Lost both of my races this weekend. San Diego omnium put on my by club (SDBC) and PRT from the south bay. Master's 35/45+ Both days. No fewer than seven sets of stars and bars in the field both days! Quality fields we have here in SoCal.

Yesterday, I rode to the race (~18 mi) and got a cut that my dynaplug wouldn't stop. Didn't hold more than 10ish PSI so I limped to a bike shop and bought a new tire and had em seat it and get me rolling. Then.... my DI2 runs out of battery and I'm stuck in the little ring. OK that one is my fault. But, neutral support at the start had a spare battery and they swapped it out for me with seconds to spare before the gun time. One teammate is running my bike to support and another is pinning me up as they are calling up the fields. Hectic AF. Once in the race, I stayed near the front and had the opportunity to mark a couple attacks but just kinda didn't for some reason, guess I was feeling a bit timid. Bunch finish. Worst part is that I wasn't cooked at the end. So I should have attacked!

Longer race today, 11 laps on a 3.3 mi circuit. I was on the attack today, a few times. The moves lasted 3-5 min each time, and on one of them I had a pretty favorable composition, with 2-3 other winners with me.... but it wasn't meant to be. No Methods to Winning riders = gonna get caught. At least I went for it today and forced the field to respond to some attacks.

No results this weekend but hey at least I had fun and rode hard. It's sort of unusual for neither of the races to form a race-winning breakaway. I think making it a day-two omnium attracted more team presence and it's kind hard sometimes to make sure all teams are represented in a break. But we tried! We sure did

I remember moving into a house in 1957 with my parents and the living room was all carpet. The bedrooms were hardwood, the kitchen and dining room were asphalt tile. I remember something happened and my dad just tore all the carpet up one night and started refinishing the floor immediately. . The house was built in 1940 so it was carpeted sometime between 1940 and 1957.

My first house was built in 1962 and we bought it in 1973. It had carpet over the beautiful oak flooring.

If it's any consolation I didn't win any races this weekend either.

Not a biologist, but my undergraduate major was Biology. And you are quite correct about those terms and probably more co-opted by corporate America. Am thoroughly steeped in the scientific method.

do you ever wondered what happened to the carpet that your dad had to pull it up immediately!?!?

Shag?

Went for a ride just not feeling it. In the past when this has occurred, things turned around and it was a decent outing. So I decided today, I would give it a shot. On the first climb, I found my legs had considerable spring and I sailed right up. From there, I clicked in and found that I had an abundance of power, but had to be careful to not burn too many matches up font. It’s strange having to tell myself to slow down several times. However it turned out for the best, because was able to finish strong. (35 miles, 2,200’).

Can't win em all.

Kate Courtney got a stage win today at least!!!

Hmmm. I've never REALLY needed anything lower than 1:1 on a relatively unladen road bike. Did fine going up Mt. Hood with a slightly higher ratio even (30x26) but that was when I was still a strapping young lad

I tried 30x26 up SoMo in my early fifties and it hurt so thats when I got the 26T little ring on my triple, even though front shifting would probably be better with a 28x28 low.

The nesting wading birds are out in full force on the island between Somers Point and Ocean City, NJ.

Black-Crested Night Heron.

I think it was some sort of bug infection. I was only 6 or 7. Pretty sure that it wasn’t termites but have no idea. It was weird, I remember he pulled up one corner where the insects were and then just kept going.

Proud parent.

Beware of pink eye.

I regret to inform that the west coast is going to cause a lot of problems again.

I've decided to work at being more social, because even though I'm a LOW social needs introvert, I'm not a NO social needs introvert. Someone on our monthly C&V ride mentioned another group that rides once a month, on the 3rd Sunday, so I got their info and signed up for email updates. May's ride was yesterday. It was about twice the size of our biggest group - 12 riders, unsurprisingly all older guys. Because of the size of the group, it worked more like a real group ride, though not a competitive one - riding mostly two up in reasonably tight formation. I put myself mid-pack and tried to stay there, but still ended up in front about halfway around. I slowed down a couple times to let the group pass me so I wouldn't be in front, but they never did. Then the group pretty much splintered on a pair of climbs - Sand Hill, for you Bay Areans.

Then we did something I've never done on a group ride - stopped for lunch. We all stopped at the market in Woodside and bought food, and went to a nice comfy spot with chairs and tables and ate and talked. Well, THEY talked. I did my usual first-timer thing of not talking much. It was a new experience - the Cafe Ride experience. In all the time I've been riding, over 30 years now, I have never been one to stop at a cafe or other food establishment and eat, either in the middle or the end of the ride. My natural inclination is not to stop at all. I've had to make myself stop at the halfway point on my Sunday rides, to make sure I eat something so I won't bonk later.

Based on the description, I thought we would be doing a climb that is mostly 1-4% but ramps up to an average of 8% the last 1/4 mile, with a couple out-of-the-saddle, "grunt, grunt, grunt" bits. Well, we didn't go that way. "Up Alpine to the gate" apparently meant something entirely different to the ride leader. We went on some MUPs that run parallel with parts of my ride, which only confirmed my distaste for bike paths, especially for group rides. But I had fun and will keep doing this ride, and look for others

Eating in the middle of a ride doesn't make sense. Do it at the end, if you're going to do it.

It makes sense in the middle of a 4 hour ride.

There is a difference btween fueling for a long ride and stopping for lunch in the middle. In either event yeah you for sure need to eat if youre going long

I love the MUPs in Phoenix, aside from a couple of congested areas around Biltmore and Oldtown Scottsdale. I need to get on more group rides as well. I think about one per month would be the ideal frequency for me. I used to do weekly ones and even got paid to lead them for a while but that was just too often for my taste.

Yeah, just don't order the pot roast or chicken fried steak and a midride cafe break is AWESOME!

Hasn't big john talked about getting burritos mid ride? I can't imagine that, assuming it's the usual California burrito that could feed a family of 4!

Bring it!!!

As the mercury quickly climbs this morning I'm wishing I was in Rawlins, WY. If I could instantly transport myself I'd totally roll around In the snow in the shorts and T-shirt I'm wearing.

How about stopping for tea while you're at it?

Picture my nephew, who is currently in UK, sent me.

Yeah I'd usually want to be splitting a proper burrito with someone. Of course on a century ride I once had a double burger, fries and shake for lunch, then got a roast beef sandwich, ate half of it, and stowed the other half in my bar bag for on-bike bites

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