Performance-Enhancing Drugs

And now I know why people use them.

They work!

Avg. speed, trip out: 15 mph.

+1 Cafe au lait

Avg. speed, trip back: 20 mph.

Further testing is required, but Mullet Man is soon...

Graffito on a distribution box. I'm not sure who it is.

Tree

Images

As I accelerate up the bridge the first time, glass pops under my tires. I smile. Fat tire worries not about little pieces of glass.
A woman passes me, then settles in front, legs at a good cadence. I pass her. She passes me. I pass her. 'You won't get rid of me that easy.' She passes me again, and I hang back, just out of drafting distance.
'Hey, you've got Fat Tire locked up!' A real cyclist, a racer, smiles and passes me. 'Too bad I didn't enter.'

The run was flat, and boring. I go on the grass for some variety.

Coming down the bridge, two miles to go, I watch the speedo tick upwards - 18.0, 18.7, 19.2, 20.0, 20.5, 21.5, 22.5 . . .
I crouch over the handlebars, legs grinding, mouth open wide, stretching, as wide as the intake on an F-18, as wide as a whale shark. The ram effect feels like it's forcing air into my lungs and its all I can do to exhale and try to get more oxygen.
23.5. 24.5. 25.5. 26.5 27.5 28.0.

I pick out the next biker. That one I'm gonna pass that one fasterfasterfaster

Twenty yards before the finish, I scream by, legs churning.

Gotcha.

Hot to Trot

I raced in the Flora-Bama 'Hot to Trot' reverse duathlon this morning. After hashing last night, and getting in bed at about 0230, I was up at 0500 to outfit my bike and drive over. As usual, I was out-equipped. I don't even have road tires, much less aerobars or those snazzy carbon-fiber frames.

With a time of a just over 2 hrs, I took thrid in the u39 Clydesdale division. I would have won the Fat Tire group, but I also would have been the only entry. I really got hurt on the return bike leg - there was a strong headwind, and I am not nearly as aerodynamic as the other racers.
The best part was topping out at 28 mph coming down the bridge! That was pretty great.

Then I slept most of the day. Tomorrow: studying!

A Few Simple Rules

. . . for the food bank donation box.

People receive this food. Sometimes, it is the only thing they have. 20 cans of pumpkin pie filling do not a meal make.

Neither does steak rub. The people who get this can't afford steak.

'Bang for your buck.' If you can buy one can of organic, pesticide-free fair trade cheddar-cheese-and-crab soup, or six cans of cheap-ass chicken noodle from the dollar store, which will do the most good?

We need milk. We always need milk. Evaporated, powdered, condensed, UHT. Milk goes fast.

Don't put cat food in the donation bin. You're not helping anyone, and you're just wasting the sorter's time.