You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March, 2008.
Woke up at 5:30, went into the freezer, took out my last black bean burrito, micro-waved it, ate it… breakfast. Beans are a great way to start the day and an even better pre race food. Race food? Oh yea… I raced Charge Pond today.
I left my school at 6:30, biked over to Cookies house (like 10 mile away), packed up my stuff, picked up Bill D and we were on our way. Charge Pond is a pretty fun course. Safe course (aka no cars), you get to turn your bike (something which never happens at Wells Ave), you need to be on your toes (because the width of the course is constantly changing and you can easily get pushed out into a pile of sand or something), and it’s a great place to work on attacking since if you can get away you can easily get out of sight from the rest of the main field.
So the race starts and you can quickly spot the morons of the race. There was some dude at the front, who we nicknamed “the cowboy” and was clearly a tri athlete, who was doing the stupidest shizz ever. It looked like he was trying to attack the field starting right at the front. He would look back, stand up and sprint real hard, coast, look back, and got more and more agitated each time he never broke away… One time after his attempt to break away he sat up and threw both arms in the air riding no handed in at the front of the field. WTF. This guy was just dumb.
Another dude pinned his number upside down and had about 8 reflectors on his bike. Stay away from those guys.
There was lots of bickering in this race too. People were just complaining about everything. Apparently there was too much brake tapping, people couldn’t hold lines, lots of people bumping into each other, noses were being picked, fingers were up butts… people just couldn’t stop complaining. Shit happens people. Get over it.
My goals for this training race were simple: to train. I wanted a solid tempo ride with a few efforts and maybe lay the smack down on the field with a few attacks… depending on how my legs felt. 1st race of the season… I had no clue where I would stack up against the other riders seeing that I have done basically all of my 2008 riding solo.
I felt good. Good enough to attack twice. The first time I started from mid pack and sped up through the inside line. 2 guys followed. We only held the field off for 2 ish laps though. It hurt like a bitch. I gots to do some intervals. The second time I attacked was just for fun. I got bored of just chillin’ and just wanted to open up the legs again. I went out solo that time. Stayed away for like a min and talked myself into soft pedaling. That friggin’ hurt too. Again, I gots to do some intervals.
That was basically my race. I rolled across dead last. I did my work. I was happy. Booyakka.
I had to pee. So I went into the first stall (the designated one for peeing) and began doing the awkward reach in and pull out dance that happens when you have your bibs on. So as I lean forward the arm warmer which I had thrown over my shoulder began to slide off and it splashed right into the murky water while I was still in mid stream. PANIC. I’M PEEING ON MY ARM WARMER!!! WTF!!
It’s impossible to just pinch it off. It doesn’t work that way. So I lean in and pinch the only corner which has yet to go under. It was still pretty dank but whatever… it had to be done. After a quick rinse in the sink it was as good as new.
Actually, I’m kinda glad that I urinated on my arm warmer. It was warm out today. Like really warm. No gloves. No winter hat. Not booties. Regular socks. No huge winter coat. If I had my arm warmers I would have been on fiahh.
too good. or bad?
I went to bed last night at 12. I woke up at 3 because my roommate attempted to sit on his rolling chair and somehow ended up doing a face plant. At first I thought that he was hurt. Then he started snoring. OK… he’s still breathing… back to bed for me.
At 7:30 my phone rings. It’s my Mom. She didn’t want me to ride home today because of the wind. Her logic was that there were high wind advisories and therefore a gust of wind could push me over or even worse, into a car. I knew that the wind was going to suck but also had faith that my super Cat 6 skillz would keep me up. It turned out that I was right.
I had class at 8. I was out of class at 8:30. I then went straight to the dining hall to full my belly with the most perfect pre ride food: Tater Tots.
At 9 I was back in my room. It was nice to see that my roommate transferred his body from the floor to his bed. I was proud of him.
I packed up my bag with my laptop, all the power cords and chargers you could imagine, 3 notebooks, a pair of pants, two hats, my Hanna Montana CD, and All Marketers are Liars. Just enough stuff to last me for 3 nights and 2 days at home. I then filled my bottles with water and split a Crystal Light ToGo iced tea packet between them. They’re so freakin’ good.
I was out the door at 10. By 12 I had ridden 30 miles. By 2 I had ridden 60. By 2:30 I was home. That ride was hard. The wind was almost too strong and I had a nice little head wind the whole ride. The 45 MPH gusts of wind were great fun too.
There were times when I would be riding downhill and if I went to coast I would basically get pushed back up the hill. It was a pain in my bum bum.
I don’t think I have ever spat on myself so many times.
Being carless I have to bum people for rides. This weekend is Easter… so I’m going home. The original plan was that my parents would come and pick me up at school… which is basically one of the last things I want to have happen. So I checked weather.com and Map Quested a route to bike back home. Its roughly 65 miles but I am tempted to turn it into a century ride. I’m gonna have a nice little 25 mph tail wind but will also be carrying a fully loaded Chrome bag stuffed to the gills with books and clothing.
I have one class at 8. I should be on the road at 10 and who knows when I will make it back home. This route passes right by the Watchusett Reservoir… so I think I will probably end up hooking onto 117, taking that to Stow, and riding part of the loop to extend the ride at-least another 20 miles.
Saturday I’m heading down to Charge Pond for the first race of the year. After my brother and I race we’re going to try and continue getting in some miles down in that area with some more of the IF guys. I’ve ridden with them a few times and I usually can’t stop laughing. Should be a good time.
Sunday is Easter. Which means I get fat.
And then Monday I’m going to get dropped back off at school at 5am. Oh joy.
not proportionate
I had a solid ride today. Punk.
What’s up with this?
