Time to Think

You know what the worst part about driving home from Central Valley races is?

TOO much time to think. In the almost three hours it took me to drive home I figured out about a dozen different ways I should have won the race today.

Background: This weekend was the Madera Stage Race. This is my kind of race. A criterium...good...a short, flat time trial...good...a flat road race....good. The first race at 2pm on Saturday the last done by 11 am on Sunday. So, how come it didn't work out that well.

I could make all kind of excuses. Morgan had half the field, we only had two riders, it was the first time on my TT bike in two years, it was windy, it was hot, it was bumpy...blah, blah, blah.

But, really it was mental mistakes again. In the crit I was feeling great and well positioned. I just got myself too far forward and in a position from which I couldn't see the finish developing. I got stuck between two groups with momentum and behind I guy who sat up when he realized his teammate wasn't in position. I got ninth. Jeff was in the group with momentum on my right and got sixth.

The TT should have been better for me. My fitness is good, the course is flat, it was windy, I had good coaching (thanks oV), my bike is as good as any, though one of these BMCs would be nice. I got off to a good start. Heartrate up to the mark in 2 min. I stayed at LT for the downwind legs, 90 rpm, trying to keep pace on my 30 sec rider. I turned the second corner into the wind and cranked it up just a little. I caught a rider but not sure if he was the 30 or 60 second rider. I crossed the line just under max HR still cranking out a good pace in just over 24 minutes. I got 12th. Jeff didn't feel as good out there and finished out of the points as well.

This looks aero...

Maybe we can get Poulsen Cycles to make
some of these for Team Safeway?

So, we went into the road race so far down the rankings that a win could only get us on the podium if nobody else raced. Stranger things have happened. We promenaded out at 22mph up hill...what's with that? First lap a couple attacks but the leaders were all marking each other.

Finally, on the second lap a Morgan rider got away solo. Then they let John Ford (Spine) go. What the hell, I thought I would give it a try. I rolled off the front slowly. They let me go a little then chased. When they caught me they slowed, so I tried again. This time they didn't chase, or at least not hard.

I caught John, pause, pass.

Morgan was about 50m up the road. Bridged to him. Pause, pass. Solo for a while, not really going too hard, not really sure if Morgan sat with me or not. I thought I dropped him but all of the sudden Shawn Oliver was on my wheel. I sat up to see if he would pull through and he did. We motored at a reasonable pace through the rough section, then the hills, feed zone, and we were still off the front about 400-500m.

I asked Shawn if they would let us go and if he thought we could stay away. He said yes if I didn't attack him. Knowing I was better off with him than without, we settled in and worked together, though I was a little more motivated to stay off the front so did the majority (at least in my head).

On the third lap we got neutralized, passed by the P/1/2 field, passed them back, through the pave, the rollers, the finish and they rang the bell (I thought we had 2 more laps...yippee). Same had apparently happened in the rest of the field but it caused a split. The split was supposed to be closed by the officials but wasn't and all three of the GC leaders were caught in the back group with no hopes of catching so quit the race after 3 laps. Eventually, Brian went back out and finished...is that allowed?

Last lap I was determined to stay away. We stayed in front of the pros, the motor official came up on the pave and said there was a chase of 2, 53 seconds back, then a chase of 5-6. Too close and too much work done to not give it all. I put my head down and Shawn hung tight. He edged me at the line and I got second. Damn, always a brides maid. Then, much to my surprise...the next guy across the line was my teammate being chased by Takumi. Shithot!

We ended up 4th and 7th overall, then 2nd and 5th (when they realized Brian and Peter hadn't finished), then 3rd and 6th (when Brian did go finish?)...who the hell knows or cares. What a crazy race.

Sunshine, On my shoulders

Makes me happy!

Riding = Happy

Got to go for a two hour warm-up ride in the sun and mid-seventies, then I joined the nooner for a lil' ride and a climb up OLH. Then an hour back home. Life is good. Oh, then a friend came down with his bike and wanted to go for a short ride so I took Blue out for an easy one. I would guess about 100 miles today...hee hee hee.

I like riding my bike!

New Moo

These photos not by Glenn, but I don't know who took them because they are from the TdF and I just uploaded them because my wife likes cows also and I thought she would think they were funny and I hope the photographer doesn't get mad at me too.

Moo

Why are cows so funny?

These photos by Glenn James. He is funny too!

Wrenching Free

Man, there is nothing that makes me happier than hangin' out at the bike shop chatting with friends and wrenching on my own bike.

But, first, have you ever had one of those days? I pulled Blue off the wall yesterday morning to get her ready for the TT at Madera on Saturday. I know, I know, I should have been riding her at least once a week for the last couple months. Lots of excuses but I'll spare you. No I won't...you just won't read it if you don't care.

So, I tried to ride her last week, but one of my tubulars wouldn't hold air (yes the same one that flatted on the way to the Sea Bisquit Circuit Race, causing Reed and I to have to ride back to the hotel so I could switch wheels, then we had to hammer to the race to make the start) and it was the only wheel with a 9 speed cassette on it and I didn't have an 8mm wrench to change pedals and I didn't have any shoes with Speedplay cleats...see what I mean, so I took the Green Hornet out and we had fun. Besides, the Hornet hadn't been ridden much since Mt. Fuji came along.

Yesterday I vowed to try again. My recovery day. A perfect time to get reaquainted with the TT position. I still hadn't changed the tubular, but I have four sets of wheels. I put a 9 spd on the old Open Pro trainers. Went to put some air in the tires and my pump wouldn't seal. I couldn't inflate my tires. Now, how sad is that? I've been meaning to get a replacement o-ring for a while, just haven't figured out where to get it from. OK, OK, OK, I can put the 9 spd on the wheels I rode yesterday at Wente...they still have air. Nice try. The cassette body is aluminum and is so chewed up from the Ti cassette that was on it, I cannot get the new one on. And, I don't have a file to fix it like I did last time this happened. Now what? I already wasted an hour. The Green Hornet, old faithful, off we go..after we put a 10 spd cassette back on the only set of wheels that have air.

Anyway, today I vowed to fix all those "issues". And, it was a good excuse for taking this week off work. My wife didn't even complain much...and I didn't complain about sleeping on the sofa. So, I got a new tubular glued on, pedals installed, tuned her up, computer works, cassette on wheels for race. Now I just need to go for a ride. It's on the calendar for Thursday. Thankfully it is a short, flat, TT...I think?

Recommendation

Talk to the Hand

See OV's Blog for background.

Wente Crits

ELITE 3...that's right, we're ELITE. I've been accused of being an Elitist...is that the same?

94 on the line and only one MIB...me. Squadra, Pegasus, Form all had a good showing. Now, can I just pick the right one to hook up with at the end. I thought Form would be the ones. Typical 3s crit. No breaks allowed. Several crashes. Lots of bumbing in the first couple laps. If you really want that wheel, that bad, you can have it. I'll just come around you later! So we went around for 48 minutes. Bell lap, 3 Pegasus guys on the front, I'm fourth. Feeling good. They only make it about half way and now I'm 2nd wheel...not were I want to be coming into the head wind finish. Turn the corner and the last Pegasus guy is out of gas but it is too far for me to go it alone. I hear carnage behind me (it was Form and he got hurt bad). A train coming up the left side. Jump, accelerate, try to get in. A long way to go still. Lots of guys not going to make it. Closing but not fast enough, too far back, all the way to the line...10th. Well, it's a crap shoot. Too far forward, too early. Editors note: Lothar was later awarded 9th when Eric Nitschke was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.

What give's? It's supposed to be fun...right? Don't take yourself so seriously!


35+1/2/3
A much smoother and faster race but still the typical bump and grind...I expect that. Some guys just take this hobby way too seriously. I do it for fun...and road rash ain't fun! I think we had 8 MIB in the race and the rest of the usual suspects. I'll defer to OV for the real report because I have hard time with storing data while operating machinery at 30mph, 110rpm, and 160 on the hrm (I love acronyms). I'll just say that the MIB rode a great race. We got a guy off the front in a break. Had 6 guys in the top 15 with 3 laps to go. Sprinters were on the front...all three of them. Guys with legs ready to go. We just had some execution errors but we can fix that. Besides, 4th and 5th ain't bad...nice job to Andy and M2!


P/1/2
Man do I need to get some points. What a great race. Again, I'll defer to OV but I'll just say the Delivery Man may be back. He and DanO were in a break with Woolie and it looked good. Two MIB out there for a long time. They got caught, another break got off, it was a tough field, RHV and Lombardi put in some hard work at the end, brought it all back together and Roget' sprinted for a 6th place finish. And, two of the guys in front of him were David McCook and Dean LaBerge. From the sidelines the team looked really strong and rode a great race. Woolberg put a serious hurting on the entire field.







Photos by Glenn James and Kevin King. You can tell which one is Glenn's because he put his name on it...Kevin took the otther two. Thanks guys!

Wente Road Race

First off...a big thanks to Ronald Mariano (and all the other clickers...Chris Patterson, Russ and Nancy Wright , and Glenn James) for taking great pictures. If you haven't taken a look at his galleries, you should. And, while you are there, buy one or two photos for your team's website (only $3 for a small one or $6 for the 600x400 web ready version...see me suffering below for an example).

This has not been a paid advertisement...I just really appreciate these guys spending their time taking the great pictures of our races. It is really cool to relive the joy and pain through their eyes and cameras.



So, Wente was this weekend. Held in lovely Livermore, CA. It is named after Robert Livermore, a landowner whose holdings encompassed the valley. It is perhaps best known for its wineries.

In the early sixties, Livermore had as much area under vine as Napa Valley did at that time. However, it remained relatively unknown, while Napa rose to worldwide prominence.

Wente has long been the largest producer in Livermore, making around 300,000 cases of relatively inexpensive wine annually, much of it for export. It was first established in the valley in 1883.

To cyclists, however, Livermore and Wente together represent a great road race and criterium. The RR is held on the edge of Livermore Valley, the route includes Patterson Pass and Altamont Pass, with the finish at the top of the Carrol Rd climb. On an average day this would be a great climb, not too long or too steep. But, put it in a race (as the first climb, finish climb, and three times in between) mix in a break-away, a chase, and some hammer-head climbers and it can be BRUTAL. And on this Saturday that is exactly what happened.

Everyone was pretty mellow the first time up. A couple spurts and break attempts in the rollers, nothing stuck. Safeway, EMC, and Spine were the big players and controlled the race pretty well. An EMC rider (Dave?) rolled off the front and I went with him. We were allowed a couple hundred meters. Then I heard him yell "FLAT". I looked down and started to respond that I was OK then he was gone...oh, he flatted (see I am used to having mechanicals and assumed he meant I had a flat).

Great, now what do I do. Here I am a couple hundred meters off the front by myself. I was in the rollers so figured I would just go a little below LT, not burn myself, make the group chase (if I was doing 25+/- they would have to do better to catch me), my team could rest, I would most likely get caught, I wanted to stay off until the hill so I could climb at my pace, then Safeway could counter when I was caught. I actually opened up the lead to about 500m I would guess. And it worked just like I planned. I got swarmed at the top of the climb, but I wasn't going hard, so I just jumped in with them and off we went on lap 2. I sat in the middle and tried to get a good recovery.

Photo by Ronald Mariano

Somewhere on the second lap the Pasconator went off the front with a Spiney one (Colin I think). This allowed two of the big teams to sit back and watch the race. A couple bridge attempts but they didn't succeed. The break stayed away for 2 whole laps...nice work boys!

Then, on the fourth ascent of Carrol all hell broke loose. It was time to make the selection of the honored break chasers. I think about 12-15 guys got over the top together (out of 50 starters) and I was the last one. I looked back and there wasn't anyone behind me...to help me get back on. I hammered and caught the little group in front of me. Damn, they were Cat3s. My race was another 50m up the road...and I do mean UP. I chased through the rollers, got back on a teammates wheel, only to be dropped the next time the road turned up. It just wasn't going to happen. I was useless. And so, I rode the rest by myself, picking guys ahead to try to catch, (probably Cat5s) and rode back to registration only to find I wasn't the first guy to drop out. It had been a hard race and I guess my little foray hurt me more than I thought and was partly responsible for putting the hurt on several guys in the first lap.

The finish went something like this. Someone opened Taz's cage door and let him out. Nathan (EMC) went with him. They caught the break. Taz accelerated on a climb and Pascuzzi couldn't hang on. Colin worked his arse off to keep these three off the front. Taz and Nathan dueled on the final climb. Taz took it and put another win in Safeway's Bag!

Wow

Life?

Enjoy
Nature,
Life,
Take hold,
Grasp
Firmly,
Sun,
Rain,
Surf,
Snow,
Be one.
Be.




The philosophical question "What is the meaning of life?" means different things to different people. The vagueness of the query is inherent in the word "meaning", which opens the question to many interpretations, such as: "What is the origin of life?", "What is the nature of life (and of the universe in which we live)?", "What is the significance of life?", "What is valuable in life?", and "What is the purpose of, or in, (one's) life?". These questions have resulted in a wide range of competing answers and arguments, from scientific theories, to philosophical, theological, and spiritual explanations.

TdG Stage 2 Videos

Hill Video
Finish Video

Going to try to post a video...but, it doesn't look like it will work. Next best thing, follow the links!

TdG Stage 2

Now this is what I'm talking about. Alejandro Acton? from Target Training got off the front of the race at the very beginning...and stayed off until the bottom of the hill in the circuit. What a great ride! Considering the weather and all...huge brasstown balls.



So, I wanted to go to the Sprint in Rockmart but realized that 1) With the weather being as bad as it was (hail and all) the roads were going to be a mess and I might miss the finish 2) the best route to the finish was the race course which I probably would not be able to drive on...hmmm, and me without my bike...Decision, go to my favorite coffee shop, now that I have some extra time, grab a big cup full'o joe, and then head direct to the finish.


I caught the 4 laps of the Circuit in Rome, GA. Watched 2 laps from the hill and 2 from the finish line. The circuit was cool. It was horseshoe shaped and the hill and finish were on the inside opposites. The hill kinda reminded me of Cat's Hill but a little longer. The crowds were great. What a turn out. And really into the race.
I am Lothar of the Hill People.


The hill was the decider. Popovych hammered the hill the first time and passed half the guys between him and the front. Getting himself in position...or, trying his winning move? On the final lap he hammered up the hill again. Gapped everyone. Held it over the top, down the other side, around the corners, had a 50-80m lead coming onto the finishing straightaway and kept it the whole 400m to the finish line. When he came around the corner on his own it was so cool. J.J. Haedo was chasing but just wasn't closing the gap fast enough. Fast Freddy was right on his wheel but couldn't come around him. The finish was a little downhill so that may have helped. Floyd and the Phonak boys took 7/8/9. WOW...so cool! Popovych now has the overall lead, FF has the sprint jersey after two days on the podium, Kirk O'bee from HealthNet got the KOM.

GOOD

DAY

FOR

ME

Pre Stage 2 Ramblings

Went to see the 'rents last night. Made a big triangle of pain in my buddies 1990 Saab with no A/C (yes you need it here now) and no radio. 90 miles from ATL to Macon (end of Stage 1, TdG), 90 miles to my parents house in Columbus, 120 miles back to work this AM. Now, I am looking up the log for today's race. Gotta catch the Sprint in Rockmart, then get to the KOM hill on the circuit in Rome.

I see lots of RR Crossings on the log, hope those guys learned a little lesson from the boys at the Pain of Roubaix! Man did that suck, all that cobblin' just to get DQ'd, and I'm not talking about a Dipped Cone or a Blizzard. Speaking of DQ, man you should have seen the Chocolate Overload Cake and Mocha Ice Cream my Mom made me it last night. How come it is that when you lose a little weight your Mom feels obligated to help you put it back on? And you guys know, based on our pre-race dinners, I cannot resist dessert.

So I had to ride at least a little today. I took a buddy out on the road for his first ATL ride. We went to do a some hill climbing. Only did 2 hill repeats. I wanted to do more but it was our first ride together and I couldn't make him just sit up at the top of Kennesaw Mtn (they call it a mountain but my best guess is that it is only 600'? Go figure...) while I got a good work-out. So, I'll call it tapering for Wente.We had to get back anyway, it looked like rain and in GA rain is often accompanied by strong winds and electricity. Not more than 2 minutes after we got back it started hailing and the sky lit up like the 4th of July.

Those Guys Are FAST

Fast

Freddy

is in

hot

pursuit...




but Lars Michaelsen of CSC holds on to

his lead and beats him at the line.


I got there just in time to watch all three laps of the circuit. I was standing about 10m beyond the finish line, looking right down the road. Way cool! These guys are super fast. They did 130 miles in 4:45. Wow! It was cool seeing FF and BJM (in the mix for a top ten) and Cruz (maybe a flat 'cause he was way off the back) and all the ProTour teams.






I will check in at the office tomorrow, get in a quick ride for a few hill repeats, then off to Rockmart for the sprint and then Rome for the finish. The whole work thing is really not keeping my interest. I could become a bike race groupie. Just drive from start to sprint point to finish. How cool would that be? And, everyone (not in the race) speaks English. Granted not everyone down here speaks the queens english, I'll just say they have their own patois. Though, one of these days I want to go watch a race where they don't speak english. France, Italy, Spain...they would all be good. Maybe take a whole summer off and ride from one to the next? Now, there's an idea!

TdG

Guess what I am doing tomorrow? TdG, that's right baby, I am in the ATL and I am going to take a day off and chase these speedsters from Rome to Fayetteville! Bad news is the forecast is for rain. Well, they're Pros, they get paid to ride in the rain. Wish I could stay for Brasstown Bald on Saturday but I gotta get home for a little Wente racing of my own. If you guys are nice I'll post some snaps here tomorrow afternoon with the sporty new camera I got to replace the one I froze in my beer cooler (at an early season race). Maybe I'll take the Guerciotti with me and get a little riding in as well. You know how you always see the guys riding along with the TdF, too bad I don't have a MIB kit with me.

Lothar of the Hill People

Lothar of the Hill People was a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live.

It featured Mike Myers as Lothar, the leader of a prehistoric tribe called the Hill People. A recurring line was Lothar announcing his status. "I am Lothar, of the Hill People."

The sketch tended to focus on 'timeless problems' such as the difference between men and women, the implication being that nothing had changed between the modern day and prehistoric times.

Rain, rain, go away

...so I can ride my bike today! Man it just never stops. Supposed to meet some of the MIB for a AM recovery ride. I could hear the tink, tink, tink of the water in the copper down spouts (just saying copper makes me cringe today) outside my bedroom. Yes, I was still in bed.

Leigh and I went to a friend's place last night and had an awesome dinner (thanks GE)! Before dinner a lovely French Champagne, can't remember the name. Then with our (close your eyes Andy, XBunny, OV) 2 inch thick filet mignons we did a little vertical flight. We had a 2001 and 2002 Corison Cab. They were yummy. All four of us kept our opinions to ourselves while tasting and independently decided the 2002 was more drinkable. I just checked on line and Stephen Tanzer rated the 2001 a 90 and the 2002 a 91(+). I guess we have pretty good tasters.

So with dinner wrapping up and our vertical flight over GE broke out the Nickel and Nickel Branding Iron...yummy. But, I think all things considered, the 2002 Corison was the best of the three.

Anyway, back to the rain thing. I get out of bed, flip open the computer, check the wx radar and there it is. The finger of pain. A big yellow band of water heading our way. Well, I needed time with the Major (my favorite Pete's roast) this morning anyway. A little surfing and several cups of coffee later, I was feeling much more human. Out the door for quick ride.

The green machine was ecstatic, going for a ride 4 days in a row. We headed south toward Palo Alto in an attempt to stay flat and easy, but then the light at Jefferson turned red and I had no choice but to go right, up Jefferson (they repaved some of it near the top...kinda like yesterday's road of pain). Why was I climbing today? Was that recovery? It actually felt great. Headed home via Canada and the Ralston Bike Bridge, got my speed fix and jumped back to my side of the 101. Gave my baby a bath and a lube job. She is ready to go again tomorrow. Then it started raining again.

A quick shower and out the door to look for a new place to live. We only found one house we liked but it was $2.5 milllion dollars (I typed that while doing the Dr. Evil pinky to the mouth thing, can you tell?). That is a little out of our price range. So, I guess we keep looking. Saw a beautiful double rainbow on the way home. A good sign!

Time to make dinner (and maybe have...you guessed it, a glass of wine)

Team Safeway Finds Gold and Bronze in Copperopolis Mines

Copperopolis Road Race, Milton, CA
4/15/06, Mostly Cloudy, Mid-fifties, Dry, Light Breeze
Masters 35+ 1/2/3 (Field of 42)
Martin (1), Glerum (3), Hernandez, Maxwell, Pasco, Reede, Tafoya

So the hill is longer than I remember but not as steep. Maybe I just had that final 10% kicker lodged in my brain housing group to remind me not to do hilly races. But, after doing the Sea Otters and Copperopolis, I think I am going to have to review my previous statements about not doing races with hills in them or even the word "Hill" or "Mountain" in the name of the race (Berkeley, Cat's, Livermore, and certainly Mt. Diablo/Shasta/Tam).

After the first climb, the bagboys were all still attached. There were several attempts at forming a break. But, every time we got a guy in it (and certainly if MH tried to go) they got shut down. On the long straight through the fields I bridged up to Brian McGuire thinking he would be a good guy to be in a break with, he immediately sat up, I thought he was pulling a Hutch on me and testing my resolve, so I put my head down and kept on truckin'. I looked under my arm a minute later expecting to see him there and he wasn't. No one was there. I had what looked like a 100m gap but probably on 50m. Not knowing the course I eased back into tempo mode to recover and drifted back to the pack. When they caught me another break of five formed including Ron Castia (EMC), John Ford? (Spine), James Allen? (Bollo), Lucas Paz (East Bay Velo) and Kevin Metcalf (former USPS). Teams were well represented with one glaring exception...SAFEWAY. Someone bridged up, maybe Scott Derdenger (Galaxy Granola), MH looked for one of us to jump his wheel, I wanted to but just couldn't. He got across. Now there were six. MH put in a couple accelerations. The pack chased hard. They thought he was trying to bridge. I was pretty sure he was just trying to get me or Reed close enough to bridge so the break would stay. It worked. A rider jumped (maybe the CRC guy that was with us) off the left side. This time Reed and I were both in a better position, I jumped on his wheel and Reed let me take it and sat up to protect the front. I took the easy way to the break.

Now we were 8...for about 2 minutes, then Scott flatted. Lucas was a motivator and kept everyone fired up. Group think was we were better as 7 than individuals so we kept it together on the climbs. Worked well most of the time. Occasionally guys would skip a pull but I tried to make sure not more than one. Lucas and Kevin seemed to do the lion's share. I tried to time my pulls for downhills so I could soft pedal at 30+mph and look like I was working then hit the bottom with momentum and spin up a little way then "have to pull off" not able to finish up the rollers. Not knowing the course I wanted to conserve as much as possible but work hard enough to be a good member of the break and keep it away. We checked six often and thought we had a huge gap not seeing any chasers and felt overly confident when we went through another field on the first descent thinking it would provide us some concealment. The second time up the hill Spine disappeared, and now we were 6. Ron was also starting to show fatigue. On the second climb I thought we were going to lose him but he hung on and rallied for the third lap. Up the hill the third time. I sat on, going at the pace set by either Lucas or Kevin or Bollo. All seemed to have good spurts of energy left.

Then it happened. A dark rider (whose jersey surprisingly resembled mine) went FLYING by us. Taz was absolutely hammering. Lucas accelerated, Kevin went with him, Bollo joined in and I knew I just had to hang on. They (and by they I mean WE)couldn't even match Taz and certainly were not going to close the ever widening gap. I laughed and a huge smile spread across my face (right after I cursed him for taking away my chance to win but in reality we would have been caught had we not accelerated in pursuit so in the end it really worked out better all around). Now we were FOUR. We worked together and pretty hard, not hard enough to catch Taz, but I really wanted us to get second through fifth (we deserved it). Again, Lucas and Kevin really did the most work. I sat out every 4 or 5 pulls knowing that I had NO obligation to do anything with Taz up the road. And, I was in the cat bird's seat. I didn't have to work, my team was going to win, I should have the best legs for the final sprint if I could stay with these guys up the last little climb, and we couldn't see the group behind us so we might actually stay away. We barreled down the hill. Into the valley, the finish is coming.

Then with about 2km to go Chris D'Alusio joined us and played it perfectly. He sat fourth wheel...did I mention that some where between the top of the last climb and now Bollo got dropped so we were three? From a ways out Kevin jumped. I think he was trying to sucker someone else to the front. Didn't work. We looked at each other. Inside the 200m sign Kevin jumped again, I went with him, we had a small gap, Lucas couldn't hang, Chris had to make up the distance, Kevin crumped maybe 80-100m out, I hesitated and Chris had momentum, he went around us, I stood to chase, both my Quads knotted, I sat and dropped into a lower gear, spin, spin, spin, not making ground, hold on for third, cramping, too much wine last night, not enough water, I need a gel, is that my heart I hear?, the line, yes...third. Not bad for a fat guy on a hilly race! Man that felt good. And there was Dan, all recovered and smiling, the Delivery Man for today.

A well conceived plan, perfectly played, and teamwork out the ying yang. First and third, not a bad days work. On this April 15th the man paid Safeway!

Sun peeking in the Window

The sun is shining...again...yesterday was a recovery and errand running day and it was 78 outside not a cloud in the sky. I got in 15 easy miles as directed by the Russian Mofia. Today 90 easy minutes. Radar looks good, rain in the South Bay clear in the North. Looks like it might hold out for Copperdropyerass as well. Better get out there and ride before I get bogged down at home. Lots to do today.

First Post - Who is Lothar Glerbny?

Well, I guess it would be best to start by explaining Lothar Glerbny. One of the reasons my parents choose my name was because they liked that there were no nicknames or abbreviations or renditions for it. They were right, and so, I've never really had a nickname that stuck. When it was time to decide on a name to use for the blog many came to mind, my real name was not one of them. Why is that? Nobody I know uses their real name on their blog. Thoughts for another post. I have been Gollum, Romeo, Devil, Loverboy, Boner (dropped for reasons of political correctness), West, Gerbil (almost dropped but unfortunately not offensive enough), and most recently Glare-um. But, the first nickname I can remember ever being given was Lothar Glerbny. This moniker was bestowed upon me by my 5th grade social studies teacher (or was it calculus?). Really, I think he just couldn't remember anyone's name so he made up one for each and every student. I thought it was the coolest thing. My first nickname. Of course it only lasted until the end of the school year but, I have always remembered it.