Stoked

To race in the Gobi this weeekend.

This is way too fukkin' early for a cross race, but I'm going to ride over there and give'r one just to enjoy some wheel to wheel, its been 5 months or so since I lined up and need to get back on that hoss.
Put on some new tires today, the Kenda Small Block Eights in 700 x 32, and they look nice and roll quick. Important for me, they seem to handle predictably as well, I'm not the best bike handler out there especially on low speed windy stuff( like every CCCX race).
Took off the track nuts on the back and tried a QR, I haven't had any extra scratch for another set of race wheels for this rig, and figure I'll need to change a flat at some point.
At first the QR was fine, then I sprinted out of a corner and all hell broke loose and the track nuts promptly went back on.
Maybe if one is spinning a little gear the QR would work, I've used them on road fixies before with no real problems, but I'm rollin' a 48 x 17 tommorrow and the torque is insane in that back end, especially with the giant BB and chainstays that are gussetted alloy.
Picked up a couple of extra rear cogs from WTB , a 18 and a 20, and found out I have a 3/32 system instead of a 1/8 system, which makes my new 44 T ring I e-bayed relatively useless.
Perhaps I'll put it on the Redline Monocog and make a pit bike/ stupid junglecross machine.
Although Junglecross seems to be fading, replaced by dirt crits, like what I expect tommorrow.
Now watch Shane put in 20 sets of barriers and a set of kickers, I need lots of running after two weeks of the rock n' roll lifestyle again.
Got to go take some kids bowling now, I hope you are well and bring a Camelback tommorrow.
J

Game Theory

Post-interval session nosh-

Egg whites
Whole Wheat Tortillas
TJ's low fat cheese mix- 2 tblspoons
Warm the tortillas on the stove
Nuke the egg whites, roughly 2 minutes
Egg whites over the tortillas
Cheese over the egg whites
30 seconds in the micro
Spoon homemade salsa overthe top

Enjoy with a cup of black coffee and fall back into a haze of exhaustion and satisfaction for a few.....

You know your apples are considered jumbo....

When they cast their own shadow.

4.5 inches across.

One fruit on the whole tree.

Nursed this guy all summer, ala James And The Giant Peach.

Time for him to go now..

My post- ride snack today.....

Nightcrawler

I sleep in the day......

Back on the shift work, starting tonight.

I thought the grass was greener, but by January I wanted my old gig back. Took me 6 months to get the job back I struggled to get rid of :-)

Pack those commuter lights away....

Though I will miss my friends I wave at on the boulevard going north every morning. The recumbent dude, beard and baggies. The Red and yellow kitted guy ( synergy?) who actually waves back.

Sad to say a certain bunch refuses to wave and stares curiously...

Really, how threatening can a reflective vest over a backpack and a headlight on a giant Bell helmet be? Is it the creaking old cross bike that calls across the boulevard like a ancient Maori war cry, making eyes narrow and body parts shrink inside the spandex?

Have a good week, everyone!

Time To Refresh.......

and find things that reward me and mine.

This is my fourth year helping coach the See Jane Tri program, every year I get a little more involved and always learn something.

Working with new athletes = where it's at.

I push our bike team towards it because I believe in developing people through sport, because I have seen the changes and true strength people find in the challenges.

When it's all over, not to be melodramatic, but I have a feeling changing lives is going to be a little more rewarding and memorable than making change...

While digging ditches pays the bills, my mind wanders elsewhere.

Three Bears workout today- for those that shred that hill like it's nothing in a bike race , just disregard.
But for a average person, just getting into this ?
Way tough.
Those girls are training hard this season, we sagged NOT ONE person today.
And most of em ran after.
Back over Papa Bear.

I was so inspired, I actually laced up the sneaks as well.
Gawd- Almighty that runnin' is hard!

Nothin' but respect....

Excuses, Excuses

I've got a few.

But instead of focusing on the negative of todays results at Esparto TT, I'm gonna look on the sunny side of life.

Vic was monster super size in his first race as a 3, taking 4th in a real tough group.

Jaz looked great in her bear jersey and was running around with her trophy from the prestige series all day, what a great first year for the kid!

I actually got out for a race and did it, no small feat with the bullshit raining on me all spring and summer. Even though my legs refused to push as hard as they could have, it was good to get reaquainted with the pain cave.

Have a good week , everyone!

The center of the universe.....

I've been planning this trip since last year, when I came up and rode all the climbs but the first one in preparation for getting shelled at Cascade :-0

A profile here ....

Every year we come up here and chill out, and every year we resist coming back down the hill a little more

We have climbed it on foot a couple of times, my daughter made it halfway up in a backpack at a year old, we swim at its foot in Lake Sis, and never stop looking up at it.I understand why this was the center of the universe to those who lived here before us.

This year, the ancient lady barely has any snow on her flanks, awful early to look like this, the climbing must suck in the scree.

This pic taken at about mile 94 of the Super Summit, both Nome and I needed a picture break for a minute.

Castle Lake was just ahead,though, and we needed a pepsi bad. I SO wanted to soak my head and feet in this guy, but we had to roll...

To tackle the last climb up to the ski bowl, not the tuffest one of the day, but coming between mile 106 and mile 120?

These small signs with different sayings along the climb inspired me to keep rolling , along with a well timed vanilla GU....

7,800 hundred feet and the road ends. I wished for the first time all day I hadn't of ditched my vest, the descent was brrrrrrrrr.

Always find a wheel like this one for the first 15 miles....nice fella, we hit the first climb and thanked him profusely....

Note the size of the roads, this was probably the only negative, 10-15 mile climbs were cool, but descending them with folks paperboying up, not so cool, got a little too hairball for me especially with all the bad juju going on in my life right now, I felt it was in my best interests to let a couple of fellas go and not be a statistic...

Right after coming off of the first climb, we saw a line of emergency vehicles hauling ass up the road, hope the folks are all right...

This was unknowingly the winning gap to #, 2 and 3, those two never came back, the gap never changed. The winner by my guesstimation was a Reno Wheelman who looked beyond supa-smooth when he rocked by everyone early and held it all the way.

Not a race, but you do this junk long enough and at least for me I always keep count, no lie here...

I rode well and smart for me, drank a six hour bottle of Perpetuem in six hours, stayed below LT for most of the day and never cramped.

Anything this long always has a crux and a moment when it can all fall into disarray. The bonk, the cramps, the mental exhaustion all are a opportunity as well as a obstacle.

Sunday was a opportunity for me to get a little confidence back and to let a new season unfold.

Ride time 9:42

135 miles

16,500 feet of climbing

YUM.

It's not only that the kernels are mature, Merkeley, but....

The tassels have to get almost like hair blowing in the wind.

That's how it was explained to me last night.

I kept trying to peek under the leaves, exposing the kernels to the 90 degree heat, a no-no.

I would guess another week until the bag shows up on the doorstep from Santa Corn.

Kinders' update= chicken parmesan sausages grilled, then sliced over a spinach salad with a sweet dressing and some tiny chunks of mozzarella. Olive pugliese with lots of olive oil and a few drops of balsamic for dipping......

The Chico Criterium has a olive oil sponsor.

Maybe these beauties will help me snag a bottle.

Altough judging by my performance on recent group rides, perhaps bringing a couple twenties along would ensure I come home with the groceries...:-)

I dunno, but....

I better only race downhill crits if I'm gonna make this place a habit.

The marinated ball tip= addictive.

This is why we do it........

This little morsel coming up next weekend.

I will eat enough.

I will spin the little gears.

I will stay below LT in the first 2 climbs.

And I'm gonna take tons of picx.

Cause the views at the top of these climbs are awesome!

You Feed Us Lies From The Tablecloth

Mmmmmm a rest week, feeling good and perky.

Dropped off my trusty wagon today for a little service in San Ramon and headed to Diablo for the first long threshold test of the season, I hoped for a PR, frankly.

Weight is decent, strength is through the roof, and the last time I went up there in the middle of a training week I PR'ed the first time up, now I'm sporting a compact set of rings until the Shasta ride is over, and I figgered it would only help, sooo?

No cigar, I worked hard at my threshold, had a nice EIA attack halfway up ( no puffer, my rule for training rides, maybe time to rethink the rule) and couldn't push the gear needed for the speeded. Still ended up 4 minutes off the PB , and definitely not a happy camper, but that's the beauty of the local climb and proving ground, there's no bullshitting a clock.Step up or shut up, and I'll be shutting up, laying off the Kinders', and eating more leaves......

There's always a silver lining, though, and while un-cycling related,it brings me happiness....
The Garlic has sprouted!

Thanks Fanelli, I did it!

The Tomatoes are coming in, long strings of Roma's, some nice Early Girls, and a Black Heirloom that should be beautiful with some Buffalo Mozzarella tossed with vinaigrette .

Corn is 7 feet now, and starting to seed, soon every one I know will have a bag on the doorstep :-)
Labs are bringing pears in to eat every night...

One last gardening note- I planted a dwarf nectarine 3 years ago, today I got the first sweet little fruit off it!
The tree is so full of fruit it fell over and I had to stake it today, another week of sunshine and we should be edging off the Safeway grid a little........

Good luck to all the racers at Lafayette, maybe I'll come out to say hi......
J

Old School Hollywood

Looking forward to riding my new toy tommorrow.... only3 months till the real racing begins!

SS is the pure shit for me, something about just picking a gear and living with it for the duration appeals to me, and getting pummeled by SS mutants is always fun as well, now to start looking into some disc wheels for racing, thinking about a Stans' tubeless system, but I know little about such dark arts.....



After CTK last week, it seemed that a Hamilton Loop was in order today. My first time riding it from San Jose, and I liked the gentle climb to the top, plugged in a little System Of A Down for the last few k and it was all good, lots of tempo work, soon the hard stuff will come, but for now I can count the times on one hand I've been over threshold since March.



Good luck to all racing tommorrow and tonight at Carrera, I really wanted to come out, eat a burrito and heckle, but Miz C is still down and out with her bum wheel, and flyin' solo after being gone all day would kinda suck some ass on the home front, so some Borders time with the kid was called for instead, picked up the new Hannah Montana CD for her, she's been helping big time around the house and deserves so much more, ah, the life of a suburbanite.....

Here's to your thin red line, I'm stepping over.

Climb To Kaiser, 2007

My first time at the ride/ race, and what a challenge.

We started in the dark following the CHP moto out through Clovis....

We got it going for a minute or two on the flats heading out, but I couldn't get enough help to really make a dent in the speed, so relaxed and took pics/ pulled occasionally, got out of the way when the real action started.

I had some minor mechanical issues that Tri-Sport mechanics were able to help me with at the second aid station, thanks, guys, the bike worked flawlessly all day after!

And on that topic, the aid stations were excellent and the volunteers tireless, I got massages, popsicles, cold towels, and all the canteloupe and Perpetuem one could stomach :-)

This is halfway up Tollhouse Grade, I was feeling good here , only to start to bonk 30 minutes later.

I don't think Ron was even breathing hard :-)

With all the experience I have going long long, I still made the classic mistake of not riding within myself and eating enough.I guess I just got caught up in it all, but I dug a nice hole for myself.

By the time we hit Shaver lake, I was concerned and had throttled back and ate , but while I caught the bonk early and was fueled up , with the heart and lungs ready to go, a series of vicious cramps started to tear me up and took me off the bike and ready to quit more than once.

Nome moved on, and I was going to go back to Shaver, but started to think about driving home with a DNF, and decided to go on and just see.....

Nome's buddy Tom was along shortly, and he and I rode together for the remainder of the day.

This is Big Creek, the monster climb of climbs.

I was cramping bad here , but got up by paperboying and standing.

Somehow standing was better than sitting, although standing for 8 miles is kind of hard on the rest of ya....

A little snack and I tackled the last big climb up Kaiser, which wasn't that bad, except coming at 80 miles.

The best aid station up there, these massage guys helped me out immensely.

Time for some of the longest, nicest descents around.

Too bad my legs were still locking up.

The last aid station was getting hot, but the cold popsicles were fantastic.

The cramping left for the most part and all the easy riding spent babying my legs over the climbs gave me plenty of gas to pull a big group home.

The post race BBQ was oh- so excellent!

My legs hurt still today in a bad way, that ride truly humbled me.

To envision riding it in 8 and a half hours is unbelievable.

Maybe next year I can come back and challenge myself, although all this distance training is tough on the family, I like the 45-60 minute races!

The Devil never changes

A good weeekend on two wheels, four of the Spidey force on the group ride doing Diablo x 4.

Well, only one of us made 4 times(and can ya guess who that wuz) but the majority got up a few times before turning the rigs for home..

A green smoothie and a long nap and I pummelled myself again today on the MTB for a couple with the Xterra crowd, bastards are sucking me in :-)

The deal with the devil..... free lanes at my favorite pool if I coach a little.....

Getting a few bucks to run some running workouts already... good for cross anyhow.

Place to stay in Kings' beach.

MTB skills are half ass good right now.

Dusty wetsuit looking at me on the shelf....

MMMMMM

PR the first time up Diablo Saturday, took 4 minutes off the best at tempo/ threshold all the way.

Biig confidence builder for CTK, that is one bad mama jamma, and this boy don't go uphill too good :-)

Compact crank is going on this week, hopefully that will save my bacon.......

Blow the Whistle

I keep trying to write a race report for last weekends' race at Laguna Seca, but just have been oh so tired in the head.

Lot's of family issues lately have got me down, and when Miz C. ate some dirt trail running at the ridge last Thursday, the trip almost got canned, a recurring theme all weekend, with me spending 3-4 hours a day on the phone debating whether to pack my shit up and go or stay and race, much vacillating went on, Miz C's leg felt better and then worse, but the little nurse helped out big time.

Vicodin is not a good drug for my wife, that's all I'll say about that.

When is the love of sport turn into a selfish thing, or more clearly, too much of a selfish thing?
This was the burning question for me during the downtime between laps.
My mom, my wife, my kid, all pulling me away from 2 wheel mayhem

Achieving balance is one of several reasons I stay away from Ironmans these days, the 25 hour weeks were sucking me in and bumming the family out too much, I really dig a hard 8-10 hours a week getting up for cross and whatnot and find some semblance of balance in there..... sometimes.

We put together the same team as last year, a good group of middle-aged dads out for a fun escape from yardwork and other suburban bliss.
Can-Am was nice, we were on the corner, so we saw everybody coming through, but didn't have to ride up any obscene hills after a lap.
The kits turned out nice, I believe WM sponsors a team of Cat 2's in Arizona and we got some of their extras, but we looked nice and matching, at least before the dust and blood took over.

Recapping the whole time would be boring, but a few highlights-

Rodney was snakebit fro the get go, I'd like to see a blog posting, but poor dude almost exhausted the entire tube population of Monterey County and still had to run his bike. And that was his FIRST lap.

Jimbo busted his shoulder hard in one of the new sections, a tricky descent on a old trail that grew a rut that looked like the Grand Canyon by the middle of the night, kind of a dusty piece of crap with lots of washboardy holes. Dude still rode 11 miles with a fractured shoulder and kept me from having to go again,- just a stud.

Kareem is getting way fitter than last year. And talking me into a 8 hour pain fest- just savage, dude.

The Seal was a rock as always. Need two laps? Got it. Need some food? Got that too.
Always bring a Seal with ya.

I had a good race, the fitness is coming on. I actually dropped some climber types on the "grind", a longish mostly middle ring kind of affair. A longer course this year and no idea how to keep track of my watch restrain me from throwing out numbers, but for the most part, I was doing well judging by how many people passed me/ I passed.

MY LIGHT SUCKS- I saw corporate team guys out there with HID set ups, looking like a combine coming up behind me on the singletrack.The stuff is everywhere now, how to justify a 600.00 light for once a year, hmmmmm.
The difference between a old halogen and the new stuff is ridiculous, it's soooo easy to outdrive the lights with the old school stuff. I finally just eased up and flowed by feel, it was only when racing the course that the big boomers were really needed.

3 LAPS IN A ROW SUCK TOO- 1st one, cool, just ride tempo.

Second one, light is failing, go to commuter backup and led backpack lamp, still hit the climbs hard.

3rd one (unexpected due to teammates' spectacular urp-fest)- the hammies were doing the shamalamadingdong on the climbs, sucking gatorade and Gu, feeling my own urp-fest coming on soon, good thing I stole his light, or I would bitch about that too :-)

THE FOG IS WEIRD.
It looks cold but is often warm.
You can really freak yourself out riding in it when no one is around.
I was halfway up Hurl Hill before I realized I was ON Hurl Hill.
Lights are kind of useless in it, especially when rummy at 2 am.

The off season weights are paying off, by Tuesday I was recovered enough to to hit some intervals up, my goal out of the weights was not to get majorly stronger, but to bounce back faster and survive my job for 15 more years. By the end of the Valley swing, I couldn't pick up a sack of concrete without hurting myself. I could feel the power coming out of the core muscles on the bigger climbs all weekend, strange how working rotational muscles can help with a vertical axis movement, good stuff.
Now to find some leg speed......
And 2200 bucks donated, with the match from Waste Management we are looking at almost 5k donated to fund ALS research, yeah!

Barely any pics, sad to say with 3 bloggers and a semi-pro aficionado, all we could come up with was a 2 MP snapshot or two.

It is what it is....

The good - The EMC crit came off relatively well. Our (4th?) year and this one was the best, the new pavement and opening up the course really showed itself to be a positive, we were a little worried about people forgetting to turn right every once in a while and protecting a whole other side of a course gave us chills, but except for a couple of bonehead moves, the races looked good.

One of the interesting things about setting up a course is anticipating the lines taken by the beginning classes and then realizing that hay bale won't do any good at all when the pack goes to the complete other side of the course to give their buddies the gutter, yum yum .

Almost got me fired up about racing seeing all that suffering, good thing Yoda and Nome took me out to mines road the day before and thrashed me thouroughly, keeping me out of trubble.

Some family health issues have me spending time in hospitals lately visiting folks and my heart isn't in it yet, more than a little preoccupied with things.

This is a hard ass sport and way of life and when I can't focus 100% ?

It feels like a waste to be signing up.

So I go and train and some days are good, this morning was the first set of intervals for the new season, just some tempo work while heading into work on the crosser, backpack and all, with the Rage Against The Machine Live at The Olympic pouring into my soul, and I forget about the bullshit of life for a while and we are good today and the hemoglobin counts are up and that's what matters.

This weekend is the 24 hour race, we have raised 2100 bucks so far for ALS research, thanks to all the bloggers that contributed, you folks are really fantastic, here is a link to the donation page if you like, we should have some nice pics up soon, camping, racing, buddies, a good cause...

good stuff, all of it.

J

shut yer mouth when yer talkin to me....

As a recent Cat 4 exile, I found this comment by D. D. in cycling news rather interesting...
""It's not that I refuse it," said Di Luca, referring to his lack of an ear piece which many riders in the modern peloton cannot function without. "But after a little while it gives me troubles in my head. In fact, I've had to use my mind instead of just listening to the instructions given by the director. I'm convinced it has helped me improve to the level where I am now. I know what I have to do."

The thinking is the hardest part......

Soul Rebel

Oh the joys of a weekend around the house.

One of the best things about bike racin' ?

The travel and adventure.

Also one of the most exhausting.

Even though I've been taking a sabbatical from racing till I feel the hunger bloom in my belly, the training is going well, well enough that when I realized I had to stay around this weekend due to some standby commitments, well, no bitchin' from me about taking a mini- break.

I've been rollin' out to Oakdale for some weekend pain- fests lately, real good group riding, wind, rollers, and a few good hills out Murphys' way as well. Good stuff from a organized bunch and a nice lunch apres-ride can be found at a local deli.

Looking forward to some reports of goodness out at Mt. Ham tommorrow, some of my compadres look real good right now , I hope a little luck will touch em' and help em' out. early word out of Iowa is good, real good, so I hope we keep it going........

Little C and I took a break from flattening out a area in the back to plant our corn and etc and rode the tandem down to the farmers' market today for some organic chicken and vegan brownies from the Feel Good Bakery van, best thing about the tandem is the ability to talk while riding, very underrated when your dealing with a pre-adolescent girl, I know the game is all going to change in a couple of years tops, she already knows Dad's a geek, but still doesn't despise me for it, and rolling around with me and pulling our flip-flops out of the panniers and tasting all the goodies is still fun.......

Back to getting ready for next weekend, we got a nice race coming up here in Pleasanton, the closed course opened up on the finish is going to speed things up a lot and make the upper category races safer with more runout for you 30 mph burners out there, the good thing is the new pavement is fantastic, I'm out there every Wednesday night for sprints and the stuff hooks up real nice, and that's diving into a bike lane with a open road.

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.