Resolutions

Exercise less and drink more coffee. Generally average Krups burr grinder crapped out just before the holidays. Going to pull the trigger on this bad boy:


Opinion for the new year: those who stop or cut back on coffee consumption are weak-minded fairy boys.

"Yeah, but my doctor says..."

So tired of this whiny crap.

Snowing like a mutha outside, and moments ago a big lightning flash nearly blinded me. Strange biblical shit, for sure.

More resolutions:

• Eat more processed food.
• Show more contempt for others.
• Put on 20 lbs by March 1.
• Cut out flossing altogether.

See you maybe once in awhile in 2009.

Southampton 08

Simply put, effin stark and cold.

And that's about the size of it.

Gloucester

Here are a few of the better shots from Gloucester Cross 2008.

Good weekend for Brooke Shields to wash up on the beach, or something like that.

Elite men cranking up the hill at the start of day 1.

A taste of the mayhem at the barriers.

Trebon ran away from the elite field both days. Just his kind of course, for sure.

Son happily rocking the barriers at the end of day 1.

Kids digging deep for glory at the day 2 race.

Women up and over the start/finish hill on day 2 and flying into the hardpack.

Run-up of pain added for day 2.

Good to see lots of old and new friends. Weather was very uncrosslike, but great for spectating with the family. All involved at Gloucester do a fantastic job with the race.

Sacred Fishing Grounds

Kids and I are off right now for the holidays. As we are far from practitioners of the Jewish faith this is simply two unencumbered days off, as it were.

Yesterday we explored the Sacred Fishing Grounds down the street from our house. The tide was high, the eelgrass was browning, and the creatures were plentiful. We managed the hat trick of capturing numerous small blues, some short stripers, and two fat porgies. All were released as per the pre-established tenets of sportspersonship.

On to cycling news:_____________ .

Wait, I can report that I am regularly and joyfully cyclo-commuting to work. The entire process is much more ingrained in my daily rituals now, and on my best weeks I've cut down my driving to two days. What has been especially cool in this suburban wasteland is taking the left turn on the way home from work and hitting the singletrack in the newly official mountain bike trail near my house. Some killer sand-to-the-bottom bracket fireroads make for a challenge as well.

On Monday I discovered a new patch of tempting woods adjacent to work. My Russian satellite contacts report a series of trails in there. Just need to make sure humans are not being skinned and sacrificed within its dark bowels.

And, uh, cyclocross?

Do you ever?

Wonder about neighbors who post ridiculous signs out by the road? We got these people, see, a few houses down who, in what must be tremendous urges of over-protectiveness, outrage, and guilt, feel the need to flood the roadside with "Slow Children At Play" warning signs. They got the stand-up plastic A-frame versions of these signs, the plastic-coated stick-in-the-ground versions. Big, yellow signs everywhere.

Now, there's a tremendous weight of irony that I'll let you in on. These kids don't "play." At all. It's not one of those "oh, they could be out more often, like the good old days" observations either. These kids are NEVER outside playing down by the road or otherwise.

And, yep, they look like this:

Bet you anything, too, that if we lined 'em up and fired off a starting pistol they'd, yes indeed, be slow children.

In other news, thanks to the wonder-knowledge of Solo and CTodd I'm gaining confidence with my mac right-click habits. Also, G-Willier hooked me up with a stellar full-finger glove rec for my oversized mitts. Ah, the wonders of the blogosphere. Thanks Hombres.

Got in a spectacular solo ride today on the cross rig. Managed to mix in plenty of terrain, discovered that my fav cross field over yonder in town had been mowed down of its summer neck-high weeds, and even worked on a few dismounts.

Temps are dropping and the sky is blue. I assume Venus and Mars are alright tonight too.

Right-click

I was the KING of right-click with the mouse on the old PC. But, bad news. The PC crashed and is currently awaiting repairs. What to do? Purchase a mac. This is the good news.

However, where is my right-click? This function was my lifeline to fun and frivolity. How do I grab, copy, paste with this shiny new whiteness?

One problem in this whole equation is I have no time to learn something new and I'm an idiot. OK, two problems. But somewhat related nonetheless. Need one of those Geniuses to move in for a week.

Anyway, wanna know what else? The logline for my screenplay sucks. Effing sucks right now. That about sums up life. Cycling/cross? Nope. Keeping up with regular job? Barely. Getting kids to school on time? Once in awhile. Eating well? Does two bowls of ice cream tell you anything.

Gotta nail the logline, gotta nail the logline.

Might go to Nittany Lion cross. Or might not.

Man, I need to be driven by fuel and have passion for dirt, or however that saying goes.

ps, can there be anything worse than being on Solo's list of the "not being updated much?" Jeezus, how's that for kicking a guy in the rocks?

FYI

Back in Black

I suppose it's time to post something here, a task that's getting hard to complete with any frequency (yeah, like once every month or so). 

In brief it goes like this: back from a stellar vacation in Cali where I spent way more time in the water than on a bike and that was just fine, doing some very cool and prompt work for Andrew in order to help the cause, gearing up to devote a year to writing at least two screenplays, picking up a new online teaching gig to test the waters there, and, oh, also continuing the responsibilities of family and the usual job. 

I'm feeling way behind balls right now, but the work I'm doing is a big loin rush. As the cliche goes, I'm stretching myself in some new directions that are pushing the fun and cool factors. So, to all my blogger friends out there ramping up the fitness for what's left of road or the beginning of cross, well done and hammer on. I'm looking forward to hitting a number of cross races this season, but I'll likely be in my usual position of way off the back. If there's one thing I've learned as a newbie cross racer it's that someone like me needs to devote a healthy chunk of time to training in order to see some results, and that sort of dedication just ain't fitting into the life program right now. 

(Random observation: didn't have one insect bite during a month stay in the warm, dry climate of Cali. Right now I'm itching myself to the fucking bone from what must be approaching a dozen violations of my person.)

So on the program today is an attempt to transfer my two online courses from the "test site" to the "production site" for the start of online classes next week. See my college, in its infinite wisdom, switched course management systems over the summer from what everyone in the universe uses (Blackboard) to a new startup system (D2L). As you might imagine, the transition has produced a bug or two. So I have managed to successfully move my courses from Blackboard to test D2L, and now I will attempt to reach my hand into the hat and pull the real deal out for all to see. 

Add into the mix housesitting a black lab puppy. The little fucker is cute as a button, but she divides her day into good (sleeping) and bad (chewing, pissing, crapping). 

If you have a compassionate bone in your body, wish me luck. 

Shaky City

Heading out the door bound for Land of La. Earthy rumbles will no doubt serve as good prep for dodgy, off-camber turns. Be back in a month or so....

I don't get it, but whatever

Meg tagged me? With a meme? Dude, I am WAY out of the loop on this one, but I just finished up a brilliant job teaching over the summer, got nothing to do right now, so here goes:


If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?

My purple Zank. Easy answer. The bike does it all, and it's comfy steel all around, baby.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not?

See answer above. My Serotta Legend ain't too shabby either. Check back in six or seven years when I have my new Sachs. Answer may change.


If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?

I would ride from my sister-in-law's pad in Long Beach, Cali along PCH to my day job teaching swim and rescue classes to female, 18-25 yr old lifeguards-in-training in Newport Beach, Cali. And then I would ride back to Long Beach. Why? The scenery, man.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrow minded?

Yes. Road. Because I suck at off-road. I hit trees regularly.

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent.

I would beat my testicles with a wrench before I would ride a recumbent.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?

See answer above. Replace "ride a recumbent" with "race a triathlon."

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why?

Ice cream. To keep my slim, sexy figure.

Can you conceive cycling without racing?

Here's the deal: I think I confuse "racing" with "touring."

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?

Drop my bibs and shit with it.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not?
Also, answer it.

What are you going to do tonight, Moveitfred?

Well Moveitfred, I'm glad you asked. There is the usual Long Island Fiasco circuit race tonight, but here's an example of where my head is at right now. Instead of racing I will be attending the double feature tonight at the film fest. I'm hoping to catch up with a couple of new screenwriter friends, talk shop, mingle, and say things like "I appreciated the visual elements in that film, however I believe the narrative arc was misconceived."

Two more things:

1) I have no friends and nobody reads this blog, so I have nobody to tag. I will accept my fate.

2) Heywood: if you're out there I need your help to screw my f'ing head back on straight. Dude, I'm going to a FILM FESTIVAL tonight! It's gotten that bad.

FFFFilm FFFFest

Took my man card out of the wallet for the week and replaced it with a pass to the local film festival. Moveitfred hangs out with the other artsies and retired greys watching indie shorts and features late into the night.

Notice that besides getting in line for a new bike that will reach home sometime in the decades to follow, there ain't much talk about cycling on this cycling blog.

That's because there ain't much happening.

I'm putting all my rocks into the bag that requires the driven, virile Heywood to trash my ass into shape for cross season out in the hinterlands of California over the coming weeks.

Good plan, huh?

In Line

If you pay attention to such matters, one of the big buzz topics through the intervines this week was the news that Richard Sachs is closing and locking the front door on all new frame orders.

If you're not in line and you want one, better set your preferences on ebay and hope some dude with your same build suffers a brain hemorrhage before you're hooked up to tubes yourself.

After about 10 minutes of careful consideration, I got in line.


Now all you f'ers can fall in behind Moveitfred, atmo.

Six years or so gives me plenty of time to decide if it's going to be a road or cross frame.


Atmo.

Just Summer

Trying to be mellow by parking myself in front of the euro feed of TdF right now. Dudes are killing it bombing down the Tourmalet at the moment. Glad I'm right here sipping a big cup of joe. Just mellow.

Dodgey experience yesterday down on the south shore of the island paradise at Cupsogue County Beach. For summer the swell was pretty big, and there was a powerful sweep from east to west down the beach. Was out in the break with two killer swimmers: my daughter and friend. Both strong, all-county quality in the water. Tide coming in, and quickly we were caught up in a large set of waves. The first two in the set broke over us, washed up the beach, and then washed back out pulling us with the volume of water.

OK, this now officially sucked. We were now washed out to the furthest breakers, and the big overhead swells just kept pounding down. Not much time to breath as the swells were coming in tight sets. Others got washed out too. The Atlantic was flexing its muscles. Not fun.

Luckily these two girls were killer! My daughter, the smallest by far, was struggling. She was getting tossed and held down. We pulled together. Ducked and got pounded. Came up together for air. Assessed the situation. Put our energies into calmly moving toward the beach.

Wasn't easy at all. The sweep down the beach kept us moving parallel to shore. Lifeguard teams jumped to full alert. Guys were flying out into the surf with cans and ropes. We were getting completely shellacked by the surf. As we were moving in, lifeguard teams were screaming past us to those way out. They were in real trouble.

We finally caught some swells that lurched us toward the beach. Felt great to finally be in knee-deep wash. The girls were awesome. The lifeguards were awesome. Others--adults, teenagers, strong-looking people--were being rescued out behind us. Towed, roped, finally all made it in sputtering and gasping and thankful.

It's the old cliche but true: it's amazing how fast things can change and turn to shit!

Back to TdF. Front groups ready to climb Hautacam. Coffee's about gone. It's a steamy day here. Showers passing through. I've got new cross wheels coming from UPS today. Going to throw on a cassette and check those out later. Countdown to cold and cross.


Find more videos like this on Cyclocross Magazine


But it's just summer now.

Tracking

Type:
Package

Status:
In Transit - On Time

Scheduled Delivery:
07/14/2008

Shipped To:
EAST SETAUKET, NY, US

Freddy is:
Jazzed


Forthcoming functional set of clincher hoops for the cross bike. Can't wait to slap 'em on.

man...

photo from pez:



there is just way too much funny going on in that pic.

Stuck

Why is it that every freakin' pathetic little breakaway I've ever been in has never stuck?


Big congrats to RGM/Sachs rider Justin Spinelli who took second in that other big race over the weekend. Understand he did it all without any help. Pretty good tuneup for the real season that starts in a few months.

Thunder God

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is THE THOR when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

CX Magazine

Hey! Time to get off your lazy ass and pay for a subscription to CX Magazine. Where else are you going to get the best news written by the best people and edited by the leaders in this industry? Huh?

Yeah, yeah, you're going to do it soon.

NO! DO IT NOW! Issue #3 coming out soon, and now's your chance.

CX Magazine

ZPG

Ride your bike to work, to buy groceries, to go to the beach, to make love.

And then buy a patch or something.

Zero Per Gallon

Shipping

Wheelset to Tim in Canada:

USPS: $30

UPS: $240

C'mon Brown, that's ridiculous. And your employee at the store was an unhelpful, cranky prick. Guess they have corporate contracts that keep them in business? I don't know.



USPS=Lance
UPS=Jan

Neck Deep

Approaching a month without a post. Cool! At what point does blogger come and board up the space?

In this fascinating, brief post I am here to say I am mired in online work that is keeping me away from all these troublesome blogs. I have signed on for some additional work/pay/abuse at my regular job, and I am also completing some additional work/pay/abuse at two other cyberspaceic locations. In all I stare at a square screen for hours from the comfort of my casa, dog at feet, cup of joe jittering above the keyboard.

Great thing about the whole debacle is that I get to sneak out on my bikes pretty much whenever I want. Of course nothing of interest to report there, other than I believe for the first time in my cycling career I hit a mammal* the other day. Strangely enough, can't recall ever doing that before.

(*ed note: animal mammal. Upon reflection, have hit a few human mammals in my time on earth)

Offending mammal was a squirrel. The little F'er was alongside the road, did the spastic peepee dance as I approached, and instead of darting left into the safety of the woods it darted right into the path of my front wheel.

I've read and seen horror stories of these creatures attempting to jump through moving hoops and getting all caught up in spokes, forks. Not the case here. I just kind of bumped the little guy. It did a skid and half tumble, I didn't go down, no problem.

Still, I hope I broke a couple of its effing ribs.

Du-Du

I'm a might sore after completing the underground duathlon today. The brazen side of me felt there would be no problem entering into an event with two parts running, even though I don't run. The intellectual side soon figured out that I was setting myself up for a big hurt by doing no run training ahead of time.

Predictably, yours truly was dead last and a hurting puppy after the first run. But soon into the bike the legs started shaking out a bit and I was able to put it into overdrive. Despite giving everyone a HUGE head start I managed to reel in all but the first two out on the course. Entering the run third, I crumbled down one spot (just didn't get a big enough lead on Danny-boy, who quickly and easily dispatched me early in the final leg) for a final position of fourth--just off the podium.

Lesson: if I did even a little bit of running each week I prolly wouldn't collapse during those two parts of the event. Duh.

We may do this all over again next month....

Switching Teams

I'm going Mac, and don't plan to go back.

Now, on to some cycling content. Well, Homeboys and girls, not much to report in the way of excitement--as usual--other than to say I'm making a concerted effort to cycle-commute to work at least 2 or 3 days a week. I haven't quite made the leap to full-time, rain and whatever weather commuting, and also getting up and motivated to ride in for an 8 a.m. class proves to be difficult some days. However I have certainly bumped up the overall weekly mileage whenever I do get my ass out the door on time.

I've also got into a groovy habit of looping the long way home through the woods. Although having my Deuter pack on throws off the balance a bit through some of the dodgy sections, I've got a route figured out over some singletrack that I can ride for 30 minutes or more, depending upon how many loops I want to throw in.

Was all signed up for my first race/crit of the year last weekend, but blew that mofo off after a particularly long day at the office. There was no registration fee, and I just felt much more compelled to get some more sleep rather than schlepping out to the course in the wee hours on Sunday.

I'm thinking into the months ahead and wondering how I'm going to fit in any serious training and racing. General fitness, ok. But I'm getting very squeezed short on time. Got several new, time-consuming projects in the works. Besides the regular FT job, I'm potentially doing some new work for two other institutions via the miracle of the Internet, doing some very cool editing for a very cool mag, and pushing into the dream of screenwriting through a program at UCLA next year.

So I will continue to weep and whine, and probably have very little time for this here enterprise....

Convenience

When you're down in Arkansas it's important to be able to get what you want when you want it.



Now, here's your "Where's Waldo/Wild Kingdom" diversion for the day:



Somewhere in this riveting photo you'll spot a particularly ghastly species of serpent working to devour a young, innocent amphibian. Alive.

God, what is the world coming to...

Let me tell you something else. I REALLY got to get my ass back out on the bike before the earth caves in on me.

Arkansas

Heading down to the natural state for some R & R.


Hey, down there the people rule.


Damn the content on this site blows.

1st Shorts Day, Suckas

Das right, shorts weather today here on the island paradise. Cut out of work early to celebrate in the sun. Put in a solid two hour bike and added on a run later in the day. Even sat for a spell out on the Adirondack and broke open a new book from the jungle. Damn, damn buggy today tho. Critters prolly been lying in wait through the mild winter in order to strike back with a vengeance. Actually think I have mosquito bites.

But it's back to rain and 50's tomorrow.

Ugh

Physical exam today. No fun once you become "of age." Enough about that.

For shits and giggles I've been following the Base Building for Cyclists routine quite regularly this spring. It's my understanding my good friend Heywood is also a member of the club. So far, what the hell seems good. More than anything else it gives one a defined structure to follow each week, something me likes very much. Sort of a reason to get out of bed in the morning. What results will follow? Prolly nothing new. When you ain't got the huge engine or burning desire to begin with, nothing less than needles will likely do that much good.

(abrupt transition)

One of the highlights of my life was winning Henry's CX Contest #4 this week. For my pick I went with the LI day one race that Vervecken won. Lots of good memories of a warm day and lots of on-camera time for yours truly and Heywood along with plenty of running commentary on the run-up from yours truly's daughter. Think I'll be ordering a few more of the films at 10 bucks a pop. Send Henry your love and a few bucks for a film--the guy works hard to pull together footage for us cross freaks.

Speaking of DVDs, I understand Ritchie has got a new one out too that's getting the rave reviews. Hmmm...to get in line or not to get in line for one of those frames?

(another abrupt transition)

Funny, I have the nagging sensation that someone stuck a finger up my ass today.

Four Conversations For a Tuesday

#1

Dad?
Yes son.
What are all those green bottles in the frig?
Those are beer.
Are they Belgian?
No son, but I like the way you're thinking.

#2

Dad?
Yes daughter.
Can I go over to Tess's house all afternoon?
Yes daughter.

#3

[Moveitfred?]
Yes neighbor.
Can your son come along with us for a hike and then along to the movies this afternoon?
Yes neighbor.

#4

Dad?
Yes daughter.
Can we ride bikes over to Tess's house?
Yes daughter.


Moveitfred is overjoyed and swelling with pride. By the way, all this freedom allowed me to get in 90 minutes on the cross bike, a short run, and a bunch of seeds into the garden.

Dualie-Man Fred (or Tri-Man Fred, if gardening is a discipline).

Content and Musings

So Solo wants blog content this week...

OK, content. I've been fighting off the grime once again, the second time this off season. Weird. Both circumstances similar with an intense flu-like experience for a very short time. So this event was my past Thursday and Friday (both days with the kids home with friends tearing up the house and me, barely conscious on the couch, pleading with them to not break anything under my watch). Got in a short one hour spin on Saturday and a hike through the woods on Sunday, both leaving me fatigued and short of breath. Damn, this bug really knocked me out.

Moveitfred needs a hug.

So it's back to the routine today. An easy spin on the bike and some eastern efforts this evening with an attempt to ramp up the fitness back to acceptable levels this week. No "work" this week for me, so I have the goal of some long trail rides on Wednesday and Friday.

Now on to some musings about the road bike. So I've had the titanium dream machine for several years now, the road bike that I thought would be the last and greatest of my pathetic career. But y'know, I'm not so sure. See pretty much ever since I've had the thing I've endured these regular harmonic blasts resonating from the frame. Tesla, I believe, had my frame in mind.

All this noise comes from around the BB area, and I've tried it all short of replacing shit that I can't afford to replace. So it was back into the shop this past week for the yearly tune up that I'm too lazy to do myself, and I was rapping with the trusted mechanic about this overall noise annoyance.

Well those of you who know of Moveitfred know that I'm grotesquely tall and misshapen, and the titanium dream machine sports a triangle that Oprah could squeeze through. The trusted mechanic speculated that, unfortunately, due to the material and the size of the dream machine that it will likely forever be plagued with this resonance problem. It's just so damn big and tingly that it probably just has a nasty habit of picking up and magnifying any little bling or twang or twinge to monstrous levels of annoyance.

So trusted mechanic did a nice job of rebuilding and lock-tightening the BB, threw on the new chain and brake pads, and got her ready to roll for the year. Good to go. But I know it's going to start banging and clicking soon enough.

Maybe this isn't the material for me? A crawl through the web brings up other tall-dude experiences with the titanium that leave something to be desired. Don't get me wrong, the masters did a great job joining the tubes into a stiff performance machine, but maybe this just wasn't the best idea from the get-go.

Maybe I simply need a steel workhorse for the road. Steel frame, steel fork, Centaur group. Solid and tight and bomb-proof. Have this guy do it (if'in he's still doing it), or this guy, or maybe this guy. I even hear this guy does a good job on the cheap.

Anyway, that's the content for the day.

Al and Fred's 1st Annual Dualie

As reported elsewhere, Al and Fred are pleased to sponsor the following (approved for PG consumption):

AL AND FRED'S 1ST ANNUAL NORTH SHORE UNDERGROUND DUATHLON!

WHEN: SATURDAY, MAY 10, 9 a.m.

WHERE: WEST MEADOW BEACH PARKING LOT, SETAUKET, NEW YORK

WHAT: 2 mile run / 12.5 mile bike / 2 mile run

WHY: TO GET YOUR [BEAUTIFUL BODY] IN SHAPE BEFORE SUMMER

Some details:

Both runs will be from the West Meadow Beach parking lot out to the end of Trustee's Road and back to the lot. That's about two miles for each run. You run AROUND the outside of the circle at the end of the road--these aren't suicides where you touch the end of the road with your foot and turn around.

When you get back to the lot from your first run you need to do whatever it is you need to do to be happy and comfortable on your bicycle (hardcore dualie-men call this the "transition zone"). You can do this in your car, under a towel, or out in the open. Al and Fred don't really care what you do.

The bike portion is basically this (for those of you who know the area): from the West Meadow lot go out to the tennis courts and turn left, up and over Mount Grey Road and turn left at Old Field Road, bust your ass out to the end (lighthouse), return on Old Field Road all the way to the post office, turn right past the Neighborhood House and turn right on Christian Ave, ride over the rolling hills down into Stony Brook Village, turn around down at the Stony Brook Yacht Club, come back up out of the village on Hollow Road, turn left on Cedar, right on Woodbine, and right on Christian, then turn left on Quaker to Mount Grey and get your [beautiful body] back to the beach. Here's a link to the route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1681148

Change back into your running attire and get yourself out to the end of Trustee's Road and back again. Touch the chainlink fence at the parking lot. You're done.

Invitation: If Al or Fred contact you and say you can do it, you're invited. If you contact Al or Fred and either one gets back to you and says you can do it, you're invited. If Al and Fred ignore you, you do not fit in and you are not invited. Sorry, but this is like high school parties--there are the cool people who get invited, and then there is everybody else.

Liability: if you get yourself killed by some Three Village parent screaming down the road because his/her kids are late for soccer practice, don't come crying to Al or Fred. We don't care and don't want to hear your whining. THIS COURSE IS NOT CLOSED TO TRAFFIC. THERE ARE NO CROSSING GUARDS. WATCH YOUR TURNS. WEAR YOUR HELMET.

Despite what you've read so far, we're hoping lots of people come out and have a good time. Bring the kids. We're thinking/hoping there will be enough non-competitor members of the families around so that the kids can hang out at the beach with supervision and then we all come together when the pain is over for more eats and beach fun.

Questions? Email Moveitfred: moveitfred at yahoo dot com

Long Island Alps

Great day to put in some substantial time on the bike. Upper 40's, no wind, big sun. I put in a solid 2 1/2 hours as part of my basebuilding plan for the spring.



All things considered I'm fortunate to live along the north shore of Long Island where we not only have some very scenic and quiet roads for training, but also some hills. Yes, I know...snickers of laughter coming from those in the north. Big rolling guffaws coming from Heywood out in Cali. But at least this aint Florida or Kansas.

One town to the east is Port Jefferson which sits in a bowl surrounded on three sides by some steep pitches. Climbing up East Broadway from the ferry dock is a classic destination for a big burn. It's not long (.35 mi), but it's a mild 10% to killer 18% all the way up. There are several other pitches in PJ that equal or come close to Broadway, too. A few years ago a couple of locals mapped out a loop route in town that repeats the steepest roads over and over. They used the route on a regular basis to train for a summer tour of the famous climbs in France. Although they couldn't come close to matching the length of those climbs, they did say that a dedicated regime in Port Jeff got them in good shape to handle those French mountains.

Here's a link to some of the short climbs around my home:

Hills of Long Island

Those steep, short pitches are cool, but my fav small climb is just a short ride up the road from my house:


Old Town Road meanders slowly up from the intersection above for just short of 1.5 miles, making it one of the more sustained ups in the area. So what it lacks in rise it, for this flat spit of sand we live on, makes up for in run. I'd estimate the road to be about 3-5%, but it is always going up for its 1.5 mile length and if you shift into the big ring and do it enough times it hurts.

So that's what I did today for the first time in the new season--put in a few modest hill repeats on Old Town. I got in three today, and my habit has been to build to ten for my hardest summer training days.

Good to be back on the hill in the sun.

Spring In The Air

Cancellara takes the Eroica today. Beautiful looking race--Italian countryside, gravel roads, kits sans legwarmers.

I got out for two hours on bike yesterday with a few modest hill repeats. Complete deluge of rain today is putting a wash on everything, but the next few days look to be warming and dry. As reported elsewhere, I'm considering a wade into the shallow end of duathlon this spring. In fact there may be breaking news soon of something very important and groundbreaking and edgy and very, very secret (to be reported elsewhere).

In conclusion, I found the report of swimming in the Pacific from the A-team to be ceaselessly humorous (if that makes any sense). Why the hell go to the beach at 70 degrees when you can just wait a month and go when it's 80?

To add--I think more bloggers should post pics of humans in swimwear. Just in general. More swimear no matter the time of year and context. That's what I think.

Shameless Self-Promotion

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Thinking

See I've had these two weird bouts of illness recently, but both strikingly similar. First, last weekend. Saturday I woke up with a pounding headache, no energy, woozy-doozy head. I pretty much literally slept all day.

Felt OK during the week but then the same thing happened this past Friday. Yesterday I felt better, today about the same. Still a little woozy in the head but I'm managing to get through my days.

So what am I, just some whiny, sick fuck? Maybe I've got a touch of this flu going around? In all it kind of sucks, but it's given me time to think about the 08 cycling season...

Once I got back into this cycling groove a few years ago (after about a twenty year break) I fell back into old habits of training for a typical road season. I relied on old memories and probably older theory. Long base miles in winter and early spring before transitioning into a standard weekly pattern of some speedwork and intervals and more long slogs. In all, good enough I guess.

But now I'm thinking, what the hell? What the hell am I doing? First off, do I race on the road to the extent that demands this kind of prep? No. No, I don't. Most I ever do is 25-35 miles of concrete circles at the circuit races on Long Island or NYC. 60-90 minutes.

I'm just so bored by that stuff. It has taken everything I have to load up the car and get to these races, mostly just because I don't really care. I can tell I'll feel the same way this coming season. Rut, I guess. But I'm digging the idea of more cross in the fall. 45 minutes of fun. Summer weekends are for family, beach, camping--I just can't wrap my brain around the thought of trying to squeeze in summer racing, especially anything off this godforsaken island.

So here it is the first week of March. What am I doing (he asks rhetorically)? I had this notion of doing some structured base building this winter, but that's kind of fallen apart with work and this flu bug. I've been moving, keeping active, doing the smorgasbord whatever-I-feel-like workouts. All the other Long Island racers are gearing up for Central Park racing in a week or two. They've been POUNDING out long workouts, speed, hills all winter. Sheesh. Not me by a long shot. Central Park: dark, cold, icy, horse shit on water bottles and teeth. Nope.

But now what?

So here's a serious question if anyone is reading to this point: If all I plan to do this year is some speedwork circles over the summer leading into a cross season of 45 minutes nailed in the coffin this fall, is there any reason to slog out long base miles?

Right now I'm thinking, what's the point of anything over, say, two hours of hard intervals/hills as the hardest, longest workout this year? Keep everything else to 90 minutes or less? Do a little running starting now? Figure out dismounts/mounts and running with the Zank BEFORE the cross season starts? Wouldn't I be better served doing some fun mountain bike rides of whatever rather than forcing out some antiquated road training pattern over the summer? What's a cross racer who wants to have fun to do? HELP! Somebody be my coach. For free.

That's what my woozy head is thinking anyway.

What Moveitfred Is Doing Right Now

This is a new, riveting installment of this blog. What am I doing right now? I'm reviewing a book for a publisher. When I agreed to do this weeks ago it seemed like a good idea at the time. But then came the inevitable delays in getting the copy to me and then I let the project sit, and sit, and sit in my inbox until I got the annoying "reminder email" from the editor that the review is due today.

Fuck.

So I've put in an hour and plan for an hour more of this torture. Then it's going to be off on the cross bike into the woods across town. Got to do it. Got to go. First time out on the cross bike in weeks. And then whatever is left of this project will string out into the blurry night.

Yeah, well

I'm pretty much anti-blogging right now. Plenty to keep me busy in real life, I guess. Gotta get some time in on the bikes. Time's a ticking....

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, Boom!

Ouch

That sucks...

And now

some are gearing up for a big weekend at Worlds. The course looks very spectacular from the story/photos in Velonews.

Scary drop (photo by: Charles Pelkey)

Seems Compton, Trebon, and Bessette are no-goes. Too bad the representation from North America is dwindling. It's a long freakin' season.

The a-team is out in Cali. Two pieces of advice: stay away from Heywood the accountant and eat lots of Tacos. Felt is in Cali. Heywood is in Cali. I'm not.

And me. I should be building up some courses for work but instead I'm killing time until the temps creep into the 30's so I can get out on the bike.

A la Felt (RIP) I'm thinking of putting in some more time on the mountain bike this year. This is just random, bullshit, mid-winter rambling right now (sort of along the same lines as horking out volumes of January discourse on the various attributes and shortcomings of training devices), but a thought nonetheless. Maybe a mountain bike race? Might be fun to watch my cheap-o Specialized fall apart under my ass as I spit dirt from my lungs.

Hey, I hiked/sort of ran for an hour and a half in the woods yesterday. I'm a little sore. Isn't that cool?

What Retirement?

I really need to "get into something."