110 hard miles

this weekend on the pedal bike. I rode Saturday with 5 other guys on a fast 40 mile loop from Bridgepoint. We averaged about 22 with a couple of sprints. I felt good but took shorter pulls towards the end and couldn't hang with the final sprint up the Trent River bridge. I was at the back of the paceline and the guy in front of me let a gap open up. I waited too long to see if he would close it and by the time I went around I only made it half way to the break before blowing up. I kept thinking about the 8 miles I still had to ride to get home.

Sunday was the group ride from Flythes. I made it there on time (pat on the back) for once istead of chasing. Didnt sleep well sat. night so I was tired. Weird cramping on the front side of my lower leg. And the dog kept kicking me. I alternated between feeling great and feeling like crap all day. We rode slow down 17 into the wind so when we turned onto Rhems/Tuskarora I went to the front and sped things up.

At the overpass I knew I had to worry about Merle and the new guy Will (sprints at 38+). So I went a bit early when the opportunity presented, Will was buried deep and Merle had just come off the front. Unfortunitely I had Phillipes wheel and I think we were only going about 22 mph. I got a good jump and managed to hold my speed after sitting, then shift and jump again. Too bad I could only hit 29 and Will came around me....towing Merle.

We tacked on 4 extra and I felt tired. Merle seemed tired and irritable as well. I felt like getting off the front so instead I put my head down and forced myself to work.

Coming back I wanted to do something different at the second sprint. I knew I could not take Will so I decided to try going early. Everything was really disorganized at the corner in Clarks so I just went. Ran out of gas around the train tracks! So much for my TT skills. Will caught me, but instead of just blowing by he pulled and we rotated until he pulled away at the very end. Actually he pretty much just rode circles around me while I tried not to die.

Having totally blown up my goal was to recover and not get dropped on the rest of the ride and I made it, although no one cranked it up to ludicrous speed.

Back at the shop Mac has a bunch of used and old parts he wants to sell and I think he has some 700c wheels I can get cheap. I told him I will be back tues.

No more leaky primary.......

haulin

haulin

Time for new boots

snow

I need a real garage!

Ride to work

I didn't manage to forget the way to work over the holidays. Damn. I was hoping to at least get lost.

Motorcycles keep you sane

I keep all the pain and anger and worry on the inside where it chisels ulcers quietly behind a veneer so laid back people suspect its chemically induced.
Maybe its because my parents split up when I was nine and I was a fat kid with glasses and a bum knee. There are a million excuses I don't need to explain the days I feel like getting "Fuck The World" tattooed across my forehead.
Throwing a leg over an obnoxious motorcycle helps bury the anger. So does liquor. But that delays the inevitable though and it comes back compounded by lost sense of purpose and knowledge of time squandered no longer measured in days or months or semesters but years.
Sure the grass is always greener on the other side of "fuck this" and an exhaust note that drowns out responsibility. But life is no movie and you end up alone in the dark after riding off into the sunset.
So I am left riding a big circuit that leads me back to where I started but a little saner for the journey.

Merry Christmas to me:

Bye bye chain drive

How to make the holidays better

Take your bike. Abandon the family and pedal...