| better, stronger, faster |
[Jun. 11th, 2006|08:31 pm] |
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today was the best day i've had in a long time. i drove out to lufkin on my own to race, and i got 10th. I could have gotten better, but there was a chicane right before the last 200 meters and it got really tight, especially since we hit it at about 30 miles an hour. Since April all of my results have been mid pack or DNF because of crashing or mechanical problems. This was the first time in a while where I was able to get up front and stay there for the whole race...whether it was because we had a smaller field, or i had a taper in my training (rest for a few days leading up to a race), or something else, I don't know. It was nice not to have my dad there with the video camera telling me what to do, and yelling encouragement when i don't need it (e.g. if I'm about to die or get dropped or something and he tells me how great I'm doing). I also met a cool dude from Houston, we may end up training together on the weekends, which is cool because going out to monaville and beyond towards austin and back can get pretty lonely. I also know a pro guy who works at a bike shop in town, I may train with him too. My training is amazingly high now, both in pace and length. I can aerobically hold a 20 mph average for a pretty long time, and i ride 3-4 hours about 4 times a week, with shorter, higher intensity 2-3 hour rides twice a week. It's pretty sweet. My body is responding really quickly, my average speeds have been going up a lot on a week to week basis, so that makes me pretty happy. My record length for a training ride is like 76 miles or something now (replacing the famous 67 mile ride from denton to flower mound and back that I did maybe in my first week of serious riding, in which I got lost and almost bonked/dehydrated). I also almost got hit by a truck on that ride (the 76 mile one), the only thing that saved me was my reflexes and some offroad riding skills. So now the question isn't if i can win cat 4 races and get my 3 upgrade, but when. Judging by my progress, I think some good shit will be going down in 2-3 weeks. |
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| i'm pretty sure |
[May. 24th, 2006|04:26 pm] |
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my life sucks when my crotch is not in contact with my bicycle |
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| unintelligible bike talk |
[May. 17th, 2006|02:13 pm] |
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today i went in to get a blood lactate test, which is how I figure out what my fitness level is. an extremely competitive cyclist at my weight would top out at about 420 watts, I was just short of 360 today. When I got my first test in January I was somewhere between 270 and 300. Boulder, Colorado better watch out because there is going to be an ultimate badass in town come August 22nd. Now I get to go ride my bike for 3 hours. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 8th, 2006|12:35 am] |
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Almost done with this shiznit, thank god. Tomorrow I have to balance two finals (one of which is physics, I haven't really studied for that one yet) and almost five hours of riding somehow, as well as study for my english one the next day. well at least my last two and a half days here won't be slow! I went home tuesday, it was a much needed "rest." I spent most of it cleaning since the grandparents will be arriving on tuesday. I'd rather just leave the house the way it is, if my grandparents want to hate us because our house is average messy that's their problem. in any case, it looks like a hotel now. I was going to race today but I was in such a time crunch I decide to skip it last night when i realized how tired i still was after waking up at 9:15 pm from a nap. I am consistently eating 4 meals a day now, as well as snacks, plus all the sugars i take in while i'm riding. I can't wait to start my job. I can't wait to race my bike in H-town on sunday. I can't wait for the rest of my races too, I am all kinds of psyched up and ready to get working on my cat 3 upgrade. I geet to start altitude training next week also. It enhances everything just by limiting your oxygen intake for a couple of hours, pretty sweet... |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 27th, 2006|04:56 pm] |
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paradise lost is probably one of the biggest pieces of junk I have ever read. reappropriation is NOT the shit. and anyways, like david cross says, the bible is really just a bunch of insane dungeons and dragons commentary. roll the die! |
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| why is it cold outside |
[Apr. 26th, 2006|12:24 pm] |
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Not that it really matters because I have been doing a large majority of my training inside to ensure that I am staying at the right level of exertion. You would be surprised how much wind and hills can fuck you over, which are two things that Denton and the surrounding area have an excess of. Basically, I'm getting OCD about my training. I am really getting psyched up about going home. This will be the first of many "Summer of the Bicycle"s. I am going to be working at a triathlon shop at the same place that I train, which is a very inspirational environment for being a 2 story cinder block thing on Richmond in downtown Houston and everything. No windows, nothing. You go there, you deal out the pain, you go home. I am looking forward to my next road race in a couple of weeks, it's gonna be on allen parkway and bagby in downtown houston. I'm starting to get into the state of mind again where I know I can win, it would be nice to get some points and shit to start me on my way to Cat 3. But we will see...for now, all I can do is train, eat, and sleep as best I can. This stuff gets kind of irritating when you have a nocturnal roommate and a cafeteria that either serves way too much soul food (which i am neither allowed to nor want to eat) or on the rare occasion that they have something good, they're sheisters about it and give you a portion suitable for a 2 month old baby. I eat like 3,000-4,000 calories a day easily, so it really pisses me off. The fact that I'm always hungry doesn't help either. I can go buy like 30 bucks worth of groceries and in a few days it is all gone. If you have never had the pleasure of eating dates, I reccomend you do so. They are probably the most delicious fruit ever. If not, they are at least in the top 5. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 23rd, 2006|09:25 pm] |
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The way I see it, there are two forces that propel me forward through life; bike racing and herbie hancock. Bar-H Bash was a bash alright, I finished 12th place, ten minutes behind the leader, which is extremely good for a mountain bike race. Nobody finishes together in a mountain bike race, that's just the way it is, I'm not sure why. The guy who won has been in this category (Sport, which is like the equivalent of cat 3 in road) for like 4 years or something, and has been winning like every race he's in, so that's actually kind of sad. If you were that dominant in road racing, they would actually make you cat up. I feel pretty confident that I will be ready race with the 'A' team in Colorado come september, which would be friggin sweet. A trip to nationals would be really awesome. I have two more mountain bike races, and then I am focusing on road biking the rest of the time so that I can get my Cat 3 upgrade. The race course was pretty intense, there were some climbs where I could feel a barf-o-rama coming on, and some of the downhills make you want to cry, but for the most part it was really fun. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 18th, 2006|08:24 pm] |
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Well i went mountain biking today, and i think i am at about 85 percent of my technical form, so I am pretty psyched about the race on Sunday. If I make top 10 I'll be happy. I'm definitely allergic to something out there at Lake Grapevine, I look like an 8 year old girl that's been crying all day because she didn't get a pony for her birthday, and my head is full of this clear mucus stuff. it sucks! |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 13th, 2006|10:38 am] |
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check out the road rash yo |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 10th, 2006|11:32 pm] |
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there is nothing like soy sausage after a workout. nothing. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 8th, 2006|07:10 pm] |
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well i finally crashed! this morning i woke up at 4:45 to go race a criterium, which is a short track, like less than a mile, with a shitload of 90 degree turns; not my favorite kind of race, but something i want to get good at. well i start off and get stuck in the back of the pack with all the squirrels, like this guy who yells "outside" and then takes the inside line like a fucking jackass. on the first turn of the fifth lap something happened, i was turning and then all of a sudden i slid out; broke my helmet, ripped my shorts so everyone could see my pubes, and ripped the shirt, not to mention lost a lot of skin. my theory is that the guy that went down with me ran into my back wheel, or i hit a rut or an oil slick or something. either way, it sucked ass, i was really looking forward to this race, not only was it my first chance to do well in a criterium, but it was a chance to test myself against the 4's. i know i could have made top 10. all things considered, i am still in pretty good shape and am still racing tomorrow, so for that i am glad. tomorrow is my last race as a 5, which is fine with me. |
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| inamorata and narration |
[Apr. 5th, 2006|08:41 pm] |
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today i did a race near downtown fort worth, and i got 3rd, so another barrier broken. number 1 is coming...i made the same mistake i did last time and jumped too early. i also ran out of gear, i am going to need to get an 11 tooth gear. and guess who the showdown was with! none other than the guy who won the race on sunday whose break i missed. that guy is a mean fucker! he kept telling me to take pulls on the front, and i was like no you're doing great! then he started saying stuff like if i didn't pull he was going to be pulling his foot out of my ass at the end of the race. then he asked me if i knew how to box, i said no, then he said we will teach you after the race. he never made either of the prophecies come true. anyways, it was hilarious and made the race that much more enjoyable. this weekend there is going to be some sweet biking action in houston. i love tomorrow! |
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| empty calories, male curiosity, and biking |
[Apr. 4th, 2006|11:47 pm] |
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today i went mountain biking and it was the shit. i forgot to being gloves and as a result i lost some skin on my right hand, but it's cool. i am slowly getting back into the rhythm of the trails and am starting to feel ready for my first sport level mountain bike race on the 23rd, twice as long and a lot faster than beginner, we shall see how it goes. tomorrow i have a race in fort worth, i think it might end up being pretty lame and not competitive but who knows, maybe it will be awesome. I hope it is. I'm just doing it so I can get my upgrade. the real action is this weekend down in H town. let the sacrifices continue. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 3rd, 2006|08:21 pm] |
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i think all this biking has really elevated my levels of human growth hormone...my facial hair grows out like weeds and my leg hair is a bastard too, so I only shave it before a race now. i had a race in mineral wells. i know that i could have won this one, i just do. this guy broke away at the gun but i was stuck in the pack and couldnt chase him down right away, everyone else was fucking lazy. i tried for about 15 miles to get a chase going so we could bridge the gap, no one else would take the lead, so that was a huge waste of energy. i sat in the pack up to cherry pie hill, which is this humongous climb that gains about 500 feet in a mile, I did pretty well on it but a few guys got ahead of me and after they got to the top there was no way to get them back. I was fighting for 5th place in the last few miles, but I sped up too early thinking we were closer to the finish than we were and blew up with less than half a kilometer to go, falling back to 13th place. I was really really mad at first, but I learned a lot of stuff and I have 3 more races in the next 6 days. I also get my upgrade to cat 4 on sunday, so if there was a race to try some things and test my limits and make mistakes this was probably the one. i cannot wait for that feeling of a win again...it feels so fucking good. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 31st, 2006|06:29 pm] |
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today on my ride this dude flew by me honking his horn all pissed off, apparently its really a hassle to lose a few microseconds by turning your wheel a few degrees to get in the other lane and pass me. anyways i smiled and waved. then i saw the guy pull into the frisbee golf field and that pretty much told me he was an idiot. then i passed him as he got out of his car and he was like "fucking asshole blah blah blah" and i gave him the finger and told him to come and get me and he actually started to run(he's like 500 feet away and i can take my bike up to 30 no problem), then he thought better of it and stopped, what a dipshit! |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 26th, 2006|11:59 pm] |
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this weekend was allllright. friday i got out of school, pumped iron, then did high intensity intervals on my bike on the trainer and deposited a lake of sweat on my dorm room floor. Me and a couple of other kids went to see V for Vendetta, but I had to eat first. I have had a craving for meat loaf for a while now so I went to Luby's but they close at 8 so I went to Ihop and ate a monstrous breakfast thing in like 5 minutes flat, The movie was pretty rad, I think the Wachowski brothers did well to just write it, because those Matrix sequels sucked. Then I got to sleep in for the first time in a few weeks, I was so busy during spring break I still wasn't beating my sleep deficit. Then I went out for three and a half hours on the bike and made it all the way to era, TX, which is only 25 miles from Oklahoma. Then I again went to Luby's, only to find they were out of meat loaf from the meat loaf nazi, which is luby's pathetic reinterpretation of the famous Seinfeld soup nazi. So I got tilapia. Then I saw the inside man (a spike lee joint), it was awesome too. Spike Lee is awesome. Then I watched some of the office and then i slept in again, then I went mountain biking for the first time in 3 months, my training wouldn't allow it since it demands a lot of power and you have to build your base with low power. I've still got the mad skills, but it took a few minutes to bring them back...I froze up on the first few turns, and on my first go down the drop of death i fucking nose wheelied the whole way down because i forgot to put my weight back....sheeeeeit. then i did stuff and now i'm going to bed |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 22nd, 2006|12:37 pm] |
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man i hate it when i have these nights where i'm fed up with shit and frustrated and my brain wont shut up so i dont fall asleep until like 5 in the morning. but then i dream about cycling so that takes some of the heat off. anyways, it's irritating as hell. ai've got a 3 hour ride ahead of me and then massive amounts of sleep and seinfeld...thank god tomorrow is my day off...i love this shit but it gets you so tired. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 19th, 2006|03:42 pm] |
jet airliner by steve miller band is my theme song right now
and tams can suck my dick
"you know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven" |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 15th, 2006|11:10 pm] |
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i have 20 minutes until seinfeld so I think I'll spit out some bits of my life for folks to read. life is good...this spring break is a nice change of pace and probably necessary if they expect to me retain my sanity for the last 2 months of tams bullshit...hopefully after cu boulder orientation i will never have any more of these stupid hand holding experiences. today i woke up to a phone call from my uncle john out in california, which would be normal if it wasn't for the fact that i havent talked to him since i was about 10. i only saw him a few times but he was always my favorite...he has an endless supply of humor, so it was just awesome...we always made fun of random people, especially if we caught them picking their noses or something. he worked as a landscape manager for a minor league baseball team back then and i remember spending a couple of days out on the field with the players picking up stray balls from batting practice and stuff. he is a cool guy and i was able to relate to him in a way that i never have been able to with my other relatives...then my mom and my aunt got all pissed at him and so no more uncle john...then my mom and aunt got pissed at each other and no more aunt...so now uncle john has slowly been coming back into the picture after my grandma broke her hip while my aunt was in china adopting some girl....it's awesome, i hope i get to see him soon. the races went extremely well, i got 9th on sunday, which i am plenty happy with, the wins are going to be coming soon. both races really separated the men from the boys, the first finishing group on saturday was around 15, while the one on sunday was only 9 (more climbing), out of 50 on both days.i think this summer is gonna be friggin cool, my coaching place downtown is opening a triathlon shop and i have a job there as soon as i graduate, so i am looking forward to it. some hot chick was getting interviewed while i was working out upstairs. selling bike stuff around hot women, sounds like a good time to me! this cycling stuff requires no input anymore, i do my workouts and i race and i enjoy every minute of it, i am going to take this stuff to the max. there is going to be a big criterium in downtown houston after i graduate, the prize list is pretty damn awesome; 1st place gets you 500 bucks. i'm gonna light the pavement on fire on that one....other than that nothing new, everything about life besides cycling could be better, but i am committed to making this work and if i have to make some sacrifices and piss some people off along the way, so be it. |
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| I stand corrected |
[Mar. 11th, 2006|08:23 pm] |
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there is something more fun than going 40 in a big pack of bicyclists....going 50 FRIGGING MILES AN HOUR....new record! that wasnt the most exciting part about, that was saved for being in the final bunch sprint and receiving a well deserved 6th place after almost losing everything on the last lap...i dug deep and when you dig deep miracles happen...I'll write more later, I need to eat and do 2 and a half hours on the trainer, because racing doesnt mean you get to stop training! |
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