Quote of the day...

by ssmith on Sep 25, 2007 2:25 PM EDT Comment 8 comments

I figured that some of you might like this. I'm preparing for a new class I'm teaching this week and reading an article published in 1898 that is considered to be the first ever social psychology experiment. It focused on the speed of track cyclists riding alone or in competition (essentially, why do people in direct competition perform better than people competing alone against a record).

Here's a great quote:
"The excretion of nitrogenous products is directly proportional to the amount of work done. The blood, surcharged with the poisonous matter, benumbs the brain and diminishes its power to direct and stimulate the muscles, and the muscles themselves, bathed by the impure blood, lose largely their contractile power."

They go on to speculate that the leader of a race can't win in a "spurt" due to the acids produced by "brain worry."

Kinda sounds like my weekend...

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Sounds like Mr Burns

extolling the merits of his Brain and Nerve tonic.

So how'd the Everest Challenge go?

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel. "

by Drew on Sep 25, 2007 3:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

On a good day,

the race is epic. Add in some snow, rain, and wind, and you've got something for the history books.
Luckily, it wasn't as bad as predicted, but they had to re-route the course on both days to keep us primarily under 10k feet because of the snow line.
I rode a solid Day 1, finishing 8th. Day 2 was different. Only two bottles for the first two climbs, with the major 20 mile climb still looming. The last 10 miles was pretty unbelievable. Lost two GC places for a 10th overall. But we're all pretty stoked because teammate Gary won (nay, DESTROYED) the Cat 3 race.
Seems like I always have one bad / dumb day at EC. Next year I hope to put two good days together in sequence...

Born from Jets...

by ssmith on Sep 25, 2007 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Still sounds to me like

you rode out of your sox, bad day and all. I wouldn't climb that much in two days if your life depended on it. Or mine for that matter.

Way to harden the fuck up - Stuey would be proud ;-)

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel. "

by Drew on Sep 25, 2007 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Way to go!

A buddy of mine did the EC.

He's not a climber.

It was pretty damn ugly. 18+ total time

He wrote up a neat diary and emailed it out to the club. I laughed out loud.

by johnw on Sep 25, 2007 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Laughing out lound

is really one of the better responses to EC. In the midst of the agony, I would force out psychotic chuckles from time to time. It helped (for awhile). Then it was just depressing.

It's a great race, great venue, and incredibly well put-together. It's worth a trip out. But if you don't live in a place with mountains where you can train, I'm not sure it's a great idea...

Born from Jets...

by ssmith on Sep 25, 2007 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure

we would all love to read it if you wanted to share. If you'd rather protect his privacy, etc. that is perfectly understandable.

You've got to have a screw half loose to begin with if you're considering spending your weekend climbing for 18 hours.........and you're not actually on Everest.

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel. "

by Drew on Sep 26, 2007 8:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs