The plan was do a loop in the open space south of Boulder. The reality was getting lost in the maze that it is Interlocken. As often happens, the difference between Google Maps and the Real World was very different, and it didn’t help matters that every street was named “Interlocken.” I did manage a decent ride though, fighting through headwinds along a Route 36 frontage road. On the drive home from Estes Park, we actually drove through the same area, and I found the error of my ways, so hopefully the complete ride will happen tomorrow.

Posted on 12 August 2009

Highway 57 Loop

Less than twelve hours out of the car, I went for a ride this morning to stretch my legs. I ended up adding about ten miles to the ride when I missed the turn on, umm, Highway 57 (I had Mineral Avenue on my cue sheet). I felt pretty decent, considering two days in the car and elevation. The omnipresent headwinds seemed to have followed me from Pittsburgh. The ride was quite nice, though, on mostly quiet farm roads. A few observations:

* Trucks are very courteous to cyclists. Just about every one passed me with plenty of room to spare.
* The first cyclist I saw was riding a ‘bent. I can’t get away from these people. Apparently the ‘bent club in Colorado doesn’t require beards or sandals.
* Despite the impression that it is mostly flat in the shadow of the foothills, it is not. There is a very long, steady climb from Lafayette through Erie, with a couple of kickers as you approach Broomfield.
* I saw my first longhorn steer, and their horns are indeed long. Like four feet long.

Posted on 10 August 2009

This looks far more fun than road racing.

Posted on 1 August 2009

Generally, when I’m doing non-.NET programming, I use either Vi or Notepad++ as my text editor. There was a time when I was using Notepad++ for nearly everything, but the lack of coherent syntax highlighting (especially for “mixed” files containing ColdFusion–both tag- and script-based–and Javascript) and a busy search UI made Vi a bit more attractive. I ditched Notepad++ completely when I learned a few more useful Vi keystrokes (indenting blocks of text, for example). I still hate the swap file litter Vi leaves behind (yes, I know I could change that), but aside from that, it was powerful enough for my needs.

I started to play around with the latest version of Eclipse again, and promptly realized why I left it: it’s HUGE, the keybindings for common actions bear no resemble to other editors (my biggest gripe? F3 doesn’t, by default, repeat your last search. There is not another GUI-based editor–or even program!– on Windows that doesn’t follow this convention). There are nice ColdFusion and Javascript plugins, but CFEclipse ignores the editor preferences you’ve configured, and it’s intellisense is a bit too enthusiastic.

Then I saw that Emacs 23 was released. I’ve tried Emacs in the past, but never really committed to learning it, and therefore never got it. Wisely, I never blamed Emacs for my own shortcomings, but I convinced myself that I couldn’t commit the time to learn it well enough to use it. This time, however, I thought I’d do it right. After some time just playing with text files, I moved on to configuring the environment to my liking (I’m a fan of light-on-dark color schemes). Doing these things in Emacs requires editing init.el, which is a Lisp program masquerading as a configuration file. I found the basis for a twilight theme, then added that to my init.el. Taa-daa! Twilight theme. Then I needed to change the tab width.

(setq default-tab-width 4)

Done. After a few more minor tweaks, I was ready to dive in modes, Emacs’ syntax highlighting (among other things) system. The general consensus is that the current ColdFusion mode available kinda stinks, so everyone just suggests using html-mode. Once downloaded, I instructed html-mode to treat ColdFusion files like HTML:


(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.html$" . html-helper-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.cfm$" . html-helper-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.cfmInc$" . html-helper-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.cfc$" . html-helper-mode) auto-mode-alist))


Done. Hmm, how about Javascript? I downloaded Steve Yegge’s js2 mode, updated init.el, and I was off.

So, here I am, several days later. How goes it? Well, I no longer have to look at a cheat sheet to do simply stuff like copy (C-space to highlight, M-y to copy), paste (C-y), save (C-x s), and cycling through buffers (C-x b) (I’ll leave it up to you to discern what those characters really mean). Opening files is still a bit laborious (I’ve taken to just dragging files into the editor, so I really need to figure some sort of project management, which I know exists). I’m not quite as productive as I might be Vim, but I’m getting there. I do feel comfortable enough, however, to ditch Notepad++ and Vim for my daily editing needs.

Posted on 31 July 2009

There has been a lot of interesting/infuriating discussions on the Bike Pittsburgh Message Board lately, mostly around cyclist/driver interactions. Most troubling to me is the attitude that it is perfectly fine to get into a shouting match with a driver, and whatever comes of that is the driver’s fault. Many moons ago, I used to get worked up when a driver slighted me (perceived or otherwise). At some point, I decided get upset really wasn’t worth the effort–it simply spoiled a good ride. Little will come of a shouting match–you aren’t going to suddenly change a motorist’s habits or attitudes by hurling invectives at them. (I’m not trying to defend a motorist who might run over a bicycle as a result of an argument–clearly, that’s very wrong–but as a cyclist (and a person), I’d rather avoid the confrontation completely. If I can just ride along and let the slight roll like water off a duck’s back, I’m better off for it.) I’m hesitant to say this, but there is certainly a sense of victim-ism by some cyclist–that everyone is out to get us. My experience paints a bit of a different picture–yes, there are few motorists who genuinely hate cyclists, but more often than not, a motorist who drives poorly around a cyclist (or yells at them) will also exhibit the same behavior around other motorists. Nearly every day, I see a motorist a) right hook another car b) speed around a car doing the speed limit, honking their horn all the way c) drive aggressively toward another vehicle. To believe that motorists just generally have it out for cyclists is silly.

I am not racing tonight. We have other plans. I may race next week. The following two weeks we will be in Colorado (where I hope to try to kill myself on this ride). I will probably race when I get back, only to test the effects of riding at altitude for two weeks. I’m slowly realizing that racing is fun, but shouldn’t be my focus. Why? Well, I can’t get motivated to “train” properly. I’d rather just ride. And, of course, there are other things to do with myself. If I have a future as a life-long, mid-pack category 4 racer, so be it. I am formulating some bigger plans, though, for the rest of the year and next:

1. The Dirty Dozen (I am not skipping this year!)
2. The September brevet held by the Pittsburgh Randonneurs
3. D2R2 next year
4. Maybe, maybe, maybe Crush the Commonwealth
5. A 300k and possibly 400k brevet

Of course, midweek training races would go a long way in achieving some of these goals, but I think racing will no longer be a goal in and of itself. If there are local ‘cross races, and I’m still in possession of the Cannondale, I’ll certainly do those.

More pro cycling musings…I really hope that Contador and Armstrong don’t spend the next 11 months sniping at one another in the press and ether. It will be interesting, however, to see where Contador lands, assuming that he won’t stay with Astana. Going to Garmin could clear up the doping rumors, but that requires Vande Velde and Wiggins to give up GC hopes in the Tour. One the other hand, they would have a Tour team that could potentially rival that of Radio Shack. The Pavé blog wonders what Lance should do will constructing the Radio Shack team. Most interesting idea? Cavendish. Yes, he would need to snag Renshaw, too, and probably at least one good rouler for reeling in breaks, but such a signing would guarantee wins for the sponsor. At the same time, Cavendish will likely make the green jersey a priority next July, and it’s pretty clear what the top priority for Lance’s team will be.

* Special prize** to the first person who knows this reference.
** A whole lotta nothing

Posted on 29 July 2009

The Tour, that is. Contador won, Schleck the Younger took second, and Lance Armstrong took third. Thor Hushovd took the points jersey, despite Mark Cavendish winning six (!) stages. Hushovd’s bold move to scoop up maximum points between categorized climbs showed that it’s not just the best sprinter who wins–even Cavendish had to concede that the Norwegian deserved the green after that day. I must admit that I was less interested as the Tour went on, though I did watch the finish up Mount Ventoux yesterday. The Astana soap opera was interesting, sure, but with Carlos Sastre, Cadel Evans, and Denis Menchov all riding terribly, it was up to the Schleck brothers and Bradley Wiggins (!) to make the race more interesting. The Schlecks did everything in their power to break up the Astana juggernaut, and in the end, given Frank’s poor ability against the clock, he couldn’t nudge Armstrong from the podium.

Of course, even before this race was over, the story lines for 2010 were being written. Armstrong (and likely, Johan Bruyneel) will be backed by Radio Shack. Contador will be on another team, thanks to the return of Alexendre Vinokourov to Astana (gee, the Vuelta should be interesting, if Bruyneel doesn’t leave before that). There have been rumors of Contador to Garmin, and Jonathan Vaughters has been vague about contact with the Spaniard, but if Contador doesn’t land with Garmin, I suspect that either Contador wouldn’t submit to Garmin’s deep medical checks, or Garmin found something suspicious in Contador’s medical history. Evans and Silence-Lotto have also grown tired of one another (which only makes sense), but where the mercurial Australian will land is anyone’s guess. Garmin or Armstrong’s new team wouldn’t suit him, as he needs to be the leader. And, of course, there’s the rest of Astana–Kloden will likely stay, as he has ridden in support of Vino before (at T-Mobile), but Leipheimer may not wish to stick around. Perhaps Garmin, with a shot at winning in Italy or Spain? We’ll see.

Posted on 26 July 2009

Gee, the NASCAR course is considerably easier than the P course. Imagine that. I think I finished in the top twenty. If I could actually sprint, I may have done better. Good fun, though. Maybe I’m not ready to give up on the Oval just yet.

Really impressive ride by Thor Hushovd. Though he finished the stage in the first gruppetto (ahead of Cadel Evans?), Hushovd took the green jersey competition by the horns today by breaking away over not one, but two category one climbs to take maximum sprint points. Mark Cavendish may win every contested sprint in this Tour, but Hushovd proved he deserves the green jersey. Cavendish, of course, will complain ’til Paris (and beyond) because he was relegated for dangerous sprinting earlier in the week. Yes, Cavendish is likely the best sprinter in the world, but he is beyond arrogant, and still several years out from being a genuine contender for the green jersey.

Also, a fine ride today by the Schleck brothers, who pushed Bradley Wiggins and Lance Armstrong off the podium with a strong ride. Yes, Alberto Contador hung on, and likely benefited from their attacks (neither Schleck is a particularly good chrono rider, so they would need huge day on Ventoux to take the yellow jersey). He did manage to further sow seeds of discontent with the rest of Astana when he attacked late in the stage and managed to drop his only teammate in the break, Andreas Kloden. Of course, Contador clearly didn’t need any help sticking with the Schleck brothers, but I’ll be curious to see how Ventoux shakes out.

I also don’t think, unlike most of America, that Armstrong has much of chance in the time trial tomorrow to make back time for the podium. Yes, he’ll ride better than Frank and Andy, but I suspect that they will go absolutely nuts on Ventoux and dump everyone but Contador. And I suspect, as the media has hinted, that if Contador goes into Ventoux with a healthy lead, that he will be more than happy to work with the Schlecks to bury Armstrong and the rest of Astana.

Posted on 22 July 2009

P course tonight. I was considering not going down, a decision that would come back to haunt me. I’ve felt fairly tired all week, and tonight was no different. It didn’t help that I started at the back of the group, immediately putting myself in a hole. Within a few laps, a gap had formed, and a few laps later, another gap formed. I sat in with a small group for about 10 laps, then we were lapped. I grabbed on to the back of the main group, suffered through a few more laps, then another gap formed a few riders up, and I couldn’t chase it down. So…I puttered to the infield, grabbed my stuff, and rode home.

So, perhaps I should have stayed home. I’ve definitely lacked motivation recently. I can’t say I don’t want to get on the bike, because that’s not the case, but at this point, I feel like I need a break from trying so hard. Aside from perhaps Strongland, road racing season, outside of the Oval, is through. I’ll likely be more selective about when I race at the Oval–if I’m not into it, I’m staying home. Am I disappointed? Hardly. In fact, it feels good to make peace with my lack of motivation.

There is, however, much riding to be done. Though we won’t be around for it, I’m helping organize a populaire during BikeFest, which will probably mean a pre-ride of the course before we leave for Colorado. I am dragging the bike to Colorado, too, in hopes of doing a bit of pass hunting. And, of course, there’s the Dirty Dozen later in the fall, something that swept under the carpet by a cyclocross race.

Posted on 15 July 2009

Then we can just ride with woolen jerseys and a tire around our necks, like in the old days.

And this is a problem?

I suspect that most riders, while giving lip service to the potential safety issues with the ban (which, of course, are mostly unwarranted since they still have race radio in their ears), know that without communication with their DS, have to be more alert to what is happening, and make make tactical decisions on the fly.

Posted on 14 July 2009

Whoa. It wasn’t raining. Shocking.

Very full field, and three, count’em, three, riders for the invivodata squad. The pace was quick, but not unreasonable, and the race followed the usual script–lots of break attempts, usually involving UPMC and Iron City riders, but nothing stuck. I was much attentive to being near the front, and would only spend brief moments at the back when the group flip-flopped. I had very good position heading into the final lap, and even held it during the final turn, at which point my “sprint” more closely resembled a “Sunday stroll” and I lost a handful of places. Still, I was happy to finally manage my position better, especially in the closing laps. Had I been a little closer to John, I probably could have given him a leadout, thus improving his chances of getting points. Oh well. If Robbie shows up more regularly on Wednesdays, perhaps we can actually give John some proper support for the sprint.

Posted on 9 July 2009