kobe and horner

wow. what a great weekend in sports. chris horner, racing for davitamon-lotto, won a stage and earned a day in the yellow jersey at the tour de romandie. kobe and the lakers came from being down 0-1 to the suns to now being up 3-1 after kobe hit the game tying shot for OT and then the game winning shot in OT, beating the suns at the staples center. phenomenal. they are both total studs. being a complete bike nerd, i think i am more excited for horner. because he is sticking it to the euros in his season and a quarter racig over there after dominating everyone here in the states for the past few years.

other than wanting to jump up and down with excitement watching sports the past few days (and having to physically restrain myself because of my clavical), life has been sweet. yeah sure, a few downers, both people and events, but in my opinion the positives have had far greater value. got to see some oldschool cats on saturday afternoon. been spending some great time outdoors. and hanging out with some uber-fun new persons.

its incredibly difficult to believe that i have one presentation, 2 papers, and one exam separating me from graduating college. i have had a sort of change in mental state over the course of the semester. at the beginning, i was very much in sync with the "do whatever i want because i only have one semester left and then i am gone" attitude. not in a particularly evil way. more that i was fixated on the fact that i am moving to pittsburgh and starting from scratch with friends and life. but as the semester progressed i became more in tune with my current friends and past friends and life in harrisonburg. still looking forward to the new life i am about to begin, but placing more value on the good things i have had going for me for so long and by no means just throwing them behind me as i walk off into hills of western pa. part of that has a lot to do with the admirable and brave steps some people made to reconcile differences a few months ago. part has to do with being able to differentiate between the importand and petty things. and another part has to do with the quasi-new people i have hung out with and fresh new people i have met this semester. its relieving that i am no longer fixated on the frightening aspect of being on my own. i am cognizant of the awesome times i still havent had before moving up there and feel much more grounded, if that makes sense?

if you do one thing this week prior to graduation, i recommend walking slow. trust the cripple who has to walk slow everywhere. it can give you incredible peace of mind and relaxation just walking around campus, to/from your exams, one last time to dhall and breathing in jmu and all it has provided for you for the past 4 (or 3, or 7) years. think of everyone you have met. try and grasp the fact that your college career is coming to an end, and it was unforgettable.

love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well

vincent van gogh

now for the feats of strength

whats cookin good lookin?

tuesday evening was really exciting watching the pros and semi-pros race a criterium in downtown harrisonburg for the kickoff to the 2nd tour of shenandoah. it was also kind of cool trying to explain cycling strategy to erin and dana while walking around watching the race. its much more difficult to do so than i would have thought. it seems like the different strategies in racing really kind of build on themselves exponentially and get more and more complex. also more euro and less american, which doesnt help in trying to explain. but both of them were great sports about it and very quick to pick it up. after the race finished some of us went to dave's for some snacks and beverages. fan-freaking-tastic. everybody had lots of fun. catching up with basic and matt, jakob, kyle, and the two erins was definitely a highlight of the evening. i feel like now that i am going out more often, i run across people i know a lot. its awesome. sort of makes up for the large quantities of time i spent training and racing and being in bunk relationships. they had their high moments too, but its nice to see that the entire social aspect of college never escaped me. i imagine all of these people are out mostly because the semester is almost over and everybody is making sure to get out before they're gone. but regardless, its nice to catch up with people for 5 or 10 mins then go back to hangin out with the cats you came with. ditto for going out weds night. turned out to be even better than tues night. who knew a kid with a broken collarbone could dance so well? haha. one thing about not having gone out as much earlier this semester and going out more now, is that i dont have a clue about the music they usually play. granted last night was 90s night and they were playing mostly classics, but when i heard all of the new stuff i felt like helen keller at the louvre. everybody is singing and yelling the songs and i am standing there thinking, "wow i am really out of the loop". no worries. good thing moving is moving, no matter what the song is!

i have 2 exams today. one will be a final and the other will be the last exam before a comprehensive final next week. honestly, i dont think ive ever had a professor more out of touch with how to organize exams. its really a jerk move if you ask me. especially considering i am taking the class for 2 elective credits and he treats it like a 3 credit course. oh well. almost done.

if you are graduating, i hope that your "college experience" was everything you had hoped it would be. for me, i feel like it was very different than most people (with racing and training all of the time, not getting wasted every weekend, finding it challenging to adjust to college life, the good 'ol awkward phases). but i guess in other ways, it was similar too. kind of split down the middle i suppose. when i look back on my last 4 years here i definitely think that i made the right choice to come to jmu. i have certainly had a lot of fun. there have been ups and downs, but thats life whether you are in college or not. i know that i am going to look back within a month and think "man i wish i was still in school" but at least i will always smile when i think about the epic stuff i did. of course i have regrets, who doesn't. but the clarity in my mind from learning from my mistakes and regrets is incredibly powerful and important. ill carry those lessons with me forever.

sorry. end of the emo stuff.

current jam: proudest monkey - dmb

southern charm

adorned in my blue polo, white kicks, searsucker shorts, and 80s white frogskins, i felt like the ultimate frat boy walking around campus today. i might have even gotten a few of the "what a frat [expletive]" looks. but i paid them no mind, because i looked good. looking fit, as the poms would say. i wonder what kind of reaction an outfit like that would get up in pittsburgh? i guess ill find out soon enough.

the intense stabbing pain i have been experiencing over the past several days has been leading me to one conclusion. im calcifying. woohoo! finally some steps in the right direction. for you not up to speed, just see my previous post. for my collarbone to heal, it needs to develop a big lump connecting the two ends of the broken bone. the bump is made of, you guessed it, calcium. i lovingly call it fusing/calcifying. and while the past couple weeks haven't seen me in horendous pain, i feel like the past couple days have been murder. make no mistake, i have been poppin the vicodin in the evenings to help me sleep.

on that note, i think its about time i got my much needed beauty sleep. put that in your pipe and smoke it.

current jam: squeeze box - the who

playoff time

is anybody else excited for nba and nhl playoffs (granted as long as the lakers and ducks stay in them)?

today when i was eating my lunch out on the quad and reading crimes against logic, i saw this girl and fella kickin the futbol around. both were wearing cleats (sorta odd) and just playin around. thing was, she was pretty damn good and schooling him more or less. you could tell that he definitely knew how to play soccer, but she was throwin down the gauntlett. i thought it was pretty cool to see her dribbling around him with such ease. then i thought, what if they were doing the exact same thing back in the day, when it was an all womens college? first of all, she probably would have been stoned by the faculty for wearing only a pair of short-shorts and a sports-bra (and wearing them well i might add). secondly, he wouldnt have even been allowed on campus most likely. its crazy how different the social scene is now compared to just 50 years ago or so. i can't even begin to imagine how different it will be 50 years from now. and how much ill be saying "i can't believe kids these days and their [insert offensive behavior]." thats right, im going to be a crotchety old man. and im going to love it. speaking of social scenes...

the weekend was pretty fun. basically began on thursday when i made my first ever expedition out to highlawn. got there too late, line was too long, went to the pub, had some drinks and fun. i definitely enjoy going out to a bar or two with good friends and some new people in the mix. its always fun to mingle and meet new cats. friday night i was hoping to make it out to the fishtank to see the frisbee boys and girls (and about 9000 other random people) and murphys kids but wasn't feelin it from the night before. instead i caught up with some good friends who just returned from europe and are leaving shortly to move to new york. i am really excited to pay them a visit sometime in the not too distant future and go back to "the city" as the ny and dirty jerz kids so affectionally call it south of the mason-dixon. after that full day of recovery, it was time yet again to hit the jmu night-life. this time by way of a coincidental invite to the swim club semiformal. started with an apartment party. progressed to a rented out highlawn (finally made it during my jmu career). i was fortunate enough to go with two(2) dates. thats right. i said two. met some rockin new people and had an absolute blast. as much as i dont enjoy swimming, swimmers can be really cool people (with select few exceptions). looking at current and former friends, i certainly see a trend. interesting.

this week is not lookin so fresh for my senioritis fix. too many group presentations and exams for my liking. although my exam week is going to be quite moderate, so i guess i can't complain too bad. the fact that i am not stressing about any of my exams or projects is an added bonus. good groups combined with staying on top of assignments will definitely decrease stress.

alright my shoulder is starting to bug me so im goign to cease typing for a couple hours.

zip it up, and zip it out!


current jam: shelter from the storm - dylan

light at the end of the tunnel

its been a pretty uneventful past few days. i rode my bike on the trainer yesterday morning for 35 mins. it got to be quite painful for my nether-region so i had to stop. it was nice to spin the legs after 2 weeks off the bike. im getting very anxious for graduation and greater things. hopefully landing an apartment in the next couple days after some last minute shuffling. its sweet. its downtown. you'll visit.

if you are a nd fan, you'll probably agree that this looks to be the beginning of a dynasty. weis is the man and he is getting down to business and comfortable at his old u. glad to see that we finally found an adequate replacement for the great lou holtz. in true fashion...

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

Lou Holtz

tired

another rough day. when is this semester going to end? when is my clavical going to heal?? this has been absolute torture for the past week or so with the nice weather. i could be out doing 5+ hour rides but instead im stuck gimping to and from [expletive] campus. so frustrating.

if you were reading this as a lapse in mental fortitude, you would be correct in that assumption. its just such a drag bc there was so much i wanted to accomplish before the semester ends and now its all shot to hell. hiking and riding, doing other miscellaneous activities in and around harrisonburg. gone with the drop of a chain. clank. snap. ouch. if you are a perfectly healthy cyclist and not riding in this weather, i am personally going to hunt you down cheney style. quack biotch. or whatever a quivy sounds like.

on the upside, i figured out how to adjust my clavical brace on my own. its just a matter of sliding it off my shoulders, making the adjustments, and sliding it back on carefully. hopefully this means i won't have to keep bugging random people to help me over the course of the day (shout out to joanna, colleen, parish, basic, adam, and random urec girl). it also means that i can take showers regularly. this morning's shower was pretty glorious, i must confess. bathing is one of those things people take for granted. you wouldn't believe how gnarly your hair and body gets after 7 days w/o washing. datta knows what im talking about. i know what you are thinking, and no, im not going to say whether we are related or not. ill leave that as a surprise for another time.

i feel like im already emerging from my depressed state today. however i am feeling tired. a few beverages will do that to a 155 lb cyclist. wish i could make myself stay up and watch the daily show tonight. what with the recent happenings down at duke, with douchebag rumsfeld, and tom cruise claiming he will eat his baby's placenta and umbilical cord, its shaping up to be a great night of satire. honestly tom, are you that retarded where you would say something like that? i hope you are joking, because its not even remotely funny. damn fool.

more cycling predictions: i claim that homeboy jeremiah bishop will win the tour of shenandoah starting next week. if you disagree, you probably do not live in harrisonburg, which means your opinion is completely irrelevant anyways.


current jam: white summer - led zepplin

chicks dig scars

instead of just bitching about how much pain i am in today and how my manzier/bro has been unclipping all day long, i have decided to enlighten you with some fascinating materials that i found today.

the first is this motorcycle made of wood. don't ask me how it was done, i have no idea. you can try looking for more info about it here.

then there is this. one of the coolest commercials of all time (definitely up there with one of my favorites. note that the only digitized part is gene kelly's face) its one of those things that everybody has dreams about doing as a child and adult. mad props to sony for actually doing it. in my opinion its visually goregous and artistically primo. and its all 100% real. while i had heard about it a little while ago, i was never able to find it online. props to kelli for putting it in her away message.

it also appears that somebody wrote an article about me. and everybody else on the internet who has a blog.

any favorite's for the tour de georgia? floyd looks like the all out top pick. its a shame horner isn't going to be there, he would probably be a great sleeper. as great of a sleeper as chris horner could be i guess. he was close to making the winning break at amstel gold. but by the looks of how strong bettini and the other dudes were, i dont think horner could have even gotten podium. but i predict he will podium some time in the next couple weeks.

note to self: be more aggressive in races and attack more often. something to work on when i get back out on the road.


current jam: flight 601(all ive got is time) - fenix-tx

jesus and cute bunnies

i am sooo upset that i can't go riding outside in this weather. i guess there will be plenty nice days left this summer, but i can be impatient at times. like when its 80 degrees and sunny. that certainly fosters impatience.

also going home for easter weekend (i definitely just typed in thanksgiving, shows how good my memory is) tomorrow afternoon. i am taking pootie down to longwood with me and then picking up the dude and one of his friends for the lovely drive to norfolk. it truly is a phenomenal trip from charlottesville to longwood. if you ever have the option, i highly recommend the drive. mom convinced me to go home, but i am glad she did. it should be nice and relaxing. i will definitely attempt to sleep a lot and veg out. ill also try and get some things together for the move to pittsburgh memorial day weekend. thats right. i am moving to my apartment on memorial weekend. what an interesting day that will be. full of traffic and excitement of starting my new life.

then back to jmu sunday night to prepare for some last minute work as my college career takes its final breaths. why procrastinate now when you can do it later? maybe ill try an update or two while down in the 757.



current jam: down and out - the academy is...

its not a tumah!

i am becoming more and more of a computer nerd. tonight i created an itunes account and purchased an album by a pianist named lang lang. apparently he is pretty phenomenal and is incredibly young. isnt it weird how so many awesome talents/athletes/musicians are child phenoms? i can always dig some really good classical music. especially when it can mellow me out and relax my mind. that goes for jazz and blues too. and old school like chuck berry. mmm yeah. music makes me think of a hypnotic potion, something that can affect everyone in absolutely different ways at the same point in time. the way it can drastically alter one's mood or state of mind, bring up memories of a person or place (whether good or bad), and break someone down makes it a powerful tool. i wonder if bush had tried to play that horrible romanian ozone song over the mountains of afghanistan day and night bin laden would just walk out of his cave screaming in pain. its worth a shot.

when i said before how vicodin wasn't working too well. i think i may have lied. the past few nights i have been taking 2 shortly before bed. and ill tell you what, that stuff has been knocking me out. and i have been having some vibrant dreams. some a little weird and fueled by certain things going on in my life, but just very 'real' feeling. incredibly strange. i will inevitably have to wean myself from them as time goes by. i also haven't tried this ultram stuff yet. anybody know anything about it? i know i can take it with vicodin, but i am skeptical if it is really going to mess me up. maybe another evening when i am really hurting. probably next monday after my apointment with the orthopedist.

about time i stopped procrastinating on this take-home exam and went to bed. i do believe we are approaching the 2 weeks of classes left mark on my calendar. im incredibly excited. also might wind up helping out my friend during the tour of shenandoah driving the team car. that would be pretty awesome. we'll see if it works out. id like to help in any way i can because i owe him big time.

c'est la vie

almost one week and a dozen vicodin later, i emerge from my proverbial pain cave. mind you, i am still hurting bigtime. i was trying to create a metaphor to justify my lack of posts. nevermind.

yesterday i saw an orthopedic, who i am not very fond of to be honest, and he put me in this figure 8 clavicle brace thing. said it is going to take 8 weeks to heal. and i am not allowed to take the brace off with the exception of showering. at least he said i wont need surgery. but 8 weeks is a very long time. ughhh. one thing that sucks about the brace is that i dont get sympathy like i got with the sling. not that i want sympathy necessarily, but human compassion always helps with morale when you are injured and diminishes the severity of the injury. i have been pretty surprised by some people i am pretty close to and their lack of compassion, but i guess true colors show sooner or later.

i made the wise decision after being holstered in my clavicle brace to walk from my apartment to the quad to meet with jakob and then we walked to calhouns for some half-off appetizers and a micro. both were delicious. we walked back to campus and parted ways. upon our departure, i started to hurt with a capital H. i almost had to stop walking and just sit down, which was probably what i should have done. but i was being stubborn and kept walking all the way up port hill. i don't think i have ever felt physical pain such as that in my entire life. outside of the actual break itself. very smart ryan.

the weekend was nice and painful at the same time. it was cool cheering on everybody and playing coach down in boone, nc. those lmc and app state kids can fly on those courses, ill tell you what. but everybody had a great time. outside of julie racing on her torn ligament shoulder and some other minor mishaps. we all had fun and enjoyed eachother's company.

i arrived back at my apartment sunday afternoon to a queer odor. i couldnt put my finger on it. but it definitely smelled a little funky. i just shrugged it off to the bike boxing for nationals that had occured at my apartment earlier in the day. but no, after hearing a slush when walking into my room, i looked down. i saw half of my room covered in water and half of our living room as well. apparently, while all of my apartment was gone over the weekend, the retarded girls living above us flooded their toilet. didnt do anything about it for more than 24 hours, and leaked down the walls into our apartment. i swear, how dumb are you people??? the vaccum cleaners came and vaccumed as much water as they could but currently we've got fans and dehumidifiers running in my room and the living room.

today i need to fill a couple prescriptions and also my mom and emily are making a surprise visit. on top of the classes that i probably wont go to, today will be pretty exhausting i can imagine.

thanks to everyone who has gotten in touch with me since wednesday to see how i am doing, it means a lot. and thanks again to my great friends and teammates who have been incredibly supportive over the past week. you guys are the best.

compound fracture

since it is really difficult to type, i am going to just use brief words/phrases for this short post.

ride. andy, chris, grant, kevin. 2+ hrs. dry river ttt practice 2x. hopkins gap. descend. crankin it on the flats. 35ish mph. stupid [expletive] front deraileur. chain drop. endo. asphalt. bounce. helmet. bounce. flip. twist. bounce. pain. shoulder. arm. hip. shin. 500 paramedics/sherrifs/deputies/emts. quick arrival. nice people. gentle pain. cut all of my jerseys. uncomfortable neck brace & backboard. not so gentle. loooong ambulance ride. fast track ER. kevin. bored. xrays. joking with kevin. ED extended hallway. get the pun? doctor. pain. hip is ok, clavical is not. nice nurse. arrival of chris, andy, grant. bandages. pain. stand up. feel faint. sit down. repeat. pain. call mom. cicis w/ the guys. vicodin. no sleep. pain. thankful for great friends and teammates.

ill try my best to update

its ok, i make lamb

now that i am officially done with my ride to exhaustion testing, it is time to start hitting the roads some more. i feel like i have been doing a hardcore training camp for the last 30 days. since i only had 5 days in between every one of my 4 tests, i would typically get in 1 or 2 big rides in those 5 day gaps and spend the other days recovering. and the testing has been on my mind constantly. what with my racing over spring break, the training kevin and i did up in johnstown, pa, more racing, and my rides for the kinesiology department, i am ready to just get out on the roads for some big rides, cruisin. its nice that i just dont need to think about getting on that stationary bike ever again, because it was on my mind so much.

still getting more and more stoked to race at west virginia for confrence championships. especially if i can get a hold of jeremiah to borrow/rent a disgustingly hot pair of racing wheels. going from 2500 gram wheels (estimate) to 1200 gram wheels is certain to make it easier to pedal my bike. good ol rotational weight.

some quick and dirty math: if i am pedaling at 80rpm, for an hour (in a crit), with my current wheels at 2500 grams per rotation...the weight of the wheels i am moving over the course of the hour is 80X60X2500=12,000,000 grams or about 26,500 lbs. now change the 2500 to 1200 and you get about 12,700 lbs that i have to move. i know im not factoring in momentum and velocity and accelerations etc (im not a math/physics major). but in using his wheels, i pedal about 13,800 less lbs over that one hour. now you can start to get a good idea of how much the rotational weight matters in a bike race. the best place to cut weight from your bike if you want to go faster isnt necessarily the frame, but in the parts that move: wheels, cranks, chain, cassette.

my test on saturday was pretty uneventful. i started to cramp around 50 minutes and kept going for an hour and 7 minutes. i was a little frustrated, and it felt really weird getting off the bike so early after going for almost 2 hrs the time before. but i am done, and i will be reimbursed for my efforts soon. speaking of, if anybody out there is interested in doing the study, it pays $100 for a total of 4 trials and a vo2max test. they need a couple more subjects. let me know if you are interested and ill give you the contact info. and you don't need to be in awesome shape or anything. you just need to be able to pedal at 75% of your max vo2 for 45 minutes to an hour. feels a lot like riding into a moderate headwind.

this would be a pretty good way to summarize last night hanging out with the dude (licking) and his comrades...

the only people missing in the photo are cam, big nate, and colleen who decided to come out with us fellas. hanging out with neal and his friends is always a trip. they are that standard group of friends who have hundreds of little inside jokes and will act like complete idiots without caring what people think. its like they are in their own universe. im sure you know a tight-knit group of friends who act the exact same way. it made for a very entertaining night. definitely had a great time.

the weather is looking phenomenal this week. 60s-70s all week for the most part. 4 weeks of classes left and the weather is turning. can life get better? i submit that it cannot! well it could if i didn't have 2 presentations, 3 case analyses, and 2 exams all due this week. nar-nar. bout time i got crackin on all of that.

"Ride lots." - Eddy Merckx