excavation

honest

wishing for the sea of green canopy.

shhhh.

snackin'

back on it, solid.

earlyish rolling.

refreshing.

mesmerizing.

chillin'

steady gunnin'

whuuut.

local hero.

seeking focus, beginning
to define it. jumbled mind
finds clarity in the pedal
stroke. Quenched demons
Weds, then turned over the
flat legs for KingsGap
summit on Thurs.

new fork, 'recover' on Fri.
work the newforkitis out
in the Tuscarrora. Riding
on the honor system w/
OldManWithers. steady.
gunnin'. Ganked up shoulder,
still troublesome, ride thru
it, as per usual. Rippin'
lillegality caps a solid 4hour day.

Good flics w/ quality friends,
then snooze almost once too many,
still pseudo cause of late departe',
was ready before WonderBoy.

then it got hot. 7:20 am, it was warm,
then it got hot. lights came on, quiet
voices offered up BearHill as being far
enough. shhhhhhh.

Just push thru, gotta dig a proper entry
to the pain cave. We want it expansive
this year. tempted by stoopid mid ride
intervaling, 101 flashbacks across RidgeRd
spunout chasing Evil wheel = all blowed up.

Then the no filler, all killer final 1/3.
New???Trail to Moss up ColdSpring to
Vista enhanced link to Canyon and to
Leeper and CharlieBrown/Chapel, Bret
Baldwin, DynomitE!, Bugman's and
C.S. link to Logsled. Ouch.

Post ride, distant focus gazed
comments centered on:

"Hardest fucking forty miles I've ever ridden."

.

7hours elapsed, 40.0 covered in 5:15 rolling.
4 flats, 1 beer, handful of cold water cooloffs,
cool spring runoff is running! niiiiiice.

Hope you're bringing your A game, I might..
props to everybody, that was speciale efforte'

unrelenting.

She's Lost Control

Joy Division.

GO!

Tones on Tail
not 'Toil'

putting it down.

out in it.

out battling Ullr's
waning gasp. Stiffy
chill breeze, seasonal
NW-ish.

Mind occupied by
numbers and their
meaning. Working
on simple basics.
Avg speed a decent
indicator of the work
done when the pedaling
never stops.

So watch the digits,
push against my
nemesis. Honest
pace now means
enhanced numbers
once the clock finally
stops. Roll it on the
rollers, get down and
across valley, then
make the left hander
at WalnutBottom.

Breeze disappears
from the cheek. Head
down and wind up the
numbers. Pine Road
induced grimacing spin,
get it all done in 32
minutes, sweet. Then
put some extra in the
bank along the HollyPike
return leg, avg = enhanced.

Time for beer.

MAP!

Is this it?
Is this accurate?

no.

it's an estimation
of a vision, tested once
or twice-ish, feedback, 
common sense wisdom
taken into consideration.

original mystery format as
ridden by KeeferKeefer 
clocked at 44ish, 6k of earned
vertical, for what that's worth.

figure on lots and lots and lots
of punchy climbs & power sapping
bambi path aplenty.  this is a loop
that's alll about the holeshot.
gonna be neat.  

alterations probably put it
at 41-42, will know soon enough.

it would be neat

to not feel like a criminal
for riding the way I do.

Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

back on it.

head has been in
a strange place.
obviously. trying to
wrap the mind around
questions that are
normally internal.
then there they are,
asked out loud.

having to think on the
feet, rather than just
answer the contemplation
with pedal strokes.
fumble the words,
drink a bit of wine,
then not parse words.
then read it again, and
again, and continue to
sort it out. do some
work, then enjoy the
sunshine. arms, legs
take on a strawberry hue.
enter the next phase.

pie eyed piper

i am not a role model.
i am not an ambassador.
i am, an arrogant ride snob.
and right now, I have no issue with that.

i have limited time resources.
i have limited energy.
i have goals.
i profess to not train.
i like what Elk says.
"I get prepared."

i prepare myself to go race for 10 hours.
i prepare myself to go 6 days straight.
5-6 a day, on a stupid fucking fixed gear.

i do what i think needs to be done,
to make the experience as enjoyable
as possible. i do not watch seconds
tick by with corresponding hr zone digits.

i work on 'endurance'
i work on 'power'
i go out and work on 'climbing'
then speed. listening to the legs,
the body, the silent voice.
10 to 20 hours a week,
sort it out by time of year
and inspiring mood.

attack a climb when the mind is right,
and chase it around the bend. or next.
or another yet. or not.
wait...then go again.
do what I think needs done to break you,
to drop you for the next carrot.

i ride with my peers, and I won't
apologize for that. there's a difference
between riding with a group of friends
vs. a group ride. when i ride, yeah,
i probably have an agenda, and if i
want company, and know you
can tolerate my bullshit, i'll let
you know when, where and how much.

but the above above, is why.
i am a fuckingarroganttoolridesnob,
this is my journey,
and this is the path,
for the moment.

what's it take?

honestly, I don't know.
that's what makes it fun.
the journey, the means.

park car near base of
Yellow Hill on Friday.
Ride home on Jabberfixy
w/ OldManWithers and
KeeferKeefer. Keefer
kept it honest, towing
us around. Only one
fixy incident, hooked a
root during singeltrack
frenzy, weightless yanked
recovery into soft bendy
pine. Couple hours later,
overworked body english
to clear fatigued uphill
dead spot log, searing pain
thru the shoulder...ooops.
6:00 to cover 46 to the
doorstep.

Saturday morning finds
tight and tender shoulder.
Weather delay for the roll
out w/ Bender, 44 deg rain
just not inspiring. 9:30 and
into the steady pitter pat.
Sooofffft fireroading up
and out Ridge. On the Salsa
for sanity sake. Ridge Rd was
all but shivering cold across
the top, plunge to Moss was
tight, then breaking weather
and rain gear stowage at the
Deer Fence 3hrs in. Slummed
it to Camp321 out of Big Flat,
reverse flow from day before,
Yellow Hill was big mtn speed
sensations, sustained twenty
couple plus is tough to find
'round here. 38+ in 6:20
elapsed from town. Shared
wavelength beer @ the Pub
w/ Buck & Mattchew aided
recovery for...

What the hell...let's do Roubaix.
Yeah.
Lazyness getting feet to floor,
minimal expenditure, just get
on the road, day three mindset.
You remember how this goes...
rideeatsleeprideeatsleepeatdrive
ridedrinkeatdrivesleepppp
Fixy tossed in whole, time to roll.
Hit Carpong Bachelorville w/ JimmiMac
in the house. Roll out Processional,
curious what's in the tank, what's in store.

40:15 is so much 'easier' to ride
off the front. Geared road bikes
have no sense of flow with the
terrain. sitting in grew frustrating...
I hate using brakes going into a climb,
and all you hear is click-click-click....argh.
There goes my mo...Fun rollout though,
tested the legs once, really kinda
surprised. Carp got in me head.
"First part, all you..mostly climbing,
fixedperfect..."

Took the bait, chased down young
CCMichaels, then just hammered the
fuck out of it for the hell of it. Got my
drool on until the boys got serious
and used their big rings to swarm me
into the pave'. Then slummmed on for
dear life too afraid to count seconds
to the horizon and the leader group
disappearing over it. Listened in as
JB expounded the virtues of the Cat
third eye chainwatcher thingajig to
the fella that dropped his chain...want
my advice? You don't need any
of that shit! get out of my way,
I'm chasing some shit down.

Then I see a 30mph black speck
come arcing in off the field, hhhurk!?!?!
Did that go in? Did I just suck down a bug?
Damn it went in clean, didn't even feel it,
sucked in on the uptake.,,,maybe I'm cool.

cough, cough, hack...oh, maybe not.
braaaakes....cough, hack, puke, yeha,
this is neat...pedal, try to breath, stop,
rinse and repeat until you fool the body
that you can breath again. GOOOO!.
Pcik up Misty's group, roll w/ them, then
on it on the chicken climb. Then two hours
of blurry verge of crampage on the rivet
TT chasing...answered questions, raised
new ones, usual shit. Think I mightta
finished 7th-ish for that's worth, or 17th,
Jeremiah kept the honors in the host 'burg,
craftily snatching the win from Dirty D &
JimmiMac. I'm stoked to hopefully see
some actual TV time if that's ever made
available...it'd be a first. (errrr, second...)

oh, stats, 58+ in 3:45, no idea about the
'race loop' breakdown, 48 in 2:45ish...
rolled thru Browntown on the way out, not
sure when we started exactly...

pedal.

pedal to clear the mind of other thoughts.
pedal to clear the mind of all thought.
pedal until the only thought is pedaling.
just. pedal.

360 degrees

360 degrees per revolution of the crank.
360 chances to fire the muscles juuuust right
in order to find that symbiotic rhythm
with the machine, the implement.

mind starts out jumbled, shedding the
day to day. then a bit of a roller and
concentration becomes focused. wind
doing her best to drown out the WhiteStripes.

doing her best to keep me down,
keep me in my place, she's blowing
steady tonight. watch the digital
readout, keep yourself honest, with
an honest pace, cuz an honest pace
means honest work.

battle the wind down the valley,
fight the upside of the rollers,
let's see what we can do compared
to last week. last week the wind was
weaker, from the S-SE @ 10-15, not
this seasonal due West @ 18-25.

head down and grit and grimace into it.
steady. gunnin'. Up along the creeks,
jump the rollers across the valley and
turn left at WalnutBottom.

1.5 elapsed, yeah, let's head home.
first it was seated power down on the
hooks @ 17/18, now it's wound back
up to 18/19 with a nary a breeze on
the cheek, so turn 'em quicker, now
we're talking. sweet silent helping hand
breeze shows 22-25 on the gizmo.

leg speed leg speed leg speed.
assume the TT mindset of always
seeking that wind in your face sensation,
but not the full bore effort, now is not
the time for that.

just keep pedaling, and you're
home before you know it.

5:59:43

is what it took
to do a full pull
preride, wellll,
99.95% full pull.
47mile according
to the gizmo.

yeah, climbed B'ville
tarmac instead of
running water C&P
up to the lot.

jra pace on the 32:19,
no pedals were turned
in anger. hanging
ribbons here & there,
minimal time spent
gawking, less than 7
elapsed, sorta almost
efficient.

what a sweet loop.
plenty of has not yet
seen an arrow included.

And of course, a nice
dose of freshy fresh,
it's how we roll.

300.4

6 rides on skinny tires
is the base work so far.
300logged on the odo, almost
one third there. Digging
a big shallow foundation,
before plunging, scraping
out the seperate rooms of
the cave.

This one is for leg speed,
this one is for seated power,
this one is climbing, this
one is downhill ninja spinning.
This one is for quiet time.

It all comes together.
But first, it needs to
get easier to roll that
40:15 over 233...not
quite the paperboy last
night.

did beat the rain.

bringing it?

you'd better: