Goodbye 2005...

Since I didn't get out of the house too much yesterday I decided to go to the gym rather than ride the trainer. So I went and did 2 hours on the Stair Master. I think I lost 10 lbs. in sweat! Wicking fabrics can only wick so much before you're just a disgusting clammy mess. It was a scene. I litterly rung out a coolmax tee.

I went through 2 big bottles of Heed. I felt like by the end some of the employees were looking at me like I might have some sort of mental problem and/or medical condition causing me to sweat like some kind of damn fool from Ft. Myers, Florida. (sorry D.K.)

Not much going on in the area of New Year's celebrating. Wifey and I are going to John Harvard's for an early supper and some craft brew and then we'll stop at Papa-O's to get the B-Man and come home to hang, watch a movie or something. I doubt very much that we'll do the midnight stuff. It's only 4:30 now and I could sleep.

Hope you all have a fun and safe New Year's Eve and good luck to all in 2006. Should be some epic fun. Cheers!

Later.

2005 ALMOST In The Bag

New Years Eve and the anniversary of when I first met Wifey approaches. Funny how your life can change once you put your tongue halfway down an almost complete stranger's throat. Wouldn't change at thing. Except maybe for the pants I was wearing that night. Little too dressy for me.

Took the day off from training and hung with the B-Man. Went to the park, B-Man pushed me on the swing, I mean I pushed B-Man on the swing, did some shopping, some cleaning etc. General Mr. Mom type stuff.

As I mentioned earlier this month I dig Fox Forx the most, but I have the chance for a super deal on an '06 Reba Team, so I'm thinking of selling the '04 Fox RLT 100 on Titus and putting the Reba on that ride and using the extra jing towards race entries. I like the thought of my hard tail with a remote lock out. It would be great for races like the Wilderness 101 with lots of fire roads. All the high zoot equipment in the world doesn't mean squat if it sits in your garage. Gotz to race.

I'd keep the '05 Fox on my main 24 race bike- my Salsa El Santo, since I NEVER thought during ANY of my 24 hour races that a remote lock out would be nice. So if anyone is interested in purchasing an '04 Fox RLT well maintained (not by me or course) let me know an offer via the comments.

2 hours scheduled for the bike tomorrow. Looks like it might be inside due to some nasty weather that we're supposed to get. If not a road ride will be in order.

Later.

Nothing Like Beer & The History Channel

Not too much going on today. Hung with B-Man all day and we did some more recon via the Soob for road riding in the local area. Found another road that's GOLD! Should be able to put together a sweet 30+ mile ride, 5 minutes from my house that starts with a climb that's 1.9 miles long. Sweet. There's so many climbs in this 30 miles it's sick. I'm so geeked.

Once Wifey got home I hit the gym for some stair mastering and weights. Nothing too exciting. Taking tomorrow off from training and plan to do 2 hours Sat. a.m. on the bike.

Once home Wifey and B-Man went to bed and I stayed up watching a History Channel show about the Odesa Files and drinking Monk Dunkel's.

That's it.

Later.

Doing The Happy Dance (Whatever that is)

Got to ride outside today. (insert Berry White voice) Ohhhhhh Yeahhhhhhhh Baby...

B-Man was spending some of the afternoon with Papa-'O, so with temps in the 50's and a chance of rain I decided to chamois up and try out some of the local roads I found last week that are out of reach of the crack dealing thugs that call the White Oak/McKeesport area home.

Mucho hills and the quads were still burning from Monday's weights. Founds some other roads combined to make a lap and a half pretzel type route that put me at 33 miles in just slightly over 2 hours. I got rained on a bit and some of the flats in the valleys near the creeks where pretty chilly but 2 hours of chilly monkey but action beats 2 hours at the gym any day. Although there was no opportunity to spy hot chicks on the thigh machine (oh yeah, like you don't look!).

A road ride in December in the Pittsburgh area is like a gift from bike gods. I will be sacraficing a live chain covered in the "blood" of a virgin bottle of Tri-Flow later tonight in thanks.

Spooked a chick on a horse near Round Hill Park. On trails I always give warnign etc., but I figured if the horse is used to 18 wheelers coming past SURELY it would be used to a knob on a bike. I was wrong. Felt bad.

Not sure what tomorrow holds. Might take the day off. Might go to the gym in the eveing. Not sure.

Time to eat.

Later.

Plumbing, Training & Other Stuff

Spent the day with B-Man and Papa-M today. Nice day. Plan was to ride the trainer when I got home. BUT, my plumbing problems continued with a nasty kitchen drain clog. Two containers of Liquid Plumber and a long coat hanger did nothing. So I had to call in the big gun. My father in law. Gotta love a guy with a PHD that can kick a plumbing problem right in the junk. After some pipe loosening, a face full of stank water and a petrified hunk of what looked to be sliced onions, we got in going and running smooth. Thanks AGAIN Papa-'O.

So as you can imagine training got a tad f*cked. What was to be 1.5-2 hours ended with one hour of force intervals on the trainer. My legs were SCCCCCreaming from yesterday's leg press madness. But had fun soiling the chamois, listening to iPodious and watching some '04 Tour.

Back to the gym or a ride outside tomorrow depending on time, weather and B-Man's schedule.

On a final sad note I'd like to give some props to my mom, who died 6 years ago today due to complications from Multiple Sclerosis. It was hands down thee worst day of my entire life and a day that I think of every single day. Cheers mom. Miss you.

Later.

Phase III, Christmas Recap and More...

Back to normal (sort of). Made it to the gym today to start Base II. In this phase I'm opting to also switch to my ME (Muscular Endurance) phase on the weights and skip the Power Endurance phase. I plan to still keep one set of big weights on the leg press. Example: I did 1 set of 10 x 270 lbs. and 1 set of 40 x 85 lbs. All other exercises will be lighter weights and mucho reps. I'm gonna lift 2 times a week and the rest will be long sessions on the bike (outside or inside) mixing in some force intervals or doing long cardio sessions on the stair master or xc skiing. I'm excited to be entering another phase especially since that means more chamois time.

Christmas recap.

Christmas is always better than I anticipate. My theory is: Go in with low expectations and work up. B-Man was awesome! He was in a great mood, got a ton of stuff and was handing out hugs and kisses to all who hooked him up with choo-choos n'at.

After a whirl-wind of visiting on Christmas Eve we got home 'round 10 and then Wifey and I had a couple beers, and exchanged gifts. Wifey hooked me up with a case of Pious Monk Dunkel from the Church Brew Works here in Pittsburgh. If you ever have the chance when visiting Pittsburgh, check 'em out. They have some of theeee BEST pizza and of course some fine beer in a really cool atomoshere. I also got this little gem amongst some other goodies....


Sweet!

On Chrismas a.m. we got up and did the Santa thing with Brennan. He was a hoot! Then we headed to my in-laws for some kick ass brunch and then we got some sweet Christmas swag including our 2nd and 3rd John Harvards Brew House gift certificates. Yes!!! Free food and beer at my fave restaurant in the area. Thanks!!!

FINALLY we got home 'round 1 p.m. Wifey and B-Man took a nap, I laid around, drank some Dunkel and watched National Treasure on tv till it was time to put my brined turkey in the oven and get dinner ready.

My turkey turned out great. I could not have been more happy with it. I also made some mashed potatoes, corn, and smashed sweet potatoes with honey to go with it. B-Man had a slight variation of our Christmas dinner...


Mmmmm Gold Fish...

Found out today I will for sure be riding in he red, white and dalmation spots of Bikeman.com in 2006. Cool to ride for a shop that is both a national mail order shop that can get you anything in the industry at a great price, but also a funky small town bike shop.


Bath Cycle & Ski/Bikeman.com, in Woolwich, Maine.

Thanks Alan! Hope I can improve on my '05 results.

Hanging with B-Man & Papa-M tomorrow, followed by 1.5 - 2 hours of chamois time.

Later.

Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays etc., etc. to you all.
Go hang with the people you love and enjoy.

Later.

The Night Before The Night Before Christmas....

Got my gym time in yesterday and my hours finished for the week. So all that's left now is laying around, eating turkey, ham, pierogies and swilling beer.

At the gym on Friday I was taking a HUGE amount of weight off the vacant leg press machine (like 600 lbs.) when this HUGE dude says "ah, bro I just put that on" I apologized and he offers to let me sit in on his set. All I could say was "dude, that's WAYYYYY more weight than I could ever lift, but thanks". Shit, I'm lucky I can lift 230-250. Turns out the guy's a rugby player. I could NOT even IMAGINE trying to bring this guy down.

Friday night we headed over to some friends house for a small get together with some great food and wine. I was able to avoid the cookie and cheese trays with some success.

I'm going to brine a turkey breast for our Chrismas Day dinner and download some festive muzak for B-Man from iTunes, so I gotta bolt.

Later.

Got 'Er Done

Papa-'O and I headed out to the Faucet Doc this a.m. and got the replacement parts for my tub. Rock on Faucet Doc! Then Papa-O and I got it all fixed up. Now I'm ready to get my day started with time at the gym.

Later.

Call Me A Faucet Doctor, STAT!!!

So I'm around 7 I'm chillin' on the couch stuffing my pie hole with a plate of leftover Mexican del Jason while Wifey is upstairs running the bath water for B-Man. Then I hear "Hey Jase, could you come here, I need some help!" The hot water valve was stripped and could not be stopped.

Water needed to be shut off, Father-in-Law called in to assist. The damn thing is ephed! So off to Busy Beaver we went. Dude looks at the part for the 50 year old tub, "heck we don't have anything like that, you need to go to (whateverthehelltheplaceiscalled).

So off we go to (whateverthehelltheplaceiscalled). Dude looks at it says "how old is this, never seen anything like it?" You'll want to call (and I kid you not) the Faucet Doctor in Trafford, he'll have one for sure."

Then we head over to my Grand-father-in-laws to let him look at it since he was a bad ass plumber years ago. "I've never seen anything like that" he says. UGGG!!!!

At this point I just want to replace the system BUTTTTT the ephers that put it in 50+ years ago sealed everything up some much that we'd be looking at a $$$$$$$ PPPPPPPPRRRRROJECT!!

For the love of God!!!

And no D.K., NO utility tubs or oscillating fans we're destroyed at 1147! Guess I should thank Santa's Little Helper. HA!

So tomorrow, afte a cold shower (no hot water) I'll be venturing to the Faucet Docs. Then a day of home repair. F.

Later.

Blogasis Santa

Not much going on 'round here today. Mucho laundry, like 5 ephing loads! Yikes!
Also took some time to get the Titus looking spiffy. Did El Santo last week. Now they can look pretty sitting there in the basement.

Did some road ride recon today. Found a 21 mile loop from my house that's kinda cool. Not too long on miles but more than 1/2 is serious climbing. So I'm confident that I could get a good workout in. Not bad for close to home. There's also is some possibilities with driving down through some of the heavy traffic area, starting from the Rail Trail parking area and doing an out and back. That is the more likely option, since I think I can get 30+ miles and a TON of climbing in. Traffic isn't too bad. Mostly W.T. roads, so I'll have to watch out for speeding '85 Camaros blasting T. Nugent.

Saw this link over at VeloNews. I'm sure I won't be following too much of this plan, but it's a nice thought.

Gym tomorrow most likely. Later.

I Could Get Used To This...

1st day of vacation rocked. Went to B-Man's day-care to see his Christmas Pagent. He was a sheppard (leading, not following) He behaved great and did as much as you could expect a 22 mo. old kid to do in front of 100 parents.

Then Wifey took B-Man to my dad's where they wrapped gifts and hung out while I went to the gym. Let me just say the gym a 3:00 on a Wednesday rocks! Hardly anyone there except for a handful of guys and moi.

Since this is KINDA a goof off week, after I did my hour stair master and a quick run through of weights (did a 1 x10 set of 230 on the leg press today. Sweet!) I was able to check out some of the free weights, do some weighted crunches and then cool down with some jogging (or it might be pronounced "yogging" with a soft j) on the tread mill. Had the incline up to 12% and felt pretty good. I know I need to work on my running skills after seeing my ass lumbering along in some video from Big Bear and Seven Springs in '05). Today was the first step.

Might not do anything tomorrow. If I do, I might get outside, get my hours in and then take 3 days off in a row.

Later.

Wool: It Ain't Cotton (A Public Service Message)

Baa, Baa, black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir- three bags full:
One for the master, one for some dame,
And one for that dude that rides his bike down the lane.


Rock on Black Sheep!

Wool rocks 'cause it's cool in summer, warm in winter and low in the stink factor.

I've been diggin wool socks for ages and with Salsa now selling some sweet long and short sleeve wool jerseys, arm warmers and leg warmers I'll hoping to be wear some more in the near future. The are also some other cool places to get some wool goods. here's some help.

Salsa Rocks. Maker of great frames and now some kick ass wool duds.


To order check out bikeman.com (shameless sponsor plug. but seriously, do it!).

Swobo is back!!! Hefty price with a HUGE bike messenger cool factor. Just when Wifey and I started to make enough jing that I thought I'd roll in Swobo duds, they went under. But they're back. Downside, I'm poor again. (shit!) I especially love this hat...

Yikes, $36 retail for a hat!

Of course there's the maker of my fave socks: Smartwool. Uber comfy. Uber cool. Pricey, but can be found on close out at places like Campmor.

Spot Brand (of Fatmarc fame) also makes a line of wool duds. Check 'em out here.

Local mag pub Dirt Rag has been selling some wool swag lately too.
My faves are these sockies...


If you're into brown and argyle (and I think that you are).

Wool. It's what's for Christmas. Or at least what I plan to buy with some holiday booty!

Later.

Just Scooters...VERY FAST SCOOTERS!!!!

LAST DAY OF WORK FOR 2005 TODAY!!!!! Yessssssss!!!

Celebrated by riding for an hour on the trainer. Workout went something like this.: 10 min warm up followed by 40 minutes of 30 RPM intervals up and down 18 gears, followed by a 10 min cool down spin.

B-Man is in the big day care Christmas pagent tomorrow. Should be a hoot. Papa-M lent me his video cam to get some footage. Thanks!

My new band of the minute Art Brut brought me some justification today by being the #3 album of 2005 by Pitchforkmedia.com. I rock.

That's it. Gym tomorrow. In the mid afternoon??? Oh but yes!

Later.

Start of Rest Week

Back to work and then to the gym today. Only did 40 minutes on the Stairmaster and 1 set of of each exercise on the weights as I'm taking it easy this week. I only expect to do about 5 hours of training this week compared to last weeks 9.5 hours. My body is ready for some rest.

Only 8 hours of work left this week. Right on! My ability to withstand boredom and do the same rewardless job year after year for 13 years has paid off in the form of a 4th week of paid vacation.

Looks like Trans Iowa fever is in full effect! My pit-buddy from Lodi, Big Bear and 7-Springs- J.B. is signed up and ready to suffer. Sound like a cool event. Events like this are not really on my radar due to the self supportive nature (not very mechanical) and my inabililty to read an F-ing map. HA! As I told J.B., I'd end up in South Dakota if I was racing. Good luck to all those who are signed up though. Sounds like Jeff puts on a hell or a race.

That's all I got. Don't let your meat loaf.

Later.

Saturday= Trainer/Beer/Good Food/Friends

Put in two hours of chamois time on the trianer. Nice ride. Watched some 2003 UCI race from Canada, 03 Montezuma's Revenge and '03 Giro. Ah the magic of VHS.

Sunday (today) will be an off day as I get ready to move in to my rest week of light training and Christmas (which is kinda like mental training for the wee hours of the morning during a 24).

Saturday night Wifey and I headed over to Y-Nizzle and Melissa's house to meet the recently birthed Isabella. Y. cooked up some wonderful clam-chowda and homemade soda bread. Great stuff as per usual and the baby is cute as heck. We also did a beer exchange. I gave him a sixer of Anderson Valley Winter Solstice and he let me pick through his variety of Sam Smiths Imperial Stout and Weyerbacher BIG beers Including "Blithering Idiot" Like I needed a beer to be one of those! I now have all the makings of a tolerable Chrismas in my fridge.

Heading out to Papa-M's digs to lay about while Wifey grades papers and does Christmas gift crap-ol-la.

This week was a high crime week in the neighborhood. But relax I was on the case. HA!

2 more days of work for me in 2005. Sweet.

Later

Friday Review & Stuff...

Friday was the office Chistmas luncheon. Boston Market did the spread. I rocked some turkey breast, mixed vegetables and a couple 'taters. Of course I was mocked by co workers for not sticking my face in the cookie tray and washing it down with a glass of gravy. Hey, I did have a cookie! So back off! (of course I regreted it sine it wasn't that good).

Then it was off to the gym for stairmastering and weights. The gym on a cold Friday night the week before Christmas is a lonely place. It was like me, the employees and the 3 or 4 muscle heads that are always there. Including that T. McVeigh looking dude who I now think might be some sort of skin head. Keeping distance as usual. I guess most "normal" people are out shopping, or at Christmas parties n'at. I'm sure the Friday after New Year's will be packed with all the "resolutioners". Gggreat.

Logged on to Enduranceradio.com yesterday to cruise archives and founds some good stuff. There's an interview with John Stamstad.


Orignal Solo Guy and all-round endurance freak: John Stamstad.

He doesn't bike race anymore, but is into ultra running which is cool too. Here's the link to the archives page. The Stamstad interview is at the bottom. Once you get past the first 3 minutes of him talking about his dog, it gets better.

The weather is not cooperating with any outside activities. We had snow, then freezing rain, then snow, then rain, then it all froze so now trails, roads are all ephed up unless you ride right down the middle of the road. Sooooo I'll be hitting up the trainer for 2 hours today. Not sure If I'll do my normal iPodious/Tour watching or put on a movie like Jeff W.

Later.

Welcome Back...

Maxxis tires will be back giving me some love in the tire and tube department for my 2006 season. Thanks!

I can't wait to try out some of the new rubber including a 2.1 version of the Ignitor.

www.maxxis.com

Did and hour on the trainer tonight. Pretty easy gears/fast cadence whilst watching stage 16 of the 2003 Tour. It's the stage where Tyler Hamilton wins broken collar bone and all. A great stage in Tour history. Although a bit sullied by the whole doping issue that came about in 04/05 with Phonak.


Great stage win by Tyler and still fun to watch. Can't help but wonder if it's him
or his twin though. Hmmmm.

Saw the 2006 Fox 100RLT reviewed over at Cyclingnews.com. Man I love these forks. I've used a Rock Shox Judy, SID, ad a Duke- but the '04 and '05 Fox 100s I have are the tits. Especially the 05. Sooooo smoooooth and plush.



I am in no way sponsored by Fox and have paid full or near full cost for both my Fox Forx. Took a chunk out of my wallet but worth every dime. I have heard that since SRAM took over R.S. they've gotten better, so I would never rule out a Reba if I had reason to switch. I have just had some good luck with these forks and admire the quality of them.

That's it. Back to the gym tomorrow for the final weight session of the week. Thankfully.

Later.

4 More Days Of Work!

Back to the gym for a couple hours tonight. More stair master (60 minutes) and weights. Cool thing about the weights and moving through these phases is seeing results in what I can lift. I never thought I would be up to lifting what I'm lifting after the way I felt at the beginning of the AA phase. I still admit that I'm anxious to move into the endurance phase and back off the heavy weight a bit and get more time in the saddle. Even if it will be on the trainer.

More weather nursed from the witches teet to arrive in the a.m. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat.

Made my final big beer purchase of the year. Went in to Regent Square on my lunch break to hit McBroom's for a case of Anderson Valley Winter Solstice. Paid an outrageous amount of money for a case of beer and felt guilty all afternoon.



But hey it's the holidays and a beer tradition of mine for the past 4 or 5 years. Plus Jan. 2nd the "no beer in the house" rule will take effect for a few months till the weight gets back to normal. I might have to start the "no peanut butter in the house" rule too. Yikes! I think they must put crack in Jiff. I have to admit it's nice to talk about weight loss in numbers like 4 or 5 lbs. rather than 20 or 30. Been there, don't want that again.

I only have 4 more days of work left in 2005. YES!!!! How WILL the paper survive???
Only downside is that all this time off comes at my most hated time of the year. Still beats working.

Later.

Pee in Elmo!

Strapped on the chamois and put in 1.5 on the trainer tonight while watching the '04 olympic women's mountain bike race followed by the '04 Montezuma's Revenge from OLN. Did mostly higher candence spinning broken up with a few 5 minute standing intervals to let my cheecks breathe. Didn't want to tax the muscles too much since I still have 2 hard session of weights left this week.

Note to self: Do NOT eat a breakfast, lunch and snack that leaves leaves me a total of close to 20+ grams of fiber. Yikes! I almost "soiled the chamois"!

In other news: Breenan peed in Elmo today (he has an Elmo potty). It was his Idea. Dude is only like 22 months old. Rock on!!! Hope he keeps it up. That would be sweet. I won't be throwing away the diapers anytime soon I'm sure. Hell, anymore days like today I might have to wear them under the chamois. HA!

Later.

So Starts Week #7

Today started Week 7 of 2006's training. It's the 3rd week of my MS/Base 1 phase.

Tonight was the gym of course for weights and 60 minutes on the stair master. Didn't feel all that great. Sinuses had me up a bit last night. Tomorrow will be 1 hour + of spinning on the trainer.

Saw Rose (the 65 year old woman with the Rose tatoo on her thigh) doing dips on a machine tonight. Dont f*ck with Rose. She'll kick your ass.

Got some new tuneage today via the iTunes store. Art Brut. Good stuff. Remind me of an uptempo Fall with a twist of Buzzcocks or Pavement with outrageous English accents.

That's it. Later.

Ahhhh An Off Day & I AM Jiminy Glick!

Off day from working out, but NOT from the stresses of family life. Went to Papa-M's to hang with my family which is about as relaxing as a trip to a cage full of rabid wolves on crystal meth. The rabid wolves being my nephews and the cage being my sister. Ha.

Snow coming down good again. Thinking of trying to do a night ride on the snowy rail trail this week. Wonder how that would be? We'll see. This coming week is my "push week" for my Base I/MS phase. Hope to get 9 hours or so of training in and push my bod on the weights.

I realized the ONLY weight training I actually enjoy are the leg exercises that I can see my leg doin' their thang. I could give two shits about my upper body other than 1. avoid man boobs and 2. have the strength to guide my bike through a rock garden at 5 a.m. during a 24 hours solo. I truly believe that the ONLY reason any man should lift weights. Ladies on the other hand, lift away. Makes ya look gooooood.

Looking forward to the end of the year and getting all my sponsorship stuff in order for 2006. Nothing should be changing too much, just getting all the new 2006 stuff in order.

THINKING of trying to head to Wisconsin for the Solo Nationals. If I do it will probably mean missing the Big Bear 24, so I'm not set on it by any means. Big Bear is just SO convenient for me. 1.5 hours away, family to stay with the night before, etc. BUT a chance to race with all the best solo racers in the country doesn't come around every day. Wifey is in to the ideas, but it's still in the THINKING of stage.

I almost hurt myself trying to Break Dance tonight. Don't ask. I'm an idiot. But then again I'm SURE you've all figured that out already.

Off to finish theeee LAST beer in the house and make some dinner. "Garbage Pasta". Find all the vegetable near the end of their freshness, dump it in some whole wheat pasta, add some kosher salt, olive oil and parm cheese then shove it in your face.

Later.

Got Me A (S)No Man

Finished out this week's training with a 1:30 ride on the Booger a.k.a my lime green, rusted, Jamis Nova bike that I use on my trainer. Watched more Tour and listened to some good tunes such as Futureheads, Weezer, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and more. Legs were feeling like shit, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's rest day.

Before my indoor ride today Wifey, B-Man and I made a snow man, which Brennan pronounces "no man". Sound like he's a stoner turning down a hit.


Wifey, B-Man and the No Man.

Snow wasn't very good for man making but we got it done. He either fell apart or was murdered later by one of the local kids later in the afternoon. Wifey says fell apart, I say murdered, just 'cause I'm not fond of the local kids.

Later today we when fake Christmas tree buying. Joy. We've usually get a real tree (senseless tree slaughter in my opinion, you know we need them to f*fucking BREATH!!!!!) but B-Man's asthma is a tad sensitive in the cold and to stuff like that so we thought we'd play it safe and fake it this Christmas.

CX NATIONALS UPDATE:

In the age 35-39 class there were 115 starters.

Local Dirty Harry's fast guy and co-worker of my brother Gerry Pflug finished 18th

My Bikeman.com compadres finished as follows:
Chris Cyr 31st
Todd Wheeldon 34th
My team manager "Big Al" Starret DNFed. Sorry Al, hope all is ok, no crashes.

Big congrats to fellow blogger Fatmarc who finished a super impressive 24th. Way to go!!!

I leave you with THEEE quote of the holiday season, said by a good friends father-in-law to his son, after the son laughed at him as he stumble through Thanksgiving Day grace. "Don't you EVER fucking laugh at me when I'm saying grace"
HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO ALL!! HA!

Time to go make some bad-ass Mexican Tortilla-Chip bake. What's that you ask?
Get a cake pan. Layer low-fat Baked Tostitos, Super lean ground meat with Taco seasoning, red & green peppers, onions, tomatoes, black beans, red beans, salsa, and reduced fat cheese. Bake until cheese is uber gooey and then stuff your face with it. It's low fat, high fiber, and has some good vitamins from the variety of vegetables.

Might "on demand" the last Bat Man movie tonight to get in the mood for some crime fighting later. Chicka-bow-bow.

Later.

5" FRIDAY

Got about 5" of snow overnight. Looks like winter is officialy here. F.

Finished off week #2 of the MS/Base 1 phase today. Good workout. Only did 40 min. on the stairmaster though, since I was feeling a tad worn down from cold I had this week. I'd like to do 1:45 -2:00 on the trainer on Sat. If so, I should meet my goal for the week with no problem.

Hung with Wifey tonight, drank some Storm King Stouts and watched part of Dodgeball for like the 6th time. How did I get addicted to horrible movies?

Part II of the Lance interview is now up over at VeloNews.com. Good stuff. When, WHEN??? will there be a magazine that covers MTB racing the way Velo news covers road racing... NEVER! That's why we Blog I guess. Get the coverage, the reports, the knowledge anyway you can. So keep it up Kerkove, Adam, Fatmarc, Nick, Sager, Noonan, Love2Ride, Sologoat, and Jeff W. and all the others. Let's cover ourselves, cause no one is covering us.

Good luck to all my fellow Bikeman.com team mates heading to the snowy CX Nats. in RI this weekend. Good luck and safe travels to all.

Later

SNOW.... UG!

3 -6" of snow expected here overnight. Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeit. Hate snow. Oh well, better now than in April.

Put in 1:30 on the trainer tonight. Rocked iPodious and watched the 2004 tour's stage 16 time trial up l'Alpe d'Huez. One of my favorite stages ever.


Photo by John Stanford. Copied from Velonews.com

Speaking of Lance. Great interview with Lance at VeloNews.com.

My cold is officialy gone. Still diggin out some sludge-booger stuff from my nose but it's almost gone. Stuff is like wall paper paste.

Back to the gym to finish up week 2 of the Base 1/MS phase. Time's flying. I'm getting HUGE. Might give up cycling to be power lifter. Ok that's not funny at all. I can't wait till I can get back to the lighter weights and get time to do more cardio.

Later.

Colds, Christmas F-Bombs, Bad Beer & Oil

'Nother night in at the gym. Head cold still rocking my cranium, but got through 60 mIn. of stairmaster and weights ok.

Not much else going on. Christmas looms and as of right now the the only gifties Wifey and I have got so far are for the B-Man and Papa-M. That leaves like 1 billion other people who still need gifts from us. F!. Come on January 2nd!!!

Random Thought On: Where have all the criminals gone? The streets are empty or crime and the nation's super heroes and becoming too relaxed. Help a brother out.
Random Thought Off.

Got this link from the Go Clipless Blog.



Check out this commercial (that never aired, surprise!) here. Miller: Alternative Fuels

Which makes me want to rant a tad. So I will...

Remember when in business:
1. Start with a price for your product.
2. Make sure the majority of goverment leaders own stock in your product.
3. Raise it SUPER high, like triple, blaming Mother Nature for the price hike.
4. Then lower price, to roughly double of the orginal price.
5. Watch your customers rejoice, 'cause now they're ONLY paying DOUBLE what the
original price was.
6. Sit back collect your loot, but make sure you have some to pad some gov. pockets.

Sorry. I usualy try to keep my nose out of news, politics and non biking current events. It just makes me a happier person. But I overheard a manager at work the other day suggest to another that the above was an acceptable form of business practice to try. Yikes.

Get out of that race car kid!

Later

The Smell of Play-Doh & A Teething B. Man

Hell hath no fury like a B. Man getting a new tooth. YIKES! Dude was PISSSSSSED. Thank God my father-in-law (Papa-O') stopped down and used whatever mystical powers of control that grandpa's have to cheer up B. Man and prevent me from feeling like an utter doofuss (at least a "parental doofus"). Dude showed up with Play-Doh. I mean how can I compete with props like that?? Have you ever f*cking smelled Play-Doh? It's like heaven, and brings an instant smile to your face. Seriously thanks Papa-O'!

No workout today due to Wifey out teaching and me on B.-Man duty. Still fighting a head cold too. Damn I hate colds and God knows I get enough of them. I'll be back to the gym tomorrow and my Wednesday night sweat-fest.

Work annual review went well. Lots of teamwork bullshit uttered. Blah, blah, blah, but overall I scored big and should be gettin' some more dough. Giddy-up. Daddy needs some bike parts! Ha, more like- Daddy needs a house painted in the spring!

It was about 9 years ago today that I asked Wifey to marry me. Yikes! When reminded tonight I got down and pretended to put my head in the oven. Wifey didn't think it was too funny. She knows I was joking of course, and knows I would have been more apt to put my head in an oven if she would have said no.

That's all I got. No more excitement like yesterday when I found my foam ear piece thingy for iPodious' earphones. Where else you finding stuff like that??

Later.

P.S. Cover your mouth when you cough! Please!!

Once Was Lost: Now Found

Monday at work was beyond boring, so I grabbed a bunch of CDs and transferred them to the iPod in between Blog readings. Gym was the same. 40 minutes of Masterstairing followed my weights and another 15 on Stair Master. I got me a little head cold going on (ratz!) nothing too bad. I've been eating multi vitamins like their candy and think with a night off I can kick the mofo.

BIG NEWS! (sorta): I found the little foam ear-bud cover (for lack of a better description) to my iPod's ear phones. I think ear buds are useless (I have wide ear holes I guess) and find them even more useless without the little foam covers. Wifey borrowed iPodious for a walk the other day. The next a.m. NO foam pad. Hmmmm. I searched high and low. THEN today like destiny, I spotted it from across the room in front of the front door laying beside a 3 week old Cheerio. (good thing we never vacuum). There was much rejoicing.

I gotta run. Off to work for my annual review. I can just hear it now. "If listening to your iPod, surfing the internet and looking at the secretaries ass were in your job description you'd be getting a big fat raise, but since it's not....." Good or bad I'm still gonna get 4 weeks vacation now... Whhhooooooo hooooo. A guaranteed 20 days NOT at work. Plus 3 personal days and 10 sick days. I COULD boost it to 33 days... HA!

Later.

Sunday. Bah!

Another Sunday and rest day. You would think I would dig a rest day. Just the opposite. I feel uber slack when I don't train. I know I need to rest a tad though.

Starting to investigate more on the 29er craze. Part of me says it's a bunch of hooey and the other part of me says it's a cool concept. Why do I dig the Dos Niner so much??? Little bit of cush in the rear, big wheels to roll fast and over shit. I gotta get it out of my mind though. I got ZERO extra cash for another bike. I got gifts to buy, races to enter and house shit to do. Maybe if I sold a bike and Bikeman could.... NO. NO. NO get it out of your mind dude!!!

Went out to Papa M's today with B-Man. Had a fight with my sister 'cause I turned down kids toys that were my nephews that do all the thinking and creating FOR the kid. Sorry. I just know B-Man and he likes to figure shit out on his own. Is that wrong? Too bad. I'm his father. Alright enough bull shit. Gotta go make some food. Experimenting with some burgers. Using crushed salad croutons in place on bread crumbs. I'll let you know. Gotta go fire up the George.

Later.

Forgot to Mention/Update

Forgot to mention this oddball I saw at the gym last night. He was wearing black Dockers, black sneakers and a white Tee to work out. Had a shaved head and walked around like he had stick lodged up his ass. He looked like one of those Timothy McVeigh odd ball freaks. The kinda guy that has a collection of Chinese throwing stars and subscribes to Soldier of Fortune. I kept clear so as not to be give off my Liberal "big goverment" vibe. HA!

No go on the Anderson Valley beer that I wanted. I tried a different beer store but still came home with some super potent/delecious Victory Storm King Imperial Stout. Can't wait to try. Victory ROCKS! Imperial Stouts are one of the few good things about this time of year.

Later.

Week #5: Complete

Friday night I hit the gym for the end of the 1st week of my MS weight training. The place was freaking empty. Got 35 minutes of masterstairing in too. Then it was home and off to Mama-O's birthday. I was in COMPLETE control of my food wagon. There was pizza. I opted for the vegetable pizza and only had 2 pieces which is HUGE for me since I could probably eat a whole pie myself. OK no "probably", I CAN and HAVE eaten a whole pie myself. THEN there was a bad ass birthday cake. I had a medium size piece but scraped all the icing from the top and sides off. NOT a great dinner but given the situation. Not bad.

Saturday a.m. B-Man, JoErin and I slept till 9 a.m. This probably the latest I've slept in 2+ years. Not sure how it happened. Just did. Then I got up and downed a HUGE tumbler of Starbucks French Roast. We were out of milk and bread so breakfast was limited and I "White Trashed it up" with peanut butter and honey on white-bread hamburger buns. Yikes!

Then while B-Man and Wifey went to the mall to ride the Christmas choo-choo (he hated by the way, apparently screamed like a fool the whole way 'round. Nice.) I rode the trainer for 2 hours while watching stage 15 of the 2004 Tour. I also had a killer mix on iPodious. Franz, Interpol, Weezer, Libertines, it was a good time. Thought about going outside to ride till I saw that although it was sunny it was only 19 degrees. Ah, I think the trainer will be fine.

Not much on today's agenda. Might go look for my FAVORITE beer in the world at McBroom's Distributor in Regent Square and pick up some groceries. Also need to find something to help the scratches on the Elements paint from Tuesday nights hit and run..

Have a great weekend and get some miles in. (if you can.)

Later.

Chamois Time (In Spin Mode) and Food?

Put my chamois in the saddle tonight for 1:30 on the trainer. Funny thing was I was looking forward to this all day. Nice to have my legs going in circles rather that up and down on the Stairway to Nowhere. There will be enough of that in the coming days since the weather is looking very, how can I say this politely... shity.

Adam over at Epic Rides has put the "Watcha Eatin'" call out to his readers. I posted over there but didn't want to hog up the comments box.

I dig this topic, since I love food, healthy white trash cooking, and finding foods that help me perform well and maintain my manly figure (that's a joke of course).

Here's my low down:

BREAKFASTS:

Coffee of course. Fried egg whites, with low fat u.s. cheese, a slice or two of Healthy Choice Ham for some taste, dash o' salt/pepper and some whole wheat toast with spritz butter.

Or some whole wheat/grain cereal, or granola with fruit, skim milk and a scoop of GNC Vanilla Soy Protein 95®. I also dig whole wheat toast with low fat peanut butter, and honey or jelly and a cup of low fat yogurt.

I'm also pretty into smoothies with bananas, Soy Protein, skim milk, fruits, PB, etc.

A.M. SNACK:

Usually one item from the following list:
• Granola bar,
• Cup of Yogurt,
• PBJ or PB-Honey on whole wheat bread
• Nutra Grain Cereal Bar
• Granny Smith Apple (even though they rip my colon up)

LUNCH:

Lunch is usually a condensed version of the the night befores dinner (also known as "left-overs") if none are around I might go with turkey, spinach, and low fat cheese on wheat- with a no fat salad dressing instead of mayo. Usualy have a small bag of pretzels with it too. . Sometimes I go take a Lean Cuisine but also pack some extra frozen vegetables like peas or carrots to add more fiber and nutrition to it.

P.M. SNACK:

Usually one item from the following list:
• Small Bag of Pretzels
• Granola Bar,
• Cup of Yogurt
• Balance Bar
• Nutra Grain Cereal Bar
• Fruit- raisins, figs, strawberries, apples, etc., etc.,
• Serving or two of Peanuts, almonds or mixed nuts. Beware though,
high in calories and fat even though it mostly unsaturated "good fat"


DINNER:

Some of my standards are low(er) fat Mexican and Italian Faves. Some of the stuff I utilize most often for various dinners are:

• Boneless Chicken Breasts, for fajita bake, fajitas, sandwiches, baked or grilled NEVER fried.
• Turkey Sausage (usualy Hot Italian for pasta bakes, or cut ground added to red sauce pasta for spice)
• Lean Ground Meat in moderation. (look for 85% lean or better ground chuck, round, etc.)
• Potatoes (cubed for my special baked oven fries, baked, etc. NEVER fried.
• Black Beans, Kidney Beans, Chili Beans, for my special "Dutch Oven" trick.
• Diced Tomatoes. Reg., with Garlic, or Green chilis for Mexican.
• Salsa HOT or a hot Medium. Mild... why bother? Next you'll want a lite beer. YUK!
• Fresh garlic, onions, green/red peppers, broccoli, SPINACH (for sanchwiches, pestos, pasta bakes)
• Albacore Tuna (in water) with low fat mayo/salad dressing, for tuna salad sandwiches
• Bags and bags of Whole Wheat Pasta. I've been hording my favorite brand. It's "spongeworthy"
• Low fat or no fat Mexican or Mozerella cheese (usully for pasta bakes, pestos, and Italian dishes)

This was probably WAY more info than anybody cared to read about. Maybe I'm bored. or maybe I just like food too much. Just remember this-

• Learn to cook your own meals, or be a slave to your cooks tastes or bad habits.
• Learn to read lables. Look for high fiber, low saturated fat, high protein, carbs, etc.
• Not all fat is bad. i.e. Olive Oils, nuts, etc.
• Carbohydrates still RULE for athletes and that rocks, 'cause I dig'em the most.
• All work and no play sucks. Treat yourself to some pizza, beer etc. one in a while or go nutz.

Now go cook something then ride your bike or vice versa.

Later.