The cross yr in review

What did I do? Am I happy? I suppose.
Good things;
1) didn't get lapped. At all. Not close.
2) actually lapped people in some races. WTF??
3) finished top 50% several times-that was a goal
4) top 25% 1x. That was a surprise!
5) trained better
6) gauged my effort better.
Things to improve on (besides what I mentioned in the previous post)
1) maybe train not as hard once the season starts. There were times my legs just felt tired.
2) go harder at the start.
3) maybe lose a couple more lbs.
Goals for next yr;
1) top 50% unless I DNF...
2) some more top 25%? Possible? I hope.
3) beat Thor :-)
4) a real top 10 in some of the PA races?

Well. It's over my friends...

Last race of the yr, Capital Cross Classic. One of my favorites. I was not able to do this race last yr so I was really looking forward to this. Got a good start on my drive down. Ominous clouds on the way, driving thru some sketchy sections of road and some heavy snow squalls. Yea, baby!
Get there and the park is changed a bit. It is windy as shit and cold; don't mind the cold but I hate the wind. I scramble to get ready and realize it's like 9:27 and my race starts at 10. Although this was better than Mike G (who took my bike to the pits-thx!) who arrived at this time for his 9am race...
I got an OK warm up and headed for a bit of a pre-ride. Not much mud; mostly frozen ground. I line up pretty far back, the whistle is blown and we're off. I pass a bit on the twisted section after the start. Did I mention the wind was brutal? The barriers are a bit clogged up but I get thru OK. A new section twists down past a little stream then a steep section. Bam. My legs feel like lead. I climb like a lead baloon. Get out and head across the lake and up the run up which is longer this yr. Legs feel OK going up this. There is a bottle-neck going up that nasty gravel climb. I biff a bit but keep going. The single track is really dry and hard to come across that nasty off camber left. Thru that, down the hill and thru the twisty flat seection by the start/finish. A bit of mud there so the corners were a bit sketchy. Up some pavement and up a steep climb. This would kill me. If I'd have known this I probably would have swapped out my 40t for my 38. Next yr. Down a sweeping rt hander, thru some trees and up to do it all over again. I got passed a bit on the climbs but did OK on the flats; this race at least allows you to recover a bit. "Lithuainia" kept egging me on; he's a good guy. My left shoe's top latch loosened and I contemplated stopping to fix it but instead rode on; I doubt it affected me much. Bob Perna, who has been riding great, passed me w/ 1 lap to go. I eventually caught him on the s/f line (he got a flat-good for me!) Corey Twyman, who passed me on the 1st lap, was stopped going up the gravel climb. He said he almost lost it there and contemplated bagging it but got back on and finished. I was surprised when I saw the 2 laps to go sign-I figured 3 or 4. 43rd out of 58. Not a great result. Oh well. Also; Thor was ano show-sick all week and didn't want to push it in the arctic conditions. Don't blame him.
Now; Things I've learned this yr to improve on next:
1) gotta get to the races earlier-need a better warm up
2) I need to get some better bike handleing skills
3) Maybe gear down a bit-I rode faster this yr but I would have benefited from a lower climbing gear in some races
4) keep at it-I'm improving. But I thinkI can't say that I don't suck. Yet.

This could be EPIC!

Capital cross classic is tomorrow, Dec 7th. It is currently snowing. Now, they are only calling for "dusting", but this could be interesting. I love it when it's cold and snow is involved. Mud? Not as much. Might be some of that, too. After all, it's CROSS.

AAAAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!

Last race of the yr on Sunday. That is all.....

So I wussed out.

6:20 am on saturday I wake up to ice hitting the windows. I was going to get up in 30 min or so to get ready for the Mabra championships. I look outside. Ice on our deck. I KNEW that the race would be messy; that's not an issue. It's cross. However, I wasn't sure how the drive down would be. So I decided to bag it. In retrospect, it would have been fine. I was pissed at myself all day because of it. But. Oh well. Happens. I got to spend the day with Sam and the girls so that was good. Now I just have to wait this week until Sunday for Capital Cross.

It's cold. It's snowing. It must be cross!

2 races this weekend. It had snowed thurs night and there was still snow on the ground. I headed to Lancaster for the Wonderland cross race, which was, thankfully, only about a 40 min drive for me, which was nice. I raced this last yr as the PA state championships.
Got there to see Dan K, Mike G, and Gary S go off in the C race. HUP took 2 or3rd, 4th, and 7th. Great showing for our 2 newest members, Dan and Gary (Dan 2nd or 3rd, Gary 7th).
My race was a combined Masters 35+, 45+, and 55+. There were about 16 in my group, so this was by far my smallest race this yr.
It was almost the same course as last yr; lots of off-camber turns and straights, 3! sets of double barriers, and 2 sets of smaller single barriers, 1 up a steep run up. That last one killed me last yr. I got a good start and the legs really felt good. I sucked for the 1st 2 laps in the 180 turns; finally got good lines the last 3 laps. I caught some guys from the 35+ race (started 1 min b/f us) and swapped places with 2 guys from Evolution and 2 other guys. We stayed together for a couple of laps, then the one Evolution rider and another guy pulled away from me as we dropped the other 2. I just couldn't stay with those 2 guys.
Wound up 8th which is my best result so far. I'm happy with it esp considering there were cat 2's and 3's in there.
Sunday was my typical 1 3/4 hr drive to Leesburg. Never did this race before. It LOOKED like it was fast. Man, was I wrong. Pumped up too mush air in my tubies (I had dialed them in perfectly on Sat). Fortunately had time to pre-ride the course. Lots of steep drops and climbs, off-camber turns, and some long climbs with a few sections of hammer time pavement and dirt/gravel.
I got a decent star, lining up near to Dave T from RBR. I made some passes on various short climbs and even on the long climb. I also lost ground to the faster, skinnier guys on that climb. Dave and I wound up trading places for the last 3 laps or so. My legs felt pretty tired from Sat but started to settle in after about 2 laps.
I caught Dave again on the barriers and went flying by him, hoping this would be it. I ran barriers pretty well both days. Unfortunately, Dave is much lighter than me and he passed me up that long climb. I never was able to catch back up.
37th out of 50 finishers. Not my best but still OK with me as the course was really tough and didn't really play to my strengths, which are fast sections.
Fortunately, they had some really good grub and Vitamin H2O there, so that helped a bit.
All in all, a good weekend of cross. Esp now that it's cold and we gots snow!
Fotos courtesy of Dan K.

I just shaved at least 5 min off my race day prep time...

After working at my beloved place of work for over 20 friggin yrs I got to choose a gift. Most were actually quite nice. One that caught my eye; a Krups programmable 12 cup coffee maker. I had a programmable before but like an idjuct I broke the carafe and since it was a POS, I opted just to go out and buy a new one. Never got around to it. So, thanks to 20+ yrs of servitude I gets a new coffee maker (yes, kids, some of us stay at a job THAT LONG). Oh. And don't be giving me any shit about how I should be brewing my joe in a french press. They are a PITA and there's not many things better in this life than waking up to a hot pot of freshly brewed coffee.....

I just noticed...

That in every picture in every cross race I've ever done I look like I'm dying. Check it out. (Thx to fatguyracer-from Rockburn) Maybe it's because I am??

Sometimes you're the windshield...

Sometimes you're the bug. Arrgghh. I got a good start to the day, got going at a good time, nice ride to the Rockburn race. Made the same wrong turn as I did last yr but it was no biggie; had to use "the facilities" anyway.
Get there, EARLY enough to see the C race go off and was able to give Mike G a shout out. Turns out he finished 13th-he's getting much better. Get warmed up and head down to the start. They changed a lot on this course from last yr. The prologue went rt instead of left and up a short climb. Since I pre-reged kind of late I had a sucky start position. As the whistle blew, I went out. Passed quite a few on the climb and was holding my own thru thew twisties. Saw Thor bite it and get back on. Followed him for a while. The sand pit, tho rideable this yr, was best off run; I would make gains in it and at the barriers. I just didn't have any real power in my legs tho to hammer on the flats and descents; guess maybe it was not riding for 2 days prior and me getting a cold or something? Who knows. Nunzio passed me then I kept him in my sites. There were about 4 of us in close distance. Weren't passing alot but we weren't getting passed, either. I passed him with about 1/2 lap to go as well as another guy. Thought I had them but they got me again in the more technical sections. Something, I hope, I'll get better with in time. Figured I get them in the open areas. No. Legs just weren't there.
As a positive sign, I'm actually passing guys on the climbs now instad of getting passed, even when my legs don't feel great. I wound up 42nd out of 69. About what I expected. Just didn't have it that day.
Now it's 2 weeneds off. Time to go out hard for 2 of them and finish strong with the 2 2 race weekends coming up.

Finally!

Beautiful, warm, fall morning. Head down to DC for DCCX. Didn't forget anything. :-) Get my usual 15 min warmup but thanks to Steve (Lithuania fro RBR), who took my pit bike to the pit, I had time to pre-ride parts of the course. It was in great shape. Some soft parts, but no sloppy mud.
Lined up abunch of rows back, probably 5?. The whistle blows and we're off. Up the start paved section and into some tight paths. I'm holding my place pretty well; dropped a bunch of guys up the pavement (losing 10 lbs is a realy good thing) . Up, down, over some bumps and up to a left hand turn up hill from the finish line. I decided to take an inside line and almost pulled it off except someone decided to do the same thing and took me out. I lose about 20 spots. Game is ON now. I recover and go blasting over the 2 hugeass logs (new this yr) and down the hill, over the cobbles, into some twists and off camber stuf, past the pit, and hammer out the out n back. I catch a pack and instead of sucking wheels, I pass them. Drop them. Fly over the grass that they added from last yr and into the trees and turn section. Keep passing guys; my tubies are really hooking up well. I continue to opass guys up the paved section that was the start. I start woirking with a guy from Artemus and we keep taking turns pulling. We keep catching and passing guys. This continues thru the next to last lap where I biff on the up hill barriers. Back up and within 3/4 lap oir so I had him back in my sights. Last lap I let it all on the line. Finally I catch him on the start stretch as we head towards the finish. Knock off a couple before the finish strecth. I see 2 or 3 guys in front of me and pass all of them at the line. I had no idea where I placed but that had to be my best race evar. Some good eats, shooting the shit with Thor and Mike, and head home. Turns out, I was 32nd out of 71, 7th out of 16(afaik) in the 45+! Not bad for 2 biffs. My 1st top 1/2 finish ever. 6 places behind Thor. I can't wait for next week at Rockburn!

The gods are conspiring against me...

I got up nice and early to get to Wissaghickon on Sunday, one of my favorite races. Still wasn't too early since it's only a hr and 15 minute drive. Got ready, eat breakfast, and left. Without my helmet. I realized this (fortunately) about 5 miles from home, so I drove to the next turnpike exit, headed home, and got the friggin helmet. I get there OK and there's a line at the reg tent. Get thru that and have to hit the john. Big time. Whatever has been working on me this past week performed it's magic. Yea, I know, you didn't need to hear that. I finally get ready 1/2 hr before the race. Do a quick 15 min warmup and head for the start. It was colder so I decided on the fleece skinny. Good move. (Even tho Kerry frtom HUP claimed I need to get tough.) I got a good start pos in the 3rd row (thanks to Thor) and off we went. 80ish riders. Up the asphalt and into the turns, which, at the 1st 180, turned into a cluster-f%ck. 2nd as well. Got thru that without going down, and off I went. Passed a few, got passed, yada yada yada. I didn't feel great running the barriers but felt pretty strong on the roadie sections. I also rode the sand pretty well. The steep left hannd-downhill turn I ran 4 out of the 5 times. People were yelling "ride it, HUP", so as not to disappoint, I did it on the last lap. Absolutely not advantageous to do so. Corey Twyman from Hub racing was following me the last lap and passed me the last set of barriers. I just didn't have the gass or ambition to go after him at that point. I finished 49th out of 74 finishers with 5 or so DNF's. Not as good as I thought but still better than previous yrs. I actually lapped 1 or 2 riders. I'll use the excuse that I was hurried and not feeling 100%. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The inevitable bites me in the ass.

Almost literally. I get to the race and even tho I didn't pre-reg I was able to get thru pretty quickly. The venue? Breast cancer awareness race in Hagerstown MD. I get my stuff out, get on the bike and dressed remarkably early (for me). No rushing around. Nice. Thor stops by and gives me some shit about primping but I let him know I'm about 5 minutes ahead of schedule. For me. Got good and warmed up and actually had time to pre-ride some of the course. Bumpy as shit, but fast and not too difficult. Sweet. I actually get a call up (ok, they went pretty deep), but a decent start position. The bell goes off and we fly down the gravel/paved start into the grass. I pass a few in the corners and short hills and also get passed. Didn't get to ride yesterday so the legs started screaming right before the barriers. I remounted and almost crushed both nuts; worst remount evar. I recover and get into a groove after a lap or so; I was able to fly down the paved /gravel section. I kept trading places with one of Thor's teammates and Nunzio and another rider. Then I dropped my chain. Got it back on and still felt strong. After 4ish laps or so I passed a few lapped riders. Kept gaining ground on the NVCC guy. Until I dropped my chain. Again. Still I felt pretty good and was going strong with 3 laps to go. I hit my remount after the barriers and the seat felt funny but I kept on going. I blasted thru the sand and hit a big pile of it and it threw me towards the tape. Stop and get my bars out of the tape and my m$therf#cking seat fell off; the saddle separated itself from the rails. Would've been REAL fun had it happened while I was on the bike. So. Since I didn't bring the spare bike, I was finished.
As it turns out, lots of people DNF'd, including Thor. Pinch flat. One of the many.
So, next race, it's the tried and true Selle Italia Pro Link. And my spare bike. The Pave saddle is going back to Fizik.

And so it begins...

1st cross race in HUP kit! Charm City. Got what I thought was an early enough start to head down to Bawlmer. Get there, find a decent parking spot and realize it is quiet a distance to the reg area. D'oh. Ride over and it takes longer than usual to sign in. get back to the car, get the bike on the trainer, get dressed and it's like 9:25 or so. Aaaarggghhhh!
Guess I'll leave more time next time...
So I warm up for about 20 min and head over to staging, deciding not to take the pit wheels along. Since I reg'd earlier this yr I got a decent start position. The gun (ok, whistle) went off and away we went. I got into the "tree" without having to stop this yr and that made a HUGE difference. My legs didn't feel great but after about 2 laps I started feeling better. Stomach was upset a bit, too. Still, I ran the sand pit, which was longer and harder this yr, pretty well, as well as the uphill barriers. Getting off and on the bike is starting to get second nature to me so that's good.
I ended up losing a few places last lap but wound up 55th out of 83 (they didn't have the age breakdown yet) so I am fairly happy with that result; MUCH better than last yr.
I'll get back to intervals this week and I won't go to Hershey park the day before and maybe my legs will feel better at Ed Sander. I would like to see a finish this yr where there are more finishing behind me than ahead of me. I think it's possible.
And I want to beat Thor.
Speaking of which, poor bastid rolled his tubie and had no wheels in the pit. From now on I am taking BOTH bikes and my extra rear wheel to the pit. It would suck MUCHO to have to DNF because of a mechanical.
Hopefully Kevin Dillard will have his pics of the race up soon so I can get a pic on here of me in my HUP kit; WC is so last yr....

Belgian knee warmers

Today was coolish. 65ish degrees. Wet. I decided to give the Belgian knee warmers a try. While I don't have Sportsbalm or similar, I DO have Tiger balm. Close enough. Slather it all over my quite sore legs. Aaaaaahhhh. Out I went. OMFG! My legs felt great! 3 sets of Tabata intervals and then off to L A park for some plyo excercises. Even running up the hill my legs still felt great. Now, riding home was pretty slow, but that was mostly intentional. Dayum. I need to remember this. And get some Sports balm. Srsly.

T minus 27 days and counting....

Till Charm City! Wha-ho! I started the plyo/intervals session yesterday. Did my 2x20's today; plyo yesterday (w3x6's). Surprisingly, my legs felt not too bad even doing the plyo yesterday. Guess my guesstimate at base plyo was OK. I LOVE fall; cross especially but I also enjoy going to Sarah's soccer games. Her team (like me, I hope) probably won't suck this year.

The 1 (ok, 2) lap rule and the kindness of strangers...

Race avenue crit in Lancaster, PA. I had taken it easy this week as it was rest week; only rode twice, but did a few "jumps" on friday to prep for the race. I should've seen this as an omen but when I got my bike ready to go this morning I found that the front tire was flat. WHY I ever bought Conti Latex tubes is a mystery to me. Went to put the spare on and it doesn't hold air. Finally found a cheap, trusty, Kenda tube and was ready to go. I figured that maybe I should bring my spare front wheel "just in case". I get there in plenty of time and find a great spot at Franklin and Marshall college to park and warm up. 1/2 way into the warmup campus security informs me I can't park there, but is cool enough to let me finish my warm up.
I get done taking a shorter warmup so I can move the car. Get to the start and races are running late. Aaack. We wait about 20 extra minutes and FINALLY line up, me securing a primo front row start position.
And we're off!
2nd friggin lap I hear "pisssssssssssss" and guess what? It's me. Flat. Rear. I'm f*cked.
Fortunately a cat 4 rider sees my plight and lets me use his wheel. Also, fortunately, they "bend" the 1 lap rule and allow me 2 since it's just slightly over 0.6 miles per lap.
I hop on and ride like a madman to catch back on. Why the f%ck I didn't bring a spare REAR tire is beyond me. That'll never happen again.
A nice sized group stays away the entire race and we finish several laps in front of many. I hung on until the last stretch and the legs called it a day. I'm pretty sure I made top 15 so I'm pretty content with where my fitness is, esp since I'll be doing a 3 week killer session before cross starts.
Oh. And who said that roadies were all pricks? Much props to WHOVER it was that loaned me the wheel.

Not sucking as much......

Alaric Gayfer crit in Trexlertown, PA. Cat 5 "move up race". Small field, about 15 starters. This course is a 1 mile track that winds thru the park. A steep little left-hander right past the start/finish down thru a series of S turns then a long left sweeper, twisting back and then up a slight grade to the start finish line. 15 laps, started REALLY slow, then some guys picked up the pace. I stayed around mid pack most of the race but EVERY TIME down thru the turns they'd slow. I KNEW that I was faster than anyone thru that series of turns. The usual attacks occured; I stayed put and in the pack. With about 5 to go I positioned myself towards the front. Right past the start/finish on the last lap I heard "on the left" and 2 guys were making an attack up the hill. I decided it was now or never. Caught them and went flying past them down thru the turns pulling ahead by about 10 legnths by the mid point in the left hand sweeper. Then the cavalry came charging and I gave all that I had left, winding up 10th, my best road finish so far.

1st weekend of racing this yr...

Grandview GP and Allntown Sportsfest. Grandview was a nice, shady course, and my legs felt like lead. I stayed with the pack for about 5 of the 10 laps, then fell off the back. No "go" in the legs. Maybe it was the fact that 1) my training ride on thurs was cut short by a snapped chain or 2) I had no training ride on fri. Or both. Whatever. 19th out of 22 starters. Yay me.
The sportsfest found me having better legs but this yr it seemed to be much faster than last yrs snail-like pace. I stayed with the pack the whole time but wound up 17th (missd 16th by a gnat's pube). Stoopid tactics. I kept gaining ground on the hill by the start/finish line, then fell back a bit on the flat. WTF was up with that? Loss of 10ish lbs, maybe? Who knows. All in all I'm OK with it; starting intervals again and I'll race again Aug 16th, hopefully a bit fitter and faster.

Meet Ralphie

He's a 34 lb 1 1/2 yr old chow mix with a severe case of skittishness. He is really warming up to Chelsea and Sarah and is gradually coming around to me. After a near miss with adopting another shiba, we found him at Molly's Place, a really cool shelter. It is great to rescue a dog; I wish we could have taken more home. He's really sweet and wants to play with the cats but they're scared to death of him. Zoe is her usual grumpy self; it's going to take a while for her to get used to him; he just wants to play.

Various and assundry things. Or whatever...

Today was a beautiful day in central PA.
I am actually feeling REALLY strong on teh bike. (This is setting myself up for major dissappointment, I'm sure).
I love doggies. All kinds. Well. Check that. Not too fond of chihuahuas.
I look stylin' euro-pro in my new HUP kit and Diadora shoes.

Good bye silly little dog..

On Sunday, Sam and I were going to go to Lowes to get some more pavers and stone to finish under the deck. We hoped in the car, pulled out, and I felt a bump under the wheel. I glance out the side mirror and see Sasha, our youngest Shiba, flailing around and then falling to the ground. She had apparently been under the car and I ran over her. Frantic call to the vet and we get ready to take her there. She was laying on the back seat as I waited for the girls, and it was there that she left us. I still feel like shit. Sam and Sarah are taking it pretty hard; especially Sarah; she's so sensitive. It's a huge hole in our life cut out. I even think the cats miss her; Zoe isn't the same either. She was the eternal puppy; 5 yrs old and still goofy.
I suppose we'll look to get a rescue dog, preferably a Shiba, in a while. But for now it hurts too much.

Wow. It's been a while.

The girls are home from school. Nice to have company around the house before I go to work. (Besides the pets!) Just finished my series of intervals for now. I'll start again in early August. For now it's a rest week and then just riding and keeping up the intensity. July 27th will be my 1st race (Allentown sports fest crit) this yr. Can't wait. In the meantime I'm going to do some longer rides (hopefully) and just enjoy the girls being home. Man, I'll be teaching Chelsea to drive next month!
Mike G finally has my HUP kit. Guess I'll get it next time he's up this way. I just saw 184.5 on the scale this am. 1st time in I don't know how many yrs I've been below 185. I'd like to get down to about 180 by cross season. Should be real lean at that weight. Maybe I'll even do better this yr? Who knows......
Since redd Rose races has gone belly up, there aren't raelly many races (crits) around this yr, but I should be able to get 3-4 in before cross season. I'd like to place top 10 in the sports fest. Then I'll ask for an upgrade so I can race master's races and really get my ass kicked.

Ok. Time to help out a good cause

Dave Hickey, an avid cyclist and cancer survivor, is, like me, a frequent poster on RoadBike Review message boards. He is one hairy sob. What first started as a joke has turned into a full-blown fund raiser for cancer research going to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Dave is going to shave his hairy gams on June 28th. The goal was $200. As I write this it's @ $310 and climbing. If you are like me, you know MANY who have been affected by this killer. While times are a little tight with the price of everything going up, still try to help out. Anything is appreciated. All procedes are tax deductable and you get a receipt on the spot. Donating only takes a few minutes.
kthxby!

Bicycle errand boy today.

Today is my day to take it easy. 2 weeks of intervals and my legs are SORE. Had to get my hair cut and get some more coffee and the sun finally came out today so it was on the Gitane and off I went. It took me 15 minutes to get to Houser's house of hair (10 or so by car, wtf??), wore my nylon cargo shorts over my bike shorts so as not to raise any more eyebrows. Got done there in 20 minutes or so and then headed off past Cedar Cliff over to Sugar Mama's for some beans. Took a while but finally got a pound each of reg and decaf. Yumm. Headed home and after all was said and done, it took me about 1.5 hrs. Driving would have shaved off maybe 10-15 minutes. Almost 11 miles, so that's 1/2 gal of gas saved, and at this point,, that's almost 2 bucks. I'll be doing more of this. Plus my legs are feeling much better now after that fairly easy spin.

1st WC ride in over a yr

Turns out it was a Scotty Schlagel Perry Co death ride. 60 miles, 4x over Sterret's gap, 17+ avg. Sheet. On several positive notes;
1) we didn't get wet
2) I wasn't last back
3) I didn't climb too badly (for me).
I haven't started my hill repeats yet, so I SHOULD get stronger. In theory at least. It is good to go out on those rides as it gets you up to near race pace so it's not such a shock 1st time out. But it IS 7am on a sat am. If I do it 1x month or so, it'll help. Perry Co is really beautiful to ride in. As long as you avoid Leroy and his 1/2 ton pickem up truck.

1st real ride on my geared bike

With the new Sram Force drivetrain. I went out yesterday to do hill repeats but that was quickly smashed as my derailer wouldn't shift past the 15t cog. 6.2 miles, cursing, wishing I had my D/A back on. I pissed around with the adjustments (after Gregg had set it up after I effed it up) and still couldn't get it in the last 2 cogs. So last night I messed around with it when I got home from work and I had an epiphany. The cable was too tight. D'oh. Worked great after about 10 minutes of adjusting it. So out I went today. Still problems. Then another epiphany. I wasn't pushing the paddles in far enough to upshift. Well. They work great and the bike feels lighter. But that's probably due to riding the fixie all last week. I'll weigh it just for shits and grins, tho. Guess I'll move my hill repeat intervals to next week so I get used to the shifters now that it's wednesday. I'm feeling like I could do that crit in Middletown on the 26th. If my kit ever comes. Can you race for a team and not wear it's kit?

I could ride forever.....

Today I decided to do the bike courier thing and run some errands on the fixie. The route was as flat as it gets around here and I'm taking it easy this week training so it was an easy choice. Stopped by my lbs and dropped off a bunch o stuff for the swap meet, then headed to the twp rec office to purchase pool passes, then back home and stop along the way at Sugar Moma's to get some good Guatemalan beans. As I was cruising along, almost effortlessly, I realized that on the fixie, once you get going and it's afairly flat route, you can ride almost forever.

Sheesh

It's been a while. Legs are feeling great. I killed them the previous 2 weeks doing 2x20's with a fixed gear ride inbetween.I THINK the mini-blocks are working. We'll see. Got to do lots of yard work recently. Putting compost in the garden. Mulch. Cutting the grass. Theraputic, atmo. Easy week this week so it's been good. Putting the Force gruppo on the KG. Get the finishing touches tomorrow at World Cup. Taking a bunch o stuff there for the swap meet. If it doesn't sell, there's always e-bay.
Sarah has been playing really good as of late in soccer. ALMOST had a goal y-day against Chambersburg. Chipped it up and almost over the goalie's arms. Just got a piece of it. Can't say I've seen any girls her age try that, much less pull it off. 'Twas a thing of beauty, fo sho. I sure hope she gets on Div 1 this yr-she deserves it and I can't stand the parents of the d2 team. Won't have to deal with those red-necks no matter what happens, fortunately.

So I wussed out

Getting up at 5:50 am on a sat to do anything but race is just wrong. So I didn't get to World Cup for the ride. No matter. Got 25 in at a pretty good pace in 70 weather! Yay! Plus, this way, I got to have breakfast with my girls, which is some of my favorite times. I don't know if it was the weather or be losing about 8 lbs from last yr, or maybe I'm more fit overall, but I winded up with a 16.8mph avg over a fairly rolling route and I wasn't going that hard. I know avg speed is a poor indicator, but STILL, I don't do that often during peak season. Guess I'll just stick to my training program and see what happens. Oh. And I need to shave my legs. Furry legs are no good for applying sunscreen.

Lots o stuff

A hard week. 1st week of intervals this yr. It's getting warmer and warmer with each day. I felt pretty good doing the 2x20s. Didn't die, that is. Did something today that I haven't done in almost 2 yrs. Rode the Gitane fixie to work. How the f*ck do I manage to get ready at the same time as I drive and get to work and ready 5-10 minutes faster than I do if I drive???? Don't know, but I'm doing more of it and f&ck Judy Darr if she mentions anything about someone being "offended" by my cycling shit. Jeebus. I think I'll go out with the World Cup crew and ride early sat morning. Something else that I didn't do all of last yr.......

Easy is hard

After finally feeling better and getting in 2 (yes, "2") rides in last week, it's my "rest week" so even tho I couldn't train like I wanted last week, I'm sticking with the plan. However, it was fairly nice today (not horrible y-day, either) and even tho I got a late start, I went out. The weather, my LeClaire Vie replica jersey, my legs feeling good, I SO wanted to ride hard. But I didn't. That was hard.

Yay.

I managed to go thru the ENTIRE FRIGGING WINTER without getting sick, and now that it's spring, I caught a lovely cold. Have I mentioned that I <3 pseuadephed? Still, I feel sore, cold, hot, shivery, achy. I'm hoping that maybe tomorrow I'll at least be able to get on the trainer for a while and loosen the legs up. Don't have the ambition to go outside.

It's spring??

Really? We were just in Waterville Valley the past 4 days over Easter. Skied 3 days. Cold as a witches' tit in a brass bra. 25-50 mph winds on Sun, worse on Sat and Friday. No matter. Great fun! Skied on Head Supermagnum skies. OMFG. I want a pr. Too bad they're about 1k. Oh. It was 4F at the top of the mtn all three days. Oh well. Time to get back on the bike and get some serious miles in.

Did I mention that I hate the wind???

Today was decent outside. 45ish, cloudy/partly sunny skies. Not too bad for March 12th. Or so I thought. Get the bibs on, socks, yada yada yada, do downstairs to put the shoes on and I hear the wind hammering the siding. Patio furniture blowing all over the place. I find out that those bastard trash idiots (again) haven't set the recyling bin upside down so the wind blows it, I find out later, about a 1/4 mile down the road. Sooooooo. I wimp out and ride the Johhny G for an eternity; 90 minutes. At least Colbert was on and a pretty decent stand up was on comedy central. FWIW-legs feel much better now. Not sure that would've been the case had I rode the fixie for 90 min or so in that wind.

Mebbe I'll be in better shape this yr.

Or mebbe I'll be dead. Moderate ride today, beautiful weather, pushed a little but not too much. Then, back at home I did plyo. I iz dead. Tomorrow I'm not doing a damn thing. FWIW-I've never been this fast this early before. Gptta get to some WC rides this yr and blow the cobwebs out.

End of weight training. yay!

Started out to ride. As soon as I did, it started to rain. Bleh. I wussed out. Not in the mood to get cold and wet. So I did the spinning bike for an hr and started then plyo. Jeebus that kicks yer azz. I could really feel it in my legs. Then upstairs to do some pilates. Unfortunately, comcrap deep-sixed most of the pilates except the abs routine so I did that. It's brutal.

It's (almost) March.

The spring classics start sat. Why is it this time of yr I love to get my old school Lotto jersey out and ride like a madman? Aside from my ls AG2R jersey, that Lotto one has to be my fave.

Oh so close!

190.5lbs 12.5% bf. Right now I'm about 6 lbs lighter than the same time last yr and I can FEEL it, esp on the bike. Training is going well but I'll be REALLY glad when I'm done with lifting-1.5 weeks......yay! For more musings and ramblings check out my RBR blog. It's older than this one...
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/blog.php?do=showjournal&j=16