I'll Be Damned, I still have a Blog?!

My, where does the time go?  Didn't make too much progress the last time I started this back up again.  One  whole post...  Maybe I'll have better motivation this time, but I'm still searching for just exactly what might motivate me to write in a forum that gets read about once every four months by one person.  Oh yeah - do it for myself.  Maybe.

Life plods on in most respects.  Still at Vericor but there have been a lot of changes there that have made working life much easier.  New boss, new company President and a much different dynamic.  The challenges with suppliers, delivery and just plain bad luck are still unchanged, but that's the nature of purchasing.

Kids are getting older but still kids, thank you!  I don't ever want to let that pass me by or spend one day not appreciating them!

Cycling has suffered over the past few years but for my sanity and fitness that has to change.  I've been looking at Cyclocross photos and realize how much I miss the racing.  This year is already too late to be competitive but if I start NOW, I will be in a position to do some road and mountain bike racing next year and hit 'Cross season with a full tank of gas.

Target shooting is the new passion - and I have Krista, Chase and Thera all shooting too!  We go to the range twice a week now and have quite the collection going.  I always did love to shoot and after many years finally get to indulge in it!

Where was I again?

Hmm, been a long time since I posted anything here. Now I'll have to be publishing this silly thing all over the place again just to try and get a few folks with too much time and too little to do to log on and read it! Sooooo, what have I really done in the past year or so. Guess I'll just have to get the creativity going again and find some stuff to write about.

Is there a point to all of this?

I really got a kick out of this Demotivator. Until I though about my own Blog. As so famously asked by Pink Floyd, "Hello... Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me? Is there anyone at home?"

Cyclocross Season Wrap-Up

Another 'cross season has come and gone... Overall I'm pleased with how things went, although the last two races were somewhat less than I would have hoped for. I finished the season in 5th place overall in the standings after being very consistent in my placings throughout the race series.

GA CX #4, Rome - This was a new course in a downtown park on a river. The course was a fast technical one with the main obstacle(s) being a steep levee that we had to climb or run up four times per lap. I got a good start again, right up with the leaders and held on for a couple of laps before getting gapped. There was no one behind me for a good distance so I kept hammering and placed 4th on the day.

GA CX #5, Blairsville - Today was the first really cold day of the season with temps in the upper 20's when I got to the race venue. The skys were overcast with high humidity so it was a chilly start. Todays course was a lot of up and down on pretty steep hills, a long dirt road and lots of long wet grass. During the warm-up I pretty much decided that it just was not fun - although that also had a lot to do with the fact that I was tired. I got to the start line and we were off. Not as good of a position today because my legs didn't have much snap, so I settled in with a small group just off the back of the lead pack and rode a couple of laps there. About half-way through the race I put in a good acceleration and got away from them. I held steady for the rest of the race and finished in 6th.

GA CX #6, Fort Yargo - State Championships race today on a great course. Ft.Yargo is a real speed course with strategically placed barriers and a long deep sand beach section. This race is also put on by the club I'm affiliated with here in GA, Gwinnett Touring Club, so I was there on Saturday AM to help with setting up and taping the course in preparation for the next day. The day dawned sunny and a little cold, but conditions at the start were just about perfect. I launched and got right up with the leaders again today and just like in past races, held my spot for a couple of laps before tailing off the back. One of the front group had gone down on a gravel road section and dropped back to where I was, so I glued myself to his wheel and we made a race of it. I was riding the technical sections better than he was and hoped I could attack during the last lap and get away. That almost worked, but he stayed close enough to catch back up to me just before the beach. He sprinted so fast through the sand that he got about a 5 meter gap, and I could not catch back up in time to sprint for the finish line. Need to do some work on my running before next year! Another 5th place finish.

GA CX "Make-Up" Race, Conyers - Todays race was a make-up, or "mulligan" race where you could use it to drop your lowest race placing for the overall standings. Since I missed Savannah, this was my chance to get back some points. It had rained for several days before the race, and the course was a muddy, slippery mess. In other words - lots of fun. I have to be honest in saying that I was really not impressed with how the course developed with all of the mud. If it were dry it would have been a blast, but there were a lot of off camber turns and hills that got so sloppy as to be very difficult to ride. It would have been a great Mountain Bike course, but on a 'cross bike it was a long mucky slog. It's odd, but the entire race I was vascillating between thinking "this is great" and "this sucks"... Anyway - more of the same. Decent start, good position, tacked on to the leaders, then bad luck for the first time this season. I miscalculated a stream jump and wiped out in the deep mud. When I got back on the bike everything seemed OK until I hit a steep hill. When I shifted up my chain came off the top cog and wedged into the spokes. It took me nearly two minutes to get everything sorted out and the bike shifting again, but by that time I was way out of contention. The rest of the race was to chase and try to make up as much ground as possible. I did manage to pass about six or seven riders and finished in 7th. I was pleased to see that!

GA CX #7, Dallas Finale - Last race of the season and double points on the line. Quite possibly the absolute worst race to not be prepared for (nothing like a bit of foreshadowing). On Friday before the race I had to be at the warehouse for Inventory. Ten hours on my feet in a frigid warehouse counting parts. Oh joy... My legs, feet and lower back were aching by the end of the day. Friday night was my company Christmas party. Krista and I had the evening to ourselves as both Chase and Thera had a sleep-over at a friends house. We also had a chaffeur to the party. We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves. It was 2:00AM before we turned in, but sleeping in really late was not to be with the dogs getting me up several times that morning. Between that and a bit of the hair of the dog, Saturday was long and tired. I did get on the rollers that evening to try and open the legs up some. Race day was sunny, blustery and cold. The course was OK with a bit of everything. Fast sweeping sections, climbs, technical turns, hard run-ups, sand and hills. It was also extremely rough which is NOT one of my favorites. I could tell during my warm-up ride that I was going to have trouble today. No snap at all. The race start was just more of the same. I felt so bad that I was nearly dead last only half way through the first lap. I finally got mad as hell and started to make up ground and passed a few groups of riders, only to catch my handlebars on the course marker tape and wipe out in dramatic fashion. It was right back to mid-pack and then a long drawn-out trudge to just finish. I hit my knee on a rock so that was bothering me on the run-ups, making a bad day just that much worse. After what felt like hours I finally finished in 11th place. Because the day was double points, I lost my 4th place in the standings by 9 points. If I had just placed 10th I could have held on, but there was nothing left to give by the end of the race. Blah.

It was kind of a bummer way to end the series, but that's racing. If I was bitten by the 'Cross bug before, now I'm a total rabid fanatic. I'm determined to be on the podium next year and already have a general outline of how my training plan will look in 2009. And that is a big step, because for the past five years I have not been "training" at all, just riding my bike and getting fit in a non-specific sort of way. I'll have company, too. Chase went with me to several races this year and says that he wants to try racing Cyclocross too. So I'll be working on a plan for him as well!

Cyclocross GA CX #3

Time has flown by in the 'Cross season. Since I reported on the first race of the year in Dahlonega there have been several more races. I missed the second race of the series because it was in Savannah, GA - a five + hour drive from home. Also as reported in "Psycling" there were two off weeks in between. Things finally kicked off in earnest on 11/2/08 at the GA CX #3 in Conyers Int'l. Horse Park. This location has always been a favorite as the course is fast and challenging with good technical sections and a couple of difficult obstacles. This year they introduced an amazing spiral design where we rode in ever narrowing circles inwards, did a 180 deg. turn and rode the spiral back out and out to the course. They also introduced a new steep hill on a rutted and sandy access road. There was the usual log jump / run-up section and twisty sections from the past few years to make the course complete. I was in 8th place overall after missing Savannah but still got called up to the line so I got a good start position. At the gun I was off quickly and got settled in at the back end of the lead group. That gave me a big boost since last year I was already off the back by half way through the 1st lap. I kept in contact with the leaders for the first two laps but then a gap started to open up. Despite riding a lot more this year, there is just so much that is different in 'Cross racing than road racing. Anyway, coming across the start/finish line going into the third lap I had fallen off the back of the group and went into solo defensive mode - riding as hard as possible to keep my position and not get caught by anyone behind me. I still felt strong and rode well so holding onto my spot proved to be no difficulty and I ended up in 5th - which was my best finish for the past few years.

Having been in close contact with the leaders for the first 15 minutes, I began to understand why I have not done as well in 'Cross as I do on the road. Of the four leaders, I know for a fact that I can drop at least two of them during a hard road ride - since I've done it on several occasions. The other two I have also finished ahead of during several races this year. However, Cyclocross racing is much shorter, with many short intense bursts of power. The lead riders were constantly accelerating and attacking each other, and every time they did I had to dig deep into my reserves to stay with them. After a while I just could not hold on. My coach explained it best. He showed me that I have an excellent aerobic base and can perform well at my anaerobic threshold, but I have not developed a power, or creatine phosphate system. That is done by training in short but extremely intense bursts with multiple repetitions and good recovery between efforts. I'm also lacking in muscular strength as I slacked off on weight lifting this year. Simply put, I can go really fast for a long time at a steady pace with some accelerations. However, when the pace is already hard with constant accelerations and bursts of power, I'm exhausting my energy reserves which are not trained to replenish themselves and eventually can't sustain the effort. Like when I dropped off the back - after that I could still ride fast and had no worries about getting caught because I was going at a constant and steady pace. Looks like a new training plan is going to be a critical necessity!

Thera's 6th Birthday

Tuesday, November 18th was Thera's 6th Birthday. She got to play hooky from school and had a very nice day with Mom. The day started off with the chance to sleep in a little longer than usual and see Chase off on the bus. Thera picked out a very pretty dress and Krista got her all dolled up with hair and make-up for the day out. They went shopping with birthday money and some gift cards, then went to McDonalds for lunch. (Funny thing there is - that really is kind of a treat since we go there so little. Even when given the choice both Chase and Thera are more likely to go for Subway than regular fast food.) After that it was off to the movies for Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Once done there they picked up Chase and headed to Publix to pick out a Birthday Cake. I left work a little early and met up with them there. It was a good day to be at Publix since they were doing a Holiday Food Festival with lots of great samples. We joked around with Thera about how they must have set the whole thing up for her birthday! She knew it was really for Thanksgiving but it was fun pretending, and when the store staff found out that it was her B-day it might as well have been...

We finally got home and I got the presents set out and made a small dinner since we had all done pretty well at the Food Fest. Krista disappeared upstairs to do the wrapping - better her than me as wrapping is just not my forte. We brought out the cake for a very nice dessert and then it was time for Thera to open up her presents. She got some great things and had a wonderful time.

Halloween (a month late)!!

I've been meaning to get around to posting something about Halloween for a while now. Seems my Round Tuit is permanently lost since it has taken a month to translate action to deed. We actually prepared a little better than usual for the festivities this year. Thera and Krista decided back in September that Thera's costume this year would be an Ice Fairy, and we found a seller on e-Bay that offered custom made costumes. She had one for auction that Krista bid on and won, then gave some specific instructions for how to make it "just right." The outfit arrived in early October so that part of it was done. Chase was 50/50 on whether or not to even dress up this year, but finally decided that he didn't want to miss out on the fun. We did some shopping and he settled on a grisly Grim Reaper costume.

On Halloween I took the day off so we could do some running around and have a relaxed evening to eat dinner and get ready to go out. That mostly worked out - the only snag was that Kato (our Great Dane) had some pretty severe swelling on her muzzle so we had to make an unscheduled trip to the vet for her to get checked out. Dog taken care of ($$$) and shopping done, we picked the kids up from school and got home for dinner then the costume preparation. Krista hustled Thera off for hair and make-up and I prepared the "special effects" on Chases costume. Both kids done, we hopped into the car to head over to our traditional neighborhood to Trick or Treat. Halloween being on Friday this year, there were lots of kids out and the goodies were better than usual. Both Chase and Thera made quite a haul, even though we wound up cutting the festivities a little short. The temperature dropped dramatically after the sun went down, and both kids were uncomfortably cold despite the headlong rush from one door to the next. They both had a good time, and we got a chance to catch up with some old neighbors that we have stayed friends with over the past few years. We made a couple of final stops once we came back to our neighborhood which turned out to be very lucrative for the kids. Since it was nearing 9:00PM, everyone was ready to dump the rest of their candy and turn out the lights. Handfulls of loot were dumped in the bags and we got home loaded and satisfied with the night.

10 Seconds of Fame

I was approached by a friend of mine (Stephen Jansa) who works for Fox 5 News Atlanta about "performing" for a promo that was being filmed for the lead-in to a news story. "Rules of the Road" was a feature piece on the 10:00pm news which looked into the tension between bicycle commuters and drivers. I agreed to play the part of "frustrated and angry cyclist" and was sent a copy of the script. Jeff Zellmer, Promotions Manager from Fox 5 and his cameraman came out to my office last Wednesday to do the filming. I got dressed out in my cycling gear and prepared to launch the beginning of my illustrious career in Television Acting. The filming took about 20 minutes or so and I was congratulated for delivering a dynamic and convincing performance (please - hold the applause). Anyway, the promo aired during commercial breaks beginning on Tuesday Nov.11th until the story on Wednesday Nov.12th. Sadly enough, I never saw it air, and Krista and I had gotten so involved in a discussion Wednesday night I didn't even turn on the TV. I actually missed my own Television debut... But as no Hollywood agents have been beating down my door, I'd have to assume that I'm not being considered for the next James Bond. Jeff was kind enough to e-mail me the video, so here it is for your viewing entertainment. (You might want to hit "pause" on my Music Playlist before hitting the play button)


Video clip courtesy of Fox 5 News Atlanta

Associated News Video: http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7852290&version=1&locale=EN-US

Associated News Story: http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7852537&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

While I have joked around with some of my cycling friends about my "hammed up" performance, I am very grateful to Fox 5 for airing a segment concerning cyclists. So far this year I have logged over 3,000 miles in bicycle commuting. Most of the time the ride is uneventful and drivers are cautious and respectful, but I have had a couple of close calls and have been run off the road numerous times. Any increased attention that promotes awareness and fosters better relations between bikes and cars is a worthwhile effort. It's definately not just the drivers at fault - I have seen cyclists do stupid things too, so hopefully people on both sides of the issue got something out of the story.

Cycling or Psycling?

While the Cyclocross season "officially" started off back in October, it has only just really kicked in for me these past couple of weeks. The first race I reported on in Dahlonega was over a month ago. There were breaks for mountain bike races the promoters were involved in on the weekends of the 12th and 26th. The second 'cross race of the season was in Savannah, GA on 10/19. Problem there was the pesky 5+ hour drive, cost of lodging and how to work out that long of a trip with the family. It did not add up - that's just too much to commit to for one 45 minute race. (Maybe next year if they have the race there again we'll have time to plan for it and make the trip into a mini-vacation. Krista and I would love to see the homes and historic district.) So for those three weeks I drove over to our practice course at Little Mulberry Park in Dacula, GA. for some race simulations. There is an odd sort of insight I can give on the mental make-up of a dedicated cyclist, and that is the ability to force yourself to suffer even with a near total lack of outside stimulation. The point here? For two of those training sessions, almost no-one showed up. The day of Savannah there were only three of us, and the other two guys bailed and left just minutes after I started us off on a 45min. race effort. I rode alone for the entire time. During a normal practice you have someone to chase, or someone to try and stay out in front of. This time - nothing. Cyclocross is hard - period. During a race you are riding in a group at your physical limit from beginning to end. Rest does not happen or you get dropped, and recovery from a maximum effort is only made in slight increments - maybe on a fast downhill where you can coast for 5 or 10 seconds. Now try to re-create that situation all by yourself - riding and running as hard as possible without any let-up for nearly an hour. I'd have to equate it to a controlled form of insanity where seeing things, hearing voices and talking to yourself are actually good things... Like projecting the image of another rider just in front of you or having that quiet little voice in the back of your head screaming "You're going too #%&*!ing slow - MOVE IT MARSHMALLOW BOY!" What a sight for someone walking in the park - a solitary lunatic on a bike pelting around an open field at full speed, jumping off and leaping back on the bike at random intervals for no apparent reason, a rictus of pain on his face and talking to people who aren't there. It's a wonder no one called the police.

One of my favorite stories about cycling was something I read a long time ago - author unknown. They were describing the secret of a good time trialist. A time trial is a race against the clock - just you and the bike where the goal is to go the fastest over a set course. Riding with someone else or drafting is illegal. The paragraph went something like this: "When you are in the middle of a hard time trial effort, you often notice black spots appearing and disappearing before your eyes. This is a product of your body using every scrap of available oxygen and plunging your brain into oxygen debt. The black spots are the visual representation of brain cells dying by the thousands. Therefore it stands to reason that the secret of a great time trialist is this - you can go very fast for a very long time because you're too dumb to realize that pain hurts." Well, that goes for Cyclocross as well.

Weary Overload Recreation Killer (W.O.R.K.)

So I'm looking at my own Blog and realizing that I have not put anything on here since this time LAST month... I'm going to blame work - it seems like every year around this time things just go spinning completely out of control. Suppliers late on deliveries, technical issues, discrepant parts, the budget is whacked and it's up to Supply Chain to make up for millions of dollars to balance the end-of-year budget. Add to this the fact that we have not even started ordering for engines that have been blasted into the build plan for next year. What is it about Sales and Marketing that makes them think you can deliver in eight months what it takes twelve months to buy for and build??? Now its a mad scramble to contact suppliers and beg for immediate quotes and ways to shorten lead-times in order for us to have any chance of building the engines on-time. (FYI - for anyone that does not know, I'm a Purchasing Agent for a company that manufactures Gas Turbine engines for use in marine and industrial applications ( http://www.vericor.com/ ) - it's pretty cool stuff, especially the USN Hovercraft and mega-yachts we provide engines for.)



By the time I get home, I check e-mail and then make a concerted effort to not even look at the computer for the rest of the night. I spend eight hours a day glued to my computer and phone and after that, the tank is about empty. Of course, it is Cyclocross season now, so after the kids are in bed and the house straightened up, its up to the workout room for a session on the trainer or out to the garage to clean and tune up the bikes. HOWEVER, since Halloween was just a few days ago, I had a good race last Sunday and life has continued with all it's other non-work related joys and tribulations I will endeavour to go home tonight and put something worthwhile in print. Stay tuned...