Bandera

Stop and Play. You do know how to Play on a bicycle, No?
MTB riding/racing is Playing with the Dirt, which plays right back at you.

"Whatever" as we said back when: Look where the machine should Go and let it Go there.
The Dirt is what it is and will Teach: Some times with painful lessons, sometimes with Joy.
Never easy.

-Bandera

Hermes

It was the Stealth. BT Stealth ? Bike Technologies Australia | biketechnologies.com

The frame was too small for me. Another racer showed up at the track with a new Stealth a few years ago. Roger Young at Velo Sports Center rides a really old Stealth that must weigh a ton.

Part of the problem with the Stealth and all their bikes is the price. The Stealth frame was selling for USD 7500. It was hard to justify that much money when Dolan was offing frames for under Sterling 1000.

I have a Dolan DF3 and like it a lot.

Heathpack 

Nope. I absolutely don't know how to have fun on a bike. It's miserable. I do it a lot anyway though, because I'm a masochist.

My misery is a huge turn off for other people too. This is why no one ever wants to ride with me. It's a sad thing to see, really. How much I force it and approach it all wrong, ruining cycling for myself and everyone around me.

Dalai

I wouldn't be racing a Stealth if I didn't pick up mine second hand in pristine condition for $2000 AU pesos...

Only questioned the version, as the Cyclone which was the model prior to the Stealth shared the basic shape with the only noticeable differences being the headset and weight.

Heathpack 

Yesterday I had three hours to ride however I wanted, with a few 3-min hard efforts. We have a big wildfire burning out of control just outside town (all my favorite routes!) but the air quality seemed pretty good in the am. I had put together a little group to climb into the area that is now consumed by fire, so we re-routed and did an in-town "climb all the hills" kind of ride, something we could cut short if need be.

Of course me being me, the term "hard effort" was not specific enough, but I figured 125-130% would be about right. I warned the boys what I'd be up to- the last three minutes of each climb, I'd be doing my hard efforts. Fun ride, lol a few hills into this ride, I took off on cue and heard one of them say "there she goes".

BUT everything did not seem easy yesterday for the first time since I've been back from vacation. I felt kind of tired. Then the smoke blew into the valley and we call the ride short & went for coffee. Just a fun ride.

Throughout the day yesterday, the air quality really deteriorated and the fire doubled in size. A group put together a field trip to Ventura & I got a text message asking if I wanted to come. Ventura to Santa Barbara with a stop for lunch, 50 miles. More than I was supposed to do, I just had a 2hr TT workout. But I thought I could make it work and then some other people wanted a shorter route too, so I was in.

Then woke up this morning and the smoke had blown out of the valley again. I looked up the air quality and it said Moderate. So I messaged my regrets to mynfriends and took my tired legs out for a solo ride. Tired or not, I hit every interval target and just totally enjoyed myself. At one point I was thinking how good it feels to pedal this TT bike, I don't know what it is about it, I just groove on the way it feels to push the pedals on this bike. I even got a QOM on a stretch of road I ride all the time- a 1% downhill grade that just happened to come up during a 5 min interval- on the TT bike, with no un-aero lights up front. Sweet that is my favorite terrain to put out some power. Just an awesome, totally enjoyable ride for some reason, there was nothing particularly special about the route and I just went out & rode alone.

Hermes

Yesterday, I spent two hours at the gym doing a complete body workout. I stopped in La Costa to work out at Equinox on my way to SD to break up the drive and work out some of the kinks that driving for hours develops.

Today, I did an old route in SD from back in the day. However, there is a brand spanking new bike path that runs parallel to Highway 5 and allows one to easily connect between Pacific Beach and UCSD. That is a yay!!! I rode through UCSD and then out along the coast. It was still hot even along the coast. The heat must be due to all of @Cleave 's dirt moving at his new house sending up more particulate dust into the atmosphere and changing the reflection of the sun's rays. Or something like that.

I rode 1.5 hours of mostly tempo with a hard effort up Torrey Pines hill. One thing I find hilarious is that I can generate so much more average speed since the terrain is generally flatter and I have a higher average power - less climbing and descending than NorCal.

sarals 

I arrived home last night from a three day R&R in Clear Lake. It was HOT, the coolest afternoon temperature for all three days was 102. I rode two days, the intent being to heat acclimate and to try the methods I'd been told about for heat control. I tried some of them, not all. The takeaway? I overheat easily, no matter what I do. When the temp gets much above 90, I start having difficulty. When it approaches 100, I'd better get off the bike.

Today I have a team ride in Woodside with the PV women. Our team coach will be there. Good!!

Hermes

Yesterday, on my way to gym, I was talking with my nephew who lives on the east coast. He and his wife are coming to visit us over the holidays. He is mid 30s and a former NCAA football cornerback. He was telling me he benched 305 lbs at his last workout. That is not a leg press but a bench press.

He asked me what I benched and I told him I was going to a Zumba class. That slight fib was better than admitting my feeble bench press. I have been listening to too many politicians lately.

I did send him a pic of me jumping on a 51 cm box. Genetics....we got to love them.

LAJ

I like that, @Hermes. Any question I choose not to answer, I will reply with your Zumba class response. Brilliant!

LAJ

I have been training to get my ass kicked in the 50+ Cat 1-2-3 race tomorrow. Then for fun, I'm going to race with the 40+3 guys a few hours after that. Between races, I may have to mow my lawn so I can tell kids to get off of it after that youngsters race.

Sunday, I get to race the Bannock Street Crit, which has been around for a long time. I remember watching the pro's race it in 1990-ish, or so. Different course, but still downtown Denver. I may go scout the TT course that's up for next week after that, but it's hard to get psyched up for that one.

Heathpack 

Rock it, @LAJ!

Hermes

Good luck LAJ.

My wife flew to SoCal to join me and to see how the place looks. We did a 2 hour endurance ride along the coast and it was hot and balmy. I was soaked at the end of the ride. The last time that I perspired that much was when I golfed in Singapore. There it was so hot and humid, my golf clothes were soaked at the end of the round. One had to bring a change of clothes for the drive back to the hotel.

interior house painting continues and we liked the new interior color. One never knows how a particular color will work with the lighting scene in the house until there is significant wall coverage.

LAJ

Thank you @Heathpack!

Thank you @Hermes!

Bandera

Today a fierce all-out effort between myself and the most experienced, powerful and technically astute shopping-time- trialist to vie for the finest produce at the local farmer's market took place.

Despite my opponent being equipped with the proven aerodynamic Raleigh Dawn Tourist TT/Shopping machine I marshalled a supreme effort and took home the prizes: Oddly shaped heirloom tomatoes that look as if grown in Chernobyl and free range bug-fed chicken.

Even a little old retired librarian with a will of steel couldn't match my surge for the Crazy-Talks-to-Vegetable-Lady's stand to secure my mis-shaped variegated veg-prize.

The dominance of little old ladies and their wicker basket wonders is over, pics of the amazing purpose built machines attached. It takes real commitment and discipline to plooter around long enough to adapt to the radical position, and to learn how to operate the seatbag buckles quickly on my highly modified Raleigh.

-Bandera

Hermes

Saddled up the TT bikes and did some tempo laps around Fiesta Island. It was a little cooler and the wind along the back stretch of the island felt great.

Racer Ex 

Clearly this was achieved with a non-UCI compliant frame set, and I am pretty sure the wicker basket would count as a fairing.

Bandera

According to the extremely strict UCS ( Union of Cycle-Shoppers) rules for timed shopping events at an open air regional venue with local produce, high prices and questionable food handling/sanitary practices rules must be followed:

"Wicker baskets, whether front or rear mounted may not exceed the height and width of the competitor by more than six inches."

"Full-Enclosed-Aero chain guards may not exceed the length of a school bus."

"The addition of Cheerful Bells that exceed 80 DB when manually rung with enthusiasm receive a 1 second advantage per mile."

"No machine not equipped with a Sturmey Archer AW IGH sporting the traditional stupidly high top gear is eligible for competition."

"All poultry, beef and pork products must be Organic certified and carried in sanitized saddlebags while Organic vegetables must be carried in front baskets to prevent cross contamination."

As all know the UCS Farmer's Market TT is scored by time to the millisecond on many equally Crucial timed sub-sections:

TT/S: The All Important cycling time trial from the venue entrance to the seller's stand at opening time.
SS/V: Shooting the s_it w/ the seller about weather conditions and other pleasant irrelevances.
S/P: Selecting the most prime and desirable produce.
H/V: Haggling over prices, paying asking price will result in a time penalty.
L/P: Loading produce on the TT/S bike, clearly an advantage for the wicker basket "dump 'n go" vs. the seat bag.
TT/H(D): An all-out effort to get the frozen free-range-bug-fed-chicken home before it thaws over the measured Distance home.

Total time of TT/S + SS/V + S/P + H/V + L/P + TT/H with an evaluation of produce Quality and Haggled Price determines the Winner.

Quite simple really: It's the Race of Supper-Prep.

-Bandera

Heathpack 

Pretty gnarly week for me on a personal level. A lot of death at work and huge wildfire that burned right up to within a few hundred feet of suburban neighborhoods. Almost 40,000 acres burned, included some beloved cycling routes. Commuting havoc because of the fire, too- one day I was tangled in commuting for 4 hours.

But I got some nice rides in, two on the new mountain bike.

The inaugural ride was maybe 5 miles up a fire road then down a little single track. I fell twice but low speed stuff which was no biggie. This is what the fire road looked like:



I didn't take any pics of the single track section, I mostly focusing (not entirely successfully) on staying upright. It was pretty fun, I can see the appeal, especially if you know what you're doing.

Yesterday I just did a quick 40 miles with a friend and then today I wanted something on the mtn bike that was easy- no single track, just me spending some time getting used to the bike. I talked two friends into riding a road called Old Ridge Route. In the days of yore, the Ridge Route was the road that took you over the mountains from LA to Bakersfield. This road has been replaced now by I5 but the old road is still there, semi-maintained because if the 5 is shut down, you can at least get emergency vehicles over the mountain on this road. The closed section we rode today is 17.8 miles one way, some good pavement, some broken pavement, some dirt/sand, some gravel. Rolling but mostly climbing going out. 38 miles RT with 3300 ft climbing.

I was very resistant to the idea of a hydration pack but obviously had to get one for a ride like this. So today was all about hanging with some good friends, learning that it's fine to ride over $hit on a MTB, enjoying the scenery and riding with that pack. Success on all fronts, it was a great ride. We encountered two people total all morning. Just beautiful & peaceful.

revchuck 

Awesome, HP!

Heathpack 

sarals 

@Heathpack, fun stuff! It's terrific you're able to do some "reconstituting" on the new bike. Hard week for you, indeed. Here's to The Bike, a new bike at that, to settle you down.

sarals 

I had a high cumulative TSS for the week when I drove to the SF Bay Area to do a Team Ride last Thursday evening. TSS on the bike wasn't the only accumulated fatigue, I had driven many hours during the week, including the night before, and I was denying to myself how exhausted I really was. Needless to say, the team ride did NOT go well. I was at risk of going into a hole mentally, but some nice notes from Coach and the team coach helped me out of that spiral.

And then I bought a new track bike.

The world is almost back on keel!!

sarals 

Oh, no. You have humor, that's good sign. Closed head injuries are so scary, cognitive issues are no surprise. I'm so glad it wasn't worse.

Good to see you back to punishing yourself in training!

Big hug, VG

sarals 

Yesterday I finally (!) got back on the training schedule and did some short intervals, X2. Oh, yes. That's what it's supposed to feel like!

My "heat training" experiments showed me that 1) I cannot go at anything over a recovery effort in high 90 degree temps, or I am in serious trouble. 2) I can go a little harder, like tempo, in low 90 degree temps, but I tire much quicker than I normally would. 3) Mid to hi 80's are okay, but finding shade is essential and I'd damn well better keep up with hydration.

Oh, the joys of being an "older athlete"...

sarals 

@Bandera, I LOVE this! Hopefully I'll remember that when i get back on the cross bike.