Good thing I got the hot tub running this week.....

cause after Hanford I definitely needed to mellow out in some bubbles under the stars.

No real race report, I raced over my head and harder than my legs would allow, but had a good time and in a small progression of strength from a couple of weeks ago, got to the final sprint in good position. Unfortunately, everyone else had so much better legs and I went backwards in the last 175, but I was still happy and had the nice track hack all evening to prove it :-)

Good times and I'm always happy to go to Hanford, especially with buddies like these :-)

Anytime middle aged dads can escape for a overnight and ride around in the Central Valley with three matching bikes with stickers and stuff like we're cool racers is a lucky day.

See the mouse

A well- deserved short vacation down south- too much eatin' and not enough ridin', but it's all good.

The biggest A & F store I have ever seen. Welcome to the Grove center in West LA.

More beautiful people in one place on a Tuesday afternoon than is humanly possible.

No one eats anything round these parts.

Quite a contrast from Disneyland, where a true cross section of America was on display.

Any drug maker with a diabetes drug in the pipeline is going to make a mint in ten more years.

I eat too many cookies and tri tip to take HTFU very seriously, the whole thing is getting kind of Die Trying if you ask me.

But I think I can go for some of this WTFU!

It's not Cole, but it'll do.

An entire store of sauces, and a entire wall of hot sauces.

Many of them with completely unprintable labels.

I ignored the No Photo signs until I was done taking pictures.

But I did buy a few things.

Afternoon luncheon at American Girl Los Angeles, mmmm, Dad likes those cookies!

Being West LA, I had a salad.

Your doll gets lunch too, in her own seat.

This was a loaner doll, Little C's doll was getting her hair done and a skin cleanser downstairs at the doll spa.
Yes you read that correctly.

Disneyland California Adventure- the cousins having fun.

The whole family rode this bad boy- even bought the ridiculous picture afterwards.

Do not eat cotton candy before riding this, you drop roughly 5 stories several times.

Not enough time sitting by the pool, but still it was just what the doctor ordered.

Some serious Easter egg making went down at Aunties' house.

Bike racing commentary coming back soon.

"Touch The Deck"

... and other innuendos for crashing,

just another mechanism of denial we use to keep ourselves pedaling forward when the hill gets steep/ the turn gets tight/ the pack gets squirrelly.

You have to ignore it at the present, channel it beforehand, and laugh about it after.

OR it will own your ass.

I'm not hatin' about it, I'm as hooked as the next guy.

Something I was thinking about all week before I heard about the Vickerator repaving the roads outside of Chico today....

Heal up soon,
brutha!

Suavecito

Sprint number 9- time to go home. Really, number 8 not looking too good either. I'd really like to pop off twelve of these with no drop off in power before the season ends in April .


Good times in the headwind with a buddy that needed to just ride fast and let a few things go....

400 meters can be a long long ways sometimes.

Grullense- a style of cooking

Kind of funny when even the latinos I know don't know what that word means, and the internet is no help at all... but somebody asked someone who asked someone and that's the answer.

What style that is I have no idea- but jerk chicken breasts and jasmine rice tucked into fresh tortillas cooked on our little gas BBQ on our work truck- now that hit the spot last night!

Well that was fun...... Exeter and Visalia

Nice weekend down south ,

We showed up a little late for the TT and I got in about a 20 minute warmup, not the best for the violent effort to come, but whatever.

I love the Snowflake, my old tri-TT, whatever bike- probably the only 650c bike still running around, I did the touch up paint with white nail polish, running some old Zipp 400's with a straight block of gears and a 56 big cookie, but she's my baby and my first real bike someone actually gave me her since they felt sorry for me doing triathlons on a Bianchi Squadra with downtube shifters, she fits like a dream, though.

They made the hills taller since we came down and checked things out last month, or so it seemed.

Good ride for me despite technical difficulties- pedals, chains, shifting, a ongoing theme of my weekend on both bikes.

Hard hard hard on the hills and moving along on the flats, a little bit of hail, but I ignored it inside my comfy TT helmet anyway. Sold out on the final climb and the ride into town hurt deeply, and what was up with the 20 mph headwind all of a sudden?

We came home with 4th, 6th, and 8th(me) in the cat 3's so good stuff.

Excellent meal and crashed early, only to toss and turn most of the night, some snoozing would have been good, as we got up at oh-dark-thirty to make the first race at 9:10.

Cruising along roughly 5 minutes in, good course for us, and I drop my chain off the bike. In hindsight, I know the rule about basically only crashes and flats get a free lap, I should have grabbed it while rolling and stuck it on, but I was in front of the pit, so I stop to see my favorite mechanic, the Shimano neutral support. We stick it back on, and then the blue shirt get's involved;

him- no free lap for you!

me- yeah, I know, I just drove for three hours and we're 5 minutes in, but I get it.

him- well, get back in!

Me- I'll wait for my teamies on the next lap, please. I already TTed for a hour yesterday.

Him, turning to referee, wanting to DQ me- can we pull him?

Referee- it's a small field, let him back in down a lap.

that solved, I jump back in and notify Nome and the Vick I won't be of any use to them come the sprint, but will do whatever I can for the remainder to help them escape the clutches, but no soup for us...

M123 right after, we do the superman in the phone booth trick with the jerseys pre-pinned, then head back out.

Shimano looks at my bike beforehand and we seem to get the shifting solved, I did just build it up this week, so more than a few glitches..

Bigger field with 45 plus in there too and some quality guys, MS, SP, VOS, ya'll know the deal.- we just covered moves and hoped to be in the right place at the right time.
I felt pretty good and was finding a second wind, starting to recognize the players a bit as the season goes along.
I chased a sweet move that double clutched in the corner, I tried to keep the power down to reach em and skipped my pedal hard, hopping over about a foot, landing upright but tearing the tire off, then riding a degrading rim down from 28 or so, big fun.
Back to my buddy in the pit, I was just about his only customer, but still kept him busy.

Shimano 10 fits Campy 10 no problem, BTW.

No static from the blue shirt this time and I'm off, albeit a little nervous about skipping a pedal again, but it was race on there again for a while, till I sucked and gave in to all the excitement.
pulled the ripcord with one to go and got out of their way, tough race, with no one really going away, but with hard endless attacks, it never really lulled up to recover.

I took the bike off the truck tonight and the crankarm swung down like a power cranks commercial- I can't find any damage and took it apart, my guess is just not tight enough and when I hit the ground with it I loosened it, not too sure, but that's why bikes and cars get raced, to find out what works and survives, seems a-ok now though.

Having to file the rim a tiny bit where I skidded, some pockmarks, and the pedal has a little more clearance now :-)

Il Grullense- a nice chain, I never have gone wrong with stopping at a Grullense, even though I can't figure out what a grullense is, perhaps a mariachi style?


Edit- I just heard about the womens' pro crash, ouch!

Hope everyones' ok- those ladies don't exactly back down when it gets going- pure aggression.

Thin Mints Es Aqui! ---- and CVC images

Kids' got a eye with the camera

The owls are watching the racing intently.

Criterium Cheering Section- feel the joy.

We are Sierra Pac, and we have complete control.....

Escape is futile.....

Well,
I wanted to post about chile verde, 20 dollar primes, a new camera, and general bike racing blather, then I heard about Kristy while driving back home.
news link here



Just so sad when people in the prime of their lives are suddenly gone.

Kristy was a old friend and someone who let old out of shape guys grovel while hanging onto her wheel.

When said guys would begin blabbing about staying in their prescribed HR zones as the reason they couldn't pull around, a small chuckle would emanate and the speed would slowly ramp up until it was time to let go of the wheel and go for cookies at Sweet Affair in Alamo while Kristy continued her training ride.

Always kind to me and my family, she will be missed.

I've been hoping to catch this place open for a couple years now since I read about it while hiding in a motel room during the monsoon/hail/tornado that was the 2005 CVC.

We will see.....

CVC crit- just about one of my favorite races- kind of like a cross race with all those turns and a great crowd, eat some lunch and watch some great pro racing afterwards.

Mystifies me why more people don't make the trek from the Bay Area/ Sac- too bad, the TT in the orange groves went away this year,my guess due to low numbers, and the race through the park for 90 miles of flats in 2005 was IMHO a very interesting race, especially in driving hail, although most of the time the weather this time of year is spectacular in the valley.

Hopefully I found a quiet hotel this year, Fresburg seems to have a hex on me with 2 am phone calls, Mcdonalds' drive thrus next to my room, full-on Gulag architecture that feels like I'm walking the green mile when I go for some broken ice.....

I've been pumped up since Tuesday when I saw the POO ride rolling through Broadway, all those healthy little spandexed creatures flitting down the mean streets of the Big O like sardines with headlights, and me wrestling a fire hose away from a drunken denizen of Third St before he blasted em..... they had no idea how close they came.......

Not a Bike Racing Dumb Comment

From Little C's perspective.......

The Garden of Beauty

There is a garden of beauty

So light, but dark

Safire Sunflowers crowd on the hill

Emerald leaves stand still

Topaz tulips glimmer in the light

Ruby roses shine so bright

These treasures all shine,In this beautiful garden of mine!

I think I have Trac Sac.

Took a few newbies to the track today, what a ball.

Big crowd and a mix of abilities, as usual.

Lots of pursuit and team sprint stuff today, with a couple of small scratch races thrown in, I think the pursuits are a bit safer with lots of people.

My favorite moment, seeing one of our new juniors completely grasp it and take second in the last Aussie pursuit that lasted a solid 10 laps.
Just sweet.

Apres-ride-
TJ's vegan trail mix cookies, a cup of black coffee, and Het Volk Omloop on the internet,
life is good,
Slipstream in the moves early, the boys are here to play and are rolling with some heavy hitters.

Gilbert showing some big stones and staying away for like 49k, the traffic furniture monsters that live in every town in europe got a few bites of spandex and collarbones down the gullet today, makes Merced look like cake, frankly.

Merco stories, please.

Time to toughen up

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!

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.

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!

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

Clerks 2- inappropropriate boy humor ahead....

Reminds me of a teammate :-)
Oh my does it...

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 :-)

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.

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....

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....

Conconi

I'm a perverse individual that likes to geek on different tests, thresholds, pacings, etc.

Doing the ramp test is a great way to see response a little slower and clearer.

Noticing Aet has moved up a tiny bit, and putting a wattage number to the HR is good stuff- I could ride a IM right now at 220 watts with no problems, good to know if I decide to tilt at that particular windmill again.

LT is very clear, no real change in that now for years, and wattage is in close relation to the 20 minute test.

Time to start doing some real riding outside soon I hope....
Inlaws have been in town and I've been eating way too much and training way too little, time to get down....

PAskenta next weekend, praying for sun....

J

20 minute test

Very close to the last Conconi test I took, I'll do that tommorrow, but a very pedestrian 303 watts for the FTP, 318 as the avg, then minus 5% for the FTP.

Last Conconi was 321 for the LT, guessed off the VT while I asked myself how I was feeling and talked mindlessly in the garage, a amusing sight, sweating, nasty, maybe a little mouth foam, trying to write wattages down while at LT is very very hard :-)

Nice pacing on this, the HR rises very very smoothly up and goes over LT in the last 5 minutes, I pushed the last minute, but wanted a accurate FTP for a hour, so a good representation...

Lance and the boys on the garage TV,Tour 2005, yesterday was the gift stage to Basso, watch Overcoming and then watch the old videos of this stage, interesting.

Today was a hard stage when Voeckler loses the jersey, Jens has to wait to help Floyd pull back Der Kaiser, and Lance was just crankin' it up when I shut the TV off for the day.

Good motivation for tommorrow, Lance breaking them down.

Picture is Deep Creek, Big Creek, up thecreek? Can't remember the name, but I remember the pain, Climb To Kaiser 2007.

graphs, figures and numbers

Hit the garage for some pain today, my first whirl at a power profile test, and man......
Thats some rather limited potential I'm a workin' with.

Some quick impressions-

The trainer is accurate, but it seems like I can get way more watts on the road,I can do much more than 500 for a minute, I think.

The sprints are very tough to crank up there as well, I ended up just using my numbers from last weeks' Friday Night Lights at the old crit course.

My 5 minute number seemed about right, at 373.

Tommorrows fun in the garage consists of the 20 minute test, but going off of the last numbers, my profile almost looks like a division sign with a deep V.


My guess is the TACX or any trainer with a electronic brake is much better with the steady wattages, where the tire can't slip a bit.

Update tommorrow, hoping for a meager improvement after the hard work the last two weeks.

Rest week

40 degrees and getting ready to snow up on Skyline and Snake tonight,wind in the 20's already, next big storm rolling in, you can feel it, it should hit around 0400, damn cold even with 3 layers on.

A good time to blow off the calorie restriction a little and pick up some caldo tlapeno from Taco Zamorano on Foothill.

Rest weeks suck cause I love to eat and eat a lot.

But chicken, potatoes, carrots, rice, and corn tortillas are good foods for the soul.

And the soul needs a little comfort on a night like tonight.

Eye Chart

MR DUCKS !

MRNOTDUCKS!

OSMR!
CMWANGS?

LIB!
MRDUCKS!

A afternoon of wind and sufferin' out on the fremont mudflats will make a sumbitch a little crazy...

For Mike and Steve

swiped from the wattage list....



Kind of hard to make out, but I like how it clarifies some of the different language used to describe the same thing.....

Santa drives a UPS truck

Well, Ive been saving my pennies for a while now, e-baying a few items for fresh new toys, working through a few nights to feed the cycling monster in the garage, and was able to bust it down for these babies

Keith has been a fantastic sponsor for lots of Norcal teams and while I had read the reviews, the term " these (fill in the blank here) are comparable with ( blah blah blah) ones that cost hundreds more is waaaay overused .

But after riding them for a few rides now, I honestly am very impressed.

Sprints friday, very solid, no whippyness at all.
Some interval work during the week on them, but mostly I stayed inside in my little house of pain with a fan and a fixie on the TACX.

Saturday finally came and I took then on one of my favorite rides, Morgan Territory looping around to Northgate and back home, a solid 85 miles.

Hopped on the HOP for a minute at Highland/ Tassajara and got off that bus at MTR, where I waited for the ChromeMan for a spell, then we made our way up.

Going counterclockwise isn't my favorite way to go on this route, the descent was muddy/slimy/holey and needed much care, the winter storms really slammed the canyon back there.
But the wheels, man.
Doing some big gear stuff up MTR they were solid as a rock.
Descending was full of bunnyhopping and basically cross riding, the 30x's were very predictable.
We rode west and then climbed Diablo, again, the wheels were very solid. Keith had told me they would be stiff, with a Powertap hub and DT spokes, there just isn't a lot of spoke with a deep section rim, but I really dug the feeling of the power going down to the ground.
When the 30x's really blew my mind was descending Southgate, though.
Perfect tracking and once they spun up, felt like they held their velocity very well.

I've ridden some pretty good wheelsets,Eurus, Zipp, Kysyriums these are definitely right up there if not frankly better. I don't get caught up in the latest and greatest much,I like steel bikes and steel single speeds more, but the whole package of ceramic bearings, solid build, and excellent rim weight, epecially with the Powertap is kickass.

Taking them up Calaveras tommorrow, looks like a very nice day to suffer........

J

The New Style- DDR

Last weeks' opening up workout on Saturday.....

Damn, I guess I'm not that serious.....

Who, me?

A little perspective

The last LARPD today, and the weather finally got a bit cross-like, enough to give the mud that nice slimyness that gets all over the place but doesn't stick.

Lots of fun fighting for last for me, but I still has a blast.

Cesar is riding on another planet right now on that SS machine, it's all I can do to avoid being lapped. Good for him, he obviously did his homework and put in the miles and hard work. Dude got 3rd today in the open A's race with some tough company in the house.

A lot has happened to me since the first LARPD, I rode home from the first one in rippin' shape from a summer of long miles and many hills, holding my weight down at 81 kg and roughly 6 percent pizza and a occasional donut. I finished mid pack in the open A's in 103 degree temps, pushing a ridiculous 48 x 17.I remember being completely stoked about the season's possibilities.

That night, my mom lapsed into a sub conscious state as the final infections raged through her body. After a long night just to get her admitted to St. Josephs because her primary care physician didn't want to come down to admit her personally, she stayed there for 5 days, until I made the decision to take her to hospice, where she finally had some peace, and after 4 days of vigil, she let go.

A day or two later, I flipped my bike over a podunk whoop de do while JRA at lunch and piledrove my face and head into the ground.MAny x-rays and chiro ensued,and Dr Richard did a great job helping me be able to turn my head again.

I was able to race, albeit gingerly, and it took me a while to plunge off the side of a drop again without touching the brakes.

Around late October I pounded myself again, JRA at lunch again, and swore to stop just riding around like that. This time I bruised my coccyx, and there's nothing like violent prison sex with your saddle to get your mind off hammering.
Seeing me get in and out of bed I look like a old old man. My neck hurts, my ass hurts, and god knows what else will be the flavor of the day post race . Sleep this fall has been rather skimpy, to say the least.

Back to LARPD after a fall of mediocrity, December 8th. I used a 42 x 16 that day on a sticky course and definitely had problems pushing it. Grumpiness ensued, followed by bitchiness, like I'm getting paid to be wanking it on two wheels.
A burrito fixed some of the problem, and we went home so I could finish building my kids new bedroom set and at least finish one damn thing this year.
I got a call that night that my dad had broken his hip in a fall and was headed to St Joe's.
It's getting to the point I don't want to answer the phone after a race.

Today I headed over to see him at his new rehab place after LARPD.
I got him cable into his room and he was having trouble with the TV Ears he got for x-mas.
The therapist came in and we went to PT together.
As I watched him struggle to walk 15 feet down a walkway , I reflected on todays' stair run up, and the eight or nine times up that thing.

I really can't complain.

happy holidays

Holiday Trifle-

2 pkg. Vanilla Pudding ( not instant)
quart of milk
1 angel food cake
1 cup raspberry jam
4 cups whipping cream
4 bananas, sliced
canned cherries in syrup 1 can
canned blueberries in syrup 1 can
canned blackberries in syrup, 1 can
canned raspberries in syrup, 1 can
Drain all cans of berries and reserve 2 cups liquid. you can mix berries or keep separate.
1 cup slivered almonds

Early in the day before.... make vanilla pudding per directions on package, then refrigerate until chilled.

1 cut angelfood cake into 1/2 inch slices, layer across bottom of a trifle dish or other 10-12" across dish approx. 12 inches deep.

Spread raspberry preserves on cake

spread layer of bananas

Spread layer of berries
drizzle berry juice ( 1/2 cup per layer)

spread layer of pudding

spread small layer of whipped cream

place another layer of angelfood cake slices

continue with layers 3 times...

cover with wrap and chill for a day or two.

Before serving, top with remaining whipped cream and almonds.

Watch W/kg ratios go spiraling into the abyss.........

break it down- tale of the tape

Easy to see where my season fell apart, the months of September and October are particularly bad from a training time perspective.

For me, a very average athlete I have always done best around 15 hours a week.

I typically set my hours a little low and then try to exceed them( gives me a reachable goal), but I've had trouble even making these conservative numbers this year :-(

Typical masters racer, too much life getting in the way, it's important to realize this stuff doesn't pay the bills.

Looking at the big picture, I hopefully will complete the entire CCCX series this year, that's a first.

I definitely improved my technical skills some this year, the sand no longer fills my heart with dread...

I figured out a few things that work for me on the singlespeeder and will have some sweet sew-ups and race wheels for it next year.

My running got much better, as I ran up the steps at Live-no-more for the ninth time Saturday,I realized I used to always be walking by the fourth lap.

Small victories are still good un's.

Perhaps this influenced my state of mind as I had a good time on Saturday even as I got last place in the A's.

I could have gotten second to last but after sitting on a A40 guys' wheel for like 4 laps I felt it was only right to help him get to the next guy up the line( ended up incinerating myself and getting dropped off, but what the hey, papa didn't raise no punk), a small field all together, A's, SS, Masters A, and junior A.

3 crashes/ wild moments kept things interesting, I tried to avoid the mayhem and stay in a group, this course will punish the man that goes it alone, especially on the big backside.

Props to Shane and his crew for a great local series, making the rodeo grounds SO much better than I expected.

Peace To All,

J

Homemade Fudge With White Chocolate Topping

Thanks to all the well wishes, my Pops is doing better, and after a week in the hospital flirting with pretty Filipino nurses, is now ensconced at a rehab facility for the next month or so, where he alternately watches his new TV/ flirts with pretty Filipino nurses and argues that he needs his mentholatum rub for his sore shoulder/knee/ankle/ anything but his hip.

An old marathon swimmer that once swam 24 miles across Lake Superior, the man knows his embrocation strategies by now and why the doctor is argueing about it is beyond me.

The cross racing is sucking big time, I was bummed a bit , but after looking at my logs, it's easy to see the cause.
I'm so undertrained it's lousy.
But I really don't care.

I'm handling my business well these days and getting priorities in line.

If I have to hang X-mas lights at 10 pm on Saturday Night to race Sunday, so be it.

And as soon as the expectations and frustration left, I started to have fun again.

A spirited race for 5th ensued last Sunday and my fading ass was in it for a while.
Yippee!

Our new boss canceled our X-mas party this year, the grinch.

So we have had two of our own so far this week.

Quite the brotherhood of ditchdiggers I belong to here, I went away a couple of times, but always come back.

We work hard in the mud when it's 30 degrees at four am, laugh about the crazy times in the East O and North Richmond.

Sometimes your niche isn't the easiest or the smartest.

But once you recognize that brotherhood, and we do fight like hated siblings at times, although the fistfights are rare now that alcohol is a no-no on the job, but once you realize that's who you are?

Best thing to do is live it.

This guys' stuff, crackin' me up.

The bike world is a twisted place, he does a nice job shining the light into that dark closet

What has been preoccupying my time lately.

OG got one of these beauties installed today, and we hope to be out of the woods in a few days., but his tickers' wound a little tight right now.

Tuesday Worlds, if the start money can be guaranteed in Belgian chocolate.

Mr. Brightsides

Wednesday and it's time to put the cry- towel away.

Sundays' disappointments and mucho suckage fade over time,
replaced by a hopeful salvaging of some good patches.

So I'll ignore the tactical errors, the big sprint for the holeshot to nowheresville, and the barrier faux pas on the first lap( sorry Tim), cause who wants to cry anyway?

Sand. Technical turns. My nemesis.

I swapped my tires out for some Cross- Wolfs, and had a pretty good race for me and my level of ability.
Rode the long sandy descent well most of the times, stayed nice and loose, there were a couple of laps in the middle to end where my arms were filling up with lactic acid and other nasty byproducts of hammering and I got tight and tried to muscle it.

And you can't muscle sand, baby.

But considering I would be running that section last year I'm happy with my ride there.

I rode the swoopies fairly well, though the gear choice for me was a little tall still and I had problems jumping out of the corners.

The singlespeedin' is a blast, but figuring out the perfect gear for the cause?
I'm a little ways off.
Thet course for me was a 42 x 18, and I stuck with a 17.

I got dropped every time in the corners and the one punchy hill by guys spinning a little more.
Every lap.

Listening to my instincts would have paid off big time Sunday. Trusting the instinct is key.

Districts is Saturday and I hope it rains like hell. I hope the corral is under water by Friday afternoon.

CCCP on Sunday- I'm coming out for this one, the only BASP race venue I really like.

More sand.Lots of sand.

It finally seems like cross season.

Safety Bike

I think I can find room for one of these in my garage still.....

Soulja Boy Tellem, the kids' got style.



Chaperoned the sixth-grade dance out in P-town tonight, well, this afternoon.



No pictures allowed of the fun, mortification of certain tween' girls would be certain.



This tune got em all inside again and out of mischief for a bit, though.






Funny, last time I heard this tune was Wednesday night, 72nd and Hamilton in the East O.



Kid was riding a tricked out scraper bike with a stereo the size of a Lazyboy on the front basket.


Like I said, it's got all the kids' dancing.

Costanoa

Campsite all set up for Turkey Day.

Beautiful clear days and cold at night.

The menu- yum. The last time we were here the restaurant wasn't opened yet and they were having a few growing pains.

Their all grown up now.

Petit Baked Brie & Mango Chutney Puff Pastry, Candied Pecans
Choice of Salad or Soup
Organic Hearts of Romaine, Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit, Point Reyes Bleu Cheese, Pomegranate Port Vinaigrett
Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Coconut
Choice of Entrée
Lemon-Herb Infused Roasted Turkey Breast, Skillet Cornbread & Andouille Sausage Stuffing with Turkey Sage Gravy
Natural Maple Glazed Apple Wood Smoked Ham with House Made Persimmon Preserves
Wild Mushroom, Roasted Winter Vegetable & Herb-Soy Tempeh Pot Pie (Vegetarian)
Entrées served with
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Crème Fraiche and Chives
Candied Yams with Rum & Molasses
Orange Cranberry Relish
Local Organic Wilted Greens: Rainbow Chard, Kale & Spinach
Assorted House Made Warm Breads & Biscuits With Whipped Honey Butter
Choice of House Made Desserts
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie with Fresh Whipped Cream
Warm Apple Pie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Ollalieberry Sauce
Includes Coffee, Hot Tea and Hot Apple Cider

This guy was hanging out in the stables a couple hundred yards away, a nice Tennessee Walker.

The view out the kitchen window.

" Who's he kidding, everyone knows my dad doesn't consult a map!"

These chairs in the warm fall sunshine sucked us in for a bit, after the yoga class the girls were tired, but not so tired to miss a five mile hike on the beach with some sweet tidepools.









Tidepool jumpin', adventure seekin', yoga stretchin' Little C.

Nice spot for a rest interval.

10 sprintys and I was done and back at the trailer, catching up on a classic read that I've been meaning to finish-

Everywhere I look there's Kentucky Fried Chicken

The location- a super secret trail in the easy bay.

So secret, you have to triple trespass just to get to the start.

Myself and a like minded companion descend for 5 minutes on a leafy trail about a foot wide at best.

The trail ends at a old dump site , tons of blue glass bottles and junk.

We look down and there is a nicely eaten deer carcass at our feet.
And a big big crash in the bushes above us on the ridge.

I can see my house from here but can't figure how to reach it with getting a citation for crossing some big wigs' private idaho.

We backtrack and trespass some more, including fence-hopping this time bushwhacking south.
And find the trail we were looking for.

And jam before we're the dessert.

Infovistas' got mad skillz

Everybody listen to Nicole........

A whole lotta go-get-em in a small package.

It's ok, Mike, your still part of the bunch.

We at Infovista would like all our competitors in the cat 4's and 5's to be intelligent and safe on their bikes.

40 year old collarbones take a lot longer to heal.....

.Some Merkeley pointers on staying upright and fast through the corners were well-taken.



















Not only will she go for a 4 hour car ride to feed a grumpy old man in a cross race, she opened the house up and fed 20 hungry bike racers today-

Thanks Miz C!

Chick Flix

Alright, I may be in danger of getting my Man-Card pulled,
but this show is good stuff.

Thank gawd for Tivo, I have about four of em I watch during the week.

Touchie- Feelie, The best show about TheGame I've ever seen,Smoke em If Ya Got Em, Love So-Cal Style, and Slash And Burn.
Most TV is junk and if I had my way I'd have ala-carte package with HBO, Showtime, Local News with Roberta cause she says hi when she jogs by, and we get out hair cut in the same swank palace of couiffure, and VS. A Broadband feed of Cycling.TV would about top it off.

Cycling TV- the World Cup in The Czech Republic this last week, Nys showed again why he's the best in the world and left the local stud hanging out to dry......

OTC- Chula Vista

Sunday Ride- I think this road goes to Arizona somewheres, but we only had a hour and change before we had to be back :-(

The fires burnt through here and missed completely the only campground or civilization out this way.

The little building on the right is where we practiced sitting for 9 hours a day in a classroom while looking out a window at nice climbs..

The weightroom is on the left- seriously cool set of stuff in there on platforms.

It was interesting the lack of machines and prevalence of pure free stuff and stability gizmos.

The first night in town, we saw a kid doing a easy hop onto a four foot box, some sick plyo and athletic skill on display.

Half of the Track and Field area- I only brought some clunky Merrells, so no chance to rip a 400 off on this legendary field of dreams.

Pictures of many past olympians and monster T & F dudes hanging around, hmmmm, none of Marian Jones now....

The boat house was below this, quite a few rower types in residency right now.

I wish I got a pic of the crit couse, but due to our schedule we rode it at dusk and I was just concentrating on staying between the shadowy bushes. Smooth as glass, though.

The dining hall and one of many hangout areas- excellent food and many choices. I think I gained a pound a day. They really take care of the athletes and let them focus on being great.

Gift shop- very important part ofthe trip, must bring items home to the family if one is ever to be allowed out of the house again.

Nuff' said about that.

Gracias to Merkeley Bike for driving a hard core sixteen hours to be able to ride about 2 and a half total.We had a fun time and learned a lot!

What happens on Diablo stays on Diablo

Funny how these creative concepts, problem solving, and resolving conversations come into my head one after another on the climb to the summit.....

And fade into memory on the way home.

Kneewarmers, people. Bring em along.

Track Hack

Two sessions today- the beginner and Larry's intermediate one.

I wanted to get the rest of the mandatory stuff out of the way in case I can get my butt down there to race next year, and had a good time.

Larry's was especially good good stuff, we got to experience the miss'n'out, which is a devilish concoction,but a great way to get pack awareness. I finally understand a few terms bandied about, like blue line, Stay, Rail, etc.


Very cool day and I got some solid efforts in, the session was planned well where you could go hard or not, I chose, ummm, hard.
I think a good meal @ Fresh Choice, some sleep, and a couple hours riding around on the lame-o group ride tommorrow should fit the recovery bill nicely.

Working the big OT tommorrow afternoon and will miss the biggest party of the year down in the Cruz, but I gotta pay for the bike habit somehow :-)

Looking forward to the pics....

Paris- Tours- the new Ambien

Hit the Live-no-more Rodeo Grounds today for some bike rodeo,
Shane and his band of brothers are really getting the course wired, much nicer than Labor Day when I was last there.
Small fields, probably reflective of Candlestick tomorrow, but for my money, a good good race.
40 steps to oblivion went pretty well, which bodes well for December.
Cesar is about unbeatable right now in the SS, as he made the front group with the line of loons blowing apart into the breeze, and I went all Cat 4 and actually thought the loons behind him would keep it together.....
One of the most subtle lies in bike racing to tell yourself," it's fine back here. They'll never let those guys go....... I'm saving up and riding smart..... no pain,.... no pain.... awww fukkkk."

Anyhow, good burrito fest afterwards @ Tequilas' on Main, a cup of Cole after visiting Merkle's lair of tires and hoops, and the most boring race I've watched this year on Versus.
At least until the last 5-8 K, when Pozzato and Gilbert took off with Kroon getting dragged along.
Watch those cameras, boys, Robbie M is a madman to hold it up after smacking the camera with his head and Oscar Freire did a nice job keeping it from being much worse.
I'll miss the Stick tommorrow, not my favorite race anyway, though the racing should be good stuff and tactical as all get out on that flat dump.
Looking forward to the stories...
J

CCCX #3- Fort Ord- Revenge Of The Sand Peoples

New venue,
I was excited, I haven't raced over on this side of Fort Ord for probably 8-10 years, I remember much much sand, surf guitar music playing from giant speakers on top of somones' van, a girl knocking the Seal into a pole on a sandy descent, tough crosser girls even back then, and lots of sand.
Rolled down nice and late loving the 1:30 start, made pancakes for the girls before I left even!
The course was very smooth single track mixed with a few long road sections, one longish run between barriers that I listened to someone smarter than me and ran, rolling the bike next to me, kind of different but it worked fine, and a sand ride-up was the crux and right in front of the vocal parking lot crew, but the 42 x 17 was for once the right gear.
I used a bottle cage today with my feeder of preference off shuttling children to B-day parties, but with no shouldering the bike it wasn't a big deal.
I went with Kenda Small Block Eights today, and should have listened to the instincts and went with a little more knob, like the Panaracers.
We started all together today with the full A contingent, adding a different dimension, as the SS guys were at the end of a very long line of suffering by the first singletrack.
If you missed that bus, homeboy,it was over right there, and I went and bobbled a couple of times in the turns, the SB8's were fine unless I missed the perfect line and only the perfect line would do in that crowd and at that speed, then I would slide into some interesting contortions and was OTB by a lap in or so.
Hung with some stragglers from the geared race for about 3 laps, but kept getting gapped on the long asphalt sections from them.
Fitness felt pretty good, I settled into a rhythm and saved a little, the front group was making a solid 30 seconds a lap on me and lapped me with 4 to go, and I figured I might need a little sumthin' if one of those hapless souls caught out behind me caught up, kind of turned the dial to 7 on the suffer-meter and rode a good hard effort.
Cleaned the sandy hill every time, roughly 10 laps for a hour twenty, a good hard day and a fun fun time.
The buy-cell boys were on fire again today and stayed on the Strawberry/Rocklobster choo choo early, they seem to be able to turn their bikes much better than me, played their cards right for 1,2, that bunch seems to swap the W every week, but they are definitely the ones to watch in the single speeders.
Next week a race close enough to ride to, and I think that's exactly what I'll do. 33 steps of pain and wholesome goodness, repeat till stupid :-)

Blahblahblah

Urp de Urp

My oh my, all the cross happenings, I meant to show up, but had to work Sunday afternoon and began to stress over getting across the Bay Bridge with 30 minutes to spare, and how I like to stay and hang out anyway, and getting right into a car after sucks, and as Vick would say, I am excellent at talking you out of racing, and I did it to myself.

Sounds like a course for heavy clinchers, ummm, like the ones I'm riding right now.

And 50 guys in both the geezer fields is very impressive and cool.

And that SS field looked to be heating up as well.

Anyhow, I got a new SS MTB that I traded with the Seal for my old SS MTB that fit us both better- a 18" for a 17", both steel, just a little better fit, and came home with an extra bike by mistake, a converted road fixie that will be perfect for the rollers in a month or two.

I love silly bikes like this, The Seal built this completely out of parts he found in the trash, nice re-use!

Speaking of re-use, I'm a little frazzled answering questions aboutmy craigslist posting-http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/bik/442677243.html

" What is the size?" Ummmm, I posted it.Let me decipher for you, though. I understand we don't all get the metric system round these parts :-)

"what are the components" Ummm, I thought I got that one too. It works perfectly.

Or the famous e-mail with no questions or preface- "200 bucks."

The more I polish it, move it around the garage, the more I appreciate the old girl and want to keep her.I start to admire the sensibility of a pump peg, or four bottle cages, or a nice rack and bag for the back and how nice riding to the farmers market and coming home with dinner in that bag is, and dammit, I know I promised to clear some junk out, but come on!

This is how come I have 7 bikes in the garage. Easy to buy them, hard to let them go.

I went a little over the edge with this weeks training, lots and lots of tempo and group riding, topped off with riding the SS crosser yesterday on the Sunday hammerfest, trying to get those legs to spin fast fast fast for a hour, a nice micro-cycle of stress, take a day easy, then hit it again.

Finally some stress in my life is resolved and I can push it again on the training side of life,my body doesn't care what type of stress I introduce, when the reservoir is filled, it will react negatively.

A hard lesson for me to learn , that the improvement comes from the recovery. Employing solid recovery strategies even while I couldn't train much helped me through the summer of hell, basic stuff, no mumbo-jumbo, eating right, a multi-vitamin, stretching, building strength and aligning my body has left me in good shape, not very fast, but able, for example, to fall on my face and be able to race that weekend still.

All good stuff and I look forward to this Saturday , a fun filled day for all.I'll be trained up and tired, but will show up and give the gas until I implode, loving the sweet pain of cross again.

J

It's bizness time.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

I gotta learn how to get the video to embed into Blogger...

Just loving these guys, though.

Happy Anniversary, Miz C!

J

I wanna quit football and be a cheerleader...

And other stupid thoughts...

Be careful the tunes you listen to on the way home from a self-pummeling and major suckage-fest, they may have new meaning.

10 laps of pain on the plate today for me, after 2 I was hurting, after 5 I was whining about how I was really a B and how did they even let me into this stupid parade of idiocy and self flagellation, at 7 I really felt the spurtle and hairballs coming around, and hoped that my crank would come loose again so I had a good excuse to drop out and go eat meatballs, at 8 I relaxed and greeted the pain instead of fighting it, and somehow held my spot from then on.
Not like I got any faster, really, and by the end even the flattish stuff was leaving me gasping for precious O2, but everybody else hurt too, I guess.

Strawberries for the whole SS bunch today, only 6 of us lining up, and we all deserved em'.

Took Morgans advice and rode what was actually a very nice challenging course with barely any brakes, cool buffed out singletrack mostly and a doode could roll that stuff.

A month off, basically, is what it boiled down to, getting Lifed on.
A pretty important month from a training standpoint, being in a Base 3 kind of way, lots of tempo rides and interval sessions got missed, the stuff that lays a nice ground for the icing on the fitness, but hey, we can't control life sometimes and it's twists and turns, and I'm going to live with it and enjoy the day.
The fitness is sucking but the freshness is high, gotta figure out if I can roll a 3 week block or stay on schedule with a rest week.

Sounds like the Lion was a kick in the pants, I ended up working at the coaching biz a little and Working the See Jane Triathlon, doing some bike support and registration, fun seeing all the clients finish their goal race and talking to them afterwards you could feel the excitement, glad I was a little part of it.

Miz C and I were discussing the lack of spectators today for the A race in Salinas, folks, these are some seriously good athletes out there to watch, that hill was a great shady place to spectate and wipe the grovel off the ground.
I've seen more spectators at a Earlybird Criterium,hmmm..

Nice fall weather right now, so get out and ride!
Horse-traded my old crosser to a teamie today, put the Burley on the Craigs List, making some room in the garage and trying to get my hands on some nice race wheels before the season is done.
Hope your all well and enuff blather from me...

Stuff works, yo.

I still have the hanging chad off the lip that sux, and a few cuts inside the mouth, but lots of ice, ibuprofen, the Soljah have done the trick.

Getting the Chad to repair itself is being tricky, though.

It keeps getting messed up every day, leaving me with some sleepless nights.I even tried a Tegaderm on it today, but no way- it's a lip, man.That shit ain't sticking to a lip.

Vitamin E, Aquaphor, works somewhat but it's slow.

Skeered the snooty parents at Back To School night tonight bad, though, Chad started goobing a little, I wipe it gingerly, then it bleeds while I'm listening to the math teacher explain his homework theory, he was cool, though.Young runner dude, looks like a roadie, understood what taking a header was about. Little C thinks he looks like Justin Timberlake, ooooh, the sixth graders are all in a tizzy!

The shoulder and back are good, working with a chiro for the first time and he does some good good things.

Glam shot for Nome , no leg measurements though :-)

3 weeks of takeout have taken a toll and now I can't eat lettuce. Gawd I miss crunchy vegetables! Soon, young jedi, soon.

Fight Club

When a easy day at the bmx park goes bad.....

A moment of inattention on a set of whoops with the cross bike sure put a whooping on me.

Ask Nome, this was after the cleanup.

Funny tape action is trying to hold my inner lip in one piece till it can heal, damn thing looks like a Mubungi tribesman coming of age ritual gona horribly wrong.

I thought it wasn't all that bad, rode home, scaring little children and the odd tweaking speed freak on Santa Rita.

I saw the inside of my lip and figured I better go see the doc for a stitch or two, but no stitches due to the location inside the mouth. They did freak a little about the neck pain and insisted on a neck collar and a few X-rays to make sure nothing fractured in there, all good. BTW, I bitched about it long and hard and didn't want to go through all that, but if you have the insurance, get a picture if you land on your neck or head. I thanked the doc afterwards for talking me into it.

No clinic for me tommorrow, the new barriers sit all lonesome-like in the garage.

Fookin' Livermore dirt is HAAARD, folks, have a good race this weekend and be safe.

Resolution

Well, today was the day Mom left this world.

85 years is a long long time.

I got railroaded into writing the obit.

And though sometimes we didn't see eye to eye.

I've been doing some tallying.

2 marriages

5 kids

9 grandkids

11 Great- Grandbabies.

Scholarship to Juillard when she graduated high school, turned it down because they didn't offer room and board to women candidates in 1938.

Waited tables and sewed at night to make ends meet with 4 little girls after she left the first guy.

Scholarship at age 42 to UOP

2 masters' degrees when it was over

Taught school and wrote books till she was 65.

Big shoes for a little old lady.

The hospice nurses marveled at her refusal to pass.

Every day they would chuckle as they came onto shift.

She never would do anything until she decided to.

And we were all on her time.

Rest easy, Jeanne.

Apologize for the lack of bloggage...

And I would really like to tell you all about a savage cross race today...
And maybe chew the fat about some new fangled carbonium/ crosstanium goodies


But unfortunately I've been at the hospital this week with Mom.

And the last three days in Hospice care.

She broke her hip the week of the EMC crit in June.
And it has been a long long summer.

And while I've been riding just to keep my sanity

It's kind of trivial right now.

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.