Across the golden Gate

Prologue

I have always liked the idea of riding over the GGB into Marin and beyond, but never got around to it. At the beginning of the team ride season, we bounced around ideas about possible routes and it was proposed we do a ride out of SF north, so wheels were set in motion. I started mapping out routes and some bright spark suggested starting at the Sports Basement Store at Fort Mason. I called up SB and chatted with Justin their marketing manager and also with Pedro, who is the bike dept. manager and they also suggested some rides. They also offered to provide some post ride refreshments. They also informed me that they have a huge parking lot and are within 5 minutes ride of the bridge, so it all worked out super for a jumping off point.

A week before I pinged the email list about who could make this adventure and was soon disappointed with the number of possible no shows, including the person who suggested riding into Marin in the first place! I was worried that I would be the only person in the parking lot, and so it was at 08:15 when I arrived. I was early though, we had a planned departure for 09:00, so I went into the store and introduced myself to Justin and we discussed a possible return time for our planned 73 mile ride. I thought it would be about 2:00-2:30 pm. Little did I know.

Back outside team members started to arrive. Ed Falsken, Keith Jordon and Keith Kruse, Oscar Nunez and German Villa and Wendy Jaramillo. Finally, Bill Briers rode in to the lot, having ridden up from Fremont!!! With me, that made eight (I do like even numbers of riders, so much nicer having pairs).

The route and ride

The route planned was as follows. Head over the GGB and descend in to Sausalito. Take the bike trail north of Mikes Bikes and follow to Blithdale, where turn left. Right on Camino Alto, go over the hill and when in Corte Madera go left on Magnolia. Turn left on College in Kentfield, which becomes Popular. Then veer left / straight on to Ross Common. Go right on Shady Lane, right on Bolinas Ave in San Anselmo, go left on San Anselmo, which becomes Hazel. Left on Lansdale, and follow to Broadway / Center Blvd. and eventually on to Sir Francis Drake. Climb over Whites Grade and descend to turn right on Nicasio Road. At Nicasio was the first planned opportunity to refuel. After leaving Nicasio turn left on to Point Reyes Petaluma Road. Continue straight / bear left on to Platform Bridge Road. turn right on to Sir Francis Drake again and climb the hill and descend to Olema (second possible refuel stop). From Olema, turn left on Shoreline / highway 1 and head south to Stinson Beach. At Stinson, turn left on Panoramic to climb up Mt Tamalpais (not to summit). We then planned to go left on Sequoia, which becomes Edgewood then Molino. go right on Miller and Left on Camino Alto to rejoin the route we took on the way out. However, I do not think we took the route noted above from the top of Mt Tam. I was following Wendy, who rides this area frequently, and we got back to Sausalito double quick, so I'll have to get details from him about which way we went.

Riding over the GGB was fabulous. The fog was in, and we could only see a little of the coast from the west side cycle path we had to take. KJ was taking pictures on the move and it was lots of fun, except for Bill who nearly slipped out on one of the bridge transition plates. Down into Sausalito and into the fog proper. My spectacles were completely awash and I could only see a few yards but I could smell the sea and the tidal flats and it was wonderful. The trail is a multi purpose trail and runners and riders appeared and disappeared quickly in the murk. We crossed numerous wooden bridges and then eventually got onto Blithdale. Wendy, Bill and German led the way, all 3 knew the roads well and we quickly got to Camino Alto and made our first climb of the day, a small 400 foot bump. A quick regroup at the top and then we descended into ever improving visibility and the roads of Kentfield. The Christmas spirit is alive and well in Marin and the township of Ross was amazing. I don't know what the median income for the inhabitants is, but the mansions, houses and homes are fantastical. We stopped in San Anselmo for Ed to tighten his bottle cage and then continued onto Sir Francis Drake and the first major climb of Whites Grade. I hung back and waited for KK and then as we broached the summit, Wendy was waiting to catch us in a Kodak moment, thanks Wendy. The 3 of us plunged down the other side and W and I cranked along to catch up. As we turned right onto Nicasio, I spied Oscar and his magic bright red overshoes spinning and we soon caught them. Another grade whacked KK over the head and he struggled to the top. Another regroup and then a nice tight group to Nicasio and a fun zig zag thru town and more tempo riding to the junction of Nicasio Valley and Point Reyes Petaluma Road where "oh no"!

Yellow caution tape was across the road, barring our way. I made an executive decision and we crossed the tape and rode on. My thinking was that if we got stopped they would probably just turn us back anyway, so might as well take a risk and hopefully we would be able to get past what ever the problem was. No cars, super smooth asphalt, tailwind, lakes either side, no cars, it was great riding. As we approached the junction with Platform bridge road the road closure cause was spied. PG and E were replacing a power pole, but we had space to get by. Just past the blockage a small mutiny occurred. Wendy; German and some others decided the route went straight on. They had not read the route sheet and were on auto pilot. After 5 minutes they returned to the fold and we continued on the closed roads to rejoin SFD and make a climb that had KK struggling again. Following the climb was a nice straight descent to Olema and we stopped at the local store to grab a bite to eat. I highly recommend the store, good, fresh bagels and other carb's plus decent coffee (no restroom though). A 25 minute stop over and then we headed south on Highway 1 / Shoreline. Riding alongside Bolinas Lagoon was just soooo groovy. The ups and downs took there toll on KK and we decided to regroup in Stinson, 5 miles south. Along this road I had a mechanical, with my chain jumping off the derailleur pulley's and wrapping itself around the mechanism. The derailleur was ok, but it twisted the chain and for the remainder of the rode it was skipping when I put a lot of pressure down on the pedals. At Stinson we took some more photos and KK went to sleep in a porta potty. After his nap we rode out of town and took the left onto Panoramic and the climb of Mt Tam. KK's legs completely caved in, but he did a tremendous job of making it to the ranger station. Ed came back down to add moral support and after the regroup we flew down the other side into Sausalito. What a fun descent that is, well worth the climb up the mountain.

Back into Sausalito, more photos and then over the GGB in the daylight with the city in the background. Magic.

Epilogue

Finally back into Sports Basement. we wheeled our bikes to the back of the store where the bike department is and found a comfy couch to hang out on. Justin presented us with muffins, cookies and salty bite sized morsels and more importantly some decent beer. As Keith Jordon put it "damn near brought a tear to my eyes". German and Wendy went shopping and KK decided he was in need of a 27 tooth cog and gave it to the wrench there and then to put it on. I gave BB a ride home to Fremont and that was about it. Finally got home at 19:30

My final stats for the day were 73 miles and 5 hours 17 minutes in the saddle. Total elevation gain was approx. 5300 feet.

Thanks for reading

Gazza

Alarm clock thunder

Tamra has an alarm clock. Wait, lets get a little more descriptive.

It's called the Sonic Boom.......does that help.

Not only is the alarm sound a variable horn blast that can wake the dead, but it also has a vibtration device that you shove under the pillow and it shakes so violently that if your not well anchored it will bounce you outta bed.

And would you believe she still does not get up in time....she can actually snooze thru it. And she forgets to turn the alarm off on weekends, so we get rudely awakened on sundays at 07:00

I'm thinking of some sort of water dispenser to get her moving. i won't make me very popular, but then again I not anyway, so not much to loose

Tamra, you readin' this.....

Blond, the new black

Boner went blond, and now el presidente has gone all fair on us. Maybe i should have a crack at it (on what's left on top). In my youth i was a blondy, but life turns you darker.

He looks quite good for it though, takes years off him.

Maybe a team photo of all the blondies in our new kit, with surfboards under arm.

An Early Christmas

Linda's eldest Daughter Jenny is on a bus as i write this on her way to to Texas, to Lackland AFB exactly to start her basic training . She will be there over the Christmas break, so we did an early celebration.
Tree wnt up, some lights, a couple of outside deccy's and a wreath, Christmas dinner, christmas movies, gifts given and a family gathering. sunday was hectic but a good day, all the kids were having fun, the cats and dogs behaved, i got all the things i wanted to do for Jen squared away and Linda was happeeee..............so all was good.

I was trying to help Jen with some conditioning so that the BFT she would encounter would not come as a big physical shock. Jens idea of work and my idea and the Air Force idea of what physical training is about are at different ends of the spectrum, and me thinks that she will be in pain for a couple of weeks just catching up. sS avoidable if she had applied herself.

good luck girl, stay healthy and have fun.

G

Running (fast)

Sometimes, on very rare occasions I can run quite fast. Today at lunchtime was one of them, and i completed my 3.41 mile course in a new PB, by a whopping 1 minute. Dang.

I'll pay for that tomorrow

G

Totally Slammed....

My work life caught up with me today, so no post......

Food for thought (scary ideas)

Nothing to do with bikes.

I read on the front page of the paper yesterday that the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change published it's final report.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_7514077?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

It's not a feel good feeling when they say the whole world has to end all growth in carbon emissions in seven years and mostly free of carbon emitting technologies in about 40 years to avoid the death of 25% of the plants species. Holy crap.
Do you think that the worlds goverments are strong enough to do this. Do you think that the western world will make sure that happens, globally. Do I stick my head between my legs and kiss my ass goodbye.

It's not about me of course, but about my children and your children and the world they will inherit. So, i guess I will reduce my own personal carbon footprint, which means the Camaro has to go. Replaced with what, I have no idea, I think that will depend upon where i end up working in the middle of next year. (but that's another blog entry to come).

Imagine what it will take to do what they say we have to do, just to minimize the effects to raising global sea levels to two feet. Forget defence budget, plow all that money into converting the USA into the most eco friendly nation. Will the car and oil companies change that quick? Of course the US government could do the unthinkable, and nationalize them so that they have to do what there told to do. Can you imagine that. The lawsuits would go on for decades, even as the courthouse in DC is slowly submerged under the Atlantic ocean.

So the sea levels rise two feet, big whoop. Well, 15% of the worlds population live in the flood zone. Imagine the Katrina affect globally. Londons under water, New Orleans, New York, Venice and another 1000 coastal cities, all those populations evacuating, all at the same time. Thats a lot of FEMA trailers. So i say forget redeveloping New Orleans, get the peple out now, before they are removed in a 1000x more body bags. Don't fight the effects, fight the cause. It's cheaper, more efficient and morally correct. But when was any Western government moral, or strong enough to do the right thing.

Watch this video and tell me i'm wrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsIFspVzfI

Scared shitless

The legs did ache

After last weeks running session, combined with a ride, the legs did ache, nearly enough to make me think twice about getting back into it. But today I went running again, damn fool that i am. What drives me on is the benefits it gave me on teh bike, which led to my best result in teh 07 seson at the Merco RR. wnat to do well again, so I will maintain the cross training and MTB work. Speaking of which I went up the mountain again, a much clearer day.

'A' Day

'A' Day was November 19th. "A" stands for adoption, when i finally became Tamra's official dad, after spending the last 11 years doing it unofficially. It was very cool. Linda, Jenny, (Tamras' sister), Linda and I presented ourselves before the judge at Pleasanton courthouse and signed the final papers to make it all legit. Nothing really changes at home, she still makes a mess and I still ask her to fix it. But now she is a member of the Birch family, which has to be a good thing!

Thanks Tamra for letting me be your dad.

I wonder

Went for a 3 1/2 mile run at lunchtime, my second run of the Autmn season. I wonder what the leggies will feel like tomorrow.
Did a good stretch, took the post exercise Champion Nutrition drink (mucho yummy), so hopefully I won't be a cripple tomorrow.

G

Bent derailleur hanger

The rubbing of the spokes this last weekend was not me deforming the new frame with colussal power outputs but rather the fact that my bike fell over last week and the derailleur hanger must have got bent in. All fixed now, courtesy of Fred at BG. Gonna need all the gears again come next Saturdays team ride.

Which made me look over the rear drop outs on te Trek. I cannot believe they don't have replaceable gear hangers, how retarded is that.

Moving on, Boner and Van Der Sage attended the NCNCA date fixing meeting and now have a full social life. They also fixed our race date for June 7th. 2008. Nice one. But what really caught the eye was VDS's notes regarding a TTT down Monterey way. This is way cool.

I messed around with some teams, assuming they will be 4 man teams

Team Mighty Long

Jeff
RB
Andy P
Carl


Team Slim

Boner
Del
Chih
Jason

Team rip ya legs off

Keith Jordon
Oscar Nunez
Mike Zuerlein
Tim Bison

Team Stylin (lots of people want on this team)

Carlos
Gazza
Scott
Pedro

Team "Fast Eddy"

Ed Falsken
Frank Marques
Alan Alphabet
PPS

Team Whipper Snapper

Brian Johnston
Kai Yu
Audrey Meirers
Paloma Zuerlein (this maybe a stretch)


Team Mercenary

Coble
Wohlberg
Nolan
Hernandez

Love teh TTT, as long as i am not the weak link. Then it's just a huge suffer fest.

Anyway, gonna go ride now. Bye

Jason Sage is THE MAN

This time last year, Van Der Sage headbutted a SUV. He swears he won, but the plastic surgeons may think otherwise. Anyway's, while he was down and out, a few good buds stepped up and made sure the man was taken care of.
And this last weekend, The man repaid our minuscule efforts with a ton of love, vis a vie a training camp based in the Sonoma mountains at the top of Trinity Grade.
Dr. Brockie, Eugene Beyer, Larry Nolan plus his missus (Debbie), Carl Anderson, Boner and his eldest daughter Audrey and the missus and me all made Glen Ellen our home for the weekend, and Jason, we are all really really grateful.
Day one (Saturday).
Drove up early on the morning. Rain started to come down before we hit the bridge. Arrived at the Jack London Lodge in Glen Ellen in plenty of time. Got the key to the room and got changed in to my combat gear. First wet weather ride for the new Trek, boohoo. But wait , what's this. Not starting from Glen Ellen. All bikes pile in to Jason's dad's (Phil Sage) truck and Boners mobile massage palour (MMP) and we head north to Windsor. What joy, we pick up some beer from our Lagunitas brewery sponsor's. Oh yes, it maybe raining but we don't care. Strike out from Windsor and head south, zig zagging across the Sonoma Valley. Small rolly hills appear thru the murk, but it's all good, we are on new roads and the chat is fun. Boner and Audrey follow in the van, taking care of business and protecting our asses. Boners good at covering ass. Going thru some town I get a flat so i dive in to the warmth of the MMP and replace the tube while the others slog on in the rain.I guess i missed about 5 miles, but they say it was at least twenty. I do know that it was not nice going back out into the wet.
We eventually get back to Glen Ellen and hit Trinity Grade. The weather is so murky that we can't see a damned thing, which is just as well. Then a couple of mighty steep switchbacks whack us over the head, and Trinity Grade says hello with a smarmy grin all over its face. Freaking hell, it's steep.
Eugene makes full use of his compact chainset and scurries off the front. Brockie is following, looking strong and Nolan is marking him. Half way up Nolan increases revolutions and uses his 27 cog (he tells me he had no idea the grades would be that steep, but you know he would never need a 27 for the Dumbo, so I think he had a clue). Carl, Jason and I are following on. Boner is still covering. I'm in the 23 cog. I have a 25 but it was rubbing on the spokes so I decided to be better safe than sorry and tough it out. Finally make the top, Lar is in Polka dots. He looks good in red spot's, even for a big bald man that he is. We wash the bikes down and then hit the hot tub. Oh yes. And then Jason brings over the beer.....can it get any better. Boner lets us now that he is now available to give massages, so yes it can. We warm up in the tub and after showering we sit for a traditional French dinner, made by our most gracious hosts Claude and Betty of the Above the Clouds bed and breakfast ( http://www.abovethecloudsbb.com/). It's a wonderful convivial atmosphere. Wine flows and it's good times. Eventually 6 of us pile in to our Honda passport (Debbie Nolan sits on Hubbies lap. He smiles a lot) and we descend the mountain to our rooms at the Jack London Lodge for a good nights rest.

Day Two (Sunday)
Rain as stopped and the sun is shining down. We take our cars back up the mountain. I see a sign, steep grade 12% average. Dang.
We meet for breakfast, Jason's super duper french toast. Fresh fruit, coffee, and then we ride out.
This time we head east and descend the mountain in to Napa Valley. What a feast for the eyes, the vineyards are golden and the hills are green. It does not get any better than this. We ride over to the Silverado Train and then go south, a nice rotating paceline. With about 15 miles to go of the scheduled 40 Jason climbs in to the MMP with a mechanical. His Power Crank (tm) set up as come loose and he does not want to stress out the Bottom bracket. His riding is done. and then we start climbing again. Not too steep and we are gruppo compacto at the ridge. On the descent to the valley my bike starts making a noice like a pregnant whale giving birth. REALLY LOUD wailing noise. It was so bad I thought it was the siren of the local CDF station going off. Stop the bike and check out the brakes, and the usual points of interest, all looks good. So we set off again. 4 mile slater, same again. It only occurs when I am descending, going about 30 mph or more. Still cant figure out the source so keep going. Eventually we get to the base of the final climb. So i thought Saturday was a tough ascent. This was just a frickin nightmare. Brockie and Nolan ride off the front. Carl and I are dropped real quick. (Eugene went home Saturday night). Jason and Boner pass and give encouragement. It's so steep I pop a small wheely and i have to use the 25 cog. As we cross the county line back in to Sonoma Co. it levels off and I can start rolling. Carl follows me back in to the B n' B shortly after. I grab a shower and massage and then we all sit down to a lovely lunch. Home made wine and other beverages are consumed. The ladies come back rom their own personal Stage 2 exploits and i learn I am the proud owner of two new chairs. Lucky I packed the bike rack.
We finally bid adieu to our hosts and head home. (via Sonoma to pick up chairs), getting home at 6:30.

So once again, I want to say thanks to Jason and Kathleen. Your the best, And to Phil Sage and Colleen, Claude and Betty, Brian and Audrey, thanks for making it a fabulous weekend.

Gaz

photos and video to follow

Splashin' the cash

Went down to Sports Basement last night and laid out the 1k deposit for the Oh so sweet 2008 Dubble F Cannondale team frame. And of course, while there, i mooched around and stocked up on Gels, Clif bars and stuff.

Was a scary moment, even if i was not actually handing over green backs. Not spent that much moolar since 2003, when i got the Trek 5500 and all my Campy record gruppo stuff.

Roll on March 08 and delivery.

ShimaNO - Campagnolo Rulz

I have never, never, never regretted buying Italian

More Style, grace, passion. Better engineering, better feel, cleaner gear changes, better braking, awesome wheels. The only component that Campy have f'd up are the pedals. Even the ergo brain is totally brilliant, if a bastard to install.

Don't get me wrong, i have a bike with the Jap stuff on it and it works real well. It takes a beatin and keeps on rollin. But it's got no soul.

So, i will deal with the crappy exchange rate and continue with Campagnolo, at least until i get a contract which say's ride on summin else:) Still, could get lucky and get Scram, or better yet, maybe a Sachs or Zeus gruppo. Now that would be unique.

Oh my legs hurt

Yesterday (Wednesday) was day one of my winter running season. Got to work at 7:15 and hit the road by 7:20. I did about 2 1/2 miles and it felt reasonable. Not fast, but not crawling either.

Then i met up with Messr's Boner, Fast Eddy and Sandy for a lunch time ride on my 27 pound steel Moser, which included a 10 minute diversion up Mill Creek Road.

The final part of the day was supposed to be joining the "Dan the Man" ride in the evening but a small family crisis pulled me home.

And am i glad. My thighs are just killing me today. So i am skipping out on my ride up the peak today and I'll just do a quick 30 minutes tonight on the rollers to loosen up. (I have just remembered, I have some rollers......sweet).

Then it will be putting some winter rubber on the race wheels for the weekend riding at Glen Ellen. Looking forward to spending some quality miles with Larry and Eugene, and the Double F boys.

So many roads, so little time

Gaz

Mission Peak, too close for comfort

I literally work at the base of Mission Peak in Fremont, the 2500 foot summit is visible from the front of the building and for many years it was just a nice view.
Then my Trek 5500 broke, and left only with the old steel 26-27 pound Moser, still rusted to the trainer, or my non suspension Kona MTB, a choice had to be made.
Kona it was, and me and the moutain have been trading blows for a few months now. The big problem is that it is so close to work that i get no warm up. Within 1 minute of leaving I am in upper zone 3 and on the point of yacking. Initially, the mountain took a few rounds, I was getting body blows left, right, center. Going up mid day in the heat was not helping either, the charge up the initial grade was just so i could turn the bend in the trail and find the shade.
However, after a few weeks of kidney punches i started taking a few swipes back and now i think we are even.
Going up is still difficult, i just go faster. But coming back down , well, that's sooo much better now. Yer know, it's amazing how big a rock you can hit, with a non suspension fork, and still live to blog about it. And on Thursday's, when i get some extra time, i ride over to Monument Peak on trails where there are no bike tracks and the grass grows in the wheel ruts and teh ground squirrels are like TOTALLY surprised by me flying by at 25 mph, sometimes airbourne.
I was even happy to get a flat tyre, coz it gave me time to relax and just soak in the view and sun and the solitude.

Gazmundo

I'm gonna be a daddy

Last November when the family was celebrating Linda's birthday in Las Vegas I asked Tamra whether she would like to be legally adopted by me. Her biological dad has been paying her less and less attention and if, god forbid, anything happened to Linda, he would be the guardian, not me, the guy who has been on Dad duty since she was five years old. So Tamra say's yes, Linda sheds a happy tear and one year later, almost to the day, the three of us will up before the local beek to make it legal. November 19th in Pleasanton Courthouse. Look for fireworks. Special thanks to Dr. Richard Brockie, Ann Whitedove, Gail Smith and Diane West for returning positive feedback to the social services. The check, as they say, is in the post. Gazmundo

Spectrum ride - November 3rd, 07

Can I count the days since I last felt the burn of the Spectrum ride.

It must be at least 3 years since i last paid the Spectrum a visit and I was really looking forward to it. So much so that I was teh first Lycra clad lad in the parking lot. With 15 minutes to 09:00, the place was deserted of bikies except for an LG guy. I asked him what time the ride rolled and he was very precise "09:04". Fair nuff. The Boner mobile rolled in with the Sage, Jnr and Zig, Wendy came all the way from Richmond with German and Jeff G was looking mighty fine in his black and blue ensemble. Team Dr. (Brockie and Bisson) lined up and then Bill Brierson of PBP fame rode into town, a nice 22 mile warmup from Fremont.
So at 09:04 precisly the gathered masses headed west on Homestead, picking up riders along the way. The pace was quick, no easy start, a steady 22-23 mph. I made my way up to the front of the pack, riding top 20. The plan was to stay in that zone the whole way to the turn at Canada, coz if i got dropped, even with a route sheet I wrote, i knew i would not make it home for at least two days. Fear is a great motivator, and when the fast boys hit the front I turned the pedals with a real dread in my legs.
Finally we made it on to Canada and i knew it was the last stretch before the turn. I got my first sight of a team mate in several miles when Moose rolled up to the front and I stuck my nose in the wind to get ahead of him and hopefully take him to the sprint.
Boy, is Canada a long road. I thought we were close to the end when I finally made it to the front for my turn. Pace was good, i think it was around 33-34 mph. i was definatly in the 12 or 13, the Eric Wohlberg came whistling by. Frickin hell, that guy is fast. The was no way i was jumping on that Canucks wheel, so i just let him go and eventually got my breath back when about 20 guy's and some girls had passed me. The sprint opened up a couple of miles later and i just sorta accelerated to not embarrass myself.
Big U-Turn and I meet the rest of my homies for a nice spin back to Sunnyvale. Oh, and Jeff G attempted drop kick on a van that cut us up was just too funny. Way to go el presidente.
so, we made the comparison between HOP and Spectrum. I think, and so does Zig, that the HOP is harder. They just hit and go fast for 15 miles in one section and then Collier Canyon and the ride up to Blackhawk is just hell. But the roads are nicer on the Spectrum and the average speed is maybe quicker. The HOP is 15 miles longer though.

It's been a while

Thought I had better post before I get booted out of the Bloggesphere.

Going to the UK in STYLE

Just made our plans for the summer vacation. Every other year we go back to the UK to visit my Mum and Dad and family. This year we go via a 1 week crossing of the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2......need i say more

Roll on next month

Merco "Foothills" RR March 3rd, 2007

Well, that was a surprise!

got a top 10 in my first race in the Masters 45+ 1/2/3/4 category. Morgan Stanleys 8 riders totally dominated the race, and i followed Stan's move up the outside with 250 to go to wiggle in to 8th place.

Can't explain it. Could be a function of resting from running for two weeks and some hard rides in the preceding weeks. That's most likely. Anyway's, its given me some much needed confidence to ramp up the training a little.

With the vacation plan and schedule sorted, i miss Wente and Cat's Hill, so Nevada City will be the race to judge my mid and early season.