layzeesusan

New 'Hood, New Food: A few offal meals at Bon Appetit Cafe

2011-11-10T15:41:00.004-05:00

Tucked into a non-descript mall in the Wilton center, Bon Appetit Café is an authentic French bistro where fine ingredients and expert cooking technique rule the day. A few of the very few people we know around here told us the “little French place” near the Stop and Shop is surprisingly good. Armed with one of the few endorsements we’ve heard of any local restaurant, I figured I had to give it a try. We walked by on one of our first days in town and I remember thinking the menu looked expensive for the location, décor, and generally relaxed vibe. So I decided to give the place a whirl for lunch to test the waters for not as much money. Expecting to grab an easy sandwich (had my eye on the Pan Bagna which includes tuna, anchovies, tomato, green pepper, olives, eggs, mesclun greens, and mustard dressing), I ended up lured to the specials menu with its mention of three, count 'em, THREE offal dishes. Decisions, decisions. Choices were liver, kidneys, or tripe. I had a hunch the tripe might be the harder to find again of the bunch, so I jumped at it.

The dish was just perfect on a cold day. It was a bowl of piping hot, tomatoey broth with some actual peeled tomatoes, some perfectly white potato chunks, and a healthy serving of tripe. The broth had nice weight to it and had a deep, lasting spiciness. The tripe was so clean and cut down to bite-sized slivers. I did a little searching to learn tripe is characterized into three groups: the omasum (leaf tripe), the reticulum (the honeycomb tripe that is most visually memorable), and the rumen (the smooth and flat type). Best I could tell, the dish included all three types. Each ended up imparting its own particular texture. Most memorably, the reticulum’s texture was two-fold. The ridge piece was firm and dense, while the honeycomb part was light and soft and a little spongy (in a good way). The rumen was smooth and soft and evenly textured. The taste was uniquely tripe. It is difficult to really describe or pinpoint, but there was nothing foul or poopy about this tripe’s flavor. The baguette slices accompanying the meal were some of the best I’ve had. The crust was crunchy like it should be and the center was ideally dense and soft. Plenty of the bread allowed me to sop up all broth in the bowl. It was definitely a meal lacking in refreshing or light vegetables, but most offal dishes don’t really strive for balance between heavy and light.

The vibe and atmosphere at the place is perfectly French. French television piping through the small TV in the corner. Occassional bickering among the staff (in an amusing, not off-putting, way). And the man in charge (definitely the chef, but I’m not sure if he is the owner) is a short French fellow with the ragged, raspy, throaty voice of a hardened cook. Ultimately friendly and cheerful, the chef was sure to check on me to make sure I liked the dish and added, “Zat eez naht so eezy to fahnd uhround ‘ere, no?”

And even though the dinner prices are a good bit high for bistro fare, SVR, NWW, and I did return a few days later for dinner. Again, everything was expertly prepared. The kitchen’s cooking technique really is flawless. For dinner, we ended up with pate de maison (homemade with many animal parts, but with liver the most pronounced flavor), a seared scallop dish (stunningly cooked scallops with a sauce that was savory and tart and fishy), and veal kidneys in mustard sauce (one of the offal dishes I passed up at lunch). My only complaint was about the pate’s texture. For spreading on bread, I prefer a pate that, well, spreads…like a paste (pate: French for ‘paste’). Bon Appetit Café’s pate was a little too crumbly to be manageable and nicely spreadable. A minor gripe.

My main was the kidneys and these were, like the tripe, an amazing dish of non-standard meat parts. The mustard sauce was plentiful, silky, rich, and just a bit mustardy. It was another liquid ripe for sopping up with the wonderful bread. The dish was served with a small bouquet of nicely steamed vegetables (zucchini, haricot vert, carrots, and a breadcrumb stuffed tomato that was good enough to comprise the main part of a vegetarian plate), some parsnips, and a side of gratin potatoes. The gratin was, hands down, the richest food I’ve ever had in my life. Butter, cream, and cheese. They were all there in excess. Somehow, though, it wasn’t too much to handle. It was done right. So, while unbelievable decadent, the little soufflé dish of fat and potatoes succeeded.

Wine was nothing mind-blowing…a red table wine called Chateau d’Oupia Minervois (2009). It was a solid bistro wine to accompany my heavier, meatier main and SVR’s somewhat lighter, but no less flavorful, shellfish dish.

Crème brulee and coffees were very solid with a rightly crispy and caramelized crust on the crème. It still didn’t beat Red Bird’s, but at least little NWW got her first taste of real dessert.

Start-to-finish, top-to-bottom, Bon Appetit Café is a total gem. We are glad to have it so nearby.

New 'Hood, New Food: bodega taco bar

2011-10-14T07:51:00.012-04:00

I aim to make this the first in a series of quick and dirty reviews…trying to keep pace with exploring new eating spots in an entirely new state (for us).

bodega taco bar is the taco bar alter-ego to the awesome, dingy, value-oriented Valencia Luncheria in Norwalk. That breakfast, lunch, and dinner spot is small, cramped, always seemingly bustling, and has a rambling menu of 'Venezuelan beach food.' Where Valencia is a bit rough around the edges, bodega taco bar is polished, seemingly gleaming, and dialed. Though small, there are a variety of seating choices. They include a bunch of bar stools, a handful of hightop tables along the restaurant’s perimeter, and about twenty seats at proper tables towards the front of the restaurant. Where Valencia doesn’t serve any wine, beer, or spirits (though I do think it is a BYO spot), bodega has a prominently displayed bar with all sorts of rums and tequilas and beer and wine. For my lunchtime visit, I sat at the bar and had a friendly interaction with a bartender who seemed genuinely proud of the food and drink on offer.

The menu offers a pretty broad range of meal sizes, from ‘little cravings’ to ‘principal plates.’ The specials board showed off some apparently seasonal and creative offerings. For my one lunch visit, I order a couple items off the specials menu and one item off the regular menu.

--Roasted Corn and Chorizo Chowder ($6): This dish was a special and was a very solid soup. The base/broth was super, super silky, rich, and lush. Seriously, it was like velvet in the mouth. I did see nice char on the corn, but didn’t really taste any smokiness from that roasting. The corn was, however, sweet…even this late in the season. The chorizo was not particularly spicy. Also, it was not the crumbly style of chorizo. It was more of a tightly packed sausage…like a kielbasa. Usually one to shy away from salt, I was looking for a bit more saltiness in the soup and a bit more spiciness from the chorizo. Fresh cilantro on top of the soup was an excellent touch and lent a bright note to an otherwise very deeply flavored chowder. Carrots and celery chunks were of the right size and texture to give this a real chunky chowder mouth feel. The serving was generous for the price and included a substantial amount of chorizo.

--Baja Taco ($4): This taco is on the regular menu and is described as ‘panko crusted mahi mahi, pico de gallo, lemon aioli.’ All tacos are served on soft corn tortillas “nixtamal.” The taco was very small. From a value standpoint, I was a bit surprised by the serving size. While $4 is not a lot of cash, the portion size struck me as much more of a $3 item. Ignoring that, the taco was quite good. The tortilla was pliable and did not fall apart and actually contributed a corn flavor to the dish (unlike some not-quite-there flour tortillas). The fish was fried expertly. The panko was crispy and crunchy and the fish inside was flaky and piping hot. Hard to know if it was actual mahi mahi, as the piece was pretty small. Generally, this was a refreshing morsel. The salsa was very simple and traditional pico de gallo. The lemon aioli did not overwhelm the dish and the extra squeeze of lemon I gave the taco definitely brightened it up. Two extra salsas provided in squeeze bottles (a la Valencia) were not really needed in this case. Next to the taco on the plate, a pickled jalapeno was very tasty. The bartender explained the peppers are soaked in a vinegar and sugar brine. For me, those ingredients mellowed out any sharp jalapeno spiciness and turned the pepper into a very edible condiment, not unlike a good pickle at your neighborhood Jewish deli.

--Lamb Meatloaf Arepa ($8): This item was also on the specials menu. For starters, the arepa cake was a bit smaller than those at Valencia. Hand formed, this could also just be a factor of the day’s arepa preparer. This small sandwich was basic. Slabs of meat tucked into the arepa cake. But the flavor was really full and bold. The arepa cake was crispy fried outside and dense, sweet, and slightly crumbly inside. The thin-ishly sliced meatloaf was firm and dense. Piping hot, I think it was finished on the grill to heat it up. Before I ordered it, I asked the bartender if it was dressed with any extras. The bartender punted to a colleague and that guy (manager or cook?) explained the loaf had peppers and onions baked in and the sandwich included some caramelized onions and a sauce. It was as described. The onions were a solid addition for some textural variety and the sauce was pretty close to ketchup, but with some spicier notes (the bartender claimed the flavor was chipotle, but I don’t think that was the added ingredient). The meatloaf clearly tasted of lamb, with some good gaminess. Also, the meatloaf edges were a bit burned/charred and I appreciated the crispiness and smoke flavor that overcooking added to the dish. I can imagine some won't like that crispy, burnt edge. Though very straightforward (meat plus ‘bread’), this sandwich was satisfying and flavorful.

I washed all the food down with a pineapple Jarritos soda ($2.50). For $21.80 (pre-tip), lunch at bodega taco bar was filling, flavorful, and worth the trip to Fairfield.

Mid-Atlantic Racing Conspiracy???

2011-03-25T10:55:00.002-04:00

Here is a quick tally of what isn't happening in the world of Mid-Atlantic road bicycle racing (and I might be missing a few events)...

Outright canceled:

1. Vint Hill Classic
2. UMD President's Criterium
3. Tour of Walkersville
4. Michael P. Murad Memorial Road Race (now All American Road Race?)
5. The Tysons Corner Circuit Race

Postponed:

1. Jefferson Cup
2. Harwood Road Race (remains to be seen if this will still run)
3. All American Road Race (remains to be seen if this will still run)

Though it feels like interest in bicycle racing in the region is as high as ever, it is a shame to see so many mainstay events fall off the map.

An Ode to Offal - Burns Supper 2011

2011-01-31T11:53:00.003-05:00

Sunday night was what we hope becomes an annual tradition, a Burns Supper at The Royal Mile Pub in Wheaton, MD. The last time there was a salute to Burns was in 2009, and it was fun to have a reprise.

True to form there was some good Scots' fare on the menu, from smoked salmon potato pancakes and cock and leekie soup for starters to haggis and lamb shank for entrees. Emboldened by the sample of haggis I tried at the last supper in 2009, I ordered ham and cheese scones to start and the haggis dinner. The haggis had a good balance of the mineral flavor of organ meat, but was not too overwhelming. While the haggis was good since I am not a huge offal fan I think I will pass on it the next time we have a Burns night. My fellow diners ordered the salmon and the lamb shank. All entrees were accompanied with neeps and tatties, a tasty mashed mixture of turnips, potatoes, and leeks. The portions were generous and the lamb shank was so big it looked like it belonged at a Renaissance Fair. My sticky toffee dessert was the perfect way to top off the meal. To drink, I passed on the whisky, as I have never acquired a taste for it and nursed a Guiness all night. It was the perfect beer for a cold January night and a hearty meal that can be sipped slowly all night, a must for me because I am nursing and must limit the alcohol intake.

Of course, the best part of the night was the poetry, pageantry, and recognition of Burns in the company of friends.

They say, "Nap when they nap."

2010-12-18T16:50:00.003-05:00

I say, "TRAIN when they nap."

This is my new reality. I managed to get 20' in while Nora ate with mummy. But then mummy had to run off to yoga. Nora permitted me to ride for another 36' before the cold basement and Sufferfest techno soundtrack got the better of her and she broke down in a screaming fit. Looking forward to more sessions just like that!

Celebrating the Bliss!

2010-08-04T17:12:00.003-04:00

To celebrate two years of blissful legal union, SVR and I extracted ourselves from our comfort zone and tried two, that's right, TWO new dinner spots in one, that's right, ONE weekend.

Last October, we traveled to visit friends in the Hague and Belgium. It was a spectacular trip on so many fronts and, not surprisingly, food and drink were always front and center. With 'cross season just around the corner (this is supposed to be a cycling and food blog, yes?) and last fall's vacation on the mind, we decided to try Et Voila! (they deliberately add the '!,' just like Yahoo! and Jeopardy!), a Belgian bistro, for our anniversary celebration proper.

The restaurant is easy to miss, as it's tucked in among a barber shop (probably a salon, but I'm kinda old fashioned and prefer the imagery 'barber shop' provokes), a pet food store, and an antique shop. Et Voila! isn't in much of a 'destination' spot in DC. The space is long and narrow. Up front, the bar seats four and doesn't offer an ideal spot to linger while waiting for a table, but thankfully our table was ready and waiting when we arrived. Something about the interior design, the spacial layout, the lighting, the clientele, the staff, and the smells and sounds struck me and SVR as distinctly 'Euro.' It all came together in a certain je ne sais quoi kinda way to offer a near perfect transport back to some of the mid-range Belgian spots we tried in Bruges. Wanna get away? Screw Southwest. Try Et Voila!

With Belgian spots, and their corresponding beers, pretty much all the rage these days, I was eager to see how the beer list stacked up against some of the others around town. Disappointingly, there are no taps at Et Voila!, so all options are from the bottle. Though the list ran upwards of 25-30 choices, I've tried most of what I saw and thought I'd start a special occasion with special occasion libations. A $9 glass of Crémant De Bourgogne, Laurent Tripoz champagne was good stuff. And organic. Sparkling. Tasty. Light. Balanced.

For food, I started with a beef tartare paired with greens and SVR had a roasted beet salad. Both were pretty amazing. Conventional bistro items, but executed so well. My beef was uniformly chopped and mixed with the requisite savories. I tasted some mustard and shallot and capers. Much to my delight, I also caught a sliver of sweetness from, I think, some cornichons. No toast points. Just the well-dressed arugula and other spring greens. Though the lettuce was pretty heavily doused, I didn't mind at all. The dressing was tart and sour and spicy. The champagne worked well with that dish. SVR's beets disappeared quickly, but I did snag one bite. I can't say anything was particularly unusual about the preparation, but can say the flavors were nice and stout and the beets were cooked perfectly. Just a super solid rendition of a beet salad with some goat cheese and nuts. Supposedly the beets were heirloom beets, but I can't say that mattered much to the taste.

Mains were also basic fare. Despite the hot weather, SVR had the Flemish stew. A classic rendition, it was rich and meaty. Stewed in beer, there wasn't much specific beer flavor, but I'm sure some of the subtle fruit in the sauce was leftover from whatever Belgian ale the chef used. SVR handed over the accompanying crouton garnish. It was toasted bread with a horseradish or mustard spread. I thought that spice bomb was great on its own and would've been good balance to the rich and slightly sweet stew. Her loss. My gain. The dish came with some fries. They were phenomenal. Plenty hot, really crispy, mediumly thin, and rightly salted, I had to battle to get my hands on more than just one. Entering her third trimester, SVR has been branching back out to the rare glass of wine. For this special occasion, she had a glass of Malbec and judged it, "Good and certainly good with the beef stew."

I opted for a chicken dish. Again, basic. Seared breast advertised as 'herb crusted' and accompanied by spinach, potato croquette, and red wine sauce. I'm back to challenging restaurants to cook chicken well. In skilled hands, chicken can be so frickin' good. For a while, I think chicken just played second fiddle. Often prepared safely and without much flare, I think chefs were getting away with serving dry, over cooked fowl. But spots like Palena treat their chicken with care. Firefly also does a killer roasted chicken. Those places offer hope and I'm kinda on a mission to test restaurants by seeing how they handle the lowly chicken. Et Voila! passed the test. The 'herb crusted' turns out to be 'herb topped.' A slug-like (I know, not an appetizing image) herb swath ran the length of the seared breast. I don't know what the base ingredient was, but the blob held together firmly and was packed with herbes de provence type flavors and some other, brighter, green flavors. My first cut into the breast left me wondering if I erred with my chicken choice. But a few cuts into the thicker piece of meat left me super happy with my decision. The chicken was moist and flavorful. The potato croquette were awesome. Consistently golden in color, they were crispity crunchity on the outside and positively fluffy on the inside. Spinach was not watery and peppered with noticeable diced garlic. The real highlight was the glassy, rich, deep, tart, luscious red wine sauce. I coulda had a bowl of this stuff for soup. The spinach provided the perfect vehicle for mopping up and absorbing all remaining sauce. Card carrying member of the clean plate club. Right here. I paired this dish with a Mardesous Brune, knowing the deep, slightly fruity, 8% brown ale would stand up to the savory herbs and the rich wine sauce.

All-in-all, they savory part of the meal was a smashing success.

I'm not a huge fan of chocolate desserts, particularly mousse. My advanced research promised this spot's chocolate mousse would be off the hook. We ordered one. Solid choice. It was not painfully sweet. It is made with a pretty deep and dark chocolate, so it had a bit more complexity than a Hershey's milk chocolate bar. Best of all, there was a little crunchy texture added by way of some cocoa nibs on top.

I rounded it all out with an espresso (a much appreciated heavy crema on that one) and judged the spot a near perfect semi-casual spot to celebrate a joyous day.

I shouldn't ignore the service. It was decidedly fine. The waiter wasn't exactly warm, but that doesn't bug me. We received everything we asked for, had ample opportunity to provide feedback, and didn't feel intruded on. Can't complain about any of that.

It's also good to know Et Voila! offers enough stuff on the menu, including the expected mussels and fries, to make it appropriate for a non-special occasion. It ain't cheap, but I suspect you could get in and out for $35 a head (shared starter, two orders of mussels or burgers, a shared dessert, and two drinks). We'll be back.

Clearly, I went all 'NOT TODAY' on this post, so I'll have to save thoughts about Estadio, the other new try, for another day.

2Amys and Pizzeria Orso Matchup

2010-07-18T11:56:00.005-04:00

It is no surprise that we are big fans of 2Amys, but when friends suggested we hit up Pizzeria Orso last night we were excited to get a taste of Edan MacQuaid's pizza making skills.

Both restaurants are pizzerias, but it is also clear that they are restaurants with different aims, so it is probably unfair to compare the two. Orso feels firmly focused on the pizza and 2Amys, where pizza is the main attraction, is also interested in exploring other flavors of Italy through its charcuterie and ever changing small plates. Even if it isn't fair to do this comparison...I will shall embark upon it anyway, in what I hope is a just the facts approach. I also caveat this entry by noting that I have only been to Orso once and have been to 2Amys more times than I can count.

Ambiance: Orso has a nice new space with a great looking bar area. I appreciated that they didn't seem to cram too many tables into the space. If the wait gets too long at Orso they seem to have some good overflow space, unlike 2Amys which can get crowded around the bar if the weather is bad. Like 2Amys, Orso is loud and for our party of 6 it was a bit hard to hear what was going on at the other end of the table.

Service: Service at Orso was appropriately attentive and friendly. It was also nice to see some old 2Amys faces there who recognized us and were friendly. We are always treated right at 2Amys so obviously no complaints there either.

Wine/Beer Selection: The wine menu at Orso is significantly truncated in comparison to 2Amys, but it has the appropriate Italian standbys. JFW thought the beer selection was fair, but perhaps not as ambitious as it should be given the large number of restaurants in the area with solid beer programs.

Antipasti/Small Plates: As noted above, this doesn't seem to be the focus at Orso, and I thought it showed, or maybe I have just undergone full indoctrination at 2Amys. We tried the suppli (fried risotto rice balls) at Orso and they just didn't have a strong tomato and cheese flavor and one of JFW's was missing the cheese inside. Don't get me wrong the suppli wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as 2Amys' offering. Another favorite of ours is the crositini at 2Amys (english pea and prosciutto), and here again Orso came close but didn't quite hit the mark. The morel mushroom crostini should have been a slam dunk for us, but the bread felt overly saturated with olive oil making it a little unappetizing to me.

Pizza: Here I think Orso and 2Amys are well matched. Our table ordered some of Orso's special stuffed pizzas and a more traditional pizza and we were all pleased. Of course, one has to like traditional Italian style crust at both places or one risks disappointment. So congrats to Orso for going toe to toe with 2Amys on this front. My one caution here is the price. The most expensive pizza at 2Amys is $13.95, whereas the Vesuvius stuffed pizza at Orso ran $19.00. While the cost of ingredients might justify the upcharge, I think this is something they'll need to watch.

So that's the run down. No surprise I still prefer 2Amys since one of my favorite things about going there is the small plates, but I think Orso made a solid showing and wish the MacQuaid's success.

Tastes of Montana

2010-07-18T11:34:00.007-04:00

JFW is taking a break for the summer from his blog...actually he has taken a break for a long time and I thought it was high time to reinvigorate things. So I am trying my hand at a few food related entries.

JFW and I just got back from vacation in Montana. While the food scene in Montana might not be what it is here in DC, we had some amazing meals.

First, let me say that hands down I continue to think that Red Bird Restaurant in Missoula, MT has the best creme brulee I have ever had. Thanks to chef Jim Tracey for cooking it up special for me since it is no longer regularly on the menu. Red Bird is also remarkable for their amazing beer list. JFW found an Belgian oude gueze that we last had on vacation in Belgium and haven't seen since. The food of course was also remarkable the highlights including some Alaskan spot prawns, a morel mushroom and asparagus soup, and the bison filet.

We also headed up to Holland Lake, which is situated between the Bob Marshall Wilderness to the east and the Mission Mountains to the west. It was beautiful and a great few days away. While the scenery, I think, made everything taste good, the food at Holland Lake Lodge stood on its own and was worth the trip. Most notable were the dinners. My favorite meal was our first dinner. I started with a black bean soup with a mango salsa, followed by the beef filet for my main, and finished it off with a homemade coconut cake. JFW had a roasted beet salad, pistachio encrusted halibut, and frozen key lime pie for dessert. As a native Floridian, JFW was impressed that the key lime pie flavors were spot on, but I think he was less enthusiastic about the frozen pie format. What was most impressive about the food at Holland Lake was the consistency. All meals are eaten in the main Lodge because there really is no where else for miles around to eat, so the consistency in the kitchen was greatly appreciated.

Finally, the kitchen at my sister's place shouldn't be overlooked. Thanks to their enormous garden we enjoyed some amazing fresh produce - most notably the lettuce.

Fried Anchovy Bones

2010-04-01T08:47:00.000-04:00

Not your typical bar snack. Better than salted peanuts. The lemon adds
a really nice touch of flavor, but takes away from the extreme crunch
of the fried breading and bones. Try 'em!

Snow-body Gonna Break My Stride

2010-02-06T19:08:00.011-05:00

Had to try to find a different play on 'snow' for this post. Not really sure it works, but...whatevs.

So...the past 24 hours have been a pretty serious blast. It all started innocently enough. Late afternoon hours yesterday looked something like this:

Not bad, right? By dinner time, it was also snow angel time. The epitome of a pure angel! (Said angel lost her phone during that maneuver! Don't worry, we went back and I found it right away.)

Morning came and things were looking both beautiful and a bit daunting. SVR got out for a run on the treadmill and I putzed and readied breakfast. This simple meal would prove even more fulfilling later in the day. Friday night, hEllicott and I exchanged a text or two about possible mountain biking in the snow Saturday. It was all conditions dependent. Also an option? Hooking up with MattyD. in RCP. He was planning a ski adventure. Around 10:30AM, Evan stepped up and decided to play sacrificial lamb. Willing to test the waters (and knowing my propensity to, er, wimp out of such climatically challenging events), he set out and I stood by awaiting word of conditions on the ground. The call eventually came in and word was things 'weren't so bad' down on Beach Drive. With SVR's urging, I dropped trou' immediately, as any thinking about what I was about to do was sure to derail my less than best laid plan. I was out the door in about a half hour (with a backpack full of beers, no less) and set out into some redonk conditions. As I gingerly scooted down Porter towards the Park, I was hearing many "nice job"s, "good work"s, and "brave soul"s as I progressed towards Connecticut Ave., NW. There were a fair number of people just messin' around in and along the street. I made it to Connecticut, but not really recognizing where I was (and also distracted by several cargo vans fish-tailing their way up Connecticut), I over shot Tilden and doubled back to continue my descent into the abyss. Tilden was amazing. Some sort of vehicle or 'device' had plowed a narrow (4' wide) chute and also threw enough pow' pow' on the cars lining the street to turn them into 8' tall cotton balls. Amazing. Once I hit Beach, Evan's report actually made sense. Beach was variably passable. Some spots were thick and others were rutted out. Mostly, 99% of everything was ride-able. Hard to say how much of the three hour outing was actually spent riding, but my legs are now telling me I did more work than it felt like at the time. Ready to exit the Park, Evan and I stopped at The Gate for a ceremonial brewski. Matty and Chris Clarke showed (as did a WaPo reporter, so look for mention of us in Sunday's paper) and we all had a wee nip (pourin' one out for Il Nessie with that one).

Headed back up Tilden (a total mess going uphill) and found Porter very ride-able. Usually a pain in rump of a way to finish of a ride, it was particularly painful on the Ruffian and in the friction-inducing snow. Awaiting me? Waffles left over from the morning meal, some pumpkin butter, and a nice cup of strong coffee (I've decided Illy is worth the premium price). I think this scene might even make a Belgian proud.

Energized once more and feeling in the right frame of mind to do some diggin' out, I sought the condo's communal snow shovel to try to clear a path for the car. Good thing I am young, big, strong man. It was not easy to get to this:

So here we are...warm, hungry, and feeling like we got a bunch done for a day with no auto availability and when most were holed up inside. But it don't stop there. This, along with a cheap bottle of Pepperwood Pinot Noir, awaits us:

Let it snow!!

2010 Training Kick-Off!!!

2010-01-13T18:22:00.003-05:00

My PowerAgent 7.4.5 software indicates the last time I rode my bicycle was Dec. 20th. Whiga-what???!!! Bad news. Bad news.

Getting dressed this morning, I went to put on my belt. Tried for the hole I used for the past ten, maybe fifteen, years. Couldn't quite get there without generating uncomfortable constriction. No biggie. I thought I could just back it out one hole. No dice. Still too tight. I had to step one hole further back and swallow my pride. So here I am, a month off the bike, experiencing my first significant weight gain since college.

SVR observed this whole ordeal and said, "You're going into work early and we're having leftovers for dinner so you don't have to cook this evening. Come home from work and get on your friggin' trainer!" Tough love. After that tongue lashing, I decided she was right. Let the games begin.

Home by 4:15PM, I was actually pretty amped to see where things stood...to see how far I'd really fallen. Last weekend's squash outing confirmed I'm pretty dang out of shape. I came away from that match with several things broken, my racket (see below) and my pride. Time for some redemption.

Twenty-four days without any attention tends to leave bicycle tires slightly deflated (kinda like my ego was after the ass whooping I received on the squash court), so step one in my comeback was to pump up the Cannondale's tires. Easier said than done. After the the Capital Cross Classic, I left my bicycle pump in Matty D.'s trunk. A bunch of random shit caused it to end up on Capitol Hill during the recent snow storm. Last time I was at Matt's, the pump was still on the Hill, so he loaned me his secondary pump to use in the meantime. So I set things up to pump up the tires and...pfffffffft. Something is totally effed with the head of the pump and it pretty much bled my rear tire of most air and won't assist with reinflation efforts. A case of stagflation? Maybe not. Anyhow...2010 training kick off? FAIL! I guess I coulda busted out some CO2 or the ol' mini-pump. I didn't.

I ate Belgian chocolate instead. Hey, at least it was Belgian.

Rapid Fire

2010-01-08T17:47:00.005-05:00

Regular complaints from some folks closest to me have prompted the following uninspired, disorganized, apropos of nothing update.

On the cycling front: Boonen. Is it me or does he look like he's strung out on the stuff that got him in trouble the past two years. Hopefully none of the vampires were waiting in the wings at this photo shoot to collect blood or snip hair. Seems to me he would've come up positive for the nose candy.

Speaking of Belgium...nice score from a friend at our favorite watering hole.

Haven't really touched a bike since I hit the deck a few times over at Capital Cross Classic. As in years past and years past, this year I had to pull myself outta the season's closer. Always a disappointment. And seemingly always a guaranteed outcome! These wounds are just getting around to healing.

On the food front, some brief reports. Stopped in at EatBar this past Sunday around 1:30PM. Chose it over Tallula, as I expected they wouldn't be serving the same brunch menu. Wanted savory, non-breakfast items. Turns out, the two spots share the Sunday menu. Stuck around anyway.

Overall, a pretty lackluster dining experience. We sat for approx. twenty minutes before anyone acknowledged us. When the waiter did show, I was actually around the corner scoping Tallula to see if the waiter/waitress situation over there was any more robust. It was and I returned to the table to suggest our group move. But the bartender/waiter was finally attending to us and asking around for drink orders, so we stuck it out. I ordered a burger and asked for med.-rare. Burger came out brown, dry, and cooked well-done. Also, it was really, really salty. Not much flavor other than salt. It clearly sat under the heat lamp too long, as the lettuce was completely wilted, the tomato was petrified, and the onion was also dry as a bone. SVR said her burger also only tasted of salt. I sent mine back for a re-cook. It came back to me like a black and white cookie. Half the burger was 'blue' and stringy raw meat and the other half was just like the hockey puck I sent back. Also as with the first attempt, the only discernible flavor was salt. Blech. Pretty bummed to've paid $12 for such a bad burger. Garnish, even the second time around, was also woefully meh.

I've heard good things about the standard evening menu at EatBar (and even sampled a few 'snacks' about twelve months ago), so this unfortunate experience let me down.

The other recent culinary wild ride was at Honey Pig (Gooldaegee). It's Korean BBQ. Crazy stuff. Cheap. I hardly ever feel out of my element at a restaurant, but I felt very un-practiced here. I want to return having studied up a bit so I can order better and know what to expect and how to conduct myself. Dated WaPo review here. They no longer allow smoking, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of smokiness to go around. Wear clothes that are due for a trip through the washer. If you visit Honey Pig, you'll come home smelling like sweet, smokey meats. There are worse things!

Back to the cycling. Yes. Back to cycling. I expect to get back to it this weekend.

The Big 40 @ Blob's

2009-12-05T00:54:00.001-05:00

Got Beer?

2009-10-08T16:26:00.000-04:00

That's at least two or three days of work to get down the line.

BCA Cross

2009-10-03T16:24:00.000-04:00

First turn. Flatted out. Not my day.

Mobile Test

2009-09-03T14:33:00.001-04:00

Belgium, here we come!

Gee Atherton

2009-09-01T18:12:00.000-04:00

Breathtaking. How do they do it? I'm worried for the announcer's heart. On the verge of cardiac arrest, best I can tell.

Not a Rod Stewart Fan

2009-09-01T15:40:00.003-04:00

Something tells me Chris Horner is NOT a Rod Stewart fan. Dude is not one of the guys with all the luck.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/horner-out-of-vuelta-with-fractured-wrist

And, Robb, you don't have to say it. I know how you'd characterize this post.

Un-BEE-leviable (Redux)

2009-08-30T21:26:00.005-04:00

WTF? 30+ years without a bee sting. Now, within a two month span, I get stung TWICE!! FU bee. Out at Rosaryville, a bee landed on my arm and struck. From my July experience, I kinda knew what to expect. But I also thought I might get off easier this time. No dice. Elephantiasis of the friggin' forearm. Popeye the bloody sailor man. Evan is into this whole seven (or eight) minute abs thing. Me? I'm into the arm muscle development...in a day. It's pretty tender and sore and itchy and scratchy and ugly. A buddy tells me most people get stung two or three times in their lives.

Liberty Tavern

2009-08-25T14:44:00.003-04:00

Gonna try to be more regular with food postings...even if they end up fragmented or incomplete or not neatly packaged.

On a beautiful Sunday evening, we ended up in Clarendon around dinnertime. Hoping to try Eventide, we found it shuttered for Sunday dinner and opted for Liberty Tavern. The result? A generally mixed experience.

Most notably, service was pretty lacking. Sat at a four top upstairs for about fifteen minutes before anyone acknowledged us. Waiter reported one special for the night and couldn't spit it out without looking at his cheat sheet after mentioning each component. We requested a dessert menu so one person at the table could decide if she wanted to save her appetite for a starter or dessert. Getting that menu took about five minutes. These little things added up to a less than stellar service experience.

SVR's rum drink did not taste good. Very, very sweet. Tasted a bit like chlorine and bottled Margarita mix. Never mind that the $9 drink came to the table in a glass only about 2/3 of the way full. Seemed an awful value (decided before tasting how unpleasant it was) and I mentioned the paltry pour to the waiter. He assured me it wouldn't taste good if there was more in the glass. What?! Does the greater liquid surface area interact with the air to make the already bad drink taste worse? Very odd.

Bread basket was really solid. The meal's highlight??

I had some shortribs to start. The meat was very pleasant. The savory sauce and bread made for a nice, gooey, sloppy, rich bite. The heavy meat was paired with some fruit and sauce I imagine was meant to cut the meat's richness. The accompaniment was melon and a melon sauce. It tasted of simple syrup or Karo syrup. Painful in the mouth kinda sweet. Too bad, as the meat was very good.

I had skate for a main. Pan fried nicely. Tender fish. Sides (though Spaetzle and potato seemed a little heavy for a summer evening) worked well. Again, though, the sauce (raspberry this time?) tasted like candy. It was sweeter than I tend to prefer dessert. Very odd.

Sooooo...I really wanted to like Liberty Tavern. I thought the menu looked thoughtfully composed and smartly balanced. Service and a really heavy hand with, of all things, sugar left me feeling disappointed. For what we paid (about $60/person), I wanted something a bit better.

None of my Business??!!

2009-07-31T15:11:00.003-04:00

If person #1's illegal and irresponsible behavior could cause harm to person #2, is person #1's behavior person #2's "business?"

Yesterday, I was riding down Tilden Street, NW into Rock Creek Park. From Connecticut Avenue, NW to Beach Drive, it's a pretty zippy descent. There's a bike lane on the right side of Tilden. When I descend that stretch, I often top out around 38 mph. Keep in mind, the speed limit is posted as 25 mph. When I descend, I'm generally in the wrong and breaking the law. So I was descending Tilden yesterday afternoon and was going above the speed limit and was outside the bike lane. If I'm not going under the speed limit, I believe I can travel in the automobile lane. As I'm coasting downhill, I hear the ever-familiar 'beep-beep' in the distance. The horn gets louder and I can tell the car is barreling down on me. I check my speed-o and see I'm at 37 mph. The fuck if I'm gonna move out of the way of a car that's clearly going way too fast for the conditions. But the car persists with the honking and I decide to move right and give them no reason to go bonkers. So they fly past me at what must've been 45-48 mph. At the bridge near Pierce Mill, the traffic is backed up due to a red light. The car that passed me is last in line and I roll up to the vehicle. Driver's side window is down and I see the woman is happily chatting on her phone (no hands-free device in use). I opt to interrupt her phone call to point out that I was, on the descent, already going well above the speed limit and she was driving pretty dangerously to pass me. She ignores me, so I give her a, "Hey. Hang up your stupid phone. In DC, it's illegal to be on the phone without a hands-free set." Her response, "Leave me alone. Me being on my phone is none of your business."

What?!?! To me, that's just so hard to stomach. How is it not my business to look out for my own safety and best interests? How is it not my business to point out the illegal behavior that could easily lead to my injury or death? It IS my business to protect myself. And if engaging in conversation with strangers who are behaving irresponsibly and dangerously is what I need to do to TRY to protect myself, then I'll make their business my business. Grrrrrrrr.

Could I Bee Less Lucky?

2009-07-22T18:46:00.003-04:00

Remember JV's episode at the 2001 Tour? Insect (wasp?) sting that swelled up nice and big? See here:
Well, I was out Wednesday and almost met a similar fate. Thankfully, I was wearing sunglasses when a bee came bombing at my face. In a split second, it ricocheted off the glasses and hit my lower quad on the upstroke of my pedal stroke. The bee must've been frightened and ready for attack, 'cause it immediately stung me. Believe it or not, I've lived life having never previously been stung by a bee. Turns out...I must be pretty allergic. My left leg is swollen enough that it's painful to bend the leg. It kept me off the bike Thursday and we'll see about today. I don't want to pull a JV and have to withdraw from July's big race (locally, at least), but we'll have to see how the leg feels tomorrow morning. I think the poison worked its way up my leg, as a gland in my groin area is also very swollen and tender. Un-BEE-lievable!

GamJams Reviews: Bottle cages - Bontrager Race Lite Cage

2009-07-16T07:44:00.002-04:00

Pretty straightforward accessory part. The bottle cage, primarily, must function well. That means it should keep a water bottle in place securely over smooth and rough pavement. It should also allow for relatively quick and easy bottle removal and replacement. Bonus features are low gram count, attractive design, and low cost.

I find the Bontrager Race Lite Cage to do pretty much all I ask. I've used 'em on mountain bikes and road bikes and find they perform admirably.

Secure grip? Check.

Easy bottle removal and replacement? Check.

Low gram count? Not as light as the Zipp Speed Weaponry cages on the Giant (25g), but certainly respectably light at 38g.

Attractive design? Simple look. Almost looks like a human reach out with a hug. At the same time, moderately aggressive with some acute angles.

Low cost? Check. You can find these on sale for about $10. Much better price point than the $60 Zipps.

I find the Bontrager cage to work really well with the 21 oz. Specialized water bottles. The top tab on the cage grabs the lip of the water bottle very securely and holds snuggly. What more can you ask for? Colors, you say? Take your pick. I've had white in the past, but am currently running the ever-neutral black on the Cannondale.

I don't see reason to move away from this cage anytime soon.

Positives at the Tour

2009-07-09T15:04:00.002-04:00

Can't put my finger on when or during which Grand Tour, but I remember seeing similar headlines in the past.

'Haussler remains positive'

Don't you think 'hopeful' or 'upbeat' or 'optimistic' might be a better word choice? In cycling's context, "positive" has a bit of a bad reputation.

Warning: Lance Arstrong Sympathizing Ahead

2009-07-02T11:40:00.003-04:00

There will be plenty to watch and plenty that entertains at this year's Tour de France. I'm not one to focus too much attention on Lance Armstrong, but I did start to ponder a certain 'what if and when' question.

If you believe Lance Armstrong was, pre-retirement, unfairly targeted and even set-up/sabotaged by 'the French' (authorities, media, organizers, etc.), then it seems logical Armstrong, competing again on French soil, will be up for a new round of accusations and sabotage. Why would 'the French' stop now? So the questions are:

1. Will it happen?
2. If so, when will it happen?
3. What will they say he's on?
4. How will he defend himself this time?

Now...it's entirely possible Armstrong was on something throughout his first career. It's hard to imagine he was the sole clean top performer. Never mind that. Even though riders continue to get caught red-handed, you have to figure Armstrong is not inclined to use illicit methods during the comeback. He knows testing is stricter, he knows he's a target, and he knows what he (and his foundation) stand to lose if authorities accuse him and can prove it true. And even if he has methods at his disposal he and his confidants think will escape identification through testing, I really don't think he'd chance a positive at this point. Let's assume he will ride clean.

The bicycle racing will produce plenty of thrills. And the past few years have produced a fair number of post-stage doping thrills. I'll anticipate an exciting race, but I'll also be on edge to see if and when Armstrong turns up a (false) positive at this year's Tour.

TdF Ladder--Ghost Rider

2009-06-09T17:22:00.002-04:00

So cyclingnews.com already posted a Tour de France ladder. See here.

Read the third paragraph of Cunego's entry. You'd think riding the race would be a pre-requisite for being included in the ladder, right? Apparently not. Ninth on the ladder, but not participating in the race. Oops! Cyclingnews.com predicts Cunego (not participating) will somehow beat Frank Schleck (participating). If that happens, I'll be very, very, VERY impressed.

Ray's

2009-06-02T12:45:00.003-04:00

Not much cooking in my world on the cycling front, but there's plenty cooking at Ray's the Steaks in the Commonwealth. Some thoughts on a recent trip...

Hadn't visited since February...the first month Michael was open in the new location. This visit was much, much smoother. My summary: simple and classic stuff executed very well. Also of note, nothing is light. Among four, we had:

-Devilishly Good Eggs
-Bacon App.
-Four Sunday specials (two clam chowders, two crab bisques, two onglets, two bacon-wrapped medallions, two key lime pies, one dark chocolate mousse, one coconut cream pie)
-Two bottles of Gamay

The eggs and tartare offer a really nice and surprisingly refreshing start to things. The raw meat was bright, the toast points amuse me (friggin' Wonder Bread!), and the cornichons and capers were wonderfully tart.

I hadn't had the bacon before. Despite appearances of being extremely fatty and gristly, these slabs were most certainly not either of those things. Mostly meat tissue. Expecting to be turned off by the weight of this pork in my mouth, the bacon didn't leave any sort of waxy or fatty feeling. Salty and smoky, this was a nice surprise.

I had the crab bisque and found it to be as good as ever. I'd say half the cup was taken up by crab meat instead of liquid. Amazing. This sort of treatment is what I wish every restaurant achieved. I HATE going to a restaurant and having the place skimp on the featured ingredient of a dish. Sometimes I get overly caught up in the value concept and end up distracted from a nice product 'cause I feel like I'm being shafted. Ray's keeps value in the front of my mind, but for the right reasons. I'm reminded how much better I feel about spending good money on food that is plentiful and meets a high quality standard.

Based on some previous posts on DonRockwell, I encouraged tablemates to get the clam chowder. It's a good soup, but we all agreed the crab is king.

Only thing to say about my steak is that it was very near perfect. I'm loath to call anything perfectly perfect, but this was close. SVR continues to be slightly dismayed with Ray's cooking her steaks a little cooler than she prefers, but I'm content to get a med.-rare closer to rare than medium. My onglet was a wonderful steak. SVR didn't send anything back and I think she's coming around to medium-rare instead of medium.

Sides were standard and flavorful. I actually prefer skins in my mashed potatoes, so the sheer whiteness of the mashed at Ray's throws me a bit, but that's hardly something to complain about. I love that the spinach has a great creamy flavor without feeling too heavy. A nice balance.

I tasted all desserts. Wanted to get the coconut cream, but my mother put dibs on that and I felt someone had to play sacrificial lamb and get some mousse. I loved all the sweets for different reasons. The family was in town from Miami (I was raised there) and we all thought the key lime pie has the right amount of sharpness and brightness and tang. It's a good pie. I only took a tiny bite of coconut and can report I know I'll get it next time. I can't remember much about the exact flavor, but it definitely drew me in and left me wanting a full piece to explore. The mousse was good and chocolate-y. Too much whipped cream for my taste, but, then again, I don't really prefer whipped cream on anything.

I don't think Mark was on staff Sunday night, so I was left to pick our wines. The waitress wasn't familiar with the Gamay (from Beaujolais, not California) I locked in on and she explained it was newly added. I lucked out and drew much praise from my family for an excellent choice. If anyone in the group had had scallops, I think this lighter red would've been fine with the seafood.

Service was really cheery and friendly. Stemware and utensils were spotless.

I was very, very full after this whirlwind tour. I think I've only been fuller four or five other times in my life. Leftovers over the past two days have been great. Steaks brought to room temperature are almost as good as when warm.

We're walking distance to 2Amys. I wish we were, somehow, also walking distance to Ray's!

Milan- San Remo Pick

2009-03-20T19:27:00.001-04:00

Look out for Davide Rebellin. I'm just sayin'.

GamJams Reviews: Cleaning / Degreasing - The Pre-Moistened Wipe-y Things in the Gym

2009-03-19T15:03:00.005-04:00

This week's review is about cleaning agents. I'm a total nut-job about keeping the bike(s) clean. Number one rule for keeping the bike clean? Don't let it get dirty. True of most things. Shoes off in the house. Don't cook like a whirling dervish. Keep your poo in the potty.

Anyhow...we live in a tiny apartment. It's clean in part because I don't wheel nasty, grimey, muddy, greasy bikes into the bedroom. SVR is a sweetheart for putting up with five bicycles in our 750 s.f. of indoor space, so the least I can do is keep those bad boys looking spotless.

Here's my process. Keep my gym access card in my cycling wallet. At the end of every ride, I roll straight into the gym in the basement of our building. I grab four pre-moistened towelettes from the dispenser in the gym. I pull the front wheel and wipe down the tire, rim, and hub with towel #1. Next, I flip the bike upside down and do the same to the rear wheel, still attached to the bike. That's towel #2. Towel #3 is for the rest of the frame exposed while the bike is upside down. Next, I flip the bike over and re-install the front wheel. Towel #4 goes to wipe down the top of the frame and any other, non-moving, dirty parts.

Of course, who knows what those towelettes are saturated with? For all I know, the solvent is terrible for carbon and aluminum. Somehow, considering the product is distributed for gym use (and presumably for people to wipe their bodies with), I imagine it's pretty mild. Still, though, the best I could do for this entry's title is 'The Pre-Moistened Wipe-y Things in the Gym.'

I also use some paper towels to wipe down the chain after every ride. I lean it against a wall and simply run the chain backwards while firmly gripping the towel around the lower run of the chain. The sweet spot is holding with enough pressure to affect some cleaning, but not with so much pressure that the towel shreds into a zillion small shards.

Once in a while, I mount the bike in the trainer (again, 750 s.f. doesn't exactly allow for a workshop with a stand and toolbox and workbench) to give the chain a good scrub down. I use Pedro's Bio Cleaner and spray the heck out of the chain and go through the same process referenced above. With the Bio Cleaner, I use a proper rag instead of paper towels. Heavy saturation usually leaves the chain looking okay. It never gets too dirty to begin with (see rule #1 above), so this spray down is usually good enough. I always let the bike sit overnight before re-applying any lube. Gotta let the cleaner evaporate before applying new lube. If not, the de-greaser will simply break down whatever new lubricants I apply.

Considering the review is only supposed to be about 'cleaning/DE-greasing,' I'll leave it at that.

A Pleasant Trade-Off

2009-03-15T15:51:00.008-04:00

Ended up opting out of the trip to the Barn this weekend in favor of trying to nurse myself back to health. Been suffering a raw throat for about a week and I didn't think 8+ hours of riding in the cold and wet would improve my chances of healing up. Reading some of the enthusiastic reports of the riding in WVA, I stand by my decision. I did get out for a ride in the drier conditions Saturday. Legs felt like heavy, heavy bags o' sand.

Of course, the weekend's exciting news is hardly mine or ours. E&K welcomed their son to the world early Saturday morning. Andrew Bernard Ellicott. We've seen him twice already and he's an outrageously cute little bugger. I've never had a good sense for children and have never felt much of a draw towards them, but this guy just exudes cool and I can't wait to watch him grow. While the other visitors in the room were catching up and hearing the stories of the hours leading up to and following the birth, I was plopped by the little crib thing transfixed by Andrew while he slept. Anyhow...here are some grainy shots from day two. Congrats to mom, dad, son, and extended families!

E promises he (and the 'he' in this case is Andrew) should be good to go for the 7AM next Saturday...assuming the weather is fine.

Why I Don't Post

2009-03-09T19:02:00.002-04:00

I'm lax about posting largely 'cause this is the kind of excitement I have to share. The weekend went as follows:

Friday evening: We had every intention of cooking at home Thursday, but caved and hit up 2Amys instead. So Friday saw a nice NY strip, a couple Yukon Golds, and some asparagus sitting in the fridge awaiting heat and consumption (the act of eating, not TB). Simple ingredients, but good flavors. Paired with some new Cabernet SVR is into, we had a fine meal at home. Also, I finally watch 'Children of Men.' A bit one dimensional. The thing coulda been over in 25 minutes and it woulda been the same movie. Not sure what the critical claim was all about.

Saturday: Up early enough to not have to rush to get ready to ride. The 7AM is often unappealing cause it puts me in a state of frenzy just to get up and out the door by 6:30AM. Anyhow...MattyD. and I met up and committed to a jaunt out to Poolesville. The deal was to try to flog each other a good bit on the way out there. We did manage a bit of that and then bumped into some other DCMTB fellows just outside the Bretton Woods entrance and we all headed out to P'ville as a larger group. Matty and I throttled back a bit for the remainder and that probably turned out to be a saving grace. After 3:38 of ride time, I struggled like heck to get out of the Park on Porter and up the stairsteps from Connecticut to Wisconson. Ouchy. All-in-all, though, an excellent showing considering my very, very inconsistent training regimen.

After a quick shower, SVR and I knocked out groceries for the week and kicked back for a bit before heading over to D&S's. They planned to cook some Best Recipes gumbo. Sounded promising. When we arrived, S was pushing the roux well beyond her comfort zone. Tom Colicchio would have been way proud. Things were looking very good, with nice shrimp, spicy Andouille, healthy chicken breasts, a uniformly diced 'holy trinity,' and homemade shrimp stock all lined up for incorporating. And then D effed it all to hell! Adding the stock in one fell swoop was a big mistake. The result was not a thick, brown, rich stew. Instead, the pot looked like dirty dishwater with little roux floater terds. In the end, SVR pulled through with some fine improv skills and we had a hearty and flavorful Andouille and shrimp pasta dish.

Speaking of improv...the remainder of the eve was spent at The Source theater. They're running 'FIST: The Tournament of the Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament.' I'll leave it at this: great idea, poor execution. I didn't laugh much.

Some brews at The Squirrel closed things down and it was off to bed already an hour in the sleep hole.

Sunday: Up at the ass crack and off to Trade Zone to do my volunteer duty. Marshaled turn one for all the races and was kinda surprised by the number of absolute dip-craps that tried to turn on to the course. Needless to say, I saved the day a number of times (pat, pat).

Standing and watching for four hours just about wore me out, but I still had to kit up and put in some miles with hEllicott and Dr. B. I hadn't ridden to North Beach in many years and forgot how hilly that area can be. My teammates absolutely pummeled me, but it was a swell time. I opted to ride the Giant all weekend and don't have my own data to spew, but apparently Evan's PT registered a TSS of 199 for day. Total weekend hours amounted to seven and mileage was just around 130. Needless to say, I need to carry that sorta load forward and ramp up on all fronts.

As The Wrob aptly pointed out, Walkersville should prove a painful ordeal for me. He kindly offered to save me the longer drive to the course and dress up in his old RHD kit and kick me in the nuts for a full three hours. He even offered to do that for $13.50 less than I paid to register for the race. What can I say? He's a giver.

After a rush to get home, we ended the weekend with another fine meal at 2Amys. The Commish, hEllicott, and the nearly born baby (Monkey, for now) joined us and it was great to sit outside with them during the calm before the inevitable storm. Hard to believe how different things will be for them in a week's time.

Christopher Baldwin?

2009-01-15T09:52:00.004-05:00

I know there are, like, sixty-two different Baldwin brothers out there. Is Christopher Dodd one of them? Take a listen:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99385379

and

http://www.savethemanatee.org/audio/Baldwin_Script1_30PSA.mp3

Audio twins??? Christopher Baldwin?

Can I take it back?

2008-10-30T11:49:00.004-04:00

Earlier this year, I awarded Linus Gerdemann the HTFU award. No doubt...dude is strong like ox. Heck, he's a Tour stage winner.

HOWEVER, looking at this photo, it seems he could do with a make-over. Maybe, er, cut the hair, let some stubble grow in, and lose the eyeliner. At first glance, I really thought cyclingnews.com had confused the men's and women's Team High Road team presentations.

SNAP! I added the last sentence of paragraph one after composing paragraph two. Well...looks like he did try to take appropriate measures. He cut the hair, but not quite enough.

Sure As Heck!

2008-10-27T13:33:00.002-04:00

Drool. And drool. It's what's for post-race recovery.

Once again, DCMTB organized a spectacular event in the District. The mood was awesome, the food and beer were sensational, and the course was a bit better than last year's.

Started off in the third row and, in typical fashion, couldn't really hold the good position coming out of the gates. Onto the grass and things were a bit congested. A few near tangles with teammates and others left me a bit shaky and cautious. That's no way to be in a 'cross race, as nancy-ing around in the technical bits is a sure fire way to allow gaps to open. The natural barriers were probably my other biggest nemesis, as they were waaaaaay too tall for my stubby legs and the spacing also kept me guessing (it didn't help that they didn't sit parallel to one another).

As always, the race was a big blur and it's hard to offer any real play-by-play. I know Ryan Bannon was on my tail for a good part of the race. I know the Kelly Benefits guy (Charly Hermanson, upon scanning results) was another detriment to my confidence, as he twice passed dangerously to very little avail in those sections. More than in any other 'cross race, I rode with small groups. In the past, my interaction with a group involved approaching one, sitting on for no more than 30 seconds, and then giving some gas and riding away. It's something I've usually enjoyed, as it boosts the confidence. Yesterday, I spent a good bit of time playing games with Cargo Mike and a fellow I can only assume was John Hostetter III. The two or three times I tried to use power sections to my advantage and open up the gaps, these guys had enough to claw back. The battles were fun.

Things wrapped up with me and Mike dropping John. Mike promptly opened a 10-20 meter gap for about the last half of the last lap (I could be making that up, as I can't remember a course to save me life). Owing to what I just mentioned in parenthesis, I didn't make an effort to close that gap until it was too late. Having the start and finish areas in different spots on the loop confuses a dim-wit like me. Coming through the start pavement, I really had no idea how much more riding we had left. By the time we hit the finish line paved section, I didn't have enough room to lay it all out in the sprint. Bad strategy, but so is sprinting for 15th! No harm, no foul.

I know. Not much of a report. More of a mere mish-mash of thoughts, but that's kinda all I have post-race. And seeing how little blogging I've done of late, I figure (and maybe wrongly) something is better than nothing.

After I finished, I spent about 1.5 hours refraining from the beers and fries. I thought I might re-dress and give the 1/2/3 a whirl. SVR wisely advised me to give it up and get down to eating and drinking. She knows me.

It was also really exciting to see a very big Bike Doctor presense at the race. Other than DCMTB and C-3, I think we might've fielded the most participants. Mad props to Mike D. for accepting my beer hand up. Not only did he take a sizeable gulp, he dumped the rest on his head. What a guy!!

Looking forward to a packed autumn schedule through Dec. 7th.

Similarities?

2008-09-30T09:57:00.002-04:00

Both praised for their good looks. The similarities don't stop there! Just plain diarrhea of the mouth.

Sarah Palin:

That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the -- it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

Caitlin Upton:

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our [children].

A Good Laugh

2008-09-05T12:56:00.002-04:00

TGIF. Some funny stuff...

More Corporate Brand-ing

2008-09-03T16:05:00.002-04:00

See this post for my previous take on corporate tattoos.

Thought I'd mention my most recent sighting of this absurd practice. Was at Whole Foods Monday afternoon. SVR was checking us out at the register and I was tasked with returning the cart to the cart pen. Passing the produce section, I spotted a woman sporting the rolled over waistband, clam-digger style, sweatpant/yoga pant/fashion pajama pants. She had an 'edgy' look about her. Coupla tattoos on the shoulder and arms. She was walking ahead of me and I also noticed a tat' in the, ahem, 'tramp stamp' zone. Was it a butterfly? No. Was it a dragonfly? No. Was it Chinese characters? No. Was it 'Thug Life?' No. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me. It looked a bit like...well, an apple. Further scrutiny and I noticed the apple had a bite missing. Woah!! Gal had the apple corporate logo tattooed on her friggin' back! Bold moves, they happen every day. Whose corporate now?!?!

Drool

2008-08-29T14:46:00.003-04:00

For some, an 'x' on the calendar indicating six weeks until their first race is the first sign that 'cross season is just around the corner.

For others, the need for arm warmers on those 6AM training rides is the first sign 'cross season is getting close.

Still others know 'cross season is near when they pass their local parks and spot the gaggles of strange looking 'dancers'...the cyclocrossers dismounting and re-mounting, trying to re-birth a latent and un-practiced skill set.

For me, the first sign of 'cross is my own sticky, crusty, viscous drool.

Something about 'cross efforts provokes slobbering. The mouth hangs agape, the mind hones in on the pain, and the breathing becomes so labored as to expel all accumulated and accumulating saliva. This seems to be less of a trend when astride the road bike. Then again, maybe I'm just not pushing hard enough on the road bike.

Anyhow...last evening found me on the trainer and in the gym doing some 'cross-specific micro-burst intervals. These are part of the training routine in the run-up to the fall season. And sure as heck, I found myself drooling like a cat that has caught a big ol' whiff of Vick's vapor rub (was my cat the only one to have this Pavlovian response to the menthol fumes?). I think my sloppy spittle drove a few of the prissier gym rats from the facility. That's fine by me, for as much as I try not to be self-conscious, I do get a tad embarrassed during my more disgusting moments on the bike. I'm a site to see...red as a beet in the face, jersey unzipped and exposing my pale and emaciated torso, sweat pooling all around me, still more sweat sprayed across the mirror to my front, breathing like an angry bull, and generally looking on the verge of complete physical breakdown. If I had the choice, I'd look away or run from the room. Anyhow...

Turns out, the drool factor exists in real 'cross scenarios (out on course and usually paired with the snot factor) and in virtual 'cross scenarios (in on trainer). Last night was my first drool of the year. 'Cross season must be nigh!

A$$ CLOWN!

2008-07-21T19:15:00.003-04:00

Here's why I don't turn to mainstream American news outlets (did I really just call Yahoo! a news outlet?) for Tour coverage. I think profanity is the only reasonable response. This guy is a total dip-shit. Really. Wow! If you click through, I hope the hundreds of responses/comments are still viewable. Many of the respondents write well and make solid arguments against Johnson's piece. Some respondents sound about as moronic as Johnson, but still get the gist.

To sum up, I tend to agree with the general point that Americans would be absolutely flabbergasted (and would then spiral into a disgusting state of denial) by what proper and aggressive doping controls in the major leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, etc.) would yield. Would we stand to have the Super Bowl and NBA play-offs put on hold for two years if stringent testing revealed a handful of cheaters? Naht bloody lahkley!! But somehow a total douche like this Johnson joker gets his drivel published on Yahoo!

Darn You, Paul Weller!!

2008-07-11T10:32:00.003-04:00

I often suffer the problem of getting a really, really terrible song stuck in my head during my rides. They play on repeat in my cranium for hours and hours and hours. Last year at Coppi, for example, a coupla kids (I think they were Human Zoom or Waste Management riders from out of town, though that's largely irrelevant) hanging out in the parking lot were blasting Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson and all sorts of other poppy, sappy goodness during our prep period. Not sure how I survived the race with 'Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend! No way, no way, I think you need a new one!' circling in my head relentlessly. I managed...somehow.

My latest malady? Not being able to shake that friggin' 'Brand New Start' song from my head. Someone make it stop!!!!! Please!!!

On a related note... Maybe I'm crazy, but I believe that commercial's earlier incarnation showed David Millar among the convicted or suspected or admitted dopers. Can someone confirm? If he was part of v. 1, I find it quite interesting he no longer appears. I wonder who ordered the removal and how it all went down. Zabel is there and he still rides. Millar's shtick has, at least recently, been to not hide his past. Maybe being lumped with Ullrich and Landis and Vino was just a bit too much for him to stomach. Of course, maybe I'm making up what I saw in v. 1.

UPDATE: I'm not crazy. There is a different version. Included? Pantani, Riis, extra footage of Landis, and...Millar.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=36350237

Sqoil

2008-07-08T15:07:00.002-04:00

All my years on the bike, I've feared that moment when a squirrel would get caught somewhere (front wheel, rear wheel, chain ring, chain, etc.) in my bike. Well...it finally happened.

6AM. Gorgeous weather. Starting my ride and rolling down Idaho toward Cathedral (rolling at about 20 mph), a squirrel darted out of nowhere and I didn't even see it before it was wrapped up in my front wheel. I probably broke its neck, but the bladed spokes somehow didn't cut it open. It flopped around in my wheel once or twice before it kicked out, went flying in the air, and landed on my right thigh. Then it fell to the ground. I shrieked like a 12 year old girl. Holy crap. Quite a start to the morning. I feel lucky I didn't hit the deck and injure myself. The sqoil, however, was not that lucky.

Everything Must Go!!!

2008-06-11T07:47:00.006-04:00

That's right boys and girls. It's time to liquidate. 'Everything' is a bit of an exaggeration, but three out of the eight bikes must find new homes. Sad to have to let 'em go, but there's nothing I can do to stop this.

For now, I only have pics of the road bike. Pics of the mountain bikes should follow in the coming little while. Anyhow...

Ritchey Road Logic:

Size 52cm. Ritchey ‘Nitanium’ (Tange) tube-set. Shimano Ultegra 9-speed drivetrain (shifters, brake set, front and rear derailleurs) with FSA Team Issue carbon crankset. Chris King headset. Accessory parts are brand new and never used/ridden. Bars: Cannondale C3, 31.8mm, 42cm. Stem: Cannondale C4, 90mm. Seatpost: Cannondale C2 carbon wrapped, 27.2mm. Saddle: Fi'zi:k Pave Sport Mg. Wheelset: Ritchey WCS Protocols with very low mileage. Lovingly cared for and professionally maintained by Pinkey Gonzales at Revolution Cycles.

Gunnar Ruffian:

Steel, hand-built frame. 16". Tricked out pretty nicely. Chris King headset. Phil Wood hubs hand-laced to Mavic 517 rims. Rigid fork. Truvativ cranks. Fun little bike. Black and stealth.

Gunnar Rockhound:

Similar frame as the Ruffian. This one is geared. Also 16".

If anyone is interested in any of these bikes, leave a comment or drop me a line.

The Stage is Set!

2008-04-06T09:46:00.003-04:00

Two hours of Ronde van Vlaanderen coverage this evening. And I'm ready for it!!

Take 10!

2008-03-21T14:15:00.000-04:00

Make sure you have ten minutes to devote and then watch this.

HTFU Award Winner

2008-03-17T10:54:00.002-04:00

Am I reading this right? Follow this link and scroll to the entry about Linus Gerdemann.

Dude was TT-ing at 60km/h and fell down. Impact resulted in a broken femur that will require surgery and six weeks of no competitions. Seems like it must've hurt. The kicker? After breaking his femur, he re-mounted the bike and rode another 2km to the finish line. Finished 1'16" off the world champion's winning pace. Maybe I'm a wimp, but those events make Gerdemann sound pretty effin' hard-man.

Bound for Hollywood!

2008-02-29T11:35:00.002-05:00

Though my acting career fizzled in '91, I'm still following my dreams and heading to Hollywood. My dreams at this point consist of a respite from the 20 degree weather 'round here. And so it will be. Hollywood, FL, here I come!!

Rocked a tough trainer session last night. Z5 stuff. Sweat out half my body weight. I'm pretty bummed to have to hang up the cleats for the next four days, as I'm feeling on a good trajectory. Feeling like I must keep the hard efforts up to be ready for racing in two weeks. Maybe four days off will yield an even deeper drive when I return to DC next week.

Truth is, I should probably ship the Ritchey down to Florida so I have something to ride when I visit my parents. The bike would probably see more use that way. As it stands, it's collecting dust in G'burg. If I can't sell it, I might as well use it...even if that's once or twice a year.

On the dining front...the trip will include a visit to some old favorites. We've been going to Wagon's West for at least 25 years. Not surprisingly, they have no Interweb presence, otherwise I'd post a link. Needless to say...some of the best down home b'fast in the universe. Yes, the universe.

We'll also hit Joe's Stone Crab. Miami institution with a classic and straightforward menu. 'tis the season for succulent crabs. These creatures are a bit of magic. In the wild, they exhibit autotomy. So they can amputate their own claws. Further, if (and when) harvesters de-claw the crabs, they still grow back the amputated limb! And so we can eat these guys with a little less guilt. Lyonnaise potatoes, anyone?

Hoping to make Tradezone next weekend. I should be hard to miss...fat and crispy.

Food

2008-02-23T09:09:00.003-05:00

The blog has seen a dearth of food-related entries in recent months. I'm tempted to shift the food course towards only reporting on 2 Amys outings. Each trip seems ripe for analysis and comment, as each trip yields fresh, new, impeccable dishes and flavors. And we go often enough that focusing on that one restaurant would yield weekly, if not more frequent, entries.

Most recent trip was solo. Solo means I'm free to create my whole meal from wine bar offerings. Without SVR, there's no obligation towards pizza and, despite being a pizza restaurant, I'm fine skipping the pie in favor of cold items. And so it was a completely cold dinner for me at the bar.

I had:

Goat cheese and chive crostini--A go-to option. Rich, creamy, smooth, and only slightly pungent cheese flecked with enough chive to add sweetness and bite. As with all things from Scott's arsenal, quality black pepper and salt make the subtle flavors 'pop' that much more.

Root vegetables with speck--Different from the roasted root vegetable salad, this version benefits greatly from the smoky speck. The roasted version carries a certain smokiness from the char on the vegetables, but cured and smoked meat offers a far greater level of fire-y flavor. The earthy vegetables pair really well with the meaty ham and all flavors are balanced by the sweetness and tartness of a balsamic drizzle. So this dish really has it all...the sparkle of vegetables (albeit heavy, winter vegetables), the richness and depth of those vegetables mingled with cured meat, and the offset of sweet vinegar. I'd like to see this on the menu more regularly than the roasted root veg.

Smoked mackerel and potato salad--Never seen this on the menu before, but I knew I HAD to have it. Colors were subdued and boring, but I knew looks were bound to be deceiving. Found out Scott, in fact, smoked the mackerel in-house. Very cool. And my best guess is that the potatoes were fingerlings. Dominant flavors were the cedar from the smoked fish, the salt from the curing the fish underwent before smoking, the mild sweetness and creaminess of the potatoes (a lot like a fine Yukon gold), and the extreme savory punch and mineral-iness of the granular sal de mer. A winner.

Rabbit stuffed with rapini and pecorino--Another winner. This dish is, once more, about balance. The rabbit meat seems to be a mix of darker and lighter flesh and is kept in the skin. The skin adds good moisture and tenderness to the white meat which, in past experience, can dry out pretty easily. Beyond the skin's fat tenderizing the meat, the skin also crisps nicely on the outside. A bite of this rabbit starts with the crunch of the crispy skin, yields some softer fat, moves on to dense meat, and finally rewards with the bitter rapini and sharp pecorino cheese stuffed all up in the center. Scott pairs the meat component with a fruit preserve/marmalade. I don't know what fruit he uses, but I think it might be quince. Of course, the jam serves as the real icing on this savory cake. All the flavors described above are, once again, balanced with a blast of sweet. I'm a sucker for the sweet/savory pairing and this dish dials it pretty perfectly.

Beverages included a Beirra Uno (not entirely clear on the name). It was a refreshing and straightforward pilsner. Nothing complex, but a good thirst quencher.

Also had an Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale. I'm willing to call this a perfect beer and easily my favorite of all time. Did I mention how balance is my thing? Apparently the Boont Amber is a pale ale, but you wouldn't know it by looking at it. Rich copper in color, it's a joy to look at before taking a sip. The dominant flavor is the rich and mildly sweet malt. Bitter and slightly floral hops cut the sweetness just the right amount and achieve the right balance. I've had this beer on tap and in the bottle and the stuff from the keg achieves this balance best.

I also treated myself to Scott's herbal digestivo. Not for the faint at heart, this concoction lives at the very back of the bar coolers and, from what Scott tells me, rarely sees daylight. Like something out of a mad scientist's lab, this stuff is wild in look and flavor. The current batch isn't quite as blindingly fluorescent green as the last version. Still, though, the color is about as garish as Rock Racing's current green scheme. (I couldn't let this post go without at least one cycling reference.) Basil infuses most of the color and a lot of the flavor. This batch had at least fifteen other herbs thrown in the mix and the effect is pretty much liquid Ricola. To me, this drink is simply of the earth and very soothing.

Dessert was straciatella ice cream. Awesome. Good, sweet, rich vanilla cream laced delicately with dark chocolate shavings. Paired it with an espresso and sipping the coffee right after a bite of ice cream was really good. It was like a deeply pungent cup of coffee with the right amount of cream and sugar. But the mixing happened in my mouth, so it was a slightly different and better sensation.

It's funny to imagine many of the uninitiated bop in to 2 Amys, order a pie with mushrooms or some such, and never come near experiencing what makes the restaurant really shine.

Zoning In or Zoning Out???

2008-02-08T12:40:00.000-05:00

As mentioned, I've had the ol' power meter since some time in October. It has been a lot of fun to use and toy with. Ultimately, it's a pretty expensive tool to just "toy" with. I know I've been mistreating it as a thing to play with and not using it to become a better and more powerful cyclist. Part of that problem was not having baseline measurements to make the tool useful and productive. I'm happy to say, "Those days are gone!"

Winter training has been unsteady and unenthused...to say the least. This past year, I came to lean heavily on my coach for variety and specificity in the training. I've been a bit passive these last few weeks with my feedback and it was starting to show in my motivation and enthusiasm. I think it's fair to say, "We're back!"

I sucked up a twenty minute threshold test last night. Brutal stuff. And not pretty to watch, I'm sure. While not overjoyed with the results, it's a good enough starting point. JB was quick to turn around the full slate of zones, so now training can begin in earnest. I have to say, I think having my clear zones is gonna offer a new lease on life, er, cycling. I know it's late in the winter season, but hopefully the timing is right for me to put the numbers to good use and be moderately ready for the racing season. Time will tell.

Ooooh. Before I forget. I saw Mr. Puma in the gym last night. This time he was actually sporting some Puma apparel. That's the confirmation I needed to know he's a loyal customer and not just some weirdo with a random corporate tattoo. Oh, wait. Loyal customer or not, he's still a weirdo with a corporate tattoo!

Groundhog Day!

2008-02-06T12:05:00.000-05:00

Last weekend merits a bit more attention and documentation than time allows right now, but the short story is Groundhog Day weekend was awesome.

Friday: Solid evening trainer session. Followed it up with some fancy-pants eating at D&S's. I've heard about their roast chicken. Now I've tasted it. Pretty impressive. And the roasted root vegetables on the side were what I love about winter. Rich. Comforting. Colors of the earth. Mushy...in a good way. Dessert was pretty effin' impressive. Profiteroles from scratch. Who does that? D does that. Nice work...even though the chocolate sauce was from a can. At least it was from a can and not a plastic bottle. Something about Hershey's chocolate syrup from a can screams, "Classy!" I'm serious.

Saturday: Up relatively early and caught a little TV news about Punxsutawney Phil and his exploits. SVR and I watched as the news showed several couples get engaged in front of the official groundhog hole. I couldn't help but chuckle inside considering what I had in store for later that night. SVR commented on some supah fly groundhog winter hats folks sported at the event. I'm sure I can find those things online.

Innaugural outdoor ride on the new Cannondale was next up. Good times out on the road with some fellers...MattyD., hEllicott, Hot Karl, and E-rock. Also saw Kyle out on the roads. The Rival group was good enough, but initial performance confirms how much I love my buttery-smooth Dura-Ace. I'm sure Rival will feel a bit better once broken in.

Came home and promptly shipped SVR off to a baby shower in Adams Morgan. Followed up with a swing past D&S's for some final pre-engagement errands. We bopped up to Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits to get Tony's help picking out a special bottle for the big night. The idea is to follow up and buy an entire case so we can enjoy a bottle on our anniversary in the coming decades. Some Dos Equis and enchiladas at Cactus Cantina and a quick trip back to the condo to show D&S the beauty of HD and the day was nearly done. Funny...not an ounce of nerves until D&S walked out the door and I was left alone until the magic moment.

SVR arrived home at the appointed hour. Off to 2 Amys. Crowds like we've never seen. The staff did everything right, SVR was surprised out of her pants, and now we're engaged. Happy Groundhog Day!!

Sunday: Another stellar ride, this time just with Evan in the hot, hot sun, and some putzing around in the lead up to the Bowl. The game was incredible. A perfect ending to a perfect weekend. Wish my grandpa was around for all of it. Alas...

Joining the Discussion

2008-01-30T11:57:00.001-05:00

No, I'm not jumping on board the 'power numbers' band (or chuck) wagon. Instead, I'll join the weight loss fray. I think I found the easy answer to weight loss...stop training. That's right, take a lazy winter with infrequent workouts and watch the pounds drop faster than Christophe Moreau off the back of the peleton during stage 14 of last year's Tour.

Ignoring the confusion about whether fat or muscle weighs more (a pound of balsa wood weighs the same as a pound of Brazilian mahogany, right?), the equation for me is pretty simple. In the warm months, I race and train more. My leg muscles get larger. There's no doubting that. I've got 'summer' and 'winter' jeans to handle bigger or smaller seasonal quads. I'm a bit freakish that way. In any case, I easily weigh more during the height of the season because I've packed on plenty of extra leg muscle. In the winter, my legs shrink and I lose that mass. The result? The scale spits lower numbers in the cold months.

Case in point...this morning I weighed in at my lowest since the Smithsburg RR in July 2007. That day, I lost 8 pounds out on course. Started the day at 135 and finished at 127. Yipes! Needless to say, this morning found me hovering just above that low mark.

Just goes to show you...the body works in strange ways. For me, being lazy and skipping the riding results in lower weight. Don't worry, though. One thing remains constant year-round. I always eat like I'm 6'-2" and 240 lbs. And on that note, my next few posts MUST be about food, not cycling. (Might be tough, as I just took delivery of my new Cannondale with Rival parts. I anticipate offering some blog-thoughts about the SRAM stuff. More to come.)

Testing Tribulations

2008-01-17T18:49:00.001-05:00

Records indicate I've had the PT since October 19, 2007. Of course, the thing is only so good to me if I know how to use it to train better. Part of getting there is establishing the baselines, right? And that means testing. Well, up until yesterday, I hadn't done any formal testing. JB and I have been using some best guesses for my zones. Somehow, he/we decided this week was as good as any to run some tests.

Yesterday was the 5 minute test. I was supposed to follow up today with the 20 minute test. I didn't.

Yesterday was a mess and put me in my place. I could hash through every minute of those 5 minutes and describe the euphoria and despair I felt in that brief period. I'm gonna skip that in favor of a much meatier story. This one's about how my very strange mind works.

Rather than tell the tale again, I'll re-print the e-mail I just sent JB. Be warned...these are the musings of a man with some very odd fixations and tendencies.

JB-

I know, I know. It sounds odd (and like a put-on
excuse). Read on.

I brought my gear down to the gym this eve and there
were a bunch of guys touching up paint in the gym.

A little background. I have an insanely sensitive
sense of smell. Very keen, too. I should consider
sommelier school.

Another bit of history...when I was twelve years old,
we moved into a new house. I had a pet gerbil named
Aloisius. (Mind out of the gutter!!) We had the house
re-painted and the woodwork (door trim and some
parquet floor) re-sealed just as we moved in. While we
got settled in and unpacked, I put Aloisius' cage in
my step-father's office and closed the door. Well,
that room was swirling with fumes. I came home from
school the day after we moved in and went into the
office. Aloisius was awfully still in his cage. I
tapped on the glass. No movement. I tapped a bit
harder. No movement. I shook the cage slightly.
Nuthin'. I violently tossed the cage back and forth.
That's when I realized he was a goner. I thought it
through. Why did he die so suddenly? After all, he was
in the prime of his gerbil life. I concluded it was
due to the fumes. His little lungs and vascular system
just couldn't take it.

I'm sure, at this point, you can make the connection.
I know my system is a little tougher than a small
rodent's, but maybe not by much!! Needless to say, I
don't think I could bring myself to vigorously breathe
in a room filled with paint fumes. Talk about feeling
a little lightheaded stepping off the bike.

And so here I am. It's all too bad, as I made a coffee
run in the second half of the day and was buzzin'
pretty hard from that. That energy, paired with some
oatmeal I downed at around 3:30PM, seemed like it was
gonna carry me to some good results. Good results,
though, depend on a clear mind and body. The
conditions downstairs aren't ripe for either of those
things.

I'll assess tomorrow and try to tackle it then. I know
this sucks, but sh*t happens.

And the apartment offers its own psychological
barriers. I'm a clean freak. Plus, our living room is
covered by some uber special rug SVR brought back
from Afghanistan. It's worth many thousands of
dollars. I think I'd be in a boatload of trouble if I
sweated 20' worth of testing on that thing. So...my
desire to not sweat all over the damn place in an
effort to sate my clean freak tendencies, paired with
the wrath of SVR, is enough to also inhibit a
successful test in the apartment.

I'm at an impasse.

I think this rambling note has to migrate to the blog.
I'm a nutter!!

Best,
JFW

There you have it. The reason I'm blogging instead of testing. I'll hope for fresher air tomorrow. I'll also hope I'm feeling as amped and energized as I was when I stepped foot in the gym earlier this eve.

Brand Loyalty

2008-01-10T08:37:00.000-05:00

Hit the trainer for a bit yesterday evening. I set up in the small gym in the basement of our building. Nice arrangement down there. If I did any sort of weight training during the winter, it has about all I'd need. Hey Josef, it's right at my finger tips!! Can't we put it to good use???

For indoor riding purposes, it's nice to have a rubberized floor, a mirror (cyclists are a vain lot, right?), the option to not schmutz up our condo, and the company of others. Of course, sometimes the company of others is a bit of a curse. I see some absurd things happen in that gym. In the past, I vowed to write down the oddities so I could periodically report them here. Never happened. Since the start of the year, I have noticed one fellow who deserves some attention.

He's definitely a newcomer to the gym, as are so many folks this time of year. As I packed up my belongings last night, I counted 18 other people in the facility. Two weeks ago on any given weekday at 7PM, there would be, at most, five other people working out. Anyhow...this newcomer is pretty non-descript. Nothing too wild and crazy, or hilarious, about his sessions. The only thing out of place...a large, black tattoo on his left cankle. Now, I got nuthin' against tattoos. Heck, the more I watch Project Runway (did I just admit that out loud???), the more I'm pondering inking up. Here's the thing about his large tattoo... This dude in the gym has the Puma corporate logo inked on his cankle! What? And so I direct you to the title of this post.

Who has that degree of brand loyalty? I should note that no visible apparel on said gym go-er sports the Puma logo. Maybe he's got some Puma compression shorts kickin' under his Nike basketball shorts, but I can't confirm that. So...how does that happen? What compels a person to permanently scar themselves with a company's graphic symbol?

Truth is, the Puma logo isn't the worst example I've seen of this dramatic and risky behavior. Evan and I saw a particularly egregious example on Beach Drive. Last summer, killin' it with some 1 minute, Zone 6 efforts, we rolled up on a cyclist with the Specialized 'S' on the back of his leg (calf region). It was big. It was red. It was all Specialized! If I remember correctly, much like Puma dude, Specialized man wasn't even repreezentin' with his equipment and apparel choices. I think he was sportin' a Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team branded Trek and a full Discovery kit. I didn't inspect closely, but I suspect Specialized man was rockin' a Specialized water bottle. I'll give him a bit of credit there, but that choice was probably accidental (and practically unavoidable). Check the underside of most of your water bottles and you'll note Specialized has a corner on that market. Anyhow...I can only guess he like Specialized stuff enough to get the tattoo but NOT use their gear. Go figure.

This got me thinking about brand loyalty...particularly as it relates to cycling. Where do I come down? I'm a creature of habit. Heck, E&K got me the Obsessive Compulsive Action Figure for the holidays. I don't mess with the things that work well for me.

And so I noticed all my accessory bicycle parts (bars, stems, and seat posts) are Ritchey. I think it's fair to say I've got some serious loyalty there. My first proper road bike was a Ritchey. I've got a pair of their wheels. I've got three of their saddles and I have a stockpile of other random Ritchey stuff for any future bikes. The stuff makes sense. Good design. Light weight. Unassuming aesthetics. Phenomenal price point (save their carbon stuff). Cool as it is, would I ever get a tattoo of the Ritchey logo (see below) on my cankle or chest or arm or ass? Mmmmm, no.

Sorry Tom.

Additionally, I have a pretty comfortable relationship with my Mavic wheels. All the reasons I love the Ritchey parts apply to my Mavic stuff. Mostly, the Mavic goods stand up to abuse (not that I give them much), last a long time, and are pretty easy to service. They are quality products that have served me right to date and will, I'm sure, into the future. Is there a Mavic tat' in my future. Naht bloody lahkly!My point? I've got some favorite products and manufacturers...yes. Am I soooooooo devoted that manning up to be their roving billboard from now until the grave sounds like a good plan? Nah. It'd take a heck of sweet sponsorship deal to get me to that point. Who knows, maybe you'll see me with a big ol' GamJams image running the length of my leg this season! Stay tuned.

You're news source?

2007-12-19T22:36:00.000-05:00

This just in on Yahoo!'s landing page:

'Study: Divorced parents do just as good as married couples'

Really? Really!?! Just as good, hunh?

effective against, sensitive toward, or counteracting more than one toxin, microorganism, or antigen

2007-12-10T15:21:00.000-05:00

Guess what word in the following description of the Look 586 the title of this post defines.

"With a high degree of polyvalence, cyclists with prompt legs and looking for performance will find a choice mount with it."

Double whammy! Buy a Look frameset and also get an advanced, infection-fighting, medical technology. Why didn't Cannondale think of that?

Sunday, Rainy Sunday

2007-12-09T19:02:00.000-05:00

Went to sleep Saturday night pretty pumped about the first long, social winter ride of the 'off' season. Woke up at least four times in the middle of the night to sounds of car wheels on a very wet Wisconsin Ave. 6:30AM rolled around and the scent of coffee (I love the delay brew feature!!) woke me once more. Stepped out onto the still wet balcony and knew my nancy gene was about to take over. I quickly ceded and sent out the APB text: 'Looking a bit too wet 4 my blood.' I knew I'd catch some flack. Like clockwork, the requisite insults and taunts rolled in. 'Wimp.' 'Nancy.' 'Made of sugar?' It's a good thing I can take a friendly ribbing, 'cause it seems like cyclists, at least the friendly and easy-going ones, are prone to laying it on...thick-like.

And so I settled in for a lazy Sunday. Groceries, egg sandwiches, some minor cleaning, catching up on Netflix, catching up on Top Chef, a trip to the post office, and other household projects took center stage. The option of hitting the trainer still loomed, but I opted out. Plus, SVR is pretty deep in the flu locker, so I had to also tend to her needs.

The biggest accomplishment of this rare Sunday off was hanging the three most recent additions to the Gallerie de Walenander. The 780 s.f. (on a humid day) condo has few advantages. One big plus is that there's little room for too many major home projects. A big day working around the house involves hanging a painting or two and vaccuming the baseboards! Needless to say, we took possession of the latest pieces (two more Calders and a Sharir) from FAAG about a month ago and they've been stacked precariously at the back of the couch ever since. If Brian at FAAG knew, he'd have our heads! With minimal bickering and unanimous agreement on placement, the walls in the dining corner and bedroom are now adequately arted out.

When 'flat out' isn't good enough

2007-12-05T08:01:00.000-05:00

Much like last year, 'cross season ended with a bust. Rather, 'cross season ended with a buRst. Burst rear tube.

Without Nationals on the race schedule, I looked to Reston as my final race this season. I rode there last year to a pretty unimpressive finish, but totally dug the course. And Reston's also the first place I watched a 'cross race, so there's that. Special place.

Arrived to the site with the bearded one in tow. Weather was ripe for 'cross. Nice nip in the air and overcast skies. Was feeling pretty good with my fitness but also knew I wouldn't be in contention for much with the MABRA 'A' crue racing down a category at the MAC event.

Things took a turn for the worse when I noticed I left my lucky charm back at the ranch. The pig has protected during a lot of close calls. Given a crash at a 'cross race generally doesn't yield major mechanical dysfunction or serious bodily injury, I held out hope I might get through the race, sans pig, without any bad luck. I was even running a new chain watcher and tightened down the crank arm that nearly fell off at Taneytown, so I thought I'd at least be immune from dropping or chain or, worse still, an entire crank!

The pig chillin'...2.4 style

Pre-rode once and liked the changes to the course. Lined up third row. Was, for once, not shivering or nervous at the start. Gun went off and...par for the course, I couldn't find my friggin' pedal. Clearly something to work on for next season. Watched the strong guys ride away. Lost all sorts of position, but felt strong on the power sections. Cutting to the chase...3/4 of the way through the first lap, I flatted out back. Game over. Season over. Story over.

Overall, this 'cross season was a bit of a joke for me. No results, save a 6th at DCCX. I didn't put much effort into training for the sport this year, so I'm not surprised by the disappointments. At this point, I am looking forward to some social winter riding and also keeping fingers crossed re: an upgrade to the 'III' ranks.

Rush Job

2007-11-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

Think the fellers at Legal Intentionz can get the Redline up and running with a phat system in time for Capital 'Cross Classic??? Fingers 'crossed!

Expecting???

2007-11-28T07:34:00.000-05:00

For those who think cycling causes infertility, check out these shots!!

Busted Up in Boise

2007-11-13T17:59:00.000-05:00

There's misery. And then there's misery. Running a nice fever right now and feeling like utter, utter poop, so I'll get to the point.

Just back from a 4.5 days trip to Boise, ID. That place takes the cake for having the nicest strangers I've met. How nice is this? I entered a 'cross race out there. Strangers were willing to let me race their bikes. I used Hal's, as the rig the promoter arranged to let me use never showed. Long story short, I effed up Hal's bike real good. And banged myself up pretty nicely in the process. The damage count? One sheared derailleur hanger, one broken chain, one rear wheel in dire need of truing, and some badly mangled cable and housing. How did Hal handle the news? He laughed it off like a champ. Unbelievable. Ain't nuthin' but a thang to him. Beyond that, I just got an e-mail from the race promoter telling me he heard my day turned out to be a major bust. He wants to return my money. Really? Man, too nice. I think the $25 should definitely go toward's Hal's next entry fee. No doubt.

In other news...I'm sick as a dog. Or did I already mention that? Ugh.

Off to attend the condo's annual association meeting. More misery.

Remember This???

2007-11-06T15:26:00.000-05:00

I'm a stubborn bastard. That's for sure. Any sane person would've taken this incident to heart and done something definitive to prevent future malfunction. Not me. Lazy (note the blog name) and mechanically dumb.

The Tacchino course is the kinda course that makes me squirm with glee. Only catch, it's bumpy as heck. Kinda like my washboard abs. Or not. In any case, seems the courses suited to my strengths are the ones that also like to shake my chain loose. Again, see this report.

After five dropped chains this past Sunday, I had to excuse myself. Pretty disappointing, but so was having to dismount twice a lap to fix my chain. Beyond that hiccup, the fitness was surprisingly okay. The field was similar to DCCX, the course was slightly less technical, and I saw a top five within the 'crosshairs (pun...intended...absolutely) after another front row start. The 'cross season has been a bit of a bummer, but I also haven't devoted time, energy, and fitness to it. The DCCX result was encouraging and another decent result on a course I really like would've been slightly redeeming. I guess that'll have to wait.

This coming weekend...Race Pace. I won the C race there last year. Must be another course I like. I remember some sweet power sections and some good run-ups I managed to ride. I'm psyched to see how I fare in the B race. But that will have to wait until next year. This weekend will find me scoping the scene in Boise.

I'm turning over a new leaf on many fronts, so I hope to update here much more regularly.

It happened again...

2007-08-26T20:29:00.001-04:00

Dunno that I've written about it before, but I've, several times in the past, suffered bizarre episodes of hearing tunes by favorite musicians creep their way into corporate advertisements.

It started with a Buick(?) commercial several years ago. I was in the kitchen and washing dishes. The boob tube was on in the other room and suddenly I heard the opening riffs to 'Gravity Rides Everything' (Modest Mouse). Hunh? I thought the TV had shut down and the stereo had suddenly sprung to life. Hands still wet, I scooted into the living room and couldn't quite believe my eyes and ears. A big-wig ad exec probably overheard some 'indie' tunes spilling from his teenage son's bedroom and figured it'd make a good soundtrack for his next project. And so there I was, watching a soccer mom load up her Buick mini-van to Isaac Brock's wistful guitar composition.

Next up was Dickie Buckman (politely known as Richard Buckner). Same situation as above. TV was on, I was in another room, and I heard a tune that hit home. And this time it was 'Ariel Ramirez' as background for a VW commercial. With that one, I even got the background story, as I chatted up Richard at the next Iota show he played. Of course, I can't remember how it all went down. Needless to say, I don't know the exposure launched Mr. Buckner to any sorta super-stardom. I have to say, though, he hasn't been as publicly available at the last coupla Iota shows.

And now VW's back at it. They've jumped on the Jeff Tweedy express. That's right. Wilco is prominently featured in VW's current ad campaign. I've seen two commercials and, on first listen, recognize them from 'Sky Blue Sky.' That album isn't yet permanently ingrained in my brain like all the others, so I can't cite the specific songs played. Never mind one ad seems to promote driving for no constructive reason. In it, some dude wakes up at 5AM to drive around with no specific errand to run and crawls back in bed one hour and twenty-seven minutes later. Good message to send with gas at $3+ a gallon. Anyhow, I guess it all leads to one conclusion...

My musical tastes are a little more conventional than they used to be.

Next thing you know, I'll hear Built to Spill's 'Reasons' as the backing track for a Target commercial. When that happens, I think I'll have to official retire any aspirations of being 'music forward.'

A Shared Pain

2007-08-14T14:34:00.000-04:00

Mike May smartly sums up the coach/cyclist relationship here.

Tri-hawk Confusion

2007-08-13T19:10:00.000-04:00

Apparently, my lack of follow through has caused my Grandma some confusion. Long ago, I promised an entry describing and showing a newly discovered, fashion-forward, blow the Euros away hair-do. I never made good on the offer and didn't realize my actions would have such major repercussions.

And so here is a photo of the style I call the tri-hawk. Though the faux-hawk still seems a bit radical in the U.S., I think this look steps it up a whole level...maybe two. Check it:

That one's for you, Grandma.

A pleasant time at the Good Valley Road Race

2007-08-06T19:43:00.000-04:00

Rather, 'A good time at the Pleasant Valley Road Race.'

This past weekend, I lined up for the first running of the Pleasant Valley Road Race. Great course. Decent rollers, but nothing out of control. The finish was cool...a pretty steep pitch with about 200 meters to go.

The heat was the toughest part of the race. I heard several reports at the start line of temps hitting around 108 degrees. Hot!

The race was largely uneventful and I didn't feel too taxed...despite the heat. Maybe it has something to do with 15 years of athletic competition in Miami, Florida, but I tend to do okay in the extreme heat.

For me, the highlight of my race was my ill-timed move to the front. As I've mentioned, my worst enemy for a finishing sprint is, not surprisingly, position in the last km. I tried to work things out so I would move to the front for the last 3km or so. Well, my cyclometer must've been playing tricks on me. I worked my way forward thinking there were about 1.5 miles to go. Dave Crouse was up there and I got the sense he also thought we were closer to home than we were.

We jockeyed up front for about 3 more miles before we hit the final two pitches. Coming into what was the feed zone, I was sitting about third wheel. Never one to want to piss off the bunch, I held off crossing the yellow line in the closing stretch. I kinda thought we were free to move over at the base of the feed zone climb, but then I heard someone claim the road was open at 200 meters to go. Of course, I never saw a 200 meter sign. And so I never made a jump that might've won the sprint. Instead, I gave a push up the final short hill and passed a Route1 rider about 1 yard from the finish line. I try not to give up coming to the line and this time it paid off with a fifth place finish.

It was a wonderful day to be out racing bikes and it was all the better with my closest crew cheering from the sidelines. Thanks to hEllicott, the Commish, and SVR for being there at the finish and then trucking up to Ellicott City for post-race sustenance and libations. Mmmm.

Recycled News

2007-08-06T19:23:00.000-04:00

With the heat index still over 100 degrees at 7:30PM, surely I've an excuse for feeling lethargic. My lethargy is forcing me to recycle my account of a fun and entertaining weekend of racing at the International Tour de 'Toona. At the urging of my 'mates who weren't around to witness my results, I posted the following on the team's Google groups board:

Friday

The circuit race was fun. I heard there was little chance at breaks sticking, but I didn't let that stop me from bridging to the only break of the day. Turned out to be a bust, but at least I opened up the legs a bit with that one.

The finish was in town and quite technical. I wasn't forward enough coming into the first turn into town. There were requisite crashes and I held on for a not-so-impressive 23rd. No points.

Saturday

The 4s did a short race. We went up and down one hill and came ripping into 'Toona. I crested the climb with a lead group of about 15. The descent was incredible! Looking at the cyclometer, and I assume my max speed for the stage wasn't during the sprint, we maxed out at 54 mph. That was made possible by the very cool rolling enclosure. Those speeds are only do-able when you can take the whole road for turns.

Coming into town, I heeded Evan's excellent advice and kept my eyes open for the 1 km sign. I guess our lead group turned into about 27 guys by that point. I tend to have a problem getting good positioning coming into a sprint, so this time I made a decision that coulda bit me in the tush. At about 750 meters, I clawed my way to the front, right side of the group. I hung out in the wind for a good 500 meters. It was my only chance to stay up front. At about 250 meters, I saw the 200 meter sign and figured my best chance was to go from that distance. I ramped up and laid down as much sprint as my 131 pound body could muster. Turned out to be enough. Good times. 25 points.

Sunday

So...after stage two, I was sitting pretty in third on the GC. The guy in fourth was one point back. The goals for Sunday were to finish the crit and try to keep rider 603 in my crosshairs so I could finish near him. I thought I had it wrapped up. With five laps to go, I stopped seeing his number in the 20 or so guys who were ahead of me on course. Seemed like good news. Like Friday, I never took the risk enough to get into the top ten for the finish sprint. I rolled in for 21st, but was content to finish a crit that clocked in faster than the cat. 3s. Not seeing 603 ahead of me, I thought I was gonna hold on to my GC spot. No such luck. During the podium presentation, mister 603 was standing tall on the top step. Doh!

In the end, my weakness in the crit bumped me three spots to 6th on the GC. Not the best. Not the worst.

All in all, 'Toona was a blast. TnT's support was excellent and appreciated. Of course, Evan needs to get better soon.

The Big 'Toona

2007-07-31T13:36:00.000-04:00

Complete post in short order.

Short(est) story...pulled off a 'w' for stage two and a 6th in the overall GC (Cat. IV, of course). Felt strong every step of the way.

Vino Collapso

2007-07-24T13:03:00.000-04:00

Borrowing from Phil Liggett's commentary a few years back. Then, however, he said, "Not quite Vino collapso." Now we can just lop off the 'not quite' and be done with it. (BTW...maybe Steven can confirm the term's Scottish origin.)

I hate to rush to judgment, but...this is just sickening. I can only imagine the first excuse will be from a doctor. He'll say, "Vino suffered some massive blood loss during his crashes. A transfusion was the only option to keep him going." It sure kept him going, eh?

Judd's Preliminary

2007-07-06T19:26:00.000-04:00

1. Vino
2. Levi
3. Valverde
4. Evans
5. Menchov
6. Sastre
7. Moreau
8. Kloden
9. Schleck
10. Popo

Green: Boonen
Polka: Rasmussen
White: Dekker

In the wings: Rogers, Karpets, Beltran

Rob's Preliminary

2007-07-06T19:24:00.000-04:00

1. Vino

2. Levi

3. Menchov

4. Kloden

5. Evans

6. Moreau

7. Kashenchkin

8. Sastre

9. Contador

10. Pereiro

Green - McEwen

Polkadot - Moreau

The Rules

2007-07-06T19:19:00.000-04:00

Choose the top ten.

1 point for each rider in the top ten.

Additional 3 points for each correct podium placing.
Additional 2 points for a correct placing in the top 4-10.

5 points for the yellow jersey.

3 points for points jersey.

3 points for mountain jersey.
3 points for white jersey.

47 total possible points.

XS

2007-06-27T11:44:00.000-04:00

Turns out, extra-small cycling jerseys have extra-small rear pockets. Who woulda thunk it? I guess I must choose between fit, fashion, and function.

Been trying to find a moment to settle in for a substantial update covering euro-style trend setting (I stumbled on a new hair style I'll call the 'tri-hawk'), trials and tribulations out on Skyline Drive (I pulled a Pete Custer and snapped a cable right at the start of things), and speed and fury at Reston (I finished the dang thing despite wasting sh*t tons of energy wondering if I should actually saddle up after watching a fellow in the 3/4 race break his arm nearly in two). Sounds like a potentially meaty post, eh?

Maybe I'll be in good shape to jot a robust post after tonight's beer tasting dinner at Colorado Kitchen with MattyD. and Katie. Should be fun!

Say it ain't so!!!

2007-06-12T21:30:00.000-04:00

Many, many, many years ago, he was one of my absolute favorites.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/ap_en_tv/obit_herbert

RIP

The Quicksilver--2007

2007-06-11T18:42:00.000-04:00

I'm kinda at a loss to make something exciting out of something quite ordinary. The Quicksilver was a tough-ish effort and nothing more thrilling than a chance to avoid falling down.

I've not succeeded much with the crit thing and wasn't expecting much more this time around. At least the day was pleasant, with sunshine galore, and I didn't need to rise at 5AM to get to the race start. As much as I prefer early mornings for getting a jump on the day, I don't tend to excel at the early morning racing.

Arriving early at the race allowed for some solid pre-race socializing. Pete Custer (racing with the 4s for some mind-boggling reason) was manning the DJ booth and keeping the tunes fresh. Had a pleasant chat with Steven Grant and got caught up on his whirlwind European tour. Drooled over Dave Crouse's carbon hoops (which, unfortunately, didn't serve him so well down the road). And laughed a bit at how mellow Linus, Eric Welp's greyhound, keeps it. Apparently, he used all his energy out on the race track (Linus, not Eric). Also touched base with William Stiles, the fellow whose badly injured finger at Poolesville left me looking like a real warrior. See the long overdue bloodbath shots.

It was nice to warm it up out on the course and, believe it or not, the few loops seemed adequate and a nice change from time wearing down the rubber on the trainer.

We started with 100 guys and I actually landed a second row starting position. In the past, good starting positions usually yielded messy pedal entry and lost momentum and position for me. For once, the start went fluidly and I wasn't out the back before the first turn. TnT was pretty well represented and I had some mid-race communication with David Kemp. We tried a few tandem moves, but I think the tactics still need some brushing up. In due time.

The long and short of it is...I didn't get dropped, lapped, or catapulted towards the pavement. Heck, I think (as it all runs together after going round and round and round and round) I even covered two attacks and vaguely initiated two. One time, I even tried to bridge to Kemp and thought we might power along together. No luck there. Another time, I was glad to see Pete Custer bridge up. If the past was any indicator, I thought we might gun it and actually stay away. No dice there either.

Needless to say, this crit was another chance for some hot heads to scream and shout and curse and more or less get violent in the closing few laps. As others noted, there were even some fists flying on the last lap or two. I just don't get that. Seems like, once the crashes start, the tempers flare even hotter.

Speaking of crashes, I came really, really, really close to getting taken down. The first crash of the race happen two wheels ahead of me. There were the typical jumps and jives to avoid the fallen men. I ended up leaning heavily on rider 490 (dunno know his name...just his number). He/we did, in my opinion, an excellent job of counter-balancing and righting ourselves. Freaky shit, but we made it through.

For me, the finish was fair to middling. I came into the last turn far enough up in the field to avoid the requisite crash that effed up a bunch of guys farther back in the pack. I didn't, however, come in far enough forward to really contest the sprint. And the course was really well suited to my finishing ability...a punchy little uphill for the last 150m. Much like at Carl Dolan, I was far enough back to survey the front twenty guys losing all sorts of steam. Of course, I felt like my cylinders were ready to fire it up. Alas, I just didn't have the killer instinct to wind it up to fight for that top five or ten. I get pretty nervous that the fellers fading up front aren't gonna hold a steady course as they approach the line. Picking, bobbing, and weaving through the ten guys ahead of me just struck me as too risky. And so I settled for 17th.

Considering my past weak showings at crits, I'm relatively satisfied with how things panned out at The Quicksilver.

There are actually a few road races on the calendar in the not too distant future. Hopefully JB can help me train up for some good results at the discipline that better suits my abilities.

More speed for 2008

2007-05-31T16:44:00.000-04:00

On the heels of my earlier post...looks like they'll just keep making the cars faster and faster. My 150hp engine always seems to get me where I need to go...on time. Do we really more cars with 300+ hp engines???

Speed

2007-05-31T11:31:00.000-04:00

Driving scares the crap out of me. This past Sunday, I drove to and from Camden Yards. On the Beltway, I was sitting pretty at about 70 mph. I was still driving above the speed limit. The way cars around me passed so quickly, it seemed like I was practically sittin' still. They had to be clocking upwards of 85 and 90 mph.

And then shit like this happens. It's a tragic, terrible thing. I can't, however, help but dwell on the final sentence of the article...

'The accident "illustrates the problem we have with speed and what can happen in an instant," High said.'

This isn't to say any of the resulting damage wouldn't have happened at slower speeds, but I think lots of folks don't register how bad it all can get at 85+ mph.

I say, "Slow down!" It's true on the highway and it's true on side streets.

Three weeks of silence

2007-05-25T13:54:00.000-04:00

Not nearly as long as Bjarne Riis's fourteen years of silence.

I don't have time to go on endlessly about the sh*t going down in the pro ranks right now. Needless to say, it's a meaningful change from the years and years of secrets and lies and crime.

On the one hand, it's hard to watch my most favorite sport's most elite players cop to such disgraceful behavior. I'm not one to see the courage of fessing up. Plenty of commentators expressed pride in Millar when he came out with it. Don't forget, he came out with it all after they found the goods. It has also been said of others. I don't buy the courage bit. I am, though, a bit proud that cycling is owning up to its mistakes while so many other sports (bigger budget, bigger return American sports) continue to keep the wool pulled tightly over Americans' star-struck eyes. You gotta figure there's a seriously dark underbelly to pro football and baseball and basketball. I don't expect stars of those sports to magically and suddenly see the light. Too much cay-shhh to lose. Point being, I think there's something slightly redeeming to cycling being the whipping boy...the sport to take the hard knocks while the others continue living the lies. Just like cyclists, eh? It a painful process...these confessions and admissions. But have you ever known a cyclist to shy away from pain?

And on to my personal pain.

I've been training very, very sporadically. I'm not impressed and am eager to get back on it. This week was a marked improvement, but still nothing to write home about. Still eagerly awaiting my chance at training with powah. I'm hoping to secure the PT within the month.

On the racing front, I think I've only managed Poolesville between Ephrata and now. What a disappointing race. I surprised myself last year and hung on for a decent finish. I expected, and was gunning for, better this year.

The race seemed slow. The gravel was more fun. And then I crashed. I was better off than most. I simply rode up and on to a pile of downed cyclists. Untangling bike and body took long enough for a gap to form to the leaders. I chased like a dog and never re-gained contact. My cheering section (thanks Drew and Sonja and Evan) encouraged me to finish the last lap. I'm glad I did. I'd post photos of my blood-splattered shoes and legs, but the home computer is broken. So I finished, but all by my lonesome. Better luck next year, eh?

The personal pain also includes the aforementioned computer problems. The screen on the laptop is shot, so I can't post to the blog, can't download the Max Blob's photos, and can't update my training log. And so life comes to a grinding halt, right?

Long weekend on tap. Looking forward to having mom and Dale in town. Can't wait to show 'em the new digs, take in an Orioles game, gorge myself at Komi, walk the trail near our place, and maybe even fit in a training ride or two. No Kelly Cup for me. And no CSC for us amateurs. I think I've got a few crits lined up in the next month. It'd be great to actually race one of those with some confidence and certainty.

There's more to tell, but there's also work to do, right?

Tour d' Ephr-notta lot to report

2007-05-03T16:39:00.000-04:00

Five days removed, there's not much memorable about this year's TdE.

Road Race: Spent the morning watching the ambulances come and go. Lined up for the Cat. 4 race in good position in the staging area. Waiting for the medics to clean up the mayhem from the women's race, I decided to take one last potty break. Of course, the officials opened the staging area flood gates while I was takin' a wicked pissah. I exited the john to find my ever-so-loyal (for how much longer after my brilliant bathroom break move?) teammate, Dave Kemp, still holding my bike upright and waiting for me. We ended up at the back of the group at the official start/finish line. I felt terrible for Dave. That's about as exciting as things got.

Never really worked my way up to the front on the narrow roads. Avoided three crashes out on the course. Hung back for the sprint and watched plenty of guys shoulder each other off the road and generally make a mess of things. Rolled in for an impressive 40th!

TT: Windy. I did worse this year than I did last. Naaahce. Ahh liihke. I did not make any sort of sexy time. Got to the top of the climb in 27:47...good enough for 27th.

Crit: One word for you: shelled. I was not too happy with myself. Still can't claim to be much of a crit rider. Evan reported, however, that, once off the back of the peleton, I appeared to be traveling at about the same speed (read: pretty fast). One thing that kept me in it...the guys hanging out just around corner two and, every time I dragged my tired ass up the short incline there, totally cheering for me 'cause they misunderstood my grimace for a sh*t-eating grin. I guess I was rockin' it Horner style and they loved it. Sometimes it's the little things, eh?

Two other good things that came out of the crit:

1. I got plenty of practice cornering at speed...alone.
2. The crit turned out to be, more or less, a LT test for me.

Overall, I can't say I was happy with any results. Maybe three days off the bike last week wasn't such a good idea.

Hoping for better this Saturday at Poolesville.

Dolan out the hurt!

2007-04-23T12:16:00.000-04:00

No 'net at home these days. Infuriating, but still not resolved. Meantime, I'll drop this quick report during my lunch break.

Carl Dolan was lots of fun. After my lackluster showing at one of the Tradezone races, I wondered how well I'd do on a shorter, faster, circuit race. I'm content with how things went. Also, I think it's a good sign I can isolate what might've accounted for my middling results.

The race seemed fast enough to me. As others posted, I agree there was way too much unnecessary slowing at completely random spots on the road, but we did cover our 25.2 miles in exactly 59 minutes.

Had quite a few teammates at this race. They seemed to do well latching onto each others' wheels. I have to say, I favored the right side of the road for most of the race and wasn't very quick to jump in line with our guys on the left side of the road. No matter. The meat of my story really comes from the lone aggressive move I pulled all day and the final kilometer of the race.

My aggressive move was pretty laughable. Lap 3 was a prime lap. I didn't win it. I did, however, launch a hilarious and pointless attack after two guys already tore away from the field for the prime. Here are two shots (shot 1 and shot 2) of me blazing up the right side of the finishing climb. As I rode by nearly all the field, I heard some amusing "What the?"s and "Oh my god!"s and "Woah!"s. I don't suspect anyone was impressed or worried. Mostly, I suspect they were amused and confused. Why the eff did I bother? Well, I kinda just wanted to see how fast I could get up that hill. Further, it did get and keep me at the front of the field (where I wanted to be for the last lap or two) after they swallowed me up.

The kicker about that move, though, is what could've come of it. As I crested the hill and crossed the line, I saw two guys about 50 meters up the road. They looked like they were kinda taking it easy. First thought: I think we're lapping these guys. Second though: naw, that can't be. Third thought: I could ask, but that might be pretty insulting if they're not being lapped. Current thought: maybe they were being lapped and maybe I actually won the prime.

When I caught those guys, no one (including yours truly) made a move to organize and try to stay away from the field. I looked over my shoulder and we easily had 200 meters on the field. Thinking back, I should've continued to drill it and tried to stay away all by my lonesome. Who knows? Maybe it would've stuck.

Anyhow...getting to the finish. Strategy on this one was pretty simple. I had to make sure I was within the top 25 coming out of the turn with 1km to go. I was. Good news. Further, I wanted to use the right lane (which only opened up with about 250m(?) to go) for my sprint. I talked to Dave Kemp about this and he was eager to help me out. I'm just getting used to the team thing, but it's nice to have those sorts of talks with 'mates. I think my strategy was a smart idea, but there was one hiccup in the way. The enitre lead out train and strung out peleton headed to the left side of the road after the turn. Worried that I might get caught way far from the lane I wanted to take for the sprint, I opted to sit out on my own in the wind for the final 500 meters. I chose my plan over protection from the wind. Dumb move. Sitting in the wind let the front 20 ride away from me. Sticking right did keep me out of the final crash, but limited me to 9th in the Cat. 4 group. I also suffered from an All-American guy's move right across my line with about 150 to go. I was spinning the right gear, but had to slam on the brakes to avoid this dude. That slowed the momentum and I was subsequently over geared when I tried to start up again. And so it goes.

Post-race, Kemp did tell me he had all intentions of being there for the lead-out. Once again, very cool to know. He made me laugh when he described how the plan fell a bit flat. He said he was on my wheel coming into the turn. He hoped to come around me so I could latch on. In the end, though, he said I came flying out of that turn at high speed and accelerated away. Oops! It would've been fun to see how well we could've worked together. Next time, eh?

Other lessons from the race...position on the new bike is not yet dialed. I suffered terribly numb feet (left side was worst) and some really odd muscle pain in my extreme upper hammy on the right side. Hopefully this will all work itself out with continued tweaking. Final lesson acknowledged (but I'll probably never truly 'learn' it)...wear friggin' sunblock!!

Kidding? I think not!

2007-04-13T11:48:00.000-04:00

I'd love to hear that this guy is writing with his tongue fully inserted into his cheek. Unfortunately, I think he's dead (and that's how some unsuspecting cyclist or motorist will end up with assholes like this behind the wheel of their 'hulking SUVs') serious. This kinda talk gets under my skin, but I can't let it eat at me. Nothing I can do will change this moron's mind.

http://www.csbj.com/story.cfm?ID=10469

I'm not the only one

2007-04-04T08:55:00.000-04:00

Scanning the mid-Atlantic cycling blog-o-sphere, it seems I'm not the only one who is sick as a dog right now. Here are a few guys suffering in the same sorta way:

http://thewrob.blogspot.com/2007/04/snot-rocket-big-drop.html

http://fatmarc.blogspot.com/2007/04/episode-121-flat-on-my-back.html

I seem to remember coming across more, but that's all I can find for now.

Despite my hacking and phlegm, the hope is to pick back up after two days of full-on rest. If this rain stops, I'll be back out there for about two hours this afternoon.

Should be somewhere else

2007-04-01T10:06:00.000-04:00

10AM. Sunday, April 1st. I shouldn't be at my desk in front of this computer. I should be warming up at Tyson's. But sometimes...the stars don't really align. It's misting outside, I was up until 1:30AM and woke up restless at 5:45AM, I had a touch too much vino last night, and my throat feels like it's starting to close up on me. All excuses. But, shit, I just don't feel up to it. And so I'm here, feeling warm, a little foggy-brained, and heavy-legged.

Yesterday, I had a blast at the Tour of Walkersville.

Before I go there, let's travel back in time to last Sunday. I did Jeff. Cup. That was also a blast. Great roads and beautiful country. It was warm, I cramped up with about four miles to go, and that was about all she wrote. No breaks stuck. We came down to a field sprint finish and I just wasn't positioned right. Oh well. Finished with the pack. The race, though, was a big psychological success. I hadn't raced on the road since I crashed at Coppi last season. I had to overcome some mental blocks to get back out there at speed with the group.

Walkersville turned out much better than Jeff. Cup. With some advice from my ever-wise teammate, Josh, I started the race knowing where I needed to be on the last lap if I expected to even be a contendah.

Long story short...I stayed up front coming out of the final turn. There was some definite slowing approaching the final 500 meters. Coming up on about 350 to go, there was a lot of unnecessary shouting from some of the guys who wanted the front of the race to move faster. The speed ramped up and just off to my right, poor Pete Custer got tied up in a pretty bad crash. I heard it and saw it and then saw a huge Ridley, without its rider attached, flying through the air...about six feet off the ground. I watched the bike fall to the earth and knew I needed to swerve a bit left to avoid running into it. Thankfully, there was room to my left and I avoided certain disaster.

With that unfortunate crash came some wide open space on the righthand side of the road. I looked ahead and saw about five guys up the road, each with a few feet between 'em. There were probably about 100 meters to go at that point and I was picking up speed. I was pretty surprised that I was able to pick 'em off...one by one. This move, however, was none so subtle. After feeling Pete's crash, I didn't want to see or be part of another. For that reason, I announced my entire sprint to any and all who were ahead of me. As I motored down the right side, I shouted the whole way, "Coming on your right. On your right. Watch your right." Not exactly stealth tactics.

In the end, Joel (Route 1) came up on my left and almost caught me at the line. I threw the bike and I think that made the difference. At first, I assumed he was one of the guys I passed as I was closing in on the line. I assumed one of those guys was able to latch on as I came past and then follow me to the line. Joel later explained he was latched onto my wheel the whole time I moved up the right side. Go figure. I had no idea he was there. Thankfully, though, I had what it took to fend him off this time.

As much as I'd like to see what I could put together for two days in a row, I think my health will probably benefit from skipping out on Tyson's. I can't say I'm thrilled with my decision, but I think it's the right one. On top of it all, SVR leaves for Paris again tonight and I'd like to spend some good time with her before her trip.

I'd be remiss not to mention last night's meal. Citronelle was not as good as the first time I went. It was, however, decadent and a special meal. I know Drew had a great time. It's hard to believe I've been such close friends with him for twelve years! Amazing.

Not what I like to read...

2007-03-28T09:27:00.000-04:00

Let's see. I probably ride this exact intersection at least 100 times each year. Who the heck knows what happened, but this sorta thing gets me thinking.

http://www.nbc4.com/news/11403375/detail.html#

I was out on the roads this morning and had at least six close calls. Why does it have to be this hard...this stressful?

2 Amys Buzz!

2007-03-01T07:54:00.000-05:00

You heard it here first...2 Amys is expanding!

We were there last night and saw a 'Change of Operations' notice posted in the front window. It mentioned expansion to a second level. I talked to our waitress and found out some details.

The owners bought space upstairs. The plan is to shift the first floor bar to the new upstairs space. The downstairs bar space will become expanded seating. Upstairs, there'll be a new bar and additional seating. Our waitress noted the upstairs should be more mellow and quiet and spacious. Most importantly, in my mind, the upstairs is slated to be adults only!! No shrieking children allowed. For some of us, that's a relief. The approximate seating gain is 30...from 90 seats to 120 seats. They expect to open the space in three months, but our waitress said construction hasn't started and the timeline seems too ambitious. I tend to agree with that assessment.

Anyhow...maybe it'll be a little easier to get a table after they expand.

C.(ulinary) S.(cene) I.(nvestigation): Palena (Course 2)

2007-02-27T21:25:00.000-05:00

SVR-Yukon Gold Potato Gnocchi (With a Bolognese style meat sauce and shaved pecorino cheese)

JFW-Braised Beef Shortribs, "Sauerbraten" (With glazed root vegetables, quince, and chestnuts)

SVR had the famed gnocchi. I have to say, they fell a little short. The gnocchi were a little too, er, pasty. That's what my notes say, but I can't quite remember more of how to describe the texture and or effect. The Bolognese was chunky and not a ragu. Dunno if that's Ruta's twist on the sauce or if chunky is the authentic approach. In any case, the meat was on a small dice and was okay. The tomato flavor was prominent and pronounced and fresh and deep. The dish was fine, but I don't think it stood up to all the rave reviews I've read elsewhere.

I had high expectations of my second course. The 'sauer' was very, very sour. Again, I think this was the chef showing off his in-house meat curing mastery. Unlike Central's perfect, boneless short rib execution, Palena left the bone in and, not surprisingly, I felt cheated of meat. The bone was just too prominent and so the meat came across tiny. The root vegetables were a welcomed winter touch and the quince paste was cloyingly sweet, but the right flavor to temper some of the 'sauer.' The chestnuts were mashed and added a nice feel and texture to the arrangement.

C.(ulinary) S.(cene) I.(nvestigation): Palena (Course 1)

2007-02-27T21:23:00.000-05:00

SVR-Pennsylvania Raised Rabbit (Boneless saddle stuffed with herbs and hazlenuts with mostarda di frutta, pickled beets, and mustard glazed endive.)

JFW-Juniper Scented Chicken Consomme (With poached quail egg, truffled trofiette pasta, veal tongue, and slivers of foie gras. With some tender vegetables as garnish.)

The rabbit rocked. I hate dry, white rabbit. I guess the saddle is a darker cut and it was tender and adequately fatty and rich. All condiments were nice pairings, though the beets (I believe) were a bit too sweet. The other flavors couldn't quite stand up to the sugar. The mustard was perfectly pungent. Overall...a well-executed and decadent starter.

My consomme was surprisingly good. As expected, the liquid was a pale and transparent yellow. Thin in viscosity, the flavor and density was still extraordinarily rich. It's incredible how a liquid can pack such depth of flavor. All add-ins were also of distinct flavor and texture. The trofiette was almost like spaetzle. The slivers of foie gras were amazing. In most of my foie gras experience, it's seared. Good as that can be, with a nice crust on the outside yielding a near molten center, this duck liver was more lively and complex. It seemed to be less of meat and more of earth. The texture was beautifully silken and it seemed like it had gone through a poaching process in the consomme. There were some sweet overtones and I could've easily downed a few more 'slivers.' The veal tongue was also very special. Taking after the Jews in my family who love(d) schmaltz and marrow and liver and beef tongue, I was by no means afraid of the chunks of pink baby cow tongue floating around in my soup. Believe it or not, the tongue was light. It was spongey, but airy. It was fluffy, but still rich. It was kinda like the best piece of pastrami you can imagine. It was obviously house-cured. It was tangy and also, like the broth and the liver, adequately rich. The vegetables were all nice enough and a nice counterpoint to the rich meats. The quail egg was also a nice touch...as breaking the yolk added further depth to the broth.

Long overdue

2007-02-25T14:47:00.000-05:00

A long overdue update. For starters, I've got some time to sit down at the 'puter because riding is out of the question right now. Here's a glimpse of the outside.

Not safe to be out on the roads right now. And as of 3PM, I've still not dragged my ass onto the trainer. Doesn't look promising for me.

Yesterday, I hit Skyline for an early season climbing expedition. Went out there with some new partners...Dave Crouse and Kyle Murphy. Rode a bunch with Kyle this 'cross season, but had never hit the roads with him. I was in good company yesterday and we made a pretty mellow day of it. Ride time was 4:15 and we put in about 64 miles. That rate of speed is, obviously, nothing to write home about, but I think the climbing didn't hurt my fitness, no matter how long it took.

Moving on...had two quality meals on the homefront last week. Tuesday, I did up some trout. Was hoping for more success on the grill pan, but the trout didn't hold up so well to the technique. Still came out tasty, paired with mashed butternut squash, some jasmine rice, and an awesome salad of fresh horseradish, radishes, spinach, cider vinegar, and olive oil. Check it...

The next evening, I put the grill pan to better use and hooked it up with some nice NY strip steak (I think that was the cut). Cooked 'em to just the right temp. Re-used some of the squash and also served a few Yukon Golds. Those things are dope...so buttery and rich and sweet.

The highlight meal of the past few weeks, however, was mos' def' the Palena blowout. It went down a few weeks ago at this point, so let's see if I can still muster some impressions and details.

On the numbers front, SVR opted for the four course option and I went with five. In the end, SVR left a little of each of her courses, so I probably came home with seven courses in my belly!

Turns out, I'm gonna divide this report into several parts. Check back for the installments.

Meantime, I can't tell you why the hell I have such a hard time formatting these posts to include photos.

Another weekend of gastronomic gusto

2007-02-06T20:37:00.000-05:00

Just secured reservations at Palena for this Friday. It fell out of favor for me a while back, as the cafe section is perpetually jam-packed. Seems like, even as a local who tries to go at odd hours on odd days, the wait is always way too long. Further, the cafe options don't quite seem worth it these days. I'm sure the roast chicken is still better than most things in this world, but I'm past the wait.

I should mention I once splurged and, whilst seated in the cafe, went full bore and ordered a fixed price meal...like, the real deal for which Ruta is held in such high regard. Still, though, I've never made the reservation for the main dining room. I've never shown up anticipating the proper menu. Friday, though, I will. I hope to offer a useful report.

Saturday's meal might not register as high on the *bling*-o-meter, but I've always had wonderful food at Montmartre. It's on tap Saturday night.

I'm looking at nearly six hours on the bike for the weekend, so I should be able to order duck and pork belly and creme brulee and other fatty stuff without too many cares in the world.

Rampage

2007-02-02T22:34:00.000-05:00

Also...I haven't ridden this many consecutive days in, well, maybe...years. I'm on day eight and working towards ten. Two to go and then I get a well-deserved rest day. Further, the past six days have all been indoors...on the bloody trainer. I keep telling myself it should all pay dividends down the road. Like JB mentioned a few weeks ago, hopefully this is TSTWKT. If it doesn't, it still hurt real bad, like. And that's good, right?

Anyhow, I'm excited for two days out of doors.

I want to improve, I want to go fast, and I'd like to win. Rookie as it was, the win at Race Pace was really memorable. I'd like to ride off the front again and I'd like to hold out for the W. Maybe...just maybe.

Gym Rats

2007-02-02T22:00:00.000-05:00

Last week, I pondered an entire entry about the cast of characters I've observed in the gym over the past few months. I was gonna do multiple character sketches in one big entry. It seemed an overwhelming task, so I think I'll just keep it short and sweet and profile a new personality every few days or weeks.

My first installment is devoted to The Readers. You've probably seen 'em before at the gym. These are the people that work out and read. I don't think there's just one thing that drives The Readers to exercise and read simultaneously. I think different Readers take the risk for different reasons.

I imagine some fancy themselves way too important to devote a half hour+ to one non-intellectual activity. Too smart, too important, and too overloaded to focus on the exercise, they've gotta multi-task and fit in some catch-up reading during their time on the treadmill or stationary bike. There's simply NO EXTRA TIME in their day to devote to something silly like exercising the body separate from the mind. How could they? They're just THAT important.

I imagine others are simply too bored with their time on these mind-numbing exercise machines to NOT distract themselves with a little reading. They've got other options like iPods, TVs, or other folks in the gym to grab their attention, but I guess it's like they say, "You can take the worm out of the book, but you can't take the book out of the worm!" Wait, do they say that? Anyhow, I kinda can't blame these folks for requiring some distraction, as the machines at the gym, and particularly the way these folks use them, are about as thrilling as watching paint dry.

So you've got the type-A multi-taskers and the gym zombies...each reading for their own reasons.

Here's what gets me. How the f*ck are you getting much of a workout in if you're focused on a book or a magazine or the newspaper? I've noticed these readers are the same people who can spend an hour in the gym and walk away as dry as they were when they came in from the 30 degree winter weather. This is hard for me to stomach. My heart rate hovers in the 160+ range for upwards of thirty minutes for every hour I spend on the trainer and I probably sweat about 4 litres of liquid each time I visit the gym. I'm always dumbfounded by these people who can finish a few chapters of the latest Tom Clancy novel whilst "working out" and don't sweat a drop after 45 minutes on the stationary bike.

Anyhow....this rant is barely coming together. Point being, what the hell are you doing reading in the gym? Either commit to getting a workout in or stay at home in your bed or on your couch curled up with your novel or whatever.

Last week, I saw some dummy waltz in on a Tuesday with the entire Sunday Post. I watched her navigate onto the elliptical (otherwise known as the epilyptical) machine with the every section of the paper...including the plastic-wrapped coupons and comics section. I couldn't believe my eyes. Was this idiot really gonna try to make it through the Sunday paper all the while grinding out the miles on the epilyptical? I watched her nearly bite it three or four times. She was never discouraged and never appeared to think twice about her arrangement. I ran through the exchange she might have with the EMTs. "I dunno what happened. There I was, reading the engagements and weddings in the Style section when, BLAM, I rolled a cankle!" If only.

In closing, pick an activity and stick with it you morons!!

Next time...coke head freaks.

Who needs Restaurant Week?

2007-01-15T21:24:00.000-05:00

I could describe what I had at 21P Saturday night, but there's only so much time. Instead, here's a shot of dinner at home tonight. How can you beat salmon with lime butter emulsion, potato and green onion cakes, and simply steamed broccoli?

Not quite resolved

2007-01-13T11:14:00.000-05:00

Didn't settle on any resolutions for the new year. More frequent posting might be something worth aspiring to, but I don't see it happening.

Food front...I could start with Restaurant Week highlights, but it's almost like meals at home have trumped eating out at this point. I owe some of the recent home cooked magic to a grill pan we got from one of SVR's friends this holiday season. Shit's da bomb! It has yielded great poultry...a seared duck breast (my first go at duck) that hit the spot, chicken breast for a simple sandwich with Alex's famous easy aioli and some thick tomato slices, and another chicken breast marinated in a southwestern mix (rich with brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, etc.) from The New Best Recipe cookbook. Also a present from friends, that book is an awesome go to reference for technique and prep methods. Can't say the recipes are all that cutting edge or adventurous, but the searing, steaming, braising, baking, etc. methodologies pretty much always yield near perfect results. Screw going out for scallops or shrimp anymore. Cook 'em per The New Best Recipe and it'll seem silly to pay top dollar for those goods out on the town.

I shouldn't ignore our one RW meal this week. Nage was full-on solid. For the RW price, $30.07, I was very happy. I noticed that their standard prices hover around $26 for mains. At that price point, I think I'd opt for something else.

Had a mushroom and cheese tart sorta thing to start. The bulky part of the dish (the tart) was a little puny. Good flavors, but simply not enough quantity. It sat in a truffle infused sauce/soup. Servers were good to bring spoons for that dish, as the sauce was very rich with truffle essence/oil. I would've hated not being able to scoop all the liquid. What an incredible flavor. Haven't had satisfying truffle flavor since minibar, when I barely ate truffle. The trick they pull there is spraying the oil on a napkin and expecting you to smell the napkin as you eat some beef (tenderloin?). Sense of smell and taste collided for some very cool sensations and flavors. I know it sounds schticky, but it really worked. Anyhow, tasting the truffle at Nage took me back!

My main was braised shortrib. This item is so popular right now and I've had the entire range of great to pretty crappy. This version fell smack in the middle. I find that an order of shortribs often yields a lot of bone and little meat. I think kitchens suffer from their preparations that leave the meat falling off the bone. Half the time, I think the shortrib meat must end up in the bottom of a stock pot or third pan and I end up with the inedible bone. Nage didn't serve a plate of bones, but their version was not as fatty or juicy as I've had before. Shortrib is a decadent dish (and a cheap cut of meat for those restaurants!!) and I expect a certain richness that Nage's lacked. The bed of polenta with cherries was creamy and just the right amount of tart and sweet. Nice work.

Dessert was a good enough fruit crumble sorta thing. The twist was in the ice cream. They served a blue cheese ice cream that I thought was a nice complement. I think the non-ice cream flavor flavor thing is a fad that's falling out of favor, but sometimes the flavors can work. I'd rate this creation a solid 7.

I think the group collaborated well to choose wines. A bottle of red and a bottle of white meant everyone could pair as they needed. Gals had fish and the white was probably right for them. Anyhow, I'd certainly recommend Nage, but for a non-RW night, the tab might be too high for my liking.

Tonight we're off to 21P with James and Ruth. Menu looks complete, but the only RW review I read was not complimentary. We'll hope for better.

On the cycling front, it's winter. I took plenty of time away from the bike after Nats. I don't think I was invested in my rest, as I was always kinda beating myself up for not riding after getting back from San Francisco. Anyhow...I've done a few trainer sessions lately and am trying to get out each weekend day.

Today I hit the road with Eric for some early, wet miles. Ninny that I am, I wasn't willing to ride the bike with all the moving parts. It's probably most idiotic to ride the fixie in wet conditions, but that's how I do it. Wet roads mean the geared bikes stay under cover. Anyhow, we were out for about 2:15 and it felt just right. I probably spent a little too much time at LT instead of at tempo, but what can you do, right? TBT, I found it quite easy to peg an HR range and stick to it on the fixie. I'm pretty steady on that thing and less inclined (or able???) to react to terrain changes. When the road turns upward (slightly), I pretty much slow down and slow cadence and hold the HR steady. I don't attack the way I might on the geared machines. Anyhow...I was glad to get out with Eric. We chatted the whole time and caught up on the past few months. The roads were wet the whole time. Now the sun is more or less out and the roads look dry as a bone. No matter.

That's all I've got for now. I've neglected a few important topics (Nationals, the trip out west, and NYE), but I can only manage so much this sitting.

RW--Winter 2007

2007-01-09T21:01:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow night...Nage.

Saturday night...21P.

Quite an impressive post, eh?

Munchkins!!

2006-12-27T22:02:00.000-05:00

Though we had some AWESOME donut holes at Nopa this weekend, this ain't no food review. I'm talkin' muchkins of a different breed. SVR and I hung with these maddeningly cute little ones over the holiday weekend.

National Level Disappointment

2006-12-20T21:18:00.000-05:00

Back from RI with a quick stop in DC before heading off to CA. There's really not enough time for a full report. For once, though, I think the memories are burned deeply enough in my mind for me not to forget things before I have a legit chance to draft a report.

Here's a photo that kinda sums up how things went.

In case you can't tell, there's a pretty huge gap between the Third Eye chain protector and the chain ring. There's definitely enough room for the chain to jump right off during the bumpy sections. Sure enough, that's what happened...FOUR times.

Maybe that photo makes it a little clearer.

Of course, my flat tire within the first 500 meters didn't help matters. In the end, the course couldn't have been better suited to my riding style and strengths. I never had the chance to show what I got. Anyhow...more later.

Little Rhode-y!!!

2006-12-15T21:57:00.000-05:00

Off to 'cross Nationals. Be back Monday.

Restin' after Reston

2006-12-07T18:26:00.000-05:00

Last we spoke, I showed evidence of the pre-Reston festivities. Well, turns out Matt wasn't lying about improved performance after a few too many. Apparently the same holds true for Ellicott. They flew at Reston. I kinda bumped along turbulently.

Reston was the last MAC series race. It was where, three or four years ago (where has the time gone?), I first watched a 'cross race. It looked fun and crazy as hell back then and just watching made me wanna get out there and do it (my mom just told me the same thing after I sent her Alex's photo album from the race...I'm all for it, ma)! The venue is great and the weather, in past years, has always been bright and sunny. I was glad to be there to ride the thing this year and not just spectate. Left the spectating to a worthy crew...K, the A-man, and SVR were out in full force.

The race was my first foray into the Killah B class. To clarify, I raced Bs down in Richmond, but I think all would agree that it just ain't the same down there. The MAC races are stacked and I'm sure plenty of the guys in our field shoulda been up with the Elites, but didn't wanna throw down for a UCI license. No matter.

Race started kinda oddly. After call-ups, we were all penned up in our rows and fatmarc was crackin' jokes and people were laughing and guys were leaning on their top tubes and...bam! Someboday blew a whistle. Was it the 'go' sign? Weren't we supposed to get some sorta intro from the race official? Apparently not. After a few seconds of further confusion, we were all on our way. Of course, almost immediately, I was nearly off the back. Trouble engaging with the pedal and shock of the unexpected whistle (oh yeah, and my OCD personality that had me reaching for my HRM when I should've been sprinting off the line) took their toll.

I pre-rode the course once and thought I found a few decent lines through some of the technical shit. Of course, those perfect lines all get shot to pure hell when you're racing shoulder to shoulder and your lines aren't your own choice. That's how it was for a bit. Eventually, we strung out a bit. The first lap is a bit of a blur at this point, but I know I made up some ground on some of the power sections. The double log crossing was a pisser and my remounts were, as usual, nothing to write home (or on this blog) about. Made it down the steepest and sketchiest decent without incident the first time around...amidst a small group. Phew. Next lap, though, didn't treat me so right. On that 180 transition from clay to pavement (off-camber, no less), I took the inside line (which I did for another three laps and only figured not to do on the final lap!!) and slid out. Pisser. I hit the deck and was nearly run over by the fellers behind. I picked the bike up and went to re-mount on the paved section. Chain was off the front ring...despite the guard ring and Third Eye inner guide. Took a few seconds to put it back on, but that was long enough for about eight guys to come zipping past me.

My worst enemy is the crash. It takes the spirit outta me. I ride tentatively after each one. I tense up during the technical sections. I worry about the damage to the bike. All these things are distractions that lead to poor performance. It's no excuse, but it's the truth...for now.

In typical form, the bike again shifted like total poop. When I finally figured out how to ride the shortest and steepest and loosest run-up hill (put it in a smaller cog to get some grab outta the tires instead of spinning the easiest gear at a high rpm), the chain would kinda bounce around on the cogset...bucking, jumping, jolting, picking and choosing wherever it wanted to be.

I spent the last two laps battling some chasers and finished with a friendly fellow from Mass. In the end, I didn't post a great finishing spot. 35th out of 50-ish isn't so hot. The upside is that I didn't feel so, so, so terrible. When I wasn't worrying about my crash and riding tentatively for it, I was going well and going strong. I'm sure I've made some fitness gains in recent weeks (thanks, Josef), so there's that. I know I'm not gonna fare well when I don't practice 'cross skills during the week. Re-mounting and taking 15 seconds to find the pedals is no way to stay in contention with the Killah Bs.

For Nationals, I'll hope for magnetic pedals, a bike that shifts effortlessly, and no crashies, no crashies.

I'm sure I typed at least a thousand, so I guess the photos could've taken their place. Go Evan, Matt, and Kyle. And me.

Pre-Race Prep

2006-12-02T23:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I spent the past 25 minutes trying to figure out what I did to my dig-cam and fearing I ruined the camera for life. Turns out, the thing wasn't actually plugged into the USB port. I plugged into some other slot. Got dam.

Anyow, here's how you prep for a big MAC 'cross race. Get a coupla Irish dudes and a Polish-Jew together for a few brews. Best o' luck, fellers.

Well...the whole photo thing isn't really working out (wassup blogger?), but suffice it to say...I've got a photo of the damage done. And, yes, it was mostly Belgian brew. 7.9% minimum.

I finish typing that last sentence and the friggin' photo shows up. Anyhow, there you go. G'night.

Don't expect much more of this...

2006-11-28T15:16:00.000-05:00

It's all 'B' races for me from here on out. Soooooo...don't expect too much more of this anytime soon.

MABRA Champs

2006-11-26T17:18:00.000-05:00

Well, the bike came together in time for MABRA champs. Turns out, the problem was INSANELY simple and the solution even simpler. Pinks, in typical fashion, tried to do me right when he built the thing up. He routed the rear derailleur cable with metal ferrules at the intermediate cable housing. In the end, that generous attempt to keep the bike looking and performing best was more harmful than good-ful. Something about the metal was obstructing the cable pull and I was getting poor shifting in the rear. After swapping the metal out for the cheap-o plastic, all was buttery smooth and crisp. Sometimes it's the littlest, seemingly insignificant, things that make all the difference.

With the repair complete yesterday afternoon, it was time to get my mind set for today's race. Unfortunately, I never really came around psychologically. Set out solo early this morning. Matt had to opt out today 'cause of his holiday travels. Evan, BMOC, decided to step it up and race with the 'A's (right where that sandbagging b@stard belongs!!). In the end, I was home and enjoying a ham, egg, and cheese sand-o with SVR before the gun fired for the 'A's. It only makes sense to carpool to these things, so I guess I better step up to the 'B's...stat!!

I've said it before, and I really mean it. I don't like to have to criticize the promoters and organizers, but things were pretty chaotic with registration, set-up, etc. Let's just say, at the start line, we all had to strip down to our base layers to switch numbers from right to left. Get it right from the get-go folks!! Also, some ass clown parked on the course. I noticed this during my pre-ride and pointed it out to officials. They had to re-route the course and the start was delayed for it. This yielded an abbreviated 'C' race and that was another pisser. A 32-minute race is an absolute joke...even for the lowly 'C' riders. Anyhow...down to the racin'.

Today's trend was me not being able to find my pedals. Can't explain it. At the gun, it took me a full 15 seconds to clip in. Inexcusable. The entire field had already rounded the initial 180-degree turn before I was even up to speed. I had the same problem after remounting two other times during the race. Hard to say I lost the race 'cause of it, but that kinda shit is bound to matter when I start mixing it up the Killah Bs. Battled some of the regulars for a lap or two. The only technical sections of the course involved some nasty mud. It wreaked a little havoc with the drivetrain and was just kinda mucky and annoying. I never managed to pedal the one run-up and that was another disappointment. As usual, I'm not sure where or how I made up my ground. I guess there were some flat, power sections in the first quarter of the course. I can never figure out why guys don't take advantage of those sections, but I powered past a crap load of guys on those straight-aways. Also, as usual, the mixed fields made it really tough to figure where I was in the mix. After scooting past at least half the field during the first half of the first lap, I caught a glimpse of two guys up the 'road.' I eventually bridged to a pair (a young kid who I've seen working at Revolution and who rides for NCVC) ahead and didn't spend too much time with them. I accelerated past them. Eventually, a regular who rides for Joe's in B'more (pink jersey) paired up with the kid and they worked hard to reel me in. Never happened. At the same time, I had no friggin' clue where I sat going into the last two laps. I suspected I was sitting second, but had no idea who I had lapped and who I was about to lap. I rode my own race for a few laps and just kept the power to the pedals to ensure I wouldn't get passed. I rolled across solo and probably lost by about twenty seconds.

I'm glad to report I never really felt too taxed today. Talk to me next week after a MAC 'B' race (Reston). I suspect I'll report, 'I really felt too taxed today.'

Word from the road is Evan took 5th in the 'A's. Excellent. Maybe he'll win Nationals.

Time to wrap it up and head up to E&K's. We gotta get to planning B07. The time is now. The trip will rule! Oh, and we're gonna eat.

Still innocent?

2006-11-25T08:26:00.000-05:00

Here's a Tyler Hamilton quote I saw on cyclingnews.com:

"I made a mistake and the price that I had to pay was very high," said Hamilton.

Seems like a very, very incriminating self-reflection. I think that citation really speaks for itself.