Fast!

Yeah, it's been a while. Between work and life, the old, fat, and slow blog has taken back stage. Such is life.

Anyhow, today was the Long Beach Circuit Race, which finished prior to the real pro's racing the last stage of the Tour of California. In my time on the bike, I've been in a lot of bike races - this was one of the fastest. We went fast from the gun and only slowed down when we were neutralized so we didn't catch the 3s on their finish.

A couple stupid crashes nonwithstanding, it was a pretty quiet race. Attacks here and there, weak attempts to block (us included) here and there, and a field sprint at the finish. The sprint was a bit out of control, but nobody crashed. I butted my way into the Successful Living train coming out of the last corner, only to see trains come up either side of us, and push us back. I incorrectly though being in the middle of 6 guys paid to ride would prevent such events. Oh well.

Then all heck broke loose. First, a flat along the left side pushed the group to the right. Then a broken spoke to the left pushed us even further right. I saw an opening right past broken spoke guy and jumped into it. So did a 5 star fish rider and a Successful Living rider, however. Being half a wheel ahead of me, they cut over to the left, forcing me to do the same. I grazed the bars of a guy who had sat up (who had words for me after - listen, dude, if it weren't for me punching it, we would have hit bar to bar at 35 and both would have gone down, so chill - don't sit up in a sprint) and found a teammate in full sprint. Sitting on his wheel pulled me up into the top 20. Unfortunatley, they paid only to 15th. So, after 90 minutes and 42 miles, I came away with nothing but a fast day in the saddle.

When it was all said and done, Emile Abraham from Priority Health won, after unsuccessfully trying to crash about half the field.

Such is local bike racing. On to next week!

Just cause I haven't in a while

I haven't posted a ride from my trusty Garmin in a while, so here's today's ride. Wasn't wearing the HR strap, so that data is missing. Enjoy.

Anna Nicole

So, Anna Nicole Smith died. Honestly, I don't know why I'm even posting about it. I don't know why anyone even cares. I guess it's a commentary on our society that it's a big deal when someone like this (insert your own opinion) dies.

What did she do in life? Well, she posed for Playboy. She was the poster-child for gold digging by marrying and 80-something billionaire in her twenties. She starred in a reality show. She was high/drunk/trashed/etc. on TV many times. And for this, she was famous and rich. I guess my point (if any) is: next time you see a cop, firefighter, or teacher, think of their annual income versus someone like Anna Nicole, and then thank them for what they do.

"Wanna do it? Good luck, man."

I don't think I'd mess with Laraque. Check out how he invites the fight... about 45 seconds into the vid.

Woo hoo!

Finally, after 9 years of getting fat... a result! Rolled home with a nice 3rd place finish yesterday.

After starting the race riding slower than I can ever remember racing (nobody wanted to work in the brutal wind), I finally found myself in a five man break that managed to stay off for the third of three laps. Thanks to some great work by a teammate disrupting chases, interferring in pace lines, and being a general nuisance to the main field, we in the break were set for the final climb to the finish.

At this point, I was pretty cooked. I had initiated the break and was solo for a good half lap before I caught the one guy up the road and was joined by a couple guys who had bridged. At the base of the climb, we managed to shed one of our companions, while watching another ride away from the group. Nobody was willing to chase the guy riding away. He won.

That left three of us battling it out for second. To make a long story short, I beat one guy and one beat me in the sprint for second. Not a bad day overall, and a nice result to begin the year.

Before I go, one man's opinion of Sven Nijs: