Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

New Year???

A few days ago, someone asked me the typical end of the year question, "Are you excited about the new year? Have you made any resolutions?" This person was familiar with my dedication to living the examined life and assumed I was in the process of examining the previous year and all of its triumphs and failures with an eye to setting goals of the next. My response was not what the person expected.

You see, I really have about three specific "New Years". The biggest one is the first day of Fall Semester. I think that most teachers will agree with me that the "first day of school" is so full of hopes, expectations, anticipation and the like that the calendar year New Year is drarfed in comparison. For me, there is also the cycling year which ends in early November and begins anew in December with a sort of "limbo" time in between. This New Year is really big on goal setting and planning and all the rest. The biggest thing is that I'll take the medals from this year down from public display and move them to my personal space tonight to symbolize that for all of my accomplishements of last year, this year is a new one with new levels of performance required due to upgrading in my classes.

The biggest thing this night represents is a shift from vacation time back towards preparation time. Again, as a teacher, the beginning of any semester is a big deal and I want to be ready. I have a lot I want to accomplish. My physics 1 students have shown they can work; now they must really learn to think. I'm going to teach the first semester of astronomy my own way during a full semester for the first time ever. Will all of my high ideas of engaged learning really work in a sixteen week session? We'll find out.

In a way, I try to view each day as a "New Year". Of all the goals I set; daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, even longer term than that, they all begin with the things I do today. Let's hope that I can take the small step each day to move in the right directions. As I'm fond of saying about my bicycle racing, "The race I ride in May is won during the training rides in January and February." Or looking at the negative I sometimes say, "I can't win the race today but I can lose it-train hard today." Every day is a day to move forward towards your goals or a day to let your goals move farther away from you. Which will I choose?

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

There and Back...A Tale of Christmas Travel

Well, while the season of Christmas is still upon us (and will be until Jan 6-Epiphany) the day itself has come and gone. We spent a good bit of the time around the 25th traveling between southern Alabama and southern North Carolina. The time in Alabama was both good and less so. It was great to spend time with Kathy's sister Bonnie but some lingering malease keep the day itself from being what we had hoped. An important mental health tip here-if some one walks into your home and you start to count the people who didn't make it instead of being thankful for those who did, you need to look into getting counseling or anti-depressant medication or both.

After the holiday itself we headed up to a friend's lake home near Brevard, NC and had a great time of beer drinking, cooking, talking and mountain bike riding. Big Poppa, Capt'n Scotty and I did a 20 mile epic ride through the trails of the DuPont State Forest where Big Poppa showed us the finer points of underwater snorkling while carrying a mountain bike during one crossing of Little Creek. I actually never crashed while the bike was moving which, considering my descending skills and the ruggedness of the downhill terrain, is quite remarkable.

We're home now for the duration of the break. The lovely wife and I, due to all the traveling, have yet to open our Christmas presents to each other. That will happen sometime on New Year's eve. Right now it's a lot of little errand running and downtime here at the Hightower House. This is one of those times when I wish I had cable so I could watch all the College Footgball bowl games and generally veg on the couch. It's probably a good thing I don't though as there actually a deccent number of things I need to get done of the next several days.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Getting out of Town

It's that time of year where many people try to go from one place to another so as to see people they may really only want to see once a year or to see people they'd like to see more often than that but are too far away. In our case, it is a bit of both as we are presently in the land of Jenny and Forrest and Elephants and red clay and cotton and, most of all, Boll Weivel shines (talk about a blog for another time...whew!). I was amazed at the actual amount of time it took us to leave our driveway to leaving our town. Much of this, I believe, was due to the fact that Tuesday seems to have been "get out and drive really slow" day for the residents of our small Georgia town. I'm serious. Really. I'm just frustrated that no one told me so I could participate too. Everywhere we went we ended up behind a car that drove 10 mph under the speed limit and couldn't use their auto's mechanical signals to clearly indicate what it was they planned to do as drivers, assuming that they actually knew. So, what should have been a couple of quick on the way out of town errands turned into a comical escapade that took nearly an hour.

Still, I am glad to get away from being near the big city for the middle of the week. I don't know if the bad guys are planning to attack America on one of Christianity's high holy days but I don't want to be anywhere near Atlanta if they do. BY the way, if there are those who wonder what the Muslim extremists think of the US religiously, an attack on or near Christmas will go a long way to clearing that up. My hope is that even the extremists will understand that certain things are just beyond the pale but I don't expect that to happen. These guys follow from the same philosophical tradition of people who scream when the US has soldiers in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan but attacks Israel on Yom Kippur hoping to catch the Jewish people by surprise. Granted these things happened years apart but the leaders of the extremists were alive for both instances.

Anyway, my little digression aside, we've arrived here in the Sawgrass safely and are trying to relax and see everyone, including those we really aren't too excited about. The question I always ask is why does it have to be so hard sometimes? If the the most important goal is to have the "whole family" together (whatever that means...families can be pretty big dependign on how you define them) why does it matter when and where that happens. Why does it have to be at a "matriarch's" home when one of the kids has more room and less baggage? Why does it have to be at a home at all? Why can't it be at a church where everyone's come together to worship the reason this time of year is considered special by many? Oh well, human nature being what it is, I expect I do know the answers but I still have to ask.

I'll try to post something a bit more uplifting tomorrow.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Sunday, December 21, 2003

The Shortest Day

Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year and, hence, the first day of winter. It is also part of the fesitval of Hannukah (or Chanukkah) this weekend and into the next week, the Festival of Lights. In four days we Christians will celebrate what we see as the fulfillment of the Festival of Light, the birth of Jesus the Messiah, the Light of World. To me it is a wonderous and beautiful thing that during this time when physical darkness is most prevalent we see and acknowledge the light of God in our lives. Tomorrow, let us light candles and show the world that the darkness can not overcoem the light. Let us set aside our fear of terror and the darkness it threatens and shine forth as lights of His unquenchable love for us.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, December 19, 2003

My Own Personal Hell

Last night, while shopping for Christmas gifts, I began to understand what hell may very well be like for me if I were foolish enough to make the types of choices that would lead me there. For me, hell most likely will consist of the purse section at Liz Claiborne combined with a Fossil watch store.

In hell, I'm forced to shop with a woman* who can't decide...on anything. She's carrying around one absurdly expensive purse while looking at other almost identical purses with slightly different colors such as rose, mauve and desert pink. Each purse must be unpacked of its stuffing, hefted, gazed at and the like. Following this is the most dreaded question in the world, "What do you think of this one?" If I reply with the truth she will inflict upon me the "gaze of scorn" which will send lashing pain through my body. So I must grope for some sort of intelligent response.

Added to this is our companion. This is a person in her late teens or early twenties who must predicate every sentence with an emphatically pronounced "Dude!" She says things like, "Dude! Check out this purse! It's made of human flesh and is only a thousand dollars more than that one!" or "Dude! This watch is sooooo awesome! It shieks with all the sadness and remorse of the entire human race every time another soul enters the netherworld! Here, listen!" and "Dude! That demon over there is so fat! I've tried to tell her to diet but she's too stupid to listen to me!"

After a time we go over to the watches to find something that matches the purse. Of course, there isn't anything that matches just perfectly but I have to wait and be attentive while each watch of a nearly infinite number is tried on. Once it is realized that there isn't a perfect match for this purse the idea is changed to finding a watch she likes and then finding a purse that matches that. This engenders just a shade of hope but....well, you know how that's going to go on.

All the while this is taking place I can look out the window of the "shop" and see people riding by on their bikes on a perfect day.

So, I'll definitely be a good person. I'll eat my broccoli, keep up on my "honey-do" list and go to church every day. Anything to avoid this fate.

*This woman in no way, shape or form respembles my wife in attitude or behavior. My wife is a much better shopper than this. She only has to look at five or six purses, usually of markedly different color. Oh, and there's no "gaze of scorn."

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Purpose

After watching all of the movies in the Matrix trilogy I have begun to consider the idea of purpose with a good deal of interest. Why, you might ask? Well it seems that one of the big movements within the evangelical/fundamentalist portion of American Christianity is that of the "purpose-driven" something or another, i.e.-church, life, faith, etc. Lots of churches are reading Rick Warren's books and holding "forty days of purpose" things that, to me, look an awful lot like Lenten or Advent periods of focusing on one's calling as a Christian and an evaluation of one's faith. I see nothing wrong with this other than treating it like it's a new or inventive idea when traditional, ecumenical Christianity (and other faiths to be sure) have been doing this for literally millenia.

What is both intriguing and concerning me is the idea of "purpose". In Warren's book you have a set of things both inate and given by God upon your receipt of the Holy Spirit that he calls your "SHAPE" (an anacronym that is supposed to help to remind you of this). This combination has been given to you to be used to further God's kingdom in some way. From my studies of the New Testament, especially Paul's writings to the church in Corinth, there do seem to be people whom God has gifted so that they might have specific purposes within the Body of Christ and fulfill certain roles.

So, where does The Matrix Trilogy and its various philosophical examinations come in? In the second movie, when Neo finally meets the now unplugged Agent Smith we are treated to a wonderful monologue about purpose from Smith's eyes. According to Smith we are all created with a purpose and if we are not able to fulfil this purpose we are to be removed from the system. This idea is further developed and expanded upon by another agent during the freeway fight scene and by the Merovengian. It is a very mechanistic view of purpose. In the third movie, Neo meets a little girl/program that has been created by her parents and who has no purpose according to the machine view. She is scheduled for deletion and is thus smuggled into the matrix to be hidden and protected.

What this brings me to wonder is what we are saying about people with this focus on being "purpose driven". Does God really give everyone gifts to further His kingdom is highly tangible and measurable ways? What about those whose gifts are not clearly defined (such as with the little girl in the matrix who seems to be able to "only" create beauty, something unnecessary to the machines)? Are we to dinigrate the gifts God has given them? What about those who have not been gifted because they haven't found God? Are we to write them off has having nothing to offer in the way of wisdom or insight on matters of faith and living?

I'm still working this through in my own mind. Tied up in all of this are the ideas of free will and determinism. Once we choose Christ, receive the Holy Spirit and, presumably, are gifted; do we receive static gifts that cannot change or develop or mature? Do we now have the obligation to develop what our choice has given us or is there some flexibility? Lots and lots of questions in this line of thought but they seem to be good ones. What I can say is that I believe those of us Christians who are looking towards the idea of purpose had best be careful in where we go with this idea. On one extreme lies Christian utilitarianism and the serious philosophical and practical problems that ideology holds. On the other lies a form of "cheap grace" wherein one's faith amounts to little more than belief and their is no burden of the saved.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

You're in the Flyers Now

Well, it's offical, I'm now a member of the Southeast's newest and largest cycling club/racing team, the L5Flyers. Last night we had our first official meeting as a group and had about 35 people in attendance. It seemed like a good group and the team's leadership sounds solid and strong with a lot of thought having been given so as to not overwhelm any single person. I'll be riding for L5 on the road only. I'll stay with the excellent Bike Tech of Macon MTB team for the dirt side. The amazing thing is that both groups are so great to us riders. Last night, the Flyers organization bought us dinner (roll-up sandwiches and the like) and handed out some cool doorprizes. This is a lot better than my previous road team which seemed to have the idea that I should treat it as a priviledge to ride with them, even after I was winning more races than any of their other members. I'm looking forward to the year with both teams and the support they will provide.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

A Few Odds and Ends

Sorry about my absence yesterday. I went for a bike ride down to Macon and bike to pick up some Jittery Joe's coffee for relatives. It will go into the coffee extravaganza Christmas packages we are making for them. The ride wasn't too bad though it was four hours in length and a bit chilly. Its been a while since I rode that far and so my body spent the rest of the day sort of protesting the event. I was fine until the low grade headache came on. Nice thing though was that I slept like a baby which was somewhat unexpected.

A culinary note here. If you ever have the urge to get some of the "low carb" pasta that a few of the outlets are selling, save youself the trouble and just boil up some corragated cardboard instead. It should be ready in less time (2 minutes in the water should suffice instead of the 10 recommended for the "pasta") and taste about the same. If you're looking for something for those low carb diets, go with the whole wheat pasta instead. The fiber will slow digestion and the taste is pretty darn good. The rest of the dish (Basalmic Rosemary Chicken Breasts with Zuchinni) was pretty good, though I feel like I need to find a way to cut down on the fluid content to make a better sause for the pasta.

Finally, some yahoo that writes and edits for Fortune magazine and it's online master AOL-Time Warner had the audacity to suggest that we are all pretty much just like Paris Hilton and the other girl on the MTV reality show. We're all just a bunch of clueless, spoiled socialites with a seriously skewed sense of what the world is really like. In his view we should be looking at each other and laughing just as hard as we do with them. I'm sorry, dude, but I have to disagree. I only have one TV, no cable and I don't use my cell phone except in emergencies. I can pump my own gas, cook my own food, do my own shopping, groom and clothe myself, do basic repairs around the house, grow my own food and all the rest. While I do have the internet and the technology to use it (evidenced by this missive) I am still amazed by the whole thing. I wonder if this guy wants us all to believe that we're as inept as these two for a reason or if that's just the way he sees the rest of us who don't spend our time compiling lists of the 100 richest somethings. I could go off on a rant here but I won't seeing how it's the Christmas season and all.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Saying Goodbye

Yesterday we put Kathy's dog Canaan down. She's been sick for a while I think but last Monday we found a huge tumor. From that time onward, I knew that our time with her was limited. Not limited in the vague, general way all of our time is but limited in a more more immediate way. We could see how much pain she was in and we could tell how aggresive the tumor was. So over the week I took time to be with her; a way to bring closure to my time with her.

Kathy got Canaan at around the same time she got Sam for me. As our relationship grew, Sam and Canaan learned to get along and soon we meshed. Canaan became the "squirrelly girl" due to her penchant for chasing the small furry woodland creatures in and around Gainesville, FL. She went to Salt Lake with Kathy and returned when we got married. As a family we went to Kansas and she learned to chase birds across the prairie. When we moved down here to Georgia she had to endure the loss of Sam the same as we did and she was a lot less excited when we brought first one and then two golden retriever puppies home than we were. Still, she whipped them into shape and we were a pack.

Now she's running with Sam again and we have eleven years worth of memories of life with her. Goodbye, Canaan and we'll met again in a big field with lots of room to run. Remember to bring Sammy dog.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Anatomy of a Long, Slow Ride

When I tell people about my rides these days you can kind of see a question creep into their eyes. "How on Earth can you ride a bike for two and a half hours?" To them, understandably, the idea of turning the cranks around and around and around forever is just mind-boggling. For me, the idea of watching a half an hour of most network television ellicits the same response (I watched an episode of "Friends" for a week last night...) but I do understand why they might think what they think. So as a public service, I post the following timeline and anatomy of a long, slow training ride. Times will be referenced from the beginning of the actual turning of the pedals.

-:30 min: Get home and decide what, where, when, how, how cold, how much clothing. Factors like temperature, precipitation, previous ride routes, wind speed and direction, DVD movie availablitity, iPod battery life all are factored in. A steady undercurrent of praying that the phone doesn't ring with something that will offer an alternative to 150 minutes of boredom and cold.

-:15: Get dressed. At least 10 minutes of this time seems to be used looking for missing assecories such as glove liners, shoe covers, earbands, etc. Put on the heartrate monitor strap. For indoor ride this time is used to set up the rollers or trainer and picking the stage of a past Tour de France I'll choose to "enjoy".

-:10: Drop all accessories (iPod, cell phone, gels, energy bar, keys, ID, bits of lint, CO2 cartridge) into jeresey pockets. Put on gloves. Take them off agine to work things that require dexterity. Switch what's in which jersy pocket a couple of times.

-5: Remember to fill water bottles and check tire pressure. Go out door and think something's missing. Figure out what it is, run back in a get your helmet.

-1: Agonize over exactly what iPod playlist you're going to listen to.

0: Roll out and think...gosh, I can still feel yesterday's ride in my legs.

0-15: Get used to being on the bike. Rediscover the slowly forming saddle sores that you'll spend the rest of the ride trying to avoid. Decide if the route is really the one you want to do. Gear down because this is supposed to be slow and easy for base miles and you really want to go out and hammer.

15-30: Settle in. Get a sense of how your legs feel. This is where the ride is great and exciting. You're out flying, free of all the day's constraints.

30-60: Get bored. OK, the fun part is over now. Now you realize this is a training ride. Unless the sun is out, temps are warm, winds are low the ride is not much fun at this point. You feel cold and you wonder how much farther you will actually go. The wind makes you mad and there's always wind. This is where you have to fight the inclination to push and do intervals just because you desperately want something to do. All of the day's "things" start to crawl back into your brain. Endorphins are in short supply. Doubts and questions surface. You wonder what that funny noise your bike is making is.

60-90: The endorphins finally kick in and things get better again. The doubts go away and you sort of relax. You start dreaming about races you're going to win. You rethink your training plan for about the millionth time. You fantasize about getting interviewed by Phil Liggett after winning Nationals. You tell yourself to slow down because things feel so good you want to go fast. You squirrel around on the bike a bit enjoying rediscovering the balance.

90-120: You start to turn towards home. The ride seems like it's going to be over any minute. It's not. You're excited by your sense of accomplishment. You start doing pace calculations and then you check your speedometer only to find out you've overestimated your speed by half a mile an hour. You notice how cold your feet are. You realize than the sun is getting pretty close to the horizon and the sweat on your back under the three layers of clothes is starting to chill. You debate with yourself, "Do I get home faster and sacrifice the miles and time or do I stay out here and freeze, risking illness."

120-150: You fight the fatigue, your sore butt, your freezing toes and fingers and your desire to rush home . The closer you get the harder it is. As you get near home you realize you're going to finish ten minutes earlier than you thought and have to add distance somehow. Another internal debate ensues as you think of and reject about five different short loop routes all because they have short, steep hills that will spike your heart rate. Finally, you settle for the same boring one through town that you always use.

150: Get home, unpack jersey pockets, strip off layers, put everything away. The endorphins make you feel good all this time as you start to warm up. You vow to do it again tomorrow.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Differences of Belief

Several of the blogs I routinely visit have been asking the question of what matters and what doesn't in terms of beliefs. The question usually is stated in a "Does this topic really matter?" sort of way. Evolution vs. creation, free will vs. predestination, and the true nature of Christ are all topics that have been hotly debated. As a Christian, the first thing I ask myself is does engaging in the discussion help me to fulfill the one command Jesus gave me better (that command beig "Love each other as I have loved you."). In that light most discussion topics are of limited value. Whether I evolved or was created doesn't really have much bearing on what I'm supposed to be doing now. However I came to be it was through the agency of God somehow and He has called me to Love.

The second question is does the subject and my stand on it fundamentally influence my approach to my faith. Obvious, if I think Christ is merely a reflector of God's light (Baha'i) or was not divine (Jehovah's Witness/Arianism) then I view His sacrifice on the cross and His promise to send the Holy Spirit as different sorts of things. While I'm not going to get into an argument about it, I'm certainly going to think that such beliefs are worth holding fast to. The foundation of my faith is found in the Nicene Creed. If someone disagrees with what is in the Creed then a discussion may ensue that I will find worthwhile to have.

To me the whole predestination/free will thing falls into this catagory. If all is predestined, how can I be responsible for my sins or even have a role in my slavation or relationship with God? If that's the case, I'll just do what I feel like doing because God's already made the call and I have little or nothing to do with that. If I'm in His grace covers my iniquities and if I'm not there's no way I can get myself to where I want to be. The same goes for once saved, always saved. Once someone is in, what's the point of worrying about anything else. Why grow as a person or as a Christian? Why "waste" time mentoring or shepherding someone since there are still unsaved souls that need to get on the right side of the fence. As a free will person, my approach to my own faith and how I live is fundamantally altered. How I approach my relationships with others, both Christians and non-Christains, changes from a "get them saved" mentality to a "help them grow" sort of one. In addition, I believe that this paradigm is, in the long term, more effective in fulfilling the Great Commision and in growing and maintaining the Great Chrurch. Thus, I'll participate in a discussion and present my points for consideration to those who are interested in hearing them.

Finally, I ask myself if the topic better helps me understand my God and my Savior better. Once, when I was engaged in a deep study of Old Testament feasts and festivals, someone said that I was wasting my time because the Old Testament was done away with and that the Jews had been discarded on the rubbish heap of history. I countered with, "If God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, can't we learn a great deal about His character and nature from everything He gave His chosen people. Also, if He is unable to extend grace to this nation that He called out and set apart for His purposes, what does that me for me under a New Covenant when I worship the idols of my life? Am I, too, to be discarded on the trash heaps of humanity?" Such discussions and issues help me to understand how much God loves me and how much He is willing to sacrifice for me. The issue matters because I get a much clearer picture of what I am supposed to become as I grow to be more like Him.

In closing, in evaluating any discussion and its possibility to be worthwhile I ask whenther it will first lift the other person to God and then if it wil lift me to Him. If not, the discussion is not worth having. In my mind, that's the bottom line.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Rainy Day

I woke up at about 5:30 this morning to the sound of rain on the tin roof of our porch. I love that sound, especially in the morning. Even more especially on the mornings I don't have to go to work. I love the sound both for its soothing aural quality and also for what it means. To me it means that it's time to slow down a bit and be more reflective. It's time to relax and not worry too much about the hustle and bustle of things. The rain puts me in a more contemplative mood. Here in the south the rain often accompanied by warmer temps (though not this morning) so I can sit out on the porch and watch the world get "cleaned" a bit. If I have time, I may still go out with a cup of tea and sit in our hanging chair and listen and think.

The beginning of "school" has gone well. I put in 15 hours of riding last week, most of it at recovery pace. I did a little mountain biking and it's harder to go slow out there, especially when I hook up with two of the state champions, one of which was the bronze medal winner at the 24 hour Master World Championships. At the end of the week I came down with a touch of food poisoning (that can happen when you insist on tasting the cheesecake batter before it's been cooked-so yummy but so dangerous). While Monday was a bit iffy, I still got about an hour and a half in and yesterday I was back to three hours. Today will all be trainer miles at relaxed pace. I finally got my road bike back from the shop so I'll be back on that rather than riding my wife's road bike. Her bike's geometry is a lot more laid back making for a very pedestrian ride in my eyes. She loves it but I have to say that I really like the more "spirited" and agreesive ride my bike has. I have to pay more attention on the rollers but that's part of the fun.

I'm going to try and post each day for the next few weeks. We're in finals now so I have more time and then it will be Christmas break. I have a few topics I'd like to say a word or two about and a story to finish (when last we left our intrepid stoic...) so tune in and I'll try to have new content for you. Maybe I can even get into a habit and start posting more than once every ten or so days.

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Getting Ready to be Schooled

Yesterday was the beginning of the new cycling season. I put in 52 slow, cold and windy miles on the road bike. I can hear you think, "But wait, you just finished the last one!" Yes, that is true and I took my well deserved three weeks off but now it's back to the pedals for what should prove to be an interesting year. I'm moving up catagories this next year; to Cat IV and maybe Cat III on the road and to Sport class on dirt. While I was pretty dominant at the end of the year, things will change a bunch now. At this new level, everybody has good fitness and some experience. What makes a difference now are tactics and that little bit extra. I have a lot to learn so it's time to get ready for school.

December is base miles month. That's like learning your multiplication tables and such. I do lots and lots of miles at really low intensity. This will cause my body to replumb itself for the third year running. Every time this happens my body gets a bit more efficient at transporting oxygen and getting rid of lactic acid. In Cat V road and Beginner's MTB races, victory was decided by less than 1% in many cases. Even a 5% improvement in oxygen handling is a huge gain at this point. The problem is that, just like multiplication tables, base miles training is boring. It's a lot more exciting to attack a big hill and suffer through the climb than to plod endlessly through low, rolling hills never letting your heartrate get above 140. The other thing I'll be doing is teaching my body to use fat as on-the-bike fuel. Now that my races will all be 50 miles or longer this will be an important thing to have. I'll be able to save glycogen for the last 15-20 miles when I can use it to time trial on a break.

The other area I'll work on is skills. I need to improve my pack handling confidence and cornering on the road and my descending on the MTB side. I need to find a place to practice cornering at high speed and, once I get to intervals in January or February, how to sprint out of them. That'll happen once finals are finished and I've got a lot of time to spin. Right now it's pedal, pedal, pedal without much excitement. On the trail, I can't descend unless I climb and I can't climb a bunch until January so that'll have to wait some. Right now I'll practice cornering and bike balance and how to lose less energy braking through corners.

The Goals for the year are modest in some ways and daring in others. I want to win the state time trialing championship. I think I have a good shot at it if I can peak at the right time. I also want to win a medal at the Georgia State Games. The biggest thing is that I want to move up to Catt III in time to go to the U.S. Masters National Championships in Salt Lake City this August. That's where my family lives and to compete at that level in front of them would mean a lot to me and to them, I think. To get there I have to finish top ten ten times with 25 races. Right now I'm one for two so I'm off to a good start. If I can find hilly races early in the season I have a pretty good shot at it. Too bad I can't count time trails as it would be a shoo-in. On the MTB side I'm looking for a top ten finish in the state GAP series. The competition really steps up and my fitness level isn't going to carry me like it did last year. So I expect to have a lot of 10th and 11th place finishes while I learn how to ride better. The races will be longer distance so that will be to my advantage as a roadie, assuming I can get my upper body in better shape. Late in races last year I found that I would get sloppy in terms of my handling halfway through the second lap and we'll be adding a third lap in this year. Instead of going for a high standing in the series, I'm going to target wins at one or two events in the area I live in so as to impress my team's sponsors. A medal at the Georgia Games in X-County MTBing would be good too, but the competition will be intense. I may also try to race in a couple of regional level events just to get a feel for the level of competition there. Once I get past January, my MTB training will shift from the friendlier environs of Dauset Trails to Camp Thunder and the killer environment there. I hate to ride there but if I want to get better technically, I'll need to ride more challenging courses.

With those in mind, I'll endure the boredom and low-end riding and build a foundation that will take me to greater heights. Watch for me on the roads and trails of north-central Georgia.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, November 24, 2003

A Full Life

Somewhere along the way I developed a few ideas of how life was supposed to be lived. I'm not sure exactly where these ideas came from but I have a feeling it was from plays like "Our Town" and "Death of a Salesman", movies such as "Dead Poets Society" and biographies too numerous to mention. Central to my conception of how life is to be lived is that it is to be lived fully and actively. No sitting on the couch and watching how other people may or may not live their lives; to have a life, you must live it. To truly live life you must appreciate each moment for what it holds and not keep looking forward to the future to find happiness or to the past to remember it. Life happens in the now. We should plan for the future and we should learn the lessons the past teaches us but the living happens in the moment.

Anyone who knows me knows that this is how I live. I don't watch much TV aside from sporting events, I don't waste my time or money on movies with old, used up story lines or uninspired acting and I don't read fiction at all. Why watch people act when I can do it myself? Why read about made up stories when I can write the story of my own life? This isn't to say that a person can't profit from these things but I just see way too much to do to not be deeply and heavily involved in the business of living each and every moment of my own life. The major frustration I have in life is that I can't do more sometimes. There are opportunities that I'd like to seize that I don't have time for. There are things that I'd like to explore that will cause me to neglect the priorities and commitments that I've already made.

The other day though, I had an interesting revelation. Somewhere along the line I also picked up the idea that if I live a full life, time would slow down. That somehow life wouldn't feel like it was slipping by so quickly. I'm learning that this particular pre-conception of life is wrong. The time still goes by quickly. What the poets and prophets and wise men are trying to say isn't, "If you lead a full life, time will slow down and you'll have more life to enjoy," but, instead they are really saying is, "The days pass quickly, whether no matter how you live them. Don't waste what time you have on foolishness. Time is a currency evenly measured out to all with no regard to rank or status or situation. It can not be saved or hoarded or increased; only spent wisely." I think that the point of all the wisdom I received was to tell me that each moment should be treasured as if it were one of the last you might be granted. With that in mind, what really has value in a person's life?

For me it is the time spent in my wife's arms, the instantaneous eternity of communing with my God and Savior, the moments considering a truly new and startling idea, the almost timeless effort of pedaling a bicycle, the legacy of loving others, the youth of laughter, the perseverence of friendships, the undying beauty of the heavens and the Earth. When examined in this sort of light, so much seems like such a waste. Bad TV, movies and books, arguing with anyone and with small people with little ideas especially, hatred and bigotry, taunting and trash-talking, drunkeness and dissipation, lust and the sex it leads to, the pursuit of power, gain and wealth for its own sake only, little gods with mundane power or impersonal gods with big power, art that destroys or degrades, psudoscience and mumbo-jumbo, snake-oil poppycock.

I want to live life fully, unabashedly, abundantly. I want to do that now. I don't want to wait until tomorrow and I don't want to rest on the remeberance of yesterday. I may not be here tomorrow and I can't really relive the past but what I have is now. I will live now with the knowledge and wisdom the past has given me and the understanding that if I am given the gift of tomorrow I will need to be prepared to live it fully as well.

Thanks to Jeff Weiss for writing a play that so eloquently reminded me of this and to the cast and crew of A Christmas Carol; Kathy, Jeff, Colby, Ryan, Rafael, Joe, Brian, Cario, Kim, Dianna, Summer, Tiffany, Mickey, Kelly, Virginia, Ian, Erin, Aaron, Diana and all the rest, here at Gordon College, for bringing it to life.

God Bless Us, Every One!

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Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Movie Critics

OK, I've finally had enough. I've decided that most movie critics are, in actuality, brain dead syncophants with little or no intellect or learning. They are the people in my classes who wait until the last minute to read the articles I assign and then write lame, uninspired and incorrect summaries of them that involve no critical thinking or analytical skills what-so-ever. They don't have time to actually sit down and understand the writer's or director's motive, an actor's inspiration, a cinematographer's sensabilities. All they seem to care about is whether what they are watching is new and/or shocking and, thus, "cool".

What has driven me to this fit of rage? The reviews of the final installment of Matrix Trilogy, of course. Actually, it is the reviews of all of the movies. If you're not smart enough to understand the philosophical discourse, you should really just shut your mouth or at least say that you're incapable of understanding the plot because you were too busy trying to score with that cute other person in your Philosophy 101 course to actually understand the fundamental ideas of epistimology (the theory of knowledge) or the debate over free will vs. determinism. If you look at the reviews of the first movie they were generally dismissive until, all of the sudden, the movie became "cool". What that really means is that somebody finally explained the movie in small enough words for the movie critics to understand. Which, of course, means that they really didn't understand. They didn't see the symbolism or the philosophy or the culture of a generation younger than them dealing with the messes their generation has left behind. But that's a whole different rant.

So now they're bitter. They don't get to belong to the club because they don't have the intellectual firepower to access the material so they do what all bitter people do; which is tear down what they don't understand. They don't understand the issues and values of the generation that created this movie so they trash it instead of saying that they are ignorant.

So, here is a review you can count on. The movie is for people who get it. If you can track along with the philosophy and the generational perspective you'll like the movie a lot. You'll relate to the characters and why they might hold each other instead of going into a groping, liplocked frenzy when they think they might have been separated from each other for all time. You'll understand Neo's actions in the last scene and what's going on with Agent Smith (a hint: he represents an older generation that only seems to be happy when they are making everyone else into copies of themselves...are you listening Boomers????). You'll cheer for the spirit of human courage in the face of overwhelming odds and certain defeat and understand that those are far more lasting values than cynicism and nassarcism. If you are little more than a brain stem and find TV shows like Friends to be intellectually stimulating then you should avoid this movie. You'll hate it and you'll go away mad because your fraternity or sorority membership won't make a difference. You'll still be on the outside trying to get in and you'll know it, which will make you really mad. The only thing you'll think was good was the S&M scene with the Merovingian and you won't understand most of it because you've never truly known what love is.

Ok...maybe that's a little harsh but, by golly, if you don't understand somethign you should keep your mouth shut and learn from those who have more wisdom that you. That's my opinion, I could be wrong.

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Monday, November 10, 2003

Tearin' it Up

Well, my cycling season has now officially come to a close. This last weekend me and my fellow cactus people went down to Claxton, Georgia to ride in the "Crusin' in the Country" weekend. For me, that meant my fourth attempt at the century distance. I've completed the 100 mile trek each year in under five hours and last year I was the first 100 miler to finish. My goal this year was to try and finish in under 4 hours and 30 minutes. This was a yet unrealized goal for me. I have gotten close when I rode with a larger group early in a century but I've never done better than 4:36 when I've had to ride over 30 miles alone. I didn't have anyone to ride with this year so I was doubtful that I would accomplish the goal this year.

Still, though, I set off with the goal in mind. For the the first 20 minutes or so I rode well but not anywhere near the 22.6 mph average I'd need to have to complete my goal. Then my legs began to feel better and my speed picked up. At around 45 minutes I was caught by one of the mythical "speedster tandems". What a blessing that was.

When you ride century rides, you sometimes hear more experienced riders talk about these two-person tandem bikes that are like manna from heaven sent by God. The reason they are so great is that they provide an unbelievable draft and since two people are pedaling they tend to go very fast. The thing is, I had never seen one. I have seen tandems but they were usually riden by a couple of older folks who were having a leisurely ride around the course. They were great to draft behind on a downhill but they died on even the slightest incline. On the flats, they usually drafted off of me and just barely at that. This time, though, I got caught by a speedster tandem. Two older guys just hammering along. For ten minutes I sat in their draft on the flats at 30 mph! When we hit a hill, I'd go to the front and pull at around 23 and let them rest. This lasted until the 22 mile rest stop where they pulled off for a break. I keep going thinking they'd have no problem catching me. I never saw them again. The good thing though was that it finished the job of loosening my legs up and getting me to the point where I could sustain a 25 mph average on the flats with the tailwind I had.

At the 50 mile rest stop, I caught the "fast group". It consisted of four guys who were off the front. I integrated in and found that they weren't really all that fast. Three of the four seemed to be drafting one guy for the most part. As I worked in, it seemed like they were all pretty content to let him and I do all the pulling. That was all well and good until we hit the first real hill. I took a regular, strong pull up the hill and they cracked. If they had been taking their turns pulling I might have sat up and waited but they were wheelsuckers and so I dropped all but one of them. It turned out that the other guy who had been pulling had done basically the same thing I had and was about as fed up with their lack of work as I was. So the two of us rode off and started working together.

At 65 miles we turned square into a 15 mph headwind. I checked my average speed and we were at 23.1 mph, well above the average speed I needed to make my goal. We had a lot of time in hand and now just had to hold onto it. So the battle was on. For the last ten miles my legs were cramping up and I was totally on the rivet but I kept turning the cranks over. We were taking 7 minute pulls and I kept thinking, " I need to just let this guy go and I'll finish on my own." Still every time I finished a pull, I'd sit in his draft and recover and have enough to pull through on the next time around. It turns out he was doing exactly the same thing.

The result was that I finished with him and did the century in 4 hours and 27 minutes. Since I started after him, I had the shortest century time for the second year in a row. I spent the rest of the day cramping up from my efforts. I've never hurt so badly after a ride, not even when I rode 200 miles in 11 hours. I don't think I'll ever attempt such a feat again but it's a great feeling to have done it.

Now, I get to rest for three weeks. The only time I'll spend on the bike will be for fun MTB rides with the "On Your Left" posse and my daily commutes to the college. Whew!

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Thursday, November 06, 2003

What a Week

It has been a very busy week for us at the Davies household. Some of that busy has been good, some bad and some was just, well, busy. We are involved in the College's production of A Christmas Carol. Originally, our role was supposed to have been to play the Fezziwigs and have a bit of fun but now it has ballooned to three roles for me, including the last lines of the play. I can't say that I'm totally happy with the turn of events as I don't really feel I have time to do the job as well as I'd like but the director needed us to step up and we'll do the best we can.

To add we add the unfortunate happenstance that our eldest dog, Canaan, has had something go wrong with her body. We don't know if it's a ruptured disk, a tumor or what but she has mostly lost her ability to walk. This makes doing all of our morning and evening stuff a lot harder. We are hopeful that some sort of steriod regimine might help as she's seen some improvement over the last couple of days but things are still looking bleak. The hardest part to this is that she looks so sad all the time since she can't move freely with the pack.

Finally, over the last several days I've been working with students, past and present, in our ministry on issues they are dealing with in their lives. I feel very blessed to be able to help out but it can be time consuming. It helps when I have a little heads up and can clear some things off of my schedule but that rarely happens. Since the students are usually higher priority that my laundry and grocery shopping, the daily living stuff often gets placed on the back burner. Usually, this isn't a problem with with all the other "busy"ness, it has stretched things more than I'd like.

This weekend is the final ride of the season. We go down to Claxton every year to do the Cruisin' in the Country century. It's a great weekend to unwind and relax and get in one more long ride. This year shouldbe no exception. I'm still trying to decide how I will ride the event but I like the idea of going hard one more time. I liked being the first century rider in last year. We'll see what happens. The best part is that when it is over, I'll have three weeks of R&R with only a little swimming and weightlighting to tire me out. The extra time and the lower stress on my body will be will be welcomed by all.

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Monday, October 27, 2003

Second to None

Well, the race is in the books and my recovery strategy seems to have worked. After a sketchy start (what else is new) I was able to put my power to use and climb my way to a second place finish in the series finale. It was good enough to give me a 0.5 point win in the GAP series after pay dirt points are taken into account. It's been a good season on the dirt. Out of eleven races I won three times, finished second twice and fifth three times. Excepting one DNF when I was leading a race, I never finished out of the top ten, even when things weren't going my way. I'm still trying to get the fact that I won the state mountain bike points series to sink in. The medal at the Georgia Games was enough but to add to it the series championship is pretty special. It's all part of the fairy tale season, I suppose.

What makes the experience worthwhile though are the friendships I've made with the other guys racing and their families. Dan, Tom, Mark, Todd, Ian, Mike, Jeff and Ladon have been great guys to compete with and great guys to get to know. I'm pretty sure none of the other race groups are planning to ride and spend time together after the season. We may be rivals on the course but we root for each other on and off the course. I wish all of my competative endeavors went this way. We helped each other out, worked on trails together, shared meals and beer, comiserated with and congradulated each other and laughed, a lot at the fact that a bunch of getting to the top of the hill guys were out racing our big kid toys. One thing I think we all liked is the fact that we took it to the 19-29 yr old men who never seemed to hold our wheels for very long.

I'm not sure where we'll all end up next year. Dan, Todd and I are all moving up to sport class along with Tom. I expect that next year we'll be struggling to place in the top ten as we pay our dues and learn our skills. I do know that we'll still hang together at the races, work together on the local trails and ride together for fun. There are already a couple of epic rides planned for the "On your left!" gang. If you're out riding on the trail in north or central Georgia and hear someone call that out, it may be us. Grab a wheel and hang on for the ride.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Various Notes

Cycling Update

Well, I seem to be on the mend. The recovery week and the judicious training schedule I've set up seem to have done the trick in terms of getting me back to a more well-rested state. Last weekend I went and rode the final event course and felt strong throughout the ride including the killer, long climb at the end. I did three laps and felt like I could have done one or two more so that was good. I'm still trying to decide whether to take one more good look at the course this weekend. Knowledge is always good but do I want to spend four hours in the car to get that knowledge which will come from 2 hours of riding? Hmmmmm. Anyways, the days here are perfect right now with temps in the upper 70's and light winds. To all those suffering up north; neener, neener, neener.

Advertising

OK, I'm fed up now. I feel a rant coming on about this so be on the lookout in the next couple of days. The lovely wife and I were watching TV (non-cable) Sunday evening to wind down from a long weekend filled with fun and drama (literally). I must have seen three of four commercials that indicated that all those watching the advertisement were entitled to some luxury item such as a $30,000 a year car or an exotic vacation or some other similar thing. Argh! I had to use the "finger of scorn" several times to express my opinion on this. Let me be clear on my take on this: you and I are NOT entitled to any mode of transportation much less a car much less a $30K SUV of death and destruction. Get a bike. An expensive one is an order of magnitude less in terms of cost and a bunch more heallthy. Be forewarned, I feel a rant building.

Mother Teresa
Now for something positive here. I was pleased with the coverage of the beatification of Mother Teresa for the most part. I was really pleased to see that she now stands a good chance of emerging from the shadow of the other person who died at nearly the same time. Nothing against the former Princess of Wales, I suppose, but I was outraged when the media decided to go hog wild over her death in an orgy of sensationalism. They so far as went out to say that we were more affected by Diana's death because we related to her better. I'm not so sure which "we" the media was talking about but I struggle just as mightly dealing with the idea of royalty as I do with that of impending sainthood. I just don't have much context in which to place either. No, I think that more people were affected by Diana's death because the media never seemed to let her and the story of her life be out of the media spotlight. Now, six years later, it seems that people are seeing the truth that the tiny Albanian woman had a much deeper and more profound effect on this world than any troubled member of the British royal family has ever had. Again, that is not to diminish Diana or the good she did in her life. Still, the work of Mother Teresa is among the most amazing stories of the 20th century. There should be no one who stands in the way of the recognition of what Christ has done through His willing and humble instrument.

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Monday, October 06, 2003

Nicked Up

In football terms, the idea of being "nicked up" means that you've got a bunch of nagging little injuries that don't keep you from playing but hinder your ability to perform at your best. Over the last five or so weeks I've gotten pretty nicked up as a cyclist. It started in Savannah with the century there. I rode hard on a very hot day and I think I began to take a lot out of myself. Later that week I went to Camp Thunder for a training ride on the Man 'O War and crashed several times. Big hematoma on the backside, lots of blood on the legs and all the rest. On that Saturday I was at Carter's Lake for a GAP series race and I crashed about six times trying to descend (something I'm not too good at). More blood, more sore muscles. I try to spend some time recovering with slow rides the next week but that weekend was the Barnesville Omnium. Three road races in one weekend. I won the time trial and took sixth in the road race but got shelled in the crit. I took sixth in the omnium which was great for my first Cat 4 race but I was getting tired. The following weekend I raced my MTB in Savannah (I know, I know-how do you have a mountain bike race in Savannah). I was strong but on the first lap I took a thorn in my front tire and it started going soft on me. I endoed four times during the race on my way to finishing sixth. Sigh. Last week I decided it was time to spin and heal. The whole week was given over to recover rides. I did great until Friday were I was doing a few sprints to get ready for the GAP race in Gainesville this last weekend. I shifted at the wrong time and threw my chain. That, in turn, threw me. Fortunately I landed at 25 mph on my back in the grass. No real damage done but I did ring my bell a bit and strained muscles in my neck. Saturday I went to G-ville, raced and because of a terrible start, again finished fifth. I felt great on the ride but I couldn't get through traffic fast enough to make up the time I lost at the start.

A month of racing and race training have taken their toll. I'm tired all the time and I'm making more mistakes than I should. My legs are all scratched up and a lot of different muscles hurt in a lot of different places. Still though, I had to ride through the little things. I may not have finished as well as I had hoped in a lot of my races, but I did finish each one and I'm still holding a slim lead in the overall standings for the GAP series. It will all come down to a last race at the end of this month. Win or lose, I can be pleased that I hung in there and fought it out through the entire month.

Life is like that too. Sometimes I don't always do the best I can do, but the important thing is to hang in there. Sometimes in life we get nicked up and beaten down a little bit. A lot of people decide at that moment that whatever it is they're trying to achieve is not worth it and give up. What they really need to do is weather the storm and get to a point where they can get some recovery time. Then they heal and learn and start training for the next test and challenge.

That's what the next three weeks are for me. Recovery this week and then training to peak. I want to be at my best form for this last race of the season. I may not win but it won't be because I gave up. In any case, I plan to bring my A games to the Heritage Farms finale on Sept 26. I'll have recovered from my bumps and bruises and I'll have ramped up my fitness one last time for the season. I'll be ready and rested, toned and trained. I will have practiced descending until I can do it with some confidence and I'll work on getting better on my starts so I don't have to fight my way through half the field on narrow single track or up rooted climbs. I'll be ready to compete and to challenge.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Does Western Civilization deserve to continue? You be the judge...

I am so proud to belong to a society that can produce a couch that will order a pizza for me without me ever having to lift a finger. A recent story making the rounds on all the various news outlets details the work of a group in Ireland that is developing a sofa that, by determining your weight using force sensors it legs, can tell who you are and perform a series of tasks without having to be prompted. These include turning on appliances, entertainment equipment and placing various and sundry food orders.

One student who I shared this with commented, "What if I don't want a pizza?" My first thought is that there's a lot of stuff that we don't want that we go ahead and accept because its just sort of shoved at us. I mean, have you seen the latest Quiznos commercial about the guy being raised by wolves? Do we really "want" to see yet another installment of "The Bachelor"? Do I really have to open that junk email about Viagra or body part enlargement? If a pizza shows up at my door every night after I get home from work and its been charged to my bank debit card will I send it away? Especially knowing that it is my own laziness that has caused its creation in the first place. I would hate to think that the pizza's life would go unfulfilled.

Anyway, is this what Western Civilization's idea of progress has brought us to? If so, the machines won't have to battle us for control of the planet. We'll gladly hand it over to them as long as we don't have to get up from watching the latest vicarious "reality" programming. Arrgh!

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Monday, September 22, 2003

Look at the Booonnnesss!!!(say it in your best cheesy Monty Python scottish accent)

Yep, test time again. Last week and this week are test time in my classes. This is where I find out if my students have been taking me seriously or if they've been thinking, "Oh I know he says physics is the hardest subject we'll ever take but there's no way Newtonian motion will ever be as complex and difficult as what we have to do in Pool Cue Management or Social Group Fluid Dynamics class." My tests are the Vorpal Bunnies of Gordon College. Nothing comparies to them, outside of something from the Calculus II class. Three hours long (I'm not making this up) and filled with a fine variety of the most ravaging questions known to man. The interesting part is that none of the questions are "trick" questions (I have neither the time nor the energy to make up trick questions) but instead are the type of questions that leave you no real place to hide your ignorance or unpreparedness. Other than time spent with the material, there is no "Holy Hand Gernade" by which to "snuff it out."

After the exam, I'm giving only one A in PHYS1111. That'll get better as students start to realize what they've gotten themselves into. The scarier part is that about a third of the class got less than a 45% on the test, after the curve. These people want to be your doctors, vets and pharmacists. I don't like thinking of myself as a gatekeeper sort of professor but in these cases, I'm more than happy to uphold a standard. Even more amazing is that some of these students haven't dropped the class yet, and a vast majority of them need to. I hate the day I give the first exam back. There are all of these high test score, memorize your way to a better life, allied health students all waiting to see if they've somehow, once again, cheated grade death like they've been doing since high school. Oh come on, you know what I mean: never really studying the material until the night before and then magically pulling a 96 out of the hat so that you think you're golden. Heck, I know that's how I got through high school. Then they hit this class where memorization gets you a 30 on the test and you have to have been studying seriously for the last four weeks. They see their 48 and its like I've hit them between the eyes with a board-stunned and unable to parry. They've never seen a score like that, not even in their worst nightmares. I mean, they wake up screaming from dreams that involve test grades in the high 70's. The brain can't take it in and for about 5 minutes its gaping fish time.

At this moment I feel like crap, I really do. All these dreams and aspirations and all of the sudden the whole world comes crashing down. None of these students get to do what they want to do with their lives without passing through my class and now the possibility of that looks very slim indeed. I feel for them, I really do. Lord knows that I've been there. Many of them say, "I studied harder for this test than for anything in my entire life." And I have to tell them that the test doesn't lie, not one bit. They may have studied hard compared to their english comp class but what they'll have to do to pass this class is nothing compared to what they'll need to be able to do in Med School or the Pharm program at UGA. They feel like all of their lives they've been clearing an 18 foot pole vault bar and for the first time you show them what the 12 foot bar really looks like and its a lot higher up than they've been jumping. Its hard bad day all around. I went home Friday and spent the entire night sick, literally. Nausea, headache, aches and pains. While I may have had a touch of the flu, I truly believe that returning those tests had something to do with it.

Anyways, the moment is over and the class will go on. I'll lose about a third of the students and the rest will soldier on. Some will return in the spring to try again and others will change their dreams and careers because they just don't want to or can't work as hard as they need to. For those who stay in and don't give up, most will make it and actually grow by leaps and bounds. They'll finish out here and go on to professional school and do really well. Their fellow students in those programs will look at them and wonder how they learned to learn and work so hard. Most will forget this day ever happened and will chalk it up to their hard work and that's fine by me. Just as long as they learn to never take the work that goes into being a health care professional for granted.

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Wednesday, September 03, 2003

Thoughts About Health Care Coverage

This has been a post a long time in coming. I've had the mind to write this post for several months as a rant against a number of things but my conscience kept me from doing it. While it may shock you, my gentle readers, that I have a conscience, I do and it has troubled me these many weeks as I have tried to figure out what I've wanted to say. You see, I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings too badly. On the other hand, I want to make a strong point that I feel is well reasoned, insightful and compelling. If I were Rush Limbaugh I would just fire away and not give so much as a second thought as to who I might have offended. I don't wish to be Rush Limbaugh, however, so I feel I must reconsider how I am going to say what it is I want to say. Anyways, enough rationalizing! Get to the point man!

OK, I read this statistic a couple of weeks ago on CNN.com. A group of doctors did a very large study of Americans and heart disease. They found that in 90% of the cases where heart disease was found in a patient at least one of four other factors was also present: hypertension/high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes or smoking. In over 75% of the cases two or more of the factors were present. Why is this significant? Well, what this seems to indicate is that heart disease is tied to what are mainly lifestyle related conditions. While I understand that some people will be overweight due to thyroid conditions, some people suffer from Type 1 childhood diabeties and some people have high blood pressure for non-lifestyle related reasons (genetic) most Americans who suffer from these conditions do so because they choose to. All Americans who suffer from the condition of smoking choose to. They are lifestyle related diseases.

So, who cares, right? I mean, I don't smoke, I exercise regularly, I manage my weight, I deal with stress in my life in a healthy way and I eat a fairly balanced diet. Won't my healthier life and the quality of life it brings be its own reward? In a sense, yes. Statistically, I'll have the last laugh because I'll be the last one standing. My life expectancy, because of my lifestyle choices, is significantly longer than those with one of more of the above listed conditions. So from my point of view, some would argue, I should feel "badly" for those who make those choices and get on with the business of outliving them and enjoying the time more. From the point of view of American culture, I'm OK individually and that should be good enough. But I disagree.

Here's another statistic: 85% of the health care resources in this country are used by 1% of the people. These 1% of the people aren't shouldering 85% of the cost. Not even close. Much of that cost comes from lifestyle choices. A quadruple bypass surgery is a spendy procedure. While I'm not saying that those who take care of themselves will never need one, but the chances they will are a lot lower. So even though I live responsibly I have to foot the bill for the 2 pack a day smoker and the 100 lb overweight 30 year old and the sedentary TV watching, video-game playing, internet surfing couch potato whose daily dietary intake consists mostly of simple carhohydrates and saturated fats that are slowly killing off his pancreas and clogging his arteries. Why do I have to pay for this person's bad choices. I understand that as part of a society, I have an obligation to help care for my neighbor, but doesn't that neighbor also have a moral responsibility to not overburden me?

Now you may say, "Chad, that's all well and good but what's the big deal? You have health insurance and that'll take care of it." Those of you who are still with me have figured out where this is going by now. What about those who aren't able to afford health insurance? I spent nearly 10 years of my life uninsured because I couldn't afford it on a grad student's salary. Some say, "Well if we truly had a compassionate government, we'd have universal health care." Maybe, but that just seems like highway robbery to me. Now I have to pony up in my taxes and I have no chance of changing things. Now I'm paying for every person who makes bad lifestyle choices whether I want to or not. What really fries my bacon are the kids that aren't covered. We could cover them if we didn't have to have it our way.

I wonder what would happen if those people who had one or more of these conditions were put in their own "insurance group". Obviously, their insurance rates would skyrocket. To hell with taxing cigarettes; how about making people pay for their own health care costs! The rest of us would see a huge drop in our rates. I'll bet most of those families who can't afford coverage for their kids would be able to. However they can't. Why? Because most of us think like 17 year olds, we think we're invincible to the consequences of our actions.

You see, being overweight probably won't kill a 30 year old person tomorrow or the next day. No, its like a time bomb ticking for twenty or thirty years. These poeple say, "Yeah I need to lose weight and yeah being overweight is going to kill me but I want my Hageen Daas now. I don't have time to exercise today. I'll do it later." And they say the same thing tomorrow and the next day and the next day and then all of the sudden they're in the doctor's office going, "What? I need surgery? How did this happen?" That's if they're lucky. Too many of them miss their grandkid's first step or first day at school or graduation. Sometimes I wish every person could have a "Christmas Carol" sort of experience. Some malevolent or at least uncaring spirit would show up at their doorstep and tell them, "If you don't change the way you're living and lose 50 lbs (or stop smoking or eating crap or whatever...) you will die in six months." The spirit would then take them on a tour of their very real and unavoidable death from bad choices. How many people would choose being overweight for six more months and dying to losing 50 lbs. No one.

So why are they overweight now? And why do children in this country have to go without health care because of it?

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

A Climb up Memory Rock, Part II

OK, right!

When last we left our intrepid stoic, he was clinging somewhat precariously to the side of a prehistoric volcanic thumb trying to reign in an overactive imagination that had teamed up with his common sense to question why in the hell had he brought them 300 feet up the side of this rock to cling in the first place. At home with a book and a nice hot cup of tea would have been a much better place they suggested. If fact, if it hadn't been for that damned sense of adventure and his trusty sidekick, the "what-the-hell" attitude, that's where they'd all be instead of wondering just how high the body would bounce if a foot slipped and gravity, the pathological beast, did the trick, fair enough.

Now, there was no way I was going to chicken out at this point. Kelly was up on top of the rock and I couldn't back down now. Things hung in the balance, in more ways that one, until mighty pride stepped up to the plate. Pride stepped in a cuffed Myself around a bit and made him hide somewhere behind my frontal lobe for a bit, sulking and waiting for a chance to sneak back into the conversation. I took a deep breath and looked around. Ok, a couple of good footholds here and there and...nope, that'll lead me back to the place I got stuck. Hmmm... Myself points out that my arms are now beginning to shake and that certainly can't be a good thing. Pride glowers and he ducks back out of the way. How did Kelly get up I wonder. Then it hits me; the old lateral move. So I spider across a bit of the rock face to my left and there appears a nice set of places to put my various appendages. Reminding myself to let my legs do the heavy lifting and to test my holds one at a time I make my way up to the top.

Wow, what a view! The Cascades are always beautiful but in the crisp winter air the giants seem to be just out of reach. Shasta and Lassen to our south, McLoughlin and Theilsen to the northeast. Mt Ashland looked little more than a small 7000 ft hump to our northwest. It was exhilerating. We could even see up to Three Sisters near Bend a couple hundred miles away. What a trip! We talked and pointed and generally looked about for around half an hour and then we realized that it was cold. I mean really cold. I'm sure the stong breeze blowing didn't help. So we decided it was time to go down.

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to climb a ladder than to descend it? When climbing you tend to look up, when descending there is a real tendancy to want to look down. Once you do that, then the second guessing starts. So you say, hey, I got up here didn't I? And that's when Myself jumped back into the picture. The problem was that pride was off having a celebratory beer int he pleasure centers so things were balanced again, except I was a lot more tired and a lot more cold and I had to look down.

To be continued some more...

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Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Wow

This year's big story at the Tour de France was supposed to be whether Lance could win 5 in a row. Lined up against him was the deepest field of challengers he had faced over the period of his domination of the "Super Bowl" of cycling. Included in those serious challengers were two Americans, Tyler Hamilton and Levi Leipheimer. Some were even talking about an American sweep of the podium. All of that changed when a Kelme rider unclipped going around a corner at 30 mph 500 m from the end of stage 1. Almost all of the big names were involved in the crash, including Lance, Tyler and Levi. While Lance escaped unharmed, Tyler and Levi weren't so lucky. Levi broke one of his "sit" bones and had to abandon. Tyler broke his collarbone in two places and looked like he would also step out of the race.

This is where the story gets interesting. Tyler had trained for the Tour all year long. Eight other men had trained to support him over that same time. The team had pinned its hopes on him and now he was injured, badly. While it may not seem that a collarbone is that big a deal in a sport were you use your legs for most of the work, you have to anchor your body against something. That something is the bike itself and you have to hang on tight, especially going uphill. A broken collarbone makes that pretty painful. So the news conference got called to announce Tyler's abandonment. Funny thing though. Neither Tyler or his team manger, former Tour winner Bjarne Riis, could actually say the words. It was too hard, there was too much that had been put into this. So they released the results of the medical exam and said they'd leave it until tomorrow.

Were they serious? No one believed that Tyler was going to start stage two until he rolled up to the start line heavily taped with extra padding on his handlebar. "We'll see how it goes," he said. In interviews he explained that he had to prove to himself that he couldn't finish. He couldn't just go home. He felt he owed too much to the team. He did finish. He finished stage three and four and on and on. It was incredible. To see him climbing the Alps with the best cyclists in the world and holding his own was, as Paul Sherwin might put it, "absolutely unbelievable."

Today the story became legend. Tyler won stage 16 of the Tour and improved his standing to 6th place overall. He won on a breakaway. Solo. A long flyer. Over 100 km. Its the most phenomenal thing I've ever seen anyone do on a bicycle. He held off the best cyclists in the world for over 60 miles to take his first stage victory in the tour. What an incredible inspiration. When asked he replied, "I'm just doing my job." "This victory belongs to the team who has worked so hard for me." Wow. Just unbelievable. Parents out there, show your kids this guy. Not the Kobe Bryants or Derek Jeters or Terrell Owens' or other overpaid primadonnas and criminals. Show them Tyler Hamilton. Show them his character. Teach them his attitude. Tyler is a humble man who refused to give up. Who stuck out the pain because he refused to give up on his dreams and, as I'm sure he'd say, the dreams of the eight men around him. Because of his example two other members of his team have won stages this year in the tour. Looking at his dedication, they refused to give up no matter how badly it hurt. Because of his soldiering on, the team leads to the teams classification in the Tour by a whopping 9 minutes and not one of his teammates has dropped out of the three week long bike race that eats the fittest men in the world for breakfast.

I will always admire Lance for his comeback and his dedication to his sport. It has taught me about the power of a dream and what can be redeemed from the ashes of a broken life. Now, as a rider and as a person, I am finding that I want to learn from Tyler. I want to be more like him: humble, dedicated and selfless. Just as concerned about the dreams of others as I am about my own dreams. We're built about the same, 5'8" and around 140 lbs. I hope I can have the character he has shown in how I live my life and how I ride my bike.

Tyler, thanks for being you.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, July 21, 2003

Twofer

This weekend I won my second gold medal of this year's Georgia Games, this time in the mountain biking catagory. It's funny how things work out at times. I got my mountain bike as a training alternative when the weather was too cold for a road ride or I needed some variety in the off-season. From that, things progressed to deciding the use the GAP series races as training races due to a lack of local training races and an inability to get to the Thursday Night Hammer Rides in Griffin. On my goals sheet, I listed finishing top ten in the series standings as a goal. After the first race, where I finished 8th, that looked to be a reasonable goal. Since then I've not finished out of the top five (excluding the one DNF at Windridge) and I've won the last two races in the series. I'm now the gold medal winner and the series leader after seven races.

Holding the medal in my hand was really cool and really humbling at the same time. I have never won an athletic award. Ever. Certainly not a championship. To be holding a Georgia Games Championship gold medal won in a mountain biking race was about as unlikely a thing that I could have imagined back in December when I started this year's training. I was planning to go for the gold in the Time Trial but I never figured I'd be a good enough rider technically to win on the dirt.

I've hung the medal on the wall in our TV/Bible Study room next to a verse my wife has painted on the wall. It's from Habbakuk 1:5. It reads, "Get ready to be amazed, for I will do such things that you would not believe, even if you were told!" The medal hangs like an exclamation mark for all to see and believe.

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Monday, July 14, 2003

Two in the Win Column

I've finally managed to breakthrough I've been training for and it does feel good. I took out the top honors in the last two races I've ridden in. The first was a MTB race up in Gainesville at the Ag Center. After my typical slower than most start, I found my rhythm and began to power through the course. By the beginning of the second lap I had caught most of the leaders and by the second climb I had dropped them all. I soloed to a 1'30" win over the second place rider. No flat tires this time. It felt great to get my first MTB win and to get past the mechanicals that have been plaguing me.

Saturday I went out to the Georgia State Games for an attempt to win the Cat V time trial race and get a gold medal. The win at Union City was a good precursor but I wanted this win a lot worse. I had a stronger field to contend with and the course was a lot flatter. That meant that my not exactly areo bike would put me at a disadvantage against more guys with better gear. The funny thing though was that i never felt the usual nerves I get before a race. I got the adrenaline rush right after registration but once I got past that I was calm and determined. When I left the start house I leg my legs find their rhythm and then turned on the gas slowly. At the top of the first little hill I spiked my heart rate at 187 and then let it settle to 180. I went all out for the next five miles. At the end of 18 minutes, I had caught my minute man and won the gold. I didn't find out until yesterday but I was pretty calm until then. I knew I had ridden to the best of my ability. In fact, I had set a personal record speed of 25.4 mph and my legs had felt better than they ever have at a time trial.

This weekend I'll go for a gold medal at the State Games MTB championships at Dauset Trails. I don't think anyone in the series has had back-to-back wins so I'm trying for a lot here but I'm pretty motivated. Here's to hoping for no mechanicals and good legs. Those and a little luck and I'll be on the podium for sure, maybe in the top spot.

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, June 27, 2003

A Climb Up Memory Rock, Part I

After reading Scaryduck's many accounts of his past, I have decided that I too would regale you, my readers, with a tale from the dim mists of time involving risk, danger and, as is always the case when risk and danger are involved, stupidity. Unfortunately, unlike Scary's stories, there will be no alcohol involved, so the story may not be nearly as funny.

The story begins at the beginning of winter quarter of my sophomore year in college. Christmas had been wretched for a number of reasons mostly involving a young woman who had spurned my affections in the most nefarious of ways. She now, after a year of claiming that she wanted more, only wanted to be friends. I reacted to the news with what I considered an amazing amount of self-restraint and maturity. Instead of throwing temper tantrums or sharp objects, I decided to live like a monk and swore off the opposite sex for the next two years of my life. A pretty sane response I thought. I also decided to return to a pasttime of my high school scouting days, hiking.

Ashland's a pretty cool place to hike around and I had a gaming friend who I knew was in town that liked to hoof it around a bit so we got in touch. Just after the new year we decided to do a bit of slogging about in the high country. The problem was just where, but Kelly said he'd figure something out. After the holiday and the general monking up of New Year's which involved no alcohol or general gaity of any kind (I think I read some stodgy old philosopher or something) I rang up Kelly and we agreed to set off the next morning. Kelly said that he wanted to climb Pilot Rock which I thought was a smashing good idea.

So at about 7:00 am he picks me up in his old blue Mazda minitruck. My New Year's resolution had been to become a Stoic. All of that lowering one's expectations stuff seemed pretty good to me and I would get to play the strong, brooding, silent type that the chicks seemed to dig but that never had to pay them any mind. The ride up to the Pacific Crest Trial was pretty quiet as I got the impression that Kelly had something on his mind and didn't want to talk about it. Fine by me I thought. I didn't feel much like talking, being a stoic now and all.

When we disembark from the truck and hit the trail, we have a 3 mile hike to the base of the rock. Through snow. Up to our waist in places. I'm all for it. Suffering silently through difficult conditions is a stoic kind of thing I figure. Before long Kelly and I look like arctic explorers, except that we don't have all the great equipment meant for actually keeping you warm. Still though it's such hard work getting on in the snow that by the time we reach the base a little over an hour later we are sweating up a storm. Before our assault on the rock, we decided to take a break and catch our breath. As we chat the small talk we both realize that something much deeper is going on with each other and finally we both fess up what's on our minds. It turns out that Kelly's basically going through the same thing I am with an old high school flame and has decided to do the same stoic thing I have.

Cool! So right there we swear some sort of unspoken stoic oath to suffer whatever comes along with a sort of "what the hell" attitude. This would have been just fine at "Goodtimes" in town over pizza but it wasn't such a good idea right now. We were about to climb up an old volcano core of windpolished basalt. Pilot Rock stuck up out of the Cascade spine about 300 or 400 feet like a hitchhiker's thumb. It got it's name from the fact that the airline pilots that flew from San Francisco to Portland and back used it as a visual navigation aid. So up we go. At first, is was mostly like climbing stairs since the basalt had eroded to form those cool hexagonal rodlike thingys that got places named things like "The Devil's Staircase" or whatever. As we climbed higher the going got tougher and we started to have to do some hand and foot climbing. No problem I think and up I stoically go. As we near the top we hit an unexpected obstacle...ice. Hmmm. Ah, what the hell, right? Up we went, caution be damned. I mean, we'd just had our love-lives pooed upon so who cared, really? Just climb and the devil take the hindmost. About 30 feet from the top I took a bad line and got stuck with no way to get the rest of the way up. Normally this is no problem, you just back down to where you started and pick a new line. Kelly had found a good one and was making nice progress. But now the reality of what I'm doing smacks me in the face. I look down about 100 feet of near vertical rock face with a lot of ice and try to find my next down foothold. Did I mention my fear of falling? Yeah, all of the sudden I'm more than a little uncomfortable and trying to hold on to rational thought.

"You have to get down," I tell myself. Myself says some rather foul and very unstoic things back. "Relax, " I say, taking deep calming breaths. Myself gibbers with fear and then throws a rather unsavory image of me falling to a very painful landing at me. Ouch, I think. The bastard's really playing rough now, bringing my mortality into this and all. Doesn't he know I'm 19 and that mortality has no place in these conversations. I decide to try a little philosophy and tell Myself that I just need to lower my expectations. Myself counters with, "Like what, not expecting to survive the fall?" Damn, he really plays dirty. Just then Kelly asks if I'm OK. Myself wants to speak gibberish and blabber on about how slippery the ice is. I manage to get Myself into a half-nelson and say, "Give me a minute, I need to find a better foothold and I'll be good." "You're a lying bastard you know," Myself says. "You're so full of it your eyes are brown, " he continues. We talk like this a lot, swearing seems to be an important part of the conversation. I take the stoic route and ignore him. I search around and finally find something and lower myself down. Wow, how can you sweat so much when you're so cold. Don't look down too much I tell Myself. He sneers and I look. Still though, things look better as I can find a couple of more footholds. The only problem is that one is a long reach for a squatty guy such as myself. I rapid succession I make three moves and hope everything holds. It does and I'm back where I started and I've even managed to retain control of all of my bodily functions.

To be continued...

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Union City

This was the third big weekend for my road race calendar. It was also the tune-up race for the Georgia State Games. I was going to ride for myself for the last time before moving to Cat IV and having to start working for th emore experienced riders on the team. I was also targeting a win or two.

The Crit This was a warm up for me. I was hoping to grab a top ten and get a few points for the Omnium but not much else. The filed was a little large at around 35 but the course was pretty non-technical with wide corners and two long straight lanes that were plenty wide. So you can imagine my surprise when all of the sudden some dork has to make a pass on the crowded inside of me next to the barrels. Oh boy. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He clipped a barrel, slammed on his brakes and we had a problem. I'm trying to avoid touching wheels with the dork when the guy behind me gets into my back wheel. It's not his fault really. He was minding his own business and didn't see the dork hit the barrel and so he doesn't understand why the guy ahead of him is slowing down. So anyway, I'm cool because all I need to do is keep my head and I'll stay upright as I've managed to aviod touching wheels with anyone. The only problem is the guy behind me is going too fast and he rides right up to my rear cogset aqnd that's where things go downhill for me. He goes down and drags me down from behind with him. I feel this coming so bailing off isn't too big a deal and I get out of the crash with just a few scrapes. The bigger problem is that there's something wrong with the bike. I don't have time to look it over so I limp the bike to the pit area and ask for my free lap. A once over and the problem is revealed, the rear rim is tacoed. Even opening the brake calipers isn't going to do it totally. Still, I get put back into the race and I pray that the wheel will hold together until I finish. There's only three laps to go. So as I go through the first set of corners it occurs to me that this is a stupid place for me to be, in the middle of the pack. If the wheel does give out and I go down again I'll take everyone with me. So on the back straightaway with one and a half to go I take a flyer. A big one. Stand up with my hands in the drops an d off I go. I click up to my highest gear and give it everything. Incredibly, they let me go. I'm off the front by 50 meters before the chase starts. The wheel is getting shaky and the rim is rubbing the brake badly but I keep going. I blow up the group and manage to hang on for fourth. Not too shabby for a guy bleeding in three places with a tire that barely tracks.

The Time Trial So, I'm in better shape Omniumwise than I thought and I still have my two strongest events to go. What I don't have is rear wheel. Thanks to Cleve who loaned me his spare rear wheel, that problem is remedied for the time trial. The details of changing a tube and a few other odds and ends still took up the better part of the afternoon. My arm was starting to hurt pretty good now as well. So when I get to the start line, there's a lot of frustration pent up. Over the next 8.5 miles, that all came out. I flew around the hilly course like I was being chased by Drew Carey in a tutu with unspeakable desires on his mind. I caught my 30 second man, my 1 minute man, my 90 second man and my 2 minute man. I sprinted up the last hill and spiked the heart rate up over 190. I left it all on the course. I was sure I had won, I felt that good about the ride. Still I would have to wait until the next morning to see the results. When I checked them I had indeed won. The next guy was over a minute and thirty seconds behind me. I would have finished in the top ten in any class but Pro/1/2. I was now only one point behind in the Omnium.

The Road Race I'd been thinking about this road race for a year. I knew I could win it. I'm a strong rider on rollers and this was a roller course. As the race started, I sat in and conserved my strength. For the first 18 miles I let everyone else do the work and just got swept along for the ride. Then the crash happened. i wasn't in it but it reminded me of the day before so I decided to move up. On the next climb I did. It was really easy. I got to the front in time for the decent and then decided to set the pace for the next big climb just to see what everyone had. I set a pace that was solid but not blistering. When I pulled off I saw that some of the guys were suffering a bit. Good, I thought, we've still got 21 miles to go and I haven't begun to really attack yet. Things were good. I sat near the front for the next 6 miles or so until I ended up on the front for the next climb. I guys the Bigfoot guys had decided to make me do all the work. I was fine with that. I train harder than we were riding over longer distances. I was just getting warmed up. So I pulled at 22 mph up a long 3-4% grade for over a mile. As we approached the top, one of the strong riders I had been watching attacked. I guess he figured I was tired. This lured a couple of other guys out and it looked like there was going to be a three man break. Well, I thought, this is more like it and off I went to catch onto the back of the train. As we crested the hill, two others guys caught on and we were six. Just like Raccoon Mountian I thought. We had a 50 meter lead and six of the ten strongest riders. I shouted for us to put the hammer down. We had a real break and now was the time. I couple of guys looked like they might do something but just sat there. I was stunned. Here we were 13 miles from the finish and we had a good break. This is how you win races and none of these guys knew what to do. So I took off. I figured that by sprinting out, no one would let me go and we'd have to try and stay away. They didn't bite, I was stunned. I was almost a hundred yards off the fron tof the now rejoined group and just sat up. No sense in burning myself up if these guys weren't going to work. Six guys can make a thirteen mile break stick. One guy can't. As I came back into the field I began to notice something odd. My back tire felt funny. Oh No! To get into the race I had borrowed my wife's wheel but it was made for a 25 mm tire. I was running a 20 mm tire and the tube had developed a leak. I was done for the day. I didn't have a spare wheel in the wheel truck and a tube takes too long to change. I legitimately had a good chance of winning the race and now I was out. I was so frustrated. Two weekends in a row my victory had been robbed by a $5 bit of latex rubber. It makes one wonder why on Earth you suffer like a dog for months only to be betrayed by your equipment. Sigh...

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Thursday, June 19, 2003

A few updates

Most of you don't explore from here but for those who do, hopefully the additions I made to my other bloggers section will satisfy your thirst for new things to waste your time with (why else would you be here).

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Windridge

An update regarding my latest foray into the world of mountain biking. Last weekend I raced on a course that ran on a farm (the Windridge Farm, I guess) outside of Newnan. The race wasn't as well organized as the others in the GAP series but the course was a butt-kicker. I mean, I haven't seen that many roots since the 70's mini-series. Add to that lots of rocks, downhill switchbacks and stiffling heat and humidity and what you get is one hell of a hard event. The heat was so bad that a lot of the Sport riders were throwing up out on the course from cramping, both in the their legs and in their stomachs.

I got there a little late so I ended up having to line up near the back of the smallish field. As is usually the case, this was a big disadvantage as we got into the first technical section. I ended up behind a couple of crashes and a couple of guys who didn't want to yield the trail. By the time I got around them I was frustrated and well behind the leaders. THe good side of this was that I hadn't gone out too hard and made myself sick. The plan had been to go easy for the first half a lap or so and see how I was doing but not when sitting in the back. Still, though I was feeling pretty good in terms of my form so I decided to open things up a bit and see if I couldn't place in the top ten. Before long I started catching guys from the lead group one at a time. I'd ride up behind them, sit in and rest a few minutes and then pass and drop them. As the course smoothed out a bit I found a rhythm and picked up speed and before i knew it I was on the leader's wheel. Then we hit the climb. It was a three tier stairstep climb that pushed me down into the little ring. Still, I was able to spin up and pass four guys (three from the earlier 19-29 group) without any problem. As I rode by, one guy said, "Wow!" Not something you hear too often and it really gave me a lot of morale for the second lap. I came through the start/finish line, grabbed the water bottle from my wife, cleaned my drivetrain, drank and cooled off the melon. I was leading, I felt strong and I was climbing better than anyone. It looked good.

As I started into the second lap I hit the really technical section and after about a mile I noticed my front tire getting soft. Oh no! After two quick crashes I took the bike off the course and changed the front tube. About five guys passed me but I wasn't too worried, just frustrated. I finished the change and got going again. I passed a couple and then all of the sudden, Pssssttt. I was done. No more spare tubes. DNF. Argh! Oh well, my form was good and I rode solid and I even learned something about weighting the bike in technical sections.

This weekend is a road race in Union City and then its back to the dirt in Gainesville, GA. Hopefully I'll have the mechanical stuff sorted out by then.

Thanks for reading.

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