That time of year

In search of heat. Sadly, for me, it stayed cloudy today, so the
street likely didn't get very warm. But perhaps that saved this guys
life as he soon crawled back off the road (I know this because I went
back and forth on Canada 6 times doing intervals).

Going to Disneyland!

Yuk

Rain in May? Not that we can't use it but not on the weekend.

I was half way to Rancho Cordova when I turned around. I'm sure it
will clear up and be dry for the race.

Santa Cruz Fires

Taken from 12,000' on my way home from LAX yesterday.

2 Cats and a Dawg

This is a copy of Sabine Duke's post on Bella Babble.  Best wishes to her and all affected by the SC fires.

Thats all I had time to grab.

Left for work this morning and thought it was just super foggy. Started driving up Hecker Pass and saw the full fire and just about flipped.

Uh...thats over my house.

I foolishly went to work, then turned right back around and came home. By the time I got back to Eureka Canyon, they were not letting any more cars up the road.

"Downtown" Corralitos was mayhem. Traffic jam, camera crews, police barricades and a stream of cars coming down the mountain.

All I could think about was my little Kuku and the husky Pupu. So I took the bike out of my car and rode it up to my house. I just hopped on, no shoes, no helmet. I pedaled up a very smoky and windy Eureka Canyon in my work clothes and Danskos. Cars going in the other direction yelled "Where are you going?"

I'm going to get my cats.

Luckily two of my neighbors were still home. One was leaving in 5 minutes and one was staying until he saw burning embers. I don't need to see burning embers, so I had five minutes to pack. I grabbed my cats and stuffed an overnight bag with bike clothes (figured I could get regular clothes anywhere) and then had about 1 minute to decide on which bike to bring (My neightbor had one spot on his rack open).

1 Minute to choose between a bikelifetime of bikes?

Luckily, the Bonny is out on loan, so she is safe.

And Michael's has one or two in his car.

That left all of my Steelmen, my track bike, my xc bike, my Kona road bike, some other bikes I couldn't quite identify and my Dawg.

My Dawg was the bike in the car and the one I rode up to get the kitties. We sorta bonded in the smoke. He got me here safely and I just couldn't leave him behind. So, I chose the Dawg.

So, that pic there is all I was able to take with me (except the neighbor, he's not mine). And except for the fact that I smell like a bbq, I'm feeling okay.

But don't laugh if you see Michael and I in my mom and Theo's clothes.

Christmas Gifts for My Cycling Friends!

Portable power supply and mini wind turbine

Take your own power supply with you in a slim, beautifully designed recharging pack, that doubles as a portable wind turbine.  Attach the HYmini to your bicycle with the HYmini bicycle attachment kit and charge your own mobile power supply while you're on the road!

Works with wind speeds above 9mph.

Rewards

Somedays I have the coolest job.

Uhhh..

Art?

Jimmy

My little brother shopped in my nephew Nate!

Is that cool or what?

Idiocracy

Dunkin Donuts has a special, $1.99 for a medium coffee and toasted
bagel with cream cheese. I ask for "the special, but with a plain
cinnamon raisin bagel"

We can't do that, she tells me. After a brief exchange and discussion
with the manager who reiterates that the cream cheese is required, it
is decided that the rules are the rules.

"OK, just give me the special and I'll scrape the cream cheese off."

Would you like the bagel toasted?

"with cream cheese, yes I think so."

OK, so that's a medium coffee and a toasted bagel with the cream
cheese on the side.

"??????"

Nalley Historic Roswell Crit

.8 mile rectangle course. S/F on slight downhill on long side, not great 
corners, slight uphill on long backside. S/F ~300m from last corner. Light 
wind but variable throughout day. 72* partly cloudy. 

Masters 35+/45+ 
Couple breaks. Not knowing who to watch, I joined/bridged when they grew to 
5 or 6. All chased down. All except the one I didn't get on. It grew one man 
at a time, one of them should have been me but I never thought they would 
let that many go, and a couple strong teams shut down the field. I got in a 
really good chase with a strong guy. But, we had one, then two, then three 
boogers join us. After the two of us each gave several strong pulls two of 
the boogers attacked us. Dumb asses!  I got on the second guys wheel but he 
got gapped and I knew the other guy wasn't going to make it solo. He didn't. 
I chased some more with different groups but I was doing most of the work 
and I just couldn't close the last 15 seconds. And, I sure as hell wasn't 
going to get the wheel suckers close enough to jump. So, I sat up. The gap 
grew to 30 seconds before any chasing resumed. Feeling rested, I went to the 
front with a lap to go, hoping to at least keep it fast and safe for the 
guys sprinting for 8th (35s) and 2nd (45s) and maybe I would get enough of a 
gap on the little riser to stay off during the slightly downhill finish. I 
got the gap, but two groups of guys who had been sitting in (with guys in 
the break), organized leadouts for the 400m field sprint. I sat up to avoid 
the mayhem. 

Elite 2/3 
I had enough time to change jerseys and reload with water.  So, I started 
last in a big field. The race started fast. Lots of guys getting popped in 
the first 5 laps.  I almost dropped out after having to bridge gaps lap 
after lap for the first 10 minutes and not feeling strong. I figured it 
would settle down soon. It did. But, sadly, two laps later there was a huge 
crash just beyond the finish line on the straight away. Maybe 10-15 on the 
front weren't involved. Another ten including me had enough room so we 
stopped and picked our way through the wreckage and started chasing. After 
15-18 minutes of disorganized chasing we were stuck at 25 seconds. Oh well, 
might as well get a good workout. I went to the front and after 2 laps 
dropped all but one little young kid. He went up the "climb" OK but not much 
power for the chase. But we kept trying anyway. The moto came up next to us 
and said they screwed up and gave guys free laps after the crash that they 
shouldn't have. We were to pull into the pit and would be put back in the 
field. So, we did, and had to do an all out sprint to join the 30 mph 
peloton and be DFL and tired. Next lap of course had to be prime lap, speed 
up, two guys off the front, oh and...5 to go. Shiite! Passing the 4 to go I 
moved up from the very back to about 12th (of 50). Approaching 3 to go I 
moved up to 6-7th.  Fought for position as we chased. Caught the two man 
break with 2 to go. Still in good position. Bell lap. Fighting and sitting 
pretty. Up the "hill", patience, wait for the last corner, three man 
Hincapie Development train on the left, two Myogen somethings on the right, 
stuck inbetween, find a gap, they'll burn out, pedal pedal pedal...not 
enough left...caught 3 of them for an 8th place. 

Arghhhhh. I really wanted to show better today. Especially with Dave Towell 
on the mic. Oh well.  Next time!  Which just happens to be the EBC crit this 
weekend. 

Game on!

Roswell Crit