Super Dooper Thursday

Comments today...

Helmet

"Fond memories of hearing Pearl Jam and the Chilli Peppers blaring through the halls of Davidson A all those years ago, Norm. Good times indeed."

Wow, long time no see, Jeff. Just when you think nobody reads your blog a character from 15 years ago pops up and says hello. I assume you found the link through the Grease Truck? Do you post there?

My musical tastes have diversified since then, I assure you. Having said that I'm still not entirely sold on TV on the Radio.

George

"Norm, I enjoy the random sometimes scattered thoughts...keep them coming dude! Sounds like you are training pretty intense too...good on ya mate. Football: I could not believe how Dallas blew it. They just didn't show up - mentally. I've been a Cowboy fan for the past 33 almost 34 years, and that was as disappointing as I can remember. Big Tom's hat must have fallen off some grand mantel. Iv'e also been a Colt fan since 1975...and could not believe what I was seeing! My two favorite teams losing critical games. Somewhere in time...Johnny U was groaning! Beer: I had some Hoegaarden on Sunday watching the games. I'm not a big beer drinker, but I like this one - light, and crisp. I do enjoy a good weiss as well now and then. Politics: This could take up the rest of blogging space until the end of time. But I will just say that I'm not a big fan of Clinton or Obama, nor anyone on the left for that matter. At the moment, I'm leaning towards McCain. I need a candidate who understands what Sovereignty is, and will protect it. A candidate who can direct the U.S. towards a stable, and strong economy - not strictly dependent on trade and service sectors to keep us afloat. Fios: I hear it is a great service, and it is a good alternative to the monopolizing bastards of comcast. As soon as it become available here...I'm in. More football: Since both my teams are out, I will now root for the elder and the wise, Favre. Us old guys have to stick together! NJ Transit: I hear there may be some issues with the Amtrak strike? As if getting to the City wasn't a pain in the ass enough...I sympathize with you brother. Hopefully, it doesn't impede on you too much. Big words: Hmmm, I can undeniably fathom how expressing oneself with such eloquent, sometimes complex words may reveal a certain...shall we say egocentric mood. Lest we say, fore it is not to overshadow, nor bolster within...but rather edify - if only for ourselves! LOL. When all else fails, the Scot's say fuck all! Hope all is well with you and Nat and Julia. Take care for now my blogging friend."

Hey George, good to hear from you. Training hard, for sure. On football, I'm torn right now. Having grown up a Cowboys fan I'm supposed to hate the Giants but suddenly I'm sick of Boston. At the same time, it would be classic to see a team go 19-0. Who isn't sick of the 1972 Dolphins?

On politics I think it's time to stop with the balls first approach to govermnent. Thankfully I think all those candidates are gone. Looks like we have Obama/Clinton versus McCain/Romney. Of them I'm least thrilled with Romney but the reality is that I know nothing about him. I'm not a left vs. right guy and I think anyone who takes that stand isn't helping the process. What I look for is someone who listens to reason, regardless of their current stance. To me both Obama and McCain do, which is good. I think Clinton would be fantastic for the country but right now she's turning into a political scumbag. Romney is cardboard so it's hard to like him. A lot of people see McCain as equivalent to Bush, and the fact that the White House quietly endorses McCain is a bit of a red flag. So maybe I'm errant in that assessment.

I envision Clinton versus McCain election with Clinton so polarizing the country that McCain walks in a landslide. I think Clinton will win the nomination because it will be a close call and their machine will sue and cheat its way to the nomination.

Another possibility is that Edwards backs Obama on Friday and Clinton is left fighting to counter that move on Monday among all the post-Super Bowl media coverage. In that scenario Obama has a big advantage on Super Duper Tuesday. I have to imagine the Clinton machine is doing everything they can to stall Edwards from doing that, though most seem to think Edwards has been bucking for the VP or Attorney General spot the whole time and Obama's side is likely the easier path to that. I think Obama has a legit chance against McCain.

Ah politics. I'm about sick of it already but I can't help but be interested in this coming Tuesday's primary mess. Should be fun.

Chakras or Some Shit

Biking comments will be limited to 1 paragraph today so if you want you can skip ahead. Today was 4th in a row and my legs fucking hate me. I had to split today's ride into 6 sets of 10 minutes with 2 in between. The overall effect was the same but I needed to break it up a bit because my legs and my brain weren't happy about the situation this morning. This short-but-intense block structure works out better for me because frankly I'm not sure I could have finished today if I knew I had to do it again tomorrow. I expect to be a zombie tonight.

I watch TV while I ride in the early morning and let me tell you, mummy shows at 5:00 am are fucking boring. This does nothing to get the blood flowing. Since we got FIOS I now have a tuner-box in the basement as well which gives me the ability to watch any of a few hundred shows, none of which turn out to be anything excitement worthy. Mummies, tornadoes, and dolphins today. Whoop de doo Basil! What does it all mean?

At some point I need to start watching movies again because all my arcane references come from Austin Powers, Spaceballs, Blazing Saddles, or the Simpsons. I'm getting old.

Broke out the IPod Shuffle this morning after having recharged it a few weeks ago. The thing about the Shuffle is that you have no display, so it is what it is. So you push play and hope something comes on. We'll I hit the button and the first set of music was some '60s hippy shit, almost Fairport Convention but not quite. Maybe Sandy Denny but I really can't place what it is. Then I got to a series of podcasts from some new age guy talking about chakras or some shit. I'm thinking at this point, "What in the hell was I going through when I put this stuff on?" I skipped through them and got to Pearl Jam. Even after all these years I still dig Pearl Jam. Their music hasn't expanded much but it also hasn't degraded either. They're like the Red Hot Chili Peppers in that regard, extremely consistent, if predictable, bands.

The days are getting noticeably longer at this point. The sun starts rising before I leave for work and it still up when the train comes out of the tunnel. Mentally this makes winter a whole hell of a lot more tolerable for me. It represents that we're slowly on our way out, even if we really aren't. The brain is a powerful tool, so best learn to delude yourself into thinking the world is great then it is, in effect, great. I need a coffee.

Hopefully tomorrow I can post some more comments. Currently reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman, which sucks, and the second book of the fantasy series. Yes I'm a dork.

A New Bike Obsession Ensues

Coming at you Monday morning 3 days into the block and with a sore ass. Yes indeed that is correct, an aluminum hardtail for 2 days in a row leaves you with a sore rear-end. All the benefits of dropping 5 pounds off your other bike fade away rapidly when you bomb some of these LM trails on that jackhammer. There has to be a happy medium out there somewhere.

So it really is 5 pounds. I weighed the Dump Truck and it came in at 31+ pounds. Where does this weight come from? The frame and rear shock add 3 I guess. Then the fork is heavier on the FS. And I suppose the bars, grips, and brakes take up the rest. Just like that you have a bike that's heavy enough to ride DH runs on but without the 7 inches of travel. I'm in limbo with my bikes right now.

Saturday got some solid riding in with Chris, Chuck, and Bill down at Allaire. Boy has that placed changed. Fantastic park, great stuff. Last time I was there (years ago) it was sand central. These 3 guys are a pair of expert-level riders and a semi-pro. So this measly old sport class rider was pretty happy that I didn't get totally buried down there. I think they pulled up on the gas a hair after an hour because I started to fall off in a few spots. And by the end I was about done for. But all in all I was happy to be able to keep up with the pace, which was buzzing by my standards. I also got to ride Bill's 29er which was really nice and sheds even more doubt on my whole bike situation.

Yesterday I did basically a race simulation at Lewis Morris. I did the same course as the '07 race but on the HT bike. I pulled a 35 minute first lap but then went to shit with 38 and 40 minute laps after that. To be fair, I was tired from the day before at Allaire as well as having only gotten 5 hours of sleep. On top of that the bike was rough on the constant chatter of Lewis Morris. Finally it was goddamn cold and by 45 minutes in I had no working water bottle. Still, I was disappointed that I was only able to match my race time from this past year and not beat it.

This morning I was on the trainer again with 3 sets of 20 minute threshold intervals. The first was not too hard, the second definitely started to feel harder, and the third really started to make me want to be done. But in all a good workout for a Monday morning. I think before long I'm going to need to sprinkle in some more high-end efforts. Nothing crazy just yet but the time is coming fast to start working on the odds and ends that really make the difference between finishing 33rd and cracking the top 10 or even 5.

Penn Station, here we are. My legs hurt and I'm too tired to want to stand up. My wife asked my why I don't just take Monday off and ride Tue/Wed. My reply is that I like the idea of having 3 straight days off. That's what helps me wake up Monday and Tuesday, knowing that I'll get 3 decent nights of sleep after that.