Archive: March 14, 2009

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mega bonk

Saturday,  03/14/09  05:19 PM

Today I rode in the Solvang Century, and I bonked cramped seized everything - my worst day on a bike.  I managed to finish, but just barely.  And the worst of it is, I have no idea what happened.  I ate well yesterday, had a good breakfast, drank a lot, but I must have done or not done something...  I started with the lead group and for the first 50 miles hung with them nicely, and felt pretty strong actually.  I figure I was in about 20th - out of 4,500 riders!  (I hasten to point out I would not have finished 20th; there are a lot of fast riders who would have kicked past me at the end.)

This picture was taken at 55 miles in...  before it all went pear-shaped...

Just after this I began getting little crampy twinges, which got progressively worse.  A little later my power output began waning, and I was unceremoniously dropped by the lead pack.  By 75 miles I was a mess, with just about every muscle in my body cramping.  My progress slowed to a crawl as a steady progression of riders passed me.  At one point I stopped entirely, disabled by cramps, and I couldn't even stretch them out because my entire leg had seized up.  I seriously questioned whether I could finish; in the last 20 miles the Solvang century features a long steady climb and two sharp hills.

I went into the day thinking maybe I could break 5 hours of riding time (a 20mph average) and I was just behind that when my mega-bonk hit.  I ended up at 5:46; those last 20 miles took me an hour and a half =O.  I think I finished around 400th.

Well so be it; onward.  I would love to figure out what happened, but I may never know...

P.S. You might be wondering how my trusty ol' Kestrel did, in the wake of its disaster recovery.  So - it was excellent.  I didn't notice any difference, in fact, I was about halfway through the ride before it even occured to me to think about it.

[Update: (next day)...  I slept like a stone for 10 hours last night.  I think I was just exhausted.  I got three hours the night before this ride, and had been stressed and not sleeping for several days beforehand.  Memo to self: get enough sleep.  Not exactly a breakthough observation...]

 

Saturday,  03/14/09  09:09 PM

Still recovering from my mega-bonk...  Oh and by the way my deathmarch is over; I finally finished the code and checked it in Friday morning.  Whew.  Still more to do (always!), but I've relieved some pressure.

I am really tired; maybe it was the ongoing lack of sleep last week exacerbated by the pressure of the deathmarch that triggered the bonkage?

I still don't like the Facebook changes.  So there.  Dave Winer does, but I do not.  (He doesn't use Facebook, he is a Twitter guy...) 

Gerard Vanderleun thinks Twitter validates Sturgeon's Law (90% of everything is crap).  You must click through to see the picture; it's awesome.

Seems I was not alone in bonking today; Alberto Contador semi-bonked on the final climb of today's Paris-Nice stage and ceded three minutes to Luis Leon Sanchez, who is now leading the race.  The final stage is tomorrow...  

Fifteen microscopic images from inside the human body.  Wow, these are so cool, like the human egg cell at left. 

TTAC reviews the Maserati Gran Turismo S.  There are many reasons to like this car, but let's face it; it has you at hello.  Beautiful. 

BW reports on eBay's big plans for PayPal.  It took about two years for eBay to buy PayPal, and one of the reasons was because eBay didn't share PayPal's view of the huge strategic opportunity to displace credit cards as the payment instrument of choice on the web.  They're finally starting to see it; eight years after buying PayPal...  it seriously could end up bigger than eBay's auction business. 

Robert Scoble has landed; he's starting a new social networking site called Building 43, "a place for people fanatical about the Internet".  So be it. 

My friend Lil sent me this: an unbelievable juggling exhibition from Chris Bliss to the Beatles' Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End medley.  Absolutely amazing! 

 

 
 

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