Minor Victories

My first double weekend of cross in a few seasons and I can't figure out why but it was really successful. Not necesscarily looking for results but just looking for some good training, I found both. The break from racing and training must have come at the right time. Another good course today, plenty of riding over bumpy shit with a lot direction changes and a mud bog with a ton of specatators heckling riders who didn't ride it. I ran. In my defense after yesterday's mud bath I really didn't want to do the heavy-duty bike cleaning I did last night and this morning. And in the end it worked out for me. I came third. When the two fastest guys in the state go off the front after the first lap you race for third. Not wanting to heave up a lung I raced smart and used the course for skills training. I got some company with three to go, he was attacking me, I just needed to weather it. But he let me through at the bell and I got away over the bumpy techie stuff. Good weekend of racing, two solid results, States will be good!

Not bad. After a little vacation and a break form training, a few days on the bike leading into yesterday's race not expecting much. I got a good start, managed to be top 5 through the first lap and then somehow I found vices on my legs for 25 minutes. Riding the mud along the lake shore was where I was gaining time on the roadies and then on the corners, the bike was on rails, if I could only get rid of the vices. Second half of the race I bridged to a group of four while pulling a group of four, that only lasted about a minute, through the top of the dirt road the legs shed the vices and I got away from all seven and started hunting down the guys in front. I got a few by the bell lap but wasn't able to get the last two that were close. Eighth. Not bad for a guy sitting on a beach four days ago. Just fun, cross in the mud when it's cold is the way it should be.

Quirks

I like to look for patterns in numbers, I find it entertaining. In school I was never a math whiz, but when I applied myself and payed attention it wasn't that hard. Now that I'm far removed from Math Class I look for every opportunity to do math, even skills I never really managed to perfect in Class I can figure out. I like the relaxed thought of going over numbers in my head, the way they seem to fall into a rhythm, something that on the surface seems so removed from the creative has a pleasant artful layout on a page. When doing my mid day work there are constantly patterns poping up. A story on NPR tonight turned me on to the Conet Project http://www.irdial.com/conet.htm two stories that give better background than I can http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35647-2004Aug2.html They give new reason to wonder what is going on with our governments, what they are up to that isn't being reported or monitored. The subtle eerie sounds on Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are from these recordings. Akin Fernandez stumbled onto the whole "Number Station" phenomenon in 1992 and has spent the time since trying to figure out what it means or what it is doing. Nobody seems to be able to explain why the Eastern European countries still broadcast and why the Czech Republic broadcasts using all kinds of voices, one in Scandinavia uses a little girls voice. Speculation that it is spy communiques or getting info over private radio waves that aren't open to all. I'm fascinated by the random sequence of numbers, they have that rhythm I find it soothing, and oddly creepy.

Friday

Working in a fitness center brings good people watching, I wonder what brings people in, what they don't like about themselves that brings them in here in an effort to change it. I think a lot of people go through the motions to feel like they are doing something, not changing, sticking to their rut. Not that I have room to talk, I have a convenient little rut, it provides enough but lacks a certain, what's it called... oh yeah, Fulfillment. Challenge is found elsewhere. I guess I'm just as guilty as the people who come in here not changing their program. Fear of change or in my case fear of changing my convenient little rut.

Slush

I managed to stay up on the last three rides, this morning and the two yesterday. Not that I fall frequently but with the first few snow rides of the year I seem to forget just how fast a bike can hit the ground while going over ice. Last night was cool, a great climb up Boreas to see if I still had sea-level lungs and legs (oddly I didn't) after getting to the gate I cruised home steadily comfortable with two-wheel drifts. The sunset from the top of Boreas was great, getting extra clothes on for the descent and enjoying the view for a few minutes before getting the drop over with. Bright crimson mixed with the dark grey of lingering clouds from the day's storm was perfect, a great way to end my first day back from the beach.

Sitting in airports makes me wonder what people do, not for work as much as what they do for entertainment and free time. Eat? Lots of America does lots of that. I know most of the people aren’t cyclists because they wouldn’t try to run down other cyclists. They lack the understanding of what it means to get out on your bike and do what you love. I wish the other problems we face were as easy to solve, but wait, they are, simple understanding that some people are more well off than others and that some may just need a leg up, not to be run down. Subtle huh?

Topics

I'm going to try and avoid the political shit for a while, I'm too depressed and angry that there are that many idiots in this wonderful country, or maybe that the places are wonderful, and the people are, there, I guess. Great mini vacation in Florida, ran a bit ate a bit and got some sun and got rid of the crud that was hanging on me. Going to the beach with B was amazing, he loved all water; pool, puddles, ocean, bay whatever we had. No fear, he'd run fast as he could straight into the breaking waves. I managed to avoid getting a tan, and B avoided getting a sunburn, good sunscreen goes a long way. Not that I really wanted to return with a tan but I wanted to get some color. Getting into Denver last night at sunset, looking West at the Front Range, I knew the drive up the hill wasn't going to be smooth. Not too bad, the new car handled it very well. Waking up to more fresh snow and a B that wouldn't sleep past 4.30, I cut through the snow on the cross bike and managed to stay up, got my bearclaw and saw an odd amount of people out, who runs at 5.15 am? Odd. A warm bearclaw was the ticket today, full of fried flaky jam-filled goodness, mmmmmmmmmm bearclaw. More on Florda later.

Sucks

Bush won, I hate Bush. I hope maybe he'll be less of an idiot in his second four years. I think that he's been given enough rope to hang himself. We are one more day closer to the day that Bush will leave, I know that I voted the proper way, and when he has lined all the pockets of his corporate backers at the cost of our natural resources, the world can look at the shambles that was created by the Bush/Cheney administration and pretty much disband the Republican Party, replaced by people who give a shit about the environment and progress not American Imperialism. This will go down in history as the worst president to be re-elected, and the darkest hour in our nations history. Bush Sucks. The American Public has been fooled again.

Big Day

Did you know that George Bush and John Kerry are ninth cousins? Ralph Nader continues to be a Republican pawn, but do you think he knows it? I really can't believe that Bush could get that many votes after the horrible job he's done, he needs to be re-defeated again. I'm lucky I voted last week, living in a state that allows early voting is great. I hope everybody voted, and didn't get hassled by voter intimidators.

Bug

There are a million things you can control for race day and a few you cannot. Yesterday I was taken out by one of the former. I didn't tighten my pedals, when I got the new ones a few weeks back I put them on and rode them for a few days and then sort of forgot they were new pedals. Well, you can't do that, you need to snug them. Mine came off just I was beginning to move up to the lead group. The good part was I rode everytime a foot and a half high wall that most were not. It was up off the lake shore and presented a good challenge. When the pedal came off I slammed my leg into the bike somewhere and have a nasty bruise on the inside of my lower thigh. Stupid mistake. Now I start a break with a long weekend in the warmth of the Atlantic Ocean, then back to it next Tuesday. Good to plan for this king of thing, I can get rid this cough-crud and maybe even put on a pound or two sitting on the beach, returning refreshed and ready for the final push of the season.