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

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

New Year???

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

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

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

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

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Tuesday, December 30, 2003

There and Back...A Tale of Christmas Travel

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

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

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

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Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Getting out of Town

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

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

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

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

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Sunday, December 21, 2003

The Shortest Day

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

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Friday, December 19, 2003

My Own Personal Hell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Thursday, December 18, 2003

Purpose

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

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

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

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

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

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Wednesday, December 17, 2003

You're in the Flyers Now

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

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Tuesday, December 16, 2003

A Few Odds and Ends

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

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

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

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Sunday, December 14, 2003

Saying Goodbye

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

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

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

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Saturday, December 13, 2003

Anatomy of a Long, Slow Ride

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Differences of Belief

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

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

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

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

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

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Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Rainy Day

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

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

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

Thanks for reading.

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Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Getting Ready to be Schooled

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

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

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

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

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

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