dj whitebread
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Lazy Saturday
We're taking it easy today. It's nice. I think I might try to get some more painting done on the new cabinet in the kitchen before the day is out. I also intend to make it to the gym... both to work out, and of course, because they have a working shower.
The Olympics are coming to an end. It's always sad when they end because they are so much fun to watch. I still can't believe both of the USA 4x100 teams dropped the batons. That's pretty amazing.
I went swimming yesterday... sort of. All gains achieved in the beginning of the summer were gone. I mean, I shouldn't be surprised considering I haven't done anything for the past several months. But, I would like to keep it up and get back to being able to actually do a swim workout. I am thinking of getting on my bike tomorrow. That should be exciting. I'll probably take it pretty easy as I haven't done anything in a while. I think the last time I rode was in June, and I was actually starting to feel pretty good on the bike. But I know that will probably have disappeared at this point. Consistency is the key in getting back that aerobic fitness, so we'll see if I can actually get in a routine.
I'm really loving the watch that Carrie gave me as a graduation present. I've never really had a real "grown-up" watch. It's nice because while it is very pretty, it isn't too big or gaudy. It's just right.
I started to get back to work this week, and I'm really excited about the directions I am going to be pursuing this semester research-wise. I don't remember, actually, the last time I've been this inspired about research. It's amusing, because right before the defense and right after, I really was just so tired of looking at the stuff. It helps that we're taking a little bit different of an approach now, but mainly, I'm working with some new people and that I think is injecting a great amount of excitement into the work.
So my official title this semester is going to be, "Postdoctoral Fellow." It sounds so fancy.
Well, I think I might go try to get that painting done. It involves oil-based paint (yuck) but it will be nice to just get it done and off the queue.
I hope everybody has a good Saturday!
Labels: cycling, olympics, research, shower, work
2:25 PM |
Monday, April 14, 2008
MS 150 Report
It all started with a bus ride... a bus ride that had a stop in the middle for Applebees. The place that doesn't have a pasta dish on the menu without alfredo sauce. I know, pasta and tomato sauce is weird and fringe. Anyway, we left Applebee's, headed to the hotel, and got settled. A note here about our volunteer team: they were awesome. They got all of our bikes and stuff to Houston, to LaGrange and back to Austin. Absolutely amazing, we couldn't have done it without them.
The NI team had 111 riders this year. That's pretty huge. A big spurt of growth for the team, which is really awesome.
So back to the recap. Friday night wasn't a good night of sleep. I just wasn't sleeping well, and then a group of people decided to have a raging party outside of our room. But they would go away for a while. Then come back. Then go away, rinse and repeat. Since we were getting up at 5:15 AM, needless to say, I (nor anybody else in our room) didn't get much sleep.
Saturday morning we were able to start the ride from our parking lot since we were just a mile or two off the route. I knew there were a few guys on the team who were pretty determined to beat each other to LaGrange (the end of the first day). I stayed with one of them for a while, but this other guy from the team with a tri-bike jumped to the front at some point and ramped up the pace from a doable 23 to over 26. I at this point sat up and decided that I was going to wait for another group from NI to roll by and join them.
Luckily, that did happen. I got a nice group, and we rolled almost until lunch at the 50 mile mark together. Once the rollers started to show up you could tell that most people on the ride instantly were less comfortable. The wind was pretty strong for the first half, and most of it had been cross wind, but it was nothing compared to what would come later.
So after lunch I was by myself for a while as the group I ate with all got lost getting out of the lunch stop (it was sort of a mess). One NI guy who I was riding with earlier (Marshal, I believe) came up behind me and we rode together for a bit. Then I saw these four Canadians from BP Canada come by, and I had ridden with them earlier. And with them is a woman from NI (Carla) who I had also ridden with earlier. I jumped in with them, and this proved to be a good decision. Our little group of six stayed together for the last 30 or so miles of the ride, and proved to be invaluable as far as I was concerned.
We were trading pulls with the wind, actually attempting to deal with the cross wind as correctly as we could given the crowd, and generally having a good time and keeping the pace up in the process. We stopped at the last rest stop (mile 90) because we were all out of water. I knew the last 5 miles or so were going to finally be tail wind. So we just had 5 miles of bad wind left. Right before the turn into the good wind, we had a large down hill. I started coasting down it faster than one of the Canadians, and he started pedaling to catch me, and I was keeping ahead of him just tucking and coasting. Well, that annoyed him so he attacked. We caught him, and then he urged me to go for it again on the next down hill at which point, three of went for it down the hill, turned the corner and felt the tail wind hit our backs.
A note here: this was all in good fun. This wasn't a race, we were just entertaining ourselves to help the miles go by. Well the three of us were riding along leisurely enjoying the tail wind when Carla pops up from behind us. She had chased us down solo. She kind of just looked back at us and smiled. Well, right after this we headed up hill and the older Canadian just went nuts attacking up the hill. I had no desire to chase up hill at this point in the ride, but we all caught up and I took off down the next down hill and me and the older Canadian stayed together until the end just trading hard pulls. I really wanted to be done at this point, so I was perfectly okay hammering and enjoying the tail wind.
So an advantage of getting done much earlier on the first day than the first time I had done the MS 150 was the lack of a long line at the shower truck. I was able to drop off my bike, grab my clean clothes, and get a shower really quickly. Then I hung out and cheered as NIers came into the tent when they finished. I also had a massage. That was nice. Carrie made it in a little while later. Once it got dark, we all headed to sleep decently early. Even though it was cold, and I was in a sleeping bag, I actually slept really well. I think I was just exhausted.
On the subject of cold, it was in the 40s Sunday morning. I had not expected it to be this cold, and I had nothing for my legs. Even though the event started at 7, I didn't get out of the fairgrounds until 7:45. That was the coldest I've ever been on my bike; I just didn't have enough clothes on. But after 5 or 6 miles I warmed up and I never really felt overly cold again the rest of the day.
All in all, I felt good the second day, albeit a little tired. Before the parks, the wind wasn't much of an issue. In the parks it was non-existent as the giant pine trees block it. However, after the lunch stop in Bastrop, the wind was back. It was a headwind, though, so at least you could get some cover in a pace line. And that's what I did. I really had no shame on Sunday, basically getting into any group that I could. I was feeling somewhat lazy, so I was getting in groups that were going slower than I could have been going, but I didn't see anybody I knew all day, so I just decided to take it easy and enjoy the ride in. I eventually made it in to Austin, and relaxed at the NI tent with some food and enjoyed some sampling from the keg.
From a cycling perspective, this year's experience was superior to the my previous one. I felt people were less spastic on their bikes. I also felt much more confident on my bike, and felt a lot stronger. Even though my legs were tired at the end of the first day and during pretty much all of the second day, they were still doing what they needed to do. I remember rolling into Austin the first time I did it, and literally barely being able to turn my legs over coming up the hills on MLK. This year I was tired, but I just spun myself up the hills and it wasn't a big deal. It's interesting to do the same ride again and see the difference.
Of course, from the giving perspective, it's a great cause, and I was proud to be a part of it again. I would have no problem doing it again... the worst part of the whole thing is the camping out at the fair grounds. But I'm just a wimp in that regard. It's pretty awesome to see 12000 people ride their bikes that far to support the cause of wiping out MS once and for all.
On that note, I know I speak for both me and Carrie when I say thank you very much to all of you who donated to our MS150 accounts. If anybody would like to still give, we have another month to take donations, and all of them are greatly appreciated!
So it was a fun weekend. I am very proud of Carrie for completing her first century, and then doing another big ride the day after. This is by far the longest time she's spent on the bike, and to do it with that many other people on the road and all the other craziness is very impressive in my book. Yay for Carrie!
The only bad thing I want to point out about this weekend is that our DVR didn't record Paris-Roubaix. And Boonen won in a break by out sprinting them in the velodrome! Argh.
But now it's back to work. I dropped the bike off for a few repairs this morning. I hope to do a few rides this week, and some races this weekend. No more travel, however, until after the May 8th OSDI deadline. It will be nice to spend a few consecutive weeks in Austin and hopefully get lots of riding and lots of work in. I also need to start fitting in a little swimming and running here and there to get ready for my tri on May 10th.
I hope everybody's weeks are starting out well!
Labels: Carrie is awesome, cycling, MS150, OSDI, pro racing
4:53 PM |
Monday, March 17, 2008
I finally earned the view
Or how I had forgotten just how steep Ladera Norte is.
Today I decided to go ride my close-in hill ride. It features three hill climbs that are all very close to where we live: Mt. Bonnell, Mesa (which climbs up Cat Mountain), and Ladera Norte. I got up the first two. I had done Mesa last week, and it was that day when I really started to convince myself that I could possibly be a cyclist again. So all that was left was Ladera Norte.
I started strong. Then it started to really fight back. I looked down at my computer and my heart rate was going steadily up and my speed was going steadily down. I started to feel my front wheel come off the ground on each pedal stroke. At this point I was going 3.8 mph... so while I wasn't going to fly up it I was determined to finish it. The way the climb works it's pretty steady for a while, and then there is a flat, followed by a short little wall to finish it out. I got to the flat. The little wall you can't spin up; you have to get out of the saddle and just push yourself over (not that I was doing much spinning at 3.8 mph). I got to the wall and tried to stay seated, but it eventually I had to get up. There's about 1-2 seconds where it feels a little bit better, then it feels much worse. I got through the worst of it, sat down and got to the stop sign. After rolling down the street a bit, I turned around and came back to enjoy the view that I had been enjoying for the last several weeks. But this time, I earned it, and man, did that feel really good.
Labels: cycling, Ladera Norte, training
7:46 PM |
Monday, March 19, 2007
SXSW
It was pretty impressive. I saw more bands in those 4 days than I have in the last four years. It was tiring... totally blew my early morning schedule. I'm trying to get myself back to that today. The net effect is that I just feel perpetually tired and unfocused. Hopefully tomorrow will be better after a full night's rest. I also need to get on my bike.
I really should write a more detailed review of all the bands we saw. The thought of it kind of scares me. ;)
This coming weekend is the trip to Wichita Falls for the MSU race weekend. I'm excited about it.
Work continues on my paper that is due on April 1.
I guess I should try to get back to work.
1:40 PM |
Monday, March 12, 2007
Time Change
Well, here we are. Daylight saving time is back. While I welcome the added light in the evening, it does always take a little while to get used to.
Congratulations to Carrie on her half-marathon yesterday. She improved her time from the AT&T Austin half-marathon a few weeks ago, and on a very hilly course for a run at that.
I drove her and her friend Merri Su down there to run the race. I brought my bike along. When they started (7:30am) it was still too dark to start riding, so I hung out, got some coffee, and sat in the parking lot for a little while. Finally, around 8:10 or so I got my bike put back together, put on my gear, and headed out. The marathon was on almost exactly the same loop as the Texas State road race from a few weeks back, so I was able to follow along that. I did one loop of the TX State race course and then one loop of the half-marathon course which gave me 25 miles with a little bit of climbing thrown in. However, I was just tired. My heart rate did not want to get up very high regardless of how much I hurt or pushed. It took a long time for legs to warm up as well. Pretty much all the riding I did last week involved me trying to go up hill as much as possible, so I think my legs were ready for a break. Plus, I got four hours of sleep because of the time change.
Spent the afternoon hanging out with Chad playing WoW at Jerry's house.
We had Mangia and Amy's last night. It was delicious. And most definitely a splurge for the week.
Two weeks until our next collegiate race. Of course, I have South by Southwest coming up this weekend, so that will put a little dent in the training. I am planning on heading up to Wichita Falls in two weeks well-rested and ready to go. I've already noticed that I feel stronger climbing, and I've lost a little weight as well, so I'm really excited about this race. The course is mostly flat with a few rollers, and I should be able to actually play a part.
I'm starting to really miss meat. I really find myself craving it now.
Also, I need to find a way to get live crawfish into Austin. I'm okay if it involves driving to Houston. I'm just curious to find out the details.
Labels: cycling, meat, SxSW, WoW
3:20 PM |
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Confusingly fast
That's how this week has progressed. It's already Thursday? What?
I was able to get some hill work in on Tuesday. That was good. However, my recovery ride plans for yesterday didn't happen, nor or is any riding going to happen today. I need to get something turned in to Harrick tonight before I go to sleep (whenever that may be) so I plan on getting in a decently long ride tomorrow. Maybe I'll do 50+ out west... I'm feeling ambitious. I know that may sound lame, but with the distances I've been riding lately, it'd be ambitious. Cheaha is a'comin' and I need to have mileage (and hills, lots of hills) in my legs before then.
Had a fun guy night last night with Chad in town. We met for dinner with Jerry and then headed back to Carrie and I's condo and played a little WoW with Richard and Wayne. Good times.
Carrie is doing a half-marathon that looks to be tough this weekend. I'm going down there with her and her friend Merri Su (also running) with my bike and hope to get a good ride in. They are pretty much running the course from the Texas State road race. Yeah, the one with the big hill. Other than that it shouldn't be too bad. I need to figure out where to ride as they probably won't like me riding on the half-marathon course.
Okay, I need to get to writing. Have a good Thursday.
Labels: Cheaha, cycling, work, WoW
8:33 AM |
Monday, March 05, 2007
Windy Weekend
This weekend Anna and Jeff came in from Houston. Jeff and I drove down to Bastrop Saturday morning to take part in the Pedal Through the Pines. We did the 50 mile route. The route was fun; consistent rollers the entire 50 miles. The part through Beuscher Park is pretty entertaining; at times you would think it was a mountain bike course. The only problem with the ride that it was 1) windy and 2) cold (again, see reason #1). The wind just didn't want to stop, and the last 12 miles or so were straight into it. But we had fun.
Saturday night we went to Chez Zee for supper. My salmon topped with crab was quite tasty, and the viognier they suggested to go with it worked quite well.
Sunday morning Carrie and I walked to the Omelettery for some breakfast. After being home for a little while it was nap time.
I was able to sneak in a short recovery ride before mass. I'm going to stay off the bike today, and then try to get rides in Tuesday-Sunday. We'll see if I pull this off.
That's about it. Back to work.
Labels: Chez Zee, cycling, Omelettery, Pedal Through the Pines, wind
1:28 PM |
Saturday, February 24, 2007
The winds of pain are blowin'
Man, it is windy today. It's a shame I decided to race my bike. ;)
Nothing too much to report. Our professional triathlete team member tried to go early and nobody wanted to let him, so the pace got ramped up and I couldn't hold on. In my defense, I didn't have a chance to warm up before the race... but that I would probably only bought me a little while longer in all honesty. It was flying. And like I said, the wind was brutal.
I got in a group and we worked together to finish out the loop. I (and loads of other people) decided to only do 1 of our 2 loops as I really didn't need to show anybody anything by riding another 24 miles in that wind. Especially with Pace Bend tomorrow, it just seemed silly. If this had been the only thing I was doing this weekend, I would have kept going, but I'm hoping to hang on a little while longer tomorrow.
There is a big difference in ability in the 4s. There are people like me on the low end and then there are people on their way up through the categories on the high end. I just take it as more motivation to train harder and get stronger! :)
Our team did well, as our tri guy won, and then we got 5th, and then two more in the top 15. The crazy thing is that Tommy (the tri guy) had ridden 100 miles and then run 10 yesterday. That's sick. There is a reason this guy gets paid to do Ironman Hawaii.
Well, Pace Bend is tomorrow. Hopefully that will go better. It's still fun even when I get shelled.... I felt better today as tons of people just got destroyed, I wasn't the only one. Hope everybody is having a good weekend!
Labels: cycling, pace bend, UTCC
12:29 PM |
Monday, February 19, 2007
Mmmm
My new favorite continental cycling team. Mmmm, Chipotle.
3:56 PM |
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Crazy
Two cycling related items. Gaynor, if you're reading you may want to just skip this post. ;)
First, I went to spin class at the gym tonight. I figure if I can't ride outside, I might as well start using all my indoor options: the trainer and spin class. It was hard. I was trying to keep my cadence really high and keep up with the teacher. I definitely got a good work out. The spin bikes are nice as you can adjust the heck out of them to get a decent fit. The pedals are Look style, so my Shimano cleats did pop out of them at one point. That was a little freaky. But it is definitely a good option, as I need to get my rear in shape. And that brings us to the second point.
I decided to start racing two weeks earlier than originally planned by signing up for the Tour of New Braunfels Omnium stage race on Feb. 3 and 4. There are a ton of people from our team signed up, so I figure I might as well go down there. Time to suck it up and bite the bullet. At least this way I'll get my first race this year out of the way before the first collegiate race. However, what this means is that I'm going to be way out of shape in a week and a half when I pull up to the start line. It's a road race on Saturday and a time trial and crit on Sunday. Not sure if I'll do all of them, but I plan on at least doing the road race and time trial. I like time trials. I may hold out on the crit...
Labels: cycling, training, UTCC
10:14 PM |
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
The Long Road Home
Whew... quite a week and a half. As some of you may have noticed, djwhitebread.com went down. This was because I forgot to renew the domain name registration. Whoops. After some friendly assistance from the folks at pairNIC the site is now back up and running.
We had a good time at home. I was able to get several bike rides in with David and one in with Jeff and Charlene as well. We saw all the family, got to meet my little cousin James for the first time, and generally soaked in the Christmas spirit.
You may think this is a total copout post, and well, it sort of is.
I know my posting of late as been subpar. I have lost my usual frequency, and my sitemeter numbers reflect that. I hope to get things going back in the right direction as this new year has now dawned.
If you didn't watch the Fiesta Bowl of Boise State vs. Oklahoma last night you missed one of the most exciting football games I've seen since last year's national championship (and really, I'm not sure anything will ever surpass that). Boise State pulled every play out of their crazy play book to beat OU in overtime. Then one of their start players proposes to his girlfriend the head cheerleader after the game on national television. You can't get much better than that. And, as a bonus, this makes the BCS look silly and shows one more time why we should have some type of playoff system.
Well, I hope everybody is having a good new year, and may we all have good luck keeping our resolutions!
Labels: bcs, cycling, new year, ou sucks, training
12:34 PM |
