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?