To the Tune of the Sound of Grinding Metal
OK, so I have bronchitis, but I decide to go to the race anyway. I took a couple puffs of albuterol, some pseudoephedrine, and blew my nose like there's no tomorrow. I thought I'd be alright. And I pretty much was. It was VERY hard to get a good breath, but I survived. I came in 5th in my heat, which was somewhat pleasing. There were 2 ringers in it, though. One was Corey, an 18 year old who's the national champion of something in his division, the other was Aaron, who is the 2-time national time trial champion for the blind. (Did you know blind people race bikes? I didn't. I'm not trying to be rude. I just didn't.) For most of the course I was in fourth, but the last half mile or so was all uphill and one guy passed me. My heart rate went above 200, which was amazing--it hasn't done that for at least 10 years (although my max should be around 185, however with conditioning it would not be unusual or bad to be above that). The rest of my stats (because cyclists are perhaps the geekiest of athletes):
Time: 20:49.7 sec
Average speed: 17.9
Max speed: 26.82
Average power: 210.34 watts
Peak power: 453 watts
I stuck around after my heat to see the semi-pro (Cat 1 & 2) Toledo Saturn team ride. Their slowest guy was still 3 minutes faster than me.
Oh well, it was just a bit of fun. No one's gonna pay me to ride my bike.
On a more artistic note, I listened to The Decemberists' The Tain and, I must say, it is an amazing piece of work. One of my fegmaniax colleagues said it was like King Crimson meets Tom Waits, and, while neither of those artists make it into my personal pantheon, I think it sorta fits. Also: Lots of loud, thrashy guitars, and plenty of female backing vocals. I couldn't understand most of it, and I have read the book (during my protracted education). It was nice to just to take it impressionistically. Good karma or something has made this a really good music week--I met Trish and Richard, I got the new Belle & Sebastian single (the Avalanches remix is just a Lion King outtake, but I really love Stop, Look and Listen), I got Let's Active's 1986 classic forgotten pop gem, Big Plans for Everybody, and now, Colin and his merry band of tunesters have taken an obscure Celtic myth and added a head-nodding beat.
OK, so I have bronchitis, but I decide to go to the race anyway. I took a couple puffs of albuterol, some pseudoephedrine, and blew my nose like there's no tomorrow. I thought I'd be alright. And I pretty much was. It was VERY hard to get a good breath, but I survived. I came in 5th in my heat, which was somewhat pleasing. There were 2 ringers in it, though. One was Corey, an 18 year old who's the national champion of something in his division, the other was Aaron, who is the 2-time national time trial champion for the blind. (Did you know blind people race bikes? I didn't. I'm not trying to be rude. I just didn't.) For most of the course I was in fourth, but the last half mile or so was all uphill and one guy passed me. My heart rate went above 200, which was amazing--it hasn't done that for at least 10 years (although my max should be around 185, however with conditioning it would not be unusual or bad to be above that). The rest of my stats (because cyclists are perhaps the geekiest of athletes):
Time: 20:49.7 sec
Average speed: 17.9
Max speed: 26.82
Average power: 210.34 watts
Peak power: 453 watts
I stuck around after my heat to see the semi-pro (Cat 1 & 2) Toledo Saturn team ride. Their slowest guy was still 3 minutes faster than me.
Oh well, it was just a bit of fun. No one's gonna pay me to ride my bike.
On a more artistic note, I listened to The Decemberists' The Tain and, I must say, it is an amazing piece of work. One of my fegmaniax colleagues said it was like King Crimson meets Tom Waits, and, while neither of those artists make it into my personal pantheon, I think it sorta fits. Also: Lots of loud, thrashy guitars, and plenty of female backing vocals. I couldn't understand most of it, and I have read the book (during my protracted education). It was nice to just to take it impressionistically. Good karma or something has made this a really good music week--I met Trish and Richard, I got the new Belle & Sebastian single (the Avalanches remix is just a Lion King outtake, but I really love Stop, Look and Listen), I got Let's Active's 1986 classic forgotten pop gem, Big Plans for Everybody, and now, Colin and his merry band of tunesters have taken an obscure Celtic myth and added a head-nodding beat.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home