to those surfing over from BikeBlogs....

wasnt all bike stuff - still isn't but lately its mostly it that or relating to whatever stimulated from emails or what nots...

maybe i'll get lucky and it won't be raining on the commute home...

oh...

one last little bit of - "figures"

more than one - prolly more than two - less than 10 maybe - people have commented with surpise that i've managed to "stick with" commuting on the bike all year and through the winter... they invariably comment: "Well i guess if we had a real winter it would be different."

NO IT WOULDN'T....

what part of 100% commited to riding to work every day do you NOT understand?

Its 2 miles... it don't matter HOW cold, HOW windy, HOW rainy, HOW snowy or what... its still way easier to get in the bike and roll...

"You could take the bus on really bad days..."
Sure... i'll take the bus - on the really bad days... let me see, first i walk two blocks to the bus stop, wait for who knows how long ('cause when its shitty out the busses are ALWAYS predictable) to pay money to ride a bus 1.5 miles so i can get off and walk another 2-3 blocks UPHILL to work?

those total blocks of walking in time would mean i'm most of the way here already... and riding, assuming i'm bundled up appropriately (and i have all the crap to do that with) is one HELL of a lot warmer than standing still at a bus-stop - even bundled up completely....

car? hell i'll spend more time looking for a parking spot than actually riding the bike in...

why are people soooooooo convinced that they need to drive short to moderate distances????

"gotta carry my stuff!"

WHAT STUFF? what in the world do you need at work that you can't put in a backpack or an oversized messenger bag if you need it?

choir, meet the preacher... cause i'm damn sure Preacher G is talking to the chior - be it only one or two seats full...

peace for the day - remember out there on the road - getting mad don't do no one any good - be ya riding a bike or driving a car... forget about it - drive on as long as ya don't get hurt or ya stuff don't get broken...

-g

more for myself than anything else -

sittin somewhere last night/this morning i was struck with the thought... how the hell did i do all those cross races/series in Michigan without re-uppin my liscense...

two things: 1) maybe the series was run so early in the 'fad' that it was run without big USCF/USAC stuff... 2) my catagory didn't require the liscense... or 3) maybe i didn't race in the USCA/USCF events... yeah that's three... sooooo what. At anyrate, that might explain it, it might not...

but heck - what to do about it? Not much - esp since they base your stuff on the last 12 months of racing, of which I have a grand total of NO races... chalk that up to being fat and lazy for the 1st half of the year while i was working on getting out of michigan and the second half for being faster and skinnier, but working on getting settled in Rhode Island...

patience...

that and reading DC this morning, specifically the letter from Ken F (starts off like this:)

From: Ken F.
Subject: Whole Kendra Payne thing out of hand
Hey Jonny,
So everyone sure is speculating a lot about what happened to Kendra Payne. Living in SB for a long time and driving that road a lot, I can give a much clearer picture of what happened. I can also say that I sold her the bike she was hit on and that she was a beautiful and sweet girl. Her memorial service was inspiring- as everyone saw the positive impact she had on everyone around her during her short life.

anyway - it goes on about 'old riders' and groups and all that - and i find i am fitting in to that older rider niche - and i find that the younger crowd often doesn't want to have anything to do with the advice i'm willing to share - or willing to cram down their throat. I've got some serious number of years of riding- riding on the roads... way more than anyone i've ridden with out here it would seem... and its tough...

like reading the rider you are drafting - if they sit up after chasing back on... and you are on the wheel - prepare for a drop kick, cause there'll probably be a bottle pulled out for a drink, or a shoe strap adjusted... or a package check or something...

tons of little crap - like just being aware of ANY movement and lines of convergence (that goes back to the sailing days... )

flat out knowing what to look for from experience... that or waving cars past? Oohh don't EVER EVER EVER do that people... never ever... let the car make their way around you when the CAR feels they can, not when you tell them to... that is a ripe situation for a head on or a lawsuit... don't do it...

also - when ya come to an intersection, with a group... if there is a car coming call out the car... if not... Don't call out clear... let the other riders judge for themselves if its clear...

nothing worse than setting up brain deadening habits on the bike... a rider should be thinking non-stop about their surroundings...

there are a couple good rides that i need to make it out on, and one of these days i will... the list includes the Bikeworks one, and the NBW sunday stroll (specifically the seakonk one)... providing they do not go out the EBBP....

don't forget to read up on Barbara Howe's latest entry...


oh and did i mention i got a flat yesterday? so after lunch... i plan to head down to the Hub and check on the other lock and see if they have some fat wire beaded tires for the commuter... and get loaded up, lock, jacket, gloves, helment (yes i ride with a helment all the time) and freaking back is flat... great... do a quick flat change: "Damn these are wire bead 25s, not foldable 28s" (of course i knew that seeing as i put them on sometime in September). That and i've already changed a flat on the rear wheel... anyway - my little crank brothers stubby pump (the switchable 1-2 option one) gets some air in it but i give up after getting what i was thinking might be around 50 psi... figuring that i'll add borrowing a floor pump to get it up to pressure when i get down there... nope... closed... hours on the little sign read:
Monday: Nope and Nope
Tuesday: Nope and Nope

so well fantastic - i ride back up the hill- gently rolling over the bumps and manage it seems to avoid pinch flatting on the way back and with the way the potholes are and the Providence streets are kept -

well - i made it home with that same low pressure - and this morning - pulled out the pump and holy shit - 25 psi... brilliant.. great... i rode 4 miles in pothole hell with 25 psi in 25c tires with maybe 200 pounds of me (including bag, locks and the crap in the bag)...

up to 100 now... no worries on the way in...

fun stuff - maybe we have an update later... maybe not...

g

The US didn't do to badly and my no-brainer prediction that Nys would win was pretty close to a lock... 'course all predictions are based with the assumption: "barring a fall or a mechanical"

kinda sad - the Worlds signify the real end to the Cross racing... but only about 8 months to go before the start of the New England season! should be a good one - but Cross in September? seems early, esp for that sport...

and it being a monday - can't remeber if i've already blabbed about it... why can't the races here go beyond Nationals? It ain't like most of the cross racers are headed to Europe anyway, lets have N.E. races in the REAL winter...

I took the weekend off from riding - yeah as nice as it was - i needed some rest and recovery time... and it go me thinking...

do shorter (1-2 hr) low intensity rides do anything for ya? Makes me think about it - cause 1-2 hours is nuttin... can be done by most anyone, add two hours making it 3-4 hours on the bike at a lower intensity - THAT make sense... but it also makes it more confusing...

So how to get inshape - how to get into racing shape? Dunno - maybe just race?

AHAHAHAH - just logged into USA cycling to look at liscense stuff - well whadda ya know - i'm there - even have a # still... crazy that!

But as i feared - i've gotta start with a CAT 5 squirel card... but - with luck i could probably upgrade somewhat this season... who knows - that or maybe not... if i do more thinking than riding - its a given

and heck - maybe i need to start off this season just racing in the C group... maybe i might just be competitive - or not...

all babble - trivial - and revealing... i called Big Tex a pussy and here i am - sitting with an expired collegiate liscence that would require me to start back at the Cat 5 level... oh joy

and now - the joy of food... the pleasure of Gastronomique

till later...

Figures... i get out of the damn state and what happens... i start noticing the cool stuff going on... of course when i was there i was heavier, and in the car 2.5 hours a day in a addition to a 9-10 hour work day... LOADS of time to ride /sarcasm

of course... i kinda always knew about the stuff but coming across this in cyclingnews.com doesn't help matters

Michigan Bicycle Racing Association 2006

The Michigan Bicycle Racing Association (MBRA) has announced its 2006 road and track racing schedule. The racing starts on March 25 with the Flying Rhino Cycling Club Spring Training Series in Waterford, MI. The calendar concludes on September 16 with the Tour de Leelanau in Suttons Bay, MI.

Nearly every type of bicycle racing is featured in the calendar. From the Cone-Azalia Classic in May, which is modelled after the famous "Paris-Roubaix" race and includes the brutal Michigan cobbles, to the hilly epic, Tour de Leelanau, in September, which has become the de facto "Michigan World Championships", with every Michigan team sending their very best riders to battle for the victory.

Additionally, in its 3rd year of operation, the Velodrome at Bloomer Park in Rochester, MI offers more events than ever before. Friday evenings in the summer feature the NAS-Track Madison series with racing, food, refreshments and live music. The track racing season peaks with the SOUPerBowl on September 6th .

Selected Events

June 4, Tour of Cedar Creek State Road Race Championships (Muskegon, MI)
June 25, Wolverine State Time Trial Championships (Dearborn, MI)
August 5, Ada Criterium – State Criterium Championships (Ada, MI)

More information: www.mbra.org

Ah well...

i'm too outa shape still to be racing again... and i wonder - can i compete against the slowly winding down pro's career in the 'old' masters (35+) groups?

and sometimes i think i'd be better off as a mechanic for other racers - cause i can admit - i am a better mechanic than a racer... and the bigger question... who'd i get to work as mechanic for me if i really make it to nats and the weather demands a bike change? assuming i can put the scratch together...

this is what is occupying my brain cells as i slowly recover from the sinus yuck (and yes... i am recovering)

if a woman can nuture and create a new life in 9 months, i think i should be able to morph myself into a passable 'cross racer in that same time span... but then that old - voice in my head says "You talk way to much - start walking the walk"

maybe its time to put down a calender of action - define goals...

18ºF out this morning - riding in was actually not so bad - i hit the traffic just right as to miss the bulk of it - but still had to deal with the retarded RI turn left on green and try and run over the cyclist at a light or two... stupid assholes on the road...

till later
G

i should add - i feel terrible about not getting an update on yesterday - but it came down to the fact that i just didn't have that much to say...

and right now - i'm over 2 hours elapsed time on the bike from commuting this week... one hell of a lot better than the 2.25-2.5 hours i spent in the car a day living/working in michigan. Better for me, and a big change in the 800-900 gallon a year biodiesel/diesel consumption that resulted from the insane commuting... now... I haven't put a drop of fuel in the Golf (that got in a wreck earlier this week - minor one at that) since BEFORE THANKSGIVING! That's correct. I have 1/4 tank left... might be able to make it till next week even before heading down to Rec/White fuel company's card lock pump to get more BioDiesel... that and its burning Domestically produced vegetable fuel! Imagine that... #1 i use the most efficient means of transport for the bulk of my commuting and i hop in one of the #2 most efficient vehicles to do the rest! All those Prius and Civic hybrid people out there - HAHA (gotta give props to the Insight people - i've said all along that's a good design, but too small for my giant frame)

sorry - not sure what came over me - maybe i'll have some more coffee... and see if Big Johnny has the Thursday Update posted yet... damn nope not yet... will have to find something else to read at lunch...

peace be with yall - the bishop is off to study the words of the people
-G

--

wow a tripple update...

Big up props to the Hub... Jessie and Jack - they know their stuff - they know what questions to ask, they know their shizz... Riding down to the other facility i finally noticed why the rear brake travel sucked... the pads are GONE - zip zilch - whoops! Grabbed a pair to put on... picked up some T-9 (the bikes will be happy now), chatted about the rollers/trainers debate... chatted about the IF stuff, about cross stuff... cool shizzile ya know? definately a place i could wear out a welcome at... have not yet been to the other 'recomended' shop in town but hell why bother... this is close, and can get what ever is needed...

Gonna go catch a hockey game... at last... should be fun...

And before i'm off - Cyclo-cross Worlds this weekend! Wish i could go - at least wish i could watch... Good Luck to the USA team men, women and jrs!

Will Sven Nys take the rainbow jersey?

i'm using one of them, well two actually... Sudafed and caffine... the latter - well covered and legal to a limit... gotta wonder... is anyone racing NOT using caffine?

Sudafed now... here's the fun stuff - the regular stuff doesn't seem to work as well or last nearly the 4 hours between suggested doses... so i go with the 12 hr dose... i like my drugs when i can take em in the morning and at night... simple... and so that's what i've been doing since the onset of this... and a few days into it... i must be building up some crazy amounts of the sudafed cause last night - i was NOT tired - slept very very very lightly - was even a bit jittery... all that with no caffine intake after about 1 pm... 'course no ETOH to dull the nerves... it was very strange - my brain was mellow, unlike the caffine induced lack of sleep at night... when the brain is firing at a million miles a minute...

its crazy... that and i tried the stupid salt water up the nose to flush the crap out... the water just stayed there and wouldn't flush the right way... so now i can't really hear either... and there's nothing like this to keep ya off the bike in the cold... and with no space at the apartment, my rollers stay in storage, i think/hope...

fun with insurance companies continued today... they have the stuff and now i just wait, well there's the whole task of finding a body shop... but that's rather minor - good thing is i'm feeling much better about the whole incident, its not weighing on me like lead X-ray sheilding stuff...

also need to stop talking - no way my voice will be able to tolerate a 3 hour training session... 3 hours is a long time to talk continuously with a healthy voice... and i do NOT sound normal... should be interseting...

its an obligatory post... i know... maybe shouldnt have... but i did

till later -g

coming out here i had a feeling... good thing i've more or less had an emotional detachment from the vehicle lately 'cause of all the commuting by bike...

crash boom bang... a very minor one... nearly avoided... not quite though... if the roads were dry... no problem... damn wet ones... and a suprise my normally quick RT was unable to save the bacon...

and i'm a wreck... my car's fine - missing the front plate... but no big deal... might need a new bumper... dunno though - but i did the right thing - called all the 'officials' got a report, started the claim stuff... i hope it doesn't wind up kickin me in the nuts... but being sick, getting in a wreck, dealing with all the extra stuff just isn't what i had planned on doing.

kinda funny though - a friend of mine had roughly the same thing happen... except she couldn't stop in time and completely T-boned the other car - air bags went off - nightmare city... at least that didn't happen and my lungs aren't trying to deal with getting the airbag dust out of them as well as this yuck...

the coffee thing... this morning i couldn't even finish the french press... got about 1/2 through and said - themos time... gonna spread the wealth through out the day... kinda funny, this weekend i stocked up on a different variety cause we had visitors who aren't as into the HD French Roast experience... so now i've got about 1/2 bag of the French Roast 365 branded stuff... and most of a bag of the Morning Buzz blend... which i bought cause it looked a bit less roasted... and it is... but it still isn't light roast - fortunately for me... but i've got a tone of the bean needing to be consumed right at the time i'm cutting raw grounds/bean consumption in 1/2. I should also mention i've gone the gamut on coffee prep... grind your own, store grind, burr grinder, whirr grinder... drip espresso, press in big, small, glass, stainless... freeze the beans fridge the beans, and have decided that based on all my reading of the Starbucks, SBC, Tulley's, Austin Chase, Beaners, Espresso Royal, books, manuals, online accounting filtered through a festidious scientific approach:

#1 you cannot grind at home as well as the store grinders can do it and grinding coffee is the most critical part of the experience if you assume a few other things like

#2 storage, room temp in an air tight container. Freezer and fridge are okay for over a month or more IF you keep it perfectly sealed AND you don't even think about opening the package upon removal of the fridge/freezer until the beans have come to temp. DON'T EVEN THINK about storing ground coffee for any period of time

#3 water, good clean preferably distilled water is the best - what is coffee? hot flavored water, if your water is funky - the coffee will never be good.

#4 brewing method here is where there is some major difference and its more opinion and convenience than the above. Assuming you have good well ground beans that have been stored properly and good water... it doesn't really matter if you perk, press or drip brew the coffee, it'll be good.

#5 additives, this is me - gimme the coffee black - i wanna taste it, not taste a sweetened milky beverage, if i want milk in the coffee i'll make espresso and have a cap or a latte with extra foam with a bit of raw sugar (smoother IMNSHO than the white stuff).

simple really, and yes lighter roasted columbian coffee IS higher in caffine than the darker Roasts like French and such, but ya know... i'm not all that concerned, as long as i get just enough to quell the headache and make my taste buds happy... And seenin as coffee is now a GOOD thing, anti-oxidants, mild heart benefits i'm pretty happy with it as an addiction.

and in case anyone was wondering Coffee is native to the Africa, not south america. Some culture stomping missionaries carried it over way back along time ago, along with all their diseases and religion... i've got a nice blurb i dug up a while ago... but the nasal induced brain fog is clouding my memory and it'll take a while to get it up.

Ahh and thinking about coffee has sedated my nerves and anguish over that fender bender stuff - well it did until i just mentioned it...

emotions, a roller coaster that ehances out everyday life... as much of a burden as it is i will gladly embrace the over abundance of emotions i feel and the intensity, it could be a far worse life to live without this passion and emotional intensity...

and to think, some how its all connected to the expression of DNA, all explainable with biochemistry and molecular biology... pretty damn freaking cool!

till later, as the chapel is now open for music rehersals
-G

Steelers won... now my brother out in seattle will be happy... no not cause the seahawks are going but because the Steelers are going-- yes he is one of a handful of steelers fans who inhabit a certain indian casino for every steelers game... anyway - the seahawks won because Carolina showed up with a one dimensional team, yeah Seattle has a great defense but it didn't look special against washington and washington's offense is pretty stinky... anyway - enough football...

sick... sinus yuck, but still riding... I wonder if they award Belgian points for riding in the snow, then riding in the remains of the snow in the rain, while you are gripped with a crappy sinus infection? The weather i can't help, but it also won't stop me. The sinus crap I owe to a certain 60s/70s OB that yanked me out of my mom with forcepts, and no not the nice ergonomic baby head safe ones they have the option of using now... no these were the stainless salad tongs... and they swashed my head funny. Ear canal that points up into my head instead of horizontally... and a damn high propensity to collect crap and create ear or sinus pressure/infection all cause those spaces in my head that supposedly drain do not drain... no freaking fun... and yes cause i'm sick i feel like bitching about it...

beer... oh beer how i love thee (duh if ya didn't get the DC reference... it aint cause he's got porn its cause i can understand the relation of booze and cycling)... oh and on an aside... its better to get your bike worked on in the morning if the bike shop is near a bar that serves lunch... its safer to get a bike worked on in the afternoon if its only near a coffee shop... bike shop near bar = loaded mechanics... don't ask me how i know... bike shop near coffee shop = jittery dropsies mechanics in the morning before they've eaten lunch... don't ask me how i know... the nice thing is more customers will never know the difference cause the mechanics aren't usually on display... kinda like the car mechanics ... the waiting room often isn't in the same room that the mechanic is working on the car... but anyway the reason for mention is since the onset of lack of sleep and the dreaded sinus attack (I kinda wish they'd add some anti-bacterial junk to the flu shot)... i've cut back - to nuthing... no big deal... but in a way it is... i can't fire off emails to Big Johnny saying "dude 6 PBRs and 2 Sam Adams have treated me well this evening..." followed by something else equally stupid but funny (to me). Ahh the humor in beverage consumption... which is why i find it even funnier, those who eschew alcoholic beverage, and even funnier those who look down with pitty and distain at those who decide to indulge in a bit of ETOH consuption... heck, maybe i just have a better alchohol dehydrogenase promoter in my genetics... could be!?

coffee... the other edge of my existance, its certainly not like it was when i didn't have responsibilities... ie wake up.. eat massive breakfast - drink copious quantities of coffee - ride to work/lab - drink MORE coffee - ride to work/bikeshop - eat lunch drink beer - work/lab/shop - drink another coffee - go for big group ride - eat massive dinner - drink lots of beer with friends at bar... sleep - wake up and repeat... its a pretty serious cycle... and the only time the fluid being taken in doesn't have either caffine or alcohol is on the bike... pretty crazy eh? well it works... but... the coffee lingers at the only one with a physical addiction i can't shake... booze? no problem, can drop that at will no side affects... coffee? the headaches and brain fog from going cold turkey flat out stink... so instead of a 4 tablespoon pot of french roast in the french press at home followed by 4 or 6 tablespoons of coarse ground french roast in a 8 or 10 (depending on how much i think i'll need) cup drip maker at work i'm down to the former. Sure that's a lot of coffee... BUT its not THAT much, i don't really acutally use that many grounds, and the coffee i drink (french roast) is pretty low on the total caffine scale... but its different... that and i always hope i can keep to the coffee only in the morning... and usually it works, for a week or two or a month... it works until that couple nights in a row of children interuppting my sleep, usually cause they are sick... and then i get tired, work sleep deprived and boom - what happens... good old dad starts it back up with the sick rant (see above)... fun life i live and somewhere i am supposed to get 'training' in so i don't embarass myself in my first year as a 35 year old masters racer... or at least a 35+ B racer... it remains to be seen which it'll be...

houses - not gonna touch this one with the current state of ramblin i'm in now... might never see me stop writing....

hills - went out and peeked at Jenkes... pretty damn freaking steep shit - i believe its 16% or more... Doyle up from N Main might be a more challenging climb than Cypress. The delightful Dawn mentioned that the hill up from KFC is the longest and best (cypress) - well i checked em all out this weekend after i left here - Jenkes is two short blocks... wicked... and cypress is a bit steeper in sections than Doyle and might be a tenth longer, but it also has a few lower grade sections... that and a trip up Doyle means i stopped at Wholefoods/Tiffanys for provisions and am riding with extra cargo and that means more weight and most importantly requires more watts to get up the hill than me in kit... and speaking of riding...

yeah - i rode in this weather today... i just hope the water drains off the roads and we wind up with not the solid ice mess after the snow for Cyclocross Nats...

but i did ride the Cross bike today - its a sick beast and i love it... just need more of em... i'm also kinda bummed cause the ridley they listed at CyclocrossWorld.com sold - i kinda figured the 60cm would kick around long enough for me to scrape enough coin to have a second cross machine for the next season... sounds like i've gotta succomb to the advice of SWMBO and race a season before i get a backup bike for the pits (maybe if i am doing well i can justify it for the Cross Nats event).

Speaking of Cross nats... i had word that the course is still plainly visible at Roger Williams Park... i wonder how it'll look next year, if its the same setup or not... at anyrate - one of these spring days it might be fun to do a run through of that course... for the hell of it...

now while i'm still talking about myths and dreams - the campus preacher will close the book on today's sermon and step off the park bench - G

and i'm online!!! WOOT...

got in a ride - got some time to myself... and popped into work to brush up on emails and potential rides tomorrow - if the weather cooperates...

todays ride report - blah... but it was 2 hours of mellow tempo low HR down the East Bay Bike path... figure if i'm gonna ride slow i'll head down there - at least there are people to watch, the rollerbladers, the old folks on bikes, the punkass kids on their bmx the moms and dads with the kids... dogs and the like... and a bit of a change from the daily about to get creamed by cars life the bike and I lead during the week...

oh and i found a much better long climb than College...Doyle... and does it every kick ass... drops down, not quite to the lowest point there at North Main but pretty close and it hits the highest point in all the hill (next to the Brown Observatory).

it was fun - definately gonna be hitting that place again - fo sho

time to wrap up and sneak a nap...

peace out yall...

G

Damn cool shop... i could almost drop this gig if they needed another partner... assuming i could put the scratch in to buy in...

that and they've got a Velocipede on the logo...

sign of my shop... no doubt... i started off at the Velo Stores at the Pine street pro shop location... they had use the old school big wheel as a logo in their history... then wound up at Velocipede Peddler in Lansing

if you are curious look cloesly at the logos for both... (hub and v.ped)

ifn i need shit i'm gettin it from those boys... unless i can get it easier from the boys at Vped or from D at Old Town we'll see how it shakes down... i don't really wanna dip to ordering shit from mail order... but... i may just do that... the list of 'needs' now that i'm riding daily is growing... there's only so much i can do until i ride through my current stockpile of crap.. we'll see...

am i the only one who notices tires on cars? i dunno i check tread patterns for signs of intelligent design and the like... then check makers and the like and am amazed that vast number of absolutely shitty tires on the road....

anyway... time'll tell how this all shakes 0ut... if this riding actually works for me and i can compete someday...

time ta pay da bills -

the pulpit is vacant... GeWilli has left the church

What about the Haida? They are the (iirc) the people of the northwest that would start the day every day of the year with a swim... in the deathly cold waters off the Queen Charlotte Islands in BC Canada.

well today i attempted my Haida immitation... wearing exactly the same stuff i did for the 55 degree ride... today though - instead of 55 degrees and calm... it was 40 degrees with a 15-20 mph wind. Cool to cold... but... i'm fine... some skin (leading edge in some places) is still cool, but the core is still warm and my feet are fine and my hands are warm... stupid? sure seemed like that when i was waiting for the ride...

and of course - i sounded like a major league know-it-all to one of the 'team' organizers that showed up on the ride... i feel a bit bad - esp since she doesn't know me other than a few emails and a couple rides... but then i've been riding for what... about 20 years on the road... pretty crazy... and if you count the summer road riding at my Dad's in MD even longer...

and seein as i'm actually on the bike every day (now) i feel some what okay that my confidence and 'information' is based on real (even if it sounds cocky) situations/experience...

ah well - it couldn't really get worse - the ride started off going east... with the wind... 1/2 the ride (two big guys) did the longer loop and i turned into the wind and 'towed' (sort of) J home... it was quiet except with the comment about how the draft is better with two people in front... I was ya know cool with that and asked well arn't you getting a good draft from me... answer was 'no'

NO? i was silently flabbergasted... how do you NOT get a good draft from some 6'6" dude? well then i started to pay attention... she's usually a bike length off or so... well... then i stopped worrin about it and just stayed out front pulling home into the wind...

sure not a positive ride all the way around but a good ride... of course it ended with a comment that went to my core of "huh?"

She said that there are people who think rollers are bad. WTF? Hard to ride? yeah... dangerous? sure if you don't take propper precautions. Bad?

i dunno...

Sprinting... what is sprinting? Power? Nope... Leg speed... if you can turn your cranks faster than anyone else... you can overcome massive (horse)power deficiencies with leg speed... combine the two and you are Mario Cipolini or Petachi...

ah whats the use... sooo i did a couple quick google searches... came up with very little but very consitent pro/con to rollers

Rollers are great for handling and balance, but not very good for hard workout sessions. This is a pretty general statement, but one that hold up to discussion. If you your plan has you on the bike, riding steady for periods at a steady pace, then rollers will fit the bill.

If you plan on doing various workouts consisting of hard intervals, sprints and the like, I suggest a trainer. On the trainer you can think more about the effort and less about staying upright. Hope this helps.

that sums it up... of course i have a set of rollers with a fan resistance unit attached and can do both... but even before i had the resitance unit (for my McClain rollers) getting time in on the bike is good...

kinda goes down to the old philosophy about bike specificity... doing standing intervals on the spinning bike or the trainer is wicked different than doing them on the bike... and yes - you CAN do standing intervals on the rollers - you just have to have wicked good bike handling skills....

I can see how the 'spinning' generation of cyclists could benefit from anti-roller propaganda... cause rollers are the anti-thesis of spinning classes... so maybe that's where its coming from... sigh...

oh my HR chest strap fell down when i exhaled today... had to tighten the strap up a bunch... getting skinny is a pain in the ass....

oh and driving the car everynight has gotten old... already tired of the thing... gimme my bike...

damn i didn't realize how pissed/grumpy i am about this roller thing... grrrrrreat

the deacon gewilli is off the pulpit

*sniff* *sniff*

Barbarella's diary over at Cyclingnews....

freaking jealous - maybe its a good thing i'm slow

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so those who saw just that - thought - 'what' is GeWilli off his rocker - AGAIN?
nah just random updates and shit i didn't wanna make wait till tomorrow

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still dreaming about getting this gem ...maybe they need an old slow dude to ride cyclocross in New England for them next year...

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add this... i'm STILL laughin my ass off....

0 1 | 0 9 | 2 0 0 6

A Forester on Expedition among the Yukons

Driving a car (the Forester is to SUVs as George W. Bush is to Abraham Lincoln) sure is an eye-opener. Now I know how the wife feels at 5 feet tall. It's a land of giants out there. Driving my midget rice-grinder I have a swell view of everyone else's lug nuts. And have you ever tried to find a silver Forester in a Whole Foods parking lot in Colorado? "Is this one mine? Nope, W sticker. Shit! Is this one mine? Nope, Kerry-Edwards sticker. Shit!" And so on. Once the dealer plates are off the sonofabitch I'm hosed.

Patrick O'Grady STILL is one of the funniest guys out there: LINK
and yeah - 'bout time i added his humorous self to the link list afterall it was O'grady that dropped me over on DrunkCyclist... and damn i owe both those sonsofbitches a beer - or a case - or a bottle or two of scotch... but, my rule... never give booze that you can't help drink

sort of... riding in - into the blustery 22 mph headwind reminded me of Michigan. Where EVERY ride is a wind swept event... where drafting is the only thing to save your bacon, and where you can ride pretty much into the wind for the first 2/3 of the ride and have a tailwind push you home - no matter where the wind is blowing...

but... there aren't hills... and having been a hill climbin fiend and then turned into a big wind shattering motor... i kinda like the hills... easier to fake it and easier to measure/reserve power...

there is a technique for riding in the wind... maybe its just mental, but when i got to Michigan from Connecticut... damn what a change- road rides were never the same... took many years before i started to figure out the wind... and being a giant freak of a rider never helped... esp riding with the girls and smaller guys... it was a rare day when Big tall J Frost with his (as he called them) "Child bearing hips" would show up on a ride and i'd actually be able to get a real draft... little C and B were not quite 5' and on the bike... all the draft i got was on my knees... but it was better than no draft... 'course they could rest completely and pretty much freewheel behind me... lucky girls (maybe)...

but ya know - i started this with pullin a qoute, i dunno where 'imp got it but in all seriousness... its rather damn true:

"Abortion=the right to have unprotected sex with a man you don't want kids by."

IIRC (if i recall correctly for the 'net noobies) i've mentioned something along the sticky issue of abortion... my stances was way more prochoice without thought until the kids came along and i started to think about it... as a biologist, life starts at fertilization. When that genetic material from the egg and the sperm get all mixed up in the same nucleus... THAT is a new individual. failure to implant is a natural form of rejection that the body does and can do... once its implanted... don't mess with it. BUT i STRONGLY feel that the Gov should not be legislating choice issues. at least now... but i almost hate to say it... i wouldn't mind if it was a choice taken away... yeah yeah i'm a guy... no i can't bear kids... but seeing so many people go overseas to adopt means maybe that there is a strong market for adoption... but what is more horrible than carrying a kid for 9 months to give it to someone else. That almost is worse than killing the baby in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd trimester. It is a bit political of an issue. One that you don't bring up with friends unless you already know how they feel. But the issue is one of those things that comes down to education, and personal responsibility. If you are going to have sex, have protected sex. If you have an accident, get the appropriate measures to prevent implantation (rape, incest... what not). Yes it does put a large amount of responsibility on the woman's shoulders. Yes it could change someone's life. I'm sorry to say but i know too many woman/friends who have had an abortion, yes their lives would have been drastically and dramatically turned upside down, and maybe they still feel that despite the pain it was worth it. I don't know. self control and education... self control and education but with everything, that's what it comes down to... fat gas guzzling wastes of a behemoth SUVs... what to do...

Gotta say - i like seeing all the hybrids out here - it does mean people are 'trying' to do the right thing. that they 'might' be getting better economy than they would otherwise... the tax credit gets me a bit grumpy... but i have to remember my cars are both paid off AND nothing is as wasteful as buying a brand new car... esp if the old one is reasonably efficient. Even if its a Yukon XL that was traded in on a Prius, in the global energy scheme... keeping the Yukon probably makes more sense than getting the prius... esp with few miles a year driven. And by few i mean 15k... of course though, if you are already deluded enough to think that your 3 year old car is junk and you NEED a new one... buying a hybrid is DEFINITELY a better choice than getting another Yukon. But then it kinda screws up the who conservation thing.

Its more environmentally sound to buy a car and spend the money or time on the proper maintenance, keeping it in running order and caring for it. Maybe spending more time evaluating if you can live with the vehicle for 10+ years is a good thing. But then, duh, what AM i thinking... this is the USA... people don't think like that here. Never have... hopefully they will but i would guess its gonna be a LOOOOOOOONG time.

Now, i remember, the idea from last night... it came out of a comment i read... about monday being james earl ray day... (which got me mad and deeply offended) its just shocking - a wake up call that people in the south still even in jest (which it sounds like it wasnt) would feel like praising the guy who killed MLK... WTF... sick twisted bastards... i guess it comes down to the education thing... the guy is so self centered and so poorly educated, and yes - you can have a poorly educated PhD (go to most universities - plenty of examples)... sad state of this union...

i was gonna write a bit/alot about it but i won't, too depressing, and i'm too tired to get pissed off... I guess the college street hill climb with a 20-25 mph headwind kicked my ass... that and i'm hungry - get to eat the soup today!

listening to some Horselips... not so bad... very listenable... time to eat some lunch and listen to some tunes and to read up on sometin i've been meaning to for a long time: Slow Food it always made sense to me... okay, but that's all for later... maybe tomorrow... okay - in process of spell checking (gotta make sure certain words are right) horselips started playing an out of tune fiddle with bad intonation... eeeeeeeeek - nothing worse than an out of tune fiddle played by someone who can't even get close to the other notes.... Some people just need frets...

-the Rev GeWilli

Outline form:
1) Car
2) Soup
3) Changes
4) Football
5) cycling (obligatory by need)

Sooo whadda they have in common????

car - ashamed to admit it but GD is my car a freaking blast to drive. Its been parked for 6 weeks, driving the old/new swedish brick (850 sedan) and since the changes (allusions there of to #3) require that i begin burning BioDiesel once more the fam... getting the #2 car in action meant a 5 minute glow plug swap out in the downpour that was saturday in rode i land... followed by a mellow shake down drive to the barn where the 'winter' tires are. The winter tires are great Nokian NRWs but are a bit worn and the rears are cupped (but tolerable on the rear) AND they are one hell of a lot better in snow than the 65k miles of wear in the Turanza LS-H tires... (warrantied to 60k). The drive back, no holding back... bigger injectors and the chip - even with biod have me grinning like a freaking joyriding teenager. instant acceleration at any RPM, rock solid handling, tire squealing power, e-brake power slides... fun as hell... sue me for loving that car but its a blast - no where near stock but at 246,000+ miles and still kickin ass and taking numbers burning the bean as clean as can be is something to be happy about... so i only get 40-43 mpg driving with a lead foot in the city... its burning biodiesel and that is renewable... unlike the gasoline some put in hybrid cars (sorry kerry ;) couldn't resist - HAD to be said :-D )

(blood pressure and pulse resuming mellow state again)

soup - really really good stuff, made a batch, one of the best batches of soup in a long time. Yeah i'm the cook in the house, i like it - cooking is like science and biology and art wrapped up in one, if you want it to be. Or it can be a drudging way to get calories in oneself to get fat (see supermarket frozen food section with prepared meals). Anyway this soup rocked. A simple variation on my mother's classic.
-sweet onion (1/4 of a large one) and celery(3 large stalks) clarified in extra virgin olive oil in stock pot
-carrots (2 big ones) added (all ingredients chopped evenly)
-1 small parsnip
-2 small red top turnips
-1 small yukon gold potato
-1 large garnet yam
-1 medium butternut squash
-2 large leafs Kale (rough chopped)
-1 medium zucchini
-1 cup red lentils (rinsed and rinsed and rinsed till no bubbles formed)
-4 teaspoons of better than whatever condensed stock base (i used chicken but veggie would have worked to make it vegan)
-5 cloves of garlic (its a hella big soup this aint' really that much)
water to make it the right consistency...
sea salt (to taste)
dash of balsalmic (to taste)
shake or two of hot sauce (ditto for the rest of these)
sprinklin of ground coriander
dried basil
tumeric
woostersauce (replace with soysace for veganish)
cook and cook and cook (30 min or until all veggies are soft)
drop in the stick blender - blend till smooth, add two bay leaves once all blended and let sit simmering for a few minutes - and then serve over white rice with hot sauce on the side... damn freaking goooooooooood stuff. nummy nummy nummy
Yeah i made this for dinner last night... but i had a made-from-scratch green curry for lunch - definitely not one of my home runs - tasty but not like this soup...

changes... what nots exactly that. Changes. schedule, life, for whole family. Hopefully for the good, very hopeful... very hopeful... will i still get to ride? i think so... maybe the girls will adjust sooner than we had hoped.

FOOTBALL
Go Steelers... gotta say it - even if they are my brother's team how do you NOT like bill cower, or Troy Pullamalooooo(sic) or the rest of the gang... the Bus is the best... i dunno about denver though.. should be a good game - hopefully no where near the heart attacks that the Redskins or Steelers gave me in the first two rounds.... This weekend the steelers nearly killed me... what emotion but

for those eagle fans...

9. Next week will be the first time in five years that the conference championship round will be Eagles- and Patriots-free. Which is a shame, really. I never felt that we got to hear enough about those two teams. They kind of flew under the radar a bit on us, didn't they? But as disastrous as Philadelphia's season was this year, it must be nice for the Eagles to experience the month of January without being weighed down with an overwhelming sense of impending doom.

maybe its a redskins fan thing but i am just fine not hearing about the Eagles..... the Redskins coulda won the game, but well not having an intact O-line will do it... it cost the Raiders a superbowl (as did the stupid rule about forward motion) with that guy who went all bi-polar to Mexico... so i drank beer and watched football... and worked on my car.... what a freaking damn patriotic american I am... oh if they only knew...

back on the bike this morning - two trips up and down college... gonna stick with the gearing rule - since it was just once last week i'm gonna go this week in the 23 up... which should be good cause i'm up and down every damn day the rest of the week, could be twice on a few days.

I hate the tourists around the college... driving while pointing - stopping when they aren't supposed to JUST after accelerating to get around me - then to have me roll around the front of the car as they are gawking... I usually am able to restrain from yelling out "WOW you got here SOOOOOOO much faster by zooming past me.. wow, I think it saved you a whole 2 freaking seconds!!!!!" Fucking retards...

maybe shouldn't end today with those two words... might be a bad precedent to set for the week. So this stuff is Faulkner-esque eh? According to someone who's reading it is...
M wrote:

...I've been reading some of your blog, having a hard time with some of it. Are you doin' some sort of William Faulkner kinda thing? ...

(yes those ellipses are used properly in the quote for a change) that comment actually got me to go back and READ my old stuff - old stuff as in much of it from the last month or so. And to be perfectly honest... i was able to read it - and it was kinda cool going back and reading it... much more readable for me than many blogs out there (blogs and webpages on my links sidebar are the few exceptions - they all very readable).

damn starting a paragraph with a () and ending it with one too... sick ass bad writing i'm guessing... but not out of character for me...

and not out of character to just be like... woot - this post is history (until i get back on just after everything is wrapped up to add a few more thoughts - ya never know if a gewilli post is gonna stay the same till the next two posts are up)...

Peace out yall... ride the devil outa ya bikes or they'll haunt ya forever!

-Preacher G- OUT

if i knew it was going to be this mellow, quiet combined with my exhaustion i might have tried to get out on a ride with the BCC gang this afternoon...

as it is i might not have made it - all the trips back and forth to the other facility... i think there was just one day i wasn't down there (yesterday) and that day i did the wee ride over lunch...

wanna get fast? GET SOME SLEEP! i ain't gettin any... but am in general getting enough calories to compensate and still kicking around under 190. Which i still think is a bit weird... can't get used to being that light... but as i said before its a good light.

Pretty lame today i know... listening to some streets right now - those guys kick ass!

made it up 'the hill' today in a cog smaller than normal... and that's my new goal/game... gonna spend a week at one cog and go down until either i can't make it up or i get to the 50-12...

and the 70 degree thing... it was brought up by the cute Doc on the ride and also in her column over at velonews (quoted below)

Skin care, heat balm and keeping covered
I'm old and grumpy enough to observe two recent skin-care fads in cold weather cycling that I find puzzling and medically counterintuitive. The first is bare legs in the snow. I was a junior back when disco was king and all we had to go by was the CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) cycling manual. The good book strictly forbade riding in bare legs below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. These are words to live by, even with the bad English translation. Your skin can only do so much temperature regulation. Cold, bare legs make it harder for your body to maintain core temperature and prevent hypothermia.

Here's how it was always told to me: 60 degrees = short sleeves
and i've found even with my crappy knees that it works pretty damn well. I will always leave the knee warmers on longer... and have no qualms about going full length if conditions permit... there is no need for this old man to go for fasion... no one i can impress by being cold... well maybe there is but whats the point... gotta take care of the engine and the moving parts...

this weather here now is freaky - a blessing - when one can get out and ride in it, but sureal for January...

but let the weekend start - maybe i can find time to rest a bit - catch up on sleep - not depend on the vast amount of coffee i'm imbibing...

We'll see how the changes next week work... hopefully i can keep up the lofty goal of riding/bloggin/dreaming in the midst of everything else...

Can't leave without a wee touch of humor:

till tuesday - peace out

rolling rolling rolling... keep this blogger rolling... and no not in *that* way... sheesh - i'm clean - a law abidin freak (for the most part)...

rollin in the posting way...

title point...

Old School against Throw Back

jersey or bike parts or what not... Old school is like Old School - Throw Back seems maybe to be on the rise - up and coming maybe?

so i pitted the two at Google Fight

now at the time i ran it - Old School was at 351,000,000 and Throw Back was 94,400,000... not too shabby numbers

okay - but then doin it for real with quotes and all that gets some very different numbers:
25,500,000 vs 1,090,000 ... "throw back" got the snot kicked out of it...

dunno if it can be done historically... remians to be seen if throw back can make a successful run at the established 'old school'

--- topic #2
this dude took my name!!!
http://www.geoffreywilliamsmusic.com/

that lousy SOB... doesn't even look like me...

--- Good Morning everyone... top to bottom old to new... goes for the updates and the threads...

dead tired - but gotta head down the hill in a few minutes... gonna pop the update up just cause... cause i can and i have it here and this'll start me fresh for an afternoon update if there is one... Definately won't be anything new over the weekend, as usual... nuttin new on the weekends till net access is live at teh homestead... its kinda nice to be ludditishly off line - no cable/dish no land line, no internet... kinda damn freaking nice i tell ya...

till later - if i wake up and make it back...

Some flickr images - my violin... There's a Flickr member that was the inspiration for this set of images - i'm hesitant to call them a series, but i guess they are, quick snapshots... and like the first one - the only shot to choose from...

anyway sitting at the Seattle concert waiting for sound check to require me to play - i was sitting there - camera next to me violin in my lap (upside down as seen) and thought - damn its about time i actaully do what i have been wanting to do (take pics of my instrument)... there it is... or should i say here they are...







if ya been around here for a long time there's a post or two about music... one of the first ones i think maybe... yeah... here

and there i go again - linkin my own shit... shameless... but ya know what i've started doing?

Actually reading what i wrote... no not as much back then. the throwback linkin my own shit stuff is total memory recall... i can't remember people's names on rides, but i can remember a blog entry i wrote on the 30th of sept 2004... freaky man - freaky...

whats it called when you can't remember stuff?

(my own personal joke lately - cause i've been doing really poorly with names as of late)

a wee ride update to close up the afternoon with. Kick Ass... Dawn Richardson is a total cutie - fun to ride with and lead a great mellow 1 hr lunch ride today... what a blast... Its strange riding with a legend, a superstar, someone who's columns in Velonews i've read, with as much interest as reading Zinn's stuff... now there's someone i'd really like to ride with.

I wonder - i should put together a list of the people i'd like to ride with... the dream pack...

Zinn'd definitely be on the list... i'd hate to admit but i don't think i'll put that Lance guy... Eddy Mercx and his son Axle? damn straight... Sean Kelly, and Yatesy? not a shread of doubt... i'll need to think about it a bit more - add Gary Klein to the mix and Keith Bontrager... something to keep cogitating on while working on the scopes...

hey - anyone know the biochemical reason why we can't get good photobleaching for a FRAP experiment using Di-4 ANEPPS?

issa fun stuff yall... music, cycling, photography, microscopy... dats my world, welcome to the glimpse of chaos that is my brain

The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity.
- Helen Rowland

and a link ...

home.earthlink.net/~acoggan/misc/id4.html

its warm and its january - crazyness... 20ºF+ warmer than normal...

gonna go out for a lunch time ride...

totally geeked for that - a bit amped up on caffine but feeling somewhat... pedestrian in my prose today. The words the ideas... not flowing so good...

but to post anyway - is what to do - what can be done - what should be done?

music - put some music on... usually works... and 20 miuntes later - its working... but now... damnit gotta get back to the fun stuff (microscopes are cool) and still how many years later... shit 13 years from the release... Thigh High Nylons by Mustard Plug - DAT song STILL gets my blood pumpin! Kick'n yall

hopefully i'll be back with a ride report this PM...
g-dawg OUT

or not... something cool from a cool person - a link... (check Kerry from my links...)

but amid the chaos that is work right now... its a great little light of sunshine... politics and science...

why can't we all just stick with 'Science'

Okay - definition time... (anyone notice i've switched gears to lecture mode?)
./lecture mode aside
I like definitions esp when talking about science with students or researchers/peers. Definitions provide a common point to begin discussion. Most arguments and mis-understandings are based on lack of agreed upon language or starting facts.
./lecture mode on!

My definition for science:
Peer supported/reviewed explanations of empirical data

Now lets look at What Ken Miller says science is:
“the systematic search for explanations for how the observable world works”

and i had my def written down before i looked up Miller's, and am suprised by the similarity, out of the blue kinda not identical no but close enough to boost an ego... or to affirm my understanding.

Anyway whats this gotta do with the chaos? People doing science non-systematically and not focusing on the collection of the emperical data in the most appropriate manner. Long story... not going into it... but causing crazyness...

Oh... i started wanting to say - i'm a total Geek. I LOOOOOOVE TEM... and TEM for those not in the know is Transmission Electron Microscope. Back at the old place... i hated it... back at the place before it was just a pain... here... man something about this place... maybe it is the kick ass knives, maybe its the sweet CCD on the microscope... maybe its the samples.

But i'm having a freaking blast sectioning this Lichen sample i found out at home over vacation. Yeah i found a cool lichen, put it in a salsa container ontop of a bunch of moss and have it here in the lab. And i've prepped and looked at it on the TEM. Trying out new fixation methods and everything... I'm a geek but i don't care this is cool stuff...
See:
of course now that i've published it here the image looks like shit - if anyone is really curious i can email a tiff or a higher q jpeg
I mean isn't that cool? The algal cells with the funky primative chlorophyll and all that?!!

anyway - i dunno how the hell i'm gonna get low intensity base training in and get it effective with this bike commute back and forth up and down the hill... twice today... but seated in the 50toother no problem... no more am i forced to stand up and use every muscle in my body, no longer does climbing that hill mean feeling my back later... its 100% leggs and gettin easier everytime...

if only there was a career for a Cipo wanna be... if 7 or 8 guys towed my ass all over a race course i think i'd do okay (nah of course not - i'm still slow but i can dream can't i?)

I did feel the extra 30 pounds of books i rode in with this morning... mostly heading up the hill... very different to suddenly be as fat as i was 6 months ago... that sudden realization as i was typing is funny... that bag was kinda heavy... made me slow...

ah well - next weeks massive change to everyone's schedules will really be a shock to the system... could take a few weeks to recover from the madness....

linkage today?

its edumacation time:
Light Microscope Primer

Check it out - its fun - lots of cool Java tutorials (okay cool to a microscope geek)

peace out yall
G

sure i'm linkin my own shit now... sue me...

but looking at that - feb 19th... damn freaking long time ago...

goals? aspirations? No i didn't want to wait until then to post the thing cause the Mike Walden stuff is coming into my head everytime i hear a spinning class reference.

its best to quote it:

Michigan coaching legend Mike Walden kept his road racers on a 42/15 fixed gear at a heart rate never to exceed 65% of their maximum until they had logged 1000 miles for the season, and he claimed a single sprint would negate all the "capillary developing" of this phase

42/15

i wonder if i could do that... 1000 miles - 65% of the HR with no sprints?

Hell what would i do on my commute? no sprints? that's nearly impossible. very curious what his sprint limits are - cause even ann arbor ain't as flat as all that... a hill okay? Maybe as long as the Heart rate stays below 65%... well then what about sex? would sex negate the capillary development?

Lets post this question - query to the local email gang to see what they all say:
And boy oh boy - what a great wealth of conversation...
I hesitate to drag them over here willingly or unwillingly... a few of the main points that often, of course, i didn't think about... but read over there

if ya can... i haven't checked to see if ya need to be a member or not to read the messages... anyway some good stuff...

ride as much as you can... if you can't ride much ride harder ;)

but i'll say this - the best results i had were from having a good base - maintaining the base and then training hard for about 150% longer than the race event... that's the only real success i've had...

And since i'm working towards just racing Cyclocross this year (unless someone twists my arm into a decent road race) i've got a bit of time in the calendar... just a job and two kids and all that goes along with that kinda get in the way of riding 5-6 hours a day... even if i could do it on a trainer... so i do what i can... hoping that it'll be enough... hoping that maybe i can get out for a good ride at least once a week... and get a distance base on top of the commuting...

I figure if i can sustaing 90% max all the way into work (2 miles) that'll be not so bad as a benchmark... definately getting the sprinting done... but heck - who wants to hear this babble...

so I pulled onto Hope street (2 blocks from the pad) behind a red Mini (new one - S model) and caught it at the red light down the road a bit as it turned green and had a nice 300 meter sprint, keeping infront of it (albeit yeah the car was driven rather pedestrianly) till i turned off... the legs are recovering from the drinking... its a good thing...

my weight is down to under 190 for the first time in 7-8 years i think... my blood pressure is also down again to the point where i have blackouts and dizzy spells again (for the first time in about 7 years). resting HR is still only about 50... need to work on that a bit more...

-- this hybrid thing -- KL made a few comments there in the 'ouch' thread. I get carried away and passionate about stuff... its just who i am... (any reasonably astute person with time on their hands reading this blog will probably come to that conclusion)... hybrids are great - but as with the big SUVs are rarely used to their designed potential.

Why is it that Europe kicks our ass? In cars (efficiency, like the Polo and Lupo or the smart cars) and in cyclocross? is there a link to kickin ass in Cross and efficiency? maybe it has to do with sacrifice?

Are they willing to do with less to get by? Work harder for more? Or are we just fat and lazy and over-hoarders? Do we just buy to prepare for the worst case:

i'm going to buy a F350 V10 with the towing package for my 2 mile commute, just in case i need to move a steam roller on a trailer up to the cabin i plan to buy

make sense? i dunno - that guy would be better off getting a small car or a bike and renting the F350 dualie to move his steam roller! Nah that'd make him look less like a real man...

ferfucksake...

Oh and Swobo kicks ASS. Have i ordered the jersey yet? nah - i will... when i can put the scratch together and also when i finally get sick of that old school bellweather longsleeve jersey... but here - I read through their stuff yesterday and this kinda made me sad:

Kurt Vonnegut said it best…

"...the epitaph for the planet, I remember, which he said should be carved in big letters in a wall of the Grand Canyon for the flying-saucer people to find, was this:

WE COULD HAVE SAVED IT BUT WE WERE TOO DOGGONE CHEAP"

anyway (click quote to read the preface to the punchline)...

time will tell to see if any of my banter results in cyclocross results... and time will tell if the USA can get its collective head out of its ass... Bush Co. man does that gang make me furious...

'nuff reading... 'nuff blabbing... 'nuff of it all...

But... at least i'm not fat anymore... i might still be old and slow... but fat fortunately i aint
---
gonna close by adding a morning email blast i wrote about bike tune-ups:

Let me preface the following remarks with this: I'm a 'retired' bike mechanic, a grad of United Bicycle Institute, 2 years at the Pine Street Pro shop in seattle, 4 years at the Conn College mechanic and 6 years at Velocipede in Lansing. I've seen pretty much everything, done pretty much everything you can do to a bike, more than once.

Tune ups: In general, yes a tune up is a great thing to do. If you are not mechanically inclined having a good mechanic give the bike a once over annually is a very good thing. The money is well spent, but like a car - if you neglect it for too long the list of "needed" repairs can get rather extensive.

Chains and cogs wear together, and the lube you choose to use will determine its lifespan when coupled with miles and rider power. Never ever EVER change one without changing the other... Okay there is one exception. If you change the chain before it wears at all the cassette will last a long time, but you need to change the chain at about 1/3 its usable life. Oh and never ever use a degreaser on the chain... long story... i've said enough as it is

Cables. The type of shifting system will determine how much worn/corroded cables will impact it. Poor shifting could be sticking bad cables or just mis-adjustment. And as with the chains and cogs - cables should generally be changed WITH the housing.

brake pads - kinda no brainer... if they are worn replace...

All this can add up to a significant amount of money if they've been neglected. I have not yet had a chance to stop in to either Prov Bike or the Hub but i hear good things about those places. I have encountered shops that will reccomend replacing parts that aren't really needed. I have encountered more customers though that refuse to have NEEDED parts replaced.

And unless given the hearty and warm go ahead from the bike shop... don't bring your mail/internet ordered parts in to have them install them.

and to add: my bike wax of choice is Lemon Scented Pledge...

-G

Thankfully none of the crap that seems to be of the sort reported over at DC with road rides... hell i've never been on a road ride like described there in my life. Crazy stuff...

maybe cause most places i've been either a mechanic at the LBS or running the show (college) or what not. This is the first place that i've just jumped in with a very loose association. The last time i rode with the group it was a great dynamic - pretty cool - till the dog incident (different story). This time it was a great ride but somewhat cool - maybe the weather - maybe cause i just didn't feel like being the extrovert and not being on the big drinkin over the holidays made me feel a bit exerted. Even still i had a great ride - the people are great - nothing wrong with them J is a hoot - bubbly happy and full of enthusiasm and incessantly talking about spinning class. Which from a spinning instructor - makes sense.

The ride started off a great day with the Skins beating up on Tampa Bay, and the Steelers takin out Cincy. I couldn't get into the Patriots-Jag game... the Skins Bucs was emotional and exciting - i could give two poops about the Pats at this point. And all i want is to see the two #6 seeds meet in Detroit for the XL game...

all jacked up on caffine... and am waiting for the verdict on one of the problems left over from last week...

I should also explain WHY i'm just NOW posting images of the Cyclocross Nationals. Well since the nats i've been busy, on vacation or otherwise prevented from pulling more than i posted over on flickr.... and figured i'd just get em posted and see if anyone sees them.

Oh and daily gripe!
Farkin 49 flavors? I got this can of jelly bellys for christmas, and when i opened it I was 'cool jelly beans' thinking good snack at work... had a cravin for jelly beans one day last week - open them up... and realize/read 49 flavors? WTF one or two are nasty and how the hell do you eat more than one at a time!??? ah well - its one way to make them last -

peace out for now...
G


adding this link:

kuro5hin.org/story/2005/3/19/133129/548

good story

the ones i got okay images of... these are just the low rez uploaded versions - for full rez drop me an email or comment or something and you can have em.

I tried to get names from the start list and bib#s if i'm wrong lemme know...

Melissa Thomas:


Ann Knapp:


Maureeen Bruno Roy:


Anna Milkowski:


A fieldshot:


In the Jelly Belly Bowl:




there - that's about it of the best...

on the commuting cycling side - i swapped the fenders and the lights over to the Paramount this morning - set the Cross machine aside and different. Such different beasts these two are. And the ride back up from the other facility coming up College Street with the 50 tooth single front ring and the 25 in back... pretty survivable... not sure i could keep that pace up say, mt washington, but a couple blocks was no problem.

its the weekend... most all of our systems have had a massive puke this week, laser intensities all outa wack - power supplies dead - diff pump elements fried - software upgrades gone haywire... stuff like that - no good and to top it all off a major demo of a hugely significant system starting monday next week...

with fingers tightly crossed i'm REALLY hoping i can get out for a road ride... hoping hoping hoping... gotta blow off a few more of these booze pounds accumulated... shoot for someone who hopes to be in cyclocross shape by summer - i ain't convincing myself very well... but then its still the first week in January - many folks are taking it easy now... i've gotta chance... now where's that post i made last year about mike walton - time to dig that up and revisit those training guidelines... It worked for my man FrankieA!

peace out and have a good weekend to yall! And to those hybrid drivers on the highways! SPEED UP ;) just kiddin yall!

It works... amazingly...the image is referencing Ace Girl Races post from the Cross nats... regarding Marianne Stover's hole in her shorts....

...and why has it taken me this long to figure to post images???

well i've been bitching (to myself- off line) i'm feelin too strapped to up for a pro account over at flickr... and wondering what the heck i do to get the rest of the good shots uploaded from the Nats and what not...

well doofus - try the photo tools in Blogger...

sometimes i feel like i fell out of the tree and hit every branch on the way down....

so if this works and seems functional... i might have more pics than juts whats cranking at flickr... g-dawg out
___________________
Here's a few more from the woman's elite race:
Ann Knapp and Katie Compton... eventual #2 and #1




there that's it for now... more later... i found out the issue with the damn blogger photos - upload is s l o w

*sigh* oh well...

-timeline initiated at 1pm on the 4th(i think)-

Damn it Geoff Proctor!, now i'll never be satisfied...

getting paid to race? for cripes sake man! us racing sucks! Those guys get PAID to race over there! Farking brilliant!

Geoff Proctor:
"Even the smaller races are paying something in start money. It's very foreign to the American riders. In America, we pay to race. Riders in Europe could not fathom paying for races."

if that doesn't just bite my balls...

more incentive to race next fall... even if i DO have to pay for it... heck it is fun... and hopefully the coming New England Cyclocross season will be enough motivation to get me on the bike and focusing on getting fast, fast enough maybe not to eat everyone's dirt...

but i'd be delighted to eat marianne stover's dirt all day long - don't tell my wife - but i'm smitten. That photogenic--smile... Kicking ass in cyclocross (enough to win my heart any day - if it hadn't already been spoken for by an elite rower).. i'd better leave it at that - donna wann to make too much of it - oh and i did find a nice image of her that i managed to grab at Nats... #222 blasting along the bottom of the jelly belly bowl... oh and she's from maine - dats almost enough for me right there!

okay - enough of this day dreaming about unobtainuim - i have a better chance at scoring an IF cross-machine than well i'd better not write it down... besides - i wonder if its okay to even mention all that... well since no one is really reading this dribble anyway... i probably don't have much to worry about...

__________
okay well...
alright - in effort to keep this shit from pilin up at once:
heres the later afternoon stuff
just got back from bopping up College street hill - first 3/4 great - last 1/4 sucked...

its short enough that you can maintain some speed but just long enough to make you work for it...

and man o man did i work for it- it is steep enough that you cannot stand normally on the sidewalk or road - crazy goofy angle...

but fun as shit man - and my cadence at the top was so lopsided and i was all bugged out so much that i could feel the fluxuations in the power in my eyeballs... kinda oomph oomph... i gotta work on some circles or something if i'm a gonna make a go at the cyclocross end of it all... and by god i will... granted my commuting miles don't add up to a whole lot (20-30 miles avg/week) but its a power ride - a good hill both ways... and with traffic so a big incentive to keep the speed up around 25 the whole way... no it ain't a big deal but its enough work luggin my tall lanky ass up and down carrying an excessive amount of stuff in my "OLD SCHOOL" timbuk2 messenger bag... i never liked riding with a backpack... gimme the one shoulder thing all day... the camel back is borderline obnoxious and seein as my bladders have been harboring god knows what for years i'm not about to start using them until i get my over extended ass into a shop to pick one up...

speaking of shops... I'm needing to check out the Hub... reccomended by the BCC gang - okay reccomended by one of the gang... still needing to check it out... maybe they've got some of that T-9 gold to fend off the corrosion I'm starting to build up on the nuts and bits...

okay - will wait to post till tomorrow so i don't blast the blog with trifecta action!

----

This is tomorrow - or should i say today/this morning... waiting on service guys for the microscope... doing concentration calculations for a fixation run of lichen collected from the 'vaction' trip to the PacNW (home)... well the service guys are here... and i'm just about dried off from the ride in - funny how fog at 20 mph gets ya soaking wet... and 30-32 degrees - not quite cold enough to freeze it.

man i love commuting by bike!

Okay - i said there would be more than one today. Well sure enough - for some reason i'm being sucked into this cycling blogging whirlpool... why? dunno... seems to be appropriate and the only blogs besides Paul's (see i 'updated' the links and there he is) that i read on an even semi-regular basis are cycling related. I've dropped almost out of the car world with the exception of the friends from TDIclub and the local GTGs and all that.

more on to the point- i dropped Doug Jansen and email asking maybe if he might have run across the grades on a few hills i ride between the two facilities here in Providence... specifically College and Waterman streets between N. Main and Prospect. Essentially climbing up the hill to the college.

I know they are steep... being a seattle boy and commuting to the Pine Street Pro Shop, which back in the 90s when i worked there was owned by the Velo Stores folks. The shop's been long gone for a while... but its gets me back to cycling in the PacNW and the fact that i ain't no hill newbie. And based on my experience i knew these two were steep.

My guess was 10% or so... I've found that just before i got nailed by the flu/cold over Halloween i could make it up on my Paramount with the single 50toother in front and the 25 in back. Make it up mind you, not ride gracefully spinning. I think the 180 cranks and my 6'6" frame has something to do with it. Anyway, i did find that switching over to the Croll cyclocrosser with the 49/38 was a bit easier (38) but not a hell uvalot.

I'm going to take the liberty and quote Doug directly... cause damn that's steep as all can be... Its not quite as steep as Mt. Battie

Geoff,

I get a lot of queries like this. I always answer them when I have the info to share. Usually I have to burst somebody’s bubble, as grades are not nearly as steep as most would believe them to be. Probably not in your case. The peak grades for the two roads you gave me are around 11%. This is about the same as Mt Washington at 11.8%. These roads are actually in town and built up with business? Scary. Anyway, I poked around in Topo 5.0 in the same area and found many of the roads going up from the canal to be even steeper, such as Court St and Meeting St, in the range of 12-15% grade. Jenckes St peaks at 16%. S. Court St gains almost 120ft in a very short distance. Is that paved and ridable?

I dunno about S. Court Street I haven't ridden up there at all... kinda cool though - some confirmation that its a steep pitch...

i suppose since mentioning the two i should do the run down of the rest of the bikes i don't ride as much:

Klein Quantum Pro...
Klein Ardoit (1996 with a few updates but keeping the MC2 love)
Klein Mantra Carbon (black - XL - rigid Klein UniKlein fork)
Then there are the two mentioned:
Croll Custom Cyclocross
'86 Waterford Schwinn Paramount built with Columbus SL/SP tube sets...

i won't mention the bikes i've owned leading up to this stable (yet)... but lately only the steelies get ridden - the joys of apartment life with 2/3rds of your stuff in storage! That Mantra has plans to become a single speed - i've got the wheel built, the cassette, a billion busted rear-ders waiting to be turned into a tensioner... just... haven't... gotten to it yet...

peace out for now - gotta love commuting - time to burn off the holiday booze!

Ace Girl Races

catching up this morning waiting for coffee to brew - KerryLitka didn't have a new update, Big Drunk Johnny didn't either. Soooo, sitting there on Kerry's page i start down the cycling friends links... and find Rebecca Wellons' blog... and saw a logo dear to my heart (Klein) and reading through the jan 2 post... this scared me: "Full old-school XTR" 'eek' THAT is OLD SCHOOL XTR?

I'm old... that's like the tweenie XTR - not even close to old school - yet nothing like the new stuff... the akward teenage years of shimano... Man my 180 Dura-Ace cranks on the cross machine must be mesozoic or the Mavic road cranks from 1991... imagine the carbon dating on those puppies - i'd still be riding them if they weren't 177.5 (2.5mm too short).

I'm feelin update happy today... watchout - a bit on grades and other stuff later....

Reading this from Kerry Litka dot com got me saying 'ouch' and hoping maybe i'm NOT one of the blogs she's calling shitty. Maybe i am - so what - who cares... until Big Drunk Johnny posted my link i've been cooking along as record few clicks... ol'buddy DropFrog takes a quick read once in a while - beyond that? nuttin...

Okay - that's the initial this morning beef meat to get ya going...

I've got a vacations worth of stuff i wanna get down - we'll see how my pathetic writing style and time handles getting it translated into bits and bytes...

the LIST:
#1 drinking - it rules and i'm a master after this holiday - if you can down a double bottle of wine yourself AND finish off two glasses and no one is the wiser! YOU are a master... if you can drink 8 beers before dinner and a few after and function properly that's a good thing... oh and not to mention never wake up with a hangover all on marginal sleep... i'm feeling like the only guys i can't drink under the table now are pro's like me that are over 250 pounds... those big guys can drink man...

#2 hybrids - fucking scourge of the highways... when the fucking minimum speed is posted at 55 mph and the limit is 65... DON'T FUCKING DRIVE 50 if the traffic is flowing nicely - you cause massive backups...

not just one - not just two - not just three - i stopped counting at 5 civic and prius hybrids yesterday that were causing two and three mile traffic backups... beyond the "hybrid" clear sailing safe driving, behind the hybrid... nightmare of psyco's weaving in and out honking flashing highbeams, brake happy new yorkers... fucking nightmare... all cause some retard is trying to get the same fuel economy on the highway that my VW TDI gets going 75 freaking GD mph... wake up... burn BioDiesel - use a 100% renewable 100% domestic 100% clean fuel (biodiesel - duh) that supports the farmers - tells the Terrorist supporting Saudis and Opec to go 'eff themselves - and gets kick ass economy. what to do about the 'underedcuated' suckers to a 'hybird' mentality. Morons who THINK they are doing good but are NOT... I know quite a few 'nice' hybrid owners... a couple of em are family... doesn't change my opinion... that enough freaking ... yet? if EECUMMINGS can get away with that shit - i think i should be able to - hell i've been writing long enough i think by now...

okay -

epic travels is #3

and no this isn't the full scoop - okay maybe the hybrid thing is....

anyone say 32 hours of traveling is a good idea? I dunno lets try this one on...
red-eye flight from SEATAC-Detroit Metro with a 5.5 year old, a 11 month old riding in a lap... and the flight leaves at 10:40 but is only 3.5 hours long... 4 hour layover in DTW... get to the final destination with less than a combined 2 hours of sleep - followed by the brilliant idea to spend two hours re-packing only to drive what i thought would be 7.5 hours south (really actually 9.5 hours)... leaving at 3:30 pm i was starting to have my doubts. But with a six pack of tuna sushi and 1/2 of a buffalo chicken pizza and 1/2 bottle of energy-C vitamin water and a big cup of coffee all rummblin in my tum-tum hell it seemed like a grand idea. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that had me thinking it was a good idea to forgo sleeping in the cold apartment - trying to figure a way to get the kids settled down 3 hours earlier than they were used to - heck- pack em in the car - great idea...

well...

it might have been... i drove the 440 miles south - all of it - through 2.5 hours of stop and go on I-95 till we finally broke free from the G-W bridge.... through the heart irregularities (prolly the excess caffine and lack of sleep and all the booze from the previous week). we made it... with actually little problem... had some good quality chattin time with the wife - can't remember when that's happened before.

will i be doing that again? nothing like being up for roughly 40 hours... and then finishinig the last 9.5 of it driving your family...

oh and if you are still reading this - strange -
#4

the weather today is about the same as it was (almost) as it was for the cyclocross nationals... not quite as cold but there was snow this morning - enough to cancel school (felt great getting up at 6am for no reason /sarcasm) and it kept snowing - rode in in the slushy crap - moronic cars sprayin me with slush 'thanks' - and it kept snowing for a while - then now - its raining. Supposed to switch over to snow again soonish with nice 40-50+ mph wind gusts... i can't wait.

my bike is dirty dirty dirty - these damn XT canti brake pads i've got on the front of the Cyclocross bike make some seriously dark messy crap in the rain on this old Open 4CD rim. and i'm sure the custodian is not happy with me - at least i carried the bike in through the hallways... i could have rolled it in and left a nice black trail from the door to the Lab.

#5 - Big scope is down... grumblin crap... and isn't coming back up, i don't have a confirmation for the install of a new software system on one of the older confocals, i've got a bunch of trainings to schedule but a new install to work around. all in all - the new year is starting...

more to come if after i read through this and decide it needs to be expanded...

I should also add
#6 - 27 years are done... 27 years of concerts - I haven't missed one... but i generally haven't been there for anything but the last weekend... its fun and the girls really enjoy it.

maybe more on that later... on to the scopes...