your daily bicycle log

plus it's going to rain tomorrow... and thursday... and friday

thank god friday is a rest day

What is it you're training for anyhow Cutty? Got any target races you're aiming for?

i'm training for the entire 2008 NYC amateur racing season. there is not one race in particular but i obviously i will choose 6-7 specific ones to focus on. there are plenty of races to choose from: prospect park, central park, floyd bennett memorial park, bear mountain...etc

When does that all kick off then?

2008 racing schedule not up yet. march.

Ah, you'll be flying by then. Like a mad monkey set free.

Sorry, actually that's not an entirely flattering comparison to make.

i will be in prime shape but then comes the real in-race learning--tactics, strategy, the paincave

It'll be awesome I'm sure. Feeling a wee pang of envy here I've gotta say. I was always shit at races and could never really get any consistent training together before I'd overdo it and wind up wrecking myself. That said, I'm getting a severe urge to put some big hours in and go and wreck myself all over again. Anyhow, stay sane man!

thanks! the training is so embedded in my life/daily routine at this point that i'm sure i can maintain everything and be at my peak performance come the summer. what i'm looking for now is a team to work with and learn from and i'll have more confidence come race day.

im glad and only a little envious that you have the enthusiasm and opportunity to do it.

im incredibly grateful that i no longer have the enthusiasm to do it as it had become a barrier to other things.

my lack of opportunity is an issue to resolve/accept for the next x years (hopefully /= until im dead).

lack of opportunity = job or wife?

u forgot kids (2). mrs hunter is a far better athlete than i. age grouper now, but international level. she'd support me wasting my time with bike racing, within reason.

being a local scrub when s/o is actually very very good = v. inspiring/ little depressing

i need me athlete wife

so the guy is jerking me around. i will not go into details on the internet, but basically his car (1994 $IMPORT) blue books at about 4x what he quoted me for the mirror (hey, give me a few more weeks guy and i'll just buy the whole thing!). which seems smelly.

also: insurance, LOL. as a private contractor, i'm on my own for everything: health, liability, etc. messengers are very low on the totem pole, and yeah, about one or two rungs above chinese food delivery guy. although, secretly, as an employee he'd at least get workman's comp.

fantastic weather today, good riding, slow-ish business. had two emergency calls that involved dead sprints from the far west of our coverage area to the far north. got lucky with the lights for the most part, so was able to keep moving most of the time. cuet receptionist asked if i had been getting enough exercise today.

Didja tell her you could get a little more?

Insist that $carguy send you an itemized quote from the repair shop. Then take it to another (reputable) repair shop and compare.

Jerk.

Didja tell her you could get a little more?

U SASSY!!!!

Not as sassy as YOU are, Mr Shirtless Sassy Winner. Step It Up.

Headband. Baselayer + fleece. Clif bar. A-OK.

Usual commute. Saw a dude snap the handlebars on his old roadster clean in two, fall off. He got back on and rode off, steering the bike with the half handlebar still attached to the headset and holding the other half completely free, using it to operate the brake like Wii controller. Total bro.

90 mins (outside!)--3x10 minute Z3 intervals

FOGGY!

Am debating whether to cycle to (or from) Chesham on Sunday. It's about 30 miles - for reference it is where the most outlying London underground station can be found. The only real issue I think is rain - 30 miles in wintry rain does not do it for me, I gotta say.

10 minute warmdown on the isometric basement bike 3x2 minutes all-out and 2x2 min slowtimes

Hi, Jergs!

:)

(i think i bought a home workout bike within a day of the start of this board. like whoa cosmic, huh?)

welcome to the best board on ILX, where britishes and yanks and aussies all get along

You'll be charging up the hills of Seattle before you know it, J.

You don't hate me any more then, cutty? ;_;

It has been raining all day and it will continue to rain until forever. I'm about to say fuck it and go out in it anyway.

Hang the bike upside down in the garage and ride it out Dracula style.

Just before I plunge to a spineshattering death.

You don't hate me any more then, cutty? ;_;

nope!

Hang the bike upside down in the garage and ride it out Dracula style.

This made me laugh... and obviously had me scurrying straight off to YouTube to see if any freak had tried this. No luck, so you can be the first! Did come across this sort of spooky image though while rummaging around:

http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/uploads/2007/05/bike-in-tree.jpg

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/05/25/a-bicycle-eaten-by-a-tree/

Weather forecast for the morning here looks great - clear skies, temperature near zero, no wind to speak of. I'm digging out my big gloves and going riding in the frost I think.

Hunter: what's your wife's sport anyhow?

triathlon, mostly long course. runner.

Well that's a rather personal question! aaargh xpost MY JOEK, RUINED

(cheers cutty :))

HEY CUTTY,, how's the sram force working out?

it's really great. the doubletap system is intuitive and smooth and being able to shift when sprinting/tucked is rad.

i heard sram red handles cross-gearing a lot better, though.

oh cool.

Yeah the doubletap shits on shimano.

90 mins. moist out. rode with a ch4mp1on systems/s0mm3rville cat 1 who was thoroughly impressed. yay!

Two hours out over the hills before work for me. Quite frosty and cold but still a lot of mud around on the trails. Been a while since I went out on the singlespeed and my thighs now feel like heavy dead meat. It's feeling like a long, long day at work...

Documentary evidence that I did actually get out of bed this morning and go for a ride:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/birdnestsoup/DSCF4592.jpg

PS this is where I turn into an internet bully and tell Mark that he's gotta do it on Sunday, whatever the weather.

jealous

Ach, you can ride it up the hills for me any time you like.

looks like brooklyn (no, it doesn't)

Also, don't stray on the moors!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/birdnestsoup/DSCF4595.jpg

I didn't take my nice short cut through there today :(