Backyard Beauties

Sorry, I'm talking about flowers!

Linda has done a great job this year whipping the yard back into shape after 2 years of minimal effort while she was in grad school. It's really paying off with all sorts of blooms. I don't always know the names of them. As the sun sets in the evening we get a great shot of the golden hour of which I've been trying to take advantage. The light hits the flowers just perfectly. While I have done some color adjustments in Adobe Lightroom, really, the colors were pretty spectacular right out of the camera. I shot everything from a tripod at fairly low speeds - 1/60th of a second and less.

Now that doesn't mean I didn't play around with the photos! The lead photo was heavily manipulated to get the strange moody look. The orginal is basically like the one here.

Here are a few more but there are more on my Flickr webpage.

Race Report: Withrow TT & More

Since my last race report in May I've done 5 time trials. 4 on the 13.4 mile loop of Withrow and 1 7 mile TT at Black Dog in Egan. My last comment was how my first TT of the year was at that point already faster then any in 2007 and that I hoped it would bode well for 2008. I was right.

So far I've had a great Summer of racing. At almost every TT I've been able to better the last time. I finally have been able to average more then 25 mph and even came within 6 seconds of 26mph last week at Withrow. That is averaging 1.5 mph faster then last year. That's pretty good. The thing to remember about bike riding is that the faster you go over about 18-20mph, the more air resistance works against you. And it's exponental so the resistance goes up more and more.

If I had to come up with a reason why this year is going so well I would say it might be a few things. One, I'm much more comfortable (and thereby ride stronger) on my Cervelo TT bike over last year. I spend the entire winter pedaling it on the trainer in the basement. Two, I bought an aero helmet! Not sure that this is a big contributor but they say it's as good as getting aero wheels. Looks cool either way. Three, after attending the aero clinic in May I've really concentrating on applying what I learned to stay aerodynamic. The biggest gain is probably in staying aero while climbing hills.

Here we are lining up for the start of the time trail. That's me in the middle grinning for no apparent reason. Lining up next to me on the left is Anne Hed (wife of aero wheel master Steven Hed.) Behind me is Dave Holden (super fast triathlete, Hawaiian Ironman vet) and Derick Podratz (another fast triathlete who will be heading to Italy for the World Duathlon Championship).

Summer 2008

summer2008-15
Originally uploaded by robbiehalvorson

Dog days of Summer have set in. It's getting hot in Minnesota and Sammy here has the right idea. Sammy is my Sister Dawn's pet beagle. We spent the 4th of July with her family as well as our folks.