Hally-Loo-Ya

I haz powa! Big thanks to the guys from Baltimore Gas & Electric for hookin' a brotha up!

Diaster of a Storm

Posting from the Blackberry... 13 days (so far) without electricity is no fun. I weathered Ike, well. Only damage was losing part of the roof off my garage. The aftermath has proven to be the real diaster.

My first thought, what a great training opportunity! With atleast a week off of work I wanted to do a mini-camp. However, I quckly found out it wasn't so simple. Without electricity, no refrigerated food, air cobditioning, or hot water makes proper nutrition and recovery almost unpossible. Without a/c it's near 3am before the house is cool enough to sleep. Sleeping late isn't an option either, because you have to get tasks done in the daylight. Those hours between nightfall and sleep are mentally taxing. Boredom isn't something I do well. And cold showers suck!

Fall racing is pretty wrecked. The Dave Boyd Huntsville Classic was cancled. Without power, I'm not prepared, to travel to Palo Duro. When power comes on there a lot to do domestically. I feel like I need to be here when the lights come on.

I'm bummed.

Ready for Hurricane IKE

YEE-HAW! My first direct hurricane since Andrew in '92. I'll be posting pics and comments on my Flickr account HERE!

Bar Lopping

I've been having troubles descending and making turns. I noticed that I was consistantly locking my elbows. That's bad ju-ju. I suspected I was locking them because my hands were too far apart. I tested the theory by holding my hands close to the stem and riding around. Much better. Tonight I lopped off 40mm per side of my bars to narrow them up.

I was worried about twitchiness, so I also added a longer stem...

The result... It's like I'm riding a new bike! Much better than being spread eagle on the front end. I can bend my elbows and it doesn't feel like I'm going to fall forward all the time.

Unfortunately there is approximately a zero percent chance of riding dirt this weekend.

I've never ridden with a 60mph tailwind...yet.

Beware of Tomato Basil Soup

La Madeline tomato basil soup is one of my favorites. I rarely make it to the restaurant, though. I saw this jar of the stuff at the market the other day. I was pretty excited, it tasted almost just like the soup at the restaurant. Not quite, but pretty close. Cool.

However, I looked at the label to put the nutrition into my training log. OMG! One serving is a whopping 32 grams of fat! One serving is less than a cup. That 2/3 of my fat goal for an entire day. Man, that stuff packs a wallop!

Movin' Like Tortoise; Full of Rigor Mortis

Apologies to Easy E Dr.Dre, but that’s exactly how I felt today. Interestingly, rigor mortis is caused by a buildup of lactic acid… which I didn’t know unitl I looked up how to spell “rigor mortis”.

Today I definitely had the burning ache of lactic acid. I was slooooow and the legs simply didn’t produce. I took it really easy through the trails of Memorial Park. Just as well, as my training plan called for a Tempo or below ride. I just love zooming over the roots and dirt though!

I’m not feeling too good. Lots of snot indicates either something’s making me allergic or I’m on my way to getting sick. Not sure which yet. I sneezed 16 times in a row this morning! Gotta be some kind of record...