Demonslayer

One year ago I rode my first 200 kilometer brevet, which also happened to be my first century-length ride. It featured climbs around Horsetooth Reservoir as well as another one up Stove Prairie. Last year I ended up walking one of the climbs at Horsetooth as well as stopping several times and ultimately walking up Stove Prairie. This was the ride that finally convinced me I need to work on hill climbing...work on it a lot.

After a year of hard work and a bunch of base miles this year, I returned to that brevet and I was very nervous. I've done all the prep work, fitness is great, I even rode the climbs in reverse a couple of months ago. I knew intellectually I could do it but hadn't internalized that knowledge.

The Horsetooth climbs were much easier than I remember, but they are short and steep. Exactly the kind of thing I've been working on. Stove Prairie was still hard but I made it. No stopping or walking this year!

Another significant difference was my finishing condition. Last year I was a basket case at 80 miles. I hurt all over - each turn of the crank was agony. This year at 80 miles I was humming a tune and having a great time with a friend.

The 300k brevet may not be so far out after all.

Here is the ride profile:

"Here's your sign."

I ride my bike at lunch time pretty much year-round. I've been doing this for 3 years now. About once a week it happens: I'm in full kit - bike shorts, Primal Wear screaming orange jersey, helmet, shoes - going to get my bike or fill up a water bottle and someone passes me and says, "Going for a ride?"

Last week my boss did that. I couldn't help it...before my brain had any idea what my mouth was doing I replied, "Nope! This is so comfortable I've decided to dress like this all the time."

Bill Engvall would've been proud :).

Bill Engvall's official site

Hey Perfesser!

As a lot of people know, I've wanted to teach at a the University level for a long time, and after I finished my Master's degree my advisor recommended I submit my resume to Regis University. So, I've been going through this four-part assessment. The parts were:

• Write an essay on how I will uphold the values in Regis' Jesuit Mission in my classes.
• Grade a poorly-written student paper.
• Participate in a group activity.
• Teach a 20-minute "class."

The essay and student paper were turned in earlier this week and today I went in for the group activity and class.

The group activity went well. We had to pretend we are starting a company and personally rank 10 values ("profit," "concern for personnel as people," "social contribution," etc.). Then we had to reach a group consensus on the rankings. Pretty basic stuff.

From my point of view, my presentation suffered from the same problem I always have - I'm so excited and have so much to say that I'm very energetic, talking fast, etc. and come across as "nervous" when I'm really not. Need to learn to tone down the energy level a bit.

My presentation was an "Intro to Object Oriented Programming" and at the end, one of the assessors came up to me and said, "As a manager of a group of object-oriented programmers, that was the best high-level overview of Object Oriented Programming I've ever seen."

All in all, I feel pretty good about it. They said Regis will be sending out letters in a week to 10 days letting us know what happened and inviting us to the orientation on April 16 if we are accepted.

Nothing left to do but wait :).

/later.../

My advisor, who is on the assessment committee, sent me an e-mail simply saying, "You did fine."

Photobucket

This is a test post from Photobucket.com

I Amaze Myself

It really is true that we have no idea what we're capable of until we try. 260 miles this week on the bike - a personal best - and I'm seeing my average speed increasing with each ride. I'm even getting comments about how strong I am from people who have ridden with me for a while.

There is a downside, though. Friday I dropped off my laptop and clothes with the wife and rode the bike home. Apparently, when Kevin saw Yuki alone he asked, "Where's Daddy?" Yuki said i was riding home and Kevin said something like, "OH! Why doesn't he play with me anymore?!" Maybe it's time to step away from the bike a bit.

So, I took advantage of the inclement weather today to have a "Boy's Day" with Kevin. Yuki and I bought him a snow saucer a couple of months ago but we haven't had enough snow to use it until today. This was Kevin's first real experience "sledding" and he had a blast on the hill at the end of the cul-de-sac. Yuki also b0ught him some "Spider-Man" swim goggles to hopefully entice him into putting his head under water, so he and I went to the Rec Center and tried 'em out. He still has a problem with them - when they are tight enough to be watertight, they feel uncomfortable and he doesn't like them. Well, we'll practice a bit in the tub.

"For all things there is a first time."

I'm not sure why I wanted a blog but the thought has been on my mind a lot lately. In the past I've mocked blogs as self-aggrandizement and called them mental masturbation however I find the call to write one strangely appealing. Perhaps the writer in me is finally starting to surface again or maybe I'll find this an easier method of journaling than pencil and paper. Maybe I'll use it for a couple of weeks and then completely forget about it.

Ultimately I would like this area to be devoted to fun and interesting things that are going on in my life, particularly with respect to my ongoing NLP projects, bicycling and weight-loss/self-image issues. Time will tell :).