It's a good thing racing season is right around the corner - these photo-less blog posts are boring!! The temp around here finally broke 50 yesterday, just in time for me to leave town for some training in the Asheville, NC area. I've not ever been to Asheville so I'm excited at the opportunity to get in some good miles, chill with my teammates and (ugh) do some climbing. Climbing - not my forte. I have a complex relationship with climbing - I don't dislike it, but I'm not very good at it so it pains and annoys me. Longer, sustained climbing isn't all that bad - I just hang there at functional threshold power and grind. It's the short, steep stuff that kills me - Chicago is flatter than flat so finding places to work on kicker hills is challenging, to understate the obvious.
I'm always amused by my teammates gear selection for climbing:
Debbie: "So Jessi, what are you running for the hills today?"
Jessi: "Oh, I have an 11/23. I really only need an 11/21 but the 23 was all I had laying around."
Debbie (feeling ill): "Yeah, I have the 12/27 just in case I need the bail-out gear."
Jessi: "Really? I was thinking we could just big-ring the whole thing."
Debbie: "God - I wish this bike had the compact crank on it."
Jessi: "Aw, you'll be fine. It'll just hurt a lot and at some point you'll wish you were dead. Don't worry - we'll wait for you at the top, maybe."
Ah yes - lots of love right there.
I have to actually drive to the thriving central Illinois metropolis of Champaign-Urbana so I made a special playlist to make the Jeep time tolerable. I do not particularly enjoy driving (at all) so having decent music is about the only thing that makes it survivable. You'll notice that this one is decidedly dominated by classic rock - definitely my favorite genre.
Fortune Teller - Robert Plant
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
Hang Fire - Rolling Stones
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
Four Sticks - Led Zeppelin
Stranglehold - Ted Nugent
Cold Shot - Stevie Ray Vaughn
Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
Crosstown Traffic - Jimi Hendrix
Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Invisible Sun - The Police
Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty
Do You Feel Like We Do - Peter Frampton (live, of course)
I Feel Free - Cream
Blues Before and After - The Smithereens
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Eminence Front - The Who
No Quarter - Led Zeppelin
Should I Stay or Should I Go? - The Clash
Jeremy - PJ
Run for the Hills - Iron Maiden
It Can Happen - Yes
Working Man - Rush
Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Don't Look Back - Boston
Riders on the Storm - The Doors
Pump it Up -Elvis Costello
Cocaine - Eric Clapton
Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh
Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townshend
There's more but I think you get the idea.
Anyway, I'll try to check in from Asheville and post pictures and commentary as I am able. It's my understanding that while we do have wi-fi in our mountain retreat the signal isn't consistently good.
Thanks for reading - try to get outside and do something illegal while the weather is nice at home (it can be very liberating to blow a stop sign and not be caught or crashed...). I'll see you in a week or so.
I'm always amused by my teammates gear selection for climbing:
Debbie: "So Jessi, what are you running for the hills today?"
Jessi: "Oh, I have an 11/23. I really only need an 11/21 but the 23 was all I had laying around."
Debbie (feeling ill): "Yeah, I have the 12/27 just in case I need the bail-out gear."
Jessi: "Really? I was thinking we could just big-ring the whole thing."
Debbie: "God - I wish this bike had the compact crank on it."
Jessi: "Aw, you'll be fine. It'll just hurt a lot and at some point you'll wish you were dead. Don't worry - we'll wait for you at the top, maybe."
Ah yes - lots of love right there.
I have to actually drive to the thriving central Illinois metropolis of Champaign-Urbana so I made a special playlist to make the Jeep time tolerable. I do not particularly enjoy driving (at all) so having decent music is about the only thing that makes it survivable. You'll notice that this one is decidedly dominated by classic rock - definitely my favorite genre.
Fortune Teller - Robert Plant
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
Hang Fire - Rolling Stones
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
Four Sticks - Led Zeppelin
Stranglehold - Ted Nugent
Cold Shot - Stevie Ray Vaughn
Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
Crosstown Traffic - Jimi Hendrix
Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Invisible Sun - The Police
Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty
Do You Feel Like We Do - Peter Frampton (live, of course)
I Feel Free - Cream
Blues Before and After - The Smithereens
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Eminence Front - The Who
No Quarter - Led Zeppelin
Should I Stay or Should I Go? - The Clash
Jeremy - PJ
Run for the Hills - Iron Maiden
It Can Happen - Yes
Working Man - Rush
Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Don't Look Back - Boston
Riders on the Storm - The Doors
Pump it Up -Elvis Costello
Cocaine - Eric Clapton
Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh
Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townshend
There's more but I think you get the idea.
Anyway, I'll try to check in from Asheville and post pictures and commentary as I am able. It's my understanding that while we do have wi-fi in our mountain retreat the signal isn't consistently good.
Thanks for reading - try to get outside and do something illegal while the weather is nice at home (it can be very liberating to blow a stop sign and not be caught or crashed...). I'll see you in a week or so.
