the mountain roads are iced over again; time to go mountain biking

Had a nice long 4+ hour mountain ride today. It seems like I ought to be able to crank out four hours without even blinking. The last hour or so I was blinking.

Also, cold feet. I've figured out how to keep every other part of my body comfortable and warm on cold days, but the feet remain a problem. They're expensive, but with as much time as I spend riding in the cold I can't help but think these would be a good idea. Booties take such a beating on the mountain bike anyway...

...

Absolutely loved my Thursday ride, ten miles on the rails-to-trails to Newville and (ten) back through a snow fall heavy enough to have completely obscured my outbound tracks by the time I made it back to Ship.

I just can't get over it: fresh-fallen snow is just so magical. Let it snow, baby.

the wisdom of Ignatius

I finished Confederacy a few days ago. Brilliant.

My wife, initially turned off a bit by its sometimes blunt vulgarity, has I think come around. She sent me a note today with a favorite line.

Ignatius, when threatened by his mother with a stay in a psychiatric hospital, comments:

"They will try to make me in to a moron who likes television and new cars and frozen food. Don't you understand?"

I understand.

Society is sick and you have to be ill for it to praise you as a success.

go(a)t milk

I am finding this very hilarious.

(Can you hear Oskar's voice--that's how he would of said it, very hilarious.)

winter

Went down three times today on icy Ridge Road. Once right in front of a hunter. Awesome.

Also, somehow neglected to stuff my goggles and (the mysterious) balaclava in my pack.

Coldest. Ride. Down. The. Mountain. Ever.

Stopped twice to warm my penis (admittedly, remembering the goggles or balaclava would have done nothing to keep my penis warm). A small leaf hit my cheek at 30mph. Hurt like you wouldn't believe. Had I not shaved my winter fur a week ago (or had I remembered the balaclava--or the goggles) this pain could have been prevented.

Otherwise it was a nice ride. :-)

...

Currently listening to A Confederacy of Dunces. Marvelously funny. At one point on my ride I came around a bend laughing loudly--I think it was Ignatius' attempt to lead the factory workers at Levy Pants to insurrection. A Mennonite woman crossing the street to collect her mail probably thought I was laughing at her. I tried to play it off with a sheepish wave and a warm smile. I was not likely very convincing.

a few weeks ago...

...we had this pretty killer ice storm. I guess this sort of thing is normalish in PA, but it's new to me.




These pictures were all taken near Big Flat in Michaux. From the last picture you can perhaps see the precarious state of the riding conditions--one half inch of ice on all the smooth-ish surfaces. I rode to and from via roughish trail, which allowed a good deal more traction than would have the dirt roadways, but with all the fallen trees and branches even that was an abnormal adventure.

...

On the bike, notice the new front disc brake I recently installed. There's a new front wheel to go with it. That front wheel has a rear companion, but only after I had ordered everything and installed the front brake & wheel successfully did I notice my frame doesn't have mounts for a rear disc brake. Disheartening...

If you're interested in a perfectly new and unused rear wheel (FSA XC-300) and disc brake (Avid BB7) they're yours. Otherwise they go on eBay this spring.

...

The new goggles (it's hard to explain how good I feel about new goggles)...

...and the cold-weather digs:

Those neon green booties... I bought them in '89 or '90. I thought you'd like to know.

this morning...

first snow

There was snow last week.

Unfortunately, it wasn't cold enough today and the heavy rain ended all the fun.

...

Also, I took the silver medal in the PA cyclocross championships (B men). Didn't win it, just took it. (dumb joke)

It was a great race. Muddy, muddy, muddy. Went down hard on my hip walking down the steps on my way out to the car. Went down hard on my shoulder 200m from the line taking a corner too fast. Currently suffering two deep bruises.

But now the long season is finally over. And I can rest. And look forward to the long, casual rides of wintertime. And getting a lot of use out of my new goggles. New goggles which work surprisingly better than the ones I pulled out of a lost-and-found box some 11 years ago, and which also have the distinct advantage of not leaving a ring of decaying black foam around my eyes when I take them off. You know, it's the small things...

...

In unrelated news, I'm going to a chiropractor tomorrow for the first time ever. I'm hoping he'll be able to relieve some shoulder tension and help with my back pain. But I'm nervous. I can't imagine that I'll really be able to relax enough to let the voodoo witch doctors work their terrible magic.

cycling news

I made it into print.

Wow.

more from velophotos.net

Granogue:


I remember being pretty tuckered out after that ride.

crossresults.com

Have you been there?


(Click on "Racers." Search.)

from back at Iron Cross

Credit to velophotos.net.

hunting season...

...for this week and next. Rifle* season. I feel like I've been chased indoors from my backyard.



*I don't mind riding in the woods during bow season, being much more confident that a bow-hunter can distinguish between me and a deer than I am with the rifle hunters.

this week...

Wednesday: Super pleasant 60+ mile road ride in 72 degree weather.

Thursday: Morning Turkey Trot 5K. Pulled in around 19:30.

Friday: Not nearly as pleasant two hour cross ride in 30 degree weather.

winding up the cross season

Three more events in the next three weeks:

MABRAcrosss Championships
Carlisle Cross, MAC #5
Wonderland Crosss, Pennsylvania Championship

Then the long season is over. And I will rest.

wayne scott cross

I was planning to take the easy way out Saturday and race the C event...but then flatted not halfway through the first lap and that was the end of that. I haven't got around to putting cross tires on a pair of old wheels yet. I need to do this.

Luckily, since the C race is first, I had plenty of time to fix my flat and register for the B race. Which I did. And my four points at Hagerstown were enough to earn me a call-up--so Saturday marked my first front-row start.

Three firsts, actually: First cross-related pinch-flat. First call-up. First front-row start. First time fully taking out a course fence post in a crash.

Never one to miss an opportunity to foil fortune, I squandered my opportunity for a great start, and after about 100 yards I was right where I'm used to starting--a few places from riding clean-up. After two laps, I had passed all those that were easily passed and spent the next three laps gaining and losing ground to a slowly disintegrating larger group ahead of me. Near the end of the final lap I made it around two more riders, one of which hung on my wheel and sprinted around me at the finish.

I finished 14th. The first and second place finishers had quite a gap on everyone else, but there was less than a minute between me and third place. So...how much time did I lose negotiating my way around slower riders during those first two laps? Man, I really suck at these cross starts. I'm going to spend a whole day this week practicing these starts.

Unless you chose to ride through the very long sand pit, the course had four dismounts per lap. That's a lot.

I felt fast over the barriers.

Despite several opinions to the contrary, I fail to see any reason to take off my water bottle cages. Perhaps if I were committed to the traditional CX carry method then I'd understand, but I see no wisdom, and only shoulder bruising, in that method. So until I'm convinced otherwise, I'm sticking with the cages. Living life as a resistance against the machine...

The course went through a horse stable.

My bike is pretty.