Shasta

"It's times like this we learn to live again"- the Foos


We took a quick trip up to Mt. Shasta this weekend for a wedding. Saturday I got out for a five hour ride of the Shasta Century course, doing the Gumboot climb, Castle Lake, and most of Mt. Shasta before deciding if I was to have any dancin' legs at all that night, I needed to chill.
So beautiful, riding 1 1/2 hour climbs, getting to the top, feeling the sweat cooling me with the breeze from the 10,000 foot peak behind me, turning around to look at Shasta and eat something. Thinking about the bride and groom meeting on that mountain a few years back, I was on some godforsaken rock pile with him a few weeks before outside of Bishop, and him complaining about having to guide a bunch of rookies up Shasta as a favor. All the other folks bailed, they had a heck of a first blind date, and the adventure has been on ever since.....
soulmates for life.

How about some more of those jonnycakes?

The true performance-enhancing secret shyte- a coupla mickeys with the shortie before headin' out....
Oh nooooo, not my ear!

Pescadero

Nice job, boys! The whole bunch rocked it today, the elites had a great race, bummer about Yoda getting pipped, it's gonna come soon. Nice to see the Thurmanator gettin' down again as well.

The EMC girls had a fantastic race as well, very impressive!That new girl kin git up and boogie!

The sporties- we had us a "character builder". I had lot's of fun sneaking away on 84 and trying to induce the long line of suffering behind me. The third break was the best, strong Sierra Nevada guy worked hard and we stayed away for a long time. We hit the feed zone and the mind said hit em again, even though the legs were bitchin'.

I prolly attacked myself harder than the group, and popped hard on the hill. I tried to push, but the legs were not working like they do during my dreams of glory on tuesday mornings, and I got my ass dropped. Satisfaction in seeing the pack down to 25 or 30 probably helped my quittin' ways- "my job is done here,now back to the car", yada yada.

I shook it off and descended carefully, I have only rode this road once a year ago during a century with EMC, and that time I was full of Rice Krispie treats from the aid station at the county park, so my mind is foggy.

I rode solo, passing guys every few miles, until a group caught me on 84. I then rode with them until the hill, where I somehow found the ryhthm that I badly lacked during the last flailing up haskins, finishing in the forties somewhere.

Bobby and the Original Joe rocked em, snagging 3rd and 5th. Real bummer is a couple of fellas snuck off on the descent and were forgotten until the hilltop handshake. Next year I make it over the top and keep an eye on that shit for em'.

Tres Amigos was excellent as always, good food, great company, and lot's of smiles today!

Been sucking wind more than normal the last couple of days. I was blaming it on the ridiculous heat till I saw this Spare The Air Day stuff.Last year I got a bad case of asthma and bronchitis after hammering all day at a race in the desert during one of these warnings, it took me 2 months to get my shit together again. You'd think I would learn. LA was brown and nasty, but it has been vicious here the last couple of days.
I forgot my inhaler today and have been coughing/ wheezing all night at work. I've got a fairly good plan to control it before races, hard workouts, etc. now. This is the first time I've needed Albuterol after a easy ride in a looong time.
This brings up a interesting point though, when is medicine/ good nutrition/ vitamins an unfair advantage? I have a time- tested plan before a race- eating some Metabolol, then some Muscle Nitro, a high-CHO drink during, recovery drink after. Fancy vitamins every day, electrolytes when it's hot. Warm up easy, then hit the puffer to control the EIA.
Standard stuff in the Cat 4 level, which is really the stupid part. When did the "beginner level" of this crap go out the window?If this is the beginner level, it's easy to see how Cat 1/2- Masters level guys lose it and start pounding monkey tranquilizers and crap to get a edge. It's all in the marketing, the "science of speed" , calling poisons and legitimate medicines for sick people "vitamins". My mom with anemia, she needs ProCrit, not some cat 3 schlubbo with a climbing problem.
Anyhoo, I hope I get this fixed before Saturday. It looks like I'm gonna make it in on the wait list for Pesky. NOT my kind of race, but I got a couple of teammates that deserve some love , and it's good training for The Race So Far Over My Head It's Ridiculous.

A nice little break

was just what I needed.
I wasn't really overtrained or fried, but 3 days away from the bike have got me chompin' the bit, as well as keeping a little perspective in my world about what is most important.
We spent a couple days in LA after leaving Hell-uh, I mean the Antelope Valley. Hung out at my sisters' pool, ate well, and hit American Girl for a entire day. Merkeley Bike summed it up as "a perfect retail machine" and it did not disappoint. Very low-pressure, yet at the end, some 8 dollar hangers for doll clothes seem like a deal. I was prepared for this, and just bought my daughter whatever she wanted. In the end, it was much more fun this way for both of us, and she actually got some cute clothes to match her dolls. She had a fantastic time with her mom and her auntie, and my bro-in-law was a great sport about it all. Afternoon tea with the dolls was a little surreal, but she will only be this old for a blink of a eye, and then it will be onto new challenges for the both of us.
Back at it tommorrow...

Weather forecast for the Antelope Valley- major booty-sweat-hot. Over 105 hot. So of course Miz C and I did a hour trail run this morning, followed (by me, she's too smart) by 10 x 90s hillervals on the singlespeed. If I could figure out how to post pics from the in-laws computer of the wastelands, I would. Lot's of fun moto-trails, though.

Sattley

The district champs were big fun. I met a few new faces, hung out with teammates over some tacos, learned about a egg mcmuffin machine, and set a benchmark for me and probably a PB.

Rode up with Nome on Saturday and went right out to Sattley for a pre-ride, man, what a desolate place!Rode for a bit with Nome, Andrew, and Paul- it was windy, but that's ok with me!

Chico Paul has a beautiful place in Truckee we stayed at, and after hangin out for a while and watching Pure Sweet Hell- highly recommended pre-race viewing, we crashed.
Got to Sattley early, set up Camp EMC and checked it out- slight crosswind that built as the day went on. I got in a entire warmup without falling off the trainer today, so I was already doing well. The first interval hurt bad, the altitude was giving me a headache, but I lined up and did my thing.
I had moved my position back to my old spot after last weeks' fiasco, and felt better. I also had the HRM where I could see it with a aero helmet on, again trying to learn from my mistakes. I had a clean start, nice and smooth, and built into it. Hit the low number in about 2k and started to catch my 30 second man. I could feel a little wind quartering into me, but the HR stayed stable and I caught him in about 8k. I brought the effort up to the middle of zn4, right on my LT for the period between 10 and 25k, then Roemer passed me. I gave him more than a legal gap and tried to key off him as my HR rose a little more. Hutchinson passed me like I was standing still while I was in my 11, not much to say about that one, those dudes are true motors!
I hit the last 8k hard after a few idle thought about how golf might be a nice sport and probably doesn't hurt so bad, sucked it up and went. Actually sped up into the line, realizing I could ride harder than I thought without blowing, about the last 20-25 minutes above LT and the last 2 miles I was right below my sprint HR. My legs hurt more than my cardio system when I was done, an encouraging sign that I could push harder.
Official time was 58:06, my best time on a measured 40k. Goal #1 was to crack a hour, super goal was to crack the top ten, which I did with a 7th. Big time playas in this group, I got beat by everybody that should have beat me, and maybe I surprised a few as well. Andrew from EMC scored the sixth place, and we had lot's of other teammates out there winning their own personal battles .
Season goal number 2- check.

The Taper-

sucks.
I don't know if it's working or not. Rest weeks- I can dig them, especially after hammering for two weeks, I'm ready for a break.
But this taper for two weeks stuff for a hour race, I frankly think I don't train enough hours to descend in volume for two weeks. Mostly I try not to eat, stand, work too hard, start home improvement projects, etc.And there have been slips. Last night I found myself upside down in a muddy hole wrenching on a water pipe because all that extra energy just gets going and I start grabbing tools and just gettin' it.
Tonight the foreman bought a sack of cheeseburgers and- well you get the idea.
Idle mind = dangerous thing for me

Wind and stuff

Various things rollin' around in my head....

Natascha Badmann after winning the 2002 Hawaii Ironman in ferocious winds- " I just smiled and opened my wings and flew with the wind"- this on a day when people got blown into the guardrails. Great quote, sums it up. I love the wind , fear the wind,and immersed myself in it this weekend. It's constant and capricious at the same time. It can win you a race if you embrace it and use it, it can wreck your world if you disrespect it. I like the feeling of it boiling around me while I try to make my wide body as narrow as possible and slide through it. It takes a special attitude to deal with, the minute I start to hate it, I know I need to eat something and regroup within myself.
While we are on the subject of Natascha, who has won Kona like 5 times, in every picture she is smiling. As a matter of fact, in tri circles her moniker is The Smile, as in, " awwww shyte,here comes The Smile ". The positive mental focus is unbelievable, but then she is a Winner. I know Winners in bike racing, in business, in life, and on the basketball courts of Oakland and Alameda, they all share that focus and complete belief in themselves and their ability.I like to watch winners and learn from them, the best are willing to share, the insecure or new ones, not as much there to learn anyway.

I'm dun lappin'

Classic Dunlap course this year, more wind for sure. All the times were off by a few minutes. Shot up there this morning with Nome in his new to him scooty-truck, set up camp EMC, and put my feet up, with a couple of hours to go until my start.

Nome splits to ride the elite 3's and I hop on his trainer and immediately note the crappy legs, not a good sign. I work into the warmup anyway, starting to get loose, a little Bulls On Parade gettin the juices workin', start tappin the bars, notin' the HR, when the bike somehow comes unhooked from the traner at about 30 mphifyouweregoinganywhere.

NICE!

Well, everything is fine, hopefully between DD flatting and tossing his bike to the ground, and my little stunt, we have used up our bad luck for the day.Wait, remember a little installment in the blogosphere a few weeks back about flatting while making some position adjustments?

Mmmm, lets just say I'm gonna put it back where it came from.

Got a nice start on time, settled into a easy pace about 3 beats below threshold. Real easy with the tailwind to get caught up and push, but I knew this would result in problems down the way. First time with my new helmet-I found out the face shield gets pretty warm with glasses on, I'll ditch them. Also, Miz C's HRM looks good on the stem, but you cannot read it unless you drop yer head, bad bad bad with a aero helmet.

Hit the head and cross wind @ 15 k or so, brought the intensity up to mid-LT, but the speed dropped in this section, I think I lost about30 seconds here. I kept moving around and had a deep pain in my right ass cheek not felt since I finished college algebra last year after a 20 year layoff- but I digress.

Made it to the freeway with about 8 k to go and dropped the hammer, flying with the cross-tailwind at about 48-50 kph, then turning into it for the final 3k. The last 3k were at 90-95 percent, I kept trying to drop to the 11, but the 12 was way faster. I would say I left it out there pretty good at the end, maybe I could have pushed in the midpoint better. I felt focused the whole time, but the legs were el sucko.

Couldn't walk right after and still can't, my hammie is worked.

Ended up with 7th out of 36 4/5's, I have some work to do before Sattley next week. Nome rocked em and kicked my ass by a couple of minutes, very good showing, Nomie!

Bobby!

Way to go, Bob! All the hard work on the devil mountain is payin' off. Note that all three fellas on the podium had teams throwin it down and working together when it was needed. Props to all of them unsung heroes.

Anyone else notice....

The parallels between this movie and Geezer Cat 4 racin'?

Isabel Creek RR

Lots'o teammates, Bob, Mo, Rich, X-man, Jimmy V, and Randy.
The Plan- Bob and Mo in the top ten...
Result- Bob 3rd, Mo 6th, and the mule snagged 14th.
Great race, but those logistics are a bitch. Driving, parking cars, blah blah.
Loose plan was to markthe real contenders and make sure our chosen ones touched no air before the climb. We got the official to announce a neutral zone for the first 2 miles, trying to keep the sketchy descent cool. This worked to also cool the pace up the first hill, keeping some of our bigger fellas on. David Nader eased off the front and never looked back. Seeing how he was the strongest guy in the race, this soon caused concern. We commited a few guys to keeping him close, as did SJBC, then made a big effort to close it up after 15 miles, before the climb. I took a big pull, moved Mo up, and tried to get the HR down enough to recover before the climb out of the junction, but had to let the lead group of 15 go, happily with both our playas in it.
I waited at the top of the second climb and let a small gruppo form, Rich also made a hero effort to get back on. We then did no work for 15 miles, just rolling through, slowing things with a SJBC fella who had at least 2 up as well. We got some harrassment from a lone guy who couldn't understand why we didn't want to chase our teammates, when Rich's wheel got chopped, he immediately went on the shit list.
Really nice to see how much Rich has advanced in his cycling in a short time, we started attack and counter without any discussion before the descent, just having fun.
Rich did his best Il Falco impression with a attack on the descent that gave him a fat gap across the bridge, a couple of pulls I followed up , then swung a little out and blocked. Rude Unattached guy jumps for Rich, and I had to go, just to beat the wheel chopper. Even though it was for 14th, it was one of the best technical sprintys I've ever knocked out. Yeh, I even threw the wheel just for the hell of it .
Nader won the race, he'll have a sticker in the mail soon. Just a beast.
We ate, joked around, then rode back up to the truck, nice Zn 1-2 all the way. Realized I had packed NO FOOD for after, we had to stop at the Junction Cafe for frites with a little mayo, mmmmm.
Now for a easy day or two to let this soak in.
Teammates= badass

Roscoes it ain't....

But not a bad substitute- Albertson's Fried Chicken, Albertsons strawberry cake, and a cup of Folgers, at 7 a.m. Omigod, I swear I felt chest pains right then and there. I haven't been right since. People were passing out in the meeting by 8:15.
That's a whole different culture than the bikey world.When they cheer for chicken at the butt crack of dawn, we're dealin' from a different deck.
"THERE IS A LIMIT OF TWO PIECES'

And the limit was needed.

Open House

" You can eat 24 hours a day, mmmmm"Lucky-ass silkworms. Really, it seems like I eat leaves 24/7 now as well, and am still growing a cocoon.

Frustration

Ever have a race where chucking a water bottle at someone seems like a good idea?I don't know if I'm madder at myself for missing the winning break in race 1, taking a solo flyer with 4 to go in race 2, or the numbskulls on Team NamelessToNotGiveSatisfaction.
Chasing their own break in race 1 was bad, but attacking me with 5 to go for some armwarmers while we had a 300 meter gap?
Had to ride a few cooldown laps solo to, well, cooldown.
Sometimes I understand Scott, and that's all I'm gonna say about that.

To whom it may concern....

Dear Mr. Cheetah,
thank you for your recent correspondence regarding your 2004 Chorus Bottom Bracket. To answer your question, no, we have never seen a break and deflection of over one cm between these sections in a non-motorized application. Your riding partners are to be commended for their insistence that this was no (A- creaky seatpost) or (B- grimy chain).
Please be aware that
we are in constant communication with other manufacturers and have placed a red flag next to your name, as have Pearl Izumi shoes and Ritchey Products, for undue stress, claim falsification, and general gorilla mashing. We will look at all future warranty claims with a rather jaded eye from now on. Please feel free to try our clothing line, maybe you can find something relatively unbreakable there.
Ciao,
The Boys From Vincenza

Da Seal !

Dave just rocked em this weekend! Always bring a Dave with you to one of these things. Known him for almost 20 years, steady as a rock when the shiznit goes bad.

Mostly Dave swims SF bay in a speedo for shits and giggles now. Did pretty good at 24 hours as well on nothing but commuting to his blue collar job at 4 a.m. Guess he got good at riding with next to no light!

Rodney!

Chicocyclisto throwin it down out there. What a great bunch of guys we had out there. I like the look on the other fellas' face- "you again? Crap!"

The bad stuff first

Bad- hitting a utility razor blade sticking up in the bike lane and completely slicing a tire apart 4 miles from home on my TT bike.
Good- getting a ride for myself and Snowflake in a buddies truck who happened to be cruising Foothill on his MTB, waiting for the noon ride
Best- going back out to the TT course on the regular road bike and going a minute faster than 2 weeks ago with more wind.
Bestest- gator style in the tub afterwards with some chicken and veggies nuked up nicely.