Blue and green

If you look at the first picture closely you'll see that whatever kind of snake this is it's pretty big. I think it was about 6 feet long. He stretched all the way across the path. Yeah, pretty big. Pretty easy to figure out where it was. Any guesses? Better to have a recovery day, the dishes aren't glued back together yet from the rides the last few days. I bet trying to put it all together won't be as hard as I think it will. The puzzle seems to find it's pieces and order returns from the mess. I can't call it chaos, it's just not. I had an iced/blended/whipcreamed coffee drink today mmmmmmmmmm calories. Then after getting home I ate a burger, half of Bs grilled cheese and now I'm about to have a panang for my, er, third dinner. I love it when the furnace fires up and I can open up the stomach.

Broken

I broke a few dishes today, I started at 8.15 and when I was done it was nearly 5 hours on the bike. Lots of good work and a fair bit of solo tempo. Groups are good just not ideal to have all the time. I listened to the wind in my ears, I could still hear the semi's coming. Pretty light on the redneck factor, one in the first 5 minutes, then clear the rest of the way. Now my head hurts but I'm hydrated and the legs are better than the stomach that desperately wants to evacuate.

Friday

A little window into spring, I don't need to whine for a few days. The sun came out, dried up the black ice and puddles made for less skating the rest of the day. Riding home after a few beers was fun, it was social hour on the path, warm evening rides in spring, the opposite of the other side of the commute. No little nasties were smuggled home in my GI. I think Dr. Hotplate almost ran me off the road yesterday morning. She came rallying out of the gas station and didn't look twice. I doubt she bought a chili cheese dog for breakfast, that'd be her calories for a week. Maybe a few boring handlebar shots later.

Iceeeeee

I skated to work on the road bike in the new kit, thanks Nat! Good stuff makes the sketchy days that much better. I hope to trade up to a better build on the fendered machine to not rock the fresh roadie on iffy mornings. I got out, that was what mattered. The black ice is more frequent in the shoulder season than in the head of winter. I can take the bad days in February, right now it gets a bit tougher. Front Range gets 70-80s for the weekend we'll be lucky to crack 55, I hate to whine with my cheese but I could handle some more-ideal training weather right now to fill in the base holes. This a pic of Lars Michaelsen's winter bike. I wish I only needed a bike like this for winter. Living here this is a spring/summer/fall bike.

Waterboy

The kid is a full-on waterboy, pool, ocean whatever. I hope he ca nswim better than me. I need a board under me to make it around the openwater with any kind of pace.

I don't think I brought any little guys home with me from Mexico, but I still have some doubts.

Back in it

Welcome back to Northern North America, I prefer a lot of things about Southern North America. The way the weather plays out in Colorado in spring is odd, especially this year. Fog and snow on the return made the drive even more difficult coupled with the missed connecting flight and car trouble. And Yeltsin is dead. We left the maggots and enormous bugs behind, spiders the size of your palm, crabs running around the house, and Paul taking it all in, wondering if he should try to eat it let that one go.

Close

I know the trip is almost over but a few things kind of work out oddly, the surfing doesn't really go that far away even after all the years. I get stiff and old but that's because I'm stiff and old. I know the keys aren't in the maggots and the rotting everything in the tropics and the tricks are somewhere up on the mountain passes and in the long days this next few weeks.

 

The more I leave the bike the more I want to come back to it. Certainly my vice of choice. Paul helped put that to right. I'll post pics of the feline scavenger after I get north. Tests are getting closer and my homework is just about finished.

Mex

Little breaks are good ofr the head sitting on a beach for a week is odd, no bikes, no snow, no extra layers. building up a pretty good wax rash to go with the bug bites. Gringo life could be much worse. Homemade ceviche last night's dinner, no one was sick. Who knew?

 

Guilt builds as I take another day off the machine. I need to make up when I get home. Running and swimming is a good sub anyway.

 

Photos next week.

Skid Marks

This guy rides way better than I do. Now if I could work this technique into my commute... Friday morning it would have been very easy. I don't really have any tricks, I can ride up a hill and not be that tired, what fun is that? Hey, I rode up that hill! BFD.

9

A fad? I don't think so, big wheels are all over the place. Most of these bikes have a lot of gears, too many me thinks.

First

I think the legs took to the work well this weekend, we'll see if it makes a difference at the first test. Whatever I'm doing I think is the right thing. Quality.

Weak

I know there is more to my life than training and family but right now it is that. Work is great, I like what I do and getting to think every day is a +, it's when they all converge against the grain and the little bits snowball into bigger bits that it get bad. I like simple things, good coffee, nice bikes, easy stuff like that. Tomorrow starts a break, I feel guilty, I didn't do enough work to get ready for the break. I'll lose the edge a bit while I'm gone, the key isn't the break, it's the return. I broke some dishes this weekend.

Ice

Ice skating, again. Brother Ali, Kanye and Ozzy talked me through the four car pile up. Maybe there were more cars it was hard to tell, a lot of mess, maybe they should get a Zamboni out there to clear the ice, er, road. Warmer temps after a light storm makes it skating instead of riding. I survived only by luck. Maybe softer tire pressure too. No path maintenance lately so I was relegated to the road again. It looks like the first test will happen tomorrow, Roubaix. 100k in the dirt. Full belly and plenty of Bialetti fuels the commute better than less sleep and less food. I can't eat like a bird before the rides, calories are heat and power. Food after is good, food before is better. I see the picture getting painted, the canvas has been stretched, the frame in place. Ready?

Candy

It's too early to have a coherent thought so I stole this video from Flick and watched it, twice. Maybe my parenting skills are questionable but this fits my philosophy pretty well.

How smelly am I?

I think most people have an odor, not necessarily a bad one but, one. Then, you have the people who just stink, whether it's from a lot of smoking, alcohol or general poor hygiene they smell. Going around smelling really must not be bad for the ones that smell, it's the rest of us it sucks for. I rode to work today, got a bit chilly and then sweaty on the last climb to the office but overall not too bad, now I know I'm not as clean as when I started my day but still I don't smell that bad, it takes more of an effort to stink, not just one day of little or no bathing. I can only imagine how bad everyone smelled centuries ago when bathing was a luxury done infrequently at best. Another foot of snow through last night, clearer today but the commute was a skating rink, singlespeed to work makes for good tempo, seated climbing because the wheel would slip helps the low get stronger, time is now.

2

News, new stuff, the usual early spring crap weather followed by perfection, more of the former right now. Roubaix is in danger for the weekend, again. I am ready to do it, I'll go. I may be on the cross bike, that much mud, three hours of slogging? I'm in. New machine is here, now I have no excuse, all of the tools are in the box. Rough start to the day, 4 inches of fresh at home, no cross bike in the shed, I had to bum a ride from the Wah report author. I feel lazy. I may ski tonight, that or get on the rollers and see what sort of time I can numb my brain for.

Well?

I think we have six more weeks of winter, at least it feels like that. More snow, shorter rides and better fitness don't always mix. We'll see. The tools are in the box. Suffering is good for the head. Better hits and bigger things are close. I have a plan.

Frydaddy

Weather is out doing the early races. Work is going to get done anyway. I'm tired, too much of not enough sleeping. I have no excuse, the alarm is blaring & I can't even reach over to hit snooze. Freight trains are rolling down my tracks, time to move with it, no getting out of the way, roll along with it instead.

Elk one legged

Odd day, commute in the a.m. was broken up with two elk bigger than the car I don't have. The fox wasn't too interested in my day, his breakfast was tops for him. I had just enough of my americano leftover when I got to work help me digest what I had seen. Lunch was a fun road ride with some roadies, I don't think they liked the guy on the cross bike with knobbies and fenders riding away from the for the KOM points. Quiz, not test. To come home I saw the weirdest event of the day, a one legged lady chatting on a cell phone as she walked (hobbled) down a hill. I slowed to take a good look, wondering if my eyes were tricking me, they weren't. As busy as the day was the rides cooked the legs more than work cooked the brain. Limping home practically shattered, I could smell the season shaping up.

Mine

What I see in the patterns is coming out, like the computer generated pictures Mr. Pitt couldn't see, deep into a carbon fibre weave it lies right there, nothing too subtle if the yes are sharp and the pattern is open. It comes out of the monochrome and leaves you with a feeling of getting something done, for real. No hiding in the background, get out there and look for the pattern and see what it is that sits atop the pile, get there and make a place.

Dairy

Not quite mayo but more like a soft cheese. The type you would spread on a good thick bread and wonder if it might make you a bit sick. Nothing too bad, really. No cheese is bad cheese. Lungs are moving through the stages of grief, I think right now they are at the anger stage. 12 steps in 5. Most of the world is dehydrated, I try not to be like most of the world. I am though.

Ferrous

A slight case of much fun, early in the day/season, with work to get done. Perfect. The pieces all went together like rice wine vinegar and the freshest rolls. Responses I like to get from the little tests. Nothing too hard or too anything. Saturday is soon. Easy guess where this one was. The wheels are great, more quality time and we are one, already; dialed, fit. Pulling was good only thing better was pushing.