so there i was, 43 minutes into my 45 minute roller episode listening to lemon jelly when their song called “experiment number 6″ started playing… this is a weird song; it talks about pulse rates, pupils dilating, body temperature, and blood pressure accompanied by a heavy techno beat.  all while i am sweating profusely just trying to finish my set. it’s actually a very good song to listen to when your very tired.

is it possible to give your abs a workout by “sucking in” your gut?  my stomach is sore for some reason, and the only thing i can think of is that i have been trying to keep it from sticking out.

last night i watched the flying scotsman. i was a little disappointed because over the past 10 years i have read a bunch of articles about graeme obree. i knew he was an exceptionally troubled person, and i don’t think the movie conveyed it properly. i was also, disappointed because they failed to over dramatize the cycling portions. granted there is not much drama in a time trial, but they could have done something. i found this clip, and i think phil liggett

anyway the timeline of the movie is a bit confusing, so pay attention. if you are hungry for another cycling movie, then check this one out. i ended up enjoying it, but mostly because i was starving for another cycling movie….. they seem to be so few and far between these days.

it has been a while since i wrote last. usually my lack of writing corresponds to my lack of cycling. this case is no exception. it’s been about 13 days since i rode to work and about 15 since i did any kind of serious cycling. oh, the racing? well that didn’t happen either. it got canceled the day before i was about to do it. i think my online psychokinesis lessons are finally paying off. with the racing out of the way and job intensifying i hardly found the energy to ride my bike. except for yesterday.

my son woke me up at 6am, to ask if he should drive to swim practice, being that there were 4 inches of brand new snow on the ground. i told him to skip practice since he’s a relatively new driver. after we settled that little bump in the road….all i could think about was the snow on the ground.

when you hear this, bare in mind that i haven’t found the time or energy to ride my bike to work for the past two weeks. now there is 4 inches of brand new snow on the ground, i wasn’t contemplating if i should ride to work, the only thing i was contemplating, was, which bike do i ride. my bike of choice was the bianchi, with nokian hakkapeliitta studded tires. the bianchi was sitting in the garage tireless, since i stoled its cross tires to put on my “cyclo-cross” rig.

these hakkapeliitta tires are so freaking heavy and stiff. they are made with an extra thick wire bead around them which is near impossible to put around my campy rims. [note: when i search for these tires so i could put a link on this post, the only tires that came up were for suv’s!]. while muscling on these beasts, i didn’t quite break my tire iron, only bend it…. i did however, manage to draw blood from two of my knuckles. luckily, i didn’t notice that i was bleeding till the project was complete. i happened to find the blood drops on the floor.

after the tires were on, i went back into the bedroom to pick out my clothes for the trip. it took me so long, but i finally picked out some stuff that would keep out the dirty melted salty road snow, and still keep me warm. not an easy task, i must say. i headed out the garage ready to brave my current adventure. feeling strong and surefooted from the studded tires i cruised out the neighborhood to the sounds of radar love. when i got out to the county road, the snow had not been completely plowed. only the middle part was taken care of, which was rather unfortunate since i like to ride my bike on the shoulder. however, the shoulder didn’t just have 4 inches of powder on it, it was riddled with dirty frozen snow balls from the debris of the plow. i tried riding straight through them, but the skinny tires just got pushed around. even though i had some pretty sweet studded tires, i couldn’t really weave through them, it would have been too dangerous. i ended up, riding off the shoulder down toward the dirt. this wasn’t too bad but i didn’t know how long i could continue this. it turned out to not be very long at all.

the whole thing was just really sketchy. i felt like i was going to slip and fall into the road, and get smashed by an on coming car. i made it through a really bad section, only because there were no cars. the big highway was only a couple miles from my house but by the time i got there i was in a full sweat. the clothes i spent so much time choosing turned out to be exactly wrong. with all the technical death grip riding i had done so far i was having a pretty good work out…a little too good.

the big highway had a big shoulder …. and bigger frozen snow balls :(. after about a mile of pure suffering and intense fear, i decided that i had had enough, plus i was already an hour late for work, and it would have taken me another hour and a half to finish the ride. i turned around, rode back home through all the same type of stuff i rode on the way out… only on the opposite side of the road.

i got home took another shower, and drove in…. i feel pretty lame that i didn’t make it, but sometimes common sense eventually hits me and i do the right thing. it doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, i think everyone is better off.

here is a picture of the bike i plan on racing with this weekend. i know what you’re thinking…..”that looks like a mountain bike”. well, you’re right, except that i put 700×32 cross tires on it…wooo hoo! right now it has a massive [in size] 20 tooth ring in the rear, but i’m going to put a 16 on it tomorrow, and see if i can ride it to work.