Funny thoughts and things I don't get.

"i" before "e" except after "c". Why? What makes "c" so damn important that we have to restructure the spelling of a word for it? I think there must have been some serious arguing going on when the guy that invented the "c" made this suggestion. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of words that ignore this rule all together?
Had this been a hard and fast rule, Albert Einstein would not be able to spell his name.


Car alarms:
(This one comes from NP) Why do people still spend money on car alarms? When was the last time you heard a car alarm going off and said to yourself "hey, someone is stealing that car"?
Nobody is stealing the friggen car, if we wanted your piece a crap car we certainly wouldn't steal it while it sits in front of 400 other bike racers.

The phrase "when I get around to it". I hate this phrase, it's the ultimate procrastinators phrase. "Hey, how about you get off your dead ass and do it NOW?!"

Top of the list: People who assume that I am not going to say "thank you" for something and jump in with an unsolicited "your welcome". It's just plain rude. I'll thank you in my good time, damn it!
Don't throw and unprompted "your welcome" at me, you won't get thank you at all! DAMN IT!

(The "damn it" is very important, it adds flava.)

Double spacing after a sentence: It's just plain wrong! You don't need a double space to tell you when the sentence ends, that is what the period is for. You have the last word, the period, then space. The next sentence start with capitol letter. My God, if someone can't figure out that we have started anew sentence, well, maybe they shouldn't be reading it. Eh?

So there you have it, today's rant.

Always something new.

She never ceases to find some way of bringing something new and exciting into our relationship.

I showed her how to set the bike up on the trainer and plug it into the computer and now she won't get off of it. She likes watching her wattage and trying to make it go higher. She is invading my garage that I spent 3 years building, and now there sits a pink bike in the middle of the room on a trainer that I bought with my race reimbursement money. And I dare not take it off.

Alas, I actually like it! I love telling her she is doing great, and I love her starting to see what it is that I see in this silly bike riding thing.

Go get um honey!

This weekend kicked ASS!

Congratulations Dan and Nathan. Seems that there is a serious show down a brewing. Nathan's a wanting that top step. I want it for him too.
Good fun!!!!

Epiphany

Wow, thanks to a recent post and thread from OV and comments from VB I just had this epiphany.

The post started out as a question with OV questioning his efforts to make positive change in the World and if it was even helping. As I read through the comments and rebuttals (GO READ THE COMMENTS!) I was reminded of the saying that the only evil we can fight is within ourselves. This lead me to the thought of how creating a cycling team potentially effects peoples lives.
(referring to Velo Bella and the organization VB created, not my team, mine is just an arena for me to entrap and torture more souls.) (That's a joke, folks)

You see, like a pebble dropped in a lake the ripple she created is that of bringing joy and a healthy life style to many peoples lives. Those people then go into the World and interact with many others. Perhaps after a great weekend of riding and socializing with friends they are a little more at peace with themselves and this influences the choices they make. Perhaps that joy influences how they interact with others, and so on and so forth.

So she works a 9 to 5 job to pay the bills, but it seems that her real purpose (Lothar spoke of purpose here) has been realized through the activity she does as a hobby. You can decide for yourself which one is her real work, but I think the answer is clear.

Tip of the Hat VB, and thanks to OV for being the catalyst to this Ah Ha.

What did I just get myself into.

Oh shit, he called my bluff. I finally found a riding partner that is more insane than myself.
We did it, NP and I just sent in our registration for the Devil Mountain Double Century.

Dude is already talking about beating last years winning time. Well...maybe, but I just want to build some resistance. If we beat it, great, if we just have a great LOOOOOOONNNNGGGG day in the saddle, that's cool too.

Self-Image vs. Self-Esteem

There is one great thing about interacting with folks who contend with certain challenges, they are great for BLOG content and evaluation of our personal growth.

The difference between self-esteem and self-image may sometimes seem subtle, but it is actually quite huge. Self-image is a facade, a mask if you will, and is dependent on the ego for protection in order to preserve how we see ourselves when feeling attacked. A person who has a high self image is extremely volnerable as almost every interaction in the World is under constant evaluation as a potential attack. This person has a certain view of themselves and any stimulus that is contrary to that view threatens to knock them off the pedestal that they have placed themselves on.

When an interaction is seen as an attack, the ego is immediately employed in order to preserve the self-image. It can sometimes take the tone of "victim", or even an offensive roll with vicious and overreactive lashing out verbally or even physically. The person who is constantly in a mode of self-preservation of this false self-image is in a neverending state of fight or flight.

A person with a healthy level of self-esteem, does not see everything as a potential attack and therefore a self-defense mechanism, like the ego, is not needed. This is the rational individual who will evaluate the information for what it is worth. While the information may be contrary to their personal opinion or belief, it is not seen as a threat. This person is comfortable with who they are and does not rely on the approval of others in order to be "OK" with themselves. They have nothing to prove and acceptance by others is not a requirement in the process of their own well-being. Inadvertently because of their certain unspoken self-confidence, they are typically accepted by most without trying. Why, because they are genuine in their behavior and mannerisms.

The self-image person lives in their own personal hell with each interaction in the outside World being a threat to their false self-image. It must be really hard to always be in a state of fight or flight on an emotional level. I can only imagine that at this level of an ever-vigilant emotional state of self-defense, one must often feel exhausted mentally and emotionally. The adrenal, hypothalamus, and pituitary glands being over taxed can only take so much before they just shut down from overload.

I could be way off base, but this is how I see it.

Copper-all-effed-up-roadoppolis

What a day full of double edged swords.
First lap and just after the climb a break was rolling off with some unmarked yet strong riders. The pace is about 15 MPH slower than last year at this time and OV's on my right shoulder but not making a move. I am stuck with a multi-teared dilemma, I don't want to pull OV up to the break, I am the only EMC/Vellum rider with an open door, and I am on my hoods instead of the drops. If I move my hands everyone will know what I am about to do. So I jumped best I could in this mediocre at best type jump, I am winding the gear out and I can't help but think I am dragging the whole pack with me.
I look back and not so much. It could be that I am not marked, or most think it's way too early(my hand is raised), or maybe by not advertising it was just sneaky enough even though it was not fast. Or a little of all of the above.

Initially I just wanted to mark this and make sure we were represented, but the gap started growing and the company was good. So we drove it and got organized. I was committed to the move now and had a responsibility to the team to do my best, and in this case a little more than my best.
My legs were still feeling the hard workout from Thursday and I was going through all kinds of pain. I tried my best to hide it and not shrug my pulls, but I could tell I was the weak link in this break.
The other double edged sword was the tire choice. After reading PAB's blog about the course, I went out and changed to the pure bomb proof tires that I train on. I was able to ride through just about anything, but they add nearly half a pound of rotating weight and they roll like shit.

Dano from the Bag Boys blew through our break like we were going backwards. He didn't even slow down to say hello, eff you, or stick his tongue out in a taunting nature. BAM GONE!

Those in our break that anything surged and that was about it for me, I had to ride a sensible ride and tried to partner up with Jeff Caton (CRC/Hill) who had ridden like stud all day. Unfortunately he had given a bit much to pace and was dying a slow death on the climb. Chris D. from investment firm came up with with Blue Boy in tow, I dug deep and jumped on the train. It was all I had to stay on and these two were flying. They were catching the break, so this was definitely a good move, a painful move, but far better than giving up.

I hung on until the last climb, this was going to have to do. I caught another breakaway compadre who was bonking and encouraged him to stay with me over the top. We were still clear starting the decent, but the Shark Man was tossing his hat into the ring. Dig time again and I sprinted for the wheel pushing past Frakes with an agro MTB type decent move.
The mistake made was not attempting to drive when we were clear from Frakes. He made it back and both had enough to hold me off in the final sprint. It was a painful 9th, but my best finish there ever. Done the hard way.

Here is a shout out to my man NP who finished up the race after a nasty fall. It must be that extra vain in the leg that keeps him rolling.


Hats off to the O man, and Silent J. for finishing it up all suffering like.
Here is a shot of Kramerica Inc. finishing up for a solid ride, top 15 we think.
Special thanks to the British Naval captain and Kramerica Inc. for the solid team work done in the pack.

And wouldn't you know, it's friggen raining again.

Useless Data

I love how some bike racers think they need to sit down with a calculater to figure out the numbers on a course. Pretty Fredalistic.
"Let see, by my calculations I should be able to climb that at X speed, divided by the wind factor, multiplied by the number of attacks".

JUST RIDE...Braintard!

You can either pedal the damn thing or you can't. END Of STORY!

Calculate this profile.

It should come out to something like this!

GET IT!?

Silence is Deafening

I know, how about we call the race AGFH Race?
As in "Ain't Going to Friggen Happen", because people would rather wallow and complain then do something about it. All I asked is for a 5 second comment to Yeah or Neah the idea.

You know what gets my goat? When folks whine and bitch about something they don't like, but when somebody tries to step up and offer a solution or an alternative, the silence is deafening.
"Oh, we don't want to fix the problem, then we wouldn't have anything to complain about".

WHATEVER!

Next Year at this time.

Wild idea happened upon today. With all of the folks that prefer to avoid the Otter, how about a low key alternative for those who want to race but not take a second out on the house to do so?

We are thinking about promoting a Saturday race as an alternative to the Sea Otter RR. $15.00 entry fee, pays out cash to the top 3. $30.00 for 1st, $20.00 for second, and $15.00 for third. Could run an Early Bird type format and even offer some morning mentoring for those who missed the EBs.
Possible Names:

1. The No Otter.
2. The Dead Sea Otter.
3. The Otternot.
4. The Otternative.

Thought? Comments? Flames?

2007 Caltrans Standards

I just got back from a meeting at Caltrans and this is a detail that will be placed in the 2007 Highway Design Manual.

Like this.

How does one get ones wife to put up with the cycling addiction?
Build her one, let her pick out her own color, and have decals made with her name on it.

It's a Groovy T.