5 more days…
Good people. Good times. Good riding. Good stories. Good cookies. Good beer. The 2008 Psimet Invitational is coming....are you?
Hardware
I scored some hardware at today's epic TT. I didn't ride as well as I could have, but I did a good job I believe. I came in 3rd out of 4 in the 30+ category. 1:04:48 seconds for 23.75 miles - about 22mph average.
I say epic because it was a downpour for the whole route. I couldn't see anything through my glasses so I rode looking over them. If I had my head up the rain was so heavy it would sting my eyes.
Standing there getting drenched while in the start house I looked around at a few of the other guys and just had to say it, "you know...we're some pretty messed up guys for coming out here in the rain to put ourselves through the torture that is a TT. We could all be in bed or eating a nice breakfast. We're idiots." I got the obligatory laugh or two, but everyone was thinking, "you wussy. I do it so that I can kick bike weenie ass. Get in line for your ass kickin you weenie."
"30 seconds"
I noticed that my heart rate goes from 50-60 just standing around to in the mid 90s when I get into the start house. Crazy. You want to pee, crap yourself, throw-up, fall over into a fetal position, etc. You know the pain that is coming and you know the little guy with the clipboard isn't going to save you or make the pain stop. He's going to enjoy every minute of it.
"Rider ready. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!"
I don't care how much you warm up, if you are not feeling like you just got hit by a Mack truck within the first 30 seconds to a minut of a TT then you're doing it wrong.
Pain is like crack. Beating someone is like heroin.
I wasn't expecting much and did nothing to prepare for this other than switch my bike over. I think I did OK. This is the first piece of hardware I have ever received from a competitive cycling event. Sure it's no big deal and doesn't mean anything with such a small field on such a crappy day, but it's a medal. I will take it.
Colorchange pulled a 1:00:03<--missed the hour by 3 seconds. Awesome job. He pulled first place in Cat 5. Alien2 was there to finish the series. He placed 2nd overall in the series as well as second today. This is in Cat 3. He's a fast dude. It shows on Tuesday nights. He did the route in something like 56 or 58 minutes. Hella-fast.
Fall fling is coming and I am hoping I can do good things there. The TT is half the distance so I will need to really hammer it out in order to be able to do anything.
More Big Boys
So...manufacturing is in the toilet you say???
These are the big boys. I'm usually the guy in the 1-2 o'clock position. I know all the roles just looking at thse guys. Guy on left is a distributor/machine builder (seller). on his left is his lackey/errand boy for the sale. To his left is the money guy. Next to him (my usual position) is the thinker that the money guy likes to bring to the table to make sure no one loses sight of the big picture. Next to him is the engineer that is having to place the specific terms on the technical side. Next to the engineer is his boss - or basically the guy who is having the money come out of his budget. I am sure the lackey has asked everyone about 1,000 times if they want a coffee or if they have seen the girls over at the "XYZ" booth...
Exhibit B - All the engineers crowded around the machine's control while the manufacturer's engineer shows them "what this baby can do." Funny thing about this shot is that I can read one of the logos on one of the audience's shirt and he is from the company I used to work for....poor bastard. Also note the money men are in the back trying to figure out which one of the engineers is the one that is really going to be the one to make the decision.
This gigantic robot was a part of the Fanuc display. Awesome. We make extensive use of Fanuc robotics in our heavy automation. What he is holding (yes, I have a habit of calling robots "he" and "she" - it keeps me warm at night) is a chasis for a tractor. Supposedly a CAT one not actually manufactured by CAT (at least according to the CAT engineer standing next to me at the display). To the right of the shot you can just see 2 other smaller robots. There was something like 6 others total of that smaller size that all had welding arms. They were all coreographed in an intricate display of capabilities. That big guy would lift the chasis straight vertical and seem like it was about to touch the ceiling.
This is where I hung out. Building F (West). Tooling. The yellow lab coats and yellow bags are Sandvik. They got the spot right at the door and handed out 30,000 of those bags on Tuesday alone. 30,000. Seriously folks. BTW - the string trio's stage was on the right hand side of this shot. Also the girls at that booth across the way - uh....ISCAR - were very professional looking up top as you can see. What you can't see is that their skirts came about 3 inches below their crotch and that they were actually just models handing out bags. Also I think I know a dude in this shot. 
These next two show the scultor at work. This was on Tuesday when she was making a version of the "Thinker". She was awesome to talk to. I spent a bit of time doing exactly what those guys int he shot are doing. You'd ask a question - feeling bad about interrupting her - and she would stop and just go on about everything. The guy with the napkin in his hand actually is drinking out of one of the ice glasses served at the ice bar...which is on the left of the shot out of frame. You can see the grating that the ice block bar was sitting on.
My people.
Hanging with the big boys…
No. This is not about cycling - shocker I know. This is about where I have been spending my time - hanging with the big boys.
International Manufacturing Technology Show.
This is the largest (that I know of) show for manufacturing. It is a strange mix of old and new. Those of you not familiar with manufacturing let me just tell you that the machine tools available today are nothing like your father's South Bend lathe. The technology is totally over the top and exploding at a rate not seen since probably WWII.
The there is the old side of it. It still smacks of a 1970's convention full of scantily clad models hocking tooling wearing things like shirts that say "big ones" across the chest in reference to the company's new big tooling. One poor model was paid to stand outside of the booth and ask everyone in a conversational voice, "would you like to touch them?" to which everyone responded, "whaaaa??!!", and she would follow with, "do you want to touch the new tools from company XYZ???"
There was even a bearded lady at one booth. Seriously. This is an example of marketing gone wrong. Everyone remembers the bearded lady. It was a side-show theme. Everyone remembers that....but no one remembers what company it was or what they were selling. I remember it had something to do with drilling becaus eht bearded lady was handing out condoms and putting them on the drills....seriously folks. You can't make this crap up.
I mostly hung out around tooling because those are "my people", but the big boys (machine builders) are like the big auto guys in terms of what they are capable of. All of the auto guys go to the same machine builders....and so does everyone else who makes anything. They are the real powerhouse of every economy. I hear storys about what it used to be like before they cleaned the show up - back rooms where machine deals were closed/signed.....on certain body parts of the "models" involved....seriously.
I kind of walked around in shock until I realized these guys just know their audience. They have cleaned it up, but the efforts are thinly veiled. One company had a string trio play - wonderfully talented - every hour....stopped traffic cold....but that's because the entire trio was a collection of drop dead beautiful blondes.
I was hosted by Sandvik over the last 2 days. They do an amazing job and everyone else in that building was jealous of them. Sandvik is a Sweedish company that makes the majority of our cutting tools (carbide). Building on the Sweedish theme they bring in a lot of ice from some pure river in Sweeden and brought in an ice bar from the "ice bar" in Sweeden. We drank drinks from glasses made of ice and watched a true artisan sculpt ice into amazing forms.
Well this turned into a longer post than I meant to....I am fryed. I will take a day off of the show and head back to work tomorrow. Hopefull the excessive standing and walking for the last two days won't wipe me out for the BH ride tomorrow.
Harmon Hundred
From my post on BF:
"Great century. I love this one. It is "hilly" - meaning beautifully rolling. I recovered really well from the day before. Colorchange and I both trew some sandbags around in the parking lot:
"I'm pretty beat."
"I don't think I want to ride that hard."
"I'll probably pop pretty early on."
"Don't know if I can make the century...."
You get the picture.
About 3-4 miles out of the parking lot someone lit the rocket. Took me a while to warm up, but then I got rolling smooth. My Garmin shuts off over bumps anymore so I just ride with it in my back pocket. That meant I had no idea what numbers we were doing. I ended up going to the front and ramping it up without realizing it quite a bit.
We did loop B first out of the main stop. Really challenging loop and very "scenic". By the time we had gotten back to the main stop with roughly 50 miles in I was starting to feel some dead legs. Colorchange was looking to get back for his obligation.
New dad nietsmas revealed he hadn't been on the bike in 2 weeks and was staring deep into the pit of emptyness that was now his legs. JT1 and our recent pick ups of "bells" and "Big Spinner" were definitely going the extra loop for the full century.
I debated it greatly. I figured I could go back and hammer and be done at 75, or get a full century in...I mean what else did I have to do right? Well....I had to flip a gel to decide. It landed front side up - I was in for the century.
Started second guessing myself right out of the stop...and then everything clicked.
I felt awesome. Every hill we hit I found myself mid-hill doing my whole "I don't know if I can do this" then something would make me snap out of it and actually upshift and accelerate. it was awesome. Best climbing I have ever done.I also replaced my 27 cog/cassette with a 25 a few weeks back. Makes climbing a whole lot faster when you can't bailout.
I honestly kept getting stronger as we went. With the computer in the back pocket I had no idea how far was left or anything. Ended up in the parking lot before I knew it. I feel like going out and doing it again today.
Good stuff. Hope I can keep cranking this up at my current rate of improvement through the Fall Fling.
Great seeing nietsmas, JT1, colorchange, wireless. See you all again at my century!
Brief stats...
100.0 miles (rode the parking lot to round it out).
5:24:34 ride time
5,032 ft of climbing
18.5 avg speed.
4-5 gels consumed
many hammers dropped.
Spicy
That was one spicy ride this morning. It took a while to get over the facts that I didn't get to bed until 1:30-2:00am ...because I was working on the long overdue wheels de aham. 5:00 came awful quick.
It was a ride with colorchange's club. He was there as well as aham (really just there to pick up wheels, but decided to ride...since he was already there and all) and about 7-ish other Spin Doctors riders.
I was wearing arm warmers, knee warmers (which on someone my height with my short legs really qualifies them as full leg warmers or something out of flashdance), vest, and was contemplating toe covers. It was COLD! Too freeking cold for this early in September. When I got home my trainer said...."see....you'll love me again someday soon. You'll see." *shiver*
The ride was 'brisk'. They usually start slow (so I was told), but I think aham and I helped push it a bit. There was no wind. Freeky fog, etc. By the time we got to the point where they normally take a natural (that's biker talk for peeing in a field - I do it while rolling) they were all saying it was the fastest they had ridden that route...ever.
I was just rolling along. The route is my kind of flat on roads I have ridden a ton so I knew where the features were, etc. I took short token pulls up front mainly due to not knowing the route and not knowing how high they were going to dial it up to later. Aham was riding well too.
Up Allen rd near Hampshire one of their guys started to do some attacking. That hurt. Later a lot of us admitted we were either getting light headed, dizzy or seeing spots there. "On the rivet" so to speak. From there it was "attack, bridge, repeat" for most of the rest of the ride. By the time we got back they all made it official...fastest ride on that loop...ever for most of them.
There was climbing, but only like 1,500 over 50 miles so needless to say I was there and hanging well for 99.9% of the ride. Knowing more of what to expect I could go back and do more work. So where does this ride rank for me?
Hardest
- Bicycle Heaven (Cat 1,2,3 sharks in chummed water - total class of their own)
- Racing
- Penny Rd (Cat 3,4,5 Fast and climby)
- Spin Doctors (Cat 3,4,5 Faster but flat with attacking)
- Century riding
- Village Pedaler (Saturday ride with some friends)
- Trail ride solo
- Trail ride with the family
Easiest
Tomorrow is the Harmon Hundred. Looks like we might get wet. I am on form and liking it. I have not been there all year. I hope to push it into overdrive for Fall Fling.
Scale said 172 last night.
Bachelor Weekend
Mrs. P and Little P are out of town visiting MY parents in Indy. So I have been alone for 2 nights now. I have to admit I likes me some alone time. I need it every now and then. Last night I made myself some great food and didn't even clean up.
I went for a ride tonight after work....
I will be riding tomorrow....
Oh...and a century on Sunday.
IN THE SHOP:
aham's wheels. Finishing them up. It is tedious work so I have to work on it for 20 minutes then walk away for a while....recharge and go back. I am on a break right now.
aham is coming up for a ride together on a group ride tomorrow morning. The plan is to give him his wheels when he shows. Finally....he has been waiting for a while. That's what happens when you're building with paired dogbone drilling on flanges......total PITA. Changed spoking patterns...re-ordered spokes twice for 3 sets. 
Hope you're enjoying your weekend.
In the shop
Now that I've completely bored everyone with my excessive posting (again) I've decided to start dedicating some of these to the rigs I currently have in my shop from time to time. Right now I have the following:
2008 BMC SLC01 - Full carbon frame running SRAM Red drivetrain (Ultegra 11-23 cassette). Compact crank. Wheels are HED Jet 50 rims. I'm not familiar with them, but they appear to be an aluminum clincher with a carbon fairing over them. Interesting. Also the rear is built up over a Powertap Wireless hub.
Based on the shop time and some time spent riding it around (along with other experiences) I have mixed feelings about Red. I do not like Doubletap. I do not like the hoods/levers. I do like some of the feel. I LOVE the rear derail.
The brake calipers are much better than I thought they would be as well. As shown the rig weighs in at 17.5 #'s. My guess is that in a racing configuration for me it would come in around 16 and some change or about 1 pound lighter than my current rig.
The day in psimetville….
Group ride last night = good. Stayed on the whole way. Outclimbed a lot of people (even a few on Braeburn - wtf). Won final sprint - well accepted it when it was given over by the alien.
I was feeling good and can only chalk it up to finally being able to string 2-3 days of riding together - total shocker, but looking at my logs I haven't ridden on 2 consecutive days in a LONG TIME before now.
Thursday is BH ride.
I am winning the battle of the scale. Consistantly says 175 now. Been seeing some 173 and 174's. Still have my fat belly, but I am starting to think that will never go away. I felt the lighter weight on the bike too. Strength has been increasing so I feel like the loss has not been at the expense of muscle.
I had another meeting with the man to continue our discussion from last week. Didn't see the point and know it's just one of those "methods" for handling conflict situations that he most likely learned in a seminar. "Confront the issue head on and then give them a week for reflection then revisit the issue." I'm good in negotiations because I know when I am being played. What sucks is knowing that I am being played, not wanting to stoop to the level of playing along, and knowing that if you don't play along then no good can possibly come of that.
If de-motivation was a food, I would now be fat(er).
2008 Psimet Invitational – The Call is Out
Various riding options. Various routes. Good riding and good people. I just posted the invite to my 2008 invitational ride. Get your maps out, find a hotel (or bug a BFNIC'r for floor space), and turn the cranks.
I mean who can turn down a ride that has booby prizes??!!
