Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Recap

Let's see... lots to catch up on since last week, but I'll go with the condensed version since A) I've got homework to do and B) you probably don't care anyways (at least pretend you do... humor me).

Friday: Got up late, decided not to bike to work, turned out I should have. It took me longer to drive home than it would to bike home on a bad day... with a headwind... with a flat tire. Got some dinner with the family and then hit the shop to buy a new light, a new helmet for one of the munchkins, and a spare wheel. Stayed up too late watching baseball.

Saturday: Was allowed to sleep in for a bit despite the fact that I was going to spend the middle of the day at the ANT Open House. She really is super :) . Rode the 20ish down to Mike's place then headed out for a leisurely 20 mile ride with the rest of the people who showed. It was a fun parade of some incredible bikes. Afterwards we gorged on some tasty Indian food and general fun was had by all. Sandbagged a little and got a ride home after. Tried to go to bed early while my wife was out with the ladies trying to scrounge free drinks before they flashed the wedding rings and pics of the kiddies :)

Sunday: Family XC adventure. I biked down to the race in a light mist which was an adventure since I had my glasses on and it became a toss up on whether I could see better with or without them. Made it in one piece and then proceeded to stand around in the cold until time to run. I ran with the 5 y.o. this year since I ran with the oldest last year. He did incredible and ran every step of the way. I think he finished at 11 minute pace, but who really cares. Oldest was about 20 seconds in front of him and just needs a little work on pacing and he'll be a speedster. We got some friends to chase the monkeys while both of us lined up for the 5k. Huge field, good XC weather, challenging course. Much fun was had by all and we all needed a nap.

Monday: Mommy was working so it was guys day at the homestead. Killed some time by trying to get the oldest clothes that actually fit him (he's 6 and size 8's fit him well). Then I got the bright idea that the littlest should pick out a hermit crab. The back story is that a friend of the middle one bought him a hermit crab house for his b-day last year. Well that's a signal that we will be buying a hermit crab and better make it 2 so it's "fair". Well I didn't kill the stupid things yet so I figure lets go for broke. Well $100 later we now have 3 hermit crabs living in the Ritz of crab houses. And I'll still be the only one who takes care of them.

Today: Rode in and the ride in kinda sucked. Caught every light red. Traffic where there's never any. Lots of curb feelers on the road (you know... those jackasses who drive like they're in a freaking parking spot on the side of the road). Ah well... made it in one piece. Ride home was much better. Tail wind, cloudy so there was minimal solar glare, felt a little stronger. Did my good deed for the day by stopping to help some nice Australian lady with a flat. Her spare tube was junk and I offered her one (after confirming said tube was junk), but she had already called for a ride so she said thanks anyways.

Ok... not super short after all, but trust me... I can talk way longer than that so if you made it this far be grateful.

Gloucester Saturday... need to be aggressive at the start... that's all I'm telling myself this week.

7 comments:

gewilli said...

good stuff...

looks like a nice light...

have more of a plan than to be aggressive at the start...

you are a good dad... and a good husband...

Props to you my friend...

Looking forward to seeing you ROCK that Moby Dick in Glawster!

How poetic... the moby dick is going to be wrecking havoc on the fishing mecca!!!

solobreak said...

I'm planning a post on controlling aggression. You can lose a lot of time at Gloucester getting stuck behind bottlenecks on the first lap. You can also waste a ton of energy charging into dead-end holes. It's a fine line, but if you can be aggressive in the latter two thirds of the race when the track is more open, that's better than a blow chunks start followed by thirty minutes of backsliding.

trackrich said...

Good point about not taking something that isn't there and ending up worse off.

By being aggressive I mean giving myself more of an opportunity to slide back than a need to move forward. I'm an endurance guy... I'm the guy who passes you because you went out to hard. Case in point: Sunday. XC race had some horses so I bolted off the line and ran the first mile in 5:37. Settled in and ran 6's and continued to pass people. I rarely slide back much in the races I've done so it's about giving myself a chance to do well instead of playing catch up for 40 minutes.

gewilli said...

last year i learned something...

At Plymouth i had a killer start - hung with team mate in the 35+ a race... for part of the first lap... slid back to a mid pack finish (being generous).

Next day: Lowell. Started with zero agression at the start... lined up well back of solobreak and the rest of the schmoes...

and felt great as i work through picking people off to wind up more or less in the same place...

Cronoman is fond of saying, you'll finish where you finish regardless of your start.

Meaning - Erwin could have started from the back row on Saturday and still won (on a proper course, not say, Eco-X).

trackrich said...

I almost believe "you'll finish where you finish", but the odds of top 5 or 10 if you have to stand around waiting for 50 guys to get around the 3 that hooked bars in the first turn are pretty near zero. If those guys go down behind you, you've burned less matches to give yourself a chance.

gewilli said...

that sort of is what is behind my comment "the proper cx course"

bottle necks shouldn't be a factor... IMHO

make the best rider win, not the one with the hole shot and the fastest fingers on bike reg...

Water-hound said...

Hey Rich - I can't PM on the minuteman website cause I don't have any posts - I'm alive!
email me:
rosen at post dot harvard dot edu

i'll catch you up.
Looks like you are having fun -
love the ANT!!!