My Sinuses Are a Haven for Some Very Mean Critters…

…and they don’t seem to want to leave.  There’s so much pressure up there, it’s making my teeth hurt.  I did figure something out, though.  All that coughing is an awesome ab workout! 

I’m not going to bore you with the details of my latest crud-related illness, nor will I get political on this mofo as I had intended (we all know where I stand, and I’m not going to try and change anyone’s mind).  Instead, I’m going to give a shout out to Jeff Viscount for another job well done at this past Saturday’s Assault on Morrow Mountain.  Sure, there was a race that day as well, but I figured getting dropped for free is easier to swallow than paying 25 bucks to have my ass handed to me.  I think I’ve pretty much accepted my status as a career category 4 roadie.  Maybe I’ll eschew road racing altogether next year and just go for endurance mountain biking.  I seem to have done better at that anyway.  Not only that, but I miss things like this:

Seriously, the last time my tires have touched dirt, I was going anaerobic with mud coursing through my nasal passages.  Hey, maybe there’s a connection there.

The cold medicine’s making me kinda loopy and unproductive so that’s all I’m gonna give you for now.  Not that I’ve been very prolific lately. 

Later.

-Yrjo

Rest in Peace, Adam

Really not much to say, but only because it’s hard to find the words.  You can read about it here, here, and here.

Count your blessings, guys.

I’m back!

Again!  I’ll admit, it’s pretty tough writing a blog with any sort of regularity when you have a kid, a wife, and a nasty cycling habit.  Truth be told, I haven’t been putting a whole lot of thought into writing since we moved back from Anchorage.  Not exactly sure why either.  The weather hasn’t been very spectacular or anything.  Regardless, here I am, and there you are (all five of you). 

The road season is off to a fine start here.  As such, I’ve noticed a few striking differences between road racing here and road racing in Anchorage.  Mostly, the packs are bigger.  Much, much bigger.  It took a lap or two to get used to moving that fast around so many people, but before long, I was moving around the pack with the best of them.  Well, maybe not the best of them, since they usually finish in front of me; but I was pretty comfortable going knuckle to knuckle nonetheless.  After two races, my domination of mid-pack of category 4 road racing in the Carolinas has yet to be contested.  Watch out, upper echelon of mediocrity!  Perhaps if I was a little more patient and just sat in until the sprint, I might finish a bit higher, but we all know how I sprint, and it ain’t pretty.  My conflict avoidance strategy of going off the front hasn’t worked very well so far this year.  It seems the same guys who don’t want to work with you in a breakaway are the same guys who are more than happy to drag the pack back up to you. 

So here’s some neat news.  Apparently, the Charlotte DOT is closing some lanes of traffic downtown, er, uptown, er, center city for a few months.  Check out the blurb here.  Let’s hope the “study” goes well enough that other roads might become more bicycle/pedestrian friendly.  It’s a welcome change from what we have now, which is very little.  I would encourage anyone who rides a bike to visit the Charlotte Area Bicycle Alliance’s website and get involved.  Motorists sure as hell aren’t going to make the roads safer for us.

That’s it for now!  Until next time, whenever that may be….

-Yrjo

Unpacking

…still!  The ball-busting I’ll get by not doing the Polar Bear rides will be nothing compared to what I’ll get if I don’t help finsh the house this weekend.

Until next time!

-Yrjo

Stuff… and things

Our stuff is finally here, and  I’m pretty pleased to say relatively unscathed as well.  Now it’s just a matter of figuring out where everything goes.  Like anything I undertake, it starts out with good intentions and end in utter chaos.  Packing our stuff is a perfect example.  We started out nice and organized, taping boxes neatly and writing what room it belonged to on the top.  That lasted about an hour before we just threw whatever we had near us into a flimsy box and called it done.  In fact, we’re still looking for the cat.  I think it’s packed up with the half roll of paper towel and my bench grinder.

Seems when I got off the plane a couple of months ago, I brought a bit of the Arctic weather with me.  I titled an earlier post “It’s Not THAT Cold.”  Well, you know what?  It IS that cold!  And I’m a total pansy!  So, I think I may skip the aptly named Polar Bear rides (aka Winter Nationals- you’d love it, Big Karma!  It’s a metric century! ) this weekend to move stuff around and get unpacked.  This way I can wait until it gets above 20 degrees to go ride.  Outside, no less!

Finally, I wanted to wish a happy one-year birthday to my ankle.  Here’s the little bugger at 4 weeks old.  My, they grow up so fast, don’t they?

Still has that new ankle smell.

Alrighty, that’s enough of Frankenfoot.

-Yrjo

Bummer

I just got the news that my old team in Anchorage has been dissolved.  On the plus side, all the Kinley’s-Fish guys shouldn’t have any problems finding a home with the big brother team.  Seriously sad to see it happen.  Without a doubt, some of the most fun I’ve had on a team so far.  I think we made quite a splash, if not with results, then with our acerbic banter and obnoxious warm-up music.  Hopefully they’ll continue to give everyone hell and wreak havoc wherever their tires meet the road (or dirt in some cases).

Got a chance to pre-ride the short track course on Sunday.  It’s not overly technical, but I’ll definitely be the one brake-checking and skidding into every corner barely in control of my bike.  In other words, it’s gonna be fun as hell.  My plan is to solo off the back and see if I can hold my place.  No matter what, I’ll be out there on a bike, and that ain’t a bad thing at all.

-Yrjo

Rednecks and go-go dancers.  Can’t beat it:

It’s not THAT cold.

Not by Alaskan standards anyway.  But while everyone is inside hunkered down and huddled together in this 35 degree freak cold-snap, I’ll be riding the mountain bike with a couple of friends tomorrow.  Might even wear my new T-shirt just for Red:

We’ll probably check out the Winter Short Track course before the races start in a couple of weeks.  It gives us roadies a chance to regain some dirt cred that we lost over the summer.  As for me, I’ll be trying to maintain my status among the upper echelon of mediocre mountain bikers.

-Yrjo

Happy New Year!

So this is it.  A new year, a new blog.  I was mulling over whether or not to stick with the AKMoots blog, but geography won out over delicious irony.

Started out the New Year just like I wanted.  Celebrated the one year birthday of my left ankle, and went on a bike ride.  Finished it up with a bit of coffee where the topic of conversation drifted to friends (and un-friends) old and new.  Regarding the un-friends, I heard a great philosophy during the ride: “piss on ‘em.”  I don’t know if I could do that.  Not even if they were on fire!  Zing!

Have a great New Year everyone!  Enjoy your black eyed peas and collard greens, or your dry bread and clear liquids.

-Yrjo

Coming soon….

…but just breathing hard for now.