Sunday, July 31, 2005
Numbers game: Ten Thousand Hours
How long does it take to get good? To maximize your potential in an endeavour? ten thousand hours. If you're going to be world-class, you'll be world-class after that much practice.
And if not? Well, you'll be as good as you can be.
And if not? Well, you'll be as good as you can be.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Self-Transformation and You
I suspect I've made it clear at one point or another on Wired Cola, but I'm a reasonably fit, pretty serious competitive cyclist. That was not true as recently as 2002, when I was no more than a guy who rode a bike to work sometimes.
More notably, until the Fall of 2001 I was pretty much a guy who didn't do any regular exercise, and who had never been really fit. Sometime in 1996 I managed to be less overweight than usual, but that was it.
How did this happen? The short answer is that I found a way to make exercise a habit, and all good flowed from there.
The real trick is making exercise -- or anything else -- a habit. I'm not done with making good habits, not by a long shot. My current goal is to get into the habit of finishing things, or to put it another way, of getting things done. I have a lot of personal fixes I want to make, but they come slowly.
I am fascinated by self-transformation, both in myself and in others. From the number of personal-improvement books out there, I'd say many people are the same way. Here's my consolidated, underinformed, simplified view of the literature:
Most self-improvement books are junk: if I could express the single bad idea I see existing in most self-improvement plans, be they diets, time-management, two-minute management, or winning friends and influencing people, it's their obtuse assertions that this book has a canonical answer. One of the reasons there are so many self-improvement books is because there are so many paths to self-improvement. Not only is any one book-based plan right or wrong, it's my guess that most of them will be wrong for you.
But most self-improvement books are worthwhile: yep. Because except in the case of outright charlatans, they are mostly the product of self-improvement specialists, be they Richard Simmons, Anthony Robbins, or David Allen, who have succeeded to some extent.
I think the contradiction arises because people vary in how they are motivated, and what they will find habit forming.
In my own case, let's just look at one problem. In 2000, I was clearly eating too much and working out hardly at all. I was not in great shape.
By the end of 2001, I was a lot lighter, mostly because my eating habits had changed: The Lovely One started feeding me healthier food, and I dropped around 15 pounds in a year. The big transformation there was just eating what she served, and thus keeping portions in check (somewhat) and reducing the amount of crummy food I ate.
The next step was starting to exercise. In my case, I sort of stumbled onto riding my bike to work. I was motivated by a small desire to save some money, and a large desire to get some regular exercise. But I stayed with bike commuting like no other exercise before.
Why? Bike commuting had a few elements that suited me perfectly:
The lesson here is not that cycling is a panacea: The Lovely One has never really enjoyed it, and many people I know look at one aspect or another of my workout and just shake their heads. The point is that cycling was a solution especially suited to my needs and my weaknesses. That last thing is important: cycling worked around the things I was bad at.
In comparison, The Lovely One walks our new, very energetic dog. She does this about 45 minutes a day. That activity works superbly for her, because it suits her personality and needs in a way that cycling does not.
Don't worry, I'll come back to this topic later.
More notably, until the Fall of 2001 I was pretty much a guy who didn't do any regular exercise, and who had never been really fit. Sometime in 1996 I managed to be less overweight than usual, but that was it.
How did this happen? The short answer is that I found a way to make exercise a habit, and all good flowed from there.
The real trick is making exercise -- or anything else -- a habit. I'm not done with making good habits, not by a long shot. My current goal is to get into the habit of finishing things, or to put it another way, of getting things done. I have a lot of personal fixes I want to make, but they come slowly.
I am fascinated by self-transformation, both in myself and in others. From the number of personal-improvement books out there, I'd say many people are the same way. Here's my consolidated, underinformed, simplified view of the literature:
Most self-improvement books are junk: if I could express the single bad idea I see existing in most self-improvement plans, be they diets, time-management, two-minute management, or winning friends and influencing people, it's their obtuse assertions that this book has a canonical answer. One of the reasons there are so many self-improvement books is because there are so many paths to self-improvement. Not only is any one book-based plan right or wrong, it's my guess that most of them will be wrong for you.
But most self-improvement books are worthwhile: yep. Because except in the case of outright charlatans, they are mostly the product of self-improvement specialists, be they Richard Simmons, Anthony Robbins, or David Allen, who have succeeded to some extent.
I think the contradiction arises because people vary in how they are motivated, and what they will find habit forming.
In my own case, let's just look at one problem. In 2000, I was clearly eating too much and working out hardly at all. I was not in great shape.
By the end of 2001, I was a lot lighter, mostly because my eating habits had changed: The Lovely One started feeding me healthier food, and I dropped around 15 pounds in a year. The big transformation there was just eating what she served, and thus keeping portions in check (somewhat) and reducing the amount of crummy food I ate.
The next step was starting to exercise. In my case, I sort of stumbled onto riding my bike to work. I was motivated by a small desire to save some money, and a large desire to get some regular exercise. But I stayed with bike commuting like no other exercise before.
Why? Bike commuting had a few elements that suited me perfectly:
it fit into my schedule: my commute is 60 minutes a day by car. By bike, it is now about the same, but with about a 30 minute allowance for extra clean-up, changing clothes, et cetera. By transit it's probably 90 minutes at least. The real magic is that by replacing my commute with a bike commute, I combine two functions: getting to work, and getting in some exercise. From a time-management viewpoint, this is a massive win. If they were separate, I would be looking at about 90 extra minutes a day to get the same benefit.
It fit my commute: long enough to be a workout, but short enough to be feasible, my commute fits into a sweet spot that won't exist for all people. I even got some painful, transforming hills in the bargain.
I had to finish the workout once I started it: oh, what a key this is! When I get up in the morning, there is only one key go/no-go decision: do I get into my bike shorts or not? Once that happens, everything else is set. Once I get out on the bike, I have to get to work. Once I get to work, I have to ride home. That may have been the most important factor in forcing me to stick with this habit. Some people will not need this kind of push, though.
It was purposeful: commuting is a real activity. Even today, when I ostensibly cross-train to help my bike racing, I have a hard time sticking with calisthenics. They're just so aimless, and there's always a good excuse for avoiding them. But for some people, I think the pluses of push-ups (you can do them in your living room, and the weather is never a factor) make this activity a big win.
the downsides of the activity didn't bother me: if you fear traffic or are averse to bad weather, bike commuting won't work for you. There's not much arguing this. You might be able to pick a quiet route, or get over your fear of commuting in traffic, but you'll probably be better off with a different activity.
I like riding: this helps a lot. Cycling has aesthetic, mechanical, and even athletic attractions for me. In a world of sports that require skill and practice, cycling was one which required much less skill than most, and which I was already practicing on my way to work. Discovering that my commute to work was accidentally preparing me to become a competitive athlete was a shocking side effect. Liking cycling and being perky also meant I was never intimidated by the pretty serious hills between home and work. I rode them because to get to work, they had to be ridden, and because I wouldn't believe they couldn't be ridden.
The lesson here is not that cycling is a panacea: The Lovely One has never really enjoyed it, and many people I know look at one aspect or another of my workout and just shake their heads. The point is that cycling was a solution especially suited to my needs and my weaknesses. That last thing is important: cycling worked around the things I was bad at.
In comparison, The Lovely One walks our new, very energetic dog. She does this about 45 minutes a day. That activity works superbly for her, because it suits her personality and needs in a way that cycling does not.
Don't worry, I'll come back to this topic later.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Fun with Primes
Holy moly. I won the prime sprint in last night's Tuesday Night training crit, which means I have won prime sprints in each of the last three crits I have entered. And adding glory to glory, I managed to pick up third place in the finish, too, and teammate John, after doing colossal amounts of work all race, came from way back to sprint into second place, and good on him!
Excellent teamwork, and I just felt at ease for the whole race. Suck 2 again, maybe even Suck 1. The guy who won the race just went a little earlier and more audaciously in the sprint than I expected, and I think I would have had the legs to beat him if I had been smarter.
The prime sprint? Went into my favourite corner third in line, confident at that point that nobody could get around me because 1 and 2 were so quick. was second into the complex set of esses before the straight, and when the first guy went, I just sat on him, looked back to make sure we were clear of the others, and then came over the first guy without any trouble.
Today's a flex day for me, so it's berry-picking time. The blackberries are in full force.
Excellent teamwork, and I just felt at ease for the whole race. Suck 2 again, maybe even Suck 1. The guy who won the race just went a little earlier and more audaciously in the sprint than I expected, and I think I would have had the legs to beat him if I had been smarter.
The prime sprint? Went into my favourite corner third in line, confident at that point that nobody could get around me because 1 and 2 were so quick. was second into the complex set of esses before the straight, and when the first guy went, I just sat on him, looked back to make sure we were clear of the others, and then came over the first guy without any trouble.
Today's a flex day for me, so it's berry-picking time. The blackberries are in full force.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Danica McKellar, Paul Erdös, and a twist ending
Viva Forteanism! Danica McKellar, most famous as Winnie from The Wonder Years, is more than just a pretty face. It turns out she studied mathematics in university, and even published a pretty serious mathematical paper. I won't examine the details (because I can't), but here's the best question from her Stuff Magazine interview:
After chatting with Erick a bit, I suggested that she was probably at a key point in the 2-D hotness/mathematical prowess graph: hotter than anyone more mathematically inclined than her, and more mathematically inclined than anyone hotter than her.
The inevitable questions came up: what's her Erdös Number? It's 4. What's her Bacon Number? It's 2. Is that the lowest combined Erdös-Bacon number? No. That has been presumed to be a prize belonging to Brian Greene, or maybe Bruce Reznick, though if you allow the latter claim, you are doomed to admit the very strong probability that the lowest current Erdös-Bacon sum is 3, and is held by...
Hank Aaron?!?
After the show, you attended UCLA, became a genius and published a paper on Percolation and Gibbs states multiplicity for ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller models on Z2. I really enjoyed the part on infinite occupied clusters.
It’s really complicated and not that interesting to most people.
After chatting with Erick a bit, I suggested that she was probably at a key point in the 2-D hotness/mathematical prowess graph: hotter than anyone more mathematically inclined than her, and more mathematically inclined than anyone hotter than her.
The inevitable questions came up: what's her Erdös Number? It's 4. What's her Bacon Number? It's 2. Is that the lowest combined Erdös-Bacon number? No. That has been presumed to be a prize belonging to Brian Greene, or maybe Bruce Reznick, though if you allow the latter claim, you are doomed to admit the very strong probability that the lowest current Erdös-Bacon sum is 3, and is held by...
Hank Aaron?!?
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Cycling: Lance and I are on fire
Well, let's be clear: he is cruising to victory in the greatest bike race in the world, I'm showing remarkable power and ability in local low-category racing. But qualifiers aside, let's talk about Lance Armstrong first:
He's a machine. Having simply done enough to devastate his rivals by having only good days in the mountains while they sometimes had bad ones, he now leads the Tour de France by almost 3 minutes, and if anything he's likely to take more time out of his rivals on the penultimate time trial stage (because of the nature of bike racing, the stages between now and Saturday's TT pose no danger: on relatively flat stages, or ones where the mountains are far from the finish, Lance's Discovery teammates can work together via drafting in a paceline to easily catch anyone who is still a threat to his GC hopes (there aren't many: the tenth-place rider in the General Classification is a hopeless 12 minutes down)). The final stage on Sunday is almost always ceremonial for GC classification, though the sprinters are usually busy sorting out the places in their contest.
But as much as Lance has dominated this Tour, he has done so quietly, without an individual stage win yet. Meanwhile, his team, earlier maligned for situations in which they left Armstrong more exposed that is customary, has become a dominant force in the race. Overlooked is that two of Armstrong's teammates have won stages in the last few days, they just took a lead in the relatively obscure team standings, and their hope for the future, Yaroslav Popoyvich, has a comfortable lead in the Best Young Rider (white jersey) category.
The punchline is that most of those achievements have come largely as side-effects of tactics that were designed to help Lance win. Even without Armstrong, Discovery would be a very, very powerful team.
Now back to me: after winning a watch in a race two weeks ago, I haven't raced at all since. Did it hurt me? It did not. I went to the World Tuesday Night Championships last night, lined up with the Cat 4s, and went for it. I was feeling good all night, and proved it by winning another prime sprint, and then recovering well enough from that effort to pick up fourth place at the finish, to the surprise and delight of my teammates. Suck Level 2, and arguably my best race of the year.
The prime sprint was another one where I benefitted from the folly of others. In a bit of an experiment, I tried to take off from the pack far earlier than usual on the prime lap, and dared anyone to follow. As soon as I booked out, the pack instantly strung out, and was closing fast. So I moved across the road, denying the approaching front of the pack, now seriously single-file, any chance at my wheel. The leader of the pack followed my move, and by now we were closing on a tight corner. So I set up for the corner, still ahead of the pack, and whipped through in best ex-motorcyclist fashion at top speed.
Behind me I heard the distinct sounds of a crash in the corner. I carried on, pushed harder, and when I finally looked back, there was nobody behind me. I took the prime by hundreds of metres, and then spent a very slow hill-climb recovering from my efforts.
The rest of the race was fairly interesting: three escaping riders came up to me, I tried to hang on to their wheels, while my teammates (as I found later) were doing their best to shut down the pack. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay with the escapees, but fortunately, I was able to stay with the pack when it came by, and spent my time sitting in and recovering. The pack caught two of the other riders as well, and we all sprinted for second place (the remaining breakaway rider took first place by a vast margin).
Tonight: Steamworks Tour de Gastown. You and 30,000 other screaming fans watching some of the fastest racers on this continent. I don't think I'll be able to make it, but I still recommend it. On the weekend, the brutally hard Tour de White Rock goes off, and I will be there, since I'll be driving one of the support vehicles, also known as the best seats in the house.
He's a machine. Having simply done enough to devastate his rivals by having only good days in the mountains while they sometimes had bad ones, he now leads the Tour de France by almost 3 minutes, and if anything he's likely to take more time out of his rivals on the penultimate time trial stage (because of the nature of bike racing, the stages between now and Saturday's TT pose no danger: on relatively flat stages, or ones where the mountains are far from the finish, Lance's Discovery teammates can work together via drafting in a paceline to easily catch anyone who is still a threat to his GC hopes (there aren't many: the tenth-place rider in the General Classification is a hopeless 12 minutes down)). The final stage on Sunday is almost always ceremonial for GC classification, though the sprinters are usually busy sorting out the places in their contest.
But as much as Lance has dominated this Tour, he has done so quietly, without an individual stage win yet. Meanwhile, his team, earlier maligned for situations in which they left Armstrong more exposed that is customary, has become a dominant force in the race. Overlooked is that two of Armstrong's teammates have won stages in the last few days, they just took a lead in the relatively obscure team standings, and their hope for the future, Yaroslav Popoyvich, has a comfortable lead in the Best Young Rider (white jersey) category.
The punchline is that most of those achievements have come largely as side-effects of tactics that were designed to help Lance win. Even without Armstrong, Discovery would be a very, very powerful team.
Now back to me: after winning a watch in a race two weeks ago, I haven't raced at all since. Did it hurt me? It did not. I went to the World Tuesday Night Championships last night, lined up with the Cat 4s, and went for it. I was feeling good all night, and proved it by winning another prime sprint, and then recovering well enough from that effort to pick up fourth place at the finish, to the surprise and delight of my teammates. Suck Level 2, and arguably my best race of the year.
The prime sprint was another one where I benefitted from the folly of others. In a bit of an experiment, I tried to take off from the pack far earlier than usual on the prime lap, and dared anyone to follow. As soon as I booked out, the pack instantly strung out, and was closing fast. So I moved across the road, denying the approaching front of the pack, now seriously single-file, any chance at my wheel. The leader of the pack followed my move, and by now we were closing on a tight corner. So I set up for the corner, still ahead of the pack, and whipped through in best ex-motorcyclist fashion at top speed.
Behind me I heard the distinct sounds of a crash in the corner. I carried on, pushed harder, and when I finally looked back, there was nobody behind me. I took the prime by hundreds of metres, and then spent a very slow hill-climb recovering from my efforts.
The rest of the race was fairly interesting: three escaping riders came up to me, I tried to hang on to their wheels, while my teammates (as I found later) were doing their best to shut down the pack. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay with the escapees, but fortunately, I was able to stay with the pack when it came by, and spent my time sitting in and recovering. The pack caught two of the other riders as well, and we all sprinted for second place (the remaining breakaway rider took first place by a vast margin).
Tonight: Steamworks Tour de Gastown. You and 30,000 other screaming fans watching some of the fastest racers on this continent. I don't think I'll be able to make it, but I still recommend it. On the weekend, the brutally hard Tour de White Rock goes off, and I will be there, since I'll be driving one of the support vehicles, also known as the best seats in the house.
Friday, July 15, 2005
It's The Lovely One's birthday
Happy Birthday to The Lovely One! Birthday wishes to rsaloust at hotmail dotcom. Hopefully, the deck box waiting for her on the back patio will be exactly what she wanted. Tonight we go out to Wild Rice, and then for a little light Shakespeare.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Tour de France: Get ready for Saturday
Okay, the big guns have been quiet since Tuesday, if you're interested in the GC. Friday isn't much more important, and should be another day where Discovery just holds down the fort while GC no-hopers (is that too technical? What I mean is a rider who has lost so much time on earlier stages that they can't possibly threaten the yellow jersey even if they make a relatively large time gain) go off for breakaways and stage wins, and maybe a few more riders find a way to sink out of contention of one jersey or another.
Then comes Stage 14. Observe that profile like Tuesday's stage, this one features a big mountain closely followed by a big mountaintop finish. With the added stings of more days of racing, more depleted teams (Discovery lost Triki Beltran, one of their mountain specialists, to a crash this week), and time running out, this is a stage where all the favourites will have to be prepared for major attacks.
In other words? The game plan for Discovery is for the team to control the stage, fly up the second climb, burn themselves up, and then Lance takes over and finishes off whoever is left, just like on Tuesday.
If I'm reading the time schedule correctly, the expected finish will be between 7:30 and 8:20 on Saturday morning, PDT. The racing will be quite intense for the last hour or two as they face the Port de Pailheres and the romantically named Ax-3-Domaines.
Then comes Stage 14. Observe that profile like Tuesday's stage, this one features a big mountain closely followed by a big mountaintop finish. With the added stings of more days of racing, more depleted teams (Discovery lost Triki Beltran, one of their mountain specialists, to a crash this week), and time running out, this is a stage where all the favourites will have to be prepared for major attacks.
In other words? The game plan for Discovery is for the team to control the stage, fly up the second climb, burn themselves up, and then Lance takes over and finishes off whoever is left, just like on Tuesday.
If I'm reading the time schedule correctly, the expected finish will be between 7:30 and 8:20 on Saturday morning, PDT. The racing will be quite intense for the last hour or two as they face the Port de Pailheres and the romantically named Ax-3-Domaines.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Waterbug?
This is The Lovely One's favourite shot. It's the same bug, on the same Bug (The Good Thing).
Does this bug you?
DSCN2713.JPG
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Tour-watch: Lanceification
Well, can I call it or what? Tuesday's stage was an awe-inspiring display of power. In short: Lance put the yellow jersey back on today, and all but destroyed the hopes of most of the theoretical challengers. It was an amazing thing to see Armstrong just open up, and then watch names like Ullrich, Vinokourov, Heras, and many more just drop away like they were in some other race.
Credit must go to those who stayed with him, and in the end there were three who lasted most of the way, and only one who went to the finish line with the Texan. Rasmussen, Valverde, and Mancebo: they rode with Lance. Rasmussen is well on his way to earning the King of the Mountains title; Valverde got an amazing stage win, and Mancebo helped his teammate Valverde to get there, but still stayed around to collect fourth place.
It's not game over yet. There's many more hard days. There's many more chances for Armstrong to falter or suffer a mishap or just turn out to be old. But so far, all of his challengers look much older than he does.
Wednesday's stage will be even tougher on the riders, with more hard hills, but the lack of a mountaintop finish should make for a less decisive event. Dropped riders can catch up on descents, and packs of riders can draft each other and make time on solo escape artists.
Credit must go to those who stayed with him, and in the end there were three who lasted most of the way, and only one who went to the finish line with the Texan. Rasmussen, Valverde, and Mancebo: they rode with Lance. Rasmussen is well on his way to earning the King of the Mountains title; Valverde got an amazing stage win, and Mancebo helped his teammate Valverde to get there, but still stayed around to collect fourth place.
It's not game over yet. There's many more hard days. There's many more chances for Armstrong to falter or suffer a mishap or just turn out to be old. But so far, all of his challengers look much older than he does.
Wednesday's stage will be even tougher on the riders, with more hard hills, but the lack of a mountaintop finish should make for a less decisive event. Dropped riders can catch up on descents, and packs of riders can draft each other and make time on solo escape artists.
Friday, July 08, 2005
I don't suck!
I'm tired now, but I just had one of my best races ever. Won a prime sprint for a swanky watch, and was dangerously close to taking a podium spot. Some entertaining numbers: I saw a peak heart rate of 203 bpm, which is, frankly, something close to inhuman, but was consistent with the other readings I got. My max speed was over 60 km/h, and that on a dead-flat course.
I think this means I have the hang of Thursdays.
There's gonna be a picture-dump soon.
I think this means I have the hang of Thursdays.
There's gonna be a picture-dump soon.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Things to Do in Vancouver: Tall Ships
As part of the new SeaVancouver festival ("it's Sea-Fest without the drunken rioting!"), the Tall Ships have returned.
What more need be said? You either like big wooden sailboats, or you don't. I do. Actually, the whole SeaVancouver festival seems interesting, and runs July 6-10 in and around False Creek, Kits beach, et cetera.
Back to the tall ships specifically: the vessels arrive in English Bay between 12:30 and 3:30 on Thursday, July 7. If I read the website correctly, the ships will mostly be docked to a temporary mid-bay moorage they're calling Tall Ship Island, which sounds kind of neat. I'm thinking it will be like the village in Waterworld, only good.
Pricing: Note that SeaVancouver will sell you a $15, all-days General Admission wristband, but this won't actually get you onto Tall Ship Island or get you boarding privileges. For that you need the Tall Ship Wristband, which is $20 for one day, or $30 for all days. General admission to the rest of SeaVan is included in that price. Senior/student discount pricing may or may not be still available; it's listed as an "early bird" option.
What more need be said? You either like big wooden sailboats, or you don't. I do. Actually, the whole SeaVancouver festival seems interesting, and runs July 6-10 in and around False Creek, Kits beach, et cetera.
Back to the tall ships specifically: the vessels arrive in English Bay between 12:30 and 3:30 on Thursday, July 7. If I read the website correctly, the ships will mostly be docked to a temporary mid-bay moorage they're calling Tall Ship Island, which sounds kind of neat. I'm thinking it will be like the village in Waterworld, only good.
Pricing: Note that SeaVancouver will sell you a $15, all-days General Admission wristband, but this won't actually get you onto Tall Ship Island or get you boarding privileges. For that you need the Tall Ship Wristband, which is $20 for one day, or $30 for all days. General admission to the rest of SeaVan is included in that price. Senior/student discount pricing may or may not be still available; it's listed as an "early bird" option.
Ryan Cousineau racing his bicycle: A Spotter's Guide
It was pointed out to me that certain fans of mine who came out to watch me race last week didn't know what I look like on the bike.
This is understandable: 60 riders, 40 km/h, and picking out a face is going to be hard.
So here it is. On the bike, I look like this. I'm in the red and white Escape Velocity uniform
The key things to notice in that shot are my gangster colours, which are a constant. The other thing that makes me easy to pick out is that I'm one of the smaller, rounder riders. The distinctive white frame of my bicycle, The Whip, should make for clear identification, too. The helmet, alas, could be either black (shown) or red, depending on which one I pull off the wall.
As for when to see me next, well, that's tricky. The next major event I'm likely to contest is the BC Criterium Championships on August 14. I'm sure you all want to get up for a bike race that starts in North Van at 8:45 on a Sunday morning. Anyone? Anyone?
More sensibly, I'll be doing most of the Tuesday nighters at UBC, and hope to do more of the Thursday nighters in Richmond. Those races run weekly, weather permitting, until the end of August.
This is understandable: 60 riders, 40 km/h, and picking out a face is going to be hard.
So here it is. On the bike, I look like this. I'm in the red and white Escape Velocity uniform
The key things to notice in that shot are my gangster colours, which are a constant. The other thing that makes me easy to pick out is that I'm one of the smaller, rounder riders. The distinctive white frame of my bicycle, The Whip, should make for clear identification, too. The helmet, alas, could be either black (shown) or red, depending on which one I pull off the wall.
As for when to see me next, well, that's tricky. The next major event I'm likely to contest is the BC Criterium Championships on August 14. I'm sure you all want to get up for a bike race that starts in North Van at 8:45 on a Sunday morning. Anyone? Anyone?
More sensibly, I'll be doing most of the Tuesday nighters at UBC, and hope to do more of the Thursday nighters in Richmond. Those races run weekly, weather permitting, until the end of August.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Things you think are a hoax, but aren't.
Cat Agility Contests. You know, like Superdogs, except for cats.
The photos and story from their first training event are not to be missed.
Well, I'm pretty sure it's not a hoax...
The photos and story from their first training event are not to be missed.
Well, I'm pretty sure it's not a hoax...
Monday, July 04, 2005
The Good Thing explained; Good Eating
First things last: Supafamous is all over Kobayashi's repeat at the hot dog eating contest. No record this year, but still utterly dominant.
And now, "The Good Thing" explained. A surprising number of you took a guess, but nobody came close. Jak gets bonus points for referencing the VW Thing, a possibility which he argued coherently for. But no.
The Lovely One and I are familiar with the reference from the obscure 60s film If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. But the joke surely originated somewhere other than that movie.
During one sequence, the characters visit London's SoHo district, at that time the swinginest place on the planet. As they go clothes shopping, there are a series of quick cuts to what are presumably t-shirt slogans. One is What about the good things Hitler did?
So for the Beetle-Hitler connection, you have to know that the orginal Volkswagen ("people's car") was designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (yes, same Porsche), but was championed by Hitler (that article is a pretty good history of the Beetle) as a car for the masses.
But then, while researching the Beetle's origins, I came up with this story of the Englishman (!) who actually started the Volkswagen's production.
But I'll give you a ridiculous bald-faced assertion. Hitler's...legacy...can probably be summed up 50 years after WWII as the creation of four substantial and lasting things. The EU and the UN, both designed to stop future Hitlers, and so far, so-so, with some qualifiers and doubts about the future, are two of them. The other two were probably the VW Beetle and the Autobahn system.
The Autobahn still works, and is still a benchmark for world freeway systems. I like cars, so there will be no big rant following that statement.
The VW Beetle was one of the most successful and prolific cars ever. It virtually became the definitive cheap car in the free world between 1950 and sometime in the 1970s, when the Japanese really conquered the market. Even after that, production persisted in many markets.
For good and bad, the New Beetle is merely a retro-riffic echo of that car, much like the new Mini. The bad part is that the New Beetle is not really cheap, and not nearly as influential as the original (VW sells far more Golfs and Jettas than they do Beetles; it's just a fun image car and a few extra sales for them). The good part is that it's a pretty good car, which the original Beetle never was.
And now, "The Good Thing" explained. A surprising number of you took a guess, but nobody came close. Jak gets bonus points for referencing the VW Thing, a possibility which he argued coherently for. But no.
The Lovely One and I are familiar with the reference from the obscure 60s film If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. But the joke surely originated somewhere other than that movie.
During one sequence, the characters visit London's SoHo district, at that time the swinginest place on the planet. As they go clothes shopping, there are a series of quick cuts to what are presumably t-shirt slogans. One is What about the good things Hitler did?
So for the Beetle-Hitler connection, you have to know that the orginal Volkswagen ("people's car") was designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (yes, same Porsche), but was championed by Hitler (that article is a pretty good history of the Beetle) as a car for the masses.
But then, while researching the Beetle's origins, I came up with this story of the Englishman (!) who actually started the Volkswagen's production.
But I'll give you a ridiculous bald-faced assertion. Hitler's...legacy...can probably be summed up 50 years after WWII as the creation of four substantial and lasting things. The EU and the UN, both designed to stop future Hitlers, and so far, so-so, with some qualifiers and doubts about the future, are two of them. The other two were probably the VW Beetle and the Autobahn system.
The Autobahn still works, and is still a benchmark for world freeway systems. I like cars, so there will be no big rant following that statement.
The VW Beetle was one of the most successful and prolific cars ever. It virtually became the definitive cheap car in the free world between 1950 and sometime in the 1970s, when the Japanese really conquered the market. Even after that, production persisted in many markets.
For good and bad, the New Beetle is merely a retro-riffic echo of that car, much like the new Mini. The bad part is that the New Beetle is not really cheap, and not nearly as influential as the original (VW sells far more Golfs and Jettas than they do Beetles; it's just a fun image car and a few extra sales for them). The good part is that it's a pretty good car, which the original Beetle never was.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Stochastic Surfing at its best
According to the usually so-so Jalopnik This Honda UK ad won a Cannes ad award. It's so happy!
I'm going to go hate something now.
I'm going to go hate something now.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
I Don't Suck Much
I celebrated our nation's birthday yesterday by pummeling myself in a bike race. To wit: the Yaletown Grand Prix. Results aren't posted yet, but I didn't finish in the money. But I still had a pretty good race. Suck level 3. Why so good? Well, with a big team in the Cat 4/5 race, we planned (and mostly did) slam breakaway after breakaway on the main pack. I went for an early flyer that stayed away for a couple of laps, making it easy for my surprisingly numerous fans to find me, since they kept announcing my name and number as a result.
I even had half a chance at a points-paying position in the end, but I was on the wrong side of a last-lap crash, and while I didn't fall down, I came to a dead stop, and straggled across the line in a nothing position, somewhere in the top half of the field.
It felt good. Maybe my best race this year. Racing always hurts less when you get a result you like.
In other news, this morning there was a bike race in France you might have heard of. I'm not one for getting too caught up in the Lanceophilia that surrounds a certain 6-time winner and defending champion of the Tour de France, but in today's opening time trial stage, Mr. Armstrong made a monstrous statement. He came second by two seconds to the winner (TT specialist Dave Zabriskie: he won't be in the running when the race hits the mountains). But Lance, 2s behind Dave, was 51s ahead of third place man Alexandre Vinokourov, and in the most dramatic image of the day, caught and passed Jan Ullrich on the road. That means that Lance took over a minute out of his keenest rival on the first day of the Tour, and nearly a minute out of all of his serious rivals. To put that time gap in perspective, he has won the tour by less.
Lance Armstrong is ready for this race. It should be an interesting few weeks.
The next question is which stages really matter? Well, stay home on Tuesday, July 12, when the race has its first mountaintop finish. Sunday the 17th will be another epic mountain stage, and may be the decisive stage.
The two other days that really matter to the GC riders chasing after the yellow jersey are the team time trial on July 5, and the final time trial on July 23, the penultimate day of racing. But TTs are fairly dull to watch on TV, so just check your favourite news source for results.
I even had half a chance at a points-paying position in the end, but I was on the wrong side of a last-lap crash, and while I didn't fall down, I came to a dead stop, and straggled across the line in a nothing position, somewhere in the top half of the field.
It felt good. Maybe my best race this year. Racing always hurts less when you get a result you like.
In other news, this morning there was a bike race in France you might have heard of. I'm not one for getting too caught up in the Lanceophilia that surrounds a certain 6-time winner and defending champion of the Tour de France, but in today's opening time trial stage, Mr. Armstrong made a monstrous statement. He came second by two seconds to the winner (TT specialist Dave Zabriskie: he won't be in the running when the race hits the mountains). But Lance, 2s behind Dave, was 51s ahead of third place man Alexandre Vinokourov, and in the most dramatic image of the day, caught and passed Jan Ullrich on the road. That means that Lance took over a minute out of his keenest rival on the first day of the Tour, and nearly a minute out of all of his serious rivals. To put that time gap in perspective, he has won the tour by less.
Lance Armstrong is ready for this race. It should be an interesting few weeks.
The next question is which stages really matter? Well, stay home on Tuesday, July 12, when the race has its first mountaintop finish. Sunday the 17th will be another epic mountain stage, and may be the decisive stage.
The two other days that really matter to the GC riders chasing after the yellow jersey are the team time trial on July 5, and the final time trial on July 23, the penultimate day of racing. But TTs are fairly dull to watch on TV, so just check your favourite news source for results.
