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

Friday, December 18, 2009

So, we finally got a GPS; something I have sort of avoided for a while. For those who know my wife and I, this may seem a bit odd but to be honest, I was the one dragging my feet. We've seen friends' GPS systems and have appreciated and admired them for some time but I just never quite wanted one myself. Let me see if I can explain.

I think that for many guys there's a sort of "yes/no" think going on with GPS. It's not just a simple tool sort of thing that a guy gets as soon as he can afford it and he thinks that the technology is robust and mature enough to be reliable most of the time. As least it wasn't for me.

Growing up out West, I sort of learned a certain level of independence and self-reliance. This was heavily reinforced by my time as a Boy Scout. Given that I have a well-developed sense of direction and an seemingly innate ability to navigate around I was one of those guys who rarely asked for directions and rarely needed to. It isn't a stubbornness kind of thing but more one born of years of learning to find my own way combined with the genetics of generations of those who got to places before there were maps and a cultural environment that emphasized being prepared and being able to make it on what you had.

The second factor in all of this is a guy's general love of all things "map". If you ask a guy what one of the coolest things ever invented is, I would argue that if he put some real thought into it (something most guys wont really do because there are more important things to do like seeing who won last night's Colts/Jags game on Sportscenter), he'd say that maps are right up there with the wheel and the remote control; way above sliced bread and the disposable razor. Most guys can spend hours looking at maps. For me, the best issues of National Geographic were the ones that came with maps. I would study them for hours. When I got old enough to have a car and independent enough to use it to explore, I began collecting maps of everything with roads just to have the maps and to imagine where I might go. The GPS does away with the need for my precious maps because it is map of sorts. This is both a positive and a negative.

The final factor is that almost all guys love technology and the GPS is some of the coolest technology around and it is map technology. Even "retro-grouches" love technology. They may poo-poo modern tools and technology but that's really because they love the technology they have. They've fallen in love with the shapes and forms and functions of the technology they use and they believe that setting it side for something newer, shinier and more carbon fiber is akin to marital infidelity. That's the ting with maps. They're technology to be sure but they're technology that has romance. They're pictures of roads unseen and untraveled. They are the technology of adventure and the unknown horizon. The question was whether a GPS technology would destroy that romance.

So it was a attraction/repulsion thing for me (and for a lot of other guys I expect). The map/technology factor is a huge draw to get a GPS but there's the sense that with the GPS I'd be giving up some of the independence I've relied upon for so long. Can one really be a trailblazer and pioneer when following the directions of a small box stuck to the windshield of one's car? Can one grow to rely too heavily on a piece of technology that someone else controls? These sorts of questions have tormented me for a couple of years as we've debated getting one. I love my DeLorme maps and I've used them to find my way around so many places. And yet...they're just not as detailed as I'd like, especially in the cities. While I can pour over them and dream and plan, they aren't as interactive as I'd like. I find myself on Google Earth and Google maps more and more as I seek better tools to plan my adventures.

So, my sense of independence and pioneering have been at war with my love of gadgets with the maps thing sort of weighing in on both sides. Finally my wife (who doesn't have the "finding her own path" hang up that I and many men do) prevailed upon me to get a GPS navigation system. Like many men, I rationalized it by sort of thinking that it was for her and maybe there'd be some cool stuff for me in it too. Truth be told, however, there was a big part of me that wanted it.

To be honest, I find it pretty darn cool. I don't use it a whole lot but when I do the whole map/distance/time of arrival thing is just amazing. When we go to Salt Lake, I think we'll take it and let it sort of guide us around to cool things to see. It should be quite interesting since I have always navigated that particular city by a combination of feel and the counterintuitive street numbering system. I wonder if once my Dad sees ours in use if we'll end up having to get him one or if he'll appreciate it but decide that his old school cowboy instincts are a better way to travel.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Saturday, December 12, 2009

I was planning to meet the team for a four hour training ride this morning but the seemingly never ending rain has quashed that idea. So before I climb on the rollers and trainer, I thought I'd write a few thoughts on President Obama's reception of the Nobel Peace Prize. For those who are polarized on both sides of the issue, you probably want to stop reading now (of course, by writing this I virtually guarantee that you won't) as I expect that I'll support neither position and likely say things that you'll both agree with and disagree with. This means everyone will be mad at me for something I've said and I'll catch grief from both ends. Such is life in the middle.

I was tempted to write about this when the Prize was first announced but both the firestorm of controversy and my usual desire to see how things play out convinced me to wait a bit before committing my thoughts to paper (on in this case, electronic media). As I've given the award some thought I've come to a few conclusions.

First, the Prize was awarded by a group not connected to President Obama. I was a bit dismayed by some of the conservative reaction that seemed to blame the President for receiving the Prize. Unless he somehow manipulated the Nobel committee from afar, I think he was just as surprised as anyone to learn that he had been awarded the honor. Was that award a bit premature? Perhaps (though I'll speak to that in just a bit), but that's not the President's fault. I think he acknowledged in his acceptance speech that he has much to do to "earn" the award.

The Nobel committee has always been a bit odd with this prize. Unlike the other five Nobel prizes which award accomplishments in their respective fields, the Peace prize has historically been awarded for reasons that are often times more nebulous. The two previous American Presidents to win the award, T. Roosevelt and Wilson, were men whose approach to peace were complex. T. Roosevelt, who won the prize for negotiating an end to the Russo-Japanese war, also advocated a muscular American military presence both before and during his administration. Wilson, who ran on the promise of keeping the United States out of World War I (but was eventually swayed by public opinion generated in part by the work and speeches of one Theodore Roosevelt), put together the idea of the League of Nations and tried to create a just peace following the war but failed in the later and had the former rejected by his own people. The Nobel Peace prize is, at times, awarded for what a person has done but it it is also frequently awarded for the hope of what a person will do or for the symbol the person becomes or represents. In this are probably lessons on the nature of peace itself.

It is in these last two senses that I think the committee acted in awarding President Obama the prize. The hope is that the President will take a different approach in his diplomacy that the previous administration. In a way, I see the giving of the prize as one final European rejection of the Bush Administration's policy of American unilateralism. In this sentiment, I think the committee has been petty. Bush and his advisors are gone. We all understand that the governments and intelligentsia of Europe didn't like him. There was no need for a final "don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out" type of statement. Yet the hope in Europe is that the new administration will take a different approach; one that is more inclusive, less impulsive and less confrontational. Interestingly enough, the presentation ceremony cane just days after the President's announcement to increase the number of troops in the conflict in Afghanistan.

The second point that I think can be made is that while I do believe that the Prize was given to President Obama in the hope of the new approach he may be taking, I also believe that it was given in the recognition of the fact that he stands as a symbol of how quickly change can take place and how rapidly justice can come about through the actions of those committed to peace. Here I believe that the Peace prize was, in a way, a second prize awarded to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That America has elected a black president only two generations after Dr. King marched and spoke out against the institutionalized policies of racial inequity is a powerful symbol to all of those who wonder if things might ever change for the better. The awarding of the Peace prize to President Obama sends a powerful message to all those who fight injustice and violence in the world that while progress in the moment may seem very slow, the transformation they are seeking to bring about may occur in ways they would never have imagined possible. Dr. King's dream was that children of all colors could play together in peace. I wonder if he would have imagined that within forty years of his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial there would be enough political will in America to elect a black man as its leader.

Another interesting thing is the reaction here at home to Obama's acceptance speech. A number of conservative politicians from Newt Gingrich to Sarah Palin (and I use the word politician liberally in regards to Mrs. Palin) have praised the President's remarks. In them he puts forward the ideas of both American exceptionalism and the need for America to act vigorously in using military force to ensure peace and stability in the world. There are two comments I would make here. First, many conservatives are saying that Obama is saying the same thing as President Bush did and, as such, his remarks are a confirmation of his policies. I would disagree with this. Saying that America has a role in insuring world peace through the use of military force is not the same as saying that America has the lead role and that the rest of the world can go to hell if it doesn't agree with how we choose to assert that role. Secondly, I profoundly disagree with President Obama's statement that violence can be used to create good. I believe that violence and force are often necessary to restrain evil and will need to be used to stop others from inflicting injustice on those who are weaker. I believe that force and violence, in doing this, can be used to create a space wherein good can take place or structures can be created that will lead to better circumstances. But violence and force will not create good. Good can only be created through the positive action and agency of those committed to human dignity and justice.

The final comments I would make regarding this topic stem from an editorial cartoon that Mike Luckovich drew for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In it he showed Obama emerging from the barrel of tank's gun to receive the medal awarded with the Peace prize. The tank was labeled Afghanistan as a pointed reference to Obama's increase in troop levels signaling a renewed commitment to the war effort there. The President has received some heat from democrats and liberals who claim that they voted for him on the promise they believe he made to get us out of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I remember consistently hearing candidate Obama say that Afghanistan was the real conflict that we needed to be involved in and that the Iraqi war was a mistake mainly because it distracted the country from that effort. While one may argue that continuing either conflict is in error, it seems rather foolish to elect a candidate who promised to focus more resources into a conflict and then criticize him for doing that very thing.

So those are my thoughts this morning before I move into the dreadfully boring activity of spinning my wheels and going nowhere. If my comments have offended, please forgive me. If they have stimulated you to think about something, even if that something is a response to disagree with me, fantastic; but don't spend too much thought on the ramblings of a man who will spend the next three or so hours in a gerbil like activity in hopes of winning a bit of colored fabric a bit later in the year. This activity is likely evidence that I am not of sound mind (even thought I hope the activity will make me "of sounder body"). I hope your day is a bit less dreary than mine.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Not too many people read my posts here too often due to most of them having facebook and seeing my notes there but I thought I'd write something for both sites.

Finals week is upon us here at the College and the students are in their usual scramble to get things done, study like mad and pass all of their classes. While I don't teach freshmen any more, my colleagues who do tell me it's been a rough semester. Our 18% enrollment increase hasn't been a completely good thing. It has meant that we've avoided layoffs and more serious cutbacks (due to increases in tuition revenue) but it seems pretty clear than many of the students in this surge are woefully unprepared for college and unwilling to exert any substantial effort to learn. I'll probably write more here in a few days on the topic but it's been a big issue for us here as I expect it has been for many of the access institutions in the state.

I'm back into the training swing of things. I've already got six weeks of work in the legs. It's hard to lose the fitness but I know I'll build to a higher peak next year. What makes it even harder is this is the first year I've really had good season over season power data (last year my PowerTap died until almost February). Seeing where I was at at the end of the season with an FTP of 310 and seeing where I'm at now with an FTP of 275-280 is pretty hard to take. I have to adjust my riding zone which has taken some doing. The focus this early season has been working on my short term power. I'm already way ahead of where I was last April and I did some short VO2Max intervals earlier this week that were really surprising in terms of how high they were. The longer term power will come around and the shorter interval numbers are very encouraging. The hardest thing has been the weather. It looks like we're on track for one of the wettest winters in recent memory here in Georgia so it means a lot of indoor time on the trainer. It's been hard to stay motivated to do long efforts at lower wattages but I need to get the miles in.

I just finished Brain McLaren's book, "Finding Our Way Again" which discusses the renewal of using ancient practices of spiritual disciplines in the life of the Christian. The book was very much of an overview so there wasn't as much specific discussion as I would have liked but I really liked his discussion of the intertwined ideas of katharsis, fotosis and theosis. I'm pretty familiar with the idea of theosis and katharsis is something I've looked at under other names but the inclusion of the practice of fotosis was new to me as was the practice of integrating them together. I'm very intrigued by the thought of intentionally including all three into my life in this integrated way and will likely build my Lenten fast and practice around such themes (strange to be thinking about Lent during Advent but I like to plan ahead sometimes). I may also work to create a series of events and activities for our GCF community to participate in together from this.

Finally, I've been giving a lot of thought to things in the sports world of late. I'll write a bit more about that soon but I'm disappointed in all of the local negative reaction to Tim Tebow's emotionalism in the SEC title game.

So with that I'll sin off for now.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Today was one of those perfect days on the bike. Racing a bike is oftentimes a difficult and frustrating endeavor where a couple of hours of hard work and suffering only results in a mid-pack finish. One of the reasons I do time trials is that I control just about everything that happens in my race. There are no team tactics, blocking or positioning issues. My strength is my result; my suffering translates into my win. The downside to time trialing is that the preparation, suffering and either defeat or victory are generally held alone. The one discipline that transcends both the aloneness and the capricious nature of bike racing is the team time trial. In amateur races it usually involves four riders on one team all racing together to set the best time as a team. We race alone against the clock but the effort and pain is shared.

Today was just such a day. Our team colors are blue and white so we sometimes go by the name "The Blue Train." This is especially true when we participate in a team time trial. Over the last two years we've won just about every event we've entered including the State Team Time Trial (TTT) Championship last year. What distinguishes the TTT is that everyone still has to work together. The time for the race is usually taken on the second rider and four guys go a lot faster when everyone is working together. Since we all ride together a lot as a team and we train together over the winter and spring we've learned to ride fast together. There is a trust in the other guys. You know they'll suffer for you just as you suffer for them. You know they'll make you suffer so that you can get better but they'll never hold it against you when they crack you.

Today was maybe the last TTT for the Blue Train. Our primary sponsor, Security Bank, was shut down by the FDIC and sold to another bank. We don't know what our sponsorship prospects are for next year so even though we're pretty committed to racing together, it may be under different colors and in different circumstances and it mostly likely wont be in blue and white kit. It was a sort of bittersweet time as we starting gathering together for this last TTT in the uniforms that have made us respected and just a little feared around the state.

Today Robert, Trey, Jeff and I came together to lay down the law one more time. For me the event started with my typical warm-up. As we gathered, we were loose about the ride. No stress as the trainers were set up and the bikes set to spinning. I felt surprisingly good for a warm-up on a hot, muggy morning with no breeze. As worked my way through the iPod playlist my legs responded to every increase in intensity I asked for. I had rhythm in my head but more importantly, I had it in my heart and legs. As we spun over to the start line I was feeling strong and motivated. After a few instructions and a prayer from Trey, we lined up and got our countdown. I led us out and got us up to speed for the first minute and a quarter. As I pulled off, everyone was in line and looked good. I tucked in at the end of the Train and my teammates took over driving things. Each sat on the front for the time they could hold a high speed and then they too pulled off to let the next in line set the pace. When I got back to the front we were four minutes in and I was beginning to think this was going to be good. We were smooth and fast. I could tell that we were all working at the same level. I wasn't just coasting in the draft and there weren't gaps opening up when I new rider was on the front.

Today we were amazing...maybe the best I've ever seen. We hit the 9 mile mark at 19 minutes. We were rolling at over 28 miles an hour or 46 km/hr. When we hit the second, harder half of the course we didn't unravel either. We kept it together with everyone pulling through. I was on my limit and suffering like a dog but so was everyone else. We were four guys united in a goal and in the sacrifice and suffering it would take to achieve that singular goal. We had caught our 2 minute team at five miles and we caught our 4 minute team at 15. At 17 miles, Trey finally popped but Robert, Jeff and I continued to power along. With one kilometer to go, Jeff finally blew up and Robert and I finished together in exactly 42 minutes. 19.61 miles in 42 minutes gave us a speed of 27.5 mph or 44.5 kph which ain't too bad for a bunch of old guys. Jeff rolled in only 10 seconds later and Trey came in a minute after that.

Today I suffered and it felt good. I haven't hurt after a ride like I did after this one since the State Championship and yet it was so much better in a way. There I was racing for a jersey; here I was racing for my teammates. Several times I thought that I might have to let up or maybe even let go but each time Jeff would pull off the front and turn the train over to me to drive I would somehow find enough strength to pull hard for another 1 minute effort. And when I would pull off to let Robert drive us on and struggle to latch back on at the end of the train I would find the extra something to get me back into the slipstream so that I could recover just a bit until it was my turn again.

Today we won our category and had a former pro who is without a contract for a moment not brought a ringer team we would have won the entire event. We only lost by 42 seconds to the elite ringer team and we crushed the rest of the field, beating our nearest rivals by over two minutes. We were strong in our pain and dominant in our solidarity. Today the Atlanta teams were crushed by a team from the "sticks" of central Georgia that has learned to ride together.

Today was the day the Blue Train left the station for one final trip and I was proud to be on board. Thanks to DHo, Grasshoppa and Stoney for letting come along for the ride. It is a memory that I'll always cherish.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, July 06, 2009

So le Tour may have proved the old adage about Old Age having more power than Youth today. Armstrong saw the intentions of an old teammate and converted that knowledge into 41 seconds of tactical advantage both against most of the field and his own nominal team leader. That Lance didn't say something over the radio or try to clue in his teammates in some other way speaks either to his subconscious desire to be "The Boss" against or his assumption that everyone gets what he gets so easily now after so many years of riding and working in political circles.

Now in third place, Lance is in a position to take the Malliot Jaune for the first time in four years. I can't believe that he'd keep it past Arcalis but what a story it would make. His team has to beat Saxo Bank and Sparticus by one second for every kilometer in tomorrow's team time trial. Not an easy feat; especially considering that the last time these two teams essentially faced off the time difference over a longer distance was five seconds. Both squads have problems. Saxo Bank has used a lot of energy defending the jersey the last two day and Frank Schelck is banged up. Astana, while clearly the strongest team, is a divided squad and one has to wonder if that will manifest in the race through a crash or a split. I believe that Contador is too strong to get dropped but the Old Age and Treachery might rear its ugly head a bit.

The other two teams everyone is talking about is Columbia-HTR and Garmin-Slipstream and I think they'll both factor into the mix but I don't see them beating Astana. The wild-card team as I see it is Liquigas. No one is talking about them and maybe for good reason but they've got four or five really strong riders and they could make some noise tomorrow.

My prediction is Astana, Columbia, Saxo Bank, Liquigas and Garmin. Rabobank will lose a lot of time and doom Menchov's chances. Whether Silence-Lotto can put in a good enough ride to save Evans' chances in the GC remains to be seen but I could see them losing 90 seconds pretty easily tomorrow. Cervelo will ride well enough to keep Sastre in the mix, even if he's on the outside looking in. Give them sixth overall with a minute lost. Cancellara will still be in yellow tomorrow but only by a handful of seconds.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Well, two out of three ain't too bad on my predictions for stage 1. The big loser for the day was Denis Menchov who lost a ton of time on a 20 K stage and will lose a bunch more in the TTT on stage 4 as Rabobank doesn't have the firepower to hang with Astana, Saxo Bank and Garmin-Slipstream. I just don't see him doing the double. Speaking of Astana, four riders in the top 10 is prett impressive and really scary for the other teams. If they can deal with the internal team rivalries it's hard to imagine them losing this race (barring bad luck). They are the odds-on favorite to crush the other teams on stage 4.

One thing to mention is the number of under 26 riders who did really well today. Nibali, Schleck, Krueziger, Martin and relative unknown Coppel rode strong time trials today. I dont know if all of these guys will make it to Paris but I think this bodes well for the future of the race and the sport if these guys will be dueling for the next five to seven years for Grand Tour supremacy. Contador may be the next three or four Tour winner but I won't be too surprised if one of these guys steps up in the next couple of years to challenge him.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the traditional "Sprint Stages". Stage 2 is a pretty hard first full day with a category 3 climb right out of Monaco and three more cat 4 climbs plus a lot of unmarked but hard bits with one of the worst about 15 km from the end of the race. To me it seems like someone who wants to wear the polka dot jersey will definitely try to get a break together since there are a lot of early points available on this stage. If someone can grab most of the mountain points here they might be able to hold the spotty jersey all the way to Barcelona.

Traditionally this is a place where a couple of riders from the smaller French teams try to do something to get some TV time so I expect the same script to play out here. This would be a great place for Moreau to lay a bit of a foundation for a KoM run (and then solidify it on the Girona-Barcelona stage) but the guy who I really think will try to make this go will be Thomas Voeckler. Add to that someone like Auge and maybe a first Tour flier by Nicolas Roche and you have the makings of an interesting break that'll last until the last 20 K or so.

After that it'll all be the sprinters' teams with Quick-Step and Columbia HTC vying to see who can control the leadout. If Cavendish can get over the last climb (and I think he can from his ride at Milan-San Remo), he's got to be the odds on favorite. There's not enough of a climb to open things up for Hushovd or Boonen so I think the pure speed guys are going to have the upper hand. Hence, I predict a Cavendish, Freire, Farrar finish.

We'll see what happens. Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Here I am at the last minute for a few predictions for this year's Tour de France. The race is one of the most interesting in years with four past champions racing (Sastre, Contador, Pereiro and Armstrong) and a bevy of strong contenders who have placed on the podium in the past (Kloden, Leipheimer, Evans, and Menchov) plus some new talent in Frank and Andy Schleck, Vandevelde, and Kruziger. There's a good bit of drama as four of the contenders actually ride for the same team which is sometimes a recipe for disaster. As always, the race uncovers who the strongest rider is.

So who do I think will win what?

Green Sprinter's Jersey: Four names here-Mark Cavendish, Thor Hushovd, Tom Boonen and Oscar Freire. THe last three have won the jersey in past tours and Cavendish is the best sprinter on the planet right now. From the looks of it there are some 10-11 stages that a sprinter might have a chance at. Four or five of those are pretty flat and suit Cavendish but the rest require that the rider make it over a few medium size climbs in good shape. Those will suit Freire who is the best guy going up hill of the four. He's the guy I would pick to win the Maillot Vert but his back isn't always so good for a three week race. Still I think it'll go down like this: Freire, Hushovd, Boonen, Cavensih, Farrar.

Polka Dotted Mountain Jersey: This is a real toss up. The guy who's won this the last few years has either been doping or has vanished off the face of the earth. To win this you have to be a guy with climbing talent that's good enough to win the race and either dominate the race or give up your chances to win the whole thing to win this jersey. Usually that points to a climber who doesn't time trial really well. The guy I'd liek to see win this is Christophe Moreau who has finsihed fourth in the Tour once in the past and isn't a bad climber. It's his last Tour and the French need to get something out of this race. The last few years he's made some noise about going for the jersey but has never seemed to give it his all. Maybe this year is his year. Otherwise I see one of the guys from one of the two Spanish teams but I honestly don't know which one. So I'll go with Moreau and leave it at that.

General Classification Yellow Jersey: I could go on and on for paragraphs as to who will win and why but there are two points to make here. First, if you're not on a team that can team time trial then you're going to lose at least a minute on stage four and that's going to be hard to make up. This makes things hard for Evans and Periero who don't have good teams for this discipline. If you don't recover well, then you're going to die in the time trial/Mont Ventoux double at the end of the race which will likely take Vandevelde out due to his recent injuries in the Giro. In between at least one favorite will explode and fall by the wayside and another will crash and end his chances. Having a strong team with several dangerous riders will help tactically but it's the guy who has the best day on the Ventoux who wins the race. By the way, if Armstrong's out of contention and the Astana is strong enough to protect Contador without his, expect Lance to do everything he can to win the Ventoux stage. So here's who I think will win:

1. Contador (really stepping out on a limb here)
2. Andy Schleck
3. Armsrong
4. Sastre
5. Evans

Periero, Frank Schleck, Leipheimer, Kruziger and Kirchen will all finish in the top 10. I don't think VDV will. Astana will win the team competition over Saxo Bank and Columbia-HTC. Cavendish will win three stages.

Today's ITT stage: Astana's sending Lance off early in case the wind comes up so that'll be interesting because it'll give Leipheimer and Contador good time checks to ride against. Miller, Dave Z. and Cancellara will also do good rides here. Hincapie may do well also. I'm going to go Cancellara, Contador, Dave z. as my top three.

We'll see what happens.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Thursday, June 25, 2009

While I'm sure that some of my readers will already be sick of the media oversaturation of coverage on the death of the self-proclaimed "King of Pop", I thought I'd write some of my own personal observations as someone who was in high school when the "Thiller" album was first released. The intervening years have dulled the memory of that album for some who are my age and most of those who are too much younger than me never really understood the impact of the album. Instead they only remember the circus freak that Michael Jackson had become. To judge him on the basis of only that would be like judging Elvis only by his later years when he battled drug addiction and a music scene that had largely passed him by rather than by the revolutionary music he created.

Last night I was doing what I occasionally do and going through and giving a listen to the top ten songs on iTunes. For an older guy like me it can be an exercise in frustration, especially when I've moved from pop music into jazz, roots and folk music. Yet, as I sit here now and think back, every single song on the listen owes a huge artistic debt to Michael Jackson and his groundbreaking album, "Thiller", that was released in 1982. Prior to Thiller, African-American music was dying a sad, slow death. It had been consigned to the ghetto of disco where Donna Summer ruled and the niche of funk. Motown was no longer relevant in the American popular music scene as punk and heavy metal bands began to dominate what was the vast wasteland of "Easy-listening" pop. Jackson's first attempt to break that stranglehold, "Off the Wall", was a brilliant album but too rooted in Motown's past to make much of a difference. It sold well but failed to really make a critical mark. When he won no Grammy awards for the album, Jackson apparently went back into the studio to show the critics they had missed the boat. The new album was good but Jackson felt it was missing something. He and producer Quincy Adams knew that it would be another Off the Wall without something. Over the last weekend of recording, Jackson tapped into his anger and the sense of frustration he felt coming from black America in the early 80's and wrote three more songs; "Wanna be Startin' Somehting", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean".

I can honestly say I'll never forget the first time I heard Billie Jean. As a white kid growing up out west I had never, ever heard anything like it. I didn't understand the lyrics at first but I didn't care. It was the beat. Nothing had a beat like that. Nothing. The best word to describe it was propulsive; it propelled the song and the listener along involuntarily. As I think about it now I am still stunned by the power it had. "Beat It" caught a bit of the rage of the streets and "Wanna be..." gave a sense of a young male in a community that wasn't respected but "Billie Jean" was something else. The album saved African-American pop music in this country I think. It gave voice to a new generation of musicians who could now express the rhythm of a different experience. This rhythm hasn't always been well accepted or even well thought out but when I listen to those songs on iTunes, I know where that rhythm got its huge boost.

Too much will be said about Michael Jackson over the next couple of weeks. Some will focus on the circus life and the issues Jackson seemed to have with children and his own lack of a childhood. Some will focus on the cosmetic surgery and the indulgences and excesses of his life. My advice is for you to ignore all of that. To find the soul of the man, go back to his music. Listen to Thiller and hear where the dominant music of today began to come of age. Listen to "Billie Jean" and see if your foot doesn't start to move and you don't feel just a bit like dancing (maybe my Baptist readers should avoid this...). Listen and understand what all the fuss is about and why some feel so strongly about Michael Jackson's death. Most of all, listen and feel his music.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I wasn't going to rant again so quickly after my last rant but another thing has reared it's ugly head.

PC World has an article titled, "The iPhone OS 4.0 Wishlist". The 3.0 operating system for the durn thing has been out a week and they already have a wishlist for 4.0??? Are you kidding me? Tech journalists are like kids at Christmas who get too many toys and play with each one for about 5 minutes before going to the next. You haven't had the toy for more than a week and you already want a new, better one.

I wonder if these guys on the morning after their short honeymoon write articles like, "What we'd like to see in Wife 2.0," or on the day after they bring their first child home from the hospital, "Things we'd love to have in kid #2". Sheesh, what morons.

You have a piece of electronics that was unthinkable twenty years ago, a pipe dream ten years ago and hopeful thinking five years ago. Appreciate it for a couple of months will ya'?

That is all. You may return to what you were doing. Or you can go out and beat your local technology journalist. Whatever works better for you. OF course, I'm joking about that last bit. Mostly.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I haven't done this in a while. I've been trying to be nice and positive and insightful and the like but there comes a time when I just have to rant about something. What's gotten under my skin is what I call the nickle and diming of the American consumer.

What am I talking about here? I'm talking about the practice in some industries, especially the travel industry, to sell a consumer a product or service and then tacking on all sort of little expenses that never seem to be much until they're all added up. The company usually advertises some great price for their service or brags that they haven't raised their prices in tough economic times. It could be a $99 round trip airfare or a $79 room rate. But then they find a way to charge you for every little semi-essential service they can think of. The round trip airfare was $99 but then you add the $15 per bag luggage fee, the fuel surcharge of $10, the ticketing fee of $5 and all the rest and you have a $200 fare to you destination. In the hotel industry it's a internet access fee, a gym usage fee, a parking charge, a pay-up breakfast buffet and your great $79 room is now over $150 per night.

Now, I don't mind if the business decides to use a pay as you go business model. There are a number of reason that might actually benefit a certain group of consumers. What really fries me is that the business usually does everything it can to hide their way of doing things. A hotel will proudly proclaim that it has shuttle service to the airport or high-speed internet access or a gym knowing that most of it's potential customers will assume that since those services are usually provided for free they will not be charged for them at this particular place. Once the room is booked and the customer has arrived, the surprise is sprung. And don't tell me it's in the fine print. That stuff's usually in 6 pt or smaller font tucked in a corner of the ad or shown for such a brief period time that only a person with stop action TV could read it.

Can you imagine if an engineering firm did something like that? They give a presentation to a client that says that they'll create the plans for a bridge or building for a certain fee but hide the fact that they're going to charge a bunch extra for the actual blueprints of the plan on the last page of the proposal in a bunch of legalese. Or what if my college charged tuition and claimed you'd have everything you needed to earn a degree but then required textbooks that you only learned about a week into class or charged a "desk fee" for each class or required you to have an email account but then made you pay a daily fee to access it. Sometimes I worry that things are trending that way in higher education but at least we tell you up front what your fees and tuition are going to be and that your tuition only covers the cost of your classes.

The travel industry is struggling right now and I think that a lot of the anger that consumers feel towards airlines and hotels stem from these practices. I like staying at Holiday Inn Express not because the beds are supposed to be nice or because they have a great breakfast buffet but because I know that I won't be nickle and dimed there. The rate I pay includes everything that the hotel offers-breakfast, internet, gym, pool, phone, etc. Delta would do well to learn this. The more frustration people feel about using their services the less likely they are to make an impulse purchase to take a quick trip somewhere. These folks would do well to remember that it's the details that keep people coming back. Of course your room has to be clean and the flight has to arrive on time but it's the little touches that will keep customers returning. You can kill the goose trying to get the golden egg and that seems to be be what the airline and upscale travel industry don't understand.

OK...I'll be done now. Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, June 08, 2009

For those who keep up with my goings-on over at facebook you've already heard the news but I thought I'd let the other three of you know what's going on and fill in some of the details. As the picture to the right shows, I managed to make it to the top of the podium again and this time it was for a big result. For the last 18 months or so I've had my training set on one goal: to win the Georgia State Time Trial Championship for the second time and the first time in a Master's class. Last year I was coming back to racing after a lengthly lay-off and while I had some good form at times, I wasn't able to hold it all the way out to the October date for the championship. When it was announced that this year's event would be in June I knew I had a good shot at doing well.

Most of my racing this year has been to hone my form and practice the pacing and the like to get ready for the full hour long effort that would be required to win. The Georgia Cup TT series events were perfect as they were all over 18 miles in length and lent themselves for building form. Since I last wrote I had two build-up events. One was an afternoon TT up in Gillsville and the other was a hill TT near Dahlonega. I took second in Gillsville after warming up too hard in the heat and then I won in Dahlonega. The only downside was that I came down with a cold a week before the big race because I overtrained heading into the Dahlonega race.

On a side note, the Dahlonega race has to be the coolest weekend I've ever done. The TT course was epic in that it was swoopy and ran through beautiful countryside. It even beat the Nationals course a few years back out on Antelope Island in Salt Lake a few years back. The circuit course and the road race were run through the Montaluce winery property (how cool is that...we raced on the Mountain of Light) with its Tuscan architecture and short steep climbs. In fact, that was feeling I had for the whole weekend: I felt like I was racing in a sort of mini-Giro d'Italia. I'll go back every year if I can.

So, back to the point. I babied my cold and medicated it into submission while I tapered into race day. We actually raced just over the South Carolina border in order to combine our event with the South Carolina TT Championship. I've raced the course once before but I had forgotten that the roads were pretty "heavy". That means they were rough and sticky in a sense. Not helping things was that it was warm and humid making the air heavy too. In my warm-up I felt good, best in over a month and I did a couple of harder intervals without much suffering.

One thing about a time trial is that it's a mental effort in some ways in as much as it's a physical effort. It takes a certain focus to tell your body to suffer just a certain amount without either letting up or pushing too hard. It's funny how the body will want to do that sometimes; just go really hard and then blow up after about five minutes. This focus is especially hard when you're physically tired or haven't had enough sleep. For me it was an issue because I never sleep really well the night before a big race. So when I got to the start line I tried to keep the butterflies down and focus on the task at hand. At the countdown came I took a big breath and shot out of the start house with a burst. After 100 meters I throttled back to catch my breath and settled into a rhythm. What bothered me at first was that I couldn't get my heart rate up over 160 which meant that my body wasn't going to put out the effort I needed. However, about a mile into the route I hit a highway overpass and that climb took me up to 172 beats per minute which is where it stayed for the next 55 minutes.

Six minutes into the ride I caught the rider who went of thirty seconds before me and I caught my 90 second man at 15 minutes. My minute man was a good rider and it took me almost to the turnaround at 29 minutes to pass him and I caught my 2 minute man almost immediately afterwards. The last rider I caught was my 2:30 man who wasn't going to let me pass without a fight. We dueled back and forth for about 4 miles and 10 minutes. I knew he couldn't keep up with me for the entire trip back as I had already put a lot of time into him just by catching him. Still, by racing me pedal stroke for pedal stroke, he kept me from letting up and forced me to stay focused on being just on my limit through what is traditionally a hard part of the race for me. When he finally blew up and dropped off I was in the last 12 km of the ride and I could smell the barn. I was ticking off 1:27 kilometers at this point and at 5 km to go I started to push myself harder. I had lost an overall podium spot in Gillsville by five seconds and I was determined that I wasn't going to lose something here by that much. At 3 km I went into VO2Max territory and started seeing dead relatives. As I crossed the line I was ready to yak and was completely spent.

Back at my warm-up tent I was sure I hadn't done well enough to win. My time was right around 58:30 and I had expected that I would need to better that by at least two minutes to win. When the results were posted I was shocked to see that not only had I won the 40-44 age group but that I beat all the 35-39 riders and took second overall in the entire Master's field with only Shawn Tyrrell beating my by a mere 12 seconds. Lucky for me he was racing in the 45-49 group which he won.

So I'm this year's state champion for Master's 35-44 which is a huge accomplishment for me. It's what I set out to do 18 months ago and while there were both setbacks and accomplishments along the way, to be here now is still settling in. As I've written before, I never saw myself as an athletic person growing up and through my young adult years. For some reason I bought into that brains vs. brawn thing. To do this is, in some ways, just as big an achievement as earning my doctorate or having a successful marriage after 15 years. It doesn't affect the rest of the world as much or as positively as the other two but it changes who I am in the way I see myself and that's important.

To wrap up I need to thank some people who helped me get here. First of all my wife has put up with a lot of travel and hotel rooms and race tents and training rides to be with me and support me in this part of the journey. She went to Yemassee with me even though she had the cold I gave her and celebrated my win with me. Second I want to thank my Security Bank teammates for encouraging me, being great examples and kicking my ass on the bike over and over so that I could get faster. Maybe now Bill will cut me a little slack. Also, DHo provided good conversation and the pain cave as I was searching to get some good early data. Finally, I want to give a shout out to all my students past and present who cheered and prayed for me throughout the parts of this journey. It was easier because of the community and I hope my victory will inspire all of them to go out and take hold of the opportunities in front of them.

Thanks for Reading. Grace and Peace!

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

A short update today with more to follow. I have thoughts about good students, bad students, the Republican party and a number of other things rattling around in the ol' brain case but I'll stick to something a bit easier to digest for this post.

Cycling has been a bit up and down of late. The results from the two races I've done in the last few weeks, both time trials, have been OK and a rival or two have emerged but I'm struggling to get into some kind of training rhythm. After the end of the Chattanooga races I feel like my motivation really took a big hit. In trying to come back I think I overdid it a bit and had to back off. It's only been the last couple of days that I've felt like I've been able to get in some really strong training rides. Last Sunday I ripped off an epic ride with a full hour just short of TT pace followed by another two at solid tempo and last night I finally got to do Tuesday Night Worlds. It's amazing how much harder your teammates can push you than you can push yourself on a ride like that. While circumstances have kept me from doing the ride until now, I certainly plan to do it a lot more over the summer. I'm going to have to in order to get stronger.

The last two TT's I've done have been a part of the Georgia Cup TT series. The series has been pretty good overall with excellent courses. Some of my teammates have complained that the prizes being given out are a little cheesy (they are) but I'm really happy to have a series to race in. For a long, long time we time trialists have had to get by with short, "afterthought" events tacked onto omniums that do little to prepare us for state and regional championship events. These races have been so much better than that. My only real complaint is that since the results aren't USCF affiliated, the results don't get counted in our rankings. Still, that's a pretty minor complaint.

The cool thing is that, as is often the case in these sorts of discrete event series where folks can make a majority of the events, there is a bit of a friendly rivalry emerging between myself and two other riders, Igor Rudalev and Shawn Tyrrell. All of us are strong time trialist with Shawn coming from the triathlon community. Each event it's a competition to see whom will beat who. In the last event on a hard, rolling course in Juliette the three of us were separated by just 26 seconds after 19 miles of riding. Shawn beat me by a mere five seconds which is about a dropped chain cost me. I seem to have a bit more power at threshold so I do better on the flatter courses while Shawn, who is a good bit lighter than me, does better on the hillier ones. I'm in third place in the series due to my mechanical in the first race and it's unlikely that I'll overtake either of the other two unless they also miss a race or have a mechanical problem. Still the competition at each event is very cool, especially now that the organizer has decided to start the three of us at the end of our field so we have a better sense that we are racing each other. In Juliette I could definitely feel the mental pressure of having those guys behind me. I'm almost certain I rode faster because of it.

Thanks for reading and look for more soon.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I feel like this blog should be a Seinfield episode as it's probably about nothing.

I've shifted into a new phase of my training. More time on the TT bike now and more time doing high power intervals. This last week or so has been interesting because I've done intervals where I have been riding hard and then I would surge from that. What I'm seeing is that I can ride at a pretty high power output (something I knew) but that when I try to add much to that, it's really, really hard (something that's a bit surprising). I can ride at 300 watts for an hour or more but if I try to ride at 400 watts I can only do that for about a minute before I feel like my lungs are going to explode. This is only an increase of 33% where I feel as if my competitors can double their power output in a surge. So this is what I'm trying to train up. I need to be able to get this "surge power" up higher if I'm going to hang with the other riders in a pack when they surge (like on a power climb) or if I'm going to jump out of a pack and make a break stick. A hoped for added benefit is that it'll also raise the level of power I can put out for an hour which will be good for my time trialing.

This last couple of weeks have also been really powerful spiritually. We celebrated Passover, Easter and Orthodox Pascha all in the last two weeks and the combination just continued to build in terms of the symbolism and the joy of concluding Lent. Being able to lead the college students in our campus ministry through this as well made the time even more special. This is the one time of the year when I wish I could take a two week sabbatical from all my other responsibilities in order to focus on living a liturgical life. Of course, that would require being able to find a church that had such a liturgical life that also matched up with both my theological beliefs and, to a lesser extent, my beliefs on how the faith is to practiced. Orthodoxy and orthopraxy. I really do miss having a community of faith to worship through this time with. I love our student community but we aren't a church and we don't do worship together very often. I wish I could find a church that practiced a true orthopraxy of inclusion instead of the much more common orthodoxy of exclusion.

Anyways, we're moving to the close of the academic year. Some students are stressing, some are working and some are coming to terms with the fact that they won't fulfill their educational goals at this time. That's always an interesting process to observe; being very much the stages of grief. There is always an initial denial, followed by anger at the school and the professors and other students and just life in general. Accusations are made, fingers are pointed, things get broken and difficult words are said. This is a turbulent time where the person student swings back and forth between goals and relationships and generally creates an enormous amount of drama in the lives of the people around them. At some point there is a general sense of sorrow and withdrawal that takes place. The student is sort of seen as having given up by those around them though in reality they've finally stopped fighting the reality of their failure and they've started trying to come to terms with it. Not only do they not attend classes much but they often cut off friends, stop going to some activities and even leave school altogether. This can be a dangerous time if the student identifies too strongly with the sense of failure they feel as they can give up hope in a much broader way which isn't good. Many students will retreat to substance abuse while fewer (but not few enough) will contemplate something much more permanent. Finally, often at a time long after they've left school, the student comes to a state of acceptance where they are ready to take responsibility for what went wrong and to understand what went right. If they do this while still at the school there is sort of a peace that comes over their remaining time where they cherish their time with the friends they likely won't see again and the activities they are going to enjoy before going into a world that leaves less time for such things. In any case, it isn't until this time that a person is ready to look at doing school again. Too often, societal pressures and a relapse into a state of denial will send a student back into the academic environment before they are ready.

So that about wraps it up on my various musings and such. Maybe I'll try to write something positive about my good students in the next update.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, April 06, 2009

This weekend was the last race in the early season block-Chattanooga. What started in Powder Springs at the Tundra Time Trial ended with an Omnium event on both sides of the Georgia/Tennessee border.

A few thoughts on the racing. I decided to race with the Masters field to see if I was ready to do that full time and to see if I should ask to cat up. If I go by my time trial results that answer is an unqualified yes. It was my best TT to date on a power-style course and I won my classification and took second overall if you take out the Pro/1/2 field. I beat all the 3's and most of the 2's which was the best I've done all year. On the downside, I got dropped in both the crit and the road race events which means that I'm probably not quite ready to move up yet. So, I'll race the next quarter with the 4's and see if I can improve both my crit skills and my short term power in order to be able to hang with the surges. I have a ton more long term power than most of the guys I'm racing with but I don't have the same power for stuff under about 6 minutes.

For the first three months of racing I have to be pretty pleased. Five wins for five in the time trials I finished (and I'm sure I would have won the TT I flatted in), a podium in a road race and a podium in an omnium are good results. I still need a lot of improvement to get to my goal of making cat 3 but I can see winning the state TT championship from where I'm at. I still think I need to improve some things but some of that is equipment that I'll be able to invest in over the next two months and some will come with the eight weeks of training I'll get to do. My biggest concern is that some of the guys racing in the Pro/1/2 field are going to be in the 40-44 age group with me when the state TT happens and so I do have to race them and so I need to improve a bit more.

Right now I'm wiped out. I'm sore in a dozen places from this weekend's racing on top of the last three months. As physically tired as I am, I'm just as exhausted mentally. Racing takes a mental toll on you as you deal with the stress of worrying about crashing, staying in hotel rooms a lot and eating out too much. Staying home last week was a really big help and I'm looking forward to not doing a mass start race until late May. April and May is crit season down here in the south with some NRC events and a big crit series spread through the cities of Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Alabama. For me, I'll have a couple of time trials before then but they're a lot easier to deal with and the travel requirements are pretty light. If we can ever get some weather conducive to riding outside (which would not be today with our 40 mph winds), I'm really looking forward to going out and getting reacquainted with some of the local roads.

At what's just about the halfway mark of the season, I'm happy with what I've accomplished but there's still a lot more to do. Thanks for reading and I'll check back in soon.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Over the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about the students we have here at my local two-year college and some of the patterns I see. This is a difficult time of the year because there's a lot of stress due to unmet expectations. Pretty soon we'll be telling about 30% of our freshman class that they'll not be coming back due to their grades. Other students are finding out that certain attitudes and habits that once were successful are not working so well any more. The cognitive dissonance this causes can create a pretty negative vibe. I thought I might share of few of the observations I have with my readers. If you have any thoughts on these topics, I'd love to read them. Send me an email or, better yet, leave a comment for others to interact with.

Completing vs. Understanding

One of the biggest attitude differences I see is how a student approaches assigned work and what they are responsible for with respect to it. In my classes I see a large number of students who see assigned work as something that merely needs to be completed in order to earn a good grade. I see a lot of this because I do a lot of activity based learning and guided inquiry in my classes. Many of the students approach the activities I give them not as vehicles through which to learn the material but as something to complete and check off the "to-do" list. This leads them to spend as little time as possible and to do as little work as possible in order to get through the activity and then get a grade. Since these activities are the foundational tool I use to help them obtain an understanding of the physical concepts and ideas in the course, the student who takes the completion approach usually misses the learning that is supposed to take place. In a sense, they become technicians who know or complete a set of procedures in order to accomplish an end. What I want is for them to become scientists who understand the underlying principles needed to master the topic.

The reason this is an issue is that I think that many of the educational models now in practice in the secondary system allow the student to be successful even if they are only a technician. They learn that they can succeed if they complete a given task regardless of whether or not they really understand it. This certainly works well if the goal of the K-12 system is to produce either assembly line workers or technicians (which was its original intent) but it doesn't work well if they want to be successful in the university model which is focused on scholarship. When they get to us, the completion paradigm may work for a semester or two but once they get to their sophomore/junior level courses, the wheels come off the train. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what to do about this problem when it comes to my classes. Obviously, there needs to be a lot of thought put into curriculum design so that students are forced to work towards understanding in order to complete their activities but that takes time and testing.

Responsibility

Another big issue is the idea of who is responsible for the student's success. I maintain that the university model of education holds that the student is primarily responsible for their own success with the institution and its resources being in a strong support role. This is different from the historically different K-12 system which was established specifically to take responsibility for a student's learning (thanks to Michael Drake for that insight). When a student gets here, they think that it's still my job to tell them exactly what they have to do and to hound and remind them to do it. Of course, that's not how I see it. I lay out my expectations in the syllabus and then go over that syllabus in great detail early in the class. After that, I think it's the student's job to make sure they keep things straight from there. I need to be fair but I don't need to be their mother.

Again, I see this sort of thing crop up in a hundred different places here from students not having any idea of what they need to do to graduate to not knowing deadlines to not keeping track of what assignments are due and when. Again, I think that this is rooted in the K-12 system where schools can't afford to allow high school students to make mistakes because of the duel factors that students have to take so much stuff all at the right time and the penalty to making Adequate Yearly Progress is so steep. What this leads to is a large percentage of students who are absolute aliens and strangers to the level of responsibility we expect here at the university level.

Anyways, I'd love to hear what my readers (all three of you) think.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cycling is a sport of highs and lows; days where you are the windshield and days when you are the bug. Yesterday I was the former, today the later.

This weekend was the Union City Omnium. I think I've done some part of this omnium at least 5 times and the whole thing three times. I won my first big time trial at this race about 5 years ago and I've always used it as a gauge of my fitness. This weekend, however was one I should have quit while I was ahead.

Saturday Morning: Time Trial. No mistakes this time and no panic. I warm-up well on a cold morning with student Ray taking pictures of Jake, Todd and I as we huff and puff and turn the pedals 'round. I feel pretty good warming up with a lots of power. I go ove the course and my strategy. Long rollers on the course. Not too steep when you're riding in a group but they really get to the legs when you're going hard on your own. THe key is not to go too hard early in the climb so that you don't pop before the end. I get to the start line and Tony from ATS asks if I'm going to win today. "That's the plan, but who knows what the day holds," I respond. Today's official, Steve, welcomes me into the start tent and counts me down. I stand and sprint up to speed when he says, Go!" As I settle into my aero tuck I see my :30 man. Go get him I think. I bring myself up to full power and start the mental litany to stay focused. I'm gaining and just after the 2 mile marker I catch and pass him. I'm cruising as I hit the first big roller. "Keep it at the limit but no more," I tell myself. I can see the next two riders. They're dueling a bit unaware that I'm closing on them. On the second I close down on my minute man and catch him before the turnaround. Three hundred meters later I get my 90 second man. That's all the cat 4 riders that started in front of me. I have to bridge a gap to the cat 5's but before I do that I have to get up the traffic light hill. This hill broke me last year so I'm careful to stay within myself as I start the climb. Going over the top I'm just on my limit. I see the last cat 5 rider and set my sights on tracking him down. I do so at the bottom of the hill and blow past him on the flats. The next guy is a ways up. I hit the last climb up to the finish. It's a really long climb but there's nothing I have to do afterwards so I start on the limit and go into the red about halfway up. Two hundred meters from the finish I stand and sprint. I'm cross-eyed as I cross the line, completely spent. Ray tells me later that he got a great picture of me coming across looking like I was going to explode.

It turns out that I've won but only by seven seconds. Seven seconds over 10 miles and 22:45 in time. Less than 0.5%. The sprint might have been the difference. Overall I finish 15th and would have finished in the top third of the Pro/1/2 field. Take those guys out and I'm 6th overall. My form is coming around.

Saturday Afternoon: Criterium. The goal was to get more racing miles. The field was 50 and I know that my chance of winning a field sprint in this sized field is almost zero so I used the race to do intervals. I did my season best 5 second and 30 second average power so I can't complain. The troubling thing was that my legs were super heavy when warming up but they came around for the race.

Sunday Morning: Road Race. It was supposed to be a 45 ride through the back country west of the ATL. I've done the course and I know it's full of rollers. The race is always decided by the last climb and field sprint so my plan was to sit in until the last short power climb, try to move up and get in a good position for the sprint. On the first real climb, however, I knew that I was in trouble. I got popped off the back and had to sprint up to catch the field. I had felt really tired heading up tot he race and I knew that it was going to be a tough day for me. I hung on for 15 miles until the KOM climb and then could hold the group. My legs had popped and there was no sense in trying to make them do what they no longer could do so I sat up and rode the rest of the course tempo in order to burn calories and get some more miles in.

So, I tried to race exactly one day too many. No harm in trying but now I've got a little break until Chattanooga where I hope to pay back a couple of teammates for all the work they've done for me. After that I get a good sized break with only a couple of time trials as the heavy crit season takes over with the Twilight, Roswell and Sunny King criteriums bringing national caliber fields and a break in the racing that will allow me to train and hone my form for the state championship races in the early summer months. I'm looking forward to letting the stress of racing slide into the far background while I focus on doing solid intervals that will bring me to peak form at just the right time.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, March 16, 2009

And so that happened....

At the beginning of last week, the forecast was 70 and sunny. On Wednesday it was 60 and a little rainy. On Friday it was 40 and miserably wet. The Seige of Rome was EPIC, but not in a good way. Had the weather been good, the event would have been perfect but the weather was not good and so almost everything else stunk just a little bit too. Still, the Georgia Cup put on a mostly excellent event in really difficult conditions.

Here's a bit of a play-by-play.

Saturday Morning: We wake up to rain. Lot's of it. And cold. We're staying with teammate Robert who's recovering from a bad crash last week. He's slept poorly and we're trying to get him moving. He's hurting really bad but he decides to man up and try to ride anyways. The rain makes everything hard. We get to the staging area for the TT and it's really dark. I get my number and do the chip thing and set up and then realize I've left my shoes and helmet back at the hotel. A crazy trip back to get them leaves me with a 15 minute warm-up window. I just get a little hot and it's time to go. I get to the start house and the adrenaline is just wearing off. I never really get going but I'm solid. I struggle again with focus but by the end I feel pretty good. Robert gets back from his run and he's hypothermic. He can't stop shivering and there's something wrong with his right arm. We throw everything in the truck and head back to the hotel to get him in the shower. He's had a bad morning. He's slept wrong, pinched a nerve and has no strength in his right arm because of it. Once he gets warmed up we head to IHOP where we find someone who has a results sheet. I've won but with a bad time. I should have been able to do the 6.5 mile course 45 seconds faster but all that matters is that I beat the second placed guy. After a big brunch we head back to the hotel for some rest. We need it.

Saturday afternoon: A technical crit in the rain. Six turns with two narrow stretches; my favorite type of race. I love this kind of racing only slightly more than the kind of racing that involves riding your bike into a brick wall while wearing a helmet. But I've got to do it to stay in the overall so I suit up. Drew's come up for this race and he's looking for a win. Actually he looks like some sort of Terminator in cycling lycra. I'm pretty sure he's ready to crush this thing with his bare hands. Robert's out with the nerve thing. The race turns out to be a crashfest with at least four crashes in the 37 minutes of the race. One guy snaps his collarbone and his bike frame on a tree. I manage to stay out of trouble though I get gapped at one point. Drew is the awesome teammate and comes back to pull me back up to the field. I lead him out for a MAR sprint as a way of saying thanks. He finishes just off the podium for fourth and I manage a tenth place finish. He promises to "be back".

Sunday morning: More rain but warmer. 52 mile road race with a BIG climb that will decide things. Robert's back for an attempt and so is Drew. I'm hoping to hang on to the front group on the climb and see what I've got after that. It almost all comes apart when my rear tube explodes 5 miles into the race. Robert gives me his rear wheel and Drew pulls me back into the group. My race would be finished if not for my teammates. On the climb I can't quite hold the front group and they're gone down the descent before I can catch them. I decide to ride hard anyway to try and pay Drew and Robert back for their sacrifices. Drew's with the front group so I think we've still got a chance for a decent finish. I end up hooking up with a couple of other guys and we start time trialing as a way of catching any stragglers. A mile from the climb we're only a minute behind the lead group. It's sort of stunning to think we pulled back a much larger group. I ride my own pace up the climb on the second time up and end up tenth overall two places behind Drew.

Overall: With the win in the TT and the two tenth place finishes I managed to place third in the overall which is my best stage race placing since Union City last year. What's shocking is that I did it in an Omnium where the crit usually kills me because I don't win any points usually in that event. It's a good result for early in the season.

The Bottom Line: Two things can be taken from this weekend. One is that my form is better than it was at this time last year. The other, and much more important one, is that I have awesome teammates. Without Robert and Drew there is no chance I would have achieved this placing so the Truth this week is that the achievement is a team one, not an individual one. The result belongs as much to those guys as it does to me. Drew even managed to place fourth in the overall. I think if he had come up for the TT he would have been third and I would have finished fourth.

Next week is Union City and an appointment with the TT course that nearly killed me last year. I'm hoping to crush the thing this year with a powerful ride. After that, I'll see about working for my team to get them a podium.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, March 09, 2009

Another weekend, another race. The theme for this weekend's festivities could be called, "The Long Haul."

Saturday's time trial was up in northwest Georgia in a small town called Adairsville. Like last week, the course was really, really great. Straight out and back with some false flats and a single small hill. It was supposed to be sunny, but it seems that we can't have a TT in this state without some form of precipitation and so it started drizzling just as I got on my trainer to begin my warm-up. It was cool and damp but that usually means that we don't overheat or dehydrate and that leads to faster times. I love time trialing. I've said it before but it bears repeating. You go as hard as you can sustain and you don't have to worry about other riders and what they can or can't do. There's no real tactics and there are no teammates. The race tells you the unvarnished truth about your fitness at whatever length and time the course is. It is the Truth. No blocking, no drafting, no marking, no soft pedaling down hills or chatting in the group. There's just the purity of power and speed. The Truth.



After last week I was determined to finish the race. I felt like I could have won last week with my fitness and I wanted to prove it this week. I had some trouble focusing during warm-ups but when I got to the start house I was ready. The start was a slight uphill which made things interesting. I could see both my :30 and 1:00 men as I went off. I was the first 40-49 year old man to go so I was racing a bunch of guys younger than me. It didn't matter. I caught about ten guys on the way out on the course. I didn't always feel like i was on the rivet but I did feel fast, especially after I got over the little hill near the beginning of the course. On the way back I crossed the gap between the 30-39 guys (yes, I caught the entire 30-39 field) and started picking off the women and juniors. On the return I was flying. I felt really strong and for the first time had the "coiled spring" feeling I get when I'm in the right position to produce maximum power.

In the end I ended up winning my field by over a minute and placing fourth overall to the three pro/1/2 riders. I was three seconds out of third overall and 50 seconds out of second. The winner crushed my by two minutes showing me that I have a lot of room for improvement if I want to win the gold at the state championships. Still, I feel like I'm ahead of where I wanted to be fitness-wise. I was hoping to average 24-25 mph on these longer early season courses and I did 26.5 which is a 56:09 40 K pace. That's over 2 minutes better than the last time I did the course the state championship will be held on. I have some work to do but I like where I'm at.

Sunday's race was in Albany in the southwestern part of the state which meant a lot of driving (with a wedding in the middle). I had agreed to race in a category I don't normally race in so that the team could have several riders together in the field so I lined up with the cat 4/5 under 35 riders. The feel was smallish with only 25-30 guys lining up and I felt like we might just avoid some of the silliness that this field is known for: lots of squirrelly riders and lots of dumb decisions that lead to more crashes than are necessary. For the first 20 miles, that was true. One of my teammates, Drew, got into an early break and so Trey and I marked all the moves to pull the break back and they stayed out for a long time. We never blocked and we never impeded other rider's attempts to bring the break back but we would sit on wheels and not take pulls. The interesting thing is that the break stayed out there and wasn't brought back until Drew popped on the KOM climb and came back to the field. Once that happened, Trey and I went to the front to bring the break back and we had them within three miles.

After that I tried a couple of attacks to try and get away but no one was biting and I got brought back before anything could get going. At that point the AVX team with one of the good sprinters in the field got to the front and set up across the road and blocked. There is nothing more frustrating that this kind of negative racing. It's legal but it's just really poor sportsmanship. "Boo!" on the AVX team, you guys should race better; race like men. Put a guy or two on the front and set up a train to protect your sprinter. That's how you race with class. Jump on breaks and pull them back and keep your guy fresh and out of the wind.

What was worse was once the riding got negative, guys started jockeying for position if a gap opened up (which it did because the team couldn't block well or because guys started jumping the centerline). This led to a bit of pushing and shoving which was completely uncalled for and I wish the official had either seen it or been more proactive in DQing riders when he did. After a particularly bad bit where I literally got shoved into another rider by a guy who wanted my spot I slid to the back to stay out of trouble and upright. I sprinted in but stayed away from the worst offenders to finish near the end of the pack.

My power numbers were good and I'm showing more improvement in m short-term power numbers which is encouraging. I won't be racing in that field again for the rest of the season so hopefully, I won't encounter that again. What I'm looking at doing is racing Masters 40+ in that series and cat 4 in the Georgia Cup until I can upgrade where I'll race Masters full time. I feel that's a much safer course of action. Next week is Rome and the really, really big climb.

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Another weekend, another race. Actually two, which was supposed to be three. But more on that later.

Saturday, Race #1: Georgia Cup TT Series #1-Gillsville. Woke up this morning in the pouring rain. Sounds like song lyric. It's going to be a wet day. Not a little bit wet like last week but really wet. I get to the school parking lot that's the staging site. Getting set up to warm up is a pain; everything's harder when it's raining. My wife's back at the hotel dry and warm and still asleep. I envy her. I start the warm up. Not as good as last week at Tundra. I don't know if it's physical or mental but it's definitely not a "no chain" day. But it's a more structured warm-up. No decisions about wheels today. I get to the start house. The take off is downhill. I love those. The countdown starts and I'm off. My legs feel strong but they're also my limiter. They hurt before my breathing gets ragged. Still, in several sections I feel like I'm crushing the pedals. The wind is pushing the bike all over the road and the water makes the wide, sweeping curves treacherous. The bike feels loose somehow but I power on. I feel fast. I catch my 30 second man. Then my 2 minute man. And then I hear and feel a little pop as I go past the eight mile marker and I pray that it was just a small rock getting shot out from under my front wheel. Thirty seconds later it becomes clear that it wasn't. I have a flat and my race is over. I cruise into the turn around just as the wheel goes completely flat. I talk to the marshal there for a about 90 seconds before I think to ask her the time. 21:30...If I subtract off the time lost as I slowed down and the time chatting with her I've done 9 miles in about 20 minutes. That's twenty seven miles per hour. Did I really ride that fast? I don't know for sure but I was flying. But the result is the same...DNF. That's bike racing. When I get back to the hotel, the tubular peels right off the wheel. The glue has failed. Maybe the flat was a blessing in disguise. I would have hated pulling a Beloki on a slick, sweeping downhill curve at 30 mph.

Race #2: TopView Cycling Classic-Dacula Road Race. The rain has stopped but the conditions are questionable. The field is small but I've got a teammate. Robert is lining up with me and we're talking strategy. We decide to make it hard. Attack from the gun. I go first. The field shuts me down after half a mile. Robert attacks at the catch. Perfect. They don't react right away. He stays out for about three miles before they finally pull him back. It doesn't look like anyone's interested in getting into a break or letting one go. We'll see how people are feeling on the two hills in the seven mile circuit. We'll climb them five times. The hills hurt and I'm not sure I'll make the whole race but I hang on. By lap three we've shed half the field and I think I'll be ok if I ride around on the back but I don't want to leave it to the sprint if I can get away somewhere. On lap four I put in as brutal an attack as I can on a long 2% uphill. At first I think I've got something but a big Iron Data rider who remembers us from last year decides he can't give me any rope and he shuts the whole thing down. Now it's survival. I don't know if I can hold on if there's a big attack up one of the climbs but I'm going to try. Who knows what will happen in a sprint finish. I nearly die trying to hang on up the hills on lap four. The attack has torched my legs and I can barely stay with the group. I duck in behind everyone and try to conserve my strength as we ride around the last lap of the circuit. I get gapped on the last climb but the group marks each other and I claw my way back. There's nine of us left for the sprint. Maybe I can finally pull off a top five. I mark the field and don't go to the front too soon. Robert puts in a big attack at about 1 K Cancellera style. It doesn't stick but the strong riders forget about me and I drift to the left hand side of the road where the lane will open up the last 200 meters and I'll get an unobstructed run to the finish. As the lane opens up I go hard. I keep expecting someone to come around me from behind but it's just the two guys I'm even with. They're stronger than me but I might get third. Just then I see Robert surging on the far right. He and I bike throw at the finish for third place. It has to be the slowest sprint in Georgia bike race history for the two best time trialists in the race to be doing a bike throw for third. I think he's won. He thinks I have. The results show that I beat him by 0.003 seconds for third place. Less that the width of a tire. Crazy. I still think he beat me...I'll buy him a beer after Lent.

Sunday, Race #3: TopView Cycling Classic-Winder Road Race. It's Sunday and it's wet again. But the weather looks like it might clear for a couple of hours around race time so I pack the car and we go. There's a threat of snow and there's lots of wind. Not much fun but the team's paid my entry fee and I need to represent. Still, I'm praying that the promoter cancels. As we get close, the sky opens up. It pours. Torrents of rain driven by wind gusts that rattle the car. Oh man, I think. This is going to be bad. I keep telling myself that if I race I'll be the team "flahute" and I'll have a story to tell for the ages. I'm not very convincing. I get to the start and there aren't many cars. The pro/1/2 race is going on though the start/finish and I feel really sorry for those guys. They look completely miserable. As I walk up to the registration tent it starts to sleet and I hear the official tell the promoter that this is the last lap. The rest of the racing is canceled and I'm off the hook. I breathe a huge sigh of relief. I would have raced I tell myself but I'm really glad I don't have to put that to the test.

So all-in-all it was a good weekend with good sensations and good results. But for a flat tire I would have been 3-for-3 on podiums this year. Next weekend is Adairsville and Albany. One end of the state to the other for another time trial and road race. Wish me luck.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, February 16, 2009

Race day starts at 5 am, in the dark, more than four hours before my start time. All of the prep the night before is loaded into and onto the car for the 90 minute trip to Hiram. Traffic is light giving time to organize the race in my mind. The big question is, will it rain?

I arrive at the trailhead. How many times has it been that I've done this race? Six? The weather's always different. This year looks wet. Robert's here, I see the tent. I sign in and get my number. 502. There's the usual seeing fellow racers from years before and saying hi and a quick catch up. Ronnie's here to organize the Aaron's team. He and I used to race together and we're still good friends. I unload the car and set the trainer up. The big question means a big decision. Do I go with the PowerTap rear wheel and get data to improve my training or run the more aerodynamic disk? If it's dry I run the PowerTap but the head unit doesn't work in the rain. I put the PowerTap wheel on the Cervelo for warm-up. I slip on the Security Bank skinsuit for the first time. It feels good.

Todd's ready to go off and I get on the trainer. U2's on the Shuffle as I begin to spin up. It starts to rain again. Start numbers are being called but I tune them out for now. How does my body feel? How do my legs feel? Five minutes into the warm-up I start the series of harder efforts designed to bring my body to point where it can put out the power I'll need. Everything feels good. Really good, actually. As the efforts get harder my legs respond well. No laboring; everything's smooth. Sweat blossoms. Bono's singing "Elevation" and my legs are turning the cranks. Everything feels like it's in rhythm. It's all good.

At thirty minutes for warm-up I mentally make the call. It's still raining. I'm going to switch to the disk. No power data today but I'll go faster. I can't say that I'm disappointed. I feel good and I want the win. I haven't felt this good at this event in three years.

Five minutes to start. I down two gels and some water. I put on the new aerodynamic helmet. The team's getting ready to start and I'm the last in the team line behind Jeff "Stoney" Clayton. He's my 30 second man; my rabbit. The guy behind me is a Cat III from a team I don't know of. I'm not going to let him catch me. Robert goes off. I make sure the bike is in the right gear for the start. Ronnie shoots out of the start house. I get clipped in and I make sure that everything's set to go. Jeff is sent off and I'm up. I thank John, today's head official, for helping to make this possible. The volunteer grabs my seatpost and holds me up. I clip my other foot in and rotate the cranks to a good starting position. I focus on Jeff who is down the road. I start taking deep breaths and listen for the countdown. 5...4...3...2...1...Go!

I'm off and sprinting up to speed. One hundred meters down the course I sit down and shift into a harder gear. The shift is good and I relax a bit; the gears are going to work OK today. My heart rate shoots up and I realize I need to back off a bit like I always do. I settle into my aero position and try to tuck my head in behind my hands as best I can. I start the mental checklist: breathing, legs, position, effort, gearing, gut. I'll go through this a hundred times in the next twenty minutes evaluating my performance. I can't let my mind wander or I'll lose focus and slow down. I've got to always push.

Jeff's ahead of me and I'm starting to close in. Not much right at first but more as we head out to the turn around. At the two mile mark I turn the screw a little bit and go just a bit harder. I can feel it on the gradual rises, I'm right at threshold now. Jeff's right there and I know I can get him. A mile before the turn around I catch him and go around. Where's the next rabbit?

Two minutes later I'm at the turn. It's tight and I take it slow on the wet concrete. It gives my heart a chance to get back on top of my effort and I stand and sprint up the little hill. The next rider is right in front of me. It's not Ronnie. I catch him one hundred meters past the turn and start looking for Ronnie. He's my next rabbit, I think. On the way back I turn up the intensity again. I'm just about sick which is right where I need to be. I can't feel my legs burn, they're that good today. I catch another rider. And another. None of them are Ronnie. Lots of traffic to get around. I'm flying but where's Ronnie?

One mile to go. I nearly catch air going over one of the road crossings. I know the spot from previous races so I'm prepared. I start to bury myself. I see the overpass that's two hundred meters from the finish. It's uphill from here to the overpass and so I stand up and give it everything I have. I'm wide-mouthed and my legs are screaming when I crest the hill. I drop back into my aero position and click to a harder gear for the last effort. I can barely see when I cross the line.

As I head back down the Comet, I catch up with Robert and Ronnie. It turns out that Ronnie almost caught Robert. He's had a great ride. There are lots of congratulations handed around as we know we've all ridden well. Results won't be posted for a couple more hours so four of us take a long cool down ride. There's a lot of talk about the race and how each of us felt. I'm riding the endorphins and I feel good for a while before the wet and cold catch up with me.

When we get back, all the riders have finished and our times are posted. Robert and I scan the Cat 4 results and find our times. I've got a 22:17 which is surprisingly good given the cold and wet conditions. As we continue to scan the results I realize that I've won the race. It's been three years since I stood on the podium at Tundra. Today I'll return. It's been a long road with a lot of ups and downs. It feels good to win and even better to do it riding in the team colors with my teammates around.

There's still a lot of work to do but it's a good start.

Thanks for Reading .

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, February 02, 2009

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this thing. It's been a busy month and, somewhat unfortunately, that doesn't seem like it'll be slowing down any time soon. The biggest contributor has been the addition of one extra class to my teaching load this semester. Over the last three semesters I've had a three class+lab load (as all my classes have labs). Last year this was due to being Chair of our Faculty Senate and Fall 2008 was the first semester of our new 3/4 load scheme. Now before I get any hate mail telling me what a cushy job I have one should first understand that adding a course represents a 33% increase over the load I've taught for the last 18 months. The addition of 6 contact hours plus class prep and, more importantly, lab prep is really taking a big chunk out of my schedule. I've found it pretty hard to adjust and get back into the swing. What amazes me is that I used to do this all the time. No wonder I felt like i had no time for scholarly activity and little time for course or curriculum development.

Here's a brief update on my New Year's resolutions. While I've read (in several places by several different authors) that most resolutions have been abandoned by this point, I'm still trying to go strong on mine.

I've lost eleven pounds to date, which puts me about 2 lbs ahead of goal. This is very encouraging to me but it means that I still have a long ways to go. This was made abundantly clear this weekend on our annual Pine Mountain Challenge double metric. I was able to stay with the team for the first 100 miles or so and even did the one climb reasonably well but I had to use a lot more power on some of the short, steep climbs to get my fat "blork" up and over the top and it cost me near the end.

I'm making progress on the organic/whole food eating thing. I'm not sure I'm at 30% but I'm thinking a lot more about it. I've eaten fast food exactly once this year (I got an order of Wendy's fries and a Frosty yesterday) and have really focused on thinking about what goes in my body. What's really hard is making time to cook when I'm crunched for time. It's amazing how much easier it is to just eat crap. I have to admit that my wife and I are still allowing bad food in on our official "Crap food Fridays". I'm guessing we'll eliminate even that when Lent gets here.

I made good progress in the simplification of my life for a time but have stalled a bit of late. Still, we have a good batch of stuff to take to Goodwill and I'm near an effort of attack all of the old cycling stuff I've accumulated. That closet is a mess and I expect I'll have a lot of old jackets to give out. I was struck recently by a saying of one of the early church Fathers. If I remember the quote correctly, "If you have two coats in your closet, you have stolen one of them from the poor." I'm pretty sure I have some returning of property to do.

I've started growing some food. Granted it's only some simple lettuce and greens but it's the start I've been looking for. Part of this effort has included getting more plants into the house. I really think having plants makes a house more healthy but I've not done a good job maintaining them. Hopefully I can do that and create that environment I'm looking for. I'll start working on building the garden later this month. I've already got some ideas of what I want to do and I have some interested helpers so I'm pretty excited. I really hope than before the end of April that we can be providing some part of of our community's weekly meal from teh garden in my back yard.

Finally, I'm making some progress on the class that need the most work but I've got a long ways to go. This is a resolution that may have to wait until summer to make a lot of headway on. There's just too much going on to have much time to do the serious creative work to really finish off the courses. I'm not giving up but I do think I'll focus on my new course of the elementary ed program in order to make that as exceptional as I can this semester and then finish the polishing of the physics class when I have more uninterrupted time.

So that's the update, I'll try to write again soon with a few other things that are going on and some thoughts I've had about fear and how relevant it is in our relationship to God.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |