Half the speed...Twice the pain

Today was my first ride in 3 weeks. Every year I swear to myself that I won't throw December away and start all over again after Christmas, and every year I do it anyway. I'm already resolving to be more disciplined next December. On the other hand, I once again had the opportunity to test the P-32 Fitness theory. I can call this experiment in deterioration of form a success.

I left the house this morning under cloudy and breezy skies, bundled up to stay warm and hurrying to make it to the shop across town where the boys were meeting for the ride start. I got there in plenty of time, fighting a head-wind the entire way.

We left and headed out to run the Tuesday Night Worlds route. The pace seemed easy enough through the neighborhoods, but every couple of blocks it would notch up just a touch. By the time we hit Ruffner Road, we were running just a touch under Summertime pace and flying along, up and down and over the rollers. At some point, (exactly where that point was is still somewhat hazy to me, as I was cross-eyed keeping up) everyone remembered that this was December, not July, and that it wouldn't look uncool to ride slowly. Or at least, more slowly than we were.

The only problem with this theory is that I (and presumably, others in the group) discovered that, particularly on the hills, going half the normal speed, hurts just as badly as going fast, and lasts twice as long.

Needless to say, for the remainder of my renewed efforts at training will be either on flat roads, or I will put in real effort on the hills.

Cold Feet

Saturday I went out with the boys from the club. It was to be a ride with lots of climbing, so I wasn't worried about getting warm once things got going. When I pedaled out of the driveway at 8:00 am, it was 34 degrees. I had arm warmers, light tights, and a wind vest.

Big mistake.

After climbing out of the hole in the mountain where we live, I started descening the north side of Shades Mountain, where I quickly became reaquainted with my loathing for frozen fingers and toes. By the time I arrived in Crestline for the ride start at 9:00, I could barely squeeze my brake levers, shifting was out of the question, and my feet felt like blocks of ice attached to the end of my legs.

At this point I was thinking, "thank heavens for shoe covers. Too bad I didn't put mine on today. Do I even know where they are?"

We left to ride, and yes, there was plenty of climbing. My legs were plenty warm, and I even took off my arm warmers and my fingers thawed out. But my feet remained frozen.

Once I got home and got my feet warmed sufficiently, I went out to the garage and started looking through boxes until I found my nice warm winter booties (shoe covers). Fleece lined, neoprene outside. I resolve to wear them on every ride until February at least.

The only thing I hate worse than cold feet, is wet feet.

Hard Day

It was my first ride of the week today. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to burn off yesterday's extra calories, (though I managed to keep it under control). It was a group ride, an honorarium ride for a former member of the club who was diagnosed with Lukemia a few years back. He isn't doing well right now and is in hospice care. So we went out and did a ride for him today.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the legs I had even a month ago. There was a lot of climbing on this ride, and my legs are very sore tonight.

On the plus side, the weather was wonderful...high sixties to low seventies. More of the same tomorrow. And each day until mid week.

Looks like it's time to put some miles in.

Dull these days

It's too cold to ride. Well, ordinarily not, but since I'm fighting (pretty well I might add) the nasty head cold that made it's way through our home last week, I'm avoiding being sweaty outside when it's in the low 30's.

And I can't seem to motivate myself to hook up my trainer to ride indoors when it isn't raining outside.

Other things have been happening though...

I finished building up the old Trek frameset. Using some of my old parts, and some parts donated by the Beast, Kenny now has a bike most 16 year olds would kill for...OCLV Frameset, Shimano 9spd Dura Ace Shifters with Ultegra derailleurs, FSA compact crankset, an ITM Millineum stem, and a Specialized Carbon seatpost (the one that came on my Tarmac, since I'm using a lighter FSA carbon post). I put my old Spinergy Spox wheels on, since he's light enough that they'll still be stiff wheels for him. With the Speedplay X2 pedals, the bike weighs 17.5 lbs.

Now Twister has Kenny's old Trek 1000, and Brayden has Twister's old (43cm) Trek 1000.

Since we were all set, and Saturday was a nice day, I took the three boys out for a ride late Saturday afternoon. We did the greenway along Lakeshore, up the bottom half of Smyer to where the road is closed for repairs, and back again. A short 8 miles for Kenny, Twister, and me...a bit longer 8 for Brayden, who was on his first road bike ride ever. He did well, and I'm looking forward to spending more time riding with my boys. And Cathy too.

Russ and I are hoping to get out and do a short 25 or 30 on Friday, before we have to work at the Christmas Tree lot for the scouts. Kenny and Twister will ride with us, so it should be a good ride. I'm looking forward to Friday.

Up, Down, Up...

I'm speaking of the temperature.

Last Monday, it was okay, not warm, but not bitingly cold either. Tuesday it was a little colder, Wednesday, the wind appeared along with even lower temps, and by the time I left the house on Friday morning, bundled to the point I felt like the michelin man, it was just downright unpleasant.

Today, it'll be back up to near 70. Then raining and cold tomorrow. Then warm and sunny again on Wednesday.

But I'm determined to keep riding to work at least when it isn't raining. I worked too hard this last spring and summer to throw all that away by getting lazy now. If I keep pushing through, I know I'll come out in the spring faster for my efforts.

It's just more work than fun right now.

I just can't let it go...

Last night, on my commute home, I was noodling along, feeling pretty good. I had climbed up over Highland and down through English Village, through Mountain Brook Village and along the Shades Creek Greenway to Columbiana. Columbiana is the tough climb on this version of my route (Smyer is closed for repairs for the next 2.5 months), about 3/4 mile at ~8%. I had just started the climb, and thought I would just take it easy, spin up nice and slow and keep things under control.

BUT!

I was passed.

For about 2 seconds I didn't care. Then it registered...I was just passed. The thoughts spinning through my head...can I just let that go without a response? How can I call myself a rider if I don't at least try to take back what was mine?

So I shifted to a harder gear, stood up and started climbing. The gap started to shrink. Then it stabilized as the beam of my light became visible on the ground around him, and he, realizing I was coming, increased his effort as well.

Slowly I pulled up even with him and for the last 1/4 mile we traded tire-width leads until with 50 yards left I went hard and finally left him behind as I crossed the summit 15 yards in front.

Not a word was spoken between us. There was an inate understanding that this was a race to which we were the only witnesses. On the line? Nothing but the personal satisfaction of having beaten someone on a climb, and the establishment of the Alpha cyclist betwixt just the two of us.

I know that the next time we meet on that climb, he'll remember the time I beat him to the top, and he'll work harder.

So will I.

It's Finally Back

My Trek. I originally had the frameset sent to the factory in Wisconsin for inspection and repainting (after I crashed it into the garage while pulling in and forgetting it was atop the car).

It came back sometime at the end of July, first part of August (I don't recall exactly) and it was not acceptable...the paint was bubbled on the top tube. So it went back again.

3 weeks later, it was returned again. Not only did they not fix the bubbled paint on the top tube, it now had other blemishes as well. So we sent it a third time.

Friday the shop called to tell me it was back. "Third times gotta be the charm" they said. Apparently that isn't necessarily the truth. Yes, they had fixed the bubbled paint, and the other blemishes as well, but a spot of clearcoat had rubbed off, (or they missed a spot during finishing) behind the seat-tube.

Yesterday the shop called to tell me that they had talked to Trek and rather than send it back for a 4th repaint, Trek was giving up and letting me keep it without charge.

So I'm finally done with my Trek saga, and K&C will both have bikes that fit, as I'm giving K the newly repainted OCLV frameset.

We'll spend the next couple of nights building it up together. That'll be a good father/son thing to do. Right?

I thought so too.

Where did fall go?

It seems as though we've gone from hot hot hot, dropped straight through pleasant fall temps and bottomed out at colder than crud. All in just a few days. I didn't think I'd need to get out my winter tights and arm warmers until December, but no, the past two mornings have been downright too cold to ride without them.

I miss fall. I wish it would come back. Soon.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Rest Week

More like a week of sitting around doing nothing. It's raining today, and drizzled for two days before today. This is the time of the year when I get sick easily, so I'm staying out of the cold and wet. So far it's working.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day though, so I'm planning to get a ride in. It'll be nice to spin the legs a bit and expend some energy.

The Trek is due to be back today...from it's third trip to the factory for repainting. I'm hoping they get it right this time. Kenny wants to ride it, and so I'll have to get it built up for him.

It's Not Always About Going Fast

Contrary to Burl Ives assertion that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, in my book, that distinction belongs to fall. The temperatures begin dropping from the nineties into a more comfortable range in the sixties, seventies and low eighties, and the humidity falls from oppressive at best to merely noticable at worst.

Fall is my favorite time of the year to ride my bike. All of the season's objectives are behind me and it's time to just noodle around and enjoy the season without the pressures of upcoming events forcing me to train a certain way. It's "wind-down" season, and it's time to relax. Time to spend my Saturday rides with Cathy. There's very little I enjoy more than watching her ride to the top of Shades Crest via Smyer for the first time last Saturday. She enjoyed it so much, we're going to try it again this week!

Sure, I've got some goals already set up for next season; I want to finish Cherohala in less than 7 hours, and I'm planning to start swimming and running again this winter in an effort to claim the top spot at a triathlon next Memorial Day weekend. I'm also giving some thought to clipping in for a couple of low key races in early March just to test my fitness and have a little fun (I could use a little humility, and there's nothing like lining up at a race to give it to you).

But those are still months away, and I'm one of the best around when it comes to procrastinating. Sure, I could be busy out on my bike every day, sweating like a soaker hose, and wheezing like a leaky tire...

But then I wouldn't get to enjoy my favorite time of the year, would I?

The Return of TNPT

Ah, another Tuesday. My first Pain Train in nearly 6 weeks. The big question was would I survive or be spat from the rear before the first stop light?

During the first mile or two, I felt the ache from Saturday's century in Huntsville, but my legs loosened up and despite my best efforts to drop into the middle of the pack, I found myself up front...(there are certain points in this ride where the corners are tricky, and it's best to be up front just for my own comfort and to feel safe)...when I didn't want to be up front.

Never fear though, I know that when the hammer really drops, I'll be suffering somewhere near the back, if not off the back.

We cruised up past the ball fields on Ruffner road and as the pace kept creeping up, I found it just a touch surprising that I wasn't having any difficulty keeping up. I know I've put in a lot of miles recently, but they've been slow, and speed training is something I've lacked considerably of late. I rotated off the front, and though there were about 30 riders, a split of 8 riders had developed, which meant that I was on the front more frequently than normal. I found myself second from last at the foot of the final steep roller on Ruffner, and felt good enough to sprint up to take the top of the hill ahead of the rest. I settled back down and fell in with the group where we worked to the end of Ruffner.

At this point, things settled down for 1/4 mile to allow the dropped riders to rejoin and then we were off to the races again up John Rogers Drive (aka "Dog Track"). Again feeling pretty good, I made one critical mistake and allowed myself to rotate all the way to the back just before the hill began. The reason this is not a good thing is that invariably, somewhere up ahead, a split will occur and if you want to make it over the top with the leaders, you have to work extra hard to bridge to them. Yes, that's what happened. It was the only part of the ride where I thought I might be finished, but I managed to pick my way up through the shelled riders to just regain the leaders as they crested the hill.

From there, the route works over to Old Leeds after what can be an easy climb up 78, but isn't easy because everyone (apparently I'm the lone exception) wants to ride an 18 mph pace up the hill. I managed to hang on. I say "managed", though I never thought I'd get dropped. It just hurt. A lot.

From 78 we cross over I-459 and turn onto Old Leeds Road for the run back through Irondale and Mountain Brook to Homewood. Naturally, the pace is high on this section as well, as various riders (it seems they're always the same ones) feel that they need to attack on one of the busier roads we ride. Anyway, we managed to get through OLR without incident, though I thought a time or two that I might be going down, particularly when one rider decided to sprint from behind me and nearly knocked my handlebars sideways with his leg.

All in all, I was very happy with last night's ride. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could still keep up with the boys and even take my turns working. I clearly didn't expect to be where I was.

Unfortunately, this may be the last TNPT for me...scheduling conflicts abound over the next couple of weeks, and it's getting to be too dark too early for the ride to continue past the middle of October.

I'll have to spend the winter making sure I don't lose too much. I'll be doing a lot of riding with family now that fall is here and the weather is so nice.

I'm looking forward to that.

Down and out

It's a strange title for what was perhaps my strongest ride in years...but as the story unfolds, you'll understand.

Saturday was the Huntsville Century (yes, that should be the "Huntsville All-you-can-eat Century, but I didn't eat all I could, so I've shortened it for this year). I took Molly up with me on Friday afternoon to play with her cousins while Cathy's brother did an eye exam for me. We stayed with the brother and his family that night.

Early Saturday morning, I left Molly behind to spend more time with kin, and I drove to the other side of Madison County to the High School which served as the start and finish for this ride. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw about 3 cars there, and recongized DirtDog's Scott CR-1 attached to the back of his truck. Already the day was starting out great...I didn't think he was doing the Huntsville with Six Gap just a week away. We chatted for a while and I told him I was looking to do less than 6 hours because 1) I wanted to, and 2) I had to be back in Birmingham (100 miles away) by 3:30 for a meeting. I also mentioned that I'd be leaving a bit early to ride with some friends who were on their way, and to holler when he passed me so I could hook on with this group for the rest of the ride.

Russ and Katie, and their friends Brad and his wife Sue (who flew in from Park City, UT just for this event) arrived, all attired in matching University of Utah jerseys. At least my blue and black kit was somewhat BYU'ish. Now you realize, don't you, that I'm going to have to get a BYU jersey to offset this horde of Utes.

At 7:30 we rolled out of the parking lot and joined a smattering of other riders in the extraodinarily comfortable morning air. And since I mentioned it, I'm just going to say that when the only thing you can find to complain about regarding the weather was that there wasn't enough breeze to give you a tailwind anywhere, then you'd probably just better stop complaining.

Riding past the cotton fields waiting to be harvested, the area was blanketed with white and green. It was almost like snow in some spots (if you ignored the red clay dirt underneath it all). The terrain was much gentler than I remembered from several years ago, the rollers seemed considerably smaller and fewer in number.

Just past the first feed zone, DirtDog and a small group caught up with us. Russ and Brad and I hooked on with them, but after a mile or two, Russ began feeling guilty and convinced Brad to drop back to ride with their wives. DirtDog and his group had left about 10 minutes before the 8am start, and so it was about 15 minutes later when the first large group caught us. Without any difficulty, we raised our pace and joined with the nearly 100 other riders. It was fast and it was fun. We rolled over the rollers at a nice 22-23 mph pace for miles and miles. Nearing the 40 mile rest stop, there is a large downhill, followed immediately by an equally large uphill. I was at the front of the group on the descent, and upon hitting the uphill portion, I shifted to my small ring...but I messed up the shift and dropped the chain. I came to a complete stop as I tried to get things working again, and when I finally got the bike moving forward, I was 75 yard behind the last riders in the group. So I began to chase. And chase. And chased some more.

Descending from Lexie Crossroads into what Jeff Mills and I call, The Valley That Time Forgot, I continued to chase. I could see the group up ahead, about 1/4 mile, but I just couldn't get any closer. And I was on my own in "no man's land" with riders behind and the group I wanted up ahead. Turning onto Marble Hill road, to climb back to the top of the ridge, I decided I was done chasing. Hopefully I would catch some of them at the next rest stop (back at Lexie Crossroads again). This climb, contrary to the rest of the course seeming easier, was more difficult than I remembered. I knew that when Katie saw the hill, she would be cursing me under her breath, and possibly even aloud, and if Russ was nearby, he would probably join her.

Immediately after cresting the climb, I descended down into the valley on the east side of the ridge and turned back south toward Lexie Xroads. Somewhere along this valley I was caught by DirtDog and another small group of riders, some who had been in the large group. We climbed back onto the top of the ridge and arrived at the RS. I asked the folks working that stop if they'd seen a group wearing U of U jerseys. The girl I talked to said they had just left 10-15 minutes before we got there. I left a message apologizing for the hill and we took off for the last 50 miles. As we rode, we picked up more and more stragglers who had experienced ejection from the front runners. By the time we were at 85 miles covered, we had a fairly sizable group formed, but few of them would take pulls, so it was up to just 4 of us to drive the bus. If I might just brag for a moment, I felt good. I took strong hard pulls, and stayed within myself, and didn't blow up.

The last 50 miles of this course are considerably hillier than the first 50, but certainly not unmanagable. And they weren't hurting me the way I expected. I finished the ride, 105 miles, in 5:18. Yeah. I was happy about that. I quickly ran into the showers to get changed and hurry to Bham, but found the line at the showers was going to take a while.

Now, I don't know what kind of High School has but 2 shower stalls (not 2 gang showers mind you, 2 stalls with one head in each), but this one did. And someone forgot to have them turn on the hot water. Which was a blessing, because each of the 40 people ahead of me in line lasted about 90 seconds in the icewater and then it was the next rider's turn.

I'll compress this next bit somewhat...I got dressed in my suit, ate a plate of spaghetti, (not all-I-could-eat, but all I had time for)and pointed the car south. I eventually made it to my meeting, a bit late, but I got most of it.

After the meeting, which lasted a bit over 2 hours, I called Russ' cell phone to jokingly ask if they were done riding yet.

He said they'd finished many hours earlier, when his wife Katie, had crashed descending the same hill where I'd had trouble with my chain. He was a bit ahead of her and waited and waited for 5 mintues or so before another rider asked if he was waiting for a rider wearing a jersey like his. "Yes" he said. "Well, she crashed pretty badly back up the hill". When he got there, I guess it was a mess. She lost control of her bike at 35 mph and hit the metal guardrail. Luckily for her, Russ is a doctor. Anyway, they got her into an ambulance and took her to Winchester, Tennessee, to the hospital where they ran tests for the remainder of the afternoon. Cat scans, MRI's, x-rays. She's pretty beaten up. I've seen dozens of riders who've crashed, and she's the first I've seen with her face all cut up. Skin missing from most of her right arm and right leg, shoulders, backside, etc. And 35 stiches in a gash on the left side of her abdomen. We aren't really sure what caused that gash, but we speculate that it was the end of her handlebar, which had lost its plug during the crash.

I'm guessing that today, she's going to be more sore than she was yesterday. It sure isn't any good when something that's supposed to be fun turns out that way.

So, we'll see how long it takes to get Katie back on a bike. I'm hoping she's okay and it doesn't take much.

Four Fifths of the Birmingham Century

Yeah, it seems strange to get all set up to do a century, then only plan to do 80 miles of it...but that's exactly what I did. Here's the story:

I've got a couple of friends, Russ, who was at Cherohala with me, and Russ' wife, Katie, who has taken up the fun and frivolity that is cycling, (which if you do it right is roughly akin to breathing as hard as you can while someone beats you with a strand of barbed wire).

Anyway, Russ and Katie have determined (on my recommendation) that the Huntsville "All You Can Eat Century is the perfect event to complete their first century. To that end, once they returned from consecutive trips to the exotic locals of Finland and Sylacauga 3 weeks ago, I've been training with them for the Huntsville event.

Huntsville is not a marathon long event, nor is it especially hilly. What it does have is some of the prettiest countryside I've ever ridden through, and really really sweet smooth roads that were just paved brand new 5 years ago. And rollers. Hundreds of them. Very little of this ride is flat, almost none to my recollection. You're either rolling up, or rolling down. (Sure, there are some flat sections I'm certain, but who remembers those?).

So Russ and Katie (whose longest ride to date had been 65 miles) decided that doing 80 of the BBC Century was just the ticket as a final long ride to the build up to Huntsville. It was a beautiful morning, cloudy and cool, with relatively low humidity for Alabama. We left Montevallo High School about 30 minutes ahead of the start so that we didn't spend all day riding just because they like to start their century late. Leaving town towards the wilds of Chilton County, Katie had her first experience with passing slower riders. A red letter day for her.

As we continued south I noticed that property was being cleared for another soon to be run down, ramshackle self storage facility. Which was nice to see, because you can never have too many of these eyesores in rural Alabama, and south Shelby County doesn't seem to be keeping up with the less affluent counties on its borders. A little farther on, having crossed into Chilton county we encountered a novel way of storing your "stuff". Instead of renting a self storage closet at one of these aforementioned establishments, these ingenious folks had purchased (I assume it wasn't stolen) a school bus, replaced the wheels with cinder blocks, and were storing their "stuff" in the converted school bus. Brilliant!

So back to the ride. This ride is a good approximation of the terrain in Huntsville, lots of rolling hills and mild climbing as well. We saw little traffic because it doesn't seem to be peach season yet, so the roads were all pretty empty. I was a bit ahead of Russ and Katie, so I pulled into the first rest stop and was delighted to find that they had a big box of plums. I love plums, and these plums were absolutely wonderfully sweet black plums. After two plums (plus one in my pocket for later), and a slice of watermelon, we took off again.

5 miles farther down the road, the were finally overtaken by a small group of riders who, having started with the rest of the group, had to have averaged 22 mph to that point. They blew past us and 15 minutes later the first large group (30-40 riders) caught us. I determined that I wouldn't ride with this group, and that I'd wait for Russ and Katie, but as I drifted back, I kept seeing friends and chatting. Besides, the effort staying in with them was noticably less than that of riding on my own. So as the miles flew past, I suddenly remembered that Russ and Katie were back there somewhere, no doubt cursing my abandonment of them. So I dropped off. To my pleasant surprise, R&K were only a couple of hundred yards back, having caught the back of the group and hanging until a longer hill came along. I was impressed.

We stopped at the next rest stop where I returned a pair of new sunglasses to the owner who had dropped them and refilled water bottles before leaving again.

Now, at this point the weather was still very pleasant and we began seeing riders from the previously mentioned group coming back the other way, as they were hitting the metric turn around and going back (most were preparing for the 6 Gap Century in two weeks). Past the metric turnaround, we were on our own again until we stopped and 40 miles out and turned around ourselves. I stayed with R&K for a while but as it got later, I felt like I needed to get back, so I went on ahead. After 30 mintues or so, it started to get hot...the clouds broke up and the sun came out and I actually ended up with a slight sunburn. *shrug*

I finished strongly, averaging 19.3 mph for the last 24 miles, but starting to feel pre-cramping in my calves as I hadn't done anything to prevent cramps because the day seemed so cool at the start. Lesson learned.

My favorite part of the day was a day later (yesterday) when Katie saw me at church and said "that last hill, you know the one I mean...)

Yeah, I knew exactly which one she meant...a longish steep climb with 5 miles to go. It'll kill you at the end of a long ride.

So, 80 miles covered. Lots of energy left to help Cathy clean for a party she was hosting. All in all, a great day.

It might not look like it, but I'm still riding.

Yeah, it's been a while since I've had anything to say. I apologize to all 4 of my avid readers.

I've been riding, but nothing epic, nor anything especially profound has happened on any of these rides, so there just hasn't been much to write about.

On Saturday I rode from home down to my old neighborhood and farther south up into Pea Ridge and down to Montevallo. It's a good ride, but I haven't done it for over 18 months. I was surprised by how much has changed along previously isolated areas that are now being cleared for the newest thousand-home-subdivisions. It's kind of sad. Certainly a loss of good riding as these previously deserted roads become the main route to and from home for everyone living in these subdivisions with a car. I'm sure I won't ride down there many more times.

It's kind of sad.

A Change of Plans

I had made plans to ride into work today, but to go the long way around, which would have given me about 30 miles. It's a nice ride and not difficult. Lots of rollers that let you work hard for 30 seconds, then ease off, then hard again.

Baby girl had other plans for me though when she awoke with a fever and chest cough. Since Cathy was scheduled to sub for an English teacher at Hoover HS today, it became my job to stay home with the sick one.

My wife surprised me though when she said "go ride for an hour and then I'll leave when you get back."

Heck yeah!

I hooked up with Russ and we did a shorter version of the route, it was still about 18 miles, but it was a good 18. Good weather, good roads, good legs.

We'll be trying for the longer route to work again on Wednesday. In the meantime, today's ride was perfect.

Not About Cycling

Last night we had friends over and during the course of the evening, one of them remarked that she liked to be around me just for all the electronics.

It's not that I have that much stuff. But I really do have a soft spot for electronic toys, and all the stuff you need to go with them.

My Newest Toy

I just received (late last week) a new Apple Macbook Pro 17". Without wanting to gush, can I just tell you that this is the computer I've waited all my life for. A fast Intel processor (2.16 ghz Duo) and 2gb RAM. But the specs aren't why I'm excited, at least not directly. To understand why I'm excited about this machine, I first have to tell you that I am a Macintosh fan. I'd choose a Mac any day over a Dell or a Gateway or other Wintel/AMD box. The hardware is elegant, and the OS is really really nice.

but...
You knew there had to be a "but" in here. I use two software programs (not for work) that are available only for Windows. Additionally, I developed and maintain a database which is cross platform, which means that I need both a mac and a windows machine.

The Solution
My new Macbook Pro is both machines in one. I have used Virtual PC extensively with my old PPC based Powerbook, but it was a kludge, and a slow kludge at that. The new Intel based Mac opens up a whole new world. Using Apple's "Bootcamp" I partitioned a small section of my hard drive and installed Windows XP SP2 on it. Everything that I can throw at it runs just as well as it does on my Dell. Nothing, nothing, fails to work. The speed is amazingly good, because this is not an emulation package...Windows is addressing all the hardware natively (except the Boot ROMs which are emulated, but doesn't effect performance in the slightest). It runs just as fast as the brand new Dell that a coworker just got, both machines are the same spec (2.16 duo/2gb ram, same video etc.). The drawback to this solution is that if I want to switch to Windows, or back to OSX, I have to reboot.

Parallels
Enter Parallels. This software package is more like Virtual PC, except that it doesn't emulate the hardware, it just provides access to it for Windows XP directly, largely bypassing the OSX layer. Just a keyboard command and I can switch back and forth, copy and paste from one to the other, all incredibly fast...especially compared to previous solutions.

Bravo to Apple for switching to Intel. It's what I've been waiting for forever.

My encounter with Bhams Finest

On my ride home today, the weather was particularly harsh looking, and with guests coming for dinner, I decided to take the shortest way home. Coming up the hill on Greensprings Hwy, I encountered a police car blocking all traffic and sending them back the other direction, on the other side of the road. Several hundred yards farther I could see a bunch of police cars with lights flashing etc. I asked the officer directing traffic if there wasn't any way I could continue up Greensprings, because to go around would add several miles and 25-30 minutes to my ride, and I really wanted to get home before all heck broke loose weather-wise.

The officer told me to go ahead. "You can get through, you're on a bike". So I went around his car and up to the other emergency vehicles in the road. Looking for a way past, I settled on going around the left side of the gaggle of police cruisers. Several officers were standing there and I could see a bicycle, circa 1970 something, all bent up and laying in the road. A car with a broken windshield was also sitting there. Obviously someone had hit a cyclist. (For my non-cycling friends who read this, that is a bad thing).

One of the police officers then offered this opinion: "If I were you", she said to me, "I'd find a sidewalk to ride on and stay off the roads." I was dumbfounded. This is an officer who is supposed to enforce the law, but she doesn't know the law. My response was "I appreciate your concern, but the law requires me to ride on the street, not the sidewalk, and even more, it protects my right to be on the road." Every one of the 5 officers that heard this looked as though it was their opinion that I was an idiot. Whatever.

It would be nice if our police officers, who we rely upon to protect us from the morons who think it's cool to run cyclists off the road, knew more about the laws they are supposed to enforce.

Try again folks

My Trek came back today. It's the OCLV frame that Postal rode in the 99 tour, with the team graphics. Unfortunately, it was pretty beat up and there were some funny splits in the paint that I felt uncomfortable riding with, so I had it sent in to Trek for a stripdown, x-ray, and repaint.

The bad thing (for me) is that I had to give up a nice paint scheme that I really liked. The good thing is that I like the new standard 5200 scheme (metallic grey with silver and blue highlights), and no one expects you to be fast on a grey bike.

Unfortunately, when we unpacked it, the paint had started to bubble along the top tube. Obviously that isn't acceptable, so it's on its way back to Wisconsin to be stripped and painted again.

My son is itching like crazy to get his hands on this bike, but he may have to wait a while longer.

I'm sorry, I didn't know this was a race...

The worst of days, was last Saturday. And while not quite the best of days, I certainly had a stronger ride today. The weather was tolerable. In fact, one could say that it was quite nice...mid 80's, low humidity, sunny skies, and a breeze to help keep us cool.

We left the BBC in Irondale and rode out to Odenville and back again. The pace was moderately quick, until we were 4 miles outside of Odenville, when Jeff Haines, and Dom Sutton came flying out of the pack and rolled off the front like we were standing still. Well, color me stupid, but I had no idea we were racing today...nevertheless, my legs responded and with the help of Paul Holsinger, we bridged the gap and dragged the group up with us. Then Jeff ended his pull and dropped back. Instantly, the speed went up 3 mph as Dom hit the front and started killing us. He faded eventually, and things settled down to a reasonable 25-26 for the rest of the way to the turnaround. The nice thing about this whole tale is that even though I thought the pace was tough for a few minutes, I was able to fight through it and hang until it slowed down again.

I finished the ride with 67 miles and actually feel good right now. The legs are a little sore when I go up or down the stairs, but that's a good thing. It means I worked hard and I'll see some benefit from the ride today.

Hurrah! It was just a bad day last week. I'm not the complete lame-o I felt like. And that's a good feeling.

Fitness and P-32

What do fitness and the radioisotope P-32 have in common? P-32 has a half life of 14.3 days. According to Greg Lemond, fitness also has a half life of 14 days.

I tested this theoretical commonality last night at the weekly TNPT.

Greg is right. He might even have been generous.

First, I haven't ridden but a handful of miles in the past two weeks due to scheduling and family and church and all the little things that conspire to get in the way of effective training. In fact, my last TNPT was the night I got shelled at the end of Ruffner Road by the big boys. Of course, that was my own fault.

Last night started off okay. Pretty good in fact. But you can't take two weeks vacation and hang with this crowd. I was fine down Ruffner and once again, halfway up John Rogers. But then the elastic snapped and I had no ability to turn a gear big enough to keep up. I chased back on just before 78, but slipped off the back again climbing up to Old Leeds, never to return. At least I wasn't alone. There were a bunch of us that had trouble last night. The common comment was about how hot it was. So maybe there are some of us that don't do well when the heat index is at 105.

But then we may have been blessed to have gotten spit out the back, as we came upon a full contigent of emergency vehicles responding the crash of one of our number on Shades Creek Parkway coming out of Mountain Brook.

The moral of this story, if you want to hang with the TNPT, you can't afford to take 2 weeks off. Since I've got classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (one Tuesday on, the next off), I can tell it's going to be tough to keep up. Maybe it's time to look for a slower group for the rest of the year.