59 °F
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity: N/A
Wind: 40 mph from the WNW
Visibility: 10.0 miles

oops well it just switched:
NW at 36mph

50x12 all the way home, assuming i can make it past the buildings without getting blown off the bike!

For taking that time and fixing the results even if the "people" who asked you to weren't very appreciative.

Esp since it G-ride gets his special snowflake status removed.

It feels wicked cold out there. Did this morning. WTF. Maybe I'm just tired.

So i'm making my way through reading them all.

First one came off a twitter link from The Atlantic (IIRC, it was this morning and I just finished reading it).
Good points, not great feel goody free from targeted marketing but still a decent summary about sugar. That said it is a link to a re-post from some other web page. I started to dig down for the original source but got dissuaded by all the marketing.

#2
Dietary Guidelines: A Change We Can Believe in?
Fluff review piece again but also good info on what is going to be changing in the new guidelines.

The next 4 or so tabs that are open came from the POV online chat with the FOOD Inc. Film maker as suggestions of where to go for more information and resources.
Just scanning the "headlines" on each come up with a good couple of links worth reading:
http://www.grist.org/

http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/

http://civileats.com/

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/

Great links and reading on there.

Last tab open right now is this one:
Michael Ignatieff pushes Eat Canadian plan
Great idea. I love it. Wish we could do something like that here.

Bias is there and abounds, but point of fact, change is needed. big time.

And not just taking a Potato off the veggie list...

Peidiwch da
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it is a bit later but CCC pointed this page out to me so here it is!
Carbs against Cardio: More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, not Fats, Threaten the Heart

IS NOT A VEGETABLE!

Potato=White Rice or cheap pasta

NOT A VEGGIE!

that is all

no smack down tonight - got some cacen gri to make for Welsh day at Pre-school!

I also have to tune the violin up and practice a welsh air to play for them.

No being Omaha today!

Peidiwch da
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The Roots of Violence:

Wealth without work,

Pleasure without conscience,

Knowledge without character,

Commerce without morality,

Science without humanity,

Worship without sacrifice,

Politics without principles.

-Ghandi

The root cause of violence, the motivation driving people to it, the seeds of evil, most are contained in Ghandi's words. It isn't perfect but it is a great little quote that says quite a lot.

Yeah, I'm calling someone out on something I saw in the parking lot at TP. Sure I walked right past his bald head and soul patch to say hey to Cronoman, but he caught me with his smirky grin and "hey G" comment. There, parked kitty corner to me was Lube Boy getting dressed up in his black kit. I registered the svelte stuff, but not the bald giant egg dome he's sporting right now. Like a friend's dad used to tell us in high school "God only made a few perfect heads, the rest he covered in hair." Of course Mr. Brown was bald.

So I'm calling him out. Yeah. Very incredulous grounds. Here he was dumping an iridescent blue liquid into his waterbottles and then drinking the rest. Nice 32 oz plastic bottles of HFCS calories and blue dye #2.

I expect that out of plenty of people. But this guy? Man is there no hope for the human race!? (tongue-in-cheek, it is startling funny not grumpy angry funny).

Fuel is fuel and fructose works but man, he's drinking something that is only carbonation short of fizzy pop in the bike race.

I gave him shit right then and there and he countered well with, "Did you bring me some of your home made stuff?" I did fine with my two bottles of Power Bar Endurance refuel. I've been using this stuff since OSJL had it on sale. Not quite as pure as my home made stuff but, i've succumb to fighting other battles and this is just so damn convenient, and it isn't HFCS and it has enough sodium for me. It works. But then looking at Lube Boy's results, well that bright blue shit works for him too!

So results for TP are up over at BikeReg now. And well we all know G-ride didn't do 4 laps. He raced 2, got popped on the hill and did a third lap and then was either pulled by the official or dropped out (not that it matters). Yet, he is still listed as 40th instead of behind me somewhere. Protest period is over, no big deal, but hey we expect perfection out of JD! That and 802 probably was that CB kid who wrinkled his number all up that JD chewed out. I guess if G-ride is used to teach that kid a lesson about NOT crinkling up your number, so be it, i can live with it.

Oh well. Whatever. I checked the time gap and to lose 3 minutes, well yeah, that's a lot of time to lose I suppose, but I lost that much time to a large field over 8-9 miles. Honestly? I'm happy with that. Hell at Sterling RR I think i lost 5 minutes in 1/2 a lap or some such nonsense. Couple that with some positive and encouraging words from team mates post race, hey that was a damn good time.

but all along I've been making my own rules. Fundamental to that philosophy is I don't really have any desire to grow my "audience" it isn't monetized and I rarely look at the stats. I do know there are many more page views during cyclocross season, and this year April is down likely because of the lack of me doing something dramatic as Battenkill. Substituting a couple flat crits and a pair of circuit road races isn't nearly as exciting or search worthy as a big goofy race in NY.

CTodd tweeted a mess of links when i checked into the computer after Lucy decided to wake me up at 5:15 this morning. Of course she's back asleep and I'm not.

Do I write too much I guess is a question. Yes, maybe no. I don't force it by any means. Well not often. Race reports can get boring "i started, stayed safely out of the wind and didn't do much at the end" can be sort of the formula for road races that I've done this season. But with both Blue Hills sold out and Sterling sold out that leaves a break until the Mystic Velo Crit. With the one assumption that I can make it, i have no idea what the schedule looks like on that day. More Mark Nicholson Smack Down rides in the mean time, hopefully.

Oh right. the links that a former NE super star blogger tweeted:
The Five Outdated blog rules

And then I guess it was an internal link in that post that lead me to this one:
How can I push you from Lurker to Participant

Reading that, heck only had to read the title to be reminded of Solo's plea for the lurkers to come out of the closet in his RFC post.

Today is going to be interesting.

Peidiwch da
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Well is there ever is enough about me said then the blahg is finished, doomed.

Anyway

I'd heard mention of this interview with David Millar.

Pete Smith tweeted with a link and I read the story about Lance, okay, that was good. Then I scrolled down to the next entry.

Fuck yeah. Seriously. That entry is deserving of the full glory of an F-bomb.

For the Sake of Racing.

Racing for the sake of racing...

I get it.

I do.

You know I'll be honest. On the road until Rick Newhouse, I didn't get it. I was all Conserve, save it for the end, wait, go for the win. That's bullshit. Total bullshit. Sure a win would be great. Solo fucking killed it there and won in style, he won with panache. BUT he also went off the front from the gun.

He was racing for the sake of racing, and he won.

New friends like the big NCC guy Micheal Foley. Riding around with him at Chris Hinds, heck he's a big guy. Saw him again at Myles Standish, he's a great example of racing for the sake of racing.

David Millar, thanks for saying that. And he does correctly point out that there is always a balance, but that racing is a damn pure form of laying it on the line. Going for it.

People get miles of satisfaction just buying a lottery ticket and loads of endorphins thinking about what they would do if they won. They never win, but they still keep buying tickets.

Bike racing i guess is the same, just with MUCH better odds, esp for some people. But buying that ticket is like going off the front. Attacking, your chances of survival are slim, but if you never try, you'll never make it. David says it in a way that the pleasure of trying and leaving it all out there can't even be rewarded by a podium.

I get it.

I think.

Damn, I might be sounding like a roadie. Oh wait. Sorry Solobreak. I might be sounding like a bike racer.

Today I didn't do much. But the opportunity to ride around a course with 75 other racers (mostly fitter than myself) is a rare chance. One to be relished. It might take me until I'm as old and geriatric as Solobreak and Cronoman before I even crack a podium, but god damn it, that's not going to stop me from the pursuit of it.

Man this post is probably reading like a bunch of hooey, so what, I think it is doing a damn good job of capturing the glow of living the life for me this week. To all of you who can live it week in and week out, I take my hat off to you. Much respect.

Heddwch
G

Okay, now I can say I did Turtle Pond, and I left with my bunghole and bike intact, too many people can't say that. Well at least in my book. Even Soups went down and destroyed his helmet. Team mate had his deep dish carbon powertap wheel destroyed, well the spokes were all severed, probably repairable.

I hit the sack early last night. But well, the dog had other plans than letting me sleep until 4:30am. 12:30 she was INSISTENT on being let outside. I knew if I ignored her i'd have some clean up to do on Isle 3 in the morning. And it was mid sleep cycle so I just got up, let her out, drank a glass of water and slept solidly until 4am, then fitfully dozed until the alarm went off.

Made my special breakfast sandwiches that I've had for the last could days. Wrapped them in foil and ate them in the car. Man it is dark at 4:30 am. Rolled out at 5:29 am and headed north.

At some point the car stopped making power. Limp mode? Boost leak? Not smoking just no power. Damn. So the whole trip up I was in solid "don't freak out mode" spending the drive focused on NOT getting worked up about the car not working was tough. I am a bit tired of dealing with it. But hey the car fits me perfectly, I can drive it for long stretches without any stress or strain.

So with the lack of power issue constantly on my mind I tried to go through a normal pre-race routine. Tried. All i kept thinking about was "don't open the hood, it will be the same when you get back, it is fine, you drove up here no problem, nothing blew up or fell off or anything, you can drive home, relax"

Uh yeah. So anyway, lots of friends were there, good to see all of them. Zencycle looks alot younger in Road season than Cross season, like 15 years younger. The rest of the old farts, parked next to Lube boy. G-ride made an appearance, JLS and a handful of other tweeps. It was good.

But anyway, it was a road race. Full of people yelling "SLOWING" a couple times I said "we're going to be slowing down in a few seconds" then sure enough everyone started shouting 'SLOWING' yeah okay, cause um I couldn't tell that we were slowing down. Thanks I might have run someone over.

Poor Tommy G was coughing through the whole race again. Man he's going to cough his 85 pound self right off his bike one of these days if he doesn't sort it out.

Up and around. First time was neutralized and it was fine. Slow in fact. Second time not so bad either. Third time I moved up into the top ten as we took the corner and drifted back towards the tail by the time we were at the top but still comfortably in the group.

And never in trouble anywhere else on the course. Moved up VERY easily before the final time up the climb. Again sat in about 10th or 15th, but. BUT, Tommy and the CL Noonan jr attacked that hill. Those little tiny kids set a pace that was too brutal for this big old man who isn't in shape for efforts lasting more than 60 minutes it seems. The car was just in view. Just up ahead. I could see it until we got to the school on the back side with the sign in the middle of the road.

Just up ahead. Working my ass off. TRYING to bridge, hoping like hell that they would slow down JUST a hair so I could catch on. Head down going so hard I nearly missed the right hand turn. OOOF. then the rollers on the back stretch. No stress in the group but alone? Man that hurt.

And well, that's about it. Guys were cut and bleeding, and as I rolled up to the finish I saw what I was hoping not to. Bloody guys waking non-functioning bikes, one guy getting loaded up in the sweep car all bloody and stiff. People dragging bikes back towards the parking lot. Not Skinny just said "screw this" and sat up at the finish as people were going down left and right.

I was OTB, but not last. Effort was hard, very intense. Verge of cramping all the way home. Worth it? Maybe. I don't know if i'll be going back, but hey next year is next year. A long way off.

Ooh, my hamstring just about cramped there when I moved my leg. Not pretty. It was hard. Very hard. A good day. Fun racing with everyone that was there. Just wish I had dug deeper sooner on the hill and stayed in contact. Ugh. Oh well. Next time MoFo, next time i'll be there. Yeah. We'll see about that.

Time for a few tall boys, some hockey on TV with my feet elevated. That or I might just have to take a nap. I'm pooped.

Bike racing, you know, it WAS fun. Man I was a chatter box. Running my mouth. Should have saved some of that energy I suppose, being quiet might have gotten me over the hill that last time but then maybe i would be the one walking/limping a broken bike back to the car.

I didn't do what I had hoped to do (finish with the pack) but I'll take it. It is an improvement over last year. And really, as long as I keep improving, even incrementally, well I'm happy.

Props to the winners, Thanks to JD for doing results, and thank you to all the officials who worked the race. It was fun.

Peidiwch da
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getting up at 5am or earlier to get my sh!t together for the drive up to the race. 9am starts are EARLY when ya gotta drive 2.5 hours. Maybe I can make it there in less time but even then I take a while to get my stuff together at a race and I'm bringing the big old dog with me. Road trip! Bike races aren't a great place for dogs, but my options are limited to bringing her or dealing with the mess she'll make when I come home. We'll see. It might be more relaxing for both of us if I leave her home, even if it means I wake up before 5am to get her fed, watered and pooped before I have to leave. Just means high tailing it back home.

Honestly the dog is the only thing that is making my old man over thinking brain anxious. I'm not worried about the race. Or the hills. It is just a damn bike race. One that I haven't done before, but still just a bike race. Stories of last years Cat 4 finish keep coming up from my teammates. "Like the whole pack raced over a mine field" said one, "Someone was dropping bombs as we were racing at 45 mph, bodies and bikes were flying everywhere," said another. Most chilling advice was "stay in the middle and away from the trees, worst visual I've ever had racing was watching a guy crash and he went flying into a tree!"

All wicked comforting eh? So yeah. But many wise prognosticators have suggested that I won't be in the main pack, likely in some chase pack a bit further back. We'll see what happens. I'm not worried about it. G-Ride is sure fretting a sweater about the damn race though. Man he's all worked up like a cat in heat. NegaCoach offered some very helpful words, and combined with his buttcrack early start from the compound he'll just act all cross racish and be fine. I sure hope he isn't as slow as he thinks he is.

It is nuts that this race is equidistant between our respective houses. That's plain old nuts.

Now a good thing about leaving the dog at home, that'll save a couple dollars in fuel 'cause i'll be able to just stuff the bike inside and keep the roof top clean and clear. Granted I may be paying for the fuel in dog mess clean up when I get home if I don't head south quickly. But one less thing to worry about. And for someone who worries as much as I do, that's a good way to start.

It looks like i'll be able to close up the factory early today. I still have to take the big fat balloon tires off and put on those Durano Plus tires. Sure the plus belt makes them slower than a normal tire but they are so much faster than the balloon tires. They'll work. Or at least work much better than the fat boys.

So to everyone heading to TP - good luck. Race well and keep the god damn rubber side down, M'Kay?

Peidiwch da
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Watch a movie. This one might change your point of view enough to save the planet one meal at a time.

Yeah Food Inc. For all you cheap bastards like me who didn't see it in the theater or who didn't buy it from Oprah, you can watch it now on the POV web page. I think. Looks like it but I've gotta finish making dinner before I sit down and watch a movie.


---

Okay so i just finished watching that damn movie.

In many, most ways I wish I hadn't watched it. F' me. it is going to take a whole mess of Zatoichi movies to get me over that depressing truthful head smashing movie. Yeah I've read the books, I know what's going on. I've seen big agra stuff from the inside of a state ag school. I've driven past the stuff 40k miles a year for 6 years. I know. Yet.

Knowing didn't really prepare me for the visual impact and the absolute desolate future controlled by these companies. It brings up my whole hating corporation style exploitation. My wife's uncle always said "show me a rich man and I'll show you what or who he expoited" there is no way to get rich without exploitation. Corporations don't make profits without being able to exploit something. But then again I've argued that in the past. People have argued against it. It isn't an absolute position or idea. It isn't black and white. Ah hell i dunno. That god damn movie put me into a funk. Never should have watched it. Well I'm glad I did.

Everyone else should too. Haven't seen it yet? Head over to PBS and watch it on the computer. You don't need a big wide screen HD screen to get the impact. KEN SCOTT is right. A small laptop screen is plenty enough impact for that film. Unfortunately...

Peidiwch da
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That I saw first over at TSP and then G-ride IM'd it to me. I wonder where it surfaced to have two very disconnected sources pop up on the same day. The article is from 2006.

BUT.

Man does it point out a good handful of the 'reasons' why I am not winning. I don't don't really want to go into all the details. I hit them reflecting after hearing about yogurt boy candy man Lube Boy's race where he was cramping so badly that his hands had to be taken off the bars. Going that far beyond is intense and something that I've got trouble doing. Digging that deep and going that hard is not a physical barrier as much as a mental barrier.

That's where a coach comes in. But coaches here and now give you training programs. They tell you what interval to do and when and how hard, providing you have a power meter. Then you go do your stuff and have medicore results and they change the program to peak at the next A race and then you fall flat and wonder why you suck. Well maybe they aren't coaching you. They are training you. Solo touched on this a few times.

I don't need a trainer. I know what i need to do and often do it. Bike racing though generally is hard to coach because your coach isn't always right behind you telling you to stop being a fucking pussy and PEDAL THE GOD DAMN BIKE AND BRIDGE THAT GAP.

Last night I kinda felt like I made some progress. There's the A race riding away from me. into the wind. And I was feeling it but i STILL managed to dig deep enough. And through the rest of the race after that point i was on the edge but when i needed too, despite feeling like i couldn't finish the race, I found what I needed to to bridge up and get on the wheel.

Train my brain. That's what I need to do.

Stop thinking. Stop feeling.

Ignore the pain. Sprint like i did at NoHo (just without the same post finish line stuff) ride like I do at Plymouth South.

Yeah. I'm still cross centric. And I'll make an admission. I haven't finished my current issue of Cyclocross Magazine. Why? Because when I finish it then I'll have to wait for the new one before I get more content. Something I learned from my father. At one point I was reading an Edward Abbey book he hadn't. When I asked why not (we are equal fans of his work) he said that since he's dead there won't be any new books so if he read everything now there wouldn't be anything new to read later. Saving a bit. Honest I have read just about all of it. Saving a few of the interviews and reviews.

YIKES that was a LOUD bit of thunder. Damn.

These thunderstorms today are INTENSE!!!!!

Peidiwch da
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(yeah I'm going back to the neutral background tomorrow)

YIPPEE! Now we can pretend to care about the earth for one day. Or is it one day to celebrate what we do all year?

hard to tell.

I didn't fire up the biodiesel machine today. Man can I just say how stinky gasoline fill ups are? Vapor reclamation or not that stuff stinks. Diesel? Sure there's an odd chance you might get a bit on you but it is an oil, not so smelly and wipes off. And well biodiesel isn't so bad either. Having a darn rental car sucked down fuel like crazy. I think i might have used a little more than two gallons for the 2 hours in the car last night going to the race, maybe 2.5. Of bioD.

Driving that rust bucket and saving the planet at the same time. FTW!

This morning I got up and made an AWESOME breakfast, having been way too tired to do much more than munch on a few Sun Chips (bag was open from school snacks last week) and have an adult beverage before cleaning up and falling asleep.

I've switched my eating around a bit. Instead of going into caloric debt in the morning and then eating a ton of food at night, I've been eating a pretty heavy breakfast in the morning and then a much lighter dinner. Is it working? Yes. Is it making me any lighter? Hard to say if it is that or the bike racing but man I'm enjoying breakfast.

Today was two sandwiches. Organic English muffins, organic swiss chard (on sale at wholepaycheck), Australian sharp cheddar, sautéed crimini mushrooms, a fried egg, and some trader joes cancer salt free bacon (1.5 slice per sandwich).

So good. Nice too because I didn't have a chance to eat lunch until 1pm. It was good.

And with the dog making absolutely CERTAIN I don't sleep past 5:45am getting up and getting that made I can still leave the house without being late. It is amazing how much time there is in the morning when you are only trying to get one person ready to go out the door, not four.

I headed out and turned on the path, another commuter was behind me and catching me but one thing i've started doing is taking it easy for the first 5 minutes or so at least. Today I was going to take the whole ride in nice and easy. The guy passes me, looks pretty fit, has an eyeglass mirror (paul curley style), he's on a mt bike, a nice old rigid trek iirc. Well I let him go and just sort of hold my pace. going pretty easy, but there's a tiny slight incline through the Forest of Riverside, and I start catching him maintaining my current cadence. Choices. Pass slowly, or pick up the pace and pass.

It has been 5 minutes. Ah hell, I might as well pick up the pace. Not too much... as I pass he says something about playing leap frog, and I reply, "have to warm up ya know" and off I went. Not too hard, pretty easy by last nights standard but still not as slow as I had been going. Never saw him again until I was up on the bridge and could look back down and see him heading down the road between the taverns. Not so much chasing gumbies as appreciative that he was there to kick start my morning and get me moving fast enough to do some good. By the time I got to the bridge I was feeling pretty good. The trip back up from the remote factory this afternoon kind of sucked, but hey at least I had a chance to ride outside between places. Stopped and said hey to the guys at my favorite bike shop nearby, and when talk of lunch came up I realized how hungry I was and got moving.

So yeah, it is earth day and besides just riding around instead of driving and talking about running my vehicle on BioFuels, I'd like to link to a freaking cool idea that i would REALLY like to see adopted in more places. Cities esp.

Load up on green walls. Nice. That and toss in a few green roofs as well!

And maybe I'll change the background color to green to match the rest of the freaking world's web pages.

Peidiwch da
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Oh yeah, I added the Cyclocross Magazine banner over there. Why? Because they are awesome, and still small and growing and hell why not help em out. Planet Bike is still great but, from the looks of it, not sponsoring us next year so they move down.

Wow. That was fun. It worked out to just about equal driving time/riding time ratio. But still 2 hours in the car on a school/work night is a lot.

Headed home, loaded the bike and Lucy into the car and we headed south. Figured this is a good "test drive" to make sure it works and can get me to TP and back.

So again, a whole day goes by without commuting. If it wasn't for tomorrow this may be the antithesis of a perfect week. Yikes.

I get there and park, let Lucy walk around for a bit, then i get suited up and head over to registration. My plan was to race the B race and then sit in the A race. James H was doing the reg and he said "You can't do the B race." What? I'm a Cat 4 right? Anyway, whatever. I guess despite the relative few number of crits under my belt in my lifetime I'm not exactly new to the racing game. The other reason to do the B race was to race with Essenfeld. Guess that's not happening.

So anyway. No big deal. I roll around a bit, get warmed up, then slot in the back with the instructions in mind "You can ride with the B group but you cannot go for sprints or interfere with their race at all. Please feel free to help out riders in the back, give them pointers, drafting help and instruction." So i'm back there with a million AEC guys and the B group rolls off.

I'm in my little ring. I decided that for the B race I would do it 100% in the little ring and just get warmed up, let the legs work themselves out. It was pretty slow. Typical headwind on the backstretch night. Slow enough that there was a big gaggle of older (mostly) A racers coasting along behind the B group, but there were plenty of B racers drifting back unable to hold wheels. Okay not plenty but a handful. Completely conversational paced. So it was a good idea not to race the B race I suppose. Hell it was my first time I didn't know what to expect.

Well they do their sprint thing and that's over. One lap around later and the A race is lining up. I slot in the back again.

My plan is still to work on cornering, riding in a pack, and getting used to the speed. Not ready for attacking and running at the front. Yet. Maybe I am but I want to make sure I have a decent foundation before putting the finishing touches on it.

So Matt sends us on our way. Nice and slow, and I mean really slow. Everyone is just talking and chilling. Seriously. Just chilling and talking and rolling around. Nice neutral lap. Then just before the final corner the Mystic Velo kid who wears a sleeveless jersey (with an orange t-shirt under it) and the long hair sprints up the inside and attacks the field. And literally half the field starts laughing. It was comical. The kid attacks not a terribly slow or weak and large group of riders on the first lap. Oh well. No one does anything. Just keeps talking. Then as the pack lazily rolls up to the line Matt rings the Prime bell. Hey Ho off we go! That kid was brought back before he could get level with the start finish line and the field sort of strung out.

So my "race" basically consisted of me jumping around guys who were letting gaps open and me chasing down gaps when I cornered to slowly. Repeat repeat. One crash when someone went straight in a corner and took out someone. The guy who went down landed in the grass and was back in the pack after two laps. I was behind it and had to grab a handful of brakes to avoid the rider going down and a HUGE gap immediately opened up. Into the wind. Oh shit. Well. Fucker dig for all you're worth. And I dug. And I dug and I clawed back to a not so slow field. Would have been nice if it was one of the laps they slowed on the front stretch but no. It was a faster lap.

As the laps ticked down I saw 11 to go, then 13 then 15 or something. Okay every time we go by we get more and more laps. Great. 10 to go. This hurts. Great motor pacing and I am working pretty hard. But no, i'm not sticking my nose in the wind except when a gap opens up, and no i'm not attacking. I'm hanging on. at 6 to go with the pace really high I was sure there wasn't any chance in hell I was going to finish. But I took a big swallow or 4 from the waterbottle (first time all night) and dug a bit deeper. 5. 4. hey maybe i can finish it, "stop being negative of course you are going to finish dumbass" then the next thing I realize, 1 to go. There was a break up ahead of the "main field" but well here we go, again coming into the last turn i'm pretty far back, nearly last. And I decide, you know fuck this I'm finishing with a god damn sprint. And I did and I passed a good number of guys who were also sprinting. Cool.

Couple cool down laps and it was good. I went to stretch my quads by putting my foot on the saddle and nearly lost it as my hamstring immediately went to cramp up, that hurt. I guess I'm not stretching my quads. Did an extra lap in the small chain ring to spin it out. Rolled over to the car, took Lucy out let her water the grass a bit and then took off the sweat soaked clothes but left my shorts and knee warmers on, i was enjoying the compression they were providing. And headed home. 2 hours on the bike. Legs were not shitty like yesterday. I had fun. Had a killer workout.

And for me, most importantly, I did the same number of laps as the fastest AND I finished somewhere in the middle of the back of the pack.

Sure. It was just a training race, but it was fun. Long time in the car...

So glad I went, it was nice to erase the whole nightmare legs of yesterday. TP? I'm coming for ya. Or at least feeling more confident.

and fresh off Twitter Myette declares the Mark Nicholson Smack Down ride to be not "as hard as the Cyclonauts tues night ride which isn't as hard as the Gearworks tues night ride"
So man
i really must suck if i can't hang with the MNSD(or RISD the old name of it) ride. Bummer.

But hey i didn't feel like i sucked too much today. But there were no hills and only a head wind and fuck, i can deal with a god damn headwind. Hills? Maybe if i was as skinny as the rest of the too tall crew there and there were a lot of them. I used to be the skinniest dude around. Now look at me, not so skinny anymore. At least i can pick up my kids without throwing out my back.

I dunno if any of the shit i'm doing now will help when cross season rolls around but, you know what? I don't really care. This if f'n fun shit.

Oh and the car took me and the dog with the bike on the roof down there and back w/o a problem. Only issue with it is a loose power steering belt. It got jarred or something in the accident so the shop is going to put a new bracket on there and get it fixed up.

Peidiwch da
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PS - can't call me Omaha today MoFos

Thanks to Kneeland for that. Yeah call me Omaha. I got shelled like Omaha beach on D-Day. AGAIN.

But you know there are days when you hit that first incline and your legs sort of tell you "Hey dumbass, we ain't 100%" and you push and they sort of begrudgingly follow for a while before your lungs join in and your whole body revolts and leaves you all alone wondering if you should turn around right there and take a short ride home, or stick it out and ride the whole thing even feeling like crap.

I stuck it out tonight. Climbing Austin today was a nightmare. Constant surging on a hill that isn't steady on a good day would put me into trouble, today it sent me packing. Way too fucking early. All alone.

Nothing I could do as they rode away from me. I was at the limit, lungs were toast and legs weren't having any of it.

The plan for the day was to drive the rental in, turn it in, have them drop me off at the body shop, drive home, feed the dog and ride into the city for the Smack Down ride at 5pm.

Well I called at 12:30 and the car wasn't ready, but "should" be ready today. Oh great, now nothing really is far away from anywhere here in RI but going from one side of the bay down the other side and back and forth and back and all that takes time. I gave em time and then just headed home to change plans.

New plan: drive rental home, feed dog, stuff bike in the car, leave rental at body shop collect my car, head to office, change and meet up for the ride. Half way down the east bay side i get a voice mail (phone battery was dead once again for a tuesday) when i turned my phone on saying the car is ready. Good, hmm maybe i should have waited a bit longer and just gone with the original plan. Oh well, too far to change it. So I get here, feed the dog and stuff the bike in the car.

Now these last few tuesdays i've been running the 23c Durano Plus tires I have and they've been great. 100-120psi or so.

Well I didn't think about it and I just grabbed the bike and stuffed it in the back of the rental (it fit with ALL the seats folded down).

It had the 28s on there with well 90 PSI front and rear ON SATURDAY MORNING. No i didn't add any more air, and holy shit they felt REALLY slow going up hill. It wasn't just my legs. 80 psi or less felt like balloon tires. Gahd it was slow.

But anyway I get to the body shop and there's the Passat, all clean and ready to go. I settle up with the deductible and stick the bike on there. And head up the hill to the office to get ready for the ride. But things aren't quite right. Car pulls to the left (was at the alignment shop this morning). Then I find a nice place to park and do the 3 pt turn on the street and the power steering pump makes some noise, it has never done that before. Oh shit the steering is notchy. Shit, that's not good. FUG, somethings still not right after the accident. Damn it. Well that throws me completely OFF. Completely. Now i'm plagued with uncertainty and faced with having to drive in yet another day tomorrow and all the rest of the stuff and i got one of those bad adrenaline rushes. felt like shit. damn it. Couple it all with not having ridden since the Race saturday morning, not riding at all today until rolling out at the start of the ride and having the first pedal strokes coming up past the convention center feel like dog poop. Everything conspired against me. Something in my control, others not so much.

I have to know that things will be okay, it will work out. But of course now i'm thinking "Okay how the hell am I going to get to Turtle Pond that early on Saturday" not to mention "what else did they miss."

Oh well.

I was planning on heading to ninigret for the first time ever on a Wed night, but. Well. The car is the big variable now. Stupid cars. it was nice being in one that fit me though. Old and tired as it is, it still fits better than that brand new one we had as a rental.

I knew the legs might be not the best after two days off. I was hoping that riding in from home (8 miles) then resting them a bit before the start of the smack down would make it all work just fine.

It is what it is. I didn't turn around. I pushed myself as hard as I could tonight. The car didn't drive itself into anything on the way home, I should have made sure i'd at least gotten on the trainer sunday or at least yesterday, but when your family is visiting from the other side of the country well, you know, some things are more important than avoiding dead legs. And yeah. Shelled 3/3 times. I can't really suck THAT much can I? Well um, yeah, I guess I do. Oh and to have that shitty of a day when Myette shows up? that sort of made it suck more.

Oh well. (i think i've said that already)...

Peidiwch da
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that was as ugly as I could have been on the ride.

legs and lungs were full of lead...

details when I limp the supposedly repaired car home and figure out what's for dinner.

tonight

5pm Faunce (corner of Brown and Waterman street)
5:15pm Depasqualle Square (Intersection of Depasquale and Atwells Ave)

Keep it rolling, 20+ two weeks ago 12 or so last week.. a good group that does manage to drop me every week... so far... this week will be different! damn it.

Assuming i can get there and get through the next level of insanity. Yikes.

how about a congrats to the old crotchety dude who won the 45+ race!

i couldn't stick around to see the end but from the gun two guys got off the front, Dave Foley and Dave Kellogg. They were both back in a group when we left but shit, Arc en Ciel just posted results (wicked fast - very nice) and Solofuckingbreak won that shit! way to go man. way to go.

The dog. Also the hardest one to hit snooze on. But at least to hit snooze i don't have to get out of bed, i just say "Lucy, let me sleep a few more minutes." She lies back down on the floor by the foot of the bed waiting for a bit. I'll fall back asleep and she'll be quiet until i roll over or something moves or barring that about 15 minutes. Then she gets louder.

Throwing her 75 pounds of muscle against the bed and sticking that nose into my side and then if i don't move she start making quiet noises, that really aren't quiet in a silent house. But is it enough to drag me out of bed, come downstairs, let her out, and then feed her.

Of course now she's curled up on the couch next to me not quite sleeping but relaxed and happy.

Rick Newhouse Memorial Crit was yesterday. And ya know, since i'm enjoying this racing stuff a lot more this spring than ever before esp the flat crits I couldn't pass up going. Well, I should say, if i was able to get a ride down there I wouldn't be missing it.

I sorted out a ride, and headed down with trainer, EZ-up and bike. Once we hit 95 south I had a moment of "oh shit" where's my license. It wasn't in my wallet where it normally is. Last week i had my PI nylon pants on over the cycling stuff and had stuck the license in the back zipper pocket to take to registration. Well, at the last second packing i had stuck those pant in there, and sure enough, when we got down there my license was right where i left it from last week.

The weather wasn't nearly as dire as predicted. Just a misty drizzle and a moderate (10mph or so) northish wind. That meant a headwind on the finishing straight.

The set up was key, the EZ Up was nice, the 4 of us from the team who signed up and made it down had a dry place to warm up, Singmaster's car was the wind block and the tent kept us dry and warm while we spun out on the trainer. I was missing some snap and mental psycho killer gut feeling, but i wasn't feeling dead either. Somewhere not quite overboosting turbo charged but definitely not NA (normally aspirated if you aren't a car person).

This race was going to be different than the Chris Hinds, one the weather, two it was a 3/4 race. I know a handful of the cat 3 people in it and was wondering how that would play out. Gary Aspnes has been doing well (myles standish for example). Marro is always a force, races so intelligently and always has a plan, is always strong as hell, and man he can lay the hurt down for an old dude. Then there is the relative "kid" Scot Glowa, recently moved from CB to Svelte. He is the antithesis of svelte, he's big, he's wicked strong, and like the other two a solid well placing cat 3. I'm sure there were a few other Cat 3s. Gary's team mate (Spike?) was going to figure heavily in the race. CB had a good number of guys in the race and I was expecting them to be more active.

So we line up, and "GO" we head off and start making rounds. One the fist lap i noticed the wheel spray, but by the time we went around the second time it didn't even register. I wore glasses and a cycling cap and had no issues with the water except the grit in my teeth, and hell that's like getting a belgian tan line (a black line at the top of your sock).

The nice thing about that course is there is grip galore. Even when wet. Now sure, if you are an idiot and put 150 psi in your tires or even 130 psi in some 23s and you aren't a 300 pounder, well chances are you can slip out and lose grip. And yeah, I ran the fatboys, 28s with 90 psi in them. Or as marro asked "Are you running those 700x41s?"

A handful of guys were not comfy, looking tense and anxious in the rain. But man ya know? despite having to hit the bakes a few times to avoid running up someone's rear in a corner it was a smooth race.

So we roll off. And almost immediately attacks start. One, then another, the Horst boys were in every one it seemed, or if they weren't they brought it back. My plan was to hang out in the back, get a feel for it, stay comfortable, try to move up when i could ride around up near the front, and then see about saving something for the end.

7 minutes into the race (according to Cronoman) the decisive attack got away. Glowa and Aspnes got clear. And they built a gap. And no one really organized a hard chase to bring them back. That was 3 minutes earlier than the cronoman planned to do anything.

So the pack would string out fast on the back stretch with the tail wind, fly into the front stretch but then into the wind it would get pretty fat, mushroomed out as no one wanted to work into the wind.

No one except Gary and Scott. And every lap they would get a couple seconds through the start finish. Gary's team mate was doing an awesome job of disrupting any sort of chase. Brier went off the front with a few people now and then, cronoman did a few times, a couple others did, heck a lot of the field had gone to the front at one time or the other to lift the pace, but nothing was organized or sustained and the two in the break away kept adding seconds per lap.

At one point it was really slow after that first gentle turn and I had momentum, rolled to the front and said, ah hell why not and took off. And got clear. With maybe Tommy Goguen (small junior in the CF kit) on my wheel. Well clear of the field and flying around I flicked the elbow to see if there was anyone else, nope, just the two of us. And we hit the wind and I tried to sit in for a second but man, there is NO draft behind that kid and sort of sensing the futility of our jump i eased off and let the field (all strung out for the first time in the front stretch) come past, and sat in and recovered for a bit. I wish a better draft had jumped with me, that would have been fun.

It got pretty heavy and hot for a while, and I didn't really move up soon enough and was left too far back on the last lap. At Chris Hinds I sprinted from the back of the pack and passed 30 people. At Rick Newhouse I did the same thing and passed two. Oops.

It was fun, extra confidence builder, I didn't race spectacularly, and I still haven't done a single interval workout outside of a race (I really don't want to be tired of intervals when cross season rolls around - this is unstructured fun training/riding time of year). But hey, I was never ever in danger of getting spit out of the back of the pack. There were a pair of guys who did get spit out, one unfortunate mechanical when a rider got pinched to the outside but refused to bail to the grass and the rear QR from the guy ahead of him who was being pushed outside went into the spokes on his deep dish carbon rim wheel and ripped a few out (ride the grass if you need to was the lesson). I don't know if anyone else got shuttled out the back or not. But just being able to hang on to the race the whole time, never getting gapped off the back, never really being in danger of being dropped or OTB, AND adding a flier in the second half of the race was a success for me.

And riding around with next two biggest guys on the team was a hell of a lot of fun. Next time I think we'll need to work up a team plan.

Man I am sore today. I think next week I may as well go hit turtle pond with G-ride and see what happens, why not? 4 weekends in a row of racing can't be a bad thing right? Toss in the Tuesday Night Smack down (we had a good 12 this past week - it has been a great ride and a good turnout) and there's some solid intensity happening. And I'm having fun. Lots of it. Good for the mental outlook.

Today might be a bit crazy. Hopefully i can at least get on the trainer for 15 minutes or so to work out this stiffness.

I've still got a few shots from last weeks race to get into the web log, maybe i'll get around to doing that this week before they get forgotten.

Peidiwch da
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the saturday 70 mile hill ride has been canceled. NINIGRET TIME!

OK, after some discussion, I'm going to make an executive decision to cancel the ride on Saturday. Hopefully we can reschedule for 2 weeks, from Saturday, but I'll have to do some other checking on my schedule, etc. Basically, the idea of riding 70 miles in cold rain is not very appealing to anyone, and will likely ruin any chance of a good turnout. And with a ride of this size, it's not really feasible to wait until the last minute to decide, so we'll have to trust the weather forecast.


Stay tuned....

I could talk and be introspective about my legs and how wasted they still feel. How the ride in, going into the stiff headwind this morning wasn't fun (way more wind on the water than up in the city). Not sure how the rest of the day will work out, the added riding from here to home back around to J&WU and then back home tonight.

Adding all the rest of the stuff I have meant to write down but keep forgetting.

But well hey I went through and deleted or read all 450 unread emails over on my Gmail account and found one that I had sent to myself a long while back. I sent it to myself because I saw the link somewhere, wanted to watch it but didn't at the time. So over lunch, I did.

Jamie Oliver FTW!



Seriously. Watch this shit. Bike racers/riders/commuters are a pretty fortunate bunch. We mostly burn enough calories that we don't have to care about what we eat as much as the sedentary bunch, but we all know folks who can use a bit of help no? I cook pretty much everything from scratch, and while my girls aren't super keen about eating certain veggies, they usually can tell you what many of them are and they'll destroy the hell out of a salad with some good solid balsamic/olive oil dressing on it. My hope is to give them the tools to survive.

I did graduate high school being able to cook a couple meals. I had an appreciation for food and I liked cooking. I was creative with combinations but I look back and man, i'm not proud of some of the choices I made as a 20 something and on into my early 30s. Loads of soda, ramen and canned soup, microwave pizza pockets, oh sure i cooked an every increasingly diverse batch of foods from scratch, but there are key examples that I remember that I would never touch again. Hell i ate a decent amount of McDonalds too. now? I can't tell you the last time I was in a McDs, much less a fast food chain.

I am healthier than i've been in a good 15 years, because I've decided to make it a priority. no longer prescribing to the Lemond mantra food is fuel get the engine hot enough and it will burn up anything. I realize I can be pretty hypocritical, contradictory, picking and choosing when to apply standards to myself vs blabbing about them to everyone else. But one thing i won't do is stop getting stuff out of my head. it's boring when there are no updates eh? Sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes I get so freaking wiped out by a ride that there isn't any energy to come up with a series of words to string together.

So anyway - we have a health care crisis? well yeah mostly only because people aren't cooking for themselves anymore, aren't making good foods and haven't learned how, as Jamies says, for a couple generations.

Julia Child did an amazing thing, but she only touched on the PBS watching crowd, which growing up I assumed everyone watched. Sadly there are probably 2x as many people who were paying more attention to TV dinner adds...

Things are changing, people are realizing that you can make a change and thank god there are people like Jamie out there helping, maybe there is hope for this country after all.

Peidiwch da
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I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.
- Carl Sagan

Thanks for that Ryan... love it.

Oh and yeah I got smacked down yesterday. Details if/when i get a chance to eat lunch w/o interruptions.

The full deal on the 17th ride.

Depart: 9:00 sharp from Federal Hill. Show up at 8:45 for schmoozing. (If someone wants to lead a group from Faunce to Federal Hill, that would be fine too.)
Route: http://www.brentacol.com/rides.php?page=view&ride_id=20
(This route is somewhat shorter (but still about 70 miles) and has a few fewer hills than the last one I sent. But this is a nicer route, and I really don't think anyone will complain about a lack of hills...)

Anyone with a Garmin or similar GPS device should download the veloroutes TCX file so that we have as many people knowing where they're going as possible. There are also several good ditch points for people who want to do shorter versions.

Pace is going to be a little tricky. It seems like this will be pretty well attended, so the likelihood that we'll find a pace to fit everyone seems slim. I'll be in shape for a moderate pace, but 70 is still a bit long for me, so I'm guessing I'll be dragging by the end. That's why I'm hoping for several people to know the route and we can hopefully divide up as needed.

And lastly, I haven't heard from many people about the following vehicle, and definitely not from anyone volunteering either a driver or vehicle, so that's probably not going to happen unless someone jumps forward.

See if you can make it. It will be fun and hits some of the best hills in RI.

Peidiwch da
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Gotta start somewhere, so how about a quote from my childhood idol Edward Abbey. Thanks for putting that up chip. Good stuff.

Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am, a reluctant enthusiast, a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So go out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, and bag the peaks.... and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over your enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box... I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards. -Edward Abbey

And best line from a post I haven't read completely start to finish yet:

IF YOU CHOP ME IN A TRAINING CRIT AND YOU'RE RUNNING CARBON HOOPS I WILL UPROOT YOUR BEGONIAS UNDER COVER OF NIGHT.

We had an interesting weekend. Lots of looking at cars online. Comparing models, prices, new, old, what a mess. Seems every model of minivan out there has issues, Eurovans eat transmissions, Caravans are unreliable pieces of junk, Siennas are overpriced and prone to falling apart, Odysseys are WAY over priced and hard to find. And there isn't a diesel Minivan out there. Sprinter passenger vans are expensive, hard to find and really big. Most of monday morning I had visions of the car being totaled. Well it wasn't and it turns out I could probably have done the work to fix it somewhat easily with time and parts. But it would have complicated an already excessively complicated week. So spending the $ on the deductible and whatever hopefully no premium increases to have a rental while it is being fixed, as much as it sucks has to happen. Oh well. At least we don't have to go out and find a new car right away, and by car I mean minivan. Car's work but the family is getting bigger and with the dog and carpooling and all that a 6-7 passenger vehicle is important. And I mean 6-7 real people not small 5 year old kid people. My 5 year old is almost too big for the 3rd row in say the Rondo. Ugh. Suck headachedness, yeah i know not a word, maybe i should put a '[sic]' in there behind it or not.

Tonight is the Tuesday Night Smackdown. The Mark Louise Francis Nicholson Smack Down ride.

They say "train your weakness, race your strength" right? Well that is what Tuesday nights are for me. Maybe i can avoid leading out for the first 5 miles up hill into the wind this week. Maybe if I stay out of the wind I can survive to the top of austin and maybe make it to the bottom of Douglas Hook with the group. Maybe. It depends on who shows up.

This Saturday if you don't want to go race around Ninigret there is a big ride planned. 9am. It will be the antithesis of Ninigret. Not flat, not short, although it should be just as much fun if you are into hills and what not. Check out the Route!

Post just about it as described/advertised by Brentacol to follow.

That said I'm actually torn about which one to do. Team ride or go down and ride some hourglass loops with the rest of the flatland lovers at ningret...

Peidiwch da
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Okay thanks for everyone NOT telling me that it really does have a pretty good hill out there at Myles Standish.

That hill sucked wicked hard. Wicked hard.

But. Man it was fun. We did 10 laps of a shortened course. The water kind of screwed it up. But it was still pretty damn good. Basically like a crit with a hill. The first good handful of times up it I nearly got spit out the back. Then with about 4 to go i figured out how to get up and over w/o any stress. At one point on the penultimate lap I just carried speed over the rollers leading into the hill and found I had a gap. Seriously??? WTF!! i don't want to be out front. But it was effortless, being a large/tall/big (trying not to say fat) guy carrying speed is nice. But every time I got boxed in on that lead in to the hill as soon as the road tipped up all these tiny guys slow WAY WAY down. No momentum. And I'd have to hit the brakes.

Last lap I tried to hang on the outside where there was good clean line and i could carry speed into the hill and reach that top in the pack. But...

...the splintered and scattered 55+ race was spread out around the course. We'd lapped them and it was a mess. And leading into that last time through they were all over the right side of the course and going a bit slower than we were. I tried hanging out on the left side but the guys in front of me basically hit the brakes and i had no where to go and was forced to scrub speed and I'm just not strong enough at the moment to recover enough to stick on the wheel when people accelerate after slowing when we're going up that hill.

And I came around the turn at the top and turned into the wind with a 10 second gap or so. Drilled it as hard as I could, totally red-lined but couldn't quite get back in contact with the group and rolled in a handful of seconds back, 30-40? i don't know for sure. But hey all things considered on a hilly course. Yes I know, it is not a "HILLY" course, but compared to ninigret, thompson, it is hilly. And I felt pretty god damn good with how i did. Second race of the year, rolled in 28th of the scored 35. I think there were over 40 at the start. Didn't manage a top 50% yet again, missed out on a pack finish (OTB) but it was good.

It was fun racing bikes. Not easy, and yeah I rolled with my fat slow 4 year old 28s. The smell of burning carbon coming down the left hander before the finish was pretty funny, man it was strong. No real need to brake but there were a handful of people not real confident about taking that turn at speed. Oh well.

Like I said, it was a freaking ton of fun. Trying to debate about next weekend. Team has an insane, flat out crazy, ride planned. Every freaking hill in Rhode Island 80 miles maybe (brentacol may chime in and correct me if he likes) come down it will be fun. But. there's a ninigret crit. nice and flat. I would rather go down and do the flat thing. It just really freaking fun doing that thing down there. Pretty solid transformation - I blame Murat, maybe Cronoman, all that talk about crits. Maybe JB (don't remember if it was JB or jb) too. And yeah. Going around in circles on nice flat roads is pretty god damn fun.

Way more fun than slogging up all the f'n hills on dirt roads at that Battenkill race. Dollar per dollar, it may be cheaper than Myles Standish, but the fact that it was an hour away, i could get the family out the door this morning for dance class and then leave and be back by 2:30pm or so, and have a totally kick ass race? That's good value. I mean sure - this is going to mess up my road-results.com ranking, but shit, i can't get hung up on that ranking and the crossresults.com ranking can i? Shouldn't.

Bike racing is supposed to be fun, and today was. Definitely not flat. But hey second race, first road race, and I haven't done any real specific training, I'll take it.

Oh and Paul was there with the microphone. And he certainly let everyone know when I crossed the line just after the pack. Thanks Paul. I wish I could have been closer to the front or freaking winning it, but hey, it is always good to see you and hear you on the PA.

I forget the name of the Comp racing rider who was there, we chatted while waiting the 15-20 minutes while the Ambulance hauled off some mangled cat 5 guys on the course, but man he called me out on my "flyer" up the hill. I forget what he said but it was a "That didn't look like sitting in all day."

Oh well. If ya don't go off the front at least once - is it really racing?

Anyway good stuff. Now, we're just waiting to hear what the damage estimate is on the Passat. Monday we hear, and there's a better than even chance that the little curb infraction totaled the second TDI of the year. Which really really really would suck.

Anyone selling a Eurovan?

Peidiwch da
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Yeah. Well what conjures up an image of a money pit better than an american princess. One that sucks every last seventy five dollars you throw at it.

Myerson joked earlier in his two social media outlets (blogs don't count - they are anti-social)

"Dear everyone who paid $75 to race tomorrow: I can't wait to charge you $50 a pop this 'cross season."

I don't like that joke, mostly because it is real and pretty crazy. Some people might argue that going from $35 to $50 a race isn't a big deal when you consider how much people are paying for custom tubulars, skinsuits, carbon wheels, mag brakes and custom small batch embrocation and belgian beer. And that's really actually true. I can't argue against that at all. It really is a pretty small price change compared to everything else. I just hope it doesn't go that way for very selfish reasons.

So having done this race 3 years in a row, and been absolutely outclassed and nearly DFL, I have gained a bit of knowledge. Sure I suck but I had lots of time to think about the ride and what works and what doesn't.

Tires: Flats suck. Snake bites are common as are sidewall cuts. Tubulars are not the super key. People flat them all the time. You need heavier tires to deal with the rocks on the roads. You ARE going to hit a couple rocks and you ARE going to pinch the tire. Which tire and tube (if you are riding clinchers) you chose will make a difference. All that said, you can run normal tires and be just fine. Luck of the draw. Run normal tires and have a nice light low rolling resistance for the long race and risk a race ending flat, or go with something heavier.

Feed zone: The first one tradditionally has been completely useless. UNLESS you start the race with only one small waterbottle to help get over the first couple climbs. The risk with needing to take something on at the first one is not taking something on. My read is that it is best to take what you need to get you to the second feed zone. The pack WILL be smaller at that point and easier to get your feed bag of goodies. You don't need much it ain't a tour stage. A gel or ham sandwich and two small waterbottles if it is warm or one bottle if it is cold should be plenty. Carrying what you need for the whole race sucks. That's a long way to go at a very high intensity and you need fluids, calories and salts in order to finish strong. that is unless you're on the paleo diet and then you can just pick up some road kill on the way and stop and drink from the streams you pass by.

I was going to write a bit about going as hard as you can over the first couple climbs, doing what ever it takes to stay with the group but hell, what do i know about that.

I've been battenkilled three times in a row. But I will say it is a lot better waking up a bit early and driving there that day than trying to sleep at the best western in Bennington with snoring roommates, uncomfortably short beds and thoughts of the race running through your head.

Good luck to everyone out there. I'm going to go try the Myles Standish race. A bit short but hey the length is pretty close to a cross race and the pavement is supposed to be new and maybe all the little light weight climbers will be out in New York and I won't get shuffled immediately OTB at the first little rise.

Gotta work on not being a hater right? Watching this makes it VERY tough to not heap piles of hating on certain "groups" like the Teabaggers. Sure my spelling isn't great all the time but I make an effort and i usually get most of the big words right. My grammar sucks most of the time so maybe i shouldn't be so critical. It is tough being a natural cynic, negative all the time and shit.

oh well... Adam isn't the only one talking about the price of entry fees.

It's been a weird spiral of grumpiness today. Started off in a great mood but that has been chipped away ever so slowly into a HULK day as it has gone on. Maybe the screws in my neck are a bit tight today.

Focusing on good stuff. Like the ride home last night. Took the long way and it was awesome. Some one pulled up next to me at a stop light with their windows down and Safety dance blasting out the windows. I was tapping out a cadence in time with that song most of the way home.

time to try and
Peidiwch da
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okay that first link to the real safety dance video wasn't nearly as good as Turk's montage. Fukcn BRILLIANT

This morning for the ride in. And 6 town lines if I counted correctly. Riverside to Barrington to Rohoboth to Seekonk to Rumford to East Providence to Providence. And I won every single one of them.

That's easy to do when you are riding alone. It was such a nice day, the schedule was clear this morning at work and it has been pretty crazy lately so I got in a bit later than normal but not too late.

It really was a fantastic ride. I just rode tempo, and just to ride. The new Google mapping feature is sweet - it is easy to tweak your ride to get distances and all that. Only a 17.7 mile ride and mostly flat and not pushing too hard it was door to door in an hour.

I turned around at one point when I thought I saw a bottle of Pedros lube, but nope, it was a bottle of Irwin Straight line chalk with some still in it. So i stuffed it in a pocket. Bagwell.

The weather was too perfect not to spend an extra bit of time on the bike this morning and explore a new route. I did it by feel, having never actually ridden that way. Yeah. It is pretty odd. I never really ride from the house for a ride without riding up the EBBP to the city. Granted I never really just go on a ride by myself.

I'm going to have to do this more often. It really was a great ride and a nice low traffic smooth road route.

Peidiwch da
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Seriously? which one of the two is it?

That the Conimicut Pt station is reporting 76 with a 26mph wind from the south. And it is a very reliable indicator of what the ride home will be.

Head wind. And hot. At least it isn't in the 90s like up in the interior. The water is nice for somethings. Damn wind though.

Oh well. Am I nuts to be thinking about racing at Myles Standish on saturday?

I almost left early to take the long ride home but the shorts i can make it going around EP is about 17 miles and it is wicked hot over there, that and I have to be home w/in about 40 minutes. Cutting it too close. Maybe tomorrow if things quiet down in the afternoon again.

Peidiwch da
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Me. Destroyed. I set the pace up Greenville, then lead everyone one through 44 onto Austin. I figured hell I'm up there, set a pace I can hold to the top. But right as the road veers to the right i heard the unmistakable sound of tires accelerating. Fuck. Here it comes. Like always. ZOOM. Everyone goes past, I hold pace and just barely tag on as we hit the water tower. It took everything to haul my fat ass up the hill. But I managed to hang on through to the second sprint line then boom the engine room said "WE ARE GIVIN IT ALL THE POWER WE CAN CAPT'N"

Fahaaahahahk. Everyone sort of floated away.

My day did not lend it self well to preparing for the ride. I ate a bit late, too much. Was way dehydrated and full of phlegm.

And it was the biggest group ride Providence has seen in years. We left Faunce with a good 10-15 guys. Picked up another 5 or so at Atwells. Sure that might not be big for some ride standards but it is pretty solid for here.

Best moment was taking our helmets off for a moment of silence to remember Mark Louise Francis Nicholson.

We rolled out with Federal Hill local Paul leading us around the flood closed bridge through the neighborhood.

This was a wrecking crew.

I got to Faunce and Kirk and Greve were there. Nice. Two big guys, Kirk built like me, tall and skinny, Greve, well he's greve. He goes up the hills really well for a big guy. I'm thinking sweet.

Then, Dave Kellogg shows up. I'm thinking okay cool. Then Casey, Not Skinny, Radu, Josh Parker and 4 other Brown kids. They are all mid season now and have been racing hard for a while. Oh and they are all small lightweights. We picked up Nate, Paul Glowa, an extra RISD kid and Brian(?) from circle A (?) on a fixed gear. yeah. He smoked me along with everyone else. I think I missed a couple people, too many to keep track of.

It was hard core. Glowa is a major major horsepower machine, he's going to be a great addition to the Svelte cycles team. He's looking thinner than ever, well not his legs, they are as big as ever.

After Austin I caught back up with Kirk in Chepachet. He waited up for me and we hit the aweful hill after the CVS and just kept chugging along. Hit Snake Hill and turned left instead of right.

I dug a bit and pulled Kirk along. I really was hoping we weren't far enough behind that they would get back on Snake Hill before us. Well they weren't.

Kirk just got finished saying he almost hoped they were in front of us because he was at a wall and didn't feel like getting dropped twice. As soon as he said that, or shortly after, here came the calvary - FLYING. Man they were flying.

We managed to jump on. it was brutal. I hung on though. Dug deep. Got shelled when someone hit a pothole and I sat up and looked back not sure if that was a body spread across the road or a jacket. I didn't hear that sickening sound of a bike hitting the ground though and about 1/2 the group was behind and stopped, it was getting late. Dave Kellogg was driving the pace HARD. I also knew that if it was bad we had an ER doc coming up on the scene. But that second of "what was that" created a gap and it was Kellogg off the front with 3-4 Brown Bears clawing to stay on his wheel, and then a gap and Glowa towing Nate back up and then me. Shit.

Dug deep. Very deep. It hurt. That ride was brutal. But I was starting to feel better. Every hill was a nightmare of pain, but I made it up and over and survived.

Myette asked about the pace. No it is not an impossible paced ride, but for me, with that crowd? It was impossibly fast. It was good. It was a nice reality check.

As strong and comfortable as I felt on Saturday on the flat crit, I felt equally weak and out of place on that ride. I've got a lot of work to do. But by far being the heaviest guy there I guess I did okay.

It was fun. It was hard.

My legs are killing me now.

If you have a chance and want to come out and get some solid intensity in on some unique terrain try and make it for a tuesday night smack down.

I don't know how it ranks on Kellogg's scale, but tonight was brutal for me. But then again no scale is going to mistake the two of us.

Peidiwch da
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MNSD? Mark Nicholson Smack Down.

It is a fast ride. Not impossible. It isn't dominated by Pro's and what not (yet). But is it fast and there is one moderate regrouping point (in Chepachet) but mostly it it is just one of the best damn loops out there.

A neutral roll out of sorts out of the city, down the bike path once we get onto Greenville the pace picks up and the talking stops. Hard men go to the front and the rest sit in and try to hang on.

After greenville and after being on 44 for all of 100 feet or so we turn on to Austin. Woa. Now there's where the pressure for me really starts. Austin isn't a big climb but it isn't short and after the rollers coming up greenville I'm usually at the edge of getting dropped. And sometimes it takes everything i've got to hang on to the little climbers up that stretch. Often I'm just getting back to the group when we hit the first sprint point.

If you are in the area, and can get to Providence by 5-5:15 (and you race) this is a great Tuesday night ride. Sure, it may not be as crazy as some Tuesday nighters, and the 'tuck may be a better option, but this isn't a loop in circles. This is one loop of some of the best roads around.

Smack Down this tues and every tuesday (monsoons excepted) through the fall.
Super fun aggressive ride with multiple sprint lines in some pretty low traffic areas.
Not planning on dropping riders, but we won't be waiting either. So plan ahead.
Rear lights and helmets are required.
By far the best group ride in Providence. The more the merrier.
Faunce arch 5 SHARP, depasqual square at 515.
This was Mark's ride. He put it together, he led it, and it was his last ride before he died.

So who is Mark? I've written about him plenty, if you've actually been paying attention you know who he is. Put it this way he was one of Darcy's favorite people in the world. For real. She knows lots of awesome people. Mark Nicholson really was one of THE most AWESOME ever to walk the planet. FB Link. Boston Globe Link.

Show up and honor his memory. Give him the immortality he deserves by carrying on this ride. Make it what he dreamed and hoped it could be.

I'm going to try and make the first one of the season tomorrow.

We all miss you Mark. I have some kermit the frog green bar tape that matches your scarf. I'll be putting it on. Maybe on the Klein, maybe on the Giant. We'll see where it goes. For now, I've got the Durano Plus tires mounted up on the Klein in case i can figure out how to make it work to get to the ride.

Rear blinky lights are important. Heck even if they aren't Planet bike lights, that's fine, as long as you are able to be seen.

Peidiwch da
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PS my box of bits from Loose Screws showed up. New left hood on the Giant and a few other bits. Awesome service. Love those guys. If you are looking for spare parts check them out. Granted you've got to be trying to keep old shit running like I am to have any use of their stock. If your whole salary isn't going to tuition (for your kids) and a mortgage then you probably have stuff new enough to just walk into any shop and get new parts. Which is fine. I'm not trying to pass judgement or be negative, i'm at peace with my situation, and there is no envy or anger directed (right now at least). But man if i just could find one 32 hole front and a 24 hole front rim that'd be superfantastic.

Saturday was the first race of the "season" for me. Which season i'm not quite sure. But it was a great day, got up bright and early and high tailed it into the city to get a ride down with Mike B. Got there and did a handful of laps before the Cat 5 started. It was foggy, still and cold before the cat 5 race but the sun came out and the weather was perfect for a long sleeve skinsuit and a baselayer during my race. Yeah I signed up to race my category. Cat 4. That's me. Since coming back to racing it hasn't been much of a secret that I have had a weird notion that hilly road races are more fun than flat "industrial park" boring crits. Well. Man I'm wrong. So sure I didn't do anything exciting, but I actually had fun. My goal for the day was to hang on sit in and maybe go for the final sprint, but primarily get comfortable at the course and racing with people on pavement again. I won't lie, i'm not 100% comfortable in the cat 4 field. For the most part the racers are pretty solid, many guys have been doing it a long time, just not training enough to get really fast, but they are smooth and safe for the most part. All it takes is one squirrel to screw up someone else though.

The race started and I was lined up in the back and just kind of hung out back there. I rode around on the inside for a while, then the outside, the middle, getting comfortable with the lines. I moved up a few times but not enough in hind sight. I should have spent more time figuring out the easiest way to move to the front (for me) but I sort of chilled. There were a few slingshots but nothing that was anything troubling or difficult. I think we only averaged about 24 mph for the 50 minute race. It was pretty cool. I was never in trouble. Ever. It was pretty cool. Confidence booster in a way. Even sitting at the back getting gapped by the guys who couldn't help themselves but hit the brakes in each corner.

Seriously. Brakes in the corner? Maybe if you're going 35-40 before you hit the turn maybe you want to slow down but as fast as we were going the only time i touched the brakes was to feather them to avoid rolling up into someone hitting their brakes. I just wanted to roll around smooth, and then see what happens at the end.

I was at the back in the last turn. I know I know. Not where I wanted to be, but it was where I was. Coming out of the last turn on the outside I sort of jumped. Not a 100% sprint jump but a make a move and see how far i get jump. I got pushed off on to the black for a second slowed and jumped back onto the concrete and moved up to 31st place out of 50 starters. Nothing special but, for a change, a HUGE change, i finished in the pack. Sort of re-affirming that maybe Thompson wasn't a fluke.

The other thing it did was whet my appetite, I'm thinking maybe myles standish, rick newhouse... who knows what else. Just have to get a ride, or ride there myself, the newhouse race is late enough in the day that it would work to ride there.

Easter Sunday was busy and I know it would have done me a world of good to get on the bike, even the trainer for just 15 minutes, but I didn't. I guess I need to have a day off the bike once in a while.

It was great talking with people after the race and just being there. Chatting with Curt and Kurt, the always amazing and one of the coolest guys out there Jeff Bramhall, and of course Myerson. Hell the new kit that Kyle was sporting looks sharp. All in all a good day on the bike. A fun time racing. My ride skedaddled before the bulk of the older crew showed up, but Murat was running around with boundless energy before his race, Wild Bill was helping out too. And as always good to see JD. heck good to see everyone there.

Now the natives are restless. I'm taking a vacation day to hang out at home with the girls, they don't have school today. And the day looks gorgeous. Definitely going to have to hit the park, walk to the marina, who knows what else. If the wind stays calm maybe we'll even pull out the canoe.

Peidiwch da
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That Tortilla Costs More Than You Think - ScienceNOW

Speaking of water. Use beyond just drinking. Good little mini-review

Old joke, but well done. Nice job PI and DZ. Yes an old joke but they did it tolerably well. Worth making it through to see DZ's appearance.

What a great day out there to ride in. A touch cool but even leaving with the temps at 34°F out there i was over heating with the Vermarc Jacket on and leg warmers. Good stuff.

Left early so I took a chance and tried out a breakfast Burrito from Bagel Gourmet Ole. Wow talk about amazing mexican flavors. The sauce was unreal. So good. Soooo good. Simple, but fresh stuff inside in a great combination.

Also picked up some Blue Lizard for tomorrow... as sunny as it is going to be no sense getting fried too. The legs felt not too bad this morning. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Just for fun. No expectations. No pressure. It will be interesting to see what i have in the tank in terms of high end, i've got no idea.

Oh and everyonce in a while you hear about something different. A different way to do something. This time it was Murat's comment maybe on the NBW list or his blog or somewhere about shaving. Legs that is. He suggested using conditioner as a shaving cream. Cheap, plentiful and effective. That's what he called it. Now i'm a big Nivea for Men sensitive skin shaving gel user. Love that stuff for the face and generally for the legs too. But I thought, you know why not give it a try, lets see how this conditioner stuff works on the legs.
Punch line? It works. Hell i was about to gewilli him and say it wasn't as good as shaving stuff w/o even trying it. But i didn't and i tried it. Only down side is the lack of visual cues as to where you shaved and hadn't but that isn't that hard to tell. The stuff works.

Pretty cool. Thanks Murat. Now i can ride without annoying feeling of the wind pulling at my leg hairs. The few times i've gone bare kneed or only knee warmers have felt strange. Leg warmers and hairy legs seem to work. It is just weird to look down at hairy legs and feel the wind like that. But of course it was cool this morning so no skin showing. Maybe it will be warm enough tonight to either go with knee warmers or bare legs.

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the Quantum Pro has been resurrected. A couple days early for Easter I know. But i'm still running on one left STI hood. Had to take it back off the Giant. I even broke down and ordered a new set of D/A hoods (Loose screws FTW) today.

Went with the gewilli lacing special rear wheel, a slightly aero front wheel. And I realized it washing it that the last time I probably rode it was with Tommy D when he was out here visiting... in August.

That's a long time ago. And the Crit will be the first time on the bike. I just have to pretend that I had just raced at the Blount Crit and go from there. It'll be okay i think. Maybe I should have tried to ride down there to the race to get seat time. But the roads are still somewhat screwed from the flooding between here and there. Maybe I'll just ride home from there. I'll have to ride in to the city to get a ride early Sat AM, so at least i'll have 30 minutes on the bike before getting to the course.

That should be fine. It isn't like I haven't been riding this bike since 1998.

I did manage to get on the bike for 20 minutes tonight. That's about it. I was going to do some intervals and such but the iPod was dead. And I hate the trainer more than G-ride when i don't have the iPod. Yeah. The trainer is like Music Crack. I can listen to what i want as loud as I want at home. But damn i'm ineffective on it w/o the tunes. But i stuck it out for 20, got sweaty, elevated the HR and turned the legs over.

Just me and the dog up and hell she's not even awake anymore. Probably a sign to shut it down and get some rest.

heddwch
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http://www.planetbike.com/blog/210

that is minimalist. even more than that useless Knog light labeled the "hipster cyst"

Yes. It is April First. April Fools.

But in the cycling world we should stop trying to invent goofy stories and we should honor the man who invented the best Bike humor.

I didn't notice last year but I guess someone has taken over ShelBroCo. Not nearly as funny as the original, but still pretty good.

So go check out Sheldon's stuff and revisit the April Fools genius that was Saint Sheldon.

heddwch
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PS Wholepaycheck has some of the best stuff for today.

Big Bikes

What the fuck has Thom P done now.

Holy Shit.

That is awesomeness. No point even bothering doing more than saying if you don't go read that shit top to bottom today you are going to be missing the best blog post of the year.

Big Bikes undisputed winner by KO.

YouTube - Chocolate Bunny Melts Under Incandescent Light, Survives LED Light