29, Wine and Single Speed "poor losa"

Rambling thoughts after a long week of infinite stupidity:

Yesterday was SingleSpeedPalooza race- THE east coast SS event of the year. Even Parsons of big wheel fame drove the four hours through the night of leaving at 3.30 AM to dole out some pain in short order and then jump back into his car and drive back to Boston gun slinger style. More importnatly after the race  he mentioned he was getting married- NICE. Good love is hard to find for us bike boys and so it is nice to know he has found it. AND this is the same chick who willingly threw herself down on her own blade and gave up her spot for the SS Worlds last year. The strangest thing about Mr. Parsons is how adult he sounds ....when I rode by his car I knew it was his because there was a huge Dunkin Donuts ice coffee on top of it....Anyway, I digress.

SS Race: it was fun. I can't say I am terribly happy with the way I finished but I have to be honest with myself- I have not trained smart this year. But at least for once I am not over trained. Under two hours was the time and 21 out of 64 was my place. I am going to start to train instead of just ride. Going to take a small break this week and then come back. I am feeling a little bit like a poor loser for not making the most of the hours I have spent on the bike. Oh well, at least I am smiling.

29: Stewart, where the race is held, is made for SS. I never really spent any time on a 29er to really develop a true opinion but I got my hands on a 29er for the race. A pretty pimping 29er: ti Independent Fabrications with custom flower decor paint job.....frankly it was too big but I made due. It really got me thinking after racing it hard for 20 miles: They are fast. Big wheels roll over stuff allot easier. I was really surprised at how well. Anyway, I think I am going to build a SS 29er for racing...there is a marked difference in performance.

Wineo1:

For some time I had been thinking of putting on my own punk rock style enduro race- A home grown event. Laminated home made number plates, bottle of fine wine for the winners, a way fun trail, and a way for like minds to meet. That is all I will say for now but I am really looking forward to doing this.

Other-
I saw an old college buddy who seemed to be on his true path: Owning a shop and racing. I heard this voice behind me and it reminded me of a Kook on Cannondale f1000 who used to jump the bushes and cut classes to snowboard back in the day- and when I turned it around it was Jason. Small world He gave me a huge hug- and me being the uptight person I am with affection I did not know what to do but hug back. Hand shake would have been fine. He looked good and it was nice to know things were going well for him. And he got third in the freakin' race. Good lord the boy is still going strong.

Funny.

Advance to 6.23 and you will yours truely and a super endo.

Tymor Park Challenge 5/17/09 from Jontotman on Vimeo.

Weekend recap quick style

I got some miles in over weekend- It was nice. Lots of highlights for the mental reel that plays in my head.

Saturday I ended up riding around the city posting flyers for the All City race: it was nice to know I had been around long enough that every shop I stopped in, I knew at least one person. I am not sure why that makes me happy other than some knowledge that it equates to some weird bike boy currency that I am not sure will matter to many other than me. But it was nice.

More to follow later.

The Stars and lack of sleep.

I woke up this morning with too few hours of rest after celebrating my cousins graduation at Boulay (sp?) and Public: I felt swanky.  I had a good time but frankly I hate going out on Friday because I am spanked when Friday rolls around and  my only true inclination is to relax. But I rallied and got a hair cut, shaved, and wore my favorite suit (which red wine was spilled on it...).

I got stuck on a little chaperoning (it sucks when you bridge the gap between adults and children- I protested and swore I was childish) and did not make it home as early as I had hoped. Fortunately I made the decision to stay away from the booze after dinner (I drank three-four glasses of wine maybe...Sober observations of my family is all about I can take: it is like getting drunk before a crazy roller coaster...Why?) and so the damage was limited.

Off to post posters up of the all city race....NYC's only inner city race. I am not racing but helping out.  

Mud Fest:

I raced Tymor on Sunday. It was muddy. It was a hard course. It broke me a little towards the end. I should have worn my skirt.

Summary: At one point I was doing all right-Maybe sitting in 9th-10th (which is good for me at this point of the year and for this type of course...I have not done any hard riding, just long rides.). The course featured what one of the promoters called a "fucker of hill" and he was not kidding: it was just a 10 minute hike-a-bike mud wall. With gears it is maybe climbable...single speed less so.



With some enthusiam for racing on the first lap I just hustled up the hill: running up hills with bikes seem to be something I am getting good at. Seriously. Mud was everywhere. I hate mud.



2nd lap sapped me of some of my enthusiam: I was riding with 2 other single speeders and I bobbled in a fast section which caused me to stop and them to go right by me. I got going again pretty quick but I chased a little too hard (just about caught back on) and then blew up. At that point I just capitulated: yes, it is awful to admit but I basically just sat up. I had enough of the mud fest. 12th.



Single Speed Pa-looza is coming up and I am looking forward to that. There are no real hills to speak of.

Rain.

Rain is on tap for the weekend. Ugh.

I had planned on doing the uphill TT at Alpine as a warm up for Sunday's main event at Tymor. I am just not that sure I want to ride/race two days in pour down rain...At least that is what the weather man wants me to believe. Sunday I will certainly be doing so, but while the heart is inclined to do the Hill TT the body is wimping out: I just do not want to have to clean my bike. I am so tired of bike maintenance. Does that make me a wimp? Yeah, it probably does.

In other news: I am really looking forward to this. This place is a great place for single speed riding.

Training tunes.

This is really for my friend Gaby who I train/ride with every 2-3 weeks:

Recently she told me she liked to download NPR PodCasts for her work outs: What? How can that help you get ready and be pumped up to do your sprint/interval work outs? It does not.

I suggested Metallica before, during and after all work outs in order to prepare to slay all on the bike.

So, it has been awhile....

Inertia has a funny way of doing things. 

For whatever reason I stopped writing one day. I was feeling like I was in a little bit of a funk and I was having a hard time getting out of it. And so, I did not necessarily want to be telegraphing to anyone in the world that I was a little down about my job, my career, and where I thought I was in my life's path. All these things that may keep you up at night are often hard to admit to oneself at first and even harder to say out loud to anyone. But that is life. There are ups and there are downs. And last winter was a downer. 

End transmission.

So, when the urge to write struck again, I would start and then for whatever reason, I would then stop. I am not sure what that was about. It was a false start. 

Kindness of Strangers.

I felt really weird when two strangers (I know them, but I don't know them) stopped by the blog and asked why no blog? Yeah, why no blog? There really was no valid answer and so I decided start again.  Thank you Tom and Tom for giving me the subtlest of pushes to get going again. Inertia has a funny way of doing things.  

Summary.

I know this is weird post and all. And I promise I wont be weird anymore, well at least not in the near future, but I felt compelled to at least try and explain why there was an interruption of service.

So what have you been doing with yourself all this free time since you obviously have not been posting? 

Riding a bunch. I built a new single speed. I have already raced: Once in the dirt and once on the skinny. I have not been making any art. I got some new music. I have read some good books. And I have been a little too interested  in the Bernie Madoff story. 

But I am sure I will be  posting about all such non-sense in due time. 

In the mean time I will share this detail: I cleaned it. Nothing hard, but fun.