laundry list

My work bench, probably as 'clean' as it's been in about 2 years.

Gonna be spending some quality time down in the bat cave, plenty of work to do on the stable. Settled my bike dilema, wasn't quite sure what to do with the Yeti this year; dump a few hundred into a new drivetrain, or part out the frame/fork/wheels and then look into a convertable ss/geared 29er. If you're able to put 2 & 2 together, it's obvious that I'm re-upping with the Yeti. Stinky Pinky is getting a full compliment of new shifty bits. Blingy XTR rings and cups, chain, cassette, cables, housing and eventually a fresh pair of sneakers. The front end needs a fresh set of seals and the rear shock is gonna get re-bushed and possibly sent out to Push for a full overhaul.

I'll never ever ever part with the DBR Ti, gonna ride her 'til she falls apart, literally. And she'll be single dingle for the rest of her existence, probably fixed for the most part. I mean, shit, if you're gonna ride a single, may as well 'keep it real,' ya know? I might, might, set her up with a freewheel for a few rides, like the 50 milers I'll be racing, maybe. Right now, I have no idea how I'll approach the season. I have the fixy quest of course, my big fat goal for the year, and I will fix the 101 and the Hundo again, I've got scores to settle with those courses. Everything else is up in the air, and damn, it always feels good to stand on the podium. Usually my best shot at that is by running gears in the Vet class, the singlespeeders around here are monsters, Bucky, Withers, Matt F, Elk, Topher, Bender, etc, etc. So my approach to the remaining 'normal' races will probably be mood & ego dependent.....but I digress.

The only thing that's really neccesary for the single right now is a new chain. But I went ahead and picked up new pedals, along with fresh bushings & seals for a fork overhaul. Heading out shortly to State College to pick up a set of UST rims, so I'll not be worrying much at all about flats this year. Also have a new front disc on the short list of remaining things I wish for. Really like the feel of the Juicy 7's over the older Hayes that usually adorn the DBR. Need to think about which size rotor to go with though. And maybe a fresh crankset, either a White or Middleburn would be sweet....

The skinny tired critters are simple enough. The Lemond will take fresh cables and bar wrap along with the full douche treatment. Road fixy only needs a front brake cable refresh. Need to start lurking on Ebay for a set of calipers so I can swap the front brake back over to the Lemond. Eventually plan to strip her down bare and throw on a fresh coat of paint once I'm thru my 'base' and the weather is more agreeable. No need to bling out the paint only to trash it during the spring rains and thaw.

hmmm, wonder why I'm always broke?

spring in the air

Looks like I have some work to do.

daily commuter?

I pass this bike on my walk down to the Pub. I'm guessing that in another two weeks or so, it'll be back out on the road again. Might need a bit of lube on the chain though.

It snowed again yesterday, 4-5" of really dry powpow. Couldn't resist and went out to MarshRun w/ Huxley, Bender & Ripple. Nice & easy hour and a half on the skinny sticks, now I can say that I got in a session of 'XC' skiing for the year. It's nice to use all the toys in the chest at least once a year. Felt different to be on skis that actually kick and glide, instead of slogging along doing the plastic tele boot shuffle.

The air was crisp, we finished shortly after dark and the pooches had fun, tails wagging the whole time. For me, it was sort of a bittersweet experience. Huxster is getting old, hate say it, really hate to see it. It's tough to see your bestest buddy of the last 12 years showing those signs of slowing down, it really fucking sucks. I guess it really hit home last night since Ripple came along. Seeing the active difference between the 3ish yr old youngster and my old buddy..... Huxster still thinks she's a pup, has that sparkle in her eyes, a tail that never stops wagging and I know that we have lots and lots and lots of good times yet to share, I just fucking hate it when reality sneaks up and pinches you like that.

That is all, I hate thinking about this shit, much less writing it down.

peace.

here we go.....

Long road ahead.

Well, guess I can put all of those knee concerns behind me. Saturday was a classic spring training day, started with temps maybe in the low 40's, bands of cold rain riding the 10-15 NW wind across the valley, Belgians would be proud. Original plan was for a simple 2ish hours light spin out-n-back down to the spillway at Laurel. Swung into Duffy's and picked him up for a portion of the ride, nice to have some company. Jay shared the ride until we got to the church on 34, where he turned back, and I decided to change the script a bit.

My new booties, actually worked great!

Didn't feel like dealing with the Rt 34 traffic, so I hopped across to the backside of Whiskey. For not wanting to deal w/ the traffic, I sure put myself into a hole here. Options at that point were either the punchy-pitchy climb over the back of Whiskey, or a longish rolling detour along the base of the mtn towards Dillsburg. All the gauges still looked good, didn't want to push the fixy over the top w/ my knee, so I headed south for a bit, taking a few more unscripted roller avoidance turns and then finally recognizing where I was when I saw Gameland Rd somewhere south of Dillsburg.

Somewhere south of Dillsburg,

looking at northern Michaux/Whiskey Springs.

Eventually rolled into Franklintown. Man, I haven't ridden that neck of the woods since I lived there well over 10years ago. Checked out the old apartment, still the same, enjoyed some memories and turned north, it was time to head home. Cruised in along the Breeches, saw a few others out enjoying the now 50ish breezy sunshine, stopped for a little pick me up in Boiling Springs and brought it home into a building breeze. Clocked out just shy of 4 hours, 50 few miles, the 40:15 treated me ok, all in all.

How much for that pussy in the window?
White = Good Luck????

Boiling Springs pit stop.

Today I opted for the Cali rockstar start, out the door around noonish. Thought I'd try to catch the heat of the day, forecast calling for mid-hi 30's, passing snow showers with a big fat cherry on top: West winds @ 20-30. It was 32 when I left, then warmed all the way to 33 at 3 o'clock when I got home, the new baggy booties were just enough. It was aaaahhhwesome, why wasn't I skiing???? Woulda been a great day to ride the woods, but that messed up, lingering snowpack in Michaux has those ideas on hold for now. Back out onto the road we went.

The target was another 2ish hour loop, the tried and true staple of out to Newville and back. Attempted to hide from the wind, but can only do so much of that when you're heading directly into it. So I slogged along, into the 30mph snowy maw of the beast, often down in the drops & out of the saddle. Fighting the wind and rollers, barely able to break 10mph at times, it was neat. That wind is much more bearable while sitting on a chair lift.

Only another 500 miles of this,

hopefully w/out the snow:

Got out to Newville, and once again didn't feel like doing the out-n-back type thang. Also wanted to reap some rewards for the 1:20 I spent battling into the wind, so I went with the creek tour option, following the BullsHead and then Big Spring before jumping cross valley to Walnut Bottom. Made the turn at Walnut Bottom and picked up Pine Rd, ohhhhh baby, this is what I was waiting for, gawd damn! Got in a super ni-hi-hi-hiiiiiiice 45 minute session of tailwind assisted fixy silent spin. I absolutely, fucking love rolling it at 20ish, with a touch of feather wind on your cheek, flowing along on Ullr's sweet breath, pedals silenty turning over and over and over.

That's not training.......that's fucking therapy. Punched today's clock at 2:59 plus some seconds, 45ish mile. I'll call it 3hrs even. Definitely took another step in the right direction this wknd.

Interesting weather today, 32deg snow, sun & big wind,

click to enlarge for snow effect.

peace out.

base.

Yes, it's 6:40 (now 7:00, it took me 20 fucking minutes to write this tripe, but idid need to google up an image, that's tuff stuff) on a Friday night, and I am blogging.



Welcome to my life. Another bit of perky news, while riding last night, trying to get the apparently smarter than me Cateye cyclocomputer 4000 Rel. 5.3 to boot up and tell me what time it was, I saw that I had a bit over 400 miles logged into that sucker. Guess that means, that from some time around the Punk Bike, when I managed to 'lose it' and flip to 100% fixed, I've gottne in about half of what I traditionally consider my 'base'. This is the old school of thought. Back when everything you needed to know about getting ready to race a bicycle, and what you needed to know once you were ready to race a bicycle, could be found in the bible of my generation: Eddie B's Bicycle Road Racing.

I loved, no, LOVE this book. But, I lost my copy in the post college transfers.........I swear it's in that box in the closet of my old room at my parents. Right there under my baseball cards. The cards are always there, but never my bible. So much old school wisdom. Before all of this power meter, scientific, lactate threshold bullshit. I mean, god damn, if your weak on rolling rollers into a headwind, then go out into the orchards and smash those fucking headwalls into submisson.

I just lost my train of thought.

Fuck it, just get out and ride your fucking bike.
Train your weakness, play to your strength.
Throw it down against your fellow man, as well as the
chosen route for the day, and against yourself above all
else. Challenge your own fucking expectations and
see it thru. Can't ask for much more than that.
I need another beer.

much peace.

digging out

Back out onto the roads last night. Just a little systems check type spin. Knee felt much much better, could actually tell when I got clipped in. On about the fifth pedal stroke the knee cracked, in a reassuring way. Like the way you get your back cracked, or crack a knuckle, it felt good. Took it as a positive sign, since some swelling or whatever must have gone down enough to allow somewhat free movement in the joint, got things settled back into place. Range of movement was less restricted and after 40 or so minutes, it felt about as normal as I could expect right now.

Rode a short loop out thru Mt Holly, then on towards Bubble town, trying to avoid the known melted snow puddle spots, looks like it'll be a damp wknd on the road this wknd. Even found a bit of that flowiness last night, cruising along outside Mt Holly, on that stretch of road that dips under the tracks. Got into that relaxing, mindless, almost like flying mode for a spell. Gave me a chance to look out at the horizon, and I saw something wayyy out there. Granted, just a little speck on the edge of vision, but I could see some type of shape taking form out there. I guess that first week of July is creeping into range, slowly but surely. Before, it was just an odd, idiotic, Quixotic windmill in my mind.....now I'm just starting to see the circular motion of those big cloth covered fans. Where's my pony?

Oh yeah, if you're gonna post a comment in an attempt to talk trash, at least man up, instead being some little anonymous bitch, bitch.

that's a wrap.

Wellllllll, long story short, tweaked out my knee while skiing Saturday. Nothing too serious, didn't feel anything 'pop', but definitely felt some things stretched beyond normal. Must not have been too bad, since I managed to ski on it for another 5 hours after that goofy fall. By the time I got home though, it had stiffened up quite bit, but never really swelled at all which is a 'good' sign in my mind. Inquired with the good doctor yesterday, he's thinking possible MCL sprain; continue the RICE treatment, take it easy and don't ski on it 'til it's back to 100%.

Looking at the calander, and based on how it's recovering, looks like my ski season is finished. I don't think there'll be much worthwhile schussin' to be had once I'm back to 100%, and after the awesome time we had Saturday, I'm more than content to end the season with a stellar day like that. Now it's time to scratch that itch that's been popping up the last couple weeks. The stable of bikes have been giving me the old evil eye recently, taunting me as I walk out the door with skis in hand. The Feb ride tally is dismal, maybe 5 hours in the saddle, 1 mtn ride a couple weeks ago and 1 road ride Tuesday eve to see how the knee felt. Not too concerned about fitness, put in a bunch of loooong 7ish hour ski tours plus the regular sessions at the lift served 'gym' over the last 6 weeks. Just need to parlay that into something I can use on the bike, pedal stroke was definitely clunky the other night.

So, I got that much needed break from riding with a whirlwind ski season, managed to not damage myself too badly and now I've got a bit of the hunger to start laying down some miles. This knee thing could be a bit of a blessing, nothing like a bit of forced rest & recovery to let all that 'work' on the skis settle into a nice foundation for the season. Still some work to do on the ground level for sure, but I like the way the floorplan is laid out right now. Now I just need to get the steads ready to rumble, that'll be worth a few posts I'm sure, as all my rides seem pretty clapped out right now.....