Soon the Season Will Start

I give you the Alexandria team waiting to get some MORE HOT DOGS! The boy reports that he ate 4 hot dogs this evening. You haven't lived until you have hot dogs for breakfast. Over the weekend, the team managed to beat Wise County and York County to advance to the quarter finals of the state tournament. I think that Wise traveled almost 400 miles to this tournament.
Bully for Alexandria I say. The boy did well, and is hitting .500 for the tournament with two stolen bases and 3 rbi's. Lamentably, after spending six hours baking in the sun out at Freedom Park in Leesburg today and 5 hours yesterday, I just couldn't bring myself to get out to the Hunny Bop. Hope you 30+ fellows didn't miss me too much. I see that teammate Greg is riding well.
If you're in Leesburg Monday evening and want to see some youthful exuberance, you should drop by the fields after 4:00.
So, if the boys manage to continue to win, the state championship game is on Wednesday. Win that, and it's off to West Virginia for the regional tournament. That gets us to the middle of August, so I think in the worst (best?) case, my next race is Turkey Day.

I bet I'm getting really fat.

Hagerstown!

I should have liked to have been at Hagerstown. I figured out the second turn last year and was looking forward to punishing those people who haven't yet mastered it. Still, Squadra Coppi takes the Cat 4 honors and I am proud to wear the sky blue.
Instead of Hagerstown I was watching baseball. It would be a lot easier to watch these games if my own children weren't participating. That's my boy on the ground in the picture. Nothing is broken and he was able to play in the next game when his team won the District championship. He looks kind of like a racoon right now and we are trying to figure out how to get the swelling down.
Next weekend it's the Va State tournament in Leesburg. I'm signed up for races that weekend as well, but I think that yet again I may be sacrificing my entry fee to the greater good. For those of you who lurk at the registration tables to pick up the last minute entries from the guys who don't show: you're welcome.

Bike Part Innovation

I saw this yesterday in the parking lot at Target. Sorry for the quality of the photo, I was using my phone. However, clearly the owner of this bike has his pliers wedged right there into the drive train and I have to believe it's on purpose. At first I thought it was for shifting (like 4 on the floor) but I can see the cable in the picture. I can't decide if this is a new wave of tool holders, some anti-theft device or what.

Sometime It's Not Just the Bike

Here is the boy. They won the game but then lost in the next round. He has made the town all-star team so we have 3 more weeks of games to look forward to.
The girl is also out of the playoffs in softball and is really glad to start her summer.
I spent the last week in CT riding with family friends. My original intention was to do the Housatonic Hills Race. However, one of my riding companions suffered a massive heart attack and died after one of the rides. Somehow, I just didn't feel like racing. I did take the sprint at the top of Grassy Hill later in the week though.
Since I was away from a computer I got shut out of the Giro di Coppi and the Hunny Bop. As my coach says: "Cat 4 MABRA slots are harder to get than Hannah Montana tickets".

A Class Act

I don't know Joe Jefferson well. I doubt he would recognize me if he saw me in street clothes. He's a fixture of my racing experience though.

I do know that the work that Mr. Jefferson does enables me to race my bicycle in a number of varied and interesting areas. When I learn that he is promoting a race, I often break my rule of "no races when you have to drive for longer than you will ride". When another promoter has made the effort to have him announce their race it adds a little extra. I feel fortunate that he is willing to do the work required to let me pursue this hobby; work that I don't think I would do for others; at least not to the extent that he does.

Recently, someone posted to a very public board a comment they attributed to Mr. Jefferson and called his character into question. That was followed by a demand that he apologize and that we expel him from our community.

Given what Mr. Jefferson has done for us, we must give him the benefit of the doubt. The man who I have come in to contact with as I have trolled the basement of the MABRA rankings has been a class act. He enables all of us to imagine that we are only a few extra hours of training away from vaulting into the pro ranks. He has my support and I will continue to patronize his races to the best of my ability.

Some day, I hope to hear him announce that "it's single file for a mile" as I lead the peleton past the judges' stand.

What Gets in the Way

Today's workout plan was 3:30 at zone 2. Well, I'm hoping that I've gotten the equivalent:
- Pull a wagon with two girls in it for 5K while still posting a respectable 47:30.
- Pull a wagon home with at least one of the three kids in it at all times (2 miles)
- Stand outside for a double-header of girl's softball where the only shade is your umbrella (4 hours)

I'm scheduled for another 3 hours of zone 2 tomorrow. However, we've got a soccer game and another double-header of softball. Stupid rain make up dates. I'll be lucky to get 2 hours in before it gets too hot.

The boy's team lost tonight in the playoffs so they are in the loser bracket now but still in it. Next game on Tuesday and he's the starting pitcher. The girl is trying to improve her seed for the playoffs which start Monday and needs to win both games tomorrow. Otherwise they face the team that pretty much crushes them every time. The bribes required to get the littlest to go to all of these games are getting more expensive.

Team Ride Almost

I got started late this morning for the team Muffin ride. I figured I would catch everyone just after they rolled out from the Java Shack since Friday is supposed to be an "easy" ride. Around every turn, I expected to see the paceline and around every turn I saw nothing.

Finally I caught the tail of the group when I was almost all of the way around the loop. Then I got caught behind a light with a few others and the group was gone again.

My legs felt good and I wound up doing the Muffin loop twice. Once to catch the group and then another time just because.

I'm wondering if I just hit the workouts and pretend that I didn't have all of this slack time the last few weeks if my body is stupid enough to believe that it's in shape. Doesn't hurt to try.

Got into the Reston 4 and 3/4. I was surprised they didn't fill up right away. That is a fun but really hard race. I'm also in the 4/5 at Housatonic Hills in CT. Housatonic is not a fun race but it is hard. They changed the course around a little to avoid some really nasty road conditions. We start the race with a 9/10 minute "neutral" climb up a really steep hill. I have a feeling that it won't be neutral and that it will shred the field. I'm going to try to spin rather than grind up the hill so I have some pop left when the race "starts". Historically, the finish was at the top of this climb; this year the finish will be on a flat but the promoters assures everyone that he has found some other climbs so that the total for the race is about the same. Great.

Still, I'm glad to be racing. I'm feeling a little stronger and more alive each day. I imagine I'm covered by a patina that was making me lazier and fatter and slower. I am slowly melting through with hard effort and time on the bike.