5/31/07

goals & chit

le Tou, le Tour, le Tour.

Saw a blurb and heard from le directour at il Giro that final details are being finalized for the five days of slum. Saw the original layout, looked kinda gnarly, like edging on the totally fucking insane to continue to think of fixing the entire deal. At il Giro, during stage 2 cruising down that final shwoopy love of Whetstone, I couldn't get the thought out of my mind of how much it would suck to be stuck on the fixed for that descent. It's just too much damn fun to roll the Dos and get some real entertainment value out of it.

Really made me question my originally stated goal. And now, here I sit, wondering what, exactly, has Carpong cooked up. Will it actually be more fixy friendly like he led me to believe? Or was that the Vape talking?

my concerns about doing le Tour fixed......

1. I totally wreck my body and can't finish, the damage is long term and I end up tossing the rest of the year completely out the window. No hundies, no fittys, just slum thru the remaining half a season asking why and scheduling visits with the orthopedic surgeon........

2. I survive the ordeal, but go so deep to do it, that the remainder of the year ends up being written off.....and for what? Before the dream/nightmare of a fixed tour grabbed me, my primary goal was to settle the score out there in the dark corners of the 101 course. I want back part of what that thing ripped outta me last year. I also wanna get as close to, if not under, 10 hours on the Shenandoah with a fixed wheel. I honestly haven't had a good 'race' at the hundy since '04 when Stubbie & I hooked that shit up. I've had excellent, fun rides around the loop since then, just not good 'races.' Doing le Tour fixed could push all of that into the realm of 'well, there's always next year.' I don't like that option. I'm hungry, my programme seems to be working, I feel like the time is now. Not sure how much of a gambling man I really am.

When I set the Tour ss precedent in '05, it took much, much longer to recover than I ever expected, I underestimated the effort. Granted, that was then, this is now and I'm older and wiser and more experienced, blah blah blah. I don't plan to race the fix, just to ride it and complete the days. But what's it gonna take to ride a fixed wheel over three epic mtn routes and two road stages that fall into the 80-100mile range with plenty of nasty climbing? I've already breifly walked the geared (39:25) road bike on a couple of those climbs, backside of Reddish, east face of Massanutten.

40:15? fuck me.

And what about 'special considerations' just for me? Can I expect a cue sheet/map for the road stages so that when I get dropped during parade pace I can still make it round the loop? Puts me into the scarey realm of self supporting each stage. That could get quite ugly and it's not really a fair burden for the organizers to cater extra for me. It would turn into a lonely solo effort over five long days, me & my iPod. I'd miss the out on the communal suffering, the group hugs, the bar to bar action during the timed sections. I wouldn't be able to throw down as usual at the front of the sprint train, probably my most favorite part of all. Yeah, I'm a sort of closet roadie at heart, so be it, play your strengths bitch. Basically, I'd be giving up everything that I love about riding/racing a Grand Tour, all for the purpose of proving just how fucking crazy I really am. il Giro reminded me about all of this.

Is it worth it? And Why?

3. I ride thru it with no real issues, then slum thru the 101 three weeks after the effort, and hope for a huge bounce to rage like a mother fucking bull on crack all the way thru the end of September. Any gypsey fortune tellers out there?

The short term is pretty damn clear though. I feel like I'm finally coming into good form, had decent enough legs in il Giro and threw down a 13:20 up the King's Gap TT on the 40:15 last night, lopping another 40 couple seconds off my best to date. Have finished a very solid 5 day block, which just happens to sync with Eddie B's bible of peaking. He calls for a 4-5day stage race 2 weeks out from your target. Stoopid Fitty happens to be two weeks out, so I'm gonna try to work out some sort of 'peak' per Eddie's written advice and see how it all works out, testing testing 1-2-3. Haven't followed this sort of structure for a few years, so I'm mostly looking for confirmation and data points for when the big events roll around. I'll be doing the Stoopid on the fixed, and if it plays out the way I hope, I'm looking for a top 5 in the single dingle class, will be dissappointed if I don't at least crack into the top 10 gearless. Or maybe I'm blowing smoke outta my ass......delusional visions of granduer and all that.


So, does anybody have thoughts on the Tour Fixy pursuit?
Am I total puss if I back out of it?
If I don't even attempt it?
Do I take all 4 bikes 'just in case'?

Do I simply use it for 'training', and then give her hell in the hundies, attempting to restablish the existing fixy benchmarks?

what to do?

what

to

do

?

7 comments:

camps said...

During the SM100 last year, I thought a lot about Andy, Buck, and you on your fixies. I saw you all a lot more than usual.

Knowing that I was in the process of building up a mtn fixy myself.

Hoping I'd never do anything like the 100s on it.

When Buck let me pass him going down Dowells, I thought, hmmmm, is he having as much fun today as I am??

van den kombs said...

Tomi,
How are you going to have any fun riding down "Trimble Mtn Time Trial" fixed ?? that's just the start.

I think it wouldn't be worth missing like you said, "the communal suffering" each day and riding with other people..you have chronicles many of your solo efforts..TDB is about being somehwat "together" riding around like nutballs, not tomi + his ipod.

You people from Micahux are nuts anyways, so we'll luv you if you wuss out !

good luck with your dilemma.
:)

CabbageHead said...

"tomi + his ipod"

--Sounds like a children's storybook...a fable...

"Once upon a mountain lived a little boy named Tomi, who loved his fixie and his ipod..."

CabbageHead said...

This seems like a perfect time to dust off the Magic 8-Ball...shake her up, see what she says...

Anonymous said...

This is no time to be thinking of your self! Think of the fans that will be awaiting the outcome, in cyberspace as well that will be there to see this spectacle pass them by. Think of the fame and the glory, the first - the only (?) that will be in a position to make the unthinkable happen. If not now – then ever?

What is the flip? Finish the TdB off the podium – maybe break the top ten – oooh cutting edge blog material there pal. Revel in the mediocrity. Having some Chicks call you a wuss or the crushing blow that all that has been proclaimed is a steaming pile of shit.

You need to get it fixed in your head one way or the other. I will be there toting gears and the pace that can be taken over like the 50 mile mark at the SM100 when you made contact and left me to wonder what the how the fuck. Shit.

Anonymous said...

Damn boy, you want that 10 mark at the SM100 too huh? I just got my "wheel of the future", which will go on the "bike of the future". Hope I have a future. Gonna have a full time fixy at the ready, and I plan on riding it a bunch in the late summer. No promises, just random thoughts.
No advice here, sorry. I have the same evil thoughts in my head.
"Give up a shot at a podium?" "For what?" "What if I get hurt?"
I'm no help.

Anonymous said...

Tomi,

I spend enough time watching you hit trees, stumps, rocks, roots, etc with your fixie. It's quite entertaining watching you fly through the air and hitting the ground, but riding that bike in the tour will do nothing but send you to the hospital.

Don't be a fucking retard and don't bring a knife to a gun fight!


Jake