episode 105: all that you need is in your soul....

For Christmas I got FIL a CTS training DVD.
Since that time I have gotten CTS Spam, oh about once a week. I have asked to be off the list, but no luck yet. Then I started replying sending this message:

"Carmichael is a tool."

Last week I got an email that actually peeked my curiosity. It was titled, "5 foods you should never eat." I opened it and started to read.

1. donuts
2. french fries

click delete. nothing else to see.
that folks was as far as I got, I simply deleted the message. What's next girl scout cookies. Fuck you Chris Carmichael, fuck you. No donuts, no fries- Carmichael is the devil. Clearly evil, has anyone checked his body for the sign, you know like Damien? he is a sick man. Something is really wrong with that.... If they spam me again I'm gonna have to hire a lawyer or something. The copy and paste of a hundred "Carmichael is a tool" clearly isn't getting it done. Thankfully, my coach would never ban donuts or any pastry products.

Had a nice road ride Saturday. It was one of those cold base mile rides that builds fitness and character. I have to tell myself that because my legs felt so bad. The group was : Auer, Morgan, Jan, E-town, K-man, Wes the Conqueror, CZ, Charlie, Dan the man and myself the overweight lover.

my usual view at the back of the pack. I am so in over my head.

Morgan had tremendous gas the entire ride, the kid is just 15, but his gas was stronger than his years. Then he announced that in fact he was the father of Anna Nicole's baby. In addition to being a great kid, with tons of talent, he's got that going for him too. He sited all the recent press as reasoning for forgetting his shoes and delaying our arrival at the school, and thus missing Spot Paul, Lisa Lisa, and Tom (papa smurf). Luckily, e-town hooked him up with some mtb shoes and pedals or Auer and Morgan would have had a long drive for no ride. Mushroom country can be potent to the uninitiated, and Morgan was paid back for his flatulence with a whiff of Chester county's finest. Ah, karma can truly be unkind. All in all a pretty nice ride...

Jan, CZ, Morgan and Auer enjoy the fine Northbrook products that are the namesake of the donut ride.

I was pretty stoked to show up on my 10 year old road bike with some new bling on the front. A nice carbon fork, threadless headset and stem in tow. But of course K-man had to show up with his full carbon Orbea. Someone has always gotta throw the topper. Damn, when will I shine?

Wes the conqueror surveys his minions. "let them eat donuts I say!"

Sunday was off to French Creek, perhaps one of my favorite places to ride. Up the first climb Tedlogic, looking a lot like an angry ewok, crushed it, and then popped a little, Buddy set a nice tempo and I locked in. My legs felt so much better on the mountain bike, almost like warm apple pie. Our group was Buddy the leg breaker, Tedlogic, Bill Doh!, Matt (run forest), and Wes the conqueror. We criss crossed paths of Bob, Kim, Jeff and Gary. They looked to be having a ball too.

TedLogic using the force and making it look easy...

The trails were pretty fantastic, french creek has wonderfully fun rock gardens, and long climbs that require you to pace yourself, and ride smartly. It is an offering of riding foreign to my usual diet of quick climbs and tight twisty trails. All week I thought about cleaning the miller's point climb, I paced myself at the bottom letting Wes, Buddy and Matt ride away. I did my best to stay seated as long as I could and to really keep the hr down. As the trail steepened over the last two kickers, I stood and unleashed as much furry as I could on a cold February morning, which is not really that much, but was enough to clean the entire hill. It's been a while since I did that. I was stoked. Then we rode up a gully, which I always forget about, and then a second hill longer and rockier than the one I obsessed about all week. On that climb I had to stop 2x to keep myself from vomiting. Clearly I had placed my eggs in the wrong basket.

Cannondale's newest project the lefty saddle.

Despite my recent dieting, my saddle rail snapped at the bottom of our first decent, clearly fatmarc's fatass still has some work to do. Following Tom's form, I rode the rest of the ride on on rail until our return to the car and the seat basically fell to pieces. That was pretty lucky.

Matt (run forest) is smooth like Meadowlark Lemon.

On the final decent back to the cars, we had a 5 up going toe to toe, mano a mano, tooth and nail, okay it wasn't that serious but we were ripping the section, it was really fun. Tedlogic was a beast, Buddy the leg breaker, despite proclaiming to be toast kept throwing down. I almost took out Wes in a corner, but by thrusting my leg out and screaming like a small school aged girl I was able to save it and actually stay with the group. Matt (run forest) is simply like butter. I love to follow his line: smooth like silk. smooth like freshly shaved legs, smooth like.. well you get the point. The entire ride was spectacular, but that final section was mighty hard to beat. Riding in the woods, on the edge, bonked out of your minds, racing down a hill with some of your best buddies. It really doesn't get much better than that now does it? I mean maybe if we could do it while eating pastrami, drinking beer, and watching TV at the same time it might be better, but I other wise I don't think so.

more of the same view for me today...

All in all I felt much better in the woods, got to hide behind my technique a little and not have to depend on the raw fitness of the road. Everyone rode very cleanly, except for when I crashed on the ice and did an atomic elbow drop on to the frozen tundra. Thanks kids.

Went to Sante Fe Grill for lunch, also know as "Mexican picnic" on the corner down in Newark. Monkey and I like this place because they have burritos the size of your head that taste great and are pretty damn cheap. This was Wes's first trip. Both Wes and I went with a breakfast burrito. Something about that egg and cheese combination that is pretty much impossible to beat. Can anyone give a better example of a combo? Wes had chorizzo and I had bacon. Perhaps the only way to make egg and cheese better is to add bacon. mmm Good. Diane went with the blacked chicken burrito. These are usually a favorite of mine. Huge and quite tasty. Diane couldn't finish hers. After polishing off mine, I figured it would be glutinous to bat clean up on her plate. Weird Al would not be happy.

respect.

fm