Race Day One…er…
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Well, the first race of the year is over, as in over before even starting. Sitting on the start line in 40 degree sleet, I still couldn’t help relishing an opportunity to test out the legs and get back to the world of clicking gears and whirring wheels that I love so much. However, the aforementioned weather conditions made for treacherous pavement, and I lost control of my front end when I tried to flick the bike over a crack in the road. Picking myself off the ground 200 meters from the start line, I could only gape in awe at the situation; what a way to start 2009. It’s hardly as if I haven’t flicked a gap before, what with time spent on the concrete slabs of Belgium, so I can only say that perhaps in my excitement I didn’t take into proper account quite how much finesse was needed for the manouever today. If anybody else crashed on my account, ill say that’s bike racing, but I hereby apologize all the same. To the guy who called me a “jackass” as he rode by, I offer no such pleasantries, and likewise, it’s bike racing.
Anyway, we have a crit tomorrow, likely with warmer, drier conditions, so I’ll get a proper race in then and finally get the pegs pinging. With such an inauspicious start to the year, I’ll need to work a turnaround to get my spirits and ego back on track, and I think a good old criterium throwdown will do just that. Or at the least I’ll get race day #1 over and done with. Nothing to do but try again!
Stay Upright,
Crane
Bloody Rain Cape/Snowy Team Car
Alto
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Well, the season is just about here for me! Tomorrow I fly out to Cali to complete a workweek of hard training with the team, followed by a weekend of good racing at the Boulevard road race and Red Trolley Crit. And after that…the big show, Amgen Tour of Califonia.
Before getting all of that underway, I first had to test the legs out, and with that in mind, I rolled out for the WBL (Winter Bike League, arguably the best winter group ride in the country) Alto ride, which is one of the more storied and infamous routes taken by the already inimitible weekend Athens training ride. This 180km march saw a large group of “zealots” set out of Sunshine Cycles in downtown to take in the best of a pristine and cloudless winter day-and to take on each other in the three “attack zones,” all with cash to be had for first place on the line, and also first place amateur, female, and 35+. Take that Shootout, Gimbles, et al!
The first attack zone saw Reistad and I getting away with a small group over the 4km stair step climb leading up to the rolling run in to the Alto town limits sprint sign. I dialled up the pace, then swung off with a few hundred meters to go to let Reistad battle it out with Tim Henry for the $ and pride. Reistad got it, and after regrouping the shattered gang at a gas station, we got underway again, heading towards “Crackback Hill,” with $50 on the line at the line at the top. Timmy got the better of us on this one and took home a solid chunk of change. Another store stop and a Coke for me, and we were back on it with a really smooth and chipper double file line heading back towards Athens via the town of Commerce, whereupon we were unimpeded by traffic or traffic laws thanks to a police escort. Goes to show that the boys in blue don’t always have to be the bad guys!
Anyway, at kilometer 160, David Crowe, the ride’s organizer and zealot supreme, blew the whistle to signify the final attack zone, this one at 16km in length. Pandemonium broke out hitting the base of a 300 meter kicker, and I rolled from the back of the pack with full momentum to lay down the fastest attack I could manage. I thought I had gotten away solo, but glued to my wheel was the danger man himself, Tim Henry (DLP Racing). The two of us were caught a few km’s later by a chase group, whereupon Tim snuck off, and was never seen again. With no organized chase to be had, I threw down a bridging attempt with only a few km’s remaining before the finish, but ran out of real estate, and got to see Tim throw his hands up, while I had to settle for being pleased to see how high my heart rate was, and how nonplussed my legs felt from the effort.
All in all, a great day out with some solid race simulation to get the system in line for the real thing in a weeks time. I have taken a slightly different approach to training this year, preferring to build endurance and strength in experimental ways (once perfected, I’ll unleash “The Crane Method” to the public), and then allowing the final sharpening of the blade to come from pushing that strength into anaerobic extremes with a bit less structure than in years past, but rather with focus on how I might actually need it in a race. Its also amazing how many calories you can put into your diet simply by having many varieties of Jelly Beans in large quantity kicking around, so its possible that this is having an effect too. Which reminds me, I should probably brush my teeth, because I’ve been pecking away at a large assortment as I sit here. Anyway, I’m looking forward to whats ahead, and all the best to you all as well.
-Crane
Camp #1
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
I wrapped up Jelly Belly camp #1 on Saturday, and happily flew back here to Georgia with two suitcases stuffed, in one case over the weight limit, with jelly beans and new team clothes. Our first camp was a short and laid back affair with the goal of spending a few days taking care of our sponsor and media obligations before our full on training camp in a week’s time. With the oft taxing and time consuming elements of team camp behind me, I can now look nowhere but forward towards the next few weeks, which will include one more week of specific work at home, a week of long rides with the boys once back in Cali, two training races, and then the big show, AToC.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited and in high spirits. We have a fun group of guys, a lot of enthusiasm, enough jelly beans to open a candy store or at least feed a British grammer schooler for a day or so, and a really cool and very supportive staff.
Also exciting is the change in equipment, which can sometimes, or I should say is almost always, a stressful and uncomfortable sensation, but in the case of last week proved to be stimulating and bracing. Our GT GTR Team bikes are rock solid under the pedals and have a really sharp paint job, and the SRAM Red components have proved from ride one to be intuitive, precise, and ergonomic. The braking is especially sharp, and for someone with smaller hands, the canted in levers allow for an easy grab without straying from one’s optimal grip position.
So good bikes, good guys, good beans, good times. Hopefully this will be the trend for the rest of the year, and all signs say it will be. I have a hard week ahead of me, because I have some quality K’s to do, some experimental strength training to implement, and enough workload on the plate that I will be running my recovery abilities on max capacity. I’m motivated enough to take it on though, and it’s the final push I need to have the legs ready for the opening of the season. Hopefully something more exciting than continual eating, riding, reading and sleeping will occur for me to post about, but if not I’m sure I’ll come up with something!
Let’s get it on
Crane
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Had a good ride with new teammate and Athens peer extraordinaire Nick Reistad the other day, and we got to talking about the blog of yours truly, having already covered a vast range of topics during the non stop chatter of our 4 hour ride (politics, history, conservation, distaste for hipster scum-ok that was just me ranting, I don’t think Nick shares the same rabid aversion as me- sustainable town planning, various racing and training aspirations, and so on into the infinite realm of mutual nerdom).
Anyway, Nick pointed out that one of the most important elements of a blog is frequent posts and accessible content, i.e shorter posts. To be honest, once I get on a roll, the length thing becomes a minor concern to me, as I am quite unable to turn off the faucet once the word tap has been turned. However, I would like to use this blog as much as possible to convey a sense of who and what (shudder) I am off the bike, as me whizzing by in full kit hardly gives much impression as to what the case may be in this department. To that end, I am going to try really hard to keep the posts more regular and share as much as possible about my goings on. I’ve been getting my training really dialled lately, and I’d like to thank ol’ tricky Nicky (duped me out of a fair and square town line sprint) for giving me a slight prod in the direction of doing likewise blogwise.
But in the vein of reducing verbosity, I’ll try and draw to a close. I was sitting in a nice mineral bath in my new place (more about that another time), relaxing the strain of an intense day at the gym out of the legs, when I got to thinking about the nature of the decisions we make in handling out lives and affairs, and specifically as an athlete, those that relate to training and the lifestyle thereof. I considered for a minute whether the choices I have been making lately are the best path for me to be taking to achieve my goals, and I was happy to discover that I have nothing but full confidence in my methods, and that I believe them to be part of a greater approach that will lead me to success.
But this begs a question that extends far beyond one’s approach to sport. In life, we all have methods and approaches, we all have our ways of doing things and moving towards the future. For me personally, all of this comes from within, and the energy I direct towards living my life is almost entirely self motivated. Whatever the source of one’s energy and method, there should always be an assurance that they are the best way to get you the places you want to go.
As this hasn’t always been the case in the past, I am shocked and pleased to discover that I have true faith in my life approach at this point. Can the same be said for all of us? I would like to venture not, just as easily as I can say that my current state will not be constant. However, I don’t think it is ever too late to stop and reasses our goals and happiness, and how we are going to achieve them. My parting thought is just that we all deserve the best for ourselves, and that one’s procedures throughout life should reflect this as much as possible.
Or maybe I sat in the tub a little too long and let the salts get to my head. But seriously, make your terms for life good ones and then make them happen. Or not, its your funeral.
Wishing everyone well,
Crane
Happy “New” Year!
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Being back home in CT always disrupts things quite a bit, and this year’s Christmas time has been no exception. The new year comes with a lot of uncertainty, lots of residual holiday stress, and also the silly notion that we get some kind of fresh start with the advent of the new calendar year. I’ve tried that approach before, and I don’t think it works given the ever evolving and continuous pressures of life that rarely take time to consider the last four digits of the day’s date.
I find this time of year to be particularly challenging for some reason, but this passage reminded me of what it is all about, and so I would like to share it with you:
“Fear, hydra-headed fear, which is rampant in all of us, is a hang-over from the lower forms of life. We are straddling two worlds, the one from which we have emerged and the one towards which we are heading. That is the deepest meaning of the word ‘human,’ that we are a link, a bridge, a promise. It is in us that the life process is being carried to fulfillment. We have a tremendous responsibility, and it is the gravity of that which awakens our fears. We know that if we do not move forward, if we do not realize out potential being, we shall relapse, sputter out, and drag the world down with us. We carry Heaven and Hell within us; we are the cosmogonic builders. We have a choice– and all creation is our range.
For some it is a terrifying prospect. It would be better, think they, if Heaven were above and Hell below– anywhere outside, but not within. But that comfort has been knocked from under us. There are no places to go to, either for reward or punishment. The place is always here and now, in your own person and according to your own fancy. The world is exactly what you picture it to be, always, every instant. It is impossible to shift the scenery about and pretend that you will enjoy another, a differant act. The setting is permanent, changing with the mind and heart, not according to the dictates of an invisible stage director. You are the author, director, and actor all in one: the drama is always going to be your own life, not somone else’s. A beautiful, terrible, ineluctable drama, like a suit made of your own skin. Would you want it otherwise? Could you invent a better drama?”
-Henry Miller, Sexus
Anyway, I was digging on that a bit, especially the last sentence of the first paragraph, about all that we have and see before us being available to our choosing and will. Choice, choice in all things, is a nice thing to remember going into a period of new beginning, even if we are only fooling ourselves into thinking it is one.
I’m looking outside, and the slush on the street is as gray and cold as the pavement it lies on, but the sky it meets has the blue of tropical water over pristine sand…
Happy New Year,
Matt C
A Day in The Life
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Man, I’m just going to have to start rambling until I latch onto something to say; try as I might no sparks of inspiration have flared up in my imagination lately. My day has so far been a pleasing, if routine one. I awoke and made my customary bagel egg sandwich and double espresso for breakfast, the former dabbled with hot sauce, the coffee with a shake of sugar. Following reading, but not responding to a bunch of emails, I pick up my book for a bout of escape from a day not yet an hour old.
Digested and fully awake, I lay out clothes for today’s ride, which will be a light 2 hours. It is 58 degrees, which is a nice departure from the days prior where the temperature has been in the 40’s. Yes, I realize these are fairly balmy temperatures for December in North America, but moving to a warm climate makes one soft. I make no apologies for this, as sacrifices are made in other arenas for the sake of only wearing shorts, undershirt, short sleeve jersey, long sleeve jersey, leg warmers and beanie on a day such as this one.
I make a small adjustment to my left cleat over a small espresso, again with sugar. Then I roll out to ride, and immediately everything feels better aligned thanks to the new modification. This sets the tone for what starts out and ends up being a really pleasing day out. My left leg now lining up the way I would like it to, I spin comfortably out to Orr School road and turn left, then shortly left again on 335, and then left once more before lightly tapping out Jackson River Road all the way back in.
Cruising back towards town, I realize that I will only have 1:35 for the whole endeavor, and despite today being an easy day, I am enjoying myself enough that I decide to extend things by taking a detour into downtown on the way home, mainly with the vague idea of catching furtive Lycra appreciatory glances from female students, who at this point are almost certainly tearing their hair out over finals, the stress of which will soon be missed once taxes, death, money, identity, and the general realization of life’s continuous misery, etc, are found to be snapping at their daydreams and dreams. -cough- -ahem-
Few pleasing specimens were to be observed, save a sorority girl type on her cellphone at the crosswalk babbling pathological nonsense about her desire for a grilled cheese sandwich. I was too busy trying to get her to notice that I was doing a one handed track stand to figure out how it all ended up. If she has it coming to her, I hope she got that sandwich.
Now at home, I do my usual post ride routine of eat, stretch, shower, eat before sitting down to write this. As you can see, my life and schedule is a chaotic mess. Later tonight, I’ll finish movie #1 before making dinner and eating it in front of movie #2, followed by reading and bed. It’s all written on the big daily calender.
Reading this back to myself, I realize that there are many people who could not justify such a mundane existence. Not my words, I don’t find it mundane in the least. But still, it all seems a bit pedestrian and almost slackerish if you want to take a certain mindset. Regardless, I find it peaceful, fulfilling, and very healthy for my self development to have such simple daily goals and tasks. Soon I need to get a moonlighting gig, so I guess I’ll enjoy this while it lasts.
On that note, does anyone want to pay me money to apply my various random talents and skills at performing a task or service I will execute with tenacity, care, and aplomb? And live in the Athens area? Just asking…
Anyway, I figured that once I got that first sentence out I’d start rambling enough to write a decent bit. In first grade I got sent to the principal for talking too much. Also, I think I made Tim Johnson lose his marbles ever so slightly one time back this summer when he had to room with me. Anyway, true to form, I have prattled sufficiently to now need to shut up, which is exactly what I’m about to do.
Later
Crane
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
From the window outside the room where I sit and write this, I can see the trees of my front garden and those of my neighbors, and when I last sat down to blog, they would have been the colors of a Peruvian loom, and I would have been in another country, an ocean away in distance and seemingly, in time. As is, the trees are now the color of a NYC street puddle, with perhaps a tinge of reflection from a shop displaying brightly colored South American clothing.
However, my absence has not been from neglect, but from low productive energy. Just as in all things I do, I’m either feeling it and doing it, or I’m not “feeling it,” and am doing “it” poorly. In either case, panhandling for words in the streams of my inner workings has yielded little profit until today, but happily vocabulary and grammar once again line the pockets of my imagination. Or perhaps I’m using an inappropriate metaphor, as I don’t like to believe that anything within me would be so out of my control that I would require reverting to wading in a proverbial stream to get that which I require from myself. In either case, I’ve had writer’s block, and now I don’t, hooray.
But in which direction to point my newly polished cannons of literary libido? Towards the direction of Myknee, a much fired upon, and unless you are an inhabitant, boring land that is slowly mending itself with the expert help and charitable assistance of Elite Physical Therapy in Dacula, Georgia with a sister location in Bogart? Perhaps a slight salvo: Knee is doing very well, tendinitis at hamstring attachment points, electro stim therapy is fantastic, physio exercises hurt in a way that makes me laugh, and why haven’t I been using a foam roller all these years?
So thats that, just riding, mending, transitioning to training. In the meantime, I really don’t have much to report, at least nothing that would be suitable fodder for public dissemination. I’ve been reading a lot, which is um, not a change from anything, and now have a much stronger, if less warm and fuzzy, ego after reading The Fountainhead. Loved the whole thing, and will be back for more on objectivism, but I’ve got to say that if one were to leave Rand’s philosophy undiluted, then one would be, um, a prick. So I’m trying not to be one of those, but in the spirit of the whole thing, I don’t really mind if you think I am one. Because I know for a fact that I am far more of a tactless fool than anything else.
Well, it IS Saturday after all (the favorite of any Dionysian), and there’s a good, cheap Thai place with Sapporo on draught and glasses that qualify as imperial pints, so I’ll be there if you’re looking for me (there is here; here is Athens). And then perhaps to the Belgian bar with the mind numbing, groin tingling tap list, and plenty of other cycling nerds to enjoy it with. Past that? I don’t kiss and tell, but I’m drinking a cup of coffee for a reason.
I’ll be back with an entry that has a theme, or perhaps purpose, in a short while. Know by now that most assurances for punctuality coming from me contain hooks, leaving them extra likely to get bogged down in the fleecy interiors of my neurological pathways.
Thanks for reading, although I can’t imagine why you came this far. Don’t you have a family or at least a favorite television program to spend time with?
Later On,
Crane
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Greeting From Afar,
I know I’ve been promising lots to write about, and that promise is one I haven’t broken; the problem is that I haven’t actually WRITTEN any of it. Having neglected to sit down and relate any of all that I’ve been doing, the flood of ideas has dried up on the sandy beaches of my lazy ineptitude; leaving me trying to pick out a few surviving morsels of blog suitable life.
Well, the modest sea of ideas in my happy little head has tossed upon the shore a creature found both in this metaphor and in its real life counterpart: the under appreciated and unless properly cooked, otherwise useless prawn. The prawn has featured heavily in my diet here, but not nearly as memorably as in what I have dubbed the “prawn-b-q.”
Abu Dhabi has an impressive fish market, the contents of which make for interesting, if not smelly, viewing. I was going to make a joke involving blind lesbians…but I’ll just leave it at that and let you do the dirty work to finish where I started…
So having braved the smells and flies of the market, my Auntie Barbara, Uncle Marsden, dad, and I were left needing to make a purchase. Prawns. We returned home with a kilo of fresh, potentially delicious creatures, and ones that I might point out would be absolutely terrifying were they to be encountered as land animals. Seriously, I’d rather eat a cockroach. But as this isn’t the case, and as they are instead charming and misunderstood sea creatures, I helped eat a kilo, or 2.2 pounds, or roughly 100 of the crusty little buggers. Dipped in mayo. And washed down with champagne, er…sparkling white wine, pardonne moi Pierre.
Besides this culinary adventure, here are some photos of a few others:
The formidable McArabia. Contains five chickens, a pound of flour, your Grandma’s vegetable garden, and what remains of the tub of mayo from the above picture. In a future entry, be on the lookout for a non too mild dissertation on the overwhelming, and this coming from an American, offensive level of consumption in the UAE.
For AED 25, or USD 6.80, a service will deliver food from any restaurant in the city to your door in an hour. Magic. This sushi is also…magic. A local hip hop artist mentioned something along this lines of “bitches…at the Rotana…gettin me some Benihana. (Rotana=hotel, Benihana=my sushi establishment of choice, food from which pictured here)
Well, thats all I have to say about food for now, although given that my day revolves around what I eat, I could go on for quite some time, were I to have more pictures, and more time. As is, the night is kicking off, which means its time for me to sign off!
Take Care
Crane
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Hey-O,
Until I can get videos uploaded from my phone of a ridiculous evening at a Filipino night club, I will focus on some more pedestrian antics. It occurred to me while lounging on the beach during another incredibly strenuous day at “work” that just as in training, all cyclists have a different approach to their duly alloted time off from training.
To this end, I am a fan of periodic separation from the bike and all of its lifestyle trappings. To my mind, the only way to take a step (or two) forward in training and fitness is to take a slight step backwards, to regain some balance from, for the sake of this comparison, the solidly rooted position we place ourselves in during race season. Much as we might plant a foot behind us before making a forward leap, so too, I believe, do athletes need to place some of their energy on “the other foot” before attempting movement from where they left off at the end of racing season.
My prescribed off period is 4-6 weeks, during which time I simply don’t ride my bike. Or worry about how much I’m eating or what, or how late I’m sleeping or not sleeping. However, owing to a foreshortened race schedule, my time off has been protracted this year to be 8 weeks long. This is due to both my insistence on starting structured training on November 1st, and my desire, nay, need, to straighten out affairs, problems, and attempted self improvement that have gone neglected during time spent overly focused on my daily task of turning as near to perfect circles as possible many thousands of times over while strapped to a machine that somehow brings perfect order to my life yet at the same time unhinges it completely.
Hence, time on the beach. After 4 weeks of inactivity, which my body has rewarded me for with increased mental function, happiness, and physical vigor, it is time to get some blood pumping. I don’t think too much of any one thing is healthy or appropriate, so sadly, I will not throw a leg over a top tube for a little while longer. Injuries still need to heal, bad habits fizzle out, and exhausted muscle memory spend a little more time napping. So instead, I’m swimming laps in the NINETY degree waters of the tearfully salty Persian gulf, and hitting the gym for a bit of rowing and some mucking around with free weights. All the same, zero structure is being implemented. For instance, my rowing workout yesterday was based entirely around a playlist of myriad genres of music. Bob Marley, in terms of exertion, would equate to leisurely puttering around the mossy waters of a country estate with a parasol wielding madame in the stern; whereas Led Zeppelin/Pixies et al saw me heaving against the oars fit to power a Viking drakkar single handedly towards the next looting spree. If anyone else in the gym was disturbed by my disharmonious alternation between idle and violent sculling, they gave little indication. Or perhaps they were too terrified by my resemblance to a fierce Norseman to dare look my way. Thats probably it.
Anyway, I’m itching to get back on the C’dale and resume circle turning, but I will wait a little while longer before indulging in a scratch. But when I do get back on the bike, my lats should be a little stronger, my enthusiasm rekindled to a bonfire, and my feet planted in such a way as to push me towards higher levels of fitness than before. In any case, I’m enjoying myself, and I hope the rest of you are as well! And if you aren’t, or specifically aren’t enjoying the bike, then perhaps take a page from the book of Crane and lay it down for awhile. I doubt you’ll be sorry!
“All of the animals except man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it.” — Samuel Butler
Get on it people!
Crane
Abu Dhabi #1
Posted by mattcrane | Filed under Uncategorized
Marhabbah, (hello)
Abu Dhabi is crazy! I’m having a great time here experiencing a culture and country vastly removed from anywhere else I’ve visited. When I arrived here on Sunday morning, Ramadan was still in full swing, and as this is a Muslim state, NO ONE is allowed to eat or drink during daylight hours, and for those who are not practitioners of Islam, there are serious penalties for breaking this rule in front of a Muslim. Also, music, television, and other forms of entertainment are banned at all times.
However, the month of Ramadan ended last night with the appearance of the new moon, which ushers in the three day celebration of Eid. So after experiencing a few days of complete shutdown, I am about to be witness to an entire country let off of the leash. Given that the sun rises at 4:30 and sets at 6:30; those celebrating the holy month have been subjected to 14 hours a day of fasting, which is inconceivable to me as a male/cyclist/American/foodie. Today is supposed to be devoted to religious pursuits, but by my understanding, the following two are supposed to be absolute pandemonium.
Anyway, there is plenty more to say, but I’ll let some pictures do the talking for now:
Every airline should allow its passengers to feel as if they’re urinating into the Atlantic Ocean from 38,000 ft…
This is a modest portrait of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the benevolent overseer of Abu Dhabi…
View from my bedroom of the “Corniche,” which runs along the northernmost shore of the city and borders on the Persian Gulf. The beach, and the island beyond it are all man made, but beautiful nonetheless.
Continuing with the bathroom theme, here is an interesting and culturally specific sign for one…
That’s all for now! Just walking down the street to get a newspaper could fill an entire page, so I’ll have more to report in the coming days!
Assalaam Alaikum (peace be upon you),
-Crane
