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

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Making Up For Lost Time

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

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

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

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

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

Anyways, as always, thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Sunday, July 17, 2005

The Independant Drug Use Channel

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

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

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Friday, July 15, 2005

What a Week

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

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

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

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, July 11, 2005

Just a matter of time

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

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

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Return to the Bike

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Monday, July 04, 2005

Boonen

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

Our Fourth

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

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Chaos

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

Recovery

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

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |

The Beginning of the End

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

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

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

That'll have to wait until the morning.

Thanks for Reading.

The Physicist   Link Me    |