analyticizations

i was reading this article and thought I'd put my powerpoint ninjistic skills to work for good instead of evil for once, and threw together this analysis of my cycling position.


Here's danish uberhuman Torbjorn Sindballe at Kona this year. note the closeness of elbow to knee. the lowness of head. the highness of rump.


Here's the guy who won, Craig Alexander of Australia. Knee even closer to elbow... even inside it. His butt seems a little lower, but he blew the doors off of herr uberquads above on the run, so maybe that's a good thing.

for a look at a non-pro who's also well faster than I, here's the HACC's TT specialist Ben Sambrano at last year's state time trial. He's certainly on a different plane spine-wise, but he's tucked up into his handlebars and moving fast. having $3K worth of wheels beneath you probably can't hurt either.



and finally, yours truly at the state TT (where I was champ of the under 39 single day license men weighing 170-200lbs and with last names A-L). this is the best photo I have from a profile view. so right off the bat I think I need to get more compact. I need to get my handlebars lower or my seat higher and I need to get more compact while staying comfy. Or perhaps you have better advice?



also, the front view (from honu)... me and 2-time Kona Champ Normann Stadler... more of the same... need to get lower!

Monday, Nov 3, Perfect Day.

I always wanted to have a day this efficient. Seriously, today was awesome:

0445, woke up on the alarm, no snooze

0500 in the car, on the way to the gym, drink 20 oz gatorade

0520 in the gym, 20 minutes on the bike, 20 minutes on the treadmill, stretches, weights, abs

0640 Outta there

0645 at my desk, start kicking work's ass, drink smoothie

0900 staff meeting, make jokes

1000 eat clif bar, drink more water

1050 leave work

1055 get to gym

1100 run to hickam beach (2.6 miles) in 20 minutes

1125 swim a quick relaxative 300 yards or so, shower off

1140 run back in 22 minutes (still a bit sick methinks)

1215 in the showers, drink gatorade

1230 back to work, bagel and other clif bar

1500 send finely crafted email requesting immediate assistance to important people

1502 get out of office autoreply from important person, curse zeus's beard.

1610 leave work

1620 pick up sam, enter traffic, traffic not so bad

1650 pick up nicholas

1700 home, unpack, start dinner

1730 finish dinner (tuna melts), feed boys

1800 finish up dinner, start homework w/nicholas, setup gear for tomorrow

1900 set boys up playing with trains, mess with blog, post below post

2000 boys in bed, fiddle with internets a bit more

2045 post this bloggy post, get in bed, zonk.

that's a perfect day. 2.5 hours of exercise, no junk food, 8 hours of work, and time for the boys and a little for me. now if I could just keep this up for a few years...

Halloween 08

Halloween is, for some reason, probably the second-most anticipated of Laurion holidays. For at least the past 5 years, we have really had fun with it.

Nicholas has been spiderman,

puss in boots,

anakin skywalker (photos lost in the great iMac failure of 2008)

a Ninja,

and this year, a Pirate (how awesome, Ninja then Pirate!)

Sam has been chewbacca,

a demon,

and a Pirate.

Before getting creative (or having kids) we have been the oft-loved Disco dude

& oft-loved Ho

Then we started getting serious as Hansel and Gretel,

last year she was strawberry shortcake (naughty) while I was half of the dick-in-the-box guys,

and this year we were Ward & June Cleaver, stereotypical 50's Parents.

This year after the standard trek through military housing* for the great candy haul, bekah and I agreed to go out, but weren't in that great of moods. Our costumes were pretty conservative, and not very comfortable, and reason to avoid the wildness and debauchery that is Waikiki on Halloween night.

*military housing is prime territory because 1) pretty much everybody has kids and 2) nobody hands out mochi (rice cracker "candy" popular with local kids) which is about as welcome as the dentist in your old neighborhood handing out toothpaste and floss.

Our moods changed when we saw another couple driving- a 20's Gangster and Flapper- but she was the Gangster and he was the Flapper... Idea! So we went home, swapped costumes, and the rest, as they say, is history.



A Halloween Miracle.