Naked

While I was riding the other day I spotted a naked red head in someone's front lawn. I thought I had seen a hawk until I realized she was a vulture. Bummer. In related news the fox's head is on the right side of the road, while the rest of his body lies in the median. James Slaughter Barbecue Thanksgiving Fire Sausage Road that is.

On my way out

As I was leaving my house today I thought aloud, "am I forgetting anything?"

To which I answered, "I don't remember."

Please note that I was not talking to myself. I was thinking out loud, with my mouth. Only crazy people talk to themselves, but it's ok to think once in a while. Just be sure to stifle this regularly with copious amounts of television.

What's a Pirate's Favorite Statistical Software Envorinment?

aaRRRRRR.

It's my favorite too. http://www.r-project.org/

It helps me watch my training:

I'll admit it

A dream goal of mine from a few years ago was to start a world cup mountain bike race. I would have required of myself, that I go fast enough not to be embarrassed. Apparently the UCI also felt the same way and introduced a points requirement for riders to be eligible to start a world cup race.

It happens that this year world cup finals are in New York. What a rare treat. The timing may not work well for me in terms of fitness, but I'm going to give it a go. There I said it. For real. Now I will be held accountable if I don't try. I mean really try. I already really tried hard enough that I gave myself tendinitis. I'm going to fix that and then try harder. The hardest ever. I may still fail. This is a pretty big risk and if I do fail I will be devastated.

A friend of mine slapped me and said that I was being a sissy for not trying because I won't likely be in a better place (in my life) to try something like this. She was right. I have a flexible schedule and a boss who values productivity over presence. Take that corporate America. But since I now need 20 UCI points in order to start this race I need a game plan.

It looks like this:

1. May 16, Baie Saint-Paul Quebec UCI XCO1
2. May 22, Tremblont Montreal UCI XCO1
3. May 30, Ontario UCI XCO1
   
4. June 5, Alabama UCI XCO2
5. July 4, Marathon Nats Breckenridge, CO UCI XCM CN
6. July 10, Colorado Springs, CO UCI XCO2
7. July 18, XC Nats Grandy, CO UCIXCO CN
   
8. August 15, Bromont UCI XCO1
9. August 29, World Cup Final Windham, NY HOLY CRAP

The XCO2 races go 10 deep with points, the 1s go 15 deep and the CN go 25 deep.

I'll probably be competing at presenting my research during race number 7, which is fine since the 20 minute presentation contest will actually pay a lot better for a lot less work.

I will be taking advantage of the fact that as a University student I have access to many scientific journals. I'm compiling a pretty nice set of journal articles which contain information to help me get faster. As long as I can avoid being hit by a car this Spring I should be on track.