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.

On NPR this morning I heard a very sad thing, Johnny Cash had died. Being only a fan the past few years his farther reaching influence was loost on me. I just thought this guy to be an old country singer that a lot of newer artist were fans of. When bands I liked when I was younger mentioned the man in black as an icon, I thought you know I should listen to more Johnny Cash to hear the influence in their music. when I finally got around to getting his music on my high-speed napster account at school a few years ago I was hooked. I had to hide the napster account files in a secretly named folder in the harddrive where nobody would look, it was great I got to learn about good music and how to hide stuff on a computer that wasn’t really mine to load 500 or so songs onto! I learned all about how to hide stuff, maybe someday that knowledge will be helpful in the real world! The ability to learn about these artists without spending a ton of money on cds I didn’t know to be the right ones to learn about music new to me. The high speed didn’t hurt either. I can’t wait to have high speed at home. Well enjoy life because you never know when you can’t ride or hear "I walk the line" listen to new music...

Today I had soup for lunch, a really good tamale soup that was just the right side of spicey, sometimes it's nice to have the simple treat of good lunch, not that it's a super big deal but it's pretty cool to have such a good hearty lunch. I rode alone this afternoon, thinking I was riding with a few people I didn't put the mp3 in my bag. My mistake. I rode some singletrack and dirt road and path to get in some good work but overall it wasn't too great. My front tire was a bit low, so on every rock I thought it was going to flat. As my mom and grandfather are here we had a wonderful dinner at home, good pasta with chicken and asparagus. Last night the four of us went to the Hearthstone and Shaubie and I had what amounted to a sushi salad. It was raw seared tuna on a bed of really good greens, the tuna was crusted with sesame and the greens were dressed with a really good soy-wasabe compound. Once or twice I got such a wasabe rush my eyes watered and I almost choked! I wish sushi was as cheap as PB&J, I'd eat it all the time. Imagine surf clam for lunch and spicy tuna as an after-ride snack! mmmmm sushi. Does anyone besides me read this? Oh well it's just my ideas.

I got back on the road bike and I feel like I’m on the trolley again, The bike has never felt better, some more cross stuff and a bit of running and I might pull off a good ride next saturday in Breck. The odds are good that my legs will show up, I can’t have that many shitty races in Summit County in a row...or can I? Tomorrow is the second cross ride, a break is just what i needed. I'm really doing intervals for the first time in a while, structure is good! Perhaps a day of motor pace work with a day of cross course stuff and not much else other than a long day of hard stuff on dirt roads, around 11-13 hours a week. Erwin would be proud. Beckham has been good aside from periodic meltdowns, the eyes are in good shape, and we think the boy is teething! He is eating his hand a lot more than normal and isn’t too thrilled if he is left alone. I hope the cross race happens next week...