Snelling M 123- my goals were modest, and luckily so- to stay on for one lap out of five.
The first lap went by quickly, but nothing too crazy, I stayed sheltered on the lee side and tried to avoid mishap.I must say, the masters ride exceedingly smooth considering 100 guys in a headwind on a 15 foot roadway, a couple of small kerbumpity- bumps, but a big difference from the cat 4's.
We turned onto Keyes and I could see the lead fellows jumping hard up the hill, one unfortunate fellow dropped his chain, causing a bit of swerve and such and needing a sprint to get back right there over the hill, where I found a long single line of pain awaiting me.
I moved up about 20 spots in the line following wheels, but then felt like I was in a good spot and hung on, looks like I should have moved up more, I came off with the rest of the bunch from behind by the feed zone and was screwed sixteen different ways to Sunday.
Rode for a couple more laps, then just lost interest when a rain drop hit me and I turned left for the car.
Monday morning quarterbacking-
for someone that is reasonably strong in the wind I certainly have been riding poorly in it since I jumped in with the big fish.
I need to just hang it out there a bit more, push for the front of the race harder and let the natural aggression fly, a little less smarts and more legs would have kept me on for oh, I dunno, maybe another few miles?
Sunday I went out with Jimbo in the pouring rain for three hours,fenders, jackets, and bad attitudes a' bristling.... I think I speak for both of us when I say we will stew about this one for a while and hopefully learn our lesson....
On the flip side, the team rode well as a whole, several victories in different categories was very cool to see, and the juniors raced way hard, two of them taking falls and getting up and finishing very well, great stuff!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Dinuba
Good fun for me and the Vickerator
wonderful digs down south and a great ride whilst checking out the Sequoia TT course on Sunday.
My main goal was to finish a entire 123 race, my first real one since upgrading last year, ummm, that was fun.
Lot's of jammin', Dip hoppin', learning the nuance of the one move that's gonna go somewhere when the mob loses interest, all great fun.
Oh, and I finished, last, but I kind of went for it with a couple to go like I was gonna catch Joel and Tony by myself :-)
3's race was a hoot, those boys were full of piss and vinegar for a few laps, then things settled down quite a bit, not so much struggling for the wheel going on...
Again the innocous little roll-off caught lots of folks unawares, and general disorganization did the rest.
I got so excited I forgot what damn lap we were on and was perfectly set up for 1 more to go...... you know the story from here...doh!
The field got schooled by the boys from Santa Barbara, fun in these Central Valley races, new faces lead to confusion at times, but good hard racing and that's loads of fun, baby!
Los Banos Starbucks- turkey sammie, hot black coffee, and the new Jack Johnson CD, and I was home in a jiffy.
wonderful digs down south and a great ride whilst checking out the Sequoia TT course on Sunday.
My main goal was to finish a entire 123 race, my first real one since upgrading last year, ummm, that was fun.
Lot's of jammin', Dip hoppin', learning the nuance of the one move that's gonna go somewhere when the mob loses interest, all great fun.
Oh, and I finished, last, but I kind of went for it with a couple to go like I was gonna catch Joel and Tony by myself :-)
3's race was a hoot, those boys were full of piss and vinegar for a few laps, then things settled down quite a bit, not so much struggling for the wheel going on...
Again the innocous little roll-off caught lots of folks unawares, and general disorganization did the rest.
I got so excited I forgot what damn lap we were on and was perfectly set up for 1 more to go...... you know the story from here...doh!
The field got schooled by the boys from Santa Barbara, fun in these Central Valley races, new faces lead to confusion at times, but good hard racing and that's loads of fun, baby!
Los Banos Starbucks- turkey sammie, hot black coffee, and the new Jack Johnson CD, and I was home in a jiffy.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Stupid oatmeal update
So, as well as the last recipe went over here
( probably because I followed someone else's lead on that one )
I went for it last night with kind of whatever I could find and stuck it in the crock-pot....
I usually like bananas, I like walnuts, and I like almond butter.
I was hoping for a banana- bread kind of concoction to fuel me out on the long ride today.....
No cigar.
Who would have thunk that bananas would look like a nasty tofu dog chunk after cooking for 8 hours on low?
Kind of a blackish sticky mess with nasty tofu dawg bits....
I'd post a pic but the camera officially died- I'm thinking about a D40 from Nikon, we're pretty casual photographers, but I hate shutter lag.
And my buddy's D50 was really fun to play with a few weekends ago.....
Rocky Hill recon tomm., yeah!
( probably because I followed someone else's lead on that one )
I went for it last night with kind of whatever I could find and stuck it in the crock-pot....
I usually like bananas, I like walnuts, and I like almond butter.
I was hoping for a banana- bread kind of concoction to fuel me out on the long ride today.....
No cigar.
Who would have thunk that bananas would look like a nasty tofu dog chunk after cooking for 8 hours on low?
Kind of a blackish sticky mess with nasty tofu dawg bits....
I'd post a pic but the camera officially died- I'm thinking about a D40 from Nikon, we're pretty casual photographers, but I hate shutter lag.
And my buddy's D50 was really fun to play with a few weekends ago.....
Rocky Hill recon tomm., yeah!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Yum yum eat em up
I liked this so much last week after staying at the Vicks' I had to, no make that needed to make this before the Sunday Diablo ride.
Easy,
lot's left over for nuking,
and stuck to my ribs for 4 hours of ridin' today.
Good stuff!
I used soy milk in vanilla flavor instead of the half and half, and used raisins and apples, since we had them.
Also put a bit of cinnamon in there.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours,
Ingredients:
1 cup steel cut oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dates, chopped
4 cups water
1/2 cup half and half
2 tablespoons honey
Preparation:Spray inside of slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Combine all ingredients except half and half and honey in the slow cooker, cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours. Stir in half and half and honey, and serve.
If you like more texture in your oatmeal, you can toast the oats before cooking. Place them in a shallow layer on a cookie sheet and toast them at 350 degrees F. for 15-20 minutes, stirring once during cooking time, until oats are a darker gold color. Let cool completely before you combine with the rest of the ingredients in the recipe.
Stir well before serving. 4 servings
Cook Time: 8 hours,
Ingredients:
1 cup steel cut oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dates, chopped
4 cups water
1/2 cup half and half
2 tablespoons honey
Preparation:Spray inside of slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Combine all ingredients except half and half and honey in the slow cooker, cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours. Stir in half and half and honey, and serve.
If you like more texture in your oatmeal, you can toast the oats before cooking. Place them in a shallow layer on a cookie sheet and toast them at 350 degrees F. for 15-20 minutes, stirring once during cooking time, until oats are a darker gold color. Let cool completely before you combine with the rest of the ingredients in the recipe.
Stir well before serving. 4 servings
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
A Tuesday Worlds' file
Well, back on the TACX today, my little ones' hanging out with me today( cough cough), so a quality garage session is about as good as I can do.....
( a note- this post started yesterday, another day on the TACX is in my future, dang stomach flu :-(, and clear skies too, training inside when the sun is shining sucks! )
There was some discussion yesterday about matches to burn, this is something I always marvel at in the upper ranks of racing, this physiological ability to sustain attack after attack, or perhaps their early attacks aren't really that taxing on their systems, even though I'm dying like a fish out of water back there with the rest of the fodder :-)
( a note- this post started yesterday, another day on the TACX is in my future, dang stomach flu :-(, and clear skies too, training inside when the sun is shining sucks! )
There was some discussion yesterday about matches to burn, this is something I always marvel at in the upper ranks of racing, this physiological ability to sustain attack after attack, or perhaps their early attacks aren't really that taxing on their systems, even though I'm dying like a fish out of water back there with the rest of the fodder :-)
So anyway, this was at least part of the reason for all the power spikes kind of around the 30 minute mark, every time they would slow and balloon a bit, off I'd go., like a German Shorthair after a bird.
Trying to get ready for all that attacking/ jumping in the upcoming crit season, something in the tuneup racing I have been struggling with a bit. A whole 'nother ballgame with the onesies and twosies in the mix :-)
Get the jump, settle down, and hope the group broke apart.
I got in eight of these little digs- if you figure a match for me is between 360 and 400 watts, that's eight matches right there.
Then a nice threshold climb up the hill; I pulled into the climb , not the smartest thing to do, but for me, this ride is all about training, and it really frosts me when folks behave like it's a race out there and never take a pull or challenge themselves,, maybe if you pushed yourself more on the group ride/ interval session, etc., more results would come your way, I dunno. The worst thing that's going to happen is youll be last on a group ride that goes out and back, anyway.
Funny, I kept the group in sight- after a initial suffering/ slump in the body over the bars when they jumped on the lower reaches of Calaveras, I was able to keep within myself and pull them back to about 30 seconds, not too bad, considering the previous sufferage.
We then descended and began heading back, we have a sprint point at about 68 minutes into Tuesday Worlds that I lead out my teammate for, a big spike here, it felt tuff, but considering how hard I should be pulling with 500 to go, actually kind of mediocre.
You can really see the effect of the earlier work by this time in the ride, and rather than just kind of guessing at/ letting the inevitable denial take it's course and claim to be Geert Steegmans on the leadout, the numbers don't lie a bit.
The best part about geeking on the PT so far- the reality checks :-)
The trainer video of the day- tour 2001 again. Ullrich Vs Lance. Just ridiculous the battle between those two.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Paskenta
Recovering with some guacamole and root beers, chips are food, etc.
Actually a good game today, about the second game I watched all season( the cross gets in the way of such pursuits)
Gracias to Vick and his family for hosting me, a great dinner last night with old friends and new ones, getting a bit of 411 on the masters' cycling scene is always fun.
Vick and I were forced into a garage ride yesterday, and the forecast was gloomy for Sunday, but that storm blew itself out, leaving snow on all the ridges around Chico, very nice.
With the forecast the ride was smaller than last year, a light south wind pushed us along out of Chico, then we turned left.....
And that shit blew up.
I followed Vick as he turned the big diesel up to 8, passing lots of riders. He made it on while I lollygagged and got dropped again, kind of a varying focus for me, from pondering my navel and thinking about guacamole to getting back to sanctuary one rider at a time and dialing the suffer-meter up to high.
The pack was probably down to 30 by now before Corning, things were settling a bit, although a few riders were doing the whole blasting up the gravel on the right move, a few close calls and then the inevitable crash about midpack, not sure if that behavior caused it or not, but it definitely struck me as a bit dumb for a training ride in February.
I missed it, but Vick caught the tail end, all good though, but a couple guys looked to have busted collarbones, and sore ribs.
The front group was gone, but we rounded up some stragglers and formed a nice paceline, turning left on Black Butte and a 75 mile cutoff.
I really like the riding up this way, we did 30 miles probably of focused riding without any stop signs before we had to slow for a bit as the crash was taking it's toll on a couple of fellas.
Calls were made, and after dropping off the wounded, we headed back to town, picking up a big group of century riders.
One more nice hard segment there at the end, some good race pace, I just looked at the file, the last 10 minutes Vick and I were with one other guy trading pulls to the empty finish line, the power rose on every pull, and the HR was flying by the end.
Nice race simulation, now hopefully this allergy thing is just that and the training isn't derailed, a good week has been planned if I can hang, topped off with some Copperopolis Loops or something equally stupid and hard on Sunday....
Actually a good game today, about the second game I watched all season( the cross gets in the way of such pursuits)
Gracias to Vick and his family for hosting me, a great dinner last night with old friends and new ones, getting a bit of 411 on the masters' cycling scene is always fun.
Vick and I were forced into a garage ride yesterday, and the forecast was gloomy for Sunday, but that storm blew itself out, leaving snow on all the ridges around Chico, very nice.
With the forecast the ride was smaller than last year, a light south wind pushed us along out of Chico, then we turned left.....
And that shit blew up.
I followed Vick as he turned the big diesel up to 8, passing lots of riders. He made it on while I lollygagged and got dropped again, kind of a varying focus for me, from pondering my navel and thinking about guacamole to getting back to sanctuary one rider at a time and dialing the suffer-meter up to high.
The pack was probably down to 30 by now before Corning, things were settling a bit, although a few riders were doing the whole blasting up the gravel on the right move, a few close calls and then the inevitable crash about midpack, not sure if that behavior caused it or not, but it definitely struck me as a bit dumb for a training ride in February.
I missed it, but Vick caught the tail end, all good though, but a couple guys looked to have busted collarbones, and sore ribs.
The front group was gone, but we rounded up some stragglers and formed a nice paceline, turning left on Black Butte and a 75 mile cutoff.
I really like the riding up this way, we did 30 miles probably of focused riding without any stop signs before we had to slow for a bit as the crash was taking it's toll on a couple of fellas.
Calls were made, and after dropping off the wounded, we headed back to town, picking up a big group of century riders.
One more nice hard segment there at the end, some good race pace, I just looked at the file, the last 10 minutes Vick and I were with one other guy trading pulls to the empty finish line, the power rose on every pull, and the HR was flying by the end.
Nice race simulation, now hopefully this allergy thing is just that and the training isn't derailed, a good week has been planned if I can hang, topped off with some Copperopolis Loops or something equally stupid and hard on Sunday....
Friday, February 01, 2008
Jam
I've been trying some new things with the training this spring- very time limited, so the intensity has been up.... well, that's a rather vague term, actually.
I've been experimenting with blocks of threshold followed by one or two days off, it's been exceptionally productive. While I never had a power meter before, and only got tested once in a blue moon, which means I have no real numbers to go by in the past, but I do believe in learning to listen to your body, and the legs are beginning to feel good, starting to feel some souplesse while turning the pedals.
A damn fine feeling for riding so little.
I love to spend hours just riding, believe in doing hours of suffering in the hills lugging my 81 kg's around and attend the church of the Two-Wheel most Sundays.
Hopefully this summer I'll be able to get out there in a meaningful way, but right now, this is a good good bang for the buck.
Paskenta will be a real test of my garage-riding abilities, the forecast is kind of a crapshoot, but it sounds like a bit of wet in store for us.I like that gravel road, idiot that I am.
Good thing the new bike isn't built up yet, not ready to defile it yet on that kind of day....
I've been experimenting with blocks of threshold followed by one or two days off, it's been exceptionally productive. While I never had a power meter before, and only got tested once in a blue moon, which means I have no real numbers to go by in the past, but I do believe in learning to listen to your body, and the legs are beginning to feel good, starting to feel some souplesse while turning the pedals.
A damn fine feeling for riding so little.
I love to spend hours just riding, believe in doing hours of suffering in the hills lugging my 81 kg's around and attend the church of the Two-Wheel most Sundays.
Hopefully this summer I'll be able to get out there in a meaningful way, but right now, this is a good good bang for the buck.
Paskenta will be a real test of my garage-riding abilities, the forecast is kind of a crapshoot, but it sounds like a bit of wet in store for us.I like that gravel road, idiot that I am.
Good thing the new bike isn't built up yet, not ready to defile it yet on that kind of day....
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