Marco Off the Mark

Back in the Day

2010-12-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

This is what bike racing was like back in the day... 1977... way, way back! First five minutes is the RR national championship. The rest is the track championships.

1977 USCF Natz Seattle Washington from CinelliDog on Vimeo.

Let Me Count the Ways...

2010-11-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

I think I'm in love with Trail Running. Or maybe it's just a jumbo-size crush ...time will tell I guess. A younger man would just let loose and follow his heart, be a romantic. I'm more rational than that; I like to analyze and make lists. Pros and cons, that sort of thing.

Here are the pros:

1. Unlike my last affair, trail running doesn't hurt! Not sure why, but maybe it's all the different positions and geometries. Up, down, bumpy, smooth,... Lots of variety so that nothing ever gets worn out or broken. Which also means you get more of a full-body workout! The sense of blissful fatigue after 90 minutes on trails is much more satisfying than 90 minutes on the road (well, I think it is... can't say I've ever successfully run 90 minutes on pavement without blowing up prematurely).

2. And what a heart-pumping experience it is to run all out up a 30% slope. Few things scream, "I'M ALIVE!!!" like that organ pounding against your rib cage at 170 beats a minute. Such a fine line between pleasure and pain. But for whatever reason, I cannot go that hard on the road--other systems fail way before my heart maxes out.

3. I'm also smitten with the mental side of trail running. Your brain goes on hyperdrive as you hurtle downhill on a twisty single-track covered in rocks and roots. Every footstep is subconsciously calculated to keep you upright and moving forward quickly. So many factors... will your shoe grip that boulder, or will it slide off? can your knee handle the drop? is your ankle strong enough? what's under those leaves? etcetera, etcetera. Of course you're not really aware of all that thinking--it just happens instinctively--and it's a rush, a powerful mix of stress and exhilaration. Much different than plodding through the motions when running on pavement or even pedaling a bike.

4. Trail running is oh so Au Natural. Our ancient relatives did it, though not so much for fun as for survival. Eat or be eaten! What else can you do in the modern world that has such a basic primal connection? Does the forest look or feel any different for us today than it did for a young Chumash boy or girl 5,000 years ago?

5. Once a week I do it with a group. They're smart, fit, genuine people. Men and women, mostly all younger than me. No one person dominates, and we all take turns being in front or behind. It's been five weeks in a row now, and we always rendezvous in a new place or run a different trail. Loving the variety!

So, are there any cons of trail running? What about breaking an ankle, getting bitten by a snake, or eaten by a mountain lion? Those are the obvious things, but the risks actually add to the thrill. The bigger issue, however, is what this fling will do to my 30-year relationship with bike racing! Is there room for another activity? Is there enough passion to share, or will performance suffer? Could the two relationships possibly be complementary?

I'd like to find out. I'm going to do some of these in 2011.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Office

2010-11-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, I was invited onto a "Red Team" to review and critique an important proposal my company is writing. While flattered, I was also a bit hesitant because I wasn't looking for additional work. Ten years ago I successfully extracted myself from all company business other than fun technical subjects. Yet, from some sense of duty, I agreed to participate on the Red Team.

That afternoon they plopped the document on me --all 70 pages of it-- and I settled in to read. I struggled right out of the gate, and eventually DNF'ed despite giving it a good three-hour effort. I know the authors knew their stuff, in fact, they are brilliant people, but it just wasn't coming out crisply in the text. Worse still, in the parts I could understand, they were substantially underselling their capabilities.

Turns out all the other Red Team members felt the same way, so we met with the proposal writers and told them bluntly what we thought. A bit of an awkward situation but handled deftly by the Red Team leader, my company's prez. By the end of the meeting I was feeling good about the prospects; the writers got the messages and seemed to genuinely appreciate our input. OK, back to my hole and my interesting technical work... or so I thought.

My curiosity piqued when I saw the prez go over and whisper into the VP's ear as we were wrapping up. "Mark, can you stick around a little longer?" Not so much a question as an order really. Turns out he unceremoniously threw me over the fence onto the proposal-writing team. Ookaaay... what horrible tasks are the proposal writers going to dump on me now, getting revenge for the comments I had made from the safety of the Red Team just a few moments earlier?

Well, of course they're bigger people than that, and they took me in warmly and gave me some plumb writing assignments. So I tap-tapped away on the keyboard over the next couple of days, writing and rewriting, and rewriting again. Eventually I had some pages I was proud of. Now it was their turn to critique! So yeah, they tweaked a few things and deleted some of my ramblings ...I do tend to ramble... but most of my contributions will be in the final version. That made me happy.

But the thing that really surprised me was this: I truly enjoyed the writing assignment. I mean really writing, with all the complexity and nuance of language. Trying to balance the often conflicting goals of being entertaining --or at least not boring-- while at the same time being informative. I am a cat-5 writer to be sure, but even a cat 5 can appreciate the process.

What occurred to me next was that before this little assignment, I hadn't strung together more than three or four paragraphs in a long time. Probably since abandoning this blog! The only writing I've been doing is the usual smattering of emails, phone texts, and Facebook comments. Hardly a way to stay in writing shape!

And so my final realization was, hey, I don't want my writing brain to get flabby, so maybe I'll start blogging again! Lots of fodder out there to consider. No promises that it will be any good, and no doubt you won't share the same excitement level that I do about some subjects. For example, do you get giddy like me when thinking about rain harvesting, and the two 650-gallon tanks I just bought? I thought not. So it's up to you... if you want to stick around, you can be on the Red Team.

Training Week -- 4/5 - 4/11

2010-04-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

I skipped last week's version of this post because I didn't do much training (one run and one easy-paced ride). So, essentially, my 12-hour 209-mile ride two weeks ago was followed by a week of great rest. Consequently, this week felt really good, particularly in the high-aerobic-zone, steady-state efforts (like OSM & Casitas).

Mon: 0
Tue: 1 hr; Lunchtime hammerfun
Wed: 2 hr; warm-up ride & practice crit
Thu: 1.5 hr; OSM (15:12) & Painted Cave
Fri: 0
Sat: 3.5 hr; to/from 2nd Casitas hill w/ 8:00 ride
Sun: 0

Total: 8 hours

Wait, Slow Down!

2010-04-07T08:28:00.001-07:00

We spent most of last week up in Northern California visiting some of the colleges my daughter is considering. On the list are UC Santa Cruz, University of San Francisco, and UC Davis. They're all really nice, but the whole thing feels surreal and leaves me a bit dazed. I mean, why are we looking at colleges already? Wasn't it just last week that I snapped this picture of her enjoying her favorite food group? Isn't she still the sweet and innocent little girl who holds our hands tightly when we walk in a crowd, and buries her face into our legs when introduced to a stranger? Please tell me that she's still afraid of clowns and balloons, and that she needs me to guide her safely through such dangers.

Sigh.

Aging.

I suppose the reality is that my daughter is a self-confident, smart, funny, good-hearted young woman who is ready for launch into a complicated yet exciting world. She has excelled in high school and is eager for more challenges ahead. She wants to change the world, and it pleases Gina and me greatly that she's pursuing Environmental Science. Proud doesn't even begin to describe our feelings about her.

But, if she's nearly an adult about to go off to college, that means that...... I'm getting old???

Admittedly there have been a few signs and symptoms. Somewhere along the way the hair from the top of my head migrated to all sorts of regions previously devoid. Nostrils, ears, shoulders. Other places I'll spare you. Nor has the sun been particularly kind. I notice that the skin on my quads resembles that of a mostly-deflated balloon resting on the floor the morning after a party. Symbolic of life? Long gone are the days of stealing a quick glance when walking by a mirror wearing shorts. (If you're a bike racer reading this blog, don't even try to tell me you haven't checked out your legs in a reflection!)

Is this the normally scheduled time for a mid-life crisis, when you start realizing you're getting old? Lots of guys do it, right? They buy a Corvette or a Harley, and maybe a young blond hottie to take along for the ride. Desperately trying to recapture lost youth or relive glory years, real or imagined? The thing is, I've never been that into motors, and my sweetie is everything I need or want.

But some would say I've been mired in a mid-life crisis for quite some time. Nine years ago I recklessly stepped off the conventional career path, burned out by way too much traveling, stress, and missing my family. Now when I work, it's from home and more-or-less on my schedule. For a few years I was Mr. Mom, spending time in my kids' classrooms, going on field trips, helping with after-school sports, and generally just being there. I loved every minute of it. Of course those things diminished as the kids became teenagers, and my role became more of a bus-driver and chauffeur. And all too soon they drive themselves...

So now I spend a lot of time riding a fancy bicycle while wearing shiny colorful Lycra ...like a clown. Hardly normal by standards of society-at-large. Doing it as obsessively as I sometimes do, I can see that it might look like a mid-life crisis.

But in reality, cycling provides my higher consciousness with plausible deniability about aging. I feel better physically and mentally than I did twenty years ago. I'm more at peace and way less stressed. No doubt all due to cycling (and eating right). On the other hand, the normal people I know --i.e., the non-bike-racers-- they're clearly all getting older. Many seem under great stress. They ingest all sorts of potent chemicals, medicines for blood pressure and cholesterol, sleeping pills, anti-depressants, on and on. Standing in the shower, many of them couldn't see their... feet. I wish they'd exercise more.

To an extent the company you keep influences your age. I have friends through cycling who are twenty years younger than me. It's a strong common bond we share. And bless their hearts... they teach me things. For example, when I was young, we'd say "Sure, I'm up for doing that ride!" whereas nowadays you're supposed to say, "Sure, I'm down for doing that ride!" Very confusing. Another example: I showed up for a mountain bike ride with a fanny pack, which I was politely told was a huge fashion faux pas. Who knew?

I'm starting to ramble and have forgotten where I was going with this post --another symptom of aging apparently, along with drooling-- so let me just leave you with a picture of a car we passed on the way home last weekend. Just some random UCLA kid driving back to school in his bimmer with a license plate that reads "NVR B OLD"...

Hey kid, I'm trying.

You don't stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing!

Training Week -- 3/22 - 3/28

2010-03-30T06:40:00.000-07:00

A bit unconventional...

Mon: 0
Tue: 4 hrs; Hills! Gib-ECC-Stagecoach-WCC-OSM, tempo
Wed: 0
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, 16:11, windy
Fri: 0
Sat: 12 hrs; Ben's BDay ride, 209 miles, 12+ kft climbing
Sun: 3 hrs; hike w/ a bit of running

Total: 20 hours

Notes:

- I'm going to account for all exercise hours from now on, not just riding time. When you're young and improving in cycling, you can justify focusing all your physical activity toward the bike. That's not me. I want more variety now, including on the bike. Last weekend was awesome, with an extreme ride and a strenuous hike. Were those optimal training sessions for a bike race? Certainly not. Was it the most fun physically-active weekend I've had in a long time? Definitely. Will bike racing suffer? Perhaps, but there are inspirational examples out there: Chris DeMarchi competing in ironman triathlons and being a successful bike racer still, and Todd Booth being a fast runner and competitive MTB'er.

- Wexie took some pictures of Ben's Bday ride and also wrote a ride report.

- I'd hoped to race Clobberopolis next Saturday when in NorCal for our whirlwind college tours, but it conflicts with a scholarship interview in the Bay Area. Too bad... if there was ever a race that last weekend's training was appropriate for, it's Copperopolis!

From Carissa re Rick

2010-03-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

Info about memorial and remembrances:

On Sunday there will be a paddle out type of ceremony at santa clause beach @10 am for Rick Gill. As we all know, if he was out riding on a Sunday, he would have ridden with the Sunday group. Therefore, please join us at the Bath House at the normal Sunday World's time (9:05) and ride out with us to Santa Clause Lane ...for Rick's memorial service. I was thinking it would be cool to show up as a group in our bright colored cycling clothing to honor him, and in support of his family. He was involved in so many different sports and groups, but he always made our rides fun when he came out. So lets show him how grateful we were for all his love and laughter.

Noon is a bbq/potluck at Lions Park Carpinteria. Please bring a side dish. outside alcohol is not permitted in the Lions park, instead they sell drinks! There will be a time after lunch when we all can share fond, funny and touching stories of Rick!

**For those who want to stay for the barbeque afterwards, or if your family is driving out, just give them your clothes and have them meet you out there. It would really great to have as many people as possible show up and join us for for the ride.

Rick Gill 1954 - 2010

2010-03-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

I cannot think of anybody I've ever ridden with who had a more upbeat demeanor than Rick Gill. For sure he looked an intimidating presence with that big body and tough-guy mustache, but he instantly put people at ease with his smile and constant jokes.

Of the many Rick Gill legends, one will stick with me forever because it pretty much characterizes him perfectly. I wasn't on this particular ride, so forgive me if the details are slightly off. Seems Rick was riding along Cabrillo Blvd when he waved enthusiastically at another cyclist riding the other direction. The other rider ignored him. Rick quickly made a u-turn and chased the rider down to inform him that here in Santa Barbara, "we wave at each other, brutha ...next time you wave back, ok!?" Probably gave him a big bear hug too.

Wave to each other. It's what Rick would have wanted.

Training Week -- 3/15 - 3/21

2010-03-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

Fail.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1 hr; lunchtime hammer
Wed: 1 hr; part of Hope Ranch suffervals
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, tempo
Fri: 2 hr; SDSR tt & post ride
Sat: 2 hr; SDSR road race
Sun: 1 hr; SDSR crit

Total: 8 hours

Note:
- Pretty depressed about my performance at SDSR this year. TT was my slowest ever on that course, and it was hard to hold wheels at times in the rr and crit. After taking most of last year off and being a little burnt, I thought it might be more enjoyable this year to simplify, i.e., no indoor riding, no structured intervals, and not even a bike computer. Maybe that wasn't such a good plan.

Ronde de Solvang Century Race/Ride Report

2010-03-14T20:49:00.001-07:00

I am quickly becoming a true Fred, and honestly, I'm OK with that. I fully expect that someday in the not-so-distant future I'll be sporting a neon-green wind breaker and a helmet mirror while riding along the bike path at 13 mph. Actually, I'm pretty accomplished at that last part already.

That brief preamble is just setting the stage for tonight's confession:

(1) I rode the Solvang Century on Saturday.
(2) I rested all week for it.
(3) I used my race wheels.
(4) The rest of this blog post is a ride report.

Saturday dawned clear and crisp, but a fast-moving storm the night before left behind some extremely strong and gusty winds. All thoughts of breaking the four-hour mark blew out the window. Too bad, because our group certainly had the horsepower to pull it off in better conditions. I wish I'd been able to take some pictures, but this ride is way too hectic and fast to be fumbling around with a camera. Instead, I'll adopt the _gavia_ methodology of photojournalism....

As per tradition, a very large group (60-70?) of SB and SYV riders rolled out from the Bulldog Cafe at precisely 8:00, and we immediately rev'ed up to 25 mph and began the chaos of riding through hordes of century riders on all manner of bike and bent. Some of them try to jump in with us, which is usually pretty awkward. Most recreational riders don't understand the subtleties of riding fast in a group. I cringed when I saw one of them nearly take down Kim Anderson. Fortunately, 25 mph ensures nobody ever stays too long. We made it to Lompoc intact and we'd only used up an hour of clock. The early effort and the wind took its toll though, and our group was cut roughly in half.

Between Lompoc and Vandenburg AFB, the wind got really nasty, blowing in off the ocean to our left. Surely this was a good proxy for the wind-swept spring races in Belgium and Holland. Normally in the Ronde de Solvang, a good strategy is to hide 20 riders back in the group and save energy for the 3rd and 4th hours. However, facing a wicked side-wind like Saturday, that strategy is a sure way to get dropped. With the lead rider out along the centerline, there's enough room for only six or seven riders in an echelon across the road. Everyone else behind is in the gutter and facing a good bit more wind. That phenomena cracked quite a few riders on the way to Santa Maria.

We rode into the third hour with a group of 15 or so, mostly Platinum, along with Randy T. and Karl W., and of course our major engines Aaron Olson and Kim Anderson. The civilian century riders were now few and far between, and our group rotated crisply and efficiently on the open farm roads. Sadly we found ourselves caught in a strange SB-county vortex, meaning that somehow we were STILL facing headwinds despite having ridden more than half-way around the 100 mile loop. Clearly we were not going to recoup the earlier time losses.

The wind was finally at our backs when we made the turn toward Solvang along Foxen Canyon. That was both a blessing and a curse. It sure felt good to go fast again, but a tailwind also means you get less benefit from drafting and it really hurts when the front rider pushes hard. After the first few rises, we were down to The Solvang Seven: Aaron and Kim, Ben the Hammer, Gary "Guns" D'Velo, M-Dubb, Me, and the defending Solvang chump Chesterini.

Very little talking in our intimate little group, and at first everyone was loathe to skip a pull. We were a band of brothers ...and a sister... and Foxen Canyon was our battlefield. Chester was the first casualty, which meant that 2010 would crown a new ~~chump~~ champ. After a few more miles Matt began sitting on. Naturally that energized Ben, whose pulls became a bit more spirited. Then at about mile 80, Kim finally skipped a pull and began sitting on. As an aside... for any readers out there who doubt the toughness of top-shelf women bike racers like Kim Anderson, I suggest you ride 100 miles in 20 mph wind with one of them. Kim outlasted some very good Cat 1 and 2 male bike racers!

The tension was high as we approached the big hill on Foxen. We all knew that's where the first salvos would be fired. Sure enough Ben attacked immediately at the base, finally breaking the uneasy truce we'd maintained for the previous 3.5 hours. He got a good gap as we all reeled from the shock wave. Gary, Matt, and I deferred to Aaron (wouldn't you?) and half way up he loaded up his big ring and powered up to Ben with the three of us groveling on his wheel. Kim was the only casualty of this first skirmish. We flew down the descent and I spun out my 12. A fast left turn for the second big hill, and right on cue Ben attacked again. Once more, Aaron took off after him in the big meat, but this time we didn't hold on. Aaron dispatched Ben and went over the top solo, with only 10 miles between himself and a glorious victory in Solvang. Meanwhile, us four Platinum grunts regrouped and began a frantic and furious pursuit to close down the 30 second gap. We got waved across hwy 154 by the nice CHP officers, and of course Ben attacked again on the final hill out of Los Olivos. Dissension in the ranks!?! Or maybe his goal was simply to dispense with Matt, and that's precisely what he did.

So for the final 8-mile stretch along Ballard Canyon, three of us chased Aaron who we could see up in the distance. I swear we averaged 35 mph the entire way but we barely made a dent in his gap. Surely he was having flashbacks of flying along that stretch of road in the Tour of California Solvang TT. Gary and I punched it on the final hill outside of town, in a desperate final bid for victory but it was too little, too late.

After pulling by far more than anybody else, and riding the final ten miles solo at 30+ mph, Aaron left no doubt who the 2010 Ronde de Solvang champion should be! I'm quite sure that his prestigious victory Saturday ranks right up there with his successful completion of the Giro d' Italia when riding for T-Mobile.

Final times:
AO -- 4:18
Gary & Me -- 4:18:30
The Hammer -- 4:20'ish
Matt -- 4:23'ish
Kim -- 4:25'ish

[add/edit next day]...and just to be clear, I don't mean to disparage people named Fred, helmet mirrors, and/or civilian century riders. I often think recreation cycling is healthier both physically and mentally than what most of us wannabe-pretender-pro-bikers do. As an old boss of mine was fond of saying to his sons and his younger cohorts, "What you see is what you'll be." If that means I'll be an older person who still gets out and rides a bike on centuries or whatever, well, I think that will be just great.

Training Week -- 3/8 - 3/14

2010-03-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

Pretty tired going into the week so decided M-F would be relatively easy. The weekend more than made up for it though. Legs are thrashed. Recover by next Friday for Glendora Mtn TT? Extremely good Masters fields in both 35+ and 45+. First real test of 2010.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1 hr; lunchtime hammerhell ...how do people do it w/o warm-up?!
Wed: 1 hr; OSM & 1/2 154, rain started so went home
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, 15:25
Fri: 0
Sat: 4.5 hrs; Ronde de Solvang, 100 miles in 4:18 (non-stop)
Sun: 3.5 hrs; Worlds, rode hard through goob & bates

Total: 11 hours

Island View Crit P/1/2/3

2010-03-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure you cannot view the islands from Research Park, and I doubt you can even see the ocean... But you could definitely see a sea of Platinum jerseys in the P/1/2/3 race on Saturday afternoon. Now usually we're spread over many different age groups and categories, but this was a rare opportunity for a bunch of us to race together since there weren't any Masters or separate cat-3 races.

This wasn't exactly anybody's "A" race and nobody felt any real pressure, so we didn't make any complicated plans in our pre-race meeting. Instead we decided to just keep throwing people off the front with the rest keeping control of the main group behind. All the big hitters were up at MERCO so that plan should be pretty straight forward. Our field was only 50 riders, mostly all solo guys other than multiple LaGrangians and StumpGrinders.

...and basically things went according to plan. There was almost always a move off the front and it always had at least one Platinum rider represented.

Adrian was very active as usual.

Zach and I tried our hand. (I don't think he gets much draft from me!)

Cookie worked with CWalk in a number of moves.

Meanwhile, multiple Platinum riders always had control of the group.

Eventually Gary got clear with another rider, and soon Adrian bridged up with four more. Their lead built up to 20-25 seconds thanks to big pulls from Adrian and CWalk. In the end, the LaGrange rider uncorked a speedy sprint for the win and Gary took 2nd. Adrian dropped off and rolled in 7th after a hard day's work, and Cookie and I rounded out the top-10.

Results. Click to see larger version.

Chilly temps and spitting rain didn't stop a few hardcore Platinum fans from showing up to heckle... err, cheer us on. Thanks guys!

And finally, thanks again to the UCSB team for promoting a nice race. Those are some damn fine Gauchos... makes me proud to be an alum.

Training Week -- 3/1 - 3/7

2010-03-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

Working up to multiple hard days in a row... now I'm up to two. Thinking ahead to April: Sea Otter (Th, F, Sa) followed by hard bako RR on Sunday. Maybe a stage race in late spring/early summer??

Mon: 2 hrs; recovery around Goleta & UCSB
Tue: 4 hrs; 8:00 group ride + hammerfun, a few hard efforts
Wed: 3.5 hrs; Solvang loop, cracked at ~3 hrs
Thu: 1 hrs; OSM, easy
Fri: 1.5 hrs; easy with a few low-gear surges
Sat: 2 hrs; warm-up in AM & Island View crit, 9th in p123
Sun: 4 hrs; Worlds + Gibraltar

Total: 18 hours

Citrus Celebration

2010-03-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year when most of the citrus needs to be picked and enjoyed. From my yard... Grapefruit, Tangerines, Valencia Oranges, Washington Navel Oranges, Limes, and Lemons. So many permutations for making juice ...and margaritas!

Don't Try This at Home

2010-03-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

Could it really be possible to descend the Stelvio with no hands and no brakes?

Training Week -- 2/22 - 2/28

2010-03-01T16:29:00.000-08:00

Still doing lots of high-aerobic-zone climbing. Not seeing much improvement lately. The kids (Ben, Matt, Adrian) all dropped me like a rock this week.

Mon: 0.5 hr; run
Tue: 1 hr; lunchtime hammerfest ...ouch
Wed: 0; rain
Thu: 3.5 hr; OSM 16:16 + Gibraltar loop (2nd ride)
Fri: 0
Sat: 0.5 hr; 40-minute barefoot run on the beach
Sun: 5 hr; Canyons loop in SYV w/ Gina & co. + stagecoach-home, climbed hard

Total: 10.5 hrs, including two runs

Notes:

- Barefoot running ...just a dumb fad, or the wave of the future? It makes some sense to me. The logic goes like this: we evolved running barefoot and all the complex musculature and skeletal structure of our feet is good at absorbing the forces of striking the ground over and over. But this requires using a forefoot-strike style of running, and not the more common heel-strike style that most running shoes promote. I'm experimenting with it, and I will say that the barefoot run on the beach felt fantastic. No pain at all. Not sure how to transition this approach to the roads, but I know there are appropriate shoes, and some are pretty funny. Some interesting videos about running are here.

- Schedule: lots of training and not much racing so far, but that will start changing now that the fun races are coming around. Focus on bike racing through June'ish, then focus on running. As of now, planning on:
-- IV crit (at research park)
-- Ronde de Solvang
-- San Dimas, 45+
-- Copperopolis or UCLA weekend?
-- Sea Otter crit, rr, & circuit
-- Devil's Punchbowl & Chuck Pontius
-- Barrio Logan & San Luis Rey (maybe)
-- SoCal crit & tt championships (maybe)
-- Mt Hamilton RR
-- SoCal RR championship, masters and elite
-- Sisquoc RR
...and then it becomes murky, particularly since I'll need to be running a lot more getting ready for the marathon that Gina says I'm only 40% likely to do... (Of course, history is her guide, which means it's more like 20%-30% likely...)

Uh Oh... OSM Closed Soon

2010-02-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

Forwarded from MM:

RE Construction Project
Attached please see the notice to send to bicycle clubs in Santa Barbara and Goleta areas. We advise bicycles not to use the road during the project. Please post the details of this 2 month project on the website and distribute to known riders. There will not be any work during the weekends and both lanes will be open. One land will be closed during weekdays.

...and here's the attachment:

...and if you're not sure where that is, it's here:

Thursdays at lunch-time won't be the same for awhile.

Training Week -- 2/15 - 2/21

2010-02-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

Continuing steady high-aerobic-zone work.

Mon: 1.5 hr; Elings Park & back; 0.5 hr run also
Tue: 2 hr; around Goleta & lunchtime hammerfest
Wed: 3 hr; OSM-PC-ECC-Stagecoach-PC, tempo
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, tempo
Fri: 0
Sat: 1.5 hr; Figueroa Hill Climb
Sun: 3.5 hr; Worlds + a bit extra

Total: 12.5 hours

Notes:

- In last year's Gibraltar Hillclimb, I was beaten by a kid named Menso De Jong who I'd never heard of. I remember thinking it would have been nice to start together to see if I could have hung on to him. Well, this year at Figueroa I had that chance... theoretically anyway. He started a few seconds ahead of me and within the first mile he'd already opened up a minute lead. I was hoping to do a time in the low 50-minute range and Menso was way ahead of that pace. I figured it was unsustainable since top pros go up the mountain in the mid-40s. Sure enough, he slowed down in the middle and I got pretty close about a mile from the finish. Unfortunately he rallied and pulled out a minute in that final stretch. With better pacing, he would have been well under 50 minutes. That kid is a talent. Oh, and he weighs 190 lbs! And speaking of talent, keep your eyes open for Derek Iverson. He's brand new to riding and has a huge aerobic engine.

- I'd planned to ride the Cal Poly crit on Sunday but the forecast called for rain and the field sizes looked tiny so I bailed. Turns out it didn't rain and the course was really fun (but the fields were small, like 10 riders in 35+ and p123). Hopefully it will be on the calendar next year for another chance.

- Lots of deserved grumbling about the group's behavior on Sunday Worlds lately. The usual stuff... running stop signs, blocking cars, riding in the oncoming-traffic lane, etc. Tim Johnson made a nice speech to the group this week about being more responsible and considerate. I hope people take it to heart because I'm worried somebody will get seriously hurt if things don't change. Yes, I'm a worry wort.

- And on a lighter note... Could it be that David "Pops" Larsen has come over to the dark side??? I hear he enjoys riding with us on the Ventura bike path...

Monday Mumbles

2010-02-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

I really did start this post on Monday, but I soon lost my focus ...sorta like my training lately.

So, waddup??

Super Teams

Entertaining discussions going on about a few of the Elite and Masters teams around California. Some folks have strong opinions... read here for example, where the subject is the Amgen/UBS masters team. It's true that their roster is a who's who of top SoCal geriatric talent, including many ex-pros, etc., but it's not like they're the New York Yankees playing against Little Leaguers. A quick check of results posted on scnca as of this writing reveals they've won half of the 35+ and 45+ races thus far in 2010 (including a podium sweep in the Red Trolley 35+). Not bad, but not totally dominant either. Other people will win plenty; races will still be fast and enjoyable; the sky is not falling...

...except in NorCal p/1/2 racing. Four "real" races so far this year, four victories by the new Yahoo! Cycling Team. Complete podium sweeps each day in the Cantua/Pine Flat/Dinuba weekend! Of course that kind of dominance is less likely when the bigger races roll around, but certainly Yahoo! along with Cal Giant will be major forces in NorCal racing. Maybe some opportunist up there will remember Clint Eastwood in "Fist Full of Dollars" sitting pretty between the Rojos and the Baxters "...the heart Ramon, shoot for the heart!"

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Running ...huh?!?

I am 100% committed to running the Santa Barbara International Marathon on November 7th. That's 100% farther than I've ever run in my life, and about 99999% farther than I've ever run comfortably since childhood! I ran a tad over 2 miles on Monday, and I still feel it 5 days later. Gina says she thinks it's only 40% likely that I'll follow through, which oddly enough makes it more likely. I don't really know what I'm doing, but continuing with the numbers theme and a bit of math...

I hear the rule-of-thumb is to increase your running mileage no more than 10% per week. OK, if I can run 2 miles now, and need to run 26 miles eventually, then we have:

2 * (1.1)^N = 26 ; . . . where N = # weeks of mileage increases

(1.1)^N = 26/2 ; . . . simplifying

N * ln(1.1) = ln(26/2) ; . . . take log of both sides

N = ln(26/2) / ln(1.1) ; . . . simplifying

and so we have: N = 27 weeks!

Add onto that 2-3 weeks for a taper, plus a few weeks of rest and/or flakiness, and it means training starts ..... NOW!

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Born to Run

No, not Bruce Springsteen, I'm talking about the Tarahumara in Mexico from the book Born to Run -- A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall. Half way done and loving it.

I strongly resonate with the book's key theme, that the human animal needs to run. (And by run, I extend the meaning to include any sort of substantial aerobic exercise.) Not only do we need it, but we should love it. We're wired to love it. A bunch of millennia ago, running was essential to our success as a species --eat or be eaten-- and nature has a way of making the important species-survival activities pleasurable. We're still good on one of them, procreating, but somehow the other one got lost along the way.

Or should I say, our society squashed it. Every kid loves to run. If you're a parent, you know this. First mobility is a few months of crawling, then eventually standing, followed by about a millisecond of walking, followed immediately by full-speed-ahead running. That lasts until about the middle of elementary school for almost all kids. But then something happens; running is no longer fun. Why? I don't know, but I speculate it has to do with how our society turns it into a competition. That innocent fund-raiser jog-a-thon at school? Clearly your child sees it as a competition -- how does it feel to not win? Or get last? Why would a kid like to run if it instills a sense of mediocrity or worse? Then there's Junior High PE class ...how many kids emerge from that experience with joyous feelings about exercise? (Not to dis any PE teachers out there, but that's how it is for most kids.)

To be sure, plenty of adults get back in touch with their inner animal and take up running (or cycling, swimming, etc). Many will compete again, and almost all of them will not be winners, but age brings the wisdom and awareness to not equate self-worth with a placing in the local 10K fun run. I think the majority of adults who take up aerobic exercise generally stick with it for the long haul. They reestablish that connection between exercise and mental/physical well being. Unfortunately, they (we) represent a very small minority of the entire population.

I'm wandering here so let me wrap-up with one thought: If all people exercised and ate right, our world would be so incredibly better than it is today on all fronts. It's so obvious.

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More Randoms...

Ever wonder what it costs to put on a bike race? Check this out.

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I crack myself up... When I saw the picture below (Sunday Worlds ride getting lectured at by Officer Rodriguez) all I could think about is how funny it would be if all the cyclists had on kits that resembled the CHP uniform, complete with shiny badge, helmet, and glasses.

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Next up: Figueroa Hillcimb TT (last of the SB Triple Crown) and Cal Poly SLO crit on a supposedly technical and topographically-challenging course. Both in the rain apparently.

Training Week -- 2/8 - 2/14

2010-02-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

Some good threshold climbing, which is starting to feel really comfortable.

Mon: 1.5 hrs; OSM-PC-ECC; 40:41 to the intersection
Tue: 0; rain
Wed: 1 hr; OSM, tempo
Thu: 1.5 hr; OSM, 14:94
Fri: 0
Sat: 4 hr; to 2nd Casitas & back w/ Gina & co., climbed hard
Sun: 3 hr; Worlds, couple hard efforts

Total: 11 hours

Clean the Pan, Dammit!

2010-02-10T09:13:00.000-08:00

One day last week went like this: Gina got up at 4:40 AM, made lunches for herself and the kids, went to the gym to teach spinning, showered, and moved on to her real job helping important people with software problems. I got up at 7:00 AM, saw the kids off to school, then rode my bike for five hours, with a brief coffee stop in the middle. Next I ate lunch, read the paper, read email, and puttered around the garden until Gina got home in the afternoon. Pretty sure she made dinner that night and also did the dishes.

What's wrong with this picture?

Even a dense clod like me knows this isn't an acceptable scenario, even if Gina is too sweet to protest. I've been underemployed the last few weeks, and by "under", I mean I haven't worked a single billable hour of time. Not sure how long that will last, but as long as it does, I need to be more productive in other ways. Every homeowner has an infinite To-Do list of repairs, maintenance, and improvement tasks ...and ours is twice that long.

Gina reads my blog ...willingly in fact... so this is as good a place as any to make a promise: Every day I don't work, I will make substantive progress on some household-related task. As long as Gina's gonna bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan, well, at least I can help clean the pan.

What are the Odds?

2010-02-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

Three flats in short succession last week. I finally got around to looking at the (second) one from Mothballs:

...and plucked out this chunk of wood:

What I'm wondering is, how exactly does one get a flat like this when riding on the pristine pavement at Research Park? And what are the odds I should get it? Figure around 20,000 laps had been completed in earlier races that day ...8.5 hours of racing, 1:20 per lap, 50 rider field size average. And somehow after all that, a little dagger-shaped piece of wood pops up straight and I ride over it. I can only laugh at the improbability!

Training Week - 2/1 - 2/7

2010-02-10T08:14:00.001-08:00

Quite fatigued after last weekend, so I couldn't hit the intensity I was hoping for early in the week, but recovered enough to enjoy a nice climb on Saturday at threshold. Thinking I need to do more riding like that right now, improving aerobic power and such. But really, it just feels so good to get in that comfortably rhythmic climbing zone where the higher you go, the more world you see.

Mon: 1 hr; Recovery around Goleta and Hope Ranch
Tue: 5 hr; Past Carp, return through hills + lunchtime sufferfest
Wed: 2.5 hr; OSM-PC-La Cumbre peak; tempo climb
Thu: 1 hr; OSM easy
Fri: 0; Rain
Sat: 2 hr; Hill Climb TT, PC-La Cumbre peak (50:08)
Sun: 3 hr; Worlds, sat in the back, tired

Total: 14.5 hours

OSM from Another Perspective

2010-02-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

Wow! View full-screen to fully appreciate. Thanks Jane for finding this.

Jim Rogers 1957-2010

2010-02-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

It's with sadness that I learned today of the passing of Jim Rogers. He was struck from behind by a car and killed while out on a ride Sunday near Auburn, CA.

Jim was one of the best bike racers in Northern California when I was just entering the sport as a young teenager. Despite his lofty status (in my eyes) he was very humble and kind, always ready to offer a helping hand or bit of friendly advice to a dorky newbie (me). I've had no contact with him since those days, but from what I read here, it seems he continued to be a wonderful person and a pillar in his local cycling community.

I took the above picture of Jim as he rode in the Senior (Elite) Road Race National Championships. I have no idea of his result that day, but I do remember one funny story. The junior race had just finished, and Greg LeMond had been beaten in a sprint by Jeff Bradley. Jim and a few others were standing near Greg when he ripped off his numbers and threw them in a garbage can with disgust at getting 2nd place. (Greg had worn the #1 indicating he was the reigning champ entering the race.) Jim cracked a little smile and went over and dug those numbers out of the garbage. I wonder if he kept them all these years.

R.I.P.

Poor College Kids RR & Mothballs Crit 2010

2010-02-01T10:18:00.000-08:00

Normally, I'd twiddle away a few hours on a Monday writing a blog post about the weekend races and sneaking in a recovery ride before my weekly business meeting. (Not sure which should be higher priority among those three things...)

But, with much rain on the way later this week, I cannot sacrifice the time for carefully crafted scribbling, so you're gonna get a blast of brief bullets and a few random pictures.

Poor College Kids RR

* First off, congratulations to a great group of "kids" from UCSB for putting on such a nice race. I hope they realize how much their effort is appreciated, and what a good job they did.

* P/1/2: Platinum had the largest team and so we immediately went on the offensive with Ben "The Hammer" Haldeman taking off from the gun in this two-lap 67-mile race. We adequately annoyed the rest of the chasing field (about 40 riders) allowing Ben to reach a couple minute lead. After 20 miles or so, ex-Platinum C-Walk got clear with Chesta-san along in tow and they bridged up to Ben. A little oopsy in the turn around took out Chester, so a fatigued Ben spent most of the second lap alone with the fresher Vampy, who eventually got clear on the hills heading back to the finish. Congrats to a strong Chris for the win. Meanwhile Matt had gotten clear and made it up to Ben with several other riders, including an inspired Craig Nunes from SLO and always-aggressive Mark Shimahara. A km out from the finish, Craig surged and only Mark could match him and they finished 2nd and 3rd, with Matt and Ben close behind for 4th and 5th. Gary D'Velo came in 9th surround by pros and such, and the rest of us Cookie, Adrian, HeyRon, and me rolled in clustered around 20th.

* Masters races: KK won the 55+, solo, and Platinum had Kim Bleth and Jon Miller in the field. Dave Worthington won the 45+, solo, from a strong field. The 35+ looked like a real war, with the first 3-4 riders coming in solo after hand-to-hand combat (Rudy Napolitano won, DeMarchi 2nd; Mark Noble 3rd). Jamie Paolinetti won the field sprint, and that was the only decent picture I took:

* Women 3/4 -- Awesome race by Chicken Ranchers Susie Willett and Jane Faulkner for going 1st and 2nd!! This, even after Jane had to bridge back up to the front after the hill. So cool.

Mothballs crit

* Masters 45+: So fun to have a large group of teammates to race with. We were active early and often, and worked well together. I had hoped to be fresh near the end and help keep our sprinters up front, but when a nice move by Chris Black and Tom Anhalt got caught, I had to counter. (You've got to attack after a teammate gets caught!) So I shot my wad for a few laps and was no help in the finale. It turned out that HeyRon and Choo-choo stayed up front just fine and sprinted to 5th and 8th among some very fast and accomplished company (Glenon 1st; John Walsh 2nd; Dave Lettieri 3rd; Peter Sullivan 4th).

* Masters 35+: More powerful riding by Platinum with Cookie in almost every move of the race, and still he and Gary drove the final couple laps to keep Keith in nice position to sprint for 3rd. DeMarchi won a close one.

Brian leading a split in 35+:

Final sprint in 35+:
As always, click on the pics for a larger view.

* Junior 16-17: Are we seeing a juniors revival in bike racing? The fields are getting bigger and they are racing fast and smart. Local boy Taylor Clements got himself out there and looked great getting 2nd:

...in front of a quality field:

...Echelon junior Ben Barthel rode strong:

* Also notable, Taylor's brother Tosh got 3rd at Mothballs and 6th at PCKRR in the cat 5s in his first-ever weekend of racing. Nice start!!

* Mothballs p/1/2/3: For this one, I'm going to steal Adrian Gerrits race report to the team list. Hopefully his copyright lawyers won't come after me!
Team Platinum lined up for the 75 minute crit along side notable pros Rashaan Bahati, Hilton Clarke and Cody O'reilly. Our plan was to try to cover moves with two guys and make aggressive attacks to get a break going so we didn't end up trying to outsprint the aforementioned riders. The plan went very well. We had a couple of riders at the front at all times covering attacks and blocking for teammates. At one point or another I think most of the team was in a some sort of break. Dubberley covered some good moves and started a couple of breaks, Chester, Ben, Mark and Gary were always up there covering moves as well. The rest of the guys were doing a superb job of keeping the pack in control. With about 20 minutes left, I made an attack after the first corner and before I knew it, 4 other guys including Clarke were hammering away. I was pretty shot but managed to hang on and do my share in the break. We managed to get 30 seconds on the field and I got 5th out of 5...I'll work on not getting last next time. Good race guys. Thanks for the write-up, Adrian.

I was disappointed to flat with 5 or 6 laps left because I felt good and would have liked to help one of our sprinters get in good position. My second flat of the day on brand new tires! But until then, the race was a blast. I even had Hilton Clarke on my wheel once or twice ...obviously he feared my speed. Haha.

Dang, even that took too long. Now it's time to ride. Later I will add more pictures perhaps, or maybe they'll go on Facebook ...I'm a spaz at this 21st-century computer stuff.

Oh, I forgot... some links for other peoples race pictures (much better than mine):

From John Goodman

From Michael Krauchi

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[add/edit]
OK, I'm sure soon enough that results will be on scnca and SoCalCycling, but since they're not posted yet, I'll put put these up temporarily. Click to enlarge for reading. Sorry I didn't get them all, but I had a camera fail (or brain fail more likely...)

PCK RR results (partial):

Mothballs results (partial):

Training Week -- 1/25 - 1/31

2010-02-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

Yay, racing has started! That's what it's all about.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1 hr; OSM, 16:50
Wed: 3.5 hr; Solvang loop, good tempo ride with Ben
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, 15:51 ...finally!
Fri: 0
Sat: 3 hr; Poor College Kids RR, p12
Sun: 2.5 hr; Mothballs, 45+ & p123 & warm-up/cool-down

Total: 11 hours

Intro to Platinum's 2010 Super Heroes

2010-01-29T15:19:00.000-08:00

The 2010 season begins tomorrow, and I am excited. Very excited. My fitness is finally coming around, riding hard is fun again, and I'm ready to pin on a number every weekend I can. But most of all, I'm excited because the 2010 Platinum Performance Cycling Team has assembled the best Cat 1 & 2 team from Santa Barbara in at least 25 years. I would say that this group has great chemistry, but unfortunately that phrase has a double meaning when referring to bike racers. So let's just say these guys get along great and love to ride together. And they're all very fast!

So let me be the first to introduce you to this team. There are no new names, but some of these guys have been off the radar for awhile, so they might be new to you. Some of what I'm about to tell you is classified, and some of it might even stretch the definition of truth. I will also tell you here for the first time, that each of these riders possesses a unique Super Power making him capable of incredible feats of bike-racing awesomeness. Pay attention in 2010 and you will see.

Adrian Gerrits:Who is Adrian? A smart kid who graduated from an Ivy League university? Or is he a gritty coal-mine worker from a hardscrabble Wyoming town? He's both. What kind of bike racer is he? A big goofball who's likely to throw a banana peel in your spokes while wearing Mickey Mouse ears, or a deadly assassin who will drive a break so hard you'll beg for mercy while whimpering on his wheel? That's right, both. In 2008, Adrian raced some big events around the US, including SuperWeek where he got 4th overall. That's huge. He also got top-10 gc in the Tour of Pennsylvania which showcased the best U-25 riders in North America. So here's a warning to the SoCal Cat 1/2 crowd, underestimate Adrian at your own peril!

Ben Haldeman:"The Hammer" as he's affectionately known to his teammates and competitors --his girlfriends and boyfriends too-- and when you ride with him you will know why. He will pound you relentlessly, which is what he did to the domestic Pro peloton when riding point for Chris Horner on Webcor. But what you really need to be aware of, is his ability to advance himself up the road by taking a shortcut through the space-time continuum. If you notice his upper body cocked to one side, that's your clue that he's digging a worm hole and bending the dimensions in his favor ...and against yours. Ben's results? All you need to know is that this cowboy won the NorCal Cal Cup series a couple years ago. Did you?

Brian Cook:Cookie is a former elite level triathlete who saw the light and made the jump to bike racing, and he hasn't looked back since. Literally... he doesn't look back, because if he did, he'd see the burning faces of those behind him getting doused with his prolific sweat. Ergo, his uncanny ability to make other riders pull him around. He puts competitors in a conundrum... sit behind him and burn, or pull him around to the end and then get burned by his blazing sprint. Either way, you lose and we win.

Gary Douville:Gary "Guns" D'Velo is a renaissance man of cycling. Pavement or dirt, uphill or down, crit, road, or TT... he's mastered them all. And before all that pedaling, his craft was motocross! You have no idea the skills and brute strength he possesses. If you're lucky, you'll never know. He returns to the road in 2010 after a very successful cyclocross season which he capped off with a victory in the elite class at the SoCal district championships.

Matt Dubberley:M-Dubb's super power is magnetism. No, I'm not referring to his personality, rather I mean literal magnetism. He can manipulate the magnetic field around all the other riders in the race, twisting it to his advantage as the situation dictates. You're off the front? He'll pull you back like Magneto. He's off the front? He'll rotate that magnetic field to repel you. Matt rode four years as a US professional and has many stellar results I'm sure, but two "incidents" will tell you all you need to know. Tour of Georgia a few years back, and Matt is his team's designated sprinter. Does Matt sit back and rest? Of course not, he goes on the attack and spends 100 km off the front of the field. Don't pigeon-hole this rider! He can do it all. Unfortunately, magnetic fields are hard to control, even for super heroes. Sometimes those magnets flip.

Chester Gillmore:Aahhh, Chesta... no longer the world's fastest cat 3 because now he's a cat 2. Surrounded by this team of Cat 1 veterans, he will upgrade again soon enough. Chester's super power is on display to anyone and everyone who rides with him or against him. Unbridled enthusiasm! Where does it come from? Chester is part puppy dog.

Keith Horowitz:"You lookin' at me?!" Every team needs a closer, and we've got one of the best in the business. Keith "Special-K" Horowitz returns to racing after several years away, but mark my words, he's still a fearsome sprinter ready to lay waste to SoCal fields like he did in days gone by. I pity the fool who finds himself between Keith and the finish line.

Zach Walker:"Zach Attack" is a software whiz who somehow reprogrammed the matrix such that he only faces half the gravity as the rest of us. I mean, it's the only explanation as to how a guy as big and powerful as him can ride away on both the hills and the flats! Zach is a former pro with Ofoto and McGuire and despite being an incredibly nice guy, you will curse him if he puts a gap between you. Or you'll just give up.

Seth Zaleski:With only two years of bike racing in his legs, Seth is but a few points away from being a Cat 1. His secret? He has two sets of legs! Most people know about his climbing legs ...those pedaled him to multiple top-10 results in some very competitive road races in 2009. But what most people don't know, is that he can swap out those legs for a pair of snappy, fast-twichy sprinters legs. Don't let his buck thirty fool you into thinking he'll be satisfied just finishing in the break. On second thought, go ahead and think that.

So that's the core of the 2010 Cat 1 & 2 team going into 2010. For sure we'll have other young riders upgrading, and you can count on some of us Masters riders doing P/1/2 races with this group. In fact, as long as my fitness supports it, I will race with these guys any day.

Stay tuned for future blog posts featuring our Masters riders and our women's team.

Training Week -- 1/18 - 1/24

2010-01-25T12:24:00.000-08:00

A lot of rain last week, thus not a lot of riding. This biking stuff is just a hobby ...a serious hobby... and not so important as to justify being miserable (or in danger) in the cold rain and wind. Your mileage may vary.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1 hr; intervals on the bike path
Wed: 0
Thu: 0
Fri: 0
Sat: 3.5 hrs; SB - Casitas - SB, mostly steady tempo
Sun: 3.5 hrs; Worlds, full gas on the way out

Total: 8 hours

Notes:
- The difference between how I'm going on the flats versus the hills is out-of-whack right now, based on years past. That tells me one thing, I need to lose a few lbs. No more cookies and ice cream for awhile... like I said, it's a serious hobby.

Five Days, Five Storms

2010-01-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

The Sea Was Angry This Morning My Friends

2010-01-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

Forty minutes of bike-path intervals this morning, and I would have beaten the rain had I not stopped at the beach to shoot this dumb video.

Training Week -- 1/11 - 1/17

2010-01-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

More of the same, especially trying to do hard efforts after 3+ hrs of riding. Endurance is good; short-term recovery is improving noticeably; climbing is still too weak; day-to-day recovery is terrible.

Mon: 0
Tue: 5 hrs; 8:00 roco + lunchtime hammerfest, hard pulls
Wed: 1 hr; recovery
Thu: 1.5 hr; OSM (10000:11111) + 75% Painted Caves
Fri: 1 hr; easy
Sat: 5 hr; around Casitas, some hard pulls
Sun: 3.5 hr; 1/2 of Worlds + a little extra, really fatigued

Total: 17 hours

Do Something

2010-01-15T10:22:00.000-08:00

Help the people in Haiti.

Here's one way: click on Direct Relief International and then follow your conscience.

What's for Lunch?

2010-01-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

I spent some 15+ years as a desk jockey. Most days were packed full of code and report writing, meeting and managing, pointless PowerPointing, and plenty of office politicking. Some people thrive on that stuff, finding it meaningful and thrilling; to me, it was an energy drain.

So with this jaded outlook, you'd think that lunchtime would be the best part of my workday, right? Well, yes and no. Yes for the days I got to ride my bike. Oh glorious lunch rides! But definitely "No" for the days when I joined ranks with the other thousand automatons making the daily drive to restaurant row. Don't get me wrong, I liked my coworkers and their company. It was the food that was the problem. Chili's, Chevy's, Wendy's, Jack in the Box.... there's really no difference. And more and more, what you get at those establishments can hardly be called food. GMO corn with bacteria genes inserted into its DNA? Freaky!

Some people microwaved frozen lunches instead. Have you seen the ingredient lists on those things?? Should you really need a PhD in Chemistry to understand what you're eating? Some days I'd bring a brown-bag lunch my sweetie made me that morning. PB&J ...again. I'd eagerly anticipate... would it be strawberry or marmalade today? Sigh.

Fast-forward to 2010. I don't work in an office anymore, and I don't eat at those kinds of "restaurants" either. But lunch is still a dilemma sometimes. Strawberry or marmalade? Now it's up to me to decide.

So today I finally tried Organic Living Santa Barbara. I've been hearing the buzz for months... wonderful variety of lunch entrees, made fresh daily from locally-sourced organic ingredients, delivered right to your home or office. They'll even accommodate your vegan, vegetarian, or meat-eater preferences.

Here's what I got today (click the picture to read the label, and you don't need a PhD in Chemistry):

It was delicious! I actually ordered two meals, which was enough for dinner also. Such a tasty and sensible way to solve the lunchtime dilemma. And way more healthful and environmentally responsible than eating at those chain restaurants.

As an aside, today I rode my fastest time up Old San Marcos in at least nine months. Coincidence?? I don't think so.

Bad Timing to Ask for a Handout?

2010-01-10T17:32:00.001-08:00

Today in sunny Southern California, I rode my bicycle in shorts and then later picked fresh, ripe strawberries from my garden. Meanwhile, it seems the rest of the US is in the grips of a brutally cold arctic blast. That's a shame. So I was wondering... how is the rest of the country going to respond to California's request for a 6.9 billion dollar handout from the Federal Government to help us with our budget crisis?

Training Week -- 1/4 - 1/10

2010-01-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

Finally got sick. It was inevitable, and better to get it over with now than in Feb or March.

Mon: 0; sick
Tue: 0; sick
Wed: 0; sick
Thu: 1 hr; Easy up OSM to watch the Burrito Duel, Vol. 2
Fri: 1 hr; OSM moderate
Sat: 4.5 hrs; Gibraltar Hillclimb + ECC/154 + Montecito and back
Sun: 3.5 hrs; Sunday worlds, 2-3 hard efforts, recovery improving

Total: 10 hours

Note:
- Saturday's Gibraltar Hillclimb was good and bad. I can't complain about my time (46:22) considering where I was two months ago, but it's always a little frustrating to get beat. My pacing was terrible... from past experience, I know where to hit certain milestones in order to do ~43 minutes, and I was a minute ahead of that pace up through 25 minutes, then cracked and lost ~4 minutes the rest of the way. Oh well, room for improvement. BTW, all that detail was just for Cookie since I know how much he likes to read about other peoples training!

Top Talent from SB

2010-01-04T20:05:00.001-08:00

I've heard it asked many times, "Who's the most talented bike racer from Santa Barbara?"

That's a hard question.

First of all, "from Santa Barbara" means to me that they were living here and discovered bike racing when young, say, under 18 years old. That has significant implications, because it excludes from consideration a whole bunch of really good riders who came from out-of-town to attend UCSB, including:

Dylan Casey
Eric Cech
Dave Fiengold
Matt Dubberley
Adam Laurent
Kieth Horowitz
Lynn Brontzman/Gaggioli

...along with a bunch of really good riders there right now.

That definition also excludes some really good bike racers who have come to live in Santa Barbara AFTER already establishing themselves in the sport. Examples of those would include:

Aaron Olson
Kim Anderson
Jacob Erker
Erik Saunders
Ben Haldeman
Zach Walker
Dave Lettieri
Ken Hanson

So you might think that those exclusions wouldn't leave many riders to choose from. You'd be wrong. Santa Barbara has produced a remarkable number of home-grown talented riders over the years. Below is my list of the top-10, presented in no particular order. Of course this is all subjective, and your opinions may vary.

Adam Duvendeck -- A two-time Olympian on the velodrome, and multi national champion. Started bike racing as a junior with Echelon in the mid 1990s along with Aaron Musicant and Matt Abrams, the first crop of many great juniors coached by the next rider on the list.

Rory O'Reilly -- 1984 Olympian, former world-record holder in the flying kilometer, one of the fastest road sprinters in the US in the late 1970s and early 1980s before turning focus to the velodrome. Rode for the famous 7-Eleven team. In the picture here, Rory keeps a close eye on a young Greg LeMond.

Cody O'Reilly -- Rory's son and a favorite of the entire SB cycling community. Seems like only yesterday that Cody was a little tyke on the back of Rory's tandem, his tiny legs turning circles on a 150 mm crank installed just below the seat. Fast forward to today, and Cody is one of the fastest road sprinters in the US, and arguably the best all-around track rider in the country, having just won the Elite Omnium National Championship. Cody has improved every year for the last decade ...how good will he ultimately get?

Uthman Ray IV -- A Dos Pueblos High graduate who began his cycling career flying down hills in the dirt before turning attention to the road. Uthman quickly rose to Cat 1 and was a solid all-around rider for the couple of years he raced seriously. He's a smart guy who completed graduate school at UC Berkeley and has apparently put cycling on the back burner ...for now.

Larry Shields -- When I was a kid in NorCal just getting into bike racing, I only knew of two racers from Santa Barbara. One was Rory, and the other was Larry Shields. His reputation as a smart and savvy rider was well known, but clearly he had an abundance of strength too. A multi-time National Champion on the road as a junior and a podium finisher in the Elite ranks. The picture here shows Larry winning a National Championship after dispensing of a quicker Chris Springer with a crafty move in the final corner.

Kurt and Derin Stockton -- Brothers, both among a select group of the best road sprinters in the US during the late 80's and early 90's. Both rode as professionals for a number of teams and participated in all the big Pro races back east, with Kurt winning the USPro Road Championship in Philly in 1990. Both went on to successful careers on the booming downhill MTB circuit.

Chris Walker -- Most people don't realize C-Walk started bike racing as a junior back in the mid 1970s. He was a mediocre rider back then and soon hung up the bike for other interests. He returned to the sport ten years later (1987-88), and since then has put in, oh, at least a quarter million miles of training. I'm completely serious. Do the math... 20 years X 52 weeks/year X 250 miles/week. Probably a low estimate actually. He's been a podium finisher in some of the hardest, highest-level races in the country, including Tour of the Gila and the Killington Stage Race. He's won National RR Championships as a Master and Elite competitor, along with many Districts victories. Still, at 48 years old, he's one of the top roadies in California.

Daniel Ramsey -- When I first met Daniel he was an affable, slightly-gawky, enthusiastic puppy dog of a bike rider. Fast forward fifteen years or so, and he's now one of the most exciting bike racers you'll ever see. Nobody rides with more heart and grit than Daniel. If you think of US Domestic Pro bike racing as entertainment, then Daniel is a star. If you've never seen him roll one of his improbable solo break-aways with 100+ hungry riders nipping at his heels, well then you are missing one of the most heart-pumping scenes in bike racing. Sometimes he gets caught (e.g., annually at Manhattan Beach) and sometimes he pulls it off (Sea Otter; Tulsa Tough). Either way, it's always a great show.

Nieko Biskner -- A mercurial career if there ever was one. Nieko also started as an Echelon junior after doing some running at San Marcos High (5K in the 16's!) and when he began to really train on the bike, his talent was immediately evident. A big-boned kid at 6'5" he was still as good a climber as anyone in town, and when he got on top of a gear on the flats, well, following him was essentially motor-pacing. He finished top-10 in a Tour of Georgia sprint and recorded 1900+ watts on his SRM. That's a Mario Cipollini-like number. In the NRC San Dimas Stage Race one year, he powered a small break in the road race and was barely nipped at the finish by Chris Horner, who was the most dominant rider in the US at that time. Nieko's pro career only lasted a couple of years because he was pulled in lots of conflicting directions, including school and partying. Who can blame him... would you rather ride your bike a quarter of a million miles earning minimum wage, or hang out at night with good friends and pretty ladies, and learn about cool technology during the day?

So that's my top-10 list.

At this point, it's fair to revisit the original question, "Who's the most talented bike racer from Santa Barbara?" But this naturally leads to a more enigmatic question, namely, "What is talent with respect to bike racing?"

Every rider mentioned above has talent. For example, Adam was able to master all the technical and physiological details necessary to get maximum explosive power out of his body. Both Rory and Cody were and are able to live extremely disciplined lifestyles that ensure maximum productivity from their training efforts. Kurt and Derin had the bravery to fight at the front of thundering field sprints. C-Walk has the ability to religiously churn out thousands of miles in training. Daniel seems capable of tapping into raw emotion as a fuel source, digging deeper than most people realize is possible.

All those traits above are important, and clearly they led to success for all these Santa Barbara bike racers. To me, however, "talent" in the context of bike racing is defined as an innate potential for great success, and it's mostly a physiological aptitude. In my opinion, for raw physical talent, Nieko tops the list and I think he could have been a world-class bike racer.

Discuss?

Training Week -- 12/28 - 1/3

2010-01-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

Getting some more intensity.

Mon: 1 hr; Easy around Goleta, Hope Ranch, & UCSB
Tue: 5 hrs; SB to Rose Valley up hwy 33
Wed: 0
Thu: 1 hr; lunchtime OSM, 16:59
Fri: 3 hr; MTB up Little Pine Mtn
Sat: 4 hr; 8:00 roco to 2nd Casitas + Emma Wood w/ Gina & friends
Sun: 3 hr; Sunday Worlds

Total: 17 hours

Training Week -- 12/21 - 12/27

2010-01-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

Not much training due to holiday craziness.

Mon: 1 hr; recovery ride around Goleta
Tue: 0
Wed: 1.5 hr; Mt. Hamilton
Thu: 0
Fri: 0
Sat: 0.5 hr; running
Sun: 0

Total: 3 hours

Video from Santa Barbara Sunday Worlds Ride

2009-12-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

Training Week -- 12/14 - 12/20

2009-12-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

OK, I had decided I was done putting up these Training Week blog posts. I mean, how utterly absurd is it to think anybody gives a flying-#### about my training?! Even my wife can't stand to hear about it...

"...from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, and to listen to ad nauseam stories about training rides..."

Yes, Mr. Minister, all except that last part.

But then two things brought me back here. First, I had the biggest, most-enjoyable winter training week in perhaps 13 years. Perfect storm of weather, motivation, health, and available time. I cannot express in words how pleasurable it has been to pedal this week.

Second thing: a nice mention in Ryan Barrett's blog about the idea of posting training weeks. Hey, if a guy as good as him thinks it's OK, well then who am I to judge??

Ergo...

Mon: 1 hr; around Goleta and UCSB
Tue: 5 hrs; 8:00 group ride from Goleta + Gibraltar loop
Wed: 1 hr; OSM, tempo
Thu: 5 hrs; 8:00 group ride from Goleta + Gibraltar loop
Fri: 1 hr; OSM, easy
Sat: 5 hrs; early w/ Ben + group ride to Ojai (big-gear on hills)
Sun: 5 hrs; Worlds + Gibraltar loop

Total: 23 hours

(Note: I have some video clips from the ride today and will post as soon as my son teaches me how to use the editing software.)

Go Johnny Go

2009-12-20T07:13:00.000-08:00

Just in case there's anybody who hasn't seen this yet...

The talented filmmaker is 11-year-old Beau Lettieri, and you can visit his website here.

Expect a Crowd

2009-12-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

Old Time CX

2009-12-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

Long before there was Page, Trebon, Johnson, and Douville...

...there was Sir Lawrence Malone, Clark Natwick, and Mary Ann Allen:

(Thanks to Dot Wong for finding this)

And some trivia for SB locals... in those results listed at the end of the video, which rider is the brother of a popular Santa Barbara endurance athlete? Next, which rider lost a National RR Championship after being forced into a ditch during the final sprint by a Santa Barbara rider? (Yes, I know, those are hard questions...)

Oh, and by the way, if you're wondering who Gary Douville is, check this:

And it turns out he can CX in addition to TT, as he is the SoCal elite champ and got 36th at the Elite nationals in Bend last weekend!

The Scream

2009-12-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Casitas in the big ring while seated is the easy part. It's the torture session with The Stick afterward that kills. I hope the neighbors didn't hear the screaming last night.

Why do it? Because it works, that's why.

Soft?!? Hmphff!

2009-12-09T22:25:00.001-08:00

I crossed paths three times today with HE-IS-TED-KING including a joint jaunt up Old San Marcos during which I whined about our upcoming storms. To that he responded, and I quote, "You California riders are too soft!" So as he turned down 154 to get coffee and escape my babbling, I felt the need to defend the honor of CA cyclists everywhere, and so I continued on up Painted Caves and East Camino Cielo. The higher I went, the colder it got. Near LaCumbre peak, the wind was whipping in gusts approaching 10 mph, and the temperature in the shadows was surely near 40 degrees. Brrrrrrr. Undeterred, I pressed on through patches of snow at least 1 mm deep, see:

Whatcha say now, huh!?

A Perfect Weekend

2009-12-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

Finally, after six months of things-are-not-quite-right weekends, the past 48 hours have been pretty much perfect. Allow me to bore you with the details....

Wife's Holiday Party
I've been told that a classic symptom of an introvert is that you dread going to parties, but you almost always end up having a really good time. That's me to a tee. Gina has worked at the same company for 24 years and I think I've been to all but one of her company's holiday parties. Some years are more memorable than others --the drunken, skirt-lifting affair comes to mind-- but they're always enjoyable. Like Friday: Tasty food and wine, along with good conversation. Our table won the trivia contest, albeit with some help from internet-connected iPhones. Then, after dinner, Gina danced and I played poker. The first few hands were bleak. The dealer was flirty with the cuties, and Lady Luck was not flirty with me. Twice I lost big with two pair, and then when I drew an inside straight, I ended up splitting the pot. But on the final hand of the night, when everyone goes all in, I nailed a flush and took it all.

Saturday Ride (Bonk-a-rama!)
All week I'd been excited to do the group ride, especially with near-certain rain for the next four days. Plus I really, really need to train. But all that logic goes out the window when the alarm goes off and you're still dog tired and outside the covers is dark and freezing cold and really early. Inside the covers is cozy warm and my sweetie is near. Why get up?! Because, that's what we do, isn't it. 8:00 downtown and I see that 40-50 other riders also got up in the cold dark early. The ride began with nice chatty tempo pace, but as per normal, the climbs sorted us out. I immediately fell back from the leaders and decided the remainder of this ride should be done solo. Skip the regroup, onward to the lake, Ventura, and up the coast back toward SB. Nice power on the rollers at first, but by three hours my fuel light went on and all I had left to eat was a small baggie of raisins. 40 miles to home.

Side story: I have a personal Thanksgiving tradition, and it goes something like this. Leave mid-morning for a four-hour ride. Carry no food. Inevitably a nice bonk will arrive at about three hours, just when the aromas from amazing Thanksgiving feasts begin to waft into the air. Savor the sensations: gnawing hunger, weak legs, slight headache, delicious smells. My theory is, a good old fashioned bonk kicks your metabolism and fitness up a notch.

Anyway, back to the weekend... I missed the Thanksgiving bonk ride this year, so Saturday looked like a good make-up opportunity. By Carp, I was mindlessly turning circles in the 39x17 at 15 mph. By SB, I moved up to the 19 and down to 13 mph. Literal State St. crawl. I saw big-time pro I-AM-TED-KING sitting alone at a coffee shop in full Cervelo kit, and my normal pro-ho tendency would have been to stop and chat (annoy, harass, stalk) him, but this bonk was serious business so I plodded on by. The smell of In-and-Out onion rings almost killed me, but I persevered. At 4 hours and 50 minutes, I arrived home and went straight to the kitchen to fry up some eggs and drench some toast with melted butter which I enjoyed immensely while growing mushrooms in my chamois.

A Nap!!!
After a long ride, a meal, and a shower ...is there anything better?

A Marathon in Town
A huge, huge event for our little community and the organizers did an incredible job of pulling it off. The Santa Barbara International Marathon had a couple thousand runners, which seems like a pretty good turn-out for an inaugural event. Gina decided to run (her 12th marathon in 12 years!) so I rode around to cheer and snap a few pictures of her and some other runners:

One of the most amazing things about Gina is her consistency and her ability to stick to a plan. All but her very first marathon have been in the 3:20-3:30 range. This year she targeted 3:30 which is a nice even time with a bit less pressure than her usual 3:20 goal. Despite the constantly changing slope of our local roads, she stuck to the effort level she knew was right and completed the 26.2 in 3:29:58. Incredible.

And you thought Chicken Rancher Gabe Garcia was just a sprinter! Look at him smiling here on the Cliff Dr. hill after already pounding out 23 miles. His goal was 3:30 also but he went a tad too fast and finished in 3:29:21. Congrats Gabe!

Lunchtime OSM rider Leif Reynolds is also a good runner and this was his 3rd (?) marathon so he knew what he was doing. He also looked quite comfortable climbing that brutal hill on his way to a 3:16:44.

Lots of press about the fast women entrants, and the smart money was on local speedster Drea McLarty to take the vee. But press leads to pressure, which can be a burden on race day sometimes. Well, not this time. She ran away from the field to win in a powerful 2:52:23, 11th overall and a solid eight minutes in front of the next woman. Wow!

Also notable for the cycling community was Eric Forte's performance (2:51:13 for 9th overall) and Nikola Valerjev's run in 3:26:31. Who says cyclists can't run?!

So inspirational was this event and those awesome runners, that I'm going to join the fun next year.

Farmers' Market, Lunch, and Coffee
...with brother and sister-in-law on Sunday afternoon. Nice that he'll still hang with us common folk since he's now a national TV star after his appearance on "Top Chef" and all. Rumor has it he'll be on a future episode of "The Bachelor" as well! Really.

Gardening
My garden really suffered during the remodel, but now it's finally getting the attention it needs. Amazingly, a bunch of summer crops were still producing so I picked a few things...

...and also finally planted my winter veggies. From seed: lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, cilantro, onions, Fava beans, and peas. Also pushed a bunch of garlic cloves in the ground. As soon as the rain lets up, I'll plant a bunch of flower seeds too, so that by next spring and summer we can have a beautiful mix of color and food. The added bonus, of course, is that the flowers will attract and feed a diverse population of predator bugs that keep the pests under control. Nature is amazing.

So that was my weekend, and it doesn't get any better than that.

Wild (??) Life

2009-12-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

These Bobcats have been living at the lake a half mile from my house...

As cute as they are, for their sake, I hope they move on to a more wild habitat.

Almost Done! (...fingers crossed)

2009-11-18T08:05:00.000-08:00

One week until Thanksgiving, which we are hosting. Could we possibly cut it any closer?!?

What an experience this has been. Mostly good, but also some problems and associated stress. Living in the midst of it all has been a real test of our adaptability and has certainly strained family relationships at bit. We will emerge stronger.

Since I work from home, I was able to spend lots of time with the contractors, the vast majority of whom are great people who take pride in their work. I truly appreciate their willingness to educate me and explain the nittiest grittiest details of their trades. I find myself asking, "If I knew then what I know now, would I have undertaken this job on my own?" I am not naive enough to think I could do it all myself, nor that I could complete it in any kind of reasonable time, but it would be so deeply satisfying to build with my own hands. My siblings and I are the first generation of our family who haven't built a house (or a large portion thereof) with our own hands. We're certainly not alone there in modern society; it's sad in a way that so few people do their own physical work anymore. (Pot-kettle-black... I freely admit my preference for a nice bike ride over digging trenches or lifting drywall.)

Training Week -- 11/2 - 11/8

2009-11-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

Only group rides this week. The intensity is really painful and probably not the best idea just yet, but perhaps it's good to remember those sensations so it's not such a shock in January.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1 hr; lunchtime torture, dropped 3 times (after my pulls)
Wed: 0
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, 18:20 max effort, slight tailwind assist
Fri: 0
Sat: 2.5 hr; SB - 2nd Casitas - SB
Sun: 2.5 hr; Worlds

Total: 7 hrs

Get Your Power On

2009-11-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

Doing just a little math, you can figure that eight riders like the ones above are generating a combined power of around 3 kW, give or take, during a one hour TTT. Cool. That would easily power your house for an hour.

So here's a thought... build up eight stationary trainers, hook them all to a DC generator with an DC-AC inverter, then plug it into your electrical service panel. Now invite that team over to your house for a TTT session on the trainers and, shazzam, free electricity!!

Well, almost free... they do need a salary I suppose. Also, they'll only ride for an hour before cracking and falling off their bikes. I guess you'll need to hire a few more teams, like maybe the entire field of the Tour de France, if you want to cover all your energy usage.

Or here's another thought... slap a few of these babies onto your roof:

They'll make power all day long and you won't even need to feed them. Sure, there will be some upfront cost, but thanks to generous state rebates (here in CA) and the forward-thinking policies of our country's CEO, you can expect to recoup your costs within 10-15 years, depending on the specifics of your situation. And if it wasn't compelling enough before, just a few weeks ago our Governator signed a bill requiring California's utilities to pay homeowners for any surplus power they generate. This is the wave of the future, for sure.

So let's bring this back around to cycling. I estimate that our photovoltaic system will generate about 20 kWh of energy a day, averaged over the year. How much is that? Well, it's roughly equivalent to the (mechanical) power I'd make doing 267 maximum-effort rides up Old San Marcos Rd., assuming I could capture it. [20 kWh / (.3 kW X .25 h)]

Full disclosure: My generous and forward-thinking parents offered to pay for our solar installation. Their offer is to each of my three siblings as well. Gina and I plan to gladly accept that gift, although we like to think we would have taken this step anyway.

Training Week -- 10/26 - 11/1

2009-11-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

Steady mid-aerobic-zone efforts (20-60 minutes) mixed in with a bunch of easy pedaling.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1.5 hrs, OSM + Painted Cave, very windy
Wed: 0
Thu: 1.5 hrs, OSM + PC + 2/3 OSM
Fri: 1.5 hrs, Goleta and Hope Ranch
Sat: 3 hrs, Figueroa loop from Los Olivos
Sun: 2 hrs, to SB and back

Total: 9.5 hours

Okay, Where Were We?

2009-10-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me last night after a dinner of Cheetos and beer in front of Monday Night Football, that perhaps it will be harder than I anticipated to get back into serious training. It's not rocket science of course. Eating right, sleeping enough, and riding a bunch--they're all pretty simple concepts. The hard part is implementing them into the routines of daily life ...every day. No matter what. Being the best bike racer you can be pretty much demands it. You can bet your competition doesn't eat chips for dinner, or stay up late to watch "Top Gun" for the 19th time, or skip a ride because his chain is dirty.

"You need to be doing it better and cleaner than the other guy. Now what is it with you?"

So here we go again. I want to race in 2010 and 2011. I remember what it feels like to be fit, and it feels a whole lot better than I feel now. I'm in a deep hole and it's time to start climbing out. As a benchmark, last week I rode a maximum effort up my favorite climb (Old San Marcos Rd.) and logged a 19:15. By next spring, I need to knock 4+ minutes off of that time.

My team has gone through some changes. The MTB and road sides are now more separated, and each is somewhat smaller. The focus on the road side will be a revamped cat 1/2 team, featuring some ex-pros, assorted speedsters from yesteryear, rising stars, plus all the same stalwarts from 2008 and 2009. If they're firing on all cylinders, they'll be competitive with any amateur team in California. Our masters team won't suck either. Follow all the action at the Platinum Performance Cycling Team website.

Training Week -- 10/19 - 10/25

2009-10-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here we go again... 2010 season starts right now. Trying to remember how to pedal.

Mon: 1.5 hr; around Goleta and Hope Ranch
Tue: 1 hr; around Goleta and Farren Rd.
Wed: 1.5 hr; OSM + Painted Cave
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, max effort produced 19:15. Wow.
Fri: 0
Sat: 3 hr; Hecky ride in SY Valley
Sun: 0

Total: 8 hours

From Dirt to Dinner

2009-06-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

My "if-money-were-no-object" fantasy is to develop and manage a small farm just outside of town along with a small co-located restaurant where nearly all the food is grown or raised on the property. Naturally the menu would be seasonal, perhaps even changing daily depending on the vagaries of farming successes and failures. This fantasy would be the ultimate in eating local and farm-fresh-to-table. For those customers who want a stronger connection with their food, I'd encourage them to tour the farm before or after they eat. Maybe we'd also have a small farm stand to sell any extra produce.

This idea is half-baked at best, but my gut tells me it's doable, although perhaps not particularly profitable. I'd guess 10-20 acres could support a 5-10 table restaurant. That's asking the land to be a lot more productive than what we see currently in our industrial-farming paradigm, where it takes about 1.5+ acres to feed each man, woman, and child in the US. That is a real problem, by the way, because it's almost precisely the amount of arable land available per capita. As the graph below shows, the trends are troubling...

...because our population is growing and our arable land is disappearing (to erosion, depletion, and urban sprawl). What happens when we cross over? Do we become a net importer of food, dependent on foreign countries for our nutrition? Even now, with most of our food grown in the US, the average meal travels 1,500 miles to reach your plate. That's just nuts. And don't even get me started on the environmental damage done by the industrial farming mega businesses. Here's an industrial dairy's manure lagoon to whet your appetite:

Yum... I bet that's some tasty groundwater coming up from those wells in nearby towns. The really crazy thing is that the manure should be a valuable asset to the local agriculture, if it just weren't so concentrated in the feed lots and not full of pharmaceuticals and hormones. For a better way, see Polyface Farms, the place made famous in the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma".

What can you do? Lots of things. Buy local, eat lower on the food chain, grow some of your own fruits and vegetables. For those blog readers here in Santa Barbara County, consider signing the online petition to urge our leaders to preserve Goleta farmland.

...

But anyway... all that stuff above is not what I really intended to write about. All I really wanted to post was the two pictures below.

First picture shows a portion of what I harvested from my backyard on Saturday. The potatoes were mostly a failure because all I got from about 40 sq. feet was a single brown bag full. Most of the plants died from pests or disease. I think next time I'll try to grow them in containers. But everything else in the picture has been wildly successful. We have enough carrots and garlic to last for a year. In fact, I've been giving away most of the garlic. The onions have done well as have the squash. Rosemary is always around.

...and so we combined all that and tossed with some olive oil and roasted it for about an hour. Paired with herb roasted chicken and a mellow merlot, and this was dinner in our makeshift kitchen on our cheapo Corelle plates:

Hello

2009-05-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hi. How are you? I am fine. Sorry for not writing sooner, but things have been really busy here. Thank you for the $20 bday gift ...I will put it towards our remodeling project (more below). Also, please read this letter to Grandpa as I know his eyesight won't allow him to read it himself.

We are in-progress on our home remodel. I have been helping a little bit (abating asbestos, installing insulation, digging dirt) but the major work is being done by a group of real pros. They work hard and we are pleased so far with the results. You can see a chronology of the first three weeks in these photos here:

Despite losing functionality of half our house during the construction, we are managing fine so far. My office has become our living room with couch, TV, and multiple computers. We assembled a makeshift kitchen/dining room in the garage which has actually been very comfortable. Cozy but comfortable.

I don't bike much anymore. I have lost all my fitness but what I miss more is seeing my biking friends on the rides and at the races. I do still get out twice a week for the lunchtime group rides, but I use every ounce of energy just to hang on to the last wheel. On the Thursday climb, I am the last one to reach the top.

Earlier this month there was a bike race in Ventura and I went with Gina to watch. The criterium was right downtown on a really nice looking course with a short hill and a fast final corner. All I can say is that those racers were lucky that I wasn't competing! Haha. (Sorry for the arrogance Grandma... that was just some bike-racer bravado. We're all really fast and strong in our own minds!) Anyway, I really hope the race happens again next year because I want to do it. Maybe you and grandpa can come watch. There's a really good announcer named Dave Towle. I was invited to go onstage with him for the Masters races but I was too scared.

I did take some pictures of a couple of the races. Here are a few:

The 35+ race (that means, all the racers are over 35 years old) looked fast and many of the riders fell out of the group. Past the half way point, these two riders broke away (that means, they rode in front of the group).

This man is from England. He chased after the two riders in front but he didn't catch them. Do you wear Rock-&-Republic jeans grandma?

By the end, one man rode away from the other one. The other one almost caught him by the end, and he probably would have passed him if the finish line was just a little farther! By the way, the man who won is your age. That's why he won I think, because he has had a lot of practice. It also helps that his team picked many of the best players.

Now for the pro race. Why do people call it the "pro" race? Only two or three riders have pro licenses. Anyway, this is a young rider named Eric and he does have a pro license. He won the field sprint but only got 3rd place. Last year he won an exciting race in New York City.

This rider almost bumped my camera. Maybe I shouldn't lean out into the road. Anyway, he got 2nd.

This rider won. Surely he is the fastest.

My teammates raced too. They all did well, finishing toward the front of the pack. My teammate Ron won his race and so did my friend Jane.

Do you remember my little red pick-up truck? I sold it to a nice man who needed a truck. He doesn't speak much English so it was hard to communicate. The truck wasn't running and I was worried he didn't understand that. I gave him a really good deal anyway. His cousin took out the carburetor and rebuilt it and now it runs. Good for him.

I have some sad news also. Our kitty Rocky went missing a week ago. He loved exploring all the construction and he escaped one night after dark. We couldn't lure him back in so we let him stay out, thinking eventually he would come back to the door. He never did. We looked all around the neighborhood and put up signs. We checked the shelters and the vets and put a message on craigslist. Nothing worked.

We are all very sad. Brian has cried himself to sleep a few times. He and Rocky had a special bond; both young men learning about a vast and exciting world. I really miss the way Rocky would come running down the driveway to meet me when I got home from a ride. Apparently he knew the unique sounds of my bike. We all miss him at the dinner table where he would sit with us, hind feet on a chair with his torso and front feet resting on the table, while taking in all the wafting aromas of human food. I miss him following me around the garden with his fluffy tail up in the air.

Wherever you are Rocky, I hope you have a place at the dinner table and a big slice of tri-tip on your plate.

A Not-So-Brief Disruption

2009-04-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have fallen off the wagon. The training-and-racing wagon mostly, but other wagons too. Obviously tumbled off the blog wagon a few weeks ago. "Wagon" ...that's a funny sounding word.

Bicycle racing is, for me anyway, part of a lifestyle that relishes healthy living, hard honest work, and both inward and outward competition. It's a symbolic thread spanning most of my life so far. My first race was 35 years ago, and I hope my last race is 35 years hence. It's also cyclical like many other things in life. Relationships, careers, hobbies,... they all wax and wane at times. Sometimes because passions and interests fade, other times because of demands on your time.

Below is a chart of the approximate number of races I've done in each of the last 35 years.

Some pretty big swings in there. I never raced in college, although I took a year off to see if I could "make it" as a bike racer. I could not ...or did not. I also had some down years when work and family were more pressing. Family is always a higher priority, but sometimes it's possible to devote yourself to both. My kids spent lots of time in feed zones, and when they were young they actually enjoyed it! I don't think that a career is always a higher priority, at least not in the broader sense of balancing it with a healthy active life. Financial responsibility is one thing, but to sacrifice your health and happiness to a career is a huge mistake in my opinion.

All that is a long way of saying that 2009 is shaping up to be a down year for bike racing. Living in half our house while it gets remodeled will be a huge disruption. Further, I hope to offset some expense by doing a portion of the work myself, and that will necessarily be on the weekends so I don't interfere with the professionals. I'm also trying to work more (as in, earning more) and my productivity is not very high after a hard three-hour training ride. My goal for the year is to get eight races so I don't get fired from my team!

Which brings me to this blog... I will continue to write occasionally but please be warned that it will be infrequent and that the bike-racing content will be less. (I say that because my impression is that most readers are from the cycling community.) Maybe I'll try using Facebook more, since it's a speedier way to keep in touch and spew out some scribbles and pics. Here, I'll continue to post the random musings related to gardening, particularly since my tract-house yard is slouching toward becoming a farm, which I find pretty amusing personally. I'll also post about our remodel. As I've said before, I believe there's a real benefit to sharing info and lessons-learned about the process.

So tune in occasionally if you wish. Or not. I really appreciate everyone who has been reading along for the last couple years. It's been a pleasure to write for you. Thanks.

Alice Waters Rocks

2009-03-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

(If the video doesn't work for you, try here instead.)

Update

2009-03-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

...or lack thereof, as it were. One word sums up my life in the last couple of weeks: triage. Some things get critical attention, others are deferred, and some get blown off completely. This blog has been in that last category for awhile now. Not that there's not stuff to write about. Lot's of topics rattling around in that half-empty block atop my shoulders. How about a quick shotgun blast of verbiage on a couple topics, just to keep this blog rolling along...

++++++++++++++++++++

San Dimas Stage Race:
An impressive weekend for Cody with a 2nd place in the Pro RR and a 4th in the crit, and that's against many of the best domestic riders in the US. But do you remember another SB rider to snag the silver in that San Dimas Pro RR not too long ago, getting pipped just barely by Chris Horner?

The Masters races looked interesting to this observer and I'm sure there are some stories below the surface of the results pages. In the 35+, the change from the Day-1 TT to the final g.c. results show how important time bonuses can be, and also how crucial it is to have a solid cohesive team. Chris DeMarchi won in large part because he scooped up nearly 50 seconds of bonuses. Congrats to Chris and his Amgen/Giant brethren:

Greg Leibert used a great TT and help from a solid Cynergy team to claim a well-deserved 45+ win.

++++++++++++++++++++

Training
Uhhhhhh.. next topic.

++++++++++++++++++++

Home Remodel Update
This is starting to get very real. The architect is done and we really enjoyed working with him. It cost around $12,000 but was extremely useful. He was equal parts interior designer, lighting expert, ergonomic consultant, structural whiz, and bureaucracy expediter. He will continue to consult when we start construction. We have two teams bidding for us, and we really like both of them. Unless their numbers are vastly different, we will struggle to decide which to use.

++++++++++++++++++++

Gardening Update
In this triage process of my life, I must admit that gardening is ranking above training on the importance scale. There are certain times of the year when stuff just needs to get done in the garden, and this is one of them. Seasons change and don't wait for you to get your act together.

Some pictures (apologies to those who've seen them already on Facebook):

A while back I bought a Raspberry plant in a 3-gallon pot and it was extremely root-bound and overgrown. I divided the root ball into seven parts and planted them all, figuring maybe half would take. Now, six weeks later, they're all growing and looking really healthy. Across the walkway from these, however, I planted six Asparagus crowns and unfortunately only one has survived. You win some, you lose some... but there's always next year.

I mulched my Strawberries with straw. Novel concept, eh?! Well it turns out that straw is full of wheat seeds, so now I also have a crop of wheat growing in the Strawberry patch!

I just picked seven artichokes yesterday from these thriving plants. I have a recipe for using Artichokes, Fava beans, Garlic greens, Lemon, and Thyme, all of which I can harvest from my backyard right now. By the way, I've also picked a huge crop of slugs from these same Artichoke plants, but I haven't found a recipe for those yet.

First-time potato farmer, and so far they're doing well. Companion planted with Garlic and Rosemary (not shown here because I planted after the picture). By summer I'll harvest them all together and make Mondo's famous potatoes!

Who knew greens could be so colorful?!? See the happy Fava beans along the side of these two beds.

Thinking ahead toward summer... tomato plants started inside. Roma and Brandywine.

++++++++++++++++++++

Lots more to blog about but now I think a training ride is bubbling up on the importance scale.

Random topics I'd like to pursue at some point...

1. "Retirement" is a thing of the past. Why? Prevalence of "defined contribution" plans and the woeful shortfall in people's savings. Those people with "defined benefit" plans will suffer their limited cost-of-living-adjustments in the coming era of much higher inflation. But anyway, why shouldn't people continue working at some level into their later years???

2. Paths kids choose, such as my daughter being baptized and confirmed Catholic despite no religious influence from her family. Lots to cogitate about that one.

3. Commitment-phobia -- What do you do when you see somebody who has an incredible, smart, funny, attractive, fit, and all-around awesome girlfriend, but he seems a bit frightened to take the obvious next step, as in getting married?

That is all. Time to ride.

Training Week - 3/9 - 3/15

2009-03-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

Making every hour count.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1.5 hr; Lunchtime Hammerfest, chasing fast guys on TT bikes
Wed: 0
Thu: 1.5 hr; OSM (17:15) + 154, 4-5 really hard surges
Fri: 0
Sat: 5 hrs; Solvang Century (4:37 for the 100, inc. stops)
Sun: 0

Total: 8 hrs

Note:
- Ronde de Solvang 2009 (Bandit style again ...sorry): A fun day with near perfect weather (cool & less wind than normal). Settled into a great group of fifty or so riders, including C-Ranchers, StumpGrinders, a few SB lone rangers, and of course some of Platinum's finest. First hour was a fast blur. Second hour got a bit harder with some cross wind and false flats where half the group got popped. Third hour went through Orcutt and Santa Maria where we had a couple stops to pee and get water before the traditional start of the "real" racing. Fourth hour was the brutal slog along Foxen Canyon, a relentless false-flat up-hill into a headwind -- valiant soldiers died unceremoniously along this unforgiving battlefield. With 15 miles to go, five riders remained: Seth the Silent Slayer, Derek the Matador (called up from reserves), Chesta-san trying to blow out his last week of freedom in a blaze of glory, Moi barely surviving on two decades of Ronde muscle memory, and M-Dubb-too-early who had spent most of the day OTF in a nightmarish TdG flashback. Four against one ...the numbers favored Platinum ...barely. Not one to play defense, M-Dubb took one final solo kamikaze mission which took us 15 minutes of full-gas 4-man-TTT to extinguish. After being recaptured and realizing his fate was in our hands, the wounded warrior took a couple pulls then quietly drifted away toward the Grim Reaper. Across 154 and Chesta and I went all Butch-and-Sundance on the hill in Los Olivos, then flew down Ballard with help of a couple mercenaries (MM and Victor). 2K to go and Chesta attacked me ...so that's how it is, eh?!? I clawed back and quietly slid my switchblade up my sleeve. We traded pulls into town and through the neighborhoods. He stumbled and I should have shanked him on the spot, but just couldn't do it. Final few hundred meters in downtown Solvang and we were weaving through SUVs, dodging recumbents, and blowing by grandmas on tandems. Then Chester sprinted to a glorious victory. Or something like that.

Ventura County Stage Race

2009-03-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

Lots of hits lately from folks Googling the Ventura County Stage Race. This is going to be a rocking great race. The movers and shakers are attending to a few final details, but you can get previews of the courses here:

Prologue

Crit

Road Race

Those babies look fun, eh?!

[Add/Edit] - In the month or so since I first posted this, the promoter has changed the prologue course. Check the race website for the latest details.

Word on the street is that some VERY GOOD amateur teams were rejected by Redlands this year, in favor of pro teams (mostly) from far-away lands. In other words, Ventura will be the marquee stage race for SoCal riders in 2009. Do it!!!

Youthful Passion

2009-03-09T15:55:00.001-07:00

When you are young, you spend way too much energy on sex...

...to the detriment of your long-term health.

I was told this yesterday by an expert in the field.

You just know how all-consuming it can be...

...whether or not you're getting any.

I blame it on genetics.

We're all wired to propagate the species.

And it's hard to resist instant gratification...

...to hold off in anticipation of sweeter fruit in the future.

But I know in my heart it's the right thing to do.

So today, after looking lovingly at my beautiful young Blueberry, covered in hundreds of tiny delicate flowers each with just a blush of pink...

...I proceeded to cut them all off!

That horny little plant better focus it's energy on long-term growth. For now.

In a few years, Blueberry orgy time!!! Hopefully all five get in on it. Three O'Neil, one Misty, and one Southmoon.

(ps. I wonder if this blog post will get a lot of hits for some reason??)

Training Week -- 3/2 - 3/8

2009-03-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is embarrassing...

Mon: 0; Lazy
Tue: 0; Busy
Wed: 0; Rainy
Thu: 3 hrs; OSM (15:55) + Painted Cave + SB & Goleta
Fri: 0; Busy
Sat: 3 hrs; warm-up + two crits at Research Park
Sun: 0; Lazy and Busy

Total: 6 hrs

Notes:

- I've said before that I don't think people can train effectively when they don't have their head together and/or their stress under control. This is applying to me currently. The economy --in particular, the stock market-- is a source of stress right now, along with some uncertainty about a work project. Actually, my only work project. And still we're going full steam ahead towards an expensive house remodel. It feels like the makings of a Perfect Storm of Financial Doom. Spending 20-30 hours a week in the Bike Game just seems a bit too frivolous at the moment. For me.

- Given the above, there is something appealing about the way triathletes and marathon runners approach their respective sports. They do not race too often, and they accept the concept of "training through" the few events they do leading up to their goal race(s). The emotionally-healthy athletes don't get caught up in their results in each little competition either. Instead they keep their eyes on the prize off in the future. An Ironman tri, or the Boston Marathon, ...or the Tour de France I suppose. I may take that approach this year. I'm thinking of three biggies to target: (1) the Ventura Stage Race in May; (2) the SoCal district RR championships (Elite and Masters) in June; and (3) the Cascade Classic (Masters) and the Elite RR Nationals in late July in Bend, Oregon. I don't know... it feels like it takes the pressure off for some reason. Maybe only because it gets easier to procrastinate the start of hard training... Sigh.

Island View (from the back) Crit

2009-03-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

Sometimes team boss Todd lifts verbiage from my blog's race reports and submits it to sponsors and media. This won't be one of those times.

I think I can speak for all of us Team Platinum riders in the P/1/2/3 Island View Crit when I say we collectively blew it today. We lined up in the back, and a break went from the gun including Cody O'Reilly and some other speedsters from Rock Racing and Team NOW/MS Society. By the time I noticed Cody's absence, they were out of sight. Ten minutes later they appeared from behind having lapped us in record time. Brilliant.

From that point forward, NOW/MS and Rock kept the speed sufficiently high that nobody seemed too interested in trying to to un-lap themselves. We took a couple of shots, including Seth soloing for a lap, but nothing materialized. Choo-choo pulled Cookie up to the front at the end, and Brian got 10th, which is a little bit of consolation.

Cody won so easily that he fell asleep on his bike five minutes after the finish. He was at the Bissell training camp during Mothballs, but other than that, Cody is three-for-three in winning the local crits this year and last. Can anyone challenge him?

And here are the USCF results for your viewing pleasure (since the race was in my backyard, it's only fair that I scoop those "real" news sites like SoCalCycling and SCNCA!)

P/1/2/3 Results. Cool to see some speedy juniors in there, like Sam Simmons from Ventura. No, he didn't take his hands off the bars.

35+ Results. We tried to get organized at the end but couldn't quite swing it. Then our sprinter Brian flatted. Mark Noble is looking really quick. If he can uncork a decent TT at San Dimas, I don't see him getting beat as he'll gather up RR and crit time bonuses like Easter eggs. And he'll have some strong teammates to help. Rock on.

Cat-4 Results. Derek continues to roll!! TnA and Bill Lupo up there too.

Cat-5 Results. Way to go C-Ranchers! And Echelon and UCSB too. But look at that name in 13th place... Aulden Diaz... Aulden Dais... Olden Days... That was Chris "Genghis" Hahn, taking out a one-day license and putting his toe into the water. Will he get hooked? Word on the street is he's notching up lots of vees at the BMX track, so clearly those competitive juices are flowing again. Bike racing -- the addiction that won't ever die.

Tea Time

2009-03-06T10:50:00.001-08:00

Corey Welles can ride a bike very fast, but he is also one smart cookie when it comes to organic horticulture. He's in charge of plant health at Ganna Walska Lotusland, which is home to some very rare and beautiful botanical specimens. Some are literally priceless, with genealogy traceable back to prehistoric times. It's Corey's job to keep those babies alive and thriving ...without using any chemicals. When Corey talks plants, I listen carefully.

And so it was a month or two ago on the Sunday group ride, that Corey told me about the Compost Tea Maker he just acquired for Lotusland. He told me about the beneficial effect on plant health, how the billions of microbes in the tea help suppress plant diseases and discourage insect pests. The plants at Lotusland are thriving and Corey says that Compost Tea is a cornerstone of their operation.

I decided I needed some of this magical brew too. For my plants. So I raced home and jumped on Google and probably spent an extra hour of chamois time researching Compost Tea. Sure enough, the organic gardening community raves about it. The only problem was that the equipment to brew the tea is not cheap. Even the units made for the home gardener ran a hundred dollars or more.

So after a bit more research, I concluded that the key component was really nothing more complicated than an aquarium aerator pump. You see, the crucial aspect of brewing Compost Tea is to oxygenate the water to breed a booming population of microorganisms. So off to the pet store I went, dropped $30 for the pump, and came home to brew Compost Tea. That was a week ago, and my backyard garden seems to have responded nicely, so I made another batch and documented it for your consumption...

Start with water in a five-gallon bucket. If the water is fresh, like from rain or a stream or directly from an underground well, then you're ready to go. Otherwise if it's from a municipal source, then you should run the pump in the water for a while to evaporate off the chlorine.

Next, take a shovel full of compost --about a quart or so-- and pile it on a piece of mesh fabric. You want the fabric to be permeable to water, but you want the compost material to stay inside when you enclose it. It is important that the compost be fully aged, preferably from a hot pile, so that it's free of diseases and pathogens. You want that dark and rich mix that smells like a forest after a rainstorm.

With a piece of twine or string, tie up the edges of the fabric so the compost is inside just like a tea bag. Leave enough extra string so you can hook it to something else so that you can hang the bag in the bucket. A couple other ingredients are helpful. Add a tablespoon or two of unsulphured molasses. This will feed the microbes. You can also add a tablespoon or two of a fish-emulsion/kelp fertilizer as a good nitrogen source for the plants.

Now hang the bag into the bucket and get about your day. The concoction needs 12-24 hours to fully brew.

By the next morning, the liquid has turned the color of your favorite dark beer, and it should have a rich, vaguely sweet and yeasty smell. You'll almost be tempted to drink it! Or not.

Dilute it with some additional de-chlorinated water and use it as a foliar spray, or pour it directly into the soil around your plants' roots. It's important to use it within a few hours because without the aeration, the microbes will begin to die.

So there you go. Homemade organic fertilizer, plus disease control and pest repellent.

Oh Snap!

2009-03-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

Please learn from my mistake...

When --not if-- you break your rear derailleur cable inside your brake/shift lever, do not continue to use the lever. Under no circumstances should you click the lever all the way over (as if moving to your largest cog) because that stupid little nub with the frayed cable strands will drop down into the guts of the mechanism. I just spent an hour doing surgery on that lever to remove it. Shame on me of course, because my shifting was feeling a little ragged last week and I suspected the cable might be fraying but I was too lazy to fix it.

Training Week -- 2/23 - 3/1

2009-03-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

Got some great intensity on each ride.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1 hr; lunchtime hammertime
Wed: 1 hr; Hope Ranch Hell'ervals
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, 17:10, yucky headwind
Fri: 0
Sat: 4.5 hrs; early w/ Gina, then 8:00 roco to/from 2nd Casitas
Sun: 3.5 hrs; Worlds, hard 'til cable broke

Total: 11 hrs

Klunkerz

2009-02-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

In case you missed this cool flick at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival a couple years ago, you've got a second chance because it will play Saturday March 7th at the SLO International Film Festival.

Check it out...

Bad Mulch?

2009-02-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

What happens to all that green waste we put out each week? What about all the debris from commercial tree trimming? Turns out that Santa Barbara County turns most of it into composted garden mulch and offers it for free back to the community. Check out the details here. I gathered some and put it around a couple of trees and they seem much happier, especially my semi-dwarf avocado. I'm sure y'all know the advantages to putting a layer of mulch on the ground... helps retain moisture, adds organic matter and improves soil structure, keeps the nearby roots cool, and suppresses weeds. Good stuff, that mulch.

So yesterday when I saw some city workers trimming the Brazilian Pepper trees on our street, and subsequently feeding them into the mother of all chipper/shredders, I asked if they could dump a bunch into my driveway. Sure thing, they said...

Thirty-seven wheelbarrow loads later, I had it spread around my yard on some bare spots and weedy areas. I was careful not to put this mulch too close to any plants because it was too fresh. As it begins to decay, it will suck nitrogen from the soil underneath, so it could harm the plants initially. It should be fine within a month or two.

Then later, on a whim, I googled "Mulching with Brazilian Pepper trees" and discovered that this particular species is hated in some places (especially Florida) because it's extremely invasive and hard to kill off. A couple sources recommended never making it into mulch. Seems it can propagate from the pieces and if you aren't careful, you'll end up with a forest growing from the mulch. Now you tell me!

Oh yeah, and on my ride yesterday a rabbit ran across the bike path and got decapitated in the spokes of the guy next to me, and blood and guts splashed up on me. It was gross.

Ontario Speedwagon Pics

2009-02-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

Here ...from John Goodman. Excellent as always. Looks like Cat 3s (HeyRon 2nd), 30+ 1/2/3/4, and Pro/1/2/3. Maybe one more... Did Big Derek Johnson win another race already??

Training Week -- 2/16 - 2/22

2009-02-23T06:35:00.000-08:00

Getting back into a routine...

Mon: 0
Tue: 0.5 hr; rollers
Wed: 1.5 hr; Hope Ranch hurt'ervals
Thu: 1.5 hr; OSM, 15:53, dropped by Ben and M-Dub
Fri: 0
Sat: 5 hr; out early w/ Gina, then roco ride to Casitas & back
Sun: 1 hr; OSM, easy

Total: 9.5 hrs

Solvang TT Pictures

2009-02-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

The vibe in Solvang was great. Thousands and thousands of fans, cheering these world class bike racers. Like Rock Stars. We wandered around soaking it up. Then I noticed this guy, the one on the right of the picture with white curly hair. Odds are you don't know who this is unless you've been around cycling for a very long time (or you live in San Diego).

I wonder what he thinks about all this. That's John Howard. He was the best bike racer in the US from the late 1960's to the mid 1970's. A three-time Olympian, four times US Road Champion, and one of the first Hawaii Ironman winners. But even in his prime, he would walk the streets in total anonymity. Nobody knew about bike racing back then. He was the best in the US, yet he barely eeked out a subsistence living racing his bike, sleeping on floors in dorms and youth hostels. Did he ever think his sport would get to this place, where thousands of fans would line a California street to watch a time trial?!

...or that a mass of humanity would crowd around a team bus as if Bon Jovi was inside?!

This sport has come a long way since I first started.

I brought my camera. First set of pictures is of the local amateur riders doing the same TT as the pros (pics of them further down). Each rider raised (or was sponsored) $1,000 to support the event and its causes. Fun to see how the amateur times measure up.

Mike Hecker starts. Mike lives near Solvang and has been leading a popular group ride up there. He raced road twenty years ago and is getting back into it.

Cookie LOVES time trials and jumped at the opportunity to ride, thanks to the generous sponsorship from Platinum Performance.

Gary D'Velo is going to win the 30+ National TT Championships this year. He decided to warm up with the Tour of California TT. He rocked a 33:47 time, which would have slotted him in at 72nd place in the Pros, just ahead of Tom Boonen.

Blingerman did the event for the second year in a row.

...as did Matt "Chicken Ranch" Benko, a clear favorite of announcer Dave Towle!

...and just a few minutes later, they were back!

Platinum boys went really fast.

Picture by Goodman Graphic

Mikey flying in.

Blinger was too fast for me to get the right exposure.

Matt powers through the final 300 meters.

Kisses on the podium! Gary wins, Cookie 2nd, Brent Kay 3rd. Congrats all!

credit: Steve D'Velo, Gary's Dad ...or... Todd Booth?

++++++++++++++++++++

Now some pictures of the GC contenders and a few others...

Some kooky fans on the hill...

Especially these crazy fanatics...

BJM rides by thinking, "Hey, I remember those guys... I can't wait 'til I retire and sit around watching bike races!"

Oscar Sevilla looks like a little kid.

Mancebo.

Chris Horner is one of my favorite riders.

I'm not much of a photographer, and the crowd went crazy when Lance came up the hill. Somehow my one shot was not blocked and I got a decent picture for once. I used the flash, which was a tip given to me by Mark Johnson, whose awesome pictures can be seen on cyclingnews.com and elsewhere on the internet.

DZ is also one of my favorite riders.

What is inside Michael Rogers' skinsuit?

Last to start, Levi...

By the time we walked across Solvang to the final km flame rouge (sp?) they were already back...

For the record, Levi won.

For Drea....

2009-02-19T08:04:00.001-08:00

Re your last comment in the post below: Don't quit your day job just yet.

:)

Food Not Lawns ...Not Bikes

2009-02-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

As you might expect based on the banner at the top of the page, this blog has been predominantly about bicycle racing, albeit with a few other topics thrown up from time to time. It's been a true reflection of my activities and impressions, and my posting frequency is usually a good indicator of how much I'm thinking about bike racing.

Or how little, as it were. Last week I did not use those few precious blocks of clear-weather time to crank out VO2Max intervals or climb tempo pace up the mountains. Instead I planted food. Lots of food. Blueberries, raspberries, asparagus, potatoes, garlic, onions, lettuce ...LOTS OF LETTUCE..., Fava beans, spinach, chard, cauliflower, soy beans (edamame), peas, and basil. My mind was in the garden and not in the saddle. Wait, that didn't sound right...

And it's not completely true either. I have watched most of the Tour of California, and marveled at the Pros' ability to race in horrible conditions. I've also been enjoying the race reports from SB riders who've been ripping apart pelotons all over California. Chesta-san taking a Cat-3 Vee at the UCLA RR in the desert, and C-Walk taking 2nd in P/1/2. Great placings from Chicken Ranchers John, Bob, Matt, and Danny up at the Velo Promo races, along with Derek Johnson and Steve Weixel, with the latter doing three races and bagging two top-10s. Finally, HeyRon, Chesta, and Brandon raced a crit in Brea this weekend, with Ron sprinting to a Bronze. Congrats to all.

I included all those links so you could read about bike racing, because the rest of this post is about gardening...

It's been three or four years since I dug up our back lawn and started a mini-farm. Gina rolled her eyes but went along with it because of the good supportive wife that she is. Besides, the lawn had died by that point and was being overrun by weeds. How much worse could it be? As the picture here shows, I planted crops in the rows-and-furrows style of a real farm. When the plants were mature, it was both productive and attractive.

But it wasn't the best approach. After every crop, I'd need to cultivate the soil and re-form the planting rows. That's pretty harsh on the soil life, and soil life is crucial to healthy plants. Watering was more difficult and wasteful, especially when the plants were young and their roots hadn't yet reached the furrows. Walking down the rows compacted the soil more than the plants like.

Last year I built a bunch of raised beds, shown in the picture here. Each bed has a drip irrigation system on its own valve. Lots of advantages to this approach. First, the soil fertility and life can flourish right where the plants need it, and you need not walk on it or disturb it after every crop. The size of the beds allows easy access so you can plant densely, in the so-called "French Gardening" technique. The drip system allows very efficient watering, and the drainage is good if it rains a lot (like lately).

One of the most exciting (haha) things about gardening is how dynamic it can be. Day-to-day and season-to-season. Californians can grow food year round, especially true here in Santa Barbara. The picture here is from this morning. Mostly greens and root crops are growing now.

Not visible in this picture, but I recently added a few new beds around the sides of the yard and house. Slowly but surely, this farm is taking over my entire 0.2-acre lot! Now if you think that doesn't sound like much room, check out what these good folks have done with the same sized tract-house lot.

Anyway, a few more pics with some details of what's growing now...

Collard Greens, a southern favorite, first time I ever tried growing these. Leaves are tough as leather but get tasty and tender with 20-30 minutes of steaming. I cooked these last week with garlic and onions, topped with bits of bacon. Served with cornbread and pork roast.

Hard neck garlic. Supposed to be a lot stronger taste than the grocery-store varieties which are mostly soft-neck. I'll let you know in a few months. The yellowing leaf tips are a sign that the soil is a bit too wet.

Chard is sure happy though!

Fava beans grow like crazy in the winter. Lots of biomass for green manure and also nitrogen-fixing roots. A great plant to grow. I hope to find a good Chianti soon.

I planted some Blueberries in a special bed that I'd prepared months ahead of time. Added lots of peat moss and some elemental sulfur to get the soil pH down to around 5.0. Blueberries need very acidic soil. If all goes well, they'll make a beautiful six-foot-tall hedge.

Compost is the real black gold. Early results of my son's science experiment shown in this picture. Equal number of spinach seeds planted three weeks ago. The soil on the right has been amended with our homemade compost, a very rich brew of kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and Azomite. The soil on the left was amended a year ago with garden-variety store-bought potting mix. The results are dramatic, both the number of seeds germinating and the size and health of the young plants. We'll see over the next few weeks if the healthiest plants avoid bug problems.

One challenge with food gardening is getting the timing right. Sometimes you want to leave an area fallow, to give the soil a rest, but usually you want the ground to be productive. How to avoid long stretches with barren dirt in the vegetable beds? Easy! Plant seeds in flats and time it so they're ready to transplant as soon as the previous crop is finished. In fact, plant extra and give the "starts" to your friends and neighbors. Then later you can share the bounty.

OK, if you've read this far, perhaps you're interested in building a garden or expanding one you've already got going. Need motivation and/or ideas? Find a copy of "Food Not Lawns". The author is a grass-roots (haha) activist and she's been the inspiration for a growing movement. In Santa Barbara and want local help and advice? Check out the local chapter of Food Not Lawns. Looks like they'll even help you with installation!

This is the wave of the future.

Training Week(s) -- 2/2 - 2/15

2009-02-17T07:18:00.000-08:00

Lots of zeros. Lots of excuses. Rain, sickness, and motivationally challenged. Sigh... A troubling trend: two years ago, I raced my bike when the Tour of California was going on. Last year, I did intervals on my trainer while watching ToC coverage. Yesterday, I sat on my butt to watch nearly an entire stage start to finish.

Mon: 1 hr; recovery pace
Tue: 2 hrs; Lunchtime hammerhood + OSM
Wed: 2.5 hrs; 5X OSM, mostly tempo
Thu: 0.5 hrs; run in the rain
Fri: 0
Sat: 0
Sun: 0
Mon: 0
Tue: 0
Wed: 0
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, slow
Fri: 0
Sat: 2 hrs; SB and back
Sun: 1 hr; OSM, tempo

Total: 10 hrs

Bobke and DZ

2009-02-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Darn it!! Shut out of the raffle prizes once again! Would have loved that pound-o'-Peet's a month for a year! At least Gina and some dork got their picture taken with Zabriskie:

Mothballs Race Report and Apology

2009-02-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

I've been carrying some guilt and unease since the 45+ crit at Mothballs last Sunday, so perhaps a brief race-report blog post will serve as therapy. The competition was typical for Mothballs: a field of around fifty with the usual speedsters (e.g., CBlackRide, Steve Gregorios, Carlos Soto, and Dave Lettieri) and a good collection of all-around fit riders (e.g., Mike Gourley, David Larsen, Kim Bleth, Bill Lupo). Our Platinum squad was the same as last year: Mark BeLukie, TnA, Choo-Choo Brown, and me. Oh yeah, almost forgot... and C-Walker.

We rolled out and within a lap C-Walk suggested we start throwing guys off the front. My thoughts exactly ...you go first! So he does. Naturally everyone reacted, and he didn't get much leash and he was brought back within a lap. Thus began 30 minutes of textbook team attack/cover/counter-attack in which we all play a role. I was proud of our team. Unfortunately, none of our moves ever got more than 10-15 seconds. With 6 laps to go, I made one final attempt with Kim Bleth, but my legs were screaming in agony just trying to roll 27 mph. Back in the field with 3-to-go.

Now here is where I blew it. You see, our field had one other noteworthy rider, a guy by the name of Bert Glennon. I had never heard of him but he was wearing a rainbow-striped jersey signifying a world championship title. Turns out he's the 45+ Scratch Race champion on the track. In other words, he's very fast. I have a closet full of 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths from Mothballs, all "earned" by surfing the wakes of fast guys like him on the final lap. I figured, why not follow that recipe one more time.

What a selfish bastard!

My legs were toast, and I knew that two of my teammates (TnA and Choo-Choo) had good speed. And yet still, with three laps to go, I told C-Walk I was going to hunt for Bert's back wheel and go for the sprint. I found it with 2-to-go... or should I say, I found Dave L. occupying it. Hmmm.... should I try to barge in? Would Dave hold his ground? Best not to find out... not only would that not be cool to do to a friend, worldly ol' Dave could flick me with ease if he so desired. So I settled in on Dave's wheel. Bell lap, and I looked up to see my two teammates Choo-Choo and TnA on the front, driving this train fast. Last lap chaos --as per normal-- and I lost Dave (and thus Bert) in traffic, so I called an audible and tried to squeeze through up the gutter. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't. This time it didn't. Around the final corner and Choo-Choo lost his steam, TnA was bogging, and I'm sprinting from 30 guys back. What a dork. 19th, our top placing.

So, what was wrong with that picture? I'll tell you. C-Walk, Mark L., and I should have been on the front grunting out every last ounce of speed going into that final lap. TnA and Choo-Choo should have had support up there. They could have closed the deal with a just little help from their friends. Perhaps not a Vee, but a podium for sure. I know this, yet I failed to execute on Sunday. At a minimum I should have gotten C-Walk up there. He knows how to race, but he's new to our team and was probably a bit baffled at my selfish attempt to sprint.

So, let me close by saying, "I'm sorry" ...and let's do it right next chance we get.

He's Nuts and DZ Nuts

2009-02-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

Arguably the two funniest characters in US pro cycling will be on stage together this Saturday at the Amgen Conference Center Auditorium in Thousand Oaks. Bob Roll will be your MC for an evening with Garmin-Chipotle Pro Cyclist David Zabriskie. Whenever somebody puts a mic in front of Dave, you're gonna be entertained. He's hilarious. We can only hope Dave's more ...ahem... suitably attired than here:

Bob and DZ will preview the upcoming Amgen Tour of California and will discuss Dave's 2009 Team Garmin/Chipotle.

Look here for more information and follow the link to purchase tickets online up to Saturday. (No tickets available at the door.) Proceeds from the event will benefit the Breakaway from Cancer Initiative.

Then on Sunday, you can roll with Team Columbia on a fundraising ride in Thousand Oaks.

------

BTW, a credible rumor swirls that Team Saxo Bank may appear in mass at the Saturday evening event. Will we hear some pre-AToC smack talk between them and Dave??

Mothballs Crit Pics

2009-02-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just need to shut up and let the pictures do the talking.

Enjoy these beauties from John Goodman...

...and check out Carson Blume's magnifico Mothballs Crit Gallery...

...and these great shots from Kim Weixel, and these great shots from Steve. And still more pictures!

You guys are awesome!

Training Week -- 1/26 - 2/1

2009-02-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

Lacking motivation. Whah, whah, whah...

Mon: 0
Tue: 1 hr; lunchtime HammerHell
Wed: 0
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, tempo
Fri: 0
Sat: 3 hr; College Kids RR, All In from the gun
Sun: 1 hr; Mothballs crit 45+, tired legs, pack finish

Total: 6 hrs

Good Old Poor College Kids Firestone Santa Ynez RR

2009-01-31T20:07:00.000-08:00

Off and on road race over the years, has gone by a lot of names, today's edition used some subset of those words in the title. What a venue. You wonder why Pro teams come here for training camps? Nearly pristine roads and typically awesome weather. Like today. Those of you waiting until Blvd RR to start 2009, hey, check the weather forecast!

But seriously, the UCSB Cycling Team did a terrific job promoting this race and hopefully they raised some good money for their season. Judging by the (mostly) large fields, I'd say they banked a few grand. Nice.

I will start with my own race, because, well, this is my blog. More categories and pictures will follow below, including a stacked pro/1/2 race, but you need to read every word of my race report or else my blog will take control of your computer and then send non-stop love letters from your email account to Britney Spears. [Note to self: don't blog after drinking wine on empty stomach]

You know you're not focused for the race when you: forget your race license, forget your race wheels, and forget to arrange a feed. Fortunately, I remedied the first two before the start. The feed issue didn't dawn on me until my bottles were empty. Doh!

40+, 2 laps for 67 miles, ~45 starters
From the gun, Greg Leibert from Cynergy rolled pretty hard and, shockingly, there was no reaction from the field. Obviously many of these guys are not SoCal regulars. I wasn't about to let him TT away so I scooted on up with two others attached. Couple rotations and we already had a thirty second gap. Hmmm... 67 miles rotating with four guys? Why not? Over the little bump of a hill and we looked back to see Todd Darley (Cynergy), Joe Wenninger (Cynergy), and Dave Gonyer (CA Pools) motoring up. Greeeat, now Leibert had two teammates. Our gap stayed at about one minute for the entire lap. At both turn-arounds, we could see the field was still motivated (with dudes like Mike Hecker and David Larsen pulling hard) so we never let off the gas. Going into lap #2 we were seven, but we dropped two quickly, the numbers really favored Cynergy (3 out of 5). At the far turn-around, with 16 miles left to race, we saw that the field finally cracked and that our gap was safe. On the return leg, Greg was strong and one of his surges popped his two teammates plus Gonyer. Lucky for me, so I started pulling hard and within a few minutes we were totally clear. I was dying of thirst and totally fixated on Greg's half-full bottles. Refreshing water sloshing around... I almost conceded the race in exchange for a swig! (Then I thought about C-Walk and his 90-mile training rides on a single bottle.) Final time up the little bump and I pushed hard enough so Greg didn't try any funny business. If he got a gap on me over the top, with 5 miles of false-flat descending, it would be all over. Fortunately he didn't, and we rotated together until about the final KM, upon which he jumped me after my pull. It was all I could do to pull him back, and then I locked on and he was stuck in front. I jumped at ~200 M and came by to win by half a bike.

30+, 67 miles, only about 25 starters
Small field but stacked. The rumors about Jamie Paolinetti's return are true. He won. We will probably be saying that a lot this year.

Sorry, no pictures of this race other than a hard-to-read list of hand-written results.

Cat 5, one lap 34 miles, 50 riders (full)
I arrived at the hill in time to see the final surge up the hill, led by Chicken Ranch and Team Platinum Performance.

A group reassembled over the other side, but big bad Derek Johnson easily won the gallop to the lime. Congrats Derek!

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.

Here are the rest of the results from that race. Lots of SB locals high up in the placings!

Cat 4, one lap 34 miles, 100 starters (full)
A burner of a race. My Platinum mates rode strong as a team and snagged the silver (Tom Anhalt) and bronze (Doug Urbach). Key work done by Steve Weixel to make it fast into the finale. Crucial for a narrow, one-lane finish.

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.

More SB'ers in the top-10: Ray Turon (Chicken Ranch) and Bill Lupo (Echelon)

Cat 3, two laps 67 miles, big field (not sure of number)
World's strongest Cat 3 --Chesta-san Gillmore-- pounding the hill toward the end of the first lap.

...with Matt "Chicken-Ranch" Benko nipping at his heals. A group of 10-15 formed down the other side and that was that.

A long sprint, with Matt as the highest SB finisher in 4th. HeyRon in 9th and Chesta in 11th. See him smiling back there? [Actually, I forgot to mention that a VERY STRONG rider soloed away from the break and won by a comfortable margin. Not sure who he is, but he was a horse out there! So the picture here is the sprint for 2nd.]

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.

Read for yourself.

OK, until earlier this week, I had planned to do the Pro/1/2 race. Some things happened, including getting a bit of intel that the entire Team Type 1 pro squad would be racing. I wasn't in the mood for that kind of suffering. Throw in a few more random pros, like Aaron Olson and Ted King, and you could pretty much guarantee it would be fast.

The biggest shock of the day was to see M-Dubb lined up to race. No I did not photoshop in a picture of him. He really did it. Hairy legs and out-dated McGuire kit and everything! Very cool to see actually. He should be racing --for fun now-- because he is absurdly strong.

Great to see C-Walk in the new kit and rocking the Specialized bike! Nice to see AO do the local race too.

The boys from SLO (L-R): hardman Ozzie Olmos, wiley old vet Craig Nunes, and Pro Tour rider (!!) Brian Vanborg of Liquigas.

As expected, Team Type 1 dictated the race, and after lots of attacks, they established a select front group which they drove all the way to the line. C-Walk bridged up and rising star Vinny Owens got in there too. I think they were the only amateurs. In the final few km's, TT1 tried to keep the speed high but Aaron attacked them and messed up their plan. Well, not completely, since they still took first and second. Gritty ol' C-Walk hung on for 4th, a damn fine result in that crowd!

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.

Cool to see Cookie rip off a good sprint in the next group. Any sprint in which you nip speedster Aram is a good sprint! Seth was right up there too, an awesome result for his first ever pro/1/2 race.

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.

Yoza... that's a good field for January 31st!

The women's 3/4 race had a great turn-out and Susie Willett popped off a nice 2nd place. Sorry no pic, but here are the results. Cool to see lots of SB riders in there. Good job!

...and Women 1/2/3.

I don't mean to short-change the women's races but I didn't gather any stories or pictures. Hopefully some of our awesome-local-women-bike-racer-bloggers will scribble down some notes for us to read!

For more of John Goodman's incredible pictures, visit his gallery. Thanks for being there, John!

'til after Mothballs.

Oh Cry Me a River!

2009-01-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Wall Street bonuses under fire...

I about barfed a couple years ago when I first heard about the size of the average bonus paid to people working in finance. And when I say average, I mean across everyone in the business, from mail-room clerks all the way up to CEOs and top rain-makers. Nearly $200,000! And you just know that it's top heavy. I think that's disgusting, and way out of whack with their contribution to society, no matter how you define it.

Time to push the reset button on those folks!

Historical data from the NY Comptroller's office:

Too Old School....

2009-01-26T12:53:00.000-08:00

...for facebook? I was just about the last person in the world to get a cell phone, and I was on the same path for facebook. Long time hold out. Not completely sure why but maybe because I nag my way-too-cool daughter for spending sooo much time on it.

Last night I broke down.

Today I spent, oh, maybe 8 hours wandering and searching. Oy vey!

Hey Alicia, do as I say, not as I do.

So now I'm wondering, does facebooking replace blogging?

And also, if we are facebook friends, please don't be offended if do some horrendous breach of etiquette. I'll likely be as socially klutzy on there as I am in real life!

Training Week -- 1/19 - 1/25

2009-01-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm. One week 'til racing starts. Not ready yet but still excited to get it on.

Mon: 1 hr; recovery
Tue: 2 hr; OSM-PC-ECC, tempo
Wed: 0
Thu: 1.5 hr; OSM (15:24) +
Fri: 0
Sat: 2.5 hr; Team ride in SY valley (rain)
Sun: 4 hr; early w/ Gina, then Worlds, then w/ Gina

Total: 11 hrs

RX for Stress: 170 bpm

2009-01-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

The worry wort wakes in the dark and squints to see 2:13 AM. Third night in a row, wide awake. He takes slow deliberate breaths but finds forced relaxation is not helpful. Wife slumbers deep; he's envious. Her shallow breaths metronome like a clock. Thinking of clocks is not helpful. Muffle the sounds by wrapping his head in the pillows. Now the only noise is his own slow steady heartbeat. An internal, inescapable metronome. Another clock.

His mind wanders. And worries. Stupid stuff. ...termites eating away at his house... ...Brian's late science project... ...Alicia driving on Friday nights... ...401K tumbling... ...he should work more... ...which contractor to choose.... ...garage needs cleaning... ...Gina's Achilles tendon... ...kids' college expense... ...should he get up to pee... ...weeds and bugs... ...computer problems... ...oil needs changing... ...Alicia's boyfriend... ...cat barf... ...Brian plays too much XBox...

Repeat.

He lifts the pillow and squints again. 4:48 AM.

Repeat.

Then, finally, sleep. Thirty minutes later he wakes when wife gets up to shower. She makes coffee. He needs coffee. Paper screams bad news in large font. Will BofA be taken over by the government? He paid 50 for BAC; now it trades in the single digits. Sell? Hold? Buy more?

Late morning. Slouching in front of two computers. Despite headache, he's written copious amount of new code. He finally tries to run the program. Crash. Access violation. Who owns this pointer? He looks back at his code from previous day. It doesn't make sense. It might as well be written in ancient Inca script.

Lunchtime. Time to ride uphill.

Small turn-out, pavement is wet. He follows the hairy-legged former pros. They start fast. His legs protest painfully at the rude shock. He considers quitting. The pain subsides, then retreats, mind over menace. He focuses on pedal strokes and breathing. Metronomes. He holds that wheel as if survival itself depends on it. He feels better and better ...alive, rejuvenated. He decides he will beat the hairy-legged tormentor in front, the same one who cracked him last week. Gather the energy, focus inward, hold it, hold it, hold it... Now, Go. He pounds the pedals with fury. No response, no contest.

Back home just as the rain starts falling. Body and mind abuzz and warm. Relaxed for the first time today. He thinks about how fortunate he is. Family is healthy and safe, kids are smart and resourceful. He's glad to have a house that termites can eat, a garden for weeds and bugs to grow, and a job. He feels for those who don't.

Then he thinks how things would be if all the world's people spent some time every day with their heart rate at 170 bpm. An entire population high on endorphins and dopamine. What a world that would be.

Tonight. ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thurbo..... Turbo..... Per-turbo.....

2009-01-18T12:09:00.000-08:00

All means the same thing ...Pain... especially if he's in your race ...which is highly likely since he's out there every weekend, and often does three races a day!!

Read Mark Johnson's excellent article about the legend himself written for Competitor SoCal Magazine. Mark is a pro writer and photog and one of those great folks --like Lyne Lamoureux and Mike Hernandez-- who shine the media light on bike racing here in the US. Our obscure sport has a million stories below the surface, and these guys do the telling with their superb pictures and eloquent words. Grazie!

So... not much to add to the article other than perhaps this. To observe Thurlow at the races, you might wonder whether or not he's really having fun. You could call it a look of indifference ...or perhaps aloofness ...sometimes you'd even have to call it a scowl. But I ask you this, when doing an activity that you've been doing for consistently for 30 years ...take breathing for example... how much visible enthusiasm do you show? I hesitate to guess at the total number of races the man has done, but it's got to be well into the thousands. Think about that for a minute. Is he having fun? The proof is inside the pudding, and maybe doesn't always show on the surface.

But every now and then he lets a bit of the emotion out. Elite Nationals RR, 2008, up against 130 Gggg-gnarly Cat 1's from all around the USA. Super fast race on a windy, hot-n-dry, cranky afternoon. Half way in Turbo scoots across to the big break and, no doubt, goes pull for pull with the big motors up in first class. 'round about 100 miles in, the break starts cracking so Turbo goes off again, this time with just two others, each a hardened NRC thoroughbred ...who happen to be teammates. Do they work T over? Can they? I don't know, it's hard to see first class from the back of coach. Anyway, with the sun setting and 120 fast miles in the bank, the trio sprints for the prestigious Stars-n-Bars jersey. Thurlow gets the bronze.

3rd at the Elite Nationals. Is that a good result? Compared to what? Top-shelf Euro pro victories, top-10 in the Olympics, buckets of major US professional wins, ...Masters 45+ vee at the Ontario Industrial Park merry-go-round?

Well, his non-stop beaming smile after the race left no doubt...

...he's still having lots of fun.

Training Week -- 1/12 - 1/18

2009-01-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

Slapped myself in the face and went out six days this week.

Mon: 1.5 hrs; recovery around Goleta
Tue: 2 hr; roco morning ride, tempo pace
Wed: 2 hr; OSM-Painted Cave-Repeater tempo, around Goleta
Thu: 2 hr; Warm-up + OSM (15:20) + half Painted Cave
Fri: 0
Sat: 3.5 hr; 8:00 roco to 2nd Casitas hill, hard on hills
Sun: 3 hr; OSM-PC-ECC-Arroyo Burro saddle + up/down Stagecoach, tempo

Total: 14 hrs

Roller Wars Continue...

2009-01-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

First there was Fabio...

...followed by some dufus who thought it didn't look so hard...

...which caused some hipster fixie dude to show some truly wicked skills...

...and now this latest volley...

Next? How about a wheelie? Or bunny hopping off onto the floor at full speed?

You Go Girl!

2009-01-15T18:12:00.000-08:00

Seems the nice weather has awakened my seasonal workers a bit early!

Paradiso Perfetto

2009-01-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

Indomitable Spirit of Youth

2009-01-14T07:16:00.000-08:00

This inspires me.

...and makes me laugh.

I neeed some of what he's having!

ps. Hey Chesta-san, look what came in my mail ...30 years ago!

Training Week -- 1/5 - 1/11

2009-01-11T19:27:00.000-08:00

Pretty timed constrained this week so only 4 riding days, but each had some really hard intensity. Too hard perhaps -- my lungs are burning.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1.5 hrs; warm-up + lunchtime hammerfun
Wed: 0
Thu: 1 hr; OSM, 15:57
Fri: 0
Sat: 4 hr; Gibraltar HC TT, 35:04 to the intersection, 2nd place, + around SB
Sun: 3 hr; Worlds

Total: 9.5 hrs

Notes:
- I've always found that the most accurate indicator of my motivation is how much I ride solo versus how much I do the group rides. I may say I'm fired up to race ...rah, rah, rah!!... but the truth is that if I don't get out 6-7 days a week with a lot of solo time in the wind or on rides with 10 kft of climbing, then I'm fooling myself. Actions speak way louder than words when it comes to motivation. And so it is with some concern that I look back on my training the last few months and notice that 90+ percent of my riding is with groups. We're in for a spell of nice weather it seems, 70-degree days and no rain in sight. Do or die time ...absolutely no excuses now.

2008 Race Winners From Santa Barbara

2009-01-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

Reflecting back a bit on the 2008 road season and it dawned on me how many Santa Barbara locals won a race. I can't remember a year with this many. We have a great community of riders and the results show it. Savor those victories y'all... you earned them.

Let's review...

The Southern Nevada Stage Race was the first event of the season and a few locals hit the jackpot in Las Vegas. In the P/1/2 race, Gary Douville won the crit ...barely... over teammate Brian Cook. The great picture was taken by the talented photog duo of Kim and Steve Weixel.

The following day's road race saw two more Santa Barbara winners, with Corey Welles taking the Cat 3 road race and Chris Walker winning the Pro/1/2 RR and taking GC too.

A week later and the World Crit Championships, i.e., the Mothballs Criterium, SB's favorite son Cody O'Reilly blew away the Pro/1/2 field for his first of two local victories. The second was even more impressive, as Cody bested a bunch of speedy pros at the Island View crit. The picture is from John Goodman of Goodman Graphic. Cody also found the podium in the only other local'ish races, with a 2nd at Sisquoc RR and 3rd at the exciting downtown SLO crit. I'd say he won the local B.A.R. hands down ...err, hands up I mean.

2008 also saw the return of Johnny "O" Orach to the peloton. John started racing as a youngun from Santa Maria in the late-80s/early-90s, and quickly moved up to a Cat 2. I recall him having a real knack for getting in the right breakaways, justifying his reputation as a smart rider. After a few years though, he gave up the bike for a pair of running shoes. The bike-racing bug lay dormant until 2007 but, like herpes, it never went away. When big bad Johnny O signed up for the Cat 4 race at Mothballs, those punks never stood a chance. Nice way to start the year -- a vee at Mothballs!

Other local Mothballs champs include Echelon's Ben Barthel in the juniors 15/16 and ageless wonder Carlos Soto in the Masters 55+. By the way, Carlos probably won between 5 and 10 races this year ...and that's not even counting all his glorious Polo Fields victories!

A bunch of locals headed north to race over the Presidents' Day weekend, starting with the Cantua Creek RR by Coalinga. (BTW, did you know that Coalinga got its name because it was Coaling Station "A" for the railroad? ...who says you never learn anything from this blog!) Anyway, Cookie was loaded up with enough coal to ride damn near the entire Pro/1/2 race solo off the front. Cantua Creek is an out and back course, so each lap Cookie could see his pursuers, and vice versa, as the picture shows (from Bo Hebenstreit).

We SB amateur hacks are very fortunate to have so many talented professional bike racers in our midst. And they're all nice people ready and willing to offer help and advice. I took a picture of three of them resting at the top of Bates on some random Sunday. We've already discussed Cody. (BTW, did you know Cody got his name because he was a Code-Blue birth? ...hey, that's the second factoid you learned by reading this blog!) On the right is Kim Anderson, one of the best women racers in the world and widely known as a selfless and dedicated teammate on Columbia, which also happens to be the #1 ranked womens team in the world. Kim won the San Dimas Stage Race in 2008.

On the left in that picture above is Ken Hanson. A year ago, I predicted Ken would win 5-10 races in 2008. I don't know if he made it or not, but considering the magnitude of a couple of his victories, he had arguably the most successful season of anybody hailing from SB. Early in the year, he won the Pro/1/2 event at the Pine Flat RR, proving that he can climb despite being a sprinter. Look at the casual victory celebration in the picture. Later in the year he won a stage in the big-time Tour of Ireland. In August Ken won the hotly contested San Ardo RR.

But unquestionably, Ken's biggest win of the year was at the National Crit Championships in Downers Grove, IL, where he beat the fastest Cat 1s in the USA. Ironically, since he's back on a Pro team for 2009, he won't be allowed to race in his Starz-n-Bars jersey. He'll be gunning for the Pro version in 2009.

Continuing with the SB Pro theme... it was nice to see hard-working nice guy Aaron Olson win the NRC Tour de Nez this summer up in Northern California. All the stages were held around Truckee and the Northstar ski area in the high Sierra, where oxygen is at a premium. Not a problem for hardman AO. At right, another beautiful shot from Lyne Lamoureux.

It's nice when local racers win local races, and look how the Chicken Ranchers dominated the finish of the Cat 4 Island View Crit. Ken Doyle took the victory here, but just in case he faltered, Gabe Garcia was just behind in 2nd!

Gabe got his 2008 victory a few weeks prior by winning the road stage of the San Dimas Stage Race. He was so excited crossing the line first that he let out a blood-curdling yell, the echos of which are still reverberating around Bonelli Park to this day!

Also very nice to see victories by two new SB riders, Seth Zaleski and Steve Weixel. Seth earned his win at the always tough San Luis Rey RR where he soloed the final lap off the front of the Cat 4 field, and just held them off. Steve used a full season's-worth of lessons to earn a smart victory in the Cat 4 field at the San Ardo RR. Mark my words, both Seth and Steve will be very strong in 2009, along with the indomitable teammate Chester Gillmore. A third local champion at San Ardo was Eric Knight from Team Chicken Ranch making his return to racing with a win in the Cat 5 event. Congrats!

The last race of the season, a high-profile pro/1/2 night crit in downtown San Francisco, was won impressively by Daniel Ramsey. I include him as a local because he grew up here before moving south to Ventura. Daniel also won a tough circuit race in Aliso Viejo as well as a couple races back in North Carolina. Big time, Daniel!

Finally, although not a road event per se, it deserves a mention because of how impressive it was. Matt "Chicken Ranch" Benko won the Santa Barbara long-course duathlon in 2008. Even with his big manly physique (see pic at right--Matt, you should totally buy that...$12 at SantaBarbaraPix!), he's able to scoot fast enough on his feet to keep the real runners in range, and then he crushes them on the TT bike. This win was not a gimme by any stretch as 2nd place was a very strong Carl Legleiter who is an accomplished runner and also no slouch on the bike. Good win Matt!

Am I forgetting anybody? If so, drop me a note or comment so I can add him or her for posterity.

Give yourself a hand SB! And congratulations to all the local 2008 race winners and their teams! Here's hoping for good luck and more vees in the 2009 season.

What Else You Gonna Do Saturday?

2009-01-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

It may only be January, but this weekend's weather forecast looks great. Do something different and ride in the Gibraltar Hill Climb TT, promoted by the UCSB Triathlon team.

Register online by Thursday to save ten bucks.

Training Week -- 12/29 - 1/4

2009-01-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

Trying to get back on the horse.

Mon: 0
Tue: 1.5 hrs; warm-up + lunchtime sufferfest
Wed: 0
Thu: 3.5 hrs; Gibraltar Loop w/ Chris + SB and back.
Fri: 0
Sat: 5 hrs; Casitas loop with 8:00 roco group
Sun: 4 hrs; Early w/ Gina, Gary, Steve, Mariann + Worlds

Total: 14 hrs

Proposal for Polo Fields Sprint

2009-01-03T21:38:00.000-08:00

Over the years I've done many of the biggest, baddest group rides in California. River Ride in Sacto, Noon Ride in Palo Alto, Spectrum Ride, Swamis, etc... and I've seen my share of crashes and crazy behavior. I don't mean to be sanctimonious with the following rant because I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to group-ride-induced-stupidity...

...but last week's Sunday Worlds really freaked me out, and I've been replaying a scary scene over and over in my mind. I was in the back of the bunch going into the Polo Fields sprint, and since the pace was too slow, the group (~50 riders) was spread 4-5 wide across the lane. Pretty much clogged. I considered moving up but that would have meant crossing the center line, and since a large SUV was heading towards us in the other lane, I did a quick Physics calculation and determined I'd better sit out the sprint instead. I guess ten or so riders weren't so adept at Physics though, because they had no problem playing chicken with the oncoming SUV to move up a few spots in the sprint. (And just to reiterate, this is an unofficial, artificial line in the road and the rider that crosses it first DOES NOT WIN ANYTHING because IT IS NOT A RACE.) So anyway, predictable carnage ensued when the riders moved back into the clogged bunch to avoid the SUV. Result: four riders down, multiple broken clavicles and ribs among them. But what still freaks me out was seeing the Echelon rider's body sliding along the pavement on the center-line just as the SUV passed by. There was no daylight between him and the vehicle, and I thought he was a goner. That he wasn't squished and escaped with only a broken collarbone is by pure random luck. I wish him and the others a speedy recovery.

Here's my proposal to make it safer: Any rider who finds himself (or herself) in the front within the last mile or so should just bury himself (or herself) to keep the speed high. If you're on the front in that last mile, then it's not your day to sprint. Don't sit up and look for a wheel, instead be a lead-out motor for all your friends behind. Get the speed well over 30 mph and when you fade, just get out of the way. Same thing for the next rider. And the next. All the way into the final few hundred meters at which point only the front 5 or 6 riders should have a chance anyway because at 30+ mph it will be single file. This is basic stuff. Fast sprints are safe sprints. What goes around comes around. You find yourself with lead-out duty one week, and the next week you are in the sweet spot and you can sprint and you don't need to cross the center-line and play chicken with an SUV.

A more drastic proposal would be to neutralize the sprint anytime there's an oncoming vehicle, but that's probably just crazy talk. After all, there is no cure for group-ride-induced-stupidity... you just try to control its worst symptoms.

News Flash... C-Walk Signs with Platinum!

2009-01-03T13:57:00.001-08:00

2009 will be an interesting season, that is for sure.

ps. Anyone want to buy an immaculate top-o-the-line Time road bike?

New Linkage

2009-01-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

New Year, slightly new look, and new linkage over on the right. I loves me some good blogs, and I'm sure there are tons more out there, so please -PLEASE- send me links if you know of good ones to add. I will be looking for more too.

A few comments about the new ones so far, starting with the locals...

bicicorsa -- So fun to see pics from the local group rides! Thanks Carlos and Bill.

Meh-wee-uhn, aka, Marian -- One of two (?) local Velo Bellas (THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!) She's made the mistake of joining our Tuesday lunchtime love fest a few times. That should cure her of any humor and good cheer ...but until that happens, check out her blog.

KK, aka, Kathleen King -- an artist with a cycling problem.

Chuckie V -- The one and (hopefully) only. Love his style and I strongly resonate with his ideas about training, despite his triathlon bent. I moved the link to the locals because he spends the winters in the Santa Ynez valley. He is a motor, as I witnessed him go pull-for-pull with Aaron Olsen last year at the annual Ronde de Solvang Century, until an urgent matter forced him to stop.

Drea, aka, Andrea McLarty -- a speedy local runner who also rides bikes and dabbles in triathlon ...but we won't hold that against her. She balances life as a Mom and as an elite athlete, and you never know what you'll get when you peek into her great blog.

Stuart Sato -- A local, lifestyle triathlete with a healthy perspective on endurance sports. I've never met Stuart, but we share a love of making fun of Brian Cook. Plus my wife knows his wife, and they make fun of us behind our backs.

SB Tri club -- These people always seem to be having fun ...maybe us stuck-up, socially-awkward roadies could learn something from them! (BTW, that's a joke so don't send me nasty emails...)

Moving beyond the South Coast of SB...

Pizza Man, aka, Chris Phipps -- A runner turned cyclist who's now a billy-goat beast, climbing about as fast as anyone in California. Wanna know what it's like at the front of M35+ road races?? ...read his blog.

Paul Mach dot Com, aka, Paul Mach dot Com -- Just another Math PhD candidate racing in the domestic professional peloton (as Bissell teammate of Cody). I wish everyone took cycling as seriously (ha-ha) as Mr. Mach.

The Manley Report, aka, Todd Manley -- His blog is your #1 go-to source for everything you ever wanted to know about being a 6'9" former basketball player transformed mid-life to bike-racing addict. Trust me, of all the web sites out there on this topic, Todd's is the best.

B.L.O.G., aka, Tracy Nelson -- While not a new link (just a name change), she is so freakin' funny that I had to list it here.

BJM, aka, Ben Jacques-Maynes -- A top domestic professional racer, playing the bike game and being a Daddy at the same time.

Podium Cafe -- A good thoughtful source for news domestic and euro. Lots of readers and lots of comments.

Bike Snob NYC -- An all-star blog if ever there was one. Who knew there was cycling in New York City?

Smithers in Minneapolis, aka, Chris Smith -- An industry insider with lots of (good) opinions about things cycling, politic, and life.

Blog on Vacation...

2008-12-22T21:34:00.000-08:00

...for a little while. Have a happy holiday.

Training Week -- 12/15 - 12/21

2008-12-22T21:31:00.000-08:00

Weak week due to rain and work.

Mon: 0
Tue: 0
Wed: 0
Thu: 2 hr; OSM easy, then to SB and back.
Fri: 0
Sat: 4 hr; 8:00 roco, rode hard to 2nd climb
Sun: 3 hr; Sunday worlds, hard around Goob and Bates

Total: 9 hrs