Ice Day

Didn't ride in this morning. I'm wishing i had, but hindsight is always 20/20. I knew i would regret it as soon as my boss and i left my house in his car, one because i had a feeling but mostly because i saw that the main roads were just fine.
Ben made it in just fine and as a matter of fact, turned over a decent time going in. He said it was a bit scary but no problems.

The farmers almanac looks something like:
So its been close to being correct. But i bet i could have been "close to being correct" too. I'm just hoping for no more big precipitation days anytime soon which according to Accuweather isn't too far off from "close to being correct":
With all that said about commuting and the weather, i have to think about training and what i should be doing. From reading everyone else's blogs, i gather that i should be logging miles and lots of them and thats about it.
There is an upcoming race i am planning on doing called the Snowball Crit #1. Its in VA Beach and its on Feb 22nd. Thats the goal for the start of my first real racing season.

Snow Day

This morning it started to snow:
And i took off via bike despite that fact. i pulled up to the exit of my neighborhood and no sooner did i stop at the stop sign, that a car across the road wreck into the guard rail. *AWESOME*. i grabbed my manhood, said a quick prayer, clipped into my bike, and took a right turn to work.
After a short ride the only complaint was my eyes. My eyes took a beating from all the snow. Had i grabbed my ski goggles like i had thought about doing, then i wouldn't have had any real complaints.
If there is a question about wearing ski goggles why riding a bike, well:
Andy Hampsten did it while winning the 88 Giro...so that makes it ok. But, I'm by no means comparing my 6.5 mile journey in the snow from home to work to Andy's crazy break away during a freak snow storm.

I got to work relatively dry but my bike faired different:

With that said...it has started to snow again and i'm out of here.

Of Whales and Woes

This morning i left the house late and took the short route and i had a ton of time to kill at work, so i did a few laps around the mile(.85) loop in our business park to make up some miles. By the time i had gotten a mile away from work it started snowing slightly and when i was doing laps it was all out snowing. But, it subsided shortly after.
So with this upcoming weather:
Which is obviously very ridable, nothing too terrible to complain about, but I'd rather be prepared with the proper gear. So with those 3 days being today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, on my lunch break i purchased the SKS Race Blade Fenders XL and Fox Fluid Rain Jacket. Both of which should assistant in keeping the exterior wetness on the exterior.


I do remember that day fairly well, even though i was all of 3 or 4 years old. It was my birthday and i got a bike (i think) and i was doing laps around the circle in front of our house. Sold at a young age...

Nice Day

Woke up at 630 yesterday (Saturday). Big winds (lots of head winds...). 41 degrees. 1 gear. 70 miles. 3hrs 50mins.

it was a nice day.

Saw Frost/Nixon yesterday night after going to PF Chang's with my wife. good movie good food.

Red Tacks

All signs pointed back towards bed this morning...or at the very least taking the short route to work. It was just one of those mornings. I was tired, my legs were sore, its was an enjoyable 13 degrees outside, i was dragging and procrastinating. But despite all that, in my quest to be a family of 1 motor vehicle, i hopped on my bike. Shortly there after i was cruising along just dandy or as dandy as you can be in 13 degree weather on a bike, and i hear *clunk* *clunk* *clunk*. So i decided to figure out what the hell is making that noise. I stop and spin my back wheel to discover a nice little red tack. a few thought went through my mind at that moment, "maybe i can still ride...no probably not", "maybe i can take it out and nothing will"...pppsssssss....yeah. that didn't work, nice thought though. This was my first test of changing a tube on the road....ever. Its my 3rd flat ever too. I think i have a bit of luck on my side. But, regardless of all that, i did it. I changed the flat and pressed on. I was proud of myself.

More doping comes through the headlines...
I hope they make some progress with Operation Puerto.

The Oscar nods are posted. a few things that have to happen or i won't watch the Oscars again...

• Slumdog wins both best picture and director
• Rourke wins best actor
• Ledger wins support actor
• Wall-E animated feature
• Wall-E or Slumdog win original score

a few predictions and great expectations.

Go Cardinals!

Saturday & Sunday and being 10

Today is Sunday. Its about 30 degrees outside, which considering the past couple of days is actually warm. I really find it difficult (and depressing) to try and ride outdoors on the weekends, the days i should be do my 50 mile rides (that's long for me and my fixie). For the past few months I've been slowly (very slowly) accumulating winter cycling gear, but i seem to always be just slightly behind the weather on timing. For instance, I've been waiting (for money) to purchase a certain sweet pair of tights and hardcore gloves, which i could go do today, but i really could have used them this past week. Specially since Friday night's ride home parts of my legs swoll up from the stinging cold. Most of the time i just suck it up once I'm out on the bike but to get out there, its super difficult.

I'm hoping to just hang out a month or two longer and maybe I'll be OK come racing time. I mean, I'm racing CAT 5 and honestly to be "OK" would consist of being able to stay in the pack and not die. I'm hoping to learn about pack racing this season, because up till now the only racing I've done is ITT's and making breaks on intense group rides (back about 7 years ago). Though from what I've read on seasoned racer's blogs, CAT 5 is like a bad group ride gone wrong.

Even farther back about 12 years was this...
I ran the 1 mile kids race in 7:14 at the age of 10. The guy that won the 5k ran barefoot...i think he ran it in 16 or 17 min...barefoot. I thought he was amazing. If you couldn't tell i beat all the other kids and got that cool trophy. I was pretty proud. My dad's pacing and coaching are what helped...

Frozen Beards and Light Grenades

While this whole week I've been complaining about the wicked cold, this morning i experienced the worst of it. I checked online when i left to get a brief idea of just how cold it was outside, 10 F. I was later told my fellow commuter that there was a windchill of below 0...ouch. Luckily 90% of my hiking is done in the dead of winter so i have winter performance gear which i was able to layer up with this morning in combination with my cycling clothes. Despite the extra clothes my face remained bare (save a little beard) there for rendering my face defenseless against the cold...the result looked like this:
I did put Vaseline on my face before i left hence the nice glistening reflection my face has. But i honestly could feel much and every hair follicle was frozen to its surrounding neighbors. Also unfortunately any precipitation that left my mouth (or nose) became immediately frozen to my facial hair leaving me looking like i have rabies. The Vaseline also froze moments after i left my house, which was a weird feeling.

The ride itself was kind of difficult but nothing over bearing.

I visited the library for another round of free CDs and DVDs. I picked up Incubus's Light Grenades which is slightly disappointing. I'm happy i didn't go to purchase it. I grew up a huge incubus fan and from time to time i still enjoy some of their music, but Light Grenades seems to be the culmination of bad ideas and wasted talent, or it could be just poor song writing. Its not even enjoyable pop.

The movie selection wasn't that great either, but they did have classics such as Jurassic Park and Forest Gump. Jurassic Park is the first movie i ever remember watching in theaters and i saw it in an IMAX theater. I loved it so much that when it came to television a year or two later i recorded on a VHS and promptly watched it everyday for an extended period of my life (i was home schooled so i had tons of time for it). I also picked up Chicago and Miracle...and like Darryl said Chicago is a joke, i couldn't believe it won 6 Academy Awards...are people insane?