Two words: Abject Failure…

The first day has come and gone with many of the names that have won in previous years have won.  The least surprising of which, in my opinion, would have to be the Tandem of Dave Swanson and Clark Rachfal, they are a strong team and these results, along with the gap between the next Tandem to finish was quite large.

The elevation change has not been too hard on me.  I’m hoping to medal and qualify for the Worlds team… regardless, off to dinner for me.

I’ve had a very tough time finding lodging in Bend, Oregon. This year U.S. Paralympics isn’t going to be reserving a big chunk of lodging with the Hilton family of hotels as it appears the field of cyclists is getting much larger. No matter, though, as I’ve found lodging with another Para cyclist’s friend. The friend and the friend’s husband are both employed by Specialized, the bicycle and bicycle gear manufacturer, were former pro-level mountain bike racers, and are now involved in bicycle racing advocacy for Specialized.

What’s even more convenient is that their house is located a few blocks from where the race is going to be held. The ride from their house to the race start line will be a good warmup and, as Bend, Oregon is populated with many a bicycle shop, even if I do forget something at home, patronizing one of the local shops to acquire what I need should be an easy task. Well, something common, if something happens to my bike, for example, there’s no replacing it.

I train on my Velocity Aerohead rims and plan to race on my Zipp 404 (2009 Model) tubular rims. The weight differential between the 404s and the Aeroheads is significant. To give a more clear understanding of the weight differential, all 3 of my 404s weigh as little as one of my Velocity Aerohead rims. Quite the difference come race day.

I’m going to be attending USA Cycling’s National Championships come the end of June. I’ve been training a good amount, my percentage of body fat, according to the scale that I have, puts me back at competition weight and percentage body fat. Although, when you look at guys like George Hincapie, pro cyclist on the BMC Racing Team and former domestique to each of Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France wins, and compare his physique along with how tall he is, he’s 6’2″, and weighs in at 165 pounds, one can’t help but be amazed. A dangerous skeleton is what he looks like

I’ve decided to take today, Friday, June 11th, as a rest day as I had two interviews. The first was with a recruiting agency that came highly recommended, which was okay, and the other was for a company involved in software creation for the Medical industry. The software development company appears to be more focused towards a high-paced software customization environment that is what would suit me best, I would think.

We shall see.

They weren’t as good as I had hoped but I was able to procure a B in that class.  I, of course, was hoping for a better grade but, suffice to say, I’m glad to have received the grade that I did as, even though the result of my programming was good, I felt that it left room for improvement.  After all, it was a project that was supposed to have been completed by 3 individuals and the end result was the product of only one of those three done over two weeks (I did a total re-design, start to finish) of what was supposed to have been done in eight. :-/

Besides that, well, I will post some Market commentary because my Blog is focused on whatever the heck pops into my head at the moment and this appears to be what has.  The credit markets, or at least the Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) that correlate closely to the long bond, is beginning to crumble again (and please correct me if I’m wrong as the one commenting on this is a stupid athlete). TLT, and it’s inverse, TBT, which measure the price action for 20+ year Grubvernment bond, is moving in favor of TLT. TLT measures, or is a close measure of, the risk appetite that exists within the markets. As TLT falls investors are looking to put their money to work in the private sector and as TBT falls, TLT rises, the risk-appetite is disappearing and individuals are not willing to put their money at risk and are, instead, looking to put their money to work in the leech sector.

Some of the foreign stock exchanges have begun to fall quite strongly and some of the bonds I follow are also getting hair cuts. The Hong Kong Stock Market, for example, tumbled a strong percentage over the last few days. Oh well, new semester begins, who cares about the Market when learning is on the table…

A few hours ago I returned from U.S. Nationals in Bend, Oregon. I was the 3rd to start in my category and passed my one, two and three minute man before the half way mark. The course was a 12 km out and back TT that started out as a straight-away at the start that turned into a quick 8-10% climb right out of the gate after 50 to 100 yards (estimate).

After the quick climb at the start of the course it flatted out for a brief sprint followed by a long, slow climb throughout most of the remaining course (until the turn around).

Following is a map of the layout and terrain-change of the TT course: map.

I was supposed to ride the 12k route but instead (like the idiot I am) only rode to the 10k marker and then turned around. Although I can say that the course was poorly marked, I arrived 36 hours later than scheduled because of airline delays and rerouting and, therefore, not having a chance to pre-ride the course, there were cones used for turn-arounds strewn about multiple locations of the course and many of the judges had absolutely no idea what was going on, the only person I can really blame for this incident is myself.

My time per kilometer, according to the head coach of U.S. Para-Cycling, Mr. Craig Griffin, (had I been assigned to the 10k course and not the 12k that I was assigned), would have placed me not only in the top 10 but would have allowed to medal and would have put me in Gold, as well. Sadly, my mistake disqualified me. Meaning, I will not be attending Worlds this year.

They are going to be held in Turin, Italy in mid-October this year. Granted, I’m working on finishing my degree this year (finally, some might say) and because of that would, possibly, have to skip Worlds; however, those are all excuses to make me feel better and give a reason to my failure instead of taking the blame that I am due. My own mis-steps lead to my downfall.