DClog

Thoughts on Muir

I recently read a book that was written in 1867 titled A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, by John Muir (thanks Augie). The author was about 29 years old at the time and just a budding writer, but in this journal of his walk to the Gulf of Mexico he expressed some interesting ideas and observations.

John Muir (1838-1914), among other notable achievements, Muir was the founder of the Sierra Club. Some people called him an environmentalist, naturalist, conservationist, botanist, geologist, ornithologist, author, explorer, visionary, wilderness prophet, citizen of the universe... and he was, but those labels don't quite suffice.

For me, one of the thought provoking ideas in this writing is about the sounds of nature; the running water, wind, waves, birds, etc. he referred to these sounds as music. Meanwhile the sound of bells was "brain-splitting", Africans working in a cotton field "make a great deal of noise" and a brass band in uniform made "the most piercing artificial music".

It's humorous because there are now many songs about, inspired by or a tribute to John Muir. He probably would not appreciate any of them.

A couple years ago I read about a composer who was digitally recording barely audible natural sounds, like ants working, and manipulating these recordings on a computer into audio soundscapes. Maybe that's a concept Muir might approve of?

Replacement

The unexpected end of the Accord...

lead to a trip to the Toyota dealer. Arrived a couple hours before they closed for Christmas Eve and did a relatively quick transaction on a 2007 Corolla.

Collision

I believe it was Galileo who mentioned something about the idea that two things cannot occupy the same space. Last night that theory was put to the test with my automobile and another car.

I escaped with a big knot on my head, sore face, teeth, jaw and neck. The four young folks in the other car were not hurt, but both the cars appear to be trashed.

Driving to work last night at approximately 6:00 PM, I had stopped at the intersection of Buford Drive/GA-20 while heading west from Rock Springs Road (green line in diagram). The southbound traffic on the four lane GA-20 had a green light and left turn arrow. About four or five cars had proceeded through the left turn arrow onto Rock Springs Road (yellow dashed line in the diagram).

It looked clear so I proceeded to turn right into the right lane of GA-20 while the northbound traffic still had a red light. A southbound driver did a U-turn (the yellow line), admittedly "going pretty fast" to catch the turn arrow, and collided into my car.

view of intersection

I suppose I'll be looking for a new car now.

Why Race?

I have come to realize that results/placings are not what motivates me to race because it does not necessarily indicate the quality of my performance. Being satisfied with the performance is what matters most to me.

I continue to race because it's the entire process that I love; the plan, the base, the build, the diet, the skills, the anticipation, the peak and hopefully the inspired performance. Regardless of placing, the finish is often a bittersweet moment because it is the end of the process.

Sure, aging has taken it's toll and continues to, but I don't care if they have to clock me with a calendar, as long as the process fulfills I will continue.

CyclingNews.com report

GA Cross #7 on CyclingNews.com

Hey, look at that, they published one of my photos in this report!

2006 GA CX Team Champs

Click the following link to meet the team that won the 2006 Georgia Cross Series Team Competition - GTC

photo: Trish Albert/southeastercycling.com

Georgia Cross Finale

Indian Springs State Park was the site of our final race this year. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning and just didn't feel inspired to race. It had been a long hard work week for me with many nights of inadequate sleep. But as we stepped up to the start line I noticed a new guy among us, a strong-looking guy with a fast looking bike. Suddenly I got inspired to race.

The new guy jumped the gun and got a quick start, I kicked it and caught and passed him, he came back around me and we took off away from the rest of the pack. This dude had a big motor and I was wishing I had warmed up a little better. When we got to the technical stuff I realized this dude had skills too. He was railing the turns and not slowing down for anything.

I hung on as long as I could but he got away from me and that's cool, because it got me fired up and I raced harder than I had been all year. The new guy was Brook Watts from Colorado, he's a top-ranked national level veteran cyclocross racer in town doing some business for the upcoming Tour de Georgia bike race.

Turns out this Colorado guy nearly caught up to the leaders from the 35+ race which had started a minute before our 45+ race. I had a good ride and caught and passed all but the top-3 in the 35+ race, however I was only about 30-40 seconds behind them at the end, which means I was actually going faster than everyone except the Colorado dude on this day.

I was pleased with my ride because I always prefer second place and an inspired effort to first place without the inspired effort.

The primary goal this cyclo-cross season, besides having fun, was to win the State Championship jersey and gold medal - mission accomplished. Along the way I won five out of the seven races in the series and came in second in the other two races resulting in winning the overall series. For that I received some cool prizes including a new Redline Conquest Pro Cyclocross frame and fork.

Here's a few photos that Jim's wife Laura took at Indian Springs this morning.

Now I'm tired and I don't want to train or race for a while, so I'll just go to bed now.

Trivia: Indian Springs State Park is thought to be the oldest State park in the country. The spring waters said to have healing and rejuvenating properties were used by the native Americans for hundreds and probably thousands of years. This was a favorite spot for president FDR to come to and he was instrumental in preserving it.

Jim Bailey's photos
Jim and Laura's photos
some of my photos
My video clips

Flaming Bus Video

So I was driving to my gig tonight in downtown Atlanta and the sky was particularly colorful as the sun was beginning to set so I pulled out my new camera. Just then a fire truck came around me, as I approached Spaghetti Junction I came right up to a Gwinnett Transit bus bursting into flames. Click on the photo to check out this video clip I took...

Bus fire shuts down freeway at height of rush hour

Is that crazy or what! Anyway I also took some sunset photos but they're not nearly as exciting.

Results & Reports in the News

The Georgia State Cross Championship in Macon Georgia on December 3rd in the media! Georgia Cyclocross on cyclingnews.com way to go Trish, our local cycling photog and reporter!

Action Shot

Here it is, the secret to my training program... getting plenty of rest. Actually I was laying in bed last night exploring some of the photo settings on my new camera. This setting uses soft sharpness and tungsten white balance (whatever that is), no flash and a slow shutter speed.

The camera is a Casio EX-S770 (about $300) I also added a 1GB memory card.
exilim.casio.com

Masters 45+ Georgia State Cyclo-cross Champion

Now, that's what I call a good birthday.

Marshall's photos
Trish's photos
Carl's photos

To Race, or not to race...

In cyclo-cross racing, where a rider starts in the pack has a huge impact on where that rider will likely finish. At the big events there is a hierarchy which places the top-ranked riders at the front. At the 2006 USA National Cyclo-cross Championships they put the former champs on the front then line everyone else up according to when they registered.

Here's where being a really good computer geek pays off. With the skills and knowledge accumulated from years/decades of gaming, programming and eBay bidding comes some seriously fast online computer skills.

Guess who got awarded the number 1 spot in the upcoming national championship event!

Now I have to seriously consider going to Providence RI on Friday, December 15, 2006 for the 9:30 AM race.

I'll have time to think about that today as I drive to Macon GA for tomorrow's Georgia State Championship event. I look forward to being able to race on my 53rd birthday. Never mind the results, it looks like it will be a glorious day!