Lunch

Good suffering at lunch, too much snow to ride a bike without getting hit and making all of that pretty snow into a pink mess. Pretty soon it will be singletrack covered in snow to get to work, without that I'm relegated to diesel fumes either way and the constant fear that the next one is going to be my last as the car passes too close and I'm a stain on the snow. It's not laziness borne of fear but fear borne of missiles passing too close to my shoulder. Did you think about that? At least I had a good lunch.

Looking in

I feel underwhelmed right now, the training is ok but can I really ask for more than 4-6 days a week? Everyone around me at work is sick, my hands are raw from washing them so much and whatever the hell is in my lower GI isn't happy. Brian having a rough go, too? What works better? Rest or the solution? I know where drive is, I know what fills the gaps, not so much holes as little valleys that are getting smoothed over before the spring racing begins in two weeks. Days off make me nervous, two days this week already as I wait to wake up in the middle of the night with chronic rot-gut.

I know what I have to do, that's the hard part, the keys are all there, the easy part is doing it. No matter what I do the pattern is there for me to follow. Good work, riding up hill for large chunks of time is the best thing I can do for my limited long day on the bike time.My legs are pretty good for what we rode and then extra homework I did before the real ride began. I see the cracks that need to be filled and the mortar I'll use to fill them.My half&half smells like mayo again, not Iban.

Symbiosis

I feel the legs finding their place under me. The keys are unlocking the places kept quiet for a few months. Fewer bugs in the system, fewer reasons to relax the structure. Institutional life, coming soon to a microsystem near you. Breaking down the cells to get the little mitochondria happier, to make the all of them happier later. Symbiotic. One good ride can change the early season, last time I checked the calendar there weren't many races over 90 minutes until May, huh? Why am I killing myself to do 4 hour days now? That will come. Right now I'll take my efforts as they come. Thick and fast is too far away to get any concern.

The view from here

This was the view out the window the other day as I made coffee early in the morning. I don't know why this struck me but it is pretty sweet, I miss seeing the octopus, the ink stained sky as I ride to work, maybe later in the winter or early spring I'll get that again. Get out early for some work before work. I can't complain, yesterday's penance was well founded, Waldek always manages to lighten the mood. Eastern Bloc has a dark sense of humor. We change the clocks March 11. I think my early commute will be dark(er) for a few weeks, with the late one being daylight. Not a bad trade except I prefer to train early instead of late. The line for afternoon coffee was pretty competitive the lady with narrow set eyes creeped me out, She was looking right through me, did she have xray vision? Could she see Brian? I wonder what it was that was so fascinating.

Surf

I'm not sure how real this is but it sure looks cool, explosives and surfing, two great things that are great together.
Dynamite Surfing - metacafe

Friends

I get sick of eating, we all need friends.

Pigs

The work is there. I saw a cop today chatting on his cell phone driving down the road on the wrong side of the yellow line, lead by example? The suffering is better, the lights are on and the engine is rolling. good climb on Lookout and better legs for it. Bigger bones go uphill faster. Skinny bones need to work harder in the wind. More this weekend as the days get longer and harder. I see the keys to the place I need to be, I know that the body is responding even after a 24 hour cold that lasted 36. The hard part is knowing when to get back after it. This weekend will be a lot of the same, I know that much. Hills one day, flats the other. I still can't seem to eat enough, I get full then 30 minutes later I'm hungry again. Can't some guy at MIT invent a calorie pill? I have what I do, I try to do the best I can with it. Rollers tonight.

Snow

Pictures wouldn't be enough to describe how good it is out there. Look at a white wall from up close and you'll know how hard it's snowing and how deep it is. Turning in the deep wind blown stuff was like surfing a nice shoulder high wave, perfect. Face shots each time around and the best part was the secret light, not enough visibility to see really where you were, little drops time and again that were simply part of the run, not the run. Above treeline riding around 13,000 feet above sea level, no shadows and nothing to break up the rhythm until returning to the trees farther down. Epic! I know I should be on the bike somewhere, maybe more rollers but right now the snow is too good to really be concerned with thresholds. Maybe tomorrow it will all lighten up but for now there's two feet over the past few days and more on the way.

Weapon of Choice

Some guy stabbed two people in Breck the other day, I rode the bus today oblivious that I too could be stabbed at any point. I have my application for a concealed weapons permit in at the Sheriffs Office right now. I'm thinking a less than deadly tazer might be the weapon of choice. Fat Boy Slim, Chrsitopher Walken. Meanwhile the Cinnamon Roller is Sunday, fixed with cross tires may be the weapon. As far as training goes I am behind on the week, I know what needs to be done but it escapes me. I get tired, sleep feels so good when you get to sleep, if not it only mashes the day into undigestable pieces of a too-tough meat that can't be passed.

Tuesday

The "B" bike is so cooked from a full season of cross as the training bike and a partial winter of riding that it pretty much is a singlespeed, I think it's about a two speed right now. It was cold today, I don't know how cold, just cold. the bike sleeps inside before the commute, the shifters and chain are lubed, but it doesn't like to shift. At least the brakes are OK. Yesterday it looked like there was a head on collision right where I ride to work, the sketchiest part of the commute, no room, narrow rock wall on one side and steep hill on the other. Slot canyon, sort of. No room for errors. I hate that part of the road. The kid and his dad digging a hole. Not much better than that. I like the beach.

Early

The ghosts are quiet. The more I get the more I feel at peace with the coming season, I just need one more puzzle piece to fall in and I have it dialed. Pacing the start more than past years, better bones take fewer hits. Brian is not well-fed. I am. Shooting for double digits this week, that might be a trick on a bike. Then another 6 plus on the weekend. Did you ride today?

Catching up

Friday's commute home was good, rolling as the wheels were. Little slip on some ice but better than a bumper touch. Put it to bed yesterday, time on the road on the cross bike. No good dirt within 200 miles, ferrous will have to wait for first dirt.

New power

Dust on crust today, the light dusting that I thought might make the commute a bit harder was just that, dust. By the time the mag chloride is mixed in there's nothing left but paste. I think the bike is taking a beating, salt is bad for steel, right? What about the corrosive effects of mag chloride? We don't have salt up here and I don't wash the bike every day, I should but I am tired at the end of it and need to not be. The motivation is even higher now after my little spin around the hood last night on the fresh ferrous it makes me want more work. Is that a puritan work ethic thing? I'm not pure I know that much, but I enjoy the salvation that comes with a 7 a.m. ride at 19 degrees. That brings purity. No excuses.

One

New machine. Fresh Ferrous puts on smiles.

More

It's piling up if only the sit bones would relax. More, always room for more. More fish lately and more riding today. If I do a ride and my legs don't hurt did I ride enough? Over again today what was done yesterday, Brian is getting fired up and the furnace won't stop. BTUs galore, tape worm (Brian) getting his fill, I just need mine. Woke on time today with a good head and a bit of left-over heat. Two breakfasts and two lunches. More. Slow is not an option.

base

Too much time off the bike. I feel ok about the fitness even after a few days at sea level. Now with soreness that can only come from chamois time I limp into the meat of base. I think my volume is probably better than it has been for this point in the season compared to the last few years. Enough geek stuff. Amazing curry to fill me up after the commute and lunch/puddle ride, now the chilly commute home. Indian food is almost perfect if we could work a bit of sushi in there my diet would not need help for months. Fresh tuna last night seared over good salad greens, livin' large. I have more sleep in my head and good things flowing thru into the pedals.

Another one

FORMER BASS PLAYER WITH SOCIAL DISTORTION KILLED BY CAR Associated Press PLACENTIA, Calif. — Brent Liles, a former bassist for the 1980s punk rock group Social Distortion, was struck and killed by a truck while riding a bicycle, authorities said Wednesday. He was 43. Liles was hit on Jan. 18. No immediate charges were brought against the driver. Liles, who was from Fullerton, joined Social Distortion in 1981 and played bass on the band's "Mommy's Little Monster" recording two years later. Fed up with turmoil inside the group, he and drummer Derek O'Brien quit the band during a New Year's Eve performance in 1983. Liles went on to play with other punk groups such as Agent Orange.

Back

One solid rainy day and at best half-way nice weather. The lines are getting straighter and the road a bit clearer, stil have a long way to go, I know that much.