Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The clean life

After many months of functioning to capacity only after the potent drip of a dark roasted coffee, green tea has arrived to restore and comfort me. It's morning here at 222 Campbell St. (aka Chriscottistan) and I've been up for over an hour checking the weather and eating homemade biscuits with jam. The house is a bit chilly so I've got my green KBS Gummby suit on. It's a green retro/euro/hippster american apparel jumpsuit we got at the Tour of California. The weather's not so terrible outside at 45 degrees but my body doesn't know exactly what to think after experiencing so many climates already this year. The sun is out, though, so the planned noon ride time should be ok. Of course mornings communicating ride plans with training partners can't go without controversy as Jeff has already been arguing Andy Mac's 10am ride time logic. We discussed it and I contended that riding early is really just an illusion of being "on the ball" because you feel like you're ahead of the competition. There's that and there is the fact that every aspiring cyclist has this 10am thing stuck their head as being totally fesh. This neurotic behavior usually wears off after a few years of getting destroyed by riders you later find out barely even ride and have Mtn. Dew in their bedons. I've been through the gamut with this one. I experimented in the early years modeling myself off riders like Chris Eatough who truly represented the rare breed of 10am and successful to the sporadic brilliance of Jeremiah Bishop. They both work, just not exclusively. Jeff's argument is that if you have all day, ride during the best hours of it. Mine tends to be a more working flow-chart of inspiration logic.

Health seems to still be on it's way. Just to be sure, I'll continue to live the clean life until I'm sure it's really here. So the latest with the Olympic MTB crew is that Adam Craig and Todd Wells are planting themselves firmly at the top of the USA Possibility list.
Adam was 8th in World Cup # 2 in Germany last weekend and Todd is holding his own in consistency land. Jeremiah is fighting and I know what he's up against having also started in the oppressive back rows of a world cup mtb race. Never surrender! Suzy Q had a better race last weekend in the 30's. One more big one this weekend in Madrid, Spain before the crew rolls home. Ah, of course I should mention that Jeff Schark is three for three after his crack 'm all win last weekend in Greenbrier. On with the day.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Night time in the little town

The plague symptoms are showing signs of retreat. I'm fighting. It seems, par usual, that everyone in town is out doing huge things this weekend. It's always obvious how much is going on around you when you can't participate. A thing to remember for times of health... Suzy Q and JB are in Germany this weekend for round 2 of the MTB World Cup. Their Olympic participation hinges on rock and/or roll performances! Half my team is racing in the Athens drunken criterium in Georgia tonight. The other half is stuck at home with lonely ritualistic things to do before heading out to Oregon for the Mt. Hood stage race later in May. Altitude tents and suppressed eating habits and such. Seneca Rocks had some action this weekend with White Grass Catering and Chris Scott leading tours. Today Harrisonburg's new local "City" MTB Park had a little opening shindig. The Rocktown trails at Hillandale park are amazing and I'm going burry my head in the sand for not making it out there in a long while. Mountain bikes are frickin' cool and I'm not sure that I actually know how to ride one anymore. Trek thinks I might so I'll be riding one of those at some point this season. My roomy, Jeff "Schark", is at the other event of the weekend at Greenbrier State Park in MD for a big fat-tire throw down. Sounds like something fun. Mackie Marcus and Jason Cyr from the Blackwater Bikes team are the official Redneck reps from Davis. I was born there. Great for bicycle practice as well as pizza and local suds. I've been charged with looking after the homestead of 222 and baking vegan cookies when I feel distant. I have a bottle of Sake.

Today was hot and then it rained. All the trees are budding and green is here to stay for while. The Harri-Roubaix has come and gone with a bang so Spring is in full bloom. I'll do some investigation into the progress of Davis next week. Been a while.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

WV Spring Familiarity.

So I'm down, way down, here in Sissonville, WV. I'm staying at Steve Thaxton's health and sanity compound otherwise known as World Wide Chiropractic. The body I call mine has been aloof as of late. I blame the west coast and it's ferocious coast. Yes, the Tour of California is not yet just a distant and painful memory. It's still very much here and kicking me hard in the upper and lower regions. Truly "destroying my will to live".

The Spring is a classic season to start my yearly visit allotment here at the alternative health compound. I think back to my last emergency visit back in April '06 when I showed up with a massive alien growth of sorts on my ass. It was directly over my right sit-bone creating a near impossible saddle situation. How funny that too was right after the Sea Otter Classic. Hmm. Anyway, two days of ionic foot baths and hours of low-level laser attack among other secret stuff, I was on a fast track of healing. Besides a little life-threatening situation, it's clear that an Allopathic approach to seemingly everything has failed. It is leading to crazy bacterial resistance from the overuse of antibiotics and, of course, creating a fantastically convenient industry for drug makers who capitalize off of digestive complaints. We have something for that! And it is not a probiotic. This works hand in hand. Dr. prescribes antibiotics for everything because he's trained to. Drug companies get new customers from the random side effects and offer them a wide range of "your body is stupid" drugs. As it goes, I've been getting treated by the finest with the finest. And the ionic foot bath and laser are in the arsenal again. Oh, yeah, and Steve pretty much runs his entire operation on his own homemade bio-diesel.