ug...

im sick

spooky times...

So Lisa Crowe and i spun the "wheel o' bad ideas" some time last week. It landed squarely on "ride 56 miles to your next cross race".

I know what you're thinking, "Geeze Steve, thats a bad idea..." and you're right. It wasn't bad bad enough for me and lisa's level of commitment. Fortunately Google Maps helped us out by routing us into a mountain. Not 'til we got to the top of the mountain, did we find out that our bad idea had indeed gotten worse. Did i mention i was on a singlespeed?

With google's assistance, it turned our little 56 mile bad idea into a nice, square 71 mile bad idea. Dont worry, those extra 15 miles were only mostly climb.

Its kind of creepy when you aren't sprinting, but you are going as fast as possible. Several times in the race i told myself "self, you're gonna finish last if you don't pick up the pace" and usually when this happens i put in a little dig and my speed ramps up, maybe only a little, but it ramps up. This time every time i went, "ok, GO!" my go had went. It was wierd.

In other spooky news, i have been cheating on a sponsor, and former employer, stell coffee and tea. I have been getting my morning fix at the olive market, which i had passed several times on the way to work, before i figured out it is sooooooo much more time condusive to stop there as opposed to stell. Its right on the way. I would say about half the time i see the same woman with an infant in a a stroller, and a 120 pount toddler with a pacifier in her mouth, clutching a chocolate bar, along with an assorment of lolipops. Perfectly normal considering its like 9:10 in the morning, or as i like to refer to it, "the infant introduction to diabetes" hour. Of course the overseer (presumably the mother) of this baby gorilla isn't the most svelt of her species, but hey, she dresses in athletic clothing, complete with a stroller made for jogging, and running shoes.

In my minds eye, i have:

• Knocked the mother out. Cold as a block of ice. One punch, an overhand right.
  
• Screamed at the people behind the counter "what the hell are you smiling about? And why are you selling this child candy bars at 9 in the morning? Are you taking crazy pills?"
• Exclaimed that she's a shoe in for the blue ribbon at the state fair.
• Told the little girl that daddy drinks to cope with mommy poisoning their children.
• Reported the mother to social services.

I don't know how much longer i can handle it. I could totally see myself in court and telling the jury "I dunno, some time after them coming in and before i put some milk in my burnt french roast, everything went black. But if you say i took a dump in the kids chocolate bar wrapper and made the mom drop it like an asprin, before i grabbed the baby and yelled 'come mit me if you vant to live...' im sure that's what happened..." And then seeing the jury shug and give each other the "i mean, what're you gonna do...." look. I've seen that crap on montel, but never in my own back yard. Insanity.

pics from "storm the beach"....

lisa gasping on an ill-placed run up.
in a sprint for the line she missed 4th by not even a second.
A sand pit on an actual beach. You don't see it often for a reason.
Matt Breyer killin it.
Matt Breyer carryin' it.
Matt Freeman riding up a part i probably could have done on my single speed had i chosen my gears a little wiser.

case in point, here's me running up the hill.....slowly.
Here's me carrying my bike up. That in and of itself is a small victory.
Here's me riding up. It took me 3 laps to get that line right.

southern california cyclocross...

... should adapt the phrase "you think last week was bad...? Oh man...." as their new catch phrase. Storm the beach was shot. They should name just that race "you're gonna need a new drive train." What a pisser. when the course wasnt destroying your bike, you were running in quicksand.

What's next? Wild mountain cats on the course? Mountain climbing w/ bike? Leeches in the mud pits? No lights at the next night race? That gets my vote.

pictures soon.

its my 100th post!

Big deal huh? Anyways, it looks like im headed for oceanside this weekend, armed with a piss load of spoke nipples for the go green racer bin. Hopefully also i will be armed with my new wheelset. Whats optimal pressure on sand? Freeman moves in today-ish. His bike will be set to go for suday. Saw to that yesterday. Did a huge long workout at ford park yesterday. That run-up is in-sane. Im so smoked when i put my bike down, the last time i tried to get on, i blanked on what i was doing mid jump and landed all cockeyed. It was kind of funny. I'm hoping i rally enough support to make an inland cyclocross race. It would be sweet. I could design such a bitchin course out there. The last 2 have been kinda not what i consider to be cross. Too much dirt. More mud, more grass, more cowbell. I got 2nd in the last race. It was a field of 3, but still. Also, i didnt finish too far behind the dude that won. Dude who put the race on a had a poor attitude, gave crappy shwag, and didnt even do a podium so i could post a picture on my blag. What a pisser.

Tonight we are having a meeting about clothing. Im voting for voler. Dot is a really nice gal, and she said she'd throw us a party! Anything has GOT to be better than that champsys stuff.

We got peg board up at work so i can hang all my tools proper, it looks sweet. I spray painted it black and everybody was bummed for the first hour.

i decided to name my bike. Sleipnir. Sweet. Sleipnir was odin's 8 legged horse. Also, it sounds cool.

a lot has happened.

Josh is a year older and has a new set of neck jewelry.

A.J. is also a year older and also has new neck jewelry.

Bigfoot: not dead (according to autobiography i have purchased)

Another cross race under the belt. Ate some shit, but i didnt redline completely. We'll have to fix both of those on the next race.

Loaned my shoes to a woman for her race. She refered to me as her savior. Probably due to my classic depiction of jesus-like beard.

Beard is gone. We cant have people calling me savior can we?

Coach D was out there racing. I wonder if she got any schwag for 5th...?

Helped short haired christy, who will now be dubbed bad back christy with a little sciatica, using my vast know-how on the subject.

Freeman is moving in next door to me. Like, literally. Hopefully i can make him welcome with some lemon-bars, or a tall boy of natty-ice.

thats about it. Can't wait for the next race. Probably oceanside, but i could probably be cajoled into palos verdes.

beardage...

this beard.... Ive been growing it for so damn long. Definitely longer than any other beard ive grown. I'm feeling like it has reached its cap though. I dunno if its gonna get any longer. I wish i could hold out like the dudes from team bearclaw, or that dude that rides for rapha. Mostly because i want to get sweet gear for free from rapha. If you are reading this and are in the position to offer free stuff in exchange for facial hair strength, holler at your boy, otherwise, i dont see going past haloween with it.

cross practice tonight...

kinda.

i think im going to go over to the baseball fields on mountain view in loma linda cuz according to the website 2 of them are lit. Im also going to bring a light for my bike seeing as last night it was pitch black at 6:50.

also, another lit grass update: There are 2 lit fields in yucaipa, and 2 in loma linda. We'll see how tonight works out.