yesterday was very bad on the roads, for a nice cool march afternoon the motorists were in an awful state. we almost were hit a few different times all over the county. good work on swan and good work through to complete the loop. weird the bus that almost clipped me is frisco had no reason to get that close, the town almost bought me a new bike! oh well, it's gone now. my climbing is really getting better, the colorado tour of flanders (carter lake road race) will be better if i can just get the foundation laid to do well that day. roubaix will be more of a training run, it's too early in my training for me to expect much this year. last year was good except for the 5 stitches i came away with. and carter lake was better even with a sore body. maybe this weekend i'll attempt one of the big passes. and next week we can start using the derny for some speed work, travis is back monday and maybe tuesday we can get out on the roads and do some work. switch off or get somebody to drive while we suffer behind. mmmmmm suffering.

i managed almost two hours yesterday, i felt like i had more in me but i didn't want to overdo it. being sick with whatever bit me had me apprehensive about any real work. but as it turned out the few natural intervals i did kicked out whatever crud was blocking me. i had a great ride, the legs being further away from my stomach felt better than i expected, able to answer the call to ride a bit harder in the stiff winds. as i was solo thoughts turned to how nice it would be to have music with me, a certain product from apple was on my mind, but maybe soon enough. i got an email yesterday from paco, i hope others are enjoying his blog entries from belgium as much as i am. that dream will never go away for me, i'll be 65 and wanting to race in belgium. if you link form elsewhere check it out at paco.tblog.com i could get into a kermesse, enjoy the process of racing where it really matters. in the meantime i get to race and train in one of the most beautiful places in the world, it's not belgium, but it's home. yesterday was a sunny bright afternoon, a bit of a chill in the air but it felt good, no lung-searing cold but good crisp air. spring is coming, no doubt about it, today i almost didn't need a light for my commute, it's not far off. have a good day, thanks for reading

the last few days have been tough, a bad birthday (food poisoning or some such shit) and a rough recovery from it. the birthday itself wasn't too bad if you subtract the bathroom time. i got in my ride though, my age plus a bit for good measure before i did anything else. errands and all the other crap waited until that was done. the 8 inches of snow were gone from the roads by mid-late morning. i felt very belgian, it was a bit cold, a bit wet and a lot windy. the thought of suffering in the wind for a few hours was appealing early in the day before whatever bit me came out. sunday's race was better, riding up there from golden is doing more than i realized. the effort of the race isn't bad but the two hours before is making it harder. this week will show better race results but overall if i can stay healthy i think i'll be flying come april. i'm still on the fence about racing the 35 plus age group full time, the pros just are so fast and challenging. maybe i'll do a few to see how it goes and help the team. recovery mode all week, eat lots and maybe gain a couple of pounds if i'm lucky. good food goes a long way, just as long as it doesn't make you sick.

training is interesting again, with the option of roads or rollers i feel rejunvenated. another good loop yesterday around the lake, less wind than the day before but less work too, i feel the form coming but it just won't arrive yet. which i suppose is good, who wants to have superform in march if your first "a" race is still a month out? a great lunch made me really feel good on the bike, jambalaya with hearty bread and a cookie, thank you zuppa! i read an article in newsweek about a guy who survived sept 11 because he was working off site that day in new jersey, and another guy who was late to work that fateful day only to die later in the staten island ferry crash and a car crash. whenever i read about what other people go through for work i wonder if there is another way, i think it would be pretty cool to ride a ferry to work, or better yet paddle a kayak as your commute. personally i love my commute, i wish it was a bit longer but who can complain with the views i get to enjoy on my way to work, stars, snow covered peaks, that slight hint of sunrise now that the days are getting longer all on a bicycle, the most energy efficient means of conveyance. second chances are double edged swords, you feel that you maybe escaped death once but do you change the way you live because you are on borrowed time? or do you push on without any changes? i think a re-evaluation is in order, take that trip you always wanted or try that other career you never had a chance to. life is a one time thing as far as we know. enough philosophy, have a good day.

broken dishes

i finally got a road ride outside. i was able to get out of work early enough to get up to montezuma and home before dark. the wind was pretty fierce getting out of breck, headwind the whole way to dillon. from there to keystone it mellowed for a bit then up the hill to zuma in the quiet. climbing alone out of the wind with the snow all around made for a great solitary effort. i'm not sure how well i was going but it felt good. ticking over a nice cadence, 75-80% effort. little patches of snow and wet road here and there to remember for the trip down. the worst thing about the ride was the amount of airborne grit, whenever my glasses were off it was like riding through a sand storm. whit once explained to me why denver has a brown cloud over it, not so much pollution but pulverized sand/gravel from the winter road crews lingering in the air. this was pretty clear to my eyes yesterday. oh well, it's better than that nasty mag chloride or salt. even the cars were ok, nobody really tried to buzz me or anything, odd...coming home i had a chance to motorpace behind travis returning form a ride on the western slope, i lasted less than a mile and then all the juice was gone, i rode home up the hill feeling like a pile of broken dishes. great dinner, first a cheddar and mushroom gardenburger on whole grain bread and then a big bowl of pasta with fresh garlic...mmm garlic. and my big treat, a coca-cola classic! i love making the little things in life seem more special. little treats, that's what life is all about. have a good day

i can feel it in the air, spring is almost here. i rode in today on my road bike, without a fall! it was glorious to fly through the neighborhoods on the roads and see no ice for once this winter. i was pretty skeptical about not falling, skinny road tires and black ice don't mix. although watching paris-nice yesterday made me wonder just what was possible, they were riding over wet roads with snow on the sides and not a single fall, it must have been a bit warmer than it looked. leon van bon and thomas zeigler were away for 200k and held it to the line. at the finish they had about 30 seconds on the pack. really cool roads through old french villages, one hill they went over had about a foot or more of snow on the sides. yesterday was all b, we were never more than 5 feet away from the other. an official rest day off the bike which was a guilty pleasure, no nap, he wasn't having any of that. we walked in the woods with number one and had a great day just hanging out. monday was better than sunday, though no race it was just a good day out on the bike, nothing too long but the legs felt really good, maybe sunday was a bad day b/c of the short ride on saturday? i should know by now that i need a bit more volume to open up the legs for a good ride, race or not! after monday i feel good about my training, the fire is there to do well next week, maybe contest the sprint a bit. the legs are good but they need work.

well, the first one is out of the way. not too bad. i sat in a while without too much trouble, the pace was high due to the superstar quotient. postal, navigators and health net all on the front killing it. what was i to do? all i could, and finish totally empty! i got to ride up to the race from golden and get in a few hours before, i just needed more food. that and better legs. first one is always a bitch, next week will be better. i'm still learning the bike. a few mis shifts (my fault, not the bike) and general first race jitters made for a fun day. i still need more time with it. i think it was maybe ride number 4 outside on the new set-up. racing is a chance to see where i stand, see where the fitness is and have a good hard group ride. the real races are still a month out. enough of that have a good day

last night was unreal, shaubie had a work function until late so i went to bed about 9.30 and was sound asleep when she walked in the house and jackson started barking, while laying right next to me! i woke to greet shaubie and that was it for two hours, sudden onset insomnia. it happens a couple times a year, it really sucks! then when i was trying to get back to sleep after reading for a while the wind kicks up and never stopped. blasting wind all night, noise like i haven't heard in a while. the late winter mixing of cold air and warm air, moist and dry spells lack of sleep. i never thought of myself as a light sleeper, but last night i was waking every few minutes with a new gust of wind. i finally got some sleep, not enough but it never is. the trip in was fun, luckily i didn't have to deal with crosswinds that certainly would have blown me into the ditch, off the path and into the emergency room. i feel lucky i didn't have to deal with what the ned/boulder guys had the other night. we drove through the early hours of it to get home and it was bad on i-70 but it got worse later on. i got to ride my bike and get out of town before the s*&# came down.

four days until the first day of school. race number one. i am excited to see if my different winter plan worked out. not that i need a good result to know it worked. but, to just validate the program i have followed. the hours and hours on the rollers with the limited amount of outdoor time and no nordic skiing. maybe sunday i'll try to get an epic, 5-6 hours, perhaps i can get a good one and make the race just the hard part. being a pseudo-pro is all about getting the time when you can, arbitrarily picking days to get in the work, and not worrying the days when you get nothing. i still just love to ride the bike. no matter what bike in what weather. i was about 12 when my parents told me i could ride out of sight of the house. after lunch on a saturday in the spring, we always had lunch together on saturdays, i left on the bike. i went on a good ride around the town i grew up in and further towards the other side, away. i guess i was gone all afternoon, i returned at about dinner time and had a lot explaining to do. my folks were pretty worried about where i had been and what i had been doing. a little storytime, i had to account for my whereabouts, i was twelve, and i had a free pass for riding. that sort of started the habit, or is it therapy, or is it passion...whatever it is i never want to stop doing it. enjoy

they cancelled one of my favorite races to watch, the het volk classic which is usually the last saturday in february was cancelled because of snow. the weather leading up to saturday's decision wasn't very good and the parcours was being changed due to icy cobbled sections on certain climbs. the weather for this race is typically belgian, cold, wet, not a great deal of snow but flurries are commonplace. it is one of the first new videos i look for when i need to buy new stuff to watch while on the rollers. the winner is almost always a classics hardman, the race and course doesn't allow a fair weather rider to succeed. museew, bartoli, van petegem, van den broucke, peeters nobody not at home in the cold on the cobbles. it doesn't look like they will reschedule it either, maybe this will be the year they make a video of the second race of this weekend the kuurne-bruxelles-kuurne classic. another similarly hard race, taking place the day after the het volk, one hell of a saturday sunday set of races! less than a week until the first minnr race for colorado. it should be just a good hard ride nothing too seriuos unless you have your priorities messed up. i'm very excited to get in a bunch and go fast!