First Days of Sun = Stupid People Out in Force

Seriously, I want to know what it is that makes people drive and act like morons when it first becomes nice out here in the NW?

Are they blinded by the sun?
Are their bodies having allergic reactions to the warmth/sun?
Or is it that people are just venturing from their hibernation so they have no social skills due to a lack of interaction with other humanoid forms?
Or are people just plain fricking dumb asses?

I ask these questions because on my 3.5 hour ride yesterday I had roughly 5 drivers show obvious lack of thought when passing me.

Like the ass in the red Dodge Durango who decided to pass on a road with no shoulder into oncoming traffic. Oh but wait, he didnt move over into the other lane so the oncoming traffic wasnt an issue.

Or the small navy sedan that decided to buzz us for shits and giggles, no oncoming traffic, country roads with 45ish speed limits, complete visibility. He was going at least 60+, and didnt even bother to move over the center line at all.

What about the dipshits in a silver 4 Runner 2 blocks from the house who decide to ride my butt when I'm slowing down for a red light (yea its red, that means stop), and then cut the corner thru the 7-11 parking lot to make a right hand turn. Had they just waited the light would have turned shortly and it would have been about 5-10 seconds later. Nooooo. Their time is important.

I wonder how much people think about their antics in their cars actually affect the rest of us. Esp those who do not have 2000lbs of plastic and metal surrounding them. It seems like people view their cars as an extension of their houses. And since they can do whatever they want in their houses, the same follows for cars. I mean how many times have you seen people pick their noses in their cars?

I guess it seems like people either dont think about how their piss poor driving actually involves others. Or that all I have between me and the road is Styrofoam and a small plastic shell. That is no match to your mid-sized SUV.

This is my life, and the lives of other cyclists here. Its not a game. It is not amusing or funny. Give us some space and respect that we are a road user as well. Really the extra 2 seconds it takes to slow down and pass at a safe distance wont effect your life in any way shape or form.

Finally! No longer muddy...

Its been almost a week since Mudslinger and I think I have finally removed all the mud that I brought home from Blodgett. It was epic. It was muddy. We got hailed on, rained on, snowed on, and even some sun.

It is in the mid 30s when we showed up to help out with the registration. There was an inch and a half of snow on the ground when we left Monroe for Blodgett. By the time the start rolled around it was in the high 40s. I had legwarmers, booties (which became a lovely collection bin for the mud), longsleeved turtleneck base layer, jersey, shorts, jacket on. Some guys had knee warmers and a long sleeved jersey on, I have no idea how people function with so little clothing when its cold. I'm not sure if they are stupid or just really warm all the time. Maybe some of both.

So it started off well. The first climbs are hard. It starts off with a stair step climb. With an ever increasing slope, topping off at 27%. Which is, well, hard. During the pre-ride 2 weeks before, I went up it in my middle ring, which almost made me puke/pass out simultaneously. So went down to my little ring, puking during a race probably isnt a great idea. I did some serious booty kicking on the initial climb. I figured I had to due to the lack of experience in the mud.


Mud: this mud was ridiculous. That good ol NW clay, slippery, slimy, and deep and gross and heavy. I fell over so many times in the mud to do wheels sliding, me sliding trying to tripod it down slopes, and the extreme lack of traction due to the mud adhering to my tires and becoming on big muddy heavy rotating mass.

Guess what? I crashed. Der. I hit a rut on a nice wide open decent and the front wheel went right I went over and did a one arm superman. I wasnt hurt. The bike was ok, twisted the seat post/saddle to the right and the stem a couple degrees to the left. This made steering/riding interesting for the rest of the course. The coolest part (and I have no idea how this happened) was the way my bike landed. It was perpendicular to the trail, resting on the saddle and handlebars with the wheels still spinning. You see in the picture how my seat was off to the right, and the handle bars to the left. No I am not holding it funny, the front wheel is straight.

Overall, it was fun. Muddy. But fun. The clothes took days and days (along with not an insubstantial amount of oxyclean) to finally rinse clear. Wonderful Chris took care of most of the mud on the bike. She is shiny and clean.

Good things: Agnes (the bike), feed zones, gravel roads, post race food (thanks Great Harvest!), someone to clean up my bike, Oxyclean.

Bad things: no mud riding skillz, bonking, mud between my toes (with shoes/socks/booties on), turning everything I touched post-race in a muddy mess.

Ok, Gonna finish up my Nutella (the great Nutella Debate) and almond butter sammich - its tasty tasty stuff and ride my bike/do some homework (probably in that order).

More race reports and pics here: Collin's Cycling Team Blog
More pics here: Here.

80s and a tan to 30s and muddy

What the frick is up with the weather. It was 83F degrees last Saturday, I got a slight sunburn while mtn biking here in Eugene. And then it was 70F-ish for Icebreaker. Now, one week later there was snow on the ground when I woke up this am, its 43F out according to Google. Its partly sunny now, but its been spitting on and off. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. Just in time for my first mtn bike race of the season, Mudslinger.

Argh. I skipped Hornings because it was nas-tay. I did not want to play on a slip n slide with my bike in the mud. Plus its loooong drive to Hornings from Eugene (2+ hours) for that kind of mud-fest. So my penance is Mudslinger.

The Sport women get to race 17 miles (yea, I know that sounds like a short amount of time when I think about it on my road bike, but mtn bike time is much much slower, we're talking like an hour and a half to 2 here) and have 2500' of climbing. I will climb anything on Agnes (my super awesome 2008 Specialized Stumpjumper). I love climbing (and I never would have said this until I started mtn biking).

So I was just thinking that maybe I should go ride Foxhollow to McBeth to strech the legs a bit before I delved into my chemistry and calculus. But it just started hailing. Maybe I'll do my chem now and ride later (probably to a movie on the rollers...sigh I thought I was done with winter training).

Tomorrow: Mudfest er Mudslinger 08.

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

A bit on the longish side, but hilarious.

Ice Breaker Crit - sans the ice and the breaking

So I did my first race of the year. Yea I know its April. Road racing is in full swing. I'm just a slacker who hasnt been able to train much due to work/school/and some dietary issues.

We went around and around and around 30 times. I dont know how long it took I forgot to look at my watch and my computer's battery went kaput. I was there I did it and I didnt even get last place.

Things that obviously need to work on:

- Sucking wheel in the middle of the pack and not at the back. Accordion effect = more work = Miriam gets tired faster.

-Turning with the pack. I'm not worried about my lines or that of most of the women I race with since they are all category 3 or up. I am still nervous about crashing thanks to Swan Island and going down 2x due to the rain and really beating myself up. I'm kinda over the crashing.

-Being more aggressive in keeping a wheel I want. Some of this was out of my control. There is a woman who races and is known for not being able to hold a line. If we had to pace lines of women, she would be all over the place and take both riders for her draft. There were several times I was caught between her and the curb, so I let her have the wheel. I had 3 choices. Tell her what I thought and to move over (this could have caused some tension). Make good up-close friends with the curb (I like my teeth where they are and my body and bike whole), or give up the wheel in the name of self preservation. So I chose self preservation. Which means I was back at the rear of the pack, again.

Things that made me pleased:
-The fact that I am not training much, and I raced against some fast-assed women, and I held on. I was always there, and the couple times I got gapped, I bridged and made it back on.

-That I have some afterburners of some sort. At the final corner I was off the back (yea corners!) and I just put er in a big gear, put my head down and gave it hell. I passed 2 other women, and came close to getting a 3rd. I do need to work on a shorter/faster sprint. Occasionally I need less endurance but more snap.

-Not getting last. And not caring about much else because I was there to have fun. Which I did because riding and racing my bike makes me smile. Especially in the 70 degree sunny weather.

-Getting my first cycling tan of the season - woooooo.

For the record, I got 8th, and I'm pretty ok with that.

Ridding the world of stupidity...

So I dont understand how people can be so ignorant sometimes. The other day I was coming home from work. It was a beautiful sunny day, one of those spring days where you are just thrilled to be out in the warm sun because its been soooo long.

So anyways, I come up to intersection #1, its got 3 lanes going E-W, 2 lanes going N and 3 going S, plus a bus lane that runs E-W between the lanes. Big. I'm waiting for the light with another cyclist, shes older on a more upright big squishy saddled bike, going for what looks like a recreational ride. The light turns and I roll through the intersection to the next stop, one block away. This one is 2 lanes in each direction and a 4 way stop. There are cars going S, N, and W. I wait for the car to go west. They sit there looking confused, so the cars going N & S go. I start to go, when this older woman blows by me w/o even looking around or pausing at this stop sign. Let me go back a bit, this 4-way stop is on the UofO campus. Near all the dorms. This equals a inordinate amount of bad/inattentive drivers in the area as well as higher congestion. Its not so smart to just speed through any intersection w/o looking around you, especially this one.

Few things irritate me more than fellow cyclists blatantly ignoring basic traffic laws. We are cyclist we are not exempt from them. When cyclist ignore traffic laws, we piss off drivers who are (for the most part) adhering them. The drivers then classify all cyclists based on the behaviors of the the few stupid ones. Later drivers interact with cyclists who are obeying traffic laws and treat us like we are not, or they dont respect our right to be on the road too.

So I roll up to this woman. I get her attention. She takes out an ear bud and acts all put off by having to do so. I tell her that she needs to stop at that intersection. (Note this is not something new for me, I will yell at other cyclists if they are being stupid, as well as cars and pedestrians if they being stupid too). She tells me with all seriousness that she doesnt have to stop at stop signs because she is on a bike. My jaw was on my handle bars. I probably looked like one of those cartoons. I was floored. I, of course, tell her she is wrong, and that she needs to re read the traffic manual if she is in doubt of this. She then tells me, "I am 56 years old and I know better than you do." I tell her just because she is old does not make her wise, again that she is wrong, and I ride off (to the next stop light).

I feel like I've hit in the head with something, I'm just so dumbstruck at the sheer stupidity of the conversation.

Additional Page to the Interwebs

After deciding there just wasn't enough blogs, opinions, and information on the internet I decided to add my own blog. Mostly it will be goofy things. Thoughts on annoying people that I come across. Goofy things I find on the web (when procrastinating from my chem and calc). Bikes, racing, and bike related things will also have a predominate spot.

I think I will start off with this awesome little video.



Its true, if you commuted by bike, your friends will high-five you and there will be disco balls.