Little Wood Duck

Little C and I spent the day at the old salt mine together.

Actually we spent the day touring the salt mine and snapping pics.....

This is the girls all lined up outside after their safety lecture....

Dad is happy he's not digging ditches today.....

There was a goose egg right next to these two geese in the weeds... hmmmm, who does this belong to?

Boat rides on closed reservoirs are fun!

Especially when you get to drive!

31 eggs in this nesting box south of Moraga.

While all the girls snuck up quietly, even with the ladder, not one hen was to be found. Hopefully out feeding and not a victim of Mr. raccoon.

Lots more on this trip, many nontraditional jobs were explained, etc.

Driving the big yellow machine was cool, but the boat ride got the rave reviews.

Too bad the camera batteries pooped out!

Commuter Blues

The best part of my day today, and it was not a nice day, full of hard feelings and ditchdigger bitchiness, was passing the half-mile of cars on the boulevard while the Musical Youth broke out in some "pass the dutchie".

The wind became my friend again.

I started to gutter imaginary foes on the Iron Horse Trail while peeking over my backpack.

I tucked my headlamp away, the one that makes people smile in their cars cuz I'm such a DAMN GEEK riding around with a headlamp, like Rick Moranis in Honey I Shrunk The Kids.

I hit the freeway bridge where the trail ends and I psuedo-crawl to the Pleasanton side under the ramps, but not before hitting the first full speed/ braking with the back wheel while threading the needle with the right foot/ grabbing the top tube/ dismount of 2007 and tossing that bad boy on my shoulder.

Geek-a-Rama.

Them cars can kiss my ass, though.

Pop that jersey like you mean it

In one week, I sawAfrican tortoises doing the horizontal mambo in a backyard in Orinda,

carried a picket sign for the first time in memory,

discussed knitting methods with Little C,

crawled underneath the 580/ 680 connector ramp twice with my bike taking the shortcut home,

and had ice cream 3 times for no good reason at all.

Life is crazy and takes turns that no one, much less me, can comprehend.

Them damn Warriors got heart right now, though.

The Faceless Man

And yes I have been needing some new music on the player, even on shuffle I'm hearing the same crap again and again....
Though how I rode around for hours without tunes is beyond me :-)

Merkley and X dawggie- a pair of great training partners.

Lot's of times now I really prefer to be off by myself, well, me and my Bean. Some folks, you negotiate some goals for the ride, discuss how hard things should be.... " no problem, dude. We'll be MELLOW."
Then the half wheeling trip to anaerobic oblivion begins, often slowly, cuz they just hafta ride a little too hard for themselves and you.

Bastards.

The two fellas above, though?
They do it right, baby. Piano when it's piano time, and slug Gianni in the face when that time comes as well. 22 seconds never made me smile so big as today.

Hit the cats' hill yesterday, and things are a little different when one is hawking tires and drinking rootbeers. A man's perspective is a little different.
My first time at the BIG RACE and it was cool in some ways, I really enjoyed yakking with XB and Disky, and in general hanging out and people watching.
But I really thought things would be more raucous and wild, like a big NRC race.
I saw the hill, and checked out a few laps, but maybe you gotta race it to appreciate it a little more.
The inevitable squabble about last lap smasheroos in the expo area was in some ways more interesting to myself and the junior sociology major I seem to be raising.
One more observation on the Cat-Boogie- How badass is Larry Nolan? Dude types up the workout to get ready for CH on the NCNCA list, goes out and teaches the workout on Tuesday night a couple of weeks ago, he and JA write a little thing on the CH blog on how to get ready for this race..... not very secretive if ya ask me!
Oh, and I TRIED to do that whole workout the next night at our little Pleasanton thrashfest and could not complete.
The wind was savage today out on Mines, X and I went past the junction to the edge of the Valley Of Death before Ham and turned around into it.
Muy Duro with 5 minute pulls even downhill it hurt, so mmmmmm.
Tried to get a even c-note by riding around my neighborhood for 1.7 more miles, but cramped ridiculously in front of little kids in the park and had to limp home one legged... me= dork.

Now for some of Groovys' recipe Caesar chicken pasta and the best night of TV all week on HBO....
J

Fritter Postride

because a day old cinnamon roll tastes just like new iif you nuke it for 35 seconds.

Because my chain broke in the middle of Mt. Diablo blvd at quarter to six this morning and I still made it to work on time.

15 minutes of traffic lights on the Boulevard on the way home sux.

Fresh baked crescent rolls coming out of the oven as I rolled into the garage made it all better.

Send the pain below

Finally some nice weather, a little acclimatization going on for me, I rode home over Redwood yesterday on the crosser and had to stop at a markey in Castro Valley for 2 paydays and some water, still had a headache all night even slugging water like crazy, but thank got for paydays, cheap and almost the same nutritional profile as a energy bar for half the price.
Today I hit the early WOT ride and enjoyed the entire ICCC cat 3 team hammering towards Berkeley, till I flatted and had to reaarange the plans a little.
Rode around until 9 and caught the second version, but after descending Dublin Canyon, found that the paving contractor had closed the road to bikes, and how screwed is that, especially if you rode all day like out from the east bay and were trying to get home to Oakland and didn't really feel like retracing your route, then climbing Norris/ Palomares.And they are letting cars through, kind of bullshit IMHO.
Anyway, this threw the bunch into disarray and I opted to ride with a teamie over Diablo to WC back to the pad, ending up with 95 miles, the last 15 or so getting slower and slower,very charming to have a Boulevard Stalker suck my wheel for 5 miles down and when I finally sit up and move over to share a little of my bonking pain, attack me like he's winning the Ronde De Danville or sumpthin and ride 300 meters in front all the way to Danville.
Mr. Freshly Showered No Sock Dude , that was a chump move, but no worries, if that floats yer boat, have a nice day and all that.
Turkey chili with cornbread crumbled over it is a great recovery food, and the afternoon watching Amstel Gold and the ToG was real nice stuff.

Looking forward to the reports from the Firestone and the Madera pain fest, tommorrow it's onto the MTB for a little bit, we have this race coming up and I want to do us proud....
Already 1200.00 bucks in the bucket, we are doing excellent and it warms my heart to see the generosity from people.
Now to figure out a theme for the campsite.....

Go be a tourist

has been the name of the game today, I have been punishing myself in the gym 3-5 times a week with the Core Performance routines and starting the longish rides at least 2 days a week, hard to believe that 3 hours of high cadence work can leave me so damn tired, but I really am starting from a ways back and need to stay patient this spring to do well this fall.

Anyhoo , It was all about soigneur duties today down in the SC.

A little rain over the summit at 5:30 am looked gloomy, but the day got nicer and nicer.

Miz C's race started late, at 7:20, absolutely crappy race management, very unimpressed with the organization, they ran out of drinks, food, etc for the slower runners, probably the ones that need the support the most.

Little C and I bounced ASAP for some breakfast and found the Seabreeze Cafe, I remember a blog entry from somewhere about this spot this winter, and through cyberspace found it again, it's not Foodie Friday but who cares and I gotta plug it, a GREAT tofu scramble and fresh out of the oven cinnamon roll with some dark cafe and lots of salsa over some non-greasy homefries, just perfect.

Miz C came shuffling in nursing a sore toe/hip/knee/cramp wheels came off thing, not a happy camper she was and that damn running will beat ya up quick.

But the people watching was superb.

The cruz has a few interesting folks, but it wasn't the locals that really caught my eye, it was the runners . Before the race they all look good, even the unfit. Some wear the tri- emblems- a bike jersey in club cut over running shorts with elastic laces and a been -there- done that running hat.A few cover themselves with clothes from head to toe, and others wear as little as possible, even in 51 degree rain, and I wonder what message they are trying to send to the others in the tribe. My favorites are the old guys with baseball hats and cotton t-shirts, wheezing through the warmup, been doing this stuff since before Jim Fixx, got their New Balance order down to a T.

Wait till the finish and it's a different game, the early focused ones, digging into the pain cave, the medal awaiting them.
The next group of exuberant ones, PR's for this bunch, the training has paid off and they had the race of their lives/ year/ season and they are savoring every moment as they can hear the announcer faintly from a block away.
Then the various finishing looks start to show, the hollow eyes that refuse to look at the bystander to not let the pain out of control, the jogging together saving private ryan move, not leaving your buddy behind no matter what, the whoop-de -doos that are smiling like a boxer that will fall if he gets hit once more, hoo-rah-ing to keep the negative thoughts away.

Or the folks that give out a quiet "thanks" when they hear a cheer for them and keep on trucking ....
"The eyes are the windows to the soul".

Winners and losers

Winners rarely show it off, unless to make fun of themselves.

Losers revise history to make themselves feel better.

Winners always choose to help when they can, even when things are not so pleasant or smell so nice.

Losers choose the blind eye.

Winners realize the world is round.

Losers can't see beyond the horizon.

Winners have perspective.

Losers go for the easy way out, every time.

Winners walk through the doors of life, ready for the challenges of the other side.

Losers hold onto the jamb for dear life.

I get to choose every day.

Just a Little Bit....

The break is over and the work has begun again, it feels great to build a schedule and plan and dream, anything is possible at the beginning of a season, before life and genetics foul it up :-)

I actually took a week off the blogs as well, spent some time in cold drizzly LA, running some and eating lots of great Japanese food, but just letting the mind recover and allowing the fire to build was so worth it..

Sprints tonight felt great, we have a tiny group out here in pleasanton on Wednesdays and I try to think of new and devious ways to amuse ourselves... tonight was small ring restriction for all the grownups and our one Junior phenom gets to use whatever she wants, nice to spin the legs out and keep some snap in them,
The strength program is morphing as well, moving more and more to developing speed and power as opposed to big beach muscles that are useless when that gawdammn runup shows it's face in November at Watsonville, mmm, watsonville.

Actually commuted last week on the SS, but need a bigger front ring, it took 2 hours to go 25 miles, so four hours of riding on a SS was a little much, especially after digging ditches all day, I had to stop and eat a couple of vegan trail mix cookies on the way home as I was running on fumes, but still real cool to commute again after a 5 year layoff, even for only one day. I'm thinking a 42 ring if I can dig one up and a 15 track cog spun onto the back will tighten up my hack pedaling stroke a little and help me get some much needed training hours in a busy week.

Hope you all enjoy the Otter, I'm hard at work on call this weekend, but I look forward to the reports and perhaps I can carve out a little time to catch some island stories soon ....
J

J

All the things I meant to do.....

Are getting done now and it feels great!

I finished the walkway in the front in September, and just now in April got in all the landscape, a couple of nice trees, some sage, lavender and rosemary, looks good and will look better in a year or so, now for some lighting and color and we'll be good.

Went for a nice 2 hour run in Tilden with Miz C on Friday and still my old bones ache, even with jogging slowly. Stuff I stay away from in the bike racing season, the slow trail runs really slow my slow self down, but the views of both Suisun and S.F. bays were beautiful. When I tore my ankle up in 2002 I was training for a 50 miler up on this ridge and used to run a different section every wednesday, but never really checked out the area down in Tilden, but really nice running, a couple thousand of climbing in 8 miles or so, but smooth and shady.

Heading out this afternoon for a MTB cruise with the Seal after he returns from his morning bay swim, nice and easy for the both of us, but my attention is beginning to focus on this now.
We have the Chico , Kareem, the Seal, Big Jimmy V, and myself going again in June.
Shifting the focus to giving back a bit and it's good.
I'll be revving the fundraising engine back up soon, we got a matching sponsor for this years' contributions and I really really want to get them to write a big check :-)

Anyhow, the race reports sound fun and all, but I see nothing I want to train for for months now except for some loony century the Nome wants to do, but it's good to not have to train right now and stay unstructured for a bit.
Back to the home improvement store....

3


It's been a big week for me, not only was Hanford my last race as a four, but my Level 3 USAC coaching application was approved as well!

In a strange way, the category upgrade has been kind of just unnerving, rather than satisfying. I know exactly what I'm getting into, and still got into it.
Big jump, here I come!

The coaching license everyone derides as a book test, but have you read that book?
I did, twice.
I actually thought the sections on coaching children very informative, not a area that I have any expertise in at all, save for Little C's ice cream league soccer team, but an excellent set of pointers one can use with any new athlete.

Anyhow two days into the big break and still no bikey for Gianni, thoug I believe tommorrow the Sprints will see my face, but only to do some skills work and hang for a while with the folks....

Hanford

Damn proud of the team today.

We somehow missed the W but the aggression was highly gratifying to see.

Merkely, X doggie, and The Vickerator all spent much time OTF, with basically the entire CVC team and a few unattached guys blindly doing CVC's bidding needed to chase Mike down.

When you have a 15 man team, playing the one dimensional card is kinda sad if you ask me.

I flubbed it at the end, jist couldn't go no more and got the X and Vick swarmed, but they fought it off and got some placings as well, very nice, fellas!

Too tired to write about it more right now ,must get on with my season break before the real training kicks up again.

Car Talk

Show the colors, baby!

Dang Merkle and Alicat!

Those dang thinmints- one box destroyed already and the other in the freezer.
Yer killin' me!

I keep eating those, I'll have to do more of these fat-ass forties.....

Good to see Chico at a race, and I hope it went well for ya!

The race- without the wind, that shit was bunk. I don't try to hide my distaste for 60 man bunch sprints.I make a living with my body every day, it don't work, I don't either.
I was good, then I was boxed, got out and came up on the top 8 or so, then had a guy pedal backwards at me.Held the line and gave up with a sour taste that only ice-cold thinmints seem to cure.............

CVC Tower Criterium RR

Sunday was gonna be a goodie.

I did this race last year with Double and Merkeley, and snuck off in a early break, the first and only time that one has worked for me :-)

This year the field was much bigger and the guys were fresher, as well as no teammates.

0330 am the phone rings. Wrong number.

Now I'm up and thinking bike racin'.
I drift back off and it rings again at 4:30.
Party party party at the Quality Inn.
Now I'm up.
I think about going over to the race early to race with the young bucks, eat a little sumpthin', then fall out for 15 minutes, when my alarm goes off.
I slowly move my stuff to the car and make my way to Starbucks on the course.

It's still dark and the racers signing up look fresh, overly alert, and very young.

I decide I can't deal with this crap right now and go back to the car and drink a couple of cups of java and talk myself into getting on the trainer and warming up at least.
MAsters 4/5 goes at 9:20 and the warmup is better than I expected, the soreness from yesterday is gone and the fire in the belly is coming around, I stage up as we watch the womens' 3/4 race.
This crit is my all time fave, the 180 was dry this year and you could push it if you had the right line/ gear coming out.
Big representation from CVC, Simply Fit?, and Action. Centurion.
The race starts agressively, with many splits with all the teams represented, but in the 4/5 ranks people often are too conservative/ chase their own breaks.
We all gotta learn, no?
Both Nelson and I are in just about everything, and the primes are nice and fat, I got a nice bottle of wine for the team party this year!
1 to go and I got myself boxed , I was trying to keep up front and hold a position,but with the field fanned all the way out and no team driving, very hard to do on the wider spots.
We hit the main drag with the barriers and I decide if I want it I had to get up now, so I sprint up the hole next to the barriers and grab 3rd wheel, behind the guy that won Merced when I went for the woods by borrowing my spot in the lineup.
This fine fellow has downgraded after a few years at the upper levels and is a nice wheel to follow, so we urge the CVC guy on the front to line it out and he jumps for the chicane., with me in the hip pocket.
FOS, FOS and we make the turn with 160-175 meters to go,and I just tried to not screw it up, and managed to get around him on the line.
Big time atmosphere down in Fresno, lot's of great racing for the lower categories as well, and a incredible race organization that helped me all weekend. If they didn't have the answer, they found someone who did.
Incredible the amount of work going into this thing, all benefitting local charities.
Thanks again, CVC!

CVC ITT

Drove down Saturday morning, caught up with the 123 squad as they were heading back to the lair.
I have been whining about no time in the saddle, especially on the TT rig, but hey, it's only 28K, right?

Wind was quartering from the SW and I heard from several people to expect it to reverse itself during the afternoon, so a distinct possibility of getting head/ head and not in a good way.

Got in a perfect warmup, used a whole hour, got off a couple times and worked on some new stretching I have been learning about, tried to open up all the zones and get loose in the flexors, which have been tight during my 45 minute roller sessions.

Made it to the line early, keeping the stress down is important, I would say I felt so-so, but was willing to go hard early and take the chance of a blowup.

Guy counts down just like on TV with the fingerdoodle move and I'm off, 10 stomps and settle. I push the Lap button and see I'm already at LT just from excitement,I try to calm myself down and get to it.
I had two gaps in front of me in the start order giving me minute men and then no one, so I just tried to work with the wind and take what it would give me, dropping a cog, going back up one, better with no face shield on the helmet, I like to feel the wind a little and hear things.
I passed my first minute man about 5 K in, then my second one stayed out there longer, till we hit the slight rollers and I could spin it up a bit and catch him.
I was about 10 beats over threshold by 10K in, and just tried to keep consistent, passing a womens ' division, refusing to look back, especially with a aero helmet, amd embrace the wind instead of hating it, which was now quartering more into the front of me.
Not enough power to push the really big cogs and I found spinning it up was faster anyway.
Hit the 1K hill and it was gut check time, with a bonus check, when it flattened out about 500 meters in and I had to leave the voices at the door and drop another cog, yum, yum that cytomax tastes good again, ooooh and it's over.
I had no idea only having 2 minute men how I was looking in the results, no real feedback from the watch that forgot to stop and I felt kind of crappy with no good form, sliding up, knees out more than they should be, back probably hunched like mad.
Rode back while bonking my ass off, only had a vague idea where I was and where I was going, I figured Fresno was somewhere up there, probably riding back hurt more than the race effort itself, as the cramps really set in.
My experience with cramps- calf cramps, yellow zone
Quads, especially while riding home in the car with buds, can even be good for a chuckle or two.
Hammies are no fun and can end a nice race.
Ass cramps are no fun.
Ass cramps while lost in the heartland of California really suck.
Only hobbling around and Ibuprofen help.
And large Coca-colas.

Anyhow, after lots of hobbling, chatting, and Coca-colas, the results were announced to the 20 people left in the parking lot and I won the damn thing.

Celebrated by going to Sweet Tomatoes solo and watching Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle for the 15th time, big bachelor night out!

A little perspective here, I was minutes off of the big time guys, not just the pros but the really strong masters guys, especially the demons of Sattley.

Trophies are just damn cool things.
And CVC put on one hella-cool race this weekend.

Bookends

Thanks to CVC for putting on such an excellent weekend!

This one goes on the calendar every year, great TT course and one of my favorite crits.

More report to come, but I'm a little fried right now and would just ramble anyway.

Old Mclane recap/ rant

Well, it's been almost a week and my head is slowly clearing and the legs feel decent, and I finally got the urge to jot a few things down....

Kudos to the teams in the 35+4 race, ones of note were the Pegasaurs, the EMC boyos, Sierra, CVC, and even Webcor and Davis, both who had like two racers.
All of the above attempted to animate at least for a lap until the old dads got tired and the reality of setting up for a 60 rider bunch sprint became a reality.
We probably tired each other out with all those attacks and counters, as the individual riders made hay while the sun shone in the final results.

That was a crazy finale to a crazy day, with riders careening into the dirt every turn. The only safe place was right at the head of the storm, with most of the field hanging back while the big P tried to control at the front.

Road racing in the grampa Cat 4's?

Lame.

Waiting for a bunch sprint and chasing everything down, even your own team?

Like watching paint dry, and yet many people encourage it, as it seems like the only way up and out of the 4's unless your talent is on the higher level of the curve.

Are we teaching people the finer points of bicycle racing, as is claimed?. A totally different game being played on the 123 stage with strategy interspersed with a savage beating every few minutes. Real bike racin'.

Anyhow, I'll shut the rant off now :-)

CVC for this lame Cat 4 starts Saturday, and I'm more than a little concerned over my total lack of TT preparation, unless sitting on the rollers for 45 minutes in the morning is gonna help, in the bars or not., but it's cool, I'm riding Snowflake, my oldest bike, and me and her have seen more than a few barbeques along the way.
Matter of fact, I think Snowflake is gonna get some bloggage soon, like a whole ode to the 'Flake.
See ya'll soon,
J

Feel the burn

Oooooh how are those airline miles stacking up? Check this out- the siren of stupid endurance challenges is calling me again....
Note the race promoter in the moustache- " People call me a sadist- I'm just a provider of pain ."

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.

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?

CCCX #2

Wow all I can say is from my perspective people are FLYING already.
Had a decent race for me, a coupla bobbles early, then a fairly good race.
Two years ago when I last raced decently, my fitness today would have got me a 5th or so.
Today I got 12th in the 35+B.
I think I'm honestly coming along, learning a few new things, but doing OK fitness wise.
Them boys are just relentless killers.

The B's got a 15 second head start today and were caught by the first barrier.
I saw a few guys sneak into em ,disappear from view, and that was the race-winning move.
I had me a good battle with my buddy Mark from Pen today, I thought I had outfoxed him by rotating off the front on the climb, and got myself dropped from the group when another guy attacked and held it all the way, kicking myself not to have stayed up front in the gutter and controlled.
Rolled around and socialized for a while, then it was time for singlespeed pleasure.
Man, I need a smaller freewheel.
I ran outta gears early and often again.
Changing to a rigid fork helped alot, and I got away with working on my bike the night before a race.
Watching the A race from my bike was a treat, a vicious battle with falling off the group, attacks and bridging all featured, all the good stuff and clean clean lines.
If I could only ride half that smooth.
The cross vibe- just so damn cool. Many of us battle on the road all year and never speak. Maybe the scene is a little bigger, but I think it's the fear and distrust of the mayhem caused with a slip of attention. In the 4/5's you just never know what's coming, and there's a new loon every minute.
Cross has a way of sorting itself out, and the crashes are usually just a matter of some skin. The nature of the suffering brings out a special breed. Welcoming the suffering into every fiber of your being is what it takes.
Great course, I guess 4 zillion homes will be built here soon and our little playground will be taken away. I'm gonna miss it.
Now to take a few easy days and let the training soak in. It's been 3 weeks of hard hard work, time to relax a little before Hell-yah.