Winter White

Have you ever seen the movie the "Butterfly Effect"? Horrible, Horrible movie. Ashton Kutcher. Movie built around the Chaos theory that a small change at one place in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state. I think this was part of Lost as well. Stephen Kings new book is sort of about that also. Sometimes my life feels that way. Not in a bad way but in a what is real and what is not real way. Or what if I did x back ten years ago where would I be right now...anyway that is maybe too heavy for a silly blog post on a Friday after Groundhog Day. I guess the crux of it is how the internet has woven all our lives, past and present together. Last weekend was awesome. But its a perfect example of this idea. I went on a really great ride with one of my teammates. We just spun an easy gear. Talked about weddings, team transfers, just caught up. It really was perfect. On the way back on South street I sensed a larger group coming up on us. I looked back and it just looked like the Borg mothership about to assimilate us. I told Joy a crew was coming up. NBD. But when the group latch on at a light I looked back and I saw the Threshold Wolf Pack all beards and smiles. Nice! That crew just gets me going. Lots of great guys on the team obviously but they just have an energy about them that I love. Doesn't hurt that they have that big yellow Lion of Flanders on the back pocket of their jersey either.

Our own little version of the Bossburg

So as I sat in talking to Ken, then Dan we just moved through a rotation. At one point I was next to a guy in a very familiar kit. I said hi. Looked down and saw the Team Roaring Mouse logo! Ha. So I say to him "nice kit." Now this is Boston. You don't know if someone is saying nice kit cause its a nice kit or they are some chucklehead DB trying to start some shit with you. So the guy really doesn't say anything. Then I laugh and say no really nice kit. Then I tell him about my having a bunch of friends on Team Roaring Mouse back in the Bay Area and that I lived out there for almost two decades. That eases his natural fear of Bostonians and we chat a bit. I peel off and head home just feeling good about life. Sunday I stay glued to my lap top watching CX Worlds. On Monday I get an email from Dennis. Dennis is one of the two or three people who really got me into cross. He was the guy who got me onto the Sycip team, mentored me all along the way. Really was one of my best friends in SF. And he writes the best race reports of anyone I know. Frankly race reports are a dying art.

Dennis photo by Jeff Namba

Then today I am cruising the interwebs and I see Stevil has posted D's report! Along with photos! I ripped the above photo of Dennis off AHTBM. I hope Stevil doesn't find me and nut punch me....Long story short it was so great to hear from Dennis and see him ripping it up. And hear it now and believe me later. Next Fall I will be making a pilgrimage back to SC. Thinking Halloween weekend. Sure why not dig myself a deeper hole. I will be racing for the SSWC of Cyclo-cross. And if I win it you better believe I am coming home with a tattoo on my left butt cheek. Even if it is Barney...

So among all these ripples through time or the interwebs is the next part of this blog post. Team Transfer Season. Wow. I have never seen so much team shake up on an amateur level in my life. The cockroach now becomes Broadway instead of Cambridge, riders are swapping teams left and right, and the Mad Alchemy/Verge Rider Cooperative is born. I personally like the words Syndicate or Mafia but I see where these guys are going with it. Hup NE has grown! Big time. We have added a lot of new faces. Some came on at the end of the cx season and others have come aboard via friends. Or friends of friends. I am really excited where Hup NE is right now. We have the same great core of OG Hup that built this team from the get go but now we have this next gen. It reminds me a bit of X-Men and X-Men Next Generation. I will do a formal intro of all the new riders but let me just say Hup will be bringing it next year. I think we have gone from a Wolf Pack to a swarm of Killer bees...

Last thoughts on this jumble of a blog post. This "winter" has been bananas. I don't think its possible to "overtrain" But maybe you can go too deep. I have been open about my Strava addiction. Not even sure what it all means. It just motivates me unlike any other tool out there. Some people love Powerdata etc. I like to see where I have been. And then get inspired by other riders to maybe try a new route or maybe try mtn biking in a certain area I haven't tried before. So in no planned fashion I have been building a base. Again nothing structured. Just riding. I decided this week to do the CRW 60. I have literally never done it. I have been on a lot of the roads that make it up but never done the whole loop. So I set out. Found some amazing roads I have never been on before. Then when I got to Holliston I cracked. To pieces. Just did what we do. Ate what food I had. Kept moving. I wanted to stop so bad. But I kept think WTF? Its only been 40 miles. How can I crack at 40 miles? I had already done about 250 in the last two weeks in January...I got home. Took care of myself then woke up sick. Again I have not been pushing myself. No intervals. Just a tick up in mileage and a switch from Cx in the woods to road. But I have been dealing with a lot of pressure. A shit ton. More than any time in my life. And I have been sitting in Hospital waiting rooms while people sneeze and cough all around me. So I got taken down. Need to be smart about it. All I WANT to do is keep logging in miles. It seems like the only place my mind is quite right now. Maybe that is why people end up doing more endurance when they get older. Its gives you space. And time.

Ok that is enough of my endless rambling. I blame it on the fog that is my brain right now. Kudos to my good friend Dennis for rocking so hard its not even funny. He still inspires me from 3,000 miles away. Keep writing those reports D! And please keep sending them. I will see you next Fall!

Hup! Hup!