That guy both is my hero and makes me feel horribly inadequate

Today I raced the Ladera Ranch state champs crit, cat 3: DNF

So there's some local dude that's a pro triathlete that has been riding off the front from the gun and winning solo. Today he went ~10 min in (out of 50) and it was his first cat 3 race. My job was to stick his wheel, and I did, for like 4 or 5 laps, then fell back into the pack after I was tasting blood and feeling like I was going to puke. This guy was insanely strong. I kept bargaining with myself: "he'll slow down, he'll slow down...". Nope.

There's a decent hill on the course and the pace in the pack was lively (only ~50% of starts finished), and I never really felt recovered in the pack. My handling was therefore sketchy in the corners and I just felt unsafe and really bad so I pulled out.

You win some, you lose some. I was at a family friend's annual BBQ yesterday that involves lots of heavy food and too much to drink, so I may have to skip it next year if I have a big race the following day. Still probably couldn't have held his wheel though, put perhaps would have recovered faster in the pack. Funny, I've actually DNF'd a race in the past the day after this BBQ and after a huge effort. I'm beginning to notice a trend...

A teammate won the field sprint (for third) and got some hardware for it, so that's cool.

today i'm back home after being in tulsa all weekend for the best crit in all of the land. i watched brad huff pull a 100 meter wheelie to the start line during his call up.

Tulsa Tough! Nice.

cylance cannondale was amazing to watch in person. i'd even say they're more entertaining to watch than UHC. they got shut down in the p/1 last night by daniel holloway from texas roadhouse. was pretty intense. they reeled in the break with 3 to go and then 3 of them popped driving up the pace. holloway held on for the sprint finish.

Yeah cylance is pretty big around here. It's fun to watch Justin "the judge" Williams win, as I have so many times before. Races like Tulsa are another level compared to an average industrial park crit though.

yeah...i mean colin even got his ass handed to him. we hung out friday night and he decided to drink beers instead of race. but sat and today he just couldn't hang. he's such a strong rider but these guys are on another level. i was wearing a shirt today that made justin laugh. i totally fangirled too.

edit: colin was also the only one racing for his team. the leadouts that cylance, elevate and texas roadhouse were able to get going definitely made a difference.

I had similar experiences with Sprint, terrible. Didn't even bargain for it, I was with Nextel before they got acquired by them. Went to Cingular (now AT&T) who I've stuck with.

2gb of data is by no means enough for myself though, I've been spoiled by unlimited data. It's $40 alone from AT&T. I've never had a cellular bill below $100.

With the manner they subtly reinforce their judgement, Apple's planned obsolesce with mobile devices is relentless. Holdouts are seldom. They use their app store as a fulcrum by requiring app creators to update their apps to support the newest iOS which would in turn lock-out the discontinued devices.

They're a bit more lenient with their computers though which get what I believe is 10 years before being disowned. The real bummer is the specifications of these otherwise "obsolete" idevices would run android very well as there are lower spec'd phones out there still being produced and supported. An i device running android is a dream though.

2gb of data means that you are tethered to WiFi or risk going over for $15 per gb I think it is. I am on that newer unlimited plan on Verizon, just under 10gb used so far for the month. Bill is $103 with taxes for the single line (no sqrl as of right now to say). The coverage is/has been outstanding everywhere I have gone. Tried all of the big providers, except for T-Mobile which is absolute garbage here. It's expensive, but totally worth it for me. Not having to even turn the WiFi on is a game changer. YouTube videos, streaming Pandora, updating apps, browsing forums, all of it, right on the pretty dang fast network.

Today I took the car to the dealer but will have to bring it back next week. 3 hottest days so far here, 90's yesterday and today, and the AC is not working. Fan blows, heat works, but no AC. Lights for the controls are out as well, and the outside temp no longer shows on the radio. Not sure what the heck is wrong with it, but even with the windows down at speed, it is hot.

Today I learned I could Ted Shred like a boss when my POS PC-1 chain popped off going 35+mph on a descent. **** you SRAM.

https://imgur.com/a/af64B

yup. over sram chains. they used to be my go-to but i will never run another one again. they must've changed something recently.

Today I got my ass kicked on a group ride. One of the LBS has a Monday night ride that leaves right when they close. I rode my geared bike because I had never ridden this ride before. Temp when I left at 5:15? 90°F. Alright, a sweat fest!!!

Decent starting pace, relaxed double pace line, nothing too fancy or too fast. Speed ramped up a bit as everyone else got warmed up. I was already good to go after the 9 mile ride to the ride. Drank enough, just enough to stay hydrated but I was sweating pretty bad. Food intake was poor for the day because I forgot about the ride. Could not stop sweating even when there was a nice breeze.

Ended up doing 41 miles total with about 18 of those to and from the ride. Cannot understand how after a pretty hard 22 ish mile ride, people can stop at a brewery and just chug a beer. Out of 25ish people, I was the only one with a Diet Coke. Oh well.

A beer is great after a hard ride/race. Hell I went so hard on Sunday that I was tasting blood and vomit and I still wanted a beer after.

i'd rather have an ice cold chocolate milk. that was preferred even when i drank.

Stopped in the middle of a long, hot ride last week to drink...one beer and one large chocolate milk.

Today I went for a ride and knew I had forgotten to do something as usual. Water bottles ? Nope, got that. Sunscreen ? Also nope. Sweat band, glasses mounted rear view mirror, heart monitor chestband, tailight, wallet, cellphone ? Check. It had to be something, but I just couldn't remember. Then I noticed that the bike seemed sluggish as I climbed a hill out of the saddle. I looked down and the front tire seemed somewhat flat. Yep, I forgot to air up the tires and they were down to 40 psi, since the last time I rode this bike was two weeks ago. The tires are 23mm front and 25mm rear, so I could probably soldier on w/o getting a pinch flat if I was careful when riding over railroad tracks and such, but since I was still only a couple of miles out, I decided to return home and air them up properly. I think I need to have a checklist for everything now.

Had a good night at the track, new handlebars are great. Had to commute there brakeless though because I forgot my old brake lever wouldn't fit the new bar. Also my headlight mount broke on the way back. Whoever designs these things should get smacked.

Retrofit the shredsled with a new chain and 19t cog. Spinning a breezy 47/19 now and it's a ton of fun. Also threw together the full dynamo setup that arrived, B+M lights front and rear with a Shimano DH-3D32 powering the setup.

As my townie/commuter, it's pretty much perfect now.

How are you liking the Soma Xpress tires so far? I love mine!

Last night I had my first flat on my original set of WTB Nano 40c Race tires. ~2500 miles across 4 different bikes, and a tiny little shred of wire stabbed right through into the tube. Definitely super pleased with how well they have held up.

I have some Soma C-Lines in the parts bin that will probably be going on the Macho Man now.

lol

I was just gonna say chocolate milk is great, def. a better choice immediately after. In the middle of a hot ride though it's a matter of the lesser of two evils: alcohol and dairy

The beer was first for me, but they were both perfect.

Never been a big beer drinker even when I did drink, and I still have never had the craving for one after a strenuous activity. On a hot summer day after a long ride, mowing the lawn, yard work, whatever, it was never a beer I craved. Mostly a huge glass of water with a lot of ice in it.

oh you weren't kidding

Heading out for an interval workout in some hills by work right now. There will be no beer involved after, but maybe I'll splurge and buy a choco. milk at the corner deli after .