On your left...

2009-07-12T21:56:00.001-06:00

Too big plates holding too little amounts of fish or piled high salad greens with some obscure organ-meat, doesn't sound too appetizing, at least not to me. I prefer to simple foods and the odd (monthly or quaterly) cheeseburger. After eating only chicken and fish for 20 years the sheer party of a burger is exciting.

Respect

2009-07-12T16:12:00.001-06:00

Every action has a reaction, today it was pedaling at dawn the reaction was tired-ness all afternoon, dragging my ass out of bed at 5 am in favor of time in the woods. Ducking into the woods and out to treeline. Drop down in time to see a thoroughly uneventful, neutralised stage on the Tourmalet. WTF? 70 km to the line from the top of the 3rd most storied climb in the history of The Tour? Show a little respect.

2009-07-08T08:07:00.002-06:00

What was once woods is now clearcut. It was a sweet section of snaky trail, now it's avoid the stick in your wheel. Either way it was nice to ride alone on the way in and with friends on the way out. Superfly Single couldn't suit me better. Floating up, dancing down.

Shapes

2009-07-06T06:08:00.002-06:00

One of these afternoons I'll get to do the loop, it's been years since I rode it. You know, it's hard. This summer I on plan on doing it, twice. Weekday afternoon on a day that will get close to 200k. Air up, fuel up and go.

Mango

2009-07-05T20:50:00.002-06:00

Bike path slalom, getting through the crowd for a little easy tempo. Off and out to the less seen roads, quiet and low flying for the rest of the ride, little bit of sun and my new stuff turns over the little pistons and finishes with a smile.

Way too soon

2009-07-02T19:00:00.002-06:00

Sometimes the legs are in sync, like a Rubic's cube of gristle and muscle. Not hard just good stuff today, clearly clear up the hills, instead of one big it was a bunch of small, kind of like...I know it's only July 3, but kind of like that favorite thing.

Fremont

2009-07-01T22:35:00.002-06:00

Crisp and clear, lunch doesn't mean you taste a sandwich today I tasted a bit lactic.

Naked

2009-06-30T11:53:00.003-06:00

Today I commuted in shorts for the first time this year, naked and happy I turned the legs over and over, full finger gloves-still. But, naked legs. I couldn't believe how good it felt. On the road it all feels so happy, No one else out there getting it done to not have the ache of not enough. Naked is always better. Listening to the crisp morning punching through avoiding detours and hitting my own space. Perfect.

2009-06-30T11:22:00.001-06:00

More space in morning than any other time of day. Clearing out the waste to produce more than more waste.

Porous

2009-06-29T20:45:00.002-06:00

I never really saw the rock, even after I was in shock and wondering just how it pulled me one way and the bike the other. 3 weeks on and I still don't know when the I get to hit re-start, countless hours on the road are getting easier, I feel mid season fit from my sternum on down, head and shoulders? Not so much. Confused and still a little broken I'm looking for the fresh glue, clean lines of a new early season. Salty and warm for now I think I see the re-start-around the time of changed leaves and shorter days.

Summer?

2009-06-28T21:07:00.002-06:00

On the bike, squeezed it in around the wrong side of dawn-then just because it peaked out at least 60 degrees, I went out again. Shorts, I rode in shorts, as in no leg covers... of any kind, decadence. I felt fancy, god damn, it was like eggs benedict and sex all at once. Yes, I do equate those two.

Margin

2009-06-26T20:36:00.002-06:00

The early thing is becoming second nature, like putting on chamois cream or airing up the tires, just what is done. When the day fills I have to push it out into the margins that were empty before, wait for the coffee and the food, get up, get out and get done. The coyote looked at me maybe wondering why I was in his day, what my angle was to take a piece of the morning that was his and is now ours.

A.M.

2009-06-26T10:59:00.002-06:00

It's simple math right now, not many factors or order of operations, get on the machine and pedal, if the system responds, great. Sometimes it's off, other times the tank is empty. Then the variables that go into the solution are on and it solves itself..

Lines

2009-06-25T15:22:00.003-06:00

Rolling through the fog every morning to not sell it short, detour that extra bit, focus on the next point and try not to let it be too far from the line. I enjoy drawing my own lines, like mid winter looking back at my own tire tracks freshly cut through the snow, my own lines not perfectly straight just linear. Still a piece of bone floats around in my shoulder I hope it lands in the right spot.

Closer

2009-06-23T19:39:00.002-06:00

The closest I get to riding dirt is to look at my bikes and plan the next ride, soon I hope. If the Firecracker is going to happen I need the rest. Well, not really rest but ride the road. Thankfully new threads are keeping me warm and cool every day. Smarter than I have ever been. That feels good.

2009-06-21T21:07:00.002-06:00

Early Oatmeal

2009-06-21T21:02:00.002-06:00

Getting out before dawn on what I think is the longest day of the year. Still kind of pissing rain and empty roads made for what was a tough ride, getting home hungry and tired I found steel cut oatmeal pre made in the fridge, I didn't realize that it was pre made a month ago. After a half hour or so my stomach rumbled unhappily and I waited all day for the punishment, I got off light. misdemeanor instead of a felony. Good day.

How high?

2009-06-19T22:09:00.002-06:00

First visit to the dirt since touching the ground. Mixed reviews, we'll see what the day brings, maybe a little vitamin I can repair the hot wing, make the open window a bit easier to get thru.

Velvet

2009-06-18T06:15:00.002-06:00

Morning pushed through, little early summer detour on the path. Poop loop with number 1, crisp and happy, enough to look at the flowers on the ground and see what the foxes and bears did last night. Too early in the day to have any clarity worth banking on, get on the bike and sort things out.

Feeling Minnesota

2009-06-17T06:11:00.003-06:00

Since I didn't crack any calcium it's been all about the connective tissue. Slow steps to get back, pieces where they were whole before touching down. PT victories 8 days in, fewer restrictions, more motion. Looks like I might get a chance at some fireworks, we'll see how it goes back together. Soundgarden is back in regular rotation, shorter list, looking California, feeling Minnesota. Zombie too, grease paint and monkey brains-sometimes I feel like a demon speeding. Soundtrack to recovery avoiding road construction, potholes and txting 'tards, dirt can't come back soon enough.

Light in the tunnel

2009-06-16T06:29:00.003-06:00

The knots are up and down my left side, more up top than in the legs. Overall I got off light. I don't get a ton of practice falling but when I do I want the damage minimized. Now I know I trashed a wheel too, again light.

Tissues

2009-06-10T22:24:00.001-06:00

I believe that overeating can help heal connective tissue and ligaments. I'm all about the food, now I just need to get back on the bike and see if it will take.

Out a while

2009-06-09T08:44:00.003-06:00

A big bump from from a little stone, I think. I don't know exactly what happened to my bike, I thought I was riding fine till suddenly I'm going ass over teacup into the ground at speed. Maybe it was a rock but to get over the bars into the asphalt I did something-BAD.

Ahead

2009-06-07T21:32:00.003-06:00

Lucid inventory of the cracks in the early season. Seeing the lines on the trail and across the road as the Ks tick by. It starts to smell of fresh legs and embrocation come fall. Listen to the season don't push when you should pull.

Patterns

2009-06-06T06:14:00.002-06:00

It's getting to the point where more and more dirt is rideable and the cracks in the road are getting predictable. Like the kids who knew patterns to win at PacMan in the 80s. I never did get the addiction. Looking at the day's route I'll remember the seam in the pavement or the new pothole where there was none. Soon the dirt will get to that place, rolling through the same distances because that's what we ride. Time and place dictate where we ride, new stuff? Not that much to hit when your windows are small and your drive is big. Our own patterns to follow. I think it's better, institutional structure, get on the machine with a mixture of happiness and drive to not get slow(er) going into the next test.