Biscuit Brunch

I had the opportunity to race the Mike Horgan Hill Climb yesterday, the Sugarloaf edition which I have never done. I still have not . . . I decided it would be better to sleep in a little and have a biscuit brunch with Cory, Dana, Matt, Sara, Marla, Mike, and Deb instead.

I started the morning off with my morning cup of coffee a half batch of standard buttermilk biscuits which rise oh so nicely in the oven. People started to show up right as biscuits were coming out of the oven, good timing!


In the spirit of experimentation, I made whatever we could come up with and whatever we had ingredients for. Below are the blueberry biscuits that were attempted. Flavor was good, but the moisture of the blueberries and the weight of the sugar wrecked havoc on the structure of the biscuits. In the future, I'll try smaller blueberries, more flour, and more of a lump shape instead of trying to cut out the usual biscuit round. These got glazed with a basic milk and confectioner sugar glaze which made them a little extra gooey and sweet. In the future, I'd consider topping them with some turbinado sugar prior to baking.


There was a batch of cheddar, jalapeño, and cilantro that went over quite well. The addition of cilantro was Cory's genius idea and I have to say it was a good one.


We tried a sour cream and chive biscuit which came out pretty well, but I could have been a lot heavier with the chive. There was also a garlic and parmesan biscuit that came out of the oven towards the end of the brunch. It smelled incredible while baking and tasted even better. Very few of the biscuits required toppings, but the jam, butter and Nutella were on hand just in case.

As the afternoon winds picked up, Cory and I hit the road for a quick spin out to and up Lookout. My legs felt nice and crispy from the day before. On the return trip, we cut through downtown, taking advantage of people watching opportunity at the Peoples' Fair . . . wow is all I can say.

State TT '08

Can you sense the excitement?!? Kevin looks like he is about to burst from the sheer thrill of the pending time trial . . .


After two years of barely missing out on getting on the podium in the P/1/2 Colorado State Time Trial Championships, I finally jumped onto the bottom step. In yesterday's thrilling event, I rode a 50:04, a scant two seconds slower than last year. Given the stiff wind coming directly from the east, it was a respectable effort. I tried to gauge my effort, taking it easier in the tailwind sections so I could suffer "better" riding back into the wind on the endless, gradual rises the course has. I am not exaggerating when I say it is the most boring course ever and I have the pictures to prove it. It is so easily to drift mentally as you ponder the nothingness of the fringe of the eastern plains.


I won't bore you with the description of the ride, you can write your own story based on the pictures. The awards ceremony was the highlight of the day. I stood by the dumpster where they were posting results, waiting for the P/1/2 results to come back from the finish area. As soon as they were posted, I joyfully exclaimed, "Weeeee" and walked over to Yvonne who gave me a congratulatory hug and my third place medal and ACA voucher.

We sat around after the time trial and left when we realized there was no point in being out there at all . . . ever.

I headed over to Randy's house to play bikes and get my old, old bike back up and running as a commuter. The Guerciotti polished up nicely and looks good with some tires and new bar tape. Now I need to peruse the internet and either find a six speed Suntour freewheel or a 17 or 18 tooth, position A cog since I have some major wear and skipping issues.


Eventually I'll get some fenders, some fancy platform pedals, and way down the road, I'll look into the Shimano dynamo front hub and light set to make it a real commuter. For now it is good enough for however many blocks it is to work and for the evening out on the town.

Life in the N-hood

Truly, there is not a dull moment in my neighborhood these days. From killer swarms of bees to new restaurants opening to outdoor activity galore, we have it all!

I saw some activity the other night in what will soon be India's Pearl in the old Lola space. This should be a good addition to the neighborhood, adding yet another ethnic option to Old South Pearl Street. I was very excited to see actual Indians sitting in the space when I walked past. Given the nature of the short run of BB's, I had my fears. I like the gold paint used for accent on the facade of the building. It looks fancy.


I might try to venture out for some of the festivities in the hood this weekend. Tonight is the First Friday Art Walk which should make for some interesting people watching from the patio of Black Pearl. Sunday marks the return of the Farmers' Market on the 1500 south block of Old South Pearl. It is nice to see the neighbors out and about on a Sunday morning.


Dempsey had an impromptu play date at the park with Guinness, a Black Lab puppy, new to the neighborhood. Dempsey kept up a haphazard game of fetch with Guinness in tow. He was taking his own sweet time bringing the ball back to me, finding the puppy significantly more interesting. Eventually the game evolved to Dempsey playing keep away until Guinness decided to stalk Dempsey, "hiding" himself in the 2" tall grass.

Tonight, I am going to hit the big park on the time trial bike for a spin and try out the new helmet to make sure it doesn't choke me or anything crazy like that. I'd hate to find that out during tomorrow's effort . . .

Monsoon

It is not really that bad out there and I sure the moisture is doing wonders for my plants, trashed lawn included, but it sure is grim looking outside. It started raining as soon as I stepped out of the house this morning and Dempsey got the short version of the walk.

If I remember correctly, the past couple years have had similar weather just prior to the State Time Trial Championships. I have a vague recollection of spending some time on the trainer, sweating, watching whatever the old idiot box has to offer. Though many have serious trainer aversion, it is actually pretty good prep for the effort required for State TT both mentally and physically. The length of the race is (or should be) in the sub-50 minute range and what's on TV these days is just about as boring as the "scenery" out by the airport. Do they make blinders for time trial helmets?

I am trying to figure out the logic behind this one, take a quick read and let me know what you think. The single phrase summary is "the silver lining to the buying-an-SUV-in-the-$4-a-gallon-of-gas-world-we-live-in argument" . . . riiiiiiiiight.

The Belmont Stakes is this weekend and Big Brown is the odds on favorite to win which would put him in the history books with the few, proud horses that have won the Triple Crown. The small crack in his hoof will surely give PETA more ammunition for their campaign against unethical treatment of horses in racing. Although the description of the standard treatment for the condition gave me the heebie jeebies, it sounds like your run of the mill manicure, just for horses:

"McKinlay, who works for a Canadian company called Tenderhoof Solutions, applied stainless steel sutures, similar to stitches, and pulled the crack shut. Before that, he ground down dead tissue around the crack." - 5/27/08 Washington Post

PETA has requested that a panel of vets examine the animal to evaluate his condition and determine if the hoof problem presents a risk that should keep him out of the race. Horse racing is a high risk activity, but so is life for large animals with spindly legs! PETA should continue to focus their energy on useful causes like rights of chickens that have a certain future of slaughter by KFC. Is a boycott of KFC by PETA members really that effective?


How can you allege treatment that is anything but ethical? Look at the blanket, the leg warmers, the bell boots on the front hooves, where do I sign up?

Goodies

I love hearing the words "we have some stuff that just came in" from the team. Phillips passed along a couple tasty treats yesterday. Thanks to Jason and the folk at Crank Brothers I will be sporting some new Eggbeaters, the four-ti variety weighing in at 167g per pair. These bad boys will be going on the time trial bike for now. The packing for these pedals is straight out of the Apple book of merchandising, pretty slick.


The kind people at Highway Two (Fi'zi:k, Continental, etc.) sent along the Arione saddle and matching bar tape shown below. Kathy and everybody I have talked to at Highway Two have been extremely helpful so far this season. Placing team orders has been a breeze and Kathy has been nothing but cheerful in putting up with my nonsense, so yet again, thank you for your help keeping us all on the road, well equipped. I'll get those on the bike and post some pictures as soon as possible.


So far this season, I have been sporting the stealthy grey, black, and carbon theme on the bike, but I think this new color combo will complement the new kits nicely.

With the Colorado State Time Trial Championships coming up on Saturday, I have a pretty light week on the bike this week. Given the forecast, some of the short intensity efforts will likely occur in the basement. I'm not sure which is more boring, the State TT course or the basement . . . at least the basement has TV. The start list has some pretty significant talent on it. Besides the usual suspects, there are a few guys racing on one day licenses who have the ability to haul the mail. For example, google Ben Day's results and credentials as a time trialist.

Uh . . . Thanks . . .

I think the finger can be pointed squarely at Xcel Energy on this one. I thought at first it might have been the City and County of Denver sub-contractor responsible for rotomilling, but when I drove past after lunch yesterday, there was a backhoe in the middle of the street digging away. It dawned on me then that the street had been marked for Xcel to put in the gas service laterals at the job site across the street.


Evidence suggests that they simply decided to cut across my grass when backfilling the hole closest to my property. A quick call placed to the Builders' Call Line this morning put me onto the Denver Metro Construction Department Manager . . . we'll see how that works for me.

Speaking of the duplex, it is starting to take shape. It looks somewhat modern right now, but it is hard to tell what is going to go on top of the plywood sheeting. They could pull the typical Denver hack-itecture and mix materials like nobody's business. There seems to be a common thread of mixing stone, stucco, siding, etc. giving it that oh so swell "builder special" aesthetic. I like the mezzanine feature at the 3rd floor, good use of the nomenclature loophole left in the building code.


I managed to get out on the bike last night after work to spin the legs out a bit and try to get rid of the crunchy feeling from the weekend. In keeping with the forecast for the week, mostly doom and gloom each and every afternoon, the clouds rolled in pretty spectacularly as demonstrated by this thunderhead.


Neither weather nor Xcel Energy damaged the mint I recently moved outside. A couple of the sproutlets didn't survive the move from water to soil, but those that did look solid. I still have a few in reserve in water that have a full set of roots.


Come Kentucky Derby time next year, I hope to have a veritable crop of mint growing somewhere, well controlled, in my yard.

UPDATE: Nice work Xcel Energy . . . I got a call back already from the Manager for the construction department. The claim is in with their restoration/repair people and should be taken care of within ten days.

Fame

My couple moments of fame have come and gone, there will still be opportunities for personal glory, but back to regular life now. I expected more paparazzi, but all I walked out to this morning when leaving the house was an empty street and I mean completely empty. They are roto-milling and repaving the neighborhood starting today.

This weekend was a pretty solid weekend for racing. Both courses were slightly altered from previous years and any change that occurs at Hugo to mix it up is more than fine by me. The City Park course was lengthened a big which made it more interesting and kept us from getting dizzy from going around round abouts every 20 seconds.

I carpooled out to Hugo with Tim "Favre" and Pinkerton to save on gas and for the camaraderie. Stuffing only three bikes and eight wheels into the car was a breeze after last weekend's bicycle/space management practice. All loaded up and full caffeinated, we hit the road. As predicted, the further east we got, the more the wind started to pick up. It wasn't a howling wind, but it would be enough to make positioning in the pack very important for the race.

I wanted to make sure that I stayed as far towards the front as possible, while staying out of the wind so after we rolled out of town towards nothingness I moved up to about top 15 or so and readied myself to follow early surges that looked like they had a good mix of riders. There were a few attacks put in early that the group brought right back together, but by about mile five (of 78) the elastic snapped, resulting in a group of 13 of us dangling off the front. It seemed like the gap held steady at just over a minute forever, but we were working smoothly in our group and the chase lost some of its organization.

Phase one of the move had all the usual suspects, Nicol, Tarkington, Baker, Pinkerton, Reichardt, Pearce, Porter, Hamity . . . take note of the fact that four names in that list ride for Vitamin Cottage. On one of the larger rollers on our southward journey, Colby Pearce put in an effort that shed a couple riders from our group. I was lucky enough to be sitting on his wheel when he accelerated, but I certainly felt it.

Shortly after the first feed zone, Dan Porter decided it was time to start shaking more riders loose because he didn't like the numbers VC had. His subsequent efforts cut our group down to eight riders and at one point, we were split four and four with me, Kevin, Colby, and Dan free of any VC riders. That shuffle didn't last too long, they got back on and put Pinkerton at the back, not working at all. We continued rolling pretty smoothly on the east-bound leg of the course until about 1k from the turn heading back to the finish. Porter put in yet another huge effort (our guess was 800 watts sustained for 30 seconds) that dumped Baker, Tarkington, and Ross Berger. I rode myself cross-eyed on that one to stay in contact.

At the last feed zone, about 18 miles from the finish I grabbed a Coke having been through all my gels and in need of some more quick energy. As I sat up to open the can, Colby surged hard. I had the can blow up in my hand as I popped the top, took half a sip, and tossed the can aside to get to chasing. Those guys were not going slowly and I could only manage to close the gap to about 10 meters before I gave up in favor for a steady effort in the hopes of not getting caught by Baker and the others behind me. I would have been really mad at myself if I spent all day in the break only to get popped (in part to being dumb) and slide down the results.

I went into time trial mode, trying not to think about the fact that I still had over 15 miles to the finish or the fact that my legs were starting to cramp. I was maintaining a reasonable cadence and trying to keep my speed above 28 mph. As I got closer to the finish, I started reeling in the remnants of other races and was pretty sure I was imagining things when I thought I saw colors that looked like Kevin and Pinkerton. I had maintained a 30+ second gap over Baker and caught two of the four guys up the road. They were looking as fried as I felt, having been the victims of yet another Dan Porter effort. I had a choice when I was rolling up to them, I could either maintain my speed and hope to pass with enough oomph that they wouldn't be able to jump on or I could ride in with them and hope for the best come the dead legged sprint. I went with the latter, but if I could have that one back, I would have accelerated as I past them. When we rolled up to the line, I told Pinkerton that if he pipped me at the line he wasn't getting a ride home. He took the "sprint" like a man and I edged out Kevin for 4th place. Despite a few glitches, this was one of my better races since joining the P/1/2 field.

City Park went about as expected. I'm still don't get super excited about more technical crits, but eh . . . it wasn't too bad. I put in a few efforts early to go with a few moves that got a little gap, but came back pretty quickly. About 20 minutes in, I found myself sitting on Mike Carter's wheel and I told him to go, but he didn't until a lap or so later. When he did go, I saw Tim following so I got to the front and took corners nice and gently, sitting next to Steve Forbes from Vitamin Cottage who also had a couple guys off at that point. Tim came so close to making it but dangled a bike length or so off the group for a couple laps and eventually came back. Back to work . . . unfortunately about 55 minutes in, about 15 guys decided to sit up, all in about a ten second span meaning multiple gaps to close. I managed to do so, but had nothing left after that. I finished, doing whatever necessary to do so and with all my skin. It was a pretty good race for the team, Scott was mixing it up with the best of them and Dejan lived to tell the tale of handlebars coming off in his hands at the worst possible time!

I checked out the front yard this morning, post walk with Dempsey and I have flowers blooming. Nothing as glorious as some of my neighbors' yards, but here's the first geranium.


Grow . . . grow damnit!