Remember Sesame Street?

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong?
If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you're absolutely...right!

 

Weapons of Mass Destruction

 

OK, so Sept 26 was the last night of racing at the San Diego Velodrome for the year, so we had a couple fun races interspersed amongst the 'serious' racing. Trike racing - fun or serious? Or both? We lined up for a drag race to the finish line... Unfortunately, I had a poor start...
And then it wasn't just a poor start, I pretty much couldn't get off the line.
But as everyone knows, there's no fooling around. I tractor pulled it all the way to the promised land. Word.
 

OK, so I just registered for Track Nationals.  Starts next Wednesday and runs through Saturday.  Now really, all I've been training for since the accident has been the Pursuit, which is first thing on Wednesday.  Scratch race is on Wednesday too, so of course I'll do that one since I'll be around.  Then I was thinking - maybe I'll just call it quits and go home after that?  Been thinking about that for a couple weeks now.  That would mean skipping the Points Race on Thurs and the Mass Start test on Friday.  Madison is on Saturday, but I'm not sure I'd have a partner for that one anyway.  Anyway, was contemplating not registering for all those races.

 

But then I just had to stop and say, WTF.  Who are you?  Cap'n what?  Are you going to be 'too tired' and 'unmotivated' after the pursuit on Wednesday that you're gonna have to go home and sulk about how your season was ruined or some BS like that?  Give me a break.  That's not me.  I'm doing the full schedule and if I can get a Madison partner, then I'll do that as well.  Time to ride like I've got a pair.

Maybe I'll just quit bike racing and take up trike racing.
There's more spectators.

 

well, i had my last 2 root canals done today.  that made 7 total.  wow.  next up will be an appointment with the ortho - not scheduled yet.

 

 

so i was reading cnn and saw an article on astronomers finding a supernova that was first spotted in 185 A.D.  made me think - hmm, what's the time frame on a supernova?  is that an instantaneous implosion/explosion, or is the whole process more gradual?  is it measured in seconds, minutes, months, years?  went to wikipedia and started reading about supernovae, but then got sidetracked to novae, then the milky way galaxy, then the andromeda galaxy, the local group, the canes venatici cloud, the virgo supercluster, the galactic core, barred spiral galaxies, and of course, the universe itself.

 

estimated 200 - 400 billion stars in the milky way galaxy.

estimated 1,000 billion stars in the andromeda galaxy.

 

and of course, there's like billions and billions of other galaxies out there containing billions and billions more stars and possible solar systems.

 

meanwhile, we get to worry about terrorism, fanatacism and untold other -isms instead of putting more effort into learning more about what's around us.  Whatever.

i'm reading the 'hagakure' off and on. it's a book on samarai zen thoughts. here's a thought:

There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.
Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else. No one seems to have noticed this fact. But grasping this firmly, one must pile experience upon experience. And once one has come to this understanding he will be a different person from that point on, though he may not always bear it in mind.
--- Yamamoto Tsunetomo

what a week.

 

tuesday.

training at the track in the morning.  racing at the track in the evening.  getting faster - just wish i had more time 'til nationals.  no worries - i'll just do what i do.

 

wednesday.

first thing in the morning i got 3 more root canals.  pretty painless with the novacaine, but oh man, that sucked when it wore off.  couldn't go into work that day...

 

thursday.

got a call from the police department in carlsbad, new mexico.  THEY FOUND MY SCOOTER!  absolutely ridiculous - apparently it even still had my cali plates on it.  i won't be getting it back, as i was paid off by the insurance company many months ago, but that's fine.  i just can't believe that it wasn't exported to tijuana, mex instead.

 

for the first time since my accident, ate 2 pieces of pizza tonight without having to use a knife and fork.  that was unbelievably awesome.  the freedom to eat food how i want, when i want.  power to the teeth.  they're finally starting to settle down.

OK, so mom sent me a note that krispee kreme is losing money left and right. no big surprise, since they shut down my local distribution center. actually, i rarely paid for the doughnuts anyhow - i always asked for a 'free hot one'. so they should be saving a lot of money from that...

anyway, was thinking it would be cool to open up a conveyor belt of krispee kremes in paris and really stick it to the frenchies. take that, froggee.

so there was more racing today, and i wasn't late or anything, so fun times were had.  madison and scratch race, both very tough.  i paired with a friend of mine, kevin schiller, in the madison (it's a tag team race where you fling each other in - just look up 'madison cycling' on wikipedia) and we got 3rd.  not too shabby.  in the scratch race, i got 5th.  the fields we pretty small, so that's not really anything stellar - just racing and getting some kinks worked out.  anyway, some of my speed is coming back - not so much a sprint - but that's not necessary for the pursuit anyway.  it was a quality weekend of racing - now it'll be some more solid training until nationals start on oct 4.  yeh.

oh, and i'm staying up in LA tonight, so it's all good for the morning lateness tomorrow.  yikes.

"It's no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy"

    - from the band Lit

 

Yeah, I heard that song driving up to the races today and it was exactly how the day started out.  I got up later than I needed to and got on the road later than I should have.  Got to the track at a late time and signed up for the Pursuit just before registration closed.  I thought I would be put last in the pursuit rotation, but instead I was put first and that truly sucked.  I got to ride a few laps on the track, but I didn't get a warmup and that truly sucked.  No one to blame but myself, but I can't even really be mad at me.  You see, Cap'n Late has a long record of tardiness.  I should have seen it coming and I should have gone up to LA the night before.  I considered that option yesterday, but then I just couldn't get my stuff together in time and so I didn't.  You see, I was late on the previous day as well.  I think I must have years and years of built-up lateness that I somehow just can't shake.  Maybe I need some sort of exhorcism.

 

So I'm just not that good at waking up in the morning.  I don't know - it's just not my thing.  I'm a night owl not an early bird.  Whatever.  For any race that I have to leave SD before 8 or 9 AM, I better just get a room the night before.  (As a side note, this is also why I have trouble making weekend group rides that start at like 8:15 AM.  Ugh.)

 

But what about the pursuit time?

 

26 Aug 06 - 5:19.70

15 Sep 06 - 5:12.01

 

Now, that's a decent improvement for 3 weeks - I'm getting back in shape a bit - but it's not really an apples to apples comparison.  Different equipment, different bike position.  Whatever.  I'll still take the improvement.  I could have gone faster if I had just gotten a good warmup in.  If I can get the time down closer to 5:00 by Nationals on Oct 4, then I'll be a lot happier.

 

Anyway, did a 30 km Points Race later in the day, and that went okay.  I was maybe a bit undergeared, and that made it kind of hard in the first 50 laps, but in the last 70 laps, I was able to cruise a lot more effectively.  Didn't go for sprint points - just tried to get in breakaways off the front to try and get a lap.  Didn't work.  And I missed the move that actually did get a lap - it was a counter to a move I had just been in.  Oh, well, the race was still positive though, in the sense that I got some good speedwork in and I actually felt comfortable mixing it up in the race, etc.

 

More racing tomorrow - Scratch and Madison.  Should be fun.

i went to bed last night thinking about the pursuit.

i woke up this morning thinking about the pursuit.

 

the pursuit is a 4 km individual time trial on the track, and it's my primary focus.  training seems to be coming along pretty well.  it's hard for me to believe that it's only been 24 days since i've been back on the bike, but that's the truth.  today was a super tough pursuit training session at the track in the morning and then a variety of racing on the track in the evening.  super long day.  super exhausted.  now it's 2 easy days, then a little warmup/leg-opener on friday.  this weekend is the state track championships up in LA.  pursuit and points on saturday.  scratch and madison on sunday.  like i said, the pursuit is my focus, so if i can pull off a decent time there first thing saturday morning, then i'll be super stoked.  the rest will be gravy.  but if i don't spark a great time, then it's not the end of the world either.  i'll have exactly 4 weeks of training in my legs come saturday morning.

 

right now i'm thinking about the pursuit.

when i wake up tomorrow morning, i'll still be thinking about the pursuit.

on september 11, 2001

 

i was living in Philadelphia, PA.  i had been there for a little over a month and was a bike messenger for Rapid Delivery.  i remember vividly that i was dropping off a document at the commonwealth court when i was told, "get ready to go to war, son.  we've been attacked!"  that was around 9:30, after both planes had hit the world trade center, but before they had fallen down.  i was shocked, but didn't really understand until i went into a bar just down the street.  cnn was on the tv's, of course.  and then the first tower fell.

 

i seriously considered jumping into the military right then, but i didn't.  i kept on considering it - thought it was my duty - thought i should do my part.  for honor, for valor, for pride in my country - for all of that.  and because i didn't know what else to do.  nothing else really seemed to matter.  i wanted to contribute to something larger than life in the same way that previous generations had in the past 'great wars'.

 

 

on september 11, 2002

 

i was at sea onboard the USS Higgins, DDG 76.  We were off the coast of california just cruising around in circles.  i was part of a SOVT (System Operational Verification Test) team testing an EHF communication system.  there was a memorial service in the morning, but i didn't even get up for it - i just slept in my bunk.

 

i guess i ended up joining the military after all - just as a navy civilian.

 

 

 

 

on september 11, 2006

 

i got my first 2 of 7 root canals...  :-p

just had my first dentist appt.

just a look see...

 

basically, i'm getting a whole new front end.

 

root canal - post - crown

teeth 7, 8, 9, 10, 24, 25, 26

 

crown

tooth 6

 

if i were into hip-hop just a little bit more, maybe i'd just get ice.  oh, well.

when i see the dentist on wednesday, i'm going to ask him if he can make me look like this...

(props to chris reid for his mad editing skillz)

 

well, folks, it's official - i've gone wireless.

waltzed into the doc's office yesterday morning in shackles at 0830 sharp and crawled out an hour later a free man. well, maybe didn't actually crawl out, but i've gotta say, getting the wires off hurt in a bad way. it all started with trying to numb the mouth. well, the gums are super sensitive and tender right now, so the needles weren't exactly my friends. that sucked in a major way, but that was only the prelude. the doc took a short break to get out his wire clippers and just then prince came over the muzak singing "this is what it sounds like... when doves cry..." how ironic.

clipping the attachments and removing the arch bars - not too fun, but bearable. but there were still the little wires that were wedged between my teeth.

doc : ok, this part is going to kind of feel like flossing with metal wires
me : uh. heh. heh.
doc : [rips out a wire]
me : ahhhhhhh!
doc : yeah, kind of barbaric isn't it? [rips out a wire]
me : ahhhhhhh!
doc : ok, just breathe deep and try to relax. [rips out a wire]
me : ahhhhhhh!

you get the picture.

flossing with metal wire is a decent description, but an even better one is to compare it to trying to start a lawn mower that has a pull cord. Rip! from right between each tooth.

so that was all over, i rinsed with some mouthwash, spat up some blood, got an x-ray, and that was that. the jaw was healed a-ok and the teeth would need to be further diagnosed by my dentist on wednesday. just on to the next phase, i guess. but the wires are off and that's cool. my gums are pretty beat up from being mashed by the wires for 8 weeks now, but they'll heal quickly enough.

the bottom line?

wires. no wires. bleeding gums. healthy gums. it all ends in one familiar picture.


i came. i saw. i conquered.
sarf it up.