shadows

LSD shadows drip

with climbing

bob and weave

silhouette on

radiant yellow

headlight

road signs.

the rhythmic

cyclist form against

a T intersection.

and again later

STOP

AHEAD

another 2 hours

in the dark.

stop.

then begin again.

90 minutes thru the
dark stillness, wind
leaving with the sunlight.

rolling silent a handlebar's
width off the starlit sheen
of the country road double
yellow. wrapped in vintage
PearlZoomie lacryl and
NF nylon cacoon, LEDs
and reflective bits keeping
the wolves at bay.

sweat and dark shadow
mystery regulates the
pace for now. keeping it
simple.

18,877 in the bank.
267,144 to go.

clean slate

hmmm, so here we are again, bottom of the curve.

Turkey Wknd = four splendid days of riding, even out on the road bike for a few hours in the mid-hi 30's on Saturday. Somewhere in this grey hazy spell between late October and the gift giving time, the next season begins. Judging from the dizzy efforts and aborted summertime length routes, I'm gonna say that all of last year's fitness has finally faded, leaving behind the blissful memories and a hunger for more. Calibrated the cool weather roadie kit, the new booties are tits, now just need to sac up, grit the teeth and start turning post work pedals again.

Motivation is the hurdle, what's the mind game to get out the door? Out into that raw darkness with just blinky LEDs for protection..... Right now, it's to simply get ready for ski season, get these old knees ready for a few months of tele rippin'. A few weeks of prep work for what will hopefully be a solid couple months of weeknights spent at the gym and wknds chasing freshy fresh love driftlines around WhiteGrass. Bookend those sessions with a complimentary ride or two and that's the programme thru February.

good times ahead.

ha.

ya know, I have a lot of big ideas bouncing around the neurocircuits right now, it's that time of year. dream big, then be realistic come January. today was to be a 5-6hr phatty from the von Gettier estate. we rode very little filler and verified the best direction of flow on the camp trails. got spanked while taking Abby from behind and limped into Jake's backyard with a splendidly chilling shutdown 5 minutes out.

when you know that you're home, when you come down off the edge and think towards recovery, and then suddenly you're chilled, the furnace is shutting down and the bonk monster just tapped you on the shoulder.

uhhhhm, excue me, sir.....

the dizziness ain't from the holidaze celebrations or knot untieing ss efforts, it's from a quality systemsfadetoshutdown-microbonkedzombieslum that reminds you that summertime is a longlonglong, long ways off.

and it's an uphill climb from here on out.

nice bike, bargain bin?

holidaze

lots of idle time lately, kicking a cold to the curb with the help of Messrs Jameson & NyQuilD. Tonight the Arrogant Bastard escorts me into the holidaze season. Haven't ridden shit in over a week, not since superfun groovey ride from the Gutpile week ago last Sunday. Only been out for a quick hour hike up Dead Woman's proper, in Sunday's cold ass rain/snow mix. Busting thru head high laurel & rhodo got old kinda quick, scouting mission aborted.

so many ideas bouncing around. what's next? what's next? First, survive the ski season without tearing up a knee while taking it to the next plateau at the same time....hopefully we'll find some decent turns before mid January this time 'round. And then it'll be spring, time for the Classiques. I saw that Easter is early this year, March-ish, I like early-mid April-ish better for a Meeshoslow Classique, probably do it on a Friday again. And I wanna pop my cherry on the S-D-S uber-Classique for sure, no excuses this year. And there's Harri-Roubaix and some solo efforts and it'll all get tested at the spring Michaux while building for il Giro survival. Possible 100 attempt in that time frame, then it's vacation time at le Tour, been thinking about coasting this year. Then another local 50, then the 101, then maybe the Wild or be a Fool in GA before the Shen100 and finish with a possible trip to Tahoe.

Off the radar, not counting you, my 420 unique visitors, will be a back to back Michaux mission. From Old Forge to Carlisle & back, March-ish. Then, maybe blow off the NUE 'goal' that's infecting my mind, and attempt a Meeshowslow 100 in early-mid June, leave enough recovery buffer for le Tour. I have a route in mind, need more re-con (see 2-day above) to be dialed and wrap the mind around the undertaking. Last year we went from Mt Holly to Caledonia and back, it was 65 miles in 11:05 elapsed. To extend that means some combo of the blue blaze out to a loop thru the Narrows down to Old Forge and back to the blue to hook back into the Classique loop, that'll add about 4-5hours to the watch.....try it with a goal of 14hrs? Start an hour of so before sunrise, it'll have to be a very tight group, lots of intersections to navigate. Time for some GoogleEarth....

Oh, happy Turkey Day everybody! Give thanks, think about how lucky we all really are and I hope ya'll get some saddle time, I'm itchin to pedal after this germ induced spell of 'rest & recovery.'

peace.

deeeeeeeep.

WG opened for the season and it looks like VT got some fresh love over the wknd, wonder if it was anything like this?

sk8

watch this viddy,
learn how to fall,
enjoy the mad skillz

legends

more pics of old pics:

How many legends? '89 NJ NORBA xc start.

Tomac, Tinker, Ned, Tilford in the Wheaties kit?

Greatest American Cyclist ever?

Local legends @ Mullen's (King's Gap) fall '88 ('89)?

Can you name all three?

snaux

saw snaux in Michaux on sunday.

YIPPPEEEEE!!!!!!

history lesson, my stable.

That's me, 21yr old expert fodder at the '91 Mt Snow NORBA, the hillclimb. Working my way up thru the field, gameface on. Notice that the dude I'm passing has no front brake? It was the hillclimb afterall. Mid 20's finish I think, good times.
This is the bike that I was on that day, the '89 Ritchey Ultra. Had concerns about a weld at the head/downtube junction, sent it back and TR laid in a nice reinforcing fillet in 92ish, that's when she got the ohso pro 'Team' paint. Uncle Jes hooked me up with some sweet 986's last night, so she'll be back to original enough race kit soon. Really just need some old school Cook Bros cranks and a vintage wheelset and she's back to original.....well, the saddle was different.
The fixy, the singlespeed, the DBR Ti. I've had this bike for a little while too. Picked it up from a friend in '98, I think it's a '96 frame. This bike has taught me a lot of lessons. And still does in her currently devolved state of fixedness. Soooo many experiences aboard this bike, going on ten years now. Roundy round lap racing, DogDays at Whitetail, two Canaan 24's, when the rare over 3hr ride counted as an epic, the early Michaux Monsters, VA XXC Series Chump, my first Classique, my first committed SS, every Tour I've done but one. Every 100miler I've ridden, but one. Lot's of lessons learned and experiences experienced aboard that rig. Love that bike. The Dos, the newest addition to the stable. She hung out in the background a bit this season, a lot of behind the scenes work, out of the spotlight. Currently magic ratio singled, will be ENO'd by springtime. Sweet riding big wheeled rig, incredible all day cruiser. Imagine we'll get to know each other better with the forecast of less fixedness racing next year. Learned some things, time to see how well the knowledge transfers to coastiness.
The road bike, Rocinante. No frills Miele lugged steel of some sort, lots of karma in this bike. Salvaged from the mean streets of Philly by Harlan, handed off to Duffy and now into my possession. Harlan's bolt on Surly hubs to mismatched Mavic rim wheelset still rollin' true as ever, homey's got skillz! Knocked off the braze ons and added the styelish Krylon orange racing stripes, all by myself! Would like to do fresh paint sometime soon-ish. Bar, stem and brakes on trade from the good fellas at FreezeThaw, thanks man. Getting ready to flip 3k on the odo in the yearish I've had her, learned a lot in those manymanymany pedal revolutions. Here's to more exploration!

Maybe someday, I'll introduce you to my skis.

Reboot

enjoyable time of year.

slacking, no agenda to the ride

other than trying to avoid the slum

and keep the weight off.

Dos is refurbished, complete

tear down, new rings and freshy

fresh oil into the Reba. Now

stretched to 100mm.

Also got the new rear shock,

decent warranty service from

the boys at Salsa. And the gearing

experiment was short lived,

stripped off the shifty bits,

back onto the magic 32:19.

Also ordered up a new flat bar,

extra fork height means higher

bar setting, current riser is as

low as it gets, will be trying out

the Pro Moto next week. Now's

the time to experiment.

Hopeful for a night sesh tonight,

batteries charging, damp and cool

forecast for tomorrow, who knows

what Sunday will bring.....

'tics

as some of ya'll know, I follow politics a bit, just to keep 'informed' at the very least. I'll admit to not being 'involved' in any way, other than the occassional letter to my congressman. no activist volunteering working phone lines or GOTV type efforts. just reading and keeping current and making sure to vote, cuz if you don't vote, then you can't complain. I like to vote, I enjoy the process, makes me feel like my voice is heard one way or the other. but watching things lately, I can honestly say that I'm ashamed of what this country has become, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. we're a lazy people, look at us collectively as a nation, look at the numbers for energy consumption/household/capita vs healthcare cost due to general unhealthiness vs obesity vs % of population imprisoned vs education worldwide rankings vs what where we've been and the trends and unfortunately, there are many many uninformed sheeple who do react to and make decisions based on the propaganda. (but is an amazing thing to watch, the marketing and slogans used and how they react and how folks are so easily manipulated.....it's all about image and perception, the message, keep it simple, cuz thinking is hard, "it's hard work.")

and with this bullshit of voting in favor of recommending Muckasey for confirmation, when that despicable piece of shit can't fucking say for certain that waterboarding, a lovely gift from the Spanish Inquisition btw, is fucking TORTURE. won't fucking say it because it's 'hypothetical'.....simulated drowning isn't torture, can't wait to see what this guy has to say.

well, what the fuck does that say about the state of this country? it's truely a sad fucking day for America that 12 out of 20 of our most noble Senators said that they're ok with having this guy be the cheif enforcer of our laws, even though he's not quite sure about whether or not waterboarding is torture.

what a disgrace, I wonder if we'll even have elections in another year. simple enough, put on your tinfoil cap......oooops, a terror attack, secure the area and I guess we'll need to declare a state of emergency, but only until there's no more threat....we're at war don't ya know, fear FEAR FEARRRR!!!!!

elections suspended.


fuck 'em, what's it gonna take? found this in the comments for this editorial type thing on Huffington Post, in reference to sending the Kucinich resolution to impeach Cheney into Committee, where it's essentially dead. That slimey piece of shit excuse for a human being has an approval rating of 11%, wtf are they afraid of? debate that shit on the record and do the work of the will of the people. I thought you assholes were supposed to represent us, the people? I guess everything I learned in civics class was bullshit, eh? anyway, what will it take?

Where do we go from here? Vote the Repugs back in? Or like the Demorats just bend over and take it up the wahzoo? Or stand up like free Americans and rebel? I don't suggest an armed rebellion at least not yet although as a last resort that's why the framers of our Constitution put in the 2nd amendment. But I do suggest something other than writing to a castrated indifferent congress who have no real power but desperately cling to the lush perks that job still lavishes on these spineless scum. General strikes across the country and a tax rebellion in April of people fed up with their hard-earned money ending up in mercenaries' pockets and granting the Veep's old company with multi-billion dollar no bid contracts while not funding one dime to their hypercritical No Child Left Behind policy and balking at insuring poor kids. They're not going to just give our country back to us we have to have the balls and backbone to take it back. Chances are this blog won't even see the light of day,when comes down to majority of Americans are as gutless as their leaders.

so, yeah, when push comes to shove, are you ready?
where's my copy of Civil Disobedience?

in other lines of thought....

new rear shock for the Salsa should

be here tomorrow, fresh bits for the

Reba already arrived, just need to pick

it all up. And while I'm at it, awefully

tempting to strip her down all sexy

single again....

Good ride on Sunday shook off some

funk, found the fixy flow often, even though

quite empty at the end. Ritchey reminded

how sweet an old 7sp thumbie and a retro-ish

600 road derailleur setup can be....maybe

tinker with a 1x8???? Merv has a full Miche

cog board, custom 1x7?...hmmmm,

old man Withers could be onto something

ps: wonder how rants like this affect the pursuit of spancership? short term vs generational gains.....some thiings are more important than others, think of the children. fuck George Bush.

more 14er's

More preseason ski stoke:

tunes

via that dirt hippie liberal blogger Atrios:
podcasts of NPR All Songs Considered.

interesting good live stuff scattered all
throughout, for free!

crash out early last night, like 8ish
tired from chasing a bunch of young guns
and a couple of fast old guys around Thorpe
for 5 hours.

The leaves were/are still firing,
vibrant colors under the cool gray clouds.

Happy birthday Elk!
Thanks for waiting for my out of shape ass.

the fixed is more fun than the Ritchey.

up early this morn at what is now
called 5am. dishes are done, laundry
is running, chores chores chores,
time to kill, will probably still be late
for the 10 o'clock ride......

ya know?

what would it take, seriously?

a truck, a trailer......a mini van w/ a U haul behind it for a week.
Or a U haul box truck plus mini van....
4-6 like minded people, familiar with the route.

Meet at the finish spot, morning time.
Load bikes onto racks, gear into trailer. Run two vehicles to the start point, have a wife or girlfriend along to take the extra vehicle home.....camp out, ride in the morning from Blacksburg up into Craig County. Meet the shuttle w/ gear, overnight at The Pines. Day two takes you to Douthat. Repeat camp scenario.
Day 3: Douthat to Braley's
Day4: Winding Route from Braley's to Brandywine.
Day 5: Gnarly North Fork to Seneca.
Day6: Spruce Knob Love
Day 7: From Seneca up thru the Sods to Davis.
Day 8: Plantation/Moon Rocks/Party and hang with Chip.

Shorten this up to something reasonable, like 4ish days....

Day 1: Frederick 'shed to southern Meeshow.
Day 2: Tour Meeshow
Day 3: Up into the Tuscarrora to Fowler's Hollow.
Day 4: Road type day to State College/Coburn?
or follow ridges to towards the river and shoot for Lykens?
Day 5: Local loop celebration.

What's it take?
minimum.
Vehicles, two for the first shuttle with one able to
carry overnight gear for the full pull.
2 folks to help with the shuttle/moral support.

Figure the menu and know what you need up front, keep the roster tight, and do it on a shoestring. The Grand Tours inspire, what's the next step? Why not just do it?

Enlist a friend(s) to help/watch you suffer and run support, look at the map and say, I'll meet you here, via this....by dark.

Find someone to drive me to Frederick on a Friday, and try to get home by Sunday night, on as much trail as possible. Though road based, Crushing the Commonwealth might be a neat ride to cut the teeth on.

And there's the rub, maximizing trail means you can't be overloaded with gear due to the nature of the trail, so it's hard to balance the cost to benefit ratio when looking at the route vs level of outside support.

of course, I guess the first step is to do the S-D-S wknd and learn some more, and to also follow thru on the idea of driving down to the southernest end of Meeshow, then ride home by maximizing the flow of trail south to north, then ride back the next day with the same mindset to pick up the car.....that one's easy enough to pull off, logistically. Could probably put together a pair of high quality 8hr days, if not more....from the MasonDixson to Carlisle and back......

I need to look into that.
When's Easter?