Posted by Chris
on August 21, 2009
Yesterday on my commute back from a meeting at the Yahoo! Great America office I was attacked by a vicious Wasp! I was riding along minding my own business when out of now where this little bastard jumped me.
I could tell this thing had no honor nor did it abide by any rules of fighting. It went straight for my eyes trying with all it’s might to blind me. It knew just how to do it too. It flew right under my glasses and started to mount it’s assault like a group of angry marines avenging the death of one of their fallen brothers (not that I’ve even see a group of angry marines avenge their bother’s death but I image it’s quite a sight).
As you can see from the evidence below it got a good piece of me but I think I managed to crushed it’s stupid little wings when I batted it out from under my glasses. Wasps have officially made the list of the Axis of Evil Creatures (right along with their suicidal buddies, the squirrels)!
Posted by Chris
on August 20, 2009
One of the hardest things about being a husband, father, young (is 35 still young?) professional and cyclist is finding time to squeeze in a good mountain bike ride. I found the only way to accomplish this is to get up at the butt crack of dawn and hit the trails.
Even harder is to sucker some other poor souls into meeting you for an early morning ride. But when you throw in the promise of some prime “ranger-free” singletrack and breath taking views it makes it a bit easier.
With those two benefits, I’ve finally suckered Patrick and Joe into joining me for my morning Dawn Patrol Ride at Saratoga Gap. We all agree it’s really hard to pry yourself out of a comfortable bed but when we hit the spot in the photo above, it’s totally worth it.
Being the first to ride a trail in the morning is pretty satisfying, it’s comforting to know that you can rail that twisty section without worrying about another rider coming the other way. The only real risk is hitting wild life loitering in the middle of the trail (what are they thinking? Get out of the way Bambi! Jeeez!)
Yesterday while climbing out of Peter’s Loop, I mentioned to Joe and Patrick that I was considering putting forth my entry for the “Specialized Trail Crew” contest. I explained how I thought it would be interesting to focus my blog a bit more and open up a wider forum for discussing my three passions: riding, advocacy and technology. They unanimously thought it was a cool idea, Pweew!… just the validation I needed.
One interesting angle would be to see how much money I could raise for my cause on Plus 3 Network using the bike Specialized would graciously loan to me for a year. As an added bonus I’ve even plotted a route from my new apartment to work that is off-road almost the entire way.
Keep your fingers crossed… Here are the stats from yesterday’s ride.
View Larger Map
(I actually rode 13 miles today but I forgot to hit the start button on my GPS till we got to Peter’s Loop… Doah!)
Update: Patrick just sent me this photo… ha!
Posted by Chris
on August 11, 2009
This morning when I was returning home on my morning road ride I was passed by a guy wearing a full Google Kit. As he passed me he gave me a nod and smile, since I’m a Yahoo! I couldn’t let this Googler get away with that, so I got on to his wheel and drafted a bit.
My plan was to attack him at the Sunnyvale city limit (which if you don’t know city limits are always sprint points on road rides). About 100 feet before we hit the point which I was going to mount my attack I noticed he was wiggling his left elbow and looking back at me.
Hey! I’ve seen that move before, that’s an invitation to take a pull up front. So as any honorable cyclist would do I accelerated enough to overtake him and take my turn up front. I focused on pedaling at a good even tempo (not dropping the hammer) just enough to pick the pace up a bit and say “I’m game!”
After about 3 minutes I relaxed, wiggled my left elbow and glanced back relinquishing my pull. The Googler speed up enough to over take me and I fell back inline on his wheel. We played this hopscotch game for about 3 miles till my turn off point. Since I knew I was turning off I took an extra long pull and then yelled at the end, “Thanks for the pulls!” He responded with the same enthusiasm “you too!”
This is one of the many reasons I love cycling, two strangers working together against the wind. The only thing that would have made it more beautiful is if I was wearing my Yahoo! jersey.
I'm just your average 30 something white geeky male who rides a bike and