It was ball sweating warm for a good couple of days and today i go out for the Wed night Leg Waster and FREEZE.
Okay not freeze but it was 48°F when I got home. Bare arms and legs = not so ideal.
But while riding it was fine. Actually for a few sections (the climbs) I was regretting the baselayer and the cycling cap.
Peng from Brown showed up, Andrew, Burke and Fox rounded out the quintet. No slouches.
Burke took the opening sprint with my leadout for the state line. For some reason I didn't shift, I should have but I didn't. Just tried to spin up to him. I managed to match his speed but didn't go around him. Then we all took turns pegging it, nice paceline thing. No chatting. We were single file full TTT mode today. Burke attacked the null town line, which was fine because I just held the pace up till Pine.
Peng, then Andrew set a really solid pace, I sat on Burke's wheel and when Peng jumped I jumped and went around to take Pine, but didn't really let up until the top of the hill. Wow did that hurt. Like, that hurt a LOT. The time off the bike since the RdR3.0 was not really beneficial.
We kept the hammer down, how fast? Not a clue. The magnet i put on this old wheel didn't seem to want to play nice with the sensor, so not only did I not have my HRM chest strap (still MIA) I didn't have speed. NO FEED BACK! OMG! FREAKOUT... not really.
We hit Rocky Hill and skinny Andrew took over the pace from Peng and drilled it, again I was sitting back on burke's wheel who was sitting on Fox's wheel. At the spot I usually wait to attack, Burke wound it up, and I took advantage of it and used it as a leadout and blew past him to take Rocky hill. Floating down the hill, I managed to recover a tiny bit but wound up leading out all the way to the turn onto Hillside. Usually I try and recover from the sprint and set up my chances for surviving/winning Hillside. I didn't. And we turned on to Hillside and Fox set a good pace, then Burke made a suicide attack on the first steep section. It is a stair step climb, and he blew it all on the first one.
Which would have been okay if Andrew wasn't there because Andrew is super skinny and very strong. And he took that pace and ran with it after Burke blew. I was hoping they wouldn't. I rode it, but I was dropped. Sadly. It sucked. I sucked. Nice wake up call though. And it was good that I didn't win them all.
I was too far back to see who actually won Hillside.
Burke pulled me back to the other three and then I went up to set up the speed run down Read to Walker. Gave a flick of the elbow to Andrew who was on my wheel and he didn't move. Flicked again, nothing.
FUCK DUDE PULL THROUGH! Peng did wind up pulling through but that was it for me, too much. Which is good, means I was hitting the limit, gotta hit it hard to move that limit. But was bad because Peng kept drilling it and went right past the improved route. We re-grouped at 152 and agreed not to sprint for the state line and just rode tempo to the stop light. From there it was basically neutralized.
Got back to the bridge a few minutes after 6pm. Not a bad pace for the day, even considering I was slow and pokey...
The Klein felt sharp and fast, was just nice to be riding even if my arms are still frozen. I thought it was going to be over 60°F but nope - i think we actually wound up starting with it a handful of degrees below that. And windy. The ride home into the wind from the bridge was cold. Brrr.
silly little ride report
heddwch
G
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Make it work Lunch at home
Leg Wasting Wednesday Waterman Grille ride is tonight... can't pull a Nick and not eat. Didn't want to make a sandwich, there was some left over rice (long grain organic brown rice - bulk at WF)....
Fried rice time.
Olive oil in the hot pan.
Cracked two eggs into the pan, mixed em up and let them cook. scraped em out into a bowl.
more olive oil
1/4 diced onion
1/4 diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup garbanzo beans (soaked the day before, cooked yesterday, waiting to make hummus with)
1/4 cup frozen shelled edemame
touch of beef fat (caloric loading and to modify the fatty acid profile)
-yes, when i make burgers inside i save the rendered fat in the pan - why waste? esp using good beef.
got that all nice and hot.
Added 1.5-2 cups of cold rice
mixed it up got it warm
Added some shoyu (tablespoon or so)
two spoonfuls of the green chili sauce (that i made the other night)
teaspoon or so of turmeric, some fresh black pepper
added a bit of water to make a sauce and to de-glaze the pan.
added the egg, took one thin slice of some Applegate Blackforest ham and diced it and added that too.
Once all mixed up I served it with a pile of chopped wicked hot Habanero peppers and a teaspoon or so of some of the Sirachi sauce.
So good. Took about 10-15 and I have good bit of really tasty and spicy food.
Simple ingredients, nothing really complicated. not possible to make in the office but being home with the girls on vacation has some benefits.
heddwch
G
Fried rice time.
Olive oil in the hot pan.
Cracked two eggs into the pan, mixed em up and let them cook. scraped em out into a bowl.
more olive oil
1/4 diced onion
1/4 diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup garbanzo beans (soaked the day before, cooked yesterday, waiting to make hummus with)
1/4 cup frozen shelled edemame
touch of beef fat (caloric loading and to modify the fatty acid profile)
-yes, when i make burgers inside i save the rendered fat in the pan - why waste? esp using good beef.
got that all nice and hot.
Added 1.5-2 cups of cold rice
mixed it up got it warm
Added some shoyu (tablespoon or so)
two spoonfuls of the green chili sauce (that i made the other night)
teaspoon or so of turmeric, some fresh black pepper
added a bit of water to make a sauce and to de-glaze the pan.
added the egg, took one thin slice of some Applegate Blackforest ham and diced it and added that too.
Once all mixed up I served it with a pile of chopped wicked hot Habanero peppers and a teaspoon or so of some of the Sirachi sauce.
So good. Took about 10-15 and I have good bit of really tasty and spicy food.
Simple ingredients, nothing really complicated. not possible to make in the office but being home with the girls on vacation has some benefits.
heddwch
G
new beetroot stuff
http://www.andjrnl.org/article/S2212-2672(11)01948-4/abstract
It works.
A while back I was pondering the suggestion that nitrates aren't bad for you in Bacon, meats and what not.
Got me thinking (what doesn't). Beetroot and vegetable nitrate is very different than the stuff in meats.
Why? Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrite are added to kill shit, and keep shit from growing. The stuff in veggies are physiologically active, not for killing, for living.
Very different.
Do you really want to eat foods containing stuff that is added to kill living organisms? Do you? I don't.
not going to belabor the point - pretty clear IMHO,,,
It works.
A while back I was pondering the suggestion that nitrates aren't bad for you in Bacon, meats and what not.
Got me thinking (what doesn't). Beetroot and vegetable nitrate is very different than the stuff in meats.
Why? Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrite are added to kill shit, and keep shit from growing. The stuff in veggies are physiologically active, not for killing, for living.
Very different.
Do you really want to eat foods containing stuff that is added to kill living organisms? Do you? I don't.
not going to belabor the point - pretty clear IMHO,,,
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
GeWilli Green Chili sauce
So I know I linked that other recipe, but I had to tweak it.
#1 what is a green chili sauce w/o some tomatillos or cilantro? I mean really. Gotta have those in there.
#2 raw flour as a thickener? Yuck. Seriously. No thank you, that is a culinary faux pas on the order of showing up at the start of a cyclocross race with a tank top and a tri-bike. If you want to thicken with flour you need to make a roux, and you need to make sure you cook the flour. Yes. People will disagree, I'm still not going to do it. Corn starch? mix some with a bit of cold water (organic GMO free is easily found now so you can make the hippies happy) and that's fine, just not flour.
Okay so what did I do.
1/2 an onion diced.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves crushed garlic
3 fresh anahiem chilies
1 fresh poblano chili
3 medium size tomatillos (diced)
small bunch of cilantro (1/4 of the cut fresh bundle from the store) finely chopped stems and all
salt
freshly ground cumin
coriander
pepper
1.5 cup water
First up cut the peppers in half, take the white stuff out and roast them. I do it right on the gas stove on the burner set high. If you don't have a gas stove you can put them on a grill or put them under the broiler until they are mostly black and start smelling like pure awesomeness.
So with those roasted, let them cool down for a bit before chopping them (DAMHIK). When they are cool dice them up nice and small.
Put the oil in a sauce pan, get it hot, pop in the onions and let them soften and start to carmelize but not burn, add in the diced chilies, the diced tomatillos and the garlic and the spices. Let that get nice and hot and reduce some of the liquid out, then pop in the water, bring it to a boil and simmer for 10-15 min. Cilantro should go in with the water, you will lose a tiny bit of the freshness but you'll make it more consistent and the stems will break down.
Once it is nice and cooked grab your immersion blender and go to town. You could also stick it in a few batches through a regular blender. The goal is to make a nice smooth sauce.
The recipe above says to use the thickener, but mine didn't need it one bit. Maybe the extra fiber mass from the cilantro and the tomatillos added some bulk. I did put a tiny bit of cayenne pepper in there, but not much. I add heat to my stuff with fresh habanero peppers.
We wound up using most of it with dinner, but the rest got popped in a jar and put in the fridge. Probably won't last long.
yes - you have to chop, cook and it is easier to just buy a jar of green chili sauce... but this stuff is fresh, and the effort you put in is well worth it.
Making food from scratch is always worth it. Always.
heddwch
G
#1 what is a green chili sauce w/o some tomatillos or cilantro? I mean really. Gotta have those in there.
#2 raw flour as a thickener? Yuck. Seriously. No thank you, that is a culinary faux pas on the order of showing up at the start of a cyclocross race with a tank top and a tri-bike. If you want to thicken with flour you need to make a roux, and you need to make sure you cook the flour. Yes. People will disagree, I'm still not going to do it. Corn starch? mix some with a bit of cold water (organic GMO free is easily found now so you can make the hippies happy) and that's fine, just not flour.
Okay so what did I do.
1/2 an onion diced.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves crushed garlic
3 fresh anahiem chilies
1 fresh poblano chili
3 medium size tomatillos (diced)
small bunch of cilantro (1/4 of the cut fresh bundle from the store) finely chopped stems and all
salt
freshly ground cumin
coriander
pepper
1.5 cup water
First up cut the peppers in half, take the white stuff out and roast them. I do it right on the gas stove on the burner set high. If you don't have a gas stove you can put them on a grill or put them under the broiler until they are mostly black and start smelling like pure awesomeness.
So with those roasted, let them cool down for a bit before chopping them (DAMHIK). When they are cool dice them up nice and small.
Put the oil in a sauce pan, get it hot, pop in the onions and let them soften and start to carmelize but not burn, add in the diced chilies, the diced tomatillos and the garlic and the spices. Let that get nice and hot and reduce some of the liquid out, then pop in the water, bring it to a boil and simmer for 10-15 min. Cilantro should go in with the water, you will lose a tiny bit of the freshness but you'll make it more consistent and the stems will break down.
Once it is nice and cooked grab your immersion blender and go to town. You could also stick it in a few batches through a regular blender. The goal is to make a nice smooth sauce.
The recipe above says to use the thickener, but mine didn't need it one bit. Maybe the extra fiber mass from the cilantro and the tomatillos added some bulk. I did put a tiny bit of cayenne pepper in there, but not much. I add heat to my stuff with fresh habanero peppers.
We wound up using most of it with dinner, but the rest got popped in a jar and put in the fridge. Probably won't last long.
yes - you have to chop, cook and it is easier to just buy a jar of green chili sauce... but this stuff is fresh, and the effort you put in is well worth it.
Making food from scratch is always worth it. Always.
heddwch
G
Monday, April 16, 2012
quick coleslaw
So today is cooling off fast, like a proper New England day.
But it still called for a bit of a concession to the warmth.
Coleslaw.
yeah, food.
mmmm
Finely chop 1/4-1/2 head of cabbage
Peel and grate 4 carrots
Slice 1/2 an onion (place in ice cold water for 10 min)
While onion is soaking (yes there is a reason, no i don't feel like writing about it now) grab one of those mustard containers with not enough to get out, but are perfect for making salad dressing in. I used a 365 organic German Mustard bottle.
In the bottle, balsalmic vinegar, organic seasoned rice vinegar (the organic one has less sugar and salt than the other one), some celery seed, mustard powder (1/4 tsp of each maybe) and then olive oil.
go about 1/2 and half with the vinegar/oil... shake vigorously.
add about 1/4 tsp celery seed to the top of the cabbage and carrots in the bowl. Shake some salt over it, drain the onions, dump the dressing over it (whole bottle of it - nothing is worse than under dressed coleslaw).
Toss it.
Let it sit.
if you can.
I can't seem to let it sit.
K who HATES cabbage in her salad or stir fry or anything, LOVES this coleslaw.
And yeah. It is so good.
Never every can make enough of it. Which is too bad because it keeps really well in the fridge. And since it is all just veggies oil, mustard and vinegar, you can leave it out if you want, take it on a picnic and the food freaks who throw stuff away that is sitting out for an hour can eat without the same horror that would grip them seeing a bowl of that icky mayo based coleslaw stuff.
So good.
If you'll excuse me I'm going to go sneak another bite while I make my green chili sauce (with tomatillos and cilantro).
heddwch
G
But it still called for a bit of a concession to the warmth.
Coleslaw.
yeah, food.
mmmm
Finely chop 1/4-1/2 head of cabbage
Peel and grate 4 carrots
Slice 1/2 an onion (place in ice cold water for 10 min)
While onion is soaking (yes there is a reason, no i don't feel like writing about it now) grab one of those mustard containers with not enough to get out, but are perfect for making salad dressing in. I used a 365 organic German Mustard bottle.
In the bottle, balsalmic vinegar, organic seasoned rice vinegar (the organic one has less sugar and salt than the other one), some celery seed, mustard powder (1/4 tsp of each maybe) and then olive oil.
go about 1/2 and half with the vinegar/oil... shake vigorously.
add about 1/4 tsp celery seed to the top of the cabbage and carrots in the bowl. Shake some salt over it, drain the onions, dump the dressing over it (whole bottle of it - nothing is worse than under dressed coleslaw).
Toss it.
Let it sit.
if you can.
I can't seem to let it sit.
K who HATES cabbage in her salad or stir fry or anything, LOVES this coleslaw.
And yeah. It is so good.
Never every can make enough of it. Which is too bad because it keeps really well in the fridge. And since it is all just veggies oil, mustard and vinegar, you can leave it out if you want, take it on a picnic and the food freaks who throw stuff away that is sitting out for an hour can eat without the same horror that would grip them seeing a bowl of that icky mayo based coleslaw stuff.
So good.
If you'll excuse me I'm going to go sneak another bite while I make my green chili sauce (with tomatillos and cilantro).
heddwch
G
RdR 3.0 the words
Where do you start with a ride like this. So much build up, so much preparation, logistics, planning and thinking about it really almost starts after the end of the last one.
This year scheduling was working against me for a bit. My parents are on their East Coast tour and played at the Peace Abbey Saturday night. No choice but to go, of course. Who knows if there will be another chance to see my Grandmother's memorialized awards and see her Table (seems the cabinets and table are moving to Umass Boston) in their original setting. There was initially a chance that they would come home with us and we would spend Sunday together. If that happened no RdR for me. It actually went back and forth. Team Captain (Jerry, the VT Ice Cube) said we were doing it. Nick was on board, Curtis was too, even though he thought it was going to be on Saturday until a few days before hand. Gary bowed out to run 17 miles around a mountain and for scheduling conflicts. We did pick up the great smelling Cort Cramer as a 5th along the way.
It was a bit back and forth for a few week, and then my folks got a gig in Maine for the 15th. They left the Peace Abbey at 10:30pm or so and drove straight to Pemaquid, ME. Yeah. Sort of a long drive after a concert. They are headed back down here tonight, hopefully in time for dinner. No clue what I'm making yet. I should probably go shopping, we'll see. Could be a crazy make it work dinner, or just a regular burrito/taco salad night, or we go shopping.
The concert in Maine cemented it. I was going. Mid-week I was actually trying to get out of it, just wasn't feeling it, I was in a funk and focused on the negative aspects of last year, getting back and racing home to the family dinner (again with my parents on tour). Nick was persuasive enough, basically saying, you are going to do this, no backing out, period.
So prep began. Mentally then in action.
Things got checked off the list. Tires, garmin, bike, cash, food, beverages... things fell into place pretty effortlessly. And as each one did, I started to get more excited about it. The weather initially forecast rain, but I only saw it here in Rhode Island when I was driving. It was clear and dry before I got to Foxboro.
Saturday was day 3 at the bike shop. A few evenings followed by the whole day. I rode in. Ate a whole pile of Pad Thai (with tofu) from Aspara for lunch. A handful of pancakes before and after lunch. When the shop closed at 5 we grabbed some dinner at Hope Street Pizza, saw Brent and Derdowski there (not together, but they do make a cute couple). Ate, gathered the oldest from her Swan Lake rehearsal and headed north to the Peace Abbey. Ate. Lots. Of. Food.
Snacked on some Easter colored Peanut M&Ms on the drive home. And once home I started getting stuff together. Clothes and what not, everything except loading the bike in the car and making breakfast. I put the MLFN letters on the bike after cutting the ends of the zip-ties holding the Garmin on. But I was still a bit wired. Eventually I got in bed around midnight. But sleep eluded me. I dozed on and off all night. Eventually getting up at 5:45. Very much sleepy and feeling totally un-rested I set about trying to get out of the house by 6:30. After making a few breakfast sandwiches (my preferred long ride food), grabbing the last two slices of greek pizza (spinach, feta, fresh tomato and olives) from dinner and making a bit of coffee the car was loaded and I drove off in the drizzle at 6:50. And I slummed and picked up some DD iced coffee. For the waterbottles. Yes. I started the ride with two bottles of Dunkin black iced coffee.
Metallica mix CD from the last race was the sound track for the drive. I made it. Pulling a U-turn there at the Tavern at 7:50. Found Nick and pointed out that he was parked in the one Handicap spot on the street... he moved his car. we've both got functional shitbox cars. He likes to say his is in better shape. It might be. But my rust bucket got me there and home w/o issue. Will it make it another 3-5 years? I really hope so, doubtful though.
It was really actually incredibly easy and quick to get to the Tavern. Not only is the owner awesome to support the event, but the location kicks ass for getting to. Helps that there is little traffic at that hour on a Sunday morning.
Cort showed up a bit late, and Jerry and Curtis rolled in later. We missed the rider meeting, but we were in the later waves. I think we missed our wave even still.
The goodie bag was labeled CX OMP. CyclocrossRacing.com team kit has the big CX on it, and OMP? Well OMP is the hashtag for Old Man Power. We were all old. And the slowest of us is really not very slow.
Jerry was wearing arm warmers and a baselayer to start the ride. No one else was. And we were looking at him funny. He cracked, melted, sweated his shorts white (they were black at the start). Maybe he didn't need them?
We rolled out, Jack's Garmin was calculating, but we were moving and it was probably confused. So I turned it off, and back on, and realized I hadn't started it. Did that and switched over to Map view mode while Jerry called off the next turn.
Spooky and the Gang was with us at the start. We rolled off as a group of 8 or 9. But gapped them in the technical stuff. First Curtis, then Nick was riding sweet lines through the trails and Cort and Jerry weren't having any trouble keeping up.
There was plenty of "Where to now?" slowing and looking. Esp hitting the first section of Trail.
But it was fun. The tires pumped up to 60psi were bouncing off everything and traction was no where near CX racing requirements but it worked.
Total blast being on the edge of crashing. Two wheel powerslides were the norm. Plenty of locking up the rear wheel to make the turn.
We popped out and at some point on the roads we wound up heading towards Cutler. Roads I had ridden on with Cameron and Wilcox, it was pretty sweet. Traffic was light but we were generally following the lights and the rules of the road. Waiting for Red Lights and what not. No breaking the law in the CX OMP gang.
Cutler was awesome. We caught up with one of the woman's teams in Cutler just before one of the board walks. We were f'n FLYING through that stuff. Nick was setting a pretty determined pace and we were freaking railing it and having fun. Maybe not tongue dragging pace but it was swoopy. SWOOOPY. I LOVE SWOOPY. I pretty much could be heard all over the whole park. Andy Huff was at the exit changing a flat or waiting for a team mate to change it and he made a comment "oh that was you, makes sense." I was loud. It was f'n FUN.
We actually passed a ton of teams. Some were fixing flats, others were riding slowly, or looking at the cue sheet. The Quad gang did catch us before the Charles trail IIRC. They were on a tear. Pre-riding had given then the route and they were just cranking to set the best time. Knowing the roads is super key to setting a blistering pace. Curtis and Nick were setting hot shit pacing on the road sections. Jerry was hanging on and Cort was just wicked hung over. But he smelled nice.
At some unknown point Nick ejected a bottle out of his crappy plastic holders. But who knows where. Then at some section of trail he actually lost the second one, but noticed it and went back for it.
Honestly there is a bit of blurr in my brain as to how it all links together.
We lost the Quad train when Jerry broke a chain. As in broke off, had to turn around and look for it. Just as nick and I settled in to eat he comes bombing down the hill chain fixed and drops us. Fucker fixed a busted chain in less than 3 minutes.
It was enough to lose the Quad express but we motored and and powered on. I was working my ass off to close the gap. Jerry and Curtis and Cort were flying and me and Nick were going as hard as we could to close the gap. There was lots of that. Lots of going flat out to catch up after some sections.
We came out of the trail not quite sure where we were supposed to go after a gap and a wrong turn but caught back on. I think that was where we saw the Chip and stache express. And what Nick and I were drilling it to catch back. Or maybe it was me and Jerry. I dunno. But we got back on and dropped the NEBC gang.
A couple steep run ups would have been easier with toe spikes. Honestly I was expecting to see the Chipster cleaning EVERYTHING but he wasn't. CX OMP had skills. Even me. I was hopping shit left and right. There were a handful I had to dismount but the guys would get off and I'd just slow down, let em clear it and then ride it clean. Was a fucking BLAST.
Trails don't suck. Well the bumpy rocky ones do.
And the one right after the Cumby farms one REALLY sucked. We hit it at 25 mph and Nick's bottles ejected at the same time my bike made a terrible crack sound as my bars rotated a degree (alloy no worry) but it hurt. And then it was old rail bed and those guys weren't slowing down. Took a bit to get back on the train.
We did stop for water at the Cumby. I bought a gatorade and a gallon of water. Wound up with 1/2 a gallon left when everyone was topped up but then marky mark showed up and gratefully took my offer of the cold water. A quick stop, and really the only non-mechanical stop. No RSC, no Bagel place.
At one point Chip got a flat and Curtis realized his wheel problem was because the spoke on the mavic had come out. Took longer to get that sorted than Chip's flat tire change (yes, Jerry's Pedro's tool had the mavic spoke wrench). And we lost them for a bit. But caught up just by being awesome on the trails.
After the water stop and while we were cruising at 22mph on the old rail bed behind the Aumiller express Jerry was mostly OTB so I drifted back to give him a draft and hopefully keep him from cracking more and getting him back to the group. But well. I guess I missed seeing a big rock and he nailed it with the front wheel. Hard enough to rotate his bars and pinch flat. I didn't see it, but still feel bad about it. I should have seen it. Oh well.
The flat meant the Chipstick train was gone. Our massive advantage was driving away, along with DJ. Hale had a little shuffle speaker thing on his bike cranking out beats the whole time. It alternated being annoying and entertaining.
My brain can't remember how it all linked up well enough while writing. If you were on the ride with me you can probably piece the sections here together better.
The railbed stava speed section was crazy sketchy and fun. We were flying along it, like FLYING. Curtis was way up there and Matt was drilling it with chip, uri, me, hale, then cort, nick jerry... flying. Uri washed out before we went up and over the road and started the speed section and then for some reason chip jumped to the rail bed, so I did, but I nearly ate shit, but saved it.
Felt nice to have handling save my bacon more than once.
Jerry caught a good stick at some point and went over the bars only to get run over by Chip. I was in the back but nick said it was pretty funny.
Jerry's flat though. Back to that. He got the old tube out and the new one in pretty quickly. But his CO2 blew its wad w/o doing anything. Then he broke out the pump, only to find the tube to be not working, despite being in the fancy Schwalbe tube bag. I handed over a spare SV15 tube i had in my jersey pocket and eventually Jerry got it fixed. Everyone had blown through at that point and we were alone. Navigating and drilling it when we could.
Tempo was everything. Every hill was a challenge to keep Jerry attached to the group. But the last section of trail my handling was gone. Jerry said I was over cooking every corner. And I was. I was fucking them up good. But we didn't really get lost. And then at some point we found the Cambridge boys with a busted rear dear on one bike and Cort realized he knew where we were and we set pace for home.
So much fun. I cracked once or twice from not eating enough soon enough, and then not drinking enough soon enough. But that's what you get for going hard and having fun. You forget about stuff like that.
Also not as many chances for photographs.
But.
It
was
a
fucking
BLAST
seriously maybe the most fun i've had on a bike since I don't know when.
Really did feel like Mark's spirit was with me. Just happy and full of fun. Just like he always was.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Maybe all the red lights that the Chipstick and Aumiller express were running. Seriously they were doing this Alley Cat 'breaking the law' style, red lights? meant nothing if the road was clear.
We certainly looked pretty damn pro, the 4 of us in matching kits, smooth and steady. It really did feel like a team. Never a doubt about the other guys. 100% trust in their line choice and abilities. A comfort you have to look long and hard to find #TWSS (had to be done). Was nice. Cort's not on the same team but he's got that same skills and that level of good friend that trust comes from. Would have been even more awesome if Gary had been there. But it was a wicked solid awesome Team bonding experience.
We stuck together. No question. No one left behind.
That ride.
Was.
Awesome.
Thanks to RoseyScott, Chip and Aumiller, Gus and everyone else. So awesome that it raised some cash for Bikes not Bombs.
Seriously Awesome. Scott's recap is up now.
Once again I didn't stick around for the Raffle. But I was tired, and was falling asleep on the drive home, a beer would have been bad, and that's what was going on inside. Also feeling somewhat anti-social. Had a burger outside the Tavern with Nick after Jerry and Curtis left for the Sox game and Cort headed home to his dog. So tired.
Legs were so fried. I was never at my limit, but I was so close and the end was starting to hurt quite a bit.
I think it was harder than the ride with Dean. Despite being 1/2 as long.
The headset loosened up quite a bit on the ride, but that's fixed now. Strava has been uploaded. So where did we ride? Here's the map, speed and elevation profile.
Legs are still destroyed today, but I haven't ridden at all, so that's probably part of it. Lazy day off at home with the girls on a vacation day. A good opportunity to write this up.
Re-read? Proof-read? Not a fucking chance. At least not at the moment. If i messed something up, feel free to correct me.
This was fun. I might have to make a point to hit some more trails with the CX bike. or maybe even dust off the Mt Bike. CX bike would be better though, if nothing else to be sharper when CX season rolls around.
enough words?
maybe...
yes
but one more:
Heddwch
G
This year scheduling was working against me for a bit. My parents are on their East Coast tour and played at the Peace Abbey Saturday night. No choice but to go, of course. Who knows if there will be another chance to see my Grandmother's memorialized awards and see her Table (seems the cabinets and table are moving to Umass Boston) in their original setting. There was initially a chance that they would come home with us and we would spend Sunday together. If that happened no RdR for me. It actually went back and forth. Team Captain (Jerry, the VT Ice Cube) said we were doing it. Nick was on board, Curtis was too, even though he thought it was going to be on Saturday until a few days before hand. Gary bowed out to run 17 miles around a mountain and for scheduling conflicts. We did pick up the great smelling Cort Cramer as a 5th along the way.
It was a bit back and forth for a few week, and then my folks got a gig in Maine for the 15th. They left the Peace Abbey at 10:30pm or so and drove straight to Pemaquid, ME. Yeah. Sort of a long drive after a concert. They are headed back down here tonight, hopefully in time for dinner. No clue what I'm making yet. I should probably go shopping, we'll see. Could be a crazy make it work dinner, or just a regular burrito/taco salad night, or we go shopping.
The concert in Maine cemented it. I was going. Mid-week I was actually trying to get out of it, just wasn't feeling it, I was in a funk and focused on the negative aspects of last year, getting back and racing home to the family dinner (again with my parents on tour). Nick was persuasive enough, basically saying, you are going to do this, no backing out, period.
So prep began. Mentally then in action.
Things got checked off the list. Tires, garmin, bike, cash, food, beverages... things fell into place pretty effortlessly. And as each one did, I started to get more excited about it. The weather initially forecast rain, but I only saw it here in Rhode Island when I was driving. It was clear and dry before I got to Foxboro.
Saturday was day 3 at the bike shop. A few evenings followed by the whole day. I rode in. Ate a whole pile of Pad Thai (with tofu) from Aspara for lunch. A handful of pancakes before and after lunch. When the shop closed at 5 we grabbed some dinner at Hope Street Pizza, saw Brent and Derdowski there (not together, but they do make a cute couple). Ate, gathered the oldest from her Swan Lake rehearsal and headed north to the Peace Abbey. Ate. Lots. Of. Food.
Snacked on some Easter colored Peanut M&Ms on the drive home. And once home I started getting stuff together. Clothes and what not, everything except loading the bike in the car and making breakfast. I put the MLFN letters on the bike after cutting the ends of the zip-ties holding the Garmin on. But I was still a bit wired. Eventually I got in bed around midnight. But sleep eluded me. I dozed on and off all night. Eventually getting up at 5:45. Very much sleepy and feeling totally un-rested I set about trying to get out of the house by 6:30. After making a few breakfast sandwiches (my preferred long ride food), grabbing the last two slices of greek pizza (spinach, feta, fresh tomato and olives) from dinner and making a bit of coffee the car was loaded and I drove off in the drizzle at 6:50. And I slummed and picked up some DD iced coffee. For the waterbottles. Yes. I started the ride with two bottles of Dunkin black iced coffee.
Metallica mix CD from the last race was the sound track for the drive. I made it. Pulling a U-turn there at the Tavern at 7:50. Found Nick and pointed out that he was parked in the one Handicap spot on the street... he moved his car. we've both got functional shitbox cars. He likes to say his is in better shape. It might be. But my rust bucket got me there and home w/o issue. Will it make it another 3-5 years? I really hope so, doubtful though.
It was really actually incredibly easy and quick to get to the Tavern. Not only is the owner awesome to support the event, but the location kicks ass for getting to. Helps that there is little traffic at that hour on a Sunday morning.
Cort showed up a bit late, and Jerry and Curtis rolled in later. We missed the rider meeting, but we were in the later waves. I think we missed our wave even still.
The goodie bag was labeled CX OMP. CyclocrossRacing.com team kit has the big CX on it, and OMP? Well OMP is the hashtag for Old Man Power. We were all old. And the slowest of us is really not very slow.
Jerry was wearing arm warmers and a baselayer to start the ride. No one else was. And we were looking at him funny. He cracked, melted, sweated his shorts white (they were black at the start). Maybe he didn't need them?
We rolled out, Jack's Garmin was calculating, but we were moving and it was probably confused. So I turned it off, and back on, and realized I hadn't started it. Did that and switched over to Map view mode while Jerry called off the next turn.
Spooky and the Gang was with us at the start. We rolled off as a group of 8 or 9. But gapped them in the technical stuff. First Curtis, then Nick was riding sweet lines through the trails and Cort and Jerry weren't having any trouble keeping up.
There was plenty of "Where to now?" slowing and looking. Esp hitting the first section of Trail.
But it was fun. The tires pumped up to 60psi were bouncing off everything and traction was no where near CX racing requirements but it worked.
Total blast being on the edge of crashing. Two wheel powerslides were the norm. Plenty of locking up the rear wheel to make the turn.
We popped out and at some point on the roads we wound up heading towards Cutler. Roads I had ridden on with Cameron and Wilcox, it was pretty sweet. Traffic was light but we were generally following the lights and the rules of the road. Waiting for Red Lights and what not. No breaking the law in the CX OMP gang.
Cutler was awesome. We caught up with one of the woman's teams in Cutler just before one of the board walks. We were f'n FLYING through that stuff. Nick was setting a pretty determined pace and we were freaking railing it and having fun. Maybe not tongue dragging pace but it was swoopy. SWOOOPY. I LOVE SWOOPY. I pretty much could be heard all over the whole park. Andy Huff was at the exit changing a flat or waiting for a team mate to change it and he made a comment "oh that was you, makes sense." I was loud. It was f'n FUN.
We actually passed a ton of teams. Some were fixing flats, others were riding slowly, or looking at the cue sheet. The Quad gang did catch us before the Charles trail IIRC. They were on a tear. Pre-riding had given then the route and they were just cranking to set the best time. Knowing the roads is super key to setting a blistering pace. Curtis and Nick were setting hot shit pacing on the road sections. Jerry was hanging on and Cort was just wicked hung over. But he smelled nice.
At some unknown point Nick ejected a bottle out of his crappy plastic holders. But who knows where. Then at some section of trail he actually lost the second one, but noticed it and went back for it.
Honestly there is a bit of blurr in my brain as to how it all links together.
We lost the Quad train when Jerry broke a chain. As in broke off, had to turn around and look for it. Just as nick and I settled in to eat he comes bombing down the hill chain fixed and drops us. Fucker fixed a busted chain in less than 3 minutes.
It was enough to lose the Quad express but we motored and and powered on. I was working my ass off to close the gap. Jerry and Curtis and Cort were flying and me and Nick were going as hard as we could to close the gap. There was lots of that. Lots of going flat out to catch up after some sections.
We came out of the trail not quite sure where we were supposed to go after a gap and a wrong turn but caught back on. I think that was where we saw the Chip and stache express. And what Nick and I were drilling it to catch back. Or maybe it was me and Jerry. I dunno. But we got back on and dropped the NEBC gang.
A couple steep run ups would have been easier with toe spikes. Honestly I was expecting to see the Chipster cleaning EVERYTHING but he wasn't. CX OMP had skills. Even me. I was hopping shit left and right. There were a handful I had to dismount but the guys would get off and I'd just slow down, let em clear it and then ride it clean. Was a fucking BLAST.
Trails don't suck. Well the bumpy rocky ones do.
And the one right after the Cumby farms one REALLY sucked. We hit it at 25 mph and Nick's bottles ejected at the same time my bike made a terrible crack sound as my bars rotated a degree (alloy no worry) but it hurt. And then it was old rail bed and those guys weren't slowing down. Took a bit to get back on the train.
We did stop for water at the Cumby. I bought a gatorade and a gallon of water. Wound up with 1/2 a gallon left when everyone was topped up but then marky mark showed up and gratefully took my offer of the cold water. A quick stop, and really the only non-mechanical stop. No RSC, no Bagel place.
At one point Chip got a flat and Curtis realized his wheel problem was because the spoke on the mavic had come out. Took longer to get that sorted than Chip's flat tire change (yes, Jerry's Pedro's tool had the mavic spoke wrench). And we lost them for a bit. But caught up just by being awesome on the trails.
After the water stop and while we were cruising at 22mph on the old rail bed behind the Aumiller express Jerry was mostly OTB so I drifted back to give him a draft and hopefully keep him from cracking more and getting him back to the group. But well. I guess I missed seeing a big rock and he nailed it with the front wheel. Hard enough to rotate his bars and pinch flat. I didn't see it, but still feel bad about it. I should have seen it. Oh well.
The flat meant the Chipstick train was gone. Our massive advantage was driving away, along with DJ. Hale had a little shuffle speaker thing on his bike cranking out beats the whole time. It alternated being annoying and entertaining.
My brain can't remember how it all linked up well enough while writing. If you were on the ride with me you can probably piece the sections here together better.
The railbed stava speed section was crazy sketchy and fun. We were flying along it, like FLYING. Curtis was way up there and Matt was drilling it with chip, uri, me, hale, then cort, nick jerry... flying. Uri washed out before we went up and over the road and started the speed section and then for some reason chip jumped to the rail bed, so I did, but I nearly ate shit, but saved it.
Felt nice to have handling save my bacon more than once.
Jerry caught a good stick at some point and went over the bars only to get run over by Chip. I was in the back but nick said it was pretty funny.
Jerry's flat though. Back to that. He got the old tube out and the new one in pretty quickly. But his CO2 blew its wad w/o doing anything. Then he broke out the pump, only to find the tube to be not working, despite being in the fancy Schwalbe tube bag. I handed over a spare SV15 tube i had in my jersey pocket and eventually Jerry got it fixed. Everyone had blown through at that point and we were alone. Navigating and drilling it when we could.
Tempo was everything. Every hill was a challenge to keep Jerry attached to the group. But the last section of trail my handling was gone. Jerry said I was over cooking every corner. And I was. I was fucking them up good. But we didn't really get lost. And then at some point we found the Cambridge boys with a busted rear dear on one bike and Cort realized he knew where we were and we set pace for home.
So much fun. I cracked once or twice from not eating enough soon enough, and then not drinking enough soon enough. But that's what you get for going hard and having fun. You forget about stuff like that.
Also not as many chances for photographs.
But.
It
was
a
fucking
BLAST
seriously maybe the most fun i've had on a bike since I don't know when.
Really did feel like Mark's spirit was with me. Just happy and full of fun. Just like he always was.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Maybe all the red lights that the Chipstick and Aumiller express were running. Seriously they were doing this Alley Cat 'breaking the law' style, red lights? meant nothing if the road was clear.
We certainly looked pretty damn pro, the 4 of us in matching kits, smooth and steady. It really did feel like a team. Never a doubt about the other guys. 100% trust in their line choice and abilities. A comfort you have to look long and hard to find #TWSS (had to be done). Was nice. Cort's not on the same team but he's got that same skills and that level of good friend that trust comes from. Would have been even more awesome if Gary had been there. But it was a wicked solid awesome Team bonding experience.
We stuck together. No question. No one left behind.
That ride.
Was.
Awesome.
Thanks to RoseyScott, Chip and Aumiller, Gus and everyone else. So awesome that it raised some cash for Bikes not Bombs.
Seriously Awesome. Scott's recap is up now.
Once again I didn't stick around for the Raffle. But I was tired, and was falling asleep on the drive home, a beer would have been bad, and that's what was going on inside. Also feeling somewhat anti-social. Had a burger outside the Tavern with Nick after Jerry and Curtis left for the Sox game and Cort headed home to his dog. So tired.
Legs were so fried. I was never at my limit, but I was so close and the end was starting to hurt quite a bit.
I think it was harder than the ride with Dean. Despite being 1/2 as long.
The headset loosened up quite a bit on the ride, but that's fixed now. Strava has been uploaded. So where did we ride? Here's the map, speed and elevation profile.
Legs are still destroyed today, but I haven't ridden at all, so that's probably part of it. Lazy day off at home with the girls on a vacation day. A good opportunity to write this up.
Re-read? Proof-read? Not a fucking chance. At least not at the moment. If i messed something up, feel free to correct me.
This was fun. I might have to make a point to hit some more trails with the CX bike. or maybe even dust off the Mt Bike. CX bike would be better though, if nothing else to be sharper when CX season rolls around.
enough words?
maybe...
yes
but one more:
Heddwch
G
Riding with the memory of a friend
Late (11:30pm) Saturday night the 14th I looked at the Blue Norcross EX all ready to go ride the Ronde de Rosey 3.0. The Schwalbe gen 1 Racing Ralphs were mounted with nice SV17 tubes inside filled with 25grams of Doc Blue (the original, not re-branded Stans).
Jack Madden at Legend Bikes set me up with his Garmin Edge 605 for the day, I'd hoped to upload and use the GPS track that the Quad guys laid down, but i couldn't figure it out, or it just spent too long trying to calculate in the end, but man it helped out quite a bit when we weren't riding with Chipstick and Co. Jerry calling out turns, me checking map and confirming. Knowing what the road was called before we could read a street sign helped tremendously. But we were still sort of slow riding trying to follow the cue sheet.
Bike was ready to go. And I got to thinking about someone who would have just absolutely loved to do this with me. I didn't have any of his signature green on the bike.
I remembered the ancient roll of Fisher Sci lab tape from MSU I had kicking around in my bag... So i grabbed some scissors and made my own letters for the down tube.
Here it is. I had the sigma on there as backup and initially planed for it to give me some HR feedback but my chest strap is missing. The mileage on it is from the start of the Wed night leg waster until the end of the RdR3.0. 4:55:54 is the timer. Not a pedestrian ride. Strava Suffer score for slower teams was in the Extreme range. And the heat was nuts (in the woods when we were moving slowly), it melted our little VT Ice Cube.
Those green letters. Mark Louis Francis Nicholson.
I'd like to think it was his spirit and memory that I carry with me that kept me mechanical free during the ride. But it was probably just routine prep and running reasonably bomb-proof and proven old stuff.
Still miss my friend Mark. He was never not smiling, never not a fountain of joy, never failed to light up the space around him.
Thanks for tagging along yesterday Mark. It was fun the whole time. Such a blast. Two wheel drifting on tires pumped way the hell up in the lose dusty single track. Following suicidal moves by Chipstick on the railbed, totally crashing but then saving it and riding it out w/o slowing... So good. Such a good time.
Heddwch
G
(for those who might want a bit more background on Mark, Brent put a few good links together: here, or here, or here)
Jack Madden at Legend Bikes set me up with his Garmin Edge 605 for the day, I'd hoped to upload and use the GPS track that the Quad guys laid down, but i couldn't figure it out, or it just spent too long trying to calculate in the end, but man it helped out quite a bit when we weren't riding with Chipstick and Co. Jerry calling out turns, me checking map and confirming. Knowing what the road was called before we could read a street sign helped tremendously. But we were still sort of slow riding trying to follow the cue sheet.
Bike was ready to go. And I got to thinking about someone who would have just absolutely loved to do this with me. I didn't have any of his signature green on the bike.
I remembered the ancient roll of Fisher Sci lab tape from MSU I had kicking around in my bag... So i grabbed some scissors and made my own letters for the down tube.
Here it is. I had the sigma on there as backup and initially planed for it to give me some HR feedback but my chest strap is missing. The mileage on it is from the start of the Wed night leg waster until the end of the RdR3.0. 4:55:54 is the timer. Not a pedestrian ride. Strava Suffer score for slower teams was in the Extreme range. And the heat was nuts (in the woods when we were moving slowly), it melted our little VT Ice Cube.
Those green letters. Mark Louis Francis Nicholson.
I'd like to think it was his spirit and memory that I carry with me that kept me mechanical free during the ride. But it was probably just routine prep and running reasonably bomb-proof and proven old stuff.
Still miss my friend Mark. He was never not smiling, never not a fountain of joy, never failed to light up the space around him.
Thanks for tagging along yesterday Mark. It was fun the whole time. Such a blast. Two wheel drifting on tires pumped way the hell up in the lose dusty single track. Following suicidal moves by Chipstick on the railbed, totally crashing but then saving it and riding it out w/o slowing... So good. Such a good time.
Heddwch
G
(for those who might want a bit more background on Mark, Brent put a few good links together: here, or here, or here)
Sunday, April 15, 2012
RdR3.0
What a day. Brutal. Legs are destroyed. Half the time of a PBP ride but easily as hard or worse. Drilling it. The whole way. So hot too (relative to what I'm used to).
Forgot to start the garmin right out of the gun (waiting for recalculating before just giving up and letting Jerry call out the cues for a bit) so there is a weee bit of time missing.
Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/6807987
Photos (i'll write words later at some point - so destroyed right now)
Forgot to start the garmin right out of the gun (waiting for recalculating before just giving up and letting Jerry call out the cues for a bit) so there is a weee bit of time missing.
Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/6807987
Photos (i'll write words later at some point - so destroyed right now)
 |
| A bit of rain on the way up, but all blue skies to the north! |
Thursday, April 12, 2012
chilies = so good
Link drop because there's good info on chilies, and why they are good for you. Granted I'm living in the most white bread taste part of the country. Baked cod, fluff, white clam chowder... pretty lame and flavorless palate for the most part (regionally at least). Many natives (are there any left) can't even tolerate a few Scoville units (and if you check the wiki page on them you'll see my pepper of choice ranges from 100,000 to 350,000 unites).
Anyway. A nice green chili sauce recipe AND some bullet point unreferenced but mostly pretty good review on all the benefits from getting some heat on your food, and in your body.
Spicy - it does a body good.
http://www.apexnutritionllc.com/fuelrightblog/2012/04/10/tuesdays-healthy-fuel-recipe-homemade-green-chili-sauce/
Anyway. A nice green chili sauce recipe AND some bullet point unreferenced but mostly pretty good review on all the benefits from getting some heat on your food, and in your body.
Spicy - it does a body good.
http://www.apexnutritionllc.com/fuelrightblog/2012/04/10/tuesdays-healthy-fuel-recipe-homemade-green-chili-sauce/
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
leg wasting wed ride
wasn't feeling it much but the weather did clear, and Fox said he was going, and shoot I know it does some good, even if it doesn't make me faster it helps clear the mind.
Fox shows and just as 5pm is rolling around Chris #2 shows. Super skinny college kid (like me in college) and looking for some leg stretching going into Battenkill. Three is a good number. Rotating through, drilling it.
I was still the strongest and didn't have much trouble taking all the sprint points, but the guys still made me work hard, hit my max HR, pushed myself wicked hard on the second rise after the Pine street sprint, and then attacked Rocky Hill from just at 500m (500 is a long way to start a sprint). Fox's drive train gave him away on that sprint. He went to come around at the spot where I usually attack but I could hear his drivetrain squeaking when he jumped and I was able to add some power and motor away.
Hillside much the same. Skinny Chris attacked and set a pretty solid pace but when it dipped down he was unable to capitalize much on gravity but still kept going but blew pretty sky high and Fox jumped and I went around him and unloaded... but soft pedaled over the top by the mailbox with the gap I had.
The nice thing about the ride is that it is short, but there is actually not a ton of rest. The only section that we take easy is basically from the top of Rocky Hill to the turn onto Hillside. Everything else is full gas, rotating through or sprinting. The three of us, including a couple miles of getting through EP into Seekonk at a leisurely pace and we still avg right about 20mph, hr was no where near race average but 143 for a short mid week ride with some chatting and chilling in a few spots and lots of drafting isn't too bad.
It is what it is. It was fun.
Good company, hard ride. Without the trailer I just headed right home and managed to get there a bit earlier than when I head back to the office to hitch it and ride home.
BUT
The ride in this morning and the whole time on the bike on the leg wasting wed ride I felt like a praying mantis after being on the Klein for a week or two. And the drops in those bars I have are pretty much f'n useless. But they are wide enough, and it is a CX bike. No matter so much, just an observation. Klein is faster though. No question. As it should be on the road.
enough musing - now, can i break the cycle and actually get some sleep tonight?
we'll see
heddwch
G
Fox shows and just as 5pm is rolling around Chris #2 shows. Super skinny college kid (like me in college) and looking for some leg stretching going into Battenkill. Three is a good number. Rotating through, drilling it.
I was still the strongest and didn't have much trouble taking all the sprint points, but the guys still made me work hard, hit my max HR, pushed myself wicked hard on the second rise after the Pine street sprint, and then attacked Rocky Hill from just at 500m (500 is a long way to start a sprint). Fox's drive train gave him away on that sprint. He went to come around at the spot where I usually attack but I could hear his drivetrain squeaking when he jumped and I was able to add some power and motor away.
Hillside much the same. Skinny Chris attacked and set a pretty solid pace but when it dipped down he was unable to capitalize much on gravity but still kept going but blew pretty sky high and Fox jumped and I went around him and unloaded... but soft pedaled over the top by the mailbox with the gap I had.
The nice thing about the ride is that it is short, but there is actually not a ton of rest. The only section that we take easy is basically from the top of Rocky Hill to the turn onto Hillside. Everything else is full gas, rotating through or sprinting. The three of us, including a couple miles of getting through EP into Seekonk at a leisurely pace and we still avg right about 20mph, hr was no where near race average but 143 for a short mid week ride with some chatting and chilling in a few spots and lots of drafting isn't too bad.
It is what it is. It was fun.
Good company, hard ride. Without the trailer I just headed right home and managed to get there a bit earlier than when I head back to the office to hitch it and ride home.
BUT
The ride in this morning and the whole time on the bike on the leg wasting wed ride I felt like a praying mantis after being on the Klein for a week or two. And the drops in those bars I have are pretty much f'n useless. But they are wide enough, and it is a CX bike. No matter so much, just an observation. Klein is faster though. No question. As it should be on the road.
enough musing - now, can i break the cycle and actually get some sleep tonight?
we'll see
heddwch
G
Silver and Light
Watching that again just a few minutes ago... and reflecting a bit...
signature... with the darkroom prints... i definitely had a distinctive signature to my images.
signature... with the darkroom prints... i definitely had a distinctive signature to my images.
beans, beats, bikeracing
coffee beans of course, Brabantse Pijl, and some Deadmau5 radio station on the Pandora.
These guys are just impressive. But then they are #1 talented, #2 professional. And they still crash hitting turns at speed. Wow. Such a huge difference racing that way vs racing a crit/kermesse.
I got a bunch of grief for not elaborating more on my race(s) on Saturday here. But really, what more is there to say about the race itself? not much but I can see if I remember it.
Maybe I should crank some Metallica to get the memory refreshed. But I'm getting a PMA boost from these beats and the race. Don't want to fuck with a good combo. Granted this is not uninterrupted, as always. Fits and starts, a couple minutes here, there, between support issues.
These guys are just impressive. But then they are #1 talented, #2 professional. And they still crash hitting turns at speed. Wow. Such a huge difference racing that way vs racing a crit/kermesse.
I got a bunch of grief for not elaborating more on my race(s) on Saturday here. But really, what more is there to say about the race itself? not much but I can see if I remember it.
Maybe I should crank some Metallica to get the memory refreshed. But I'm getting a PMA boost from these beats and the race. Don't want to fuck with a good combo. Granted this is not uninterrupted, as always. Fits and starts, a couple minutes here, there, between support issues.
Monday, April 09, 2012
Saturday, April 07, 2012
briefly
since it is Zombie Jesus day tomorrow i'm not going to have much time for a bit to write...
Race 1 okay - had fun, chilled, felt good. Last two laps were brutal. In the top 4 of the bunch chasing 3 guys up the road with Ned blocking for the other COX guy with the two Expo dudes up the road. Then hit the last stretch and got slightly out of position and a gap or two opened up between the last two turns and I had to jump around a couple guys and then we hit the wind, winding it up but the legs were juiced at that point. Mystic Velo guy rubbed Ned's wheel and went down, I thought Paul was going to run over his head but he pulled Pozzato and avoided him but that forced me out wide into the wind a bit more. Paul wound up 8th, and I hit 11th with the kid in the USA shorts pimping me for the 10th spot I think.
Felt great. Rolled one lap cool down. Headed to the car, switched jerseys (different number) put on different gloves and got back in line. And the race was off. Legs were dead. And the wind was picking up and three nights in a row of not sleeping plus negativity of yesterday's stress and the early morning and what ever excuse I can toss in there had me hanging in the back with the rest of the guys who had just raced. A few of them managed to hang on but I got popped after about 15 minutes, and then got pulled as I got lapped. Bill Dolan said the vote was 2-1 to pull me, he said he wouldn't say who wanted to leave me out there to suffer.
Not regretting anything. It was a good day racing.
Back to building bikes.
heddwch
G
Race 1 okay - had fun, chilled, felt good. Last two laps were brutal. In the top 4 of the bunch chasing 3 guys up the road with Ned blocking for the other COX guy with the two Expo dudes up the road. Then hit the last stretch and got slightly out of position and a gap or two opened up between the last two turns and I had to jump around a couple guys and then we hit the wind, winding it up but the legs were juiced at that point. Mystic Velo guy rubbed Ned's wheel and went down, I thought Paul was going to run over his head but he pulled Pozzato and avoided him but that forced me out wide into the wind a bit more. Paul wound up 8th, and I hit 11th with the kid in the USA shorts pimping me for the 10th spot I think.
Felt great. Rolled one lap cool down. Headed to the car, switched jerseys (different number) put on different gloves and got back in line. And the race was off. Legs were dead. And the wind was picking up and three nights in a row of not sleeping plus negativity of yesterday's stress and the early morning and what ever excuse I can toss in there had me hanging in the back with the rest of the guys who had just raced. A few of them managed to hang on but I got popped after about 15 minutes, and then got pulled as I got lapped. Bill Dolan said the vote was 2-1 to pull me, he said he wouldn't say who wanted to leave me out there to suffer.
Not regretting anything. It was a good day racing.
Back to building bikes.
heddwch
G
Friday, April 06, 2012
Are you ready?
A little too much Pharmstrong in the video, it kind of ruins it for me. But ignoring that, it doesn't suck.
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
wasted legs wednesday
Leg burner tonight.
Lots of stress with busted microscopes all day, fortunately all resolved before the ride.
Started the ride off with a flat. Made it home without another one. Not on my tires, but a flat when the group is a total of two people, well, it might as well have been mine. No matter though, ride was good, drilled it, hit a few sprint lines felt okay for being way under the calorie count today.
I'm sure you've read the 9 commuter thing by now. If not, a good chuckle.
I'm over thinking Saturday already. So not good. Need to just stay focused, positive and have fun. Nothing else. have to keep repeating that to myself. over. and over. and over. Nothing else matters.
The ride tonight was sans bottle. Probably not a good idea since with one or two exceptions I was drilling it at the front the whole ride and then sprinting myself to the lines. A few of the lines Fox edge close enough to push me to my limit. It hurt so good.
Off the bike tomorrow it looks like. Might head to a studio to fulfill a request to photograph the beard before it gets chopped off.
I did talk to my father today, he was disappointed to hear that i was going to be cutting it off... but conceded, yes, i could always just grow it again. This was a few months (okay maybe 4) of growth. No big deal. 4 months lasts about as long as a dogs fart hangs around. Seems more and more trivial as i get older.
It is sad that Ned ain't gonna have his massive bushy beard that he blind sided me with at NBX CX. Guess it is my turn for the massive facial hair display. I'd love to pull a Uri on Saturday. Not sure that's in the cards though. we'll see. Staying positive, relaxed, just there to have fun.
I haven't even had time to read - any of the tabs today. No open tabs time. And right now my eyes are heavy, speed reading web pages as fast as they can load just seems overwhelming right now.
There has been an acceptance of the fact that i'm racing old wheels. Old fashioned non-aero heavy and all that. BUT at least the bearings roll smoother and with less friction than any new cartridge bearing hub. That's gotta count for something. I will make a concession to speed and take the Durano PLUS tires off for the race.
Okay so i opened a few - and this one never fails to make me smile.
heddwch
G
Lots of stress with busted microscopes all day, fortunately all resolved before the ride.
Started the ride off with a flat. Made it home without another one. Not on my tires, but a flat when the group is a total of two people, well, it might as well have been mine. No matter though, ride was good, drilled it, hit a few sprint lines felt okay for being way under the calorie count today.
I'm sure you've read the 9 commuter thing by now. If not, a good chuckle.
I'm over thinking Saturday already. So not good. Need to just stay focused, positive and have fun. Nothing else. have to keep repeating that to myself. over. and over. and over. Nothing else matters.
The ride tonight was sans bottle. Probably not a good idea since with one or two exceptions I was drilling it at the front the whole ride and then sprinting myself to the lines. A few of the lines Fox edge close enough to push me to my limit. It hurt so good.
Off the bike tomorrow it looks like. Might head to a studio to fulfill a request to photograph the beard before it gets chopped off.
I did talk to my father today, he was disappointed to hear that i was going to be cutting it off... but conceded, yes, i could always just grow it again. This was a few months (okay maybe 4) of growth. No big deal. 4 months lasts about as long as a dogs fart hangs around. Seems more and more trivial as i get older.
It is sad that Ned ain't gonna have his massive bushy beard that he blind sided me with at NBX CX. Guess it is my turn for the massive facial hair display. I'd love to pull a Uri on Saturday. Not sure that's in the cards though. we'll see. Staying positive, relaxed, just there to have fun.
I haven't even had time to read - any of the tabs today. No open tabs time. And right now my eyes are heavy, speed reading web pages as fast as they can load just seems overwhelming right now.
There has been an acceptance of the fact that i'm racing old wheels. Old fashioned non-aero heavy and all that. BUT at least the bearings roll smoother and with less friction than any new cartridge bearing hub. That's gotta count for something. I will make a concession to speed and take the Durano PLUS tires off for the race.
Okay so i opened a few - and this one never fails to make me smile.
heddwch
G
Monday, April 02, 2012
not gonna happen here
30 days of April nothing.
No 30 days of blogging
I screwed up the whole potential of 30 days of riding by not riding yesterday.
Christine Fort's got a great idea for 30 days of poetry over on G+ totally digging that. Poetry is good. I need more poetry to read. Used to devour it. Now, not so much. Go figure.
Yesterday was the first day completely off the bike since the 16th. so tired though. Can feel it seeping into the bones, so to speak.
Not a great sign going into the Chris Hinds race. I've got some decent form it would seem. Despite eating f'n everything I can get my hands on lately, I'm holding under 190 by a couple pound margin. Still swinging from 185-189 or so. Totally acceptable daily/weekly variation. Not trending up or down. Pretty stable since hitting the 185poundage. Yes, total clydesdale at heart. But hoping never to be one again. Learning to make power w/o the weight.
Legs responded this morning. Managed a nice 200 M sprint from a standstill with the trailer right into the wind topping out at 26mph. Reasonably solid for towing the trailer.
one thing that I'm noticing is I'm pushing further and further into "oh shit that hurt" land than I have before. I don't know if it is just periodic sprint thing but I'm finding it odd that after an interval or smackdown sprint my brain turns back on when it is over and goes WTF did you just do, and how the F did you make that happen.
Very strange. I'd be lying if I said that Chris Hinds wasn't a big race for me. Shouldn't be, first Ninigret right? Just Ninigret. But man, one day, some day I'd like to bust out and do more than ride around working for teammates and having fun and rolling in w/o effort in the bunch, or getting blown out the back after going thermo nuke.
We'll see what happens. A lot is going to be riding on how much sleep I get. Not rest, no, sleep. Based on being old and shit I'm forecasting that it will be tough to be fully rested for Saturday AM, esp given that the kid's classmates unloaded some Strep on the youngest on Friday, and who knows what else is going around. Everyone at my wife works with is sick today, but they are at work anyway. Awesome people. Really. Awesome. Take a f'n sick day if you're actually sick. really. Oh well. Garlic doping here we come.
Beard is still going strong. Mark gets back from Aussie land in two days, might just have to hang onto it at least till he gets back, since it is just a few days more. Weather isn't officially warm yet though. But the pressure is mounting and the threats of scissors in my sleep are becoming more serious. Beard is wearing out the welcome it seems. That said I've grown attached to it. Will be tough to say good by to this massive great big bushy beard.
well - that's all the time i have today
heddwch
G
No 30 days of blogging
I screwed up the whole potential of 30 days of riding by not riding yesterday.
Christine Fort's got a great idea for 30 days of poetry over on G+ totally digging that. Poetry is good. I need more poetry to read. Used to devour it. Now, not so much. Go figure.
Yesterday was the first day completely off the bike since the 16th. so tired though. Can feel it seeping into the bones, so to speak.
Not a great sign going into the Chris Hinds race. I've got some decent form it would seem. Despite eating f'n everything I can get my hands on lately, I'm holding under 190 by a couple pound margin. Still swinging from 185-189 or so. Totally acceptable daily/weekly variation. Not trending up or down. Pretty stable since hitting the 185poundage. Yes, total clydesdale at heart. But hoping never to be one again. Learning to make power w/o the weight.
Legs responded this morning. Managed a nice 200 M sprint from a standstill with the trailer right into the wind topping out at 26mph. Reasonably solid for towing the trailer.
one thing that I'm noticing is I'm pushing further and further into "oh shit that hurt" land than I have before. I don't know if it is just periodic sprint thing but I'm finding it odd that after an interval or smackdown sprint my brain turns back on when it is over and goes WTF did you just do, and how the F did you make that happen.
Very strange. I'd be lying if I said that Chris Hinds wasn't a big race for me. Shouldn't be, first Ninigret right? Just Ninigret. But man, one day, some day I'd like to bust out and do more than ride around working for teammates and having fun and rolling in w/o effort in the bunch, or getting blown out the back after going thermo nuke.
We'll see what happens. A lot is going to be riding on how much sleep I get. Not rest, no, sleep. Based on being old and shit I'm forecasting that it will be tough to be fully rested for Saturday AM, esp given that the kid's classmates unloaded some Strep on the youngest on Friday, and who knows what else is going around. Everyone at my wife works with is sick today, but they are at work anyway. Awesome people. Really. Awesome. Take a f'n sick day if you're actually sick. really. Oh well. Garlic doping here we come.
Beard is still going strong. Mark gets back from Aussie land in two days, might just have to hang onto it at least till he gets back, since it is just a few days more. Weather isn't officially warm yet though. But the pressure is mounting and the threats of scissors in my sleep are becoming more serious. Beard is wearing out the welcome it seems. That said I've grown attached to it. Will be tough to say good by to this massive great big bushy beard.
well - that's all the time i have today
heddwch
G
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