Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Jazz anyone?
Monday, February 23, 2009
Peloton Justice
I have seen the costumed idiots in Europe running alongside the racers on climbs, but never have they seemed as intrusive, obnoxious , and numerous as they did on this race. Several times, they completely disrupted coverage of the race, and I was in suspense as to when one of them would actually knock over one of the cyclists.
Later, I was surfing articles about the race, and found this sequence of pictures showing Lance Armstrong thrusting one of these guys (I'm sure it was only a coincidence that he happened to be the one carrying syringes) into a snow bank. Nice move - I'm sure most people would fall off of their bikes if they tried shoving a fat, running guy while riding - and check out Chris Horner's grin of delight (in the Astana kit several riders back).
Monday, February 16, 2009
Another good reason...
to come to Monsignor Tucker's Saturday morning trainer sessions: you never know who might be there. This last Saturday there were seven of us, some of the usual suspects as well as a couple of guys I had not met. After finishing the first hour working out to a Spinerval DVD, a film on last year's Tour de Flanders was put in the DVD player.
About 10 minutes into the race, a guy at the other end of the row started talking about his experiences racing the same roads as the guys on the film. Evidently he races in Europe in the summers on a development team - racing against other young talented riders as well as former pro tour racers. Although I never did meet him because I had to leave a little early while people were still spinning, looking online later I figure he must have been Aaron Pool (only guy I could find from around here who is racing in Europe).
He had some entertaining insights on the experience of racing on some of the roads there - for instance, there was one section of the road that has about a two inch unsealed expansion crack running right down the middle of the road, which confines the whole peloton to one lane. In another spot which had cobblestones, he said that it was similar to riding over half-buried, loosely packed softballs.
Good stuff.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Okay, here's one...
Number 2 from 25 things about me:
2. I think having snow days on Fridays rock!!!!!!!
Although, I have to say I didn't mind not using the trainer all last week because the weather permitted outside rides.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Facebook and 25 things
I joined Facebook a while ago, but never did anything about it until a couple of weeks ago when I had a three hour layover in the Denver airport with my son - during which time he showed me all of the different networking features.
One of the more common things I see is this game requiring a person to post 25 things about themselves. In fact, there was an article in the paper today about this very thing. So, I have decided to do a blog version of 25 things - here goes:
1. I am fairly certain that I have neither the attention span nor the required level of introspection to even come up with 25 things about me.
2.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Somebody is slacking...
BTW -- we need to do another downtown D'Leon's run. Hit it for lunch yesterday and I'm sold!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Road bike: "Is it spring already?" Me: "It is today baby!"
Sometimes rode fast (for me)
Sometimes rode slow
Sometimes rode straight
Sometimes road squiggly
You get the idea. Hope you got out and enjoyed your Saturday.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Something was missing
With the beautiful weather, I rushed home from work yesterday and got in a quick ride out to Sprague. But there were definitely some things missing, including:
1) skull cap or balaclava
2) long fingered gloves
3) booties
4) jacket
5) wind and cold
Man, it felt good to be free of all that stuff. It is supposed to be nice again today and Saturday, albeit kind of windy. I'm trying to decide if I should go to the Saturday morning trainer session, or head outside (supposed to be 54 degrees, but with a 17 mph NW wind). What do you think - inside or outside on Saturday?
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Andy McKee @ Red 9
This guy is performing at Red 9 on Feb. 22. Definitely interesting and unique technique.
Monday, February 2, 2009
U. of Oregon campus visit
On Friday, while Paul went to the music building to practice, I went exploring. First I took a drive just east of campus up this small mountain. I drove by Pre's rock on the way down - where Steve Prefontaine was killed in a car wreck.
Next I wandered around the campus. Here's a pic of the track and stadium around the track.
More campus.
This picture is of Pioneer Cemetery, which is right next to the music building.
We had to take some pictures of all the "Animal House" sites that still exist (the campus served as Faber College in the movie). If you're a fan of the movie, you will recognize, in order, Paul standing outside of Dean Wormer's building, the fraternity house used by the bad guys (Niedermeyer et al), and Mandy Pepperidge's sorority house (site of Bluto peeping at the pillow fight).
Paul had his audition on Saturday morning, after which we had plenty of time to sightsee. We drove to the coast to take some pictures as neither of us had seen the Pacific ocean. The drive was a really nice hour long trip through mountains and woods.
About 10 miles up the coast on the coastal highway, we found a cool beach and a lighthouse to hike to that allowed for some great pics.
After visiting the lighthouse, we parked and waited for the sunset, then headed back to Eugene to get ready for a full day of travel on Sunday.
Now we just have to wait to see if he gets a fellowship job offered to him. In the meantime, we head to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. in two weeks for visit #2.