DAMN that hurts!

This morning I showed up for the Shamrock shuffle complete with heavy falling "slush". Cold weather, and sloppy streets. First race of the year, hardly no running in the last 2 months, and yesterdays 60 miler in my legs. I held my own and ran an evenly paced run. The thought came to mind, running very close to your limit for 5 miles hurts like hell! But of course it does...Still had a good kick after that sinister last half a mile that Chicago has decided to put in all their races that ends in Grant Park. That section is a bitch, but at least I knew it was coming...
Finish stats 39:29 7:57 pace,152 in my division, 1456 among men, 1781 overall

Considering I've ran 3 times since Jan 31, I'm "somewhat" satisfied with my results. Need to adjust to pain in the race zone, cuz like I said, running 5 miles at near your redline hurts like hell, then there's the lack of recovery from yesterdays 60.

lights out!

So at 8:30 we are shutting this machine down. No electricity for one hour. Earth hour. It will be a game of monopoly by candlelight. Earthday has a special meaning to me, and I think this is cool too. I checked out and it was neat to see the videos of major landmarks around the world shutting off the lights. "Act local, effect global"
Cool stuff...

wind, cold, sleet hmmm

I just finished riding 60 miles in the wind and later what became rain and sleet. As many of my midwest readers know LOL the temps were only in the upper 30's today. I'm beat, and about to eat everything I can find :) So the question remains, why the fcuk do we do stuff like this. I knew the weather was going to suck, and I knew it was going to beat me down, and it did. I found myself yelling at the wind with a few miles to go. Is it a coping mechanism, I'm really calm right now... Is it because were simply wired to ride? I was going to do this no matter what, and I'm glad I did it... Is it for the love of the sport? I was on a stretch of road that reminded me of the Arenberg forest, and I was thrilled to be there riding at that moment... Is it to fight off age? I often look around at others my age, and their "appearance" is motivation enough NOT to stop... I guess it's a bit of all these things, and some I forgot. Mostly it's for the simple love of the bike...
Allez
Ray

My days with latex gloves and a stripper

I said I would do it and I did. I spent a good amount of time this past week disassembling and stripping my 5150 down to bare wood. Here's a shot of it before being blasted with a whole bunch of zip strip, and strip wash.
Ordered colored stain, sealer and laqueuer from StewMac and decided it's going to be purple in it's next life. Edward is dead, long live Edward!

Dreaming of Paris...

I must have a thing for Paris. Last night I dreamt I was with Paris, Paris HILTON. I'm not going to go into great details but all I can say (in my best Paris voice) "It was HOT" Makes up for all the turmoil I'm currently going thru. NICE....

Don't do as I do unless I tell you to

Being a parent has it's rewards and challenges. I've seen a bit of both recently. My younger guy is finally old enough to ride the mini crotch rocket his uncle got them a few years ago. He's been begging to ride it and now that he's been given the OK he's all over it. It's pretty funny to watch him turn the throttle just enough to get it moving and not tip over from his cautious approach. Of course Saturday afternoon found me drag racing my good friend across the street on his mini bike. I could barely squeeze onto that little thing, and it was nuts opening it up as fast as it would go from one end of the block to the other. Wish somebody would have filmed it because it was another lost opportunity to be famous on youtube LOL. So the lesson in that? Trying to explain to my older kid NOT to go fast on it when it was his chance to ride itlater that day (complete with mandatory helmet, long sleeves, gloves etc)NOTE I had none of that... I was cringing when I watched him go a bit fast. But dad you went fast and it was ok?! Don't do as I do... Letting go is HARD for me.
A good thing I did in the past payed off this evening. My younger guy won 2nd place in a fire safety coloring book cover art contest. He drew a picture of our family standing at a designated meeting place in the event of an emergency. We spent time a few years ago teaching them what to do in the event of an emergency, and he remembered, and illustrated it. He was recognized at tonights village meeting by the mayor, and recieved a savings bond, photo op, and a few other cool prizes.Next month the village fire department will be giving him a ride to school on the firetruck! So sometimes it's ok to do as I do, but more often than not its questionable....
The other thing I've got going on recently, is I've decided to strip my 5150 and redo the guitar body in a new color scheme GASP! It currently is half stripped in a garage reaking of citrus strip. I'm thinking either purple, or bare wood. The other option is burning the wood and clearcoating it. Either way, that's MAJOR guitar world news. It was time to close the 5150 bchapter and open a new one. I've got about 5 hours of free time this Saturday, and I'm REALLY hoping to take advantage of that and get a long ride in (mother son bowling :) ) Here's hoping the weather cooperates. :)

Freddie Kreuger rides a quadangle

"Nightmare on Quad street"! well not really...It's actually a statue of a past mayor -Ernie Kolb (aka Freddie Kreuger), sitting with my quadangle. I think I'm going to send this one to Todd Lyons :)

2 wheels, 2 kids and a few other things...

I spent the last week getting trashed by a flu bug. Of course it came during a week of GREAT weekend weather, in which the entire fitness community no doubt gained great strides in fitness levels as I weakly sulked thru the days with pain, lethargy, and fever. Coming out of it I feel like I'm just starting an exercise routine. Even after a week I still don't feel 100%. So this past Tuesday, after a ridiculously early day at work (start time 4:30am) partly blamed on a recent run of reoccuring insomnia WTF?!, I hit a nearby starbucks, scrambled home and was in and out of the house in 30 seconds flat, well give or take a few LOL. Finally out for a ride! Temps were around 70 but came with with the penalty of strong constant winds. I was still a bit sluggish, but I was rollin... Of course I decided to get 50 in, after all I've got some major catching up to do! So what else but to ride out and see how the roads around Bluff road are doing. After riding into the winds solo, I wasn't even going to attempt to hang with a couple rider who came upon me. Not that I didn't WANT to, but I didn't have it in me. That was a bit disapointing but how do you expect to be strong, when you haven't been doing much over the last month? Again, to make up on lost time, I decided to swing back around and head into Lemont, crossing the bridge, I honestly thought I was going to be blown over,
not cool...Then came the snake bite in both quads as the evil Stephens street punished me with the added bonus of wind. However the ride back was with a tailwind so it was all good.
My cell rang quite a few times while out. Calls from my little guy wanting to know when I was going to be home, they wanted to go OUTSIDE. The calls reminded me they are only young once, and eventually I will be an idiot they probably don't want to be around. I'm at that point with my older one :( YEAH, the kids love ya, but they change. I loathe losing their admiration and desire to be around me all the time.
It did put a few things in perspective for this season. GOD I want to ride myself into Merckx like shape, but I may not have time to train enough for racing. I origonally stopped racing when my first little guy needed a coach, scout leader, and WANTED me to be around all the time. One of them is a bit older and I'm not his primary focus, and I now embarras him etc. My younger guy still wants me around - A LOT, and truth be told I won't miss out on any of it! They grow too fast. So its a bit of a dillema, but I will search for balance, and focus on what's always been most important. However the truth remains - NOTHING changes the pure joy of riding that I experience, even when tired and stupidly deciding to get some extra miles in by taking on Stephens street in headwinds after being out for a quite a while on one of your first solo long rides after some hefty down time. I came home "stoned on endorphins" got in a quick shower and off with my little guy for a spin around the neighborhood on his new BMX bike. I guess its called balance, priority and acceptance. Something we all need to work on.

fcuk!!!!!!

Like many of you readers LOL We live for good weather ESPECIALLY on the weekends. That's why I'm so flippin' ticked off. Thursday one of the boys landed up sick, and Friday I felt a bit off, and landed up getting an a$$ kicking migraine in the morning which always throws a wrench in the rest of the day. I can thank recent (four letter word that begins with W) for that. Saturday morning came with sunshine, temps near 60 - weather that prompts miles on the bike, and YES that was the plan, but EVERY bone hurts, I'm wiped out, fever, the whole package. MISERABLE :( I was really hoping today I would have woken up feeling better but it's not to be. I may actually feel worse than yesterday, and that sucks. I'll be AMAZED if I can get it together to do anything, and it's such a shame because the day is going to be a beautiful one. Count your blessings with good health on days like today, and get outside!! I'l be thinking of you with a very slight bit of resentment, and loss of fitness LOL

finished :)

FINALLY!, and the timing could not have been better. It rides as good as it looks. I I am truly a cyclist overcome with Eurotrash nirvana. :)

rain on the weekend? BOOOOOO!

Well even though this past 48 hours have been a wash - literally! At least I made some good use of my time by watching Contador kick euro a$$ on the opening time trial in Paris Nice. Very swwet to see him show the world that the texan is not the real deal HE (Alberto) is! As an added bonus, I even heard Fignon's name brought up in the commentators conversation. very nice... So the bad hing about being out on the roads recently is no desire to ride the rollers anymore. All it takes is that one great ride on a beautiful day, and I'm ready to store them. I'm sure with time change that the coming weeks will have an ever increasing opportunity to dance on thos e pedals out on the roads where the cycling gods prefer LOL The other cool thing we've done is hit one of my favorite local shops and set up the boys with a couple new rides. They're extremely thrilled, and I'm happy to see their excitement. I still and always will love the sport of BMX and its cool to see the interest continue in the next generation. Last but certainly not least I think I've got the ride finished and adjusted pretty good. The finishing touch was changing up the bar tape and dropping a cycle computer on it. Bikes done, the time has changed, and there is race coverage on that new thing we finally got called cable TV LOL Some of life is pretty good right now, it's that other area I need to work out, but why bring you down with some less than good conversation? Allez...

the dream

I've had a dream that I seen myself and I was not wearing a medal I've come to become fond of for a number of reasons. It was the Madonna Del Ghisallo, and in the dream I realized what was missing. Strange, but believe it or not it helped me make a decision I've been preoccupied with lately. How cool is THAT?! Another thing worth talking about tonight. Every year I'm out on the bike on the first really nice day regardless of the day of the week if you get my drift. It's become a tradition, and I seem to like tradition, especially one as cool as this. All I can say is it's becoming evident the closer I have to dialing in my new bike that it is simply magical. I came BEAMING. The ride was straight out to Lemont for timberline road. I wasn't hammering but felt good and pushed a good stretch of miles. 40 miles temps near 70!, and a ride that is traditionally great!

The Tour Baby

Not even sure how I came across it but I ordered a cult film called The Tour Baby. Actually the version I ordered dealt with "L'enfer Du Nord" but it's basically a film about a tifosi who follows the race with up close and unique footage. The guy who did it is known for making "The Tour Baby" which is supposed to be a great film about following Le Tour. I HAD to get the Roubaix one first, it has Museuw's last atempt at this race... Can't wait to see it.

Miracles of Medicine - YAWN....

The following is the absolutely CRAZIEST side effect I've ever seen listed.

"In about 5% of patients, it can instead cause inadvertent orgasms when yawning."
now that could make one hell of a story....

white coats

UGH, I tend to stress out when I have a doctors appointment, and tonight I have one. Some things just don't change regardless of how much you want them to. I guess thats where the marvels of medicine come into play....

a gift

Yesterday mini me asked me if I would be his confirmation sponsor! I was thrilled, and a bit surprised. I thought when a kid becomes a teenager the parent becomes stupid, and a menace. WOW! One thing I tend to struggle with from time to time is how many things change as they get older, too old to hold your hand, to embarassed to have you walk them to the door, too embarased to have you in the same location when their friends are around. Yes it's great to watch them develop, but it can sometimes hurt to see less of a reliance on you. So I'm now a Confirmation sponsor, and couldn't be prouder! God listens when you pray for stuff like continued good family relationships as the kids grow older. - and thats a GOOD thing...

it would have made a good picture...

Flippin' COLD temps in the teens, driving winds producing snow flurries blowing sideways. Think Andy Hampsten climbing the Gavia pass in the Giro cold...Sounds like a good morning to ride with some of the local racers for my first ride of the year? LOL. Let's add to that, on a bike just put together last week and as it proved, needs to have the position tweaked... It was flipping cold, but the one thing I thought of is too bad Graham Watson wasn't around. Showing riders battling headwinds that produced sideways snow would have been a way cool picture...