Wednesday, June 25, 2008
A Boy and his Great Grandpa
This is a photo of my son Jake meeting his Great Grandpa Red for the first time a week and a half ago in Los Angeles. Red is Jake's Dad's (me), Dad's, Dad, and Jake is one of two Great Grandsons of Red who will carry on the Dinger name. Great Grandpa was born in 1918, Jake, 2007.
Bike Commute
The commuting went just fine today. I had a tough headwind the whole way into work, and the ride ended up being 20.5 miles. I had plenty of time, but felt drained from the get go. The distance and condition made for a struggle.
My company has fixed the shower and it works much better now, so getting showered and dressed was not a difficult.
The winds I was hoping to have with me on the way home had died down a bit, but it was still much better than the morning. It was was freaking hot however. Over 100 degrees.
Traffic wasn't too bad. It was better in a couple of spots than I thought it would be, but bad in a few I thought it would be good in. But no close calls to speak of.
I'll probably give it another try next week.
My company has fixed the shower and it works much better now, so getting showered and dressed was not a difficult.
The winds I was hoping to have with me on the way home had died down a bit, but it was still much better than the morning. It was was freaking hot however. Over 100 degrees.
Traffic wasn't too bad. It was better in a couple of spots than I thought it would be, but bad in a few I thought it would be good in. But no close calls to speak of.
I'll probably give it another try next week.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Bike Commuting to Work
I've wanted to try it for some time, but in reality, given the hours I typically work, and the 18 miles I'll have to cover each way, there is only enough sunlight in the day to do this for about 3 months out of the year.
So I hatched the plan and worked out all of the logistics earlier this Spring, and am ready to give it a shot tomorrow.
Here is how it will work:
Day before:
I packed a bag with my work clothes for tomorrow, along with a towel and my shower kit, and brought it in to work with me today.
Night Before:
Shave (face, not legs) before I go to bed so I don't have to worry about shaving at the shitty bathroom that has the shower in it down in the bowls of my company's headquarters building.
Morning of:
I need to get up by 6am to be on the road by 6:20 am to give me time to get here and mess with all of the shenanigans associated with getting ready for work at a company that has shitty shower/dressing facilities.
The ride is about 18 miles, and only includes about 2 miles of travel on what I'd call busy roads. If I leave at 6:20am, I should hit the busy part around 7:05am or so.
I'll be riding with a smallish back pack that will hold my phone, wallet, building ID badge, sandals, and a clean pair of clothes I can wear while tromping around in my building on my way to my office to retrieve my clothes from the day before, and then back down stairs to the shower. While I loves me my spandex, I'm not ready to stunt my career path by being "the guy in spandex on Wednesdays."
Once I get to the building, I'll bring my bike upstairs to my office (I just wouldn't dare rack it in the parking garage), grab my change of clothes and head back down to the 1st floor to shower. Did I mention the shower down there is shitty? A trickle of a stream, ice cold, and it is in the same locker room where the unionized guys (TWU) that maintain our building have their lockers. Lots of strange looks from the union guys no doubt are in store. From there, I'll get cleaned up, go grab some breakfast in the campus cafeteria, and head back up to my office ready to start my day by 8:30am.
Afternoon of:
The afternoon drill is equally complicated. I need to hit the road by 6:00pm to get home before dark. So I'll change into my skivvies, cover up with that change of clothes I briefly wore in the morning, come back to my office and grab my bike. I think I can walk it down a fire exit to avoid mixing with the usual 6pm rush out of the building. Once downstairs, I'll put the clothes in the backpack, throw my cycle shoes on, and away I'll go.
I'll report back tomorrow night, or on Thursday and let you know how it went. Wish me luck.
So I hatched the plan and worked out all of the logistics earlier this Spring, and am ready to give it a shot tomorrow.
Here is how it will work:
Day before:
I packed a bag with my work clothes for tomorrow, along with a towel and my shower kit, and brought it in to work with me today.
Night Before:
Shave (face, not legs) before I go to bed so I don't have to worry about shaving at the shitty bathroom that has the shower in it down in the bowls of my company's headquarters building.
Morning of:
I need to get up by 6am to be on the road by 6:20 am to give me time to get here and mess with all of the shenanigans associated with getting ready for work at a company that has shitty shower/dressing facilities.
The ride is about 18 miles, and only includes about 2 miles of travel on what I'd call busy roads. If I leave at 6:20am, I should hit the busy part around 7:05am or so.
I'll be riding with a smallish back pack that will hold my phone, wallet, building ID badge, sandals, and a clean pair of clothes I can wear while tromping around in my building on my way to my office to retrieve my clothes from the day before, and then back down stairs to the shower. While I loves me my spandex, I'm not ready to stunt my career path by being "the guy in spandex on Wednesdays."
Once I get to the building, I'll bring my bike upstairs to my office (I just wouldn't dare rack it in the parking garage), grab my change of clothes and head back down to the 1st floor to shower. Did I mention the shower down there is shitty? A trickle of a stream, ice cold, and it is in the same locker room where the unionized guys (TWU) that maintain our building have their lockers. Lots of strange looks from the union guys no doubt are in store. From there, I'll get cleaned up, go grab some breakfast in the campus cafeteria, and head back up to my office ready to start my day by 8:30am.
Afternoon of:
The afternoon drill is equally complicated. I need to hit the road by 6:00pm to get home before dark. So I'll change into my skivvies, cover up with that change of clothes I briefly wore in the morning, come back to my office and grab my bike. I think I can walk it down a fire exit to avoid mixing with the usual 6pm rush out of the building. Once downstairs, I'll put the clothes in the backpack, throw my cycle shoes on, and away I'll go.
I'll report back tomorrow night, or on Thursday and let you know how it went. Wish me luck.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
CapTex Tri Race Report
I know it has been a while, but I'd like to log a proper race report from the CapTex Tri back on May 27th.
I'll try to keep it brief, so I'll just say that this race is a huge production. Over 2,700 athletes raced this year, and for that many athletes, the organizers do a good job. It doesn't have much of a personal touch, but it makes up for in it spectacle.
I swam the morning before at Barton Springs, which is a spring fed pool that feeds Town Lake, where the race was held. Town Lake is really a dammed up river. When I got to Barton Springs, I found myself at the back of about a 200 person line of Team in Training triathletes from all over the country. the group in front of me was in town from NY.
I've raced with TNT in the past, and for all the good they do, I feel like a schmuck complaining, but every time I looked up in the swim and bike course, I found a TNT athlete in the way. I blame this as much on the race organizers sending the typically slowest age group waves first, and the faster ones last. I guess the idea was to clear the roads sooner, but it make for a crowded course all day long.
Swim:
Since my wave left about an hour after the elites went off, I watched them all roll up into transition. I did a 19:06 swim at this race back in '05, and while I was in better shape for the swim last time, I figured I'd be within 2 minutes of that time. well the top guy was out of the water in 20 minutes, Andrea Fisher was out of the water in 20:30, and Desiree Ficker was out in 23 mins, so I knew straight away that the swim was long.
The gun went off, and I took off with a guy and we swam together for the first 5 minutes. I was soon on my own, not feeling special, and about 10 minutes into the swim, I had caught several of the waves in front and was dodging people and getting swatted in the face the rest of the way. The swim felt like it took FOR EVER, and it did. Not happy about it. I need to swim more.
Time: 24:10; Pace: 1:37/100M; Place: 28/1442 (overall)
T1:
Transition started off uneventful. Transition area was all dirt. No grass to be found near my age groups racks, so I made sure to get out of my wetsuit back in the swim swim exit shoot which was on grass.
I grabbed my bike, and headed out. As I made my way out of transition, my aero bottle fell off my bike and onto the dirt, spilling lots of water. It turns out, when I secured it in the mount, I didn't realize the Velcro was facing the wrong way and I never got a 'seal.' threading the Velcro through the holes is a challenge with the bottle in, and I spent a good 60 seconds trying to reattach it. I lost about half of the water, and it was hot, so I was pissed.
Time: 3:53
Bike:
This 4 loop bike course is fun, scary, and crowded. Fun because it has great long downhills. Scary because it is very technical, and many of the turns are at the bottom of hills where you either can take alot of speed into the turns, or have to break alot. And is this thing ever crowded. Luckily they give you 2 and sometime 4 lanes of traffic to work with so you can pass, and avoid drafting by moving over rather than back. With so many people on a 6.25 mile loop, you could stack bikes from front to back wheel, and you'd have more than 6.25 miles of bike.
I did a good job of accelerating at the top of hills, and out of corners. I also did a good job of staying aero when I was going fast or into the wind, and stretching my back when I was climbing.
In the last 4 or 5 minutes of the ride, I was feeling a strange sensation in my front wheel in turns, and realized when I stood up to stretch my back in the last downhill and felt the front rim bumping along the road with no air in that front tire, that I'd flatted. I finished the ride, and was no worse for ware.
Time: 1:10:10; Pace: 21.2MPH; Place: 317/1442
T2:
I don't recall T2, so it must have been uneventful. Transition area was huge, so it was hard to be fast.
Time: 2:46
Run:
I hit the 2 loop run course a little fatigued. I probably pushed a tad too hard on the bike, but I've been worse, and should have been fine. It was just really effing hot. My wave left about an hour after the first, and the race started about 20 minutes late, so it was late morning by the time I hit the roads, and it was steamy.
The first lap started off okay, but I wasn't doing anything exceptional from a pace perspective, and could feel it unraveling. I was able to get ice at some of the aid stations, and I took it with me to pour on my head as it melted.
On the second lap as I climbed Congress up over the bridge towards the capital, I popped and was reduced to a walk. It was demoralizing, and was hard to motivate to get going after the pop. I walked ran the last mile and a half.
Time: 1:02.25; Pace: 10:03; Place: 691/1442
Overall:
Time: 2:43.26
AG Place: 62/178
Gender Place: 275/849
Overall: 336/1442
I'll try to keep it brief, so I'll just say that this race is a huge production. Over 2,700 athletes raced this year, and for that many athletes, the organizers do a good job. It doesn't have much of a personal touch, but it makes up for in it spectacle.
I swam the morning before at Barton Springs, which is a spring fed pool that feeds Town Lake, where the race was held. Town Lake is really a dammed up river. When I got to Barton Springs, I found myself at the back of about a 200 person line of Team in Training triathletes from all over the country. the group in front of me was in town from NY.
I've raced with TNT in the past, and for all the good they do, I feel like a schmuck complaining, but every time I looked up in the swim and bike course, I found a TNT athlete in the way. I blame this as much on the race organizers sending the typically slowest age group waves first, and the faster ones last. I guess the idea was to clear the roads sooner, but it make for a crowded course all day long.
Swim:
Since my wave left about an hour after the elites went off, I watched them all roll up into transition. I did a 19:06 swim at this race back in '05, and while I was in better shape for the swim last time, I figured I'd be within 2 minutes of that time. well the top guy was out of the water in 20 minutes, Andrea Fisher was out of the water in 20:30, and Desiree Ficker was out in 23 mins, so I knew straight away that the swim was long.
The gun went off, and I took off with a guy and we swam together for the first 5 minutes. I was soon on my own, not feeling special, and about 10 minutes into the swim, I had caught several of the waves in front and was dodging people and getting swatted in the face the rest of the way. The swim felt like it took FOR EVER, and it did. Not happy about it. I need to swim more.
Time: 24:10; Pace: 1:37/100M; Place: 28/1442 (overall)
T1:
Transition started off uneventful. Transition area was all dirt. No grass to be found near my age groups racks, so I made sure to get out of my wetsuit back in the swim swim exit shoot which was on grass.
I grabbed my bike, and headed out. As I made my way out of transition, my aero bottle fell off my bike and onto the dirt, spilling lots of water. It turns out, when I secured it in the mount, I didn't realize the Velcro was facing the wrong way and I never got a 'seal.' threading the Velcro through the holes is a challenge with the bottle in, and I spent a good 60 seconds trying to reattach it. I lost about half of the water, and it was hot, so I was pissed.
Time: 3:53
Bike:
This 4 loop bike course is fun, scary, and crowded. Fun because it has great long downhills. Scary because it is very technical, and many of the turns are at the bottom of hills where you either can take alot of speed into the turns, or have to break alot. And is this thing ever crowded. Luckily they give you 2 and sometime 4 lanes of traffic to work with so you can pass, and avoid drafting by moving over rather than back. With so many people on a 6.25 mile loop, you could stack bikes from front to back wheel, and you'd have more than 6.25 miles of bike.
I did a good job of accelerating at the top of hills, and out of corners. I also did a good job of staying aero when I was going fast or into the wind, and stretching my back when I was climbing.
In the last 4 or 5 minutes of the ride, I was feeling a strange sensation in my front wheel in turns, and realized when I stood up to stretch my back in the last downhill and felt the front rim bumping along the road with no air in that front tire, that I'd flatted. I finished the ride, and was no worse for ware.
Time: 1:10:10; Pace: 21.2MPH; Place: 317/1442
T2:
I don't recall T2, so it must have been uneventful. Transition area was huge, so it was hard to be fast.
Time: 2:46
Run:
I hit the 2 loop run course a little fatigued. I probably pushed a tad too hard on the bike, but I've been worse, and should have been fine. It was just really effing hot. My wave left about an hour after the first, and the race started about 20 minutes late, so it was late morning by the time I hit the roads, and it was steamy.
The first lap started off okay, but I wasn't doing anything exceptional from a pace perspective, and could feel it unraveling. I was able to get ice at some of the aid stations, and I took it with me to pour on my head as it melted.
On the second lap as I climbed Congress up over the bridge towards the capital, I popped and was reduced to a walk. It was demoralizing, and was hard to motivate to get going after the pop. I walked ran the last mile and a half.
Time: 1:02.25; Pace: 10:03; Place: 691/1442
Overall:
Time: 2:43.26
AG Place: 62/178
Gender Place: 275/849
Overall: 336/1442
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Made it to Vienna
It is Sunday afternoon, and we've made it to Vienna. We had a nice train ride yesterday morning getting here, then located a bookstore to get our BK Vienna Travel guide, which we couldn't live without after using the Prague version. We had a wonderful dinner last night, then hit the sack early.
Today, we took the metro to the Hofburg Quarter for a day of site seeing, followed by some time in the Stephansdom Qurter. We toured the Habsburg palaces and garden's, saw the Dynasty's crown jewels, then visited the Albertina museum where we saw the works of Dali, Monet, Picasso, Klee, Degase, Kokoschka, and many more, in addition to touring several of the state rooms of the Habsbugs palace. Pretty interesting stuff.
Any how, no time for an elaborate post. We've got a full day tomorrow concluding with a concert in a fabulous concert hall where will hear some Mozart, Strauss, and others.
Cheers!
Today, we took the metro to the Hofburg Quarter for a day of site seeing, followed by some time in the Stephansdom Qurter. We toured the Habsburg palaces and garden's, saw the Dynasty's crown jewels, then visited the Albertina museum where we saw the works of Dali, Monet, Picasso, Klee, Degase, Kokoschka, and many more, in addition to touring several of the state rooms of the Habsbugs palace. Pretty interesting stuff.
Any how, no time for an elaborate post. We've got a full day tomorrow concluding with a concert in a fabulous concert hall where will hear some Mozart, Strauss, and others.
Cheers!
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