more silliness!

i am pretty sure beckie will testify that i am silly, have always been and shown a propensity for silly, work hard to bring the joy of silly into my day to day life. i will pant people, make fun of awkward noises, immitate Beavis and Butthead, prat fall, make funny faces, make funny-fake-scary faces, enjoy Jim Carey and Naked Gun, and pull your finger. whatever…a man can show confidence in his intelligence by enjoying the simple humors. the baby has inspired me to purposefully cultivate my silly. i like the payoff, its rewarding. its kinda like one of the best things i’ve heard in my yoga class “relax your face.” it really does relax you. never too old for silly.

Eating right

Just like w me, feeding G the right combination of stuff is hard work. I like giving her bad stuff now and then, why not, she loves it. she’s so active that doesnt bug me, it more making sure all along that the bulk of her diet is right. Most mornings its banana, yogurt and cheerios. Dinner is harder to work in veggies – I bought some frozen mixed veggies the other day, since they have that sweet taste I think she will dig em just like peas. Scrambled eggs worked yesterday, which was cool Beckie said G didnt like them the last time. Today at the veggie stand I picked up strawberries and blackberries just for the baby — good call. Between those, and grapes, I feel like its a good portion of a meal and I can always give her something like a snack to keep her mellow. And hydration — I’m always trying to offer her water bottles and sippy cups. She is pretty good about letting me know when she wants to hit the bottle, but I’ve taken to leaving a few on the floor around the house. It is summer in AZ after all.

gear up!

I keep slowly introducing G to the terrain. yesterday we walked for a while on the access road behind Red Mountain Ranch. she is getting it. couple times she headed to something steep and recognized when i told her “careful” or “no.” didnt stop her, but at least she got the message. She tried to scramble up the side of a little culvert — amusing in and of itself seeing tinyHuman struggle with a 2 ft culvert — and as she failed you could see she wasn’t really upset more accepting that it was out of her league. yeah she is definitely getting it.

the other day I decided no more open toed shoes if we’re doing anything interesting. I mean, duh, but its important. I noticed yesterday she was covered in scratches so I need to get her some light pants too for these instances of all-terrain-babying.

shit-dog

beckie and I have a rule: if the dog rolls in shit while you are walking the dog, its your job to de-funcify the dog. This sometimes means one member of the pack is working much harder than the other members of the pack in the best interests of the rare-and-wild Kila. But really, there is no other way. Your crime, your time.

Today the dog rolled in shit while I was alone for the 3-day weekend, walking kila and G. It happened like 2 minutes into the walk, I had barely gotten the cap off my beer. <sigh>. Got home, put the dog in the shower, got in with her and cleaned her and myself in a long leisurely wash. Usually I am quite perfunctory about getting Stinky out of my shower, but I also needed to clean G, who had gotten ridiculously disgusting as I was working all day to tire her out ( grapes, milk, sand, beer, water, powerbar and other general organics contributing to G’s aura by 6pm). Anyway, tossed Kila outside and showered G off. She hates this, I know she hates it, but it took like a minute and a half to have a sparkling clean baby. So I spend some time hugging her, I’m still like 10 minute up from this overwhelming task of cleaning multiple disgusting mammals. Does that make me a bad dad?

Firepit

chilling out while G is finally asleep, reading Wired, drinking some “Eve of vieve.” I love the firepit its very cathartic, relaxing to read by and watch, and the burning is like therapy. Today we are burning a root ball from something that deserved to die, some huge hunk’o’hunk of mesquite, and a broom I stole from the loading dock of a middle school in Arlington, VA in like 1993 when Beckie and I got in a huge fight and I went out and drove myself through a 12 pack in northern Virginia. That piece o shit has been with me for almost 15 years, the bristles are finally gone, and it will become one with the collective. I love that. The lawn chairs we bought in 1996 at the Street Fair in Tucson for $35 each are next…well, one went about a year ago, the one I’m sitting on is held together by a shred of a thread and one good wiggle its into the pit. Sweet. “burn motherfucker burn,” The Bloodhound Gang, ‘Fire Water Burn’, 1996.

shoes

we’re alone all weekend together. This is a lot of work, but only fair to Beckie shit someone should be able to go have great adventures. Lately G has seemed to sit on the dog pillow whenever she sees me getting out her shoes – the dog pillow where I often sit her down to put em on. Well, today I took off my tevas and said “shoes”, and from then on she was repeating “sussss…shubbbs…etc”. Last week or so when I took off my tevas I noticed her trying to do the same thing. She definitely has it figured out that shoes = outside = fun. damn smart human.

Havasupai

Beckie is off this weekend w. Janna. Not like G could go there and live…so, I’m home and she’s not. Its all good, someone should get to enjoy the 3-day weekend. Maybe she will write about it…

cell phone is ringing

G understand when my cell phone rings, its not just a noise anymore, she knows exactly what is making it.

The other day she grabbed my mouse and held it to her ear like a phone.   its got the clamshell profile, seemed like a good idea.

The Whiskey Offroad 2007

Today was the day.

Got up at about 3:30am, quick shower to loosen up and was mostly ready to go from the night before. Took the Acura this time and despite the rack being a humongous pain in the ass damn that was the finer way to travel. Easy riding, XM…beat ths hell out of the truck. Got to Whiskey Row in Prescott about 5:50, scoped out parking etc. Prescott has added a big ole parking garage, free on the weekend…that is so smart its always cool to see a city use its brains to promote commerce.

I had called Epic a few days before to find out the skinny on AM checkin, it was uncomfortable they were not and never have been fans. Last year th woman working checkin was such a bitch about it that it got my day off to a terrible start. Its crappy to get mad at volunteers, but I’d gotten bs from this chick in the past for several events, so it was such a welcome change to meet Kat this year who was all good times and good energy to start my day. I know it puts a burden on the organizers, but until Epic gets serious about its mandatory pre-ride-night-before meetings and includes useful information not present with a beer in one’s hand, I don’t see why they can’t accomodate? This year almost 100 riders checked in AM. If I had the time I’d have loved to have made a weekend out of it, but having the AM checkin is super good for me and my busy schedule. I was just so psyched after the downer of last year to see a happy person so early, I donated a few bucks to the food bank to say thanks — would gladly pay a few dollars extra for my fee to have that convenience.

Got right near the front for the start and fuck lotta that good seemed like everyone and the fat kid was passing me at the beginning. Whatever…it didnt taste good but I knew from last year I had to go my pace up the first 15 miles. 2500 feet of climbing, waterbars, pitch — I had to go my speed. So I sucked it up…was feeling depressed, and then my bud Dustin Wardle who I hadnt seen in a year and heard left town goes rolling by. Cool! We said hi, then he was like “well, see ya later” (he is much faster). Its all good, that is what is neat about a race, the focus on yourself goes up. Its that much more intense, even if you are just out to finish strong.

Rolled through the road climb and the couple miles of singletrack climb pretty good. Gobbled up a bunch of folks during the climb, and started to feel less terrible about myself.It should stop surpising me now, but its just the way it is: you better at something, you pass em; they better, they pass you back; the best riders are good at everything. Me goodem at tech climb compared to roadies, me goodem at speed compared to dh’rs, me suckem compared to those that are good at anything. I have been thinking about a post on this, the lameness of the all-mountain rider. But I digress…soon the climb turned to dh rocky babyheads and it was sketchy in some spots. I rode it pretty well, a little smoother than last year, had a scary quick dab out in one spot which I think was the same spot I almost lost it last year. No worries this time, but a couple dudes passed me and then I had to wait for them through some subsequent tech drops. Oh well…others passed who I had climbed by. Or got me afterwards on the fireroad climb. I remembered from last year, this was the leadup to the first big peak roughly halfway throug the climbing…had to stay loose and stay focused.

Rolled right by the rest stop and on into Skull Valley. Tried to note the route on the way down, to see where I could think my way through stuff and where I should just relax and not get mad about the difficulty. Miles 1 and 2, (8-9 going up) were gonna be ugly, as they were last year. The rest seeme doable.

And it was. Same as last year every mofo I saw coming up as I went down shamed me and every mofo I passed coming up as they went down sucked ass and made me better. What can I say…your mind gets weird on these races. And fine it went, 45 min to finish mile 7 a fabulous pace, and then…Skull Valley reintroduced itself to me. Miles 8-12 took me an hour, it was ugly, not as bad as last year I never broke and didnt walk as much, but gawdamn that took the wind out of my sails. I’m just going to cling to that it was better than last year and be happy with that.

Right after the rest stop mile 9-10 I managed to go without stopping, small victory that gave me a little boost, getting closer getting closer, but I kept looking around every little rise praying to see the end of the climb at Sierra Prieta Overlook. At one point when I was pushing, some girl behind me snapped “pick a side.” That was so random it took my mind off the grind. Maybe I misheard her, maybe she said something totally different, maybe I was exhausted and imagining things. But I was like “why do you want me to pick a side, I’m walking and you’re passing“. She was either a very pissy bitch, or I misheard, cause every single rider all day had been friendly and good on either side of the passes. Its one thing I really like about these races, everyone makes such an effort to be cool about sharing the trail, that it totally works and you almost never have conflicts. Most of us are racing ourselves and not eachother, we’re all doing the same event, but also everyone seems to buy into the “Be Nice” plan and because of it everyone benefits. You put it out there, and what goes around comes around. So this nasty comment was so totally out-of-place…I decided she was not going to drop me, kept her close for the last mile of the climb, and when she hesitated getting on the single track at the top I rolled inside her line and off I went. She seemed pissed, but that move was totally fair, it is still a race after all, nothing others hadn’t done to me. Does it make me a dick if I get angry but keep it on the inside and am still nice on the outside? I don’t think so, but either way it didnt matter 200 yards up the singletrack and within sight of the end of the climb my left knee cramped so bad I had to stop and poke at it for a minute. She passed, but I rolled by again on the first technical shot. Heehehehe, roadie chicks on the mtn bike scared of the first rock face they see that explained a lot of things including the attitude, ok vengeance was mine, she is not passing me again, and I still was nothing but polite through it all. The whole drama lasted about 15 minutes, but it got me through the climb. And now finally I was onto the last few miles of singletrack.

Just like last year, this stretch was the payoff for the whole event. Fast, tight, and just techy enough to keep you honest. I let it rip and had fun, and kept having fun, so much fun that I started to think I was riding extra miles. I didn’t know it at the time, but the course added 2 miles in this stretch, which really was just enough to seem a lot longer then I wanted when you think you are almost at the end. The one little climb I pushed for a bit, but rode most of it and again was better than last year. It became clear that the course was longer and I would miss my goal of 4:45, but the track was fun and I was riding it well. There was one dude I passed again, for the 4th time at least. Every time he was resting when I passed and I was rolling when he passed — who is faster? who cares, I passed him 5 miles from the end and just said no matter what my point of pride today will not be letting that little bastard pass me again. Not that he is, or was, or I even exchanged a word all day with him…it was the exhausted id doing all the talking now. The next guy was my best friend and soul-mate, before his miss on a rock and the stroke I had to take instead of carry momentum transformed him into the great-satan-baby-killer before my very eyes. Everyone was my brother, except for everyone I hated…yeah, it was time to get this ride done.

Popped out onto the road finally, and hammerred with all I had. Which was not much, there was a slight grade for about half a mile that felt killer, and right at the end it seemed like I was going backwards even as I saw the cones and road closures telling me the finish was around the corner.

I ended up with the same time as last year 5:03. The course was 2 miles longer, and according to TopoFusion was about 2 points harder on the difficulty index (39 vs. 37 last year). So I figured it was actually about a 15 min improvement after crunching the numbers between the 2 routes. So woohoo! that was my goal and I was happy. Only 4 min non-moving time. The good to take out of this was that my climb was a tad stronger, and doing a long ride every month has really helped. But despite being a better rider, and doing about the same hrs and miles, I don’t think I did enough big climbs. To excel at this event, I need to do more road climbs. Maybe next year.

Pre WOR stoke

The Whiskey Offroad is this weekend, and I have been training pretty hard. My “normal” routine of spinning about 8hrs a week on the bike of pretty much whatever type of riding I feel like. On Beckie’s advice I have been making more long rides on a regular basis, and probably have had about a 4 hr ride at least once a month for like 6 months now. Been keeping a good log so its easy to check…yup 5 4 hr rides this year plus a coupla 3s (Quad Bypass, East Mesa Epic, 6 Shooter Canyon, 4 Peaks and Porcupine Rim).   I’m about 3lbs lighter woohoo finally shed the few lbs I have been stuck with and I think I can keep them off.   That the impetus to shed them was a 3-day case of ass-pissing from something I ate is not important, though I was down to like 142 during the worst of it.   Also stronger, and I got a fast fast rear tire on my bike for a change.   I asked Bill at Adventure “what would be faster than a Nevegal” and with a straight face he said “Everything.”   Last year I did 5:03 and cracking on the Skull Valley climb is what burned all my time. My training rides times have not been so good timewise on 4 Peaks and Saguaro Lake, there have been good reasons like weather for most of that, but I need to not let that get in my head. Hopefully I will be better this year with all the little improvements and tweaks.

The Blur was in the shop since Moab, and was ready today. Had a really good talk w. Bill about where I’m going w. the blur and about a 6/6 bike. The SC Heckler is for sure on my short list and definitely being able to buy from Adventure would be a selling point…we’ll see. Going to be doing some test rides next week, and found some hookups for a Titus MotoLite, an Ellsworth and a nice Turner. So Bill and I had a good talk there, and about one of his mechs who is a nice guy but sometimes too aggressive and ping-deaths me…its great when I can deal w. Bill I just tell him what I want, he tells me what I need, and I know I get a price that’s fair for both of us. I don’t ask, he just gives me the bill and I pay it.   Sucks that the shop is so hard to get to now, but everytime I get in a twist by that it seems I have a great experience there to keep me coming back.   Definitely that is better than starting fresh with a shop if I dont need to, cause all shops are going to piss you off at some point about something.

So brought the bike home, swapped some tires and tubage and went for a quick sprint down TRW wooooohoooooo it is riding fast.   Made it from home to the end of TRW in 18 minutes, that’s about 5 miles of singletrack…mmm mmm fast fast fast you go RickyBobby.   Stopped at the RMR pool for a quick swim and that was so so sweet, and now I may even watch Breaking Away like I need any more psych right now. Hope this weekend goes well.