dubble post

A race report from Saturday I wanted to share....

The cross season kicked off today with the earliest race on record, Livermore in September is not very crossy, but it was a savage way to get going.
Rolled out with the WOT ride at 9 in Pleasanton and was nicely warm by Livermore, no real time chatting with the new guys, but I will say the speed was up a few notches.Definitely was glad to be running a 48 x 17, although the downhills I had to let some gaps open.
Showed up at Robertson Park and it was old home week, lots of old friends and several EMC's, including Dave A and Ron and Teresa( who finished her second race today? Nice!)
The race didn't start till 11:30, good job of the promoter to get back on schedule after a few early snafus.
All the A's together, Masters, Elite, Junior, and Singlespeed (Me).
About 25 guys all together, but a very strong bunch for a small race in podunkville, basically the entire Strawberry bunch, headlining with Henry K coming off of the world MTB champs in Europe last week, Howie and the Black Market crew and several of the other top guys poking their heads out for a hard workout.
We start on the blacktop behind the rodeo grounds and turn into a set of barriers, then we joined the regular loop.
I was a little hesitant on the SS to line up front, especially with the fast company I was keeping and not wanting to get in the way, but the sprint was actually rather calm, except for me kicking someone in the chest as I dismounted. I withdrew the offending foot and apologized , no blood, no foul.
Lots of gravel flat turns, taped and coned, serpentine back and forth. A little breeze out there, temps were in the 90's,but a good place to find a wheel and conserve/ work together.
The pack was blowing apart by the second/ third lap, I was rolling along pretty good, making every split to the second chase group, with about 2 guys off already.
Came through the sand pit in the corral and was doing well, then lost it a little to the right and drifted into a plastic pole holding the tape up.
Normally these things fall down but I hooked the bars and got tossed like a episode of Tapout, falling into sand and the bike landing on top of me, then hopping up to not get t-boned by the rest of the loons coming around the corner.
I hop back on and shake it off, A SC guy who I thought was in first in the SS is gone, but I start bridging from wheel to wheel as guys fade in the heat and intensity. I was getting a bottle from GROOVY T every lap after the first and it saved me big time, the early races are so important to have a drink or 10...
I made it back to a guy on a sweet Hunter SS who I thought was second, followed him until he crashed into a trash can we were all drifting around. As the race went on, riding mistake free became more and more important, so easy to go into a corner hot and slide it out. Bridged to the SC guy with 3 to go, followed him up the stadium steps, all 33 of them, then attacked on the back side to another group.
Held on and was careful not to lay it down, but unfortunately maybe a little too conservative, just playing defense, because with two turns to go, I see Cesar Chavez from Buy- cell cruising across the finish,
Crap! I never saw him in front of me, apparently he rode a smooth race in a group of good good guys and never even stressed.....
Second was real good for me though, my guess would be a midpack for the A's as a whole.
Thanks again to Teresa for the Cat 1 handups, I brought my Camelback but left it in the backpack and drank HEED instead, a better choice in the heat anyway, no cramps and I felt good all day!
Ride On, Johnny
__._,_.___

Goat- style

Reminds me of my race today,
I actually met up with some of these little guys in Alamo the other night and now want one.
Pygmy goats like pygmy carrots, I found out.

Stoked

To race in the Gobi this weeekend.

This is way too fukkin' early for a cross race, but I'm going to ride over there and give'r one just to enjoy some wheel to wheel, its been 5 months or so since I lined up and need to get back on that hoss.
Put on some new tires today, the Kenda Small Block Eights in 700 x 32, and they look nice and roll quick. Important for me, they seem to handle predictably as well, I'm not the best bike handler out there especially on low speed windy stuff( like every CCCX race).
Took off the track nuts on the back and tried a QR, I haven't had any extra scratch for another set of race wheels for this rig, and figure I'll need to change a flat at some point.
At first the QR was fine, then I sprinted out of a corner and all hell broke loose and the track nuts promptly went back on.
Maybe if one is spinning a little gear the QR would work, I've used them on road fixies before with no real problems, but I'm rollin' a 48 x 17 tommorrow and the torque is insane in that back end, especially with the giant BB and chainstays that are gussetted alloy.
Picked up a couple of extra rear cogs from WTB , a 18 and a 20, and found out I have a 3/32 system instead of a 1/8 system, which makes my new 44 T ring I e-bayed relatively useless.
Perhaps I'll put it on the Redline Monocog and make a pit bike/ stupid junglecross machine.
Although Junglecross seems to be fading, replaced by dirt crits, like what I expect tommorrow.
Now watch Shane put in 20 sets of barriers and a set of kickers, I need lots of running after two weeks of the rock n' roll lifestyle again.
Got to go take some kids bowling now, I hope you are well and bring a Camelback tommorrow.
J

Game Theory

Post-interval session nosh-

Egg whites
Whole Wheat Tortillas
TJ's low fat cheese mix- 2 tblspoons
Warm the tortillas on the stove
Nuke the egg whites, roughly 2 minutes
Egg whites over the tortillas
Cheese over the egg whites
30 seconds in the micro
Spoon homemade salsa overthe top

Enjoy with a cup of black coffee and fall back into a haze of exhaustion and satisfaction for a few.....

You know your apples are considered jumbo....

When they cast their own shadow.

4.5 inches across.

One fruit on the whole tree.

Nursed this guy all summer, ala James And The Giant Peach.

Time for him to go now..

My post- ride snack today.....

Nightcrawler

I sleep in the day......

Back on the shift work, starting tonight.

I thought the grass was greener, but by January I wanted my old gig back. Took me 6 months to get the job back I struggled to get rid of :-)

Pack those commuter lights away....

Though I will miss my friends I wave at on the boulevard going north every morning. The recumbent dude, beard and baggies. The Red and yellow kitted guy ( synergy?) who actually waves back.

Sad to say a certain bunch refuses to wave and stares curiously...

Really, how threatening can a reflective vest over a backpack and a headlight on a giant Bell helmet be? Is it the creaking old cross bike that calls across the boulevard like a ancient Maori war cry, making eyes narrow and body parts shrink inside the spandex?

Have a good week, everyone!

Time To Refresh.......

and find things that reward me and mine.

This is my fourth year helping coach the See Jane Tri program, every year I get a little more involved and always learn something.

Working with new athletes = where it's at.

I push our bike team towards it because I believe in developing people through sport, because I have seen the changes and true strength people find in the challenges.

When it's all over, not to be melodramatic, but I have a feeling changing lives is going to be a little more rewarding and memorable than making change...

While digging ditches pays the bills, my mind wanders elsewhere.

Three Bears workout today- for those that shred that hill like it's nothing in a bike race , just disregard.
But for a average person, just getting into this ?
Way tough.
Those girls are training hard this season, we sagged NOT ONE person today.
And most of em ran after.
Back over Papa Bear.

I was so inspired, I actually laced up the sneaks as well.
Gawd- Almighty that runnin' is hard!

Nothin' but respect....

Excuses, Excuses

I've got a few.

But instead of focusing on the negative of todays results at Esparto TT, I'm gonna look on the sunny side of life.

Vic was monster super size in his first race as a 3, taking 4th in a real tough group.

Jaz looked great in her bear jersey and was running around with her trophy from the prestige series all day, what a great first year for the kid!

I actually got out for a race and did it, no small feat with the bullshit raining on me all spring and summer. Even though my legs refused to push as hard as they could have, it was good to get reaquainted with the pain cave.

Have a good week , everyone!

The center of the universe.....

I've been planning this trip since last year, when I came up and rode all the climbs but the first one in preparation for getting shelled at Cascade :-0

A profile here ....

Every year we come up here and chill out, and every year we resist coming back down the hill a little more

We have climbed it on foot a couple of times, my daughter made it halfway up in a backpack at a year old, we swim at its foot in Lake Sis, and never stop looking up at it.I understand why this was the center of the universe to those who lived here before us.

This year, the ancient lady barely has any snow on her flanks, awful early to look like this, the climbing must suck in the scree.

This pic taken at about mile 94 of the Super Summit, both Nome and I needed a picture break for a minute.

Castle Lake was just ahead,though, and we needed a pepsi bad. I SO wanted to soak my head and feet in this guy, but we had to roll...

To tackle the last climb up to the ski bowl, not the tuffest one of the day, but coming between mile 106 and mile 120?

These small signs with different sayings along the climb inspired me to keep rolling , along with a well timed vanilla GU....

7,800 hundred feet and the road ends. I wished for the first time all day I hadn't of ditched my vest, the descent was brrrrrrrrr.

Always find a wheel like this one for the first 15 miles....nice fella, we hit the first climb and thanked him profusely....

Note the size of the roads, this was probably the only negative, 10-15 mile climbs were cool, but descending them with folks paperboying up, not so cool, got a little too hairball for me especially with all the bad juju going on in my life right now, I felt it was in my best interests to let a couple of fellas go and not be a statistic...

Right after coming off of the first climb, we saw a line of emergency vehicles hauling ass up the road, hope the folks are all right...

This was unknowingly the winning gap to #, 2 and 3, those two never came back, the gap never changed. The winner by my guesstimation was a Reno Wheelman who looked beyond supa-smooth when he rocked by everyone early and held it all the way.

Not a race, but you do this junk long enough and at least for me I always keep count, no lie here...

I rode well and smart for me, drank a six hour bottle of Perpetuem in six hours, stayed below LT for most of the day and never cramped.

Anything this long always has a crux and a moment when it can all fall into disarray. The bonk, the cramps, the mental exhaustion all are a opportunity as well as a obstacle.

Sunday was a opportunity for me to get a little confidence back and to let a new season unfold.

Ride time 9:42

135 miles

16,500 feet of climbing

YUM.

It's not only that the kernels are mature, Merkeley, but....

The tassels have to get almost like hair blowing in the wind.

That's how it was explained to me last night.

I kept trying to peek under the leaves, exposing the kernels to the 90 degree heat, a no-no.

I would guess another week until the bag shows up on the doorstep from Santa Corn.

Kinders' update= chicken parmesan sausages grilled, then sliced over a spinach salad with a sweet dressing and some tiny chunks of mozzarella. Olive pugliese with lots of olive oil and a few drops of balsamic for dipping......

The Chico Criterium has a olive oil sponsor.

Maybe these beauties will help me snag a bottle.

Altough judging by my performance on recent group rides, perhaps bringing a couple twenties along would ensure I come home with the groceries...:-)

I dunno, but....

I better only race downhill crits if I'm gonna make this place a habit.

The marinated ball tip= addictive.

This is why we do it........

This little morsel coming up next weekend.

I will eat enough.

I will spin the little gears.

I will stay below LT in the first 2 climbs.

And I'm gonna take tons of picx.

Cause the views at the top of these climbs are awesome!

You Feed Us Lies From The Tablecloth

Mmmmmm a rest week, feeling good and perky.

Dropped off my trusty wagon today for a little service in San Ramon and headed to Diablo for the first long threshold test of the season, I hoped for a PR, frankly.

Weight is decent, strength is through the roof, and the last time I went up there in the middle of a training week I PR'ed the first time up, now I'm sporting a compact set of rings until the Shasta ride is over, and I figgered it would only help, sooo?

No cigar, I worked hard at my threshold, had a nice EIA attack halfway up ( no puffer, my rule for training rides, maybe time to rethink the rule) and couldn't push the gear needed for the speeded. Still ended up 4 minutes off the PB , and definitely not a happy camper, but that's the beauty of the local climb and proving ground, there's no bullshitting a clock.Step up or shut up, and I'll be shutting up, laying off the Kinders', and eating more leaves......

There's always a silver lining, though, and while un-cycling related,it brings me happiness....
The Garlic has sprouted!

Thanks Fanelli, I did it!

The Tomatoes are coming in, long strings of Roma's, some nice Early Girls, and a Black Heirloom that should be beautiful with some Buffalo Mozzarella tossed with vinaigrette .

Corn is 7 feet now, and starting to seed, soon every one I know will have a bag on the doorstep :-)
Labs are bringing pears in to eat every night...

One last gardening note- I planted a dwarf nectarine 3 years ago, today I got the first sweet little fruit off it!
The tree is so full of fruit it fell over and I had to stake it today, another week of sunshine and we should be edging off the Safeway grid a little........

Good luck to all the racers at Lafayette, maybe I'll come out to say hi......
J

Old School Hollywood

Looking forward to riding my new toy tommorrow.... only3 months till the real racing begins!

SS is the pure shit for me, something about just picking a gear and living with it for the duration appeals to me, and getting pummeled by SS mutants is always fun as well, now to start looking into some disc wheels for racing, thinking about a Stans' tubeless system, but I know little about such dark arts.....



After CTK last week, it seemed that a Hamilton Loop was in order today. My first time riding it from San Jose, and I liked the gentle climb to the top, plugged in a little System Of A Down for the last few k and it was all good, lots of tempo work, soon the hard stuff will come, but for now I can count the times on one hand I've been over threshold since March.



Good luck to all racing tommorrow and tonight at Carrera, I really wanted to come out, eat a burrito and heckle, but Miz C is still down and out with her bum wheel, and flyin' solo after being gone all day would kinda suck some ass on the home front, so some Borders time with the kid was called for instead, picked up the new Hannah Montana CD for her, she's been helping big time around the house and deserves so much more, ah, the life of a suburbanite.....

Here's to your thin red line, I'm stepping over.

Climb To Kaiser, 2007

My first time at the ride/ race, and what a challenge.

We started in the dark following the CHP moto out through Clovis....

We got it going for a minute or two on the flats heading out, but I couldn't get enough help to really make a dent in the speed, so relaxed and took pics/ pulled occasionally, got out of the way when the real action started.

I had some minor mechanical issues that Tri-Sport mechanics were able to help me with at the second aid station, thanks, guys, the bike worked flawlessly all day after!

And on that topic, the aid stations were excellent and the volunteers tireless, I got massages, popsicles, cold towels, and all the canteloupe and Perpetuem one could stomach :-)

This is halfway up Tollhouse Grade, I was feeling good here , only to start to bonk 30 minutes later.

I don't think Ron was even breathing hard :-)

With all the experience I have going long long, I still made the classic mistake of not riding within myself and eating enough.I guess I just got caught up in it all, but I dug a nice hole for myself.

By the time we hit Shaver lake, I was concerned and had throttled back and ate , but while I caught the bonk early and was fueled up , with the heart and lungs ready to go, a series of vicious cramps started to tear me up and took me off the bike and ready to quit more than once.

Nome moved on, and I was going to go back to Shaver, but started to think about driving home with a DNF, and decided to go on and just see.....

Nome's buddy Tom was along shortly, and he and I rode together for the remainder of the day.

This is Big Creek, the monster climb of climbs.

I was cramping bad here , but got up by paperboying and standing.

Somehow standing was better than sitting, although standing for 8 miles is kind of hard on the rest of ya....

A little snack and I tackled the last big climb up Kaiser, which wasn't that bad, except coming at 80 miles.

The best aid station up there, these massage guys helped me out immensely.

Time for some of the longest, nicest descents around.

Too bad my legs were still locking up.

The last aid station was getting hot, but the cold popsicles were fantastic.

The cramping left for the most part and all the easy riding spent babying my legs over the climbs gave me plenty of gas to pull a big group home.

The post race BBQ was oh- so excellent!

My legs hurt still today in a bad way, that ride truly humbled me.

To envision riding it in 8 and a half hours is unbelievable.

Maybe next year I can come back and challenge myself, although all this distance training is tough on the family, I like the 45-60 minute races!

The Devil never changes

A good weeekend on two wheels, four of the Spidey force on the group ride doing Diablo x 4.

Well, only one of us made 4 times(and can ya guess who that wuz) but the majority got up a few times before turning the rigs for home..

A green smoothie and a long nap and I pummelled myself again today on the MTB for a couple with the Xterra crowd, bastards are sucking me in :-)

The deal with the devil..... free lanes at my favorite pool if I coach a little.....

Getting a few bucks to run some running workouts already... good for cross anyhow.

Place to stay in Kings' beach.

MTB skills are half ass good right now.

Dusty wetsuit looking at me on the shelf....

MMMMMM

PR the first time up Diablo Saturday, took 4 minutes off the best at tempo/ threshold all the way.

Biig confidence builder for CTK, that is one bad mama jamma, and this boy don't go uphill too good :-)

Compact crank is going on this week, hopefully that will save my bacon.......

Blow the Whistle

I keep trying to write a race report for last weekends' race at Laguna Seca, but just have been oh so tired in the head.

Lot's of family issues lately have got me down, and when Miz C. ate some dirt trail running at the ridge last Thursday, the trip almost got canned, a recurring theme all weekend, with me spending 3-4 hours a day on the phone debating whether to pack my shit up and go or stay and race, much vacillating went on, Miz C's leg felt better and then worse, but the little nurse helped out big time.

Vicodin is not a good drug for my wife, that's all I'll say about that.

When is the love of sport turn into a selfish thing, or more clearly, too much of a selfish thing?
This was the burning question for me during the downtime between laps.
My mom, my wife, my kid, all pulling me away from 2 wheel mayhem

Achieving balance is one of several reasons I stay away from Ironmans these days, the 25 hour weeks were sucking me in and bumming the family out too much, I really dig a hard 8-10 hours a week getting up for cross and whatnot and find some semblance of balance in there..... sometimes.

We put together the same team as last year, a good group of middle-aged dads out for a fun escape from yardwork and other suburban bliss.
Can-Am was nice, we were on the corner, so we saw everybody coming through, but didn't have to ride up any obscene hills after a lap.
The kits turned out nice, I believe WM sponsors a team of Cat 2's in Arizona and we got some of their extras, but we looked nice and matching, at least before the dust and blood took over.

Recapping the whole time would be boring, but a few highlights-

Rodney was snakebit fro the get go, I'd like to see a blog posting, but poor dude almost exhausted the entire tube population of Monterey County and still had to run his bike. And that was his FIRST lap.

Jimbo busted his shoulder hard in one of the new sections, a tricky descent on a old trail that grew a rut that looked like the Grand Canyon by the middle of the night, kind of a dusty piece of crap with lots of washboardy holes. Dude still rode 11 miles with a fractured shoulder and kept me from having to go again,- just a stud.

Kareem is getting way fitter than last year. And talking me into a 8 hour pain fest- just savage, dude.

The Seal was a rock as always. Need two laps? Got it. Need some food? Got that too.
Always bring a Seal with ya.

I had a good race, the fitness is coming on. I actually dropped some climber types on the "grind", a longish mostly middle ring kind of affair. A longer course this year and no idea how to keep track of my watch restrain me from throwing out numbers, but for the most part, I was doing well judging by how many people passed me/ I passed.

MY LIGHT SUCKS- I saw corporate team guys out there with HID set ups, looking like a combine coming up behind me on the singletrack.The stuff is everywhere now, how to justify a 600.00 light for once a year, hmmmmm.
The difference between a old halogen and the new stuff is ridiculous, it's soooo easy to outdrive the lights with the old school stuff. I finally just eased up and flowed by feel, it was only when racing the course that the big boomers were really needed.

3 LAPS IN A ROW SUCK TOO- 1st one, cool, just ride tempo.

Second one, light is failing, go to commuter backup and led backpack lamp, still hit the climbs hard.

3rd one (unexpected due to teammates' spectacular urp-fest)- the hammies were doing the shamalamadingdong on the climbs, sucking gatorade and Gu, feeling my own urp-fest coming on soon, good thing I stole his light, or I would bitch about that too :-)

THE FOG IS WEIRD.
It looks cold but is often warm.
You can really freak yourself out riding in it when no one is around.
I was halfway up Hurl Hill before I realized I was ON Hurl Hill.
Lights are kind of useless in it, especially when rummy at 2 am.

The off season weights are paying off, by Tuesday I was recovered enough to to hit some intervals up, my goal out of the weights was not to get majorly stronger, but to bounce back faster and survive my job for 15 more years. By the end of the Valley swing, I couldn't pick up a sack of concrete without hurting myself. I could feel the power coming out of the core muscles on the bigger climbs all weekend, strange how working rotational muscles can help with a vertical axis movement, good stuff.
Now to find some leg speed......
And 2200 bucks donated, with the match from Waste Management we are looking at almost 5k donated to fund ALS research, yeah!

Barely any pics, sad to say with 3 bloggers and a semi-pro aficionado, all we could come up with was a 2 MP snapshot or two.

It is what it is....

The good - The EMC crit came off relatively well. Our (4th?) year and this one was the best, the new pavement and opening up the course really showed itself to be a positive, we were a little worried about people forgetting to turn right every once in a while and protecting a whole other side of a course gave us chills, but except for a couple of bonehead moves, the races looked good.

One of the interesting things about setting up a course is anticipating the lines taken by the beginning classes and then realizing that hay bale won't do any good at all when the pack goes to the complete other side of the course to give their buddies the gutter, yum yum .

Almost got me fired up about racing seeing all that suffering, good thing Yoda and Nome took me out to mines road the day before and thrashed me thouroughly, keeping me out of trubble.

Some family health issues have me spending time in hospitals lately visiting folks and my heart isn't in it yet, more than a little preoccupied with things.

This is a hard ass sport and way of life and when I can't focus 100% ?

It feels like a waste to be signing up.

So I go and train and some days are good, this morning was the first set of intervals for the new season, just some tempo work while heading into work on the crosser, backpack and all, with the Rage Against The Machine Live at The Olympic pouring into my soul, and I forget about the bullshit of life for a while and we are good today and the hemoglobin counts are up and that's what matters.

This weekend is the 24 hour race, we have raised 2100 bucks so far for ALS research, thanks to all the bloggers that contributed, you folks are really fantastic, here is a link to the donation page if you like, we should have some nice pics up soon, camping, racing, buddies, a good cause...

good stuff, all of it.

J

shut yer mouth when yer talkin to me....

As a recent Cat 4 exile, I found this comment by D. D. in cycling news rather interesting...
""It's not that I refuse it," said Di Luca, referring to his lack of an ear piece which many riders in the modern peloton cannot function without. "But after a little while it gives me troubles in my head. In fact, I've had to use my mind instead of just listening to the instructions given by the director. I'm convinced it has helped me improve to the level where I am now. I know what I have to do."

The thinking is the hardest part......

Soul Rebel

Oh the joys of a weekend around the house.

One of the best things about bike racin' ?

The travel and adventure.

Also one of the most exhausting.

Even though I've been taking a sabbatical from racing till I feel the hunger bloom in my belly, the training is going well, well enough that when I realized I had to stay around this weekend due to some standby commitments, well, no bitchin' from me about taking a mini- break.

I've been rollin' out to Oakdale for some weekend pain- fests lately, real good group riding, wind, rollers, and a few good hills out Murphys' way as well. Good stuff from a organized bunch and a nice lunch apres-ride can be found at a local deli.

Looking forward to some reports of goodness out at Mt. Ham tommorrow, some of my compadres look real good right now , I hope a little luck will touch em' and help em' out. early word out of Iowa is good, real good, so I hope we keep it going........

Little C and I took a break from flattening out a area in the back to plant our corn and etc and rode the tandem down to the farmers' market today for some organic chicken and vegan brownies from the Feel Good Bakery van, best thing about the tandem is the ability to talk while riding, very underrated when your dealing with a pre-adolescent girl, I know the game is all going to change in a couple of years tops, she already knows Dad's a geek, but still doesn't despise me for it, and rolling around with me and pulling our flip-flops out of the panniers and tasting all the goodies is still fun.......

Back to getting ready for next weekend, we got a nice race coming up here in Pleasanton, the closed course opened up on the finish is going to speed things up a lot and make the upper category races safer with more runout for you 30 mph burners out there, the good thing is the new pavement is fantastic, I'm out there every Wednesday night for sprints and the stuff hooks up real nice, and that's diving into a bike lane with a open road.

Little Wood Duck

Little C and I spent the day at the old salt mine together.

Actually we spent the day touring the salt mine and snapping pics.....

This is the girls all lined up outside after their safety lecture....

Dad is happy he's not digging ditches today.....

There was a goose egg right next to these two geese in the weeds... hmmmm, who does this belong to?

Boat rides on closed reservoirs are fun!

Especially when you get to drive!

31 eggs in this nesting box south of Moraga.

While all the girls snuck up quietly, even with the ladder, not one hen was to be found. Hopefully out feeding and not a victim of Mr. raccoon.

Lots more on this trip, many nontraditional jobs were explained, etc.

Driving the big yellow machine was cool, but the boat ride got the rave reviews.

Too bad the camera batteries pooped out!

Commuter Blues

The best part of my day today, and it was not a nice day, full of hard feelings and ditchdigger bitchiness, was passing the half-mile of cars on the boulevard while the Musical Youth broke out in some "pass the dutchie".

The wind became my friend again.

I started to gutter imaginary foes on the Iron Horse Trail while peeking over my backpack.

I tucked my headlamp away, the one that makes people smile in their cars cuz I'm such a DAMN GEEK riding around with a headlamp, like Rick Moranis in Honey I Shrunk The Kids.

I hit the freeway bridge where the trail ends and I psuedo-crawl to the Pleasanton side under the ramps, but not before hitting the first full speed/ braking with the back wheel while threading the needle with the right foot/ grabbing the top tube/ dismount of 2007 and tossing that bad boy on my shoulder.

Geek-a-Rama.

Them cars can kiss my ass, though.

Pop that jersey like you mean it

In one week, I sawAfrican tortoises doing the horizontal mambo in a backyard in Orinda,

carried a picket sign for the first time in memory,

discussed knitting methods with Little C,

crawled underneath the 580/ 680 connector ramp twice with my bike taking the shortcut home,

and had ice cream 3 times for no good reason at all.

Life is crazy and takes turns that no one, much less me, can comprehend.

Them damn Warriors got heart right now, though.

The Faceless Man

And yes I have been needing some new music on the player, even on shuffle I'm hearing the same crap again and again....
Though how I rode around for hours without tunes is beyond me :-)

Merkley and X dawggie- a pair of great training partners.

Lot's of times now I really prefer to be off by myself, well, me and my Bean. Some folks, you negotiate some goals for the ride, discuss how hard things should be.... " no problem, dude. We'll be MELLOW."
Then the half wheeling trip to anaerobic oblivion begins, often slowly, cuz they just hafta ride a little too hard for themselves and you.

Bastards.

The two fellas above, though?
They do it right, baby. Piano when it's piano time, and slug Gianni in the face when that time comes as well. 22 seconds never made me smile so big as today.

Hit the cats' hill yesterday, and things are a little different when one is hawking tires and drinking rootbeers. A man's perspective is a little different.
My first time at the BIG RACE and it was cool in some ways, I really enjoyed yakking with XB and Disky, and in general hanging out and people watching.
But I really thought things would be more raucous and wild, like a big NRC race.
I saw the hill, and checked out a few laps, but maybe you gotta race it to appreciate it a little more.
The inevitable squabble about last lap smasheroos in the expo area was in some ways more interesting to myself and the junior sociology major I seem to be raising.
One more observation on the Cat-Boogie- How badass is Larry Nolan? Dude types up the workout to get ready for CH on the NCNCA list, goes out and teaches the workout on Tuesday night a couple of weeks ago, he and JA write a little thing on the CH blog on how to get ready for this race..... not very secretive if ya ask me!
Oh, and I TRIED to do that whole workout the next night at our little Pleasanton thrashfest and could not complete.
The wind was savage today out on Mines, X and I went past the junction to the edge of the Valley Of Death before Ham and turned around into it.
Muy Duro with 5 minute pulls even downhill it hurt, so mmmmmm.
Tried to get a even c-note by riding around my neighborhood for 1.7 more miles, but cramped ridiculously in front of little kids in the park and had to limp home one legged... me= dork.

Now for some of Groovys' recipe Caesar chicken pasta and the best night of TV all week on HBO....
J

Fritter Postride

because a day old cinnamon roll tastes just like new iif you nuke it for 35 seconds.

Because my chain broke in the middle of Mt. Diablo blvd at quarter to six this morning and I still made it to work on time.

15 minutes of traffic lights on the Boulevard on the way home sux.

Fresh baked crescent rolls coming out of the oven as I rolled into the garage made it all better.

Send the pain below

Finally some nice weather, a little acclimatization going on for me, I rode home over Redwood yesterday on the crosser and had to stop at a markey in Castro Valley for 2 paydays and some water, still had a headache all night even slugging water like crazy, but thank got for paydays, cheap and almost the same nutritional profile as a energy bar for half the price.
Today I hit the early WOT ride and enjoyed the entire ICCC cat 3 team hammering towards Berkeley, till I flatted and had to reaarange the plans a little.
Rode around until 9 and caught the second version, but after descending Dublin Canyon, found that the paving contractor had closed the road to bikes, and how screwed is that, especially if you rode all day like out from the east bay and were trying to get home to Oakland and didn't really feel like retracing your route, then climbing Norris/ Palomares.And they are letting cars through, kind of bullshit IMHO.
Anyway, this threw the bunch into disarray and I opted to ride with a teamie over Diablo to WC back to the pad, ending up with 95 miles, the last 15 or so getting slower and slower,very charming to have a Boulevard Stalker suck my wheel for 5 miles down and when I finally sit up and move over to share a little of my bonking pain, attack me like he's winning the Ronde De Danville or sumpthin and ride 300 meters in front all the way to Danville.
Mr. Freshly Showered No Sock Dude , that was a chump move, but no worries, if that floats yer boat, have a nice day and all that.
Turkey chili with cornbread crumbled over it is a great recovery food, and the afternoon watching Amstel Gold and the ToG was real nice stuff.

Looking forward to the reports from the Firestone and the Madera pain fest, tommorrow it's onto the MTB for a little bit, we have this race coming up and I want to do us proud....
Already 1200.00 bucks in the bucket, we are doing excellent and it warms my heart to see the generosity from people.
Now to figure out a theme for the campsite.....

Go be a tourist

has been the name of the game today, I have been punishing myself in the gym 3-5 times a week with the Core Performance routines and starting the longish rides at least 2 days a week, hard to believe that 3 hours of high cadence work can leave me so damn tired, but I really am starting from a ways back and need to stay patient this spring to do well this fall.

Anyhoo , It was all about soigneur duties today down in the SC.

A little rain over the summit at 5:30 am looked gloomy, but the day got nicer and nicer.

Miz C's race started late, at 7:20, absolutely crappy race management, very unimpressed with the organization, they ran out of drinks, food, etc for the slower runners, probably the ones that need the support the most.

Little C and I bounced ASAP for some breakfast and found the Seabreeze Cafe, I remember a blog entry from somewhere about this spot this winter, and through cyberspace found it again, it's not Foodie Friday but who cares and I gotta plug it, a GREAT tofu scramble and fresh out of the oven cinnamon roll with some dark cafe and lots of salsa over some non-greasy homefries, just perfect.

Miz C came shuffling in nursing a sore toe/hip/knee/cramp wheels came off thing, not a happy camper she was and that damn running will beat ya up quick.

But the people watching was superb.

The cruz has a few interesting folks, but it wasn't the locals that really caught my eye, it was the runners . Before the race they all look good, even the unfit. Some wear the tri- emblems- a bike jersey in club cut over running shorts with elastic laces and a been -there- done that running hat.A few cover themselves with clothes from head to toe, and others wear as little as possible, even in 51 degree rain, and I wonder what message they are trying to send to the others in the tribe. My favorites are the old guys with baseball hats and cotton t-shirts, wheezing through the warmup, been doing this stuff since before Jim Fixx, got their New Balance order down to a T.

Wait till the finish and it's a different game, the early focused ones, digging into the pain cave, the medal awaiting them.
The next group of exuberant ones, PR's for this bunch, the training has paid off and they had the race of their lives/ year/ season and they are savoring every moment as they can hear the announcer faintly from a block away.
Then the various finishing looks start to show, the hollow eyes that refuse to look at the bystander to not let the pain out of control, the jogging together saving private ryan move, not leaving your buddy behind no matter what, the whoop-de -doos that are smiling like a boxer that will fall if he gets hit once more, hoo-rah-ing to keep the negative thoughts away.

Or the folks that give out a quiet "thanks" when they hear a cheer for them and keep on trucking ....
"The eyes are the windows to the soul".

Winners and losers

Winners rarely show it off, unless to make fun of themselves.

Losers revise history to make themselves feel better.

Winners always choose to help when they can, even when things are not so pleasant or smell so nice.

Losers choose the blind eye.

Winners realize the world is round.

Losers can't see beyond the horizon.

Winners have perspective.

Losers go for the easy way out, every time.

Winners walk through the doors of life, ready for the challenges of the other side.

Losers hold onto the jamb for dear life.

I get to choose every day.

Just a Little Bit....

The break is over and the work has begun again, it feels great to build a schedule and plan and dream, anything is possible at the beginning of a season, before life and genetics foul it up :-)

I actually took a week off the blogs as well, spent some time in cold drizzly LA, running some and eating lots of great Japanese food, but just letting the mind recover and allowing the fire to build was so worth it..

Sprints tonight felt great, we have a tiny group out here in pleasanton on Wednesdays and I try to think of new and devious ways to amuse ourselves... tonight was small ring restriction for all the grownups and our one Junior phenom gets to use whatever she wants, nice to spin the legs out and keep some snap in them,
The strength program is morphing as well, moving more and more to developing speed and power as opposed to big beach muscles that are useless when that gawdammn runup shows it's face in November at Watsonville, mmm, watsonville.

Actually commuted last week on the SS, but need a bigger front ring, it took 2 hours to go 25 miles, so four hours of riding on a SS was a little much, especially after digging ditches all day, I had to stop and eat a couple of vegan trail mix cookies on the way home as I was running on fumes, but still real cool to commute again after a 5 year layoff, even for only one day. I'm thinking a 42 ring if I can dig one up and a 15 track cog spun onto the back will tighten up my hack pedaling stroke a little and help me get some much needed training hours in a busy week.

Hope you all enjoy the Otter, I'm hard at work on call this weekend, but I look forward to the reports and perhaps I can carve out a little time to catch some island stories soon ....
J

J

All the things I meant to do.....

Are getting done now and it feels great!

I finished the walkway in the front in September, and just now in April got in all the landscape, a couple of nice trees, some sage, lavender and rosemary, looks good and will look better in a year or so, now for some lighting and color and we'll be good.

Went for a nice 2 hour run in Tilden with Miz C on Friday and still my old bones ache, even with jogging slowly. Stuff I stay away from in the bike racing season, the slow trail runs really slow my slow self down, but the views of both Suisun and S.F. bays were beautiful. When I tore my ankle up in 2002 I was training for a 50 miler up on this ridge and used to run a different section every wednesday, but never really checked out the area down in Tilden, but really nice running, a couple thousand of climbing in 8 miles or so, but smooth and shady.

Heading out this afternoon for a MTB cruise with the Seal after he returns from his morning bay swim, nice and easy for the both of us, but my attention is beginning to focus on this now.
We have the Chico , Kareem, the Seal, Big Jimmy V, and myself going again in June.
Shifting the focus to giving back a bit and it's good.
I'll be revving the fundraising engine back up soon, we got a matching sponsor for this years' contributions and I really really want to get them to write a big check :-)

Anyhow, the race reports sound fun and all, but I see nothing I want to train for for months now except for some loony century the Nome wants to do, but it's good to not have to train right now and stay unstructured for a bit.
Back to the home improvement store....

3


It's been a big week for me, not only was Hanford my last race as a four, but my Level 3 USAC coaching application was approved as well!

In a strange way, the category upgrade has been kind of just unnerving, rather than satisfying. I know exactly what I'm getting into, and still got into it.
Big jump, here I come!

The coaching license everyone derides as a book test, but have you read that book?
I did, twice.
I actually thought the sections on coaching children very informative, not a area that I have any expertise in at all, save for Little C's ice cream league soccer team, but an excellent set of pointers one can use with any new athlete.

Anyhow two days into the big break and still no bikey for Gianni, thoug I believe tommorrow the Sprints will see my face, but only to do some skills work and hang for a while with the folks....

Hanford

Damn proud of the team today.

We somehow missed the W but the aggression was highly gratifying to see.

Merkely, X doggie, and The Vickerator all spent much time OTF, with basically the entire CVC team and a few unattached guys blindly doing CVC's bidding needed to chase Mike down.

When you have a 15 man team, playing the one dimensional card is kinda sad if you ask me.

I flubbed it at the end, jist couldn't go no more and got the X and Vick swarmed, but they fought it off and got some placings as well, very nice, fellas!

Too tired to write about it more right now ,must get on with my season break before the real training kicks up again.

Car Talk

Show the colors, baby!

Dang Merkle and Alicat!

Those dang thinmints- one box destroyed already and the other in the freezer.
Yer killin' me!

I keep eating those, I'll have to do more of these fat-ass forties.....

Good to see Chico at a race, and I hope it went well for ya!

The race- without the wind, that shit was bunk. I don't try to hide my distaste for 60 man bunch sprints.I make a living with my body every day, it don't work, I don't either.
I was good, then I was boxed, got out and came up on the top 8 or so, then had a guy pedal backwards at me.Held the line and gave up with a sour taste that only ice-cold thinmints seem to cure.............

CVC Tower Criterium RR

Sunday was gonna be a goodie.

I did this race last year with Double and Merkeley, and snuck off in a early break, the first and only time that one has worked for me :-)

This year the field was much bigger and the guys were fresher, as well as no teammates.

0330 am the phone rings. Wrong number.

Now I'm up and thinking bike racin'.
I drift back off and it rings again at 4:30.
Party party party at the Quality Inn.
Now I'm up.
I think about going over to the race early to race with the young bucks, eat a little sumpthin', then fall out for 15 minutes, when my alarm goes off.
I slowly move my stuff to the car and make my way to Starbucks on the course.

It's still dark and the racers signing up look fresh, overly alert, and very young.

I decide I can't deal with this crap right now and go back to the car and drink a couple of cups of java and talk myself into getting on the trainer and warming up at least.
MAsters 4/5 goes at 9:20 and the warmup is better than I expected, the soreness from yesterday is gone and the fire in the belly is coming around, I stage up as we watch the womens' 3/4 race.
This crit is my all time fave, the 180 was dry this year and you could push it if you had the right line/ gear coming out.
Big representation from CVC, Simply Fit?, and Action. Centurion.
The race starts agressively, with many splits with all the teams represented, but in the 4/5 ranks people often are too conservative/ chase their own breaks.
We all gotta learn, no?
Both Nelson and I are in just about everything, and the primes are nice and fat, I got a nice bottle of wine for the team party this year!
1 to go and I got myself boxed , I was trying to keep up front and hold a position,but with the field fanned all the way out and no team driving, very hard to do on the wider spots.
We hit the main drag with the barriers and I decide if I want it I had to get up now, so I sprint up the hole next to the barriers and grab 3rd wheel, behind the guy that won Merced when I went for the woods by borrowing my spot in the lineup.
This fine fellow has downgraded after a few years at the upper levels and is a nice wheel to follow, so we urge the CVC guy on the front to line it out and he jumps for the chicane., with me in the hip pocket.
FOS, FOS and we make the turn with 160-175 meters to go,and I just tried to not screw it up, and managed to get around him on the line.
Big time atmosphere down in Fresno, lot's of great racing for the lower categories as well, and a incredible race organization that helped me all weekend. If they didn't have the answer, they found someone who did.
Incredible the amount of work going into this thing, all benefitting local charities.
Thanks again, CVC!

CVC ITT

Drove down Saturday morning, caught up with the 123 squad as they were heading back to the lair.
I have been whining about no time in the saddle, especially on the TT rig, but hey, it's only 28K, right?

Wind was quartering from the SW and I heard from several people to expect it to reverse itself during the afternoon, so a distinct possibility of getting head/ head and not in a good way.

Got in a perfect warmup, used a whole hour, got off a couple times and worked on some new stretching I have been learning about, tried to open up all the zones and get loose in the flexors, which have been tight during my 45 minute roller sessions.

Made it to the line early, keeping the stress down is important, I would say I felt so-so, but was willing to go hard early and take the chance of a blowup.

Guy counts down just like on TV with the fingerdoodle move and I'm off, 10 stomps and settle. I push the Lap button and see I'm already at LT just from excitement,I try to calm myself down and get to it.
I had two gaps in front of me in the start order giving me minute men and then no one, so I just tried to work with the wind and take what it would give me, dropping a cog, going back up one, better with no face shield on the helmet, I like to feel the wind a little and hear things.
I passed my first minute man about 5 K in, then my second one stayed out there longer, till we hit the slight rollers and I could spin it up a bit and catch him.
I was about 10 beats over threshold by 10K in, and just tried to keep consistent, passing a womens ' division, refusing to look back, especially with a aero helmet, amd embrace the wind instead of hating it, which was now quartering more into the front of me.
Not enough power to push the really big cogs and I found spinning it up was faster anyway.
Hit the 1K hill and it was gut check time, with a bonus check, when it flattened out about 500 meters in and I had to leave the voices at the door and drop another cog, yum, yum that cytomax tastes good again, ooooh and it's over.
I had no idea only having 2 minute men how I was looking in the results, no real feedback from the watch that forgot to stop and I felt kind of crappy with no good form, sliding up, knees out more than they should be, back probably hunched like mad.
Rode back while bonking my ass off, only had a vague idea where I was and where I was going, I figured Fresno was somewhere up there, probably riding back hurt more than the race effort itself, as the cramps really set in.
My experience with cramps- calf cramps, yellow zone
Quads, especially while riding home in the car with buds, can even be good for a chuckle or two.
Hammies are no fun and can end a nice race.
Ass cramps are no fun.
Ass cramps while lost in the heartland of California really suck.
Only hobbling around and Ibuprofen help.
And large Coca-colas.

Anyhow, after lots of hobbling, chatting, and Coca-colas, the results were announced to the 20 people left in the parking lot and I won the damn thing.

Celebrated by going to Sweet Tomatoes solo and watching Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle for the 15th time, big bachelor night out!

A little perspective here, I was minutes off of the big time guys, not just the pros but the really strong masters guys, especially the demons of Sattley.

Trophies are just damn cool things.
And CVC put on one hella-cool race this weekend.

Bookends

Thanks to CVC for putting on such an excellent weekend!

This one goes on the calendar every year, great TT course and one of my favorite crits.

More report to come, but I'm a little fried right now and would just ramble anyway.

Old Mclane recap/ rant

Well, it's been almost a week and my head is slowly clearing and the legs feel decent, and I finally got the urge to jot a few things down....

Kudos to the teams in the 35+4 race, ones of note were the Pegasaurs, the EMC boyos, Sierra, CVC, and even Webcor and Davis, both who had like two racers.
All of the above attempted to animate at least for a lap until the old dads got tired and the reality of setting up for a 60 rider bunch sprint became a reality.
We probably tired each other out with all those attacks and counters, as the individual riders made hay while the sun shone in the final results.

That was a crazy finale to a crazy day, with riders careening into the dirt every turn. The only safe place was right at the head of the storm, with most of the field hanging back while the big P tried to control at the front.

Road racing in the grampa Cat 4's?

Lame.

Waiting for a bunch sprint and chasing everything down, even your own team?

Like watching paint dry, and yet many people encourage it, as it seems like the only way up and out of the 4's unless your talent is on the higher level of the curve.

Are we teaching people the finer points of bicycle racing, as is claimed?. A totally different game being played on the 123 stage with strategy interspersed with a savage beating every few minutes. Real bike racin'.

Anyhow, I'll shut the rant off now :-)

CVC for this lame Cat 4 starts Saturday, and I'm more than a little concerned over my total lack of TT preparation, unless sitting on the rollers for 45 minutes in the morning is gonna help, in the bars or not., but it's cool, I'm riding Snowflake, my oldest bike, and me and her have seen more than a few barbeques along the way.
Matter of fact, I think Snowflake is gonna get some bloggage soon, like a whole ode to the 'Flake.
See ya'll soon,
J

Feel the burn

Oooooh how are those airline miles stacking up? Check this out- the siren of stupid endurance challenges is calling me again....
Note the race promoter in the moustache- " People call me a sadist- I'm just a provider of pain ."

This is my tree

This is my tree.

But back to that later.

First up for me today was the elite 4/5 race, I got there early and it was pouring, but I kind of like the rain and actually the pavement was fairly grippy after raining all night.

Got a good warmup in and came to the line, a few mice, a strong 3rd Pillar contingent, and a few CVC, as well as a strong Berry. 47 starters made up the biggest field I saw today, and within 10 laps we shed half the bunch.

I saw some goofy riding by a couple of select riders, but for the most part 3rd Pillar rode hard to set up their sprinter and by keeping things decently fast we found ourselves on the last corner, myself in the 3 spot, can't ask for better position, well I needed one more cup of coffee or sumpthin'because somehow in my half frozen, half waterlogged state, I elected to start my sprint in a 12 cog, which only works if your cashing a check from a Protour team and are jumping @40+.

So eight was my number and I'm happy, just trying to get those top tens and stay alive, but I resolved to check the back cog before going the next time :-(

35 4/5 was up next with no break and I changed into another jersey with the new number at the car and we are off, I'm already feeling the fumes I have been running on for months and am getting a few crampy twinges, but thankfully we roll out at the grampa pace and slow from there.

A few attacks are attempted, but CVC being the only dominant team in the race is on them quickly, I joined a couple likely efforts when the blue and white were represented, but nothing was going good and getting separation, so I figured a bunch sprint was in our future, especially with every one of us having a fair amount of rest.

Typical 35+4/5 race, all negative racing and slow down and play chicken at the end, the last 5 laps got slower and slower, with more and more braking and absolutely stupid lines being taken.I attempted to do a little coaching with folks, we here on the spidey side of life are focusing hard on developing safe racers out of our sport team and womens bunch as well and have learned a couple of good lessons along the way, but it fell on deaf ears for the most part.

One to go and we enter corner 2 ( the one on the picture, which is sporting a drain grate roughly 3 feet off the apex but was fine all day), I'm in the 2 spot behind the CVC leadout when I hear the brakes being applied coming out of the apex, bad bad bad things are happening quickly, as his bike drifts out to the curb while coming back at me fast.

Options- You can set this to a little Digital Underground if ya like...

A- grab every brake I own, which are ridiculously wet since I wasn't finding the need to APPLY THEM ALL THE TIME and knock the whole bunch down behind me

B- Hit his back wheel and topple into the whole bunch behind me

C- as the curb/ bike gap closes, bunnyhop the island, brush tree A, slide around tree B, and hop off onto N street into open traffic

Well C is what I did, so yo listen up...

The damage- none. A tire track on Merceds' beeyutifull lawn and a scuff on the left shoulder. Now if I could have got back in from the far side of the island, now that would have been a real whalerider, as it was , I was too busy calling them all a whole lotta bad words and really in disbelief I made it out of that one alright.

No t-shirt for missing the trees, though.

Apology for the brake check, ummm, no.

circles and lots of em

Well since I needed to stay home this weekend and miss Dinuba/ make some dough answering a pager, I thought I would hit the track for a beginner session this weekend.

Merkeley has been talking it up for a while, and we actually were planning a trip a couple of weeks ago that got canceled by rain, so we went to the Devil Mountain that day and Merkle gave me a look at the new hillacious him, but I digress and the dynamic duo are off on a beach this weekend, , so I soloed down there this morning.

What a fun 3 hours of cycling, having been around bikes for a while now I am a admitted bike geek even though the pocketbook does not allow me to indulge deeply, but just checking out all the geeky aero stuff and geeky frames and mindset was very amusing to me, we all have our little subsets of this geeky world of geeky bikey folks and coming from tris I thought I was hardened to such things, but oh it goes so much deeper and I had lots of fun just checking out the scene......

One thing I noticed was all the ink, leg ink, sleeves, chests, lotsa doodling going on out at Hellyer.

The other thing was the big people, not you ordinary bikey climber folks, mostly fit,and tree trunks would be an exaggeration, but I actually felt... small.

We got a good talk by the session leader and we were off for a 30 lap warmup, then some talking, then bridging across, a talk, a TTT, some sprints out of a small group, finished off with a 10 lap scratch race that I punked out of halfway through.

One thing I really liked was the emphasis on safety, we had a wide range of abilities that would give me pause sometimes when following another rider closely, but I think for the most part we kept it safe, one touching wheels crash, but there is a lot to remember with all the lines and rules, at least at first.

Right up my alley, even though my fitness is slowly going away every week, I still am a student of the game and really dug the pure attacks and speed with no watching for cars and crap.

I rented a bike from the association for 5 bucks and got a nice Langster a little small for me but I made it work, a nice bike and pretty stiff. Real different than the springy steel fixie I used to tool around on/ commute to the O on, when I sprinted on the Specialized, it seemed like it all went to the ground, very cool! I might have to pick me one up for the summer racing season, I could see racing under the lights on a hot summer night, pretty fun and a excellent workout!

I would definitely recommend it and will be pushing a bigger team day soon, it seems that all the skills really would transfer to the road, as well as the leg speed and fitness would be fantastic for the racing season coming up.

sure is quiet round here

Little C left for the annual rite of passage in fifth grade life known as science camp today.

Her pile of bags was bigger than her as she waited for the bus..

She was pretty tough about it till the doors closed!

You would think we'd be taking vacation days, swinging from the rafters, watching grownup movies at 5 pm....

Instead we leave the TV on for some background noise and I'll probably fall asleep to Kuurne- Brussels- Kuurne on the Cycling TV again.

Prety gawdamn sad, if I do say so.

The underwater boogie

A few things that interest me-

Perpetuem looks just like Krusteaz pancake mix and tastes like it too.

How much sand and water can ones' eyes hold after riding in the rain all weekend? I'm still wiping out goobers and it's been 24 hours.

Biting off more than one can chew- my motto for life.

Trading pulls with pro tri-guys- dumb.

The mind says yes but the body sobs no.

Holes underwater are still holes.

I like racing in driving rain.

Maybe those six free sessions of EAP at work would help with this.

Gimme Shelter

Saturday afternoon I shot up to Chico and rode with Big Vick and Kareem up to Centerville, welcome to Helltown, Baby! Note the shanty in the background and insert your own banjo music here. There was then a adjournement to the Bear for some beverages and burgers.

Hung out with Chico-cyclist and Chico-cyclista at their lovely home, thanks for the hospitality and directions, ya'll!

Much Peets was drank , much bike talk wuz talked, and we all crashed out early for the big day.

Got lot's of 411 on the ride, what to look for, etc, by the Chico crew, but seeing 2- 300 folks on a little country road still gets quite interesting.

Soon we turned onto Lassen road(where the race blew up last year) and things got rolling a bit. Big difference from last year was the lack of wind, keeping things together and rolling at a nice clip.

A few early moves were made, but without all the teams represented, and goofballs chasing the bridges and dragging the pack, it was nothing doing till Corning, where I found myself easing off the front with a Spine fella. Easing, easing, easing and I'm not sure what's going to go down being my clueless Cat 4 self, but even my goofy ass knows that those guys are never up there without a good reason, so I hang in there and boom, things go quickly with spine and the spider, as well as a Davis guy, I believe.

I help for probably 5 rotations before I'm blown up and deeply outclassed by my company, and retreat to my customary position deep in the shelter of the herd, but they are outasight quickly in a interesting turn of events.

Nome and I try a simple handoff of clothing and somehow we BOTH drop his vest, causing me to have to ride back for it, drop it off, and get a quick lesson in holding onto cars at 30+ to get back on, and if anyone has some good pointers on this skill, I'm all ears.

Longest ride of the year for me has been probably 60 miles so far, and the first twinges come by Paskenta. I kept hearing about the "dirt is coming soon", like the frickin' grim reaper, but I have no idea where I am and somehow missed the turn for the 75 mile option , so I'm reasonably committed, but can't see through hills and so even with my efforts to stay well-positioned, hit the dirt road about 50-60 back.

Where all hell breaks loose.

All I can say if you ran a Michelin softie-race, or a Vredi-stank-in -the -dirt, I'm sorry. I hope the cornering prowess on those smooth roads was apparent. I ran Conti 4000's in the nice beefy 28 range and drove through every goddamn hole with no real worries. Pop-Pop- fizz-fizz was heard many times in the next 4 miles, but I was digging it big time, driving a big cookie over the gravel and trying to bridge the widening gap with a few like minded souls. We hit the asphalt and it was hero time for the 8 guys or so in my group, about a quarter mile to get back.

Many times in the lower ranks people panic and attack out of the bunch, killing the whole effort, but these guys hung with it and we got back on to the lead pack, where I languished attempting to eat salt pills and drink lots, as the hammie and right quad were getting pretty bejiggety.

Nobody told me about the rollers, the ones that on a normal ride would be a nice little effort, but today looked like the Mortirolo in front of me. I made it over two, but I could see the front guys hopping to it on the next one and I was 30 feet short, with a spectacular implosion driving into the gravel on the side.

I rode easy and looked at my map, resigning myself to a life of solitude, when the bus blew into town, and a nice, 23 mph bus it was. Tandems, racers, and some strong century guys, but just right for me for about 20 miles, until the strong roadies that had been dropped/flatted in the gravel arrived and began to attack each other at 28 mph for the dubious honors of, oh 45th or so.

My quad survived for a while, but soon it locked up and I had to small ring it back to the finish line and Chico's truck.

98.5 miles, 4:30 ride time.

Again, thanks to the Chico bunch for putting up with my requests and and Chico Velo for quasi-putting it on.

I'll be back and train a little the next time.

And I believe on the way out of town I saw a Petit hanging in a paceline going down 32, so good job finishing that monster!

Blah blah dee blahddy da.......

The blog has been sucking more than usual lately-

Mostly due to me being stuck in the new square life and riding in my garage at 0430, going to sleep by 9 pm with the lunch packed and the timer set on the coffee pot, you all know the drill, but no lunch rides make Gianni a dull boy.

Living on the edge consists of staying up till 10:30 to watch "apocalypto" on a work night- Big thumbs up from me and worth nodding off in the crane today, Miz C dug it and informed me that it has gotten good reviews yet been snubbed for the awards due to the Mel factor, I dunno about all that crap but it was a goodie and I reccommend it.

Went to another retirement this week, another baby boomer moves to Bend with his California pension and equity, and man there are some pretty spots of dirt to be had still...

Heading to Paskenta tommorrow, gonna hang on as long as possible in that slugfest, but most important will be the time with buds riding....