Pour your misery down

Woke up to pouring rain again. What a surprise. Right now it looks to have tapered off, and I am tempted to go for a run, but I think I will pass. Last night I got a nice massage, it has been a month since the last one and my quads were starting to get adhesions. After my last few massages, some kind of muscle-twisting has always managed to find its way onto my schedule the next day. It would be nice to enjoy the benefits of being all flushed and loose (huh-huh) for a few days before starting the knotting process all over again. I was hoping for a nice easy ride this morning, but if I want that I might have to resort to the trainer, which honestly does not seem too appealing right now.

Michele's blog has a link to results from the NEBC TT from last week. There are a lot of very fast times posted there, and from people I've never heard of. Damn, am I old or what? This led me to dig through the archives for my times. Turns out they've shortened the course since the last time I did this in 93. Still though, over 27 mph (44 kph) is hauling for that distance.

I need to get out to do a TT. The Cronoman and I have been debating the pros and cons of entering Fitchburg. I would like to do the TT stage, but the rest of the race is not good for me, and the price/travel/commitment will probably scare me off. There is no 45+ race, so we would need to do the 35+. Zoo entered the Cat 4 field months ago, but now sickness, work, and what looks to me like a lack of fortitude have left his preparations leaving a bit to be desired. He made the mistake of posting a request for advice on the Team BOB mailing list. KL told him "get your money back while you still can." And you thought I was a hardass...

With five weeks left to the WMSR, I am trying to figure out how to schedule my training. My prime focus is the TT, and some of my other favorite races, Monson and Bow, come in the weeks following. The June totals are going to look pretty low, but I'll wait and see how the next weeks go before tallying them up. I need a good build, but timing the taper just right will be a little tricky.

The US Navy has a cool web applet to create a chart of sunrise/sunset times for various locations. Even though the longest daylight comes on June 21, the latest sunsets still hold on for several days after that, but the sunrises get later in the morning. Basically, the days do not shorten/lengthen in symmetry. According to their charts, up north where KL resides, the sunrise is only four minutes earlier than down here in Boston. So far this year I've only had a few "late summer night" rides, so I hope to do some more soon, as this is one of my favorites parts about cycling.

Ge-Willi, (apparently being bound and gagged in marital bliss, perhaps Free-Willi would be more appopriate) has some snip on his blog about me being full of excuses. Excuses for what? Not riding to work, yeah maybe, but I don't recall publishing them. ??? Zoo has started updating again too, but he still has his April 17 training plan up there. How about showing us what you actually did, not just what happened right before the alarm went off? Matt's Daily Blog has been anything but lately. Perhaps his fingers are so blistered from gluing tires that he can no longer type. Feltslave has been both upping his game on the bike, as well as treating us to an occasional post, so kudos to him.

OK, that is all folks. Time to stretch a bit and head off to work. The weekend is looking sunny and warm, and with a v-day tommorow, I hope to have a big ride to write about, as well as a favorable Hoosatonic report. My rant on rattling Ultegra STI levers will have to wait for another day, but if you have a fix, let me know. FWIW, these are the new 10 speed, and it is the entire lever for the front brake/shifter that does not stay fully retracted. This is apparently a different problem from the rattling end caps on the Ultegra brifters from a a few years back. WTF? Thanks for reading.