No real reason, but......

Commesso!

Because it's December.

Because the garage was a freaking ice palace this morning.

Just because.

The Large Dog Park.

So after all that running around all week it was no suprise the legs were fairly sluggish come Sunday, but one has to have his priorities, and frankly there are only so many times one can get out of mowing/hiking/shopping by pleading racey race.
I meant
to do the singlespeed race, but Miz C. hadn't been home in 5 days and beating the traffic with a stop at Super Taq was the 2-1 vote.
SOOOO,
I signed up for the 35 A's, and prepared for my wooping.
Bad start, OTB by the top of the hill, but I caught back on along with the 45A field that started 10 seconds behind, then got yo-yo'ed like a fat rat and popped loose from the melee- it looks so mellow, a long line and how can anyone be getting away yet the front is moving at warp speed and gaps are innocuously opening all over the freekin place, and the back is a bad bad place to be, even though it seems so soothing and safe and smart, it's a pure lie.......
Had a great little battle with my buddy Greg of the Black Market Mafia, I put in a decent attack on a couple of fellas, only to see the 3 to go , not the 1 to go like I'm getting used to , and couldn't step on the throat when I had the chance, failure on all levels and I slipped back to my doom, but had a nice view of the 45A unfolding and tried to hang with/learn a few things as my elders came roaring by.
Stayed on the lap so I'll take that small positive, but damn I got to train for this stuff maybe, the new job is hammering the training hours sumthing fierce right now the log is a sea of yellow.....
Arggh.

We rolled down the coast on Wednesday, spending a few days in Big Sur.

Camping in a redwood grove in November can be chilly, dig the wildflowers!

Rode some cool stuff, not really challenging in a tech sense, but the views around every corner? Mindblowing.

Lots of hiking and waterfalls, this one's a classic-

We enjoyed this hike so much, we took the 3 hour tour of the lighthouse the next day-

Those lighthouse keepers had a hard life filled with pure drudge, but occasionally the fog would lift and this was the view out the office window-

I dug the views so much when we returned to the campground, the girls took a nap and I went for a mad 2 hour hike a bike/ singlespeed summit attempt of Andrew Molera SP ridge trail, not exactly a good pre-race ride, but a great place to drink some water and contemplate things a little while .

The snake bites wur vicious

GGGP this weekend, and I just never can get a bit of luck on this course.
2004- flatted twice
2005- ginourmous crashes in the first turn
2006- Most Mechanicals Award? Give me that!
This place is cursed.

I decided to ride the SS due to my brakes being thrashed due to me choosing to work on my bike the night before. Me- no mechanic. Old trusty SS- bulletproof, right? First lap and I hear funny noises behind me, then the chain derails right after the pit. Axle came loose, so I fumble, but not having a freekin 15 mm wrench handy in my skin suit I run back to get the cross bike in the pit.
Brakes= questionable. I forget this and while on the drops and attempting to catch the back of the line of guys again flat out drive through the tape and end up down by the Polo Grounds.
The brakes work kind of ok from the tops, so I hack my way around gingerly, catch a few guys, choose some dumb lines up the run up while dodging folks on the ground.... pure hack fest, then my froont wheel comes out on the barriers.Just fell out. I pick it up dumbfounded while all the BOP fellas I caught pay it back and see ya later.
Just one of those days, jist getting stoopider by the minute, but I finished and saved the day with a nice visit to the Tea Garden, beautiful place and the family was appreciative after all the hard work heckling my ass on that hill.
Maybe next week will be better, maybe I'll buy some better brakes and learn how to adjust them.
Still having fun and no junior racers were harmed in the typing of this blog.

Time just keeps rollin'

So today was my little girls b-day party- a very special day for us.

10 years ago things were more than a little dicey with her, and stayed that way for several months.

Hard to believe that the tiny thing I had to buy doll clothes for is such a big girl now.

We showed up at noon and they were expecting us...

These would be put to good use today , all that pre-adolescent energy..

Good thing she got her mom's looks..

But I think she got my dance moves...

Had some presents..

And some sparkles and attitude

Topped off with a talent show and some awesome kareoke..

Happy B-day,

Little C!

Because I had to check myself before I wrecked myself, before I disrespect myself.....

Mp3 files throbbing through my brain, a little Biggie Biggie Biggie just works so well while swerving between pine trees in a muddy slalom..........

Bike racers- a inordinately intelligent lot. Engineers, doctors, double majors in college.

Smarty smart smart.

Which is why the topic of this open letter really should be puzzling.

When cutting through Maiden Lane in the bustling metropolis of Danville on your way to the Mountain Of Pain and Deviltry, please pay attention to the signs saying ROAD WORK AHEAD.

These signs allude to the presence of large yellow machines, open holes, steel plates that move at a alarming rate of speed(even the holes from time to time).

Striking one or more of these objects on your bicycle may not even be noticed by the inhabitant of such machine, but you, dear cyclist, surely will notice.

Teams will not be named here today, but management reserves the right to take pictures and post them at a future 35+ race near you.

And don't even get me started on "chase the truck".

The Watchful Ditchdigger

High Plains Drifter

Congratulations to my old friend Mark M., for completing the Silverman triathlon last weekend.

Mark perservered through a multitude of injuries and put in some big miles solo at oh-dark-thirty this fall to get ready, and it sounds like it paid off.

Tough race, 30mph winds, 9,700 feet of climbing on the bike, and 3,600 feet on the marathon.

Just my kind of course, not some boring, sterile-ass trip back and forth like a hamster on a wheel.

Yakked with him tonight while he was driving home from Vegas, the stud even had the energy to take his wife to a show last night.

Kind of sad that Tyler Hamilton has gone from a premier bike racer to doing any kind of event that will let him in.

Hooked

How did I get here?

Champing for some wheel -to -wheel tommorrow, especially after a week off due to a nasty virus.

It wasn't always like this.

I went away for a long long time, weekends were filled with fishing trips, side work, and nothing-doing.

I could actually tell you most of the NFLs' 300 players' names.

Not now.

As the race seasons change, I become a Saturday morning regular at the Gilroy Starbucks, as opposed to the Vacaville Starbucks.

There is that moment in sports, the perfect pick and roll, the squeeze bunt that scores and gets to first, the sprint to the line through the hole up the gutter.

All those things have happened to me precisely once.

And yet I chase that feeling of wide-eyed clarity and perfection every weekend.

Snifflins'

Well, I tried to say it wuz allergies, that doing 2 hours skillz yesterday under the sycamore trees gave me the symptoms, that an easy ride today would ward it of.

I made it like a year without catching anything, but Miz C, she got some powerfull buggies rolling around in that marathon-weakened body right about now.

Bummed to miss Pilarcitos tommorrow, I actually like run-ups, although concrete stairs woulda hurt tommorrow night.

I'm gonna sleep and watch football, maybe read the whole paper.

That 'll last till noon or so.

Why ya wanna come in here talkin' all of that raspy shit?

Because I've been consolidating files till my new early bedtime for two days now.

Because the garage is a little cold and boring at 4:45 a.m.

Because... Do ya really deserve it?

Spidey don't like sticker bushes

Gawd I love this series.

Thanks you VB and crew for bringing it back once again.

I don't go way way back, but it was my first cross race like 7 years ago. Fort Ord- the sandy side by the beach. Me and the Seal get there early-like with no one there. Dude shows up with a van and starts blasting surf guitar music out of some giant speakers. And the race was on.

Missed it last year with the little owies down below, but all is better than ever now and I have been excited about this one for a while.
Somehow I have never been to Watsonville, but have always heard good things.
When I heard about "The biggest runup this side of Gallipoli", I was on it. I'm stupid like that.

Saturday night we stay in the fairgrounds parking lot with the Nome/ GT clan, huddled together in a Outback circle while a Open Modified race roars on the racetrack, and 700 people attend a berry processing companies' party with a open bar next door in one of the giant buildings.
Nevertheless, we had a goofy fun time and all was calm by 11:30 or so.
35b race went first and it was a doozy. No callup for me after missing the first one, but I have been working on the little things and got myself into about 7th when I noticed a gap opening in front during the spiral of doom. Now or never and I bridge to the top five guys who are steaming away and catch on by the top of the runup. A small crash messes them up some and whittles it down letting PAb-zilla ride away. I had thought about how this might play out before the race and with a huge portion of the course exposed and non-technical, planned to sit on and take a occasional pull.
Now if my fitness would catch up with my bright ideas......
I went for the bridge and was joined, then dropped by a Webcor guy who did make it to PAB and ended up winning. Gave up a couple more places and thought I could get it back, but just ran out of real estate, a race that short (30 minutes) requires a almost crazy impulse to keep the pedal floored like there is no tomorrow, because there isn't.
Ended up fifth which is the best so far and I'm a happy boy.

Costume race- oh how much fun- costumes and bikes, gotta love it.
There are a million pics swirling around the net better than anything I have on my camera, but that was just plain goofy and fun.
Anytime short cuts are not only permitted, but encouraged, that's just silly and cool at the same time.
Oh, and don't run up a hill filled with little thistles in a spidey suit, least you look like a pincushion by the top.

Change is in the air

Well, after 5 years I'm going to work a normal shift again like the rest of the bozos.

Fall turning to Winter always makes me reflect a little, seems all of my major turns in life happen in November.
I'm gonna miss some things, the freedom to just get it done by daybreak, the action at night in the streets, all that adrenaline working in neighborhoods that the cops don't enter after dark. Gonna miss the noon ride with the cast of characters and the fact that my trainer has only been used warming up for races in 5 years.
I'm getting out before it kills me, though.
I promised Miz C I would only do 6 months, now here we are in almost 2007 and Iwonder where the time went.
Little C is changing before my eyes, and I need to be around to make a mess of that parental challenge.
Mostly though, I'm always tired. Deeply sleep deprived , forgetting things in mid -sentence. After a while only the left side of the brain works at all and that's just damn boring.
I'm gonna get some sleep.
I'm gonna face some new challenges.
I'll probably be broke.
I'm dusting off the windtrainer.

Days Of Thunder

Robert Duvall Character To Tommy-Boy Cruz-" Go through the smoke, Cole! You gotta drive through the smoke!"

Yah, there have been days in my short bike racing time that this advice has come in handy.

The Albany Crit comes to mind. I went through the hole that day, only to find another racer laid out in front of me by the madly exploding crash from hell. Had to eat some of the island that day, glad to come away with nothing more serious than some dirt in my mouth and a sore neck for a coupla days.
Well Pilarcitos #2 kicked up a little smoke taday as well.
Good tough race in the 35+b, I got a spot right behind the blessed ones with the callups.
Hard sprint to the first corner with some shoulder action with another fella right from the get go.
Clipped a wheel on the first barriers but stayed in the front game till I had a small problem that got bigger on the last set of barriers when my bike went out from under me in a dismount.
Me= hacker supreme
Drove over a few wheels as guys would attack before a corner and grease it right out in front of me. Missed more than I hit though, so I guess that's a sign of progress.
Battle in the second group was pretty epic, I fell off and chased back more than a few times.
Almost made it back at the end, diced it up with one fine fellow and held back for the sprint.
Patience not one of my virtues but I forced myself to stay on the wheel and not go early, weathered his attacks, got to the chute, saw the hole on the right.... and he shut the door on me into the barriers.
Perfect move, a little nasty, but perfect.
Gotta give some props out for that one.

LA Large and In Charge

Gotta love that Super Robot Chicken..

A new vid making the rounds...

Juvenile cartoons- one of my guilty pleasures..

Wind, Friends, and Chicken

So while everyone was rolling in the dirt at Soquel High today, a couple of us went to the Riverbank Wine And Cheese Century.
This was supposed to be a tandem-y thing, but Miz C begged off with the Nike Marathon next week and such.
The road bike will be out of commission for a few days more while a hanger gets straight and the boys from Vincenza get some more of my ditch digger pennies.
So I took Snowflake out of retirement for this one, she doesn't get enough miles anymore, partially because I only use her for 3 events a year, but also the old KM40's aren't anything like the new uns. No vertical compliance here, and yes we have a massive seatpost/fairing.
I figured Groove and Nome would put the hammer down and make me grovel, especially with the 4 hours of sleep I got Saturday night.
Good thing they were happy and cruising, as evidenced here- This pic was shot on a particular piece of road that apparently a certain PAB owns the CR for. I got to hear lots of Stanislaus/ Merlock stories(what is a merlock, anyway?) and eat many cookies.
Snowflake was happy and the TT position was fine for a few hours, lots of power and real stable on the downs, though those little wheels kind of beat me up.
After lunch it was time to see a camel-

and roll it home, with a fantastic chicken lunch after.
Doing all of this riding in circles makes me forget that cyclists come in all different shapes and sizes.
But everybody loves cookies.

Maximum Dorkage

How the rear derailleur got into the spokes.......

Ummm, not sure.

Maybe a little Shim/Camp confusion after 4 days on the crosser, whatever.

I'm gonna pay dearly for this one.

When carbon breaks it doesn't goof around.

Just glad I didn't stomp down on the offending pedal and do more damage.

Velomax Circuits- a truly tough wheelset.

New Toy

So I bought Miz C. a new HRM for her birthday.
Sez she- I wanna see how fast I run, how long I run.
We look at Garmin and try one but I'm not liking the water resistance of the thing, as well as the spotty satellite reception under the trees deal.
So I hit E-bay and pick her up a Polar 625x.
This is very similar to OG buyin his first wife a shotgun when they lived outside of Duluth. She might shoot a bird or two, but we all know who really used that shootin' iron.
This thing does all, run speed and distance, bike stuff, available power meter, IR connection.
So I was able to "borrow" it today for my first hard intervals of the cross season.
MAybe I'm a little behind the curve on my training plan for cross, seems like everyone else in the B's has been sharpening the knives since June or some gawdamn thing.
Me, I'm having trouble pushing the accelerator to the floor right now.
But anyhow, I keep looking at WWWoos' world and although I only understand a little of all that graphing, the whole concept of Total Stress Score is very interesting to me. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm overnuking myself lightly all year and may need some kind of graph/number to calm myself down.
Anyhow, I like all the lines, it makes me feel like I'm doing something. And the altitude feature is something that I always thought was stupid, just kind of a ego-stroking number.
But when you put in on a graph with all the other feedback, pretty cool.
Miz C ran the R an R half mary Sunday, while we were all abusing ourselves in some weedwhacked old lot in E- side SJ.
Who was smarter?
I dunno, both involved pain, though I can walk down stairs and she still has the hobble on Wednesday.
I like looking at her graph.
Me = nosy.

Pilarcitos One

Great day in the park, brought along reluctant teammate Jimbobo and the more reluctant daughter o'mine.
Mom was running the Rock'nRoll HAlf Marathon, so I had the childcare du jour.
Super vibe, lots of props and nods, just what cross is all about.
Only bummer was when the ranger asked me to not have our picnic in the road. Huh? I was STRETCHING DUDE and today bikes ruled that parking lot anyhow. The only guy driving around was Ranger Rick.
Fun race, I was busy yakking with Dave from SC when he pointed out I might want one of those places in the 60 guy pack that started the geezer B's. Grabbed a 4th row spot and decided to ride carefully and hit the technical mounts and dismounts well and work my way up.
No crashes and we are off, I moved along into the gaps and employed some new skills I've been practicing on the dismounts, making up spots on the runup every time for the first 4 laps.
Eventually reached a place where I couldn't close to the next racer, I would get close, but he would hold me off.Kept trying though, cause the next group was 10 seconds or so past him and together maybe we could have gotten to them
The back of the course was a weird bumpy with grass over the holes, hard to pick a good line for me, and I lost time here.
Also the juniors ran concurrently and were like little rolling, blocking barriers. Twice I got close to my man and got fouled up by a lapped junior in a barrier section, but that's on me for trying to get around there.
Anyone that bumps a junior while in a race should get a 1 place penalty, new rule. The kids are out there doing their best often with bikes that are too big and heavy as hell to pick up for them,
and for some middle aged loon to scream or otherwise act dumb... just not cool.
Great times, saw so many cool folks out there, I wish I could have stayed and caught the later battles but I had B-day parties and other blah blah to do.

Another Day In Suburbia

Hit the WOT ride this morning after getting about 5 hours sleep, very nice.
So hard to get focused when I've been missing my slumber, and the way the job has been, even after taking two days off the bike this week, have been waking up tired.
Almost all EMC folks out there, probably the fastest no-drop ride in WOT history,21.2 avg.
Anyway, good fun and I got in a little sprint work to open things up-( a term I still don't understand, but get the idea) for tommorrows cross funnies.
Felt more mediocre when I was done than when I started, so we will see manana.
Rode direct to the soccer game and after changin quickly in the burb, caught most of Little C's game.
Little C has played since she was 4 in the San Lorenzo ice cream league. and has always shown a distinct preference for the defensive side of the game. Getting her to cross midfield is like pulling teeth, but she has that natural instinct for the correct angle to play, and loves to roam like Mike Singletary back there. If she was a boy-child, we would have sent her to the football fields without delay.
Little C is kind of like her dad, average athlete that loves a little competition, some good snacks afterwards, and a team to play for. Unfortunately got my asthma as well, another reason to play defense, not so much balls out running.
The new coach, who I have my issues with is very non-competitive and doesn't like to play positions, especially in U-10 house league soccer.
So it was today that I found myself watching my daughter tentatively venturing to the other side of midfield, hovering around to outside, not sure what to do, when the ball came out of the bunch and rolled her way.
She did what she always does when protecting the backfield, she punted that bad boy.

The goalie was on the other side of the net, as it rolled slowly toward the promised land.

And it hit the post and rolled away.

We celebrated anyway. She may never score a goal, but it really don't matter.

bike lust

A dangerous thing.....

Blame Nome for this one.

He started it before running off to Vegas, land of the true bike porn dealers.

I'm having a great time with my 25 lb steel beast this year, but next year-

is Christmas coming soon?