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Double, double, toil, and trouble Doubling up both days this weekend. After, putting in for my 3 upgrade. Totally unprepared.

Let it rain, let it rain, let's get muddy.

Listening to the Foals album. Going to the show Sunday night, where I'll be sitting on the floor, drinking protein shakes out of PBR cans.
Posted by Rich at 10:06 AM No comments: Links to this post Labels: Cross, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, upgrade


From Turkey Day to Charm City: Thoughtful transitions

As of yesterday, my road season is officially over. This year's Turkey Day experience played out remarkably similarly to last year's. The field was smallish, and I had the legs to make and cover a handful of attacks. The Stars and Bars were rolling four deep in the men's cat four race, including one W3 rider. The three of us more familiar with the men's scene joked at the beginning of the race that we'd be riding for Monika (killer headline photo, btw). Turns out that's exactly what we did.

I knew coming into the race that the sole DVR and DC Velo guys would be very strong, and that ABRT would at least play a role in the race because of its team size. Early on, some young bloke from Princeton attacked, and I bridged up with two other riders. After we made contact, I barked a few orders and the break was underway. It lasted all of a lap and half. I can only imagine that ABRT had a hand in the chase. I covered another attack or two in the middle bits of the race, and another two by alternating ABRT riders in the closing laps. I felt good about the last ABRT attack, trading pulls as we developed a few second gap on the field. Unfortuntately my breakmate's teammates weren't able to lock down the chasing field. I had neither the gas nor the motivation to push through the last few laps, and watched the scattered and disorganized sprint finish from the back of the bunch. Monika took 8th, and from this day forth, shall be simply known as the Man Eater.

Just for laffs, check out my power file, grabbed from my new iBike power meter. See if you can spot the attacks/covers. I started yesterday's race with an eye on results. I made the wrong gambles and gave my body more credit than it apparently deserved, but I gave it a go. As cross season approaches, I've got eyes on results just the same, but I'm going to try to play it a little smarter Monday to Friday, so those weekend gambles pay off more often. I've put together a training schedule from now until 28 November, based largely on Chris Carmichael's Time Crunched Cyclist. I tried to be honest with myself as to what my schedule would allow, and the time crunched plan promises results with even fewer hours than I've got. One of the tough parts of the training regiment: rest days. Some weeks have two (or even more, gasp!) built in already. I've got so much energy on rest days I can hardly coax myself to bed before 1am.

So to keep myself occupied on those rest days, I'm focusing on another transition. Finishing my MA program (hire me) doesn't mean I can stop learning about and contributing to the discourse on development and conflict in an African context. I'm working on a paper--no, an article--for submission to the Review of African Political Economy. If you're interested in that sort of thing (or aren't, whatever), you can find much more, slightly biased, information by checking this out.

Listening to the Limousine remix of Kites by Geographer. It's got a nice Yeasayer feel to it.
Posted by Rich at 8:34 PM No comments: Links to this post Labels: power files, school, Turkey Day

07 September 2010

Video games? RFK crit? DC champs? Matt & Kim?

First, why is there no cyclocross video game on any platform? I asked this over some manner of "web deuce" application, and was retwittered by one of my favorite cyclocrossists. Maybe we're one step closer to tapping R1 to sprint, if you get my drift. For those of you not in the know, Pro Cycling Manager is an ideal rest day activity. Second, what happened to the RFK crit? I love love love being able to ride to races, and add love x 1 for riding to races inside the district.

Third, why aren't there any DC district championship races? The RFK crit would be a great DC crit championship, and DCCX would be perfect to earn the CX stars 'n bars.

Fourth, what do you think about Matt & Kim's new aesthetic? I was taken aback at first, but I'm encouraged by their choice to stick to tried and true lyrical themes.
Posted by Rich at 1:02 PM 1 comment: Links to this post Labels: Cross, EA Sports Tim Johnson Cyclocross 2011, RFK crit, video games
