...but in my own defense i didn't have intardnet access for a few days there, in any case i didn't write anything for a few days. crap.
well since i last wrote i blew up my crankset on my 'cross bike on monday morning and got to walk about 7.5 miles home to get my mountain bike and then be late to work. it was a great start to the day if i do say so myself. blerg.
in better news i think that we've made progress towards getting mariko's single speed to fit a bit better and i handed her down my d.a. cranks. hopefully they'll be as nice for her as they were for me.
i've been reading more again, it's not that i ever stopped enjoying it, it's just that i've been lazy about going to the library. of course i could try going to the one that's 12 blocks from my house if i didn't want to ride all the way downtown buti like the central library too much. right now i'm re-reading "the scar" by china mieville, one of my all time favorites, and next up is "no country for old men" by cormac mccarthy. sweet.
next up i'm going to try running. we'll see how that goes, running has not generally been a strong suit of mine but it's been 3 years since i quit smoking so maybe it'll go a bit better this time. i'll let you know.
i'm out, go ride.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
the challenge
so i'm going to try to write something everyday for the rest of the month, it doesn't have to pulitzer material but something substantive everyday. it'll be a good substitute for a social life.
last night i went to my first ever pro bike race and it was pretty fucking rad if i do say so myself. yes i know that to the 4 people who know me who read this it's probably a shock that i had never been to a non-alleycat bike race but it's true. first one, for real, cherry popped and all that.
i digress, back to radness...
after making 2 abortive attempts at mountain biking(my parter in crime bailed on me in the a.m. and i did not have my head on right and was overgeared in the evening so i bailed out halfway through the trail to avoid grievious bodily injury) i headed to uptown with my coworker benjamin to go watch the criterium. we got there in time to see the womens field take the line including kristen armstrong who kind of kicks ass the same way that water is kind of wet. she has raced the entire nature valley grand prix without a team to back her up and is defending her title from last year just fine. (this is not an easy thing to do for any of you that aren't familiar with bicycle racing, your team runs interference for you tactically and allows you to shelter in the draft of the domestiques to save energy for the sprints or breakaways.)
all in all the women's race was awesome, the women were riding much more aggressively than the men did later on and it was way more fun to watch. the men's race was super fast and was impressive in both the tempo and the team tactics that were going on but there were fewer breakaways than in the women's race.
i was watching from about 25 yards before the finish line so i got to see all of the sprints go off but apparently i missed out on the crashes, benjamin saw a guy pop loose from his cleats in turn 1 and skip through the turn with sparks shooting out from under his shoes!
to get an idea of the speed these folks are going go grab a bike with a speedometer and get going about 28mph or so. got that? now hold that pace for 25 (for the ladies ) or 40 kilometers (for all the dudes) and maybe pop it up into the low 30s every 10 minutes or so. it's much harder than it sounds and if you can do it i recommend you start racing now, for real, that's some pro-grade fitness.
anyway,i had a blast and i think i came out of it more stoked than ever to try actual (rather than alleycat) racing. good times.
last night i went to my first ever pro bike race and it was pretty fucking rad if i do say so myself. yes i know that to the 4 people who know me who read this it's probably a shock that i had never been to a non-alleycat bike race but it's true. first one, for real, cherry popped and all that.
i digress, back to radness...
after making 2 abortive attempts at mountain biking(my parter in crime bailed on me in the a.m. and i did not have my head on right and was overgeared in the evening so i bailed out halfway through the trail to avoid grievious bodily injury) i headed to uptown with my coworker benjamin to go watch the criterium. we got there in time to see the womens field take the line including kristen armstrong who kind of kicks ass the same way that water is kind of wet. she has raced the entire nature valley grand prix without a team to back her up and is defending her title from last year just fine. (this is not an easy thing to do for any of you that aren't familiar with bicycle racing, your team runs interference for you tactically and allows you to shelter in the draft of the domestiques to save energy for the sprints or breakaways.)
all in all the women's race was awesome, the women were riding much more aggressively than the men did later on and it was way more fun to watch. the men's race was super fast and was impressive in both the tempo and the team tactics that were going on but there were fewer breakaways than in the women's race.
i was watching from about 25 yards before the finish line so i got to see all of the sprints go off but apparently i missed out on the crashes, benjamin saw a guy pop loose from his cleats in turn 1 and skip through the turn with sparks shooting out from under his shoes!
to get an idea of the speed these folks are going go grab a bike with a speedometer and get going about 28mph or so. got that? now hold that pace for 25 (for the ladies ) or 40 kilometers (for all the dudes) and maybe pop it up into the low 30s every 10 minutes or so. it's much harder than it sounds and if you can do it i recommend you start racing now, for real, that's some pro-grade fitness.
anyway,i had a blast and i think i came out of it more stoked than ever to try actual (rather than alleycat) racing. good times.
Friday, June 12, 2009
slacking off on my intardnet duties
it's nice out and we are finally picking up at work so it goes:
ride
work
eat
sleep
repeat daily
i'm trying to ride as much as i can and eat well as i'd like to race some cyclocross this fall and maybe do a few mountian bike races before the season ends. so i'm trying to get a good ride in every day and to lose about 20-25 pounds before fall. i'm about a 175 these days and i'd like to be in the neighborhood of 150 or so to race. i've also discovered yesterday that all of my hill-climbing fitness that i built up last year has gone to shit. blerg. i fucking hate climbing and unfortunately it is a big part of the whole mountain biking thing and i really like mountain biking. i'm totally fucked.
in other news our beloved bass thumper paul has been devoured alive by gainful employment and our drummer john managed to sprain his wrist and tear mucles in his forearm at the aforementioned paul's last show with us so we are out of commision for a bit. oh well, more time to ride i guess but any smokin' bass players out there drop a line, particularly if you're one of those female types.
going riding.
ride
work
eat
sleep
repeat daily
i'm trying to ride as much as i can and eat well as i'd like to race some cyclocross this fall and maybe do a few mountian bike races before the season ends. so i'm trying to get a good ride in every day and to lose about 20-25 pounds before fall. i'm about a 175 these days and i'd like to be in the neighborhood of 150 or so to race. i've also discovered yesterday that all of my hill-climbing fitness that i built up last year has gone to shit. blerg. i fucking hate climbing and unfortunately it is a big part of the whole mountain biking thing and i really like mountain biking. i'm totally fucked.
in other news our beloved bass thumper paul has been devoured alive by gainful employment and our drummer john managed to sprain his wrist and tear mucles in his forearm at the aforementioned paul's last show with us so we are out of commision for a bit. oh well, more time to ride i guess but any smokin' bass players out there drop a line, particularly if you're one of those female types.
going riding.
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