2007 Running

This was by far my most serious running year ever. Prior to 2007, I'd never done a race longer than a 10k. Even now, I've still never run over 35 miles in a week, and I'm not sure if I ever will. Here's the racing wrap up:

Date	Race	Time	Pace
Jan 14	Raynham Frostbite 15k	1:03:31	6:50
Feb 11	Paddy Kelly 5 mile	30:44	6:09
Feb 18	Foxboro 10 mile	1:06:14	6:37
Mar 18	New Bedford Half	1:28:56	6:48
April 1	Cohasset 10k	39:46	6:24
Jun 17	Easton 5 mile	32:32	6:31
Oct 21	Caring 4kids 5k	18:31	5:59
Nov 10	Bristol 10 mile	1:03:45	6:23
Nov 18	Norwood 4 mile	24:02	6:01
Nov 22	Tiger Turkey Chase	29:31	6:00
Dec 1	Norwood 5k	18:15	5:53
Dec 9	Newport 10k	35:55	5:48
Dec 30	Millennium Mile	4:51	4:51

At least I like the trend. As noted on Feltslave's blog today, yesterday marked the first time ever (including "training") I've attempted to run faster than 5k pace. I'm not saying I liked it. On a bright note, I think I've got my knee issue figured out. Basically overtight/overstrong lateral quad group and weaker medial quad causing tracking issues. Foam rolled on the lateral quad, almost blacked out from the pain, but got it to release and voila, no more grinding. Stuff I need to keep working on. Thanks for reading. (cycling synopsis for the year? maybe, maybe not).

Give it way, give it away, give it away now!

This holiday season, I got quite a shock. Someone got a hold of my ATM card and cleaned out my entire checking account, leaving me with just a $15 balance. Oh yeah, that was me. This morning I was preparing to empty out the piggy bank and take the trip down to the local market and Coinstar my way to weekend solvency. However, the good people who employ me are kind of obsessive about finishing up their annual books like, right on time, so much so that the monthly deposit for December gets made a few days early, and this morning, there it was. Poverty avoided.

One of the other things my employer does extremely well is turn a profit. Every year. It's an interesting story, but I'll spare you most of it. Anyway, since the company has no debt, and only grows organically, most of the profits get paid out as dividends to the (private) shareholders. Before doing that, about 1% of the net, which this year means ~$725K, is given to various charities. I'm not sure if 1% is generous or not, but the stated reasoning is the shareholders will then receive the rest of their monies and make their own decisions regarding charitable giving. Seems fair enough to me. I know for one that the company founder, who still sits in an ordinary cube like the rest of us even though he gets a dividend check with eight figures on it, passes on a substantial amount of his wealth to where he thinks it will do the most good. As employees, we are encouraged to do the same.

My "history" with the IRS is not so great, but I'm pretty sure the year ends next week, and if for some reason you might be motivated to give charitably for tax reasons, that means today would be a good day to finish up business. Need ideas? Good, that's what this is about. Yesterday I stumbled upon the OLPC give one, get one program. Interesting. There are numerous reasons to believe or not believe in the goals of this program, but the give one, get one approach has a certain appeal. The "teach them to fish" idea certainly has potential to bring about positive change. Honestly, I haven't thought about this one too much, but I'm throwing it out there. I know we don't want to make developing countries all fat like Americans, do we? That got me thinking, could this same approach work for bikes? I don't know, but for right now, we still have Bikes Not Bombs doing similar work, among many other things. I know these people, and their efforts are genuine. Consider them for your support as well. Of course, I have a soft spot for the HSUS and have made them the recipient of this year's "found money." Maybe you will too.

Think, and of course be wary, be original, be creative, but we're fortunate, and all of us can do something for somebody. Thanks for reading.

A Christmas Story

Ok, just crap from the newswire, but with half the company out on vacation, what the hey? Here you go. Thanks for reading.

More - on training

If you're too busy to surf the web on your own, you might have missed the last three or four posts on Joe Friel's blog. No matter what you think of Coach Friel (and I happen to think much more highly of him than I do most of the so-called "coaches" with a shingle on the web), the articles are short and worth a read. I'm not sure what to think of the mid-sole cleat idea. When I first started riding seriously, the conventional wisdom of positioning the cleats way forward under the ball of the foot felt all wrong to me. If I'd been left on my own, I think I'd have gone with a setup that's much more mid-sole. That's natural; the way we all rode our bikes when we were kids.

At this point, I'm not sold on changing. Your entire position would need to change quite a bit, and there would be so much for the body to get used to, I'm afraid to take the leap. It's not even something you could casually test. For someone starting out though, without a big cycling base, I'm not convinced that this wouldn't be the best way to set up their first set of cleats. I haven't seen anyone else other than Joe giving it much attention. There are some other noted authorities who have observed many riders pushing their cleats back as far as they will go, and getting good results though.

In Andy Pruitt's Medical Guide for Cyclists, he makes note of this issue. I've been doing some of this light research due to continuing issues with tendonitis around my right knee. Again, going back over twenty years to when I started riding, I noted my left knee tracking much closer to the frame than my right knee. Over the years, I've always tried to "correct" this, and I don't think I've done myself any favors. I hate the feeling of my foot "rolling" to the outside under pedal pressure, but that's the way it wants to sit (forefoot varus). It's almost like pedaling on the outside of the ball of the foot, rather than the "beefier" part just behind the big toe. I'm still messing with cants, but I think pushing the cleat further back may help neutralize the issue. Stay tuned. Right now I just want to be able to train through the winter without interruption. Too much to ask? Thanks for reading.

Five more things...

One for each reader...

1) I have never been to a Celtics game. For that matter, I don't think I've ever watched one beginning to end on TV.

2) I have never been to a Bruins game. I might have gone to a Providence Bruins game once, but I don't remember. I did go to a Boston Braves (the hockey team, not the baseball team, I'm not that old) game at the old Garden once. They became the P-Bruins, right?

3) I sat one row behind an injured and not competing Olympic star Sasha Cohen at the 2001 US Figure Skating Nationals, and will forever regret not asking her to pose for a picture with me.

4) I have only been to one Patriots game. It was an exhibition game against the Rams, the second game ever at the then new Schaefer Stadium, since demolished. Roman Gabriel was the Rams QB at that time. I've only been to one other event there, a David Bowie concert, and I drove a van load of girls, which made it bearable.

5) I have been to dozens of Red Sox games, including the second to last game of the 1967 Impossible Dream regular season. Even while still in elementary school, we used to take the Mattapan trolley, (new pic, classic) unescorted, to afternoon games. And look how I turned out. Take that, all you helicopter parents. I haven't been to a game in over ten years though.

Special, bonus for Gewilli and Il Brucie:

6) Despite generally losing interest in motorsports, and not going to any races since the 80's, Gewilli, Il Brucie, and Solobreak went to a NEMA Midget race at Seekonk Speedway this past summer. Brucie's uncle graciously hosted us at a trackside VIP dinner tent. I had asked them to keep it a secret, you know, to protect my uptown image. Well, now it's out. I feel cleaner now. Thanks for reading.

Not random related link - Is this a young Moveitfred in Beantown honing his turnstyle jumping skills, for future use in 'cross?

One more - Rails would make the crit course more interesting..

Another Caption Contest

Sorry if you don't know the cast. TdF party at the Banshee Club. Thanks for reading.

And, solobreak presents the totally random and unrelated link of the day.

100 things about me

Don't worry, I'm kidding. But like all blogs, it's all about me. For 2008 I'm thinking about making "10 things about me" a monthly feature. That covers one day a month, bonus. Sorry, but a lot of it will end up being historical. Don't worry, this stuff is going to end up varied. The listing order has nothing to do with importance, impotence, or incompetence.

1) On September 28, 1980, I was at Martinsville Speedway when Dale Earnhardt won the Old Dominion 500.

2) One week later, I sat on the Lotus pit roof at Watkins Glen and witnessed Alan Jones winning the last Formula One US Grand Prix ever to be held there.

3) I did not graduate from high school. The last year I finished was 10th grade. I was an auto mechanics major.

4) Before I got into other kinds of motorsports, I was obsessed with drag racing and my heroes were Reher, Morrison, and Shepherd. To this day I can recall arcane details about small-block Chevy motors.

5) I graduated from UMass Lowell with a 3.83 gpa in 2003, at age 42. It took me seven years of attending night school to finish.

6) The most famous person to ever buy me a beer was Ned Jarrett.

7) I have drank beer with one of the founders of beeradvocate.com several times.

8) The only political campaign I ever donated money to was Lois Pines in her run for Mass. Attorney General in 1998. She did not win the primary. She is considered to be quite liberal.

9) I have given bike racing advice to New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte. She is considered quite conservative.

10) I have never been outside the United States of America.

Thanks for reading!

Not random and not unrelated link. Look who is number ten...

Natural Beauty

See, the bottom picture in the post below should dispel the rumor that my trip to Faulkner last week was to blow my bonus on rhinoplasty. Everyone else in day surgery may have been getting a nose job, but not me. As you can see, my air intake is as big as ever. When you have a stellar VO*2* max like mine, this comes in handy. Laugh and mock all you'd like, just give me your best smile while you're at it, with all your teeth showing.

Now's the time of year when retrospective blog posts start to show up. I'll pre-empt, but be brief. Look back to last year's turn of the calendar posts, and you'll see that lots of things have changed, professionally, personally, athletically, even medically. Some years not much happens; this wasn't one of these years. The nose remains the same, but 2008 will be more exciting than ever, and a chance to build on 2007.

The blog has changed a little too, and it's evident when looking at where it was last December. I almost shit-canned the whole thing a few times too, but didn't. Originally this was supposed to be anonymous, but it did not stay that way for long. I still have an anonymous blog too, but since nobody reads it, rarely is it updated. I've also got my two other websites, quartz.he.net/~bits, where all the images you see here live, and davefoley.com, which I've had since way back when even someone with a common name could snag a domain name like that. A few months back I considered the idea of ditching solobreak (google can take on the largest corporation in the world and win, but they can't let us merge accounts?) and focusing on my personal site. I even invested a whopping four and one half minutes of my life installing popular blogging software on it, but after kicking the tires a bit I realized it offered very little that interests me. Continuity and staying power have value, so I'm still here. I want to work on davefoley.com though, as negacoach gets thousands of hits more than my blog does, so I may as well leverage that somehow.

I've had a lot of great ideas for blog posts, but not all of them come to pass. Like my witty retorts to some of your comments, a few of them had to die after I ran them by my legal department. A lot of the rest just died from lack of effort. I'm not sure if I made this up or stole it somewhere, but in one of my index card notebooks (which, back before PDAs, which I no longer use because they suck, and laptops, which I no longer need thanks to remote desktop, I used to use to keep important info and notes, sort of like Gewilli's moleskin book), I have a quote written: "it's not how many ideas you have, it's how many ideas you make happen." I'll see what I can do to make more ideas happen in 2008. And in the rest of 2007 for that matter. Naturally. Thanks for reading, have a great holiday! Take a moment to reflect on how fortunate you are. And smile.

Not the Cascades

Blue Hills are all we've got around here. But, with over a foot of still pretty fresh snow, what better place to end my ten-day break from workouts than with 2+ hours of snowshoeing over the up and downs? Above, the view of Big Blue from the top Hemmenway Hill. We went down through the gulley in the foreground, over Wolcott and straight up Skyline Trail to the top.



We then just looped around the top and part way down the southwest side that faces the highway. Here's the cloverleaf, with Reebok World Headquarters on the right hand side.



I wanted to take a picture of the cube farm from above, but it's obscured by the hill. We didn't feel like bushwhacking down the edge far enough for it to come into view. We left back over the top and down south skyline, finishing with a great stretch along the Halfway Path area, heading up and down a bunch of little ridges, and making our own trail through untrampled snow for part of the way. When we got done I was toast. If it doesn't rain too much Sunday, maybe we'll get back out on Christmas. Great workout. Thanks for reading.

More stuff to smile about

So much more. The first smile was brought on by sleep. Lots of sleep. Probably deserving of a post all its own, but instead I'll just start with it here. Like most regular folks (I'll probably never use "folks" in conversation, but in writing, there it is), sleeping was a big deal in the earlier part of my life. I was probably good for nine to ten hours a night, and then maybe a nap too. So much did I love to sleep, when I was twenty the only way I could hold down a job was to work the evening shift. I was sleeping from about 4:30 am until 2 in the afternoon most days.

I'm going to double-dip right here and work coffee into the story, because since we're headed for chronological order, I may as well cover the two main parts concurrently. I don't remember exactly when I started the coffee habit, but I think it was just after high school, which would have been junior and senior year if I'd gone to high school instead of out sleeping late and starting to drink coffee. Or maybe it was a substance vaguely resembling what I call coffee today. You see, most of what I drank came from three places: Dunkin Donuts, The Windy Ridge all-night diner, or a jar of Maxwell House instant. And no matter which of the three it came from, it had cream and sugar in it.

Far and away, most of the coffee I consumed came from Dunkin Donuts. Remember though, this was a long time ago. Dunkin Donuts was not what it is today. The chain was New England only, and instead of having six or more locations in every town, there were maybe six locations, tops, in all of the Metro South area. The one I went to the most was in North Randolph, and they still had a full breakfast counter with bacon and eggs served off of real plates, with real silverware, and real grease. You could get your coffee in a paper cup, or a real ceramic coffee cup. Kids, I'm not making this up. I think the coffee was a bit better than it is today, but I can't say for sure, because as noted above, I took it with cream and sugar. Then as now, DD did not hold back and if you ordered cream, they put in a shitload, and I used two sugars.

As for the instant at home, yeah, well, we didn't percolate, and I guess we didn't have a drip coffee maker, and besides, I already told you I got up at 2 pm, and had to be at work by 3, and so I didn't drink much at home. We ate at Windy Ridge about four or five nights a week, so it's a miracle my cholesterol was never elevated. Anyway, over time I started racing bikes and migrating toward clean living, eating less steak and eggs anyway, and even working the day shift on occasion. I stayed with the Dunks habit though. Still slept a lot too, maybe not so many ten hour nights, but a morning ride followed by a righteous afternoon nap was a staple in my repertoire. Then along the way, Au bon Pain opened up a store right next to my place of employment. Actually, we had three adjacent buildings, and my job at the time had me constantly walking among all three (which I must have done well too, because I always received great reviews), stopping by Au Bon for a cup was a natural.

When they first came to this area, Au Bon Pain stores featured Coffee Connection coffee. Now remember, Starbucks had yet to reach their tentacles over to this coast. High-end coffee didn't really exist in the suburbs. We had DD and that was it. To my DD with cream and sugar pallete, the dark roasts from Coffee Connection tasted bitter and nasty. By this time, I was making drip at home, usually purchasing the grind by the pound at DD. Somewhere in the story, I stopped buying light cream and moved to half and half. I also moved aspartame sweetener instead of sugar. I kept on doing this, but the rich, bold taste of the CC coffees grew on me, and once I became accustomed to it, the lighter stuff tasted like shit. DD was turning into the mega-styrofoam crap in a bag, two stores on every corner racket it is today by then, and I'm sure the quality of their beans suffered. The stuff was just plain watery, and still is.

Then Starbucks came to Massachusetts. To gain a foothold quickly, they bought out Coffee Connection and converted all the stores. Au bon Pain saw Starbucks as more of a competitor, and didn't want to buy beans from them, so they switched to Peet's, which was also unheard of around here at that time. So now I'm drinking Major Dick's and Highway 101, and it's even bolder than the CC stuff. A lot more. Aspartame gets a lot of bad press and one day I just stop using it, because now my coffee has real taste and the sweetener just gets in the way.

Where the hell are we going? Oh yeah, sleep. You might be falling asleep by now too. Anyway, as my coffee got more like coffee over the years, the quantity and quality of my sleep went the other way. I'm not entirely convinced that these two facts are related, because as Gewilli has pointed out (you didn't really think I was going to do a ridiculously lengthy post about coffee without linking to Gewilli, did you?), dark roasted coffees generally have less caffeine in them that cheap, shitty coffees do. I'd kind of chalked the declining sleep stuff up to aging. I'd like to sleep more, but I just don't. For the past ten years or so, six hours or so is all I can manage. No more naps either. Even on a weekend, with nothing to wake up for, comfy and cozy, I just wake up. I don't even use an alarm clock.

Here's the weird part: starting about two months ago, suddenly I'm sleeping again. And I mean really sleeping, like a baby, eight hours a night, and smiling about it the next day. I do not have an explanation, but I'm liking it. You biochemistry experts can chime in, but I've read that HGH is only produced by the body when we sleep, and that sleeping is the best anti-aging treatment, etc. You don't have to sell me. Ironically, just the other day Gewilli posted "who needs sleep?" or something like that. Well, more thanks to Ge, as I've written on the blog before, I'm now about one month into black coffee, no additives. Just coffee. It took me about 25 30 years to get to this point. Honestly, I don't like it quite as much as I did with a little cream, but I still look forward to it, and I'm drinking a little less as a result. These days, I almost never buy a cup all made, instead drip brewing it at home. I've tried beans from 53x11.com (before your race too GC, in fact go back on my blog archives and you'll find the pictures from when I bought my first shipment. BTW, I'd link, but you changed your address and I don't remember it, besides, hunting and gathering links is just one more thing to smile about, and I don't want to take that away from anyone), as well as TJ's, Starbucks, and the supermarket. This is still a backwater suburb, and we don't have access to independent roasters. I do mix in decaf though, and by far the best one I've tried is from Vermont Coffee Company. You can get it online, but I bought it at the Stonyfield Visitor Center in Londonderry, NH, right next to the Manchester Airport. Is that why I'm sleeping better? I don't think so, as I still drink the New England crap we have at work most days too, and that is loaded with caffeine.

Going to the gym and doing strength training is the only logical explanation I have, but I only do that about twice a week, and I'm sleeping better nearly every night. And I'm smiling about it. What else to smile about? Colin's blog. Now that he doesn't have results to worry about, this smartass has a funny blog. And his smartass friend's write funny comments too, even when they're not trying too. And CR responds. Nothing wrong with that. He should race the road with us. And bring his friends. Or at least blog about why he doesn't.

There's lots to be happy about. The ice age came right when I was taking my break anyway, heh-heh. That's good, because yesterday my roof started leaking (bad), my wound started bleeding profusely (also very bad), and today my car seems to be in trouble. Driving home from Framingham, stuck in traffic right after the toll, suddenly I smell anti-freeze... And then my windows ice up, and I nearly crash, but the Geo is pretty good at four-wheeling off the cloverleaf. I'm not sure if the heater core is leaking or what, but I ended up buying paper towels and driving home with the windows open, steering with one hand and wiping the inside of the windshield (with a vigorous circular motion, rub it!) with the other. Luckily, it was a balmy 18 degrees. See? Lots to smile about. And one of the veal calves called me out for only linking to two three female bloggers, and like fifteen males. And one rarely update, and the other doesn't like me anymore. Is this really a problem? I think it's something to smile about. And baseball stars all take p.e. drugs? Oh my god. Smile. There's more too, but I'm out of gas, need sleep. Thanks for reading.


PS - now I remember. Google search superlatex girl. Yup, there's solobreak, right about six down. Smile.

Smile

Because if you're reading this, you probably have a lot to smile about. Relax a little too. Be happy.

And this is catching on

Thanks for reading and smiling!

This is so f'n wrong...

That I'm not sure how I missed it. And these fucks even stole my warmup routine.
Full story on boston.com.

Thanks for reading.

Pound This

So on Monday, after my huge 10k PR at Newport, GCDavid (btw, perhaps the only human on blogger who hasn't got a link from Gewilli) joked (at least I think he was joking) in the comments that I should "report to drug testing." Well, the funny thing is, on the prior Thursday, I'd had blood work done as part of routine pre-operative testing for the procedure I underwent today. The result? My hematocrit was freaking 40, barely high enough to be considered a healthy male. Obviously, my chimeric twin hasn't been pulling his friggin' weight. Yet, three days later I better my PR by almost four minutes. Makes me wonder what I could do if I was on the hot sauce? Thanks for reading.

Clear Liquids Only

All freaking day. This should be fun. Then nothing at all after midnight, not even water. And of course, I drew the afternoon straw for my time in the OR, so I get to starve all morning tomorrow too. But it's all for the greater good. That switch to black coffee is looking like a good decision today though. I've made it stick too. I actually enjoy it, though not as much, which has helped me cut down consumption. All good.

Speaking of consumption, I passed two months of meticulous food logging. No real surprises. In 64 days, 194,261 calories went on the books, an average of 3035/day. According to the tool I'm using, my running and cycling workouts have totaled 51,703 calories burned, leaving a balance of 2227/day, against an estimated BMR of 1800. The tool does not allow for entry of calories burned during other types of exercise, such as gym training, and it also gives me a much higher number (especially for cycling) than the Polar OwnCalS does. The tool also only works by distance, so for cyclocross, it's useless. What I've done is entered phantom running workouts along with the cycling time entered to bring the total up to what the Polar gives me.

Of course it's all estimates, but I've been pretty careful and over time I think a lot of the up and down inaccuracies get averaged out. The values for foods are always suspect, packaged or not. Restaurant food is nearly incalculable IMHO, but one of the positives that came out of the recent years for me is that I've put restaurant eating behind me for the most part. At any rate, my body weight dropped about five pounds over this time period, meaning I'm managing a deficit of ~220/day, and since I've been very conscious of maintaining protein intake and concurrently doing strength training, I think most of the weight loss was fat. My body weight is now equal to what it was when I entered the second half of my life 23 years ago. I think I'm as lean or leaner than I was when I was 30 years old and at the peak of my cycling fitness. Interestingly, I weighed six or seven pounds more then than I do now, so old age has taken away some muscle for sure.

The rest of the year is going to be break time. After tomorrow I'll need to stay off the bike seat for a bit anyway. Hopefully the snow will all melt and we'll be able to run someplace other than the middle of the street. My annual training totals didn't end up too impressive this year, for various reasons. 305 hours on the bike, and 75 running puts the grand total 20-40 hours short of plan, but overall the year was very positive and I'm pleased with where I am going into 2008. More on this later. For now I need to conserve my strength. This apple juice just ain't cutting it... Thanks for reading.

Caption Contest

I know PRs are supposed to hurt, but WTF?

The last two tenths.

If you like it, hit previous from there to put it in context. Kind of a bummer that the watermark obscures the view of my ripped quad. Thanks for reading, I guess.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Yes, that's correct, I've stooped to stealing titles from Bold. You know how it is. Lets' start with the GOOD.

My 2007 racing season is officially over. I know there are a few races in the next few weeks, but I'm going back in for more surgical repair of my back porch on Thursday, so stick a fork (or something sharp) in me, I'm done for the year. And it's been a pretty good year, with a good final race today. Not as good as it could have been, but you'll need to wait for the BAD to find out why. The 24th Christmas 10k Run & Walk for Women & Infants Program in Women's Oncology race was today in scenic Newport, Rhode Island. The course was way out on the point, not downtown or on Bellevue. It ran by the Jackie O Hammersmith farm, then onto the serpentine Ocean Drive along the water before crossing back over to near the start. The race was pretty much the only game in town this weekend, at least for outdoor running races. I wanted to test myself in a 10K before the end of the season, so I made the fifty mile trip down...twice. But I don't want to mix up the GOOD with the BAD. Sticking with the good, I'll cut to the chase. There's no snow or ice down there, temps were in the high 30's, and remarkably, there was absolutely no wind today. Dead calm. The course is pretty flat, so it would be fast. About 450 runners toed the line, and there were a lot of club runners, as it's too late in the year for the casual folks. There were a bunch of Whirlaways and some others from the RI clubs. I lined up in the front, and was rewarded by landing a cameo in the photo on the results page. You can see me in the white shirt and blue hat. Bonus.

The race started out pretty fast. The first mile has a little downhill in it and I clicked off 5:31. Second mile is flat, 5:45 as I settled in. Third mile you're along the water, 5:44. That's 17:01 cumulative, way under my 5K PR pace. Mile four 5:55. Mile five I'm getting passed by a young kid who's been on my heels the whole way, and he brings along another guy who looks to be in my age group. Not to worry, as at least a few of the dozen or so already ahead of me look grey enough to put me out of medal hopes anyway. Still, I try to hang on, and the marker comes 5:50 later for a 5 mile time of 28:47. Holy shit. They out pace me on the run in, but I still make 5:53 for the sixth mile and 1:15 for the two-tenths to make the line in 35:55.

That's almost four minutes under my previous PR, and I'm already skeptical about the distance, but the course would have to be a half mile short for this to have not been a PR. This is even faster than my pace in the Norwood 5K last week, but conditions there sucked, and I think that course is long. And the season is over, Woo-hoo!

The BAD

Saturday, I had a lot to do at home. It's all snowy around here, and I'd been late getting home all week, and the driveway needed to be cleared first and foremost to at least give it a chance to melt down to pavement. Then I did a bunch of other shit that nobody else is going to do, because I live by myself. For these reasons, I did not attempt to make it to the cyclocross race in Rhode Island in time for the 10 am masters start. I did, however, leave the house, actually, the dry cleaners, at around 10, trying to make the noon start of the 2/3 race, in which I would be thoroughly outclassed, but for which I am technically eligible to race in. With the snow up here keeping me off the bike, I figured the workout would be worth the $30 post entry fee, and afterwards I'd jump over the two bridges to Newport across the bay, and preview the run course before driving home up the "normal" way on the eastern side.

Well, it was a good plan. I'd like to blame the directions on the race flyer, but I didn't really follow them. I knew they said Division Street, and after getting on Rt 4 there was a sign that said Division Street was exit 6, but I don't know because it wasn't there. Long story short, I got a tour of that part of the Ocean State and missed the start to the race. I took off before anyone could spot me, because I didn't want to waste time in idle conversation about my stupidity, instead preferring to make a beeline to Newport and at least get in a ride. I only had the cross bike, but it was fine. Saturday was sunny out, and like I mentioned earlier, there was no snow at all down there, as Newport sticks way out into the bay. I rode four laps of the running course. Traffic was light. I wore my Timex GPS, and each lap I got 6.21 miles, or maybe just under... Hmmm.

The race has said it would be run under USATF rules, but there was no mention of course certification. Still though, 24th annual, it had to be correct, right? But I'm riding counterclockwise, and on the right side of the road. Of course, along the water, the road is curvy as all hell, so cutting the tangents edge to edge, the way they measure courses when they certify them, could potentially cut quite a chunk of distance. But the road is marked every mile, and they're right there with the path I'm riding, staying on my side of the road. Whatever. I rode four laps, then I did some exploring, then I changed into my running gear and did five easy miles as people lined up their cars on Breton Point to watch the sun set over the water, not an easy trick when you're dealing with the Atlantic Ocean. It's almost the equinox though, and so the sun is setting more in the south than the west. Everyone had a camera, and as I'm cooling down, I remember that I've got mine in the car; the pink sun is about to disappear under the horizon, and sure enough, as soon as I get back to the car, it's gone. Oh well, again.

Back to the race. I'm not even out of the chute yet and I hear a guy say "but the course is a little short." That's what I suspected, but before the race, I noted this to a guy in the parking lot, and he said no, it used to be, but this year they lengthened it after USATF certifier Ray Nelson had measured it. Soooooo, when I got home, I sent an email to Mr. Nelson. He got back to me quickly. Yes, he said, he measured it last year and found it was 94 meters short. They lengthened it, but even though he offered to remeasure and certify it, they declined. Consensus was the course is still about 20 meters short. Now for a 10,000 meter course, that doesn't seem like much, but I think the certification rules actually stipulate they add 1%, or 100 meters to the measured distance just to be safe, which would make it 120 meters short of certifiable. So figure 25-30 seconds. Still a huge PR for me, still well under a six minute pace, still incredibly satisfying, but still pissing me off just a little bit that they didn't get this certified.

The UGLY



Returning the favor for you Bold, with an arm shot no less. I may have missed the sunset, but the sky is pink, how fitting. Thanks for reading

Put a wee dram of scotch in your bottles

To keep them from freezing this weekend, in honor of Tommy Young, who passed away this week. Tommy was one of the nicest people I ever met, in or out of cycling. He always had a smile and was more fun to talk with than anyone. I will miss him. Thanks for reading.

Logfile entry of the day

I get these all the time. I'm don't know who it is, but their ISP is a company called choiceone.net. Somebody over there who names servers has a sense of humor. At least I suspect that's what is going on...

host-69-95-154-251.pro.choiceone.net - - [05/Dec/2007:12:00:12 -0800] "GET /images/bikeseat_200x150.jpg HTTP/1.1" 200 2651 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)"

Thanks for reading.

What off-season?

Eleven weekends have passed since the final road race of my 2007 cycling season. After the Bob Beal Masters Stage Race, your hero did enjoy a 26 day period off the bike due to saddle area issues, which helped facilitate a transition to fall running. Since getting back up to speed though, I've done seven cyclocross races and five running races, all in just 43 days. One more to go, with a 10k in Newport this Sunday (slim chance of me making an appearance at Goddard on Saturday, but you never know). Thus, the October-November campaign has become almost a season unto itself.

The Battenkill-Roubaix website now proudly proclaims there are just 136 days left until the 2008 edition. I didn't make it in 2007, but if all goes well (as in not too snowy) I should be ready this year. However, rather than being the first event on the road calendar, with a spot the third weekend in April, I'm guessing we'll see at least two non-training road events before BKR. That makes only 13 more weekends to the start of the road season. That's right, we're almost halfway.

Of course, in the winter I run. Already, five weekends in January and February have races I plan to attend scheduled, and in a few cases I've pre-entered because they might fill up. Most likely there will be a few more. Throw in the holiday and that only leaves about a half-dozen open weekends, and at least a few of those will be allocated to getting back out on the road bike for some big miles late in the winter. Doesn't leave much time to get all the bike projects done, let alone lay about the crib doing absolutely nothing, the way the off season should be spent.

It's all good though. I've been enjoying competing. Spell out goals for next year? Not so fast, at least not clearly. Suffice to say I'm not hanging up my road helmet just yet. I'm looking at a full campaign in the 45+ next season. This means I'd like to wrap up the running season a bit sooner than in 2007 in order to be ready for the early season road courses (like Jiminy and Turtl Pond), which suit me. The New Bedford Half Marathon comes a little bit too late, so I may skip that in favor of something earlier, maybe a (warm) destination race. Any full marathon ambitions are being put off until after I at least make a good effort to complete some unfinished business in road cycling. Just getting faster in running races provides enough of a challenge for now. Duathlons? Hmmm, I had those plans last year, only got to one, the others...fizzled. Cross? Who knows. I did more this year than I thought I would, and came out of it in one piece, but my aged body still isn't entirely thrilled with the concept. You youngsters just keep on enjoying it while you can. Thanks for reading.

Wrentham CX Movie

Moscow on the Neponset

Gewilli pretty much already covered Wrentham. Good course, mostly cow pasture with a long, gradual climb through the woods. The maze was laid out in such a way that braking was almost non-existent. There were a few energy-sapping ruts here and there to make it interesting, but if you stayed on the good lines, the entire layout had a fast flow to it and was a lot of fun. Despite the width being more than ample for passing, doing so required you to move off the smoother line and use even more energy bouncing up the side. This led to a lot of little packs riding along.

The big news of course was that winter finally arrived. Wrentham was run in temps just above and below 30F, but at least the winds were much less than on Saturday. We've been spoiled though, so it seemed much colder. Unlike Gewilli, I rode with a liner hat AND a knit hat under my helmet, electing to keep my ears warm. I wore wool tights too, along with kneesocks and shorts. Bulky gloves made shifting and braking a bit cumbersome. I was never even close to overheating though. Started at the back as usual. There were only around 35 starters, and also as usual at least half a dozen of them fell by the wayside on the first lap with various mechanical issues. I'm not sure if these guys don't train, don't warm up, or just don't have a clue, but it happens every week. Of course, nearly everyone rides way over their heads at the start too, so that probably brings some of this stuff on via mistakes. As I made my way past a few of other backmarkers who managed to stay on their bikes, "I'm blown sky high" breathing was the rule, not the exception. I know it's important to race for position, especially if you're a real contender, but damn, what these guys are doing is the equivalent of starting a 10k at a 200 meter dash pace, then trying to settle in. As Friel says, not the most comfortable way to race.

By the end of the second lap I'd moved up at least ten spots. Then a few of the guys who either had issues or had just started conservatively came roaring back by me. I don't think I had slowed down much, but maybe a little, as I had managed to dig a bit too deep at times, taking the bouncy line, as noted above. I ended up in a group of three with Dave Belknap (Bike Link) and Matt H (Bikeman). The Cronoman was giving me splits to grouppo Gewilli, who were about fifteen seconds ahead of us. I wisely decided to just sit on the other two, as there was no way I was going to get rid of them. I was able to stay on them easily on the main section of the course, but they were gapping me a bit on the twisties just after the start/finish. I could comfortably get back on their wheels for the long drag through the woods though, which was the best place to draft.

As we took the one to go bell, Gewilli was in sight just ahead. They dragged him back, and Matt went by in the woods. Dave B stayed behind Ge, and I wound it up nearing the end of the woods straight, planning to pass them both on the left. At the end of the straightaway there was a big tree in the middle of the track. Every lap I was going around it on the left, but Dave B was taking it on the right. Well, just as I went to blow by them, Dave quickly moved left as if he was going to pass Ge, but then he didn't. I don't know if he was throwing a block or just couldn't pass, but I was pissed, so I made a banzai move up the right, where it was all gravel. Narrowly squeezing by the towering Gewilli, I found myself headed straight for the tree at full speed. My life flashed before my eyes as I fumbled for some brakes with my heavy gloves, and I just barely slowed down enough and took the right hand line for the first time. I lost a lot of momentum, but I think Dave B might have had to check up too, as he did not come around.

From there I went after Matt, and closed in on him when he bobbled the 180 coming back up the dirt road before the gate. He was pretty fast on the top slalom, but he'd been a bit slow on the uphill barriers and the little rise after that. I closed on the barriers and took him on the riding rise, only needing to get off the smooth line for about ten meters. From there it was big gears and big gas down the straight and into the log jump. I fumbled my clip in, but just held off Dave B in the rush to the line, getting credit for 17/33 overall, just 4.5 minutes down on winner Kevin Hines. This was by far the most competitive cross racing I've been involved in all year, and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards I cooled down and the Cronoman took the requisite end of cross season, 25 degrees out shirtless photo in the parking lot. Not sure if I'll post it though, as I'm sporting an embarrassing muffin-top rolling out of my Under Armour.

Updated the sidebar this weekend too. Ran the Greater Norwood Running Club's HO HO HO 5k on Saturday. Despite bitter winds in the cold, I somehow managed a PR of 18:15, good for 4th overall in the small field of about 100 runners. The out and back course has some gradual grades to it as well, and the final mile was a mostly uphill drag into the wind. Despite this, my splits were pretty even, 5:50, 5:48, 6:00. The final tenth seemed long. May have had a shot at 3rd, as my HR the first mile was only 152 average. I was marking Steve Warren, and the other three simply got away before I went around him. Ended up only seven seconds back from third and another ten or so from second, with the winner long gone. Oh well. I'm happy to still be improving. More on this later in the week, maybe. Thanks for reading.

Weak Post

This looks like it was a pretty cool trip. Thanks for reading.

Lighten Up

I'm wearing a ball cap as I write this. A red one, with a velcro closure and a Stonyfield Farm logo on the front. Why am I mentioning this? Absolutely no reason. I don't normally wear ball caps around the house though. I rarely wear them outside either. When I do, I don't wear them backwards or all crooked. Cycling caps, that's different. Francine recently wrote a post about cycling caps. Well, sort of. I'm not sure I've ever seen her without one. I can rock the cycling cap too. In fact, at the running race on T-day, I wore my Kelme cap. Backwards. More aero, you know? What I Think's post had links to a few makers of wool cycling caps. These are the coolest. And the warmest. I've only owned one before, I think it was a Giordana, but I'm not sure. It was a Rossin cap, it matched my bike, and it had the wool earflap. Like my Giordana world championship stripes jacket, it mysteriously disappeared one day. I'm not sure about the cap, that could have been lost. The jacket, that vanished from a team mate's bus one day up at Killington. Much later in life, I found out that a junior we had on our team at that time had made himself a life as a thieving scumbag/wannabe pro bike racer. He happened to have dnf'd the previous stage and hung out in the van all day. Hmmm...

Anyway, that's irrelevant. Part of the theme here is to lighten the load. You see, after reading FL's post on hats, I almost pulled a quickdraw on the plastic and ordered up a few woolies for me head. But I didn't. Partly because I knew it would be better to see the goods in person, especially hats priced from $25-50. The other reason was, well, I'm trying not to overconsume. Astute followers of this blog know the "resist marketing" theme comes up from time to time. Did you all catch Strangelife's "acquisitive" post last Friday? I hope you did. If not, go read it.

There were a number of similarly-themed posts up last week, and I think I read somewhere about an organized "boycott Black Friday" movement of some sort somewhere. When I was working in Framingham last week, I sat amongst a bunch of kids whom I do not know. All they talked about all day was what they were going to buy on Friday, and how early in the morning they were going to head out in order to snag this or that. Yikes. I did not buy anything on Friday. Funny thing is, I did get a shipment in the mail, three boxes of shoes. All running shoes. New trail runners, well, I need those. You may remember my Grid Labrynths from the footwear nodcast. They held up well, and I ran in them well past 300 miles, probably more like 450, which is more than double what I usually get out of a pair of shoes. So I needed a new pair. I also tried a different model Saucony trail runner that was on sale, and additionally purchased my first pair of racing shoes, some Grid Fastwitch-2's. With all these shoes piling up, I felt like Imelda Marcos, and almost wrote a blog entry about it... Found out yesterday that would've sucked.

You're excused if you didn't see Slow Your Roll last week. I've cut down on the number of blogs I read too. Not sure what happened with the "long post" from Monday, but traffic, and specifically new visitors, was off the charts. Maybe I'm on to something here. I don't know, as I don't track referrers, so maybe some popular mofo setup a link. I am however, disappointed that nobody took a shot at my fork analogy. Yes, I know that GeWilli at least made a mention, but I'm dissed that there was no one geeky enough to complain that I should have used fork() instead of "fork in the road". Or even forking a project. Yeah, sure, they're almost the same thing as a fork in the road, but geeks are usually such a nit-picky bunch.

Maybe everyone is just all kind, gentle, and full of love. So we've got that going for us. And yes, I know that Bolder used that line earlier in the week. I wonder if he golfs? The cyclocrossers though, do I detect waning enthusiasm, or is it just the blogs I read? From my cheap seat, Gewilli's vision of cross in January might not fly too high. My sensors are picking up signs of burnout. Think about it though, it makes sense. For me, the season started just six weeks ago. I've been motivated to go to at least one race every weekend, although traveling alone is getting old. This is the first time I've ever raced cross without a traveling partner/s.o. who also raced. In fact, I've probably gone to more cross races as a mere supporter than a racer. Can't say I miss stuffing all that shit into one car, dealing with someone else's pre-race anxiety or post-race misery, but I do miss stopping on the way home and wrapping my frozen fingers around a hot mocha and just commiserating. That just doesn't work by yourself. For the racing side of it though, as a few of us have discussed off-blog, you can't beat flying solo (pun-intended). Lighter is better, faster. It may be selfish, but I'm way more focused on racing when I go by myself, and you can't beat the extra room. Not to mention being able to turn up the volume for whatever pleases you...

This weekend will be it for me though, if I even race. My knees weren't too happy after Palmer. As noted in "long post 1," running big miles on Saturday would have been fine with a "normal" cross race, but not for double-duty at the Palmer dismount festival. I've got a 5K on Saturday morning which I plan to run hard. I'll have to evaluate my health and well-being afterwards, as it sounds like Wrentham has four dismounts/lap. Ughh. At least it is close by. As for the rest of you, yeah, if you started in September, ten weeks straight with a bunch of double weekends is enough to burn almost anyone up. Do yourselves a favor, just stop training, relax, ride a bit the day before the race, maybe run a little, and for (insert who/what you worship here) sake, stretch, stretch, massage, and stretch some more. Don't take your youth and health for granted. That's all my love for today, thanks for reading. Still got that ball cap on...

Mixed Up

Loosen up your toe straps a bit; this might be a long one. Before we begin, take a look at your keyboard. Is it all gross and dirty? Then clean it. I just cleaned mine (both of them, both hooked up to KVM's, don't ask). The thing was gross. Really gross. At work, I tend to keep my keyboard clean. Maybe that's because when I get bored and the cafeteria is closed and GeWilli hasn't posted anything new for a few hours, I'll resort to cleaning up my keyboard and cube to pass some time. At home though, I guess it's another story. When I get bored here, I tend to head out to the kitchen and forage around for some more crumb-making materials to get in the keyboard. The crumbs form a matrix with dust, crud, and what appears to be cat hair, even though there hasn't been a cat in here for months. A business card, some upside-down banging, a damp cloth, and maybe some canned air will at least get you and your keyboard to the non-sickening stage. Just do it. Except Feltslave. From what I can tell, Matt's the only mofo crazy enough to read this crap on a Blackberry, and since he either smashes it or loses it every month or so, the keyboard never has time to get dirty. Which brings us nicely to primary topic number one for this post.

Feltslave is also the only person I know who is crazy enough to not only train for more than one sport at a time, but also to travel the world beating the business drum, raise a family of three kids with his wife, build a house for them, coach other people's punk-assed highschoolers in yet a third sport, help run a bike club of ingrates, and write a damn blog when he's got nothing else to do. For our conversation here, we'll focus on training for running and bike racing, because he's just nuts and I cannot even begin to consider how you'd perform his juggling act. Good luck dude...

Despite the mountains of information available about either of these online, I've not found anything about putting the two together. Sure, there's advice for multisport athletes -- that's not the same thing. They're trying to compete in one race that happens to combine more than one athletic discipline. There is a big difference between how you train for that and how you train if you want to be competitive in both running races and bike races. Then there's all the varieties of events within each of these two sports to consider. What's a Solobreak to do?

I know what I'm not going to do: hire someone to try and figure it out for me. Feltslave likes to talk about "coachability." Maybe I'm uncoachable. I've had several informal mentors in cycling, with things invariably getting ugly at some point with all of them. Not real ugly, just someone here is uncoachable ugly. That doesn't mean I didn't respect the advice and learn from it, just that I'm not afraid to question it when it's being applied to me. After all, I'm unique... So are you. Unique. Can you say that? Sure you can. I think that gets to the heart of mixing up running and bike training. Everyone who attempts this is in a unique position with regard to not only their goals, but also their strengths, weaknesses, and most importantly, athletic training history, both recent and distant. I think such a program has to be tailored.

With all this I have a bit of a problem. I really don't know shit about running. Some would say I don't know shit about bike racing either. And yes, you can do something for twenty plus years and still do it wrong the whole time. That's why we have these competitions, to see who is doing it right and who is doing it wrong. But results are all relative. You can be the best rider in races that are full of chumps, and all that makes you is the best chump. However, among my regional chumps, I know what works for me, at least it works well enough for me to outchump the other chumps once in a while. That's enough to convince me that I know what I'm doing, and if it's good enough for me, then it's good enough. Running though, wtf? I got some advice the past few years, and of course, even though I've done running races off and on since 1990 or so, these past few winters were the first time I ran consistently. And I've improved. Now what? I want to keep getting better. I don't want to hurt my performance on the bike either. Actually, I want that to improve too. A lot.

My approach is to just try to be a better athlete overall. You can be a half-decent bike racer without being a good athlete. I know, I've done it. I've never been all that lean, strong, or flexible. Maybe my late forties isn't the ideal time to take care of this, but it's all I've got now. Those things can't hurt. I'm happy to report that for sure I'm more flexible than I've ever been. It's pretty cool. As for the leanness, that seems to be working out well too. I'm into the seventh week of food logging. That's been a learning experience, but I weigh less now than at any point before in the second half of my life. That's way cool. Even my tights aren't tight. The strong part, that has me worried a bit. I can do more pushups and stuff like that than ever before too, but hell, I'm lighter. It's less work.

So far I just seem to be getting faster running without really doing anything special except losing weight and staying flexible. Some of this must be related to just running more consistently, though still way less than regular runners do. I'm recovering from my long and hard runs much, much more quickly than ever before. This has been allowing me to increase the quality of my runs. I want more though. So that's how I got to this post, learning about running through research, but finding that for someone who does high-quality bike training too, the running plans out there are not even close to optimal. I'm trying to optimize... It might help if I better defined my goals... I don't like doing that. I know what they are, but they're my goals, and some things I want to keep to myself.

Now this is a fork in the blog. Not a "stick a fork in it, it's done" fork, a fork in the road fork. Congrats for making it this far. The left fork (not sure why it's the left, it just is) goes down the road to apologizing if this blog sounds a bit too Gewilliesque or something. Choose carefully the blogs you read, especially the ones you read before you write yours. We need a "flu shot," not for influenza, but for blog influence. It's unavoidable, at least for me. If you find your blog reading like some puke's MySpace page, then it may as well be one. Keep it in your voice; in your own write (I'd have waited for December 8 to use that, but I know I'd forget). Keep it real, really you.

Back to the right fork. That's mixing running and riding. Dedicated readers know that Saturday I bagged out on racing at Sterling due to ass pimples, expenses, and last but not least, frigid temps in the early am. There was even more to it than that. I re-evaluated how Sterling didn't fit into my training plans. Having done a hard 5 mile race on Thursday (and doing amazingly well, I might brag), originally I'd thought two days off running would be best, meaning race cross on Saturday and doing a long run on Sunday. However, then there was that much quicker recovery from running I mentioned above. I started to think running on Saturday instead of Sunday would be preferable. This would setup next week a bit better. I'm planning to add some intensity (some might call it speedwork) into my runs. The next two weekends are my last two running races of 2007, and they'll be the first two that I treat as "A" races, meaning I'll push off any bike racing and try to be at my best for them. By shifting my long run to Saturday, I'm now able to take two days before doing speedwork on Tuesday, yet still take a day off before running again on Thursday, and have yet another day off from running before the race next Saturday. Perfect!

Except... Today, Sunday, was the Palmer Cross race and Bike Swap. The Bike Swap is a big deal in the land of Team BOB. Bigger than any race for some of them. I learned the mates were not only getting a dealer's table, but also planning a tailgate BBQ in the parking lot. There was even talk of some cross racing. The pull was too strong. Early Sunday I gathered up some crap I wanted to convert to cash, packed it up with the cross bike and headed west. A bit late though. I got there at 9. The boys were already in the swap meet, at least most of them were. And the master's race was at 10. And my back tire was flat. And it was cold. I went in to registration, and since a second race was only $10, got a number for not only the 45+ but also the 3/4 open which followed it at 11 am. Since I wasn't going to have time to warm up or even preview the course, I'd just ride the masters easy and then see if I could race the 3/4. Or something like that.

All went according to plan. John carted my schwag into the market while I fixed my flat and got dressed, even in time to see part of the course. Oh yeah. Roots. Lots of roots. Deja vu. This course has been in use for years. In fact, lots of cross courses used to be just like this. If you're wondering what cross was like in New England 15-20 years ago, well, Palmer. Time has stood still, practically. The bikes are lighter and the kits more colorful now, but just about everything else is the same. I rushed back to the car to get my fattest 38c front clincher, and aired it up to over 40 psi, then rushed back to the line. I still hadn't seen the first half of the course yet, at least not in the past ten years...

They decide to start the 45+ separately from the 35+, a whopping three minutes back. Good for the front runners (whose idea it was), but not for me. I'm thinking the 35+ leaders will be lapping me in no time. We go off. There's a nice field of 25 riders in the 45+ group, and as usual I'm tailgunning. I remember the first section, over some roots and out into a field. Not bad. Back in the woods, up two short dirt rises, then bam, wall of dirt. Scramble up, about ten steps, back on the bike in more rooty single track. Along the river in a big jeep rut, path turns into a field, another rideable dirt rise, but it's pick a number clusterphuck time, so I dismount. Back on the bike for about fifty feet, course turns right down a rutted embankment, then U-turns into yet another runup, maybe fifteen steps this time. From here the trail opens up a little, and I follow some Cyclonauts locals who know the lines where you can avoid some, but not all, of the roots. Out into the football field, triple hurdle. I like triples. I like the UCI rule about one set of hurdles, but saying it needs to be just a double is dumb. If we're going to get off the bike, let us run for a few meters. Triples, quads, whatever. Back into more single track. WTF? Another hurdle, a real shitty one (lot's of old school style points for this though). Then a pallet bridge? A really shitty one too. Back on the bike for another thirty meters of single track, and now we have the mother run up. Probably over twenty meters. And steep.

OK, let's count -- three big runups, plus the hurdles, then the pallet bridge with hurdles. That's five dismounts in an under seven minute lap. Yes, back in the day, this was typical. And yes, this is one reason I much prefer the new school (pun intended) kinder, gentler, faster, more pedally soccer field cross we usually see today. More importantly, my 14.5 mile run on Saturday is not looking like the best prep for this double-cross Sunday. I hope my calves survive...

At least I'm moving up. I can't really tell how far, but I'm passing people. After three laps, the 35+ leader, and then second place, lap me. I'm not sure after that. One other guy passed me, but I think he was a 45+ who'd had a mechanical. At any rate, the lap cards go from four to two all in one lap for me, and we are done after six laps. The 45+ leaders did not lap me. I was tired but not totally wasted. Not exactly fresh either. As I roll out of the finish area, I spy a free-thinking anarchist in a pink jacket warming up on a trainer. That's right, I finally meet the one and only Colin R, and we shake hands. Not much of a meeting. The 3/4 race was just minutes away, and I dared not upset the homicidal ambience around that trainer with my carefree Team BOB masters mojo. Instead, I slinked back to the Geo and took in some Gatorade, then found old Easton hombie Brian McG to take off my 45+ number, revealing the 3/4 number I'd so cleverly pinned underneath. Then back to the line for round two. I looked for Colin in the front row, but without his pinkie I guess I couldn't recognize him. Did I mention that I can't see shit anyway. Makes for a thrill a minute on these rooty mountain bike courses.

We get the roll off and away we go. Again I'm last, and everyone else has fresh legs. From my vantage point, I see lots of shitty lines being taken. At least I already have some course knowledge. Not sure how many starters, but I pass people consistently the entire race. Out on the course, I hear a familiar voice. Dick Ring, the voice of New England bike racing, is here for the swap meet and he's cheering for me. If you don't know Dick, then you don't know dick. Mr Ring was the New England announcer since before my time, right up until two years ago or so. Before that he was a nationally ranked bike racer and Olympic speed skater. He's at least 70 years old, but on the bike he can still drop at least half the scrubs who read this blog. Dick is pure class, but for some reason he has a soft spot for Team BOB. Not only did he cheer for me, he hung out and broke bread with us at the post race parking lot BBQ. Something to remember.

The race goes ok, but no lap cards at first. Then five to go! WTF? We must have done at least eight laps. I focused on being smooth, as there were lots of places this course could bite you. In fact, I missed the rutted embankment turn like three times before I started remembering it was there. No crashes though, just near misses. Surprisingly, my running legs held up, although I was totally gassed by the end and barely moving on the long run up. Didn't get lapped though, but the results had me 17th, second to last rider scored, with the lappers left off. 45+ results only had the top 5. It's not about the results though; it's the process. "It" is the noun of the night too, apparently. Sorry. If you made it this far, well, I sort of feel bad for you anyway, but I'm very grateful that you took the time out of your busy day to read my words. OK, so tighten your toe straps back up, give me something to read, in your voice, your style, your personality. Sorry about all the mistakes, you don't really think I'm going to proof this, do you? Thanks for reading. I mean, thanks a lot!

This is why I don't prereg

Yeah, 18 degrees. Might be a balmy 30 by the 11 am start of the masters, but do I want to take that chance? Maybe 35 by the noon 2/3 race? Or do I save the $35 entry, the $20 worth of gas, the risk that this little sting I'm sitting on is not just a saddle sore, and simply head out for a 20k run in my nice new shoes? This one's not so tough... Thanks for reading.

Happy Thanksgiving

CX Pic of the Day Notice he's in the drops, and he doesn't have top mounts. Thanks for reading!

The Schaefer Jingle

The most rewarding flavor,
In this man's world,
For people who are having fun,
Schaefer, is the, one beer to have,
When you're having more than one.

Congrats to our winners, both young and old, who knew this one. Did a quick search and it looks Schaefer is now owned by former rival Pabst, and tastes like swill. Downhill, just like so many other great brands of the past.

A school bus just pulled up out front, and it looks like the noisy little maggot who lives next door got let out of school early. So much for a quiet day of telecommuting. I've got a 5 mile road race right here in town tomorrow morning. The course is short, only 4.9 miles tops, so no hope of a PR. I think I'm a bit raced out anyway. My goal will be to once again try to start out easy and finally run a full race of negative splits, but so far I've never pulled it off. The competition could be a bit thin too, with so many Thanksgiving Day races, in which case I may be in the running for an age-group turkey. I think top 3 get them. In that case, I'll need to throw the plan out and run against the competition, not the course.

Most likely I'll race CX at Sterling on Saturday. Bike swap in Palmer on Sunday, but I'm due for a long run that day, so I may pass. I don't have much to sell. I still have a 1991 vintage Campy Chorus brakeset, complete, brand new, in the box, calipers, levers, cables, everything. Email me if you're interested, $150.

Today marks one week for the switch to black coffee. So far so good. I'm saving 140 calories a day, not to mention about $8/month not buying half and half. I think I'm brewing less coffee too, and not making it so strong, which adds to my savings. I've been more than making up for the calories lately though. Went to John Harvard's again last night... Got there late this time, as I had to go to a wake first, and I only had two or three glasses of their harvest brew. It still kicked my ass. I would have skipped this trip, but today is my favorite coworker's last day, and we took her out.




I'd post the other pictures and the movies but she'd hunt me down and kill me. I'm going to miss you Cindy. Thanks for reading, have a great holiday.

Declining Enrollment?

Gee, after reading Gewilli's depressing post, I'd hoped to spin something positive today. Allow me to say something positive then: I love riding my bike. Saturday was very cool. And cool temps too. The UNH CX event at Kingman Farm, well, let's call it the best race that nobody went too ever. I think they got less than 80 riders total. At registration, someone lamented that they needed 104 to break even. What a bummer. It was cold out, but they did not flood the course this year, and they eliminated all the single track from the woods. The layout made up for it with some nice varied looping and a mix of high speed and trickier turns out in the cow pasture. Some thought it was unimaginative, but I liked it a lot. The course was basically all gas all the time. The combined masters field numbered only 14 strong, and off the start the Cronoman, Curley, and Keith Button (Noreast) set the pace. One the first lap, I did exactly what I'd vowed not to do and rode like an idiot, taking bad lines over the bumps to move around people when gaps opened. Most of them repassed me when I overextended, and on lap two Wayne Cunningham, Carl Ring (NHCC), and Andrew Durham (CCB-Evil Empire) formed a second trio about fifteen seconds behind the leaders. I ended up in no man's land another fifteen seconds back from them after two of my BOB team mates piled into each other and planted themselves in the ground on one of the muddy turns. Timmy got by them too, but he there was a gap between he and I too.

We did seven laps. At two to go I drove it hard and closed up to Wayne, who had fallen just off the other two. I should have gone around and kept driving, but I sat on him for a bit. After the hurdles, I think he tried to remount on the rise and faltered. I ran to the top as on every other lap, opening a small gap. I closed to the Ringer but he held me off down the hill and all the way to the line.

After the race I put on a dry kit, including my new woolies, and headed out solo for some exploring on the road bike. Found some nice quiet roads, and just kept riding and riding. After an hour I turned around to retrace my route (had no idea where I was) and found I now had a tailwind. Thoroughly enjoyed this ride even though it was in the 30's and windy. Made good time going back but then must have missed a turn, got lost for a half an hour and made it back to the car just as the handful of elite riders were cleaning up from their race. I logged just under 2.5 hours, making it a 3.5 hour day on the bike. I love riding.

Sunday I wanted to go out riding some more. I had a pot luck party to go to in the afternoon, and needed to try my hand at some cooking in order to contribute. Saturday was a long day in the car too, so I skipped Lowell and just headed over to Norwood for the 4 mile running race. This is a decent sized annual event, about 400 runners, and quite a bit of prize money so the race attracts a strong field. I should have gone riding first though, because for some reason they did not start at 10:30 as advertised; the race was at 11. I ran well, posting 5:56, 6:00, 6:06, and 6:00 splits on the hilly course (not steep, but almost no flats) to take 6th in my age group. By then it was too late to ride, and I just went home to try the recipes Gewilli had given me for hors d'eurves. They came out all right for a first try, but not great. This was not a drinking crowd either, and my jello shots went more or less untouched. And I ate too much. Good thing I love riding my bike... Went out this morning and just rode the cx bike around the pasture for a while until I got a flat, then limped home.

Oh yeah, the declining enrollment thing. Maybe Colin can crunch the numbers and figure out if the number of cross entries is fading like it seems. There were about 650 riders/day back at Gloucester, with another hundred or so at a small race in PA the same day. There was also another UCI race in Ohio that weekend. This past weekend, the NJ race got only about 425, UNH got shit, and I'm not sure about Cheshire. It would be interesting to see how the numbers graph out over the season. This might support or undermine Gewilli's wish for more January racing (maybe he's burning out now and will rethink? Of course he'll rethink. And rethink. And rethink...). Hell Colin, this could even be valuable demographic info to somebody. Maybe you should try to sell it to the marketers serpents of the world. By the way, I love riding my bike. No proofing. Thanks for reading.

American Gothic - CX Style

Not sure how much style is in this photo. Gewilli and his cookies pose with The Cronoman in front of the West Hill Shop. This photo reminded me of something else that happened this weekend. After the running race in Bristol, I was inside the school, doing some stretches in the gym. They had a doctor's scale there. I haven't measured my height in quite a while. So I get on, hold my head up high, and it's barely 70 inches. WTF? I used to be just under six feet. Shrinkage. When I started walking on the cuffs of 34 inseam pants, I thought it was just because Levi's changed their sizing model. Old age sucks. There is some good news though. I found when buying all my new Ibex clothes, I no longer need XL for length or girth, huh-huh. Just easy to find L stuff.

Speaking of old and dry-rotted, check out the front tire that carried me around at Farmington:




Nice huh? The thing was herniated in about 8 places. Bummer too, as the new Mud2s are not quite as wide as these older ones. I ran a skinny Schwalbe CX Comp on the front at Putney, not exactly confidence inspiring, but what the hell. This ain't Rabobank. Thanks for reading.

Stick and a Promise

photos courtesy of Robert Tyszko (NHCC)

Where to begin? I finally bought The Stick. Very nice indeed. After one use, I wished I'd got this a long time ago. I'd held off because someone had told me I could save the $40 by making my own out of PVC pipe. Yeah right. That would not even be close, unless you spent a few hours painstakingly lathing a radius onto the end of each little roller. Just get one; it's great. The foam roller is pretty good too, but this is better and easier.

Somehow, even though I was totally dehydrated, stuck in a fetal pose, and unable to even situp, let alone drive to Nashua Saturday night after the Bristol race, I pulled it together in the wee hours Sunday, got the muscles ready with the help of the Stick, and made it up and all the way to Putney. By the time we got there, I felt fine. Cold, but fine. Rode a whopping three laps of the course warming up, and the cornfield was greasy as hell. After that, I sat in the sun-drenched car, completing my warmup. I think Marro rode about 25 laps before our race started. His entire morning was filled with leg-shaking energy, enough for both of us. But he was fun to be around. No whining.

Down at the start I got a chance to chat with Trooper Matt, and I told him of my close encounter with his coworker earlier in the week. After scolding me for being a friggin' idiot, he said the guys badge number indicates he was either a rookie or damn close to it. We need more like him... Maybe not really, but at least I'm typing this from the comfort of home rather than the county Hilton by the highway. Never did get to tell you about this Ge... Back to our story... Kinnin decides last minute that the 45+ riders will have a separate start 30 seconds after the 35+, with the 55+ and the juniors 30 seconds after us. That's cool for me, but I still end up last off the line. F that, and I storm the outside and take a few spots entering the field, and by the first hurdles I'm only a couple of spots behind Timmy.

As you can see by the photos, I'd ditched the skinsuit in favor of thermal knickers (which are no longer really "tight") and a long sleeve jersey, and knickers + cross = time to get out the MJ Chicago Bulls longstockings. Who says there are no style points in cross? Every time I wear these the flash bulbs start poppin' and Sunday was no exception. Besides Dr. T's fine photos, Miche the ant farmer brought out her camera and its Hubble-sized lens, treating us to numerous photos including an outstanding barrier sequence that starts with this pic. In addition to the attention of the papparazzi, the stockings brought out my cheering section too. As noted over on Gewilli's blog, I got at least one "Go Pippy" which easily takes the cheer of the week award.

Back to the race. Eventually me and Timmy hook up together. You can see this in the pics too. Marro is gone out of sight, but Jimmy O, who had his own close encounter of the gendarme kind on the way to the race, when he nearly got busted for blowing through a Border Patrol checkpoint (this kind of shit can only happen to BOB), was about twenty seconds ahead of us. We worked together to shed anyone we caught, but then Timmy bailed in the back of the cornfield. The muddy ruts over there had improved quite a bit since the morning, but it could still be treacherous. I eased a bit and let Timmy catch on before the long dirt road, and then we gassed it to get across to Jimmy. This taxed Timmy's reserves a bit though, and he soon dropped back by a few seconds, so we never really did get all three of us in the same picture frame, despite Robert's urging.

By now the laps are running down. Lo and behold, Gewilli appears ahead in the cornfield. Jimmy and I catch him just as we hit the dirt road, and I latch on for a nice tow, but apparently his car isn't the only thing that runs on bio-diesel, and I'm forced to rev by the lumbering truck. The three of us hit the run up and I take the scenic route up the left because it's not as steep and that's where I've been following Timmy all day. Ge passes me back by going up the direct route, but IMHO this is also the direct route to an even huger heart rate spike than you get going the "easy" way. After the remount and into the hurdles, the not-so-green giant then just floats over the 40 cm barriers like they're bamboo sticks in the grass or something, but I get around him as we ride through the throng of spectators. We're on the last lap now, so it's all gas, but one more junior catches up from behind anyway. Michelle got a nice picture of me heading to the line with a giant slime wad drooling out of my open mouth. Nice work Miche! I'll take the hi-res version of that one.

Afterwards we hung out for quite a while because the Cronoman was in the money. Gewilli had cookies too. Putney has always been the friendliest race on the calendar. Like nowhere else, this is a place to reunite with old friends, and meet up with new ones like Willow and Maple, two delightful Goldens who were kind enough to help me finish the last of my burritto. My solo efforts to stimulate the economy also continued and I emerged from the shop with a big box of Ibex wool clothing to go with the free hat (in Shift Green!) that came with race entry. The Ibex clothes are awesome. My new wool leg warmers have instantly become my favorite cycling garment. I also got, are you ready for this? Wool shorts! Oh yes, me bum will be nice and toasty this winter. I kept going, scoring tights, glove liners, and some other stuff. I love the West Hill Shop.

The Cronoman got his 4th place bounty and we were on our way. This was by far the most fun I've had at a cross race in years. Saturday night I felt like there was no way I would be fit to walk the next day, let alone ride cross, but somehow I had my race face on. It was very, very nice to have a complaining free day. Just fun. Life is good. Stick time. Thanks for reading.

Race Report - Bristol RI 10 miler

Yeah, afternoon race. On the ocean. Through Colt Park no less. USATF certified course. 1:03:45, huge PR, would have been a 10k PR. I think today I had a sub 38 10k in me. Really. Don't know what happened but I fell apart big time at 7-8.5 miles. Got a terrible double stitch, felt like stopping. Somehow pulled it together and ran the last mile in 6:09 but by then my hopes of a top 10 were gone (I was 11th, 3rd in 40-50 men, I think).

Didn't get the first mile.
2 miles - 12:23, 6:12 pace, then 6:09, 6:34, 6:29, 6:15, 6:31 for 6-8, 6:44, 6:09. 6:23 average.

Serious GI issues after the race. Who the F signed me up for Putney tomorrow? I may just go and pick up my hat. Thanks for reading.

Friday Link, sort of

The new job started in earnest yesterday. What does that mean? It means I was not able to constantly keep tabs on the local blogosphere whilst running painfully slow and inefficient code searches. Instead, I got to waste my day the old-fashioned way - sitting in unproductive meetings. I'm a veteran of this sort of thing from a past life, but for me the last five years have been almost meeting free. No more. I'm going to need to brush up on my "let's get this moving" skills...

So let's get this moving. Dale's blog this week, as usual, stirred up my brain cells, at least the ones that still work. Mr. S always does a damn good job of putting out a thought-provoking message without saying too much. I guess that's part of being an artist. For a few minutes, I considered expanding his topic of shame and disappointment to include embarrassment, but then I thought better of that. I don't want to mess with the fine job he did of revealing just enough of his message to get us thinking, but not much more. The direction he took this was brilliant. The message is never as much or as little as it seems...

I don't know Dale very well. We've raced against each other, but not much, yet he's had a big impact on me. In 2006 he was active in racing. We first met at the WMSR when he put in a stellar time trial. I'd met him out on the road training before, but didn't know him. Being extremely fit and well-coached, he still lacked experience and basically got his ass kicked in the points race on the final night. I was among the five who lapped the field. Score one for solobreak. Yet being knocked out of the top five in the TT by an unknown gave me a little push.

The next time I ran into Dale was in the food market on the morning of the GMSR circuit race. We were both wandering around searching for supplies, and he struck up a conversation with the sketchy dude in the BOB jacket that he sort of recognized. We realized we'd met briefly before, and lived in adjacent towns. He asked me how I did in the prologue the day before, and I replied, well, I wasn't last, but I went backwards the entire time and finished damn close to it. Returning the question, he humbly told me he'd done pretty well, finishing second. Damn. Bigger push.

The discussion turned to climbing. I knew he'd been a triathlete in the past, and a very fit person overall, yet he told me he'd improved his climbing by "losing about 15 pounds." WTF? I could never do that, I thought. I probably weighed about 175 at the time, just a couple of pounds more than I did when I was 30. I'd never been a great climber, but used to be able to at least hold on to the lead group when the going got tough, even managing to win a few "hilly" races. Lately that wasn't working out.

We wished each other luck and headed back to the condos to prepare for the days racing. I'm not sure where he went on to finish on GC, but I got completely shelled on Middlebury Gap and limped home on the queen stage about 45 minutes down to the winner. Since that day, I haven't met up with Dale in person; I guess he's not racing as much this year. His story of an already fit guy losing fifteen friggin' pounds though, that stayed with me. He was pretty skinny, you know, calves that just looked freakishly ripped. I've never been like that, but I'm pretty sure that when I was racing in my early 30s I'd get my body fat percentage down into single digits. Last winter, with the running prep for the half marathon, I did not get fat and came into this season at about 172 pounds. Never went down from there. Up until August, I was satisfied. The "Best Western Incident" and my poor performance at the 40k TT the next day opened my eyes. I may have weighed the same as I did fifteen years ago, but now my BF % is much higher. I needed to do something. 160?

A few pounds came off easily. I had good form at the Bob Beal Stage race as a result, but even then I could tell that I wasn't nearly as lean as the dudes like Dale who win the 45+ category races on difficult courses. How far could I take this? I don't know, because I'd never tried before. My little "medical issue" set me back a bit, but now running season is upon us (at least for me) and I've resumed my quest to see how lean I can get. I'll stop at the end of the month and take a break for the winter, but the goal is to come into next year much fitter than the past few, and maybe even be competitive in the early season races like Jiminy Peak and Turtle Pond. This past week was a bit of a setback, but that's ok. A disappointment, but nothing to be ashamed of... More to come. Thanks for reading.

I feel obligated...

Obliged? I don't know. Readership here is way up for some reason, so I feel like I should post something. I know the last several posts have lacked substance. Some of you might feel all of them always have. That's a hell of a sentence... Sorry. I've avoided writing about running, dieting, job change, and health issues for the last few weeks. There are enough race reports out there already, and I'm just racing for training anyway, so there is not much to say. Eventually something will come up. Maybe I can write about building bikes. There are lots of parts boxes laying about here now...

I have awesome friends. I kid you a lot, but the past few weeks, and the past few days my close friends have been incredible, and I hope that someday I can return some of what you've given me. Today I'm very happy. Life is good because I have great friends to share it with. Thanks for reading.

Monday Connecticut Radio Special

Here's some culture for you. Thanks for tuning in. The Ray Wilie Hubbard version did not allow embedding, but you can find it here. No need to thank me. When I enrich your life, it enriches my life.


EXTRA! - If you're still standing here's more. You have to promise to listen all the way to the end. What can I say, it was a long drive to Farmington.

Friday Link

If you did not already go over and watch the Jack Lalanne video on Zoo's new blog, go do it now. Very cool. This guy was ahead of his time. Thanks for reading.

Which is it?

We have a problem. When I'm just kidding, people think I'm serious. When I'm being serious, people think I'm kidding. Is it really that hard? (very important, say it like you're from Boston. You know you wish you really were. Wicked bad too).

Why the fuck are you reading this? Why does anyone give a shit what I think? Kidding or serious?

Thanks for reading (that's serious). Tool (just kidding). Maybe.

Kangaroo Jumps

Has anyone ever tried these? Where to buy? How much? Just what I need for those pesky 40 cm barriers. Thanks for reading.

Problems

Despite my unpracticed, but near-perfect remount form, as you can see, all is not well in the land of Solocross. Never mind that problem #6 is missing entirely. I guess we'll leave that one up to you. In case you can't tell, this is the base of the Canton runup near the track. The first lap I managed to ride well past this point, but after that fatigue and clumsy riding had me bailing out early in to running mode. At least when I got to the flat part on the track at the top, a few times I was able to sprint away before remounting and gap potential wheelsuckers before the pedaling even started. All this running is good for something.

Last night I headed down to Middleboro for the Union Velo training series. All you guys missed a chance to pick up an easy 40, because I was no speed machine. There were around 25 riders present, including many of the usual suspects - Markie, Hines, Lynchie, Belknap, some Bike Barn guys, etc. Much of the Wompatuck crew it seemed. The lighting at the park was a mixed bag. There were a few dark spots but since there were no holes, rocks, nor roots, it was OK. More unusual, considering that Middleboro is among the flattest areas around, the course had significant elevation change. Combined with the fairly tall, lumpy, and wet grass, the conditions led to some pretty high-power grinding at times.

This week they also had two sets of 40 cm barriers. One had a fast approach and the other slow. As this was a training race, I saw a lot of riding around them. Before you scoff, I can understand why. After about seven laps, I started getting a sense of deja vu to the days of old when cross courses were a dismount festival. You stop attacking the barriers and end up trudging over them in survival mode. It's kind of stupid. One set per lap is plenty.

Despite trying to not go out too hard, I became toasted quickly. This was probably due to Sunday being my first cross race of the season just two days prior, not to mention I'd done a hard 6.5 mile tempo run in the morning (just what constitutes hard will remain a secret). By 31 minutes, which felt more like 51, I had to shut it down for a few laps. I was going to call it a night, but after another ten minutes I latched on to Lynchie and another guy and we raced it out fast for the final two. All in all a good workout. I'd go back so long as it's not wet or too cold, although after a Sunday race it's a bit much.

The local punkus domesticus were throwing vulgar heckling at us throughout the night. Pretty sad really. Didn't do too much for my view of the state of youth in America. I had some witty retorts in mind, but I was good and kept them to myself. I've seen enough crap that can't be respected without joining in. Thanks for reading.

More Love, Just for Gewilli

This was from the 1984 tour. I saw this one at Walter Brown Arena. Whipping Post was the encore. Thanks for reading.

Stirring the Pot

Gewilli must feel like Gerry Cooney after the Holmes fight today. Where is Mills Lane when we need him? Thanks for reading.

The Flying Foley

Here is the ass shot so many of you have requested. Sorry that you can't see the "too much information" stuff I've had the pleasure of telling you all about, but the Funboy Three will be glad to note that if you click in and zoom in on the high-res version, you can even check out my junk. Credit for this super cool action shot goes to Robert Tyszko. Thanks to the Cronoman for passing this along. Ge, you'll notice my form is perfect (and I mean that in every sense).

Last week over on GeWilli's blog, (at least I think that's where it was), a thread formed in the comments about the best and worst cheering/heckling you can hear when racing cross. As noted yesterday, The Mighty A-man made the trip to Canton to dish out some quality heckling over by the track. On lap three we debated the origins of my bike, and just how shameful it was to ride like shit at the back of the pack with the name Lemond (A-man's hero, and still the best) on my frame, even though it's just a Hot Tubes machine painted up for the benefit of the prior owner's sponsors. But that wasn't the my favorite spectator commentary of the day. Canton also features a set of low barriers over on the woods side. These lay at the top of a gravel rise which follows a tight 180 turn. This year on most laps it wasn't too hard to execute the turn nicely and carry enough momentum up the rise to coast into the barriers normally and hurdle them smoothly. However, on one lap I messed it up and ground up the slope, then didn't get the pedals in the right spot and ended up making an awkward step behind and clumsy dismount. One of the gathered bystanders, obviously extolling his expert wisdom upon his companions quipped "now that guy has bad technique." Thanks for reading.

PS - Oh yeah, does anyone know who the girl was who kept yelling "Go Yogurt!" Cracked me up...

PS2 - Joe's Blog today. Heh-heh.

Dumbass Versus the Right-Wing Conspiracy

Every year, we set our clocks back one hour on the last Saturday of October, also the day of the Canton Fall Classic Running Race. I didn't hear anything about it, so I was wondering about it a little, but when my computer, which uses NTP, set itself back, I figured I'm in the clear. Learned something about NTP today... it just sets you time precisely based on GMT, but timezone configuration is left to tzdata (on 'nix type systems anyway...).

I got up "early" even though I watched every pitch of the Sox win last night, and I packed up the cross bike in the car "just in case" I felt up to racing after the 10k. I then proceeded to sort through all the nifty new running clothes I'd bought on Saturday's spending spree, kitted up in my new shoes, prepared some bottles, and went out for the ten minute drive to Canton. I think it's 9 am. I get near the race and hmmmm, the cops are out here awful early... The parking lot is full. Hey, there's some people running, the fun run must have started at 9... Oh shit. I guess I was the only one who set my clock back last night... Fuck, and this is the one time I pre-registered. Oh well, good cause, I hope.

Over to the cross race. I'm still in shock, sort of, and I'm thinking the 45+ race started at the "real" 10 am, but I can still make the 35+. It's 10:45, and I register for the race. I find the Cronoman to pin me up, and he says the 45+ didn't start yet. WTF? I'm all out of sorts today. Well, at least now I have an hour to warmup, but of course I'm going to really get my assed kicked. I rode over to the Blue Zoo and ran around a bit to warm up. My calf felt tight; maybe it was the crappy MTB shoes, but maybe I missed the 10k for a reason. Got back to the cross race venue, but did not have time to take a lap of the course, so we're doing it blind. Only about 70 starters. I just lined up at the back and planned on the first lap being a preview.

Timmy was there, having just finished the 45+. At the gun we rolled off slowly and I just followed Timmy. In the first turn the Ringer had tangled with an RS guy, and we went around them. The RS guy came by quickly, so now just Carl is behind me. Halfway through the lap he comes by me too. So far, all of the course is just like last year, so I am good. Then Timmy bails on some mud, so I'm on my own and I start racing. The pack is all strung out. Around the running track I passed a few backmarkers, and then found the tight chicane part was not muddy and not staked very tight so it's real easy this year. The whole course was easy, fast, and with a good flow to it.

The rest of the race I just cranked it up on the paved parts and the open areas, riding the tighter stuff conservatively. I made steady progress and passed about twenty people total. I think we only did five laps. On the last lap I made a good run and had the Ringer in sight but only got up to a second or two behind him at the line, finishing 45th. At least it was a good workout, probably similar intensity to what I would have got in the 10k. This was close to home and a good way to get my feet wet in cross this year without actually getting them wet. I am not a mudder and one of the signs of a good cross race to me is when I don't need to clean my bike.

This can go into history as the lamest race report ever. Sue me, I don't give a crap. Got to see Gewilli, always nice, and also the A-man came to watch and he dished out some quality heckling over by the track. It's always fun when you don't care about your result, because then you can heckle back. Now it's up to Moveitfred's wife to decide if we go to Farmington. Thanks for reading.