Somebody save me

My co-workers thought I should write a note to explain the context of yesterday's conversation at the watercooler so that some anonymous fellow wouldn't think I'm an asshole. About 90% of the world believe that Americans are all assholes, so I don't really care about having one more anonymous fellow added to the list, but here it is.

We were having a conversation about the rise and fall of civilizations. The Mayans, the Egyptians, the Romans, etc...and we got around to the possibility of the eventual fall of our new "global society". Of course I've very opinionated on the subject and was pointing out that all of these civilizations began their decline, and actually hastened it because of their care of the environment and farming techniques. Some of my co-workers answer was that we are WAY more advanced and that (even if it were true) our science would create some technology that would save us.

My response was that each of those cultures had people and systems that were really advanced and folks that were genius, and yet they still allowed something as silly as soil salinification (for example) to derail their entire civilization. So if all of those cultures had folks that were top notch at their fields, creating pyramid's we still can't reproduce with the same primitive tools, mathematics way beyond their time, etc....what makes us think "Technology" will save us.

We then went into a discussion about how today's "Technology" belief is a replacement for the "God" religious belief of former generations. So what it boiled down to is them asking me then if all this crud were true, and if nothing can save us, what should we do? We came to the conclusion that we could do nothing, except try to help those around us, and to try to hurt the earth or society less than those around us.

Neither God, nor technology can make it possible for everyone to live consuming resources and living like kings. Yes, we may think so....everyone in our culture might think so, but that doesn't make it so. The Mayans thought the sun was a god and that sacrificing virgins would bring back the harvest. So they kept on pumping and ruining the soil and kept on sacrificing folks (who were mostly slaves). "Nothing to fear....our God will save us...just a few more virgins is all it'll take." Today we do the same thing. Keep driving everywhere, keep being "consumers" the virgins we sacrifice mostly live in Africa or South America and the God we worship (technology) just can't get enough of them.

So, what I was saying was that we can't really change anything. Smarter folks than me are out there trying. Rome still collapsed, Egypt....gone, Mayans....nope, but yeah...we'll figure it out and turn this ship around.

None of us can live carbon neutral. The more you consume the fewer the population of the earth needs to be to support it. So..we can all live like bushmen and have billions of us, or we can live like Americans and have about 2billion....but in my opinion the current situation isn't going to work. Of course, it's just my opinion. Studying history and listening to scientists is all I can do. I'm not advocating killing off folks (although if a bunch of you want to commit suicide...I'm cool with that). I'm not advocating living in huts...I'm just saying we need to try. We need to care a bit.

What am I doing about it....very little. I still drive a car, I still watch TV and "consume" I'm just as guilty, but I feel a bit better because I try to consume less. Less than you. So MW (helpdesk guy) and I were joking around because he thinks all of this is BS and that the earth will fix itself (yes it always does....over millions of years and after mass extinctions).. and I said....in the evenings I try to ruin the planet less than you.

List of things to write about to piss people off....

1) Religion - check

2) Politics - damn, not enough

3) Treehugging- check

4) trying to make people think- full of it

5) not sticking to cycling and telling Chuck Hutch how great he is - check

yep, I'm screwed, the anon's are after me....Somebody save me!!!

and I'm the weird one?

So I'm talking to folks at the watercooler the other day and some young helpdesk guy asks...."are you that guy who rides his bike like 3 or 4 times a day?" I told him I just ride to and from work and on my lunchbreak. He says "wow, so you spend just all your free time...like... riding?" I say, no... I just spend my commute and breaktime riding. My free time in the evening I spend trying to ruin the planet less than you. He stomps off and says..."yeah dude, that's just weird".

So I guess I'm the weird guy at my office. Then I think about it. Many of my co-workers drive at least 40 minutes to get to work. I go to their house and realize they live in a neighborhood EXACTLY like the one right next to work.....

Then I have this fellow who drives an Escalade....and complains about gas prices and how he almost can't afford to drive the hour 1 way commute to work anymore. Somehow he didn't see it turning out that way?

So today as I'm riding up to the 9th floor of my parking garage I see the helpdesk fellow that thinks I'm weird....he drives an hour to work and makes up for it by going 75mph for the last 200meters....in the parking garage. He squeels into a spot as a bunch of Asian women I work with scurry for cover, then he just sits in his car for an extra 5 minutes smoking a cigarette and listening to music. So on the elevator I asked him why he raced to get to his spot only to sit there?? He say's "I wasn't racing man...and I wasn't just sitting there either...I was updating my facebook status so my bro's would know I went to work and can't play online with them today."

Ok, I'm off to ride my bike on the trails......on a 66degree beautiful fall day....I must be some crazy sicko!!!

I don't even remember

I got back into training last week. I've been doing speed workouts on Tuesday's and Thursday's with my new teammate at lunchtime. This week I decided to start doing the training I did 2 years ago again, this time in the morning instead of after work. So I've added the two together and I think I have a winner.

I did 30miles to work over the hilly roads north of 7, south of the Potomac (beech mill, Leigh mill, Seneca, etc) then do another 90minutes at lunch, then 35minutes home. I just do the same thing but really easy on my easy days. Gets all my miles in without bumping into home time in the evenings.

Everything was going ok until Wednesday when I added lifting without knowing that Thursday Aric had us doing some 30second "sprints" in the 53x11. Low cadence muscle burners. After that my friday ride to work was tough. My legs were pretty tired.

Saturday I had told Gus (another new teammate) that I'd ride with him. I hadn't really heard from him, so I was kind of hoping he wouldn't call. He called, and out we went for 4 hours a wee bit harder than I'd have liked. I think we sat at 240 watts for like 3 of the hours. So it was a long slow simmer for this 135lb turkey... and it had me well cooked by the end.

Sunday I had the same thought. I'd promised Aric and Dave I'd go downtown to do the Rock Creek ride. So there I was getting out of bed hoping Aric wouldn't call. Of course...he called and off I went. This time I knew I'd better play it safe. I tucked in the entire ride and stayed as small as possible. Easy Cheesy. I had to work here and there, but I didn't hurt as much as I thought. The guys at the front had to have been working though... whew!! I was tired.

So I went a little crazy last week doing speed and distance. Sunday was probably junk miles since all I did was hide and watch, but it was fun.

Monday- 30miles morning, 20miles lunch, 9 miles home = 59 miles
Tuesday- 30miles morning, 20miles lunch (intervals), 9 miles home = 59 miles
Wednesday- 20miles lunch, lifting after work = 20miles
Thursday- 30miles morning, 20miles (intervals) lunch, 9 miles home= 59miles
Friday- 30miles morning
Saturday- 78miles
Sunday - 47 miles
_______________________

352miles That's probably too many, but I honestly can't remember.

Ahhh yes, almost forgot. Whoever the Lantern Rouge guy was that rode in the middle of the road making everyone hate us..... I say if you cut the course because you're getting dropped....you don't jump back in after a massive shortcut and immediately attack on the hill... I suppose it's one way to spice things up, but I don't think the fella's liked it.

потому что

Last night I was digging through some old boxes of trophies and whatnot my mother brought over on her last visit. I found this cd of Russian music from my first training trip there in 2000. It was definately the greatest time in my life. I was running fantastic, no job other than racing, no worries....just living the dream.

Dmitry and I bought a soundtrack from the movie Brat 2 and listened to it over and over while we trained. We associated certain songs with certain places and people. So I stayed up late last night converting that sucker into a format I could play on my MP3 player.

This morning I loaded it into my phone and jumped on my bike for my 35minute commute to work. I found myself 1 hour and 45minutes later riding up a mountain no where remotely close to my work....but still carrying a sack full of work clothes on my back. I guess I was taking a stroll....err... pedal down memory lane and lost track of time, space, etc.

I made it to work a bit late and a bit fatigued. I didn't fuel myself properly because I don't normally need that stuff on my ride to work.......I got in just in time for a meeting and after the meeting there was Aric ready for the lunchtime ride. Ahhh, why not.

Ooooof I'm really tired now. Anyways....so I've been kicking ass at work lately and they owe me some comp time. So no big deal. But it's amazing how music can carry you away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gKIZRyLBx0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7a7kbfp_d0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzTycUfXd3U

Peak Fall Colors

Wow, the view of the mountains is awesome from my 17th floor view at my office. Makes me want to get out there and ride.

I did a nice dirt road ride with Jared, Chris, and Zach last night. Some nice climbing and scary gravel descents in the dark. Jared double flatted and did some aerial acrobatics. I'm not entirely sure it's scientifically possible that he stayed on, but somehow he did. Must have spidey senses or something. Then on the way in I flatted on the last 4 inches of dirt road remaining in the ride.

I've been doing some intervals lately. I've been able to workout at lunch since they built us a swell new fitness center. My co-worker (and new teammate) and I have been doing some good workouts together. He's working mostly on FTP which isn't that great for cross practice. But I'm game for anything since I normally don't do any kinds of focused workouts.

The new power meter the fine fellows at Haymarket Bicycles hooked me up with has me really excited to identify and work on my weaknesses (the physical ones anyways).

Well anyway, haven't posted in a while. Here's a picture from a friend.

Warrenton ride

Yesterday I made my way out to Warrenton to ride with Steve Gordon and Joe Dombrowski. I'd never explored Warrenton so it was a pretty nice ride. I was a bit sore from crashing a few times over the weekend and racing 3 times, so I was happy to do a long slow ride to flush it out. It's amazing though how miserable you can feel just from your hands and big toe being beat up. Everything I did all morning seemed to remind me where my bumps and bruises were.

Anyway, Joe took me up the famed training center hill. I didn't know how long or steep it was so I was a bit cautious when Joe stood up and started climbing. Lucky it's a pretty short hill though. It's pretty steep so it could be really painful if ridden hard. After training center we did a pretty long loop out and around. Warrenton looks to be a pretty swell town. 4hours and 5 minutes. It was getting dark and I was totally lost the entire time but it was a great ride. Plus after the ride Joe said (since he knew I have a garden) that I could have all the manure I wanted from his horses. Great teammates should always invite you over, kill you for 4 hours....then offer you some shit.

Anyways, I read that all you need to be a 3 in cyclocross is "4-3: Experience in 5 races or 7 points in 12 months". Pffffft. Guess I should have applied for an upgrade about 2 years ago. Since I was allowed in the "A" races anyway I just never bothered to care what my license indicated. Well, I doubt they'll upgrade me straight from 4 to a 2. So I'll have to resubmit once I get the 3 so's I can start doing the "A" races again. I know, I know.....Bishop and Schempf are probably shaking in their lycra somewhere just hearing that......pffffft.

Richmond CX3-CycloCrit

They called this race cyclocross because it did have some grass and sandy sections through the woods and a few barriers...but it was mostly on the road. I got a great start thanks to my pep talk from Steve Fife and Jared. I staged poorly and was quite a dick so that I could line up in the front. But I figure I've earned front row by now and that's where I'm parking myself.

I was in the 2nd row waiting for my call up when I realized they weren't doing call-ups. I figured top 3 in both stages would get me one...so I didn't stage 15 minutes early. Then after realizing no call-ups I heard the guys in the front row talking about how great it was to start in the front instead of the 8th row. One dude said.....yeah, I got to start in the front at Ed Sanders but still only finished 80th place. I got a bit angry and asked him if he consistantly finished in the back WTF was he doing in the front...shoved him to the right and parked myself right in front of him.

I got a great start and was in a group of 3 that got a good gap and I thought...Sweet. Then in the corner the wind blew the damn tape into the guy in front of me and he broke it and it wrapped around my cassette. I jumped off and ripped it out but that group was on the road going 30mph and I was now in the back of another group in 8th. No free lap in this crit...err....cyclocross race...errr.. cyclocrit so I was screwed.

I went hard up to that group and was a bit gassed by the time I caught the 2nd group. I rode with them on one road section and realized no way were they catching the top 3 so I attacked across. I almost made it to the top group but I just ran out of juice. I looked back and saw that the group was working together to catch me, but as soon as they caught me all work stopped. WTF...why not keep working together to catch the lead group?

I worked in that group until it was down to 3 of us. The 2 other guys were clearly working together and one dude was being a jerk. I crashed on one of the barrier crossings. It wasn't bad and I was up quick, but it took some work to catch back on to those 2. As soon as I caught the guy gave me crap for not pulling. Dude....I just went hard to catch on, at least give me a second to recover... He was a bit too much of a jerk, so I just stopped working with them at all. I wasn't about to go 2 against 1 and there was only 2 laps to go. They were beating me on the woods but I was better on the road. Couldn't tell if they were wimping so I'd pull or what but I wasn't about to pull. So we did about 8mph looking at each other.

On the last lap I kept hearing the guys strategize about how they were going to outkick me and which one of them was going to get 4th and which one 5th. While they were looking left counting their chickens and cashing their winning checks in their minds I attacked on the right and got a nice gap. I got over the barrier clean and sprinted out of the corner and that was that.

4th place.

Richmond CX- Time Trial

This was pretty interesting. Doing a 1 lap cyclocross time trial means going full blast for 6 minutes. Because there's really no place to make up much time you pretty much have to hang it all out into every corner and ride mistake free. I was zooming the entire way, but it had rained so the corners were way sketchier than they had been during the cross race.

On the downhill during the race I went pretty hard on the asphalt then coasted down the cobbles into the sharp sandy left hand turn. On the TT I just cranked all the way to the corner then braked really hard....a bit too hard I guess because down I went on the cobble HARD... It hurt pretty bad but adrenaline had me up quick and going again. After the race I realized I'd jammed my toe pretty good, bruised the beejesus out of my elbow, and developed a nice patch on my hip that would help keep my clothing attached to my body (until I could get home, wash, and bandage).

3rd place by 4 seconds. If only I wouldn't have crashed...grrr.. No chance to win the omnium now.

Later I talked to a ton of folks who crashed in the same spot. The next day Steve Fife said he'd gone down hard there a few years back and broke his elbow. So looking at my beat up hands, elbow, toe, and hip...I actually felt a bit lucky. Steve and Jared then had a swell time gently pointing out how mentally unstable and stubborn I am. It's nice to have friends that can lead you to a conclusion and be nice about it.

Richmond CX part1

This race didn't start out so well for us. We were late getting there, then when I tried to register it turned out that the "B" race was only for 3's. My license indicates I'm a 4. Last year it didn't say anything on it and I raced a couple A's so I didn't think anything of it. They wouldn't let me in and by the time I tracked down the lead official got permission, got my number... I had 6 minutes to warm up.

I had to decide between going to the restroom for good ol' #2 or doing a quick warm up. I jumped on my bike and the answer was pretty immediate... so there I was in line for the restroom and I could see everyone staging. I got out of there after a magnificent push and made it to the start just in time for the start. By the time I wound my way around the "Weavers" the top 3 guys were long gone. I was stuck in between packs for the entire race and with 2 laps to go I caught one guy, and I since I couldn't see the top 2 I just rode hard enough to beat him.

3rd place good enough for some money and a tub of embrocation.

Move along now.... Git!

I had one of those strange moments at Kelley's Acres on Sunday where you realize... you're them. Then you realize.... you're old! It'll be a long explanation so settle in folks.

When I was visiting Russia I was quite eager to talk to the female runners at my track events. Because I'm so irresistable the women were eager to talk to me too. I had a good mix going. Good looks, in great shape, foreign accent....all the goods... things would be progressing. Then along would come the coach and shooo, shooo, push me away. Practice is over....move along, move along. With my limited Russian vocabulary I just assumed they were worried about the potential de-flowering of their young athletes by the damn American. It was only a few months later when my Russian got a bit more fluent that I realized. The coaches didn't give a darned diddly about the nocturnal experiences of their athletes. They were simply worried I'd woo them away from his team and a potential future revenue source would slip right out of his grasp.

Case in point is my best friend Dmitry. In 1992 Dmitry was 12th in the Junior World Championships in Belgium. He also ran 14:01 on a sloppy 5k cross country course at the age of 17 to set the Soviet National Record. While he was there some fellow from the wonderful Iowa State University slipped him a folder while his coach wasn't looking. Inside was a bunch of materials about the college, the track team, and quite as an afterthought a picture of some students working on a schematic.

Dmitry took that home and poured over it. He suffered hours with his Russian to English dictionary to translate each word in the folder. That folder put the spark in him and he spent all his race winnings on English classes and trained with a fury for the upcoming tryouts to represent the Soviet Union in an race in Milwaukee Wisconsin. He wanted desperately to go to the school where they trained engineers. He qualified and traveled to the race. Then while he was there he slipped away, missed his return flight to the motherland, and went on to attend Iowa State.

Meanwhile back home his coach was devastated. He'd trained little Dmitry from the age of 12 into a national phenom. Dmitry was quite famous since athletics (track & Field) there is quite popular. With the women there was the screaming, the wetness, the fainting, etc... as though he was a rock star. Anyways having Dmitry as an athlete pretty much guaranteed Sergei future earnings as a coach because all would want to train with Dmitry, to learn what made him so good. Sergei it was thought was the holder of the training plan, the map that would make you great.... if you just paid him to coach you. Sergei would also get to travel to the Olympics to World Championships, etc. All of this fame, travel, and profit slipped straight out of Sergei's hands by the simple passing of a packet during a little cool-down conversation with some Damn American!

So that's why those coaches didn't want their athletes talking to me. They didn't want their athletes getting any ideas about what the grass may look like across some fence. This weekend there I was after the race. Everyone coming up to Joe Dombrowski and congratulating him. How fast he's getting. How young he is... etc, etc. Then it hit me. Move along, move along, race is over. Git!!!

We lucked into him, Jared has gone out of his way to help him and aid him. You all just keep your mitts off him. Joe is headed towards some really great things. He's surely headed to greener pastures. But, you folks talking to Joe...you're just not green enough. You're the same grass we have in our field. So you just move along. Nothing to see here...practice is over....

Пошел на хуи со своими вопросами (Click Here for translation---you may want to click this more than once if you don't get it)