Movie Time Again

So I've been growing facial hair since Tuesday because I got another call-up to be a "Background Artist" (also known as an Extra) for some reshoots this Monday of a movie called "The Year One" which stars Jack Black. Apparently I'll be one of the citizens for the city of Sodom which is located at a sand pit in Sibley, LA south of Minden. I think the film is a comedy about an apocalyptic time or a time in ancient history or something like that. Anyways, the male extras were asked to grow their facial hair and I'm four days into it...and Jonnene is not amused with it! She'll be happy to see it gone after I get home Monday night!

Made it to TWO morning rides this week! Haven't done that in a while and I noticed that it is getting darker longer..surprise, surprise...so the lights on my bike are finally getting some good use. The pace is generally slowly this time of year, going about 21-22 mph on the parkway. I guess everyone is feeling the cool of the air and thinking of the change in seasons and how that affects your energy levels. Tuesday morning we had eight riders show up and the temperature was about 72 degrees with nearly 100% humidity...a regular Louisiana morning for most of us. This morning there were seven of us who showed up and the change in weather was a bit more dramatic: mostly cloudy with temps hovering around 60 degrees!

Toward the end of last Tuesday's ride, around 6:40 am.

Saturday I'll be at the Autumn Breeze Run doing the 10K (6.2 miles) and I don't know how well it'll go. I haven't been running as much as I'd like because of a tender tendon in my left ankle...even took two weeks off from running to give it a rest. That helped and I've already put in over 12 miles this week including a 4-mile run last night that I think I could have stretched it to 6-7 miles if I had wanted to. I'll be happy to get my time under 50 minutes (had a 44:47 last year) but I'm not expecting much this time out. Jonnene has to work this weekend so she won't be trying the 5K run.

In the Hills of East Texas

Did the Tour de FireAnt in Marshall, Texas yesterday, covering the 62 miles in 3:04 for a 20.2 mph average. Not all that fast but there's a number of false flats out there that'll slow you down as well as a new twist in how they started the tour. All the cyclists were part of the morning parade thru downtown! Took us about 10 minutes to cover 1/2 mile over those slick brick streets in downtown Marshall...trying not to fall over on anyone since we were going so slow behind the motorcycle cops and the lead truck. I think I got plenty of track stand practice! That pretty much killed anyone's overall average if they included it as part of their overall ride. We had a marching band behind us and floats and stuff like that. It was a neat idea but I hope they don't make the riders do that again next year. It was kinda scary in some spots since I didn't know the skill levels of most of the riders around me...I kept waiting for someone to fall over on me! There was a big turnout this year, probably around 150+ bike riders which is not bad at all for this tour. I've been there when we've had 50-60 max. I think the organizers are really trying to grow it now instead of letting it float along like it had been all these years.

My ride was good overall considering how much I've been on the saddle the last week. My back was fine (still felt a few twinges sometimes) and I was as prepped as I was going to be. There were about 25-30 folks from the Shreveport area including 12 or so of Team LaS'port. Once we got out of town we formed a front group but kept it civil at 20 mph for a couple of miles. But it didn't take long after that to pick up the speed and we were down to a 20-man grouppo going 26 mph thru some of the low rollers southeast of Marshall. About 22 miles in, David P took off on a nice hill after we had passed a combine on the road and I couldn't respond to the jump and fell off the lead group that now had 8-9 riders left. They disappeared and I joined in with Joe, Jon, and Frank. Eventually we had three other riders join us which helped a lot in keeping a nice paceline going. About 40 miles in we lost Jon and one of the other riders so it was just five of us going at a fairly fast pace. The big challenge was going up FireAnt Hill which has a 7-8% grade for 1/2 mile (which is a long way up for most of us in Louisiana!) but we crested that well enough though it did take some real effort to climb.

Eventually, Joe, Frank, and I dropped our other ride companions as we headed into the last five miles of the tour. Frank was plenty exhausted but Joe and I weren't going to leave him at this point. It wasn't a race so we weren't going to knock ourselves out to get to the finish line! Then about two miles from the end I heard Frank crash behind me...Joe turned around to look at me and I said "He didn't hit me." So we turned, seeing Frank on the ground in pain...it didn't look good initially. He had some nice road rash on his right arm but he had landed on his left hip...had hit a piece of wood that slid his front wheel out from under him. I remembered seeing the wood on my right as I passed by it but I thought Frank was on my left. Apparently he had swung over to the right without me knowing and went directly into that chuck of wood. We got him up and he insisted on riding in....his bike was okay (thank goodness!). I said let's get going then, because his hip was going to stiffen soon and it was better to ride while it was still loose. It was only two miles and we stayed with him all the way to the finish. We let him finish ahead of us and he headed home soon after.

Jonnene did the 45-mile route, getting a trophy for being the first finisher in her age group, covering the distance in about 2:20. We ate the pizza provided and hung out with the Shreveport crowd for a couple of hours afterward. I won a door prize of energy gel packets (although I really wanted to win the bike that was being offered!).

One of my oldest buddies, Dale, was in town for the weekend and wanted to talk to me about doing a cover for his second book. He also wanted to see the house. He and his wife live in Birmingham, Alabama and hadn't been by this way yet this year. We had visited them last year for the ULM-Alabama game and we also got together for his mom's funereal a couple of months ago (see earlier posts).

Action from the ULM (white unis) vs. Arkansas State game.

Last night I was in front of the flat-screen watching the ULM-Arkansas State game (won by ASU 37-29...we had three turnovers that killed us) and sometimes switching to the LSU-Florida game which Florida won 51-21 (and tickled me since I don't really like LSU).

Still Sorta Aching

Saturday morning we're going over to Marshall to do the Tour de FireAnt bike tour and I don't know what to expect out of me. I still have a couple of pinpricks of pain in my back (almost reminds me of a kidney stone, like the one I had in 1985...hated that one) but I'm much better than I was Wednesday. At least I can bend over to tie my shoes and it doesn't hurt!

But the Thursday night ride was a bust for me. We were zooming down Ellerbe Road around 26-28 mph and my legs were killing me, plus my bike was acting up...shifting was erractic and it was messing with my rhythm. I'd have to overshift, sometimes by two gears, to make it go down a single gear. I finally had enough of it and bailed out of the paceline only three miles into the ride. I ended up with just 15 miles. I'm supposed to go 62 miles on Saturday....

Took the bike to the shop Friday but it was difficult to recreate the problem...figures...and the mechanic made a few minor adjustments. I'll just have to ride it in the tour and see if it continues like Thursday, noting the conditions present when the shifting acts up. Maybe I'll be lucky and not have any problems? Yeah, right.

Finished up the constitution/bylaws and membership form for the Centenary College cycling club today. This Tuesday night is the first "real" meeting and then the club becomes a reality. Some of the students are very interested in it and I hope that energy carries over the winter into next spring's racing season.

Sore Back

Arrrrgh...the sound I make when I bend around or over the wrong way. Last night I did one of the hardest rides I've done in a long while. It was Tuesday Night Worlds, which is always fast, and we had a wind out of the northwest at 12 mph, gusting to 21. Jonnene wasn't motivated to ride that evening and with the wind as it was she elected to stay home and relax. I needed to get some miles in since I did NOTHING over the weekend and there's a tour ride in Marshall, Texas this Saturday...might need to train up a bit.

The usual route for Worlds is a 29-mile loop southwest of Shreveport we call the Linwood Loop. The first six miles go due south which meant we had a sweet tailwind starting out but the rest of the ride was pretty much into the wind which wasn't so sweet. As we entered into the final four miles of that six-mile stretch, the speed never went below 30 mph...I remember moving up to the front at 32 mph one time to get around another guy and somewhere out there I maxed out at 35.2 mph. And I still got dropped! I ended up with four other teammates and we kept the pace as lively as we could until we had to turn into the wind. The rest of the time we mostly kept a 20-24 mph speed into that wind and we didn't enjoy it one bit. We caught JP halfway thru so that gave us one more guy to help with the paceline. But it was hard, pushing a lot of big gears, climbing hills with a headwind, going slow on downhills with a headwind, and trying to get back before it got dark. Including the cool-down part of the ride we averaged a tad over 21 mph for the night. I went home feeling really tired but generally pretty good. I woke up this morning with one heck of a pain in my lower back and I knew it was from the ride...pushing big gears bent over pulls on the gluts and those muscle go into the lower back. So there you go. Still hurts now but it'll be fine tomorrow.

I ran 4.7 miles this morning at an 8-minute per mile pace and my back let me know that it wasn't pleased. But my Achilles tendon in my left leg handled it pretty well (I've been dealing with a sore tendon the last few weeks and that's not pleasant either). Right now it feels very good, almost normal, but we'll see how it is 24 hours from now.

Got a new radio put in the truck today. How come new stuff always sounds so good? Like when I have the truck serviced it seems to run so well...or when you put new tires on the steering is like when it was new. Then you get used to it and take it for granted until the next time something else is done, and then it's all good again.

More waiting time....

Just like last week, I spent most of Thursday as an extra for a movie being filmed here. Just like last week, I didn't get in front of the camera! The good thing is that I'm getting paid the same either way. This was for "Leaves of Grass" and the 70+ other extras I hung out with spent time at either Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (as our holding area) or at the Agudath Achim Synagogue (where the scenes were being filmed). I got to wear the yamika and a Tallis (prayer shawl)...I was Jewish for a day! Maybe 45 or so of the extras were chosen to be in the scenes with actors Ed Norton and Richard Dreyfuss but I wasn't lucky enough to be one of them. I sat in a backroom with the other extras and some of the crew while we watched the takes on monitors set up in the room. A friend of mine, Michael (who runs an ad agency), was an extra and he got to be in one of the scenes. It was his first time to be an extra and he seemed thrilled to get some face time...and, even though he's not, he looks extremely Jewish when he's got the gear on! He said he couldn't get "If I Were a Rich Man" out of his head all day long.

This was a much bigger production than others I'd seen. Lots of trucks and equipment, very hi-tech monitoring equipment and cameras. I only got to see Norton on the monitors...I wasn't in a position to see him in person. However, I did pass by Richard Dreyfuss when I took a break to the loo. I was going down the hall and, as I passed the Rabbi's office, Dreyfuss was standing there in the doorway looking very relaxed and smiling. I nodded to him as I passed by and he nodded back. He's about as tall as Jonnene...I don't why we think actors and other famous people are taller except that maybe the TV or movie screens make them look that way.

We wrapped at 4 o'clock so I got to go home way earlier than last week, about 9.5 hours this time with the pay rate at $58 for an 8-hour period (which means $68.88 for me BEFORE taxes). You can't make a living as an extra or background but it's fun to see how the industry works and get some compensation for it. Jonnene and I went to the evening bike ride and decided to ride on our own instead of with the groups. We kept the pace around 20 mph but neither of us were highly motivated and just a little tired before we even started the ride. But we knew it would be good to loosen the legs a little bit and get a few miles in, about 20 miles in an hour.

I intended to do the morning ride but I couldn't make myself get up. Too tired, too sore but mostly I didn't want to drag all the gear out and prep my TT bike (the road bike's in the shop). So I did a workout here at the house and Jonnene went to the studio for a solo pilates workout after we walked the dogs.

Farley and I "hugging up"...he always likes a good face-to-head rub!

It's nice to walk Farley at 5:30 in the morning. It's dark and quiet, very peaceful in the neighborhood. You'll see some runners, a few of the older folks out getting their walks, and others walking their dogs, too. But mostly you're by yourself with your best friend, watching him sniff everything and bagging up his "deposits" from the yard of a neighbor. Farley will be 13 years old this January and that's getting up there for a Labrador. I know I don't have a lot of time left with him and I always get teary-eyed when I think too much about that. I've known him since he was three months old as a terrified little (30 pounds?) puppy with those small brown eyes. I've tolerated his growing up years...I only spanked him a handful of times but not for the last 10 years...and I marveled at his strength as he matured. He could knock me down when we played in the back yard and, fortunately, didn't know he had the power to jump over the chainlink fence if he had wanted to. He doesn't have that strength anymore and his hind legs are weak, but we go out and do the 1/2 mile or longer walks every morning. He is so excited to do them and is anxiously waiting at the carport door to get outside when I'm finally dressed. It's no problem to keep up with him on the walks as compared to how he pulled me when he was younger.

Farley on alert in the old back yard in Bossier.

I mostly let him go where he wants while on leash...I figure he's earned the right to choose his own path...and nearly every morning he surprises me with a new direction or new method to his madness. It's never the same-old same-old. I can always tell a new story about the morning walk because of something different he did. I'm figuring that the day he doesn't want to go for that walk will be the day I have to decide what the future holds. If he doesn't have the enthusiasm or doesn't wag his tail to go outside on his leash, and stays in the house....if he can't walk for any appreciable distance or not at all...

If he heard an ambulance or police car, Farley would go to the back fence and howl. Now he howls if the house phone rings too long!

He follows me between my studio and the living room, and I think it's because he wants to know where I am. I also think I sense some fear in him, that's he's scared, probably because he realizes he can't do all the things he used to do and is confused by it. Other times he's his old self, wagging his tail and getting in my way on purpose. I love it when he's like that! He's still got some zip but there are times you can tell he's just tired. He sleeps a lot (well, that's what dogs do). He goes out into the backyard a couple of times a day but not for long.

I remember reading an article on how to know when to put your dog down. There were three points, any of which is a sign: 1. If your dog can't walk; 2. If your dog can't eat; 3. If your dog can't express pleasure at seeing you or being petted by you. If any of these conditions are present, it's time. It also mentioned that if you think you'd feel relief if you found your dog had died overnight when you woke up in the morning, that might be a sign, too. So far, Farley hasn't given me any of those signs but right now it would probably be the walking part that'll make the difference. He walks gingerly but he can still get around. Once he gets the stiffness out of his legs he can walk for a long distance.

But we'll see how it goes. I'm going to spoil him at this time of his life and he'll know he's lived a good one. He's a good dog and that's the best compliment you can give.

Farley, aka Farley-Dog, FarBar and Good Boy.

Flats

Bummer on this morning's ride....I flatted twice and had to get a ride back home. The cause is a mystery because both tubes are punctured in the same relative place and we checked the inside of the tire casing before inserting the new tubes. I'll have to look the tire over later today to see what the problem is.

I wanted to ride Sunday but couldn't muster up the enthusiasm for it. We did some cleaning up around the house (well, Jonnene did most of it) and went shopping at Lowe's for new gutters and some Quikrete so I could repair the front walkway (which I did Monday). Monday morning's ride was a good, spirited one with seven of us showing up.

Ahhhh-so

Great ride this morning at the "Seize the Road" bike tour here in town. It's put on by the Epilepsy Foundation of Louisiana so it's a good thing to support. Like I expected, it was pretty fast almost from the get-go with LaS'port leading the charge ahead of the rest of the tour riders, with a few extra riders mixed into our group for interest. We spent a large part of the first 28 miles at race pace...there were a lot of breaks attempted and reeled back in. I only sniffed the front of the pack a couple of times, once dragging them up to a break by Bolt and Patrick (something I rarely do more than once) when we were near Blanchard. I remember one time where we were chasing DP and Patrick...for about 1/2 mile we were cruising above 30 mph. Most of the time we stayed between 24 and 27 mph which was pretty darn fast in the terrain we rode in. Finally, about 30 miles in I and a group of six lost the lead pack which was no surprise to me. I haven't been doing long fast training rides in 8 weeks and just wanted to hang as long as I could. Still, it was a good ride...our group ended up covering the 60-mile course at a 22.4 mph average, so a less than 3-hour effort. I'll take it.

Jonnene was with a group that covered the same distance with a 18 mph average but she dropped her chain twice and that cut back her chance to be a little faster.

As to last Thursday, I spent 12.5 hours on set (actually, two different sets) and didn't get in front of the camera ONCE! It was interesting to see the whole process and watch some of the acting but I ended up not getting my big show-biz moment. Just a lot of time standing around, sitting around, talking to some of the crew (one of the lighting guys was a Louisiana native from Lafayette...sounded like a true Cajun), and grazing at the food services table. We were not going to starve, that's for sure! The afternoon set was at a local park where there were several camera angles shot for the same basic scene. What's interesting here is how EVERYTHING would be moved from place to place to stay out of the camera's view...I mean, tents, tables, lights, reflectors, extras (including me), crew, anything was moved from one spot to the next in less than 10 minutes! The good thing of all this is that I do get paid for doing nothing. The check is supposed to come in two weeks. I might get called back since I didn't appear in front of the camera. Extras usually only work one day or one scene since the movie people don't want the same person showing up in the background repeatedly in a movie.

But my movie career is not over yet. I've gotten another callup to be an extra next Thursday in "Leaves of Grass" which has nothing to do with Walt Whitman's collection of poems. This one stars Ed Norton, Susan Sarandon, and Richard Dreyfuss. I'm supposed to be in a scene as part of the congregation at a local synagogue (yea! I get to sit down a lot!). I was also asked if I could use my truck in a scene showing traffic in front of the synagogue which means I get paid a little extra for using my vehicle. Dreyfuss is supposed to be in the congregation scene so I'll get to see him at work. Should be interesting. Depending on things I could be there all day again or it could be short and sweet.

More lights, camera....acktion!!

Okay, to ease the anticipation from the previous entry, I no longer have the baby flying squirrel. When I went out for my bike ride Tuesday night, I put my cat in the house and left the little squirrel in the soft cloth it was sleeping in out next to the tree outside where I found it that morning. My reasoning was that maybe...with the cat gone...that maybe the mother might come back to look for its kid. That's what I was hoping for anyway. I gave the little guy a good long drink from the mixture I had and he gulped it down pretty good, then he went back to sleep. I hated doing this but I felt that he might not last very long if I didn't improve his diet real soon. I didn't have the 30 or so days to support him until his eyes opened up. AND I had a cat in the area. Nothing else was coming up as far as handing him off to someone who could care for him. I felt this was the best (but not great) way to handle it. So I left him at the tree, cuddled up, and went for my ride.

I got back about two hours later and I went to the tree to check on him. He was gone, as in he wasn't there anymore. The cloth looked like it hadn't been touched and I picked it up, noting nothing was there. I looked around carefully in a 3-4 circle around the tree as it got dark and couldn't see any evidence of him around at all (I would check again the next morning and find nothing). So that was it. I am going to think that his mom found him and took him in and that he's fine. There are no other cats in the neighborhood so I know that wouldn't be a reason for him to be gone. But as to birds, owls, or other predators, I don't know. I hope he's home or if he's not....that it happened quickly. Of course, I had second thoughts about leaving him out there and that maybe I could have taken care of him. But too late now. I'll just hope he's fine and will be flying above my head someday in the trees. I won't forget him and I'll feel some guilt about the whole thing for a long time.

Thursday I'll be an extra for the "Front of the Class" Hallmark movie. I have to show up at 6:30 am and could be there until 6 pm. I hope they have a decent food cart!! I need to make sure I have a good breakfast before I leave...and walk the dogs...

Jonnene made it to Kansas City and should be back sometime after I finish my movie star work. The trip up there was uneventful and that's the way we like it! I spent most of today working in the yard. I'm also a mentor for a high school student on his senior project...that might take some work but our first meeting was this afternoon. He has lots to learn and I hope he pays attention!

Just Great....

I found a baby flying squirrel in the side yard this morning. It was in the same place where we chased off my cat when it caught a full-sized flying squirrel as it tried to land by the base of a tree. The adult took off up the tree when we got Taz away from it and I thought all was fine then. I came back out about 15 minutes later and found the baby on the ground. It must have been hanging on to its mom and fell off in the brief attack.

The poor thing is young, its eyes aren't even open yet but it has a healthy coat of fur on it and seems to be unhurt. It's alert but sleeping a lot. When it's curled up it's about as big as the circle I can make with my thumb and forefinger. I'm giving it a mixture made up of water, salt, and sugar based on a website I found about these things. But I can't take care of it in the long run. I've called around to see if someone or place can take it in but no luck so far. Mom's thinking there's a place north of Bossier City that might be good so I'm waiting to hear if we can hit the jackpot there. But if that doesn't work, I'm not sure what to do. I might have to take it somewhere and let nature takes its course although it certainly helps to have more flying squirrels around. We've got more than enough regular squirrels, that's for sure!

Jonnene's going to be out of town for a couple of days so I'll be batching it here. I got another call from casting to be an extra in the "Front of the Class" movie on Thursday so I'll be out there all day in about 3-4 scenes. I have no idea what I'll be doing, outside of being an adult in the background or something like that. We're doing scenes based in 1996 and 1985, and I have to bring clothing somewhat appropriate for those periods. Too bad I don't blow-dry or feather my hair anymore!

Almost in the movies again

I got a call this afternoon from Glorioso Casting to be an extra in a movie this Monday. I would play a professor in a banquet scene in a Hallmark TV film called "Front of the Class". It had been almost two years since I last worked in a film so it was a surprise to get a call.

But I had to turn it down. I had a meeting scheduled with the new cycling club at Centenary College to get that club off the ground that evening and the filming was set for all day into the night. Since I'm being paid to direct this club then that was the priority. The guy who called asked me to update my information at the website and that they may call me again. I told him, please do, that just wasn't a good day for me to come out. He said he understood, that we do have lives outside the film world.

And the story takes place in a faraway land...called Oz

Just found out the release dates for AUSTRALIA (link). It opens Down Under on November 13th and in the States on November 26th. We'll be in Oz when it opens state-side, so I guess we'll see it in Perth! I hope this is good....the music already sounds fantastic. When I watch the trailer all I can think about is Jonnene.

On another note, AN AMERICAN CAROL (link) opens on October 3rd and this should be funny. I think I'll like this one.

The Second Hurricane...Here's Ike!

I'm working backwards to catch up to what's been going on here. This past weekend we had our second hurricane blow thru the Ark-La-Tex when Ike passed by Tyler, Texas (about 100 miles west of us) after making landfall on the southeast Texas Gulf coast between Galveston and Houston earlier that morning. I was expecting a lot tougher time with this storm than we ended up getting. Shreveport was going to be on the northeast side of the hurricane which is the worst side to be on...expect plenty of wind and rain and spun-off tornados, the usual stuff. All we got were wind gusts up to 40 mph and a steady diet of light-to-medium rain all day into Saturday night. It was interesting to see some folks running in the neighborhood during the brief dry spells to get in some kind of workout! We also heard about a couple of friends who did a 100-mile ride in this weather as part of their training for Ironman! Not many folks can say they've ridden 100 miles during a hurricane...well, okay, it was down-graded to a tropical storm by the time they rode but it was still a wild ride!

It doesn't look too bad here but loose and rotten branches were blown out of the trees and all over the yard and the house. We'd hear loud sounds like someone was stomping around on the roof but it was really tree limbs raining down on us! This photo is during a break in the rain and Tropical Storm Ike is about 100 miles away to the west.

Looking down the driveway at the branches and pooled-up rain water. The fun part was cleaning all this up on Sunday!

The only "real" damage we suffered was losing our cable TV connection! We finally got some of it back today but we can only get basic since it looks like our cable box died over the weekend. It won't power up or anything, so it'll be returned to the company for a new one. But, seriously, we did quite well compared to other parts of Shreveport where trees fell on some houses, there were plenty of power outages, and some other damage was inflicted here and there.

When I did the 5:50 ride this morning, I noticed a few houses in certain sections of our neighborhood with no power and I could hear generators running here and there. But generally, it looked like everyone was okay. However, when I crossed 70th Street heading north I saw that Gilbert Street was completely dark. I was having to navigate down the road with the little headlight I had and by my memory of the road layout. Not really a problem but I realized how much I relied on the street lights to ride out there. The highlight was almost hitting a barricade that some kids (I assume it was dumb teenagers) placed across the street and, hitting the brakes hard, stopped about three feet from it! I saw it at the last minute in the dark and was pretty proud of how I stopped so quick without skidding. There were a few other barricades on the side of the road blocking excess to a downed power line. Some people think they're being cute doing sometime that they can't fathom could actually hurt someone. After the ride, I came back the same way and the barricade was still out in the street...cars were just driving around it. Nobody had moved it yet and you could tell from its position that it wasn't supposed to be there.

I spent the rest of the morning doing more yard work, cleaning up the leaves and such from the storm. This afternoon I got a real live massage from Amy, who Jonnene uses for her massages once a month. I had figured I needed some work on these tired muscles (I ran last night and biked this morning, for instance) and Amy put the hurt on me! She worked on my right shoulder that's been acting up lately and my left heel on the Achilles tendon which has gotten tender in the last couple of weeks. It should do some good if I get into a regular habit of this.

I know, it's been awhile....

Yeah, yeah, I know. I haven't posted any entries in over two weeks. I just haven't had the urge to write anything down but I know I need to update what's been going on the past 18-20 days. Right now, I'm leaving a couple of pictures to tease you with and tomorrow I'll get up to date on what's been happening.

We did our little trip to Montana two weeks ago during the Labor Day weekend. Above is Jonnene and myself standing at around 11,000 feet above sea level at Beartooth Pass (in the Beartooth Mountains, natch!). It was a nice place to go and maybe we'll do it again but for longer than two whole days!

Hey, we had a hurricane come through yesterday! Here's some of the branches and leaves that fell in our driveway Saturday, as well as all over the yard, and we spent today picking it all up. That's my cat, Taz, walking around at the bottom of the picture. He was outside during all the storming going on and he didn't seem too keen on the whole thing. This was actually our second encounter with a hurricane in two weeks but I'll tell more about that tomorrow. In the meantime, keep the folks in Houston and Galveston in your thoughts and prayers.

Blazin' Bunnies!

Saturday morning I was out doing my intervals on Harts Island Road. I had just started and had cranked up my speed to 26 mph with the aim to hold that for 2 miles (had to do this six times with 2-mile breaks inbetween) when I took a quick glance toward the one o'clock side of the road. In the sorta tall grass I saw an eye with two tall ears above it. By the time I had analyzed the data to determine it was a rabbit, that sucker came shooting out across the road, darting by my front wheel, missing it by 3-4 feet right in front of my eyeballs! Now, when you're zooming along at 37.84 feet per second, a rabbit that's 3-4 feet from your front wheel is awful darn close! If that rabbit had decided to run out on the road about a micro-second later, it'd have probably been killed and I'd have been tumbling along the road hoping not to break anything or jar any organs or lose too much skin. I kept cruising along since it happened so fast I didn't have time to reach my brakes. It DID wake me up for the rest of the morning!

The rest of the ride didn't go so well. My first, second, and fourth intervals were good, achieving what I wanted but the third, fifth, and sixth intervals were ugly...especially that sixth one. I couldn't get past 23 mph to save my life. The legs felt like they had no power although I was still turning the cranks at 96 rpm in a lighter gear. I'm hoping it's because I'm only into the second week of my TT training and that the legs are still getting used to the idea of being pushed hard. I still have two more weeks of this followed by a taper-down week leading up to the time trial on the 14th. The TT bike is getting serviced at this time, getting a new chain (to replace the gunky one that came with the bike when I bought it) and readjusting the gears. I'm also hoping to borrow a disc wheel for the race which would let Jonnene use my 100mm rear wheel. Maybe that will help.

There were only five of us at this morning's ride where we got the scoop from Mike and David about their experience at the Hotter'n'Hell bike tour over the weekend. Mike did pretty good, covering the 100 miles non-stop in 4:41. My personal best at that ride is a 4:18 in 1996 during the race portion...with one stop when I ran out of fluids.

You Don't Know Me

So, I'm out tonight doing my one-kilometer interval workout with Tim, my "coach". He's worked out my training schedule and was out to see if I needed any help. He would be training, too, but his left hamstring has been causing him all kinds of trouble so he's just riding easy for now. Tonight I did six "kilos" and I was pretty satisfied with them, averaging 29-30 mph with a slight tailwind. Tim had me roll up to my start line, pause for a second in a track stand, and then head out as fast as I could. The point being that the two worse spots in a time trial are (1) the start, and (2) getting back up to speed after the turnaround. These intervals are as much for learning to get up to speed as they are for being speedy. I should feel these in the morning.

Tim also told me, "Now, Alan, if you break an hour in that time trial, I want you to call me as soon as you can and tell me about it. Be sure to let everyone know that I coached you and that I take all the credit. However, if you don't break an hour or have a lousy ride that day, don't call me. Don't even tell anyone you know me or have ever heard of me. I will also deny that I know who you are."

I think Tim was kidding. I'm going to call him anyway. Maybe I'll wake him up.

I think my truck's alternator is going bad. I've ruled out any problems with the battery and I'm still not totally sold that the alternator is the cause of my anxiety but it's the next place to look. I tend to lean toward the possibility of a loose connection between the cable clamp and the battery post on the positive side. I hate it when the truck's not right. I'm just glad I'm not using it for a long trip this weekend...that's usually when things go wrong. And usually on a Friday. I'm taking the truck to the dealership and see what they have to say...hopefully, it'll be "That'll be five bucks and you're good to go, sir!" Uh-huh....

We go to Montana in a week! I'm about to get excited to go on a trip again to "someplace else" with my beautiful wife and hang out with her "someplace else". In three months we'll be on our way to Oz and I'll really be excited about that!

One sentence at a time

It's been raining the last two days and I've not been on the bike at all and that sucks.

In the Olympics tonight, the girl from Bahrain in the full-body running suit because of her religion doing the 200 meters has the talent to go fast but needs technique which I doubt she'll ever get.

Had to get the battery in my truck recharged so I didn't drive it anywhere for a couple of days and had to use Jonnene's car in the meantime but it's fixed now.

I am now the official club director of the cycling club at Centenary College so that's a few extra dollars a month...guess I need to get the club up and running now!

Made some significant progress on the local bike club jersey for 2009.

As much as I'd like to have Mike's job in "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery Channel, I don't think my nose could handle it.

The women's marathon was AWESOME!

I might do more of these one sentence entries in the future.

Cool Weather

It's a great weekend! Weather-wise, that is. A front came through Friday night with some rain, it has stayed cloudy, and the temps are probably 10-15 degrees F below what it normally is. Nice preview of the coming Fall but it'll get hot again soon.

The weather made for some good riding. Jonnene got in 60 miles riding with a friend who's preparing for her first Ironman triathlon in two weeks up in Kentucky. We would have liked to go up there to watch but we'll be in Montana during the Labor Day weekend visiting friends J knew and worked with when she first came to the States back in '92. And I've always wanted to visit Montana. There's a connection we have to make in Denver both coming and going which will be my first visit to the Denver International Airport since 2001. Hard to believe that "new" airport is almost 8 years old now. I kinda miss the old Denver Stapleton airport...I was last there in 1999 before they closed it...it had some character and had its short-comings, but I liked it.

I did long intervals on my time trial bike Saturday but my legs were tired. Last week was my first "real" training sessions and six straight days on the bike really wore me out. I could barely stay in the 25 mph range in any of the six intervals I did although I did keep my cadence up to work on leg speed. Tim has adjusted my sessions for next week, replacing my kilo intervals on Wednesday with an easy ride and putting the kilos in place of the group training ride on Thursday. That should help keep my legs a little fresher.

I forgot to mention that Jonnene and I saw "The Dark Knight" last weekend and I was greatly impressed by the performance of the late Heath Ledger. He played the latest incarnation of The Joker in this Batman tale and it was dark, scary, and convincing. It is rumored that his performance will be a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination which would be unusual for a "super-hero-style" action movie (usually they get costume, special effects, music, and editing nominations). I think it's totally deserved. Heath was a native of Jonnene's hometown of Perth, Australia where this famous movie star was treated as a regular guy whenever he came home to visit family. The last time Ledger was in Perth, just two weeks before his death, he wrote a letter to his hometown thanking everyone for the good treatment he always got and for letting him be just a boy from Perth. I hope he gets the nomination and I hope he wins.

"Here's my card."

Interesting Point

"And for those paying attention, since President George W. Bush rescinded the Executive Order banning offshore drilling on July 14th, oil has dropped from $147 a barrel to $113. That’s not a coincidence."

– The Patriot Post, August 15, 2008

Into the Week

It's been a tiring week here at mi casa (my house). We're watching a lot of the Olympics, actually more than I thought we would. I was wowed by the opening ceremonies that the Chinese put on but my favorite is still the Sydney Olympics of 2000. It felt a little more genuine (if you take out the modern pop music they tossed in) and was of a more hearty style. The competition has been pretty good, wished they showed more of the cycling (of course!) and I saw nothing of the time trials. I doubt NBC will show much, if any, of the track cycling.

I've spent this week doing my workouts for the time trial in September following a workout plan that a friend here put together for me. The first week is always the worst and I can feel it in my legs. Last night was five single-kilometer efforts to get my top-end speed up. After Tuesday night's speed-fest with the team, I could never get my legs spinning fast enough to get past 27 mph on any of the efforts. With this workout I only get Sundays off with easy, high cadence rides on Mondays and Fridays. The rest of the week is speed and endurance work...oh, joy. Tuesdays and Thursdays are on my road bike on the team rides where I'm supposed to sit in and treat it like a motor-pace training effort, leaving Wednesdays and Saturdays as solo go-fast rides.

The Wife got the new triathlon/time trial bike she'd been wanting for quite a while. A nice Kuota K-Factor (you can see one here - click on #3 in the selection box and you'll see the color she got) and it's a sweet looking bike. She test-rode it for a week and decided to go with it, but got the aerobars changed out for something she liked better and a different saddle. She's now in the process of getting the kinks worked out on fit and other little things so that it rides perfectly. That usually takes a few rides to several months to get it right but it'll be ready to go by the time triathlon season comes around next year. It'll get it's first taste of action when we go to the TT championships in a few weeks.

Me in Texas

Here it is...PROOF positive that I did the time trial in Texas last weekend. Obviously this is a proof from a photographer's website that a friend sent to me.
Don't know who took it but, hey, I look good!