H.S.I.F.

That's "Holy Shit It's Friday!"

This has been a very long and difficult week, for many reasons.

The one shining ray of sunshine was, well.. some shining rays of sunshine, and the chance to get out on some singletrack (ironically in the dark, see post below).

I'm glad this week is over. I look forward to erasing the stinking memory of it at the Mills tonight. I hope to get in some good riding this weekend, though Mother Nature seems hell bent on bringing in April like a Lion.. (are May showers going to bring June flowers???)

Perhaps next week will be a little better. There's always hope.

There IS always hope!

Halle-fuckin-lujah!

Life was conspiring to keep me off the trails, but I persevered, and had one kick ass ride tonight.

The one night I needed to get my ass out of work exactly on time, I got stuck on a phone call that kept me about 10 minutes late. No bother, it was a simple matter of braking just about every traffic law on the books to get to PLRA before Alden, Andy and Erin ditched me.

Got dresses, got the bike set up, took two peddle stokes, and *snap*.... Brands spankin' new chain breaks! Fuck!

Luckily, I had a spare power link... too small for my bmx chain!!! DAMNITALLTOHELL!!!

Andy to the rescue with an 8 speed chain, just the right length.... now that's more like it.

So by now it's just about completely dark, so the lights come on pretty early in the ride. I'm finding quickly that 36x17 was much too ambitious a gear for my first real single speed ride at PLRA. Not to mention my first real rigid trail ride in about 10 years. And all in the dark, no less. wtf is wrong with me?

the two mile climb was a bitch. I would have cleared the whole thing, but we stacked a bit on the rocky right hand 180, had to grab a tree. By the top I was pretty cashed, and glad the rest stopped to wait.

I cleared the few rutty, bumpy downhills that I was a little anxious about, rigid and all.. used a little too much brake, but I'll learn..

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, until the armored climb after the switchback whoops. I was pretty sure I wouldn't even make that climb in this gear mid season, but I was determined to give it a run.. I peddled hard into it, with the intention of hitting it on the left, then working my way toward the right to avoid the bigger rocks and stay toward the uphill side. "holy shit, I'm gonna make it!!" I thought... WRONG. I get half way, spin my rear wheel on a rock and stall. Unfortunately I hadn't worked my way over to the right like I wanted, and when I stalled, my weight was on my left. What wasn't on my left was a place to set my foot. About 25-30 feet, and several "FUCK"s later, I came to a rest at the bottom of the hill below the trail. That shit is scary when you can't see what's coming. Fortunately, the worst part of the whole thing was I have nothing to show for it. just a small scrape on the leg. =[ where's the gravel in the skin??

The rest of the ride went smooth. We rapped it up, said our goodbyes, and called it a night.. work tomorrow after all.. =[

Besides picking the wrong gear, it was a perfect first ride a Pontiac. I had a blast, and I'm psyched for that first warm sunny daytime ride when I can start to rip it up (relatively speaking, of course.. ;) )

Hope you got out and rode today!

and I thought I had problems....

Unbearable!

I mean, really...

Who can be expected to get any work done on a day like today when the sun is shining, the temp is up, and your bike is just sitting on the rack begging you to come out for a ride.

Hitting PLRA for a night lap tonight just to finally get my tires on the dirt! Supposed to still be fairly warm, so that's a bonus!

May get rained out this weekend.. that would SUCK!! either way, I'll get some miles in, but on the trail would be preferred.

soup

"Thank you for choosing Comcast"

That's like saying "thank you for choosing to be analy probed!"

I didn't choose Comcast, they're the only provider in my area that can give me "high speed" internet. That is when it's working.

So I had someone sit at my house for 3 hours yesterday waiting for the comcast guy to show up, and he NEVER DID! Comcast doesn't show any record of an appointment made for yesterday.. Hmmm.. I guess I made it all up.

Anyway, back to riding. It's killing me that people are going riding tonight on the trails. I got up this morning, and it was the perfect kind of day to just get on your bike, and ride allllllll day. I don't know how I'm going to make it through work. I'd join my friends on the trails, except I have a damn dentist appointment tonight, which I would have had done already except the office kept making me push it back and back b/c we've been so busy.

Last night the DVD player broke. Combined with no cable TV, I guess I have no more excuses not to ride, run, or lift every night after work. God works in mysterious ways?

Challanged notions.

For most of my life I've ascribed, as many do, to the notion that you only regret the things you don't do.

What do you do when the risks you take don't work out, and you lose everything?

Ready and rarin'

Ok, so I'm all registered for Yankee. No turning back now!

Also, notice at the right that I've finalized my race schedule for 2006.. It's acutally a lot more races than I had intended. I keep waffling about the MMBA CPS races.. I am going to try for series points/I'm not going to try for series points. I think when it comes down to it, I just won't be able to make 4 races.. I don't think I'll want to head out to Fort Custer the weekend before Addison, and that's the most likely candidate to be my 4th race. Oh well.. there's always next year.

I see the big challanges as 12Hrs of Addison, 24Hrs of Boyne, O2S, and Iceman. The rest is all filler, just to keep me going.

This it turning out to be a much different summer than I had thought. It's going to be interesting to say the least. I just can't wait for the fun to start.

Sunday

Ok, I promised a report on Sunday... Actually, I just have nothing else to report, so I might as well.

I didn't get out to ride on Sunday. I felt like I was committing a sin against nature, the day was so nice. But being cut off from the world as I was (no internet) and seeing as how someone's phone was dead and didn't call me to ride, I decided to stay in and get some much needed housework done.

Hold on tight, this is where it gets exciting.

I finally got around painting my bedroom.. well, I started it anway, still don't have all the colors picked out. Re-arranged some furnature while I was at it. I also did some touch up work needed in the bathroom.. No exaust fan and a steamy shower is tough on the paint.

There you go, painless.. I didn't bore with the gory details, just an update.

Later this week it's supposed to really warm up, and I plan on getting some trail miles in if they're dry... plleeeeeeeasse be dry!!

soup

Nutrition

How do I spell "nutrition"???

B - E - E - R A - N - D C - H - I - P - S

Frickin' Internet!

WTH can't I get decent internet service at my house?

I've been in this house for almost 3 years now. I've had both Comcast cable internet, as well as SBC DSL. Both SUCK! My service is constantly up and down with Comcast. SBC was able to be reliable, but at only 384K... WTF!!

I Hate you Comcast and SBC!!

Needless to say, my service is out again and I had such an awesome ride on Saturday, I was aching to post it. But alas, I had to wait until this morning to post from work..

So. Saturday I rolled out of Walled Lake with small group (about 8 of us). It was another cold day, and as we got underway the snow started to fall. Pushing the paved roads toward Kensington, I was up front taking turns pulling with another guy, and feeling ok, but not great. The day only got better from there. Once we hit the dirt, I picked it up, hunting for the best line among the brutal washboard (why do I think I can do 12 hours on a fully rigid again??). The speed demon and I pushed this pace around the next bend, and then the first two brutal climbs of the day on Buno rd. These hurt a lot more than they did last week, but may have been just the kick I needed to get my system going. We took a short break at the firestation, then headed toward Kensington. The paved hills around Kensington felt GREAT! I wasn't tearing up them, but I was pushing pretty good, maintaining a good spin, and feeling no pain.

In an attempt to take a break during one of the paved path downhills, I slid back off the seat and rested my chest on my seat. When I attempted to get back up, I found that the chest strap of my camelbak had gotten caught on my seat.. uh ooh... I couldn't tell where it was looped, and must have looked pretty stoopid struggling to get back to an up right position. I kept thinking how silly it was going to look (not to mention painful) when I crashed out of this predicament. Luckily I was able to come to a controlled stop, and unclip and set my foot down. After the laughter or my riding mates subsided I rejoined the group.

Snow gave way to rain, and most of our group decided to cut out the ILRA out and back portion of our ride.. A few of us persevered, but shortly saw the error of our ways, and turned around to try to catch up with the rest of the group, which we did just the other side of Mount Trashmore. I LOVE that climb. Long, gradual, burning, and a great place to catch people.

The rest of the ride was without incident, unless you count all the swamp-ass. I continued to push the pace, as I couldn't believe I hadn't bonked yet, or succumbed to leg burnout.

We capped the day beautifully with some good beer and chips (recovery food of champions) at the home of one of the lovely Dark Horse girls. But for the weather, it was a perfect riding day. We ended up with 31 miles, at about 14.5 mph average.

I attribute my good ride to Old Joe's advice of about 1000 cal 3 hours prior to the ride, then about another 300 cal 30 min before, then nothing till 30 min into the workout. I had eggs, toast with honey, and a banana with some gatorade for breakfast, then a whole cliff bar with some gatorade just prior, then another banana 30 minutes in, and gatorade throughout the ride. Once I add some gel to the mix, I should be in good shape!

Whew.. I'll let that sink in before I get to Sunday.

Warmer days ahead!

soup

My hump (day)

Man, two days off the bike and I feel like a fish out of water.

I think I'm going into a little revolt against the weather, though.. ENOUGH OF THE COLD, BRING ON THE WARM!!!

At least last week we had sun. Now comes the inevitable grey, cold, wet blahs... =[ Ahh well... at least I know warm sunny days are SOMEWHERE on the other side. =]

A friend recently said he's racing Yankee springs (my first race of the season) to win. It made me wonder, "what am I racing for?". At one time I just wanted to podium at a local xc race or time trial. But now that I'm planning on racing singlespeed, where manytimes there's only one catagory for all men, I'm not so sure that's even possible. Mainly I think I'm just racing for the comraderie, the funny moments, and that extra motivation to get up early on a saturday morning to go ride when the bed is just a little too comfy.

What do you race for?

soup

Ugh.

Somebody's got a case of the Mondays...

I am beat. Not sore, just generally drained. It doesn't help that I realized at 7:30 that I had to be at work at 8am and not 9am, and didn't get to finish my breakfast. But, mainly, I think I need to figure out how to work in recovery days to my riding. It seems that every time I plan on going for an easy "recovery" ride, I end up hammering up every hill, and trying to keep up with whomever is pushing up the pace. I don't like riding on my own on the road very much, but maybe that's what I'll have to do.

I can't believe I'm back at this place. At least I don't have the real acidic ire for the office that I did before I left. I doubt it will take long to return. Thankfully it's been a slow day.. Time to adjust to being back.

It was quite a productive vacation. The afformention miles, cleaned up the garage, fixed holes in the fence, got Nero out of the house a bit, and got some much needed shopping done. What's that about needed a vacation from your vacation?

Well, back to work. I do have some catching up to do. I can only procrastinate so much, I guess..

If ya aint't workin', ya better be ridin'..

soup

Baby's first mudbath...

I've been blessed by some nice sunny days of late!

As you can see from the pics above, the Paint Creek Trail is still a little wet. Quite wet, actually. But rideable.

With Tom coming down with "bronchitus" (right Tom) Art picked up the torch and led a small contingent on a ride up the PCT to some back roads around Lake Orion he calls the 4 corners. Great ride. Long spin to get warmed up, then some nice climbs on the back roads. Nothing too punishing, though (if you discount the crazy washboarded roads. At one point I bunny hopped a particularly nasty water filled pot hole, only to find a large crater on the other side, followed by another, and another.... It was bad for me, but worse for Erin who was behind me drafting and didn't see a thing until I was about bouncing off my bike.)

Final tally:
28 Miles
2:18 hrs/mins
12mph

The relaxed pace and lack of severe climbs was welcomed as I've just completed a 190 mile week. May not be a lot compared to the race crazed around here, but it's a ton more miles than I've put in this early in the year, and I'm proud of it.

Going back to work this week (excuse me while I sob uncontrollably.) I suspect I'll not see the bike as much. I need to do some work on it tomorrow night at the shop, then I'll probably spin the geared bike on Tuesday. The rest of the week is up in the air.

So if the sun is shinnin', get your ass out and ride!

soup

great ride!

What a great day for a ride. It wasn't perfect by any means. It was quite cold, in fact, but other than that, very nice. The sun was out, a bunch of friends, the pace was good. Another day that reminds me why I like to be on my bike!

Started the day with a pretty little hangover thanks to last night's festivities. Had a good breakfast two eggs and two pieces of toast with honey. Started hydrating right away too with a diluted Gatorade drink.

I felt great throughout the ride. It helped that the pace fluctated between a training pace and a social ride, so there were plenty of chances for recovery. I don't need to go out and kick my ass into every headwind. That is not fun. That will keep me from enjoying riding.

I was able to finish strong with the help of a borrowed Clif Shot Mocha Mocha with caffine. Must get some gels and start taking one prior to every ride, then at about an hour in.

We ended up with about 35 miles at a respectable 13.3 average. Not bad considering the wind and all the stopping.

Finished up with dinner at the Bonfire. Big yummy burger and some rootbeer! What a way to end a ride!

Tomorrow, Tom's ride!

soup

Excuse me while I piss myself

I should be in jail right now.

I've never, EVER, gotten out of a ticket. When the lights go off in my rear view mirror, I'm gonna pay. Tonight, on my way home from a friend's birthday party, where I had more than my share of a few beers, I got pulled over.

Driving through Rochester, with their stupid-ass 25 mph speed limit, I was pulled over for going 41, and not signaling a turn. As soon as the lights went off, I pictured the rest of the night sleeping on a bench in a jail cell.

While I felt I was good enough to drive, you start to re-evaluate when the prospect of a breathalizer becomes a reality. I was fine to drive, but I had at least 6, maybe 7 beers in the last 5 hours, the last less than an hour before driving home. Not the best of situations.

The cop took my license and registration, and went back to his cruiser. While a puddle formed in my seat, he came back and briskly issued me a warning and advised me to be safe. WHAT? That's never happened to me. NEVER! I didn't have to cry or anything.. =]

So, rather than dragging my sorry ass to court tomorrow, I'll be riding my bike from Novi to Wixom and back. It'll be the best bike ride of the year. (see how I tied in riding there?? =] )

Thank god for small miracles!

That's What I Get

..For playing with fire.

skinny tires

I was back out at Kensigton/Island Lake this morning. Carlos was going to be riding his road bike, so rather than torture myself on the SS, I put the skinny tires on the Trek geared bike. As it turned out, Carlos couldn't shift out of his middle ring, so it might have been more equitable if I had brought the SS'er.. As it was, I stayed in my 42x17, and still had a slight advantage.

It was a great ride. I must admit, I love the sound of the skinny tires on the road. Just a nice quite hum. And the whirrrrr of the chain when you've got a good spin going.. especially when you go through a tunnel. Its the little things like that that remind me why I fell in love with biking in the first place. I think I forgot some of that in my quest to get faster this year. We need a spring POS race!!

Anyway. I had two eggs, one yoke again. Half a banana on the ride, and one scoop of gatorade in the camel bak.. (oh, yeah, gotta clean that thing out before it gets looking like someone's camelbak.. you know who you are.) I felt pretty good. No stomache problems, but I could have felt stronger.

It was a short ride.. Only about 22 miles.. But I pushed it up the hills at Kensington. I'm starting to fall in love with those hills. Besides, I want to let my legs recover a little from last night.

Thank you, god, for at least giving us sun this week!!

soup

plumb tuckered out

After his big day, Nero deserves to enjoy the comfy confines of the couch.

Ass kicking.

That is what I received tonight at the hands of "Coach Troy" and a strength building spinerval workout.

I'm certainly not going to win any cycling or fitness awards, but that was one tough workout. I need that. When I am properly fueled for a ride, it's my legs that give out, not my lungs. Need more strength training.

Probably playing with fire not eating before the workout. I think I bonked just as we started the cool down. But I felt good the rest of the time.. I had peaut butter and honey for lunch at about 1:30, and spinning was at 7. I know, I know.. I'm a big dummy. I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Speaking of dogs, one of these days I'm going to bring my camera when I take Nero for a hike. Playing catch with his flying squirl in the high wind lent itself to many good shots.. maybe next time.. =[

I wish I could harness the energy that dogs are made of. It didn't matter how many times I threw that thing, or how tired he seemed to be after he caught it or while bringing it back to me, he was always ready to go as soon as I picked it up. And he's always ready for a race, though I can usually win after 20 minutes of catch.. ;)

Well, I gotta believe spring is on it's way. Aaaaaannnyy day now.....

I'm an all day sucker!

...On so many levels, but today's topic is the weather..

It happens every year. We get a blast of warm air for one or two days, and no matter how hard I try to convince myself that it won't last, I'm always bitter when the cold returns. Of course, it can't just get cold. No. Mother nature has to remind us of who's in charge by either burying us in snow, taking out the power with an ice storm, or blowing us off the face of the earth with hurricane-like wind gusts. Today it's the wind. Which is a bummer, cuz it's really not that cold, and I might otherwise go for a bike ride.

Oh well. I'm making the most of it. I got the holes in the fence sewn up so that Nero can't run off and play in traffic.


He looks happy..

And I got back to work on the garage. Most of the heavy work was done yesterday, so I'm able to keep the door down and the wind is a non-issue. Later, I'll take Nero for a hike at PLRA so he can stretch his legs.

Tonight is spinning at Cycletherapy.. I think this will be our final night indoors. Man I can't wait to hit the trails. This spinning and road riding, despite the fact that I know I need it desperately, is killing me.

So, I'll do my best, and if the wind every calms down, I may get out on the bike afterall.

soup

Gone Riding

Well, my small, yet loyal band of readers. You may have been wondering where I went. Wait, no. You weren't wondering, because you were probably out riding with me!

And here we are!


Saturday. An amazing March day for a ride. Short sleeves and thin gloves. Man did my legs get toasted. I had my peanutbutter and honey pancake for breakfast, and nibbled on a clif bar leading up to the ride. I also had another clif bar during the ride, and a Vanilla Hammer Gel. I don't think I bonked, but by about mile 30, going uphill into the wind, my legs were shot. I may have gone too hard at the beginning of the ride. I was feeling pretty good, and probably a little cocky. Live and learn. And boy did I cramp something feirce on this ride. My calf was locked up 12 miles into the day, and both hamstrings locked up with 1/2 a mile to go. I have to work more potassium into my diet!

Sunday was another beautiful day. A much easier ride, but still had it's moments. For breakfast I had 2 eggs, only one yolk, and toast with honey. This always seems to work better for me. Perhaps becuase of the reduced protien? My stomach doesn't feel overly full, yet I seem to have energy for a longer duration. I'll have to try this again before a long, tough ride.

Today was a rest day. Spent the day cleaning and re-organizing the garage. Added some pegboard and shelves for better storage. Tomorrow I will tackle the holes in the fence that Nero likes to exploit so he can go visit his ladies. Boy, he's not gonna be happy with me!

Whew.. that was one long lame post. That's what happens when I don't keep up day to day. But that's what happens when I take time off from work, I don't waste time in front of the computer!

Go ride!

soup

the plunge

Well, last night i put in my application to the Wayne State U. grad school. Now we wait. Can you tell I'm already starting to act like a grad student? I've even started capitalizing my sentences.

couldn't have said it better myself

from my most recent wedding shoot:

me: the iPod has to be the most ubiquitous electronic device of our time...

groomsman#2: yeah, if 'ubiquitous' means DOPE!

y'all come back now, ya'hear?

i think what i need is a good old dose of southern hospitality...

you spin me right round...

last night was another night of spinning at Cycletherapy. we watched one of those "Spinerval" videos. it was a pretty good workout. they had us do 3 reps of lunges in between to sets of 5 standing reps on the bike. talk about feeling the burn!

I made sure to hydrate with a 50% gatorade mix before hand and during, and felt pretty good after the spin. I actually had trouble sleeping last night cuz I was still pretty wired from the workout. i expected more soreness today, but other than some muscle fatigue, i'm feeling pretty good.

I had chicken and rice for dinner when I got home, as well as some peanuts immediately after the workout. now if i can just the same results from a multi-hour bike ride, i'll be all set!

props

the guys at Cycletherapy rock! and I don't just say that b/c they're a sponsor. I wouldn't be riding for them if i didn't dig the shop from the start.

ya know how a lot of smaller shops that carry the stuff you really need have a way of making you feel like a complete idiot, or total outsider? not Cycletherapy. from day one they've been extremely friendly, and were very helpful in my first single speed build, even though i did all the work myself.

so, if you're looking for a bike, need to tune up your old rig for the summer, or just need a shiney new bell, go see Ernie, Rick, or Tony!


Cycletherapy
3545 Elizabeth Lake Rd
Waterford, MI 48328
248-681-8600

now i remember..

..why it takes me so long to read a book.

naps.

they did

to help supplement my biking habit, i have a side job as a wedding photographer. i could go on and on about the weirdness that is continuously being an observer to others "happiest day of their lives", but i'll leave that to later.

i assist another photographer, Thomas Slack. when i started this gig, he lived in ann arbor, mi. now he lives in chicago, il.. we were friends all through college, and in an effort to keep that friendship alive, i decided it was worth it to keep shooting with him. so that means about one weekend a month i travel to chicago to shoot a wedding. i used to drive every time. this year, i'm experimenting with flying. the rates online are about as low as gas money, and it saves wear and tear on my car, and about 2 hours of travel time one way.

my first attempt at flying didn't go so well. when i got to the airport, they explained that my plane was still in florida, and probably would be for a long time, would i prefer to fly to st. louis and catch a connecting flight, putting me in chicago at 9:45 (original arrival time was supposed to be 9:30). long story short, we didn't make it to st. louis in time to catch the first connecting flight, i spent 2 hours in a deserted airport, and arrived in chicago a little after midnight. not fun.

this weekend, everything went smoothly, and i think proved that flying will definitely be the way to go from here on out.

what i didn't get to do this weekend is ride my bike. it's been a week now. i'll probably spin tomorrow at cycletherapy, and the weather is supposed to be good this weekend, so i'm gonna try to get some miles in!

is it really monday again? did i really come back to work? what's wrong with this picture?

soup

i am shit

what are you?

no mas..

i can't fucking take it anymore. this place. my job. it's like a sick version of "office space". i can't stand the people, and i can't stand the work. i'm not challanged (except to keep from punching someone in the face). there's absolutely no chance for advancement (unless I go into leadership - not management where the money is - where you're even more overworked and underpaid). don't get me wrong, i don't feel under-appreciated. i'm quite appreciated, just not with the $$$.

it's bad. i'm starting to have those "what the hell am i doing with my life" sort of thoughts as i walk through the doors in the morning. soon i'll hardly be able to turn off the key and step foot out of my car.

i don't know if grad school is the answer, but at least it's a different direction (albeit an expensive one). but even if i go back to school, i'll have to stay in this god-forsaken place to put food on the table.

hmmm. spring's coming. maybe i'll have a big garage sale and sell all my crap (except the bikes, of course) and get my ass to CO. mmmmmmm. yeah..... mikey likey.