a new record?

for the ride home?

Wicked awesome tail wind tonight. freaking RIPPED it home. I was going to have to go thermonuclear on the way home anyway, but the tail wind made for some record time. 5:14 departure 5:33 arrival.

just doing the math that's pretty fast from office to walking after finding keys and opening the back door and walking in checking the clock.

messed up - fast

with fenders and wicked heavy tires.

It did feel nice ripping it with just knee warmers on for a change but the damn hairy calves were a distraction, kept feeling wind and gusts and what not.

Felt good to rip it.

29 days. I got thinking, I just may have more rides in 2010 than G-ride had in all of 2009. Definitely if we count commuting days as two rides (separated by 8 hours or so counts as separate ones right?). Crazy.

Waiting for the rice to get about 1/2 way cooked before blasting through making the rest of dinner.

heddwch
G

a day for invisible aerobars

High tide and hard core white caps, wind blasting across wide open water right in my face. No low tide buffer. At low tide the embankment on the causeway creates a wind shadow/eddy current and you can avoid the burnt of the wind. At high tide, it must be a full moon soon, the wind just rips into you.

not a day for little lightweight guys.

but big fat ass dudes with text books and a laptop and lunch on their back? meh, minor inconvenience.

Took the studded tires back off this morning. Only a few grams heavier than the wheels i've got on there now but the rolling resistance difference is unbelievable. It isn't the weight that kills you, it is just how slow they roll. But looks like it might get cold enough to have ice on the path in the morning tomorrow. Weird how now after a month of wishing for no snow, now i want cold and snow and ice.

Time to head to the remote factory. As if the TT into the headwind this morning was enough leg stress, I'm heading down hill and back up. Oh and today marks 29 days in a row. And my stupid "smart" desk phone things it is 2/29. At least the computer is telling me it is March.

heddwch
G

suiting up

Today I suited up. Tie, collar stays and a dark suit with subtle charcoal pinstripes. It was for a memorial service.

My step-father's sister's husband passed away last week, my Uncle Greg. The memorial service was at the Wellesley Friends Meeting where they were long standing members. I rode up there with my brother who started off on the east coast working for Christy and Greg's construction company.

The room was packed with people and the service was pretty moving at times. Not really a service, if you know how Friends meetings are conducted. But just a room of people who stand up when they feel moved to say something about Greg. Lots of silence and reflection. The hour went by surprisingly quickly.

Time for some dinner, then a bit of time on the trainer before trying to get ready for the week. Have to get my 15 minutes in to complete the month.

Heddwch
G

impressive

the Canadian medal count that is. They are kick ass. But despite all my time out there in michigan surrounded by Canada, watching hockey on CBC, and what not, i'm still not excited about how many medals they have. Gander not withstanding. (nice way to not show the sports NBC, granted it was a great news piece, footage of the towers getting hit and collapsing i haven't seen since 2001 or so). What is it with NBC feeling okay about showing people dying? I was surprised they didn't have video for the news of the Orca trainer getting taken out by Tilikum on the NBC nightly news, esp after showing the luge guy hitting the post dozens and dozens of times. That said despite their flaws I still can't watch much of any other network. So, even their downfalls aren't causing me to switch channels, that is when i chose to watch news programming.

So good on you Canada for snagging so many Gold medals. Almost like they planned the calender to build to the finish more and more golds every day. I will not shy away and say I really hope Ryan Miller steals the gold for the last event, the marquee event.

I made it out for a ride outside today. Ride inside or outside. So i picked an outside ride. Tossed on commuter clothes (team kit with long bib tights) left off the booties.

I did try something. I stuck some Marathon Winter tires on there. Ya know because we are GOING to get more snow, and snow on the bike path means ice. And that Ice will hang around for a while right? Well we'll see. I gave em a test ride. heavy? Yeah, heavier than the marathon plus tires? Only a little but man, talk about rolling resistance. That said the wet wood bridges in Barrington and Warren were not a problem. Couldn't slip on them if i tried. LOUD. very loud even pumped way up, down at the min pressure/max traction range (35psi) it's gotta be worse.

But wow, talk about grip on that wet wood. So far I've ridden every day of the month and only 8 of those days have been inside on the trainer. Only tomorrow left. Inside or outside? not sure. I might just do the outside. But we'll see how that shakes up, big stuff happening (not on TV).

played a great game of scrabble with my oldest, but man i got absolutely CRAP tiles. And my brain vocabulary stinks at the middle distance, okay with long words but mid-size scrabble words? Not so much.

Time to kick back, figure out what i'm making for dinner and all that. Of course i've got to finish washing the dishes.

heddwch
g

I like recipes like this

Esp the part about making the pecan oil...

Today's recipe:
The Gastronomica Cocktail

The Gastronomica Cocktail has been specially created by Chefs Nils Noren and Dave Arnold of The French Culinary Institute.

2 oz Tuthilltown Spirits Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey
1 1/2 oz pecan syrup*
1/2 oz lemon juice
Pinch of salt

Serve over ice in an old fashioned glass.

*Pecan Syrup
200 grams water
3 grams TIC Pretested Ticaloid 210S (gum arabic and xanthan gum mix)
130 grams pecan oil**
200 grams sugar

Hydrate the Ticaloid 210S in water with a hand blender.
Add pecan oil and blend till smooth.
Add sugar and blend till smooth.

**Pecan Oil
400 grams whole pecans, ground to a paste in a VitaPrep.
Load pecan paste into a centrifuge, spin at 10,000 g's for 20 minutes.
(When you spin pecans this way, you get a layer of oil—used here for the cocktail, a layer of super-primo nut butter, and a layer of pecan paste and skins).

things have gotten better, but

The below post reflected very much how I felt that night...

the cold iron hand of despair is crushing my soul right now - so not what i want to feel right now.

The weight of the week and the challenges of everything right now, coming down heavy on my shoulders it feels like.

drowning without a life jacket in sight is sort of what it feels like.

it should get better.

analytically i can see that it can't really get worse and it should get better.

i look in the bike room, i'm short a front wheel, two technically (one tubular and one clincher) and realize, i can't really replace them right now

things are generally good but it is just a feeling, it will pass.

just doesn't feel like it right now.

Ouch

Is driving supposed to be excruciatingly painful? Not just the aggravation of dealing with everyone else on the road trying to get where they are going. No, actual physical pain. Last night I couldn't walk up stairs to the restaurant (it was 7:20 and we weren't at home yet, chose to hit the new location for the Chinese Iron Wok, it was good). Sat on the bike at home for 5 Rush songs and it felt better. What did? My knee.

Specifically the right knee and what I think is called (based on an ancient Gray's Anatomy book) the Tibial Collateral Ligament, but I guess is now called the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL). It HURTS LIKE HELL!!!

Stupid little rental car. Picked it up last night. Only good thing about it is the XM radio. After dropping the girls off (the want to listen to Jazz in the rental) I switched over to the Boneyard and what song was on? Subdivisions, it was just the last instrumental tag but it was nice to hear. Made me forget how much driving this thing hurts. Why is it I can drive a VW w/o pain for 19 hours straight but I get in this thing and not even after an hour I'm crippled. It F*CKING HURTS. Tender to the touch (the MCL). All inflamed and stuff.

No fluid trainer at work to kind of work it out and it is raining pretty good so and I can't really leave for a while so riding is out of the question.

Kind of sucks. Esp since I'm the driver for everyone. This is the first time ALL YEAR that I've driven to work. I've gotten a ride. I've been picked up and drive back here after an airport drop, but never actually had a car parked somewhere on the streets of the city that I drove in this year. Decent streak I guess. Too bad it is accompanied by excruciating pain. I can't fully extend my knee when walking w/o it sharp pain.

Hopefully I can return the rental car sooner than later. And hopefully we can get things sorted out so I don't have to drive it anymore. And with luck I'll be riding the bike home as PT for the knee.

heddwch
G

I love quotations

I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.
- Marlene Dietrich

When it rains it pours

I made it home last night before the rain. That was a bonus. Had a great time hanging out with my youngest, she's got great reflexes. She was shaping her hamburger it dropped and with the dog Lucy standing as close as possible it could have been her second dinner, but my little girl managed to grab it out of mid air before Lucy could react. And out reaction timing a dog? That's mighty good stuff in my book. Nothing moves like a hungry dog going for food.

But then. Well, just before firing the grill pan up and preparing for the on time arrival of my wife and oldest home from dance, well the phone rings and my panics wife says "the car has been broken into and they stole my purse, can you cancel the cards..."

that set off a chain of phone calls to various places, not just credit cards but check book and all sorts of extra stuff. forms of id are gone now and have to be replaced. The car window was smashed but not just the window, the criminal pried the trim around the glass back all the way around the side of it totally destroying the trim molding on the door. Integral part of the door? I don't know. I haven't bothered to pull up the VW parts catalog and check yet.

And of course it was raining. And raining. And raining. POURING FREAKING RAIN.

Great.

Glass company won't do a quick install outside, but the damage also requires body work so that doesn't really matter.

Lost purse and contents are worth a not insignificant amount of money, but insignificant enough to claim and get reimbursed for their replacement.

Now that we are down to one car, having it sitting at an auto-body shop taken apart right now means, yeah we don't have a car. This just has been an amazingly challenging couple months. Always something new.

I debated about writing anything regarding it but, ultimately decided i'm not good at keeping my mouth shut and holding this stuff in. Misery loves company right? God damn miserable stretch over here.

On the good side of things I haven't missed a day on the bike this month yet. 24 days and counting. I might not ride home tonight or ride outside tomorrow but damn if i'm going to let this streak end.

Although wed nights are usually one of my most intense commutes home. 25 minutes of balls to the wall, all out, just to make it home in time for the big girls to head back to the city for dance.

Well now i play the waiting game for the Rental car pick up guys to come get me, here's to hoping everything works out.

heddwch
G

this is brilliant

Outlet Regulator Video from conor klein on Vimeo.

it has been a while

since i posted something like this. Hell I may have posted this before even. But what the hell - see how you do

Your Yearly Dementia Test :


It's that time of year for us to take our annual senior citizen test.


Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally alert. If you don't use it, you lose it! Below is a very private way to gauge how your memory compares to the last test. Some may think it is too easy but the ones with memory problems may have difficulty. Take the test presented here to determine if you're losing it or not. The spaces below are so you don't see the answers until you've made your answer. OK, relax, clear your mind and begin..

1. What do you put in a toaster?






Answer: 'bread.' If you said 'toast' give up now and do something else..
Try not to hurt yourself. If you said, bread, go to Question 2.






2. Say 'silk' five times. Now spell 'silk.' What do cows drink?








Answer: Cows drink water. If you said 'milk,' don't attempt the next question. Your brain is over-stressed and may even overheat. Content yourself with reading a more appropriate literature such as Auto World. However, if you said 'water', proceed to question 3.




3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from?




Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said 'green bricks,' why are you still reading these???
If you said 'glass,' go on to Question 4.





4. It's twenty years ago, and a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany (If you will recall, Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany ). Anyway, during the flight, two engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the engine fails before he can do so and the plane fatally crashes smack in the middle of 'no man's land' between East Germany and West Germany ... Where would you bury the survivors? East Germany , West Germany ,

Or no man's land'?







Answer: You don't bury survivors.
If you said ANYTHING else, you're a dunce and you must stop. If you said, 'You don't bury survivors', proceed to the next question.






5. Without using a calculator - You are driving a bus from London to

Milford Haven in Wales .. In London , 17 people get on the bus.
In Reading , 6 people get off the bus and 9 people get on.
In Swindon, 2 people get off and 4 get on.
In Cardiff , 11 people get off and 16 people get on.
In Swansea , 3 people get off and 5 people get on.
In Carmathen, 6 people get off and 3 get on.
You then arrive at Milford Haven ..


Without scrolling back to review, how old is the bus driver?









Answer: Oh, for crying out loud!
Don't you remember your own age? It was YOU driving the bus!!





If you pass this along to your friends, pray they do better than you.



PS: 95% of people fail most of the questions!!

Feeling like molasses

Everything in slow motion. The ride in was slower than normal, just tired, and physically feeling the Saturday ride.

My body is screaming out for coffee. I know it will fix it, i'll still be tired but i won't be in slow motion. And I'm not giving in. Give in today and well i'll have to have some the next day and then boom - back into coffee again. Not that it would be the worst thing in the world. Actually sounds pretty enticing right now. But I know in the long run a bit of self restraint right now will pay off. I slept like crap saturday after the long ride and i'm still carrying that sleep deprivation.

Long term focus. Like with cycling. Or other complex skills. The better your foundation the more you can put on top of it. The more you can carry. Coffee erodes the foundation of good heath a bit. Maybe not in an immediate sense, but likely in a long term sense. Artificially replacing sleep with a chemical is nice and easy, quick fix, and all that, seems nice at this point has to kick you in the ass later on in life. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it is one of those 100% good things. But I can tell you this right now. I'm enjoying the occasional cup of coffee a thousand fold more than I ever did before. Sort of like cyclocross, I miss it when it is out of season, but without that separation, that bit of distance, it wouldn't be as special.

Now two things in the food world that make me feel good. Put a smile on my face.

Bob's Red Mill gets turned over to employees this week. Hit this page and watch the ABC piece. A bit sensationalistic video footage added by the producers but the message isn't lost.

And the big ruling on the marketing regulations for Organic Milk. Great write up about it in The Atlantic.

...the National Organic Program was designed by Congress as a "marketing program."

Yeah. A marketing program. So, if the consumers you are marketing to are demanding better standards, well you should probably listen. And what do you know? They did. My favorite quote in that article is this - comes down at the end:

...if the location is consistently too rainy or the temperature and humidity are too high or low to safely graze animals throughout a 120-day minimum grazing season and still comply with all applicable parts of this regulation, the animal cannot be raised in such location for organic production.

If you can't let it outside there for at least 120 days, then you'd better find something else to do, or stop being organic. Nice.

I love this news. Washington charging for bags. I wish they'd take steps as in other places out right banning plastic bags. But charging 5 cents is a great start.

Oh and sprinting. Saturday, yeah there were town-line and state-line sprints up for grabs. A good idea this time of the year? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on who you talk to. Despite coming out of my pedal (while still seated no harm other than a lost sprint) I did okay, but one thing I observed more from the sprints I sat out of, these guys are sprinting in a huge ass gear. Little guys, 140 to 150# lugging it out in their 53xlow teen gear. And watching that got me thinking about Coaching/Trainer all over again. The sprint that sort of crystalized it all was at the end. These two guys both have a "coach," both train with power, both are pretty disciplined at following their "plan." One is a cat 4 and one is a cat 3, but here I have to wonder if maybe more time working on technique, having a big fat old bill parcells type coach telling how to do things like sprint and read races and all that would be more productive than the current coaching program they are in. Bike fit and FTP tests and race plans are important but, as often the case, the main goal is to do well in a race? Sure many people just show up to start the race, show off their bike for a couple laps and pull into the parking lot early and go home. Everyone probably has a team mate like that. Always has some excuse as to why the 'legs' weren't there. Was it the legs or the brain? But generally, the silly thing about cat 3 and 4 road races is that most all of the people who sign up feel like they can win. And odds are given a optimal situation that's not that far fetched.

I made a comment to these guys, suggested that they figure out how to sprint in using a 39x17. The reaction I got to that suggestion was mostly like i was telling them that eating 10 pounds of peanut butter before the race would give them a win.

How does one sprint effectively? Leg speed. Leg speed gives you jump and snap and reaction time and acceleration. The biggest win for me was the town line with the down hill lead out. And the 46 tooth won. Why? Because I was able to jump first and faster having a higher leg speed (cadence).

I suck at climbing with these guys, power to weight really blows me out of the water, but this flat lander stuff, it is all i have on the road, i've watched pros race, won enough group ride sprints and more educationally LOST even more town liners because of poor gear choice and not knowing how to do it. I'm not trying to say I can sprint with real sprinters or even sort of real sprinters, I'm crazy but not delusional. But technique makes sense to me. That's what's cool about cross. the bio-mechanics of it, studying how the fast guys do it and incorporating it. Some of the best coaches never were any good at their sport, but they were the best at studying it and understanding how it works. Yeah, what's that? I'm digging a hole?

Take the shovel away. Lunch is over. time to move on...

heddwch
G

stupid NBC

Yeah, i'm part of the like 1% of the "Americans" w/o cable/sat TV. So, my Olympics coverage is purely broadcast.

Let me tell you I'm NOT F'CKN HAPPY TONIGHT.

Biggest Fucking GAME of the WHOLE freaking Olympics to this point and NBC is showing freaking ICE PRANCING. Some dude and his partner with makeup that makes her look like a corpse Sure it is just a preliminary game. Doesn't have any medal implications, but still. IT IS USA vs CANADA. HOCKEY. Oh well.

Just a few minutes in the game. Man, this is tough. I've finally found a stream broadcasting it. Seems to be an English Chap and a Canadian.

And then, just after USA scores to make it 5-3 NBC cuts into their precious 2 man bobslead coverage to show the game. Mean while the whole twitter feed is a buzz with how awesome the game has been.

Man.

Ryan Miller. freaking AWESOME.

Great stuff. Marty Brodeur? dude, i'll never forgive you for the 94-95 season. Never.

Ryan Miller? You will always be the kid between the pipes down there in Munn Arena.

So well i did get on the bike. Not for that long but man it was great. I got the Bontrager running. BCX Red and Blue rims fucking blow. hard as hell to get the damn tires on and off. Then only to find that one of the 559 tubes for my 26" grand prix had a double hole in it (age and packing). So we went with a 559 grand prix on the back tire and a cross country 1.5 up front.

A touch too big. But she had fun, so much lighter than her current heavy 24" kids mt bike. Next is to get some drop bars and some sora 8sp shifters, a rigid steel 26" mt bike fork... budget budget...

It was pretty cool, she was a bit tentative at first. First bike she couldn't touch the ground on easily. But after one crash trying to get moving she pulled it together and totally kicked butt. I need some new tubes.

Heck I have enough wheels to get that bike set up with a pair of grand prix 23s and a pair of 1.5 cross country tires. Swap one for cross one for road rides. I can't tell who is more excited, my daughter or me. I think we're tied on that.

Our ride this afternoon was a bit cold but it was good. She did really well on a bike slightly too large and brand new.

Then she chowed down nearly a whole margarita pizza she made (well she topped i should say, i made the crust). Fresh Mozz, fresh Basil and a nice light tomato sauce.

Pretty darn good day until NBC kind of killed it by deciding not to show what sounded like one of the most exciting hockey games of the whole olympics.

But hey. Bramhall made me feel only slightly better in knowing their wonderful coverage will set them in the hole a couple mil. All those wonderful special interest stories about Mountie school in Regina, the Polar Bear Town, and not to mention the special trip to Kenya to film the thing for Hannah's maple syrup.

Oh well. I'm sure their audience was MUCH better for the Ice Prancing than the Hockey Game. Oh BTW - there's a reason the Canadian's scheduled it for prime time on Sunday, no, it isn't a big deal or nuttin.

I got my ride in, had a great day with the girls. Gotta focus on that. Not having missed watching the USA vs Canada hockey game. *deep breath*

It is just a game. Just a game.

The OLYMPIC GAMES. They are all just games. No big deal. Miss one or two. No big deal.

Started the day with the dog sleeping next to me on the couch. Right now she's sleeping on the floor by my feet.

I guess I can call that closure.

and end on a good note.

21 days in a row on the bike
heddwch
G

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
- Walt Whitman

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.
- Michel de Montaigne

Okay so I'm not coming down off anything like in the Johnny Cash song, but when i write sunday morning 'coming down' just flows right along with it.

I did manage to sleep, i was worried about the coffee late in the day. I didn't sleep well and I woke up solidly at 6am. And of course I had to watch Apolo Ohno race. That stuff is crazy. I was hoping JR would get in the finals.

These olympics with the west coast time scheduling sucks. I much prefered the Torino get it done early in the day. Live races going off after 11pm really mess with the sleep cycle.

Lame post for a Sunday. Nothing ground breaking, nothing worth writing I guess. Maybe that's a sign of saying hey, delete the post why bother. The house is quiet, i'm enjoying just sitting here with my dog on the couch. Of course she HAD to get me up at 6:15 "GOTTA GO OUTSIDE" then "FEED ME" and now she's sleeping again. Crazy wonderful dog.

So this Nega-Coach challenge. 8 Days left, 3 weekend days and 5 bike commuting days. Should be possible to make it through the month riding every day of the week. Big question, what is the challenge for March? To do a specific type of ride once a week? Or is Nega-Coach done issuing challenges. I don't know how well i've done on the eating out challenge, I think I might be up to 3 times this month. Maybe 2. I guess that will have to do. Weight is pretty stable still, hanging around the 204 mark and the leg hair is getting close to being it's native thickness. No Embro for me right now.

hell this isn't even any good introspection... oh well... it is what it is, a reflection of my current crap in my head.

I should probably take the time to remind myself and rehash how i went from 235 down to 185 pounds in 9 months or so when I left MI for RI. I've been trying to get that post written since Nega-Coach issued the 15 minute challenge, esp in light of Murat's super negative POV on the 15 minutes (that it is totally pointless and worthless). The basics of the post were to be that during that time (going from fat dude to skinny freak) all i did, the only change i made, was riding 10 minutes in the morning to work and 10 minutes home.

That's it. I tossed in a few longer rides alone on the bike path, then a few weekend Brown Tim Horton's rides now and then if the weather was okay, but really not much. I didn't change eating patterns, and with the stress of trying to sell the MI house and still pay mortgage and rent for all those months I was having a few more beers than normal. And some how I managed to go down. But then i kept riding, and started riding more, moved to a house and dragged the trailer 45-50 minutes in the AM and PM and started to put muscle back on and well, here I am over the 200# mark. Last year I peaked around 215 or so, peaked for Battenkill and Sterling. Oops. I was refueling heavily after every ride and fueling a lot before rides. Way too much and being the first time off of coffee ever and no racing - i went from a Dec weight of 195 to 215 by april. Started CX season around 210, finished it out just a pound or two over 200. And here I am still just a few pounds over 200. Why am I writing about it? Weight is important to a degree I guess. Less so providing I can avoid any races with elevation gain. Ah who cares really.

Eat right, not too much, be active, be happy, set a good example for your kids.

That's what really counts.

time to make a big stack of pancakes for breakfast! (I'll use some whole wheat and mostly organic ingredients - not to worry).

heddwch
G

great day

20th day on the bike this month.

And what a brilliant day.

Rolled out of the house at 11:40. Got back at 3:50pm.

Got into the city a touch early and exchanged a handful of quarters for a macchiato pre-ride. So there was about 20 minutes of that early on where I wasn't riding.

I had the Giant TCX, fenders and Marathoon Plus 28c tires inflated to 50 psi, tied and soldered spokes cross gearing. Marcus showed up on his C-dale with Record 11 speed cosmic carbone wheels and nice light 23c tires. Naveen and Casey also showed, not as fancy but way lighter faster wheels than me. And fuck I had to listen to watts watts watts most of the ride. Two SRMs and a Power tap. FML.

Can't escape that shit. At one point casey did some 15 minute interval. We all sat on, it felt pretty fuckin easy honestly. I don't know what his watt target was.

State line sprint I lost when casey went around and as I jumped my foot pulled out of the old 747 pedals. Oops. Not enough space to wind it up and come around him. But on the next sprint, it was mine. 46x12 and all, downhill lead in. MINE.

God that was fun.

One bottle of Powerbar drink mix over the course of the ride. No food until i hit the bike path then i scarfed down 6 Margarita blocks and a pair of Cocoa Mole Larabars. Legs all around are hosed but man - got some really solid intensity in there hanging on to those little fuckers and their light bikes. Couple good long speed sessions, some hills, nice variety.

Sore.

So how ever long that is, lets see. 12:35-3:50 is 3:15, add the 40 minutes on the front side and well that's a pretty decent ride for someone who won't be racing longer than an hour anytime in the foreseeable future, hell if i have my way all year (D2R2 doesn't count).

tired.

just on the edge of cramping, not quite there though. Timed it just right, fueled just right.

There's a weird lumpy feeling in the rear wheel, look straight, and unweighted it runs true. Tire's looking good, gotta be a broken spoke or something. Time to check it out

Oldest wants to go for a little ride now. Back out to add enough time on the bike so I can call it officially a 4+ hour day. FTW.

heddwch
G

That felt GOOD

Just got off the trainer. No set plan to get on there other than i had to get on (Nega-Coach challenge) to keep the min of 15 minutes of a day for the month. Well there was one plan. Subdivisions.

Yeah. Rush session. iworedettos and gcdavid started it all. Rush. Yeah.

I got on and cranked it up.

I don't know why but man I've been enjoying getting on the trainer. It is a link to the past cross season. The couple times of week on that thing in the bike room cranking out ear bleeding intervals, seemed to be more mentally beneficial than physical at first. What ever it was/is man i've really been enjoying it.

So i get on there. But I don't want to start with Subdivisions. I'd audio peaked a bit making dinner listening to Trees. So it was cued up a on Chronicles album order. What's after Trees?

Well a song I used to do 150 rpm drills will on the rollers in Michigan with a walkman. la villa strangiato.

With about two minutes of pedaling while i got the iPod in and stuff situated and all that the song came on. And well, i started pedaling faster. Someone's comment about being an electric motor instead of a piston engine popped in my head for some reason. But my cadence was way up there. 120+, yeah i know. 120 is pretty fast. But the old muscle memory and the audio imprinting told my legs to go fucking nuts.

The only problem in La Villa is not a short song. After a while I tried to just slow down and that worked for maybe 30 seconds a minute but soon i was back cranking away.

it was weird. But it felt good.

it hurt.

and i kept going.

took a song off or so skipped over a few cranked it up for another one then it it was subdivisions. 46x12 standing the whole time. Smooth, focus on smooth low rpms and it hurt like hell, sweating like crazy, wanting to sit and shift up the cogs, but i didn't. the whole damn song.

i don't have a plan, or a program right now. I'm just riding to have fun, trying not to lose everything from cx season. Trying to sort of think about setting a base for next year, maybe for a run at a couple crits who knows. But it feels good and i'm liking it.

weird

everyone is supposed to hate the trainer right?

gerbil miles suck.

it isn't why we ride, no. We ride because being out side and getting around on our own power is damn freaking cool.

I can't deny that. I can't deny that i love the hell out of going for a 4+ hour ride. I love it. Nothing better. But there is something really nice about not dealing with cars, pedestrians, road surfaces, hills headwind rain and on and on. There is something really nice about not dressing up in layers to go for a ride.

I do that 2x a day right now. Get dressed for the elements. Don't get me wrong even as i have no choice I still love doing it. But you know it is nice just to toss a pair of shorts on and stick the shoes on and get on with the iPod and pedal my brains out. Sweat like a pig and make my legs burn for a while.

My plan was to get on the trainer for 15 to 20 minutes, well it turned into 50 minutes. It was awesome.

it was a good thing.

heddwch
G

Check it out

Mad Alchemy is going head to head with DZ Lips, oops i mean DZnuts Bliss with their LaFemme chamois cream. And hey the LaFemme is at a much better price point ($ per oz).

That and after a tweeted and then deleted comment by Liz Hatch: "Kerry Litka... meh" volley "state of women's cycling saga" Litka introduces part V. I printed out the comments from the first part to read (the initial reaction to Liz's somewhat flaccid cyclingnews.com 'article' that started the whole thing) and it was 17 pages. That's a lot of words. Hopefully i'll have some time to sit down and read it all and put some comments together.

I'm a big fan of women's racing, I was in College during the whole Title Nine peak, my wife was captain of a very successful collegiate crew team, i've got two daughters, and I don't like to see women's sports being put on the back burner. I'd much rather watch women's basketball than men's, women's tennis, but man i wish they played the same number of sets as men, the top women can do it and it would force the rest to up their athletic level. And that's sort of what Litka is saying in part five, raise the physiological bar. There are plenty of athletic women who could just kill it cycling but do other things.

It isn't about the top speed, the level of skill, how high they jump, how fast they serve, it is about competition. And the big complaint is cycling doesn't have as much competition (Compton destroying domestic racers for example). Katie would have actually done pretty damn well in the Men's race. Better than the direct time comparison too because the conditions got faster for the Men.

I should finish reading the part 1 comments before sticking my foot any further in my mouth.

chilling at the house with the girls today - FTW - might actually try and get a sprint work out in on the trainer just for the hell of it to keep my streak of being on the bike every day of the month. Haven't missed a day yet. But then iworedettos reminded me that I was planning do do a subdivisions only trainer ride today. We'll see what i have on the iPod. If subdivisions isn't on there, well i will have to go with the sprint plan.

heddwch
G

Internet Cat Fight?

Cat Woman
VS
Maxim Girl

It all started here. Well really it started here. But that first one carries on in 4 more parts.

Are there other opinions out there? Yes, I've had a few discussions about it with prominent female pro cyclists and there are mixed feelings about everything.

But, i just couldn't pass up a photo commentary on this current 'discussion' (much needed fwiw - the discussion not the photos).

The start of WTF half of the week

MTWFT

Once you get rid of Monday and Tuesday you're left with WTF.

Sitting here - inhaling lunch listening to the Deadmau5 stuff that Big Jonny posted. What is it with these tall freaky late 30s white dudes and electronic music? Whatever Deadmau5 is good stuff.

The ride in this morning was SUPER sketchy. If I ever needed studded tires it was today. 90% of the ride was on ice or snow covered ice. and a light dusting of snow gives only a little bit of traction on ice. As it was, until I hit the bridge (recall the photo from last week or sometime looking across the washington bridge), I didn't slip fall or even Dab. I could tell it was sketchy and the back end wandered around a bit but i stayed upright. Getting onto the bridge, well this wasn't just ice or ice covered snow. This was thick ice and glassy and off camber in some spots. I was all over the place. And once, yeah, front wheel washed out. But a quick grab of the handrail kept me upright.

An interesting ride in. Hopefully the warm temps will clear off most of the ice and snow for the ride home. Or not. If it doesn't heck it will be a nice challenge. I'm ready for an icy cross race now.

This being Feb vacation week. Anyone with kids in school in New England knows about this week. Often Mass and RI have staggered breaks. This year? Nope same week. This week.

So my wife and I are splitting up taking care of the kids. I get to stay home with them Tuesday and Thursday, she is taking them to work MWF for the morning and then they head home for the afternoon. The cool thing is the kids get to go play in a museum (complete with a kids play diner) in the morning, have a computer or two if they get tired of making bacon and eggs (pretend of course) and plenty of space to be out of the way and play nicely together. But Lunch time rolls around and they get to go say hello to the chefs.

First stop today was Chef Richard. Now Richard knows Darcy and every bike racer knows (diggerhead) Darcy. So anyway Richard loads the girls up with pastries and breads and what not to take home. Then with that box they went to visit Chef Jean-Luc. He gives them each a special dish of chocolates (made there of course). Then they discover that students are setting up for a tasting.

They took their first haul back and returned to try some NY Cheesecake, Yellow Cake, Carrot Cake, Mac and Cheese, Smoked Salmon, and Asparagus/Mushroom/Bacon quiche.

Talk about some lucky girls. Heck I'm jealous, hopefully there will be some of Richard's pastry goodies left when I get home tonight.

Oh and NBC's Olympics coverage on NBC sucks. It is horrid. Terrible. And that Jenna B girl in the morning on the Today show? I've heard 5 year olds conduct better and more intelligent/believable/sincere interviews.

heddwch
G

Cool little bit in the NYT

And by posting this I will admit to having stopped being able to follow Bikesnobnyc. Too much content, too many words, too much of the same thing. And, when I have read it, well I haven't been as amused as in the past.

So if I'd been reading it I might have caught the whole Pedaling thing. Nice props to the Cyclocross Espresso connection with the Embro link in the article.

Good stuff. And yeah would be awesome if there was youtube video of DeVlamick eating the stake.

hmmm - stake pre-race?

Oh yeah.

Link: "Riding the City in Search of Food"