it keeps coming, less like summer monsoon season, more like cross season. another two rides in the rain today, less lightning, more steady rain. i like the change.

3

not too much longer. the season that matters most is almost here. better legs and better weather for the real work is about a month out. three good days of training, the best for cross, a bit of tt on friday, a good fat tire ride saturday and then a crit yesterday. legs were like a fart in the wind, here and there but not always right where they thought they'd be. i like the way it's going, the big guns were out for sure this weekend, push push push. this pic is from rocco's site, i was looking at the same spot saturday thinking i don't need a pic here b/c i can steal john's. the trick seems to be variety, i am always happy to get on the other bike, what ever bike it is. sunday was tough, the guns were firing on full-auto. i missed one of the moves and i punished myself for it. full wood for laps at a time to bring it back, finally i pulled up and sat in a while. gassed as i was for the sprint, nothing doing in the end. then we got to swim in the river in salida, what a way to receover from a hot crit. the kid was hilarious, peeing in the water buck naked, it was a white trash bonanza! life is good.

wet dreams

wetter days are here, the cycle gets going and it takes more to break it each time. i need a new rain jacket, mine is worn out. the bike gets a power wash with sand of grit and lots of water every day. better get going on that rebuild. warm boiler room drys stuff fast. hot showers not hot enough. pushing thru the rain isn't bad, light from the sky is what turns me inside. too many fried outdoors the past few weeks to risk that one. cold and wet i'll take, wet and cooked, i'll pass. there is always more cables and housing and a fresh chain, not much i can do with a bolt from the sky. no rebuild will fix that. more early and less later is the program, rolls thru about lunch timen and stays the rest of the day. can i take lunch at 10.30? drier then. or a dryer too.

colorado trail

photo dump.

loose

i feel ike i am getting looser, not that i'm not a loser but i feel looser. on the a.m. ride when i airsnot out my left nostril i get tears shooting out my left eye too, not onto my glasses, enough that it feels like i'm crying. on the outside. i always thought of myself as the crying on the inside type of clown. now if only my hip and shoulders would follow my nasal/tear ducts i'd feel like a yogi fresh out of a two month intensive.

yellow?

do your own thing don't follow.

horseshit

i have a bunch of pics from sunday's mini-epic up the colorado trail out of copper mtn. really cool riding and a ton of great little sections of trail broken up nicely by horseshit and horse damage. amazing how such a beautiful creature can mess up a great section of trail. riding the bike uphill for a few hours i got into my own rhythm, lars and travis did their pace, i did mine. gears and suspension change the dynamic. i felt good, the big wheels kept turning and the trail moved underneath me well. pics tonight. if my dog can't shit in the woods and leave it there, why can the horses? you know the poop is fresh when the flies are buzzing your tires b/c you weren't able to ride around that last steamer? why is that horsepeople have to suck and snicker at you when you pull off the trail to let them pass? even when i am the one going up hill?

sleep?

i had one of those waking dreams last night, couldn't figure out where the dream ended and the wake began. i heard the cat being called in from outside and the cat was inside, i knew it was but i heard what i did. boring, i know but i still can't figure out what happened, was the cat in or out? did shaubie call the cat in after i went to sleep? no matter now except i wonder where it was, in my dream or in my wake?

wet

why does hydroseed smell like rotting fish? better riding in the rain than the heat. i'll take it anyday, two rides so far today and both in the wet. we'll see what the third one holds. no lightning though so far, yesterday the bolt hit less than 200 meters from me, not good for the confidence. i felt the thunder and the crack of the lightning. mmm summer at 9600 feet.

interval

early out for the intervals in the rain. work needs doing. the good thing when it's damp and cold at 7 am you get better lung cookies to plant on assholes who try to clip you with their mirrors. and to dog owners who let the giant husky lunge at you as you ride by. wtf? i wish i could book a section of road with hills just for me, not too long an hour or so without any trucks, dogs, idiots. that's my american dream. get the work done and not need radar to repel the jackass factor. one stretch was exceptional today, sun behind me riding into the rain and seeing my shadow on the rainy path.

mayo

pine cone, no bear claw; rough way to start the day if you expect one and only get second place. i think mayo and cheese on a hot day isn't the best idea. but how could mayo be bad? oh yeah a bit of pork too, i think i messed up. good work but not what i need to go well at state roads, more climbing.

fresh fruit

i think stuff rots more when it's damp in the mornings, two different spots today on the commute where it smells like a larger mammal is slowly going back to the earth. aftewr a few hot days and then a moist morning the earth starts to reclaim what it grew. rotting vegetables or plants don't have the same aroma as the flesh, not that one is worse than the other, the other is just more pronounced. always makes for a fun ride, playing the where is the corpse/carcass game?

soft and fleshy

took some hits last night, became just a hard workout instead of a test, i'll call it a quiz. the bike was great and the course was fun but the body just never got going. i wished i had sunday's legs, far better than what i was saddled with last night. better to come. the course had sharp teeth, i was soft and fleshy. saw a lady brushing her teeth in her car while i was riding to work. odd things on the commute. about 6 in 10 are on mobile phones and of those more than a couple doing stuff they probably shouldn't while driving. i guess it would be odd to try and brush my teeth while riding, maybe they should get more stuff done at home. i managed to watch some of the tour today and brush my teeth and get breakfast. i feel like i might have this morning thing almost down. just to get almost all of my shit dialed in the pack before the morning and then just put the thermos in as i roll out the door. i like it, the sleepwalking/riding was getting old.

24 hours of shit driving

seeing the signs outside, more of the usual weather, get your raincape out, moon climb today to get to get ready for the mid week test. saw really bad driving the last 24 hours, almost got hit yesterday on the way home, guy just decided to pull out of the parking space, no matter the guy on the bike yelling at him, no room to go anywhere, cars on all sides. today had the insulation of the car to protect from the idiots.

dry

a day without a wet ride, the guy stopped staring at the sun. both on the same day, the rain broke a bit and the rides were drier. an evening on the cruiser with a beer made all right with the world. better taking some hits than none at all. better taking it in at my own pace than in the frenzy of another.

sun?

i have been thinking about the guy who was staring at the sun with glasses on who couldn't figure out why his sunglasses weren't working. why not look away, is it that fascinating to stare at the sun? what about sunset, is that the beginning or the end for him? does he then go home to write about what he saw? i'd like to see the sun right now, it's been raining for a week now, i think. i try not to dwell on the negative, more on the better my handling skills are getting on the slick roads.

left

better to get out in the rain and get wet than to stay on your ass inside. i did that today, i feel weak.

visit

so sore that it hurts to throw a leg over the bike, setting my body up to do one thing has its drawbacks if you aren't doing that one thing. riding the bike feeks ok, though i do feel stiff. the clouds are taking the place of the octopus. i can only hope that it gets better as the summer wears into fall. i keep eating but nothing happens, i only get nauseous. i think i'm shutting my system down, better has to happen before worse. haunting wake up to the old time happened today. it feels foreign not that i was ever really comfortable at 4.45, just more familiar. today it was like i was visitng an old house i lived in once. unlearning 4 years of early wakes is tough. getting onthe bike cleared my head, however simple it is i felt good. no power b/c of the shit in the legs but good anyway to turn my favorite pedal.

mel

to the guy in the big truck who yelled at me for slowing at the stop sign he didn't stop at. eat a salad, what a dick. it's not as though there was a ton of traffic, just an asshole being an asshole. uneventful a.m. after that for the ride, good legs considering what i did last night. i am too old to jump up off the bike and play soccer. it was fun though. saw a bird chasing a squirrel, not a big hawk but a little bluebird trying to peck at a big fat squirrel. cold and almost raining, good clouds today, it looks like i'm trading the octopus for the clouds. sideshow mel "not in the sky, that's where clouds are born!"

Kaiser Jan

read this fan's viewpoint, i am over the doping thing. do what you want, i don't care, anyone want a used Dopers Suck t-shirt? you pay for shipping. check the title link, it'll work.

quick and out

getting over sunday, bummed the body didn't react the way i wanted it to, to win. the best thing is that i don't have any pressure. now i feel good, this sunday has to be better than last. hard to be worse. or is it worser? closed a few gaps sunday and the plug was pulled, barely even a wimper, quick and dead. better next time. i like this, nothing like conspicuous consumption:

get your devil on

i got it now. learn a lot but never enough to get all the way through. better bones this week, get it right for sunday. saw god yesterday, he/she is fine alive and well in the springs. dobson has done good work down there, really god bless you, jim! i wanted to find out who is tops on the hated list this week, who is the top sinner? i did manage to find a good burrito taters and dairy. can't go wrong there. double post of the pics from the commute i loaded late, nothing great just singletrack and streams. black is black.