Sierra Century and a Williams Wheel Story

Ummmm, I shoulda inspected the profile a bit more before clicking yes, especially with the whole MTB racing team going.

Always either up or down, not a easy day for a crit monkey.

The up was steep and the down had holes with steep.

Ejected the PT CPU on one of the damn bumps, but I found it in the bushes and it's all good.

The data is all there which is good because I'm fascinated on geeking out with the WKO and getting the CTL up, how many TSS points, etc. Great way to train and my hour power has risen every week and is the highest ever .

My Williams story- I have some 30X's with a PT that Keith built up for me this winter, my first PT wheel and the wheels have been phenomenal, I raced them through the Valley swing and at Madera, just loved them.
The back one developed a squeak after I skipped a pedal at Visalia, although I couldn't find the source. The rim was true, the hub was OK( good to check this though, I hear it is a common problem with PT hubs to be loose), and the spoke tension was perfect on the drive side with a few off tensions on the non- drive side.
My only guess was the spokes rubbing a bit, and I tried a few different things with that, oiling the j-bends and crosses, but I still couldn't track it down.
Swiss DT 14/15 spokes as well, usually very reliable.

I called Keith on a Monday afternoon and he called me back a half hour later. I really was just curious if he had seen anything that solved this and could help either me or my LBS, who was a bit confused as well.
After talking a bit, Keith offered to rebuild it and check the rim, just to get those variables out of the way, then mentioned he could come by and pick up the wheel on his way home- WOW!
My teammates have had several stories of the fantastic service, but this was a new high point.
I headed out to Stockton on Friday afternoon and picked up the wheel at Keith's' home office, I visit my dad every week anyway and I was headed to Escalon/ Oakdale for a team thing so this was perfect.
Keith had the wheel ready to go and I popped the cassette back on and rode it all day at Sierra ,very rough pavement, banging through holes and shaking the old fillings loose.
Not one noise.
Not one.
I lost a water bottle cage, some allen bolts, and broke my PT mounting bracket.
But the wheel was flawless.

Hmm, will Miz C let me have some 50 carbons?

" If it was smart, that's what I'd do."

VN- Adam Craig on Todd Wells' early season training regimen of " hanging out in Tucson, riding a bunch and doing the group rides"

Supersonic

Rollin' some much needed miles, on a high-iron diet lately, some old school deadlifts and sled throwing, as well as mucho ball work, and finally the injuries from last fall are going away and I feel balanced again.

I just like this pic of Mike throwing Macneill in, gotta love the pink jumpers:-)

We had fun on Saturday out on Mines and tired ourselves out good, and I managed not to knock the happy couple down or even cross wheels, even when cross eyed on the hills.....

Why I love juniors racing- a excerpt of a e-mail from the rainy Sacramento crit this weekend...

I ended up riding w/ a handful of boys to the finish, my sprint was sucky I guess because it was raining too
my tires were slipping on almost every turn when ever I hit a bump while turning it would just slide, but very solemnly.

Just badass.

Congratulations Jasmin!

The phone call made my afternoon yesterday!

The entire club is very proud.

EBC Crit- a couple of pictures

A little behind the scenes look- Did you like your results being posted in a timely manner?

Thank this guy or Dr. X the next time you see them. All day on laptop duty.

Gracias.

Enough medals for top 10 in the Cat 5 and all the kids. Some very swank prizes went into that truck as well.

Complete results posted just to the left of this kind man, usually within 30 minutes of the race finish.

Again, gracias.

Tired race workers enjoying a very tactical 35+ race. Liked the kids' race with Otter Pops and goodie bags? Podium pics? How about 50 bags of soil amendments protecting the fire hydrants from the wayward racers?

Gracias.

Migo walking Bunny. A very nice day to sit on the grass with a beverage in the shade.

Each of the gentlemen in this gruppo has punished me badly in one race or another over the years. I was glad to be snapping pictures this day and not groveling on my stem in the pack.

Docile

The missus likes it when a hard ride knocks me down a rung or two, says it keeps me out of mischief.

Between the heavy weights, which I am getting more dubious about every year, some decent miles, and grinding at work 4 out of five nights for weeks now, I barely can read e-mails at 4 am.

Still I managed to get out for a good solo ride today, 3 and a half hours, 251 TSS points for those of you who drink that WKO koolaid, and some solid avg wattage.

I prefer the solo miles right now anyway, my ego can only take getting dropped on the group tussle so many times. Nothing like the cool wind blowing from the side, a nasty climb, a couple extra pounds just to make things tougher, and some freeking Judas Priest cranking sideways into the eardrums, just makes me so pleased.

Much preparation for our race tommorrow, a parked car had me sweating a bit and going back every couple of hours, but he's gone now and the course is in great shape, the pavement is perfecto and the wind is cracking just a bit on the backside, excellent for the faster races to make a long line of pain tommorrow........

This is Sparta!!! - Dramatic Lemur

After a long day on Mines, this is all I got.....

I heart the suffer

6 water bottles in four hours.

200 avg watts.

3,280 kilojoules.

Sierra road was involved.

YUM.

Yardwork and dogwalkin'

Qualify as cross training.

A new rule.

Letting the excitement build to get after it again, and it's brewing up good, but for now it's some small runs with the pup, a few sessions on the rowing machine, and some early strength work.

The most interesting thing going on has been checking out some new restaurants we've been wanting to try, we hit a double today, with Brown Sugar Kitchen for breakfast.
We got in a dogwalk down Mandela Parkway before we were seated, yes, a dogwalk down Cypress, the world changes a lot over 20 years, lot's of hipster coolio fixie bikes out front, and lot's of hipster coolios eatin' fried chicken and waffles inside.
Big thumbs up for this one, don't miss the cider syrup on the waffles.
I'm coming back for lunch before work at least one time a week, especially since it's two blocks from the salt mines.Soul food is just so good for you inside, it nourishes the heart sometimes more than the tummy.
In a good mood afterwards, and needing more exercise, we cruised to the dog park in El Cerrito, where my dude promptly found the nastiest mud to crawl through, being low tide.
He was happy though, and it was good to get him out with other dogs, he still looks for the old girl sometimes when he goes into the garage, but today he forgot a bit, and it was good to see.
I have a typical bike racer lawn, ignored for six months out of the year, and now looking like the Gobi desert, so I did some long overdue work on the trimmins, then we headed down the street to Eddie Papa's, a new joint with upscale American food, lot's of Niman Ranch and applewood bacon, as well as some fish and salad. Better than I expected, honestly, the partners have been around for a while in the business with several area restaraunts and were very attentive to detail, a great place to go after our crit coming up.
Buy your leadout man the chicken club and a brew and he'll be your love slave for life.

Madera Cat 3

I just wrote this RR for the team list and thought I would share...

It's taken me a few days to get cooled off and able to actually think clearly, man, those first few hot days of the year always seem to come around as the Madera festivities begin...

Camping was a blast, good spots, great company, the second time this year I've had teammates at a race with our busy schedules and etc., so it was fun to scheme and plan a bit around the dinner table.

My goals were simple, to hopefully TT well and have fun while helping a teammate do well.

Sharon TT- 10:30 a.m. start- moved back that morning- already hot.
We warmed up riding the course, a good way to go and much nicer than the folks riding trainers in the heat.
I took off and was going well at first, but watching my HR, which responded to the heat poorly all weekend.
The legs felt ok, then better, but I did make a conscious effort to slow down a bit and control the HR around my threshold, even though it was a shorter TT, I wanted to keep a bit in reserve.
I gave it more gas around 4 miles to go, then went more gas around 2 miles to go, speeding up from 40-41 kph to 43-44, but finished feeling like I could have gone harder. 24:30 was my time I believe, a midpack result but without any real matches burned.
We headed back to camp then scurried for Madera, where we found our crit start had been moved up by 30 minutes, thanks, Velo Promo!

Team plan for the crit was conservation and a attempt to get the primes for time, Ron was up there on GC somewhere, we didn't get results till the next morning, but we protected him.
Mo and I were supposed to get the primes and let the other fellas watch the moves and ride tempo.
That is the nastiest crit I have ever personally done, hot, large, tracks, and slow, like 21 mph avg slow.
Some wind but not enough to really factor into things, and a hour long.

Big props to the Team Swift juniors, excellent teamwork on their part setting up their sprinter for the primes, we missed them both times, I went with them on the second one and got the door shut on me inadvertently by somebody who was bumped as they rolled by, by the time I came around his other side, they were in full jam and no soup for me, but I did ride some wheels over to a nice split that developed out of the prime sprint, we had probably 5 guys all fairly committed, I was a bit on the fence and watched the gap to the mob behind, figuring this could only be good for us either way if it came back together for a counter by a teammate or not I felt comfortable outsprinting my breakmates if we somehow lucked out and stayed away, but no sirree, we had some bridging as we got to 6 to go, then the next prime sprint made us gruppo compacto.
Galluppo suffered mightily to ride a last bit of tempo on the front and bring a straggler back, much appreciated, dude!
With 5 to go the jockeying and surging that only 65 field sprinters can bring began, I would get myself to a decent spot only to get churned around by the next lap and have to do it again, last lap I went up the right side by the RR crossing and came out ok onto the final stretch, but all that previous goofing around took a hard toll and I was resigned to rolling in safe in the pack.

We escaped Madera alive and went back to the lake for a nice dinner and BS session under the stars, no race till 11 for us, so we could afford to stay up a bit.

Sunday was a hard one, 97 on my mirror as I left town that afternoon, I brought 2 bottles and stuffed a small bottle in my jersey, but I was probably dehydrated to start the race.

Ron was sitting 13th, I believe, so we were going to need a solid break or split to do well.

The early plan was just to see what the race would give us and protect Ron until the field split, which was our guess at the most likely scenario with the bumps and the rollers and heat.
About 400 meters into the race
I followed a fellow up the side just looking for a better position, then saw the quiet clicking of the cassette and followed him right out of the pack, along with a few other fortune seekers, one notably a representative from one of the largest teams there with a man high on GC.
No Z-team, they had a couple guys high on GC- which in my eyes probably doomed things a bit, but also meant they would be working harder back there, hopefully softening things up some for later.
A good break, and two riders then bridged who at least one of them was very motivated for success, I was again on the fence a bit, but took quite a few pulls and also took a fair amount of crap when I wouldn't, deservedly so and I would harass and cajole someone too but that was my teams' hand and I felt comfortable with it, figuring if we could stay away for a while it would pressure the other GC riders and set up a higher percentage move by Ron or Dave A.
We got a decent gap on the bumps even with arguing a bit, then on the rollers IMHO we made a crucial mistake by dropping the blue and gold fella who had 6 teamies blocking, my take was he took tons of hard pulls on the flats even if he was suffering a bit on the hills he would have continued to help, but more importantly the 6 guys back would influence things greatly with 51 miles to go and a one minute gap....



When he went back they went to the front and we were home after a one hour adventure out in front...

My next job was to try to get the HR down and eat/ drink more, the entire time in the break the HR was running 7-10 beats over threshold and I could see how the heat was affecting me, we were riding ridiculously hard from time to time but even so the watts didn't correspond, nice to use the powermeter during a race and get a good idea of what's happening inside.

We had to chase out of the feedzone, but the entire team needed bottles and it was a bit of a fiasco, but we made it.
I moved back onto patrol for lap 3 and went with a bitty move OTF again that contained two of the previous breakmates who were driving it before, DA was there eating a gel when it went, I think we both wished he had drawn it instead of me, I got a vicious cramp while crossing to the lead guy and had to pull up and skulk back to safety, then, while trying to eat Clif Blocks in the peloton and drink all remaining fluids on board, I at first thought I was getting dizzy, as the front of my bike was wiggling around, only to realize I had a front flat, crap!
I rolled backwards like lots of folks that day, my teamies resting back there offered a wheel, but realistically with the cramps my chance to affect things was over.

Rode it in and admired the snowy peaks off in the distance, framed by the wildflowers in the pastures, all the stuff Inever see when bouncing along on a crap road trying not to hit the wheel in front of me TOO HARD.

Anyway, some good racing, I think we had a good time as a team, rose to the challenge ,and played the hand we were dealt.

Johnny

.

RV club or cycling team- you decide

Either way we had fun, raced hard and bluffed a bit, but definitely raced like a team.



Time for this stuff to be retired for a couple weeks, then some gym time for this old man and let the threshold/ tempo work begin....

Yin to the Yang

I started with a nice day at the track Sunday, my first open session on my new quasi- track bike cobbled together from spare parts and craigslist OPJ- other peoples' junk.

Big fun, some hard efforts interspersed with wrenching a bit, then zoomed down the 880 to the salt mines of Oakland... then headed east.

This was my afternoon in Lafayette- "a little smoke behind the truck on the freeway, oooh, better pull over somewheres safe out of traffic, oh my, that's a lot of smoke, better stop here and grab whatever I can carry".

Note- those little fire extinguishers you carry around in a car only piss off a real fire, it was like shooting a grizzly with a squirt gun..

This is the aftermath-

Damn, my old copies of Road, a old training log, and all my spare clothes were incinerated.

It was a cold rest of a night with only one sweatshirt....

Just happy to still be here, hopefully the karma wagon has gone full circle now......

Non cycling materiel

Some poetry from the skater girl....

Nightfall

The diamond moon slowly rises to it’s throne in the deep sky.

A slow majestic sight.

The sky is its kingdom.

The stars, his subjects.

Glistening faintly, for their king of the sky.

The moon is the life of the dark sky.

Spreading, churning, it causes the light we see now.

If you look up in the sky, you see a kingdom.

The kingdom of the moon.

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!