Monthly Archives: July 2008

Spaghetti legs and a ride into Paris

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It’s funny how one day I can go out on a ride and feel strong, feel like even when it hurts it’s okay, feel like I can attack a hill and give it my all. And then there are days like this one.

I don’t know exactly what was going on, but I felt like I had nothing extra in the tank. Every hill was a struggle. I still did my usual ride – about 35 miles and an average speed of 16.5 mph, but it wasn’t as exhilarating as some days. That’s not to say I’m not glad I went. Gotta do the miles, even when the miles are harder to do. Part of the problem may be a lack of rides during the week to keep me in tone. My legs just felt like spaghetti.

On the way back into the development I saw Marcella on the way out for her ride, but about 15 minutes later she was home. She had a very unfortunate asthma attack that cut short her trip. That’s too bad. I don’t think she’d had an attack in a long time so it caught her unprepared. From now on she’ll have to take her inhaler with her.

So now we are watching the final stage of the Tour. It’s mostly a procession at this point. Carlos Sastre has won the yellow jersey, which means he is the overall winner of the race, but there will likely be a sprint to win the final stage and get glory on the Champs Élysées in Paris.

I think I’m glad Sastre won. He’s got a reputation as a nice guy, and even though he was one of the people tipped to be a contender there was still a sense that he was a long-shot. So—well done, Carlos.

Here shortly we’ll break out a baguette and some brie to capture a little bit of the Tour flavor on the final day. It’s a little bit of a tradition that Marcella and I have. In the past we’ve also done strawberries and champagne, but we are keeping things a little simpler this year.

Batman – The Dark Knight

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Marcella and I contributed yesterday to the box-office of The Dark Knight. We were really happy to see it. It’s a marvelous movie—simultaneously good summertime action adventure movie, crime drama, and morality study.

Ledger’s performance has gotten the most press, and it is very easy to see why…he is absolutely riveting as the Joker. This is simply one of those moments when someone transcends the expected.

But he’s not the only thing good about this movie. Performances are good all around. The script is solid, and the overall direction is good too. There is really very little wrong with this movie, and there are a few moments that will make you squirm in your seat—like when the Joker is telling a story about how he got his scars, and other moments that will make you go, “holy cow!”—like when Batman deals with the Joker and a tractor-trailer.

This movie is also very dark. There is chaos and death. That is what the Joker trades in, and he delights in setting people impossible choices that usually lead to someone dying, and the movie doesn’t pull its punches in that regard. People do die in this movie.

I absolutely do recommend you go see this film. This is the greatest example yet of what a superhero movie can truly be.

Good morning ride, sleepy afternoon

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The ride this morning was just fine. The humidity was high, but luckily it stayed overcast for the duration of my ride which helped to keep the heat under control. I managed 35 miles at an average speed of 16.6.

Last week I bought a new cycling computer from a co-worker. He was upgrading his so I bought his Garmin Edge 305 from him. This is kind of cool because it is a GPS device which lets me now track not only speed and distance, but also things like elevation, and it stores the course which can be downloaded to my computer. It also has a built in heart rate monitor. All in all, a really cool device. I haven’t begun to really even make use of all the functions it has. Sometimes these things take a little time to learn.

I didn’t really see too much of note today. The ride was very uneventful, and sometimes that is just perfect. I think the only other cyclist I saw was Marcella leaving the development as I entered. She was heading out for her ride. We stopped and touched base for a minute along the side of the road and then I continued on home.

At the house, after she had also returned from her ride, we watched today’s stage of the Tour. It was a pretty exciting stage with lots of attacks by the leaders against each other on the final climb. The yellow jersey did change hands, and is now being worn by Frank Schleck of Team CSC-Saxo Bank. I think this is probably a good move by Cadel Evans. Now his team won’t have to control the race for a few days, but he’s still close enough that he’s got a good chance of taking it back in the final climbing stages and in the time trial which is the penultimate stage.

We ran a few errands after lunchtime, and then I fell asleep on the couch for a while. It’s been a good day, but once again it is gone all too fast.

The ProTour is dead

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This is a stunning bit of news from the rest day at the Tour de France.

The UCI’s ProTour series appears to be officially dead after all 17 teams
at the Tour de France decided to leave the series and not renew their
licences next season.

“It has been decided unanimously not to renew the ProTour licences
for the 2009 season,” read a joint statement from the teams.

full story at cyclingnews.

Saturday bike ride

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Marcella and I got out this morning for a Saturday morning bike ride. She’s been wanting to get back on the bike and we finally managed to get up and get it done.

We took Hilltop to Grandover to Guilford College and then Mackay back home. In total it was just over 13 miles. The pace wasn’t high, but it was a good start for getting her comfortable again in the saddle, and there are a couple of demanding hills that take coming to grips with, and she managed them with an easy steadiness.

The weather is nice. Warm, but not severely uncomfortable yet. All in all it was a real nice morning. Now we are drinking coffee and watching Stage 8 of the Tour de France.