Friday!

Another Spring Fling race tomorrow. Might be raining. I like rain. Some rainy music to get me in the mood here - this guy covers U2 better than the original. Definitely some Jeff Buckleyesque sound going on, too.

High Societweed - final(ly)

Finally got this thing done. Now to get my & my lady's bicycles tuned up for the stroll about town on April 3rd! And some knickers...

No racing this weekend...

Snow is coming down. I'm not on a bicycle, but I'm finishing up a few paintings along with painting some scrambled St Patrick's Easter eggs with the kids. I needed a Saturday like this.

Tweaser#3

Crap! I need scissorhands...

Spring Fling Crit #2

Made little gain from last week's 10th place effort. Legs felt real strong. It was cool (42°F) and windy again, so the field was a little smaller and the pace was quite slow. My legs were twitching and I headed up front on the first sprint lap but teammate Rick slapped the reality back in my and told me to save the energy. Good call! Not much action going on although there was enough strength in the group to cover each of Velotek Zach's attacks - I gotta give him most aggressive rider on the day because he tried several times to make something stick. A Colavita rider headed up for a couple laps to set a good tempo, but it was pretty much a Sunday ride until each sprint lap rolled around. Zach punched it one last time on the last lap into the wind with 1/2 lap to go and I was sitting 5th wheel in the group of 8 of us. Rick & Kyle were together and jumped up to match him, and I first intended to hop in front of them to bust the wind up, but my momentum had me going right past (I think Zach sat up after seeing Rick on his wheel) them all so I pinned it. I should've called out to the team as I went by so they didn't lose any momentum either, but the opportunity was there. Both Rick and Kyle have some great sprinting legs - probably the top in our category when looking at the first 3 weeks' results - and they were right on my tail in no time. I rounded the last turn and held it down for as long as possible, saw the others breaking around me again and watching Kyle time it perfectly for the win. His first sprint lap was perfect, too - just accelerating through everyone at the precise moment to cross that line first. Rick was in good form on the day, too, and took 4th overall.

I then lined up and raced ~14 laps of the 3/4 race... Got dropped after the first sprint lap (Lap 10?) and couldn't get back on. Legs just too shot from the earlier race. It was good practice and gave me a good sense of the next level. Had I not just raced, I may have been able to hang with the main pack (not the 6 that broke away), but I was pleased with getting out of there before the crampede* hit my legs.

I am addicted to this schidt! Next weekend looks snowy. WTF? Time for a 10:30pm trainer session...

*crampede: cråm-peed' — noun. (pl. charlie horse)

Order

As an artist, I get paid to observe. I love to observe, so good for me. I rarely pick a side in a conflict because I usually see both sides. Perhaps I come off as a fence-setter, but I think I get my laid back pacifistic nature from my Father. Next to life, I can't think of a greater gift!

Anyway I was observing the other day on my way home from my bicycle race in Lawrence. I had noticed earlier in the week that I'd rolled 90,000 on my Ford Focus. I'd always wanted to capture the EXACT moment when a car turned 100K, so with this on my mind I started looking at the numbers on the odometer. It's been a year at least since I'd touched the trip odometer, but about 9 miles before this happened I did the math in my head and realized that my odo would reach a palindromic 90109 on the same mile my trip odo hit 899.8 .... The symmetry fascinated me, but what surprised me as I kept glancing at the dash so I wouldn't miss this event, it happened to roll 90106 and 896.8 - which on a digital readout were the same number flopflipped. Coincidence!?! I don't always think so. I think these things happen so often each day - call it alignment or synchronicity or flow or what have you - you just gotta be looking for it and it's always there. Fascinating!!!

Be still for a moment each day and open your eyes and take it all in. Then go ride yer bike!

Goats & Barley

Probably not the best thing for the training table, but...

Another productive week of working, painting & training. Weather kept me indoors on the trainer but had a few good intense sessions in hopes to improve my sprint finishes. Gonna TRY to race tomorrow if workload allows, and if I do I'll try the Cat3/4 race after my 4s race for some extra exercise. Supposed to be cool and possibly rainy tomorrow so that'll keep the pace down on the corners at least. This may make the yo-yo effect even worse in a crit, I suspect, but I love riding in the rain! Bring it on, & GO FOR THE GUSTO!!!