Like it's Your Last

Seventy Down

2012-03-08T07:15:00.004-05:00

And so the streak continues. Yesterday's was a fairly unpleasant ride despite the warm weather and sun. You see, the mid day trail run on top of hill sprints the night before made for some very unhappy legs. That was, however, day 70 in a row of riding bicycle. That doesn't mean I've been spending hours and hours each day on the bike. I've been doing active recovery rides and easy 40 minute spins on the rollers some days. I did notice though that my weekly average ride time is 13:37 and the average weekly mileage is 177.8 so far for 2012. Not crazy but not too bad for the "dead of winter". I've yet to crack the 2000 mile mark this year. I partially attribute that to the amount of MTB riding I've been able to do vs. road riding.

My training calendar is looking pretty full and I have to go back almost to Christmas to find a white spot. This is less a testament to my personal fortitude and more a testament to the fact that we just didn't have any real winter this year. Last year I had like 35 XC ski days in at this point. This year I got in exactly 2, and they were marginal at best. I have gotten some running in but that's a different story all together.

The Cycling log for the year so far.

When is this streak going to end? I don't know for sure. I'd guess that once the season starts up in earnest I will get sick or tired of riding and take a day off here and there. Regardless, this has been a winter season for the record books. Lets hope it's an anomaly and not a part of some bigger, scary trend. It's funny how the whole doomsday thing is in vogue these days. Between the crazy Mayans and their 2012 connection, the insane weather extremities of recent past, the global political unrest and economic concerns and woes, television is ripe for doomsday based programming. The "educational channels" (which really aren't any longer) such as TLC, History and Discovery Channel now has multiple doomsday prepping/bunker series as well as the staple cataclysmic event scenario programming that they have had for some years. I guess that gloom and doom is good business indeed.

Anyhow, day 71 is slated for a smackdown, take no prisoners, left for dead, 40 mile road ride. A bunch of us did this as a regular Tuesday night series last spring. It was brutal. I'm not sure what I've got in the tank but I'm pretty sure that as much as the legs hurt yesterday, they are going to hurt a whole lot more later on. Should be a nice night for it.

Slop Fooey

2012-03-07T13:43:00.004-05:00

Today I learned a valuable lesson, one which is probably common sense actually but having now experienced it first hand, I will attest to. It is just as miserable running in slop as it is riding in it.

Really.

I'd been meaning to get out and see what the local trails looked like since the snow storm last week. Judging from my back yard I could tell that there would probably still be snow. There was. With the warm sunny weather we have today the snow is starting to melt in earnest. The frost, what little we have in the ground, is also coming out. What this yields is a mix of standing water, slick mud, slush, snow and ice cover. None of this is terribly conducive to running.

For mountain biking this is fairly miserable going, not to mention the fact that it ravages the trails. For trail running it's a whole different ball game. It's still miserable and terrible for the trails but it's also hard as sin. The trails I speak of have tons of rocks and roots, which make it difficult to navigate in dry conditions, as Cathy will attest to. With slick snow, ice and mud it was a challenge to stay upright let alone not trip over the hidden trail features.

Stupid ice, snow, slush, mud, and puddles!

Just another new challenge though, one I don't think that I will repeat for a while. My feet are still cold from the slushy puddles and my shoes and pants are covered in mud. For that matter, my calves are still sore from the run I did in the new shoes last week. We'll see what I have going on tomorrow with the legs. I can tell my lower quads are a little tender as well. Could be ugly. I ended up going further than I planned today as well as I wanted to press more into the main core of the PR to see what the trails looked like. The further in I got the more snow was still there. The powerline and gasline had the least, as expected, but the trails less traveled had a solid 3" of corn on them. It will be there for some time to come I would expect.

Yuck.

Workshop Refurb

2012-03-06T15:34:00.010-05:00

Like many, my basement workspace is a mess. I've got lots of stuff and it seems to find its way everywhere. It's been about six years now since we put an addition onto our home. This addition afforded a big new basement space to use for my woodworking tools. This stuff takes up a lot of space and it's really hard to organize it in a usable way. As such, I just went with the simplest approach, that of least resistance which was to just let it go where it wanted to. Not the most efficient or attractive method.

The old bench full of stuff. Ugly and nearly unusable.

For years I've been meaning to build new work benches and cabinets. For years I've let it slide, using instead a pieced together bench that was here when we bought the house, that I'd added onto and slightly modified. Keep it mind that I didn't really improve it as much as much as just make it bigger, using recycled materials of course. If you have ever driven the way back roads of the Northeast Kingdom or Western Maine and have witnessed some of the architecture, it was in that vein. Young's Condo or Hillbilly Heaven come to mind. In my mind I was recycling the old and being green. In reality I was being lazy though legitimately wanted nothing to do with tearing that old bench apart. One of the final straws was the sweet set of benches and cabinets that my buddy AA built. He used all really nice material and they came out awesome. I was jealous and more, embarrassed and ashamed at my mess.

Yep, what a mess. No wonder I never get anything done.

Last week I started planning a new project. I'm going to put a new mantle and casing on the fireplace in the living room that we never use, in order to try and brighten and clean the room up. Less old, dirty brick and granite, more nice finished white wood. I'm using a 4x8' sheet of MDO plywood for much of the base of the project. Ripping a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" MDO is difficult without an out-feed table. I didn't have a table so I decided to build one. And that is how the project started, with one bench.

The initial cabinet designed as an out-feed table for the table saw as well as planer stand.

The first cabinet was a pain, as is always the case with the prototype. My plan was to go 2x4' and 36" high to mate with the table saw height and also to have it on casters to move easily. Beyond that it was free form. I chose to build with 2x4" framing and OSB plywood, mostly because I had a good stock of both and also because I'm cheap. Nice hardwood plywood or even MDO would have been awesome, but at $60 a sheet for 3/4" MDO, it wasn't going to happen. Over the course of half a day I fumbled my way through the design and got the cabinet built. I put simple bypass doors on that rode in a parallel set of tracks that I cut with a dado blade into a 2x4" frame. A little corner trim out of some scrap pine I had and a couple of pieces of used casing and a top made of leftover white plastic tub surround and bang, it was done.

Making progress.

The fire was lit. I could now see just how bad the old bench was and so I started down the long road of making another set of slightly larger rolling cabinets. The first was 2x6' with a 2' overhang of benchtop under which my air compressor could sit. This one went together a little better and I changed the dimensions slightly to help maximize material usage. Turned out the first one was 33" high for the cabinet material size. Had I done 32" (31 15/16" actually) I could have had three even cuts in a 4x8' sheet of OSB.

The new layout and new benches.

The 6' length threw a wrench into things but I made do. This one used some new OSB that I picked up from the Home Depot that was in much better shape that the material I used on the first one. That OSB had been exposed to the elements for a short period and had swelled a bit on the edges and started to delaminate. This stuff was dry and tight and work every penny of the $8 a sheet I paid. For the benchtop on this one I decided to use industrial linoleum tiles that are affixed via adhesive. Tough and cheap and gives a nice clean appearance. I banded the whole thing with some old oak flooring I'd ripped out of the house when we did the addition. I completed this one on Saturday and was very happy with the results.

Much cleaner, more efficient and way more space.

Yesterday I cleaned the old bench out and tore it apart. Decades old nails and wood screws under layers of shredded up OSB and pine trim held together with 20# of sheet rock screws. This made for a fun afternoon indeed. When I had it all torn apart I discovered that some of the 2x6" and 2x4" material was ugly on one side but OK on the other and structurally fine. Even some of the OSB was only hacked on one side but the other was fine. As such I incorporated as much of the leftover material as I could into the last cabinet in places where it wouldn't show. This final run of bench was 2x6' which gives me 14' of run for my bench end to end. It also gives 2x14' of enclosed, dust resistant storage underneath. The results were fine and I was again satisfied with the finished product.

Just a couple more redesigns for the bandsaw and radial arm and I'll be done.

All in all a good project that should allow me to improve the quality on some future projects. It will also make things much cleaner and more efficient. In terms of cost, I didn't really spend all that much either. I'd guess the total outlay if I'd have purchased everything rather than using it from inventory would have been a couple hundred bucks. As an added bonus, they are big enough for a normal sized adult to fit inside so when I die, chuck me in and wheel me off to the hole.

New Shoes

2012-02-28T13:01:00.006-05:00

Recently, Cathy and I decided to try and ease into some running. Nothing huge, just a little bit of something different as cross training. I used to run a bunch as did Cathy, but in the past half dozen years I've become incapable of running. Check that, what I mean is that every time I would try and start up running, I would make it a very short distance before developing massive pain in the lower quads. Once I hit that threshold, I'd be crippled for a few days.

This was weird as my legs should be much stronger now than ever before. The reality, I think, has nothing to do with strength. I believe the problem is that I do little beside cycling, which doesn't actually bear any weight or more, require one to absorb impact. XC skiing is no help either, not that I've done any of that this year. The bottom line is that my legs can't handle the constant impact absorption encountered from a run.

The fix is actually really simple, but pretty tedious. You need to start out slow and short and build up very gradually. By short, we are talking before the pain develops. For me starting from scratch, that was about 7 minutes. After 7 minutes of road running my quads started to throb. So there you have it, I needed to start at/below a mile depending on how fast I was running. That is what I did and I've been slowly, really slowly, building up over the past couple of weeks. I'm not running every day, just a few times a week at most. So far, so good.

So since I was just starting out I though hey, what better thing to do than to switch it up. Let's get off the road and hit the trail. And so we did. It has been good save a few issues that Cathy has had. She can ride the heck out of those trails on a MTB and never hit the deck but running for reason seems to be problematic. Two runs in a row she has caught her toe and gone over the bars. It's easy to see how this happens. You are fatigued, running on a trail that is a slightly uphill, nasty, babyhead field. Of course, when you spill you do so onto a bunch of rocks, adding injury to insult. Time to back off, slow done and take it easy. Hard to do though when you are on the other side of the coin.

In keeping with the theme of change we also decided to give the minimalist/bare-foot style running a try. No, not a literal bare-foot run but a run with minimalist shoes, built much like racing flats with very little drip from heel to toe. Cathy was first to try it with some Merrell Gloves and I got some New Balance MT10. Both have 4mm of drop and use Vibram soles with some built in foot-bed protection from sharp rocks and such.

Today was my first run in them as I've been sick for the past week now. I'd been wearing them around to get used to them and have been quite pleased. Very comfortable and I like the wide toe/fore-foot box to promote proper flexing and absorption by the fore-foot. In the woods they felt very comfortable and natural, almost like a slipper and less a shoe.

My New Balance Minimus MT10 trail runners. So far, so good.

I'd been running with a Salomon Speedcross which was also somewhat minimal and I noticed very little difference beyond the fact that the soles were a little thinner and as such I could feel trail features significantly more through the MT10. That said, I ran on some crushed rock and it was fine. As always you have to be extremely careful of foot placement and trail features when trail running. You also need to be prepared for ankle roll by running lightly and not planting really hard on one foot, so you can shift weight quickly if you feel it start to roll. Because these shoes have minimal heel width, they are less likely to help stabilize your ankles I would think. That said, your strike should be more fore/mid-foot and less heel, which should be less likely to roll anyhow.

What I did notice was that I must be more of a mid-foot striker as I didn't need to change my gate/stride or plant at all. This is also good in that it should mean I'm already minimizing impact, which I need to do given my knee and back issues. Always nice to be ahead of the game, which literally never seems to happen for me.

Cathy's very spiffy Merrill Gloves, which gave her heel blisters unfortunately.

In general, I had a very good initial experience. I actually went a little further than I had in previous runs despite the new shoes and in fact, partially because of them. They felt really good. I only has one small bout of knee pain and that was after a steep descent, so no surprise. It also quickly dissipated. The only residual issue is a little quad soreness as I hadn't run in a week and also, I suspect, because I pushed a little further than the last time. No blisters, no irritation and no hot spots. Game on!

Obsession

2012-02-27T09:57:00.006-05:00

In holding with the recent thread of posts I've had going on, well, disorders I guess, here's another of my favorites. I'm pretty "fussy" when it comes to bike maintenance. I like to say that "a clean bike is a happy bike" and a happy bike makes for a happy rider. I do my best to keep all of our bikes as clean as possible.

My two year old drivetrain all spiffy and fresh.

To that end I've setup multiple conveniences to make the process of cleaning the bikes as simple and efficient as possible. We've got an outdoor bike stand at the back faucet, the one that has hot water plumbed into it. This is for the fine detail work. At the front faucet I have a hanging rack with two bike hooks. This is the area used for either pre-cleaning the really filthy bikes, such as after a muddy cyclocross race, or for a light rinse if that is all that is needed after a mildly messy ride.

In general, the bikes get cleaned to some degree after every ride unless of course there was no need. I find very few things in life more offensive that a truly grimy drivetrain. Inevitably you come into contact with it and you come away from the encounter nasty. There is only one way to fix that and unfortunately it is labor intensive and needs to be done on a regular basis.

The drivetrain on the beater bike which has ~6k miles on it, still fresh and clean.

Last week I took advantage of my new hot water faucet and went to ton on the road bike drivetrains. Each of them are multiple years old and have countless miles on them. However, with some hot water, light degreaser and elbow grease they really do come pretty darn clean. The transformation is almost amazing. Dry them off and add fresh, light lube and you are right back in business.

The bikes are happy, and so am I.

On Target

2012-02-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

This past Friday afternoon was pretty darn miserable. It pretty much rained most of the day and got harder and steadier as the day progressed. Cathy took part of the afternoon off as she had worked 50 plus hours the past couple of weeks and already had 39 logged as of mid day Friday. All that from a job that never has overtime.

In looking for something to do I suggested we go hit the range and sling some lead. I packed up the new Savage Mark II we got with the custom Eastern Sierra Armory stock. Very nice setup for Biathlon, which with the lack of snow this season we've done exactly ZERO times this year.

I also threw in my Remington 887 Nitro Mag tactical and some clays. Yea, I know, it's not really designed for clays, it's designed to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and it's all out of bubble gum. Works fine though even with the breacher choke. Good for opening up doors and busting clays. Anyhow, we shot a box of shells in the rain and the weapon continually jammed up. It's never been right and I just did some searching. Turns out that it is a common problem. Guess I need to contact the manufacturer.

After that we made our way to a different range and set up our little spinning steel triple target against the back stop along with one paper target to sight in on. The range was about 53 meters or so as we were shooting under cover from the bench. The targets are 4", 3" and 2" for the steel and 8" for the paper. A few magazines and we had it dialed dead on. We then moved to the spinning targets.

Lots of fun for not a whole lot of money. You have to love the .22 for that. We shot high velocity ammo as it's way cheaper than standard velocity, which is used in competition. Only difference is in the trajectory, slightly. Cathy was killing it hitting like 10 for 10 in a row on the 4" from a rest.

We then tried to hit the smaller targets, which was difficult as you couldn't actually see them. You could barely see the 4" through the peep sights with no magnification. We would sight on the 4" and then just creep over a little to where the other target "should be". It worked more often than not and Cathy even hit the 2" at 50+ meters once.

We each took turns shooting offhand as well. I managed 3 in a row on the 4" but then ran into trouble seeing the target as we'd shot the neon sticker, which was all that we could actually see, pretty much off from it.

Good fun and a great way to spend a dreary afternoon. Thanks Cath! On a side note, I just installed a new upper on my AR. My S&W M&P15 is the sport model, which didn't have a forward assist or dust cover. It does now as well as a new sling mount.

Generosity

2012-02-25T08:10:00.006-05:00

I'm often amazed at the generosity of some people. Since we put the NEBC Junior Development Team together last year we have received a number of donations from club members and friends for clothing and goods. Earlier this week my friend Jason donated his old, complete road bike which he'd been hit by a car on. Despite the damage there were still some good usable parts to be had, which will be put to good use. Another buddy Rich donated a vintage purple Zaskar and a box of parts that have been put to good use as well as those donations made by countless other friends and club mates.

Over the past season these donations have resulted in us being able to get team race and training clothing on the backs of the kids on the team. We have also been able to piece together numerous cyclocross and mountain bikes for the team members to use. Friends have donated tons of new and used goods to the cause and it has made a huge difference.

Yesterday, a friend gave me a shout with a potential donation. He asked if I was interested in an old single-speed mountain bike for the team. I told him that I certainly was and thanked him profusely. I've been putting single-speed MTBs together for some of the kids over the winter so this was perfect timing. I've got one of the kids on my spare SS MTB and built another for one of the other kids from an old TREK donated by my friend Chris.

You see, I'm a huge proponent of single-speed mountain bikes. If you haven't guessed, I'm kind of old-school. I say let them learn to ride on a rigid single-speed before they get to play with gears and suspension. This will make you a better rider. It will force you to learn invaluable skills like conservation of momentum, reading the trail for lines and looking/planning ahead. With a single-speed you can't just come into a hill slow and shift down, you need to recognize that a hill is coming and hit it hard. With the lack of suspension you need to read the trail for a clean line and then be able to negotiate it. All good skills that pay huge dividends regardless of the bike you are riding.

Classic Phil Wood Kiss Off rigid steel SS with White Ind. Dos Eno drivetrain.

Anyhow, yesterday my friend Clayton donated a classic, his personal Phil Wood Kiss Off rigid single-speed MTB. I anxiously headed over to Pedal Power in the AM to meet him and snag the bike. The thing is decked with a very choice White Industries Dos Eno freewheel and matching crank. It has sweet Phil Woods hubs to match. This is a true classic that had unfortunately over the years found it's way to the back corner of the garage, alone and unloved. It will be greatly appreciated by the team and will continue it's life for some time.

Thank you Clayton and thank you all for your donations and help.

Compulsion

2012-02-24T07:31:00.005-05:00

In the past year or so I've had numerous discussions as well as reflections on the topic of compulsion and obsession. I'm not talking about addiction, that is something that is a little different and for what it's worth, something that I've not struggled with. What I've come to believe is that these are traits that are hard wired into our personalities. For me, I can say for certain that I have trouble overindulging and being able to pull the plug. It is often as if my mind keeps saying "one more". Depending on how you target this trait it can be really bad, or maybe not less bad.

As I've hinted at or clearly elaborated on in the past here, I've wrestled with excess a number of times in the past and in a number of different ways. One common theme has been food. I really like food, all food, and lots of it. Variety is the key but if you don't have the variety, you can always sub in quantity. I suspect that I have a genetic predisposition to overindulgence, that my serotonin or endorphin receptors are out of whack (I saw that on the Discovery Channel so it's got to be true). All that I can say for sure is that I have a difficult time with satisfaction.

The way that I've gotten control of this is channel my obsessiveness into physical activity. Yes, I still wrestle with the food consumption issues but they are somewhat mitigated by the blocks of physical activity. Another positive spin is that if you start hanging out with compulsive people, your personal compulsion doesn't seem nearly as bad. Great quote by Rodney Dangerfield, "if you want to look thin, you hang out with fat people". There are few groups more compulsive that competitive cyclists, so there you have it.

New PowerTap hub ready to build onto my old Zipp 404.

In the whole compulsive vein, I've got a streak going, which has gotten somewhat to the point of obsession. It started December 29th as a decry of the lack of winter but has grown from there. Typically, I would use January and February as time away from the bike so to speak, and focus on other activities like cross country skiing and snowshoeing. You know, variety. With the race season literally culminating for me in the middle of December, there had been plenty of opportunity to ride during the race season. A break is good.

Alas, it wasn't to be this year as perpetual fall led to premature spring and we never really touched upon true winter. At first my plan was to ride every day until the weather changed, then it was every day in January, a feat that would normally be unheard of. This year, however, it came pretty easy. Now it has progressed and dragged on and on.

Assuming I ride today it will be day 58 of consecutive riding. Before you say anything, that doesn't mean that I've been out there hammering every day. I've been doing active recovery on the bike here and there, which is pretty consistent with what I've done in the past. Really, if you think of those that use bicycles as primary transit, they likely ride every day, much like driving a car every day is commonplace for us. This is more about the fact that the streak has become somewhat of a compulsion now, in that I feel (self imposed) pressure to keep it going. I am compelled to ride my bike today, regardless, so the streak can continue.

Isn't recognition the first step to recovery? I was talking about athletic recovery with my buddy Skip earlier this week. I admitted that I am terrible at recovery and downtime but that I recognize that. If recognition really is the first step to recovery and I recognize that I fail at recovery then maybe I'm really partially recovered anyhow. Right?

I've got to go start building my new PowerTap hub into my good road wheel so I can obsess some more over the details. Speaking of which, have you used Strava at all? It gives you yet another means of obsession, records for common sections of road. Now every ride can be a virtual race against yourself and everyone else out there.

New Groups

2012-02-21T10:17:00.003-05:00

As the years pass I've come to realize a few things, a core of those lessons is that almost nothing is static. Virtually everything is bound to change at some point or another. Even those things that do remain constant, evolve in some way or another.

For me, one of the core constants that I have had in my adult life is cycling. That constant anchor has, however, changed and evolved over time. What started as a purely social and recreational activity has grown to, in many ways, be a true cornerstone of my existence. Much of my life is built around the bike, be that social, training or racing. As one could expect, we gravitate toward those with like passions and values. Being health concision and devoted to cycling and athletics is it really any wonder that the circle of friend shares those core values?

My whole point here is that as we move through life, discovering, or re-discovering who we are or who we have become, the people that we know and the groups that we associate with also change. I've had the same core group of ride partners for some time but in recent years that has begun to change. People's lives and priorities take different courses, leading them toward differing destinations.This divergence ends up drawing us apart and unfortunately, the ties that once drew people together may force them apart. It's sad in many ways but I think that after inception, most friendships really are fleeting.

Last week I connected with my old college roommate via Linked-In. I really hadn't heard from him since I went through an ugly divorce many years ago. He was good friends with both of us and although disappointed, I completely understood him wanting to not be involved. I also realize that I was a dick in terms of the circumstances around that separation and divorce, fore which I still feel badly. That said, I look at where I've ended up because of my actions and wouldn't risk changing a thing. Hard choices reap pain but not regret. This is one of those past friendships that I would really like to see reconnect on some level. Hopefully social networking and the Internets will further help that.

Drawing upon this new groups theme, you know, the one in the title, I hooked up with a new ride group this past weekend. I'd traveled and raced in common circles with local tough guy Skip for years but we had never actually ridden together. Last week he added me to his list and this past Saturday I was able to attend one of his group rides. I wasn't feeling stellar and knew I'd be in for some suffering at the hands of this particular ride group. The plan was to head out to Wachussett Mountain and back via a fairly direct route. I'd ridden out there maybe a half dozen times in the past but we always did a more circuitous loop rather than an out and back.

Saturday AM I rode over to West Concord for the start and found a large group amassing. Among the group were some local powerhouses as well as a good number of climbing and general ass hauling specialists. It was good to meet some new people and great to get a hearty helping of whup-ass served to me. I suffered on the steep and longer climbs but made it home in one piece for the most past. However, my already a little bit tired legs took a beating from the day's climbing. They were screaming at me for sure and I was pretty beat.

Sunday started with Cathy and I doing a short trail run. We then discussed various ride plans between ourselves and on the internet, finally deciding that we would do our own thing that day and plan a bigger ride for President's Day. After much deliberation we decided to do a road ride. Cathy rode her geared bike and I my single-speed cross bike. That was a very bad plan. Riding the road on the SSCX is never what you hope it to be; a nice easy spin. It translated to furiously spinning to do 20mph on the flats with big fat cross semi-slicks or slogging up the hills way over geared. We did a little over 40miles and it had nothing to do with recovery. Not what I needed.

Monday had me worried, literally. Sunday night I drank far too many beers and margaritas celebrating the kittens 2nd birthday. Yes, we had a party, with a cake and yes, they had cake, but no tequilla or beer. Two is far too young to be drinking tequilla. I woke up slightly hung-over and was faced with the reality that I'd have to suffer the consequences of my actions. Not only the actions the previous night but the fact that I'd offered to lead a ride that day for Skip's crew. I also put together a ride loop that was, lets say, a little on the optimistic side. When I dressed and headed out the temperature was still in the mid twenties and the wind was brisk. It warmed a bit on the ride to the Concord start but was still cool. I was suffering and that would be the theme of the day. Despite that, the few of us that rode, Skip, Jerry and I, managed to have a good solid ride. I was junk on the hills and literally flew backwards but was able to maintain OK on the flats. It didn't kill me but it really did hurt.

This ended up a solid three day weekend with just over 200 miles. Not bad for February. Of course, now I'm coming down with a cold and feel like crud today. My knee is also sore as sin. Time for some rest and recovery I suspect.

Done

2012-02-17T09:54:00.009-05:00

Although I've been physically separated from work for a few weeks now, today was my official final day as an IBM/Rational Software employee. This morning I handed in my badge and got my final paycheck.

It was 12 years ago that I was mired in the worst job in the world, at least as far as I could tell, working 16 hours a day pretty much 7 days a week for a miserable tech start-up company with no end in sight and making no headway. After seven weeks it had gotten so bad that I snapped and walked out, literally. From there I took my time and looked at a number of local mid-sized tech companies. I wasn't interested in working for a large company as, prior to the start-up, I'd worked for and subsequently left an offshoot of Lotus, Iris Associates, that had been assimilated by, you guessed it, IBM. It was unfortunate as this was the most quality, dynamic and interesting group I'd ever worked with. They worked really hard and played even harder. Good times gone bad when the man stepped in.

In my search I gave considerable weight to proximity to my home. I'm vehemently opposed to wasting time and resources on long commutes to/from a workplace. Live and work locally is a much more sustainable and responsible approach. Rational Software and Open Market were the two strong choices and the choice was pretty easy. Rational ended up being the clear winner, partially as it was less than two miles from home and the position was working with the Cadillac of source control products, ClearCase. I clearly recall a sunny spring day riding my bike to deliver my signed offer letter back to Rational. In hindsight it was very fortunate that I didn't go with OpenMarket as that was a huge disaster about to happen.

Things went well at Rational and I really felt as though I'd found a new home. I liked my job and I liked the people there. All good things must end though and three and a half years in rumors of a corporate sell off started to swirl. The stock started to tank because of this and all of us employees with ESPP shares that we had been diligently holding, now saw our real income (ESPP stock is purchased with basepay funds automatically) investments, direct investments in the company which we had faith and belief in, dip under water.

I recall the morning when the news broke, the worst case scenario from my perspective, that IBM had bought Rational Software. The president came around and told some people in person, myself included, soliciting feedback from them. I reacted honestly and bluntly conveying my disappointment and the fact that I'd previously broken away from IBM, intentionally. He took it in stride and moved on. As the details emerged we all understood why the top executives were happy, they all made out just fine as they always do and within six months, when their contractual arrangements expired, were gone. Unfortunately for those of us with recent stock purchases, IBM basically purchased Rational as a fire sale, literally below the stripped capital value of the company. It always seemed to be questionable, at least to me, but there were never any lawsuits so I guess that there was no impropriety. I guess.

Flipping quickly through the years that followed the purchase, we were bent, folded and manipulated into the IBMer mold. I remember them strongly using that term as propaganda in the transition. They really tried to push the IBM family and community values, values and community that I personally never saw. I suspect they were concepts of years long since past, a past that the company clung to at least in principle if not in practice. Morale declined, people left, people just plain disappeared and there was constant management change. You see, the way for the big company is to have constant rotation of middle management, grooming them for bigger and better. Those that drink the Kool-Aid and tow the line will surely be destine for greatness. Those who don't will eventually find themselves without a seat.

Over the years I became more and more despondent. For much of the time I could still focus inward on what I was doing and just let the residual noise flow by. I continued working with the same group on the products I knew and respected and the bottom line was that the pay was good and I worked close to home. I was going through the motions but I was OK with that. I'd come to realize that a job is rarely an adventure. The best case scenario is that you can find something that affords good pay and a reasonable work/life balance. I had that and I made the realization that it was as good as it gets. And so I would question my motives from time to time but always come back to the same realization, that I had it as good as it gets.

A couple years ago, IBM decided to consolidate all of the local MA labs into one giant factory. They would roll the Lexington, Waltham, Westford, Cambridge and other facilities into one site. In these times of increased awareness of the needs for global conservation, where do you think they chose for a site location? A huge, global, environmentally conscious company like that would certainly take public transportation and proximity to urban centers into account, right? One would certainly assume so. However, they chose to the old Digital/Compaq/HP site in Littleton, three miles away from the nearest public transportation and a full beltway (RT495) away from the defacto outer high tech epicenter (RT128). I convinced myself that I wouldn't make the move with them. I caved in when the time came. Alas, we all suffered from the frog in the pot scenario and numbly took the move mostly in silent acceptance.

Last year we had some changes and I got thrust into a no win situation, being lent to another project team part time while still having all of the same primary roles and responsibilities. This is known as the IBM Agile process; acknowledge the core principles of a structured practice and then intentionally disregard them. This was a recipe for disaster and as expected, I failed. For my 50% new project allocation I was expected to have 24/7 availability. The function I was expected to perform for this new assignment, I felt was a misuse of my time. I was a senior person making a boatload of money and they wanted me to monitor a broken system, a job a much less senior person making far less money would be fine for. I suggested a better use of my time and expertise would be in fixing the broken system and they could take my junior people to monitor the system in the interim. Apparently I wasn't respecting their authority and was deemed not moral enough to burn women, kids, houses and villages.

This past summer we had changes in the group that hit closer to home. Our long time manager, a person who was involved in every detail of the operation, was removed and forced to find a new home elsewhere. We then reported to a tiny little woman in Mexico. This posed challenges. Not only was English her second language and she wasn't in the same time zone, she wasn't even in the same country. She was a hands off manager who didn't care about the detail and just wanted the Cliff Notes summary of what we had done at the end of the month. She was also not terribly technical, which posed difficulties when trying to deal with technical issues. This caused confusion and numerous problems. Things turned grim.

As things were already going so swimmingly, the local executive du-jour realized that nobody was actually working from the spiffy new office they'd located in, well, hell. Who would have guessed that if you make the commute to work unattractive and seat people in a huge impersonal cube-factory and then expect odd hours coverage from them to pick up the slack from your global (ie. leverage the low cost centers around the world) development team plans that your employees would tend to work from home. And so the Return to the Labs plan was hatched early in the fall. This called for everyone working from the office five days a week. That is when I decided I needed to jump out of the pot and started looking for a new job and was also when I made a rather snide comment about the program and how I applauded the fact that we could now do work from work and have a clear delineation between work and home. That went over like a fart in church, so to speak. After getting a decent offer from a local company I decided the timing wasn't right and stayed in my old job.

Fortunately, another re-org and management changed moved our group directly into a local development organization under a well respected manager that I'd worked a project with in the past. Things looked better. At the end of the year though, just before Christmas, my review time hit and it was the short term interim manager from Mexico that would be doing the review. This was the person who realistically understood the least about what I actually did. Although there was no fault found in my work I was dinged for not doing other stuff, stuff that was not defined and that they couldn't name but was the extra credit stuff that someone of my job classification should be doing to make myself more visible to those outside my immediate organization such that when they ask someone who has not interaction with me, which they do, if I'm a keeper, they can say "you bet". Pressing the flesh. I've never been good at that and don't really care to. I fix broken stuff and make working stuff work better. I don't kiss babies. Really, babies are nasty, smelly little germ factories. I do have a habit of saying "sh!t" if I step in it and that causes problems. Sometimes it just feels wrong not to swing though.

So here we are. This is my self realization of why I grew to literally hate the company I spent so much time working for. Was it deserved? I don't know, probably not. It was the Rational BOD that undersold the company and sold out the employees. I chose not to look on the bright side and embrace the changes. I chose to dwell on the negatives and I chose to say that, and not just think it. I also chose to stay for as long as I did and not make that move. It's part of my belief though, gained from years of personal experience and the experience of others that in software, the grass is almost never greener. A job is work, otherwise they wouldn't pay you for it. There I go again, being negative. I need to start thinking Smurfs and kittens with whiskers and unicorns sh!tting rainbows. Much better.

Do I have regrets? You know, I thought that I might. I've been somewhat melancholy since the separation plan was proposed, back in December. I take this stuff personally as I do absolutely everything. I always have. I also hold a grudge, forever, quite literally. Just ask some of the people that I used to know as friends. Probably not healthy but it's part of my heritage and a trait that I've reluctantly clung to. How did it feel driving away from the office for the last time this morning? I actually felt relieved. A burden had been lifted from my shoulders and I felt free. It is sad to think that this is what it had come to, that the place I made my way to day after day, week after week and year after year was met with dread and angst.

It's too bad but really, I don't have regrets. This forced a change and in reality, I was the one controlling it, if only indirectly. I'm happy with where I am now and honestly am feeling really optimistic about things. I'm thinking that I may take some classes in my field and try and get some new skills. Maybe give it another go in software. Either that or I'm going to buy a wood-shipper and start an LLC :) Hopefully I can be done with being a miserable, crotchety, disgruntled old man. "You kids get off my lawn!".

Yep, I can do this. Onward and upward.

What Have You Done?

2012-02-15T14:45:00.012-05:00

Today I asked myself that very question. One thing is for certain, I'm not breaking any records in terms of the quantity of stuff that I have been getting accomplished on my little break from the normal grind thing. It's been a few weeks now that I have not been officially working. What have I been doing with myself during that time?

Simply put, chores. Normal house chores that the average person spends their weekends doing but people like us, who spend their weekends and most other waking moments riding bicycles or partaking in other recreational activities never seem to find the time to complete. Over the years my project quotient has taken a drastic nose-dive. I used to be able to get a ton of stuff done, but then again I wasn't spending quite as much time on the bike as I am now. As such, I've become more and more reluctant tackle things and so, they lay in wait for vacations or other big blocks of free time that really aren't free. What always happens is that I try and cram too much content in the space of too short a time. Stupid incompressible time.

With this round I'm taking a new approach and trying to work a more realistic pace. The idea is that maybe I won't screw things up as much and the end result will turn out much better. I'm not sure if it is working or not but that's the plan. So what have I done so far? Let's lay the baseline chores that I've assumed with my newly acquired free time. These include laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping. Speaking of cleaning, I bought a new microfiber mop today. I'm hoping a damp mop with it post vacuum will be the hot setup for hardwood floors. So far, so good.

Laundry and cleaning are no big deal but grocery shopping was a very strange and new experience. Sure, I'd tagged along before but the first time I set loose solo at Stop&Shop with the self scanner was terrifying. I managed to make it through though not taking the cleanest route by any means. In reviewing the weekly flyers I've also noticed a big difference in prices between Stop&Shop and Market Basket. In doing a full on comparison the difference is huge. The produce is also way better as is the variety at the new Market Basket nearest to us. The downside is that the place is a mob-scene much of the time. I went on Sunday and actually walked back out, not being able to tolerate the commotion.

Question me not for I am the master of my realm!

Another core job is scooping the kitten poops. We have big cats and they make some very smelly and abundant poops. We have two litter boxes and they get daily attention so as to keep them as fresh as possible. In the past I was using a combo mixture for litter, that being 1/3 clay based deodorizing and 2/3 Sweet Scoops corn based litter. This kept the dust down while still giving some good absorbancy. I'd also throw on some Arm & Hammer deodorizer as well. Recently we discovered a new litter from Arm & Hammer Essentials corn based clumping litter. This stuff is awesome and smells really fresh. Heck, I bet you could make muffins out of it and they would freshen your breath to boot. Anyhow, not to brag but when it comes to scooping poop, I know some stuff.

Much less worthless in the current configuration.

Speaking of muffins, I also try and get the meals planned as well. Not a big thing but another day to day task that I've pretty much assumed.

In terms of accomplishments besides the daily home making chores, I've gotten a few done. For bike work I've built a PowerTap hub into a Zipp 404 wheel for Cathy's road bike. I've converted the bastard drop-bar 29er good for nothing bike into a dedicated rigid 29er MTB. I've built two different single-speed mountain bikes for a couple of the kids on the development team to use. I've fendered our backup cyclocross bikes for use as foul conditions road bikes, which we luckily have not needed to use yet. Besides that I've cleaned and maintained our fleet of bikes that is getting way more use this winter than any other winter in the past.

Hot or cold, you choose.

For home improvement projects I've plumbed in a hot water line into the existing cold water line for an outdoor faucet. Both the hot and cold feeds have ball valve shutoffs near the mix point so I can run hot in the winter and cold in the summer or a mix of both. This will be awesome if we ever get frozen slushy snow that we need to hose off the bikes.

The bedroom with some nice soothing earth tones.

I've done a bunch of painting as well. Finally after years and years I finished the trim on the sky lights in the bathroom and bedroom. That same bathroom got the walls redone as well as the trim and I re-caulked the bathtub surround as well. In the bedroom I redid the walls with a very pleasant new color and also added a second color for the closet doors. This was actually a two step process with the first color choice for the closet doors not being all that I'd hoped it to be. The second color was much better. While in the room I also did the molding and baseboards which actually made a big difference. I've also touched up a number of dings around the house as well as getting the water stain in the bath from where we had ice dam leakage last year.

On to some external projects after a bunch of back and forth with my design team on the layout I put what is now effectively railing and lattice on the outside of the basement walk-out. This will not only improve safety so nobody falls over in but will keep snow and leaves from finding their way into the ramp. It also cleans it up a bit and gives a nice finished look, at least I think.

New lattice and railing for the ramp.

I put chimney cap up last week as well. We had never had one and I'd always meant to put one on but there were complications. We have a double flue and the size is odd. I was also unable to find a stock unit that would affix without using concrete screws. I feared drilling holes in the chimney would introduce water which would freeze and crack the concrete. What I did was order the closest size I could get that was a hair smaller that the outer dimensions and then built a wrap-around clamp out of angle iron. I notched the angle iron for the bends of each side such that it looped back almost to itself. I notched and bent the last inch and half of each end at a right angle and drilled a hole through each tab. This wrapped around the perimeter and affixed with a bolt tightening it together between the tabs. In hindsight I should have done bolts on two of the adjacent sides to get better grip but with some construction adhesive on the inside this holds the cap on just fine.

Screw you Santa, use the front door.

This morning I installed a new garbage disposal. The old one was not very high end and came from Sears. It squealed like a pig at times and the grinding chamber was a mass of rust. The new one came from Amazon, as did the chimney cap. This one is a Waste King and is much bigger at a full 1HP, has great reviews and has a stainless grinding chamber. It was also cheap, relatively speaking. It went in pretty well and the only thing that I had to get for additional parts was a box cover that had a switch and outlet versus two switches. The old unit was wired direct but the new one came with a cord and plug. I was going to switch it over but needed more flex-conduit, which they didn't have at the hardware store. I already had a new switched outlet in my electrical parts stash so with a new cover, I was in business.

So there you have it. That's what I've been doing. I know that it doesn't sound like much but it is what it is. Oh, I forgot to mention. I've started to get back into running. I'm going really slow to start though so I don't cripple myself. I've been out 4 times in the past week but am still only up to 1.6 miles. The past couple times have been on the trail. I like it. Cathy and I are going to give a shot at trying the minimalist/barefoot running shoes. The concept really makes sense. Cathy snagged a pair of Merrill and I'm going for some New Balance MT10 I think. Both have 4mm of drop heel to toe as opposed to 11-12mm of drop for a normal running shoe. This encourages a mid-foot strike versus a heel strike which actually results in less impact. I'm missing a large chunk of cartilage in my right knee so that would be key.

I'm also on day 49 (in a row) on the bike. Still waiting for weather to rip me off it but it just hasn't happened yet. This could be a long year of biking. I'm OK with that.

Out With the Old

2012-02-03T10:02:00.005-05:00

Now that I'm living the life of leisure, and making no worldly contribution, it made sense to start chipping away at the boatloads of projects that have accumulated of recent. Over the past six seasons that we have been racing bikes in earnest, we or moreover, I have devoted lots of time to riding and racing and less and less time to house related work. Most of the little stuff would get done but there is a hefty backlog of things that I've wanted to do.

So, this week was my birthday and we spent some time up in Maine, briefly and then came back home to take advantage of the continued spring like weather. While in Maine we did go skate ski at Black Mountain, which was able to make snow and had excellent cover. Unfortunately they don't have a lot of terrain and what they do have tends to be either up or down. For my birthday we made an excellent dinner of pizza with caramelized onion, salmon, olive oil and ricotta and mozzarella cheeses. This coupled with a great big salad was awesome. Then Cathy got me a spiffy birthday cake from Concord Teacakes, which has come to be our tradition.

I've finally started getting after some more of the projects. Last week was primarily consumed with smaller tasks but I did manage to get a fresh coat of paint on the bathroom walls and trim. It looks much cleaner, which is good. What I've discovered is that the bathroom detail is the most highly visible and scrutinized in the whole house. This is particularly true of the wall directly opposing the toilet. You really notice everything there. Not sure why.

This week was a bunch more small chores and bike work coupled with more paint. The skylights that we put in about 4 years ago never got the wood trim painted. It's a cumbersome job spend perched on a stepladder but not all that involved. Check it off, it's done.

That does not say Happy Birthday Opie!

Yesterday I went and picked out some paint to redo the master bedroom. It was last painted in 2007 and the color choice wasn't exactly what was expected. It seemed bright and cool and in reality it was. It was also very reminiscent of Smurf blue as it went on the wall. We've lived with it long enough and so it will be replaced with Apple Tart, an earthy tone that is much warmer. We are kind of on an earth tone kick so the whole house has varying bold, at least for us, color choices.

We'll see what it looks like when it's done though honestly, it has to be an improvement. I think that crap was responsible for a bunch of bad dreams. I forgot or selectively blocked out what a massive PitA it is to paint a room full of big, heavy furniture. After an hour and a half I finally got the stuff moved to the center of the room and the floors, walls and trim all cleaned up.

Out with the Powder Blue, in with the Apple Tart.

It's amazing how much dust and fur ends up under and behind all of that big heavy furniture in the course of a hand full of years. It's not like we (Cathy) never cleans or anything. I'm thinking it might be time for the cats to get a little haircut.

January to Remember

2012-01-31T17:36:00.007-05:00

No, not for the massive amounts of snow or for the extended periods of frigid cold weather. Quite the contrary I would say, given that we've really only had a couple of solid freezes. It has been more like March than January. Take what we get though and make the best of it.

Anyhow, I claim success! This was my first ever January sweep where I rode for the cycle and it may indeed be my first ever sweep of a complete month in general (riding each day of a given month). I know that I've been close in the past but I'm not sure if I've ever completed the cycle.

31 days, 62 hours, 727 miles on the bike, in the dead of winter, primarily offroad.

Yea, I know, this hasn't been much of a winter, which is why I'm spending all of the time on the bike and not having fun apart from it in the snow. Heck, we've only been out to ski 3 times this month and the conditions have not exactly been exceptional.

Is it OK to admit I'm beat already this year? This is setting a very dangerous precedence you know. Wonder how many months I could make it before my legs or ass falls off? Better yet, maybe I won't find out. Regardless, it was a great way to spend the time given the alternatives.

The wandering Birthday ride.

Here's a link to the loop that we did to cap it all off yesterday. Much of the same old stuff but we pieced in some stuff that we had not ventured on in years. Some of this was good, some not so much. The Acton conservation land is some of the best mapped and marked I have ever encountered. It is also some of the least enjoyable, god-forsaken, swampy, bone-yard trail that you can imagine. That said, if you are selective in making your loop you can get in only the good parts and avoid the less desirable.

There is actually a wealth of trail in Acton, most of it having a very similar flavor; old and well worn in. The same can be said for much of the terrain in Carlisle and Concord though. Many trails were colonial roadbeds so have indeed seen great amounts of use. I was pleased to find that a chunk of Concord Land Trust was in excellent shape and actually had better content than I remembered. It also makes a great connector.

With a little more exploring I can see really big things on the horizon, for the upcoming season.

Lack of January

2012-01-25T11:06:00.001-05:00

I know that it has been said over and over but this "winter" has been crazy. What the heck did they do with January and when did they decide to replace it with March? Seriously, it is spring out there. I'm expecting to see the crocus' start to peak out any time now. It was in the 50's yesterday and we have more of the same on tap for today.

Really, we've basically had one good freeze and beyond that it has been primarily mild. Last weekend we got a taste of winter with a one-two bout of snow Friday and Saturday. This left us white and thinking things might finally be approaching normal. A bunch of us got out for a MTB ride in the middle of the storm on Saturday. This was a steady slog but fun to have and to see something different. On Sunday Cathy and I got over to Weston for some XC skate skiing, only our second time out this season. It wasn't great but it was white and frozen if very thin. Monday I got out for a snow ride which was tough going given that the temperature was above freezing and the snow was like mashed potato but it was fun none the less.

However, that was the quick end to winter it seems. The snow is now gone, the thin layer of frost that had set is now coming out of the ground and we are back into mud. Just as things were starting to really pick up for offroad riding it is once again snuffed out. Due to the lack of stow and for that matter winter, we had started riding a ton of offroad. This felt new and fresh as I hadn't been on a MTB much at all since the summer. It has been such a lackluster winter in fact, that I have ridden ever day of 2012 so far. I see no end in sight either as to short term forecast is more of the same mild conditions.

Unfortunately, until it dries or freezes offroad this means I'm back on road. Riding wet roads even if it is relatively warm, is less than optimal. I did a single-speed road ride yesterday and got soaked. I ended up after sunset with cold, wet feet. Fun times. This morning I put the full fenders on our spare cross bikes so we'll be set to go from here. So, in lieu of snow I'll make the most of what we have. At this point I'm not even psyched for snow any more. Bring on spring.

I've got a ton of home projects that I am going to start chipping away at now that I have some copious free time on my hands. Monday I decided that it was time to leave the company and job that over the years I'd grown to despise. It wasn't exactly just my decision of course. Lets just say we broke up. You see, I have this problem, with my mouth saying things that people don't want to hear, regardless of whether or not they may be accurate. That doesn't always sit well with some. I'm also not a big fan of vague, undefined extra credit visibility work. If you want me to do something, make "it" part of my job, but don't spank me for not doing "it", when you don't even know what "it" was, just that I didn't do "it". Quotes like "doing your job isn't enough" is why nobody is getting into software in the US anymore.

Anyhow, in a company that is always looking for their latest ex-employee, I was a perfect candidate. I guess I just don't fit the mold anymore or maybe I never did. Work is work, it's not an adventure. I don't long to be doing it, I do it so I can do what I really like after I'm done. The reality is that I'd been hoping for this outcome for some time. It allows me a buffer to do some projects and look at some training that may be more in-line with my objectives.

So, this weekend we are heading in search of winter. I'm not sure if we will find it but at least we are going to try. I'm kind of hoping it isn't too nasty as I need only a handful of days on the bike to meet my goal of riding every day of January. So far so good. Yesterday I finally built up Cathy's new Powertap rear hub onto her Zipp 404 wheel and got it paired with her new Garmin 500 computer. I also went grocery shopping and used the self scanner and self checkout. That was stressful and yes, I'm sheltered. More errands today and a ride at some point. So far this life of leisure is pretty good.

2011 Ride Summary

2012-01-07T21:29:00.002-05:00

The Year's Cycling Stats

Totals

8,166 miles
562 hours
40 races
10 CBTT's

53,026 miles (logged since 04/2005)
3,624 hours (logged since 04/2005)

Hourly Breakdown

227 hours road (SS & geared)
174 hours MTB (SS & geared)
84 hours cross (SS & geared)
36 hours trainer/rollers
30 hours tandem
12 hours TT

Ride Breakdown

110 road (SS & geared)
82 MTB (SS & geared)
55 cross (SS & geared)
43 trainer/rollers
9 tandem
10 TT

Summary
Well, it's 2012 and 2011 is but a distant memory. As the calendar flipped over so did the log and the odometer goes once again back to zero. This past year was OK, in terms of riding and racing, I guess. Not spectacular by any stretch and unfortunately, not a benchmark year. I'm coming to realize that this may just be the norm and I may be on the backside now. It's bound to happen at some point so just live with it.

In looking at the numbers I was short of my 2010 records by most counts. It was still a solid year and my 4th in a row logging over 8000 miles. I blame much of the shortfall on the fact that 2011 was an incredible snow year. As such I spent lots and lots of time on the skinny skis. The time away from the bike was therapeutic and when the weather finally broke and the skiing disappeared, I was anxious to get back on the bike. This was a good thing, I think, in that it helped minimize burnout this year.

Unfortunately, my fitness just wasn't what it had been in the past. That was something, along with motivation, that haunted me all season. I just couldn't get motivated to suffer the way I had in the past. This was particularly evident at the CBTT, where I just couldn't make it work, sat least not on the TT bike. On the MTB and cross bike, at the CBTT, it was a different story. I was able to make progress on both fronts.

The actual MTB racing was not bad, which of course also implies not good. Again, it was at times OK and others, not so much. This held for the cross season as well. All in all, not what I'd hoped for but not a disaster by any stretch. As I said before, it is what it is. I'm coming to realize that self realization is truly what it is all about in terms of keeping expectations in check. It is easy for us to think or worse, believe that we are better than we really are. You want to aspire and strive for me but at some point, reality needs to ground us. I'm coming to realize that and in so, am coming to grips with the truth of the matter.

So now I'm sitting here, a full week into 2012. Because we have had no snow, it's been all about riding bikes still. Last week was big and this week, despite being back to work, wasn't far behind. I've spent a ton of time on the MTB, a bike I've been away from since the middle of the summer. I'm glad to be back on it, doing something different that is yet very familiar. It feels good. I'm optimistic about the year to come. Nothing is written yet. Hopefully when I'm sitting here next year, writing this same synopsis, the reflections will be at least as good as they were this year.

Good For Nothing?

2011-12-31T09:59:00.012-05:00

Well, maybe not exactly good for nothing as much as good at nothing as the case may be. That is the term that came to mind as I got intimately acquainted with my most recent bike build during a 3.5 hours cross-town MTB ride that Cathy and I did on Christmas Day.

The new bike is really just a reconfiguration of a bunch of old parts that I had hanging around the basement. For some time I'd been reading and hearing about the "monster-cross" bike configuration being the best thing since sliced bread. Having had sliced bread and recognizing what an improvement it actually is over an uncut loaf, I decided that I too must jump on the bandwagon and experience this phenomenon for myself. For those unaware, the "monster-cross" distinction is basically a mountain bike made to look like a cross bike, sort of. The idea is that drop bars and fat tires coupled with disc brakes and a more upright posture make a great, comfortable platform for dirt road touring and the like. Sounded reasonable so I figures what the heck.

The core of the bike was my old Soul Cycles Dillinger 29er MTB frame with the cracked EBB set screw mount. The folks at Soul had warrantied the frame with a brand new one and didn't want the old one back. I'd honed BB shell out to accept an over-sized Niner Biocentric EBB, so the frame was still usable. I had a matching rigid fork for it that I'd purchased along with the bike. The wheelset was the nondescript Specialized/DT set that came on my Epic. I'd rebuilt the rear with a SRAM 135mm QR hub to replace the crappy 142 x 12mm T/A hub. The only parts that I had to purchase were a pair of cheap dirt-drop handlebars and a headset. The rest of the parts were literally, hanging in the bin, including the road version of the Avid BB-7 cable actuated disc brakes.

The beast.

Here are the full specs for the complete build:

Soul Cycles Dillinger 29er MTB Frame
Soul Cycles Dillinger 29er MTB Fork (suspension corrected 80mm)
Cane-Creek 1.125" S-2 Headset
Specialized/DT/SRAM X-7 29er Disc Wheelset (QR 100/135mm spacing)
Shimano XT 11-32 9spd Cassette
WTB Exiwolf 29x2.3 Front Tire
Kenda Small Block Eight 29x2.0 Rear Tire
Avid BB-7 Road Cable Actuated Disc Brakes - 160mm Alligator Wave Rotors
Tektro Road Brake Levers
Shimano Ultegra 9spd Barend Shifters
Shimano XT Rear Derailleur
Shimano XT Front Derailleur
Truvativ Stylo External BB Crankset (44/32/22 Chainrings)
Easton Havoc 31.6mm Setback Seatpost
Sella Italia Flite Original Saddle
On-One Gary Dirt Drop OS Handlebars
Thomson X-4 31.8 x 90 x +10 Stem
Shimano M520 SPD Pedals
SRAM 9spd Chain
Full Housing Cables (brake and shift)

Yes, as you may gather I have a whole lot of bike parts kicking around the basement. It seems that I don't throw anything away and also consume a lot, which means lots of turnover and thus. lots of spare junk, that really isn't.

So you may ask, why the title of this post and why am I being so critical of this build? Lets start with ride impressions. At first my thought was that I'd use this as a spring training bike for foul conditions on the road. The idea was disc brakes and lots of fender room. As such I first had 700x25c slicks on the bike. It felt odd but fun on the pavement. The first ride, however, showed it to be a slow moving pig that didn't really handle that well at speed. Who would have guessed, what with a rakes out front end (compared to a road or cross bike anyhow) coupled with a short and upright stem and a serious freshman weight problem. The bike was portly and I felt as though I was a jockey riding a moose.

Ice on the pond.

That one ride was enough to realize that application wasn't going to work. Instead I though I would re-purpose the bike for that which it was intended in concept, a bike for "rambling". Although I don't tend to do a lot of that type of riding, I figured that this time of year is a great time to start and what better way to start that with a bike made specifically for that. I had a pair of 29er MTB tires kicking around on the tire-tree (yes, I have a tree rack in the basement with gobs of spare tires on it) so I mounted them up. Ooff, want to make a chunky bike even chunkier, try adding a fat 2.3 29er tire and tube. I haven't weighed her but she is definitely not svelte.

Last weekend, after the Christmas morning frenzy, Cathy and I suited up and headed out for a local MTB ride, a ride that is coming to be a Christmas tradition for us. The ride loops around town and hits most of the local conservation lands that are accessible this time of year and in these conditions, that being not yet frozen. I chose to ride the newly re-configured spruce-moose and Cathy rode her Kona Hei-Hei 29er fully, which she is growing more and more fond of as time passes. We looped about, connecting small chunks of land that we rarely ride with others that we almost never ride. The ride then culminated in a tour of our primary local trail stash, the PR. We used up most of the daylight and had a great time being outside together.

As we rode on through the day, meandering about town, one thought kept coming to mind as we would hit different types of terrain. The common theme seemed to be the simple and swift realization that with each new type of terrain, the bike was never really able to find it's mate, that which it was purposeful and adept at. On the pavement it was comfortable but handling was awkward and gangly and of course, horribly slow. On the dirt and cinder paths it still felt sluggish though comfortable to ride. In the single track the drop bars proved a challenge and the brake access was not terribly comfortable. The short stem and long reach to the hoods made the handling foreign. The bike was certainly not nimble though it was definitely capable. The sketchiest mix was high speed semi-technical descents. The drop-bar position was just, wrong.

So here we are. Initial impression isn't great but in all fairness I don't have a ton of time on the bike. Maybe it will grow on me or maybe I will be able to find the right mix of terrain for the bike. It's not costing me anything other than space so I will certainly keep it but truth be told, I'm not sure exactly what I will use it for. Who knows, maybe I'll find just the right match and the specific purpose for which this bike excels.

Or maybe not.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T21:28:00.005-05:00

To all of my friends and family, wishing you a warm, wonderful and Merry Christmas. Peace and good will to all, especially kittens.

Feliz Navidad.

And Then it Was Over

2011-12-19T09:52:00.012-05:00

As quickly as it started it finished. The 2011 bicycle racing season is, for us, done. For me, it went out with a less of a bang and more of a groan. I finally realized that I don't have the fitness or endurance any longer to do two cyclocross races in one day. This was a hard learned lesson that resulted in less than stellar performances in events on two weekends in a row.

In the past it seemed that I could handle this. Yes, the second event always hurt but so did the first event. In fact, I've had some of my best days ever on days when I did two races in one day. That was not the case this year though. Throughout the course of any given cyclocross season I will usually only double up a few times. This year there were a far greater number of single-speed cyclocross (SSCX) races than at any point in the past. I just can't pass those things up so this led to me racing twice at those events. I think I did like five doubles this fall. Through the course of the season the second race of the day got more and more painful and I found myself doing worse and worse. I guess that I'm getting old or something or maybe my fitness and endurance just aren't up to snuff. Regardless, lets tag this one as lesson learned. Next year, one race is enough, really, I mean it this time.

So, in terms of races, we cruised right into and through Ice Weasels. Great race, fun course and a good time in general. I did the Elite race and then the SSCX race right after (back to back). This was, in a word, brutal. I got the worst start ever in the Elite race and killed myself trying to catch. It never happened but I did get really tired trying. Then right into the SSCX race I got another terrible start and had to chase. It was tough going and by the last few laps I was cramping up hard. I managed to hold on for 4th place and 3rd overall in the Zanc series, I think. The race was a bunch of fun though and the course changes were a hoot. The beer was once again gone by the time we finished racing though. The only damper on the race was the number of people who felt that this was less a race and more an excuse to be an obnoxious drunk. People were stopping in the middle of the course in front of you to take beer hand-ups and then getting upset if you took note of it. I literally almost cleaned some lapped goob out who came to a complete stop in front of me in the barriers. This is a race, I paid money to enter this race. I want to race my bike. There is plenty of time to drink after the race. If you would rather drink beer than race your bike, perhaps a bar rather than a bike race would be a better place to spend your time and money.

This past weekend was the final cyclocross event in New England, the regional championships. I once again decided to race two races with the SSCX race early in the AM and the Elite Masters 35+ race last up in the afternoon. I really wanted to do well in the SSCX race and felt that my chances were pretty good given the people that were registered, or rather, who were not. That said, my long time nemesis Matt has been killing me all season and was my choice for the favorite. Also there was SS MTB hero James, who I have raced cyclocross with a few times on gears but never SSCX I think. He was the wildcard. Shawn was another wildcard. I knew he could motor if the conditions were right. This was going to be a good race, regardless.

Off the start, a couple rotations in I clipped out of my pedal during a hard pedal stroke. This sent me back a long, long ways and forced me to chase. This is really getting to be a disconcerting common theme here. I managed to get up into the top five by the time we hit the sand, entering right behind Shawn. Unfortunately, he wiped out in front of me. I dismounted and ran literally over him, only losing a couple places. More chasing and I was back on track.

In the next lap, Matt was running hard off the front and I caught up to James, not too far from Matt and chasing hard. Entering the sand I figured that James would have it pegged. I was wrong and he endo'd dramatically sending the bike into my face. I managed to get my hand out, which ran through the spokes of the ream wheel. My left ankle slammed into some part of the bike as well and I hit the sand. We both got up and sorted out and I exited first with James right behind me. The crash had left my already cold left hand with two completely numb fingers, the ones that got raked by the rear wheel. My left ankle was also getting stiff and I could feel it swelling. This took a bunch of wind out of my sails and James changed past me chasing Matt.

Within a lap or so James was up to Matt and rode right through him. I trailed back now chasing Matt and trying to get the motivation back. Seeing Matt ahead was enough and I got moving again. Back the weekend before at Ice Weasels, by the half way point in the SSCX race I was too tired to get off my bike so started hopping the mini-barriers. I managed to gain confidence and went faster and faster each time, by the end actually going through them faster than most could run them. This carried through to the Regionals race, where there was a similar set of double mini-barriers. They had a good flat and fast run in so I was hitting them really fast. This opened big gaps. That came into play when I caught Matt and was able to distance him. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch James, so finished up 2nd, the first loser, and missing the sweet SSCX Regional Champion jersey presented by the good folks at Verge.

A little later in the day Cathy was up for her SSCX race. She was wise and chose to do only one race. Actually, she has been doing this most of the year and in truth, could only do one race on Saturday based on the scheduling of the events. The night before as we were getting the bikes ready I decided that it was a shame that her really nice carbon cross bike with really nice carbon tubular wheels would sit idle for another year. I started searching for some slightly longer bolts to replace the limit screws on the rear derailleur, so I could lock it out. After much searching I found that Shimano MTB derailleur limit screws we longer than the road versions and that worked to lock the derailleur in place. I popped the cassette off the rear wheel and slammed a 17t Surly cog on with a spare Gussett spacer set and we were all set to roll with the 39t single ring up from which had inner and outer guides. Spiffy!

Anyhow, Cathy had a great race. She was a bit psyched out by on woman from NY but I tried to convince her she had advantages over that woman. Cathy raced hard and finished behind that woman but ahead of a number of women on geared bikes. This was good enough for a 2nd place finish, the team's second of the day. Fortunately though the winner was not a New England resident and thus, Cathy got the jersey and title as the regional champion, a distinction that is well deserved.

Last up on the day was my second race, the Elite Masters 35+ race. I was not terribly motivated after having already raced and run around the course spectating for hours. It was also getting cooler as the sun dipped lower in the sky. I'd paid the registration fee though so I was going to race and race I did. Off the line I decided to kill it and get a good start. It worked and by half way through the preview lap I was sitting in the pack, just behind some very heavy hitters. I was full of energy (possibly from the power gel I'd just consumed) and attacked hard before the barriers moving up into 4th. Coming out onto the track though the engine started to sputter. People started to pass me, a bunch of people.

After that attack I expected some separation but it wasn't to be. Immediately I lost half a dozen spots and we were just starting the first full lap. This was bad and bad it was. I contemplated giving up and quitting but kept riding around the course trying to minimize the damage. My legs were cramping and worthless. There was just no go left and I didn't really care. The season was over, at least as far as I was concerned, and after another forty minutes or so of suffering, it was over for real. Lesson learned.

It was a great season and I am sad that it is over. I'm now left with that feeling of purposelessness that always seems to rear its head once the racing is done for the year. Don't get me wrong, I am ready for a break and to do something different. I just always miss seeing everyone and having that convenient sense of purpose that steady racing gives us.

Until next year, Merry Christmas and have a great holiday season!

Still Thinking

2011-12-16T11:00:00.003-05:00

I just read JB's most recent post. It brought back so many thoughts and feeling for me, reflecting on my own personal circumstances with a "step-pet". It will be two years in March. I can't believe that it has been that long. Two years ago we were doing battle with the kidney problems as a family, to try and keep the issues in check. We were succeeding in that with daily fluids and we were able to spend a wonderful Christmas home together.

I hate the fact that some of the most tactile memories have faded. I confuse some with more recent memories of the kittens but I guess that is how we move on. It doesn't take too awful much though to return right back there, at least for me. I've never stopped thinking of her, partially because I don't want to stop. I don't want to lose something that was such an important part of my life, for so long.

The truly cruel and unfortunate thing is that the good times seem to fade much more rapidly than the bad. Natural response or our minds reminding us of lessons learned possibly, though it is hard to say what those lessons could possibly be. Never love and your heart won't get broken? That's a pretty tough lesson that would result in a pretty miserable and lonely life, I would think.

Anyhow, it just got me thinking about Oreo and how I still miss her dearly. I know that Cathy does as well, she is still pictured in the desktop background on her laptop. The kittens (cats) are awesome and own the bulk of our hearts but there is still a very special part that will always belong to the Monkey.

The Bad Monkey enjoying the sun on a warm Thursday in late March.

Almost Over

2011-12-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that we are already there. The season and the year simply flew by. It seems as though we were just starting the cyclocross season and now here we are at the tail end of it. For us, there is just this weekend with one race on Saturday and then next weekend with events on Saturday and possibly one on Sunday. We are not planning to head to the national championships or the world championships, both of which are held in early January right here is the USA. I get crushed badly enough right here in New England so see no reason to travel great distances to get spanked.

Hiking the AT in Shelburne, NH the day before Thanksgiving.

Speaking of flying by, the holiday season is cruising as well. In all honesty I can't believe that it's almost over. We got totally hosed out of Halloween due to the freak snowstorm and power outage that lasted for days. Then for Thanksgiving we got hit with another snowstorm for which we were again ill prepared and as such, the holiday snuck by in the blink of eye.

Now it's a couple weeks before Christmas and we don't even have a tree yet. Cathy did a good job of putting some decorations out which the cats are having fun playing with. Part of the issue is that after Thanksgiving we had the local, Sterling cyclocross races both days which although non-spectacular for either of us, had us flat out the entire weekend running back and forth each day. We'd also been scrambling to do chores around the house before winter decides to set in for real, if indeed it does.

Also early in the week last week, I somehow got some funky infection. It started with a bit of an odd pain in my right ear. I thought nothing of it but on Tuesday AM as I was sitting at work, I started to get the chills. At first I though it might just be a cold as I'd under-dressed for the race Sunday and had gotten pretty cold. Also, I attributed this initially to the fact that I rode my motorcycle in to work and even though it was warm, at 6AM it's still pretty raw and I got fairly cold. It was when the right side of my face started to swell up and I started to feel worse that I suspected something was awry.

A call to the doctor's office was only able to net me an appointment with the nurse the following afternoon. A Google of the interwebs had me convinced that this could just be a ear blockage and so I went home and went to bed. I climbed freezing into bed dressed in expedition weight thermals, under all of the covers, blankets and down comforter, with a toque on, while the outside temp climbed to nearly 70 degrees. An afternoon of restless sleep punctuated by the chills.

When I finally dragged out that evening Tuesday, my face was a mess; worse than normal. It was swollen, red and warm to the touch. I felt pretty darn miserable as well. I knew that this was bad and contemplated going to the ER but didn't want to be that guy who overreacts all the time. Instead I decided to wait for the appointment that I'd made earlier, the next day, Wednesday. This wasn't looking very good for racing on the weekend, which was a bit disappointing as it was the final weekend events of the Verge cyclocross series.

To make a long story shorter, this was a bad idea. The nurse freaked out when she saw me and my Cellulitis, snagged the doctor, who however was unimpressed. He prescribed oral antibiotics (Augmentin) and sent me on my way until the following afternoon when I was supposed to check back in. In short, things did not get better by the middle of the next day, which was now Thursday. I verified with the doctor's office that the next step would be the ER then headed there. As expected, they pumped me full of IV antibiotics and sent me home with a nifty IV hookup still in my arm and instructions to come back for more on Friday.

The Thursday AM photo doesn't really express how huge the swelling seemed.

Luckily, when I woke up on Friday AM things were looking much better. By the afternoon when I headed back the ER they were even better yet. Unfortunately, the ER is no place to be on a Friday afternoon. We waited around for 3 hours before getting in and hooked up for the IV. Then they had the drip set on extra slow and what should have taken 1/2 hour took nearly an hour. At that point though they were trying to chuck folks out of there as quickly as possible to make room for the incoming slew of weekend warriors. They yanked the IV out, stuck a bandage on it and sent me home.

I was glad to have come out of it OK. Secretly I was pretty concerned, for a few reasons. For one, I've had Cellulitis before, 15 years ago in my hand. They had a really hard time controlling it, even with IV antibiotics, multiple times a day over the course of an whole week. The face is really close to important things, like the lymphatic system. If the infection spreads there, you are basically porked. Lastly, I'm also on this nifty medication for arthritis that suppresses my immune system, making me particularly susceptible to infections. All good stuff.

The scary after shot on Friday PM. Scary as it's as good as it gets.

So here we are. I missed the last weekend of Verge racing. This weekend is Ice Weasels already. I'm not sure if I'm psyched for it or not. One weekend, the regional championships, after that and then we are done. Hopefully the weather will change for real and it will feel more like the holiday season. This 60 degree stuff in December has gotten old. I'm ready for some winter, and some change.

This Just Arrived

2011-12-07T15:54:00.008-05:00

This showed up in the mail today. It's funny because there was never any formal acknowledgment of it at the race or on USA Cycling or anything. I was pretty sure I knew what the results were but that was some time ago and I'd sort of given up on it.

2011 fat, bald, 44 year old men from Bedford Cyclocross Champion of the World!

It was a bit of a shallow "by default" type of victory as I came in 4th in the actual cyclocross race. However, because it was a 35+ year old combined event and two of the guys ahead of me were older, one was younger and the guy in my actual age group (40-44) who should have won crashed trying to hop the barriers, I was officially the 1st in my age bracket to finish the race. I know, small things for small people.

Defacto MTB as well.

It can take it's place, in the drawer of honor or possibly hanging from the shelf in the pantry next to the Cheetos, with it's 2011 MTB brother. This is going on the resume for sure. Yep, right after my extensive expertise at scooping kitten poops.

Happy T-day

2011-11-24T20:51:00.006-05:00

Today was a good day. We got up early and headed over to my folks for Thanksgiving. The roads in Maine were still pretty miserable from the storm yesterday, that kindly gave us a white Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, despite having more snow sports gear than you can shake a stick at, Cathy and I came up short in terms of actually having any at all physically with us. As such, we didn't really get a chance to play in the snow. Instead we did a short snow hike, or maybe you should call it a snow wallow, as we broke trail through a foot of snow in our boots a short ways up the AT in Shelburne, NH. Still fun to be outside.

Morning frost of the windshield.

Anyhow, today was about food and family and both were good. We got a chance to chuck some lead in the AM with my brother and nephew and I welded up some new runner shoes for my old snowblower (yes, I know you can buy new ones but I'm being thrifty). My dad spent lots of time showing his progress on the hot-rod truck he has been building. It's looking pretty good, especially with the new custom headers and straight pipes my brother built for it. Sounds pretty mean as well. My brother also had a file cabinet that he'd made (he works for a high end furniture company and also makes really, really nice hardwood furniture on his own so if anyone needs stuff, let me know) that he didn't need, so we went and got it at his place and snagged it. While there he showed me the monster JCB backhoe he bought. The thing is huge and weighs 17,000 lbs. It's an industrial sized pig with an 8' bucket on the front and full size hoe on the back. Works pretty well for pulling boulders out of his lot.

Santa's Village at night at 40 mph out the window of the truck.

We headed back home to Maine late in the day, where we had another Thanksgiving feast of leftover baked beans that Cathy had made yesterday. An excellent day indeed. I really have much to be thankful for and for all of it, I truly am.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and we will see many of you this weekend in Sterling.

2011 Northeast Velocross

2011-11-23T19:37:00.006-05:00

This years edition of the Northeast Velocross cyclocross race, the race promoted by NEBC and taking place at the Northeast Velodrome property saw a few changes year over year. No, the changes were not in the course layout but in the attendance. A massive show of support by the good folks of NECX made for much, much deeper fields. It was awesome to see all the folks there. From what I could see, most everyone had a smile on their face after sampling the course laid out by Kurt and his crew at the Velodrome.

Cathy and I arrived at the venue early Saturday morning to volunteer as well as to get a good parking sport. We weaseled our way into the venue and scored the absolute premier parking, forcing the Shimano guys to move their tents which they were in the process of setting up so we could sneak by. We simply pretended that we were official and those saps all bought it. Score! From there we sought out the volunteer coordinator to see what needed to be done. Parking was the first on the list and then we settled into course marshaling and generally getting crap done that needed to be done. Not exactly rocket science but good stuff.

The hours flew by and before I knew it, Tipsy was asking me if I was planning to race or just volunteer. That seemed odd as I had the perception that I still had hours before my first race. The truth was that we were only an hour away from the start and I hadn't began to think about getting ready. Panic sat in, I pinned up, ate some stuff and got suited. Quickly I pulled a bike out and onto the trainer and started spinning, all the while pounding the water that I hadn't been drinking. Soon the start time neared and I got the good bike down and ready to go. Cathy volunteered to take my SSCX bike, which I needed for the SSCX race and would also serve as my M35+ pit bike, to the pit for me.

On the line NEBC got a front row start so we all lined up right on the first row. Quickly got the count and shortly after that was the start. A mad dash around the track portion of the course saw teammate Scotty drill it. I settled behind him and when he swung off wide in the first corner as we came off the track and onto the infield, I hit it hard. Soon I had a gap and kept changing hard. I could sense that people were holding back and letting my run but like any fat tuna on the hook, I led with all I had. This held for the first couple of laps but coming through the start/finish I had been bridged up to by an unknown to me racer. He attacked hard and gapped me on the track but I kept close.

Soon I could see another racer coming up, none other than Mark M., who had done thew same the previous weekend. Shortly thereafter Mark was with me and then came to the front. I was intent to stay with him but soon noticed a problem. My rear tire was feeling a little squish as I came around the BMX course. I couldn't tell the extent of the issue until I hit the track, at which point I was quickly flat. I rode it out around the track and on the infield without much issue, jsut a bit slower than I would have liked. After the 2nd set of barriers the chain jumped off and wedged in between the spokes and cassette. Ugh! I carried the bike up the track and down into the pit, which was only 30 yards away. Unfortunately I had trouble locating my spare bike and by the time I found it and got back out on course, arch rival (not really rival as much as guy who always finishes ahead of me) Billy had caught up to me.

The two of us worked together and although I was faster in the technical stuff he would school me and my one gear on the track and on the steep uphill, which I was forced to run. Bill made multiple offers to let me switch bikes back, as the neutral support had fixed my bike, but I was stubborn and refused. In reality, that was a really stupid move but I never claimed to be smart. On the final lap I go by Bill before the hill and killed myself to stay ahead of him running through lapped traffic but he made it through and got by me. We hit the track together but he easily crushed me and my wimpy gear. It was a fun race still.

A couple hours later was the SSCX race. I was disappointed at my performance in the first race but had high hopes for the second race. When race time arrived however, the sun and the temperature had dipped and I was freezing. I literally couldn't stop shivering. I even raced with leg warmers on. The start was almost surreal. I hadn't touched the bike since finishing the first race and was as cold and stiff as possible. My only hope was that we would all go really slow the first lap so the race would be as short as possible. This is because they use the first lap time to figure out how many laps you will be doing. It worked for the most part. I never saw the front of the race and just followed wheels. Scotty at first with the hole-shot, then Doug and then Curtis. After a couple laps I was solo chasing Curtis, who wasn't working nearly hard enough but which was OK by me as it meant I didn't have to work harder top maintain the gap he had. We all got spread out and it was basically a bunch of solo races taking place at the same time on the same course but that's racing some times. In the end Curtis easily stayed ahead of me, but I was OK with that. I felt pretty good for both races and had respectable results on both counts. I can live with that.

All in a great day of racing. This was a very feel good event, with ample smiles of joy and excitement. Why not after all, this was such a unique course, how could you not have fun? Only the most technically inept would see this as something less that it was, a cyclocross funpark. Many thanks to the good folks that made this event a reality. I'm proud to be part of the club that promoted it.

Fun Stuff

2011-11-22T18:51:00.006-05:00

Today was the first complete and full day of vacation. We were off yesterday as well but were traveling, so it didn't count, really. After breakfast this AM it was still effing cold (17 degrees) so we opted for a drive to Berlin to snowblower shop and then hit Wallyworld for some sight seeing. We snagged a sweet new Ariens Professional 28" blower that cost a fortune but will hopefully be the last we ever need by buy. We then got some Blue Bunny, gun accessories and targets as well as some beef-ribs at Walmart and headed for home. Unloaded and did some chores and by 1:30PM we were at the day's high temperature, about 41 degrees. With that we suited up and went out for a ride.

Starting the climb up RT113 in Evans Notch.

The plan called for nothing too imposing, the rolling run out North Road to Gilead and then up RT113 into Evans Notch. This is is mild, 8 mile climb that kicks a little in a few spots but is a nice easy climb to the top of the notch. As we headed up, we noticed that thew suspension bridge that used to cross the Wild River is gone. A victim of Hurricane Irene I believe. As we progressed up the climb the sun sunk low and it became overcast. The temperature went from comfortable to pretty raw and chilly. As we crested it was starting to look like it could snow, which it is supposed to do in earnest later on, so we did not dawdle.

Looking out into NH from the top of Evan's Notch.

The descent down quickly cooled things off some more and the ride home was all but cold. We managed to get home before dark, though barely, and missed any adverse weather conditions besides the cool temperature. All in all a great ride upon which we met very little traffic and had no incidents. It wasn't super fast as we were on cross bikes with full knobbies but it was still good to be out riding and especially good to be riding some place different. It had been a couple of years since we did this out and back. It really is a very nice ride.

It's all downhill from here, except for the ups of course.

After some quality time warming back up in the hot shower, we snagged a rental flick and sat down for a couple brews and a plate of nachos at Suds Pub. Good stuff. Soon the crock-pot will yield the batch of corn chowder that we put together earlier in the day for supper tonight. Tomorrow promises at present to be a good old fashioned snow day, which will be fun in and of itself.

Life is good and vacation is great.

That's Right

2011-11-18T13:30:00.003-05:00

How's this for bucking the accepted living from paycheck to paycheck in financial servitude trend. Corporate and personal greed as well as "the man" can pucker up and kiss our collective bottoms. Team Two Adventures is FREE AT LAST!

Just in time for Black Friday in fact. Off to Walmart for a big-screen TV or maybe a slick new euro-car so I can look and feel more important than I really am. Heck, you know, we deserve it.

Plymouth Cross Fest 2011

2011-11-17T08:38:00.002-05:00

No, not Cross Dress, Cross Fest. This past weekend Cathy and I once again packed up the van and made the pilgrimage to historic Plymouth Massachusetts for the Plymouth Festival of Cyclocross. The two day event has come to be held exclusively at the Plymouth South High School campus in the past couple of years. In the past, the event was split between Plymouth North and Plymouth South High Schools, the former being a past home of the US National Championships. As always, the event is promoted and organized by Bill Sykes and family and sponsored by George and Corner Cycles. Good people and long time staples in New England bicycle racing. Cathy and I have attended this race since we started racing cyclocross, way back in 2006 and our attendance has become a yearly tradition.

The 32nd Annual Plymouth Festival of Cyclocross in historic Plymouth Massachusetts.

On a side note, despite the fact that this was billed as a "festival", I was disappointed to find no fried-dough, folk-music or clowns making balloon animals. I'm not sure how you can consider yourself a "festival" without any of those staples. In all fairness though, there was a bouncy-house, which I suppose could possibly meet the formal qualification for a festival.

In looking at the two different course layouts for the two days in the online race guide, I noticed that there were some strategic changes to both day's courses versus those of years past. I've got the bigger description and report from last year here so if you want more on that, go there. With great expectations we suited up upon arrival Saturday and went out on course for a pre-ride. The changes were indeed subtle but took a big portion of the boring drudgery out of the course, in the form of removing the big perimeter loop around the back playing fields. In it's place were a couple of switchbacks and a double-back around a playing field that was also in play for another section of the course. That afforded you views of other racers coming the other way on the course and broke up any potential boredom. It also meant you went in both directions allowing for opposite wind patterns one direction to the other. A headwind one way promised a tailwind to look forward to the other way. There was only the one short section of mud behind the barriers, which is always there, at least from my experience.

Cathy was up first in the women's open race. She was feeling pretty good and the course was a good match for her strong suit, steady power and lots of it. I made sure to try and get a good training week in the week leading up to the races. As I mentioned before, the ride interval Tuesday made a big difference for Cathy in terms of boosting her confidence. I wanted to continue with that through the rest of the week and so we did skills and a few mid length intervals on Wednesday and had a good spin-sprint opener on Friday. That seemed to work well as it has in the past. She got a great start and rode really strong the whole race. I could tell from the way that she was racing that there was a change in the style I had seen of recent and in fact, for much of the season. She was driving, not just sitting back and following. The result was a really exciting race and one of her best results this season.

There is not a whole lot to say about my race, really. I had a good race but was outgunned by one of my across the boards (except maybe on the MTB anyhow) rivals, "Wild" Bill from Corner Cycles. The start was one of my best ever though we had a couple of really fast starters in our field like "Mr. diesel" Kyle from the Embrocation Team, who managed to curtail my short lived holeshot before the first corner. Old time friend and 45+ strongman Don from Bikeman was a major factor, as expected, especially early on in the race. What I didn't realize but should have based on past performances, was how much of a battle I would have over the course of the weekend with the other Corner Cycles racer in the field Saturday, Dave.

What played out after the first lap was Bill, myself, Dave and Don each separated by 10 yards, plowing around the fields battling the wind. Eventually the elastic snapped and I managed a small gap and caught Bill. Unfortunately, Bill's teammate Dave was also coming up, so I knew I had to stay on the gas. I went to the front and hit as hard as I could for half a lap. This managed to put some distance on Dave but when Bill decided to come around and punch it, I was gone. The remainder of the day was spent trying to stay away from Dave and Don and reel back Bill. The former worked, the latter did not. Still kept me in the money though, which is a nice change.

As a note, I liked the course switching back on itself the way it did, affording the opportunity to see racers going the other way. When the race settles in I enjoy cheering on teammates like Scotty and other friends like Brant, G-Willy and Gary in those face to face sections. Don't get me wrong, this is more of an encouragement grunt, but it's something I always like to do in all competition. "Be nice, until it's time not to be nice.". The switching back also gives the impression that you are still racing people rather than just doing a solo time-trail, despite the fact that those people may be on completely different sections of the course. Often you find yourself alone on remote sections of a course, leaving you to wonder if there is still a race going on.

Day two was a slightly different course with some additional technical features and a little more variety to it. There were also two sections of deep, loose sand. I liked this course layout a lot and think that the changes made over years past were excellent. In hindsight, this could be one of my favorite courses. There was also a downhill, low speed, fresh cut loamy, tight switchback section in the woods that proved a great challenge. This was a very neat feature and the more I reflect back, the more fondly I think of it. The also used a couple aspects of day one that had been never used before, including a miserable little steep and slick grunt. Each time up I would spin out for the final couple pedal strokes over the top.

Once again Cathy was first up. She was having a great ride in a much stronger field until she pulled out of her pedal in a convoluted sprint attempt going through for the lap. This nearly resulted in a tangled up in the bike face plant but she managed to pull it out and get going again. Unfortunately the bobble took a toll and she lost contact with the woman with whom she had been racing. She still managed to retain her position and get a solid result. Most importantly she didn't get hurt. Upon examination of her bike after the race I noticed that she had bent the front wheel in the incident such that it was rubbing quite a bit on the brakes. Too bad she didn't notice and switch to the bike she had in the pit. That said, it didn't seem to make too much of a difference. Later that night when we got home, I pulled the tubular tire off the wheel so I could access the internal spoke nipples and got it all squared away for her for next time.

My race saw some additional players in the form of Curtis B., Mark M. and Alec P., all of whom often beat me. Bill and Dave were there as well so it was going to be a challenge. I didn't get a great start and had to chase through a couple of people to get up to Bill, who was driving hard. It was near this point that I was feeling really good and thinking to myself that I could maybe win this thing. Kyle had a great start and was riding super well for much of the first lap, with four of us managed a gap on the field and moving nicely. Eventually Curtis took over from Bill and drilled it hard. I was on the back behind Kyle who was starting to struggle, so came around to grab Bill's wheel. The three of us moved forward quickly through for the lap but when we hit the fields in the back the gaps started to open. Back to reality.

Curtis rode off the front, Bill dangled in the middle and I dangled behind him. This was the scene for another lap or so until I could see Mark and Dave coming up. I tried to recover for the surge that I knew would happen after Mark caught me and recovered. That trick never works though and when he jumped and headed up to Bill I was only able to hang for half of the effort. Dave had wisely come up to me with Mark and firmly affixed himself to me. I tried time and time again to ride him off my wheel but couldn't. I knew with his teammate Bill just ahead of us, he wouldn't be interested in dragging me up but we agreed to work together to preserve. I'm terrible at following for some reason and never seem to recover or be able to hold tight. Fortunately I'd catch on the technical sections and corners despite gapping off on the power sections. We worked together for the rest of the race, now running from an advancing Alec, who is yet another Corner Cycles rider. On the final lap I made a hard charge to try and catch Bill and drop Dave but accomplished neither. I stayed in front of Dave up the final climb and kept on the gas the rest of the way, getting within seconds of Bill and managing to fend off Dave and Alec. I'll take that.

All in all, a great weekend of racing in good weather that wasn't all that far from home. Bonus was that on Saturday, one of the local radio stations started their seasonal 24x7 Christmas music run. After some back and forth as to the appropriateness of this at this particular date, we decided it was indeed officially Christmas season. I finish write this listening to Johnny Mathis.

Ho-Ho-Ho!

Why I Ride

2011-11-15T09:30:00.002-05:00

People have a multitude of reasons why they ride bikes. For that matter, reasons change with time. The reason that you start riding may well not be the reason that you continue riding. For me, I was always fascinated by bicycles. As a kid growing up in the middle of nowhere with few others directly nearby with which to play, I used the bicycle as my escape. I think that this is a common thread for so many of my generation, for the bicycle was their sole means of transit. We would amass in roving bands and plot trips throughout the local area. Competition quickly crept into the mix in the form of wheelie, long-jump and no hands riding. Feats of daring or more often, stupidity. Lack of skills coupled with inferior quality product and questionable engineering practices often lead to catastrophic failures.

Bicycles were also one of the very first objects of my desire, so to speak, that I can recall truly wanting for. I grew up very modestly and as such, bicycles and so many other non necessity items made their way to me as used or salvaged goods. To that end, there were very few in my neck of the woods who had the where with all to have much in the line of brand new and if they did, it was department or hardware store as there literally were no bike shops in Northeastern Vermont in those days.

I can't begin to convey the countless hours spent sourcing used parts from the few local hot bed stashes of bike parts and then cobbling together something to ride. The pure satisfaction of building up a viable form of transit from a collection of odd and dissimilar parts and pieces is something that stays with me to this very day. It is something that I still take great pleasure and satisfaction from and fully expect that I always will. There is a sense of accomplishment that one gets initially from the build but then from actually riding the bike that they built. The experience affords an escape like few others.

As much as bicycling historically helped define not only me but my generation, it has further become a major part of my life and with that, it has become a part of Cathy's as well. We are largely who we are today because of it. In many ways, it defines us. I like to think that we are better because of it and as such, we try to be good hosts and ambassadors to the sport that has given us so much.

This is why I ride bikes but there is also another reason why I ride, train and race with purpose that I do. I am one of the many people who has been totally changed by biking. As a kid I was always husky (that means fat). Growing up rural in a family that was not into recreational physical activity and didn't necessarily have the means, motivation or understanding to make really healthy nutritional choices set the stage. As such, I constantly battled with my weight, often being the biggest kid in my class as I was always tall as well as fat. This was the case right through my freshman year of high-school where I topped out at about 210# just about the same time my height maxed at 6'1". My sophomore year I started playing football. With that a change occurred, which got me started on the road of legitimate physical activity. I played football (poorly) through the rest of high-school as well as track and field in the spring. This got me to the point where I "looked normal" and got my weight in check at just over 190#, where it would hover through the remainder of high-school.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the tale of the scale. It never is. College helped pack a solid 20# back on thanks to beer and unhealthy eating choices and quantities, despite remaining active with recreational running, hockey and racquetball. My freshman year I hit 216#, a new record, but one that would not be the ultimate plateau. No, that would be post college, when I started working and regular physical activity took a huge dip. I'd picked up tennis and loved to play though I wasn't very good, but the couple times a week that I could play just wasn't enough to do it. I climbed steadily to the point where I topped out at 236#. That was just about the time when I started getting into mountain biking in earnest. Though I'd owned a really nice TREK 950 MTB for a while, I hadn't really ridden it much. I was new to the area and didn't know all that many people.

This changed when I meet a couple of other folks at work who also rode bikes. Through that networking I learned of local places to ride. Yes, this was back in the days of finding information first hand, back before Google or the internet or even Cathy for that matter. Things are so much easier today as information is so easily accessible. Anyhow, we started riding the Middlesex Fells once a week and our work based ride group swelled. We learned of Lynn Woods and started riding there as well. Keep in mind, however, that the rides were not exactly high impact. We would ride really technical trails for a couple of hours and cover 5 or 6 miles. The hook was set though for what would be a lifestyle change.

Soon I met people who not only rode recreationally but raced as well. A couple of the crew learned of a mountain bike race on the Cape and we decided to give it a try. This was my first bicycle race ever, the Surf n' Dirt in Orleans, MA. I did the beginner race, which was only 5 miles. I remember being unable to fathom how the higher classes could do 10 or 20 miles; it simply did not seem possible to me at that point. I struggled mightily in that race just to finish and though that I was going to die. As you can see from the post race picture of all of me, there was some excess baggage. And yes, that is a full suspension TREK 9200 that I am stranding next to.

From there a few of us kept racing and I ended up getting hooked on it. The weight came off slowly and over time I managed to get back down closer to 210#. This would remain my core weight for some time. My fitness and stamina steadily improved as the amount of time I spent riding increased. I upgraded categories and continued racing for a number of years, always easily qualifying for the clydesdale class. My winter weight would shoot up to near 220# and the summer weight would be between 205-210#. Though it didn't seem like it at the time, I look back now at some of the pictures and am aghast. Over the course of the following few years we became disenchanted with racing bicycles and walked away from it, though we never stopped riding. Not for a minute.

Fast forward to the current epoch. This time-line started in and around 2006, when Cathy and I got back into racing bicycles. This time we had become well established in the cycling community and came at racing from a different avenue, from the road rather than offroad. That is a whole different ball game, is incredibly competitive and requires a much higher level of fitness just to hang. I remember meeting Johnny Mo' for the first time on a late winter/early spring, NEBC Saturday morning library ride. I was on a cyclocross bike that I'd built as an exploration and sight-seeing vehicle. We talked about cross and he set the idea of racing, an idea I'd toyed with since a brief and failed attempt back in the previous century. I also distinctly recall talking about weight and the fact that I was about 218# at the time. I can only imagine what he though.

That season Cathy and I would take up racing in earnest and race many road races, as well as weekly training time-trials. We also took up a full season of cyclocross in the fall. Add into the mix the constant riding and training and weight came off, paring me down below 200#. Despite the activity, my love of food and beer kept me right around that mark steadily. That is, until the competition bug sunk it's teeth a little deeper. I was finally starting to see some better results and like any addictive substance, I wanted more. This clear solution was to ride, race and train harder. I did and another weight hurdle was met, getting me to the 190# range. The final stage has only been in the past few years. Through some steady and consistent training, riding and racing as well as other activities like X-C skiing thrown in to keep it interesting, I've been able to hit the low 180# range in the summer and stay right around 190# in the winter. That is where I am now.

I'd really love to drop another level but find it difficult to balance. Again, my problem is my compulsiveness. The same thing that keeps me riding my bike is also working against me when I open the refrigerator or step into the pantry. I realize that and in truth, it scares the crap out of me. I know how easy it would be to get back to where I was and fear every day of inactivity risks a relapse. I honestly think of it that way, like it is an addiction.

I ride my bike because I love to ride my bike. I ride and race my bike with the level of conviction that I do because I'm always riding scared. Scared not necessarily as much of the competition though, as I am of myself.

Confidence

2011-11-14T10:30:00.002-05:00

It really is amazing to see what a little dose of confidence can do. Some people just get into a rut and let their confidence and self image slip. In normal everyday life that self perception has certain connotations but in the world of athletics and competition it can have far more dramatic and damaging consequences. After all, the difference between a good and bad performance is often 100% mental and having a negative self perception or lack of confidence in your ability will inevitably become a self fulfilling prophecy. I know. Like most of us, I've certainly been there, though quietly I probably suffer from this complex less that most. I'm one of those people (fools) that chooses to ignore reality and regularly overestimate my athletic ability.

Last week we did our normal Tuesday night training ride. The ride, as I have mentioned before, is a road ride consisting of about a dozen sprint intervals, primarily on up-slopes. We regroup and recover in between the sprint intervals, each of which is between 20 seconds and a couple minutes long. This past week we had a feisty group and things got hot as soon as we hit the open road. The hammer-fest kicked in and soon we forgot about the recover portion of the show. It was pretty much just game on the whole night. Good stuff for sure.

Cathy racing Nashoba back in the previous century.

I mention this ride for one reason. Cathy decided to join, which she has in the past. She had been a little down on her results and her abilities, at least that was my take from the outside based on what I was seeing. In reality, I could see that she was not racing anywhere near her potential. When she wants to go, she can go. There are few women I know that can pull through at 25mph and bump the pace up, but she is one of them. If we get her climbing ability under control she would be deadly. I believe that is an easy fix as well, she just needs to want it and believe it; believing or more, knowing that she can climb. I honestly wish that I had half of the potential and natural ability that she does.

Anyhow, on the Tuesday training ride last week Cathy made a dramatic transformation. She got angry and she dug her heels in and she rode to her potential. What happened next was that she had no problems hanging on all but the longest and steepest sprints but she also started dropping some of the guys (no names mentioned). I could literally see her getting more and more confident as the ride went on. We had a great ride and the more important part was what happened this past weekend when it came time to race.

The old Surf n' Dirt race in Orleans.

That renewed confidence gained on Tuesday evening was still there come Saturday morning. Cathy raced better and stronger than she had all cyclocross season. She wasn't just sitting back and letting the competition dictate her race, she was driving her race. This resulted in a great result on Saturday. Sunday was looking even better, with a really strong performance going in a much tougher field. Unfortunately while sprinting hard to get on a wheel coming through for the lap she pulled out of her pedal and nearly crashed. The violent weight shift ended up tweaking the front wheel pretty badly, unbeknown to her at the time. Fortunately she managed to keep it upright and finished the race without loosing position but lost the other racer that she had been working together with all day.

This is one of the times where a carbon-fiber rimmed front wheel paid off as the incident simply stressed a bunch of the spokes causing the wheel to come out of true. However, the rim was rigid enough that it didn't collapse. An alloy rimmed wheel would have likely taco'd and collapsed, causing a catastrophic crash. Last night when we got home, I pulled the tubular tire off and trued the wheel up (internal spoke nipples) without issue. I glued the tire back on and all is set.

The point here is that racing is largely a mental game. Much of competition deals with your minds ability to get your body to suffer. If your head isn't in it, your body never will be either. Believe in yourself and the ability that you've shown to have. It's there, you just need to realize it and take advantage. How's that for motivation.

That Time of Year

2011-11-09T10:41:00.000-05:00

Well it is officially "that time of year". The time of the year where, for me at least, everything starts to come into question. Overall fitness is usually at the core of the debate, but of course there is motivation and overall attitude which are all intertwined with environmental factors that we who call New England home, face on a daily basis. In reality, I usually have at least a few of these periods a year, depending on how things go.

Lets break this thing down and detail what I feel are some of the contributing factors in the equation. I think that starting with the obvious environmental factors is a good place to start. It's the fall and in reality, we just turned about at the corner for late fall. We all know what is right around the next bend. So what is the real issue with fall? After all, it is arguably the most beautiful and enjoyable season in the northeast. The bugs are gone, it is cool and crisp and the leaves, underbrush and poison ivy start to thin making for some excellent mountain biking conditions. What's not to love about that?

Nothing, except for the fact that I rarely get to ride the MTB in the fall any longer as it is rapid-fire no holds barred and non-stop cyclocross season from September through December. I think that it is one of the unfortunate truths about racing cyclocross, it wrecks the best season of the year in terms of being free and clear to just ride for fun. Take it as it is, that is just the trade-off that we all make when we get serious about racing bikes.

Along the environmental issue front, the bottom line is that this time of year in the northeast is dark and cold. The sun is setting by 5PM and by 5:30PM you need lights. With the setting sun, the temperature quickly plummets. This makes for cool to cold weather riding. Worse is the fact that the ride may start with reasonable temperatures but end significantly colder. You deal though. Besides, riding in the dark is sort of different and fun. The same old roads or trails seem fresh and new, primarily because you can't really see them all that well and you get a bit of tunnel-vision defined by the reach of your headlight. Most employed people also don't really have the luxury of riding during the day when it is light and warmer. Theoretically, I could bring all of my junk to work and then ride at lunch. This however poses enough issues that I'd just rather ride in the dark after I get home. When I'm an work I want to work, so that I can go home at a reasonable hour. I'm not a fan of extending the work day whenever I can avoid it.

I think that one of the most obvious yet difficult aspects of this point in the year, stems from the fact that I am really, really bad at training. Couple this with the fact that I'm not getting any younger and bang, I'm always effing tired. You can understand it earlier in the season when you are really ramped up on training and putting in the big time and mileage. However, at this point things have tapered down in prep for cyclocross, right? Well, for the smart bike racer yes, they have. They are into very targeted training sessions that fit with cyclocross efforts and race schedules. I too have cut back but realistically, not as much as I should. For instance, I'm spending between 8 and 11 hours a week on the bike. During the summer I spend more like 11 to 15 hours a week on a normal week and in the spring I'd average a little more. Why can't I pare it down some more? Simple, I'm a junkie and am addicted to the miles. I've tried to kick the habit but just can't see to make it work. That yearly total just keeps looming over my head and I certainly can't ride less this year than last year.

2008 Plymouth South cyclocross race.

It has been a long season of racing. As a master of really ineffective training, I tend to be one of those that has one peak in the season. It starts about May and ends about November. Graphically speaking, it's a very mature looking peak, if you think of it in geological terms. Much like the local New England hills and mountains, it has been worn and eroded by time into a choppy series of shallow ridges and valleys. There is some variation but the peaks are fairly low and the valleys are fairly high. This makes for little variation between off and on, which results in consistent mediocrity. It is indeed an ignorant man who knows not his flaws but it is a foolish man who chooses to ignore them.

Yep, I am what I am.

Addition Complete

2011-11-02T08:07:00.000-04:00

The long awaited addition is finally complete. It was actually finished up a couple of weeks ago on Friday but things have been crazy. Immediately after completion and the final inspection, we promptly left for the weekend away in Maine and were not able to take advantage of it at all despite the nice weather. Last week the weather deteriorated and we all know the story of last weekend. Suffice to say, we haven't really had the opportunity to use it so far. Too bad as it is really, really nice.

New deck and 12x12' sun-room with removable glass/screen panels.

Now in terms of the new deck, obviously we make use of that. No we have not spent much time sitting out on it but we use it to get to the grill on a regular basis. Anyhow, it will be all set to go once we do get a bit of good weather or a nice sunny weekend afternoon when we are not racing bikes or doing chores. I can't want to just sit out in the room with a beer and enjoy it. Many thanks to our friend John who hooked us up with some very nice and nearly unused furniture for the room.

The first snow of the season on the new deck.

Next up is the internal lighting. I'd planned to get after it last weekend but the snowstorm changed all of that. The ceiling is vaulted and finished in tongue and groove pine. Cathy and I built two beams to span the width out of three ganged 2x6's that we glued and screwed and then ran through the thickness planer. That is always a fun time trying to run a 12' long beam through the planer on all four sides. We did the same thing for the mud-room addition that we did ourselves in Maine. After they are planed I dowel plug the countersink holes for the screws to make them look like they are pinned and to cover the heads of the screws. Ends up looking pretty nice. Those beams are actually semi structural though where as these are not really. The main use of the beams will be as carriers of the reflective lighting source, simple rope lights. We will string them on top of the beam and the light will reflect off the pine ceiling and give a nice glow. When it was wireds we had a switched outlet put at celiing level next to one of the beams to control the rope. Again, same as in Maine. Works well there so why change a good thing.

Weekend Fun

2011-10-31T15:30:00.001-04:00

The weekend started out OK, with a the annual Canton cyclocross race Saturday. We arrived a little early to a nearly empty and desolate venue, which made us think that maybe we had slept through Saturday and it was Sunday, or possibly that it had been canceled. The truth was simply that the first race was at 9:30AM and not 8:30AM as Cathy had though. The race itself was pretty good with some course changes that dummied down some of the trickier sections. The changes gave the course a distinct power flavor, more so than before even. The dreaded run-up was also now a ride up based on a change to the entry.

Both Cathy and I had respectable rides on the day getting chances to really race with a group and both finishing in the same position on the day. Our friends and cyclocross rival couple, the Shattucks also oddly enough finished in the same position. Maybe we can make a couples tag-team match out of this except for the fact that Bill always beats me. We were also able to miss the incoming foul weather, which was a huge benefit, as it got down right miserable in a hurry Saturday afternoon.

We did have an issue with one of the members of our junior team (lets call him Crashy McFallsalot to abscond with a moniker concocted by the Mayor). The issue was that he crashed trying to hop the log that I had told him just before the race would be faster for him to run. Crashing is no strange occurrence for him as, I'm pretty sure, he has crashed just about every time he has been on a bike. To say that his bike handling is sub par is a bit of an understatement. Unfortunately what he lacks in skills he makes up for in short term strength and fearlessness. What this equates to is someone that ends up on the ground more than anyone I know. It also means he breaks a lot of equipment. Last Wednesday at cross practice he went just a little too hot around a corner and ended up plowing into a rock, denting the sin out of the Ksyrium SSL that I'd put on the bike I built for him. Ah, good times.

Speaking of weather, this past weekend was abnormally cold. Saturday made it into the low 40's early but then as the storm started to roll in, it clouded over and started to cool back down. By the time the rain started in the early afternoon it was slipping back into the upper 30's. The forecast was for a nor'easter storm that would start as rain but end in measurable snowfall. As it would end up, they were right for once. At about 5PM the rain started changing to snow and before long was just snow of the heavy and wet kind. This wasn't going to bode well given that most trees still had their leaves. At just about 8PM, we lost power. Saturday night seemed to have been punctuated by a lack of sleep. Sizzling electrical arcs and blinding flashes of light. No, it wasn't lightening, it was downed limbs striking live wires. Add to that the sound of cracking limbs and nervously rambunctious cats on an early AM tear and there was little rest for the weary.

When we finally dragged out in the AM to survey the damage and there was some for sure. It seems all of the surrounding trees dropped limbs into our yard. We had a number of big branches and entire limbs that were lost. A couple of hours work with the chainsaw and loppers cutting and blocking and then hauling slash to the back and we were done with that chore. The power company had trucks on the street first thing Sunday AM so we were all very hopeful. Hope waned when we realized that power was out on the main road as well as most of the town and much of Lexington as well. With that we looked at the powerless options for the day.

What we came up with for a way to kill some time was to pack up the arsenal and truck out to Harvard to sling some lead. getting there was a challenge with all of the downed trees and wires. The back road into the club was especially challenging as there were trees down over the narrow road which we had to squeeze under. The truck is a POS Toyota Tacoma 4WD though so I just ran it through the brush and slammed it over the limbs. reminded me of the old days of going hunting back in VT. The gate was up at the range but there were a bunch of trees down there as well.

We cleared a number of them off the roads so we could get through. Should have thrown the chainsaw in the back; not sure what I was thinking. I did have a small axe though so was able to gnaw my way through a nasty little oak tree in less than record time. We took the opportunity of having the range basically to ourselves to sight the AR in at 100 yards. I'd set it for 50 yards earlier as the 100 yard range always seems to be busy. Dial the elevation down a little a she was hitting right on target. Cathy and I ran a couple of pre-ban mags through it and then went to the 25 yard range to hit some plates with the 9mm. Well, we tried to hit some plates but mostly just missed. Typical. It's definitely a short range tool in my hands. On the way home we gassed up and snagged some coffee at Starbucks in Concord, which actually had power and was open, then headed back home.

Feeling the need to get out and do something, I thought a nice SSCX ride on the Minuteman Bikeway would be a safe alternatives. The public roadways were a mess of sloppy snow and downed wires, trees and brush so I really didn't want to be there. Unfortunately, the path in Lexington was a nightmare of downed trees making it virtually impassible. We turned back and cut off onto roads to connect to some conservation trails. There we found, as fully expected, more trees down. On some other back roads we made our way toward the Turning Mill section of town and saw the mother of all blockages. A bundle of three huge oak trees had uprooted and blocked the entire street. Fortunately we could cut through conservation land by the Estabrook School and Paint Mine to get into the PR at the power-lines. We picked our way through encountering lots more downed trees but it was good to just be out in the woods playing in the snow. Not much of a workout, at least from an aerobic standpoint and not a whole lot of miles but a good time.

Back home still no power and thus we settled in for the evening of huddling under lots of down. One thing occurs to me during power outages, which seem to be having with much greater regularity of recent. There isn't much of anything to do when it gets dark and there are no lights, no TV and no computers or connectivity. This I is a hard taste of old, when people went to bed early. This was because there literally was nothing to do without light. Today we are so dependent on electricity that this is only compounded. Sitting on the couch under a blanket with your toque and down coat on in the cold dark quickly loses its appeal. And as such, we went to bed at 8:30PM. Another night of poor sleep fretting about how to deal with the thought of a further prolonged power outage kept my mind racing.

I need to finally call about getting a wood stove insert for the ancient fireplace, which we wouldn't dare use for fear of burning the house down. I also need to look into generator options. In being out and about on bicycles I was amazed at the number of generators I heard running. I think that the general sense that the power is unreliable has convinced more and more people to go the backup generator route. I know we had been thinking about it but then held off. The main reason is that gas generators are problematic unless you diligently maintain them. Modern gasoline sucks and goes back very quickly, gumming up the carburetor and causing failing of the system when you finally go to use it. A natural gas system wired into the house is the way to go but the expense, I'm told, is crazy. Guess I need to weigh the options.

Group of three big oak trees blocking a side road in Lexington.

The bottom line I know is that we are fortunate. The power is back on for us now and so we have heat. We never lost hot water at all because we have public natural gas service. the cold was also a mixed blessing in that it allowed us to preserve the contents of the refrigerator and freezer by putting the perishable items in the cooler on the deck overnight where the temperature was in the low 20's. Many, many people are not so lucky. We really are lucky, in this and so many other ways. Hopefully some of the luck will bestow upon our friends still without power.

The Right Tool

2011-10-28T13:00:00.001-04:00

I've been into single speed's for some time now. In various past posts on this very blog such as this one, this one or particularly this one I've chronicled some of the adventures, details and thought process behind the whole one geared mentality. The synopsis is that it's different, it's simple and it's fun. I realize, anyone who has spent much time on a SS bike knows that there is next to nothing simple about them but once you get the multitude of setup issues debugged and once you progress from cobbled, to dedicated SS bikes, it starts to be more fun than frustration.

Why not cobbled you ask? The bottom line is that virtually all of us started that way. Heck, back in the day (the day was like 12 years ago in my case) there were virtually no dedicated SS frames, at least not for the MTB which was all we were riding back then. Instead you used some sort of tensioning device like the new to the market Surly Singulator or you just cobbled an old derailleur with extra long limit screws so you could lock it out in a given position. The former actually worked really well but was shunned by the staunch SS purist crowds. The latter worked, poorly, and failed frequently.

Soon we were getting dedicated bikes with slotted/horizontal rear dropouts. This was great but required BMX tensioners in most cases in order to work really well which also meant a nutted, solid axle. That pretty much sucked but was the norm. Disc brakes further confused this issue because the caliper needed to mount consistently based on the axle position. Eventually people started using slotted/ovalized caliper tabs on the frames, which got the job done. Having gotten sick of that setup and really liking the ability to use regular wheels with spacers on the freehub body and a single, easily changeable and cheap cog, I've gone primarily to Eccentric Bottom Bracket (EBB) designs. This is the worst design in the world for tensioning chains, except for all of the rest. Well, actually, the pivoting and sliding, vertical (normal) rear dropout designs are really the best bet. Unfortunately, they are hard to find and tend to be on expensive frames.

With the advent of BB30 and now PF30 compatible frames, you can get an aftermarket EBB adapter that allows you to run a normal frame with normal wheels as a SS bike. I love this idea and have started adopting it. The plan is to convert Cathy's SSCX bike over as well. Another project for another day. For now we will have to stick with what we have though, her horizontal dropout, bolted axle Kona Major One SSCX.

So anyhow, the whole reason for this post was basically, mud. It has been raining like mad recently and the conditions have been horrible. Last weekend the Downeast Cyclocross in New Gloucester, ME was absolutely brutal. I'm usually pretty good in the mud but last Saturday was the kind of mud you just couldn't ride and you had to run, frequently. Literally half of the course you would ride 100' and then run 100' and repeat. I suck at running so was pretty darn mediocre at the race Saturday.

On Sunday the conditions were a little better and I was having a pretty good day. I could ride sections a little better than many and made up lots of ground. That was, until I was riding a mud section that I thought I really should probably be running as it was really deep and had lots of grass pack in. Just as that thought was going through my mind, the rear derailleur sucked into the rear wheel and ripped off the bike. Ugh! I started running with it and soon blew up. I stopped and fished the derailleur from the spokes of the rear wheel so I could push the bike and started running again. The pit was about 1/3 of a lap from where I broke down and in that time I lost about 10 positions. Fortunately my pit bike was set to go and I worked as hard as I could to make up spots. At first it was tough given how gassed and disoriented I was from running but soon I recovered and got into a groove. I managed to gain back all but 5 of the spots and salvaged the day, to a degree. The bike, my good one of course, was mostly OK. A new derailleur hanger, some straightening and cobbling of the rear derailleur and truing the rear wheel (which meant pulling the tubular tire to access the internal nipples) and replacement of some cable housing and the bike was back together. Ready for next time.

When you ride muddy fields with a cyclocross or any other bicycle, a few things become apparent. First, bikes really are not made to ride in that crap. Beyond the issues of bearing contamination and all out destruction, we have an open and fairly fragile drivetrain. The rear derailleur, hanging perilously close to the ground from the tiniest little mount seems destine for failure. When you add grass into the mud, the caged jockey pulleys of the mechanism seem to have an attraction that can not be broken. The grass packs into the pulleys and bunches up, Rim brakes are another problem spot, as they are poorly affected by the mud and water but also because they like to clog up with grass, mud and debris as well. Add to this the fairly narrow openings affording small clearance of the chain and seat stays as well as the fork bridge and you have a whole lot of places that can and do pack in with power sucking mud. This is just a really bad design and a good example of the wrong tool for the job.

As such, I decided that for the upcoming Orchardcross SSCX race this Sunday, I was going to do a test. I figured that I would try and put together a bike that was better suited for the mud as we are virtually guaranteed to have a really nasty course this coming Sunday, given the rain and snow predicted for the weekend coupled with the rain and snow that we have already had this week. What I did was to take my SS 29er MTB and monster-cross it. I like the idea of a SS for a really muddy race in general. If you can gear it low enough for the mud and still be OK for the dry sections, I think you would have a huge advantage. I say this because the drivetrain is simplified to the point where it should be much less impacted by the filth. A normal SSCX bike still has the clearance issues though. A SS MTB however, especially if you run normal 35c CX tires on it has a ton of clearance. The mud may still pack in but no where near as badly as with a CX frame. Lastly, the MTB takes advantage of disc brakes, which tend to not clog with mud and crap as they are fairly isolated from the ground, where the mud and grass is, being that they are in the middle of the wheel.

My one question is going to be in the handling. I think that riding mud with the wider MTB handlebars will be a bunch easier and climbing should be as well. I find that I get better leverage with the MTB bars. Cornering may be problematic as a 29er MTB isn't exactly fast handling when compared to a cross bike. I guess I'll see though. I plan to bring both bikes and will try each and see if I can get a comparison. Who knows. I'm hoping this might be the right tool for the job though.

What Happened to Fall?

2011-10-27T14:42:00.003-04:00

Looks like we got hosed out of yet another transitional season. Seems that this has happened a number of times in the past few year, what with the spring and fall seasons taking a beating. It seems we go right from winter with cold and snow into an immediate change with warm and dry in the Sprummer season and then right from hot and dry to freezing and wet in the Fanter season.

No, it isn't snowing but did we ever get the nice, cool, crisp and sunny fall days that we all look forward to? Maybe I was snoozing and missed them. I seem to recall lots of above average temps and warm, humid and rainy. Now we are right into the 40 degrees and driving rain stage. Yuck. I recall a couple years back going from 40 and rain in March to sunny and 90 degrees a week later in April. We literally were hypothermic at a race one Sunday and people were dropping from heat exhaustion at a race the next Sunday.

Strange days, indeed.

Cathy getting first tracks up Bear Notch 2006/03/31.

Race Training

2011-10-21T10:08:00.000-04:00

Or maybe a better title would be using races as training or possibly just how to effectively screw up a whole day of racing with improper training and racing. Regardless, last week and particularly last weekend I found the perfect combination to sabotage not only my own day of racing but my wife's as well. I'm choosing to take the high road here though, and say that we simply used last week culminating with the day's racing on Sunday as a nice solid block of training. That is much easier than simply admitting suckage.

The weekend prior to last week was a solid block of riding in and of itself despite not racing and last week had some good hard efforts highlighted by the two hour interval road ride on Tuesday. I've been trying to do more of this type of ride and have gotten a good small group together to hit some mild hills really hard. We end up on a very local 35ish mile loop where we sprint it out every time the pavement goes up. This nets us about 13 or 14 good solid 20 second to 1.5 minute efforts. Recovery in between allows for some really good repeats. I've been seeing historic records set in the short interval blocks on a weekly basis. This is a good thing. Anyhow, that was the Tuesday ride followed by the normal cyclocross specific training ride that saw another block of longer intervals, though much less intense. A solid block on the rollers Friday capped off the work week and had me feeling pretty good.

Friday evening as we were pre-registering for the Sunday race, I convinced Cathy that doing a double was the hot setup, because you know, the second race only costs $10. We both registered for the 1/2/3 race as well as the SSCX race, a race that we both hoped to do well at. In the past I've had mixed results with doubling up on races. In some cases I have had great success but in others not so much. If I am feeling good for the first race I often manage to put in respectable results in the second race. Typically though if the first race doesn't go well the second isn't much of an improvement. We would just have to see how things played out.

Unfortunately, I decided that a great pre-race ride would be to do a Saturday AM 50 mile group ride out to Harvard and back because it would be nice and gentle. You know me, I'm excellent at the nice and gentle thing. I can so handle that gig. Oh yea, that's right. I actually totally suck at "nice and easy" and failed "gentle" in kindergarten. This near three hours block of "nice and easy" was the straw. About half way in, right after I did my one and only "opener" hard interval at the top of Oak Hill, it dawned on me that I'd done way too much. Cathy echoed my sentiments shortly after that. The damage was done and despite shutting it down and coming the last 20 miles "easily" home, the legs were whimpering. At home I downloaded the power from the ride and was surprised to see that in no less than three short time interval categories I hit within 50 watts of my personal bests. That either indicates that my personal bests are pretty lame or the ride was probably not "nice and easy". The data confirmed the physiological assumption, this was not the best pre-race ride choice.

Fast forward to Sunday AM and we get to the venue early to support and cheer on the Junior Development Team who showed up in force. The legs for some reason have not recovered from the previous day's activity. I wonder why? I pulled the single-speed off the rack, got suited up and got out onto the course to pre-ride and see what it was all about. Cathy had already headed out on her geared bike to preview the course. Making an appearance at the day-time venue once again was the dreaded flyover of doom. This is always a challenging feature and can be a game-changer if you are not comfortable and proficient with it. On the pre-ride lap my legs actually didn't feel all that bad and so I was still optimistic. As my races were much later in the day, I figured that I would just see how it played out after a few hours of spectating. What else could I do after all?

Cathy rails the wood-chips in the barn.

First up on the day were the Master's events. We had a bunch of NEBC teammates in the mix and walked around the course and spectated. After the Master's events were the Cat4 and Junior races. We had a seven kids in the races from the team including three who would be competing in their first cyclocross race ever. The race was super exciting and very animated as they sent nearly 100 Cat4 Men off at the same time as the 20 Junior racers. It was mayhem. You can read all about it via the NEBC Junior Team Race Report directly. It was great to see all of the kids out there having fun and getting the opportunity to experience a new aspect of cycling. That is what it's all about, if you ask me anyhow. Keep it fresh and keep it fun. We had a total of five of the team bikes the I've been working all season to pull together from strategic purchases and donations from club members and friends. This allows the team to try this new discipline without having to shell out for a bike. We also have some mountain bikes to use for the team as well and have in the past been able to head into the woods to experience yet another discipline. The program is going very well and is having a very positive impact, at least from what I am seeing.

Next up was Cathy's category race. She was doing really well at the start and having a great race but as time went on and the race progressed, I could see my stupidity in ride selection from the day prior was taking a toll. This was when the true extent of my poor judgment sunk in and I realized I hadn't only potentially impacted myself but had sabotaged Cathy's day as well. Ugh! She still managed to finish up strong and never gave up.

My category race drew a big field of primarily younger guys than I am used to racing with. This was because they offered no Master's 35+ 1/2/3 field but instead chose to combine the fields into a single 1/2/3 group. Off the start I wasn't feeling quite up to the task. Combined with the slight uphill sprint into the uphill power section slog I was already in trouble. The younger guys seem to be able to start just a little bit harder than I am comfortable with. This results in me struggling hard at the start and then picking it up when they start to fade off. This happened as usual but I found myself well behind the front end of the race. Despite making up some ground I could never close the gap to the group ahead, who were still charging hard. Despite seeing him coming and trying my hardest to preempt the strike, I got beaten at the finish by SSCX rival Shawn M. which slipped me another place back. That's racing though.

For the single-speeds, I'd switched our gearing combination on the SSCX bikes from the previous race at the venue, opting for a taller gear. I'd changed both of our bikes from 38x17 to 40x17 shortly after the previous race. After spending some time on that combo, including doing a real cross practice including some sprint intervals with the NEBC Junior Development Team, I decided to go bigger still. I've come to realize that riding SS is a very different animal that racing SS. You really want to over-gear for a race situation and suffer through it on the ups with the thought being that it allows you more chance to recover/go faster on the flats and downs. Being spun out at 125rpm is no way to try and recover. So I bumped up to a 42x17 which, after the pre-ride lap I decided was the right choice.

I was still confident that I could hold it all together for a good showing in the SSCX race. That was, until I finished the 1/2/3 and felt the true gravity of the situation. The SSCX race started in 15 minutes and I was, spent. I choked down a Goo and drank some water, pulled off my base layer which I really didn't need in the first place and regretted having in the previous race. At the line I had really good seeding, but then they told us it was to be a Le mans, running start. They then sent us back down the hard-pack sinder road a hundred or so yards. They then put the women off 45 seconds in front of us. This is going to be challenging.

1/2/3 Women Winding up the switchbacks.

The running start was a joke. I'm an OK power runner but with carbon soled shoes and toe spikes on hard-packed surface, I may as well have been running in clogs. Heck, it looked like I was. I got to and on my bike with about 20 people ahead of me. My tired legs balked at the first power climb and the switchbacks were mayhem. I struggled, thrashed and floundered like a walrus caught in a fishing net. It wasn't pretty. As the course opened up I started to make some headway, and then we hit the women. The only point at which this was a real issue was when I got stuck behind a small but opinionated and vocal woman going up the flyover. It wasn't pretty and it was slow. The rest of the race was just trying to chase back through the spots I'd lost at the start. The short is that I managed to get most of the spots back and had the group ahead of me and even the leaders back in sight with a couple of laps to go but I could not even match the final lap pace, let alone close. The gear choice was spot on, I just wish I'd have had the ability to use it. Cathy thought she was a little high, but I suspect that was Saturday's ride and the 1/2/3 race earlier talking. I know that she can push a big gear when she wants to.

So lets just chalk that one up to a block of training. This week started with the plan to do some steady, recovery riding and not further tax myself. Other than going out for a very, very short run on Monday which basically crippled me for days, the goal was met. I'm hoping for good legs for the weekend of racing in Maine. Will see what happens. I'm optimistic and looking forward to the weekend at the very least.

Entitlement Revisited

2011-10-20T12:22:00.006-04:00

It is the one year anniversary of this blog. Yes, that's right, it has been a little more than a year now that I have been going on and on about, well, not much at all in general. How time flies. As part of the anniversary celebration I thinks it time to stir some sh!t up, if you will, and look into some of the crap that I get to hear about when I get home from work. That as opposed to crap I get to clean up when I get home from work. Speaking of stirring and cleaning up sh!t, I'll have to give you my hot setup tip for cat litter at some point. My own secret blend of herbs and spices that totally neutralizes the kitten poops.

Anyhow ...

Why is it that the topic of entitlement just won't seem to go away? Last year I wrote a piece on it from my perspective as a club racer and team captain who was trying to balance and rationalize the demands and expectations of those affiliated with the clubs race teams as well as amateur racing in general. This year it seems that the target of those entitled are the unfortunate individuals that find themselves higher in the race standings, referred to as the sandbaggers in order to retain outward consistency, than those entitled masses. These masses are the ones that expect or more, demand to finish higher up in the standings than they currently are because, you know, they deserve and are entitled to it, and so they themselves can upgrade into further mediocrity if not into just plain absurdity.

I must admit that I have not been part of this whole thing first hand. That is not to say that I have not been privy to accounts and recounts of both sides. At first glance I would agree that the same people seem to be winning certain low level amateur races week in and week out, by a large margin. The races in question tend to be non-elite races at the big UCI series events. These people also tend to be a combination of mostly Junior racers (under 18 years old) and Masters racers (over 35 years old). On the surface it would be easy to quickly dismiss them as sandyboogers and demand their immediate category upgrade to push them out of the amateur races and into the elite races, even though none of them are professional cyclists who get paid to race their bikes. Clean, easy and unfortunately, shortsighted.

If anyone looks at the rules they will notice a couple of things. First, junior racers can not participate in the UCI elite races that we have in this region. That means for those Juniors that upgrade beyond a category allowed in an amateur race, they could no longer race any of the larger local series events, period. Next, for the Masters racers, they can indeed race in the UCI elite races with the purchase of a UCI license. However, if they score any UCI points at all they would be barred from competing in the Masters World Championships. So after spending all the dough on a license you'd basically have to DNF every race you enter or run the risk of miscalculating your finish and gaining unwanted UCI points. This is reflected in a piece here. But hey, at least they'd be out of your way, right?

A big problem is that sandbagger is a very relative term that means many different things to different people. There are also many external factors that people fail to take into consideration when passing judgment. Of course there are legitimate sandbagger out there, those who just enjoy doing well and refuse to progress in category to the point of mediocrity. Actually, one can easily say that those people are realists and understand both their limitation as well as the true fact that greater motivation is derived by positive results than by negative results, at least by most.

I personally feel that in the beginner category, which is Cat4 for cyclocross, people should indeed be pushed through and out as soon as they are competent to safely compete. As such, Cat4 should have no incentives or rewards given for placings, nothing to entice people to stay there. Cat4 is supposed to be the place where those coming into the sport get to experience the fun and positive aspects and where the hook is set, so to speak. It's not supposed to be a destination. At present, this is not the case. We have career Cat4 racers. Judging from the field sizes, we have a lot of them.

I think that in order for the sport to progress, we need to discourage that from happening. Because the sport is so top heavy yet thin in the mid section for a certain gender based segment, there is not sufficient volume to warrant a separate Cat3 field. At the UCI races it is unfair to require the Cat3 racers to purchase a UCI license and race with the professionals and as such, you end up with a combined field. If you want a separate race, grow the Cat3 field. This may not give you a separate time slot but it could possibly result in a staggered start, separately scored event.

The bottom line however, is that there is a point at which upgrade no longer makes sense. Many of us wrestled with this in mountain bike racing recently, when the categories and rules were changed/consolidated and we were told in no uncertain terms that we could not upgrade further regardless of the local results we'd gotten, which in the past would have qualified for an upgrade. Pro means pro as in you get paid to do it as a job. It is not an ability based classification. In the real world what that means is that no matter how good at writing blog posts or how much content you churn out, you are not a professional writer unless someone values your work enough to pay you for it. As such, I may be a professional software engineer but I'm still just an amateur cyclist.

I think it is truly unfortunate that so many seem to feel entitled to results beyond those they are naturally able to achieve. What happened to hard work and time in the trenches? What leads people to believe that if they are unable to win the races that they are in, that they will somehow do better in the higher level races. Why is it that people are satisfied scoping the classification that they are part of sufficiently that they too attain the results they are looking for? I like to compare myself against everyone, not just the SSCX 44 year old bald/overweight men from Bedford. On the up side, I'm totally dominating that category!

StFUaR, harder in fact, as the case may be!

They'll Never Learn

2011-10-14T07:04:00.002-04:00

You 'd think that after the experience last winter, coupled with other past experiences, that "they" would learn. There are certain things that you just shouldn't eat.

Last weekend we took a break from cross racing made the trip up to our place in Maine to celebrate Thanksgiving with Cathy's folks. On the way up Thursday night, we stopped at Tim Horton's in Oxford, ME for some "doughnuts". Traditionally, they are one of the few places that carries sour cream doughnuts, save for intermittent appearances in the bakery of our local Stop&Shop. Those are about as good a doughnut as you can get from a chain. However, we were disappointed to find them out (who would have guessed they would be out at 9PM on a Thursday) and also that what they did have, was less than stellar. It had probably been sitting around since the early AM run. Regardless, we were there and foolishly purchased a dozen of their doughnut dregs.

On a side note, they are working feverishly on the new Resort Casino that is going in on RT26 just south of Oxford. It is going to be something, I'm sure. Will be interesting to see what it ends up looking like and what kind of business is does. We don't really gamble but on odd trips to Vegas in the past we have enjoyed playing very limited amounts of quarter slots. This was back in the pre-virtual day when the payout was in actual quarters and you pulled a handle. We would take a bag of loose change with us and dole that out on a daily allotment basis for a gambling money. Winnings went in the pocket, not back into the kitty and we would usually come back with more than we went with. Yes, we're also really boring in real life, if you haven't guessed so far.

I'm not sure why I do it. Since I've started sampling gourmet quality artisan doughnuts, the chains just don't measure up. It's like drinking crappy beer or having chain pizza or fast food burgers. They simply leave too much to be desired, so much so that you end up regretting having made the choice in the first place. Sort of a buyers remorse situation but on a slightly smaller scale. Come Monday morning we were back home and made the pilgrimage to Kane's in Saugus, MA for the real deal. Nothing else really measures up afterall.

You'll be sorry!

In the mean time, we found a use for the remnant chain doughnuts, if you can actually call them that. Though they seemed very happy to get them, I'm pretty sure there were some upset stomachs later on. Hope this doesn't qualify us for endangering the wildlife.

G-Star Worlds

2011-10-13T17:55:00.005-04:00

Better late than never? Yea, I know, it was two weeks ago but I've been ... busy, doing important ... stuff. No, really, I have.

This is the big show for sure.

If you live in the Northeast and race cyclocross, then you know all about the Grand Prix of Gloucester race weekend in Gloucester, MA. It has developed into the biggest cycling event in the Northeast and one of the biggest cyclocross races in the nation. Most fields fill up and sell out despite having huge, 100 plus rider, field limits. In a phrase, it's the big show.

Traditionally I have performed very well at Gloucester, comparatively speaking anyhow. By this I mean that I usually finish better than expected. The exception to this was last year. 2010 was a pretty miserable year for me with some huge inconsistencies and big ups but really big downs as well. Gloucester was one of the initial downs that set the stage for much of the remainder of the season. A few days before the race weekend, I washed out on a wet paved corner during cross practice. Instead of just slide out and go down in a slid, I washed the front wheel but it then caught and slammed me over the bike and into the pavement with my left shoulder and side of my head. I though that I'd broken or torn something but x-rays were clean so I sucked it up, covered the road rash and raced a couple days later. My performance was not up to par however and despair began to take hold. In hindsight, something is torn in the shoulder as it is still messed up but even slightly tweaked shoulders are often better than the surgical alternatives.

This year has had some ups and downs as well but in general, it has been pretty positive and as such, I remained hopeful. Keeping it all in perspective is the theme for this and every other year now. Our friends Marc and Vicki came down from Ottawa and stayed with us for the weekend. Marc and I race in the same field, though he is on a whole different level than I am. This made for a nice change and good company as well as an excuse to cook lots of food.

The women in action.

We arrived in Gloucester on Saturday AM to some very wet conditions as it literally poured inches the night before. As bad as that sounds and as much as I HATE MUD, I'm actually fairly proficient in it and tend to see my best results when the conditions get nasty. Rain, mud, snow, cold, wind, they are all without doubt, my frienemies. The course was much changed from those of past, incorporating many additional turns and technical features as well as including a new fly-over feature as well. This may not be bad I quietly thought to myself.

Cathy's race was earlier in the morning than mine so we got her setup and ready. I took her spare bike to the pit and then grabbed her jacket at the start. She chose to ride her backup bike which had more mud clearance via wide pull canti brakes. It also had alloy rims with more mud specific tubular tires and a double ring setup in the front, so was a good choice. She had a good race and was solid the whole time, beating many that she does not normally beat. A most successful start to the weekend of racing.

Cyclocross in New England.

Stupidly, I'd looked at the crossresults.com race predictor and based on the statistics, I was slated to finish a not so spectacular 29th out of a hundred something riders. That spoke highly of the quality of competition at the race but had me a little bit bummed as it was even worse than last years finish. The predictor is often scary accurate. The weather and conditions, however, may change all of this. Based on points and results I managed a third row call-up, which was nice given that we started with over 100 participants lined up completely across the road in rows of 10. The start had me concerned as we shot on pavement up the hill and then into a paved roundabout into a really hard and tight left, also on pavement, wet pavement. This could be interesting, or ugly, I wasn't sure which. I managed to get a fairly good start and went hard but remained cautious and we made it through the roundabout but there was a crash to the far left, just starting the hard left hand corner. I was able to stay right and make it through.

I know that the devil is in the detail but the race was a blur of slick corners, run-ups, mud-bog sections and flyovers. I recall doing an early race back-slide followed by a recovery and a respectable up-slide to take positions back and then some. Based on the results, I think I had a good day. I was able to go hard but steady at the start and then ramp it up solidly for the last couple of laps for a 16th place finish. I even managed to beat the race predictor by a sizable margin, so I had that going for me, which was nice. Some spectating and a beer or two and then it was head home and clean the bikes and clothing. Ah the life of a part time amateur cyclocross racer.

Day two showed the promise of better conditions than day one. The course proved to be very different than anything ever seen before with the notable addition of a long beach run in a neat little bay that I'd never even noticed before. This was followed by a long stair run-up. Great course design. The flyover was out, which was fine by me. Conditions had firmed up nicely and the race was sure to be fast and hard from the get go.

Cathy was again up first for our team and I had a great time chasing her around the course taking pictures and cheering her on to a great ride and a very successful weekend. She had planned to use the same bike as the day before but I suggested she may want to use her better bike. The course had tacked up and there was little mud at all left. With it hard and fast, the lighter bike with the single ring up front, carbon wheels with slightly less aggressive tubular tires and braking provided by some TRP mini-V's, my thought was that she should be much faster. She thanked me for this after the race.

Another respectable starting position and reasonably good start had me in the mid twenties early on. I was able to gain some ground in the first lap or two and was solidly in about 21st spot for some time, chasing a group of the usual guys. I finally recovered from early debt and chase onto the group ahead on the road section through the finish for 2 laps to go. I could see that they were playing some cat and mouse so rather than slow down and sit in I decided to keep on the gas and attack through them. By this point, there was an off smelling little puddle forming just down-slope from the bathroom facility in the main gazebo. It seemed to be percolating out of a manhole cover. I was sure it was just gray water overflowing and not raw sewage, right? I mean come on, they wouldn't run us through a poo-bog, would they? Regardless, I kept my mouth closed and tried to go gingerly through it each lap, as it swelled in size, eventually breaching and pooling yet again further down the course.

This got me a little gap and created some separation. My idea was to hit them hard on the run-up, where I seemed to be faster, on the windy back straight slight uphill section and then get to the sand first drilling it with the hope of getting a good gap. It all worked well and I came flying into the sand. Now, I ride a lot of sand. It is a huge part of our weekly cross practice course with a full lap of beach sand around a man-made swimming area. I'm pretty proficient at it. Unfortunately, when I hit the sand at 20 plus MPH I got pulled right and into bump (sand mogul) that had formed. This was enough to send too much weight to the front end and on the next bump I launched over the bars.

Luckily, I landed on my feet and caught the bike and was able to run it out, but I lost not only my gap but one position as well. This also gassed me pretty bad and when the inevitable attack came after the stairs, I couldn't follow it. This slipped me from 15th back to 21st. Ugh, that sucked and looked really, really stupid I'm sure. But hey, if you have a plan that you act on, it's racing, regardless of the outcome, right? I plodded on and managed to recover and get serious again but didn't have much time to work with. I pulled one spot back and then tried to race ahead to the two racers just up ahead. The other two of the group that passed me back after my, incident, Frankie and Steve, were gone again up the course to the next group and were very unlikely to be caught by me. With another sharp attack part way through the final lap, I was able to snag two more positions back but couldn't quite reach the one just ahead, our friend Marc. This netted me a 17th place finish on the day and another successful race.

We changed up and did some spectating from the beer tent with teammates and friends. Once again out friend Sherri spotted up some beer, which was wholly uncalled for yet very appreciated. We are very fortunate to have good friends. I've mentioned this in the past but wanted to again. I was absolutely beside myself by the number of people I heard cheering for me during my races throughout the weekend. I was also amazed by the number of friendly faces saying hello. I'm truly humbled by the kindness of our friends in the New England cycling community. Thank you.

Cyclocross Whirlwind

2011-10-03T09:25:00.002-04:00

Wow, that was a whole lot racing. It didn't really seem like it as we were planning it out and with the short breaks in between, it didn't seem that bad as it was happening. That said, in retrospect, we did five cyclocross races in nine days. This may not seem like all that much by professional standards, but we are not professionals, at least not professional cyclists. We both work full time, maintain our house, ourselves, two mischievous kittens (actually young cats now) and a fleet of bicycles that due to foul weather racing, are constantly in need of attention.

It was a good block of fun though and I'm hard pressed to say much of anything bad about any of the events or experiences of the past races. I'll have more to come on this past weekends events, the Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester, also know as the New England world championships of the world, including a full recap, probably. The Cliff Notes version is that I did significantly better that last year and though not my best finish ever at the venue, I beat the odds predictors and had a pretty good weekend.

I believe that this will be the end of the tour for a bit as we are going to take next weekend off to celebrate (Canadian) Thanksgiving with Cathy's folks at our place in Maine. We are hoping to get in some good, fun rides and maybe squeak in a final trip of the season to the Kingdom Trails. Given the weather coupled with the course layout, I think that we will also pass on the Night Weasels race this year.

One thing that I want to take some time to reflect upon is how truly fortunate I am. Fortunate to be healthy enough to be able to race my bike in the first place. We all know of people for whom that isn't an option. Our health is precious and we should never take it for granted.

Fortunate to be secure financially. As much as I complain and whine about my job, I realized long ago that I have it as good as it gets. I've got a good, secure job that pays well and is manageable from a time perspective. Although it may not really be a true passion of mine, it affords me the luxury of doing that which I am passionate about. I've come to realize that in the game of trade-offs, this is all that anyone can hope to ask for. Most people are unable to achieve this balance so I really am fortunate to have what I have.

Fortunate to be part of such a warm and welcoming community, the New England cycling and particularly racing community. I'm astounded by the number of really nice people that we have come to know as a result of bike racing over the past six seasons that we have been part of the scene. It never ceases to amaze me as to how many people I hear cheering by name as I am racing or just saying hello as we pass. The outside world has come to be a very retracted, self centered space. It is nice to know that we have a community that breaks those self imposed bounds. This is part of the game; supporting each other. Cathy and I also love cheering everyone on. I am truly humbled though at the support given by our friends. I will always try to do my best to be worthy of that support.

Fortunate to live in what I continue to argue is one of the best regions in the world for cycling. We have ample quality off-road riding basically right out the door via conservation lands but also within an hour of Boston there are no less than twenty destination quality areas in which to ride mountain bikes. On the road side we sit at the doorstep of endless miles of excellent country road rides. Couple that with the fact that within a couple hours we open to great mountain notch, gap and pass routes that are easily looped together into epic as well as scenic rides and what more could you as a cyclist ask for? If that is competition and races, New England is on the very short list of top regions. We actually have the dilemma of often having too many races to choose from and so much competition that fields actually fill up and sell out. And speaking of that competition, it is as fierce and deep as any place in the world.

I am however, fortunate most of all to have a partner and wife that shares the same life passions that I do. I fully recognize how rare this is and how lucky I am to have the opportunity to be able to pursue common passions together, as a team. I know that I often take this fact and for that matter Cathy for granted but do honestly realize how special our relationship is, and for that I give thanks.

Oh yea, and the kittens. Though they can and often are a pain in the bottom, I am fortunate to have them and the positive impact that they have made on our lives.

Life is good.

Midnight Ride SSCX-fest

2011-09-29T12:10:00.002-04:00

Holy crap that was hard. I've done a number of SSCX races in the past. Most were hard but this one was brutal. The key I think was to have a much taller gear than you would ever possibly think that you would want in order to deal with the relatively flat course layout of the Midnight Ride Cyclocross night race at the fairgrounds in Lancaster, MA. At least, that is my thought and I'm sticking to it. NEBC had an awesome turnout for the race and the field with Cathy and Teri in the women's portion of the mass start event, Scott, Keith, Jason, Mark and junior team member Ethan who was shut out of the Cat3/4 race (got to pre-reg for this stuff) but I was able to cobble his Shimano gearing and get it locked into a gear for him.

After my disastrous SSCX outing at Quadcross with a chain that dropped a total of FIVE TIMES during the race, I was a little nervous with the setup. I'd entertained thoughts of switching cranks and running an inner and outer front guide ring and then switching from a freewheel to a normal freehub wheel with spacers, a cog and guide plates on the rear as well. I went so far as to try and get the crank with the guide plates and a 40 tooth ring on the bike but struck out. It was a carbon triple and the granny gear post mounts hit my EBB shell. I ground them off and then the SS chain was rubbing on the guide ever so slightly. I gave up and left what I had on it, on it. This was a 38x17 which should be fine, right? Afterall, SS is all about working with what you have.

Pre-riding the course I knew that it was going to be fast but the gear choice seemed good for the sidehill section and the numerous corners. The course had tons of switchback grass turns though and some were a little greasy. After a bunch of racing they would undoubtedly be very greasy. I was second guessing my tire choice, Kenda Small Block Eights, which are close spaced, minimal treads. I also chose to run high pressure for fear of a pinch-flat. Talking with the favored racer in the competition, Curtis, I quickly got concerned. He was running a monster gear, a 42x15. That would be brutal on the sidehill and trying to sprint out of corners but on the long slightly downhill straight section it would give him a few extra mph comfortably. I now had some solid regrets.

On the line it was slight mayhem as the chief ref, good buddy John, was trying to insert displaced Cat3/4 field racers as well as stage based on points. I got bumped to the second row, which made exactly no difference in the long run really. As expected, at the whistle it was a mad dash at 25mph into a narrowing chute and a hard grass corner. I was like 10th wheel or so, already behind. Ahead were the favorites, Curtis, Shawn, Doug, Matt and CJ, all of whom have been crushing me of recent. Directly in front of me was Jerry, who was moving well. We stuck close but at some point, a gap started to open between Jerry and the lead pack of five racers. I knew that I need to get across so made a mad dash but couldn't quite get on the train. This left me gassed at the sidehill section and the gap widened. I was unable to close through the high speed start finish and thus began my multi lap chase from no man's land. This was utterly brutal. Somewhere in there Doug also ended up behind me and chasing, though I'm not sure where it was, just that I remember running from him for what seemed a long time.

After a few laps Curtis finally figured out he should take advantage of his big gearing on the high speed sections and was able to snap the chain and get away. The chasing group slowed and within a half lap I made contact. I sat on the three others for a bit and then one by one people pulled off the front and when it was my turn at the front, I promptly washed out and went down. I got up quickly but had lost position. More importantly was the fact that I twisted my bars, a lot. I considered riding that way but attempted a moving adjustment by kicking the front wheel. That was a bad idea as I hit the spokes. After the high speed triple barriers, which I was convinced I was going to eat it in at some point, I stopped a tried to recenter the bars. Not much of a loss but it didn't take much. I could never close the hundred feet or so that I lost, especially as Shawn started drilling it in earnest, chasing after Curtis.

The rest of the race I tried to close it down and made some progress on CJ and Matt but the attacks from them were almost rhythmic in their regularity. The final saw CJ gap Matt a bit with a big acceleration coming out of the wood-chips. I chased hard knowing this was it and was gaining steadily on Matt, almost to him on the sidehill, where I went cautiously around teammate Teri who was running 2nd in the women's race. On the steep down to up hairpin Matt ate it but managed to run up the hill faster than I could ride it. Luckily he slid out again around the tree on the gradual up before the stairs and I got by him and drilled it. That was it. Down the hill to the finish spinning like a gerbil at 25mph only to nearly slam into people coming onto the course right after the finish-line in order to pre-ride. Nice move! Seems they were a little short on course marshals. Added plus, no chain drop issues this time.

Cathy brought home the bacon.

Cathy had an awesome race and won the women's event. She was killing it and never got lapped. She also beat a bunch of men, for which she was extra excited. She is also now leading the Zanconato SSCX Women's Series. I think that it was really good that they did a mass start that was as it allowed her to have people to race against. Even though there were 50 people racing the SSCX event, most were men. Too bad the women don't jump onto the bandwagon as well. It's really a lot of fun. Overall I'd say that may have been a benchmark event. The whole scene was super festive, the location is excellent as are the facilities. If they added some food vendors and got a permit for beer, it would be world class.

White Park Cyclocross

2011-09-28T07:35:00.004-04:00

New to the race calendar for this year was the White Park Cyclocross race in Concord, NH. The organizers of this race, NHCC, are one of a very small number of promoters that have the fortitude to go up against the defacto New England cyclocross empire, the New England Verge Series. For this season Verge has restructured and in doing so, seems to have emerged even broader, leaving a precious few weekends open for the little dogs to fight over. What we end up with is a calendar marked by the series events and then five races dotted across the region on each of the remaining weekends.

I'm really not certain why the smaller local events feel the need to fight it out with each other for the remaining weekend scraps, but they have done so in the past and from what I can see continue to do so for 2011. This is evidenced by the fact that there were exactly zero alternatives to the Verge series weekends in Vermont, Gloucester, Providence and Maine. I understand for Gloucester, which is truly the big show and basically the New England world championships of the world. Maybe for Providence but Vermont or Maine? I really loved the Maine event when it was a small, grassroots style non-series event but now, not so much. I really hope that we start to see more of the local grassroots races rise up and take a stand. I know that we will patronize them and I know that there are a lot of other people that don't necessarily feel compelled to follow the series events. I've had my run at the big events and while they attract the fiercest competition and are systematically uniformly run with courses that mostly have a similar underlying feel, I always seem to have much more fun with the smaller venues that tend to construct slightly more diverse and interesting courses.

Anyhow, off the rant and back to the story. White Park is the venue for the long standing Concord Criterium, a race that I have done a number of times in the past. As such I had some limited familiarity with the park. Though I'd never really explored the terrain in the park at all, I'd passed around the periphery and peered in at some of the landscape features. My fear was that the course would end up being a grass version of the Concord Crit. The weather was not exactly spectacular for the week leading up to the race with some significant rainfall coming the day before. We arrived Saturday AM to fog and mist in the air and unseasonable humidity and warm temperatures. That said, it was not raining and did not end up raining all day long. A first look at the course was very positive. We could quickly see this was not going to be a grass crit by any stretch of the imagination. Excellent! With that we got suited up to go take a lap before the Men's Cat4 race got underway.

The course began with a starting chute that brought you onto the primary course lap via a straight and a couple of wide, high speed chicanes. This then brought you to a couple more sweeping corners and headed onto the straights that bordered the manicured soccer field. The field was very nice, perfectly leveled with built in drainage and irrigation and very expensive looking. I feared we would trash the border of the field, which the course went along, resulting in 2011 being the first and only version of the event. Despite a couple of soft and wet sections on the side of the field border, the damage seemed to have been minimal. Hopefully this bodes well for the future of this excellent event.

The course then went around three sides of the field and on the back side there were a set of double barriers. This section was damp and spongy making the remount challenging with muddy, clogged cleats. We were then shot right up a steep grunt climb, then back downhill into a slick, off-camber 180 turn around a big tree and back up and around a left turn to a cross slope followed by another tight off-camber turn and up. This cut us across the slope in a very challenging fashion. We then descended back to the field, banked right across a gravel path and up over a bank, through some more tight corral sections, by the pit into another corral section of hairpins and into one of the primary feature of the course. This was a steep dirt run up that dumped you hard right and out onto a gravel road ascent, forcing continued running until the slope evened a bit. Remount and then a hard left into the root and rock strewn upper sections. No rest here as you had slight rises and corners all of which contained flat inducing roots and rocks. The section necessitated lots of smooth power while hovering lightly on the pedals so as not to pinch-flat on the roots or was out in the bumpy corners. Descent from the upper section was on a gravel road which brought you back into a host of tricky corners and high speed chicanes before finally looping you back by the pit and out onto the infield chicanes for the lap. Wow, that was a really, really fun course.

The Master Men's 35+ field was small but had many of the normal die hard crew from Cyclocrossracing.com, BOB and Noreast including Nick who was the mastermind behind the course design, Gary who is promoting the Midnight Ride cyclocross race this week and the lanky yet lovable G-Willy and Americas favorite bike racing teacher/veteran, Eric. NEBC teammate Scotty was there for the good guys and also there was arch breakaway for the entire race and then crush me in the sprint finish rival Patrick. Rounding out the field that I quickly sized up on the line was Damien, who is always pretty evenly matched. This should be a good race, based on course layout compared with my skill set. As such I decided on a plan and at the whistle, began implementing it.

The plan was simple. Go as hard as I could to take the hole shot and hold it as long as possible in order to see what kind of damage was done. This simple plan worked and I managed to take get the lead and drilled it as hard as a could through the barriers so I'd have a clear road for the technical off-camber switchbacks and side-hill turns. Everyone was pushing really hard and I was not getting away. Fresh legs and bellies full of anger lashed out at the bikes and allowed none of that. Hard and clean became the mantra, trying to be as smooth as possible and gain ground where I could. I chose to ride part of the way up the run-up, which left an awkward dismount but was still clean. That run was good for me and I could really charge up it. Through the top section we had a long string but no real gaps yet. Back down and through the chicanes, through the finish for the lap and I had an ever so small gap on Damien with Chris not far behind. Stay on the gas and try and stretch it out some. The barrier section into the steep ride-up proved my biggest challenge as I would spank me every lap. Damien would take time back on me there each lap. Fortunately I was able to stretch it out some on the rest of the course. The laps ticked by slowly and despite thinking it was a long course in warm-ups, we ended up doing seven laps during the race. The remainder of those laps went smoothly, with no big changes. My gap never really went out much and it was a solid race all the way to the finish with me never letting up much at all. I was fortunate to have a clean ride with no mishaps and managed to claim the victory.

Cathy was up next so we quickly got her squared away and ready to race. She did great in an open women's field that had a ton of talent. I think that she liked the course as well, though probably not as much as I did. What can I say, my kind of terrain. Our junior team had a few kids there and racing as well so after Cathy finished up they were up and we spectated and cheered wildly for them. We had a solid second and fourth place going for most of the race but one of the kids flatted near the end and was forced to abandon having no spare wheel in the pit. His bike is an 8 speed where as the other bikes are primarily 9 speed. I'm going to change that and also get a spare set of wheels together for them that we can put in the pit for the team.

All in all, Saturday was a very busy but very good day. We stopped on the way back for some food and then did some chores when we finally got back home. Days like that remind me why I still do this. I kind of wish that I'd have doubled up and done the 1/2/3 race later in the day, and left the weekend's racing at that, saving Sunday for all of the chores that stacked up from the week. Those are the ones that I was doing last night after I got home from work, well into the evening and past the sunset.

Changes

2011-09-23T08:02:00.007-04:00

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy. Between the normal challenges of trying to get the housework completed and the lawn mowed while working a full day coupled with the waning evening light and some other distractions, it has been busy. The changing seasons always seem to bring changes with them. The summer to fall change seems to be the most dramatic though, as time in the form of daylight is snatched from us.

Last weekend we did a day trip up to Williston, VT to do the first day of a two day cyclocross race weekend. Usually we do the whole weekend but this year we decided not to make the commitment. The course was tough with lots of climbing and not much of anything in the way of technical features to play to my strengths or rather away from my weaknesses. As such, my performance was not stellar but in reality, it never has been at that venue. Cathy had a good race and all in all, it was a pretty good day. After the race, or rather, after Cathy came and rescued me from a flat rear Tufo Cubus on my pit bike caused by a sidewall scuff/tear that finally gave up on me, suffered during a post race cooldown ride on the roads of Williston, we went to get some food. I thought it would be novel to visit the iconic Al's French Frys, a landmark drive in on Willston Road in South Burlington that has been in business since the 1940's, the last time they changed the grease in the fryers. My mother told stories of it from when she went to school in Burlington and I remember it from when I was at UVM so many years ago. With a belly full of grease we headed for home.

Despite the changing season, the NEBC Junior Development Team has still been marching forward, albeit in a slightly diminished capacity given the new school year that is in full swing. That said, we just got yet another new member. There is still plenty of interest out there and clearly we are fulfilling a need. I'm still busy trying to cobble bikes together for the kids from club donations as well as insane amounts of donations from my good friend and primary enabler Chris at the Bikeway Source. This week we got in a nice team cyclocross practice that a bunch of the boys were able to make it to. Fun stuff though to mosquitoes are absolutely insane out there right now. It seems to be a perfect storm if you will, of those miserable little monsters. I'm hoping beyond hope for a good hard, killer frost in the near future. It doesn't look good for the short term forecast though.

We have also finally gotten into full swing on an addition that we are doing to our house. It involves a new deck off the back of the house connecting with a detached, three season room. We started the process way, way back in June, when our contractor buddy Wayne was dead busy and booked. We wanted to get moving so spoke with the contractor who has done all of the other work on our house over the years including the huge addition a number of years back, another good guy named Bill. After a later than expected start coupled with some permit delays, we finally got started a couple weeks ago. Progress has been good and the addition is going to be great once it is complete.

Speaking of changes, I recently got it in my mind that it was finally time for a work change. Over the past couple of years the work situation has degraded and the final straw was that an executive realized that because they consolidated all of the labs (primarily individual acquired companies) for the state of Massachusetts to a single lab, located centrally in god forsaken, public transportationless Littleton, people would spend more time working from home rather than wasting their time and money driving and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Who'd have thought? Well, he decided that it would be a good idea to mandate that everyone is instead physically in the office five days a week. Excellent.

So anyway, I finally got sick of complaining and decided to do something about it. I published my resume and started an earnest job search with the primary criteria of being within a few miles of home. This is totally reasonable given that we are positioned centrally in the heart of the MA high tech zone. It wasn't long before I got some interest and last week I went on my first interview in over eleven years (yes, I've been with the same company for a long time). The people seemed very nice and the job would be a good fit. The best thing was that the job is actually in my home town which if nothing else, would make me feel as though I'm being more responsible environmentally. You may laugh, but I do think about this more and more these days.

Yesterday the official offer came through. Apparently the very nice people that gave me references, lied. Now I need to decide. There are pros and cons to the whole thing as well as other details that further complicate things. Bottom line is that I need to figure out what is best for me and will allow me to maintain the lifestyle I have become so accustomed to living. That lifestyle is less about money and more about time to do the things that I really love. After a long soul search I've come to a realization which has brought me to a decision, a decision that is all too familiar. One that was a previous conclusion to a thread explored right here. Now I just need to act.

Quadcrossed

2011-09-15T13:03:00.001-04:00

Well, I guess it's here for real. It really is funny how it seems to happen, especially the past few years; it just sort of sneaks up on you. One minute you are doing the second half of the crit season and trying to get in some of those last long weeknight road rides before the lights go out and then boom, Labor Day hits and we are face to face with another cyclocross season. The addition of the early season races in the western part of the state has provided a way to ease back in, sort of like getting into the pool slowly from the shallow end. In ways, I find that comforting as that first time out each season is always awkward. The whole dismount, run and remount, though familiar from mountain biking, is still strange.

Last weekend was the annual Quadcross cyclocross race, which has come to be the official start of the cyclocross season, displacing the venerable Suckerbrook race as the defacto opener. In the past, the race was held in our hometown of Bedford at the Middlesex Community College campus. This had come to be not only a very convenient but also very solid venue at which to hold a cross race. The course had evolved to be challenging, well designed and fun. Unfortunately, the venue was lost for this season and an alternate was secured by the promoter, good guy Ted Packard. The new venue was at the Maynard Rod and Gun Club in scenic Maynard, MA, not quite as close to home as before but still only a couple of towns over from us.

The plan for the day for both Cathy and I was to double up, competing first in our respective races and then late in the day, the final race in fact, we would venture out for the single-speed race. As usual, we arrived at the venue to get the NEBC team tent setup, which was actually the last time for us as someone else is taking that over. We also wanted to watch the Cat4 race in which we had a Junior team member racing. The early arrival also allowed us to get out and pre-ride the course. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the course was and how much fun it should be. The Cat4 race was mayhem, as always, with a big and diverse field all looking for the holeshot and eventual win. Our junior was doing great, sitting in about 12th position until he managed to ride just a little bit past his capabilities and crashed spectacularly, nearly ripping the very number off from his back. Ah but youth, they bounce well. He jumped back in and finished up strong mid pack.

From the recon, the course was going to surely prove to be a challenge from a number of aspects. There were few places on the course to really recover. The course had numerous technical sections, including serpentine, off-camber, side-hill twists as well as 180 degree turns, high speed barriers, a sand-pit and multiple steep grunt climbs, one of which had a mini-barrier at the foot. This meant a dismount and run for some or a high speed bunny-hop for those with the ability. Other features of note were a high speed gravel road descent with a dogleg off into the woods and back onto the road as well as a loose gravel road 90 degree turn and also a 180 degree turn. Then another fast downhill gravel road section into a steep 4' up with an immediate 90 degree left into a 180 right from which you accelerated out of into grass field. It played out like tuck, jump, break-hard-turn-left, hard right, hit the gas. You can imagine that not everyone got this just right and there were a number of crashes.

Next up was Cathy in the women's Cat3/4 masters field. They went out at the end of the Cat3/4 women's field, which has absolutely huge numbers. The race was hotly contested and Cathy did excellent finishing really strong. You can read about that here as she can tell the whole story a lot better than I can. Although I was trying to watch was also working to get the NEBC Junior Development Team squared away, which proved to be a challenge of last minute tweaks and adjustments.

First up for me was the Master's 35+ 1/2/3 race. This is my normal race and although this particular event is considered a B race for most in terms of the size and scope, there were still of number of really strong guys in the field. Compound this by the fact that the top two 45+ racers also took the starting line and it was sure to be a real battle. The crossresults.com race predictor, which I had vowed never to look at again, had me showing in 6th prior to race day. A quick look at the competition on the line and I feared that me be a tall order. Staging was supposed to be by ranking but that didn't quite happen. I ended up in the second row after the starting grid free-for-all melee went down. Not where I wanted to be but still not bad. At the gun we went hard and I was determined to make some spots up from where I found myself setting, about 10th wheel, once we went single-file.

The sandpit proved a challenge en-mass as did a number of other sections. The mini-barrier run up proved to be a full speed bunny-hop ride up. After the initial scrum and settling, where I got by a careening Peter S. and a washed out Damien C. , I found myself chasing Pete S. who was chasing down Sammy M. in turn. I'd lost a bit of time and the pair had a solid gap on me. At one point I closed in behind Pete, who then stacked in front of me in the sand bringing me to a stop as I hopped over his bike. He managed to get up and stay ahead and actually got a gap which I could never close. In fact, he soon caught and passed Sammy as I struggled to make forward progress.

With a couple to go, I was finally gaining some ground and in the barrier section just before coming around for one to go I made contact. Regrettably, I thought it wise to sit on and conserve a bit. This proved a bad choice as we were well into traffic and passing proved difficult, let alone trying to make a move to get by Sam. On the access road down he crushed it and put me on the ropes between the sheer power required to stick and the effort to make the sketchy passes to get by others and stay with him. The final kicker was the mini-barrier ride up. Sammy was drifting left so I thought I could get by on the right. Clearly he saw that coming and shut the door, causing me to brake check and scrub my momentum going into the hop and ride up. This was enough for a multi bike length gap which despite my best effort, he was able to conserve to the finish. This turned out to be good enough for 5th though, which meant I beat the predictor.

After a long day of spectating, racing, prepping and cheering the junior team, Cathy and I finally got ready for the single-speed race. I had really high hopes for this race, despite the fact that some really tough competition was present. My bike as well as Cathy's, are dedicated single-speeds where as many were using bikes that had simply been limited to one gear with zip-ties. It's all good though and was great to have a big field of strong competition present. At the start I drilled it, trying my hardest to stamp some sort of authority on this particular race. I got the hole shot and held the lead through to the access road down on the backside, where I was surprised and disappointed to get handily passed by Doug K.. This took some wind out of my sails but I worked unsuccessfully to try and get it back lat first lap. On that same fast section on lap 2 I was again passed, this time by the dreaded Matt M., a primary nemesis of mine, who has vowed to own this race series.

Soon after, on the mini-barrier ride-up, disaster struck and I dropped my chain. I quickly got it back on but spots were lost. This was a bad and accurate omen of things to come as I dropped my chain a total of 4 additional times during the remainder of the race. I watched as what seemed like hoards passed me with each incident. There was nobody to blame but myself however, for the mechanical mishaps caused by a chain that was too loose. What would happen is that the chain movement and bouncing caused by bumpy sections would allow it to ride off the rear freewheel cog when a hard pedal stroke was put in. No chain means no go. I was lucky in that 3 of the times the chain went back on easily if I got off, got it started with my hand and pedaled it back on. One time though, it wedged between the freewheel and the dropout, causing much aggravation and swearing but one time, on a downhill section, I was simply able to pedal the chain back onto the freewheel. Despite the issues, this still proved to be a really tough race. It just reinforces the known fact that racing single-speeds is not easy. I'll have to get the kinks worked out before the next one. Fortunately, everything worked for Cathy and she managed a cool 2nd in the women's version of the SS race. Good stuff.

Flatlined

2011-09-12T12:40:00.004-04:00

In the years and years of recording my personal HR data (I think I'm on the 6th) with my beloved Polar 520, I have never had this happen. If it were not for the fact that the warmup and the second cyclocross race of the day yesterday at Quadcross had HR data that looked more "normal", I would suspect this was an error in reading. In fact, it still may be. One thing is for sure, that is one strange graph. I can't tell if I was truly going all out or what but it should rate an A+ for consistency I'd think.

I can say that I felt like I was going hard and than I really didn't have a whole lot more that I thought I could have given. It's odd though that I never recovered, not even a little, throughout the course. I still think something must have happened and the graph must be wrong. Who knows. I'm still alive though, even though I "flatlined" (at 168bpm which for me, is pretty darn high) for a good chunk of time yesterday.

Jefferson Notch

2011-09-12T08:49:00.000-04:00

The Jefferson Notch climb in Jefferson, NH has, over the years, come to be one of our favorite climbs in New England. Cathy and I started doing a ride out of Gorham, NH, not far from our place in Bethel, ME, that included the unpaved notch road. We first came to discover the roadway from of all things, snowmobiling. In the winter, the road is unmaintained and gated and used as a major snowmobile trail. The road is actually the highest maintained state road in NH at just over 3000 feet. The summit of the climb also affords great views of the back side of Mount Washington and in the winter as you can imagine, is a pretty extreme and inhospitable place depending on the weather.

Last week Cathy and I were on vacation. This vacation started well, with a good day at the Monson cyclocross race, but quickly took a downturn with the arrival of hurricane Irene. Though she was much kinder to us than some only snapping the heads off of a couple of large trees in our back yard, she did lay down a good coat of rain and play havoc with the power in our neighborhood. At noon on Sunday we lost power. Not having a whole lot to do in the rain with no power, I did bike work in the basement by head lamp until the storm broke in the late afternoon and we could venture outside for a short ride to access damage. We went to bed Sunday evening still in silent darkness and woke early to same.

With a refrigerator and freezer stocked for the impending disaster, the reality weighed heavily on my mind, contributing to my early awakening. We were going to lose the contents if we didn't do something soon. With that we were out for a quick road ride on roads that looked like a war zone of small natural debris but was entirely passable. Virtually no flooding was to be found either and despite some tree damage, most looked none the worse for wear. Back home, we quickly packed the sizable contents of the freezer, which was a healthy stock of meat, into coolers. We stuffed Opie (who wanted no part of it) and Ellie in their carrier, loaded the van and made haste for our place in Maine, which we had confirmed still had power. Upon arrival, we filled the freezer with the transplanted contents and all was well. Bethel didn't lose power but did flood. In fact, our road as well as RT26 was blocked by the rising water from Androscoggin's 18' rise. We were, however, unscathed.

The plan for the next morning was to shoot to Gorham, NH early and ride cross bikes towards Jefferson and see what we got. A short stretch of paved road through town on RT2 and then we diverted offroad onto the snowmobile trail. This skirted the miserable grind up RT2 headed west from Gorham and got us in the woods on old railroad bed. As usual, this proved to be more taxing than expected with bumpy and often semi loose terrain. It is also all sloped slightly uphill and yes, it was into a headwind. After what seemed like an eternity and was in fact almost an hour, we found ourselves at the base of the Jefferson Notch road. The gate was closed, which was good as it meant we would encounter no traffic, but bad in that there was likely a reason for the closure, probably having to do with the recent storm.

The climb up was actually better than I'd ever seen as the gravel road surface was smooth and packed solid. Typically when we do this ride it is early in the season, just before the road opens and often just after it has been graded meaning it is loose gravel. The climb itself is fairly short, less than 6 miles from the base at Valley Road to the summit, but has some really steep sustained grunts that can hurt like crazy. This time wasn't too bad and we made it over in fine shape. There was evidence of the storm on the way up but it wasn't terribly pronounced. The descent however was a different story. We soon discovered why the road was closed as there were major sections of the roadway scooped out or just plain missing. Multiple culverts had been literally extricated and deposited in the woods downstream. I'm guessing that it may be some time before the road can reopen. Hopefully the popular winter snowmobile trail will be able to open this season. I guess we'll see.

After the chilly descent we punched back out into civilization on RT302. A quick route check saw Cathy confirm that no, we were not going to head south on RT302 toward Conway. We would instead turn right toward Twin Mountain. Of course, this was into a headwind. This is a miserable stretch of road regardless which way you are going. There always seems to be a headwind and with the wide open nature it is compounded. From RT302 we turned right onto RT3 and started to ascend slightly. Another right onto RT115 and a long, steady but gentle climb to the height of the land. You are then treated to spectacular views and a nice descent into another rise and descent. This route is a fairly major roadway but has nice wide shoulders making it a wholly reasonable and in fact, enjoyable cycling route.

Basically at the low point of the roadway we hit the continuation of the snowmobile trail that we had ridden earlier in the day followed shortly buy Valley Road, a dirt road that cuts off a big chunk of misery on a busy and narrow section of RT2 east. What we didn't realize was that Valley Road had taken a major beating from Irene and was being worked on by the town crew. This work involved grading the dirt road to level it after filling in sections that had been washed away by flood waters of Irene. If you have never ridden on freshly graded gravel, it is loose, really loose. Think of it like riding a few miles of sand as it's not all that far removed. I had to let some air out of the tires just to gain purchase, but eventually we may our way through the sections and back onto RT2.

A long stretch of pretty flat road that is RT2 next led to the last challenge of the day. This stretch through Jefferson does however afford one of the best view of Mount Washington. The final challenge is a miserable little 8% climb that is about 1k long and you can see looming in your future literally a mile ahead of you. Once on the grunt, you are also rewarded with a truck lane that chews up most of the shoulder and autos whizzing by at 60 miles an hour. You just have to have faith that if they hit you from behind, you will never know it. At the top there are some more nice views and a long, 2 mile 6% wide open descent bringing you back into Gorham, NH.

We arrived back at the van, cleaned off and changed and then hit one of our favorite local (to Gorham) spots for some excellent late lunch. This consisted of excellent crispy fries, club sandwiches and a great big PBR draft. After that, a run to Walmart in Berlin to stock up on ammo and beer and it was back home to Bethel, for a nap.

First Cross of the Season

2011-09-06T07:05:00.006-04:00

The first cyclocross race of the season has officially come and gone. Truth be told, the first was actually a couple weekends ago but we opted not to attend, primarily because we'd done a big ride with tons of climbing at Kingdom Trails the day before, which I did on the single-speed. This particular weekend there were a ton of races scheduled to be had. Unfortunately, hurricane Irene squashed those plans with her scheduled arrival on Saturday evening. As such, all events scheduled for Sunday, which included two MTB races, a cross race and a TT, were all canceled. Looked like Saturday was going to be the only day to race and of the alternatives, the Topsfield circuit race and the Monson Cyclocross Race, we opted for the latter as both Cathy and I could race.

This race is part of a series put on by the Cyclonauts race team in Western MA. It is not sanctioned by USA Cycling, but truth be told, is well run and organized. Last year was the first time that we had done this particular race. Lets just say, things didn't go all that well for me last year. The course was pretty challenging and not necessarily in a good way. It was a little on the rough side, as in unpolished, with a gnarly, rocky singletrack plunge into the woods followed by a long, rocky, gutted singletrack climb back up the hill. This translated to a white knuckle descent and a long run up. With only a few laps to go in the race and a solid lead, I double flatted on the descent. I managed to run it back the pit, which was nearly half way around the course, and only lose two spots but I lost the win. A slightly sour note for a season opener, a note that would unfortunately set the stage it would turn out, for the entire cyclocross season.

We got the bikes ready for this year's run on Friday and loaded the extended four place bike rack full of bikes. It felt odd, yet vaguely familiar, to be getting the cross bikes and gear together but I've found that cross season always seems to sneak up on me. Anyhow, we packed all of the bikes and gear and made ready for the fairly easy trip out the MA Pike to get to the venue. This would once again, be our first race of the season. As we arrived and got registered we heard people speak of sweeping changes to the course. After suiting up we got out for a few laps and to our pleasant surprise, thew course was indeed different. Given the terrain that they hand at hand, I was really impressed with the course. It was on the short side, but that was the only negative comment I had. When compared to last year's course, this was an incredible improvement. The course had retained some tricky downhill but it was much more manageable while still giving a decisive edge to the skilled technical racer. There was a good side slope run-up as well as some tricky off camber, turns and some power sucking mushy field. Despite what my friend Billy will say, I thought that it was a good little course.

I raced first, before Cathy that is, and decided to do the master's 35+ Cat 1/2/3 field rather than the straight 1/2/3 elite race. My thought was that I stood a chance in the master's race but had virtually no shot in the elite race. Besides, we went off at the same time so I'd get to race against them anyhow. Conditions for my race we pretty good with no rain and a fairly dry course. I opted for my good bike with my good wheels and put the spare in the pit, well, Cathy put my spare in the pit for me. On the line I discovered that they would start the master's 10 seconds behind the elite field. Just enough to be annoying as we would quickly slam into the back of the 1/2/3's. Sure enough, with a big elite field and a technical section soon in the lap, we were right into the fray. I managed the hole-shot with teammate Scotty right behind me.

After a couple of laps of dicey passing I managed to break clear of the melee. My target, the six leaders of the elite field, the only ones still ahead, were within 20 seconds. This unfortunately, proved insurmountable as the best that I could do was to keep them in check for the next few laps. After that, the gap started top open and I started to lose motivation and focus back on my race. About that time, Billy, who did the elite race and was still ahead, started to drop back some. I wanted desperately to catch him so kept chasing hard. A few laps later he tangled with the fence and I caught him. Not the way that I wanted it to happen but I took it and then focused on racing clean and safe and staying ahead of Bill. At this point it was now well into lapped traffic which always presents a challenge. Despite that challenge, I kept it upright and had no issues. Success was at hand.

Cathy was up a bit later in the day, as were a few members of our NEBC Junior Development Team. Unfortunately, they all started just as it really started to rain in earnest. The course became an absolute mess and the run-up that was dry for us proved a challenge for most all to scale. Cathy hung tough and had a good solid race in a really big field. I switched her brakes over just before the race, to the new TRP Mini V's. I also switched wheels to a set of alloy rimmed tubulars with the Tufo Cubus tires. This proved to afford excellent stopping power even in really foul conditions. She was very pleased with them, although because the pads run so much closer to the rims, you do lose mud clearance and gain some residual drag. The junior team had a great day as well with Brandon placing a strong second in a tough field, riding a bike that I finished building up from cobbled parts two days before and delivered to him the night before. It was also his first cyclocross race ever. I expect big things from him, as soon as he learns to clean his bike anyhow.

In hindsight, I was pleased with my overall performance at this race. The goals were met, the primary of which was to ride smart and to push it hard, really hard in fact. All season I've been trying to expand my threshold of pain. I've been trying to get a little bit more out of myself each time. When the motivation is there, as it was for this race, it seems to be working pretty well. I certainly hope that this is a good omen. As for the course and the race in general, I had a good time. I'll do it again.

Happy Friday

2011-08-19T08:37:00.005-04:00

And yet another work week draws to close. They seem to be getting away from me, but that's just the way it is, right? This was a good week. We had a great weekend last weekend with a spectacular day trip to the Kingdom Trails and then busting some clays on Sunday. Also had a good solid mix during the week. I actually really appreciate and enjoy the regular, scheduled order of the work week. I often struggle with vacation weeks due to their lack of structure.

Monday was a nice, rainy, low key day. Tuesday we did the NEBC Junior Development Cycling Team weekly group ride at which there were exactly zero crashes or injuries; small steps. Wednesday night was the MTB time trial championships of the world at the CBTT, also know as the "how badly can you handicap yourself in a TT" race. Last night I went over to the Thursday night Hanscom ride put on by the good folks at CRW. The ride was good and with very tired legs from the TT effort the preceding evening, I suffered at the hands of Gary J., who was in very good form. Today I need to work some, or pretend to anyhow, do some bike work at lunch (like build up a new 29er full suspension frame I got for Cathy) and then some of the Junior Team are going to converge on the local MTB trails for what is sure to be mayhem.

The weekend weather is looking mediocre but we have plans to head back up to the Kingdom Trails in the morning and get in another stellar day of riding the best that the region has to offer. Looking very forward to this once again. It has been a good week for sure and there is no sign of it letting up. Life is good!

3:02

2011-08-18T09:26:00.007-04:00

Three minutes and two seconds. That is an eternity when it comes to competition or any type of racing. That just happens to be the difference between my best time this season at our local cycling time trial, the Charlie Baker Time Trial that our club puts on in Concord, MA, and the time that I set last night.

The difference is that my best of the season was done on a full carbon fiber time trial bike outfitted with full aero fittings like a carbon fiber deep dish front wheel and matching full disc rear wheel and 23c tubular tires at 130psi. I was also wearing a skinsuit and an aero helmet. Last night, however, I was riding my full suspension (not locked out), carbon fiber 29er race MTB with traditional alloy spoked wheels and my 1.95" racing knobbies at 65psi. It is decidedly not aero. I was wearing a normal jersey and bibs and a normal helmet.

Oh yea, and I also got run off the road by a boat. Some douche pulling a boat got his truck past me, but couldn't get by Cathy when a car came the other way. He then decided to come back over into me while I was still beside the boat. I slammed the brakes on and went into a pavement cutout (had the right bike for that for sure), narrowly missing the big traffic barrel they had setup. He then wouldn't pass Cathy so I came back up along side of him on the right, pulled out in front of him, behind Cathy and passed her, then moving back to the curb. The dude wasn't impressed but WTF!? You can't just run my ass off the road with your crappy boat and then expect me to wait because you don't have the skill to drive the thing.

This bike just looks fast. What am I doing wrong?

If the three minutes and small change seems reasonable, maybe the average speed differential is more telling. The difference was between 27.03mph avg on the TT bike compared to 23.7mph avg on the MTB. Yes, that is more than three mph difference but logic would seem to suggest the difference should be bigger, right? I would certainly expect it to be as this is about as extreme a disparity as one could muster this side of riding a tricycle as a comparison. If I look at the comparisons for others, lets take Cathy for instance, who is a much, much better TT-er than I am, the disparity is much more pronounced with a near five minute and near 5mph difference week over week, TT to MTB. That, to me, seems like a more reasonable number.

This bike is fast, at least for an MTB on the road.

I realize that the MTB is my best discipline by a long shot and I am certainly the most comfortable on the MTB. Clearly this is translating to riding the MTB in general, in any circumstance. Maybe I should just slap some slicks and aero bars on it and see what happens. regardless, these leaves me pondering just exactly what the F I'm doing wrong on the TT bike. Is there some unlocked potential gain, hidden there in the god forsaken discomfort of that torturous TT bike?

I really hope so because I haven't made any gain in years. May be time to break down and go see Armand. We have been thinking about it for Cathy anyhow, who is looking for 21 seconds in order to knock none other than Karen Smyers out of the top 3 record times at the CBTT. Yes, Cathy is legit and deadly on a TT bike, as many unhappy men who get 'chicked' by her weekly can attest to. I on the other hand ...

A Very Good Day

2011-08-17T11:30:00.005-04:00

This past Saturday, Cathy and I decided to forgo racing or any such nonsense and do a mountain bike day trip up to the Kingdom Trails in East Burke, VT. We hadn't had a chance to make it KT all year and were very excited to go. The weather forecast for Saturday was near perfect and so we made the call. A 6:30AM departure would get us there in good time.

I needed to stop off in Lyndonville, just a few miles from East Burke, at my brother Chad's barbershop in order to drop off a mountain bike I'd gotten for my nephew. We did so and sat around for a bit listening to and occasionally participating in the rural barber shop conversation. Barbershop conversation is basically the same everywhere, usually centered on the weather, politics or sports. Not super in-depth or too thought provoking but often heated or passionate. It was good to catch up, if only briefly and to also get a familiar haircut. Until I was about 35 years old, my brother and father (also a barber) were the only ones ever to have cut my hair. It was quite literally nerve racking experience when first I went to a local barber, not all that long ago.

We arrived in East Burke and found a parking spot behind the Pub Outback, who have some of the best onion rings on the planet as well as a great beer selection. As we looked to the car beside us we noted the familiar face of Doug, who it turns out was up for a day trip with a buddy as well. Like minds I guess. Doug's plan involved lots of climbing, big surprise, and an extended trip out to East Haven to the old radar base. That involves another mountain climb, similar in scope to that of Burke Mountain.

Cathy and I planned to stay local but to make a bid for all of the main areas, which include the mountain road to Camptown, Dead Moose Alley, the slopeside trails to Pinkham Road, Magill and Moose Alley. RT114 to Burnham Up, Red Tail and Kirby Connector. That was the morning's plan and we nailed it all. Most everything was in very goods shape. I did note that Dead Moose is taking a beating and isn't nearly as much fun as some of the other trails. Also, the lower part of Burnham Up was great but when we started to level off, the trail was pretty muddy in spots and pretty gutted out. They have been building boardwalk to beat the band but it seems it may be a loosing battle in that particular area and they will be forced to bridge it all. A daunting task and a massive consumption of resources.

The last time we were at KT, nearly a year ago now, they were working on a new slopeside trail. I think it is called Dragonslayer (it's actually Knightslayer). Starting this year, Burke Mountain is doing lift service on the lower lift that takes you from the base to mid Burke. The trails that they have designed and built for the lift served gravity crowd are absolutely incredible. They are also absolute terrifying if ridden properly and no place for a skinny little XC bike with low handlebars and high saddle height. I was wanting for my Yeti 575 but really wished I still had my Intense M1. Regardless, I had my very nice but wholly inappropriate 29er XC bike. This left me basically with no business being on those trails. As such, we quickly played through and headed for some more appropriate terrain.

Once we finished up on the Kirby Connector, which has recently and unfortunately, been logged, we took the Kirby Road back to town for some lunch. Bailey's Country Store (now called Bailey's & Burke) is back in business and providing very, very good eats. We had the typical for us, Thanksgiving on a roll sandwich and topped off the fluid stores. From there it was an afternoon of the really good stuff on both sides of Darling Hill. To loosen back up after lunch we opted to beeline back out RT114 to White School trail. Feeling a little bloated we rode gingerly along the trails, winding our way back to the Darling Hill Road, a paved climb with small stretches in the mid to upper teens, grade wise. Nothing brutally hard but you feel it.

The West side of Darling Hill affords incredible views of the valley beyond as well as the Willoughby Gap. This is, IMHO, one of the nicest and most picturesque places in VT if not all of New England. This area also houses a treasure trove of the best that KT has to offer in terms of new school XC trails. You hit the trails one after the other, each having a slight feel a flavor of their own but also weaving nicely together into an incredible ride. Our staple is Loop, Poundcake, Fenceline, Bog Meadow, Pastore Point/Loop, Coronary and back up to the top of the ridge. Then we traverse on Bemis to get to any of the multiple, totally excellent descents back down the ridge. This time, we found a new trail that had been made and decided to give it a try. This was in addition to Tap & Die and Tody's Tour and was named Troll Stroll. This trail was incredibly well laid out, with good flowing sustainable turns and elevation gains that made use of the descending momentum you had accumulated to make small cross gains painless. This maximized your time on the trail. I can say without a doubt that this sets a new benchmark, at least in my opinion coming from a true XC standpoint.

At that point in the day things were getting a little blurry. Cathy had been a trooper and humored my numerous ascents and trail choices but was starting to grow weary. We chose to hit only the best of the rest, which meant no climb back up to hit Tap & Die and then again for Tody's Tour. Instead we hit River Run to Webs, climbed up Violet's Outback to Sidewinder. Sidewinder is a must do. It is short but very sweet, a true roller coaster ride on two wheels. The KTA folks have reworked it a bit as well so it is ready to go. We then climbed up out on the switchback trail and tool in Old Webs, before making our way up and out of the West side of Darling Hill, over to the right side. There are a ton of trails on this side of the ridge as well but we opted to make a fairly direct route back out via VAST, veering off course only to sample Leatherwood and Kitchel.

We finished up back at the van happy with the days adventure. Along the course we had racked up 45 miles, just shy of my outside 50 mile goal but well over my 40 mile minimum goal. We had also accumulated about 5k of climb. Not bad. Clean the dirt and mud off, hit the Pub Outback for a drink and some o-rings and shoot for home. A very good day. So good, we are planning to do it all over again this coming Saturday.

That Time of Year

2011-08-12T10:33:00.008-04:00

Where indeed does the time go? I know that is cliche but it seems, somewhat, appropriate at this moment. As much as we struggle, time just seems to slip between our fingers, eluding or escaping our grasp. It's getting to be that time of year already. The time of year when it is getting dark a little earlier than in its ever so brief, extended breadth, we seem to have gotten used to. The time is now such that you return home from the evening's ride in the waning light. Last night was the first time this year that I'd really noticed it.

After finishing up my first venture back to the CRW Thursday night Hanscom ride, I hung out after and chatted with buddy Gary J. at the parking lot. I peeled off to make the 5 mile ride home from there at about 7:45PM and it was really starting to get dark. By the time I got home I could barely see, albeit I did still have my sunglasses on to protect from bug strikes.

After sunset last night the temperature also dropped markedly. Now that the air is much drier than in recent weeks, the air temperature drop when we lose the sun results in a crisp clean and cool air. Passing through a couple of hollows while turning a nice relaxing pace, I found myself wanting for my arm warmers. It was a welcome change from the recent, tropical weather we have had.

Last night we opened all of the windows in the house up and also slept with a fan in the window. It was down right chilly even with all of the blankets and a down comforter on the bed. I love that feeling. I'm one of those people that likes to sleep in the cold. The A/C just doesn't get it cold and crisp enough and the air gets stuffy. Last night was perfect sleeping weather.

We live in New England so we all know what is just around the corner; change. That is why many of us choose to live here, the underlying promise of familiar and welcomed change. As summer winds down we look very forward to visiting old friends, places and activities that we haven't seen in nearly a year. Once old activities will once again seem new again. It is this type of variety that keeps life interesting.

It's nice to have the 4 distinct chapters of our year consistently and neatly presented to us. Sure, some times the chapters can seem shorter or longer from year to year but they never fail to come, at least, not yet. Lets hope it stays that way.

Hodges Village Dam(n)

2011-08-11T08:47:00.004-04:00

Last weekend was the annual Hodges Village Dam Root66 USA Cycling MTB race out in lovely Oxford, MA. Oxford is sort of in the middle of nowhere yet just a stones throw from Worcester. It is a gentle 45 minute drive for us, either via the Mass Pike or RT495/290. The venue is literally at a dam and the terrain is around a pond that also serves as a flood control area. The terrain is rolling and is based primarily on bombed out old moto trails and access roads. Not a terrible picturesque area but the type of place where a hoard of mountain bikes racing in foul conditions really doesn't have a whole lot of impact. This is one of the few properties where motorized recreational access is still allowed in the start, or at least it used to be, very recently.

This is the 4th year in a row that I've participated in this race and, knock on wood, I've always had pretty good success there. Part of the attraction is the proximity and convenience, part is that this is the MA state championships and part is that the course actually suits me fairly well with lots of fast power sections and rocky, rooted, bumpy junk that has full suspension written all over it. I've had some epic battles as well, possibly two of the best ever, like last year against Alec Petro and the year before against JB. I've also raced in some of the most epic conditions ever at this event, such as two years ago when full sections of the course were literally under 3' of water. This year turned out to be surprisingly even more epic than that year. Hard torrential rains the night before followed by a steady driving rain the AM of the race led to standing pools (not puddles) of water as well as streaming torrents of runoff in multiple sections. In at least two places there were deep moto created whoops that were totally submerged under 16" of water, but each also had one extra deep whoop where you sunk literally to your ass. The force was enough to almost stop you and launch you over the bars. There was even one access road that was completely flooded and had so much water flow that you were literally riding upstream against a current. The real kick in the middle was that the under surface was sandy, making it double extra miserable.

I sat on the line in the driving 68 degree rain, shivering uncontrollably, waiting for the start. Off the line the pace was hard with Steve Witkus from the Bikeman team, whom I raced against earlier this season at Winding Trails and narrowly managed to stay ahead of, laying down a monstrous pace. I followed and tucked in behind him, waiting to see how well he made out once we hit the first rocky section, as he was on a fully rigid bike that he had only put gears on for the this race. The sprint out of the gate seemed to have take a toll and when we hit the rocky stuff about a half mile in, I passed and drilled it. Into the first muddy turn the lack of traction afforded by my Specialized Renegade minimal tread tires became abundantly evident. A two wheel power slide and foot dab let me know that I was going to need to ride this like a slippery cross race, run straight into the corners, aiming for the berm on the edge and use that for the turning. That seemed to work just fine and the tires were fine otherwise.

The pace remained high the entire first lap and I made it around in just under 30 minutes for my best lap of the day. Lap two I settled in and tried to maintain a comfortably sustainable pace. This ended up being a little too comfortable I think as it was just over 31 minutes. Unsure of how much time I had on the competition I tried to pick in a little in order to be more consistent. At this point in the game I was in a steady stream of passing racers from other fields. Shortly into the lap on the flat access road of the first section I swung right through a deep puddle to make a pass. After completing it I notice the rear tire had flatted, almost instantly. I was sure that I hadn't hit anything so have no idea what caused it. All that I knew was that I had to get it fixed. Ugh! Pull to the side of the trail, remain calm, there goes the guy I just passed, shift up in the rear, unbolt the wheel, more people I recently passed, pull the Camelbak and gloves off, grab the inflation device and tube, pre-inflate the tube manually, pull the old tube out, check for thorns, replace tube, oh crap, there goes Steve, seat the bead, hope the CO2 works, yes, it worked, add a second CO2 cartridge to get higher pressure, fumble getting the wheel back on, fumble getting the 12mm through-axle in, shift back down, pack it all pack up, wet gloves back onto muddy hands, we're off. Not a record by any stretch but not too bad. I'm guessing it was about 2.5 to 3 minutes total downtime.

Now the fun begins. Chasing like a maniac to try and get the minute and half or so back on a guy who is now drilling it with the surge of adrenaline and optimism gained by having seen the nearest competition essentially dead on the side of the trail and now they themselves being at the head of the race. I hate this game, that being the frantic, racing for your very life type of riding. You tend to make mistakes, you tend to ride poorly, you tend to go too hard and you tend to blow up as a result. Ha, I was right and did all of those. The other pain is that you get to be an annoyance to the same people twice as you pass them again. Of course, now we are in the narrower and more technical section of trail where passing is more difficult, and so it was. To cut to the chase, I fumbled through the third lap, finally regaining some composure on the final lap. The rain had stopped and the standing water was subsiding, leaving sticky mud in its wake. The humidity was also starting to rise as was the temperature. Time to get this thing over with.

At that point I'd pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Steve had punched out and I was never going to see him again. I was bringing in a steady stream of racers from other fields but could tell it wasn't going to be enough when on the long straight after the start I couldn't see, or at least make out, Steve up ahead. The reality is that gaps are deceiving. On the road, a couple bike lengths is often not close-able. Offroad, 20 or 30 seconds can be made up pretty quickly. That straight section probably afforded a 20 second vista into the future. Just before the narrow bridge crossing I caught Cathy. She was moving very, very well and having a great ride, About a mile after that, it was was great relief and some disbelief that I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Steve ahead. Calmly, I closed to within 20 yards and sat, recovering a little bit, squished down a Powergel, drank and waited. In the final rooted and rocky stuff before breaking out of the woods and onto the sandy access road, I closed the gap tight. On the road I waited a bit to see how Steve looked physically then attacked as hard as I could. No response was given so I kept charging as much as I could. Running scared I kept the pace steadily high while trying to ride safe and smart. In the end it worked and I managed to cross the finish line ahead. Other than the flat, a good solid race.

As an aside, this was an excellent course for my new this season Specialized Epic Expert carbon 29er. Though the 29er format can be a challenge at courses with a lot of climbing due to the extra rotating mass or in a ton of tight twisty technical stuff where a 26er just handles more crisply, it is absolutely incredible how much smoother it is through the bumps and rough stuff. It also rolls really, really well on the flats. I noticed this in a big way on a long solo MTB ride this past Friday where I was able to carry lots of speed with less perceived effort than expected. Despite a few initial issues the bike really seems to be dialed in now and I am really happy with it. The suspension is working great, a vast improvement over the older Epic design which I had previously. I did manage to chew through another complete set of rear disc brake pads this race. Despite that fact and also having a prong of the pad spring catch the rotor and bend itself into a pretzel, the wheel spun freely with little drag. This is more than I can say about Cathy's bike. She suffered horribly on the last lap but finished strong. While cleaning the bikes I noticed that he rear brake was dragging really bad. To the point where there was no free rotation at all. Examination revealed that the pads were worn out and on one side, the rotor had worn nearly half way through the steel backer plate. The spring that keeps the pads separated and away from the rotor, had been worn in half and two of the 4 prongs were gone, completely, rendering it useless. I'm guessing that meant an extra 25 watts of constant power required just to turn the wheel. No wonder she was spent. Most people would have given up but not her. Hardcore.

Norwell Circuit Race

2011-08-08T09:20:00.000-04:00

Yep, another race report. I know, I'm lacking for valid content so in lieu, I'm falling back on a report. Last Sunday was the Norwell Circuit race, a fairly local and very fun event that is put on by the south shore folks at Mass Bay Road Club and our friend Chris Constantino. This is a great event put on by great folks. We should all try and support it in the future and if possible, volunteer when the call comes.

I've done this race a few times in the past though of recent it seems there has been a conflict. This year we have been sticking with convenience winning out, and as such, Norwell was the easy winner. With good weather and a close race, we made the easy 45 minute drive south to the race, arriving in plenty of time to secure a good parking spot. Cathy was racing with the women this year for a change and as such, her race was the first of the day. We picked up our numbers, got dressed and headed out for a couple of preview laps. Same old course in roughly the same condition as last time.

The women's race had a ton of NEBC members in it and they put together a team plan for the race. A couple of the women were looking for good results so they all decided to help make that happen. The pace for their race started off pretty high and it was quickly evident that there was some disparity in the field as some women were getting shelled off the back pretty much every lap. The finish hill tends to do that as gaps tend to form naturally going up it. A few laps in a break established with 3 or 4 women including an NEBC woman. Behind that was a chase group of a number of other teams, all marked by a number of other NEBC women. Behind them was another group with the remainder of the pack. The finish played it in a mad sprint up the hill with NEBC handily getting the win in the break of 3 women, then also taking the field sprint for 4th as well as a handful of other top ten positions. Cathy raced for her teammates and had an excellent time doing so.

Later in the day I lined up for the Men's Masters 35+ race. NEBC had a good showing in the field with Scott and Joe as well as myself. Our goal as always was to be combative while also being opportunistic. Many of the guys from the other squads were there as well, though a bunch of them had already done the Masters 45+ race preceding this race. The neutral start, which took you from parking at a school, across the road and out to the course, was interesting. Teammate Scotty was on the front and I was behind him. We were doing 25mph and the pace car was not slowing down at all. We got onto course and the race commenced but we remained in that position and at that pace all the way into the foot of the finish climb. Scott eased up a bit and I decided to see if we could get it started so drilled it up the climb, hoping to string it out and break it up some. This resulted in the first break of the day. At first it was just a few of us but gained momentum with some of the bigger names joining in on the fun. We worked it for a while and I really though we may have a chance but alas, it was not to be. That hurt though.

The next half of the race was a blur of attacks and failed break attempts. We had teammates covering everything and instigating a bunch of stuff as well. This made for a hard race with countless hard sustained efforts. It also made for a whole lot of got clean racing for those who chose to do so. Most of the more powerful guys were happy to mix it up over and over and over again. Real racing, not that pussy sitting in the pack tail-gunning until the last lap and sprinting it out at the end. Sure, that may be how to win a race but there is more to racing than winning, IMHO. If I was getting a paycheck based on wins then sure, the priority would change. I'm not. I'm there to fight.

The move of the day though came with three to go. JB came to the front on the downhill with Billy S. frantically in tow. As we hit the corner to the false flat the pace lifted. It kept lifting until I was barely able to hold Bill's wheel. All the way to the finish hill at which point Billy killed it up over. I strained with all of my might to make it over with the small group that had a gap. We came back together and worked it fairly well for what should have been the winning break. Bill and I were the last holdouts trying to stay away until just before the turn to the finish hill. Unfortunately, we got swarmed and in the mayhem, mayhem ensued. People who had seen no time at the front all day sprinted by me only to literally come to a standstill half way up the hill. Sammy was skipping and popping his drivetrain. I weaved my way around him and a few others and managed to finish top 20 in the melee. The winner however was one of the most aggressive and hardest working tough guys out there, Billy Y. The man wins more races a year than I enter. Good for him.

Although the result wasn't stellar, I was happy with my performance for a number of reasons. I was able to initiate moves and make stuff happen. That is a change over past years as it means I'm starting to be viewed as a potential contender by my peers. This is good and bad but I'll take it as a legitimization of my ability. I made it into all of the moves that day. Literally, I found myself in the right places at the right times. Not an accident of course, it means my reading the field and sensing the mood is getting better. I've been trying really, really hard this year to dig that little bit deeper to hang, or to go or whatever. Mental toughness to counter and overcome the physical pain. I'm good and riding to the point of discomfort but really need to delve into the realm of being uncomfortable and dealing with it. There were a number of times that day when I dug deeper. Slowly but surely I think I'm making some progress at this thing. Will see.

Intro to Hilltowns

2011-08-01T16:00:00.001-04:00

Recently the umpteenth annual Tour of the Hilltowns road race took place in Windsor, MA. For those who are unfamiliar, Windsor is in the western part of the state, where the terrain is significantly lumpier than it is in the east. That is not to say that it is flat where we are, in eastern, MA. The truth is that everything here is fairly rolling and long straight flats are hard to come by, but the hills are much smaller than out west. In contrast, we ride quite a bit in western Maine. If you want to talk flat, that is flat. Sure, there are the mountains like the Mahoosucs or the Whites but along the river planes, it's flat, dead flat, for miles and miles and miles.

So back to the story, given that Hilltowns is a classic road race within the region and given that I'd never done the race and in fact had never ridden in or even been to that area of the state save for the Grand Fundo ride last year, I figured that I should give it a go. The drive out to the western part of the state along RT2 was uneventful. We stayed on secondary roadways and came in the back way to Windsor, backwards on the course along RT18, coming onto the course at the foot of the fabled East Hawley Road climb (aka, "the climb"), the primary feature of the Hilltowns race course. The roads appeared to be in well used condition in general and the terrain was rolling and sloped up significantly. We arrived at the venue, Notchview Reservation, which is a Trustees of Reservation site that offers XC skiing in the winter months.

Most of the normal cast of Masters 35+ were present, which I was sure would prove for an interesting and challenging race. The day was hot, though not nearly as bad as it had been the previous few days. Still, the sun was going to play a part in the proceedings without a doubt. From the start pace was strong and attacks started quickly. The first few were easily neutralized on the mostly downhill terrain but when a move went and gained momentum on some of the more rolling terrain, Gary J. from the WheelWorks team and I decided to make a go. It was a fierce chase to catch and the results were short lived. Looked like the race was likely going to stay together until "the climb".

And so it did, through the long winding descents, I stayed in the top 5 in order to keep safe and conserve. As we approached "the climb" the groans started. Exclamations as to how this was going to suck were readily heard. I'd never seen the climb before but mapped it out. It compared almost identically to the top part of the Kancamagus Highway climb headed West, which was just about 5 miles of fairly steady 5% grade. On paper, that didn't sound that bad. In reality, I know what a bear the top of the Kanc is, though that is typically with 80 plus miles of climbing in my legs. My plan was to just try and hang. For much of the climb it was hard but I was holding steady. On the upper third things started to get ugly and I was struggling. With maybe a mile to go, and unbeknown to me, far less of the actual sustained climbing, I fell off the back. Bill S. was there as well and tried to spur me on but I wasn't sure how much more we had and was in a world of hurt.

I ground my way up as they rode away from me. Soon there after the grade leveled out a bit to what was more of a power section. The pace piked up and the gap grew as I pushed as hard as I could. I suspected we were near the top and knew that the lead group would really be pushing hard now. I was right. Slowing I inched back towards stragglers off the back but in front of me. Bill was gone but I slowly, ever so slowly, pulled back toward a few. I was having shifting problems as I chose to swap wheels at the last minute. The shifting seemed fine but as it turned out, the spacing of the hub was a little different and the 12-25 cassette was a little further inboard than the 11-25 on the other wheelset. This translated to me not being able to get into the 12 tooth cog, which left me with a 13 tooth cog as my max, a max for which I really was wishing for more on some of the steeped descents.

Marky G. was the first and I could see he was suffering, so slowed enough for him to latch on and went for the next group. After a good 5 miles of 35mph plus descending I finally caught a group of 4 riders, making 6 of us. One of the group had actually come by me near the top of the climb and I was unable to hang with him on the way down. He proved to be very strong and didn't work well with others, throwing the ad-hock group into disarray. He and I seemed to match pretty well though so we struck off together, and spent the next 20 or so miles working well and saying nary a word to each other. Well, he didn't say anything anyhow. I'm usually pretty animated. Through the feed a snagged a bottle from Cathy and pressed on, still with no pack in sight.

It wasn't until the base of what turned out to be the final, seemingly endless, 5 miles of rollers, up to the finish that we saw the pack. They were 500 yards ahead at that point, just as the climbs were starting. For a brief moment I courted the notion of a massive effort to bridge back but the reality suck in when we reached the second in the succession of rollers, laid out in the baking sun. It was all I could do to get back to the finish. As it ended, I was over 8 minutes back from the leaders, who had broken free of the pack on the East Hawley climb. The pack still finished many minutes ahead of me. I was spent, hot, dehydrated and my legs were nearly cramping from the countless miles of head down chasing. Still, it was a good experience and now I know what the course is like. I need to spend more time climbing and less time just going hard and steady as hard and steady is never hard enough. I also recognize that I really, really need to learn to HtFU and just live with it when the suffering hits. I've been trying this year to dig a little deeper but clearly I'm not quite there yet. Next year!

Why?

2011-07-29T13:27:00.005-04:00

Why, just tell me why, you continue to do, these, things? We've had this conversation before and I was sure that we had come to an understanding. I just don't get it, what is it that I am missing? Am I not being clear? Are you revolting or lashing out in angst over something that I have or have not done?

Yes, I know, you would greatly appreciate an increased quantity of food on a regular basis. We know, but we also know that you have proven, you can't handle it. You simply have no restraint. Maybe that is the core of this issue as well; it's just too inviting and you simply can't help yourself.

Lord knows that we'd all like to just be able to shred TP at will, heck, who wouldn't. However, it's just not done. Society simply can't and won't allow it. Besides, it's disrespectful.

Loyalty Lost

2011-07-28T09:40:00.001-04:00

I may be sort of old fashioned but I tend to be a pretty brand loyal person when it comes to some things. Over the course of my adult life this has been particularly true in terms of vehicles. Basically it all boils down to the concept of a known evil being better than the evil which you do not know.

As such, early on, nearly 20 years ago in fact, I chose to go very conservatively (now there's a shock for anyone who knows me) with the product brand which at the time had the best product reputation to cost ratio. The perceived leader in quality was Honda but running very close in quality and a tiny bit better in price was Toyota. I was also looking at a vehicle type that Honda didn't offer anyhow, a pickup truck, so decided to go with Toyota. That is where my brand loyalty, through which I dragged Cathy's loyalty, has stayed for 18 years and 7 different vehicles. All of these vehicles have been purchased from the same dealer as well, Acton Toyota.

Off the bat it was a love hate relationship with the dealer, or shall I say the sales department, but that is to be expected when you are dealing adversarially, with money. despite the lack of love for the salesmen, I continued to go back to the dealer because of convenience and familiarity. I also stuck with the brand, out of loyalty that I justified by the fact that the vehicles were basically bomb-proof. You just put gas in and went. We never had problems with them. Over the course of time and vehicle trades I felt that I won some and lost others, in terms of getting a fair deal.

My current vehicle, a Toyota Tacoma TRD offroad, for which I traded in a Toyota Tundra TRD offroad, has been the exception to the quality rule. My impetus for the trade was economy as the gas prices in 2005 had just gone through the roof. Where the Turdra was getting less than stellar fuel mileage, the Tacoma was promised to get greatly improved efficiency. Why wouldn't it after all, it was a much smaller vehicle with a V6 rather than a V8 engine. Unfortunately, I got raped on the trade, of course.

Shortly after I purchased it new, the seals went in the steering rack. This was a warranty issue of course but was a bad omen. In terms of efficiency, it quickly became evident that the gain was going to be very, very small. A couple of MPG was all my $10k downgrade saved me, at the expense of, well the $10k expense of course but also comfort. The Tundra was pretty luxurious, the Tacoma, not so much. The dealer negotiation was also particularly unpleasant for that vehicle as well, so in general, I had a really bad taste in my mouth from the start of this vehicle relationship.

Fast forward a few years, it's 2009 and the vehicle has 42,000 miles on it. I really don't drive it much as work is less than 2 miles from home and I typically rode my Honda Ruckus anyhow. Except for driving to Maine in the winter, which we have cut back significantly on, the truck mostly just sat idle and rusted, which is a whole different can of worms that I won't open up on here. Anyhow, it's summer, it is like 90 degrees and we need to go in to Boston so I can but some bike parts from a guy. I think that was the last time I went into Boston in fact; I don't get out much. To my surprise, the air conditioning doesn't seem to work. SoaB! This is the first time I'd used it that season and in fact, can't recall when I'd previously used it. it is, however, past the 3 years and 36k mile warranty that you'd never need anyhow, because you bought a Toyota. Long story abbreviated, I took it to Lexington Toyota as Acton Toyota had moved to Littleton and were just inconvenient enough that we had stopped going there for service. They find that the condenser is leaking and needs to be replaced at a cost of $1200. I said, NFW!

A couple months later I decide to trade it in, so went to Acton to get a Rav4. We test it, like it, they have one, we sit down to deal with a rather hefty but pleasant fellow and all is well. Then, all of a sudden, they ship us off to the internet department because they catch wind that I'd done an internet query on the vehicle earlier and that salesperson wants the cut. No offense, but he is English as a second language and impossible (for me) to understand and negotiate with. I put a deadline on the purchase at the start, saying I need to be gone in an hour. They couldn't make it happen and we got up and walked out the door. For the next year and a half I lived with it, for the one or two hot/humid and rainy days where I needed to drive the truck to work, which how now moved to Littleton. I also upgraded the Ruckus to a DRZ400 SM so when the weather allowed, rode that to work the 3 days per week that I am actually in the office vs. working from home.

Last December we once again pondered what to do longer term. The decision was to run the truck into the ground, and to suck it up and get the air conditioning fixed. As such, I had Acton Toyota perform the service partially because I couldn't find anyone else to do it and also because they are within walking distance of the office. They also did a major, 50k mile service so I laid down just shy of $2000, assuming that I should be good for a very long while. Driving the rig home I tested the air conditioning. Sure enough, the air it blew was cold. That said it was 25 degrees outside.

Throughout the spring of 2011 we had below normal temperatures and even though I drove the truck to work a little later than I normally would have, when I switched to the motorcycle in April I hadn't yet needed the air conditioning. Imagine my surprise when a couple weeks ago, during the first heatwave of the summer, we take the truck to the range on a Sunday afternoon and call for some cooling. At first it is blowing cool air but never quite cold. Soon it's just plain ambient and not working at all. I need an oil change anyhow so back to Acton Toyota I go. My surprise at the system not working pales in comparison to what the service representative later tells me, that the compressor is now bad and needs to be replaced, which will cost me $2501. Wow, does that suck. My answer is of course, NFW!

So now I'm left having spent a bunch of money for an expensive part that is hooked to a system that is chronically broken. It's like a knee replacement surgery for a quadriplegic. Naturally I have no recourse, other than to spread the word. I've done so through a Better Business Bureau complaint. Really though, Acton Toyota is guilty of nothing other than selling me a piece of sh!t and not caring enough to do what is, arguably, right in terms of going to bat with Toyota for me. They contest that the system was fixed when they were done and I have no way to dispute that. I do find it odd that a system not in use would have additional components fail, but maybe they just dry-rot from lack of use.

Regardless, that is it for us. No more Toyota and certainly no more Acton Toyota. I'll send a letter to Toyota USA before I'm done but that is about as far is it will go. Will it make a difference? Of course not, but it will make me feel better. Maybe I can save someone some aggravation as well, by telling my story. Who knows. All that I can say is that for many, many years I was a devout and loyal Toyota owner. That loyalty has been lost. I just wish they cared.

Shut Down

2011-07-20T10:30:00.001-04:00

I guess it had to happen, eventually, as all things must come to an end. For years on our tandem we feasted on glory and success in charity events and group rides, you know, highly competative Cat6 races. I look back fondly on the abuse we were able to dispense to the peloton at the MS Cape Tour when we used to compete in that ride. People feared our team, and not just the people on the hybrids either. No, there were hoards of middle aged dentists on spiffy carbon-fiber bikes with aero-bars that also felt our wrath. It is with a tear in my eye that I recall all of the times we would gloriously steamroll right over the top of the Friday night CRW social ride (aka. the smackdown) screaming back home on RT225. Those tools didn't know what hit them; just a blur of minivan gold from the Cannondale missile built for two.

Well, it all came to end this past weekend, not with a blaze of glory but with a whimper of defeat. We (I) decided to bag MTB racing on Sunday and instead head out early and go bandit on the CRW climb to the clouds route. Yes, I know, I should have registered for the ride but it sold out before I got off the pot. We are members of CRW though, and didn't actually stop at any of the rest areas (that would be admitting weakness anyhow) so I don't feel too bad. We'd done much of this loop in the past though never completely. With the temperature in the mid 90's on Sunday and the sun hanging high in the sky, conditions were tough. It was also breezy, which only made a difference in a few strategic locations.

Off the bat I was working really hard to keep moving at a pace that I felt we "should be moving at". The first couple of hours were a struggle but we were making pretty good time and maintaining a respectable 20mph avg. It was in Sterling, at Davis Farmland that I came unglued. The terrain is wide open and the sun was baking there. It is also slightly uphill with an omnipresent headwind. This makes it feel like you are not moving at all, yet working really, really hard. This was bad, I felt much shame as nothing I did, nor how hard I struggled helped. Regardless of how hard I tried, we were still barely moving at all. I reflected back to visions of flying along on the tandem and was befuddled as to why it seemed so very difficult at this moment. What happened? What has gone wrong?

When we came to the junction for the 80 vs 100 mile loop in Sterling, I knew the score and what was still ahead, so opted for the shorter 80 mile loop, admitting defeat. Even this decision proved difficult and by the time we were in Harvard, I decided to veer off course and head the direct 20 something miles back to home. I was completely encrusted in salt, dehydrated and could barely pedal the bike. Not just my legs were giving up but my body in general and my overall coordination. Worst yet, my will to continue and fight was broken. It was a very long and painful ride home from there, to which I contributed very little.

The truth is that the tandem really isn't that fast on anything but flats or downhills. On any extended uphill it's a bus, slowing to a low gear crawl. Attacking up a hill takes massive effort and is typically not a sustainable venture. Our week of tandem rides earlier this month proved this. If the climbs are really steep, such that everyone is struggling, the difference isn't that severe but on those mid level/length climbs that one can push it up over with a single bike, the tandem is dramatically slower. Power climbs are a toss up. If momentum can be carried, you can keep a good solid pace up them and often are at an advantage over a single bike. Anyhow, we have do a lot of miles on the tandem over the past month. Most of those miles involve large amounts of suffering. I can't say that I'm really anxious to get back onto it in the near future.

Mayhem

2011-07-15T13:45:00.001-04:00

You turn your back, literally, for a second and they get into everything. No, Ellie, that is not how you dial for windage and no, it is not your toy. Yes Opie, the bolt is open, the safety is on and the MA compliant magazine is empty. Still, this is how accidents happen. Bad kittens!

You still haven't cleaned that the way Chris told you to, have you?

TGiF?

2011-07-15T10:20:00.003-04:00

The first week back to work after a vacation always seems to be the longest. In reality, I'm all about routines so in some ways, it was nice to get back to the normal weekly routing. Sure, vacation is great but unless I have specific things planned I seem to flounder around and feel like I'm wasting the precious vacation. I'm told that not having a set agenda for just about every hour of the day is actually akin to relaxation but I'm not sure I buy into that theory.

This week saw some excitement on Tuesday evening when one of the junior team members crashed on his face during a team ride. That resulted in a really good concussion and a total inability to remember anything post crash. Everything is OK now though save some nice facial road rash. Other than that though, the week has been pretty nondescript. We had a steady rain break out late afternoon just before CBTT time so we decided not to head over. Of course the rain stopped just before start time and held off until just after the end. In reality I wasn't feeling all that great and figured that it may be a wise move to hold off.

Last night was what has come to be known as the Thursday night worlds MTB ride in the LLF. This is a ride sponsored by the Greater Boston NEMBA chapter and has been pretty well attended. Unfortunately, with all of this extra use we are starting to notice how hammered the trails are quickly becoming. I'm hoping that they start to organize some trail days there to fix some of the damage being done. I've been in a few times this summer doing some work but it's no longer that easy to keep up with it.

Anyhow, last night new dad Scotty (congratulations and welcome to Sadie) and JohnnyMo met up at my place and we made our way over to the ride. There were a bunch of guys like Nate and Greg there that I have raced with but never ridden with before. Colin and Kevin were there as well rounding out a solid group. Unfortunately, even though I was determined that this would be a steady pace non-drop ride, we started having mechanical issues within the first 15 minutes. We then lost Scotty shortly after in the melee and so Johnny and I opted to peel off and go search for him. We picked up Colin, who in an attempt to lighten his bike was running 3 of the 6 rotor bolts in each hub. Apparently they couldn't handle the pressure and loosened up on him. The three of us rode around and had a good steady train going for some time. Eventually we picked up Scott and continued to ride until we met the rest of the splintered group and headed a bit afar for some variety. At some point we lost Colin again and then lost Scott behind the cemetery somehow. One thing I have noticed with these guys is that the group ride mentality is gone in favor of the race mentality, so no mind is ever paid to those behind, only the wheel ahead. Different dynamic. We finished the ride out and headed back for home, getting in almost 26 miles on the evening in just under 2.5hrs moving time. Not a bad effort on the single speed and my legs certainly felt it.

Today it's all about figuring out what to do this weekend. I still don't have my membership finalized at the range so that isn't going to be of use this weekend. There are a few races on Sunday that I am trying to decide between. Typically we race the Yarmouth Clamfest, a P/1/2/3 race in Yarmouth, ME centered around their annual clam festival. It's a good race but realistically the best I could hope for would be a top 20, given the course and the field. The Root66 MTB race is way down in CT the other side of Hartford and doesn't start until 2PM. That makes for a really long day so it isn't going to happen. The other MTB race is in Sunapee, NH and given that they just lowered the entry fee, possibly because nobody registered for the race, it is a possibility, though still significantly more expensive than the Root66 option. We also need to decide today about an addition we are considering of a new deck and screen room on the house. I've been pestering the contractor with stupid questions to the point where he probably hates me, but should be used to it from all of the other times he has dealt with me. My buddy Wayne who has gone out on his own doing contracting is simply too swamped with work to be able to take this on as well. Oh yea, I need to mow the law as well. Stupid lawn.

So here we are. I'm pretending to do some work and stumble my way through the day in pursuit of the weekend, not that the weekend has anything all that great in store for me. The weekend may be the meat (of fish given that it is Friday afterall) and the weekdays may be the potato (or salad if you prefer) but I'm the type of guy that really appreciates the stability and regularity of potato (or salad if you prefer), especially if you spice it up a little with some horseradish, well, maybe not if you prefer salad.

Part of Something Bigger

2011-07-13T13:35:00.003-04:00

Being part of something bigger than oneself can mean a myriad of different things. Clearly, it also means something different to everyone. My life is all but consumed by cycling and the pursuit of that passion. For years I searched, trying to find exactly where I fit into the cycling community. I'd progressed through a number of different fads and phases and in recent years,

I'd really focused on racing. A couple years ago I got so serious that I hired a coach, spent the season racing the elite MTB series and every elite road race I could find and really tried to give it a solid run. I also trained like mad, especially early in the season. The result was that I got really strong and had some solid results at first. By the middle of the season however, the results waned, I was really beat all the time and the fun started to fade. In the end, this resulted in me stepping back and taking another look at my objectives. Unfortunately, a really great cyclocross season once again lit a fire that carried into last season, with a record setting spring time training session and some more solid performances. The though of holding it all year long kept me motivated and cross started out great, but promptly tanked, really hard. This was the straw that broke the trend and this past winter I was ready for a break.

We were fortunate to have an excellent snow year and so I let the bike be and reached for the skis. We had a wonderful time and when the spring rolled around I was ready to ride my bike, albeit with a somewhat different view on things. I didn't let myself feel compelled to race or ride for that matter if I didn't want to and I was listening to what my body was saying, trying to rest and recover rather than just push through it. This has been working well and I have been able to maintain motivation, with the ultimate hope being that I can hold it all season long.

Enough about that though. Let's get on to the real point of this post. In recent years I've come to realize that no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't going to be the next, best thing on the race scene. The best I could hope for, which was really all that I have ever hoped for, was to be respected as a racer and I hope to be viewed as someone who works hard and really races his bike. I'd much prefer to be associated with that and not for whatever mediocre results I may pull in. It may be vain, but I think I've accomplished that goal. With that being the case, I then realized that my biggest contribution may be in sharing the lessons that I have learned over the years and trying to promote the sport and avocation which means so much to me, to others. This indeed, seemed to be the simple truth to it all.

I've always enjoyed promoting the sport to others and have, over the past few years, tried more and more to share my lessons and tips when appropriate. Again, I don't profess to know everything or be any great cyclist, but I have been riding bikes for some time and I have learned a few tricks, especially offroad, and I delight in sharing them. Last year, with the help of some friends and teammates, I put together a MTB clinics for NEBC, the club that we belong to, as well as a wildly popular cyclocross clinic that drew nearly 40 participants from the club. I also volunteered to captain the unofficial club cyclocross team last season. This was in some ways rewarding but in many other ways frustrating. The goal was to promote camaraderie and promote the sport within the club from a team perspective. What I found was that trying to get adults to do things, like write race reports and organize to do things as a team, was like pulling teeth. I'd invested a lot of my own time and didn't feel that the benefit was there. I was also getting really burnt out on racing in general at that point. All of this soured me on the club, the sport and on people in general. There were however, some bright spots. A very few individuals whom I could tell really saw benefit in the effort and appreciated it. They were enough to keep an ember of hope burning.

This spring, after some time cooling off, I was determined to stick with the club and once again try and do my best to help out whether they wanted it or not. I did however, decide not to volunteer as any form of team captain and I was not part of any organized team. The idea was to just sit in the background and look for opportunities to help out. Recently, NEBC was approached by a young man from outside of NEBC looking to form a junior team. He was asked to attend a board meeting so that people could get to meet him and hear him out. There had been some interest in a team by some NEBC juniors earlier in the season but the leadership and initiative was never taken to get it going, so the thought was that this may be a good fit. Even though I am not part of the board, I decided to attend the meeting, primarily because it was at Lester's Roadside BBQ, one of our club sponsors. I was so impressed with the young man that I volunteered on the spot to direct and coach (in the very purest sense of the term) the team so as to try and make sure they got what they needed, kept on track and that the experiment was a success.

One thing led to another and the kids came out of the woodwork. At present we have 8 on the squad between the ages of 15 and 18. I've spend tons of time going through NOS clothing from the club, which was the only inventory they had, to try and outfit the team as best we could. I've gotten the chance to learn about junior gearing and have been scavenging 52 tooth chainrings and locking out cassettes left and right. We have also been having a weekly team ride where we all get together and ride. My main focus is trying to stress what I consider to be good ideals on the kids. I want to make cycling, the sport I love, as fun and exciting for them as it is for me. I want then to be safe both in racing as well as in riding and I want them to be ambassadors or not only the sport but of themselves. We have a strict code of conduct on the rides, which I hope will be instilled within them in general. Our goal is to be better people, by being kind and friendly and humble, and through that, better competitors. Let us not be judged but by action.

So, for now, I've trying my hand at something very, very new to me. I have exactly zero experience with kids, save via introspection. From what I have seen so far, it is very different, but mostly in a good way. After years and years of dealing with gritty, miserable, self-centered, old people it is very refreshing to work with raw youth and enthusiasm. So far so good and despite a couple of setbacks like a complete physical meltdown at mile 45 or a 55 mile ride and an astounding faceplant into pavement last night, all is well. All that I can ask is that I can do right by them and offer them something of value.

White Mountains Classic Road Race Report

2011-06-28T13:56:00.005-04:00

I spent the week prior to this race watching the weather and weighing options. Based on those forecasts, I was relatively certain that the weekend conditions were not going to be pleasant, with 70% chance of rain on Saturday and four days of steady rains making things a mess for Sunday. With that I decided that MTB racing was out, given primarily that I’d just finally gotten my MTB fixed up from the beating it took at Pat’s Peak. The team, that being the newly formed NEBC Junior Development Team, which I’m helping out with, had decided to commit to the White Mountains Classic race at Loon Mountain Ski Area in Lincoln, NH. I’d been keeping my eye on the race all season as it is a good location, convenient and a great cause. That said, racing in the rain wasn’t appealing.

After helping the team with last minute prep and gearing Friday and telling them I’d try to make it, I decided secretly to suck it up and go. After all, I knew some of the guys racing the master’s race and knew it would be fun and challenging and also pretty darn safe. This was the right decision. The venue was great, the course was a good fun mix, the volunteers were super and the rain held off all day. I can honestly say that this was one of the best days and experiences racing ever.

Cathy reluctantly decided to race as well, despite having retired from road racing earlier in the season. The fact that the course was "lumpy" and that there were a number of really strong ladies signed up wound ensure that the race would be a challenge. After a number of tough laps with Cathy positioned perfectly in the ever attacking group of three Sunapee women and one other ultra-strong climbing specialist, Cathy cracked. The rest of the race for his was a TT of misery, which she completed with pride.

My race started with my friend Patrick and I sitting at the back chatting at the rollout and for the first few minutes. Maybe a mile in things started to heat a bit so I moved to within the top 5 or so to watch carefully. There were some minor attacks and some very animated racers, like Marvin, but I knew Sunapee had four guys in the pack and would be a part of anything going down. My plan for the day was to just sit and not do anything at all stupid. So half way into lap two on RT112, Bruce was at the front leading things and I rotated to the front and bumped it a bit. Nobody at all took the bait and I had a 20 yard gap immediately. Was that stupid? I thought I wasn’t going to do anything stupid this time. Too late now, keep the pace and see what happens. The gap went out. Coming into Loon Village and through the start/finish for the completion of the second of ten laps, I just kept plodding along, not really drilling it at all but keeping a steady, comfortable pace. The gap remained for the entire lap.

At this point, starting the third lap, I knew it was time to make a decision, do I make an honest go at it or do I cut bait and wisely drift back to the shelter of the pack. I decided to make one hard bid up the hills after the start/finish on lap three and see what that bought me. I went hard and steady the whole way and the gap went out. On RT112, which by the way sucked as it was a miserable false flat, I could see that I had a couple hundred yards on the field but that someone was coming across, finally. I slowed my pace a bit, conserving and waiting for the catch. Just before the catch I accelerated to match the speed of the oncoming rider and gave him some shelter and a chance to recover. It turned out to be Patrick from Sunapee and we started working together immediately. The first couple laps there after were brutal as we worked hard to keep a now desperate field at bay. The gap was as low as 20 seconds but after the initial surges and attacks the pack settled down and the gap ran out to 50 seconds, a minute and fifteen and beyond. This made for a really, really tough ride as we felt compelled to keep the fire lit the entire race.

By the end of the 9th lap we knew we were away barring an incident and so the real race started. Honestly, it wasn’t much of a race. We both continued to work hard the entire time and neither of us slouched. I stupidly stayed in the back through the turn over the bridge to Loon off RT112 and that was the race. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hold a sprint all the way from there but in reality, you needed to start it back there and be the first through the turns. In the end I was second, but I was satisfied with that. It had been a great race, probably the best road race I’d had in years and the first time I’d had a successful break away. Patrick is a wise racer with much more road experience than I and I respect that. It was a good day.

Stupid Job

2011-06-22T09:50:00.006-04:00

So, I complain about my job quite a bit. It's mainly because I don't really value what I do, that being working in a partially service based position within the software industry. Specifically, I develop internal tools and processes for keeping large scale, multi-component, multi-site, software product builds working. This is done within the scope of a huge company and for a huge, very mature, conventional product set. Sound interesting? Yea, chicks really dig it.

Despite the relative job dissatisfaction, I long ago made the simple realization that I've got it just about as good as it gets. My reasoning for that is simple; I am paid reasonably well, it is relatively close to home (though they moved last year from 1.75 miles away to ~15 miles away), I know my job well, it doesn't have huge commitments beyond the "normal high tech 9.5hr work day" and I realize that the grass is never greener on the other side of the fence. What this translates to is me staying where I am and sucking it up, realizing that each day, week and month that goes by is another paycheck that hits the bank. I also grew up pretty modestly and in all reality never realistically dreamed that the potential was there for where I am. Nope, we're not rich by modern standards by any stretch of the imagination and we are not overly extravagant either, but we are also not overly extended, or really extended at all for that matter, and we don't want for anything. Sure, there are times when I think that I'd like something crazy like a spiffy Corvette ZR1 or a second vacation home but not so much that I'm willing to sell my soul to the man for it.

I know, that sounds really pitiful but I'm a realist and have seen the alternatives. I could have a really sucky job, like working in a large scale machine shop doing piece work in ultra hazardous work conditions, which I did one summer in college. I could be out in the fields slinging hay bales which I did many summers as a kid. I could be working 100 hours a week for a crappy startup which I did for exactly 7 weeks until I literally left a note on my boss' desk and walked out the door at 11PM one Sunday evening. I could take my passion and convert it into a business and have it become all consuming, to the point where the passion is lost.

The bottom line is this, it's a job and it is work, otherwise you wouldn't get paid for it. The biggest trick to pull off is the balancing act between work and life. I think in my case, that is about as good as it gets. Work affords me the luxury of doing the things that I am passionate about and that I choose to do. This has been working just great for the past 10 years. Unfortunately, as stable as things had been ... did I mention that I'm all about stability and not a big fan of change? Anyhow, the stability has shifted. First there was the campus consolidation to the god forsaken, unreachable depths of nowhere, also known as Littleton. This sucked as it meant my 1.75 mile commute, which was the primary reason I took the job in the first place, changed to a 15 mile commute. OK, so I work from home at least twice a week and bought a motorcycle that gets 75 mpg to combat this. Yes, I could ride my bike but the direct route is horrible and an extended 20 mile plus with a laptop, a half gallon of coffee and lunch and planning for a ~6:30AM arrival so I can leave that place at 4PM to get home and ride my bike isn't really practical. Last week they decided to consolidate teams and in doing so, my boss, a man who literally has chosen to give the better part of his life for the job, found himself redundant. He was the lucky one. Our group now reports in through, of all places, Mexico. The new manager is here this week and is doing 1x1 meeting with everyone. I've opted to purchase a ton of tickets for the layoff lottery and am still hoping.

How do I get out of this whole thing of not being fully satisfied with work you may ask yourself? I don't know. Another day, another 75 cents or so after taxes. I went and redid the resume and opened it up to the public, which is the normal first course when I get to feeling like that. That typically results in a ton of response for stuff that really don't want to do anyhow. I've considered asking my buddy if he needs help for the construction business he started up solo this spring and have also toyed with taking some time off and doing some part time work at the bike shop or something, just for fun.

The reality is that I'm likely here until dismissed because that is what is comfortable and again, every day I spend here gets me a day closer to retiring from this whole field, a goal which I don't foresee as being all that far off in the future. Will see. Maybe I'll get laid off this week or maybe something new will catch my fancy. Bottom line is that regardless how bad this may at times seem, put it in perspective, at least I'm not cleaning the combustion soot out of the tubes of a really big industrial boiler or insulating the steam pipes above the dryer (think large scale here) in a glorified paper mill over the 4th of July holiday plant shutdowns, jobs I gladly did a little over 20 years ago. Yes, both were really, really hot and really dirty and both sucked ass. I won't even go into the summer I spent cleaning used paper mill equipment that was being reconditioned for use at the plant. Of course, as bad as that was it wasn't nearly as bad as the crap that the riggers went through. Man could those guys drink though. A story for another day.

Low Key

2011-06-21T07:40:00.001-04:00

I don't really have a ton of content, so this is just going to be a vanilla weekend recap that will likely emphasize what a lackluster life I really live. Sad but true. After what seems like a string of weekends containing some for of racing or another we decided to lay low this past weekend and just take it easy.

I was wrecked the early part of the week from the race last weekend and even though I didn't do much for a couple of days after that, I did get out for a ride Tuesday followed by the CBTT Wednesday, which wasn't so special, and a killer SS MTB ride on Thursday which I led for the GB NEMBA group in the PR. As a disjointed aside, these Thursday night rides have really helped get me psyched about group rides again. It's been great to be able to show some new people the trails and to get new people to dog me and keep me moving hard. Anyhow, a couple hour road ride on the SS cross bike Friday put me right back into the category of spent.

Naturally, on Saturday I wanted to get a good ride in but had a bunch of errands and chores to take care of first. We knocked those off in the AM and in the early afternoon headed out on the SS MTB's for a version of the big loop. I'd just torn the EBB apart on my SS and re-lubed and Teflon taped the crap out of it in order to try and remedy the persistent creak it had developed. This fixed the creak for the first hour and all was well but right as I started running out of steam, the creak returned with a vengeance. It is hard to think of anything that is more annoying than a creaky bottom bracket. Well, I guess there is the sound of a bent wheel rubbing on the brake-pads or worse yet, the frame. That's annoying and is also robbing you of precious power and possibly destroying components. I did have that BB debacle on the new bike during the Weeping Willow race, where the bearings let loose and the creak and grind were also stealing power to pepper-mill the ball bearings into a fine powder.

We finished up the death march in about 3.5 hours with sore upper body from wrangling the bike around, sore legs of course but also some serious monkey butt action going down as well. Cathy used some of the ladies special Mad Alchemy chamois cream with great results so I think that shall be on my short list of purchases. I find that the baggy shorts with the liners tend to have fairly crappy quality chamois pads that also don't fit very well. Mine tend to move around more than desired, which would be not all all, and cause frictional chaffing on my ample, but supple, butt cheeks. By the end of a ride it feels as though I'm seated on fresh 60 grit. Not pleasant.

We cleaned up and headed for Beer Works in Lowell for dinner. Unfortunately, there was a Spinners game in progress and there was absolutely no effing parking left anywhere in Lowell. Change of plans and we hit the Outback Steakhouse, for which we had a gift-card anyhow so it wasn't all bad. They had Blue Moon on tap with a smiley wedge of orange, which has become my favorite warm weather draft. From there go out to my friend Ryan's place in the middle of nowhere Pepperell to snag a SS MTB he's selling for another friend, then high tail it to Lexington to feed, water, poop-scoop and visit George and Gracie for our friends T&S. Fortunately the awesome 80's were on so we rocked out to tunes from the decade of decadence.

Sunday started with some bike work, including tearing my SS MTB down and building it back up on the new frame that has been hanging in the basement since Chad at Soul Cycles graciously sent it to me last winter. The day then progressed to yard work for the rest of the morning. Mowing the lawn and then transplanting a whole mess of Lillis. If anyone ever offers to give you some Lillis, proceed with caution in planting them. The things are like the plague; they multiply like mad and just take over. The same basic thing happens with Iris' as well. Anyhow, we moved a bunch of those to thin the cover for some of our shrubs and bushes and also transplanted a couple of bushes to better locales.

We finally gathered up enough motivation for a ride late in the afternoon. We needed to go visit George and Gracie one last time so rode MTB's out the old Reformary Branch railroad bed trail to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary in Concord, which for those who don't know houses markers for a large number of authors on Author's Ridge including Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne and Alcott. Then we were off to another piece of colonial American history, the Minute Man National Historic Park Battle Road and then onto the power-lines in Lexington. It was then a criss-cross of side streets to get to T&S' place. George was happy to see us as it meant food and some company. Gracie was no place to be found, which was typical. We departed and headed for home via Vine Brook, Willards Woods and finally to the Minute Man bikeway.

Last up for the non-stop thrill ride of a weekend was dinner and a movie, which consisted of a big old rack of beef ribs, garden salad and Anthony Hopkins in the Rite. Not a bad movie and actually more interesting than I though initially. Good weekend. Too bad it is well over and we are into the cold hard reality of the work week.