a delicate subject?

Group Etiquette....OOOOoooooooo

Never an easy subject at the best of times.

Yet Cycling is a individual sport often played in conjunction with others.

at the local world's, a race or on the club run. It can be tricky at times to know exactly what and how to act.

what works in one place doesn't go over so well in another.

For instance I can be pretty belligerent in a race, and I can give as good as I take, but I like to think I keep it in bounds. But on the club run I know I have to act in a more accommodating manor. Though I'm sure there are those that think I'm pretty belligerent there as well.

but Some people just don't seem to get it. Oh well this isn't going to be an exercise in venting so I'll leave it there, I guess its subjective anyway.

I learnt a new phrase today! "dutch oven" is this a North American thing? I'd never heard it explained before tonight. Thanks Dr Rosenberg for once again broadening my horizons!!!!

Cycling has such interesting terms....like Jit-bag(s).

Dutch oven, Jit-bags am I becoming Americanized? whats happening to my vocabulary?

In other news, I got my results back for the first unit of my chemistry course work....93%.

I guess google does have its uses.





.....Dutch oven that ones going to stick. :0)

Doing the do!

Ok so i might have ripped the crank arm off my race bike, but thats no excuse for missing out on your hill reps!

So Saturday morning i hit the beaches back streets for a session of loops on my single speed, hitting some out the saddle hill reps.

Ramping up a swift 500m of vertical ascent, in a little under an hour.

which kept the blood flowing and the sweat flowing.

hopefully i'll get my bike fixed tomorrow, and i can get back to the FTP.

enforced 1 leg drills.....

I hate carbon wrapped bike shit!!!

it always fails sooner or later.

Been having a few issue's with my crank lately.

Guess I know the reason now. fucking thing sheared off 8km from home.

guess I got my one leg drills in....

K-W road race

Applied Cycling physics 101:

Position is not an indication of effort applied...

Sounds like a good excuse ;0)

So yesterday was the next round in the O-cup series, the K-W classic.

I like that course, fast (safe) descents, false flats and short punchy climbs.

I was feeling pretty good so I thought I'd try to be a bit more pro-active with the breaks.

There are certain things I fail to understand but have however come to accept about bike racing and those that do it.

Like why is it some people put in a huge effort to create a break, get 50 feet or more on the pack and then promptly sit straight up and give up? I mean what exactly was their motive in expending all that effort only to give up as soon as it seemed to be working?

Maybe they are afraid of success, perhaps as soon as they see they might actually have to commit to the implications of the effort they just put out they decide it's all too overwhelming.

Anyway what ever it is I decided to roll over the top of one such break and keep going; pausing only momentarily to offer a short critic of their riding styles.

I hooked on with a Z team guy and together we managed to stay away for nearly two laps. Although it wasn't ever likely to succeed with only the two of us, I hoped for some more people to bridge across.

And when a group of 5 or so came up the road, I hoped it would stick.....the peloton had another idea though.

So after that I worked hard to get away for another few laps but nothing happened.

Then just as i sat up to rest in the pack, top up my water supply (big thanks to Sandra and Ernesto for working the feed so well)

7 guys went up the road without me....typical.

luckily though two of our guys were there.

When they had put 1min 30 into the group I thought we would never see them again.


But with the break bought back with 1 lap to go it was all to play for again


and coming in to the final corners I was exactly where I had hoped and planned to be.


I had been playing the race through my head, a lot in the weeks before hand, in fact pretty much from the end of it last year.

however apparently my plan had some flaws in it and my dream position wasn't the quite the place to be after all (you live and learn though right).

Leading out on the final straight I tried to kick but had nothing.

I looked back to see the pack massing behind to take control, and I watched powerless, with nothing more to do than counting those that came around me as we raced towards the line.

Final placing 16th....one worse than last year, but like I said no reflection of the effort applied.

El Capitain got 7th, popping out from behind me.

The "Vegas Fund" continues to grow....

avg speed for the day 26.1 mph/42 kmph ...

i hurt myself today...

There is something about this sport.The need to reach and push your limits.To stretch the cord, to jump and jump and jump.To feel the burn but know that those around you feel it worse.then lay it out there all again. Till ..snap!!!


you break away.

the pay off....straight from the manual.

slowly creeping feels like progress.

Its been a hard few weeks.

fitness was up, then fatigue set in.

fatigue washed away with structured rest then injury got me.

Injuries made me struggle with training, then motivation can be tested.

but progress slowly creeps back in to the veins and sinew and confidence begins to emerge again.

Did the old store ride yesterday with a new gang of riders. Mostly racers, mostly younger. So a fast pace and plenty of attacks with a fair amount of working together as well.

fuckin 705 has been playing up though so I've no idea of how things were going. One thing about training with power is you have a bench mark to see how well you're really doing, regardless of what your body or mind might be screaming at you.

yesterday felt good, the shoulder is coming back to life. I put 3m 15secs in to the pack behind me. Once I got away with one other rider I knew they wouldn't catch us.


The heaving beast with two backs, grunts and dribbles some small success.

another small town BMX hero...?

Its all about the "fork control"....

We all have funny role models and aspirations in the world of cycling.

A world where power to weight ratio is everything, and all your commitment to this Idol, is finely squeezed into over priced, un-forgiving Lycra for all the world to see.

if you're 10lbs over weight everyone knows it. Your wife, that fat C**t in his SUV laughing at you and your sport whilst eating his super-sized Mc flabber he just picked up in the drive through. he fat but at least he's smart enough to hide it behind 1.5 tonnes of slowly rusting metal and lost dreams.

And most unforgiving of all your cycling buddies, although they would never say it (out loud, to your face) they each great each other with a nod and a quick scan up and down to asses body fat %.

God forbid if you ever come up against a world class polish coach.

You might have a BMI of 20.

be 6'5" and weigh 130lbs but he'll be pinching your upper arms and asking you how you find the courage to face the world and the rest of the cycling community with such an eating disorder.....

And is it any wonder? Look at those that came before us. The hardest and best of men in the hardest and best of sports.....the "chicken" (top), Mr 60% (a referance to his hemotacrit not his body fat)

or any of the other cycling greats we watch in awe as they fly up the hardest of climbs faster than we could ride on the flat.

As a child watching LeMond in those epic battles of the early TDF i would dream of emulating my hero's one day on those very same mountains.

I even did once when at the tender age of 19yrs old and 160lbs, i rode from Rome to Germany. I didn't quite fly up them though, I struggled to push the pedals for hours at a time.

As cyclist we celebrate each new vein popping out for the first time from behind the screen of fat, we marvel at the first time out ribs are clearly visable, a bench mark of success.

"Your at the right weight when your wife thinks you too skinny and your Mum thinks your Sick!"

But i lacked the commitment to "fork control" the desire to be in a state of near constant starvation, that it takes to be a champion. Its not easy to burn 2000 -5000 calories in a day and have lettuce and a protein shake for supper. Especially when everyone else is eating ribs and enjoying pitchers of beer.

but i guess that why i'm not world class.......but i still keep the motivational images to remind me the before and after photo's (below) of what it takes to be a success in this game. right under the sign saying "Fork Control" taped on the cooler..... so i can read it each time i get another "Molson 67".

I can't stand the rain......

Well actually i don't mind it (good job coming from the UK) but after my last little tumble i guess i"ll be going pretty gingerly through the corners for a while again....

My evening ride is postponed after Trev and his kid were involved in some kind of road accident whilst cycling to school this morning....(will it never end?).

anyway on the cards today is a short tempo ride 60mins perhaps at 85% ftp.

I'll be riding close to home so its not so bad i guess..just get the Ipod going and hunker down.

As an aside however I'll provide a link to something I'm still finding somewhat incredulous...

and another reason to avoid riding with triathlete's when ever possible...:

you gotta read it.:

how to go #2 on your bike

and finally through pure self indulgence...is the word "Greenland"

With over 1300+ visitors to my blog from over 30 countries and four continents, there is a big blob missing from the google analysis world map page in the shape of you guessed it Greenland so i'm hoping that by adding the word to this page i might inadvertently get a hit from there...

shit it worked with "hot lycra butts" so should be a sure thing?

what a difference a day makes.....

About 50w's actually...

yesterday a struggled back onto my bike and could barely hold 320w for the 20min interval.

today i went back out determined to try again and put out 370w for the same time.

Followed it up with 2x20 sweet spot intervals.

Shoulder felt better, legs felt stronger, Kieran is a much happier camper.....i even finished the first section of my latest school course.

Tomorrow will be tempo and an easy spin with my home-body Trevor from the shop.

think i had a lucky escape.....