So I've written two separate pieces about last weekend's racing already. One in VeloNews: impartial, moderately concise, but lacking a whole lot of color (I'll see about adding more of that later...) and one for this site and 303cycling.com which was focused on the triumphs and tribulations of the CSU Rams Cycling Team as a whole. Some of 303cycling's readers didn't seem to get that the second article was never intended to be impartial nor particularly professional, but I digress.

My point is that I am yet to write about my actual race. I got to put my name in the VN article once, but did not describe my races in any detail. Women's B's get as much space as the Men's A's, and I have a word limit. So here is my race report, about my race, written by me about me, because this is my damn blog! So here goes nothin:

Saturday, 4:35 am. Alarm goes off. I inaudibly curse the C-men and their 8am start time, roll out of bed, make my awesome breakfast burritos, put the loaner bike (see previous posts for why I was on a loaner bike...) on the car, and head over to the Moby parking lot to meet up with the rest of the team at 5:15. Drive to Denver's City Park, arrive by 6:45, herd C-men cats all over the place, teach their clinic, watch them and the rest of our riders of every category totally kill it, and finally at 10am start to think about my own race at 11:30. 

First race of the season is always a big question mark. This season especially, since I'll be in Base (capital B) mode for another two weeks. I know I have the hours, endurance will not be a problem. But the high intensity stuff is, of course, lacking.

Turns out, it's all good. 

So I line up late, about 10 yards behind the field. Official says GO, I start riding as the back line fumbles around with their pedals, I look for gap, and pop into the top 10 by the second corner. Well done me! That worked well.

First 15 minutes are fast, but not crazy. I notice how my higher threshold this year is enabling me to just chill, or even recover, while others seem to be in a bit of difficulty. That's very cool. I

 throw down an attack, take a prime, then remember that I haven't really spent much time over threshold in 5 months, and return to the field with my tail between my legs. Alister goes off the front, followed by Zack and some new CU guy. With CU, FLC and us all up the road, the chase shuts down. On the front, I'm hangin out watching the birds and marveling at the weather. From what I hear the back still kind of sucked due to the nature of the course (somewhat technical), but up front was pretty dandy.  The smaller teams spent about 15 minutes trying to bridge, but we jumped on everything so nothing was even close to successful. After they gave up things got even slower, and I got bored. Threw in a few more little efforts, again did not really get anywhere (CU wasn't too keen on me or anyone else getting anywhere). 

At six to go, Trevor came up the front and started pulling. I believe his intention was to start up a leadout, but I was the only guy up front at that point so I just sat behind him for three laps in second wheel. Very weird. He pulled off, I scooted back a couple spots. CU took over for the last 

few laps, Chris came up with me as did Logan. I had a little lapse in concentration and fell to about 10th with one to go, but used the chicane and following acceleration to move back up to about seventh wheel.  Kept that through the next roundabout, moved up again in the next stretch to fifth (Chris was first or second at this point). Came into the last roundabout in that position, idiot in front of me lost a bunch of ground in the corner, so I came out with maybe 8m to make up on Chris, who was now leading. Started sprinting, caught and passed the CU guys who were up front and the FLC guy who screwed me on the last corner, got up next to Fuzzy and came across the line a hair behind him to take 2nd in the field. So CSU was one and two in the field sprint, plus Zack pulled 2nd up the road, and Logan put in a good last lap effort to hold onto 9th. Four guys in the top ten, three in the top five, when we only had 7 in the whole race - not too shabby! 

The numbers:

1:01

AvWatts: 246 (3.92w/kg) <-- nothing impressive there.

Normalized: 291 in GC, 314 in PowerAgent. I like the higher number personally. But both are a bit bogus.

Best 5s: 1317 (21.36w/kg). Actually had pretty good 15s numbers too. Sprint never seems to go away. The w/kg number is why I like uphills sprints so much...

Overall impression of form: definitely not in race shape, but the threshold work and massive base made up for it. Plus the fact that I stayed up front kept the accelerations to a minimum. I would not have been a happy camper tailgunning on Saturday. So I'm pretty pleased with where I am right now, for the most part. I have a natural physiological inclination towards the high intensity stuff, rather than threshold, so it should all come back quickly once I move out of Base season. 

What I'd really like to do is win something in the next few weekends so I can just work for others for a while. Logan and Adam both work super hard for the team, and in the races,  and deserve some glory. I would like nothing more than help either of them pull off a W. 

Quick Metro TT recap: so I didn't really think I'd be a factor (I rarely am in time trials), but I guess the the whole big volume base stuff really has worked because I rode a somewhat mediocre race and pulled off 3rd. I honestly felt like I was dragging a brick up the only real climb on course. But hey, I'll take it!  

Next weekend is CU, where I have crashed two years in a row despite it being the lamest, least technical course imaginable, and UNC which is on a brand new course. Should be a good time! 

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Who Are We ?

The Turtles' cycling group is for the type of rider who really needs to get out on a regular basis and Do Something or they'll quickly succumb to the reality of geezerhood.  This person knows that a change of attitude is what is needed - that one must learn to enjoy exercise so that bike rides are eagerly anticipated.  We love being outdoors all the time and really have no idea what is on TV anymore.  We'll be more offroad when the trails dry out (mid April?).

Weekly Rides

Our Saturday ride will be pure fitness.  We'll target 2 hours of riding, with the faster riders repeating hills and encouraging the slower riders to make it to the top.  The total length of the ride will depend on who shows up.  We'll discuss the ride prior to setting out.  Saturday road rides will usually start at JJ's (Harmony and Taft) around 9:30am.

The Sunday afternoon ride will be on a relaxed pace and is the place for people to connect with the group.  Most of us will also ride during the week and will coordinate with other riders as the opportunities present themselves.

Turtles have a well-founded fear of traffic!  We'll avoid roads as much as possible, eventually moving offroad when the trail conditions are acceptable.

Races and Community Rides

The Laramie MTB Series that starts mid-June and runs every other week Tuesday 6pm through the summer has a Beginner category where anyone is welcome.  It is the most fun that you've  ever had on a bike!  Several of us will make the trip to Laramie for all 6 races and we always have room for another bike in the truck.

Road options include: Elephant Rock (June 5),  Bike MS (7/26), Rist Canyon Citizen's Ride (8/8).

Favorite Local Rides

• JJ's over Centennial Road (east side of Horsetooth Lake) or to Masonville - hills, hills, hills!  Get those legs and lungs in shape early so you can have more fun in the summer.
• Soderberg/Blue Sky trails - can be as challenging or as easy as you want it to be.
• Bobcat Ridge
• Soapstone - when it dries out.  Otherwise it can be a muddy mess on Pronghorn Loop.
• Hewett's Gulch - walk the rock garden, but ride the rest of it.
• Old Flowers Road/Pingree Loop - haven't done it yet but it is high on the list!

Bike Selection

In my personal opinion, the initial bike for a 45+ beginning rider should be a mountain bike with road tires on it.  Mountain bikes have much lower gearing than road bikes which is a requirement for many of us to have a prayer of making it up Stadium Hill.  The high gearing of a road bike is nearly impossible for a beginner on a steep hill. A decent mountain bike is an OK road bike with proper tires on it, but a road bike is a terrible mountain bike.  If you're only going to have one bike, choose a mountain bike!  We'll spend most of our time on trails after they dry out.

Support

If I drive to the start of the ride, I'll have most tools and chain lube in my truck.  I carry supplies to fix a single flat.  A bike stand and tools are available for more serious mechanical issues.  We do know how to adjust your brakes and gearing.  You will not rattle along with misadjusted bike gearing very long because it drives some of us nuts and we'll force you to the side of the road and make the adjustments without your permission.

This post is inspired by a similar one by Aki of Sprinter Della Casa. Hope it's helpful. 

Remember "The Damn Dirty Truth About Road Racing" post I put up here not too long ago? Well, I wasn't lying. Road racing is hard, and it punishes small mistakes. The reality is that no amount of reading about racing can ever prepare you for it, you just have to jump in head first and hope the pool is deep enough. Regardless, there are certain things which I wish I had been told before my first road races (some of them are in that old post). So here's a quick run through a first crit, and what you should be doing at various points. I'll post another one up for a first road race sometime soon.

This is tailored for collegiate racing, where C's race for only 25 minutes in their crits. But most of it applies to any normal length crit.

1) START: Line up early so you can start near the front. Get in your frickin' pedals! This is worth practicing beforehand. Try to clip in without looking down, so you don't run into the guy in front of you. Yes, I've seen it happen. You need to get off the line quickly. Do not lose the wheel in front of you! Start in the big ring, and stay there. You will never need your little ring in 99% of crits.

2) FIRST TEN MINUTES:  Keep rules #4 and 5 in mind. Chill out. The more technical the crit, the closer you should be to the front. For a crit like DU's City Park (coming up this weekend), or

 the Oval, you want to be in the top 15-20 the entire time. If there are more experienced riders in the race, keep an eye on what they are doing in terms of gear selection, position, standing/sitting, etc. Remember, letting a small gap open in front of you is all it takes to END YOUR RACE. You have to stay vigilant, concentrate, and make sure you aren't letting gaps open up. You may be able to close them the first few times, but you won't be able to for long. Just don't let them open in the first place.

3) HALF WAY THROUGH: If you're feeling comfortable sitting in the field (comfortable is relative here...), try moving around in the field a bit. The best opportunity to move up is always when the pack slows a bit - take advantage of these moments to move up as much as possible without wasting any energy. Holding your line (or staying in your "lane" is another way to think of it) is always important in racing, but is even more important as you are moving up. The optimal line is not the outside-inside-outside you would do solo, it's the line that keeps everyone upright. 

If you're feeling really good, now is the time to try an attack or two. DO NOT attack numerous times just because you feel like you can (been there, done that). Either attack once, and put your full effort into it to make it stick, or save all that energy for the last few laps. 

4) 5 LAPS TO GO: Game time! You've successfully made  it through most of the race, and now you need to start thinking about the finish. It is absolutely vital that you stay near the front at this point, preferably top 10. You don't want to lead the pack, just stay up front. You should try to hold your top 10 position until the bell, indicating one lap to go. Go with every surge directly in front of you, and go with any side surges (guys coming up the outside) if you can get into a gap behind them. Following other riders up is always better than moving up by yourself. 

Sometimes attacking during these 5 laps works. Most of the time it doesn't. Don't attack early just because you don't think you're a sprinter - at this point you have no idea. Really. I didn't realize I could sprint until I'd be racing for years. DO NOT assume your strengths and weaknesses off of your body type, you will learn them with time. So try different types of finishes - go early sometimes, try for the field sprint at others. For this first race, I highly recommend staying in the pack until the end. 

5) 1 LAP TO GO: Ring ring ring! The officials will ring a bell at the beginning of the last lap. At this point you have to do whatever is necessary to maintain your top 10 position. This includes getting out into the wind to pass other riders. Of course you still want to maintain or better your position with the least possible energy, but at this point expending some energy to stay up there is worth it. 

The position you want to be in at the last corner depends on the distance from the last corner to the finish line. At the DU City Park crit, you want to be in the top 3. Leading through the last roundabout is fine. 2nd is ideal. At the Oval crit, you want to be 2nd-4th coming onto the Oval the last time, and first or second coming out of the bottom corner. Keep in mind that your position heading into the last corner of almost any crit will be about your position at the finish, plus or minus a few spots. 

6) THE SPRINT:  Time to leave it all on course. On your course pre-ride, you should have picked a spot that you want to sprint from. Ideally you start your sprint there, go flying by the one or two guys in front of you, and take the win. Of course, racing rarely goes as planned, particularly in the lower categories. So you will likely just have to sprint when everyone else does.

Remember, while you may be hauling ass, others might be (and likely are) going even faster. So once you start your sprint, STAY ON YOUR LINE. Swerving all over is not only slower, but you're likely to cause a high-speed crash.  Sprint from the drops, and keep your head up. 

At DU, the sprint will start the moment you exit the last roundabout. Sometimes there is even a sprint for position into the roundabout. So go into that roundabout in a gear you know you can accelerate quickly upon exit. Stand up, and go all out!

At the Oval Crit, the sprint tends to start about half way through the final corner, down at the bottom of the oval. You will likely have to come around the outside, which is actually the fastest line due to a slight undulation of the road. If you are on the inside, make sure there is space to come out if you have to pass someone. Again, hold your line!

More important that everything above is HAVE FUN. That's the whole point. Set attainable goals (not getting dropped is a great one to start) and do your best to accomplish them. Do you best to pedal and think at the same time.

You'll love it, I promise. 

I had a great ride on Thursday. Got out for a bit over two hours north and east of town, and found a cool unpopulated development to do crit practice with the CSU crew. I cruised home though old town, enjoying the relative warmth and simply being on my bike. Until suddenly, I wasn't.

Not by choice mind you. A sedan reversed out of a diagonal parking spot and broad-sided me as I rode past, ejecting me off my bike and onto the ground. I laid on my back as the guy got out of his car, hands out in front of me as I described "WTF" in greater detail, and volume. 

 The guy was very sorry, and far more concerned about my well being that I was. I did a quick pain check, which came up negative other than a sore thumb, and moved straight to inspecting my bike. Of course, I hadn't cleaned it in about a month and couldn't really see the actual frame, so the initial quick inspection didn't reveal anything. So I got the guy's info, told him I'd give him a call if I found anything, and rode home.

Upon cleaning and looking over my frame more carefully, I did find something. First of all, the small clearcoat hit on my top tube from my handlebars in a previous crash was now a large soft spot I could push my finger into. On top of that, there appeared to be some hairline fractures down by my bottom bracket, an extra scratch or crack on the top tube, and some marks on the right rear chainstay. The right shifter and rear derailleur were scratched up a bit, but seemed functional. The frame was no longer rideable, though everything else appeared to be ok. Glad I got the guy's info!

On Friday, I went to CSU Student Legal Services to ask about my next course of action. They were, of course, useless. Made me an appointment for Tuesday rather than just answer my questions. There were three lawyers sitting there with nothing to do, and yet I had to wait until Tuesday. Sweet. 

So I just figured it out on my own. Filed a police report, dropped my bike off with the good guys at Lee's to get a damage estimate, and filed a claim with the guy's insurance. The driver isn't disputing fault, so I can't see any reason why the claim will be denied (although insurance companies are probably more creative than I am when it comes to that sort of thing). Fingers crossed that everything works out.

Until it does, I'm riding my 1998 Cannondale Cad 3 cross bike, complete with broken shifters, rusty chain and an 8spd cassette made out of old worn out cassettes. Every cog is worn differently. It's awesome, in a terrible sort of way. It lives its life as a commuter bike most of the time, and it's a tank, well over 20lbs. I feel like I'm pedaling a brick with a parachute attached.  

Did the Oval on it yesterday and even though I wasn't pulling any more than I usually do, by the time we got to Carter I was pretty much done. The fact that I crashed for a second time in two days after someone crossed wheels up front (I ran over your bike, hope it's ok) probably didn't help. In a fun little bit of irony, the rest of the guys that went down were all my new CSU cycling teammates, who I had told to get up to the front so they could hang on over the wall. You would think you're safe sitting 3rd wheel, but in the pro/1/2/3/4/5/women's/open/junior race that is the Oval, you'd be wrong. At least they got their first crash out of the way before racing this weekend.

 Rolled in the rotation for the next half hour, then cruised up Carter, latched on to a decent group and rolled home pretty slow. Not that I would have wanted to go any faster, really. Kind of a bummer of a last Oval ride actually. 

 
Here's the steed (red bike, I'm in CSU/Rio kit, talking with fellow YRG blogger Troy before Saturday's Oval):

 Photo from Jeff Kerkove

I never thought the bike made that much of a difference. It does. Particularly when it doesn't shift. 

Hopefully my new race bike will be in at Lee's soon. I don't like the idea of racing my Cannondale at DU next weekend. 

 Here's to a better week this week! Everyone keep the rubber side down.

Time for Recipe Round 2! French fries!

Well, sort of. I don't fry them. It's far easier, healthier, and safer to bake them. Large vats of very hot oil and I don't get along. We can call them French Bakes or something. 

Again, very easy. You're going to need:

1. 3 medium sized potatoes. Sweet, russet, whatever. 
2. Salt
3. Pepper
4. Spices. Oregano, basil, chipotle powder, garlic, whatever you want. Be creative. Again, it's pretty hard to screw these up. 
5. Oil of some kind. 
6. A cookie sheet or similar pan 

 Here's what you have to do:

1. Pre-heat over to 425Ëš
2. Cut up the potatoes into  slices. Smaller slices seem to work better, just try to keep them even and somewhat square. No need to skin the potato first.
3. Put all the slices in a big bowl. 
4. Add 2 tbs of oil
5. Add some salt, and a good dash of pepper
6. Add whatever other spices you want. Pick a theme - Italian spices, Indian spices, Mexican spices, etc. That way you're unlikely get horrible clashing flavors. I'm a huge fan of some Italian spices, and lots of garlic. Sweet potatoes should probably get some more 'desserty' spices.
7. Toss everything in the bowl until all the potato slices are nicely coated
8. Put it all on your cookie sheet, attempting to get all the slices to lay flat. 
9. Throw it in the oven. After 10 minutes, take them out, flip all the slices over, put them back in.
10. Keep an eye on them after 15-20 minutes. Pull one out, try it, you'll know quickly whether its done. 

To announce that I will be racing with The Mercy Elite Cycling Team this summer.

I know that only a week ago I said I would be racing with Green Street Properties, and I am sad to say that I will not. Green Street sees what a great opportunity this is for me and they told me to go for it. Which is something that I'm very thankful for because it was with this team that I got my start, and just as then they still want me to take forward steps and leaps. 

This is such a great opportunity for me I can hardly put it all in to words. I don't know yet what the best part of it all is... knowing that I'll get to wear J.Steadman designed Verge kits all year, racing with George Michael (well, kinda), doing all of the races I had tentatively scheduled with little hope of getting to, or riding on the same team as my coach. All of that aside, the best part is racing with a group of guys that I already have great friendships with and guys that I know I can learn from. Plus, they're Amurican....they are from Kansas.

Speaking of America. Lets talk about North American cycling. No, not just Radioshack, the ProTour teams, Trek -Livestrong, and Taylor Phinney. I'm talking about North America's entire road and 'cross scene. This includes the too often forgotten women, Canadians, and cyclocrossers. Well, a reporter who has NOT forgotten about the entire scene is Lyne with Podium in Sight. Which leads me to announce another great event in my past week of craziness. I will be helping Lyne to reach even further into North American racing with me reporting on the collegiate scene. I will be covering the RMCCC races here and hopefully nationals as well. This will give me a great chance to further my writing and get the word out about our awesome racing here in Colorado.

I want to race now, but I don't feel the need to make this season any longer than it should be. I thought last year was rough and this year is looking to be even grander. Bigger, longer, and more races. Bring it.

At this very moment, I'm supposed to be writing a paper discussing the tension between Plato's love of Athens and his powerful critique of its form of government, and relating that to a modern day figure of similar confusion. But that sounds terrible, so I'll do it later.

Instead, I shall ramble a bit about things that do not hurt my brain so much, like bikes.

First, a quick announcement of note:

I am getting a new bicycle. It's going to be shiny and green and full of carbon wünderbits. I am excited.  I am also getting new shoes, white of course. There was some debate as to which color shoe is fastest, and white claimed a decisive scientific victory over much slower colors black and gray. Something to do with friction, the speed of light, and the butterfly effect. I don't know, I'm not a scientist.

Anyway, here's a picture of the new steed:

EXCEPT! You have to picture it with these purrty handbuilt wheels:

Pretty baller, no? Yeah, it's going to be fast. I just hope I have the legs to do the setup justice.

 In other exciting and unrelated news: I went for a ride yesterday (Sunday) on my cross bike, because it was snowing. There wasn't actually that much snow on the ground, but it was slick enough in spots that I was glad I had the knobbies on. Almost 3 hours in the snow kind of makes you feel like a badass, even if it wasn't actually that cold. Plus by the time I got home my fenders were full of ice to the point of immobility, making the last half our or so of the ride pretty epic. 

And finally, to finish this awesome post off, a few cantankerous words about the Oval ride:

1) Why am I the one that has to be cantankerous?  That's the old guy job. I'm looking at you Davis.

2) If you feel the need to release some bodily fluids, go off the front and stop, so that everyone knows whats going on. Or, better yet, let's set a specific piss spot somewhere early in the ride.

3) If you don't want to pull, get away from the front. For the last few weekends, we've had a bunch of dudes who really really want to be up front, but really really don't want to actually do any pulling. This does not work. This is why you see my hands flail around in exasperation. If you're in the rotation, stay in it. If you're the first guy NOT in the rotation (sweeping), then communicate with the guys who are so they don't wait for you to move up and take a pull. A quick "up up" is all that is needed to convey the message.

4) If the Oval ride does not fit with your schedule, either a) don't come b) cut off early or c) just hang out at the back. 'tis not difficult. I've chosen option B every weekend so far.

5) Green means GO, red means STOP. This is generally indicated with the use of lights hanging over the road, and applies to us as well as motorists. 

6) Breaking away before all the lights near Windsor is lame. Splitting the field with epic pulls before that point, however, is legit and baller.

7)  That's it. 

Well, for the past 31 days myself, along with a handful of other would-be elite racers have been pulling the "it's January" card. Even Caley, the hardcore winter trainer, tried to pull the "its still January" card last night in regards to the Oval Ride and the aspect that those people who are in great shape for it, won't be in such good form come May when the real racing starts.

My formal training starts today. This year I am making many changes to my racing and training goals. This year I'll be having Adam Mills of Source-Endurance   set up my training plans with the goals of being super fast in May, July, and December. Not exactly an easy task for any coach, but Adam is one of the smartest guys I know. Speaking of smart guys if you've failed at clicking the above link to Source-E you should if for no other reason than to see the pimp web page layout done by none other than J.Steadman himself. 

 Also, I've joined a re-amped version of my Dent Wizard team as it is now Green Street Properties Cycling Team. I've seen the new kits and they are PIMP. Can't wait to have them in my chubby little hands. If you've never seen one of my former Dent Wiz or Mesa kits you should check out my eBay! auctions as I'm trying to dump them all now so that I can eat in the coming months.

 Back to my training...This past month has been the first January in my 4 years of formal training that I've been able to form any type of "base." During high school, hockey always took priority in January and February, while that left me with some serious fast-twitch muscles in March, I tended to hit a bit of a plateu  earlier in the season than I would like. Last year, as some of you may remember, I had a broken hand from a skiing accident the weekend before 'cross nationals. Though I still managed to get a better collegiate result even with my arm wrapped up like a gordita. I still spent the better part of January with my hand in a hard cast and again, I was behind.

Now, I've got some serious base thanks to the stellar yourgroupride.com / CSU Cycling training camp, plus a desire to go out and do nothing but have fun on my bike. (Un)fortunately, tomorrow I start intervals and in 6 days I'll be doing a VO2 Max test. So stay tuned for the results on that. Which should be interesting compared to the last test I took in Austin, TX at Source-E over 2 years ago. 

 See you at the Oval on Saturday!  

Have I mentioned I love to cook? Probably not. Well, I do. Mostly because I love really good food, but as an athlete I usually prefer to know where my food comes from. I'm far from living on a "paleo diet," but it's safe to say that I don't eat a whole lot of food that I can't picture growing or walking around. I do often wish a Doritos tree existed, but that's beside the point.

And I'm a sucker for Krispee Kreme too. Not gonna lie.  

I don't eat well to maintain a certain weight. First, I ride my bike enough that I could pretty much eat anything I wanted to if I so desired, and second, I seem genetically predisposed to look like a stick figure no matter what. If anyone out there has ever met my Dad or Grandpop, you would probably agree on the genetic factor. I eat well simply because it makes me feel better on and off my bike. And it's delicious. And it's really not hard...

My limiter in food creation is always budget. Megan and I live on a pretty minimal food allowance, making extravagant nightly dinners out of the question. Eating out, pretty much never. So we've developed a host of favorite dishes that are easy, tasty, and above all cheap. It's nice that you can picture them alive too. I'll post some of our favorites up here over the next few weeks. Try them, I promise they're good. 

First up, my muesli. Or granola. Or whatever. I have no idea what the difference is, and nobody else seems to be able to decide either. You can do a recipe search for granola and muesli and find the same recipes under both headings. Regardless, it's good, good for you, and cheap as hell.

 I don't usually measure anything, but I'll try to guesstimate for you guys:

You're going to need:

1. A bunch of oats. I get them in the bulk section of Sunflower Market. Let's say, 4 cups.  
2. Honey. Again, bulk is cheaper. Amount is totally dependent on how sweet you want the end result to be. I usually squirt out about 1/3 of one of those honey bears. 
3. Cinnamon/nutmeg/bit of salt. To taste.
4. Oil of your choice. I go with vegetable, because I'm poor. Let's say... 3 tbs.
5. Almonds/nuts/seeds/coconut flakes/whatever you want. I usually go with a handful of almonds (again, cheap at Sunflower in bulk), a small bit of coconut flakes, and whatever else is around. It's all good.
6. Dried fruit. Papaya, delicious. Mango, devine. Raisins, cheap. Whatever you got, it's going to be good. Another handful. 

I like having a blog here on YGR. Every time I post up a collection of rambling nonsense, I get a couple hundred hits. That's pretty cool. 

Only one problem: I'm not used to blogging for an audience. I mentioned before that my old blog would get maybe two dozen hits per entry, making it for all intents and purposes a journal rather than a blog. I put all kinds of random crap in there, because I knew everyone who was reading it. For some reason I have a mental block with this YGR blog, like I need to evaluate all of my posts and only put up the half-decent stuff. I never used to evaluate my posts. The result is that I post less often, but the quality is no better. Less quantity, equal quality. That's dumb. 

So here, right now, I solemnly swear to post more often, on a variety of topics, for your viewing pleasure.

First, check this craziness out: 

I found this on the internet, where such things reside. Someone posted it on Marty Nothstein's facebook page. Marty held me at the start of our team pursuit at Collegiate Track Nationals this year, which in my view makes us buds, hence our Facebook Friendship.

Anyway, that shit's crazy! Obviously French Bro was unable to maintain an upright status (how you can crash in a two man race while you're leading is beyond me), so Russian Bro decided to forgo the 45Ëš bank of the track and shoot straight for the 90Ëš bank of the wall. 

 
What do you guys think, did he make it? 

I'd say that makes this guy look like a wuss:

All done, back home, hangin' out in my PJ's, watching Hulu and eating whatever I damn well please. Forecast for tomorrow: more of the same. This was supposed to be a recap of our training camp, but my brain has a bad habit of shooting off on tangents, so I just go with it. I'll post up some camp details sometime soon.

Collegiate racing is, in my opinion, the last bastion of real development-centered racing in the US. We, as a group, eat up bike riders and crap out bike racers by the thousands. By default, collegiate cyclists are immediately surrounded by experienced and tight-knit teams. They don't have to jump into the sport solo. Instead of learning the hard lessons of road racing (see blog post below...) through trial and error, they are guided, pushed and prodded through their formative years until they are finally ready for a role reversal, lending their newly acquired knowledge to the latest crop as their own mentors move into the real world. Compare this scenario to that of your average Cat5; a man who spends his entire first season racing on the hoods, wearing a pro team jersey two sizes too large, and doing nothing but 3 minute intervals from January to July, and it's easy to see why the collegiate system is both an important tool for development and a vital pack safety feature. 

Bike racing is a team sport at two levels: pro, and collegiate. Everything in between is just team-ish. Where other than collegiate racing are you going to find Cat 1's standing on the sidelines cheering their brains out for Cat 5's? Nowhere. Ever. And that simple fact is extremely important.

I'm a pretty good example of collegiate development myself. I came to CSU in 2006 well versed in mountain bike racing, but with little experience on the road. I entered my first collegiate road season as a B racer, as ignorant as you would expect a mountain biker to be. I attacked virtually every lap of my first crit. With the help of a couple mentors (T.G. Taylor and Jerome Haas stand out as being particularly influential), and their exceptionally loud yells, I was winning races by the end of the season. In my sophomore year I raced A's, and once again found a set of racers far more experienced than I from which I sucked as much knowledge as possible, improving my racing enough that over that summer I got my Cat 2 upgrade. Fast forward to the following spring and the roles were reversed as I found myself in a leadership position on the team, beginning to return the educational favor to my newer teammates. This year, as President of the team, my role reversal is complete. I, along with the other riders of my mini-generation, are the ones yelling, explaining, pushing and prodding. 

Why this particular anecdote at this particular time, you ask? Because the CSU training camp I just returned from, held this year at the YGR Training Casa in Tucson, AZ, is the first step in the ongoing cycle of collegiate development. Yes, we had a solid group of experienced racers, but many at the camp are just beginning to stretch their bike racing wings. They're me four years ago, and I'm them four years from now. In 2014, it will be them leading the team on group rides, showing the new guys how to sit on the bike, and explaining how to echelon properly.

And the cycle continues...

We, the CSU Rams Cycling Team, only have one ride left here in beautifully warm Tucson, AZ. Tomorrow is the big Shootout, a 100+rider group ride that has the same level of competitiveness as The Wednesday Worlds ride in FoCo. 

 The last couple days have been great, except for yesterday's ride. Every ride has been sunny, warm, and scenic. Its interesting seeing the different levels of experience all on the same ride. There's a lot of experience, and different types of experiences on our rides here. Our C-Men are absorbing like sponges. Some guys who could barely hold a line are now pace lining like an experienced MidWest Crit racer. 

 I seem to be totally lacking any sense of creativeness. I must apologize for this utterly non-interesting nor funny entry. I know how it can be to read a blog that is completely DULL. You get up early to check your Google Reader updates, there's only one update so you sit there and read for 20 minutes. You finish your coffee and then think, 'hmm I wonder if there's anything funny on youtube.' Then you move on, never remembering what you read. So I'll leave you with this, its warm here. I'm tired, and I don't want to think hard just yet. I still have 3 days of break! Peace!

Today I rode for six and a half hours. 122 miles. It made my butt hurt, and I received the vicious sort of sunburn only possible with skin that hasn't seen the sun in a blue moon and a half. Thank [deity of choice] that I remembered to slather my nose in sunscreen, for it is extra large and therefore that much closer to the sun.

Five hours and forty minutes into today's ride I put forth a tremendous effort - 352watts for five minutes, a bit over 310w for ten minutes - setting a 2010 season (which started November 1st) PR. It may not seem like a lot, but let's keep in mind that a) I am not a large person, b) I have not intentionally tried to set any records yet this year, and c) it was nearly six hours into the goddam ride, and I was le tired. Pardon my french. 

I'm not sure whether to be encouraged by this effort or slightly worried. I've peaked early in the past, and it's great in March and sucks May through Forever. But I've really been very selfish about my base riding this year; long, easy rides, a couple tame group rides, blah blah blah. I don't think I'm going to peak early. I think I'm just doing exactly what Trevor (The Tickler) says I should do, which is get a huge base in my legs, and get myself to about 80% on base alone. And since the Tickler knows Everything (capital E), I'm sure he'll end up being right. Hopefully when some intensity is added I'll be that much faster. Hopefully. Probably.

Anyway, that's all boring stuff. I'm sorry for boring you. But I don't really have anything interesting to say, so I'll just continue with some boring stuff about me, as if you care. I think my Mom reads this, and I know she cares, so the rest is for you Mom. The rest of you can bugger off if you want.

Life is good. I've spent a grand total of 2 days at home in the last month or so. This is kind of tiring, I must admit. And I think our cat, which seems to have a severe case of separation anxiety, might not forgive us for a while. Or at least until I break out the laser pointer.

 Not too long ago I decided to switch teams for the 2010 season. A number of factors went into the decision, since I like my old team and hadn't really planned on leaving. Most of them I don't feel like spewing all over the internet, it's dirty enough here as it is. Most important, to me, is the opportunity to race with a couple guys I really like, guys I trust. Sounds hokey I know, but trust is exceptionally important in bike racing. I was willing to take a bit of a step down in the free stuff/monies department so I could race with Mah Bro's. 'Cause I know Mah Bro's are going to be there when I need them. And I'll be there when they need me.

Group hug.

I'm sorry this post has been a bit disjointed. My brain doesn't function well on six hours of riding and all-you-can-eat sushi (which was awesome). I'll do better next time, I promise.

I love my CSU Cycling teammates. They're hillariously unpredictable and always entertaining, and most of my fondest memories over the last three years contain at least one of them. But I won't lie, I have enjoyed my time here at the YGR Training Casa in the few days before over 20 of them infest the premises. There can be too much of a good thing.

I've been down here since Monday, along with Girlfriend Megan, Man-Date Erick, and the Canadian Tickler (Trevor). It's been glorious. 14 hours of car definitely tipped my personal Suck-O-Meter up towards "Hella Suck," but I've certainly had worse. And as I've found over the last few days, it was more than worth it.

 My first ride here was on dirt. Erick and I headed west around 9am (already 55Ëš) to check out the Starr Pass trail system. The riding was somewhat similar to the more rocky trails around Fort Collins, minus the snow. We met up with a local who showed us his favorite loop; a twisty, technical route around one of the ridges near Starr Pass, lined with cactus big and small (failure to make a corner was not an option, as Erick would find out) along its entire length. It was a blast. By the time we got back to the car it was nearing 70Ëš. I saw what appeared to be an angry, hairy pig that turned out to be exactly that, though the actual name for it is a Javelina I think. Looked like a pig to me, what do I know.

Day 2, we decided to hit up the famous Tucson climb: Mt. Lemmon. 27 miles of up, or about 2 hrs of straight climbing. Almost 5 hrs later we rolled back to the Casa tired, hungry and slightly sunburned. Casa Camp day 2: success

Day 3, today, Erick and I decided to hit up some trails again. We just had too much fun on Tuesday. Drove north about 30 minutes to the 50 Year Trail. Definitely worth the drive, and we'll be back with the rest of the CSU crew this weekend. Some of the best mountain biking I've done in a while actually, and doing it in shorts in January added a nice touch.

What's the moral of this story? You need to get your little cyclist hiney down here! Email Dan (his email is info@yourgroupride.com I think), tell him he's pretty and he'll happily rent you one of the rooms here at the Casa. You will NOT regret it. I bet you ten bucks. 

Tomorrow is the last day before the Infestation, and I plan to enjoy the peace and quiet as much as possible. But at the same time, I can't wait for my loud, obnoxious, hilarious Rammies to get here. 

8 second video, shot with my phone, of Erick on 50 year trail. It was fun:

Nationals have come and gone. While the course in Bend was not ideal for me, I fell in love with the town. Its an awesome winter retreat, and I may have to see what their summers are like too. My races were a mixed bag. While I’m happy for the team and all of the podium appearances that KCCX | Verge made, my races were not the way I had hoped that they would end up. My crash in turn 1 of the U23 race definitely put a damper on my great start, but the rest of my race was good. The only other hang-up was when I snapped the seat mast on a SCOTT Addict CX bike, turns out I only screwed up the seat clamp, but it slowed me down for the quarter of a lap that I couldn’t sit down. I finished in 23^rd, not great, not what I had hoped for, but I showed up and I raced my bike.

The Collegiate race, was frustrating. Crashed in turn 1 chased into a group that was riding in the top 10. Then I crashed on icy pavement, twice. On a course that was 80% grass and snow. I crashed on pavement, like a rookie crit racer. O well, lessoned learned there. I’ve got plenty of Collegiate National Championships to have a good race at. I have to be happy with my ‘cross season. I took a big step this fall. I did 10 UCI Elite races, and I successfully took a punt to the face in all 10 of them.  But I also had some good times with my teammates, friends, and family. I took a warm up lap and chatted with none other than Erwin Vervecken, and that makes up for him blowing past me like I was tied to stump in Day 2 of the USGP.

As some of my teammates are racing in Europe, I need to start preparing for the Collegiate road season. Base miles are starting now and I can’t wait to head south with CSU Rams Cycling. Tucson will be awesome, and anyone who’s reading this can come. Just talk to Dan, the wonderful curator of this website. I’m taking apart my SCOTT CX bike before it summers in the garage all year. Thanks to everyone who helped me this fall. First, Tom Price, no joke this is the best mechanic I have ever seen and anyone passing through or within 100 miles of Kansas City should go to the Trek Store and ask for the Tom Price tune-up.  Thanks Giro, Oakley, Mavic, Easton, Challenge Tubulars, Maxxis, TRP Brakes, SRAM, Paceline Products, SCOTT, and of course Verge Clothing. Thanks J. Steadman and Outlaw Earth for keeping us looking fresh. Trek Stores Midwest thanks for lending us the KC-Portland freight train and for giving Tom the ability to take time away from work and help us in our quest of world domination. Big thanks to our fearless leader Bill Marshall and KLM Marketing Systems.  Finally, and certainly not least thanks to my parents who not only got me to all of these races, but were also at most of them offering encouragement even if Tim Johnson would end my race quite prematurely.

I'm a big fan of a "classic" base, and a very long one. Nov 1-early March. Rides rarely fall under 3 hrs; when they do they are deemed recovery rides.

I'm also a firm believer that you can get to about 80% on a classic base alone. The next 10% comes quickly with a build phase, and the last 5% with a peak. 100% is impossible, I think. Big hours are king. The problem is that patience is required, it takes much longer to see high end (ie threshold) gains compared to doing hard tempo or LT intervals all winter, but in the end the peak is much, much higher and lasts quite a bit longer.

Think about it this way: I could build my FTP up to mid-summer levels (say, 310w) in a matter of weeks with lots of threshold training. 2x20's, hard SST, etc. But would I be able to bring it up much higher than that? Or would my 310w in early March be just about as high as I could go? Maybe I could taper a bit to 315, but that's it. I'd plateau in early spring.

I would rather build slowly, using endurance-type riding, and come into march with an FTP of 295 but be able to do 260 for 3.5 hrs if I have to, because of my endurance base. From this baseline of 295w I can start adding in training designed specifically to increase threshold. I quickly have my threshold up to 315w. Continuing to work through the summer, I can bump it up another 5w, and taper up again to 325w.

Really, why anyone would be doing intervals in December or January when they want to be fast in July is totally beyond me. Talk about plateauing early. I believe that doing intervals early is akin to racing yourself into shape. High intensity has quick results, but they are fleeting compared to those attained through a more patient approach. You peak early and quickly, and spend the rest of the summer wondering where that form went...

Since I'm still over 2 months away from racing my bike, I'm having trouble thinking of things to blog about. My life these days is pretty boring, something like: "woke up, ate breakfast, went to class for a few hours, came home around noon, ate some lunch, rode kinda slow for 4 hours, ate, stretched, ate some more, laid on the couch, ate, terrorized the cat, ate, pretended to do homework, ate, slept." Repeat ad nauseum. Just take out the class part and replace it with "slept in really late" now that CSU is on break. 

But I have a solution! I'll just write race reports about normal rides. I tend to win these a lot more often anyway. It helps when you're the only one who knows there is a race in progress.

 Race report 1: Friday Carter Lake ride. Small field (6 guys I think), but pretty fast from the start, at least 19mph. I was on the rivet all the way down to Loveland. Heading up towards Carter some D-bag managed to get his car on course; he obviously didn't realize there was a race going on as he buzzed by us and flipped the bird out his window. Another guy in a pickup headed in the other direction yelled something out his window, I think it was "allez allez" but I was kind of in the zone so it's hard to say. 

The pack stayed together for the next half hour or so, until we were neutralized at the RV store at the top of Carter. Something about a feed zone crash or something. Once we got back underway nobody seemed to want to push the pace - I was content just to sit in, waiting for the decisive climb back up to Horsetooth Mountain Park to make my move. 

As predicted, the pace was upped at the base of the HMP climb. Must have been 220w at least. I hit the front half way up and bumped up the pace a little more. Erick "Fluvial" Carlson came around me on the left - yeah right! I upped the pace a little more sending him back to my draft. 200m to go and I could see the shadow of Luke "Arms" Harris  sneaking up on my right. I stood up and dropped the hammer before he could move up too far, leaving them all gasping in my wake. Victory, it never tasted so sweet. Erick and Luke were so spent they totally forgot to sprint for 2nd.

Coming soon: The tables are turned as I get owned by some old guys at Oval Lite. They're just too wiley...

I love road racing, it's da bomb. But it's really hard. So for all of you new road racers (or soon to be new road racers) out there, here's the damn dirty truth about road racing:

1) You Probably Suck. If you don’t suck, you’re a bit of an anomaly, so give yourself a pat on the back. But don’t worry, in bike racing everyone sucks compared to someone else. So revel in the communal suckitude, and make it your goal to suck less than the guy next to you.

2) You’ve Trained Enough. No, actually you haven’t. But don’t bother training any more, it’s not going to change the outcome of your first couple races. Why? Because it’s not your fitness that’s going to send you wallowing in Offthebackistan, it’s your stupidity. Resistance is futile. See Rule #3.

3) Practice Makes Perfect. The things you really need to know are so basic and obvious that nobody will remember to tell you what they are. I am sorry to say that all those lessons you learned from watching endless hours of le Tour last July are not going to help you one bit in your 45 minute crit. The only good news is that you’ll learn quickly, or you won’t and you’ll probably quit racing. Let’s hope for the former.

4) The Slackers Win. In other words, chill the eff out. Road racing isn’t the chess match everyone tells you it is; those guys sweat buckets just sitting around and thinking hard. Your goal is to not sweat at all while hurtling around on a bicycle at 25mph. Conservation of energy is the name of the game. Be as lazy as possible, as long as possible, and then punish everyone for not being as lazy as you were at the last possible moment.

5) Attacking Hurts. When you can successfully chill out for an entire race (meaning you finished), then you can start thinking about maybe making a move. The problem is that attacking breaks Rule #4, in a big way. What will probably happen is this: the pack will slow down long enough for you to catch your breath. “Great!” you’ll think, “I feel awesome now!” So you make a move, get out of the saddle and put a good 30-meter gap on the field. The problem is, of course, that those aforementioned thoughts were shared by every single guy you’re racing against, and they have all, en mass, chased you down. Mission fail, Rule #4 fail. Bad kitty. Save that nonsense for later.

6) Failure is an Option. It might be your only option, really. When you get dropped, don’t sweat it. Everyone does at some point. Lance got dropped last summer and he hardly cried at all.

7) Come Back for More. See Rule #3. Every race you do will prepare you better for the next one. Pretty soon you’ll be winning. Then you’ll upgrade and the suck will begin once again. Just remember that you’re not alone.

Wow, just like that cyclocross season is over, for me, at least.  I can't say that I ended it like I wanted to, but I got a few big races in, did ok, and have a good gauge for next year, some potential sponsors for a potential run at the USGP 35+ category next year and lots of memories.  Given my relatively low dedication to having a strong finish to the season, I am pleased with where I ended.  9^th at nationals is one of my better results and knocking on the door of the podium with 2.5 laps to go had me pretty pumped.

The thing with cross is equipment is so crucial to a good race sometimes.  I hate to say it, but if you really want to be a contender at the national level you need some gear.  You need a choice of tires/wheels and ideally you need two matching bikes and someone working the pits for you.  I spent the money for some new tubulars before this trip, some nice 320 tpi 32mm mud tires, but they just weren't the ticket on Saturday.  The days before the race they were great but as things softened up and the course got slick you really needed a nice soft, fat 34mm with really aggressive tread. 

I got a great start hitting the dirt in maybe 7^th or so but I quickly realized my tires weren't cutting it; I was losing time in every corner and that was a big part of this course.  I grabbed my borrowed "B" bike that had some Hutchinson Bulldogs on it and was immediately going about 20% faster.  In 3 laps I moved from 8^th to 3^rd and was sitting in 3^rd about 5 seconds behind Pacocha with 2.5 laps to go when I drilled one of the many partially exposed rocks and pinch flatted.  Of course I was about as far from the pits as you could be and crawled slowly back in to get my other bike.  I left the pit right where I entered it on lap 2...8^th.  Great.  My chances of getting on the box were over but I was still top 10 so kept rolling hard.  Boy, the difference in traction was crazy between the two treads.  The tubulars were really supple, really sticky "mud" tires at about 28 psi but had nothing on the Bulldogs with tubes running at 40 psi...except for the whole pinch flat thing, of course.  I think a big part of it was the width; the 32s were bouncing and deflecting of rocks, ruts and just not hooking up in the slop while the Bulldogs were really biting and really gripping the wet grass.  You never know sometimes.

I had one really dramatic cart-wheeling crash that cost me 8^th and another slide-out in the off-camber grass but held on for 9^th.  Good enough, but really frustrating and really disappointing.  Oh well, that's racing, right?  Now my bike is in a wet box, mud drying to the parts and chain quickly rusting while I watch the winter rain do its part to keep things green in Seattle.  I am sad that cross season is over, but happy that I don't have the pressure of training and racing right now and can spend a weekend doing chores and tasks around the house that I have woefully neglected since April.  I may not even unpack my bike until next September.  Sorry old girl, it's not you, it's me.

USGP Portland Stanley Cup Day 1

Today was a bit rough.  I met up with some old friends in Portland Friday nightand we may have had a little bit more to drink than was advisable.  Oh well, it's cross, sometimes a hangover makes you fast. I got a decent warmup, the bike was feeling good and the course was really drying out so, aside from the headache, I was fairy psyched to race.

I was thinking I would start mellow and try and build.  When you are starting on the back row you don't really have any other choice.  The first 3 laps I was riding good and smooth and having a great time; enjoying the crowds, not working all that hard and making my way slowly up through the field.  At one point about half way through the race I got up to 20^th.  Then I started getting tired.  Started getting "cross back" (the aching, lower back pains), arms were tired and I started making mistakes.  I got chopped in a corner and the guy doing the chopping endo'd right in front of me which in turn caused me to endo.  That one cost me 4 or 5 spots.  Oh well, still in the top 30 which was my goal.

From that point on I was riding ok but fading quite a bit and was just yo-yoing between 24 and 29 or something.  I had one more very humorous "crash" right in front of the pit and the watchful eyes of some really good friends.  A corner was just getting really slick and I washed out, but the best part was I couldn't unclip and my hands were still on the bars so I did a full-on slow motion face plant...right on the head.  I couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else that was in the area.

So, all in all I felt ok about where I finished.  Realistically, even if I had a good start position and no hangover I still probably would have only finished maybe 20^th or just inside the top 20 and that's with a "perfect" race.  So, I kind of "recalibrate" my finish in regards to other people that have a 40 hour a week job - the amateurs.  In my amateur category I was right around top 10, so that's good.  Oh, I nearly forgot, the women's race was pretty awesome.  Meredith was having a great day and was just off the leaders pace.  She was battling really hard with Sydor for 3^rd place and finished not even a bike length behind her.  I think Meredith has gotten more 4^th place finishes this season than anyone I know, but man she is a natural crosser.  It's pretty awesome.

Oh, and I also forgot, I got to watch the juniors.  That was pretty fun too.  Man, Yannick Eckman is pretty crazy strong.  I know, I race against him all the time, but he is definitely very physically mature for a junior.  Yannick and Cody Kaiser were way, way off the front but the race for third was really great.  Some KCCX kid, Skyler and Robin Eckman.  Skyler was about 5 seconds behind the KCCX kid for 3 laps but then faded a bit and a surging Robin Eckman passed him in the last lap.  I talked with Skyler after the race and apparently he had some, uh, bowel discomfort during the race.  I've been there, it ain't fun.  With that said it was really cool to watch him and I know it won't be long until he's one of the fastest crossers in Colorado if not the country.

Speaking of bowel discomfort, I gotta go.  I'll try and get some more pics posted later.

I am sitting in the hotel drinking a tasty ale not even thinking about tomorrows race.  I got exactly one lap in on the course today before it closed and spent more time in my buddys '69 camper van drinking Pabst than I have trained this week.  I got my race number...53...which I think corresponds to my start position, but that 's cool.  My goal tomorrow is top 30 so I can "win" my race entry fee back.

 The course really is sweet.  It's not the exact same course as '04 nats but really close, the big difference being the absence of knee-deep mud pools and the addition of the MX course whoopty-doos and a tabletop.  It's "dry" by Portland standards with only a few soft spots, some ruts and some kinda wet corners.  Its a nice change riding on grass, soft dirt and tacky mud as opposed to loose over hard; get the right tires/pressure and you can absolutely rail shit.  The other thing I noticed right away was HOW BIG the USGP is now.  Holy Crap!  The last one I did was Goucester, MA in 2004.  It has grown!  It looks like Nationals did a few years back...really pro and really huge!  Cannondale has a huge Liquigas branded trailer and full setup going, there's tons of people and tents and shit going on everywhere, it's super sweet. Anywho, I will try and update as much as possible but I forgot my camera so pics may be few and of crappy (iPhone resolution) quality but I will try. 

So, Portland is just like I remember...really cool and fun but I think it would get on my nerves if I lived here.  Pretentious, self-righteous hipsters really get on my nerves after awhile and there's this weird, seedy element in the city.  I mean, it's fine to be who you wanna be, but don't judge me just because I drink Miller, wear jeans from the Gap and own as many guns as I do bikes.

 Oh, if you are in Portland, check out the Laurelwood Public House , tasty brews and grub pub-fare in the NW district and you can't miss the Acrop, really good cheap steaks and..well.  Alright, I'm gonna finish my beer, pin my race number and wait for my buddy's to show up with some of the northwest's finest.

Let's face it, sometimes riding can feel like a bit of a slog, particularly when the weather decides not to cooperate. Don't get me wrong, I love riding my bike 99% of the time, but the hours spent riding during the winter base season do eventually begin to take their mental toll. 15, 20, 25 hours per week at times - it's a part time job. We push through those hard moments because, as cyclists, we are intrinsically self-motivated. Otherwise we'd be bowlers, or poker players, or All-American tv watchers; we'd take up some hobby that didn't involve coming home day after day with frozen hands and feet and legs full of lead. We wouldn't be cyclists, that's for sure.

But we are, sometimes we just need to be reminded why. It can be a single moment, or an entire ride, but we've all had them. Some mix of endorphins, speed, nature and love gets you smiling, laughing even, alone, in the middle of nowhere. This is your reminder, your mental souvenir to be taken, stashed away and pulled out next time your bike comes calling and all you want to do is tap “ignore.” Use it wisely, when your motivation wanes, to get back on your bike and get out the door. I can guarantee you will not regret it.

I had one such moment today. I took my mountain bike up to the hills, hitting the same trails I’ve ridden hundreds of times. But today they were different. Two inches of fresh snow rendered their beds all but unrecognizable, with only a few larger landmarks making themselves visible. It was as I made my way down shoreline, surprisingly still trackless, riding on memory and feel over the invisible terrain that I received my souvenir, my reminder that the most fun I ever have is on two wheels.

Forecast calls for crappy weather for most of next week. I say, bring it on!

Oh my god.  This is what it's come to.  We are in the worst economic recession since the great depression, we are in the middle of an almost decade long war, and this is the number one selling product this Christmas.

Have we all gone mad?  I mean, there have been some stupid gift ideas before, but even nonsensical gifts like the Pet Rock had a use.  You could at least use the Pet Rock to smash your own head in so you didn't have to buy your kids Mr. Squiggles.  I'm going to bed now.  Wake me up when it's over.  Or not, I'm fine either way.