oops

One of the drawbacks of typing one-handed (did I mention I type one-handed now? Well I do.) is that I make a lot of typos...like my own email address on my own f'n website! Lord, this is embarrassing.

Anyhoo, if'n you've tried to contact me & got a returned message try farbco01@gmail.com. I promise to be more vigilant in my spell checking henceforth.

There will be Guac

Last post I put out a call for everyone to drop what they were doing & invent an avocado-scooper-outer so I could continue making guacamole. Turns out it already exists:

The avocado gods have smiled upon me. By avocado gods, I mean my friend Ali, who sent me this link.

Wouldn't it be something if I actually prayed before the altar of avocado gods? Why in the world would I need polytheistic sub-tropical fruit deities? You think one avocado lord would be enough. Oh well, it still wouldn't be as weird as Scientology.

In tri-related news, Strib columnist Stephen Regenold has a great writeup on the growth of youth triathlons. Good stuff.

In not related to anything news, this track is blowing my mind:

It's a techno mix comprised almost entirely out of audio from Alice in Wonderland. I don't particularly like techno, but I can't stop listening to this track. It's just so freakin' chill. If I pulled a Lewis Carroll & took hallucinogenic drugs, this would be the soundtrack to my trip. Of course I won't do that, because drugs are bad. Just say no, kids.

catastrophy!

Over the last year & a half I've gotten used to not being able to do lots of stuff. Last night I got hit with a bombshell.

I couldn't scoop out an avocado to make guacamole!!

I'll give you a moment to compose yourself...

Now then, my recipe called for 2 avocados. I scooped one and a half successfully. By the last half, my left arm was too tired to finish the job. Fortunately, Marney (my wife) came to my rescue. She also bailed me out on a ziploc bag-closing emergency. Thanks, sweetie.

I'm putting an open call out to all inventors and crackpots. I need an avocado-scooper-outer machine. A world without fresh guac is not a world I am prepared to live in. This a goddam emergency people!

Drop what you're doing, call in sick, cash in your 401K if you have to. Let's get this scooper-outer built! I'm not letting my guac-making ability fall by the wayside. Not on my watch.

progress

I'm finally starting to see some gains in my swimming. Last night I did a 1:30 100yd rep at the beginning of my workout and a 1:36 at the end. It's a far cry from the 1:18s I was doing last year, but much better than the 1:50s I was doing in April.

In other news, this guy is trying to sell ad space on his prosthetic leg. Marketing genius.

race recap - Gear West Duathlon

Well, that sucked. I'd like to blame my bad race on the wind, but I can't. I finished something like 5 minutes slower than the last 2 years.

I didn't sign up for the competitive wave, which was my biggest mistake. I went out with the under 35 wave instead. I hung with a group of 4-5 guys at the front...and came into T1 over 2 minutes slower than last year. Great. I should have run with the faster guys.

I thought I was making up time on the windy bike course, but apparently I was not. The last run I had energy, but just couldn't get moving. I finished with enough energy to go out & run another 5K. Not good. Hopefully I'll get my act together by Manitou Sprint.

Yes!!!

Oscar Pistorius (double below-the-knee amputee & 400m runner) won his appeal & can compete in Olympic trials. Sweet! I hope he makes it to the games.

100 mile week in the bag

Piece of cake! Even though I didn't bike at all on Wednesday, I'll still hit 100 miles of commuting this week. When I arrived at work this morning, I was at 92 miles & change. I'll hit 101 or 102 by the time I get home tonight.

Next week is the actual bike to work week. It's also the 150th anniversary for Minnesota's statehood. I'm thinking about commuting 150 miles to mark the occasion.

most frustrating evening ever.

I had 3 things to do last night, which I guessed would take an hour. I had to put new laces in my race flats, box up a Mother's Day present, and clean my bike chain & check the tires. Everything was going fine, until I ripped the valve stem while removing the pump, causing an irreparable flat.

When I had 2 good hands, I could change a flat in about 3 minutes. Last night I worked on it for almost an hour. Granted, I wasn't changing a well worn kevlar bead race tire. This was a Conti Contact with a wire bead. Side note: This is the best tire ever! I've been riding a 28mm Contact for 3 years and this is the first flat I've had. And the flat was caused by me ripping the tube.

Anyhoo, It took 4 tire levers to get the darn thing off, and 3 to put it back on. I used to use 2 levers for removal & I could push the bead back on with my thumbs.

Which got me to thinking...what would happen if I got a flat during a race? On a short course event, I'd double my bike split! I need to find out if there's some fix-a-flat foam for bike tires. If not, I'll need to sacrifice something to the tire gods before each race.

slight hiccup

There was a slight problem with my plan to commute 100 miles during bike to work week...bike to work week is next week. Woops. I had to drive today (dentist appointment) but as of last night I'd already pedaled 52.5 miles. Tomorrow I'll be riding downtown for the TC One mile, which will add a bit. On Friday, I'll take the long way to & from work, and maybe run a bike errand over lunch. That should get me in to triple digits.

Maybe next week I'll shoot for 110 commuting miles!

May is a busy month

May is 2 things to two very different groups of people. It is Bike to Work Month and ALS Awareness month. Unfortunately, I doubt there's much cross-over.

I bike to work every month, so nothing really changes for me. The only difference is I'm going to take a slightly longer route on the way home, which will give a weekly tally of 100 miles. It's a more scenic route (Uptown lakes & Minnehaha parkway) than my normal route (midtown greenway, Portland Ave, 42nd Street) so it should be fun.

For ALS month, I'm going to do something this year. I may run a 5K that benefits ALSA, but I need to make sure that's the official race charity. If not, I might just donate to the cause. I spent a year thinking I had ALS, and it was pretty god damn scary. There was more than one occasion when a muscle twitch sent me into a sobbing panic.

Luther alum and sports junkie Nick has some tips on his blog for raising ALS awareness. Check it out.

I recommend getting one of these & wearing it while you bike to work.

kick ass

Back in the day I was a high jumper. My best was 6' 4". I'm 6' 1". It may sound impressive, but I was a very average high jumper.

Jeff Skiba, on the other hand, is very non-average. This cat recently cleared 7' 1/2"...and he's a below the knee amputee! Groove on that! It's a safe bet that he will be kicking all sorts of ass at the Paralympics this summer.

Well done, Mr. Skiba. A plethora of disabled dudes salutes you.