up two ribs of celery, 1/2 a sweet onion, and 4 medium carrots.   Popped em in some wicked hot extra virgin olive oil in my big pan and cooked em.

Then chopped up a smallish sweet potato.  Made little sticks about 2cm long and 3-4mm wide.  Popped em in the pan too.

Added some oregano and more olive oil, some 365 Valle Del Sol Chili Powder, paprika, salt.  Cooked it for a bit.

Some water in there to steam it all a bit.  stirring and cooking.

Then added a bit of turmeric and black pepper, some more salt and some x-hot chili powder and 1 chopped red pepper.

and then a bit more water.
Not soupy but liquidy.

Then the cooked chickpeas went in and 3 big cloves of crushed garlic and the rice.  And water to make it kind of a thick risotto.

I kept tasting it, which is a fun departure for me.  Usually I have a pretty set idea of the spices, the balance and ratios and can gauge it really well by smell, and the progression of ingredients required.  Since I'm not trying to duplicate any specific dish or taste in mind the flavors always vary when I'm cooking.  But they are never disappointing.  Always good.

This tasted not quite right before the garlic and was still missing something.  Until I added 3-4 tablespoons (not much when you're looking at all the veggies plus 1 quart of cooked chickpeas and a huge pile of rice) of some organic seasoned rice wine vinegar (the org stuff has less sugar and sodium in it oddly) and a few tablespoons of Shoyu sauce.

Mixed it all up and - NAILED IT.

So good.

I added a bit of lee kum kee shrirachi sauce when eating mine to add a bit more depth and heat.  But everyone kind of looked at it funny at first, but they ate it up.  And my tummy is happy and full right now.

Was fun...  And different.  And pretty easy on the wallet, and wicked solid good for you too.

Heddwch
G

still waiting

The Millennium Falcon is still chilling on the pad.

Even if the parts are on the doorstep when I get home it is likely going to sit like that tomorrow too.  Maybe I'll take a bit of time on Friday morning to put it together and take the rental tool back.  Assuming it is slightly warmer.

Not sure I'll put the inside back together right away.  Call it a two seat extended coupe for a bit.  But right away might last until the weekend.  Supposed to warm up a touch.

Dune Buggy look would be pretty funny...

Cold? Yeah, not too bad.

Old CCC said it best: "its all about proper layering"

(DUDES THERE IS A PASTE AS PLAIN TEXT OPTION IN RIGHT CLICK NOW #IAMEXCITE)

So how did I deal with the temps? Besides dragging the trailer?

Conditions: temp somewhere between 11°F and 14°F with a wind directly head on with speeds in this range  19/14/9 (gust, avg, lull - in mph).

In other words a solid no question Jens Factor 5 and with the peak gusts combined with over ground speed into the wind a solid no question Jens Factor HC.

Cold.

So what does GeWilli wear in those conditions?
Top down?
Hugely vented Specialized Propero Helmet.
Ibex Wool beanie
Oakley Glasses
Badger Healing Balm on exposed facial skin
Team Issue Hincapie winter jacket
Team Issue Hincapie long sleeve jersey
REI long sleeve poly-pro base layer
Team Issue bib shorts over
Pearl Izumi Thermafleece bib tights (wicked old like 1996-98 old - knees are showing age)
Pearl Izumi thermafleece tights (no pad, just running tights)
Finally the feet.
Louis Garneau 0° Egro grips
Switftwick tall wool compression socks

And on the hands? My Helly Hansen Polar Mittens (no liners - hand got cold taking panda shots).

Got a decent warm up, felt a bit cold, but after about 5 minutes into the headwind I was starting to warm up and just elevated the work until I was holding about 155 on the HRM and pegged it there until the down hill section, and brought it back up until the next one and rode at a recovery HR once I hit the city.

Just started to break a sweat once I got going, feet were fine.  Once I stopped pedaling and sat down the lack of activity and the cold sole kind of cooled the feet off a bit but for those 40 minutes or so, not so bad.

Couple of shot for the hell of it.  (after the fold)

collection of babble from this morning

Part 1 (and yeah I know, I need just as much training of the legs and lungs as I need of the brain)


Train your BRAIN! http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=9981

Alex has mentioned it in the VO2Max not max article he wrote, the brain has more control than is given credit. 

it is easier to buy a power tap and pay a trainer to write you a work out schedule do FT tests and pedal harder. 

but what about the brain? 

Marvin's been great over the years, and I'm looking forward to his writings on his blog:http://marvzauderer.wordpress.com/

I will also be curious to see what new ideas Jim Taylor brings to PEZhttp://drjimtaylor.com/2.0/aboutdrjimtaylor/

A bit about what the kenyans eat and stuff - (they're a bunch of fatasses)
I don't like how Active dot com does their articles (no dates on when they were written and sometimes recycled content from other sources) But this is a good one. (i pulled the active link... and left one to the miami)

Oh here - quick sourcing finds:
http://www.multisportmiami.com/blog1/2010/07/262/ (with a date on it).

The article doesn't seem to be new, the sources are no more recent than 2004.

Here is a more recent primary article about Ethiopian distance runners:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3117768/?tool=pubmed

With very similar findings. High carbohydrates. But these are also 'kids.' Metabolism is not the same as old master racers or the part of the population of athletes trying to hit race weight. Also, it would seem as noted from the Kenya study that they actually are 'fat' by my elite cycling friends. 
http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:6KSTb2eXiRAJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,40 
not sure that link will work but there is a PDF of the original floating around but it doesn't like to download well.

Interesting stuff to consider/think about. Even if I'm pretty lukewarm on Active's generation of content...




and finally

Great Advice:
1. Stop eating diet food
2. Don’t count calories
3. Spend more time with food
4. Eat before you eat
5. Don’t even try battling temptation
6. Go to bed hungry
7. Get off the scale
8. Don’t eat when stressed
9. Be forgiving
10. Your best advice here….please share!

http://www.thesweetbeet.com/losing-it-best-advice-for-weight-loss-and-health-gain/

Hard Core and so cool...

http://www.bigringriding.com/post/15235654969/ricardo-ovalle

JPOW - the epitome of Joy

New Year Ride

I did manage to get outside for a very very brief ride yesterday between feeding the girls and sunset.

I just jumped on the Blue and hit my course for three laps, two close to race pace, then did a couple laps over on the one Curtis laid out, one of those as full speed.

I was riding at the edge of control and it was fast, and it felt awesome. Lines that i'd had trouble with by design seemed easy yesterday. There was a synergy I felt on the bike, and with the course. Sure it probably has something to do with the fact that I laid it out and have ridden a couple dozen laps over a week or so. I added a new wrinkle yesterday that I liked. Always riding it with the thought, what would I do to make it harder, longer. Where would the stakes and tape go. I like riding like that. The last lap was a slower one, thinking about placement, and the one off camber drop in section seemed ridiculously smooth and fun.  Thoughts of the different courses were bouncing in my head.  What makes some better than others, more fun, harder.  Watching a lot of the euro CX this week was different than normal.  No "why can't we have courses like that here."  More of a "How could we tweak out courses to be harder and more physically demanding?"  I do think Colin has a solid handle on it.  Most of the turns on his course are greater than or equal to 90° (or all acute angles if you measure the inside turn angle).

Look at the nationals course map that was published some time ago.  All sweeping wide open turns, seems to be like a 22psi file tread course where you just put it in the big ring, disconnect the brakes and go as hard as you can.  Compared to what it could be and the land they seem to have (from the overhead shot) I would expect more of a Bend course or something.  Even Catamount has some good challenging turns you can't take a full speed.  Plenty that you can though.

Weather is nothing anyone can control and is a huge factor.  If Belgium had been rain free for the last two or three weeks the courses would have looked very different.  Bit it rained.  And they chewed the hell out of the course and it made for incredible racing.  Well until everyone got sick and Sven showed why he is Wonder Boy.

I set out on the ride yesterday because I was not maybe feeling as chipper as I could be.  It was 55°F mid-day but I wasn't riding, and by the time it was time to head out the thermocouple was saying it 49°F and falling.  And the sun had disappeared behind the clouds.

Riding fixes everything, right?

No, plenty of stuff it doesn't fix of course.

But the ride kind of made it all worse in way. Everything was perfect on the bike.  But the ride can't last forever.  It had to end.  Much like the cyclocross season.  And right now there really isn't anything on the horizon that is taking the place of it.  That kind of bums me out...

And yes... the horizon in the images are not level, just tilt your head.

heddwch
G

truth

Remember that we're all the same assholes today we were yesterday. Every day is a new chance to smash this life, not just today -AM

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda 


Every year brings new challenges, what is 2012 going to offer up...


we shall see in 2013, as we don't know till we're through and can look back.