i need to fit 3 hours between now and 5pm...

i also need to eat lunch... i've had 5 minute snacks since 11:30 but i'm wicked damn hungry...

i DID make it out to the shop sponsor to pick up a 12-27 ultegra 9 speed cassette and chain pin... looking at Sheldon's gear chart i'm sticking with the chainrings on the Klein and just adding this cassette... identical gearing to what the "race guide" calls for (39-25) or more or less close enough...

ran into a gal who raced it last year - said descents were nothing to hairy just rocks flying everywhere... oh and pain - she mentioned that alot too...

anyway - gonna see if i can make the best of the rest of the day before blasting for the weekend!!! Wooooo ho...
g

Big Jonny does it again.

Killer interview. That's the ticket. Honest, open, uncensored. Like guys talk when unencumbered by children or people with delicate sensibilities...

The Olympic Team saga is pretty damn good read too...

Was that really that long ago?

Damn...

Pop on the bike path and I see the figure of a fellow commuter just a head... Downside - he's usually clipping along pretty fast... Upside - he's only about 100 yards ahead... downside - i just swung my leg over the bike - 30 seconds of warm up pre chase not so good... upside - he has to wait for traffic to clear gaining me 30 yards all at once... Still had to hold it steady over 500-600 5.7-6.8 w/kg to catch him... and i caught him at the first little rise section. not a hill but an incline and into the wind with the trailer any gain in elevation is magnified... and i'm supposed to recover under those conditions?

Well i did... the legs responded well... and we ticked in at an average pace chatting away at 2.8 w/kg and that felt (after the initial effort) quite easy honestly... Not the zero effort rolling in to work i had planned but... really actually pretty damn cool to have the legs feel so fresh after riding for 4 hours and 16 minutes yesterday.

Yeah... on the bike for over 4 hours... after a hill day...

And ya know - the legs felt damn good. I think i said that already. But... it has to mean something... I might be a medium slow rider but the recovery seems to be somewhere that i've never been before.

GeWilli is breaking into new territory of strenght and power. How? I think the little yellow buddy should take a lot of credit... pushing me when i wouldn't have wanted to... telling me that my cadence was too low... helping tune the engine.

Lots of credit goes towards the commute and maybe now 9 months into it or so (i can't count) the dividends are starting to roll in on the investment...

Yeah i know. I haven't won anything yet. I haven't raced yet with these legs...

Had an idea, P-mount is still a damn fine bike... why not make that sucker a crit bike as well as a TT bike? Make it "modular" not that i have really many plans to race crits this year... but ya never know... maybe i'll give the Cox crit a shot (if they do it again, one of these days i'll look at a race calendar)...

Nothing more laughable than some 30 something hairy legged dude lining up on a 20+ year old bike amidst new carbon stuff... it would need a new fork... i'd need some bars with a 26.4 (old cinelli ones) so i can use my wicked cool Syncros stem...

ah thoughts - that or i magically come up with some cash to pick up one of the bikes from the company that's sponsoring us (Ridley)...

Mt Bike TT this weekend... looking forward to it big time.

And... with the massive fire danger and the winds this week... if there is still mud there i'll be suprised... and it'll be at least a little dried out...

Oh and something Dave Noisy (some vegan racer guy living in pot head central -BC canada) mentioned about being vegan and getting all ya nutrients sparked a bit of a Hmm lemme think about this...

Some yahoo - commenting there anonymously (such huge balls i say to do that or is it LACK of balls... hmmm) suggested that plants are lower and lower in minerals now...

non-essential minerals? maybe... but the plants are pretty damn good about NOT taking up what they don't need and finding what they do need. They won't grow without some stuff and kinda funny how the stuff the plants need are pretty similar to what we need. on the cellular level.

Not identical... but...

Yeah GeWilli's pendulum of carnivore to herbivore goes back and forth - and he's liking the veganish side of things lately - but with some nice cheese, yogurt and naturally raised beef and pig tossed in to liven things up ;)

okay -

ramblin and ramblin where he'll stop no one will know...

Its Friday! WOOOOOO yeah!

respect
G

Fat Guy Wheel set that tips the scale at 1050 grams? Say it ain't so!

Yes - i'm fat enough (88kg) to tip the scale to the side of "too much load for the wheels" for pretty much ever light weight wheelset made...

So this sounds great... too bad ya need to take out a 3rd mortgage to pay for them (i'm guessing)...

Dear Lew Racer,

We are pleased to announce the launch of the PRO VT-1C (Clydesdale) wheelset supporting riders up to 250 pounds. The wheelset will weigh in less than 1050 grams.

Be on the lookout for Lennard Zinn's review in next month's printed edition of VeloNews magazine. If you haven't already seen the online review, you can do so by clicking the link below:

http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/11883.0.html

We will also be making our public debut appearance at the Sea Otter Classic show (booth 130) on April 12th-April 15th. http://www.seaotterclassic.com/. Be sure to stop by our booth to check out the lightest production wheels on the market.

Regards,

Lew Racing Ecommerce Team
www.lewracing.com

http://lewracing.com/smf/index.php

of pain...

18-25mph headwind all the way north up to Diamond hill..
Took river road - a bit hilly...
hit manville then west wrentham then tower hill road...

on the cross bike with team mate on his cross bike...

team mate same rough height and weight...

lots of work...

didn't start getting hungry till 3 hour mark...
only had gatorade during the ride...
started bonking as we came up the final hill (doyle - second to last of yesterday's repeats)...

wicked damn good ride... ~2400kJ of energy recorded by the 'tap...
legs felt good... lungs felt good...

coulda pushed it a bit harder - but still managed to get some good numbers...

well good numbers for March i suppose... I hope...

I'm working on eating a whole tub of Kozy Shack...

Need calories...

NEED FOOD...

long rides = good

the tail wind pushing us home kicked ass - its great going 25 mph and feeling like you are in a draft... oh its like motor pacing... or speed work ;)

Only managed 51 miles total but considering the first 7 were into the teeth of the wind pulling the trailer and then into the wind on a cross bike... it felt pretty good...

And so i was exporting this stuff incase the tap runs out of memory on the way home and i see this file from Haverill that cronoman sent me...

And i pull it up on the power agent software... looking at both races - the number are lower (by sheer numbers not w/kg) than what i've got in the 'puter for right now...

granted there's about 10 kilos difference making his 1077 peak 13.8 w/kg but even then that's the 5 sec peak and my 5 sec number is just under 16 w/kg

maybe there is hope for me yet...

and sticking the trailer on and heading back up the hill to the office was PAINFUL...

and wicked slow - there is a lot of extra force needed to drag that damn thing around...

Oh yesterday's numbers - the coolest number was the 98 N-m of torque... thassa lotta torque...

it is gonna be fun to see if we can make it work on the bike in the race situation...

respect
G

doesn't this sound Awesome?

We need one here in Providence...

Tried some 40/20s as someone calls them on the way home...

Bike path on the first 70°F day at 4-4:30 is NOT the place to be trying 4.5w/kg efforts...

Baby strollers,
dogs on long leashes,
couples wandering down the width of the path
speed walkers with the deathPods on
slow cyclists w/o helment with the iDeathPods on
roller bladers

gimme the g'damn seagulls as my only adversary on the bike path and i'm much happier

I got through three of a 5 set before having to check down for a minute or two to weave through and then another couple of minutes of heavy traffic... but then

then just after passing a couple of bikes a little tri gal says hey as she passes...

in full aero tuck... i had bumped up the power to around 3.5w/kg sustained and into the wind that had me somewhere around 20 mph towing the trailer... she was doing about 21-22 mph. What did gewilli do?

Sat in. She afforded no draft so i didn't suck wheels, but i paced 4-5 bike lengths back and killed it for a few minutes... me on the croll towing the trailer into a headwind staying with a little gal riding her TT bike... No low gear slog hanging on - ticking the cranks around at 105 or so... that lasted a few minutes before i had a slight core meltdown and decided i should cool down a bit before jumping in the car and picking up both girls.

Got the girls...

made some dinner...

did some dishes...

and then a friend came over and we have a few beers in memory of our friend John...

Slept...

woke up...

Dropped the little one off...

Dropped the trailer off at the office...

Hit some hills...
they looked like this:


Jenkes right after Star sucked...

I followed that up with a 20 minute spin to try and flush the legs out...

Peak power was only 11.5w/kg...
Some Cobbles make it wicked damn fun...
The elevation is pretty close - lots of elevation change... HR recovered pretty damn quickly - tried doing one standing and the next seated - that worked fine until the super steep shit... like the cobble section on Bowen from Benefit to Pratt...
Gmap link is here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=810267

12 hills - some pretty damn short i'll admit - but a good quick morning workout...

Oh and Orange flavored Gatorade powder tastes like a less sweet McDs orange drink...

Gonna see about getting some miles in tomorrow morning - lucky enough to have been able to keep the calendar clear for the time being for the morning -

wishing i'd brought in the cable to D/L the numbers for this morning's vertical assault...

regards and respect,
G

Braeburn apples is yucky...

mealy - thick skinned and slightly off in the sweet/tart ratio...

me no like them... but i will finish it

cturd's got a new cast up -

BkR has the Race Guide up -

I'm drawing a blank once again about what i had intended to write this am...

too many distractions -

brain not firing -

working on being positive -

visualizing attacking on the final climb before Salem -

For the win of course -

As they say - if you don't think you can win - why start?

I think i can win...

I think there is a chance i can not win...

But positive is positively the way to go... right?

MSU - in the Frozen Four - going up against Maine... Go state - I hope the Spartans slaughter the bears!!!

What i think has WAY too many words - my head is spinning and i haven't had enough time in one spot to read it yet...

dats about it...

Oh and that braeburn apple oxidizes like CRAZY.

Why is it that the Pink Lady apples don't oxidize even when left out on a plate for days but these braeburns turn brown w/in minutes...

I should know this - i should... i think i do - but i can't sift it out of the shit piled in my head right now...

wanna educate me? go fer it...

Oh and can you ghost bike for someone who died of cancer? or do they have to be taken out buy a car when riding?

respect
G

I meant to mention earlier today about some culinary adventures. I tried to make rice pudding.

It did NOT turn out like Kozy Shack. It was edible, and the only recipe I had on hand. But not something I would recommend or repeat. If you are curious check out the joy of cooking’s rice pudding recipe. Don’t make it. Esp not with brown rice.

Cooking the rice in water then mixing it in the custard and baking does not incorporate it well enough. Lucky for me my wife works at this culinary archives and museum place… and has access to some thousand or so cookbooks… and some encyclopedia of cooking came home today with 8 baked variations, one boiled and a bunch of others. All of them seem intuitively to be better than the one I made. But until I finish this last batch I gotta wait to make it.

This morning I made something that I liked a lot. Oatmeal pancakes. Super super nummy. ½ cup (uncooked measure – then cooked in 1 cup milk) oatmeal, 1 cup unbleached flour and ½ cup whole wheat flour couple eggs and the normal pancake recipe. They were good. Filling too.

Riding home tonight – no fun at first.

The first big puddle my socks gained about a pound.

I was cold, at first.

The pouring rain at 45 °F was okay – then I hear some thunder rolling as we load up in the trailer.

Heading south through the city wasn’t much of a problem…

Heading across the bridge – fine…

Heading south? Into the teeth of the storm and the wind? That sucked.

But it was okay – I had a good 10 minute interval above 3.4 w/kg just from the wind.
And at one point I had the realization, I like riding in the rain….

Other than my soaking wet feet (make note – do not wear socks that soak up that much water in the rain again) I was perfectly dressed – wet, but not cold – working hard but not hitting the limit. I think I managed to bump the power threshold up a little last week. Hard to tell right now. We’ll see.

I took a look a back – Since Jan 29th I’ve managed to record about 61.5 hours on the bike…

I hope it pays off. Life is short, and really the best thing we can do – goes back to a good old boy song…

Live life like you are dying…

Savor every moment…

Cherish every memory…

Make the people’s lives you touch better…

Do not exploit for your own gain because you will die… and people will remember those who you exploited…

Live life with truth and respect but most of all with love… True and pure love will foster and create both truth and respect…

Peace,
G

My friend John, aka gardentender (at Fred's TDIclub) aka "e13" (at TSP) died this weekend.

He was the one i mentioned a bit ago. With Pancreatic cancer. He'd fought the rampant cell growth for along time. He had tried various treatments, experimental and traditional.

he didn't make it the 4 not to mention the 6 weeks the doc gave him. he made it about 2 weeks.

rapidly downhill. a fighter who had conceded the victory to cancer. at peace with the end from what i hear.

Hospice helped make the last few days easier.

He had buried his father a month or two ago, maybe longer but i don't know and don't feel like checking.

I was emotionally wrecked when i got the news he was giving those 4-6 weeks. So this news doesn't come with the baggage or the tears. Just a mixed sense of loss and peace. I am happy that his suffering is over. The endless regime of pills, injections, dr visits. The inability to get out on his bike that he loved so much.

John was a wise man. Practical, intelligent and compassionate. And yet i never had a chance to meet him in person.

That is the danger the trouble with making friends via the internet. Like pen pals of the last generations just at light speed. The death of a virtual friend is just as tough as a real one. and yet he was a real friend. just like many other people i've first 'met' via the web and then in person.

John, thank you. Rest in Peace my friend... rest in peace...

at work...

is not having to wash the cup out :D

just dried up coffee - no sugar, no dairy/non-dairy junk to fuel bacteria/fungal growth.

Took it nice and easy this morning - a warm up... slowly wake the legs up from their restful weekend...

Rest days... ain't they great?

And for me - value of the weekends is great as rest/off the bike. Means more time with the family. That's good.

Gonna see about getting two good hard rides in this week in the AM... take sat off - go race the Mt Bike on Sunday get some more hard rides in next week (as the overload week) and take it easy with just a few intervals/hills tossed in the week before bkr

Will it all work? Will i survive?

and then... 42 or 39... hmmm 25 or 27 hmmm

And then there is the Race on the Mantra or the Adroit... on the mantra, leave the ape hangers on or go back to the Mission Control leave the rigid fork on or swap the front sus fork on...
hmmm

hmmm

peace out and respect
G

musings and thoughts...

i'm looking for suggestions for places to find a hotel - the misfits have scored a place with the only room left being a smoking single with a full sized bed... ain't no room in THAT in for gewilli...

two - looking back at last years results for the 35+ and there is a HUGE range... measured in hours...

i'm pretty confident in sayin - no way i'll be OTB in that bunch. Assuming the 30+ is stacked similarly.

With 90 guys in there right now - i'd say maybe the likely hood is that a portion of the increase would be in the top half of the results but it should almost skew out the same as last year in that there will be faster folks in the race AND slower folks than last year...

musings of a dude (gewilli) who hasn't (i'll publically state it) raced in a hilly road race in a long damn time... Going back reading the "gearing recommendations" of 39x23 and i'm thinking 39x27? do i need that? 39x25 should be enough?

then i look at the data from yesterday, and for some reason i'm spinning more than ever... i was at 80-120 for 77.7% of the ride... avg at 87... maybe the lower gearing would be good... although 27... hmmm yes - i've publically stated that the knee busting 55x45 chainrings are coming off...

The luggin flat land freak seems to have managed in the last month become dependent on an RPM over 90... so that's a good positive change in the direction of becoming more efficient on the bike...

and maybe that's why i'm huffin and puffin more than in the past - requiring a bit more oxygen than the slow lugging leg burning ways of the past...

that and when i do go for a sprint lately i find more problems being overgeared than undergeared...

I know that sounds like a rookie observations... and intuitively and in practice (college days at least) sprint practice was always about leg speed, racing each other in the little ring... And being very comfortable spinning it up past 120 makes a difference in the top end, even if i'm trying to make stupid 2-3 pound wheels go around...

So the change to 39-53 may be more permanent than originally intended... i do like that 55 tho - way too much fun... but then - prolly still too much gear -

Here's a kick ass way to enjoy a Shift and get a few extra calories... mix one with 1cup of Hawthorne Valley Farm yogurt... mmm tastey... and i think the kick in the pants i need...

the ride home is definately a recovery one - i need to maximize the rest days this weekend so i can hammer harder next week... but i don't wanna put the legs away on fire. I'm actually feeling the little ride of yesterday still... More evidence that i'm needing more duration... I feel pretty good about the intensity and 10-15 minute intervals even if done in the am and pm are pretty damn hard, and for a while i was tiring myself out and noticing a diminishing return. And here's where the PT should be and is really just starting to become helpful. Making sure the slow days really are slow enough and easy enough... Not much of a problem getting the strength work, the duration and repetition over two hours is the trouble - add that a couple times a week and my training should really start to turn around...

Initial report on the KoB MtB TT on the 1st, course is soft and probably will take about 40 minutes to complete...

The one very positive thing out of yesterday was my recovery - despite feeling at the limit even a small opportunity to recover almost completely recharged me... indicating the intervals are paying dividends already...

Yes all the gibberish above is a bit "introspective" and all that...
oh well...

I'm grooving to a bit of the grooveradio feed! Wicked awesome mix of "everybody dance now" killer beat with some awesome reggae undertones... blood pump beat to go with this Shift stuff from stonyfarms...
http://mp3-hb.grooveradio.com
plug that stream into your winamp player and catch a listen (the song's over but well they keep pluggin)

and thanks to Lee... one of the funniest Fart vids out there


respect
G

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fastboy/430757438/

now ya can check out the Xtra-cycle with lumber...

i was gonna write a nice note for solo here - saying thanks for getting some content up. Even those many paragraphs of saying nothing is a good read...

And i think solo's got a point - i'm damn good at holding just a shade under 2.8 w/kg indefinitely... which... unfortunately makes me a medium/slow rider... maybe...

I got a week or two here left to add some extra...

i shouldn't be OTB in April... i feel pretty confident about that...

And riding home thinking about the whole riding with fat ass tires when everyone's on the race rubber...

training with heavy wheels alone = no good
training with others who have heavy wheels too = no good
training with heavy wheels when everyone else are riding $800 wheels and race rubber = wicked good

woulda been nice to head out this morning with the gang at 9am but two days in a row of checking into the factory here in the ivory tower mid morning this week just wasn't gonna work...

It wasn't an 81 mile epic like Yogurt boy's but it kicked my ass.

Here's what ya do when ya need to get some sore legs...

Ride your cross bike, with 32 spoke wire wheels, and 38c wire bead heavy ass commuter tires, with a couple guys riding wicked light carbon bikes and wheels that cost more than your whole cross bike put together (maybe not including the powertap) and 23c tires.

To make it worse, i got a shell from the fall out zone. Didn't get flat till we were sitting waiting to head out. So - we delayed departure by a few minutes while i changed the flat. GD seagulls... And so rather than having the 75 psi i started out with in the morning. I was riding somewhere around 35-40. Why not more?

Well you try and pump up a 38x700 wheel with a mini-pump. Plenty of air to prevent a pinch flat... but... not enough air to make it easy to keep up with the two fit yahoos on the fancy bikes.

When ya look down in the draft and are working and see 350watts on the display ya think no freaking way. It feels like 350 watts, but i'm in the draft, i don't have a trailer. Check zero... yup calibrated... 'fuck now i'm gapped' shit this ride's gonna SUCK...

When guys you've ridden with start saying "I've never heard GeWilli breath this hard" ya know its a bit of a work out.

Stats. the one meaningful one: 1780kJ of work in a tad over 2 hours. Even if i had just Yogurt boy'd it it still would have been one heck of a lot of work.

Fuel? Banana, Shift (straw Ban flavor) 1/2 pot of french press coffee, and... 1/2 bottle of gatorade with a shake or two of sea salt. Followed it up with the offer of a bowl of oatmeal at the cafe we started at. I couldn't pass up a bowl of oatmeal. Big heaping bowl, mounded with chopped almonds and rasins, drenched with honey and a touch of milk. Went down well. Pretty damn big bowl too. Its great to have team mates that bring cash when you forget to.

There were some great climbs and one town line sprint that i had to win, even if on the slow bike...

And Murat is making a great argument against carbon cages. Gimme an old fashioned rig... ya know, bent wire... heavy... no chance to drop or eject a bottle... ones that work :D

anyway - i just DL'd the data - the 15 minute ride in i managed an average around 3w/kg felt like i was working hard. I needed to get in on time.

Turns out the full 1.5 hours on the bike during the 'ride' i was averaging (and it wasn't flat) 2.6 w/kg i know... i know... not that great... only 1250kJ/1.5 hours or only 833 kJ/hr but it hurt... and knowing those guys weren't working any where near as hard made it tough. It makes me want to stick some different tires on... but then... heck... i can maximize my time on the bike and increase my work load by running these obese tires - and that's a good thing...

right now i'm feeling like OTB material. But had a positive note too. One of the guys on the ride said he'd tried showing up on a group ride with big tires on his cross bike and got shelled, turned back early and barely made it to his door. some comfort there. Gotta stay positive. I just keep reminding myself - this will translate in the benefits for cross season...

one of the longish hills it helped (the tap did), i was tempted to jump like normal and slowly fizzle, but this time i dug in and held my ground, at a mellow 440 at the bottom, and kept it at or above that mark all the way up the hill and it worked. Rather than exploding at 600 at the base and fizzlin so i can barely turn over 200... i held it... felt great...
example when yes - you might be able to do that w/o the tap but having a metric there for me is helpful...

My legs are sore...

respect
G

Yes - Rich pointed out that they "can" pave steeper... Evidence San Fran - or Mt W.

Stupid salt truck dumped two massive piles near the top of the hill. So yeah - there are folks who say "people always just write about what they are planning to do"

well...

I got close to completely executing what i wanted to do...

Got a decent 28 mph sustained sprint in, no draft, headwind, cross bike on the way down. I think i forgot to breath - at least i don't remember breathing...

So heading back up... i did something different, instead of exploding all over the bottom of college hill i metered out the effort, trying to stay in the do-able range... as in not hitting 900 watts at the base and tapering up to 300 by the end of the hill... It worked... i think i managed to keep it around the 500-600 range up until the end of the steepest section. Almost gave in and rolled back to the lab. But, heck - can't let a gorgeous day go by without getting in some more effort.

Drop down angel to main... took main down to Church... headed up Church to Benefit (pretty steep but not too long) then down to Jenkes... Infamous Jenkes... I the year and a half i've been kicking it in the Ocean State i've heard mention of "riding jenkes" i've driven past it... but not yet ridden UP it...

Fun as freaking hell...

steep... Very steep...

and straight up...

Was gonna do a couple more of the hills but, time and hunger got the better of me. That and i still have to ride home, and gonna try to hit the road with the team tomorrow morning.

Went with the "both" coffee option...
Time to eat some lunch...

It is a very positive feeling to be back from the flu. It is pretty dark mentally riding in the shadow of being sick, not having any power, not really knowing how long it will take to gain back... and then - suddenly like Spring showing up... its back.

Check out Fast Boy Fenders he's got the email notification thing rocking now... wooden fenders just look damn freaking cool!!!

back was painful last night - enough to keep waking me up...

but markedly better this morning - didn't notice it but once on the bike...

not noticing it now...

power is coming back up to pre-flu levels... kinda nice...

sitting here with a delima: brew up a pot of nice organic extra dark french roast or walk down to dunkin donuts and take advantage of "free" iced coffee day... free 16 oz coffee...

hmmm...

maybe both...

i gotta trip down the hill this morning - debating turning it into a hill ride - start with college, pop down college to main - head up Waterman, down angel then down main to Jenkes so i can ride the steepest damn grade you can pave 15% or something maybe 16% i forget... and maybe you can pave something steeper... its just damn steep...

I think i'm gonna do both - make my own coffee (just a cup less) and then take a nice brisk walk in the cold down the block...

That and i got a notice in the email... trying to figure out how i can get to NYC by 8am...(train, duh) and back the same day... clicked over saw its only $65 for non-members and then... looked at the date again...

well i guess i won't be going to NYC... cause i'll be a bit further upstate...

cynical negative gewilli strikes again: that or raises needless doubt and skepticism over at CV's blog

well here's to a nice walk in the 24°F sunshine - and yes - perfect riding temp... freaking perfect... ya can't overheat and i like that...

G

scarfin down some food...

okay - how did Ward get on the "cover-page" of velonews? (article here: http://velonews.com/race/int/articles/11910.0.html)

And

a great tips from the tool box. Even if it does sound a bit like Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy... Pretty good stuff eh?

and seriously... Ward? velonews cover? Here i was thinkin he's out being a snow bunny now...

There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.
- Victor Hugo

This weekend a friend stopped by, was complaining about the daycare/nursery school not doing enough "teaching" letting the kids dictate what they wanted to do everyday. The teacher wasn't forcing words on them and letters and all that.

And it came up - that it was relating in his mind directly between those who could read early and would be fast tracked on up from kindergarten and those who didn't and that would automatically be the scarlet letter for them. Marked for life, disadvantaging them from potential privelages. Commenting in the same discussion was the increasing class separation (class as in upper, middle, lower) and that it was education more than money. I call BS on that. Its pretty damn close to money. Anyway, yes the separation is important. But learning to read in pre-school or 1st grade or 2nd grade may change your elementary school education but it doesn't mean you're gonna grow up to be a slow witted pot-smoking hippie switching majors from pottery to dance to drumming to ...

Yeah, i was reading in preschool. I went through the whole montesori over develop the brain early, creating less socially functional adults who can't relate interpersonally. Let the kids grow and form social abilities, form healthy social patterns and behavior that will make them a success down the road. Reading a book all day will, yes, in general give you more knowledge. Sitting and practicing an instrument for 4 hours a day when you are 5 and 6 years old will more or less make you a child prodigy... but taking the opportunity to develop the intangibles, the social skills, the networking, the sharing, the working together, the flat out playing and interacting with other human beings - those skills aren't graded, those skills need to be developed. BUT... not just randomly. With supervision, care, specific toys, colors, environments and all that. Teach them, yes by all means. Song, art, games... we don't start teaching adults the most complicated concepts first do we? Is the first math class calculus? Let them develop and master the speaking language and verbal sentences and all that completely before they are forced into the written form.

Yes - everyone's brains are wired differently (fortunately). Some are much higher math, others much higher readers, some read really well but test horrible in the verbal side... Choices are tough. But at least being conscious of them and being concerned is better than assuming that the kid is doing well. Yes he might be right in being concerned. But.

Waldorf. Gotta say, the more i run into situations like this, and the more i learn and understand (been aware of it and the benefits for a LONG time - aware and understanding are different states though), the more it makes sense.

Give this PDF a read... that is if you are concerned about educating your children or are involved in the education of the next generation...

A basic tenet of scientific observation is that
the phenomenon that is being observed is not
affected or in any way changed by either the
process of observation or the observer. In
many cases, however, the reverse is not true. Often, when
studying natural phenomena, the observer is profoundly
affected. Whether gazing into a night sky to watch meteor
showers occurring light years away, or sitting in the garden to detect the
lemony scent an evening primrose releases at the moment its petals unfurl in
the twilight, we humans have a propensity to be deeply moved by witnessing
such seemingly magical events in nature – sometimes to the extent it changes
the course of our lives.

They seem magical. But aren't. But the magical nature of discovery captures our imagination and fuels the desire to learn more.

alright - i'm gonna put away this spool of thought for a different day...

McMaster-Carr totally rocks. I've got the stuff i needed HERE and NOW and i ordered it late yesterday. How about that. Damn fine service and wicked awesome stuff in their catalog... hours of fun turning page after page - and the cool thing is - the online catalog is identical to the old skool paper one...

I've got a bit to go to get my ass in gear on the bike... why is it getting the flu seems to knock ya back a long way... more than just taking a few days off (it is a rhetorical question - lots of good reasons why)...

anyway
respect
G

double meaning... yes- i'm back... two my back is KILLING ME

time off the bike? Sleeping on it funny? yeah - maybe even moving heavy awkward shit contributed to it too.

Got in a nice hour on the mantra yesterday - checking the condition of the path...
got in 15 minutes on the trainer saturday just to see how i was doing and to not totally let it all slide due to the flu...

musta been the flu - i was crazy feverish thursday night... it broke sometime during the night and by saturday afternoon i was feeling some what more normal... sunday mostly all better...

the ride in in the cold and the sunday mt ride both helped one with back feeling better the other with sinuses...

kinda funny - i've been depending and relying on the cold weather in the morning to help blow the crap outa my sinuses... w/o it i was wicked stuffed up... today... breathing normally... back feels much better after riding...

although today its the opposite muscle from the one that's been buggin me the last few days and well i dunno how to explain that - other than it just hurts like a sob...

the new office is okay - stuff didn't get too misplaced... a bit of work still to make it all perfect...

c'est la vie...

I came across a book in my office - and thought about Christine Varadros in here new french squad - always bitching about the french section of belgium...

Le Nouveau Besscherelle
L'Art De Conjuguer
Dictionnaire Des 8000 verbes

granted its published in 1966 and the one French who are still wrapped up about it can be found sitting in a cafe in paris... the old men - arguing about a language that most narrow minding bigotesque US americans say should be ignored along with the whole country.

Me? I like france. I like the language, i like the country... nearly as much of a francophone as you can be in a passive sense...

In general i have yet to walk into a wine shop and buy a french table wine that wasn't worth drinking... why is it? Amuricans go in and want some cab or pinot or shiraz or some straight varietal junk because they think that's what they are supposed to do? Not that there aren't great single varietal wines in france... but the table wines are great... anyway...

There is no hope of catching up on the linkage and what all has been going on...

but Gwadzilla's HR 807 is a great reminder:
http://capwiz.com/lab/issues/alert/?alertid=8647031

please click over there to make sure our legislators support this act!

well...

i'm going to crawl back into my pain cave from back pain... stretching hopefully will help...

peace - respect and bring on the King of Burlingame...

G

it feels like ages since writing anything here...

office - moved...

mostly unpacked... down to a psycotic crate that i got to the point of insanity and dumped the junk drawer on top of everything else... should be fun to get through...

not sure if i like this chair...

i think i've been nailed by the flu or a flu like virus... or something... i'm worn down ragged... the last week killed me... so much so that i might actually need to take a sick day tomorrow... watch the snow fall from the living room window...

It has been incredibly stress-filled and physically draining doing this move...

We got it more or less done yesterday and i guess my immune system wasn't even able to take advantage of the heavy Stonyfield farm culture ingestion...

Also finding out a friend has been given 4-6 weeks... advanced pancreatic cancer...

between the two its a good thing i had to drive in, my wife is hanging out at home sick for the second day in a row... so i did the double drop off... no riding...

seems this happened last year around this time too from what i remember...

oh well...

that and my ride down the stairs has been robbing me of peak power... hurts too much to bust through the 1000 watt barrier... 8-900 no problem... that or it is a good indication that i'm completely run down... probably a combination of both...

the warm weather had the oblivious folks out yesterday - it sucked... i want the 25 degree weather back... 25 and sunny doesn't get any better...

gonna try and eat some food...

was almost thinking about holding off posting for the rest of the week to see i traffic dies down much...

didn't make it that long...

-g

That was friday...

bonus point for identifying the strap (i didn't resize it too much so not much of a challenge) holding the wheel in the trailer...

Finally got the Front Rolf off to folks i trust to fix it (who have the tools and the damn unique nipples)...

had a screaming run in this morning... little one was up for a while this am with a slight fever aggravated by the uber toasty footies (PJs) and double covers (she wanted both blankets when falling asleep)... pulling covers and comforting her a bit resulted in peaceful sleep from 3:30 until about 5:45 when i woke up... but tried to get another 15 minutes or so of sleep...

its pretty remarkable how much extra speed is gained without the trailer... and yet again - felt easier twiddlin around at 105 than 90 under load... no load (150 or less watts... sorry 1.7w/kg or lower) 90 definitely seemed pretty natural...

enough power stuff - wouldn't want to incite a whole 'nother PT rant from little things...

interuption city here... packing the office time! WOOT (not)...

peace
G

I almost started with “so” I think I am over using the word as a lead-in…

Going over the numbers for tonight – I wanted to see the result of a few intervals…

Starting with the morning, looking at the 12 minutes leading up to the bridge I found a nice average around 2.6 w/kg, yeah I know nothing special, honestly I was tired and was not paying attention - cadence I was just trying to hang around the 90-95 range (successful).

No that ain’t wicked powerful or demonstrable of some hidden demon lurking waiting to swallow up other bike racers…

Its just what it is… it ain’t required to be able to document and look back and see… but its nice… and helpful to have it there to check on…

Say doing intervals: I decided that tonight I would do a few… after heading up the hill at 4 w/kg (1 minute 30 seconds) I chilled for 10 seconds or so and then lit it up at 3.5 w/kg for the next 2.5 minutes… figuring holding it after the hill effort would be good for sustained power pain generation… legs were burning and what it made me disco was… holding 3.5 w/kg is much easier on the legs at cadences higher than 100 rpm…
wow

Go figure

No ya don’t need a PT to figure that out… but w/o I’d think that the harder effort making 3.5 w/kg at 90-95 was actually higher wattage than holding 3.5 w/kg at 100-105… that’s a pretty damn fine line between cadences no?

So I recovered for a second – at least the legs felt better ie recovered meaning cadence was higher – wattage about the same and then at the base of the descent away from the parkway I shot for holding 4 w/kg until the I started to redline, wound up to be about 1.5 minues… not on fire red-line just HR getting up to 170… I didn’t know how long that’d have taken w/o a device recording this stuff – i rested with a low force lower cadence at around 2.5 w/kg, not trivial amount of power, but definitely in an indefinite sustain zone for about 2 minutes, till I felt better and the HR peaked below 150 and I went at it again, this time holding about 4.8 w/kg until my eyes bugged out and then a bit longer… that turned out to be just over a minute… then I cruised home the rest of the way in active recovery mode ticking around a mere 2.8 w/kg nice to look back and see the HR declining during that mode… kept the cadence above 90…

Spinning is winning, right?

Not without force when needed…

So March totals including today – a paltry 11 hours on the bike… and 6,632 kJ of work… or for the math challenged or with a brain addled by old age or drink that’s about 600 kJ/hour…

Kinda wishing I could get my hands on someone’s PT data from last year’s BKR… but if it is as Solobreak says and its under 2 feet of snow right now… mmmm man it’s gonna be a nice soupy mess… maybe yogurt boy (I mean Stupid head) will put his fancy race blades on his road bike in that super special way he does…

4 weeks or so? Enough time to melt and dry the stuff? Yes, if it keeps up like this…

Even still it will totally kick some serious ass one way or another…

Made a chocolate cake this weekend from my wife’s birthday…
It rocks… the cake is sooooo killer delicious well we’ll leave out any gender specific possibilities of what might happen when they taste it…

Run down of what went into it:
2 cups sugar
Creamed with
½ cup butter
2 eggs unbeaten
Once combined I added:
6 tablespoons of Droste Dutch Cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
And 2 cups of unsifted flour (all purpose King Arthur unbleached white)
Then I mixed ½ cup plain whole milk yogurt and ½ cup heavy cream (organic for both) with 2 teaspoons of vanilla
Mixed it a bit and then added the final ingredient ½ cup of hot water…

These were well mixed but I added some shaved Swiss Milk Chocolate into the batter and then split the batter in two glass pie pans that were buttered and then dusted with cocoa powder… baked for about 50 minutes at 350

Once cooked (when a toothpick comes out clean) I started in on the icing…
(while the cakes were cooling)

1 square of bakers chocolate melted in a double boiler, once melted 1 cup of sugar was added and mixed, then followed with 4 tablespoons of heavy cream, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla… stirring constantly at medium heat gets rather hot (with a wooden spoon of course) until it sheets from the spoon like jelly… then it is cooled and ready to use…

I stacked the two cakes and use a super secret frosting as the middle layer: Nutella… yes the ultimate decadent touch – nutella center… it held the layers together well and added a unique and scrumptious flavor. So I then drizzled slowly the icing over the cake… it more or less ran down from the middle out and I just kept slowly drizzling till the cake was coated and the icing was all gone… the big display platter was perfect for catching and solidifying the mix of icing while it hardened.

Man o man is it ever one damn fine moist chocolaty nummy cake… guys – if ya got mad kitchen skills making this for your girl will definitely get you a gold star… but then, yes it requires some skills that are beyond the reach of some keep that in mind… no double boiler? No idea how to make a double boiler? Don’t bother with the icing…

The cake was Saturday’s ride time…

Sunday’s ride time was taken up with the dumpster diving to salvage a kick ass old photo enlarger and a handful of Thomas Duplex safelights. Pretty much the heavy equipment part of a darkroom. Or at least the heavy price tag part. We got a small counter type kitchen in the basement that is perfect for the set up… so anyway – it’ll be so cool to get that up and going might mean more pinhole camera potential, which really became my favorite photographic medium before leaving Michigan…. It’s a great way to teach the girls about chemistry, light, and art all at once… can’t wait!!!

After running around all day today the bit of effort left my legs totally spent tonight… sore and tired… one more day tomorrow of racing around the lab – packing the last bit of everything up getting it ready for the move… no idea how it will all happen, but well…

I guess it will. The new office is in the basement, no windows in other words. Back to my existence in the dungeons of science buildings… it is also such a shame to put 25-30 year old microscopes in a brand new building – esp now that there is an SEM that could increase our capacity and imaging ease for under 100 grand… ya’d think there was some cash kicking around for something like that…

The shift I downed just before heading home I think gave me some extra power beyond where I normally would have been able to produce after a dehydrating day like today…

That and me thinking – hell – use the stuff like all the freaking time! Cheaper than red bull… and since I can get more caffine from a couple cups of coffee than a can of red bull – gimme the shift!!! As long as it is the strawberry banana flavor…

On that shifty note – time to hit the sack… kinda wishing I had some net access right now – but then instead of turning the ‘puter off I’d be surfing and reading all the stuff I haven’t read today… got basically to the second tier of reading – not the third or fourth…

Peace yall… spinning is winning and power is the fuel for the finish
G

PS – forgot to check and see if the Mt bike TT on the 1st filled up or not… guess I have to wait till my office is relocated and set up to check…

lunch time... catching a break... very short one... almost as short as KL...

now - here is a question for yall...

if all someone had was 23s... should they go out and get some fatter tires for the BKR?

FnF? whadda ya think? Cronoman? Thoughts?

Should said person go out and try and source some cheap 25s or 28s?

Not for me - i'm rocking my 4 season 28s that i have on my ONE and ONLY road bike... yes - i have ONE road bike. Okay i lied, i have the paramount i bought in 1992 or something... it ain't uber sweet or nutting, well it is, but... it is heavy, old and sporting a shitty touring rake aluminum fork. Not a race bike. TT potential. And yes... i've even done a TT or two... believe it or not (those who may not have caught my summer of progressively getting slower at the BikeWorks TT)...

Anyway... for more on the rules of bike ownership check this nice clearly stated rant.

So 2.5 hours later i find this window still open...

hitting post...

GeWilli will be back after a few days most likely - don't expect much more unless he sorts out some PM quiet time... and maybe he's better off on the rollers instead of the computer anyway...

gotta start packing on the hours...

peace and respect
G

moving sucks...

its the one time you are aware just how much shit can be crammed into an office/lab/room...

i might need a case of shift to get me through the rest of today...

oh...

wait...

its 3pm...

only two more hours of filling rentacrates on wheels...

not true - there are only three renta crates left to fill...

and i haven't yet touched my office...

fug

respect,
G

this is the last single digits we'll see probably till next winter.

i hope that is an educated and backed up statement not some WAG...

our luck he's just paved the way for a couple more alberta clippers to steam through New England... And heck we've got it easy down here...

It was 7° when i left, but sunny. And in the style of the canuk riding that cottered crank fixed gear (i wonder he he truely knows how shitty cottered cranks are)...
what i had on today:
Bell Image Pro, vents taped with clear packing tape
Adidas balaclava
Bellweather essential longsleeve jersey... almost the oldest peice of cycling clothing i own
Refunds Now Cycling Team Warsaw jacket
Helly Hansen fleece lined over mitts (over nothing but skin)
Old school Pearl Izumi ultrasensor bib shorts
Not quite but close to as old Pearl Izumi thermalsomething bib tights
Smartwoolesque socks (one pair)
Pleated sandwich baggies over the socks inside
C-dale mesh vented mt shoes

And while being slightly cool at the start about 5 minutes into a 90-100 rpm low wattage (around 200 watts oops i mean 2.3 w/kg) i was breaking a sweat, not overheating but enough that i wasn't cold anymore. My toes got a wee touch chilly without my oldest (age wise - they were sitting in the shop for 5 or more years before i bought them ages ago) item of cycling gear... the shimano neoprene booties...

I've never had a massive arsenal of cycling clothing, i've kinda always had just enough to get by... and that will have to work for a bit longer too...

Foley got some props from DrunkCyclist... that's cool

Il Bruce's Nightmare bike
nightmare to keep clean LOL

more packing and moving and sorting and all sorts of exhausting stuff...

and maybe there's some coffee
Respect!
g

we are hosed, snowed under and generally running around crazy today...

dealing with a 'move coordinator' who is our middle man to everyone, the furniture vendors who haven't hooked up the power to my office, the movers who haven't brought the right equipment to move our light microscopes (the delicate ones... the EMs are bomb proof - its these damn light/mirror things that move around if jostled), not to mention the lack of power outlets for the final EM to move...

that and we generally have "do we need this? throw it out" push...

i fear the pangs of good stuff being pitched...

like sodium vapor safelights...

anyone need some kickin assin dark room lights? lemme know - email and you can come pick em up!

More linkage:
Local vs Organic
Tough call but i'm leaning towards the organic side for somethings... but even still... there are a lot of small local farmers that ARE organic, but can't afford, or don't want to bother paying for the certification...

oh well...

do what you can do - Big up props to Stonyfield farms... I could prolly drink a case or two of shift right now looking at what needs to happen relative to my energy level...

and to follow up... damn freaking straight it did the trick. No lethargic GeWilli last night, at least not till AFTER dinner... the Shift did the trick... No caffeine... and day 4 of no coffee in the AM is actually working out pretty well...

respect
G

and





links:
Coffee No Boost in the Morning?

Star*ucks crappy brewed coffee? Well DUH!!!

Dean, the real dairy pusher - fails to mention the Horizon Organic brand and the shady not quite organic standards

And finally:
Sans Auto attacks the Sodium Bicarb as a performance enhancer! (if you can keep a straight face reading the last couple paragraphs you are not right)

For some background on using it see here At the Flamme Rouge

Oh and vindication for Yogurt Boy:

I had a couple questions about cheese and yogurt. No, they do NOT elicit the same insulin response as milk. Ice cream has a substantial insulin response, but it is what you would expect from the amount of sugar available in ice cream. This is another reason that I don't drink milk.

Sooo

Milk BAD... Yogurt GOOD....

YIPEEEE

Time to down a couple quarts of this nummy-ness:

Dairy products

Yogurt: Our European-style yogurt is made simply from pasteurized milk and live cultures; no added milk solids, thickeners, or emulsifiers are added. Because we don't homogenize the milk, there is a delicious layer of cream at the top. Hawthorne Valley Yogurt is available plain or flavored with organic maple syrup and pure vanilla extract.

The non-homo nature of the stuff is killer!

okay - I'm downing a Shift right now. The Straw Bananna... This flavor i like the best. the nummiest of the three.

Hopefully it gives me the kick in the pants to swing past daycare then home and still have enough energy to make some dinner!

Respect!
g

unfortuantely the lack of a 25mph headwind had me overheating... that or pulling the trailer did...

i'm pretty sore from the beating by the stairs still - my butt is killin me... the glute muscles are much more tender today than yesterday - makes getting dressing the in the AM more of a sloth like effort... but once on the bike - i was not noticing the pain until i started climbing and then the ribs and back kinda said - "watch it"

saw some dude either relieving himself or loading up on some perf enhancin drugs - could have been a drawstring, could have been a needle... dunno - he had wind pants down to his knees but his tights were still on... way off by the bridge - hidden from view except to those on the path paying attention... i found it funny that i thought he might be juicing himself...

We had a great kick ass group of highschool kids come through today and yesteday to tour the facility, smart, asking great questions, fantastic grasp on basic bio and stuff... Really very reassuring. There ARE some students that ARE actually smart, and are accumulating knowledge at the high school range. Its just envigorating when you have a youn group that you can get excited about your own passion... its also kinda exhausting... i need a nap... we keep joking that we should get a couch here for the facility...

the lack of morning coffee prolly is slowing me down a bit on the bike and getting dress... and the middle of the night sleep interuptions last night started to bring on the creap of the craving before i got on the bike. Fortunately the bike send all that off out of mind as i realized: man... i'm wearing too many layers for spinning this damn fast and then later: i'm way overheating here back it down a notch...

Our local Hero and Nicest Man in the Peloton sent me a nice link about the preferred pedaling rate selection in endurance cycling... I've skimmed it, but being old school i need to kill a tree or two to grasp it. Reading blogs on line is one thing - but reading journal articles is another, i need a paper copy for this one. Go grab a peak of it yourself (pdf link).

I gotta be all MegA here for a second - i feel extemely fortunate to have the friends i do... For the Cronoman's Solos and Yogurts... meg, kl and the gang there - Ctodd will get love if he decides to do a another 'cast but it ain't about content blogging and what not... it ain't just the rest of the gang out here/there... its everywhere... friends like CV out in belgium land living the dream life... TD in michigan... special hey to Suds in canunkistan... he's been through the ringer... i hope he pulls a cartoon move and self inflates - maybe Suds (if ya reading) stick your thumb in your mouth and blow... it works in cartoon world to re-inflate!

anyway -

yall be good...

ride hard...

live clean...

eat well...

make peace

and respect!

G

might be the under caffeinated haze... the jostling this morning as i hurled myself down and flight of stairs on my elbows ass and back... or just flat out freaking tired...

maybe it is because i had a bowl of cereal this morning - 50% yogurt, 10% applesauce and 40% org milk (2% which is close to whole milk at 3%)...

milk... good reading over there if ya ain't in the milk biz like shifty the yogurt boy.

Kinda makes sense, esp the calcium retention... i think if i keep falling down stairs my bones will be plenty strong enough... and ya know... that's why cyclocross is so important for cyclists... it forces ya off the bike to run and stuff... carrying a damn bike... the promoters can make it even better for ya by making some of the running section concrete or hard pack... cause ya know those cycling shoes are kick assingly padded and all that...

I did a bit of drooling over at the cyclingnews NAHMBS image series on road bikes... I'll say this - i've never liked the fork crown style that Richard Sachs uses. I find em almost offensive in a way... dunno why...

Linkatude: Fenders. This guy is a kick ass photographer... and some of the ones i've seen are gorgeous... when he gets his stuff together - grab ya self a set of these woodies!

The PEZ image of the day had me clicking over to the Kenda Tire Calendar... good idea... would be a cool calendar to get a hold of...

And the milk line again - choco milk still really good for recovery... if ya needing to go out and do it all over again the next day... that and i wonder how much HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) the Stoner boys used up there in NH... Hey Shifty Yogurt boy... do yall use it in anything? i hope not... and then i wonder... maybe Sans Auto needs to go back and see if there is a difference between Yogurt (unflavored and unsweetened as it should be consumed) and milk... i'm too tired to link either sans or yogurt boy - scroll back up and click on them there... and like Solobuster just did... i need to edit the list on the left...

maybe after we move the shop...

okay yall...
peace, respect and all that good stuff...
G

Well Damn Straight i did. 25mph steady head wind, gusting well over that... not to mention it is only 9°F out there...

Relax... the little one got a ride in... and i think my legs are thanking me that i left the trailer at home. They got a bit fried last night heading home... a good workout - kicked it at an average of 3.2watts/kg for just over 7 minutes spinning at just over 100 rpm...

And then there was this morning...

sleepy barely awake, one of those - oh the alarm is going off in 1 minute maybe i'll turn it off...

head down the stairs...

my nice dry feet and the nice dry carpet on the stairs...

not a whole lot of friction... coupled with me being almost eyes closed sleepwalking...

slip... boom boom boom boom boom...

ooooouch

didn't manage to knock the wind out of myself - that was good - rug burned my elbows - jarred the shit out of the rest of me... and sitting here waiting for my first cup of coffee to brew (ran out of beans at home) i'm noticing my tail bone is a bit bruised...

88kgs heads down stairs mighty fast with lots of inertia...

Good news for me and partly why i wanted to ride in... was to check if it impaired the cycling position...

nope - riding is fine.

Sitting? now that's a bit uncomfortable...

So i rode in...

No coffee... into a wicked damn stiff headwind in single digit temps...

I wonder if yogurt boy busted out the fixie and rode hisself into the yogurt factory today...

Homage to the 3 bi-coastal boys... cause that's who i thought of curled up at the bottom of the stairs wondering if i could move or take a breath...

Thats all for now - till the caffeinated goodness rolls through my system (no headache yet - making progress - maybe i stay out of beans at home for a while)

peace
G

seen at NAHMBS

drool


heck i'm only a few clicks through the pics... and i'm already sporting wood... and not the sweet wood fender kind...

full on commuter shizzle...

now the only question... where would i put the power tap... ;)

I did...

for some reason the cadence do hicky decided to tell me that i was happiest at 103 most of the way in...

and someone's comment about 300 watts at 50 rpm had me thinking i should try that out a bit...

so my "intervals" of work were done city street wise... until i turned up hill into the wind (up lloyd) holding 300 meant increasing speed and cadence stuck around 70... it meant that by the time i was hitting daycare i was not quite drafting a box truck doing 26-28....

its monday, lecture day so in addition to clean clothes, and lunch, and the little one's stuff for the week i had the laptop... so the load was higher than normal...

Hitting the log hill into the stiff west wind was fun and there i was (i think) in the 300-400 range all the way up the drag, cadence was low tho... but i was in the 49x23... HR hung around 165 or so most of the way up... not climbing too much i think although i'll have to look at the data to get a real view of it all...

So i got my spin and power in one ride...

It would be remiss on my part to not offer congrats to the NegaCoach for making it big time! A link from Velonews! Cooooooool

Weather... i sort of killed me not to get out on the bike but if i had this weekend i would not have been able to read the 12 papers. 12 oh that's not that many, no... its not... but... the well written ones are easy to read - even the ones that have a few errors, but there were some real doozies...

Gonna try and get a few longer rides in soon... Might even try and work a morning workout in with the college folks once we get the facility all moved and stuff...

How about that, only one USA rider makes it on the results for the Het Volk. Congrats Cruz!

Oh and - i've eaten about everything i could get my hands on yesterday... eat eat eat eat eat eat... and eat...

figuring as calorically challenged as i've been getting during the week i gotta start doing something a bit different - as in eating... equal opportunity... if it is there and needs to be consumed... i'm gonna eat it... GIMME FOOOOOOOOD and lots of it.

respect (time for another snack!)
g
Sans Auto (the tree hugging not quite vegan) has a nice break down of the Paleo diet and

I'll hit on Baking Soda as an ergogenic aid later, and although it works, don't try it.

heading home - i could start to feel the reserve fuel sloshing around...

then... heading up - mark D passes me on the way to meet the blinky brigade...

i got zip in the tank... holding 500 watts up the hill spent every last drop of reserves...

why'd i do that? I thought there was a chance i could catch marky J who i just barely missed seeing on the bridge...

chasing fellow commuters is a sure way to fire up the wattage range...

after this week and after yesterday's sprint/power fun... i had zippo...

got home - mixed the biggest glass (20oz) of choco milk using the ovaltine powder (no not organic but it uses sugar, not HFCS)... then ate some cheese on bread some chips and finally started to feel capable of making dinner...

so tired...

with the massive rain we are having - i was prepared to ride in, but it had been decided that the littlest would get a ride in the car...

i succumbed to the suggestion that i get a ride too... seeing as my wife practically drives past my office to get to work... it would be still be one less car on the road... and my legs NEED the rest day now... not tomorrow...

Got in almost 30 hours of riding without touchin the bike on the weekends in Feb. Burned over 17,000 calories (roughly... okay so i generated just over 17,000 kJoules and in the cold i'm probably less efficient so prolly more than that)... at least those are the recorded numbers... it doesn't count the day on the mt bike or an hour or so prolly of unrecorded time...

Anyway - its prolly close enough for private sector work...

I got passed by the blinky brigade... it sucked... i couldn't generate more than 80 watts once i hit riverside... leading up to that i was mentally pushing past the edge thinking about Battenkill, and thinking about gearing and thinking about the 45 tooth and would the 45 with a 27 be enough... and thinking if it isn't i don't deserve to be competitive... only down side maybe when lining up against the compact crowd like solobreak is the fact that i might not be able to go as slowly as them on the hills which... might mean (as my bonking brain was thinking) i would just have to go faster than them up hills... and they can work to catch me going down... cause...

ya know... you gain more time going faster up hill than working hard going down... that whole aerodynamics stuff... not to mention my fat ass 88kilo body has a bit more gravity yanking on it than the 68kilo "little" guys...

i must have really been hurting to think along those lines...

A day packed full of fun awaits... or is upon me... and i feel not ashamed i didn't ride today, but thankful i didn't have to drive, and happy i'm not trying to dry all my cycling clothes for the ride home!

respect
G

and Holy Crap... did you see gwadzilla?

Sweeeeeet...

CVS first just had the 2016... then the other side of the display buried under a 2016 was a bunch of 2032s...

hmmm $4.29 each... damn

then...

only where my daughters would see (not even KL is short enough for this product placement) down at my toes... were the 2032 two packs...

$5.99

some "value pack"

new batt in there and HOLY SHIT whadda difference! Display is bright, buttons are responsive...

but riding in from the drop off when it shut down i got to thinking... maybe since i'm carrying around all this juice for the lights and shit, maybe i can just hardwire the sumbitch into the power of massive D cell batteries... mmmm D cell massiveness... and save the precious little cells for racing and what not...

Rode down and back to the other facility - got a good sprint in from the final stop light - damn cars ain't going fast enough - i guess a 25mph limit and traveling at 30 is fast enough for them... or slow enough that i have to put the damn brakes on...
11
Heading down i only tapped into the barely over 1000 watt range (oops) 11.4watts/kg and probably sustained closer to 4-600 oops i mean 4.5-6.8 w/kg range...

HR was wild - might be the post lunch bit or the pint of Choco milk i downed (couldn't just buy batteries... had ta get some choco milk goodness at CVS)...

And so i was a jittery trying to delicately replace a set of filters and mirrors on the scope... got that done... headed back up and ripped it the heck up the hill - did it in the 38x21 blew it solid to Benefit coming up College and then made it about 1/2 up before my body cried "Uncle" maybe racing myself with a quart of pasta in my belly ain't a good idea....

anyway - peak power was up to 14.2 watts/kg too bug eyed to notice what it was reading...

might check in a while...

respect and don't underestimate the power of fresh batteries!!!
G

WTF?

(yeah i know - i started with feb? over?)

That means just one month and a couple weeks before Battenkill and Tax time...

Time to replace the battery in the little yellow buddy - clearing the data gave me a "lowbatt" warning... gotta find a place 'round here that sells the CR whatchamacallit batteries...

Probably time to start heading out on a couple group rides too... time to get some distance in the legs... to see if there is any distance or if i go flat after an hour or so...

Read the O'Grady interview. Much better content than some Dogcast with f'up audio. Granted the audio in this one is better than some in the past... but seriously... man this kid needs some work on his post production!

Oh on the O'Grady interview... the link is most definately potentially NSFW - but that's pretty standard anytime i link anything to Big Jonny's page!

Brutally honest and loaded with adult sarcasm... with the absolute required homage to the late great Hunter S Thompson:

As to how one describes journalism, the late Hunter S. Thompson offers a pretty solid definition in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”:

“The press is a gang of cruel faggots. Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits — a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.”

Still, it beats working, as Hunter could tell you, if he weren’t busy being dead.

then this gem

Since college I’ve voted for independents, Democrats a Libertarian or two, and none of the above. Never a Republican, though. That would be the political equivalent of jacking off with sandpaper mittens.

one more

Who pisses you off, and why?
A sizable percentage of my fellow Americans, for flushing their birthright down the shitter in a moment of panic. After 9/11, this country went from GI Joe to Betsy Wetsy in nothing flat, with the exception of the men and women in the armed forces, who clocked in and went to work at a job we should never have asked them to do. Appalling. Ben Franklin was right.

I should just quote the whole damn thing...

best collection of one liners and cracks i've read in - heck maybe since the last foaming rant!

second to last had me laughin out loud...

but be warned - content of the site (Drunkcyclist.com) and the words in the patrick o'grady interview are not suitable for sensitive adults with delicate sensibilities - heck don't even bother if ya ain't an adult...

Well i have 5 minutes so rather than write any more i'm going for a walk down to the strip to see if i can wrangle up a CR2032 or two...

Respect!
g