Sunday, February 25, 2007

First Race of 2007

At one time in my life, waking up at 5AM was tough. Since Ryan came along, waking or sleeping isn't really such a big deal anymore. When it comes it comes, when it goes, etc.

That being said, i wasn't sure how my body would react to today's 3:30 alarm. Luckily enough, i was able to get up, slam coffee and some oatmeal and then get the family in the car, surprisingly close to our planned 4:30 departure time, maybe we're getting better at this? So off we went, leaving our groggy house guest Jeff behind 100% convinced that we are nuts.

We met up with Caroline just over the bridge and the caravan began. Destination, the Lake Charles T-Gator Duathlon or as i refer to it 2/15/2 of pleasure.

Lots of friendly faces at the start, Charlie, Norm, Ryan, Brandon, Brian, Mitch, Ricky, old home week really. The run was out and back, up a very slight hill.

The race started and immediately i realized that i hadn't run fast in a while, pain came in quickly, not like the kind i've been getting on longer slower runs. I just started passing people and hit mile 1 in 5:45, shocked i pressed on. I slowed over the 2nd mile which allowed Kate and a couple of other guys to blow by me. I finished in 11:56, psyched to break 12.

On to the bike with a lead on Norm, i figured i better make it count. That wasn't to be, i think he caught me in less than a mile. He said he wanted to catch me so bad, he only got clipped in a little before getting to me. Come on man!

The course went straight into a headwind from the leftish that seemed to ebb and flow. Going out it was lots of 20-24. The course bent to the right twice before the turn, after that it was mostly 25-27 on the way home. Things were going well, then less than a mile to go, some officials working a fork in the park just looked at me without motioning or anything, so instinctively i went right. Turns out the race went left, no worries though.

The last run is just pain. Coming off the bike, you're blown, but you're used to moving at 20 something, now you're going 9? It's tough. I got to the turn in 6:45, then did the last in 6:50. I was psyched, not sure how i finished, i know i didn't get top 3 in my age group, but Amy said i was top 10 overall, we'll see.

It was a great race, lots of laughs, great course, lots of fun with Amy and Ryan, also only my second ride on the Cervelo which is a gem. I like it a lot. The position may not be finalized, but it's definitely good.

Ryan fell asleep leaving Lake Chuck, so we headed on to Breaux Bridge for the goods at Cafe Des Amis. Can't say enough, they really delivered. We celebrated with primo coffee, Fried Green Tomatoes and Crawfish Pie, etouffee served over puffed pastry. Really a perfect ending, and Ryan was a champ on the roadtrip, which might be his longest so far.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

her bikini small, heels tall, she said she liked the ocean

No, this post isn't about her or her or even her
it's about goin back to cali, cali, cali, the tour of cali that is
Here are some random thoughts on the race so far

Love the new disco get-up, like the dark colors.

Hate the new disco get up, what's up with the upside down Disco? No wonder they stopped sponsoring these guys. I wonder if that was an error at the print shop.

Also, i agree about Levi's position. He's totally going Praying Mantis Landis style, and obviously, it works.

Everyone was surprised with Jason Donald's ride except me. You make anybody wear that outfit in San Fran and they're going to ride fast, come on!

I thought the decision on Stage 1 to neutralize the circuit laps was odd.
Tivo went south on Stage 2, the last minute went like this
"and teams are scrambling to get to the front in this last half mile, even Big George Hincapie is giving it a go..." then the dialog appeared whether or not to keep or delete this program...ARGH.
I haven't checked out Stage 3 on tape yet, but you gotta love it when Jens Voigt wins, the dude is a powerhouse who always works hard. That being said, he really could stand to drop his seatpost an inch or so.

Some other good stuff from across the pond:
Max VanHoyDoy getting the helping hand for the win on his new team.
This still makes me laugh

I've got big plans on tap for the 2007 Fantasy Cycling season, if i can ever get around to programming it, all will be impressed, or their money back, and that's a promise.

Friday, February 16, 2007

badow!

This will appeal to bicycle/tech geeks everywhere. I can't wait until it's mandatory and the entire race can be tracked in a browser, that statement alone merits me a lifetime membership in the group named above.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

tales of the weird

i've heard of police impersonation cases before, but this guy took it way too far.

haza haza!

Here's the whole story but most importantly...

Agreed to chip in $12,500 to help pay for a $250,000 master plan to build a proposed bike path on the Mississippi River levee from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. The master plan is required to qualify for federal funds, which could pay for up to 80 percent of the $33 million project. The Pontchartrain Levee District is putting up $50,000 for the study, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering has agreed to provide an additional $125,000. East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville and the three other parishes on the proposed bike path are being asked to kick in $12,500 apiece for the study.

I wasn't overly optimistic after seeing this on the Business Report
Poll: Readers not enthusiastic about bike path
Daily Report readers are skeptical of plans to build a bike path connecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Sixty percent of the respondents to an online survey say they don't like the plan, which would cost $33 million, because they think it would cost too much money and not enough people would use it. Forty percent say they like the plan because they think it would stimulate tourism and recreation-related spending. The Metro Council is set to vote this afternoon on funding a master plan study for the project. More than 1,650 people participated in the survey.

I'll go on record as saying 100% of me thinks it's the only salvation for the training on the River Road.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Sorry Steph, Busted by the man...

We received notification today that you have posted a segment from the Around Town TV Show to www.youtube.com. I am writing to instruct you to remove it immediately.

The Around Town TV Show is copyrighted and may not be duplicated or distributed in any way without the express permission of 1stCo. To do so illegal.

Please remove the video segment today and email me at blahblahblah to confirm this has been resolved. I trust this matter can be resolved without further action.

Stuart

Monday, February 12, 2007

Saturday, February 10, 2007

properly disgusted, late in coming, but proper nonetheless

This afternoon during Ryan's nap, i reclined on the couch and clicked on our old friend HBO to find Return of the Jedi minutes before the ending. I figured it would be nice to step back to that simpler time, back before Jar-Jar Binks when special effects were special because they were parts of a movie, not the entire movie.

Let me replay the incident here for your benefit:

Ah, the ewok village on Endor

love those ewoks.

Wedge is still around, you old dog.

Now Lando, that Billy Dee Williams is suave.

Leia should never have gone with that ewok-combed-out look, not good, go back to that Tatooine Jabba-barge metal bikini thing, that was quality.

Now there's pre-baldness Luke, gazing at the spirits of the great jedi: Ben, Yoda and middle-aged recently dead Darth


Wait one minute, WTF is Hayden Christensen doing in this film? I hit pause and rewind, you can imagine the disgust Amy and i felt. The scene was memorable because having only just met the helmetless-Darth/dying Anakin a few moments before, you were forced to imagine him healthier and less mechanical in what appears to be the standard issue uniform for citizens of Tatooine. Nope, George Lucas in an orwellian device the likes of which i've never imagined was possible, overlayed the older actor with an image of Christensen for the 2004 dvd release.
Why would you do this? This is so much worse than Ted Turner's colorizing the classics. Does everything really have to come back together this completely George? I'm still surprised that he didn't stick Han Solo's dad into episode III somehow, or maybe a little baby Lando Calrissian somewhere.

Anyway, i googled it and some hardcore fans point out that young Anakin was good, older Anakin was bad. Which is a load of crap, he was always bad, he only turned a little good at the end of Jedi. It's like a paltry ploy to say "Hey, look! kids born in the late 80's, that guy from my latest movie invented time travel too."

Why didn't he take it all the way and come up with a teenage Yoda and maybe Ewan McGregor too. Or wait a minute, Luke never knew young Yoda, young Ben or young Anakin for that matter. He should have dubbed in Luke saying, "Yoda, Ben, who's that other guy?"

Maybe it's all just a big hallucination that Luke's suffering from, after going into the Medicine Man Ewok's hut, and smoking the "wacky weed" out of that dead stormtrooper's blood-stained helmet.

Or how about this, all six frickin episodes have been a dream sequence a la Wisdom and now Luke wakes up back in the oil bath on Tatooine with an embarrassed C-3P0, who's showing Uncle Owen where he touched him on a small droid doll.

Ok, maybe i took it too far there, but it's equivalent to my disgust.

Friday, February 09, 2007

best laid plans and tunes

This weekend was going to be my first 2007 race at the Evangeline Oak Du, but my stomach had other plans, so i will be taking it light. It's weird to have time off, i've had pretty good workouts for 3 months straight without much of a break.

Angels and Airwaves are so cool that even their website kicks ass.
It's Blink-182
and they're all grows up
and they're all grows up
and they're all grows up.
Thanks Gelpimp

and another thing

Since gated neighborhoods and one-street subdivisions that dead-end are all the rage, the least these planners could do is break out a thesaurus. On my ride down Bluff i noticed a number of new one's coming up with such great names as Bluff Oak, Oaks at Bluff, Bluff Lakes, Bluff Bluff Bluff, Bluff Bluff, the Mansions of Bluff, Mother Bluffer, BluffBluff, the Bluffs at Bluff, leBluff, Jeb Luff's, iBluff, Bluffer's and Yo Mama's got a Buffalo Bluff. Come on people, break out.

Of course this from the guy who lives where every street is SpringMe, SpringYou, SpringDog, SpringCat, etc.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

A cyclist's prayer

Oh God, please protect me today and if it be your will, keep me from being killed on this ride, because i don't want the first words said over my freshly dead body to be "that there look like one of them bike guys, they are always in the way, where are they ridin to anyway?".

That's probably not the best mantra to keep in your head, but Sunday's afternoon ride, which unfortunately corresponded directly with the Super Bowl pre-game drinking rituals among the pick-up truck driving intellectuals of Iberville parish, had me repeating this prayer for most of my 3 hours of chamois time.

It all started innocently enough, me spinning along on an iRide, trying to figure out circles again after 4 days off due to a fever, when Sebastian blew past me like a frickin Porsche. He actually looked more like a sportscar than a cyclist because he was on the maiden voyage of his new Guru TT machine. Very slick in all-black, we rode along around the loop talking seat tube angles, position, etc. He was excited to do Pace Bend in two weekends, that race is awesome. The rolling enclosure makes all the difference, here's a pedalmasher film made the year that i did it, 3 years ago and it feels like only yesterday yesterday yesterday ... (insert dream sequence here).

Anyway, i turned off River Road onto the new River Road, which is Bayou Paul. There seem to be more cyclists on this road now at any given time than anywhere else in BR. From there i decided to ride through the gravel to Bluff, then over to 74 which is where the festivities began with trucks buzzing me, telling me to get off the road, etc. all while clinging to an 18 inch shoulder. Very nice, i think i'll go back to my trainer and pray for the day i live somewhere else.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Vista!

This is so true that it isn't even that funny.