Bloody Hell It's T2B

"Put your toes to the bar..."

Sounds simple right?  Good old fashioned fun, just like when you were a kid.  Well, it is all fun and games until you're up on that bar and you get within a half inch and you can't seal the deal.  Devastating is one way to describe how this feels.  There are your toes, right in front of your face...they linger, they tease, but they won't touch that bar...

You want to scream, you want to cry, maybe you'll do a little of both.  Your mind is frozen on how simple this task is and you start to panic because you can hear the clock ticking.  Time is running out and you have just wasted energy on three missed attempts. 

You're a failure, you're a fool...why did you think you could just jump up there and do this?  Your friends collectively cheer you on, "You're doing great!"  "Get back up there!"  "Put another one in the bank!"  You want to please them, you want to get through this, you throw yourself back up on that bar. 

Take a breath.  Get your kip.  Throw those feet up.

This time you connect...

You want to scream, you want to cry, maybe you'll do a little of both.  You just made yourself go the extra mile, you didn't let your mind sabotage your goal.  It might only be one or it may only be one set, but next time your body will be stronger and your mind will remember and you'll get the job done.

Who knows...maybe you'll even jump down and say it was fun...

WOD

You woke up today,

Got out of bed.

Fed the dog,

And shook your head...

Nine to five,

Banked the time.

Paid your dues,

Time to drive...

The box is ready,

The bar is set.

Chalk your hands,

Take a breath.

This will suck,

It's going to hurt.

Set your eyes,

Be alert.

Your boxmates scream,

 losing their minds.

You sweat, you bleed,

losing time...

Focus and feed,

Take it all in.

This is your moment,

Let it seep in.

The buzzer sounds,

Time up, calm down.

Sit on the floor,

gasp for breath...

Today is a day,

The first of the best.

You gave it your all,

Went until there was nothing left.

You lost your mind today,

And loved every minute of it.

You won't forget this moment,

because today you were living in it.

Some of Zuul's Favorite Things

• When you ask a little girl looking to buy a bike if she's going to be faster then the boys & she just knowingly smiles...
• When a teeny tiny toddler dressed in pink and white jumps on a 20" bike without fear because why shouldn't that be the size she rides...
• When a dad buys his daughter a "real" mountain bike, because he knows that she can handle it...
• When a mom brings her baby girl in for a new bike because the boy next door can ride faster and she knows that's not because of lack of ability...
• When a pink bike just won't do...
• When a pink bike will do...
• When a girl explains to her boyfriend what 29er means...

Why I Dislike Birds

The past eight days have been absolutely brutal, beginning with last weekend and the annual "Super Sale" at work (American Cycle & Fitness).  There was an insane amount of traffic thru the store and I had some fantastic customers to assist during the course of the sale, which was wonderful.  However, by the time I finished my fourth twelve hour day, I was completely whipped.

Tuesday night I was back at the box, ready to try my hands at the hero workout "Murph".  My plan was to tackle the sectional WOD on Wednesday (leaving Saturday open for riding), so I was only taking "Murph" on at fifty percent.  As I was wrapping up my workout, I became concerned with how fatigued I felt and hoped it wouldn't mean I'd finally succumbed to the flu that had been plaguing everyone over the past few weeks.

The next morning it was official...I was suffering some serious sinus afflictions, in addition to some serious leg soreness (four days away from the box is apparently not a good recipe for my muscles).  The end of the week was spent either in an ice bath, at work or on the couch.  Ugh...what a waste of time!

So Saturday became my last opportunity to try WOD 11.4, sinuses be damned.  All WOD eve I had dreams about hitting the wall after the burpee's...the bar stuck at chin level...unable to be lifted over my head.  Fortunately, that was not how things unfolded and I was able to survive the burpee's and put in fifteen solid overhead squats.

Conclusion...being sick is for the birds...sick+birds=dislike.

6 Hours of Warrior Creek

Many months ago a wise friend named Finkel told me about a race that I just had to check out...6 Hours of Warrior Creek in North Carolina.  With approximately 2,958 burms and a little over 2,000 feet of climbing, this seemed like a great choice for my first official "out of state" race.

The rule of thumb with biking is that there is no faking saddle time.  Leading up to the race I spent a lot of time worrying about how my body would take to riding for six hours.  I have rolled plenty of long rides over the last year, but this winter my focus was on improving other general areas of my fitness and I honestly haven't been putting in the kind of saddle time I would like for an endurance event.

With "Big Mama Miss Berlin" looking pretty badass, I was able to squash most of those fears and formulate a game plan that would be a "one lap at a time" methodology.  This race would be for collecting mileage for future events and brushing up on some of my trail skills for the races that would follow.

The first lap was nerve wracking, there was some rain the evening before that left the trail a sticky slippery peanut butter clay bath.  I was beginning to worry that I was going to loose the ability to shift my bike and/or take a spill, but fortunately my tire choice and new cassette/chain combination held out just fine.

As soon as I started my second lap I entered a miserable place of second guessing why the hell I was out there.  Everything was starting to hurt and half way through the lap I realized my hydrapak was out of water.  Piss poor planning on my part.  I conversated with myself and agreed that I would pit for a bit when I finished the lap.  Take in a little food and some coke, regain my composure.

Coke is an elixir of the gods.  It brought me back to my happy place and I was able to get back on my bike and finish my day in eighth place.  Overall there were three things that thrilled me about this race...first of all, I cleared the two rock gardens that I just wasn't all that crazy about....second, I was able to make every climb without even thinking about jumping off my bike...and third, I stoked the fire for my upcoming season...