Holiday in Iambic pentameter

The morning woke to a cold winter shudder
Cold freezing fog my lenses did cover
Descending Fox Hollow shivering cold
To visit the family I did go.

Warm cups of coffee and cinnamon rolls
Woke up our spirits as gifts they did show
Themselves from under the tree where we
Sat all around, faces pictures of glee.

Noon came and went, our stomachs they rumbled
Amongst bits of papers torn and crumpled
With purpose then to the kitchen we went,
Shoved in the oven a goose that was spent.

We feasted once more like good people should
To show ourselves that when we could, we would
We tipped back some bubbly and toasted the year
Filling ourselves with good holiday cheer.

Night came too soon as happens in winter
And soon the festive group it did splinter
To home and towards beds that we each had made
All warm and full, maybe in a slight daze.

Pedaling home, feet turning slow circles
Darkness around, nose turning purple
I spied two figures under a small bridge
Like a ghost in the night towards them I slid.

As I got closer I thought I could hear
A sound from under some cans of their beer
Where a small radio broadcasted low
A song about reindeer, frost, and the snow.

Under the bridge with no light and no heat
Two people swayed to their own special beat
Without geese or beds, simple or fancy
Gave to each other gifts of their dancing.

And though we pass as simple observers
Others who live without our fine fervor
Remember that luck is not a birthright
Give thanks to that which keeps you warm tonight.

Are we done yet?

Cold snap over. Rain back.

The transition brought freezing rain on Friday that started to hit my back as I pedaled home from a long spin and turned the roads into ice sheets by dark. Saturday morning, all ice, no bike, big suck. Warm enough to ride by dark but instead found 2 hrs of mind numbing trainer time while watching "March of the Penguins". Bad idea. Next time I'm watching Kung Fu, Drama, News, Romance, anything but Penguins. Anything.

Just like we've done every damn weekend since October, we rode to Cottage Grove on Sunday. BVB, Matt, Mark, Myself. With the roads mostly clear we looped the loop, uneventul except for a half second of terror when BVB led us through an invisible ice patch at 25mph where I briefly engaged in a fishtail followed by a two wheel slide followed by loudly cursing Winter when the tires hit pavement again and traction returned. Thankfully I was mostly pointed straight when that happened and didn't buck off the bike. That would have been ironic - crashing the one bike I tend to crash a lot, the 'cross bike, on ice, in the first year since this whole riding thing started where I have completely failed to race or even practice 'cross at all.

Spring can't come fast enough.

bundled and padded

I have sinned... for possibly the first time ever, I intentionally went on a long training ride without a helmet. Left it at home. Ditched it. Not out of some pursuit of Euro-trendiness - it simply wouldn't fit.

10F this morning when I woke up according to wunderground.com, and the web flashed to 8F for a few minutes before I took off to meet McKenzie on campus. On went the knickers, leg warmers, tights, wool socks, double shoe covers, shoe warmers, five layers of base and jerseys, jacket, skullcap, baclava, fleece lined wool hat, glove warmers, wool gloves, lobster gloves. My head gained a solid 4" in girth and failed to fit into my helmet. And dare I say, despite the temperature, I actually overdid it. One of the winter jersey layers came off shortly into the ride. Mckenzie did one better, shaking with cold so much that we had to ride back to his house so he could get two or three more layers on before we went out again.

Fall slid into the Oregon winter with little fanfare but a few weeks of sun and gradually increasing cloud cover. After a couple weeks off and short weeks in October things kicked back into gear right as fall term started to kick my ass, and the CSC rides have been gaining attendance again, at least on Saturdays. It's finally that time of year when the 'cross bug dies, roadies start buying Super Record and pre-season hammers get thrown on the Lorane - Cottage Gove climb.

In fact, from now until March the talk around town goes something like this:



(just for you guys at the CSC ride... you are welcome.)
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/5800295

a pretty good month

the close of august wraps up three consecutive weekends of long rides, strong races, and a couple of W's for myself and the midtown direct cycling team.

it started with a ride from waldo to oakridge via cascade lakes hwy, bend, sisters, hwy 242, mckenzie bridge, and the aufterheide. i froze my butt off in the morning, baked in the days, and did a nice little double of 121 miles the first day and 90 the second, to be picked up after lunch on sunday.
not to miss an opportunity, the very next weekend lisa and i joined forces for the co-motion tandem stage race - involving an 80 mile road race on the brownsville loop, the 24k coburg tt, and a greenhill tandem crit.

we put the hurt on in the road race when we hit gap road, and got off with the shepherds and the nick/dan combo from hutch's. the lead built up to be pretty big and when we hit marcola the shepherds turned the screws again and we lost nick and dan. we rotated through all the way until the almost the last 1k on mckenzie view, where lisa and i took the long sprint with a surge from 500-600m or so out.

we had enough of a gap not to worry about the others in the tt, where we opened up the lead to almost a minute, then defended successfully in the crit for a sweet win.

last but not least, the eugene celebration stage race went down this past weekend. we brought a full squad of 6 with the aim of repeating rob english's win from last year - and since this course was tt heavy, it seemed like a good deal.

the mcbeth prologue was solid as midtown took 1-4, with rob taking the lead convincingly.

in the road race, we had a really aggressive first lap. the plan was to put guys on anything that moved and not to work - our two little climbers were 2nd and 4th but staring at a 24k tt, and rob and i were pretty well positioned for the overall. so we covered a lot of moves and it went pretty hard.

towards the end of the first lap on crow road, i hit a rock on the left and flatted my rear tire. marc stopped with me and had his wheel out instantly, we changed it and he pushed me off. i chased as hard as i could until i caught on just before sprinters - marc almost made it back, but on spencer creek it went ballistic again and he lost us. i had just barely made it in time. marc was perfectly selfless and made all the difference - i owe him and the other guys everything after that one.

the second lap was pretty aggressive too, but i tried to stay sheltered and recover as much as possible. on territorial the speeds picked up , and little groups kept taking fliers. then, just after briggs, a really solid group of 3 went off including a gc danger from washington named phil (46" back on rob 17" on me at the time). their gap got kind of big - maybe 20"+ - and then two more pairs went with some strong guys including my teammate david marking them.

as we were strung out and almost single file after doane road, going into the last piece of territorial, i knew that we had to get another guy on that break or bring it back - either rob or myself. i moved along the left side of the pack using the draft such as it was, and then hit it hard and slingshot right off the front to chase. i had it in the 53x13 and sat right on the nose of the saddle just giving it everything i had, again, and made contact with the four up the road right at the wolf creek turn. i sat on for less than a minute and started working with them until we caught the group of 3 ahead of us.

at this point david and i were in a bit of a pickle. if we drove the break and got a big gap, i would take the lead but i didn't know if i could beat phil in the tt or hold the lead. in that case, i could end up 2nd but we could lose the race. if we got caught, at least rob would still lead the overall and probably win the tt too, so that was good, but then we would miss out on stage placings and would have to cover more dangerous moves late in the game. so we pulled through but not enough to drive it hard.

by the last 15k it was clear we 7 would be all alone for sure, though the pack started to close a little, and on pine grove i knew i had to do something. i thought that i could at least get rid of some of the baggage on sprinters. i hit out on the hill and was alone - no-one did anything to try to follow me. i put my head down and tt'ed for all i was worth in my 3rd big effort of the day, and by 1k to go was pretty sure i had it. at 500m i knew it and at 100m i zipped up my jersey, took a last look behind, kicked it once more and then sat up to soft-pedal across with my arms held high and fists clenched.

7 seconds later the 6 break away companions sprinted for 2nd, and less than a minute later the pack charged hard across the line, with rob having gotten a perfect armchair ride for the last 40 miles.

the win put me in the GC lead overnight, but it was always going to be short lived as the margins were small and i was pretty wasted.

rob took the tt convincingly, grabbed the lead again, and i dropped to 4th with blown legs.

we defended in the crit despite a big crash, and another season is in the books.

40km

Rob took the State TT today, putting another Senior Men's Champ jersey on a Midtown Smoker. Dude went 29mph for 40k - that's blistering.

I put in a solid ride at 52:52 that set a new PR by a decent margin, at a higher average speed than I've ridden for any TT length at all. The Peoria course was all backwards with the headwind on the way out and tailwind coming back, which had me thinking that I was on a serious off day for the first half until I realized that 25mph was not, in fact, due exclusively to my legs but also to some gusting headwind. I didn't look at the clock on the way there but coming home was in the 29-31mph range the whole way so I'm sure the difference in the 20k's was in the range of 3-4 minutes.

On a technical / geeky note, I traded the steel frame in for an aluminum Fuji Aloha 1.0 TT bike. Previously I estimated my CdA on the steel bike at 0.265 and figured a moderately aero aluminum frame would get me down to 0.250. I didn't ride with a powermeter but using that number I get a range of 340-350W to do today's ride, depending on wind etc. So it's approximately correct. Now, assuming I did 350W on the upper end, how slippery would I have to be to gain the 1kmph or so to get close to Rob? About 0.230. Really slippery guys my size would be around 0.220. In layman's terms, quite a lot more aero. Like, more than just using booties and giving the legs a fresh shave. More than taking the gloves off and putting a visor on the TT helmet. Way more.

Dude is fast.

34.2km

Now, the course map and profile (and signup) said 30k. The start times list said 35k. It was neither. It was 12k up and down Skyliner, and 10k around the golf course.

The legs were good. I went up Skyliner probably faster than I ever have, and downhill as well. I caught the 30s guy and the 1min guy, and the first 24k went by quickly. Then the course swung right and onto the loop by the golf course. We had driven part of it yesterday but not all of it was open - and it was the unseen part that took me by surprise. Twisty, fast, some climbs, barren, some bumps, sweeping turns I couldn't see the exits of, and super hot weather. I hit the rises for what I was worth but felt pretty far from the limit of what my bike could do through the turns and downhills. I have a feeling that's were I lost the most time - a failure to fully preview the course and mark the crucial points in my mind's eye. Still, it was probably the fastest I could go on the day. Next year, it will be faster.

Peoria for the State TT is on Sunday - 11am sharp start time. Tomorrow, a VO2 test at the UO lab and some serious recovery. Time to see where the edges currently lie!

total prediction fail

Contadoped and Armstrong on the same podium, and the detonation of everyone but the Luxemburgers in the last week. Damn. I'm out some retro cycling parts I put in the pool.

Four days until Nationals. I hope there's a massive downhill headwind.

Friday afternoon, after a 3hr mellow ride on the TT bike making adjustments and trying out the position, I hopped on a plane headed for Cali and a cousin's wedding in South Lake Tahoe. If you've never been, it's a lot like Sunriver, but at 6,000ft, on a big lake, and actually in California wheras Sunriver is just full of Californians. So in that regard, it's actually worse. But when that's where the family is, that's where you go, and weddings aren't about the guests anyways so I'm happy to make the trip.

My flight got back at a reasonable hour yesterday so I got out for a late spin to make the most of increasing shade in the 101F weather. And what a crappy feeling comes from two days off the bike, excessive food consumption and four plan flights. Jay-sus. I'm torn between making sure the legs are rested for Friday, and opening them up. How do you rest after two full days of inactivity without overdoing it? Blow them out good and hard then softpedal for two days? I'll find out.