cycling « Kenny Smith | Omnes hic sumus discere.

cycling

Did Frost like fries?

My alarm went off. I hit the snooze button. Music started playing again. I snoozed. It sounded off once more, I rolled over and started having weird snippets of strange dreams. There were happy dogs to pet, and I was happy to do it, but there was a sense of foreboding, the kind you have when you know something bad is about to happen to the character on TV. Only I am not a television character and have no reason or real sense of why anything bad would happen. So I try not to acknowledge it or let on, for the happy dogs.

I hit the snooze button again.

It is part of my charm.

I watched the Tour de France stage, which everyone hyped beyond belief yesterday. And, with the announcers, lost track of the number of crashes, which took us to the sublimely ridiculous moment of asking the cyclists, before they’d had the chance to wipe the mud from their faces, if this stage which they had hyped so much, so not be included in the future. Television is a curious thing. When it steps unselfconsciously out of its element that is when it is most in its element, though the players never seem aware.

There’s only so many times you need to see guys lose control of their under-inflated tires in a roundabout and smack the asphalt. The cobblestones and rain together, it seems, were not worth it today. I should just go back to watching the mountain stages. I only watch the bike races for the mountains and the scenery anyway. But I watched that today.

Here’s a race I’d watch, Women’s Tour de France Needs You:

In one of the biggest developments in the history of the Tour de France, women will take their place in the iconic race this year…but now it’s up to you to help them.

Following a massive worldwide push for women to have their own Tour de France the UCI and ASO have responded with a one day race on the final stage.

[…]

This may just be one day, but it’s not a token gesture. It’s a trial. A test to see how popular, supported and lucrative women’s cycling is. It won’t remain a one day race forever, moving forward it will grow and develop in the sporting landscape and in people’s consciousness.

And a trailer for a related documentary:

I finished the laundry. I moved things around.

I had Whataburger for a late lunch and, there in the parking lot, got to watch two teenagers have a marginally dramatic disagreement. She was mad at him about something. And he loved her, you know. She worked at the Whataburger and her coworkers thought enough of all of it to come outside. He, in trying to demonstrate his love despite whatever had made her mad, parked behind her car and mine.

So I saved the day. Move the car, bub. I have fries to eat and many miles to go, etc.

Judging by his reaction, this guy had never read Robert Frost. But he had the sullen look down. And while he did that, she went inside to work and he left.

I wonder what he did wrong.

I did a full inventory of things at work. I wrote emails. I repaired tripods. You don’t know fun until you’ve fixed tripods with nothing more than a pair of pliers.

I listened to the Argentina-Netherlands game. Glad I didn’t watch that woof-fest.

All of that kept me longer than I’d hoped, but it did give me these views:

So, you know, a perfectly wonderful and stunning day.

Things to read … because reading always makes your day.

We’ll start off across the pond. Ed Miliband’s scare tactics will not cure the NHS:

A report published by the Royal College of Surgeons and Age UK shows that rationing is being extended to cover life-saving operations on elderly patients. A study found that in large parts of the country, hardly anyone above the age of 75 was receiving surgery for conditions such as breast cancer and gall bladder removal. This is wrong. There should be no automatic cut-off age for treatment, not least because the elderly have contributed sufficiently in taxes throughout their working lives to expect to be afforded decent and proper care.

Is it just me, or should that last sentence have a full stop at the comma?

Another interesting story about the U.S. you’ll find more prominently abroad. US military studied how to influence Twitter users in Darpa-funded research

This is one of the more thorough and cogent essays of the day. Media Ignorance Is Becoming A Serious Problem

I opened a closet door in my inventory efforts today. Don’t think I didn’t think of this. Misplaced Vials Of Smallpox Found Abandoned In Storage Room

There is a lot of interesting stuff to unpack here. A lot. Implementation Of Europe’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ About As Absurd As You’d Expect

Closer to home … Pathway to Graduation helps struggling readers succeed:

“I like the program because I got the nicest teachers and I like what we do in our decoding and fluency and we get into small groups and we work together and we try to figure the problem out,” Hicks said.

The college part goes two ways. It teaches younger students to dream of a future and furthering their education and it gives students in Samford’s School of Education valuable experience.

Service learning is such a great tool. I wish there were more ways to implement it in every field — and it is in place in a lot of areas to begin with.

Police: Mother of missing boy didn’t remember letting cousin take him home when she was intoxicated As always on al.com, avoid the comments.

Two interesting data points here. How Obamacare has changed the rate of Alabama’s uninsured

Words to live by. CNN’s social news editor: Engagement doesn’t have to mean clickbait

This is becoming a common refrain, I know. Mobile Leads Rise in Media Ad Spending

But … in that context …

A5 This year, 500 million phones will ship with NFC (Near Field Communication) built in #MMchat

— Chuck Martin (@chuckmartin) July 8, 2014

For context, 6 billion people globally have mobile phones; that’s 84% of the entire world population #MMchat

— Chuck Martin (@chuckmartin) July 8, 2014

The traditional sales funnel is dead, thanks to #mobile #MMchat

— Chuck Martin (@chuckmartin) July 8, 2014

The whole world is changing. The great disruptor in your pocket or purse is a part of that. Interesting feeling, no?

cycling / I do not know what is happening. / iPhone / photo / running — Comments Off
8
Jul 14

A quick summation

Tour de France, World Cup, laundry and work. It was a day of watching little people go very fast over flat terrain, German going fast over Brazil, things drying fast in the dryer and composing emails slowly.

I rode a bit of the time trial course today. Thought I was taking it easy, but the computer was impressed. We’ll credit the new shoes, which still require some tinkering in fixing the cleats.

I almost passed a car and I didn’t feel like I was working especially hard. The point today, for me, was just to stretch out my legs, work out the last of the stiffness from my Sunday run and get in a little run at the end. It wasn’t a brick workout — combining two elements of a triathlon, and probably so named because of what it feels like in your legs — but I wanted to do something like a mini-brick. So I got in 13 miles of easy pedaling on the bike and one mile of jogging in the neighborhood, just to get moving, to keep moving, but not overtax myself.

I do not know what is happening.

And, now, a picture from last night of The Yankee and our friends’ dog, Trixie:

There’s a fine line between patience and stubbornness in a dog. Trixie lives there. Her trainers, apparently, called her a stump, because when she doesn’t want to go, you won’t move her. So she’s easy to take pictures of, even with a phone in low light.

cycling / history / I do not know what is happening. / journalism / links / things to read / video / weekend — Comments Off
5
Jul 14

This car makes jumps

The world around you is one of the things a bicycle teaches you about. Things look different. Terrain is different. You come to understand that those aren’t two hills, but really one hill you approach from multiple directions.

The most important thing I have learned, so far, is that it has taught me not to judge. You never know what someone is going through, which is the personification of the “Walk a mile in my shoes” concept, which is writ large in my head every time I’m struggling to top a hill. Those people driving those cars don’t know, I tell myself.

Some of them probably do, but the point is that it can be hard.

Another important thing the bike teaches you is about more roads. Eventually you start looking for new routes, new challenges, new approaches to that same hill. I found some of those today, in part because I saw a neat road name on a map. The road is about four miles from our house and I’ve passed it dozens of times on my bike alone. But playing with cycling routes on a map led me to answering the question “What’s down there?” The answer was a private driveway.

And this:

Had a difficult with the new shoes. They, surprise, didn’t feel right for most of the ride today, but I figured it out as soon as I got home and took them off. And it was an easy fix. Hopefully that will be taken care of today.

I went through three new neighborhoods today, though, and two of them I’ll return to again. The third featured a bad stretch of road that overruled the two extra rides up that same hill mentioned above. In just over half of the distance I climbed more than I will in next weekend’s triathlon. And, with that and the time trialing I did yesterday, I will begin to taper off the workouts.

Tapering, like I have a training plan. Like I’m an athlete.

Aside from the pretending, I do not know what is happening.

Things to read … so you’ll know what is happening.

The best thing you’ll read today: A Janitor’s Ten Lessons in Leadership

Rare, Remarkable Maps Trace America’s Path to Independence

Roger Simon: America’s glorious failures

‘Flying Farmer’ recalls WWII service

Total US Ad Spending to See Largest Increase Since 2004

Guardian Australia: lessons in online-only publications

Have I mentioned I need a drone? I need a drone.

Fireworks may be the most temporal of celebrations, and you’ve already moved on, I know, but that’s just awesome.

I can’t adequately describe this video, but I’d suppose the individual reaction to it is informative.

Now go back to your three-day weekend!

Auburn / cycling / I do not know what is happening. / running / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
2
Jul 14

Phil, princes, pictures

They gathered in the stadium of the 2,000 student school in the town of 56,000, which is a suburb of Atlanta. His coaches talked and his college coaches talked and his father talked and the sun set a remarkable shade of orange and blue and people thought, “Oh, Phil is a painter.”

And they lit candles and laughed and hugged and shared tears for what they’ve lost, what we’ve lost, and tried to imagine what his family has lost. And none of it was enough, but a lot of it was just right. There are eulogies and then there are eulogies. And this video played:

And it wasn’t at all about football. His sister tells you what it is about.

I rode one of the regular routes today. I did it in new cycling shoes. I couldn’t decide if trying new shoes less than two weeks before a triathlon was a good idea, and I still can’t decide, but here we are. It will take me a while to figure them out and how to avoid mishaps with them, but they are lighter.

Why all of that matters, in as much as it does. You’re familiar with the fairy tale of the princess and the pea? I’m a lot like that on the bike, which is to say I’m an elite athlete in tune with myself and the machinery I’m using. Of course that’s not the case, but I notice things that make The Yankee roll her eyes.

When I swapped from Continental tires to kevlar trainers, I noticed a big drop off in performance. When I swapped from the kevlar tires to Gatorskins, I noticed an improvement. When I changed water bottles, I could tell the new ones were heavier. I didn’t notice that in my hand, mind you, but I filled them up, put them in their cages and pedaled away and felt it within just a few strokes.

So these shoes are lighter. And, in cycling, lighter is better. I feel like they pull up better, too. These are clipless shoes, of course, which bolt you onto the pedals. They have two advantages, allowing you to pull up on your pedal stroke as well as push down. This exercises some different leg muscles. Also, the pros use them and you want to look like them despite the different sensations and the possibility of disaster that comes with them.

Falling in clipless shoes is something of a rite of passage. I’ve done it a few times. Once in front of a police officer and once in front of fire fighters. Both were embarrassing and only slightly painful. It takes a bit of time to train your foot to come out of the pedals and to do it in time. Hence the falling and the rite of passage and the skinned elbows and things.

With these new shoes, they feel like I’m starting over with the whole thing. That’s odd since the cleats are exactly the same. The pedals are exactly the same. The shoe feels different, and the sole is different, and I am the prince with the pea.

So I rode 18 miles and ran a 5K today. It was very warm out, both times. Also, I’ve been dragging the last few days and am in one of the inexplicable phases of not eating very much. It felt pretty good, though.

I do not know what is happening.

Nice picture and all .. You don’t often expect great lines from Instagram, but this one has it.

cycling / I do not know what is happening. / running / swimming — Comments Off
1
Jul 14

Last month’s workouts

Here’s what I did last month. The red is on the bike, which was limited. The dark blue is running and the light blue is in the pool, which was especially limited. It isn’t nearly enough for where I’d like to be.

It isn’t nearly enough.