Tuberol

So Boulder had to have surgery yesterday. I take him in for what we all thought was a problem with his right TMJ. He had been having problems opening his mouth and seemed even less interested in food lately. Turns out the boy had a mouth full of impacted teeth, dead teeth and stuff the doctor couldn't even explain. All most likely from his joy of chewing and tug-o-war.

When we picked him up he was still half out of it from the anaesthesia and walking sideways. He pased out in the car with his head in the air, where's camera when you need it?

When we got him home he had to get up the first flight of stairs, before I could even attempt to help him he tried to barrel up them as usual. By the third step his heavy legs got behind him and he took a header. After that he appreciated the help.

For the rest of the night he prety much looked like this.

They sent us home with the pain killer tuberol which he had a good dose of post surgery, hopefully it works just as well. He did pass righ out after taking one with dinner. We need some peace and quiet for a couple of days.

Who needs kids? The upside is you can insure them.

Lou

Lou, boxer of Tony C., eater of expensive wood blinds.

Our friend's boxer succumb to cancer today and had to be put down.

Boulder will miss you. R.I.P buddy.

Pound Sand - Part 2

Now that I've had several hours to digest the days events, I need to continue on. Rather than berate the UCI and WADA even more, well just a little more won't hurt, how 'bout a solution.

Based on the comments from most of the cycling heads of state about their assault on doping,

"The fight against doping is a never ending combat, a true trench war. But we're ready to fight it, because if we didn't, the culture of doping would win, and not the culture of sport." - Christian Prudhomme TdF race director

We're not going to see an end to the unfair treatment of cyclists, even if they are doping any time soon. It's fair to say that the mere presence of ones name in the media associated with doping is a death sentence, regardless of guilt or innocence.

I propose the following, as a way to respect the athlete and preserve anti-doping controls:

Any suspected doping allegation must be kept confidential between the UCI, WADA (or whatever laboratory performed the testing) the cyclist being "Alleged" and the team director and brought before the CAS (Court of Arbitration of Sport) before any action is taken. Should any party not associated with the cyclist or under direct consent of the cyclist leak the allegations to the media, the case will be immediately dismissed and the case dropped. Regardless of 'B' samples and even 'C' samples, dropped. This is the only way to balance the lopsided hand that is being played. If the evidence is there, justice will be served, if not the rider's name and reputation is not defamed as well as that of the team and sponsors.

As for Landis, I think someone overheard a conversation between Pat McQuaid and Dick Pound and something about throwing him in the water to see if he floats.

You didn't hear it here.

Pound Sand

Time for a rant.

Dick Pound, WADA and the UCI Anti-Doping Gestapo need to go. I definitely feel there is a place for anti-doping measures in all of sports, but when you get it wrong, you're ruining lives, not just careers. And these guys just can't keep from stepping on their own D's.

It's bad enough the 5 riders from Liberty Seguros were recently vindicated of the charges, and I reference them as such since they would still be Liberty Seguros had the UCI and WADA not handed down a guilty verdicts based on inconclusive, circumstantial evidence (at the time) forcing Liberty to pull their sponsorship, but would have ridden the Tour in support of a potential podium finisher in Vino.

But now they want to defame a Mennoite farm boy from rural Lancaster, PA who has been kicking ass on two wheels longer than Pound has been able to spell WADA. I whole heartedly believe in doping controls in all sport, yes that means our beloved baseball and football, but I also believe the testing in cycling is so tightly scrutinized (thanks Festina) that it is extremely biased towards first proving the guilt of a rider and not the innocence.

I don't know where I'm going with all of this other than I have to believe in Landis, if no one else that has been accused of doping in the last few years, yes even Lance included, I have to believe in Landis. I'm not an overly religeous person either, but I have to believe that even as a former Mennonite, he would could not risk bringing that shame to his family and the Mennonite community.

That's all for now.

Tapeworm?

I can't stop eating.

Since Sunday's ride, I've had this insatiable appetite. I almost bonked last night on a recovery ride, good thing I had a Cliff bar with me.

Pasta, rice, chicken, protein shakes, chocolate covered anything...nothing seems to satisfy. I haven't been putting in alot of miles but something has me starving. This morning I ate a huge pile of wheat pancakes, it was like they were air or something. It's not like I get hungry, I go from not wanting to food to full on hypoglycemia.

To add to it all, everyone in the house but me has some sort of alergy condition going on. It's like I'm living with the plague and just waiting for something to happen to me.

On the upside, the weather has finally started to come back to reality a bit, atleast with regards to the humidity. Arch, Rob and I rode around EC last night and it was so nice out, of course we dind't get out until after 6. I didn't get home until 8:30, that's the latest I've been out on a ride in a long time, definitely since getting married. We ran into Chip on the Hanover loop and rode for a while.

I just bought new road shoes, these pimp silver Nike Lance carbon soled bling with the Texas and World Champ colors on the straps. I would have never bought them but in Nike's attempt to rule the world, they only made the Lance model with the one piece heel cup-buckle system that skinny ankled cyclists like me need to keep our shoes from slipping off while riding. I picked them up at Bike Doctor in Crofton on Saturday, they are a great sponsor shop. They have a 30 day ride policy on most stuff like shoes and saddles. That rocks because you can't magine how frustrating it is to buy a saddle or pair of shoes praying it actually fits you when you're on the bike.

Ok, I was gonna post pics but the upload keeps failing.


A little something for your viewing pleasure....

Apparently I can't edit the HTML either or I would have embedded this for you.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2757082

More Water Please

So I don't know if it's the weather or my poor hydration, but recovering from rides lately is getting longer and longer it seems. I try to lay off the coffee but it just doesn't work, I need my cup-a-joe. I can go for about a day or 2 before the headaches start, even tried half decaf.

Ok, this is pretty funny, I think it explains alot...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3934788900154749704

It's also getting to be that time, preparation for 'cross season. I can't wait, instead of busty our butts to get up the beltway for practice, us EC locals are starting our own at Rockburn on Wednesdays. Aside from the 45 minutes of straight LT work, I need to start running. Time to get ready for the "Ampitheater of Pain". This is handsdown the hardest run-up on the MAC course circuit in my opinion. After 2 laps you're just like, ok, where's the elevator? Second is the wall at Granouge where you're grabbing at grass and whatever else is firmly rooted in the 6 inches of mud to help pull yourself up.













I kind of have high hopes for the season, I should be carrying some good fitness going in, much better than last season.

Gina and I have been kicking around the idea of getting an RV. It would just make traveling to races so much nicer, especially during 'cross season when you just want a nice warm place to recover. It would also allow us to take the dogs, Boulder would love 'cross, he's already an avvid beer drinker and he loves chasing bike. Unfortunately we just haven't committed to it yet. I kinda feel like we would have to drive around blasting 'Winnebago Warrior' by the Dead Kennedy's though.

"Hey, is that Guiness?"

I'm Back

Always said I was never good at this blogging thing. First post since February...

Since then the road season has pretty much come and gone and working on transitioning to 'cross season. To help work on that fitness I rolled up to Fair Hill this past Sunday for my forst mountain bike race in 4 years, ma how time flies.

I decided to sandbag and race sport class. After getting stung with 6 miles to go and feeling horrible I managed to take 3rd. Not bad for the first race back.

The summer has kind of flown by, guess that's why I don't notice the gaps in blogging, even Gina gets on me to blog. Anyway, here are some photos to kind of cover March through July.

Holly"wood" taking in the view while at a spring training game in Florida. This was pretty much her seat for the entire time we were at Disney, pretty good cross-training. Then there was the glutony of the Ghirardelli chocolate shop, yeah I ate the whole sundae.

A blistery, cold day racing in Strasburg, PA. Sitting on James "Gortex" Prickett's wheel, he makes a nice wind stop.













Baker Park crit in Frederick. Fun race, nice course.













This is my friend Rhys crushing it on the front of the Bike Jam race. Rhys came to us from jolly old England by way of the Queen's army on a learning expedition at Shock Trauma. Unfortunately he left us at the end of June to head back across the pond.














Other than that, nothing much else is happening, we just spent some time at Gina's parent's place in Rehoboth last week. Finally found a place Gina can ride her bike without complaining.

Everyone keeps asking about when we're going to have kids, I just keep saying that we're still practicing and that the dogs wouldn't approve anyway.

Breaking the Cycle

No Pun Intended...

So the past couple of weekends have gone like this, get up early Saturday morning to head off and ride my bike for 3+ hours with the team, come home, eat, veg out, eat, go to bed. Sunday, sleep in until about 9, head down to the coffee shop in EC, then head to and go home to work on the never ending laundry list of projects.

Atleast the past 2 Saturdays have seen a change of scenery with the trips out west to get in some intensity training, what like D-ville isn't intense? Only to make this ride I have to get up even earlier, earlier than I do to go to work.

This weekend was no different, however a small success in getting the family room so close to completion that only Bob Vila would notice the gaps between the floor and the baseboard moulding. Hell, the office now has a ceiling light for the first time in over a year, now that's progress.

This weekend will be completely different, we're heading to Disney for the weekend with Gina's sister Gail, her husband Brian and the 3 nieces. I'm looking forward to the trip since I've never been there, but I can't help to feel 4 full days in Orlando is about 3 days too many for me, atleast without a bike. Already I'm feeling guilty knowing I'm not going to ride this weekend. Even worse is knowing I'm going to miss another hard workout on Sunday. Trust me I've checked and none of the local shops rent bikes, atleast decent road bikes. Is it work boxing up the fixie and shipping FedEx to get a ride in? Don't tempt me.

Just saying that makes me think how oddly sadistic a sport like cycling is. To say you will miss making a hard workout doing 10 minute long hill repeats because you'll be getting your photo taken with Mickey and Goofey while getting a nice pre-season tan leaves me to wonder about my own mental status. Don't get me wrong, I like vacations, but I like my bike even more. Unfortuantely Gina doesn't see it that way. She could sit on a beach for weeks doing nothing and be perfectly content. I'm pulling my hair out after 10 minutes. Vacations with bikes, now that's a vacation. To just go somewhere and cruise around casually, actually enjoying the scenery and the freedom of riding a bike, that's a vacation from training.

I'll try to post something from Orlando, I'm sure there'll be plenty of pictures.

Hump Day, Hooray

Having Monday off really help the week go faster. Too bad there's nothing to help traffic.
Another slow ass commute on the DC parking lot. A little bit of snow and everyone flips, it's not that bad people!

I got to work and as usual there were plates full of food in the kitchen, this place is killing my training. I put in over 200km this weekend and any extra weight I may have shed went right back on with the bagels and cream cheese. Cream cheese rocks, I'm convinced that's the only reason bagels were invented, so fat bastard felt guilty just eating it straight from the tub.

Today is going too slow, feel like I've been here forever and it's only 1:30. I need a nap.

Friends, Food and more Agony

Well, who says you can never get too much of a good thing? Saturday's ride was a good indicator of fitness both personally and where my teammates are realtive to each other. After spending the day out in the cold, Sunday brought a rest day with the only rise in heart rate coming from trying to install new lighting fixture in our family room.

Thomas had called the night before and mentioned a ride on Monday in Gettysburg with Trey and a few other Tri-geeks preparing for the Columbia triathlon. Sunday night Gina and I went to Thomas' for Thai food, Christine was there as well. I decided to try my hand a Thai cooking so I went with something easy, green curry chicken, yummy, epsecially if you like it hot. I think I used one too many scoops of curry paste for it to be 'mild'. Oh well. We had a good time eating Thai and topping it off with Ben and Jerry's along with an assortment of various toppings, reddi whip rocks.

As my Monday off due to pres' day rolls around, I find myself once again getting up earlier to go ride my bike than I do to go to work, is that wrong?

Met up with the crew at the P&R off of 32, finally met this guy Reese everyone keeps asking me if I know. What just because I ride a bike I'm suppose to know everyone else that rides one? Anyway, the ride sounds like it's going to be a repeat of Saturday, not exactly what I was looking for, bit this will let me guage my recovery, atleast that's my excuse. I figured there was a chance Thomas wouldn't hand for the full 70miles and that we could cut it short. This would be his longest road ride.

As we started out of Thurmont, we immediately headed up, climbing up 77. I knew this wasn't the ride I was looking for. Fortunately as we made our way, the roads where we could have gone up we avoided and the ride was rolling as somewhat effortless. Thomas was a tropper, somewhat oblivious as to whether or not he could sustain for a ride of this duration, yet attacking and riding hard off the front early on in the ride. The ride for the ost part was steady and uneventful, Reese was in aw of the rolling landscape and the smooth roads. The final accent of the day took us up 491 from Smithsburg to Ft. Ritchie. Trey decided this would be a good point to send Thomas back a shorter, yet not that easy way over 77 from Smithsburg straight to Thurmont.

The rest of us set a tempo up 491, Reese and I rode together at a steady pace until Kent followed by Trey passed us about a mile and a half or so from the top. I decided to dig into the reserves to see just what I had and laid chase. I was riding about 20m infront of Reese chasing Trey, as I was cloing the gap on Trey Reese had pulled himself back onto my wheel and we worked to finish bringing Trey in. From there the three of us caught Kent and began our long, cold decent into Thurmont. At about the same time, Trey and I looked at each other and made the comment that our toe warmers had just wore out, almost 5 hrs. Not bad, but not the 6+ hours they advertise. We cruised into Thurmont and Thomas was waiting at the car, a well timed arrival, he had only waited 5 minutes or so, not having a key to the car, he could have been standing out there for a while.

All I know is that I was spent, maybe a bit more than I need to be at this time of the year. I had a really hard time getting out of bed this morning, even more than usual. To top it off, the agony continued as I had to sit in the worst traffic on the way in. 2 hours to get to Herndon, an hour and a half was just getting past 29 on the beltway. Rediculous.

The Agony and the Ecstacy

I've haven't been training as much on the bike this winter as i did last winter. Maybe due to the unseasonably warm weather, even warmer than last winter, or just lack of motivation to ride the trainer all together. I'm leaning towards the later, as I seem to get outside for rides in the nice weather. I've been doing the Davidsonville rides pretty consistently, but I decided it was time to bump it up a notch and head west to the mountains, well not really, but in Maryland 2,000 ft. of elevation is a mountain.

In keeping with the mantra of "it's always better to suffer with someone else than suffer alone", I organized a group ride for the 4/5 team. In designing the route, I put together what I thought would be a challenging yet achieveable ride for a group at this level. As the days grew closer it seemed as though more and more people were bailing from the ride, then the weather reports made it seem almost doomed, going from highs in the upper 50's and lower 60's at the end of the week to low 30's for a high on Saturday. That may have been enough, even for me. To top it off, the wind was predicted to be 20-30mph. It even had me questioning my sanity, but then I thought hey, I put up with worse at 'cross nat's, but that was only 45 minutes, not 4+ hrs.

As I rolled into the parking lot of Myersville elementary school, I was pleasantly surprised to see a solid group had shown for the ride. Even in the freezing temps of a 9am start with overcast skies. As we assembled in the parking lot, we discussed our sanity amongst the choices of clothing best suited for mostly steady uphill tempo and screaming decents in what would surely be sub 30 degree weather. As the 9 of us with abilities ranging from seasoned vet to realtive newcomer set out for the high country, I think we all knew we were about the share one of the toughest, yet satisfying days of training one could possibly imagine.

The ride started out with a somewhat hurried pace with an unorganized intent, not so much as to go hard, but to get warm. As we began the accent of the first climb of the day, a long gradual 3 miler, the wind made it's precense know and constantly reminded us it was going to be there to stay. Quickly the abilities of the group were made apparent and a sense of what was in store to come. As the day wore on, there was much laughing and cursing, especially on the accent of Buck lantz Rd. I threw this road into the ride as a way to get up to High Rock with som additional elevation gain on the way. However, my memory of this road did not include the fact that for the 3/4 mile or so climbing portion, this road was composed solely of dirt and loose gravel withe the heads of larger rocks protrudung through the errorded soil. At several points on the climb, the grade kicked up to 14%, forbidable enough on smooth pave, but a test of strength, balance and determination on dirt.

As we made our way over to High Rock the feelings in the group were mixed, for some this was already the hardest thing they've ever done on a bike, for others this was was the sort of sadistic fun cyclist are known to love. Personally, I'm the later. We made our accesnt of High Rock with a lead group of 4, Arch, Jon, James and myself. Jon "Mountain Goat" Gdowik and I get a gap early but then Jon pulls away leaving me. James and Arch are behind me as I cruise along at a steady tempo enjoying the scenic view north into Pennsylvania. Then I hear this taunting voice from behind me "I'm coming for you", it's James. As Metallica began to blair into my head, overriding the pounding of my own heartbeat, James continues his taunting. I give the shifter a few clicks and rise out of the saddle to give myself the kick I need to push it up a notch. As I glance back I can see instantly that I've put several meters on him, then I hear, "Oh, man." I knew I had him. Sorry James!

On the way back we managed to have enough juice left in the legs to pace line down Rt 17 from Wolfesville. As we cruised back into the elementary school there was a complete and utter sense of both elation and fatigue. Everyone put in a good ride and eventhough there were sometime when "this sucks" really meant "this sucks", no one wished they'd hadn't come out on this miserably cold day in February.

The New Year

Finally, the holidays are over! It's not that I don't like Christmas, it's just all the running around B.S. that gets to me.

Anyway, Gina got me an iPod for Christmas, the Nano, pretty cool. However, I've quickly realized the amount of time that could be consumed (wasted) surfing music online to download. It's kind of cool though, you can go get music you hadn't listened to in over a decade (no shit, that long, kind of sucks to think about it that way).

We've wanted a new camerafor a while now, especally since my Sony got stolen. We picked up a point and shoot but Gina wanted something for photographing bike races so for Christmas I got her the Canon EOS Rebel XT. It's really cool and can go alot, we just don't know how to use it yet so everything is just basic point and shoot.

Here are some shot of the dogs enjoying their toys... Although they don't last long. All squeekersand stuffing must be removed ASAP. Riley had a leg off of hers before she even finished unwrapping it.










For New Years a bunch of us rented this huge house down in St. Michael's on the eastern shore. Hanging out in someone elses house not having to drive anywhere is a pretty decent way to spend New Year's. Here are a few shots of us and the house.

Time to Rant

WTF...?

I've been traveling the DC beltway now for the past 2 months working on a project in Herndon, VA. At first the commute wasn't so bad, about an hour each way unless I roll out of bed late and then maybe 1:15. I leave by 2:30 to miss the afternoon rush hour. But lately , the beltway is just a cluster f&@$. It all started the day before Thanksgiving when a tanker truck blew up at the entrance to the beltway from 95. Since then there have been accidents almost daily. Last week it took me 3 hours to get into the office one day, the day after that it wasn't even worth trying so I worked from home.

When will people wake up and realize that the solution to traffic is not to increase the size of the roads? By the time the roads are expanded, they're beyond capacity. Mass transit is the only answer. Problem is, people in this country are so damned tied to their cars they'll never give up driving even as their commutes get longer and their quality of life goes further down the toilet. And lawmakers and government are helpless to address the issue. If they even try to promote mass transit as the solution to fixing the areas congestion, they would never get elected/re-elected to office.

Look at NYC today, people are walking, riding bikes and car pooling into the city. Unfortunately this is due to no mass transit, but the restrictions on vehicle occupancy coming into the city still forces alternatives. Image the reduction in pollution and strain on resources (not to mention the health benefit to an increasingly overweight society while reducing the strain on our already over-burdened health care system) that would come about from forcing people out of their cars.

Personally, I hope the price of gas in this country stays high and forces people to become more open to alternative modes of transportation and fuel sources. Too bad the American automotive industry screwed the pooch on that one. They've only had since the oil embargo of the 70's to get their shit together, now they're behind the 8-ball and paying heavy royalties to the Japanese to use their hybrid technology. Hopefully we can look forward to those SUV type tax incentives on hybrids soon, with GMC and Ford are headed for bankruptcy with the decline in SUV sales, they need every option to help them compete with a shrinking market, and I'm sure this administration couldn't bear to see a large American icon disappear on their watch.

Anyway, I made the 52 mile commute in my car this morning. As a consultant, it's unfortunate that I really don't have the option to commute by bike to work every day. Most of my work is in the DC/NoVA area and living outside of Baltimore does not really provide me with any viable alternatives to traveling that far without having to start my commute at 4 in the morning. If you ask me what my dream job is, it would be the one with a 20-30 min. bike commute.

'Cross Nationals Race Report

I was orignially going to send this out as an email to the Snow Valley list serve to hopefully be a bit more interesting than the usual FS: (insert favorite bike component here) emails posted to the D20 this time of year but it grew so large I figured I would just post it to the blog. Enjoy!

As late September approached, most people were thinking about the end to a long road season and looking forward to the rest and relaxation of the off-season and preparing themselves mentally for those cold winter rides and shorter days forcing us onto trainers and rollers. But for some of us, fall marks the start of a new cyclocross season. A sport that originated in Europe as a way for cyclists to stay fit through the winter. 'Cross has always been seen in the U.S. as a kind of the black sheep of cycling, a somewhat eccentric sport with it's U.S. roots in the New England region. Maybe that's the alure of the part of the allure, or maybe it's the mountain biker in me looking for a good excuse to go ride through the mud.

In any case, late September through early December marks the U.S. 'cross calendar. The courses in the Mid-Atlantic Cross (MAC) series stretch from Reston, VA to Highland Park in northen Jersey with plenty of stops in between like the DuPont estate in Grenougue, DE. Nothing like a couple hundred cyclists decending on such pristine grounds to pedal, push, pull and carry their bikes through impecably maintained gardens.

After moving Nationals to the west coast for the past several years (last east coast showing being Patterson Park in Baltimore), the east coast finally got the big dance. This past weekend, 1700+ racers from around the country made the pilgrimage to Providence, RI for the U.S. Cyclocross Nationals. Juniors from 10 years old to Master's in the 60+ category all looking to see how they stack up at a National level.

Randall Root and myself were amongst those 1700+ racers to make the journey up to Providence for what turned out to be an incredible weekend of racing. After getting into Providence Thursday afternoon, myself a couple of friends who race for other teams but all travel the circuit together headed to Roger Williams Park to check out what was in store for us. As we warmed up on the course, I quickly realized this was one of the best laid courses I had even ridden and in the current conditions it would be very fast, even with some leftover snow from prior storms still covering sections of the course.

What a difference 12 hours will make. When I went to sleep that night, none of the snow in the weather reports called for had started yet. Some reports were expecting the area to see anywhere from 8 to 12 inches of snow over night. As I woke that morning and looked outside, a layer of about 2 inches of fresh snow covered the ground. As we gathered ourselves and made our way to the park for the 2pm 30-34 master's race, the snow was still heavy but the air was warming. By the time we started to get dressed, the heavy snow had turned into a down pour of ice cold rain. As we sat in the car contemplating the future of the day's race and our own mental toughness for racing in these conditions, the rain turned to small pellets of ice being driven by 30+ mph winds. Much better I thought than pouring rain. As we made our way to the start line, the mass exodus from the venue had already begun. The promoters had decided after the master's 35-39 race to cancle the remaining races for the day due to so many racers making their way to the ambulances for hypothermia. Personally, I love the harsh conditions, but honestly as my face was being pelted with bits of ice being swirled around by the wind, I realized I couldn't have raced that day.

By the time we made it back to the hotel and cleaned up, the storm had broke and the sun was shining again. Fortunately the rest of the weekend was blessed with sunny skies and temps in the upper 30's. But the course was a new beast, nothing like Thursday. Our masters race had been rescheduled for 11:30 so we headed over to the park to take our shot. I don't even remember if I got a chance to warmup on the course, I don't think I did since the promoters kept a tight rein on course access between races. All I know is when we hit the snow exiting a 90 degree right hander after flying up the road at 25mph, all hell broke loose. Bodies and bikes were going in all directions. The next 45 minutes was a slug fest between you, your bike and the snow. Nevermind the other 70 guys in the race. After recovering from a horrible first lap of trying to stay up right, I manage to ride to 33rd, but way off the pace of the winner who happened to finish top 15 in the elite men's race.

With one race down I felt good about going into Sunday's B men's race since I already raced against some of my competition in the masters. Sunday presented an entirely new element to the course,ice. Racing at 9:30, the snow on the course was now ice and the deep mud and snow ruts from the previous day's races were now frozen solid making your ability to hold a tight line a key component to staying upright. Both days I saw a second row start due to early registration, but unlike the day before, the field was 168 riders deep. Fine for a road race, but on a tight technical course, a back of the pack start makes for a long race trying to move up. As the race wore on, the course continued to thaw giving way to slick mud and diffcult run ups. I managed a respectable 36th and took the top placing of any mid-atlantic rider. I really happy about that as my regular season was a roller coaster of emotions and expectations each weekend. In any case, it was a great end to the season.

I found this collage photo at www.pedalpushersonline.com
Pretty cool that it was Sean, John and myself, sorry don't know the forth guy. (Could it be a missing Baldwin brother?)













Here are some links to some other great photos of the race weekend.

www.pbase.com/dens/cross_nationals
www.buffalo2step.com/Nationals%202005.htm
www.pedalpushersonline.com/gallery.html

I Suck at This

As I've stated previously, I'm not a good blogger. I guess I just don't feel the need to put myself out there. Plus, I'm not going to go around to people and say hey man, read my blog. I'm keeping this thing going as a kind of way to look back and reflect on things personally. It's a bit less cheesy than a diary.

Anyway, since my last post, way back in September, alot has happened. I no longer work for Metreos, the company out of Austin, so it's nice not to be traveling all of the time. I took the month of October off, trained hard on the mountain bike to get my ass somewhat back into shape for 'cross and went to nationals in Providence this past weekend. For the most part the last three months have been nothing but racing every weekend. Now that 'cross is finished, Gina's finally going to get that hardwood floor put down in the downstairs, eventually.

Gina was suppose to come up to RI for Nat's but it didn't work out so I made the 7 hour drive with Sean and Phil. We headed to Phil's house in Jersey on Wednesday, crashed there and drove the rest of the way Thursday morning. Coming back sucked since we drove pretty much straight through. As far as the 4 days in between, I can only say that was one of the best times I've had on my bike, ever. People are bitching and complaining about the course and how technical it was. Well here's the deal, that course was going to be dry and fast had the snow not come, and if the promoters could control the weather then maybe the course would have stayed that way. But the fact is, they had no control over the weather. You're racing in December in New England, HELLO, it snows in December in New England!

Photo courtesy of Mike O'Hare @ Phattire.net

Here's a cool pic Mike's girlfriend Natasha took during the B Men's under 34 race. I'm really not struggling as much as it looks. The expression on my face always looks like that in every race photo.

Anyway, I'll try to post something interseting over the winter. We're heading to West Virginia this weekend to visit Gina's sister so I get to see the nieces. Except for the 4 hour drive it should be somewhat relaxing, NOT.

Murphy's Law

So, I'm here in Austin spending the week at the office. Austin is a pretty cool town, has to be for the likes of Lance Armstrong and Andy Roddick to take up residence here. It's also hot, real hot, and for the first time, humid, like Baltimore sweat box humid. Even so, the riding is pretty good west of town is West Lake Hills which lives up to its name. Rolling countryside overlooking the lakes of Austin.

I've been keeping a bike down here all summer so I don't get tagged for around $100 bucks each time I come down. This typically means I have to bring a certain amount of gear with me, helmet, cycling cloth, shoes etc... It also means the little things, spare tubes, pump, energy bars. Well, this time I managed to walk out of the house with one of those little things...my pump. Excited to roll out of the office at 5pm and get beck to the good old La Quinta where I stay while in town, I realize as I'm ready to rollout for a ride that I do not have my trusty, seldom used (as in "have I ever used it on a roadride?") pump. So, after a few minutes of debating with my conscience, I decide to head out anyway. Now, as nice as the riding is here, it's for one reason, there nothing around for miles sometimes. Despite that fact, there is still plenty of traffic, so don't get your hopes up. So from the La Quinta I take a quick right then another at the first light to put me on the closet road out of southwest Austin, Southwest Parkway. A 2 to 3 lane "highway" with a decent shoulder, 3-4 feet. Not too bad with cars whizzing by at 70+ mph, except for the trash, mostly glass, shards of metal, the occasional rusty mail or bolt and plenty of blown tire pieces.

As I'm riding along, my conscience is getting tome, playing tricks. Everytime I ride by or over something suspicious, I start thinking I have a flat. Next thing I know I'm just riding along staring at my rear wheel. So I'm about 6 miles fro mthe hotel and just split off from another cyclist who had been shadowing me for several miles when I finally decide that I want to check my rear tire. I get off my bike and immediately knew I was f'ed.

Fortunately I did bring my cell, I usually use that to call for directions home, but in this case it was to call Louis to come pick me up. It worked out for him though, he had a reson to leave work, and he lives right behind the La Quinta so it was kind of on the way. Anyway, Murphy's law bit me in the ass. As many miles as I've put in this year and the one time I consciously go out unprepared I get burned. Lesson learned.

'Cross Season Awaits

Well, it's that time of year again, cyclocross! What a meniacal, masochistic way to spend your winter, but hey, it's fun right? As far as training, I've been spending a great deal of time on the mountain bike, single speed specifically. I'm hoping the combination of leg speed and pure power pedaling it takes to keep yourself moving will provide what I was missing last year in 'cross. If you've never ridden a single speed, it such a pure way to ride. Remember back when you were a kid and all you had was your little BMX bike with one gear and a coaster brake? How awesome was it tearing around on that bike? And it only had one gear! Well, add the aspect of riding in the woods on cool trails, minus the coaster brake and there you have it, single speed mountain biking, you're 10 years old again. I have to add that I'm fortunate enough to have one of the best areas for mountain biking just a short ride from my house. Patapsco State Park has such a great selection of trails that are well maintained, yet not overlly maintained that you feel like you're riding on a greenway.





So back to my first point, cyclocross is here. Last season was a disaster, between my fitness and my bike, I'm not sure which was worse. Every racewas an adventure, something always happened to my bike, and even if it hadn't, I was just never there. Two weeks and a couple hundred dollars later, a new drivetrain and kick ass new Empella Frog Leg brakes and levers, Frankenbike is ready to rumble. Now it's up to me, so enough rambling, it's time to ride.

Long time no talk

I find it's really hard to find quality things to talk about on a day by day basis, maybe that's why I don't post so often. Sometimes I feel like my life isn't interesting enough to warrant discussing it, or maybe I'm just not that open a person. I read my friend Meg's blog and it's so fun to just listen to what she has to say, sometimes nothing more than a hey what's up here's how I'm doin', or a long rant about one thing or another.

I just got back from a work conference in San Diego. I have to say, pretty nice town, still don't think I could ever like in southern California though. I need trees, big, tall, green trees. While there I decided it was time to start running, atleast get some exercise in. I know I'm not a good runner, I've always hated it but it seems to be a great solution to exercising on the road. A good pair of running shoes is about all you need. Which I did buy, but are in need of some breaking in as the blister on my left heel indicated after just two outings. I keep telling myself it's all about getting ready for cyclocross. Which speaking or, starts the last weekend of the month, I can't believe it's September already.

Last night we went out to a restaurant called The Strip Club. No, it's not that kind of restaurant, the receipt actually says The Strip Club on it. It's a steak joint and their twist was that they let you cook your own steak on an open grill. Not a terribly bad idea, but if I'm going to pay that much for a steak, why do I want to cook it myself? Since I didn't pay for it, I didnt actually care I had to cook it. Going with a group is better, it was kind of like getting fondu, but more work.

Other than that, I noticed that it's really starting to get dark early, that sucks since it's the definitive end of summer indicator. Well, that's about all for now, look for something new in a few weeks.

Oh, one other thing. Gina and went to see The 40 Year Old Virgin with Chip and Terry last weekend, holy sh!t, that had to be the funniest movie since Dodgeball.

More Tired, More Sore

Not that I don't like the morning, I think I just like it better asleep. Getting up at 5:30 three days in a row starts to hurt, especially when the third day is to get up and drive home from a hard weekend of racing. Did I mention something about over-compensating in my training this past week? Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

The race this weekend was hard, but not that hard that I should have felt so flat. Ryan, Matt and Dan from LSV were there for the RR which always make racing somewhere outside of your local area a little more comfortable, seeing a freindly face in the pack. And if it's Ryan, watching him drop his water bottle at 25mph and hear a frenzy ensue in the back of the pack as everyone tries to dodge it.

We stayed at Gina's parents with the dogs and everything was going ok (with the exception of Riley's temper tantrums when we'd leave and he need to destroy something) until yesterday when Boulder decide he need to come outside to see what we were doing, through the screen door! He didn't go all the way through but Gina will be repairing said door next weekend.

Now we're home and the dogs are passed out. I need some coffee. Ciao.

Tired and Sore

Maybe this is the reason I have been racing like crap lately. I thought I was puting in good miles, getting the right intensity training, but my last two races have left me mistifed as to why I'm so flat. So, to compensate, or some may say overcompensate for this, I decide to adjust my weekly training regimen and mix it up a bit. Tuesday night, Davidsonville. Not a hard ride from a terrain profile perspective, but oh do the hammerheads come out. That was a wake up call to my legs, especially since I have PA State Championships this weekend. It was good, I had to really work at some points and push myself.

So, with my legs already scremaing for mercy, I decide to add insult to injury and hit the Greenbelt training ride last night. That's always fun, but riding with some of those people is like being in the mind of a schizophrenic. They are just insane and dangerous. Shear boredom with going around this fast, tight right hander 12 times at 10 mph led me to take off on the front for a couple of laps with Trey, who put in this incredibly kick ass pull up the hill to lead me out for the second go at the turn. In trying to conserve I sat up the rest of the ride, but it was a good night and the legs needed the wake up call.

Today is just another boring day. Working at home is cool,but sometimes it just sucks since you're all alone, except for the constant begging of the dogs to go out and play. Today they were pretty mellow. Looking forward to an easy night on the trainer and maybe some wine. Guess I should hit the store since I'm craving tuna.