smc

Uphill start, the way it should be. Starting a bloc is usually the better way to get going. Hurt the lungs and then if you let off a bit it hurts less...or something like that. The first time up the long climb the 54 inches got me a healthy gap, enough that it was daylight if I looked back, spin and coast all the way. Start of lap two I'm climbing the sand climb looking at my rear tyre in disbelief, steadily getting softer. I stop at the top, air up (I will run tubeless front & rear from now on) faster rolling skinnies aren't better if they don't hold air. I have the keys in my pocket, pick the best one for that lock. Soft tyres only slow, don't stop. Keep rolling, pushing, it all comes in at the end. Mad thanks to Gary Fisher for making the sweetest rolling machines and Bontrager for keeping the dream alive. Local exposure doesn't hurt either Summit Daily News reports on bike races, athletes count too.

Evidence

Evidence that there was dry dirt here as recently as Sunday and Monday. The snow yesterday took care of that and now I wonder how long it'll be before it drains enough to not rip up the trails. Look ahead and hope the sun peaks out. Not so much of this. Piling up the frustration but it arrives at a good time, Wednesday World Cup begins today, we'll see if that goes as planned. Rest was on the menu too, three big weeks in a row, recover and be fast on July 4. Getting thru June is the next goal, no injuries, no stumbles good work to set up the rest of the summer.

What do you ride?

Piling up the time, for some reason the pedals turnover easier the farther in I get. I think the bikes are happy to see the better weather too, wipe down instead of full-on bath. Clean chains clean rides. I saw two midgets on the ride yesterday, sorry, little people, it made me hesitant, I wasn't quite sure what to do, they were out on a ride too, on the path but the bikes were off to the side. I was too distracted by seeing them to look over at what they were riding, the natural reaction to seeing uniqueness in an otherwise whitewashed, homogenized, monochromatic world. I wonder what they were on? Singletrack today. Check to see what the receding glacier has opened up.

Tavin

I stole this from Dieter, watch it. Funny as a...

108k

4 hours mostly up & down. Empty. Sleep came with almost as much work as the ride. Saw marmots bigger than my cat. Bushie got shit on by a bird yesterday, maybe next time they could bring him some pretzels. Legs are adjusting to the late base, it will all fall into place by mid June. TrainingPeaks says that I burned 3400 calories, I hope I ate that much. Tripping over my hamburger legs feels like separate lowers from uppers. Easy day just in time.

November in May

Putting rotten h&h in my coffee yesterday hurt me today. Rotgut to the enth degree, that and a TT up Vail pass as penance for the canceled race is enough to sour the day. Oh yeah, it's 35 degrees too. The race was postponed till next week, I already have one on that day. It took an hour to thaw out after the lunch effort. Even with a rotten stomach and questionable fuel I still felt pretty good on the TT, a good bike will do that for you. Something about climbing on the road bike, it just works. Trails are going to be dry enough this weekend to explore the lower ones. Better bones for it. Push it through the fog, out of the snow and whatever it is that's keeping my days shorter than they should be.

Noon

No shadows today, you need to see the sun for that. Rough way to do openers for the race tomorrow squinting behind glasses as I go through pissing, freezing rain. Mid day wasn't any clearer than the commute this morning. Work was done and now I get to enter my food coma afternoon and wish for some caffeine not laced with cheese or mayo. I stayed warmer than earlier and the lungs didn't lock up with old phlegm and allergies. Better days cook the worse ones away into a steady stew of goodness to enjoy on the days that make it all come together.

More mayo, please

Espresso and cheese today. amazing, I take good care of myself; try to sleep as much as possible, try to eat, rest all of that crap and I make my espresso to ride to work in the freezing rain/snow and I get bad half & half. Organic h & h must be fresh the day you buy it. I don't think mine was. It has the aftertaste of mayo and a soft spreadable cheese. Maybe Edam. Good dinners and passable lunches are the fuel to fire the furnace, not sure how cold it was today but the fingers still have the itchy dry that only comes from pushing the cold line a bit. Fenders helped but still sloppy enough to need the extra layers, thank you Fisher! Words to ride thru the chill of a May snow, music later. 33 hours in two weeks has the legs a bit loaded, tomorrow will be good, short and sweet desert visit. 54 inches of gear to carry me through the hard parts and the climbs may be hikes. 11 more inches than I had, hold on tight this is going to hurt like hell. We'll see what it does.

9

9 hours in two days, binge and purge the weakness. The cost of a race result but better things to come. 300km in two days will help as the Firecracker gets closer. Another week or two like this one and I might be onto something. Riding tempo after 3.5 to 4 hours on the bike yesterday was the best sensation the legs had all weekend. Maybe a breakthrough? Soundgarden and Descendents pushed out the last hour of solo work. Wednesday is another test, any takers? Let's see what the legs can open up to, more desert singletrack, big gears for bigger speeds. I hear it.

Moose Dish

Picking up the pieces, broken dishes, maybe just cracked a bit. I see the armor isn't armor, Kevlar doesn't stop everything, like tubeless doesn't always work perfectly. I see the keys and the lock, it all fits. Like the pieces. Saw a moose the other day mid day ride and he/she walked across the path right in front of me. I didn't want to piss him off and get charged, with a group I didn't need to out run the moose just the last guy in the group.

Order

I'm getting over my joy of Jerry Falwell's death, enjoying my volume even more. Minimum of two hours a day and pushing 3+ as the week wears on. Good position on the bike and the body doesn't ache or load up. See George if you are close to Denver, the fit is amazing. You will be faster. Visit Yoda and see what you can do, and I'm not even sure what a Yoda is, Star Wars, right? Watching the Giro seeing the fastest guys in the world and they have these weird positions on the bike I wonder if they would be fast if they got fit and listened to the Oracle. Sleep is coming and the owrld seems to have more order, even the clouds line up, amazing what a bit of structure does to the chaos. Put the template down and plug in the numbers, better to find the keys quickly, slow is fat and fat is slow. Eager to see what the season brings, I know that the new order is im[proving whatever it is that is out of sync. It all falls into one place, 3d Tetris, perfect fit to 150 lines. Even at 4 in the morning. Order

Sven

I guess to be the best in the world you never really stop. Makes me more motivated to go fast. Three hours today, Vail Pass, a 20 km climb. Legs are coming around. I like to go up, one week until we go again. Benelux Cup in the Inter-Mountain Region, just doesn't have the same ring. I take the work I get. Feed the machine. Post ride free food, who knew? Getting back from a proper ride to find sandwiches, pasta/veggie salad and fruit. Beat that? I can't. Life is good. The machine is getting tuned high and low. Loaded but clear.

Falwell

One of the most prominent hate mongers of the last hundred years not literally involved in genocide has died. See you in Hell Jerry Falwell. May you forever be tortured.

tue

Wiser times, I have the order worked out and the more I get pieces to fit the clearer the puzzle reveals. All about quality, no time for quantity. If I wanted to time I would need a time machine. Powertap, better legs soon. Tomorrow the boy turns 4, holy shit.

Indy

It's all sinking in. The chest just won't clear, I don't sleep b/c of the cough. I guzzle the NyQuil to get a bit of rest, now I feel post painkiller, is that codeine? Foggy most of the day, maNic sort of. I need to get my 16, long days on that to get ready for the Firecracker and I'll come around. Attaching untouchable to intangible. Rolling still feels the best, trying to get the shit out of my lungs only succeeds in choking me, only so deep before the residents in my chest put up a road block. Mmmmmmm phelgm.

32:20...

Lesson learned. If you think that your gear is maybe a bit small, then, maybe it is. Err on the side of big. Chalk Creek Stampede was the usual early season (for around here) mtb race that we get, low desert-style singletack. Great course but for my first time at the venue I was waaaaay undergeared, as the other guys spun nicely away from the start I was doing the spin-coast. Nevermind run what you brung. I suffered on the flats and low-grade climbs only making up time where I had the legs to turn it over a bit slower. Better than sitting there watching. Through most of the race then the bugs were crepping into the legs and left them laughing at me. 32:20 is going away, I may hang out with a 32:16 or 17 for most of the season. Suffering on the steep ups and running, I can run, remember cross... Great course, fun singletrack, riverside trails are always good. Learning the new bike at race pace was fun, tubeless at speed hooks up even in sand. It was fun dropping the geared guys on the fenceline climb, only to be overtaken on the way down. Whatever the gorilla was sitting on my chest I blew out after three laps and had a great fourth go around, it just took a while to clear the crap out my lungs, stuff that was building all week. Good day, better ones coming.

400 Pounds

A good one yesterday but I am sure that what makes me feel like crap after longer days is my lack of longer days, odd, huh? Which of these machines would you rather ride? I'm torn. So, after tomorrow it's on the volume train for a few weeks. Push the high teens for two or three weeks, maybe that'll fix this. Mix the bikes and get out of the house at 6 if that's what it takes. I hate this 400 pound gorilla sitting on my chest after a moderate to hard day. Flush the bowl leave it empty out on the road.

Pics?

Something doesn't work too well with Picasa's interface into Blogger. If you aren't able to see the photo in the previous post then you too have the problems I do. I'll post from elsewhere from now on. Maybe I should just upgrade to a typepad account, they seem pretty solid. Bike fit yesterday, posture on the bike is dialed, I think I'll be fast now. Saturday will be good, I can feel it. Going to the place and staying there, smile to flush, grin and through.

Two

Finally blue skies again. I smeel like a high school junior after gym class in may. Awful. I was listening to some good stuff as I cruised a clear and mostly dry path up to Copper, life is better. I am tubeless up front and I'll stick with my 1.8 narrow love in back. Saturday is it, we'll see what the day brings. I just can't believe how bad I smell, I even showered this morning. Does deodorant go bad? Wow, just like a locker room in my office. Impressive. Maybe I can sweat out my own stink. I'll try that next, maybe I'm blocked somehow. Ready, set...

First

I folded a paper clip into the shape of the new bars going on my road bike. Almost the exact bend too. First test yesterday, was great! We put our fastest guy in the break who easily won and I got to play spoiler as the other teams would try and bridge only to find me or another Einstein's guy on their wheel not willing to pull through. Fun, then it poured the last 20 minutes of the race, good fun. Great commute today slushy and wet, fenders are good any time of year. Slower to keep warm on the 1x, better legs to take the hits. I rode well because I didn't put any pressure on myself. Fast guys out there now as the front range is getting OK weather, not great but they still see the snow that I ride in everyday. Saturday will be a different story, the game is on.

Country Mouse

Two days in the city and I am ready to be isloated for a few weeks, the phones, the crowds the traffic standing in line makes me wonder if old Ted really was that insane, aside from the homocides. Maybe get out today for three hours on fenders in the snow to clear out the junk of two days of whatever it was I had two days of. All of the people watching gets tiring too, I want a DVR for outdoor life, rewind things like watching the guy who was well over 7 feet tall walk down the street and duck under awnings and doors. Watch the guy driving the Super Shuttle van run into the taurus two times all over again and then drive away, city life is funny, cut it anyway you like. See all the people smoking and drinking Diet Pepsi and eating enough food for lunch to feed them for two days. I love the American ideal. All of the spinners rolling thru the city and fixies made me happy and smile. Cool rims and no gears/brakes, seem to be the saving grace of the city. Especially the green Basso and the Eldorado I saw. The weather there in the City is pretty good overall, driving home yesterday in the rain that became fat late season flakes as we got up to 7000-8000 ft made me wish for a warmer climate. I am a product of slanting media, looking at the latest patagonia catalog this morning made me want to move to Ventura and surf and ride my bicycles but that isn't simple, until you try, maybe. Is it? I just want a little more warmth to go with my whine.

cruise

Mix it up and you get less slow. The good weather is making my base that much more enjoyable, filling in the holes in the opposite order. I don't need to do intensity just to get the warm. The bugs are staying away, not creeping into where I don't want them. Sunday is the first quiz and then the big first one on the 12th. Ready, set...

On the way up

Whatever it was is gone, a whole lot of food today got rid of the bug that bit me late yesterday. Amazing how not breaking any dishes today and maybe even glueing a few back together feels. I like the base mindset, not trying to go out and kill it is better for the mindset. Bigger things come from more/good food. Skipping the lunch was good, it was a hell of a mid day snowstorm, better to eat than get cold/wet and go back to work. Stay dry, leave early and do the work.

Mmmmmmm

Being stupid should be painful. The amazing thing is that the two shots fired at the croc merely made him drop the hand and he was unharmed. More proof that the dinosaurs still walk the earth in the shape of alligators and crocodiles.