Do foot rides count as a workout?

So I did run today, but I'm wondering if I get bonus points for giving the boys foot rides around the house... you know, the little tyke sits on top of your foot, wraps their arms around your leg, and off you go. I should mention that the little tykes weigh 65 and 49 pounds. I had them switch legs part way around the house for balance. Maybe I'll use that as my gauge of how out of shape I am... if I can make it a couple laps with them latched on then I don't totally suck yet...

Choices

I've said it before... life's all about choices... grad school vs. relaxing... bike racing vs. homework vs. sleep, commuting vs. a shoe box with a small yard, do-it-yourself house projects vs. needing them to actually get done... choices. Too many of them sometimes. I'm not always sure I'm making the right ones lately. I'm still in a hole and still digging. I hope I hit the bottom soon...

This rambling bit of self-pity has been brought to you by Senseo coffee, Bentley College, and the letter F...

Positive?

I guess cross is a sport where you can put a positive spin on 29th place. Canton results are up and that's where I finished. Now this is pretty much deserving of a big "So what", but if you look at it a different way:

- There were 98 finishers (well over 100 started)
- By my estimate, I had to have been in 50th - 60th place going into the field on lap 1
- I rode what I'd consider to be my worst first lap ever
- I'm still ~3 minutes behind the winners on what I'd consider to be a far more technical course than Gloucester

So I can keep my chin up a little bit I guess. Odds are I'm not going to get much better this season unless I pull a special race out of my butt one of these weekends. Ah well... it's still fun.

Contrast

I'm sure I'll pay for it, but I decided to take a mental break from home work to get some race reports up...

This weekend was all about contrast... in courses, weather, results, race setup... everything. Saturday was the race down in Brockton which had been described to me as the "most ghetto race ever". As I told the guys after the race... I'm not sure I'd go with ghetto, but I think low-budget is definitely a fair description. The race site was relatively easy to find, but there wasn't a hell of a lot to find. No mob of racers there 2 hours early, no tell-tale course tape... just a reg tent and a finish line tent and I wonder if those would have been there if it wasn't raining. Now granted it was early since I was in the first race, but it was looking pretty barren. Turned out to be not nearly as cold as I thought so the rain was ok. I headed out on my own to check out the course only to find that about half of it wasn't even set up yet as evidenced by me getting lost repeatedly. Fortunately the park was small so I couldn't go far. The most striking feature of this first sorta lap was the pavement... everywhere. Start on pavement, turn onto a short section of grass and trail with a log barrier, back onto a long stretch of Roubaix-esque pavement, little bit of dirt path, over a bridge, couple turns on grass, more pavement. Ditch off the pavement for about 10 seconds, back onto pavement, ditch off a couple more times, u turn on pavement, random useless detour to the left right before the finish (on pavement), repeat. It was also as close to flat as you'll find. All the pavement was slick so I saw several cases of road rash before we even started. Anywho... maybe 30 of us line up and the RD announces that he's got merch for 12-15 placed deep so keep racing... sweet! The whistle blows and as usual I let everyone including the guy with the big fat padded seat ride away from me. I paid for it at the log barrier as some guy face planted and f'd us all up. Lead 10 or so were gone already... great. I further messed myself up by taking a momentary dismount after jamming my front wheel into a hole mid-turn. I did manage to remount quickly and only momentarily lost a couple spots. The rest of the race went like this: sprint out corner, drop the guy with me, catch the next guy, do the same to him. I did have one guy who hung right on my wheel for over a lap and then I finally gapped him at some point and I think he later went down which finished him. I was happy to drop the last guy I was with going over the triple barrier at the bridge. I sprinted over it, remounted clean, and exited hard and I think that did him in. Rolled home 8th, missed my one point by maybe 15 seconds, and got some blinky light things. The layer of grunge on me and the bike was impressive and signaled a pretty fun low-budget race morning.

Today's race at Canton can best be described in one word: SUCK! Since I'm way less positive on it I'll even use a different format to add to the contrast from Saturday:

- Dragged my ass out of bed early, drove to the race, parking lot was empty, realized race was at 10, not 9.
- Tried to nap, had already finished a coffee... no luck
- At least it was sunny...
- Third warmup lap I found out that I'm not G. I was going around a right hand turn in the field and the front tire peeled off the rim. I had used the clinchers Saturday since I was going with higher pressure anyways due to the pavement. Tubies had been tested Thursday and had made it through 2 laps great. Lap 3 I just leaned a little going into the turn and that was it.
- Had to carry my bike back to the car, pull the wheels off, change into my running shoes, run to the pits where my other wheels already were, run back, change the wheels, and find myself with 10 more minutes until lineup
- Lined up second row, couldn't find my pedal at first, when I did find it I pedaled with the aggression of Barney. I don't know where I was at the start, but I sure wasn't in the race.
- Rode lap 1 like a total pansy and probably slower than my first warmup lap which is always slow
- Lap 2 it was race time (finally) and I started absolutely flying. Would love to have known how much faster I was that lap.
- Lap 3 I paid for lap 2 and Saturday's race. Still passing guys, but not as quickly
- ONLY bright spot was that I saw a teammate off in the distance on the final lap and reeled him all the way back in. Caught him right before the final barrier, gapped him, mounted clean, and rode away. I hate to do it to a teammate, but if you're ahead of me at the end of the race, you're probably fair game.

Ok, so now I've just rambled and wasted too much homework time. That's all for now... I might have some more coherent thoughts later or tomorrow.

MIA

So I don't think I've reached the point of being de-listed by G for lack of content, but I've definitely been lax in posting anything. Work is a total beat down right now. I barely have time to take a leak, let along blog about it. The combination of school and home isn't much better. So to all 3 of you (I've progressed from having 2 known readers), my apologies for not giving you more stuff to waste your time reading :)

Should have some good race reports by late Sunday. Brockton Saturday, Canton Sunday. Bling wheels/tires get the maiden voyage tonight so as long as I don't roll one in the schoolyard up the road, I'll get the full test run Saturday. I might even be sporting the all new long-sleeve sausage casing, uh, skinsuit this weekend as long as I guessed right at the sizing. Most likely either I'll look like my son would if he put my bib shorts on or the sleeves will be at my elbows... if either is the case I'll get pictures.

Thank you sir may I have another...

Super short one

It's 7:30 a.m., I've been at work for an hour, and I'm already swamped. I actually was pre-screwed when I determined I couldn't come in Saturday. Anywho... decent weekend all things considered. Awesome ride yesterday. About 2 hours of combo riding on roads and trails on the cross bike. I felt it the rest of the day so I'm counting it as a good workout. Signed up last night for Brockton, Canton, and N. Hampton so that's my near-term plans. I also have plane tix to KS now so I'm official (I suppose I should find somewhere to stay too). This week is going to be insane. Let's see if I can keep the mojo from yesterdays ride going.

Streptococcus pyogenes

So where's G when you need a good microscope picture? At least now I have an excuse for feeling like ass this week. The story goes that after my last post where I thought I was nearly better, I took a turn back the other way. Last night my throat started to hurt again on the right side where it had started. It was kinda sore all the time and when I swallowed it felt like I had a stick stuck through it. Today I got up and it was no better, and possibly worse. I felt better overall than the beginning of the week so it was less annoying, but it definitely hurt. So I finally gave in and called the doctor. 3 hours later I finally hear from the on-call doctor who essentially chastises me for not having gotten a throat culture after a week with a sore throat. So I pack me and my take-home midterm in the car and head off to urgent care. Fortunately it wasn't a popular day to get sick or hurt so they were pretty quick to get me in and discover that I did in fact have strep. It surprised the heck out of the doctor because none of the symptoms were quite standard, but the test was very positive so that sealed it. 10 days worth of antibiotics for me and, sadly, a week's worth of training lost. Oh well, back at it tomorrow once the mold pills have kicked in.

So last night was another funny story. I get the idea in the morning that the Celtics game in Worcester would probably be a good take for me and the boys. I bought my dad a ticket too and got him to go pick them up during the day so we didn't have to wait in the line when we got there. So the boys were sufficiently impressed with the game and we were having a pretty good time until they canceled it at half time. For anyone who didn't read the news about it, they basically left the rink down and put the court on top of it, but unfortunately it was about 70 degrees yesterday so the ice started to melt and then they had condensation puddles all over the court. The coaches and players agreed it was unsafe to play so they called it. Well there was a near riot and 6 people were arrested for disorderly conduct. We blew out of there because the boys were clearly uncomfortable with the boos and shouts from the angry mob that was forming. I really wasn't that bothered by it so maybe that'll be a good example for them some day. Best news is that the team had a press release this morning saying they're issuing refunds.

Ok, back to the game (and beer). Go Sox!

I'm nearly well... now I just suck again

So that little chapter of bodily dysfunction was short lived (unless there's a relapse), but now I probably set myself back 2 weeks worth of training. Monday I was too ill to think. Tuesday I was functional if I kept the DayQuil drip running. Wednesday I felt almost well enough to do something active, but I've also been taking a MAJOR beating at work lately so I was tied up at work and then I had school. Today I brought stuff to run at lunch and then found myself with basically 12-2 to prepare for a 2 hour presentation (at 2) that was only about 1/2 done. Said presentation went to 4:30 and then it was an hour 15 to drive home. So here I sit, beer in hand, getting fatter and slower. Argh. Maybe if I catch up on the house work and the game is interesting I'll set up the trainer. Either that or I'll just put in a 4 day hammer fest between tomorrow and Monday to repent. I hate when the responsible side of life gets in the way of the fun side of life.

Not much else worth rambling about right now. I may have mentioned that I finally threw in the towel and I'm hiring out (to dad) for all major house projects. Finished basement is slated to start in a couple weeks so now I just have to do more of that responsibility thing to pay for it. It'll be nice to start to get a little more space. Still have dreams of building or buying some sort of shed or workshop that's directly attached to the back of the garage as my official bike room/workshop. Have to see if I can get approval from the chair(wo)man for that one...

If I get buried again tomorrow, happy racing this weekend all you crazy cross kids.

I am not well

Alternate title: It sucks getting old

It's been seeming like my roughly once per year sickness hits harder every year which is either a factor of getting old or having kids or both. Well this seems to be further proof. By Sunday night after dinner, all I wanted to do was go to bed and I could already tell that work was doubtful for yesterday. From watching my dad growing up, I learned that sick days just don't exist unless you have a limb hanging off (and that's debateable) or you have been restrained by the doctors so you know it was bad. Yesterday morning I just couldn't physically get out of bed. I slept for about 11 hours and then spent the whole day just doing basically nothing because it was about all I could muster to even be out of bed doing nothing. I got to bed early and decided to wait until this morning to decide on coming in today. When the alarm went off I at least felt like I was functional enough to drive myself to work and speak coherently so here I am. Unfortunately, it's sort of spiraling at this point... the weekend of racing should have left me in desparate need of food and water, but my terrible sore throat is making eating and drinking difficult so now I'm becoming weak and dehydrated. I took some more drugs to take the edge off and I'm now forcing myself to eat and drink. Sadly, I think what this means is that I'll be taking this coming weekend off from racing and catching up on everything I'm not doing right now.

Anywho... all this sitting around writing my sob story is wrinkling my skirt so I'll stop now. Besides, it could be worse... at least I don't have a horribly painful affliction of the ass. Sorry man that you're pain is my bright side...

Glawstah

Like the rest of the cross racing web, I had to get up a recap of the weekend in racing. I'll actually skip ahead to last night first when I came down with something that is currently kicking my ass. It's a good thing I raced early yesterday, because by the time I headed home I felt like crap with a terrible sore throat and headache. It was bad enough this morning that I just simply didn't get out of bed. Honestly, I'm not feeling much better so I hope this passes. My wheels did show up today and I got the tires mounted to stretch so that makes me feel a little better :) By the way, as soon as the tires are glued, I've got a set of Ksyrium Elites up for sale. Brand new going into the season and they've been raced 5 times with some associated training. $300 or b.o.

So the race reports... I have to say that both days went relatively well all things considered. Being in the front row was huge for me since I have a horrible tendency to get off the line and then settle in behind people instead of fighting my way through. In contrast, one of the guys on the team was 50 or 60 places back at the start line and Saturday he passed me before turn 1 and Sunday he passed me before the top of the road. I got him back, but still, he put on a clinic off the line. Both races were very similar for me so no real need for separate reports. I got off the line fairly well although Sunday I missed my pedal at first. I did at least 5 laps of the course as warmup both days so there were no secrets at all. I knew where to lay off the brakes, which line I liked, which parts got chewed up throughout the day Saturday. Saturday we did 5 laps and I was about 3:30 back from the winner. Sunday was did 6 laps and I was about 3:30 back from the winner. I was pumped when they put up the extra lap because I knew I'd have more time to pick guys off and ride away from others. I did the math and I was averaging about 30 seconds a lap faster Sunday as was the rest of the field I'm sure since it was more dry and packed. I rode the course relatively clean both days so in the end I think I did all I could do. I was in no man's land both days so I had no chance to catch the group ahead and I could sit up without worrying about the guys behind. I guess now all I have to do is get more training in so I can close that gap to the leaders before December. It was great to get cheers from all over and to have lots of guys to yell for. The team did incredible with 6 or 7 podiums between the 2 days and about 20 guys racing. Sunday the family came up and me and the oldest stayed until the end of the men's elite which was a blast. He was all into running back and forth between the barriers and the SRAM up and down thingy. Good times were had by all.

OK, I need food or a nap or both. I get sick maybe once a year and it sucks every time I do.

A tribute of sorts...

So I had this great uncle Walter who passed away last year. As kids we visited Walter's house regularly enough that we all have lots of memories. He was the cool relative that you wanted to go see... lived on an apple orchard, had an air hockey table in his house, in-ground pool in the back yard, let kids practice driving this old beater car when they were like 14, had a ham radio in his basement and postcards from all around the world from his radio friends... all around cool guy. I learned just last year he was also a decorated war vet and one of the first to arrive and free people from the concentration camps at the end of the war. As it turns out, Walter also liked those visits enough to include the family in a (very) small portion of his estate. The simple fact he did really choked us up all over again.

So when the charities, kids, and house were done with my little slice, me and the mrs. each got something nice. Solo with his impeccable timing tipped me off to a steal on Ksyrium tubulars on the same day I found out about all this so my something nice was, of course, bike bling. And I still don't know how to glue a tire...

The Belgian Way or the Old School Way

Ok, there's a back story, but I found myself with some fancy tubulars so now I'ze gots some learnin to do... Can anyone comment on whether there's a difference in strength or amount of work to glue some tires if I do the old school multiple coats of glue method or the supposed "Belgian method" of a layer or two of glue on the rim and tire sandwiched on a layer of tape? The glue-n-tape method seems faster, but faster is not always better...

Back story later

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.

Timeout

I have lots of catch up to do, but this one was priceless as a starting point...

The "timeout spot" for our 2 year old is to go sit in front of the dishwasher on the kitchen floor for 2 minutes. He gets put there a lot these days. So yesterday he starts hauling these chairs from the playroom out to the kitchen and I asked him what he was doing. He said "I need go timeout". OK... so I watch him proceed to set himself up with the sweet digs for his regular timeout sessions:

Not the training week I would have planned

So somehow this week went to hell from a training standpoint. I'm real big on the idea of hammering yourself 2 and 1 weeks before an event and then taking the week leading up to it really easy. So I got in some decent riding last week, raced twice on Sunday and then... then... crickets. I ran Monday with some dead tired legs. Tuesday was a forced day off because I had to go spend an hour and a half in a dentist's chair. That one really hosed me because Tuesday is almost never an off-day. Yesterday I tried to salvage something by heading out after work and running over to the common. When I got there I found a short steep grassy hill (not un-rideable steep, but the best I could find in downtown Boston) and did all-out sprint repeats up said hill. Sprint up, jog back down, repeat 20 times. I was approaching that feeling of wanting to vomit by the end so I at least know I went hard enough. The legs were also a little wobbly on any remote incline running back so I knew I did something. No biking though. My plan tonight is to get out of here early enough to ride before my wife's soccer game and then ride in tomorrow. The weekend is a question mark so we'll see. Sunday there's a cross country race that my kids are doing and I'll probably race too. Maybe I'll ride there first and make that the last real hard day before Gloucester. We'll see...

Tubular or not... that is the question

So I'm in the market for a spare rear wheel for the cross bike. While I'm not nearly good enough (yet) to justify not just walking off the course if I flat, I am stubborn and competitive enough to want to sprint to the pits, change a wheel, and get back at it. I'm going to get in the habit of bringing pit wheels, but as of right now the garage is showing 2 fronts and no rears. So then I got thinking... hey, if I'm buying a rear wheel anyways, would it be worth it to go tubular on the rear, use the rear clincher as the spare, and just keep the front clincher on. One cross friendly wheel/tire combo is better than nothing... right?

Now for those of you who might still be reading and have a) no idea what I'm talking about, and b) couldn't care even if you did, you must understand that these are the questions that bike racers, and cross racers specifically, love to obsess over. Hell G spent like 4 days talking about what kind of brakes were best... Combine and engineering/scientist type with a bike racer and you've got more material for obsessive conversations about details than you can ever imagine.

Anywho... so maybe sometime soon I'll have reason to learn to glue a tubular. We'll see where I go with that. First I have to buy a new light so I can survive riding to work and still have a reason to worry about this. Stupid short days...

Amesbury Report(s)

What a wild a tiring weekend this was (like most are). I came close to overdoing it this time, but we made it through. Saturday morning I met one of the guys at 7 for an hour of pre-race cross practice, then it was home for a quick shower and off to soccer, then it was off to pick up one of my golf partners for the day, then it was 5 hours worth of mediocre golf, then dinner, then drop the guy off, then a dinner party, then finally bed at 11:30. Sunday it was off to Amesbury at about 6:30, beginners race at 9, hang out till 11:30, get my son ready for the kids race at 12:30, get myself ready for the 3/4 race at 1, finish the race, pack up the kids, lunch for the kids, home to unpack the car, dinner and typical house stuff, finally crashed at 10. Phew...

So the race(s) can probably be categorized as acceptable. After last week's debacle, anything would have been better and I felt great Saturday putting in some intervals and doing some cross skills. Beginner race lined up with about 6 of us from the club in there. We got started almost 15 minutes late because they had this really hairy sort of off-camber downhill into a stair run up that the officials made them take out at the last second. Finally the whistle blows and we're off, but the charge is interrupted quickly. There was basically a funnel maybe 100 yards into the course where you had to squeeze between 2 trees adorned with hay bails. Well someone clipped or rode into the right hand one and it fell over right into the course and right in front of yours truly. OK, nice... another shitty start position. Got around that nonsense and it was the usual mayhem of weaving through crowds and guys trying to establish a position. The course was ok, but to be honest the half (or more) that was wooded could have easily been a mountain bike course. The roots were just ridiculous and I don't know how I survived the whole day without a flat. I was handling the bike well and I felt 100 times better than last week so that was all positive. With 2 to go, I was reeling in the group that was the back end of the top 20 and had 2 of my teammates in it and I know I would have closed it until... On the right hand hairpin before the barriers I leaned over too far and caught a root and out went the rear wheel. Hopped up and got on the bike to find the chain was off (always check first kids). It took what felt like forever to get it back on and the whole time guys were going by me. Finally I got motoring again, but mentally, I just went into the mode of knowing I had another race to do. I got several guys back and ended up I think 26th, but I should have been well within the top 20 so that was a disappointment.

I had zero expectations for the 3/4 race. I'm at the line chatting with one guy and I noticed G had decided to make the drive worthwhile and line up for the second race too. He tells me to come over next to him because it's a better line through the 2 trees and that way he can also just suck my wheel the whole race. Oh, and Lynn B was there again to give all the boys a whooping. So we head off and into the funnel it stacks up again. This time I ride right up G's ass, thought I could stand on it long enough to keep going, but I had to put a foot down and that was all she wrote. I was DFL going into the barriers so I instantly went into the mode of "this will be a nice practice session". That said, I kept "racing" the whole time and continued to pick off guys who were also not having races you want to brag about. My "victory" of the race came when I actually got to hear the bell for one to go and I hadn't seen the leaders yet... Aw yah... no lappage this week.

Overall, a very fun day of racing. Course wasn't anything great, but most of blog-land was out so I got to see G and CTodd and talked to lots of people who had seen the bike here. There was some good mojo from the crowds too and even when you're DFL you like to look good for the cowbell ringers so it keeps you going. My son did great in the kids race, especially with it being his first one. He was disappointed because he went down in the turny section and fell behind a little. I tried to point out all the positives of his first race, but he's so hyper-competitive that I don't think he was buying it. He did say he wants to know when the next one is so at least he's not giving up.

Nature is still cool

Someone was busy at my house Sunday night:

Anyone care to vote?

Ok, so maybe only the riders out there will care to vote...

I need a new headlight for my bike. Uses will be commuting (on lots of suburban unlit streets), cyclocross training, some mountain biking. Minimum run time of 3+ hours to get me to and from work. Max price $400, but preferrably closer to $300. Helmet mount option required.

Too many options, too much data. Defaulting to first hand recommendations. C'mon G... you've got an opinion on everything...

Time for a couple stories

One for the bike racing crowd, one for the parents:

#1:
So we had all kinds of chatter going on in the club message board after Sunday's race. One of the guys commented that he watched the 3/4 race from the pits with Stu Thorne who coaches and pits for Lyne Bessette and that they had noticed the bike. So then he goes on to tell say that now even the elite crossers know about the beast and throws in "... and Stu was even rooting for you a little at the end to not get lapped by Lyne". Hmmmm, should I feel better that a pro coach thinks I have a pretty enough bike to give me a pity cheer? Maybe if he's offering some free coaching so I suck less then I'll feel better :) It's all good though... cross is a season where you have to be able to laugh at yourself because there WILL be something to laugh at yourself for.

#2:
My boys were at the in-law's house a couple weekends ago and the oldest was in the driveway playing with grampa. One of the cats comes strolling up the driveway carrying what's left of a rabbit (these cats are the most dangerous hunters I think I've seen... I'm waiting for one of them to drag a bear up the street some day) and grampa shooed it away and said "bad cat". My fine young lad says "Grampa, why is he a bad cat?" and grampa then goes on to explain that the cats are always bringing home things and then he has to clean up after them. To this, the child who appears to not listen to a word that anyone says to him replies "Well grampa, if you're going to have pets then you have to take care of them and clean up their messes and stuff you know." At least the boy has learned the proper way to call someone out...

Back to work... or eating... probably both...

Now that's more like it

I knew my long lost biking legs would come back to me one of these days. Had a great ride in this morning... 23+ on the flats comfortably, blew a couple cars off the line, couple of 20mph uphills, didn't get run over... all the makings for a fun morning ride. Also a very nice contrast to the last couple days. You've read the woes of my Sunday suckage and then I went out yesterday morning and was just a train wreck. Couldn't get my HR above 145, couldn't get my brain to wake up, couldn't get my legs to do anything. Turns out though that the train wreck was probably a good recovery ride.

Anywho... I'm sure I shall be floged yeah verily today for taking yesterday off to play golf. Hopefully time for more stories later... I've got em lined up...

There are no secrets in cross

I've always said this... cross is a different kind of bike racing. There's no sitting in the pack catching a draft and then hoping to be in good position in the end. You show up to a cross race out of shape and out of practice it's "So long, bye bye." That's what makes it both fun and painful for me. You get pretty much instant feedback on how well trained you are without getting annoyed that some guy's team is going to gang up on you and give him a free ride to the line. I think it's a more pure form of competition which is why I like it.

So enough with the philosophy... How'd Bedford and the maiden voyage of the clown bike go you ask... Well, let's just say I showed up out of shape and out of practice. I could easily spin the wheel of excuses here, but I won't (much). I haven't raced since July 8th and that day I ended up on my way to surgery. As a result of that and my natural suckitude off-road, I was very very tentative on all terrain and it cost me. I also have been primarily running so the legs just aren't there. Now cross is a long enough season so let's try to spin some positive messages into today's race:

Negative: I sucked
Positive: My bike kicks ass (thanks again Mike)

Positive: I didn't crash
Negative: I forgot to take me skirt off before the race so if I had crashed the way I was riding, I'd really be packing it in.

Negative: I got lapped by the top 4 or 5
Positive?: One of them was Lynne Bessette

Positive: I saw THE CTodd and got to chat for a few
Negative: I think he was one of the ones heckling me while I was on my own way way off the back

Positive: My knee that I banged the crap out of while doing drills yesterday cooperated during the race.
Negative: It feels like ass right now.

So next week is another race and another chance to suck less. I was also time constrained today and could only ride the 3/4's which was obviously over my head so I'll take a step back and ride the 4's next week and then maybe just do the 3/4's to make the drive worthwhile.

To the couple of new people I ran into today who said they had seen the bike here... thanks for reading. Hope you sucked less than me today.

Full photo shoot

I ain't no photographer for sure, but here's a little better presentation of the beast:






Full gallery can be viewed here.

By the way, the bathroom scale test (weigh self, pickup bike, do math) is telling me 22.5 pounds. Not bad at all considering that the weight of the frame, fork, and headset sans top cap is 8.74 pounds!

Now let's see if I can actually ride this biatch for what it's worth...

First Look

I apologize for some hurried and crappy bike photography, but I wanted to get the first shot out there. I'll hopefully be conducting a proper photo shoot tomorrow.

I bring it on myself

I always need to be careful about how much I whine and cry about how little time/sleep I have because I know that I've chosen all the stuff I have going on. Kids... house... racing... commuting... school... nobody to blame but me. It always seems though that at the times I've chosen to overextend myself, an S-storm hits from some other area that wasn't planned for. This time it's all hell breaking loose at work combined with the dishwasher finally calling it quits. I had to hack it back together last year because the latch broke and then a combination of me being busy and forgetting caused me to never order new parts. Well this morning it finall said no more so now I have to get the parts damn quick and stay up till midnight some night replacing them or just call uncle, drop the money for a new one, and call in a favor to dad to come out and hook it up some day so I'm not banging around doing that at midnight. We'll see, but we'll see quick since having to wash the dishes by hand could be the breaking point.

Anywho... I'll take my skirt off now and stop the whining... my choices... deal with it.

On the fun side (hopefully), I'm registered for Bedford this weekend so lets hope I have a bike by then. Since it is now 4 days before the race, I haven't done any cross practice since nationals last year, I don't even have a bike to practice on, and I'll be getting used to the new one, I'll be taking it very easy and not doing anything stupid. I rode in yesterday and the legs feel better than expected for a couple days after RTB so I should be able to make my way through the easy sections quickly. I'll probably be a mess though on anything that doesn't involve riding straight so I'll just ease up so I don't t-bone a barrier and end my cross season the way my road and mountain seasons ended...

Need more food...

Summary - Part 2

Make sure to scroll down to read the overall summary first. Then you can come back up here and read the business end of the story.

Here's the mildly ego-tastic self-congratulatory segment of our race story. I'm very proud of the grit that our team showed (especially the newbies and those who went in injured), but I'm also pleased that I finally nailed this event (mostly). It only took 5 tries.

Leg 10, listed distance 4.9miles, measured distance 5.7 miles, time 34:48, pace 6:06
This leg was, terrain-wise, the hardest I had. There are 3 notable climbs that all come in the second half. The first just will not end and has sections that kick to about 9%. The second comes pretty soon after, but is a little easier. The third is right up to the finish and kicks up to over 9% a couple times. I started out completely wired on adrenaline and had to dial it back about a mile in. I was happy to find that even with the murderous hills I was recovering very quickly on the downhills. I decided during this leg I wouldn't count road kill this year. That said, I know I was over 50 total for my 4 legs.

Leg 21, actual distance 7.1 miles, time 50:50, pace 7:09
Let's just spin the wheel of excuses on this one... Hmmm, we've got "Started at 4 a.m.", "Waited an extra 20 minutes in the cold rain for the handoff", "Had to take a lengthy pee break", "It was raining", and "Realizing I still had 2 to go after I finished". I think I'll go with the pee break Pat. If I take out 45 seconds for that, my pace drops to 7:03. If we go with a side of cold and tired, I think we've got a full fledged excuse.

Leg 32, actual distance 6.8 miles, time 42:16, pace 6:12
This was my physical and moral victory of the event. I've done this leg twice before and it kicked the crap out of me both times. I felt amazingly good when I started since I had gotten a little sleep and had apparently sandbagged my second leg. I dialed it back going up this major pain in the ass hill that's at about half way and then just opened it up coming back down. The last mile plus is flat so that helped too. I actually got worried near the end that my wife wouldn't be ready because I knew I was early. Fortunately she was and I got to celebrate for a second before I got changed to go again.

Leg 36, actual distance 4.3 miles, time 25:45, pace 5:59
Clearly an adrenaline fueled leg. I started just soon enough that I hadn't stiffened up from the previous run. Another half hour and I would have been toast. I did spend the entire middle part of the leg worrying that I was one step away from a crippling leg cramp. There were a few bursts of cross/headwind to contend with, but otherwise the weather was great and it was dead flat with some easy downhill at the beginning. I was passing people at an alarming rate and I dropped the hammer as soon as I could see the finish tent.

Total distance - 23.9 miles
Total time - 2:33:39
Average pace - 6:25

To top it off I used the stairs to come up into work today and then went back down and up to get breakfast. I can't wait for cross.

Slightly Stiff Summary - Part One

Well... we made it. It took a hell of a lot longer than usual and longer than planned, but we did it... again. My 5th RTB is in the books and I have to say that it was as fun as usual. Here's somewhat of a recap and I'll post the leg summary in the next post:

Our start time this year was 11:20 a.m. on Friday which was unusual because we had a slower predicted time than last year, but this was almost an hour later than last year's start. I think it was partially due to the large number of teams and might have been because we were a veteran team so our risk of being really off from plan was lower. The drive up was uneventful and we arrived with plenty of time to sign in and get runner 1 ready. Funny story from the way up: We got close and we suddenly saw at least a dozen runners running on Route 93 S against traffic! Sucks when you take a wrong turn on leg 2 of the race. I wonder how far they got before they realized it was wrong. Oh, and their leg was already over 9 miles without a detour... sucks to be you kids. I was in van 2 so we headed out to get gas, kill time, and hang out where we were starting. We finally got into action at something like 4 p.m. and the fun was on. Lowlight from our first set was my lovely wife coming in with her leg covered in blood. Turned out she stepped in a pothole and went down, banging her knee pretty good. To her credit, she shrugged it off as a momento of the event and still ran every step of her 15 miles for the race.

We had about a 2.5 hour break at the next starting point for us and we all tried to doze a little until midnight when we got going again. It didn't really work, but we tried. Literally just as we were taking the handoff for our second set, the rain started (it wouldn't be RTB without it). I was probably the most fortunate as most of my leg was in sort of just a refreshing drizzle. A couple people got totally poured on. We finally finished up this set at sometime after 6. We hit a DnD for some snacks and then it was off to our "big" block of sleep. Hysterical story from DnD... we're in there and a guy comes in impatiently asking if he can cut the line. We notice he's wearing the wrist band (baton) from the event. Turns out it was his turn to run and he was cruising by and thought an iced coffee sounded good. He grabbed it and continued on and we saw him a mile up the road with a huge smile carrying his iced coffee. We headed off to our next starting spot and I had to pull over part way there to get someone to drive since I hadn't slept yet and was declaring myself dangerous to drive. We got there safe and then I finally got a massive hour and a half of sleep which, by the way, made all the difference.

By now the team as a whole was about 45 minutes behind plan due to a number of things including the rain, some murderously hard legs, and some digestive issues going on with some people in my van. This event really is a matter of, shall we say "plumbing management" and it can be a truly miserable experience if you don't keep your stomach and the ins and outs that are connected happy. We started up again at maybe 11:30 a.m. for set 3, but 2 of us still had 2 legs to go since the team was a runner short. By the time we got rolling, the rain had stopped, the sun was coming back out, we were getting close to done, and the conversations had just turned ridiculous as they only can with a bunch of really exhausted runners.

The way the last 3 legs were working was that van 2 finished our 3rd set, we handed back to van 1 for one leg, then they handed back to us for the final 2. It's all part of our carefully orchestrated plan to get the right people doing the extra work while taking advantage of the rules on dropping people. The downside is that if people get hurt at the end, the few who are left in are screwed and they also get very short rest. I basically finished my 3rd leg, toweled off, put dry running clothes on, drank and ate as much as I comfortably could, and then had to loosen up to go again. I think my total break was less than an hour and a half.

The sight of the ocean in this event makes you feel like you could run another several miles and this year was no different. I had the final leg and I was just waiting for that bend in the road when it's just there in front of you. The bad part was that as soon as I got onto the boardwalk I could also see ALL the way down the beach to where I had to go. I just tried to keep chugging and prayed every step that the twinges in my quads wouldn't go into full cramp mode. I did make it, but not without one final "event". Since teams like to cross the line together, they started giving the final runner a baton at the entrance to a chute that they set up so nobody could sneak across and pretend like they were done. Well I was hauling since I could see the line and when I got to the guy handing them out, he wasn't ready with one. I got by him and he yelled to take one so I had to turn back a little to get one. The problem was that the chute was along a sand dune and there was this shrub thing on the right side of it. Between turning back hurriedly and then spinning around again, I had wandered off the path a little and was literally in the shrub. I just high stepped it through, but ended up with scratches all over my right leg from it. Oh well... it'll be a longer lasting reminder.

Ok, fingers need a break and then I'll type up the report of my legs.

The most interesting RTB yet?

This year is going to be my 5th (and likely final) year at Reach the Beach. Every year has been fun and interesting for a different reason, but obviously all fun enough to keep me coming back. After a while though, the novelty of the event wears off and the magnitude of the prep work and the event itself starts to weigh on you. I think I've hit that point. That said, I can already see stories developing that I'm sure will be very funny later. We currently have 3 of the 11 who have informed the team that they are injured, out of shape, or otherwise unsure of themselves. We also have I believe the most lopsided "mixed" team I've ever been on. There are 7 women and only 4 of us guys and the way we split up the vans has me in a van with 5 women... for over 24 hours... who are all in great shape... Oh, and one of them is my lovely wife :) I'm actually very excited to have her there this year (and no I'm not just writing that because I know she'll read this). Her joining the team has been about a year and a half in the making and I'm excited for her to see first hand what all the stories are about. I'm actually very proud of her since she's a self-proclaimed non-runner and the prospect of doing something like this even 5 years ago would have been absolutely absurd to her. I'm sure I'll tell you 100 more times, but good job babe.

So bring on the lack of sleep, the inevitable "van smell", the sore muscles, the loss of all modesty, the port-o-john lines, the screwed up stomach, the main streets and backroads of New Hampshire, and the events that won't be funny until later. Oh yah, now I remember why I keep going back...

Teaser

Now THAT'S RTB Training Kids

For those not familiar with RTB it's a 200+ mile relay that goes from the White Mountains down to Hampton Beach. You have a team of up to 12 people and one person is on the road at all times once you start. What it equates to is 24+ hours of exercise laden nonsense with your friends. Because the race runs in mid September, the weather is a crap shoot. Two of the 4 years I've done it, we were in the remnants of hurricanes, one so bad that the after race party was basically cancelled because Hampton Beach was under water. Another year we had showers and I got poured on. Last year there was a brief sprinkle just to remind me that it was RTB. With our recent weather, I haven't run in the rain in longer than I can remember... until today. I headed out at lunch for a nice little stay-loose run and when I went out it was cloudy and sprinkling... it was kinda nice. It wasn't too cold so I was having fun. Well progressively over the 28.5 minutes, the rain got worse to the point that when I finished it was almost a little hard to see. Now that I got that out of the way, I am officially prepared for the race.

The perfect way to start a Monday

Hey Rich,

I am heading out to pick up your frame and I think your headset should arrive today. If your headset arrives I can have the frame ready to pick up tonight. I will let you know after 1pm if the HS arrives.

Sincerely Mike-- Mike Flanigan
ANT 24 Water St.
Holliston, MA. 01746508-429-3350
"Home of the Boston Roadster"
www.antbikmike.com

Holy S, I Locked My Son in His Pants

Funny story of the day from yesterday's back to school adventure...

I talked to my wife after the boys got out and I asked how they did. She said fine, except the middle one lost his belt. Lost his belt? Yup, he left it on the sink when he washed his hands and forgot it there. Huh? So then I start thinking... that's right, the poor kid has never worn a belt in his life before yesterday. It didn't occur to me when I was helping him get dressed that at some point during the day, he'd have to pee and suddenly realize "Holy crap, I'm locked in my pants." Evidently, he figured it out, but took the whole thing off in the process. The whole thing was actually a good lesson for the kindergarten teacher and she said maybe she'll start covering how to operate a belt with the boys during the first day or two :) Who'd have thought this would be a hazard of school uniforms.

Oooh look, updated sidebar --->

Did some updating last night in the about me section. I may occassionally have more people than my sister and in-laws reading here so I figured I'd throw some nuggets out there. Also planning some linkage updates to give proper call outs to the skyscraping freaks like myself. If all those little bastards are going to draft off us in every running or biking race we enter, then we need proper recognition :)

BTW, go check out the latest todcast. Ok, so maybe it's only funny to those who have met G and CTodd or ride bikes, but I was freaking rolling...

Just... dead... tired

Phew... I knew it would end up like this, but I'm just freaking tired from this weekend. Here's the short recap that my weakened brain can handle:

Friday - Got out a little early, went to hand therapy, got home early enough to get out for a ride. It was raining... I didn't care.

Saturday - Saturday a.m. my lovely wife let me sleep until I was good and ready to get up. It's been so long since I could just shut off all alarms and continue to roll over until I was just good and ready to get up. She took the oldest and youngest out on some errands and the middle one is actually quite good at being quiet. Funny thing is, I was up before 9 and that felt like an eternity. It was so nice to actually feel refreshed for a change when I got up. After that we did a couple things and then I got out riding. Unfortunately, I've had a chest cold since late last week and every time I pushed even a little bit it felt like my throat closed up. I cut the ride shorter than planned, but I still got out.

After lunch my wife headed up to Pepperell to solidify her title as SuperMom... that's right folks, a little skydiving action. She had wanted to go since she sent me three years ago and she finally arranged it. I took the boys to buy their soccer gear and then we headed up to watch. A great time was had by all and she made it up to and back from 14,000 feet in one piece.

Sunday - I met the tri crew at 6:30 for what was advertised as a 12 mile run at 8 minute pace. None of us believed it for a second and we were right. Ended up being something like 7:15's, but it was mostly comfortable. The breathing still sucked, but I made it through. After that I did some errands, went to the driving range with the older 2, and generally didn't do anything big. It was sort of relaxing, but I was still beat when I got to bed at 10:30.

Today - I have some friends who run North American distribution for Inov-8 which is a kick-ass European trail running shoe company. They were moving their warehouse and just needed bodies so I volunteered. So as not to miss out an on opportunity to ride I headed out for the 15 miles down to the old place this morning with a backpack full of work clothes. Worked from 8:30 to about 2:30 building shelves, moving pallets of merch around, stocking now built shelves, and generally whatever they needed. Then I hopped back on the bike for the 12.5 miles home from the new place. Long day of full body work today so I'm now completely spent. I'm sure the beer and Irish coffee for dinner didn't help, but let's call it the exercise :) Irish coffee is strange... I've always called it a wash and figured that the whiskey overrides the caffeine so you end up back where you started in terms of altertness :) At least I can tell myself that...

Gotta get some kids in bed...

Oh, final note... some photo evidence of me pretending to be a miler back in July. Two sidebars to this picture: 1) You can see the right leg fresh skin from the Wells crash, and 2) This is the day before I broke my hand.

Nature is cool

I sat down at my desk for lunch and noticed out the window there was a hawk sitting on the roof across the courtyard. Hey wait, is he holding something? Holy crap, he's eating something. Some poor bird or rat or something was just dismantled over there which I'm sure was fun for the landscapers down below who were getting the skin/fur/feathers rained down on them. Oh well... hope it was tasty fella.

A lot, but not much planned for the weekend. As expected, it looks like I'll be busy, but the only major event is my wife going skydiving tomorrow. She sent me for my 30th a few years back and has wanted to do it since. She talked a friend into going tomorrow. Should be fun. Otherwise it's a bunch of here and there stuff. I should be able to get a long ride and a long run in so that could be cool.

Enjoy the break folks.

Committed or Should be Committed?

This has been another insane week in the life of the tall guy who crashes a lot. I know I bring a lot of this shit on myself, but I still reserve the right to whine about it :)

Sunday I got up early and got out for a ride before the real nasty soupy weather set in. I got to swing by and laugh at the tri guys who were heading out for 15-18 miles in that slop. There was no way on earth I was signing up for that. After that the rest of the day was prep for the golf tournament and other chaos.

Monday shortly after my post I got a call that my wife had gotten called by the summer camp that the oldest jammed his finger playing hoops (let's hope he sucks less than the old man) and they thought he needed x-rays. So she runs off to get him, brings him to the ER, and while she's sitting there with him waiting, she gets a call from the daycare that the middle one is sick. She reminded them that I'm an hour away and said she was in the ER so we'd get there when we could. I went to relieve her at the ER, she got the other ones, and eventually we met at home. After some quick dinner I was commenting that I was still nervous about the tournament and felt like I needed more practice. My wife being the superhero she is tells me to get out of there and go hit the range. I asked if she wanted help getting them ready for bed and she just shooed me out... Yet another reminder that the whole I do thing was a good choice with her :) Hit the range and felt like a badass being the last one there hitting balls until it was almost dark. Fortunately I worked my shit out and sort of remembered what I was doing. Left there, went straight home, changed clothes, and headed out for a 5 mile run because I clearly hadn't done enough that day.

Tuesday's tournament was crazy and lots of fun. I had to be there at 6:30 to work sign in and set up. We headed out at 8. The group in front of mine was just stupid slow so it took us almost 6 hours and 45 minutes to play 18 (WTF?). Good news was that we put up a 2-under and finished tied for 6th. Unfortunately by the time I got back in, the other director was in a panic because most people were back and all the prizes were locked in my car. Got that worked out and finally left the clubhouse at 4. By then I was totally worn out, but we had to take the middle one to dinner for his b-day (his choice) so no rest yet. By the time we got home from there, I was ready for bed so no running.

Yesterday to repent for no training Tuesday, I got the great idea that I'd get up at 4:45, ride the trainer for 45 to an hour and then run at lunch. Somehow I actually got up and headed out to the garage, but I was in a total coma for the first 20 minutes or more. There was nothing stellar about the session, but I was out there so oh well. I also stuck to the plan and hit the Chalz Rivah for 4+ miles at lunch in the heat. You might think last night was another good night to just pack it in early and go to bed, but we had planned dinner with some friends last night so we headed there right after work and got home around 9:30. The good news is that I was so tired that I didn't have to watch the end of the freaking Sox game.

Believe it or not, we have NOTHING planned for the 3 days this weekend (unless you count an oil change for the car). Something tells me though that I'll find something to do...

Monday post

No clever titles today... I think I'm out of clever for the day.

Crazy busy weekend. RTB team meeting and training session Friday night so that made me feel like Saturday was Sunday. In the span of 5 hours at the gathering I ran about 12 miles, ate 1.5 servings of dinner, drank about 3 liters of water/gatorade, drank 2 beers and 1 mudslide concoction, and watched both the Pats and the Red Sox.

Saturday was a 5th b-day party for the middle one complete with gigantic bouncy moonwalk thing. I think I irritated my achilles jumping on it. Further proof that I'm getting old. I think my kids did about 2 hours in that thing. I was in it for a total of 10 minutes and I'm sore. The heat would have killed us if it weren't for the pool.

Yesterday was lots of general running around, but not before I actually went on a bike ride... and didn't crash. Amazing I know, but it's true. The SS did get sold yesterday too. The hooks are now bare waiting for the new rig and in that department I'll just say that hopefully very soon there will be news and pictures to back it up.

Company golf tournament tomorrow. Weather looks great and the course is swanky. I'll be happy when it's over since I helped organized and it's a lot of f'ing work. I went to the range yesterday to see if my hand would tolerate golf. It does, but the time off caused me to forget how to swing a club. This could be interesting.

Back to work. Maybe more later.

Oh, and check out Super Mom's page for funny pics of the kids and party if you're interested.

To be young and invinceable

Having 3 boys is certainly going to give me my share of gray hairs at some point (no I'm not that old yet) and my wife may not survive the pre-teen and teen years with them. I think I should just start a tab at the ER now because I'm sure I'll need it. I look at all 3 of them some days and you'd think I beat the poor kids. Bruises all over their shins, scraped knees and elbows, the occassional scrape on the chin... it's like they just came out of battle. In a strange way though, it makes me happy. The odds of bruising yourself or scraping a knee are pretty low sitting in front of the TV so it must mean they're doing something. The oldest took another bike spill last night... silly type of thing that boys do when they convince themselves they are better at something than they are. Sure, I can buzz the mailbox with one hand on the handlebars on uneven grass and then bang a turn... yah, until said mailbox grabs the bars on you. Ah well... out came the bandaids and ice pack and we were good. For better or worse, and even if you don't believe it, I've learned more about my limits so I'm less likely to have the reckless type of injuries at my age. Sure, knowingly entering into dangerous situations can be more hazardous, but at least I understand when there's a risk. It's just funny to watch the learning experience and seeing which incidents they store away to feed future self-restraint and which ones are blown off, only to be repeated with the same results. Wait, I think that defines them as insane... oh well, happens to the best of us.

Cross Training

With bonus shout out to the alma mater...

Wait, did he say healed or healing?

So I know the answer, but I can at least pretend he went with healed :) Report from the surgeon was very good today. He was overwhelmed by the mobility I had back in my hand at 4 weeks post-op and said that I can leave the brace off unless I feel like I need to protect it. I've been directed to go with 2 more weeks of "light use" and then I'm free to go nuts. I'm thinking that light use means road biking instead of mountain biking so I'll see you on the roads :)

Today was chaos at work and the rest of the week is not looking promising. Let's hope I can keep getting workouts in among all the days of getting up at 4:30 and getting beaten on all day. Is it bad when it's not even 9 and you're thinking of crawling in bed? G'night...

Character building

I posted up to the gang looking for someone to do 8-12 miles at 7-8 minute pace this morning. I left it pretty wide hoping to find some company. Well somehow me and the one guy who responded translated that into 12 miles at 7 minute pace. Not the extreme I would have chosen first, but these things happen. At one point we had the option to cut it to about 10.5 or go the long way. I gave him the choice and he chose the long way and said "It'll be a character building run." I wanted to throw him into the woods. RTB better feel like a cake walk this year...

Almost huge bike for sale

I'm pulling the trigger on the SS in anxious anticipation of the new cross bike. Here's my post from the MRC board. Post me a message here if you're interested:

The garage is out of hooks and space for more so I have to unload one...

61cm Bianchi San Jose single-speed cross/commuter bike
All specs here
For those thinking "Rich's bikes are huge", this is a pretty small big bike (tt actual is only 58.5)

Rear wheel, crankset, BB, and brakes are stock. Stem, handlebars, brake levers, front wheel, seatpost, and saddle have all been modified from original.
You will get a choice of tires (cross or commuter) and front wheel (Mavic Aksium or Mavic 32 spoke).
Keep it single-speed or pick up a new rear wheel/hub and you've got a fixie.

$325 or b/o.

Stock photo

Spoiled or Lucky?

Over the past couple of years, the oldest 2 had gotten bikes for birthdays or Xmas or whenever it was. One was purchased at Walmart and one at Target so we're not talking anything special here. Why go and blow a ton of money on the first bike they get that they will a) definitely grow out of quickly, and b) probably crash and generally beat on a lot? As of this summer, neither could ride without training wheels yet and for that matter, weren't all that stable with them. We partially felt guilty for not working with them more and partially were frustrated because both seemed unwilling to work on it. Still we persisted and kept working with them more. At one point, I made the promise to them both that when they learned to ride without the training wheels and showed me that they really wanted to be out riding their bikes, that I would take them to the shop and they could pick out a new "big kid" bike. Well as I noted, the older one is out there about every night now so last night he collected:

On one hand, I'm disgusted to have spent so much on a mountain bike for a 6 year old. On the other hand he loves it, seems to genuinely appreciate that we bought it for him, and seems to comprehend how much it was and therefore that he has to take care of it. It certainly helps him that I'm a sucker for a shiny new bike and I'm completely enamored by the fact that every single night he's asking if he can go out after dinner and ride his bike. Remember those days kids... when it was all about just being able to go out after dinner and tear up and down the street (and across the yard, and the neighbors yard, and over curbs, and...) because it's fun? He may have gotten spoiled, but who cares.

Oh, and now he's all set for cross season too :)

Withdrawal

I think I'm in withdrawal from bike racing. It's actually a combination of frustration and fear. Frustration because my hand feels good, but after the year I've had I just know that if I push it before I get the ok from the surgeon that I'll do something to it and be done for another 2 months. Fear because I look at the race results and see that the guys I will be racing in cross are flying right now. At one point I thought I'd be able to hold my own in open B races this year. Now I'm going to hope I don't get pulled from the C's. Fear also because I'm on the verge of dumping a bunch of money into a bike that I don't want to become a pretty ornament for the ceiling of my garage. Follow up is Monday. We'll see what he says.

Yesterday was an off day from running, but I rode the trainer for 40 minutes last night. The first ten minutes, my cadence was around 82 and it felt like 100. By the end I was comfortable at 92 so that made me feel a little better. Planning to ride Saturday morning but I don't know how much yet. I might try to find a long gradual hill to do some repeats, but I may be better off just getting some saddle time.

Oh, and I'm still in limbo/hell at work. Where the f did everyone go?

Stuck waiting

Nearly everything I'm doing at work is held up by someone else right now... waiting on tech support, waiting on the apps guy, waiting for IT... I'm an impatient person. There's a reason I do primarily individual sports... then I can only blame myself. Argh.

Like father, like son

The oldest had his first "at speed" bike crash tonight. When he was learning to ride, he was very very timid and was terribly afraid of falling down. The day he learned to ride it was like a switch turned on and he just got it. He then instantly turned into Robbie Kneival in the span of about 2 days and is tearing around trying to make hairpin turns without slowing down at all. Tonight I could see he was getting a little ahead of himself, but I just let him go and reminded him to slow up before trying to turn. He started racing his brother who was running and had once incident where he carried too much speed into a 180 and rode up a high grass curb (we don't have real curbs out here in the sticks) and almost launched himself. Next time he was flying again and was determined that he was going to make it so he leaned it a bit too far and caught the dirt/mud right at the base of the same grass section and slid out. Few scrapes on the knee and elbow, but he took it VERY well. The biggest change I've seen in him recently is that he's gone from the screaming meltdown at the first sight of blood to more of the rub some dirt on it mentality. He went down hard and took it well... I know at one point while I was cleaning him up he even said "Man, that was sick!" The summer camp has a skateboard camp going on this week so "Sick!" is his new word :)

Time for bed....

Jam packed weekend

Phew... nice to be at work to catch my breath :) We had a busy one this weekend, but most of it was pretty good stuff. Saturday I got sucked in by the MA govt's reprieve on sales tax and ordered most of the parts for the cross bike and then went and bought all the subfloor material for the basement finishing project (the new house project that will never end). I had to buy 90 2'x2' panels which meant I had to rent the Home Depot cargo van to get it home which meant I had to bust my ass to unload it since I had a time limit to get it back. Fortunately, I put the boys to work and got more evidence that the middle one has some work ethic. The big one walked off the job when his aunt stopped by, but the other one kept plugging away. He was paid accordingly and the older one was told he was paid less since he walked out early. Amazingly, I didn't get the "That's not fair" routine. Maybe he's figuring out what fair means finally :)

Mid afternoon I actually got to ride my bike. I finally said F it and I was going to find a way to make it work with the splint. Turns out that it's not completely in the way and I think I can make a minor alteration to make it work well. It was just a short and easy ride, but it was riding. I also threw in about a 2.5 mile run afterwards to make up for taking Thursday and Friday off.

After the workout, the family headed to the Hudson Hot Air Balloon Festival. They started this up last year as a fundraiser and it was a pretty good time. Watching the process of setting those bad boys up was pretty cool and I got to try and explain the science of it to the boys... ok, before I go on trying to act smart, heating up air ain't all that complex, but it's still magic to them :) We all took off from that a little early and then me and the older two went to catch the Simpsons movie. I thought it was well done and there were more than enough references that I was roaring about that the kids didn't get.

Yesterday I got out for 9.5 with the tri guys (yes it was supposed to be 11) and didn't drop dead so that's a good sign. We had a couple miles of nonsense in the middle of it, but otherwise it was pretty slow and easy. I felt it, but no more than you'd expect from running the furthest you have in almost a year. Later in the day was my Gram's 80th b-day party. If I counted correctly, 13 of her 15 kids (4 are stepkids) were there so it was quite the event. 2 of them are from way out of state and one of my uncles I hadn't seen in about 5 years so it was great to have the whole clan there. My grandfather (I think he's 81 now) even had enough beers to take an at bat in the wiffle ball game so that was great fun. I lobbed him a meatball and he got a grounder out of it :) Oh, and I got taken way deep by my cousin who's like 12, but we won't talk about that.

Ok, goof off time over. Stupid work.

So much for easing into things

I have said all year that in August I'd turn back into a runner for a while so that RTB didn't suck ass. I sort of assumed when I said that that I'd be in some sort of shape when August started. Well that ended up not being the case so much. Despite my unexplainable 5:16 mile last month, I have run very little this summer and it hit me this week that I've got about 5 weeks until the race. So in preparation, I've run the past 4 days. Hey, once a week at best to 4 straight days can't be that hard huh? Let's just say tomorrow will be a needed off-day. Oh, did I mention I'm planning to run 11 on Sunday with the tri guys? Yah... I think it's been a year since I ran that far... and these guys train year round for ironmans... should be a party.

So far, so good

When the surgeon sent me to OT after last Thursday's stitch removal, they basically just made a splint and gave me a couple pages of stretches to do with my hand and wrist to get the range of motion back. They didn't do a full eval of how I was doing because it had been only about 30 minutes since I got the cast off. They did however book me for twice a week therapy for the next couple weeks as a follow up. My goal was for them to basically kick me out after the first or second appointment because I didn't need to be there. Well I almost did it... I've been a cooperative enough patient (read: guy who leaves his splint off all day and sits in an office so he can do his stretches all day long) that they've already cut me back to once a week and even that may turn into just a couple checkups. There's a couple things that I still need to work on, but overall the girl was impressed that it's come so far already. The big downer is that she said typically with this type of injury and repair, it's 6 weeks post-surgery before the bone is "healed" and 8 weeks before you're unrestricted. The start of cross season is going to get f'd up a little if I decide to listen to them so we'll see. I gotta get the pedaling legs back going anyways so I shouldn't be worrying about racing yet.

Not a whole lot else going on I guess. Work is nuts. Home is about what you expect with 3 kids. We did do a bedroom swap with the boys so the oldest had his own room and the littlest has now taken this opportunity to decide he's going to get out of bed about 100 times a night. In his other room he'd go in for bed, we might hear from him once, and then we saw him in the morning. Something about the swap (maybe it's that the new room is where he's always gone to play instead of sleep) has made him parade out of the room as many times as he can get away with and then last night he came out 3 times during the night. He goes back pretty easily without throwing too much of a fit, but it's only a matter of time before he comes back. He's obviously screwing with us.

Back on bikes... I got word yesterday that I may only be 2-3 weeks away from getting the cross frame. Ordering the rest of the parts this weekend so I can stick it to the state and save my whopping 5% (on top of the sweet club discount of course). The timing will be perfect since nothing will give you more incentive to go out and ride than a pretty new custom bike :)

Someone turn off the heat or at least crank the dehumidifier...

10 Finger Typing... sort of

So the stitches came out today and the big post-op cast came off. It was quickly replaced with a fancy molded thermoplastic model which is far warmer since it's not breathable at all. The good news is though that I can take it off and actually have to to do hand exercises. I figure a bit of typing is a good enough exercise to get the fingers working so here ya go...

I don't have xray pictures of the screws yet, but I do have to say it's pretty cool. 2 screws in one side of the bone and one in from the other side. It turns out he wanted to do a plate, but the fracture was so long that it would have been most of the length of my hand and would have needed to be removed later. The screws only meant that I had to wait extra time to start using it, but oh well. Here's a lovely picture of what's left of the entry wound:

Yes that's my son's Batman place mat as a backdrop :)

On top of doing a fine job of putting the bone back together, looks like whoever pulled the suture straw in the OR that day did a nice job too. It was kinda creepy when the cast came off. I stared at my finger and tried to get it to bend at the bottom knuckle and it just wasn't going to have any of the that. Amazing how quickly everything stiffens up and you lose all muscle control.

My plan had been to get back out running tonight or on the trainer. Unfortunately I forgot that my wife had soccer playoffs tonight so by the time I got the boys in bed and remembered that it's about 87 in the house (no A/C), I figured it'll have to be one more day. I'll be indoors initially on the bike, but will try to get out soon. I think the new splint will allow it and I hope to shed that in two weeks.

Hmmm... what else is going on... New car is great. Basically doubled my gas mileage, lowered my payments by $100, and got something shiny all at once... woo hoo! A smaller car for me just made sense because I was sucking up so much gas and 9 out of 10 days, it was just me in the car. Waiting for the Q-clips for the Yakima roof rack to come via UPS and then the car will be race ready. Now if only I was :( Oh well... that'll come back soon.

Middle one had to have day surgery Monday. Nothing major, but it was general anesthesia, stitches, etc so it was kind of a big deal. I just wish I was 5 again... about 5 hours after he came out of surgery he was bored and wanted to go play. Within about 48 hours, he was running around and we were trying to slow him down so he didn't pop a stitch or something. I guess I shouldn't complain since I felt better pretty quick too, but he'll be fully healed in about half the time I will.

Ok, I think enough of the typing exercise for tonight especially since now I'm just rambling. Have a great weekend everyone.

Quick update

So the hand feels pretty good. I'm off the painkillers so if anyone wants to buy some lets talk :) j/k of course...

All the more environmentally conscious people may be happy to know that I traded the gas sucking Explorer for a much more reasonable Civic. Yes, someone will still be sucking the oil fields dry until that truck dies, but I'm trying to not be the cuplrit. Nothing like doubling your mileage all in one move. Still gotta pick up a new roof rack for the new ride, but (un)fortunately I have no need to transport a bike for a while so I've got time.

As far as Tour de Test Tubes commentary, I'll just say this: To answer the question of "If everyone's doing it is it still cheating?" my response is "Hell yah it is!" It's cheating all the rest of us. I think the appropriate response to those still getting caught is Here's your sign.

Have a good weekend all.

Bringin home the hardware

3 screws in the hand today. No pictures till next week. Supposedly no general anesthesia, but damn if they didn't turn the valium (or whatever it is) drip to high because I don't remember jack. More later... need meds.

The hand saga

So while a second medical opinion can be good, you sometimes run into the situation where they disagree and leave you in the middle. My ortho (yes I'm hurt enough to have one guy that I go to) had the initial reaction that my hand would be fine without surgery. I was skeptical based on the pictures so I asked to see a surgeon and also asked him to consult the other guys in his practice. The surgeon also thought it was ok, but scheduled a follow up for 10 days later and put me in a splint that he said I could take off to shower. The other guy from the ortho practice thought I definitely needed surgery. When I went back to the first ortho for my 1 week follow up, his initial reaction to the new xrays was that it was worse than he remembered. So if you're counting I'm up to 3 doctors and 4 opinions. Then I noticed yesterday morning that my little finger doesn't bend quite straight which is a sign that you need surgery. I called the first ortho to ask if he thought I should call the surgeon and he flipped when he found out I had been taking the splint off. Great, more disagreement. So today I talk to the surgeon's office and he says he should see it asap, but he's only available until like 2 today and not at all tomorrow. I was in Boston and on my way to Tewksbury when I found this out so asap is going to be Monday. The worry now is that it will have been 2 weeks of healing so if they do something now, they probably have to rebreak it to fix it. Argh. I'll be happy when this is cleared up.

More later... my 7 fingers are tired.

Quick update

Still on vaca from work and I'm typing with 1.5 hands so there'll be a lot of short ones for a while... 3 ortho/surgeon visits in 8 days and it's still not certain that I don't need surgery to set the break. If it doesn't shift at all for 1 more week I'm in the clear. Vaca was good but tiring. Class all this week and then back to the real world next week. Haven't run or biked since the latest incident. I'm going to get back on the trainer tomorrow night. Still holding out hope for a full cross season so we'll see.

The short story

Winsted MTB race, 3 min into warmup lap I slid my rear wheel into a washout and sorta fell over. Wouldn't have even counted it as a crash. Knuckle of my little finger on the left hand hit the ground and sorta crunch in towards my thumb. First thought was "I think I just broke my hand".

Rode the 4+ mile warmup loop anyways (denial) and lined up for the race. Was never in it and bailed after one of 2 laps. Got my 8 miles or so of riding in anyways and basically all of it was with one hand.

Appt in 30 min to find out the prognosis.

OK, fine, I can take a hint

Stupid biking. I'm going back to running.

One more...

Just a quick one of the race report variety... Today was the Colonial Road Runner's Club Marathon Challenge. It was basically a 26 x 1 mile (plus one lap) relay race down in Marshfield. I got sucked into this with the GFRC crew way back before I shredded my groin so then I was put on the possible list. Once running started going ok again, I said I'd do it with the expectation that just covering the 4 laps moderately fast would do. Now I'll note that I've run a total of 6 or 7 times total since The Crash. It's been longer than I can remember since I did a timed mile. I ran the leadoff leg and my goals were to not put us in dead last and to go out the first 2 laps in 6 minute pace then see what happened from there. I hit the first 200 in 38 so there went plan A. Plan B was to not die or re-shred my groin. Somehow I managed to run pretty even splits the whole way and made the handoff at 5:16. I got a little extra kick at the end by lapping a team. Apparently having some extra strength from biking and countless memories of running mid distance events on the track burned into my brain works.

Aw yah, bring on the ridiculously long cross sand pits, mud bogs, and unrideable hills...

Catch up before the dark days

Lots to catch up on before I check out for vaca. I'm definitely going to be unplugged for at least a week and the second week is debateable. It's been a crazy week so here's the high and lowlights:

Tuesday I'm riding home from work and making my way along the bike path down by Hahvid. There's this one intersection which is always packed with runners, bikers, walkers, cars, ducks, small furry animals, hippies, and anything else that strolls through. I'm rolling towards the intersection on the sidewalk/bikepath and there's this older guy running over towards the right of the sidewalk. I headed well to the left of him (again, going really slow) because the light hadn't changed in my favor yet. I get maybe 10 feet before the intersection and this guy suddenly bangs a hard left without looking and is headed right into me. I called out "heads up" and swerved but ended up just bumping shoulders with the guy. I know I said sorry because that would have just been my gut reaction and the guy angrily says "I think you need a bell on that thing!" So now I'm annoyed and I loudly, but calmly just said to him "Don't weave" and proceeded across the street (now had the light). Well he heads across the bridge, now on the other side of the street from me and screams back "Don't pass without warning ASSHOLE!". So now I'm just really amused at how angry he was and called back "Have a nice fourth." That didn't sit well and he kept on screaming something, but I was getting too far away to hear now. The whole thing amused me because 1) I consider myself to be a courteous bike path user, 2) as both a running and biking user of that path, I know what you should and shouldn't do when you're on the path in either mode, and 3) I think it's fair to say that while people have a responsibility to pass safely and give warning, people also have a responsibility to travel in a straight line and not change directions without warning or checking if it's safe. Ah well, I found the whole thing funny so I hope I did ruin the guy's night since he was a dick.

So Wednesday, we head up to bring the boys to a 1 mile fun run so they can get some energy out and have some fun. We get there a little on the late side and were parked far away, so me and the older 2 head over to register while my wife and the 2 year old lag behind. The 3 of us get all the way across this big field at the school and I hear something behind me so I turn to see my wife on the ground holding her rebuilt knee. Crap. We sprint back over there to find out she was walking down this little embankment on the side of the field, her good leg slipped out and all her weight forced her "bad" knee to bend all the way. Now bending your knee completely so you kick yourself in the butt doesn't sound that bad except that she hadn't regained full motion so that was about 15 degrees further than her knee had gone in a year. She heard some crackling and it just didn't feel right. Now the amazing thing is that from the moment it happened and throughout the ordeal, the 2 year old who can't sit still just parked himself next to mommy and played with the grass. It was like he knew that that's what he had to do right then. Anywho... so she's trying to assess how hurt her knee is and she didn't look good so I told her to lay down. She did for a second and then said she was more comfortable if she sat up. She sat up and I was asking her some questions when suddenly she falls back, out cold. Now we're in full freakout mode as the oldest is crying, the middle one was dancing or something, and the baby is sitting there while I've got an unconscious wife with an unknown knee injury... are we having fun yet? Fortunately some guy saw the whole thing and ran to get the ambulance crew from the race. After maybe 30 seconds, she snapped out of it instantly and tries to get up. I told her to stay down and that she passed out and she starts arguing with me that she didn't. She did that for maybe a minute and then goes out again. Yes, the fun meter is pegged now. She came out of it quicker this time and now the EMT's were there. The suited her up with the full neck brace and backboard outfit and loaded her into the "funny truck" (was trying to skip the word ambulance to keep the boys calm). Fortunately, I got my sister-in-law to meet us at the ER and take the boys while she got checked out. In the end, she just ended up with a sprained knee and no damage to anything that was fixed before. The passing out was likely just a reaction to the shock of what happened. Amazing how your brain can just say "F this" and check out for a minute when it goes on overload. I spent the rest of the day telling her never to do that to me again :)

OK... gotta get the ship in shape here before I disappear on everyone. Enjoy the sunshine. Keep the rubber side down. Be kind to Gewillis.

Bike tech question

Ok, one for the biker number geeks out there...

I currently ride 175mm Shimano cranks on all my bikes. Shimano don't make no longer and I've never made the Campy switch (remember, I'm new at this). I'm starting to prep for the new cross bike so I took a gander at Zinn's custom cranks as an option. If I do his math based on my inseam length that was measured for the frame, it says I should be on 215mm cranks. Yowza!

So option 1 is to go with the math and probably feel like I'm riding a clown bike for a while. Option 2 is to be more conservative and go with a 200mm crank (split the difference). Option 3 is to go with Campy and get 180mm cranks (still an improvement, but not nearly enough). I've never experimented with anything over 175 so I can only take his word for it that it's a HUGE difference.

Any thoughts out there? G, how bout some linkage love to get the short guys to throw their opinions in for us freakishly tall folk?

I think I need more coffee (like I really need to question that).

5 more minutes...

So I rode in Friday, then got a ride home. Saturday I went running. Sunday I did nothing athletic per-se. Ran again yesterday. This morning when I rode in I knew it was going to be a crap shoot on how I felt and it ended up just being weird. I was definitely rested from a biking perspective, but overall, my legs felt, well, not really awake. The best analogy I could think of was trying to get a teenager out of bed for school. You go in and tell them they've got to go now and the response is "5 more minutes..." Yup, that's what it was like... c'mon boys let's go... eh, maybe in 5 more minutes. Oh well... I kinda gave up hope of setting the roads on fire quickly and just enjoyed the ride.

By the way... can someone bring me a new calendar because I think mine's broken. Mine says July, but I was in long sleeves and knee warmers this morning. Now I'm all for cool nights and warm sunny days, but usually in September. Oh well... it could have been 92 at 6 a.m. so I guess I'll take it.

Since it probably is really July and that's the tentative date I got from Mike for my cross frame, I decided to start ordering parts. I haven't gone nuts yet, but I scored a couple deals so stuff should be on it's way soon. Mmmmm, frog legs...

No real plans for the 4th for us, but if the weather cooperates we may bring the gang to a local road race so they can do the 1 mile fun run. Both of the older two can do it easily and I'm almost curious how fast the oldest can do it. I may have the next great over-tall white guy runner in the works there, but running is something I definitely wouldn't push at too young an age. I'm completely willing to let him do as much of it as he wants (within reason), but I won't be suggesting anything that resembles training. That said, he's declared that he wants to raise money to do the 5k Race for the Cure with mommy in the fall. I think he'll be able to finish and it was kinda cool that he thought the raising money part was a good thing to do.

Ok, omlette waiting...