I just don't have the words.......

......to describe how I feel this morning about this situation.

Tragic. Just tragic.

Can't we all just get along?

The answer is clearly NO.

Saw Lance on Best Damn Sports Show last night. Didn't sound like he and Greg would be the best of friends in the near future. C'est la vie. Time to move on.

Um, I heard the other day that some race is starting this weekend. Something about a France tour or some crazy crap like that. Racing around France or something. Yeah, that race.

I totally don't know who is going to take the Tour this year. Basso, Jan, Floyd, George, Levi, Alejandro.......the list is quite extensive.........which means one thing.......it's gonna be an awesome Tour to watch!!

We were robbed!!!

Heard about the team's Pescadero fiasco this morning. That sux!!! My heart goes out to Joseph and Bob. But hey, at least you guys top 5d that race - that's killer good! But thinking you had it won and then finding out after the race that there were two escapees off the front.........oh man, that makes me cringe.

This morning, I was reading this......

.......entry on Gianni's bloggy thing about performance drugs. It got me to thinkin' about supplementation and how far riders might go to improve their performance. How much is enough? How far are they gonna go in their quest to improve their cycling? How many riders are on the ProCrit and the other junk, at the local level, to improve their chances at a win???

Well, there is one guy I know who uses a very strong and very effective supplement. He's a Masters rider and he usually races quite well.......including several wins this season. The supplement is quite powerful, and unfortunately, is not without risk. I'm thinking that a lot of these riders who are using performance-enhancing drugs(the illegal kind especially), might want to try this supplement too........'cause from what I understand, it is very very effective.

OH - almost forgot. You want the name of the supplement! Okay........well......here it is:

RIDING!!!!!!!

Ride your friggin' bike!

Yep - Saunier Duval was there too......

......Aaron Olsen before the start of the Pro race at the NC Classic.

And here is my Award Winning shot.....

.....of the finish of the Masters race at Nevada City on Sunday. I call this one "Rodney-you're-a-dorkwad-Just-throw-the-friggin'-camera-in-the-trash".

The pain and suffering over.......

.......and next year.......you're lookin' at the winner of the 3s race. And no, it ain't Peavy!(Although, it could be!)

Call me kooky, call me crazy......

......but this pic is currently on my desktop. I call it inspiration. And pain.

Our teammate Lil' Joey O!

This lil' Dude gets the Stud Award of the Day at Nevada City on Sunday. I think this pic pretty much sums it up - that hill just sux!!! The next race, Papa Joe felt the pain as well. Ouch man - I don't know how you guys do it, but it apparently runs in the family. Congrats to both you Dudes!!!

Nome & Groovy T enjoying the post-race.......

.....heat exhaustion at the Nevada City Classic.

And this one goes out to Queen Bella.......

......one of those "gnawing" shots!

Yep, even more crappy photos......

......from Sunday's Nevada City Classic.

What a fun day! Well, maybe not for the riders. But for the specatators, it was a blast!

My crappy photos from yesterday's........

......Nevada City Classic.

Great job you guys!! And Olaf - geezo Dude - you're crazy! The dude races the Masters 1/2/3 race, then turns around and races the Pros/1/2s race. That's some demented racing. It hurt to watch - but hey, we were screamin' for ya up on that hill!

Aren Timmel - Dude, you are a stud! Pullin' out the win by chasing down a solo break, then pulling away. Awesome!!

And then, the Thurmanator - two words to describe it: He's Back! It was great to see him puttin' some hurt on the field out there yesterday.

More stories and pics to follow!

Ever have one of those days at work......

......where you know you either are going to make a mistake, are in the middle of making a mistake, or already made the mistake........and are headed for hellspeak from the boss???? Well, that was my day today. What a hatefuk day today was(Olaf, you are my new word hero!). I need to learn to watch my actions/words at work. It's like knowing where your front wheel is at all times during a race. Not staring at it......just having the feel for where it is......where you are......that your actions can have consequences. Knowing, anticipating, watching, feeling........instinct, but with control.

Now, you'll have to excuse me, but I have a foot I need to dis-insert from my mouth. Yeah, it was one of those work days. Glad it's finally over. But man, Monday is gonna be pure hell.

A Nevada City Classic Crappy Photo Montage......

.....enjoy!

Actually, I can't wait for the race this weekend. Truly a classic.

You wanna dowhatnow??

Prior to getting back into cycling again, I played tennis for about nine years or so. Got to the point where I was okay, but not great. Loved to play throughout the year - heat, cold, fog, even rain on some days. But, found the cycling bug again.......and that was it for tennis. I've played tennis once in the past 1.5 years.

All of sudden, it seems like everyone around me wants to play tennis again! It's really weird.....and kinda has me wondering. My tennis-playing friend Mike and I always joked that whenever Andre Agassi was kicking ass, everyone around us wanted to play tennis. But that dude has about vanished. So, I can't figure it out.

And although I would rather just go out and ride tonight, my wife has a doubles match lined up for us at 6pm. The good part though is that it doesn't get dark until 9:15pm......which will leave me just enough time to hit the short track MTB course across the street from the house.

Just between you and me.......I sorta had to start building up those husband points lately......Lori has about had it with the bike collection in our laundry room!

Post #666.......

Yikes! So, I'm a week late on that post.......but oh well.

Look at these dudes - I think this is about 50 years ago. And man, I would both love and hate to go riding with these guys:

"Hey, let's go riding!"

"Okay, great!"

"Figured we'd head out over to Nevada City and back - should be a good 180 mile ride for the day. Probably stop by Gasarrhea along the way to eat some pie and coffee."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's head out."

Ah, the good old days.

Team Chico......

......don't know why, but I had this picture stuck in my head all day. Weird. Must be the bike.

This is Aren Timmel from Team Chico on his way to 2nd place overall at the Mt. Hood Classic a week ago in the Cat. 3s. The dude even won 2 stages, but apparently lost time in the TT.

And yeah, Ted Turner did take this photograph! Didn't realize he was a cycling fan.

Not sure why.....

.....but this blog entry puts a smile on my face.

Can't wait!

Yep, that time of year again! I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about this race. The first time I ever watched this race was in 1981. What a classic - LeMond taking off on the first lap to go on and lap the field. The dude was just strong as an ox.

These are pics from last year's Masters 1/2/3 race at the NC Classic. The top pic is of our fearless leader - Nome......puttin' the hurt on during the steep ascent.

The bottom pic goes out to all the old Chico Veloers who read this blog - that dude on the Cannondale is none other than Grant Boswell! Grant's son Ian was racing a great race in the Juniors race - and then dad raced in the Masters race right afterwards. For those of you who don't know Grant - he was one of the very first real hardcore triathletes in the world.........even winning Ironman Australia. Watching him train back in the day was shocking - the dude was an animal. I remember him riding his 53x17 the whole way to Forest Ranch one day - I was in complete awe. And, of course, he was a kick ass bike racer too.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing you all there this weekend!

No - I'm not dead!

Just took a short vacation from blogging. Actually, it wasn't really a vacation - I was slammed at work this past week. Pretty much sucked wind. Hope to be back in blogging action tonight.

Can't believe Levi won the Dauphine. I CAN believe that OV won the Fremont Crit - how many Ws is that for you this year Olaf????

And to Mike B. - Dude, what happened in the crash??? I read that your forks broke, but don't know what's up - are you okay???

OH - and this upcoming weekend........the Nevada City Classic! Can't wait!! And I see Team Chico's own Aren Timmel is gettin' ready to put the hammer down on the Cat. 3 field. My goal for that race - 500 pictures, 5 good ones, and at least three pics of the ground.

NO!!!

The main with the cure, needs a cure! Dr. X done got himself pneumonia.

Man, I hope you get better soon - we're seeing a lot of that junk where I work. Heal fast!

And I'm stickin' with my earlier prediction.......victory for X before the season ends.

Dude!

Did you win again??? Awesome!

What the???

After mile 2 on this evening's ride:

Bike: "Um, Rodney, I don't like that gear you're in.....I'm gonna switch it for you."
Me: "NO - don't do that - I don't like that. I wanna be in that gear I had it in."
Bike: "Okay, well, I'll switch to this other gear instead."
Me: "What the??!!"
Bike: "No, quit going back to that gear - I don't like that gear. Here, I'll switch to this gear for you."
Me: "Stupid !@##%#@!"
Bike: "No, the big chainring is taking the night off - sorry - you can't use that chainring tonight."
Me: "Piece of!"
Bike: "Wait, I don't like the nose of the saddle pointing forward all the time - I want it to point sideways. Here, let me turn it for you."
Me: "When I get home, I'm gonna throw you through the......."
Bike: "HEY, I told you not to go in that gear - and stop trying to get into the big chainring! I won't let you do that!!!"
Me: Pondering, pondering.....sell this thing; walk home; or get back home ASAP and rack it up. Hmmm.
Bike: "Yeah, stay in this gear - and no others. No other gear will work! And stop trying to move that darn saddle - I want that saddle pointing sideways.....not straight! I'm not gonna say it again!"
Me: "Okay, you win......for now. Piece of sh......."

Yeah, had one of those rides tonight where my bike pretty much went off on me.....just had a mind of it's own. And it happened completely out of nowhere! Like I pissed it off somehow or something! Actually, I think it might be a little jealous.....been spending a little too much time on the MTB lately.

Gotta love the.....

.....mountain biking vids. Too fun.

And to all those folks.......

.....riding in the Sierra Century tomorrow.......good luck and have a great time out there! Not sure the infamous Slug Gulch is in the route this year due to scheduling conflicts with a drunkards festival......but if it is, hope you brought the right gearing!

While I was waiting for Lori......

.....to get out of dental surgery today(yes, she is fine), I had the opportunity to read Marla Streb's book. And man, what a cool story! A scientist/pianist/skateboarder turned downhill mountain bike goddess.

And it seems to me, she is just one of those natural cyclists......you know, the ones who have never ridden in their lives......then they get on a bike, and can climb any hill with ease, win every race around, can sprint like the Flash, etc. Kinda obnoxious, but hella fun to watch!

So, he's a 3 now?

And did we ever find out if he is, in fact, the RAAM rider???

On a side note, I can't believe that this dude is gonna ride it again. And did anyone ever tell him that you can't cross the centerline during a Mt. Hamilton race???

Thanks to Kareem for the pic - great job out there Dude!

Man, I am lovin'......

.....Disk Zero's blog!

Hey, is this another pic of Xbunny???

At the Memorial Day Crit???

Hey, I think it's a very Rodneyish photo there, Geno......I dig it!

Iowa + Nome = Pain.....and Fun!

.....man, this is priceless. And this pic pretty much spells it all out.

Of course it's a crappy photo......

....what did ya expect???

Didn't find out until just today that the Bagboys had themselves a website. Man, I'm Netlame.

Retrospect it.

I had the opportunity to go over my training journals from the last couple of years recently. I think keeping a very simple training journal can be a useful thing......whenever mine became overly complicated, I would bail on it. The simpler, the better: "Rode for 2 hours, up a hill; felt good, not great." The end. Yep, just simple. I heard Chris Horner had something similar he utilized, but can't vouch for it. Makes sense though - you can go back through your journal at a later date and find out how, or what you did, to have such an amazing ride/race/climb/sprint/Fast 50, etc.

Anyway, last year around October, I had hit a peak. I didn't mean to - I wasn't aiming for a peak.......it just happened. I was climbing better than I ever had in my life. I had more flat-land power than ever too. I could just hammer away, at will, and felt awesome. And oxygen debt? Well, that was getting pretty hard to reach. In short, I felt great - and I couldn't believe how fun it was to go riding! It was awesome. And confidence was at an all-time high.

Today, my cycling is not doing as well. In fact, it is 180 degrees different from that point in time.....and not for the better. The main culprit has been my diabetes - and the fact that my bloodsugar levels are all over the board. It's sort of like herding cats - you try to corner it, and something throws it off and it runs haywire. No energy - even short rides take it out of you. It sux.

So, I looked back - I studied my own history in the form of my cycling journals. And I found the one missing link: Tom's classes.

Tom is a local cyclist who is also a great friend. His knowledge of the sport of cycling is astounding - he's been involved in it for some 35 years or so. He's one of those Mr. Miyagi types.....you know, you can't quite understand the wax on, wax off stuff.......until you need it - and then it hits you......this crap really works!! Tom's knowledge of the sport goes way beyond what you would find in a normal "coach". He speaks from a lifetime of experience on the bike......and he simplifies it to it's grandest form. "Hey Tom, how can I improve my climbing???" And Tom's response: "Uh, how about going out climbing???!!!"

Anyway, Tom taught Spinning classes at our local gym two nights per week for the last I-don't-know-how-many-years. I began taking his classes a couple of years ago and I thought the dude was a lunatic. First off, his music was totally funky. Next, the way he would instruct us in class was wild! And finally, after years of taking different Spinning classes at different gyms, I had never ever ever run into a Spinning instructor that had the class do the drills he was having us do. In short, they were intensely insane. Hardest classes ever. 2 days per week - sometimes 3 days per week. Out-of-the-saddle for 45 minutes straight, cadence changes, torque sessions, 1234 counts, 8 counts, 20 RPM drills, just crazy stuff.

I started taking Tom's class religiously last July(I was taking them only semi-religiously prior to that) - 2 days per week, without fail. After a month or so, I was seeing heart rates I had never seen before. I was developing muscles in places I had never seen muscles. But best of all, our regular hill climbs in the area became......well......easier. And when I say easier.....I mean WAY easier. It was scary fun.

I kept going to Tom's classes, kept doing outside rides, just kept moving..........kept consistent. It's like he told me one time......you get better with consistency.....that cycling is cumulative. Keep at it.

Earlier this year, unfortunately, I stopped going to Tom's classes. Things got in the way - work, chores, life. I kept telling myself I would get back in there any day now.......just have to get this done tonight, so I won't be able to make it this one night. I'll be back at it again next time. Next time would roll around, and I would have this to do or that to do. I'll make it to Tom's class next time.

Well, you get the idea.

Sadly, Tom is not teaching Spinning anymore. And sure, people tell me all the time - Why in the hell would you wanna go to Spinning when the weather is like this outside???!!! I agree. I really do.

But, at the same time, I miss those torture sessions in Tom's classes in the gym........ the 2003 Tour de France on the big screen TV in the Spinning room, Tom's funky music playing obnoxiously loud, Tom yelling strange things at us......and during the middle of our 25 cadence change nights(aka - hill sprints), with my heart rate pegging 190 DURING recovery and my semi-digested lunch about to end up on the floor in front of me........well, I miss those pain cave visits. And I think my body does too. I've become soft.

If you enjoy your cycling - even if it happens to be in a sweaty gym a couple nights per week - keep at it. Focus. Find a way to make it happen. Don't let others persuade you otherwise. Fun, effective, useful??? That's a good thing.

As for me.....well....Tom is now riding everyday outdoors.....which can mean only one thing:

Those two-nights-per-week-candence-change-hell classes will be held outdoors from here on out. Oh, I can almost smell the torture.