Call me cardboard man.

Think of the upper body benefits!

NCNCA Championship Crit on Sunday, and then it's go fall down on the CX bike time. Yowsa!

@Racer Ex Cardboard status?

Good luck Sara
Well, not good luck in the falling down bit, just the crit

Another try at an FTP test this evening. Raced hard on Tuesday evening, didn't ride yesterday. Have failed on 2 of 3 past FTP tests. Last try was about 6 weeks ago. Going to use my training road bike with the PowerTap again. Will try other options if this test doesn't work out again.

sarals, have fun at the crit. CX should be PX (Psycho).

His breathing became more and more labored as he fought the deep snow. The summit had seemed close for many hours, the ice capped peak gleaming in the sun. He paused for a moment, stretching his back which was cramping badly. It was not the first time this had happened, it had been a constant in his life since the bull had lifted him skyward in Pamplona.

"It is not far now" Tenzing's muffled voice floated with the wind, his voice hinting irritation at the stop.

"A Sherpa would know best" the man replied.

"We should keep moving. There are clouds gathering"

He could see her face in the gathering storm. The wind carried her words. He felt her throat in his hands, her laughter as he let go.

"There are worse things than being on a mountain in a bad weather".

The Sherpa was silent for a moment. Then he spoke with a slight quiver in his voice.

"It is not safe".

"No. But it never is. Have you ever moved?"

The Sherpa shrugged. "What is "moved"?

"Changed houses. Moved everything from one place to another"

"I left my parents hut. I build a new hut when I married"

"Just that once?"

"And once I go to live in the city. But I don't like"

"Too much cardboard?"

"Yes. Too much cardboard"

The man gazed at the peak. He could only see an endless line of cardboard boxes. He looked down to find his oxygen supply gauge sitting against the pin. Empty.

"Cardboard is not safe"

"There is no cardboard in the mountains. One should not talk of cardboard here. Cardboard angers the gods"

For a moment there was silence, then four sets of crampons once again began their chant as their ice picks gabbed into the ice.

"Is there a Domino's in Lapsong?"

"We are a civilized people" the Sherpa snapped back.

"Then we will share a pizza and wings on our return".

My legs showed up this morning after a prolonged vacation somewhere...else. I was supposed to do 1:15 at endurance pace with an hour of that at the upper end, and that hour ended up being squarely in SST territory without too much perceived effort. My probably last race this season is Sunday (Ft. Hood Challenge is still up in the air), hope my legs stick around until after that's done. Day off tomorrow, openers Saturday, race Sunday.

You should do Hood. 2nd best road course in Texas.

I went out for a Fred ride.

Digression...At the track, it is common for kilo riders to use expressions such as a gorilla jumped on my back or some threw a refrigerator on my back during the last 250 meters of the kilo.

My ride started out with a perceived effort as though someone put in a rusty chain and my brake pads were rubbing. At about 30 minutes into the ride, a gorilla jumped out of a tree with a refrigerator on his back and landed on my back. I have pursuit and 500 meter power in the pursuit position with short cranks. Everything else is sht!.

My plan would be to do solely the age-graded championships on that Sunday, even though I'm ineligible for any prizes. I'd do it just to see what it would be like to race with a fair-sized group of guys my own age (M60+).

The logistics are pretty favorable. I can stay on Hood for $62/night. It's a six hour drive each way, but even if I have to work Saturday, I could drive out and sleep late since my race wouldn't start until 1315. Hmmm...

I a couple of weeks, my wife and I are going to Mallorca Spain for 10 days of cycling and we hope to get on their indoor velodrome. We have been to Mallorca before and it is a great place to cycle and has Mountainous terrain.

Sooooooooooooo.... Even in Fred mode, I need to put some endurance back in my legs and thankfully today, they felt more normal and I managed to jettison the gorilla off my back and I did 45 minutes of tempo. It is amazing to me how much endurance one can generate by just doing high intensity work. I felt pretty normal at tempo power even though I have not done much endurance work preparing for Nats and tapering.

2.5 hour endurance ride z2 / z3 constant power. No gorilla and no chain. I am ready for Mallorca.

Did a local 10 mile TT on Saturday and took a $120 gift certificate towards a Giro Helmet for the 25 minute effort.
Went Fred mode today with my shirt open and gut hanging out.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=403065

TSS 86
IF 0.60

Something liquid in a Mason jar...hmmm...:)

Jet fuel?

;)

Rode the CX bike for the first time this morning, other than the test ride after putting it together, that is. It's, well, a little different. It's tall, it's not that light, and it doesn't want to go very fast. It's smooth, though, and it's not uncomfortable. It's going to take some getting used to. No way I'll try one of those flying remounts any time soon, it's just too tall. I think I will race it this weekend, though. Or, pay the entry fee to ride it around the course while other people are racing their cross bikes. :)

:thumb:

Fred mode ON

Time to set on the porch with the dogs and watch the world go by

Good one. I know the competitive side will come out and you'll be giving your all.

These are some of my notes to my teammate from Sunday's crit. This is training, and I'm learning to read the race. Things didn't go so well for my teammate. She was nipped off the podium at the line, and she hasn't taken it well. We're both learning how to ride as a team. There have been only two or three races this season where we could actually work together, because she is the younger and much stronger rider. This past race was important, perhaps more so to me, but I wanted to help her as much as I could. It didn't work out.

"I wanted and want you to know that you were fabulous, strong as always, and a marked woman - people respect you and fear you, and it's no wonder that Yvonne wouldn't pass you and take a pull. They were going to make it hard for you to get away or get good position when it counted. Things did not unfold in that race the way (Ex) suggested they might, but even so, he put out scenarios for us that we could watch for and maybe take advantage of. I wanted very badly to work with you in that race because I knew it was a race that I could be there in and not only do well, but help you do well. Of course, there are the wild cards, and a race is very dynamic. I don't know enough about racing yet to understand everything that is going on around me, and I don't know the other riders that well. I'm better at all that now, and that will be helpful next season. I watched you attack and I watched the reactions. There was a pretty strong reaction the first time you did it, and the group pulled you back quickly. The second time, when you got the gap, people just watched. I was waiting to see who would try to bridge up, but no one did. You weren't that far off the front, and just sort of dangling there, but you were holding it. I was moving up to get on the front to slow down the peloton a little when the group surged and started to bring you back. Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure they saw another C&W kit going to the front and they thought a team break might be trying to get away, so it was shut down. If you remember, after that any time one rider or even two riders made a strong move off the front, the reaction by the peloton was quick and they were brought back immediately. I also tried to interrupt the Norma/Yvonne train, but Norma wasn't having that. She was watching me pretty carefully, and she spent a lot of energy in both staying in front of me and staying as close to Yvonne as she could. They are teammates, after all, even though they were different age categories. I think they had a similar plan in place to what (Ex) suggested we do, only they made theirs work."

Yesterday, 2:15 endurance ride. I have one flat ride that I can do from my house that is ride along the bay and then next to San Francisco Airport to where my wife works. I rode over and she came down to say hi and let me use the rest room. We entered one of the buildings on campus where they were taking blood donations. I was wearing my Genentech Team kit and a woman asks my wife if i would pose for a picture that she could use on the company website.

A picture was fine with me but NO BLOOD. If there is going to be any blood involved it is going to be my own returning to me. I had to walk my bike as well as ride through the entry way. This modeling stuff is hard. Walking correctly and riding in a lobby is difficult.

The photographer is supposed to email my wife the photos. This should be good.

I left the office and my legs felt great and I felt like I was ripping the pedals off the cranks. I headed over to San Bruno Mountain and did a short effort just because I wanted to punish the pedals. I killed the ride all the way home. Probably too much effort for Fredistan but this is the first end of season that I have felt this good.

Off to Mallorca in a about 10 days where there will be lots of riding, climbing and drinking.

In any particular order?

Drinking last.

Not during?

Openers today for my first ever cross race tomorrow. Although, I will be riding around, checking things out, more than racing. My concern is poison oak. Not falling. Not blowing up. Not getting dropped. Poison oak.

That's a legitimate concern.

Yeah, and I am particularly allergic to it.

I did openers and sprints today, on the CX bike. The PT wheel and the front road wheel I use with it went right onto the Giant TCXW without even having to adjust the brakes. Way cool! I rode in the area where tomorrows CX race will be, and I went out to the course and checked it out. I only saw a little tiny portion of it, but it looked like fun, all of the brush and plants (as in poison oak) are a good distance from the barrier tape along the course, so I feel better about NOT getting poison oak! The RD has placed those boards that you have to run/jump over in some interesting places, like at the top of a little slippery rise. Two of them are just before what I guess is the pit lanes, probably placed to slow people down. The surface looked like it was mostly hard packed single track, but I know the RD has a sand pit back in there somewhere which he says is "rideable". Okaaaaaay. He has created a WM55+ category just for me, and he told me no matter how many laps I do in the 40 minutes, I'll still podium. Ha!! That speaks to me how much fun this CX stuff is going to be!

My TSS was little high on the CX bike. It was Thursday on the TT bike, too, so I wonder if the PT hub is reporting erroneously? I checked the calibration and it's spot on - 503. Maybe I've become a monster or something....