Every once in a while its nice to relish in the fact that I'm improving as a cyclist and athlete every day. I was checking my records. I have only been mountain biking seriously for just under 2 years now. I got the Karate Monkey in June of 2008. I plan on taking it on a 2 year anniversary ride sometime that month someplace fun.
I'll never forget that first ride on that thing. I had been mountain biking twice before then. I owned a crappy GT bike and tried to make it rideable but it just wasn't working out. I didn't have the know how I have now in bike repairs or part placement. Anyways it was stolen and I figured it was a good reason to buy a nicer bike. So after lots of research I figured my reason with why I was so bad at mountain biking was the design of the smaller 26" wheels. The 29" wheel allowed for easier rollover on roots and rocks, which always seemed like a hindrance to me. I tried to find a good low price frame that wouldn't break or fall apart or be flexy like a noodle. I had read a lot of good things about Surly had a few friends who rode steamrollers who loved em. Why not? It's an American company who outsources their frame building, but at least it wasn't a Next or Schwinn. I decided on keeping it simple as I didn't know what kind of gears to get or how well I'd be at shifting gears and just go single speed. What a great way to start riding a mountain bike. It's like learning to drive in an manual as opposed to an automatic. However I did learn a few habits that have been hard to break, but overhall haven't hurt me that bad. So for the first 7 months of the Karate Monkey's life it was a Rigid Single Speed geared at 52".
The first ride on that tank was epic. I went to Blankets Creek in Woodstock and proceeded to make it about a mile down the trail before I hit a log ramp without under weighting the front and went over the bars, hard. I hit my knee on a bolt that was hanging off my brake clamp and split it open pretty good. I was about 1.5 miles into mountain biking and had already gone over the bars once (a feat I've only ever done once since kind of). I got up from my fall and was beat up, tired, hungover, hot and miserable. "Welcome to Mountain biking" my friend says to me. Jerk. I really began to wonder if I had wasted my money on such a contraption. What had I done? This wasn't fun. We trudged on through the day and did Dwelling loop in over an hour and more or less the same on South Loop. I hurt bad. Everything was sore. I hadn't even gone 10 miles and I was thinking, this is a lot harder than riding around on a fixed gear in the city.
I look back on that ride and its nice to see how far I've come in just under 2 years of mountain biking. It's really kind of neat. I hope I get to ride some silly awesome trails for a long time.
Oh I also had a kickass road ride last night. 17.6mph avg over 1800ft of climbing in 25 miles of roads. Wahoo!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Athens Twilight Wake n Ride
So last weekend in a continuation of my previous posting about the fun stuff that happened. We woke up early and drove to Athens to go punish our bodies. 5k run in the morning went faster than I thought despite the painful rain and stupid hills.
About an hour after this even was done we suited up and began our assualt on the 100k bike ride. I'm not much for long road rides. I usually like to dilly dally and just take my time. None of this pace lining and attacking business. I'm still a rookie when it comes to group rides, but I feel this even kind of helped me ease into some better road riding habits.
We missed the official start of the ride, but had already gotten our first cards of the Gambler ride. A poker run, where at each checkpoint one gets a card from a deck and the best hand wins a prize, supposedly. So I get mixed in with some other riders off the front as I'm feeling stiff from the run. I keep my team mates in sight, but soon they charge on ahead. I'm drafting slower riders and I'm trying to bridge the gap, but each time I pull to bridge a gap to the bigger group, no one follows so I'm out on my own. There was also a monster headwind. I did a lot of back and forth with some guys and ladies who didn't seem interested in helping get into the pack. I accepted my fate, and rolled back with the slower group and figured I'll ride with these 2 or 3 guys and if they want me to pull for a while I'll do it. They never do, so I ride a wheel for the first 5-10 miles to the first checkpoint. The checkpoint has cookies, hammer gels, bananas, heed, sandwiches and granola bars. I eat about 5 nutter butters and fill up my bottles. My team mates are there waiting on me. This time they leave with me.
I get into the pack. I have not done much organized road riding. I felt like I was at about 60-70% for the first third of the race. I let the stronger riders pull and once the head wind died down I took a short pull of about a mile or so. I am not much for a puller as I have a terrible sense of my own speed and have a tendency to burn myself out quickly. Luckily the wind had died down a good bit by this time and I made it up a fairly long hill while keeping pace with the 2nd guy pulling in the 2 line group. It felt good. We stopped and ate some more food and took some photos on a bridge. I had never really been across a wooden bridge and it was nice.
After the wooden bridge the rain started to pick up again. It had been sprinkling on and off all day, but it started to come down pretty good. The problem with riding in the rain is the fact that when you take a pull you end up with a face full of water from the rooster tail on the guy from behind you. Not to mention the skunk trail it leaves going down your back from your own rear wheel. Riding in the rain sucks. Luckily this was just a quick shower and did not last too long. This was around mile 20 or so. The next rest station seemed like forever away. I think it was around mile 40 or so, I can't really recall. Taking a break and eating some food helped lift my spirits. Our pack was pretty much down to 5 of us as people would leave aid stations slower or faster than us.
So me, Dan, Chris, Jim, and Jason all head out. We keep a moderate pace, which is nice. I don't have a real big ring so I can't hammer my face off on the downhills like some people like to do. It's not really a road bike anyways. I ride a cross bike with road tires. The geometry is super comfortable for long rides though. My saddle started to wear on my after about 40 miles tho. I felt my tail bones were getting a bit sore, but nothing too too bad. I trudge on through. I feel like I'm only putting out about half effort and soon I fall off the back. Chris comes with me. We take turns taking short pulls up and down hills; trying to work together in the crosswinds. Eventually we catch up to the group which has slowed to allow us to get on back. Dan and I did the same thing on a hill climb earlier that day. Dan is a helluva rider and did this whole thing on a tandem mountain bike carrying his son all day, who didn't really pull his weight.
At the last checkpoint I ended up with a Full House, 7's and 3's for my hand. It wasn't a great full house, but a full house nonetheless. So we carry on and hear distant thunder. We only have about 5 miles to go, or so someone tells me. I had a feeling this is where it was going to really start hurting. It did. The roads became much more populated and keeping pace lines together were difficult while dodging cars and pot holes. Soon we made it back to the edges of Athens and were slow rolling in possibly the worst rain I've ever ridden in in my life. To give you an idea of how much rain had fallen. I went through a few puddles where my shoe was totally submerged on a pedal stroke. It was crazy. Thunder, lightning, wind, and rain were beating our tired tired souls. I felt like stopping a few times cause I couldn't see very well, but stayed in my paceline with hopes the guy up front would slow up and call out things as he saw em. Eventually we made it within about 2 miles of the finish. We were weaving through a neighborhood and the rain was still coming down pretty good although the worst of the storm had passed. After a rolly industrial park we pulled into Terrapin brewery.
We all got our last card and signed in. I ended up with a 4 of a kind 7 high with a 3 as my hand. They said it was the only 4 of a kind so far that day. It as looking pretty good that I might win a prize. I gave them a number to contact me at. They told me "we'll call you sometime this week." Still no call. :(
Nonetheless though I completed the fastest mile since I was about 12 years old, the fasted 5k, and certainly the fastest 100k all in one day and in the rain. I felt pretty accomplished. It's good to know what you are capable of. I certainly don't have time to train for something or really get into a work out regimen, but I'm still a fairly fit and capable body. Next year I'll plan on doing the same thing. Maybe I'll get a sub 23 min 5k and a sub 3 hour 100k? Who knows. It was an awesome day.
Later that night after a tasty burrito and much beer we watched dudes who were much faster than us ride bikes in a circle around town. Then some girls, then some dudes in hand cycles then dudes again. It was neat. We left though in the pro race as more than 3/5 the field was eliminated with more than 40 laps to go. Only 30 something finished down from 150 and change. The conditions were horrendous. Rain and cold made us quit for the day, after being up for over 19 hours we called it a day went back to the hotel. We ordered a pizza and it was practically teleported to our door as they showed up 12 minutes after I called with it. Ate some pizza and passed out on the floor. I slept pretty well, but longed for more sleep but was hindered by sleeping on the floor and fucking sun. Bah... No hangover ftw though. Sore sore sore sore sore though.
It's now wed and I finally feel about 95% back to normal. Sunday and Monday were difficult to go up and down stairs, but I blame the run for that. Running might stick with me, but I really like riding bikes more(big surprise right?)
About an hour after this even was done we suited up and began our assualt on the 100k bike ride. I'm not much for long road rides. I usually like to dilly dally and just take my time. None of this pace lining and attacking business. I'm still a rookie when it comes to group rides, but I feel this even kind of helped me ease into some better road riding habits.
We missed the official start of the ride, but had already gotten our first cards of the Gambler ride. A poker run, where at each checkpoint one gets a card from a deck and the best hand wins a prize, supposedly. So I get mixed in with some other riders off the front as I'm feeling stiff from the run. I keep my team mates in sight, but soon they charge on ahead. I'm drafting slower riders and I'm trying to bridge the gap, but each time I pull to bridge a gap to the bigger group, no one follows so I'm out on my own. There was also a monster headwind. I did a lot of back and forth with some guys and ladies who didn't seem interested in helping get into the pack. I accepted my fate, and rolled back with the slower group and figured I'll ride with these 2 or 3 guys and if they want me to pull for a while I'll do it. They never do, so I ride a wheel for the first 5-10 miles to the first checkpoint. The checkpoint has cookies, hammer gels, bananas, heed, sandwiches and granola bars. I eat about 5 nutter butters and fill up my bottles. My team mates are there waiting on me. This time they leave with me.
I get into the pack. I have not done much organized road riding. I felt like I was at about 60-70% for the first third of the race. I let the stronger riders pull and once the head wind died down I took a short pull of about a mile or so. I am not much for a puller as I have a terrible sense of my own speed and have a tendency to burn myself out quickly. Luckily the wind had died down a good bit by this time and I made it up a fairly long hill while keeping pace with the 2nd guy pulling in the 2 line group. It felt good. We stopped and ate some more food and took some photos on a bridge. I had never really been across a wooden bridge and it was nice.
After the wooden bridge the rain started to pick up again. It had been sprinkling on and off all day, but it started to come down pretty good. The problem with riding in the rain is the fact that when you take a pull you end up with a face full of water from the rooster tail on the guy from behind you. Not to mention the skunk trail it leaves going down your back from your own rear wheel. Riding in the rain sucks. Luckily this was just a quick shower and did not last too long. This was around mile 20 or so. The next rest station seemed like forever away. I think it was around mile 40 or so, I can't really recall. Taking a break and eating some food helped lift my spirits. Our pack was pretty much down to 5 of us as people would leave aid stations slower or faster than us.
So me, Dan, Chris, Jim, and Jason all head out. We keep a moderate pace, which is nice. I don't have a real big ring so I can't hammer my face off on the downhills like some people like to do. It's not really a road bike anyways. I ride a cross bike with road tires. The geometry is super comfortable for long rides though. My saddle started to wear on my after about 40 miles tho. I felt my tail bones were getting a bit sore, but nothing too too bad. I trudge on through. I feel like I'm only putting out about half effort and soon I fall off the back. Chris comes with me. We take turns taking short pulls up and down hills; trying to work together in the crosswinds. Eventually we catch up to the group which has slowed to allow us to get on back. Dan and I did the same thing on a hill climb earlier that day. Dan is a helluva rider and did this whole thing on a tandem mountain bike carrying his son all day, who didn't really pull his weight.
At the last checkpoint I ended up with a Full House, 7's and 3's for my hand. It wasn't a great full house, but a full house nonetheless. So we carry on and hear distant thunder. We only have about 5 miles to go, or so someone tells me. I had a feeling this is where it was going to really start hurting. It did. The roads became much more populated and keeping pace lines together were difficult while dodging cars and pot holes. Soon we made it back to the edges of Athens and were slow rolling in possibly the worst rain I've ever ridden in in my life. To give you an idea of how much rain had fallen. I went through a few puddles where my shoe was totally submerged on a pedal stroke. It was crazy. Thunder, lightning, wind, and rain were beating our tired tired souls. I felt like stopping a few times cause I couldn't see very well, but stayed in my paceline with hopes the guy up front would slow up and call out things as he saw em. Eventually we made it within about 2 miles of the finish. We were weaving through a neighborhood and the rain was still coming down pretty good although the worst of the storm had passed. After a rolly industrial park we pulled into Terrapin brewery.
We all got our last card and signed in. I ended up with a 4 of a kind 7 high with a 3 as my hand. They said it was the only 4 of a kind so far that day. It as looking pretty good that I might win a prize. I gave them a number to contact me at. They told me "we'll call you sometime this week." Still no call. :(
Nonetheless though I completed the fastest mile since I was about 12 years old, the fasted 5k, and certainly the fastest 100k all in one day and in the rain. I felt pretty accomplished. It's good to know what you are capable of. I certainly don't have time to train for something or really get into a work out regimen, but I'm still a fairly fit and capable body. Next year I'll plan on doing the same thing. Maybe I'll get a sub 23 min 5k and a sub 3 hour 100k? Who knows. It was an awesome day.
Later that night after a tasty burrito and much beer we watched dudes who were much faster than us ride bikes in a circle around town. Then some girls, then some dudes in hand cycles then dudes again. It was neat. We left though in the pro race as more than 3/5 the field was eliminated with more than 40 laps to go. Only 30 something finished down from 150 and change. The conditions were horrendous. Rain and cold made us quit for the day, after being up for over 19 hours we called it a day went back to the hotel. We ordered a pizza and it was practically teleported to our door as they showed up 12 minutes after I called with it. Ate some pizza and passed out on the floor. I slept pretty well, but longed for more sleep but was hindered by sleeping on the floor and fucking sun. Bah... No hangover ftw though. Sore sore sore sore sore though.
It's now wed and I finally feel about 95% back to normal. Sunday and Monday were difficult to go up and down stairs, but I blame the run for that. Running might stick with me, but I really like riding bikes more(big surprise right?)
Monday, April 26, 2010
How not to ride your bike
So let me begin by saying this. I've been riding bikes seriously for a while. Not as long as most, but I'd like to consider myself a fairly well rounded rider as the only aspect of bikes I havn't really tried yet involves 45lb+ bikes and 10' drops off of cliffs. So, I guess you could say I'm a bike snob, not like Bikesnobnyc. I'm just a dude who likes bikes a lot.
So on Sunday I went to the Beltline group ride. It was $20 and the money went to Atlanta Bike Coalition. Atlanta Bike Coalition is doing a ton of awesome stuff to promote riding in the city. I'm glad they are making waves and putting together stuff like this. So me and Jim went to see what was up. We had spent the previous day riding our face off in the rain and running around Athens with Chris. So we show up and there are tons of people. I'd say 2-300ish roughly. So we pay our monies and get to our corral to get goin. Someone starts talking after everyone registers and talks and talks and talks. No one can hear them, inside jokes are said, a few people chuckle. Someone finally screams "less talking more riding." This man did not listen and kept talking. I'm glad he's keeping everyone informed, but most of the people there you can bet read the website and are up to date, else they wouldn't have heard of the event. Eventually this guy wraps it up and we begin to ride.
I realize very quickly. This was going to be like a dentist visit. My legs were fairly blasted from the previous days activities, but we weren't riding hard or fast. It wasn't even moderate. I spent more time riding the brakes than pedaling, even on climbs. So we eventually get to a stopping point, after riding an average of 10mph, to the other side of Atlantic station by the water reservoir. We waited about 20 minutes to let everyone catch up. I kid you not, 20 minutes. There were about 120+ riders in this group, which was the "long ride" set to a distance of 28 miles. After the next leg I take Jim's advice and get to the front. I quickly get cut off by someone on a downhill as he gets in front of me and proceeds to slam the brakes. I was annoyed.
How not to ride your bike in a group:
-If you don't ride in the city, and don't know how to change lanes or check over both shoulders, then don't ride in the city.
-If you haven't shower don't keep trying to get in front of me
-Don't ride two abreast next to me and steer me right into a sewer grate and curb
-Don't hammer on a downhill then get in front of me and coast/brake after you cut me off
-Don't ride painfully slow
-Don't complain that riding in the city is for "crazies"
-Try your best to hold a line even on super flat and wide open roads
-Don't be an unpredictable climber who thrash their bikes back and forth like flag semaphore
-After I call out potholes don't yell "thanks for calling the pothole out!" in total sarcasm as you plow through it (for the record there are infinite pot holes in Atlanta)
Before the ride started the guy who kept talking was giving rules of the road and just things you should do. I guess a lot of people just never do group rides and don't know how to deal. After riding the whole day before with a very well formed group where I got pulled all day I felt spoiled and forgot that not everyone does ridiculous stuff like that or knows how to handle their bikes. It was only last year that I did my first group ride and I still get dropped on every single one I go on, but at least I have some experience and know general manners. I guess everyone has to learn sometime. I'm glad I joined a team and have done things I have.
Anyways, I don't want to do another one of those rides. It was a glorified Critical Mass. They might as well have had police escorts. I understand this wasn't supposed to be some fast roadie ride. I get that, but the size was just too much to deal with. I am just amazed at how many people out there that are totally clueless. No wonder cars hate cyclists. I ended up leaving the ride somewhere around mile 10. I couldn't take it.
I'm Bob and I'm a bike snob. Ride hard, ride smart, ride confident.
/end rant.
This is probably the most disjointed blog. I can never focus enough to make everything outline properly. So if this seems like an 11 year old with ADD writing, you're probably right.
So on Sunday I went to the Beltline group ride. It was $20 and the money went to Atlanta Bike Coalition. Atlanta Bike Coalition is doing a ton of awesome stuff to promote riding in the city. I'm glad they are making waves and putting together stuff like this. So me and Jim went to see what was up. We had spent the previous day riding our face off in the rain and running around Athens with Chris. So we show up and there are tons of people. I'd say 2-300ish roughly. So we pay our monies and get to our corral to get goin. Someone starts talking after everyone registers and talks and talks and talks. No one can hear them, inside jokes are said, a few people chuckle. Someone finally screams "less talking more riding." This man did not listen and kept talking. I'm glad he's keeping everyone informed, but most of the people there you can bet read the website and are up to date, else they wouldn't have heard of the event. Eventually this guy wraps it up and we begin to ride.
I realize very quickly. This was going to be like a dentist visit. My legs were fairly blasted from the previous days activities, but we weren't riding hard or fast. It wasn't even moderate. I spent more time riding the brakes than pedaling, even on climbs. So we eventually get to a stopping point, after riding an average of 10mph, to the other side of Atlantic station by the water reservoir. We waited about 20 minutes to let everyone catch up. I kid you not, 20 minutes. There were about 120+ riders in this group, which was the "long ride" set to a distance of 28 miles. After the next leg I take Jim's advice and get to the front. I quickly get cut off by someone on a downhill as he gets in front of me and proceeds to slam the brakes. I was annoyed.
How not to ride your bike in a group:
-If you don't ride in the city, and don't know how to change lanes or check over both shoulders, then don't ride in the city.
-If you haven't shower don't keep trying to get in front of me
-Don't ride two abreast next to me and steer me right into a sewer grate and curb
-Don't hammer on a downhill then get in front of me and coast/brake after you cut me off
-Don't ride painfully slow
-Don't complain that riding in the city is for "crazies"
-Try your best to hold a line even on super flat and wide open roads
-Don't be an unpredictable climber who thrash their bikes back and forth like flag semaphore
-After I call out potholes don't yell "thanks for calling the pothole out!" in total sarcasm as you plow through it (for the record there are infinite pot holes in Atlanta)
Before the ride started the guy who kept talking was giving rules of the road and just things you should do. I guess a lot of people just never do group rides and don't know how to deal. After riding the whole day before with a very well formed group where I got pulled all day I felt spoiled and forgot that not everyone does ridiculous stuff like that or knows how to handle their bikes. It was only last year that I did my first group ride and I still get dropped on every single one I go on, but at least I have some experience and know general manners. I guess everyone has to learn sometime. I'm glad I joined a team and have done things I have.
Anyways, I don't want to do another one of those rides. It was a glorified Critical Mass. They might as well have had police escorts. I understand this wasn't supposed to be some fast roadie ride. I get that, but the size was just too much to deal with. I am just amazed at how many people out there that are totally clueless. No wonder cars hate cyclists. I ended up leaving the ride somewhere around mile 10. I couldn't take it.
I'm Bob and I'm a bike snob. Ride hard, ride smart, ride confident.
/end rant.
This is probably the most disjointed blog. I can never focus enough to make everything outline properly. So if this seems like an 11 year old with ADD writing, you're probably right.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Gambler/Twilight weekend
So this weekend was the Athens Twilight race. A bunch of super fast pro's on bikes get together and race in circles around the city for hours. It's fun as hell to watch, but they put on events for the average Joe's who are watching the race too.
I left my humble abode at about 5:30am on Saturday. I drove to pickup my race mates and we went to Athens, bagel and coke in hand. The weather was bad. Really bad. Rain with manageable temperatures. So we arrived and proceeded to sign in and get our stuff. The first event for the day, for us, was a 5k. I had been told by my comrades I was to run this event in a sub 25 minute time. I have run 5 times total this year, the race being my 6th run. My cardio is in good shape, but my running legs, just aren't there yet. So I begin this run, as does the rain. It rains off and on during the race, a few times really really hard. At mile one I'm starting to feel a good burn and turned in a PR of a 6:40 split at which point I say "this is ridiculous." I plan on hanging on as long as I can with my teammates and keep a pace after I start to fall apart. Around mile 1.5 I really fall apart. I feel like I'm barely climbing this stupid hill and eventually I see the 2 mile sign. Someone yells in the pack 14:40 split. I've somehow managed to eek out an 8 minute mile after that ridiculous first mile. I run numbers in my head and start to think how slow I can go and still manage a sub 25 race. The rain picked up, a lot. My shirt was soaked and it felt like a lead vest from the dentist bouncing up and down with ever stride. I keep telling myself mile 3 is just around the next corner. I find myself in downtown Athens and no mile 3 sign in sight. I try to remember the race course from the map I saw, but my brain was too fried to even try to figure out which way I was pointing. A long slow climb starts and I really fall apart. People are passing me like I'm standing still. I try to catch a draft, but that doesn't work in running. So I move to the side and get about 100ft from the top of the hill and I just shut down. I walk to the crest and get my breathing and legs back into shape. Just after the crest I see the 3 mile sign. I'm about .2 mile from the finish. I have no idea what my time was but I figure there was no way I was sub 25' after this piss poor hill climb. I run around the corner and pick up the pace knowing I can burn it pretty good with only about .15 miles left to go. I come around the last corner to another hill climb and I see the clock. It says 23:__. I flip out. I can't make out the last 2 numbers but I kick it into 3rd gear then 4th and soon I'm doing sprint length strides and everything burns. I see it roll over to 24:00. I realize I'm going to make it in time and I'm totally psyched. I really kick it into drive and pass about 10 people on the last 100 yards and roll into the finish at 24:12 or 13 I didn't see exactly. I was so amped.
I did it. My first 5k since in 11 years. I completed it in 8 minutes faster than than my previous. So after the race I'm totally spun. I am hurting bad. I can't see a damn thing cause my glasses were so fogged up and covered in water. I mozy into the finish area with all the other people who are signing their cards. I sign mine put it in the box, eat a donut, drink some water and go get high fives. It was a win.
Later that day I did a 100k ride in the rain. I'm tired, so I'll write about it later. In short I finished it too. It was the worst weather I've ever biked through in my life.
I left my humble abode at about 5:30am on Saturday. I drove to pickup my race mates and we went to Athens, bagel and coke in hand. The weather was bad. Really bad. Rain with manageable temperatures. So we arrived and proceeded to sign in and get our stuff. The first event for the day, for us, was a 5k. I had been told by my comrades I was to run this event in a sub 25 minute time. I have run 5 times total this year, the race being my 6th run. My cardio is in good shape, but my running legs, just aren't there yet. So I begin this run, as does the rain. It rains off and on during the race, a few times really really hard. At mile one I'm starting to feel a good burn and turned in a PR of a 6:40 split at which point I say "this is ridiculous." I plan on hanging on as long as I can with my teammates and keep a pace after I start to fall apart. Around mile 1.5 I really fall apart. I feel like I'm barely climbing this stupid hill and eventually I see the 2 mile sign. Someone yells in the pack 14:40 split. I've somehow managed to eek out an 8 minute mile after that ridiculous first mile. I run numbers in my head and start to think how slow I can go and still manage a sub 25 race. The rain picked up, a lot. My shirt was soaked and it felt like a lead vest from the dentist bouncing up and down with ever stride. I keep telling myself mile 3 is just around the next corner. I find myself in downtown Athens and no mile 3 sign in sight. I try to remember the race course from the map I saw, but my brain was too fried to even try to figure out which way I was pointing. A long slow climb starts and I really fall apart. People are passing me like I'm standing still. I try to catch a draft, but that doesn't work in running. So I move to the side and get about 100ft from the top of the hill and I just shut down. I walk to the crest and get my breathing and legs back into shape. Just after the crest I see the 3 mile sign. I'm about .2 mile from the finish. I have no idea what my time was but I figure there was no way I was sub 25' after this piss poor hill climb. I run around the corner and pick up the pace knowing I can burn it pretty good with only about .15 miles left to go. I come around the last corner to another hill climb and I see the clock. It says 23:__. I flip out. I can't make out the last 2 numbers but I kick it into 3rd gear then 4th and soon I'm doing sprint length strides and everything burns. I see it roll over to 24:00. I realize I'm going to make it in time and I'm totally psyched. I really kick it into drive and pass about 10 people on the last 100 yards and roll into the finish at 24:12 or 13 I didn't see exactly. I was so amped.
I did it. My first 5k since in 11 years. I completed it in 8 minutes faster than than my previous. So after the race I'm totally spun. I am hurting bad. I can't see a damn thing cause my glasses were so fogged up and covered in water. I mozy into the finish area with all the other people who are signing their cards. I sign mine put it in the box, eat a donut, drink some water and go get high fives. It was a win.
Later that day I did a 100k ride in the rain. I'm tired, so I'll write about it later. In short I finished it too. It was the worst weather I've ever biked through in my life.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
update from the craziest week of the year
So let me preface this blog with the fact that I am spending a 10 hour layover in Miami airport today. Why a 10 hour layover you ask? Well when I booked my flights for last week I purposefully put in a long layover in Miami because my company has a job that's on going here and would need some help installing some material. Turns out the guys don't work on Saturday. So I got in at 9:30a and won't leave till 7:10p. Yay.
I'm sure most of you are wonder why I don't update much. I have this tendency to rant a lot on blogs and that is boring. No one wants to read my angsty noise. They could just hum around livejournal for a while and get plenty of that. I tried to break that habit. I still havn't quite totally cleared that hurdle.
So, this week. The week of April the 5th. We have this clients that are in the Caribbean for work. They have tank farms and I check them to make sure the bottoms aren't corroding to shit, as they tend to do in the Caribbean because of the salt water and what have you. So I get to go on a journey to the Caribbean.
Everyone says "Yay you must love it." I don't hate it, but its far from loving it. Let me run down my itinerary and you'll see why its not much fun. Monday 8am ATL->MIA, 12p MIA-SNJ(San Juan PR), 6p SNJ->GND(Grenada). I arrive in Grenada at about 8:45 pm. 15 minute cab ride and my first 14 hour day comes to a close around 9:30p. 3 flights in the bag. Many more to go. So in Grendada I do my survey and everything is fine, takes about 4 hours. Then I go back to the hotel just after lunch and hang out but I go to bed early because Wed looks like this: 6:30a GND->SNJ, 10a SNJ->DOM. Now that's not so bad. Only two flights, but I had to be to the airport by 5:30am, which means getting up at 4:30 to catch a late cab at 5am. Sleep is waning. The fun has only just begun though. Grenada is cake compared to the next leg of my trip.
Now that I'm in Dominica I get off the plane and guess what? My bags did not come with me. I ran from security to get to the gate in time as I did not plan enough time to go through US Customs which you must do everytime you pass through San Juan as its America Jr. or something like that. So I get to the gate and they are holding the plane for me, its 10 minutes till departure, but everyone is on board but me. I have a moment of clarity before boarding I ask "are my bags going to make it in time I just dropped them off 20 minutes ago at security?" She assures me they will get them on the plane. Liar! So I walk through customs as I have no bags except my one carry on which I thankfully packed a pair of underwear and a change of socks and shirt. I've never had a bag lost by an airline. I have waited 3 hours at the carousel for one, but never lost. I guess my number was up. I get to the outside and I'm looking high and low for a shuttle. There are none. There are two taxis. The taxi drivers in Dominica are clever and have gotten together and agreed that if you are to drive solo from the airport to Roseau, the place I'm staying and capital of Dominica, they charge you 70US. I asked 2 cabbies, same price. Just as a test when I got a ride back I asked a few, they all said the same thing. 70 US to take a 1.5 hour cab ride across this island. It's a trip getting across the island. Let me show you a map.
The airport is near Marigot and the town I was staying in is Roseau. Why they put the airport on that side I'll never understand. I guess since the Island is so mountainous or something. Back to my story though. So these cabbies got me by the balls and they know it. 6 people came on my plane. 5 of them had rides. I did not. After I get my bags straightened out they tell me they will come to my hotel tonight as there is later flight coming in. I think awesome, this will work out.
So I get in a cab. We talk most of the way and he is giving me the tourist trip with all the info about the island and the people and the geography, its kinda nice. I get to the hotel and thank him. He is super amped cause chances are he woudln't have gotten a fair all day had I not used him. I check in to the room and proceed to go find some food as its about 3pm by now. I am ravenous as I havn't eaten all day and I've been up since before 5 mind you. I get a sandwich and some Kabuli (the local brew, which is beyond amazingly good). Then I retire to rest after staying up till about 9pm hoping my bags were on the last plane. They weren't. I get up in the morning, no bags. I work on some reports and get some other things in order around lunch I check, no bags. I check online, they still havn't found them. I need the things in my bag in order to complete the survey that I was sent there for. I start to wonder now how long it will take to get my bags or did someone steal them or did they send them to my apt in the US by accident thinking I had gone home. Finally something shows up online that they are being fwd-ed to DOM and should be on the ground by 2 and a parcel service will get them. I breathe again. 2pm rolls around. I start to squirm waiting to get my bags. I realize now that I might not have enough time to complete the survey. I figure if they aren't here by morning I'll call and reschedule. 8:15pm, after dinner, I get a call from the front desk. My bags, 32 hours after my arrival have arrived! I go to sleep thinking about how I am going to make my escape on Friday.
I get up Friday and hammer down breakfast get everything in the right order and take a cab to the tank site. I show up with all my bags the manager there thinks I am crazy, but I don't care. I get the survey done and there are problems so I begin to troubleshoot and after 2 calls back to the US finally figure out what it was. A loose connection on a pipeline was disabling the cathodic protection. It was in a valve pit where gas vapor commonly accumulates during transfer of gas. This loose connection was sparking when I was there. Its a miracle that whole thing didn't go up. I do a temporary fix to finish my survey and explain very clearly to multiple people there the situation they have at hand and how they can fix it. I don't have the appropriate tools, as a 1.5" wrench is not something I generally bring to a job site.
My cab comes on time and I venture back to through the hills of the rain forest. The driver is super nice and actually works with a lot of the people who work at that terminal who go in and out. Having a population of 72,000 dropping a few names of people you have met around the Caribbean gives you some cred and this guy knew a lot of the people I had met. Dude still charges me 70 US to get to the airport. :( Oh well. I get on my plane after having both bags searched twice and patted down 3 times. I think a lot of that has to do with wearing the caffeine molecule shirt as seen here.
So from Dominica to San Juan. I arrive in San Juan around 6pm and wonder if I can make it to Miami that night. I make it through the customs gauntlet where the agent was asking me way to specific of questions and made me nervous. Just doing his job I presume. I look at my itinerary and realize I booked my connecting flight to MIA for the next morning. Fail. I go ask an agent. He says it'll cost $150 and that if I was to get to Miami that all the flights on Saturday are booked till the one I got at 7;10 anyways. Mega fail. I resign after a difficult day of a survey, crazy taxi ride, crowded plane ride to a hotel. They have a Best Western in the airport. I check in and get some zzz's.
I wake up all night but for real at 4:30am to get to my plane which is leaving at 7a and boarding at 6:20a. Just for those of you who don't know you have to have your bag inspected by some giant x-ray outside the airport by the USDA from San Juan. Who knew? I certainly didn't, no one told me. After putting my bag in the giant x-ray I get my boarding pass and get to the gate. I saw my little sister online and I wondered if she was still up. She was. It was now 6a, so about 2am where she is. Weird how that works... Just starting my day, she's ending hers. I miss being able to stay up that late consistently. Uneventful flight to MIA.
I got here and its busy. I mean MIA is packed. I been through this airport a lot, but today is unreal. Spring break travel and everyone is flying it seems. I caved and bought an Admiral pass so I don't have to deal with the droves of people. So here I sit. I still have 7 hours till my next flight but at least I can think and hopefully get some work done.
I say that... and now there is a dog up here barking, wtf.
I'm almost home! I just realized this post is very Dominica heavy. Maybe I'll write about Grenada sometime. Grenada is a lot nicer that Dominica in my opinion. Dominica has a long way to go, but Dominica is way way way prettier as far as geography and landscape.
So when people ask me why I don't want to travel the Caribbean? Look at that joker on the plane without the umbrella cocktail writing furiously on his laptop at 20,000ft and say oh wait I guess people actually work here too. Give me the woods over the beach any day. Hiking through Dominica might be a different story, but I have yet to have the time to do that. So in summary.
ATL-MIA-SNJ-GND
GND-SNJ-DOM
DOM-SNJ-MIA-ATL
More time in airports than anything else this week. Wheee!
Hope this wasn't too ranty, good for you if you made it this far.
-bob
I'm sure most of you are wonder why I don't update much. I have this tendency to rant a lot on blogs and that is boring. No one wants to read my angsty noise. They could just hum around livejournal for a while and get plenty of that. I tried to break that habit. I still havn't quite totally cleared that hurdle.
So, this week. The week of April the 5th. We have this clients that are in the Caribbean for work. They have tank farms and I check them to make sure the bottoms aren't corroding to shit, as they tend to do in the Caribbean because of the salt water and what have you. So I get to go on a journey to the Caribbean.
Everyone says "Yay you must love it." I don't hate it, but its far from loving it. Let me run down my itinerary and you'll see why its not much fun. Monday 8am ATL->MIA, 12p MIA-SNJ(San Juan PR), 6p SNJ->GND(Grenada). I arrive in Grenada at about 8:45 pm. 15 minute cab ride and my first 14 hour day comes to a close around 9:30p. 3 flights in the bag. Many more to go. So in Grendada I do my survey and everything is fine, takes about 4 hours. Then I go back to the hotel just after lunch and hang out but I go to bed early because Wed looks like this: 6:30a GND->SNJ, 10a SNJ->DOM. Now that's not so bad. Only two flights, but I had to be to the airport by 5:30am, which means getting up at 4:30 to catch a late cab at 5am. Sleep is waning. The fun has only just begun though. Grenada is cake compared to the next leg of my trip.
Now that I'm in Dominica I get off the plane and guess what? My bags did not come with me. I ran from security to get to the gate in time as I did not plan enough time to go through US Customs which you must do everytime you pass through San Juan as its America Jr. or something like that. So I get to the gate and they are holding the plane for me, its 10 minutes till departure, but everyone is on board but me. I have a moment of clarity before boarding I ask "are my bags going to make it in time I just dropped them off 20 minutes ago at security?" She assures me they will get them on the plane. Liar! So I walk through customs as I have no bags except my one carry on which I thankfully packed a pair of underwear and a change of socks and shirt. I've never had a bag lost by an airline. I have waited 3 hours at the carousel for one, but never lost. I guess my number was up. I get to the outside and I'm looking high and low for a shuttle. There are none. There are two taxis. The taxi drivers in Dominica are clever and have gotten together and agreed that if you are to drive solo from the airport to Roseau, the place I'm staying and capital of Dominica, they charge you 70US. I asked 2 cabbies, same price. Just as a test when I got a ride back I asked a few, they all said the same thing. 70 US to take a 1.5 hour cab ride across this island. It's a trip getting across the island. Let me show you a map.
The airport is near Marigot and the town I was staying in is Roseau. Why they put the airport on that side I'll never understand. I guess since the Island is so mountainous or something. Back to my story though. So these cabbies got me by the balls and they know it. 6 people came on my plane. 5 of them had rides. I did not. After I get my bags straightened out they tell me they will come to my hotel tonight as there is later flight coming in. I think awesome, this will work out.
So I get in a cab. We talk most of the way and he is giving me the tourist trip with all the info about the island and the people and the geography, its kinda nice. I get to the hotel and thank him. He is super amped cause chances are he woudln't have gotten a fair all day had I not used him. I check in to the room and proceed to go find some food as its about 3pm by now. I am ravenous as I havn't eaten all day and I've been up since before 5 mind you. I get a sandwich and some Kabuli (the local brew, which is beyond amazingly good). Then I retire to rest after staying up till about 9pm hoping my bags were on the last plane. They weren't. I get up in the morning, no bags. I work on some reports and get some other things in order around lunch I check, no bags. I check online, they still havn't found them. I need the things in my bag in order to complete the survey that I was sent there for. I start to wonder now how long it will take to get my bags or did someone steal them or did they send them to my apt in the US by accident thinking I had gone home. Finally something shows up online that they are being fwd-ed to DOM and should be on the ground by 2 and a parcel service will get them. I breathe again. 2pm rolls around. I start to squirm waiting to get my bags. I realize now that I might not have enough time to complete the survey. I figure if they aren't here by morning I'll call and reschedule. 8:15pm, after dinner, I get a call from the front desk. My bags, 32 hours after my arrival have arrived! I go to sleep thinking about how I am going to make my escape on Friday.
I get up Friday and hammer down breakfast get everything in the right order and take a cab to the tank site. I show up with all my bags the manager there thinks I am crazy, but I don't care. I get the survey done and there are problems so I begin to troubleshoot and after 2 calls back to the US finally figure out what it was. A loose connection on a pipeline was disabling the cathodic protection. It was in a valve pit where gas vapor commonly accumulates during transfer of gas. This loose connection was sparking when I was there. Its a miracle that whole thing didn't go up. I do a temporary fix to finish my survey and explain very clearly to multiple people there the situation they have at hand and how they can fix it. I don't have the appropriate tools, as a 1.5" wrench is not something I generally bring to a job site.
My cab comes on time and I venture back to through the hills of the rain forest. The driver is super nice and actually works with a lot of the people who work at that terminal who go in and out. Having a population of 72,000 dropping a few names of people you have met around the Caribbean gives you some cred and this guy knew a lot of the people I had met. Dude still charges me 70 US to get to the airport. :( Oh well. I get on my plane after having both bags searched twice and patted down 3 times. I think a lot of that has to do with wearing the caffeine molecule shirt as seen here.
So from Dominica to San Juan. I arrive in San Juan around 6pm and wonder if I can make it to Miami that night. I make it through the customs gauntlet where the agent was asking me way to specific of questions and made me nervous. Just doing his job I presume. I look at my itinerary and realize I booked my connecting flight to MIA for the next morning. Fail. I go ask an agent. He says it'll cost $150 and that if I was to get to Miami that all the flights on Saturday are booked till the one I got at 7;10 anyways. Mega fail. I resign after a difficult day of a survey, crazy taxi ride, crowded plane ride to a hotel. They have a Best Western in the airport. I check in and get some zzz's.
I wake up all night but for real at 4:30am to get to my plane which is leaving at 7a and boarding at 6:20a. Just for those of you who don't know you have to have your bag inspected by some giant x-ray outside the airport by the USDA from San Juan. Who knew? I certainly didn't, no one told me. After putting my bag in the giant x-ray I get my boarding pass and get to the gate. I saw my little sister online and I wondered if she was still up. She was. It was now 6a, so about 2am where she is. Weird how that works... Just starting my day, she's ending hers. I miss being able to stay up that late consistently. Uneventful flight to MIA.
I got here and its busy. I mean MIA is packed. I been through this airport a lot, but today is unreal. Spring break travel and everyone is flying it seems. I caved and bought an Admiral pass so I don't have to deal with the droves of people. So here I sit. I still have 7 hours till my next flight but at least I can think and hopefully get some work done.
I say that... and now there is a dog up here barking, wtf.
I'm almost home! I just realized this post is very Dominica heavy. Maybe I'll write about Grenada sometime. Grenada is a lot nicer that Dominica in my opinion. Dominica has a long way to go, but Dominica is way way way prettier as far as geography and landscape.
So when people ask me why I don't want to travel the Caribbean? Look at that joker on the plane without the umbrella cocktail writing furiously on his laptop at 20,000ft and say oh wait I guess people actually work here too. Give me the woods over the beach any day. Hiking through Dominica might be a different story, but I have yet to have the time to do that. So in summary.
ATL-MIA-SNJ-GND
GND-SNJ-DOM
DOM-SNJ-MIA-ATL
More time in airports than anything else this week. Wheee!
Hope this wasn't too ranty, good for you if you made it this far.
-bob
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