Lenses and Intervals

My hip felt a ton better today than last night. I think I’m going into the barriers faster this year and it’s jacking my hip in a wierd way. I thought it would have happened already in my cross carreer but I am at an advanced age now. Great roadride to loosen up some more and then do a bit of work, intervals are getting to be a little easier to stomach, good set today. Great day then we had to zip to Denver to get Beckham’s contact lens from the doctor. Good visit with doctor then a Q-Doba burrito, some bitch in line in front of me had the most pronounced lack of manners I think I have ever heard. Not a polite word from her the whole time she ordered three meals. It blows my mind how evil some people are! Not that it takes a great effort to be just a bit nice. I might try to get out on an mtb ride tomorrow, or just a block of cross work would be better then mtb thursday. Races saturday and sunday this weekend, ACA #3 and Boulder #1, very excited for both, maybe we’ll get some weather! I hope Joel wins a cross race this year...

Any Given Sunday

Cross race number two, the ACA series has two of five events in the can. I guess I have the lead, I guess. The race panned out rather oddly. T-Brown went away about half way through the first lap. He was on the pink singlespeed, a perfect course for a single and a good day to not worry about shifting, too much other stuff going on. Dubba and I rode solidly in second and third until he dropped his chain, I went away until a guy started catching up with me and wouldn’t pull through on the dirt road sections, I guess he was riding the mud bog and on the next time through I kind of stepped into his way and his front wheel hit my calf, that sent him flying into the bog, well that’s racing. After that I didn’t have to deal with him, he lingered a minute or so back. Then the mountain bike guy from last week surged up to me and tried to attack through. I let him lead the techy sections so I could see what he had and then made sure not to give him too much room. I was trying to figure out where to attack and drop him when out of nowhere Dubba came up and went through us, I quickly got on his wheel and we both dropped mtb guy. going into the last lap I had a 5 second or so gap to make up on Dubba and I tried to ride the smoothest line and not blow it too soon. After the last tech section I saw him fixing his chain again, sprinting past him I said “sorry buddy!” he came in a few seconds later for third. Overall a good day, second behind a full-pro is ok with me, I would have preferred to give him a race but I wasn’t on a great day anyway. My skills are getting better but I need to be sharper, with fewer mistakes handling wise. The drive home was amazing, we had great views of the peaks and valleys, the trees were perfectly colored and we had a good drive listening to radiohead with Shaubie and Little B in the car. It was just one of those days that sticks in your mind, almost perfect!

Stars, Lenses and Fixes

The stars today were amazing, Jackson and I went for our little walk and I couldn't stop looking at Orion's Belt and the other two or three constellations I know, Sometimes I prefer to not know constellations rather than just appreciating the stars and sky as a unit. The stars seem so close and vivid as you look at them and the sky was a such an indigo blue that it constrasted pefectly with the stars shine. I know this is a little hippy for me but it was a really cool sight, especially because as I went to bed I saw a shooting star out my bedroom window. We lost one of Beckham's contact lenses the other day, I didn't think it was the end of the world but Shaubie felt she was responsible for losing it. I was psyched we got this far with out losing one! Shaubie is so good with him that to have one little snag after all the eye surgeries/hospital visits, doctor's visits and countless trips to Denver that losing a lens was the same as getting one flat all season. The bottom line is we won't get the lens until mid-week and then it'll be about a grand to replace. What can you do? I rode the fixy to work today, I may be falling love with another kind of bike. It's a lot of fun and in the pre-dawn light it was pretty cool to roll through town pre-thinking every turn so as to not lay it down with sew-ups that aren't glued very well. Going down the Col du Wellington I was a bit nervous but then I let it go and had no trouble getting around the turn. Check out www.oldskooltrack.com for some cool info on the fixed gear. I may choose to stick with the fixy for the time being and put the FSSP on hold until spring. I'd love to get couplings for it and some nice proper wheels and set it up the way it should be. But for now it'll be the bike it is, cobbled together and beautiful in it's own way.

I really need a new headlamp, this morning on the way in the road bike wanted to hit every pothole and divot on the street. There are a bunch of headlamps that I like but I'm not real sure which one to get. I also would like a pair of knickers from hypnotic designs, but they are way too much cash. Meanwhile I have a bit rot-gut going on right now and would prefer to go home and sleep, so I think I'll go there, walk #1 and then go couch until bedtime. I hope I'm not getting sick, that would suck, I still have two more days of opening before sunday's race. The garage project is still up in the air, I need to get all of the numbers together and see if it's do-able. The town is a big help, the building department guys talk in a way even I can understand...sort of. Sometimes it seems like they want you to re-invent the wheel and then you get more info and realize it's already been done, like the wheel, how's that for circular logic?! The more I think about it the more I want one but the budget is set in stone, anymore money and it's prohibitive. I keep thinking I'll hit the bear on my way to work, he was huge and would probably maul me on principle for hitting him. I know that I'd feel really guilty for hitting him, he is just minding his own business, not that we can fault him for that, drastic reduction in his habitat (read house) can't be his problem so much as ours. I'm not complaining as much as illustrating a point, afterall it was my house he was walking behind, I'm as much to blame as the next guy, but I know I'm to blame. Where my house sits was just a pile of river rock for the last hundred or so years but it's near diminished habitat, so I lump myself in with the trophy homes up on the ridge that took acres from his house. I believe it's the same guy I saw on the Barney Ford (Scott Reid) trail. He was huge. I know in my sleep-deprived state if I hit a bear at 5.30 in the morning that I'd be an instant ragdoll and maybe he'd think of me as deadmeat and not hurt me anymore than the impact with the ground at 20 miles an hour. One of the good things would be to just be that close to a wild bear, to smell what he had for dinner, as long as it wasn't me. To understand how the lack of natural predators allows him to walk with such confidence. I hope Joel reads this it reminds me of the time we saw a porcupine walking on 4 O'clock Road at 3 in the morning.

It had to be one of the nicest days I can remember, no work (intervals) or anything like that just a great ride on the path with Evan and then Jacqui for a bit. Absolutely perfect weather! The legs are totally recovered from the weekend and the body is ready to get into cross work 100%. Sunday's work with Little B in the Burley was harder than saturday's race I think!? The bike is really good to me! Shaubie rode early this morning, I think it's the coolest thing to see my wife go out on the path with Beckham in the Burley, especially how hard she has to ride just to get around. We kind of fell off the wagon with dinner, we had pizza, not the good-for-you stuff we have been eating, we dodged a bullet like three or four nights in a row and went with good stuff instead. We had a string of really good salads for dinners, you know full meal salads that just were the best! Oh well, maybe we can get out for sushi sometime soon. Shun or Hiro? Both are amazing sushi chefs but which one? Then there's the Bernard, another great chef in Merlin. I love to eat, my inner fat man is always trying to get out, thank god for Brian, my tapeworm who keeps the inner fat man at bay. I guess they have a daily battle, Brian fighting the Fat Man for the upper hand, all in the Arena of Tim. I imagine Brian going about his business eating whatever calories I don't need and the Inner Fat Man trying to slow Brian at every bite. I wonder what kind of food Brian likes best? Is it fatty stuff like pizza? Or is it good veggies and low fat chicken and beans? Organic or GMOs and other crap-laden mass-produced foods? The cross race on Sunday is in Tabernash, that means I get to go to the great natural food store in Fraser for a sandwich, I know I've mentioned it before but it's a treat to get over there for a meal. In the old mtb racing days I'd get there a few times a summer but now it's more like once every couple of years. Evan and I may collaborate on the Fat Single-Speed Project (FSSP), with a little bit of work and a singulator I think we can get it done. We have most of the most of the parts and the bike just needs to be put together. One of the snags is a Fat City rigid fork, anybody have one laying around? I'm listening to Portishead right now, on DMX, odd. Anyway back to the FSSP, some of the trails would be perfect on a single, the other people I know that ride them really like some stuff and other stuff is just not as fun. I'm not one to join in on the latest craze but I think the simplicity of the single would be great on some of the flumes too, rigid would be best but Evan has a SID sitting around that is 1" so maybe we'll use that until we find a proper fat fork. I think I'll have fun and get to see if I really want to build one of my own.

Since I had a good ride yesterday I thought it would be great to do some more work today, I rode to Copper with the boys and Beckham was in the Burley on the cross bike with knobbies at race pressure (40psi) I made it as hard as I could and it wasn't easy coming back to Breck either! The burley loaded must add 40 pounds. A few little intervals and then a big slog up to Copper. Back to Breck was tough too, pretty slow but the legs weren't too fresh at this point. The afternoon at Octoberfest (I know it's still september) was fun, we walked around, Beckham and I had fun ate lots of food and even had a beer. Todd did some damage last night, too much real estate and a thong is about I know, oh yeah and something about an ass like a bear. Shaubie worked a booth at Octoberfest and enjoyed some good food and beer. Tonight she showed how well she can handle a Beckham meltdown when he freaked out and we had to leave the neighbors due to a crying spell. He was just too tired from the long ride and a day spent in town with loud drunk people talking to us. Shaubie looked beautiful standing there selling the delicious Lobster Rolls and great Limonata. Thank god it's cross season! Enjoy the wheel Tim

I don't really write too much about coffee, but it's not so much a habit as an enjoyment, maybe 4 or 5 days of the week. The crappy coffee even for a neophyte like me is not an option. I never really claim to be able to feel the difference between bikes or different stuff, I think it's called perspacacity, but good coffee and good wheels and tires are two things I can feel. Oh yeah, and bad fish! We made some salmon that was in the fridge for a week the oter night and I sort of overcooked it a bit on the grill and still when I tried a little piece, it had a metallic and sort of chemical taste to it. The fish was bad, needless to say I spit out the remainder and drank a beer and ate a good bit of non-rotten dinner and then a thing of cinnamon rolls for goo measure. I didn't get sick but I thought for sure I would be waking up at midnight with the pukey-shits. I got lucky! Lately we are back on the salad with chicken dinner, which I love. It's so good and good for you, salad is one of those things that makes you feel more fit after just eating it. I wonder if Joel gets to race clydesdale in cross? He'd really do some damage then!

The last few days have been a lot better, I really feel like I may be starting to train like an athlete again. It doesn't take a ton of time just a bit of time spent the right way. A few hot laps on the course last night and I was as ready as I can be for a cross race in late september. Well, today went well, the body responded well to the stress of a race with a modest field but a fast pace and racing at 9800 ft. Cross probably isn't meant to be contested up here. Well the race started badly for me I missed my pedal and then went off the side of the course on the way over the first techy section, I recovered well and moved up to second on the road bit. Then it was just three of us for a lap or two and all of the sudden I had a 5 second gap going into lap 3 and then at the start of lap 4 I had 30 seconds, and that was it, I hovered between 20 and 35 seconds the rest of the race over a group of chasers adn then just one guy. A slight bobble with about 20 minutes left and then a bit of anaerobic pain to get the gap back and I was free to get my first win in a while. Two seasons in a row with a win in cross, I may actually be ok at this thing! Thanks for reading Tim

I know I haven't been writing but life just sometimes takes things aside that were not always that way. I have been getting ready for cross full force, well with as much force as I can put together for two hours at a time. The bike feels great, the skills are coming along solidly, I almost feel that I can dis and re mount like a guy who knows how to cross. Beckham is doing better and better he just brightens my day when he smiles and looks at me. He looks for me whenever I talk while he is eating, like he is looking for his Dad to play with and eat later. The way he gives you the full body giggle is super cool, I guess he is just my son and everything he does is cool and funny and beautiful to me. Still I want to see him do new things, he rolls over now and is almost able to roll back at will. I'm psyched to ride my fix gear a little bit soon, I want a garage to put the bikes and car in, so I can get up in the morning and choose; mtb, cross, road or fixy. I love bikes.

I put on a new chain on B bike finally! Now it skips, I hate it when I’m lazy. Well it needs a cassette switch anyway. The bike feels really good, now I just need some minor stuff done and one bike will be race ready. The ride was a bit of a easy spin, no real work but then again friday is a rest day. I’ll get around to a program next week, nothing spectacular but a load a working father can handle. I’ll maybe do the Denver ride this coming week, Nick is really into it, we just need to get a ride home. Travis is in Scotland right now, how cool is that! His first international, I hope he sees Nessy or eats haggis. He might be into it as well. I have a chance to run today, maybe I’ll take it and start, I think my skills in cross are more dumb luck and base than real specific preparation. I am a crosser, I will run because that is what cross has in it. I need to do my homework in the areas that others perhaps are not doing theirs. As my road season hit the skids in june I’ll either be flying or off the back by october. I am sipping a latte that is delicious it’s from a national chain not the local shop but i didn’t buy it, it was a gift. I wonder what it would be like to be a benevolent philanthropist, not working just supporting causes you believe in. My bikes are in ok shape right now, well except for the chain problem on the B bike and the work that needs to be done on well, all of them, I guess they aren't in great shape. Hopefully the fix gear will be up and running properly by late fall and I can have a cool commuter out of it as well as a beast for the rollers. I want a singlespeed mtb really bad, I may have to settle for the fixy being a bit of both, perhaps a fix gear cross bike, Steve Elmes would be proud of that. I think there is enough clearance to get a 28 on the back but the front maybe a bit harder. Maybe I get a carbon fork for the A bike and put the IF fork on the fix without brakes, oh I’m rampling in bikespeak (geek.) Once again if I was a wealthy philanthropist that all would be possible, instead I’ll make do with what I have. Having friends with secondhand stuff in good shape is a great way to acquire needed parts.