glare ice on the road this am on the way in, i made it without too much trouble, i didn't come off which was a victory. it's shaubie's birthday so we didn't get her up to the boys lenses at 5, she slept in, life is hard enough, your birthday should be a special day with special treats, like sleeping extra if you want to. i left her card on the counter and gave her the present when i escaped to go home at 7 to do the lenses, beckham was great, he let me put them in without much hassle, having a 6 month old who wears contacts is definitely a different hurdle to jump. shaubie loved the jacket i got her, it's a beautiful isis softshell...... mmmm softshell crab..... really warm and super-high-tech. i also found her a cool little toque, i hope it's a good day. i'm still going back and forth on the slide for the winter, tele or snowboard? i need new snowboard boots, but that's nothing just a few phone calls to see who can give the hook, and i only need boots, not a board and binders. the old boots never quite fit right, kind of a dissapointment, usually northwaves are great but i think i gave myself a bad fit on them. tele skiing even if i got help would be a big outlay, a lot more than a pair of snowboard boots. the idea of learning to tele is pretty appealing, but the money out is not. i almost have my pack all set up for winter rides. i just need to get a few more emergency things and it'll be all set. pump not co2, an extra tire lever in case one snaps on a snowy trail, and a few patches, it sure beats walking home.

the flu is pretty much gone, just the lingering aches that come with a 9 hour ab workout. i didn't ride today, instead it was a great afternoon walk on the trails with the boys, number 1 was thrilled to be out in the snow, and little b was happy for a while then i think he got cold. the trail was perfect, not very slick even for a guy with a baby on his chest. i was looking for animal tracks but it had snowed all day and the little guys were probably sleeping off the mornings work. not that i know exactly what tracks are what but it is pretty cool to try and figure out what creature is running around the woods. the peaks are all covered and the snow is very light because it's been so cold, it's wonderful! i'm debating what kind of slide i want to use this year, the tele skis would be a fun challenge but the snowboard is such an old friend, i can't abandon it. splitting time would be ok if i didn't have to buy gear, the board is here and the skis are not. some good music and a morning of fresh powder or even corduroy and i'm a happy piglet! just a few hours is all it takes then you go into town for lunch and home by 1 with a pm walk with the boys on the trails or even a little ski tour and the day is perfect.

flu

i got the flu at some point on sunday, not really sure when perhaps it was during the race that it hit me, i had a good start and i was going well, keeping the leaders withing striking distance, top 5 or so, and then i just started to fade. odd because i made sure i didn't start too hard, not the full on ballistic cross start that is the norm, i was rolling in fourth or fifth and then the laps started to take so much out of me, sections i would normally flow through were taking so much more energy. it was around this point that i got cross gut pretty badly, not sure what end it going to leave by, i think the race pushed the flu more to the front. i went backwards about 20 minutes in, and then i just had nothing left. on the way home i was dealing with a rolling stomach that wasn't too bad. shaubie started to hurl about 11 or midnight and i wasn't far behind. my dinner was mostly gone from my stomach but the heaves weren't so pleasant. oh well, i'm feeling better now. hopefully i can get out for a snow ride tomorrow with number 1, i know that would make him happy. he loves the snow so much, it's his favorite season, dogs and snow just go together, well longer haired ones at least. i feel bad for dogs with short hair that can't enjoy the winter weather. winter is here.

lost in the supermarket

i made it in early over snow covered roads and dirt that were not as slick as yesterday, the crossbike didn't even slip once. i got a good ride afterwork to open up the legs. the snow was blowing a bit and the peaks looked beautiful snowcovered, the ski area even looked good. the grocery on the way home was a challenge, the bike geek coustume a week after halloween was an attention getter in the aisles. the pack, the suit, everything was a source of entertainment for my fellow shoppers. the whole time i had the clash song playing in my head "i'm all lost in the supermarket, i can no longer shop happily" i saw an old boss who i really didn't have anything to say to, she got me fired for some reason that i won't bore anyone with, but when i saw her a few months ago she acted like we were old friends, i try not to have anger towards anyone but some people get me going. meanwhile i'm thinking clash and enjoying the song in my head (no portable music today) while i shop. finally i filled my list and got the hell out of the store and back into my pleasant little two-wheeled world for the ride home. enjoy the music: i'm all lost in the supermarket i can no longer shop happily i came in here for that special offer i guaranteed personality i wasn't born so much as I fell out nobody seemed to notice me we had a hedge back home in the suburbs over which I never could see i heard the people who lived on the ceiling scream and fight most scarily hearing that noise was my first ever feeling that's how it's been all around me

i woke at 4.40am to see the world a little bit brighter than normal. i thought that the new snow would make for a fun ride in on the crossbike without a lot of ice, you know fresh tracks on the road and little bit of trail, but instead it was ice, not the fun rocky mountain snow and little bit of packed snow with a spot of ice every so often, instead it was black ice the whole way into work. i made it to the donut shop (daylight donuts) and got my pinecone and was almost to work when i made a left, or actually my bike made a left without me, before i knew it i was on the ground bouncing off my shin, again right on the same spot as the last two falls. when i tried to get up my first thought was oh shit, more bloody pants. luckily my leg wasn't bleeding too much. work was good today, not any problems and i was a good boy all day. after work i got on the bike and did a bunch hill repeats, the body and legs weren't thrilled with my choice of workouts but it was better than 90 minutes of soft-pedaling while freezing, it was maybe 30 degrees outside. the hill was good and long and the road was mostly ice-free, i felt good doing one more than i had wanted to do, and the legs were responsive to the work the lungs really hurt, i thought i was going to hurl on the second to last effort, good stuff! a mellow spin home and then a great dinner of salmon, salad, orzo and biscuits. a great day. i feel so much better when i get to actually train.

i got in a great ride today at lunch, the ride into work was pretty cool, the roads were a bit icy and the road bike offered little traction. i went in the longer way and found the clock agreeable when i got there, not late! tomorrow i get to stop for a donut. the am was pretty good, i was in a good mood to get back to work, and the day flew right to noon for my ride. it wasn't too warm out so we went right into to the work, i only had an hour or so to ride as i had to get back to work, we suffered well in the wind and got in a great block of work. i felt like a racer for about an hour or so. i got back to work and showered and felt like i actually did a workout. i think this week will be a good one, i'll get in my rides hopefully at lunch and be flying for sunday, the course is a new one and the venue is said to have grass, grass! i'm trying to stay rested and fed this week, if it goes well maybe i can get top 5 on sunday, the boulder kids will all be there so the pace will be high, i need to avoid the problems of the last few weeks. it'll be snowy this weekend, that always helps me a bit. my break today from beckham was a quiet day. i missed him a lot. i'm learning to feed him when i should so we get sleep, not letting him dictate the pace but setting it for him. it didn't snow that much just a bit of flurries. the skies were gray all day, little bits of winter flowing in and giving us a picture of what's not far off. i'm looking forward to getting on the trails, the skis are ready, last winter we went so much and Shaubie was pregnant, this winter if we have snow it'll be even more frequent. i want to do more of the bigger point to point treks, colorado trail and bigger stuff up and over west ridge, more of a challenge. good long days on the snow.

today didn't offer me the opportunity to appreciate the new weather we are getting in the land of the evil empire. i guess vail resorts' (owners of breck) efforts to seed the clouds paid off the past two days. regardless of the way the weather was caused it is cool to see. maybe in the next two weeks i'll get myself up to the ski area to get my pass to more enjoy the beauty of early winter. in the meantime i'm going to stay on singletracks and watch the way the trails get all glazed and the ebb and flow of fall into winter, only last week we were in the mid-50s. so i don't think it's over yet, fall that is. beckham gave me a challenge all day, only right now am i getting a little break (nap for him) i hope i can get some motivation to get out there tomorrow and train. i'm trying to get over my woe-is-me mindset and get my shit together to have a good week of training, i'm not in the hole too far, i need one good day on the bike with a lot of work, and then a few days of base miles. now i just need to get my high end work done and then a few days of medium pace work. i'm starting to think that nationals may be out. we are going to hawaii the second week of january and i may be at the limit of reason to even suggest going to portland, oregon for nats. we still need tickets to hawaii and for little timmy to get to nationals may a stupid idea. the body is getting ready for a bit more of a break than last year, perhaps three weeks off from the last race. the important thing is that when i start i really make it be work, not half-assed until i get going in mid-january after hawaii but good short weeks of work until i can get in the big days. maybe a regular diet of fixy, goin' old skool. enough training crap. i'm pretty sure i still can place well this season, the guys who beat me sunday don't normally do so, so as long as the confidence comes back from some good training days i'll get back to the place i should be. tim blew that theory to hell, he came sixth in the b race saturday and sunday while not riding since the previous sunday's race. some peole are just gifted!

today started at 12.30 am, i woke up with the leg of my pjs blood-welded onto the recently refinished scab area on my calf. so i went in to the bathroom to remove them and found a way to make myself nauseous by peeling it off. i read for two hours unable to sleep, those nutty mormons crack me up! the way they all talk to god is so nice. one after another with the revelations! so the three hours of sleep i managed to get didn't quite prepare me for the challenge of little b. he was quiet for the trip to get mail but aside from that he was the child-care equivalent of paris-roubaix. i wanted to stay busy so he would be tired and active and all the stuff you do to keep a baby interested. but i faded before he did and we had a mexican stand off, i lost. we went to the grocery and decided on a truce for the 45 minutes it took us to fill the list, oh yeah and the $100 we spent. we only forgot a few things that were on the list and remembered one thing that wasn't. no ride today, it snowed all day outside and the rollers weren't calling today, too tired and blown out from the race yesterday and the day today with b. shaubie cooked this really good dinner from the la travigne cookbook, the restaurant where we ate in st. helena on our honeymoon. chicken and potatoes with a rosemary-italian parsley pesto and really good spinach salad. no junk food from the store today, i did however fall of the wagon and get a donut on the way to get mail. i was reading about tim hortons support of the canadian cycling federation and i just wanted a donut! i got a fritter, different from my usual choice (bearclaw) but i was lacking in the calorie department, or at least i thought i was. i bribed a guy to get me the stone for my shed today, and the lumber showed up. i can't wait to get it done so i can hang all the bikes and be organized. and not have to go under the house to get a bike out.

today didn't go so well, i finished pretty well (7th) but the mistakes were there all over again, this time I leaned over on the wet road and hit pretty hard on the same area i opened last sunday in that crash, my front wheel just all of a sudden was gone. the weather was great- mid 40s and wet/foggy no real mud but plenty of moisture in the air. it felt like a midwinter day in the east. it was a really fun course with good transions from road to dirt about 6 times a lap. after my fall i chased hard but never got back to the group that was racing for third. i think had i made it i had shot at fourth or so. the bikes were great i just need to lower pressure for moist days. then i got a coffee at wildoats with really good half-half and sugar. those hippies sure can pick a good coffee blend. i hope i sleep ok, tomorrow is shaubie's first day at the new job and i have little b all day, i need to be rested to handle the little man.

we got a new time system at work and even though i don't need a half hour to start my workday the powers thought i did. so instead of putting in beckham's contacts and rolling into work at a reasonable 15 minutes prior now i have to be there no later than 23 minutes prior. 23 minutes, doesn't that sound too corporate, when was the last time you thought wow i have to be there in 23 minutes? or, oh shit, we're 23 minutes late! it sucks because i have about 15 minutes of work to do in 23 minutes. it means i look for other stuff to do so i can be productive with my "extra time." i know the workplace isn't supposed to inspire creativity unless your an artist or at best an ad person but punching in seems so vail resorts or prison-like. oh well, i'll just need to get my shit together before bed so i just need to do the boys lenses and get on the bike. maybe a bowl of granola if there's time. the little trek that it is to work isn't bad, 10 minutes is all it takes. I may try to lengthen it, but who wants more time at 5.30 in the morning. i guess when the snow comes it will be the mtb or the maybe fixy if i want to push the season, and the traction. the fact is it doesn't what it is as long as it has two wheels and me pushing some pedals. the beauty of the bike, oddly safe, or seemingly safe at 5.30 in the morning. i can count on both hands the number of cars i saw on the way to work this week. except for yesterday, my bitch neighbor felt the need to pass me just before the stoplight when i was going the speed limit. absolutley no need, i however made her pass on the left side of the road. i was riding right where i should at that speed, about a meter in from the right shoulder, and straight. i hate shitty drivers.