Two Wheels and Other Things

I don’t have any words for this picture other than… “Wow”.

It was a heck of a lot colder when I left compared to when I met the team in Fremont.  I was peeling off sweaty layer after layer when I got there, stress testing the pockets on my jersey.  We ended up with a good size group, especially when we met up with a bunch waiting at Logboom.  Turns out a bunch of folks were riding out to Monroe to catch the Cyclocross race.  It should have been pretty good hardpack for the earlier races but due to the recent rain and then soaking mist the MAsters and 1/2 group I’m sure had to make some tread changes.

It was a good ride, great pace.  I split off and rode solo choosing not to ride all the way into Snohomish.  I was feeling a little bonky and didn’t want to hold the rest of the crew back.  On Broadway heading south I passed an older gentleman on a trike.  no lights, barely a flag and traveling SO slow.  I’m sure he was having fun but that road is WAY to dangerous to be that inconspicuous.

Ride – 90 miles / 2600′ climbing

Bike – Windsor Rain Bike 46-34 x 12-25 (I ran out of gears way too much) Ksyrium front and Neuvation PT rear

Breakfast – Cliffbar, Hardboiled egg and coffee

Ride Food – 1 bottle of water, 1 bottle of nuun, Cliff Shot, Cliff Bar

I forgot my computer so no Power Data/ HR info.  It was calm though.  Nothing too tough.

Map-

Exactly how it sounds.

I forgot to wash my cold weather riding gear after a ride the other day so all I had were my standard bib shorts.  This restricted me to a 1-1/2 hour ride inside my warm house, watching a movie.  ”War Games” to be exact.  Yes Joshua, I would like to play again.

Ride – 1-1/2 hours on the fluid trainer. One 15 minute z3 effort.

Bike – Windsor Rain Bike, 46-34x 11-25 Neuvation Wheels.

Breakfast – Coffee

Lunch – PB&J sandwich, water and a Cliff Bar.

Now it’s off to do yardwork.

We had a small storm here last night and the plan was for a few of us to meet at UW and do some tempo hills in the morning… well that was shot down.  It was an absolute mess when I woke up so I changed the plan a bit.

Tossed the rig on to the car and drove Ro to work so I started my ride in Fremont.  This of course is a fantastic place to start a ride because of the folks at Caffe Ladro and the fine coffee they serve.  After the tanks were full I tossed on the helmet and headed north.  I wanted to 3+ hours in and some hills and I was thankful the weather cleared up a bit for me.

Ride – 62 miles, north end with a small trip east 3200′ climbing

Bike –  Windsor Cross Neuvation Wheels 46-34 x 11-25

Breakfast – Coffee

Ride Food – 2 bottles of water 1 bottle of nuun, cliff bar and a bag of shot blocks

Weight – 165

Map-

I was concerned that Juanita hill would be pretty trashed after the storm but really it was in ok shape.  There was on SDOT truck and work crew halfway up cleaning up a downed tree but it was clear other then that.  Holmes Point Road on the other hand was ugly.  This is one of my favorite descents in the area and I was restricted to riding the brakes all the way down while I was dodging tree branches, a trunk, Alan Alda and a VW Beetle.  Crazy times.  The plan was to Hit Montreux for the last climb but I was running short on time so I kept it to Lakemont and then headed back to West Seattle

I need to get rid of my cross chainring combination.  I’ll need to get a new chain and a 50 tooth.

I might spin on the trainer tonight with Ro for about an hour.  Tomorrow is a rest day and Thursday I’ll try a 3 hour at 250.

Stay Beautiful!

I hate it.  That damn thing sits in the corner and taunts me.  It makes fun of my noticeable off season gut starting to form from the lack of racing and the lack of willpower (I like beer, what can I say). Stupid Fluid Trainer.

I am riding now.  Promise.

Ride – Indoor 1 hour

Bike – Windsor Cross Neuvation wheels 46-34 x 11-25

Lunch – Spaghetti with 2 meatballs a glass of water and a bottle of nuun

Ride food – none.

Exciting, eh? I had Pandora rocking me the entire time though so I wasn’t about to fall asleep mid work out.  I guess I could have thrown some interval work in but I just wanted to spin the legs out a bit as I plan a longer ride tomorrow with 2 or 3 20 minute efforts.

OUT!

The following is an unedited transcript of the complete G-20 Summit coverage of Roland Hedley, senior Twitter correspondent for Fox News, who appears regularly in “Doonesbury”:

At Dulles, on way to London for G-20 Summit. In taxi to airport, practiced my English accent on Irish cabdriver. Didn’t go well. 12:15 P.M. Mar 30th

En route U.K. Just re-upped membership in 1st class Mile High Club. O.K., I was by myself, but I was thinking of one of the flight attendants. 2:45 P.M. Mar 30th

Disregard that last tweet from a staffer. 2:47 P.M. Mar 30th

How bad is U.K. economy? My tailor is personally picking me up at Heathrow. Will post twitpix of swatches en route hotel for your input. 3:14 P.M. Mar 30th

Plane diverted to Reykjavik for layover. Icelandic women heart-stoppingly hot. Downside: They’re all living in their cars.10:39 P.M. Mar 30th

Idea for iPhone app: You launch it and YOUR GODDAM PLANE DOESN’T HAVE TO DROP 3,000 FEET TO AVOID MIDAIR COLLISION! I’d pay $2.99 for that. 7:31 A.M. Mar 31st

London bracing for demos. Bankers told to come to work in jeans, which means they’ll look like the anarchists. What’s wrong with that plan? 11:03 A.M. Mar 31st

Went to the Bank of England A.T.M. to test solvency, received ten sterling notes and head wound. Now @ Chelsea E.R., testing socialized medicine. 12:23 P.M. Apr 1st

At E.R., watching E.R. chat up POTUS on telly. Mrs. POTUS blocking camera lights, her shadow plunging tiny Queen into darkness. Human eclipse. 1:51 P.M. Apr 1st

No one here will accept payment for my sutures. I feel like I’m in a Cuban clinic, only without the humidity and livestock.2:18 P.M. Apr 1st

Theory: Maybe nobody ever WANTED to touch the Queen, starting with E.R.1, owing to cold-fish factor. To avoid embarrassment, protocol created. 9:13 A.M. Apr 2nd

Think I’ll stir the pot and report previous tweet as fact. We report, you decide. 9:14 A.M. Apr 2nd

Breaking: Historically, nobody ever wanted to touch Queen owing to unattractiveness. To avoid embarrassment, protocol was created. 9:17 A.M. Apr 2nd

O.K., so POTUS was BaRock Star Da Bomba at Summit presser. Yes, I know, I work for the other side, but he so was.5:34 P.M. Apr 2nd

Just for the record, in my storied career, I have touched 16 heads of state, all above the waist, and been detained only once. 6:03 P.M. Apr 2nd

Handling pool tweets on Air Force One to Strasbourg in A.M. Need to steal something cool from plane for kids. Suggestions? 10:23 P.M. Apr 2nd

B.O. appeared in press cabin. Your pool reporter was ready with tuff Q’s, but POTUS hit him with high beams and he went stupid. Next time. 7:20 A.M. Apr 3rd

Stole fire extinguisher from A.F.1. No W.H. logo, but I needed one for my boat. 8:20 A.M. Apr 3rd

FLOTUS/Carla face-off? Come on. One went to Harvard Law, other slept with Donald Trump. No contest. Trump huge, even here. 3:05 P.M. Apr 4th

POTUS date night in Prague. Snuck into restaurant dressed as fellow-diner but press tags slipped out of bustier. Off to woodshed. 8:30 P.M. Apr 5th

Ankara. Bought chunk of hash for my oldest. Press bus went ape-shit. What the heck is “Midnight Express”? 10:17 A.M. Apr 6th

Oh, THAT “Midnight Express.” 10:19 A.M. Apr 6th

O.K., ditched hash, planted it on Le Monde reporter. Thanks for caring, Tweeps, never got 80 direct messages before.11:23 A.M. Apr 6th

Proposal: World media mock N. Korea missile dud 24/7. Shamed Dear Leader shoots top scientists, crippling program for years. Flaws? 12:54 P.M. Apr 6th

Miss quality time with kids. Quantity time not so much, cuz I can be pretty busy on Saturdays, when I get them. 4:07 P.M. Apr 6th

I understand Blago doing Disney when he did. I went to Sea World when my Jag was repossessed. Times like those, always better to be in a happy place. 6:13 P.M. Apr 6th

BTW, both kids nuts about Disney World. My sked too crazy to take them, but I love reading the brochures to them @ bedtime. 10:19 P.M. Apr 6th

Landed Dulles. Good to be home. 7:32 A.M. Apr 7th

En route to Baghdad to cover POTUS departure from same. Thanks for 12,000-mile head fake, Gibbs. 8:40 A.M. Apr 7th

Descent into Baghdad is corkscrew death spiral through blinding sandstorm. Same vibe as second marriage. Tell ex thinking of her. 8:30 P.M. Apr 7th

@ Camp Victory w. FLOTUS. Michelle rocking body armor, but no fashion face-off w. Mrs. Maliki, who may not even exist. 9:40 P.M. Apr 7th

FLOTUS rips off Kevlar to show bare arms to 30 startled Iraqi schoolgirls bused in from Syrian refugee camp. 9:43 P.M. Apr 7th

Chaperone looks aroused. 9:44 P.M. Apr 7th

Baghdad. Awakened by huge blast in hotel lobby. Suicide bomber blows up complimentary breakfast buffet. Off to find bagel. 7:15 A.M. Apr 8th

En route home. Thanks for following, Tweeps. Great thing about Twitter: all the gratification of being big enough to attract stalkers, none of the danger. 10:05 A.M. Apr 8th♦

Read more over at the New Yorker - http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/04/20/090420ta_talk_trudeau?printable=true#ixzz0WzwHycRB

This is pretty good.

It’s times like these I learn to live again…

From the Optygen web site:

“The last month and a half of racing has been GREAT!! In between all the hard work, and with the help of OPTYGEN to get me though the workouts and racing, I had three of my best races at Elite Nationals. I set a PR in the pursuit and my best results in the points race. I was also on the winning team pursuit team.

As far as Worlds goes (William’s won three Gold Medals and set a World Record). It was my best competition as far as feeling like I could do anything I set my mind to. That is after I got the first race done and looked up at the timing board and it said WORLD BEST TIME!! I knew I was on a good ride but had no idea of what time it would be. I felt like I was recovering well after every race and could go 100% each time on got on the track. I set PR’s in every race for the whole week. So I guess that after having my best year of racing and I’m now 35 year old. I can say that OPTYGEN really WORKS!! No doubts.”

Kenny Williams-Seattle, WA.
3 Time Gold Medal Winner 2002 Master’s World Championships (Kilo, Pursuit and Points races)
1 KM World Record Holder (world best time of 1:06:699 the old record was 1:07:469)
Cat 1 Racer (Road & Track)

And now two years suspension (maybe) because the Optygen just wasn’t enough.  The fact that Hamilton was busted for DHEA didn’t make you think twice is just unbelievable, almost as unbelievable as a top USA cycling official coming out and throwing support.

Good Racer

Bad Choices

Kelly.

Lisa.

Screech.

AC.

Jessie.

You know what I’m talking about. If not you are either too old or too young to be reading this blog and you slept through the early 90’s.

Wait…  What you say?  I forgot someone?  Oh yeah, I did.

Zack.

Yup… Good ol’ Zack (or Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is a Category 2 racer down in SoCal and puts the whoopin down when he’s not working on the off Broadway play, “The Understudy”.

Now you tell me.  How funny would it be, halfway through a 70 minute crit, Mr Belding hops out and exclaimed “What IS going ON here?”

Check the NY Times article for the story-