Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Last Weekend
Bobbie was in Yakima running a marathon. There was no way I was getting near that, so instead I went over to Redmond to see a friend of mine and his two week old baby girl.
While I was on that side of the water, I went down to the velodrome to see if I had made any progress. At first I had the place to myself, but then I was joined by some kids. Even though the track is open to the public, track riders are supposed to have priority. I wasn't about to press the issue so I just rode around them. The steep sides on the turns can be quite intimidating and make a velodrome less than suitable for kids. One little girl found out the hard way, taking a spill on the far side of the track. She wasn't hurt but she layed there for a few minutes. Her mom didn't see her fall, so I said something as I rode by. I managed to find a break in traffic so I took the opportunity to do a flying 200. Basically, that's a half lap sprint with a running start. Last year my time was 14.5 with a top speed of 30.5 mph. This time, my top speed was 32.5 and I was at 31 on the straightaway. I figure this puts my time somewhere in the low 13's to high 12's. I guess all the work I've been doing might just pay off after all.
Sunday I went over to Tacoma and did a 40 mile ride with Bobbie and some guys from Spoke and Sprocket. It was a pretty fast paced ride that ended up going across the Tacoma Narrows into Gig Harbor and Port Orchard. It's a beautiful area and I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't been dying most of the time. Everyone was surprised at how Bobbie was doing. She was right there with me the whole time even though she had run a marathon the day before. That's pretty impressive.
Bobbie had to go to a social function at 5 that afternoon and we ended up getting back at 4. After taking a shower, I decided that I would go with her and be a good boyfriend. The "event" was the showing of a movie called "Spirit of the Marathon". It was supposed to be a fund raiser to help someone go to a Special Olympics event or something. Bobbie had promised a friend she would attend, so even though we were tired and hungry, we went. Of all the places to hold it, someone picked a funeral home. Tacoma is strange like that, I guess. Once we found the place, it turned out to be just a bunch of people in suits milling around. It wasn't just a movie. Instead it was a whole nights worth of crazy fun. There was a dance and an auction as well as the movie. Bobbie and I walked around the room for a few minutes looking at stuff, when she asked me if I wanted to walk around outside. You know something is boring when walking around a cemetery is a viable alternative. After walking around for 15 minutes, we decided to leave. I had put down a donation, so I figured that bought us a clear conscience. We were tired and hungry and three hours was more than we could do. We ended up going out for Thai and then I went home.
Oh, and it was sunny and mostly not cold all weekend. It's beginning to feel like Springish.
While I was on that side of the water, I went down to the velodrome to see if I had made any progress. At first I had the place to myself, but then I was joined by some kids. Even though the track is open to the public, track riders are supposed to have priority. I wasn't about to press the issue so I just rode around them. The steep sides on the turns can be quite intimidating and make a velodrome less than suitable for kids. One little girl found out the hard way, taking a spill on the far side of the track. She wasn't hurt but she layed there for a few minutes. Her mom didn't see her fall, so I said something as I rode by. I managed to find a break in traffic so I took the opportunity to do a flying 200. Basically, that's a half lap sprint with a running start. Last year my time was 14.5 with a top speed of 30.5 mph. This time, my top speed was 32.5 and I was at 31 on the straightaway. I figure this puts my time somewhere in the low 13's to high 12's. I guess all the work I've been doing might just pay off after all.
Sunday I went over to Tacoma and did a 40 mile ride with Bobbie and some guys from Spoke and Sprocket. It was a pretty fast paced ride that ended up going across the Tacoma Narrows into Gig Harbor and Port Orchard. It's a beautiful area and I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't been dying most of the time. Everyone was surprised at how Bobbie was doing. She was right there with me the whole time even though she had run a marathon the day before. That's pretty impressive.
Bobbie had to go to a social function at 5 that afternoon and we ended up getting back at 4. After taking a shower, I decided that I would go with her and be a good boyfriend. The "event" was the showing of a movie called "Spirit of the Marathon". It was supposed to be a fund raiser to help someone go to a Special Olympics event or something. Bobbie had promised a friend she would attend, so even though we were tired and hungry, we went. Of all the places to hold it, someone picked a funeral home. Tacoma is strange like that, I guess. Once we found the place, it turned out to be just a bunch of people in suits milling around. It wasn't just a movie. Instead it was a whole nights worth of crazy fun. There was a dance and an auction as well as the movie. Bobbie and I walked around the room for a few minutes looking at stuff, when she asked me if I wanted to walk around outside. You know something is boring when walking around a cemetery is a viable alternative. After walking around for 15 minutes, we decided to leave. I had put down a donation, so I figured that bought us a clear conscience. We were tired and hungry and three hours was more than we could do. We ended up going out for Thai and then I went home.
Oh, and it was sunny and mostly not cold all weekend. It's beginning to feel like Springish.
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