Against the Grain

Change of plans

2011-01-21T13:28:00.002-05:00

Though my plans are changing the rest remains the same.

I finished the work required for, and completed my master's degree. My new job is almost identical to my old job.

I was thinking about racing long, but I was recently and easily persuaded to race fast instead. Rather than slogging away on the bike for 8 and 12 hours each day, I'll keep the ride times shorter and train for xc races. I plan to kick it up a notch again and see if I can catch some of those elusive UCI points.

Next Season

2010-12-15T22:17:00.002-05:00

There's always next season.

This next season I'm thinking about racing long again. 2009 I gave the NUE 100 miler series a go. It turns out training for 100 mile mountain bike races while earning a master's degree in food science is a difficult task. The 2009 season didn't go as well as I had hoped (seasons never do) and I finished 10th overall in the series after completing the minimum 4 required races.

Next season I'm shooting for a top 5. I just need to figure out a way to train full time.

Turkey Days

2010-12-01T16:54:00.019-05:00

I took a trip to SC, and snapped a few images while I was there.

This picture show was recorded on Kentmere iso 400 film pushed to 1600 in artista liquid developer for 16minutes at stock dilution:

The lil' one was trouble:

This set was taken with AristaEdu iso 400 pushed to 1600 in arista developer for 18 minutes diluted 1:1. It turns out this was not enough development.

Links

2010-11-20T12:28:00.002-05:00

I sprained my thumb on lap one at the NCSU cx race and proceeded to race for the win (FTW). The following week I ignored the swelling to the best of my ability and proceeded to race the bumpiest course yet at WVU - and win. After another week of thumb not healing I decided to race at VT on the bumpiest course of all time thinking, F this F that, FTW, and did not win. A week later I saw a doctor who told me to see another doctor who told me to have a splint made. Now I have a really cool custom splint and 6 weeks to enjoy the off season.

Other projects in the works:

webmastering: acccycling.org, omphotos.jessicagreenberg.com, and aaronoakes.jessicagreenberg.com

Photo gallery coming soon to omphotos.jessicagreenberg.com

Writing a business plan and marketing materials for my very own small business. I plan to be in the business of managing and racing for a small professional and grassroots mountain bike/cyclocross team. Also hoping to kick the coaching up a notch, know any potential clients? Send them my way and if they sign up I'll give you a reward. Official reward posters are coming soon. wenzelcoaching.com

Also currently working on finishing the ol' thesis and pulling out the best of the best for publication at the professional level in the 'scholarly literature'.

Up and Running

2010-10-11T15:55:00.003-04:00

It's official, both the start of 'cross season and the launch of new webspace http://omphotos.jessicagreenberg.com/

Last weekend was the Richmond festival of cyclocross. I raced collegiate men's A Saturday and again Sunday. I won both. I'm pretty sure I placed 7th and 4th in the pro 1/2 field, but was only scored/registered for the collegiate race. It's nice to know I would have been in the money though.

http://omphotos.jessicagreenberg.com/

Giana and I took some pictures at the race. The colorful digi pix are hers and later this week we'll have scans of real photos made with film. Enjoy.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/10/news/north-carolina-state-dominates-atlantic-conference-collegiate-cyclocross-opener_146022

Test Prints

2010-10-01T14:56:00.005-04:00

Chemicals are cool. Making prints on real paper is cooler. The best part is that it only takes 30 seconds to scan prints from a whole roll of film from a contact print, but to scan the negatives themselves takes an hour.

I made my own negative carrier and cut the hole slightly larger than usual so the border and sprocket holes show through.

Most of the images on these rolls were tests like the series of folders each a different color. I took that one a few times with a few different filters, same with the ball. The blank ones are plain objects and different lenses and f stops. Eventually I hope to learn something from these rolls.

Proof

2010-10-01T13:09:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I've worked in a darkroom. I started using the one on campus and now get to make 8x10 prints of my negatives. These prove I took pictures. The really cool part is that unlike with digital you can see how I composed the images in the camera (no cropping) and also what my success rate was.

I plan to scan and post all the 'cross season pics this way. You can always right click to save the image then rotate and modify using your favorite image editing software.

Projects

2010-09-10T12:06:00.003-04:00

A year ago I posted Rally pictures. These were to be the images that remind me of Raleigh. Well, like my graduate studies, I still have some work left to do. I'm restarting project Rally and plan to make a more complete set of reasonably aesthetically pleasing images in and around Raleigh, NC.

Project dos will be Project Operation ACCC 'Cross Season 2010.

Sister bear

2010-09-07T14:45:00.002-04:00

The lil'est competed in her first triathlon last weekend and won for her age group. She was one of the slowest swimmers of all time, then rode her bike faster than half of all the competitors, and ran faster than 75% of participants. Nicely done. She averaged just shy of 20mph for 14 miles - without the use of those funny looking aerobars.

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/10/ma/Sep5_Inaugu_set6.shtml

New News

2010-07-26T11:29:00.005-04:00

The new best album of all time of the universe forever is called Turis Fratyr by a Band called Equilibrium.

After about a year of cultivating my hairs I finally had to get a trim. See photos below.

Before:

After:

If this doesn't make me faster I don't know what will.

Mega-props (10⁶) to Giana for the thoughtful portraits and her dexterous scissor-wielding hands.

In unrelated news, my poster and I placed 3rd in the Institute of Food Technologists' annual meeting graduate student research poster competition in the food chemistry division. To make the award winning poster I just used the microsoft power point 'auto-content wizard'.

Last one

2010-06-19T11:19:00.003-04:00

Since my last post I raced in Alabama, and then raced again the following weekend in Virginia. The first race went poorly. I didn't race very well mentally, which is not a surprise. The second weekend I crashed on the last lap, which was a bummer for a few reasons. I knew immediately it was a bummer because when I regained consciousness I knew without having to look that I had broken another helmet with my head. The other reason was that I also broke my saddle and wasn't going to finish the race. I found out later that I was riding in the top three within a minute of the race leader, that was the last bummer.
Oh, and I had to move because one of my neighbors broke a water pipe while I was in Canada. My floors and walls are all having to be replaced and my condo is in shambles. School + moving + crashing = mtb season is over.

No worries, 'cross season is just around the corner. It looks like I'll be a full time student this Fall so I plan to win the ACCC conference champion title again and head to Bend, OR for another run at the national championships. This year I will not be including a 1.5 week stint with swine flu in my training plan. I have a hunch this will help my performance.

Danville, VA race pix:

Bump 'n Grind Race photos courtesy of http://www.samuelgussphotography.com

Devastational

2010-05-24T12:39:00.004-04:00

I drove a lot this past week. First to Massachusetts, then Canada; repeat then back south. Mostly I went to race my mountain bike in Canada. My bike is falling apart and dudes who race for UCI points are fast. I promptly had my pride handed to me in a doggy bag. The courses were fun so even when you're losing you still can have fun pedaling. Mix one part devastation with one part motivational and you can sum up my races with devastational.

I started around 70th and finished around 40th. Bonus points for super fun riding in Western Mass between races and super fun riding partner friend Justin (Wolverine: see blog right) who went crazy fast and furious to start in the 70s and finish in the 20s.

Since I won't be able to get a new bike as quickly as I would I'll probably make mtb season end early and start 'cross training.

Mullet-Hawk

2010-05-07T16:46:00.009-04:00

I want to do the right thing. When the time comes I want to be sure that my new hair cut will make me faster. I plan to straddle the fine line between mullet and mohawk, which will be henceforth referred to as the mullet-hawk. I can barely contain my excitement. Just thinking about my new haircut is making my legs more vascular, my quads bigger and my tan lines more defined. This could be the competitive edge I need heading to Canada.

A quick google-style image inquiry into the world of the 'euro-mullet' yielded shocking results: cyclists have been using the mullet-hawk as an ergogenic aid for quite some time.

Exhibit A: http://speedtheorycyclingteam.blogspot.com/2008/04/will-train-make-his-winning-move-in.html

Coincidence? I think not.

Exhibit B: http://djones.myncblogs.com/2008/12/02/is-the-euro-mullet-still-in-style/
very coincidental. The mullet featured here is on my NCSU 'cross teammate Brain Sain's head.

Exhibit C: http://goodtimecyclingblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/well-well-well-tim-johnson.html
It apparently works equally as well for cyclocross.

I fell down

2010-04-21T20:50:00.007-04:00

I don't usually crash my bike, but last Sunday I fell down. I wasn't paying attention and rode my front wheel off the side of a wooden bridge. The bridge was covered with roofing shingles for added traction which felt less than wonderful against my skin as I face-planted into it.

Considering the fact that my wheel fell out out on the first lap and I crashed on the second lap, the fact that I still won was enough to take the sting away.

Photos and results:

http://documents.clubexpress.com/documents.ashx?key=usxJ6E6EJ0KdUoAmMJIYisao6xqgbNaZK3uNt3JWy3EZW8To8cVBuejNkgqz89y81odOlIUIuuM%3d
http://www.ecvelo.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=984060&module_id=49780

The Euro-mullet makes me faster.

Naked

2010-02-15T18:34:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-12T12:27:00.004-05:00

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?

2010-02-09T20:09:00.003-05:00

aaRRRRRR.

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

It helps me watch my training:

I'll admit it

2010-02-01T11:26:00.006-05:00

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:

May 16, Baie Saint-Paul Quebec UCI XCO1
May 22, Tremblont Montreal UCI XCO1
May 30, Ontario UCI XCO1
June 5, Alabama UCI XCO2
July 4, Marathon Nats Breckenridge, CO UCI XCM CN
July 10, Colorado Springs, CO UCI XCO2
July 18, XC Nats Grandy, CO UCIXCO CN
August 15, Bromont UCI XCO1
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.

Art

2010-01-22T20:01:00.002-05:00

Spending 15-30 hours each week wearing spandex and drinking juice from a bottle is hardly the mark of a manly man. Luckily I stumbled upon this website: http://artofmanliness.com/ If I can slowly incorporate some suggestions from that website I may be able to counteract all of the cycling I've been doing.

I found it while looking into straight razor shaving again. I barely need to shave as it is, but there seem to be many benefits to doing it with a reusable single blade. Plus it's about as manly as scratching an itch with a gun.

pigs and bikes on ice

2009-12-18T16:06:00.009-05:00

In the past few weeks I was complimented on my mustache, got swine flu and raced my cyclocross bike, not in that order.

Usually about 1 or 2 weeks before a big race I'll start to decrease my training load to allow my body recover, get faster, and come into the event fresh and fast. This year I got the swine flu instead. It didn't work nearly as well as my usual tapering protocol. Too bad. I still decided to travel all the way across the country to race anyway. About halfway through the race I realized I hadn't crashed yet, and decided to make it a personal goal of mine to finish the race without crashing. I succeeded at this goal.

I finished 25th of the collegiate Div 1 boys. Considering that I lost my call up and had the swine flu, and flatted during the race I'm reasonably ok with this. Apparently the ACCC allowed me to race a whole season and win the conference on an expired license, I had no idea until I went to check in. The USAC director told me I had been crossed off the start list. Bummer. I was allowed to race, but without the benefit of a front row start.

Oregon has a cyclocross (and probably cycling in general) scene that is on par with New England. One thing they have that New England does not, is a group of professional photographers who race cyclocross and take kick ass pictures of the races. Visit here: http://www.pdxcross.com/ and note the sexy black and white.

The pdxcross group was able to show a few crashes during my race:

I'm the one still upright behind the other dudes. It seemed like all day I was dodging crashing riders. Below is teammate John Crow who fell down more times AND made more money than I did.

It's time for a little break from riding. Maybe a week or two. Then it will be back to the mtb, I can't wait.

Patterns

2009-12-03T18:39:00.014-05:00

I'm afraid I'm getting repetitious with these posts of images trying to show patterns. Maybe I should figure it out, or stop posting. I threw some bike racing in there too, jus cuz.

And a few more:

More racing

2009-11-12T22:01:00.004-05:00

Last weekend I raced at Virginia Tech. Saturday the race started at 9:30 pm. This was a bit different from the 7:00 am starts I was used to during the endurance mtb season.

I raced like a sissy Saturday night sucking wheel and finishing second in the college race. Luckily the college kid I was following went pretty fast so we caught and passed most of the pro field who had started 45 seconds ahead of us.

Sunday to make up for Saturday night's lackluster race I rode harder and alone. I was able to catch and pass all of the pro field. So despite a 45 second handicap I managed to win the race outright. Sweet. Hopefully this means my form is starting to come around in time for nationals.

Here are some pictures from Sunday, the glasses made me faster.

More pix

2009-10-25T18:31:00.009-04:00

I took some pictures at the NC state fair early in the morning. I also took a few pictures while I was home last weekend. Here are some of them:

I went to the fair with Joel and Herc Nasty, Joel walked through my shot so I got to blur him:

cross

2009-10-24T18:19:00.006-04:00

Today was the first race of the NCCX series. I think I finished 6th in the pro 1/2 winning the collegiate category. The end of October is usually when the legit 'cross racers are starting to get their racing legs under them, and this was my third race weekend in a row. This year I am not a legit cross racer. Earlier today:

The first weekend of racing the collegiate cats ran with the pro 1/2 race, I finished 5th or 6th winning the college race. Day two was slightly worse, 8th in the pro 1/2 and 2nd in college. Then I flew back to New England, where the cross scene is significantly better. Saturday I raced poorly and finished 9th or so in the pro 1/2 and Sunday it rained all day and I lost feeling in most of my body. I finished 5th. There were no collegiate categories.

Photo credits on the first two go to Kai, and the last three are Giana's. Thanks for sharing.

a few more

2009-10-06T19:07:00.002-04:00

A few more for the 'Raleigh' collection. I may have adjusted the brightness on one of these, otherwise they've only been reduced to web-friendly dimensions.

This weekend is the first cyclocross race of the season. It's a little later than I would like. I'm hoping for a chance to take some pictures at the races. Suffering on the bike looks better in black and white.

Good morning

2009-10-01T16:37:00.002-04:00

While riding this morning I experienced one of those moments that made me remember why I liked riding. The air was cool and dry, finally. It was about 30 minutes after sunrise and the sunlight came in low through the trees. While riding my cyclocross bike on dirt, I felt like a wild animal running through the forest. Alternating rays of warm light and cool shadows from the trees made me feel like I was going faster. As a result I actually went faster. Korpiklaani must have been playing in my head, I'm thinking spirit of the forest. Anyway it was sweet. That's all.

Rally

2009-09-29T15:16:00.004-04:00

This one is mine. There will be more. I will never make the best photograph of 'Raleigh'. Instead, I'll do my best to record the images that will remind me of the Raleigh I know. This project will last at least another roll and hopefully not more than another year.

Y'all don't know me, Herc-nasty

Textures, patterns and other

2009-09-26T17:36:00.005-04:00

Mostly these are other. You'll notice a border around each image. This is the edge of the negative. Each strip of black and white film was scanned and converted to a jpeg file. I may have adjusted the brightness and contrast on as many as three of the images. Otherwise they haven't been altered. My lack of cropping is why you see the edge of the negative in each picture. I read somewhere that some photographers will actually make prints that show the edge of the negative like this as a way of showing that they had the forethought to compose the photograph the way they wanted it before actually taking the picture. I try to do this as much as possible for a variety of reasons. The one in here that was cropped, I cropped because I held the camera a little crooked so my lines that should have been parallel with the edge of the frame were not.

I made it

2009-09-23T09:43:00.003-04:00

The mountain bike season is officially over. In the end I have raced approximately 600 miles and trained for countless more. I am currently ranked 10th overall in the National Ultra Endurance Series and 9th in USA Cycling's national ranking for endurance racing.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/shogren-schalk-clinch-100-miler-series-titles

Ahh nuts

2009-09-19T19:58:00.003-04:00

The current photo concept is textures and patterns. Here are my dirty nuts that turned out to be cleaner than I had hoped.

How Long

2009-09-02T11:43:00.004-04:00

How long will my hair actually get if I leave it alone for a while? After pressing the 'reset' button on my hair growth with a highly unpopular haircut at the end of July I started wondering about this.

How long should I wait before I cut it. Your vote will determine my fate. For a limited time only you may vote, I promise not to cut it until the date with the most votes. The poll is on the right.

Round 3

2009-08-23T18:31:00.007-04:00

These are the last of the vacation 2009 photos. We'll have to wait until vacation 2010 before I shoot, develop, and scan a whole load of black and white negatives again.

In no particular order, I've posted these photos chronologically starting with some light reading in the morning.

and a few shots of the sky, after getting a yellow filter..

Then we drove over the Sundance for some freestyle lounging.

I have no idea who this woman is on her phone, but just thought it was funny that she was chatting away.

Sister bear and Poppa bear took a hike with me to see a waterfall. This was on the way.

The falls:

The way back:

The gang:

That's all, until next year.

2 down one to go

2009-08-13T13:29:00.011-04:00

These are a few scans from two more rolls. I have one more to finish and for some reason I don't feel as compelled to shoot here in Raleigh as I did in any of the other aforementioned locations.

Utaahr

2009-08-10T16:32:00.007-04:00

I went there and everything. I even have the pictures to prove it. In no particular order I'll be posting them chronologically as they were taken.

Vacation 2009 started with a wedding, congratulations Justin and Jess, and then took me to Maine, Massachusetts and finally, Utah.

Hiking in Utah, aspen trees, a sculpture, Park City and a brew pub. . .

It's hot down here

2009-06-22T11:46:00.004-04:00

Last weekend was the Cowbell Challenge, which was the 4th stop on the Kenda Cup east calendar. The weekend offered both a marathon and xc race. I figured my chances were better in the marathon, and since having previously decided that longer races would be my focus this year, I signed up for that one.

We started at 10:00 and it was already probably 85 degrees. The race started downtown so we went on a nice group ride on pavement for the first 20 minutes or so. Some dude on the Jittery Joe's U25 team took off on us. Nobody really felt like chasing. Then Harlen started to go. I felt like chasing. He sat up, I kept going figuring it might be worth the extra effort to get into the woods alone rather that with a big and potentially dangerous group.

I was right. About halfway through the first lap Harlan caught me. I rode his wheel and by the end of the lap we caught the Jittery Joe's guy. We rode together. My cleat came loose. I picked up hay in my cassette and had to stop to pull it out. I caught back on. I felt really good on Harlan's wheel. After two laps he caught a root and fell down. I kept going.

Because I had burned a few matches to catch back on after my mishaps, I figured it was only fair to make them work a little. After a lap Harlan caught back on, without the company of the Jittery Joe's guy. We rode together for another lap. I fell down. He kept going. I caught back up just in time to start cramping. I realized that it was over 100 degrees and I hadn't been drinking enough. I averaged two bottles per 40 minute lap. I stopped sweating. I felt bad. I went slow. The Jittery Joe's guy blew past me like I was having a bad day. I was, for a little while.

I started going a little faster. After 4.5 hours I was the third person to cross the finish line for the last time. Not too bad all things considered. Also I learned a few things, one is that I can ride with those famous guys that do this more or less full time. Secondly, slow and steady does not win the race, but fast and steady does.

Cycling News

Another 100 miles

2009-06-02T14:32:00.005-04:00

My third ever 100 mile mountain bike race was significantly more competitive than the others.

Here's a brief take on my race last Saturday.

I rode from the hotel to the start as a warm up. From the start I decided to go for the $200 preme at the top of the steep hill just past the start. One other kid apparently had the same idea. I sat on his wheel as we rode away from everyone up the hill. As we get to the top of the hill maybe 50 yards from the line I start setting up to come around him and then notice Schalk killing it from over my left shoulder. He goes much faster than we do. Now my legs hurt.

In damage control mode I file into the single track in about 20th spot. Apparently a lead group of 6 riders (including tinker and schalk) ride away from everyone at some point in the first 20 miles of single track. I realized I'm on the back of what I later learn is chase group 2. After about 40 minutes my legs have recovered enough that I can start passing these guys. One at a time I pass the 10 or so guys in the single track and then ride up to what I discover is chase group 1. I gather this based on the presence of Harlan, Eatough, Beck and some other famous kids. Ok now I can relax a little bit.

I relaxed a little too much and crashed on a rocky section I didn't see because I was riding too close to the person in front of me. No worries, the bike's ok and I hop back on. Chase group one splits and a few people pop off the back, Chris Eatough, Rob Lichenwalner, and some others. I'm still in it and feeling pretty good. Then I notice I'm riding on my rim. I pull over to blast a CO2 in to my back tire and hope the thing seals up so I don't have to stop again and put in a tube. I waved bye to chase group one.

Then I rode by myself for about an hour. I noticed two dudes catching me on the pavement so I allowed this to happen so I could start drafting and work in with them. It was Rob and Eatough. We rode together for a few hours. I asked Chris if he felt these races were more competitive this year than say last year. The answer was yes, about 3 times as competitive and he looked at his garmin gps thingy and said something to the effect of if he were having the same ride he was having today last year, he would be sitting in the top 3 rather than in 12th. Bummer.

Then we heard some brakes behind us and gathered that the front part of chase group one must have taken a wrong turn and was now catching up. This was true. Harlan proceed to push the pace and destroy chase group one. I was one of the first casualties. I waved bye to the cool kids again. I rode alone for a long time, thought about quitting bike racing, ate some hohos and other junk food items. Then after the last aid station I started to feel good again, probably due to the reappearance of single track, or caffeine. I went really fast and passed a few people that had also been shelled off of the chase group. I finished after 15 others with a time somewhere around 7:40.

The end.

Here's someone else's take on this story.
http://cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2009/may09/mohican100_09

Make Mine a Double

2009-05-26T10:04:00.004-04:00

I decided that Sunday would be a good day to go to the beach. Obviously I rode my bike there. I went to Myrtle beach in South Carolina.

It turns out this is pretty far away. After a few wrong turns, two dirt roads to nowhere, and one snickers bar, I had ridden about 220 miles. It took 13 hours. I sunburned my legs. I drank a lot of water and helped a box turtle cross the road.

Lots of cyclists make a goal of the 100 mile bike ride, a century. Since it was memorial day weekend, I figured I should do a century, but got a little crazy and made mine a double.

Myrtle Beach or bust reloaded
Find more Bike Rides in Raleigh, North Carolina

Beaten

2009-05-18T10:18:00.002-04:00

Someone beat me to the punch by a long shot. http://www.dhmo.org/

The internet is really really good at making us afraid. If I remember correctly it was razor blades in candied apples, food coloring, MSG, trans fats, and now high fructose corn syrup helping us to make the 'correct' purchases. Well, be on the lookout for dihydrogen monoxide. And remember, anything we don't understand is scary. Don't bother listening to those who do understand, they're out to get you.

Celebrities with well written testimonials, beautiful faces, and sparkling white teeth are the only ones that can be trusted. Anyone on television meets at least two of the previously mentioned three criteria for credibility, so I would take their word as gospel.

South Carolina

2009-05-13T13:11:00.002-04:00

I raced last Saturday in South Carolina. It was both hot and humid. I went fast. I went slow. I fell down. I finished second. Someone took a picture of my pedal. I was excluded from this photo.

Anti Climax

2009-05-04T09:04:00.002-04:00

Generally speaking I am a fan of climax. Lately however, there has a been a serious lack thereof.

Two weeks ago I spent three months training for a race. Instead of going really fast by racing hard (climax) I raced like a sissy girl (anti).

Yesterday I drove with roomie and teamie to VA for an xc race. I cleaned my bike. I ate a low fiber high energy breakfast four hours before start time. I drank coffee two hours before start time. I went to register one hour before start time. These steps are the foreplay of bike racing. I was mentally and physically prepared. After four hours in the car the anticipation was killing me.

Then they did not take my money at registration. This is atypical. Half an hour later they announced that they were canceling the race. Not awesome. Regardless of the weather forecast I may start emailing promoters to make sure this won't happen again. Nobody likes a tease.

Kromlek

2009-04-18T12:27:00.008-04:00

I'm not even close to finding the limit of the awesomeness that metal has to offer. Most lately Kromlek has moved their way to the number one slot in my mental list of most requested songs.

Please enjoy the following:

I can't

2009-04-15T14:49:00.005-04:00

Because I don't want to. The infamous Mister Dave Maynard reminded me of this idea semi recently and it became applicable shortly thereafter. It turns out the only excuse that is valid is, 'I don't want to'.

Every day we're inundated with choices that if we spent any time making those decisions we wouldn't have any time to do anything else. So we make the habit of making easy rules to eliminate choices that we've decided don't make sense. This way we don't need to consider the nonsensical options thus reducing the number of decisions/choices we need to make each day to a manageable number.

For example, Joe Sixpack (credit to Tyre for that one) wakes up in the morning when his alarm goes off. He could reset it for 18, or 19 minutes later, but more likely than not he'll either choose 'snooze' or to get up. What do I wear? Well he's probably already eliminated the options of putting socks on his head or wearing underwear or the family dog as a shirt, so the number of choices has again been reduced. Pants go on the lower half shirts on the the upper half.

In this same way we eliminate 'unreasonable' choices so as not to waste time considering them. Unfortunately this practice has gotten a little out of hand. There are loads of things we 'can't' do that we probably could and should do. We just don't want to so let's not lie about the reasoning. There is no can't, only won't. Once in a while, let's reconsider why we 'can't' do something.

More often than not it's because it makes us uncomfortable. I have found discomfort brings growth, this is a good thing usually. Stagnation is embarrassing.

So in the not so distant past I declined an opportunity to do something I should have done. I had an arsenal of excuses, but I didn't present any because the only real reason is that I didn't want to. Since we're all limited to the same excuse (I don't want to) it should be accepted as unquestionably as any other excuse. Sadly we're usually stuck within the bounds of what is socially acceptable, in this case making an excuse about the weather or traffic would have been acceptable, but I couldn't do that, because I didn't want to.

Road Foul

2009-04-09T17:44:00.004-04:00

A lot has happened since we first starting hanging out earlier this morning. In the past month I've experienced more than my share of foul play on the pavement. Those readers who know me know exactly what I'm talking about.

Several weeks back I went on a very long (ok, only like 7hrs) mountain bike ride on the road. During this ride I was passed by a truck carrying chickens. This was the first time I've experienced this. They smell bad. The chickens were basically all crammed into these cages that were stacked on the back of this truck and as it whizzed by I got a whiff and some feathers in my face. Gross.

About ten minutes later as I was just riding along (JRA) I spotted what looked like discarded diapers in the road. As I got closer I recognized the white blobs as chickens rather than diapers. Apparently the chickens tried to escape and didn't realize that exiting a moving vehicle was a bad idea. Idiots. There were like three of them in the road with their voluptuous breasts all splayed out on the pavement. For shame. This was road foul number one.

Numero dos: A few weeks later while coasting down lake wheeler road I watched a white goose cross the road. I couldn't tell you why he was crossing the road, but the car that was coming the other way didn't even flinch as it ran that sucker over with authority. That goose should have probably hurried a little more.

Please refer to the following diagram:

From time point 0 to 1 the goose is operating at normal waddling speed behind his friends.

At point 1 he sees either,
a) me
b) the car
c) both
and increases waddling speed to maximum waddle.

Point 2 car thuds into goose, causing a rapid increase in velocity.

Points 3 to 4 grass and pavement slow the goose down, and he's reached his friends.

Game over.

WWJD?

2009-03-06T06:40:00.005-05:00

Occasionally I seek inspiration from a higher source. Most recently this came during a bicycle ride. I was a little tired and the pavement tilted up slightly. The easy thing to do was to slow down and pedal a little softer. This was the path of least resistance. Eventually I'll talk more about this path, for now we'll just note that it is not the correct answer.

To find the correct answer I had to dig deep. I had to consider, WWJD, What Would Justin Do? Most of the time, the people I am surrounded by and interact with daily , aren't accustomed to pushing through self-induced physical pain. I had to seek help from a source beyond my normal everyday reality. I had to go back in time to the good ol' days, the salad days as they say.

Back 'in the day', if the plan was to ride 'cross bikes at 7am in December in the rain or snow, that's exactly what would happen when the person I was riding with was Justin. When the plan was to ride mountain bikes for 6 hours trying to connect the two large trail networks for the first time, that's exactly what Justin and I did. A six hour bike ride in the snow with windchill in the negative double digits was not cause for alarm, we were just happy the roads were clear enough to ride outside. There were no excuses, you just did it. This was the norm, my baseline, my frame of reference.

So recently, as I lost speed up the incline, I just had to pretend I was riding with you know who. Then I started pedaling harder and suffering more because that's the logical choice, that's just what you do. So now when I'm in need of divine inspiration all I have to do is ask myself, WWJD?

Out of Hand

2009-03-02T10:09:00.004-05:00

When I run out of things to say I usually talk about the weather. The past 10 days have been a little bit out of hand in terms of weather. Last Friday it was 60 and sunny. This past weekend it dropped like 50 degrees and rained all weekend. Today, Monday, it's snowing and the low was like 14. By Saturday we're scheduled for 70s and sun. WTF*?

*FYI, WTF is an abbrev. that is stands for "Why That Forecast"

Super TV

2009-03-01T18:32:00.005-05:00

The abbrev TV is in reference to television, which has almost replaced regular vision as far as I can tell. Super means 'better than'. I'm pretty excited to offer this new product to the world, the super TV.

The super TV plays only the shows you like. There are no commercials. It uses little to no electricity. You can pause as long as you like and it remembers exactly where you left off. Missed you favorite scene? Not a problem on the super TV, you can instantly rewind or fast forward to any scene you like. The super TV is portable, you can fit one in a small school bag. The price is the best part, you local library loans these things out for free.

Some people call them books, I call those people nerds. They're called super TVs, because TV is cool. And super? Well 'nuff said.

Brunch

2009-02-23T11:26:00.002-05:00

Non race Sundays (NRS) are currently in season. Naturally I want to take advantage of these to the best of my ability. Lately this means putting my feet up and enjoying free brunch with a few beers at the Saucer. Last Wednesday while at the Saucer I met a guy at the bar who was big into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. As a fan of submission grappling, we talked about fighting in general for the better part of an hour. He noted that the gym he works out at has the local sheriff and a lot of SWAT team officers that come out to roll. This is a bonus because it's the only place he knows of where you can legally choke out a sheriff. Bonus. It turns out he also climbs trees for a living and looks like he could definitely beat up anyone I know.

He mentioned to me that he got to know one of the managers at the Saucer well enough that they were going to let him use the back room for his club meetings. After drinking 200 different beers at the saucer you get a plate on the wall with your name on it, he's about to get his plate unveiled. You also probably get to know the manager. I asked what kind of club, and he hesitated. Then he looked around to see who else was listening.

"well, I'll just tell you" he said reluctantly, as he produced half of a hand knit neck warmer from his pocket. "It's a knitting club, I'm making this for my sister".

Well I didn't see that coming at all. He then noted that the hat he was wearing was something he had also made and then invited me to join him the following Sunday at brunch. I tried knitting once before and I was terrible at it, but I do like a lot of things about knitting. I like knots, I like making things, I like creativity and customization involved, I like learning new skills, I like wool and other natural fibers, and with very little hair on my head I like the option to keep my head warm.

"I'll be there", I was sold. So although NRSs are becoming fewer and fewer I'll be spending the rest of them eating brunch, drinking a few beers, and now, knitting.

So good

2009-02-11T14:22:00.002-05:00

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it. Lately this beauty has presented itself in the form of Norwegian black folk metal and fountain pens.

What?

Maybe this isn't the most obvious combination. Maybe it's less obvious than the name of the movie I almost quoted at the start of this ramble.

Please refer to exhibit A:

Now THAT'S what's up.

I'm looking to get my hands on the first one shown.

Now imagine writing with that pen while listening to Windir, yup exhibit 2:

(yes, I know I changed numbering conventions)

These dudes look like Halloween year round and sound like Ensiferum meets Fintroll. My heart feels like it's going to cave in, or explode. Maybe it's the caffeine.

Trick Question

2009-01-21T12:36:00.004-05:00

Mostly because the Gun Show mentioned getting the youth over with, I'll share a quicky.

Last week the Buchi representative was installing our new toy that I'll be using a lot for my research.

The other creepy grad students were hovering over him as he worked, quite awkwardly. Obviously I was one of them. In a noble attempt at small talk the man lightheartedly presented the query , "so what are you going to do when you grow up?"

The others hesitated, but I knew the correct answer and immediately said, "Trick question! I'm not growing up."

For the most part this is true. I'm not entirely sure if anyone decides that they're going to 'grow up'. Maybe they do, but it's probably a way of rationalizing living a life they are less than happy about.

Weather

2008-12-19T14:53:00.002-05:00

I might could get used to the weather around here. It is great for riding bikes.

All the other places I look at are worse for riding this time of year. The next step is to find more time to actually ride outside.

Making Approaches

2008-12-10T21:00:00.004-05:00

There are good ways, and less-good ways to approach strangers. This is especially true if you want something from them. Last night while walking down the street I was approached by a stranger who, I assumed was homeless. He assumed I was willing to buy him food.

The thing is, he had a pretty good approach. Step one, "I don't want any money from you"

He just disqualified himself from being a beggar, nice.

"Ok..."

"Instead can you buy me a burrito from that fancy pants burrito place right there, it's only a dollar thirty five"

"I see"

Man, I could use a burrito too. I've never been to this place, it looks pretty good. Only $1.35? That's pretty reasonable sounding. Unless they have changed things from what I've learned about the drug culture from tv and movies, and burritos are now accepted in lieu of cash, he will not be buying crack with this burrito.

"Yea I can do that"

So we ate burritos. Not together, but at the same time just in different places. Next time we're eating this meal together. What has gotten into me? Am I nicer person than I thought I was? Is it the Holiday spirit sneaking in? Maybe he just had a good approach.

Finland

2008-11-28T10:58:00.006-05:00

According to wikipedia, Finland's "Contemporary music includes e.g. a renowned metal music scene, in common with the other Nordic countries, as well as a number of prominent rock and pop bands, jazz musicians, hip hop performers and makers of dance music." I can confirm that the metal is indeed renound. Lately I haven't been able to stop listening to a few bands, all from Finland.

It all started with Korpiklaani, after peeping the youtube for some of their music and stumbling upon this: there was no turning back. I mean seriously, the man pops out of an outhouse playing a fiddle. I thought I had found the greatest music of all time. I had, but there was more.

Luckily Banshee media player, along with the internet, is pretty smart and was able to recommend some other bands I might be interested in. Ensiferum anyone? Rumor has it they call themselves "viking metal", I call them "awesome".

Finntroll rounds out the picks for this month. In a semi related genre, but not country of origin I need to mention apocalyptica, you know, the cellists.

As a response to my letter to nationals, a friend suggested to get in shape for nationals all I would need would be a 10 minute training montage. He was right, and I think with this music as the soundtrack that montage might just work.

Dear 'Cross Nats

2008-11-24T10:40:00.002-05:00

Dear 'Cross Nats,

I'm sorry to have to tell you this way, but I'm not going to be able to make it to see you next month like we had planned. It's not you, it's me.

My recent reductions in training volume have really taken their toll me on, you wouldn't want to see me in my current condition. Honest. My legs are flabby and shapeless, my ass is huge, and my tan lines have somehow disappeared with the sprouting of fresh hair on my legs.

School has turned my brain to mush and I would be too preoccupied to give you the attention you deserve. I'm driving home for Turkey day and well, I'm really only good for one drivathon per year. 2008's quota is filled, and with the gas prices what they are there's just no way I can afford to come visit. My new roommate hasn't panned out yet so I'm really strapped for cash, my car is in dire need of an oil change and I don't even have enough quarters to do laundry. If only I were stronger, you wouldn't want to see me like this anyway. I don't want to see me like this.

I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun with all of those 'other' boys anyway. They're in much better shape than I am. This is a good thing, for both of us. I think Matt Rotroff will be coming to visit in my place. Tell him I said 'what's up'.

Regretfully,
Aaron

detraining

2008-11-17T08:40:00.005-05:00

It turns out that drastic reductions in training lead to drastic reductions in fitness. I realized this yesterday at NC state 'cross series race number 6. After going really hard on the start, as hard as I should be able to go, I promptly blew up and drifted to the back.

The start, all seven of us:

In my pre-college days I was expending approximately 10,000-13,000 calories worth of energy on training each week. In the past 2 months my average weekly expenditure is around 3,500. Oops. School keeps getting in the way of training.

Pictures of me going slow look like this:

Plab B: train as much as is reasonable to get fast enough not to embarrass myself at cx nats. On Dec. 13-14th I'm headed to Kansas, mostly for the after party, but I'll do the college kid championship race too.

Caitlin had a good race and is pictured here running, ahead of one of our more famous UMass teammates.

Here's a clip of me in third leading the chase towards the end of the first lap. I promptly fell back to 6th for the rest of the day.

Spring Break!!!

2008-11-06T08:54:00.005-05:00

Ok, so winter hasn't even happened yet, but I'm thinking Spring. Spring break!!! to be exact. I'm thinking spring because I remembered that I forgot my road bike at home, in MA. I decided that I would like to have this bicycle here, in Raleigh, NC.

If I ask them nicely, my parents might box and ship my bike to me. I could carry my bike on a return flight after visiting MA for Turkey day or Xmas. Let's not be hasty, as Bruce would say, "don't move until you see it". The correct answer is to fly home for Spring Break!!! and ride the bike back to Raleigh.

The academic calendar here at State lists spring break!!! as March 2 to the 6th. It's only 750 miles or so. Tentative plans are shown below.

You might be a dork

2008-11-03T16:14:00.005-05:00

If you think this is cool. I think this is cool.

For eons people have wondered what the shear rate of swallowing was. Then one time someone figured out how to figure it out. Basically this is what they did...

Make several samples of Newtonian goop for people to swallow, each of a different viscosity. Have them rank these as 'thick' and 'thin'. Give them a power law fluid to swallow and rank. Now plot and extrapolate.

Penz

2008-10-31T10:43:00.004-04:00

I recently purchased a new pen from the internet. It was delivered yesterday, but since I was not home at the time of delivery, they left it in the housing association office. No big deal, they're open from 9-12 on weekdays, I'll just show up to my 9am meeting a little late after picking up the pen.

Nope. The small sign indicted that they would be closed today. Great, now I'm going to have to wait until Tuesday. Lame.

Why would you buy a pen on the internet? Because unfortunately there are few retailers carrying fountain pens these days. Fountain pens write better. There I said it. I was hoping that because fountain pens write better, I would be able to write better with one. This has yet to happen. Remember IAMPETH and the Spencer brothers? Penmanship.

I started looking at and attempting to learn and/or invent some ornamental capital letters. Here's an example from Caitlin's pumpkin contest entry.

Radio

2008-10-30T16:06:00.002-04:00

Lately I've been pretty jazzed to be able to sample some new tunes via pandora internet radioesque website. It has about as much variety as the radio, but will allow you to choose the genre and skip songs once in a while.

Sometimes I hear voices, usually in my head. Today I could swear they were coming from the computer. Behind my epic metal there were voices. Was this a scheme by pandora to subliminally sell me more Epica or Apocalyptica albums?

I turned down the volume on the pandora website. The music went away, but the faintest sound background noise still came through.

Was I running another website or program in the background that made sounds I was not aware of? I shut them all, the noise remained.

Let's double check, I muted the sounds on the computer. The sounds persisted.

I turned the volume on my speakers all the way down. The music got louder. Apparently I'm picking up a local radio station via my computer speakers. Oddly enough it comes in loudest with the volume turned all the way down. Weird.

Nats part 2

2008-10-29T10:12:00.006-04:00

My third collegiate mtb nationals effort was easily my worst. I got my best result yet, which was not even close to my expectations.

On the plus side my parents came out to watch and I got to play the role of Jemaine with Justin playing the role of Bret.

Justin had a good day and finished 5th in the xc. Massive respect.

Caitlin took some pics and finished the xc without a chain, scooter style. Good game.

sick and tired of being sick and tired

2008-10-20T10:42:00.002-04:00

Saturday I woke up with a stuffed up nose and felt like crap, but I had pre-registered for a 'cross race. So I raced. Maybe I was sick from being pregnant?

I felt and looked like crap:

I ended up going ok and finished 10th on both days.

My body is tired. Done.

Justin is coming

2008-10-15T10:53:00.006-04:00

There's a special occasion coming up called collegiate mountain bike national championships, or something like that. The part that makes it so special is that Justin, formerly of UMBRC fame and currently a resident of the beaver state (Oregon), is coming out to race. Oh yea, the race is in the tar heel state (NC).

Below is part of a custody battle for young Justin that transpired this morning, highlighting just how special this occasion is.

me:i don't know if we could fit all 5 of us

would you mind driving FB? or i could prob fit him too but not the two of yous

he was thinking coming in wed night

Caitlin: yeah sho

I'll keep him Wednesday too

me: no way. I'm keepin' him

I have the cage set up already and everything

with his little water bottle on the side

i just bought fresh cedar chips

Caitlin : no way!!!

I've been Justin proofing my house for months

I just finished getting all breakable items above 4 ft

me: But I put a plastic cover on my couch and got those 3 ft high barriers to block off doorways

Caitlin: I plugged all the empty outlets

and rerouted all things in an outlet so the wires run through the wall

me: I guess what we'll have to do is when he lands, we'll both stand at opposite sides of the room and call him, whoever he goes to can have him

no cheating either, I don't want to see you sneaking bacon in your pockets or anything like that

Caitlin: and I don't want to see you with a bowl of granola and yogurt

pictures

2008-10-09T11:58:00.007-04:00

Here are a few pics courtesy of Caitlin from the cx race this past Sunday. I recently realized that as long as I'm not burned out by the time cx nats rolls around I could go and do the collegiate race. That might be fun. The UCI Elite race was not.

Nah

2008-10-06T10:24:00.011-04:00

I was thinking about posting my recent race results on the 'official website' for Aaron Oakes, but I'll stick them here instead.

I raced collegiate mountain bikes (they're smarter than regular ones) a few weeks ago and won the xc. This past Saturday I also won the xc and a TT.

Sunday I went to my first 'cross race and there were more all-stars there than at the mountain bike race. I finished 2nd. Results.

Hopefully I'll be able to post a video clip of me shouldering it over the, non-uci and way too high, set of doubles and sprinting up the hill that followed.

More stuff happened, but my full-time student/job won't permit me the time to write about it.

The video is at the gun show, I'm the one running. Hear.

Suffering

2008-10-01T14:14:00.005-04:00

For quite some time I've been toying with the idea of writing about suffering. This is not it. I don't even know that I could coherently put into words what it is I would like to express about suffering. Instead I'll just say that it is relative and usually a good thing.

Most recently, in the context of my back, I've been suffering a little because the knot which is aggravated by my compression fractures has been acting up. Yea, it hurts, but what hurts a lot more is when I put a lacrosse ball down on the floor and lay down on it. I place the whole weight of my body directly on the aggravated muscle, while the hard rubber ball firmly nestles it's way deep into my muscle tissue. Suddenly when I get up it hurts a lot less.

The moral: When you exist at a certain level of comfort, minor aggravations will cause sufferation. If you increase the level of suffering relative to your baseline, you can elevate it and eventually be comfortable with the first level of minor aggravation. This will alleviate the previous gripe.

Graph? Yes.

Don't even think about thinking about those unfortunate people who I may be offending by talking about suffering. You know, the people with no choice about it, the ones in drought stricken or impoverished parts of the world. They don't count, because they're not from America. Duh.

Thirty Two

2008-09-28T19:36:00.005-04:00

As a skeptic of so-called 'sales' at the grocer, I take notes of the prices of the few things I usually buy. Since the grocer is the only place I really buy anything, it's not that big of a hassle to jot down the unit pricing. There are only a dozen or so food items I purchase, so other than the score board I have at home labeled 'greatest hits' for only the lowest unit priced items, I have a decent mental tally of how much things should cost.

At big lots next to the local food lion (king of the grocers) I stopped in for a garden hose and noticed they had salsa in my favorite flavor, medium. I checked the price just for fun. It turned out to be $1/lb. A red flag went up, this was a good price. Just to be sure I popped into the FL where their best unit pricing was more than 60 cents higher per pound.

How much salsa do you buy when you know it's a good deal? Salsa is my main source of vegetables, and favorite topping for eggs, cottage cheese, rice and IQF vegetables. It's supposed to be shelf stable for another year and I go through roughly a pound every week and a half. With some help I was able to walk out of big lots with thirty two pounds of salsa. It should last through the end of the year. I updated the greatest hits score card.

Being Wrong

2008-09-25T07:46:00.009-04:00

It turns out being wrong is a good thing. I was recently challenged to write an essay on a subject that has no answer. In this light there is a broad spectrum of answers that would pass the test with varying degrees of wrongness. While pondering the thought of actually writing said essay, I remembered a relationship I had come up with that relates degree of wrongness to interest in conversation. This of course means it's time for a diagram. Please refer to figure 1.0.

Figure 1.0 The relationship between correctness of statement and willingness of others to engage you

This figure shows that closer to the origin, where the degree of wrongness is highest (x axis is how correct you are), the willingness for others to engage you in conversation is highest. In the very extreme case of being the farthest away from being correct, meaning closest to the origin, the willingness for others to engage is zero. This is because at such an extreme viewpoint people will probably be either:

a) afraid of you
b) convinced you're not capable of having a conversation because your idea is so bad

It is important to note that the maximum willingness to engage occurs very near to the most wrong you could ever be. This is because it is easy for people to identify that you are wrong, and be willing to 'set you straight' and be sure to correct you.

On the most correct end of the spectrum the willingness for people to engage asymptotically approaches zero. The asymptotic approach is to account for those people on the opposite end of the spectrum, who even though you are 100% correct, are crazy enough to argue. These are the people that most people are either:

a) afraid of
b) convinced aren't capable of having a conversation

The steady decline occurs because as your statement becomes more and more correct the possibility for anyone to add decreases. See figure 2.0.

Figure 2.0 The relationship between completeness of statement and room left to contribute

The take home message here is that if you would love to kill a conversation, be right. By all means make the most complete statement possible covering every angle and giving all sides of the argument a fair shake. Nobody, except the creepy guy in the corner, will have anything to say to that. You will have just won the contest of being right, but lost at being a guy people can talk to. Alternatively you could say something that is borderline outrageous. If you hit it just right, you will be rewarded with maximum engagement by normal people.

Partial Credit

2008-09-24T14:11:00.005-04:00

Do you remember exams? I vaguely did until yesterday. I took one yesterday and another today, this was the first time in a few years I had taken an exam. The past several days I've been a bit stressed out about attempting to learn sufficient material to get good enough grades on two exams to not get kicked out of school. The jury is still out, but I feel as though a tremendous weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Having these two exams out of the way is a welcomed relief that will last for up to three whole weeks before I realize there's another exam soon.

I think the weight on my shoulders has relocated itself in my back. Last night I rolled around on a lacrosse ball, which helped it a little.

Anyone remember how to use the Arrhenius equation to get a viscosity of a Newtonian fluid at a temperature when two other temperatures and viscosity are known? I didn't, so I'm hoping for partial credit.

In related news I really like diagrams. Here's one I made to show what is meant by plug flow in pseudoplastic materials:

Technician

2008-09-22T16:45:00.003-04:00

After the race yesterday I was called over for an interview with the technician. Apparently the technician is the name of the school's newspaper. Who knew?

Yesterday I raced xc collegiate style for the first time since 2005. It went well. There were 2 other pros and a semi pro in the race. I won and now I'm famous too: http://media.www.technicianonline.com/media/storage/paper848/news/2008/09/22/Sports/Club-Hosts.Race.Over.Weekend-3443532.shtml

Blood

2008-09-17T10:40:00.004-04:00

Writing in blood must be the ultimate. Supplies are limited so the words you choose are that much more important. There is no more meaningful form of communication than a handwritten letter written in blood on a slice of paper made from bamboo or leaves or something. The thought and feelings and meaning are all expressed by the media we use to communicate. A text message is worth less than a phone call, which isn't as good as a typed letter. Handwritten letters are on another level, and when you put blood on that bad boy and make your own paper it gets serious.

That's it, I'm fed up with substandard forms of communication. From now on I'll only respond to sticks and leaves with blood on them. You can send it as an attachment in an email if you want.

Spencer

2008-09-13T17:43:00.007-04:00

Remember learning how to write in elementary school? As a lefty I felt like I was always at a disadvantage even though I was allowed to write with my left hand. I didn't have to endure a ruler slapping for using the wrong hand, but penmanship did not come easily to me.

These days we can all write in New Times Roman at roughly 60 words per minute and cringe at the thought of having to write in cursive. Of course when I say 'we' I'm referring to anyone born during the era of Tom Selleck as Magnum PI or the A-Team showing on day time television.

Clearly it is an advantage to be able to produce written word that everyone can read, but isn't it a little inconvenient to need a computer and printing technology to do it? Once upon a time children were taught how to write, and write well enough for people to be able to read it. Before that time penmanship was not only legible, but it was also beautiful.

Call me old fashioned, but I think fire is magic. And it scares me. I also feel slighted by the public education system because not enough emphasis was placed on penmanship. As a result my writing looks like a two year old's. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to write someone a note and have it look pretty too? Doesn't it mean more? A pen in your hand is like a polygraph tied directly to your brain, just ask anyone who studies graphology.

I'm pretty sure there's an inversely proportional relationship between quality of script and quantity of writing required. For example, for me to effectively write an acceptable thank you note these days I need to fill 3-4 pages with my chicken scratch. If I could write like the Spencer brothers teach, all I would need to write is "Thanks".

Luckily there's a group that's come to rescue me from my own incompetence. I'm talking about IAMPETH, you know, The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting. On their website you can get a real education, and now that I'm back in school this is what I intend to do.
Spencerian Script

As requested

2008-09-11T09:59:00.001-04:00

Some folks have taken and posted several hundred photos from the Shenandoah 100 mountain bike race. Some others have found the ones of me and sent links in my general direction. I too have found a few, and for the benefit of anyone who would like to see them I will now post them here.

This is maybe my favorite one of me having fun while all the other kids sucking my wheel look less jazzed. It may have been 7:30am by the time this photo was taken.

This one must have been towards the end, I look lost.

Still early in the game, I'm giving a thumbs up. This was the first time I remember having my picture taken in this race.

I'm clearly disgusted with the depth of this river crossing, or the dog in the trail.

All done, and in less than a standard 8 hour work day. No lunch break.

The New Way

2008-09-10T18:40:00.000-04:00

It's time to learn a new way. Using the old way of thinking, I didn't kick ass on two separate fronts today. The first was eating, I accidentally ate a little too much at free dinner. I also had planned to ride pretty hard today. I didn't, and this was my second failure to kick ass.

It's raining. It's been raining all day. The new way now dictates that as a student, when I'm tired or can make another excuse not to hurt myself in the rain, I can take a 'rest' day. Rest is relative, I will run for like a half hour. The legs just didn't feel that swell yesterday and the correct answer is to be nice to them until they do feel swell. Only then will I beat them into the ground again. I still failed to kick ass at eating.

This new way is going to be sweet. I keep imagining how fun/different it would be to take the new way another step further and just be a normal graduate student. What a new realm of possibilities it would offer, like drinking more beer, not caring about getting fat, and joining all of the food science related clubs. Then I remember how unrewarding it all is in comparison to riding a mountain bike through the woods faster than most. Sold. I'll keep riding, sorry product development team, I have to go to sport practice.

Accidental Epic

2008-09-07T17:25:00.000-04:00

By utilizing the desk I found on the side of the road and a map of NC I had purchased, I planned out what I was hoping would be a 4.5 hour road ride today. I really wanted it to be 5 hours or less so that I would make it back in time to indulge in my first free breakfast buffet at the flying saucer. The flying saucer is a local beer bar and beer bar chain that offers members brunch buffet from 12-3 Sunday mornings. I left at 9 so the worst case scenario would be a 5 hour ride and a rush to brunch.

Instead I rode for nearly 7 hours and got pretty well sunburned in the process. I learned two valuable lessons, the first is that churches and houses that are for sale are the best places to fill up your water bottles. Second, wearing sunscreen can prevent unsightly helmet tan.