Back in action

Slight delay, with the 60cm of snow that pummeled us. So, we'll call it a cross training weekend to get back into the flow of serious training. I did of course sneak in a ride out in the powder directly on Sunday after all the snow fall of Sunday. I had some errands to run and some 23mm slicks crying out to play in the snow. Good times. Preceded by several hours of tunneling our family cars out and capped off with an afternoon of telemark skiing at Edelwise. Good times. Actually felt kinda good to get in the first days on the hill of the year. Even snuck off after the lifts closed for a little "back country" hike-a-ski action to finish the day off on the right note and get a decent sweat rolling. Missed on Monday's classes with the cars being blocked in and all, but hey; I'm not complaining. Got one more ski in. Could be a bit of a busier week now, but I think not many from my class would have made it in for yesterday. We'll see what this week brings, all I know is it should be some quality on the bike time. Oh, that stupid time change is definitely giving me some hassles. Damn those clocks.

quick

ASO vs. UCI. Seriously? Again not much can be written as I think most aspects have been covered by the inter-web in general. All I know is this shit has gone too far (as usual) and those who will suffer: the riders. Whose fault? Not theirs. As I wrote before, they and the teams need to form a union/coalition of kinds and make a stand. All together now. They are the glue. But enough on that, I myself will be racing again in a month. It makes me a mix of nervous and giddy. Nervous, mostly as I am so giddy to get going (and be done with snow) that I am shaking with the excitement of a new season. On the other hand, this excitement died a little yesterday as I cracked and... rode the trainer. I'm sure you heard the cursing in Ottawa. The roads were just not safe, or fun. Shoulders full of snow banks... slushy roads... no good around here. My will to be smoked by a pick up truck was just not high enough. So I gritted my teeth and sweated away 2 hours on the turbo. Next week should at least lead to the starting of some intensity work, which could help with the hours spent riding my bike indoors. If I'm suddenly not around next week, I'm probably fine. Just back in South Carolina, where you only occasionally find patches of snow in higher elevations and that snow causes people to not leave their homes in fear. Posting may be somewhat nonexistent this weekend, but I will report more next week. Hopefully ready to rock out and start kicking it up a notch for the coming season. I may even try for a 7th ski of the season. Record snowfalls, and I have been riding outside at probably 5-10 times as much this winter as skiing.

Bad snow. bad, bad snow.

Seriously? On the plus side it was a very peaceful morning. Made more peaceful by the fact that I ended up not having class. Aka, go back home for some fruit and another cup of coffee. But don't worry mom, I did spend a good portion of my afternoon actually doing school work. And yes, this surprised me too. But enough about that, school work is no fun to write about, no fun to even do. On the other hand, my ride today was pretty bloody sweet. In following my plan of getting even with nature and not riding the trainer this week, I maned up, grew a pair and did my ride outside. A nice 1.5 hours on the fixie in 10-15cm of fresh powder. I had a few errands to run anyways, so simply rode all around town, powersliding through corners, passing stuck cars... Wicked. Probably the most fun I've had on a bike in a long time. Pretty hard to keep it easy intensity wise, but hey. Its a snow day. Nothing like letting a little air out of your 22mm slick tyres and hitting some fresh powder. So the moral of today is: do something outside. I have even acquired a exercise ball to get to work on the core and hopefully completely incapacitate me after attempting to use some of these neglected muscle groups. That and I figure I'll need a beach body soon to actuate the emaciated tan line look. Real weights are wayyy to much for me, I get enough of a gun work out swinging my framing hammer around. Nearly through the first of my books (In Defense of Food by Micheal Pollan) which is ridiculously good, but means that soon enough I'll be able to head down to the Perth used book store and make use of this gift certificate I won a while back. I really do home there is a good movie on tonight. Tonight will for sure be an evening for relaxing with some good food and doing nothing productive. Plus, I probably wont be able to move after simply inflating the stupid exercise ball. I'll have to do that near the couch so I can simply collapse onto the couch.

Winter?

Seriously now? Another winter storm warning? What gives. According to the CBC, we have already have over 3m of snow this year (10 ft) and this dump could put us clear into the 2 place of top yearly snowfall for the region. Sure glad I wasn't around and trying to ride during number 1.... Got another "pleasant" (aka not snowing out or frigid) ride in today. Two good hours before class. Good way to start the day for sure and get this recovery week rolling. My legs were definitely crying out for some sun and hills though. According to the damn weatherman, it would appear I will indeed be riding inside tomorrow. Not super happy or excited about that prospect. I feel I will have to calm my rage with some good food tonight. Scored some good cheese on the grocery run yesterday (fresh parmesan reggiano and some brie on sale) so am currently picturing some pad thai with a nice side spinach salad with some grilled veggies... Hopefully get back to work on my homework stuff soonish. Though I have gotten a decent amount completed, so I think I deserve a break.

Back in Action

Back to Perth, back to school and back to the 'old' routine. The rest of the drive home went by quite uneventfully, other than the ridiculous amounts of State Troopers on the roads and nearly being hit by a couple as they burned rubber getting onto the road to pull over another poor sap. On, and the high speed road rage incident. Don't worry, I merely watched from a distance as a dude in a Jeep (with a gun rack and some seriously racist bumper stickers) attempted to run 2 skinny white wannabe gangsters in their "pimped" Jetta off the road. To be fair, they were attempting to turn the I81 into a F1 for retards circuit and cut off the angry, gun toting clan member. I as well came to the conclusion that I now supported the right to bear arms after they cut me off going 160 and then promptly slowing down to 80 (I can only assume they got their west side and east side gang signs confused so needed to regroup). The dude in the Jeep on the other hand decided he would much rather vehicular manslaughter, so attempted the same maneuver back to them only with attempting to actually cause damage (I'm pretty sure the two losers in the car were just normally handicapped citizens who happened to forget they were driving from time to time). After they got back on the road (he pushed them into the shoulder, they proceeded to floor it and zag erratically across the road like a injured fawn attempting to lose the hunter with a rocket launcher. Luckily for them, after a brief high speed chase (also involving the angry man waving his hand angrily out his windows) the crazy dude was promptly pulled over by a State Trooper.
In other news, I had a surprise mid term exam today. By surprise I mean, I walked in the class and was asked if I wanted to write it today. The extra funny part (other than me saying yes) was that directly after this question, he proceeded to hand back the rest of the classes exams and then TAKE UP THE WHOLE EXAM with us. If this is not funny to you, keep in mind that I was only to write the exam AFTER class. Needless to say, I ripped through that exam, even answering all the questions. Sunny and warm this afternoon, so I of course jumped on the fixie and headed out for a solid 2.5 hour spin. A little windy, but seriously nice out. Nature has been warned, it has one week (my rest week) to shape up and stop snowing. Today is a good start. Otherwise I will find the angry dude in the jeep and set him on nature.

Maryland update

Did end up getting off about 9ish as stated. Before 9:30 even. Hit the road for a while, cursing the fact that today was obviously going to be a pretty smoking great day to be riding. Wasted now on driving. Stopped in for the planned Waffle House stop along the way. Which was pretty much a made up as I drove route. Basically continued north, along any highways that sounded familiar. I remembered going through Greenville. So far so good. Waffle house was pretty much as expected: truck stop style, greasy heart stopping food. I of course ordered the All-Star, aka the cardiac incident, for good measure. I entertained myself by "accidentally" overhearing the celebratory meal next to me. From what I can gather, the large trucker man had just asked his woman (leather face) to marry him. He was now (11am ish) taking her out for a celebratory meal at the waffle house. He even ordered her a Cherry Coke... Just in case this wasn't enough romance for one morning, he popped a quarter in the juke box (yes, I had to take an extra big bite of waffle to avoid laughing) and put on her favorite Aerosmith song. I had to get out. Pretty much then drove straight here to Maryland where I am now residing in a Quality Inn. Went out exploring for dinner (somewhat tough walking with the distinct lack of sidewalks). First found a Sushi place, but decided against it on two fronts: the Liquor Depot next door and the fact that it also had "buffet" in the name. Wasn't feeling another 800km in the car with some explosive diarrhea from food poisoning. So instead settled on a slightly less sketchy Mexican place. Which was actually quite good, and not nearly as salty as I was worried it may be. Lots of good authentic food and a Carona for $15. Well done. Plus, I also got to sit next to the world's fattest family. More free entertainment. Mom was for sure the biggest, and spent a good portion of time after inhaling her meal attempting to steal food from her 6 year old son. Who I'm pretty sure definitely also out weighed me. I think mom's rear even tried to eat her chair she was so hungry. I would finally like to remind all my readers that I indeed picked Gilbert. And Keir, I will be waiting for your return and my free coffee.

The time is nigh

Today is important (at least in my books) on 2 fronts: the start of the spring Classics season in Europe, and I return to the great white north. Or, judging from the weather reports I am reading for the next few days, the shoddy iced up north. Freezing rain? Bring it on. At least some rain means its not -30 anymore and could help with the road salt situation. On the more exciting front, Het-Volk and Kurnne-Brussels-Kurnne start this weekend off with a bang on the glorious cobbles of Belgium. Screw Cali (though that was for sure some hard man weather they got smoked with), this is where the real hard men shine. I've gone out on a limb and called Gilbert for a win this weekend. Even with the new flat sprinters finish in Volk, I'm sticking to my guns. In more relavant news Sandy-wise, I begin my drive home today. And yes, as per my usual style, I intend to leave at 9am-ish (its currently 8:29) and I have "packed" (aka arranged my crap into several piles located in the vicinity of several duffel bags) and am still on the internet with some coffee. I have even got some bread out to make drive sammies. I'd say I'm still ahead of the game. I will be breaking the drive up into 2 days this time, with my driving solo and my freaked out mother and all. Apparently I WILL be staying at a 5 star resort somewhere around the Pennsylvania area, and sipping on some Dom Perrignon.. all on the tab of Mom & Dad. Or at very least attempting to find a motel that appears to have not had any recent deaths or drug deals go down in the last 2-3 weeks. Most exciting part of the trip, planned lunch stop at a Waffle House. I'm not sure why this place excites me or intrigues me, but I have wanted to sample their breakfast menu for some time now. A full report to come later. For now t minus 26 minutes to "departure". I better get crackin.