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

?

reflection

yeah, so now that I've got that whiney ass bitchin' shit outta my system.......

Grand Tours are such monumental affairs. Ya never know what you're getting yourself into, thare's just no way to predict it......unless of course you've got a trunk full of December plasma and a crate of EPO with a side of Cortison and a shot of HGH on the side plus the testosterone chaser.....you just never really know how it's all gonna go down.

Well, sort of. I'm pretty predictable. I always seem to crack on day three, just look at the historical record, I always lead the slum train on the third day of a grand tour. I hemorage time like Basso does blood in Spain, it gets pretty ugly. My first Tour, '02-ish, my legs turned blue on Stage 3, it was kinda scary, I DNS'ed stage 4. The meltdown into WV on the singlespeed in '05, that was bonkalicious. This year, the mind couldn't grasp what the body had to do across Torrey, packed it in, threw in that fucking towel, I fell apart, serious meltdown. After that shameful performance, of course I lost that jersey. I wasn't worthy to the tradition and honor.

So it goes.

And now, we eat wings and drink beer and evaluate and reformulate from here. 'Cuz that's where we're at, and we can only move on from the here and now. TT up King's Gap tomorrow eve, hope to go sub 14 on the 40:15, 13:30 would be sweet. I have my doubts, quick spin and a chill soak of the legs in the Letort, we'll see if there's a Giro bounce. I'm guessing that it's more mental then anything. Then the Stoopid 50 on the fixie in two-ish weeks, sights are set.

But boy, I just wanna say a big

THANK YOU!

to everybody involved in making il Giro happen. From the organization, which I can't even begin to wrap my head around. What's it take to put together a 3 day shuttle mission for 25 bike nuts? I can barely handle a Meeshow point to point without pulling my hair out, how much time goes into figuring out the logistics? The venues, the routes, the food.....lots and lots and lots of behind the scenes shit going on. Mucho gracias Marteen', you rock, Fooftown rocks!

il peloton rocks! By nature, I'm somewhat reserved, minding my own and enjoying self sufficiency. To be a part of such an event is always something special. The communal, group effort is amazing. It's awesome to see how well people can treat each other, day in day out. Is it because of the shared suffering, the single minded goal to just get thru it?

My take is that we're all there for something similar, but personally defined. And we all generally get out of it what we think we might be looking for. Sure, there's some chasing of the result, obviously since we're a bunch of bike racing fools, but we're all there searching for the same thing, basically. I can't really describe it with my meager wordsmithing skillz. But I believe that everybody who takes part in such an event, takes home something that they were looking for. Maybe not every piece to the puzzle, but there's enough there to fill in the gaps and get a grasp of the big picture. From the personal battles against revolting bodies, to the unloading of the trailer, to cooking dinner and dish duty, to chillin' round the stump, river bathing, doing the breakfast dilly and that final bag brigade to get the trailer rolling on to our next rendezvous. Everybody always willing to lend a hand, to give up a bite to eat, a swig of soda or beer or whiskey, "I can't finish this, you want it, don't wanna throw it out" good time communal vibe.

Thinking beyond yourself, well beyond yourself.

And then, turning that broad focus 110% internal as the clock ticks and you begin digging out that fresh addition to the pain cave. We all share the effort and live thru each other's stories at the end of the day. We race, and race hard, and talk shit and everybody knows that the trashtalk may as well be spoken into the mirror, cuz all you're doing is trying to smooth over that chink in your armor. That gap you didn't know existed, that was only exposed, poked, prodded and exploited just a short while ago. We all have those chinks, and those who expose yours, know that you'll be back another day to repay that favor.

It's, like, a circular thing, man.

Pics are up on the smug, mostly party and chillin' and some scenic stuff, couple shots of trail from the last stage across Torrey. Unfortunately, wasn't qwik enough on the draw for our Rockstar Hall of Fame redneck neighbors, nothing like a good stumbling group hug-n-fall, did see some flashes pop though......imagine visual documentation will surface eventually.

peace, and thanks again.

awwww, Man!

Damn! Thought I had that jersey wrapped up.

Prologue, I got to be 30second guy to Todd H. Strategy? Hold off the super fast dude for as long as possible, then try to keep him in sight. That worked on the downhill, then once we started to pedal, Todd put 4 minutes on me over a 27 minute effort. Damn, what have I gotten myself into? Came out of the prologue bunched up in the lower half of the top 10.

Stage one I worked on my surge-n-fade climbing technique. Then got hung out to dry by a lazy peloton, but still turned the screws at the front of the train during the second Stage 1 sprint. Stage 2 found me throwing down another pointless surge to capture zero points for 6th place in the KOM. Followed that up with a classic sketch move, blowing thru a highspeed fireroad turn and ending up way up high on the embankment beyond the ditch during the windup for the Montebello sprint. And backed all that up with major pukage along Whetstone before battling back to only lose spots to Bucky & Joely. Those efforts put me into my first ever Grand Tour Jersey, the maglia blanca for Most Combative, an apparently 100% subjective classification.

So, the third and final stage found me clad in my first Grand Tour Tunic. I wore it with pride and treated it with the honor & respect it deserved. I was also trying to stake my claim on the overall title. Showing il maglia at the sharp end of the stage as much as possible, logging long kilometers off the front of the group, trying to always be there to instigate the festivities when it was time to wind it up. Put in a solid effort with Buschetti on the day's KOM, logging my highest ever KOM placement with the 2nd slot. The Parkway sprint was another painful affair, dangling off the front with Cristoph for the 3mile leadout and running out of gas in the final 50m, getting nicked at the line in the uphill sprint by a surging Mr. Helmick. Captured my first ever sprint points though, 3rd place. Then the downfall, Torrey Ridge for GC time. The jersey, which had an aura about it and had pushed me with a helping hand to earlier glories during the stage, now became a heavy burden to shoulder. I was hungry and instigated a slight jumping of the gun for the World Cup Holeshot into the singletrack. I was shortly put into my place and my time for the cameras came to an end.

I viewed 'Most Combative' as a classification encompassing the entire realm of a Grand Tour. So across Torrey, I finished my Giro by mounting a monumental attack on the DFL jersey. I fell apart, it was a meltdown of nuclear proportions. I couldn't pedal for shite, had one flat tire, got caught behind a smoke screen, gave up a tube to fellow Cupcake Buck and finally got to snap some pics while actually on the trail. I thought I had it wrapped up, I really, really did.

But, due to the totally subjective nature and possibly my lack of post stage lobbying, the jersey was wrenched from my grasp and given to Jimmy the Newcomer. His singular performance on the day's GC section, a stellar 3rd place showing to move into the top 10 overall, was enough for the judges and trumped my hero to zero showing.

Damn, so close. Now I can only hope that this classification is introduced at le Tour, I've had a taste of the glory, and it was sweet.

Beyond all that, thanks to everybody for making the event happen. il Directour, Martino and the Fooftown Mafia. Mr. Hoy for his super-MVP support role. The tifosi for lining the course 4 deep in spots. And of course, all the other bike riding and suffer loving fools that made the event one for the ages. We're lucky to be part of such an interesting community.

will get pics up on the smug sometime soon, peace.

here we go!

Bags are packed, CR-Vizzle is loaded, directions are printed, clock is ticking.

tick tock

tick tock

Dos is cleaned, tuned, looking and feeling sharp, successful shakedown spin around town last night to return some movies. Extra parts are stashed; tire, tubes, cable, lube, extra rear deraileurrerer, a half-link in case I need to convert her into single. Fresh pack of HandyWipes (99.9999999% anti) to ward off a cranky taint, big bags of gels and bars and oatmeal and Pop Tarts to satisfy my tummy, contact lenses and spares. Batteries for the camera, car charger for the pod soundtrack machine. Coffee, camp frenchy press, plate and bowl and eating tools, save a tree! Tent, bag, pad and pillow, styley lounge wear for around camp. Rosa drink cozies for the all important recovery beverages.....

Prologue from the Land of Hoy around 6ish this evening, then three days of what should be very solid riding. Guessing 6-8hr efforts each day, the roster for il gruppo looks stacked. The mighty Quinns, a posse from the Dirty South, Hugh Jass alumni, a few of us Cupcakes and the local Fooftown Mafia are all well represented. Legs are freshly shaved and feeling oh so sexxxxxyyy under the Carharts today. My weight is down, attitude is up.

An easy week in the saddle, just one real effort on the road Weds eve. Got into traffic rolling from the Allstrom plant thru the Holly Gap to the Holly Inn. Sweet F-250 Super Duty motor pacing, sat on that bumper spinnin the 40:15 hard @ 31-33mph across the entire stretch. Almost came around him for the sprint, but felt that passing the big white truck along the yellow line with opposing traffic and a red light woulda been a tad bit beyond sketch. Felt really really good to wind her out regardless.

My mind is tranquillo, I dream of maglia rosa, or perhaps verde or even ciclamino.

Anything but the dreaded maglia DFL.
I'll be flirting with that one come July......

dayummmm

Countdown to the first Grande Tour is underway. Trying to find somewhat fresh legs via a couple of light spins, must have spilled a bit out of the bucket last wknd. Exact details of il corsa rosa are sketchy, but here's a GoogleEarth screen shot of the overnight venues. I doubt that the route follows the 'as the crow flies' white lines.

Direction of travel is clockwise. Friday evening prologue, no frickin clue what's in store for Saturday, Sunday looks like it'll include the classic ridge of Whetstone. (Stolen pic from Martino.)Monday we'll be rollin' into Sherando, those switchbacks will be slum central I'm sure, good times, good times. Change of scenery will do me good. Hope my Giro goes better than what happened to these guys on the finish line in Italy today (Velonews pic).

thru the fog

Obvious reasons to get out and clear my head. Trying to hide from certain demons and chasing others over the extended wknd. Riding was good, getting my head squared and recalibrated is better. Brainstormed a quick climb maximization route on Friday amidst the meltdown. From town to Pine to 233, up and over and immediately up Bendersville. Turn 180 at top, back down B'ville and immediately back up and over 233. 233 is tougher from the Furnace then from the valley side, in my humble 40:15 opinion, it's a flow thing. Follow that with a quick 15minute spin on Pine then the right hander for a quick up-n-down on King's Gap. Spin her home directly for a neat little 3+hr, not quite 50miler.

Fortuituous phone call exchange between Elk,

Bucky

& I led to a spur of the moment jaunt to Thorpe on Saturday. Not quite out for 6 hours, Elk being the ultimate tour guide. We hooked up some sweet shit (the Dutch Eagle rocks!) and found multiple groovesGetting lost in the pedals was most excellent.

Southern Michaux Sunday was next on the platter. Mechanical issues pared us from 6 to 4 then back to 5, ultimately losing Buck to a tired brake. Lollipop styley route was blue blaze-Narrows-Buckets-Turtle-4 Logs-Karumba-blue blaze. Solid efforts chasing the singlespeed pain train, taking advantage of the big ring if possible and hangin' with granny aplenty. Did a reverse pushup on Buckets after a 1/4" miscalculation put me on the wrong side of the root. Loam was soft and damp up close, Jake laughed. Blue blaze beer run home was rippin big ring aggressiveness without a flat for me for the first time in a good long while. Rolled the ss ratio to finish, feeling solid and ready to take a crack at il Giro.

I dream of a tranquil pursuit of rosa.

peace.

thank you.

hey, thanks to everybody for the wishes and words and whatnot regarding the Huxster. It really means a lot. Gotta say, I was a total mess yesterday morn, we had one hell of a 12yr run and it's tough to see it end, tougher than I imagined. Now I'm down to just the odd bout of extreme sadness and mindlessly wandering around the house wondering where she is. Hmmm, she's not lying here next to me, must be on the bed, oh, that's right, she went out a little bit ago, I should make sure the door is open, oh wait, she's not out there either, sure she's not on the bed?.?>? ?.......round and round I go.

So, knowing that most of ya'll didn't know Huxley as a youngster, only meeting her during her exuberant 'teenage' years, wanted to share a few pics of the bestest damn dog in the world.

sweet little puppy nap time.jailhouse dog.
chewing machine

ready to playat the beach
scouting trail.
another groovey day in the woods

Huxley, I sure am gonna miss ya buddy, can't wait to see you when we share paths again.
Rest in peace dear friend.

Huxley Ann Miller, 4/01/95 - 5/17/07