So the field got larger for the second Ace Speed Away criterium race in so many weeks. The average speed was up from 21.7 miles per hour two weeks ago to 23.6 this week. I definitely felt it, though part of it was from being out in the wind more often.

Like any race, it’s its own beast. Even though the course is the same, some of the riders were different, and there were more, the wind was blowing differently (crosswind at the beginning), and the temperature was slightly warmer.

Like two weeks ago, again the 30 minutes flew by, but I definitely had to work more. Part of it was not having a teammate in there to help get you into the paceline. I had a real difficult time getting an inside line throughout the 30 minutes, leaving me often working harder and not conserving as much.

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Here are a couple of well thought out responses to a recent News & Observer article about alternate commuting, etc. I wish more motorists would read and know the passage the first letter quoted:

“Bicyclists usually ride on the right side of the lane, but are entitled to the use of a full lane. A bicyclist staying to the right in their lane is accommodating the following drivers by making it easier to see when it is safe to pass, and easier to execute the pass. Drivers wishing to pass a bicyclist may do so only when there is abundant clearance and no oncoming traffic is in the opposing lane. When passing a bicyclist, always remember the bicyclist is entitled to the use of the full lane.”

The second letter talks about riders two and three across. The argument here is that a compressed group of say twenty riders in two rows (2×10) is easier and safer to pass than these 20 strung out single file. The groups I ride in, we try to tuck in as close as possible to each other when drivers are passing, etc.

This back and forth between cyclists and motorists is never going to end. There are broad generalizations on both sides (hell, see my first paragraph), but a little courtesy and patience from both groups that are on the same roads would go a long way.

Bikes on Our Byways

Here’s a local angle to the Olympics – Shalane Flanagan does a lot of her training on Durham’s stretch of the American Tobacco Trail. The ATT is where I first started my love of cycling on my old Mongoose full suspension mountain bike.

Anyway, congrats to Flanagan for getting the bronze in the 10,000 meters!

USA’s Flanagan Wins Bronze in 10,000 Meters

I don’t know what it is about the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but we’ve watched so much more of it than pretty much any game in the past – watching it all in high definition has been part of it for sure, but we have been totally glued to all the events shown during primetime – cycling, swimming, diving, track and field, beach volleyball and a few others.

My only complaint on the coverage is a bias and want for more cycling. It doesn’t look like we’ll get to see the track cycling events whatsoever, and earlier in the week, the individual time trial was severely limited. I understand the interest will never be on par with gymnastics, track and field, etc., but how about more than a glimpse of some of these other events.

This is a shame. The pro peloton development team, Toyota-United is going the way of other American cycling squads like Discovery and 7-Eleven before them. With no lead sponsor, their continuation into next season is highly unlikely. Toyota-United’s current team members are free to seek contracts from other teams.

Pro cycling in the United States seems to be struggling as much as pro soccer here in the U.S.

Toyota-United Releases Riders

Solo artist Lenny Kravitz, best known for tracks like “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” “Always On The Run” and his cover of “American Woman” is rumored to be in the studio with the remaining members of Velvet Revolver. Former Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland left the band back in April and is currently touring with his former band, Stone Temple Pilots.

I honestly have never heard a Velvet Revolver track. I liked Guns N Roses and love Stone Temple Pilots, but never got motivated to check out Velvet Revolver. I may end up checking out some tracks on iTunes now out of curiosity, but I wouldn’t think Kravitz would be a good fit to lead VR, seeing as Kravitz would be unlikely to sing and play guitar as the band already has Slash and another guy on the six string. The other replacements the article throws around aren’t any better suggestions either, but Kravitz would seem to be the least compatible fit.

This isn’t rocket science, and this will be a big ‘duh’ for most of you reading this out there, but successful blogging is all about quality original content composition.

So much blogging is posting and rehashing news and information found elsewhere on the web. I’m as guilty as any other blog of mailing in posts simply with a couple of sentences and an external link.

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Great article about where old Xbox Live-enabled games go to die. Bret and I experienced this playing NHL ‘07. While we weren’t looking for other opponents, the lobbies were almost always vacant sans us.

Xbox 360’s Dead Online Games

Man, this is a classic cycling picture from almost 80 years ago. Imagine cornering with this kind of lean. I saw this over at Bike Hugger, who in turn saw it on Flickr. That guy saw it on a cycling forum.

This cool picture is definitely making its way round the cycling interwebs cause it’s so impressive to all us cycle geeks.

Get Low, Bicycle Racing circa 1930

Yesterday, after my 100K ride, I went out to my friend’s bachelor party barbecue in Raleigh and hung out with friends and had some good grilled grub.

We were introduced too to a game that we didn’t know what it was called, but it was easy to pick up and play. It consisted of two “racks” with three horizontal bars – one of in red, blue and white. Two people (or teams) alternately toss three sets of balls with a string between them at these horizontal bars. The blue is valued at 3 points. The red is 2 and the white is 1. The first to 21 wins.

Well, I really enjoyed it and thought it’s be the perfect addition for our back yard for barbecues, gatherings, and just for Amanda and I to duel. It turns out it’s called by several names including ladder golf, ladder ball, hillbilly horseshoes, hillbilly golf, redneck golf, etc. Whatever it’s called, it’s fun.

So while we were out for lunch and running errands we picked up a set at Dick’s Sporting Goods. We only got a couple rounds in, but it’s a lot of fun and look forward to using it when friends and family are over. I wouldn’t mind having this scoreboard for it as well.

Ladder Golf Entry at Wikipedia