The 27th

I went out for a short 34 mile ride with Mr. P today. It was cold as hell by Texas standards (30s at time of departure), but the day was enjoyable. I am so glad I made the choice I did when we decided to live in this area. The riding here is just fantastic. Today's workout was standing intervals, but of the lower HR sort. Base building is going well. This is the first time I have been on a bike since my crash. I ran a few times between then and now. I took the Retro Rocket out today. That bike is just awesome. Have a good Friday.


These guys were staring at me so I bowed up to the fence. Turns out they didn't want to throw down with THIS GUY.


The WT way to fix your shoe when you break a buckle off. Northwave dropped a new buckle in the mail for me today.


Christmas present. Hopefully they live up to the hype.


The Bug loved his froggie towel from Grandma Nicky.

Ouchie

The way I look at it, everyone's gotta hit the pavement (chip and seal) sometime.


Luckily I was wearing full finger gloves. But this still kinda hurts.


Only the second ride in these wind booties. What pisses me off more is that I broke the clasp off of my shoes. Hopefully it can be replaced.


Buh Bye bibs.


Could be worse. I had long sleeves on.


This motherfucker hurts. Yeah yeah. I know I need to shave.


Aside from some tweaked bar tape, this appears to be the only real damage to the bike. The tire is shredded on the sidewall. Funny enough it is the opposite side that I fell on. I went into a rally car slide when I hit the gravel before laying it down and I think that is how the tire got ruined. I loved these tires. :(

Week in Review

Sunday: Had to be at the airport for a 1:30pm flight to Orange County, CA. On the flight out my head filled up with some sort of thick snotty funk. Upon landing it felt like my head was going to pop. I had to kill 3 hours at the Admiral's Club waiting for a coworker to arrive. Once he showed up we headed to Souplantation for a quick bite before heading to our hotel in Laguna Beach.

Monday: Morning appointment in Cypress at a cement company. Lunch meeting in Santa Fe Springs with a grout and building products company. Afternoon appointment in Corona with a stucco company. Back to the hotel where I popped sinus meds for the 3rd time that day. Dinner at Sorrento Grille in Laguna Beach. Bed by 10pm.

Tuesday: Head meds before I got out of bed. Morning appointment in Orange at a stucco company. Lunch appointment in Compton with a polyester resin producer. Afternoon appointment in Riverside with another stucco producer. Late afternoon appointment in Rancho Cucamonga at an epoxy flooring producer. Long trip back to Laguna Beach. Dinner with coworkers at Mosun Sushi in Laguna Beach. Bed by 10:30pm.

Wednesday: Morning appointment in City of Industry at a stucco company. Lunch appointment in San Diego canceled. Decided to head back to the airport. I checked in for my flight which wasn't until 5:45pm. Upgraded to first class as expected. I decided to try to fly standby back to Texas on a 1:10pm flight. No go. Overbooked. Kill 4 hours in the Admiral's Club doing work until boarding time. Attempt to board with first class and the machine says "duplicate ticket" meaning they gave someone else the same seat as me - 4E. I waited 10 minutes while the airline person went down to the plane and told the nice man that she just upgraded to first class that he was no longer upgraded to first class and had to go to row 20. Took my seat and started reading a book about Pablo Escobar on the flight. I arrived home at 11:30pm. Bed by 12:45am.

Thursday: Woken up by wife at 5:30am because we are out of Children's Tylenol and need some. At the grocery store when they open at 6am for Tylenol. Back home with the Tylenol so that I can get Bug out of bed and ready for daycare. It is Bug's birthday so he is excited. I got him dressed and he wanted to wear his cowboy boots. Off to daycare at 7:30am. I arrive at work at 8am. It takes 3 hours to catch up on emails from earlier in the week because the hotel we stay at in Laguna Beach does not have internet. We had our office Christmas lunch at noon. I left work at 2:30 to go home and pick up the wife and Tony so we could take cupcakes to Bug's daycare for a party. Back home with the whole family by 4:30pm. Bug and I took a 30 minute walk in the neighborhood. When I got back I had to go into town to pick up pizza for dinner because that is what Bug wants for his birthday. After pizza we had cake and opened presents. At 7:30pm I wheeled Bug up to the tub and had him in bed by 8pm. What a day. The wife has been focusing her attention on Tony the past few days because he has a cold. Siggh.

Training this week?? Please. Between the head cold and the schedule - it didn't happen. I am absolutely going to take advantage of the time between Christmas and New Year's when I am on vacation and get back on track. Where can I get a job where I get paid a lot and have basically no responsibility with a very flexible schedule??

Merry Fuc$ing Christmas

I love Christmas. I like being with family on Christmas. This year we are staying in Texas, so it will be just our little family. When I was a kid we would always go to my grandparent's place on Christmas Eve and have the traditional Italian fish dinner. The past 5 or so years I have become disillusioned with some aspects of Christmas. The commercial overtones during the Season have become almost ridiculous. If I see another commercial for diamonds, I am going to lose it. If I see another news cast of people plowing each other over as a store's doors open to save $10 on a computer I am going to lose it. If I have one more grumpy person try to run me over with their cart at the store, I am going to lose it. The world needs to refocus.

Reading has been a bit slow lately but here is a review of the last 3 books I have read.

Weight Training for Cyclists


This is a great instructional book that talks about the importance of weight training in cycling racing and how to do it properly. Most of the weight programs that I have done in my life for sports such as football, rugby and wrestling focused on heavy weights and low repetitions for building strength along with bulk. This program focuses on moderate weight with high repetitions. The book also talks about what exercises are most important, why you should do them, and in which order you should do them. Toward the end of the book is a program that you can choose to follow or modify that will take you through the off-season. Overall, a great reference guide. Grade - B+

I am Legend


The story is of the last man on earth. The human population has either died or was turned into a vampire by a plague. There is a sense of despair as he basically goes about life during the day and bunkers down in his house at night when the vamps come out. The person in the book is a white guy in Los Angeles. The movie is of a black guy in NYC. Go figure. The book kept my attention for sure. The 1st half of the book is the story. The second half of the book is comprised of a few separate short stories that have nothing to do with I am Legend. I was a bit confused as to what I was reading until I figured it out. No happy endings here. Grade - B

Ash & Bone


The basic premise is that a retired detective comes out of retirement to work the case of a murdered police woman whom he hooked up with years earlier. There are also tangential stories about corrupt cops and family problems. While it kept my attention most of the time, I found it sort of like every other detective novel I have ever read. There are so many unclosed loops in the tangential stories I have to wonder why they even bothered to tell them. If someone gives this book to you read it. If you have to pay for it, you can probably spend your money in better ways. Grade - C

As I write this I am sitting beside the Bug watching Frosty the Snowman and sipping on a nice Clos du Val Cab. Life could be much worse. :)

Committed to the Program

Last year I tried to stay true to the workouts that my coach gave to me but sometimes ego got in the way. "How can going this slow actually be improving me?" I would ask myself that frequently. After a year of working with a coach, I know the workout plan is effective. This year I promised myself that I would be as true as possible to the workout on a given day. Saturday was the first day I was tempted to stray, but after a self pep talk all was well. Since I can cross train for the next few months, I have been running. I was able to get in 3 runs of 5 miles last week and it felt great.


Let's see. HR 127-148. Cadence 90-100. Heavy headwind. That equates to a blazing 13.8 mph.


I saw these on my Saturday ride. No sign of my friends the Wildebeests. I hope they didn't get sold off to a big game hunting ranch :(.

My Laptop Blows

I have been traveling again these past two weeks and have had hell connecting to the internet. Who knows what the problem is, but it pisses me off. P.O.S.

Base building is going well. At this point I am free to substitute some cross training in which makes it easier to do while traveling. I am starting to have race daydreams. I look forward to my first race which will probably be in early April. The new kit is ordered and should be here shortly. I bought some winter gear considering the weather we have had the past few weeks down here. However, when I got off the plane today from Kansas City it was 78 degrees. When I left my hotel in KC this morning it was 28. Now I remember why I love living here.

The boys are doing well. Bug and I have been doing swimming lessons on Saturday mornings for the past month. I think there are 3 more left. He does great. He isn't swimming himself, but he is pretty buoyant. Most of the class is about how to hold on to the side of the pool and how to climb out, etc. Things to help them in case they fall in. He loves it and it is fun to be there with him. Tony is gaining weight like a champ after a slow start.

Have a good Thursday.