The previous week, it seemed like there was a common theme going on where there were situations happening to me that would've elicited this response from onlookers:
As noted in my Walla Walla post, I discovered that one of my cleat screws was missing and thus tried to fix it in the morning, but had to go to Athlete's Lounge to get the correct screws and then ended up finally getting to work at 11:30. At PIR it was a rather dull race for me since I still couldn't figure ou that close to the front is the better place to be for a sprint.
On Thursday, I did some 3 minute hillclimbs up upper hall drive. On the 2nd climb, my left cleat was extremely loose between the shoe and the first apparatus of the cleat. And this lady in regular clothes with commuter bike with a pannier bag on her bike climbed up the hill just 20ish seconds slower than me, which made me feel not very fast.
Then, when I went to pick up my bag that I had left behind a power box. But it was gone. I then biked around the area and found the wallet that was in my bag on the ground by a street kid and got that back. Then I saw my bag on the bench and got that back. Then I saw my U-Lock in the hands of another street kid and also my keys in his hands which I convinced him to give back. But, I was still missing my employee badge, drivers license, phone and $40. I called the cops which arrived about a minute too late.
At least I had a few encounters with other strangers the rest of the weekend that made up for that bad experience. On Friday night, my frat bro, Gianpaolo came down for two nights. On Saturday night I borrowed another longboard from Peter and we skateboarded through Ladds, across the river on Hawthorne and then down the garage until security kicked us out. Then Sunday night to Tuesday night I hosted my first couchsurfer Charles who had a bunch of fun in town.
Right, so back to race day Saturday at Eugene. Continuing with the random strangers, I carpooled with an OBRA listserv dude down there who then stayed for the weekend. And on the way back I picked up a craigslist rideshare gal and drove her as far as Salem and made back most of my stolen wallet money. But the race definitely had a tone of HAHA to it. HAHA first off to all the riders who flatted. I rode 25c tires and had no problems and was doing great the first 2 laps. On lap 3 there were some breakaway attempts and such, but no dice so I stayed at the back. Then going into the gravel I started slowly riding off the front and then kept going and before I knew it I was about a mile ahead of the field.
I tried to maintain a maintainable pace, but there was plenty of looking back over my shoulder. I stayed out there the rest of that lap and hoped I could pull off something at the end. The next time up the hill I was trying to conserve some energy and sort of went through some traffic of the women's field. Once I got on the backstretch the gap was not enough for my comfort but I knew I should save something for the rollers. I thought that if I made it through the final curve with a gap I'd have a chance.
Except Rob English seeked his revenge and caught me at 1k, then another Eugene guy gave a kamakazie sprint and then the rest of the field passed me and I ended up 21st, just one place out of Oregon Cup points. After the finish I had to do a cool down partly cause I was at threshold for the past 45 minutes and partly cause I was pissed off at the peleton. I rode until I didn't want to yell at anyone and then I turned back.
At least this week has been a rest week, so I've got a little break.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Tour of Wishy Washiness
Well another edition of the Tour of Walla Walla is in the bag. This one was just good, not great. I have typically done well at this race. Last year I won the final stage and got 6th GC as a Cat 3. And the year before that I was newly a Cat 3 and got 6th on the final stage. This year would be tougher for sure since I'd be doing it as a Cat 2.
Waitsburg
This year it was 4 times up the hill. First time was neutral as always. The p12 field got the whole road which was pretty cool. On lap 2 I bridged up with Ian Mensher to a break which shortly thereafter got caught. I made sure I was towards the front before each time up the hill and managed to hold on. The final climb was just holding on as best I could, but I managed to get the time of the first group which was great. My Mom and Dad came down and watched the stage and took a bunch of pictures.
The pack going up the hill.
At the finish, barely holding onto the back of the first group.
Chowing down on Mom's applesauce after the race.
TT
I had ridden my TT bike exactly once since Eugene back in August. And that one time was on the Thursday before the race. I had had it stored upside down in one of my bike lockers that wasn't under a garage so it got wet in there. When I pulled it out it had a spiderweb and spider crawling over the handlebars. Anyways, I had hoped to ride somewhere under 20 minutes but got 21:03. I may have gone out too hard, not quite sure.
Logistics
This year I departed from my usual arrangement of sharing half a bed with some random racer I just met that day and stayed at a host house where me and my carpool buddy got our own bedrooms. That was nice. My parents headed home, so I got no pics of the rest of the weekend for ya.
The Crit
This crit ranks as one of the scariest crits I know. I had a great start, except then I decided to chase Trevor Spahr I believe for a $60 prime still on the first lap where we both got caught on the backside. I think I did one more breakaway attempt and then I was done and in damage control mode. 30 minutes to go and I was anxiously looking at the clock to see it count down to 0. The final lap I had to sprint to stay up with the lead group which stretched nearly single file seemingly all the way to the final corner. That night we went back to the host house and I stayed up way too late watching a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Kellogg Hollow
It was the final race and I had to try some kind of breakaway, it's just what I do. I sat in except for positioning for the climbs. On lap 2 I tried twice to get away and stayed off the front for a bit the second time I tried, but nobody joined me and that was that. Then I got a little bit of a cramp and knew it was damage control time again. On lap 3, Hagens Berman lined up and set a pace that dropped a lot of people including me. I was in a decent sized chase group which got whittled down even further. And that was that.
Post-race thoughts
Well, I ended up 37th GC out of 120ish riders. On the one hand, that isn't such a bad result. I was able to mainly stay with the lead group each race which is good. On day one I bridged up to a break with Ian Mensher - the same Ian Mensher that utterly crushed me in the Time Trial at Wenatchee just 2 years ago. Now I'm at that level, heck I even finshed a few groups ahead of Ian on the final stage. Another cool thing was that my TT time would've been good enough for 2nd place in Cat 3. But on the other hand I got dropped on the final day and was just barely hanging on in the rest of the races. My TT time was wayyy back in the 1/2s. So I dunno I kinda feel like pack fodder at times in the 1/2s but then again I'm hanging within the p12 pack. Well, we'll see what happens next.
Oh I do know one thing, I'm feeling a little more disciplined now. I started doing my core and stretching again which I have been not doingnearly enough at all. And another thing, just this morning I looked at my speedplay cleats and noticed a screw was missing. I had actually brought replacement cleats to Walla Walla, but if I had tried to replace them there, I would've been screwed since I didn't have the right length of screws for the replacements. And one last final thought, I resolve to never ever watch a Quentin Tarantino movie again because it is the same worthless never-happens-in-real-life waste of time plot of an outcast vigilante who goes to fight some despicable nemesis but the vigilante has to kill at least 100 people in the process. No value is added to my life by watching those movies. No more.
Waitsburg
This year it was 4 times up the hill. First time was neutral as always. The p12 field got the whole road which was pretty cool. On lap 2 I bridged up with Ian Mensher to a break which shortly thereafter got caught. I made sure I was towards the front before each time up the hill and managed to hold on. The final climb was just holding on as best I could, but I managed to get the time of the first group which was great. My Mom and Dad came down and watched the stage and took a bunch of pictures.
The pack going up the hill.
At the finish, barely holding onto the back of the first group.
Chowing down on Mom's applesauce after the race.
TT
I had ridden my TT bike exactly once since Eugene back in August. And that one time was on the Thursday before the race. I had had it stored upside down in one of my bike lockers that wasn't under a garage so it got wet in there. When I pulled it out it had a spiderweb and spider crawling over the handlebars. Anyways, I had hoped to ride somewhere under 20 minutes but got 21:03. I may have gone out too hard, not quite sure.
Logistics
This year I departed from my usual arrangement of sharing half a bed with some random racer I just met that day and stayed at a host house where me and my carpool buddy got our own bedrooms. That was nice. My parents headed home, so I got no pics of the rest of the weekend for ya.
The Crit
This crit ranks as one of the scariest crits I know. I had a great start, except then I decided to chase Trevor Spahr I believe for a $60 prime still on the first lap where we both got caught on the backside. I think I did one more breakaway attempt and then I was done and in damage control mode. 30 minutes to go and I was anxiously looking at the clock to see it count down to 0. The final lap I had to sprint to stay up with the lead group which stretched nearly single file seemingly all the way to the final corner. That night we went back to the host house and I stayed up way too late watching a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Kellogg Hollow
It was the final race and I had to try some kind of breakaway, it's just what I do. I sat in except for positioning for the climbs. On lap 2 I tried twice to get away and stayed off the front for a bit the second time I tried, but nobody joined me and that was that. Then I got a little bit of a cramp and knew it was damage control time again. On lap 3, Hagens Berman lined up and set a pace that dropped a lot of people including me. I was in a decent sized chase group which got whittled down even further. And that was that.
Post-race thoughts
Well, I ended up 37th GC out of 120ish riders. On the one hand, that isn't such a bad result. I was able to mainly stay with the lead group each race which is good. On day one I bridged up to a break with Ian Mensher - the same Ian Mensher that utterly crushed me in the Time Trial at Wenatchee just 2 years ago. Now I'm at that level, heck I even finshed a few groups ahead of Ian on the final stage. Another cool thing was that my TT time would've been good enough for 2nd place in Cat 3. But on the other hand I got dropped on the final day and was just barely hanging on in the rest of the races. My TT time was wayyy back in the 1/2s. So I dunno I kinda feel like pack fodder at times in the 1/2s but then again I'm hanging within the p12 pack. Well, we'll see what happens next.
Oh I do know one thing, I'm feeling a little more disciplined now. I started doing my core and stretching again which I have been not doing
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
I'm having fun, right?
Well, I figured I fire off a quick post since I'll probably do another one for Walla Walla which is this weekend. After my last smack-talking post prior to Independence Valley I just wasn't in the mood for another post.
IVRR
When the winning break gets away 5 miles into the race and you're not in it, that's a bummer. And when you're trying to make moves to get a chase break started and they aren't succeeding that is frustrating. And then it is just downright not fun when someone else chases you down just to yell at you for riding your bike hard. Fine, my tactics weren't the best and I really shoulda just tried to form an alliance with Porcella, Soraz and Team O to actually chase that break down. But I really don't like getting yelled at and that set me in a bad mood for the entire next week.
Rest Week
So yeah, the next week was a rest week and I even chose not to race Vance Creek which I've done well at before. Sigh.
King's Valley
The week leading up to this my coach decided that I shouldn't have a life besides riding my bike after work and that is what happened sort of. 4 hard days in a row and I nearly fell asleep at my church group just to go do 4 zone 5 hillclimbs afterwards. But I didn't feel miserable which was strange. One thing that kinda sounded nice was that my coach also suggested that I just call it a season after Walla Walla which gave me some hope that I may have a life again. Actually if I had more time, I'm not sure if I'd have a life again since I'd probably sit behind a computer screen and code on personal projects most of the time.
Anyways, I was fairly happy to go down to King's Valley with some teammates. Dave drove Joe, Mike and I down there. Our race strategy was to watch out for Rob English and some other guy who I wouldn't have know. So I stayed at the front a lot and chased down English about 30 times or so.
Oh wait, before that actually there was a beer prime on lap 1. At the corner to the finish road most of the pack forgot to turn, but I didn't and took the front of the pack. A small break of 3 masters got away and then I jumped and passed those guys, but they eventually caught up to me and then like 4 others bridged up too, but it didn't look like there were serious threats. I maintained a good spot going up the hill and timed my sprint perfectly and picked up that beer prime. First prize winnings of the year!
So yeah, the rest of the race was a lot of chasing down English and then holding back while Joe and Dave both got in breaks. When the finish hill came I didn't fare too well in all the traffic and was top 20. Meh.
And onwards
Sunday I did Logie trail intervals and on the 3rd interval there were 5 rabbits with bike gallery kits which really helped me up the wattage!
Today I did PIR, gave Byron a good leadout for a hot spot and then kamikazeed on the final lap with Nate Gibson.
I'm thinking in the races that I don't get yelled at or the course isn't dangerous I generally have a good time, but all this training and not enough sleep sometimes makes my workouts a real chore. I'm thinking next year I either need a break from all the training of racing or to find workout buddies or some other source of motivation or both.
See y'all at Walla Walla.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
In case you haven't noticed...
...I've been racing on my measly Cervelo S1 with my Ksyriums all the races... UNTIL Saturday when I'll be bringing out my R5 and my American Classic carbon 58s to IVRR.
You all are about to get CLOBBERED.
Now who wants to give me a carpool up there?
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Just racing around
Dirty Circles (last week):
Rode out there. Got there 2 hours before race. Sat outside and got very cold. Warmed up in Byron's car. Lining up. Shivering.
Race time! Cold! Only 20mph. Cold! Bored. Gap on the right. Attack! Caught. Attack again! Caught again. Hot spot coming up. Go way too early, but Byron is right behind me and he gets 2nd! Colby goes solo! Chase! Chase some more! Dead after final corner. Avoided nasty crash. Success?
Heiser Farms
Zipcar it down there. Dirt and poop all over course. Gravel/dirt 1k from finish. Potholes everywhere. Follow Soraz for futile attack. Slip and nearly fall on corner. Dropped. Zone 2. Low zone 2. Too low. Contemplating being 'that guy' who complains about shitty course after getting shitty result. Getting lapped! Try to hang on. Dropped again. Probably my first DFL ever. Wait no! Once at a midnight greenlake race in February I was 3rd and DFL.
Hmm, I have a Zipcar and I'm low on Dave's Killer Bread. Sidetrip to Dave's Killer Breadquarters in Milwaukie. 9 loafs and 5 Sin-Dawgs. Back at Zipcar spot and unloaded with 2 minutes to spare.
Dirty Circles:
Ride out there again. Run into Justin & Jen who are also riding out there. Blue skies! Quaint farms. Munch down half a sin-dawg during the ride. RAIN! Blue skies! Alpacas. Run into Christina and Jeff! At the race.
Figured out why it's called dirty circles: cause you get your bike super dirty riding around in the sand parking lot. Lining up for race. Right behind Beardsley and Boursaw. Fall down while standing still. Can't clip out. Embarrassing. Goal for race: pack finish.
HPC going from the gun. I'm feeling good, not attacking. Watching a veloce rider guide Rosenberg around. Rosenberg's got a train for the hot spot. Get behind Rosenberg. Fend off Bedford for Rosenberg's wheel. Sprint with Rosenberg for 3rd? in hot spot.
Back in pack. Boursaw unleashes it into a break. Almost chase down break, but Bedford and Porcella are both there. No sense in dragging pack. Pack finish is my goal. Chase break gets away. Slinky-ing peleton. Time to go. Bridge up to Liberles and a junior. Culpepper tries to stay on. Culpepper and junior done. Liberles and I catch an Evolution and veloce rider. I think to myself I ought to know these guy's names, but I don't. Pack is close. Another HPC rider bridges up. Doing best attempts at echeloning. Can't catch chase break, but ahead of peleton for finish. Cat and Mouse. Peeps looking at each other at 180. Time to go. Drag HPCer behind me, 2nd from 2nd chase break. Success!
Update Update!
My hot spot sprint points helped bump me up into the top 10 (10th place)! Super stoked! Success indeed.
Rode out there. Got there 2 hours before race. Sat outside and got very cold. Warmed up in Byron's car. Lining up. Shivering.
Race time! Cold! Only 20mph. Cold! Bored. Gap on the right. Attack! Caught. Attack again! Caught again. Hot spot coming up. Go way too early, but Byron is right behind me and he gets 2nd! Colby goes solo! Chase! Chase some more! Dead after final corner. Avoided nasty crash. Success?
Heiser Farms
Zipcar it down there. Dirt and poop all over course. Gravel/dirt 1k from finish. Potholes everywhere. Follow Soraz for futile attack. Slip and nearly fall on corner. Dropped. Zone 2. Low zone 2. Too low. Contemplating being 'that guy' who complains about shitty course after getting shitty result. Getting lapped! Try to hang on. Dropped again. Probably my first DFL ever. Wait no! Once at a midnight greenlake race in February I was 3rd and DFL.
Hmm, I have a Zipcar and I'm low on Dave's Killer Bread. Sidetrip to Dave's Killer Breadquarters in Milwaukie. 9 loafs and 5 Sin-Dawgs. Back at Zipcar spot and unloaded with 2 minutes to spare.
Dirty Circles:
Ride out there again. Run into Justin & Jen who are also riding out there. Blue skies! Quaint farms. Munch down half a sin-dawg during the ride. RAIN! Blue skies! Alpacas. Run into Christina and Jeff! At the race.
Figured out why it's called dirty circles: cause you get your bike super dirty riding around in the sand parking lot. Lining up for race. Right behind Beardsley and Boursaw. Fall down while standing still. Can't clip out. Embarrassing. Goal for race: pack finish.
HPC going from the gun. I'm feeling good, not attacking. Watching a veloce rider guide Rosenberg around. Rosenberg's got a train for the hot spot. Get behind Rosenberg. Fend off Bedford for Rosenberg's wheel. Sprint with Rosenberg for 3rd? in hot spot.
Back in pack. Boursaw unleashes it into a break. Almost chase down break, but Bedford and Porcella are both there. No sense in dragging pack. Pack finish is my goal. Chase break gets away. Slinky-ing peleton. Time to go. Bridge up to Liberles and a junior. Culpepper tries to stay on. Culpepper and junior done. Liberles and I catch an Evolution and veloce rider. I think to myself I ought to know these guy's names, but I don't. Pack is close. Another HPC rider bridges up. Doing best attempts at echeloning. Can't catch chase break, but ahead of peleton for finish. Cat and Mouse. Peeps looking at each other at 180. Time to go. Drag HPCer behind me, 2nd from 2nd chase break. Success!
Update Update!
My hot spot sprint points helped bump me up into the top 10 (10th place)! Super stoked! Success indeed.
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Racing Has Begun
Fast! That was fast. I held on until the last lap and then was dropped after a almost-crash-acceleration. I managed to do a few attacks off the front, but the problem was after those attacks I settled into the back of the pack as opposed to close to the front.
Overall it was a great training race and I was very happy to see people I hadn't seen since August! Man it's been a while. For the record, Tim Smith wants to clarify that his team didn't extend me a pity-invite rather it was a you-would-be-a-great-addition-to-our-team invite. In last-minute logistics fashion I borrowed a friend's car (thanks again Elizabeth!) and drove on up in nice weather. And then I drove back with the reigning Track Team Pursuit and Track Omnium Nation Champion Zac Kovalcik who showed me an awesome eatery in Olympia.
It feels so great to be involved in bike racing where all kinds of people come together for the sake of friendly competition. Although I'm getting dropped I'm confident that I'll be able to compete later in the year, hopefully by Walla Walla. On a more lame note, I had a mini-breakdown in my training regime and my coach has instructed me to stop weightlifting so I have enough time to
Couchsurfing in Austin
I've been debating about whether to make a whole new blog specifically about my travels, but instead I'm opting to post my couchsurfing blog post experience over here. So, without further ado...
Austin!
Oh how I love Austin. The sun! The bike rides! The frontage roads! The music! The gregarious people! The warmth! Oh it is so great. It was so great. I am going to try to get down there for a week every winter from now on. Well, there were a lot of reasons why I went on this trip. Firstly, to sell my bicycle that I left down there. Secondly, to escape to warm weather and sun. Thirdly, to get away from work while I transition jobs. And Fourthly, because although I hadn't realized it at the time, I needed to get out and do something exciting.
Prior to this trip, I had decided to give www.couchsurfing.org a try while in Austin. For those of you who do not know, couchsurfing is a concept where strangers act either as hosts and promote their abode's couch or sometimes even spare bedroom as available for other strangers acting as couchsurfers who surf from couch to couch while traveling. Although some thought it may be kind of awkward, I thought it was an idea worth trying, but I had no idea how incredibly awesome it would all turn out in the end.
Couch #1: Nick's Couch
...or should I say the cats' bed? Although I have stayed at random people's houses before in traveling to races and such, I hadn't done this couchsurfing thing before. Unfortunately, the owning couple of the house was off on vacation in the Virgin Islands (I guess paradise is relative for everyone). However, their housemate Nick was in town. I was quite surprised that although I had no references on the couchsurfing website, Nick simply left the keys for me that evening since he was working while I was arrving. The house was fantastic and undoubtedly had to be occupied by awesome people. Nick is a far more interesting man than I despite being about the same age. He works at a sausage food cart and has a pdx-ex-pat-now-living-in-Austin girlfriend. So he was out of the house more often than not.
But that was fine by me. The first day I car2go'ed out to the office and was at long last reunited with my Felt F75. And I realized that I had also taken the wheel/cadence sensor and watter bottle cages which I then promptly purchased over at Bicycle Sport Shop. The location of the couch was very close to the edge of town, so it made for an excellent home base for bike rides. During the four days I stayed there, I rode approximately 200 miles. I rode most of the way to Bastrop twice and just relaxed or pumped iron the rest of the time. It was such a great experience and although I didn't spend all the time with my housemate and didn't get to meet the owners, it was overall awesome altogether.
Couch #2: Aaron's Mini-Frat House
Only it was more awesome than a frat house in that two women and two men lived in the four bedroom house of awesomeness. I first met Aaron as we went to Winger's which is of course where all the cool UT college kids go. And it seemed like Aaron knew everyone there, ok maybe he didn't know 20% of the people there, but definitely everyone else. Aaron is at any given point in time doing something really cool. And this summer his coolness is going to be taken to higher levels as he participates in the Texas 4000. But in the meantime, he's going to school or hosting his Texas 4000 teammates over for some backyard firepit sessions.
I got the pleasure of going on a ride on the Lost Creek loop with Aaron where he proceeded to get his workout on. He recorded a "somewhat high" heart rate of 188 on the loop which required more zone 4 than I had planned in order to keep up. He is a naturally strong rider and that was enjoyable to see. Although I got sucked into doing some contract work that required me to miss some of the firepitting, Aaron was always welcoming and always smiles. Although he'll probably crush it on the biking part of the Texas 4000, he could probably use some additional help getting to his fundraising target, so click here to give him some money.
Zoom into the pic for the BEER PONG rules!
Couch #3: Ulf's
Ulf is the culmination of Austin hipness and technology. He lives in a meticulously organized apartment in quite possibly the most hip neighborhood in Austin. Although he is known to party from time-to-time, it was mid February which meant there was serious work needed in order for him to prepare properly for SXSW. Ulf is the type of person that could not simply just skim through a music guide of bands that were given a good review - no he reviews all 3,000+ bands in alphabetical order himself. Ulf has made a custom database that records every single band's relevant SXSW information - their bio, SXSW website, Myspace website, his own classification of genre and whether they make the cut of bands he may actually see. Since I was out and about, he was pleased that he could still be a good host and make good progress on his listening to at least 2-3 songs of every band. On Thursday night he was still in the E's, by Friday night he was working through the "Fat" artists like "Fat Pimp" from Dallas or "Fatima Al Qadiri" from NYC, and by my departure Saturday morning he was in the G's.
Austin!
Oh how I love Austin. The sun! The bike rides! The frontage roads! The music! The gregarious people! The warmth! Oh it is so great. It was so great. I am going to try to get down there for a week every winter from now on. Well, there were a lot of reasons why I went on this trip. Firstly, to sell my bicycle that I left down there. Secondly, to escape to warm weather and sun. Thirdly, to get away from work while I transition jobs. And Fourthly, because although I hadn't realized it at the time, I needed to get out and do something exciting.
Prior to this trip, I had decided to give www.couchsurfing.org a try while in Austin. For those of you who do not know, couchsurfing is a concept where strangers act either as hosts and promote their abode's couch or sometimes even spare bedroom as available for other strangers acting as couchsurfers who surf from couch to couch while traveling. Although some thought it may be kind of awkward, I thought it was an idea worth trying, but I had no idea how incredibly awesome it would all turn out in the end.
Couch #1: Nick's Couch
...or should I say the cats' bed? Although I have stayed at random people's houses before in traveling to races and such, I hadn't done this couchsurfing thing before. Unfortunately, the owning couple of the house was off on vacation in the Virgin Islands (I guess paradise is relative for everyone). However, their housemate Nick was in town. I was quite surprised that although I had no references on the couchsurfing website, Nick simply left the keys for me that evening since he was working while I was arrving. The house was fantastic and undoubtedly had to be occupied by awesome people. Nick is a far more interesting man than I despite being about the same age. He works at a sausage food cart and has a pdx-ex-pat-now-living-in-Austin girlfriend. So he was out of the house more often than not.
But that was fine by me. The first day I car2go'ed out to the office and was at long last reunited with my Felt F75. And I realized that I had also taken the wheel/cadence sensor and watter bottle cages which I then promptly purchased over at Bicycle Sport Shop. The location of the couch was very close to the edge of town, so it made for an excellent home base for bike rides. During the four days I stayed there, I rode approximately 200 miles. I rode most of the way to Bastrop twice and just relaxed or pumped iron the rest of the time. It was such a great experience and although I didn't spend all the time with my housemate and didn't get to meet the owners, it was overall awesome altogether.
Couch #2: Aaron's Mini-Frat House
Only it was more awesome than a frat house in that two women and two men lived in the four bedroom house of awesomeness. I first met Aaron as we went to Winger's which is of course where all the cool UT college kids go. And it seemed like Aaron knew everyone there, ok maybe he didn't know 20% of the people there, but definitely everyone else. Aaron is at any given point in time doing something really cool. And this summer his coolness is going to be taken to higher levels as he participates in the Texas 4000. But in the meantime, he's going to school or hosting his Texas 4000 teammates over for some backyard firepit sessions.
I got the pleasure of going on a ride on the Lost Creek loop with Aaron where he proceeded to get his workout on. He recorded a "somewhat high" heart rate of 188 on the loop which required more zone 4 than I had planned in order to keep up. He is a naturally strong rider and that was enjoyable to see. Although I got sucked into doing some contract work that required me to miss some of the firepitting, Aaron was always welcoming and always smiles. Although he'll probably crush it on the biking part of the Texas 4000, he could probably use some additional help getting to his fundraising target, so click here to give him some money.
Zoom into the pic for the BEER PONG rules!
Couch #3: Ulf's
Ulf is the culmination of Austin hipness and technology. He lives in a meticulously organized apartment in quite possibly the most hip neighborhood in Austin. Although he is known to party from time-to-time, it was mid February which meant there was serious work needed in order for him to prepare properly for SXSW. Ulf is the type of person that could not simply just skim through a music guide of bands that were given a good review - no he reviews all 3,000+ bands in alphabetical order himself. Ulf has made a custom database that records every single band's relevant SXSW information - their bio, SXSW website, Myspace website, his own classification of genre and whether they make the cut of bands he may actually see. Since I was out and about, he was pleased that he could still be a good host and make good progress on his listening to at least 2-3 songs of every band. On Thursday night he was still in the E's, by Friday night he was working through the "Fat" artists like "Fat Pimp" from Dallas or "Fatima Al Qadiri" from NYC, and by my departure Saturday morning he was in the G's.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)