Mistakes

Tonight I made the mistake of sitting around looking at iPhotos from the past year. Season over, I'm 10 lbs.+ heavier, winter approaches and racing is done for the year. My "job" for the first time in my life is exactly what I want. But there are some small changes to that are coming with that that I hope work out, and people are cool with. I want to make XXC a long term thing, and a small step towards that needs to happen with the next issue.

No use getting too into it now, 'cause a bunch of work needs to be done on Issue #5 first. Each issue gets a little better, as far as content, and #5 is going to have at least 2 or 3 articles and interviews that I'm really stoked on. One is with a super nice, kick ass pro in the endurance race scene and the other is from an equally as cool, equally as nice solo national champion. Talking and corresponding with these folks make what I'm trying to do seem so right and so natural. It also made me realize yet again, that for the most part the endurance race community is made up of some damn super cool folks. Glad to be a part of it.

But no use worrying about too much now, or lamenting my winter layer. There's work to be done on many fronts. I need to get some goals. I think I may have found it. We'll see.

Later.

Organ Sounds

I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.

Pumped out some pages the first part of today, then got my shit together and hit a 35 mile loop. Legs felt pretty good once I got them warmed up and hit a bunch of red neck roads and shit roads.

I realized once again today it's been since August that I rode my road bike. WTF?? That is not to say that I haven't been riding on the road (as you all know), just not on my road bike. I love my road bike, but I've got so used to riding my Mamasita, that I don't even think about my Campeon. Not sure what the deal is? It could be that I enjoy the warm up/cool down on the rail trail, it could be that I've been incorporating all those crap roads, or it could be that I love all the options that riding my mountain bike gives me. No road is too crap or hill too steep and no potential poached piece of dirt goes unridden. Of course it COULD be that I'm a nasty ass creature of habit. And my current habit is riding my mountain bike on the road. Strange.

Watched Red Light Go today. Not bad, but not really my scene. I would have dug it more if they were on mounain bikes riding in the woods. But not sure there is much of a need for bike messengers there, or if there are many "alley cats" to race. Of course the sound of a 40 mile, mountain alley cat, sounds pretty good, eh?

Later.

Ridden

I was anxious and happy to get back on the bike after yesterday's non-ride and Saturday's epic which ended with an epic bonk. I was feeling a little stiff, so I as happy to spin along for a while before the hills started. But then the legs loosened up and I felt great. Found a new way to loop some road together today and the end result will be more time, and more miles for me in the future. That's always a killer feeling. It's better when it's more DIRT miles, but I'll take what I can get, when I can get it. I was also stoked to be getting 35 road miles in, only adding arm warmers and a base layer to the normal kit, especially since it's freaking November!

Anyway, gotz to go finish up some work. Funny how I don't mind working after 8 p.m. on a Monday, when it's something Ilove. Of course it's also easier knowing that I spent over two hours of my "work day" out on my bike. LOL!

Later.

Filled With Horse Pooed Water

Woke up a bit run down from yesterday's bonk on the mountain, but with temps looking good, I figured I would at least spin some back roads out by my Dad's digz. Then I realized that I failed to get my wet and muddy shoes out of my bike box after yesterday's ride. They were still filled with mud, poo, and water. Frig. Forget the ride, I wasn't that into it anyway.

So the day was spent chillin' and raking leaves with B-Man and my Dad. It was relaxing and I still got to be outside and enjoy the freakishly warm November temps. Weather looks good again tomorrow, so I hope to get out somewhere for some ride time. For all the bitching I did this week about my lack of riding, I actually ended up with close to 10 hours of riding. Not bad.

So I'm peeping CyclingNews.com and I see the headline: Vande Velde supports Giro d'Italia visit to Washington, DC

I should preface this by saying I'm NO big fan of change and disrupting tradition. Example: In my opinion there should be NO such thing as Inter League Baseball (for my foreign friends, that is when the American and National League play each other in games DURING the season) The ONLY time the AL and NL should face off is at the All Star Game and the World Series. PERIOD!!!

So you have to expect that I would be outraged that the Giro would come to the U.S.. Go ahead, give me the "good for U.S. cycling" bull shit. I don't care. The Giro takes place in Italy. In Europe. It belongs to them. That would be like the Super Bowl being played in Rome. Why???

90% of Americans believe that cycling is a fringe sport (if a sport at all), and we'll be lucky if that number EVER gets lower. Euro fans LIVE for it. I don't want cycling to be considered a side show/human interest sport. I want it to be known for what it truly is. Should the Tour of Cali go to Madrid? NO! It should be in California. Shit, I'm outraged by this and I'm and American, can you IMAGINE what Italian cycling fans must think about the Giro organizers thinking of taking THEIR race to the U.S.???

If the U.S. were in the E.U. and we bordered Italy and the race could come across the border- FINE, but across the f*cking OCEAN??? For real??

Dumb, just f*cking dumb.

Sorry for the rant. But it IS DUMB!!

Later.

Bonking My Own Loop

Went up to the mountain today to do my big ass 40 mile loop with Aaron and Don. Dudes are super fast (I am not), but it's still always nice to ride with them.

You would have never known it was November on the mountain if it wasn't for some snow here and there and the fact that the trees were balder than a super models anorexic buttocks. The temps were warm and the sun was bright, what else could you ask for?

Well I guess I COULD have asked for a little more power to get through the leaf covered trails that were sporting a thin to thick layer of mud underneath and hidden rocks everywhere. Damn, each new section was sucking power from my legs like a Vegas hooker.

If you look close you can see two tiny specks off in the distance. That's Aaron and Don. They are still riding with great fitness left from a season of XC and a fall with numerous cross races. I on the other hand was riding the low of a fall spent curled up with too many beers, too much cheese, and an open and fully drained can of Suck®.

On the way up to North Woods on Tunnel Road I heard Don scream something back. I had now idea what he said, but something in my gut told me he spied some undies on the road. So as I pedaled up a steep ass, 20% plus grade at 4 mph, I of COURSE felt the need to put a foot down for the express purpose of adding to the Western PA Roadside Undie Photo Collection.

These were some big ass Granny Panties. Damn! Some full figured gal is out there right now lettin' her junk air out real good. I just don't get it!

Aaron was running out of water so he took advantage of some snow patches to add some H20 to his CamelBack. This I allowed, but put my mud gobbed cleated foot down when he wanted to fill up his pack in the stream along Mountain Streams Trail. I reminded him of the large amounts of deer, bear, and horse shit that is surely in the streams water and that he would be flirting with a night or two spent hovering his skinny ass above a shitter.

Fill 'er up.

Coming down the mountain via Mountain Streams hurt. Eeesh. The trail was completely covered by leaves, big honking hunks of rock underneath and sticks just waiting to rip a derailleur off. Don had no problem hurling himself down it on his newly acquired Salsa El Mariachi rigid single speed. It was f*cking impressive as hell!!

Once at the bottom things started getting a bit worse. Parts of the trail drain poorly and were made even worse by the tire sucking 9" deep hoof prints. Damn, parts had me giving it all I got (and that ain't much!) to go 5 or 6 mph on a false flat. It was demoralizing.

By the time we started the final climb of the day on Camp Run Road I was spent. My back hurt from trying to power through all that mud, I was out of water, and out of gel. I still had 3 to 4 miles of climbing ahead of me. Don and Aaron were heading up and out of sight. I Bonked with a a capital B. I've done this loop before in dry conditions with little problem. Today, I was unprepared for the effort that I would need to put out, not only on the climbs but even on the flats. I only took two bottles and 1 gel flask. It's sad but true. I bonked on MY loop. Fail.

I actually had to get off and push for bit. It was pathetic. I've never walked more than a few feet of this climb before. I've never been so happy to reach the Fern Mountain "mountain community" a sight that usually saddens me. But today I was just happy to know that only a mile or two of forest road separated me from the xB, some water and a place to sit my tired ass down.

40 miles, 4:40 of ride time, but the ride was probably closer to 5+ hours with stops. I'm pretty sure D&A could have done the ride in about 3+ hours for sure. Seems like they dug the loop with the new additions, and had a good time.

I was hurting by the end, hurting bad. But it felt great and was a blast. And like I've said before, this time of year every ride on the mountain is a gift. Soon those spots of snow will be more numerous, and in the form of "blankets", and the temps will be as cold as a gaggle of witch tits.

Stopped on the way home for some RC, some water, and a lack luster pepperoni roll. Then hurled my muddied, tired ass home to see B-Man and Wifey, drink a couple Stouts and cook up some Mexican grub.

Later.

Now That Feels Better

Doc appointment was aces. Once again the Doppler chick was a little overly concerned (better than be UNconcerned) about the remnants of my former DVT. My doc even consulted with a vascular surgeon about it and she said I'm good to go. So NO FREAKING BLOOD THINNERS! SWEET! And I'm edging closer to once a year visits to the doc for this rather than every three months.

I was pretty stoked, as you can imagine, so as soon as I got home I said "ballz to work" and got kitted up for a 2 hours spin of my knobs on the road. Felt great. Crisp fall air, sun, and the promise of some 5:01 PM Sierra Nevada Stout.

Good news, good ride, good beer, good food to come and if the start align just right a crime wave breaks out later and Wifey and I are called into action. Not to mention the weather looks titz tomorrow and I'm heading to the mountain with a couple of my peeps for a 40 miler.

T shirt order was made today, and will be available in December along with the new mag. I also worked out a deal with Chamois Butt'r where buyers will get a couple packets of Chamois Butt'r with their T Shirt purchase. The tag line of the shirt is "xxcmag.com, inspiring saddle sores since 2009." Get it? XXC inspires and Chamois Butt'r will give you some butt'r to prevent. I also got the word that my stickers will be in this time next week, so that's yet another push in the ass towards world domination XXC style.

Speaking of world domination... There's really nothing funnier than laughing at a tyrant/murderer of millions/freak right? (note sarcasm, please!). Anyway, I still find myself laughing at this...

It's after 5. Time for a Stout.

Later.

Not Much of A Week

Last week had me getting 10+ hours of nice saddle time in. This week, I have 1.5 hours in. Woot! Woot! The lull in XXC work that I experienced last week is over, and this week stories and photos are starting to come in. Today I was also coordinating and doing XXC's first phone interview with a certain pro mountain bike racer. Who? You'll have to wait on that one! ;) I will say you can set up a pretty cool ghetto phone recorder with a portable phone on speaker, an iMac and Garage Band.

Anyway, back to me... The doctors appointment concerning the blood clot that won't go away, is tomorrow. Wost case scenario I go back on blood thinners, best case she says I'm "good enough", and I can just keep doin' what I'm doin' with the baby aspirin, and watching for swelling. I really want to stay off the blood thinners, but I guess if I have to choose between taking them and pulmonary embolism, I'll go with the blood thinners. But ONLY after an awkward and lengthy pause for thought.

I hope I can get out for a short spin after my appointment tomorrow, but if not, no big deal. Scheduled to hit up some mountain trail on Saturday with a couple peeps, and that should be a nice 3 to 5 hours and I can probably get another 3+ hours in on Sunday.

Really looking forward to 5:01 tomorrow and chilling my ass out with a few beers. Wait all week for this appointment and the lack or riding has me tad fried.

Later.