MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope you get some time off work to enjoy the season, and have some fun.
I have to pay for my sins of the past year and only get 1 day off!

Have a great Holiday

Mick

No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes!

Well today was one of those classic northwest winter days, rain and 38 degrees, let's hope we don't have too many more.
Due to the fact that I didn't ride yesterday, plus the several pounds of chocolate I must have eaten at work this week, nothing was gonna stop me riding (well ice or snow would) today.

Low and behold, others had the same idea, as we had 10 show up for our team ride, and the Byrne Invent guys, who were originally planning on doing Snoqualmie Falls (that wasn't gonna happen!) had a good turnout too.

It was a nice ride around the lake if, like Stoked and I, you had enough clothes to keep you warm. The fact that everyone was on their rain bikes, and the weather kept the pace more mellow than has been the past few weeks.

We did the CycleU TT on weds too, and I'm happy to report my time was back to my first effort, 15.11. My next one is Jan 9th, I think with all the holiday goodies Stoked has been making, my chances of breaking 15 mins are nil, maybe Jan 23rd?

Crazy CCX riders

I went to watch the USGP in Portland, I was impressed by the toughness (or stupidity?) of those guys and gals racing in horrible conditions.
Here's a Frazz comic appropriate for winter riding that Splinter Wrenn posted

http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/archive/images/frazz2007121018501.gif

Ireland and Other Events

Well, I'm not going to post any pics. Just want to say I had a fine time in Ireland, didn't drink as much as I might, being as I was the designated driver for the duration. I made up for it in pastries and cookies! That's all I ate between breakfast and dinner, washed down with tea or coffee, of course.
My sister and her husband had a slide show on Sunday evening, of their trip to India.

November 28th,

Well, a week later I discover this draft post!!! Happy Thanksgiving ;-)

Yes, my sister and her husband went to an Orphanage in India and spent 3 weeks cleaning it up and bought bedding and replaced windows with money they raised at their church in Ireland. Really cool gesture and an adventure for them too.

We then had a great turnout for the Thanksgiving day ride to benefit Northwest Harvest, with donations totalling $1,500 when all is said and done. Thanks to all who came and donated.

I took a day off work today, as I had two dentist visits to do, I had my crown put in this afternoon. First I went to the Orthodontist and discovered how much that treatment costs! more than my TT bike cost .... and she wants me to wear braces for 2 1/2 years. I do think I need to do it, as it will pay off in the long term, at least I hope.

I'm going to Portland this weekend to watch the US GP cross races, and help Gavin Mannion with anything he needs for the race. I raced with his dad in Ireland in the 80s, before he emirgrated to Boston. Gavin is 3rd overall in the Junior series heading into this weekend, chasing our own NW starlet, Steve Fischer.

M

Buckeye

I just want to tell everyone that has a CycloCross bike to appreciate what pnwbuckeye is doing for you this weekend and go out and RACE the Washington State CycloCross Champs as hard as you can.
You see, after suffering their first loss of the season last weekend, the Ohio State Buckeyes football team is playing a must win game (against the hated Michigan Wolverines) to get to the Rose Bowl, and their #1 fan is promoting a bike race for YOU!
So, go out there , have fun, and thank Joe for putting on great bike races. I would go but I will be on the other side of the world, visiting the old country (After last years efforts, there's no limits to how far I'd go to avoid a 'cross race).

Have fun, race hard and wear speedo's! and maybe gold body paint?

Mick

Good Weekend of Training

We had a dry weekend in Seattle, a rarity for November. As Stoked was out of town I got a long ride in on Sat, and another good ride in today.
We had This Guy and This guy on our ride, they ride on this guys Team. It was windy, and we rode across the Lowell Snohomish rd, the first guy tore our legs off, he was on his race bike, mind you.
After the ride I put new chains on both our bikes, hope they work ok! I also discovered we both, especially me, need new pulley wheels on our derailleurs.

Slainte

Breaking News

Stangelator posted to his Blog Enjoy, and let's take bets on when his next post will be!

I did the Cycle U 10k computrainer TT tonight, I forgot how to suffer, and got spanked, by a non racer, at least I think he is. He should be racing if he can do a 14.55 for that 10k! I did 15.11, only 8 secs off my best last March!

I will wear Axley (or Ginny) on my jersey for at least one race next year if Pruitt can break 15 mins!

Hasta

Thanksgiving Day Benefit Ride

Thanksgiving Ride to Benefit NW Harvest *
For at least the fifth consecutive year, members of the Seattle bike racing community will gather on Thanksgiving morning for a ride to benefit Northwest Harvest. Thanks to the generosity of local cyclists, this ride raises more than $500 each year for local food banks. The minimum suggested donation for the ride is $5 per rider. Riders will gather at 9:15 in the Leschi neighborhood for a social-paced ride around the south end of Lake Washington, departing at 9:30

Be there or be square.....or too round after dinner!

Gossip Column

She was 12 when he won his first tour?

Ashley Olsen dating Lance Armstong?
Actress Ashley Olsen is reported to be dating former Tour de France winner Lance Armstong.
According to US reports, the pair were spotted socialising together twice this week.
People magazine reports that the 21-year-old actress was seen with the 36-year-old cyclist at the Rose Bar in the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York on Monday night.
A source told the magazine: : "Lance was hanging with her, definitely. [Olsen] was very flirtatious, and was sitting on his lap."
The pair were also reportedly spotted at the Waverly Inn restaurant in New York on Wednesday night.

The Acrobats

That's the new local team that are gonna be the crit kings? Oh, I mean Adobe ;-)

Well, I got two nice rides in this weekend, south on Saturday and North on Sunday, and wet both days. It was the first good weekends riding I've had in about 6 weeks.

I also got my measurements for my new frame, will send them off tomorrow. It's gonna be a sweet custom job, you'll all want one when you see it!

Stoked has a fun team put together for next year, they are all excited to race and have fun together. That's what it's all about.

Later, Mick

Dog days

Well, It's about time to post again, but will I?

Maybe this weekend. Not much motivation for anything lately!

At The Dentist!

Went to the dentist this morning, It had been too long.
Now I have to pay! The bills are already looking to be in 4 figures, after Insurance pays their share. And that's only the beginning.

Do I want to spend mucho $$$ on braces?

Reality

Well, that day of rain sure brought an end to any hope of riding anything but fender bikes for the rest of the year.
That on top of two days in bed makes racing seem like months ago!

Work has not been much fun lately, don't know what's gonna happen there. Suddenly, after 9 years I've become a problem? To a manager who is 1 year with the company, and complaining will only make it worse. I expect to get demoted in the next few months. What the heck?

I am going to visit family in Ireland for 4 days in November (plus 2 days travelling), hopefully I won't go "Postal" before then!

Post Racing depression?

Not been feeling too chirpy this past week, is it post race depression, or the fact that my boss has been busting my chops? I even lost my "ride friendly" work schedule....That Sucks.

Oh, Yes go out and buy a MARCROFT winter bike!! or 'cross bike, If you're into that madness.

Ring of Pain?

I know it's been forever since I blogged, we've had some good races, some not so good. Now this weekend was the 3rd annual Ring of Fire 12/24 hr TT. Martha did it last year and says she had a really good time (the 12 hr version) and she brought me to do the Deschutes River TT festival in April and I really enjoyed the suffering on the Tandem there, ably provided by George Thomas and Terri Gooch and their new baby Amelia.

Well, we decided (or, I was told?) to do the 12 hour version on our Tandem, so as Martha did 186 miles last year, we had to do 200 on the Tandem. That was no easy deal, as we had to do almost 15,000 feet of climbing, most of it on the same climbs as ther hardest stage of the Mt Hood Classic did this year. We started next to last and had the defending champion and ultra distance stud Kenneth Philbrick in front of us, so we never got to see him, we did pass some riders before the climb up to hwy 35, but seemed like we were not going very fast, 8-10mph, plus 2 pee stops and two food stops, how were we going to make 200 miles?. We just kept pplodding along and made it back to Maupin for the 27 mile "night loop" after another bathroom break, we hit 112 miles in about 6 1/2 hrs. The night loop started with a 3 mile climb, followed by a flat 4 miles, 5 miles downhill and 5 miles of hard rollers (on a tandem anyway) then another 1 mile down to the Deschutes River and a 9 mile flat ride along the river to Maupin, or something like that anyway! I know that doesn't make 27, but It was about those distances.

Everything went fine, with stops of about 2-3 mins when we got to the start area at the Imperial Hotel in Maupin, we did 3 laps and need 7 miles for the 200, with 42 mins to do it, I believe. Well with 3 miles uphill, and us getting tired it was not as easy as it sounded, we did make it though, so we were crowned Ultra Cycling's 12 Tandem North American Champions with a total of 200 miles.
When we stopped, we had to turn around and ride back to the Hotel (you tell George and Terri your last mile marker reached when your 12 hrs are up) I almost passed out and HAD to lie down, was in a bad way. Lucky for me, Mike Rogers was passing ( he had to abandon because of flu like sympthoms) on his way home, but was nice enough to take me back to town, thanks, Mike, I owe you a beer!

There was not room for Stoked in the car, so she rode the Tandem solo back, what a woman!

So, now despite my late ride implosion I am thinking of taking on Race Across Oregon , solo in 2008! I think the hardest part will be getting two people to drive support for 35 hrs at 10-30 mph, if all goes well.
Anyone out there want to spend a weekend in a car next July??


Crazy old fool, I am.

The "B" Team!

Never underestimate the power of the B team......State TTT Champions 2007

Results are here

Though, I was sorry to hear of the Crash the Garage Team had, I'm sure they would have had a fast time. Jason, Flavio hope you heal quickly.

MotionBased

Tues 14th Aug,
Well if this works, here's the link to my MotionBased training log. Just click on "my Activities".

I do ride slowly, don't I.

More than a month?

Since I blogged!

Well, I've gone from work to bed to car to race non stop since then, seems like it anyway. Went to , Bend,Eugene,Corvallis and Bellingham on weekends and Pacific Raceways on Tues nights Seward Pk on thurs nights.
Anyway, this weekend was Bellingham Omnium State Champs, I raced Pro/1/2s and my results will prove that I was the oldest guy in the race, my TT was slow (relative to the 17 guys who went faster anyway!) my Crit was ugly, this old body can't go THAT fast from the gun, I wasn't very good at that even when I was younger.
The RR was a bit better, though the result, DFL was not. I had teammates in the top 4 of the race and the BAR standings too, so I could just "have fun" and drive it on the flat section so no breaks would get too far. Well It hurt me, maybe everyone behind just felt sorry for my feeble effort and said nice job as they passed me on the hill. I would get back on each of the first 3 laps and go back to the front for the flat section. Last time up the hill I was "done" and just rode in on the small ring to the finish.
I downloaded all the info from my Garmin 305 onto the Motionbased website and it looks real good, some cool functions on that website if you have a Garmin, or need a good bike computer get a Garmin.
That's all I have,

Mick

Tandem TT

I know I did Sunday before Sat, but there it is!

Stoked Stoked for me in a 40k TT in Peroria (outside Corvallis) on Sat. Well we saw how fast a sub 50 min 40 k looks! Nick and Dan (don't have time to look up the correct spelling of their last names now!) from Hutch's in Eugene did 49.36......
And we were happy with our 53.03 for a new course record for mixed Tandems, I think a mixed tandem rode a 40k there 8 years ago ;-)

Gotta go

Yesterday was the State Masters RR at Longbranch, and arriving at the finish we had 3 bloggers out of 4 racers, also 2 sprinters and 2 guys who couldn't sprint out of a paper bag!!

Well we gave it our best, I was inches out of 2nd


Result 1st Rob Campbell
2nd Todd Gallagher
3rd OAD
4th PNW Buckeye

Blogger won't let me title this post??

Hectic Schedule

We have been spending, as I said in the last post, a lot of time in our car.
We did OBRA Tandem Champs in Eugene, then Mt Tabor Circuit race, followed by Elkhorn and back to Eugene this past weekend for the OBRA Senior RR Champs.

I've had some good results, some not so good! The highlight was winning the Dooley Mountain Stage of Elkhorn in the masters, solo for the last 5 miles. That netted me 3rd overall (I started the day 8th) and 2nd in the FIAC National Championships.

This past weekend I attempted the Oregon Senior RR, and hoped for a good result. The day started off badly, as I awoke with a terrible headache and neck pain. I slept most of the way on the drive down from our hosts house in Portland. That didn't help much, I started anyway, but with Even Elken,Doug Ollerenshaw, Aaron Olson,Ryan Treefarm and Barry Wicks all in there, I figured I should try to get away before them, 'cause I sure wasn't going to go with them!! I tried, but I just felt terrible (legs weren't too bad, but my head and stomach felt crook as they say in Oz)
The break did go early, but ALL the big guns were in there, Dave Zimbelman included, a 50+ big gun there. I couldn't do anything and quit at the feed after 2 1/2 laps, as Martha was doing neutral feeding for my teamate/promoter, Sal.

So, PR and a Tandem ride with family on the 4th, then back down for Corvallis and the OBRA Tandem TT on Sat, then back up for the Washington (yes, a race in Wa!) for the Masters RR Champs at Longbranch on Sunday.

Happy 4th

Road Warrior

Ok ,so we're in our travelling to Oregon every week mode. I think I'll be doing 8 staright weeks driving south, while Stoked crochet's hats! ( no she does at least her fair share of driving too)

Went to Hood the first weekend in June, then to Rehersal RR the next week, where we raced Tandem. We managed to roll off the front on lap 2 of 3 and only one other Tandem came, several captains had raced the morning race too, so we had an advantage there. The bike that came with us seemed quite strong, and when I jammed our chain on the main climb I was wondering if we'd be able to catch them, but we did.

It seemed like they (Mike and Monica) were fading on the last lap, so I tried to go as hard as we could last time up the hill, hoping we could descend at a reasonable speed (not our strong point!) and have a gap for the last 3 miles of flat. We had a gap, but were almost afraid to look back, we did and both of us thought they were right there, so we kept the pressure on (30-32 mph on the flat road). Well seems like when they saw our gap they decided they weren't going to catch us and just rolled in for second place. I wish we'd have known, those last few miles were painful!

This past weekend we again drove down to the Hobson household on Saturday afternoon to race Mt Tabor on Sunday. I managed to do 2 races, but that was painful! I was not worth much in the 1/2 race after racing hard for 13 miles 2 hrs before?? I guess that's 'cause I'm "old as dirt"

I did manage to get 3rd place in the masters, also winning one of the 2 primes on offer, and being away solo for 3 laps? and getting caught with 1 1/2 to go.

Next up is Elkhorn, and I know of a couple of fast guys who'll be out to make up for not finishing in their usual top 3 placings, due to different circustances beyond their control... It's gonna be a battle from the get go.

Hood

Wow, what a great race! Just a bit too Hot for me.
The masters race was dominated by Dan Martin form California, who with 2 teammates beat the Super fast AMD-Discovery team.

Anyone out there who won money, I urge you to contribute it to the Ryan McKnab fund (he's the guy who crashed in the cat 4 race in Silverton) check out his recovery at www.ryanmcknab.blogspot.com

Of course it's cool and wet this week?

A WIN!!

And don't say I poached ;-) Clint Chase or Matt Hill wouldn't like you then.

Yes, I won the Wenatchee Omnium for Masters A overall, plus the Malaga RR (I must add Kerry flatted 2nd time up the climb!)

Of course I'm coming down with a cold now! Might take a sick day tomorrow and try to recover.

Hey, I've been using wedges on my shoes to get more power from my pedal stroke, they work really well. They only cost $24.95 and I would suggest everyone try them out. I just feel like I'm getting more power in my pedal stroke, and you all know how screwed up my pedal stroke looks!!
Contact Paul Swift at , paul at bikefit dot com and tell him I sent you, you will be glad you did it.

Kungfuku and things

Wow! What a surprise to most of us, Chris Daifuku took the State RR in fine style last Sunday for Team First Rate. He did have two great breakaway companions who worked really well with him. What can you say about David Zimbelman? At 53 yrs old tearing the legs off guys less than half his age!
There was a bad crash that took out Neil Casserly, who broke his arm and cut his face pretty badly (I've been there), so hang in there Neil, we're thinking of you.

Wenatchee is this weekend, I'm racing masters, unlike Mr Z, I am too slow to climb with those young guys, who can ride, and rest as much as they need.

I see Team Axley are skipping Wenatchee, to "poach" the TTT in Oregon ;-)

That reminds me everyone's favorite rider shall be know henceforth as Popeye. Rob hurt his back getting his "Yacht" ready for the trip to Longbranch, and it was noticeable in the race, he was not his usual self.

That's all I've got for now.

DOPERS SUCK

So, go leave our sport alone!!!

From www.cyclingnews.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/may07/may07news3

Predictions?

So, Who's gonna win State RR this weekend, Cat 1/2 men and Cat 1/2/3 women?

Campbell? Tubbs??? Pruitt??? Stangelator?? CYCA?

Women...WOW!

That Hurt!

Well, everyone said we would fly on the Tandem on Stage 3....NOT! It was really hard to get going on a 4 mile climb to start and it didn't get any easier for the other 22 miles to the turnaround.
All the guys behind us caught and passed us, most before the turn.

Stoker has a good report on her blog.


What happened at Elma?? I guess you'll say don't go poaching Oregon races if you want to know what happens in Wa ;-)

Any, or should I say how many?, wild happenings at Big Sissy's Birthady Party?

Warm Weather

Wow, it's nice to race in warm weather, just two layers and a 9am start.

The first of today's two TT was a 26.2 mile loop, that started out with a gradual 4 mile climb. We just tried to keep the tandem moving going up there, but managed to pass a few bodies, including the 2 other tandems in the race. We got spun out on the descents (still waiting for the 55t ring that is on B/O) but 40-42 mph coasting was ok with me!
We ended up 11th overall for the race.
The big shocker was Dave Z beating Kenny, CYCA didn't like that, so took it out on Dave in the hill cimb in the afternoon.

All the results are here http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/deschutes_results

It's soo nice here our hotel in right on the Deschutes River, and with the warm weather we can just sit on the patio, after dinner (a big burger and fries, with a beer!) and listen to the river flow.

Tomorrow is a 48 mile out and back tt that starts up a big stinkin' hill and is usually tailwind out and headwind back, should be "intesting" to say the least.

Cheers.

Maupin TT Stage Race

Today was spent prepping then driving to the beautiful town of Maupin,Oregon for the Deschutes River TT stage race. The race is organised by George Thomas and Terri Gooch, endurance cyclists and now proud parents of baby Amelia. George and Terri also promote the Race Across Oregon in July, a 520 mile epic that someday, I would like to do.They also promote the Ring Of Fire 12 and 24 hour TT here in Maupin in Sept, Stoked did the 12 hr version last year.

Oh, did I mention we are doing this hilly TT stage race on our Tandem?? Hope we're on speaking terms at the end of it all, 'coz we are hoping to do the 12 race in Sept on the tandem too!

Kenny came down too, and we stopped off at Salmon Cyclery owned by super fast David Zimbelman, he of national road champion 50-54 in 2005. That's a nice shop in The Dalles, if you ever get a chance to drop by. Dave has lots of his jerseys and other memrobelia on display.

Here's a pic of my bike especially for TEC4

I might actually get to do reports from this race as there is no TV in our room, though we do have Internet access...Obviously! I might get sidetraked surfing the many sites I gaze at on a regular basis.

Anyway, have a great weekend,

Mick

The New Bike

Well, if I was so inclined I'd post a pic of my new DBR bike with SRAM gruppo, but you'll just have to come out to a race and see it (if you care!)
Our team did get hooked up with our cool new smith shades thanks to Greg "Chopper' Randolph.

Sunday I raced near longview, on a really hard new course. I got to suffer behind Kenny and Chad Hartley ( had big trouble breathing and was throwing up too!) while they bridged a 90 sec gap to the winning break. They then proceeded to drop everyone up there too. Chad nipped Kenny in the uphill finish. According to reports Chad won it with his intial surge and Kenny could not quite get to him, holding all the way to the line at about 1/2 a bike length.

This weekend we're doing the Time Trial Stage Race in Maupin, Oregon...on our tandem!! Sunday is a 48 mile hily windy TT, should be interesting. Nice thing is we will have some competition for the first time this year.

Time to go back to work. Unlike others, I don't get paid while I blog ; -) So no parties over here.

Take Care,

Mick

Life on Two Wheels?

Peer pressure to blog!! Curly made me do it.

I've just been training like a crazy man, hoping I can do more than get dropped by LFGs big and small. Now I'm just really tired.

Anyway Stoked is taking all the blogging spotlight right now, even Prudog has been quiet.....for once!

No Walla Walla for me this weekend, though. We'll just go down and do the new Three Rivers race on Sunday.

Weekend Off

Well no racing for me this weekend.
We had a nice long Tandem ride on Saturday and a ride to Carnation for Coffee on Sunday, I was glad I wasn't racing 'cause I felt like poop until I got my Coffee!

Then I watched some Golf, hoping Padraig Harrington (Joey's Cousin) might win the masters, but alas it was not to be. I have been very pleased to see my favorite Football team, Liverpool, doing well lately, though they are too far behind Man U and Chelsea in the English league, they just need to not loose too badly to PSV on weds and they are in the Champions League Semi Finals. This is REAL football, I'm talking about, you might know it as soccer; -)

Anyway we went to see the Boat Street crit on Sunday evening, and I was sorry to see it rain for those guys, though glad I wasn't out there. Poor Chad Nik obvoiusly spent too much time in warm weather, cuz he got dropped from the break. The only reason that happened was too few clothes on no way was he getting dropped, he's too good a crit rider for that.

The race was quite exciting, Russell Sevenson had a good attack with about 6 mins to go, but in the end it came down to a 6 man sprint, and of course CYCA (ok Curly?) oblidged, as he ahd done for the $254 crowd prime and the $100 prime a few laps later. What a guy, he's showing no signs of slowing down approaching 40 years young.
I heard one of the masters racers saying when Kenny rode away from them he looked like he was on a training ride, all he was missing was the rack and bag on the back of his bike!!

As of writing I might actually be going to PR with Stoked tomorrow evening!! I think I've been there once in my 12 years racing in the Seattle Area, so look out!

Going Nowhere...slowly!

Well, I've spent the past month racing and training, with little success! At least I've lost some weight, but I'm not getting very fast, despite what PruDog says.

I did manage to swing a new work schedule that will get me outta there by 3.45 to ride, still getting used to that, but hopefully I will get some good rides and the occasional midweek race. Then I will be good for the Stage Races coming up later in the season.

The downside to all that is that I have do drag my sorry a** out of bed at 5.15am every day..Stoked is not very stoked about that!! Especially when I toss and turn, snore and snort and the other ;- ) constantly, so she ends up with about 3 hrs sleep.

Personal to Prudog, watch out for The Overatted Sissy aka "Bridge" He like to bring married women out to lunch, be warned and tell Mrs Pru to order the most expensive item on the menu if he does take her out, he got a HUGE pay raise from Boeing this year.

Well that's it for me for another month or so!


ps What a crazy weekend of racing this was, me, Kenny and Brian Ecker were useless on Sat in Bellingham and quit at halfway, but today at Piece of Cake we were better, 2nd for Ecker to Doug O, and Kenny 5th (2nd in pack behind Even Elken) I even managed to get into a couple of moves.

Racing?

Sorry, no jerseys here...the jerseys I won are all full of moth holes!

Just got a new schedule at work, 7am to 3.30pm. That's good and bad, I get to train ( note I didn't say train more!) but I have to get up at 5.15 am to do it. You might think that's not so bad, but probably in the first 28 years of my life I Never, or VERY rarely got up before 7am!

Last weekend was Mason Lake and Ice Breaker TT. I was not very good at either, I did manage to eventually get to the front at Mason Lake with two laps to go, but that only lasted about half a lap and I was VERY happy to see the finish. Didn't even have the energy to chit chat with Jamie!

I guess I'm not Mr Early Season anymore, I always took pride in being on good form from the get go, but the last couple of years have eneded that. Hopefully I'll be good again in June and July, like last year!

Nine O'clock already!! Bedtime...see you later


And Keep your stick on the ice!

Seasoned?

Well, I did my first race of 2007 today, considering I did my first bike race in 1977, I would say grizzly rather than seasoned!
The race was the Frostbite TT in Lowell, which is a suburb? of Everett (How bad can it get!) and we rode 4 miles towards Snohomish turned and came back!

I did ok, considering I had to stop on my saturday ride at a Starbucks and wait while Martha rode home and got the car!! I just had no energy, but today was better. No results yet, but compared to the young uns out there, I did ok. Adrian H beat me by a little over 1 minute for 8 miles, not great but after the off season I've had It will have to do. My time was 18.15 (I timed it at 18.10, but what can you do?)
We also did our first race on the Tandem, it went well. I was just happy to have nailed the turnaround, without looking like an idiot. Our time was, by my computer, 17.58. It wasn't a lot faster than my single time, but about where Martin and Martha were in realtion to my time last year, we can get faster.

Next week is Mason Lake on Saturday and Ice Breaker TT on Sunday, my legs should be good and fried for that 10 mile TT (doing again twice) in Black Diamond.

Sad Trip Home

Well, these are the trips I never want to make to see my family. It also makes living so far away harder.
A brother of mine, I have 5, died suddenly last week, so I planned an emergency trip for his funeral, which was yesterday. It was nice to see many relatives I had not seen in a long time, but in unfortunate circumstances.
I am staying umtil sunday, so I did bring my bike. Not sure how much riding I'll get done. I did do my favorite 60 miler today, it was cold but sunny, like the weather we'd had in Seattle last week. I hope to get a group ride on Saturday,we'll see how the weather is, as there is snow in the forecast up north, so maybe 38 degrees and rain here, on my race bike??? A day of tea and biscuits might be in store, or a trip to the local horse racing track with another brother, gambling and drink beer.
I am pretty sure I will e in full view of the follow car at mason lake this year...again, I just hope it doesn't pass me until at least the last lap.

I think I must comment on the waving issue, when big groups meet, I declare yelling to be ok too.The thing is when it's only one on one that's when you should be sure to wave. We're all friends after all,so just give a little wave ; -)


Keep your stick on the ice!

Yippeee!

I got to ride to work today! It's been more than a week since I had done that, now to see if I can make 60 or more miles this weekend??
Results from the Velotron Tests came out yesterday, and Congrats to Kele Murdin and Jason Bethel on having the fastest times.
So, who took pnwbuckeye's political sign from his Lawn?? Dang they won't cross the water to race, but they go over to remove his political sign!! Where does it end?

Grrrrrrrrrr and Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Well, I'm watching Seahawks pre game show on TV instead of riding my bike. There's been snow on the ground since weds and it hasn't gotten above freezing since then either. It's 23.5 degrees right now, when the low was supposed to be 26.
I think there are a lot of frustrated cyclists in Seattle (and Portland) right now I'm sure Michael Emde is laughing at us, as this is normal for him. Shows what dedication he has that he can come out in the first races and be soo strong. Me, I'll be suffering at the back, again, at Mason Lake.

Later

My pet hate

So,I got totally drenched on my way to work this morning, and now it's sunny and I have to put all those wet clothes back on. I think I'll have an uncomfortable ride home.
Hopefully I won't get trail bombed by Robert from Garage for the third time this week. I shouldn't feel bad, he dosen't even wave to his own teammates. What's up with that??

That's two pet peeves!

I'm becoming a grumpy old fart.