It's payback time for all those poor asteroids who have been victimized by those naughty, naughty projectile-firing triangular spacecrafts since the 1970's.
This time it's personal.
Asteroid's Revenge
via DaringFireball
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
DALMAC 2006
Pedal, drink, eat, sleep, repeat
OK, OK, it was a lot more fun than that description. In fact I've been a little bummed out ever since it ended.
The weather was great. Maybe a tad cool as I had my leg warmers on most of the ride every day, but nothing to complain about. Heck, we were outside and not getting rained on, frozen, or cooked. Can't ask foir much better. Day 1 we had a strong NorthEasterly wind. That was less fun than days 2 through four where winds were neglible upon us and mostly shielded by trees.
"The Wall" was all we seemed to talk or worry about for the first 3 days and a couple hours of day 4. We tried to conserve energy on day's 2 and 3 to make sure we had legs left for "the Wall".
When we turned the corner just out of East Jordan and "The Wall" came into sight, It seemed incredibly small to me, compared to it's legend. I asked some riders passing us as we approached it if this was "The Wall", and one replied "No, it's after this one", he then turned to his buddy and said. "Im messing with thier heads" (Max was right beside me). It just seemed the lead up from East Jordan was far less steep than we were led to believe sO I had to question whether this was it. "The Wall" itself was much less awe inspiring, but with the turns following what I had memrized on the map and the STEEP HILL sign, this was it.
Now don't get me wrong, what it lacks in size it makes up for in steepness. My cyclecomputer registered grades of 19% at the top. It basically gradually increases in grade as it rises, maxing out just before the top. Speaking of maxing out, my heart rate, hit the 170's at the top. I had to stand up on the pedals to keep the weight from shifting off of my front wheel half to two-thirds of the way up. As I came to the gets your atention part of the hill, one rider zoomed past while another pulled even with me on my left and held there for a while. Referring to his faster buddy, I asked him, "Is it easier to ride it fast?", he replied "For him it is." I ask, "Why's that?". With a laugh in his voice, he says "Because he's insane". I ended up surging at the top to pass this young whipper-snapper. These are my memories of "The Wall".
Much to my surprise. I didn't pass out from exhaustion on the bus ride home that night, although I did nap briefly, probably for less than an hour. I'd heard that everyone sleep on the bus home, but I'm guessing only half the passengers did.
Max is already asking about next year. Will it be DALMAC or Ride the Rockies.
OK, OK, it was a lot more fun than that description. In fact I've been a little bummed out ever since it ended.
The weather was great. Maybe a tad cool as I had my leg warmers on most of the ride every day, but nothing to complain about. Heck, we were outside and not getting rained on, frozen, or cooked. Can't ask foir much better. Day 1 we had a strong NorthEasterly wind. That was less fun than days 2 through four where winds were neglible upon us and mostly shielded by trees.
"The Wall" was all we seemed to talk or worry about for the first 3 days and a couple hours of day 4. We tried to conserve energy on day's 2 and 3 to make sure we had legs left for "the Wall".
When we turned the corner just out of East Jordan and "The Wall" came into sight, It seemed incredibly small to me, compared to it's legend. I asked some riders passing us as we approached it if this was "The Wall", and one replied "No, it's after this one", he then turned to his buddy and said. "Im messing with thier heads" (Max was right beside me). It just seemed the lead up from East Jordan was far less steep than we were led to believe sO I had to question whether this was it. "The Wall" itself was much less awe inspiring, but with the turns following what I had memrized on the map and the STEEP HILL sign, this was it.
Now don't get me wrong, what it lacks in size it makes up for in steepness. My cyclecomputer registered grades of 19% at the top. It basically gradually increases in grade as it rises, maxing out just before the top. Speaking of maxing out, my heart rate, hit the 170's at the top. I had to stand up on the pedals to keep the weight from shifting off of my front wheel half to two-thirds of the way up. As I came to the gets your atention part of the hill, one rider zoomed past while another pulled even with me on my left and held there for a while. Referring to his faster buddy, I asked him, "Is it easier to ride it fast?", he replied "For him it is." I ask, "Why's that?". With a laugh in his voice, he says "Because he's insane". I ended up surging at the top to pass this young whipper-snapper. These are my memories of "The Wall".
Much to my surprise. I didn't pass out from exhaustion on the bus ride home that night, although I did nap briefly, probably for less than an hour. I'd heard that everyone sleep on the bus home, but I'm guessing only half the passengers did.
Max is already asking about next year. Will it be DALMAC or Ride the Rockies.
My speedy little brother
Andrew finished the Detroit Free Press Marathon in 3:09:36 a couple weekends ago. Impressive. A personal best for him, and only the 144th runner to finish. He was 14th out of 447 in his age class.
For comparison, he only gave 10 minutes to Lance Armstrong (2:59:36) who ran the New York City Marathon last weekend. From how Andrew described the marathon, it's sure a lot more fun to ride a bike 100 miles or maybe even 200.
You can see all of the results here.
For comparison, he only gave 10 minutes to Lance Armstrong (2:59:36) who ran the New York City Marathon last weekend. From how Andrew described the marathon, it's sure a lot more fun to ride a bike 100 miles or maybe even 200.
You can see all of the results here.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Whose forecast is most accurate?
I used to get all of my weather from TV, then I switched to Weather.com , then my brother, Andrew, told me that Accuweather was more accurate, so I had to switch. Well it was partially because their page loaded faster, too.
Next my daughter, Kimmy, told me her teacher had proclaimed Wunderground.com the most accurate. I like their easily accessible sunrise and sunset data. It comes in handy when you have to be out riding early or late. But I digress.
Everyone has an opinion about whose weather forecasting is the best. Now there's a site that can settle the dispute with real data, Forecast Advisor. Here's a brief description in their own words.
"ForecastAdvisor will also show you the accuracy of the major weather forecasters, including Accuweather, Intellicast, MyForecast, The Weather Channel, and the National Weather Service. We also provide links to your city's weather forecast at all the other weather forecasters, so you can compare for yourself."
This doesn't settle the assertion about Wunderground, they didn't make the cut. But is does demonstrate that the differences in accuracy between the top sites can be quite significant. If you try weather for cities in different parts of the US, you will see the forecasts are more or less accurate. Honolulu or San Diego weather are easier to predict than East Lansing or Cleveland.
Next my daughter, Kimmy, told me her teacher had proclaimed Wunderground.com the most accurate. I like their easily accessible sunrise and sunset data. It comes in handy when you have to be out riding early or late. But I digress.
Everyone has an opinion about whose weather forecasting is the best. Now there's a site that can settle the dispute with real data, Forecast Advisor. Here's a brief description in their own words.
"ForecastAdvisor will also show you the accuracy of the major weather forecasters, including Accuweather, Intellicast, MyForecast, The Weather Channel, and the National Weather Service. We also provide links to your city's weather forecast at all the other weather forecasters, so you can compare for yourself."
This doesn't settle the assertion about Wunderground, they didn't make the cut. But is does demonstrate that the differences in accuracy between the top sites can be quite significant. If you try weather for cities in different parts of the US, you will see the forecasts are more or less accurate. Honolulu or San Diego weather are easier to predict than East Lansing or Cleveland.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Holding out hope for Floyd.
I'm stil lholding out hope that Floyd Landis won the Tour de Fracne fair and square. This piece by John Eustice, a former racer, thinks something smells foul with the whole situation.
What if Floyd Landis was innocent. (International Herald Tribune 8/16/06)
Here are some quotes for the lazy among you.
---
"I''ve lived this sport for 35 years and know the European professional cycling circuit intimately, and I feel strongly that in this case something is wrong."
"Landis had an ironclad reputation in the racing world as a clean rider."
"Whenever an athlete tests positive for banned drugs, you look to see who is close to them. Landis's trainer, Dr. Allen Lim, an exercise physiologist from Colorado, is an expert in the use of power meters, devices that attach to racing bicycles and measure power output. According to Lim, the "improbable" stage 17 victory on July 20 was a triumph of strategy, science and Landis's vitality. Landis averaged 280 watts over the five hours of the ride, but he has averaged 320 for six hours in training - documented proof, according to Lim, that the performance was well within Landis's capability."
"If Lim and Landis were going to cross over to the dark side, testosterone would not be their bridge. There are many more effective means to cheat. Testosterone has limited effect, and in any case must be used in a cumulative manner; it is not a one-day wonder, like taking a shot of amphetamines. So where was it in all the other tests?"
"It is also worth noting that the validity of current testosterone testing methods is not universally accepted within the scientific community. A similar testosterone doping case brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was recently overturned."
---
Now this still doesn't address the detection of synthetic testosterone. The olny source I see for this is a "unidentified source" in the New Yotk Times piece early on in the process. No testing authorities that I have seen quted have ever mentioned that the tests found synthetic testostosterone.
Floyd's testotsterone leves tested within the normal range. His epitestosterone leves were depresssed. ( Doping is deternmined by the ration of testosterone to epitestosterone.)
If you've read some of the links from my previous post, you know that tightening of doping test values inevitably leads to some innocent athletes turining up false positives. Hopefully this is one of those situations.
What if Floyd Landis was innocent. (International Herald Tribune 8/16/06)
Here are some quotes for the lazy among you.
---
"I''ve lived this sport for 35 years and know the European professional cycling circuit intimately, and I feel strongly that in this case something is wrong."
"Landis had an ironclad reputation in the racing world as a clean rider."
"Whenever an athlete tests positive for banned drugs, you look to see who is close to them. Landis's trainer, Dr. Allen Lim, an exercise physiologist from Colorado, is an expert in the use of power meters, devices that attach to racing bicycles and measure power output. According to Lim, the "improbable" stage 17 victory on July 20 was a triumph of strategy, science and Landis's vitality. Landis averaged 280 watts over the five hours of the ride, but he has averaged 320 for six hours in training - documented proof, according to Lim, that the performance was well within Landis's capability."
"If Lim and Landis were going to cross over to the dark side, testosterone would not be their bridge. There are many more effective means to cheat. Testosterone has limited effect, and in any case must be used in a cumulative manner; it is not a one-day wonder, like taking a shot of amphetamines. So where was it in all the other tests?"
"It is also worth noting that the validity of current testosterone testing methods is not universally accepted within the scientific community. A similar testosterone doping case brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was recently overturned."
---
Now this still doesn't address the detection of synthetic testosterone. The olny source I see for this is a "unidentified source" in the New Yotk Times piece early on in the process. No testing authorities that I have seen quted have ever mentioned that the tests found synthetic testostosterone.
Floyd's testotsterone leves tested within the normal range. His epitestosterone leves were depresssed. ( Doping is deternmined by the ration of testosterone to epitestosterone.)
If you've read some of the links from my previous post, you know that tightening of doping test values inevitably leads to some innocent athletes turining up false positives. Hopefully this is one of those situations.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Floyd doping?
I heard on WJR this morning that no testosterone doping allegation has ever held up when taken to the sports "court" that decides these matters. This could be the first one, but that's not likely.
From what I understand, the current testing for testosterone is flawed. It tends to produce falst positives and with the reduction of the tolerance is going to produce more false positives than the old standard used to.
This article was helpful:
Inferences about Testosterone
Abuse among Athletes
I found it through this post. (referenced in my previous post.)
I cannot imagine why Floyd would dope with testosterone in these circumstances. I've read that it aids recovery, that makes sense considering what happened in stage 16, but the typical application would be for strength bulding during training, not for race day. Could he have had so much recovery benefit that he could ride away from all the others by 6.5 minutes? Also, if you do take testosterone using a patch, it leaves your system within 40 minutes to an hour so it would be gone from his system after riding for four or five hours like they did in Stage 17.
In addtion to all of this, I understand Floyd's actual testosterone level tested quite low. That it was only high in proportion to the epitestosterone level. It seems that the way they are measuring testosterone doping needs some significant improvement. At least, that's what I've read.
I'll be quite interested to see how this plays out.
From what I understand, the current testing for testosterone is flawed. It tends to produce falst positives and with the reduction of the tolerance is going to produce more false positives than the old standard used to.
This article was helpful:
Inferences about Testosterone
Abuse among Athletes
I found it through this post. (referenced in my previous post.)
I cannot imagine why Floyd would dope with testosterone in these circumstances. I've read that it aids recovery, that makes sense considering what happened in stage 16, but the typical application would be for strength bulding during training, not for race day. Could he have had so much recovery benefit that he could ride away from all the others by 6.5 minutes? Also, if you do take testosterone using a patch, it leaves your system within 40 minutes to an hour so it would be gone from his system after riding for four or five hours like they did in Stage 17.
In addtion to all of this, I understand Floyd's actual testosterone level tested quite low. That it was only high in proportion to the epitestosterone level. It seems that the way they are measuring testosterone doping needs some significant improvement. At least, that's what I've read.
I'll be quite interested to see how this plays out.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Floyd news and non-news
The reporting on Floyd's alleged doping is pretty curious. One headline read.
"Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone."
Gee. Is someone, ever so slightly, uninformed about male biology? Most of the stories I can find, leave me with a lot of unanswered questions and also take a guilty approach to the reporting. (There is still the second sample to test. That will happen on Monday.) I bring this up because testing regulations only consider a positive test valid if both samples test positive.
Here's the best information I've found.
This Malcom Gladwell piece, Drugstore Athlete, I discovered via the above article, was the best explanation I could locate on doping tests and how athletes can avoid detection. Section 3 addresses testosterone specifically. This quote sums up doping pretty well.
"The bottom line is that only careless and stupid people ever get caught in drug tests," Charles Yesalis says. "The elite athletes can hire top medical and scientific people to make sure nothing bad happens, and you can't catch them."
If the tests caught Floyd doping, it was a stupid mistake by his support crew. I don't consider that likely at this high level of cycling.
"Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone."
Gee. Is someone, ever so slightly, uninformed about male biology? Most of the stories I can find, leave me with a lot of unanswered questions and also take a guilty approach to the reporting. (There is still the second sample to test. That will happen on Monday.) I bring this up because testing regulations only consider a positive test valid if both samples test positive.
Here's the best information I've found.
This Malcom Gladwell piece, Drugstore Athlete, I discovered via the above article, was the best explanation I could locate on doping tests and how athletes can avoid detection. Section 3 addresses testosterone specifically. This quote sums up doping pretty well.
"The bottom line is that only careless and stupid people ever get caught in drug tests," Charles Yesalis says. "The elite athletes can hire top medical and scientific people to make sure nothing bad happens, and you can't catch them."
If the tests caught Floyd doping, it was a stupid mistake by his support crew. I don't consider that likely at this high level of cycling.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
A Piece of Landis
Outside magazine has a piece on Floyd Landis . He's definitely no Lance clone.
Excerpts below, You should really read it all. Dave Zabriskie and Floyd are quite the pair.
. . .
LANDIS ADORES logic. There is no easier way to infuriate him than to say or do something that does not make sense. We are in a Girona restaurant drinking beer and shooting the breeze with the Z-Man when I begin a sentence with the phrase "Of course, it could be worse . . ."
"What does that mean, really?" Landis wants to know. "Of course it could be worse. If you are alive—if you are standing up and have breath in your lungs to say those words—then, yes, I agree, you're definitely right, it could be worse."
Or later, when Z-Man mentions an athlete who spoke about "giving 110 percent."
"Well, why not 112 percent?" Landis inquires, eyes widening with burning incredulity. "Why not 500 percent or 1,300 percent or 38 billion percent? I mean, if he can crank it up beyond 100 percent, why not? What's stopping him, exactly?"
. . .
"Everybody wants to say, 'I couldn't win because of this or that,' " he says. "To my way of thinking, it doesn't matter if your goddamn head fell off or your legs exploded. If you didn't make it, you didn't make it. One excuse is as good as another."
Landis takes a sip and leans forward in his chair. "There's only one rule: The guy who trains the hardest, the most, wins. Period. Because you won't die. Even though you feel like you'll die, you don't actually die. Like when you're training, you can always do one more. Always. As tired as you might think you are, you can always, always do one more."
. . .
via Kottke
Excerpts below, You should really read it all. Dave Zabriskie and Floyd are quite the pair.
. . .
LANDIS ADORES logic. There is no easier way to infuriate him than to say or do something that does not make sense. We are in a Girona restaurant drinking beer and shooting the breeze with the Z-Man when I begin a sentence with the phrase "Of course, it could be worse . . ."
"What does that mean, really?" Landis wants to know. "Of course it could be worse. If you are alive—if you are standing up and have breath in your lungs to say those words—then, yes, I agree, you're definitely right, it could be worse."
Or later, when Z-Man mentions an athlete who spoke about "giving 110 percent."
"Well, why not 112 percent?" Landis inquires, eyes widening with burning incredulity. "Why not 500 percent or 1,300 percent or 38 billion percent? I mean, if he can crank it up beyond 100 percent, why not? What's stopping him, exactly?"
. . .
"Everybody wants to say, 'I couldn't win because of this or that,' " he says. "To my way of thinking, it doesn't matter if your goddamn head fell off or your legs exploded. If you didn't make it, you didn't make it. One excuse is as good as another."
Landis takes a sip and leans forward in his chair. "There's only one rule: The guy who trains the hardest, the most, wins. Period. Because you won't die. Even though you feel like you'll die, you don't actually die. Like when you're training, you can always do one more. Always. As tired as you might think you are, you can always, always do one more."
. . .
via Kottke
Saturday, July 22, 2006
A Bike for Seven
Friday, July 21, 2006
Doggie Goggles = Doggles
On the Road to Minneapolis
Thanks to Noel, you can see the white vans that are coming to take Becky and Kimmy, and another 19 or so high schoolers and volunteers, away to Minneapolis. Looks like an upgrade from last year.
When I was in college we made these trips in old school buses, complete with a storage and sleeping loft and bad brakes. How things change.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
Where is God?
Instead of spamming all my firends, I'm posting a joke Bob e-mailed me. Read at your own risk.
---
A couple had two little boys who were always getting into trouble.
Their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their village, their sons
were probably involved.
The boys' mother heard that an elder in town had been successful in
disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her sons.
The elder agreed, but asked to see them separately.
So, the mother sent her youngest son first, in the morning. The elder,
a huge man with a booming voice, sat the boy down and asked him sternly,
"Where is God?" The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response.
So the elder repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God!!?"
Again the wide-eyed boy made no attempt to answer.
The elder raised his voice and bellowed, "WHERE IS GOD!?" The boy
screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into a closet,
slamming the door behind him.
When his older brother found him hiding, he asked, "What happened?"
The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in BIG
trouble this time. God is missing, and they think WE did it!"
---
A couple had two little boys who were always getting into trouble.
Their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their village, their sons
were probably involved.
The boys' mother heard that an elder in town had been successful in
disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her sons.
The elder agreed, but asked to see them separately.
So, the mother sent her youngest son first, in the morning. The elder,
a huge man with a booming voice, sat the boy down and asked him sternly,
"Where is God?" The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response.
So the elder repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God!!?"
Again the wide-eyed boy made no attempt to answer.
The elder raised his voice and bellowed, "WHERE IS GOD!?" The boy
screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into a closet,
slamming the door behind him.
When his older brother found him hiding, he asked, "What happened?"
The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in BIG
trouble this time. God is missing, and they think WE did it!"
Friday, June 02, 2006
For my programming buddies
O'Reilly has a brief piece on the distinction between engineers and software developers, Why We're Not Really Engineers (via reddit.com). I'm not a coder, but I can appreciate the programming process being improved. Better development processes, better software. More productivity for the rest of us.
While wer'e on the topic, Oracle Security Officer Mary Ann Davidson recently criticized the software industry and its culture of "patch, patch, patch."
"What if civil engineers built bridges the way developers write code?" she asked. "What would happen is that you would get the blue bridge of death appearing on your highway in the morning."
Hopefully tools like Alloy will lead to less "blue bridges of death".
While wer'e on the topic, Oracle Security Officer Mary Ann Davidson recently criticized the software industry and its culture of "patch, patch, patch."
"What if civil engineers built bridges the way developers write code?" she asked. "What would happen is that you would get the blue bridge of death appearing on your highway in the morning."
Hopefully tools like Alloy will lead to less "blue bridges of death".
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