10days

10days of the bike sounded like an eternity… well it wasn’t too bad…and once you got used to having some free time you started to wonder how you fit it in at all.
I went back home to Sweden to visit my family, and to attend my grandfather’s funeral, so understandingly riding wasn’t really on my mind…
Although the trip was for a sad occasion it has some bright spots. It was really nice to connect with the family and relatives, many which I hardly ever get to meet anymore.
On the way home we spent a day in Copenhagen… (my sister now lives there)… it was nice to walk around and have a look at a town I haven’t been in too much since High school. Although Kele dragged me into every kitchen, home decorating, nick-nack store we passed within our line of sight… the only thing we didn’t do was knock on people’s homes to have a look…although I don’t think we were to far from it.
Other then that we drank a bunch of coffee and walked a lot… which was actually nice.
The following day we had a few hours before we had to leave for the airport, so my sister rounded up some bike and we rode though town on some old city bikes. A lot, if not most people who live down town Copenhagen travel by bike…so at all times there were hundreds of commuters riding around… a lot different then around here, were the 99% of the people who ride do it for recreation and not as a transport.
You would see old ladies going to the grocery store, students going to school and everything else in between…and even “good” looking girls in neat clothes that I could never even imagine would get out of their Lexus here in the US…. All the bikes where very practical and have both fenders and lights.
Maybe this would be possible in the US, but people would have to live closer to work and the cities would need more dedicated and separate bike lanes (with there own traffic lights)… before people become comfortable enough to venture out among the cars.

November........

The weekend comes and goes so quick. Kele left Saturday morning to race some track in Vancouver (Canada).. The track they have up there although small and has a very bumpy wooden tack is inside…which is very nice for this part of the country. I’ve been thinking about racing track next summer… but I’m not sure I can spin my legs fast enough. Every time I go the track here in Seattle I’m amazed how fast and slow it seams at the same time. Accelerations are so much slower that on the road…sprints and finishes seams to go slow one rider relative to the other, but the actual speed , and to everyone watching screaming fast. This one gear only thing…. Hm, I don’t know… and in reality it’s not just one gear, there is a whole science in picking the right gear for the race…
Maybe next year…………..
I stayed home and prepared for a wet weekend…
Saturday tuned out to be nice, some wet road but no rain really… We did the usual loop, I ended up with the standard 87miles, not too bad… but I did end up going a bit hard at times. I’ve always justified going hard this time of year as being ok if it only happens once a week or so, and only for a few minuets at a time. And since I wasn’t racing cross this weekend I had a bit more energy to spend… but to tell the truth… it wore me out bad… thank god I got to stop for coffee, an Italian sub and my favorite a cream cheese brownie before I rode the last hour home… This has turned into my regular meal on Saturday at the end of my ride, so much so that I just have to walk into the coffee shop and they know what I want…
Sunday I got to ride 3hours in the rain… well as I was just about getting home the sun came out… oh well that was plenty for this time of the year…no reason to push it yet!!!.

This nest week and a half I will be of my bike completely…which actually might be good for me… There are certain things that are much more important then training and racing… I’m going home for a family funeral…My grand father past away last week. It was some hard news to hear.. and being so far away didn’t do anything to help. My grandfather was always a source of motivation…a tough guy, strong and a hard worker… definitely had to work a lot harder and struggle more than I will probably ever realize. He probably had to walk barefoot though the snow uphill to get to work in the woods…14hours a day…
I will miss him.

miss again...

ha ha... missed the rain again..
Last night Kele rode down to the computrainer "factory" at about 4:30... she got dumped on soo bad... She actually called me to bring some extra clothes for her ride back. Expecting the worst I headed out at 5:30 or so... the rain had stopped and I didn't have a drop hit be the entire night......I'm not even sure if it every really rained or if she just was a wimp and every little drip was a huge deal to her... oh well
Same thing this morning..riding to work it was perfect, not until I had actually stopped to go inside did I feel some rain... couldn't have been any better timing... not earlier to get me soaked but just late enough so I would fell lucky and be in a good mood all-day about how perfect I managed to interpret the 3 weather reports I watched on the various TV channels this morning.. I'm just that good.
Now... I'm starting to get a little worried about the ride home tonight... but maybe I should just trust my luck... there is nothing I can do about it anyway...It's not like I'm going to hang around at work ,until the rain moves away.. And getting home a bit wet isn't too bad anyway.
My legs are a bit tires though, just spent the last 2h walking around the 747, 767 and 777 in the factory checking out the various high lift designs. It's amazing how specialized you get riding your bike all the time...any thing else and you get soar... just ask Kele

Weather

Why is it that nice weather always happens during the week while at work?
Right now it looks just perfect outside. This Saturday it was rainy and cold the entire day...It's not just that either... Why is there only daylight during working hours?.. Couldn't we have it dark during the day... I don't need all that sun... this is a perfect time for some rain... Doesn't have to wait until 5pm.. when I'm heading home..
Well I shouldn't complain too much, If I recall, Sunday was nice, very nice.
But today I get to ride in the dark going home, and then get on the trainer in the Garage.. sweet... maybe I should have tried to get out for a ride during lunch...
At least i get to ride, that what i really care about...and riding in the dark has a special feeling all by it self...

Trail riding

Last night we did our now customary computrainer ride at the computrainer "factory"..
I get home from work and have a cup of coffee and some toast to get me though the evening...well I had some cereal and a banana as well,but who's counting.
It had been raining hard all day, but I got very lucky as the rain stopped just in time...and I missed it completely. It's about a 40min ride there...unless in my case where I ended up with a rider right on my wheel. Now this shouldn't make me go any harder, and it wasn't that I was trying to "compete" with this guy on a dark trail with wet leaves, fallen branches and pot holes... no it was something else...
He got right up on me...only a few feet back... it was actually pretty good, his headlight added to mine and helped light up the trail. The problem was that his speed was too much like mine... I guess he didn't want to pass me... since there was no real point if we were going about the same speed...I didn't want to slow down just for him to get around me, but on the other hand I didn't want to be in the way. So I just went hard the entire time... probably a bit harder then I should. ad I felt compelled to keep going this speed... it's like being in a pace line... you don't let a gap open in front of you.. it's your responsibility to keep the pace...
finally as I arrived to my destination I get to pull of (with a good reason)... nice... Of course now I had an 1h workout on the trainer to do...hmm...and then back home... maybe I should have just faked a flat....

1st trainer workout

So last night was the first trainer workout of the season...
First I had to ride the 1h home from work in pouring rain...then we both got on the trainers..after some coffee (and left over Halloween candy) of course. It really wasn't that bad... we kept it short and sweep with some specific drills such as one legged pedaling and high cadence... and you know what, it was over before you realized it... oh if they only all were like that..

this morning I rode back up to work... it was actually very nice.. no rain, and the later it got the lighter it got to... so much better then the other way around during the evening rides.

Cross race

So this weekend We (my wife and I) both did a cross race. It's only the second of the season for me and Kele's first. Now why would you put your self through something like that. It's hard, fast, technical and it hurts...a lot. There are great potentials for both injury and humiliation... and did I mention that it's really hard. The reason I always come back to is the fact that racing is supposed to be fun..ans cross although all the above is fun (maybe not as you struggle up the loose gravel climb desperately trying to figure which brake is rubbing or why both tires seams to intermittently go flat when no one else is looking)…but it is. It also reminds you how hard you can and have to work. Road racing can sometimes lull you into thinking that you are supper strong and the best rider out there, when in fact you just were lucky to attack or counter at the right second and get in the break of the front. In road racing you sometimes can get away with doing nothing the entire race, just sprint in the end, placing and getting a big head because you beat all these riders…. Well this does not happen in cross… if you want to do good you gave to work hard the entire time…really work hard.
Now hopefully technique has something to do with it, or else I’m one of the weakest riders out there.
Since it was my first race in the series I lined up at the back, (no prior points).
As the race started in the usual panic I took it slightly easier… I didn’t feel the same desperation apparently to elbow my way up the first climb…I’ll just pick them of one by one I thought. During the initial scramble onto the gravel climb I felt somebody’s front wheel on my back… a few second later I hear a big crash behind me..opps…well it wasn’t my fault and I was just lucky I didn’t go down as well. The race was a bit longer then anticipated, usually theses last about an hour, this was looking like 1 :15 or so.. The problem was I started ok, I did actually pass a riders or two a lap for the first few… at points during the initial laps I could see good riders right in front of me… well at 30min my forward progress was halted, at 45min and after a minor tumble in the deep leaves I was going backwards, at 55 min I was looking for mechanicals that would explain my progress… at 60.. I was trying to figure out what happened to my legs and did I really need them ..because they sure weren’t doing much for me… this is when I started to tell my self that this is fun and builds character… it would be too easy to quite or slow down… no…just keep going and go as fast as you can…everybody else is hurting just as bad, they are just going faster today…not next time….
Right as my character was getting stronger (at the top end of the course) 1:10h into the race I hear a pssssssss psssss and just like that my back tire goes flat and my race is over. I made it eight laps and all I had left was slightly more then one… I’m just about as far away as possible from the pit …
I’m a bit disappointed… but at least I didn’t flat leading the race…that would have been so much worse…
Kele by the way also flatted on her last lap… (in third)… but was close enough that she made down to the finish still in 5th…