a whole lot of nothing.

been staring at a blank composition page for the whole day.

got as far as uploading the few shots it took on my flip phone.

writing about it?

not so much

will write about it later, will pull pictures off my dumb phone later (my phone is so dumb it can't even send or receive picture messages)...

But man it was great having Brian along. He patiently waited for my totally cracked bonked dead butt to drag myself behind him all the way down Bay.  I haven't done that in a long time.

Saw some of the best people in the bike biz on the trip, had coffee with THE JLSCX at Barrington Roasters.

more details - wheels pushed to the limit and beyond

time to go unfuck some microscopes

first i get to see if i can pedal still

not a short day despite the short mileage, riding like a pokeyass noob doesn't help much

heddwch
G

today was the second day commuting 2x as far as usual.
tomorrow the ride will be a bit longer.

going to go get some coffee.

good coffee

from a place that draws a pretty damn near perfect espresso.  i just hope this one is going to be as good as the last one i had there.

tired and boring route, new company along for the ride and that makes it okay.

never a good time of the year here on GeWilli dot com.  some who've been reading for a while will understand...

Cyclocross starts soon. Drive trains still need to be replaced on the bikes - a few other minor mechanical issues to work out

then

we're ready

at least the bikes will be ready

even if the legs won't be

checking why one of the spokes was making noise in the rear wheel (the only training racing clincher) and i discovered it is cracked from impact, nice clean stretch crack from the top edge of the brake track, through the center of the eyeletted spoke hole and to the other side.

well at least i brushed the rust off my wheel building skillz...  I'd prefer to find another Sun ME14A so i don't have to thread spokes or re-lace them.  It is one thing to have access to the spoke inventory at a place like Velocipede Peddler in East Lansing, when creating something new, that or just ordering what you need from from a distributor is the new thing but waiting stifles the creativity and opportunity, esp when there isn't a 4' row of unlaced rims to choose from. (okay maybe it was only 3' and less than that after they moved from the strip to the 'new' building).

The Sun rim lasted this long, if i can get a second one it should last at least 1/2 as long and if so that's decent enough.  The hub is an old FH-1056, kind of dated but you know what? It still works. Has taken a flogging and still rolls along so smoothly.  Swapping the rim over is the easiest and preferred, but the rim has an oddball ERD (603).  But that's actually probably close enough to an Open Pro (602) to make the swap over.

Anyone have a[nother] 32 h open pro laying around unlaced collecting dust?  JLS hooked me up a billion years ago when I wore the brake track down on the old Open Pro predecessor.  Wearing shit out.

it is what GeWilli does best.

time to go get a new piece of plastic with my face on it before the old one expires - fun times at the RMV/DMV/Purgatory.

i picked up a pair of wheels from Il Bruce six years ago. Some black 105 hubs laced with double butted wheelsmith spokes to a pair of CXP21s.  Low profile and I chewed right through that back wheel towing a trailer.  Pulled a few nipples through the rim.

I did not race today.  Many did.  A regular feature character on this web log did, for the first time, toe the line.

We helped a bit on thursday, today he raced...  and all I can answer with is the quote from Pure Sweet Hell:

People who don't do it, don't quite understand it.
People who do, know, intrinsically, as soon as you try it you are hooked on it.
Once you race cross, it is hard not to.

Yes.

Truth.  He sent a short simple text to me after his first CX race: "That shit was fun!"

Yes, another convert. You have to do it yourself. You have to toe the line yourself.  And when you do, and it clicks.  You know it.  Intrinsically.

Honestly...

It was hard not to race today.  But that is very much tempered by the fact that the season is not short, and August is still just wrong to start racing cross.  I guess.  Resultsboy suggests that we're not far off from having cyclocross year round. I don't know about that.

Watch the trailer. 

Truth. There are better things to do when the weather is nice.

But when the weather turns miserable.  Cold.  Wet.

There isn't anything I'd rather be doing than racing cyclocross with this band of like minded lunatics here in New England.

I can feel it. This might be pre-season, and if it gains us a few more converts into the fold, I'm okay with August cross.  But I will not condone racing this time of year, I will not race this time of year.

But man I can't wait...

heddwch
G

Rare moment, girls don't have school, worked remotely for a while, then, took a nap.

So I'm sleeping, and in the dream I open up a power point presentation and this horrid repeating screeching starts.  Huh?  That sounds wrong.  In the dream I take the presentation up to the seminar room and see if it does the same thing there.  Yup.

Man that's annoying.  Trying to figure out what the hell is going on.  Find that it is an embedded sound in the power point.  Wow.  That's crazy.

Wake up to a bird making that same sound...  outside.  It was more annoying awake and outside my window than it was when I was dreaming about it.

so, i've noticed a trend, and it is biggest in the Cyclocross line.

A bit bike company, in Wisconsin, that is nearly universally shunned or at least second guessed by all but the king doper ball licking fan club (who are hard pressed to be called cyclists) is doing something clever.

In one of their lines.  One very particular line.

It is sneaky. And brilliant.  No one wants to ride their bikes, but hey, they have to sell bikes, or at least get people to ride them.   SOOOOO

lets make the logos invisible.

lets save the riders embarassment until people get close, if that.

"Hey graphics department, design the paint scheme and logos so you can't tell what brand the bike is, total stealth. If no one can tell what you're riding, then we'll sneak in some credibility without resorting to strong black and yellow color schemes."

Look at the Cyclocross frames.  All of them.  Katie's photo by her frame sponsor, HER SPONSOR TOOK THE PHOTO and you have no idea what she's riding.  Look at the Cronus in your LBS, can you tell what the brand is until your sticking your face between the main triangle?  Nope.

You can't.

At first i was incredulous.  Like Nike pulling all their logos from everything.  No swoosh.  Izod making polos without a little embroidered status symbol.  It didn't make sense.  Here's your chance at free marketing.  People see bike, people see brand, ADVERTISING.

Odd.  At first.  But when you look at the fact that they backed the wrong horse in the Lemond battle, destroyed the only aluminum production brand with value and a unique product and turned the sweetest most evolved technically awesome mt bike brand into a catch all component group from high end wheels down to the last inner tube and streamer, well, you do things differently.

They make good bikes.  People like their bikes.  It is a recognizable brand.

They dumped tons of capital into the brand, touting US MADE and actually making shit in Wisconsin.  Then they caved to the fiscal pressure and the lure of off shore profit potential.

This new twist is interesting. To complete the circle they need to drop the brand for all the mountain bikes, put the GF logo all over them, no they aren't our's they are GF's.  Instant sales.  Maybe that's the 2014 phase of the plan. Unlabel all Cyclocross bikes, then transition to GFs in the Mt Bikes.  Who knows what's next.  Just please don't put the Klein label on the current aluminum stuff.

heddwch
G

put the clinchers back on a set of wheels for tonight's Cyclocross practice (Haines Park Boat Launch area 6pm ish).  They were on for RdR3.0 but haven't been since.

Put them on the TT wheels.  Yes. I will be rocking the wheel cover/disc (no sticks in the spokes for me!).  Hopefully the 9sp cassette that was on the QPro is worn similarly to the drive train on the SP right now.

We'll see...

Focused on positive yesterday.  Day didn't suck.

this song... hits to my core... not so much in the literal sense. I'm blessed, but that blessing hasn't happened w/o work. I don't need a dollar... but it is a compelling bit of song writing.

George Redman died last week.  He was the whole reason the East Bay Bike Path was created, he fought successfully against all the NIMBYs and paved the way for the rest of the many paths in this little state.

The Washington Bridge is closed now, to build a linear park that will carry his name and ensure his legacy is not forgotten.  He made it long enough to see the start of construction on a critically needed safe link for cyclists from Providence to East Providence.  The linear park should be spectacular.

There is rumor and discussion about having a type of memorial ride, like the ride of silence, the length of his bike path he made possible with countless hours and dedication to a cause.

Staring down the barrel of Cyclocross, wonder just how and when i'm going to get prepared.  Always happens. This is always the most insane part of the year.  So many new schedules to balance and every year it gets worse.  Ballet (now 5 nights a week this year), Soccer (2 nights + Sat games), school starting, work schedules, late days, weekends, start of the year department retreats, over load of requests for training...

No wonder my plan to have a clinic fell through last year...  I just don't have the time. or when I do no one else does.

Going to see if I can make it work. A lot will be up to the shop and schedules there, if nothing else maybe next sunday morning. Or i just say fuck it and ride home - ditch the bag/trailer grab the EX with tires on it and go motor around Haines park myself.

First race for me will be Quad cross.  Need to register I suppose.  Then some how I have to figure out how to get up to VT...  rusty race wagon probably needs the annual oil change before the season starts.

Like every year it seems i'll be doing what I always do. Hang on for dear life at the start of the season and work into racing shape by November.  Resigned to it now.  I don't love to race any less, but always wonder what it might be like to come into the season fit and fired up and prepared...

The vacation was good - head's slowly getting sorted out a bit.

Brunch snack time here.  Gotta cut up some carrots so the youngest can eat some hummus (her request).  This batch was made with orange juice instead of lemon juice, different, just as good....

Bike room needs some re-shuffling, a transition from TT bike and tandem riding to all CX.  Wheelsets need to be set up for road and cx and commuting.  I'll get to it sometime.  Maybe by October.

heddwch
G

The loss of a friend is tough. Esp to a freak accident that at first seemed deeper and darker than it was. The coroner's official cause of death was by accidental asphyxiation.  It doesn't change the fact that he is gone, and there's a rather large void left.

People die, life ends.  It is what happens.  Accidents happen that exact the ultimate toll all the time.  None of us make it through this life with any accumulation of years w/o losing a friend in some way.  The certainly of the occurrence never seems to lessen the pain though does it.

There is a very eloquent mutual friend who wrote a few words, and I am feeling inclined to publish them here, giving full credit to Bruce for writing them, they are not my words, but they capture a bit of the essence of our friend Doug.

Like most of us here, I’ve been thinking a lot about Doug- or rather- ‘imp.  I’ve always thought of Doug in the shorthanded nickname of his on-line identity in this forum, Papaimp.  As I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, and only knew him through these forums, Doug's always going to be “Imp” to me. 

Like a few others in those forums, Imp was a MacGyver.  That’s a term of admiration, if not affection.  For those who had better things to do in the late 1980’s, MacGyver was a television character- an ersatz secret agent, who could use his wits, and whatever else he may have had at hand, to craft technical solutions to assist with his escape from the bad guys.  So, using things like a nail file, duct tape, a couple of nine-volt batteries, and the shavings from a bicycle seat post, MacGyver would create rocket fuel or some such thing to further his escape.   Using disparate found objects to create something wondrous was the hallmark of MacGyver, and that tradition seems to carry on in some of us- especially with Imp.. 

Imp was always collecting thrown away things, and either restoring them to their original use, or repurposing them into something useful.  Mankind hasn’t yet discovered two objects that Imp couldn’t weld together.  I think he could braze water on to wine, if asked to do so (brass monkeys would never fear the cold of winter, with Imp around).  He was of constant cheer, and at his happiest, at least it seemed when he was re-working some found object into something better. 

In one of his last posts, he wrote of converting an old wooden walking stick into a handle for a shovel.  In this day and age, most of us would simply purchase a replacement handle, or buy a replacement shovel, or perhaps just sit in a comfortable chair and consider just why we needed a shovel in the first place- until some other shiny object distracted our attention.  But not Imp.  Using a series of tools (and not necessarily the right tools, but the tools he had at hand) he worked on that walking stick until he had remade it into a functioning handle for that shovel.  Along the way, he developed an appreciation for why a good farmer takes care of his tools; about how physically difficult such a seemingly simple task was, and also had the joy of a kid at Christmas, as he realized that he now had another excuse to add to his collection of slightly used tools. 

And while Imp was a character, he was of great character.  He worked through the week delivering pizzas- and while some might think there wasn’t much to be gained from such menial labor, Imp seemed to gain a better understanding of the human condition. Yeah, it wasn’t brain surgery- he was delivering pizza- but throughout his day he seemed to learn from the people he encountered, and the people around him, and he was able to distill and combine those things that he took away, into an essence- and a philosophy on life, that seemed to suit him well. 

He cared deeply for his wife and his kids, and did all he could to bring things together for them- from odd jobs working around the house, to making things for his kids, to forever fixing and re-fixing various cars- and with the turn of the wrench, or the click of a torch, he shared his joy in solving those problems, and making good what was broken. 

For many of us who only know of Imp through the electrons and binary bits of information, his passing has just been a shock- and more than just a virtual kick in the stomach.  I’ve tried to get my head around the understanding of how and why Imp came to mean so much to so us, and I’ve come to realize that in much the same way he was MacGyvering the ordinary objects of life, he was MacGyering us, as well.  Imp had a knack for bringing just the best parts of each of us, and combined those things in a way that from time to time created something better.  It’s said that there are unseen hands in this universe, which guide and shape us as we wobble through life. I think some of those hands belonged to Imp.

The wildfires here in Northern California have been pretty bad, and of late the sky is so thick with smoke and ash that you could chew on it.  Coming up the ridge to work this morning, I kept looking at the sun, muted by the acrid clouds- the haze has just been terrible.  At some point, the fire will subside, and the wind will blow, and from those ashes of what was consumed and redistributed will be the basis something new, and that something will perhaps grow into something better than what it was before.  I think that’s the way Imp would have wanted it.

Godspeed, Imp.  I’ll think of you every time I feel the late wind of summer, as an eternal MacGyver creates something better, from what once was.

The internet is a strange place to make friends.

Doug was a friend.  A very good friend.

Writing those words has unleashed a flood of tears.

So I'm here, sitting down to a quiet final day of vacation, looking out over the sound, sipping a coffee, working on resetting before heading back to the madness of regular life...

I stop by the water cooler, a forum, full of a group of people I've been friends with for over 10 years. We're a diverse bunch, but it is a tight group and as I checked in...  i read this:

"Jan came home from church tonight to find Doug hanged, in his workshop. He died between 1910 and 2005 hrs. I have no other details right now, but will post back, if/when I learn anything.
-Ray"

This morning's ride that I was going to write about, the close call, nearly eating it when I turned left and someone to my left didn't...

The photos from the ride in, writing about the food I made and where I ate it after I got back...

Doug...

Seems so out of character, surprising...  I'm still in shock, we all are.

We lost another of out small group years ago to pancreatic cancer....  that was expected, but still tough. This is worse.

It always is.

I don't have many more words at the moment, i certainly can't do the man justice writing today - if ever.

so many words - backspace, write, erase, write, erase - all seem unfit, incomplete

,
,
,

as an update - maybe it was a freak accident...  doesn't change the fact that he's no longer among the living, doesn't change the grief at his loss...

"You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.”
-Julia Child

100 today

eat some butter - good French style butter, not this shitty cheap american crap that is hard to avoid

Groundhog day down here.  Get up 4:45am, make coffee, roll out on bike just after 5am, meet up at Food Lion and ride pretty hard for 90 min or so, ride back.

sleep? over rated

who needs it...

So yeah, I joked earlier today that I only agreed to come down here because I knew there was a solid group ride that left every morning at 5:30 am

not sure i was joking, without it...  well i'd probably figure out how to make it work but it would be more challenging maybe more frustrating.

As it is now, my legs are destroyed from today, haven't ridden that hard in a while.  Wasn't anything impressive really, a few solid pace ramps, a few sprint lines, and what seemed to be just easy rolling riding and talking up there in the Southern Shores.  Maybe we were poking along, it was me, Matt and Gary and one other after the light on 158 after the first sprint point.  The one other dropped off after we headed north and started to pick up speed.  I rotated through the pace line, but man i was at a decent limit, legs felt rusty, ending all carboned up. Not good.

After the Kitty Hawk town line sprint (one of the segments - the bay drive push) I sort of opened up.  Felt better.  I didn't try and sprint for the final one on The Woods before we hit 158.  But I tagged along.  I need to work on my spin a bit i guess, esp since I kept shifting only to find I was still in the 12 and there's nothing smaller to go.  Me showing up at a pancake flat sand bar with a 46t big ring.

Hitting the little "hills" in Southern Shores actually felt good, no effort.  But when i got back I felt the ride.  Deceptively hard.  That or i'm really fucking out of shape.

Good group.  I'd get lost in that Southern Shores mess if I didn't have a guide. Check Matt's ride here or Gary's.  Man Gary had a long ride, sort of envious, i only add 10 miles to Matt's distance with where we are staying.

Can't wait for the morning. Also did that ride in the dripping sweat with 1/2 a small bottle of water.  No food, and only one swig of iced coffee before I left.  Maybe that explains the slightly sluggish feeling in the first couple sprints.

Maybe tomorrow the sensations will be better.

But feels silly talking about that when Myles and Adam are articulating serious shit.  I've been accused of using too much vinegar when i should use honey, JD likes to say you can get more flies with Honey, but sadly you usually catch more with vinegar.  In this case, I never saw the original rant but man it must have been beyond sour and right into the poison category based on how Myles and Adam and Mo and the rest piled on.  Huge props to Myles and what he said here.  There is some back story, and other stuff over in face place.  It is a good question. If you get the prize money will people show? Not always.  Get people to show first then build the prize list based on attendance? Chicken and the Egg thing.  What do you do, how do you make it work.

Title 9 is what I grew up with.  Sort of. I watched collegiate programs shift to have to balance participation, I saw it as a good thing.  But it didn't solve the inequity completely.  Participation.  Important.

Grown and build.  It is a process.  I like what the trend is with the swelling of the 3/4 women's race.  And yes people need to move up, to advance to the big girls race to make that work, or the back end will get discouraged and the top will wither.

The governing body doesn't do much to help with the equality and they almost seem to do less to push people to upgrade when they have the points.  They can only do what they can do, not knocking them, without them it would be different.

Cross is on all our minds.  All the time pretty much.

And that's a good thing.  Guys like Paul B think about it all year.  It takes a whole year to make this stuff work.  Same level of work goes into Magical Strings Celtic Yuletide Concerts.  There might be a week or so after w/o thinking about next year but often there is less than that.  I'm not unfamiliar with the process of making something monumental come off perfectly.  Mostly from the sidelines, but i notice stuff.  It is a flaw how much I notice.  It is what it is.

Thanks promoters.  Thanks for what you do.  Thank you for giving purpose to my pedaling

heddwch
G

forgot where i got the link to this particular strip...  but, I don't have anything to do either.

The reset button.  I'd steal an image of one and put it up here but NickCZ would get pissed at me for stealing images.

Granted that's what Tumblr is anyway, steal/reshare, you're luck if you can trace it back to the creator.

Long day yesterday, having some absolute quiet right now...  just me.  Nothing to do.  Not working for the first Sunday in over a month, didn't work for the first Saturday in longer.  Burning the candle at both ends and the middle lately.  Paying the price too.

I can see a tangible benefit to it, at some point I won't have to keep doing it because I have to, I might be able to step back and do the extra because I want to.  Maybe some day.

Got a nice pre-dawn easy spin out of the way first thing, pancakes made, cleaned up, shaved...  now i have time to put my feet up, relax, have a beer, and just tune out.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to hit a decent ride.  We'll see if anyone shows up.

This morning just as I was getting back to the place a rider passed me, then 45-60 min later he came by the place here with a big group.  I should have sat on his wheel the first time and hooked up with the group. But then I'd have been riding a bit longer than coach had planned for me today.

Coach said that after a 14 hr car ride and a pile of beers to unwind all i needed was an easy spin, nothing more. Got maybe 15 miles in, maybe more. Turns out I brought everything to put the bike computer on the EX except the wheel magnet.  might go pick one up today... maybe.  So despite taking it all off the Paramount, I seem to have just assumed I had left the wheel mag on the wheel.  oops.

Maybe I don't need to know any metrics of how long, how far, or any HR data this week.  Just pedaling.  Coach thinks it will work just fine.

Reset button.

So big plan for the 30th this month.  I seem to be getting these long rides in at the tail end of the months but that seems to be working okay.  Feb was kind of in the middle but the rest not so much.

Half thinking either New London CT and back or do the Boston coffee tandem of Ride Studio Cafe and Barrington Roasters.   The down side to the RSC option is i don't know the roads so well and, well, that's a fuck load of city streets to navigate and traffic to deal with.  New London might be nicer.  Have to make a visit to Fire road maybe, or at least Pig hill.  Maybe a trip to Plymouth and back...

Just thinking - hopefully i can find someone to join me, but if not, i'll still ride.

It is a challenge being here.

I'm picky about what I used to cook with. Food is important, but there seems to be a big discconect with intentions and what's important.

I'm not a fan of canola oil. Sure it has a lot of O-3 in it, but it ain't so good as it would seem.  Why? it is a completely engineered crop, beyond turning Teosinte into Maize, this is controlling a plant that wants to produce a slightly toxic oil combination into one that works for us.  The Rapeseed/canola plant's oil is actually most optimally suited as a feedstock for Biodiesel production, but good lord does it fall short compared to alternatives for use in food and cooking.

Butter.  Oh man am I spoiled.  Buying 365 organic unsalted butter is insanely different than the stuff being passed off as butter.  The "natural" flavor added to the butter makes it smell like fucking microwave popcorn, it burns way faster, has higher milk solids and lower fats and higher water than the stuff I'm used to.

And it is white.

WHITE?! motherfucking white.  really? That's not right.

It is dumb.

really dumb.

I'm sort of particular about food though I guess. My daughters benefit from it, and if I can instill a sense of how to eat well, and an understanding about it all, then my life has a purpose.

It is something many people don't get, and yes, i have a few vices.  Mostly plant based.  Coffee. Occasionally beer (yes, beer is plant based, you start with plants, add water some yeast and boom, BEER - unlike soda or orange juice where chemicals make it taste like you want).

The orange juice thing.  I will buy a bag of juicing oranges.  I use the juice to make salad dressing, and the girls will have a glass now and then.

EACH GLASS OF JUICE TASTES DIFFERENT.

Shocking.  And sometimes THE JUICE IS SOUR!!  OMG

the "not from concentrate" stuff, yeah flavor packs, each one always tastes the same.

*shrug*

Food.

Sure - it is just fuel. But it is also medicine.

Oh.

Packaging.

I get used to how little packaging and waste we made in our house, and granted it isn't terrible here but it is enough to make me notice a difference.

But it is what it is.  Maybe next year I can lobby vociferously enough to spend the week somewhere else.  Not that anyone seems to listen to me about much of anything.  Sometimes.

I should just get a wooden crate and go stand in a college square and "preach."  I do have a good 'praise the lord' kind of character i can slip in to. At least that way I could see all the people who ignore me.

No not the worms...

So Cyclocross Magazine revisited their first ever Mechanical Monday column.

And it talks about the "Myerson" method to drill out the cable stops and run full length housing on Cross bikes with top tube cable routing, great and all but I'm not a fan of it.

I stocked up on something way back when, had them on every bike, (except the one bike i put the Gore cables on). And I picked up a few extra.

The nightcrawler. So far racing CX since 1997 I've yet to encounter any issue with cables. I don't generally replace the housing or the cables on a regular basis if at all. I wash the bike after every race, plenty of normal dirt, mud, sand, commute spray, rain, water, whatever, and no issues.

Can you still get them? I dunno, but I like them much better than I like the idea of adding an extra bit of friction on the shifting just to keep the rear housing clean inside.

I'm a skinny outlier even at the olympics: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19050139

Had a great ride on the tandem this morning with the youngest.  It is only 2.5 miles or so to the drop off, all on the bike path but it is a great way to start the day.

Way back 4 years or so ago, when this one was a regular in the trailer headed to day care behind me, we would get passed sometimes or we'd see someone ahead.  "Go Get That Guy Daddy!" Was the call.  She loved it when we got the trailer up to speed.

This morning...  we had just gotten on the path, after passing Derdowski going the other direction out on a ride (he was in too much of a hurry to do more than wave and say 'time schedule') and the first stretch has a bunch of road crossings, I'm pretty cautious about them, duh, tandem, kid, cars.

So through this slower 'warm up' section someone passes us.  He was very polite, gave a nice audible "on your left" and rode on.

Well.  Enough of this slow pedaling nonsense.  We were coming up to the last road crossing before a long stretch of bike path with a slight half percent downhill grade.  And I said, okay remember when we used to "go get that guy?" She did.  And so we did.

Cranked it up, got that 56 tooth humming around, dropped down into the 12 and FLEW by him, FLYING we were trucking.  Cadence is low, no sense hyper pedaling the little one yet, but not too low, not old dude on the hybrid in 3-7 low...  it was fun. I got down in a tuck and she held on and we just MOTORED.  Then there was a street crossing or two, and well shoot, lets crank it up one more time.

So much fun was had.  Hard work. But adding fun to hard work seems to distract the brain enough.  Maybe I just need to take her out trolling for Pathletes to embarrass on the bike path.  Fun+work.  Nah we ain't gonna do that.

Did some high torque out of the saddle low cadence work with the tandem unloaded on the way home, been feeling that too on the ride in.

The SP is a lot stiffer than the EX... a Klein it is not.  The EX (carbon) rides nearly identically to the Klein, the SP, is brutally stiff vertically, even in the huge freak size.  But it isn't slow, it responds well, seems to handle okay too, very positive, we'll see how it works as a commuter/pit bike this season.  Maybe I can cut down on the DNFs.

So maybe you watched the Coffee and Comedians and Cars videos...



Even if i'm not a bubbly bag of rainbow unicorn poop, vomiting sunshine all the time... i like this...

cycling.

I wonder if I've mentioned that I kind of think it would be more than awesome to have a nice high banked track somewhere here in PVD or between here and Boston.  Nice indoor space, permanent wooden high banked deal...  a pipe dream maybe. Hit the powerball big? yeah maybe. So as in never going to happen.

Good article laying out the basics of Track racing up on Wired (dated the 2nd):
http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/08/olympic-track-cycling/

I need to do that a bit more, use it as fuel, not as a flame suppressant.  Too often I allow it do knock me down instead of pulling the Cav and using it to take the next step.

quads...  thunder thighs.

Well the first race before the race, online registration for Gloucester.

pretty much just said f'it and went to sleep after eating a huge pile of food last night.

dog mercifully slept late

now it is the superb sale at the shop, the one w/o AC on one of the hotter and most humid weekends this summer. No point showering before I ride in, will have to do that when I get there. Will be a bit sweaty, even riding slowly, even this early.

Time for one more coffee and a short bike ride.

if you're in the neighborhood up there, stop in and say hey...

heddwch
G

The TT bike that is.  The paramount.

Realizing that the paint job on it is well past needing to be re-done.

When I bought it used, it was raced, crashed, beaten up and i stripped it down and had the guys over at Davidson paint it for me.  The frame was made in Waterford in 1986, I had it repainted in 1991... that's a looooong fucking time ago.

We need a Dell's Lemonade truck to make a stop at the start of the TT, or maybe after, to drop that core temperature.

I don't think we'll need the Hot Tea to help the body start figuring out it is hot.

2 man TT tonight.

Legs are still a bit on the crispy side from Tuesday.  unlike the 156 mile ride to woods hole and back I really fucked up the recovery this time.  As in my legs are hosed.  But then maybe that is just what they are supposed to feel like when you actually get some good training in.

Haven't slept well the last couple nights, not terrible sleep though, and while not as much as I might like it isn't close to where I was going into the last TT.  Trending that way but not too bad yet.

Made a Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon sandwich for lunch.  Had bacon that needed to be cooked up, a banana that was a bit too squishy, grabbed the heels of the bread, and made up a sandwich.  Actually pretty f'n good.

Peanut Butter and Banana are a fantastic combination and the crunchy savory umami of the bacon pulled it all together.

Enough food for the TT? We'll see.  Hoping for a decent result tonight, but setting expectations realistically.  It will be what it will be.

No need for Hot pants tonight, makes the habits of Mark a bit more sensical, wearing big warm up pants until the last minute... maybe i have to look into some tear away stripper pants for CX season this fall...

Man i hope they don't cancel, please no rain, lets get this done and over with so we can move on.

last minute day before, calendar stayed mercifully open and I got my long ride for July in...

Yesterday.  Did an old standby ride I guess you can call it.  This was the second time going through the motions of crane pine and plain over to Bay.  I'd secured one definite "i'm in" from one team mate and one "let me check with my wife."  Wound up with one.  Andrew.  Andrew is a former lightweight crew guy.  HS and College, he knows how to train and is built as a lightweight rower should be, turns out that translates REALLY well into a cyclist.  He floats over the rises in the road, and he'd never ridden Blue Hill access road.