Wake up and smell the brimstone

Well worth your 5 minutes and 6 seconds, holidays are great but for Darwin's sake don't let them overtake your headspace like a seizure.

You heard of that?

Dave Z has a lot to say but not too often. If you are looking to listen to what it's not like in the bunch give his audio a try. Maybe for winter vacation I'll go to fat camp. Or I could always go to the house of the padded walls and get a little therapy out of the way. The sleep is coming thick and fast these days, I wish I knew why it was, maybe it's all the snow shoveling? At least I don't have to dodge errant SUVs and plow trucks like my neighbor. So far so good, rollers will be the workout today and remember that it's almost over. Not so much of a limp into the off season as a jump. A standing broad jump, from gym class in 5th grade. better than the running one, whatever that was called, I couldn't do the triple jump, that was for the kids who could dance. Enjoy your coffee, don't worry about the winter, you can't change it. Well you could ride the bus but then you have to pretend not to look around and wonder what the other straphangers are hiding in their coats or in their heads. Better than getting hit by a bus though, too scary on the roads to try that this week. Studded tires will be out by the new year. Time to put out to pasture for the winter break before I get ot suffer on the wheels of the guys who skip cross and are already in the second half of base. Not to be confused with second base, that's better than the second half of base anyday. Dieter has funny video link on his site, I don't want to steal the youtube window, go there and watch it, pretty funny after the first minute or so. txtmsg brkp, check it out, no that wasn't a typo.

Which One?

Who is more guilty, Michael Richards or Mel Gibson? Which one of their outbursts is more offensive, if at all? Both were wrong and Kramer's wasn't funny but what about accounting for taste? Is Gibson's new movie going to flop because of his DUI charge? Are holiday sales of the new Seinfeld dvd going to tank because of his unfunny stand-up and poor reaction to a heckler? I'll still buy the DVD, I think he's funny on the show but not for a second think he could survive a 5 minute set on stage. Words. They both messed up and because of their place as "stars" are under the microscope. The funniest thing was watching him fail, that was funny. The words weren't funny the act was awful, the failure was like a train crash, you just were waiting for him to save it but he is so untalented that it just spirals downward. Kramer is a one trick pony, he tried to be something he wasn't and failed, miserably.

Tonight

The motivation was fading all week, It's harder to get on the bike when it's 10 degrees outside and snowing. I saw this picture and got the fire all over for the last two races and 10 days that are left in my season. I see that nationals is out so make the most of the last two, win or go very well. This picture is from the Boulder Reservoir a week before the USGP, a good day, two strong guys beating up on me until three to go, I got lucky, the beach run suited me.

Gieten

Photographic evidence that not all of Colorado is under a few feet of snow. I like to know the option of riding a bike on dry roads is out there. I can't wait to get out and do 6 hours with no real agenda, no efforts that need doing and no place to get to. The snow from today makes me realize how long and far we have to go to get to spring. to the first taste of blood in the back of my throat in the spring crits and the efforts of getting in the work. In between this fantasy world and now there is still work, two more efforts, one ofr the state crown on the one day and both for the state crown in the series. Gieten it's not, Colorado Cross.

Two more

Get your filthy hands off my desert. I am excited to mix up the road miles with dirt miles come January. Time is what the goal is before April. Great Vietnamese food on Saturday. More snow today, better bones takes his hits, it's time to have silent sports. I feel good about the last two races, the weather is looming maybe for some mud, maybe real cross to close out the season. Two more then the plug is pulled. Ready for winter.

Monday

The ghosts can be put to bed in less than two weeks. Two more and that's it. I feel good, I can see thel ight and it's filled with snow. A photo that shows how bad I was feeling, this is early on, probably the first or second lap. I'm can almost see my breakfast thru my uni about to be liberated. It didn't but it was that hard. Dumb, my fault, you would have thought this was my first cross race. I'm smarter than that most times.

Sunday

I know the season is almost finished, I had good legs a week ago, is the air going out that fast? Could it? I doubt it, one more good week of training and carry thru the season's end. Today was tough, no high end, and a third row start to make it harder. I made the front but it cost me, too much to really get my shit together to have a good race. I think I chased too hard too early to make up for the poor start position. Too sharp that early and I'm gassed, especially on a bad day. Two more, game over.

THX

A weekend's worth of posts all at once. Not much to report, bad legs today, better legs next two weekends and then that's it. Rest, I need it, I want it. I think if I had a camera they probably would have got in their cars or horse and buggy and chased me down but how many times do you see a whole family of Amish playing volleyball? It was odd, they looked at me like I was the extra-ordinary one. They had on the whole Randy Quaid-Woody Harrelson Kingpin get up. I was looking for Buttercup in the barn just off the volleyball court. The bike hasn't felt this good in training for a while, Like Sunday it felt like I was riding without a chain. Just flowing thru the roads and over in my head what's left in the season before the little break and start it all over. I wanted more today but settled for less, pre-Thanksgiving Dinner rides are usually more brief than I would like. The fall refuses to let loose to winter, short finger gloves in late November? Odd. I know it'll all come down before long, maybe in time for the last few cross races. Three left. States is all that's left to do this year. State and Boulder series are all but wrapped up, solid results and done. Skinny ski time, silent sports, touring, and Fruitaaaaah. Maybe get some classic skis, easier and slower than skaters, try to go slow until speed matters in April. Slow winter sports makes for fitness later on. No road ragers today. I wove a pleasant little loop on the mellow holiday roads. Too warm to wear what I did but enough to vent. I think I broke my front wheel on the "A" bike, so much for Ksyriums lasting a full cross season. Broken axle, bummer. It feels like the wheel has a bit of play, broken axle, is my guess.

Watch and Listen

Watch this video with the sound on. It would be nice to have some cross footage in here but we don't suffer for 7 hours in a cross race. Look at the clock in some of the clips, pretty impressive.