Speedy

So the dominos fall, not in the order I would like but for sure in a way that the makes you wonder how the hell that dipshit got a second term. Gonzales seemed smug and entitled from the beginning. Good riddance. On a lighter note I caught the coverage of the Tour of Ireland on Versus yesterday, what a great race on epic little eons-old roads. Looked like the world's number team; CSC had trouble keeping the rubber on the ancient tarmac. Unibet showed that after the season-long flogging they have been taking they are still a classy outfit. I guess in France and a few other EU countries you can't be sponsored by a gasp! Gambling Website! BFD... I broke my fancy road shoes over the weekend, I think the good folks at Specialized are going to help me out and give me some new ones. So I ride the mtb shoes on the road bike which is surprisingly comfy. Eat and ride lots today.

Photo Dump

Early snow and too much rain to count. The motivation grows and the weather goes fall. Little peeks at the snow up high. Time to get the narrow knobbies out. Ready?

Blends

Another in the tank, I feel like i navigate a mine field in a straight line as I try to avoid the floating ball in my way. Not that I don't see the the other shapes I just only focus on the round one in my eyes. I get it all in pieces, never all at once. Better that way as the keys to the kingdom and pieces go into their own shapes and places I haven't been to yet. Look at it, make the puzzle fit into your mold, it won't be stale.

Waves

Always trying to work things out the powers that be have to see this as good faith. Paskowitz can't be seen by anyone who is rational to be a polarizing figure. Pretty cool to even try something along these lines. And not get shot.

Break

I have the notes written down (typed) and the words just lack the interest I want them to have. The legs respond but lack extra push, it's all a puzzle, the pieces fit together and the first time it all aligns no matter what it feels like gold. I'm not looking for a handout but the Euros sure seem to have the program figured out. Breaks are key, you miss one and you pay for it one way or another; on the results sheet or on the doctor's bill. Listen to the system, if you ride or race or both the body needs to be heard.

Errors

There are a million things that can go wrong that you have control of and another million that you don't. I lost it to one I had control of. Basic stuff that cost me enough to give Smith a gap i could have closed. I lost because of it. I know now what more I can do. Always learning, Riding the classic mtb ski area course, not like Copper that was all and all down, this was up across down up a bit... Great trails and better conditions I can't think of, bit of rain bit of lightning. The bike and the tyres were better than me, my mistakes cost us a win. The little things added up and the sum wasn't what I had hoped.

Hearing fast

I think I have my volume back up to pre-sick levels but that was so long ago that I don't really know what that should be, a month later in the season and more than that much under the legs over the time it took to get out from under the yuck that bothered me for most of July and the first part of August. Now that it's gone I have good legs and sore ears. Volume is what makes me happy and the time I'm getting on the machine is enough to make my ears hurt. Today it's the right more than the left ear. I guess it's from shoving the ear buds so far in to hear my pod that I hurt them after a while but tenintis hasn't entirely eaten away at my aural senses. I still hear the bears and the coyotes outside every night and the cars passing well before they pass. The dull ache matches any tightness on a given day. With only a few tests left this mtb season b/c for whatever reason the mtb stuff ends in September, I would love to have a mix of mtb and cross in the fall the way they do in the east. The ears hurt, I consider new headphones to relieve the pain but I like it too, the legs feel good and the ears feel bad. more of one and less of the other. I am putting the mental keys together to turn the tumblers in the locks, I have all of the keys, i started getting them on the ring not long after the end of cross in December, now I have the pieces to the puzzle arranged from short hours but lots of them. Life isn't always able to allow for 5 hour rides. It all fits together and I have the template to get through the puzzle, either go at it like a bull or more subtle like a antelope. They go uphill better and work in tighter spaces more efficiency, not all that horsepower to slow them down. Less is less. Less is more.

The Beautiful Game

Easily one of the most impressive displays of skill from the Sven Nys of football.

Close up

I saw sketchball today, one of the characters I see around town as I start my commute, his ratty look is pretty hard to miss and the way he leers at nearly everything is creepy to put it nicely. I think i have heard him say four words and the time a few years ago that he beat a strangers dog outside the grocery only made me more aware of him. He needs help. The other weird thing is all the different colors that come out after a rain the path seems littered with new shades of blue, purple and deeper greens than I have seen. All of the wild flowers are turning new shades, warm, more humid days followed by light rains and the sun shining the rest of the day has the colors on extra bright. I see a new flower everyday that brings another new shade of green to it's supporting leaf.

Look

Weird things on the path and the A & W had cool things to say, just in case you haven't been saved you can rely on your local shitty fast-food place to help you out of eternal damnation. The hat was an odd vision early in the morning, sort of creepy to see a child's hat laying upside down on the path.