My first Ruby Quiz!
Posted by Stephen Waits Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:52:10 GMT
I’m so excited. Today’s my birthday, and I woke up to see my first Ruby Quiz get published!
Swallowing Pills
Posted by Stephen Waits Sat, 28 Jan 2006 06:43:34 GMT
I never learned how to swallow pills. It’s a wimpy kind of thing, I know; but, somehow, I just never learned.
In middle school (Atascocita Middle School), that’s 6th-9th grade, the day before I was was going to get braces put on, I had to swallow this tiny ass little pink pill. It was going to dry my mouth out so that the overpaid epoxy man they call an orthodontist could have a better chance of making little pieces of metal stick to my teeth. It was all prearranged that I go down to the nurse’s office at a certain time to do the deed.
I was completely apprehensive about this. Worrying for days. Pathetic. I didn’t know how I would manage to actually swallow that pill, even right up to the moment where it had to happen. I went into the office and got the pill and a Dixie cup of water. I tried once and failed. Then, in that moment, I figured it all out…
Fill my mouth with water (but no air), tilt my head way back, poke the little pill inside my lips, and swallow. I did it! I now knew how to swallow pills!
So this is how I’ve swallowed pills my whole life. I look like a complete idiot when I do it. It’s a mental handicap, and I eventually came to realize it.
You see, my wife could swallow pills awesome. So, logically, I should be able to as well. Right?
Right! Let me tell you, I’m a pill swallowing fiend now. Since getting on a health kick, and training for endurance cycling events, I’ve been consuming vitamins and other supplements like they’re going out of style. I take all my stuff twice a day. Each time includes 1 multi-vitamin, 3 fiber thingies, 2 fish oil, 1 electrolytes, 1 magic thing with antioxidants, 1 vegetable extract concentrate thing, and 4 other of something not mentionable. Yah.. you can take your guesses.
So now I can do it like a regular human. When I first started the regular way, it would bug me when I’d get a “slow-swallower” – you know, the ones that take their sweet time going down your throat? Even that doesn’t bother me now.
And, while I haven’t managed my entire regimen in one gulp, I am up to 9! Right before I go for it, if Cathy’s around, I like to proclaim, “here goes a world record”, as if I’m the best pill swallower ever.
Does this mean that there’s hope for me after all?
Update: New record… 12! I’m just a few bad decisions away from being a junkie.
Great weekend!
Posted by Stephen Waits Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:35:00 GMT
Wow, I had a really fun three day weekend. It began Friday morning. I got to do our weekly ride with Bob and Max from work. It’s a 25 mile out and back and is a fun getaway from work. We did it just over 16mph. Definitely slower than last time, but fun. That evening Cathy picked up some Buca di Beppo for me, and Panera for herself, and when I got home we feasted! I was carb-loading and it was a delicious way to do it!
Saturday morning, I woke up and scoped out the weather. “Thunderstorms” (kind of a joke in San Diego) were supposed to show up, but it looked like it’d hold for several hours. It was the monthly Trek ride. They offer two rides, a 20 mile “fun” ride and a 40 mile “sport” ride. I’d done the 40 two months prior and bonked. It was awful. I finished at 14+ mph. Really bad. And I felt guilty riding with the sagger – though the Trek store guy who rode with me was super nice. Props to those guys.
So, to get on with it, I was a little apprehensive about doing the 40. I decided to go for it. I ended up doing great. I really paced myself through the first 25 or 30 miles of the ride, intentionally staying toward the back. I forced myself to eat from the very beginning, consuming about 400 calories in the first 80 or 90 minutes. As we neared the end I still felt really good and had plenty of energy left. I even managed a few 20 second hard sprints in the last mile. It felt great to bring it home strong like that and finish in the top half of the whole group! My average was 16 mph. I know I can do better than that! In my defense, the route has one long climb, and the rest is rolling, and a traffic light every time you look up. It was a great morning!
When I got back to the house I called up some people to invite them to a boardgame night at our house. Mike, Bill & Stacy, and Francois & Stephanie all ended up saying yes! I’d like to invite more people; however, we aren’t quite setup for that large a group just yet. Hopefully soon!
Now we had to get ready! First we were off to Whole Foods to buy some drinks and snacks for the evening. When we got home, Cathy and I spent several hours cleaning up the house. We got a lot done. Vacuum, clean kitchen, touch up the floors, and clean toilets. Whew. I must still be on my cycling high at this point! I just had a few minutes left to go print out a list of my collection, sorted by maximum players (we anticipated 7), and then rating.
Arrival time encroached and so I shot off to pick up the Filippis pizza. By the time I got back with two large hot pies, Francois & Stephanie were already there visiting with Cathy. Mike showed up shortly after that, and then Bill & Stacy just a few minutes later. We poured some wine and dug into the pizza. Ohhh it’s so yummy.
On full stomachs, I pulled out several games that met our criteria. I decided we should start with Time’s Up, a simple, but fun party game. I decided I’d referee the game and run the timer, leaving 6 players to play. Cathy teamed with Mike, Stephanie with Bill, and Stacy with Francois. It seemed like everyone in the group really enjoyed this game. The first huge side pain laughter outburst came from Francois doing “Darth Vader”. I think I cried a little. Somehow we managed to have 3 or 4 baseball players in our stack, and James Earl Jones and Darth Vader. By round three, people were forced to get really creative. There were lots of laughs and a ton of fun here. Francois & Stacy won, I say because of some excellent pantomiming skills.
Next up we played BANG!. This is a light card game themed in the the realm of spaghetti westerns. I’d read over the rules before and realized they were horribly written. So, a big mistake of hosting games, we dove into a game I knew nothing about. The group was patient though, and we figured it out, and it was fun. Next time I’ll be much better prepared. In fact, I’ve already printed out some really nice reference sheets and put them in the box. As to be expected in that situation, we missed a few rules. That said, the Outlaws (Cathy, Mike, and me) won when we killed Sheriff Bill.
I intentionally kept the games light. Over time I hope to introduce interested people into some heavier games. It wasn’t too late and we could have played more games at this point, but I sensed the group was a little tired, and we closed the night down. After a brief tour of our house, everyone was on their way. It was a really fun night for both of us, and we hope to host again soon!
Sunday morning I made some eggs and bacon and grits. Yum. We decided today would be the shopping day. I packed the laptop, some lunch, and a few books and we headed down to Fashion Valley. Once there we split up, each armed with our cell phones. I went to the food court and ate my lunch – a banana, two tangerines, and a Larabar. I was very impressed with the bar; it was very tasty and nutritional! Then I dove into my book, Bike for Life. It’s great. Full of seemingly sound advice, and some incredible interviews from cycling giants. I read about half of the book by the time Cathy was finished.
We headed home, and ended the night vegging out to some TV. It was relaxing, quiet, and nice.
Monday, MLK Day, was a holiday for both of us. I asked Cathy if she was interested in going Geocaching and she said yes! So I printed a few nearby caches out, El Cuervo de Mayo and Cache of Cammocles, we put on our hiking boots, I programmed the GPS, and we set out! We easily found the first one after about a 20 minute hike. My little [Foretrex 201] was acting much more accurately than I expected – it led us right to the cache! The second one would elude us for awhile; but we didn’t want to give up. We searched and searched and reread the description but weren’t finding it. We even ran into another geocacher and his dog looking for the same cache! We finally agreed to decode the hint and then found it within a few minutes. This was my first time geocaching and I really enjoyed it. If nothing else, it was very nice to introduce Cathy to Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve, the canyon where we live.
Next we went to a movie. We saw Last Holiday, the Queen Latifah / LL Cool J movie. It was surprisingly great! I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a good date movie or chick flick.
Wow, it’s been an action packed and incredibly enjoyable weekend so far. How could we top this off?
We kicked ass at Hockey on Monday night. That’s right, the Shockerz laid down a 10-3 ass beating, and it felt damn good. We have a ringer; no, we have two or three ringers now. Playing with guys that can seriously play got the rest of us to really step up our game. We could skate when it was important, instead of the hysterical skating like madmen we usually do. Despite our ringers, the scoring was pretty evenly spread out amongst several players! Ryan, our new big defensive presence has a killer shot. Wow. Derrick and Bryce performed really well together, and Mike was up in there too. Timmy did very well on defense, and I’d like to continue that if he’s interested. Maybe he and Mike can switch off when they want. I even managed to get a few shots off, about four, I think. My first hit the post. Second was going to hit a post but landed in a glove. Third was about eighteen inches high, and Bryce managed to deflect it in – but no goal, high sticking. And my last was no less than five feet wide. Still, man, that felt great!!!
Now it’s Tuesday. Back to work.
Borrego to the Sea, 2006
Posted by Stephen Waits Mon, 09 Jan 2006 07:16:00 GMT
Day One – Friday January 5th, 2006
Arrival
My good friend Dave agreed to do the Borrego to the Sea 100k ride with me. He just bought his bike a few months back and was anxious to see how he matched up against some other riders. I knew he’d outclass the pack, but event day would tell everything. I was excited to have someone to share my new hobby with!
We met up in the morning, at our hotel, the Palm Canyon Resort. He had a four and a half hour drive against my two hour drive; but we timed our arrivals pretty close. It was great to see Dave again. I think the last time I saw him was at MotoGP ‘05, at Laguna Seca. We got checked in, and unloaded. I’d never been to Borrego Springs, but the view was nice enough, for a small podunk desert town. This photo was shot just outside our room, looking northeast, toward the Salton Sea.
Once we got settled in, it was time to get an easy 15 mile ride in. But before we did that, I had to check out Dave’s ride. This thing is sweet. Weighs in at around 17 pounds, fully equipped with Dura-Ace 10, carbon all the way around, frame, cranks, bars, seatpost, the works.
I really like shiny things, and I’m in love with this one…
I must have one! How much? $2500. That’s a helluva deal. In fact, I think if I upgraded my Trek 2100 to Dura-Ace I’d be at the same price! Felt is definitely on my radar, and maybe even my wishlist. :)
An Easy Ride
Finally, I had to stop stroking Dave’s bike and get on with our ride. We just set out to the east, went through “Christmas Circle”, a traffic circle in the center of “Downtown”, then south a bit. Turned around at 7.5 miles and headed back toward the hotel.
Hunting Down Food
A few miles before getting back to the room, we decided to scope out food. It was still morning, and we wanted to carboload both lunch and dinner. Well, there wasn’t much choice. We passed one place that might have worked and then decided to stop at The Mall – that’s what it’s actually called. In Borrego Springs, when you say, “I’m going to The Mall”, there’s no question about it.
The Mall was pretty hopeless too. Just a few greasy spoons that weren’t going to cut it. Then we stumbled upon the local post office, oddly enough, and met this local uber-endurance guy. Perfect! So, we asked him for suggestions on where to eat. He said he could sell us some Cytomax or Jelly Chews, but didn’t really know where we could eat. He’s a Trek/Fisher dealer too. This guy was fit. He’s into dirt events; mostly ultra-cycling. He does 24 hour relay and 24 hour solo events. Nuts! His legs were as defined as can be… very impressive athlete and quite a talker too. Still though, he didn’t know where to eat.
We managed to end the uber-athlete conversation and decided we’d just scope out food with the hotel desk. So we headed that direction, got back to our rooms, and changed out of our cycling gear.
Lunch Adventure
We ended up eating lunch at the hotel restaurant. They had several pasta dishes on the menu. Once they figured out they weren’t out of pasta, we were able to get our lunch underway. Lunch was comical. The pasta had a few pounds of completely taste-free fatty cream sauce on it. Not good. But the chef, I use the term loosely, was very friendly and came out to talk to us. We mentioned that there would be a lot of cyclists looking for pasta for dinner - and he was encouraged to create a pasta special for us! That was really cool of him.
The hotel owner was eating nearby. When the chef went over and talked to him, he proclaimed, “This is the best pasta I’ve ever eaten!”. Dave and I lost it immediately. I couldn’t face him for a few minutes, or I’d crack up. We chugged our way through the rest of our lunch and politely took the leftovers back to our room – where we promptly threw it in the trash.
As we passed the front desk I was flagged down. Apparently I’d forgotten my credit card there when we checked in. Whoops! Thanks!
Lazy Afternoon
After lunch, we stroked our rides and took some naps. Woke up, stroked the bikes some more, and then went to scope out the hot tub. Some family was in it – three pissing kids. Forget that.
Dinner time, headed back over to the hotel restaurant to check out the pasta special. The whole place had a weird vibe to it. The people were all actually very friendly and helpful; it was just, kinda odd. The special was much better than our lunch ordeal.
Back to the room and both asleep by 21:30 or 22:00. It was a great day. Relaxing, restful, and fun.
Day Two – Saturday January 6th, 2006
Get Ready!
Woke up at 6:30. Dave showered, I ate a bagel and a banana. I showered, dave ate Ramen noodles! He swears by ‘em.
Pumped up our tires and we were ready to go. Here’s Dave before the ride:
Dave managed to get a great shot of me too. Kind of embarrassing – I’m supposed to be the photo guy!
We walked over and claimed our T-Shirts. We were looking for safety pins, but all they had was twist-ties. Got back to the room and managed to rig our numbers on our frames and then headed back to the start.
Ride!
After a brief warmup, and a few instructions, we were off to the Salton Sea. I said, “see you at the end” and Dave headed right up to the lead group. I actually was three to five riders behind him for the first 7 miles. Then a few guys came past and pulled Dave away. They were about five riders. Since it was an out and back course, I knew I’d see him again soon.
I was with a decent group, but doubting the pace. I felt it a bit strong for me. But oh well, I decided I’d give it a shot. I knew I’d eaten and rested well.
At the first rest stop, 1/4 distance, our group was down to about 8 riders. About five stopped and the rest of us went on. Then I got dropped. Soon we transitioned from San Diego county to Imperial county. The road was so bad I could barely see straight – and I was actually realizing that I was going to need to tighten up several parts of my bike after the ride.
The riders that stopped soon caught me and I was able to hook up with them, whew, not alone any more. A few miles before half-way Dave passed me on his way back. His group was down to three. We yelled our hellos and traded thumbs-ups!
Downhill Easy, Uphill Hard
I stopped at the half-way mark rest station, and had averaged 20.1 mph; however, it was overall downhill. A net of 800’ or so. I knew the ride back would be more painful. I ate and made use of the facilities, and noticed the group I came in with, now down to three, had headed back out. I got out a few hundred yards behind them, but caught them pretty quickly. It was me, a girl and two guys – one of whom was very fit.
Eventually the girl and one of the guys hit their end, and the fit guy started to leave. I felt better than the two, and went with the stronger guy. But, I could only hang with him for a few miles. Now I’m the only one on the road in either direction as far as I can see. My legs hurt pretty bad, but weren’t going to give up.
This second half was a grind for me. I spent most of it, probably two-thirds, alone. That really gets your mind going. How am I doing? Am I too tired? What’s my pace like? Where is everyone? How did that guy get out of sight? How did the people behind me get out of sight? Am I on the right course? That last question was really nagging at me for some reason.
Bring it Home
Turns out I was off-course! I’d missed a turn that ended up shaving off nearly two miles. I never saw the turn sign. Oh well. I brought it home at 17.5 mph – excellent for me. I would have been satisfied with less! There were about 20 or 30 riders hanging out, eating Julian Pie Company pie and ice cream.
I quickly found Dave sitting at the “fast guy table”, trading “fast guy stories”, and asked how he did. Just as I suspected, nobody could hang with him. In fact he basically held back just because he didn’t want to strike out solo. He did the whole ride at 20.9 mph, but thinks he had at least a few more mph in him. Awesome!
Checkout
We headed back to our room, packed our cars, then back to the front desk. Everyone around agreed that my Ty Beanie Baby MasterCard was “cute”. sigh. The girl at the desk realized we were with the bike ride, and gave us a significant discount on our room. Next year I hope they actually advertise the special room rate for cyclists.
Dave and I shook hands and split. He headed east back to Phoenix, and I cruised west, to San Diego.
Summary
The ride was just organized enough. A few minor niggles..
- It wasn’t a full 100k! Seems like it would have been pretty easy to get the distance up too.
- I don’t know how obvious the route was marked, but I, along with quite a few others, completely missed the last turn on the way in. As mentioned before, this seemed to shorten the route by a few miles. This isn’t a big deal, just slightly disappointing.
- Maps were handed out, but they lacked road names, and distance markers. A small turn sheet would be more useful.
- Turnout could be improved; though, maybe it’s not a goal. I say the more the merrier
The rest though was great. The hotel was quirky, but fun, and very accommodating. The owner talked with us and seems very interested in promoting this event better next year.
Overall, I had a great time! I’d do it again. Dave was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a little more competitive, but he still got a good feel for how his fitness level might compare to others. He’d fit right in at a bigger ride (Palm Springs, Solvang) or an actual race. Overall, he had fun too.
Now, if only we could somehow convince our other sucker friends, Ralf, Nate, and Quan to get off of their collective sorry ass and come ride with us… That’d be a riot!
Statistics
My Stats:
- Duration: 3:14:02
- Distance: 56.58 miles (just under two miles short of the full ride)
- Speed: Average 17.5 mph, Max 37.1 mph (that’s it!?!)
Dave’s Stats:
- Duration: 2:47:55.4
- Distance: 58.4 miles (the full route)
- Speed: Average 20.9 mph, Max 39.9 mph
Shared Stats:
- Ascent: 2159 (.3%)
- Total Riders: About 180
Update: Rich Wolf, the ride organizer, wrote me today. He said he’d take my comments under consideration. Specifically, extending the ride to 100k is possible, but might seem “mickey mouse”. He agrees the turn could have been marked better because that’s the part of the ride where people are focussing within instead of sightseeing. Finally, he wouldn’t mind if the ride got up to about 300 people. Also, he reminded me of the uber-athlete guy’s name – Desert Dan.