This is my tree

This is my tree.

But back to that later.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No t-shirt for missing the trees, though.

Apology for the brake check, ummm, no.

circles and lots of em

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

sure is quiet round here

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

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

She was pretty tough about it till the doors closed!

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

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

Prety gawdamn sad, if I do say so.

The underwater boogie

A few things that interest me-

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

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

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

Trading pulls with pro tri-guys- dumb.

The mind says yes but the body sobs no.

Holes underwater are still holes.

I like racing in driving rain.

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

Gimme Shelter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where all hell breaks loose.

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

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

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

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

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

98.5 miles, 4:30 ride time.

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

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

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

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

The blog has been sucking more than usual lately-

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

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

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

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

Let it burn, gonna let it burn

With all the talk about playlists, such a bummer with this bands' early demise....

That pale winter sunlight gives the windmills a harsh appearance, especially when they're still.

Cheesy racey biker stuff

January 20th and all the old suspects are back at it.
As part of my "keep racing till I turn into a mass of jelly and start sobbing" program, myself and a few other sport team dudes headed to Sacramento today.
The migration to the Valley has officially begun.
After making a few pit stops for pecan pies and whatnot, we made it to Land PArk by 8:20 to find the 10 am 4/5 race had filled already.
After some quick rethinking, we threw our master plan of Cat 4 domination out the window and signed up for the open masters and the 3/4 elite.
The masters race was a blast, lots of attacks, counters, and covering.
All the sporties did a great job, racing way over our heads, and staying very aggressive in a very talented field with some strong teams.
With a lap or so to go Sierra made a strong push to pull it back together and that was all she wrote for me as the elastic snapped and I went backwards and out of the fray.
Spent the next ten minutes at the car moving numbers around and barely made it to the 3/4 race.
100 young dudes in this one and while relentlessly fast, the riding was in stark contrast to the smooth masters. Driving into the only corner of note 8 across, slamming on the brakes, then sprinting the corner back to thirty.
Seeing as I started the race with cramps in my calves, this was not enjoyable. While the masters stayed in a tight pack, these fellas were strewn everywhere, allowing me to slowly move up in the middle and try to avoid the whipsaw at the end. I had the Nome with me and he wanted to escape the madness as much as I, so we moved up and found ourselves at the front soon enough. I hear a bell coming from the starters' table and hear the Nome saying "move up a little more". In the lactic acid haze enveloping my brain, a slow, ponderous question arises, " could this be the last lap of this hell?" Awfully soon but time can move quickly when you have many twenty-somethings pushing you into a curb every lap and so I resolve to get to the evil corner first no matter how many squares per minute I must pedal to do so.
I roll around the corner and the body decides enough is enough for one day. As the field rushes by Rich asks- " isn't this a prime?"
Doh!
Hopefully the that was the bonehead move of the season and I can get a little smarter as the weeks go on, though I have the bonehead bike racer chip deeply implanted in my skull and must fight to not give in.....:-)
Nice to see all the folks out there in the bikey community, the weather was nice and the post-race burritos were the bomb. LA Favorita is my new favorita, Bob Marley is great after-race driving tunes, and I am going out today in the wind in a small ring to hopefully shake some of these knots out of my backside, so all is good.

The glass half full

One of those sublime moments today...

Rolling down Tassajara , Peets coursing through my veins.
The sun is bright and the road is clear
easy recovery ride after rolling with the Ice Kings yesterday
spinning the 39 x 17 with a tailwind
and Tower Of Power blasting through the player
horn section in the right ear, guitars on the left
just worth it all.

Ice Kings

So,
Seven of us ventured to the cold hinterlands of the Valley today to ride with the Modesto bunch, and it was quite the adventure.
Riding out there and seeing 28 degrees on the thermometer didn't exactly excite us, but hey, it was a smokin' 33 in the bustling burg of sendling.
Fortunately, we all wore lot's of ski clothes and had a great time.
I really wish I brought my camera, but the trees that were covered with ice in the orchards were gorgeous, like sculptures
The pools of ice water on the road, however, were not. But we all stayed upright and got in some great skills work with the pacelines, very few cars and the ones we saw were patient, even the moto racers that are usually complete morons when being inconvenienced for 30 seconds on their way to do their thing.
Lunch was great and I was given a tour of the Loop Of Doom around the Merced courthouse.Can they give some kind of driving/ mental acuity test before they let folks race on that thing? Never mind, I wouldn't pass.
Anyhow, great cruising out there with friends and talking nonstop bike racing for a few hours, which can be the best part of the day.
Stay warm and train smart...

Skinsuit

Photo credit: VB


Well, a long season of cross is in the bag and a few thoughts are in order..





It started out good up in the caldron of Sacramento in September, hot, rocky, and dusty, but very promising.





Doing a progression of plyo and short runs really helped my running for 3 months or so, even though most of our courses especially early don't require any real running.Even so, it was definitely a big confidence builder for me, knowing this big fella could move a little.





I learned a proper dismount this year, then flipped the brakes to even do it better. I learned a lot about equipment this year, what works, what doesnt. I finally ditched the crappy Avids on the last race of the year and ponied up for some froggleggs and I can't believe the difference.


The boys at Montano Velo turned me on to some sweet tires, PAnaracer Crossblasters, that worked exceptionally well all year. With some special tubes, not one flat and I ran them relatively soft.


My handling skills got better and better, funny, after taking our skills clinic and refreshing the road skills, more of that transferred over to the dirt than I expected. I found myself countersteering a whole lot on dirt roads with no evil aftereffects.


Races I liked- Surf City rocked. I wish I could have made more of them.


CCCX has that great Crooze vibe, Rod on the mike, no frills, but real cool courses.


Sac-town has some cool stuff, and I hear next year a new promoter is going to take over. I'm going to do more of their stuff next year.


Pilarcitos I am cursed at. Maybe I need to learn how to ride bumps better. I definitely need to ride sand better. The deal with the kids in the 35bs and the asinine behavior in general of one or two individuals really turned me away. There's a good chance with my new program of only doing races I like I may not be back.


Moving up to the a's mid-season has been a hard kick in the stomach. Groveling in the back after the first lap is hard hard hard on the ego. Now I see why so many guys stay in the B's for years, it's a big jump in all areas, at least it has been for me.


Groveling and gut-kicking are what bike racin' is all about, so don't think it's all a ploy for some cry-towels here.. The b's used to lap me when I was a C. One day I got tired of dodging the pile of loons on the run-up and moved to the B's. The racing never gets easier, just faster. Thats what my fast friends say, anyway.

I'm already looking forward to next year. A little road racing with my roadie-bastard buddies in the Valley for a couple of months or until complete fatigue and burnout set in,then some rest and strength work in April and May, and a nice resetting of the schedule to focus on the dirt.

I hear the rollers calling me.....

Little Yosemite

So after thrashing the begeezus out of myself Saturday, a little low-key time with the family was in order.
A hike out in Sunol was on order, nice and slow was the preferred pace, between me(sore legs), and Miz C.- (tweaked hammie from weights).
The old pup banged herself up getting into the Subaru and had to miss it, instead spending the day on her bed with an aspirin. She was not happy-
























But young Zig was in heaven, flushing birds, following trails, and even takng a dip in the 40-some degree water. A Labs' life can be pretty good at times.



We hiked up the old road to Little Yosemite, which really looks nothing like Yosemite, but it is a oasis in the California oaks.

The rocks are nicely carved and smooth and look nothing like most of the brown lichen covered variety.

I always like this area, I used to run out this way quite a bit, even doing this race one time, where I got snowed on in May.

Even with all the suburban sprawl, this area from here south to Henry Coe is basically unchanged since the 20's , ranches and rugged territory. I always like the smell of the sage on the southern slopes after a rain.

We hiked up a bit and followed a singletrack back, too bad the EBRP trail nazis don't allow any singletrack riding, the best stuff in the park and basically the only routes that follow the contour lines rather than bl;asting straight up and down are all on the no-fly list.

We found ourselves out on a nice rock outcropping and attempted another christmas card photo, but I look pissed in one and like a candidate for the short bus in the next, so I think we'll get those cards out around July.Maybe we'll send one out from the kid and the dog, they look good here, and who the hell wants to look at my mug anyhow?

Happy holidays to all, whatever you celebrate!

For those on the ride today....

Dave is snorking

Crystaline droplets spinning from under his glove

As the peloton veers madly.

turkey balls

Five and a half hours is way too long for a ride in December for a Cat 4.

At least I felt that way at hour four and a half.

I wish I had that moment of clarity before I said yes to Sierra Road.

Multiple self- face-punching ensued.

And now I am completely vacant.

But I came home to an empty house.

With a empty couch.

And leftover spaghetti and meatballs in the fridge.

When I put them in some tupperware and hid them in the back shelf last night I had a feeling they would come in useful.

And Bruce Aidell is a genius making those little turkey balls.

Yes I said turkey balls.

And it's all good.

Chocolat

Hard to blog when I've been celebrating gluttony for two days now...

Need to shift to some more, ummm calorie burning pursuits....

I bought myself a new circular saw for Christmas.

The clerk asked me if I wanted a extended warranty.

I told him the last one went thirty years and the new Craftsman should go longer.

If that';s not a old guy statement, I dunno what is.

Scary I can even remember 30 years ago.

I should have those new cross barriers done by, oh, July.

Tag-it

Ok, X-bun, I'll play along.
Waiting to get tagged, kind of a mind game with oneself. I was waiting to get tagged somewhere else, and it didn't happen, then I hit the bloggo button, and there ya go. Better for it to come out of the blue, like this.
Chain letters always stop with me.I give their weak karma no love. But a game is always fun.
I'm way more boring than I would like to let on, but a few bits of useless trivia...
1- I once popped a wheelie and had my front wheel fly off. Those who have seen my wrenching skills understand. I would like to tell you I rode it forever like Dave Mirra and was cool, but I ate shit in front of my house and nutted myself something fierce.

2- I once freed a whale shark from a fishing line in the Gulf Of Alaska by cutting it, unlooping it from the sharks tail, and retying it to get my halibut on the other end.
The shark was as long as our 32 foot wooden boat, and placidly floated next to us, easily swaying his tail, till I could get him free.

3- My dad once built a cover over our swimming pool out of 2 x 4's and 8 mil clear plastic so we could swim all winter in Stockton. I loved it, even though it stunk of chlorine gas and was mildewing the adjacent house like crazy.
It was destroyed when my buddies and I started climbing up outside in February and dropping through the hole we made in the top. A couple holes and a winter storm shredded it good.
We left the skeleton up for two more years, though.

4-Destroying a whole box of Honey nut Cheerios while watching gangster movies always cures me of a bad day.

5-My nickname is the first one I have ever had that had nothing to do with my last name. I also had nothing to do with picking it, which is probably why it stuck.

Tagging?
Try Velojuicy, JohnnyJohnnyGo Go, and a two-fer with Merkle and Alicat, as well as The Chap-man, (I enjoy the sckribblins as much as the course designs...)

The beatings will continue until morale improves

At 1:30 today I was ready to sell every goddamn bike in the garage.

At 2:30 I was done with the season and on my way to the pie store.

By 4 I was a little shellshocked and resigned to racing in the B's

At 5:30 I ordered a salad and knew it wasn't over yet.

I couldn't have been stomped by a bunch of nicer guys.

And stomped I was, in the cold wastelands of Live-no-more.

The corral mud was sandy and turned my bike into a singlespeed.

The problem was it kept changing it's mind which speed.

Running it lost gobs of time.

And riding it had many a problem with the hidden log at the far end.

The stairs were the stairs, they are never easy, especially in the seventh lap.

Jimmy rode a great race in the C's.

And fed me excellente.

Bike changes- next year a necessity by December.

I'm thinking the interval work needs a redo- TP has me doing these 10 minute efforts, and I never have had that good snappy feeling this year.
Scientific term for suckage= no snappy feeling.
New word as well for suckage= fracklin'
As in- I was fracklin' my ass off from the second lap on.
Anyhow, I'm gonna try some more VO2 max short style stuff, maybe less fracklin and more pop.
Ridin' tommorrow, baby!

Mad Skillz

So tired right now, I can't sleep.

Cornering, sprintying, and tactics, oh my!

Rigatoni e spinaci=mmmmm

The people at Valley Care are really nice.

And Chico Paul will be fine.

Thanks to all for coming.

Merkle for the hot rocket fuel and bagels every morning.

Petit for taking that wheel.

Groovy for showing the water bottles who's boss.

And X-dawg for looking goooood in December.

Riding with Yoda

Cool things I learned while riding with the Yoad last week-

How to pee while rolling.

This has eluded me for years, and we had some time to work on skills, so...
The crosswind worked for me, not against me, and Altamont got watered, not me.
It's the little things in life, no?

Hawks don't always get their way.

Right after the watering episode, I came across a hawk attempting to lift a football size object into the sky off the road. Mr. Red Tail sees me rolling towards him, and drops it for the safety of the nearest power pole, where he alights and fixes his hawkish glare upon me.
As I continue to roll, I see the object is the fattest ground squirrel known to man, ready for winter with little rolls of squirrel fat wobbling around. Mr Red Tail is way pissed about me getting in the way of him and his double bacon cheeseburger, but now I'm rolling past little Chub-Rock.
I think I startled him or maybe he realized he was still alive since there are no bikers looking like Spiderman if Spidey just got done flashing someone rolling around in the rodent afterlife.
Anyhow, Chub-Rok gathers himself and staggers off the road and rolls, wiggles into the nearest hole, flipping a defiant rear paw to the bird, who now is definitely contemplating dive-bombing my ass in retaliation.
More later, but just a couple observations from this weekend's festivities at CCCP.
Mark Noble is really veiny. And really fast.
The a's can really ride. Not just from a fitness standpoint, but the skill level is mindblowing.
7 minutes off the leaders and it still was a race to those of us on the back of the bus, not sure what that says, but....
After seeing al those sausages and beverages being grilled to perfection, a Taco Bell on 92 was kind of a let down.
More later..

No real reason, but......

Commesso!

Because it's December.

Because the garage was a freaking ice palace this morning.

Just because.