Ken Woods

Let's start with the weather—absolutely perfect. Pre-race temps were in the 60's with a WNW wind of about 10mph. That meant a tailwind up Sogn Hill, sweet. Last year, it was raining sideways and about 45 or 50 degrees with a monster wind.

Not wanting to race the extra lap with the 3/4's I rolled with the Masters 4/5 30+. We had around 70 guys in this race, wow. It was Tom, FPA and me representing the Blue Train. Tom managed to start right at the front, I was about 10 back and FPA was somewhere behind me I think. Neutral start to the first turn and then WHAM! it's on! Immediately there's a break of about 5 guys, and at this point I can't see who's in it. Once we hit the rollers I catch a glimpse of Blue and realize Tom made the selection. There was a mob of GP and Silver Cycling guys at the front trying to organize the chase. I wasn't sure if the break was serious at this point, so I just sat in and watched. After the 2nd turn, it looked like the break was actually putting some time into us, and the GP & SC boys were trying to ramp it up. I was squeezed on the centerline trying to stay out of the crosswind, but eventually swung around and got on the front and started blocking. I was able to keep doing this for the first lap all the way to the climb before the chase group got really strung out. Those repeated forays into the wind were taking their toll on me and I fell off a bit on the climb. The back of the chase was agonizingly close in front of me, but I couldn't reattach. Finally, a 5 man group swept me up and we traded pulls, finally bridging back mid-way through the east-west section after turn 2. Once we were back, I immediately went to the front and started blocking again. I could see Tom and the breakaway were still away with a good gap, awesome! I kept trying to disrupt the chase until the smaller climb by the river, where I got attacked. I knew I wouldn't reattach this time, but I was hoping that was job done for me. Another groupetto formed and we tried working together, but it didn't really pan out. At least one of the 2 LSC guys gave it a try. He was kind of pissed at his teammate for not getting it. 3 of them tried attacking us on that smaller hill, but we let them go, and swept them up shortly thereafter. Once our group hit the bottom of Sogn Hill I went. I shelled those guys and swept up another rider or two on the way up. It didn't matter at all for my overall placing, but it felt great! Better yet, Tom managed to stay away the entire race and wound up in 3rd (despite breaking a spoke and a brake issue!).

Long story short, this race exemplifies why I love this sport. It really is a team endeavor, and even when you are outnumbered 2 or 3 to 1 by other teams, if you play your cards right you can control the entire race. Big, big props to Tom for crushing it all day. Not sure how FPA fared but I know he finished, which is always a good thing.

News!

We're a little further along so we can finally make it public. Jen is doing well. No morning sickness, just really tired. Due date is October 15th. We won't know if it's a boy or a girl for about 2 months. They did this ultrasound because the doctor wasn't able to find a heartbeat using the doppler. It turns out that was because the baby was moving around too much to get a good reading, everything's fine. Pretty cool!

March Madness

March is my least favorite month of the year. It's such a tease. It's all like, "Hey man, it's 65 degrees out today, spring is here!" one day, and then it's, "Uh, yeah, about that spring thing...I was just kidding. Here's some more cold and snow beyatch".

Two days ago it was 65 and sunny and all I needed were arm/leg warmers and a vest to ride. Yesterday it was in the 30's, cloudy, windy and snowing. I made the mistake of not wearing warm gloves and paid the price. Completely frozen fingers, which took a painful 10-15 to thaw to the point where I could use them again. I guess it's good training for Ken Woods.

Portfolio

I just don't have the time to update my portfolio website, so I'm transitioning over to blog mode. Not as polished, but I'd rather get some more recent work out there now than wait for "freetime" to add it to my website. See what I do for a living at: vertci.blogspot.com

Pike Place Pigs

Among the strange sights near the Pike Place market in Seattle was this storefront full of nothing but giant pig sculptures. I'm not sure what the deal is, maybe it's a porcine armada getting ready to rise up against the baconistas.

Snow

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15" of snow between Saturday and Sunday. I had a 3 hour Zone 2 training ride scheduled, but I think 4 hours of shoveling was good enough reason to skip the trainer. My octogenarian neighbor saved my ass by brining his snowblower across the street and clearing some of the driveway for me. He is about as good of a neighbor as you could ever hope for. I'll have to get a picture of the cupholder he built for inside the "bubble" of his snowblower. Sweet!

Today the power was out when I went home for lunch. Good times. Hopefully that isn't a long-term deal or it's gonna be a bit chilly at the Van Ert estate.

HDTV

This also helps make the indoor riding sessions less painful. 60" Sony SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV. Maybe by next winter I'll have a CompuTrainer hooked up to this bad boy. Or at least a PS3. All I can say is analog tv is for suckas. When Fox Soccer Channel and GolTV go HD I may never leave the house. And watching the Tour this July? I'll be able to see the needle marks on the cheaters arms...

Trainer -vs- Outside

Trainer wins.
2 hours and 35 minutes of pedalling and going nowhere. Watched the Manchester United/Tottenham match, which killed about 2 hours of the ride. This is a recovery week with a fitness test on Saturday, so no indoor death marches until next week.

Sea to Sky Highway

http://www.leanbackvids.com/videoblog/action-sports/road-to-whistler/
Came across this video of the drive from Vancouver to Whistler. Cool way to use Google Earth. Wish he would have gotten more footage of the Sea to Sky Highway. That is one of the coolest drives I have ever done, and sadly I have only some crappy shots taken from inside a moving car to show for it.

Why do I live here again?

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN HAS ISSUED
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING
TO 12 PM CST MONDAY.

A PROLONGED PERIOD OF SUB-ZERO TEMPERATURES...COUPLED WITH BRISK
NORTHWEST WINDS...WILL CAUSE DANGEROUS WIND CHILL CONDITIONS
THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. THE MOST HAZARDOUS WIND CHILLS ARE
EXPECTED DURING THE LATE EVENING THROUGH EARLY MORNING TIME
PERIODS. WIND CHILLS FROM MINUS 25 TO NEARLY MINUS 40 DEGREES ARE
EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND
WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS
WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN
FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.
IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND
GLOVES. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...BE SURE YOUR CAR IS EQUIPPED WITH A
WINTER SAFETY KIT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.

Sushi Whore

Mashiko Sushi in West Seattle. Hole in the wall with really, really good sushi (if you're willing to wait a couple of hours for a table). Seems like you can't swing a dead cat in Seattle without hitting a sushi place. Not a bad problem to have.

Punk Rock Breakfast

I'll take punk rock with a side of hip hop.
Easy Street in West Seattle. Sweet record store, cafe, live band venue. Where else can you buy Gorillaz action figures, get an omelet and catch a show? Sorry, I was too groggy to operate a camera, so this will have to do.

Zoe

Here's Zoe after a week at Downtown Dogs. She's not used to playing with other dogs much, and she was part of a pack for a week straight. She had fun, but she was worn out. She slept for 2 days straight.

Seattle Waterfront

Best Radio Station on Earth

Seattle

The view from the rooftop garden of our hotel. Not too shabby. Even better on a clear day, but it is Seattle. Right across from Pike Place Market, which is apparently the homeless capital of the world.

Whistler Summit

Rode the gondola and chair all the way to the top of Whister, more than a mile of vertical. The chair to the peak was a bit sketchy, about 100 feet in the air over jagged cliffs. Once on the summit it's all alpine bowls or out of bounds on all sides. After floating in the 12cm (it is Canada, ey) of fresh snow for about 20 minutes, my legs were burning and we still had about 5,000 vertical feet to go. Unbelievable snow, best I've ever ridden in. Had the two most spectacular crashes ever on the way down. Lot's of facewash, but no real damage.

After lunch Craig and I hit the Super G/Downhill run that will be in the 2010 Olympics. Those guys are crazy. Rode until our legs wouldn't work anymore and called it a day.

Me Likey Snow

The view from our condo in the Upper Village. We were a short walk from the Blackcomb lifts, and spent day one on Blackcomb. I believe it when they say this is the largest ski resort in North America. The place is absolutely ginormous. We spent all day on Blackcomb and didn't see more than a quarter of it at most.

Whistler

Looks like the weather may cooperate for once. The drive from Seattle to Vancouver and Whistler should be pretty spectacular. I should have internet access most of the trip, so I hope to be updating daily. It'll be nice to be able catch a glimpse of Zoe now and then with the webcams while she's at Downtown Dogs, too.

Now lets hope I remember how to do this snowboarding thing...

Damn You El Nino!

This is just wrong. One week until Christmas and we're warmer than Moab and they are getting snow. On the plus side, Whistler just got 2 feet of snow last weekend, so conditions should be great for our trip in January.