Geek Nerve

So at some point in the last year, I had taken a brave hop into the world of RC Helicopters. I got a "cheap" (its all relative) little electric RC helicopter (eFlite HoneyBee CPpro). Not having much space at home to play with it, I brought it into work (at my old job). Portions of our building where unfinished and had high ceiling (over 15 feet) in areas, so it was good for flying there. Several co-workers had taken interest in my flight attempts, so they'd often come and watch. One in particular was quite amusing in the beginning. He had this crazy giggle caused by every Geek Nerve in his psyche getting hit at once. I just found something that practically does the same thing to me. Its just cool. Some of you may have saw it, as it was a link of Digg. But this thing is great. Kudo's to the Geek Group for inventing and sharing this stuff.



And if you are curious as to how they do it, here's a great explanation.



I want to play!

Heavy Air?

So I figured that I would take some pictures from the open space park that is very close to where I live. The clouds where cooperating, as they often do around here. Interestingly enough though, the air wasn't.


If you look close at the picture above (you might have to click on it to see it in detail), the city of Denver is actually in that picture. That big gray line going across the screen isn't the horizon you are seeing, well I guess it is. I'm pretty sure the lack of clarity is caused by smog. On warmer days it looks better. I've noticed this view on other cold days like today too. Its like the mountains trap that stuff down there, and it has no where to go. Makes me glad I live about 1000' higher, thats fur sure. Though I may be in it too, just don't notice whats in my immediate area. Doing almost a 180 degree turn from where I'm standing yields the following image:


We can see here, another "foggy air mass" coming around the mountain I'm standing on and getting trapped by the mountain range to the west. This cloud seems much cleaner to me though, and I imagine its just moisture in the air from all the sublimating and melting snow ;) That's what I'll tell myself anyway.

So if you are wondering where exactly I live... here's a picture of my house...


Trust me it's in there. If you look bottom center of the image, you'll see a small street sign for a right hand curve... the house that my family and I occupy, is just after the sign.
And because I was bored and trying to make an attempt at being creative again, below is a picture of a snowy plant that I thought seemed kinda cool waving in the breeze. Sorry about the amateur hour photo composition... aka stupid shadow.

Pictures and Stuff

Hi folks, its been a productive week for us. Lots of boxes are being emptied (and then placed in the basement). Work is going well, and I'm really starting to feel welcome where I am at. My first week, and into the 2nd there were some events that really had me a bit concerned, but things are looking up. If you want to know details, catch me on IM sometime, and I'll share. Its not solid yet, but it sure looks like I'll be visiting Punta Arenas, Chili, taking a tour on both the Gould, and Palmer, with a brief layover at Palmer station, Antarctica next March. I'm looking forward to it. I really hope I can get a new camera before I leave though. What I'm getting from my 7 year old 1 MP point and shoot just isn't meeting my standards anymore.

I Finally got around to unboxing my road bike today too. Decided the weather was warm enough (50 degrees F) for a spin, so I took it out to see how lost I could get. Well, not really. I was looking for a way onto the famed Green belt around here. I think it may get me reasonably close to some other trails that will get me to work, should I decide to bike commute the 20 miles to my job when the weather warms a little. First and foremost, I have to give Kudos to the folks over at world cup ski and cycle. They did an absolutely awesome job packing my bike up. I was impressed. It took me longer to remove all the protective wrappings they put on the bike than it did to re-assemble the darn thing. Aside from needing a bath (next rainy day activity), the bike is running just like it did before it was packed up.

As far as the ride goes, what stats I did get from it, definitely shows a slower pace here. I wasn't pushing myself too hard though, but I'd say I can certainly notice the altitude here. Flats not so much, its when I get to climbing... Oh well. I always enjoyed climbing, and I can't say I feel like I'm geared too high, even with being out of shape and 5500 feet higher than elevation. I'm looking forward to finding some nice long rides. There certainly are plenty of opportunities around here. Tons of bike clubs, etc. I'm not sure I'll race again or not. Depends on the group of people I hook up with. So Motion Based stats of my first Colorado bike ride are here.

Okay, so now on with the pictures I've been talking about. Disclaimer. I'm blaming the poor quality on the cheap old camera, and also the idiot behind the camera not knowing how to compose shots very well thus, shadows in annoying places, and inconveniently positioned lens flairs. Anyhow, these are some pictures from one of the hikes we took through Rockey Mountain National Park I mentioned 2 posts ago.


This (above) is a picture looking downhill on the edge of a small ravine. Apparently the trail we are walking up has changed its look in the last 15 or less years. I don't quite remember the signs we read. But a lake higher in elevation apparently flooded out several years ago and carved this new ravine. Off in the distance of that picture you can see all the dirt and debris that formed a little delta of sorts. It was called the "Alluvial fan." Better pictures (or course) and more of the story here.


Another angle on the ravine probably from a different location.


This picture should've been better. I swear those shadows weren't there when I took the picture ;) Again, this is the fall river... I liked the snow capped mountain in the distance. This shot has potential (I think anyway).


Sorry about the poor contrast here, the shot seems a bit washed out, and there is a lens flare artifact in it too. I suspect its so washed out because of the sun that is just off the image... You can see the alluvial fan in the valley too.


Here's Geoffrey, being his 4 year old self, climbing on rocks, being hyperactive and worrying the heck (at times) out of his daddy. :) Stop running with that stick son!


Here's my wonderful wife, putting up with me, dragging them all out to Colorado and into crazy high altitude parks.

Suburban Wildlife?

So we've been here for about a week now, and I have to say I'm kind of impressed with the wildlife I've seen or heard around here. Our first day here, we had a fox run around in our backyard. We also found what looks to be fox scat in the yard too. Talking to our neighbors we found out that this house been vacant for about 2 years, so I suspect the fox might have been hanging out here. The fox had made visual contact with Jess that day, so it knows we're here. We haven't seen it since.

2 nights ago while going to sleep, we had some kind of bird hanging out near our house somewhere, making very loud calling noises. Perhaps an owl of some sort. We could't find it visually, so we were unable to make an ID on it.

Last night we had a pack of coyotes howl up a storm for a few minutes. It was almost intimidating. I can't say I've heard them before while sleeping in my own bed. I've heard them a few times before while backpacking in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks in New York state, but thats it. I suspect the pack lives over in the Green Mountain open space park, which we are less than 1/10 of a mile from. My wife likes to read through criags list on occasion, and in the pet section she's found warnings of coyotes attacking cats that people let go outdoors in this area. Needless to say, my cat's won't be going outdoors, not that they ever have.

On the not so suburban side of things, we've also seen Elk while visiting Rocky Mountain national park, and Estes Park, CO. Locally, we seen Mule Deer, and prairie dogs. On my way to skiing, I've seen bighorn sheep along side the road too. They are a little to close to the road for my comfort if you ask me. While skiing I saw some sort of weasel as well. It was white with a little black tip on its tail. Given the description, I suspect it was a long-tailed weasel. I was in the ski lift, probably about 40 feet off the ground, and I didn't have my glasses on. I suspect I would have been barely able to see the short-tailed weasel.

I've seen various new types of birds out here as well. I think my favorite being the Stellers Jay. Others include Magpies, and other small birds my wife is better at ID'ing and remembering than myself. Perhaps someday I'll be able to capture some photos and share. I'm slated to get deployed to Antarctica next March, so I'm saving my pennies for a decent digital SLR camera and lenses. Until then, I'll be using my really old (1 megapixel) Point and Shoot. I haven't unpacked anything to read the memory card yet, so the pictures I do have will be delayed until I can find it in the myriad of boxes around the house.

There's no place like home

So the new job is going well. I'm getting up to speed with things, albeit slowly, and have been able to make contributions back to the team and be slightly productive, so thats good. On the flip side of things, We've found a house to rent for at least year. It will probably end up being more like 2 years though, as we try and save for a down payment for some other place, etc. It kind of annoys me to be renting again, but given what we've learned, financially, in the last few years, its the best choice. The house is nice, and IMHO in a great location for our interests and needs. The work commute will be a little longer than I would have hoped, but thats okay. It's nice to have a place to call home. As of today though, we are still in a hotel since none of our property has arrived. In fact, I don't even know when its going to arrive, exactly. The moving company hasn't given us a hard date yet. Before Thanksgiving would be wonderful though. Restaurant food is getting old. As much as I love eating out and trying new things, its very difficult to take a 4 year old out every night who only ever wants macaroni and cheese, or hot dogs.

On another note, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park and the Garden of the Gods last weekend. Once again, I was reminded of why I love it out here so much. The Creation is so beautiful. Made me wish I had a decent camera though. I can't deside whether to get a really nice point and shoot, like the Canon Powershot G9, and be done with it, or get a decent, but not overkill for a photo newb like me, Digital SLR . If I did that, I'd still want a lower end point and shoot for times when its not so convenient to pull out the SLR. If you have any recommendations, I'm open to them.

The Adventure has begun.

Well, its the end of the first week since I've left the state of PA. I can't say it not been what I've expected. In fact, its been very much what I've expected so far. Not sure if thats totally good or not. I guess it's not bad though. We took 3 days to drive from PA to CO. The first day was okay. I put the wrong address in my GPS so I managed to get us into the wrong side of town in Columbus, OH. Fortunately, the hotel we were staying at was a "Point of Interest" in the GPS in my car, so we were able to quickly figure out where we needed to be.

From Columbus, we went on to Kansas City, KS. For some reason, I remember the Mississippi River being bigger. Maybe I crossed it at a more southern point last time. Who know. Also an uneventful drive. Up to this point its been pretty rolling terrain. I can't say that the Prius does all too well MPG wise cruising down the highway around 75 mph to stay with traffic, especially with a headwind. I averaged in the low 40's. Also not surprising.

From Kansas City, we pushed onto Denver the next day. I was surprised how long it took for Kansas to turn into the flat open fields that I remember from Sunrayce97. The moment I saw Pikes Peak appear out of the haze that was in the atmosphere that evening was I sight I was very glad to see.

The next day (Saturday) we visited several houses to rent. We think we've found something and have applied for it. Hopefully everything will work out. Its a little further from my job than I would really like, but my wife likes it, and thats more important than a few extra minutes of commute each day. I'll post pictures if/when we move in. Great views, mature landscaping, near mtn. biking trail, etc.

For those of you wondering about the new job. Well, the first day was full of orientation, and lots of introductions, and just getting to know how things work, filling out paper work for access, etc. Today I think I spent more of my day in meetings than anything else. I figured that would happen moving into a larger sized company like this, so again... nothing unexpected. I don't have enough exposure to everything yet to formulate any opinions on things, but all of my direct colleagues are smart and hard working.

I think thats all for now. Just wanted to give everyone an update.

Goodbye Cruel East coast

Well, I suppose its not all that bad. I'm gonna miss where I live now. It has a certain appeal that will always make it nice to come back to. I think if I ever do come back, it most definitely will not be the same. There's to much urban sprawl going on around here.

So for any of you folks who might actually read this to find out what I've been up to, I've accepted a new job Headquartered in Denver, CO, where I'll be working a majority of the time. I'll get the chance to travel to other various countries and continents for 4-6 weeks a year as well.

In retrospect, its been a good summer here. I've raced my bike in several races, was ranked 2nd in PA for Cat 5 Crits for a while, and overall had a ton of fun doing it. My work schedule caused my fitness to slack towards the end of the summer, and I didn't do so hot in the last races. I think my first race I did this summer, I was in peak condition, and it only got worse. Oh well.

I'd also say its been a good last 7 years, since I've graduated college. I found a good job that taught me a lot, and had some really awesome people to work with. I most certainly wouldn't be where I am today professionally, if it weren't for the people I've worked with and learned from. I just feel its time to move on to something different. The fact that I get to that in Denver is certainly a bonus. I told myself I'd at least retire in the front range some somewhere.

Probably the hardest thing about leaving though is giving up my Fire Dept. activity. I'm going to miss that. Long term, I hope to move to an area that at least has a combination Volly/Career dept. I'd also like to join the ski patrol at some point, but I've gotta get a lot better at skiing to pass their tests.

Oh well. I'll try and update this thing more, with my moving experience, and such as things get on. Here's to jumping into a new adventure! Cheers.

official results

I believe I said I would post the official results from my race last sunday, so here they are.

I also uploaded the data from my bike computer too. You can see that here.

Well Satisfied

Well, its one month and one race later. I raced yesterday, Sunday in the 2007 Cargas Criterium. I'd link to the site, detailing the race but there really isn't much to be seen there. It was held in Lancster, PA at the Greenfield Corporate Center. I was in the Cat 4/5 Race. I was initially VERY nervous about this race, being that it was my first major race of the year, really. I was also racing with Cat 4 folks, whom I was pretty sure would be able to put me into a world of hurt early on in the race. We had 5 folks from my team racing in this race, 2 of which had raced in earlier races. My goal was to just stick with 2 of my teammates who have done extensive racing this year already. I figured they certainly knew what they were doing, and by their results, they certainly did. Two of our guys got pulled out early in the race due to being near the rear. There was a decent climb (for a 1 mile Crit course) that I think hurt them pretty good. So it was just my 2 teammates and I. The other 2 guys also happen to be the ones that raced earlier in the day. The race was good, and I hung in there with them. Only scary thing was the wreck that happened next to me. When the went down, they kinda slid in front of me, and I ended up running over some guys bike. I was glad I stayed up. The only frustrating part was the constant breaking before 2 of the turns. The course was really only 2 90 degree turns and on sweeping downhill to round it out. So anyway, last lap comes around and I manage to roll in 12th out of 45+ riders. I'm very happy with that. My teammates placed 6 and 7. Money spots! Brilliant riding by both. I have the utmost respect for them. When results are posted online, I'll post a link.

Bring out your dead!

Sorry about such a long time since the last post. I have no excuses, and I won't try to make any up. I just haven't had the desire to post anything.

So to go along with some previous posts. I had my first bike race of the year this past Sunday, May 20th. It was the South Mountain Mass Start Hill Climb, which was near Shippensburg, PA. You can see my results here. Not a great time. I was hoping to be sub 30 minutes. Oh well. They run this race once a month, so I have a goal to work towards I guess. I was 4th in my Category, out of 12 people, so I'm happy with that. I thought I would be a lot worse. I can say I didn't have anything left at the top of the mountain though, and gave it 100% of what I had, so I can't be upset about that. Not sure what I'll be racing next, but I look forward to it. My work schedule has been chewing into a lot of personal time that I would normally have to ride, which doesn't make me very happy, but I race to have fun, not to make a career out of it, so I can't complain. I just doubt I'll be able to get all the races I need this year to be eligible for reimbursement from the team.

I'm in the Netherlands

Well, if any of you are wondering, yes, I've made it to the Netherlands safely, and have adjusted to the time zone change quicker than I have anticipated. The first day was hard, but I think forcing myself to stay awake in anticipation of a good nights sleep helped the most. I hope to post some pictures eventually of where I'm at (Amsterdam), but the weather has not made it very easy to go out and take pictures. Its rained here every day since I've gotten here, and hasn't made it much above 70 degrees. I'm glad I brought some long sleeve shirts, but I fear I did not bring enough.

Everything is about as I expected here, except that it seems a little more "run down" than I thought it would be. Perhaps because all the pictures I've seen are taken of the best parts, on bright sunny days in perfect settings. All in all though, thinking about the age of places such as this, I am reasonably impressed with it all still. Language barrier doesn't seem to be that much of a problem. Most everyone here knows at least some English, and a majority seem pretty fluent. That along with what some knowledge of the German language has helped a lot. A lot of the words sound the similar to the German equivalent. A quick read on how to pronounce the Dutch spellings has helped me out there. Hopefully the sun will come out soon, and I can get some pictures for you to see.

a few pictures of my race.

Well, MR was nice enough to share some of the pictures he took of me racing.... Enjoy.

Nice game face huh? Don't worry, he's all bark, no bite :)

And they're off.... In my usual style, I'm out in front in the beginning. Perhaps its a good thing. Avoid confusion, etc...


And here I am in the lead group, in the beginning, holding my own, for now at least...

And here I am finally, off the back, maybe I shouldn't have start out so fast, hehe.... ouch.

My First Race

Well, I apologize for letting this thing go dormant for a while, as usual, no excuses, just figure no one would be interested in my day to day ritual I call life. Anyway, of note though, I participated in my first bike race (a criterium) yesterday. I can safely say..... I finished. Not a spectacular performance by any stretch, but I'm not disappointed.

Several have requested an AAR of my race, so here it is....

Holy crap, that was hard! At least no one crashed.

To look at the statistical details, you can go here.

My overall thoughts are positive. There were 39 racers, and I placed 20th, and I was not the last guy across the line :)
The Yo-Yo'ing effect from being in the back of a group in Criterium pretty much killed me. I found it harder and harder to keep with the pack around each and every turn. There were 2 guys in front of me from the same team, and I tried to get around them to help minimize my Yo-Yo'ing but they just wouldn't let me. I clearly had better cornering abilities than some, but others just had more of a kick in their sprint.

I've also decided that looking at all the data that my cyclocomputer gives me during a race isn't necessarily a good thing. I think next time I'll change the fields I can see so I don't start analyzing myself in the middle of the race.

I'm now looking forward to my first road race, which won't be until next year. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain at least some kind of fitness program this winter so some of what I gained this year will not be lost.

I'll be headed off to the Netherlands in a few weeks too. I hope to update this with some of my experiences of my first trip to another country as well (Canada doesn't count) . So start looking again around the weeks of August 21st. I'll be spending 2 weeks in Amsterdam, then I'll be spending a weekend in Ruedesheim am Rhein, Germany.

Don't use that tone of text with me!

So I've been thinking recently.... I wonder what percentage of conversations handled in text actually come across as the writer intends. Whether it be an IM, and E-mail, a hand written letter, or whatever. I had a conversation with a friend earlier this afternoon that totally left me feeling offended. I'm not sure if he meant to, or what, but it certainly got me thinking about his subject.

I went a little like this....
me - 'bout time you woke up ;)
him - been up since the crack of 11:00
him - well, got up at 8:00 to feed/walk the dog, then went back to bed
me - heheh, I was 20 miles into my bike ride by then.
him - thats cool, then again, 3 hours after you were asleep last night, I was up doing stuff
me - sure about that?
him - I'm logging off now, later.

This isn't the first time he's logged off during a conversation, but in the past it has been because I've been purposefully prodding him, and teasing him to the point where I know it would upset it him. So the precident here is when this person logs off, its because I've annoyed him.
So at first, I have to wonder if he went into the defensive from my opening statement, which I had meant to come across as a kind of jovial teasing comment, knowing he's not a morning person. The next exchange was merely meant to be in an informational context, to let him know, that yes, I did go for a bike ride today. I was half expecting him to ask, since he has in the past, and the weather this morning was horrid.
Next, it seems to me he has to come up with some excuse as to why he got up at 11. (ie, "I was up late"). Which is fine, I didn't need to know that, I wasn't about to grill him for not getting any exersize in or anything. That was actually furthest from my mind. What gets me is that he automatically assumes that I was in bed and asleep at some time. Which is why I responded the way I did. I didn't happen to fall asleep until around 1:30 AM this morning (last time I looked at the clock anyway). I was going to comment that I was actually impressed that he got up at 11:00 AM if he truley was up and active at 4:30 AM (3 hours after I fell asleep). Before I could comment, he signed off in a manner that made me feel as if he thought I were attacking him and accusing him of something. Who knows. It just makes you think, how often what we write, really gets interpreted the way you meant.
Got any good stories? Comment on this, I'd love to hear them.

Memorial Day Ride

MH, MR, and I took a nice bike ride this morning. I had driven a loop last Friday that turned out to be right around 57 miles. MH was supposed to be home by 11:30 AM so the loop was out of the question, especially since MR only picked me up when we were supposed to meet at the designated parking spot, taking 30 minutes out of our rideable time. Oh well. It was still a great ride, overall, mostly flat with good sized rollers that were just big enough that you had to work to push over them, but not too much that you really killed yourself. I think it would be a fun road to ride on with a good group that likes to do pace line riding, the 3 of us averaged 19 mph for the whole ride. I did most of the leading, but that's normal. MR did his own thing, when he wasn't drafting. That's okay it doesn't bother me that much, at least when we don't set an expectations before hand, which we didn't. We made it 18 mph up the road before we decided we should turn around to get MH back in time.

When we got back, MR took a quick transition run, I stretched, and MH got ready to leave. After MR got back, I decided I wanted to go climb Peters mountain (on my bike of course) since the decent down the south side, the same side I would be climbing, looked like it would be a blast. Didn't do to bad, I thought, averaged 8mph on the way up from 3B's ice cream place to the top, with an average ascent of 53 feet/minute. Climbing Millers gap, my best time has me averaging 64 feet/minute, but that climb is only 1.3 miles long, where as Peters mountain is 2.1, so pacing is important. I also just finished 36 miles of rollers before Peters mountain, I do Millers gap mostly fresh. I don't know how the ascent speed compares to most other people, but I would like to think I can hold my own against most. Motionbased is being slow again, so I can't grab the links to post directly to the activities, but they are named well enough that you can figure out which they are should you visit my digest (see links in previous posts).

After all was said and done, and I got back, I had a wonderful bowl of Teaberry ice cream at 3B's. Talk about tasting wonderful. I hadn't had that flavor in a long time, and it was quite satisfying. Its quite a nice ice cream stand I think, lots of flavor choices, good prices for the portions, and an excellent product. I'll be going back there again to do my 57 mile loop some day. Hopefully sooner than later.

No, I am not there yet.

So yesterday, I went for another Saturday morning ride with the folks over at World Cup Ski & Cycle. There were a lot more people there than there was the week before. I imagine mostly because the weather was a lot nicer. I think there were about 16 total. The beginning of the ride was uneventful, and was riding at what seemed to me, to be a pretty easy pace, at least when you are in the middle of the pack. About 12-14 miles into it though, the group splintered, into what I believe ended up being 3 different groups. Maybe 2, but as we arrived back at the shop, it seems they came in, in 2 other packs after the group I came in with. Anyway, when the group split, I think I let my ego get the best of me, and I decided to stay up with the lead pack. It was mostly a mistake, but I sure learned a lot. There were I think 6 people including myself in the 'breakaway' and as long as I was in the middle of the paceline, I seemed to do alright, though I was working quite a bit to stay there. Which is good, I need the exercise. Then the rotation came and I was in the lead, Which was hard, I figured I wouldn't be able to put much time in it, but I should at list give it a strong concerted effort, so I went with it for a few miles. A turn came up that I wasn't sure of, the person behind me told me about it, so I had decided to fall back to the rear. That was my downfall. These folks were powering around turns and quickly getting back into a swift cadence. I didn't setup for the turn right and didn't push hard enough to get back with the pack, and fell off the rear. Never caught back on. As hard as a tried, I just couldn't get myself hooked back on.

The waited for me at the next turn to make sure I didn't miss it, when I had told them, that they should just keep going, and not wait for me. They deserve a ride at the pace they wanted to go, and not worry about dropping me. I even explained to them that I had a GPS on my bike, and could find my way home. (While My Garmin 305 doesn't show me roads, I could see where I was relative to where I am, and can just follow roads till I hit something familiar) They then explained to me that their Saturday rides have a no drop policy. That's cool. Good bunch of people.

Then, one of the leaders of the group said he would ride me in, and let the rest of them go ahead. He was really cool about it. Turns out he is a cycling coach, and I believe at least Class III racer himself. He was giving me advice on what I can do to help me stay with the pack better (cornering techniques, and how to best position for drafts). He let me ride his wheel and we tried to catch back up with the pack, but it just wasn't working. I find that even being the 2nd man back in a paceline is significantly more difficult that 3rd or more, so the 2 man group we had going wasn't doing enough for me to give me the strength to go faster at this point. My HR was between 90-95% of my sustained max, and it wasn't getting any better. Anyway, we made it back, and close to the finish, I caught up to everyone because they got caught at a long red light. And we all ended up coming in together.

Overall, I ended up riding 40 miles in 2 hours and several seconds. Average speed ended up being 19.9 mph. That's my record fastest average speed yet, and even more over 40 miles... I believe my previous best was 19.3 mph average, over 10.5 miles, though that was by myself, and a TT course, I spent a lot of time in this ride cutting wind too, only because I fell out of the paceline :(

So the things I'm taking away from this are:

• I need to be put in my place once and a while, it gives me something to strive for.
• If I want to improve, I need to get serious about it, my occasional lunch rides, and a weekend "stroll" aren't going to put me in the league I want to be in.
• I need to realize what my abilities are so that when I do ride with a group, I don't put a burden on them (I felt bad making them wait for me, and causing a leader to ride slower than he probably wanted to.)
  

So that's how they do it in the Tour De France

So I've always wondered how can people cruise along at such fast speeds on a bike. Well, I finally got a taste of that yesterday. I went out on a group ride that leaves from a local bike shop. There were 11 of us there. So we all were cruising along somewhere between 18-22 mph (Normally speeds that fast by myself take everything I've got). As long as I was surrounded by people, the ride was so increddibly enjoyable. Easy to pedal along with, etc etc... I guess that's way people stay in a large peleton in the big professional races. I don't blame them. All I have to say is I feel bad for the guys in front. Once I was due for riding in front, it was completely different... Keeping up that pace and cutting the wind spiked my heart rate up there pretty good. Then by the time my turn up front finished, the organization of the pack started to subside a little, needless to say, I never really recovered, and the nice shelter of the group was now gone :(. Still an enjoyable ride, and I'll be riding with them again. Its a good excuse to get myself up on weekends, and the morning ride doesn't seem to break up my day like the afternoon rides do. You can view the details over here if you are interested.

A Month Later....

Yeah, yeah, I know, its been a long time since I've posted here, and I apologize to those of you who stop by and see if I have posted anything recently. I don't have any excuses really, other than lack of creativity I suppose. I guess I figure my life is boring enough that its not worth posting about. Since my last post, I have ridding my bike several more miles. As of today, I have 637 miles recorded for the season on my bike. It seems weird to think that I've put on enough miles that I could have easily biked up to Rochester to see my Dad and back, and have miles to spare. I participated in the PA. State Police Metric Century ride last week, which put on 70+ miles. I've also been taking longer weekend rides to, which have involved going up and over the local ridge at least twice per ride. I'm actually really starting to like climbing hills on my bike. If you want to see where I've been riding, you can see my digest over at motionbased.

On another note, a few weeks ago, MR and I went down to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to do some hiking. I wanted to scope out some trails for group hike I'll be leading down there in June and check for some good camping spots. It was okay, Friday (the first day) was fun, and we saw some good stuff, and we made it to camp before it started raining, but then it rained all night and into the next day, and we got absolutely soaked. As usual I way overpacked, and had more stuff than I needed, which just absolutely destroyed my legs trying to keep up with MR's pace, who brought probably half as much as I did. Long story short, we hiked back to the car on Saturday, and went home, after stopping and eating a wonderful hot pizza.

Not much else is going on. Finally finished up Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University with our Small Group from church. Overall I'd have to say its a good program. Some of his stuff seems dated, but then again, I guess it is, as I think it was published around 2000. Its all good though. I'm really looking forwarding to paying off all my debt. I can't imagine what its going to be like not having any sort of "extra" payment. Its been a good wake up call, and I'm just glad that we (my wife and I) did something like this now, rather than later.

Not really planning much for the future either. I hope to make it back down to Shenandoah and finish what I had planned to do earlier. I think I can do it as a day hike, so hopefully I can take Jess and Geoffrey with me. Put Geoffrey on my back and we can hike it all. I think its about a 12 mile loop that's left, with one mountain climb in the middle. Should be doable for a day.

50 miles of LSD

The weather was great yesterday and just begging to be enjoyed, so MR and I decided to go for a nice LSD ride. He has a Triathlon coming up soon at Gifford Pinchot park, and wanted to go see what the bike leg is going to be like, so we rode down there, did about 1.5 loops, and rode back home. Totaling about 50 miles in just over 3 hours. We took our time. I was still recovering from last Thursdays racquetball game, followed by a bike ride on Friday that left me feeling awful. I managed to get a sunburn on my arms though... Oh the Horror! I got a sunburn in April. Guess I'll be working my way up to one of those cyclists tans soon.

Yup, you read that right, I tried to play racquetball against MR last Thursday. Its been several years since I've played, and I was never very good to begin with... So yes, of course I got beat, pretty bad actually, but it was nothing unexpected to me. MR seemed pretty happy that he beat me, but to me that's like saying that it felt great to beat a 10 year old in a 400 meter sprint... hehe. Oh well. He did manage to find a really good serve that I was having a difficult time returning, which was half my problem. So all in all, by the time Saturday rolled around, I could barely move, I can't believe all the muscles that got used playing that game. Crazy. It was fun none the less, and hope to play again.

Pics from Iraq

Not sure how many people actually read this, but I thought I would share some interesting pictures that my brother-in-law has taken while he is deployed in Iraq.

I have to say, those Iraqis have some pretty sweet commuter bikes over there! Super knobby tires, with front and rear fenders, headlights, pannier mounts, and a horn. To top it all off, its sporting a trunk as well, fits smaller children perfectly! I'm not trying to make fun of them, I just think its a great shot, that has a lot of character in it.

Other shots of Saddam's palaces are in there too. Pretty impressive, I'm not sure what I think about such extravagant government buildings when the rest of the country is not doing so well. I think we have a little bit of that here in America as well, though probably not to the same extent. Perhaps the Iraqi's will be able to turn them around and use them as tourist attractions if they can ever get themselves into a position where people would actually want to visit their country. Here's a suggestion folks: Plant some Trees!

I can't believe how barron that place looks. To think it was once a fertile land that had so much to offer. I'm told it is the way it is now because all the trees where cut down. Good luck getting them to grow now though, I guess you'd have to start somewhere near a body of water where irrigation could be consistent, and slowly grow outward.

On another note, I actually brought my bike to work with me today, so I could ride, but I'm feeling lazy and I don't have anyone to ride with today, so I guess the bike is staying in the car... That's fine go ahead and ridicule me. I also hope soon to post a little personal review on my thoughts of Garmin's Edge 305 CAD/HR unit. I've been using it for about a month now I guess. I think its a great tool. More to come later.