Tomorrow should be an interesting day. I'm getting 3 minutes in front of the Broward County Commission to explain why they should be paying park employees to ALLOW residents INTO the park instead of paying them to keep residents OUT of Quiet Waters Park. As it is now the county pays employees to man the gate on Wednesdays to keep out all residents except for Ski Rixen patrons because the park is technically "closed" on Tuesdays and Wednesdays due to budget cuts, but because the Ski Rixen contract is for 6 days a week the county has to honor it and allow them to remain open for business on Wednesdays. The problem is that the county has to have staff on hand to make sure ONLY Ski Rixen patrons come in which means there has to be a supervisor on duty also. Oh yeah, the county is saving lots of money on Wednesdays. So instead of keeping folks out, why not let people in who want to walk the paths and ride their bikes? No more staff is required to allow this to happen so the only reason to keep the park closed to everyone else is purely political. I'm going to try and explain the bizarro logic of all of this and try to get them to allow "passive recreation" activities on Wednesdays during the hours that Ski Rixen is open. Shyeah. I'm sure I'll be hugely successful in this endeavor. % *
*The % is my symbol for sarcasm since it seems that no one can read sarcasm on the Internet for some reason.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Geeeezuuuuuz! The pain. Motrin is no match and I'm not taking a leftover Vicodin before work. I'm just sipping my Constant Comment wondering if I'll be able to ride tonight. I took the Titus into Jim's Bicycles because the bottom pivot spacers on the RP23 rear shock are starting to wear and need to be replaced. I guess that's what happens to a 6 month old racing bike that gets ridden pretty much 7 days a week. Shit wears out. I'm glad I have the Specialized Enduro as a backup bike and that will be my aluminum horse this week. But I do love my carbon and will miss her this week. It takes a week to get the parts from FOX and I figured I'd leave the bike at the shop while waiting and give it a rest for the week. It performed admirably over the 6.5 hours ridden at Santos so it deserves the break. I've got to get a different rear tire on it too. The Wierwolf is great for the front, but too much traction for a back tire. The last Coconut Cup race is March 7 so I just need to get me a Small Block 8 or Crossmark before then. Whichever is cheaper.
A friend up near Tampa is looking for some graphic design work. Maybe I'll get a little extra work to pay for the new tire and shock spacers...and a couple cans of GT85. I use that stuff like water to clean the drivetrain. Just spray the bejeezuz out of the cassette, derailleur, and chain. Seems to work. No drivetrain issues in 2 whole race series and haven't broken a chain.
I was thinking about Carolyn last night. I shouldn't do that. Sure I'd like to give her a good flogging, but that would last all of about a week and then I'd get bored. I just want to hang out with her. Man I sound creepy. No, I won't be stalking her so just relax. Luckily infatuation wears off. I'm sure she'll do or say something to annoy me sometime down the road and that will be that. It'll probably be the other way around though. When you aren't afraid to be a heretic publicly it can become an excuse for people to write you off. Being a militant atheist doesn't make one popular with most folks in today's hyper religious society. The fact that I think people who believe in God are somewhat deficient doesn't help either. But this is what I know so it's my cross to bear. I hate that there are so many religious cliches. I use them in an ironic fashion but I should probably be more creative and come up with my own sayings. But even, "...my burden to shoulder." is an Agnosticized version of the same cliche. My atheism is still evolving in terms of entirely sloughing off the last remnants of religious indoctrination from my youth, but it is strong within me and I'm certain I can do some good for society by helping others break the bondage of religion. I'm not looking to "convert" people. I just want people to start thinking about what they believe in and ask the right questions. The one thing about religion is that when you are taught to never question anything about God because you just wouldn't understand, that should be one of life's red flags that we should teach our children about when they are very young and currently is the opposite. Societies around the world teach their children to blindly follow clergy and to use superstition as a way of getting through life. No wonder we have so many molested children by priests and the like. It's our fault for putting them into that position by lying to them in the first place. We really need to stop the child abuse that is religious indoctrination of children. Not because I think it's wrong, but just because it IS wrong. These are the kinds of statements that get me into trouble. But I can't help what I know to be right. And religion is the opposite of right despite what the Republicans would have you think. I used to be a Republican, but the party that I supported has long since been overrun with superstitious wing nuts with insane world views.
The tea is done and it's time to try and stand up and get ready for work. 2 posts now. We'll see how long this lasts.
A friend up near Tampa is looking for some graphic design work. Maybe I'll get a little extra work to pay for the new tire and shock spacers...and a couple cans of GT85. I use that stuff like water to clean the drivetrain. Just spray the bejeezuz out of the cassette, derailleur, and chain. Seems to work. No drivetrain issues in 2 whole race series and haven't broken a chain.
I was thinking about Carolyn last night. I shouldn't do that. Sure I'd like to give her a good flogging, but that would last all of about a week and then I'd get bored. I just want to hang out with her. Man I sound creepy. No, I won't be stalking her so just relax. Luckily infatuation wears off. I'm sure she'll do or say something to annoy me sometime down the road and that will be that. It'll probably be the other way around though. When you aren't afraid to be a heretic publicly it can become an excuse for people to write you off. Being a militant atheist doesn't make one popular with most folks in today's hyper religious society. The fact that I think people who believe in God are somewhat deficient doesn't help either. But this is what I know so it's my cross to bear. I hate that there are so many religious cliches. I use them in an ironic fashion but I should probably be more creative and come up with my own sayings. But even, "...my burden to shoulder." is an Agnosticized version of the same cliche. My atheism is still evolving in terms of entirely sloughing off the last remnants of religious indoctrination from my youth, but it is strong within me and I'm certain I can do some good for society by helping others break the bondage of religion. I'm not looking to "convert" people. I just want people to start thinking about what they believe in and ask the right questions. The one thing about religion is that when you are taught to never question anything about God because you just wouldn't understand, that should be one of life's red flags that we should teach our children about when they are very young and currently is the opposite. Societies around the world teach their children to blindly follow clergy and to use superstition as a way of getting through life. No wonder we have so many molested children by priests and the like. It's our fault for putting them into that position by lying to them in the first place. We really need to stop the child abuse that is religious indoctrination of children. Not because I think it's wrong, but just because it IS wrong. These are the kinds of statements that get me into trouble. But I can't help what I know to be right. And religion is the opposite of right despite what the Republicans would have you think. I used to be a Republican, but the party that I supported has long since been overrun with superstitious wing nuts with insane world views.
The tea is done and it's time to try and stand up and get ready for work. 2 posts now. We'll see how long this lasts.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
1st post. What the hell could I possibly write that anyone would think was even remotely interesting? Spent the weekend at Ocala, Florida participating in the 12 Hours of Santos race. I did the 6 hour solo event - my first endurance race. Got in under the cutoff time by 1 minute so I was able to get in one more lap in excruciating cramping pain in every muscle of my legs. Yee friggin haw. I had already done the last 3 of 6 laps in ridiculous pain but I kept pedaling and was amazed I made the cutoff so I figured I might as well do that last lap. I stopped for about 20 minutes where we had the water and food table setup along the course and took my time, but I was the last racer to make the cutoff so I wasn't in danger of getting passed and I certainly wasn't going to be catching anyone ahead of me. I limped around the last 8.5 mile lap and finished 28th out of 95 - with another 15 Elite riders ahead of me, but I'm counting them as another class altogether. Those guys ended up doing 9 laps. 7 laps for me in my first endurance race is pretty awesome, but I'm not feeling all that awesome and I'm thinking I'm not going to be doing a lot of these events. You're basically paying to torture yourself. I'll probably do events like this on a team. The team riders do a lap at a time over the course of 12 hours so there's some night riding involved, but you get about 3 hours rest in between laps so you can really haul ass on every lap. That's the kind of racing I like.
I went out too fast and put in some good lap times for the first 3 laps, but then the cramps hit and never went away. The fact that I did 4 laps in immense pain just goes to show how stupid human beings can be when we let our egos take over and ignore our bodies. A smarter rider would have quit on the 5th lap. But I'm proud that I rode 60 miles on a hard trail. I just won't be doing it again for quite a while.
The best part was the hanging around the fire the night before and the night of the race. I will avoid the beers next time the night before the race, and probably double up on my intake the night after. If for no other reason than to numb the pain. Carolyn is a female rider who is so good - and so HOT - and on top of all that she's really cool and nice and I'm SO in love, but she's married so I keep it to myself. It was nice that she hung out with us around the fire after the 6 hour race. Yeah, she beat me, but only by about 45 minutes - 20 of those minutes I was sitting in a chair contemplating doing the last lap. Anyway, she's a great rider and she's nice and hot and I consider myself lucky that I was able to show off my mad pyromaniac skeelz with the fire while she was hanging out with us. Hey, ya gotta put your best foot forward and I'm a much better pyro than rider. I'm sure she was very impressed. And the delusion continues.
So I'm getting ready to sleep in my own bed after two fitful nights of sleep in "the pit" - the bottom of an old limestone mining pit which has the Vortex trail built around it's rocky rim. My legs are screaming at me, but I'm still hoping to ride Quiet Waters tomorrow after work. This blog is about work, but you won't see much actual discussion about it. I design book covers for a publishing company and I like it. I also do some freelance graphic design work. That covers that.
We'll see if I feel at all motivated to continue posting. For anyone who would stumble across this and actually read it, well, you really do have WAY too much time on your hands.
I went out too fast and put in some good lap times for the first 3 laps, but then the cramps hit and never went away. The fact that I did 4 laps in immense pain just goes to show how stupid human beings can be when we let our egos take over and ignore our bodies. A smarter rider would have quit on the 5th lap. But I'm proud that I rode 60 miles on a hard trail. I just won't be doing it again for quite a while.
The best part was the hanging around the fire the night before and the night of the race. I will avoid the beers next time the night before the race, and probably double up on my intake the night after. If for no other reason than to numb the pain. Carolyn is a female rider who is so good - and so HOT - and on top of all that she's really cool and nice and I'm SO in love, but she's married so I keep it to myself. It was nice that she hung out with us around the fire after the 6 hour race. Yeah, she beat me, but only by about 45 minutes - 20 of those minutes I was sitting in a chair contemplating doing the last lap. Anyway, she's a great rider and she's nice and hot and I consider myself lucky that I was able to show off my mad pyromaniac skeelz with the fire while she was hanging out with us. Hey, ya gotta put your best foot forward and I'm a much better pyro than rider. I'm sure she was very impressed. And the delusion continues.
So I'm getting ready to sleep in my own bed after two fitful nights of sleep in "the pit" - the bottom of an old limestone mining pit which has the Vortex trail built around it's rocky rim. My legs are screaming at me, but I'm still hoping to ride Quiet Waters tomorrow after work. This blog is about work, but you won't see much actual discussion about it. I design book covers for a publishing company and I like it. I also do some freelance graphic design work. That covers that.
We'll see if I feel at all motivated to continue posting. For anyone who would stumble across this and actually read it, well, you really do have WAY too much time on your hands.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
