So much has changed...

...And nobody blogs anymore but here it goes.

Second season since my comeback to bicycle racing.

It seems harder then it used to be- are people faster? Am I slower?

This year has raised a bunch of existential questions in my mind around bike racing.

What am I doing? Why am I racing? Am I really blogging?

More to come later- this was just a rambling.

Recovery Cycle

Long recovery
Work and home obligations
Alternate foucs

Property Tax

I just made my first every property tax payment.

I know most people are not excited about paying taxes.

But I am VERY VERY EXCITED about having made this payment.

26.2?

I have been toying around with running my first Marathon.

Uncharted territory to say the least.

This first started in July with a vacation to Nantucket, 2 weeks off the bike, 2 weeks worth of awesome injury free running.

Then it gained momentum one afternoon while I was taking thatcher out for his nap jog to relieve Mom and we ran 13.2 miles out of the blue.

I thought to myself, Hmmm I have never run a marathon. I had a few friends who were already toying around with the Idea of training for the SB International Marathon so I thought what they hey.

I haven't been adhering to a strict training plan... just generally running how I feel with emphasis on long weekend runs.

Now we are three weeks out:

Last week I ran 22 mi on the trails and felt great.

Yesterday I did Yassi 800's on the track and felt pretty good (although I think I got dehydrated).

I plan to forge ahead and give it a go. I think I am going to target a 3:10 marathon.

This might be ambitious, but I think its important to set the bar high, and I would be totally stoked to run anything under 3:30.

Best birthday present EVER

My two boys

Vail Lake CAT 1 XC race report

This race was no cake walk. With little prior knowledge of the course and no warm up the first of 3 laps on this 8.3 mile circuit was tough to say the least. I got a bad start off the line and with no warm up my legs started siezing up on me on my first lap. I was having trouble linning up the short decents and was in a sprint, brake pattern for the s curves in the middle of the course. Add to that 92 degree temps and it was a reciepie for disater.

As I watched the competition pedal away from my attitude was pretty negative. As I came through that first lap I was offered a water feed. "Water's not going to help me today" I heard myself mutter.

Some deep breathes, re focus. Where am I? Right here. Who am I? This moment.

I was able to break the negative cycle and focus on my breathing one pedal stroke at a time. Letting the breath seep and permeate through my entire body.

BAM back in the game. I started feeling good and found a nice rhythm.

 If I could have rode the first two laps as fast as the last I would have been right there, but that is bike racing for you. I ended up 7th (out of 14 in my class) with a time of 2:15:57

I learned a lot and am stoked for Bonelli park next week!

BIG UPS to the team who had 22 riders out there representing in their usual fashion.
 
 Results:

CAT 1 MEN 25-29

7Th    GILLMORE, CHESTER M 27 SANTA BARBARA CA

How do you get psyched before the big game?

VEGAN ATHLETE, WANT TO KICK SOME ASS? PEEP THESE THREADS...

The next segment brought to us by Brenden Brazier is on Chlorella... Gitcha grind right playa

ChlorellaI could write a book on chlorella! Like maca, it’s easily one of the finest superfoods nature created. Containing more chlorophyll—the alkaline-promoting powerhouse—than any other known plant, chlorella is a freshwater green algae with an amazing growth rate that makes it the fastest growing plant on earth.
Not to be underestimated because of its microscopic size, chlorella packs an impressive punch on many fronts. Chlorella is a strongly alkalizing, complete food that shines as a vitamin and mineral supplement. One of the few plant-based sources of B-12, chlorella is a welcome addition to any vegetarian or vegan diet based on this fact alone.
At whopping 65% protein, chlorella is an incredibly efficient source of protein, possessing 19 amino acids—including all ten essential amino acids—as well as essential fatty acids and a host of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Clean and green, chlorella is being researched as a future alternative to protein farming.
Renowned for its cleansing and detoxifying abilities, chlorella enhances your immune system at a cellular level. I use it as a daily preventative measure to building better health by building a stronger body.
Able to quadruple in a single day, chlorella’s impressive growth rate stems from a compound calledchlorella growth factor (CGF)—combined with nucleic acids (RNA and DNA), the superfood chlorella is a supplement built for healing. Consuming chlorella regularly speeds cell regeneration, enhancing healing, expediting muscle recovery and slowing the signs of aging. The CGF in chlorella stimulates tissue repair, supporting your immune system in times of stress and helping you avoid getting sick. If you choose to take a chlorella supplement, look for one that’s had the cell-walls cracked so your body can digest its goodness. (I use ChlorEssence because it has no additives and has the highest CGF content I’ve found in a chlorella supplement.)

~The above is from "Thrive in Thirty, thirty days to optimum health and vitality with Brenden Brazier"

VEGAN ATHLETE, NEED MORE ENERGY?

The following few days I will be posting articles by Brenden Brazier on some superfoods that you don't hear about in school.

The first one is Maca and I can tell you from personal experience that this has absolutely changed my ability to handle stressful training cycles and maintain a balanced healthy lifestyle while training hard.

Enjoy...

Maca

I include maca as a regular part of my routine for a host of reasons and rely on it to help me thrive whether I’m actively training or in the off-season—read on and I’ll explain why you’ll want to include it, too.
Maca is a turnip-like root vegetable native to the Andean mountains in Peru. Grown at altitudes of 14,000 feet where no other crops can survive, maca is a hardy, resilient plant that’s incredibly rich in amino acids, phytonutrients, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Maca earns its superfood status not merely on the grounds of this nutritional density, but from maca’s true super-power: its renowned—clinically proven—ability to regulate, support and balance hormonal systems in both men and women.
How can a lowly (albeit nutritious!) root vegetable balance your hormones? Maca (like ginseng) is classed as an adaptogen—an adaptogen is a substance that produces a response in your body which increases your power of resistance against multiple stressors and has a normalizing influence on your body’s multiple systems.
Maca has an uncanny ability to regulate and rejuvenate your adrenal glands—an especially important action in a modern life full of uncomplementary stresses that tire and overwhelm the adrenal system, sapping you of energy and making stress even more challenging. Properly supported, your adrenal gland will restore your stamina, improve mental clarity and your ability to handle stress.

If adrenal support isn’t enough to convince you of maca’s superfood status, consider this: maca’s adaptogenic properties restore hormonal balance in both genders (as proven by scientific studies and human clinical trials).
If you’re a man, maca’s reputation as “the Viagra of the Herbal Kingdom” may be of interest: used traditionally in Peru, maca as a fertility and libido enhancer, recent human clinical trials published in a peer-reviewed medical journal showed a 180% increase in libido and a 200% increase in sperm count. If you’re a woman, you’ll want to remember maca as you approach menopause—it’s a non-estrogen alternative to hormone replacement therapy known to relieve the hot flashes, depression and other symptoms of menopause.
Supporting the adrenal gland and balancing hormones with maca has another key benefit: it slows down the aging process and can reverse some of the physical signs of aging.
The impressive resume of the superfood maca can be capped off with one more thing: maca possesses the amino acid building blocks of serotonin, helping your body curtail stress, support mental health and reduce cravings for artificial stimulants, like refined sugar and caffeine. (I use MacaSure maca—it’s gelatinized to maximize digestibility.)

~The above is from "Thrive in Thirty, thirty days to optimum health and vitality with Brenden Brazier"

Ontario P12 Race report

Typical 6 corner industrial park criterium. Windy on the backside. Over 140 starters including full Jelly Belly Squad and multiple teams with full teams. Race was FAST from the gun, lots of attacks, counter attacks and counter attacks from the teams in front but nothing really stuck. I lost position in first few turns and that was the my race. I tried to move up where I could but found it difficult with that many riders and a pace that never let up the whole race. I never did hit the front.  A crash on the backside of the last lap split the field. I finished towards the back of the first group. Alex Darville, a junior from Santa Barbara took home the "V". A big win considering all the teams out there and the caliber of the race.


SOCAL has some awesome crit riders. My form is coming along little by slowly. This race was a nice kick in the pants

Results:

P12
Chester Gillmore:  62

Looking forward to the first races of the Season

The team has changed a lot this year with many of the P 12 guys moving on to different Elite Masters team over southern California. I stuck with Platinum with my main commitment to the Mountain bike side of things. But as much as I have grown to love mountain biking, I think I am a road racer at heart.
Most of the guys on the road side are motivate Cat 3's who are pretty dedicated to racing. Many of them will be in the 2's before this season is over, but in the mean time it is slim pickings in the team mate arena.

My form is coming along, helped by more consistent training, a lot of time in the hills, and longer weekend rides. I still don't have much of a top end and endurance is weak. Regardless, I am excited to race PKCRR this Sat and then Mothballs the next day. The game plan for most races is to keep an open mind, try not to get dropped, stay focused and concentrated and come out the other side a better bike racer.

A link to the two races is below, hope to see you out there!

http://scnca.com/2012raceflyers/PCKRR.pdf 

http://scnca.com/2012raceflyers/Mothballs.pdf

"I am"

What are the areas in your life that you build you identity around?

Where does your sense of self come from?

I am a cat 2 bike racer?
I am a father, husband, family man?
I am a vegan?
I am liberal, conservative?
I am bousterous & sarcastic?
I am kind and loving?
I am an artist?
I am an enviromentalists?
I am a musician?
I am this way at social gatherings: shy, outgoing.


Whatever it is, it would seem that nothing that we build our sense of self is really that substantial. Speaking from my own experience I tend to identify myself and who I am by the activities I am involved in. But they change don't they? I may be a cyclist now, a fit athlete... but I could get sick tomorrow or paralyzed and then who am I? On an even deeper level I identify with "defects of character". But its all impermanent & it all changes. If I look at a photo album and find pictures of me at various stages which one am I?

"I am" tends to really get in the way of what is really happening in the present moment. It shades the present perceived reality with past and future and adds unnecessary narratives.

I am speaking more in terms of general life, but this is a cycling blog mainly so lets look at it from that perspective: If I take a simple example of  riding up a hill with a group of riders and the pace gets hard. They immediately start to pull away from me and instantly:

I am so out of shape
I can't maintain this pace
I shouldn't even be out here
How can they ride so fast
There is no chance of winning
I should have just stayed home tonight
I should just give up now
Come on hang in there
You can do it.
This hurts too much

None of that is what is happening whether the narrative is positive or negative Whether I am offering encouragement or antaganism. It is all mental fabrication and all of it is getting in the way: causing suffering.
There are two outcomes: either I hang with the group or I don't and becuase of "I am". If I don't hang with the group my sense of self worth immediately will cling to that. If I do hang with the group or drop them: The Ego will kick in, or false pride.

It is a loose loose situation.

Whats important in that situation? Whats important is what its like. If thoughts of doubt arise... "Oh doubt is like this?" back to the breathe, or the sensation in the legs or whatever my present experience is.
If thoughts of success arise... "Oh, this is what the attachment looks like"

Sometimes it can be helpful to label what the mind is trying to do, or to intentional think things rather then let the mind run away.

I find that I perform best and I am happiest on the bike when I am clearest:

Pain in the legs is like this
Views and opinions are like this
The breathe is like this
Right now, awareness is like this.

But when we get down to it, its all empty space anyhow. Or at least, that's what the physicists tell us right?

Training update

Slowly coming into form. Having more fun on the group rides, able to barely hang on over the climbs. Endurance slowly coming back.

Mon: Easy Spin (Still very very sore from running race)
Tues: Rest day (Bike in the shop, getting wheels rebuild)
Wed: Big gear work
Thurs: OSM Repeaters
Fri: 1 hour easy
Sat: 3.5+ hours, lake ride backwards WINDY
Sun: 3+ hours, Worlds plus Casitas climbs

Repost...

 The following is from a blog called vegan hope, and well worth sharing. 

http://veganhope.com/2011/08/25/get-angry-go-vegan/

 

Get angry, go Vegan.

Posted on August 25, 2011 by natalamc

 

Last night I got to go the premier of the documentary “Got the Facts on Milk“. The film is fantastic and everyone needs to watch it, and send it to everyone they know. (seriously).
I get lost in my own Vegan amnesia a lot sometimes. I try to remember why I ever thought for ethical or for health reasons that using animals was EVER okay. A lot of propaganda? Addiction? Ignorance? It seems so cut and dry, so simplistic. If we were talking about an animal we all thought was a pet (like a dog) we’d be outraged.
Can you imagine if there was a news story about a farmer collecting dogs, killing the males, selling the males for their flesh, and then raping the females over and over and over again so they can produce large amounts of dairy, in order to feed another species?
We’d all be outraged, we’d be storming the gates of the farm, we’d be marching in Washington.
Things are covered up in our country, in ways that I think I am just beginning to understand. Because the truth is millions of dogs are abused, tortured and killed every year, because some sick people found out that some dogs don’t fight as much (Beagles) so they test cigarettes on them in ways that I can’t even get into, because it is too disturbing to write about. They test makeup and cleaning products on them, they test drugs on them to see the side effects of medications. But we do nothing, we do not storm the gates, we do not know, we stay silent.
If a neighbor was torturing and killing baby piglets in their backyard, anyone would be outraged, horrified and terrified. But because it is done behind closed doors, because people pay someone else to do it, and to package it up, it is all okay. People would call the police about their neighbor, but they will willingly go to a store, and buy piglet flesh because they did not have to see it or kill the pig themselves.
If someone was taking away the oxygen supply of kittens, causing them to gasp for air and suffocate so that they could sell kittens for people to eat, we’d call it horrific and barbaric. But that is what is done to millions of sea animals every single year, and people don’t think twice about it.
Our society totally gets the movie “101 dalmatians” how sick that a woman would torture, abuse beautiful dogs for her own fashion! Even kids understand that, right? But yet people will wear the flesh of cows, and the fur of another animal that was brutally tortured, and not think twice about it, all for the sake of fashion. Meanwhile, showing their kids a disney movie on why it is so bad to be so evil.
Last night I got to meet the author of the book “Why we love Dogs, eat pigs and wear cows”   It is a book I highly recommend that you read.
Sometimes I wish I could go back and talk to my former self, (about a lot of things). But for now, what I want to encourage you to do more than anything, is to get angry. Stop living in the bubble that society has created, it’s not a good bubble, and we can’t make change unless we pop the bubble. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know it all has to start somewhere, and I’m hoping that more people can start with simply getting angry, and saying “no more” don’t let it happen on your watch, and just start.