Good week

I've got to say this has been quite an epic week. I finally passed my core exams for school! What does this mean you may ask yourself? Well, it means that out of all the Western Art Music written from 800AD to around the year 2000, I was able to identify 5 random pieces chosen by my history faculty at UO. How crazy is that? Well my friends, it was sick. Here is what they gave me:

A piece written in the early Baroque Era, French Style, circa 1650. Rameau.

A mass for voices from the Renaissance, written by Orlando Lasso, from 1555. yes, I nailed that one.

A piece for voice and orchestra from the late Romantic period. Gustav Mahler, an Austrian. I think it was written in 1890 or something like that.

and so on and so on. Your eyes have probably glazed over by now.

On a second front, I've finally found a full time job. This is a good thing considering I am the brokest (not a word, but I don't care) I've ever been in a a long time. I'm now working for Netflix. yay.

Anyway, it's back to the books for me. I'll probably start my training soon with my hours set reasonably at between 10-15 per week. I don't really see the need for more than that as my focus next season is going to be for track and crits. Lets hope it goes better than this last season.

I wasted 2 hours of my life watching Conan the Barbarian this morning. It was a hell of a lot more entertaining when I was little. I am going to use his quote as my riding motto.

What is best in life?

"To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women".

Oh Arnold. you so pretty.

When does the off-season end?

I've ridden my bike once in the last week. My legs have turned into jelly and I've played 1 too many video games. I even did something weird called "running". What is this sport? You put on shoes, no helmet, and never get above 15mph. When compared to cycling, it's so slow. You go uphill only to turn around and "run" back down. There is no speed, no carving, and no wind. November needs to get here soon so I can start my training up again.

no messing around this next season, I gotta get that upgrade to 2. Don't ask me why. I just feel like it's something that needs to be done. climb climb climb.

So excited, I just can't hide it.

I'm about to lose control and I think I like it.

Big changes up ahead. We're packing up and moving down closer to the ground. Soon there will be a backyard with chickens, south facing windows, music, and riding in the hills. Sounds great, and yes my jealous readers, it is great.

It's going to be a trip really getting my life moving now. My plan for the next year is to:

1. Finish my DMA and get that paper.

2. Teach cello 10-15 hours a week.

3. Climb climb climb.

These are all attainable goals.

The end is nigh.

This is how we roll - Portland Twilight Criterium

Race Report - Midsummer Criterium Series

1/2's can sprint out of 180's more times than I can. Enough said. I ended this one with a 4 lap TT until my legs burned off.

I'm looking forward to cross season. One more big race left this weekend.

Portland, Oh Fair City

Portland Twilight Criterium:

Good clean start followed by about 15 minutes of fast riding. Lots of turns and bumps on the course. I saw a guy hit the barriers and take out a person right in front of me. There was nowhere to go except into the pile and over the bars. Somewhere along the line I took a spinning tire to the neck:

yay!

On the bright side of things its kind of great to get a bad crash out of the way. I now know that when falling at speed I still do the right things like pull my arms in and clip out. You know, so as not to destroy myself further. The big bummer is that someone walked off with my Tifosi sunglasses. Punks.

Last night I watched Short Circuit with Sam over at his place. It had a battle scene with this sequence:

Robot is fighting - gets thrown into outhouse which blows up a brown mud mixture

I tell ya. It doesn't get more awesome then that.

Blackberry Bramble

Spotted on Lorane this Saturday. Mr. Blackberry Bramble himself:

best usage of rear pannier (among other things)

Don't be a hater. I like this guy.

Hello Blog

It's been a long time since my last post. Here's a status update.

I've spent 30 hours in the environmental chamber at school. 15 of those hours were spent pushing 150 watts in a neutral temperature (cold if you aren't exercising), then another 15 in the hot. 40 degrees, celsius. 104 degrees. It was hot and I suffered.

I've undergone 6 separate 1 hour TT's. 3 of these were in the hot, 3 in the cool. I prefer the cool. The hot TT's turned me into a babbling fool.

In addition to the TT stuff, I also did 8 V02 tests and 6 LT tests. That is a lot. I can now endure pain beyond what I really thought was capable. Who knows how much that would have cost if I had to do it myself.

-Derek