wow...

So, some research has shown that curing obesity would save the healthcare system 50% more dollars than curing cancer.

I realize people don't chose to get obese or get cancer. Lifestyle choices play a roll in getting obese. Some lifestyle choices play a roll in getting cancer.

But exercising for an hour a day and watching what you eat... well, sadly.. that doesn't cure cancer.

-Later

Crit-tastic

I think I'm going to do a crit on saturday. Only a Cat. 5 race... but we'll see what happens.

20 minutes plus 1 lap? Shouldn't be too bad.

I'll let people know how it goes.

-Later

toe shoes

Yes, I realize most of you mock my purchase and subsequent wearing for my nifty little toe shoes. But I really do enjoy them. Did about an hour run in them last night (longest run in them) and I'm feeling pretty good today. My calves are destroyed... but my feet themselves feel fine. The run was through a forest preserve, so it was sort of a dirt trail I was running on... so that was nice.

One thing that these shoes definitely make you do is go down hill fast. Running with any sort of halting motion on a downhill really sucks when you have no padding on your feet. So on a downhill, you just have to increase your cadence and try not to slow down. A little different than I'm used to. But for the most part it was nice.

Now I just need to run a lot more. Odd, how I'm always saying that.

-Later

Ouch

Makes me squirm. Poor Jens.



-Later

Tour

If you haven't been watching... now would be a good time to start. Things are going to start heating up come Sunday....

I'm very excited to see what happens.

WATCH!

-Later

Tour and Idiot

really enjoying watching the tour daily. Having it available at work just kicks ass.... wake up.. watch it while I eat breakfast. Wait for a lull in the action.. come to work and watch the last 50 miles or so. Can't wait for the mountain stages... going to be awesome to watch it all live. Don't think I've ever had that sort of opportunity before. Maybe the summer after college. But still, I remember having to teach swim lessons first thing in the morning.

A guy brought a tri-bike to the group ride last night. I hate it when people do that. I don't think people realize: A) how much less responsive a tri-bike is, B)how much more aerodynamic you are when you go down on the aerobars, C) how much it sucks to draft off of a person on an aero bike. And yes I know that B&C sort of go together.

So this kid shows up on a tri-bike and liked getting at the front pulling 31mph. Wasn't that bad.. I could hold his wheel pretty easily... but it was jacking up the rest of the group. So every time he pulled I did my best to be second.. and pick the tempo up a little after his pulls. Of course this was slightly difficult to increase up to around 34mph for about a half-mile... but I was able to drop him a few times.

Ended up pulling most of the night.. won all the sprints pretty easily and was first over most of the hills. Wasn't too bad of a night. Average of over 22.4... fastest we've done the tuesday night ride, despite the fact there were a few dropped chains and bad lights.

that is all

-Later

another update

59 bites that I can count.

WTF?

-Later

update

the bites look worse today.

also, could barely sleep due to the itching.

Mosquitoes

I hate them. They are annoying, plentiful and vicious. They are also pretty interesting... I just heard an interesting report on them via NPR. Anyways.. back to my story.

So riding today.. going well.. got a pinch flat in a pothole through a shaded area. Couldn't even see it coming.. and I was trying to find a good line. Anyways.. I flatted. So I got off my bike to change the tube.


Suddenly I was swarmed by mosquitoes. They were everywhere. I tried walking farther down the road... no help. Tried to move around... they still were able to land and eat me alive. I finally just decided to hurry up and change my tube.

Got it changed... probably lost around a pint of blood. Right as I'm putting my wheel back on my bike a nice couple in an Escalade pulled up and asked if I needed help. Jokingly I said, "got any bug spray".. to which they responded, "yes... right here..." and the wife (assumption) quickly grabbed some out of the glove box. I declined.. said I was good.. and silently wished they had arrived a few minutes earlier.


I've included some pictures of the bites on my legs. Oh trust me.. there are more... but i can't post pictures of where else they got me.

-Later