revchuck 

Beer math?

sarals 

I was IM'ing with @yogaket last night and I had epiphany, sparked by something she said. I've done some hard things in my life, professionally and personally, in almost all of those cases it was because I had to. By nature, I'm a little lazy, and I tend to look for the easiest way to do something rather than hit it head on. I did that with the bike, in spite of outward appearances, early on. Then the definition of what earning success really is made itself known to me. I understood. I learned what the spirit of a racer really is, what it is to really want success, and what has to be done to achieve it. I learned suffering, really suffering, was a step to that success, and in a way, it was/is also a measure of self worth. Those who are successful in this sport know that the personal rewards for achieving something they did not know their body could do or that their mind would allow their body to do are so sublime, so satisfying, that the pain, the work, the suffering are not only acceptable, but are a part of it, and are a badge of honor. Dig. Go for it. Bridge. Hang on to that wheel. All of that. I used to side step those things. I was almost afraid of them. I did not know I could survive them, I had no basis. Now I do, now I embrace it. I don't go out in every race and buy in, but I know how to now, and I know my physical and mental limits are much higher than I ever dreamed they were. And I know how much it is worth to me to truly earn something. To suffer. To dig. To go for it.

Hermes

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No...Fuzzy Math

sarals 

It was nice PM'ing with you last night!

sarals 

I refuse to go there. It's just a number to me. Or, that's what i tell myself.

sarals 

Ex, you didn't eat at Chipotle, did you?

shovelhd

Eloquently put, Sara.

YogaKat

I always enjoy talking to you. I just wish we were could go grab a coffee together (or do beer math.)

A passage from one of my favorite books:

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

M. Scott Peck ~ The Road Less Traveled

sarals 

Coffee!! That would be such a treat!

Also one of my favorite books, YK. It was almost a bible to me for a short time while I was in college.

sarals 

Thank you, my friend - Happy Holidays!

YogaKat

Go figure! I read it while in high school then again years later at the suggestion from my therapist at the time and it really did put things into perspective.

Hermes

Merry Christmas to all.

Sunset over Catalina Island Christmas Eve.

Racer Ex 

Happy Holidays everyone!

Hermes

In dog years, Heathpack would have euthanized me long ago.

Racer Ex 

Didn't mention that we had a nice little earthquake cluster Tuesday night. Epicenter a couple of miles from the house, and on average 10 miles below the surface. 4.4, several 3's and 9 shakers total. The 4.4 had a nice wobble to it. We have a fault that's a block away, these were in and around that crack as it heads north and down. I'm a bit of a geology wonk so it was pretty cool to see those forces at work.

Another 3 pointer and half dozen below that in the time since.

shovelhd

I can think of worse ways to go than being swallowed up by the earth.

Cleave

Trying to make sure our new house is as earthquake resistant as possible. Of course current construction requirement do most of that. Newport-Inglewood Fault runs right through Long Beach but the soils report (used Racer Ex's teammate) shows that we don't need to do anything extraordinary to meet regulatory requirements.

Since I'm on vacation this week, the Vitus 979 post reminded me that I wanted to update a blog post that lists all of my bikes since I started getting interested in bike racing. It's more of a history document for me but thought that some of you might be interested.

YogaKat

Funny, I just tuned into BF this morning and we had a little quake about 15 minutes ago. I usually don't notice most of them here and only hear about them afterwards. They seem to be more prevalent during changing weather.

sarals 

I live seven miles from the San Andreas Fault. Yay. We get little rattles from it and some of it's tributary faults fairly often. It's not the fault to worry about, though - the Calaveras and the Hayward are.

Racer Ex 

West coasters are fortunate in that we get shook a lot and build accordingly. Places like where YogaKat live generally don't. Fracking has set off a lot of seismic activity in her area. I guess we will see how big.

There are ticking time bombs all over the US. The Pacific NW might be of most concern; there's a 3 plate junction there that's thrown 9 pointers and tossed the ocean 10 miles inland on a fairly regular geologic time table. Local native oral histories talk about villages disappearing into the ocean and there are tsunami records in Japan that correspond to the geologic findings. Then it goes queit for a few hundred years. Last one was a bit before the Europeans showed up.

YogaKat

Oklahoma has always had very small quakes that were not even felt. As Racer Ex mentioned since fracking has begun they are getting larger and more frequent. (Oh the local debates regarding fracking or not ad nauseum!)

Today was a 4.3 followed by a 3.4. The morning news showed some pictures that were sent in by viewers and we were talking about how Californians would laugh at us seeing a broken cup or a picture that fell off the wall compared to what they have experienced.

Interesting native lore. Mother nature does have her own timeline.

Racer Ex 

Still a bit under the weather. Got up, did some laundry, put things away from our Christmas trip and have some chili going in the slow cooker. Jalepeno sweet pepper corn bread goes in in a few hours. Might make a little simple syrup; whiskey sour would probably help my congestion...

Herbie53

I lived in NCA for ~12 years. Never experienced a quake... moved to the DC area in 2001, besides getting to see the Pentagon on fire, I felt the ground shake twice in 14 years. Not big ones I suppose, but I did not like it.

Hopefully Texas stays still.

revchuck 

I just finished going through my files in preparation for the move. I filled two medium-sized boxes with stuff to have shredded, more than half of it is paperwork from 36 years in the Army/Army Reserve/Army National Guard. Lots of nostalgia in going through that stuff. For a pretty nondescript guy, I've done a lot of stuff in my life. It really struck me tonight. I'm going to have a lot of stuff on my I-love-me wall in the new house.

Heathpack 

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