I just remembered that I've skated on Superbowl Sunday a couple of years in a row, and had made no plans to do it this year. It's nicer outside than it's been most days lately, but that's very faint praise considering what it's been like. Next year, I guess...
So what to do with myself between the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics? Oh look, the America's Cup starts tomorrow!
Submitted by skatey-mark on January 15, 2010 - 11:31am.
Apr 9 2010 - 6:00pm
Apr 11 2010 - 6:00pm
US/Eastern
Location
Greensboro, NC
United States
36° 4' 21.486" N, 79° 47' 31.11" W
Eddy's coming back to Greensboro for his legendary skating workshop! April 9-11.
Sign up now, before all the spots are taken! The announcement email is below, with all the links you need...
We managed to get Eddy Matzger to add us to his schedule again this year (thanks to Skatey-Mark for the boost). in between trips to China he'll take the 2 and a half hour journey down from Floyd, VA for a roadshow outdoor inline speedskating workshop in Greensboro NC this year!
Mike Barry, father of pro cyclist Michael Barry, and recently retired builder of Mariposa bicycles, has a neat blog post about the bikes ridden by current racers on cobblestone stages and for daily training rides. He has some good specifics about setup and component choices for classic races such as Paris-Roubaix and relates his experience of riding one such bike on European back roads.
Submitted by roadskater on December 20, 2009 - 8:11pm.
Here's a quick video I found regarding what to do with good bulbs gone bad. I had noted that compact fluorescent light bulbs are marked as containing mercury, Hg. I wondered what to do if the glass part of a CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb) breaks. Apparently you shouldn't use the vaccuum or even sweep to get the materials up. First, open a window and leave the house for fifteen minutes, then use a stiff card and/or sticky tape as shown in the video. Wow. Well I hope I can remember this. CFLs seem to be worthy even with this mercury hazard, as shown in some of the following links...
Here's a link to a video of a British Heart Foundation skride that one of our new English A2A paceline buddies skated two weeks prior. He and David skated much of A2A together.
Submitted by roadskater on December 9, 2009 - 12:34pm.
For cyclotics and skatemaniacs, if you can handle a bit of funny bad language. Someone has read your minds and seen your relationships and conversations.
I relate to the part about driving many miles to roll a few. If life is not funny right now, check these out...holiday choices...
Submitted by roadskater on December 6, 2009 - 12:38am.
There's a new ghost bike locked to a sign post at the scene where a hit and run driver killed Summerfield NC cyclist David Sherman. It was dark by the time we could get up there to take photos. The bike uses different sizes of the "Share the Road In Memory of David Sherman" graphic. The top tube says, "David Sherman Oct 24 2009." The seat tube says, "Still Riding...Not Hiding...." The down tube says "'And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.' Please Drive and Ride with Love."
Here's some info about a surgical procedure performed by an Italian doctor to halt MS. The procedure unblocks restricted bloodflow from the brain in MS patients. 2 years later, 73% of those who had the procedure (65 people) showed no symptoms of MS!!
Submitted by Cat Brother on December 1, 2009 - 10:53am.
As previously noted, at A2A I was totally unprepared for the scathing speeds most experienced racers attain. I'll do A2A again if I think i can do it sub-6 hours...But I need to know what that speed feels like, and how to work to generated it.
I recently found (duh....) that there are indeed inline speedometers, some of which combine with heartrate monitors. Any recommendations as far as good deals, reliability, and durability go?
Submitted by roadskater on November 20, 2009 - 10:47pm.
I'm still not ready to write about the Carolina Century in all its glory, but I have published almost a thousand more photos from both the 2009 Carolina Century and the Today We Ride for Dave 2009 David Sherman Memorial Ride, so I wanted to share those links.
I can promise better weather for the 3rd annual Carolina Century! It was epic. The Carolina Century photos are a good way to see part of the route, with trees, barns, horses, llamas, a few people and lots of mist inside and outside the lens.
Submitted by roadskater on November 13, 2009 - 2:50pm.
A new study finds interesting information on the time of life that obesity may affect a woman's chance of developing Multiple Sclerosis. In studying data from 200,000 women over 40 years, researchers found that obesity in late adolescence and early adulthood (18 to 20 years old) doubled the chance of developing muliple sclerosis later in life.
...a surprising finding was that the results showed a significant link to
increased MS risk only from obesity during adolescence, but not during
childhood or adulthood.
Submitted by roadskater on November 13, 2009 - 3:23am.
I have been out of touch for a few weeks after some long distance skating and the prep and skating and wrap (still ongoing) of our Roadskater.net team charity efforts. Last night was the awards dinner for the Tour to Tanglewood, and it was a transitional day for several reasons, all good. Then I came home wanting to get some computer work done and maybe watch some tele, mostly something meaningless and useless.
According to the front page at http://www.colbertnation.com/home, Olympic ice speedskater Joey Cheek is scheduled to be a guest on The Colbert Report this evening on the Comedy Central network.
Submitted by Cat Brother on October 22, 2009 - 8:41pm.
"I got another plan, one that requires me to stand.
On the stage or in the street, don't need no microphone or beat. And
when you hear this song, if you ain't dead then sing along. Bang and
strum to these here drums til you get where you belong..."
That's a great workout song. I plan on listening to it alot before the next A2A.
So, obviously I need to improve my speed technique. What are y'all's thoughts on this here series of tutorials?
Submitted by Cat Brother on October 15, 2009 - 6:55pm.
What went right –
1. Knee and hamstring insertion rehab – man, I was sure, 3-4 months ago, that this was going to trip me up. Never hurt. Yay me.
2. Low back – Never hurt once, all day. Thank you, kettlebells.
Submitted by roadskater on October 14, 2009 - 1:56am.
Lots of skaters have asked how the Carolina Century compares with Athens to Atlanta in terms of distance and elevation. It's hard to say but my impression has been that:
Submitted by johnnyChen on October 14, 2009 - 12:40am.
After skating Ragbrai 2009, A2A called my name. My body wasn’t conditioned to go hard for 4+ hrs. I was uncomfortable on Atlanta’s rough flats without a Chuck. I signed up for 38-mile.
_Plan
The long hills and the number of skaters made time-based goal impractical. I sought ways to win the 38-mile race, which included Dillon and Chance Martin. They were among the top skaters of their generation and raced as teammates for Powerslide. I averaged 1 practice per week, usually short and unfocused.
Submitted by roadskater on October 12, 2009 - 12:52pm.
Here are two graphics I made to compare the 2008 route and the 2009 route for the Athens to Atlanta (A2A) Roadskate, for anyone who is curious. I imagine a very few people will be intensely curious.
The first graphic shows the changes in elevation profile and distance for 2008 and the 2009 detour. It takes a little over 5 seconds to switch from 2008 to 2009 and then it should repeat to infinity and beyond.
From my read of the weather reports, you guys must have had awesome weather!
One random/strange factiod - how did some of you manage the _exact_ number placement from last year. I would think there would be a difference of at least a few places, but looks like Blake/Eilizabeth, as well as Sibert had the same number placement. Kaplan, you were a bit off, but we always knew you were unique! Hey, proof A2A results is rigged right? lol ;-)
Submitted by roadskater on October 10, 2009 - 3:56am.
Hi. Here's a noisy but perhaps useful video of the detour around the problems on Cruse Road. You definitely don't want to go there! The first turn is a right onto Old Norcross Rd in or just after a Construction Zone on Herrington. At the end of the video, you'll be set to turn right onto Pleasant Hill Rd., opposite where you would have come in from Cruse Rd.
Which do you think works best as the single publicized name for the alliance website? The North Carolina Active Transportation Alliance website is in the planning stages. This page lets you vote on domain names and comment on features you might like on the site in advance. Results are tallied by Borda Count, sometimes called "a consensus-based electoral system" where each choice gets a point for every choice ranked below it. Thus, with 9 choices, a 1st place vote gets 8 points. Please click the title for more info and to rank....
Note that if you only vote on the names you really like and leave the rest unranked, you boost those names you prefer, as with no rank at all a name gets no points. The idea is to find the name most wish to promote, and let the rest fall away. Thus, this is a reasonable practice, especially if all are aware of the technique noted here.
You may cancel and revote.
Please vote only once. Although it is possible to game the system by voting anonymously from various IP addresses, we hope you'll vote just once. The way to ensure one vote per person is to require login, but that would also ensure a lower vote participation and one biased toward people willing to sign up for a website in general, and specifically a webiste about skating and cycling for charity.
