Christmas Training

Well it's the middle of Winter Break and I am full on into training! Its Base 2 period so long hours in the saddle, lots of climbing, and some long tempo intervals. Today was one of the those intervals; it sucks doing them up in the Bay Area, and without my cycling computer. Oh well.

Good three hour ride scheduled for tomorrow, and some more long rides Christmas and the weekend. Monday through Wed is the training camp I've been organizing. Should be crazy hard, and a ton of fun! Great way to end my training period. Then on to January and Base 3 with weekend practice crits and long, long hours on the bike. Going to be tough to fit it all in with senior project, but I'm sure it will pay off as soon as racing starts in Feb.

Oh and I joined SLO Nexus officially. Great to have a team to race with over the summer. Hope I make it to Cat 3 by the end of the summer so I can race with a good team when I move back up to the Bay Area after the school and the summer.

Well till my next training update, or any other type of post ;-)

-TJ

Thanksgiving Week

Well it's the beginning of Thanksgiving week and it's looking to be a good one. Took a "forced" recovery day today from training (btw I'm going to start giving training updates since I am well on my way to getting ready for the season). Ran some errands instead of training and burned some time with Danny and Eric going to The Sanctuary, hitting golf balls at Sports Authority, and eating some bomb sushi at Shins. Spent the rest of the day pretty much just wasting time but I eventually got around to combining our group history essay.

I took the car into the shop for an oil change and to check out the smell thats been there for the last two months or so. Guess what it was? A fuel leak at the fuel filter... agh! Could have caught fire at anytime the guy told me. That at least explains the 50% drop in my gas mileage during the last tank.

So what about the rest of the week? Well I think this is going to be my biggest training volume week yet for me. I have 16 hours of riding/workouts planned... pretty intense! Last week I did 14.5 pretty well, including a 5 hour ride, so 16 doesn't sound too bad. I'm a little worried about how to get the time/miles in because I'm going back home and there aren't a lot of long flat rides. There are epic mountains back home, more so then SLO, but I'm still trying to stay on flats to just keep building up my endurance. I'll probably jump on some easy climbs to mix things up a bit, but nothing super epic.

Well I'll try to put in a training update later this week. Until then,

TJ

Its been a While... again

Sorry about the long delay. I'm sure the 0 people reading the blog were sad :(. So I'll try and keep things more updated in the future. One of my friends from high school is blogging again so I'll probably try and stay up with it more regularly.

Well until then,

TJ

Flock Test

So I was on Newsvine this evening and clicked over to the "Newsvine Tools" and found a link to Flock. Its a newish (first I've seen of it) browser based on Mozilla Firefox. Its cool because it puts everything in one place: facebook, blogging, twitter, gmail, and delicious (this post is actually written with it!). Its awesome, so yeah I'm definitely playing a ton with it! So check it out!

-TJ

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The National Parks: America's Best Idea

Hey just a quick plug! Check out the new Ken Burn's documentary for free at http://www.pbs.org. Its a great series with beautiful cinematography.

-TJ

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Olberman Goes...

Just watch, its worth it! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/32515009#32515009

-TJ

Another Football Weekend

Well its Monday again, which means the football weekend is over. Unfortunately, this weekend was not as good as the last.

Cal Poly
I went to the Cal Poly vs San Jose State game on Saturday. It was the first time I had seen the Mustangs in action under the new head coach. What did I see? I saw a young, unexperienced offense, limited to only a few different plays in a double (or triple I'm not sure) option offense. It wasn't big, it wasn't strong, it wasn't all that fast, and it wasn't scary at all. The option offense did allow for some good play action passes, but the Mustang quarterback could not seem to through anywhere near the wide open receivers.

The defense on the other hand was awesome. Great coverage on receivers as well as getting good pressure on the quarterback. The front seven also had a great game against the run, although missed tackles were a plenty.

Overall, I think it will be a tough year, but the team will grow and get better as the season moves along.

The Niners
One sentence: Brett Farve is a *BLEEP*.

The game had one upside, the Niners look great and I'm not going to jinx it or anything, but I see a great season coming up!

I Love Football Season!!!

The beginning of every sports season is always exciting. The beginning of the NFL this year is no different. There is nothing better than spending all day watching sports with friends.

This weekend was especially fun because the 49ers won their second game of the season! Also, I watched Washington University upset the University of Spoiled Children (USC)! It really has been a weekend of great games; even now I am watching the Cowboys and the Giants battle back and forth in new Cowboy Stadium.

I have really found a new way to watch football too: with the computer. Either watching all of the college games on ESPN 360 or tweeting/chatting with friends about the game; it is a great way to stay entertained and up to date on every game.

So there is always the draw back of football weekends where... you don't do anything else but sit on the couch and watching football. Luckily for me, I have found a way to be somewhat productive this weekend: cleaning the house, getting things ready for school, and starting to get back in shape for cycling training.

Well, we are going into the 4th quarter and the game is at full tilt. Time to devote all of my attention to the end of an epic game!

-TJ

Labor Day

Labor day is tomorrow and its getting close to school time. Work is getting a little repetitive and I'm craving to start my senior project and get into the swing of school. I know I am going to regret saying this about 2 weeks into the school year, but for now it sounds good. Non-blocked internet everyday sounds great too. Time to get back into the news, blogging, car-talk, etc.

This school year is going to be tough but fun. Going to try and be healthy, fast, and way more social with the roommates. Tried a little of that tonight, making dinner with everyone, meatloaf and backed macaroni and cheese, and watching a ton of football.

Well thats it for now, I'll try to post before I leave back for my last two weeks of work but no promises.

-TJ

Modest Mouse... Always Surprising

On Pandora I made a Matt and Kim station after I saw the new Bacardi commercial and finally found out what the song was. The station is playing a lot of indie rock which is really not in the main stream alt rock stations but its really good. One of the songs that popped up was Modest Mouse's "3rd Planet". I have this song on my computer but I have never heard it till today and I really like it. One of the main lines from the song is pretty awesome:

"The universe is shapped exactly like the earth,
If you go straight along it you'll end up where you were.

So thought I would share my discovery, late coming it may be.

-TJ

P.S. The MatE final today took me 4 hrs and was just painful!

Colbert in Iraq

Watched the Colbert Report from Iraq tonight and it was great! Looks like it is going to be a fun week on comedy central's late night fake news (as always). The haircut is cool too!

-TJ

Finals Week

So its been a while but finals are finally here... and in a big way too!!!

I've been working super hard, almost to the point that I'm surprising myself. Hopefully it will pay off in the end.

Alright so for a little fun. Got shown this you-tube video the other day by some sophomores in the MatE room and it is pretty darn funny! Enjoy and hope your week is a little more laid back than mine.

-TJ

Google Wave Looks Awesome

For all of those who haven't seen it here is the preview video for Google Wave



Personally I can't wait for it. There are so many different communication tools online and I think Wave will connect them all and make communication faster and easier!

-TJ

Quicky

Alright real quick cause I need to back to studying.

So on the radio I've heard "Life In Technicolor" by Coldplay but with lyrics. On the album "Viva La Vida" it is no where to be found. Turns out its a single and I found it on youtube and myspace. The song is awesome and video is fun too!



So hope you enjoy and I'm going to back to study up the last couple of things for my Material Kinetics test tomorrow.

-TJ

Going Into the Weekend

Well its almost time for the weekend (well I guess it's the weekend right now actually). Looks like a lot of time in the MatE Labs learning how to use the XRD (X-Ray Defraction) and hopefully getting some good quality scans in. If I see evidence of retained austenite in our samples I am going to be the happiest person ever!

So not sure what I'm going to do about cycling. I really need to get my ass on the trainer and get my legs at least moving. Hopefully as soon as I get a follow up exam I will be ready to go and get back in shape for the second half of the summer. In all seriousness I hope I can come back because I really want to upgrade to Cat III and I'll probably get super bummed out if I can't maintain a racing training schedule while I'm working... we will see how it goes I guess.

Thats it for now, probably send in some updates on how the XRD is going. Which reminds me, I really need to work on having a more organized lab notebook. Hmm, well I should at least clean up the MESS one tomorrow while I'm scanning.

-TJ

Mine As Well Get Used to This

I really don't have anything awesome to post about but I mine as well post something so I get in the habit of posting everyday or so.

Tonight we were studying for our Materials Engineering Composites test when I started singing "Get Low". Someone said I was butchering it and I apologized, explaining I only knew the edited version from the game "Need For Speed: Underground". We then proceeded to look up the real lyrics and started to laugh so hard because they were so... lets say inappropriate. Well of course we had to listen to the song and off course, all the real lyrics started to pop out on us for the first time. Needless to say none of us will listen to the song the same way again!

Oh, I guess I should say once I get the doctor's okay to get back on the bike I'm going to start posting my training rides and stuff. Not like anyone is interested but you never know, and it will give me something to post.

-TJ

A Substantial Post?

Well here is my attempt at the first substantial post of the new blog (I really should be in bed right now so I apologize if it’s bad).

So I'm not sure what I am going to talk about that’s substantial but how about me and digital communication outlets?

Many of you (ok just me) know I tend to go through stages where I stumble across some of my old internet haunts: newsvine, flames of war forum (I'm being honest so don't judge!), my blog, etc. Each time I do I get all excited about making a significant impact on these social networks. It always ends with me spending a week going ape shit over it and then completely loosing interest. This happens to me a lot in life, with different things from sailing to even school. 

However, lately I have become super committed to biking and have stuck hardcore to it for the last 6-7 months. Yes I'm going through a tough spot because of my broken collar bone, but I am still watching the Giro d'Italia and reading cyclingnews.com everyday. Well today I have decided to continue this dedication into maintaining at least a presence on social networks, mainly newsvine, twitter, and keeping this blog updated. 

 Why am I doing this again?  

 Well for starters I think it is cool to be connected through the internet to people around the world. It is fun to read what other people say and even more fun to hear about what people think of what you have to say. 

 Second, I really like to write. No matter what I tell myself when the engineering report is due the next day I have fun typing stuff on to my computer. I remember back in 5th grade when we had our little i-laptops (or whatever they were) and I wrote a whole description of the Battle of Gettysburg. I only got through the first day but it was still fun to type and put words up on the screen. Yeah I’m a nerd... shut up!

 Finally, I can't help but feel like I am getting older. The internships I have had over the last few summers have shown me that my free time is going to come to a very quick end once I start working full time. Especially if I continue to cycle competitively, my free time for friends and such is going to disappear. As corny as it may sound having an online network of people to discuss issues with and escape to will probably become a welcome part of my day. Again, shut up!

 Well I guess that’s the end of my substantial post for today. Probably won't write another one tomorrow, or the next day, or the.... well you get the point. But hey, miracles do happen!

-TJ

Just Watch

Well Here It Goes Again

So I'm bored and I figured, "what the hell, lets try doing a blog again". Well we will see if anyone actually reads this/if i update it regularly. Stay tunned to see!