Monday, April 13, 2009
When Animals Act Like Animals
I apologize for the non English video but I use what youtube gives.
I remember a few years ago when Gilbert Arenas wrote on his blog during shark week that it wasn't an attack if you went in the ocean. It was trespassing. If the shark knocks on your door, comes in your house while you're watching TV and bites you, then it's an attack. If you're in the ocean, you're trespassing.
I can't help but feel the same way about this video. Since this video isn't in English, and maybe you didn't see it, allow me to briefly explain in bullet format.
- Stupid women decides she wants to go "swimming."
- Stupid women climbs over the barracade to achieve this goal.
- Stupid woman jumps into Polar Bear lair.
- Stupid woman swims to rock and Polar Bear welcomes her with a high five.
- People scream and try to rescue her.
- All three Polar Bears come over to see what's up.
- One of them decides to see if she's worth eating.
- Eventually, she's rescued and thankfully, arrested.
The exception I take with the story is the same one that Gilbert took with shark week. This lady is hardly being "attacked." She went into the Polar Bear lair for a swim, and the Polar Bears decided they wanted to play. Sure that "high five" probably wasn't intended as a warm greeting and invitation for tea, but, I'm also pretty sure the Polar Bear wasn't sure what the hell was going on, and decided it needed to protect itself and it's homies.
While watching this story, my girlfriend agreed with me that it wasn't an attack, but asked what verb I would use instead. Initially, I said they should have simply described it as the woman gets polar "beared," since they were simply doing what they do. But, after some thought, maybe describing the whole scene in a manner of self defense is probably more accurate.
Either way, one thing's for sure. If you keep your dumb ass out of the Polar Bear feeding tank, your ass doesn't get confused for food.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Parking and the Urban Life
If you live in the city and are always parking on the street then in at least a bit of your daily happiness hinges on the space you find to park. I don't mean in a manic way, but when you find a spot that is right in front of your destination it definitely makes everything else that much better. At the same time, if you have to search for a spot for a half hour and then are forced to settle for a space that isn't close to where you want to be, it bums you out, at least while you're walking to and from your car.
Since moving to San Francisco I have been introduced to something that I never really noticed back east. Every single house or apartment building has a drive way and of course, you can't park in front of this drive way. At first that may make sense, but then consider the last time you were trying to park in the city and took for granted that the entire block was cars, bumper to bumper. That doesn't happen here. More often than not a city block here will accommodate about half the cars that it would back east simply due to all of the driveways. With all those extra cars left to look for less spaces, it can be quite the adventure.
As someone who likes to be independent parking in the city relies far too heavily on others than I'm really comfortable with. This may not make sense, so allow me to explain. When you have limited space available, that space is at a premium (And you never thought simple supply and demand from ECON 101 would come in handy). For parking to work most efficiently people must only take the amount of space that is necessary for their car. However, as most of you know, this is rarely the case, and this drives me insane. Since moving to the city with a car I've changed the answer to "what super power would I like to have." It is now the ability to move parked cars closer together to create space for me to park.
When I drive to work I still have to park on the street. Our office is in a shopping district and we don't have parking spaces for everybody that works here. There is a street behind our office that has open parking about 3 blocks away. However, the side streets that make those blocks have open parking on one side, but not both. Available spots on these streets is at a premium due to the fact that everybody is lazy and wants to walk as little as possible. My morning is made when I can park on the first street. It's generally the highlight of at least the first half of my day.
The last two mornings my soul has been crushed by the asshole owner of this car (see picture below) who apparently either never took or failed ECON 101. This person clearly doesn't understand how simple supply and demand relates to urban parking and is too selfish to ensure that another spot is available for another person behind them. There is also the chance that they are protecting their car by parking like this so there isn't space for someone to bump it when trying to squeeze in. If this is the case, buy a cheaper car if you're going to be parking on the street all the time. All this person would have to do is pull up to where their bumper is in line with where the red paint begins. That's it! If they did that, another spot would be available for someone to park. I'm considering drawing this person a supply and demand graph and leaving it under their windshield wiper to illustrate how their messing up the, "rotation," if you will.
As I've so carefully illustrated for you, all this person has to do is pull forward along the red arrow. If they did that, a spot of more than ample size would be available behind. With the current parking arrangement only a smart car could fit either in front or behind. And since I'm writing this post out of totally selfish annoyed reasons I'd like to point out that I don't drive a smart car.
*Using the paint brush in Microsoft Paint with the touch pad on a laptop is very hard. However, that's still sadly close to what my handwriting looks like.
Since moving to San Francisco I have been introduced to something that I never really noticed back east. Every single house or apartment building has a drive way and of course, you can't park in front of this drive way. At first that may make sense, but then consider the last time you were trying to park in the city and took for granted that the entire block was cars, bumper to bumper. That doesn't happen here. More often than not a city block here will accommodate about half the cars that it would back east simply due to all of the driveways. With all those extra cars left to look for less spaces, it can be quite the adventure.
As someone who likes to be independent parking in the city relies far too heavily on others than I'm really comfortable with. This may not make sense, so allow me to explain. When you have limited space available, that space is at a premium (And you never thought simple supply and demand from ECON 101 would come in handy). For parking to work most efficiently people must only take the amount of space that is necessary for their car. However, as most of you know, this is rarely the case, and this drives me insane. Since moving to the city with a car I've changed the answer to "what super power would I like to have." It is now the ability to move parked cars closer together to create space for me to park.
When I drive to work I still have to park on the street. Our office is in a shopping district and we don't have parking spaces for everybody that works here. There is a street behind our office that has open parking about 3 blocks away. However, the side streets that make those blocks have open parking on one side, but not both. Available spots on these streets is at a premium due to the fact that everybody is lazy and wants to walk as little as possible. My morning is made when I can park on the first street. It's generally the highlight of at least the first half of my day.
The last two mornings my soul has been crushed by the asshole owner of this car (see picture below) who apparently either never took or failed ECON 101. This person clearly doesn't understand how simple supply and demand relates to urban parking and is too selfish to ensure that another spot is available for another person behind them. There is also the chance that they are protecting their car by parking like this so there isn't space for someone to bump it when trying to squeeze in. If this is the case, buy a cheaper car if you're going to be parking on the street all the time. All this person would have to do is pull up to where their bumper is in line with where the red paint begins. That's it! If they did that, another spot would be available for someone to park. I'm considering drawing this person a supply and demand graph and leaving it under their windshield wiper to illustrate how their messing up the, "rotation," if you will.
As I've so carefully illustrated for you, all this person has to do is pull forward along the red arrow. If they did that, a spot of more than ample size would be available behind. With the current parking arrangement only a smart car could fit either in front or behind. And since I'm writing this post out of totally selfish annoyed reasons I'd like to point out that I don't drive a smart car.
*Using the paint brush in Microsoft Paint with the touch pad on a laptop is very hard. However, that's still sadly close to what my handwriting looks like.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Armstrong vs. the French, Round 47...
Here we go again. There's a new report that has hit the cycling media that says Lance violated rules at a random drug testing in Southern France. If you're interested in the latest on the story from a source other than myself, click, here.
Basically, here's the run down. Lance was met in the driveway immediately after a long training session by a guy who claimed to work for a French lab and he was there to get samples for a random drug test. Lance didn't recognize the guy, and so understandably given his relationship with all things French he decided that it'd probably be a good idea to contact the UCI, WADA and maybe even the Pope to find out if this guy was legit, or a Richard Virenque supporter looking to take home a personal souvenir. It should probably also be pointed out that this the first time that the lab itself as sent someone to collect his DNA. Usually, it's a person who works for the doping authorities.
In the initial stories that came out, a complaint was filed by the lab guy saying that Armstrong was "mean" to him(That was my interpretation anyway). According to Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel, who was there as well, they asked if Lance could go in and shower while they checked this guys credentials. He apparently said that was fine, but now, that's exactly where the trouble comes in.
When I first read this story I immediately thought that getting out of the guys sight and going to shower seemed a bit suspicious. I was reminded of the movie The Program where the roid raged middle linebacker goes into the toilet stall and pulls a clean vile urine out of the toilet paper holder. Then I realized this couldn't really happen as they not only want Lance's pee, but also blood and hair. Unless there is an exact body double with Lance's DNA walking around, you're not getting someone else's blood and hair without it actually being him. Shower or not.
In my humble opinion this seems like the French taking any small opening they can to essentially try and rub Lance's name in the dirt. They can't possibly build a case on this bit of evidence, but I'm sure they'd like nothing more than to keep him out of the Tour de France this year. It's no secret they don't like him and have always assumed he was riding under the influence. I think it drives them insane that whether he was or wasn't they were never able to prove it.
I don't blame Lance one bit for not just pulling out his junk and peeing in a cup for some random French dude who shows up to his house. But, maybe next time, wait and shower after they've taken the samples. At least then the worst offense they could write in the report would be your smell. Then again, they might not notice, he was French...
Basically, here's the run down. Lance was met in the driveway immediately after a long training session by a guy who claimed to work for a French lab and he was there to get samples for a random drug test. Lance didn't recognize the guy, and so understandably given his relationship with all things French he decided that it'd probably be a good idea to contact the UCI, WADA and maybe even the Pope to find out if this guy was legit, or a Richard Virenque supporter looking to take home a personal souvenir. It should probably also be pointed out that this the first time that the lab itself as sent someone to collect his DNA. Usually, it's a person who works for the doping authorities.
In the initial stories that came out, a complaint was filed by the lab guy saying that Armstrong was "mean" to him(That was my interpretation anyway). According to Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel, who was there as well, they asked if Lance could go in and shower while they checked this guys credentials. He apparently said that was fine, but now, that's exactly where the trouble comes in.
When I first read this story I immediately thought that getting out of the guys sight and going to shower seemed a bit suspicious. I was reminded of the movie The Program where the roid raged middle linebacker goes into the toilet stall and pulls a clean vile urine out of the toilet paper holder. Then I realized this couldn't really happen as they not only want Lance's pee, but also blood and hair. Unless there is an exact body double with Lance's DNA walking around, you're not getting someone else's blood and hair without it actually being him. Shower or not.
In my humble opinion this seems like the French taking any small opening they can to essentially try and rub Lance's name in the dirt. They can't possibly build a case on this bit of evidence, but I'm sure they'd like nothing more than to keep him out of the Tour de France this year. It's no secret they don't like him and have always assumed he was riding under the influence. I think it drives them insane that whether he was or wasn't they were never able to prove it.
I don't blame Lance one bit for not just pulling out his junk and peeing in a cup for some random French dude who shows up to his house. But, maybe next time, wait and shower after they've taken the samples. At least then the worst offense they could write in the report would be your smell. Then again, they might not notice, he was French...
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Blake Griffin's Going Pro?
Say it ain't so! Actually, who could possibly be surprised? And, as a loyal fan of all things Texas and hater of all things Oklahoma I say good riddance!
I am not here to make fun of Mr. Griffin. I think it's obvious that his lack of good sense to go to school in a state other than Oklahoma speaks for itself. What I am here to do is wonder why we need to have an official press conference for his to declare his intention to enter the NBA draft. This isn't a surprise. Everybody knew coming into the season that it would be his last. Then, as he dominated pretty much everyone all season it was simply a question of when would Oklahoma lose in the tourney and give him the opportunity to secure his agent. Who I am also pretty sure has been around since he was, like, 9, give or take a few years.
Here is what I predict he'll say in his press conference, which is really why he doesn't need to have one. Please keep in mind these are not direct quotes. To be honest I'm not even sure if it's taken place yet or not as I write this. I just know I read a headline that says he called a press conference. These will be the highlights:
- He'll thank god. Because, well, whether he believes in god or not, it's what you do apparently.
- He'll thank his parents. Which he should. Except he should point out that he isn't happy with how close his eyes to each other.
- He'll thank Coach Campbell for giving him the opportunity to grow as a player. Without his two years at Oklahoma and under Coach Campbell he wouldn't be the player he is today.
- He'll thank all of the Sooner Fans that supported him throughout his two years. (Which, let's be honest, probably wasn't so hard to do.)
- He'll thank the entire University of Oklahoma for giving him such a great two years. And if it weren't for the millions of dollars in endorsements that he isn't able to cash in on while playing as a Sooner, he'd totally stay.
I wish he'd quote Carmello Anthony after he single handedly won the NCAA tournament for Syracuse when he said, "I thought college was a 4 years." But, for this to happen he'd need to open with that line. And then, just like Carmello, almost immediately follow it up with his intentions to enter the draft.
I am not hating on this kid! If I were Blake Griffin or any other kid in college with a high level prospect of playing in the NBA I'd get out of college as quickly as possible! Why risk injury? There's no age limit on getting a degree and I'm sure that Oklahoma would take him back with open arms whenever he's done playing basketball. To pass up on the immediate opportunity to make a living playing basketball would simply be irresponsible.
I am a firm believer that the NBA rule requiring a year of college is total bullshit. Not only does it hurt college basketball and graduation rates of teams, but it also limits one's ability to earn a living. What if that kid who can't enter the draft right out of high school get's injured his freshman year and can never play again? His signing bonus, whatever the size could have maybe held him over while he figured out his next move. But, that's probably a whole different entry in and of itself.
So, Mr. Griffin, and the rest of the current NCAA class that will declare their intentions to enter the draft over the next few weeks, good luck! Save us all the time and have your newly acquired publicist just send out a press release instead. Oh, and be sure to thank your "tutor" while you're at it.
And, just because videos and pictures are fun, I found this highlight real on youtube. This guy is incredible! He should have gone to Mason!
I am not here to make fun of Mr. Griffin. I think it's obvious that his lack of good sense to go to school in a state other than Oklahoma speaks for itself. What I am here to do is wonder why we need to have an official press conference for his to declare his intention to enter the NBA draft. This isn't a surprise. Everybody knew coming into the season that it would be his last. Then, as he dominated pretty much everyone all season it was simply a question of when would Oklahoma lose in the tourney and give him the opportunity to secure his agent. Who I am also pretty sure has been around since he was, like, 9, give or take a few years.
Here is what I predict he'll say in his press conference, which is really why he doesn't need to have one. Please keep in mind these are not direct quotes. To be honest I'm not even sure if it's taken place yet or not as I write this. I just know I read a headline that says he called a press conference. These will be the highlights:
- He'll thank god. Because, well, whether he believes in god or not, it's what you do apparently.
- He'll thank his parents. Which he should. Except he should point out that he isn't happy with how close his eyes to each other.
- He'll thank Coach Campbell for giving him the opportunity to grow as a player. Without his two years at Oklahoma and under Coach Campbell he wouldn't be the player he is today.
- He'll thank all of the Sooner Fans that supported him throughout his two years. (Which, let's be honest, probably wasn't so hard to do.)
- He'll thank the entire University of Oklahoma for giving him such a great two years. And if it weren't for the millions of dollars in endorsements that he isn't able to cash in on while playing as a Sooner, he'd totally stay.
I wish he'd quote Carmello Anthony after he single handedly won the NCAA tournament for Syracuse when he said, "I thought college was a 4 years." But, for this to happen he'd need to open with that line. And then, just like Carmello, almost immediately follow it up with his intentions to enter the draft.
I am not hating on this kid! If I were Blake Griffin or any other kid in college with a high level prospect of playing in the NBA I'd get out of college as quickly as possible! Why risk injury? There's no age limit on getting a degree and I'm sure that Oklahoma would take him back with open arms whenever he's done playing basketball. To pass up on the immediate opportunity to make a living playing basketball would simply be irresponsible.
I am a firm believer that the NBA rule requiring a year of college is total bullshit. Not only does it hurt college basketball and graduation rates of teams, but it also limits one's ability to earn a living. What if that kid who can't enter the draft right out of high school get's injured his freshman year and can never play again? His signing bonus, whatever the size could have maybe held him over while he figured out his next move. But, that's probably a whole different entry in and of itself.
So, Mr. Griffin, and the rest of the current NCAA class that will declare their intentions to enter the draft over the next few weeks, good luck! Save us all the time and have your newly acquired publicist just send out a press release instead. Oh, and be sure to thank your "tutor" while you're at it.
And, just because videos and pictures are fun, I found this highlight real on youtube. This guy is incredible! He should have gone to Mason!
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Best April Fools Joke
An email sent out to the whole company from the CFO. I was so pissed at first, then it dawned on me after realizing this was not legal.
Hi Everyone,
I noticed this morning that there are still items in the entryway of the office that shouldn’t be there. Given that I do not want to continue to send out emails about this problem, we’ve decided to institute a new policy. If you leave something at the entryway, we’ll deduct $25 from everyone’s paycheck which will go to our general company social fund. There will be one $25 deduction applied on your next paycheck for what happened this week (this does not include the warehouse team).
While it would be great to have more money towards our social time, I think we’d probably all prefer not to have that fund, so I encourage people who have items there to clear them out.
The best part, people rushed to the front to clean it all out! Well done!
Hi Everyone,
I noticed this morning that there are still items in the entryway of the office that shouldn’t be there. Given that I do not want to continue to send out emails about this problem, we’ve decided to institute a new policy. If you leave something at the entryway, we’ll deduct $25 from everyone’s paycheck which will go to our general company social fund. There will be one $25 deduction applied on your next paycheck for what happened this week (this does not include the warehouse team).
While it would be great to have more money towards our social time, I think we’d probably all prefer not to have that fund, so I encourage people who have items there to clear them out.
The best part, people rushed to the front to clean it all out! Well done!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Race Report: Ronde van Brisbane
Ronde was a two day ominium formatted race. I did both days. Here's my recap of what happened.
Day 1, the Crit.
The course was pancake flat and there was no wind. There was a hairpin 180 degree turn that ended up being the biggest feature on the course. Speeds would slow from 28mph going into it to 5mph to go around it and then spring back up again. There were lots of people dragging pedals and clipping wheels in the hairpin. Cat 4's, we're awesome bike handlers apparently.
The other feature of the crit was that there was really only one straight section. While there were only a few actual corners, even including the hairpin, it as always turning somewhere and because we're such good bike handlers it basically means that we have to grab our brakes going into every turn and make the speeds yo-yo as much as possible.
There were two big crashes. I avoided both. The first one I almost go caught up in because the guys closest to it swerved right so hard that I had to lean into one of them to keep us both on course. I am awesome. The second happened on the corner entering the finish straight. No idea what happened but one guy's top tube looked like somebody hit repeatedly with a bat. This crash was apparently ugly as my girlfriend said she actually gasp when it happened. When this crash happened I had already given up and was just making enough effort to stay in contact. I am maybe no so awesome.
I realized about half way through that in order to move up in this race you had to basically put a negative value on all the other lives in the race due to the lack of straights and so many corners. The only way to move up was to dive into the inside line in a corner and hope that you scared the guy who's spot you were trying to take enough to grab his brakes. Maybe that's how racing is supposed to go, but I'm not really willing to cause a massive pile up and risk injurying a bunch of dudes just because I want to move up and try and win this race. Crashes happen, sure, but they don't need to be caused because of sketchy shit. With about 5 laps to go I sprinted down the start/finish to try and move up. I moved up to the top 10 and then by the time we got back to start finish I was in the back half again because of guys diving in corners and people grabbing brakes. After that, I decided I would rather not die, and just finish in the group.
Apparently a bunch of guys were shelled, which I was surprised about because while it was quick, I never felt like it was that fast. Then again, my girlfriend did question whether or not I was even trying because everybody else apparently looked like death and I just looked frustrated.
Day 2, the Circuit.
This course had 1 big downhill, 1 climb and almost no flat. On the 2nd lap two guys attacked at the bottom of the climb. They opened a little gap but not much. Nobody seemed to want to chase so I waited a bit and then went to bridge up to them. There was a lot of racing left in the day and I really didn't then we'd stay away, however, I didn't want to finish this race feeling like I just rode in circles. I wanted to at least say I tried. When I jumped a guy tried to come with me which I thought was good since we'd have 4. However, he couldn't hang on and went back to the pack. When I made it up to the first two guys we had a couple hundred meters I guess heading into the downhill portion. In my opinion we were working pretty well together considering we were doing close to 40mph and all three of us seemed to be totally spun out in our biggest gear. One guy kept yelling to work together, but I don't know what he wanted really. I took over the front and "pulled" the rest of the "descent" and then through the hard right hand turn. When I moved over to let the another guy come through I glanced over my shoulder and saw that we were pretty much all back together so we sat up.
The rest of the race was boring with a lot of moving up on the climb and giving back spots on the descent. Oh, and being marveled on each lap at the various lines guys would chose to ride through the corners on the descent. It seems to me some guys have either never watched a motorcycle race or pros. They also forget that there are at least 75 guys around them that have to adjust their lines when they choose to use 4 to get through a corner.
On the last lap I started the descent about 20 wheels off the front. I thought if I could hold that I'd be able to quickly pass about 10 guys and try and make myself a factor for the finish. Unfortunately I let way too many people pass me on the descent and stuck myself on the left side of the pack on the climb which was the side exposed to the really gusty wind. With no option to work myself to the right I burned all my matches on the bottom half of the climb trying to move up. By the time I was starting to get to where I thought I needed to be for the finishing kick a few guys jumped and I didn't really have much left to follow. I once again watched the win go up to road because I put myself in a plethora of bad spots on the last lap.
Day 1, the Crit.
The course was pancake flat and there was no wind. There was a hairpin 180 degree turn that ended up being the biggest feature on the course. Speeds would slow from 28mph going into it to 5mph to go around it and then spring back up again. There were lots of people dragging pedals and clipping wheels in the hairpin. Cat 4's, we're awesome bike handlers apparently.
The other feature of the crit was that there was really only one straight section. While there were only a few actual corners, even including the hairpin, it as always turning somewhere and because we're such good bike handlers it basically means that we have to grab our brakes going into every turn and make the speeds yo-yo as much as possible.
There were two big crashes. I avoided both. The first one I almost go caught up in because the guys closest to it swerved right so hard that I had to lean into one of them to keep us both on course. I am awesome. The second happened on the corner entering the finish straight. No idea what happened but one guy's top tube looked like somebody hit repeatedly with a bat. This crash was apparently ugly as my girlfriend said she actually gasp when it happened. When this crash happened I had already given up and was just making enough effort to stay in contact. I am maybe no so awesome.
I realized about half way through that in order to move up in this race you had to basically put a negative value on all the other lives in the race due to the lack of straights and so many corners. The only way to move up was to dive into the inside line in a corner and hope that you scared the guy who's spot you were trying to take enough to grab his brakes. Maybe that's how racing is supposed to go, but I'm not really willing to cause a massive pile up and risk injurying a bunch of dudes just because I want to move up and try and win this race. Crashes happen, sure, but they don't need to be caused because of sketchy shit. With about 5 laps to go I sprinted down the start/finish to try and move up. I moved up to the top 10 and then by the time we got back to start finish I was in the back half again because of guys diving in corners and people grabbing brakes. After that, I decided I would rather not die, and just finish in the group.
Apparently a bunch of guys were shelled, which I was surprised about because while it was quick, I never felt like it was that fast. Then again, my girlfriend did question whether or not I was even trying because everybody else apparently looked like death and I just looked frustrated.
Day 2, the Circuit.
This course had 1 big downhill, 1 climb and almost no flat. On the 2nd lap two guys attacked at the bottom of the climb. They opened a little gap but not much. Nobody seemed to want to chase so I waited a bit and then went to bridge up to them. There was a lot of racing left in the day and I really didn't then we'd stay away, however, I didn't want to finish this race feeling like I just rode in circles. I wanted to at least say I tried. When I jumped a guy tried to come with me which I thought was good since we'd have 4. However, he couldn't hang on and went back to the pack. When I made it up to the first two guys we had a couple hundred meters I guess heading into the downhill portion. In my opinion we were working pretty well together considering we were doing close to 40mph and all three of us seemed to be totally spun out in our biggest gear. One guy kept yelling to work together, but I don't know what he wanted really. I took over the front and "pulled" the rest of the "descent" and then through the hard right hand turn. When I moved over to let the another guy come through I glanced over my shoulder and saw that we were pretty much all back together so we sat up.
The rest of the race was boring with a lot of moving up on the climb and giving back spots on the descent. Oh, and being marveled on each lap at the various lines guys would chose to ride through the corners on the descent. It seems to me some guys have either never watched a motorcycle race or pros. They also forget that there are at least 75 guys around them that have to adjust their lines when they choose to use 4 to get through a corner.
On the last lap I started the descent about 20 wheels off the front. I thought if I could hold that I'd be able to quickly pass about 10 guys and try and make myself a factor for the finish. Unfortunately I let way too many people pass me on the descent and stuck myself on the left side of the pack on the climb which was the side exposed to the really gusty wind. With no option to work myself to the right I burned all my matches on the bottom half of the climb trying to move up. By the time I was starting to get to where I thought I needed to be for the finishing kick a few guys jumped and I didn't really have much left to follow. I once again watched the win go up to road because I put myself in a plethora of bad spots on the last lap.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Who Needs Journalists?
Recently I discovered Twitter. It's been out for a while but I didn't really understand how it worked, nor did I make any effort to figure it out. It was probably about the time of the Tour of California that a few cycling websites I go to regularly were using Lance Armstrong's "tweets" (I felt stupid just typing that!) as a quick way to report on his stolen time trial bike. This caught my attention and so I decided to see what this twitter thing was all about.
I've been a member now for about a month I guess and am really blown away by how much information you get from twitter faster than you get from regular news outlets. I discovered most of my favorite cyclists have accounts and while not all of them update often, it's still interesting to get their 140 character snippet of how a race went or who they're training with. General bike geek info that the normal person would find totally uninteresting. For example, Dave Zabriskie's update the other day was, "rode through a town called Bonar." Christian Vande Velde followed up a few hours later with, "Yep, rode through Bonar. It wasn't hard!" Both of these updates, while not useful bits of information, help to remind you that these are just normal guys. Normal guys that find the same things funny that any dude would find funny. Oh, well they're normal guys that ride their bikes very fast!
Shout out to DZ for finishing 3rd overall at Castilla y Leon! Could DZ win the double of both the US Road and Time Trial championships this year? How awesome would that be?
Lance probably updates more than anyone and it's been really interesting following his surgery updates on twitter from him versus what you read on yahoo!sports or other non-cycling reports. Even if they report what he said from his twitter, by checking twitter, you get the info so much faster.
There are arguments out there that the revolution of online communities and social networking is actually tearing people further apart as nobody has to actually interact face to face anymore. I don't know about all that. Nor do I really care. If people want to only exist in cyber space, that's their thing, let them. At the same time, some people see all of these things as another form of media that are driving big time papers out of business. It's unfortunate for the people who have dedicated their lives to journalism, but, I think I learned in ECON 101 that this is basically called competition and so the papers need to figure out a way to compete or, well, you know the rest.
When I first started using twitter I wasn't convinced it was really Lance Armstrong writing those updates, if nothing else because there are so many. The time frame in which an update on his broken collarbone was up after the crash made me think he pulled his iPhone out of his jersey pocket and did it while laying in the ditch. But, after reading enough of them you realize they really are from him. What a great way for him to "communicate" directly to his fans and what a great way for fans to feel connected to someone they admire so much. Without that whole camp in his front yard and wait for him to come outside sort of creepy way that I guess is the alternative.
One of Lance's updates this morning contained this link about twitter, . It's a pretty interesting article about who's really writing updates and who isn't. I think I gotta start following Shaq too!
I've been a member now for about a month I guess and am really blown away by how much information you get from twitter faster than you get from regular news outlets. I discovered most of my favorite cyclists have accounts and while not all of them update often, it's still interesting to get their 140 character snippet of how a race went or who they're training with. General bike geek info that the normal person would find totally uninteresting. For example, Dave Zabriskie's update the other day was, "rode through a town called Bonar." Christian Vande Velde followed up a few hours later with, "Yep, rode through Bonar. It wasn't hard!" Both of these updates, while not useful bits of information, help to remind you that these are just normal guys. Normal guys that find the same things funny that any dude would find funny. Oh, well they're normal guys that ride their bikes very fast!
Shout out to DZ for finishing 3rd overall at Castilla y Leon! Could DZ win the double of both the US Road and Time Trial championships this year? How awesome would that be?
Lance probably updates more than anyone and it's been really interesting following his surgery updates on twitter from him versus what you read on yahoo!sports or other non-cycling reports. Even if they report what he said from his twitter, by checking twitter, you get the info so much faster.
There are arguments out there that the revolution of online communities and social networking is actually tearing people further apart as nobody has to actually interact face to face anymore. I don't know about all that. Nor do I really care. If people want to only exist in cyber space, that's their thing, let them. At the same time, some people see all of these things as another form of media that are driving big time papers out of business. It's unfortunate for the people who have dedicated their lives to journalism, but, I think I learned in ECON 101 that this is basically called competition and so the papers need to figure out a way to compete or, well, you know the rest.
When I first started using twitter I wasn't convinced it was really Lance Armstrong writing those updates, if nothing else because there are so many. The time frame in which an update on his broken collarbone was up after the crash made me think he pulled his iPhone out of his jersey pocket and did it while laying in the ditch. But, after reading enough of them you realize they really are from him. What a great way for him to "communicate" directly to his fans and what a great way for fans to feel connected to someone they admire so much. Without that whole camp in his front yard and wait for him to come outside sort of creepy way that I guess is the alternative.
One of Lance's updates this morning contained this link about twitter, . It's a pretty interesting article about who's really writing updates and who isn't. I think I gotta start following Shaq too!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
My Biggest Critic
When I was kid I was always described as my own worst enemy. I have always been a bit of perfectionist and have always been frustrated by my lack of natural talent at basically every sport I have ever played. I have never lacked a sense of self-realization about my skills. I know I'm never the most athletic or gifted person but that doesn't make it any less frustrating for me when I'm just simply not as good as I want to be. When I was a kid all the way through most of high school, this frustration with myself would often boil over into acting out against others.
If you read this mental vomit of a blog regularly you know that on Tuesday nights I go do this really fast ride at the Port of Oakland. Recently as the weather gets a little better and more people are getting into race shape the group size grows on a weekly basis. This is both good and bad. It's good because it's really cool to see 50-75-100 people out doing this ride. It's bad because when you start adding riders not all of those riders you add should really be riding in that kind of a group. The more people the more dangerous.
It's simply a factor of the culture of cycling, but a lot of the guys who do this ride forget that it is a ride and not a race. That doesn't mean that it should be as fast as possible. But when guys are diving at other people to get them off of wheels on a Tuesday night ride at the Port of Oakland, it starts to get a bit frustrating. Add to the fact that more and more people are showing up and doing these kinds of moves and you start to wonder if the Port ride is really worth it.
Last night, very early in the ride, a guy, in my opinion, stuck me in the wind. He was coming up the inside and when the guy in front of me slowed I moved slightly to the left so not to touch my breaks and this guy immediately moved onto that wheel. This move really annoys me because I did exactly what I was supposed to do to control my speed without having to touch my brakes. Sure there was a slight opening from where he was but I wasn't falling off of the wheel. In fact, had I kept accelerating my right shifter would have hit the guy in front of me in the ass. So I wasn't swinging off opening up a gap. With him now on the wheel that I was on, I'm stuck sitting in the wind. If I had lost position vertically on the wheel, fine, no big deal, it's yours now. But I moved horizontally and so my frustration at this kind of crap happening weekly bubbled over and I yelled at the guy.
We had an "exchange" that went on for probably a minute. He saying he did nothing wrong. Me saying he did. About half way through it dawned on me that even if this guy did take that wheel when he wasn't supposed to, it was still a group ride, and why was I getting so mad about it? I was almost instantly reminded of all the times when I was a kid that my temper did nothing but set me back. I still firmly believe the guys move wasn't needed, but it wasn't worth yelling at him over. I apologized, we shook hands, and I got out of line and went to the back to float there the rest of the night.
After that I just couldn't get myself mentally back into the ride. I was too frustrated at myself for letting something so small infuriate me. I still got a good workout in by towing guys back into the ride and being on the extreme end of the yo-yo out of corners and having to do lots of sprints to catch back on. All was not lost, but it did weigh on my mind for the rest of the night. I hope that guy did genuinely accept my apology.
I guess as I get older I've come to terms with the fact that my natural athletic talent is low and that doesn't frustrate me the same way it used to. But losing my cool over something so pointless beats me up way worse than not hitting a 12' jump shot. Maybe one day I'll get control of both?
If you read this mental vomit of a blog regularly you know that on Tuesday nights I go do this really fast ride at the Port of Oakland. Recently as the weather gets a little better and more people are getting into race shape the group size grows on a weekly basis. This is both good and bad. It's good because it's really cool to see 50-75-100 people out doing this ride. It's bad because when you start adding riders not all of those riders you add should really be riding in that kind of a group. The more people the more dangerous.
It's simply a factor of the culture of cycling, but a lot of the guys who do this ride forget that it is a ride and not a race. That doesn't mean that it should be as fast as possible. But when guys are diving at other people to get them off of wheels on a Tuesday night ride at the Port of Oakland, it starts to get a bit frustrating. Add to the fact that more and more people are showing up and doing these kinds of moves and you start to wonder if the Port ride is really worth it.
Last night, very early in the ride, a guy, in my opinion, stuck me in the wind. He was coming up the inside and when the guy in front of me slowed I moved slightly to the left so not to touch my breaks and this guy immediately moved onto that wheel. This move really annoys me because I did exactly what I was supposed to do to control my speed without having to touch my brakes. Sure there was a slight opening from where he was but I wasn't falling off of the wheel. In fact, had I kept accelerating my right shifter would have hit the guy in front of me in the ass. So I wasn't swinging off opening up a gap. With him now on the wheel that I was on, I'm stuck sitting in the wind. If I had lost position vertically on the wheel, fine, no big deal, it's yours now. But I moved horizontally and so my frustration at this kind of crap happening weekly bubbled over and I yelled at the guy.
We had an "exchange" that went on for probably a minute. He saying he did nothing wrong. Me saying he did. About half way through it dawned on me that even if this guy did take that wheel when he wasn't supposed to, it was still a group ride, and why was I getting so mad about it? I was almost instantly reminded of all the times when I was a kid that my temper did nothing but set me back. I still firmly believe the guys move wasn't needed, but it wasn't worth yelling at him over. I apologized, we shook hands, and I got out of line and went to the back to float there the rest of the night.
After that I just couldn't get myself mentally back into the ride. I was too frustrated at myself for letting something so small infuriate me. I still got a good workout in by towing guys back into the ride and being on the extreme end of the yo-yo out of corners and having to do lots of sprints to catch back on. All was not lost, but it did weigh on my mind for the rest of the night. I hope that guy did genuinely accept my apology.
I guess as I get older I've come to terms with the fact that my natural athletic talent is low and that doesn't frustrate me the same way it used to. But losing my cool over something so pointless beats me up way worse than not hitting a 12' jump shot. Maybe one day I'll get control of both?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
My Crazy Idea to Measure Power without a Meter, sort of...
Hypothesis:
Watts are simply a measure of how much “work” was done to move an object, i.e., bike + rider, from point a to point b.
Power meters use a “torque tube” to measure the amount of torque being applied at any given time to measure watts. However, I don’t think this is the only way.
With gps technology growing more and more accurate it’s is probable that you could use gps with preloaded topography maps to measure watts accurately over the course of a ride. You simply need the correct equation that calculates current speed over the given terrain, taking into consideration the total weight being moved at that speed. The more rapidly this equation could be calculated the more accurate the data.
PROBLEM #1: In the discussed equation, watts would still be calculated as work being done, even while coasting. The equation could take into account that you are losing elevation due to the topography and gps, however, the times you coast being in the draft of another rider would still be calculated as a more constant production of work, where the torque tube method knows you are no longer pedaling.
ANSWER #1?: Most cyclist would want this computer to have cadence as a measure anyway. Could the equation take cadence into account? Not necessarily in the equation of watts production, but as a “if/then” type of code. If cadence is registering then the person is pedaling and producing watts, If not, then no work is being done.
PROBLEM 2: What if the person is descending and pedaling but there is no resistance. The computer may assume the land speed is being generated by the pedaling when it is not. How do you measure this level of resistance without a censor on the drive train and basically making it just like any other power meter that is currently on the market?
PROBLEM 3: Headwind! In this equation headwind wouldn’t be taken into consideration unless there was some way to factor in HR or perceived exertion into the equation. Without those factors and no way to measure the amount of extra work being done due to the headwind this calculation would simply show the rider going slower with an amount of work done being grossly lower than accurate. Is there way to take a variable like headwind into account?
Given the terrain and total weight, it makes sense that to go from point a to point b in a certain amount of time (speed) a certain amount of work must be done to cover that distance. This work can be expressed as watts and should be measurable without the need of a torque tube for instant feedback.
Variables for Calculation:
· Gravity
o Is this idea of gravity simply the same as weight?
o Do you need to calculate gravity or is a variable of total weight (person+bike=tw) good enough?
o Gravity should be a constant. (g=32.2ft/s^2) This refers to falling objects gaining velocity. However, the same theory should hold true for the way the earth holds a person to the ground, which is how we measure weight. Ie., when a fat person jumps, their weight still gets pulled back to earth at the same velocity as a skinny person. It does take more force to get off the ground, to defy gravity, but that isn’t a factor of gravity, simply a factor of weight.
· Weight
o Has to be included as total weight (TW=bike+person).
o This is the total weight that will be forced to accelerate and move forward in the equation.
o Same idea as the computrainer. For most accurate results you’re supposed to weigh the person holding the bike.
· Terrain
o Using GPS and topography maps the terrain function shouldn’t be that big of a challenge.
o If the calculation of watts is going to be accurate the terrain must be taken into consideration for every computation of the equation. A difference of the road being 3% and 4% would make a huge difference in the amount of watts required to cover that distance at whatever speed.
§ I feel like this is probably going to be a problem of integration from calculus 2. However,
§ When finding tangent lines of a graph it’s possible to take smaller and smaller slices of any segment so that you can get the most accurate measure. These measures can vary for the purposes of whatever you’re calculating. In this case I think we need to know the slope of the tangent line of each computation to accurately know the grade of the road that is being ridden over.
§ In order for our “slice” to be small enough, the limits would need to be constantly changing as well.
· Speed
o This is probably the easiest of the variables to calculate. If we’re using GPS for the topography of the route, it’d give you instant speed feedback as well.
· Other Variables?
Equation for Calculating
I have now realized my math skills may not be up to this challenge. I know how to calculate all of these aspects individually.
Examples:
The terrain is what generally makes the biggest difference in the difficulty of a ride. When the road goes up, most of the time it starts to get hard. Even for the purest climber, an increase in the grade of the road is more difficult than riding on a completely flat piece of land. (All other variables being equal).
The grade of the road is a simple calculation of the slope of the linear line that expresses elevation gained divided by distance gained. Calculating slope is not a difficult thing. Everybody pretty much learns how to do it in 7th grade pre-algebra. And, for the sake of saying the jingle that makes it easy to remember:
“Slope is easy, it can even be fun, just remember, rise over run.”
I apologize! But, the rise is the part of the road going up (y-axis), the gain in elevation, and the run is the distance we’re traveling (x-axis). The final equation would need to be constantly calculating this slope in order to get instant feedback on the grade at which were riding over.
Grade = change in elevation / change in distance.
Easy enough.
Speed is also a very basic calculation. I suppose we’re technically calculating velocity and that’s simply the measure of distance divided by time. If you travel 60 miles and it took you 2 hours, then you were traveling, 30miles/hour. Again, simple. However, that’s just an average, so what we technically want is a calculation for instantaneous velocity (iv). It’s the measure of the absolute value of the change in (delta) distance divided by the change in time.
iv = |dx / dt |.
Also easy enough because dx and dt are simply measures taken at much smaller integrals of the whole trip. But, in order to get instant feedback of how fast you’re going over the various terrain, you’ll need to know you’re instantaneous velocity.
Weight is easy to calculate as long as you have a scale available. Simply pick up bike, stand on scale and face the music. I suppose there should be something mentioned of the fact that most of us lose weight over the course of any ride lasting longer than 1 hour. Maybe the formula in the end should also come with a reminder to drink more during the work out.
Total weight of the rider and the bike is, I think, extremely important given that it is going to take much more work for a rider of 200 lbs to get over a hill than it does for a rider of 150 lbs. This doesn’t mean that the 200 lb rider can’t beat the lighter rider over the hill, but he’ll have to produce more watts (do more work) than the 150 lb rider will over the same grade.
This is where all of the variables of the equation need to start coming together and I’m not exactly sure how that happens. There are lots of websites that give formulas and even calculators for an average estimated measure of watts after you have this date recorded in another fashion. That’s not really what I hope to accomplish. Any ideas of the missing steps of this equation would be greatly appreciated, as well as the advice to simply give up because the factors I point out as problems earlier are not going to be overcame very easily.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Madera Results = Really Bad Time Trialist
They just posted the Madera results and, for sake of both my pride and accuracy, we need to make some adjustments.
If you read my race report you'll remember I got a flat in the 2nd lap of the first stage, the crit. Due to the field finishing together there were like 3-5 of us with anything but same time. I, however, am the only one with 18:12 tagged onto my time, which was the amount of time it took me to get back to my car, change the flat and then get back in.
The time trial, Stage 2, was 10 miles and while I pushed it hard, I apparently am a terrible time trialist as I got beat by close to 4:30. Not good!
The Road Race was the last stage. 51 miles, I ended up 16th out of the 66 people that started. So, I guess this isn't a terrible result and probably the only one worth remembering from the day.
Let's look at the numbers:
The group finished the crit in 45:52, while I was given 1:04:04 and that's a difference of 18:12. The crit was not fast, and unless I was unlucky and crashed I would have definitely at least finished in the group. So we can assume this 18:12 can be removed for adjustment purposes.
Everything else is where it should be I suppose. No need for adjustments on the other stages. Somehow and this is baffles me, I didn't finish in dead last place for people finishing all three stages. The only thing that makes sense for this scenario are some unlucky people got flats during the TT or Road Race and were able to walk it home. If that happened in the TT you were given the same time as the last place rider. In the road race, you could walk it across the line if you wanted to. I guess there is also the possibility that some people were dropped during the RR, but I never felt like we were going fast enough to shell anybody, and that's why there were crashes at the end, because people who shouldn't have still been there, were.
Official Results: 55th Overall out of 58 people who finished all 3 stages. My overall time was 3:32:17. Subtract the 18:12 for the flat out of that and it puts me at 3:14:05. I was surprised to find only adjusts me to 33rd overall.
This is a totally unimpressive result and I think goes to show that I'd make an excellent bottle fetcher for a pro tour team. If any of you are interested, do not hesitate to offer me a contract. Not only will I never complain about being mediocre in your line up of riders, I also tell the occasional funny joke.
If you don't trust my math, results can be found here:
http://www.velopromo.com/mdra-rl09GC.htm
If you read my race report you'll remember I got a flat in the 2nd lap of the first stage, the crit. Due to the field finishing together there were like 3-5 of us with anything but same time. I, however, am the only one with 18:12 tagged onto my time, which was the amount of time it took me to get back to my car, change the flat and then get back in.
The time trial, Stage 2, was 10 miles and while I pushed it hard, I apparently am a terrible time trialist as I got beat by close to 4:30. Not good!
The Road Race was the last stage. 51 miles, I ended up 16th out of the 66 people that started. So, I guess this isn't a terrible result and probably the only one worth remembering from the day.
Let's look at the numbers:
The group finished the crit in 45:52, while I was given 1:04:04 and that's a difference of 18:12. The crit was not fast, and unless I was unlucky and crashed I would have definitely at least finished in the group. So we can assume this 18:12 can be removed for adjustment purposes.
Everything else is where it should be I suppose. No need for adjustments on the other stages. Somehow and this is baffles me, I didn't finish in dead last place for people finishing all three stages. The only thing that makes sense for this scenario are some unlucky people got flats during the TT or Road Race and were able to walk it home. If that happened in the TT you were given the same time as the last place rider. In the road race, you could walk it across the line if you wanted to. I guess there is also the possibility that some people were dropped during the RR, but I never felt like we were going fast enough to shell anybody, and that's why there were crashes at the end, because people who shouldn't have still been there, were.
Official Results: 55th Overall out of 58 people who finished all 3 stages. My overall time was 3:32:17. Subtract the 18:12 for the flat out of that and it puts me at 3:14:05. I was surprised to find only adjusts me to 33rd overall.
This is a totally unimpressive result and I think goes to show that I'd make an excellent bottle fetcher for a pro tour team. If any of you are interested, do not hesitate to offer me a contract. Not only will I never complain about being mediocre in your line up of riders, I also tell the occasional funny joke.
If you don't trust my math, results can be found here:
http://www.velopromo.com/mdra-rl09GC.htm
Friday, March 20, 2009
Milan-San Remo
Is this weekend! 300k (about 180 miles for those of us on this system) of racing. 300k? Seriously, I'm not sure I'd still be pedaling after 300k must less have anything left for a sprint or acceleration or anything. It's the official start of the insane classic season. Lance will be there, but he won't be winning, so save that bet for another race!
Who you got?
My pick:
Pettachi
Bennati
Boonen
After they sweep up an insanely courageous break that includes at least 1 garmin boy, maybe Frishkorn.
Who you got?
My pick:
Pettachi
Bennati
Boonen
After they sweep up an insanely courageous break that includes at least 1 garmin boy, maybe Frishkorn.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
My NCAA Bracket
Admittedly this bracket is the least informed one I've picked in years. Upon moving to an apartment with no TV and not even following Mason very closely because of that, I may have watched 3 college basketball games all season. However, with that said, I've been in too many pools where someone's girlfriend won by picking teams with cuter mascots or the most color coordinated uniforms. So, I guess you never know.
It's mostly chalk with the exception of blatantly picking all 1's in the Final Four. I didn't pick many upsets because I just don't know who's good in mid-major basketball this year. While I picked UCLA to beat VCU I will of course cheer against my own bracket during the actual game. A win in the Tourney by a CAA team lends validity to all mid-major conferences! Go Rams!
Random thoughts:
- Villanova gets to play the opening round in Philly? Is that fair? Do they even need that?
- I got Wisconsin going to the sweet 16 for no better reason that I think I remember hearing a story early in the year that they were good. But I can't be for sure.
- I have 3 ACC teams in the Final Four with an ACC championship game. This might be crazy, but I mean, it could happen!
- I am not a Cal fan. But I hate Maryland. That is probably the game in the opening round that I hope to see the biggest blow out. Gary Williams is an asshole. I hope he breaks his hip during the game and then gets trampled but a heard of elephants. Figuratively speaking of course!
- I picked Missouri to make it to the final four. My reasoning...(shoulder shrug).
- When is Mason going to turn into Gonzaga of the east?
- I tried to figure out a way to pick Mason to win it all, but for some reason, I couldn't find our name in the opening round.
It's mostly chalk with the exception of blatantly picking all 1's in the Final Four. I didn't pick many upsets because I just don't know who's good in mid-major basketball this year. While I picked UCLA to beat VCU I will of course cheer against my own bracket during the actual game. A win in the Tourney by a CAA team lends validity to all mid-major conferences! Go Rams!
Random thoughts:
- Villanova gets to play the opening round in Philly? Is that fair? Do they even need that?
- I got Wisconsin going to the sweet 16 for no better reason that I think I remember hearing a story early in the year that they were good. But I can't be for sure.
- I have 3 ACC teams in the Final Four with an ACC championship game. This might be crazy, but I mean, it could happen!
- I am not a Cal fan. But I hate Maryland. That is probably the game in the opening round that I hope to see the biggest blow out. Gary Williams is an asshole. I hope he breaks his hip during the game and then gets trampled but a heard of elephants. Figuratively speaking of course!
- I picked Missouri to make it to the final four. My reasoning...(shoulder shrug).
- When is Mason going to turn into Gonzaga of the east?
- I tried to figure out a way to pick Mason to win it all, but for some reason, I couldn't find our name in the opening round.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Power Data
Here in Oakland we have a Tuesday night training ride at the Port of Oakland. It's basically a crit with no finish line, but don't tell that to 90% of the guys that show up in hot pursuit of the imaginary leader's jersey. In fact, there was a guy there last night with a green jersey that did not match the rest of his kit so I'm thinking he must be leading in the points competition.
Anyway, since I'm too poor to own an actual power meter I decided to estimate the power output from last nights ride. It can be found in the scientific chart below.
George Hincapie's self reported average of 290 watts over 7 hours and 5200 feet of climbing has nothing on me!
If you or any of your friends are interested in seeing actual power numbers from me throughout this season and the future I will gladly take donations towards to purchase of a real power meter. I'd even consider naming it and my bike after you. If that'd encourage you to reach for that wallet?
Anyway, since I'm too poor to own an actual power meter I decided to estimate the power output from last nights ride. It can be found in the scientific chart below.
George Hincapie's self reported average of 290 watts over 7 hours and 5200 feet of climbing has nothing on me!
If you or any of your friends are interested in seeing actual power numbers from me throughout this season and the future I will gladly take donations towards to purchase of a real power meter. I'd even consider naming it and my bike after you. If that'd encourage you to reach for that wallet?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A Random Line of Logic That Doesn't Make Any Sense!
It's St. Patrick's Day. Until a quick wikipedia search about 10 seconds ago I had no idea who St. Patrick was. But, now I do. He's the patron saint of Ireland. I guess this makes sense, but I have to admit I was hoping for something cooler. Like the patron saint of binge drinking. It'd make the holiday make more sense!
Growing up in the south St. Patrick's day isn't really a big deal so my first experience with the holiday beyond using it as an excuse to pinch girls was in college. This is really where the holiday started to make sense and I was made aware of the great ramifications of this day.
On March 17 (and generally the weekend before if it's in the middle of the week) shows the world just how proud they are to be Irish. I've got nothing against Ireland but until I ran the numbers I just didn't quite understand what all the hoopla was about. But, by doing some simple algebra I came to learn that there are just about 60 people in America for every 1 person in Ireland. That is incredible! A country with only 1.6% of the population has somehow managed to populate ALL of America. As I thought about it more it suddenly became clear to me where the need to binge drink on this holiday comes in. If 5,000,000 people are expected to produce 300,000,000 you gotta include something to lower inhibitions and mainly standards!
So really, St. Patrick's Day here in America is nothing but a simple way for us to pay our respects to the country that did such a selfless act to ensure we simply existed! In all honesty, anybody that knows me knows that I generally like any good excuse to drink excessively and blame it on tradition. I mean, beer is delicious, enjoy it in mass (which I've been informed is actually en masse)!
A simple closing thought:
Growing up in the south St. Patrick's day isn't really a big deal so my first experience with the holiday beyond using it as an excuse to pinch girls was in college. This is really where the holiday started to make sense and I was made aware of the great ramifications of this day.
On March 17 (and generally the weekend before if it's in the middle of the week) shows the world just how proud they are to be Irish. I've got nothing against Ireland but until I ran the numbers I just didn't quite understand what all the hoopla was about. But, by doing some simple algebra I came to learn that there are just about 60 people in America for every 1 person in Ireland. That is incredible! A country with only 1.6% of the population has somehow managed to populate ALL of America. As I thought about it more it suddenly became clear to me where the need to binge drink on this holiday comes in. If 5,000,000 people are expected to produce 300,000,000 you gotta include something to lower inhibitions and mainly standards!
So really, St. Patrick's Day here in America is nothing but a simple way for us to pay our respects to the country that did such a selfless act to ensure we simply existed! In all honesty, anybody that knows me knows that I generally like any good excuse to drink excessively and blame it on tradition. I mean, beer is delicious, enjoy it in mass (which I've been informed is actually en masse)!
A simple closing thought:
Monday, March 16, 2009
Random Pictures That Happen to Involve Cycling
Look at all those zippers! Even if her pants weren't really tight do you think having that many pockets would be useful? I could never find uses for all the pockets in cargo pants!
Would the everyday roadie please take note of the wheels that these two pretty famous bike racers are training on? They are not deep. They are not carbon. They have no less than 32 spokes. And the reason? Because it's training! Please leave your stupid Zipps at home on training rides. The jokes gonna be on you when some Fredbag takes you out and you gotta replace two months worth of salary.
Race Report: Madera County Stage Race
They haven't posted results yet, but I don't need to look at them to tell you that this stage race did not go as planned. The whole thing was made of 3 stages, 2 on Saturday, a crit in the morning and a TT in the afternoon with a Road Race on Sunday. My chances of getting a good result went out the window about 3 months ago when I asked myself, "Should I buy another set of wheels to take to races just in case?" and I answered my own question with, "Naw. It'll be fine."
Stage 1: 20 Mile Crit
If that set up wasn't good enough, allow me to spell it out, on the second lap I flatted and pulled myself over to the right side of the group. The pace at this point was a blistering 20mph and one of the local Oakland guys yelled at me to get back in, that I could make it. I was speechless because my only thought was that he really thought that 20mph was making me abandon. Weird! Sort of luckily we were about 3/4 of the way through the lap and so I walked up the finish line where I was told by the official if I didn't finish the race I couldn't go on for the rest of the week. Without extra wheels I wasn't sure what my options were and the nice guy in the fancy USAC polo informed me that I could go to my car, fix the flat, come back and get in the race. Since all I needed to do was finish they'd just tack the time I was out on my time at the end. Not optimal, but better than making a charitable donation to VeloPromo (race promoters) and having the rest of the weekend to discover beautiful Madera, California. I think I was out for about 6 laps once I finally got back. Partially due to my car being very far away and cycling shoes not being made to run or walk in and because the first tube I put in has a valve that is only long enough for a co2 pump to inflate. Of course I would discover this in a time of haste! So, two tube changes later, a freshly inflated tire and I'm back in the race, to tail gun it for like 9 more laps.
Stage 2: 10 Mile Individual Time Trial
When I think back to the time trial there are only a few things that I think are worth noting.
1) I forgot my heart rate monitor strap at the hotel so I rode the old fashioned way. I think this actually turned out to be better as I wasn't trying to consciously stay at any certain numbers. When I felt good I got on top of it, when I could feel fatigue I'd adjust and try to recover just a bit.
2) Turn 2 was less than 90 degrees. I discovered this as I hit turn 2 at 28mph, setting it up perfectly if it were 90 degrees and almost ending up in the left hand ditch because I ran out of road.
3) There were a lot of dudes with really expensive TT bikes and wheel sets. Unfortunately for me the California State TT Champ was 3 riders behind me at the start and he caught me with about 3 miles to go. That guy was flying!
4) We started at 30 second intervals. I caught two guys. I got caught by 4, but they were all on TT bikes and that's my excuse.
5) The first half of the course was flat, the back half was false flat with a headwind. While my results probably aren't impressive (I haven't seen my official time) I felt pretty strong and was happy to keep my speed relatively high through the back section.
6) My girlfriend said I looked faster than most people she saw crossing the finish line. I don't know if that's true or if she's just sweet. Probably the later.
Stage 3: 68, no wait, they changed it from what was advertised, 51 mile Road Race.
Since this was my first RR I really didn't know what to expect. Turns out RR are pretty much exactly like group rides with a real finish line at the end. In order to have parking we had to have a neutral section of about 5 miles to get up to the course. From there some guy jumped immediately. Nobody reacted and he stayed away for about 3/4 of the first lap. It wasn't a terribly difficult course and I never felt like we were really pushing it until about a quarter lap to go, but the field seemed smaller so I'm assuming we shelled some guys.
The course had two distinct features. The first was a long section of road that should not be described as paved. It should be described as gravel with some sort of hardening element poured over it. This section probably made up less than 1/4 of the course but it seemed like forever when we were on it. It provided a great place to move up in the group as most people would try and coast over the really bad sections. I was able to follow wheels to the front each time. Bottles were flying all over the place as they were getting ejected from the cages. Luckily I was able to avoid them. I can't understate just how rough this section was. My hands hurt after the race and I think my crotch will be sore for a few more days.
The other distinct feature was a set of 4 steep rollers that led there way to the finish. I thought for sure we'd all stay together through the rough section and then the rollers would be where it split the group up on the last lap. As we came through the first lap I was at the front and decided to take a good long pull to try and keep the pace high as it had been dropping because nobody wanted to do any work. I stayed on the front up the next roller that led into the feed zone and for about a mile or so after that. When I'd had enough, I pulled off, flicked my elbow and nobody came by me. When I looked back the guy on my wheel looked like death and was just following me wherever I went on the road. I literally had to take my hand off the bar and wave him through. I think he "pulled" for about 3 pedal strokes before getting off. I don't think I was setting the kind of pace that was shattering the field, but I do think it goes to show that we didn't have enough guys at the front keeping it constantly high enough to cause more attrition. The way that guy looked, I'm pretty sure 3 or 4 more guys putting in good pulls would have seen him go backwards. Too bad it never happened.
I'm not sure if I can blame the finish of the race on bad luck or on myself for being in a bad spot. We came off the rough section and I was in the top 15 or so and right as we hit the bottom of the first roller a guy shot on my right shot out of the group on the left where he did not have space. I had to hit my brakes pretty hard and swerve to the left to avoid him. I'm glad that I saw it coming and was able to save the crash but it threw off the rhythm I was in with the group and instead of riding over the first roller I was sort of thrown into chase mode to get back onto the wheel in front of me.
We went over the first as a group, I was about half way back and a guy came by me flying on the left side. If you time a set of rollers like this just right you can carry so much momentum from the down side of the last on into the next that you can get over them really fast with almost no effort. I assumed this guy had caught that timing just right and so I jumped out and followed his wheel. This is the part where I'm not sure if I can call it bad luck or just blame myself for doing this but I read his speed totally wrong. About half way up this roller he blew up and when he did he left me with nowhere to go but sit behind him. I yelled "GO, GO, GO!" to try and encourage him but he was done. He literally just sat up. I couldn't get around him on the right because I had the group going by and we were already shoulder to shoulder. The only option I had left was to wait for the entire group and chase back on.
I went over that 2nd roller about 2 bike lengths behind the main group. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a bunch of dudes had been strung out. I was pissed but thought I still had time to catch back on if I didn't panic. I basically sprinted the downhill carrying as much speed as I could get to hit the next one. When we went over the top I was back in contact and trying to see a line to get myself through the group. I chose to go to the left because it seemed a bit thinner. I'm not sure if this was right or not, but once I saw a line I hit in and kept charging through. At this point we were on the 4th roller in which the finish line was just on top of. This one sort of stair stepped so it had a tiny little false flat in the middle. As I was going up through the group I saw 3 guys that were shoulder to shoulder and the middle dude was starting to get really squirrely. This made the set of guys between them and me all stop pedaling to see what was going to happen. This didn't help my cause any as I had to go even wider to get around them. Just as I passed these guys we hit the false flat section and to my right I hear what is now becoming a familiar sound of carbon fiber and skin on pavement. I glanced over and saw the guy sliding but I kept going. I don't know exactly what happened but I'm assuming the ended up half wheeled with another guy and they hit. The guy he ran into didn't go down, but with the sound his rear Zipp 404 was making, he was definitely going to have a trip to the bike shop in his future. As he crossed the line the sound was getting worse and he start to put on an incredibly impressive verbal display of cursing. The officials at the line shouted, "Watch your language!" But really? I'd be cursing like that too if some fool just wrecked my wheels because he couldn't ride his bike in a straight line. After the crash the road seemed to open up a little bit. I think most people get freaked out when that happens and get overly cautious. I probably passed about 5 more guys.
The RR didn't go exactly how I wanted it to, especially the finish, but I guess that's bike racing. I was really glad that I didn't give up when I got caught behind that dude, stayed calm and chased back in to still salvage some sort of result. I was sort of surprised at how slow the race felt at times. My computer said we averaged 23mph but it also froze for a while so we may have been faster than that. I guess it's encouraging that to realize that after 50 miles I still had enough in the tank to accelerate through the field like I did. It must either be experience or lack of down right aggression towards other riders that I keep finding myself with good legs but in the wrong spots. I feel like I'm fast enough to win these races, or at least see myself on the podium. I think I just have to putting together the pieces so I'm in the right spot to give myself a real chance.
Overall Recap:
I guess the first stage doesn't really count since I rode a total of 10.75 laps and after the flat made no effort what so ever, but I did everything I could to bury myself in the TT and the RR and am happy with how my legs felt and responded, especially since it's still early March with a LONG season ahead.
I'm also starting to think my ambition to upgrade in a month might have been a little over zealous. While I think I'm one of the faster 4s in the area, I don't think I'm a future 2 riding with the 4s so I'm not going to just ride the group off my wheel to victory. It's still my goal to be a 3, but it might just take me a bit longer to get there than I thought.
Stage 1: 20 Mile Crit
If that set up wasn't good enough, allow me to spell it out, on the second lap I flatted and pulled myself over to the right side of the group. The pace at this point was a blistering 20mph and one of the local Oakland guys yelled at me to get back in, that I could make it. I was speechless because my only thought was that he really thought that 20mph was making me abandon. Weird! Sort of luckily we were about 3/4 of the way through the lap and so I walked up the finish line where I was told by the official if I didn't finish the race I couldn't go on for the rest of the week. Without extra wheels I wasn't sure what my options were and the nice guy in the fancy USAC polo informed me that I could go to my car, fix the flat, come back and get in the race. Since all I needed to do was finish they'd just tack the time I was out on my time at the end. Not optimal, but better than making a charitable donation to VeloPromo (race promoters) and having the rest of the weekend to discover beautiful Madera, California. I think I was out for about 6 laps once I finally got back. Partially due to my car being very far away and cycling shoes not being made to run or walk in and because the first tube I put in has a valve that is only long enough for a co2 pump to inflate. Of course I would discover this in a time of haste! So, two tube changes later, a freshly inflated tire and I'm back in the race, to tail gun it for like 9 more laps.
Stage 2: 10 Mile Individual Time Trial
When I think back to the time trial there are only a few things that I think are worth noting.
1) I forgot my heart rate monitor strap at the hotel so I rode the old fashioned way. I think this actually turned out to be better as I wasn't trying to consciously stay at any certain numbers. When I felt good I got on top of it, when I could feel fatigue I'd adjust and try to recover just a bit.
2) Turn 2 was less than 90 degrees. I discovered this as I hit turn 2 at 28mph, setting it up perfectly if it were 90 degrees and almost ending up in the left hand ditch because I ran out of road.
3) There were a lot of dudes with really expensive TT bikes and wheel sets. Unfortunately for me the California State TT Champ was 3 riders behind me at the start and he caught me with about 3 miles to go. That guy was flying!
4) We started at 30 second intervals. I caught two guys. I got caught by 4, but they were all on TT bikes and that's my excuse.
5) The first half of the course was flat, the back half was false flat with a headwind. While my results probably aren't impressive (I haven't seen my official time) I felt pretty strong and was happy to keep my speed relatively high through the back section.
6) My girlfriend said I looked faster than most people she saw crossing the finish line. I don't know if that's true or if she's just sweet. Probably the later.
Stage 3: 68, no wait, they changed it from what was advertised, 51 mile Road Race.
Since this was my first RR I really didn't know what to expect. Turns out RR are pretty much exactly like group rides with a real finish line at the end. In order to have parking we had to have a neutral section of about 5 miles to get up to the course. From there some guy jumped immediately. Nobody reacted and he stayed away for about 3/4 of the first lap. It wasn't a terribly difficult course and I never felt like we were really pushing it until about a quarter lap to go, but the field seemed smaller so I'm assuming we shelled some guys.
The course had two distinct features. The first was a long section of road that should not be described as paved. It should be described as gravel with some sort of hardening element poured over it. This section probably made up less than 1/4 of the course but it seemed like forever when we were on it. It provided a great place to move up in the group as most people would try and coast over the really bad sections. I was able to follow wheels to the front each time. Bottles were flying all over the place as they were getting ejected from the cages. Luckily I was able to avoid them. I can't understate just how rough this section was. My hands hurt after the race and I think my crotch will be sore for a few more days.
The other distinct feature was a set of 4 steep rollers that led there way to the finish. I thought for sure we'd all stay together through the rough section and then the rollers would be where it split the group up on the last lap. As we came through the first lap I was at the front and decided to take a good long pull to try and keep the pace high as it had been dropping because nobody wanted to do any work. I stayed on the front up the next roller that led into the feed zone and for about a mile or so after that. When I'd had enough, I pulled off, flicked my elbow and nobody came by me. When I looked back the guy on my wheel looked like death and was just following me wherever I went on the road. I literally had to take my hand off the bar and wave him through. I think he "pulled" for about 3 pedal strokes before getting off. I don't think I was setting the kind of pace that was shattering the field, but I do think it goes to show that we didn't have enough guys at the front keeping it constantly high enough to cause more attrition. The way that guy looked, I'm pretty sure 3 or 4 more guys putting in good pulls would have seen him go backwards. Too bad it never happened.
I'm not sure if I can blame the finish of the race on bad luck or on myself for being in a bad spot. We came off the rough section and I was in the top 15 or so and right as we hit the bottom of the first roller a guy shot on my right shot out of the group on the left where he did not have space. I had to hit my brakes pretty hard and swerve to the left to avoid him. I'm glad that I saw it coming and was able to save the crash but it threw off the rhythm I was in with the group and instead of riding over the first roller I was sort of thrown into chase mode to get back onto the wheel in front of me.
We went over the first as a group, I was about half way back and a guy came by me flying on the left side. If you time a set of rollers like this just right you can carry so much momentum from the down side of the last on into the next that you can get over them really fast with almost no effort. I assumed this guy had caught that timing just right and so I jumped out and followed his wheel. This is the part where I'm not sure if I can call it bad luck or just blame myself for doing this but I read his speed totally wrong. About half way up this roller he blew up and when he did he left me with nowhere to go but sit behind him. I yelled "GO, GO, GO!" to try and encourage him but he was done. He literally just sat up. I couldn't get around him on the right because I had the group going by and we were already shoulder to shoulder. The only option I had left was to wait for the entire group and chase back on.
I went over that 2nd roller about 2 bike lengths behind the main group. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a bunch of dudes had been strung out. I was pissed but thought I still had time to catch back on if I didn't panic. I basically sprinted the downhill carrying as much speed as I could get to hit the next one. When we went over the top I was back in contact and trying to see a line to get myself through the group. I chose to go to the left because it seemed a bit thinner. I'm not sure if this was right or not, but once I saw a line I hit in and kept charging through. At this point we were on the 4th roller in which the finish line was just on top of. This one sort of stair stepped so it had a tiny little false flat in the middle. As I was going up through the group I saw 3 guys that were shoulder to shoulder and the middle dude was starting to get really squirrely. This made the set of guys between them and me all stop pedaling to see what was going to happen. This didn't help my cause any as I had to go even wider to get around them. Just as I passed these guys we hit the false flat section and to my right I hear what is now becoming a familiar sound of carbon fiber and skin on pavement. I glanced over and saw the guy sliding but I kept going. I don't know exactly what happened but I'm assuming the ended up half wheeled with another guy and they hit. The guy he ran into didn't go down, but with the sound his rear Zipp 404 was making, he was definitely going to have a trip to the bike shop in his future. As he crossed the line the sound was getting worse and he start to put on an incredibly impressive verbal display of cursing. The officials at the line shouted, "Watch your language!" But really? I'd be cursing like that too if some fool just wrecked my wheels because he couldn't ride his bike in a straight line. After the crash the road seemed to open up a little bit. I think most people get freaked out when that happens and get overly cautious. I probably passed about 5 more guys.
The RR didn't go exactly how I wanted it to, especially the finish, but I guess that's bike racing. I was really glad that I didn't give up when I got caught behind that dude, stayed calm and chased back in to still salvage some sort of result. I was sort of surprised at how slow the race felt at times. My computer said we averaged 23mph but it also froze for a while so we may have been faster than that. I guess it's encouraging that to realize that after 50 miles I still had enough in the tank to accelerate through the field like I did. It must either be experience or lack of down right aggression towards other riders that I keep finding myself with good legs but in the wrong spots. I feel like I'm fast enough to win these races, or at least see myself on the podium. I think I just have to putting together the pieces so I'm in the right spot to give myself a real chance.
Overall Recap:
I guess the first stage doesn't really count since I rode a total of 10.75 laps and after the flat made no effort what so ever, but I did everything I could to bury myself in the TT and the RR and am happy with how my legs felt and responded, especially since it's still early March with a LONG season ahead.
I'm also starting to think my ambition to upgrade in a month might have been a little over zealous. While I think I'm one of the faster 4s in the area, I don't think I'm a future 2 riding with the 4s so I'm not going to just ride the group off my wheel to victory. It's still my goal to be a 3, but it might just take me a bit longer to get there than I thought.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Time to Destroy
View Larger Map
After way too much effort to put this map together it's finally done. These are the three courses for the racing this weekend. The race website gives directions to the course by saying, "same place it's been for the last 15 years." I'm not sure but that's not really what I'd describe as helpful.
While this is only a 3 stage race, it's still the first chance I've had to race for a GC. I don't see this thing coming down to anything but the TT, but we'll see. Maybe some of my old triathlon TT skills will magically re-appear. No matter the results, I just want to keep this sort of intensity through each race:
He is a bad man!
Not Again...
...was what I said as I walked up to my car at 5:30 in the evening and saw that a band of thieves just weren't happy with the new passenger window that was just installed a few weeks prior. It was clear they wanted to give me the opportunity to try a new guy.
I am also 100% convinced that whoever broke into my car this time is a teamLandall reader because I pointed out that the gps unit in my center console was still there after the last break in. Now, however, someone else is seamlessly finding their away from one destination to another.
From now on my car doors will remain unlocked at all times and I am considering posting a note on the dashboard that says, "Doors are unlocked, there's nothing left to steal."
And, just for good measure, I hope whoever stole my gps either gets lost and finds themselves in the middle of a drug cartel shoot out. Or, while using the "walking" function and holding the system in their hands, they trip and fall into a giant puddle and are painfully electrocuted to the point of 2nd degree burns.
It seems only fair.
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