Bag

Another one in the bag, I'm over last weekend but I may have to suck it up and get to the PNW for USGP #5 & #6 the point is the fact that I race bikes and if you can get to where the big races are you should. That being said I haven't practiced that this season. The earlier starts of the 35+ races have the family home a lot sooner and easier than waiting around for the 3:15 pm Open start. Last season we had 4 or 5 rough trips home over the ice/snow facotry that is I-70 thru the tunnel. So, I get shit for sandbagging or what ever you want to call it. Read the whole thread, it makes grown men(?) seem like catty little bitches. But is there much difference between going hard for 5th and going hard for 1st? The effort is still there. I have a family, job, responsibilities, why not do the early race and get home at a reasonable hour? Whatever, sour grapes taste like shit. I won yesterday, got the negative thoughts out from last Sunday. I was patient and let the race wind down to two of us, 4 were there early then the pace hurt the rest, smart riding, only one flat on a new course goatheads are always an issue out here. I got lucky that the flat happened in warm up. Clean race, no mistakes, high speed drift on the gravel turns and better off camber stuff than we've seen this season. Small gap late in the race grew enough that I had the time to raise the arms at the line. That's double digits for the year, if you count the one mtb race I got in June. The season's not over.

Who?

Anger becomes the motivator, the longer it festers the longer you have to work it out. I'm over it now, my fault, no one else is on the hook for this one. I got it, swallowed the blame now I just need to process and get it thru to the other side. You are what you eat. Hungry? Goddam, I am. I have it all in front, lingering behind the way it shouldn't, what else is left? Get it out and step on it, put it away. one done now the rest is next. Ready, set, Go.

One Day

The view wasn't obstructed by anything, maybe the dipshit's hangover but it still wasn't obstructed by anything, did I mention that? I saw it coming a nanosecond b4 it did, cross brakes are meant to slow not stop. I slowed, he accelerated out of his parallel parked spot right in front of me, because I had slowed. I would have been a hood ornament. Just a tap to his window and a finger gesture, we both got off light. "Car is the best weapon" what about cars-r-coffins? I still got in my work and now I feel better about the day/week. Top step, this weekend then maybe PNW. Ignorance doesn't hurt the ignorant. It should. Eat up. Season's waning.

Over it

I'm almost over the disappointment of Sunday, I fee like a total pussy about the whole thing, one race, one bad day, just let it go, so I am. You hear that conversation in my head? I know, I feel stupid too. Saturday was it, I worked all season for that one day and I got it. Not a bad way to think. Last night sleep wouldn't come, I laid there for so long almost ready to go downstairs and finish Stidio 60 but I finally got out. The ride today couldn't have felt better, a day off is the worst thing sometimes, self-loathing isn't the best recovery. Early wake for voting day. Liberals vote early, I think I heard that once. Reverend Ted's little "rehab" program didn't work on him. Is there therapy to rehab from yourself? Thank God (pun intended) one of the biggest hatemongers of all Dobson is going to "counsel" him back to the way of the lord. I'm willing to bet he'll still like the meth. What a bunch of hypocrites. See you in hell. Livewrong.

Unreal

Thanks to Jared and Peggy for this first picture. Big races, I got mine. Time to start looking for plane tickets or mapquest, how far is it to Seattle?

morning after

The best part is the work was all worth it, coming together the way Saturday did, Sunday didn't matter, Saturday was my nationals, I tried to get everything I had into Saturday's event. Timing was off on Sunday, I didn't get a good recon of the course and I put myself behind too much to contend Sunday. I tried to do too much and I didn't have the horses to stay where I was so comfortable Saturday. Now, the soreness from my crash and the aches that come with two days of bumpy cross courses are keeping the rest and recovery at the pace I rode yesterday.

USGP#3

I wasn't nervous at all, it all came together in the span of one cross race. A first row call up followed by a clean start and after going around the first turn just before the first stretch of dirt I was sitting in fifth, I thought 'Wow, there's half the race.' On the end of the lap was the sandpit, about 10 meters of deep soft sand, first time thru I went around two guys there to take the lead, not really knowing how well I would do I wanted to at least lead on one lap, that way I had a decent position, I lead the whole second lap, going into the sandpit somehow I missed my grab and suddenly I was standing a meter away from my bike, moving first to fifth, a bit of an effort to catch the lead bunch that was quickly separating from the rest. Ok, I got my mistake out of the way. Now, don't F anything else up. Rolling thru the laps we had a group of five. Two or three really fast out of town guys, who didn't want to be out of the lead, made it easier for me just to follow wheels and not do too much work in the wind. Without letting more than two guys in front of me I started to think of the result, the red zone wasn't ever that far away but I didn't have to go there until the last lap, Will Black attacked hard up the hill, Sitting second wheel I weathered it and made the second last dismount without trouble still sitting second I dealt with another attack from Will and then going into to the last dismount (the sandpit) I ran hard around the outside and got into the pedals and jumped hard to make the road stretch to the finish, getting there in first I put in 20 hard pedal strokes and looked back to see no one. My biggest win ever, against guys who win nationals, me? Now, Portland/Seattle? Do I try to get out there for the USGP stop in PNW? Regardless, it's a great season with a lot of results I can use to get me out next year when the weather sucks. My goals for the day didn't seem realistic after the race separated, the podium was there and I didn't know it until I got out there and tested the legs.

Nickel and Dime

When the sleep comes I have a hard time at first figuring out if the dream really happened or if it was just inside my head. I wake up confused maybe it's more from the sleep I finally got than the fact that my dreams are full color and vivid, involving things I really do/did. The aches and pains returned today as I tried to stretch before my commute. It was rough, I took yesterday off b/c I had a full week of training by Wednesday and I just didn't need the ride yesterday. But, I did, my hips and lower back were PISSED I didn't give them a bike fix for the day. The rest period is going to be tough after cross, three weeks of THAT?! Food intake is up too, the furnace is burning hot, I go to sleep warm and I wake up sweaty. I need a heat sink. The more I ride the better I feel and then I get a link to a new race video and I feel better about the world. Watching the big races with thousands of specatators cheering on the big guns makes me want to go over there and see it myself. Anyone have some frequent flyer miles they'd like to trade? It can't be too tough to get a ticket from Denver to Brussels in January. Test tomorrow and test Sunday.

Light

I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, not that I am looking for cross to end but I am looking at the ski touring I hope to do. Maybe do a little bit more in the long distance stuff. I will do well in that one race I want to do between December and October. Rest today and a few donuts to fill the void a week of training has created. I am tired, I feel that this weekend is the beginning of the end. My rot gut has only added to the knot right in the middle of my stomach when I think about Saturday, maybe this is the one, my one shot at the podium on a higher level. I'm ready, I think.   

Zero

I don't know exactly how cold it was but I did have to stop and put on more clothes to get the rest of the way to work today. I think in the neighborhood of 10, or -10 celsius, something like that. It required a full set of lobster paws, an extra jacket and a balaclava cold enough that without the booties my achilles are still aching. Not the best move, tomorrow back to the big stuff, better to be sweaty and stinky when I get to work than the alternative of achy and chilly. Less work (intervals) which didn't improve the warmth factor but the bagel sandwich I got sure did. Who said hospital food wasn't good. The best $1.45 I spend all week is on my little feast.