Race Report: Oakdale Duathlon

Last Fall I competed on this very same course in the Fall Classic Duathlon. This year the race was bigger and the competition was faster.

This Spring I joined the Now Sports triathlon team. Some of my teammates were also in the race so we all racked our bikes together and hung out. In the past I was usually at races alone so having buddies to talk with was really nice. It makes the waiting around go fast as well as modivation to do well for the team.

The beginning 3 miles started with a big separation by the fast group of men. I elected to run with that pack of about 12 but I was in the 12th position. I was cruising along just fine.

After a flawless fast transition I was out onto the bike course. As I've pointed out it the past, I know the roads very well because they are close to home. I really felt great on the bike so I was just pouring it on. I past a lot of people along the entire 13 miles. At one point about half way I thought that perhaps I was going too hard and that I might need to save something for the final run. But the body was strong so I gunned it.

2nd transition went fine and now I was finally in the home stretch. And a good stretch was what I was needing. My calves started to tighten. Oh no. Last Fall my gluts tighten, now this. But quickly they loosen - thank god. A few of the guys I had passed on the bike were now catching me. They were all really good runners that had been in the starting group of 12. It always happens to me so I just jealously watch them sprint away from me. I hope they felt the same watching me bike past them! The hardest one to watch was the guy that caught and passed me in the final 100 meters. Damn, he was in my age bracket as well.

So in the end I was 34 overall, 7 of 22 in the 40-49 age bracket, and, best of all, 5th fastest cyclist in the whole race. I'm happy overall but clearly if I could inprove my running I would be highly competitive. Definitely need to work on running this summer.

Race Report: Withrow TT

I attended the first cycling race of the year. It's the same once a month race that I've done for the last few Summers. It was postponed a day due to rain on Tuesday night. But Wednesday was really nice with a favorable northwest wind. That direction helps push us through some of the rolling hills on the course.

I usually rest the day of the race but because it had been delayed, I hadn't been on the bike for 3 days. So I decided to go for a short ride at noon on the day of the race. However, as usually, a light ride with the company group soon became a hard ride. But the legs felt good and I was ready to race.

This year the organizer decided to send us off 2 at a time instead of individually every 30 seconds. The guy I started with was a very strong rider and it turned out that we were about equal. He got off to a fast start but I then caught and past him. Then we went back and forth a few more times. At the final turn we were still together but now we are catching bunches of slower riders. At one point I had the outside line and had to accelerate to make sure the other guy didn't get in front of me and force me wide or slow down to stay out of his draft (which is forbidden in TT races). Once I got around the group of 4 rides I give it all I could for the final mile to the finish. I was able to stay ahead of my starting partner.

The results were posted later that evening and it turned out that my neighbor Jeff Ingham took 1st place and I took 2nd out of 40 riders! My start partner took 3rd. It was my best TT ever. That's a good omen for the first race of the year.

Race Report: Get in Gear 10k 2008

Once again this is the first race of the year. I was going to race in a duathlon but decided to run the Get in Gear instead at the last minute. Unlike previous years I wasn't looking at the race as any kind of fitness indicator for the spring. I just wanted to run a race I really enjoy.

Or I should say usually enjoy. Saturday morning turned out to be cold and snowy of all things! The wind was also howling out of the west. Fun times.

The first part of the race I was mildly sore in the legs which took 2 miles to loosen up. I think I need to do more warm up in the future as this has happened in the past.

The only part of note was when we approached the Ford Parkway Bridge for the final leg to the finish line. The 25mph wind was coming right up the bridge so I scoped out a big guy to draft. It was working until the guy really started to slow as he climbed the rise of the bridge into the wind. So I decided I needed to pass him. As I stepped out of his wake I was hit by the wind like a hammer. No wonder he was slowing! I did my best to sprint up to the next person, then the next. It sorta worked but I was really tired once we were back in the trees in the park.

In the finishing chute I was at a sprint. Suddenly I'm being hit on the shoulder by someone I passed. Turned out to be my friend Dan Lund. What a surprise.

In the end I ran the race strong and felt fine. But my time was a full minute slower then last year. Part of that was because of the conditions but I was also simpler slower as well.

Finish time of 47:41. 438th out of 1800 cold crazy runners. My friend turned in a nice time of 46:37.

Paper Making Class

In honor of our 6th wedding anniversary, Linda and I took a Japanese paper making class at MCAD. As with a lot of Japanese things, there is a long history and tradition in paper making. We learned how to beat the fibers and screen out the gossamer thin sheets. We then explored various techniques of dying and coloring the sheets we made.




We made a lot of paper in the five Saturdays we attended. We also made a giant 4x6 foot sheet which took the help of the 6 people.



Probably the most interesting thing I learned is that rice paper is a complete myth. Rice actually is not fibrous enough to produce paper. Most all Japaneses paper is made from a few different plants similar to cat tails or reeds.

20 Years Ago Today...

Today is my birthday. Big deal, everyone has one. But what is neat is that I had recently discovered that a piece of artwork I've had since college was actually a birthday gift. It's hard to make out but in the upper part of this photo is the date 04/10/88. It was given to me by my dear friend Jackie while I was in my senior year at UND. We used to call her 'Bunnie'.



And this is the artwork itself. Jackie is still making art that can be seen here.

How To Decorate with Photoshop

We plan to use the hallway of our newly finished basement to show off vacation photos. The walls are about 12 feet on one side and 7 on the other. I've had trouble deciding how many frames to order and what color. Since the wood is all maple in the house I considered maple frames but I also thought black frames would look nice with photos.

So I turned to Photoshop to help me. First I photographed the hallway. Yes, that is the wall color!



Next I went to americanframe.com to get a framed photo. I have used American Frame many times for custom frames and have had great luck with then. Very inexpensive way to frame. The website has a neat ordering system where you can upload your artwork, then try out their frames so you can decide color as well as matting. Slick. After I picked out a frame I liked I simply did a screen snap into Photoshop as below.



In Photoshop I was able to position and copy the photos onto the wall. For those Photoshop users out there, I used the vanishing point tool to make sure they followed the perspective of the wall. Note that the farthest frame is smaller then the foremost. A slight emboss was added to give the frames their thickness and lastly a drop shadow behind to match the spotlight direction.



Here are the maple frames on the wall. It was pretty clear to me that the black frames were much better then the maple. The lighter wood on the green wall wasn't as striking.



As a final touch, just to see how realistic I could make it, I added some lighting to the otherwise flat black frames. Since the frames were added digitally they didn't get the same spotlight variation that the wall did. Not to mention the ambient green color bouncing off the other wall. The following images shows where the photos would be and the lighting that will fall on it. This was done by making a copy of the wall layer, masking out all but the frames then reducing the transparency of the new layer till there was a slight coloring on the frames. A very subtle effect but one that the eye would notice.



Here is the final composite. Note that the light and coloring on the frames is now more accurate.



Below is the Photoshop layers of the project. Each group was a different framing consideration.

My Web Anniversary

Today I had to check to see when a few DVDs from Amazon order would arrive. They make it very easy to do. The information is all very accessible and always a breeze to use. I love Amazon but I had no I idea just how long my love affair has been.

I found an area of my account that had a record of every purchase I've made. Curiosity sent me to the very first purchase which amazingly was 10 years ago today, March 19, 2008. What are the odds of finding that when I did!!



According to the order I bought a book on Sumo. But my memory is that the first thing I bought was a CD. More then likely this database was created around 1998. Amazon was founded in 1994 and went public the next year.