Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I've been wanting to post this one for awhile.

There is some naughty language.  Really naughty.  But it highlights an interesting thing that seems to be ongoing in our society.

And forgive the .5 sec audio lag.  It's not my video. If it was, it probably wouldn't have audio.


Group ride!

I met my buddy and ex-co-worker Phil K. out for a group ride from Elite Cycling last night.  I wasn't sure what to expect, so I rode the fast bike last night.  I forgot my spare tubie and rear light in my rush to get out the door, and I was wearing less clothes than every one else.  Typical CSmith style.

Fortunately, I was perfectly comfortable in my short sleeves/bibs with a long sleeve base layer.  Once I got going, I had no problems.  It was fun to get on the bike again.  The group I rode with was pretty slow (it must be if I'm one of the fast guys), but I did have a chance to test my mettle.  The group split up, and Phil, myself, and another fella slowed in confusion.  We ended up taking a wrong turn or two, and finally got back on Mission road.  At that point, we saw the lead group about 1/2 mile up the road.  I made sure Phil was alright then I turned myself inside out trying to bridge the gap before we got back to Elite.  I caught them with a few hundred yards to spare, but it made me realize how much fitness I lost.

That's alright though.  I felt some fire in the belly last night, and that was a good thing.  I'll post up my ride data tonight.  It's probably embarrassing, but I guess that's motivation to keep on keeping on.

Friday, April 15, 2011

This *really* isn't like me...

...to post about baseball, but the freakin' Royals are 8-4, 1st in AL Central.  1st?  What does that mean exactly?  I'm not familiar with the Royals being one of the best teams in baseball.  They usually play in the basement.

It's kinda nice being able to root for them because of belief, not because of hope.  The realist in my knows this won't last forever, but let's keep the dream alive as long as we can.  Don't wake me up.  Now I'm dreaming of October not only for 'cross season, but post-season baseball.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Two fer

Two fer two, I'm getting crazy with this blogging thing.

I rode home last night, as anticipated.  I felt like I was going fast, but the numbers off of my Garmin belie the fact that I was on my duffer too much for fast riding.  Oh well.  It felt good.

I changed it up and rode the cross bike in to work today, with my Ritchey Speedmax tires.  These tires are great for commuting and the KT trail.  Not much else.  I think I didn't inflate them as much as they needed to be, but I didn't pinch flat, whatever that's worth.  I hit over 1k watts on the way in, which was good for a slow dude like me, especially since I wasn't trying.

So that's been my riding.  The other major thing that has been going on is that I changed up my diet a bit.  It is more of a re-commitment than anything else.  No alcohol, no sweets, and no fried foods.  The sweets were really hard to give up the first week or so, because I had been mowing those down like crazy in March.  Giving up alcohol hasn't been too hard, mainly because there isn't any good booze in the house besides my Crown Royal Special Reserve.  YUM.  If there were a bunch of microbrews in the fridge, it might be a different story.

I weighed in at 183.2 on April 1st, and weighed in a few days ago at 182.0.  Not bad for not riding.  I really want get some good rides in over the next few weeks, and bust through this floor that has stopped me at 181.0.  I'm not so tied up in the numbers still, but 17x would be pretty cool.  I still have a lot of mid section fat that needs to go.  Especially since swimsuit season is coming.  I sound like a woman, jeesh.  My body kinda looks funny to me because I'm all veined out on my arms with skinny legs, yet still having a fat vest.  I want that six pack back.

That's all for now. I still need to talk about guitars and when I'll be racing next.  Based upon my recent struggles climbing hills, it might be a bit.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

What happened!

All my motivation just fell off of a cliff, in the early race season.  I haven't ridden but 4 times in the last 3 weeks or so.  I'm not sure what happened, but the bottom just fell out.  I think I just needed a break from such focus on all things cycling.  I admittedly get pretty intense about things, and I guess I just needed a big correction.

I'm riding home from work today, and riding back to work in the morning.  I'll be dressed out in my full team kit with my race bike this afternoon, so I'm sure I'll get some looks as I leave the building.  Oh well.  My building is loaded with fat, middle-aged smokers, so I'm not too concerned with what they think.

Yea, that was a bit mean, I suppose.  I must need to ride or something.