Posted On Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 By David Veatch
I’m not dead. I’m very much alive, in fact. I’ve just had precious little to write about with regards to the primary focus of this blog… cycling. So instead of blurring the focus of the subject matter, I’ve opted to just wait until I had more to write. However, it’s been a while and some of you know nothing about me but what you find out here. So… Some very positive things happening personally. Since I decided long ago to keep such things off this blog, you’ll just have to wait to meet her. I will say this… she must be pretty special. I’ve not been to church in 20 years, and she’s gotten me there no less than 4 times since late December… and maybe 5. My attitude towards organized religion is perfectly summed up by the Mohandas Gandhi quote “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” That said, I have met quite a few very nice people through her and the friend that set us up together, all of whom go to their church. It’s an interesting change of pace for me… Besides Church, we’ve done quite a more »
Posted On Friday, November 14th, 2008 By David Veatch
Last night I was playing solo on a 9-foot table at the local pool hall. A couple guys come up and want to gamble. $1 a rack. Seriously? $1.00 a rack? Red flag #1. $1.00 is petty change, but I don’t gamble. It’s a principle thing. I have, on occasion, but very rarely, and only with people I know and trust to not break my jaw. One of the guys, perhaps in his late 40′s or early 50′s and seemingly “in charge”, goes on about the 1, 5 and 9 being money balls… trying to talk the talk, throwing lingo around like it’s rice at a wedding. Red flag #2. I have a tough time convincing him that I don’t gamble, but am certainly willing to share the table for a while. “What’s the 9 mean, then?” he asks. “It means you win?” I respond. “Uh… you get to break the next rack…” Red flag #3. I’m really starting to wonder at this point about the fellow as this line of conversation goes on for about a minute. Finally, we agree to just play. He racks. In a manner of speaking. It’s loose. He can’t control the rack and bumps more »
Posted On Monday, September 8th, 2008 By David Veatch
I didn’t ride at all last week. I spent the majority of the work week in Omaha, and neither Sunday nor Saturday saw any saddle time. I did ride the previous Saturday, and again yesterday, but for the entire first week of September, I rode zero miles. So imagine how drastic the temperature change was to me, when the last time I rode home from work it was nearly 70°F in the morning, and over 90°F in the evening! Today it was 62°F at departure, grey and drizzly. All in all, a rather dismal day. I was going to take the long way home by way of Indian Creek Trail, and grabbing Gary Haller trail where it intercepts 127th near Ridgeview. That plan changed the instant I walked outside and felt the chill in the air. Rather than enjoy a leisurely ride home, I hammered it pretty well (against a fell wind) the short way home. I’m really going to have to get back in the habit of paying attention to the weather. I’ve enjoyed being able to ignore the temperature all summer, but methinks those days are over, at least until next summer. We may have another warm spell, more »
Posted On Friday, June 13th, 2008 By David Veatch
Let’s just spare the suspense. The results are out, and you can view them all here. If you’re just interested in the top spot, and where I fell in relation to that, I’ll tell you. 1st Place: Not me… 00:12:23 for an average speed of 29.96mph. Cat 1/2. 34th Place: Me… 00:16:09 for an average speed of 22.66mph. Cat 5. The field consisted of 41 men and 3 women. Not horrible for my first time trial and certainly better in terms of time than I thought I’d do. The bottom line is I had a blast, and I will definitely do it again. 16 minutes of full effort was hard, but the fun factor was off the chart. I even passed someone, if you can believe that! Two people, in fact, but one of them (the guy who’s been working on my bike so much lately, in fact) answered my pass with one of his own, so he doesn’t count.
Posted On Thursday, June 12th, 2008 By David Veatch
As I was leaving work yesterday, preparing to ride home, I encountered a coworker in the hallway. He asked me about my bike and riding to work. Standard stuff… “How far do you ride?” “How long does it take?” “How much did you spend?” etc. By the end of the conversation, he was psyched to ride to work himself! He’s only 4 miles and change away, so it was easy to convince him to bite the bullet. I assured him that bike transportation can be gotten for *much* cheaper than what I spent (and will continue to spend) on mine, and suggested (rather strongly) that he stay away from department store bikes, and spend a little more money at an LBS to get well fitted and a bike that won’t fall apart on him. That makes two people who have expressed serious interest in biking to work. The other lives slightly closer than I do, and the majority of our route would overlap. That would be fantastic! After that uplifting conversation, I went about my way. About halfway home, I got really hungry, and soon lost nearly all the power in my legs. I could go, but I just didn’t more »
Posted On Thursday, June 5th, 2008 By David Veatch
From Chris Hess: The Epic Time Trial is rescheduled for June 12, 2008 due to an unusually severe weather forecast. Kansas City weather and emergency response professionals state there is a high volume of instability in the atmosphere today, June 5. According to reports, the overall atmospheric conditions are similar to those that led to an event on June 8, 1974, when three dozen tornadoes hit the area and killed 22 people. To ensure personal and family safety, particular vigilance should be maintained between 4:00 – 7:00 p.m., then again from 9:00 p.m. to midnight, when sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph carry the potential for property damage due to wind and predicted hail. In other words, don’t go out riding because this event is postponed. Today’s conditions warrant aggressive measures to ensure personal and family safety. http://www.localcycling.com/content/view/958/42/
Posted On Thursday, June 5th, 2008 By David Veatch
I drove in this morning for a several reasons, where “several” equals exactly three. I have a time trial tonight at 18:00. I thought it might be a good idea to save my legs for it. Related to that, it’s freakishly windy this morning. Fighting the wind, as an endeavor unto itself, holds little appeal to me right now, much less while I’m trying to save my legs. I got to bed very late last night, on account of Pool League running long. I’m running low on sleep, so I would likely exhaust myself against the wind, and be that much cantankerous about it, and bet both tired and of the wrong mindset to ride my best tonight. It can be argued that my critical lack of sleep is, by itself, cause for concern where my performance tonight goes. I choose to ignore that argument because LOOK! An eagle!! The weather people have predicted major storms this afternoon, including tornadoes, lightening, and some form of amphibian bombardment. Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t be disappointed. I’ll manage if the time trial is rescheduled for next week.
Posted On Monday, June 2nd, 2008 By David Veatch
At 6:00pm, Epic Bike and Sport, along with Defined Fitness Training (a cycling team the GF and I belong to) are hosting the Epic Time Trials, at 600 New Century Parkway Gardner, KS 66031. This isn’t far from where the Lone Star Century I rode on Sunday started. I’ve always wondered how I’d do in something like this. It’s time to find out. I get to race for free, due to my membership with DFT, but I’ll still have to pay a for-the-day USCF membership fee. Ah well… it’s for a worthy cause. ;) Link. Flyer [pdf] This will be my first Time Trial. I’m really just riding to see what I can do. I have no idea how it’ll turn out, or what it entails. I just know that for 6.1 miles, I’ll be pushing as hard as I can, without overdoing it in the first few minutes. 6.1 miles at 6.1mph = 1hr (bah!) 6.1 miles at 12.2mph = 30 minutes (ha ha!) 6.1 miles at 18.3mph = 20 minutes (hmmm…) 6.1 miles at 24.4mph = 15 minutes (eeek) … And that’s about the best I can imagine. I hope to come in between 15 and 20 minutes. more »
Posted On Friday, May 30th, 2008 By David Veatch
I’ve been noticed, and the gauntlet thrown. As I commented on his post, competition is the whetstone on which we hone ourselves. I have absolutely no doubt that we’ll both meet our goals. The motivation of friendly competition will only make it easier and more fun. In the end, he’s right. The competition is really with ourselves, but it helps to have someone out there striving just as hard, even if the root motivation is different. Now there are at least three of us out there watching each other closely. Randy has left me behind on bikejournal.com, with a 150 mile spread. I may not be able to catch up with him, but I can certainly keep trying! Anyone else?