Wind and suffering were the name of the game for me at the Mad Cow Classic in Grand Junction last weekend. This year the race organizers made some fun changes. To start with, they added a hill climb at the Colorado National Monument on Saturday morning. I skipped it this year, but hopefully I can do it next year. Another change for this year was moving the criterium to Saturday and holding it at the Grand Junction Motor Speedway. The speedway is a go-kart track and a pretty cool place to have a race.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The airport late night
When I flew back from Seattle, I got into DIA around midnight. The airport is pretty much dead at that point. All is quiet....except for those f-ing announcements about the "threat level". Hey TSA, it's f-ing midnight, I've got a raging headache, and nobody gives a rats ass that the threat level is orange. I don't need to hear echoing announcements about how I shouldn't leave baggage unattended. WE GOT IT.
I felt sorry for the handfuls of people who were sleeping on the floor (presumably because they had an early morning flight). Special note for the homeless: get a suitcase and then you can just sleep inside at the airport.
I felt sorry for the handfuls of people who were sleeping on the floor (presumably because they had an early morning flight). Special note for the homeless: get a suitcase and then you can just sleep inside at the airport.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
What's up
I'm taking a mental break from work, so here's what going on lately:
I went to Seattle last weekend to hang with Christine while she's there for work. Sucky for me, I started getting sick Friday afternoon and by the time I got to Seattle I was in full-on grumpy sick mode. I can usually kick a cold pretty quick, but that's when I'm not stuck in cold wet Seattle. Seattle has a cool vibe, but if I lived there I would have already sold my bike and taken up video gaming.
On of our friends was also in Seattle for a bike show, so we met up with him a couple times for dinner and at the bike show. The bike show was pretty disappointing. The vast majority of it seemed like local cycling groups promoting either their club or upcoming rides. Cool for the locals, useless to me. I did see a shaft driven bicycle, though, and that was kind of cool.
The timing worked out such that Livia and Carol sailed to Anacortes over the weekend and we were able to meet them at the marina. We finally got to see the boat in person and it's pretty cool. Carol even made us crepes. It's up to the next visitors to keep upping the ante so by the time we go back out this summer he'll be making us full-on crazy meals.
It was cold, rainy, snowy, and windy in Seattle. Definitely not good for getting over an illness. I'm happy to be home in the sunny, 70 degree weather. Christine will be following soon.
This weekend is one of my favorite races. I should get pretty slaughtered out there, but I'm going anyway because it's a great course and I need to remind them that it should be run in April or May, not March. I feel like I'm constantly playing catchup on training this year and this sickness is taking the piss out of me. I've got 2 teammates going out this year too, which is a first. Hopefully I can help them out in the road race (I already know the crit is a lost cause for me).
I went to Seattle last weekend to hang with Christine while she's there for work. Sucky for me, I started getting sick Friday afternoon and by the time I got to Seattle I was in full-on grumpy sick mode. I can usually kick a cold pretty quick, but that's when I'm not stuck in cold wet Seattle. Seattle has a cool vibe, but if I lived there I would have already sold my bike and taken up video gaming.
On of our friends was also in Seattle for a bike show, so we met up with him a couple times for dinner and at the bike show. The bike show was pretty disappointing. The vast majority of it seemed like local cycling groups promoting either their club or upcoming rides. Cool for the locals, useless to me. I did see a shaft driven bicycle, though, and that was kind of cool.
The timing worked out such that Livia and Carol sailed to Anacortes over the weekend and we were able to meet them at the marina. We finally got to see the boat in person and it's pretty cool. Carol even made us crepes. It's up to the next visitors to keep upping the ante so by the time we go back out this summer he'll be making us full-on crazy meals.
It was cold, rainy, snowy, and windy in Seattle. Definitely not good for getting over an illness. I'm happy to be home in the sunny, 70 degree weather. Christine will be following soon.
This weekend is one of my favorite races. I should get pretty slaughtered out there, but I'm going anyway because it's a great course and I need to remind them that it should be run in April or May, not March. I feel like I'm constantly playing catchup on training this year and this sickness is taking the piss out of me. I've got 2 teammates going out this year too, which is a first. Hopefully I can help them out in the road race (I already know the crit is a lost cause for me).
Sunday, March 8, 2009
14-speed blender
We have a blender with 14 speeds. Fourteen. What am I supposed to do with 14 different speeds? Is there really that much difference between "Whip" and "Mix"? Maybe my blending needs aren't precise enough to appreciate 10RPM differences in blending speed.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
BMW F650GS
Hooray for new toys!
My baby is very refined and classy, so she'll be riding a BMW F650GS. It's a super cool bike and it's factory lowered. (I may sneak a few ride on it too.)
My baby is very refined and classy, so she'll be riding a BMW F650GS. It's a super cool bike and it's factory lowered. (I may sneak a few ride on it too.)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Race season 09
I kicked off my '09 campaign last weekend at the CSU crit. Me and crits have never gotten along all that well but I'm working on it. At the very least, I wanted to go out and support one of the few local Fort Collins races. I even worked registration all morning.
The beginning of the race was a cluster-fuck of people trying to clip into pedals. We're all rusty, so that's forgivable. A bunch of people zoomed past me as I was stuck behind people getting clipped in. I was probably in the top 10-15 as we got to the first corners and there was some pretty sketchy bike-handling and cornering skills. I saw some people taking some dangerous lines and braking into and through (!!!) corners. Scary stuff. The sound of squealing brakes on carbon wheels is not a sound I enjoy. I feel like it sort of took me out mentally and I just ended up letting myself drift to the back.
Riding at the back of a crit is hard work. The speed surges are killer, but at least I could play with different lines through corners without getting in anyone's way. As the race wore on, I found myself having to close lots of gaps around people that were getting dropped. Eventually the rubberband that was holding me on to the back of the pack broke and I lost contact on the last lap.
Not exactly a stellar results, but I got in a good workout and I finished rubber side down. It felt good to be out racing again, regardless of what shape I'm in right now.
The beginning of the race was a cluster-fuck of people trying to clip into pedals. We're all rusty, so that's forgivable. A bunch of people zoomed past me as I was stuck behind people getting clipped in. I was probably in the top 10-15 as we got to the first corners and there was some pretty sketchy bike-handling and cornering skills. I saw some people taking some dangerous lines and braking into and through (!!!) corners. Scary stuff. The sound of squealing brakes on carbon wheels is not a sound I enjoy. I feel like it sort of took me out mentally and I just ended up letting myself drift to the back.
Riding at the back of a crit is hard work. The speed surges are killer, but at least I could play with different lines through corners without getting in anyone's way. As the race wore on, I found myself having to close lots of gaps around people that were getting dropped. Eventually the rubberband that was holding me on to the back of the pack broke and I lost contact on the last lap.
Not exactly a stellar results, but I got in a good workout and I finished rubber side down. It felt good to be out racing again, regardless of what shape I'm in right now.
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