Looking at the mountain -- RAMROD thoughts.

I took a nice ride yesterday at about mid-day, just under 30 miles, nothing too strenuous or long, no big hills. A sunny early-afternoon jaunt.

Several points afforded me great, clear views of Mt Rainier. It was one of those days with very little haze, and you could see from the 14,400 ft summit all the way down to the lower foothills.

It made me think of the route that the riders of RAMROD will be taking in just three short days. 150+ miles, and a good 10K ft of climbing in one day of glorious (and grueling, on some stretches) riding.

I'm doing a favor for an online acquaintance -- his wife was drawn in the RAMROD lottery, and they had to ship her bike out from Massachusetts. I volunteered to put her bike together for her (and also disassemble it for return shipping). It arrived on Friday, and it's ready for her arrival in town today. As I took it out of the shipping box, I was impressed -- custom titanium Spectrum with SRAM Red. Tasty. And very light. It should be a steed for making the circumnavigation of Washington's tallest peak.

I'm not sorry that I'm not doing the ride this year. Quite frankly I think I'm done with it. It's a great ride, and who knows I may change my mind at some point, but I've done it three times, and I know my fastest time is well behind me.

Good luck to all the RAMRODers. It looks to be a nice, sunny, warm day. Drink lots -- you'll want that on board come the Cayuse Pass climb.

It's getting warm in here...

There's nothing like that feeling when everything is running smoothly, the joints are all lubed up, and the speed just seems to pile on.

Back when I was bike racing a lot (almost full-time), I found that the better shape I was in, the longer it took me to warm up. An hour of riding building to sprint speeds was common for a criterium. Only on the longest of road stages would I do very little, allowing myself the first several miles of the race to warm me up.

Lately I find myself warming up slowly again. It takes me a good 20 minutes to feel like I'm firing on all cylinders and can push the pace. Most of my lunchtime rides find me averaging about 17mph for the first 15 minutes or more, and finishing with an overall average approaching 20. As my riding goes over 12 hours a week of time in the saddle, it seems that my body has adapted to the longer rides, and says "wait" when it comes to meting out the energy to push the pedals.

I'd love to say that my speed and endurance are approaching that of my peak racing years again, that this is just a symptom of my return to the fitness I had in my late 20's and early 30's. And that I could drop into a race again and not have my posterior handed to me on a platter along side my dignity.

Alas, it's more likely just that I'm getting older, and it just takes longer to get percolating.

That's okay, though. I'll take it. That just means I'm full of surprises for any one who sizes me up in the first 20 minutes.

Ssssssmokin'!!!

Life has been pretty busy in the brider home.

Little one at 11 months and counting means that plans for a big first-birthday are in the works, along with all the normal house projects that get chipped-away-at like a lazy woodpecker, carving out a moment of two for getting the in-process bike frames built (one almost done, and shuffling three more around to get to varying states of semi-assembly), and working a full-time job...

But in all of this, we recently bought a smoker. Not a high-end thing, but it is gas or briquette fired. My wife has been having a lot of fun with it. And I can't say as I'm at all disappointed.

It's been used a good twice a week since we got it. Pork and chicken have been the proteins of choice mostly, and let me tell you, the results have been DELICIOUS.

Last night was her first foray into cow. Beef brisket. And yes, it was good. I've got a couple slabs for lunch today.

Yes, it takes more time than a barbeque. But the results are SO much better.