Slow and Steady

Today's cliche is that slow and steady wins the race. This begs the question of the race. What race? If we're talking about the rat race then I agree. If it's a bike race, well enjoy 38th place. Like all subjective realities, the answer is somewhere in between.

Terren

"Thanks for the plug, Norm."

Fuck your yankee blue jeans.

Steve

"*You know, like I said, go with the flow and see where it takes you* sounds awfully familiar... (un)fortunately i missed chris' "ass" story at the picnic."

As did I. But I'm thinking that it was Ben's story as per the next comment below.

ChrisG

"Walter, I just got done laughing at that same memory while reading Ben's comments here. As I recall, he had some really funny anecdotes regarding care and grooming of the South 40 as well. Something regarding full-length mirrors... When ass stories cease to be funny, we'll know we're all doomed."

I think one or both of you guys need to get into the gory details of this story. But then maybe it was Chris after all:

Walter

"this may be off, but ChrisG told a very funny saddle sore story at the picnic, complete with visuals and all. Quite humorous."

I'm thinking now maybe Chris and Ben were doing stand up? I feel left out. Perhaps I was busy gorging myself with foodstuff.

Comments are great guys, keep them coming. Remember, all comments always get posted here. That is, until I get so wildly popular that I can ignore the people that brought me up through the ranks of the blogosphere. It is time for a change! Blogger needs someone who can move them forward, who can deliver synergy in under 30 minutes or you get a free synergy with ham and pineapple on top! I am change! I am synergy! I am woman! Hear me bark like a chicken!

On to politics and one last comment:

George

"Well, it was sort of interesting on Tuesday. Though it seemed like clinton won the popular vote, in reality Obama won more delegates. I guess I could get on board with Obama, but definitely not clinton. Knowing about her economic policies, and her supposed tax plan, there is just no way. I come to that conclusion after reading Sowell. If she does what she plans as far as taxing big corporations, and providing government funded (i.e. - taxpayer funded) healthcare, we will suffer economically in the long-term. That is my assessment. It may not be popular, but I am confident that by applying basic sound capitalistic economic principles against a more social economic policy... A free market economy wins everytime. Sure it is flawed, but countless social economic models over the last 100 years are rotting in the grave. Nice idea on paper but they just don't work. She has done nothing to assure me or most of the country that more taxes, and additional government provided services is the answer to the lower and lower middle class income problem. I agree though that a fix is needed, but it has to be well thought out and more than just "Tax the rich" It seems that McCain will lead the charge on the GOP side, and over on the Dem side it could go either way as of now. Still a long way to go before the November elections. When Ten came out, it was like a musical revolution in my opinion. What a great album. Vs, Vitalogy, & Yield are also great. (Given to Fly - something about the melodic rhythm takes you away to a place in your childhood, or just somewhere where hope and attainment seems possible)I sort of stopped buying their stuff after Yield, I was a bit disappointed in the direction change. But a great band for sure. I found myself cheering for the Giants too. The Pats are a well run, organized team which I really appreciate, but it was good to see the local team win. Your training regiment seems to be taking its toll on the old legs eh? I'm sure it is one of those deals where you just have to get used to it...hmm, get used to the pain? Sure, isn't that what all the tough guys say? I suppose no pain no gain works for some, but everyone is different. You will figure out what works best for you, then it's look out for Norm...he'll be rolling up and over you...punk! : ) Yea, winter blues over here man. Even though the hours of daylight are extending each day, it seems a long way off until warm days and sunshine! Keep pedaling dude."

On politics, let's be honest. This is just a conservative-liberal dog and pony show to see who ascends into the office and continues the years of American Imperialism abroad. Obama might seem to offer hope of change but without the good old boy network supporting him how does any change really happen? And if there is dramatic change how does that actually stick? To be honest it's just like discussing if there's life "out there" while sitting on a car hood drinking a few beers. This is entertainment, like Roger Clemens.

In hindsight I'm happy the Giants won because the entire New England region is taking it as poorly as you possibly can. They're defining what it is to be a Sore Loser and that's great to watch. I hope the Red Sox lose 100 games this year.

Biking is going well. More news at 11. Or not. As Fred says, kick ass sea bass.

Business As Usual?

The more things change, pass the beer nuts.

In the great scheme of trying to get more rest I have moved back out into the living room this week. To recap, we co-sleep with Julia which means we all pile in the king size bed and I end up not sleeping enough. I'm generally a light sleeper and when she's sick I wake up 6 times a night. So for the last 4 days I've been catching up, which has worked. Today I could have slept more but all in all I'm getting some much needed rest this week, just in time for the trails to be unridable this weekend.

Yesterday was a mess. My car, which Walter has not stolen, died on the way to work when I hit a puddle. So I ended up sitting in the dead car waiting first for the police, then for the tow truck. The police came and pushed me into a side street then the tow truck eventually got there and charged me $80 for the tow back to the house. Eventually my neighbor and I were able to get it started again and I made it to the train station this morning in one piece.

We had some sponsor confusion yesterday as well which was a real headache for a while. Work was particularly annoying for some reason I can't put my finger on. And when I went to adjust the saddle of the new road bike I snapped the seat clamp bolt. What a day. I did finish stripping my full-suspension bike apart and remarkably my frame and rear shock only weigh 5.95 pounds. So why does the whole bike weigh 31.25 pounds again?

Terren wrote an article about artificial intelligence. I encourage you all to read it here: http://tinyurl.com/3coavb

I got side-tracked reading his article so I won't be able to get to the saddle sore comments today. I need to track down Ben for that story.

Term Oil

I was always amused that you could write SHELL OIL on a calculator as a kid. You could not, however, write turmoil. Sometimes it's written in the stars and you just have to go with the flow. I got one of these email forwards recently which said that you can judge a person by how they handle lost luggage, the elderly, and 2 other things I can't remember. Maybe trench coat flashers and being stabbed. I forget. In the end you just need to go with the flow and do your best to enjoy the ride.

Enough with the vagaries. On to comments!

ChrisG

"I think I've asked this before, but what gear are you using for these tempo sets? Did Jason give you a back rub at the end of the fitting?"

Yes he gave me plenty of back rubbing and has me obsessing about the fact I have awful posture.
I think you asked what gearing I was using on the trainer for the threshold sets, which I forget the answer to. On the trainer it's mountain gearing so big ring then next-to-smallest ring. This is with resistance at 3 (of 5). So gearing isn't as useful because the resistance changes.

On the road it depends, sometimes 52-16 realm but usually 42-13 realm. I say realm because I don't know my exact cassette cog counts.

Today was the same as yesterday, overall cadence a bit lower, more like 87 than 90 which is good for day 4. I'm really noticing my bike fit on this is way off. I have my original mountain bike on it which is a size too small. So my saddle is far too back but not high enough. But if I do the saddle right my bars will be way way short. I think I'm going to slap the other roadie on there after I set it up right.

BikeNBen

"Just wanted to comment so you know I'm reading...As you pointed out, the saddle sore is a product of the trainer. On the road or trail you are constantly moving around on the saddle. Each crack in the road or root on the trail changes the position of you butt in the saddle. You get none of that on the trainer so you end up rubbing and rubbing the same piece of skin. Make a point of moving around while on the trainer. Ben (been known to use bathroom utensils to remove sores)"

Hey great to have another person commenting on the blog. Maybe it's a good thing that I have such a crap bike fit on the trainer because this morning I was squirming all over the place. OK, maybe not. I've also ditched the diaper shorts. Good for 2 weeks now.

I just found a "pore cleaner" that my wife uses sometimes. She hid it from me because when I find any zit anywhere I immediately smash it. But I caught her the other day and now I have the ultimate weapon for saddle sores. This is a long, needle-like implement that will be next to impossible to use without an assistant. But when you gotta pop, you gotta pop. I read somewhere to put a warm compress on it first to soften it up.

This is an old one I never got to:

Jake

"wow, lots going on: 1. good luck wiht the job. if they cut my web access, i'd quit. i'd also be in big trouble b/c i work from home 2. julia is wicked cute. i'm leaning towards the tom cruise theory. 3. walt is not real. he's the id."

The work blockage was a temporary glitch and it came back later in the day, thankfully. Yes we all agree at the Zurawski household that Julia is a cutie, almost surely a mistaken donor at the lab :) For all the commenting Walter does, he sure doesn't seem real. But I understand he's busy with work and things like that. It's like the rest of us who have to write blog entries in their car while waiting for the train.

Would you believe this whole entry was done in my car? The train is now 30 minutes late. Going to be a late start at the box factory today. You know, like I said, go with the flow and see where it takes you. Sometimes it's more interesting than you might imagine. The train later ended up getting stuck in the tunnel. Term oil indeed.

Our First ER Visit

I have 2 observations this fine Monday morning:

1. The sun is rapidly rising earlier. This time of year it rises earlier by 10-12 minutes a week, so week to week you see a real difference in daylight.

2. It's freezing out there. 12.4 when I woke up.

Let's get the bike stuff out of the way first. Saturday was Walter's F29er at Round Valley where the takeaway is that I was able to clean 3 hills I've never *ever* cleaned before as well as Puke Hill for the second time ever. I'll offer a full write-up for the forum. Later that day I spent some time at Halter's shop where no fewer than 10 MTBNJers made an appearance at some point. I got my roadie fit properly and took it out Sunday. I was tooling along at a solid 18 mph clip for 90 minutes then the bottom totally fell out.

If you looked out the window yesterday and saw the snow coming down sideways, I was riding into it. At one point my speed drooped from 20 mph to 8. On the flat. This was the strongest headwind I've ever experienced. The storm was coming in at this point and 5 minutes later I was in the snow. A few minutes after that I was being blinded by the snow, visibility 10 feet, at best. I was going west, the snow was driving east. The temperature dropped 11 degrees in about 5 minutes. Subsequently my average went to pot. When I got home I literally knocked 1/4 inch of snow off my helmet. Then I took a warm shower and the world was a happier place.

Then this morning knocked out 3 sets of 20 minute threshold intervals. Today's pace felt stronger than a normal Monday probably based on Ben's talking about intervals and semi-pro pace and whatnot. I wish I could justify a power meter. But then, what sport racer uses a PM?

Made our first ER visit yesterday as well with the little girl. She's 22 months almost so that's been a long ER-less run. She had an ear infection, which we suspected. And the ER was dreadfully slow, where we sat for 2+ hours for a 3 minute doctor visit. I felt so bad for her because she was sick and scared of being there. She kept saying, "Julia. Bye bye. Daddy, bye bye." She desperately wanted to leave and I can't say I blame her.

As soon as we walked out the door she was fine. But when the doctor examined her all hell broke loose, which is par for the course. We know this is going to happen and we warned the doctor. So of course both the nurse and doctor say, "No problem, that's normal." But we warn them, our child is different. And as soon as the screaming starts, both the doctor and nurse look at us as if to say, "Holy shit you weren't kidding." I have to laugh.

The guy who just sat down next to me smells bad. Not BO bad but like Old People bad. Hard to put my finger on it exactly.

Jason told me my posture basically sucks, essentially opening my eyes to something I already knew. Sitting it's really bad, which is what I do most of my life. So now I'm conscious about how I sit at home, and currently on the train. I've gotten to the point that sitting up straight actually hurts my back. My desk job doesn't help I imagine.

I have comments to get to. But I need to read a little on the way in. This concludes my Monday morning brain dump.