Tired

I don't feel like posting anything right now.

Chilly

The weather is getting colder up here. Seems like fall is in full effect. Now, don't get me wrong.. I love me some fall/autumn.. but there is something really nice about 8am bike rides on the weekend where you start and the temperature is in the 60s. Right now... we are lucky if the temperature breaks 60. And it is raining today which just sucks all around. Oh well, winter is coming and there is nothing I can do about it.

One last ride of the year is going to be happening next year. Going to have some serious climbing (for folks who live up this way... for everyone else... moderate climbing) so I'm really looking forward to that. I'll let everyone know how it goes after it is done.

Anyways, that is about it.

-Later

Vegas

Vegas is fun...

I'm tired.

-Later

Blah

I've been feeling pretty out of it since the Ironman... just don't feel motivated to do much. I guess it is nice to feel lazy after all that prep work... but the laziness is starting to get to me. I need to get motivated to do something, but everything seems so... boring. Riding feels tedious lately... swimming is a chore.. and running, well we all know how I feel about running.

I brought my run stuff today.. so I'm going to try to get a few miles in before it gets dark. we'll see how I feel after that. Hopefully something will click and get me back into things. I think I just have to get back into the gym and lifting some. It has been too long since I've hit the weights.

The cat is doing well. Hasn't gotten much bigger... but much more active. He loves sneaking around, chasing me as I walk and attacking my feet. He is an incredibly loud eater.. and he likes to sleep in the middle of the bed. Despite his small size, he just lays down next to you.. and keeps take more and more space. It is pretty impressive. Stuart could learn a thing or two.

Ok, I'm out.

-Later

updates

The kitten is doing good. I'll post more pictures tonight when I get back home. His name is Nimitz... feel free to make whatever jokes you'd like now.

The Ironman was good. Harder than anything I've ever done. But it is over and I have no desire to do another one. It is just too long and punishing to want to do again. Also the amount of money that it costs to do one is staggering to say the least.

Anyways, I'm back, I'm tired and I feel like I'm coming down with something. Apparently my immune system decided that 13+ hours of physical torment is enough to shut down for a bit.

-Later

Kitty

So I got a kitten yesterday. First time I've had a pet since before college. Granted those pets have now passed... but I've been thinking about getting a pet for awhile. He is really tiny, really young, and incredibly cute.

But now I'm torn. I have to go to work today.. which means do I let him roam around the house, free to do whatever he wants? Or put him in with some food, water and a litter box and make sure he doesn't destroy anything while I'm away. He hasn't eaten much since he got here... nor has he gone to the bathroom yet (that I can tell... he is pretty sneaky). So I think it would be best to not let him have free rein of the apartment just yet. That'll come in time I'm sure.

Oh, and since most of you probably have me on facebook... I'll post another picture for your enjoyment.


-Later

Riding

I'm starting to love sprinting. I mean, I've always enjoyed it... but lately I've really been enjoying blasting the wheels off other riders and killing them in the sprints. I know I've got a long way to go... but yeah.. maybe more road racing is in my future next season. At least I won't be training for another crazy-ass ironman.

Hope all is well with my peeps out there.

-Later

Heh..

So for pretty much the entire summer... I've had a spider that lives behind my side-view mirror on my car. drivers side. I don't drive my car too much in the summer months.. and never that far. Well, anyways.. this spider comes out at night and builds webs between my car mirror and my car. The parking lot for my apartment is right near a lake... and bugs seem to be in abundant supply in the area, thus his decision to use my vehicle as a feeding area.

But.. back to the spider. The odd thing is that I never see him/her/it (I personally call it a "he" since I'm a sexist like that.. deal with it bitches)on the web... just when I get into my car there is this web there.

So I was driving back from Aikido the other night and the spider was actually hanging out in the middle of the web. I was a little concerned... since while driving the wind was buffeting him something fierce... but he hung on for the entirety of the drive, which consequently, destroyed his web. I didn't see him when i got back to my apartment... so I assumed he retreated back behind the mirror.

The next time I got in my car I noticed there was no web there. I grew concerned... had my driving thrown the spider clear of my car? Had he finally got fed up with constantly needing to rebuild his web a few times a week? Did he die and was a rotting tiny spider carcass hidden behind my mirror? I may never know the answer.

But, this morning I noticed on my drive to work (it was rainy) that the spider web was back. Now... does this mean the original little spider has returned.... using my car's safety devices to destroy the insects which threaten my car on a nightly basis? Or has another spider taken up residence... discovering that '96 mercury sables attract bugs due to their heated side-view mirrors? I may never know.

that is all.

-Later

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

Transformers 1

So, with the release of Transformers 2 I decided to re-watch Transformers the original. No, I don't mean the awesome 1986 movie cast with such greats as Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy and Eric idle... no, I mean the 2007 movie with such greats as.... well... yeah. Bernie Mac had a nice little part in it, and Anthony Anderson is always enjoyable. But for the most part... yeah, not many "greats".

So, I watched this when it was originally released. It was ok... but it didn't really strike me as "HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME!" like some movies have. So this weekend was only my second time seeing the film. I remember a lot of plot holes and sort of bullshit moments in the movie... but being that it is a sci-fi movie.. you have to allow some of those to slide.

Upon a second viewing of the film.. well yeah.. it is just a bunch of crap. It has its moments... but with the technological superiority of the Decepticons and Autobots... humans wouldn't stand a chance fighting against them. I mean, Blackout completely wiped out a base in Qatar at the beginning of the movie... but then a bunch of Decepticons are fighting in a city.. and getting their asses handed to them by a few squads of under-armed marines. Come on... they have no qualms over destroying human life... but they are just sort of sitting around getting shot at by mere humans. And it isn't like the autobots were able to protect them. Bah.

I didn't mind the humor from "section 7"... but they had the global communications net brought down (by what?) and then they are communicating pretty easily a few scenes later. Maybe this would be explained in an extended scene... but in the version I watched... yeah. Just sort of confuses me. And the x-bow, mountain dew machine, and lincoln navigator that get turned into machines by the all-spark? what happens to those? nothing?

I could go on and on... but I think we all know where that would lead. All in all... don't think I'll be paying to see the new one. or the third one.. which has already been slated since people are sheep and have already paid over 300 mil. to watch Transformers 2.

And some say the economy is in a recession.

-Later

so..

Things have been happening in my life. Exciting things? Sometimes. Entertaining things? Depends on your definition of entertaining.

I've been reading a lot lately. Vernor Vinge has been exceedingly entertaining. I can't remember the last time I got sucked into a book like Deepness in the Sky. Charless Stross has also piqued my interest and I've been tearing through his Laundry series. Quite entertaining and I'd recommend them to just about everyone I know... well, assuming you enjoy techno-demonology... yeah... you read it correctly.

I've been riding the fixed gear more and more. I love riding it to work... just something so pure about cranking constantly without being about to coast. Also, track standing at intersections is immensely fun. Actually, it is helped my balance enough that I'm sometimes able to track stand with the road bike during group rides. I've yet to fall down and injure my pride... but don't worry, it is merely a matter of time.

Other than that, not much really happening, just trying to keep up with everything. Oh yeah, had to get new tires on my car... boo to that shit.

later

Race Update

So the race went well. I swam very good, rode fast, and ran better than I've ever run that distance before. Actually, not entirely true... but for a half ironman.. it was very fast.

I did have a flat on the bike course.. and probably lost close to 20 minutes waiting around for a support vehicle. I know now to carry extra tubies... CO2, etc. Yep.. lesson learned.

I'm quite proud of my results... but considering how I've slacked on everything but riding this season.. really lets me know that I need to run more in getting ready for my Ironman in August. Also... more distance in the pool, rather than the shorter, faster distances that I've been doing. Might help me get in better shape.

Alright.. that is the update. Sorry I haven't called anyone back... I'm tired.

-Later