Jim's Guts

%*&@! Frustrated…

The Cycle U team had a New Year's Eve ride scheduled for this morning and what a great day for it – A cold but very pretty morning, no clouds, very little wind, and around 35 degrees. About 7 of us met in Leschi to do the south Lake Union Loop (down along the water on the west side, around the Renton airport, then up the eastside and over I-90), because it was a recovery week for most of us, the pace was leisurely, around 17mph, and it was fun to get outside on the road. That is until the first small climb when I had nothing. I went as low as I could go in gearing, and was trying to spin it out, but I had nothing. I'd lumber up the climbs and then jam on the flats to try not to hold up the group too much. Finally around Renton I told the rest of the team to go ahead and not hold up for me. In the end I decided to turn back at the airport getting in 20 miles in about 75 minutes.

If this was an isolated incident I wouldn't be as bummed out about it, but the fact that hills and climbing continue to be my Achilles Heel is both disappointing and frustrating. I was prepared to ride today, had a good breakfast and plenty of "fuel in the tank". Thanks to the L&T I had great new wool socks to keep my feet warm. This should have been a great morning, instead I'm wondering if joining a team might have been a little premature…

Quick hits…

Vacation photos – I’ve kind of avoided the whole post your pictures online thing, figuring “who’d want to see my vacation photos except us”. But I was talking about it with classmate while spinning the other day and came to the rationalization that I love seeing my friends’ photos online. I really enjoy getting to see them, what they did, where they went, and the like. So I’ve posted our San Diego trip pictures on Flickr. It’s a public album and you can find them here if you’re interested…

The hardest birthday party I’ve ever been to – One of my coaches had a birthday party last night, but it wasn’t you typical cake and ice cream sort of event, or even an adults go out for drinks thing. It was a two hour, kick your arse, spinning class, complete with rolling hills and a time trial. Maybe the hardest spinning class I’ve ever done, but it was a blast. Oh, and for the record, we went out for beer after…

Global climate change – It’s snowing again in Western Washington. And while that alone isn’t too big a surprise, the fact that it’s the 3rd snowfall of the year is. Historically, Seattle got one or maybe two snows a year (and not every year), but over the last couple of years that’s been changing. Western Washington is now seeing more frequent and greater quantities of snow than previously recorded. Global climate changes isn’t a hoax, and it’s not just a vast liberal conspiracy, the climate is changing, and while you can argue the long term effects and what it means for the planet and humanity, you can’t really argue that it isn’t happening…

Cool Christmas gift – I need to, as the kids would say, give a shout-out (because I'm hip like that) to our “niece” “m” (of M & m) for one of the cooler gifts I’ve received in a while. I had hoped it was going to be a Boise Youth Rider Development Squad jersey (BYRDS is the team "m" rides for). And it was, but at first glance it seemed way too small for me. Then I noticed the left shoulder had not only been signed, but personalized, by former World and multi-time National Champion Kristin Armstrong! Click on the thumbnail for a better view. Thanks again M & m!

“Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K…”

As days go, yesterday may have been one of my most surreal in many a year. To set the stage I should mention that in addition to going to the Poinsettia Bowl, the larger more overarching reason for our trip to San Diego was to scatter Mr. Stout's ashes. I decided to do that yesterday…

We started the day by cruising up the coast roads from Mission Beach (where the L&T and I are staying) up to La Jolla where we decided to have some breakfast. The spot we stopped had a nice view of the La Jolla Cove, and while chatting with our extremely perky waitress she mentioned she had just completed her finals the previous night. That prompted the usual "Where are you going, what are you studying" line of questions. At that point she mentioned that she was studying to be a Physician's Assistant. Umm, that's great, odd coincidence that it was Eric's profession, but still…

After breakfast we went up to a place Stout and I spent many hours and countless numbers of quarters, University Towne Center. Saturday mornings were usually spent with breakfast at The Broken Yolk (the L&T and I will be having our pre-game breakfast there later today) then up to UTC for a movie, hanging out, and playing video games. Besides the fact that it has gotten a lot bigger and the video game place was closed, it was pretty much the same UTC we left 20 years ago.

I wanted to spread Stout's ashes that afternoon, so we went to Sunset Cliffs, another frequent stop for us. The L&T stayed up on the cliffs as I made my way down a bit, and after a bit of pondering, I finally said my San Diego goodbye. I worked my way back up, and we got in our car and prepared to take off. The song that was just starting as we left? "Dead Man's Party" by Stout & Smith favorite Oingo Boingo (we must have seen them in concert 10 or 11 times). Like I said, surreal…

Next stop was the former Naval Training Center, San Diego (soon to be called, and I'm not making this up, click the link – "Liberty Station") where Stout and I went to boot camp. It's now a sub-division home, middle and high school, and commercial complex. Except for one thing – Back behind a Courtyard by Marriot still stands the U.S.S. Recruit, a plywood "ship" that was used to teach us how recruits how to get on and off of ships, how to "dog" hatches (shutting watertight doors), and other arcane bits of seamanship. Weird…

We went to the Navy pep rally onboard the U.S.S. Midway, formerly an aircraft carrier it's now a floating museum. It was kind of fun to show the L&T what life onboard a ship was like. The rally itself was short but fun. Before the rally we went to Seaport Village (another location of much hanging out, hey, we were poor) and while looking in one of the kitsch stores the L&T was looking at surfboard key chains and in the slot for "James" was an "Eric". Odd…

To finish the evening, we took a couple of "kids" to dinner. We had met Ens. Rigney almost 5 years ago in Houston at the EV1.net Bowl, she's the niece of our friends Sharon & Gemma, and we hung out briefly before that game. When I knew we were coming down to SD, I got in touch with her to see if she'd be available for dinner. So Ens. Rigney, and her friend a Midshipmen 2^nd Class (that's a Junior to most of you) met us at Island Prime (great steaks). I was struck at dinner by the fact that I was there celebrating the end of two Navy careers with two "kids" just starting theirs. It was a nice way to finish an excellent adventure…

Doping…

Doping in sports is a serious problem, and something that desperately needs to be fixed. That said, I'm tired of hearing so called "major" sports fans hypocritically telling me how bad doping is in cycling. It's a shame that doping has been a scandal during the last two Tour de Frances, and it gives racers and cycling fans a bit of a black-eye, but what about the 1,000 other professional cycling races? And the tens of thousands of doping control tests that are conducted each year?

Because cycling an Olympic sport it falls under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which means the top three winners of every stage of every race get tested. It also means that there is extensive testing out of season testing as well. If you heard anything about the 2007 Tour it was probably how a guy who was in 1^st place got kicked out of the race. He didn't get kicked out because he tested positive for drugs, he was kicked out because he wasn't where he said he was going to be during the offseason. Let that sink in a minute, kicked out of cycling's equivalent to the Super Bowl or the Daytona 500 because he wasn't available for a doping test.

This might be a good time to review the punishments for doping in "major" sports?

MLB* – 1^st = 50 game suspension and "public identification of the offender". 2^nd = 100 game suspension.
NFL (a sport I love) – 1^st offense = 4 game suspension. 2^nd = 8 games. 3^rd = year.
NBA – 1^st offense = 10 game suspension. 2^nd = 25 games. 3^rd = year.
NHL – 1^st = 20 game suspension. 2^nd = 60 games. 3^rd = lifetime.

Compare that to cycling – 1^st offense = 2 year ban. 2^nd = lifetime. And, if a rider tests positive during a major Tour event, the entire team is removed from the race. Imagine that happening in baseball.

Like I said in the first paragraph, doping is a serious problem, and I heartily support and applaud teams like Slipstream who are taking a more holistic approach to stop doping on their team (basically it does genetics testing year round, you can read more here) But I am beyond tired of having football, baseball, and the like's fans telling me how bad my sport is. They only difference between cycling and the "big 4"? Cycling is serious about its anti-doping testing and punishments for offenders.

I'll leave the final word to Bill Simmons talking about the results of the Mitchell report on MLB doping – "The greatest hitter and pitcher of the past 50 years both cheated to get where they were ... and if that's not enough, our all-time hits leader was a convicted felon who bet against his own team. Ladies and gentleman, America's pastime! Is it time to remake "Field of Dreams" and include a scene where Shoeless Joe sells $3,000 of HGH to Moonlight Graham?"

*Unless you're named in the Mitchell report, in which case, according to Mitchell, you shouldn't be penalized at all.

Scouting Utah…

Like Navy, the Utes come into Thursday's Poinsettia Bowl at 8–4 (5–3 in the Mountain West), and like Navy this is their 5^th straight bowl trip (records for both schools). Similar to Navy's new head coach Ken Niumatalolo whose first game will be the Poinsettia Bowl, 2^nd year Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham was an assistant coach with the Utes before taking over for a departing Urban Meyers just before the 2005 Emerald Bowl (which Utah won 38–10 over Georgia Tech). 

In a year where Navy had trouble stopping just about everyone (99^th in total defense) they face good Utah offense (stats below) that ranks 47^th matched with a Utes defense ranked 15^th in total defense. The good news is that Utah's weakness seems to be the run, which is obviously a great thing for Navy.

If Navy can play "Navy Football" – Lots of rushes (they're 1^st), maximize their time of possession, minimize both play mistakes (-1 in turnovers) and mental mistakes (1^st in both fewest penalties and penalty yards/game) – Then I think they got a good shot at betting a good, and very hot Utah team (the Utes have won 9 of their last 10).

Stats –
Offense               Navy             Utah

Scoring                479               306
PPG                     39.9              25.5

Rushing Yards      4,218            1,964 
Avg / Game         351               163.7
Avg / Attmpt       5.7                4
Rush TDs             51                 16

Passing Yards      1,117             2,390
Att-Comp-Int       122-67-4        374-226-12
Pass TDs              7                  17

Defense                Navy           Utah

Scoring                  438             187
PPG                       36.5            15.6

Rushing Yards        2,072          1,560
Avg / Game           172.7          130.0
Avg / Attmpt         4.2              3.6
Rush TDs               24               12

Passing Yards        3,186           2,273
Att-Comp-Int         372-257-9    414-209-16
Pass TDs               31                7

Riding outside…

It was great to see my niece and nephew, and of course my brother-in-law and his wife. We just don't get to spend enough time with them, and it's always nice to catch up. And Thanksgiving was fantastic, with lots of awesome food, wine, and conversation. But one of the best things? Riding outside.

It's chilly in Sacramento this time of year, with highs in the 50's, but there was no rain, brilliant sunshine, and only a little wind at times. It started on Thanksgiving morning with a ride from the hotel to the in-law's house, with some detours along the way I got in 15 good miles before lunch. On Friday, my sister-in-law helped me find a really nice 13 mile loop on good surface streets with bike lanes. I even found some time to do a little "cross" practice (this picture is actually taken while riding [not fast, but still rolling], I won't say how many shots it took to get one good picture, but I will say that I'm happy I was using a digital camera and not paying for film).

In all I was able to get out on the bike 4 of the 5 days I was in Sacramento, and while I wore a long sleeve jersey, and long pants, I was never really cold, and there was defiantly worth the time and money it took to take the bike with me. After a couple of team rides out in the cold and rain of Seattle, it was a great reminder of why I love to ride…

The flight home…

Greetings from Sacramento International Airport (SMF on your scorecards, but I honestly have no idea where the "International" part comes in). It's now about 7pm, and my scheduled departure at the start of the day was 12:22pm. You do the math.

We boarded, pushed back from the gate, and during the engine start a manifold that was supposed to close didn't. We went back to the gate, hung out there for about 30 minutes, when they finally said it probably wouldn't be worth us staying onboard so we may as well unload the aircraft. This wasn't going to get fixed anytime soon.

I should say that the gate staff has been great! Alaska has giving all of us plenty of food vouchers, extra miles on our plan (or $25, I'll take the 1000 miles), and the individual staff has had a great attitude about this. The passengers have been great too, with only a very few that have pitched a fit (a quick aside – Are people just stupid or insane? If someone comes on the PA and says "there's a problem with your aircraft", my first thought isn't what an inconvenience it is to me, it's fix the damn plane! I don't care if it takes several hours, take as long as you need, just make sure the plane is air-worthy. What is wrong with some people?).

On the plus side, SMF has finally opened a restaurant (Gordon Biersch) and now has free wireless internet access, so I've got that going for me, which is nice. Just an interesting end to a very interesting trip…

38 – 3!

Great Navy win. Reggie Campbell with a rushing TD and a 98 yard kickoff return for a touchdown, then directs the band in the playing of the alma mater. Great win. San Diego here we come…