Bos at ToC???

While cruising the local pages for cycling dirt, i noticed this fellow hanging out with Priority Health riders. Garret Peltonon breaks the undercover news of Bos?? Striking resemblance to a certain Chickenride regular???
Bos.. anything we need to know???

Alright - i'm a dork...

but i'm feeling fairly motivated, and i wanted to put something up to keep me motivated....

Wu Tang Clan ain't nuthin to F@&% with...

That's right fellow pimps.. THE Wu Tang was able to double dip this weekend.
Ok ok, so I'm only a pimp in my own mind and perhaps in a geriatric sun dialers race. BUT - 2 rides on the weekend is still two rides on the weekend

OUT

sweat gets in your eyes....

I will be totally honest on this one.. when Lenny called and said he was not going to make it as he was feeling ill, i though maybe its a chance to sleep in a bit for me. Sarah got up and made breakfast, and everyone knows how much fun it is to ride on a full gut. I managed to convince myself i will do it. I though at first, ok its just an hour. But i was feeling really good actually and gutted out a full 2 hours with 2 x 15 min @ 230W, which is an improvement for me, as well as 3 x 5 min around 280-285 W. If i could just get a good week rolling with the weight loss, i may still have a chance to turn this around.
It felt really good grinding out a few of those intervals actually today, music thumping, sweat pouring out of you... a good day.
Now all i need to do is the same thing tomorrow right??

I'm a Realist....

As much as i have enjoyed the mild temps these past few days, i have also lived in chicago WAY too long to not realize there is a chance of snow for at LEAST 3 more months around here. I certainly enjoyed strolling down Michigan ave without a jacket today to go to lunch, and i most definitely like this pic, because it reminds me of Tree City. This was a lovely sunny day that i got to pimp out on the TT rig. The plan was to go super easy on the way out and have Enmark catch me and 'use teamwork' on the way back to help him in the overall. Perhaps the music was too upbeat, note the earbuds, who knows. Well, either i didn't go slow enough, or Enmark wasn't on the stuff yet to go fast enough so it didn't work out. Tree City also reminds me of that poor bastard that though he could get around the outside of me in the last corner of a crit. Man, I have never seen an OCLV completely blow apart like that guy's did after he hit a street light. Sorry dude, I'm bigger, and i was in front. Anyway, yes i too am dreaming of sunnier days and better training rides that attempting different views here at STC.
Who the hell decided a groundhog can predict the weather anyway!!

Detroit Muscle

Lenny showed up for the Sunday version of STC, and we cranked out 90 minutes on the trainers. he had a really sweet video for his new trainer, and it was a tour of Mallorca! Nothing better than seeing some of those awesome training roads to keep you motivated on a cold and snowy day chained to the trainer. Man i wish i could get back there to ride again!

Team Smooooooot ventured out to the auto show in the afternoon and saw some VERY sweet
detroit muscle with some awesome throw back designs. The new Chevy Camaro is bitchin, and there were several different killer versions of the Mustang and Charger.

Bike Practice....

STC is hosting Bike Practice again Sunday - call ahead seating is available!

Love is.....

Well, after 4 and a half years of marriage, a 19 month old, and a 1 month old, love is dropping Carter off at the babysitter's place and enjoying a warm loving romantic lunch at Bennigans! Actually it was nice to get out with the MRS. and enjoy some time with a quiet baby sleeping gently in the car seat. I certainly could not resist posting this comic....T-rent.. are you limping today???
To us die hard bikers, what we know to be true is love is a streak of good rides where you are actually motivated to get on the trainer and even shave your legs regularly in the winter. Fortunately I'm there now, in the zone. Its been a pretty good week, and while i know i can't put up the watts Rad Brad is doing, i don't ponder what length of time and cadence will best help me in a spring champions race either. So for me today - love is an hour on the rig this AM, thinking that so far i may still have a good shot at form before the Bone Ride. With the Chickenride less than 4 weeks away now, I'm not sure the first ride will be pretty for me, but at least we have some extra daylight earlier in the year to suffer through.

They brought their freakin toys!!!!

Ok - so in realty i have had a small streak going. Got a few morning rides on, and an hour on saturday, albeit alone cause no one wanted to show up at STC. So we come to sunday. Crazy Lenny is n a hockey kick again, and is skating in the mornings a few times before work. So its finally in the double digits for temp ( sorry rain brad, 18 is not cold - its been 5-10 below in the mornings here for a week, and despite my favoritism to the metric system, unfortunately I'm talking Fahrenheit.) Sooooo.. we head out to Bos' place, and i find out he isn't even gonna skate with us. Its up to me and Lenny to clear the snow from the ice and go old school for some pond hockey.
Fortunately for me, i brought the FOIL!
now i can recall the days of playing regularly, and having 2 or 3 games a week even. It really was not that long ago. Now i went anaerobic just putting my skates on, and my low back was instantly on fire as my lungs cried for air... and all i managed was to stand up!
we did get about an hour of slapping the biscuit around, some good lung burning fun in all.
I did break my bike streak unless i get a ride in tonight, but hopefully i wont be too sore to get it in tomorrow AM.

Picking it all up....

For those of you with children, you already get it and i don't need to explain. For those without.. bear with me. SO my goal recently was to drag my but out of bed in the AM's like i had done all december and january and actually get some good time in for february. WELLL.. between Griffen being born, and me being sick, i lost a good chunk of january. No worries right? get back in the groove for february. Well i must have gained 3 tons, as it now seems impossible to lift my carcass from the bed in the mornings when the alarm goes off. Those of you with children understand this. For those of you without... try this exercise - go to your alarm clock right now, close you eyes, and set the time... NO YOU CAN'T LOOK AT IT.. you must then go to bed and wake up whenever you set the alarm for. You may get 2 hours of sleep, you may get 6. Don't know for sure. If the alarm goes off with more than 3 hours to go before you need to get up for work, repeat the blindfolded exercise, and i recommend a back up alarm. Repeat this daily for about 6 months, and you will be well trained for children. So i am turning over a new leaf - setting my back up alarm for tomorrow morning, and starting my new streak. Tune in soon to see how it goes.

Garland - Play on Player

Lenny - Bike practice this weekend!!!

T-Rent - less swerve, more bike

MOTIVATION

Bradley - if you want motivation.... look no further

At least I'm not the only one....

At least I'm not the only one who's month is in the crapper!
Kudos to Big T-rent for posting some BIG hours on the bike, well done. It sounds like B-Rad may even have a chance to finish in the cat 2's this year posting decent numbers, but i'd have to say a little disappointed if his big achievement is a 2 hour total on the trainer split between 2 rides. Come on man, you know good and well you need to be putting in more than that! Enmark gets the Flip Flaps award for a very Skirt-like 22 hours, and for myself - i am for sure destined to be a winner of the GRAVITY games posting a whopping 17 hours with 15 workouts on 11 days of riding, and amassing 435km (thats 270 miles for the metric challenged). Wow, big stuff. I'm sure i will be ready to get at least to the first starbucks on the Bone Ride with that kind of dedication. On a positive note - I think i am healthy enough to get back in the saddle.. i managed to spin a bit tonight so i can start my february streak.
I need to confirm with Lenny - but it looks like Bike Practice is on at STC this weekend as well.