About This Blog

As time permits, in-depth musings on myriad subjects will be posted. Abbreviated adages will be announced via Twitter.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

All for Naught?

The weather here has finally begun to cooperate. True, that means it's hotter 'n blazes out there, but at least there is no rain. That means regular, consistent runs & rides, not to mention a clean bike. I still get drenched, though; the humidity is awful.

I decided to read an email I received yesterday from the group putting on the Tri101 race this November. My delay was caused by thinking it was just another piece of hype from the group, touting something or other, but I was wrong...way wrong. It seems that the Tri101 race in The Woodlands won't even happen.

Apparently, there are some issues with getting the appropriate permits, safety something or other, or whatever the excuse was. What it comes down to, though, is that someone dropped the ball. A big ball, too, with the potential for great things. After posting the news in one thread of the 101 section of SlowTwitch, I see the same post another thread, with many comments, all forecasting doom for the 101 series; The Woodlands is the second cancellation this season. As The Woodlands venue was the championships, that certainly does not bode well for the organizers, now or for future events.

So, here I sit, debating whether or not I should go do a track workout. Yeah, I need the exercise, but I've just kind of lost my motivation...at least for triathlon. Stonebridge is still a month-and-a-half out, but that's only an Olympic distance race, and I know I'd have no trouble with it, even if it were to begin in an hour. Well, maybe not quite that short. I'm still in the SA area, and Stonebridge is all the way up in Dallas. I'd definitely miss my wave start time.

Right, I'm rambling. I need to go silence my alarm clock (guess I hit the wrong button when I reset it this morning) and get ready for another glorious day at work, readying my classroom and myself for the beginnings of the 07-08 school year. I've my own gripes about some stuff on that, but I'll save that rant for another time. For now, I need to run, 101 or not. Thanks for reading.//d

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Home from the Holiday

Just a quick post to let all my avid reader know that I successfully returned from California, unscathed, untamed...just in case she didn't know that already, seeing as how we were on the return flight together after spending the previous six days soaking up the sun, enjoying August without triple-digit temperatures.

And, now that I am home, with my bikes, the weather, as if on cue, is scheduled to turn to <expletive>. I simply cannot win. Of course, it is just a forecast and is about as reliable and true-to-its-word as my ex, so, for all I know, come Saturday, I could be fully immersed in 100+ degree sunshine, pedaling my bicycle along, stupid grin on my face, all the better with which to catch the hordes of bugs infesting the countryside. Gosh, it's good to be home.

Speaking of, I am, and need to go in order to get things squared away after nearly a week. More to come on the goings on & my adventures in the Land of Fruits & Nuts. Thanks for reading.//d

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Splintered

I seem to open my entries with the same lamentation of it being too long since my previous posting. This was not the intent, as I had intended to post something in the wake of doping & suspicions thereof that made up this year's Tour de Farce (wow, just noticed that only an "n" is missing to make 'farce' an anagram of 'France'; what a coincidence), but decided better of it. I've just been too bitter over the state of cycling -- professionally & personally -- to say anything on the subject.

Personally? Yes, well, in addition to not having ridden half of the miles I should have been able to ride during my summer hiatus (bloody weather), my main road bike had to go & break its fork. While I could bemoan the cheapness (of manufacturer -- certainly not of price) of a certain carbon fork manufacturer that also dabbles in baseball bats and so on, I will instead count my blessings that the cracks in the fork's epoxy were noticed when driving to a ride and not actually on a ride.

Here's where it gets (more) depressing: My ride (a no-frills Sandvik titanium frame loaded with Campy Chorus) has a 1" headtube, which makes matching forks a difficult thing to find...at least those within the price range I have set. A Ritchey fork was about all that was available, but was not full carbon; it sported aluminum dropouts and an aluminum steertube. The former I could tolerate, but the latter would have just added too much weight to an already less-than-svelte bike. With as little as I've been riding, I need all the help I can get, so adding weight to the bike was certainly not to my liking. Fortunately, though, a friend had a 1" fork (with a carbon steertube!) lying in his garage, and offered it to me, so it's going on the ti rig this week. After that, the bike will be posted on Craig's List for an amount that will hopefully afford me a new Chorus gruppo.

I really shouldn't be here writing this, right now. I should be just about to turn off the access road onto Retama Parkway on my Wednesday morning run. However, the long run got cut a lot short because, quite simply, I felt horrible. Extremely winded, sore quads, and my shins hurt like heck. I'm still not completely sold on the shoes I've been running in for the past few weeks, as I seem to have suffered through more shortened runs since their purchase. True, they feel great on my feet, but for the rest of me...I think I might just have to go back to Waveriders. Good, solid shoe, even if it is pricey.

Phone's ringing.

Okay, back, but I think it's time to wrap this up before it becomes a session about how expensive sports are ($200 for a fork [which I technically didn't have to pay, but you get the idea], $3000 retail for the new bike, $90 for new shoes, and $70 for a new watch [yeah, there were some that cost a little less, but, for whatever reason, I really like Nike watches]). Besides, I need to shower and would like to get some breakfast before I head off to my final day of GT training. As always, thanks for reading. See you in-line at the cashier.//d