Seasons Greetings

Have a Merry Blogmas, a Happy Blognukka and a very healthy Blog Year.

(Cross posted from the other blog I seem to inhabit.)

Due Diligence

I did not lose any money with Bernard Madoff. This is not some sort of boast, and has nothing to do with my superior investing savvy. It has everything to do with my not having enough money for him to bother with me and the fact that I had never heard of him before two weeks ago seems also relevant.

That said, this article provides a nice lesson in doing due diligence with regards to investing. It also seems to provide an answer to this article.

What the Newest Car Ad Looks Like

Tim Jackson has a knack for finding some very funny stuff.

The Day the Earth Stood Stillborn

I saw the first trailer for the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. My first impression was of another stupidly produced remake trading on the fame and good will of a science fiction classic. I am usually not interested in a remake that merely adds modern special effects, usually at the expense of a decently updated script. But, then I heard a Scientific American podcast of an interview with Scott Derrickson, the director of the movie and was encouraged that maybe the trailer was a case of bad marketing. Perhaps the film was good, but it is being marketed using the traditional methods of emphasizing the special effects. I was further encouraged that Michael Shermer gave it a positive review. Of course, Shermer is a science writer, not a movie reviewer, and I don't know if he and I have similar movie taste, so I checked with Roger Ebert. He didn't like it much, and after reading his review, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it much either.

I also watched the extended trailer which added nothing to my expectations. Finally, I visited Rotten Tomatoes and the news there wasn't so good either. My two favorite quotes there:

"There was nothing wrong with the original that warranted a re-do--other than pursuit of legal tender." -Gary Brown, Houston Community Newspapers

"You'll be doing yourself a huge favor if you go into this movie with lowered expectations. "
-Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

Perhaps that's the best advice.

From Cross Racing to Cross Skiing

I got in about six and a half hours of cross country skiing Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I was in Saugatuck and from Thursday night until Sunday it just about never stopped snowing. We hit the dunes and the Allegan Game Area and conditions couldn't be any better. On Friday afternoon, the Game Area had a foot to a foot and a half of soft powder which made for a great workout in a beautiful forest. The dunes were magnificent. It's snowing here right now and I'll probably get in about an hour of skiing tomorrow morning.

Well, if it's too cold and icy to ride, I'm happy to have good skiing conditions right outside my door.

Northbrook Cyclocross

photo taken by Luke

I got a late start to the "Save Ferris" cx race in Northbrook. That figures. Since it is the closest race to my house and I took for granted that I could sleep in a bit and not pack the night before. Big mistake. I wanted to arrive with at least an hour to register, attach my number, warm up and pre-ride what was rumored to be a challenging course (it was). Instead, I got there only about a half hour before race time and, in the rush to get on the course, attached my number on the wrong side (rookie mistake thinking that all races require the number on the same side). Luckily a patient race official was able to right my mistake with seconds to spare before the start.

The one practice lap I got in told me the story of a very technical, twisty, off-camber festival. No barriers to jump over (rats, I'm getting good at that) and two stair climbs. This is going to be, er, fun.

I registered to race both the 40+ Masters race and the 4a race. It was a damp 37 degrees when I arrived, but at least there wasn't any wind. As usual, the Masters got off to a very fast start and my position near the back didn't help much. As we got through the first section of twisty, off camber turns through the trees, a rider went down ahead of me. I was able to avoid hitting him or the many riders around him and dismount, run past them and remount. Looking good, but not for long. My first fall came on the hairpin turn at the top of the sled hill. It was the first of four or five falls on that initial lap. I attribute this to either my being too aggressive on the turns (which is an improvement over my usual tentativeness) or the lack of the right tires for the conditions (as if I have any others). I also decided to run that turn for the rest of the race.

The first lap cost me time and confidence and I wound up taking 27th out of 31 which is a slight improvement over Hawthorn. Ed got a nice shot of me looking pretty intense:



I now had three hours to kill before the 4a race. I ate a sandwich, drank some coffee and a lot of water and put on some additional clothing for warmth. I also took a few pictures and rode around to pass the time and help keep me warm.

I did get in one more practice lap after the women's race and this was key. I got some great advice from Tom S on how to handle that first hairpin turn on the bike and was able to practice it two or three times.

For the 4a race, I made sure to get a good starting position. This was important as there were 54 riders in this field and that first turn would probably get ugly. Not being in the top 10, I didn't get called up, but I did get in the second row.

I hammered the start as if it were a closing sprint and kept good position for the trees. I handled that hairpin turn on the sled hill perfectly (if a little slowly) and raced a nearly clean race. Unfortunately for me, I lost time every lap on the stairs to faster climbers and the various areas of the course that were muddy sapped my strength and speed. It was also getting windy which didn't help. I was very happy with my race and thought I did better than 42nd place.



Overall, a really great cyclocross race. I prefer the more technical course, because, well, they're more fun. There were also a lot of photographers out and you can see their pictures here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Plans

Riding Cross tomorrow morning at Daniel Wright Woods. Racing 40+ and 4a Sunday in Northbrook.

In case you want to participate in some races after Montrose, there are these races in Michigan.

Change of Plans

I had no legs today and decided not to bother going to St. Charles to race. I'm going to save myself for Northbrook Sunday. Did an easy spin this morning and nearly got dropped so I guess I made the right choice. I think I need a couple days off.

But I don't wanna take a couple days off with this nice weather.

Oh well...

Morning on the DPR

We did about 45 miles on the DPR this morning. This was my favorite picture.

Thoughts on Carpentersville

I really enjoyed the cyclocross race in Carpentersville this year. The changes to the course made it more challenging and more fun. More fun, of course, in retrospect. During the race all I could think about was why the heck was I doing this to myself? Looking back, I handled the barriers well and have a photo to prove it:



This year, the race layout gave more room to attempt to ride through the sand pit. During my one and only pre ride lap, I forgot that there was a large lip into the pit and nearly did an endo as my front wheel dropped and dug in as I entered. Luckily I was properly sitting back in my saddle and was able to recover. The first time through during the race I was behind someone who dismounted to run it so I had to correct my line at the last minute and lost all momentum and had to execute an emergency dismount. I compounded the problem by missing the remount at the end and lost some time (and dignity). Luckily, no one captured this Kodak moment (UPDATE: apparently this guy did, but I'm not buying a print or providing a link). I rode the sand cleanly all the remaining laps.

I still need to work on my speed through sharp turns as this is costing me time and energy that I clearly do not have to spare--based on my finishing placement (41 of 54).

And then there was Superman:



Ok. This raises several questions:

Shouldn't Superman be able to ride through the sand pit?

Or be able to leap over it?

And what was Superman doing in the 4b race?

Wait. I'm confused. What's Superman doing in a skirt? If that's Supergirl, shouldn't she be in the women's race? Maybe it's Superman who's confused.

Next race for me is St. Charles. Come on out and bring your cowbell.

Friday Quote

This quote came up in conversation recently:

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."

Douglas Adams, from his book (written with Mark Carwardine): Last Chance to See.

I'm Published!

Well, not really, but this was fun to find. A photo of mine was used in a blog posting. As my son would say: "How random is that?"

Hawthorn Woods Cyclocross Race

I raced both the Masters race at 10:00 and the 4a at 2:15. This was taken after the 4a race.



That about sums it up.

Stretch?

Bottom line: Stretching is good for you, but don't stretch before exercising and it won't reduce muscle soreness.

Photogenic Lake

Rode the trail at the end of the day Wednesday. This is what greeted me when I arrived back at the parking lot:

Morning Ride

No, I didn't race in DeKalb this morning. I didn't want to drive an hour and a half to race in the rain with possible thunderstorms. I didn't relish the idea of riding in a park on a metal bike with the threat of lightning. And no, wet rubber tires don't provide any protection against lightning.

So instead, I did the 8:00 Des Plaines River Trail ride. As you can see, it was a beautiful morning here, way out east.



It was a small group today, but it felt good to get in two hours of riding on the trails.

Note to Gurnee, the underpass under 176 is open and not under water, so you should change the sign.

Which US Senator Shaves His Legs?

Nope. Read the title again and note the pronoun.

Stumped?

Answer here.

Beer

Which country drinks the most beer on a per capita basis? The top 20 are here in an annoying slideshow format. The US is number 13. Not that it's a competition or anything.

Trails

Another harbinger of 5 AM cross riding in the woods. Oct 7. GTE ride. Just two more weeks.

Can't wait.

Wear a Helmet

Yet another reason why you should always wear a helmet when you ride.

Because you never know...