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

Thursday, September 12, 2002

Life with the ‘Pod

My birthday gift arrived the other day. The big day was a couple of weeks ago but due to technical difficulties the gift from my wife was delayed. Boy, was it worth the wait. A 10 Gig iPod from the Mothership is an awesome thing to behold. The pictures on Apple’s website don’t do it justice. It’s smaller than you think it will be and the industrial design to totally Apple ice and chrome. It is an even more awesome thing to hear. Clear, crisp and all that. But what really bakes my noodle is the implied functionality. I mean the whole 2000 songs in my pocket thing is cool but who really needs 2000 songs in their pocket. While my Jazz collection alone has more songs that that, I don’t think I need them all in my pocket. What’s really cool is the interface with iTunes, Apple’s mp3 software. I can set stuff up in iTunes and when I connect the ‘Pod, all the changes are updated (though I can turn that feature off if I want). The place where this is best for me is in creating playlists. I can put together a set songs I want to hear and then take it over to the ‘Pod. This is really great. I can have a set for winding down, a set for spinning on the bike, a set for a hard workout on the bike, a set for dancing around the house like a goofy loon. You get the picture. Changing a playlist is easy in iTunes. So if I want to change my one hour spin set because I’m tired of hearing the songs, it takes about 5 minutes.

Add to this the fact that the thing is a 10 Gig portable hard drive with firewire and internal power and I get all slobbery. The song thing is what I’ll use right off but the possibilities of the drive boggle my mind. Every document for every class I’ve ever taught in my pocket. Quickly transferable to any machine. Add an email/wireless networking capacity to this thing and it gets truly scary. Network admins should all have one of these. Everything you need to diagnose a problem on a machine, set up a new machine, update a machine and do it while listening to your favorite tunes. What a concept. This thing should be a case study in design at every engineering college in the country. Of course, so should most of Apple’s products. Both good and bad. The Newton, an idea before it’s time. The Powerbook 5300, which caught on fire though Apple denied that it did and wouldn’t replace the bad units. The iMac, which was the first really consumer oriented computer that all the PC manufacturers are still trying to understand. The post-5300 Powerbooks, the first computers to become status symbols in Hollywood and on Wall Street. The iPod follows in the groundbreaking footsteps of Apple’s greatest successes. It meets a perceived while defining an entirely new set of operational parameters. If there weren’t enough reasons to buy an Apple, the iPod should sway your mind. This is the sort of thing the Wintel zombies dream of and get angry about not having. Apple has done some similar software things with iMovie but if they ever create a video camera/iMovie package that is as cool as the iPod/iTunes thing I think they’ll end up owning the market for home video.

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Monday, September 09, 2002

What a Weekend

This last weekend has been fuller than most on many levels. It all began with Kathy giving my birthday gift, an iPod. It's very cool. I'll blog more about it later but it's a really cool thing for a lot of reasons. On Saturday, we went down to Macon to pick up my new mountain bike, a Specialized M4 Stumpjumper Pro. This bike is basically the same on used to win the MTB World Championships a couple of years ago. It weighs 21.5 lbs which is absurd for a mountain bike. While I was picking it up I dropped off my road bike to have a carbon fiber fork put on it that someone is giving me to try out. So, me, my wife and our bikes head over to the Georgia Children's Home for a bit of a test spin. I've ridden over there a couple of times and I did OK on the old Urban Assault Bike. Kathy decides to beg off a ride after her stomach starts to bother her so it's me and the Stumpjumper. I learned something very quickly; the bike was too fast for me. Corners I had had no problems on on the old UAB I was now struggling to get through. That's how I figured out I was going too fast. At one point I grabbed the front break a bit too hard and all of the sudden I'm Superman for about 15 feet and then me and the ground get acquainted. So does the handlebar and my knee. I would limp for the rest of the day. Still, by the end of the ride I think I've got a feel for things.

Shift to Sunday. It was time for penance. I skipped church and went to ride in my first MTB race ever. After the crash I had decided to ride beginners class. It turned out to be a good choice. In the race I crashed hard twice. The first time something hit me in the left side and knocked the wind half out of me. I thought I had punctured a lung but for some reason I jumped on the bike, kept going and it got better (say that in your best Monty Python accent). Now I think I just bruised a rib but boy does it hurt. The second one was the spectaculr one. It was good enough to make the OLN highlight reels. I was on the BMX part of the course and I took the second jump a little too fast and I endoed. Right onto my head. I hear something crack and I knew that was bad. Confirmation came shortly after I came to rest, about 30 feet from my bike. From the observation deck a voice cries out, "Dude, are you OK?!?" I'm not making this up, really. You have to say it in you best Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure voice.

So, there I am, flat on my back wondering if I'm not paralyzed. That's when I feel my hydration pack against my back and realize I can feel everything down to my toes. I can't see straight though. I quick fix of the unbroken Bolle sunglasses takes care of that. Strap the helmet back on as a sit up. Something feels funny as I do that but no time. I stand up and get a round of applause from the crowd (my adoring fans) and off I go in search of the bike. When I get there and get the chain back on I grab the handlebars to mount and that's when I realized that something was amiss. My right ring finger didn't care to have much pressure applied to it and was complaining loudly about it. "Screw it," I thought and off I went. Another 5 miles and back to the finish to complete the race. I took 9th out of about 35 in my age/class group. I even racked up a few points in the GAP MTB series. My helmut was shattered thoguh. Had it not been for the plastic cover, the styrofoam parts would have exploded off my head when I landed on it. Also, had it not been for the helmet, I would likely be eating through a tube right now while the doctor checked to see if I had come out of my coma. If you ride, wear a lid. No excuses.

Anyway, I did ok, but my body hurts pretty badly.

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Wednesday, September 04, 2002

100 miles and the Call

It was going to be easy. The legs were good, I felt strong. I had made a good run up in Brooks with a small group. In Savannah there would be 1800. Make the split over the bridge with about 75 other hammers and then sit in for most of the next 4 hours. You see, that was the goal. One hundred miles in four hours on a flat course with only one major obstacle.

Last year I didn’t make the split over the Savannah bridge and ended up in the second group. The bridge is a killer climb. About 1 mile up a 6-10% grade. Last year I tried to stay with the lead group and my heart nearly exploded. Coming down the other side I tried to bridge up to the fast group but I got stuck in the middle and dangled like a badly used modifier until my lungs burned in chest and my quads felt like overcooked pasta. I was then picked up by the second group and after some recovery time I was able to drive the group hard and finish in 4 hours and 30 minutes. I was pleased with my ride but I felt that if I had made the fast group I would have come in with them at 4 hours. So that became a goal.

Fast forward a year. After a year of heavy riding, solid training and getting dropped by the fast groups at the Griffin Century and the Cartersville Century I felt I had worked out the bugs. I could ride the speed but I needed to learn to eat on the bike. Actually I needed to learn to drink. Cytomax specifically. When I ride I get so into the process that I forget to take in calories. That’s OK when I ride my typical 30-40 mile training rides but when I did a century I would start running out of steam at about 50 miles or so. Finally, at the Brooks century I put it all together. I ate well the night before the ride. I drank well during the ride. I was invincible. We did 101 miles in 4 hours and 19 minutes. I drove the group at several points and I felt good. Things looked good for Savannah.

The trip started out rough. It took us forever to get out of town and then we almost couldn’t find a room at the Inn. Still, I arrived at the century ready to rumble. That’s when it started raining. No worries though. I like riding in the rain though I wasn’t too excited about the thought of being in a pack of cyclists with wet brakes for four hours. That’s when the nervousness really set in. I set up with the folks from the Bicycles Unlimited and waited for the ride to start. With a crack of the gun we set off for the bridge. The monster comes only 1.5 miles into the ride. Basically it was like sprinting from the gun. Climbing the bridge is always cool. You can’t describe it, you just have do it to understand. This year I was good. I didn’t go too hard at the beginning but just built until I was passing most of the other riders and I was set up on the back of the lead group for the descent into South Carolina. At the top it was, “Houston, we are go for launch.”

I was on and now came the easy part. Stay alert for the next 3 hours 45 minutes and not miss a split or get caught up in a crash. For an hour things went well. There were a couple of scary moments but things were going according to plan. The legs were good. I felt strong. That’s went the problem came up. I had to pee. Bad. The fast group doesn’t take a pee break. Ever. I couldn’t wait so off the back I went and into the woods. Three minutes for the pit stop. The problem is three minutes is over a mile on a bike. The group had been going easy so I had decided to risk it. I was strong and I knew I could make up the time. Off and back on and the chase began. I could see the lead group about a mile up. I started nailing the distance back. I was doing well until a turn from the north to the west. The group turned and got the wind at their back and they were gone. An hour passed, then two and I knew it was a solo effort and 4 hours was a pipe dream. ‘I coulda been somebody Uncle Jimmy! I coulda been a contender!’ As the fast group shelled people out the back I would catch the poor souls and drop them but I could never catch the flyers. I finished in 4 hours 30 minutes again. Bummer. Still though I was stronger than last year and nobody could hold my wheel. I rode 75 miles alone and spent most of the distance at 80+% of my max heart rate.

It was a good ride but it was also disappointing to miss out on the 4 hour goal because of the call of nature. Some guys told me that I now need to learn to “answer the phone” while still riding. Hmmmmmmm. I’m a pretty modest guy and the thought of letting it all hang out during a spin is a bit...ummmm...well...you know....

So, God willing, there’s next year and another effort. Hopefully the rain will stay away and I’ll be able to hang in there. Until then, there’s more training.

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