Sunday Morning

Well, well. Here I sit typing on the computer not accomplishing anything. I won't even get up to turn on the TV. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I like to catch Meet The Press if I'm around on Sunday morning.

Oh good, Condi is on telling is why it was ok for good ol' boy W to spy on us without warrants. We don't need that 4th Amendment anyway.

Normally I get a one ride in and one skate ski in on the weekend during this time of year. I rode yesterday, and I don't see myself getting ready and making the drive to the mountains. It's a little chilly down here and up there. If I were up there, I would probably wax up the skis and head out, but I'm not making the drive so ski in single digit temperatures. I guess it's another day on the trainer. Oh boy! My entertainment choices for the thrilling adventure are as follows: football on the TV/Ipod in the ears, Dazed and Confused on the TV, 2004 Paris-Roubaix with or without the IPod. I wish I had the '05 running on DVD.

Yesterday I was on the trainer too. It was my first "field test" of the new training season. The field tests are, in my situation, two 8 minute maximal efforts with a 10 minute rest inbetween. The reason for the test is to give me a rough idea of what my lactate threshold for watts and heart rate is. Considering the long work week and the fact that I thought good preparation would be drinking too much the night before, I was happy with my results. They were better than the last test I did, which, was back in April after some intensity training. The only intestine training I have had lately are the sporadic cyclocross races I've been doing and some moderate skate skiing. Granted, the test in April was outside on rolling terrain, and yesterday's test was inside, but the improvements were substantial. If only my stomach would participate in these improvements.

Torture

"The enemy we fight has no respect for human life. They don't deserve our sympathy. But this isn't about who they are. This is about who we are." Senator John McCain

busy weekend

Friday night: Holiday Party

Saturday: 3 hour skate ski

Saturday night: Holiday party.

Sunday: 2.5 hour ride in some icy conditions

Sunday afternoon: Broncos game. Beer and talking to Jesus

Sunday night: Candlelight and typing this.

Addicted?

Ok people. Here in Denver it is -5 degrees this morning. My hands got cold touching the steering wheel WITH lobster gloves on my hands. They were still cold at the end of a 45 minute commute with the heat on high.

During my drive, I saw one idiot that insisted on rolling her window down to smoke a cigarette. Are you kidding me? I'm sure I'll see some people outside smoking today even though it's only supposed to get up to around 6 degrees today.

Runs

Found this cool application while surfing around. I guess it's a "mashup." I'm not going to explain that. Google it. But here is the link to my evening runs. One shorter and one longer. I hope all my stalkers don't use this to hunt me down. Maybe I'll use it to map out some of my rides. That will probably take a bit longer.

http://profile.mapmyrun.com/mtbfool

Can't sleep

One would think after suffering through a cyclocross race and then, coming home and having a couple of beers, one would sleep well. Well, one didn't. I think my neighbors got home from closing time and were feeling a little clumsy from having a good time. They woke me up around 3 AM and I couldn't get back to sleep. Oh well, I wanted to get up into the mountains early today, so I could make back in time for the Broncos game.

That's right kiddos. Today will be the first day of skate skiing. Sounds like I could have gotten some earlier days in because the mountains have been getting pummled by snow the last few weeks. I guess I was just waiting for cross to be over and now it is.

The race yesterday was actually pretty fun. First semi-foul weather race of the year. I got up to a few inches of snow outside the door, but at the race locale, no dice. It was a little muddy, and pretty cold too. I busted out the Pam for the bike, but I don't think I really needed. In case you are wondering, strategically placed Pam helps prevent mud from caking up. Saving weight and a gunked up drive train.

I also decided to put some Sore No More on my legs so I could forego knee or leg warmers. You know, freak the cold weinies out for a psychological advantage. And if I told you my result, you could see that those 20 odd guys that finished in front of me were clearly intimidated.

I better get going so I can hit the road.

Hasta Lavista Wildabeasta.

and It Burns, Burns, Burns

I have a friend that recently opined on the overexposure of Johnny Cash these days. I tend to agree, but this is freaking hilarious.

Preparation H made a bid to use Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire to sell the hemorrhoid cream. Cash's daughter, singer- songwriter Rosanne Cash, refused to allow it and told Advertising Age magazine the idea was "moronic."

Oh the pain of the Ol' ring of fire.

Happy Fucking Thanksgiving

I would like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to my family back in Georgia that understood why I needed to move to Colorado. They understood so very well that they stopped talking to me. I think we are going on 4 years now. Thanks family. I'll always remember you.

Yeah. Sarcasm, but really dough, it was a good thanksgiving. I cooked my first turkey. A 14 lbs. honker. It turned out really well. I surprised myself. Me and my boy C-Dog pulled of a traditional meal. Turkey, mashed taters, green bean casserole, dressing (from scratch beeatch), and a lot of booze. If I say so myself, it was pretty damn good.

C-dog and I went out last night to the Larimer Lounge to catch a couple of bands. I wore my Dopers Suck t-shirt out. That usually gets A LOT of funny looks and a few odd comments. Most people don't understand the meaning behind the shirt. A cycling brotha from Boulder started the theme. He doesn't know me, but I appreciate what he does within the community.

Back to the show. We saw Born Under the Flood and Munly & The Lee Lewis Harlots. Both very good bands seen at a lo lo price. I love the Larimer Lounge and haven't been there in about a year. It was a lot more smoky this time around, but that's a small price to pay. After C-dog and I were done with the music, we called the 7s and the 3s. Those are the local cabbies. They never showed up, and we ended up taking a hike about 10 blocks away. Let me tell you, it wasn't warm.

By the time we caught a cab, we had both decided it was time to hit the Denver Diner. As you can guess, it was time for a nice greasy breakfast. I had the Ranch Breakfast. I won't go into the details, but it was hell of a lot of food for a low price. The result of the late night breakfast was getting bed at 3:30 and waking up at 9:30. That's a late start on today's meal, but we pulled it off. We even managed to fit in a 3.5 mile jog. We also hit the trifecta. Liquor, wine, and beer. All good shit.

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday, so I would really like to send a word of appreciation out to my true friends, which, are my true family. I hope you all had a good one. I did. Too bad I have to go to work tomorrow, but if tradition holds true, it should be slow and we'll watch a little college pigskin.

I feel like I had a lot more to say, but I guess I'll leave it at that.

Racing

Can I just say that I love racing? I know that sounds stupid, but I really do. Even when I suck ass at the discipline I'm participating in. There is just something about feeling that pain. Wondering why you are putting yourself through said pain. Putting yourself through more pain to sprint it out for higher a mid-pack place. Then, you finish and you absolutely know why you do it. You can't explain it but you feel it.

Can you guess that I raced today?

I got an e-mail from my Dad today. A bunch of gibberish about Liberals vs. Conservatives. I believe in good arguments about the virtues of each side left or right, but this "joke" just pissed me off to be honest with you. I let my Dad know how I felt about his e-mail. He said he read it as a joke. I said I think the people that send it along believe it to an extent. I think I pissed him off.

Well, I ended up watching Dateline AGAIN last night. Somehow I get sucked into that on Friday nights when I have neither the physical nor the mental energy to do anything else but watch TV. I guess I end up on Dateline because I don't have cable, so I only have 4 channels to choose from.

It was, however, a pretty interesting show. It was about Mark Chapman. You know, the guy that gunned down John Lennon. There were people on there that were arguing that he wasn't really off his rocker. That he did it for attention. HELLOOOOOOO. If you do that kind of thing for fame, I think you are off your rocker.

I learned a lot about Mr. Chapman and a few things about Lennon, but this thing dragged on forever. Forever I say. 2 freaking hours, but my ass was too tired to pull myself off the couch. Now, I don't know if you have watched any of those "TV magazine" shows where they only have a story and don't have any video footage to show you, but shit, I saw the same fucking five pictures of Mark Chapman at least 20 times. Every possible angle, again 20 times, of The Dakota, which is the building in which John, Yoko, and Sean lived. Same pictures of Mark Chapman again. The cover of The Catcher In The Rye at least 20 times. I guess ol' Markie boy had more than one obsession. The obsession with The Catcher supposedly planted the murder idea in his head, and believe now I know what the cover looks like. There had to be at least 15 minutes of shots of the cover taking up the 120 minutes contributed to the show.

Enough ranting. Like I said, it was pretty good, but it could have been wrapped up in an hour.

I don't know if I have disclosed this before, but I'm a Bama fan. Yes, they got their asses handed to them. Yes, it was by Auburn. No, I didn't go to Alabama, but a lot of my family did. I was on my way there, but I guess I didn't have the right people (or anyone) guiding me along. You would think with a family full of Alabama fans there would have been a little encouragement for me to go to Tuscaloosa. Every once and a while, I have a regret or two about that, but I probably wouldn't be out here if I had gone there.

I need another beer.

It's almost time to start skate skiing. In fact, I bet the mountains got enough snow this past week for some of the nordic centers to start opening. We'll see how the upper body holds up this year since I decided to forgo the weight room this fall.

I was in Urban Outfitters a couple of weeks ago and stumbled across a nice stainless steel flask. I flip it over and it has a picture of Jesus. Under the picture it reads, "What Wouldn't Jesus Do?" It made me laugh out loud in the store for about 5 minutes, so obviously I had to waste $14 on it. I filled it up with a Macallan 12 (probably a 14 or 15 by now) today and took it to the races. Took it with me out to watch the races after mine, but never took a nip. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe on Thanksgiving. To be honest with you, I thought it said, "What Would Jesus Do?" That's what really made me laugh. That makes more sense to my sarcastic mind, but it still makes me laugh now.

I'm going to get that beer. Later aight.

This Guy Must Be A Terrorist

Maybe W can get ahold of him and teach him a thing or two about how we do things here in 'Mercia. Who is this commy liberal? He clearly knows nothing about our country.

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." - Thomas Jefferson

TV melts the brain

How much time do I waste staring at the TV. I'm sitting here trying to think of something to contribute to the blog, but the boob tube has sucked out what little brain power I had.

I stumbled across this site the other day. It's called chattablogs.com. It's a free blog host for Chattanooga residents I think. Except, I stumbled across one where all the references were to Chicago locales. I went to school in Chattavegas, and I keep expecting to stumble across a blog of someone I know, but it seems to be mostly the musings of your typical southern religious folks. I seem some pictures of the town and miss it, but then I read some of the religious blogs and it makes me glad I don't have to deal with those people anymore. Some of the posts are really quite amusing.

It looks like Mr. Bush and the republicans are under the gun after yesterday's elections. Maybe that is a sign of things to come.

Speaking of religion and politics, there was a piece on Dateline a couple of weeks ago about how much political power the evangelical christians are wielding these days. It was a little disturbing to be honest with you. Why do these people insist on imposing there "moral values" on the rest of us? What happened to freedom of religion? Go read your history books people.

On to a lighter subject. I did another cross race this past weekend. Had a very tiny bit of go left at the end of the race. I usually just get passed during the entire thing, but I was actually passing people at the end of this one. That was nice for a change, but I still wasn't happy with the results. It's amazing how much fitness I lose in a short amount of time. Guys that I could keep up with in a mountain bike race make me look like I'm pedaling with one leg. Trust me, it's not as fast as this guy. Maybe it's all the booze I shove down my gullet for the months after my last mountain bike race.

Well, I'll try to hit it again this weekend. Maybe I'll do better if I don't drink a six pack the night before. The odds of either of those happening are pretty minimal.

That's it for tonight.

WINDY

WINDY as hell today. Doesn't make for a fun ride. Neither does the fact that I'm only good for about 2 hours right now. Pretty sad state of affaris.

I stumbled across this link at the Drunk Cyclist blog. Pretty good article about the war and media coverage.
http://nitpicker.blogspot.com/2005/10/soul-of-victor-davis-hanson.html
It's long, but some good stuff. Especially the E.B. White quote.

Excuse Me?

Ah, the sound of rain while lying in bed. A beautiful thing it is. Very relaxing, or if you have cyclocross race on the schedule the next day, very exciting.

I rolled out of bed at around 7:30. Much earlier that I had wanted due to the fact that my race wasn't until 1:20, but that's happens when you are a loser and go to bed at 9 on a Friday night. Anyway, I decided to get up and have my espresso. Pre-race caffeine buzzes are great. A plus is that they help other things get going too.

Since I had plenty of time to kill, I pop open the ol' laptop to do a little surfing. I don't know what universal force guided me over to the ACA website, but I'm glad it did. There is big bold letters was,"Due to last night weather conditions, today's (Nov 5th) . . . venue is unridable. The race has been postponed till Nov 27th- venue to be determined."

now I can't get this stupid bold shit off.

I sit there and stare at this interesting statement. I think to myself, "I thought it was fall and I thought this was a cross race." When you start talking mud, rain, snow, etc, most cyclocrossers get a big stiffie. While I don't consider myself a cross racer, I love those conditions. I don't necessarily like them when I have to get on my road bike or mountain bike, but for cross, it's a blast. Not rideable is ok because a typical cross race includes you getting of your bike, shouldering it, and running. A little more won't hurt.

It didn't rain that much last night, and it's been dry as hell around here for the last month. I would think the small amount of rain we got last night would get soaked right up. I e-mailed the race promoter a nice e-mail. I didn't criticize him, but asked for the reasoning. I'm guessing it was the property owner's call. They had the state championships out there last year, and it was a snowy muddy mess.

Oh well. In the words of Mr. Bertuzzi, "it is what is. It is what it is. It is what it is." However, I did skip BEER last night, and I'm angry about that.

In other news, I don't think I ever mentioned on this very popular blog that I was growing a mustache. I know I know. Mustaches are way too cool for a person of my lowly stature, but I was doing it for charity. I manage to raise a bit of money, but the best part was the inclusion of the 'stache in my Halloween costume. Rachel and I went as Officers Johnson and Dangle from Reno 911. Yes, I wore the short shorts. Yes, we had pictures taken. No, the weren't full body shots. Only from the waist up. One's mind doesn't conjure such brilliant ideas when you're pouring Everclear down your throat. The point being, maybe I'll have some pics up in the next day or so.

I'm A Wheel

Just got back from Indianapolis. Indiana that is. Went out at the last minute to surprise my boy Tracy for his 30th birthday. He didn't have a clue I was coming, and his wife picked me up at the airport. I rang the doorbell and his exact words were, "what the f8ck?" I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he definitely was surprised.

One of the bonuses of going out there was to catch yet another Wilco show. If they are still playing 30 years from now, I'm we'll be going 30 years from now, and hopefully we'll be draggin' D and B with us.

Of course, it was a great show. Every Wilco show is a great show. It wasn't the best I've seen (and definitely not the cheapest), but it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Now, I'm back in Denver. Sitting outside in the ol' courtyard and drinking a beer while the sun goes down. It was fun to see the McGills. They are definitely on the right track I'm happy to report. The two little ones are cute as hell too.

Well, I've committed to getting a little more organized with my training early this year. At least, that is what I've talked about with Coach Phil. After we got of the phone, however, it seemed like I'm not doing things too much different than in previous years. It's just going to be a little more structured. I guess that means I'll be laying off the booze a little earlier this year. I guess I should say a little more a little earlier. I can't see myself not being liquored/beered/wined up on Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday after all. Food and booze. What more could you ask for?

I did manage to get my ass off the couch last weekend for a 'cross race. I was pretty happy with it considering I never have big aspirations for that discipline. It's just something I do to get me motivated to get out and exercise some this time of year and to keep from putting on too many L-Bs. Anyway, it seemed like I carried over a small amount of bike fitness, but there was a lot of running. I definitely don't have that snap in my legs yet. Considering how much crap I've been eating and how much beer I've been imbibing, I did pretty decent.

I guess that is about it for now. I'm going to try to update this thing a little more frequently.

I want a nano

Please help me get a nano
http://ipodnanos.freepay.com/?r=22478468

On the Ball

I was driving to Keystone yesterday morning when I was struck by the marketing genius of the people at the Silver Plume Bureau of Tourism. Right at the exit for the town, there was a 4 ft x 6 ft sign. It was white lettering with a green background that read, "Visit Silver Plume."

I was so taken by the command, that if I wasn't blazing down the interstate at the extreme speed of 60 mph, I would have stopped. Alas! The speed was just too great to make the exit in time.

The Podium

Well, Lance won again. I guess that has been known for a week now. What a way to end an era. I've always had a love/hate relationship with LA. I admire what he has overcome and accomplished, but at times he does and says some things that I don't agree with. That being said, I wouldn't turn him down if he called me up to go for a ride, and he definitely is an inspiration. At some point or another, we've all tried to emulate him out on our rides. You don't want to copy second best.

Way to go Lance!

I feel sorry for Rasmussen and his melt down in the final time trial. He was definitely one of the big stories of The Tour, and he used to be a mountain biker. I'm partial to those guys. Cadel Evans is another one. It was good, however, to see Jan fight back and be able to hop up on the podium. He definitely had a tough start after crashing into the back of his team car the day before the start.

Basso looked as strong as ever. He has become an excellent time trialer, although he did start out a little too fast in the final one. I think he will be a force to reckon with in the future. Next year's race should be spectacular. Basso, Ullrich, Vinokurov with Liberty Seguros, Valverde, and more. I'm sure there will be some other revelation that no one counted on.

Now time for my races. The standard mountain bike cross country race was on Saturday. I pre-rode the course on Friday. My legs felt pretty good, so I was excited about the race. My plan was just to get up with the top 5 at the start and see if it sticks. The sticking was the big question. You see, after a hair pin start, the course takes a turn straight up hill. Were talking about 1300 feet of climbing in about 3 or 4 miles. If you can't do the math, that is steep.

Well, I did manage to get it to stick. For the first time in a race this year, I felt like I was climbing strongly. I think I fell back to about 8th at one point, but was able to attack at the crest of the first climb and make up a couple of places. I had a solid descent, and was able to get with a couple of guys for the 2nd round of the big climb. I still felt strong and was able to make some accelerations to try to drop some guys. One guy overtook me, but I got the other one. By the top of the course I was pretty spent. I made a visit it to la la land at one point. I couldn't figure out why the singletrack was so rough, but then I looked down and noticed my fork was locked out. There's an explanation for you. I just had the descent left, and I was in pretty good shape. I did lose one place right before the last section of singletrack. There was one little uphill section left, but I didn't have enough to catch the passer. I got to the finish and the announcer said I was the 5th place finisher. My best finish at a National, and since they go 5 deep for the podium at those races, my first National podium! Of course, that is always thanks to a little good luck.

I decided to celebrate a little. Rachel, my dad, and I decided to go get some dinner. Just in time too because a hell of a storm rolled in to the village. A gullywasher I tell you. A waterfall appeared on the steps from the upper level of the village to the middle level. I decided this was a perfect time to polish off some drinks. A beer and three margs later I was feeling pretty good, however, an hour earlier, I had decided I was going to do the short track cross country race on Sunday.

Luckily, said race wasn't until 10:30 on Sunday. I woke up in the morning feeling pretty good. That is until I got on the bike and had to ride it up that damned hill to the short track course. The legs were definitely feeling yesterday's effort, but after a little warm up, they started coming around a little.

The short track course was actually a decent mountain bike course. At some places, the short track races are nothing more than a glorified road criterium race, but this one actually had a couple of sections where you had to make an effort to keep the bike rolling and upright.

10:30 rolled around and we had a whistle sending us off. For some reason, the crafty racer next to me decided to take a diagonal line straight into my path. He nearly knocked me off my bike, and I had to sprint around the group and back up to the front. Not a good thing considering this is only a 25 minute race anyway, and it's balls to the walls from the gun (or whistle). I could never make contact with the front two guys, but did manage to get in a group with two other guys. I eventually dropped them. One of the tried to run some cyclocross wheels and tires and wasn't able to get through the rough stuff too well, and the other simply faded a bit. Well, Mr. Other didn't fade for too long, and despite my best efforts, he kept getting closer. Eventually, I decided to cut my losses because I wasn't gaining any ground on those front burners. I slowed to let Mr. Other catch up. I sat in the front a while and eventually decided to let him and do some work. With a lap to go, I had decided I would attack him at the top of the short bumpy climb he had trouble with on the previous laps. I managed to dig down and find a little something for the attack and put a gap on him by the downhill section. It stuck to the end, and in case you lost track of where I was, that was a 3rd place finish. Another best and podium at a national. The training seems to be working. Thanks Phil!

My dad managed to get 3rd in his race on Saturday. An all time best for him! Way to go Dad! Well, I guess that's enough rambling on about stuff that only I really care about.

Maybe sometime in the future I'll get all philosophical and type something someone else can relate to. Yeah right!

Chillin In Snowmass

Typing here in the hotel room. Not really a hotel I guess. It's a "lodge." Nice place with friendly employees.

Right now I'm watching the VH1 countdown of the 40 Most Awesomely Bad Dirty Songs ever. There commentary on all these VH1 shows crack me up. So far, we've seen, Whomp There It Is by Tag Team, I Want Action Tonight by Poison, and Bump, Bump, Bump by B2K. Quality songs I tell you. Were at 30 to go, so we have quality and quantity. What more could you ask for? I can't believe I don't have cable for all this educational programming.

So the reason I'm in Snowmass is for my first National Mountain Bike Series race. NMBS or National for short. This course is usually a 13 mile loop. Steep, long climbs, tough rolling single track, and some nice singletrack descents. Oh sorry, I just noticed that Dirty is actually Dirrty. Oh boy, I Touch Myself by The DiVinyls.

Anyway, back to tomorrows race. They essentially cut the course in half, but we still only have to do two laps. That will make the race about an hour shorter than in previous years, and it will be fast fast fast.

I felt pretty good pre-riding the course today, so I hope to feel at least that good tomorrow. I was feeling pretty questionable earlier this week due to a couple of stressful weeks at work and some intense training. Not a good combo, but I think I'm on the rebound. Hopefully the race at Winter Park a couple of weekends ago is an indication of things to come. Let's just hope my stomach cooperates.

I WANT ACTION TONIGHT, SATISFACTION ALL NIGHT!

Atta Babe!

WAY TO GO GEORGE!

Racing, racing, racing

Well, that is what has consumed my life lately. Either getting ready for it, doing it, or watching it on TV.

How about the Tour? A few surprises and a lot of wrecks. Those guys were dropping like flies on yesterday's stage. Looked like mostly stupid crashes most likely caused by fatigued.

Lance found himself alone on the final climb of stage 7. It was a nice gradual climb, which, produced some really high speeds. T-Mobile definitely took advantage of Lance's solitude. Vinokourov, the Krazy Kazakh, accelerated several times, but LA was able to counter. Eventually, Kloden went out, and they let him go. In a short amount of time, he caught the race leader Weening, and they duked it out to the very end. Supposedly Weening crossed the line first. I think his slobber, as seen to the left, gave him the 1cm edge at the finish.

As far as yesterday's stage goes, you gotta give your props to the former MOUNTAIN BIKE racer Rasmussen. What a solo break for the win. I recorded that stage, and unfortunately, learned of the results, via my coaching website. I went to log in Sunday's ride, and right there in the top right corner it said, "Rasumssen takes stage." Damnitalltohell, I waited all day to watch the reply, and it wasn't nearly as exciting to watch knowing that his attack stuck all the way through. Good stuff nonetheless.

I did a short mountain bike race in Winter Park on Saturday. I had a fairly heavy week of training in the week preceding. Moderate volume and high intensity with the hardest effort on Thursday.

When I started to warm up for the race, I was definitely feeling that effort in my legs. With it being such a short race, I knew I was in for a little extra suffering. I actually had a pretty good start. I didn't feel like I had gone out that hard, but I looked back and no one was with me. The fast guys of the group eventually caught up, and my legs were feeling pretty tired from the get go. Good thing it was just a fun/training race.

With a little bit of luck and a lot of "sucking it up," I was able to get back on the podium for the first time in a while. With a 3rd place (out of only 8 guys), it was the bottom of the podium, but it's still the podium. I was only a minute and a half of the winner, a guy that wins some of the other local races, and I improved my time by a minute and a half over last year on the same course. Not bad for a tough training week. All and all I was happy with it.

Time to get ready for the National in Snowmass in a couple of weeks.