Cross pics and a little post

So today we had an 800m time trial (long course) in the pool. I asked the Dagnall brothers if I could borrow some legs (swim-suit that covers your entire legs) for the occassion. Unfortunately I have this problem where when I go to swim fast, I toss all technique aside and just thrash... not the most effective strategy if you want to go anywhere. So aside from looking really fast, nothing special came of it. Don't worry, I'm working on it. The legs felt great and definitely would have made me go faster were I not thrashing helplessly. I ended up going 10:32, pretty slow, but not slow enough (for this time of the year anyway) to get me too discouraged. Plus I know once I figure out how to swim efficiently when I am trying to go fast... I will go fricken FAST! Put money on it.

I then went for a decently muddy cross ride on some single track trails. I managed to eat-it pretty hard for the millionth time this week. I was descending a particularily gnarly section of single track when I hit a slippery root going around a muddy corner and managed to get launched over my handle bars "superman" style. I landed on my stomach and slid pretty far in the mud before coming to a hault. While I am getting used to crashing by now, this particular spill took me a little longer to get up from. I thought I had broken my finger and my leg was piercing with pain. Both discomforts subsided enough for me to keep on riding. All I could think of while I was lying on the ground writhing in pain was, "Holy smokes am I ever getting sick of crashing!" I may or may not have said something other than, "holy smokes" at the time.

The rest of the ride turned out to be pretty sweet. I perambulated along through the trails splashing in the mud and catching air off anything that would allow it. Eventually I came across this epic trail that was practically vertical. It lead to the very top of this huge cliff that looked over a large area of the wilderness trails that I was on. I decided to see if it were possible to ride up it. After a short but badass climb the view at the top was amazing and the descent was even better, although I was slightly sketched-out after crashing so many times. I ended up getting a flat on my way home (probably from catching air off of everything) but it wasn't a big deal as it gave me a chance to soak up the ambiance of the adventure.

I got home, superman telephone booth changed, and jetted of to strength workout. After strength I went for a 45 minute run with some fartlek stuff. I am slightly embarrased to admit this run was accomplished on a treadmill. These treadmills I was on look through these huge windows onto this path I always run on, or ride by on my bike. I'm always out there riding by in the pouring rain or something, looking in at all the people on their exercise bikes and treadmills thinking, "I'm so hardcore, those pansies and their silly treadmills... HA!" Unfortunately today I was the pansy on the treadmill... karma. That is was I get for being so pretenious.

Anyway, that's enough for now, my "little post" is growing rapidly. Here are the pictures from the race on Saturday.
Peace and Love

The bike gets heavier after the 40th time

"Thank God that is over!"

The gnarly "up and over" that Troy 'Woody' Woodburn from Procity made

The corners were super slippery with all the mud

It got deeper with each lap

PS I am going to try and start bringing a camera along on more of my training sessions so I can document things better/more visually.

Cross on the Rocks

Today I raced my first cyclo-cross race; fortunately for me it was hands-down the most badass/gnarly race ever to have existed. ProCity hosted this most epic of races so I decided I would head out there and represent with my new ProCity team kit... however in the end I don't know how well I "represented" (I got lapped out at lap 5 of 6) but I had an INSANE amount of fun, got ridiculously muddy, and learned a whole lot. I have a new found respect for the pros who can maneuver their bikes around obstacles like the ones at the race with such speed and elegance... RESPECT. However I have a lack of respect for the large majority of the group that dropped out of the race because of the conditions/course. There were long sections that required you to trudge through (I kid you not) knee-high deep mud. I probably crashed 20+ times; one time in particular was really bad when I was descending this super muddy embankment and lost control on a big lip at the bottom, landing face first in a huge mud puddle. It took me a while to get going after that because I couldn't see and my eyes stung. In retrospect if I hadn't had biffed there I might have managed to finish before getting lapped out. Oh well, it was a seriously good time regardless. This is definitely something I could get good at with a little bit of practice.

In other news, training is going great. I am getting ridiculously ripped (I wish I were kidding... I'm not) and improvements (in the water especially) just keep on coming. My every day short-term goal of quality and consistency is really paying off (go figure). I have only been sick once since September, which only took me out for a day. I have also just recently started pumping-iron (weight-lifting), which I think will really contribute to my level of jackedness... and overall fitness/power. Anyway, that is all I will write for now in accordance with my new self-imposed rule to write less per post and as a consequence (hopefully) post more frequently. Until next time!

Peace and Love.

PS I will post some pictures when they surface.