Workin hard

Here's what I did most of the day at work. Its a new game that me & todd invented called "Ball Bouncin'" Its quite fun. While not as enjoyable as "tape ball" or some of the other games we invented...it does make the day go by faster.

i hate my condo

Last night was "almost" my last board of directors meeting for my condo. its soo frustrating. this job has consumed waay too much of my time & i can not wait to be done with my term. i know it takes volunteers to make things work... but as of january, someone else can do it. im done.

anyways.

Lost in the supermarket

ridley crosswind
Originally uploaded by argylesocks.

i finihsed building up the bike last night. looks really sweet (imo). i got a stupid Board of Directors meeting tonight, so i will have to take out for a spin tomorrow night. Then to Jacks to get the steerer tube chopped.

I have all my Clash albums playing on random now. its nice. very nice.

wombat

wombat
Originally uploaded by Theremina.

i want one of these.....

New Ridley

09252006(001)
Originally uploaded by argylesocks.

picked it up from IBC last night. its soo sweet. The fork is unbelievably light. I'm a tad nervous on the sizing of it. The TT is a little shorter than my redline... but that might not be a bad thing. The high BB isnt that much different than the redline, so my fears of that are waining.

I should finish building it tonight, hopefully.

now. should i keep the Kyserium Elites on there, or put on my AC420's from my Pegoretti. that would be soo bling.

Vt race

Vermont Grand Prix of Cyclocross Results
Kinda of at the last minute, i decided that i was way to unmotivated to train solo, and that i would rather (slightly) drive 3 hrs up to Vt to race.    It was raining, so i figured either me & allie could sit inside all day, or we could spend it in the car all day.  Anyways, we finally make it up there, and all i hear about is how slippery the course is.  Great.  The last thing i need is a crash.   Adam reminded me that it was an accomplishment just to be racing & to focus on my OWN race & not worry about results at this point.  good advice.   About 35 of us line up.  The whistle blows & I intentionally start at the back, letting people whizz by me.   1k in, and there is a crash.  luckily i avoid it.  The course is slick.  which alot of climbing.   I took it really easy on any turns, decents, or other areas i felt were a crash risk... then tried to hammer it on the flats or the climbs.

Then it happened.  I went down.  dont worry, im ok.   but it scared the poop out of me.   i litterally got off my bike, stood there for a minute, checked myself out,  and then once i realized i was ok, started pedaling again.  Lost a few places there.   And lost a few more thruought the race on the sketchy areas.   I finished up @ 17th place.   Not great, but not bad either, all things concidered.   I hate it when people make excuses for ther results......so i wont.   Next week is Milford, and i would like to see a top10 there...   we'll see :)

The more I race cross, the more people i know.  The more people i know, the more people cheer for me.  The more people cheer for me, the more I love cross.  Its soo nice to have people screaming for you when you are about to puke.

powered by performancing firefox<

Yellow Birch

09212006(002)
Originally uploaded by argylesocks.

UNH 'Cross

I drove up to UNH last night for thier annual cross series. This was my first race since my crash. its really layed back & mellow, because...well becuase its run by the unh kids. quite a few people showed up. way more than last year, so that was nice. I decided to do the A's because i needed the extra training time (not because i think im A-worthy). The plan was to start at the back, take it easy, dont do anything stupid and get a solid ride in.

For the most part i stayed with that plan. We lined up (20+ racers) and i knew i was in over my head when i see Noah Taylor on the front line. That was the one & only time i saw him "during" the race. Anyways. I didnt go crazy for the first lap. Second lap, i hammered up the climb & passed a few people. I did that for a few laps, then it was pretty strung out. I was really cautious on a few sandy decents and ended up loosing 2 spots. My to my surprise, i finished 11th. Of course, had i of known there was a chance i could have gotten Top10, i may have pushed a little harder on those last few laps... oh well.

Anyways, alot people got lapped. the laps were under 5mins (4.5mins??). so not getting lapped & being (at most) 5 mins back from 1st is something is am totally satisfied with.

sucker brook

09172006(003)
Originally uploaded by argylesocks.

things went really well yesterday. after much concideration, i decided not to race, but rather to play it safe & just enjoy the day. Saturday was a full day of race setup & misc errands. sunday we got in around 8am & took care of some last min stuff.

lots of people showed up & i got to meet some cool new people including megan.
Amy Wallace kicked ass again & won the elite womans race by a huge margin.... Adam took the glory in the mens race. Hanson had a great race, but flatted with a couple to go. Weller & Hayes were both looking solid & working thier way into a sweet top10 finish when both of them flatted. bummer.

got home & i was sooo tired. had a Pumpkinhead Ale & went to bed.

this weekend

sucker brook is on sunday.  i cant wait.   i pretty much decided that i am not going to race...which is a little disspointing.  but i think i would rather be conservative at this point.  

powered by performancing firefox

change of bike plans...

Ridley1
Originally uploaded by argylesocks.

the pegoretti that i ordered back in April is stil 'date unknown' i think im cancelling it & getting one of these, instead.

doctors visit went very well. he cant believe how fast i am healing. there is still a gap in my collarbone...but its healing. damn. its been 4 months - i would have thought that thing would have been solid by now. anyways. he is "extactic" about how i look. or how my shoulder looks, rather.

so i am in the clear to race at Gloucester. When i asked about racing sooner, he said it is up to me. But i have to be cautious. one crash & im back to square one. so im not sure what to do... i would love to do SuckerBrookCross this weekend.. but i dunno.
I will probably skip the next 2 weeks in favor of training... then do the Merrimack race on the 30th, followed by Gloucester on the 7th & 8th.

thoughts?

garage?

09082006
Originally uploaded by argylesocks.

i really need a garage to work on my bikes.... the tiny corner of the living room is just not cutting it.

while it wasnt quite as relaxing as i had hoped, it was still a decent weekend, despite my asshole downstairs neighbors who were up partying outside below my bedroom window Friday night till I yelled at them at 1:30am. Kinda messed up my sleep for the night. Seriously, how freaking rude.

Anyways, was a little tired, but felt decent on my ride.. got all my sprints in, and it didnt seem to hurt my shoulder too much :) Went to Jack's & picked up the Hammer Nutrition stuff for the race.... as well as the PowerTap he is letting me borrow (thanks jack!!) I didnt want to chance my annoying neighbors again, so i stayed at Allie's that night, and she made me some kick-ass vegan indian food (again). seriously, this girl can cook :) it was soo good. and she loves cooking. I have sent her to mark's blog for more good stuff.

Sunday, we ran some errands, and I headed home to set up the bike with the new powertap & go out for my ride. I simulated part of the test that Johs did for me last September, just to give me an idea who i stack up. That last test was at the end of a full intensity phase, and at the end of a rest week, also on a trainer.
anyways, it looks like my power is good. much better than expected... actually better than last year, by almost 10%!!! Thats really encouraging to see. I am hoping this translates well to how i ride on the bike during a race. Again, i dont have super high expectations for myself right of the box this season, but i dont see myself doing poorly either :)

off to the docs @ 1:30 to get the official date i can start racing. cross ur fingers.

thats it.

im in there. you can see my ass at the 3:04 mark.

www.cyclingnews.com news and analysis

see? Gully did it.

Yesterday.

2x28min @ threshold. Dare i say i felt fast?

[ Sent from my mobile phone using the Blogger widget from www.bluepulse.com ]

redneck

09072006(001)
Originally uploaded by argylesocks.

ok... this is the type of truck owners i have to deal with while out on my bike in NH. There was alot more stickers on the back window...but this one kinda sums it up. sorry its soo fuzzy, i had to zooom way in with my camphone without having this guy notice me.... one thing rednecks dont like are guys in spandex.

stella-miniposter

stella-miniposter
Originally uploaded by argylesocks.

i want one of these.... real bad.

i hate it when i type a long post, and then it gets lost somewhere. ugh. anywhays, here is a much shorter version of what i typed an hour ago.


i started pulling apart my old cross bike & cleaning things up while i wait for my new Pegoretti to come in. (cross fingers...maybe this week). i am putting on a carbon FSA crank with 46/38 rings. looks sweet. really sweet. and i dont want to hear how i shouldnt be using carbon in a cross race. Gully did it. 'nuff said.


here is what allie cooked for me on Sunday. it was delish!!

ok, thats it.
my happy season began yesterday. it runs till December 26th. then i go back to being a grumpy asshole.