for cryin out loud

Can this turn into any more of a clusterphuck?

This being today. Software patches that don't do what they are supposed to, its been like two steps forward and 1.5 steps back every time i get an update, and most of the updates are from bugs i'm finding and telling the programmer...

its almost enough to make me wanna write the god damn code myself. But, almost, is the key distinction... i don't actually do much code writing but i'm starting to gather that it ain't all that big of a deal... but i've got enough to do with the other end of the software... the getting users to use it properly and helping them figure out how to image their samples.

Toss in a critical part we need for one of the Electron microscope prep equipment things... its expensive, so i call the US distributor and am told - hey we can put a rush on it and it'll be there no later than monday, probably earlier... Monday being this past one... and that would be a week's turn around. So, nothing on monday, the supplier says it should be there today and at the latest Wed. Tuesday, no part, email from me to supplier asking - do you have a tracking # or carrier info? - no reply to email. Wed... emailed again, No part. Mention to someone else here - they supposedly were going to follow up. Hey whadda ya know, while i'm down dealing with the software headache on the confocal, the part shows up at the main facility. It was shipped via FedEx Priority overnight (meaning next business morning). And it was shipped FREAKING YESTERDAY.

talk about LAST time that company gets an order from us unless its a sole source, and it looks like if we wait - rumor has it that the equipment supplier will be dividing the US territory in 1/2 and we'd get the new supplier. But its been a frustrating pain in the ass. Backlogging the class, and about three or four labs of users on that scope! That and there appears to be a significantly less amount of material on this target than the first one that wore out.... but hey, its here and i can cross it off the list.

some other cool things are hap'nin in this work realm too, besides these headaches. maybe for another time...

the Race this weekend... the Charge Pond one. I was even thinkin about it... but too much other stuff in the way... not to mention i don't wanna race the cross bike in the training race, and i don't wanna get the Q Pro all set up just for that... and i've got other obligations to deal with. I know i shouldn't even be tempted to think about even a training race... but i was/am...

i'm not sure what my base is like anyway... and since i do interval training most everyday on the commute (hills and long sprint intervals to keep up with the cars and all that) my base needs work. hopefully i can just get a good pace ride in, maybe even a trailer ride... a slightly higher intensity but importantly to contrast the daily stuff steady state.

And poppin back up the hill on College street from messing with software and bugs, i felt great... the first ~12% grade was quick... sure - just a block long but that's still steep and i felt good. About 1/2 up the second block i thought... what gear am i in... the 50x23, cause it felt pretty easy, tough but easier to the point i thought i was in the 25. I guess i can try out the 21 on the next jaunt up the hill... although i'll admit - if it wasn't raining and if my body hadn't been screaming feed me for over an hour i would have taken the longer low grade way and stopped in to say hey to Jack and Jessie at the Hub....

and fer crying out loud, where the hell has the day gone!!!!!! at least i can get the words out of my head pretty fast this way... faster and LIGHT YEARS more legible than the scribbling in the notebook...

till later... and Shannon ain't the only one saying Peace Out... and not the first...

but i'll end with Peace Yall... love your brother and neighbor, charity begins at home, next door, at work. A smile and a hello go a lot further than down cast eyes and avoidance....

i feel bad...

Not sick, not riding, but somewhat remorseful that i may have inspired a ride and may have had it changed to a day that i could do it but then wound up not being able to go... and its a ride i've been wanting to do for a while...

it was inspired by and email with a link... a link to a entertaining (mildly) video, it is definately with the dl if ya wanna bit of hill climb inspiration (that link btw is to the web page, not the actual video).

And i thought we've got a few hills around here that are steep lots of 10%+ grade... and at least one 15%+ grade... and a couple that are just under 10% but a bit longer...

that vid incited me to write this to the group:

yeah... but that's a tripple... 1-1 ratio... ;) nothing special...
nice clip - if that doesn't make ya wanna go do intervals on Jenkes...
nothing will

That and Jenkes is no slouch 'round here... Ya can come close to that
circuit of his doing the College, Waterman, on up to Jenkes climbs...

hmmm sounds like a good 'fun' ride either to start a Faunce or end a
faunce ride... also a one of the best ways to measure who's king of
the power/kg...

notice the reference to power/kg... subtly tellin them that power alone is a stupid retarded measurment. Okay it ain't that useless but well... if ya've been riding for 10 years and ya get a powermeter... that's one thing... if this is your second or third season... and you have a power meter? fercryinoutloud... what are ya thinking....

Anyway - so the ride was supposed to go out this morning - i was supposed to go out with them but, well with the littlest one just barely getting better, i couldn't just take off for a long morning ride. As much as i wanted to, and that's what kinda makes me feel bad... the ride was changed to today so i could make it and i still couldn't... i hope it went off well enough that they might do it again, but now i'm thinking if i can sort out my own time to do get this ride done... i'm gonna... a bit extra motivation - and hell maybe i'll *gasp* even plan my own route!!! Enough of the following people around on roads i don't know...

Maybe i should clarify - this weight obsession i seem to convey is not cause i have one... its cause i think its curious. I found back before i started commuting by car and working a 'real' job instead of grad school/bike shop/ride when ever and everywhere that 200 was an ideal weight, both physiologically and power wise. More reserves, 60 miles with not food was easy if i had good prep going into it.. ie rest and food, and overall better energy levels. Not to mention power. I college at 165 pounds i spend almost a month eating 10,000+ calories a day (college food and an unlimited meal plan is key) and gained NO weight... only once i hit the mid-20s did i start to put on a few pounds... and that was a slow process... a few a year... and that extra weight i was carrying from not riding was well hidden on the 6'6" frame... but since if ya wanna go fast... its all about power to weight... i need to optimize everything for me... and right now, i'm feeling a bit old 'vette stylin... good power, but not an autocrosser by anymeans... and maybe that shows my Mt Bike roots... i'll take a turn on the trail to the limits of the bike, on the road... i'm a bit more conservative (lets leave it at that).... and leave this at that...

blogs... and other terrible tuesday musings

so last year... and yet... lately i find i'm tracking more and more cycling blogs... and i t hink that's a good thing...

its all part of my transition from TDIclub uberposting freak to more introspectiveness and less Ann Landers. Its a burden knowing the answer to all the questions people can ask about something. That and the burden i feel is that i need to answer them, cause i know the answer. I'm a teacher at heart - maybe not the best, a bit harsh cynical critical whatnot - but gimme technical details and i get a rush working out the way to explain them so people understand it. I mean actually understand it - so they can know what they are doing and apply it to their own stuff, specifically in the microscope training i give...

So reading all thes blogs is cool... inspirational, also somewhat depressing, 1 in that i'm a freaking slacker by comparison, 2 i have way less time than most of them, 3 there often is a connection of comradery that is kinda cool... dunno how to explain it better - although gimme 1000 words and i could come close... i've already dumped my 1200+ word entry for the week.

So off the bat the first new one i read through today is Shannon's Too Vanilla For You. That Sumbitch has a sweet bike - when cyclingnews ran the bit on the bike... man i was inlove... not so in love with the prices they ask... but if folks buy em at that price and it supporst their racer support - thassallgood. I just can't be the one supporting their stuff... but its like freaking DAMN cool (the Vanilla bikes)... which.. BTW ya can find here.

So who else as of late? I do click through my link bar over there on the right left... generally daily... and i'll prolly add shannon's and a few others maybe that i list today... at somepoint (and send the courtesy/obligatory note saying "Hey i'm linkin your stuff - just to let ya know").

Who else? Okay there's this kid down in Georgia... i think i read it from a bikeblogs hotlink. He's got a really original (/sarcasm) blog title and site name, I WISH I COULD BE PRO and ilikebikes.blogspot.com respectively. Reading through i see all the references to this new nutritional supplement and this energy drink and all i think is: Man, get yourself a better diet and that stuff will stop being effective. All it's pointing out is that you probably have a deficiency somewhere that these things are making up. I'ma big fan of diet. And only from experience. Cause i tried a bunch of that stuff as a kid - poppin supplements, drinks, vitamins... nothing illegal, well i tried some Mahuang(sp) for a Mt bike ride, but it didn't to jack except make me twitchy as hell, no faster. And what i find is 24 hr before a big exertion/race getting hydrated, eating a good balance, getting my minerals and all that makes all the difference. I typically operate slightly on the dehydrated side of things, and the extra water intake makes way more difference than drinkin a fancy uncarbonated soda (energy/race/recover/hydration drink) ever does. But i'm also pretty damn sure he'd write me off that the youth typically exhibits. Us old farts... well are old farts - whadda we know. That and everyone *is* different.

Who else? There are a few that i check linked either from Solobreak's or Kerry's and i was checking Tree Farm's stuff but it was slow... (just noticed that there's a new entry there).

Add all that up with Big Jonny's daily updates and the forum, cyclingnews, PezCyclingnews, velonews... I was checking Cyclocrosworld but they seem to have gone into hibernation... the RushinRevolution, NE cross... a bunch of those get checked and might get an actual hyperlink if i didn't impose some random "i've linked enough shit for one entry" criteria... if ya wanna check my math i think that's 12. plenty... too many maybe... i'm not much in the mood to care, esp after changing the most foul smelling diapers and cleaning puke up all night... okay - i cleaned up puke once at 3:30, got up every two hours to bring the poor kid to bed to nurse and be comforted (the 3:30 one resulted in the top end...) a bit viral i think. A slight fever with diharea and vomiting... all started last night... absolutely fun stuff. That and i might cut into a hill snake ride i was really looking forward to tomorrow morning. Ah well - my excuse: Season don't start till then. which i have a feeling will turn into a paniced "The season starts WHEN???!!!!" in say mid summer if this 'training' pace keeps up. But it won't, i hope... Not sure how it'll get better, not sure where my miles will come from... but they've gotta come... sick thing is i've actually thought about running! With my knees! But I think that's about as close as i'll get to pounding the pavement until august or september to do the minimum required for cross racing...

okay - enough babblin - and yeah... still commuting to work on the bike... that and i stuck the specialized Tri-cross wire bead 28c i have kicking around thinking they'd be a bit wider with more air volume than the flat prone 25c Conti Super sport Ultras... no fucking way - same exact size, if not smaller, on the same exact fucking rim. Retarded. Gonna switch em back today if i get a chance after lunch... Anyone want that rubber? Free? You come get it.

early morning comments about the Beaufortian thing

Finished the book - awesome and highly reccomended to anyone curious about science. I'd say required reading for people working in hard/descriptive science. Its less about the wind scale than about how you approach the world and observations. I *gar-run-tee* everyone that reads it will enjoy reading it and get something out of it... even if ya ain't a geeky scientist.

Comments i've gotta make (from a jotted down peice of paper - written after the moment thing was written).

1) coaching exception ot the Power Meter. Yes it can be a good way for an inarticulate or noobie cyclist to get meaningful feedback from a coach. BUT it still has a very detrimental side to it: it removes all obligation and responsibility from the communication. Not totally obviously. And sure many coaches and athletes may say "its a small element of the whole picture" and i'll counter by saying: "if you didn't have it would you be slower or faster?" I'd wager no change to faster. Focusing on that meter rather than focusing on what makes you faster will make you slower.

2) We need a power scale that's like the Beaufort Scale. With gradations, 0-coasting, no pedal effort, 10-Mt Washington Hill Climb Race. A descriptive scale, like the rock climbing one. Maybe people are more familar with the Yosemite Decimal System, if a rock climber says hey i just cleaned that 5.13 ya say nice job... its a standard measure, one that everyone can relate to. Now if i said, "I just put out 500 watts on that climb" someone might say -DAMN but someone else might only put out 250 on the same thing and feel inferior. Now if that same person was only say 50kg and fatso me sitting at almost 100kg... thats the same output/kilogram...

That one site i linked talks about Perceived Exertion - HOLY SHIT - if that ain't the beaufortian equivalent... ANOTHER MOMENT!!! WOOOOT
Its a scale - rating exertion, not as descriptive as Beaufort's but still potentially much more useful than a power meter.

So in reviewing that again (after linkin - I have lately always tried to read the whole page i'm linking when i link it)

In [Allen Lim, Ph.D.]'s ground-breaking doctoral work at the University of Colorado, Lim analyzed data from power meters used by pro riders in races and training. You'd think Lim would advocate scientific training. He does, but recommends a middle ground: training by feel and then analyzing the results by scientific means.

So, that sort of throws back to the initial comment i made. And sets the data in place. I've seen one cyclist around here with the Polar stuff, he wears the cycling computer on his wrist where he can't see it - then downloads it all later. Makes sense. Collects the data, lets ya go back and analyze how you felt. However. Danger there i see is if you don't document how you felt in a manner of precision equalling the data collection that the data then becomes meaningless. Or at the least much less useful.

Anyone with one of those power things - get a bit of electircal tape, put it over the power display (say maybe you need the clock to track intervals or something) and then get home - write up the ride in the training diary ya keep, then download the data. And monthly analyze it by looking back at the training diary. Cycling is a long term event. Taking years and years to build properly.

Going back to that web page one statement just absolutely makes me ecstatic:

But when it matters most, your carefully honed self-perceived exertion level is still the best monitor ever created.

can ya guess why ;)

I'll wind up this entry with the scale...

RPE scale

• 6 - resting
• 7 - very, very light
• 9 - very light
• 11 - fairly light
• 13 - somewhat hard
• 15 - hard
• 17 - very hard
• 19 - very, very hard

Beaufortian Moment (slightly delayed by Blogger bugs)

--As I’m sitting here being confounded by stupid Blogger… I give up and will post Monday.
-From this weekend – an inspired moment – posted here – now after I have changed the damn tires and added a Mr Tuffy (I can’t believe I’m using them).

I’ve just had a Beaufortian moment…

It happened when I started Chapter 9 : Observation, a Panegyric; On the Beaufort Moment

And profound enough it was like: DUH.

Do we need power meters to tell us we are exerting a massive amount of power? Do we need them to tell us just how fast we are going? Do we need them to tell us that the last effort wasn’t as fast as it should have been?

Hell no. What does it do? What does the power meter do? It digitizes. Captures the moment. And no that’s NOT a good thing. It removes observation from the experience. That’s bad? YES. If you rely on that little meter to tell you just how much power you are making at any given exertion or just how hard your heart is beating, what happens to the native feedback? What happens to the attention paid to your own body’s signal? Eh? It slowly atrophies to the point an athlete can’t measure their output without it.

It is too difficult to completely rephrase the chapter but I will pull one specific few sentences that suddenly and dramatically linked power to the Beaufort Scale.

(commercial description not included – get the book and read it to get the setup for the following)
“That commercial to me is the anti-Beaufort moment –it’s the exact opposite of everything Sir Francis Beaufort, the Manual of Scientific Enquiry, and all the subsequent observational scales have stood for. Everything I have learned about the Beaufort Scale, about the ones that preceded and followed it, and about the people involved with them, demonstrates that our own body is the greatest perceptive instrument ever designed. Not only can it perceive sound, light, movement, temperature, aroma, taste, and time, but it possesses all the processing capacity and speed necessary to organize, categorize, and express that mass of data almost instanty, to then retrain and reorganize it, and to find in it utility and value and meaning. With neither cell phone nor LCD screen, neither keyboard nor electronics, Beaufort interacted with things, not representations of things, Beaufort lived an un-virtual life, and the Beaufort Scale embodies that spirit.
And then some boob with a new gewgaw to sell tries to convince you that not only is your own perception insufficient to entertain even yourself, but that if your inattentive to the world the problem isn’t you—the problem is your technology.”

That last sentence screams: POWER METER… a gewgaw sold under the premise that you can’t get faster if you don’t know how much power you are making…

-So you maybe wondering what is the Beaufort Scale, I hope not but its possible, look it up – here’s a google link or two for you…

I mentioned the “Nature, Rightly Questioned, Never Lies.” In a previous entry a bit ago. And in a way – (maybe another rationalization) – in a way a blog is a modern Beaufortian device. A device that affords an observer to record the everyday, in their own words, and share – or not share, but in the process of recording helping them define and form their knowledge and base… maybe to go back and compare notes.

Here’s another thing. I’m a gadget lover. I’ve got digital cameras, video recorder, but I’ve retained that artistic aim with them. Maybe not the best of presentation, but the intent is generally more than oh… lemme take this picture… This Beaufortian moment does have me conflicted. I greatly enjoy capturing a moment, and it helped make a dreadfully long commute in the car bearable when I had a digi-cam and could capture events. I sometimes wish instead of collecting digital image after image, that maybe I’d just been able to write it down.

Is the keyboard, the blog, the diary, that much different than the moleskin book and pencil? This entry infact, was first a “Lemme grab my moleskin notebook!” but then I grabbed a memory stick and the laptop, and sitting here in bed where I was reading (quiet moment while the girls are watching a show they recorded earlier) I am hammering out the thoughts.

These thoughts though… Hammered out as they are right now, probably won’t see the light of day for a bit. However, the power of writing and thinking brings me this brilliant observation: My bike is at work. I need to get back into the office this weekend. And… the office has internet. Which isn’t a gewgaw as much as the modern Beaufortian collection depot.

That two-niner debate started by the engineer at Old Pueblo… same thing. Big Drunk Jon says the two-niner feels faster, does it feel faster, or is it faster? Does it matter? Well he’s using observational data to base it on his experience. Others felt its slower… maybe it is, for them. That debate is a melt down from a powertap hub comparison. (see the circle closing in, ever closer… hopefully trapping me at the point I run out of things to say). But it does make the point, as a cyclist, and an observant cyclist we should be able to tell if we are fast. If we are faster, stronger than before. We should have enough observational resources to know faster than a powermeter can tell us if we are doing well in a race, if we are doing well on a training ride.

As with most gadgets or gewgaws we as people eventually get tired with the old one and search for new ones, different ones, something that tells us a new bit of data we have no need for. The heart rate monitors, the power meters, the cycle computers, the gadgets and gizmos that we eventually give up once we satisfy what we know. I’ve done it with every metric on the car that is observable and recordable. Having a laptop and diagnostic software is great for monitoring it, but after a point, I could tell what it was doing and what the computer would say without it. Just as Huler and Beaufort would expect. The human as a system is ir-reproducibly complex, use that, train it, don’t let it go to waste. Don’t replace it with a downloadable recording device that has no chance of even sampling as fast as you can, record analyze or process the volume of data that you can.

Ask yourself, can the Power Tap hub tell you that when you made those numbers the wind was just off to the side, or that at 35 mph windspeed your wheels make a very particular sound? Do you need the HR monitor to know what level of effort you are giving? Can your HR monitor and your power meter combined tell you that it’s the nerves driving up your pulse, not your effort? Maybe they can, but its something that if you pay attention to routinely, something that if you hone your observational skills well enough, you can take advantage of under more varied conditions, and use to more advantage.

I was thinking – well a cycle computer or a cadence display might be helpful. But do you need something to tell you that you turning the big ring over in the 4th or 5th cog at a very fast clip and that some time later you, through intervals and hard work can then blast over the same hill in the big ring and the 3rd cog means you are making more power?

Enough postulating – I’ve already locked the damn thing up mistakingly saving directly to the stick while running on battery – but I didn’t lose anything so the momentary distraction was just that…

stupid Murphy and his GD Law

get the shell pants on - the jacket... helment, gloves on, the reflective ankle bands... grab the bike... roll it out and the back end gives me the awe shit feeling... its flat... dead...

first thought:

Sweet, i'll put in the MR Tuffy when i change the tube...


then it hits me AGAIN:

genius here never transfered the sweet crank brothers mini-pump and the CO2 inflator back out of my winter jersey pockets after the ride on sunday...

No pump, two new tubes, a set of Mr Tuffys... and well... at least i can call in a ride - so i don't have to walk the 2 miles home.

so here i sit waiting - well not idly... i'm venting my aweshitness right now and gonna pull the tire off (hey did i mention earlier how nasty and black from road and rim and brake pad poop the bike is)...

funny thing?

I've got boxes of gloves laying around and i'm not gonna use them... too much of a traditionalist mechanic... if its dirty, i'll wash my damn hands when i'm done... gloves are for sissies and prissies (mechanics specifically, the rest of yall, racers and riders can have an excuse)

Oh and when i make comments - don't get offended, its my warped sense of humor - dats what ya get when your two favorite comics are Denis Leary and Rodney Carrington, however i'll laugh at pretty much anyone that can tell a good joke...

well - have a good weekend yall

A little snow, and More snow

I'll never figure this out... we get a weekend snow storm that is plowed cleared and salted away long before School starts... and what happens... they cancel school.

Yesterday they cancel/shorten afterschool programs, for the storm, it dumps even more when they get home, the roads are in worse shape than that certain monday morning, yet... no delay, no closing... nuttin. STRANGE... spooky and weird...

so this early thing saved my butt - i got to leave a bit early - ride home in the break (while the roads were still wet, not snow covered) and wait at the bus stop for 20 miuntes...

here's the blue beast, who's drive train made Kerry homesick. Okay - she didn't say 'homesick' but used nostalgic... minor point.



There it is - i didn't realize i got a picture of the Brown Track team (a guess based on a few ratty sweatshirts and the age of the guys and their fitness level).... well a pic of the last guy trying to catch up to the group....

Right now the bikes sittin here dripping on the long strip of bubble wrap... the water/salt/dirt/brake dust being sucked up by strategically placed paper towels... No i don't lock it up outside, inside or where ever... it comes in and keeps me company here at work.

That nice crusty salt film has turned to a dingy dirty film... but i don't know if i want to embarass the bike any more by photographing it in such a state...

I hope A. doesn't mind but when I posed the power question and the efficiency between grinders and spinners he said something that biologically makes a fair bit of sense... even to a Botanist (me).

There's so much to a question like this, ranging from mitochondrial density to cellular receptors that scavenge cholesterol particles. In general, the higher cadence wins the day on a balance sheet (looking at ATP generated and enzymes, etc...) but the body has such a high degree of plasticity that it will compensate to produce high torque more efficiently. Think ullrich

That said, we're talking about between 75-110 rpm, not down to 40 or so, which is where some grinders are at. Even ulli is pretty high when he's at his most diesel. within the confines of what would be ideal, the higher cadence takes my vote because the less myosin heads needed to produce stability the less overall ATP used per stroke and somewhere in the ether the math works out to show that: for lance you spin more and use less atp for myosin=#ATP used < spins="#ATP"

he made the comment too that for many people 75 rpms IS spinning... point taken... and it probably wasn't the best low number to use... and i have to say, anytime i hear spinning, i get flashbacks to married student housing at MSU doing cadence intervals on the rollers in the living room... Listening to either Rush or Led Zepplin. Generally i found Rush to be the best roller music... at least for me... the songs are just long enough to get a good interval in, and one works really well for holding 130 for a while and then the music and psyco nature in me always goes for the 150 rpm... anyone who says you can't spin 180mm cranks... well must have either short legs or just never tried it... And cadence- for the record -was measured using a Vetta C-20... I liked that cycle-computer... now i've got a Sigma something or other... no cadence (well i have the cadence hook up but its too bulky for the Klein and the Dura-Ace crank combo).

anyway... thanks to A... and in part the thought process... i got wondering if maybe i would be better off going with a trendy fixed gear, something with a lower ratio than what i've got kickin on the P-mount (big blue beast)... just stuff to wonder about i guess... and keep wondering till i have a frame i wanna make fixie...

I'll shut up for now, by sayin, i do envy Kerry's trip out to the southwest... but i like it here, gimme some nice 14 mile climbs around here somewhere and i'll be completely cycling satisfied (hills mind you that can be ridden to, not driven to)

Salt... is this bad?(sic)

well just a few shots before i venture out into the snow... and hydrate this dried and caked salt...

if i didn't know that the D-A der was bullet proof AND hiding under a thick coating of Boesheild T9 i'd be worried about it... and yeah - that's a blue anodized alloy breakaway bolt holding it in...

Another Polish connection

I'm lazy. But it's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn't like walking or carrying things.
Lech Walesa (1943 -)

Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.
Charles M. Schulz (1922 - 2000)

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.
H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946)

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I should use one a day but... i'm kinda more like dump, here it all is absorb it.

Solobreak has a nice itemized comment regrading my power musings. watts/kg... i must be slow being so damn big... at least i'm less than 100kg, for now, just not by much. I had found a similar link here "Bicycle Speed and Power Calc" and there's another one that... here just found... damn its hard to keep track of stuff. I know i have it in my bookmarks, but three browser imports later and 250 bookmarks or there abouts - its easier to find a link with google... And yeah.. this one... these guys ... I like em CPTips... If ya haven't browsed over there and ya ride a little.. give it a looksee...

Came across a guy i've seen on numerous occasions on the bike. He was headed up the hill as i turned in... chatted for a bit... he's on a nice fixie... Fuji trackbike... and i mentioned that Fixie is too trendy for me. EVERYONE has a fixed gear bike, so to stay counter culture i'm riding this -the paramount... He did bring up a good point. If you are riding a fixie as a commuter, AND wearing a helment, AND not doing stupid shit on the bike... then... its okay. Maybe i should get a fixie... could be bitching fun... maybe...

I've got those 180mm suntor XC Pro cold forged cranks kickin around... down side is my 1x1 hub is built up on a 26" wheel... maybe its time to give up that wheel... might be better to liquidate that whole built wheel (its very nice... and will take any offer through here first)... and then get a nice hub or build up something else... not focusing on that right now though...

At least its something to keep me thinking... and thinking - i do to much thinking sometimes and not enough doing...

Oil Fired Furnaces with Steam heat are inefficient money pits... 100 gallons in 3 weeks... 3 freaking weeks! I love this cold but that's like two sets of Campy Delta Brakes! Or 17 30 packs of Miller High Life or PBR!!! At least i caught it before the damn tank went dry...

So sitting here waiting on the snowstorm... hoping that they don't have early dismissal...and hoping now that it warms up enough that we can go back to the slightly more efficient and cheaper option that the gas on gas stove gives us....

i gotta get some good salt crusted images of the bike uploaded sometime... maybe before this snow washes all the salt off...

Power musings

Okay - so adding extra to a post - a few hours later... well i stumbled across this quote, and as my HS GF recalls, quotes and me - go together:

"Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality."
- Nikola Tesla

So, i got thinking, first in light of checkin the power meter at Polar (it looks very interesting) also the article interview over at PEZ... and specifically this quote:

Power is defined as a product of force x velocity (e.g., number of watts). In cycling, strength can be more associated with torque. For example, you could be spinning a 39x17 on a climb next to a rider (of roughly the same weight), using a 53x17 (more torque produced) at a lower cadence and still be producing the same power. Two different styles of riding, but the common denominator is still the power produced being similar.

That bold part got me... and got me thinking about something, sort of in line with how the Polar guys are doing the power deal stuff...

Long ago somewhere i read and experimented and agreed that: The more teeth you have in contact with your chain the less load you put on it and the lower the power transmission loss should be. I did wind up going through and doing all the calculations showing that the same amount of power is generated in the same gear inches regardless of teeth number, but, efficiency. And it got me thinking...

I can imagine some power meter user cyclist finding a peak of 375 one day and then 380 the next week, and maybe thinking 'sweet' that's great i gained 5 watts of power.
And well that thought sparked the recollection of this article:
• SRM variability in accuracy ranged from -10.4% to +1.0%; PT variability ranged a much tighter -2.0 to -2.9%.
Also at PezCycling News.

Now nice thing about SRM is that its more likely to under measure your power than over do it... It made me wonder how the Polar setup fits in the accuracy category. I've always liked the power tap hub, but its expensive and requires a separate wheel. SRM, well i gotta have a 180 crank, and well, they are heavy and even more expensive... but then writing that - the Polar thing ain't cheap... the computer is 290, the cadence is an extra 40 and the power sensor is an extra 350... doesn't seem like such a brilliant idea anymore...

On the whole other side is, why the hell do i care? My power numbers will be irrelevant to match with others esp if i have issues mentally corralling it and applying it on race day. that and we go back to that first quote: "of roughly the same weight" i aint anywhere near roughly the same weight of most guys on the road... Which comes down to the other side of all the power numbers people are throwing around. It would seem rather and completely pointless to share power numbers with anyone other than a coach. Track them, use them, but there's no way to measure up a yardstick with Lance or Tyler or other 'tour' power houses (even if they are blood doping liars), i suppose i could have picked Floyd and Hincapie...

And then i start thinking about efficiency of the production of power. Say in the example above, which rider is being more efficient? Which rider is making the power in the more sustainable way? Is the 39 guy who's lightly spinning up? Or the 53 guy who's grinding up using strength? It isn't a simple question but one that along with gear choice (teeth in contact power loss stuff) make me think.

To be a major spinner, is great, but... those that recall the first time they road for an hour with the cadence over 120 or 110... it takes a lot outa you... it'd be 'easier' to have done the ride at a lower cadence and a higher gear. Ya make the same power, right? But then its TRAINING. If you can get the endurance and the muscle memory and skills to spin at 120 for an hour+ that's gonna do one hell of a lot more for you than riding around at 75 rpm for an hour at the same speed.

Common sense stuff i know... but i figure if i write it down i might just actually follow it. And part of the reason the Q-Pro is still in mothballs is that it has a nice flat-lander/race gearing... a 55/45... not that all my riding on the P-mount with the 50 tooth in front is much better... but in a way i think it sort of it... the 50 tooth forces me to focus on strength in the hills and then when the speed picks up i'm forced to spin to get the same power.

And yeah, if we turn this all over to the internal combustion engine comparison, a Honda VTech motor, that say can generate 170 horses,doesn'tt make that power until its at 7,000 rpms... where as a Diesel might make that same 170 down at 2000 rpms... a big difference, one that is in Torque.

And that brings it back to the efficiency sort of things. If a cyclist CAN make torque ie the guy in the 53/17 would it be a safe assumption that they are more efficient than the guy spinning away.

I'm thinking that the question might be one to see what a few locals have to say... could be an interesting discussion...

Speaking of Honda, and efficiency... I passed an Insight this morning. I could see the little white cloud of water and partially burnt hydrocarbons start and stop as itcreptt forward up the hill waiting to get through a 4 way stop. And as i rode past... the gas engine was running... and sure it was a bit cold outside (25°F) but it wasn't cold enough to cover my ears, and that engine was making a racket... it sounded like crap, piston noise, belt noise... oh it was not a pretty 'sight'

It just made me smug that i was on a bike, getting exercise, staying warm, rather than shivering like all the people in cold cars that i passed or passed me on the way to work...

I want my Packzi

i miss them... the hands down best part of Fat Tuesday ANYWHERE in the world..

Pack Zi? WTF? its pronounced Punch-ski well there abouts - a damn fine tastey sweet filled donut. 600+ calories - made with the finest ingredients, once a year, only availible on Fat Tuesday.

I had to document that craving somehow - someway... too damn busy all day to get it done earlier...

Reading KL's latest, kinda funny, esp this:

If you want to get an idea for what riding up Mt. Washington is like, come stay with my parents, bring your lightweight road bike, and try to ride up the gravel road with a cross wind at the end of a 3.5 hour ride.

Sounds like to me that's a michigan ride... ending at Tom's house... but generally if the group starts off at his place there's once or two crashes before we get to the pavement...

The wind... a good training partner... good for motor pacing... and its funny, i noticed one incidence of it last week "Hey i'm headed out for a ride this afternoon, thinking about going east." Well.. here's the funny part... the wind was a wicked strong one (for around here at least) that would have been a killer headwind once they turned around to ride back...

i think its a mentality thing, maybe something i learned from Michigan. before planning a ride route for the day, determine what direction and how strong the wind is, and what the forcast for the day will be. Is it supposed to swing (as it some times does). Nice thing about Michigan is its all township and range, take off and head in the direction of the wind, ride about 2/3 of how long you wanna be out, turn around and fly home... Its where 50-60 miles mean jack squat (well not really - this past summer i was so fat that 35 miles was about my limit).

but there ain't no hills, and i'll pick a route with hills, that has a head wind all the way home, over a flat tailwind home ride in michigan... 9 times outa 10 and that one time would be a recovery ride.

I've been checking, or at least paying attention since realizing that i blimped out to 197... my pants: Still baggy as hell; Ribs, yup visible; gut, barely noticeable... damn where's that weight - gotta be muscle... and well i suppose it makes sense, and Adam was right- i would swing back up to a heavier weight... at least this is weight that can help...

gonna close out with a quick quote - stealing it from Big jonny, hopin he don't mind:

"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking."

- Arthur Conan Doyle, in an 1896 article for Scientific American.

Warning - Dangerous School Busses out there

Ya'd think, a bus full of kids might be driven in a responsible, conservative, safe manner, wouldn't ya?

Well i would hope so, esp when they are loaded with kids, and with stuff like company and city logos all over them.

Nice close call this morning, if you couldn't already figure out where i'm going with the retoric. I just cross over Rochambeau going south on Hope and I hear a Honk... okay no worries, but there are cars all along the side of the road, no on coming traffic... no big deal, i'm not riding in the middle of the road, and woosh - big yellow school bus drives past inches away from me. After honking. And well... me being me, and not always able to just 'let go' (sometimes and i've been getting better at it I will), i just had to see about following/chasing down the bus... So i went redline, 12 degrees outside, and i'm redlined, HR up at max, lactate building up, sprinting uphill into the wind and not giving up too much ground on the bus. Almost catch him at the stop sign, and then he turns, turns onto a side street and stops to unload. Ahhh sweetness. So... I ride around the driver's side of the bus... and his window's open, perfect... i open it up a little more and confront the driver regarding his reckless and endagering behavior (Kendra Payne story still floating around in my conciousness). He tries to close the window on my fingers but he must be a weaksonofabitch that or i was amped up like some meth induced rage. I mentioned i have every right to be on that road, ask him what he expected me to do "stop, get off the road, something" cause he said "I wasn't gonna cross that yellow line." BULL yeah - ooh wouldn't want to cross the yellow line on a deserted street. Yes the street is often packed with cars, typically with the pre-8am rush of people going to work and then the pre 9am rush. I was traveling in the middle of those two times, on a noticably quiet Hope Street. Ah well, i left him with the comment "i'm going to file a complaint." And i did. With Laidlaw headquarters. We'll see what happens from there - see if anything is made of the complaint. I felt better at anyrate.

And i mentioned, it was cold this morning. And what did i do? I rode my bike in. Damn straight. Of course i had an extra bit of adrenaline to warm me up. That didn't hurt.

But i even made it out on Sunday. A great ride. Finally made it out on a hill ride. But sadly i didn't find the hills challenging. I did manage to discover, too late, a bit of glass that had made its way through one of the numerous cuts in the tread on my tires. Making for the 3rd flat or is it 4th flat on that rear tire. Time for something new i think... It was cold, but not unbearably cold... and the roads, despite the snow on saturday, were pretty remarkably clear.

no asshole school bus drivers on the road either...

and sadly... i discovered... i'm almost fat again. but not in body fat % just getting heavy... no extra gut yet, it hasn't shown up again, nor have the love handles... but... i am now only 2-4 pounds under the 200 mark. So there's hope of racing clydesdale (if they do that here in the N.E. for Mt bikes). I am getting faster, but people tell me "wow, you are fast" but part of me says, 'okay, who's saying that and does it mean anything?' i generally come to the conclusion that, no i'm not fast, still, and i don't have a clue how i will race on the mental level. The collegiate stuff, esp the crits, i would show up, able to ride anyone except one off my wheel on a training ride, and i'd be off the back on the first or second lap... I never quite figured out how to overcome that. Road races i'd do much better... for some reason, and the Michigan Cross races were somewhat inbetween. but i've got a good few months to figure out what to do, meanwhile i get to just focus on getting some miles in, and sooner than later i guess i work on going really fast... downside of the ride, my bike is covered in salt, as are my Sidi mt shoes... maybe more of a downside... it doesn't really bother me. I think it should... but it doesn't... Good thing i rode the P-mount instead of the cross bike, cause then i'd bother me...

Time to stop jabbering and start stuffin my face... and yall watch out for vindictive yellow schoolbus drivers...

fortunately

I'm not bitching about the ToC coverage on ESPN2 like the folks are over at Velonews. Why not? 'Cause for the first time in over a decade, i don't have cable/sat TV. And ya know if it wasn't for the shitty olympic coverage on NBC i'd be content with it right now.

It sounds like the Tour of Cali coverage is not even worth watching... pretty insane, i dunno, ya'd think... if you are trying to promote a sport, ya might hire an experienced team of videographers... hell, from the sound of it Logan could do a better job of the video footage.

But no - i can't bitch about the coverage... I can bitch that the live updates aren't complete before i go home - or that its just not that exciting to me... Is that bad? Should i be all geeked about who's wining, who's taking sprint bonuses... should i? Probably, but i'm not. I still check cyclingnews for the updates and all that... *shrug*

funny thing, i've been reaching for more coffee for the last 20 minutes but each time being depressed when the cup and the coffee pot are empty... ya'd think i'd remember... but i realized that DUH no wonder - there's the thermos (small one) that i should have consumed already today - I'm raising my mug to hope that it placates the damn craving

oh and ya know - i swung by The Hub cause i remembered one thing that i had forgotten and wanted to ask them about Conti's (if they carried them,--they don't) and i realized... i DO need a haircut...

that or a new helmet - i look like a retard with that white Giro Supermoto on... with my long blond locks and the red beard action... lumberjack retard maybe... kinda short haired version of my MSU id... In support of the facial fuzz... its DAMN effective in these 'winter' months - ie next week. and the long hair? same thing - so damn much hair that i don't need to wear anything under the helmet to stay warm... takin the good with the bad... and besides, whats an old married fart like me worry'n about how I look? Ya know... i don't have a good answer.

RSS feeds

They are freaking COOOOOOOOL

to the bibidy bomb! (and are like SOOOO last year)

Everyone should have one... that way i can dump all the content i scan in the morning into my Google personalized page... it is freaking cool...

makes it easy to keep track of stuff... i've got the link down there for mine somewhere...

anyway - the commute in this morning was very different without the trailer... but my legs were feelin it... not to mention there was a damn stiff wind, and a cold one to add to it all...

If its tolerable for the passenger i'll try out the buggy this weekend on a longer ride... oh
the video... Freaking battery - dead - 3 minutes of charge... from full to empty... but the 3 minutes are actually pretty cool... gonna have to see if i can find a new battery... K loved doing the filming - and even when the battery died she said she wanted to 'practice' with the camera... the little paparazzi maybe be the next best indy filmmaker... might have to get a Mac at home with some of the nice video stuff. She was much more comfrotable with the Mac's single click mouse than the PC multiclicker stuff. Well its time to get the extra miles and the extra hours in the day... the miles from the second site... the hours from the speed of the bike... rather than walk to the shuttle - wait till it shows up (up to 20 minutes) ride down a circuitous route then walk the three blocks to the building - OR walk the 5-10 minutes to a car, drive down... look for parking then walk to the building... Nothing like gettin on the bike right outside the door - and riding down right too the door.

Here's the thing - cold internal combustion engines pollute like Bush-Cheney's buisnesses. And they are completely unregulated. the EPA doesn't care what comes out of the tail pipe when the car is cold, and far far far far far far too many cars spend all of their time driving around when cold. Gasoline engines are FAR worse polluters when cold than cold diesels or warm/out of tune diesels. Its pretty sick and sad... All those short trips - could be accomplished on a bike...

ah but no need to get all worked up and pissed off at the cars just before heading out and fighting them wearing my raggedyass old Sugoi entrant messenger jacket... kinda funny, for some reason i picked that color, only to find out that its standard issue for Bucky's messengers in Seattle... maybe i'll pick a different color when i get around to replacing this thing...

GDIT - freaking hell - would everyone else PLEASE stop bidding on the Campy Delta brakes on Ebay?

Come on already... that or someone buy me a set and send em here! GRRR... That and why the hell do all the auctions end on the weekend!?!?!?!?!? WTF... sure maybe i'm the only person left in the US that doesn't have internet access at home... Ah well... The bike they are going on is not slated to hit the road till its warmer out and i'm strong enough to do it justice...

The Q-pro is my reward for putting miles in on the P-mount, miles in on those wire bead tires, the 8 speeds, the crazy bar position... the heavy ass bike... i don't deserve a bike right now that is under 20 pounds.... Oh well maybe if i DO score the Deltas sooner than later they'll tip the scales on the Q-pro up to 20+ and then i can ride it... yeah...

And Damnit KL! I see you picture and i think Stewie... or i see stewie's picture and i think KL! crazy funny...

that and i totally didn't catch what CTODD did... now that is funny... a gal like that with affairs needing to be managed... best leave it at that...

Feb 23... day 3 of help

"There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality."
- Pablo Picasso

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
- JRR Tolkien

"The intelligent man is one who has successfully fulfilled many accomplishments, and is yet willing to learn more."
- Ed Parker

"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful."
- Samuel Johnson

Two days of gems from the Google "my home" quotes of the day, yesterday and today...

I like em... all 4... so here they are - spamming myself...

Rode in again with the trailer... i think maybe we'll try and leave early and take a longer route home... see about tryin the boulevard

K too some shots on the way in... she wanted to video the ride in but with the screen i wasn't sure how well it would turn out and the battery is dead in the digi-vid camera soooo she did some digi-cam shots and here are two of them...

this one is just getting ready to head out...


and somewhere down the road...

there are a whole bunch of the back side of me... this is the one with the least amount of noise from the bugscreen. Unfortunately the screen is part of the cover and isn't removable. The video (not sure about video hosting options) may never make it to post-production but it should be funny...

oh and the photographer includes the paparazzi - each day we head out to lunch i'm chased by a photographer... pretty funny... here's one at the pizza place!

maybe more later - we'll see.... and yeah - pullin the trailer is a hellalottawork... still

Coffee... mmmm with a kick

Finally got around to trying KL's suggestion for brewin a pot of coffee. Okay I admit i left everything else out except the Coffee and the Red Pepper flakes... and man that was good.

I think i over did it on the pepper flakes... and i'll admit to adding it to the last cup in the French press. (pulled the plunger and then added the flakes, replaced the plunger, let it sit for a minute, and drank).

a great warm feeling, a hot kick and i'm definately gonna add some to the pot in the morning tomorrow.

Its day two here - and for some stupid reason i thought yesterday was today, making plans like today didn't exist, or in effect, yesterday didn't exist. Ah well the confusion of addin an extra person to the responsibilities.

We hitched up the trailer today, and rode the bike in... so much nicer than driving... no car to start - just a few extra yahoos to watch on the ride in, but overall it was an exponetially better 'commute' than yesterday in the car.

crazy short update -again- today...

oh one more thing... all yall cyclists that wanna work on power... hitch up a trailer, preferably one of the kid ones and plung a 45 pounder in there. talk about power training... that's one hell of a hard ride... not to mention the extra power required... forget any other training method... if you can hold 20+ mph for a fair distance with this trailer, on level ground... with no draft... lemme tell ya that's the BEST workout you can imagine... solid steady state extra power...

It also has the incredible benefit of showing exactly how much of a flat spot in your pedal stroke you have... mine isn't too bad, but its noticable, but correctable... everyone should have this as a 'view' into their pedal stroke.

If ya don't have a kid - borrow one... or get a big dog... and look - a trailer is WAY cheaper than most of the other "power" training devices... and unlike the SRAM or PowerTap power meters that tell you how much power you are generating... this forces you to make more power than you normal have to and it SHOULD make for kick ass strength. Biggest problem for me is the oldest is really almost too tall for the Trek single trailer we've got and the youngest is a bit too young (to wear a helmet and all that). Maybe i just have to cram the oldest into the buggy, giver her the video camera and do laps around the Boulevard (it ain't flat... should be a nice recovery down hill along one length and up hill hell on the other).... maybe we head that way for the trip home... (if i'm feeling completely insane this afternoon).

ahh well - more later... maybe

two words

Parking Sucks...

drove in today (have the oldest here to "help" at work)... spent 20 minutes parking...

i should say - 5 minutes driving there 10 minutes looking for parking and 5 minutes walking from the parking spot we eventually found...

meanwhile the whole time my daughter is saying "See daddy, you SHOULD have listened to me and taken the bike..." Yes i should have. The trailer and the bike would have gotten us here a lot earlier...

and then we'd need to leave now to go home and get the car for the very reason we drove in in the first place... to get her sister... man... cars suck... Cars R Coffins...

no doubt about that...

tomorrow GD it... tomorrow... I'll be here with the trailer... i have no idea where the trailer will be parked but i'll get it in here somehow!

dats about it for today... kinda brief....

winter break started today

No Ride, but i can say "so what" no race obligations till september. A good weekend w/the gilrs and its damn cold. No it wasn't the cold that go me off the bike - just a handy one of my excuses. I rode last week and it was almost as cold (just not as windy).

So i have a delima, Bike Mag showed up. I've read all I can, and its consumed... fini, nothing left to read, and i wanna getout and kick some ass! but... of course i can't! I'm slow, old, probably will always be those two. however I can probably contiune being an opinionated loudmouth with mad techincal skills. I can fix any bike, fix pretty much any car and keep half million dollar microscopes functioning perfectly. Fun Stuff. But that psyco side comes out - ie cyclocross! and ya know add the addiction to 12-24 hour mt bike racing stuff... a BLAST. I wanna be that 34-35 year old guy with a job but no commitments - the age and experiences but not the burden. However, writing that i realize there is a flip side. That burden carries me along, more often than not. That burden often is the one saying set us aside for a few hours and go out and ride, we'll be okay. The last few years, its true. It has been extremely difficult at times. A few documented here, many not. But what keeps me going, is what i have. I may be jealous of the guys my age who own a successful bike shop (or two), I may look enviously at others my age who have pro/semi-pro contracts and a full racing schedule along side their full time job in their career field. It would be great... but it also wouldn't be who i am... I'm a mechanic and an artist, and a scientifically oriented teacher of things. i get to do what i love doing, i have support and family, brothers and daughters, neices and aunts... can't really ask for more.

Looking back, a year ago, i was hoping i could on the bike regularly... here i am... on the bike every day. I was hoping to get out of michigan after the christmas of '04... here i am, out of michigan. I wanted a challenge with a job... here i am...

it isn't perfect, and the albatross of a house still for sale that we aren't living in, weighs heavy... and the scary prospects that makes up the market here isn't terribly comforting... but on the whole... on the whole... its good.

(most of that was written the old fashioned way, pen on paper... while sipping a french red table wine...)

Saw curious george this weekend (on a different note). I loved it. Of course I grew up reading them, over and over, getting absorbed into the illustrations. And my girls have had the stories read to them countless times, all of them. It was great. but... movie ticket prices... holy crap has it gotten bad. Almost worth it to wait for DVD... at least tomorrow the Imax we have tickets for is free... Deep Sea 3D... looking forward to that!

Winter break gripes i guess don't have much of a place/stand here... but heck... i'd love a winter break... we don't even get Prez day off (today)... and they announced the '06 holiday schedule today... to make us feel okay about working today... while the rest of the state is off...

And ya know that '1 gear higher up college hill per week' pledge? Well when i was riding back and forth 5-6 times a week... that was one thing... i'm up and down once or twice a week now... and this morning on the way back up i took the mellow way (past The Hub) and from Wickenden and Brook to the door to the building i went on hamstring power the whole way... I looked like a pathetic slow freak when i finally got to the building... but it was different... in a good way... gonna have to try that out instead maybe of the 1 gear higher... I'm getting so much bottom bracket/crank flex even with the Cold forged XTs that i'm worried about the bike... the hammy trick might have to be my 'training' gimick for a while...

like the other one - i'll see how long this lasts... time to spend the second 1/2 of lunch doing what i'm supposed to do during lunch... EAT... at least though i have a lunch break that affords me time to babble to myself AND eat... and maybe sooner than later i can add back in lunchtime rides...

-(not the) most humble servent of the universe, G


--Frustrating... i like the whole european racing scene, results happen at a reasonable time of the day... this californian EPO tour thing, have they even started stage 2? its like i'm a day behind! how frustrating... and strange

Friday Feb 17

What a day. Got up - grabbed the toddler, tossed her in bed to nurse - while i showered and then retrived her and plunked her in the highchair while i got the coffee started... what a kick assingly possitive way to start off the day - with a happy, smirking, twinklin blonde cutie...
Her favorite breakfast? Hawthorne Valley Farm Maple Vanilla Yogurt and Purely O's and no she doesn't prefer them over Cheerios... I provide that preference.

Quality of life begins with quality of food. And quantity of booze! Okay - maybe not quantity but the comforting beer or two with food is great. That and like i've said before, i drink little other than coffee, water and beer/wine. I don't drink soda/pop/coke except on vary rare occasions. Once in a while i'll have some juice... prefering to get my fruit from the un-squished variety.

Quality of food is very important. The extent of the packaged food in our place is rather sparse, generally consisting of staples or basics, refried beans, pasta, heck i don't even buy Chili powder, prefering to blend the mix myself on demand... a bit of fresh garlic and onion instead of the powder, adding the paprika for color (and a bit of a smokey flavor with the stuff i've got now) some cumin and whatnot...

I put a poll together over at DC's forum... Jonny brought it up over at DC this morning (well at least i read it this morning) juts before slamming the hammer with some depressing news...

Hell i busted my bumper on some assbag turning infront of me and i was on the car... Maybe i've been in the city riding for long enough, but when i'm commuting... there is no such thing as a gap that i don't instinctively expect a car to come blasting out of... and even reading all that, i'm still feeling safer - more in control on the bike than in the car. Like i said a few days ago... The stories of cyclists gettin nailed are too common though. Really not good, but it goes along with the societal acceptance of 'so what' and indifference. I've seen some crazy crazy behavior here...

and what it really comes down to is:

patience... take a deep breath... recognize that slowing down, showing some courtesy will NOT delay your travels and will improve you GD Karma by leaps and bounds.

Looking for a parking space? get pissed if someone jacks it before you can pull in? Don't get all piss about it - there'll be a spot opening up soon ( assuming you are looking for a spot say at the Wholefoods in Providence - the big one)... don't jump out of the car and yell and scream... 9/10 the person jacking your spot didn't realize you were waiting for it... take a deep breath and move on...

zenish stuff... i dunno, i'm working really hard at it. changing the fundamentals of how i am on the road, in the car, on the bike... its hard to put my emotions in check but i find that when i do, when i say, let it go... that i can get over the incident better, faster than when i get worked up about it. I can still keep my intensity and focus and awareness, but i can stay positive and all that by letting stuff slide. Does getting mad, yelling, chasing, tailgaiting or yelling at a car/person do anyone any good? Will they (the idiot) do it again? Most definately. Will your anger and agravation do anything for you? or them? Nope. it might just make things worse.

Caffine may just be the big problem... i gotta check see if i wrote my theory down here...

Okay - well - just read the whole thing (what little there is of it) and nope - it isn't there...

and man - there's one mighty depressing post there in September... the wrap up on that is the house still hasn't sold, but my wife is working now... and i dunno, the house will sell... right? It has to...

oh and the Caffine thing.
It goes back to a comedian from seattle with a routine that goes along the lines of: If people drank a beer instead of a double latte before getting in the car they'd be mellow and relaxed and more polite... Amped up on caffine or mellowed by a beer... not drunk - not loaded - just mellowed... take the edge off... maybe that's the issue here in RI. Its the first place i have seen coffee milk served to elementary school kids - heck i hadn't ever heard of 'coffee milk' before that. maybe that's what it is... everyone here is ampped up on Dunkin Donuts coffee....

ah well more about that theory later...

I changed the colors... realizing now that they are a bit of a blogger basic combined with the Dutch colors... but what can i say... blue and orange are my two favorite colors... maybe i'll get the Welsh Dragon flying at some point... if its too obnoxious (the color) lemme know and i'll subdue it....

Dopers Suck

give em a check (the link that is)...

So..

great read on Tyler over at Cyclingnews. And also a new view on Adam Bergman. Sad state of affairs.

Or is it a realistic state of affairs? Adam's admission really opens the book on Tyler. Did Tyler really dope? Just no one 'cept a doc or two know about it? That would be the way he'd have to have done it i think. Would he have told his wife? Nah, i doubt it. And all his supporters? The ones who rally to his side with personal anecdotes about how it would go counter to his personality? I don't really buy it. I had a measure of hope that he'd be found to have chimeria blood, but that was disproven. Was the test flawed? Doesn't appear that way. His appeal, if there was an error, would have been smooth sailing. I personally have to side with the CAS and say there is not enough evidence to overturn the positive results.

And that kinda sucks. 'cause this guy is either #1 not-guilty and carrying that around, or #2 guilty and carrying even more around. I'm leading to #2. If he admits, he gives up all his supporters and says, yeah, thanks for rallying behind me, but i wasn't telling the truth. Its nice to know yall are blind in faith towards my cause, but your infalible beliefs are better left at the cathedral.

I still find it terribly ironic that the Amgen Tour is a bike race. The #1 producer of EPO... being the title sponsor of a bike race? Insane i tell ya, insane.

Is Lance Clean? That is what people want to know, that's what the big question is. Maybe... maybe not... i'd like to think so. Mostly because he DOES have a measurable and documented genetic advantage over most of the other cyclists. And he had a very specific and focused recovery that built his body for one thing and one thing only. And mentally he's one freak of a guy. Tyler? Tyler ain't got much on anyone, other than he's small, and determined. He seems to lack the heart or lungs that Big Mig and Lance have, and the personal hardship to use as a focusing magnet? I dunno, he crumpled when Tug died, how strong can he really be? Succumbing to the pressure to use blood would certainly be a likely step in his progression. I don't know the guy personally, I know lots of people who really believe in him, and all that but, the cloud of doubt. Made worse with the fact that people could really be duped knowingly by the guy. And that is the part I find the hardest. The statement is a bit curious too... and worth linking here:

Statement from Tyler Hamilton:

“Based on my devastating personal experience over the last year and a half, I am committed to fighting for reform within the anti-doping movement. I do support the anti-doping mission and USADA, however the current system has failed an innocent athlete and needs to change.

Out of respect to fairness and the rights of all athletes, there should be clear separation between the agencies that develop new tests and those that adjudicate anti-doping cases.

Credible, independent experts, not those who funded or developed the original methodology, should be charged with properly validating new tests.

I don’t believe any athlete should be subjected to a flawed test or charged with a doping violation through the use of a method that is not fully validated or generates fluctuating results.

I will also continue to support the formation of unions to help protect the rights of athletes. My goal is to keep other athletes from experiencing the enormous pain and horrendous toll of being wrongly accused.”

On more serious matters i have a fucking killer headache today. Not sure why, but it is putting a big old cloud over my thoughts. I'm feeling stronger and better every day on the bike... but that's for all of what? 2 miles eachway? Still, every day on the bike is a day not wasted. I just need to get some good long miles under the legs... or in the legs or something...

so what am i doing to ride me of this headache? Typing and staring at a fucking huge CRT and drinking cup after cup of coffee... is it working? not a freaking chance...

oh well - must push on... muscle through the day... gotta get through... gotta get through