I wanna quit football and be a cheerleader...

And other stupid thoughts...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stuff works, yo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fight Club

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

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

Ask Nome, this was after the cleanup.

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

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

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

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

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

Resolution

Well, today was the day Mom left this world.

85 years is a long long time.

I got railroaded into writing the obit.

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

I've been doing some tallying.

2 marriages

5 kids

9 grandkids

11 Great- Grandbabies.

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

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

Scholarship at age 42 to UOP

2 masters' degrees when it was over

Taught school and wrote books till she was 65.

Big shoes for a little old lady.

The hospice nurses marveled at her refusal to pass.

Every day they would chuckle as they came onto shift.

She never would do anything until she decided to.

And we were all on her time.

Rest easy, Jeanne.

Apologize for the lack of bloggage...

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


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

And the last three days in Hospice care.

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

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

It's kind of trivial right now.

dubble post

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

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

Goat- style

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

Stoked

To race in the Gobi this weeekend.

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

Game Theory

Post-interval session nosh-

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

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

You know your apples are considered jumbo....

When they cast their own shadow.

4.5 inches across.

One fruit on the whole tree.

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

Time for him to go now..

My post- ride snack today.....

Nightcrawler

I sleep in the day......

Back on the shift work, starting tonight.

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

Pack those commuter lights away....

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

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

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

Have a good week, everyone!

Time To Refresh.......

and find things that reward me and mine.

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

Working with new athletes = where it's at.

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

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

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

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

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

Nothin' but respect....

Excuses, Excuses

I've got a few.

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

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

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

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

Have a good week , everyone!

The center of the universe.....

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

A profile here ....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ride time 9:42

135 miles

16,500 feet of climbing

YUM.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Chico Criterium has a olive oil sponsor.

Maybe these beauties will help me snag a bottle.

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

I dunno, but....

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

The marinated ball tip= addictive.

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

This little morsel coming up next weekend.

I will eat enough.

I will spin the little gears.

I will stay below LT in the first 2 climbs.

And I'm gonna take tons of picx.

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

You Feed Us Lies From The Tablecloth

Mmmmmm a rest week, feeling good and perky.

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

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

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

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

Thanks Fanelli, I did it!

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

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

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

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

Old School Hollywood

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

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



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



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

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

Climb To Kaiser, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is Big Creek, the monster climb of climbs.

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

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

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

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

Time for some of the longest, nicest descents around.

Too bad my legs were still locking up.

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

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

The post race BBQ was oh- so excellent!

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

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

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