Quiz for all 4 people that look at this blog- what tri-valley road is this dude keeping a eye on?
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Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Watchman
Quiz for all 4 people that look at this blog- what tri-valley road is this dude keeping a eye on?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Friday, April 10, 2009
Nice Ride For 1989
Helping a buddy clear out the garage- this thing is ridiculously pretty.I'm such a sucker for a nice steel bike.....
Got to get this thing out of here soon before I fall!
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Taking a break
My oh my what a long season- from September on almost every weekend- I got pretty tired of the travel by December and will be cutting next season short a bit- but anyhow, the new team really got me stoked so I saddled up for ten road races or so through April.
I had mediocre condition personally but had fun and we got some stellar results as a team and always raced hard.
I always take a break in the spring and reset- this year I finished off the early road season with two new races that were a blast-
Warnerville- 3 flats for me- Vick gave me his wheel and I busted that as well- but we throw down for one another and that's what makes racing so great.
Santa Cruz- a classic I've always missed but WOW that was fun!
I struggled to hang on after a bad start from the back and with my one teammate breaking his der. cable early we were out of the fray, but I really enjoyed the corsa and will return.
I was a little tired as well from the first Get Ready For Summer race at the track the day before- this was really fun- a nice day, mucho peeps to visit with,good organization on Ricks' part and a excellent announcing job by Matt.
I raced the B's- this was a good group for me, I ran a 88 for the races wich was small but gave me a bit of hop and I wanted to keep some legs for Santa Cruz- the flip side of the 88 was getting passed in some of the sprints at the end but I liked the overall feel- I ended up winning the omnium- woot woot! I don't win too often so I really appreciate it- we all competed hard through the day and I was suprised to have done so well.
Fun times.
Back to the iron pit for a while and some needed miles- summer is right around the corner!
I had mediocre condition personally but had fun and we got some stellar results as a team and always raced hard.
I always take a break in the spring and reset- this year I finished off the early road season with two new races that were a blast-
Warnerville- 3 flats for me- Vick gave me his wheel and I busted that as well- but we throw down for one another and that's what makes racing so great.
Santa Cruz- a classic I've always missed but WOW that was fun!
I struggled to hang on after a bad start from the back and with my one teammate breaking his der. cable early we were out of the fray, but I really enjoyed the corsa and will return.
I was a little tired as well from the first Get Ready For Summer race at the track the day before- this was really fun- a nice day, mucho peeps to visit with,good organization on Ricks' part and a excellent announcing job by Matt.
I raced the B's- this was a good group for me, I ran a 88 for the races wich was small but gave me a bit of hop and I wanted to keep some legs for Santa Cruz- the flip side of the 88 was getting passed in some of the sprints at the end but I liked the overall feel- I ended up winning the omnium- woot woot! I don't win too often so I really appreciate it- we all competed hard through the day and I was suprised to have done so well.
Fun times.
Back to the iron pit for a while and some needed miles- summer is right around the corner!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Monday Morning Recovery Ride
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Sunday, March 15, 2009
What I saw when I came back to the car.....
If that kid ain't cool, I don't know what is.Way to go, dude.
Hard work pays off.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Welcome back to the garage.
This looks to be the view for the next few days, TACX and the cross bike, staring at the dogs' uneaten food- he has gotten quite finicky now that his mommy mixes in canned food and hot water to make a soup :-)
A Foothills RR thought or two- I hope the guy that took his hands off the bars to eat on a bumpy road in the middle of the pack realizes how dumb that was. I'm going to take the high road on this and realize bike racing is a dangerous sport and all that, but really.
It's not like we were flying along or anything, and with the gradual downhill there you could have rolled of the back and stopped, pissed, and ate and still got back on.
Best wishes to my compadre.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerrySunday, February 22, 2009
ATOC San Jose
No intro needed....
Smart guy and a good book.
Diggin' the number plate, so very pro.
Sweet Quick Step bikes.
Bobke!
Nice passel of bikes.
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Beautiful People
Cantua/ Dinuba- with a Valentines break in there.Some T-shirts grabbed
Some good hard riding
Great dinner
And a dance party?
Lotsa fun!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
The Snowflake
I got him a nice townie and brought the thoroughbred out of the glue factory.
This used to be my only bike and I trained for two Ironmans on this baby.
She has some white nail polish covering up the chips in the finish, and has a newer fork to replace the cracked alloy one( that was a haaaard ride back then!), but the basic bike is the same.
Position is key and me and the Flake go way way back.
26 even on the Calaveras course today at sub- threshold heart rate.
I heart my Flake!
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Monday, February 02, 2009
Monday morning housekeeping
Hopefully no one misses the turnaround now :-)
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Saturday, January 24, 2009
Welcome to the desert of my soul, theres' room for one more.
First long ride since August.
MP3 player on shuffle
pockets full of payday bars and two bottles
fenders and 32 spoke 8 lb wheels.
echelons over the centerline on a training ride- sigh.
refusal to create a second line- sigh.
Oh well,
all good.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Season ending thoughts
Just some random stuffins'......
For a guy like me that has to train in blocks somewhat due to a hectic schedule, the WKO software and especially the PMC and TSS components were a great way to see if I was gaining fitness and not just guessing at things. I went from 70 CTL in January 08 to a peak of about 122 in September.
I held onto quite a bit of fitness through cross season and tried to spend my bank account wisely and rest only for bigger events on the NCNCA Cup.
One thing I noticed was with too much rest and a big positive TSB I sucked on race day but excelled about two days later with less positive TSB- my best races and best power numbers were generally with a TSB of 5-10.
Had the events been longer than a hour I think I would have killed it- I never really got tired , just didn't have a whole lot of hops.
I tapered down the last couple weeks to 90 and definitely lost a bit- I lengthened my season by a month trying to stretch for those last CCCX and NCNCA races and couldn't do it- my best races were in Mid December around Natz- definitely going next year.
I can hold good fitness in a race period for 6-8 weeks max, so just spending it in a more focused way will be on the agenda for next year.
One more powermeter thought- several times this season my races were marred by crashes and mechanical and driver error- if I only judged my performance on that of my competitors I would be awful down on myself- doing some tests and seeing some PB power numbers in December kept my head in the game.
My best race was one where my rear wheel went sideways in the drops at the start and I had to run for the B bike, then get going a half lap down.
I chased through the field with full mouth dribble a-goin' and got within 30 seconds of the leaders before rolling my back tubie- not a stellar result with hands in the air at the end but one I'll be proud of for a long time.
The SS A field was good hard racin all year- the best racers came out on top over the season, I think we raced each other hard all year but also rode with some class, not easy to do when you put a bunch of competitive fellows together on a little dirt path.
I got a bunch of kids out racing this year in a positive environment, several of them the LARPD was their first race, some of them have bigger fish to fry on the road, but I think going wheel to wheel at least a little bit all winter is good for you.
08 will be a complete success if a quarter of the kids take the lessons of sport and use them in their lives somehow...
A big shout out to all the compadres and my family- we went to tons of races this year, much to the dismay of the 12 year old, but loading up the barge and heading out every Sunday was fantastic.
For a guy like me that has to train in blocks somewhat due to a hectic schedule, the WKO software and especially the PMC and TSS components were a great way to see if I was gaining fitness and not just guessing at things. I went from 70 CTL in January 08 to a peak of about 122 in September.
I held onto quite a bit of fitness through cross season and tried to spend my bank account wisely and rest only for bigger events on the NCNCA Cup.
One thing I noticed was with too much rest and a big positive TSB I sucked on race day but excelled about two days later with less positive TSB- my best races and best power numbers were generally with a TSB of 5-10.
Had the events been longer than a hour I think I would have killed it- I never really got tired , just didn't have a whole lot of hops.
I tapered down the last couple weeks to 90 and definitely lost a bit- I lengthened my season by a month trying to stretch for those last CCCX and NCNCA races and couldn't do it- my best races were in Mid December around Natz- definitely going next year.
I can hold good fitness in a race period for 6-8 weeks max, so just spending it in a more focused way will be on the agenda for next year.
One more powermeter thought- several times this season my races were marred by crashes and mechanical and driver error- if I only judged my performance on that of my competitors I would be awful down on myself- doing some tests and seeing some PB power numbers in December kept my head in the game.
My best race was one where my rear wheel went sideways in the drops at the start and I had to run for the B bike, then get going a half lap down.
I chased through the field with full mouth dribble a-goin' and got within 30 seconds of the leaders before rolling my back tubie- not a stellar result with hands in the air at the end but one I'll be proud of for a long time.
The SS A field was good hard racin all year- the best racers came out on top over the season, I think we raced each other hard all year but also rode with some class, not easy to do when you put a bunch of competitive fellows together on a little dirt path.
I got a bunch of kids out racing this year in a positive environment, several of them the LARPD was their first race, some of them have bigger fish to fry on the road, but I think going wheel to wheel at least a little bit all winter is good for you.
08 will be a complete success if a quarter of the kids take the lessons of sport and use them in their lives somehow...
A big shout out to all the compadres and my family- we went to tons of races this year, much to the dismay of the 12 year old, but loading up the barge and heading out every Sunday was fantastic.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
IMG00095.jpg
Congrats Jasmin on a long series!
And congrats to Lainey for a great ride today, these girls are tuff stuff!
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Friday, January 09, 2009
Bear Creek Spire 05
Nice trip and nice rocks- just found this pic while looking for something else. Sunrise on the ridge- always wear your helmet even if you look like your growing mushrooms on top - you may want your brain.
My two favorite things I got for Christmas this year- some Qoleum Mild embro from the wife and this hat from the Vickerator.The first cap that doesn't squeeze my jughead.
Gracias.
I keep tallying up the training for 08 and boring myself writing about it, perhaps How I Spent 648 Perfectly Good Sunny Hours would be a good title........
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Whew.
The short- no excuses report on the last NCNCA race in Watsonville today-
Great course
Great people
I missed the dollar primes 3 times!
And got shot in the lip by a nerfy dart, just to add insult to injury.
Moving targets are probably harder to hit, no?
Hitting the barn kinda smarts.
I think I left my legs in 2008 somewheres.
One more to go in the CCCX finals next week, then a glorious 2 week off season.
Time to re-up
Go to the training cave
Pull out some old VHS
Put on some reindeer antlers
The legs and fitness are fading but the motivation is all there.
Great course
Great people
I missed the dollar primes 3 times!
And got shot in the lip by a nerfy dart, just to add insult to injury.
Moving targets are probably harder to hit, no?
Hitting the barn kinda smarts.
I think I left my legs in 2008 somewheres.
One more to go in the CCCX finals next week, then a glorious 2 week off season.
Time to re-up
Go to the training cave
Pull out some old VHS
Put on some reindeer antlers
The legs and fitness are fading but the motivation is all there.
Friday, January 02, 2009
LA- a few photos and no bike stuff.
The Getty Museum in W LA- we have been wanting to make it here for several years and finally got the chance- a couple easy days at my sisters' were just what the doctor ordered.74 degrees all weekend.
Mmmmmmmmmm
The gardens are spectacular even in winter.
Stunning architecture, the landscape architecture complements the buildings perfectly.
Lots of different textures in front of all that white travertine.
Nice stuff inside as well- I don't really like paintings so much but a fantastic exhibit of early photos from Yosemite and other california spots.
Little C digging the view and the photo opportunities.
Round two was the parade, I haven't been in 30 years( damn I'm old!), it was way fun.
Badass Texas Band.
The Rainbird Float- pretty nice!
Recognize this actress? Hint- S......
The SC band.
Nice stuff inside as well- I don't really like paintings so much but a fantastic exhibit of early photos from Yosemite and other california spots.
Little C digging the view and the photo opportunities.
Round two was the parade, I haven't been in 30 years( damn I'm old!), it was way fun.
Great floats, great seats, and hot dogs afterwards.
This is Julie Foudy on this float. It was full of Olympians with Greg Louganis as well.
Badass Texas Band.
The Rainbird Float- pretty nice!Recognize this actress? Hint- S......The SC band.Penn States' cheerleaders were waaay hotter.
Guess they left it all at the parade.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Cupcakes And Nerf Darts
Cracked my noggin on a barrier, gave myself a two day headache.Dodged the nerf dart machine gunners on the top deck
Wanted a cupcake feed but could not see...
Stayed on the gruppo while wigglin and swervin'
till I could see again.
The LARPD was lotsa fun this year, a definite change from the MTB courses I also like but don't really do well at, some tactics and some luck came into play as well as some fitness- those last two races with the back steps added in were hard and wasted me for the Sunday effort, but who cares.
Shane and his posse really worked hard this year to improve the racing experience and with some small sponsors and some more attendance this thing could hop.
If you haven't been since the VeloBob days with 3 small cones, one piece of caution tape and a old 2 x 8 staked up with concrete stakes, you should check it next year.
P.S.-
Oh yeah, I'm gonna pop the jersey a bit, first one I ever won with all the stud and studette athletes running around these parts, It may "only" be the LARP, but I'm still stoked.
Congrats to all the series champys!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
At The LARP.......
There were cupcake feeds....
Elves racin'
Even the dawg was in the spirit....
Hecklers and racers alike were decked out....
Troy passing the grownups on his new bike.....
Kenny rolling up the line and channeling Cancellara a bit here, passing about five guys in this corral section, suuuhweeet!Fun Fun Times.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Houses of pain II
Time to hunker down and torture myself a bit indoors..... All used other peoples' junk in this HOP, a old TACX set up ,just for me, a Craigslist track bike jumbled together, and a hand-me-down TV in the corner.The weights and Concept 2 I got in a blind auction when a company down the street closed.
Turn up the tunes, move some laundry to the side, and get down.
Coach Troy killing me with a oldie but goodie VHS tape today- yessss.
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