One, Two.....Get down

Not much to report this week. I haven't gotten around to a podcast, but I'll throw one up later this week for the 8 of you who are actually listening to them (thanks again for doing that). It's midterms week here at SPAS which means it's mostly a study week except for today (monday) and friday. Tue-thurs the kids have their exams and get to study during any class that doesn't have an exam that day. What this means for me is that this week I have very little to do, which I'm kind of looking forward to. I've got a pile of grading that's been growing the longer I ignore it (surprising, I know) that I'm hoping to tackle full on.

One of my co workers got in a car accident last week, hit his face on the windshield (he wasn't wearing his seat belt) and fractured a vertebrae in his neck. Apparently he's going to recover, but he's in the hospital, he's got one of those immobilizing halo's screwed into his skull and he'll be out of the office for a couple weeks. This was oddly surprising. I've seen more accidents here in the last 7 months than I probably have in my 22 years in the US, but I still haven't heard of any that involved anyone I know. Also, most of them are just minor fender benders with no injuries. So while it wasn't surprising to hear about another car crash, it WAS surprising to hear that the outcome was so severe.

I went for a pretty killer bike ride on saturday complete with over 2000 meters of climbing and a top elevation of 1200 meters. One climb was 20 kilometers long with the last 3k so steep that I had to be out of the saddle to pedal because even in my lightest gear I couldn't keep my pedals moving if I was sitting down. That said, the gearing on my bike is heavier than most (which means the mountains are harder for me because my easiest gear is harder than most others') and I made it to the top first with one other rider and a couple minutes ahead of the other 4 in our group. Another climb featured a section about 500 meters long at an 18% grade after already 5k of climbing. If you don't know gradients I'll just tell you that's pretty effing steep. All in all, it was a pretty brutal ride which made it all the more worthwhile, especially since I was supposed to be at an open house all morning and in to the afternoon on saturday for my school, but I managed to talk my way out of it. Apparently no more than 10 people showed up so I was much happier with my decision to go for a 100k bike ride instead of stand around my work on a saturday.

Speaking of bikes, I finally paid for mine which means I am now the proud owner of a 2008 Lemond 'tete de course' Triomph Ultimate. It is an all carbon frame with full Dura-Ace components. If you know anything about bikes, you'll understand that this is a REALLY sweet ride. If you don't know anything about bikes I'll make it easy for you: All put together the whole thing weighs 15 pounds and I can pick it up with just my pinky. The switch from a 20 year old steel frame with down tube shifters (which I still love and ride around town as my 'getting places' bike) to a almost brand new carbon racing bike was unbelievable. I'll stop being all bike nerdy and just say that I love it, I'm bringing it home for the summer and if anyone wants to go for a ride, let me know.

Since this post has been fairly bikecentric anyways, I'll close with this. I kind of dove head on into cycling this past year and it ahs been great. It's something I've really enjoyed and something I look forward to doing seriously for a long time. There are a lot of disciplines and one of my favorite is Cyclocross. It's something I want to pursue more and that part of me dreams of someday competing at a semi-pro level (I don't think I'll ever stop dreaming of competing at a pro level in a sport some day) Why? you may ask. Because if I ever won a race then this would be my trophy:

Photo ©: Bill McCarrick/www.buffalo2step.com


And like pale legs in the springtime, I'm out.