I like to classify flatland tt's into three types, type A is the preferred, headwind out, tailwind back. Type C is characterized by the maelstrom of crosswinds that you usually find out on River Road, so it's never really bad and never really good either. Then lastly, there is type B, the dreaded tailwind out, headwind back.
Type B is the devourer of souls
Type B makes you want to step off your bike at the turn around and go home
Type B looks at you naked and calls others to watch
Type B causes your shaven leg hair to turn gray or fall out in patches
Type B sucks
Last Saturday's NOBC Two Man Time Trial was Type B
Keepin it real, or in this case real-ler. We got into Baton Rouge around midnight after driving all day long from Orlando. Somewhere in Alabama, i bit into a piece of gum and voila, my glued-in front tooth popped out... Nice Trick.
Now i'm in Alabama minus a front tooth, wait a sec, i look like one of the locals! badum bum. In my head, i rationalize, no front tooth might mean i can breath easier in the TT, yeah right. After unloading the car, getting Ryan back to sleep, yada yada yada, i probably got to bed around 1:30 am, enough time to get the mean 3.5 hours of sleep then head down to LaPlace with Norm to race. Luckily he was driving, so i could veg a bit.
When we got there, there was no wind, nothing zip zero, i wanted to be the first team off. But, racing in the huge 1,2 field (of 3) meant we'd go off last. We probably chilled for 30 minutes shooting the bull with folks, before we started riding. At that point the course rapidly began becoming type B.
The wind was gusting a bit and you could feel it on the highway. After 20 minutes of that i had enough, and rode Corey's rollers for maybe 10 minutes. I got off of those, got back on the road and the wind had gotten much stronger, i rode there for maybe 5 minutes then got back on the rollers, sick of the wind already.
We got to the line and i could see this flag just blowing straight out down the highway. Oh yeah, this will be good. My lack of a smile here was part game-face, part "I don't want to look like Michael Spinks".
Norm took the first pull, and we did the first few miles at 30-31, after that i don't think it ever dropped below 28. We hit the cone in a little over 26 minutes (28.6 avg) which was cool and then BAM turned around into the headwind. We had Tim and Realdo 2 minutes behind us, then Frank and McBain 2 minutes behind them. At this point, i thought we had a good shot at holding them off. The headwind felt otherwise.
I was afraid, we'd only do 22 all the way back, but it got better. Lots of 22-24-26-22-24-26. In the end, we averaged 24 to get back in about 31 minutes. In the last few miles, the McBain Train of Pain rolled by us, and i thought, "well at least we held off Realdo and Tim." That lasted for about 40 seconds and they came swooping by. At that point we really "coasted" in to do 57:09.
All in all i was satisfied, i couldn't have gone much harder and unlike the last time Norm and i rode this course, i wasn't a complete mess just trying to hold his wheel. Lots of fast times out there though, Bo obviously got his revenge on me, 55:36!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Do they come in threes? or three hundreds?
1) Two weeks ago, the parking area at the split was covered with nails, causing cyclists who park their cars there to get flats.
2) Last Thursday, an oncoming truck swerved into the B-race's lane on a perfectly straight part of the road, reportedly coming 4 feet over the line.
3) Last night, Tom reports that riders waiting at the base of the levee were threatened before the training race.
I'm sick of writing letters to the editor, the assumption there is that people can actually read. I'll be damned if i ride my bike to work any more. This chick had a point.
This town sucks.
Elect me mayor.
2) Last Thursday, an oncoming truck swerved into the B-race's lane on a perfectly straight part of the road, reportedly coming 4 feet over the line.
3) Last night, Tom reports that riders waiting at the base of the levee were threatened before the training race.
I'm sick of writing letters to the editor, the assumption there is that people can actually read. I'll be damned if i ride my bike to work any more. This chick had a point.
This town sucks.
Elect me mayor.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
thanks to all the product sponsors
who made Thursday's all-nighter to Orlando possible...
All went well, Ryan was a champ, we left BR at 9, got into Tallahassee around 4, took a 2 hour snooze and made it into the hotel around noon.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
the fun that was
My third attempt to make the training race was finally a success. In celebration of the cool weather, i went full-on Chiapucci. Joining me in true Euro-imposter stylings were Dr. Brian's SuperSized WC Cricket, Tom's tri-color French Nat Champ, and some Squirrelly Postie, more on him later.
Off we went, a pretty good sized group. It's funny, i'm using a heartrate monitor for the first time in a while, and on the trainer i have to work hard to reach a hr of 170, in a group ride, it's automatic.
I stayed near the front until Gardere, then i went back a bit. That's when the interesting stuff started. Lots of squirrellyness going on, the pack bouncing around a good bit, then all of the sudden, here's why. Some dude comes riding through the pack, against traffic, namely us, about 3 feet off the shoulder on a 20 inch bmx bike. NICE!
This inspired me to get back up front pronto. When i got there i saw SeaBass off, WAY OFF the front, flying near the split. I took a turn or two, nobody came through so out of spite (and some stupid desire to suffer) i decided to bridge solo. Right off, i'm doing 29, cadence 105, hr 180+. I hold this steady and it takes a while, but i make it to within maybe 50 yards of him. Right there i can't seem to close the last bit, so between breaths, i shout out "HEY!". It was funny, b/c i didn't know if i could talk at all, let alone that loud. Luckily, he waits up.
I get on and try to recover, but it's not easy b/c he's pulling 28, but eventually i'm back to 171. We've got a huge gap at this point, and we just start rolling 28-29. Part of me is psyched to make the bridge, the other part is thinking "Crap! what if nobody catches us? do i have to keep doing this?" That doesn't last too long, we stay off for a while, but eventually the pack gets organized and brings us back, just in time for the prop sprint.
As is often the case, a dozen guys who haven't been anywhere near the front for the whole ride go gonzo for the prop. I always wonder "Did they take a short cut?" Well in a sense they did. Anyway, we regroup and get going again, about this time the Postie Squirrel shows up on the left hand side of the road, riding against traffic, forcing cars to "thread the needle". The sides of this proverbial needle being us and him.
This is when i overheard Tom give sage advice, the sort of wisdom that takes years and years of cycling experience to develop and just might not be apparent to your average human being, let alone someone on a bicycle. "HEY DUDE! RIDE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE ROAD WILL YA!" Maybe he was imitating the homey on the bmx bike i don't know what was going on there.
From this point on, it was just more of the same, get away, get caught, rinse and repeat. The group got a good bit smaller and in the final kilo, Chris tried to give me a leadout, but i was blown.
I think SeaBass won, he is super strong right now. I think there are a lot of strong riders right now, lots of different people pulling throughout, which is usually something you find later in the season. And most importantly, it looks like my workouts are doing the trick.
Good times, good times.
Off we went, a pretty good sized group. It's funny, i'm using a heartrate monitor for the first time in a while, and on the trainer i have to work hard to reach a hr of 170, in a group ride, it's automatic.
I stayed near the front until Gardere, then i went back a bit. That's when the interesting stuff started. Lots of squirrellyness going on, the pack bouncing around a good bit, then all of the sudden, here's why. Some dude comes riding through the pack, against traffic, namely us, about 3 feet off the shoulder on a 20 inch bmx bike. NICE!
This inspired me to get back up front pronto. When i got there i saw SeaBass off, WAY OFF the front, flying near the split. I took a turn or two, nobody came through so out of spite (and some stupid desire to suffer) i decided to bridge solo. Right off, i'm doing 29, cadence 105, hr 180+. I hold this steady and it takes a while, but i make it to within maybe 50 yards of him. Right there i can't seem to close the last bit, so between breaths, i shout out "HEY!". It was funny, b/c i didn't know if i could talk at all, let alone that loud. Luckily, he waits up.
I get on and try to recover, but it's not easy b/c he's pulling 28, but eventually i'm back to 171. We've got a huge gap at this point, and we just start rolling 28-29. Part of me is psyched to make the bridge, the other part is thinking "Crap! what if nobody catches us? do i have to keep doing this?" That doesn't last too long, we stay off for a while, but eventually the pack gets organized and brings us back, just in time for the prop sprint.
As is often the case, a dozen guys who haven't been anywhere near the front for the whole ride go gonzo for the prop. I always wonder "Did they take a short cut?" Well in a sense they did. Anyway, we regroup and get going again, about this time the Postie Squirrel shows up on the left hand side of the road, riding against traffic, forcing cars to "thread the needle". The sides of this proverbial needle being us and him.
This is when i overheard Tom give sage advice, the sort of wisdom that takes years and years of cycling experience to develop and just might not be apparent to your average human being, let alone someone on a bicycle. "HEY DUDE! RIDE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE ROAD WILL YA!" Maybe he was imitating the homey on the bmx bike i don't know what was going on there.
From this point on, it was just more of the same, get away, get caught, rinse and repeat. The group got a good bit smaller and in the final kilo, Chris tried to give me a leadout, but i was blown.
I think SeaBass won, he is super strong right now. I think there are a lot of strong riders right now, lots of different people pulling throughout, which is usually something you find later in the season. And most importantly, it looks like my workouts are doing the trick.
Good times, good times.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
the training race that wasn't
Last night was Opening Night at the Tuesday/Thursday Training Race on River Road.
I was excited to get out and see the old and new faces, catch up on old times, then cause people pain so that they could in turn cause me more pain. You know, my favorite thing to do in life.
It's as though all those hours spent on rollers, trainers, running at night, early in the morning, riding with a headlamp at the mall, swimming, all that crap comes together so that finally, after the DST rolls in, you can ride with your friends again on a crappy dangerous road, max your heartrate out, and get yelled at by the locals. I couldn't wait.
Unfortunately with all the things i had to do yesterday morning, i didn't pack my bike. No biggie i thought, i'll swing by the house and get it before the race. With BR traffic being what it is, that wasn't going to work. So i drove straight home, changed and headed out from the house, figuring i'd catch up with the pack around the first bend. Still time to socialize for a minute or two before all hell breaks loose.
Heading down Bluebonnet on my Easton's, i felt very fast. I guess b/c i've been riding most of the time on 700x28's capable of rolling over anything. I knew this would be a great day. I turned right on Nicholson, hugged the shoulder for dear life and was forced into some mud clomps. No biggie, at least for the first 20 or so, then blammo slammo. My rear tire blows out big time. The kind of blow-out that makes you wish you had brought your cell phone.
No biggie, i stop, inspect the tire and see a small slit in the sidewall.
No biggie, i'll find some discarded paper cup and patch that bad boy up.
Unfortunately, i must have found the only 100 feet of Nicholson with NO LITTER ON IT.
The best i could do was some cellophane potato chip bag, so i fold the thing 20 times, stuff it under the slit and hit the CO2.
Here's where the problem comes in, i'm thinking, if my sidewall doesn't bulge i'm gold. But it bulges so much i can nearly read the lettering on the cellophane.
So, on a wing and a prayer, i limped back home and got in 25 minutes on the day.
No biggie, i guess i needed the easy day.
There will be many other Tuesdays.
I was excited to get out and see the old and new faces, catch up on old times, then cause people pain so that they could in turn cause me more pain. You know, my favorite thing to do in life.
It's as though all those hours spent on rollers, trainers, running at night, early in the morning, riding with a headlamp at the mall, swimming, all that crap comes together so that finally, after the DST rolls in, you can ride with your friends again on a crappy dangerous road, max your heartrate out, and get yelled at by the locals. I couldn't wait.
Unfortunately with all the things i had to do yesterday morning, i didn't pack my bike. No biggie i thought, i'll swing by the house and get it before the race. With BR traffic being what it is, that wasn't going to work. So i drove straight home, changed and headed out from the house, figuring i'd catch up with the pack around the first bend. Still time to socialize for a minute or two before all hell breaks loose.
Heading down Bluebonnet on my Easton's, i felt very fast. I guess b/c i've been riding most of the time on 700x28's capable of rolling over anything. I knew this would be a great day. I turned right on Nicholson, hugged the shoulder for dear life and was forced into some mud clomps. No biggie, at least for the first 20 or so, then blammo slammo. My rear tire blows out big time. The kind of blow-out that makes you wish you had brought your cell phone.
No biggie, i stop, inspect the tire and see a small slit in the sidewall.
No biggie, i'll find some discarded paper cup and patch that bad boy up.
Unfortunately, i must have found the only 100 feet of Nicholson with NO LITTER ON IT.
The best i could do was some cellophane potato chip bag, so i fold the thing 20 times, stuff it under the slit and hit the CO2.
Here's where the problem comes in, i'm thinking, if my sidewall doesn't bulge i'm gold. But it bulges so much i can nearly read the lettering on the cellophane.
So, on a wing and a prayer, i limped back home and got in 25 minutes on the day.
No biggie, i guess i needed the easy day.
There will be many other Tuesdays.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Holy Sir Squirrel-a-lot
The Tivo picked up the Tour of Qatar on OLN last night. Stage 1 was cool, a TTT with no aero equipment. Did anyone see the sprint at the end of stage 2? Not Good. Graeme Brown went all "Mike W. on Joey D. at the B&B" and got relegated.
Another observation, why does this race happen? I'm guessing some single sheik pays for the whole thing with his discretionary income, because i've seen more spectators at Cat 5 road races. There is nobody out there watching this race.
Another observation, why does this race happen? I'm guessing some single sheik pays for the whole thing with his discretionary income, because i've seen more spectators at Cat 5 road races. There is nobody out there watching this race.
Are you not entertained?
Estimated Average Speeds from Last Windy Weekend
1. Herring Bain 28.1 mph
2. Smurf Corcorans 27.1
3. Fried Chicken R Us 26.3
4. Herring Bo 26.2
5. MidSouth Jay 25.9
I impressed me, which is hard to do.
I also threw up a lot, but that's to be expected.
1. Herring Bain 28.1 mph
2. Smurf Corcorans 27.1
3. Fried Chicken R Us 26.3
4. Herring Bo 26.2
5. MidSouth Jay 25.9
I impressed me, which is hard to do.
I also threw up a lot, but that's to be expected.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Three Man
Nope, it's not a throwback to my favorite college drinking game, the kind you play to lose. No, that was the theme for this morning's LAMBRA road opener, the Raising Cane's Three Man Team Time Trial.
Yesterday's weather was perfect, today's was not exactly as good. Windy and cold, not Yankee cold, or Rocky Mountain cold but cold none the less.
How cold? Well i met Norm and the rest of the crew at 7:00 to set up registration. Sitting in the shade, registering teams for 2 hours left me a shivering mess, even with blue jeans and a sweat shirt pulled over my duds with full warmers on. The same thing happened last year, you would think i'd learn.
Once reg was done, we learned we had about 20 minutes to get ready, warm up and race. Just like last year. So off we went. A quick spin on the trainer, then a few adjustments to the bike, and we were ready to go.
On the start line we took the opportunity to catch up with old friends and taunt the Peake boys for their new threads which are seemingly Gerolsteiner-inspired. We would learn later that questioning a team's sexuality minutes before they start 60 seconds after you isn't a good plan. In other words, we saw those baby blue shirts again about 10 miles down the road.
But i digress, i rode with Norm and Brandon, the last time we rode together was the day i dinged the Orbea after touching wheels with Brandon, so i was anxious to stay perpendicular to the road as much as possible. Looking down the road from the line, you could see the weeds in the field laying down away from us, big tailwind. Norm took the first pull, i thought this might mean an easy transition into tt mode. But instead he took us right to 32 and left it there for nearly three minutes. From there we probably hit a dozen different headwind/crosswind combinations doing 24-28 before the end of the lap, right where the Peake guys passed us.
Back in the tailwind, Brandon dropped off, so the last lap was just me and Norm. I thought we'd slow down a lot, but instead we just upped the suffering/barfing and finished up.
We got 2nd in the 1/2, which means i get 0 LAMBRA points. This whole point thing made a lot more sense when we scored 1/2/3 all together. Instead i keep getting donuts in ttt events. I don't think there were enough 1/2 or 3 teams to even merit points, so maybe they should be together.
Just to put some perspective on Herring's winning ride. In the last kilometer, Norm and i gutted out a 28 mph finish. Frank told me that he, Bain and Realdo were all together until then and Bain kicked it up to 38 and Realdo dropped off. 38? after 21 miles at tt pace? Good God
My bad mojo from the last ttt passed to TCF, Stan went down and destroyed his frame and both new aero wheels. I've heard different figures on the cost of this crash, but even the most conservative one makes me cringe big time. Luckily no real injuries on that one, just skin loss and severe wallet hemorrhage. Some ladies went down too, but i didn't hear the final word on their injuries.
Speaking of TCF, i'll go out on a limb right now and say that they will win the LAMBRA Points Competition for 2007. They turned out in droves. I can't tell you the number of TCF's i signed up but it was impressive. The key to winning that competition is having point-scorers in all categories and that they have. Also a big "new jersey" phenomenon going on with new S3, MidSouth and Precision Bike teams showing up in big numbers.
I think the results will probably be up sometime in April or May.
Yesterday's weather was perfect, today's was not exactly as good. Windy and cold, not Yankee cold, or Rocky Mountain cold but cold none the less.
How cold? Well i met Norm and the rest of the crew at 7:00 to set up registration. Sitting in the shade, registering teams for 2 hours left me a shivering mess, even with blue jeans and a sweat shirt pulled over my duds with full warmers on. The same thing happened last year, you would think i'd learn.
Once reg was done, we learned we had about 20 minutes to get ready, warm up and race. Just like last year. So off we went. A quick spin on the trainer, then a few adjustments to the bike, and we were ready to go.
On the start line we took the opportunity to catch up with old friends and taunt the Peake boys for their new threads which are seemingly Gerolsteiner-inspired. We would learn later that questioning a team's sexuality minutes before they start 60 seconds after you isn't a good plan. In other words, we saw those baby blue shirts again about 10 miles down the road.
But i digress, i rode with Norm and Brandon, the last time we rode together was the day i dinged the Orbea after touching wheels with Brandon, so i was anxious to stay perpendicular to the road as much as possible. Looking down the road from the line, you could see the weeds in the field laying down away from us, big tailwind. Norm took the first pull, i thought this might mean an easy transition into tt mode. But instead he took us right to 32 and left it there for nearly three minutes. From there we probably hit a dozen different headwind/crosswind combinations doing 24-28 before the end of the lap, right where the Peake guys passed us.
Back in the tailwind, Brandon dropped off, so the last lap was just me and Norm. I thought we'd slow down a lot, but instead we just upped the suffering/barfing and finished up.
We got 2nd in the 1/2, which means i get 0 LAMBRA points. This whole point thing made a lot more sense when we scored 1/2/3 all together. Instead i keep getting donuts in ttt events. I don't think there were enough 1/2 or 3 teams to even merit points, so maybe they should be together.
Just to put some perspective on Herring's winning ride. In the last kilometer, Norm and i gutted out a 28 mph finish. Frank told me that he, Bain and Realdo were all together until then and Bain kicked it up to 38 and Realdo dropped off. 38? after 21 miles at tt pace? Good God
My bad mojo from the last ttt passed to TCF, Stan went down and destroyed his frame and both new aero wheels. I've heard different figures on the cost of this crash, but even the most conservative one makes me cringe big time. Luckily no real injuries on that one, just skin loss and severe wallet hemorrhage. Some ladies went down too, but i didn't hear the final word on their injuries.
Speaking of TCF, i'll go out on a limb right now and say that they will win the LAMBRA Points Competition for 2007. They turned out in droves. I can't tell you the number of TCF's i signed up but it was impressive. The key to winning that competition is having point-scorers in all categories and that they have. Also a big "new jersey" phenomenon going on with new S3, MidSouth and Precision Bike teams showing up in big numbers.
I think the results will probably be up sometime in April or May.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Wind Trainer Theater
I've been enjoying some great old tapes while working out in the mornings, this past week was the 92 Tour de France. Just awesome. Big Mig wins his 2nd tour with massive tt performances. What really stuck out though was how many previous tour winners animated the race, LeMond, Roche, Delgado, and Fignon all racing hard. Then there's baby-face Zuelle and Virenque who each got the yellow jersey for a day. Chiapucci had to be drinking some fine water to race the way he did throughout it all, his escape to Sestriere was huge. Hampsten won on the Alpe d'Huez, pushing away a little kid who wanted to pour water on his head. It's great stuff.
Nobody's Pretty Baby
That's a phrase my dad has always used, and it's fitting to describe most people in a 2 mile race, myself included. In one of them my eyes appear to be rolling back in my head. What's funny is how they mistook me for Norman in a few shots on the bike, i don't know why, we were only dressed the same with the same dorky helmet.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
Friday, January 26, 2007
SimAquarium 2.0 - The Guppy Strikes Back
Alert to Opera Users, SimAquarium 2.0 is back and this time it might be too complex for it's own good. With the old version, you could allow your fish to swim around mindlessly and breed while earning bucks to buy the higher priced and apparently sterile elite fish. This time it's all about reality, fish breed, but fish also die. To date, my little aquarium has seen nearly 23,000 fatalities, with a near even amount of births. I'll put it this way, guppies ain't shy. Additionally, some fish won't breed unless the tank is clean or dirty, some need additional food added, some need growth hormones and others fertility treatments or medicines. It's odd, but undoubtedly it smells better than a real tank.
Friday, January 19, 2007
my sanford and son side
I'll admit it, when my neighbors stack up large piles of trash, and by large i mean larger than what will fit in our parish-supplied 250 gallon trash can/homeless shelters, i will usually give them a quick glance to make sure they're not tossing out something reusable. There have been times when i've thought of snatching up a discarded 20 inch bmx bike, to build some sort of strange grocery-getter/coffee shop cruiser, but i've never pulled the trigger, that was until a few weeks ago.
Behold the apple of my eye...
Yep, i found this one in front of a house recently sold. I guess the previous owner wanted to move out in a hurry and threw it on the road. Remember the Shogun Kaze? a super tricked out funny bike they sold way back in the day, well this one's not that cool, it's just a set of pipes by comparison, but ... it was free.
I took it home and whipped out the tape measure, 58 c-t, with a 57 top tube. It's not like finding a C-Record Colnago covered in rust or anything, but as a beater, it will more than do.
Immediately i thought about making it a cross bike, so i threw on some old campy tubular wheels that Brian gave me (Relax Taylor, this was merely a concept, they're still yours for the taking) with my old Vittoria Tigre tubulars. All was good on the workstand, but when i aired up the tires the clearance on the front fork was a no-go. So i can either go with a skinnier front tire, or try to find an old hybrid 700c fork with canti bosses if i want to go with these wheels. I'll probably just stick my fatboy training wheels (700x28) on and use her to get to work and back, a rainy day commuter. My cross days are LONG gone (so help me GOD)
Check out that pedigree on the seat tube, Gonzales? That's the land of cycling greats like the Doc, Ward Webb and the Robert clan. I'll have to ride it hard to do them proud.
Behold the apple of my eye...
Yep, i found this one in front of a house recently sold. I guess the previous owner wanted to move out in a hurry and threw it on the road. Remember the Shogun Kaze? a super tricked out funny bike they sold way back in the day, well this one's not that cool, it's just a set of pipes by comparison, but ... it was free.
I took it home and whipped out the tape measure, 58 c-t, with a 57 top tube. It's not like finding a C-Record Colnago covered in rust or anything, but as a beater, it will more than do.
Immediately i thought about making it a cross bike, so i threw on some old campy tubular wheels that Brian gave me (Relax Taylor, this was merely a concept, they're still yours for the taking) with my old Vittoria Tigre tubulars. All was good on the workstand, but when i aired up the tires the clearance on the front fork was a no-go. So i can either go with a skinnier front tire, or try to find an old hybrid 700c fork with canti bosses if i want to go with these wheels. I'll probably just stick my fatboy training wheels (700x28) on and use her to get to work and back, a rainy day commuter. My cross days are LONG gone (so help me GOD)
Check out that pedigree on the seat tube, Gonzales? That's the land of cycling greats like the Doc, Ward Webb and the Robert clan. I'll have to ride it hard to do them proud.
mucho chagrin
It was with that, that i learned the fate of my precious letter to the editors of Esquire regarding Scarlett Johansson. I guess the accusation regarding Tiger Beat was too much, but it still makes me grin.
Natalie Portman said to listen to the Shins and it will "change your life". I love Natalie, so of course she was right. The Shins changed my life in this way:
I WILL NEVER LISTEN TO THE SHINS AGAIN.
These guys played on SNL this past weekend. To match the charisma coming out of their show, a person usually has to travel somewhere like the waiting area at Jiffy Lube. Dull and dying, they cranked out their first tune. They tried to save face by doing New Slang second, but it hobbled in much the same way. Ouch, not good.
I finally found some better music in the form of Modern Times by Bob Dylan. This was the soundtrack of my weekend in Manresa and it's really great. Rockin at times, in a French-Settlement-roadside-honky-tonk-kind-of-way. At other times straight out depressing, but all in good fun. The good kind of down. A word of warning, this album doesn't shuffle well with others. At times it got in with other recent purchases like Snoop Dogg, Journey and Gnarls Barkley (what can i say) and the result was not favorable.
Natalie Portman said to listen to the Shins and it will "change your life". I love Natalie, so of course she was right. The Shins changed my life in this way:
I WILL NEVER LISTEN TO THE SHINS AGAIN.
These guys played on SNL this past weekend. To match the charisma coming out of their show, a person usually has to travel somewhere like the waiting area at Jiffy Lube. Dull and dying, they cranked out their first tune. They tried to save face by doing New Slang second, but it hobbled in much the same way. Ouch, not good.
I finally found some better music in the form of Modern Times by Bob Dylan. This was the soundtrack of my weekend in Manresa and it's really great. Rockin at times, in a French-Settlement-roadside-honky-tonk-kind-of-way. At other times straight out depressing, but all in good fun. The good kind of down. A word of warning, this album doesn't shuffle well with others. At times it got in with other recent purchases like Snoop Dogg, Journey and Gnarls Barkley (what can i say) and the result was not favorable.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
back in the blog saddle with good news
First blog entry of 2007!
Yes, it's been a while, but well worth the wait.
Here's the official announcement, we are very excited to announce that we are expecting Baby#2!
Baby to be named later will arrive some time around August 7th.
More on this story as it develops!
Yes, it's been a while, but well worth the wait.
Here's the official announcement, we are very excited to announce that we are expecting Baby#2!
Baby to be named later will arrive some time around August 7th.
More on this story as it develops!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Quality Viewing, White Elephant and Stuff
Doing a lot lately, but none of it is blogging. I'm about 2 months behind on updating Ryan's page, hopefully i can remedy this soon.
The Tivo really went through a dry spell for a while, scarcely getting anything worth watching but it broke out with a vengeance last week. Items of note include:
30 Rock is the funniest show on television. Granted, we've been missing the Office this season due to scheduling conflicts with Survivor, so as far as i know, it is the funniest. Last week was so damned funny, with Alec Baldwin evidently having a trist with Condy Rice.
Everest got interesting as two of the expedition's climbers went HAC (high altitude crazy) and continued climbing against Brice's orders. No one could turn them back, total morons. Little did i know that the show earned such high praise from MountEverest.Net.
SNL was hosted by Justin Timberlake. While i'm not a big fan of the modern day JT, i must say these made me laugh a whole bunch: Barry Gibb Talk Show, Dick in a Box, Target and finally Homelessville. Thanks for Youtube for being all OVER that episode, geez.
We also caught Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by the King of Smug, George Clooney. This movie was tough to look away from, tough to believe, but very cool, i'm still thinking about it.
Yesterday was our office White Elephant, i think my gift earned the title for Most Traded. I tried in desperation to get it back, but alas ended up with a two prong key rack emblazoned with the word "BISTRO". I'm not sure what the !@#$% that was about. I do take a certain pride though in bringing a highly traded item. Last year, i brought a 4-pack of Guinness with a box of dominoes. It bounced around a lot.
My funniest all time contribution though was once when i brought a Cindy Crawford swimsuit calendar to Gaynor's White Elephant and nearly everyone stole it, because they knew they'd be able to pick again later, when someone else stole it. The highlight of the night was when my grandmother stole it. I wish i'd had a camera.
This interview with Sager did make me laugh a lot.
The HID is illin, but still under warranty. With such power comes evidently great frailty in the bulb structure. I hope to receive it back from NiteRider soon, i only used it maybe a half dozen times.
Get a load of the chocked full LAMBRA calendar for next year, that's a lot of racing.
And finally, under the O yeah, he's white and nerdy category, if anybody is still looking for a Christmas gift for me, check this out. Of course i'm joking.
The Tivo really went through a dry spell for a while, scarcely getting anything worth watching but it broke out with a vengeance last week. Items of note include:
30 Rock is the funniest show on television. Granted, we've been missing the Office this season due to scheduling conflicts with Survivor, so as far as i know, it is the funniest. Last week was so damned funny, with Alec Baldwin evidently having a trist with Condy Rice.
Everest got interesting as two of the expedition's climbers went HAC (high altitude crazy) and continued climbing against Brice's orders. No one could turn them back, total morons. Little did i know that the show earned such high praise from MountEverest.Net.
SNL was hosted by Justin Timberlake. While i'm not a big fan of the modern day JT, i must say these made me laugh a whole bunch: Barry Gibb Talk Show, Dick in a Box, Target and finally Homelessville. Thanks for Youtube for being all OVER that episode, geez.
We also caught Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by the King of Smug, George Clooney. This movie was tough to look away from, tough to believe, but very cool, i'm still thinking about it.
Yesterday was our office White Elephant, i think my gift earned the title for Most Traded. I tried in desperation to get it back, but alas ended up with a two prong key rack emblazoned with the word "BISTRO". I'm not sure what the !@#$% that was about. I do take a certain pride though in bringing a highly traded item. Last year, i brought a 4-pack of Guinness with a box of dominoes. It bounced around a lot.
My funniest all time contribution though was once when i brought a Cindy Crawford swimsuit calendar to Gaynor's White Elephant and nearly everyone stole it, because they knew they'd be able to pick again later, when someone else stole it. The highlight of the night was when my grandmother stole it. I wish i'd had a camera.
This interview with Sager did make me laugh a lot.
The HID is illin, but still under warranty. With such power comes evidently great frailty in the bulb structure. I hope to receive it back from NiteRider soon, i only used it maybe a half dozen times.
Get a load of the chocked full LAMBRA calendar for next year, that's a lot of racing.
And finally, under the O yeah, he's white and nerdy category, if anybody is still looking for a Christmas gift for me, check this out. Of course i'm joking.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
cricket vid et al
Haven't had time to blog much as of late, but here are the bullets...
The half-marathon photos came out, here's various photos of me, Charles looking smooth, and the lead pack we kept in sight led by Joe "The Legend" Lee.
Enjoyed a nice group ride Saturday after the Delta Racing IHOP meeting. The 1:00 ride out of Walgreens is becoming pretty popular, maybe 15-20 riders made it this week. It was very nice, double paceline 20-23 conversational pace. The number of words per conversation varied inversely to where you were in the range of 19-23, if you catch my drift.
19 = "What a beautiful day, don't you love cool weather?"
21 = "you been riding much?"
23 = "Tough wind"
and so on
Dr. Wolshon, Keith and I exchanged youtube cycling video finds.
The best of these is the Bettini footage from this year's Giro di Lombardia. This is the emotional win Bettini got a couple of weeks after learning of his brother's death in a car accident. His mad descending skills are incredible to watch as he curls around a guardrail, then takes it all the way to the wall. Check it out, very cool.
Keith was rapping about the 89 World's footage he found, which is awesome to watch. I remember reading about it back in college, but had never seen the video. Fignon, LeMond, Kelly, Konyshev, Bauer; they're all there mixing it up. Well Bauer exits quickly with a flat, but it's still fun to watch.
Yesterday i managed to get in a little under two hours on the bike, i would have gotten more but didn't get out the door as early as i wanted. I headed out to River Road about 6:15 or so, did about an hour of riding there before heading towards work. Saw Taylor A. on the way back in.
The sunrise was nice, and then, as if on queue in a fabricated Marty Stouffer PBS moment, a hawk landed on a fencepost very near the road and began chowing down on his morning breakfast mouse. Not a bad way to start the day.
I was supremely mellow until i turned onto the Interstate, err i mean Bluebonnet, where 55 seems to be the rule. Can't wait for the casino to come so these drivers will be more "lubricated" if you catch my drift.
The half-marathon photos came out, here's various photos of me, Charles looking smooth, and the lead pack we kept in sight led by Joe "The Legend" Lee.
Enjoyed a nice group ride Saturday after the Delta Racing IHOP meeting. The 1:00 ride out of Walgreens is becoming pretty popular, maybe 15-20 riders made it this week. It was very nice, double paceline 20-23 conversational pace. The number of words per conversation varied inversely to where you were in the range of 19-23, if you catch my drift.
19 = "What a beautiful day, don't you love cool weather?"
21 = "you been riding much?"
23 = "Tough wind"
and so on
Dr. Wolshon, Keith and I exchanged youtube cycling video finds.
The best of these is the Bettini footage from this year's Giro di Lombardia. This is the emotional win Bettini got a couple of weeks after learning of his brother's death in a car accident. His mad descending skills are incredible to watch as he curls around a guardrail, then takes it all the way to the wall. Check it out, very cool.
Keith was rapping about the 89 World's footage he found, which is awesome to watch. I remember reading about it back in college, but had never seen the video. Fignon, LeMond, Kelly, Konyshev, Bauer; they're all there mixing it up. Well Bauer exits quickly with a flat, but it's still fun to watch.
Yesterday i managed to get in a little under two hours on the bike, i would have gotten more but didn't get out the door as early as i wanted. I headed out to River Road about 6:15 or so, did about an hour of riding there before heading towards work. Saw Taylor A. on the way back in.
The sunrise was nice, and then, as if on queue in a fabricated Marty Stouffer PBS moment, a hawk landed on a fencepost very near the road and began chowing down on his morning breakfast mouse. Not a bad way to start the day.
I was supremely mellow until i turned onto the Interstate, err i mean Bluebonnet, where 55 seems to be the rule. Can't wait for the casino to come so these drivers will be more "lubricated" if you catch my drift.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Monday, December 04, 2006
booyakasha!
It's in the books, not exactly the plan i had in mind, but the result was more than i expected.
I went to bed Friday night a little intimidated by the weather prediction which was in the mid to high 20's depending upon where you looked. When i woke up Saturday morning i was relieved to see that it was a toasty 35!
I probably ran about a mile to warm up and all was good. Charles had good advice, "Don't get on the front, those guys are going to go off too fast", so i didn't but i still went off fast. All i thought was "easy, take it easy" and mile 1 came in 6:52, for the next mile i thought "relax, coast, relax" and mile 2 was 6:50.
At this point, Joe Lee blew by me and i continued to try to chill, but the weather, the race, etc. kept me under 7 for mile three. Right about then Charles caught up to me and we started running side by side. Mile 4 must be long, i'm guessing it's long and 5 is short, just looking at my times.
From that point on, Charles and i ran together consistently knocking down miles and slowly bringing back a few runners from the lead group ahead of us.
In the last few miles, it seemed like we'd be way under 1:30 but it was not to be. Maybe the last tenth is long? 52 seconds seems pokey (52x10 = 520/60 = 8 min + mile?) It didn't matter, in the end, i got 9th overall and 4th in my age group, with 1:30.18 way more than i thought i'd do.
The weather was really perfect for the race, i didn't take a drink until mile 10, and i never touched my gu. I was jealous of Charles' drink belt, i know he got more out of his little bottles than i did from a paper cup.
Thanks go out to Jenni who made us scientifically pick this course apart over the last few months and to Charles who was great to run with.
Also thanks to my wife who is awesome! and it's a chocolate chip cookie too for God's sake.
Let's do the numbers:
6:52
6:50
6:57
7:06
6:46
6:57
6:56
6:53
6:47
6:48
6:49
6:55
6:43
:52
1:30:18
Official results are here.
I went to bed Friday night a little intimidated by the weather prediction which was in the mid to high 20's depending upon where you looked. When i woke up Saturday morning i was relieved to see that it was a toasty 35!
I probably ran about a mile to warm up and all was good. Charles had good advice, "Don't get on the front, those guys are going to go off too fast", so i didn't but i still went off fast. All i thought was "easy, take it easy" and mile 1 came in 6:52, for the next mile i thought "relax, coast, relax" and mile 2 was 6:50.
At this point, Joe Lee blew by me and i continued to try to chill, but the weather, the race, etc. kept me under 7 for mile three. Right about then Charles caught up to me and we started running side by side. Mile 4 must be long, i'm guessing it's long and 5 is short, just looking at my times.
From that point on, Charles and i ran together consistently knocking down miles and slowly bringing back a few runners from the lead group ahead of us.
In the last few miles, it seemed like we'd be way under 1:30 but it was not to be. Maybe the last tenth is long? 52 seconds seems pokey (52x10 = 520/60 = 8 min + mile?) It didn't matter, in the end, i got 9th overall and 4th in my age group, with 1:30.18 way more than i thought i'd do.
The weather was really perfect for the race, i didn't take a drink until mile 10, and i never touched my gu. I was jealous of Charles' drink belt, i know he got more out of his little bottles than i did from a paper cup.
Thanks go out to Jenni who made us scientifically pick this course apart over the last few months and to Charles who was great to run with.
Also thanks to my wife who is awesome! and it's a chocolate chip cookie too for God's sake.
Let's do the numbers:
6:52
6:50
6:57
7:06
6:46
6:57
6:56
6:53
6:47
6:48
6:49
6:55
6:43
:52
1:30:18
Official results are here.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Steph on Around Town TV Show
Here's the clip of Steph promoting the Stomp Out MS event on TV last weekend. I thought she did a great job, super smooth...
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
If you're into Fantasy Football
Joseph Addai made Week 12 possible, you can imagine my frustration when Rivers threw to Ladanian who then threw the TD pass, THANKS I needed that.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
HID is a friend to ME
Tonight was my first ride home in the dark with the NiteRider Enduro HID headlight.
To describe it in one word ... UNBELIEVABLE.
The only other light i've ever used was a small Cateye that didn't do anything.
This thing lights up the road like you're a car.
Everything you look at gets lit up, the road, speed limit signs, street signs, cars, houses, anything.
A car passed me closely on the parkway, so i turned to look at them and completely illuminated the four passengers inside.
Instantly you are seen by every vehicle on the road. I had my blinkie red and white lights on the bike but i'm not sure that anyone can see them because of this enormous beacon on my helmet. I might give up riding in the day just to ride at night.
Yes, it's a pricey purchase, but it's worth it if you're going to ride at night. There's no question you are seen.
Speaking of seen, in our ongoing evolutionary fascination of reality shows, my new favs are Miami Ink and this Everest one. There's just something about permanently dyeing your skin or getting your toes cut off that just sets me up right for the next workday. You know what i mean?
To describe it in one word ... UNBELIEVABLE.
The only other light i've ever used was a small Cateye that didn't do anything.
This thing lights up the road like you're a car.
Everything you look at gets lit up, the road, speed limit signs, street signs, cars, houses, anything.
A car passed me closely on the parkway, so i turned to look at them and completely illuminated the four passengers inside.
Instantly you are seen by every vehicle on the road. I had my blinkie red and white lights on the bike but i'm not sure that anyone can see them because of this enormous beacon on my helmet. I might give up riding in the day just to ride at night.
Yes, it's a pricey purchase, but it's worth it if you're going to ride at night. There's no question you are seen.
Speaking of seen, in our ongoing evolutionary fascination of reality shows, my new favs are Miami Ink and this Everest one. There's just something about permanently dyeing your skin or getting your toes cut off that just sets me up right for the next workday. You know what i mean?
Stomp Out MS with Marcia Ball
If you don't have plans for December 8th, you should check out the Marcia Ball concert, benefiting the Stomp Out MS Foundation. My sister Steph was diagnosed with MS, and she's worked hard to make this show a great night. The Reilly Theatre is a nice venue so there's no such thing as a bad seat. Marcia puts on a cool show, and your donation benefits MS research and support services locally. Check it out, i'll be there.
just stuff
Dr. Frusha sent me this bit of information which i knew instinctively, but it's always great when science confirms one of my favorite post-ride pasttimes.
Did Kramer get some bad drugs or something? What the hell was he going for with this? That was just ugly, and his apology sounds lame too. Dave tries to help him out his hole, but he dug it way too deep, not even Jerry could smooth things out.
This morning was cold, 39 degrees at the house, but i rode in wearing my new cycling jacket and it was awesome. I've never been so warm.
Inside of two weeks now for the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon. We're doing a much more active form of taper than i'm used to. My previous definition of tapering was to reduce mileage and intensity approaching an event. Jenny has us reducing mileage but she replaces it with intensity, she forwarded an article to us from Running Research News, which recommends shorter faster workouts in the two weeks approaching your race.
Saturday, we did 10 miles, which included 3 miles at race-pace, then a jog to Catholic High, then 2 miles on the track with 220 pick-ups on each lap, then a jog back to the 5K course, for one mile faster than race-pace. Yesterday was another track-like workout that i ended up doing on the road at lunch. I'm psyched to see how the race goes with this prep.
There was plenty of interesting conversation here about blue jeans. I know i'd never considered it before, but it explains a lot.
Did Kramer get some bad drugs or something? What the hell was he going for with this? That was just ugly, and his apology sounds lame too. Dave tries to help him out his hole, but he dug it way too deep, not even Jerry could smooth things out.
This morning was cold, 39 degrees at the house, but i rode in wearing my new cycling jacket and it was awesome. I've never been so warm.
Inside of two weeks now for the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon. We're doing a much more active form of taper than i'm used to. My previous definition of tapering was to reduce mileage and intensity approaching an event. Jenny has us reducing mileage but she replaces it with intensity, she forwarded an article to us from Running Research News, which recommends shorter faster workouts in the two weeks approaching your race.
Saturday, we did 10 miles, which included 3 miles at race-pace, then a jog to Catholic High, then 2 miles on the track with 220 pick-ups on each lap, then a jog back to the 5K course, for one mile faster than race-pace. Yesterday was another track-like workout that i ended up doing on the road at lunch. I'm psyched to see how the race goes with this prep.
There was plenty of interesting conversation here about blue jeans. I know i'd never considered it before, but it explains a lot.
Monday, November 13, 2006
what swimming is like to me
Hello, my name is Nuni.
Oh, hi Noonie!
No, my name is Nuni.
Nounie?
No, Nuni.
Noooni?
No, Nuni.
Noeni?
No, that is my wife's name, i am Nuni.
Ninny?
No, Nuni.
...
...
lap after lap
Oh, hi Noonie!
No, my name is Nuni.
Nounie?
No, Nuni.
Noooni?
No, Nuni.
Noeni?
No, that is my wife's name, i am Nuni.
Ninny?
No, Nuni.
...
...
lap after lap
Sunday, November 12, 2006
rectal hernia
This post was originally called The Power of Urban Legend, but i didn't think it would sell as well.
So i'm cooking supper tonight, actually just heating since The Supper Studio entered our lives, THANK GOD, and the phone rings. It's Caroline, and she's laughing hard,
"Dude, we were just watching Rocky III and Mr. T was doing these pull-ups and he sounded like he was having a hernia, and i told Roper that some dude did that once at a gym where i was, and he blew out his butt, and Roper said you told him that happened to you once in a track race because you pushed so hard."
Um, no. No, that never happened to me, if it had, i would have remembered it. If that had happened at a race i'd been at, i'd remember it. If it had ever happened to anyone that i'd ever heard of ever, i'd have remembered it. So if nothing else, we laughed our asses off (no pun intended).
Another classic bit of me in urban legend came to mind, this time with complete strangers. Antique cycling flashback begins here...
Back in 96, i returned to Jackson, MS to race the Tour LeFleur Crit. This was a year after attempting to knock down a traffic sign with my face and causing more than a little damage to myself. I was warming up on the course before my race and i stopped at a corner to adjust something on my bike and that's when i overheard two ladies talking.
Lady 1: "Girl, they are ridin them bikes some fast"
Lady 2: "You know last year, one of em hit a street sign and died!"
Lady 1: "That's a damned shame"
If it adds to the collective lore of the sport, then i'm honored, in the mean time it still makes me laugh hard.
So i'm cooking supper tonight, actually just heating since The Supper Studio entered our lives, THANK GOD, and the phone rings. It's Caroline, and she's laughing hard,
"Dude, we were just watching Rocky III and Mr. T was doing these pull-ups and he sounded like he was having a hernia, and i told Roper that some dude did that once at a gym where i was, and he blew out his butt, and Roper said you told him that happened to you once in a track race because you pushed so hard."
Um, no. No, that never happened to me, if it had, i would have remembered it. If that had happened at a race i'd been at, i'd remember it. If it had ever happened to anyone that i'd ever heard of ever, i'd have remembered it. So if nothing else, we laughed our asses off (no pun intended).
Another classic bit of me in urban legend came to mind, this time with complete strangers. Antique cycling flashback begins here...
Back in 96, i returned to Jackson, MS to race the Tour LeFleur Crit. This was a year after attempting to knock down a traffic sign with my face and causing more than a little damage to myself. I was warming up on the course before my race and i stopped at a corner to adjust something on my bike and that's when i overheard two ladies talking.
Lady 1: "Girl, they are ridin them bikes some fast"
Lady 2: "You know last year, one of em hit a street sign and died!"
Lady 1: "That's a damned shame"
If it adds to the collective lore of the sport, then i'm honored, in the mean time it still makes me laugh hard.
Deer O'Lantern
In case you haven't heard, this deer was successfully tranquilized and the Jack O Lantern was removed from it's head earlier today. Researchers were surprised to find an Easter Egg stuck in it's left ear, Mardi Gras beads wedged in the animal's hooves and a small statuette of Santa Claus lodged in the deer's ass. All of these findings are lending great credence to the biologist's theory that if there is one thing deer hate more than humans, it's human holidays.
Ryan and Dad's Excellent Adventure
Saturday morning was meant to be a dress rehearsal for the Baton Rouge Beach Half Marathon. I woke up to a very chilly 60 degrees, i don't mean that 60 is chilly, i mean that it felt like 45, something about the humidity that morning was just plain cold seeming. Not one to slack, Ryan was up like a champ and after donning some cold weather duds, including one ski cap, fleece, layers, etc. was ready to go. I stuck him in the BOB and wrapped him up with a blanket and off we went.
Right after we started, i realized that the course isn't exactly jogging stroller friendly. It involves hopping more than a couple of traffic islands, crossing some major thoroughfares and the climb of the day, the Perkins Road overpass, which can be terrifying when you are just running by yourself. We took a bit of a shortcut on Nicholson, taking the LSU side to skip an island hop. Then ran with Scott all the way up to the tennis courts. Ryan fell asleep somewhere in this section even though we had a few malfunctions with the BOB's adjusting frontwheel. That took some looking into, and i finally returned it to it's fixed position.
The next section of the run was through the Garden District then back by my old stomping grounds on Parker Street. At the turn on to Perkins Road, Ryan and i kept on Eugene and doubled back to the Lakes. This adjustment ended up only adding a half mile to our course.
Ryan woke up with about a mile to go and started some singing. We hit the finish in 1:49.02 which included stopping to feed and the various bits of stroller malfunction, approximately 8:04 miles. I'm thinking race day, without the baby stroller, the addition of a full arm-swing, and in full-on race mode sub-1:40 will be no problem. My goal of 1:35 is doable, it's going to be fun.
Right after we started, i realized that the course isn't exactly jogging stroller friendly. It involves hopping more than a couple of traffic islands, crossing some major thoroughfares and the climb of the day, the Perkins Road overpass, which can be terrifying when you are just running by yourself. We took a bit of a shortcut on Nicholson, taking the LSU side to skip an island hop. Then ran with Scott all the way up to the tennis courts. Ryan fell asleep somewhere in this section even though we had a few malfunctions with the BOB's adjusting frontwheel. That took some looking into, and i finally returned it to it's fixed position.
The next section of the run was through the Garden District then back by my old stomping grounds on Parker Street. At the turn on to Perkins Road, Ryan and i kept on Eugene and doubled back to the Lakes. This adjustment ended up only adding a half mile to our course.
Ryan woke up with about a mile to go and started some singing. We hit the finish in 1:49.02 which included stopping to feed and the various bits of stroller malfunction, approximately 8:04 miles. I'm thinking race day, without the baby stroller, the addition of a full arm-swing, and in full-on race mode sub-1:40 will be no problem. My goal of 1:35 is doable, it's going to be fun.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
... and we have a winner
The best predictor of Lance's NYC time was none other than Eric, so eternal or temporary UCC fame is his.
Lance A. ticked off 2:59:36
Eric 2:58:11
Lance M. <2:55
Me 2:53:21
Jeff 2:47:07
Remarkably and much to Bob Barker's chagrin, no one overbid.
womp womp womp
The limited tv coverage looked great, the two Kenyans hunting down the Brazilian but it was not to be for them. I thought Lance looked good solid through to the end, considering they asked him about returning right after crossing the line, i would think he enjoyed himself.
"Now's not the time to ask that question. The answer now is no, I'll never be back. But I reserve the right to change my mind".
My favorite image was the guy who finished right before Lance, he hoisted his arms like he'd won the thing. Either it was his life's accomplishment to beat Lance in a race or break 3 hours, or maybe do both.
Lance A. ticked off 2:59:36
Eric 2:58:11
Lance M. <2:55
Me 2:53:21
Jeff 2:47:07
Remarkably and much to Bob Barker's chagrin, no one overbid.
womp womp womp
The limited tv coverage looked great, the two Kenyans hunting down the Brazilian but it was not to be for them. I thought Lance looked good solid through to the end, considering they asked him about returning right after crossing the line, i would think he enjoyed himself.
"Now's not the time to ask that question. The answer now is no, I'll never be back. But I reserve the right to change my mind".
My favorite image was the guy who finished right before Lance, he hoisted his arms like he'd won the thing. Either it was his life's accomplishment to beat Lance in a race or break 3 hours, or maybe do both.
and so it is
The paperwork is done, money has changed hands and somewhere in California, my name has been written down next to a number.
After much debate over the I word. I've signed up for the "Half I" that is Vineman. I'm not at liberty to discuss the other participants signed up for the suffer-fest, as their respective press agents may have elaborate plans for each of them. But do know this, i will win Vineman*. If you don't have any plans for the end of next July, consider it.
* Winning is defined as exiting the water under my own power.
Monday, October 30, 2006
For your viewing pleasure
With this you can do this.
Powerpoint in the final briefing, i have a tough time getting tired of it.
If the sound on this one doesn't sync up perfectly, hit reload.
Powerpoint in the final briefing, i have a tough time getting tired of it.
If the sound on this one doesn't sync up perfectly, hit reload.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Pablo Picasso never ran a Yasso
Yasso 800's, there seem to be as many believers as doubters in this particular workout.
We did our second night of these last night on the Fat Boy 5K course which was fun. These are modified Yasso's for the half marathon, so we only do 6. You take your desired half marathon time, double it, and that is the pace that you should run your half mile in. In our case, 1:35 x 2 = 3:10 and there's your target. Of course the company you keep has a profound impact on how these turn out. Last night with Tim, Charles and Scott as my compadres, the pace was swifter than planned.
no 1 - 3:06 rest - 3:02
no 2 - 3:00 rest - 2:59
no 3 - 2:59 rest - 2:51
no 4 - 3:04 rest - 2:57
no 5 - 2:59 rest - 2:59
no 6 - 2:59 cooldown - 15
Don't ask me why our recovery was so whacky, i guess we were chomping at the bit. Three miles gets done in 18:07 with 14:48 of rest in between. I agree that it is a cool workout, only made cooler with a large group of people coming in and departing at separate times.
I think the notion that some sort of mathematical constant exists between your 800 time and your marathon time is intriguing, sort of like America's preoccupation with medical dramas. But I disagree whole-heartedly with the notion that i could ever approach a 3:00 marathon, or a 3:15 or a 3:30 for that matter, so that part doesn't jive with me, but hey, maybe i'm wrong. Maybe if i started sleeping in a hypoxic tent, running 70 a week, yada yada yada...
Congrats to Lance Bo Bance who smoked the Chicago Marathon, while he didn't qualify for Boston, he can take solace in the fact that at least he didn't finish like race winner Robert Cheruiyot. That just looks horrible, but he was released today.
We did our second night of these last night on the Fat Boy 5K course which was fun. These are modified Yasso's for the half marathon, so we only do 6. You take your desired half marathon time, double it, and that is the pace that you should run your half mile in. In our case, 1:35 x 2 = 3:10 and there's your target. Of course the company you keep has a profound impact on how these turn out. Last night with Tim, Charles and Scott as my compadres, the pace was swifter than planned.
no 1 - 3:06 rest - 3:02
no 2 - 3:00 rest - 2:59
no 3 - 2:59 rest - 2:51
no 4 - 3:04 rest - 2:57
no 5 - 2:59 rest - 2:59
no 6 - 2:59 cooldown - 15
Don't ask me why our recovery was so whacky, i guess we were chomping at the bit. Three miles gets done in 18:07 with 14:48 of rest in between. I agree that it is a cool workout, only made cooler with a large group of people coming in and departing at separate times.
I think the notion that some sort of mathematical constant exists between your 800 time and your marathon time is intriguing, sort of like America's preoccupation with medical dramas. But I disagree whole-heartedly with the notion that i could ever approach a 3:00 marathon, or a 3:15 or a 3:30 for that matter, so that part doesn't jive with me, but hey, maybe i'm wrong. Maybe if i started sleeping in a hypoxic tent, running 70 a week, yada yada yada...
Congrats to Lance Bo Bance who smoked the Chicago Marathon, while he didn't qualify for Boston, he can take solace in the fact that at least he didn't finish like race winner Robert Cheruiyot. That just looks horrible, but he was released today.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Good things come to those who wait...
For anyone out there who ever thought of getting an SRM or Powertap but thought both options sucked, the Microtech Revolution might be the answer, only $499! what a bargain
Thursday, October 12, 2006
the run that was
I know running isn't as exciting to read about, but when headlights are showing up on cars at 5:30 in the evening, it's obviously that time of year.
Tonight we enjoyed another light workout in our easy/recovery week. It was a 2 mile out, 2 mile back course around the lake BUT no watches were allowed. Instead, Jenni recorded everyone's best predictions and the runner to come closest to their pace would win a new pair of shoes. Ryan and i huddled up, considered the various sidewalk and bikepath crossings and came up with 32 flat.
The run went well with very few slowdowns and no dropped toys, so we ended up at 30:18, not good. Amy came in within 35 seconds of her prediction which i thought was very good, but not good enough. The winner came in 1 second under her predicted time, i was impressed.
Tonight we enjoyed another light workout in our easy/recovery week. It was a 2 mile out, 2 mile back course around the lake BUT no watches were allowed. Instead, Jenni recorded everyone's best predictions and the runner to come closest to their pace would win a new pair of shoes. Ryan and i huddled up, considered the various sidewalk and bikepath crossings and came up with 32 flat.
The run went well with very few slowdowns and no dropped toys, so we ended up at 30:18, not good. Amy came in within 35 seconds of her prediction which i thought was very good, but not good enough. The winner came in 1 second under her predicted time, i was impressed.
an open letter to esquire magazine
Dear Sirs,
Once again i am confused by your Sexiest Woman Alive feature. In each of the six issues leading up to the November issue revelation, i witnessed an unattractive and unsexy mystery woman in unflattering poses featured in the same magazine as more attractive but less heralded women. Now i am supposed to believe that the newly revealed Scarlett Johansson is the Sexiest Woman Alive (page 136) when a much sexier woman, Emmanuelle Chriqui, is clearly shown on page 149.
This fact would be hard enough to swallow on it's own, but what has caused me the greatest consternation is the uncanny resemblance of Ms. Johansson's centerfold pullout to 70's pin-up star Leif Garrett. Google (image) it and you will be afraid, very afraid as am i.
Please tell me now, has your editorial staff been taken over by late 30-something women caught up in a hazy Tiger Beat induced coma? Keep up the great writing and leave the gimmicks to Maxim.
Sincerely,
David A.
Baton Rouge, LA
Once again i am confused by your Sexiest Woman Alive feature. In each of the six issues leading up to the November issue revelation, i witnessed an unattractive and unsexy mystery woman in unflattering poses featured in the same magazine as more attractive but less heralded women. Now i am supposed to believe that the newly revealed Scarlett Johansson is the Sexiest Woman Alive (page 136) when a much sexier woman, Emmanuelle Chriqui, is clearly shown on page 149.
This fact would be hard enough to swallow on it's own, but what has caused me the greatest consternation is the uncanny resemblance of Ms. Johansson's centerfold pullout to 70's pin-up star Leif Garrett. Google (image) it and you will be afraid, very afraid as am i.
Please tell me now, has your editorial staff been taken over by late 30-something women caught up in a hazy Tiger Beat induced coma? Keep up the great writing and leave the gimmicks to Maxim.
Sincerely,
David A.
Baton Rouge, LA
Oh sweet interbike porn
there's just too much to look at, but my favorites
an affordable Colnago?
dimple-hubbed madness
the new P3 paint job
and what i hope will be my new tt bike
an affordable Colnago?
dimple-hubbed madness
the new P3 paint job
and what i hope will be my new tt bike
Lance at the NYC Marathon
Any takers?
Only 23 days to go and he claims to have not yet run more than 13 miles.
I've got him down for 2:53:21.08, anyone else?
Eternal UCC Glory to the guy who picks the closest.
I think it would be cool if he attacked the Kenyans and ran the first 4 or 5 miles faster than them, but that's probably not possible. It would just be funny to hear the announcers going, that is if they still televised it.
Only 23 days to go and he claims to have not yet run more than 13 miles.
I've got him down for 2:53:21.08, anyone else?
Eternal UCC Glory to the guy who picks the closest.
I think it would be cool if he attacked the Kenyans and ran the first 4 or 5 miles faster than them, but that's probably not possible. It would just be funny to hear the announcers going, that is if they still televised it.
Monday, October 09, 2006
if a bear poops in the woods, does it still stink?
So maybe Opera's simAquarium isn't for everybody, but this is great.
I wielded a $100 lightsaber this weekend at the Halloween Superstore. I mean sure it's cool that it has both power up and power down sounds but $100? I know i'm White and Nerdy but who would buy this? Thanks Taylor, now i can't stop singing that. It took 3 or 4 viewings to make out the PacMan in red lights behind Weird Al.
On the running scene, we did 9 miles Saturday morning with 4 one mile pickups sprinkled throughout for effect. Tonight the plan is 5 easy, but we're also meeting Sam Thompson who's going to talk about his accomplishment, i don't know if he's running with us or not. Wednesday, Dean Karnazes will be passing through town doing his thing and you can run with him if you like for only $100, i'm thinking maybe the lightsaber might be a better deal. Isn't running 26.2 enough? geez
Saturday night we put on a track race and ... 7 people showed up. That took me back, back to the old days. Way back, when i used to race track. I remember once Norm and i did an entire night of racing against Lorenzo. Ever done a 3 person points race? Drama, pure and simple drama.
Well, Saturday night didn't suck, what we lacked in quantity we made up for in quality as Team Chad Harris and Jaro came in from New Orleans, and Butch made the drive from Natchez. Representing Baton Rouge was Tre, the only real track racer in the city, and probably a dozen skateboard punks who just wanted us to get off the track so they could get all Tony Hawk and stuff. I'll have the results up on the Delta site tonight.
Just when you think 80's trivia is occupying your brain for nothing, last night Amy bet me that Steve Perry didn't sing Oh Sherry solo. She thought that he had formed another band after Journey by the name of Extreme (you know More than Words) and they sang it. Talk about bonus, she now owes me a P3 Carbon. How sweet is that!
I wielded a $100 lightsaber this weekend at the Halloween Superstore. I mean sure it's cool that it has both power up and power down sounds but $100? I know i'm White and Nerdy but who would buy this? Thanks Taylor, now i can't stop singing that. It took 3 or 4 viewings to make out the PacMan in red lights behind Weird Al.
On the running scene, we did 9 miles Saturday morning with 4 one mile pickups sprinkled throughout for effect. Tonight the plan is 5 easy, but we're also meeting Sam Thompson who's going to talk about his accomplishment, i don't know if he's running with us or not. Wednesday, Dean Karnazes will be passing through town doing his thing and you can run with him if you like for only $100, i'm thinking maybe the lightsaber might be a better deal. Isn't running 26.2 enough? geez
Saturday night we put on a track race and ... 7 people showed up. That took me back, back to the old days. Way back, when i used to race track. I remember once Norm and i did an entire night of racing against Lorenzo. Ever done a 3 person points race? Drama, pure and simple drama.
Well, Saturday night didn't suck, what we lacked in quantity we made up for in quality as Team Chad Harris and Jaro came in from New Orleans, and Butch made the drive from Natchez. Representing Baton Rouge was Tre, the only real track racer in the city, and probably a dozen skateboard punks who just wanted us to get off the track so they could get all Tony Hawk and stuff. I'll have the results up on the Delta site tonight.
Just when you think 80's trivia is occupying your brain for nothing, last night Amy bet me that Steve Perry didn't sing Oh Sherry solo. She thought that he had formed another band after Journey by the name of Extreme (you know More than Words) and they sang it. Talk about bonus, she now owes me a P3 Carbon. How sweet is that!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
got Opera?
If you browse with Opera, i highly recommend the simAquarium. It's an addictive addition to your desktop. You accrue a dollar per minute, plus your fish breed and can be sold for more cash. I left it open Tuesday night and when i returned the next morning, i had this school of 48 pirahna to greet me.
Dolphins and discus are nice looking, but don't reproduce.
Of course, this one is nice too.
Dolphins and discus are nice looking, but don't reproduce.
Of course, this one is nice too.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
weekend that was
good times, good times
saturday morning's marathon training run was a 10 miler, two miles chillin, two miles at race-pace, one mile chillin, one mile race-pace then 2x1/2 milers scattered over the way home. All the activity, plus running in a group made it go by fast and we got back to the cars in 1:16 which i was pleased with.
Ryan and i spent some quality time at Gymboree which was cool, imagine 2000 square feet of stuff that can't hurt your child, padding, foam, etc all led by your tour guide, perhaps the most well-versed person i've ever met in nursery rhymes.
In what's becoming a habit for us, we hit Our Daily Bread for the lunch special in this case .... Baked Tempeh ... mmmmm.
Sunday we caught Diamond's Du Bayou Du out at Hooper Road, very envious of all the suffering that was going on there. The number of curse words heard while the racers came by attested to the difficulty of the course. Caroline wins with "I'd rather have gum surgery than do this again", well-played.
I put the flyer out for next weekend's track race. The theme being mass start, mass start, mass start.
I noticed that Dash Rip Rock will be playing the Live After Five series on the 13th which should be a blast, i haven't seen them in ages and i was surprised, although i shouldn't be, to see that they actually have a wikipedia entry. Not sure how that particular crowd is going to react to Let's Go Smoke Some Pot or P-Whipped, should be interesting to say the least.
saturday morning's marathon training run was a 10 miler, two miles chillin, two miles at race-pace, one mile chillin, one mile race-pace then 2x1/2 milers scattered over the way home. All the activity, plus running in a group made it go by fast and we got back to the cars in 1:16 which i was pleased with.
Ryan and i spent some quality time at Gymboree which was cool, imagine 2000 square feet of stuff that can't hurt your child, padding, foam, etc all led by your tour guide, perhaps the most well-versed person i've ever met in nursery rhymes.
In what's becoming a habit for us, we hit Our Daily Bread for the lunch special in this case .... Baked Tempeh ... mmmmm.
Sunday we caught Diamond's Du Bayou Du out at Hooper Road, very envious of all the suffering that was going on there. The number of curse words heard while the racers came by attested to the difficulty of the course. Caroline wins with "I'd rather have gum surgery than do this again", well-played.
I put the flyer out for next weekend's track race. The theme being mass start, mass start, mass start.
I noticed that Dash Rip Rock will be playing the Live After Five series on the 13th which should be a blast, i haven't seen them in ages and i was surprised, although i shouldn't be, to see that they actually have a wikipedia entry. Not sure how that particular crowd is going to react to Let's Go Smoke Some Pot or P-Whipped, should be interesting to say the least.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
i am unfrozen caveman runner
Definitely not forever, but for the past week it's been the case. Running workouts become fun when you can't grip a handlebar due to roadrash stigmata. It's not like i'm some kind of weenie but whenever anything comes close to the palm of my hand i break into a bout of turret's syndrome that Chris Jackson would be proud of.
Lots and lots going on, i turned 3 dozen yesterday.
The night before, BeBe had a heart attack and fell in her room. She's doing better now, but she's obviously still very sore. Jose is her doctor in the hospital, which is both awesome and bizarre at the same time. It never fails to trip me out that the Hoch is an M.D. We're walking around OLOL yesterday and i'm all "JOSE!" and everyone else is all "Dr. Mendoza". Enough of that.
Runs. Stuff i never thought i'd do. Saturday was an 8 miler with a mile casual then a 2 mile pickup, then a mile casual. Turn around, do it again. Last night was the ladder down Lakeshore to the lake, slam a mile, jog back, slam a half, jog back, slam a quarter, jog back, each time up the hill. It's a character builder to say the least.
In the wacky world of sports, get a load of these beauties, whoops i mean these beauties. I love the P3 Carbons, they're just so sweet looking with the rearwheel cutout and all. I hope the aerobar mounted brake thing stays in the pro ranks if you catch my drift.
Hats off to Fabian and the Cricket who will now be the rainbow touting cricket. Sounds like Spain's tactic didn't quite work.
Lots and lots going on, i turned 3 dozen yesterday.
The night before, BeBe had a heart attack and fell in her room. She's doing better now, but she's obviously still very sore. Jose is her doctor in the hospital, which is both awesome and bizarre at the same time. It never fails to trip me out that the Hoch is an M.D. We're walking around OLOL yesterday and i'm all "JOSE!" and everyone else is all "Dr. Mendoza". Enough of that.
Runs. Stuff i never thought i'd do. Saturday was an 8 miler with a mile casual then a 2 mile pickup, then a mile casual. Turn around, do it again. Last night was the ladder down Lakeshore to the lake, slam a mile, jog back, slam a half, jog back, slam a quarter, jog back, each time up the hill. It's a character builder to say the least.
In the wacky world of sports, get a load of these beauties, whoops i mean these beauties. I love the P3 Carbons, they're just so sweet looking with the rearwheel cutout and all. I hope the aerobar mounted brake thing stays in the pro ranks if you catch my drift.
Hats off to Fabian and the Cricket who will now be the rainbow touting cricket. Sounds like Spain's tactic didn't quite work.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
ttt crap sandwich
How prophetic was my prediction from last week?
Should be fun and painful.
It was fun, then it was extremely painful.
For some reason, i decided not to wear gloves Saturday morning, this would come back to haunt me. We started well, and because everyone is on the course at once, began to pass teams almost immediately.
The first lap flew by in 23 minutes something. Everybody was looking strong and taking at least one minute pulls, Norm took over twice that long once in the tailwind. We were really flying and the second lap seemed to go easier. Brian appeared to be getting stronger. We passed some more teams which had follow vehicles and that made passing interesting, then a rebellious bunch of tri people swerved into the left lane and made us pass them on the right, more thrills, but the best was yet to come.
With about a mile or so to go in the second lap, we came upon our Cat 4 team. The way that we came up on them, it felt like we were probably going 4 or 5 mph faster than them in the headwind. I couldn't tell our speed there because my trusty cyclocomputer (!@#$%!@#$%!@) went out in the first lap. They were middle of the lane, Norm was on the front and we passed them near the centerline. We let them know we were passing, they heard us. I'm not sure what happened next, stories vary, the major theme being that the Cat 4 team rotated as we passed them and evidently our guys slowed down. I know this last part to be true because i was third wheel and i ran up the back of Brandon, who was second, pronto and before i could do much i was down. While sliding i started wondering if Brian would be able to avoid me but soon he was sliding past me. Race over.
Once i made sure i hadn't broken my collar bone i looked at my bike and it wasn't good. In an effort to stay up, my handle bars had slipped straight down and then been driven into the side of the top tube putting a nice size dent in two places. So Erik Espade is now going to be a wall decoration in my garage. Luckily i didn't hit my head, so the tt helmet survived.
The damage to me was skin loss, the best being a hunk of flesh removed from my knee with a little flap left to cover it, looking like some sort of pathetic epidermis comb-over. Then in no specific order elbow, shoulder, hip, tricep, shin and best for last, the palms of my hands. Thanks to Gloria for cleaning me up after.
I was bummed out, because for once our team was actually very evenly matched and i know we would have had a good time. Brandon said we had "27 high" for an average at that point. Norm was the wisest, "Hey remember the most important thing here, you didn't crash me!"
The crash didn't seem to affect Brian too much who won the Cat 4 road race on Sunday. Since then i've been walking around like Edward frickin Scissorhands unable to grasp most things. NICE.
Oh yeah, and never ever use this liquid bandage crap. Amy put some on my hands and i haven't had a burn that bad since using a stiptic pencil as a teenager. Later i read the instructions and wasn't suprised to see BOTTLED IN MORDOR hidden tactfully on the bottom of the box. DON'T DO IT!
Should be fun and painful.
It was fun, then it was extremely painful.
For some reason, i decided not to wear gloves Saturday morning, this would come back to haunt me. We started well, and because everyone is on the course at once, began to pass teams almost immediately.
The first lap flew by in 23 minutes something. Everybody was looking strong and taking at least one minute pulls, Norm took over twice that long once in the tailwind. We were really flying and the second lap seemed to go easier. Brian appeared to be getting stronger. We passed some more teams which had follow vehicles and that made passing interesting, then a rebellious bunch of tri people swerved into the left lane and made us pass them on the right, more thrills, but the best was yet to come.
With about a mile or so to go in the second lap, we came upon our Cat 4 team. The way that we came up on them, it felt like we were probably going 4 or 5 mph faster than them in the headwind. I couldn't tell our speed there because my trusty cyclocomputer (!@#$%!@#$%!@) went out in the first lap. They were middle of the lane, Norm was on the front and we passed them near the centerline. We let them know we were passing, they heard us. I'm not sure what happened next, stories vary, the major theme being that the Cat 4 team rotated as we passed them and evidently our guys slowed down. I know this last part to be true because i was third wheel and i ran up the back of Brandon, who was second, pronto and before i could do much i was down. While sliding i started wondering if Brian would be able to avoid me but soon he was sliding past me. Race over.
Once i made sure i hadn't broken my collar bone i looked at my bike and it wasn't good. In an effort to stay up, my handle bars had slipped straight down and then been driven into the side of the top tube putting a nice size dent in two places. So Erik Espade is now going to be a wall decoration in my garage. Luckily i didn't hit my head, so the tt helmet survived.
The damage to me was skin loss, the best being a hunk of flesh removed from my knee with a little flap left to cover it, looking like some sort of pathetic epidermis comb-over. Then in no specific order elbow, shoulder, hip, tricep, shin and best for last, the palms of my hands. Thanks to Gloria for cleaning me up after.
I was bummed out, because for once our team was actually very evenly matched and i know we would have had a good time. Brandon said we had "27 high" for an average at that point. Norm was the wisest, "Hey remember the most important thing here, you didn't crash me!"
The crash didn't seem to affect Brian too much who won the Cat 4 road race on Sunday. Since then i've been walking around like Edward frickin Scissorhands unable to grasp most things. NICE.
Oh yeah, and never ever use this liquid bandage crap. Amy put some on my hands and i haven't had a burn that bad since using a stiptic pencil as a teenager. Later i read the instructions and wasn't suprised to see BOTTLED IN MORDOR hidden tactfully on the bottom of the box. DON'T DO IT!
Friday, September 15, 2006
blog blog blog blog blog blog
too much to write about
as if this weren't enough, clearly this is the sign that the end of days is among us for they are surely the front-runners of the four riders of the apocalypse
Get Fuzzy's take on Floyd
i haven't paid so little attention to a stage race in years, but the Vuelta has definitely been hot over the past few days with the Kazakh's rolling and Tommy D. coming correct
Our runs lately with Jenny have been tough, last Saturday was a 6 mile run containing 3 pick up miles within it. I chose the wrong (or maybe the right) partners in Robbie and Sam and they drug me around faster than i've been in a while. We did the first pick up with an uphill finish around 6:55, jogged for maybe 200 meters and hit the second one at 6:35 which hurt. I licked my wounds and got the last one done around 6:50 or so while my partners went 6:30. It hurt.
Sunday, i rode with Brian, Darren, Kristen and Keith down to Bayou Paul road which i'd never been on before. It is super nice, best pavement in town without a doubt, until you reach the gravel section which eventually connects you back to Bluff.
Monday's run was sadistic, 440, 220, 110 repeats on Hillsdale. The last 150 or so are uphill so they seem to just get harder. For an added challenge i pushed the boy, he liked it.
Our ttt squad is set for tomorrow with Norm, Brandon and Brian so it should be fun and painful. I took Erik Espade out last night with the race wheels just to make sure all was well, i rode in the group for a while then picked it up around the ferry. Darren, Steve and Yoni came with, but Darren was just flying. I started it by pulling around 32 or so in the tailwind, but Darren finished it, geez he is flying. I'm glad i'm not on his team!
Packed up the bike while talking to Steve and who should magically appear but the Aussie! Yep, Troy is in town, i guess we'll see him Saturday morning for a little while at least.
as if this weren't enough, clearly this is the sign that the end of days is among us for they are surely the front-runners of the four riders of the apocalypse
Get Fuzzy's take on Floyd
i haven't paid so little attention to a stage race in years, but the Vuelta has definitely been hot over the past few days with the Kazakh's rolling and Tommy D. coming correct
Our runs lately with Jenny have been tough, last Saturday was a 6 mile run containing 3 pick up miles within it. I chose the wrong (or maybe the right) partners in Robbie and Sam and they drug me around faster than i've been in a while. We did the first pick up with an uphill finish around 6:55, jogged for maybe 200 meters and hit the second one at 6:35 which hurt. I licked my wounds and got the last one done around 6:50 or so while my partners went 6:30. It hurt.
Sunday, i rode with Brian, Darren, Kristen and Keith down to Bayou Paul road which i'd never been on before. It is super nice, best pavement in town without a doubt, until you reach the gravel section which eventually connects you back to Bluff.
Monday's run was sadistic, 440, 220, 110 repeats on Hillsdale. The last 150 or so are uphill so they seem to just get harder. For an added challenge i pushed the boy, he liked it.
Our ttt squad is set for tomorrow with Norm, Brandon and Brian so it should be fun and painful. I took Erik Espade out last night with the race wheels just to make sure all was well, i rode in the group for a while then picked it up around the ferry. Darren, Steve and Yoni came with, but Darren was just flying. I started it by pulling around 32 or so in the tailwind, but Darren finished it, geez he is flying. I'm glad i'm not on his team!
Packed up the bike while talking to Steve and who should magically appear but the Aussie! Yep, Troy is in town, i guess we'll see him Saturday morning for a little while at least.
Friday, September 08, 2006
speaking of glitter gleam gloss floss
i hit the ground running like Santana Moss
ok that doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same as Randy,
but he was as good as i could do in our Fantasy Football draft.
i don't really watch the nfl, but i get really addicted to fantasy football. As far as i can tell, my squad The Usual Suspects did pretty well in the draft and on paper appear to be the highest point team based on pre-season numbers, we'll see.
I got Plaxico which is one of my favorite names, as well as Leveranues. With my last pick i did get the Southern University Jaguars Defense, which i'm not too sure about, but who knows.
With no Fantasy Vuelta (sniff, sniff) this is the only game in town.
ok that doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same as Randy,
but he was as good as i could do in our Fantasy Football draft.
i don't really watch the nfl, but i get really addicted to fantasy football. As far as i can tell, my squad The Usual Suspects did pretty well in the draft and on paper appear to be the highest point team based on pre-season numbers, we'll see.
I got Plaxico which is one of my favorite names, as well as Leveranues. With my last pick i did get the Southern University Jaguars Defense, which i'm not too sure about, but who knows.
With no Fantasy Vuelta (sniff, sniff) this is the only game in town.
last night
Caught my first training race in a few weeks. Endless thunder storms, eye maladies, and then the Utah trip all have kept me from the pancake lasso-shaped slice of pain that we do over and over and over again. It was fun, with a light turnout we compressed the A and B groups to make one AB group. Got some more great feedback on the pimped-out Polar from Dr. Brian W W (* more on that later). There was a bit of sir sketchiness going on, enough to make Tom keep the pace high. Then we picked up Darren and Steve and it got very fast at this point.
That's really as good as i can do b/c i was sans-cycling computer, with no tv to watch, i had to use my advanced jedi-hearing to determine our speed, so it was somewhere between 24 and 48 mph +-20 mph. Anyway, after yacking all over myself i had a good time, in the end a few turned off at Gardere, effectively gapping the group and that left Yoni and me in the a small group off the front. Tim D. and i kept the pace high, setting up Yoni with a Fassa B caliber leadout, well maybe not that good but he did win.
* W W comes from the Vuelta riders who have the same name in their names twice, like David Alexander de la Randy Moss Alexander. I think Budweiser could do a Real Men of Genius on that.
That's really as good as i can do b/c i was sans-cycling computer, with no tv to watch, i had to use my advanced jedi-hearing to determine our speed, so it was somewhere between 24 and 48 mph +-20 mph. Anyway, after yacking all over myself i had a good time, in the end a few turned off at Gardere, effectively gapping the group and that left Yoni and me in the a small group off the front. Tim D. and i kept the pace high, setting up Yoni with a Fassa B caliber leadout, well maybe not that good but he did win.
* W W comes from the Vuelta riders who have the same name in their names twice, like David Alexander de la Randy Moss Alexander. I think Budweiser could do a Real Men of Genius on that.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Parrish Place B and B
Some shots from our beloved B&B from last week. Corinne and Jeff were great hosts and we're really missing those baskets on the doorstep, let me tell ya.
frickin cool
Check out these mormon aerobic studs i caught on the tube in SLC. That is one helluva ponytail.
Magical Inscriptions
Some see the Virgin Mary in a nacho chip, others Jimi Hendrix on a hamburger, in my office it's crazy stuff coming out of T-Ham's mouth.
Friday, August 25, 2006
ouch
I know sometimes i bash BR a bit, but after reading this i thought the town deserved a tourniquet, yow!
In other news, Amy, Ryan and I have joined the Varsity Sports marathon training program. Jenny guarantees in three months you'll run your first or just a faster half-marathon. In order to celebrate our embrace of a more formal running training plan, the three of us joined Caroline and ran a willy nilly seven miler Saturday morning. We paid for the rest of the day with the funny walking thing. Tonight we ran over to Kleinert and ran 8x220 in front of BBT's old pad. Definitely the most fun i've ever had doing running speed work.
Amy and i are both getting deeper into the world of tri. It's fitting into our schedules better and it's optimizing the smaller chunks of training time that we're able to eke out lately. That being said i limped through a swim workout today at lunch. I don't think there's a worse swimmer in the world than me. I'm in desperate need of some coaching or maybe just a shrink. Tomorrow was looking pretty exciting as two docs and myself were planning to swim the PBRC lake at lunch but our plan to have a boat to escort us fell through, so i guess it's thrash time in the pool again.
Mucho thanks to JJR who gave me some great advice on this gadget, i think i may go this way which is virtually the same, just minus the altitude. I was heavily swayed by the new Garmin which looks super cool, but i think the Polar will be a better fit for me. No purchase yet, still weighing my options.
Next post will probably be from the Beehive State, we're heading to Utah on Wednesday. PEACE OUT
In other news, Amy, Ryan and I have joined the Varsity Sports marathon training program. Jenny guarantees in three months you'll run your first or just a faster half-marathon. In order to celebrate our embrace of a more formal running training plan, the three of us joined Caroline and ran a willy nilly seven miler Saturday morning. We paid for the rest of the day with the funny walking thing. Tonight we ran over to Kleinert and ran 8x220 in front of BBT's old pad. Definitely the most fun i've ever had doing running speed work.
Amy and i are both getting deeper into the world of tri. It's fitting into our schedules better and it's optimizing the smaller chunks of training time that we're able to eke out lately. That being said i limped through a swim workout today at lunch. I don't think there's a worse swimmer in the world than me. I'm in desperate need of some coaching or maybe just a shrink. Tomorrow was looking pretty exciting as two docs and myself were planning to swim the PBRC lake at lunch but our plan to have a boat to escort us fell through, so i guess it's thrash time in the pool again.
Mucho thanks to JJR who gave me some great advice on this gadget, i think i may go this way which is virtually the same, just minus the altitude. I was heavily swayed by the new Garmin which looks super cool, but i think the Polar will be a better fit for me. No purchase yet, still weighing my options.
Next post will probably be from the Beehive State, we're heading to Utah on Wednesday. PEACE OUT
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Amy's Tri Debut
Saturday was Amy's debut in a swim/bike/run tri and she kicked butt, finishing third in her age group. Ryan and i were there for moral support and to take these photos. The start was staged with swimmers entering the pool 10 seconds apart which kept the mayhem to a minimum. The bike leg was a loop with a small hill in it, and then the final run ended up at the Cajun Dome. It was a really good time, fun hanging out after, and great to see Amy race so well.
Oh yeah and i almost forgot the best part, Dwyer's Sweet Potato Pancakes on the way home. Very nice.
coming soon to a blogger blog near you
These new features sound pretty sweet, i think i'll wait to give my site the facelift that i've been putting off for months.
Monday, August 21, 2006
District Timetrial Report brought to you by MASTER CARD
Earplugs ... 20 cents
Disposable Razor ... 50 cents
Aero booties ... 16 bucks
Crappy Cateye Computer, guaranteed to stop working 5Ks after the turn around ... 30 bucks
Dorky bullet shaped timetrial helmet ... 150 bucks
Vintage Specialized Trispoke from the Team Motorola Garage Sale ... 250 bucks
Renn Forrest Renn Disc Wheel ... 400 bucks
Euskaltel Flavored Erik Espade Orbea TT Bike ... 1,500 bucks
Coming in over two minutes past your goal even though you had all this aero shit ... PRICELESS
Disposable Razor ... 50 cents
Aero booties ... 16 bucks
Crappy Cateye Computer, guaranteed to stop working 5Ks after the turn around ... 30 bucks
Dorky bullet shaped timetrial helmet ... 150 bucks
Vintage Specialized Trispoke from the Team Motorola Garage Sale ... 250 bucks
Renn Forrest Renn Disc Wheel ... 400 bucks
Euskaltel Flavored Erik Espade Orbea TT Bike ... 1,500 bucks
Coming in over two minutes past your goal even though you had all this aero shit ... PRICELESS
Friday, August 18, 2006
weekend plans
amy, it's like this and like that and like this and all
me, it's like that and like this and like that and all
and Happy Birthday to my Sis!
me, it's like that and like this and like that and all
and Happy Birthday to my Sis!
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
my 250th post!
like the cobbler's kids who have no shoes
my household bears the brunt of being owned by an IT professional
alas our internet has been down for days and days now
i replaced my cable modem, and things were good
then record-breaking lightening storms hit the area and just like that, the modem died
lucky for me, comp-usa comp'd us a replacement and we should be back in business tonight
haven't blogged in a while, so much to cover
apparently the ugliest kit in pro cycling will be no more, who can blame them after their last two leaders eh?
Austin has a crit course for cyclists, how does Baton Rouge answer?
The Mall of Louisiana.
That is until yesterday. Jealous of Randy's morning rides in NOLA, i started my own, riding various established rides in BR as well as the loop around the mall, which i'd heard about from various tripeople. It is a nice place to ride, it might be one of the nicer places to ride in the city, which is both ironic and sad.
But anyway, there i was rolling my 2.3 km loop when i decided to switch it up and hone my crit skills by blasting up the Col du Sears, then nailing the descent into the off-camber 180 lining up for the Col du Foleys. Things were good, very good as the various islands and flower beds around the mall were creating infinite crit possibilities. I even began to visualize AM training crits, perhaps one day a race, and that's when a couple of Baton Rouge's finest Mall Security guys pulled me over. Basically, cyclists are welcome to use the "outer ring" but not the parking areas...grrrr.
Down but not out, i proceeded towards work. As i negotiated traffic and pulled into the turning lane on Perkins, i saw a window open ahead of me and heard "Hey Unfrozen Caveman!" Who could it be but Ed "The Nemesis" Hardin heading home from an am workout of his own. We chatted very briefly then as i exited Walden, i ran into Uncle Gaynor and his trusty companion Bandit the wonder dog. I've never seen a dog as laid back as Bandit, he must have Californian or Hawaiian roots. He has no interest in other dogs, he is in his own space and he's happy with it.
Gotta run.
my household bears the brunt of being owned by an IT professional
alas our internet has been down for days and days now
i replaced my cable modem, and things were good
then record-breaking lightening storms hit the area and just like that, the modem died
lucky for me, comp-usa comp'd us a replacement and we should be back in business tonight
haven't blogged in a while, so much to cover
apparently the ugliest kit in pro cycling will be no more, who can blame them after their last two leaders eh?
Austin has a crit course for cyclists, how does Baton Rouge answer?
The Mall of Louisiana.
That is until yesterday. Jealous of Randy's morning rides in NOLA, i started my own, riding various established rides in BR as well as the loop around the mall, which i'd heard about from various tripeople. It is a nice place to ride, it might be one of the nicer places to ride in the city, which is both ironic and sad.
But anyway, there i was rolling my 2.3 km loop when i decided to switch it up and hone my crit skills by blasting up the Col du Sears, then nailing the descent into the off-camber 180 lining up for the Col du Foleys. Things were good, very good as the various islands and flower beds around the mall were creating infinite crit possibilities. I even began to visualize AM training crits, perhaps one day a race, and that's when a couple of Baton Rouge's finest Mall Security guys pulled me over. Basically, cyclists are welcome to use the "outer ring" but not the parking areas...grrrr.
Down but not out, i proceeded towards work. As i negotiated traffic and pulled into the turning lane on Perkins, i saw a window open ahead of me and heard "Hey Unfrozen Caveman!" Who could it be but Ed "The Nemesis" Hardin heading home from an am workout of his own. We chatted very briefly then as i exited Walden, i ran into Uncle Gaynor and his trusty companion Bandit the wonder dog. I've never seen a dog as laid back as Bandit, he must have Californian or Hawaiian roots. He has no interest in other dogs, he is in his own space and he's happy with it.
Gotta run.
Friday, August 11, 2006
friday lunch blog
Now my dad's getting in on the Landis bashing, i got this from him today:
Landis Excuse #88
The reason he tested for steroids was because on the second to last day he French kissed Barry Bonds.
Not a pretty image, but hey doping is ugly. On that topic, i gotta get a pair of these.
My eye doctor appointment last week has evolved into multiple trips back, filled with lots of phrases you don't want to hear from your doc such as:
"I don't want to touch you, you're infected!"
and
"It's strange to see so many punctate ulcerations"
and let's not forget
"I want you to see our corneal specialist, because this isn't your average run-of-the-mill single punctate ulceration"
then finally
"you mean on top of all of this you've developed iritis too! You are a special case!"
What does all of this mean? It means i've put more drops in my eyes over the past week then i've done in my entire life. I'm off contacts perhaps for good, and i have a sensitivity to light that makes me sympathize with vampires. This last one has me walking around town with the drop-in style glare blocker pseudo-sunglass thing that sort of screams School Bus Driver or Granny or Ray Charles.
I did manage to put in about an 11 mile timetrial last Saturday, followed by a 60 miler or so on Sunday up in the Felicianas. But since then due to the whole eye thing, i've been hitting early morning spin classes at the Y. Everyone is good natured and trying their best, but these just suck. Some of the top phrases over heard this morning include:
"Okay the climbing is over, let's slow back down to race-pace"
"This is not recovery people, you should just be at race-pace!"
"Get back into that raceline! go! go! go!"
"Next up sprints, the first one will be 4 minutes, go! go! go!"
And somebody's not being truthful because we did about a 5 minute climb this morning to an extended dance mix of Frankie goes to Hollywood's Relax and about half-way through when our instructor said "Give it a full turn" i could hardly turn the dial at all. The resistance was so high that i immediately pulled out of the spd pedal and yet we continued to add "one more turn" every minute for 3 or 4 more minutes. All the while the 100 pound woman next to me is spinning at about 120 or so. Well at least i got a "ride" in.
Off to the rodeo tonight with my nephew! Maybe i'll become a fan and it will explain the strange love affair that OLN/VS has with cycling and bull riding.
Later
Landis Excuse #88
The reason he tested for steroids was because on the second to last day he French kissed Barry Bonds.
Not a pretty image, but hey doping is ugly. On that topic, i gotta get a pair of these.
My eye doctor appointment last week has evolved into multiple trips back, filled with lots of phrases you don't want to hear from your doc such as:
"I don't want to touch you, you're infected!"
and
"It's strange to see so many punctate ulcerations"
and let's not forget
"I want you to see our corneal specialist, because this isn't your average run-of-the-mill single punctate ulceration"
then finally
"you mean on top of all of this you've developed iritis too! You are a special case!"
What does all of this mean? It means i've put more drops in my eyes over the past week then i've done in my entire life. I'm off contacts perhaps for good, and i have a sensitivity to light that makes me sympathize with vampires. This last one has me walking around town with the drop-in style glare blocker pseudo-sunglass thing that sort of screams School Bus Driver or Granny or Ray Charles.
I did manage to put in about an 11 mile timetrial last Saturday, followed by a 60 miler or so on Sunday up in the Felicianas. But since then due to the whole eye thing, i've been hitting early morning spin classes at the Y. Everyone is good natured and trying their best, but these just suck. Some of the top phrases over heard this morning include:
"Okay the climbing is over, let's slow back down to race-pace"
"This is not recovery people, you should just be at race-pace!"
"Get back into that raceline! go! go! go!"
"Next up sprints, the first one will be 4 minutes, go! go! go!"
And somebody's not being truthful because we did about a 5 minute climb this morning to an extended dance mix of Frankie goes to Hollywood's Relax and about half-way through when our instructor said "Give it a full turn" i could hardly turn the dial at all. The resistance was so high that i immediately pulled out of the spd pedal and yet we continued to add "one more turn" every minute for 3 or 4 more minutes. All the while the 100 pound woman next to me is spinning at about 120 or so. Well at least i got a "ride" in.
Off to the rodeo tonight with my nephew! Maybe i'll become a fan and it will explain the strange love affair that OLN/VS has with cycling and bull riding.
Later
Thursday, August 10, 2006
haven't blogged much lately
but massive props to the gelpimp for this innovative way to spend your free time.
Friday, August 04, 2006
new heroes
I love juggling. I've probably been juggling for about 20 years and up to this point i've always worked with 3 balls, but a few years ago on a cruise i was able to attend a brief clinic taught by Pete Matthews where he showed the basics of how to 3-ball juggle and for the more experienced jugglers, 4-ball and even a bit of 5-ball. Well i've struggled with 4-ball ever since, but i stumbled upon this video a few weeks ago. Check out the ease that this kid juggles with, and that was back in 1997. The stuff he does now is unbelievable, turns out he and his sister are professional juggling studs (obviously) and their videos are incredible. Don't you love youtube?
Anyhow, i got some clubs on ebay yesterday, we'll see how that goes.
Anyhow, i got some clubs on ebay yesterday, we'll see how that goes.
Eric needs a blog again
Eric emailed me this little gem, and i thought it was in need of reprint, so with permission...
Alright, I gotta get this off my chest. I know doping bugs the crap outta you, I can relate, so you may just as well should delete this right now. Chances are high I won't say anything that's new or relevant anyway. This is to help me vent.
Now that I've given you fair warning....
We, the cycling fans, are stupid. For years we have heard DOPING DOPING DOPING. BLAH BLAH BLAH. We generally bought the party line that if a rider didn't' test positive he/she was clean. "Freaks of nature" or "Naturally gifted athletes" are the terms we called them.
Man did we have our heads in the sand. They all dope. Anabolic steroids are easy to catch but synthetic HGH, Testosterone and the like are close to impossible. All we can do is monitor the blood for "signs" of doping... like too many red blood cells and a rider isn't using EPO he's just unfit to race. It's just all about levels in the blood.
How did we come up with these "approved" blood levels anyway? Who negotiated these terms? "Look fellas, we still want you to be able to ride faster than the wind so you can use a little just not a lot. Okay?" "Deal."
The fact that each team has a bevy of doctors should be a sign something is up. Why would each team needs blood work done on a daily/weekly basis? Oh, because cycling is a gruel ling sport. Yeah, that's it.
Is it cheating to take something right up to the line? "They say I can only have 4 to 1 ratio of testosterone... Ok doc give me a 3.9999999999999999999 to 1 batch please." Then it's shame on you for going over. But an athlete can never say "Yeah, I took a shot, a pill, and a patch. My doctor just screwed up on the dose." We want them to be like us only better.
Who should we blame? The riders? The Cycling governing body? Fans? Sponsors? Hell, I don't know. I'm just pissed off.
and this was pretty great too,
Thanks EZ-E
Alright, I gotta get this off my chest. I know doping bugs the crap outta you, I can relate, so you may just as well should delete this right now. Chances are high I won't say anything that's new or relevant anyway. This is to help me vent.
Now that I've given you fair warning....
We, the cycling fans, are stupid. For years we have heard DOPING DOPING DOPING. BLAH BLAH BLAH. We generally bought the party line that if a rider didn't' test positive he/she was clean. "Freaks of nature" or "Naturally gifted athletes" are the terms we called them.
Man did we have our heads in the sand. They all dope. Anabolic steroids are easy to catch but synthetic HGH, Testosterone and the like are close to impossible. All we can do is monitor the blood for "signs" of doping... like too many red blood cells and a rider isn't using EPO he's just unfit to race. It's just all about levels in the blood.
How did we come up with these "approved" blood levels anyway? Who negotiated these terms? "Look fellas, we still want you to be able to ride faster than the wind so you can use a little just not a lot. Okay?" "Deal."
The fact that each team has a bevy of doctors should be a sign something is up. Why would each team needs blood work done on a daily/weekly basis? Oh, because cycling is a gruel ling sport. Yeah, that's it.
Is it cheating to take something right up to the line? "They say I can only have 4 to 1 ratio of testosterone... Ok doc give me a 3.9999999999999999999 to 1 batch please." Then it's shame on you for going over. But an athlete can never say "Yeah, I took a shot, a pill, and a patch. My doctor just screwed up on the dose." We want them to be like us only better.
Who should we blame? The riders? The Cycling governing body? Fans? Sponsors? Hell, I don't know. I'm just pissed off.
and this was pretty great too,
Thanks EZ-E
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Tuesday Night's Alright
First off, Congratulations to Taylor and Chris who were married last Saturday. We had a super nice ride that morning to send them off, i was able to catch up with Norman, Kenny and Jairo none of whom had i seen in a while. Joining us for my last lap was none other than Bob "the legend" Abbott, always a treat. And also good to hang with Nixon, the first time i'd ridden with him in months, at least Pre-Cheaha.
Last night's training race was a blast, i decided to follow the lead of many other riders and break out the timetrial bike. My beloved Orbea, which i've decided to nickname Erik Espada, more in homage to Indurain's bike and my favorite California Highway Patrolman than to the Obsequious Psychophant, but hell, he's in there too. Anyway, Seabass was on his Colnago TT rig and Norm was on board this brand spankin new Bianchi curvy beauty.
I was anxious to try out my new position, i talked with Darren a bunch and decided to raise my handlebar by nearly 5cm and bring it back a bit. My previous position had been a bit extreme and this one, while still very aero, is more comfortable and less Chris Boardman-esque.
Anyway, we kept the pace pretty high all the way out, then Seabass and Ben got away at the prop sprint. I bridged up to them with Tre and the four of us started rolling, opening up a big gap. Eventually Ben dropped off and it was just the three of us in full blown TTT mode. The gap got even bigger and we kept it all the way back to the finish.
Not long after us, Smackey rolled in alone then Patrick and Warren. Patrick was mad that Smackey had punched tickets for the last miles then sprinted for 4th and called him a Zorro. We all laughed so hard, it was hilarious, not sure what it means, but it was damned funny.
Speaking of slang, i'm proud to announce that two of my own personal favorites, toolshed and chupe, are now published at psuedodictionary. I didn't create them, that honor belongs to Patrick A. and Chris K. i just like to say them. Look them up, they're there and it's a pretty cool site.
Later.
Last night's training race was a blast, i decided to follow the lead of many other riders and break out the timetrial bike. My beloved Orbea, which i've decided to nickname Erik Espada, more in homage to Indurain's bike and my favorite California Highway Patrolman than to the Obsequious Psychophant, but hell, he's in there too. Anyway, Seabass was on his Colnago TT rig and Norm was on board this brand spankin new Bianchi curvy beauty.
I was anxious to try out my new position, i talked with Darren a bunch and decided to raise my handlebar by nearly 5cm and bring it back a bit. My previous position had been a bit extreme and this one, while still very aero, is more comfortable and less Chris Boardman-esque.
Anyway, we kept the pace pretty high all the way out, then Seabass and Ben got away at the prop sprint. I bridged up to them with Tre and the four of us started rolling, opening up a big gap. Eventually Ben dropped off and it was just the three of us in full blown TTT mode. The gap got even bigger and we kept it all the way back to the finish.
Not long after us, Smackey rolled in alone then Patrick and Warren. Patrick was mad that Smackey had punched tickets for the last miles then sprinted for 4th and called him a Zorro. We all laughed so hard, it was hilarious, not sure what it means, but it was damned funny.
Speaking of slang, i'm proud to announce that two of my own personal favorites, toolshed and chupe, are now published at psuedodictionary. I didn't create them, that honor belongs to Patrick A. and Chris K. i just like to say them. Look them up, they're there and it's a pretty cool site.
Later.
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