Training Update 3-31-08

Snow, snow, snow. Snow seriously cramped my training last week. We had three snows last week mostly on days where I had only a couple hours to ride. They weren't bad, just a light dusting, but the cloud cover kept the temps down making it miserable. The few days it didn't snow the temps got up to the mid 60's which was great except for the 45 mph pre-frontal winds ahead of the next storm. Spring in Colorado - If you don't like the weather just wait and hour!!

I got out 3 times for a total of about 100 miles, one short 15 mile ride, one long 45 mile 4.5 hour ride battling wind the entire time, and one 35 mile climbing ride from our house to the top of Flagstaff. The top of Flagstaff is a little too steep for my plan of incremental knee rehabilitation, it's been hurting ever since. I think I'm going to keep my climbing to lower Flagstaff and Left Hand Canyon for the time being.

Rocks in Albuquerque

Albuquerque was my last random destination last week. My co-worker Corey and I met up with my old friend Nischom. After a buritto stop we headed to the foothills to enjoy the sunset and dinner on the rocks. Rocks are plentiful in Albuquerque and we enjoyed lots of climbing, surfing and jumping in the light of the setting sun. I went to high school with Nischom and even though I saw him last month, it was good to catch up and take some pictures.

Here's Nischom and Corey posing for the Shadow Pic (seen Here) in my previous post. They aren't a couple and didn't even know each other before he picked us up at the hotel. It was a little weird asking them to hold hands, but I needed them to in order to get the shadows right. The shadow didn't look right with them holding hands so I made it even more akward by making them hold each others arms and knees!

Rock Jumping (Nischom has much nicer form!)

The sunset was spectacular, one of those ones that can only be found in the SouthWest. It was a good HDR opportunity.

Rocks and Cacti

HDR Sunset vs. Normal Sunset

Through HDR the foreground is exposed, but at the expense of contrast with the horizon. I think the normal sunset is the better pic.

Albuquerque Shadows

Albuquerque was my next random destination last week, and I did happen to bring a real camera. Here are a few shadow pics I took there. I'll do a proper post with a story and more pics tomorrow...

Vulcan

My travels this week were diverse although random. I thought I'd share a couple posts about the things I happen to encounter while visiting such places. I didn't bring my camera on this trip so you'll have to live with poor quality cell phone pics. Vulcan is the Roman god of fire and forge. This 56 foot statue located in Birmingham was originally built in 1904 for the St. Louis worlds fair. You can learn more about Birmingham's Vulcan Here.

Sadly, my journey to the Vulcan was more out of necessity than curiosity. My day in Birmingham was started out great. After sleeping in all morning, I headed downtown for a large breakfast of whole wheat crepes and eggs at the Original Pancake House. I chased breakfast with a double shot of espresso, the perfect remedy to clear my morning fog. The humid southern air was full of the smells of spring, it was just too nice out to go back to my hotel.

I decided to go for a walk up a nearby ridge and take in the morning. About half way up the steep hill I started feeling the beginnings of potentially bad situation. I was suddenly the victim of my own poor planning. Exercise was the perfect catalyst to activate the combination of sleeping late, a heavy brand-laden breakfast, and strong caffeine on my digestive system. By the top of the ridge the situation was critical. I was in dire need of a restroom. My only bathroom options were a known option in a dodgy McDonald's or gamble and hope the Vulcan would offer better facilities. It was a brutal hike up to the top of the hill where the statue was perched. As I struggled with every painful, bloated step towards relief I could thought I caught a glimpse of pity in Vulcan's steel face. I thought to myself, even Roman Gods must find themselves in strange lands without a restroom from time to time. Alas, at the base of the statue my gamble paid off. The Vulcan rewarded my efforts with a clean, refreshing, and sanitary restroom, I could not have asked for anything more...

Relieved, I took in Vulcan Park and mingled among the tourists who had come to visit Birmingham's God of steel for more noble reasons.

Training Update 3-24-08

Last week was a wash as far as training goes. I only managed to get on the bike 3 times covering 96 miles. I didn't want to risk getting sick again so I opted to catch up on sleep instead of riding a couple times. I managed a short ride before work on Wed followed by a long 4 hour ride on Thurs with a little bit of climbing. Yesterday ended up being another short climbing ride preceded by an hilarious train wreck that all started with a faulty valve adapter.

I scored a pair of Mavic Cosimic Carbones wheels off craigslist last year. I have no business riding Cosimc Carbones. They are way above my riding and price level, but I got them for the same price as a pair of entry level road wheels! Their deep dish aerodynamic profile gains me 1 to 2 gears at speed in the flats, but at the cost of needing a tube with a very long valve stem. I have some adapters that screw on so I can use normal tubes, but for some reason both stopped working yesterday morning preventing me from putting air in a flat rear tire. I tried for an hour to figure out why and eventually gave up. The mechanic at the bike shop couldn't figure it out either, but luckily I was able to pick up some long stemmed tubes. After burning almost 2 hours of the 3 I had to ride, Jo and I decided to do a quick climb up Flagstaff road in Boulder.

The climb up Flagstaff was great. The air was filled with smells of spring in Colorado, a mix of pine needles, sage, snow, and sandstone. The collision between the warm sun and crisp mountain air filled was invigorating. I was able to put my time shortage frustration and enjoy the moment and be grateful to ride with my girlfriend. By the top I was getting short on time so we split up and hammered the descent. It was super fun, but sand and melting snow made the hairpin turns precarious. I passed a half dozen cars on the way down. On the last turn of the hill I felt the ominous slack in the rear end that could only mean a flat tire. I found a piece of glass embedded in a 1/2 inch gash in my rear tire. I made my time crunch even worse yet I blowing up my spare by over zealously inflating it too quickly. Novice mistake! Argh. Luckily Jo came to the rescue and buried herself, riding hard to get to the truck, drive up and rescue me so I could get to work on time.

Trees in the Clouds

I took a couple HDR shots on our hike after I decided not to hang glide on Sunday. They are by no means great photography, but using HDR you can see some color in the trees as cloudbase descended on us. You can see snow flakes landing on my lens in the second one.

Training Update 3-17-08

Last week I rode 115 miles over 2 short rides in the flats around Boulder, 1 climbing ride up Lefthand Canyon (1700 feet of climbing), and 1 long ride in the flats up to Hygiene and back. Based on past years experience I would call my training so far this year pathetic, but I'm trying to approach things differently. I'm trying not to repeat past mistakes be very incremental about building up riding intensity and duration to try to limit inflammation in my left knee. I'm also trying to be disciplined in my periodization and keep my heart rate at base miles levels. For me that's a maximum pulse of 150. That means I have to ride comically slow on climbs and have to let it go when anyone attacks me.

First Hang Glide 2008 - DEFCON 2

There have been quite a few soaring days in Colorado this year, and as usual I miss them either due to not checking the forecast until its too late or working. Today I checked the forecast early and made plans to fly after work. It looked like there would be a good soaring window ahead of a cold front packing a late winter snow storm. After getting off work and spending way too long trying to sell Jo's Saturn to an overly meticulous buyer we loaded up and headed to Golden.

Before I go any further I should explain my title. DEFCON levels are a measure of readiness activation for the armed services, 5 being the least and 1 being the most. The hang gliding community has spoofed DEFCON as slang for how motivated a pilot is by conditions to fly. They are reversed, 1 being the least ready to fly 5 being the most. The following DEFCON levels have been debated by hang glider pilots while waiting on launches for years for favorable conditions.

DEFCON 1 - Driving to Launch Site

DEFCON 2 - Hiking Glider to Launch
DEFCON 3 - Setting Up Glider

DEFCON 4 - Hooking In

DEFCON 5 - Taking Position on Launch

Today Jo and I made it to DEFCON 2. We managed to make to Lookout Mountain at about 2:30pm. As we drove up we counted 8 paragliders and 1 hang glider in the air and two hang gliders which had already landed. At launch, I chatted with a couple other pilots for a condition report and quickly unloaded the glider while wrangling Molly on the leash until we were safely away from the road. Jo wrangled Diogee and carried my harness. After a quick hike up I soaked in the conditions. They weren't good. Cloudbase was dropping and the wind was shifting from North East to North West. The cold front was upon us. After about 15 minutes of resting, decision making, and hand stands I decided not to fly.

I probably have could have set up in time to get off before it turned completely North West, but I would have had to glide straight to the Miner's Field LZ. It was too North in the Valley to land in the normal LZ. I decided rather than have my first flight of the year involve a hectic set up followed by trying launch before the wind turned completely North West and then a hectic lee-side sledder straight to the LZ, I'd just bag it and enjoy a hike with Jo and the dogs.

As Jo and I hiked up to the top of Lookout Mountain the wind shifted North West and the snow started. It didn't take long for cloudbase to drop and we soon found ourselves with our heads in the clouds.

It was good fun, maybe next time I'll at least make it DEFCON 3!

Colorado Spring M Coupe Drive

Including both variants there were only 2870 BMW M C0upes produced for the North American market. I know of about 10 in Colorado, of which I know 6 of the owners to some degree. Chris in Ft. Collins, who imported one from San Diego, is the newest M Coupe on that list. All winter long my friend Mike and I have been itching for a window of nice weather to get our M Coupes out for a drive. Meeting up with Chris to check out his new M Coupe for was the perfect excuse to make that happen. I did a drive with Mike last year and it was one of the funnest drives I've done with the car. Unfortunately, Chris couldn't make it, but we posted an invitation on a local BMW board and a few other locals came out.

Our route took us through the continuously twisting canyon roads in the foothill of Colorado's Front Range. We met at the mouth of Coal Creek Canyon and headed West to the Peak to Peak Highway. From there we Headed North through Nederland accidentally parading our cars through the Frozen Dead Guy Festival, with a photo stop at Barker Meadow Reservoir. After the photo stop we continued North to Ward for lunch at the Mill Site Inn. After lunch we descended back to the flat lands down Left Hand Canyon finally parting ways in North Boulder. The route had a great diversity of road types including tight switchbacks, high speed sweeping turns, long straight sections, constantly changing elevation, and beautiful scenery throughout. It was a little early in the year and there was still deep snow in the mountains resulting in some residual sand on the roads at time.

It was a great group of people, our caravan included 2 M Coupes, 2 M3's, an E30 Race Car, a 5 series, a Subaru WRX, and a Lincoln LS! I'll let the pictures excessive number of pictures below tell the rest of the story.

Meeting Up

Coal Creek Canyon

Barker Meadow Reservoir Photo Shoot

HDR Shots

Peak to Peak Highway

Pit Stop

Left Hand Canyon

And if this wasn't enough pics you can see more Here.

Boeing 747 Videos

Among other things, to work in the secure area of an airport you have to take a security badge class. It usually involves an hour long computer video course followed by test questions. A couple years ago the administrative assistant who filled out my paper work accidentally signed me up to take an extra class that gave me driving privileges on the ramp areas. I protested to the badging officer that I didn't need those privileges and didn't want to take the extra class. He would hear none of it and made me take the driving class to get my badge. One of the videos in the class was a demonstration of what would happen if you drove behind a jet engine at power. They used an old operations truck at San Francisco International Airport behind an unidentified United Airlines Jet (not a 747) . The video was so cool I purposely got the test question wrong a couple times so I could see the video over and over. I stumbled across it on You Tube today -here it is:



I found my way the above video after watching a Top Gear episode where they do the same thing with a Virgin 747.



Which led me to this video of a steep banking South African Airways 747 at an airshow.



Which led me to this super shortfield 747 takeoff video in Bournemouth Airport, UK.



Which led me to this video of a KLM 747 landing at St. Martins. The beach on St. Martins runway end is known for low flying aircraft!



Which led me to this video of flight deck footage from another KLM landing at St. Martins.



The author / pilot of the above video had a very informative description of how a 747 approach should be flown:

On an approach on instruments a B747 should cross the runway threshold (= the piano keys) with the main wheels at ± 35 ft above threshold. The 747 is so big that at that point the altitude of the cockpit is 35 ft higher, so the cockpit is at ± 70 ft when main wheels cross the threshold.
On a visual approach, as is the case here at St.Maarten, we have to have some more margin. Normally the pilot aims to see the runway threshold disappear under the nose at 80 ft (mind you, the main wheels are at that moment still NOT above the threshold) to have sufficient main wheel clearance.
If you look at the video and notice the altitude callouts, you see the threshold disappear under the nose at the call 50, so actually I am a bit too low in stead of too high. (Actually I am only too low for a visual approach. If you look at my landing at JFK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4YoXy... you will see that I cross the threshold also at 50 ft, which is normal on an instrument approach. Note: the automatic altitude callouts you hear on this video are Radio Altimeter altitudes. The Radio Alt is zero when the gear is on the ground with struts extended.)
Now, there are quite some viewers who think we landed too far on the runway. What follows from earlier explanation is this:
We approach a runway at a three degrees approach angle. If main wheels cross the threshold at the correct altitude, the main wheels will hit the runway at approx 900ft (300m) behind the threshold, that is, if you don't flare the airplane. If you look again at the video and wait till you hear 50,40,30,20,10 and see the solid white markers, they are at 900ft behind the threshold and the plane touches down right behind them, because I did flare the airplane. (Passengers seem to hate hard landings!!)
THIS IS THE NORMAL TOUCHDOWN POINT FOR A B747.
The FCTM(=Flight Crew Training Manual) from Boeing says: flare distance is approx 300 to 600mtr (=900 to 1800ft) beyond the threshold.

The final video is a bone-chilling aborted takeoff gone wrong. I know no details of this accident other than it was a cargo plane not a passenger plane.

Savannah Cats

So I was reading Cat Fancy Magazine today... Yes I read Cat Fancy Magazine, in fact I am a premier subscriber - it's my favorite magazine! Okay, I don't really have a subscription to Cat Fancy Magazine, but I did happen to find myself thumbing through one today where I came across an add featuring a Savannah Cat.




I'm inherently a cat person, although I love the companionship, loyalty, and ability to travel that dogs offer. I'm not one to have a dog just to have a dog. I prefer having a dog as a sidekick that can adventure with me. Molly fits that bill perfectly and although the rest of the pack may have less experience they have all done well on various adventures and are awesome dogs that I have grown to love. Cats, on the other hand, I dig just to have around. They are independent yet affectionate and relatively low maintenance. A Savannah Cat sounds like the perfect cross between these two extremes.


Savannah Cats are a crossbreed between a domestic cat and the wild African Serval Cat. They are huge, standing up to 20" tall, 30" long and can weigh up to 30 pounds! Their temperament has been described more like that of dogs than cats, most notably due to their extreme loyalty to their owners. Their wild influence makes them incredibly athletic compared to a domestic house cat. They have been known to jump over 8 feet from a standstill. They are also incredibly smart. Owners have to "cat-proof" their cabinets and outside doors because the cats have been known to figure out how to open both. Odder still are Savannah Cat's love water, they swim, jump in the shower, and have been known to play in their water bowl. Savannah Cats are also easily leash trained and due to their high athletic level usually enjoy going on walks. The pictures I saw in the magazine today are Here, where you can really see how big they are in comparison to a normal Cat. You can also learn more about Savannah cats Here.










Right about now your thinking "As if he doesn't have enough animals, now Alex is going to run out and get a Savannah Cat!" Well as amazed as I am by them, I'm not going to do that. Even if I could afford or would ever spend $7000 to $12000 (you read that right!) on a pet. And even if I could some how selfishly allow myself to get another animal at the expense of our existing ones, I still wouldn't do it. Thanks to Jo's influence, I just don't believe in anything other than adopting a dog or cat. There are just too many out there in need of a good home to morally allow myself to ever consider any other option. That said, if in the far distant future Jo and I find ourselves with fewer dogs and cats and happen to come across a Savannah Cat at the local feline rescue I'll be all over it!

A Better Way to Walk the Dog

There are certain things in our Universe that when combined form a sum much greater than the parts. These two are perfect marriage of fun and function.

Why oh why didn't I do this sooner? Why?? Diogee is a Healer mix and is the smartest and most energetic dog of the pack. He is sensitive to other dogs, so the dog park or open space isn't a great option for him because he can't always run freely. The longboard is the perfect solution to give him a chance to stretch his legs and me a chance to carve. Superior is a planned community of which most aspects disgust me thoroughly, but it does have lots of well maintained bike paths which are perfect to longboard on. Diogee and I can go any number of routes in the maze of bike paths and neighborhood streets.

When we first start our skate Diogee pulls hard and with a purpose so I try to pace him so he'll last for the duration of the ride. He quickly figured out to stay out off the front of the board and my signals on which way to turn. I give him a little leash tension in the direction I want to go and he leads me that way.

I love the feeling of carving down the path and the shocked looks of the soccer moms as we cut across the street in front of them. I'm sure I've set a bad example for the kids in the neighborhood, but that's half the fun. The biggest problem I have is going too fast. It's downright scary at times and the only way I know how to slow down is to plant my foot on the pavement in short bursts. I've had to bail into the grass a couple times because the foot technique didn't work, but I'm learning. I always hold the leash with an open hand so I can release Diogee instantly in the event I crash, I wouldn't want to take him down with me.

We average about 10mph, it's a good speed for him and I make sure to slow the pace at times so he can sniff and mark along the path. At 10 mph with stops we cover about 3 miles in 20 minutes. It's a great and efficient work out for him and a fun pastime of my youth for me. What a perfect way to walk the dog!

Training Update:

I was pretty wasted from yesterday's ride and it was cold and snowing today. I decided to do a recovery ride and spun in the gym for 45 minutes at a constant heart rate of 145 beats per minute. I hate spinning indoors and 45 minutes seemed like an eternity, luckily I had a couple Simpson's episodes downloaded on my Ipod to keep me entertained!