My Little Vomit Zombie

The day started like every other day. Up, shower, & copious amounts of java whilst checking out the Net before waking B-Man. Welllllll. B-Man wakes up with a bad dream a 1/2 hour early, then tell me his head hurts. He proceeds to cry through the ENTIRE dressing/grooming ordeal. THEN we get downstairs and he pukes. Great. Luckily it was a direct hit to the living room floor for easy clean up.

This was followed by a 2nd round into the "puke bowl". So work needed to be aborted, the plan to get Wifey's Xa to the garage for state inspection (due today of course) needed to be reworked, etc., etc., After calming B-Man down, consoling him on the fact he would miss his Halloween party, and many phone calls with Wifey, Papa-O', work, day cares etc., I had a plan.

Not the day I envisioned but despite ALL of the above chaos, it all worked out well. B-Man bounced back fast, got to spend a couple hours with Papa-O', and I got the car inspected. Plus since B. was feeling good we got to hang out and play. As a Halloween treat I took him to the lab down the street so he could watch me get a blood test. He was totally in to seeing me get stuck after the Doc made him get one a few months ago.
So as to have a point to blathering about my day and to make it all have SOMETHING to do with riding a bike I say... I am NOT riding my bike tonight. Wasn't in the plan anyway and I ate like shit today. Actually, I ate great I did not hydrate at all though. Maybe 8 oz. of water all day compared to my normal 96 oz.

The new NUE dates are out for 08 (thanks R.B.). Looks like Mohican is the same day as Big Bear. Big Bear wins I think. Nice to see Fools Gold part of the series too. Could a trip to Georgia be in my summer plan??

Time to make some dinner before the hoards Trick or Treaters descend on us.

Later.

Stealing Some Time

Most of you are like me (although you're probably yonger, better looking and more successful). You spend 8+ hours a day (I try to spend less), 5 days a week, working in a carpeted walled cubical maze slinging everything from art (that would be me) to TPS reports when you would rather be riding.

The thing that sucks the most about McCubical® hell is looking out the window and seeing a beautiful fall day like today and knowing that the man says it's 9 to 5. EVEN if there is not ONE thing to do. So I sit and stare. I cruise mtbr.com, www.notcot.org, and various blogs ALL day TRYING not to think about how the day light hours are slipping by fast, that there is sweet single track not more than 2 minutes from my office door and my Dos Niner sits glistening atop my Soob out in the parking lot. Grrrrr!

But such is life. Gotz to pay the bills, and 5-O' comes eventually right? 4:50 comes faster though and that's the time that I make my escape to the men's room to stuff my ass into some spandex, then sprint to the Soob and head down the road to steal some twisty single track from the last hours of daylight.

On the bright side of things, this time last year I was already forced to the trainer if I wanted to get some saddle time. My office was too far away from the trails. By the time I made it to the park, it was almost dark. And as I've mentioned before- Boyce Park is OFF LIMITS for night riding. So this year it's pretty cool that I can still grab a quick 10.5 mile loop and be out of the park before dark.

I got my Night Riding Permit for Pleasant Valley Park in the mail today. Laminated and everything! Ha! Just in time for the time for the approaching time change. I also may be heading up to North Park this weekend to get the skinny on the trails there. So at least I'll have some night riding options. Of course I could brave Frick (but I hate those trails) or drive out to Rectal Fornication, PA and hit Bavington once and a while.

Oh well, gonna keep on stealing time as often as I can until 'till the weather stops me and/or attention turns to my plans for 2008.

Later.

Fast Before The Storm

So this week will be my last week of nonsense before I get more serious about looking forward to 2008. Rather than go "hog wild" and stuff my face and got with as much pizza and beer as I can get down my throat, I'm actually taking the week to get back to my normal diet. That way I can go into the Prep phase with good habits back and place and ready to as to shed a few of those pounds that I so easily put on during the Transition Period. Time to try to lean out a bit and save the "treats" for the weekend. Then once Base starts and hours get longer I can up the calories a bit and not risk tubbyness.

Hit the Doc today to get the low down on some new medication that I recently started to help de-funk me again. Nothing too serious, I just want to make sure I bring my "A" game to Wifey and B-Man. She also found that my blood pressure was up a bit and has steadily been creeping up over the years. Not horrible, but I'm gonna watch it just in case. I don't want to stroke out just yet.

Hope to hit Boyce for a ride post work tomorrow. Although it may only be in the hour range due to darkness.

Time for some dinner.

Later.

Cuarenta Millas En Un Wingo

Good Sat. night. Hit Mad Mex with Wifey's fam and had the kick ass Wingo Burrito (Buffalo/Wild). Damn I love that thing. Add in some Guacamole De Los Angeles and DFH Indian Brown on draft and you have one friggin' good dinner. Papa O' picked up the tab too. Muchos gracias padre O'!

Chilly 38 degrees and sun at wake up today, and high forties at the start of my ride out at my dad's late a.m.. About every 10 miles I thought of bailing. Legs were ok, but I seemed under dressed. I think I would have been OVER dressed had I added any more layers, so I toughed it out till the nips went down and I warmed up. Plus I didn't want to be THAT knob that sports the winter riding jacket and booties the first time the temp dips below 60 degrees. You know who you are and I'm calling you out man!!! Having said that, a vest would have been nice.

The wind was no better than yesterday and DAMN cold. And of COURSE it seemed to ALWAYS be a head wind. But you pay your dues to the Ride Gods and they throw you a bone. Today's bone was in the form of a 2 mile stretch of newly paved road WITH a tail wind. Thank you!!!

By the time I reached mile 30 I figured "what the F?" and finished my Sunday 40. The post ride hot shower felt damn good. Chalk today up to the first "cold" ride of the falls season. Really it was a pretty sweet ride. The only suck part, aside from the wind, was the fact that my legs would get warmed up on the climbs, stiffen up on the cold descents, and feel like shit for the first part of the next climb. But that's fall riding and any ride that I'm not wearing 25 layers of clothing is pretty sweet.

Oh yeah, check this- At mile 5, out in the middle of nowhere I get flagged down by a woman who wanted directions to Seven Springs. SEVEN SPRINGS?? I was like "you're about 50 minutes away from Seven Springs AND going the opposite direction of the mountains!!" I tried as best I could to get her the right way, but I think it was pointless. At one point I tried waving on the string of cars behind her an she says "don't worry, they're all with me". Yeah, they were wise to follow you, holy crap!

Time for the start of another week in McCubical hell. Hope this weeks goes fast. Might take Friday off and I have a doc appointment in the afternoon tomorrow, so it should get broke up a bit. Of course I hope to hit some dirt too at some point.

Later.

Testing 1-2, Testing 1-2 (LT Test #1)

Woke up this a.m. and I was ready to blog about how there was no 30 mph wind as was called for by the local helmet-haired, D-bag, weatherman. There was fresh rain to add to potentional off road tail damage and a lack of desire to be on the road bike today. Then by the time I was ready to publish the winds had arrived. Now I needed motivation to do somthing/ANYthing.

I had one to six cups of coffee, a tasty PB&J Sammy, some playing with B-man, a couple dump outs, and still no motivation. Hmmm. Wait for it... wait for it... THERE it is. My new heart rate monitor! That's it! I'll throw down my fist LT (Lactate Threshold) Test of the year so as to hit the coming off season training with my zone numbers.

So I got the new monitor all set up (I still say they make them damn things SO confusing to set up). Once set up, I chamoised up, got my strap on (not the adult toy found on many web sites, but my heart rate monitor's chest belt. Gutter brain!) and hit the Stankment® for a heart pounding time trial.

Most of you know the deal, but I'm gonna blather on anyway. The 220 minus your age thing is pretty much crap, and one of the best ways to train with a HR monitor is to use your LT rather than your Max HR. After I got iPodious set up, and the volume set high enough on the speakers so as to be riding in to a "wall" of Daft Punk, I did a 20 minute warm up. Then found a good gear to maintain 90ish RPM and a race PE and then commenced the test. After 10 minutes of the effort it's go time on the HR monitor and collect the AVG heart rate for the final 20 minutes.

My average HR ended up being 166. So now my zones (to start with) will be:

000-134, Zone 1- Active Recovery
135-148, Zone 2- Extensive Endurance
149-154, Zone 3- Intensive Endurance
155-169, Zone 4/5a- Threshold Training
170-175, Zone 5b -VO2 Max Intervals
176+, Zone 5c- Anaerobic Repetitions

This is a LONG 30 minutes. My legs were burning and I was sweating like a friggin' pig. It took everything to not just stare at the seconds ticking. Finally I was done. Nice! Got my data and did some easy spinning for the next 10 minutes and then called it. I cannot believe the amount of sweat I pumped out in a chilly basement in just one hour! Felt good. I'll test again in another 4 weeks or so. HR numbers won't play a big part in my first 4 weeks, other than to keep me from doing efforts that are too hard, too soon and leave burnt me out by April.

As I've said before I only do this to make my time on the trainer a bit more bearable. Watching the zones, and "training with purpose" allows me to get the most out of time on trainer and keeps me from climbing off the bike and putting my head in an oven from pedaling and going nowhere. I don't race with one, usually because by the time the season rolls around the unit is broke. But also because I personally have to listen to more than just what my heart rate says during the race and find it a distraction. In the past, on the few times I did use one I did enjoy going back and looking at the numbers and comparing them to training rides.

Oh well that was my day in a sweaty, stank nut shell. Also, take all of what I did and said above with multiple grains of salt. I'm obviously not a pro, just a 36 year old, mid pack shlep trying to maintain that distinct self given title. For more on how to do the test check out Joe Friel's Mountain Biker's Training Bible or TrainingPeaks.com. There's also some good info here.

Time to think about showering and MAYBE leaving the house (now 3:00 p.m.).

Later.

Over Before It Really Began

Tomorrow's weather is calling for 20 to 30 mph winds. Not sure I'm thrilled about road riding in that. Who knows what the trails will be like after the recent rains. I am making NO plans for tomorrow other than going to Mad Mex tommorrow night (for the 2nd weekend in a row) to celebrate my sis-in-law's grad and passing of boards to enter the Nuclear Med Tech field. Right on Jenny-Penny! Now pass the guacamole !!!!

I do hope to get some saddle time though.The thought of a 30 mph wind blowing me into an 18 wheeler is not on my "to do list", but I'll get some calories burned, don't you worry about that! Could it be the trails aren't THAT wet after the week's down pours?? Hmmmm. We shall see.

Tonight was nothing major other than cooking up some pasta and turkey/spinach ballz, which is my new Friday night fave. I also hit some big beers in a mix pack that included a Fat Dog, Double Simcoe and a 90 minute. Junk kickers all, so beware!

My pasta bake is almost done, there are Ninja Turtles to watch, and crime to fight.

Later.

Rock Hard Caramel Thursday

Futzed around on the trainer and with some weights/core suff tonight for an hour. Again, not doing anything too major. I just feel better when I'm at least a LITTLE active and this gives me a chance to burn a couple calories, and feel out my Prep Phase plans. I also got to listen to an awesome boot that I acquired of Monday's Moz show at NY's Hammerstein Ballroom. I love the Internet!

Sent in my info for my Night Riding Permit for Pleasant Valley Park. Should be good to go in few days. I better get a fresh charge on the lights. Not to be greedy, but I'd like to see the weather stay reasonable for another month or so. At LEAST dry. I can put up with a little bit of cold, but once the witch bares her teet, I'm done.

Does anyone know or heard any info on where 24 Hours Solo Nationals are being held this year? Is it in Wisconsin again or somewhere new? I hope it's someone sorta central. Not that I'm thinking of doing it (although I would never rule it out), but I think it blows for racers when Nationals are set on one coast or another.

Check this pict out from my place of work. Seems there was a bit of trash talk about some caramel chews...

What did she expect from caramel cream candy bought for 75¢ out of a vending machine??? To leave a note, and then WHO is responding?? And then WHY is she responding back?? Better yet WHY the f*ck am I in the lunch room taking pictures of it to put on my blog about bike racing? Enter 3 people with nothing better to do.

Thanks to Travis who commented on Tuesday's post. Travis did some research (OK, he used Google) and apparently I was right and according to Google I AM the first person to have uttered the phrase "what's life without beans?" From now on, I will have to ask that it be "What's Life Without Beans?"® Thank you.

No ride/workout tomorrow. It's Friday people! Weather's been like a wet dish rag on a basement floor the past couple days and does not look to improve in the next 48. Hope the weekend will cooperate for some saddle time.

Salsa Chili Con Crosso Update: Confirmed- 2008's do indeed come with fork. Check out this MTBR.com thread for info on the '08 as well as info on how to score a more affordable deal on the CX20 fork if you're a 2007 CCC owner.

Later.

Cruising In 39 at 0 MPH

A Dark, dank, damp, chilly day in the middle of Transition time = NO RIDE. But, since I've been feeling like a lazy, bloated pig. I got an hour of tempo spinning on the trainer. Nothing too hard, just cruising in the 39. Just enough to sweat out some calories and practice pedaling nice circles. Felt good to have cheeks in the saddle, even if it meant going nowhere fast.

Also an update on something I mentioned last week when I was yapping on about CX bikes. I said that the Salsa Chili Con Crosso came without a fork. This may have been true of the 2007 model, but the Salsa website is listing that the 2008 comes with the Alpha Q CX 10 fork painted to match the bitchin' looking frame. Not sure when the 2008 frame set will be shipping, but I got a post up over MTBR.com looking for info. Just to clear up my mistake. CLICK HERE TO SEE FRAME WITH FORK. Thanks.

Later.

Paleo Diet For Couch Surfers

With it pouring rain all day, I had grand ideas of spinning my legs on the trainer tonight to burn some calories. But I'm coming down off of a "TOO High Caffeine High" and I think I'm tired just from twitching and rocking the "jimmy leg" (def. #2. for now, ha!) all day.

Note to self: When I'm NOT tired and I have NO work to do, getting a Starbuck's coffee at lunch time, after my a.m. 30+ oz., just for "something to do" IS A VERY BAD IDEA!! Holy crap! Now I feel like a I need to take a Valium!

I've been doing some reading on this book...

I'm intrigued and wouldn't mind reading it, but I just don't think it would work for me. Mostly because it's against large quantities of grains (pasta/rice/cereals) and beans. ALL things I can NOT live without. What's life without beans?? I wonder if THAT sentence has EVER even been written before?

SIDE NOTE- a car alarm is currently going off outside. Does ANYONE even flinch when they hear an alarm? It's always just someone who's sat on their keys, or a bird just shit on their car or something. Hell, at this point if you're a car thief and want to steal a car, all you need is the ability to put up with the damn horn blaring for a few minutes 'till you drive the f*cker away. Even if it's my car, take it! Just stop that damn horn from blowing!! SIDE NOTE OFF.

Anyway, back to the book. I think it would be neat to get another point of view on sports nutrition other than "eat carbs/lean proteins". It might be ok during the off season, but I really don't see it working for me during the season. Shit, if I can't eat XL amounts of pasta and beans what good is riding and racing??

Oh well, that's all I got. Time to try to come down and make up some rice and beans.

Later.

EDIT/SIDE NOTE- Two hours later as I sat watching Dirty Jobs on Discovery, I hear my car alarm going off. I don't move. Then I hear a ruckus. Wifey and B-Man enter the house. I casually say "why is my car alarm going off?" Wifey says, "I don't know I must have hit a button or something." (told you!) SIDE NOTE OFF.

1:05 Of A Good Monday

Monday is Monday. It will suck hard in the a.m. and feel good when it's over. But Monday feels all the better when the end of the work day brings time in the dirt. Even if I only had time for a quick 10.5/1:05 ride, it was still damn fun.

With only a little over and hour to ride, I can't futz around. I've really been putting the hammer down so as to burn max calories and make the most of my time. It was pretty much "go time" from the time I hit the single track. Of course being in a public park there is the occasional dog walker to brake for, or helmetless rider to dodge. So it's not completely ballz out, but I do what I can.

I think these rides have been really good for me. I hope to incorporate more rides like this into my weeks in 2008. I spend way too much time pissing around in the SAME zone week in and week out. In other words "Zone 3 Syndrome". Anyway, that's all in the future. For now it's just about burning calories and being outside enjoying fall's last days of warmth and sunshine.

I came home to find a little package of T6 love from MPLS. I can't think of anything cooler to come home to after a ride. OK, maybe topless college girls, circling my living room astride a fleet of Salsa 29ers, handing me micro brews, offering to clean my bike amidst of a flurry of giggles and soap suds would have been cooler. BBBBUT I'll more than settle for T6 gear, B-Man watching cartoons, and Wifey wearing pjs and fuzzy red socks.

Later.

My Heart Rate's Not In It

Today was a beautiful day here in WPA and for some reason I just had no real motivation to ride. It amazes me how different this time of year is from the race season. I mean 2 months ago there is no way in hell I would have not ridden today. Due to family commitments the only option I had was time on the road, but after 20 glorious miles of dirt on Saturday I just wasn't "feeling" the road today.

I figure I push my luck dealing with road hogging SUVs and cigarette lighting, coffee drinking cell phone talking motorists 7 to 8 months a year, why do it if I don't have to. Weather looks to cooperate for a fast 10 or 11 post work dirt miles tomorrow so I'll just go with that.

With the new year (the "new year" being the start of my off season prep for 2008) a little over 2 weeks away, it's time to invest in yet another heart rate monitor. This will be my third in 3 years. The most recent one was the CatEye HR10. Yeah that was good for about a year and then went nutz. If you got within 200 yards of an electric current it would start registering a HR of about 510 or 0. Then when the battery needed changed it decided that it really didn't want to work at ALL anymore.

I don't use a monitor during competition. I don't see the point. It's not like I'm gonna slow down or speed up because me HR monitor says so. My body either feels it or it doesn't. I will say there are times I've used it just to be able to look back at some averages and stats just for shitz and giggles. I DO however find it a MUST for off season prep and training. It motivates me, helps me stay in control, and avoid burn out or being too lazy during workouts that would make even the sanest person crazy let alone someone like myself.

This year I THINK I have it narrowed down to the Sigma Onyx Fit HRM. I've used their bike computers with some success, so I figured I might give it a try.
It has all the features I want and I get get it a price that won't make me feel like shit when it inevitably breaks in April. Still doing some research, but it seems like a go.

Big congrats to my Mohican 100 roommate Rich B. on his 4th place Masters 3/4 podium finish at Granogue today. Way to go Rich! Look forward to your report.

Time for dinner.

Later.

2 Laps Of Love

I successfully avoided the road again today. Trails were STILL dry even with yesterday's rains. There were a ton more leaves down though, and that made the eye's strain a bit tying to follow the trail.

1.5 miles in I crashed on a big log pile that I've gone over about 200 times. When I was on top of it I noticed that the logs on the other side were all cattywompass. Instead of just putting my ass back and letting the Dos roll over them, I just stared at them like a slack jawed freak. The next thing I knew I was heading over the bars to eat some dirt. I landed pretty hard on my left leg. It has tightened up a bit, but not too bad. It alway amazes me that you can ride a trail hundreds of times and yet still be challenged by things.

Luckily body and bike all recovered and I went on to do a couple loops and got in a hair over 20 miles on with over 18 of them being single track.

Today was another day were I was amazed at the utter lack of folks out enjoying the park on an incredible fall day like today! I saw 3 riders together and 3 dog walkers the entire 2+ hours I was there. What the hell do people do?? 65 degrees, sunshine, fall colors in full effect. Whatever.

B-Man is heading to Papa-O's crib and Wifey and I are heading out to dinner on one of our first financially guilt free date nights in about 3 years tonight. Looking forward a good evening of celebrating Wifey's brain and the end of her first 2 weeks of her new job (which she's kicking ass at I might add!). Me thinks we'll hit Mad Mex. Yum Ohhhhhh. Laid back, tummy tickling Mexican grub and one of the best beer lists in the area. God, let them still have 90 Minute on the beer menu ;).

Later.

Bored Friday

Wow, after last week's non stop ad building mayhem, this week, and today especially was BORING! HOLY CRAP! I think I set a record for the amount of non porn web sites one can visit in a day.

I spent a lot of time looking at CX bikes. Not for 07 but maybe for fall oh-ate. I think maybe having a plan to do some CX right after the endurance season might prevent me from dipping into the "Non Racing Bell Jar".

Of course at the top of a short list is the Chili Con Crosso frame (but it comes minus fork) or the La Cruz complete (but I wouldn't want disc brakes). I have some stuff that could be transferred off The Booger, which is the old, rusted, too big, Jamis Nova CX frame that I use on my trainer, so a frame set like the Kona Jake The Snake frame set that Bikeman.com has could be a killer deal. It's cheap and with my Bikeman.com "love" it could be the one in 08. Who knows? I need another bike like I need the hole that Wifey would surely plant in my skull if I broach the subject before our house gets painted. Yikes!

We got rain today but not as hard (in this area) as was called for, so I may just say WTF and hit the dirt tomorrow for some extended hours. Even if it's slick we in NO way go enough rain for it to be trail damaging.

I also put wheels in motion today with the folks in Murrysville to get my night riding permit for Pleasant Valley Park.

Time to make some dinner. I think we may be watching E.T. tonight with B-Man. I wanted to watch Borat, but I think it's gonna get nixed.

Later.

Do These Jeans Make Me Look Fat?

No ride tonight, and that's a bummer, because all this rain they have been promising (they being the helmet haired weather man at any of our local news stations) has yet to really materialize. This evening would have been ripe for single track love making with the Mamasita, but alas- no. I spent my post work hours finishing my hack lawn mowing from Tuesday and doing laundry. Good times.

I think we may get spanked like a school girl with some severe thunder storms tomorrow (at least that's what Mr. Helmet Haired "Storm Watch" Guy says), so that would leave Saturday's dirt time sucking a hairy muddy one. Looks like I might have to do time on the road bike. Grrrr! Oh well beats nothing.

Time for dinner.

Later.

Wombat Rock Wednesday

Apparently we got rain last night and this a.m., since when I woke up everything was soaked. I thought about aborting my planned post work trail time, but figured it wasn't supposed to rain the rest of the day, and even if it did rain hard, I could always just futz on the pavement and double track at Boyce to burn some calories for the little over an hour of daylight that I would have.

Damn glad I didn't abort, because the trails were bone dry. I laid down a fast 11 miles in just 1:10 on board the Mamasita. These short rides are sort of lame, but in their own way kick ass, since I'd rather lay down 1:10 on single track vs. 1:00 on the trainer ANY day.

iPodious has recently been hosting some music I obtained of The Wombats. They're sort of like Art Brut meets Supergrass, meets Weezer. Their new single "Let's Dance To Joy Division" cracks my ass up and is a pretty good song to boot. I love the pseudo Peter Hook baseline in it, and the word play on Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart". Only in England could a pop song be made about dancing to Joy Division. In the U.S. 80%+ of folks would be like Joy who?

Why do I feel like I have a basketball in my stomach? Too much cheese and not enough fiber? I think it's too much fiber and not enough "can time".

Later.

Keepin' It Low Key

After 3 days in a row of riding, I took tonight off to just hang. Did some exciting stuff like cut the grass in my back yard, do laundry and play "Mr. Dr. Boo-Boo-Gone" with B-Man. It's sort of nice to not ride and not feel guilty (although I still do a bit). I also made up a pair of yummy intestine clogging Turkey Burgers with a dash of Frank's in mix. Yum-Oh.

I've started to get organized for the coming off season of training and hope to get serious starting November 5th. That will give me roughly (give or take a couple weeks) 22 to 24 weeks until my first race. Seems like a long time, but then when you start looking at in terms 4 week training blocks (Prep, Base, Build, Peak, etc.,) it seems a bit different.

I think I am poo-pooing the gym again this year and will utilize the trainer, free weights and home gym as much as I can. Not to mention riding outside whenever possible. The big key for me in '08 is to try to work on maintaining sustained efforts. I can ride a long time and have got better at learning to deal with the suffering over the long haul, but I need to learn to maintain higher speeds over 6 to 24 hours.

I also plan to not be as obsessive about my weight in 2008. NO, that doesn't mean beer, pizza and wings every night! It just means that I'm not setting a goal weight of say 170. Instead I'm going to be happy to hover anywhere in the mid to upper 170s. I've learned that most of my races are not on "climbers courses" and I have no reason to be 6'1" 170 if my power and overall body strength is shit.

Speaking of courses and races. I think I will do mostly Solos in '08. I still hope to do 1 or 2 100s, but if they interfere with a 12 or 24's prep or recovery, they will be bumped. I enjoy the hell out of the 100s, but I think with a little bit of work, I can become a littler more competitive with the Solos. It would take an act of God to get more competitive at the hundies. But they are SO damn fun! So who knows??

Oh well, this is all just thinking out loud, due to the fact that the mountain bike part of my life is pretty boring right now. It could all change in an hour or two, and I'll be disappointed if it doesn't, because it's goals and the anticipation of another race season that makes winter doable for me.

Later.

Neon Mamasita

I rarely ride three days in a row. But since I'm not building, tapering, recovering, or peaking for anything but a winter of time in the Stankment™ riding for hours, going nowhere, and trying to avoid being a Clydesdale in 2008, I figured "what the F?" and hit my after work loop for 11.5 quick ones on the Mamasita.

It's been a while since I was on the Mamasita. Took me a few miles to get back in the hard tail groove, but it came soon enough. Since I have two of the WORST air pumps ever I needed to stop and let some air out of my tires a couple times. I tend to run 30ish PSI front/35 PSI rear. As I said, I own two pumps and they both pretty much suck, with one sucking (or blowing I should say) more than the other. Sometimes I think I'm running 35 PSI and it feels like I'm running 115. Note to self- INVEST IN A GOOD PUMP.

Weather looks like it may be turning to the wet side as the week progresses, so I'm glad I got some quality trail time in before it hits.

Later.

The Woolly Bear Sunday 40

Got up this a.m., downed some java, futzed on the net for a bit and thought about not riding today. Talked with Wifey and she basically said "you know if you don't you'll regret it, be moody tonight and feel too guilty to eat anything other than like a piece of lettuce." Sad thing is, that's pretty spot on.

So I headed out to S/dale with B-Man, threw down my 40 mile loop and was damn glad I did. Legs were feeling good and it was a great day for riding. Ride had all the flavors of fall- fields of drying corn stalks, leaves hitting me in the face at 30 mph, and of course a sure sign it's fall is that one of the local Nurseries has now changed their sign from "get your Hardy Mums now" to "We Do Deer Processing". Nice.

Today was also a big day for Woolly Bear Caterpillars on the move. I counted over 20 of these fuzzy worms making their way across the roads of WPA today. Not sure where they're going, or why they choose to be on the road, but they were out in force.
Soon they will be making up a cocoon and turn to a creamy orange-yellow moth in the spring. See, I taught you something. And you thought this blog was all bikes, beer and low brow humor.

All in all a sweet ride. Big "thank you" to Wifey for kicking me in the ass this a.m. with some motivational speak. Much appreciated.

Another sure sign it's fall is B-Man has a Halloween costume. He and WIfey headed to Idlewild Park yesterday for the Park's trick-or-treat day. He had a blast and went as Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (one of his faves)....
Speaking of B-Man, he has recently become the #1 thwarter of crime fighting. It's like they (kids) develop a sense. It's like he KNOWS what goes on during nap time now. Grrrrr! Oh well, nothing a cold shower won't cure ;)

Later, time to enjoy the food that I earned from putting in 40 miles today.

10 x 2

Woke up this a.m. to crisp fall air and sun shine. I knew I did NOT want to be on the road. So after I let it warm up a bit from the 37 degrees of the early a.m., I headed out for some time in the dirt, autumn leaves and sunshine.

I was properly rested and juiced up with 2 to 6 cups of java, so I listened to my inner voice saying...

DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!!!

Or maybe it was saying mount up and roll me twenty? The legs were well rested and I was aching for the dirt, so I rolled two laps of my fave loop at Boyce and got in 2:20/20 miles of primo twisty suburban park single track. The trails were in perfect condition and Thursday's rains did nothing to dampen them. They were still bone dry. Whoo hoo!

The only down side to the ride was realizing that my chain and cassette are a bit mis matched (worn chain, newer cassette or vice versa, I can't remember. Anyway, my fave gears are shot. So I found myself either spinning some sections or mashing. Either way, 20 miles of single track rocked!

I only saw a hand full of other folks today. 3 newbies and one other kat. What the F? A pristine fall day, with dry single track. I would have thought the trails would be jammed with riders getting their fall ride on before the weather turns to the soggy, cold side of the witches tit. I guess I'm one of a few dozen folks in the area that can look an overgrown lawn and a million home repair issues right in the face, give it the mental "bird", mount the bike to the roof rack and drive off. Good thing WIfey gives me some serious wiggle room with such things. Neighbor's probably think I'm a lazy wank though. Oh well. 'Tis the life of cycling junkie.

On the way home I stopped at Pgh. Pro Bikes and picked up my wheel. They fixed my nipple and trued it up for me. There was a slight delay due to their mechanic being sick a day or two and off work, but once home I mounted it up on the Mamasita and all seems to be spinning fine. It'll be nice to roll on those wheels again. After a season of spinning them (Hope Pro II/Bontragers) the XT/Delgado wheels seem like two lead circles.

At the shop the one dude just built up a Titus Racer X ExoGrid 29er. Holy crap! The bike is ok, but he's got a figgin' Fox F29 on it! I'm so deeply in lust.

Good luck to all my fellow blog mates racing at Moab or at Iron Cross this weekend.

Later.

It's....

It's finally over! Some folks have a busy retail week or time of year. My busiest week of the year was this week when the paper I work for puts out a special Auto section. I was responsible for most of the ads in the Pittsburgh section, thus my week was busy as frig. BUT it's over now and I can embrace the weekend, saddle time, and a few Dog Fish Head Indian Browns with open arms.

I haven't made up my mind if I will hit the road or the leaf covered, damp dirt tomorrow. Since the road is basically a necessary evil for maintaining fitness for racing and I am reproductive organs deep in NOT caring right now, I think it will be some dirt miles. Unless we get pounded with rain tonight, then I'll be forced to suck it up and ride on the road. Gotz to watch my figure.

Has anyone been reading about the Olympic test race in Beijing? Yeah, sounds great. A country with one of the WORST human right policies (do they have ANY?) EVER hosts the Olympic games, on top of that you add in the incredible amount of pollution the country puts out and you have a real life experience. Hell If I was a U.S. XC racer I'd be glad NOT to make the team.

Adam Craig said the pollution and smog was so bad that "my lungs stopped working". There were 18 DNFs in the Men's race. Some of the fittest guys on the earth and they couldn't even breath that shit. Hell the gold medal winner might be the one who comes from the country with the worst air quality rather than the best mountain biker.

Oh well, I got me some spinach/turkey ballz in the oven and they're about done. Time to cook up some pasta.

Later.

Wow

Wow, I got nothing.

Work was a blur of cars, trucks EPS, PDF, and PSD files.The weather was cold, rainy and there was no ride. The highlight of my day was pulling together a tasty pasta stir fry out of very little in the kitchen and having an Indian Brown. Oh well, one more day of the above mention whirlwind of work and it's to the weekend and the hopes of saddle time. No racing, but surely some saddle time.

Later.

Almost Nipply

Wow, it went from 85* to 65* in one day with this evening's ride temp hovering in the high 50s with light mist. Some arm warmer would have been nice, but hell I was only out for about 1:15 or so before it got too dark in the woods to really see that well. Plus the mist was thinking about becoming drizzle. Oh well 11 miles of single track after a busy day at work is better than 0.

Why does it seem that the night that you know you can't get a long ride in, is the night that your legs feel the best?

Two more days of car ad madness and work should calm down. Weather is looking "iffy" for the rest of the week, but I'm sure the cheeks will hit the saddle at some point.

Later.

Down Time

Work was pretty much non stop today. I don't love the stress, but I do love how fast the work day goes. I did no riding today, and that's fine. I did make up two turkey burgers and some baked 'tater chunks, but that's hardly riding or a real work out. Downing two Storm Kings WAS a work out though.

These days of on and off again riding will be coming to an end in the coming weeks as I'll prepare to prepare an off season plan and tighten up my diet, say goodbye to weekday beers and focus on my core and strength training in the slackest way possible and not get fat. I'm sure I'll be hitting the trainer a couple times a week if need be. I hope the weather cooperates that I can get at least one to two rides outside a week through the winter. I'm no fan of the cold, so I really don't hold out much hope for that, but you never know.

I had hoped that this would be the year that I could work with a coach or at least consult with one on my weaknesses, but I don't see that happening right now. I sometimes think that due to my schedule and time I may be uncoachable. I have no power meters and endless hours to ride. Hell, right now I don't even own a heart rate monitor because EVERY one I ever buy f*cking breaks!!! I think I just like to ride and if form, fitness and results come with that I'll take it. I'll most likely use a loose interpretation of Joe Friel's book and hope for the best when spring 2008 rolls around. Who knows though? I do know I'm already looking forward to 2008 and what it may hold.

Hope to get more time on the trails tomorrow, the storms they called for today never really materialized in this area, but the cooler temps did. Cool and crisp now.

Later.

Spanky Monday

For a Monday I had a pretty good day at work. Even if the first words said to me today were "Hey Jason you know that ad you designed for (Insert name of overpriced European luxury car dealer here)? They hated it."

Nice.

BUT other than that, it was a busy day and it flew by. Before you knew it, it was time for my time in the woods on board the Dos Niner. Hooked up with an old riding buddy Glen. Better know as "Bad Luck Glen". Bad luck for me because just about every time I ride with him I bust something (brake lever, post, rims, frame, etc.,) I'm sure I mentioned him here before.

I actually avoid riding with Glen. My bank account can't take it. And I truly believe he puts a curse on me of some sorts. Shame though, 'cause he's a fast rider and everyone knows riding with fast riders is one of the best ways to get faster. I guess my riding 98% of the time alone is why I tend to wallow in mediocrity? ;)

Had to giddy up to avoid the darkness and squeezed in a nice 12 mile loop in 1:20. All in all a damn good ride. High 80s here today, but looks like by the weekend we will be in the 50s. Oh well, better than the 30s.

Dropped my wheel at Pittsburgh Pro Bikes today to have it fixed up. Talked with them about their trip to Vegas, and Interbike, I think they're becoming a Salsa dealer. But then the dude got interrupted by a customer and I got side tracked with my wheel, so I didn't get the full scoop. Hell for all I know he said that a black jack dealer gave him some exclusive salsa at Intebike. Freaking customers! HA! I hope they do. It would be nice to have another official dealer close to home along with Speedgoat.

Of course my team- Bikeman.com is an "inferno" Salsa Dealer. Meaning they pretty much kick ass is the Salsa department. (not to be too big of a whore, but they have a BUNCH of Salsa frames on sale for hundreds of dollars off). OK whoring off. Forgive.

No ride tomorrow, looks like storms are gonna be heading this way and I need to catch up on some crap. Big deadline week at work too. Should be nice and stressful. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue!

Later. *sniff* *sniff*

I think it's back.

Woke up today with a nice case of mojo and the itch to ride. Something I totally lacked yesterday. As is my Sunday ritual I loaded up the Soob with bike, gear and B-Man and headed to my Dad's.

Weather was tits and the legs and mind felt spanky as soon as I got on the bike. It was like 3rd base, & warm apple pie. I was pretty geeked to feel this good on the bike.

I set out for my normal 40 mile loop and was diggin' it. At mile 36 I was cruising down a farm road and saw another rider coming up. I slowed down to see who it was and as he approached I hear "hey Jason". It was Gerry P. rolling on his newly built up ti CX bike. Thing looked fast.

We rolled along the next few miles chatting about the season. I forgot how hard it is to maintain a conversation with someone as you go uphill, and try to stay on their wheel. ESPECIALLY when the person's wheel you're try to hang on is one of the best racers in the country, who is just out for a "spin". Gerry is rehabing a jacked up wrist but should be back in CX action ASAP. Good luck Gerry!

I was bummed to see the ride end. I was feeling good, and damn glad to have one of my first pain free rides in about a month. I'll take that and enjoy the rest of my Sunday because of it.

Hope you all had a great weekend and got some goo miles in.

Jason

No MoJo or GoGo

Woke up this a.m. and just had nothing. Put the Dos on top the car and 5 minutes later took it down. I had no desire to drive 30 minutes to ride today. I know I'll road ride tomorrow, so I did not feel like doing it today.

During the season this is all a different story, but with my season all but over I want to ride because I want to, not because I need to get or maintain a certain level of fitness. Having no current goals or plan kind of sucks ass. I need some structure. Good thing planning for '08 commences in November.

I may have set a record for being called an asshole or having it alluded to that I am indeed an asshole by Wifey this week. Regrettably it might be time to start taking daddy's little helper again.

Hope to get on the road tomorrow.

Later.

1/2 Day Goodness

Took a half day off from work today. I worked till about 12:30, then headed over to the Park for 1:45 and 13.5 miles of single track goodness.

Since I blew out a spoke/nipple on the Mamasita's Bontrager/Hope hoops yesterday and I was in a hurry this morning, not wanting to change wheels, I just took the Dos Niner or as I think I may refer to her from now on The Ompa Loompa.

I felt pretty good, as I should for having only been in the saddle for about 2 hours this week prior to this ride. The only real trouble I'm having now (and lately it's always something) is some pain in my right calf muscle. I think I aggravated it on last Sunday's road ride and it's been sorta of jacked ever since. Of course today it was swollen a bit, now Wifey thinks I have a blood clot. Great, just what I always wanted.

The ride was good and damn HOT! Near 90 in October?? F*ck yeah! I'll take it. Fall temps, rain and snow will be here soon enough so I'll take this as long as that slutty tart Mother Nature will dish it out! Hold on, I need to go spray a dozen cans of aerosol hair spray up into the sky. OK, I'm back.

Riding on a weekday afternoon is always strange at the park. Today did lack the usual plethora of clandestine cars parked side by side with folks obliviously carrying out some extra marital affairs, but still, it always seems strange to be riding during the middle of a work day.

It was nice to be in the woods, enjoying the trails and stock piling some good vibes to keep me going through the winter. The only downer to riding in the fall is the cursed "leaf stuck in the fork arch noise" that inevitably happens.

To which I write a poem.....

Oh fall leaf stuck in my fork's arch
How I hate thee
Oh fall leaf stuck in my fork's arch
How I hate the noise you make
Oh fall leaf stuck in my fork's arch
How I'd wish you would go away
Oh fall leaf stuck in my fork's arch
How I pray you'll fall off, rot into the soil and die
Leave me leaf, leave me and be gone forever more
Please die, please die fall leaf

Thank you, thank you very much. I'll be reading this aloud at the local coffee shop later, if you care to stop by and listen. Of course the leaf fell out, and was replaced by one of his brothers later. Oh well, 'tis fall riding, even if it is 90 degrees!

Oh well, not a great ride, but by NO means a bad one. Beats sitting in the cubical of hell all day.

Interbike 07 means... Cipo is SO getting laid. Do you think those are fake? Ah, who cares!

Later, time to cook some food.

Oh Snap!

The hits just keep on coming! I rode 2/10 of a mile. Broke a spoke, limped back to the Soob, packed up, drove home. Total ride time was less than 2 minutes. Once home I did a 50 minute spin on the trainer. Good times.... good times....

Later.

Just Above Level Suck

Not much to speak of tonight. Just another blissful day in the life of Jason (much sarcasm in tht remark, thank you).

I shot over to Pleasant Valley Park today on my lunch hour. It was less than 5 miles from my office and there seems to be some nice single track. Not a lot of it, but should be enough to piece a multi lap night ride loop together once the days are too short for my post work Boyce ride. Now I just need to order up my night ride permit.

I'm officially NOT doing Iron Cross (again!). I just can't maintain enough mojo to want to do a race this late in the season. I feel undertrained and not in the position to do my best. And hell, let's not fool ourselves, we all know my "best" is just above level suck.

I think it's time to figure out a plan for '08 (I assume I'll have an "08"). I wish I had the mojo/equipment/talent/finances to give CX a go during the fall, but I really think after a summer of enduros, I just need to ride, not get fat and try to get through the winter without Wifey killing/divorcing me for being a moody bastard. The only one of those I'm vaguely certain of is not getting TOO fat.

On the positive side (meaning nothing to do with me) my friends at Twin-Six are having another sale starting tomorrow. Brent says (and I quote)....

"From Thursday 10/4 through Sunday 10/7 you can get all sorts of T6 goodness on the cheap. 2007 T6 men’s and women’s jerseys that are still in stock will be $45. Also, all of the 2007 T6 men’s and women’s t-shirts will be $15 (find them in the TRUNK section). In addition to what’s on sale, we just launched all of the 2008 T6 t-shirts, and a few of them are prototypes marked down to $12. ) Orders over $100 get free shipping!)"

So if you want in on some T6 goodies, now's your chance.

Boyce after work tomorrow. I hope.

Now it's time for bed.

Later.

Short and Fast.

Got a fast 11 mile dirt loop in after work tonight. Since we're loosing daylight fast and the po po at Boyce love to crack heads about riders in the park after dusk, I just put the hammer down on the Mamasita, busted out 11 in a little over an hour and headed home. Rib felt great, legs were spanky and It was the mental equivalent of a rub & a tug.

If there is one thing I hate about Boyce Park it's the fact that I can not legally ride there after dark. In the past I even tried sending e mails begging, and no dice. Now it looks like once the dark settles in, I'll once again be relegated to the Stankment®, MAYBE the gym and occasionally make the drive to ride at North Park.

I think an option could be to buy a night ride license or pass for the park. Buy it, sign a waver saying if you get lost, run out of light or get hurt the county is not responsible and be done with it. If the Five-Oh see you, and you don't have the license/pass, then you get a fined or what not....

HOLD THE F'ING PHONE!! Just went to the PORC forums to look at something and I see that PORC has worked with Pleasant Valley Park in Murrysville to do almost exactly what I mentioned above. If you're a local yocal like myself who doesn't want to always drive 40 minutes to legally night ride CHECK OUT THIS POST on the PORC forum for instructions. I've never ridden there, but it seems there is a small loop that I could do multiple laps on. I'd be stoked to be able to get some night riding in and avoid the trainer longer this year. Only a couple miles from the office too. Sweet!

No ride tomorrow. But hope to get out on Thursday.

Later.

Slack, A Food Review & A Genuine Immitation

Not much going on today. Monday means back to work and of course that gnaws on a hairy one, but a Monday with no ride inhales said hairy one. DOH!

I figured since I felt like an ACTUAL soiled chamois during yesterday's ride, I'd just chill tonight and get some house stuff done. Which all that really meant was some laundry, airing up the Mamasita's tires for tomorrow's post work ride and baking up some whole wheat pasta/cheezy Mexican bake. Yum-oh.

Speaking of food, (and you know it must be close the off season if I'm talking THIS much about food). It's getting to be that time of year where I start cutting back on my carb intake (what I can't eat 1 lb. of pasta every day ALL year long??) and start to eat snacks and foods higher in protein.

One of my fave high protein snacks are peanuts, almonds, cashews etc., In other words I like nuts. Well as luck would have it I got sent a couple boxes of some new Nature Valley Roasted Crunch Bars to try out and give some feed back on.

I'm about 4 bars in (2 Almond and 2 peanut crunch) and I must say I'm sort of diggin' 'em right now. They have a few more calories than 1 serving (1 oz.) of peanuts and about the same overall stats, but you feel like you're eating more than just 1 oz. of peanuts (if you've ever counted out 1 oz. of peanuts you know it's damn small).

They also stack up against another one of my fave higher protein snacks- a cup of low fat yogurt. They compare straight up in everything but fat content. My fave yogurt has 1.5 grams of fat compared to the 12 grams (1.5 saturated/no Trans Fat) in the Peanut Crunch version of the bars. Low fat yogurt also has a few grams of cholesterol thrown in too and the bars do not.

The downside to the bars is that while I dig the "crunchiness" of them, I find it impossible to open a bar without at least a small hunk flying across the room. And visually they look like bars of nuts that someone covered in shellac. They shine baby! Makes 'em look sorta fake.

For a box of 6 the MSRP is $3.39 (about 57¢ a bar) and I've been seeing them on sale locally for lower. When I buy peanuts for an afternoon snack out the machine or at the local mini mart they go for 50¢ to 75¢ a bag. The bars also lack that burn your tongue out of your mouth salty taste that many (especially cheaper brand peanuts) have.

Many healthy eating gurus will poo-poo these 'cause they still contain sugars and corn syrup, and I agree they're not some 100% organic hippie bar that you can pick up at your Co-Op for $3.50 a bar. But for a bar that is comparable to some of my fave snacks (yogurt, nuts, etc.,) that I can buy on the cheap at Giant Eagle or Wal-Mart on the cheap. I'll take 'em. I give 'em a 4 our of 5 with points lost for falling apart and looking like a paper weight.

They won't replace my any of my fave snacks, but will make fine additions to cycle. And that is key. Many folks trying eating the SAME foods over and over and the next thing you know you're inhaling an all you can eat buffet.

Tomorrow's topic: "Egg Whites- Friend Or Foe?" I'm KIDDING!!!

____________________________________________________________

Now for a "What The F*ck Moment"...

This isn't the first time I've seen examples of folks "borrowing" or getting a bit TOO inspired from my good friends at Twin-Six, but this maybe one of the most blatant. Poor.

Later.