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

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Alright, I'm not a raging liberal or anything like it. I tend towards a conservatively moderate political outlook with a a view towards social justice and a strong conviction in a conservative monetary policy (i.e.-balanced budgets, simple tax plans, etc.). I side with those who feel that a stricter interpretation of the constitution is what we need in the courts with legislators doing the hard work of drafting policy. I'm in favor of a stronger congress and a weaker executive branch. Events of the last couple of days have convinced me that W is in need of a swift kick in the ass. The Executive Branch has its own court to approve warrants to spy in folks for national security reasons. Yet, the President has decided that he needs to be able to bypass this. This is, to me, a clear violation of the 4th Amendment and if the Pres doesn't come clean, apologize and promise not to do it again (with some real oversight) then I think the Congress ought to issue articles of impeachment. To any Republican Party election types: if I had to do it again, I'd now vote against the President. In three years, I'll not support the Reublican party unless it strongly distances itself from these events.

Now, down here where I live, there is a lot of support for W and the "War on Terror" and so there are a lot of folks who don't seem to mind the intrusion but that how civil liberties get eroded. We talk about saving lives but what abobut the principles and the lives given to establish them between 1775 and 1781. The price of liberty in our nation is that we will always be less safe that those who choose to restrict it for their citizens. I'm willing to pay that. There are families that has lost sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers in this war. The rest of us need to accept that our values require that we are at risk and that we will be at risk as long as we commit to protect the 4th Amendment rights of our citizens and we askew the atrocity that is torture. The lives lost will be, as Jefferson might have said, martyrs for liberty.

I know that's easy for me to say as I haven't lost anyone close to me in a terrorist attack but restricting civil liberties was wrong when John Adams did it after the XYZ Affair, when Lincoln did it in the Civil War, when Wilson did it in WW I and now when W had done it in his nebulous "War on Terror" (which fighteningly sounds like Johnson's War on Poverty and Reagan's War on Drugs). If you don't have a case that'll stand up in court (and this court has turned down 5 requests out of thousands given it) then you don't have a case. Yes it might just cost some people their lives but it'll preserve the principles that thousands have died to defend.

Anyways, sorry for the political heaviness and thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Saturday, December 10, 2005

So the plan today was to go out and ride a hundred miles in training for an endurance race I'd like to do in February. The idea was to try and stay below 150 on the ole heart rate while keeping the speed in the high 19's. Great plan. The weather called for cold conditions with little wind so I figured I'd wait until about 11 am and then ride during the warmest part of the day.

As I got out the temp had warmed into the low 40's and I was stoked for a good ride. I was going to do two 50 mile loops with a stop at the house to refill the bottles so I wouldn't have to carry more than two. As I left I realized that there was a bit of wind but it didn't seem to bad. At least not until I got about ten miles into the ride and then it was like someone decided to flog me. I fought into a 15 mph head wind for aobut 15 miles until I made a turn and got the wind at my back. After thet it wasn't oo bad for a while but I had used a lot of energy fighting my way into it. When I got home the first time I switched bottles and it seems that the wind switched as well. For the second loop I fought head or side winds for most of the ride.

I ended up averaging about 18.9 mph and burned about 10% more calories than I usually do. That was pretty much a bummer as I'm wiped out right now to some extent. Still, it was a good training ride and I expect to do more like it over the course of X-mas break. I just wish I could find a route that was a little less hilly. The endurance race (24 hours of Sebring) will be held in Florida and I'm guessing I did more climbing in the first loop of my ride today than I'll do in all of the event in Sebring.

Thanks fo Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, December 02, 2005

Well, I'm through the first month of the training schedule. For my newer readers this is what Joe Friel, author of the Cyclist's Training Bible, calls the Base 1 period. Lots of low intensity riding with a few single legged pedaling drills and form sprints thrown in to keep it interesting. Add to that a little work in the weight room and you've got yourself the foundation of a better training and racing season, assuming you can stay with the program, not get bored and not fall to the temptation of training with too much intensity (i.e.-riding too hard). The numbers for November came out at 1154 miles in 3353 minutes (or about 56 hours). The somewhat staggering number is that I burned (at least according to my heart rate monitor) a whopping 36321 Calories (or kilocalories for the scientifically minded) above my basal metabolic rate. That's enough caloric output for me to have lost over 8 pounds if I hadn't replaced some of those calories. While my weight didn't change, I am noticing that I look a lot leaner which makes me think I lost some fat and gained some muscle, probably due to the combination of riding and weight lifting.

Now I move into the Base 2 period. During this cycle (each cycle is about 4 weeks long if you include a week of recovery) I'll shift from doing pure endurance work along with a little skills training to working on my muscular endurance a good bit more along with more skills training (got too teach those legs to spin faster as well as harder). This is where I lay the foundation for my time trialing season by doing increasingly longer blocks of riding near 80% of my maximum heart rate. These are called "tempo" sessions because you try to ride them with an even cadance and heart rate. I'm still working at well below my lactate threshold (the heart rate where my body clears out lactic acid at the same rate my muscles produce it) but the rides get to be a little more fun because I don't feel like I'm dwadling about. I can do a little hill work now but nothing that requires real power and I have to remain seated for any climbing I do. The idea is that power development is going to happen in the weight room this month as I move into the muscular strength phase of my lifting schedule (yes, everyhting is scheduled; it's how you get competitive to race). I hate this part because this is the phase when weight room work really hurts. I know that it does me tons of good but I really do hate it. I don't mind suffering on the bike because the sensation is more of a whole body thing. In the weight room it's like I target one specific muscle or muscle group, torture it and then move to the next. Since the pain is more localized, the suffering seems a lot more intense even if it is for a much shorter period of time. I would rather suffer with my whole body for an hour in a time trial than in my quads for eight reps on the leg curl machine.

The most interesting thing is the feeling of being hungry a lot but not ravenous. At some point every season my body decides that I'm not feeding it enough and I have to endure urges to eat every single thing in sight (much like when I was 17). Usually I'm working out so much that I deal with this and still lose weight. This usually doesn't happen until I'm really into the main build training cycles. Right now, the feeling is lurking. Every once in a while I go on a tear (or maybe it's better called a binge) but for the most part I'm able to moderate my eating. It's unsettling though to think that I'm dealing with this sort of thing this earlier in the season. Probably it's a good thing because it means I'm training with a bit more intensity and duration which is good for a February peak but as I get into the higher intensity and longer duration of Base 2 here I wonder if I'll begin to eat us out of hearth and home. What I'd rather do is lose some more fat and gain a bit more muscle (though if I do too much more of that in my legs I'll have to buy new pants again).

Anyways, thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, November 21, 2005

OK, I'm officially getting tired of this crisis after problem after difficulty cycle that my life seems to be in right now.

Last weekend we were going down to the last big century ride of the year when, due to crash recovery silliness, traffic on the interstate backed up and we were rear-ended. The car was drivable but I'm sure that once we get it into the shop later this week we're looking at being without it for about two weeks and in a "intermediate sized" rental of some persuasion. The insurance company has been good to work with (the other driver's, not ours) but there's a lot of liitle details to be arranged adn everytime I go out to our less than one year old car I have to look at the damage and sigh. The fact that I don't have a license right now, of course, complicates everything tremendously.

This weekend went somewhat smoother until last night Max, my golden retriever, went into a seizure cycle. Max has had small seizures since he was about a year old and the vet told us a time would come when we would have to medicate him. I had just finished a two and a half hour training ride on the rollers and was about to make some dinner when my wife came into the room and told me that Max had had another seizure. We didn't think too much of it until he had a second one about 5 minutes later. As he was coming out of that we were concerned and a bit relieved when he went into another. And then another. We called the vet's emergency number but he wasn't back in town yet. He was supposed to be in any minute and the nearest emergency clinic was 45 minutes away so I decided to wait thinking that this would pass in under 30 minutes or the vet would call. Neither did so I carried my seizured dog to the car and we raced south. It was maybe the longest 40 minutes of my life; every 15 seconds he would spasm for 15 seconds and then relax for 15 seconds. Over and over and over again. All I could do was hold him and talk to him and hope he kept breathing and that his heart wouldn't explode. We got him down there and after several injections of various things we finally broke the cycle and knocked him out. As he finally settled down I felt like the vet had given me the sedative as a lot of the tension drained out of my body. We took him home and slept with him through the night (my wife not so much) and today he seems to be recovering pretty well. It looks like he'll be on seizure meds for the rest of his life now but he's OK after what was two hours of rigid body spasms.

So...UNCLE! Whatever's going on here, I'm really ready to be done now. Gravel trucks, trees on house, rear-end collisions, unfair and punative justice systems, other personal issues, sub-par students and dog conditions have worn me down. Officially, for the holiday season, I'm hunkering down and fortifying the castle. Right now I'm tired as hell of dealing with one crisis after another. So if you want to see me, you'll have to know the secret password, use the special handshake and have a decoder ring that can be purchased at the low, low price of only $998.98 plus tax, tag, title, transfer, shipping and handling (this offer not necessary for spouses or close friends and not valid for assholes and certain local law enforcement agencies). If you don't have that a six pack of a microbrewed adult beverage might do in a pinch if I'm feeling particularly generous, I don't have to do any work for it and I'm thirsty.

Anyways, the ride was great and Max seems to be getting back to his old, goofy self so the crises have been weathered but each one seems to add a little more grey to my bread, more lines around my eyes and more need for sleep. Maybe this long weekend I can get caught back up on my sleep and the dark circles that seem to be getting too prominent will fade a bit. Before then, I have exams to give and grade, messes at home to clean up and more meetings than God.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you need a decoder ring.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

So as November starts, so does a new training season. Usually I start back on Dec 1 or maybe right after Thankgiving but because my goals this season start in Febuary instead of April I need to ramp up my training a bit earlier. Right now everything will be long, steady distance with leg speed drills. No heart rates above 70% of my max which translates into about 140 bpm. Add to that some weight lifting, first to balance my body out and then to build some strength and you have my early season regime. The difference this year will be to throw some really long rides intot he mix. I'm going to try and do an 80-100 mile ride each week and then push that number up as time goes on.

The other thing I need to do is switch my road bike back to a 53/42 ring set instead of the 53/39 I have on now. The 42 is a better training gear for me due to my focus on time trialing and my early work on rolling courses. It'll do a better job of keeping me out of the big ring as I work on spinning at a higher cadence.

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, October 28, 2005

Over the last couple of months I've found myself becoming more and more interested in following the various sets of work regarding the lastest strain of the flu. My interest began after reading a book titled, "The First Horseman" where a terrorist group gets ahold of live 1918 flu virus and mutates it to be more resistant to the body's immune system. I read the book several years ago but it picqued my interest in the topic and I've been sort of curious about it since.

This summer I picked up an excellent book titled, "The Great Influenza" that chronicled the course of the 1918 flu and its effects both in the states and on worldwide diplomacy during and following the First World War. The best part of the book, in my mind, was the description of how flu works and how the medical community struggled (amd most often failed) to deal with it. What you learn is that flu is really, really hard to contain for a lot of reasons. What you also learn is that the latest bird flu strain has a lot of similarities to the 1918 strain.

This brings us to the Avian Flu reporting in the media and the media's tendancy to claim the sky is falling. This strain will mutate and become a human flu strain. I have absolutely no question about this. I also believe that the chances are that, unlike SARS, it will be almost impossible to contain this thing once it gets started. The question is, how deadly will it be? Since we as a species have absolutely no immunity to this strain, there will be a large infection rate with real flu symptoms that will knock most people who get it out for two weeks and a lot of people will get it. What is unclear is whether it will be as virulent as the second wave of the 1918 strain. The first wave of the 1918 strain made a lot of people really sick and may have ended WWI due to the Germans not being able to get enough troops moving (the British had the same problem) but it actually didn't kill many people. Somewhere the strain mutated to something much deadlier and the second wave was really deadly.

Right now the media is beginning to build to a fever pitch on the spread of the avian strain. There is some basis for this as the mortality rate when the virus does jump from birds to people is around 40%. But this isn't a human strain. When the strain mutates and becomes human transmitable it remains to be seen what will happen. Right now there are no vaccines at all for this strain and none seem to be forthcoming. However, the mutation may happen tomorrow or it may happen three years down the road (though I tend to think it'll be sooner than later). If we get through a winter before it mutates we may have enough time to work up a vaccine.

How bad will it be? Listen to the media and it may sound like the world is coming to an end...that sells papers and ad time. A truer estimate is that the nation's care care system will be heavily taxed and stretched. This doesn't have to be the case. If the media spent as much time educating the public as it did alarming them we'd find out that you really don't need a hospital for a lot of the flu cases. Unless you are seriously affected by a secondary infection such a pnuemonia there's not much a hospital can do that you can't do at home. But that doesn't sell papers.

The best thing we can do right now is to get educated and prepare. Stock up on ibprofen or Tylenol. Get lots of electrolyte fluids and easy to digest foods. Bolster your immune system by eating right, taking your vitamins, getting enough sleep and exercising regularly. Save your sick leave from work and make sure friends and relatives have a care system in place so that if they're struck they can be helped. What if it does get as bad as the 1918 pandemic? There's not much you'll be able to do to get much help beyond that. The hospitals and health care system will be overwhelmed by the number of critically ill peoople. Just like in the 1918 event, hospitals will basically resort to lining people up in the hallways, trying to give them comfort and IV fluids and taking away the dead. Being educated about how to stay healthy in the first place and what to do in the event you get the virus will be a lot more effective that relying on an overtaxed health care system.

As with so many things, those who take the time and make the effort to get educated will stand a much better chance in dealing with a "nuclear strain". Also, take what the media says wiht a grain of salt. This won't be the plague that kills 30% of those who get it. The 1918 strain had an extremely high mortality rate and it was less than 1 in 20 in most places. While the world may grind to a halt for a few weeks, those who have prepared will find that they'll have plenty of food and supplies to weather any crisis. The question is, will the media's sky is falling coverage cause many to believe that they're just waiting for the next disaster and that there's nothing they can do. That would be most unfortunate.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, October 24, 2005

Bob Dylan's song title seems to accurately describe my weekend.

Friday afternoon I went up to see my new parole officer. I was feeling pretty negative about this as my feelings of an unfair process were reinforced by my wife's getting a $93 fine and nothing else in a series of tickets she received two days before I got mine from a State Patrol officer up in Cobb County. I was frustrated that the justice system could produce such varied results. Anyway, I had had to reschedule my appointment due to a conflict with a class and the lady who would be overseeing my probation had told me to come in "anytime Friday afternoon". Given that I would be traveling on bike I told her I'd be there around 3:30. I arrived within minutes of that time and entered the room to find no one at the desk. I politely called back and received no answer. I waited until I saw someone more behind the mirrored window and called back again. Still no answer. There were several signs posted about not yelling back or knocking on the various doors so I oblidged and waited, growing frustrated in the process. At one point another person came in and, being less patient than I, banged on the doors quite loudly. This brought the lady out into the lobby where she yelled at the other person and then me. I had enough. I explained in that voice I use for the most offensively clueless students I have that I had made this appointment at this time by her request. She looked at me and immediately backpedaled into her "space". She was used to pushing around poor, black folks and here was an obviously articulate white guy who she had treated very, very poorly. She tried to cover it up by acting all efficient and professional but I wasn't having any of it. In my interaction with her I let it be known that she was in the wrong and had acted poorly. We concluded our business and I left to ride home. The hour trip back gave me time to cool off and get a bit of perspective back.

Friday night I had plans for my wife and I but those were postponed because she was bone tired. Due to the frustration that caused and my attempts to deal with all the other frustrations I've had over the last month I was unable to sleep for most of the night. Saturday I tried to get a few things done and take a nap but even that was a trial due to unclear schedules. When we tried to spend time together Saturday night, my wife and I ran into a communication problem that just brought everythign to a halt. I spent another frustrating night tossing and turning, growing both angrier at the injustice of things and more dispondent with it all.

Sunday morning we went to church at an old congragation in a city nearby. The worship time was good, especially communion but I was saddened in the space. Designed to hold 300, there were maybe 60 people in attendance. The building was beginning to show signs of deterioration that the congregatioin wouldn't have the money or peopel to fix. They had a young pastor but few younger parishoners. It was a difficult thing to see that this beautiful church had been left behind in the rush to the "contemporary" church when it had so much to offer. Churches build these soulless buildings now that look more like office spaces than churches when this church could offer so much.

We had a good lunch with a friend and then we went to a mountain bike course in the town. I used to train on this course weekly a few years back but I had heard that it had been allowed to fall into disrepair whent he ATV community had decided to use the trails without permission. Word was out that they had been run off and that the trails were back in better shape. The course is a challenging one with lots of up and down and some technical challenges. What I found out was that the trail was back in operation but it wasn't in very good shape. Many of the trail markers were gone leaving confusion in their wake, the trails were badly rutted and there was more sand than at Daytona Beach. All of this made for a frustrating and challenging experience. When my wife asked my how my ride went, I relied, "The trail sucks and I wish I could learn to ride the damn bike." The good thing is that it pushed my abilities which I need to work on if I'm going to compete on the MTB next year after taking this year off.

Finally, on Sunday evening, things got better. My wife and I got some of our communication issues worked out and learned about ourselves in the process. Maybe I'll write more aout that in a later post. We also watched Batman begins with the same friend the we had lunch with. Excellent movie, though the theme of brokenness runs through that as well, especially with respect to Gotham. The one thing that doesn't seem broken right now is my marriage though I spent a goodly portion of the weekend wondering about that. I'd like to catch a bit of a break here if I can. I'm hoping that we've passed through the nadir of our trials and that things will begin to look up. My belief though is that there's a lot more work to do before we see much improvement on some fronts.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, October 14, 2005

Well, I've always thought of myself as being a pretty law abiding guy. I generally paid my bills and kept my nose clean and all the rest. That is until yesterday. Last month we were pulled over for an out of date tag. It was something we kept meaning to do and kept forgetting. The officer gave me a ticket for an expired tag and for attempting to conceal the identity of a vehicle. The tag had been on our Outback and in not updating the tag the query came back as the tag belonging to the Outback. It was a big violation. $712 worth. I thought it was a little excessive so I went to court to ask that the charge be dropped.

I lost.

Not only do I have to cough up the dinero, the judge suspended my license for six months. It could have been worse; the sentence is usually for twelve. Since I couldn't pay the ticket I'm now in probation.

Nice.

If I was going to have this happen maybe I should have done the DUI thing or something. That's what I feel like right now, the same sort of societal bottom feeder that recklessly endangers good, decent people who happen to have the misfortune of driving on the same road they do.

This really sucks and it's my own darn fault. Now my wife gets to be my personal chauffer and I have to try not to become too burdensome with my requests. How often is she going to want to go to Dauset Trails on a weekend day so I can ride my mountain bike? Maybe she won't mind getting to be on a first name basis with the zoo critters there. Riiiiigggghhhhtttt.

I hope that whatever bad karma I'm paying for is done now. I didn't kick babies or anything...really. On the bright side I get to ride my bike a lot more often. You'll see me riding along with all of the other reprobates and derelicts who lost their licenses.

Crap.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, October 10, 2005

As many of you know, this hasn't been a particularly good year in terms of cycling. Lots of work without many results. I had some results early in the year and then I started working for Nationals. That's when I got to get personal with a really big truck and the bottom fell out. The entire second half of the season has been trying to recover from the injuries sustained from my close encounter of the truck kind.

I didn't really expect to do much racing after the crash, especially after trying to find some climbing legs and realizing the closet seemed to be empty. That's when I found out that there was going to be a State Time Trial Championship after all this weekend. I decided that if I could get Spinblade back I'd give it a try if I could. When everything came together I signed up.

I didn't really expect to do really well. My outside goal was to medal but I really expected a mid-pack finish. As I did some testing the week prior and I found that I had a little power but I couldn't get my heart rate up over 172 very reliably which is about 12 bpm less than I usually run in a long TT. I showed up at the course near Rome, GA and drove the course to get a sense of it. Things didn't look very good. The course, which had been described as flat, actually had a lot more elevation change, especially the climb right after the turn-around. All of the sudden I felt a lot worse about my chances since I haven't been climbing very well.

About 45 minutes before my start time I started my warm-up and felt pretty good. The day was just a little windy and drizzly and after my warm-up I had a bit of trouble staying warm as I had sweated pretty good on the trainer. As I rolled up to the start line I began to dial into the zone. I counted down with the official and powered away fromt he line. I started in one too big a gear but soon got up to speed and settled into my aero bars and began to power. Almost immediately I knew that I wasn't going to get my heart rate over 172. I decided that I couldn't worry about it and that I'd just do as well as I could. The course was challenging in terms of a lot of shallow climbs that sapped the legs. I passed my 30 second man at mile 3, my 1 minute man at mile 4 and my 1:30 man at mile 6. As I hit a harder climb at mile 9 I was caught by the best pro TT man in the state, Tony Scott. No worries I fugured as I wasn't really racing Tony and I could use him as a rabbit. For the next four miles I held him within a 100 feet until he finally dropped my on the false flat after the big climb out of the turnaround.

By mile 16 I was really beginning to suffer but I was holding it together. I kept looking back to see if anyone else was catching and no one was. At mile 19 I really started to try to give it everything I had left. As the pain increased I focused on my breathing and that worked until about two miles out when I began to beg to see the finish line. I was groveling but I kept giving it all I had left until the church where the start/finish line came into view. The whol last mile was a long 2% uphill grade and I powered towards the finish. Over the last 300 meters was a somwhat steeper ride and for the only time in the ride I stood up to get more power and I gave it everything. As I finished I nearly collapsed on the bike. I had ridden hard but I wasn't sure if I had given it enough to end up with a medal. Maybe but I wasn't sure. As I checked my time I had something around 55:45 for a 23 mile course. I had ridden at around 25 mph so I had met a goal I usually set for my long TTs.

After about an hour wait the results were posted. I was stunned to find that I had won my class and had finished withing the top 7 overall including the pros with a time of 55:32. Absolutely unbelievable! To have suffered the accident, the skull fracture, the long recovery and then to still not only compette to to actually win the state championship is just amazing. My mind is still trying to comprehend the fact that I won. I'm sure that God had a lot to do with all of this, if only in the fact that I'm not dead when I surely deserve to be. There's still a lot of work to do to get ready for next year but for the next week I get to rest and recover which is something I need. I haven't hurt after a TT like this ever so I guess I really left everything out on the course. After the week off I'll go back to base miles and see if I can get back to building my LT back to into the 180's.

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Once again we have reached the midpoint of the semester and this year, more than any since I've been here, I'm hearing the tales of woe from the faculty about the students. While the data is anecdotal at best, it seems that more of our studnets are withdrawing from classes, failing their mid-terms and/or skipping class on a regular basis.

I'd really like to know why.

In my allied health physics classes I started with 31 and now have 12 and in physical science I have gone from 31 to 19 prior to actually grading the mid-term exams. One colleague who teaches Western Civilization said that his class started with 31, 20 actually take the mid-term and only 10 passed it. Another who teaches Organic Chemistry started with 24, had 20 take the mid-term and had only 5 pass it.

What is going on?

I really thought we'd start seeing an improvement in our students with the implementation of end-of-subject exams at the high school level here in Georgia. Maybe that's going to take more time for us to see the results of but man these kids are bad. Even my good students aren't that great sometimes. Usually, in every class you have a couple of studnets who really nail your course. Right now I don't have anyone doing better than about a 92.

Since I sit on the Executive Board of the College this year I'm going to bring this up for discussion and see if we can get some hard data. I'd like to know what our DWF (drop, withdraw or fail) rate is compared to years previous in both the freshmen and sophomore classes. I know that many of my colleagues are somewhat demoralized by the performance of the students and I'd like to know if there are grounds to feel that way or if the problem is more in our perception of our students' performance.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, October 03, 2005

Well, I wish I could say that our weekend was highly productive but in terms of getting things done it really wasn't as productive as it probably needed to be given how busy the coming weekend will be. It was, however, a good weekend in terms of quality time spent with my wife. Friday night we went down to a little greek restaurant in Thomaston called Aviano's. It was really similar to a place we have here in town except that the service was about ten times better. The downside was that the meals really weren't worth $25 as they were a bit too salty for our taste. I might go there for lunch sometime but I'm not sure I'll return for dinner unless it's to try out the pizza (a very real possibility since good pizza is either way too expensive or has to be arrived at through enduring the previously mentioned poor service).

On Saturday I got a really strong ride in, my first at true race pace. I had some help from the wind so I'm not sure if it's really indicative of my form at the moment but it was nice to average 22.6 over 56 miles on my regular road bike. I managed to get some yard work done before the lawnmower ran out of gas as well but not quite as much as I had hoped. That night I took my wife dancing at this little club down in Macon. We had never done this before and it was a lot of fun. I'm haven't ever been much of a nightclub kind of person preferring instead to go to blues clubs or pubs (or something that is a combination of the two). One reason is that I'm a bit shy abou asking people to dance and I'm not too fond of the meat market mentality where the person you're dancing with always seems to have an eye somewhere else on the dance floor looking to see if there's something better. Going with my wife removed all of that and so I got to enjoy spending time with her and dancing as well.

The only problem with Saturday night was that we didn't get home until after 3 am on Sunday. I tried to piece sleep together over the course of the day but it was hard to do given what I needed to finish. I mostly finished up the yard work and got a recovery ride in but I didn't do too much else. I honestly can't understand how my students can do anything like this and still function as students. I only had a couple of beers but the late night wiped an awful lot of Sunday out for me. If I had had to study I can't imagine I would have gotten too much done. Granted, they're 20 years younger then me and can probably sleep through the sunrise but I'm still feeling the effects of the evening today. I can't imagine how bad off I'd be if I had gotten blotto and/or stayed out until 4 or 5 or 6 am by running to Waffle House and then Wal-Mart and then dropping a friend off and then...

So now it's on to the week at hand with meetings, visiting close friends, a Rosh Hashanah service to help coordinate and attend (yes, even as a Christian I celebrate Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Passover with my Jewish friends; it is what we hold in common) and a championship race to train for. It's a lot to do along with Mid-Terms (something I'll try to write about tomorrow) this week. We will have lots of travel over the week and into the weekend. Given the fact that gas seems to be rare around these parts right now that might be an interesting thing. When I went to fill the car on Friday only two local stations were carrying regular and when I went to find gas for the lawnmower on Sunday I ran into the same problem. I was able to find gas each time without too much trouble but spotty supply has me a bit worried for our Sunday travel up to the TT in Rome on Sunday.

Anyways, I hope you had a good, restful weekend and that your week goes well.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, September 30, 2005

Over the course of the last several weeks the campus ministry I sponsor has been looking through the parables in the accounts of the Gospel. One of the great assets our group has is an older Othrodox Christian who is very well versed in the writings of the church Fathers, specifically the Desert Fathers. As we have gone through our study, he has pointed out that many of Fathers wrote of the Kingdom of Heaven as not being a place "out there, in the future" but as a here and now thing. Not only that but that the Kingdom of Heaven is a place and a state inside each follower of Christ. In their writings and their theology God is as intimitely inside us as we might imagine. Metropolitan Anthony Bloom wrote that God is closer to us than we are even to ourselves. God is not some sort of distant, omnipotent sky God but rather a personal, even sensitive God that knows us by a name that even we don't completely know yet and wants us to know Him in the same way.

At the same time, Christ, in His statements to His disciples at the time and also now, makes it clear that whenever we are going outside of ourselves to help another person we are doing that for Him also. Whether the person is great or small, wealthy or poor, sick or in good health whatever we do for the least of these, Christ tells us, we do for Him also. Thus we are called to look upon our fellow human beings as Christ. We are to see that outside of ourselves and our personal concerns there is a world full of God.

So often, as I listen to popular Christian media and thought, I hear the desire articulated over and over that we are to seek a personal relationship with our God. I hear from my students in our discussions and from others through print, radio and TV that they seek to really hear from God, to really connect with Him. As I think of the God that is both inside and outside I wonder (OK, I more than wonder) if our Christian culture has become infected with a "to have a 'real' relationship with God it has to be miraculous in a blatantly obvious way" mentality. He has to 'speak' with us and give us 'signs' and all the other or somehow we don't think our faith is real or that our relationship is lacking in some foundational way.

While I certainly don't practice what I'm about to preach very often I really think this kind of thinking is sort of an insidious rot from the inside. If we want to find God we don't have to wait for Him to 'speak' to us in some sort of Bill Cosby "Noah" voice. He's right there deep inside of us waiting for us to sit and be still with Him. Not only that but He's all around us, waiting for us to look outside our lives and to sit down and start a relationship with Him in the form of a hurricane victim or the victim of domestic abuse or even person who is the victim of their own choices. He is the child in our own home who seeks to be loved and the unwed mother who needs a little help to get through the week. Like Lazarus at the gate of the rich man, He sits on our very doorsteps waiting to be noticed.

Why to do we struggle so hard to find Him when He's right there? Why do I struggle so hard?

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

For the first time since the crash I rode my time trial bike yesterday. The crash has sprung the old frame and shattered the fork of my original bike so I had to replace both. After several weeks of stops and starts with All3Sports (I can no longer, in good conscience, recommend them as a shop to get work done at) I finally got my bike back and with the help of EBay I was able to replace my damaged or destroyed wheels.

Knowing the tendancy of the bike to ask more of me than I usually plan to give I waited until after I had finished my recovery week to take her out on the shakedown cruise. The plan was that I would go hard but not all out over a 46 mile route I usually like to use for TT training. I had hoped to do the distance in under two hours and six minutes but didn't really think I'd beat 2h10m.

As I set out I was surprised to find myself settling into the aerobars with almost no trouble and little uncertainty. It was like riding a bike as they say. I did the first couple of miles in the small ring to remind my legs and back which muscles I had to use now in this once familiar position. I was rewarded with a few twinges from my left gluteal muscles that soon disappeared and after my brief warmup I was able to switch up to the by 54 tooth front ring and begin to power.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to ride the TT bike. The whole way in which power is applied is different. You don't really do intervals or surge but instead give a strong, continuous effort where it's as important to have a good rhythm as it is to be able to produce power. Over the course of the next two hours I powered my way around the course, flying though the tiny country villages that dot the area: Milner, Orchard Hill, High Falls, Unionville, Liberty Hill. I expected for my wrists and shoulders to give me problems after an hour and they didn't. I expected for my hip flexors to start complaining after ninety minutes and they didn't. I was haulin' the mail and loving it.

As I pulled up to my home I looked at the time and I had done the route in 1h57m for an average of over 23 mph. Wow! That was without any areodynamic stuff like a skinsuit or TT helmet or disk wheel. The State TT Championships are a little less than two weeks away and I might just be able to go and do something or at least avoid embarrassing myself.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, September 26, 2005

This weekend I was reminded about what can be good about athletics at the collegiate level. CNNSI ran two stories about games this weekend wherein the power of athletics to encourage and inspire was showcased.

The first was the story of a 40 year old former Army ranger who has walked on to the University of South Carolina football team and earned a spot. This weekend he caught a pass for a nine yard gain and, in doing so, became the oldest person to ever catch a pass in a college football game. The story's cool because it shows that in college there are always opportunities if you're willing to sacrifice what is needed to take advantage of them whether they are found in the classroom, on the athletic field or in extracurricular activities. This guy paid the price to make the team and Spurrier rewarded his effort by putting him in the game and giving him a chance to perform.

The second story was about Charlie Weis at Notre Dame following through on his commitment to run a play called by a 10 year old fan who had died the night before the game from a brain tumor. Weis had promised the young man that he would run the "pass right" call on the first Notre Dame offensive play of the game. When that play happened following a ND fumble recovery on their own 1 yard line, Weis would have been a lot wiser to have called a running play. Instead he followed through on his commitment to the young man and his family. It's not a big thing in the grand scheme but it sure meant a lot to the family of the boy that Weis followed through on his commitment. In the coaching merry-go-round that college football seems to be sometimes, it was a nice thing to here about. I'm sure I'll get an "Amen" from the Alabama readers in the audience...Dennis Franchione comes to mind here.

Given the seemingly unending litany of drug busts and academic scandals and fights and all the rest that plague division I collegiate athletics it was nice to see a couple of coaches act with integrity. While there may be some question about whether this wins games, I know that if I were a parent I would be a lot more comfortable with my son playing for one of those two men.

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Saturday, September 24, 2005

In the wake of Hurricne Rita and the possibility of gas shortages caused by production disruption on the Gulf Coast, our Governor has asked the public K-12 schools to close on Monday and Tuesday. As I sit and consider this request, I am confronted more and more by its knee-jerk stupidity.

Now, i understand that it will save more than 250,000 gallons of deisel not to have to run buses and it might also save some regular gas due to teachers and administrators not having to drive but there are a number of factors not being taken into account. I seriously believe that the teenagers that now don't have to go to work will burn up that extra gas running around in their cars on those days. There's also the economic impact of the parents that now have to find daycare options. Many will have to take time off work while others will end up leaving kids without supervision leading to all kinds of trouble.

If the Gov was so concerned about gas shortages why doesn't he close all non-essential state offices and order state employees to stay home and conserve gas? How many gallons would be saved by grounding the state's transportation fleet for those two days? Why doesn't he do what California is doing and vigorously pursue moving the state's vehicle fleet to alternative fuel/hybrid technologies. Why didn't he cancel high school sporting events on Friday night?

No, the Gov is showing his true feelings regarding education this weekend. It's the least important thing the state does and the most easy to cancel in his mind. This pretty much seals the deal electionwise for me. I can't vote for him. What remains to be seen is whether I can vote for any of the other candidates. If the Dems put Mark Taylor forward I'm pretty sure I can't vote that way either. Why can't the Democratic Party put anyone but weak, special interest hacks on the ticket? Just like on the natinal level, the Georgia Dems seem to only be able to lose races rather than looking to inspire and win them. I'm a registered republican but that's only because I'd rather be in a party than be counted as an independant. If the Dems actually gave me a candidate that seemed to be free of the special interests I would vote that direction.

The thing that burns my bacon the most is the thought of having to listen as our college students whine and complain that they have to come to school when the K-12 students don't like it's some sort of personal affront. I'm really sick of some of our students. This is the first year I've really considered whether teaching at a four year school wouldn't be a better optioin. I love the two year mission but I'm really tired of my student's underachievement this year and their continuing attempts to justify it as someone else's unrealistic expectations.

Sigh.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Thursday, September 22, 2005

If someone would have told me yesterday that I would have a 15 minute conversation with the Assistant Secretary of the Navy about educational methodology and the man/machine interface I would have chuckled politely and then slowly backed away looking for the nearest safe exit.

Today, however, that's exactly what happened. It was a really cool few minutes to talk with this guy and see how he was thinking about training in the Navy and how he was thinking through the process of creating systems around people rather than trying to force people to fit systems.

The conversation has spurred some thinking on my part about a "multiple pathways" approach to learning material. I have a class full of students with different learning styles and I have to try and find a way to teach to those. While the in the classroom time has to be organized, maybe there's some thing I can do that would allow students who wish to come more prepared multiple ways to to interact with the information that best suit their learning style. Of course, the problems that arise is that the students actually have to care enough to access the appropriate pathway and they have to know enough about their learning style to know which pathway works best for them.

Things to think about...

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Thanks to the generosity of a good friend, the lovely wife and I were able to go and see a performance of Phantom of the Opera at the Fox Theater last night.

The production was fantastic from a technical point with elaborate sets, fairly cool special effects and excellent lighting.

The Fox was magnificent as a space. It's one of those rare spaces that makes you yearn for the days gone by where people spent lots of money to create spaces that were exotic and sought to transport a visitor to another place and time. Maybe it's because we are all so worldly now that there is a lack of wonder but it just doesn't seem like places with the same level of elegance and sophistication are created for the public to enjoy anymore.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed the performance but I didn't. The actors gave fine performances portraying their cahracters and the singing was technically excellent. I just don't enjoy Andrew Lloyd Webber's stuff. I know that makes me a Philistine but I just don't dig it. His stories are needlessly melodramatic and sacchrine in my mind and everything said seems to take forever to say. Once said the plot then takes a quantum leap to the next place with little or no subtlety. Oftentimes, it seems that the only point of a song is to display the virtuosity of the performer, not to move the plot along. Now I have no problem with displayed virtuosity, whether it be Wynton Marsalis on the trumpet, Yo-Yo Ma on the cello or Eddie Van Halen on the electric guitar. It just seems to me that the point of music is to transport the listener to the state of the emotion of the composer. On Sketches of Spain, Miles Davis' first trumpet notes nearly bring me to tears every time I listen because I can feel the heat and the pathos of the Spanish plains in every beautifully held and drawn note. When Sting recorded the Soul Cages album I could hear the catharsis of singing about a father recently lost and a son's desire to reconcile. Much of what I heard last night seemed to be singing for singing's sake, much like some of Stanley Jordan's jazz guitar compositions which sound so perfectly crystaline and sterile. What music there was that was melodic and lyrical was over done and, to me, lost in a see of soap operaish blech.

Now, I understand that there are literally millions who would be willing to take me to task for what I've written and so I know that this is a case where I am more likely discussing my lack of taste than I am the artlessness of the show. In the future, however, I'll look for something less "pop" I think.

The most important part of the evening was getting to spend it with my wife. We both dressed up and she was radiant. We don't get a chance to do that very often and she was truly a vision to behold. Even the poor audience manners (yes, it seems that the crowds at the Fox aren't much better behaved than the crowds that attend our local theater) couldn't dim what was a wonderful evening with my wife. That was the true beauty and grace of the gift given by our friend; the time to spend together doing something special that we'll treasure for many, many years. I would go to a lecture on Eastern European shopping customs as they relate to the class conflict dielectic given by Wall Street pit traders on crack if I got to get dressed up and go with my wife to a place as special as the Fox. I hope that we can do this a lot more often (though I would rather avoid Wall Street pit traders regardless of whether they're on crack or not).

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, September 19, 2005

Not a long post today but instead a few tidbits.

Dauset was excellent as I had hoped it would be. It was nice to get back out there again. Neither me nor the bike broke so there'll be a return trip planned for this Thursday.

My physics students just trainwrecked their first test. I keep thinking that they'll do better, that something I can do as an instructor will help but every fall it's like this. Half the class failed the exam badly and it looks like several of them plan to stay in the course. I was really hoping this year it would be different. Very big letdown.

Oh well, I have dates planned with the lovely wife of of different types over the next couple of days so I have those to very much look forward to. Also, I found out that there will be a state TT championship this year so maybe I can get in some kind of shape to be ready in a couple of weeks. I'm waiting for rim strips to come in so I can get my new wheels on the TT bike and start testing things out.

Soon.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Thursday, September 15, 2005

I can't go into details but what a week it has been. Today I will go to Dauset Trails for the first time since before my accident and ride my mountain bike. I don't really care whether or not I ride fast or well, I just want to be out in nature. I need to return to a place that brings me peace and helps me find peace. I need to return to my cathedral and reassure myself that God is still here and that things haven't really changed much in that department.

The news from the Gulf has hammered me and depressed me. What's worse is the complete lack of personal responsibility that was displayed on so many levels. When the President finally came out and took responsibility for the delays in federal response I nearly shouted in relief. When will the Governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans do the same? Never probably. They'll go ahead and point fingers and say, "It wasn't my fault. I'm not responsible," when it's clear that they are just as responsible, if not much more so, that the President and the federal government. When will someone stop excusing the behavior of the preditors who roamed the streets of New Orleans by pointing to the actions of those who were surviving. Why can't the media seem to make this distinction?

My classes are mediocre at best. I wish I understood why. My physical sceince class is among the worst I've ever taught. I've already mentally abandoned most of the students in the class and am teaching to the few I know care and are willing to work. I had one student who took an hour long nap in class today. I told him not to come back if he's going to do it again. If he had struggled against the desire to sleep I would have identified with him but instead he just laid his head down like we were in Kindergarden naptime. Maybe if he thinks he's that smart I should be making the class harder so that no one gets bored.

Ppppbbbbtttttt!!!!!!!!! (I would like to write a derogatory word here comparing this guy's character to an orifice but I'll refrain.)

So I'm going to go ride. Maybe I'll stop at the chapel and spend some time in prayer if I can do so and be alone.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Thursday, September 01, 2005

I think I hit my saturation point with things here in the Atlanta area today. I've been following the events in New Orleans with some interest but over the last twenty-four hours or so I began to become a bit overwhelmed with the level of tragedy in the area. Not just the loss but the dissolution of human decency.

What's really done me in though is the situation here in the Atlanta area. People on the Gulf Coast are mourning the loss of loved ones, homes, memories, cherished items and here we are up in Atlanta panicking about gas supplies? Are supplies tight? Yes. Will there be shortages? Yes. Do people need to freak out and drive to the gas station and fill up? Absolutely not. How about we drive a bit less, plan our trips a little better, carpool? How about we exercise a little rational sense and separate ourselves from the animals in New Orleans who feel it's appropriate to try and ransack the last functioning children's hospital in the city putting the lives of the patients and physicians at risk? How about we tell the gas station owners who are gouging their customers to screw themselves instead of whining all the way to Big Brother?

Call your boss and tell him or her you'd like to work from home one a day week (if you don't already). I mean, how much of your work has to be done at your desk? I truly believe that if people really wanted to we could cut our gas consumption by 10-20% without a loss in productivity. Go to church in your own community instead of driving 50 miles one way to hear the preacher that says what you already believe. If you're a Methodist, chances are that the Methodist church three blocks down isn't going to be preaching a message all that different than the church your going to. People in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are suffering in every way imaginable. Don't you think we could keep from adding to the suffering by exercising a little common sense? Not here in the Atlanta area. Hell, at least we have jobs and cars and homes! The folks down there who have survived the storms are grateful to be alive. Can someone in the Atlanta area please get a dose of perspective?!?

Damn!

And No, I'm not done yet! Just wait until I get going about the President's speech yesterday. Argle-Bargle! That'll wait until tomorrow. We now return you to your regularly scheduled perfect life with no real tragedy (my apologies to those who do have some...this isn't directed towards you).

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Watching the news this week has been both stunning and humbling. A lot of my colleagues ask me about weather related phenomena and the hurricane was no exception. When it became clear that New Orleans was under the gun and then the storm's strength exploded out int he Gulf I told everyone that New Orleans woudl cease to be a city. Right now, that's happening. They can't stop the flooding nor will they be able to before the lake and the river heights reach some sort of equilibrium with the water in the city. No electricity, no water, no sewer, sporatic law enforcement and lots and lots of dead prople. This has happened before in our nation's history. The Galvaston hurricane did basically the same thing and now Galvaston is little more than a quaint tourist attraction. It'll take years to clean this up and I expect most of the displaced, with nothing left to tie them to the region, will find other places to live and work.

I also predicted gas would hit $3 per gallon this summer. I was right though not in the way expected. Some analysts are predicting $4 per gallon before the supply crunch eases. The hybrid purchase looks better all the time. So does riding my bike. I bet I could drive to Atlanta and sell my hybrid for $20K today if I wanted to. Maybe get a dealer to trade straight across for a tricked out Element. The AJC is reporting that Altanta could face gas shortages this weekend and beyond. The SUV is the Altanta area "state insect" as it were. They're everywhere down here and my guess is that there's not near enough gas to run them all. The thought of Atlanta and scarcity in anything makes me glad I live outside of the metro area and within 2 miles of my workplace.

Anyways, my prayers go out to those in the Big Wet: Louisianna, Mississippi and Alabama.

Thanks for Reading

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Well, the first week has come and gone and I have to say that I am amazed at how slow some of my PHYS1111 students are in lab. My workshop group (lecture and lab combined) took nearly five hours to do what groups in years past have done in three to three and a half. They're way behind and they don't seem to realize that I'm serious about moving forward whether they're ready or not. Argh! My PHYS2211 students seem to be really on the ball thogh so it seems to balance. In PHSC1011-Physical Science I've done away with the textbook as an experiment. The book costs about $100 and seems to be pretty darn iffy in terms of what it teaches so I've decided to do a lot of web-based research type reading assignments. I'm not sure if the students will do the readings but I'm not sure they really did them out of the text last year. I'll be very interested to see how it goes.

I had a couple of really good rides over the weekend. I got together with the "On Your Left" group on Sunday to ride the Silver Comet Trial. It was pretty darn awesome, especially after the 15 mile mark. Beautiful scenery and not a whole lot of traffic, especially out near Rockmart. I highly recommend the trail and I'm looking forward to it being finished so a person could ride all the way from Atlanta to Birmingham; something I'd like to do when I get the chance. Maybe ride back the next day as well. This week will consist of more climbing work to try to get my legs ready for the hard stuff. The weather was supposed to break and give us a little relief but the day a cold front is going to move through keeps getting pushed back so now we're not likely to get any break from the oven that is Georgia until Friday night at the earliest. So I guess I'll continue doing rides that leave me soaked in sweat and wrung out for the two hours afterwards. It beats trying to ride in hurricane conditions however.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, August 19, 2005

Wow. So the storm arrived last night at 6:50 pm. Huge amounts of rain, strong winds and, most of all, amazing amounts of lightning. We lost power within minutes of the main storm hitting as lightning hit a tree three houses down, blew it apart, knocked out the power and crushed a neighbor's truck. We did GCF in the dark with candles for most of the evening. The power crews got power back to our house at 10:15 pm or so which was good since the humidity inside the house was reaching nearly unbearable levels. Fortunately dinner was cooked by the time the power went out so we were able to eat. Also, fortunately, the pecan tree had already fallen and had been removed in our yard or it might have been the one hit.

Training took a major step forward this week as the average speeds for my rides jumped about 0.5 mph. I'm not back to pre-crash levels yet but I may be before too long. The big thing I need to do is continue to work on my climbing. I'm able to hold speed on the shallow 3-4% climbs right now but anything steeper than that saps my legs pretty quickly. I'll be missing the Augusta Georgia Cup race this weekend. I did well in the Omnium last year and so I'll pretty bummed about not being able to compete there this year. I'm not sure if I'll make it back to racing before the season ends but we'll see.

Anyways, I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Well, this is the weekend before classes start. Last week is what I call "faculty back" week where we meet as a faculty to take care of some business and to register the students who waited until the very, very last minute to get their classes. The faculty stuff was interesting as I'm in a position of faculty leadership. During our Executive Committee meeting, of which I'm a part as Faculty Senate parlimentarian, our College President announced his resignation, effective Sept 16. Nice. Here we are in the middle of getting ready for our reaccreditation visit and in the middle of applying to become a two year college with four year programs and he up and leaves at about the worst time imaginable. He said that there were family issues involved and you've gotta take care of those things but I can't imagine that the timing could be worse. So, on Thursday I find out I'm being nominated to serve on the search committee. I'm not sure that I'll be selected but we'll see. Quite frankly I'm hoping that the Chancellor chooses someone else from the faculty but if not I'll do my best to make a valuable contribution.

I did see a few DOA students but nothing too memorable except one. I was giving a presentation of how to get prepared for college and how to study and about halfway through my 20 minute presentation I look over and this young man is asleep on the desk. Now there are about 8 students in the room and I'm trying to be pretty interactive so this guy really has to think that he's immune to what I'm saying about faculty failing students at college if the students don't come to class, pay attention and do their work. I just smiled and remembered how good a teacher expereince can be. Most mornings last week I spent the student orientation time with the parents trying to clue them in how just exactly how different college is from high school. I gave them a pretty unvarnished version of things. There were a lot of worried moms and grim dads at times but that's understandable. Most parents aren't used to having someone talk to them about the possibility of their child failing. By the end of the presentation they seemed to understand that they have to have realistic expectations about the college experience.

Today I rode a metric century at 21 mph. I'm still not climbing really well but next week I'm going to start targeting that aspect of my training. I did my first loop up Hog Mt. and absolutely died on the climb. It was after about 30 miles of rollers so I didn't expect to have a lot of pep in the legs but they wilted like two day old lettuce under the heat lamps at McDonald's as soon as I hit the second part of the mile long climb. Lots of work to do before Six Gap.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, August 05, 2005

DOA

A warning to all who read this (which I think is about eight people with nothing better to do): this is going to say uncomplimentary things about a group of people. So if you don't want to read about my amusement and bemusement about this group, please clicky to the left to go to a blog that's much more uplifting.

So yesterday is our last "summer" preregistration period at the college. We have had three out of four of these things to let high school students come in and get their classes so that the week prior to school starting is a lot less hectic for both them and us. The problem, of course, is that we've already registered about 3100 students so everyone who is involved in putting this on knows this is going to be a pretty tough day. ("No, you can't have four classes from 9-1 on MWF, those filled two months ago but we do have a class at 9 pm to midnight in our hole in the wall off-campus site in the middle of nowhere Georgia...")

New for this year is an set of orientation sessions to help the students and their parents get a sense of what college is going to be like before they register in hopes of getting the families to take things a bit more seriously. My role in this? I'm supposed to speak to the parents about how college is different than high school and how they can support their child and help them do better. We do similar session for the students but what 18-year old ever listened to someone who told them to think about something.

So, I'm down at the Fine Arts auditorium a bit early so that I can hear what is said before we divide the students from their parents for a good part of the rest of the day. As we're dividing the students up the two girls behind me keep talking while the Director of Enrollment Services is telling everyone about who needs to go where. Twice they miss their announcement to go and I have to spur them along. Then, as we are wrapping up, this blonde girl gets up out of her seat, walks almost to the front of the auditorium and says, "I have a pink dot on my folder. You didn't call those did you?" Actually, they had been the second group called and she had missed it. It was everything I could do to keep from laughing at loud. Not just what she said but the way she said it. Just absolutely clueless. If ever a stereotype was met, these three girls where doing everyhtin they could to make sure they reinforced theirs.

As I was telling my wife the story last night I came up with a term for the blonde, the two students who I had to help and a couple of students we saw later on: DOA. Now you might think that means "Dead on Arrival" which is probably true but actually I've decided that it means, "Dumb on Arrival". Now I know that it's probably very mean to say that but come on. The day is young and the first important instruction is being given and you can't follow it? How's college going to go for these students? Seriously, the two girls behind me only seemed to be able to think about getting the easiest classes they could and how "they" didn't want to do this or that or whatever (usually referring to taking required courses they might not like). No sense of impending opportunity or challenge to met or anything like that. Short of a couple of finger snaps and head tosses they communicated in every way possible that this whole scene was way too lame for them to take an interest in.

I had a couple of DOAs later in the day at registration who coun't read their academic summaries and came into my registration room for non-learning support students when they were clearly marked learning support. From what I could tell, the couple had done just about everything possible to circumvent the system that had put into place to help them succeed so that they didn't have to sit in separate rooms. When I asked twice if they were math/science students with no learning support requirements they answered in the affirmative both times. DOA.

The terrible thing is that for most students I'll do everything I can to help them be successful but for students like this it's like a switch gets flipped inside of me and I want to just walk away. The biggest thing I think is that I just don't believe they can be successful in a college environment. Honestly, I give the five students I'm talking about one semester here at Gordon; two if they're especially stubborn or clueless. A professor is going to say they need to read 20 pages in their text and they're either not going to hear the assignment or they're going to say, "Whatever." Then, when they're expected to know something about what they read they'll be clueless and then not know what to do (and probably blame the professor form being "mean") and fail the assessment instrument. You may say, "Who cares, they're only hurting themselves." The problem is that we're full up. They're taking up seats non-DOA students could have an opportunity to get. Secondly, they're wasting our taxpayer dollars and probably HOPE scholarship dollars. It's pathetic. I'm all for giving every person the opportunity to better themselves through education but the person actually has to think of it as an opportunity. GOSH!

Anyways, I have a day and a weekend to recover and chuckle over it before we start back. Some cycling, some cleaning, some yardwork, some reading, some R&R and some prep in the office. All to come on this action-filled weekend.

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Exhausted

Did a 50 mile on the road ride today and just about didn't make it. I think my body is pretty close to wiped out. I've got one more 50 mile day which I'll do on the rollers tomorrow and then I'll do a couple of lower milage, easy spin rest days. With any luck, my body will bounce back nicely in time for the Covington Century. I don't think I'm going to do 100 miles but 75 is certainly within the realm of possibility. Each day during this stretch I've been burning at least 1500 Calories on my ride so I'll end up totaling about 16000 total Calories burned for the whole ten day period just in terms of cycling. That's 4 pounds of body weight so hopefully I've kept my mouth/stomach in check and managed to lose about half of that.

I found out that the Six Gap Century will actually be a month earlier than I had thought so I have about 7 weeks to find some climbing legs. I know that I had a pair around here somewhere but I can quite remember where I stashed them. Maybe they'll be found on one of the hilltops around here somewhere. It wouldn't hurt to drop another 5-8 pounds either so we'll see if I can put those in place of my climbing legs when I find them. Also, I got some good news about my TT bike today. The frame isn't in too good of shape but All3Sports has a frame just like mine they've been trying to get rid of and they may well be willing to make me a deal. That would sure be nice since they think theey could do a lot better than Cedrvelo's crash replacement price. We'll see how it goes. Given my experience with them so far, I'd have to rate them the second or third best bike shop I've dealt with to date. Nate, who owns Bike Tech in Macon, still takes the cake by far but these guys certainly dealt with my buddy Joseph in a really good way and have treated me with a lot of respect and helpfulness so far. So I would give them the big thumbs up/GoodBikeKeeping Seal of Approval.

Well, it's nap time and I'm hoping to get a good, solid one in so I'll sign off now...

Thanks for Reading.

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Saturday, July 30, 2005

Making Up For Lost Time

Summer school finished up last Monday though the various adminstrative details dribbled on into the week as I had to get grades computed and turned in, emails to responded to, papers filed and the like. For the most part however, I have had my time to myself. While each day has had its own challenges the constants seem to have been kudzu and a return to cycling form. Each morning I've gotten up and spent between 45 minutes and an hour renewing my jihad on the vile vine (like the "Letterman" single letter replacement there?). My work from last summer and May and June of this year have held up well with the northern and western fronts still mostly clean. The eastern front continues to pose enormous challenges as the neighbor in that direction seems to do more to encourage the enemy's growth than retard it. I've seen his childrens' swingset swallowed up in the last two weeks and an old shed is likely to disappear within the next two at this pace. To my good fortune, the family seems to have gone on vacation for the present and I've been able to use the time to create a buffer zone of sorts around parts of my backyard. Unfortunately, I can't do the same for the property line between us on the frontyard.

My other constant has been trying to get back into strong riding shape. I've finished six 50+ mile days in a row since Monday and hope to go another 4 more or so. I'm somewhat surprised that my body has taken this as well as it has as a similar attempt made in May didn't go as well. I think that my body really wants to come around in July and August as this has been historically one of my strongest times of the year. I did a 43 mile ride outdoors this morning. It was only the second outdoor ride since the crash on my road bike due to the need to protect my new skin from the sun. The clouds meant that I could go out but they also spawnede serious storms late in the ride. Still, the rain felt good and I had a real sense of accomplishment in persevering through less than optimal conditions.

On a final note, I have joined the world of podcasting. So far it has mainly consisted of downloading and listening to rebroadcasts of the previous evening's Nightline. As Nightline has generally been one of my favorite news programs, Iwas genuinely happy to be able to access it without having to stay up until 11:30 pm to do so. One of the episodes was about a woman who has one leg who is training to do the Ironman. The thing that I took away from the episode was:

"This woman has one leg and will compete in the world's most difficult one day sporting event. So, what's your excuse again?"

I think I'd like to find a picture of her and put that on it and hang it in my office.

Anyways, as always, thanks for reading.

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Sunday, July 17, 2005

The Independant Drug Use Channel

So, after 45 minutes of actual viewing on this particular Sunday I have determined that the Independant Film Channel may actually be incapable of showing an independant film that does not, somewhere in it's story, depict some sort of illegal drug use. Whether this is an editorial decision or due to a lack of actual independant films that do not protray illegal drug use has yet to be determined.

That is all. We now return you to your regular scheduled programming.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, July 15, 2005

What a Week

Man, this week can't get over fast enough. Kathy goes to a conference and the fabric of space and time itself almost seems to unravel. The biggest headache for the week has been getting the tree cleared out and the roof looked at. At first I forgot about "Contractor Standard Time". You know what I mean; the contractor says that they'll be here at such and such a time and then gets here a day or two later. In this case I can understand as statewide there was over $20 million in Dennis related damage on top of the much larger Cindy related damage. Lots of trees down and since ours wasn't actually in the house was were pretty far down on the food chain in terms of being gotten to. Still, it was a little nerve-wracking going into the upstairs bedroom knowing that a 40' tall tree was leaning against the house only 8' above my head. Add to that the fact that since the water table in present exactly 2 millimeters below the surface of the soil every ant nest in the yard is looking for higher ground and our house qualifies. I expect we'll be fighting ant infestations for the next several days as we get hit with daily afternoon thunderstorms that threaten to turn our backyard into a swamp. Funny how just two summers ago Kathy nearly got laid off from her job at the time because the place she worked needed water and there was a real shortage of that. Non-linear dynamicists call it the Joseph effect. Seven years of one thing and then seven of another. We had four years of drought, now...

Add to this the ripple effect of my crash financially and things are difficult right now. My normal way of staying balanced is to get out on the bike and sort out what to do while I ride. Unfortunately, almost all of my riding is indoors where I don't seem to feel the freedom to mull things over as much. Maybe I'll try to sneak out early in the morning just around sunrise and see if I can do a little thinking then. As far as recovery goes, I'm up to about an hour and fifteen minutes on the bike right now. I've been doing some one legged intervals to make sure there aren't any imbalances showing up at this point. I can tell the left leg is definitely not in as good a shape as the right leg but it's still a lot easy to pedal circles than just about anything else so that will continue to be my rehab. I was looking at a picture taken of me about 6 days after the crash and it's amazing how swollen my left leg in the shot. I really think the greatest damage I did was there and it'll likely be a couple of months before I really get it all healed up. I've still got numbness in places which tells me that there are crushed nerves in or around my knee and their are areas of my calf that are painful to the touch even today. It'll all heal but the process is going to take a while.

Well, I need to get to the school to get prepared for another day of stellar astronomy. We do stellar lifecycles today in a five hour lab period. The students are starting to show signs of fatigue as am I, so I'm sure Friday can't come soon enough. Hopefully, we'll all have plenty of patience for each other today.

Thanks for Reading.

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Monday, July 11, 2005

Just a matter of time

Well, it has finally happened. For the five years we've owned our house we've been waiting for the big pecan tree in our front yard to do something dramatic and devastating to our house. We've been wanting to take it down but the cost was prohibitive. Well, the waterlogged soil has started to give way and the tree has ever so gently leaned over onto our house. It had done some roof damage this morning but I'm worried that the winds of today will cause it to move more and do more damage. So far things have been pretty minor but I am worried. The thing is that there's not a thing I can do aobut it. We've got a call into a tree service but we're not the only ones with trees down and since ours isn't inside the house (yet) we're understandably lower on the priority list than some other people who are less fortunate than we are.

Now, how to pay for the deductable...hmmmm....

Thanks for reading.

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Sunday, July 10, 2005

Return to the Bike

I was going to title this entry, "Back in the Saddle" but I decided that it would be too cliche.

Anyway, a little less than three weeks after my accident I've begun training at a very basic level again. I did 35 minutes yesterday and 45 minutes today. Both days were in Zone 1 (60-70% MHR) and at a high spin cadence. No power efforts at all. The plan is to start by just getting my legs used to going in circles. The interesting thing is that I took a walk this morning before the rain rolled in and me legs felt more beat up than the harder effort on the bike did. The experts say that cycling is a lot lower impact than any other exercise type and based on my experience today I'd have to agree. The other interesting thing is that I felt good throughout the whole time. My cardiovascular system is OK, it's the muscloskeletal system I want to make sure comes back on a slow and measured path. I don't want to push too hard and develop imbalances that show up in January of next year as I'm working to peak for Tundra.

That last couple of days have also been spent watching Hurricane Dennis roll in. We got some rain yesterday but the big shot came in about 3:00 pm today. We've had pretty much a steady rain since then which mean that we've got flooding all around us. Fortunately, where we live is above any of the local bodies of water so other than swampiness in our backyard we won't have much trouble either here at home or in the town as a whole. Looking over the flood warnings the last several days with Cindy and now Dennis in the metro areas near Atlanta and Macon, I'm once again pleased with our decidion to live in a place that's a little less overurbanized.

Tomorrow I'll probably try to bump the time up to 50-60 minutes of on the bike time. Hopefully, the bike box I shipped what's left of my TT bike back in will get here and I'll once again have my raod bike shoes. It'll be nice to get back on my S-Works, even if it's only on the trainer or rollers. I haven't decided if I'm going to try the rollers tomorrow but it'll be an excellent way to see if my balance has been effected by the crash. I suspect that I'm OK based on my MTB rides to work but there's difference between the rollers on skinny tires and the road on nice fat, soft tires. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading.

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Monday, July 04, 2005

Boonen

Tom Boonen did it again. Two flat sprinter stages, two wins and a tighter grasp of the Tour's Green jersey; the jersey given to the most consistent finisher on the stage race though it is weighted heavily to the flat finishes over those involving the lumpier parts of the course. Robbie McEwen reverted to his rough and tumble tactics in the sprint and was relegated to the back of the peleton for his trouble.

Our Fourth

Here at the household, we spent the weekend resting, recovering and cleaning. After my vist to Salt Lake I've been seized with a desire to de-clutter the house a bit. My wife and I are notorious collectors (not quite packrats but...) and so we have books and paraphanalia for all of our interests and hobbies so that means we have a lot of stuff to fit into our storage challenged home. I envy my friends who have basements or garages in which to store their accumulated things related to their hobbies and dalliances. Never-the-less, we have been trying to rid ourselves of a number of things that are little more than fanciful imaginings of a Boy Scout "Be Prepared" impulse gone beserk, "Wait, don't throw that out we might need it if a comet grazes the Earth and we're forced to rebuild the local power grid while fighting off the effects of a global winter/global warming event..." So, we've been trying to be a bit more ruthless than we normally are. The biggest revelation for me has been that I really, really need to build another bookcase to hold our ever expanding library.

Thanks for Reading.

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Sunday, July 03, 2005

Chaos

Day 2 for Le Tour and Belgian Tom Boonen made good on his desire to win a stage and to stake a claim for the green jersey. He looked strong in the final sprint, powering around Robbie McEwen as the Aussie died in the last 50 m to end up finishing third behind Boonen and Norweagen Thor Hushovd. Dave Zabriskie retained the yellow jersey and Lance stayed out of trouble even though there were three crashes in the run into the finish. More of the same tomorrow.

Recovery

For those who are wondering, I'm recovering well. Most of the road rash has healed except for the deep stuff on my right knee and elbow and on my left thigh. Most of the swelling is gone now and the big bruises are fading. Now I'm feeling my lower left leg as the nerve in my knee that I bruised seems to be slowly coming back alive. The last two nights I've had to sleep downstairs because my calf has felt like it's on fire. I think I may actually be happy that the leg was numb for a few days as it seems that I did a lot more damage there than I thought but I couldn't feel too much of it. It shouidl be another week before this all really sorts itself out but there's measurable improvement every day. I may try to ride a bit over the next couple of days but we'll see.

Thanks for Reading.

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The Beginning of the End

Unless you've been hiding under a rock or haven't been watching the news, you already know that today Lance Armstrong started the last professional bike race of his career.And what a start is was. He didn't win the short time trial that replaced the traditional prologue that usually starts The Tour but his second place finish is just as good.

The victory went to American David Zabriskie who now has the honor of having won a stange in all three of the "Grand Tours" in a twelve month period; something only a very select few cyclists in the history of the sport can claim. Lance, however, put over a minute into most of his rivals for the yellow jersey. Ullrich, Leipheimer, Landis, Basso all all finished over 60 seconds behind Lance in the 12 mile first stage. That's a huge margin. Alexander Vinokurov was "only" 53 seconds back and may be the only real challenger Lance has in this, his final race.

It was also a good day for American cycling with six of the eight American competing in the Tour finishing in the top 20. That's a great sign that even once Lance retirres, the Americans will still have a lot to say in the historically European dominated sport. Just as interesting, as the race begins the traditional sprinter's stages as the race route winds its way towards the mountains, is the possibility that the competition for the points jersey just might be dominated by Australians.

That'll have to wait until the morning.

Thanks for Reading.

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Thursday, June 23, 2005

Terrible Decision

Well, my run for a top ten spot at Nationals and the rest of my cycling season are now over. As bad as that sounds, it's really a very small price for one of the worst decisions of my life. I decided to run a stop sign on my TT bike on Monday and because of that I came within inches of being crushed by a 10 wheel dump truck. I thought he had a stop sign too so I decided to roll through and it turns out he didn't. That I escaped with a lot of road rash, some bruises and a possible minor skull fracture is remarkable, even miraculous.

To everyone who has been pulling for me and rooting for me I want to apologize. In one terrible moment I have let you all down. Most of all I have let my wife down who has sacrificed as much, if not more, than I have to see me reach for this dream. It's very hard to let this dream go for the year but when I consider what could have been, I am very thankful to have the opportunity to make the decision to do so.

Kathy, the amazing woman that she is, told me last night, "You know, you still haven't brought me one of the Tundra Time Trial glass trophies home." She may have been just trying to raise my spirits but if in a month she's still supportive of this seemingly quixotic endeavor of mine and I can find a way to replace my bike, I may very well line up next February with the intention of bringing home a piece of sublimely sculpted and blown glass for her mantle.

Between now and then there's a lot of healing and regrouping that needs to take place. But if Ekimov can crash, shatter two vertibrae and break his sternum at my age and get back to training for the World Championships in September, I can see about getting back on the bike and winning again.

Thanks for reading and maybe I'll see you on the road in a couple of months.

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Sunday, June 19, 2005

Travelogue-Chapter 1

Having arrived in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake to prepare for the 2005 Masters national Time trial Championships in a bit over a week's time it was important for me to attend to the important details of the trip. Get the bike out of the box and get it put together and find some training routes. Coming in at 10:20 pm local time (12:20 am Georgia time) meant that things had to go smoothly for me to get things done. The bike arrived in great shape and Dad and I got it put together in no time with very little trouble. Then we went inside and discussed routes while looking at local maps of the region. I decided to follow my father's advice, "Go south, young man," and selected a course that woudl take me to towns with properly western names like Riverton City and Herriman.

As dawn broke, my body did what it always does at the sound of birds stirring and I awoke to cool temperatures and crystal clear skies. Sixty degrees and almost no humidity is something I could definitely get used to in June. I got my gear together and headed out. Living in a rural setting Iwas somewhat apprehensive about riding in an urban environment I was unaccustomed to but the urban planners here in the West Valley region of the larger metro area seemed to have cyclists in the back of their minds as evidenced by the wide parking lanes with no cars in them. As I headed south along the roads of the prefected laid out grid system, easily numbered to tell you how far south and west of the area's major religious landmark you were (as if knowing your distance from the self-proclaimed ecclesialogical center of the universe would help you if you lost your way in matters more than those geographical), I was inspired by the mountains on both sides of the valley. On my left, the Wasatch Range looking like nothing more than creases in a piece of paper partially crumpled by vast tectonic forces of great deliberation. To my right, the Occhre Range (as the locals call it) with foothills before the taller peaks in the not-so-distant distance.

As I rode I became aware of the wind which had been blowing here for days. Today it was from the south with enough force to make a rider take notice, even if he was in a time trial tuck. The rode undulated gently all the way out to Riverton City where I passed the village's high school, it's mascot the excellently chosen Silverwolves. Turning west, I expected the ride to get easier as I would no longer fought the headwind but was disappointed to find the road to be 7 miles of long uphill grade. At best it was false flat of 1-2% but at times, especially as I neared the foothills, the grade became crueler. Finaaly, as Iturned north to return to the vally I picked up the tailwind and descended off the low benches of the western range. It was exhilerating to ride at 40+ miles per hour with no switchbacks or interruptions. In my 54/11 I ticked out a 90 rpm cadence for nearly ten miles with little variance other than a few rolling hills. Finally I turn back towards the east and into the city.

I feel like it was the first jorney in my adventure out here. I don't know what tomorrow holds just yet. Maybe a trip to Antelope Island to look over the course and climb the beast. Maybe further south to the lake named after the tribe and not the mineral. Maybe into the Wasatch and its creased and folded terrain. New horizons to be explored for sure.

Thanks for reading.

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Friday, May 27, 2005

Vacation?

Well, the last couple of weeks are supposed to have been vacation time for me and I have enjoyed having time to basically take care of my priorities instead of having a set schedule. The time hasn't been very restful however. Between the hammer sessions on the bike and the two to three hour stints working in the yard, I've been pretty busy. I plan to relax a bit this weekend with no actual yard work being done and rides only in the mornings when it's cool.

Yesterday I went up to the montains to ride. I did three gaps and then, because I'm a glutton, I turned around and rode back up tot he top of Neel's Gap for the hoots and giggles. My legs spent the rest of the day threatening to cramp. It was a three hour ride but becasue I had to go through Atlanta the trip took eleven. I was reminded why I don't live there. I was stopped, slowed, annoyed and inconvenienced by three accidents directly and that was after having modified my route to avoid three other accidents. How do people actually live up there? I'm so glad to be living in rural Georgia.

I've won the campaign on the western front with the kudzu. I identified the enemy's major supply sites and destroyed them this week so hopefully that problem will no longer plague me. While the eastern front has been the site of several successful offensives, the infidel is massing for its usual late spring/early summer campaign from previously conquered territories. The native population refuses to rise up against the oppressor so I've been forced to resort to clandestine raids over the border to attempt to establish a buffer zone. Still, the tendils of evil creep towards Fortress Hightower and I wait with clippers and mower and glove over ruthless hand.

Thanks for reading.

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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Stop...Hammer Time

Since my last update here most of my time has involved pushing the bike down the road or recovering from the effort of having done so. I did a nine day stretch of 50+ mile days that left me exhausted and sleepless. Following that I did a week or so of recovery rides followed by some racing up in Union City where I got a good TT result and was very solid in the road race. The last couple of days have been hard, hard, hard rides. Tuesday I did the evil 83 rolloers loop and held an average of 22 mph. My hamstrings were telling me about all the extra work they did today so I took them out on a TT ride just to show 'em who is boss. I did 20 miles at about 26 mph before things started to unravel. I overheated and the effort of the two days of abuse started to catch up with me. I also tried out using a Camelbak under my jersey instead of a water bottle. Things were promising but there's more work to be done before I decide the whole contraption is ready for Salt Lake City.

My other pastime has been yard work which is going well with a lot of help from some of our very generous students. Anna, Ali and Micheal Paul all chipped in some time and we got a lot of cleaning up done. I've opened two new fronts on the Kudzu in the spring campaign of the jihad. I've done very well in ridding certain parts of the yard of the evil vine. Right now there's a lot of "incursion" into neighboring territories. The neighbors on either side of me are somewhat less zealous in their desire to rid their yards of the infestation so I've done a bit of crossing the border to get at the enemy's service and supply facilities. No one's complained to the UN or War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague so I guess I'm OK.

Watched "National Treasure" last night. Interesting movie in a one night of vaguely mindless entertainment sort of way. The critics panned it but it wasn't so bad as long as you didn't expect too much. The conspiracy theory angle was interesting if a bit thin and the ending was cheesy (liek cheeze whiz) but there were some fun action sequences and there was some actual thinking being done on the part of the characters which can be rare in this genre so it was OK.

Thanks for Reading.

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Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Tests

It's the final week of classes and so I'm giving tests all week which, of course, means I have to grade them. I haven't had much time to do too much of that yet but the papers I graded for one class were interesting. I could really tell that some students had done the last minute thing because they didn't have nearly enough research for what they needed to write. Based on what I read and graded, I kind of fear for the future if we ever lose spell checkers and grammar checkers.

Finals week is coming up and with it a period of liberation for me. I'm ready to be done. I love teaching and I love working with students but I need a break (as do they, I'm sure). What I'd love to do is ride and watch the Giro but the Giro isn't being shown by OLN this year (Lance isn't riding in it, so no one will tune in) and I have lots of other projects to start on. there's the Web-Based courses I'm teaching, the Physical Science text I'm co-authoring, the Lab book revision that I'll need to do, the yard and garden work and repairing/replacing parts of the porch. Still though, the unstructured time will be nice to have for two months.

Thanks for reading.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Lance Retires

As I'm sure you've heard (or read or mentally intuited or something), Lance Armstrong has announced that he is going to retire after the 2005 Tour de France. Not too surprising really; I expected him to retire after number six but I think the obligation of getting a new sponsor stretched him one more season.

Here in Georgia, it was really neat to see him pass the torch to Tom Danielson on the Queen stage at the Tour de Georgia. It was also prety impressive to see four Americans, all teammates of Lance's at one time, finish in the top five for the stage and the top four overall. A lot of people say that American cycling is in trouble with Lance's retirement and Tyler's suspersion but I'm thinking that things look good for American cycling. With Danielson as the up and comer and Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer and Bobby Julich riding strongly I feel that American cycling is in pretty darn good shape. Also, don't forget George Hincapie with his strong 2nd place showing in the hardest one-day sporting event in the world, Paris-Roubaix.

I see Tom doing really, really well. Tour contender for sure and very likely a winner if he can learn a few more skills. What's really great to see is his humility and respect for the sport and it's champions. Dropping Levi on the Brasstown Bald climb in the TdG was a really big deal as Levi has finished in the top ten in the TdF twice. I won't be too surprised to see a high finish in the Giro de Italia by Danielson in May. He will be riding in support of his team leader, Paolo Salvodelli but if 'Il Falcone' falters, I expect we'll see something special from Danielson.

As for me, I continue to train and race. My ride at Raccoon Mt. this year was good. I climbed well but lacked explosiveness for the final sprint. I finished 25th in a field of 100 and climbed in the top 15 riders. The race was a little more negative than I would have liked but it was a good outing for me. I've been doing some big gear work over the last week or so to continue to improve my power. Now if I can just lose some weight I think I'll be pretty scary at Augusta.

Thanks for reading.

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