Caleb Pike race
Wednesday, June 27, 2007Despite questioning whether I should be racing this evening after a harder ride yesterday than planned and after some hard races on the weekend, I made my way out to the Caleb Pike Wednesday night circuit race. I rode out the Munn Road hilly route, making for a medium hard warmup. I felt good for that sort of medium intensity up the Munn Road climb, but when we started racing -- 16 laps of a course about 2.5km long -- I generally felt in distress, shall we say.
There were 28 starters in the A race, apparently the biggest turnout of the year so far. I had no intentions of attacking in the fashion I did on the weekend, and the plan was to sit in and to get comfortable in the pack and with cornering. When the pace hotted up, it was very fast, at least so it seemed to me. I could tell I was going to be hanging on by the skin of my teeth the whole race long. Still, after three of four laps, I found myself at the front a couple of times bridging up to short-lived breakaways. But I felt pretty cooked all around and a couple of efforts like that were all my body would give me on the day.
For the most part, the pace was relentless for the entire duration of the race, and finally with a lap and a half to go I pulled the plug and cruised the last bit to the finish, a minute or two back of the 15 or so that finished in the main bunch ahead. There was a crash that marred the finish, and I felt fortunate to have missed that. There was also a crash in the B race that saw a woman taken off to the hospital possibly with something broken.
The Caleb Pike course is about 25km out of town, so with the ride there and back and the race, total mileage for the evening was about 90km or so. The plan now is to take Thursday and Friday easily, and then to do about a 100km Saturday morning before the Sidney Criterium in the evening; the Hurricane Ridge challenge on Sunday, aiming to get maybe 120k in total Sunday, and possibly a longer ride on Monday of 150-160km. After that I'll take the next week pretty easily (with possibly about three days off completely), with a gradual buildup and some shorter efforts during the week leading up to the Tour de White rock on the 14th and 15th.
Noteworthy was that Jon W, who raced all three stages on the weekend, said he was feeling good this evening, while I was not. Larry, who raced the RR only on the weekend, said he was struggling today, but had a good finishing sprint taking 4th in the bunch sprint (I think there were two guys off the front at the end). I noticed one of the guys who raced well on the weekend was struggling today and I think dropped out. Interesting to see the range of recovery among those who raced on the weekend.
27 06 07 22:52 | Hugh | 
Cloudy day, tra la
Tuesday, June 26, 2007Another cloudy day, ho hum, ho hum. Just another, cool, real cool, cloudy day, ho hum, ho hum, tra la, tra la.
There was some sort of prediction I seem to recollect, distantly, that today was supposed to be beaming with a high of 25 degrees. We were lucky if it hit 17, I think, beneath the darkness of the ever-cloudy skies. Somewhere in the world it was 25 degrees today - I'll take comfort in that.
In any event, after no riding/training yesterday, I rode along the waterfront and caught up with the Aviawest group ride as they exited Mount Doug this evening after their traditional short pit stop there. There were about 20 in the group today. The loop they do is about 75km, with a few hard efforts thrown in. My plan was to do an easy ride, and though I missed the higher intensity stuff they did along the waterfront, I'm not sure even the few efforts they did while I was among them did me any good. I'm hoping the ride won't set me back, but I do feel now like I shouldn't race tomorrow (Caleb Pike circuit race) which I had originally planned to do, had I gone completely easy today. We'll see how I feel.
Yesterday I felt surprisingly good all around - mentally sharp and physically invigorated after the racing on the weekend. However, after a poor night's sleep last night, today I felt like I'd been hit by a cement truck, and was really dragging my butt through the day. I felt better on the ride this evening, but I do think I should have kept it easier than I did. Oh well, too late - I can only monitor how I feel tomorrow and decide what training I should do over the next couple of days. There is the Sidney Twilight Criterium on Saturday evening, and the informal "Hurricane Ridge" race on Sunday. I want to use it all for training, including some sort of longer ride before the criterium on Saturday if I can - but will need to play things by ear.
Three races
Sunday, June 25, 2007
That was a fun but hard weekend. Three stages, including a 16.5k TT Saturday morning, a 50min plus one lap circuit race in the afternoon, and an 80k RR today (I misread the description for the race today, and thought it was 65k, but that was the B race - the A race was 80km). Jon and I managed to arrive at the race sign-on with plenty of time to spare for a decent warm up.
Interesting, and nice, to see Graham Cocksedge over, who has decided to focus on bike racing for a while before picking up running again in time to be ready for duathlon Nationals in late September. Graham was 6th on the time trial in 22.51, while I was 7th in 23.18. Demian drove up in his new beater with about 15 minutes to go before sign-on closed, sporting that "I've just drunk six coffees" wild look in his eyes, and managed second or third in the Time Trial (I can't remember exactly which) in a time of 22.12, won by John van der Vliet in 21.50. The course was a single 16.5 k loop that climbed gradually for most of the first half, and a gradual descent with some short hills on the way back.
Afterward we met up with Jon's friend Andy, who did 22:50 for the TT. He showed us his art studio where he would allow us to stay for the evening. His artwork, in a traditional native style, was fantastic.
Prior to the circuit race, the skies opened up in a torrential downpour. This sent Demian scurrying home. While the roads were very wet, it was only spitting lightly for the race itself later.
The circuit race was a 5km loop over some of the same roads used in the Comox Half Marathon. We did this for 50 minutes (give or take a couple, depending on where we were at the end of the lap) plus a lap. Being short and mostly flat, it was destined to be a sprinters race. Still, I worked hard and got myself into three or four short lived 2-3 man breakaways, including one that lasted for the better part of two laps with Jon and Andy, coincidentally. When the sprinters wound it up for the final sprint with a couple hundred metres to go, I let them slip away and cruised through the finish. The intent was to work as hard as I could for all three races, and will hopefully gain some fitness out of it.
During the 80 RR today, we did 5 loops of the TT circuit. There were 25 starters on the line, as some made the trip up from Victoria for just this race, including my team-mate Larry Wilson. Immediately I was in a breakaway with Fred Hodgson, Jon, and Andy. Andy was having difficulty on the day, and dropped off, while the three of us hung on for about half a lap before we were caught. After that, I was continually attacking and was in several short lived breaks. At one time I was in a breakaway of about 5 guys, that swelled to about 12 (half the pack), which I thought for certain would stay out until the finish.
At one point further along I saw a few guys come back in from the side road, and I am questioning whether they sat out a lap and rejoined the pack, but I don't know this for sure. We were entitled to an entire free lap if we had a mechanical problem, so I wonder if a few guys took some liberties with that. The pack swelled awfully quickly, and we had some strong engines in among the 12, and I am not sure the others were strong enough to bridge the gap, but I could be wrong (even a small lull in our pulls could have allowed them to catch on, especially if the gap was small).
In any event, after almost continually attacking for most of the first four laps, I could tell I was starting to bonk, and decided I'd better sit in the group as best I could to the finish. Two guys slipped away on the last lap while Team Aviawest controlled the pace in the pack to allow their guy to stay away. There was not a lot of attacking going on during the last lap, and I hung on with the group to the end and cruised through at the back of the pack. I had only taken one bottle of gatorade with me and no food, and I was regretting that poor judgment, since had the race been one lap longer, I wouldn't have made it.
The RR was worth double points, and the omnium (combined points for three races) was won by Sam Whittingham; second was John van der Vliet. Since the skies opened up again right at the end of the race, most didn't linger after the race, and we didn't stay to see the final tally on the results.
All in all, a fantastic weekend - there were some really positive signs on my part of some good fitness gains to be made. For Tour de White Rock and Tour of Delta races (Superweek) in three weeks, I'll need to get some longer rides in with plenty of intensity to boot. This is all just so I can hang in in those races, as they will feature a number of North American Division III pro teams, and will be very difficult races. I've received my Category 2 licence, which will allow me to race those races, assuming they aren't full.
Comox Cup Stage Race
Friday June 22, 2007The plan this weekend now is to do the Comox Cup cycling stage race - three stages, all fairly short, which is good for my current level of fitness. Saturday morning - 16.5 km time trial; afternoon - 40km circuit race; a 65 km road race on Sunday. Originally I was planning to head up with Demian, but having recently purchased his own used small car, he wanted to test it out, and the car is apparently too small for three bikes (his two and my one) and two passengers.
However, Jon W was looking for a ride, and he and I are now heading up. He apparently has free accommodations for us in Courtenay tomorrow night. So - time to start getting in bike-racing fitness.
Goodnight sweet running for a while
Wednesday, June 20, 2007The eve before the longest day winds down dressed up in its warmest fashion yet. Still there seems only tentative cause for celebration knowing that the weather could turn again for the worse, and apparently is supposed to do so this weekend. But at least there is reason to believe the warm days will now outnumber the cold days; the sunny days will now outnumber the cloudy days, at least perhaps for a couple of months or so.
Today was an easy ride for about 1.5 hours, about twice the duration of an easy ride yesterday. I felt generalized fatigue today, perhaps moreso than yesterday even, but the legs have not been sore or stiff. I'm definitely leaning toward just bike racing for a while, rather than going for the Nationals long course duathlon in New Brunswick, despite some good fitness for that sort of event leading up to it in July.
In the summer months I recall a certain sweetness to the lifestyle of bike training and racing, its camaraderie and the dynamics of the peloton that I haven't experience for a while and find myself yearning for, if only for a couple of months. Bike training and racing is time consuming, at least moreso than running (not moreso than triathlon training though), but there is a sort of contentment with being in good cycling fitness that I rarely even experience when in good running fitness. This is, I think, largely because running can be so hard on the body - with high running mileage you are nearly always experiencing some degree of muscle soreness - at least I do. But when you are fit on the bike, you are rarely sore, just tired - and it's a wonderful feeling of fatigue, I think.
In any event, a break from running will also be good for me. I'll pick it up again when some of the bigger bike races are done. I'll likely run once or twice a week for some maintenance, but little more.
So, on the eve of the longest day: goodnight to serious running for a while. I'll miss you while you're gone, and will see you when I wake from my cyclist's slumber.
Correction
Monday, June 18, 2007On another look at the results of the race yesterday, posted here
http://www.raceheadquarters.com/results/2007/multi/NBHalfIron2007Overall.html
it looks to me, based upon Trevor Wurtele's time, that my final bike and run time may have been more accurate than I thought, and as I had remarked upon in my blogpost yesterday. Trevor started in the wave 5 minutes ahead of the relay wave; Sarah's swim was about a minute and a half faster than Trevor's swim, and I caught Trevor on the bike right at the end of the bike leg and we crossed the timing matt going into the bike-to-run transition at the same time. So, after Sarah gained over a minute on him, I needed to take about 3.5 minutes out of him to catch him on the bike, which is reflected in his 2:10 bike and my 2:07 bike.
What didn't seem to make sense was that Sarah thought I had taken about 41-42mins on my first lap on the run, and based on that we figured I was about 1:22ish on the run. There had also already been an announced estimate that my bike time was 2:03, and this was also what Sarah had calculated based on the time I left transition and returned.
But those were just estimates, and basing my time on Trevor's time definitely provides a more accurate time, especially since we crossed the timing matt simultaneously. So, I must have been running faster than I thought and, while still with the fastest bike time on the day, not quite as fast on the bike I had originally thought. So, I think I can retract my comment yesterday that the time was in error.
That said, I can now be happy to say that my run off the bike, at 1:18, was a couple of minutes faster than last year. All in all, I actually had a pretty spectacular race. Sarah was also about a minute faster on her swim than last year, so we really had a great race!
And it's a good thing I didn't run any slower than I did. Sean Clark was on the run leg of the men's team that finished behind us and was hunting me down rapidly, with a 1:13 run. I believe Darren Mealing did the swim and bike portions of their relay race, while Sean did the run - so an interesting combination there as well. Darren was about a minute faster on his swim than Sarah, but was about 7 minutes back of me on the bike.
Another note of interest was the fact that the top women's team, the Oak Bay Cycling Club team, featured Clare Hall-Patch, recent winner of the Provincial Road Race Championships, who blasted the bike leg in 2:12!
1/2 Ironman relay
Sunday, June 17, 2007Well, that was great fun. Our team "Splash and Flash" won the relay overall again at the New Balance 1/2 Ironman event. For the relay there were prizes for mens, womens, and mixed teams. All combinations were allowed; ie. you could have one man for each of the three legs; one woman on each of the three legs; one man doing the swim and a woman doing the bike and the run; or in our case we were a mixed team of two where Sarah did the swim and I did the bike (80km) and run (20km), and we won overall.
Sarah had the 11th fastest swim on the day (of everyone, including individual competitors) in 27.11 for the 2km swim. I had the fastest bike split on the day (also including all teams and individual competitors), which is what I was hoping for, so am quite happy with the result on the day. Of course I didn't swim, so the prize for the fastest bike split went to only those individual competitors completing the whole race. Even so, given that I'm not currently a pure cyclist and am a multisport althlete along with the triathletes, I am happy to know that I can still get decent time trialing fitness on the bike while still being able to run reasonably well.
The timing chip (an ankle strap) fell off somewhere on the bike course, so the official splits they recorded for me were actually incorrect. They still had me as the fastest bike split, but they had me at 2:07 while it was actually about 2:03 for the 80km course. They had me as 1:18 on the run, while it was actually about 1:22. The overall time was correct, though, as they had people timing by hand as well as using the timing chips.
The 80km course was quite hard, constantly undualating. I felt strong on all the climbs though, and really worked hard on them, and I have gained a lot of fitness on the bike since duathlon provincials about 5 weeks ago. I felt a bit pekid on the run, but was able to run the whole distance without any need to stop and the hip flexor held up, which was good.
New for this year's race was a prize of $500 for "The Chase" or the first person across the line. Because the waves were staggered by 5 minutes, the idea was to have the top competitors from each wave -- the women's wave, the Masters wave, the men's wave and the relay wave -- all coming across the line nearly together and going for The Chase award. We had the second fastest time overall, about 4 minutes behind the individual winner Jonathan Caron, and were in the running for the "Chase", but that prize was actually won by Heather Wurtele, who won the women's event. Next year, I might try to find a fast runner so we can make a better stab at the Chase award!
So, I still need to decide if I want to focus on bike racing for a while. I would probably have a good shot at winning the long course duathlon Nationals in July, the way things are going. But I'm not sure at this point if the trip is worth it for me. I'm thinking about taking December off and possibly going to India (or at least somewhere warm!), and need to decide if I'd rather do that than spend my money on duathlon long course Nationals. If I focus on bike racing I could do some big races in July (White Rock and Delta stage races), and then think about starting some running again and training for the Victoria Marathon and still be able to go somewhere warm in December. Some things to think about.
A few days in review
Saturday, June 16, 2007Before beginning an update for the last few days, I note first how there are several peculiar low cloud formations whisking their way at rapid speeds beneath much higher clouds, and whose altitudes appear barely one hundred feet in the air. A very strange manifestation of the unsettled nature of our weather. The weather has been rather odd this year, to say the least.
Tomorrow is the NB 1/2 Ironman and, as in three past years, I'll be doing the bike/run portions of a relay with Sarah Macdonald. I only hope the weather will be conducive to wearing shorts! The bike leg is 80km this year, rather than 92, so the total time will be significantly less.
This morning I enjoyed my first tandem ride ever. Carly Grigg, who is visually impaired, is training for the paralympics, and her pilot, Barb B was away this weekend, so they asked me if I would help out. We had some difficulty ensuring the radio connection was working properly, but we were still able to communicate effectively, which is important on a tandem. It only took a few minutes to adjust to the longer bike and the occasional unsynchronized power outputs. Even so, one is certainly aware of the reduced manoeverability compared to a single bike, and the pilot needs to be extra alert and careful. Quite fun all around, and we rode for about an hour and a half, as I didn't want to do more than that the day before the race tomorrow.
In the days leading up to the race, I did no training Monday and Tuesday, did an easy run Wednesday, noticing a twinge in my hip flexor which I'm hopeful will not be a problem for the race tomorrow. Thursday, I rode for about an hour, with a couple of two minute threshold efforts. Friday I did an easy run, also with 2 by 2 minute threshold efforts, and this morning's easy(ish) ride on the tandem.
I actually feel fairly tired going into the race tomorrow, but I'm not taking it too seriously. It's just fun, and while I might like to go for the fastest bike time, given that there are fewer top-level elites doing the race this year. Still, I'm not necessarily aiming strictly for that - just want to get out and have a fun race for this sort of event.
Five Trees
Wednesday, June 13, 2007There were five sources of nectar: one piece of fruit on each of five modest trees that sprung from the valley floor near where the gypsy cyclist stood. There was greenness and richness and warm humidity to this valley slumbering beneath blue skies, but from every perspective no trees ascended the valley floor save the five from which hung only a single, long slender, golden brown fruit.
At the bottom of the valley, a straight but slow flowing river ran, and there were women and men and children playing at the shallow waters' edge, or washing clothes or themselves. The chatter of discussion, admonishments and laughter seemed in mutual resonance to ring from both sides of the river.
But still, amid the echoes, were five modest trees only, and one fruit only on each tree remained, hanging low and within the reach of a hungry man's hand. And the gypsy cyclist was weak with hunger and any two of the five pieces of fruit before him would have satisfied him, at least temporarily. He laid down his bicycle and approached one of the five trees, finding almost without awareness how his hand reached for the dangling nourishment.
“Stop!” cried a man, and all the echoes along the rivers' edge were silenced as every head turned to the direction of the voice and the object of its exhortation. “Can you not see that all the other fruit have been plucked?”asked the man.
Shocked by the volume of the man's voice, the gypsy cyclist pulled back his hand. “No..no I’m sorry,” he stammered, shaking from hunger and fatigue. “I am not from here. I don’t know this kind of tree.”
“Well, anyone with a head will know that no tree bears a single piece of fruit. No tree with a single fruit would ever have a hope of multiplying, would it now? If you are with a woman only once in your life, what are the chances you will have a child?” To the gypsy cyclist's surprise, the man smiled, and peels of laughter rang out up and down the river.
“Ah yes, good point,” replied the gypsy cyclist, sheepishly. "I have travelled a long way today, and the fruit was there on these trees. I am quite hungry. And why is there one fruit remaining?"
The people along the river sides returned to their chatter, while the gypsy cyclist faced only the man. The man said, "The fruit on these trees returns every year, as sure as the sun rises each morning. But there is hunger everywhere, as you and I and everyone knows. And so we eat the fruit the tree produces, as we must. But we always leave one piece of fruit. That is our custom.
"The fruit may soon fall to the ground, and perhaps it will seed the earth and a sapling will grow. But what are the chances? We know the chances are small. But did you know that once, many years ago, there was only one tree left in this valley? And once, many years ago, that single tree, in a frenzy of hungry people, was razed of all its fruit save one that was rotten that fell to ground before it was plucked. We do not know who because it was so long ago, but it is said that one person died of starvation because that fruit was missed.
"One day, this valley will be alive again with the Rumashan Tree. But for that to happen we must sacrifice the hunger of one person for the last piece of fruit on each tree. Today, my dear man, it is your turn. There is no one here to offer you another, although we may find food for you another day. Go that way, my dear man." The man pointed to a road above the valley. "Go that way for another hundred miles, and there is a city there. There is all the food you will need."
The gypsy cyclist, nearly fainting, returned to his bicycle, mounted it and turned in the direction of the road.
Weekend review
Monday, June 11, 2007As an update to the weekends' training, on Saturday I did about 15 miles running that included 3 loops around Beacon Hill, then down to the breakwater for an out-and back, then out to the Goose and to the 4km mark there. The run was mostly at a gentle clip, but I threw in 2 X 2km intervals at 5k pace to work the threshold capacity a bit.
On Sunday, I joined Brett B and Larry W for a Shawnigan Lake ride that included an extra jaunt up the new subdivision road off the Shawnigan Lake climb and a couple of km of the new road just being constructed beyond that. Larry noted that he and I covered the 9km distance from the bottom of the Shawnigan Lk climb to the top of the new subdivision road in about 23 minutes, which was about a minute slower than a recent Masters race up that same climb. Brett turned around early on the climb as his legs were cramping a bit after running about 13km the day before which he isn't used to doing. On the way back in we rode up the grueling ascent of Finlayson Arm Road to make for a total ride of about four hours with plenty of climbing, and making it my longest ride of the year.
I was worried that I was potentially overcooking myself after the run the day before and a solid block of three weeks of training now. However, after returning home, I could tell I would be fine, and the plan now is to take two days off from training entirely, and an easy week on into the 1/2 Ironman relay this weekend. Depending on how that goes, I'll decide whether I've got the National Long Course du championships in the cards, or whether I want to hang up the running shoes for a couple of months and focus on some cycling races.
At the moment I'm actually leaning toward some cycling races, as I can likely be in half decent shape in time for Superweek in Whiterock/Delta in the first and second weeks of July. I've done the Whiterock races a few times in the past as a Cat 1/2, but have never done the Delta races, which might be fun. But if my ride/run this weekend go very well, I may give serious consideration to the Long Course champs in New Brunswick. The cost of course is a big consideration, but we'll see where my mind is after this race.
A Symphony for Jhala
Saturday, June 8, 2007The gypsy cyclist reached a hand behind his back and rummaged through a jersey pocket that contained a jingle of loose change, the remains of a cookie and its wrapper, two tire irons and a tire-tube repair kit. The pocket was moist with sweat, and his fingers flicked a coin, lodged at the base of the pocket. The coin was dusted lightly with wet crumbs from the cookie that had slipped from its wrapper; the cookie was half consumed, the wrapper crumpled.
He pulled the coin from its resting place and offered it to the girl at the side of the road. "Would you like to have this?" he asked her.
Her dark eyes looked at him quizzically. "No thank you." She replied.
Momentarily confused, and mildly offended that she refused his offering, he asked. "Then why do you have that tin out?"
"I have not asked for any money from anyone," she said. "But people leave it for me anyway. I have to put it somewhere. I could put the tin behind me I suppose, so you couldn't see it. But I did that once and that man there..." She pointed a brown slender finger through the crowds to another dusty street corner about one hundred metres away. "You see? That man sitting on that street corner? His name is Naidoo. He snuck up behind me once and he stole it from me. I don't ask for money, but if people give it to me, I don't ask for it to be stolen either."
"But he could still steal it from you again, couldn't he?" Asked the gypsy cyclist. "Does it matter if it's in front of you or behind you? He's bigger than you."
"Yes, but Naidoo is a coward." She said. "As long as I can see it, he will not steal my tin. I only have to look him in the eyes, and he turns away; he can't bear to look at me."
She looked over in his direction. "You see, he will not look over here; he is afraid of me. And if someone else wants to steal my tin from me," she said, shrugging. "Well then there is nothing I can do."
The girl reached for a thick hardcover book of writing paper, its pages tattered and its cover tanned by the sun. "But I can show you this," she said. She handed the book to the gypsy cyclist.
"Can I open it?"
The girl laughed. "I think you are a strange man! I have never seen a bicycle like that, and such a strange helmet too! Of course you can open it! Would I hand you a book and tell you to look at only the cover?"
"Oh...you never know..." he replied, taken aback somewhat by the girl's candour. She is a curious one, he thought. "Do I dare ask you what it is?"
She laughed again. "Well, why don't you look at it first, and then I will tell you!"
Obliging, he began to flip through the contents of the book. It was a musical score, handwritten in pencil. The gypsy cyclist was not trained in music, but as he turned the pages it appeared the score was variously assigned to as few as a single instrument, and to as many as one hundred. Sporadically, throughout the book appeared words or names written below the lines of notes. On the first page, beneath the top line of notes was the single word Jhala, and on the lines beneath were other names.
"You are a composer!" exclaimed the gypsy cyclist. "That is a very rare gift you have, truly very rare, I think. And what is this...this 'Jhala'?" he asked.
"Oh," she said. "Jhala is me. That is my name. On other lines are the names of people I know. One is my sister, Rhaita. If you look further into the book, you will even see Naidoo's name."
"So you sit here and you dream up music about you and people you know?"
"Mmm. That is what most people ask me. But I am not making up this music," she said. "These are the notes and rhythms of my life and those around me. I am not a composer. I record music."
Seeing confusion on the face of the gypsy cyclist, the girl flicked back her straight black hair and smiled broadly, revealing a row of wide ivory teeth.
On thin legs she stood up beside the gypsy cyclist and gently took back the book. She pointed to the line under which her name appeared. "This line," she said, pointing. "This line runs all the way through the book. It is me. I have learned how to measure and to count the rythyms of the patterns in my life, counted by the time between meetings with the people around me."
She pointed to two other sets of lines. "Here the notes on the upper line show the distances between me and the people around me; so the notes go higher or lower up the scale as the distances change. The line underneath shows my mood. Where there are other names, that is where we are talking to each other, and all my changing moods."
She flipped through the book. "Here," she said. "Do you see this?" There were numerous names and many musical lines written smaller and squeezed onto the page. "I don't know all of these people - I made up some names for this. But this is where I was dancing for a crowd of people. See how close they were to me, and how happy I was? And they were all happy too. But see how the notes on this line changed as I danced and moved around; and when it was over, how they all went away."
She flipped to the next page. "And see here? That is where Naidoo stole my tin of coins."
"So," asked the gypsy cyclist. "How do you play this score? What instruments do we use?"
"Well," she said, "you could find instruments to play it. But you don't need to. You just have to live it."
She reached to the ground and grabbed her tin of coins. "Here," she said. "Put your coin in here and take this to Naidoo for me, please, and I will write some notes in my book."
Without words, the gypsy cyclist took the tin from her. "And if you tell me your name, I will write it here," she said, pencil in hand. The gypsy cyclist told Jhala his name, turned, and gripping Jhala's tin in one hand, he walked his bike through the throngs of passersby toward Naidoo.
The late Thag Simmons
Thursday, June 6, 2007
Because Demian is concerned that perhaps I need a beer (among other things), I will pretend that I've just had one, and relate the most hilarious Gary Larsen, Farside comic strip I saw today.
A bunch of cavemen, clothed in their mammoth skins, sit in a makeshift classroom. Their attention is focussed on the instructor, who is standing in his saggy mammoth skins in front of a large picture of a stegasaurus, mounted on the wall. With his pointer-stick the instructor is pointing to the six massive spikes on the end of the tail of the stegasaurus. "Here we have," he says, "the Thagomizer, after the late Thag Simmons."
Ok, you had to see it, but I thought it was hilarious. Interestingly, paleontologists, I have learned, do actually use the word "thagomizer" in a technical sense now, and refer to the spikes on the tail of the stegasaurus that way.
In any event, to recap the last couple of days of training: today I met up with the Russ Hays' group for about 40minutes of high intensity threshold work, with some over the threshold (total ride about 1.5 hours). I experienced a slowly deflating tire just before the top of Ash road and had to pull off to repair it. This was good timing, however, since I hadn't intended to do much more hard riding than that for the day. The group that began as about 20 strong, was whittled to about 7 when I pulled off. This group included Clare Hall-Patch, off a recent win of the Provincials Road Race in Vancouver. Mike Korb was in fine form, and took a couple of flyers on a couple of the ascents.
I knew today that my legs were a little tender, however, as yesterday I did a 1hr 15min tempo run - about 20km. Generally I felt good all around, and the run was a good test of my recovery after 1.5hours of riding at a moderate but quick pace on Tuesday followed by 8km of running.
Tomorrow will definitely be a rest day, and I'd like to do a couple of long sessions on the weekend (one long ride and one long ride) before taking next week quite easy before the NB 1/2 Ironman relay one week Sunday. I had to bail on the Prefontaine classic, owing to an interview I have on Monday, as much as it would have been great fun to see.
The stats mid-term on Tuesday was open book, and challenging. I certainly made some errors, but I think I passed. The next half will be at least as difficult, but mentally I find myself getting more into the groove of the rigourous logic this course requires, and am quite enjoying it.
Coming soon: "A symphony for Jhala" ...I have the title already in my mind, and only so far just a few bits of the content.
Hugh's Mutability Theorem
Wednesday, June 6, 2007Today in the midst of mulling over a 58 paragraph argument about whether it is necessary to provide formal notice of a constitutional challenge in a criminal proceeding, I drifted off briefly, my eyes rolling 45 degrees upward and to the right, during which time I considered the following: if we could create a "scale of mutability" what would it look like, and where would human-made laws, like the ones I was reading about, fit on that scale? Where would mathematics or physics fit, and where would art or fashion, or customs, fit on that scale?
I'll try to make this as brief as possible.
Firstly: the term immutable is defined by www.dictionary.com as "adj - not mutable; unchangeable; changeless". The question of whether there are certain immutable moral principles or laws is an ancient one, and I would argue that no human law is truly immutable. I won't delve into the subtleties of that argument, but rather ask the question: what are the factors that comprise "mutabality" or change in abstract, physical and human laws?
This may seem to suggest that a long-winded exposition is required to answer this, but I would begin with a fairly simple approach -- a scale - I'll call it a "mutability scale" - that looks like rather like this (to be adjusted though as we go) :
________|__________|_____________|____________|______________|
customs art human laws physics mathematics
At the left is greatest mutability, moving toward least mutability, or toward immutability at the right. The order of the five examples is how I would roughly suggest the scale runs, however this is not how I would see the relative positions to be. So, to determine relative positions, there are other factors to be considered, I suggest.
Factors are three:
time (t) - how long (years) do the principles or axioms last before they change?
Number of components (N) - how many axioms or components are there to the laws?
And because N is open to considerable debate, I add a third factor which I call a subjectivity factor (S).
S is difficult to quantify, but in theory would be based upon some sort of consensus as to the essential N factors. But S by itself can be estimated in relative terms, ie. there is more subjectivity involved in art than in mathematics, for example.
...
So I derive the following little formula to estimate relatively mutability (M):
M = t * (1/N * 1/S), read as mutability equals time multiplied by the product of one over N times 1 over S. I use "one over N" and "one over S" because these factors reduce the magnitude of M, rather than increase it. In other words, the lower M is, the more mutable is the law or construct we are looking at. Conversely, the higher the number, the closer it is to being immutable.
For example, what is M for mathematics? Mathematics may be said to last for an infinitely long time. If that is so, 1/N and 1/S don't make any difference - M for mathematics remains infinite.
M for physics? Unlike, math, physics could be argued only to last as long as the lifetime of the universe, after which the laws of physics do not exist. For a specific law or principle of physics to apply as an example, take force=mass*acceleration, or f=ma (for a basic Newtonian law). If we pretend the lifetime of the universe is 26 billion years, then t=26 billion (2.6x10e9), and there are two essential components to f=ma (ie. mass and acceleration) and N=2. We could apply an arbitrary S factor of 1 (which can be used as the standard to set other relative S factors), since one might think of opposing arguments as to why N should be some number other than 2 (there is also a problem if S is 0, which I haven't figured out how to solve yet!).
So M for physics might be 2.6X10e9*(1/2* 1/1); M=1.3X10e9, a finite number (as opposed to mathematics, which is arguably infinite - although that is open to debate as well of course).
M for art: t might = 1000 years for some form of art to flourish and then be lost altogether. N might be 10 main components that define what constitutes that form of art, and S might be 10 (relative to the S factor for physics). So M=1000*(1/10*1/10). M=10. This is very far to the left of the mutability scale.
How about human laws? t might be only 100 years before some law is wiped off the books entirely, and the factors that comprise this law might be 3 (ie. three main legal principles, say) but with an S factor of 5 (not as open to varying opinions as to what comprises its principles as for art, but considerably more so than physics).
M=t*(1/N*1/S)
M=100*(1/3*1/5)
M=6
This example of a human law would have a mutability factor less than the art example I gave! This is even a bit surprising, because we might like to think that human laws are somehow founded on immutable principles, and would stand farther to the right on a "mutability scale". However, there may be some laws, like certain criminal laws that have lifetimes much longer than the 100 year example I gave. But this suggests that different laws have different "mutability numbers" which may be greater than certain arts or certain customs, or may be less than them.
The figures in these examples are all arbitrarily chosen to illustrate how the theorem works, but we may think of real concrete examples by which to apply and test the theorem.
In any event, to conclude my little overview (which I probably need to re-write to make it a little easier to follow), the main observation I make is that as much as some human laws are argued to be based upon immutable principles, I suggest they are by and large highly mutable, and at least as much so as art or custom. Even the laws of physics are not immutable. Arguably mathematics entails the only truly immutable principles since it may be said the axioms of mathematics exist independently of the universe.
This is what went through my mind as I drifted off while reading the mutable principles of constitutional notice!
That and this
Monday, June 4, 2007That and this
Thought Joe, with a hiss
His lips puckered in a kiss,
Is really neither here nor there
And truly, should I care?
For this is the color of my hair!
And this is it; i.e. this is that
Sweet swirl beneath my hat
And green it is - it's tit for tat
To the women who do not miss
My locks of golden bliss,
Or my love of that and this.
- h
A few more things
Sunday June 3, 2007Today began with an easy run with Cliff, who is now resuming training after taking nearly a month off from any real training. My run was just a shade over an hour, followed by 2.5 hours on the bike.
Hooking up with the Burnside group for my ride, the pace began gently. But that was shortlived, since within about 15 minutes we were accelerating to a rapid pace after Chuck realized a tandem bike consisting of Barb B and her female partner were accelerating on a downhill away from the group, so he took it upon himself to return the favour by accelerating past them. As I was on his wheel at the time, I could do no other than to follow. Soon after he and I found ourselves two-upping at a rapid rate out past Brentwood Bay and toward the airport. With a brief reprieve through the roads where the Panorama triathlon/duathlon were taking place, ex-Olympic swimmer, Steve Baird joined us and the three of us did a three-up through Lands End. Through Sidney, Pat, who apparently in 31 years has never missed riding at least one day on a weekend with the Burnside group, had taken a short cut and rejoined us there.
The ride was a good solid effort from my perspective, and gives me a good sense of what to expect in terms of time and intensity for the upcoming 1/2 Ironman relay. This followed on about 4hours in total on the bike yesterday.
On another note, Cliff had suggested the idea of heading down to Oregon for the Prefontaine Classic Track meet next weekend, returning on Monday. As one of the premiere track meets in the world, without too much consideration I agreed this would be fun, so that is the plan for next weekend. It would be great to get a couple of decent runs/rides in while we're in Eugene/Portland. This is good timing for me to take a bit of a break from a fairly intense lead up to a few important deadlines, all of which will be over next week.
I needed to get into work for a couple of hours this afternoon, and now it's back to studying for stats - exam invigilated at Uvic on Tuesday. Starting to feel more comfortable with the material so far, but need just to review a few important points. Let's hope this goes better than my audition yesteday!
Well that was...
June 2, 2007...a bust. Thanks god that's over. As much as it was way out of my league, I went in for my audition for West Side Story. Basically they allowed three minutes for singing, and then had us do jazz choreography for 20 minutes! There were six slots over two days, and during each slot there were five to eight people - so a lot of competition.
When we got to the dance part, I knew I was completely finished, especially after the song component didn't go particularly well either. It was one of those situations where I knew the song much better than I sang it. They had me stand quite far away from the keyboard player, and the keyboard seemed very soft to me, and it seemed like I could barely hear the opening, and right from the get go, I was screwing up. So, they had me start at the main sort of sweeping part of the song (Maria), which went better, but even then when it came to the "Maria" repetitions, I cut short the first of the long notes (6 beats), which I really did know, but on the day it just didn't come out (oh well!), and at that point it was pretty much a lost cause as with three minutes to sing, there wasn't a lot of opportunity to make adjustments.
Then they had us dancing. It was obvious they need people who really know how to dance, which I simply do not. I had thought there was a possibility that if I sang really well, they could figure out a way to make me do very little dancing, since in the Broadway film, the character does actually do relatively little dancing. But with a less than stellar singing component, any thought of that was already out the window. I knew it was hopeless during the dance component, so fortunately I managed to chuckle my way through much of it, quite aware of how awkward I must have been appearing! One of the gals ahead of me asked if I could see the dance instructor, and I just laughed, "Oh, it really doesn't matter," I said.
So - it's done, kaput. Broadway dance musicals really aren't my thing... Who was it that said they would kill to have me in there? Jeepers, I'd like to blame that guy for putting me through it. Just kidding! But, still great to get that experience - auditions just by themselves are interesting, I'm finding, and kind of fun.
It's actually quite a relief to not be getting the part - there were to be two 3-hour rehearsals during the week, then one four hour rehearsal on Sunday. A bit much at the moment, given that I'm undertaking some substantial course-work in the fall as well. If anything I may audition for a part in the G&S production of Patience in the fall, which is much more my thing, and even if I don't get a lead for that, I can sing in the chorus.
Well - it's beautiful out there. I'm off for my second ride of the day with Demian - this morning I rode with a few from the IRC club and a few of the Aviawest group for an hour or so before turning back for two hours in total. My legs actually felt a bit hammered, and I'll need to be careful.
