Marco Off the Mark

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

From Eddy Gragus...

2008-04-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

Just got the following comment regarding a post from last year. Actually, it's a response to Nick Nitro's comment from that post and is in reference to deals riders make about not sprinting. Since the post and the comment are buried in the archives, I'm bringing it to the front here. Besides, it's from Eddy Gragus who was a very accomplished rider in the US back in the day. Usually the pros and ex-pros just lurk on this blog ...I just know it... but maybe they're all too intimidated to comment...

Anyway, here's the comment:

"Regarding the comments on May 22, 2007 I would like to defend myself a bit. It appears as though not everyone knows the complete story of myself, Gaggiolli and Huber that day in Santa Rosa. The real story was that Gaggiolli and myself jumped away on the first lap of the race and I had told him that I would not sprint, because I knew this guy could beat me anyway. So he and I stayed clear on the wet and technical course for half of the race and I put in my share of work. Half way into tht race Huber brdged up to us and I told him that I would not sprint for the win. He scolded me and said that, "you won't sprint for second either." I called BS on this and as we approached the finish line I stayed true to my word. I didn't sprint for the win. As they let Huber or Gag, I don't remember which, go ahead by about one meter I threw my bike to get second, which I felt I deserved because I did my fare share of work the first half of the race. They freaked out! How could anyone disrespect the Coors Light Team. I was a slolo rider in those days and was just trying to get from one race to the next, and I would do what it took to do that, but I kept my word when I gave it, and this was no exception. That day pretty much made me a mortal enemy of their team for the season and they did not give me an inch. Still, I managed to beat them, without a team, in Casper Classic and several other races before turning professional. That is my two sense and if I have anything to recomend to younger riders reading this it would be: Don't give people sh** but don't take it either, never.

Eddy"

Thanks for commenting and setting the record straight!

BTW, this is a cool pic I lifted from his blog...
Beating Lance Armstrong at the night-time crit in Austin of all places!

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.

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!!!

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...

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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.

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Training
Uhhhhhh.. next topic.

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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.

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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.

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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.