First Ride Of The Season

That's right I capitalized everything in that title, because it might as well be a book. I will admit it is funny writing about my first actual ride when the Eugene/Corvallis race is just around the corner and the Boise race is over and finished with. Everyone gives me massive shit for not showing up to weekend/training rides over the winter but can we be honest here for a second. If Portland were a child it would most definitely be bi-polar and I'm not about to kit up and go outside when I know that it could all of a sudden decide that it wants to dump rain. I don't care what anybody says, when you're out their riding and its cloudy but not raining and you feel that first drop hit you're face there's definitely a feeling of disappointment; even in the most dedicated of NW people. So it should come as no surprise that my first ride came in 55 degree weather and in almost completely clear skies. At the very least I'm consistent. I can accept being cold and wet while riding a bike, I only request that I'm racing cyclocross when doing so.

Smack dab in the middle of finals week and I must say I quite pleased with myself. I said it last term and even though I failed to do so then I'll say it again; there's a possibility that I could get straight A's for the first time in my life and this pleases me. My writing teacher, in an unexpected but pleasant turn of events, said she really enjoyed my writing which was great to hear. I'm once again trying to write a story on my own time and hearing from a professor that I'm good at developing character only makes me want to write more. My German final took a nice turn for the better as well. To anybody who thinks Spanish is the easiest language to learn I dare you to try German. It's like English in so many ways I'm amazed more people don't speak it.

The last time I showered was last week so I'm going to take care of that in earnest.


DBF

I've got back into the swing!

Winter break is know weeks behind me and I think I can say that despite all the sidetracking that I do participate in, there is now some sort of strange pattern to my daily living.

Good things that have happened:
- I'm taking twenty credits this terms at PSU, so I never can say "I'm not busy", or "I don't have homework, ", or something to that extent. And yes, this is indeed a good thing despite what some may say.
- PSU cycling has been interesting to say the least. I'm going on weekend rides, in addition to training every day in some form or another. Again, sometimes difficult but a good thing.
- Its not raining, point made.
- I'm eating more, or, I'm not going into muscle depletion because I'm riding more than I'm eating.

Not as good things that have happened:
- My landlord is evicting me and my three roommates on the grounds that " he needed to live there to fix everything that was broken ". To his credit many things were broken, ( i.e the fuses, outlets, dishwasher, heating system, etc ), and because of his own lack of responsibility, ( not fixing these things one at time months ago when we asked him ), we are now mostly homeless. SO if anyone has a room/closet ( 8*8 will work,) that they are not using, I'd love to rent it!
- Its cold. No surprise but its to be expected.


Belated New Years Resolutions that I forgot about:
- Go on a ride with every single Portland Based Cycling Team
- Eat more
- Successfully write a song with a vocoder. (Maybe)
- Be more successful than I was last year

The last is the same resolution Akon has, although I'm sure his is much more linked with rap music production.


Danny

Cross thus far

After getting back from Astoria, it dawned on me that the Crusade is now more than halfway over. I have seen some good improvement and I was really happy that I was able to scrape a good finish on Sunday considering the circumstance, what with falling and knocking the wind out of me. The weather indicates a change to the wetter side of things soon which means Barton could be muddy, so far only Alpenrose was rainy but that could change soon enough.

SO, a goal... hoping to reach the top of the C's maybe, possibly, maybe not possibly? I'll be out there doing my damnedist to try, its sure worth a shot.

PSU has treated me well thus far, they all seem like a great bunch of people from a bunch of different backgrounds. There's something humbling about seeing awesome racers from teams like Ironclad, Veloshop, and even The Gentle Lovers, all converging on one plane of racing. I always stress out about training but but I hope I can have some fun on some road rides later this week.

Just have to let go of the past sometimes and keep moving forward.

Time has sprouted wings

Because it has truly been one of the quickest weeks ever. I keep wanting to say that I have a couple days until CC#3 but then I realize its actually only 36 hours away, in where better than scenic and probably unrecognizable Kelso/Longview; one of the many small cities one passes through if heading between Portland and Seattle or vice versa. Despite having made that very trip hundreds of times, this will be the first time I'e actually gotten off at the Kelso exit for a good reason, I suppose there couldn't be a better time than now.

Supposedly nice weather but I'll believe it when I see it.

I had a feeling this may happen

1/2 sick after a race day, but not bedridden which I am happy about, although it's now a chore to breathe efficiently.

And another thing...

http://www.tufonorthamerica.com/tires/special.php?seriesid=23

Ignoring the specifics of that perticular tire I'm curious what a "tubular clincher" actually is, and if it really is what I think it is why isn't the cyclocross world going bonkers and dumping the ever popular tubular set up.

Curious

Just a thought

Pre-race day jitters

Literally!

The Northwest continues to be a harsh mistress with its icy bosom now upon oregon, or, it got really cold really fast. In the past week its gone from being comfortably chilly to full on freezing.

My house isn't responding too well to the extremes in temperature either. It recently decided to drop to the point to where I could see my breath in the morning, so I retaliated by putting plastic over my windows. In short, it kind of works, kind of...

I've been taking it easy the last couple of days preparing for Sundays race. Been doing yoga in the morning and before I go to bed as much as I can, which seems to be helping in little bit. I've also rediscovered my infatuation with running at night wearing only running shorts, shoes, and a tired grin, ( the colder it is, the stranger the looks )...

The second Cross Crusade is tomorrow which is definitely going to be interesting.

http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108907454630463163469.000454e9665dbf5bfe7f3&ll=45.312948,-122.793975&spn=0.007303,0.014656&t=h&z=16


The weather-clowns predict sun tomorrow, coupled with the fact that this looks like a much faster course then Alpenrose was: Note that there is only one barrier in the entire course and many long straightaways. I can only hope its a little slower then it looks.

At least the weather will be nice.