Two of my last three posts have been angry. I'd like to say 'uncharacteristically so', but the only person I'd be kidding is me. Note the title of this blog? well, I haven't been riding much. When the weather is good enough to ride, I can only get about an hour in before I get excruciating knee pain - a burning tendinitis under the kneecap.

A few weeks ago, I did the Harpoon Ale indoor TT. I had a great time. No, not that my elapsed time was great, it wasn't, it was quite mediocre. But I enjoyed the whole day immensely. I finished 52nd out of 160, 3 minutes off the winner, and 14th out of 16 in my heat. I made no pretense that I was there to do well. In order to make the point, I used a 52x16 fixed gear, and wore a t-shirt that said "I'm only here for the beer". I got my two 'free' beers afterwards, bought one more, and a six pack of a quite luscious brown ale.

I felt good from that for a couple of weeks. Well, now I'm starting to 'descend into madness', in light of the cold weather, snow, lack of riding, and knee pain when I do ride. Yes, I've been running races, but it isn't the same as riding. I don't get the cathartic 'zen' experience running that I do riding. Besides, my performance at the Claddagh 4 Miler this past sunday was less than stellar. I ran 20 seconds faster per mile last week at the frozen shamrock. This frustration has manifested itself into not only the angry posts on this site, but some nastiness on other blogsites as well. I won't say that Hydrophobic and Rosie didn't need to be reminded of the good fortune that exists for the amateur competitive cyclist in the US today, just that my method is a bit harsh, rude, and self-righteous.
I guess I should pause more often and ask "what would Nega Coach do?"