spectastic

you're white. leave the tiger mom role to the tiger mom.

tetonrider

a couple of thoughts:
is racing a field of strong riders fun for you, win or lose? all but one is going to win. my experience is that most races is that you might have 100 riders in a field but there is just a handful of guys who can *actually* close the deal. at an event like masters nationals, pretty much everyone there knows how to be a closer. racing deep fields is fun. also, if you are not perceived as a top guy, you may get some opportunities -- more leash, if you will -- that other riders will not.

anything can happen in a one-day event.

i think masters nationals is a cool scene. forget your own race -- it is neat (IMO) to see 75yo guys riding hard on a TT bike. doesn't matter that the best time of the day doesn't come from that field... wouldn't it be amazing just to be able to RIDE in that position when we are 75? inspiring.

there's great energy around the event. you can sleep in your own bed that night (not many get to do that for nationals!). some people have planned their year around this, and being witness to that kind of commitment -- again, for me -- is motivating.

on another note, the 35-39 field tends to be just a bit less deep in terms of participation than some other fields. fastest TTs of the day usually come from 40-44 or 45-49...and the top 5 or 10 from those fields is a bit stronger. i don't know why that is...maybe for many under 40 they don't really start to pay attention to the masters thing. i remember being told that in new england that the 35+ guys generally raced open when they could do one race on a day, but 40+ more often went masters.

this is just observation from comparisons of time, size of fields, and other similar markers from the past 5 years or so (after 30-34 got phased out).

good news is that you can decide pretty late.

do what's fun -- or if you decide to race, decide that it will be fun!

Flatballer

Damn, I've been going to the wrong races. Either that or I'm even slower than I thought.

tetonrider

don't read too much into it. it's not that other fields are not strong or slow, it's that when you are in a field where there is such a high percentage of people who have a real shot at the win on any given day, there's a noticeable difference. super fun.

Flatballer

It was a joke. You wrote "all but one is going to win". Which means that everyone except one rider in a field will win.

Ygduf

we have a basketball court across the street. Wife's brother is 6'5", so height is in our families. Look at these legs and arms...

Flatballer

That's a long baby. What were the stats?

TMonk

He has your cheek/facial structure @Ygduf!

hack

go practice alley-oops!

spectastic

Umm. There's a hole in your baby. Are they all like that?

globecanvas

That's where the frogs, snails, and puppy dog tails go in.

carpediemracing 

Only Adam and Eve didn't have those holes.

gsteinb

p&r

tetonrider

ah, haha--totally missed that. and as for my post..oops!

well, in some circles, isn't everybody a winner? ;-)

Flatballer

Not when I'm racing.

spectastic

how do you know that?

carpediemracing 

Well Adam didn't have a mom so no umbilical cord, therefore no bellybutton. And Eve was made from Adam's rib, so no belly button for her either. This was a riddle that I heard back in school:

"An archeologist digs up a perfectly preserved male and female couple, from skin to bones. He looks at them for a few seconds and exclaims, "It's Adam and Eve!". How does he know?"

(Neither has a bellybutton and the male is missing a rib.)

Actually I don't know who else was descended from gods and such. I'm sure other religions have such characters. They wouldn't have bellybuttons either.

globecanvas

I can't stop laughing at this:

Boaty McBoatface wins online poll to name U.K. polar research ship.

spectastic

source for the story?

Flatballer

One day marketing people will learn to stop letting the internet name things. It never goes well. MBTA recently reneged on naming their new dog "Mr. Spaghetti" and instead chose "Hunter" which didn't have near the votes.

grolby

Which annoyed me, cause "Hunter" is a boring-ass macho dog name. God forbid the MBTA have a sense of humor. Apparently the other options were "Charlie" and "Trax," both of which are cuter, more appropriate for a T dog, and still have some dignity for whatever that's worth (not much, to a dog).

Doge

Got my tickets to go watch the Peace Race in Czechia (new name for Czech Republic). The course is not well suited to spectators, but I'll see what I can do with video.


But I got the budget thing down. $160 and 60K ff miles. Leaving Wed, returning Monday wife dropping me before work getting me afterwards.


Hotels are running $30/day in the country with parking, Internet (yea I'll see how that works) and breakfast. Similar $200/day in Prague. Been to Prague a few times and going to skip it.
Rental cars as low as $7/day plus "fees". Got one reserved from Budget for $98 for the 5 days.


I expect I'll do this whole thing around $600/6 days.

Flatballer

I'm not saying the internet is wrong. "Mr. Spaghetti" is clearly an awesome name for a dog, as is "Boaty McBoatface" (I literally can't type it without laughing) an excellent name for a boat. If they don't use it, I will. The internet's collective wisdom might not be suitable for your corporate image, but it can't be said it isn't damn funny sometimes.

caloso

How could it not be Charlie?

revchuck 

Just drove back from a week of riding in Tucson. I stayed in Ft. Stockton, TX last night, and chased a line of strong thunderstorms all the way home today. The aftermath of those storms was pretty nasty - some areas west of Houston got over 20" of rain this morning. Lots of roads completely underwater, rivers and streams a quarter mile in each direction out of their banks. Thoughts to the folks around Houston.