Meditate on This!

For the next ten days, I'm going to be taking a course in Vipassana meditation outside Sun Valley, Idaho. I'm slightly nervous about what I'm getting myself into -- ten days of not talking and sitting still sounds pretty challenging. To date, I think the longest I've remained both silent and still was for roughly two hours and forty minutes. I was sleeping at the time, and this happened over ten years ago, so "challenging" might be an understatement. Learn more about what I'm doing here. Needless to say, blogging is not allowed during meditation courses, so as much as I'd love to give you detailed, firsthand accounts of the changes taking place in my psyche, I can not do so. I will, however let you know how it went once I get back. Good night, and good luck.
-S

Game Day Ambiance

Boise State

It's good to be in Boise. Interbike is all over and done with, and soon I'll share some photos of the goodies I spied. But for now, it's back to Boise, and there is no better time to be in Boise than on game-day for the Boise State Broncos. Not only that, it's a BIG game! Boise State (ranked 3rd in the county) will take on Oregon State (ranked 24th), and the eye of the nation is watching. ESPN College Gameday is here to capture the action, which basically means that if you live within earshot of Bronco stadium, you were treated to a 6AM wake-up call by the massive pep-rally -- even though the game doesn't start for another 12 hours. I couldn't believe my ears: the fans were yelling so loud for this morning's rally, I'm worried that nobody will have any voice left over to scream at the actual game.

I'm not a huge football fan, but it's hard not to get swept up in this kind of enthusiasm.
GO BOISE STATE.

p.s. if you lose, the fans might well riot.

Vegas

Everything they say about Vegas is True.

OK Go Makes Dog Based Art

I love OK Go's Music videos. They are some of the most creative, and difficult to produce music videos ever! Anyone who has ever tried to teach a dog a trick should appreciate the colossal difficulty of trying to shoot this video in one take.

Interbiiiike!

Interbike, you get ready. Krogg COMING. Krogg plan to make this best trip to Vegas ever. After all, Vegas is perfect place for caveman: all you can eat buffets, lots of bright flashy lights (caveman love flashy lights!), and zillions of ways to spend money. Wait. That last one not right -- Krogg hate spend money.


Anyway.


Krogg have mixed agenda. Here some things Krogg hope to do while at Interbike: 


1: Thank Sponsors
Krogg have so many sponsors to thank! Sponsors like Blue Bikes and Cole Wheels make Krogg's season possible. Krogg excited for opportunity to thank sponsors in person. Krogg also glad that all sponsors gather in one spot to make thanking easy. 


2: Work Booth for Cole
Krogg also probably spend time working at Cole wheels booth. Krogg help explain why Cole wheels best wheels on planet! Krogg say things like: "want to go fast? try wheel. Want to go REALLY fast? Try COLE wheel!!" Krogg all too happy to spend time at Cole booth -- after all, Cole wheels literally carried Krogg to victory!


3: Schmooze 
If there one thing Krogg good at, it schmoozing. Krogg plan on shaking hands 'til grip-strength start to fail. Krogg also hope to sweet talk way onto pro team. Yes sir, Krogg have foolproof plan: Krogg put ruffies in the martini of every team director at Interbike. When directors wake up next morning, Krogg already signed contract! By end of weekend, Krogg hope to be racing on at least 12 different pro teams, and making 12 million euros. What could go wrong?! Then Krogg see the movie The Hangover, and Krogg realize that, indeed, great deal can go wrong when you feed people ruffies in Vegas. 

Then Krogg watch other movie called Inception. This give Krogg even BETTER idea! What if Krogg hack into the dreams of team directors, have very complicated series of shootouts, snowmobile chases, and zero-gravity fist fights, then spend whole lifetime growing old in dreamland -- all so Krogg can plant tiny shard of a shred of a seed of an idea in team directors minds: sign Krogg for 2011. Krogg pretty sure this plan will work....

...but then Krogg realize that whole idea came to Krogg in one giant dream! Technology for hacking into dreams not even exist yet. Besides, odds are, team directors have pretty spooky dreams.  So Krogg have to do things old fashioned way: with smiles, handshakes, and resumes. Good luck Krogg. You'll need it! 

Ugh....Doping

This stuff just makes me sad:

"Chodroff admits to EPO purchase and use"


So it appears this guy took EPO as a cat 3! How depressing is that? Apparently there's a lot more bad news where that came from -- there are at least another 15-25 cyclists, pros, amateurs, and masters alike, lined up to get busted. 


John basically landed a pro career because he could time trial like an animal. Almost all of his results are from time trials or from stage races where the GC was determined by the TT. It's hard for me not to feel wronged in this situation: I beat that guy in the 2008 Valley of the Sun Stage Race TT, and later that year, he went on to win TT nationals and get a spot on OUCH Maxxis. I'm not saying that contract was mine; I'm just saying it probably shouldn't have been his. 


I'm mad, but I don't know who I'm mad at. Am I mad at Chodroff? Am I mad at Joe Papp (the former pro cyclist and convicted doper who sold him the drugs)? Am I mad at the racers who are secretly doping right now? Am I mad at the whole sport? At humanity in general? 


It hurts to realize that there is indeed a very effective shortcut to the top (or near the top), and that there are plenty of people willing to take that shortcut. Sure, a few of those people get caught, and on the whole, I feel the culture in the sport is improving, but that doesn't take away the indignity of losing to those guys -- people remember who won a race far better than who retroactively inherited a result. 


Maybe, and this possibility scares me the most, I'm mad at myself for not stooping to that low. I badly want to be a pro cyclist. I would love to race in the tours of Korea, Thailand and Qinghai Lakes (in China) like John Chodroff did this year. But I'm not willing to cheat to get there! I'm sure John regrets his actions right now, but years from now, after the storm of outrage he's probably weathering has passed, how will he feel? Will his decision to cheat sour all those amazing memories he gathered trotting the globe as a professional athlete? Will it sour them so bad he'd trade them all in for a clean conscience? 


I fucking hope so -- otherwise those of us who race clean look like fools, don't we? 

Other Things To Do in Kansas

Go to Greensburg, KS. 

From Wikipedia: 

At 9:45 p.m. CDT on May 4, 2007,^[9]Greensburg was hit by an EF5 tornado. The tornado was estimated to be 1.7 miles (2.7 km) in width — wider than the city itself — and traveled for nearly 22 miles (35 km). Ninety-five percent of the city was confirmed to be destroyed, with the other five percent being severely damaged.....After the tornado, the city council passed a resolution stating that all city buildings would be built to LEED - platinum standards, making it the first city in the nation to do so. Greensburg is rebuilding as a "green" town, with the help of Greensburg GreenTown, a non-profit organization created to help the residents learn about and implement the green living initiative.

Things To Do in Kansas

Go to the Kansas State Fair:

Reconnect with my intensely dorky past:

(every one of these models required a great deal of assembly and were hand-painted, thank you very much)

Ride (slow) bikes:

Ironman Update

So my uncle just qualified for the 2011 Kona Ironman World Championships on his first attempt. This was his first Ironman, and he placed 4th in his age group. Friggin' amazing! At first, it looked like he placed 5th in his age group, but the guy who supposedly won "missed a check point or two" and ended up running his marathon roughly an hour faster than the other 50-54 year old guys.

Uncle Rich, my hat is off to you in a big way. Enjoy a little off season, and then it's TIME TO GET BACK IN GEAR FOR KONA BABY!!!!

So Many Things!

Good golly gee -- there are so many things to share.

First off, as you may have noticed, I've dialed back the blogging just a touch. It's officially my off season now, and with that comes a brief break from the blog. It feels strange being done racing while my friends are either racing right now or preparing to race more. Just because I'm not in these races doesn't mean you shouldn't still follow along!

WHO'S STILL RACING???

The HB team is out in Souderton, PA, racing the mighty mighty Univest Grand Prix. I'm sure you'll all remember Souderton, and their impressive array of Pensylvania Dutch desserts -- I know I do. However, be warned: it's humanly impossible to have a single slice of shoo-fly-pie. My hat is off to my teammate Spencer for finishing inside the top 20. Way to close out the season guys!

The Exergy boys are racing the Tour of Bulgaria. I have no idea where to find results, but according to their facebook pages, they are hitting up some long days in the saddle, and Andres is kicking ass (as per usual).

Some of my buddies on the Yahoo cycling team are gearing up for the Tour of Trinidad and Tobago -- which to be perfectly honest, sounds a lot more like partying on the beach than it does bike racing. However, I'm extremely jealous -- schedule just didn't fit for me this year fellas -- NEXT YEAR I'M IN!

And lastly, just about every pro I know is gearing up for the US Pro National Championships, held in Greenville, SC. It's somewhat cruel to have pro nats so late in the year (they're all really tired at this point, ok?), but cruelty courses through the veins of bike promoters like blood. That's right....pure cruelty.


VOLLEYBALL

Right now, I'm out in Pratt, Kansas, visiting my mother. I've been doing some house chores and helping with minor construction projects (who, other than a loving son, would agree to hang insulation in an attic in 95 degree heat?). It hasn't been all work, however -- I watched a volleyball game! The Pratt Community College [vicious fighting] Beavers hosted the [equally vicious fighting] Dodge Conquistadors. The game went right down to the wire, and the home team narrowly pulled out a victory. GO BEAVS!!!

IRONMAN

Let's see, what else? Oh -- my uncle is competing in an IRONMAN triathlon today! He's been a triathlete for the past 30 years, and has finished hundreds of races, but he's never attempted this distance. He's absolutely killing it! I'm tracking his progress right now, and he's sitting in 6th in his age group -- ALMOST QUALIFYING FOR KONA! You can read about my uncle's progress towards his Ironman dreams on his training blog. GO UNCLE RICH!


TREATS!

 Lastly, in celebration of the above mentioned off season, I cranked out another batch of the ol' Sam Johnson Special. Here, feast those hungry eyes:

PETS

Oh, and Master Fezziwig and Cosette also enjoyed a splendid breakfast.

Meanwhile, our cat Stimpy (otherwise known as Wimpy, Blimpy, or Stinky) sat around.