The Politics of GMOs

Should you eat genetically modified organisms? The question really seems to be do you have a choice? My colleague, Denis, and I have been working on a GMO story for quite some time. What we're looking for is more concrete evidence as to how they may affect your health. At this time, most of this is unclear. Other than some unproven science and speculation, they seem reasonably safe. What we still don't know is whether there are no true adverse effects or if the large corporations who profit from them are lobbying the information out of the news wires. Don't think for a second that the latter isn't a possibility. The perpetrators are powerful companies with nefarious histories.

One thing we are sure about is that genetically engineered foods (GE) should be listed on our labels in the USA, as they are in most developed nations. But thanks to heavy lobbying from the companies who produce these foods, they can continue to add GMOs without the public being any the wiser, which doesn't seem like it's going to change anytime soon. If they are so safe, we wonder, why all the politicking to keep them off of labels?

Here is an article about some of the politics of GE. If you'd like to see more, rent the documentary film The Future of Food. If you feel passionate about it, please make your voice heard. Write your local elected official. If we want this changed it's entirely up to us to do it.

By David Tomsic

When Mendocino County in California passed its historic Measure H, with 57% of the votes cast, it became the first county in the United States to ban the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). More recently, Trinidad and Marin Counties, also in California, have passed similar bans, with Sonoma County soon to do the same. I guess the people of these places didn't like being passive test rats in some giant food corporation's experiment. Do you?

Shall We Dance?

Like all living things, plants reproduce. They exchange genetic material through the process of cross-pollination. Pollen moves from one plant to the next on the wind, or on the feet and wings of bees and butterflies. The actual traceable movement of genetic material is called "gene flow", and is the reason that we have such prodigious and opulent diversity in the flora realm. The result is the fecundity of the world, with grains, fruits, roots, vegetables, nuts, and all the cornucopia of plants we consume. No doubt about it, we are the direct beneficiaries of this miraculous process.

Now, through the clever inventiveness of human ingenuity, we have one-upped Mother Nature. Human beings can now directly modify the genetic material of a plant to make it act in certain prescribed ways. Such plants can only be understood as designer organisms, with specific traits or relationships built into their genes, thus changing their behaviors forever. It may still look like wheat, for example, but there are profound differences between it and all of the other, naturally occurring wheat plants in the world.

This is no cosmetic alteration; it is systemic. And it is vastly different from the guiding of plant reproduction that humans have been doing for centuries. All prior manipulations of the gene pool have been restricted by implacable natural barriers that dictate "who can breed with whom", or to put it another way, nature has firm boundaries governing which genes can mix it up together. The creation of GMOs has smashed these barriers like a tsunami crashing over an island.

Arguably, this development could be viewed as a miracle of modern technology. Why, just think of the possibilities! We can splice in an antidote to a chemical poison so the plant doesn't die when mass quantities of that poison are poured over it. Now we can kill all the weeds with the impersonal and remote precision of a smart bomb. Think of the yields! Think of the extra money to be made in the marketplace! Such excitement has been the buzz in the boardrooms of giant corporations like Monsanto, Lumen Foods and others for over a decade.

Problem is, there are big problems raised by this genetic tampering, and we're only now starting to see them show up. Nature doesn't just passively allow a single surgically precise gene splice to remain isolated, affecting only that plant in precisely the intended way. Plants are living, not technical, things, and their procreative behaviors, as they keep combining and recombining, are unpredictable. The cumulative impacts generating from such individually designed mutations have not been taken into account when it comes to GMOs. Another way to understand this is that, in the natural world, where everything is connected to everything else, when you change one thing, you affect all others.

For a decade, anxious observers of this massive science experiment in food production have predicted that we may live to regret some of the unintended corollary effects of these corporate activities.

Contamination

Such predictions have borne out. With GMOs, a host of unanticipated problems has arisen. One of these is the contamination of non-GMO (organic) plant material by corporate GMOs through the natural process of cross-pollination.

Example: According to an article in The Non GMO Source (October 2004), "Nearly 20,000 papaya seeds from across the Big Island in Hawaii, 80% of which came from organic farms and the rest of which from backyard gardens and wild trees, showed a contamination level of 50%." There are many such examples.

Bringing this into your backyard, an Associated Press article written by Paul Elias and published in the Statesman Journal of Salem, Oregon (9/24/04), quoted a U.S. government study in Oregon's Willamette Valley which showed genetically engineered grass had cross-pollinated conventional grass growing 12 miles away.

Multiply this expansion by ten growing seasons and you can see why people are scrambling to pass legislation to ban the cultivation of GMOs.

On The Road

I recently drove south to Mendocino County in hopes of digging up some information on this issue. After crossing the county line I stopped at a food store in Laytonville. Buying some organic produce at the checkout counter I enquired about Measure H. A moment later, I was in the company of a wise and beautiful woman in her 50's. "You need to go to the Ukiah Brewing Company," she told me, her dark eyes glimmering. "That was the center of what went down."

Two hours later I found myself having a beer with Alan Cooperrider, owner of the Ukiah Brewing Company. Mr. Cooperrider and his wife Els, both former biologists, were the originators of Measure H. He was deliberate, intelligent, and soft spoken.

Aside from the usual bureaucratic hurdles, Mr. Cooperrider noted the depth of his opposition's pockets. "The previous record for expenditures on a Mendocino County ballot measure was $120,000. Monsanto exceeded that in the first week. In the end they spent over $600,000 trying to defeat the thing. In fact, the sheer volume of money coming from OUTSIDE the county stimulated the curiosity and involvement of many folks inside the community."

My next stop was the Fetzer Vineyards tasting room in the beautiful coastal town of Mendocino. It was here, quite by chance, that I conversed with an attorney who specialized in environmental litigation. It was his view that ". . . a lot of this type of legislation is defeated due to lack of funding."

The conversation was ironic in that Paul Dolman, at that time with Fetzer and now with Parducci Vineyards as part of the Mendocino Wine Co., was a key instrument in the orchestration of vital business support for Measure H. In fact numerous Mendocino County vineyards and wineries were active contributors.
Even wine and spirits giant The Brown Forman Group, who recently purchased Fetzer Vineyards, supported Measure H. Public relations director Jim Caudill was quick to return my call, stating, "We don't think we know enough about them (GMOs). We need much more controlled testing." The Brown Forman Company insists that most of its products, which include Jack Daniels Whiskey, be made without GMOs.

Bon Appetit

Monsanto, the vast multinational corporation leading the charge to patent life forms, is best known for its "Round Up Ready" line of genetically modified seed. This genetic modification allows farmers to douse their fields with the general herbicide "Round Up" (also made & sold by Monsanto) without affecting the "Round Up Ready" crops growing in those fields. In order to get the "Round Up Ready" line to market, Monsanto petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vouching that their product was safe for consumers.

Can we trust the FDA to "do the right thing" when it comes to protecting the health of the citizenry? In most cases, I would say yes. But past history shows us, with Vioxx, DDT, asbestos, lead paint, etc., that this is not always the case. In the case of its "Round Up Ready" line, Monsanto had to convince the FDA to increase the allowable amount of herbicide in produce on supermarket shelves 100 fold.
Hmmm . . . more poison in our food. Now THAT'S a step in the right direction! Sadly, the FDA ruled in favor of corporate profits over consumer health in this case.

The Harbinger

Alan Cooperrider told me another true story that illustrates one of the problems of GMOs. Monsanto was unable to control genetic drift from crops using its patented GMO wheat in eastern Canada. Inevitably, the GMO genes made their way via cross-pollination to the fields of a neighboring farmer. Now it just so happened that this farmer grew organic wheat and, from his point of view, Monsanto's uninvited gene flow was a contaminant making it impossible to sell his wheat as organic. He sued.

The farmer lost the case... and when he tried to sell off his contaminated crop as conventional, MONSANTO SUED HIM for patent infringement, and won.

This is where the corporate motives of GMO producers become crystal clear. If you spread the predicament of the Canadian farmer out upon a larger canvas (say, the entire world's agricultural production), it becomes apparent that Monsanto et. al. are attempting to seize a royalty on the production of all food crops through the means of cross-pollination. They intend to demand their royalty on every grain or kernel of food produced, anywhere in the world, regardless of whether or not you wanted their genetically modified version in the first place. And incredibly, to judge from the case in eastern Canada, they have the courts ruling in their favor. That is tragic for organic growers worldwide.

The tragedy for consumers of organic foods worldwide is that, given the way cross-pollination works, if GMO production goes unchecked, we will all be eating genetically modified organisms whether we like it or not.

In a world where individuals should have the right to choose, this is diabolical.
In the world of competitive markets, this is business as usual. Which world do you want to live in?

Givin' Howleys A Bad Name

To further illustrate the situation let's go back in time. Roughly 200 years ago the first ocean going trade vessels inadvertently brought the rat to the Hawaiian Islands. Without a natural predator to check its numbers, the rat population grew out of control. A solution was devised, introducing a voracious predator, the mongoose, into the food chain in hopes of attaining some sort of natural balance.

It was soon discovered that the mongoose hunted by day, while the rat was nocturnal. This meant that the mongoose had to find another food source, so it went to work on the bird population. Today, Hawaii has lost over 90% of its native bird species to extinction due to this simple oversight.

Human error stemming from human ingenuity caused the Hawaiian calamity. What, I ask you, is the potential for a similar oversight when we start splicing genetic materials together and releasing them into the wild? It is unfathomable. With cross-pollination as an unstoppable force, it could make Adolf Hitler look like a kid with a cap gun.

Winning the Blame Game

I predict that if the consumption of GMOs results in widespread complications involving human health, the resulting tragedy will likely follow the liability pattern seen with Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome, Love Canal and many other environmental toxin cases. The common thread in all such cases involves exposure to a toxin shared by a vast number of sufferers, statistical evidence strongly suggesting the link between that toxic exposure and a syndrome of horrific health conditions, and the unwillingness of government agencies and the courts to find in favor of the victims. In the case of GMOs, there will no doubt be statistical evidence strongly suggesting the link between GMOs and some unforeseen health issues, but establishing a "direct correlation" between the two in a court of law will prove very difficult. The taxpayer will, once again, shoulder the financial burden of these consequences, while the corporations responsible for the disaster will, once again, walk, taking no responsibility for their actions.

Pulling a Weed

The traditional Chinese pictogram for "Crisis" and for "Opportunity" is the same. The connotation in this pictogram is "turning point", that we must change whatever course we have been on. To avert disaster we must seize the opportunity presented by the crisis and make a decision, one different than before.

There is wisdom in this ancient linguistic form. The crisis that we face holds its own solution—our opportunity—within itself. We have an opportunity to get the attention of these corporations and their agents in government in the ONLY way that seems to matter to them: go after their bottom lines.

We all eat food every day of our lives, and it is absolutely 100% our choice as to what we put into our bodies. Even if there is no Measure H type GMO legislation in your neck of the woods (yet), when you consider how much money you spend on food in your lifetime, one fact becomes very clear: Your involvement can make a HUGE cumulative difference! All of those thousands of dollars spent on food during your lifetime represent your vote for the world you want to live in. You cannot downplay your own importance and responsibility in this matter. Just as important, your actions bring others on board, and all of our money combined supports the people who are working hard to do the RIGHT thing. Every dollar you spend on organic food is a dollar that doesn't trickle towards Monsanto.

All this without raising your voice, your fist, or even an eyebrow... just your fork! Forty years later Gil Scott Herons' words are still ringing true, "The revolution will NOT be televised."

A genetic blueprint was created over eons of time in nature's, and no one else's, kitchen. Monsanto has merely hacked apart, and spliced together a couple of these genetic sequences. They did not invent the thing, they've merely manipulated it. They present their bastard child before the world as if it were a king, when in reality it more closely resembles one of Dr. Frankenstein's fantasies.
It's time to bring this issue out into the open. Local governments have the power to make the difference using democratic means, such as Mendocino's Measure H. I will be working with others to craft such legislation in our area of Oregon. Are you with me?

David Tomsic is an arborist and writer living at Cascade Head on Oregon's coast. If you would like to become a part of a network of concerned and non-violent citizens taking on the issue of GMOs, please contact Mr. Tomsic at: the website: www.gmoactive.com, or email him at kmieck@hotmail.com Thank you.

http://www.alternativesmagazine.com/33/tomsic.html

More Cycling + Less Drugs = More Women

This is a sign someone had posted along the Giro route today. Maybe this is how life is in Italy. If so, I'm moving. Regardless, it's how life should be somewhere.

However, in my experience living in the world we've created it's more like "more drugs + less cycling = more women". In fact, I'm still looking for the society where more cycling = more of anything, really, at least the way "normal" society views us. In the good ol' US of A, it's a constant fight to just keep riding our bikes on the road. The laws don't protect us--in some states a dead cyclist is, legally, nothing more than road kill. Hell, Texas keeps trying to ban riding and it's home to the most famous cyclist in history.

So I'll keep riding my bike and looking for my utopia. And I don't plan to stop until they pry my bike from my cold dead hands.

Piano

Piano may no longer be the tradition it was in the Giro but today's stage covered 26 kilometers in the first hour, which is an indication that someone is trying to keep the tradition alive. During my 50 mile race this Sat, the only time we were riding this slow was during the roll out. And our race wasn't even particularly fast. For a group of professionals to ride this slow it's unlikely that anyone's heart rate has even reached zone one. It's barely recovery riding.

It won't last. I'm sure the sprint will be bedlam and, prior to it, I'm sure there will be some attacks. But most of the riders are probably pretty psyched to get some rest because tomorrow it all changes. The next week and a half are absolutely brutal as the race hits the mountains. If you haven't been paying attention, now's the time to start.

Here's some crazy mountain racing from the Tour a few year's back.

Giro, Floyd, and Dope

You gotta love the Giro! I turn on the live broadcast this morning and circus music is playing and the peloton is absolutely flying along at 30kph. At first, I thought they must be showing the neutral zone because the riders are barely pedaling, laughing, joking with the cameras. But no, it's in the third hour and they're still just plodding along like a critical mass ride. So they are showing highlights of yesterdays stage along side the parade. Italy, man.

The reason this is happening is that yesterday was absolutely brutal and the next week is far far worse. The finishing climb yesterday didn't look steep but as soon as riders would stop pedaling across the line they'd instantly stop and topple over. The "real" mountains start tomorrw and it's going to be ugly. Everyone should watch. No, really, you should. I'm serious.

Now, perhaps the reason PIANO is coming back into fashion on this brutal course is dope or, perhaps, lack of it. On any given stage doping isn't a real revalation because with time to rest you can max most of the systems that it aids. But in a stage race, doping is huge because it aids recovery so well. So these piano days are like recovery rides. They'll get to some racing at the end but it'll mainly be the sprinters hammering. The GC guys will kick it in the middle of the pack.

So, is Floyd guilty? I'm certain that I know the answer but won't say it. I do hope he gets off though because the way the current system is he's being used as a bit of a scapegoat. With the Telekom revelations yesterday, um, cycling is just going to change. It has to.

Teams need to get rid of full time doctors. Let's see, what would a doctor do on a bike team; fix injured guys? Yes, of course, but that's not a full time job and a PT would make more sense on a daily level. Feed them. Um, no. Doctors don't know about nutrition, necesarily, so you have a nutritionist do this. Train them? Again, trainers and coaches do this. People who studied exercise physiology, not medicine. So, what do the doctors do then? A full time doctor is going to spend their time figuring out how to recharge the hormonal and other physcial systems to aid recovery from training and the ensure all systems are maximized, medically, for racing. But not using nutrition, or therapy, or training, because those are other's fields. The doctors field is, yep, drugs, or at least modalities that can include drugs. So if you are paying a medical doctor to make your team go fast it pretty much stands to reason that his job would include doping. That's what Dr. Fuentes (Operation Puerto) said and, well, it makes perfect sense. Fuentes' line was even something like "what else am I going to do, I'm a doctor?!"

Anyway, you can follow Floyd's trial in almost absurd depth on this site. It's pretty cool, actually:

Landis trial blog

How To Watch The Giro In The USA

The race is currently on the first real climb. It's not steep enough to sort out the race but in about an hour we should have an idea of who the real players are going to be. Here in the good 'il US of A, we don't have proper sports coverage, in spite of about 10,000 TV stations to choose from. If you have cable, Versus has some coverage of the race. But if you want full real time live coverage, you'll have to use the net.

Cycling.tv seems to have partnered with Versus and has live coverage. You have to pay for a subscription, which I might. So far, I haven't checked it out yet. But if they do this for all the big races the 24 bucks will be well worth it. In years prior, I paid for basic cable, basically, just to see a few bike races. Cycling.tv would be much more effient.

I usually begin my mornings by linking to the live Italian broadcast:

Rai Media

The fills the house with Italian audio, which gives it a nice ambiance even though I can barely figure out what's happening. It's also live video. Today I was greeted by views of the Amalfi Coast. Beautiful.

Also, if you've missed the stage live, Rai sport provides other coverage. And you can always check Ultimo Chilometro for the end of each stage. Oh, the they've change the song this year! I like the new one fine but it's just not the same as Il Grande Giro! I want the old one back.

Eurosport has live audio in English but, so far, it hasn't been working. I'm sure they'll fix it. To find it, go here:

Eurosport Cycling

Once the coffee is ready, I sit down and read the live coverage on Cyclingnews to catch up. They always have other insight and funny tidbits. So I''ll always read their coverage even if I'm watching a race live.

Cyclingnews

Velonews also has live commentary and can provide different insight. The downside to their live coverage is that it goes down as soon as the race is over and the winner will be revealed in the headline. If you're watching after the fact and want suspense, use Cyclingnews.

Velonews

There's also now a site that sorts through all the links n' such. It's basically a whole site that constantly updates the contents of this blog entry. If one of my links isn't working, try this site and they will sort out the problem.

Cyclingfan

The attacks have started. Gotta get back to the race....

Notes From Everest

I just got a message from my friend, Kevin, who is currently climbing Mount Everest. According to him, "it's quite the circus!" He's actually working, which just happens to include climbing. Here's a link to today's diary of the team's expedition, which is to re-create the path of Mallory and Irvine.

Day 7

Here's the main page, which today has an interview with Jimmy Chin about the various types of snow.

I have an absolutely great job but, sometimes, I still get jealous of my friends who have better ones. As a member of the North Face team, Kevin travels the world, pretty much just adventuring. I'm officially jealous.

But he's earned it. For one, he's one of the better all around climbers in the world. As I used to tell people, if it involves going up, Kevin is better than me at it. It doesn't matter what the form of locomotion is or what tools are used; he is a master climber.

But he's also paid his dues. We met in Yosemite during the 80s when he was permanently on the road climbing. I learned a lot from him. Much about climbing but just as much on how to live cheaply. He moved in with me once and had his entire existance whittled down to one haul bag of stuff. This way he could exist on a salary of around $300 a month. I followed suit--though never got my possesions below what would fit in my van--and spent the next decade living on as little money as possible in order to facilitate climbing as much as possible.

At some point, as a climbing jouralist, I began to realize that not many climbers had the resume of Kevin. So I wrote an article about him. At the OR trade show that year he came up to me, weilding a haul bag filled with gear, and said "This is great. I just show people this article and everyone is thowing stuff at me." Since then, he's been hard to track down. When I'm doing things that seem cool, I'll then get a note from Madagascar, Patagonia, or Pitcairn Island that make me jealous, but also motivate me to keep at it and continually find challenges for myself. I couldn't be happier for him. There are a lot of poser/schmoozer types out there who get money without the substance. Kevin's got the substance and he's earned every trip.

It's unknown just what will happen during this little adventure. They brought the A team, but with altitude and weather involved, it's never a casual affair. So check it out. Should be a good show.

Paying Dues

With the Giro getting underway, it's time to ramp up my fitness on the bike. I'm about to leave for a ride where I'm, for certain, about to get pummeled. I'm meeting our "pro" squad today for a fast group ride. These guys aren' realy pro, just Cat 1 & 2s who take bike riding real serious. Some are ex pros; some will become pros. Whatever. They all ride their bike a helluva lot more than I do.

I ride with groups like this a lot. It's no biggie. But I'm not fit yet, so it's going to be ugly out there (especially given we have a couple of cat 1 climbs en route). This is normal for the "start" of a season; the whole dues paying routine. But it always is interesting to get ready for these rides, where you're getting dressed, feeling normal--perhaps even good--but knowing full well that within an hour or so my heart rate will be maxed, I'll be scratching and clawing to not get dropped, and spend the subsequent two hours after that blurry-eyed in a state of delirium caused by oxygen debt and lactic acid build up. It's gonna be, ah-hem, fun.

Oh, and the Giro starts this morning. Check out a Velonew's preview:

The Contenders

team by team

Race Preview

Check back too, cause I will track down the song!

Il grande giro.

Il Grande Giro.

IL GRANDE GIIIRO!...

Tuesday Inspirational Video

Okay, so maybe yesterday's vid was a little scary. It was inspirational to me, watching her go for it like that. This shows Chris Sharma working on some sick project. Watching Chris always makes me think I could try a lot harder. This is a great sequence on a fantastic-looking route.

Saddle Up

On Saturday, I was sandbagged by the Weather Underground. Not the revolutionary group from the 60's, but rather the web site, which attempts to predict weather down to 3 hour increments.

As I was sipping my coffee, the Underground informed me that our 70% likelihood of rain would be diminishing steadily throughout the day. Since the rain had already stopped, I dressed for cool dry conditions and got ready for a long ride out East Canyon.

My bike needs some love. I haven't really tuned her all winter and she had been making some odd noises. A cursory check before Saturday's ride revealed a broken saddle--cracked in two right down the middle. Hmmm, I thought, I wonder how long it's been like this? I swapped my Fizik Aerion for a beefy Trans Am off of my TT bike and was good to go.

I'd been feeling particularly feeble this year, since my lack of form seemed somewhat shocking, even though I hadn't been training much. I really needed some miles. My route would take me up Emigration canyon over Little and Big Mountains, then out towards Hennifer. It was cold, but dry, and since my route was mainly uphill for the first 10 or so miles I knew I'd warm up.

The snow flurries first appeared low in Emigration. I wasn't worried. After all, the weather was "clearing". I also felt good. Fairly strong, and certainly much better than I had all year. I was using one to two gears higher than I had been on this climb lately and exerting no more effort. It wasn't all about gained fitness over the last week; my broken saddle had been robbing me of power on every stroke. I wondered how long it had been that way. Last fall's races? I had no idea. Man, I thought, I don't deserve to have a nice bike.



I'd only seen a few riders heading up Little--rare for any Saturday--and all were coming down. Near the summit, three riders were descending. One, in shorts, was laughing about how he couldn't see. The snow fall had increased. Looking into the distance, there was no sign of Big Mountain, just darkness. But I was feeling good, so down I went, descending into East Canyon. I thought of the Bishop in Caddyshack saying to Carl (Bill Murray) his caddy, "God would never interrupt that greatest game of my life."

Near the end of the descent, I saw a rider heading uphill. I smiled and nodded. He didn't look very happy. He would be the last rider I'd see.

I was bummed that they'd opened the road up to Big Mountain. It's usually closed until the end of May, providing a pristine riding environment. It wouldn't matter today, however. The sightseeing opportunities had been minimized with the white out conditions. I'd only see a couple of cars the rest of the way.

The snow was now coming down hard. It was thick and heavy; not normal Utah powder. But since I was heading uphill, it wasn't at all unpleasant. In fact, it was rather blissful, just riding along in the dead quiet. It felt like riding in a Christmas card. It was also supposed to be clearing, right? At least that thought kept me going.

Near the top of Big, the wind picked up. The snow was coming in at a different angle and seemed to be getting wetter. This could mean that we were breaking through the clouds cover. Or it could mean nothing of the sort. Whatever the reason, conditions were getting less pleasant. I thought of Carl telling the Bishop, "I don't think the heavy stuff's going to hit for quite a while now."



At the summit of Big, conditions were ridiculous. The snow was coming in horizontally and the road was slush. I snapped a pic and looked in my intended direction. It was completely dark. I wasn't cold, yet, but had been heading pretty much uphill the entire ride. My Team Marco Polo winter jacket was doing a great job but it wasn't a rain jacket, and things were wet. I also only had on one pair of light gloves and no toe covers.

But things were "clearing", so I headed down Big in my intended direction. A few minutes later it became clear that things were, indeed, not clearing anytime soon and the I'd been sandbagged by the Underground. Isn't that what the revolutionary group did too? As I recall, they become famous/notorious more for things that had gone amiss rather than having their intended effects.

Anyway, it was now cold. I mean, really fucking cold. Well, maybe not so much cold as miserable. The "snow" was no longer idyllic. Instead, it pelted me in the face like BBs and I felt like I'd been stuck in a slushy machine. In an attempt to stay get warm, I hammered back up Big in the big ring and thought of the Bishop, sitting in the bar telling Judge Smails, "There is no God!" At the summit, I shook the slush off of myself and my bike and snapped another shot.



The descent off of Big wasn't particularly fun. In one direction, the wind was in my face and the slush peppered me hard, no matter how slow I went. It was one of those "should I go slow so it doesn't hurt or go fast and get it over with" descents. Should I stop was also on my mind but that wasn't going to get me home. I had over 20 miles to shelter and most of it was down hill. I thought of what Bobke had said in The Day The Big Men Cried, something along the lines of "before this day I thought that I could descend 10 kilometers in any type of weather..." and that he'd almost hit someone on that fateful descent who had gotten off their bike and was running uphill to try and get warm. I thought about running uphill.

I finally stopped after the steepest big to wipe the slush off. Everything facing forward was covered in about 4" of slush. I knocked it all off but my fingers and feet was fully soaked and numb.

I hammered at any opportunity, trying to warm up, but it wasn't clear that the speed and, hence, wind wasn't offsetting any heart rate rise. My fingers and toes felt wooden and hurt, which got me wondering how long it took to get frostbite. Uphill to the top of Little, I shook my hands alternatively, attempting to get some feeling back before the descent. When I'd left Little, conditions were pleasant. I was hoping they'd remained so.

No such luck. The descent off the top was wet, cold, windy. I could probably be home in 30 minutes. How long did it take to get frostbite again? By the time I was in the canyon proper, I couldn't feel my tips. I decided that if the Sun and Moon cafe was open I would have some breakfast and, alas, maybe there was a God after all.



I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to the bathroom to "fix" my fingers. It took a while to bring them back to life. I couldn't put hot water directly on them for a at first and it was reasonably painful regaining their use. I couldn't do too much about my toes. They were soaked, but at least they could thaw before the rest of the descent.

After breakfast, the ride was wet--"clearing" my ass--but uneventful. My toes were frozen by the time I was home but nothing a 30 minute shower couldn't fix. All in all, it was my first adventure of the year and, certainly, the most fun I'd had since my birthday challenge. I thought of this as I neared home. It's easy to stay comfortable and not take on things to push your envelope a bit. But that kind of life doesn't really appeal to me. Still, sometimes I forget and need a serendipitous adventure to remind me. Epic season is now open.

Monday Morning Inspiration Video

Youtube is great, especially for those of us who don't have TV because, now, when somebody says "did you see..." we can check out whatever it was we missed.

Anyway, I was doing some research and found this vid of my friend Katie attempting to onsight The Tombstone. This route is historically very hard and scary. Dean Potter took a long time to do the first ascent and videos of him falling near the end were pimped by Black Diamond for ages. Subsequent ascents doused the grade a bit, though it's still one of the more impressive crack lines in the US. Katie is small and has very very good endurance. She's an ex-competition climber, one of the best in the world, and one of the first women to onsight 5.14. After quitting climbing for a few years, she's back with a different attitude. She no longer competes and, instead, lives in her car, travels, climbs, and writes (ah, the memories). Cracks, regardless of grade, tend to favor or disfavor individuals entirely based on finger size. Katie is small, so if Dean did it she can probably, at least, get her fingers into the thing. Whether or not those locks are good, however, is another story...

Il Grande Giro!

I can't believe it's May already. In California, our road race season is winding down. In Utah, it's just beginning; a good thing for me. But May is also the month of the Giro d'Italia, which is probably my favorite bike race.

The Tour's nice and all, I love all of the classic single day races, the Vuelta seems to always be very exciting, but the Giro is, well, somehow just special. Perhaps it's because it's "the most beautiful"; maybe because it's early and we're not sure who will be strong in the grand tours for the year; but mainly, I think, is that it's in Italy.

Italians loves bike racing. I mean really love it. Kind of like Belgians, but with better food, wine, coffe, weather, and mountains. Because it's in May, the Giro has all sorts of different elements. It might be hot, cold, rainy, or snowy. Mountain passes sometimes close down. Stages sometimes flood. The southern stages can also be the first truly hot races of the year and melt the peloton.

Also, there's a different vibe about it (which has been changing over the years with media pressure); where the Tour has panache, the Giro has piano. It's not uncommon to see stages play out like a parade for the public. When a stage goes piano, it slows to a crawl. This gives the riders a break but is something special for the public, who can actually ride along with the peloton. Since the entire race is now televised, this doesn't happen much anymore. I think the riders must miss it. But piano is still a tradition and you'll still see stages cruise along at 20kph for periods of time, which means that when things get fast, they get REALLY fast. I remember a hot stage in Sicily where they spent about 100k cruising around with spectators as though it were a ride down the esplanade. When they finally decided to race, it was the fastesst and most exciting riding I'd ever seen. I think Cipo won that day. Bike racing needs another Cipo.

The Giro also has mountains; the most beatiful on earth. And they're steep. This year's edition feature one, the Zoncolon, that makes L'Alpe d'Huez look look like a freeway overpass. L'Alpe's steepest pitches are 11%. The Zoncolon AVERAGES nearly 12%. It has prolonged sections of 18%, 20%, and 22%. Two years ago, the race sorted out on the penultimate climb up a monster called the Finestre. This climb is not only long and at elevation, but it's dirt. The Giro can be cruel, and that makes for great drama. It's no wonder that Bob Roll's finest tale covers one mountain stage in the '88 edition. If you haven't read "The Day the Big Men Cried," put it at the top of your list.

And the Giro has that song. Ah, Il Grande Giro. It gets in your head and it stays there until you've been on your bike long enough to beat it out. It's how I met Big Jonny over at Drunk Cyclist. We shared the same sentiment about it. Most American's, unfortunately, will never hear it. And that's a shame. But for us in the know, our world will be a better place because of it.

Time to get on my bike...

I can't find the song but here's a link to the company that usually broadcasts the race, where you'll hear it every day.

Giro preview at Cyclingenews.

April Training Update

The big news is that I'm not sick anymore--woo hoo! Man, whatever I had was crazy. Apparently, I'm not the only one. A bunch of people I know had some never-ending flu this winter/spring. I'm also not injured so my main training goal for the year is still on track.

To give an example of how often I'm uninjured, at least when it comes to climbing, Bob and I were climbing in St. George at the end of my illness and, I guess, something seemed off to him (probably me not complaining about something hurting) prompting this statement out of the blue, "Hey, you're not injured anywhere, are you?" as if it were a condition he'd rarely seen--and we've been climbing together for 10 years.

One of my personal problems living in SoCal was lack of new things for me to do. I have an explorer's mind and have trouble doing the same things over and over. Therefore, when I'd climb--which was only during parts of the year, usually the off-season for racing--I'd try and rush back into climbing shape because I'd already done almost every "easy" route in SoCal so that the only thing that held in real interest was harder stuff. This would generally lead to a quick improvement in my climbing level, to overexuberance on a certain project, to injury. This may sound stupid and, well, it is. But it's also the path that most (no exaggeration) climbers go down. Hang around a group of climbers and, if the conversation is on climbing, the chances of injury being a subject is pretty high.

In Utah, there's so much new for me to do I really don't have this problem. I'm happy climbing any grade, provided it's something new. So here I'm a lot more likely to slowly build into shape instead of focusing too much on one thing.

With that in mind, I did do this in Cali this month (see my last blog). This did cause a bit of finger strain so I'm taking a climbing recovery week (big holds). But that's par for the course and it was time for a recovery week anyway.

I had a pretty good running month, with a few runs longer than 3 hours. I plan to up that this month. I have a couple big runs planned, including a some night stuff (and, oh, I guess I need a new 50 miler on the schedule, too).

Biking sucked but the month ended with my longest ride of the year (60 miles over 4 climbs, approx 6,000' of gain), which felt fantastic. This month I'll probably ride a lot more. There are weekly races now and many of our trails have cleared up.

Evaluating my year end goals I'm now pretty far behind. The only thing I've really ticked off are some 5.12s. It's not too bad, however, since my base is building up. If this month goes as planned, I'll be back on track for the summer. And as long as I'm not injured, those goals are really unimportant. It's always about the journey and, uninjured, it will continue.

In other news, Sandee's birthday challenge was off the charts, Phil is attempting one even crazier, bike racing season has begun with plenty of doping news, and my hair is longer than it's been since I was 14.

Catch ya on the trails....

Priorities

After failing on the last move of my project--twice--last week I opted out of the 50 mile race in Fruita in order to give my project one more go. On one hand, it meant that I didn't have to suffer for hours on end in a race I wasn't prepared for. On the other, I had the mental anguish of dealing with another project. If I failed, it had the potential of becoming a major epic for my psyche. And it's not like I was failing because I was letting go; it's a route right at my current physical limit. But Bob pretty much summed it up for me when he said, "If you go to Colorado, you're an idiot. This is a first ascent. At the Tor!" Ben echoed this, telling me that my priorities were clearly in the right place.

"Sure, for an FA at the Tor, I guess," I said.

"Or ANY ascent at the Tor," he countered. "When you have the fitness to finish a route at the Tor, you've got to try. Because you never know when you'll be at the level again.

He has a point. As a climber who relies on experience and footwork, the Tor isn't exactly a place where I pad my resume. It's brutally physical. Every route requires a maximal physical effort. In short, it's a place where I usually get killed.

My friend Paul Dusatko summed this up pretty well when he did the second ascent of Hell Of The Upside Down Sinners. Rated a pedestrian 12b, Paul's comment upon clipping the chains (after weeks of work) was "now I'm climbing the same grade I was 10 years ago."

When you have a project, the difference between success and failure is miniscule. One mistake and you're off. At the Tor, it's so physical that you're limited--very much so--as to how many decent attempts you'll get in a day. I was pretty nervous on Saturday because I knew if it didn't go quickly, my window of opportunity would quickly slam shut. And I just couldn't extend my stay in California any longer.

First go:



Now it was really beginning to become mental. My only solace was that it had rained the day before and the holds I'd fallen from had been dirty. Also, my tick mark for a key foothold that you can't see had washed away (notice my failing with my feet prior to the fall). So I felt I had a chance. But I very much felt that if I didn't get it second go or I was in trouble. This added to the pressure as I tied in for round two. If I failed, it was going to be a long arduous drive home...

Experience and Bullshit

In life, experience and bullshit can carry one through many situations that you're otherwise unprepared for. The question this weekend is, can it carry me through a 50 mile race? I'm pretty good at wingin' it, in general. This weekend I may be testing that presumption a little bit. And this time, oddly enough, it wasn't supposed to be this way. My base training was great. Then I got sick.

After spending most of March with some weird illness, my only chance was to quickly build up enough reserve so that my body can handle the pounding of 50 miles. With less than 50 miles of TOTAL training over the previous 6 weeks, here's the plan I've attempted.

April 7 - Ran about 3 miles of flat in support of Sandee's challenge. I'd hoped to do more but illness was lingering.

April 8 - Ran Little Pine mtn, about 12-14 miles of mainly technical trail, with about 4,000' of gain. Felt okay and, on the summit, it was the first time I'd felt "normal" in over a month.



April 9 - went climbing

1oth - easy ride

12th - Ran 4 hours w/ Sandee. Heaps of elevation gain, very technical trail. Fitness is okay given the circumstance but my lower back is hurting from too much too soon on Little Pine.

13th - Ran and easy trail for about 6 miles. Lower back still bad

14th - went climbing

15th - pretty tired, worried a tad about another relapse, went climbing.

16th - tired, so just walked a bit and stretched and iced.

17th - last chance to run. Did 7 miles of easy technical trail and felt pretty good. Back soreness has subsided. No real injuries. Certain that I can handle 25 miles but 50, at any sort of pace beyond survival, seems highly unlikely.

Today off to give my project one last try (climbing) then heading east. The "race" this weekend will be on slickrock, 50 miles, with nearly 10,000' of elevation gain. Normally, this is the type of terrain I'd love, but with two months of soft snow running, a month off, and the above "base" I'd say I'm hoping for a miracle.

pics: Phoebe on the summit of Little Pine, the trail in spring conditions, Phoebe cooling off.

Peaks and Valleys

pics: Bob, Sandee, Ratso and Bobby (Taste of the Valley manager) working on the first few tastings. Sandee somewhere on Figueroa mtn road and finishing her last Peep.

While illness has had me in a deep valley, my girlfriend has been peaking. In a three week span, Sandee did her Birthday Challenge (riding Figeuroa--37miles, 3,700' of elevation gain, swim 3700 meters, 37 boulder problems, and running 37 miles while tasting 37 wines and eating 37 Peeps) which she warmed up for with a relay race where she ran most of three continuous legs (about 25 miles) because her teammate couldn't keep up with her on a mtn bike to run his leg, then warmed down with a 4 hour run over rugged terrain, with me, and with one day's rest a 50k trail race with 5,000' of elevation gain. It was one of those weird birthday challenge combos that's hard to appreciate.

You can read about it when she gets around to finishing her blog:

Sandee's Challenge



I, on the other hand, have been trying to get rid of some neverending virus and have a 50 mile race in the desert coming up in a few days. Hmmmm....

Projects

I got on a route last week that I think I'll invest in. Projects were a major part of my life for most of the 90s. This decade, however, I've been involved in too many other sports to get that focused on climbing. Plus, projects have a way of getting in the way of everything else.

I did my hardest route in 1995. It was a first ascent, meaning I'd found the route, bolted it, and then climbed it prior to anyone else. When I bolted this particular route I couldn't imagine ever climbing it. After about a year I could do all the moves but it wasn't until three years later that I actually did the route in one go. As you might imagine, there were a lot of valleys along the road to that peak.

Projects aren't too bad until you realize that you can do the route. When you can't do a single move or link major sections of a climb, a successful ascent isn't in your realistic mindframe. But as soon as it's sorted out--and you know you'll do it if you keep throwing yourself at it (barring injury)--then they tend to become obsessive pursuits. If you don't get it quickly, it can manifest into something manic.

The problem is that when something is right at your limit it only takes the smallest mistake for you to fall off. And it's pretty rare to climb anything without making any mistake whatsoever. As wired as you get it, when lactic acid begins to build your mental capacity falls off and you get tunnel vision to the point where your holds seem to disappear; it's difficult to keep it together. Dale Goddard was talking about keeping your mindset during hard projects in an old training film when he said, "...maybe you don't climb anything (of note) for an entire season..." exemplifying the type of massocistic sport that climbing can be.

Prior to that ascent in 95, I called my friend Scot Cosgrove, who'd put up many routes, including the first 5.14 in California, because I was having some mental problems linking it all together.

"Projects are the worst," he told me. "The number of ways they can fuck with you is beyond measure. Every time I have one I say to myself 'never again'. Then, as soon as I do it, for some unknown reason, I began thinking of the next one."

So I've been avoiding them and, instead, climbing just for fun with little angenda.

Then, last weekend, I ripped a flapper that rendered one of my fingers useless for the day. Without the ability to try 100%, I decided to get on something beyond my current realm of fitness, just to see what it would look like. In the end, I ended up not just doing all of the moves, but linking sections of a route called Hobytla (or something like that), at the Wailing Wall in Southwestern Nevada. It's a beautiful line on one of the most impressive walls in the western US. It would be a nice "return" to the sport.

Above is a picture of Misty at the crux. A local, she and her husband are responsible for many first acents in the area. Even with this advantage, she has her own epic story on Hobytla. On her last attempt one season, the day before she had to leave the area, she failed on this move and had to think about the route for the entire off-season before getting another chance. I hope that doesn't happen to me. Then again, that's the fun part. We'll see.

Now, so that I don't forget the sequence, here's what I do at the business end of the route.

50' of 5.11 lead to a jug, where the business begins.

R hand up to sidepull.

L to good sidepull, right foot to jug, left on tiny crosly hold below the roof (important).

Clip.

Right to bad sidepull, step left through to high bit of jug, right foot to ticked sloper, left foot up to edge.

Left hand up to bad pinch, turn body opposite direction, stand and hit tiny ticked sloper w/ left foot.

R hand goes long to wide pinch - 1st crux

Left foot quickly finds good pocket (part of pinch).

Left hand to small, but deep, sidepull pocket. Stand up, switch feet and stab left foot out to ticked sloper.

Clip.

R hand moves to small undercling (pic). Left foot smears on nothing, body turns to right. Right foot up on ticked hold over the lip. Re-adjust right hand so thumb is in play on undercling.

L hand up and left to tiny pinch - 2nd crux.

Right foot steps through to large hold above left. Left foot move to big hold, adjust body position, move left foot again to small fin.

R hand, huge move (dyno) to positive pinch. - crux crux.

Immediately, since it's slightly off, stab large hold again with right foot to stop swing.

Skip this clip.

L hand moves to small sidepull. Quickly take two small steps in whatever order works, in order to get left foot on to large edge.

Stand and move L hand out left to small pinch, then immediately go again to large pinch. Switch feet on good edge.

R hand up to sidepull. Left foot up on to big stuff. Stand up to great rest.

40' of easier climbing to anchors.

Fast and Light

A new speed record has been set on the Eiger, perhaps the most famous north face in the world. Here's a quick account with some history. Good stuff.

Eiger Speed Solo

As for me, I'm in California and just scouted the course for Sandee's attempt at a Birthday Challenge this weekend. Oh-la-la. 37 miles or running, 9 wineries, tasting 37 wines (whatever they pour, no cheating). And that's just part. Toss in a few hours of swimming, some bouldering, and a ride up the Texan's favorite Tour de France training climb and we've got the makings of an epic adventure. Oh, and she's also thrown in a nutritional obsticle, 37 Peeps (those horrific pink bunnies you see in stores around Easter). Fast and light, indeed.


Check it out

Training Update: Man, March Sucked

Following two good months of base training with a recovery month is sorta missing the whole point of base training. Unfortunately, with the year's first test only three weeks away, that's where I'm at.

Not sure how worried about this I should be but I've been sick; a lot. For over a month now I haven't been 100%. I get well enough to do something and the relapse into whateverthehell this thing is I've got going on. I should be worried, I guess, but I suppose it's just some mutated virus that's killing people somewhere and I'm just making my immune system stronger. Um, yeah, that's it.

With a 50 mile running race three weeks away, it's probably not too good that I didn't manage 50 total miles in March. I probably had only 5 or 6 total runs, maybe, and even less real bike rides, and zero days of skiing. I walked a lot with Tuco, who seems surprised at my lack of being able to keep up with him, and worked a lot, though not very productively as illness always affects my brain's ability to function, too. All I did towards my year end goals was knock off a few 5.12s.

So, April should be interesting. I kind of like getting ready for events without enough prep time. I qualified for the US Team one year on three weeks of training, but that was for Olympic distance, not an ultra. Plus, I had a great base. Plus, I wasn't sick. Oh, well, new challenges are always interesting. That's how we learn. Maybe, at least, it will make for some good blogging since I haven't had much of that lately either.

All I can say to sum up is, in my best Austrian accent, I'll be back.

The Heart of the Game

As Final Four weekend is approaching, it seems like a good time to toss another sports movie recommendation out there. The Heart of the Game was just released on video. It's not a standard sports film at all. It's a documentary about a girl's high school basketball program, its eccentric coach, and one of their star players. That's all I'll say because anything you know about this film beforehand can only hurt your experience watching it. So don't listen to anyone or read any reviews. Just add it to your Netflix list or go rent it. It's one of those true stories that couldn't be written because people would think it was over the top.

I also just watched Eight Below because people kept telling me I had to (because of my dog). While I'm not generally a fan of obvious Disney-esque drama, if you like animals than this is not-to-be-missed. I will admit, I like dogs a lot more than most people. When dogs are creating mayhem at the crags and everyone is complaining, I'm the one loving it (more than my dog, who prefers things to be orderly in his old age). So with that qualifier, it's a flim that shouldn't be missed.

I realize that most of my blog readers aren't basketball people. I find this kind of funny; hardly any of my friends know or care about basketball one bit. It's like my coaching years were another lifetime. But if any of you give a crap about the game (stole that line from an ESPN columnist) you do not want to miss Saturday's games. The NCAA tourny lacked the upsets that everyone loves. Instead, we have, perhaps, that most intersting Final Four in years.

Though I realize that missing a Saturday outside in order to watch basketball is unlikely for most of you (I'm not even sure I will, but maybe I can ride so hard in the morning that I'm too tired to do anything else), I'll set the stage a little just in case.

First, there's a rematch of last year's title game between UCLA and Florida. Florida has all five of its started back and blew UCLA out last year. But UCLA is probably better. Their relentless swarming defense is allowing an average of 55 points in the tourny and they just shut down high flying Kansas--many experts pick to win it all--to a degree no one could have predicted. Florida, however, has crazy versatility and is, basically, really really good. They've been toying with teams, allowing them leads early on only to clamp down later when it matters, in a way only truly great teams are able to get away with. They should win the game.

But there is an intriguing story because they can't follow the same pattern they've played with. You can't spot UCLA a double digit lead because they're so hard to score against. If they come out flat, the Bruins will make them pay.

The next game, Georgetown vs. Ohio St is almost like an old school classic. Two teams with dominating 7 footers, OSU likes to run, G'Town plays at a crawl and has the most effiecient offense in the country. Both centers dominate games on defense. Greg Oden, OSU's freshman center, is im the Bill Russell/Bill Walton mode in that he doesn't need to score very much to completely take over a game. In the tourny, he's barely averaging double digits in scoring yet, when he's on the floor, his teams is crushing its opponents. But that's a big when, as his agressive style gets him into foul trouble and he's barely on the floor for half of each game. If Oden stays on the foor, he should be able to neutralize G'Town's biggest weapon, it's ability to use their size to dominate teams on the glass. If not, they're probably in trouble.

These are two of the most intriguing match-ups that I can recall in college basketball in many years. So if you're sick, injured, or just need a rest day consider checking it out.

Live Coverage of Bike Racing

4:25 PM Ain't it great
that a week-long stage race comes down to the final few kilometers? This is bike racing.

- From Velonews.com's live report

Now that OLN (Versus) had pretty much given up most of their coverage of cycling, you need to turn to the net for live updates. Sometimes, you can get live feeds from Europe. Eurosport always has video highlights and some commentary and you can usually find great coverage for big races, like the Giro. For the smaller and more locally based races, your choice is mainly cyclingnews.com and velonews.com.

For years, cyclingnews has been superior (maybe more of my opinion because I've written for them) but Velonews has no only closed the gap but is now blowing them away. Velo's live coverage of Parin-Nice has been outstanding, while it appears that cyclingnews is barely scraping up their leftovers. Hopefully, CN is just having a bad P-N experience and will be back on track. For the larger races, I like to read both of the live reports because you get different feedback and perspective. When they're on, both have interviews and such and have better coverage than you get on TV with the OLN crew. Sad, but true. If we could only ditch Al Trautwig and get somebody who knows something about bike racing...

Anyway, Paris-Nice has been a fantastic race. I just hope it's an indication of how the racing season is going to go.

Bracketology

I'll admit it, this year I've had less time to follow basketball than I have in a while. But as someone who spent more than half of their life living and dying--as both a player and coach--for the sport, I still have a bit of feel, not to mention nostalgia, for the game. And I follow it, at least in the news, pretty closely. I have to. My dad was a coach for most of his life. If I didn't it would put a huge damper in our conversations. Therefore, I'm upholding what I feel to be a responsibility and making my picks and observations for this year's NCAA tournament.

Last year, I said it was the most open dance in memory and that I hadn't a clue. Then I wound up picking pretty well:

2006 Picks

I even picked George Mason, well, sorta, with my 11 v 6 proclomation.

Coach's Corner

But this year is even crazier. Except for Florida. Maybe still Florida. There hasn't been one team that hasn't had a bad loss or lull or losing streak amongst all the favorites. Ohio St, the only team that's been close to consistant got slaughtered by Florida. UCLA had been consistant until they all of a sudden couldn't play defense in their last two games. Florida was playing horrible until they seemed to wake up and walk through their conference tourny.

Before I get to the picks here are two observations.

1. The play in game sucks. Jesus, these teams qualify for the "dance" but, in reality, get a showdown in some high school gym on the opening night of the NIT that has virtually zero fanfare. It's horrible, really. Does the committee really believe we need to squeeze in one more 7th place team. What kind of 7th place team even feels like they should be rewarded anyway? In most conferences, this is a long way from first place and pretty close to last.

2. If this tourney is really as "open" as all of the experts say, why is everyone picking nothing but 1 and 2 seeds, with a smattering of 3's (A&M)? And I mean everyone. I saw a rundown of "experts" picks and not only wasn't there a George Mason in a projection, but not one single LSU (4 seed last year) or UCLA and only a couple of Floridas. It's pretty much #1 vs #1 or #2 across the bored. Talk about boring. Sheesh. If the tournament actually played out like this people would stop watching.

Alrighty, then. Here we go:

West

I'd love to pick Niagra over Kansas because someday a 16 will beat a 1. Not this year though.

Nova over UK in a toss up, since the Cats aren't playing well.

Tech, I guess. This is one of the weirdest teams in the country but they'll win is the good Hokies show.

So Ill - deeefense!

VCU over Duke. Yep. I think Duke should even be a lower seed.

Wright St over Pitt. Why not? One of these brackets is going to be weird. Pitt just got worked over and WS is a sandbag 14. Didn't they just beat Butler (a 5)?

Zags over UI, and UCLA over Weber St.

Midwest:

Florida got an easy road in this bracket and will win round one.

Arizona over Purdue, though I'm not really buying all the talk over super talent. Something is missing with them.

ODU over Butler. The 'ol 12/5, since Butler's been cold lately and they rely so heavily on outside shooting.

Davidson... hmmm. No, Maryland. They were plaing well until recently and have had a great second half of the season.

Winthrop over ND. Actually, Winthrop got sorta sandbagged. This is a great match up.

Oregon

UNLV (Why do all the experts think they suck? Great coach, nice resume...)

Wisconsin

East

Kind of the group of death.

UNC

Marquette (MSU has one guy who can shoot)

SC

Texas, though I think it will be tougher than people think.

G. Wash, since Vandy's been in a slump and QW came out of nowhere this year.

WSU, maybe. Oral Roberts is tough. This should be great.

BC over Tech. Sorry, Coach. I can't see a team that loses to Kansas St by 20 in their last game making a run.

G'Town

South

Ohio St

Xavier over BYU, just to make the next round more fun.

LB St over Tenn (5 seniors sounds like a team from last year)

Albany over Virgnia (what kind of 4s and 5s are these and how did Virginia win the ACC?)

Stanford over Lousiville, since they get their point guard back.

A&M

Creighton over Nevada

Memphis, since they've been practicing beating up bad teams for months.

ROUND TWO

Kansas
Virginia Tech
VCU
UCLA in another nail biter with the Zags

Florida, though I WANT to pick Zona
Maryland. Sorry, no Mason this year.
Oregon, if just because they're so fun to watch
UNLV. Wisconsin lost their big man

Marquette. Yeah, yeah, I'm sick of hearing about NC's talent. They underacheived all year and will pay for it.
Texas, though this game will be great.
WSU. Everyone's forgetting what Dick Bennet used to do in the tourney.
G'Town

Ohio St. Those freshman are starting to get confident
LB St. Seniors, man.
A&M
Creighton, if they stay hot.

Elite Eight

Virginia Tech. Kansas has been strange all year. Tech is even stranger.
UCLA, who has been steady all year til the end

Florida. I dunno. I want to pick against them but...
Oregon. Woo hoo!

Texas, cause they're fun to watch.
G'Town in a grind it out nailbiter

Ohio St, who will play down and make this close
A&M. Everyone's trendy pick, probably because they've won a lot of close games, plus are almost playing at home.

Final Four

UCLA. Kind of boring pick but, hey, I went there. Howland is never an easy out.
Oregon, even though they have no business beating Fla. Billy ball tends to choke more than not.
Texas, if only because everyone is picking G'Town. Hey, they lost to Oregon at home, and Texas plays a lot like Oregon.
Ohio St. This seems like an upset at this point but Oden is going to become more and more dominent throughout the tourny.

Semis

Okay, I've got a 1,2,3, and 4. Not exactly George Mason but at least it's not all 1s except the home team, A&M.

In what should have been the Pac 10 championship, Oregon in a crazy game. It's tough to beat a good team three times and, so far, it's UCLA 2, Ducks zip.
Ohio St. Durant will win the Freshman stat line but Oden will dominate the game.

Ohio St over Oregon. I picked em at the start of the year. They're young and should be getting better all of the time. No team really has an answer for Oden. Well, maybe G'Town but they're getting shot down earlier.

So there you go. Bet the farm on it. Or not.

Calorie Restriction and Increased Lifespan

Here's a pretty interesting video about increasing your lifespan. More and more, we're hearing about how eating fewer calories can extend our lives.

Well, yeah!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3401/01.html

I mean, what is "calorie restriction" anyway? It means we eat too much but we're only eating based on amounts that we've come up with. So maybe it's just that our science has been a little off. Then there's that whole other issue of eating WAY too much and lying about it. We produce about 3,900 calories of food a day. The average person claims to be taking in 2,000 calories per day. That's a lot of missing food to be accounted for. Can you image how we would change to dynaimic of the planet if we only needed to produce 2,000 calories a day?

Finally Missed a Day of Training

So I've blown my goal of training every day this year. I got the flu, and after one day of attempting to moderately exercise to stay on track I was flat on my back feeling as though I'd gone 15 rounds with Macho Camacho.

"I'm an idiot," I'm thinking as I lay there.

Ya see, I know the physiology of what happens to the body when you're training and what happens when you're sick. Therefore, I had no business trying to do any sort of exercise once I was sure I was getting sick.

In it's most basic sense, what happens to your body when you exercise? Breakdown. Hence, the key to effective training is effective recovery.

What happens to your body when you're sick? Breakdown. The key to recovering quickly is focusing your immune system on the task at had. There are only two things that can help at this point, rest and nutrition.

Since illness causes breakdown, adding further breakdown to the equation will compromise an already stretched thin immune system leading to an almost certain exacerbation of the symptoms of the desease.

The variable is recovery. Anything you can do to increase this will decrease the effects of your illness. Your body recovers best during sleep. Far better than at any time while you're awake. Therefore, it makes sense that the more you can sleep when you're ill the quicker you'll recover.

At least I got back to my senses quickly. I spent 99% of the next 30 hours in bed and cracked my fever. The next day I spent back and forth between my computer--working--and bed. By the following afternoon, after two 'tube' days (A tube is a day when you don't leave your house. It's was named after a rather cylindrical dog we knew whose owner never took it anywhere, resulting in his tube-like physique), I was ready for a test hike.

A "test hike" is a fitness test. Towards the tail end of an illness you can often "blow it out" by doing some mild cardio exercise that increases your breathing and blood flow. It's important to pay attention to warning signs though because heading out too early can land you back in bed and regress your recovery.

Mine went well, thankfully, and this afternoon I should be back to training as normal. Not too bad considering a bunch of folks around here have been down for a full week with this bug.

Feb Training Update

More base training.

Unfortunately, my streak of training daily came to an end due to a quick bout with the flu. Ultimately, it was a decent month of adding to my base. I didn't do as many long days as I wanted, though I did manage to tick a few summits and a couple of ridge traverses. Bike riding was minimal. Climbing was dismal, though I managed to do a couple of 5.12 in my few days outside. "Only" 44 to go.

Since I had nowhere for Tuco to hang out, I axed the Red Hot 50 from my list and ran in support of Sandee instead. It was still a decent day out in perfect Moab conditions. Tuc and I did 12 miles. Then I added another 10-15 on my own running around looking for and photographing Sandee. All in all, it was a beautiful day in the desert.

The big stat to report is injuries: 0.

March has started well with my two biggest rides of the year. I'm sore, tired, and plan to get back on the bike again today. I'll be the guy out suffering on some mountain pass.

Cheerio,

Steve

Human Powered Iditarod

This looks like great fun!

Check out the reports.

The Hardest Endurance Events on the Planet

“Grown men also cry.”- Jeffery Lebowski

“You look like you need your ass kicked.”
- Some guy named Chuck, in a bar

There are times in life when hard just doesn’t cut it; when being miserable just isn’t quite enough; and when the travails of living require higher octane. This is a list for just those times.

After receiving some feedback, here's what I've come up with as the hardest recreational endurance events in the world. My definition of recreational is that anyone may enter. You may have to qualify but that standard isn't based on natural ability. This eliminates obvious events, like riding the Tour de France, but also things like age group world championships and races like Hawaii Ironman. I wanted to a list that anyone could think "I want to try that" and then, with enough motivation, have a chance to do it.

This is my first attempt and it comes to you in no particular order as to difficulty. And I think you’ll see that assigning difficulty in order would be a hard—and somewhat random—task. I've tried to encompass as many different disciplines as possible though with hard and endurance in the same sentence they all generally consist of some sort of human powered locomotion over various types of terrain.

All feedback is welcome.

Badwater 135 (or 146 since you SHOULD continue to the summit once you've come all this way) - From what I can tell, this is the world's must rugged foot race, mainly because it's held on what's supposed to be the hottest weekend of any particular year. In temps that nearly always exceed 120 degrees F, you run through the desert from the lowest point in the United States to the highest (in the lower 48). The entire race is on pavement, adding to its nastiness, since runners must stay on the white lines of paint to keep their shoes from melting. Oddly enough, this race is so popular that it's hard to get in, so get creative with your resume.

Race Across America - This event could also count as the most boring but no one will argue its grimness factor. Just sitting on your bike for 3,000 miles is daunting enough. But you've also got to pedal, and at a decent pace to not get kicked out. Add lack of sleep in extreme heat, cold, snow, rain, wind and then throw in the occasional tornado and you've got the perfect recipe for sheer misery. To give you an idea of what you’re up against, consider multiple-times winner John Howard’s statement “When I can sit on my trainer staring at a blank white wall for five hours straight, I’m just about ready for RAAM.” Anyone can enter but you've got to complete a qualifier of, at least, 400 miles within a respectable time of the winner.

The Norseman - Billing itself as the world's toughest triathlon, it's certainly hard to argue. While it’s only slightly longer than a traditional ironman, the course profile alone looks like an entirely different animal. This is before accounting for the fact that you’ll be swimming in sub 60 degree water and that the run is a rocky ascent (no trail from what I can tell) to the summit of a mountain.

Iditarod Trail Invitational - Dogs? We don't need no stinking dogs! This human powered version of the famously grueling Iditarod really needs no description. It's February in northern Alaska. It's dark. It's really really cold. And you get to ride your bike 1100 miles across the ice. Good times.

The Hardrock 100 - The trail runners Holy Grail, this 100 mile jaunt across the top of the Rockies is a shoo-in. Many life long ultra runners never finish this extreme test of will that features nearly 70,000' of elevation change over rock and snow at an average elevation of 11,000'. Numerous ultra record holder Karl Meltzer calls it "the hardest ultra on the planet."

Climbing Mount Everest – Sure, sure, K2 is heaps harder, as are many peaks, but none of those are available to the recreational athlete. But Everest, most notoriously, is. If you're rich or good at schmoozing pretty much anyone can get themselves a shot at standing on the world's rooftop. But cash and cocktail partying aside, you've still got to get yourself up the sucker and no guide, fixed rope, oxygen tanks or Sherpa can do it for you. Most that try don't make it. Those that do come down changed. And some don't come down at all. Commercial as it gets, high altitude roulette is still a dangerous game.

Primal Quest - According to Rebecca Rusch, one of the sports elders, adventure racing ain't what it used to be. "I'd say, for sure, the old style Raid Gauloises would be on this list. In those days even the organizers didn't know what to expect. It was truly adventurous. Now they run it in stages." Commercialism and a "safety first" attitude aside, AR is still a tough test of the limits we can endure. And none, currently, is tougher than the Primal Quest.

Crocodile Trophy - This 10 stage, 1400 kilometer mountain bike stage race through the Australian Outback is the antithesis to the Iditarod. It crosses Oz through what is famously some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. From rain drenching rain forest to the bleakest desert, the course profile doesn't begin to do this race justice. Most of the competitors are elite, if not pro, yet the most common quote heard throughout the race is "I expected it to be hard but completely underestimated it." Probably why the organizers have dubbed it "the toughest test on two wheels."

Patrouille des Glaciers – “Ski Mountaineering Racing is said to be one of the hardest sports in the world and the Swiss Patrouille des Glaciers is perhaps the hardest of them all,” according to the race web site. This tradition, which began in 1943, may not be as crazy as many modern sufferfests but pageantry and tradition should still count for a lot. And, as anyone who’s familiar with ski mountaineering can attest, it’s not a sport that attracts the meek. Sure, this race is a ‘mere’ 53k with an altitude change of 7,000 meters, but expect every step to be either laborious or scary.

The Nose in a day – What Everest is to the mountaineer, Yosemite’s El Capitan is to rock climbers. The Nose, a plumb line up the most famous rock face in the world, is not only the world’s most famous rock climb, it’s the most sought after and, arguably, the best. So much so that when asked about his future climbing goals, Touching the Void author Joe Simpson stated “to end ones career with having never climbed The Nose would be a travesty.” Style is everything when it comes to climbing and, these days, less than 24 hours is de rigueur for those aspirants of an elegant ascent. Yet it’s still not regularly achieved. The Nose in a day is a rite of passage for an “elite” recreational athlete.


Jungle Marathon – This 6-stage 200km race through the Amazon doesn’t promise that it’s one of the great epics of our time. But this could be a ploy that’s due to the anecdotal reputation of the area and the race organizers not wanting to scare away participants. I dunno, I sorta think “See piranhas, anacondas, the last vestiges of headhunting, and a completely unknown quantity of as-of-yet undiscovered diseases and human parasites!” has a nice ring to it. Regardless, you don’t have to scour the fine print to see that the challenge “isn’t the distance, but the terrain,” that “common sense” is a prerequisite, that your hammock “should include mosquito netting and a rain fly” and that one of the finishers wrote an entire book about the experience to get a notion that your not signing on to an episode of Survivor.

Yukon Arctic Ultra – Apparently, the Iditarod isn’t the toughest dog sled course because, according to the race web site, this one is tougher. Now you can try it via skis, bikes, foot or whateverthehell “skijorer”-ing is. Regardless, it’s supposed to be “the world’s coldest and toughest ultra”. All I know is that the course reminds me of a Jack London novel and those always sounded pretty dammed tough to me.

Everest Challenge – Billed as the hardest USCF stage race it likely also has the highest drop rate. It’s also a “fun” ride for those who want to test themselves on back to back rides that are both as hard as any stage of the Tour de France. This race climbs 30,000’ in its two stages but is even tougher than the elevation gain total would suggest. Hardly a meter of its 200 miles are flat and three of the six climbs are over 20 miles long, at grades up to 20%. Adding to this torture test is the knowledge that the hardest bit you’ll encounter is the final 10k of the last climb. It’s a Sword of Damocles that hangs over you the entire two days. Said former winner, Pam Schuster, “At the end of the first day you’re so wiped out that you think there is no possible way you could ever do it again, much less the next day. But, somehow, you find a way to make it.” Somehow, but not always. Each year many riders who’ve finished the first day don’t even bother with the second. “Mainly due to fear of injury,” adds one its victims, Aaron Baker. “Look up the word ‘suffer’ in the dictionary and I’m sure it will be defined ‘Everest Challenge.’”


Arctic Circle Ski Race - “The ultimate challenge to cross-country skiers” sure looks appealing upon perusing their web site. It features many stunning pics of beautiful landscapes and smiling well-dressed skiers sauntering along at what looks to be a quite civilized pace. It’s only 160km over three days, so why that bit about competitors featuring a “stable mentality”? But, wait a minute. Isn’t it dark most of the time in March in northern Greenland? And isn’t it cold? And if these people are all so happy then why are there quotes like this on page one? “I had to fight myself, my pain, cramps and exhaustion. I came here to win the race. Instead, I have won a personal victory.” Hmm.

Tour de Afrique – Is it a race, a tour, or an expedition? In reality it’s all three. Participants can choose between whether or not they’d like to race so, in theory, it’s can be leisurely and, hence, not all that tough. However, it’s a 96-stage bike ride (yes, 96) dissecting 9 countries in Africa so there is no denying its expedition status. And considering both the physical and political climates of the region there is little chance of not experiencing adventure on the grandest level. If you’re in the position of being able to take six months off and living out of a tent, this is probably one that you don’t want to miss.

La Ruta de los Conquistadores – This 3-day stage mountain bike race across Costa Rica appears, at least on paper, not to be anything special. Due to lack of paper, they hold the actual race on Costa Rica’s less stable terrain which has resulted in a tag line stating it’s “more than a race; it’s a personal journey.” According to US 24-hour mountain bike champion Rebecca Rusch, there’s not a lot of hyperbole in their claim. “The Trans Alp and Trans Rockies both have much harder looking profiles, but it’s my understanding that in those races you get to actually ride your bike. In La Ruta, you often have to carry your bike. And not just on the up hills. I can’t even begin to say how difficult it is but it features brutal mud, intense heat, tough cut off times…. I almost dropped out on the first day!”

The Barkley Marathons – This one’s hard to explain but first just consider the stats. It’s not a marathon as in “26.2”. It’s 100 miles, more or less, with nearly 55,000 feet of elevation gain, and it’s only had 6 people finish within its 60-hour time limit since 1986. Next, consider a format that includes no real trail and check points where you need to tear a page out of a book that’s personally assigned to you. Oh, and there are the briars to consider. Lots of ‘em. Everywhere. And rain. Usually lots of it, too. It’s quite common for sub 24-hour runners to not finish. Some don’t even find their way through one lap and retire “with legs that resemble uncooked hamburger”. One runner, on this eleventh attempt, is targeting two and a half laps as his goal for 2007. That’s about half way. There’s also a shorter “fun run” option. Hardly anybody finishes that option either. And it’s hard to get in. But you can. If you want to badly enough, you can find a way. You just have to really want to. Bad.

Victory and Why You Matter

We tend to feel insignificant when it comes to policy issues. This is why we shouldn't.

In the legal battle in San Diego county over climbing access the climbers have won round one. This was a purely grass roots victory and would not have happened without your input. It's only round one, with a lot of work left to do, but this is why you should stay informed and involved in issues that matter to you.

A quick recap:

The Forest Servce proposed bird closure rulings that would affect many climbing areas in San Diego county.

These are supported by local climber, guidebook author, and Access Fund representative Dave Kennedy.

Local climbers dig into the issue and find that some of the cliffs involved in the closures are not nesting habitats of the birds involved. San Diego activist Jeff Brown aided by his wife, wildlife biologist Keli Balo, publish fliers calling for community support.

Kennedy counters, calling for commnunity acceptance. The Access Fund, the only national organization for climbing access, supports Kennedy initially.

Brown finds that the proposed closures are not only sloppy but illegal. Furthermore, he finds evidence that Kennedy "swapped" crags with the USFS, essentially in order to keep "his" cliff open in exchange for closing others. None of these actions have anything to do with birds. Furthermore, Kennedy--in his latest guide--stated various crags were closed and that offenders could be fined $10,000, a complete fabrication.

A letter writing campaign overloads the USFS server and crashes it.

Brown goes on the local PBS station in a debate over the issue.

Kennedy resigns that day.

The Access Fund completely revises its position.

Access Fund revised letter to USFS

The USFS tables the proposed closures and is re-evaluating the situation in an open dialog with the Access Fund, which is being led by a local climber collective.

A web site is being built but, for now, find the latest access information at:

http://www.birthdaychallenge.com/access.html

Gym Jones

At the climbing gym the other night, a friend asked if I knew Mark Twight and sent my to his training facility's page:

Gym Jones

Twight is famously a completely different in person than in his musings. So much so, in fact, that one of his climbing partners stated, after reading an account of an epic they'd shared, "That's not the same person I was on the mountain with."

At any rate, this gym looks intriguing when you get past all of the macho horseshit on the front page. Now, if the guys are actually this serious it would suck. I mean, c'mon, it's just training. But I'll bet, like Twight is when you meet him in person, they're just some regualar folks who like to get after it a little bit.

Anyway, prior to heading over the "wait on the doorstep" for acceptance, I need to do a little homework. First off, I'm not near prime pull-up shape. But since the company I work for just happens to have a perfect solution to this (P90X, a program I helped create that's essentially the home version of Gym Jones), that shouldn't take too long.

Furthermore, I'd like to smoke a few of their diciples PR's before "appying", so I thought I'd do a test run on Grandeur's west ridge to see what I was up against.

Twight's 56 minutes seemed pretty fast. Given its winter and that the trail would be a combination of slush and snow, onsighting it didn't seem prudent. Plus, if it was a recon trip the Rat could come. So instead of Twight's PR, we went in search of that fastest winter onsight ascent by a 12-year-old Malamute mix.

The route was gorgeous but a little tendious. I can see why Twight and his masocistic tendencies would like it. It's like an hour long stairmast session at the higest level. The trail actually was in decent shape, for the most part, and in spite of a couple of water stops to make sure the little guy was doin' okay, we were still with in striking distance of 56 m, or at least breaking an hour, when we hit the summit ridge and just a bit o' snow. While fun, the ensuing post holing was slow going. We hit the summit at 68 minutes.

Tuco was awesome. On our first ascent of Grandeur, via an easier line, I had someone take out pic because "he probably doesn't have too many summits left in him." Well, we've nailed quite a few since then and his fitness is fine. He's limping less than he was last summer, for sure, and he's taking far less Rimadyl.

On the way home I though about going after Twight's 36.42 on Beachon Hill. Unfortunately, I didn't know where it was. When calls to a few friends proved fruitless, I joined my friend Dustin for a ride up Little Mountain instead and got smoked so bad that I guess Grandeur had taken a bit of zip out of my legs, even at the Rat's pace.

All in all, a pretty decent training day.

Trust Your Local Pharmaceutical Company

I really see no need for comment. More fun from Big Pharma, courtesy of Dr. Jay Rowen, MD.

Inventing a Disease

You've got to admire the chutzpah of the marketers at pharmaceutical giant Glaxo-SmithKline PLC. They've figured out how to increase sales for one of their most popular drugs by more than $300 million a year. All they had to do was invent a disease for it to treat.

The name of the drug is Requip. It works by regulating the brain chemical dopamine, which is responsible for controlling body movements. It's effective enough that it has become the drug of choice for doctors treating patients with Parkinson's disease.

Then someone at Glaxo had an "ah-ha!" moment. There are millions more people who suffer from leg twitches at night than Parkinson's. What if Requip became the drug of choice for them? Only problem was, "leg twitches" isn't a disease. So HMOs and insurance companies won't pay for prescriptions to treat it.

The wizards at Glaxo decided on a three-step campaign to change all that. First, they spent millions of dollars to educate the medical profession about a new disease. But not "leg twitches." No, "restless leg syndrome" sounds much more serious. And "syndrome" is almost the same thing as "disease," isn't it? Glaxo's ads in medical journals started carrying the tagline, "GlaxoSmithKline: A Leader in RLS Research."

Next, Glaxo hired dozens of "sleep-disorder specialists" to go around the country, pitching local doctors about the seriousness of RLS and the wonders Requip could work in treating it. They invited the docs to lavish meals at country clubs and four-star restaurants, with Glaxo picking up the tab. They attended by the hundreds.

Finally, Glaxo spent millions more on TV ads aimed directly at consumers, to tell them that their pain has a name - and a drug to help treat it. Before you could say "gimme some of them pills," Glaxo's sales of Requip increased by more than $300 million a year. As they say, that ain't hay.

But before you rush off to your doctor and ask him to prescribe a bottle or two of Requip for you, here's a suggestion from one of my favorite health writers. Dr. Robert Rowen, editor of Second Opinion newsletter (www.secondopinionnewsletter.com), says if you're bothered by leg twitches at night, chances are you're suffering from a potassium deficiency.

He suggests eating a banana or two before you go to bed. Or get a bottle of potassium supplements from your local health food store. You could solve your problem without spending a fortune … or taking a fancy new drug with who-knows-what side effects.

New Diet Pill

This goes into the Friday dump, since that's pretty much were it belongs:

Diet Pill okay'd by FDA

Funny thing is, you don't even have to read the fine print. Right up front they say it only works with diet and exercise, and if you were eating well and exercising you wouldn't need it. They're also saying it could cost $60 a month. This is equal to a gym membership, payments on a super nice bike, a bushel of fruits and veggies or, hell, a round of drinks for you friends as a reward for all those improvements in diet and exercise you've been making since you decided to just do that part of the equation and skip to drug.

Also, if this supplement sounds interesting to you, consider trying chitosan first. It's cheaper and, more or less, does the same thing with less gastric stress. I've seen it be effective in certain circumstances but, in general, it's no major player in ones fitness transformation.

The Hardest Endurance Events on the Planet

After receiving some feedback, here's what I've come up with as the hardest recreational endurance events in the world. My definition of recreational is that anyone may enter. You may have to qualify but that standard isn't based on natural ability. This eliminates obvious stuff, like riding the Tour de France but also things like age group world championships and races like Hawaii Ironman. I wanted to make a list that anyone reading could think "I want to try that" and then, with enough motivation, have a chance to do it.

This list is my first attempt and in no particular order as to difficulty. I've tried to encompass as many different diciplines as possible. All feedback is welcome.

Badwater 135 (or 146 since you SHOULD continue to the summit once you've come all this way) - From what I can tell, this is the world's must rugged foot race, mainly because it's held on what's supposed to be the hottest weekend of any particular year. In temps that nearly always exceed 120 degrees F, you run through the desert from the lowest point in the United States to the highest (in the lower 48). The entire race is on pavement, adding to its nastiness, since runners must stay on the white lines of paint to keep their shoes from melting. Oddly enough, this race is popular enough that it's hard to get in, so get creative with your resume.

Race Across America - This could also count as the most boring but I don't think anyone could argue its gruel factor. Just sitting on your bike for this long is daunting enough. But you've also got to pedal, and at a decent pace to stay in the race. Add lack of sleep in extreme heat, cold, snow, rain, wind and then throw in the occasional tornado and you've got the perfect recipe for sheer misery. Anyone can enter but you've got to complete a qualifier of, at least, 400 miles within a respectable time of the winner.

The Norseman - Billing itself as the world's toughest triathlon, it's certainly hard to argue. Only slightly longer than a traditional ironman, the course profile alone looks ridiculous. This is before being told that the swim is in 60 degree water and the run is a rocky ascent (no trail from what I can tell) to the summit of a mountain.

Iditarod Trail Invitational - Dogs? We don't need no stinking dogs! This human powered version of the famously miserable Iditarod really needs no description. It's Febuary in northern Alaska. It's dark. It's really really cold. And you get to ride your bike 1100 miles accross the ice. Good times.

The Hardrock 100 - The trail runners holy grail, this 100 mile jaunt across the top of the Rockies is a shoo-in to make the list. Many life long ulra runners never finish this extreme test of will that features nearly 70,000' of elevation change over rock and snow at an average of 11,000'. Record holder Karl Melzer calls it "the hardest ultra on the planet."

Climbing Mount Everest - Sure sure, K2 is heaps harder, as are many peaks, but none of those are available to the recreational athlete. But Everest, most famously, now is. If you're rich or good at schmoozing pretty much anyone can get themselves a shot at standing on the world's rooftop. But cash and cocktail partying aside, you've still got to get yourself up the sucker and no guide, fixed rope, oxygen tanks or Sherpa can do it for you. Most that try don't make it. Those that do come down changed. And some don't come down at all. Commercial as it gets, high altitude roulette is still a dangerous game.

Primal Quest - According to Rebecca Rusch, one of the sports elders, adventure racing ain't what it used to be. "I'd say, for sure, the old style Raid Galuouse would be on this list. In those days even the organizers didn't know what to expect. It was truly adventurous." But commercialism and a "safety first" attitude aside, AR is still a tough test of the limits we can endure. And none, currently, is tougher than the Primal Quest.

Crocodile Trophy - This 10 stage, 1400 kilometer stage race through the Austrailian Outback is the antithesis to the Iditarod race. The race crosses Oz through what is famously some of the most inhospitible terrain in the world. From rain drenching rain forest to the bleakest desert, the course profile doesn't begin to do this race justice. Most of the competitors are elite, if not pro, yet the most common quote heard throughout the race is "I expected it to be hard but completely underestimated it." Probably why the organizers have dubbed it "the toughest test on two wheels."

Groundhog Day

So some rodent named Phil doesn't see his shadow (nice 'stache, btw) and, voila, it's instantly spring around here. I'm surprised the Bush administration hasn't blamed Phil and his kind for global warming and declared war on groundhogs.

Regardless of our impending demise, folks around these parts seem to be enjoying it. With all the shorts and tank top being sported, you'd think it was summer and not in the high 40s. It even inspired me to tick the year's first 5.12, complete my first ridge traverse, take my first road ride, and wash the salt off of my car (that's right, it's black).

Alas, there is snow in the forecast. So I'd better wrap it up and get out there while I can.

The State of Cycling

Oh, dear.

From an article in Velo News:

Sadly, Hamilton's last day as a pro serves as a painful reminder of just what the sport has suffered through in recent years. That day's stage was won by Roberto Heras (stripped of the 2005 Vuelta title and suspended for EPO), who knocked Floyd Landis (facing the loss of the 2006 Tour de France title on a testosterone charge) out of the leader's jersey. Finishing second that day was Santiago Perez (suspended for blood doping), who finished ahead of third-placed Francisco Mancebo (named in Operación Puerto and ejected from the 2006 Tour).

Great Article on Doping

For your Monday morning reading pleasure (I mean, what else are you going to do at work?) This is an interesting piece about an aging recreational cyclist who tests modern doping procedures. It ties in well to blog I wrote last month on doping in sports and some of the other stuff from the tour. One thing to consider is that this guy is, probably, in his late 40s and the performance boosting difference between him and someone in there physical prime is huge. He's saying 10 to 15% (based on feel), whereas it's much less for someone younger with higher hormonal levels. Then there are the yahoos from Extreme Bodybuilding who chide his regement ("What are you, afraid to get strong?") These knuckleheads have and always will exist. They might, and I mean MAY, get more performance out of themselves but are also the ones getting themselves dead.

This is long, but if you're interested in performance-enhaning doping it's worth you time. Enjoy!

Drug Test