friday night.

harvest season, full tilt. Mad Elf freshly released, 11% love.

Numbers, love numbers for some reason. Because they're defined, objective? You know their meaning, there's no nuance. Everybody knows 2. 3. 17. 78. 1st. last. My training programme. Nowadays it's coinsidered old school. I have a heart rate gizmo. Got it from Stubbie on trade for a Whisperlite stove, back in '97ish. It still works, 3 zones. Recovery, workin' & stoopid zones. It has a stopwatch. I track my training thru elapsed saddle time. I'm on my third Mad Elf. So, mtn rides that I log as 6hrs, might only have 4.5hrs of actual ride time....but, that 1.5hrs is time not spent on the couch. It's still time out in the elements, eating, fixing, waiting...still burning calroies, so I count it. I'm back to counting my 'base' as 1000 miles on the road, not sure when it starts though. Some years' I've called it at 65hrs combined mtn and rd, some yrs I've hoped to have 420 by 4/20. wait, phone call, train derailed....

taptaptap.....

goals. the drive, how do we do it? keep that fire in the belly stoked. I'm 37, way past 'going pro.' so, keep yearning for the thought unreachable? why? why why why....numbers.

the spreadsheet. I keep a spreadsheet, it's simple. it tallys my weekly hours, and that's it. other than secondary notes of results of note at events of note, which are all of my 'events.' This year I'm glad I have the sheets. There's the spancer thing, they've requested you include a recent list. I've got that, a list of pointless achievements riding a bike that doesn't coast. We all have our follies. so, yeah, send this oddball some of your shit, like being a carny freakshow. {Race MC}And here's the winners of the day....rousing cheers......oh, and this dumbass actually finished on a bike that doesn't coast.....golf clap.{/RaceMC} why? more with less? I can't win otherwise, so I'll just show how I'm more stoopid than you? I don't like to race for 23rd........why? maybe I really do just like the pain.

but the numbers, they surprised me. the sheet runs from late January to now, late October. this is the final week of record keeping. well, I still have my log/journal (yeah, even beyond this blog, you oughtta read that for some insight...but this post might be a good start) and that'll keep going until I get a new one for Christmas from my mom, it's Farside, love it! then we start it again, Jan 1. There's that number, 1. And so I tallied my season total.....drumroll.....440hrs over 38weeks. This week will add another 5+tomorrow & Sunday, so probably 12-14...call it 450 over 39 weeks. About 280 on a mtn bike, the rest on the skinny tire fixy. What surprised me, is that my previous high tally was the 370 from last year, with only 75 of that on the road bike...what's that mean? Is that the lure of the fix, or just increased dedication due to stupid goals and chit?

Who knows. I can say that I liked the results of the additional time.....9th ss at the Stoopid50, 100% fixing le Tour, fixed course record of 9:23 as 14th place ss at the W101 and my white whale, nailing the sub 10 with a 9:30/9th place ss/fixy time standard at the Shen100. Then rolling it all onto a coasty bike and sneaking out a 2nd place at the Teaberry50.

450/370=1.21

21% more work, for what? maybe a 5% increase in performance? 450/39 = 11.5 11.5hrs per week on the saddle of a bike, 11.5/5 = 2.3hrs per day. 5 days per week X 1.5hrs of gearing up and gearing down pre/post ride = 7.5 hrs.

11.5 + 7.5 = 19hrs

19 hours per week. That's a fucking part time job. That I spend money that I earn at my regular job to do. The worn out bits. The worn out kit. The travel. The entry. This year I brought home a grand total of $175 in prize money, that covers one race wknd, maybe. But I have two fixed gear course records, and a precedent setting ride at le Tour, and NOBODY can take that away from me. priceless, or something. when people ask me at a cocktail party, 'what do you do?' I stammer for an answer, is it acceptable to simply say,

I'm a cyclist.

cuz that's what I am.
that's what I do.
I ride a bike.
I love to ride bikes.
I always have,
I always will.
bicycles are freedom.
why is it that sooo many people just don't get it?

And now, I think about next year. I dream about a hopeful ski season around the corner, but I think about next year. I looked at the NUE podium this year. I wonder what it would be like to stand on top of it? What's it take? I think I have it figured out physically. The rest is the logistics, the travel, the budget. To Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee....maybe UT if urging to chase points, that could be a fun trip. Of course I'll be at the 101 and S100, that's a given.

Or there's this Colorado stage thing. Claiming to be "the first epic mtn bike stage race in the USA." .........whatever.

Guess they've never heard of le Tour or il Giro, probably for the better. Annoying, and that's marketing, but shit, I'd go to it, if I could swing the entry, and I'd race it on a fix, and yeah I'm talking trash and yeah I'll show them fuckers what's up.....all I need is a number plate.....how do I do that? 25 solos from what I hear, guess that'll be an oh so pro roster. Who wants to see a spectacle? put me in, bitch.

damn, my beer glass is empty, the Mad Elf strikes again.

peace out,
T