Everyone remembers that particular story from Obama's campaign trail right?

Fired UP. Ready to GO. Fired UP. Ready to GO.

well yeah - i'm fired up for cross at the moment. As a spectator. As a fan.



Wonderboy is such a fitting soundtrack. Although i think the key players this year will be Boom and Nys, not Wellens and Nys. We'll see. We'll see.

Fired UP

Ready to GO

(here's another great vid of the '08 race there...)

With the news that JP has been added to the Squad. That's freaking awesome!!!

I don't realistically see him on the Podium but you know what? That's why they run the race. He's got plenty of fuel in his head to fire the engines in overdrive, to ramp up his adrenaline for 60 minutes of racing. Ya never know... probably won't be a motor bike taking out the top two this year but mechanicals, crashes and what not happen. I'm sure JP's luck has turned now. Could be huge.

Much better view of the course
one with the cyclists view and one with the elevation profile...

Awesome, jealous - would LOVE to have a north american version of a hoogerheide. I wonder what Van der Pol would do with the venue options we have here... not to discount the course genius of Steamboat Stevens or the other vets of New England cross, it just makes me wonder...

I know, I know. Courses here are different than over there. We don't have the same stuff. People would be bitching up a major hissy fit storm if they showed up to a course like Hoogerheide. Nice set of stairs - lots of turns and hair pins and minor elevation changes. It is pretty awesome.

Can't wait till Sunday!

Oh it looks like the weather for the race will be in the mid-30s getting down to the high 20s at night... nothing crazy... no rain forecast today tomorrow or the weekend. Should be a hard fast race. Vos could pull out a big upset. I don't see this race going well for Daphny with these conditions, but Rachael may actually prove to be a solid contender. Heck LVG's crit dominance and sprinting prowess may prove to be a huge asset on sunday as well.

Damn it will be an awesome race. Men's race wide open too, maybe favoring Boom more than Nys now. But hey, that's why the run the race - gotta see who's got the luck, the legs and the lungs that day!

well on the roads near the house at least. Closer to the city it was just slush. Managed to hitch a ride up to Burgess and Warren with my wife. The hour delays around here meant everything was just a tad bit melted. The places that got salt last night were in good shape, roads that didn't (our road/neighborhood) were skating rinks. Solid sheet ice. No black ice, it was skating rink stuff. But it is sunny as can be. Very gorgeous out there.

One guy honked at me in his big fancy MB with his easy to remember vanity plate. Honestly. Don't people with vanity plates realize that there isn't an easier way to give someone a way to remember it? Long time ago in maine someone i was riding around the town with got assaulted by a couple of guys. What it was over I won't go into now but because this tough guy (we eventually rode away, hid in the woods till he left) had a vanity plate, the cops were able to get all the info on the guy who did it. Yes i still remember the plate on that Subaru he was driving.

Same this morning. Heck i almost caught back up to him through the city, he was dodging and weaving between the slower moving traffic, seriously cutting between cars and around people pretty recklessly... He turned off a side street and floored it. Total jackass I hope he wraps that big beast around a telephone pole. I hope no one else gets hurt by his actions. His big ass metal cow he's driving will protect him just fine no matter what he hits. His plate is sticking in my head pretty easily.

I was pretty wound up about the incident. Sure it wasn't a big deal... he only honked at me and then waved his fist yelling at me, he had room to go around (two travel lanes, i was in the right lane, no cars were in the left yet he still felt the need to honk at me). Actually kind of funny. The really scary part was how he was driving after he honked and passed me.

There was some talk about forgetting the fuel economy limits as a way to regulate consumption, and going with horsepower limits. Not big policy talks but still. It makes sense. Who needs a giant 400 horsepower car to get around the city? Seriously. And the whole "it is safer to have power" is a crock of shit argument. If you don't have power you just drive so you don't put yourself that kind of situation. The times you need power are generally 100% avoidable. We have speed limits in this country of 75 or 80 in some places. Even a little 90 hp engine can push a reasonably large car that fast. It might not be able to go much faster but hey, why do you need to go any faster? We don't have the Autobaun here. Despite what it feels like driving in New England when there isn't traffic slowing you down.

I feel pretty strongly about regulating consumption instead of emission as well as putting HP limits in. If standards were set to mandate a specific fuel consumption minimum instead of (or maybe in addition to) tail pipe exhaust, well i think that would have a much bigger total overall impact on both green house gasses and pollution. Maybe us a Pound/HP limit. Set it at 45#/Hp. Sure if you want a big fat heavy car, you'll get more HP but you won't be able to go any faster than anyone else. Ah but then that's socialism or something. People want their cars to be a reflection of themselves. Ah well. We're all pretty screwed unless people some how believe everything is turning around. All it takes is people to think it is getting better not worse and it will get better.

Here's to hoping the new generation of energy production and what ever else new "industry" starts taking off soon is enough to bolster consumer confidence and get us out of this freaking mess.

Because what a mess it is.

heddwch
g

when the races are on sunday?

Well the women race at 11:30 and the men race at 14:30 (Click and scroll to page 10)

So what does that mean for the broadcast at Universal sports? I dunno. I hope it means live. But then it is still a 5:30am start. Hmm... worth waking up at the butt crack of dawn? Quite possibly. I think it just might be.

Now that i've confirmed the 5:30am start, it sort of occurred to me that the CX Mag's coverage was slated to start at that time. Hmmm. Ah well. Now I know when the races actually are. The cross google alter is lit up with people posting the news about Universal's live coverage. That's a good thing.

Got an email from Rachael Lloyd 45 minutes or so ago. how about this, a free live broadcast!

free live broadcast of the 2009 cyclocross World Championships this weekend. I have enclosed the link where you will find the live broadcast and schedule of events for this weekend.

Schedule with Video Links ( the video links will come up as soon as they are available the day of the event): link

Cycling Channel Page: link

Universal Sports is a website and channel partnered with NBC that highlights Olympic Sports all year long. They are going to be broadcasting the Cyclo-Cross World Championships this Sunday. "The broadcast will be free and we are really just trying to reach out to all the true cycling fans to let them know where they can come to watch these major events." From an email sent to me.

So it will be a split screen viewing - CXmag's live updates in one window, universal's video coverage in the other...

G-ride did point out I've been sparse on the details here.

The car:

What is it? A 1996 TDI Passat Wagon (B4V). 207k on the clock. Well maintained but it has a few issues.

I got it from a dealer yes. That is true. I got it as is, no warranty, no nothing (except endless phone calls and letters thanking me for shopping there and reminding me that they are there to support the car in parts and with anything else I need). How can a dealer do that? Well I heard that a certain someone traded this car in at that dealership for an '05 Jetta TDI Wagon that they had on the lot. I called and offered them some $$ for it, they countered back with a higher number and well I bought it. Problem being that the dealer is in the middle of NJ. Not close. Problem also we don't have space or desire to have three cars. Sure we could have taken the stuff off the Volvo, parked it at the Farm and tried to sell it. Who knows if we could have sold the Volvo easily private party with what is/was wrong with it. Sure it had a mostly good set of blizzak tires on there that I spent $200 on in Michigan years ago, and I've still got a second set of summer tires (anyone need 195 60 15 tires? Nokian NRVs!) and the Volvo factory roof rack for it. It slips out of second gear when not under load (in gear coast down for example). AC doesn't work. Sunroof screen isn't there. Rear tire well fills up with water (had to pound the ice out to get the flat full size spare out of the trunk the day before driving down). Clutch has started to slip occasionally. Starter motor clunks or something when cold. It uses a quart of oil every few months, or every 1000 miles or so. A coolant leak somewhere. The seat back motor is broken. The glove box latch is gone (box closed with tape). Oh what else? I dunno. Low power, had to down shift to keep speed up hills on the way down to trade it in. Works sort of okay on premium fuel but not well on regular gas. Oh and it won't start sometimes. esp if parked on an incline. or if cold. I can usually get it to start by holding the throttle pedal down about 1/2 way. But that doesn't always work either. It has a bit of a rattle in the front end. Could be as simple as the sway bar bushing, it passed inspection in '08 so it isn't unsafe, just rattles like a metal tool box on the streets of this fair city of ours. Considering we didn't pay anything for it way back when, and we sold the '86 240 wagon when we got the '93 850. We did okay getting a c note for the car. That and I didn't have to inconvenience someone to drive down with me, I didn't have to get a bus, train or plane ticket down and figure out how to get to the dealer car-less. Sure there are plenty of issues that could have been fixed. But most of the problems on the old volvo were the expensive or time consuming things. Mostly a headache to try and sell privately. I'll let the dealer spend the time and money to detail it, wax polish and clean it up to make it look good too. And man o man did we make out well all things considering. It was a great swap.

The Passat isn't perfect. There's a few issues of coolant going somewhere. The Struts are completely done (Bilstein TCs are in the future of it). The sunroof motor is dead. The rear wiper motor is dead. There's a loose fuse/headlight problem that showed up today. Supposedly a Cat converter issue. The exhaust looks a bit rusty and flaky from looking under the car from the back (but the exhaust doesn't smell like coolant). A few minor rust areas on the driver's side door and rear wheel well. It starts well, drives well. Warms up very nicely. A gem of a car. So grateful to the previous owner for the tip as to the dealer it was traded in to.

And it is big. A lot roomier than the new ones even. The seat ergonomics aren't as good as the B5 Passat or the A4 Golf... and I haven't been in the newest styles to see if they kept the same big guy friendliness. It is just front wheel drive but it is pretty damn sweet. Once I clean up the oil off the engine from the broken CCV return hose I can start working on where the coolant is going. The prime suspected joints are covered in oil, one below the fuel pump and one 'plastic' junction into the head. The oil is from basically a 2cm hole in the block (midway between the head and the oil pan - kind of in the crank area) where oil was just shooting out and coating the inside of the engine AND the underside of the car (and the back for that matter). there are a few big oil spots on the 'driveway' stones at the house now, but no new ones since replacing the hose.

I just never mechanically connected with the Volvo. I did grow fond of that 5 cylinder roar at 4-5k rpms. But man. I love the purr of this turbo diesel. Mmm. Yeah. It is good. It is a '96 with the smoke fix GQ ecu. It is a nice addition to the family.

There. That's the briefing catching disney boy up to speed on the new wheels.

heddwch
G

http://wellonabigbikeya.blogspot.com/

seriously. check ThomP's writing and videos out. want to commute - follow his advice - it's good stuff...

My feeling on it:
Compton should be a force, don’t count Daphny out on her home turf. Lloyd’s got some serious momentum heading into it. Hanka’s hot no matter what she’s wearing and can’t be counted out. Also look for Laura Van Guilder to make an impression. The French women do seem to be riding well too. All that makes for one exciting race to play out. Only wish I was able to remain blind to the race results so I could watch the women’s race unfold on TV/computer once it is avail to DL.

The elite men's race should be predictably boring. Boom’s got the legs the focus and the home nation behind him. Nys has finally decided to tweak his training to peak for worlds instead of wining every race up until worlds and then dying. He is going to be fierce. I don’t really see anyone else touching those two unless it is Erwin V. Stybar maybe. Treefarm? Nah, he needs to pull his head out of his ass and focus more on what it takes. Needs to have a sit down with Page to learn what the fahk he needs to do inside that big grinning noggin of his to be in the first group in Europe.
Make no mistake, it’ll be a damn fine race… get the popcorn and the live feed and sit back and enjoy, I'm just far more excited about the women's race.

As FnF once said, a race is only worth watching/following if you care who wins, or are a fan of someone in the race. That's the truth. I'm still a huge JP fan, getting lukewarm about the big Kona freak and his "these courses are too hard in europe" grass crit dominance kind of style, heck I'd love it if was able to figure it out and make it work. JPow just doesn't lite my radar up as a contender against the likes of Boom Nys and company. I do wish TJ would have decided to race at Worlds. The whole "road" thing is a pretty lame excuse for being the top and not doing worlds. Sure it is only CX worlds and sure you get paid more to be a roadie (just supposition on my part) but come on man. You're the best hope for the USA in that race (with JP's ribs and other issues). At least we've got some solid kick ass women racing. Looks like Georgia is cooking instead of crossing. That kind of blows I think. Same vein as TJ not racing. Although maybe Georgia is going to start? I dunno, but i bet someone does.

All i gotta say is Go Katie, Rachael, Laura, Sue, Wendy and Daphny!

heddwch
G

And it feels like I've had a grand total of zero rest/recovery days since being in the PacNW. The weekends are packed full of stuff to do, needs to be done and what not. Constantly going. I'm getting burned out in a way. Feeling the real need for a down day. I was hoping a snow day would happen tomorrow and I would get an excuse to stay home and just shovel and relax. But no, looks like I've got to be in three places at once here. Not a bad thing mind you. It is always good to be busy. That's the other part of it. Jan is usually a pretty quiet month. It hasn't been this year. Taking delivery of a new system certainly has added complexity, trying to get the car was a big undertaking (for me because i over think everything and cause myself to load up with needless stress). I am tempted to reach for a cup of coffee but I feel almost now at the point where I'm not sure I would like the taste anymore. In high school i cut out all milk in my diet because it was suspected that it contributed to my acne (not a minor case, I've got some good scar tissue to show for my puberty years, and yeah it probably contributed to the isolation i felt in the years of social development leaving me somewhat paralyzed in situations where i can't talk about cars or bikes or microscopes - and no the acne coupled with a fragile self-esteem and being the tallest and skinniest kid was too much). Anyway, after cutting the milk out for 6 months to a year I would get nauseas tasting it. It has me wondering if I actually would like the bitter taste anymore. My sister stayed with us this weekend and made a few pots of coffee. It smelled good. But hey who doesn't like the smell of coffee. I probably would still like it. My guess is the chemical taste recognition is so well imprinted that I will never not like coffee. Sort of like beer. I went 5-6 months without any and the first one back was pretty good.

In place of the coffee I've been drinking something that I picked up from my mother. Hot water with fresh ginger root and lemon. She adds a fresh mint leaf and maple syrup, but I've gone with just the ginger and lemon. Each morning a couple steaming cups of that just feels good. The spice of ginger and the tartness of the lemon are nice sort of eye openers. They've certainly become a habit now after a month. Finding good organic Ginger, or at the least domestic ginger (not from china or Argentina) is actually sort of tough out here. But I'll take the challenge vs the 10-20% higher costs in the stores in the Seattle region. I thought stuff was expensive here in New England, stuff out there in Gig Harbor and Seattle is wicked expensive relative to what I'm used to. I notice little stuff like that, prices and costs/unit. I notice stuff like the car that pulled out behind me as I pass it again as it is waiting in a line of stopped cars a mile or two down the road. I notice which parked cars have stud-less snow tires and find that mostly they are European cars.

The commute bypassing the bike path is longer. Only by about 2 miles or so, but the added hill (reasonably long) certainly contributes to more time on the bike everyday. In the cold sub 25°F weather that seems to be taking a bit out of me as well. I'm needing more and more fuel (food). But on the good side I seem to be finally kicking the cough and the rest of the respiratory junk. I think it isn't tough enough to handle the cold air.

Some of my introspection time has been chewed up by time spent reading up on the new/old car. That's certainly not a small factor in my seemingly more than normal absence around here, ie lack of words. But then maybe it has been the time spent clicking on the gallery's that have been popping up over at DC (big jonny's place not the capital). Who knows what it has been. call it a storm of everything. This recent and latest bikereg action i did certain has pushed me back towards the bike centric writing/thinking. Pondering how the heck I will attempt it this year. Or maybe not bother to do anything at all and just show up. The course change certainly will play a significant factor in motivating me to get my ass in gear rather than rely on memories of pain to get me through each section.

pretty spaced out here - tangents and weird subjects...

time to go ride in the cold... tomorrow might be a snow bike day or a vehicle day... we'll see what the morning brings...

heddwch
g

That never really got any farther than this:

cayenne pepper post...
---cool blog post here - there's got to be something to it - i eat enough spicy food, i like the chinese food chart linked there - it actually makes a lot of sense...

mittens...
---same vein as the first - i was going to go through my hand wear options and the temp ranges I employ them all in

car...
---finally got a minute to check the timing and the system all warmed up...

g-damn does this thing get toasty fast, way faster than the Golf. pretty amazing actually...

timing was perfectly spot on in the middle of the top, no codes... i adapted the glow plug duration to the long side in both cars earlier in the day and man it does pre-glow longer now, and fires right up. I think the battery is getting a bit tired in the Golf (still has the original from '99 in there).

i'm liking this car alot...

i pulled the egr vac hose off and plugged it, still need to check to see how clogged the intake is and how much oil is in the intercooler. the return hose wasn't stuck between the boost pipes but was flopping loose wearing away on the MAP sensor, so maybe when it all get warm and toasty the coolant can work it's way out of that hose? There was still a bit of vaccuum/pressure in the line when I pulled it to re-route it properly. So i gotta wonder where this leak thing is... need it to warm up before i can clean the engine compartment so i can see the particular junctions that may be cracked or weeping... probably do the compression test after cleaning it, don't want stuff falling into the combustion chamber when I pull the glow plugs out

Cupcakes...
---made a batch of kick ass blueberry cupcakes. Oh so good. Frosting was brilliant as well. o really tasty - did a big pizza party - a quad batch of my normal dough 8 large pizzas worth, cheese, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, pesto and tomato sauce, olives and spinach for the toppings... it was quite the pizza party, only the last of the pizzas made with what ever toppings were left over is left, it is a lightly cheesed spinach and olive pizza.

there that's about it
gonna ride home soon, ready to enjoy the weather out there. Big ass storm coming mid-week. We'll see if they cancel school before it hits or wait until it is actually snowing. Going to keep the day's appointments as clear as possible in case it is a snow day for the kids.

I just need the routine back. One thing I will say I feel grounded in my expression of being a mechanic. And the car is making the bike maintenance take a back seat. Well I need to clean up the bike room. It is still a big pile of mess from the timing belt change (tools and parts strewn about still) and the last CX race. Maybe time to do some organization and cleaning. Esp if I'm going to try and create enough leg strength and endurance to hang with the team mates at some race in April. I'll need the space for the trainer and rollers. It will be nice to focus on something. Even if I fall short on actually achieving the fitness it will prevent me from slipping into muffin top land like G-ride.

heddwch
G

I need to wash the Giant cyclocross bike. It is dirty.

very very very dirty...

but it is cold outside, freezing bike parts that get wet kind of cold out there...

if it ever warms up enough on the weekend I'll wash it. Boy does it need it.

Loads of thoughts that were in my head to get out. Some really well developed ones (by my standards) even. But all that I can remember of those were that they were well developed. *shrug*

ah well.

heddwch
G

There's no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn't tell you about it?
-Kin Hubbard

It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!
-Friedrich Nietzsche

still working great. chain is doing fantastic in the cold and the salt and the slush and the snow... this lube totally kicks ass... doesn't build up the same way T-9 does or other wet lubes i've used, and works 10000% times better (based on sound) than any dry lube i've used.

Waking Ned Devine.

ErikV posted a shot of one of the scenes where Michael O'Sullivan gets on Jack's motorcycle naked.... and i found the movie there on flixster. great sound track. hysterically awesome movie. start to finish.

the kind of movie you can watch over and over again.

Good stuff.

--

Riding home last night I had the realization that the bike path tends to make me a bit laconic. I go at my pace. There i'm the fastest thing I encounter. When I hit the surface streets (now that the path is still under a foot of ice and snow) I'm the slow mover unless there's a walker on the shoulder (not uncommon lately). And that has the effect of upping my pace considerably. Not a bad thing. Toss in the extra hill and the couple of sprints to merge and clear intersections it is a lot more work/KJ than heading home on the path. That's a good thing. Esp since there isn't a good shot of the path getting clear this month, probably stick around well into next month.

I've added Ecogeek.org into my open tabs routine and there are a couple gems over there today. My alma mater (more specifically someone at it) won a cool award for sweet ass efficient air conditioning.

And THIS i got to say is a brilliant idea. Set up the wind farm and make it off limits to fishing. Heck even boating for that matter. It would create much needed fish sanctuaries. Replace oil rigs with wind farms. Sounds pretty damn much of a no brain solution.

yeah... no brain... that's me

heddwch
G

Not Big Ring:
Trebon complaining that the course was too hard, and that he is never coming back. Someone needs to call the wahbulance to take Tree-farm back to the Cross-Crusade where he can pretend to be tough.
-Dr X

JP finished in front of Treefarm and had this to say about it: "Raced the race but not really. Was more riding around." Sure Ryan complained about the crazy downhills. But I bet Rachael Lloyd wasn't complaining about them. Well what DID she say anyway?

This:

The course... is a good course, pretty technical... it has pretty much everything in it. It starts on the track, does a lap and turns off to a sharp right hand turn. Then it winds its way back and forth around the seats (dirt path) and up/down a few steep hills (that are pretty slick because of the rain. I can make all the uphills, but then it goes to a very steep run up with these stairs that are about 2ft tall each step, and very steep. You know what that means... a very steep downhill. I had heard about these, but with the mud, and the deep ruts that had formed, it was a little sketchy. Then the course wraps around and pops out on the road to head to the other part of the course. Around soccer fields, working the embankment around the fields... it's hard to tell if the hillside will be ride able tomorrow, I would make it today but it was slick. Then there is a deep fluffy sand pit (which I could ride fairly well... I saw a lot of other girls having problems with it.) and a couple turns, then over the tallest barriers I have ever done in a UCI race, (they are almost 2ft tall.) and a quick left/right into a small 8ft long sand pit, then straight, and sharp right onto the track again. The track is cement, and wet, and painted... with the inside of it being sand... and a 3inch lip from the sand to the track... so that is interesting.

Lloyd called the downhills "a little sketchy."

Yeah. Sure, I'd be freaked out by them too i bet. Maybe Treefarm needs to raise his bars up a bit so he can be more comfortable on the downhills. Certainly would keep the internet monkeys at RBR from yearly wondering why he has such an effed up riding position.

Bottom line?
Treefarm got bloused by one of the best US female cyclists. Sure she's a Super D national champ, but hey she's freaking fast on the cross bike.

I think it sounds like Ryan needs a good dose of HTFU... No?

Oh and one of the bakers passed on the world CX preview Velonews to me (looks more like a large format Winning Mag now). Pretty cool. That was a super nice thing to do, very much appreciated. But there is one thing that stood out...

big big big WTF

one small short column about the women, two + pages of the men...

The women's team this year is amazing. Way stronger/deeper/more talented than any Men's team the USA has sent or been able to ever create. The USA female squad is as strong or stronger than the Belgian Men's team relative to the competition. What did Velonews use for photos? Daphny, Katie, and Hanka (don't have it here just pulling from memory).

The other thing i see, and sure it is justified by demographic data, there is no balance. Is Title 9 dead? Maybe I'm an anomaly, a male cyclist who is genuinely interested in the female side of the sport? There's good stuff in there, but the impression that I get is they are just a bunch of guys who'd rather look at other guys in spandex and talk about other guys in spandex/lycra/technical fabric and what those guys ride... It isn't like there are just as compelling female athletes out there racing their butts off with as good or better stories to tell. Maybe I've just missed the issues with better balance.

Can't wait to see how the women fair at worlds this year. Odds should favor Katie for the top podium spot, but depending on the weather and luck I still see Lloyd getting a fair shot at getting up on the steps. Put Katie as gold, with Lloyd and Daphny rounding out the podium and that would be flat out awesome (gotta put Daphny up there, cause well she's, um, daphny, ya know?).

Heddwch
G

gotten to work only to find that you don't have anything but your Sidi's to wear all day?

yeah - being down at the remote location all day i had my office shoes with me. They stayed in my bag on the way home. And they are still at home. Might have to break down and take the cleats out of the toes on these shoes today... could be worse, I could be riding with my road shoes...

So much to want to write about. The Risotto I made for my oldest while we were hanging out this weekend, a nice fresh wild maine shrimp and mushroom and aramae one, oh ... so ... good... after reading about the Port Clyde CSA thing we walked into Whole Paycheck to find wild maine shrimp on sale. And we got a bunch. They are so, so, so incredibly good.

Still sort of thinking about Battenkill... it would be a good boost/incentive to keep from turning into a G-ride off season... but then it worked well enough for him to get completely out of shape... but then i'd actually have to renew my license before cross season...

I like the sounds of this, and this.

train of thought lost... but I beat the bus on a section of the commute again... by a lot...

was coming out on to warren ave from burgess and thought, heck I should just turn right and go up potter, nah i need the extra hill. only to get down to valley and find it closed, damnit, turn around and head back up the hill to Potter afterall. Got the extra hill in that way i guess.

The streets really aren't too bad out there. The Townie plows have done a great job of scraping past the white line. The PVD plows haven't been as effective. But it still beats the alternative. To that anonymous jokester/jackass (can't tell which so i'm covering my bases) it isn't any more dangerous or crazy to ride out there now.

I would love to go off on one of my evangelical rants about how much better it is to be on a bike in the cold weather than in a car. Even the hybrids don't help. Mostly because all that zero emission crap or near zero only works when ambient air is at a certain temp and the engine's fluids and all that are at a specific temp. And when it is 15 degrees, heck you might get some heat from the powerplant, but stuff isn't going to warm up enough to be as clean or green as riding a bike. But then a lot of people really don't care it seems. They want to appear to care and that is enough. Too much of a bother to get the gumption up enough to eschew the shackles of a vehicle with 4 wheels. There are plenty of times when it is needed, when a vehicle isn't a luxury. But the % is far lower than those who just do it because they don't want to step out side of their bubble.

man - that might sound harsh - and set me up as a jackass if i drive in one day or two (which i will, probably, but for some reasonably reason i guess).

being off the bike path puts me back in the cars the whole commute. So instead of being surrounded by quiet, birds, ships, light houses... and stupid fahking sea gull bombs... i'm constantly being challenged by cars... changes the way ya think i guess.

I wonder what Scottyucsb is doing now...

heddwch
G

(I keep reaching my feet under the desk to slip on my birks but damn it they aren't there)

sort of...

got nailed pretty hard on sunday, started feeling it saturday night - sunday shoveled, 2x with the snow, monday felt not much better, coughing and general yuck - watched the stuff on tuesday - pretty amazing, everything. esp the music, that yo yo can play...

still rode in this morning - feeling fine, started coughing again at work. It settled down during the training session that prevented me from eating lunch until nearly 4pm. they are having some roller races here in PVD on the 13th of feb, $5, not too bad. maybe worth checking out for the hell of it... not on the bike since last week. Feeling it. feels weird that today is wed but feels like Monday. odd feeling. big stuff this weekend, at least saturday, gonna turn the house into the King's Crown (reference from kids book, some will get, some will not) i'll be the prep cook/line cook/sous chef/chef de cuisine and executive chef for the day, as in whole day. Then it will be off to hear some Brahms.

been working on the new-to-me car - i think i've the oil leaking problem nailed down (now need some warm days to clean off the oil all over it so i can start diagnosing where the coolant is leaking)... pretty fun having a car project like that... getting dirty, fixing it and steadily improving it makes me feel better and better about the crappy value we got from the (not so) old volvo we traded in... having a car that isn't a mystery head to toe (well a mystery you have no desire to demystify) is wicked cool...

just gotta kick this cough

heddwch
G

Oh yeah. Nothing like new to you cars. A big can of worms that you can't wait to slowly pick through. Eventually when you're at the bottom of the can you have one awesome keeper in the kreel.

Could minor issues to work out. Some simple, some still with some more digging to do. Gotta get the messy problems out of the way first.

No more Volvo. We're a solid two TDI family now. We can be 100% bioD in the warmer months and 10-20% biod (what ever is in the pumps) in the winter. Pretty awesome. AND

and we're finally back to having a WAGON. Yeah. The dog will be very happy about it. No more getting crammed in the back of the Golf with stuff. She'll have space now.

Just need to get some load bars for the factory rack rails and i'll be in bike hauling bidnez. Although with the wagon the more likely scenario will be to stuff em all inside.

Still kind of languishing about how little $ we got for the volvo in trade but hey, in '02 a dealer offered $800 for it and well, I think we got more than our money's worth out of it. Next time I'm feeling crappy about how little they gave me for it I'll run down all the known problems and then the unknown symptoms that might be really big problems. Just not now. Now it is time to grab some chow for me and the oldest and head home and rest. Pretty tiring driving down and back tossing a dealer trade in experience in the middle. I'm excited about getting this new beast up and running smooth.

heddwch
G

the BSNYC post yesterday making fun of the coaching phenom... wicked funny...

(yeah - today - a short post day - i'm exhausted - no need for a coach or a HRM to tell me that - i can feel it - need some rest - the car thing is sucking wicked load of energy - don't know how my bro is dealing with all his stress right now - i'm okay with a beer or two at night but then that doesn't help with the sleep, just the anxiety stress - and then if i don't have a brew one night then i'm even more off kilter - really strange - gotta bust through the couple day barrier and get some sleep - too much going on this week - january supposed to be slow)

From the Washington Post (found it all myself reading around over there).
This is brilliant. Now, getting to Port Clyde from down here once a week IS a problem.

I can imagine how good that fish and shrimp taste... and if I wasn't full i'd be hungry all over again.

my hands smell like PB Blaster...

still

dunno how it would hold up against the headlights or streetlights in a major metro area...

but cool still...

check it out

same lines of vaporware/cool idea the speedvest

"A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare."

"And hear the pleasant cuckoo, loud and long - the simple bird that thinks two notes a song."

"It was the rainbow gave thee birth, and left thee all her lovely hues."

"Teetotallers lack the sympathy and generosity of men that drink."

"The more help a person has in his garden, the less it belongs to him."

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

-- from "Leisure," by W.H. Davies

This read from the WP. Without Jim I would have missed it. Solid and powerful story, for me. Great read. Great read.

when i left.

tried the bike path for about 400 yards. Worse than yesterday. Riding at a walking pace can be fun sometimes but today, at that point I looked up the path. Covered in snow and foot prints. The only bike tracks were mine from yesterday on the way in (got a ride home after a trip to a grocery). I headed on the road. The roads were fine yesterday too. Actually better yesterday. There wasn't any ice yesterday. Just wet salty slush. Today there were some solid frozen sections of ice, esp over the Henderson bridge shoulder. But I did the whole road surface street ride. Which sucks going up 103 with the traffic. No shoulder double stop and go traffic, unplowed sidewalk narrow two lanes, with a clear road there is sometimes space to slip by the stopped traffic. Today, not so much. So i patiently waited and rode through the traffic until the parkway with the nice shoulder. Felt good to be riding. Popped on my HH mittens. Bare hands inside and a thin nylon shell with some fleece in there and my hands were oh so amazingly toasty. Dug out a balaclava today as well. I've had enough wind burnt cheeks for a while.

Still riding the rear wheel with a blown out spoke. Rim totally blown. Cracked right open. But well, it is still working and until i get a new rim, it will continue to work.

Oh. Anyone want to buy a '93 850 sedan? It works. Still goes fast. Showing some age. Ain't perfect but passed inspection.

heddwch
G

damn - this shit is hard to ride in. The roads are pretty clear though. Might be time to just suck it up and avoid the bike path for a while. Too many walkers. Snow packed and sucky to ride the cross bike on. Sort of like trying to ride the sand in a cross race after a herd of jackasses ran it and packed funky foot prints in. Tough. Then I tried the no hill alternate way around, ya know so I wouldn't have to ride in the plow spray up top along the parkway. Got to about the Fence guarding nothing and wtf. There's a fahking excavator working on my path. Shoot. Granted it smells like some wicked nasty chemical spill (or just fuel oil or something) and it appears they are trying to clean up on the top side of the place, but well. Turn around and head back to the parkway. Got to the same spot up top and I bailed for the road. went from overheating in the little ring in the 25 in back to freezing my face off in the big ring. Amazing what a handful of MPH do to your wind chill factor.

Gonna try the mt bike maybe tomorrow. If it ain't any good, I think it might be time to start carpooling or something like that. All the rest of the hard core bike commuters have bailed for the bus this year it seems. Usually there is at least one or two other co-workers who will ride year round and not let this dissuade them.

Time to go play in the snow downtown. Well ride down to the other facility and work on an install. Excitement.

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
- Jack London

I once said cynically of a politician, 'He'll doublecross that bridge when he comes to it.'
- Oscar Levant

heddwch
G

Great. Just when the bike path is getting ridable, we're slated to get some snow. And of course all the walkers and skiers will be out trying to fahk it up. Not much point in making the bike plow for this one. No way can i get out there and plow it before it is all trampled down into packed snow slipperiness. Maybe for the next snow. Gotta get the trailer training back in action sometime.

That and I gotta decide what to do with the rear wheel. Probably go with the least trouble option and buy a $50 CPX22 and re-lace it up. Toss some spoke prep on the threads and tie and solder the bitches ones the wheel is all true and stuff and it should be all good. It isn't like i was breaking spokes. Just the rim.

I'm pooped from this week. The commuting almost every day thing after basically 3-4 weeks off the bike is tough to adjust to, esp being freaking tired.

At least I get a wicked strong tailwind for the ride home tonight.

heddwch
G

One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of Chicken Little to her class. She came tot he part where Chicken Little warns the farmer. She read, "...and Chicken Little went up to the farmer and said, 'The sky is falling!'" The teacher then asked the class, "And what do you think that farmer said?" One little girl raised her hand and said, "I think he said: 'Holy Shit! A talking chicken!'" The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.



When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my three year-old came int the room as I was preparing to get into the shower. She said, "Mommy, you are getting fat!" I replied, "Yes, honey, remember Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy." "I know," she replied, "But what's growing in your butt?"



It was that time, during the Sunday morning service, for the children's sermon. All the children were invited to come forward. One little girl was wearing a particularly pretty dress and, as she sat down, the pastor leaned and said, "That is a very pretty dress. Is it your Easter dress?" The little girl replied, directly in the pastor's clip on microphone, "Yes, and my Mom says it's a bitch to iron."


A little girl goes to the barber shop with her father. She stands next to the barber chair, while her dad gets his hair cut, eating a snack cake. The barber says to her, "Sweetheart, you're gonna get hair on your Twinkie." She says, "Yes, I know, and I'm gonna get boobs, too."

I made it to the shop yesterday. Chatted with Jack for a few minutes and took in the changes.

I like it. A lot. The changes that is. The giant middle island thing that packed bikes underneath and stuff and the occasional bike on top is gone. Opens it up. You can walk around the store without squeezing past customers and bikes now. Much easier to get a handle on what is there and what isn't. The register moved to a bit more logical location and where it used to be is a nice wood stove. I love the smell of a wood heat so that is a huge plus to the ambiance.

It really was a shock that I hadn't been in there since the change. Inventory and stock does look like everything was split in about 1/2. The repair stands are fewer, there is one set of tools now instead of 2.5 but everything is there that is needed for a shop, except maybe a few Van Sweringens and a Bakfiet or two.

And then there is this announcement that Jack sent out after opening Legend:

Friends - In case you haven't heard, the bike shop on Brook Street in
Providence is now Legend Bicycle. We're proud to continue being the
full-service bicycle shop for the Fox Point neighborhood and we look
forward to taking care of your every bicycle-related need.

In addition to Fuji, Jamis and the other products found here when we were
the Hub, expect to find products geared to the "transportation cyclist".
You know who you are. Please feel free to suggest products that you would
like to see or services we should offer to best serve you.

Please note the following new contact information:

Legend Bicycle
181 Brook St.
Providence, RI 02906
401 383 3070
www.legendbicycle.com

Come by and check out the new look. We look forward to seeing you!

Jack

So there you go. And you can be there will be a touch of Cyclocross in that shop come the fall. Jack didn't make it to too many races last year but he did hit a couple, he does speak cross. (yes I'm planning to get over to the new Hub location soon to get the in person feeling from Jesse's new digs).

Heddwch
G

Is pretty cold with a stiff headwind.

At least the dry cold air seemed to sublimate a good portion of the thin skim ice that was on the path. Close to 90% ridable (for me).

Should have covered up the face a bit more, being all still clean shaven, and maybe put the lobster gloves on instead of the holey old windnot PI fuzzy gloves.

Got home last night after the adventure, firmly in favor of a helmet mounted headlight for icy commuting (looking up ahead and then back picking lines is much easier with it than bar mounted light), and well the rim was doing the out of true hoppity hop. A bit worse than normal. These are the old CPX21's i picked up from a friend... wheelsmith build sticker on them. Well. This time i found the one loose spoke and then, holy crap there's another one and what? it is broken. Hold on, that's not a broken nipple! THAT'S THE WHOLE NIPPLE! Damn. Shit. Rim's toast. Sunofabitch. I just taped the spoke and rode the damn thing in today anyway. Not going fast enough for the wobble to bother me much. Just one more thing to the pile of shit to do... either going to do it right and get a beefy velocity tall profile rim or just for now swap the front rim onto the back, totally cheezy way to go (to reuse the spokes) but man it would be cheaper and a bit less labor... That or I just go hit Legend and see about the price for a rim and some spokes...

I need a nap.

heddwch
G

Up for a drive down to Flemington, NJ for the day next week?

That's what it has been like along the bike path. Pretty much exactly. at least I'm not having to do 90° turns every 5-10 feet. Just plow straight ahead and let the bike dance under me. This is tough snow. And now the ground is soft under it. But the damn ice and snow isn't going anywhere fast enough. There are one or two stretches of the path that are blissfully clear. Amazing the contrast in effort needed to cruise along on bare pavement vs snow.

I tried an alternate route in an attempt to avoid the string of monster puddles with the parkway bypass. And well. I encountered one big puddle and though well, maybe that's it. Nope. 4 more big ones. Walk around the edge kind with the ice and water edge to edge. Got snagged by some damn multi-flora rose (hate that plant) and took 3x as long to cover the same ground. But hey, at least I know where that trail/two track dumps out. That with the wind blowing perpendicular to me and riding with a solid lean angle. Made it fun. Sort of.

Legs still feel decently strong. I seem to have some of the power left, but my all out 25-30mph sprint from the stoplight at Gano/Tabor on Angel (trying to hang with a Carrera 4S) found my anaerobic sustain to be quite a bit shorter than the first of December. S'okay. Cross doesn't start for a few months. Plenty of time to work on it.

heddwch
G

Okay - it didn't show up on my initial search...

but

this looks about right.

(i'm sure everyone else has seen it already)

Pretty clean but light on the details. I'll see what I can dig up for those folks like Scotty who can't check it out for themselves.

heddwch
G

Thanks to Sprinter Della Casa... from Vicious Lifecycle... and YouTube:



That gave me some contact fatigue, meaning I got tired watching that.

http://smithersmpls.com/2009/01/06/no-2/

There was a small bit of Ice this morning.

Went for a walk at 6:30am to check out the conditions.

School was delayed for an hour.

Ice around. Not to much.

Had already turned to rain.

Path was slippery. Clear surfaces last night, probably not ridable.

Slush and Water on top of Ice.

Would have to repeat Monday's route off road 100% of the way.

In the rain.

It was raining and 32.5°F at home. That's about as cold of a rain as you can get.

And it wasn't raining lightly either.

I hitched a ride, or more correctly we all carpooled together. Nice full car.

Forgot lunch in rush to leave.

Had great lunch to take and eat. Plenty of it. Bummed.

Not many words flowing.

want to get images from winter storm in WA up.

lots to do here.

GeWilli actually got chilled walking to get lunch. Didn't even walk far. But a thin shirt and a not quite waterproof aged sugoi entrant jacket (no insulation) isn't enough to prevent a significant loss of body heat.

Oldest has conjunctivitis. Quite determined to fight against getting the eye drops she's been prescribed. Took 30 minutes to get 2 drops in one eye. Frustrating. Just hoping I don't get that infection. Oh that would suck.

I'm not doing a retrospective of the season. Don't feel like it. What's the point. The season has been written about. Reflective musings can wait till i'm old.

Can you believe how many people have signed up for the Cat 4 Battenkill race? Holy CRAP. Ya think they were giving out medals to all the finishers or something. Is every Cat 4 on the Eastern Seaboard going to be there? $45 is a good chunk of change. But probably the best dollar value racing. Great location, killer roads, super support. Weather or not. This is really one race where you, dare i say it, need someone in the feed zone for you. It is hard (for a big guy like me) no, impossible to carry enough bottles of trial #3 for a 62 mile race. Maybe if the weather is cool to cold or raining. But hot like last year? impossible. No good. My ass was saved by the promoters passing out bottled water. If you go race, bring someone to hand you bottles. You may not use them, but if you need them, you are screwed if they ain't there.

yeah i wussed out on riding in...

That and i just finally heard. This place isn't called the Hub anymore. What is up with that. It has been a while since I've been to the shop formerly known as "The Hub" didn't realize it had been that long. Shoot.

If it wasn't pouring down rain i might have gone for a bit of a stroll this afternoon, pending nothing breaking and requiring immediate attention.

Well back to laying out simple air line and making a parts list.

heddwch
G

Great idea.

"The city also ran similar programs after Thanksgiving in 2007 and 2008 which yielded 1 and 2 tons of turkey grease respectively. "

that's a lot of grease for a "hey bring it here," program.

on the bike. Wow.

no not really. but i did get to do something new. I broke down and bought new booties. You know the ones you are using are old when there isn't an image on Google image search within the first 5 minutes of searching. Granted they are pre-1990 iirc. They were old old old stock when I bought them working in a shop. The soles are wearing out and the velcro is coming unstitched a bit and well they are a bitch to put on and pretty much too hot for most conditions.

AT REI they had a set of Sugoi Firewall Booties on sale. So before buying them I grabbed a 46 PI mtb display shoe and slipped them in. Hmm. Plenty of room and these soles and uppers are way beefier than my Sidi or Specialized mt shoes. Good sale and at the store they had an additional 15% off clearance items. Heck. Can't go wrong, can i? These are nice. Reflective stuff on them (unlike the purple booties which only draw attention in daylight and at that the attention is "dude those are sooooo 1980s") and they have all the fancy wind and water proof words on the label.

So this morning. 24°F out there i slip on my thinnest smartwool socks (they are wicked thin, summer weight actually) and the Sidi mt shoes (still with big toe spikes) and then these booties. Yesterday with temps at 38°F the snow was wet and sticky and there was standing water on the roads. Today the snow was crunchy and the roads dry and salty and there was a 10 mph headwind. My feet were only about as cold as they were yesterday, but they weren't wet, and i really should have had thicker socks on. Toes were just cold not numb.

I am happy that they fit well over my 47s... Next time I am going to try them with slightly thicker socks. Maybe the Blaze Defeet ones.

Seriously these old shimano booties of mine must have been made in the 80s.

And I do have a soft spot for buy cycling stuff at REI. When I sold my sailboard in H.S. so I could by a Mt Bike (to ride instead of running for cross country - bad knees - well really just no muscles and poor patella tracking leading to inflammation) I wanted a Novara. It was 1989. Sure not that long ago for some old crunchy masters, but i'd been riding borrowed or hand me down bikes for a long time. And never a mt bike. I wanted my own new one. The Novara was cool. I knew everything about it. Knew more about it than the sales guys. Well I had read everything about it, just not how it rode or anything. None of that mattered. I wanted that bike. So at the old original store there on capital hill i was stalking the bikes. I wanted that bike. I had the money for it. And the sales guy said to go next door. Velo Stores had this Raleigh Chill Technium bike on sale that was a killer deal. Much better deal than the Novara. It was an '88 close out model. Gooseneck stem. Anyway. I wound up buying the Chill (it was smushed in a car accident and I replaced it with a close out '89 model of the chill bought in Tacoma/Lakewood), I also wound up working at the Velo Store's Pine Street Pro shop. All because the guy in the bike area said I should go next door and take a look at the Chill.

So this ride in today. Mostly bare pavement where there was ice yesterday. But the places that were trampled down by skiers and walkers is still icy and snowy. Maybe we'll get some more melting or at least some sublimating today. Although I don't expect it to warm up enough to really have an impact. just hoping mostly for solar aided sublimation. If the path had been plowed... the surface would be clear today. Not covered in densely packed Icy snow. I could have used studded tires today but it wouldn't have helped much. And man is it slow going riding through the deep snow over the frozen grass and soil on the sides of the path.

I did something stupid last night. I stayed up to watch The Buckeyes try and not be total failures. Well they got really close to not sucking finally. But they let the big ten down by letting that receiver pop free into the end zone with time left on the clock. Stupid college football. I shoulda gone to bed instead. All well. That kasteel stuff wasn't too bad, similar in fact to the Newport '08, not as complex but smoother with a similar taste. My wife took a sip expecting beer and wondered what the hell she was drinking. Exclaimed "this isn't beer." Well we'll have to try a different bottle or go back to the Allagash Tripel.

I've got the Battenkill debate raging in my head. Do I or do I not. Step up to the plate and focus on it this year, sign up and just go do it, or skip it all together. I still sort of feel just like riding for fun and getting ready, truly ready, not like i've attacked the race in the past, I need to start pretty much now if I want to have a decent shot at sticking in the main pack to the end. Just not sure if I'm ready to make the commitment needed. And just that little bit of doubt is probably a good sign that I'm not ready to yet. Although, reflecting on the race, and those roads out there. It really is a pretty fucking awesome race, unique in every aspect and a rare chance to be on a long road race that has some distance w/o running the same loop more than once... ala Jamestown or Palmer or... most other 'road' races around New England. We'll see. Might just have to jump on the wait list for the hell of it. Or not.

heddwch
G

First Commute of the year. And it was on the bike.

Rode in over snow and ice. The bike path was frozen over in the bare sections and where there was snow it had been packed and frozen by the feet of people and dogs into an unridable lumpy slippery mess. Bike tire tracks crossing it here and there created nice tire sucking ruts. So I rode in the snow on the "shoulder" of the path.

Nice to be back on the bike. Wishing they'd plow the path after a snow so all I'd have to deal with is the ice, not the lumpy sketchy frozen snow. Might have to work on a plow to tow behind the bike for the next snow, if this stuff ever melts and clears away.

Even with the most sketchy of riding conditions (hard ice covering everything), the ride in was fantastic. Loved it. Maybe it will warm up enough to make the ride home less demanding. That would be nice.

heddwch
G