The Crud

It seems to come and go, I should realize that now I'm training for cross, I need more rest and more food. I get tired and run-down from the workouts and start to feel like crap. Sleep and eat. Sleep and eat. It's kind of nice to be on a loose schedule, keeping the workouts somewhat structured and my focus on States and Nats down the road. The tickets to Portland are looking to be pretty cheap, I can't wait to race in knee deep mud!

Character

I see a lot of odd people, I don't always know that they are odd but when I see a keeper it sticks in my mind. There is a guy in town who walks around with his Siamese cat. It really is a sight, he walks down the sidewalk with his cat strolling alongside and then he wraps the cat around his neck for a few blocks. I wonder if he needs more cats, we have an extra. I usually invent stories in my head about what they are like and what they think about.

Blink

I'm over the crud that hung me all last week and through the weekend. A missed race and new motivation are what I got out of it. I will stay healthy and maybe even gain a few pounds. Eat, a lot. Riding yesterday was a victory, it reminded me of the rides around PA when I was rehabing my knee injury. Long fall road rides with questionable navigation and not much daylight. More than once creeping home with just a blinkie for safety. Using the cars light behind to pick out potholes. Once rolling through one of the covered bridges I heard my light scatter it's five or so pieces inside the bridge, so I spent 10 minutes feeling around the darkness of the bridge looking for my light's pieces while listening for cars coming to avoid getting hit in the bridge. Last night was one of those, I really misjudged the daylight, missing it by a good 20 minutes, crawling home in the dark worried that Shaubie was going to be worried. No phone, just a fast ride the quickest way with only a rear blinkie. I felt good, the ride was solid, the kind of work that makes for a great ride at States and Nats in December.

Spider

I just killed a spider. I never kill spiders, I feel really bad about this. Normally I'll get him onto a piece of paper and bring him outside while Shaubie insists he die, I just stepped on him, sometimes I really feel like a shitty person. No reason, B is asleep, Shaubie is at work. I feel bad now. I hate feeling like this.

Parrot

I keep thinking about the guy who had the parrot on his shoulder as he was driving down the road smoking a cigarette. I wonder if the parrot will get lung cancer and die at an early age? Don't they live to be 100 if left alone? Sort of like the canary in a coalmine, not the Police song but the way coalminers would have a canary in a cage to determine if the gases in the mine were deadly. Usually the canary would keel over and the miners would get out with nothing more than black lung. Ah, the merits of labor, somewhat lost on today's white collar world, what ever happened to the Protestant Work Ethic? How is it that an exec can pull in 7 figures and not get a finger dirty but the people that build our houses and schools are lucky to afford a house or school to send their kids to? Our society has some backward ass system going on. 3 hour lunch "meetings" followed by meetings followed by meetings, it makes me sick, what do they do all day? It really is bullshit! What happened to going in and doing your work, they manufacture these meetings to make their jobs justified, when they really only work a total of one day a month, to justify the exorbitant salaries they command. Don't spend it this year, don't get it next next year! How screwed up is that. You save your company a few grand by cutting back in the right place and they reward you by making your budget even tighter next year. F-ed up for sure. "Capitalism is great as an economic system but lousy as a religion."-Steve Earle

I put together a good race. I guess I was on a good day, it never really got that hard for me which is bad because I didn't win. I think I maybe had more in the tank than I realized. I worked in the morning and then we wnet down arriving about an hour before the start. The race was held in the at the Federal Center which doesn't allow pets inside as it is a nature preserve. So we had to ride in the with B in the Burley and Shaubie riding my spare bike. We got to the start about 35 minutes before the gun was to go off. Whatever, a hot lap and then some road stuff to open and I was on the line. The first lap was ok, I followed the right wheels and the fact that there was a beer prime for the winner of the lap never even enterd my mind until four guys went down in front of me at the last turn before the start/finish line. One guy was riding away and I got up to him and he didn't really make a move so I kicked and easily got the prime. Odd. I instantly sat up, 58 minute solo effort didn't seem like a good idea! The first four laps were pretty fast but the group didn't shrink much. Not wanting to deal with that many riders I went on the front to push it and whittle it down to less than 6 riders. Baker attacked and easily got a gap, then Tbrown went and I should have gone too. We rode in a group of 4 or 5 for most of the race until the last few laps got pretty hot, a few thin attacks and a few guys popping left it down to 3 of us. The other two attacked again and I just kind of weathered it until my attack on the last lap shattered it, easily getting a gap I went after Travis and got within two seconds at the line, bad tactics, I could have had a shot at second place not third. On the way home last night I saw a guy driving a car down Loveland Pass on I-70 smoking a cigarette with a parrot on his shoulder. Odd.

Wake

Waking up into the fog that is my early morning I get to wander the house and figure out if I forgot to lay anything out the night before, usually this means a more chilly ride to work or a less planned day. I don't need much, thanks to the jacket from Jack The old lobster paws do the trick for my hands. Rolling through the navy blue world today I had the perfect soundtrack for my mood, Beck's "Deadweight" and later on Luscious Jackson's "Love is here" the lyrics echo in my head still. As the echo plays I was thinking how lucky I am to have this world, but luck isn't the best choice of words. I made decisions along the way that brought me here and kept me here. The one constant through it all was the bike. Whenever I felt like my head explode a bike ride put the fire out. Now I roll through my days happy that I stuck it out and that the life I made is the one I wanted, not a compromised one.

Dues

Yesterday was pretty crappy weather up here, I tried to go to the cross course for a bit of work but the mud was so thick I couldn't churn through it worth a snot. I went home and ran. Hill sprints aren't fun, but doing them in the snow/rain/cold made me feel good. One of those workouts that when I'm fading in a race I can draw on and use it to get my act together and surge ahead instead of sitting up. DK writes about the current frequency of drug ads on televsion with great wit and humor. I wonder why they are doing this, is there really a drug to fix everything? Is that even a good thing? I kind of figure we all have our problems, what about taking your place in life and improving it, not looking for "mother's little helper." Well worth a read.

The first race in the Boulder series wasn't the shelacking I thought it would be. A modest warm up with a good bit of road spin and one lap on the course was about all I needed. Tim, Travis and Scott had all flatted in the "B" race so I was leery of doing too much on course for warmup. I got on the front line for the start and got my pedal on the first try, easily slipping into fifth or so for the holeshot about a half K from the start. Not wanting to lead and just looking to stay out of trouble for the first lap or two I rode well, good skills through the barriers and diligent of the loose gravel on the turns. The long beach section wasn't too bad, the boys in the earlier race gave me line suggestions. I found myself riding well and following the fast guys without too much touble. As we settled into groups I was happy to be solidly in the top 5, a few laps after I had a little spill, the front wheel washed out on a loose turn. Quick recovery and that was it. The other miscue was a bike switch, I thought I had a flat and changed bikes, with nobody doing support I had to do it ghetto style and get off course and make the switch, it cost me two places I never made up, and I didn't actually have a flat. The last few laps were the most fun, I got to ride with Dougie and we had fun taking pulls and challenging each other. Coming onto the road before the finish I jumped and that was it, I took ninth. Not a bad day.

More

The rain yesterday wasn't nearly as warm as the rain from the day before. I was really cold and wet within minutes of starting my ride and it didn't get much better from there. I only managed an hour plus before the thoughts of sushi (last night's dinner) and warmth took me home. I feel lazy today, maybe I can redeem myself with a good ride and put things right. The sushi was unreal, as usual, I guess that makes it real if it happens all the time. I can't quite understand why I love it so much.