I went to a mountain bike race in Jacksonville over the past weekend.
I crashed twice in the first lap and then another four times on the second lap. At that time I realized it was probably best to stop racing and cut my losses. It was a fun course and the proximity to the beach was great. In fact, you could walk from the parking lot to the ocean. What a treat!
I just wish I could stay on my bicycle.
…
The following two pictures of Cleveland’s Warehouse District came to my attention on the Kaid Benfield blog on urban design, planning and infrastructure. They show the travesty of minimum parking requirements and the belief that we should tear down buildings for surface parking lots.
The two pictures are taken from the same exact location.
The Atlantic Monthly has been a great magazine for some time. Recently, they unveiled a new website Atlantic Cities and it is full of great articles about urbanism, suburbia and human geography. It is a great website to go to if you are at all interested in the places that we call home.
After seeing the recent Republican debates in which the audience has; booed an openly gay soldier in Afghanistan, cheered for executions in Texas, and yelled for the government to pull the plug on a hypothetically injured man in a coma I have found myself wondering the following question, “What awful reality does the Tea Party live in?”
Well, my question is answered in this article by Amanda Marcotte. The article does a great job of breaking down the issues confronting suburbia and perhaps the over-reliance on reality television!
…
I am racing mountain bikes in Jacksonville this weekend. I look forward to another race, but rumor has it that the course is fairly technical with a large amount of sand. Well, at least I know how to ride on sand from the River Bottom Trail in Minnesota.
The end of Star Power: Mayweather/Ortiz was epic and amazing.
Ortiz showed his inexperience when he headbutted Mayweather at the end of the fourth round. He apologized profusely and seem to be apologizing some more when Mayweather cold-cocked him with a left hook and a straight right combo that sent the younger Ortiz to the canvas.
Mayweather’s punches were legal, but cheap. Sadly, I don’t think the supposed “pound for pound” king of boxing should rely on such tactics to win fights against an over matched opponent. This incident is definitely going to tarnish the Mayweather image and you have to figure that he will have to take on Pacquiao at some point.
Nonetheless, the highlight of the night was the post-fight interview with the legendary Larry Merchant. Nothing says class like refusing to answer questions and showing up an 80year-old man. Why did he do this? Because he knew the next question was about if he will ever toughen up and fight Pacquiao!
Sarah and I have been waiting a long time for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Victor Ortiz boxing match and tonight is the night. It is amazing how good HBO is at making an average boxing fan (me) and an occasional fan (Sarah) into mega-fight fans with their series 24/7. It is easily the best sports series on television and it tells an amazing story that makes you want to watch the fight. Here is just a glimpse of the awesomeness that is reality television in the boxing world:
How can you not want to watch the fight after watching one of the most awkward moments ever? There are a ton of story lines, but when Floyd Mayweather Sr. drops the “41-1″ statement we know that this is a serious moment. I don’t like Floyd Mayweather, but he is easily one of the best fighters of all time. Yes, he needs to fight Manny Pacquiao, but he has quality skills.
Heading up to Tallahassee this weekend to race some mountain bikes with my 352 Racing teammates. It is the opening weekend of the Florida Championship Series. The series is a lot like the Minnesota series and gets about the same amount of riders. Obviously the season starts later in the year down here, but the summer heat makes it next to impossible to ride all over the state. I plan on doing about four or five of the races as cyclocross season is also fast approaching and I need to get my act together so I don’t totally screw up my front row starting spot at the USGP in Louisville in November.
…
I just got done perusing my RSS feed and the Third Kit linked up this amazing video on YouTube featuring the band, “The Rapture” and a new video featuring the likes of Crazy Legs from the legendary Rock Steady Crew and his amazing performance in the 80s fad-hit Beat Street.
Everyone should watch this video and then wait till the end for Jonny Travolta’s appearance.
I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend.
…
Yesterday I raced in the 8 Hours of Labor mountain bike event at the San Felasco Trails about 15min north of Gainesville. This was the second time I have done this race, but unlike last year when I did it solo, I was able to team up with a teammate of mine at the last minute. The original plan was for Dito to ride his cyclocross bike, but thankfully he found a mountain bike at the last minute and that surely saved his body from the punishing roots of the trails.
We ended up getting 7th overall out of 23 teams and my lap times were fairly consistent. In fact, I was happy with my lap times at the end of the race when I struggled to stay on the wheels of riders in front of me. When I lead into technical sections I go ridiculously slower than I need to. Following a more technically sound rider into the woods has proven to be better as it reassures me that I can hit downhills, corners and roots at the same speed.
Mountain biking is a lot of fun, and I hope it is good training for cyclocross season.
The first cross race of the year is on October 9th in Miami!
It deals with the finer intricacies of traffic engineers and bicycles.
The other day he had this amazing .gif that really points out the idea of the “door zone” for automobile users, and bicyclists.
Often times when cyclists are given a bike lane to travel in they ride on the far inside, of course this is in the door zone. I have been ‘doored’ on a few occasions and it really sucks. I have also been yelled at by drivers in the travel lane that I must be inside the bike lane when one is available. Well, perhaps if they saw this .gif they would understand why at times I may travel outside of the bike lane from time to time.
