Chicken Murderer

Sitting at one of my fave spots last night in Oakland- Los Petates" The best Chicken In Town"- now that's a owner with some confidence, eh?
New guy on the crew pipes up-"You're an eater.
Huh?
"I've been watching you. You love food."
Ummmm, doesn't everybody?
" Just fuel to me."
No joy? No savory goodness? NO GAWDAMN REWARD?
" Just fuel. I'll have a quarter chicken and a box, please."
Hmmm. This boy is awful funny. I'm gonna keep my eye on him.

I like the bird. One of my favorite tri-relay team names -" Eat More Chicken".
I understood.
I used to swear it off, just eat veggies and such. I also used to feel light headed a lot, especially when busting down a big week of miles.
I got some really good eggs at the market the other day- you can really tell the difference, nice and brown, different sizes from different birds, and a little richer. Yum.

Los Petates- Foothill x 42nd Ave, Oakland. Dude BBQ's in the back like all day and night on the charcoal while the birds soak in chile and epazote. Mister Barbacoa is gonna get emphysema by the time he's 40 with no hoods sucking the bird smoke away, but the smoke fills Foothill blvd on a Sunday and pulls folks right out of their cars.Good tortillas and salsa are all you need to get down.
Roli Roti is like no other truck operation around. They hit various farmers' markets and when their done for the day, they pack it up.
Hit the WOT ride in Pleasanton, then stop for a chicken and some potatoes at the market when you return. Grab a cookie from the feel good bakery next tent over and yer set. Squeeze the lime over it and eat the crispy skin.
Headed over on the ferry to see the Gigantes last year and cheer for the doper. Me and OG got dropped off at the ferry building instead of the ballpark by mistake. I'm pissed and getting worse thinking about OG going ten blocks on foot with a walker, when I see the Roli truck with the fiberglass chicken roof on top of the pier at the SF Farmers' Market. Yesss, I score two birds and some potatoes, and we catch a cab and walk to the seats.
Best food in the park that day, bar none.

New Meat

Got me a couple of these today.

Also got some new titanium tubes. Anything that says Ti immediately engages the geek fixation for me.

I woulda got the tufo, but the euro is way high and my wallet is way low right now. 110 bucks for a tire is crazy. Especially when ya pound it and hack it like I do.

On Any Given Sunday.....

It's on from now till January.
Starting with the dry heat and rocks, but you can feel fall in the air when you wake, to the rain and mud of the late season. It's on and I love it.
Prunedale was like Old Home Week yesterday. Big fun seeing all the folks.
I wish I brought my party hat, though. Woke up feeling sleepy/crappy and never improved. Great warmup, checked the lines out well, just not with it mentally. I had some long nights at work this week and while I slept the night before, I think the residual stress just shut me down Sunday.
The first race was the more disappointing of the two, just letting the lead group ride off, then engaging in the battle to hold my position. Blah blah blah, yada yada.
Second race was the Singlespeed, much fun there, and I actually woke up a little. Needed a little more gear to compete, though, the 34 x 16 is great for riding around, but dropping it a little more and going back to the ridgid fork would have helped lots.
I have decided that singlespeedin' is just as geeky as geared riding, although they front like they don't care.I like it. I think it's good for riders like me that beat the hell out of stuff anyway, less to worry about/break. I bet one of those SS cross bikes just explode out of a corner, mmmmm.
It's all good and two races hurt a lot less this week than last.
I used a recommnedation from a new fave blog- Burritophile, to find a absolute gem in Gilroy. Sliced avocados melted in the cheese, juicy chicken rolled in with rice and smoky beans. MAde the ride home much better.
Next week maybe?

Cross Geek

When the air gets that little snap to it, my mind drifts to more exciting things than pavers and plants.
After last season went to out the window due to surgery and overall stress, I've got two years of the itch saved up.
I want some new tires and can't decide. The Tufo clinchers are not as good as advertised, they can be pinch flatted, as I found last week. Also, they require quite a bit of pressure to keep them on the rims. They are very supple things, though, and quite quick and handle well, not usually things that are used in the same sentence regarding cross meats.
I'd go with real tubies, just getting more wheels is kind of a pain in the ass.
I'm thinking Michelin, time honored and supple.
The Kendas are not bad for training.
The Schwalbes are getting some good press as well.

Hmmmmm.

Figuring out the water bottle/ feed thing. Doing C's and B's, if I had no one to feed me things would be ok for the shorter races.
Doing a hour in September? I need to figure something out. I used a cage last week, not as bad as I thought it would be, though my arm has some strange bruises on it.
Camelbacks?
Damn they ain't cool, but they shore do work.
Maybe a bottle in the jersey for the first few laps? Hard to get in the heat of the moment.

hmmmm.

Goofy cross geek.

Cross crashup

Shot up to Folsom today with the Nome, he talked me into doing the A race followed by singlespeed pleasure.
After a easy ride up, ummmm, I guess I didn't leave enough time, as we had roughly 30 minutes to get our gear together and register.
Not too good, I like to look at the bobble-spots, ride em again and again. Sometimes walking the course has proved smart as well.
Possibly worse than no lookie-loo time was the total lack of a warmup, especially racing with mutant a-class younguns and geezers.
We enjoyed a wacky start Le Mans style over a chip pile, and we are off. Hanging in ok, we drop down some rocky trail and I slingshot around a guy on the right, only to see what he was braking for, as I drive into a hole that deepens by the second off to the right. No time to pop it up, it's about a foot + at the end and I'm in the drops anyhoo.
Pow, I eat shit and enjoy a bloody knee, but miss getting run over by the herd. I jump up and get into the flow again, hit a little paved descent to a dirt connector back to pavement. I then proceed to drill a rock dead on with the tire I forgot to pump up from two weeks ago, and flat a new tufo.
Mmmm, welcome back, Dude!
I run around and back to the car/pit and grab wheel two and restart at the very back of the herd. Slowly work my way up a few spots, and go to school on the45+ A guy in front who is carving the sweet lines and cleaning the back barrier/runup that is eluding me.
One to go and I flat on some rock on the descent again and eat the shyte again on the same freeekin' knee.
No more tires available so I go get the SS MTB and do the last lap on that, at least getting a good feel for the MTB on this course.
We take a break at the burb while I pick rocks out of my leg, then the SS guys and 40+ B are ready to roll together.
I'm running a 32 x 16 and could have gone a little taller, maybe a 14 like Nome, who is barking instructions at me from behind on the first lap. I was running out of gears quickly and would get passed back on all the flats and downhills, but it was much fun on the technical stuff, just letting it roll.
I was chasing the ageless John Elgart and making time when the fellow in front of me decided to throw down a full slide tackle that I had to reset after, but all was good and an hour and forty-five at race pace in the bag.
Kind of questionable results, but I wasn't here for that, just to race with buddies and see where I'm at.
My riding, sloppy, man.More technical riding on the crosser is needed badly.
Running- best it has ever been, the work is paying off, the knees stayed high on a pretty tough runup.
Fitness is about where I thought it would be, no short interval work yet, but once I got warm, I felt pretty good. I'm sure there are some pics of me making the ugly on the internet already, but that's just my style, all snot hangin' like.
Fun to see all the bloggo folks, PAb and XB, Groove and Petit, thanks for cheering!
Bummer to the Nome for taking a nail for the team out there, you were bringing the lumber for the second round, dude!

Rest Week

Halfway done with this project, and trying to complete it before the rain comes.
Spent last week jackhammering out the old concrete and the old wood deck.
I think I'm counting this as core work.

MP3 mashup

When the auto-transfer box is checked...

Hers goes in with mine....

And the shuffle is on...

So I got Reveille followed by Sheryl Crow doing the Rolling Stones...well, that doesn't sound right, but you get the picture.

Very strange, Notorious BIG R.E.S.P.E.C.T. mashing right into Tools' forty six and two. Lot's o' panting on that one.

So far the best though- P.O.D. on the last ridgerval, followed by the sweet tones of Luther Vandross on the easy ride home.

Luther was a schmoopmeister, but he owned a great set of pipes and will be missed.

Got the taste......

and it was gooood.
Headed to Sacramento for some of this action.
Fought all kinds of hellish suburban traffic, Tracy can disappear back into the fourth dimension of hell where it came from for all I care.


Stopped in Stockton and picked up Old Gianni and hauled him with me. You will never fall asleep with OG in the car, and you will learn more about horse racing than you probably care to.
After some nifty driving, we got there about 5, race was to start at 6 sharp. Probably 100 folks total, with about 20-25 in the cross class.

The race was billed as no t-shirts, no trophies, no whining, and if there were only 4 people in a cat, they got combined, basically, all experts, then all SS, then all crossers, dunno after that, though there were lots of families and kids, very cool, especially for the low price of
15 bucks for a first timer, then 10 every week afterwards, just racin', no frills.

The place is a state OHV park that is closed on Wednesdays and only opens for us. Real cool descents, whoops, berms, and sand from all the motos blowing it apart. Cross features were a downed tree we hopped and a set of hay bales as barriers, ooof!

Well, it's about 100 degrees and I'm sweating like a dog on the warmup lap, I can't tell if I'm warmed up or just warm, but here we go.
I follow the holeshot guy then let it sort a little. One skinny fella gets a gap and I cross to him, we rolled on just kind of stretching the band a little. I can see the SS bunch ahead of us and figure if we get to them we can use them to hide a little, I guess it worked, because soon we are alone. Another guy joins us and I take a big pull up the hill, then hop the bales. I got a little confused with my direction and the cones and the other two take off spitting gravel behind them.
I catch em but keep burning matches to do it, then flail enough that they get the gap. I then go into a total flail mode with sliding, sand crawling, and hole diving for about five minutes, in which one and two pull away, and three catches me and then drops my sorry ass.
I'm deep in the pain cave and start thinking about golf, then pull myself together and welcome the pain. I think that I won't die in fifteen minutes irregardless of the long line of drool on my chin and the complete inability to spit and actually get face/drool separation.
Once I bucked up, it was much better. I put the glasses away since I can't see through them anyway due to the dust, and start chasing wheels. Unfortunately, 3 is long gone while I wallowed, but I do ride some very nice lines through some gnarl, including a 150 foot drop down a rutted hill with a right turn in a sand pit below, and the sand pits on the back section, which are my personal nemesis.

Drove up the finishing hill the last time, hop the bale/barriers, and see OG wandering around with a cold bottle, thank God.

I got a lot of work to do, a lot of interval work before October and November, but for being in Base, I'll take it.

OG had a flashback and remembered taking me here when I was a snot nosed BMX kid and me fighting with the moto-heads over trails and such. Some things come full circle, I guess.

Oh yeah, I got 2nd in the Geezey, the first two were younguns. Very tough younguns.

It's gonna be a good year.

Words To Live By

Heard from the back'o D'Burley today-

"If my ass ain't happy......., you ain't happy."

Burned Sausage and other random thoughts this weekend

I like alot of things about Pleasantville. Low crime, fancy downtown, great schools with tons of parent participation. I'm not diggin this get on the loudspeaker and tell a group of cyclists that they have to ride single file in a 6 foot bike lane kinda talk, especially when said lane is full of glass because the beancounters downtown fired the streetsweepers and contract it out to save my tax money, Now the lanes get swept like never or every six months, whichever comes first, and some manager is getting a bonus with my tax money .

One can eat too many chocolate chip cookies, even if they are two for one at Albertsons.

Fun little group ride on Saturday, wide range of folks. We hit the hotspot on Highland, I jump off of the Nome/Groove wagons' wheel and make a nice group with me and one other teamie, a nice fellow from eye- treeple-see and a liv-no-more guy that blows off after skipping 5 or six pulls. We catch another feller that is up the road after skipping the pee stop. We are rolling and the rest of the red n' black clubbies shut it down/ attach themselves like limpets to any bridge action. We get to a K, I make a lame jump that actually gets some room, then chased. Teamie Bob counters, he gets the chase. One more push by the strong young buck for the line, and I go for the sign up the centerline. Damn, there's a gardening truck with a frickin' lawnmower sticking out the side oncoming, and I give it the soft pedal for a few and duck back , then whip it up again, but the young fella is too strong and will not be denied, good for him.Still wondering if I coulda got it, but with the amount of tragedy that road has seen, I'll live to fight another day.

I really want to screw with the training plan and do this on Wednesday. Probably not a base 2 activity, unless I call it a skills practice. A real coach would wash his hands of me pretty quick, but the champing is getting loud in my head. Soon it will be time to play every weekend in the dirt, I love it!

Even burned sausage is still charred meat, and that makes it American.

Happy Labor Day, Everybody!

An old classic revisited

No, not the the goofball in the picture, though I'm getting a little bit more classic every day...
























So we hit Spengers Fish Grotto tonight as a special request from the birthday girl.
Pretty cool with her name printed on the menu.


This place got bought out and the kitchen all redone a couple of years ago. Amazing to look at the pictures and see the old restaurant and fish market from 150 years ago.

The menu is updated, though they still have some old faves. I tried to suck the crawfishes' head off, but the eyes stayed in and I gave up...
Damn fine Cioppino, with lots of sourdough bread to sop it up.

The dessert tray, well, that may have been the highlight. I'm pretty basic, and got a berry pie with sugar cookie crust and vanilla ice cream(pretty much negating the 3 hour ride today).

Mama got a lava cake dealio with ganache in the middle, not quite as good.

They had some chocolate house with a berry torte filling that looked unbelievable, but we couldn't eat another bite.

I would say the atmosphere is so good it outweighs the cooking. the soup was kinda bland, but the salad was good, so, kinda hit and miss.

GREAT PLACE FOR OUT OF TOWN VISITORS!

One year later

I stayed up late last night watching When The Levees Broke.

At least the first two acts.

I hope that no one is under the illusion that when the big quake comes, that help will be forthcoming from the government.

We will see which local leaders truly have the right stuff (questionable in my mind at best)

We will see unknown heroes.

Just don't expect help. We are busy elsewhere in the world feeding people and delivering water.

It makes me wonder how much of what happened was truly politics, class and racial differences as opposed to simple ineptitude.

I volunteered to go to the Big Easy last year for a month straight. Ready to go, leaving in two weeks, the whole effort was cancelled." FEMA won't pay" , I was told." They have a private contractor working on it for twice the cost".
Sound familiar?
Worse was the response of many of my coworkers- " Dude, you could get sick!", and my favorite- " they say the French Quarter is up and running, what, we won't be allowed to leave? Aw hell no!"

I always wondered, how would they feel if N.O. decided they couldn't come for us due to funding concerns? If their families were wandering around lost?

Watch it, then go out and buy some bottled water.

Stretch

So I had an opportunity to spend an hour and a half with PT, coach, bike fitter and all around nice guy Curtis Cramblett today.
I won a set of primes at Albany this summer for a bike fit( the biggest payday this MOP er has ever gotten, and a reason I'll be back to that little four corner deathmatch- see Nome's rant on this subject)
Curtis was good on his word, and so I took a trip down to San Ho today to have him take a look at my gimpy ditch digger ass on a bike.
Very, very systematic approach. I was able to understand what we were talking about the whole time, and we will be making some incremental changes over the next few months, provided I do the work required.
20 years in a ditch has beat me up a little, apparently, and I could use a little more work on the core and hammies.
Who knew a foam roller and a tennis ball could bring a grown man to his knees, and fix him up at the same time?
Gotta go suck up for my massage now, send me happy thoughts........

Remembering

Looking at old pictures

Of an old friend

She's smiling in every one

I hate funerals

Seeing the family left behind is the worst

Just so sad

Who me?

The countersurfer struck again, swiping my carefully constructed egg mcmuffin with smoked turkey while I was in the garage helping the missus.
Did it so cool I walked around for 5 minutes wondering why I was still hungry when I just ate.

Old dawg, old trick.

Spent the day today doing my coaching thing in GG park, then hooking up with The Seal fresh off a Alcatraz swim and heading down to Skeggs Point for some dirt.

Nice. Real nice.

How did I ever miss this one? Single track, woopsies, redwoods, ya ya ya.

Not too long, about an hour and a half of single speedin'. Two nice new raspberries on my knee and elbow, and we were off to the burrito joint.

MMMMMM.

Foodie Friday!

FF had to take a break due to work actually requiring my presence, but tonight is slow, so here ya go........

Pizza- mmmm. A dangerous luxury for us weight weenies, but a necessary one.
Easy to find after a gawdawfully hard effort in some gawdawful Central Valley/ Nevada armpit. Even bad pizza is good pizza in these times, and I have never had a bad pizza in Bishop after a few days of sloggin'.

But let's talk about the real deal here, the real classic masterpieces.

WINNER

Cheese Board, Berkeley

Damn, this was tough. Hit the Board on a Friday night and share whatever pie they have decided to make by communal decision on the median on Shattuck. Check out the Chez Panisse crowd across the street and know that you are at the top of your foodie game with a whole lot more scrilla in your pocket.

DAMN CLOSE 2nd

Zacharys Pizza

JS writes poems about this stuff. I have dreams about it. Cash only and long lines, and worth it all.

Makes crit racers out of spindly climbers every time.

Supa- garlicky caesar with those cool breadsticks.

I hear from those in the know that it's hard to find better in Chi-town.

Spinach and Mushroom the day after, when the spices have time to meld= damn.

Coming to San Ramon- I'm in deep.

SOMEBODY HAD TO BE THIRD

Amicis Pizza

Much hype, a little pricey. The best is the most simple, just cheeses on a thin crispy crust.

I wonder how much Ralph would eat for free........

Paint on the road

So , I went for a nice ride with Merkle today out Calaveras(leaves are changin just a little), up Sierra and back home. 60 miles of fun and conversatin'.

While slugging it out up Sierra , I had lots of time to survey the names on the road, Levi, DZ was all over the place, Simoni, and Landis.

Forlorn, fading names.

Mixed feelings about pro cycling right now.

I really liked this article by Magnus B. on the doping.

Kind of drew a parallel I could understand. I work in a place were we have been randomly tested for years, yet last month we got a visit from the company drug czar, informing us there have been WAY too many positives this year for amphetamines.
Lot's of rumors fly about individuals, but nobody really knows, and the individuals in question certainly are keeping it under their hats.
Sometimes a name will come out, a firing or resignation. Usually it's a big suprise and not the usual suspects.

Kind of like the bike world sometimes.

I pinch

Silly little link here-

Running Long Today.....

reminded me why I no longer like it.

Kind of funny, since 20+ milers used to be a weekend staple.

I did 2 hours of OV's drills while Miz C shuffled.

That's right, Monty Python dance moves while running, baybee!

The trails were pretty at Lake Chabot.

And the pup, well he had a 4- swim, 10- mile day with some poison oak rolling to top it off.

Pretty good day for a dog.

Cross = training for a 30 second run.

50k= training for a 30 miler.

Kind of different, no?

Gaiter-sporting, shorty short hiking, dirty sock, bandanas on the neck and head, bearded, braided, old race t-shirt from 1992 niche sport.

Ultra running or Santa Cruz cross racing?

The Tandem...

is rolling.

New to us, probably about ten years old. Had to get used to Barcons again, used to have em on the old crosser. Suntour XC shifts ok, you just have to be patient and not pressure the drivetrain, the way we all had to shift before the fancy stuff.

This thing is gonna be fun, I have a new Terry Butterfly coming for Miz C. that hopefully will take the edge off things. I need to find a odd size suspension seatpost in 26.8 also. It has a rack and a light already, perfect for a cold beverage or some sandals or a couple of jackets, depending on the season.

The beast is classic Burley steel, weighs as much as a Sherman tank and drives like one too. The drag brake is a cool invention, keeping comments to a minimum from the aft compartment on long descents.

Now for some corny matching outfits.....