lottery

i don't really know why it comes up but sometimes i get into this string of negative thought that just snowballs. i figured out last night that i have roughly 20-25 years of working before i want to retire, and i have been working for less than that to this point, so i need to get a profession figured out that will give me satisfaction. i don't want to change the world, my goals are more pedestrian than that, i just want to do my work and go home to my family and bike. or i should play the lottery and solve all of my problems right there. retired by 40? that would be great.

both

i raced both days over the past weekend and took monday and tuesday off. nothing too bad considering the training i had done leading into the weekend and the load of racing and driving on the weekend. well now i can't sleep. it started monday night, early wake up though i didn't have to and earlier tonight. how am i supposed to take my break starting sunday if i can't rest? maybe i'll just start to ski at the nordic center beginning monday and call the break as being off the bike. 2 a.m. sucks. i like to sleep but i laid in bed for 45 minutes before coming downstairs to write this. my head isn't tired either, body is ready to go, maybe i'll go to fruita and ride some singletrack the weekend of nationals, that's a good for a break right? if i could shower right now i would, maybe that could reset the body. anything to get to sleep until 5. there is excercise-induced-asthma, what about lack of excercise-induced-insomnia? here are some pics of the races courtesy of joe d at primus mootry.

nap

rough wake up from my nap, lunch isn't sitting too well, nothing like a nauseous nap. b is still enjoying his. he's fine. what an amazing kid. no bike today, maybe hot tub and stretch, but i don't want to mingle with all of those germs, certainly no steam room. that would be really dumb, bacteria frappe, no thanks. paranoia isn't such a bad thing. no chills today, lots of shoveling to keep me warm.

chair

i'm still in the process of accepting that i cannot go to nats, i wanted to see where the form i have would leave me, top 10? probably. i can't help but think about when one of bosses sat on a desk chair and it broke, literally snapped under the boss' substantial weight. yeah, i can see that they wouldn't want me to go. what bullshit. i should have become a competitive eater instead of bicycle racer.

b

shaubie opened the door to let #1 out and stated "shit, it's cold out" b heard this and walked around the house saying "shit, it's cold out, shit, it's cold out, shit, it's cold out." the foot of snow last night and the pure entertainment are making today even better.

two

i scored a good weekend of racing, little family stuff in the denver area and then a good bit of work to make the turkey day gorging a distant memory instead of a reason for guilt. saturday's race was on the probably the turniest course i have ever raced, i bet the lap had more than 10 switchbacks and countless other turns to slow down progress. as usual the big guns pushed the pace early on. dennis was drilling it, karl sitting dutifully on his wheel with karl's teammate mark sweeping up behind me. the gap was starting to go and i could feel a move coming, the course really didn't allow for much passing, the four of us were getting away steadily and then the two great divide riders (karl and mark) tried to put a move on me. the one moved around me and started to let a gap open to the two leading riders, i saw it coming in time to jump across and go into the lead. that was about it, i turned the screw a bit on the turns and started to see the gap grow. riding the off camber sections allowed further time, good skills. i got lucky, karl had troubles and he was the one chasing me. sunday offered a far more wide open course, with room for passing. i got lucky and started like a shot and got the lead going into the dirt the first time, mitch came around me to get the first lap beer prime, soon after i went around him on the turny section to get the lead again, karl was on my wheel, we started going and seeing daylight behind i tried to push a little lead home. karl wasn't willing to work, i rode as smooth as i could not really wanting to ride solo the whole race from the second lap. he let a gap open and i just started pushing harder. no real bad mistakes other than missing a pedal here and there and the gap settled around 15 seconds, enough for comfort and i could see what was going on behind. not bad, four in a row going into the final weekend of racing. states, the season is great already.

umber

blue water and clean way to start the day. didn't slip coming in, the bike rolled well, i was too cold to think, not enough layers to avoid the bite. plannig the weekend, race both days? probably not.

managed a good thanksgiving workout yesterday, solo until riding with shaubie for the warm down. didn't see very many riders out, i thought this odd because it was sooo nice, nearly 60 degrees and sunny. i did see a big black pig walking on the side of the road, near a farm but still just kind of wandering around. he didn't seem to care about the people in cars, or on bikes that were riding past him. pretty big guy too, i bet on the heavy side of 150 lbs. no snakes, this is the set of roads where in the summer i see more than a few squished rattle and other snakes that didn't make it to the other side or were caught sleeping on the warm road at the wrong time.

ice

i'm still shocked that i managed to stay up yesterday, then again today, the roads are so icy. the studs help a ton but then again when it's this icy i suppose that it's just a matter of time. the motivation is solid for the last two weekends of the season. i can't help but feel good after two in a row. the lack of nats isn't that bad, the break is good, now i can start first of the year and be ready and motivated to do the winter work.

snowpacked

somehow i got the work done tonight without crashing or getting hit by a car. shaubie was able to get off work early to send me out at 4 pm. i could have ridden at 1 but it was a bigger block of time to go at 4. the roads in the highlands were all ice or snowpacked, the highway was a bit better. oddly enough low redneck factor considering i was riding during rushour. managed to get the work i wanted, the cold air opened u pthe lungs very well. kind of like a nordic effort, only easier, i was riding a bike afterall, nothing is as hard as skiing. softer tires i know helped get me more work and no time touching the ground. i found the place on my last interval up the last hill, the breathing and the legs went along in a pace that felt almost peaceful, hard enough to get the work done, but not hurting like i was out of shape, maybe the form is there and i'm polishing it nicely to the place it needs to be for december 3rd.