Welcome to the desert of my soul, theres' room for one more.

First long ride since August.

MP3 player on shuffle

pockets full of payday bars and two bottles

fenders and 32 spoke 8 lb wheels.

echelons over the centerline on a training ride- sigh.

refusal to create a second line- sigh.

Oh well,

all good.

Season ending thoughts

Just some random stuffins'......

For a guy like me that has to train in blocks somewhat due to a hectic schedule, the WKO software and especially the PMC and TSS components were a great way to see if I was gaining fitness and not just guessing at things. I went from 70 CTL in January 08 to a peak of about 122 in September.
I held onto quite a bit of fitness through cross season and tried to spend my bank account wisely and rest only for bigger events on the NCNCA Cup.
One thing I noticed was with too much rest and a big positive TSB I sucked on race day but excelled about two days later with less positive TSB- my best races and best power numbers were generally with a TSB of 5-10.
Had the events been longer than a hour I think I would have killed it- I never really got tired , just didn't have a whole lot of hops.
I tapered down the last couple weeks to 90 and definitely lost a bit- I lengthened my season by a month trying to stretch for those last CCCX and NCNCA races and couldn't do it- my best races were in Mid December around Natz- definitely going next year.
I can hold good fitness in a race period for 6-8 weeks max, so just spending it in a more focused way will be on the agenda for next year.

One more powermeter thought- several times this season my races were marred by crashes and mechanical and driver error- if I only judged my performance on that of my competitors I would be awful down on myself- doing some tests and seeing some PB power numbers in December kept my head in the game.

My best race was one where my rear wheel went sideways in the drops at the start and I had to run for the B bike, then get going a half lap down.
I chased through the field with full mouth dribble a-goin' and got within 30 seconds of the leaders before rolling my back tubie- not a stellar result with hands in the air at the end but one I'll be proud of for a long time.

The SS A field was good hard racin all year- the best racers came out on top over the season, I think we raced each other hard all year but also rode with some class, not easy to do when you put a bunch of competitive fellows together on a little dirt path.

I got a bunch of kids out racing this year in a positive environment, several of them the LARPD was their first race, some of them have bigger fish to fry on the road, but I think going wheel to wheel at least a little bit all winter is good for you.
08 will be a complete success if a quarter of the kids take the lessons of sport and use them in their lives somehow...

A big shout out to all the compadres and my family- we went to tons of races this year, much to the dismay of the 12 year old, but loading up the barge and heading out every Sunday was fantastic.

IMG00095.jpg

End of the season meal......
Congrats Jasmin on a long series!
And congrats to Lainey for a great ride today, these girls are tuff stuff!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Bear Creek Spire 05

Nice trip and nice rocks- just found this pic while looking for something else. Sunrise on the ridge- always wear your helmet even if you look like your growing mushrooms on top - you may want your brain.

My two favorite things I got for Christmas this year- some Qoleum Mild embro from the wife and this hat from the Vickerator.The first cap that doesn't squeeze my jughead.

Gracias.

I keep tallying up the training for 08 and boring myself writing about it, perhaps How I Spent 648 Perfectly Good Sunny Hours would be a good title........

Whew.

The short- no excuses report on the last NCNCA race in Watsonville today-

Great course

Great people

I missed the dollar primes 3 times!

And got shot in the lip by a nerfy dart, just to add insult to injury.
Moving targets are probably harder to hit, no?

Hitting the barn kinda smarts.

I think I left my legs in 2008 somewheres.

One more to go in the CCCX finals next week, then a glorious 2 week off season.

Time to re-up
Go to the training cave
Pull out some old VHS
Put on some reindeer antlers

The legs and fitness are fading but the motivation is all there.

LA- a few photos and no bike stuff.

The Getty Museum in W LA- we have been wanting to make it here for several years and finally got the chance- a couple easy days at my sisters' were just what the doctor ordered.

74 degrees all weekend.

Mmmmmmmmmm

The gardens are spectacular even in winter.

Stunning architecture, the landscape architecture complements the buildings perfectly.

Lots of different textures in front of all that white travertine.

Nice stuff inside as well- I don't really like paintings so much but a fantastic exhibit of early photos from Yosemite and other california spots.

Little C digging the view and the photo opportunities.

Round two was the parade, I haven't been in 30 years( damn I'm old!), it was way fun.

Great floats, great seats, and hot dogs afterwards.

This is Julie Foudy on this float. It was full of Olympians with Greg Louganis as well.

Badass Texas Band.

The Rainbird Float- pretty nice!



Recognize this actress? Hint- S......



The SC band.

Penn States' cheerleaders were waaay hotter.

Guess they left it all at the parade.

Cupcakes And Nerf Darts

Cracked my noggin on a barrier, gave myself a two day headache.
Dodged the nerf dart machine gunners on the top deck
Wanted a cupcake feed but could not see...
Stayed on the gruppo while wigglin and swervin'
till I could see again.

The LARPD was lotsa fun this year, a definite change from the MTB courses I also like but don't really do well at, some tactics and some luck came into play as well as some fitness- those last two races with the back steps added in were hard and wasted me for the Sunday effort, but who cares.

Shane and his posse really worked hard this year to improve the racing experience and with some small sponsors and some more attendance this thing could hop.

If you haven't been since the VeloBob days with 3 small cones, one piece of caution tape and a old 2 x 8 staked up with concrete stakes, you should check it next year.
P.S.-
Oh yeah, I'm gonna pop the jersey a bit, first one I ever won with all the stud and studette athletes running around these parts, It may "only" be the LARP, but I'm still stoked.
Congrats to all the series champys!

At The LARP.......

There were cupcake feeds....

Elves racin'

Even the dawg was in the spirit....

Hecklers and racers alike were decked out....

Troy passing the grownups on his new bike.....

Kenny rolling up the line and channeling Cancellara a bit here, passing about five guys in this corral section, suuuhweeet!

Fun Fun Times.

Houses of pain II

Time to hunker down and torture myself a bit indoors..... All used other peoples' junk in this HOP, a old TACX set up ,just for me, a Craigslist track bike jumbled together, and a hand-me-down TV in the corner.
The weights and Concept 2 I got in a blind auction when a company down the street closed.
Turn up the tunes, move some laundry to the side, and get down.

Coach Troy killing me with a oldie but goodie VHS tape today- yessss.

Sufferface

Kenny getting that shoulder into it- yes, the steps are back at the LARP.

Kenny has improved soooo much this year, I think his road season will be a blast!

Troy and his new cross bike! Much improved from the old ginormous full suspension beasty-bike!

I never took my camera out today at CCCX, with the nasty rain , but Jasmin and Lainey had another great battle on two wheels today, trading the 2 spot back and forth, a classic battle between solid climbing fitness and awesome technical skills on the downs.

Classy stuff.

Both the LARP and CCCX were filled with mechanicals snafus for me, rolled tires, loose bolts, and crappy pedals.

A super bunch of buddies helped me out both days, though, and I was able to finish both races.

It takes a large helping of suck to appreciate the good sometimes great days where everything goes right, the holeshot comes to you without effort and the Heed tastes like champagne....

Enjoy the rain, peoples!

Houses of Pain

This one is at my work, I like coming in a bit early and pushing some iron around.

.
Finally after a month layoff with the latest weird graybeard injury where I popped a few ribs out , I was able to get in a light workout with no pain later-
Very grateful to be back.
Dr. Rich always seems to put me back together again,
Thanks,
Rich!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Roll Them Miles

Took a break from the racing this weekend, instead we caught up on things, actually hung the Christmas lights before December 24th, did some riding with a couple of talented teens on a cold but clear Diablo, hosted a great houseguest, and hit a team ride today for some more miles.

All good.

All relaxing

Recharged and ready to go.

Sporting Some New Duds

BASP #4 - Golden Gate Park, 2008,
originally uploaded by Cyclocross Magazine.

Picture by Andrew Yee at GGP- I stunk it up bad in many ways but had lots of fun battling for 19th place.

Putting on the new duds still feels kind of like dressing up in fancy clothes, fun and I like it a lot but a bit unsure of how to act in these new situations.
Change is constant whether we admit it or not and challenging myself to be a better teammate and better racer is good stuff for the soul.
Five years and my first cycling team, I'm gonna miss the red ones and wish them the best of luck.


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Weekend Fun Section Two

photo credit- Rick Rasmussen

After a great day Saturday, both my whole brood and the Parsons Clan piled into the barge and headed south to Manzanita at the crack'o;ass.

Papa P raced first and had mechanicals from hell, ended up finishing on my SS mountain bike while dodging several bad crashes in the B field.

Jas raced one of her best races ever and sold it out on the hill after doing a long day on Saturday, having fun all the way with no pressure. I came across a woman laying in the trail after the first lap woozy as all get out from cracking her helmet in the loose sand, she wanted her bike back to continue, but the old rule goes if you can't stand up straight- no bikey.
Medics were summoned- more work on Sunday than I think they have ever had before at one of those races, and props to Keith and Rod for having them on site every race-
She gathered herself ok and all was well, several people helped out with her and it was very nice to see.
I raced the SS A as usual and didn't feel great in the legs- a two week solid block and a race the day before made things a little slow- but made the front group behind Rich Maile who was ON FIRE, two jerseys for the day, very nice.

Cesar and Julian took off and I should have went too, but contented myself with being in the group with number 2 and 3 in the points, hoping things would go my way.

The hill wasn't that big of a problem and often I chased back on the climb, but I didn't stay focused enough on the turns and descents, and kept getting gapped and needing to chase back on, not good and after 7 laps the elastic popped for good, realistically I doubt the end result would have been different had I stayed on a bit more, but you never know if you don't suffer through it.
Held on for 7th and stayed on the lead lap, no small feat with Justin coming on like a freight train.
Definitely mentally worked from a late night/ early morning wakeup before I even got there and was a bit bitchy about bottle handups and such, really it was my tired mind and a soft bottle that played the biggest part in dropping it two times, must suck up to the feeding crew a bit now...:-)

All in all some fantastic racing at a very high level all day to watch, very sweet!

See you all at GG park and I have a suprise for you all, well, some of you.

Weekend Fun Section One.

DSC_0687,
originally uploaded by liveplayride.

Saturday Gruppo at LARPD. Picture by Shane Huntoon.

As Russell says, the best little series no one does.

More Single Speed than geared in the A race, good to see the world is finally coming around to a simple life .........

This race suits me well, very fast with sweeping turns and some breeze from time to time. The sand was tricky in the AM but race-tracked out for the 11:30 ride.

A good reason to get up early

Kenny and his younger brother Troy racing Saturday in Livermore- getting the hang of things and dealing with those darn barriers- way to go!

Jasmin and Lainey in a great battle at Manzanita on Sunday- both of them rode oh-so-hard.

Fun times and I always learn something myself along the way.

The other guy in the top photo is Jimbo the heckler lover, sweet seeing my buddy suffer like that- the corral at Livermore was loose as hell for the first couple races!

Not even December yet....

Take your neighbor to a bike race and you never know what will end up on the interwebs....

LIKE THIS!

Pumpkin Bread, Choco Chip Cookies and Six Dollar Burgers- oh and strawberries!

A blast of a weekend- Started with a mellow few hours spinning in a wind storm with Merkeley, ate and visited with a new bunch of Juniors the X-man is in charge of, then got some long sleep, waking late to get ready for Ride The World Cups 3, which was blessed by probably some of the nicest weather I've seen.

Some Pictures by Garret Lau here-

With the big turnout I rode the B's and had oh so much fun- I rode a 88 gear and warmed up a bit smaller with 49 x 16, a good tactical extravaganza and the guys that risked won the race, while I played the percentages, kind of a role reversal but it was fun- the highlight was hearing the announcer ( who I didn't even realize was Frankie Andreu I'm such a bonehead) say how many points I had and realize I was counting them correctly in my head while racing- good stuff for this goofball!

I really came for the bake sale and stayed for the racing, though, and the bakers did not disapoint, I sampled a Derby Pie and grabbed a couple loaves of the bread and some excellent cookies, yum!

Sunday came early after eating baked goods and watching Run Fat Boy Run- ok in parts, one thumb up and one down I think.

We headed out with a full load of folks in the Burb for CCCX country, and if possible had even nicer weather today at the coast- wow!

Jasmin did super and had a great battle for second in the B's, she has come a long ways in her technique in a short time!

More importantly she is really having fun racing, and if your not having fun at the amateur level you really need to look at things.........

After getting abused and heckled by middle aged men last week it was a relief to get my hot mama feeding crew back, well, two thirds anyway,they are the lucky charm and with Little C coming out as well I knew I was good.

Smaller race but all five of the guys that are in the points showed up for the SS A race- great course by Keith and Rod - tactical, some sand, some blazing fast turns and a long double stretch of pavement with a small climb that would slowly stretch the elastic.

We took off and quickly formed a small gruppo that hit each other a few times but couldn't break things up- with both Tim and Cesar in the group I was very watchful for the gap-a-rooni but it never came- all the guys in that group are excellent mountain bikers and watching their lines helped me out quite a bit- I felt good and only hit it a few times to get back on or to help split things, Cesar got dropped which about never happens and I hit it hard to solidify the gap with one to go, then rode up front through the tech stuff to control the pace- my seat was leaning bad and felt like it was coming back some- but I was ok for the most part- with about a k to go my seat snapped in half and then fell off- had to ride in standing so ended up 4th- my best placing so far, so I'm really stoked!

Heckler Love

Jimbo sent me this today- gotta love it.

Note the salute to the fan club midway through........

Mr Consistency

Great weekend of living the racers' life - good food, hanging with my old buddy the Seal and Jimbo tagging along.

Lot's of bike and climbing talk, a shopping trip to Sierra Trading Post in Reno where I picked up some shoes that don't slip in the snow and some nice Campy overshoes for the fall.

Reno race- altitude and me don't agree for a day or so and I suffered some, but the Reno guys tried hard and put together a nice course with what they had-looks like parts of the course had seen some bottle shootin' and other high desert pursuits, but the wheelmen raked and cleaned things very well- nice group of folks out that way.
Mantra of the day on the runup- Chili Verde Burrito- ooof.

I had a crazy allergy thing after the race- this getting old crap is ridiculous- I just complained about allergies fer crissake, and don't get me started on my new trick knee or my weird chest pain from getting excited in the gym one day and pulling my superspinatus, it's crazy.

Went back to Tahoe and destroyed a giant pizza and took a couple benadryl so I wouldn't die choking on my own snot, then watched a doubleheader of Dodgeball and Everythings Gone Green wooo big night out.

We woke to snow dusting the porch and bailed out down to warm and sunny Sacramento and Discovery Park for Sacto Cross- this was pretty cool and I remembered my parents in the 70's cutting me loose to ride my bike from Discovery to the end of the trail somewhere far away- up by a school I think?
Anyway, I would ride my little BMX bike for hours out there, never mind the creeps in the bushes, there were always lots of little muddy side trails to jam on while the folks drank chablis and tried to keep a eye on me :-)

So it was fun to be back, I felt pretty good and liked my chances a bit more than Saturday with only 40 feet of vert in a hour- plunked on a big gear and fooled around on my new geared bike a bit, really liking it, too bad it has gears though.

Got a good call up and was stoked, well, maybe too stoked as I came out of both my pedals somehow in the start and got going about dead last out of quite a few guys, they had a 50 buck first lap prime and the field went a bit kajagoogoo trying for that one, so I just went from wheel to wheel when I could and tried not to get crashed out in the cattle drive around the first couple obstacles.

Got up to the second group but we couldn't seem to get closer, all the usual suspects in that one and they were putting along, not pulling away but too far to cross, but we tried to work together until about two to go and I left the station when the B leader who started a minute after us caught us, so I'm happy considering what a cluster the beginning was, and I will be practicing some starts this week and maybe buying some new cleats.....

Lot's o fun and next weekend will be good too- RTWC and CCCX- I thought CCCX was going to Toro Park and I was wincing in pain already, but now I see the DOD course is on tap- way cool.

J