Stupid Bicycle

I didn't get in any breaks (so lazy) but I did wander around the pack and see all sorts of good times. Braking around corners (in front of me), some guy trying the outside and doing an endo into a tree, and a race slow enough to keep the fatties (me) all tucked in and ready to sprint. As an aside I find braking around corners reprehensible for two reasons: First you are eventually going to crash me and I will land on you purposefully, second, I have to brake and the jackasses behind me think I'm the one who started braking making me look just as big a jackholio as you. Now I know in my heart it's not me but still man, my rep is totally teetering between respectable and re-noob and I can't take the hit. OK?

At least I had the first wheel around the third corner on one to go (that wild eyed dude with the crazy hair), but I got horrible speed wobbles on an old front wheel so I soft pedaled the last lap. I had all my lungs and zero work in my legs so the bile of bitterness is welling up quite high as I sit on my sofa watching some chick cop show on the USA network. Shoulda done a Bob Roll and pulled over and thrown the bike into the ditch. Steve tells me that I'll need to put that G-forsaken wheel back on the fixie. Anybody have a stiff semi-aero front wheel for cheap? Frickin' bike.

Third verse same as the first... I'll be doing sprint repeats up Skinners tomorrow and the traditional pre Thursday Nighter (where I sneak off ten minutes early and try not to get caught by the big kids. I have a niece graduating UW on the weekend... maybe I'll taco that wheel on the streets of Seattle!

G$

Last Ghetto Road Ride 2009

Got an email from Abe saying that the last Ghetto ride was going off in spite of (or because of) the impending thunderstorms. The legs felt good so I convinced myself that more training the day after my first race was just what the doctor ordered. Ten or so of us showed including Abe, Lou, Mike, Matt, and Damien. Even saw Joel cruise by on the way over to relatives for dinner. Pleasant. We tempoed up Fir Butte and when the sprint went off I could not raise my pace...

We tempoed up Orchard and I hung on when Abe sprinted for at least 5 meters before I gave up...

I got dropped like a rock over Orchard Point and did not see that sprint...

I held on for the first tenth of Lawrence and rolled in last at the turn onto Butler...

We tempoed Poodle Creek and I could not close a gap at the sprint so I rolled the stop ahead...

We pacelined Vaughn, well... I pacelined the first half and hung on for dear life for the second. At the riser before the sprint at Crow I surged and popped, not so much like a grenade, but more like a water balloon.

I just kept the group up Central but my shining moment was given to me by my favorite teammate: Gravity. I can flat fly down a hill... mmmm burritos.

I simply could not hold the pace on Crow and suffered to the Bike Path.

Later as I was inhaling the refrigerator at home I enjoyed simultaneous cramps on the bottoms and tops of both feet, the front and back of both calves, my left hamstring, my right gluteal and my lower back.

All in all a very pleasing ride, I drove to work this morning.

G$

Criterium Test

Rode the 4/5 crit and accomplished all goals... no crash, no bumps, stayed with the pack and went out on the attack once to help Steven for half a lap. Not much really but I feel great! I need a Pirate jersey.

So I guess now I actually have to go out on the group rides and practice taking big long pulls to get my non-existent lungs back. :-) Here is the game plan for next week: Help at least one attack for a whole lap before 10 to go. Sit in until the last lap and start the sprint two corners early. I hate cat 4 sprinting (last corner and go) and want to show these youngsters what it's like following Nick around on a big last lap! Not that I'll be able to avoid getting swallowed up around the last corner but it will string the hell out of that lazy ass bunch.

G$

Riding

Well, Faced with never ending work, deadlines and years of slacker noncommittalism I quit the Paul's team... at least I severed the last link (the mailing list). Not like I've actually raced in years :-)

Then, immediately, I found my interest rekindled. All of the sudden I wanted to ride in the rain. I put the lights on the bike, squeezed into leggings that looked a little too much like the Michelin Man and rode for an hour in the sleet and felt great and a little pregnant. I rode to work this morning over the new bike bridge across I-5. I thought about riding the Gears rides this summer. I wondered if I could still lug this fixie up over the Butte ( probably not without an ambulance sweeper). Don't get me wrong, my teammates were the best... I just had no way of getting the time or energy to live up to team membership responsibilities. Guilt is not a motivator for G$.

I have no idea if I will continue riding or if I will get to the fitness I had a few years back but at least I don't have have to use the side gate to the back patio just to avoid the bike room anymore.

G$

Saturday

Legs hurt. @ 219. Got my HR up for more than an hour for the first time in ages and it felt miserable ;-)

Looking forward to an hour in the rain today. I'll see if anyone is dumb enough to freeze with me in the road spray tomorrow.

Goals for next week:

217 and 8 hours on the bike. Still a couple of weeks before I'll feel comfortable getting dropped in a group ride. Need to get rain gear.

Gary

Day 3

@ three hours out of six
Rest day.
Spin classes + early spin Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Commute plus noon ride Wednesday.

Sunday

@ 222 today. Friday goal revised to 220. Todo list:

Two hour ride HRM batteries Food shopping.

G

First Day

Somewhere under 230 lbs. Just back from a week of eating and drinking in NOLA.

Easy spin around Bodenhammer on the fixie. Took effort into the headwind.

Week goals: 222 lbs. Long(ish) ride tomorrow no efforts. Get batteries for the HRM by Tuesday. Find Max and Thresholds... see Steve by Friday. Talk to gym Sunday. Seven hours on bike by Friday night.

60 minutes today.

Poodle Creek

Went out with Abe, Damien, Lou, Brian and Eric. We picked up AP for a few miles and then met up with Brice before we hit the open road. 50+ miles after yesterday and the morning commute hurt real bad.

Damien, Abe and especially Eric dragged me around Noti and Crow and I dropped off the back at every hill and/or sprint. I was bonked at about 40 miles... this will make me stronger? Right?

I must say it was really good to see the guys and really good to see Brice out suffering. Good Times.

G$

ETT #2

I feel odd being non-competitive. My brain says I should be able to go fast and my legs just won't turn over. I rode a 37:49 last week and a 37:07 this week. Compare that to 34:09 on my last race in '06... that's three minutes - welcome to Cat 4. The last two time I've tried to sprint I was nauseous for 10 minutes. Oh well, I know the score and I'll have to suffer for my art.

On the good side my teammate Wes has upgraded to a 2 and is hitting the Mt. Hood Stage Race. Wes has really dedicated himself in training and is by far the strongest I have ever seen him. I can't wait to actually be in a race with him. Good luck uphill!

I'm pulling a triple of sorts this week TT yesterday, Ghetto ride up Poodle Creek (or the Gears up Fox Hollow) today depending on work, and an early T-nighter tomorrow. I've got to get the mojo back, right?!? I haven't decided about the weekend. Last week I did a long three hours doing hill repeats (ugh). I think it's time to hang on to some speed on the CSC if I don't embarrass myself on Thursday.

G$

Training

Went out for a few hours with Liz from the team today while a bunch of guys attended BB#1. My knees hurt but I can feel the deisre starting to come back after my bout with the flu.

I wonder what happened today cause nothing has filtered through the grapevine. Jesus I gotta get my ass to some race, somewhere.

G

Outside #2

While a good portion of the team was on Goldstein's Oxbow + a 40 mile loop I couldn't bring myself or my fat keister to follow. The legs just do not have 110 miles in them. Instead I went to the gym and then Sunday I plugged the Thursday nighter + Fox Hollow long. I have some lungs from all that spinning but unless I deGorge all those Christmas cookies, hill races are going to drop me like K-Fed ditches BiPolar Trailer Pops.

I actually have a weight lifting program, a diet and regular aerobic activities and am not just doing the usual bike-o-rexia. We'll see how long I can last on chicken breast, broccoli and mineral water. I already miss my butter.

Cherry Pie in 34 days!

G$

Christmas

I got on the bike.. outside. Sure just two hours and by myself but the legs worked. Slowly. And the pounds are definitely, painfully, ostentatiously attached to my ass.

Today, it's back to the office and snow on the road. I'm trying my best to attend spin classes and even lift a few weights. They tell me it'll clear up by the weekend, maybe so but just in time to get a few group mile in before the traditional New Years ride out to Gap road and back. Last year I learned that the 'finish' is really the overpass on the turn around. I maybe be fat but the road is flat :-)

Gary

T-Nighter + Vancouver Crit

So I took off early from work in spite of my deadlines and peddled out to the Church. I took off five minutes early to see how long I could stay out front, and not have to be dropped on Welders. Success! I got caught rolling into Crow but I was not having fun sitting in the pack so I turned off early and just kept a steady TT pace back to the Church.

Which reminds me... I have a hunch that my biggest shortfall this season was the lack of Time Trials. The training and effort for those hateful events really allowed me to hammer the front end of a group (something I just haven't been able to do this year). Early on my spin classes allowed me a bump up at the Cherry Pie but it's really been downhill since. Hmmm. Time to start putting the pieces together for a TT machine. Whose got a cheap Disc?

I watched Kenji's Vanc Crit video. Inspiring but that guy needs to eat some raw flesh to get his inner killer working! Ya can't fall back in the last few laps brother!

I'll be out in the morning maybe for the CSC but more likely some long intervals to get the Crit legs a emergency injection.

Gary

Stress, Fix, Defend

So my work really couldn't be more stressful over the last few months. I head up the development department and my boss runs the network. And the network is falling apart. And the CEO is looking at me to fix five years of neglect. And build three new full blown production products for new business plans that have all the planning of... well, no planning at all.

So my boss goes on vacation last week and servers start crashing, I'm working 20 hour days. Then today I just lost my sh*t in between mad coding and checking CPU cycles on one of my DB servers - I realize I'm gonna start biking again or I'm totally having a cardiac arrest in a few months.

So I went up Gimpl and around Lorane after work. I am teh suxx0rs (as they say in my world)! I'll be out tomorrow for the T-nighter but I'm definitely starting early. I'll try to make the Harrisburg Crit but I have a family thing. Monday I'll be working the Fixie Crit for one race and critting the black monster for the other. Tuesday is the wifes' B-day but after that I'm free to fly all the way to the defense of my High Desert title. Yeah I'm slow, but I can still make snide remarks to guys who are whole bunches faster than me :-)

Gary (208 lbs.)

Phinney brings an end to my season

The Phinney is now rolling, light, fast and stiff as hell + the triple ;7)

My wife has taken up cycling so I am focusing my attention on getting her up to touring speed (while taking a little Mtn. bike time out along the way).

We'll see if the desire to race comes back in the future but until then I'll be rolling the local climbs on the group rides. < p/> Thanks for reading and adios.

Gary

The Phinney Continues

So I took the old bike into the shop to get the BB moved over to my new to me Merida frame... as with all trips to the shop I was out in an hour with a bunch of new parts and a smaller bank account balance. Soon I'm home and spend the next three hours figuring out how reassemble greased derailleur pulleys and how the ^*&^% to get the "easy" assemble wipperman link off my chain after a mangled assembly. I still haven't begun to contemplate what the hell to do with all these damn cables. I am truly the worst bike mechanic ever.

Anyway - I wonder how things went at the crit I was supposed to attend tonight? Doh. Tomorrow I'll see if anybody shows for the CSC ride on a bike that is already assembled.

Gary

The Phinney

So instead of getting spit out the back of the senior race I drove Comm 2. Boooorrrring. The pros jumped off the front for a 15:00 minute lead. My man Quinn did finish 7th. My best move of the day was to buy a Merida frame off Phinney to replace the frame I broke on my rain bike this spring.

I spent the last two hours ripping greasy old Ultegra and 105 triple parts off the ol' Motobecane. Yeah it was a POS... but that POS won a stage race and plenty of crits. Anyway they're now soaking off their scum and will soon be ensconced on Harry's frame. I need to go buy a seat, get the bottom bracket taken out and then I'll see if I can't sucker my knowledgeable teammates into helping me put the beast together.

Speaking of teammates, my dirt loving brothers are headed of this weekend to get their asses made into hats at the Cascade Cream Puff. Why? Who knows, but they're a bunch of tough Jackos and I wouldn't put it past Abe or Damien to do something absolutely spectacular. Lou, Brice and Shu are also in the mix so it'll probably be the biggest complement of Paul's riders at a race this season! I suppose if you're an insane singe speed junkie the CCP is a bit like the Superbowl, it just plain scare the bejeezus out of me. I'm told that riders love support so bring a knobby wheeled bike and check it out.

I'm talking myself into getting lapped at the Crit tomorrow in the hopes of staying in at the Fairview Circuit Race this weekend. Last year I was fully heatstroked at the finish so this time I'm bringing a water bottle just for the head. This race is really interesting because of the mini climb perfect for attack launches allowing those climber monkeys their opportunity at stealing all that sprint glory. I hope to see bundles of roadies there! I'm sure that Kenji will be filming butts the whole day.

Gary

Back and Fat

Had my week off. I road a bit of the ol' single speed up some nice 20% coast range grades and did a 20 mile beach ride against a nasty little head wind. Other than that I read a couple of bad novels, completed four jig-saw puzzles and sipped PBR in the hot tub.

I decided that the time has come for a little rededication to this bike racing theme. This season is pretty much shot but I have a wily plan to roll through the next few months to peak out at the Eugene Celebration and then go straight into a very low, slow and long build for next spring. The only real effort for the rest of the summer will be the Crits and getting back to a respectable weight and form.

So I am now standing up from the computer and going to weigh myself.. back... when the needle stopped spinning it had just pipped past 214. Ugh. So there it is. I'm feeling good, I'm swearing off running until Crit season is over and I plan on losing four pounds a week for the next 6 weeks. I track each weigh in right here. Goal:190. I get my next hot dog at 188.

Gary

Vacation

Completed first "try-it" Triathlon...

I'm on vacation 'til next weekend.

Gary