They Accepted Our Bid!

Driveway...duh...

Your guest house.

Backyard

Roof top patio

From the patio

Master Bath

Office (maybe library for us)

Master Bedroom

Patio

Wine Cellar...needs some work

Living Room

Sittting Room? Kitchen behind you...

Kitchen

Dining Room

Meow Mix

We found a place to get a post race recovery drink!


Had to get a picture of our pimped out rides!

Yummy snacks provided by some enterprising young tom cats.

Mi amigos y

Mas amigos

The Break

You guys look thirsty..need a drink? BJM?

Get your snack on!

What does it mean to be a passenger on an airplane these days?

Being in the business
I really don't expect too much...
and hence I am rarely disappointed.

I don't expect to get a snack,

a drink maybe,

but why should the airline feed me.

I am paying for them to transport me from one place to another.

If I wanted food I would go to a restaurant (actually, I would just bring my own).

So, I am always appreciative when I receive one of those cute little snack packs...it's better than nothing, right?

But this...this is rediculous! What's with the itty bitty knife to spread the cheese on these itty bitty Butter and Herb "Crostini"?

I really shouldn't be eating this processed Havarti Cheese type product anyway.

After this picture, the whole thing went into the trash...except the raisins. √6

Don't Judge a Book...

...by its cover

or a cyclist by his....

Anyone know who this is? Or what stripes these are?

Lothar of the Hill People II

Berkeley Hills Geezer Style:
This is a 35 mile race if you are a dumbass like me. See previous post about dropping chain. Reason said chain dropped was not shifting stupidity but broken link. On the promenade I knew something was wrong. Actually asked a teammate to take a look because I thought I might have lost a pulley bolt or something. Nope, broken link = bad shifting = another half race = another mechanical.

I'll get it together sooner or later.

I won't pretend to know what happened. I set the pace...silly me...up Papa the first time. I felt good. And soon that would end. Attacks, reeled in, another attack, reeled in, fast, slow, faster when the incline increased (and I don't mean in an inverse downhill kinda way), both my legs flatted and a jumpy chain. I was out...no further excuses required.

Team played it well. Covered breaks, pushed the pace when necessary, conserved the right people, attacked at the right time. Taz walked away with it and Pascuzzi hung for some BAT points. Nicely done!

Lothar of the Hill People?

Cats Hill Criterium (x2...or x1.5).
I was one with the hill people this weekend and it was good.

Elite 3:
100 crazy SOBs on the line at the start...not so many at the finish.

I count 21!

Too bad there wasn't a KOH...
cause I might'a nabbed it.

The only thing I learned when I raced this 3 years ago was be at the front when you hit the bottom of the hill and hit it fast.

Momentum is king!
Especially on number 15 through 20!
Photo by Kevin King

Momentum = mass * velocity

Momentum can be defined as "mass in motion." All objects have mass (some objects have more mass than they should); so if an object is moving, then it has momentum - it has its mass in motion. The amount of momentum which an object has is dependent upon two variables: how much stuff is moving and how fast the stuff is moving. Momentum depends upon the variables mass and velocity. In terms of an equation, the momentum of an object is equal to the mass of the object times the velocity of the object.

If only I had learned to be at the front when you hit the final corner. Great gameplan, poor execution. Mr. Smart was in there with me and we had it in the bag. He flatted the last time up the hill, damn the bad luck. Got blocked in and turned the final corner in about 11th...finished 7th. Ugh...so close too!

Geezers:
Ruthless I tell you, those bag boys are brutal! Attack after attack. So much strength. Glad they are on my team. Wish I hadn't dropped my chain halfway through. No chance of catching back on...not on this day. Taz set up a great attack, Pascuzzi, DeanO, then oV...I've heard of the one two punch but the one two three four (with Andy, M2, and the Delivery Man sitting in) YIKES!

Angermanagement from the Spine "Doctors" nipped oV at the line after an awesome attack over the top. The Delivery Man covered and grabbed 5th!

Pro/1/2:
Check out DeanO...he earned a rootbeer today!

Here we go again!

It's Just Training

Small group on the Thursday ride.

Maybe the wind kept people away.

It really wasn't that bad though. Even with six of us plus the half dozen that joined along the way we motored along. We dropped most everyone by the end...oops. Didn't mean to, I just had to get some Super LT and VO2 intervals in and others followed/challenged.

Actually hit 179 in the sprint to the Fire Station. I am using the term "sprint" very liberally. I wouldn't have even gotten that except this BIOC (is that pronounced biatch?) rider sat on my wheel most of the way up and over guardrail hill and to the fire station....had to go for the sprint points? It is only training...

ah, but it was sprint training....

Now, I know for some 179 is not impressive, but that is only one beat lower than I have ever recorded on the bike.

See, I am more a diesel truck than a sports car.

So, I motored, we went fast, it was fun...lots more fun than the lifecycle in the gym yesterday.


Four of us finished together and nobody tried to sprint...

Headwind,
Uphill,
Tired,
Good!

Flying is fun!

Afterburner = cool

Got airborn this morning. Nothing crazy. Just flew to another base, did a couple practice approaches, flew home. But, now I remember why I keep going to the ATL.

Get On With It

Sorry,

sorry,

sorry.





XBunny put me in a Grail mood...and you can see / hear what happened.

Now I have a whole new aspect of fun to add to the blog!





Aren't you excited?

You thought I was kidding?

Another rainy day...it is unfortunate that I am so lazy. It was just cloudy when I got to work. So, I could have, should have, gone for a ride first thing. Of course, then what would my excuse have been for not flying?

Oh, I can't fly in clouds...that's right. It has been so long since I last flew that my first flights cannot be into instrument conditions.

Probably a good rule!

So, let me see...what can I do...hmmmmmmmm.

Hey, isn't there a bike race thingy on TV. Nope, but there is on OLNTV.com.

All that I need is internet access, a big TV, a cushy sofa, and a good cup of coffee.

Got it all right here.

But, wait, it's a transfer day. They are done racing in Belgium and they are on their way to Italia. That sucks! But, I haven't seen Stage 1 or Stage 3 or Stage 4.....better make some more coffee.

Look, it is even raining on TV!

Those guys look NOT happy.

But, it's PPV.

Maybe Stage 4 will be sunny. I'll save that for the hotel room later.

Or I could watch CSI: Topeka?

Inspired, off to the gym for 45 minutes on the spin bike.

Ciao'

4 Crit Weekend

Golden State Criterium
...the life of leisure
Sleep in,
Tucker to the park,
big breakfast,
late sign-in,
weather was great,
respectable fields.

What more could you ask for?

How about a podium appearance?

On this day the Bag Boys would stand on every step of the podium (not all in the same race mind you, but close). The day started with a tough P/1/2 race. I wish I could tell you all about it but I was warming up for the kids race that would take place immediately afterward. The MIB rode hard and got oV in a break with some rough company. He tried to work them over but they were having none of it. He held on for a top ten and the Delivery Man tried to sneak in as well but got nipped for eleventh.

Next up, Lothar. Sat in for most of the race. Enjoyed the ride. Ducked and skirted some impending disasters. Bitch slapped a couple youngin's for thinking they could push grandpa around (besides I outwiegh most of them by at least 2 or 3 stones!). These kids ride all dick, balls, and no forehead. When will they learn. Anyway, moved up in the last couple laps with the group chasing a well timed lead-out move that didn't quite make it. Was just a little too far back and grabbed third.

Sponsoring today's Masters Race is the letter T. T is the first letter in Team and Teamwork. If you have a team and they use teamwork, they can make the field tired (tired also starts with t), then when Ron goes off the front for the last five laps they can help him stay there using tactics. At the end of the race the Delivery Man can ride very fast and get second, second does not start with T.


EMC2/Vellum
0800 is way to early for a race...at least it was only 30 minutes away.

Cat 3 race not so good on this day. Sat in but just didn't have the pop at the end and the riders were even less concious of the impending pain from hitting the ground than the day before. I knew I had to be top 3-5 on the last corner...just didn't get there. I let myself get boxed in and didn't fight hard enough to get out. Turned the corner about 12-15 back...finished 10th.

35+1/2/3: 9 MIB spread out amongst the peloton is n awesome sight. Again worked the field a little to ripen it for a break with attacks and reattacks. A small break went, I think Robert was in the initial jump, Michael bridged up, and then Jeff. Ohhhhhh billy, a twelve man break with 3 MIB and 6 more in the field behind. Then Michael attacked the break with Brian Bosch and got away. Very nice.... What could be better? How about Chris Wire attempting a bridge with 5 or 6 to go and Kyle grabbing his wheel. And then Coates trying to attach the whole group to them and dragging Ron for a lap, only to get dropped, allowing Ron to join Kyle and Chris and succeed in the bridge. Now there was Michael off the front, and Robert, Jeff, Ron and Kyle in the chase, and Roger, Dean, Patrick and Ma in the field. Bosch, much to his credit, was able to hang on to a last ditch acceleration by Michael and outsprint him for the win. Jeff held off everyone but Larry Nolan for a solid 4th. Robert and Kyle grabbed 10th and 11th. Not bad T.

P/1/2: Another tough race. Most of the players used the masters race as a warm-up. (it is after midnight so this will be concise) Michael got away with...get this...Briggs, Fuentes, LaBerge, and Bosch. Oh shit...it looked like a who's who of Northern Cal Sprinter Association. He tried to take advantage of some accelerations but they knew his strengths and theirs, and the sprinter had numbers. The field just couldn't pull them back. Michael took 5th and Roger grabbed 9th with a great effort in the field sprint.

I'll say it again and again....I'm glad these guys are on my team. Nice work everyone!

Look out Los Gatos here we come...

Bummer...or not?

Oh man...you gotta be kidding me. I fly all the way to the ATL to rocket around like Chuck Yeager and it is going to thunder and lightning.

I wish I could just go for a ride then but you gotta be crazy to go out in that. I mean a gentle Cali rain is one thing but electricity screaming out of the sky just searching for a hunk of metal to attach itself to, and me on a steel bike. Uh..uh...not gonna do it...wouldn't be prudent.

At least I have internet at the office, limited as it might be. I wonder if I can figure out a way to hook the computer to the flat panel....hmmm.

The Monday-Saturday stages can be accessed without commercial interruption here on OLNTV.com for only $19.99.

Now all I need to do is break out my government charge card and I can watch the Giro on a government flat panel, accessed via a government computer, on government time, paid for by the government....heeeheeeheee. Naw, I wouldn't do that.

Now We're Having Fun!

This HTML stuff ain't so bad.

I got the misplaced "link" figured out.

Put some images in the header.

Loaded all the sponsor images and made them link to their websites.

Added a title.

Created a footer.

And I'm just getting started...

but it's time for a bowl of cereal (out of ice cream).

Lost in the Blog

After playing with the code for the Safeway blog yesterday I realized I missed my calling.

How sad...I am such a geek at heart. I actually enjoyed reading through lines of code to try to figure out why it wasn't displaying correctly.

   /** We enable spellcheck only for users
     who speak english beause
 *  the spellchecker only works for ASCII. */
var userCanSpellcheck = true

Looks like they need a little "spell check" of their own...or maybe this is a geek joke?

Sadly, I will note, that I still have not figured it out. But, I will!

This is not unlike the evening I spent deciphering my year end brokerage report and trying to calculate mark-to-market values and determine profit/loss to verify my 1099. Yeah, the 1099 was right, but I can prove it with my own spreadsheet!

I am a numbers geek...you've seen my watch?

What the hell is with that? Who needs a slide rule on their wrist?

ME!


My sweety is out of town this weekend becoming one with her business partners....ooohhhhmmmm, ooooohhhhhhmmmmm......kumbaya.

The Cure

I needed to go for a ride.

I mean Monday is easy recovery and Tuesday is day off. But there was no riding yesterday and, like I said, I needed to go for a ride. You understand.

An hour to Palo Alto, jump on the Nooner, an hour home. That should do it.

Great weather so lots of riders today. I felt good...after my warm-up, it was a little hard getting the legs going.

We did the double Alpine today which meant some good climbing. I hung in on the hills and had good legs in the sprints. Even on Arestradero at the end, I went waaaaaay early, Bruce sucked my wheel, I kept it going, I felt him move out of my draft to come around so I stepped it up a little, he ducked back in for another 50m, I let up, it was enough. Even Pascuzzi saw him do that but couldn't figure out why until we chatted later.

And that is where today's story gets good. We get to Page Mill, near the end of the ride, and Robert asks if I want to go up. I don't have any food, almost out of water, not planning that long a ride...OK. It is too nice a day and I need the release, riding is good. We climbed at a leisurely pace, went North to 92, and back home.

Photo from Palo Alto Online


There is very little that a 90 mile bike ride on this beautiful peninsula cannot make better or at least help you forget.

I am thankful for the ability to ride, fantastic roads and weather, and friends with which to share it all.

Out Bid

We didn't get the house...

House Hunting

We found a house we like yesterday after looking for quite some time!


We put an offer in on it today...at the ask price. And, they asked for rent back for one month and we offered it for free.







Can you believe they countered with a $70k increase over original ask and had the balls to still request the free month we offered as good will? I was sooooo pissed. But, we like the house so we offered a little more (there was another offer that they also countered). We will know by 10am tomorrow if they accepted.