Saturday, July 22, 2006

up at 4am rode 5 hrs then went to bed

the E50 debacle, i have to say it i was going pretty good and won the race but boris told me im a dnf because i did miss some of the trail.

i agree, but it still sucks. i was hauling so much ass on the downhill i passed a turn and trimmed 10 mins off the course skipping the first feed zone and missing my drinks and food. i rode 3.5 hrs on 1 small gatorade. it didnt seem to bother me. i had a few other problems.

at the start i felt my front tire, it was low. i tried pumping it up with my air can, it was empty. so they said go 5 seconds later and i raced with a low tire. i wasnt able to rally the corners as hard so i just rode with a couple 1 speeders across mid mtn in 2nd place the whole 1st 20 miles i couldnt rip the dh and that sucked.

a bee flew into my helmet stinging me in the head. i stop throw the bike down, throw my helmet, start punching the air. then continue on with a throbbing in my head. good thing they dont really bug me that bad, linde got stung in the face and he looks like ATRAIN.



the zipper blew up on my jersey soon as they said go. i looked down and the zipper handle fell off.
what a joke,. i spent the next 5 hrs riding around pc ala kloden, lookin like a total idiot "wow look at my massive pecs everyone"


so after i find myself 1/2 mile up the stage 2 climb (1/2 mile above the feed zone) 1 hr 45 mins into the race, on the dirt road i decide to keep riding and finish knowing i am not racing anymore. i just cut 10 mins off the trail and missed the feed zone, missing the pump and the drink, and the food. i rode up into jupiter bowl for another hr or so, broke a rear spoke, stopped to remove it. my road bar tape came up done, what a joke, i stopped to re wrap my bars. then i stopped to take a leak, maybe i thought someone would catch up to me, they never did. well jack did with like 3 miles to go. while i was at a water hole cooling down over on deer crest.
anyway i rode over to upper deer valley, i was riding real slow,... really. i didnt know why nobody caught up to me.

i put this new lefty on my bike yesterday and it has too much air in it, my hands are arms are more tired than my legs. i was riding down nail driver real slow. wasnt able to hammer the dh all day from the low front tire.

i had my phone and was calling sean in the feed zones i was riding so slow and bored he was laughing thinking im supposed to be racing but im calling him on the phone riding downhill on 1 track with the phone in my hand and other hand on the bar. ya i was cruising.

i get to the dv feed zone in 4 hrs get a mtn dew and take off for the last 10 miles with my jersey blowing in the wind. i wonder what people were thinking?

so then the course goes down into deer crest the the lap of the norba we did last 2 weeks ago. i short climb up to the paved gates at deer crest then up little stick and down to tour de homes i decided to hammer the last climb and won the race in 4 hr 45 mins but with all my problems and short cut i still think i could have done it under 4.5 hrs. last year the course was a bit longer, it took me 7 hrs 10 mins. i was blown hard core. so i shaved off a few hours and felt good doin it.

then from dv they say i was a hot commodity, with my blown jersey everyone lookin at me, wonderin how i finished so fast, did a few tv interviews, (yay)
and rode down the hill back to the van at the canyons.


oh well theres a nice summer story for you.
im goin back to bed.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

i got hit in the face with a bat



















not like this guy, but i felt like it. i put a dura ace cog on my mtn bike, rode it big ring up some 20% grade and almost passed out.

i rode 2.5 hrs on the new scalpel. its 21 lbs, and dialed in. i dont feel so good. it will go away tomorrow. im goin to eat some more.

my favorite new show is next on mtv and i want to be you. if you have watched these stupid shows you know how gay they are. but its funny and i cant believe how stuped people are to get on tv.

i used to like boiling points but they dont play it anymore. that sux. im tired.
audi

eat my words

now here is the lesson dont quit until the race is over. watching the stage today was impressive. i have to say that. now im eating my words. i might have sounded harsh on floyd yesterday but i did under estimate him. we will see what happens on sats tt but he will pull it out. i guess this goes to show you the game inside my head in my own races counting myself out before the finish line.

thats why we both raced expert 12 years ago. hes winning pro tour stuff and im still expert.
go figure.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

stuffed

i ate alot of food, its was good, now im tired. im going to sleep. more later, maybe.
i predicted floyd wouldnt win, he is good, but not that good.
they are all hopped up on something. i have raced floyd on mtn bikes. in 1994. he was fast but not a super euro pro like now. they are all on something. i have raced tommy d also on mtn bikes he is fast, but not that fast. seems soon as they go road pro they jump 10 levels up in one year. that is not from training hard.

its time to face the reality that the whole pro tour is on something. eventually it will be proven and the real guys who do it ala natural will win.

sleepless in emigration oaks

its 2am. i have been staring at the wall for 2 hrs with thoughts of black bean and cheese burritos. im not really starving im in between hungry and the distant feeling of being hollow. im totally hollow, my insides are caving in. im seeing leg muscles that havnt been seen for 3 years. i dont have vains popping out like bg but im still workin on it.

i had to drink this olive oil grapefruit juice mix a few hours ago, i dont know what it does but i cant sleep. i did go riding for 2 hrs from 845 to 1045 pm. i had no energy but made it back up the hill in the 34 cog. im thinking of ways to trim my bike grams down. i have thought of putting a dura ace 9 cog instead of xtr. its 4 oz. lighter. with the 27 tooth and the 22 t. granny combo. grip shift twisters instead of pods. and the 25.4mm bar instead of a 130 gram oversize. ec90 carb post instead of tomson, 20 grams saved in 10 places is 200 and thats almost a 1/2 pound. i think i can get it down to 20 lbs with some new parts. im goin to put it together tomorrow and see what happens.
im goin to use a prototype lefty from slowran that is 1/2 lb lighter than any other model with some custom spv valving. i wonder if it works and i hope i dont break it.


i have to get up at 630 so i wonder if i will be tired tomorrow/today later

i have a small cactus growing on my desk, i wonder if i water it too much
and i wonder if you shoot for the moon what happens if you hit it
i also wonder if i memorized the super d at brian head like i did shoreline if i could win pro and take down adam craig

heres to bean burritos and chicken legs tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

159 pounds of power

ok im almost done fasting. this day is almost over. in the morning the gall stones are coming down and im done.

if you are wondering why gall stones are bad here you go. they block bile from being secreted into the liver and breaking down fat. most fat people have gall bladder surgery and get it removed. this is the most stupidest thing they could do. first off they are such bad shape the stones are so big they cant be removed any other way. secondly once that organ is gone you are pretty much screwed the rest of your life with being fat or way fatter than you once were. i have recently learned that even rail thin skinny people have gall/liver stones. these are the guys and gals who claim to be 120% healthy. yet they cant gain a pound of muscle or fat no matter how much they eat or train. i have learned that it works on both extremes based on alot of factors mainly genetics at this point. they cant gain weight or muscle because their system is blocked with stones, just like the fat people but in the opposite direction.

health is a balance, obviously. not to the extremes like rail thin or super fat. you must be balanced righ in the middle. high blood pressure is bad, low pressure is bad. you must be centered and balanced.



im trying to get rid of these small stones now before they get big, i have alot, i have seen some and there are more im sure for the next time i do this in december. once the liver, pancreas, adrenal and gall stones are gone things work 500 times better and weight gain is no more. you want bile in the liver. dont block the bile with stones and then get it cut out.

learn about health and dont listen to the doctors, they are scamming you from a beautiful life.

tomorrow i will be eating barbacoa and for the next 3 days my energy levels will be back to normal for the 5 hrs of fun on pc's best 1 track.

i gotta get my new bike dialed.

im at 159 lbs and thats as low as i have been since august 2003. i still have some t shirts from back then and they are baggy now instead of skin tight.

thats about as cool as i can put it.

3 years ago i was down to 143 at one point and i was on fire. lets see what happens this year when im that light.

its goin to be crazy.

Monday, July 17, 2006

ATRAIN is on the slow train

atrain is molding plastic in houston, and when he gets back im kickin his ass, no more cross king. its the slow train and hes gonna get thrown in the hurt locker. cross season is coming up and there is a new king in town


















man its hot in here, and im hatin it. i like summer but i cant take much more heat. i feel nauseated sick all day, im detoxing some old crap. im not sick but i feel like crap. no food today no fruit, and i didnt drink much water. i just want to eat and get this over with. i lost some weight this week but i always hate doing it this way. its only a week, but it still sucks. tomorrow im not eating either. so 1 more day then im gonna chow at 11am weds. that will be nice i might be in better mood when that happens. im on the edge of crackin skulls. i had some good road rage goin this week and mostly today. dont set me off i might get in trouble with the law.

rage....right mop,
i should cage this power of rage for saturday and open a can of whoop ass on the E50. take it out on the mtn instead of law obiding citizens.

i have about 1000 things to sell now and im kind of overwhelmed and want to eat pizza.

in case you guys didnt know this, i will tell the story again. it was before i started this blog but many readers know me before i became famous and started publishing my tales on the www.

back in feb/march i didnt eat for 23 days in row. i had carrot/celery/spinach juice and thats it.
i had tape worms but didnt know it. i was fat and sick, i didnt have energy to ride more than 8 or 10 hrs a week at the most. i was tired and beat down all the time from doing nothing. im telling you the story again because i hope to let people know that there is other ways to get healthy instead of going to the hospital taking drugs and or getting surgery. its a scam and its so easy to help everyone. they just need to talk to the right people and i know the people they are here in salt lake and can help anyone now. you dont need to be sick, tired, fat or take drugs, just because the doctor said so. they are useless and only good for trauma surgery. not health. they dont have a clue about being and living healthy.

all the info you need is on my blog. the links on the side are there for a reason and i hope it helps alot of people.

im pissed at the system and im goin to go smash something.

i got a new team scalpel today. i ordered it in january. wow that was fast.
it weighs in at 21 lbs. i got a new helmet and racing kit. maybe i will go model it for you guys tomorrow and post some sexy pics.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

white line fever

you know the white lines just keeping passing by, 9 hrs of night driving. im tired, that I-80 to frisco sucks ass. traffic in sac town is as bad as ever. morons driving 50 mph on a 6 lane highway side to side. so i passed them on the E-lane. yaa

no cops, no tickets, no crashes. so i have to say thats a good trip. i picked up 100 pairs of sidis for $40 bucks each. now thats the cash cow.

i sold this van on ebay last week. its my old van i wrecked in oakland last year. some guy that doesnt speak english bought it from me for $500 off egay, he lives in philly, hes flying out here to pick it up, he wants to fix it then drive it home. im trying to be nice here, but that just seems like a waste of time and money. some people i dont get, most the time i dont even get my self.


















i sold another van i had last week as well, i got $2400 out that bad boy,
now i have 1 more to go and then its the silver bullet, me and the highway. yaaa


yesterday i was chillin by the bay in sausalito, now im back in pc. time to train, and i cant wait until 11am weds. im gonna be able to eat some chicken or something good. 7 days of fruit and im done with it. monday and tuesday its water only. now that sucks worse than vacaville traffic. but its almost done and i will be flyin the 1 track 7am 7-22-06.

just to remind you I-80 west bound is boring as hell.

and the other thing that sucked yesterday was i bought 150 jerseys from this bike shop, they each had one of those security plastic peices stuck into the fabric, you need to remove each one with a tool and it takes forever, like 150 jerseys i wasted over an hour sitting in the car one by one removing each one. what a waste of time and testing my patience, i almost ripped them out instead.

put it on sirius area 33 judge jules global warm up and rave your way to the west side connection.












ATRAIN says he got in a fight with a wasp and now looks like this sorry bastard, vaughters a few years back.

well atrain. if its true i think this look is better for you. stick with it.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

mill valley cali

i hauled ass in 9 hrs. got here right in time to spend some cash, i dropped 12 large in 2 hrs. and i won 200 in wendover in 10 mins then left right quick.
the van is loaded and im driving back non stop. get me out of this hell hole.

i wonder if atrain likes okra and grits

Friday, July 14, 2006

waiting for linde

i was supposed to leave 5 hours ago but linde is taking his sweet time. its 4pm and it looks like im driving all night to san fran. im goin to haul ass and get there in like 9 hours. i have warrants in nevada so i hope i dont get jacked by the man.

im starving again and im sick of cherries. its 97 degrees in this office and it sucks. i need to hit the road. where the hell is linde

Thursday, July 13, 2006

when its good, its real good

things are good, im not hungry. i have results in almost everything i working on. its summer, its warm. night riding is awesome. days are good, i could go on and on.

mainly its good today because i was in park city all day. i didnt even have my bike. i was at pcmr just like 20 feet away from stage 2 of next weeks race. i couldnt believe it. i went to this seminar all day at the lodge, i looked out the back glass door and the trail was right there. you may think so what but read on.


first you must understand why i was there and what it has to do with next week which are totally random events.

first i was hangin with gary acevedo, i have been listening to him speak for 4 years about the same things and each time i get something on a whole new level. today was about the parent/child relationship that goes on inside your head. the beat up and reward system you put yourself through mostly subconsiously? but sometimes you know youre beating your self up with verbal abuse.

i didnt think i was so bad, but i was one of the worst self beat cases i have heard of. its mostly self name calling and such. not good for racing, or anything for that matter.

so im hearing this speech for the 20 time and looking outside wondering why now and why here. 20 feet away from the 1 hr climb up into jupiter bowl.

well lets see, the obvious is dont kick your own ass up this long climb. gravity will do that for you.

2nd dont focus on results. i could go on for awhile here but i hope you get the picture. ya sure its helpful not to call yourself a fat slow washed up has been. thats obvious. but its harder to change than you think. look at me the last 2 years. it takes time and im workin on it. plus is mostly sub consious and thats a whole new game.

other news.

i just rode up emigration in the dark and it was awesome. i hauled ass with sub 40 min climb home. thats a new record and i wasnt even pegged. big ring it and no pain. maybe its the melon. maybe its the 10 lbs i lost this week, maybe its the empty stomach, could be the very low hours of riding i have done since saturday. all i know is i was on fire and i didnt eat any food all week.

i dont call fruit and lettuce fuel for training.


anyway i hope i can feel like this next week cuz i want to shred, and after the last few years of frustration things are workin out for the better and there is nothin better than results for bustin my ass for so long.

i gotta get back to adrian karsten, hes my favorite.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

if you aint livin for somthin youre dyin for nothin

the tour sucks, its boring. everybody is on something and its terrible to watch and listen to those idiot commentators. i just put it on mute and watch guys ride big groups for 4 hrs. ya no wonder nobody comes to watch bike races. its freakin boring.

z says somthing about fight where guys get off their bikes and start duking it out. "if they would show that kind of stuff more people would watch"

yes he is right.

i want to see some guys punching each other while sprinting and blood flying.

did anyone go to the norba last weekend? it was a joke. no spectators. the announcers sucked ass. you pay $100 for 2 races and get nothing but dirty bike and some tired legs.

racing sucks


ok on another note, i got this box from ups today. the label said 52 lbs and i carried it upstairs, like 20 steps and it was hard. yes im a big pussy.


so my point is in feb i weighed 50 lbs more than i do now and no wonder why i was so god damn slow. JFC do you know how hard it is on ones body to pack around such shit

try puttin on a back pack and riding down the street. its the worst

now try it at the E100 and see how far you get.
god damn try finishing the E100 with your normal body weight.

im telling you this because i forgot how much 50 lbs is and im trying to brag about how hard core i am and what a kick ass racer i am.

no really its heavy and you should go pick up some weights and run up 20 floors of stairs in the name of sly


i have been eating fruit still and its ok now. i got past the 2 days of craving burritos, im still hungry, but not as bad.

and i see the digits falling off the scale so its more motivation for next week. i want to shred the E50 and i think im doing the right thing so thats all that counts.

i have to get back to phil and bobke.

im eating a cucumber





















day 3 of hell, no im joking. its ok, i had some lettuce and a cucumber. i had some cherries and they are pretty good. its weds. i think im doing this crap until next weds. thats 10 days and im showing 4 pounds negative on the digital scale.

















downtown is goin to hell in a hand basket. next door at the peter pan its even worse. the other day im out front hangin with the garbage can, some ugly old lady walks by and she looks like death, probably 50 years old 100 lbs over weight comes up to me and throws some paper in my garbage can, no big deal. i say "hey whats up" or "hi" in my language, she looks at me with disgust and keeps walking with her head turned back at me, then goes into the peter pan. then a minute later another lady walks by. shes has a dog named yoda.

i say what up yoda. she says. we just passed the possesed lady and yoda is upset.

good times im thinkin,

ya yoda hates the devil and they both live next door to me.


cool.


she goes on to tell me how they walk past her apartment door and hear hissing and yelling like she is a demon or something.

i wouldnt doubt it. i should go take her picture. she is one ugly SOB.


ok now im hungry again. so who is gonna bring me some salmon or pizza?

7 days,,,...... keep fighting fox.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

check out my new theme song

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=81884766

turn it up and rock out.
this is the best song i have ever heard.

im still thinking about rubios and barbacoa.
cherries and strawberries all day today. its getting boring.

melon and goats



















down the street up here in the oaks there is a pack of goats mowing down the grass.
in other news i slept like 10 hours and it was nice.
more news, i finished a day with nothing but fruit, sounds easy but its quite complicated.
try it some time.

low hours on the bike, looks like this coming up.
1 hr yesterday
2 today
2 tomorrow
nothing thurs
maybe 1 friday
maybe 1 sat
dont know sun. 3 if i feel like it.

got to take it day by day. low energy.
seems i lost 2 lbs in 2 days. wonder if its water or something else

dont know but im waiting for july 20th so i can load up for the E50. hope this works out, i have never tried it right before a long race.

if i screw it up at least the brian head 50 is on the 29th.

keep fighting fox

keep fighting

Monday, July 10, 2006

oh dear lord help me, i smell steak




















these people live next to my work downtown in the peter pan apartments, the place is filled with more winners like this.


ok this pretty much is the worst day of the summer. i have had some apples, cherries, strawberries and kind of grape blueberry juice from wild oats. i am starving over here. burritos and chicken legs sounds too nice. i would pay $150 for a pizza right now. maybe 1 peice.

its like on survivor when they have food rewards and those cast aways cry and fight over a scoop of peanut butter.

i found out today im eating these fruits until friday, then all weekend until monday at noon im eating water only.

holy hot tamales, i will be 10 lbs lighter next week but im wondering if its worth the sweet taste of coke and barbacoa.

i will listen to the mop and take the advice of wolverine,

keep fighting fox keep fighting

monday is my favorite, its the apples

most people like fridays, i hate them. monday is way better. today is the first of the next 10 days where i am eating apples and melon. its time for lunch and i am dreaming of barbacoa. but there will be no spicy beef, or cheese. im lookin here at a jug of juice and some fruit. i guess its better than nothing.


this week is gonna suck, i can smell the steaks across the street at the faustina. the first 2 days suck the most. 10pm snacks suck 2nd most, going to bed with 32 oz. of water instead of a whole pizza.

i will be telling you guys how much this sucks all week so get used to it.
and dastrup needs to email me, seems i deleted the email. hey dastrup you need to get on the sly program, eat melon, call elizabeth and quit hangin out with ex-cons.
















if you are wonderin what it takes to race pro check out jonseys calf.
then you sign up in pro and for the first couple mins you get to see this pumping pain into your body. then he disappears into the woods to put 15 or 20 mins on your sorry ass.














heres bg workin the grill
















ATRAIN explains to normie how to get the chicks, (dont listen to him)














climb-em signed the new cycling utah for me.















bz, bobby and ty trying to get glucose levels back to normal

Sunday, July 09, 2006

my moto is "push it to the limit"

roger tells dr. cross and atrain how to jump the barriers at wheeler, he showed bart how back at the tender age of 7.









































ok this is a funny joke. so to get how cheesy that sounds you have to turn on your volume and hit this link.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=56063049&MyToken=29f85b6d-c236-41a9-9683-9ff71417c61b

this is alex rocks theme song.

ya but really yesterday i was on the limit and paid for it today. i would have like to smoke these 8, yes a whopping field of 8 guys at the short track but i was blown and running on empty 2 mins into the race so i limped home and slept for 4 hours. then i missed the other spectator events of the day. i was tired from barts bbq, we really burned the midnight oil eating beef on the grill. ya it was a late one, everyone left by 9pm.

tomorrow im starting a 7 day fruit diet with a gallbladder cleanse so that is really gonna suck. i get to eat fruit all week. so if you see me with some m&m's or a plate of cod come kick my ass.




























im not racing next saturday, im goin to san fran. but on the 22nd is the E50 miler in pc. that should be a good time.

heres a race schedule:
july 22nd pc
july 29th brian head 50
aug 5th brian head norba
aug 12th snowmass
aug 19th snowbird
aug 26th E100 pc

ya then cross at the end of sept.
sounds like a plan.

remember to push it to the limit

Saturday, July 08, 2006

from ass kicked to ass kicker

just as i would plan, i won the norba age grouper class. yes the "W" is hard to come by so im gonna brag today. 2 months ago i couldnt even finish 5 mile pass. today i won the 30-34 age group expert at the national. i almost blew it on the last climb but i pulled it out and got the win. so now we are having a hoe down up at barts. hope you can make it in time. bbq on the deck. time to eat, tomorrow is short track, im gonna win that too so come watch, and watch the pros also. here are some pros racing 28 miles today. with 9000 feet of climbing. thats hard core.






here is jones pullin in with a 16th pro.

Friday, July 07, 2006

spencer the slum lord

last week spencer, if you dont know he works at guthrie downtown. he rents out rooms in his house on the west side to vagrants. they dont have jobs and dont pay rent. wreck the house while he is training and working. then he comes home and gets to hang with drunk idiots.

well last week one blew his head off with a shotgun in his room and put brains on the ceiling. spencer and sean had to clean it up.

so anyway he has a vacancy open now.
bonuses are its 30 feet away from the tracks station on 900 south.

hope it fills soon.
keep hammerin the big ring spencer, but you wont beat me at snowbird.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

mixin it up with the pros

i wish i was fast for saturday. i want to race with kday and blake mixin it up with the pros but im still workin on playing catch up. i feel like a sand bagger in expert. im not trying to brag or sound fast. i might get my ass kicked in expert. i just feel like i belong with the best racers. it kind of sucks but i hope you get where im comin from. the main show is the pros not some age grouper class lining up at 8am with no spectators. even the same for freakin semi pros. they dont even race on sat. they get the friday slot. that sucks about just as bad. well i guess its testing my non existing patience (Synonyms: patience, long-suffering, resignation, forbearanceThese nouns denote the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience without complaint)

yes but i am complaning.

im gonna be riding and racing in the shadows for the next few months and i guess the glory will come next spring. that really sucks ass.

jones scored 3rd in the 5 hr marathon today. i wonder if he will be on the A game saturday at noon? and bg?
i dont know who to pick. there are many fast guys now days and its a crap shoot.

bz the SOB scored a date with kelli emmett?!?!?!! where the hell was i?
obviously thinking of my new carbon wheels instead.

bz was kickin it at the sherwins layin the mack down. hope he can pull through with a top 25 on the yeti.

im using the carbon wheels this weekend, the scalpel weighs in at 21 lbs. i wish i was as trim as my bike and i wouldnt be up at 11pm writing sob stories and crying about why im not fast as want to be.

i did a lap up at dv and its smooth as a sidewalk, so im rollin the tufo tubular semi slicks with 55 psi. i hope everything works out as planned.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

3 vans for sale

last week i bought a new van. its silver, and it goes fast so its a bullet. hope i dont go to jail for breaking a handful of laws daily. i drive fast and yell at people in my way. sounds like the race course. maybe i should slow down.

anyway i have 3 other vans and im selling them all. 2 of them dont work i broke them both. the other one hauls ass also but i have not wrecked it yet. i had a 1984 toyota van with stickers all over it but the city towed it away so i told them to keep it.

for sale: 1999 chevy astro van
1989 dodge caravan with a blown fuel pump
1997 mercury villager with a smashed radiator and hood.

i did some easy road riding today 2 hrs. im gonna go up to dv tomorrow and ride around then race saturday early. next weekend the 14th im goin back to cali. san fran. its a good time to do a 7 day fast just in time for the E50 epic in pc on the 22nd. see if i can beat 5.5 hrs. its gonna be hard but i like it that way.


damn it feels good to be a gangsta

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

rippin it up sly style


sundance to park city via big cottonwood
















this cat is pissed



suck it . mizzness














































puke hill park city 10,000 feet


















spencer tries to go big
























brandon is self explanatory