work.

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.

~Robert Frost

for those of you that don't know, I'm a small business. me and myself. owner, operator, designer, manufacturing, sales, IT, logistics, accounting (poorly).


this makes life exciting and rewarding and busy. I enjoy what I do, and enjoy sharing it. but no matter how much you like your job, or your work, it will make you tired. and being tired doesn't lend well to doing more tiring things. sometimes, rather than consider a ride or race, I welcome the soft embrace of mindless Netflix watching like a baby latches onto a pacifier. downtime. I can has.

working for yourself can mean great flexibility in all things, from scheduling to location to appearance at work (5 days of the same pair of pants, covered in sawdust). some days you might work 4 hours, some 22. more often than not, it's in between, doing 8-10 hours at the shop or site and a few hours of computer work at home. I find it means you work more than you would on another person's schedule, mostly because you like it. it also means finding time to ride can be hard to muster when you're crunching deadlines or burning the midnight oil. that fatigue alone makes it hard to be motivated to get back on the saddle. it would be harder, I think, if I didn't have to ride a bike to do my work.

I don't commute for 40 minutes in one direction, nor have consistent route, but (I like to pretend) the boon to my CX training is the constant variation. the daily ride is a cargo track bike, the KHS Flite 100 t/rack with a custom Vallie Components front rack and a Burly Cargo trailer for heavier loads. it keeps me healthy. or strained. but they feel similar, I think.


changing job sites for woodwork installations, and varied dog walking schedules (Bison and Bear need love too) keep me running to and from my house and wood shop in various directions every day. HTFU is the mantra, as 15 minutes is the desired commute time so that an hour lunch break has 30 minutes of dogwalking/eating before the next 15 minutes back to work. I rest on days that Chessa is anywhere near the house to walk the dogs, as her commute from UBC would be much more irritating than mine.

more than an hour a day of commuting, however, doesn't hold a candle to actual riding, and I need to find more balance. hauling lumber is great strength training, but doesn't hone my skills or endurance. any time on the bike is a blessing, albeit in disguise at times, and sometimes I just need to relish the freedom and opportunity.

we are entering the final training month for CX before the racing begins. the weekend riding has been fairly consistent and long (another 150km ride this past Sunday with Mighty was great). weekday CX rides are going to pick up and hopefully I'll get in some trails to refine my twisty turns.

OK. into the wild we go.

LILLOOET

alright - in the interest of saving energy - I'm forwarding. I wrote a post at the Mighty Riders blog, which also piggybacked on the blog that Chessa wrote about our Lillooet trip. I think of it as "blog drafting". I'm attacking on the climb, surging ahead where I can.

also in the interest of saving more energy, I'm upgrading parts. I just got these beauties:

needless to say, I'm excited. they've been proven by the powerhouses of KONA/FSA , and I do like the bits of FSA I've used. my wonderful friends Heidi and Jermaine helped facilitate. these are going to have these radical TUFOs on them soon: http://www.tufonorthamerica.com/tires/elite.php?seriesid=9

now the training continues.

the distance

I'm no randonneur, and a might bit unseasoned for the challenge I put myself up to last weekend. but sometimes you just need to grin and bear it. listening to the Jens Voigt Sound Board helps.

the plan had been simple enough - visit family and friends in Seattle, WA, drink copious amounts of alcohol, drink equal parts coffee, ride back to Vancouver, BC. 250 KM in one day. the most I've ever done in one go.

I took a small bag, a worn out pair of shoes, cutoffs, Mighty kit, appropriate cycling accessories and the Lynskey R340, hopped into my friends truck for the ride down and hoped it wouldn't rain.

a recent acquaintance from Montreal had expressed interest in joining me on the trip. he showed up on Friday night, in Seattle, having ridden the distance down from Van with no phone, no idea where he was ending up, and only his Garmin 705 (oh man do I want one) and a bag that was way too packed full of crap. he was forced to spend time with me and my old chums at a going away party whilst wanting to sleep/lie down/eat.

my glorious friends Heidi and Jermaine put us up in their home on Capital Hill. we hung out (drank) all Saturday and my parents took me on a quick trip to REI to stock up on provisions for the ride. I think I ate every kind of energy bar available, from Naked to Cliff to Lara Bar to whatever. I am, however, addicted to these Picky Bars that Chessa gave me. such is the fickle cyclist. I wish beer was more compact and hydrating.



Sunday arrived after a night of mysteries (I mean, something happened, but I can't be sure what). I believe drinks were forced into the past tense. Someone would need to verify.

after a hearty breakfast at Glo's, we saddled up, Colin on an amazing modified Nagasawa with couplers put in by a friend in Montreal, and his Garmin pointing the way North. (and his big ass bag facing south)



I'll summarize now, as the post lengthens. I wanted to vomit. for about 8 hours. I think I coughed up the sawdust that was hiding in my lungs. if it weren't for Colin, my pace would have been about 17 KM an hour. It would have taken me 2 days.

my friend Jermaine joined us during the first two hours as we traveled through Seattle to Shoreline along odd roads and parts I'd never ventured to for lack of need. the trip to Everett involved pawn shops, gun stores, liquor stores and strange espresso stands that seemed to be more concerned with the breast size of the baristas than the quality of the coffee. Jermaine had to head back as the road was getting weird and he wanted to make sure he knew a route home. and he helped with our only flat.



at that point the road (Old Hwy 99, for the mostpart) started to open up to nice views. we stopped for greasy mexican food at the 1/3 mark, picked up and rolled again, stopping for a bit of coffee and water every time I thought the fever might get worse. Colin was far too understanding, and I did manage to lose my voice a bit to really get the concept of my sickness across.

taking Chuckanut Drive was a genius idea, as the quick hills and rollers really helped to get my busted ass out of the saddle. The 2/3 point was actually where I felt the best, perhaps I was losing my mind. euphoric might be an appropriate word. I believe most of my thoughts went "go go go" and "you won't remember this". funny, since I don't.

the border guards though we were stupid, or crazy, and couldn't seem to get it that we weren't carrying any booze (where would I have room?) though I wish I had picked up some of this stuff.

the last leg, through Surrey, Burnaby and Vancouver involved the most climbing and had to drop our average speed.

all told the trip took 11 hours, 8.5 hours on the bike, with a rolling average of 28.6 KM/H for 246 KM. not bad.



it took me a week to recover, though I'll definitely blame the cold I picked up for some of that. the legs, however, still feel rough and gritty, like a drivetrain after winter training. and my undercarriage has stopped cringing at the prospect of straddling the Arione, much less any saddle. good thing we've got more riding planned in Lillooet next weekend!

sprung.

road riding.

the sun arrived and I finally got the Lynskey out for more than a half weekend of fun. granted, I take the "good bike" out for trips to the grocery store sometimes, but it's been actual, sunny, riding this weekend.

this year was technically (more like theoretically) supposed to be my year of road racing. I had a plan, I had some desire, but I had no follow through. apparently, I keep it all for cyclocross. the rest of the year is hibernation.

I did a good bit of winter training, trying to keep up on my Mighty rides, not to mention our awesome Lilooet training ride (blam). this only translated to one road race during spring series at Bradner.



now, road racing may not be what I dig at, but I do like the crits. it's like the crappiest part of a cyclocross race (the flat, dry parts). but pair that with a good thursday park ride, and it's game on.

I hope to keep up the crit action, and see about doing at least one more road race before the CX season begins. and by the CX season, I mean the REAL season.

an journey into madness

‎"Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose."
— Douglas Adams

This blog is unnecessary. I mean, from a practical point of view. It's a double, a duplicate, one in the same as another recently created blog. But many things in my life come in two's right now. Cats, dogs, beers (if I'm holding back), wheels.

Members of the family racing cyclocross.

The counterpart to this blog is my wife's blog, http://crossingover2cyclocross.blogspot.com/. Of course, now that she's taking on the sport I've been pursuing, I was interested in taking on the blogging that she's been doing.

We've doubled up.

Of course, the title of this blog might suggest that someone feels double crossed. We'll probably learn more about that later when she's kicking my ass at the sport I started first. In reality, she's an amazing athlete, and I hope that her kicking my ass will inspire me to be better as well. Double cross in our house will lead to betterness. Warm fuzzies. Cyclocross slaying.

As we near the start of the season, I'll try to convince Chessa to share on this blog, but might just get her to repost. See? Unnecessary. But there will be a lot of my own writing. Likely about drinking. I mean... training. Equipment. Idiocy. Lots of great things, I hope. Many in the name of Mighty Riders

Until then, perhaps an image from last year's cyclocross season to tide you over.



Photo by Ryan Richardson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryaninolywa/sets/72157625250008354/