(video by the awesome HenryJ and here)
Elbow between saddle and body, set the bike down with weight and stabilize it before moving hand to bars and getting on.

I was going slow, I took too many steps between the barriers...

If you compare this slow end of the field with the fast end there are plenty of differences for sure, now, if I can just pedal as fast as my team mate up front.

Not all of the front set the bike down or run as far, so maybe I need to get on and pedal sooner, but this whole getting on and off isn't where I can gain any time.  But I don't suck at it...

NBX

Rumor is Matt's running us up the hill both days for the start. SO AWESOME.

of contador...  not at all.  esp after that TT where he beat the big man with the motor.

I have been a fan of Frankie Andreu. Just like that guy for some reason. Okay for lots of reasons, dude was flat out baller on the bike.  The stories of him coming home and doing the Ann Arbor races and hanging out for a few laps, lapping the field, hanging out, lapping the field again.  Very much like when Frank and Mark McCormack showed up in Michigan to do the Saturn race in Lansing.  Although I think Mark only lapped the field once, and then sprinted away for a clean win with a lap to go.  I got a front row seat watching that race from the wheel pit. Not too many changes but the ones that came in got a clean change and a solid push out.

So I read the Andreu piece at Bicycling online there and there's some solid haterade being served up in the comments.

Kind of similar to the Nys Pauwels controversy.  I missed watching it live (in transit to Baystate) but watching it over on Cosmo's page Nys attacked into the corner, got position and then picked a line and rode it to the finish.  Pauwels chose the left side and had meters of space to go around on the way to the barriers but he couldn't, he could only pull up close along side but not around before the trajectory forced him into the barricades.  I don't see that as dirty.  He wasn't zigging and zagging around, he didn't slam the door, head butt him or anything else.  That and the last few races Stybar's sprint at the end of the race could use some work.  Comes down to a second here or there, one bobble, mistake here or there.

Happened to me on day 2 at Sterling.  I lost a sprint.  But not actually in the sprint.  I lost the sprint earlier when my rear tire slipped two pedal strokes in a row and I came to a stop in the mud on the hill.  I lost contact with Tim Young and Kyle Smith at that point.  I was so flustered and so deep in the game that my body thought I was racing Saturday and I autopiloted into the turn with the roots as if it was the log jump from the day before. I was halfway off before I realized "WTF DUDE" and I totally hosed that section and Smith and Young gathered another 5-10 seconds.  Sadly that put me back in the "motivate Carl Ring to pedal harder" zone, i became a rabbit.  And I knew it and I dug and gave it everything.  He made contact when I f'd up one or two more corners (surprise) and did a nice two wheel power slide.  I was going hard and he attacked just before the off camber hill just before the track.  The same place Mark attacked Brian.  Consensus from the peanut gallery and the pundits was the first person to that hill wins the race.  Carl went up first, and down first and I was at the limit of traction on the corner of that single track, tires flattened and holding.  Around the corner he had a couple bike lengths and was sprinting.  I pounced, but unlike Sunday at Plymouth, I fucked up the sprint and shifted way too early and only was able to draw up to his rear wheel by the line, not get around him.  As soon as I shifted I knew I had lost the sprint.

But if I hadn't blown that hill or thought about the horse jump...  like complaining that your favorite football team is losing their games because the Field Goal kicker sucks.  No.  look at Green Bay.  Who cares if their FG kicker sucks.  Or the Saints.  You put up numbers on offense, those three points don't matter.  If you miss one or two? So what.  I lost the sprint (in my mind) well before that.  But I will, without a doubt, credit Carl for making the move at the right place and having the legs to finish it off.  Kind of makes losing to him only slightly bearable.  Okay not really.  I'm still pissed that Carl beat me two days in a row.  But I think that is mostly because he didn't crash on Day 2. He some how managed to stay upright.  Beating the big freak in a sprint was just the frosting on his minicupcake.

NBX baby.  THAT is going to be f'n AWESOME!  Hell yeahs.
"You could be in Europe if no one told you otherwise. " -Jerry Chaboom
It really is one of the best.  And while Tom Stevens does great work, 6 of his courses a season are enough.  That and Matt B and his set up crew are total Ballah! The park goes all in on it to.  AND SAND.  RUNNING IN SAND (sucks but is awesome just the same).

See you there!

heddwch
G

Just in case you haven't had enough Cyclocross video viewing after this weekend...


3ème manche CDM cyclo-cross - Koksijde 2011/2012 from Petitesreines on Vimeo.

Moment of Zen from gewilli on Vimeo.

Here in New England yesterday the Sunrise and Sunset both were pretty spectacular.  The folks over at Firefly caught this impressive display.

But the time I got out the door the sun had mostly set but there was still enough going on that I pulled out the camera, propped it on the railing at the bottom of the IPPPB and snapped this shot.

Lots of blooming going on in that exposure and some algorithmic artifacts but it does capture the view quite well.

I have a moment of zen video in line over at Vimeo right now, it will show up as a unique post soon.

The ride in today? Not quite bare knees like the ride home last night but I could have gone without the knee warmers.  Not as hot as Saturday but still plenty warm out there.

heddwch
G

Back towing the trailer again...

Headed out this morning, tossed a few extra clean shirts for the week, took too much food and grabbed my bag and stuffed it all in the back of the trailer. I had just hooked it up when my Neighbor was headed out the door and mentioned he saw me in the paper, and offered me the section (making sure to let me know he was already done with the paper).  As he was heading back in wicked tall Tatar rode past on the other side of the playground and didn't to much more than turn his head when I shouted his name.  Missed riding in with him but that's probably for the better towing the trailer.  I would have worked too hard and he would have gone too slowly, esp since he didn't race on Sunday.

So my neighbor came back out with the ProJo and we talked about his new used truck (it is pretty sharp) and then I headed in to test the potential effectiveness of a recovery ride with a trailer.  Not that it matters much - the season is almost over, sadly with little real cyclocross weather.

Fittingly it was a warm day today with a fiery start:

There was a bit of uncertainty going into this weekend.  A week off? Thanksgiving...  And a very tight and stacked field.  Plymouth weekend was a peak of my racing this season and well I didn't respond well today I guess.

Pre-ride felt good but just with the orange suit I was cooking in the sun on that first lap and it was still not even 9:30.  Got a full lap in before the women's 3/4 start, grabbed the number chatted, cheered, jumped on as soon as I could, got two full laps in.  Then pinned up.

Hit the line right behind GCDavid Cort and company, not last row but close.  Started and held my place but not really around the track.  By the time we hit the run up I was tail gunning, and after the other up down Todd Rowell jumped in front of me and I made sure I was last.  Poor old Shattuck ate a barricade at the start and had to work from absolutely last by a long shot, but I think he kept moving up the whole race.

That was my plan.  Hanging out at the end of the conga line Rowell started to move and I went with him... for a bit.  Lap 2 we started hitting it harder and I was doing okay until - poof, sweating, overheating.  It might have only been 61 today when we were racing but under the brilliant sun it felt worse.  And with that intensity my stomach actually started acting up.  it hurt to fold over a bit.  I was worried at the start about my back but nope, my guts were in pain.  Heat, guts and I just didn't seem to be able to actually pedal fast enough.  Molasses.

Sure - Chabot and the rest will mock and ridicule me about complaining about 60 degree weather a few days from December but man, I really much prefer Sterling when that pond has Ice on it.  I tried ditching the gloves, then unzipping then the glasses and kind of found a balance, but too late.  took 3 laps to do that, the final 3 laps? well everyone was so far gone even CTodd caught me.  Ringer was just up the road and there was nothing I could do to reel him in.  Shawn McC had set his sea anchor but my engine room was having nothing.

It was funny though from the left hand turn along the road up to the left hand onto the track and around until off the track I was plenty fast, every lap.  Distancing guys behind me and reeling in those up front.  But I'd just lose it all the rest of the course.  Couldn't really get the flow of the course.

And it was a bad day and every little distraction just sort of snowballed.

BUT

I finished on the lead lap.
I didn't take a dirt nap or impale myself on a stake (I hope Stacey's okay).
I feel like I raced my ass off right now, legs are destroyed.
My guts seem to have sorted themselves out.
And as much as I hated the heat, it was a pretty damn nice day to be on the bike racing with friends.
Tomorrow is a new day and it will be what it is going to be and it is all building up to NBX.

It is good.

Oh and I got home with 10 minutes to unload the car, and turn around and head out to my youngest's indoor soccer.  And her team won and she played really well.  Got home and cranked out some dinner.  Still no shower though. Food first.

heddwch
G

I just watched this and have to say,  it sounds like a great cookbook.

I've read a bit of the buzz, some of the interviews, and just watched this clip: http://bcove.me/874ecxwi

Solid.  Okay, truth be told, i'm f'n jealous.  Food is important to me.

Curtis B gives me a hard time for my festidiousness but I'm trying to do what ever i can to make up for a shortage in talent and while the food and the timing of what i eat won't make me go faster, no it isn't performance enhancing, but by not getting it right, it really does slow me down.

I'm not racing for the front, I'm racing my friends.  I'm trying to beat them.  The friends up front, well they just go way faster, I'm in that race but my race is further back.

Food is a big part of it.

Alex H has a review of a recent study.  It strongly supports my personal philosophy of eat real food, not supplements, and in a beneficial balance.

The beet juice recipe video, makes a ton of sense.  Nutrients are good there is very strong and well done studies showing vegetable based nitrates are beneficial for cycling (non-veggie ones are still bad - no green light for bacon).  You can download the .pdf from Velonews. (here's a link from Peak Performance, a very good overview of the 'beetroot juice' science).

Tomorrow is Sterling.  Weather is going to be wicked uncharacteristic.  I think my favorite race there was the 20 degree start we had one year.  Bitterly cold and windy.

Eat well,
heddwch
G

The food at Thanksgiving has always been important to me.  Growing up it was a big deal. Very traditional and a major focal point and the food we served was strongly pulled from a southern tradition with a northern spin, but all made from scratch like my grandmother and great grandmother used to serve.

After heading off to College on the other side of the country flying home for Thanksgiving and then back for exams and then right back home for the Celtic Yuletide Concert Series was a bit impractical, but hopping in the train to my Dad's house in Maryland was ideal.

Food a for the longest time was all it was about.  The getting together, yeah that was nice, in that it was an excuse to eat that food.  I felt lucky too, back at home in my brother had decided to become vegan. So no more turkey, that seemed so odd and crazy, there just weren't as many vegan's in the 90's, no one knew what the word meant.  People understood vegetarian, but vegan was a foreign concept.

One year in Michigan I had the crazy idea that I wanted to make everything, and I did.  Michigan was a strange time in that we went places, but I guess buying a house and having a baby in it adds the incentive to give it a go.  Food Network was well established at that point.  And this morning thinking about writing this I had a realization that the Food Network alone would have failed.  It really needed the internet.  Depended critically on it.  For recipes.  You could watch your favorite celebrity chef cook something, and you could watch the process and then go download the measurements and specific ingredients.  It was brilliant.  So easy.  Watching Julia you'd almost need to take notes (and many did) watching, or more or less in her case, you would have her cookbook open to the dish she was making that show.

So I did what I always do.  I dug in, made lists, decanted recipes, pulled elements from cookbooks, childhood memories, tweaked it and wrote it all down.  These sheets are probably 11 years old.  Well a couple of them.

These pages represent what at the time I felt was the quintessential Thanksgiving Meal, and the ingredients and short hand notes for how to make it all.  Almost two full days of meal prep right there.

A semi complete list from these pages

• Turkey
• Brine for turkey
• Cranberry sauce
• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Stuffing
• Peas and onions
• Gravy
• Brussels sprouts
• Rolls
• Stock for gravy
• Aromatics for inside turkey
• Timing and when/where gets cooked

I would do many of the dishes differently now.  My cooking style has changed, my focus on quality ingredients has changed a bit, but that doesn't really change the flavors that mean Thanksgiving Dinner to me.

That's the meal though.  Turkey (no ham), peas and pearl onions (no green beans in any form), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, stuffing, piles of cranberry sauce and heaps of gravy, with a nice soft roll or two to wipe it all up with.

Until I made it here, at this house, while my brother was making it down the road and family went from there to here, I always felt the meal trumped all.  The meal made Thanksgiving, okay not 100% but I'm taking some liberty in that I did recognize it is more than just food, but food was always top of the list.

I had made the most brilliant meal. The turkey was amazing, the breast meat juicy and flavorful.  The stuffing and gravy a perfect balance and so good.  Brussels sprouts roasted not steamed.  I'd perfected it.  And we ate it.  And it was great just being the 4 of us, but it didn't feel right.

Most people figure this out long before I ever did. But I'm kind of slow to pick up on some things.

Thanksgiving is really about being with family and friends.  Getting together and being together.  My 1st grader's play they did on Monday afternoon was case in point.  As they presented it Thanksgiving was a feast prepared by the pilgrims with the purpose of thanking the Natives for teaching them how to grow food and survive in New England.  The event and the meal was a lavish thank you present, but again, it wasn't just about the food.  It was about getting together.

I am thankful for having family not so far away that we can go spend this day with preparing food, eating it and having fun.  My kids get to spend the day with their cousins, and I've finally been able to let go of the control of the food and just enjoy it.  Don't get me wrong, my brother is a great cook too, the food will be fantastic.  I'm bringing the brussels sprouts 4 pounds of brussels sprouts (going to try and sneak them in an oven over there instead of trying to cook them here this year).

Now I'm going to make another pile of coffee in my plug in moka pot/espresso thing and read this about the 10,000 hour debate and talent vs training in sport.  Because at this point even at the late hour, everyone is still asleep, and next to food, sleep is important. Oops, [not-so]mini-me just ran down the stairs...

Happy Thanksgiving my friends
-GeWilli

Henry captures it perfectly as always.




Make sure to give the interview a read through in Cyclocross Magazine Issue #14.  Sully did a great job interviewing three cool guys.

I had a stack of Henry's videos.  They are pretty awesome.  If you race Cyclocross in New England, you really should pick up a few historic races from Henry (first link over there under big shot links - damn i need to change those a bit, so dated - so overlooked.)

Nationals 2005 35-39 race was epic with the weather, Henry's footage captured brilliantly what the racers and the promoters and the volunteers were dealing with that fateful Friday.  And he wasn't even filming the worst of it.  He was just filming that race.

It is hard to single out one of his races that he's documented as a favorite.  But that's got to be mine.  Gloucester with Vervecken is way up there. So many good ones.

Do yourself a favor, and I'm honestly saying this as a fan of the sport, buy a couple DVDs from Henry, if you have them, buy em for one of the new up and coming Cat 4 you know or met this year.  Giving a CX racing friend one, the DVD will last a lot longer than a six pack, even the way Coach Kurt P drinks.  Buy one of Gloucester so they can watch it in August and get pumped all over again for one of the best races on the calendar, in the country.

I don't pitch much here intentionally, this really just started out wanting to say that Curtis does make it look effortless there on the front.  And Henry knows right where to stand...  He always did know.

Thanks for being there with your video cameras Henry.

Thanks
-G

So y'all know how good that post race embrocation glow of warmth is?  Usually kicks in on the drive home, or in the shower and usually after the shower a bit.

That reminder of all that goodness that happened after slathering it on before the race.

Well I found the food analogy.

Eat a bit of home made beans and rice with half of a very large and very hot red Habanero pepper (I'd say bumping up in the 200k range - not nuclear like I've had a few but this was still way hot).

So this diced bit - nice warmth eating it.  Solid and robust belly burn (sort of like heat radiating from your stomach - it feels good).

After a bit that fiery burn in the mouth dissipates... and you go on.  The belly glow hangs out for a while.

Now...

now take a big sip of hot coffee.  Not burn your tongue hot.

And embrace the burn all over again.

So
good

my mouth is watering all over again thinking about it.

yeah

thinking about super spicy chilis and wicked hot food makes my mouth water.

writing about it makes it worse.

i'm making it worse.

This sip of coffee right now... is just coffee, no burn.

oh well.

Well at least maybe in some small way.  I'm saying it is good. Because finally I'm at work and the legs feel like they've been pushed and worked.  That 46x12 even with the hills hasn't sustained enough torque resistance even with the overweight and under inflated Croll with the planet bike Speedez Hydrid fenders.  And the extra traffic I was dealing with honestly did kind of get to me for a few rides.

Not in the oh shit i'm scared but more in an annoyance.

I think I fixed two things.  The annoyance of the cars.  And added a touch (understatement) of resistance.

So happy with the revisiting of the old paradigm that I'm going to suggest the crazy.  Get a bike trailer. No not a BOB - that won't work.  No a beat up or new or cheap or expensive kid trailer.  But an enclosed one (not that cool ass C-dale molded kid chariot thing).  And toss your crap in there for the ride to work.

Yeah parking can become a monumental pain in the ass with it, but if you've got a spot to park, you'll be surprised as how much a trailer acts as a traffic calming device.  That and call it an early warning system, I won't spell out why, hopefully you have an imagination that will fill in those details.

So far it is as I remember it. And after a couple weeks of riding just as a bike, alone, it is a tangible difference with the cars.  Kind of cool.

And the added watt demand is working well.  Adding a bit more stress and HR PLUS torque load.  Taking easy days will be harder though so that's going to be a challenge, but I'm off the bike tomorrow until at least Friday, or maybe even Saturday.  Should be time to recover and be fresh for Sterling.

With the path closed until April the trailer, if used regularly should help step up to the next level of strength and build a base for 2012.  Yeah.  I said build a base.  HAH.  Not talking volume.  Really focusing on using it to add stress not every day, that would be the bad base, huge volume with no return.  No, this allows those hard days to be way harder, and the easy days to be focused.  And for that matter the easy days should be able to tolerate a bit more as the whole histogram moves in a positive direction.

Tweaking the offset in the digital world.

Will it work?  Who knows what life will bring.

Hell I'm getting way out introspected by a couple of friends lately.  First JONNY FUCKING BOLD puts his thoughts down in a way that very clearly describes what he's going through.  I can't really offer advice to someone who has won everything in a sport I struggle with being a mediocre elite master racer (yeah I'm totally hooked into the mediocre elite oxymoron that Resultsboy coined so well) but you do have to live with yourself and in a way solidly come to terms with what Zencycle wrote about yesterday.  Zen and Jonny have blown me out of the water in the Introspection genera as of late.  I wish I could nail the sound track to a blog post as well as Zen did.  Read Jonny's and specifically Doug's words in the comment section, then Zen's and well that's all you need.  Deep thoughts for us old fuckers to come to terms with.

I know 40 doesn't seem old from this side of the number but holy shit - from the other side, esp the far side of 30... well that's like a life time away.  Big gulf between, and while so many of my friends really are old fuckers who constantly remind me that I'm just a damn kid, I'm not.

But it doesn't matter.  Life doesn't change that much. Granted physically I'm feeling pretty close to 20.  Being skinny and having the near college BF% levels with some extra muscle mass doesn't suck too much.

Food - yeah I'll probably write some food stuff up late.  In a bit of a rut cooking wise.  Thinking very much in terms of feeding the machine for myself.  Food has become fuel.  A training tool.  An aid. Something that is required, applied at specific times.  Kind of takes the romance out of it.  That and the electron microscope images have given me a bit of a creative outlet that food was trying to fill 100%.

Life.  It is a strange thing.

heddwch
G

on a cross bike:

So with the insanity of Saturday's schedule (my wife left the house at 9:30am and returned at 9:30pm), there were enough things going on that one person couldn't possibly make it work.  And then it was her turn to work on Sunday and rehearsals that the girls needed to get to that meant hanging out and not racing.

There was an opportunity to get out and pedal on Saturday morning before doing the kid exchange and going to indoor soccer with the little one.  But I skipped it.

We cleaned up the back yard.  Leaves were off the trees, and well it was a gorgeous day and my oldest and I burnt all the small twigs and sticks that have built up in the twig pile and raked leaves in the back yard.  We dumped out our year old worm bin (55 gallon) and spread the rich black soil around the base of the maple.  The webber kettle grill worked well enough to make ash.  The stick pile burnt up nicely.  And heck, how often do you get to play with fire with your kids.  Fun.  And the weather was brilliant.  After a couple hours of raking and stuffing leaves into barrels we grabbed the left over pizza put the grate over the coals and had some wood grilled pizza.  Out side.  In the sun.  W/o any biting insects.  Just a begging dog.

It was pretty f'n awesome.

Then the soccer game, it is nerve wracking watching the youngest play.  So much potential.  She was a brick wall as a defender.  Defined objective: "don't let the ball go past you and kick it back down the other end." Their team finally started scoring goals.  And the opponents didn't get a goal until she was sub'd out.  She was WAILING the ball down the field.  Proud dad.  She's got a bit of work to do on offense and what not but she was also pretty worn out after back to back birthday parts going into the game.  Who knows if soccer is her thing or not but she doesn't suck, and she's not even 7 yet.  I think I can make both sterling M35+ and her game (if i don't dally on saturday).

So my kids haven't really taken to bike racing.  Oh well.

Sunday was similar - both days I caught the second half of the Euro Pro CX race (great video quality this weekend) and then headed outside.  Sunday was front yard time.  Rake up all the extra leaves and head into ballet rehearsal.

Today I took hold of the opportunity of an empty schedule this Morning and I took a few minutes of mental health playing with a bit of CX.  Note: Schwalbe Marathon tires at any pressure don't turn well on wet grass down hill with a skim of slick mud under the blades.

On the plus side India Point Park is, in every way, perfect for CX clinic work and skills training.  So ideal.  Not enough space for racing but there's solid elevation for shouldering drills and run up techinque, plus off camber turning and sterling like barriers.  Long flat grass sections for on and off drills and start drills.

Couldn't be more perfect.  And I like teaching this stuff.  My weaknesses aren't generally the fitness and speed side and I'm not quite cornering like the elite guys but I'm certainly not a cat 4 by a long shot.  Since I teach techincal shit on a regular basis, this no different.

A short bit of time turned into a bit more than a short period of time.  oops.

Hauled my barriers and cones and floor pump using the trailer today.  Certainly get more respect from the traffic when towing a trailer, even if it is empty.  And holy hell it is a solid workout.  It slows everything down quite a bit, esp with the mesh front (the clear rain shell makes it more aero).  After a weekend of no racing this monday is not a sub 100 HR day.  And with Thanksgiving coming up well there won't be much riding that day or probably friday so I've got to create some stress-response adaptation while i can and some how prep for Sterling.

The Damn weather forecast looks like it will be trying to entice Litka to race with mild temps.   I so love that race when it is 20 degrees and f'n cold.  So much better there when it is cold. But it will be what it will be and we'll make it work.

I wonder if Tom is out there today doing the monday course walk through design with his spray paint, tweaking the famous sterling course into some more awesomeness.  How many dismounts this year?  Stairs?  Horse Jump? Barriers at the bottom of the off camber? Can't wait.

heddwch
G

How is that for a statement.  And like pretty much any training advice it is more or less individual specific.

I can see it being good if you're still new to a sport, or if you take an extended time off the activity.  Specifically new being 3-5 years into it w/o more than two or three weeks without doing the activity (running, cycling, swimming whatever).  After a month or more off of the activity rebuilding a base is probably a good idea but depending on the history of how long you've been doing it and how old you are and a huge variation of factors you may need a bit of time working at an aerobic level before being able to jump to the more effective intensities.

Of course you can find some evidence to support any position you care to take.  I've been listening and reading for a long time.  And lately actively thinking about working out my own personal philosophy and putting it into practice.

Is it working? Depends on your metric.  But mine has been body fat/strength/and cyclocross results.  And only relative to intrinsic markers.  There are positive extrinsic feedbacks happening but those aren't what I'm basing success/failure on.

Yesterday Alex Hutchinson posted "The case against antioxidant vitamin supplements" over on his Sweat Science web log.  A short read with a few good quotes.  It seems I can't get the full article, only the abstract and reference list so I can't read the original source article. But it does bring up a good point.

The antioxidants may not be providing the benefit they are believed to.  Reducing the stresses you feel after a really intense workout is sort of like just doing the work at a less intense level.

Stress is needed.  If you don't push the limits as hard as you can, you don't bump up hard enough against them to push the body to make the physiological change to allow you to hit that wall again and eventually push the wall further away.  The Antioxidants can be thought to cushion the the wall. A safer-barrier to higher performance.

It seems logical.  Something I hadn't thought of too much before.  Granted I'm not a supplement freak, erring on the side of a waste of money that I don't have to spend on little/no gain.

Now maybe there is a benefit to be found racing with antioxidants that may allow you to bounce against the wall a couple days in a row racing w/o inducing major stresses that would take longer to recover from.  But then again, racing is in a way the best way to bounce against the wall and get faster.

This morning it got interesting with a bit of commentary from 'Neil' over at Zone 5 Endurance discussing Poliquin's 'article' (it isn't peer reviewed but it is cited, really should be a blog entry on a sales page) about The (Many) Negatives of Aerobic Training.

Skipping ahead to the bottom of Poliquin's original post it says:

3)    Take a Probiotic and Select AntioxidantsYou’ll help your body detoxify from diet and environmental pollutants(they cause inflammation), and lower cortisol from daily stressors. Check out my Primal Reds for antioxidants and my ProFlora Excellence DF Caps.  if you’re considering  a probiotic.

and well - I'm sure he's going to disagree about the whole supplement findings from the review Alex commented on.  He really goes into that one quite a bit over in part 2 on how to counter the negative aspects of AT.

Of course he does a good job of summarizing his post here:

Top Five Ways To Protect Yourself From the Negatives of Aerobic Training1)    Do strength and anaerobic training instead. 2)    Do strength training in addition to your aerobic training. 3)    Get lots of antioxidants: vitamin E, selenium, zinc, red raspberries, tart cherries, etc. 4)    Take creatine.5)    Take omega-3s.

Only problem I see is that he's selling stuff for 3,4, and 5 (original source has a link for creatine and omega-3s).  Now selling stuff isn't bad, but there doesn't seem to be a good balance in his commentary about the benefits/use/need of those supplements, more along the lines of "hey you really need this stuff, buy it from me."  The studies were good about showing decreased inflammation, but did they talk about increased performance?

Neil in fact concludes that Poliquin's references do kind of suck (he uses positive phrasing: "his references aren't all super-compelling,")

This all gets back to Alex's comment about how poor most of the primary research is with study design to test what really matters [getting faster/stronger].

And this gets me doing the bobble head nod everytime:

Whatever the supplement, training method, or piece of equipment you’re talking about, there’s nearly always a crappy, poorly executed study that seems to “prove” that it works.

So true.

Get back to the beginning GeWilli.  Oh yeah.

Eat real food.  Train super hard but putting a focus on recovery will allow your body to adapt to those stresses, reducing the stresses with anti-oxidants might in fact be counter productive.  And really it seems to keep coming back to Vaughter's Bicycling article about the four things you should never do.

Yeah I have yet to get to Plymouth Day 1 or 2 race reports.  Might get them up sometime this weekend.

So yeah - read those links - form your own opinion... but more importantly have fun with it.

heddwch
G

Yeah so I'm slacking. Race reports are hard to get out sometimes and then when they don't happen right away, well you kind of get the whole distance + apathy + not happening.

So Eco-Cross.  As a preface the plan was to make sure I didn't pull a NoHo day two lawn chair over the weekend.  Hoping to put together three days of racing at some level of consistency.

There is a bit of a choice for Eco-cross, which event to register for.  It is a pretty lightly attended race, which is good but also kind of sad because it is fun.  LOTS of fun.  A unique course.  Looking at the pre-reg page on Tuesday (when reg still closed at 5pm on Tues) it wasn't too bad.  No leg ripping pro's and with a slightly earlier time coupled with being the only race on the course at once I favored signing up for that.  Chip sealed the deal with his Cross Clash with Matt A and gave me the last push to sign up for the P/1/2/3.  I figured if nothing else me and Chip would be duking it out in the back.

Then Singmaster transfered into the P1/2/3 race and suddenly I felt some pressure.  Not going to lie.  Singmaster was killing me on the road.  I came close to him in the TT and he was riding cannibal (finished 10 seconds behind him in week 7 - his avg speed for the three races he did was 25.5, mine: 25.4).  And he was going well, never finishing outside of the top 10 in any of the Cat 4 races other than Gloucester this year.  He upgraded and well figured why not race me.  So here's a freshly minted Cat 3 with solid results kicking Cat 4 ass.  I'm a slow Cat 3 35+ racer, tagging in at the back end of the insanity that is the Elite 35+ races here.  It was on.

The Plymouth weekend always seems to go pretty well for me.  Either the competition or just the timing, things usually come together about now for my legs.  I did the triple last year and it wasn't so good, by Sunday I was screwed and had a pretty poor finish.

But back to Eco-cross.  Singmaster picked me up and we headed out.  Chatting for a bit then he popped on some tunes.  The opening chords had me reaching over and turning the volume knob up in his Truck.  F'yeah.  And then.

Then it got even better.

You can D/L the whole album.  And yes. It is worth it. So good. So many kick ass samples.  And fresh.  I hadn't come across it yet.

We pull into the Farm and find a prime spot behind Results boy's Fit and surrounded by the best of New England. Wilcox, McCormack, Hines, the Keoughs.  It was great.  We got there before the first race was about to go off.  We had about 10-12 minutes before the start, and despite needing to take a leak, I gave priority to getting on the course.  And we headed out just behind Mahk.  Curtis and I got just about a lap, maybe two before the 4 race took off.  It was the same old course but also has some great new wrinkles that made it pretty sweet.  That and it wasn't raining this year.  It poured like f'n crazy the day before but it was a dry morning (except for one passing bit of drizzle here and there).

Couple laps in, pull off the course as the first race is ready to hit the course.  And find Brier struggling with a front brake.  A bit of struggle with it, only to finally realize it was hosed, the plastic had busted on the spring cage.  Stupid design.  Oh and his drive side front brake pad was put in upside down.  Nothing we could really do and he missed his start.  A bit more fiddling after he got a number for our race and he eventually wound up racing without a front brake.  I guess it wasn't so easy to race for him with one back brake because he kind of mailed it in and finished 3 laps down to Luke.

Oh yeah - So Luke pre-registers and if Chip and Singmaster weren't in that race I probably would have dropped down to the 35+ open.  So glad I didn't.

We line up.  I take a close to back row start.  And we go off, and I tag in right behind the tag end of the 2s. And just freaking rip it up.  David Stacey had a poor start and was working through traffic and tried a sketchy pass only to crash.  But I was feeling pretty good sitting in.  For two laps I stayed at the end of the conga line.  Luke and company were stretching the front out but I wasn't getting too gapped.

The laps were short.  Really short.  I think probably 5 min or less for Luke K.  After two and a half laps of sprinting my ass off to hang on as the caboose I knew I was going to go thermonuclear if I didn't back it off a touch.  And I looked back, and shit. I had a decent gap.  On everyone behind. Singmaster and Baker and Stacey were just behind Matt but I could see with all the switch backs that Stacey was doing his thing working through people.  He reminds me of Timmie back when the 35s and 45s raced together.

Timmie Oshea would start mellow but just slowly go faster and faster passing people as the race went on.  Stacey does that.  Or seems to from my POV.  And sure enough.  After his first lap crash David was working up to me.

BUT

I was racing forward.

On the first pass through the barriers I caught a rock i my shoe preventing me from clipping in on the right foot.  Yeah.  it sucked.  I tried knocking it out by clipping in and out to no avail.  I could still pedal and it wasn't really not clipping in but it wasn't solid.  A couple times through the barriers and it wasn't coming out. So after the last hairpin on the up hill leading into the second pit entrance I just put my right foot on the top tube and picked the rock out and got pedaling again w/o coming to a stop.  And that was huge.  I could really dig into the pedals again.

After a bit I found myself with one of Matt A's team mates was right in front of me.  Dangling there.  And I was chasing him.  I wasn't paying attention to Stacey's progress as much as I was trying to hang with the Cambridge dude.  Pretty soon though Stacey came through, and then Luke lapped us on the way to lapping all but the top 10.  And I raced.  My.  Butt. Off.

Turn sprint.  Turn sprint.  I managed to carry more and more speed through the downhill gravity sections, finding the line I could run no brakes.  A huge leap for me.  I let it roll.

After Stacey went through he said "get on my wheel" and I tried.  I worked hard.  He stretched the gap out to about 10 seconds for a lap or two.  But with the leader doing 11 or 12 laps we were racing for 10-11 laps and that's a lot of laps.  We came around to get the bell with him about 5 second up from me and I knew I needed to pull him back.  And I pedaled and pedals and closed the gap, little by little.

Meanwhile I could see the Wilcox leading Results Boy getting closer and closer.  I wanted to stay in front of them.  I had the gap completely shut down as we turned right onto the finishing stretch there at the top of the hill and I sprinted...  Stacey knew I was coming and got a better launch, but I closed it down but not quite fast enough.  I needed another 10 yards or so to get the win, I lost the sprint but...

yeah but...

I crossed the line and hit the brakes and then freaking grabbed the brakes as Bill K was sitting there bike perpendicular the finishing chute on MY side of the course.  Shouted a warning as I was grabbing brake and he just sort of looked up as I came to a stop against his non-drive side of the wheel.  I was pretty much nose wheely'ing into him trying to stop with out t-bone'n his bike.  Son-of-a-bitch.  I said sorry and rolled around, and he started yelling at me "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING SPRINTING FOR LAST PLACE!" Um dude.  I wasn't last.  And even if I was last place I was sprinting to the finish to try and beat the person I had been racing the whole race.  It is a race.  And poor Bill chose a spot way too close to the finish chute to have a post race conversation with a friend.  I knew after watching the end of the first race that the run out was pretty long and with a downhill sprint, well speeds are high.  Anyway.  He was pissed and continued to yell and fume and blame me for "racing for last."  I was racing for 15th place.  I lost 15th place to David.  Once place behind Bill.  One small negative.

But as Geo pointed out, there was SO MUCH positivity from the race that nothing was putting a damper on how it went.  Tires held air. I smashed the hell out of a few rocks, tore through the mud, power slide on the slick turns and had a freaking BLAST.  Cool down ride with Stacey was good too.  He's been kicking my ass all season and to be that close in a tight race was huge.

So intense.  So awesome.  Singmaster and I booked out pretty quickly and we washed some bikes had some coffee and I got on with the rest of Friday.

And I ate.

And ate.  Ate food constantly and non-stop.

And even slept that night.

And then I headed over to Plymouth for the South for Saturday.  Fond memories there from 2008 when my youngest and I picked up Mark Nicholson and we raced. I beat Marvin for the first time there and Mark was 2nd in his race, and Lindsey announced after dropping Mark off that he was her favorite Mark.

Plymouth North (in 2007) was when Curtis and Dawn first introduced me to the quiet recluse living in VT.  It was cold and wet and everyone was hanging out in the school.  And the rest was history.

And I still have two more race reports to write.

I like this, right now I'm revisiting the post race glow from Friday.  That was F'n AWESOME.  Like totally completely awesome.  So good.  So good that I'm totally cool with missing Lowell this weekend (the activity list starting tomorrow and ending Sunday night is pretty f'n insane here at Casa GeWilli - nutter).

Cyclocross = so awesome.

heddwch
G

Video evidence of why it is a bad idea.


Busted spokes, he's lucky the crash was a minor as it was. Truth of the matter is that could have happened w/o aerobars. But not likely. Keep an eye out on those folks with sleeveless jerseys...

So the commute has changed.  Pretty dramatically.  Gotta see about borrowing a GoPro or something and just getting some footage of the new ride.

Problem is the drivers aren't used to cyclists on that stretch. Heck this city could be as anti-bike as you might find in the state despite having the best bike path in the region running through most of it.  Maybe the bike path helps reinforce the concept of bikes as luxury toys, things like your boat, an activity separate and distinct from normal daily life.  Riding a bike for transportation to get somewhere to get around certainly is pretty alien to folks it would seem.

For the most part the ride isn't bad.  Nearly all the cars are respectful.  But anyone on the road knows you don't remember the thousand cars that pass you without incident, honking or yelling.

You remember the one.

Today was not as good as yesterday with no honkers.  Had one honker.  I was actually waiting in the line of stopped traffic.  My logic? Traffic is going to start moving by the time I get three or four cars up and why make them all pass me again.  So I'm sitting there.  We start moving at about 5 mph.  And the guy behind me lays on the horn.  I look back and give the "I dunno what to say" gesture (sort of an open palm and shrug of the shoulders) and then match the speed of the car in front.  It is a slight down hill from that point.  And cars generally range in speed from the posted 35 up to about 45 with the rare numbskull trying to go faster.

Traffic is heavy but it gets moving and me along with it. get the spin up, downshift, smooth, leg speed, form, focus, stay on that bumper - but back far enough to see the potholes and manholes.  Pretty soon I'm out of cogs and have to spin up more.  And I hang onto that bumper well past the Dunkin Donuts.  The honker behind me pulls out into the left lane (it is a 4 lane road, 2 in each direction) and gives me no flack.  I would like to think maybe there was a measure of acceptance with my speed what ever it was (it is dark and I dunno how fast I was pedaling or going).  That or there was just plenty of space to pass finally.

I've been blissfully dissociated with this aspect of bike commuting for a while. The aspect of dealing with cars.

I can't wait to get back to the path but I think I will managed okay.  There is the problem of other mroe tentative commuters who use the sidewalk instead of the road.  Some of the less informed or more prone to assumption drivers might think all bikes belong on the sidewalk, and those commuters cruising on the sidewalk don't help with the acceptance.

The fact that the construction company is not cleaning up the roads isn't helping either.  But some people call these first world problems.  They probably are.

It does make me contemplate winter commuting, and riding at night and coming up with a list of suggestions about lights, and riding and safety and what not.  Lists of things that I see people do that could be tweaked for improved safety and visibility mostly.  I don't want to say they are doing it wrong.  Just getting on the bike and riding is enough of a good thing.  No negative label, positive suggestions and change.  Shoot. I'm sounding like JD or something now.

Gonna see about finding a GoPro to borrow.  I've tried shooting with the digi-cam, it don't work so well comparatively.

heddwch
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Photo Courtesy of Syl Loize.

I did love that section there.  And this was one course where it was a delicate balance between "green means go" and riding the brown stripe.  Some sections the green was faster and rolled faster, but the mud wasn't super tacky and the grass wasn't well compressed so the next section after this really was better in the groove, I tried it outside a few times, saw Mark McC ride the green but when I tried it the tires felt much slower and speed was harder to carry.  Not always the case.  Balancing grip and rolling resistance is what makes racing CX fun.  Finding a line that works...  Now a line that was faster in the green was the 180 behind the USAC official platform.

not yet - haven't pushed enough out of the way to get going on it.

heck that's more or less three.  but three of the best races this season.

I really do want to thank those who've been supportive and encouraging and positive.  It makes a different.  A big difference.  Thank you.

okay that happy fuzzy warm stuff is out of the way...

couple good articles out there today.

One from Alex H. at Sweat Science.
http://sweatscience.com/running-is-so-prone-to-these-sorts-of-trends/

takes more time to adapt to than most people expect.
Running, Cycling.  Same thing.  The older you are the longer the adaption phase (that's my thought - not from their article).

Running is pretty cool.  No bike frame to fit on or be improperly fit on.  And footwear does seem to play a big role in how your body adapts to the most efficient way to move forward.

The point isn’t that we shouldn’t do anything that isn’t “evidence-based” — life is complicated, and we inevitably have to make lots of decisions armed only with imperfect knowledge. But we should be aware of that, and not mistake our current guesses and hypotheses for “the one true way.”

I like that quote a lot.

And more cyclist targeted (but probably applies to all athletes) is the latest from Marv Zauderer over on PEZ.
Pre-Race Mental Preparation
---
The new commute sort of sucks, but it isn't too bad, or too much longer.  If they would just clear the debris off the shoulder things would improve significantly.  But someone here ran out of coffee. The afternoon training sessions will be pretty challenging without a tiny bit more #7.

This Otis Redding Pandora station is doing wonders for the few minutes I've been sitting her sporadically through out the morning.  Good stuff.

heddwch
G

What was the course like?  Didn't race it?

Check out Colin's bar cam footage.  Fortunately I was fast enough that he didn't lap me.  Close but not this year.  There are a few glimpses of me but very brief and nothing remarkable about it.

Course was tough, but so much fun.  A great mix of pedaling your brains out, turning, and pedaling your brains out.  A short course and yeah that plastic diamond treat stuff was wicked slippery.


Eco Cross Bar Cam from colin reuter on Vimeo.

Results from the day:  Bardwell was the last person on the lead lap, everyone else was 1 lap down, Brier was 3 laps down not really racing with a busted front brake. A couple DNFs at least.  I thought there were three Keoughs in the race... but not on the results.

1. Luke Keough
2. Kevin Hines
3. Mark McCormack
4. Adam Snyder
5. Synjen Marrocco
6. David Wilcox
7. Colin Reuter
8. Jeffery Elie
9. Don Seib
10. Richard Bardwell
11. Chad Wells
12. John Peterson
13. Andrew Krulewitz
14. Bill Kenney
15. David Stacey
16. Geoff Williams
17. Matt Aumiller
18. Ian Whittle
19. Curtis Singmaster
20. Chip Baker
21. Michael Brier

Did I ever.  This weekend was flat out spectacular.  No, no winning money or what not.  But wow what a great weekend racing.  Matt A, Chip, Singmaster, Wilcox, Mahk McC, Stacey, Brooks, hell everyone out there.  Such an amazing weekend.

I felt good.  Felt almost fast, more importantly I was able to go hard.  Not perfect, could have been better potentially, esp on Saturday, but over all. The weekend? SO...  MUCH...  FUN!

Full report(s) hopefully sometime this week.

keeping positive right?  Esp now that I've just gone and flabbergasted the domestic gods by registering for Eco-Cross, AND both days of Plymouth!   Well my rationalization is that I'm not racing next weekend.  Take NoHo, only riding wed this week, add three big races and then take two weeks off going into Sterling, and just shred the last couple weekends.  Makes sense?

No I didn't think so either, but well, I have to cram it all in man.

So back to the post title:

7. Best advice for racers? 

Do what you can, when you can, and know that winning doesn’t feel any different than losing. Just get out there, ride hard, rip the turns, and enjoy the escape.

I like it.  Although I'm not really that familiar with what Winning feels like, but the couple times I have won, it is true, it didn't feel any different.   Day 1 at NoHo was a win for me. Solid and awesome.  Now.  I just have to remember to STUFF MY FACE WITH AS MUCH FOOD AS I CAN until after the race on Sunday.

okay - be good - stay positive and all that new age hippie shit that is supposed to help with mental outlooks and what not

heddwch
G

The whole Chris McDougall phenomenon is interesting to watch.

Of course he has the big book.  Then recently a NYT article.
Good follow ups from both Alex Hutchinson 1 2 and Pete Larson 1 2  (they have multiple blog entries on the subject).

Bramhall has a good tumblr with some good links like the one about rowers making good cyclists. I'll tell ya why they make good cyclists.  All those years of looking at where they've been, never looking forward.  Put them on a bike and suddenly they are seeing the world in a whole new light and it is a most awesome way to look at it.  That joy drives them.  That's why they are successful at transitioning from rowing to cycling.

good reading from the weekend:
http://www.chasing120.com/
http://exit17.net/
http://untilthesnowends.blogspot.com/
http://mudstache.blogspot.com/
http://velocb.blogspot.com/

there are of course other web loggers with good stuff to read from the Northampton Race weekend with the kick ass running of the 21st annual CSI cx race...  and don't forget to catch all of the insane video coverage Thom Parsons put together on http://www.cyclingdirt.org/ dig up the Cycle-Smart Day 1 and 2 coverage.  Some very entertaining interviews and reports.  Fortunately there is no interview with me this year.

Yes it is Lunch time. An honestly I'm needing some inspiration for cooking, some new recipes/combinations to try out.  Not sure what direction to turn...

well now to finish lunch.

or go outside.

people are tweeting that it is a nice day. maybe I'll leave the desk for a few minutes.

heddwch
G

For the last 4 years I've been heading to the annual benefits fair here at the picture factory.  And I've been getting some numbers collected.  The blood work is somewhat variable and according to my doc w/o fasting pretty meaningless (so I made sure I fasted today).

My numbers aren't bad in that regards, HDL is good enough to be good.  Last couple years they've been doing the bone density thing but not this year - (no chance to see if there is a trend or a change) also no vision screening.  At the docs for the tire kicking the eyes seemed remarkably improved over last year.  Variability.

So what trend is most interesting?  The Body Fat one.


Even without clicking on it there's a pretty clear trend.

In 2008 going into the 25hours of Great Glen (yeah 25 because that's how many hours I rode) I stopped drinking coffee.  I had stopped drinking coffee two months before the test time above.  The time points are all early november of the respective years.

Hard to make a trend, but that still is 10% of my life so far, I call it significant.  The slope from '08 to '10 is surprisingly consistent.  And the drop down to the 5% body fat range this year is pretty sweet.

A certain jackass turd ferguson tried to point out that I'm still slow.  But I'm not as slow as I was last year, so I say I'm faster than before and being lighter has helped.  No.  Having single digit BF% isn't the secret to going fast, it is only a small part of it.  One other trend is this year I have about 3# more lean muscle mass.  So not only did the fat go down but the muscle went up.  (I'll call that significant beyond the error range).

Coffee.  Yes.  Coffee = skinny GeWilli.  the no beer thing helps too.

And probably hurt me this weekend.  Instead of downing a thousand calories of alcohol I drank water.  Dumb.  Should have eaten 10x more.  This skinny = no back up reserves to mobilize.  Gotta eat.

Weight has stabilized lately around the 190 range +/- 2 pounds.  Over the last few years my weight has a weekly/daily trend during race season in a 4# range, from fully hydrated and full of food and poop to dehydrated and empty.  Yes.  I'm always full of poop, somethings never change.

The three cups of coffee I had before the BP check probably didn't help those numbers at all.  Oh well.  I'm not dead yet.

heddwch
G

So good.  Here

The temptation to yell back is very strong.  A hard one to resist.  But that's the challenge, and a good challenge. Break the cycle of anger don't turn the gain up on the feedback loop.  Be the offset.  The negative offset specifically (negative as in the scientific term meaning to decrease, or reduce).

Esp important for me to internalize now that my bike path and a Nationally recognized bike path is completely torn up to run a sewer underneath it.  Not only is it torn up but the city has decided deliberately to not post any signage regarding alternative bike routes (or so it seems, that is the only way it can be interpreted as I have many friends who have contacted them about this situation).  AND on top of it all?  They are doing sewer and gas work under the road and ripping it up and closing lanes on the only road that connects one end of the path to the other.

Yes.

Only one alternative road that doesn't involve adding 3-5 miles on even busier roads.  Of course I could always just ride up into Seekonk and add 10 miles each way.  But when time is critical...  those options are not really on the table.

This whole driving thing is not so much fun, esp in the rusty race wagon.

heddwch
G

I might be more wrecked than I thought.  I just got up to pour another cup of coffee and that hurt

a lot

didn't pedal in, drove in early to help my brother unload two stacks of wall board for an hour (he had a boom truck delivery and needed all hands to get it unloaded and put into rooms in a very short time window). might have to get some pedaling in later tonight maybe on the trainer after dinner.   Or i just sleep.

probably just sleep.

a nap sounds good right now.

--

well after moving the car and running back to the office (walking is too slow)...  i felt better.

Then I needed to head up and change a bulb on the 3rd floor.  These floors are like 20' each.  And I started on the basement (of course - that's where I work - basement, no windows).  Started my normal two step 'sprint' up.  Got to the 1st floor and slowed down a touch.  By the time I hit the second floor my legs were hosed and that's all that was left in there.

Kind of like when you drain the battery on the drill, but ya have to pull the batt out of the charger before you get the green light and it dies right in the middle of the last screw.  Sort of how my legs felt heading up the stairs.

I ain't got the quick charge plug in here.  Battery was like those Trek E-bikes out of the box.  So dead that you have to monkey with them to get them to start taking a charge.

Working hard to stay on the positive side. no negative tweets or G+ posts.  had to stop myself a few times today.  Seems to be helping.

Also have to figure out how to fix me for days like day 2's course. how to ride that better.  might just need some driving lessons.

Wow.  What a weekend.

For me, I had a great race on Saturday.  That course amplified my strengths and didn't expose my weaknesses too much.  Sunday, more or less the opposite.  But it really wasn't the course as much as other things.

It is a great venue. I love that run up on day 1 and the ride up.  Those should be a part of every race version there.  It had flow for me on day 1.  day two wasn't terrible but I fucked up the sand on two separate laps, crashed hard into the right knee drawing blood and got some air time from Richard Fries "WILLI IS DOWN WILLI IS DOWN" I still have tread block stripes on the medial side of my right knee and a bit cut across the patella.  That hurt and tweaked a muscle just below the shoulder blade somehow.  Second time through I some how caught a pedal on the entrance to the second pass and catapulted my left knee into my bar plug.  Except I missed my knee and planned the end of the bar firmly in the medial quad.

Two F'ups in the sand, two nights of shitty interrupted sleep, and I think Chabot was f'ing with us and brought decaf coffee in his machine because the headache I woke up with (no beers even on Saturday) never went away.  Well until I plowed 10,000 calories into my belly, and took a nap before going to bed.

I was so wrecked I went to bed at 6pm.  But the squirrels had other plans and woke me up and I climbed out on the roof a couple times.  Being as wrecked as I was it was a struggle fitting through the half opened bathroom window out onto the shed addition.  I think the stupid tree rats are actually stuck in the house now.  Kind of worse than leaving it open and having them run in and out.  I hate the damn squirrels.  End of the night I was still tired but feeling more normal.

My knees are really sore, my lower back was killing me with two laps to go and started sucking watts and mental concentration.  Got to the course with only time to get 1/2 a lap in before the 3/4 women started.  Saturday I got two laps in before their race.  And again for some reason I only managed 1 and a short section of a pre-ride before the 45+ race started.  When I got 2 and a bit the day before.  Warm up was fucked up.  Headache was bugging me.  No amount of coffee seemed to be helping, just one of those times when my body just wanted to curl up and sleep.  It sucked.  And it was warm.  Hell I unzipped the skinsuit most of the way during the race I was so hot.  As on the game as I was Saturday I was off the game sunday.  Saturday I beat the race predictor by 8 places, Sunday I conceded three places but there was a guy with 516 Crossresults points in the race and so everyone was boned points wise because of him.  So that really kind of just rubbed more sand in the open wound of how much of a bummer Sunday was.  And of course the girls never do well with a full weekend of me gone, esp this time of year with as much going on as they have going on.  I don't know if I can do these doubles away anymore.  Might have to take a card from Coach Kurt soon, as in Lowell weekend soon. Actually it will likely be a break before Sterling.

Eco-cross is Friday, then there are the two days of Plymouth.  So potentially I can pack two weekends of racing into one weekend.  Saturday's options are both two hours away and Sunday is completely out of the question.

But NoHo 2011, all in all a fantastic race.  I wish I'd been able to pull my shit together.  I was holding off a group of 4 until we crossed the finish line to take the bell and they all motored past me in a section I usually am strongest in (not a good sign).  And I held on to their wheel until we got into the trees. I was just riding that poorly through there. If I'd been able to hold that position I'd have finished 46th and maybe even caught Gary A.  But I blew it and then two more guys came through and poof 6 places in one lap and I had no answer.  The only consolation? Their cross results points sucked too, even if I had 46th it still would have been for disappointingly shitty points.  But it was racing.  I was racing dudes and getting my ass kicked.  So could have used a driver for the way home.

Swung through my brother's farm and picked up a section of hardware cloth and said hey, headed home, up on the roof, stapled the shit in there.  Was tough though.  Car was good.  At I-90 speeds even.  Still took a long time.  Staying up there was the right call, even if having dinner at The Dirty Truth and NOT drinking kind of sucks.  Wait. I did that last year.  Although last year I had enough High and Mighty beer before dinner that it didn't suck so bad.

I'm a wreck.  A complete and total wreck.  In a good way.  Yesterday afternoon it didn't feel so good.  But hey Curtis had a great ride both days, and he's just so god damn positive and happy all the time. That's pretty awesome.

Another awesome moment was Myerson saying "I can be emotional you know."  Yes, Adam, we know, it is okay.  Like Fatmarc said "most of us are all emotional, you have to be to race for 20-40th place like we do."  Oh this is a great interview.  Tom kicked ass covering the race this weekend.

In reflection here on Monday morning it really was  a great weekend.  I so want Tom's sprinter/VW.  That thing looks H O T hot.

Eco-cross registration closes tomorrow at 5pm.  People are going to be complaining if they miss it, like last year.  Of course if I go I need to remember too, that $10 late fee is a good incentive to pre-reg.

Once I dig through the camera photos i might add a few up here or there.

heddwch
G

So driving up to Canton I kept thinking about things I forgot to toss in the car.  It was a hap-hazard departure being so close.

Rear fender.  Not knowing how many puddles were out there I always like to toss my Planet Bike Flipper Rear in the car to keep the ass dry while doing pre-rides. But I forgot it.  Didn't matter, only one real puddle and there was a somewhat dry line for pre-ride.

Jacket. Got a new wicked fancy jacket from the Cyclocrossracing.com team before the race and well it would have been nice to have.  Didn't have it.  Was f'n COLD after the race.

Shit - just remembered a 5th thing.  BOOTS.  I got some super nice wicked warm boots (on sale somewhere, REI maybe).  They would have been nice post race stomping through the wet grass.

Gloves.  Not the warm ones (brought those), not the race ones (brought those).  No, the embro putting on gloves...  Yes it was finally cool enough to slather up with my favorite stuff from Mad Alchemy. Running the JPow blend from last year.  So cinnamony good. And nice and hot.  I sort of was an idiot and didn't really make an effort to get it all off the legs in the shower, just the dirt.  Well the legs were on fire sleeping.  Very weird sensation.  So anyway, had to slather up with bare hands.  After chopping habaneros on a regular basis my hands seem pretty immune to the burn.

Clif Shot.  I got there without packing Macca's Favorite: Double Espresso.  So I just drank coffee up until just before the start.  Seemed to work okay.

Today well, I am sitting  here writing because I forgot to grab a few gloves for the embro application for this weekend.  BUT I've got the car packed with most everything but the bike and race day and over night bags.  Oh and shoes.  Pre-ride warm LG cycling boots, the Bontrager racing shoes and my warm post race stomping boots.

But the back of the car finally got sort out and organized.  Tools corralled.  The canvas tool bag tipped over unloading from canton and spilled a bit of the few tools left in the bag around the back, so clean up and organize time.  EZ-Up is loaded for tent row.  Trainer and pump and tools neatly tucked in.

I had the chance to get it all done this afternoon because the youngest wasn't feeling well enough to stay at school.  So I rode home.  Called my sub 25 min time trial 'openers' (yeah baby - under 25 minutes even with the over the road detour - yeah bike path is closed and starting to get ripped up).  Changed, jumped in the car and went to get the sick one (she seems to be doing fine - resting and napping).

We made a bit of lunch, watched Despicable Me, and napped.  A phone call woke me up and heck it was nice out so then I got the car all set to go.  A nice change of plans.  Even managed to get the Deltron 3030 album ripped to a CD so I could listen to it in the car on the way north.  Haven't figured out how to pull this CD player yet to see if there is a line in somewhere in the back so I can just hook the iPod up, so for now it is still CDs.

Oh have to remember the EZ-pass transponder too.  Dang.  Forgot that for the trip to Concord.

I'm sure I'll forget something.  But with luck it won't be anything critical to actually racing or something that can't be sourced or borrowed once up there.

And with a snappy little camera I should be able to get a few photos from this weekend to break up all the damn text i've been tossing on up here.

Heddwch
G

For real.  Getting serious.

Big weekend.

Needed distraction.

maybe words or photos later

camera acquired

new commute - no more bike path for 6 months

washed bike and lubed chain tonight.

felt good to get canton off the bike.

no pedaling today

tired

low coffee day too

sleep

heddwch
G

Relative Risk in Cycling

Commuting and your health (aka ride a bike)

Bittman's Lotsa Links (from the 28th)

From that is Adam Platt's take on Food on the TV. Alas without cable TV or a paid subscription service like NetFlix I only see what is on the big digitally broadcast networks that come in over the rabbit ears.  And I'm okay with that.  Because if I had access to those shows i'd be sitting in front of the TV way more than I am now.

yeah that's all i got today - new commute, not so bad, not as good as old one.

might try and privateer the old way on the way home tonight (mostly because i have camera with me *yes*)

okay

heddwch
G

Source: http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v64/i10/p48_s1