seat of the pants

2/17/08

i'm hungry.

working thru a slumpy funkish moodish thing lately.

some things good & busy, others slacking.

getting called out for the slacking, not directly,

but a wake up call nonetheless. changes happening,

lateral moves with pros & cons, will be finally

incorporating the brown bag plan to take

the two wheels to work much more regularly,

eliminate some laziness, a small rework the

morning/lunchtime schedule. develop new

efficiancies and appreciate the benefits of

more controlled diet and all associated.

got back onto skis Saturday, bluebird warm 30deg

day. quality imitation snow, two weeks of rust

shaken off quick. what a blast running laps with

the 'regulars.' got spanked here or there, once

over the handlebars and head first slide off

the top off Gunbarrel, did come back to nail the

'pillow line' along the chair though, fuckin' hilarious.

they're bound to yank my ticket one of these days.

afternoon in the workshop tinkering with a file,

then a half hour evening test ride round town

had me smiling goofy kiddy grin. Couple rock

'hucks' over on campus and some stairs have me

rethinking the skillz envelope, more to come.

Snuck in a shortish flat mid 30's grey spin before

the rain arrived today. Haven't been on the skinny

tires for a few weeks, rolling zen along the Yellow

Breeches, 10-15mph tailwind, silent chain ticking

rubber to asphalt hummin soundtack, just pedaling

along. Was good to visit with my quiet friend again.

2/9/08

my new friend.

last night's first date stroll

thru town went well. today

was a lunch date in Meeshow.

it was quiet and pretty.

pimp my ride.

we had fun, who needs skiing?

happy trails, stay safe.

I've deleted two longwinded posts about
these folks and their PowerTapped
singlespeeds. What I think will be
interesting to follow is their personal
experience of learning the how of
ss racing vs interpretation/applying
the data as they prepare.

what's that saying about boxing?
"everybody has a plan until they get
punched in the face...."

one thing I can't get my mind around,
and this is getting into the basis of my own
programme, is that the Earth isn't flat.
It rolls and drops and dips and kicks you
in the teeth and hits you with body blows
before turning the corner and showing you
a 22% switchbacked punch to the neck.

Planet Earth doesn't divvy out the
punishment in 45/60/90/120 second
hi cadence intervals with 52seconds of
zone 3 recovery between each.
In sets of 3.

Your race course might be PA styley,
steeper 20ish minute power climbs with
punchy techy singletrack in between.
Or you could be hitting the hour plus
sustained climbs at the Shenandoah
linked by long flowy recovery downhills.

Which is why my programme has
evolved into what it is. Put in the base
work now, then start mixing a bit of
climbing into the long Saturday ride.
Once those pedal strokes are tallied
it's time to go out and really find those
climbing legs, a month's worth of focus
on the local climbing routes and working
over the orchard roads. Top end is next
so bring on some speed via the local
road TT series and downhill fixy work.
By mid summer, just finessing the form
from there on out. Build and recover,
keep it sharp and cover the chinks in the
armor. Train on the terrain that gives
you trouble, cuz racing a ss is as much
about the course as your competition.

Learn your body and
just ride your damn bike.

what was that about long winded?

2/8/08

introductions

please meet my new friend:

may a rear brake never grace this frame.

get used to this view as I roll over your soul.

oooooo, pretty.

neat lighting.

clearing this uphill logtard move on the second lap = $$$

planning to spend the day together tomorrow,

get to know each other a bit better,

first impressions = sweet.

stay tuned.

2/7/08

fear me.

If my bike coasts, ya'll are toast.

Me: You see Harlan, this bike coasts.

Harlan: oohhhh, now I'm scared.

pic ripped from this guy.

2/5/08

idle thoughts

riding the Dos has felt like cheating.
it's now painfully obvious that the
old DBR needs to be put to pasture.
hung up on the wall.

the fit of my 6' 0" frame on that
16.5" frame no more worky.

so, I've been researching.
and I'm quite surprised at
what four hundred couple
dollars can get you.

thought about the Salsa El Mar,
still a contender, but not a fan
of the EBB and kinda pricey,
fork included though. also
saw a bunch of others here and
there, then took a second look
at the Vassago Jabberwocky.

I shot out some email,
to see what's about.
stay tuned.....

Oh yeah, entries paid
for Cohutta & Tahoe,
fear me, my bitches.