Wet wood bridges - never let your guard down.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Up To Speed
On the bike racing side of my life, before the Jersey trip I had done well in the Poolesville Road Race but jumped too early in the sprint. I was feeling great even after the 5-man break I was in got caught. I had been in front every lap thru the "Pave" (an infamous 1 mile stretch of potholed gravel road section) and avoided close to a dozen crashes so when it came down to the pack sprint I was positioned brilliantly at 3rd. The 200M sign was flagrantly farther than 200M so when the 2 guys in front of me slowed, I powered around them eyeing nothing but finish line. 100M went by, then another 100 and I was losing a fight to a rider beside me - turned out to be my team mate David Olsen. Once he got in front of me I was done. In a flash I got passed by 13 guys, placing a very unimpressive 15th while David Olsen got 12th. Bike racing. It was great to see that over half of the men's Pro field dropped out so I guess finishing this was a victory of sorts.
Kevin Dillard photo
Yesterday I raced at Union Grove Road Race outside if Lancaster, PA. I'm amazed at the quality and quantity of road racing around Lancaster. This race was part of the Red Rose Races / Pennsylvania Super Series. The competition was plentiful but many of the guys in the Cat 4 group were riding like Cat 5 beginners in their first race ever. Lots of brake checks, bad passes and crashes. There were 3 crashes alone on the last lap! It was a good day for me racing amidst the Amish & Mennonite farms. Full race recap from this once I get back to_ahem_ InnoTech... and have time to burn...
no that's not me winning - I'm over on the right trying to avoid a sketchy rider and place in the money.
Kevin Dillard photo
Yesterday I raced at Union Grove Road Race outside if Lancaster, PA. I'm amazed at the quality and quantity of road racing around Lancaster. This race was part of the Red Rose Races / Pennsylvania Super Series. The competition was plentiful but many of the guys in the Cat 4 group were riding like Cat 5 beginners in their first race ever. Lots of brake checks, bad passes and crashes. There were 3 crashes alone on the last lap! It was a good day for me racing amidst the Amish & Mennonite farms. Full race recap from this once I get back to_ahem_ InnoTech... and have time to burn...
no that's not me winning - I'm over on the right trying to avoid a sketchy rider and place in the money.
Friday, May 16, 2008
I BEEN SERVED.
I knew it was going to happen. I even prepared for it. Mentally at least. However there truly isn't much you can do to get ready for what happened last weekend. You can't really appreciate it until you're in the middle of the storm.
Nor'Easter:
Nor'easters can occur in the eastern United States any time between October and April, when moisture and cold air are plentiful. They are known for dumping heavy amounts of rain and snow, producing hurricane-force winds, and creating high surfs that cause severe beach erosion and coastal flooding. A Nor'easter is named for the winds that blow in from the northeast and drive the storm up the east coast along the Gulf Stream, a band of warm water that lies off the Atlantic coast.
This does zero justice to the ferociousness of the storm last weekend. Being on a barrier island off the coast of New Jersey, my buddy Dave and I got to see it first hand. His grandfather build this cottage back in the 30's when it was a real island. Now it's more of a parking lot with massive houses on every square inch. It's sad to see what was obviously once a major ecological gem so over developed but we still go every Spring and Fall to open and close the old place. I can't imagine how hectic it gets there in the summer (it's always rented out then).
This is LBI now.
This is Dave getting fired up to rake and clean the pebble lawn. That's a game-face.
After Dave cleaned the lawn and I polished the windows inside and out we took a break to hit the surf - Dave chose to fish while I got some much needed surfing in.
The swell was getting big and the winds were just starting to blow. I brought an arsenal of windsurfing gear to handle just about any conditions while Dave brought his 'cart' with enough bait and beve's to slay a few hours on the beach.
Dave's golden, Tommy Boy, found a good place to chill out.
That night the winds really kicked in. I always get pretty fired up when I know the wind is going to blow. Long before cycling took over my life windsurfing was my main passion. It's a sport where you have to catch the conditions - unlike skiing or kayaking when you go you know the mountain or river will be there. With sailing you don't know - it can change quickly and leave you stranded off shore or not blow at all and leave you hating the wind or lack thereof - so it gets almost addictive chasing what never seems to be enough - I always want more. And when you know that for sure it's going to blow and blow big - the excitement is hard to quell at bed time. I had to pop in ear plugs to sleep from all the noises of wind bullying the trees & branches breaking & landing on the roof. Even the old single pane windows were rattling. I sat in bed smiling...
Come morning the pebble lawn had an inch of puree'd leaves on it. It was raining sideways, winds screaming through the streets swirling debris around in mini-tornadoes. The windows I perfected the day before were a mess. We walked down to see the ocean...me like a kid heading to the tree on Christmas morning...
Richter. Liquid insanity. And for a few minutes I actually thought about going out there...
Click on the photo for a larger view.
Toms face says it all...
And anytime you can lean back into the wind like it's a lounge chair, it's honkin. This day I did not want more, I actually needed about 30mph less!
It's hard to see but the shore break was huge and the outside was well over 15' - photos just cannot do the scene justice.
The winds were gusting close to 70mph so I opted for the bay to test my big wind sailing ability. Only my 2nd time out all year and I felt the rust...
but I pulled it together for a few runs - barely holding on and getting a solid fix of thrashing. The problem is sailing on the bay just isn't the same. I had wanted to get on the ocean so bad but it was death on a stick out there. It's exceptionally hard to explain the feeling of being on the ocean when it's heaving and moving vertically - shoving up and down in lines of quasi-organized swells and waves. Standing on a tiny board that's whipping over the tops of the waves, up and down them, around and over them. It's a delicate dance fueled by adrenaline and wind. Alas, I digress...So the bay was going to be it that day.
It didn't take long until my hands just were not working (the water was somewhere in the 50°s) and I felt bad for Dave standing in the rain shooting photos of me out having fun. I came in and packed up looking forward to some time in a hot outside shower back at the cottage.
The drive back got sketchy - the streets were flooding quick.
This was only after one day of this Nor'Easter. Sometimes they can sit off shore sending waves and wind to batter the coast for days. Makes me wonder how anyone can get insurance in such places. And to think people are so surprised when storms knock out entire sections of coast including palatial beach houses. "How God, how did this happen to us?" Uhhh, yea. Damn I can be a contradictory person sometimes. Don't worry - I know, I'm right there enjoying the beach house too. I guess I just wish the government was smart enough to set is all aside back in the day. Even if that meant not having Dave's cottage.
The dunes took a beating that day.
I'll get some video uploaded here in a day or two.
In conclusion, I think that if man, with all our technology and wisdom, can't find a way to harness the raw power of nature - and instead we continue to rely on the current crude industries to provide our power - we are not only doomed but pathetically blind and uncreative. To be out in those conditions and feel the raw power that is there - makes me wonder what the hell are we doing burning gas? It's lame to say the least. Yes that's right, I can turn just about any subject into a rant against the oil industry. Thanks for stopping by!
Nor'Easter:
Nor'easters can occur in the eastern United States any time between October and April, when moisture and cold air are plentiful. They are known for dumping heavy amounts of rain and snow, producing hurricane-force winds, and creating high surfs that cause severe beach erosion and coastal flooding. A Nor'easter is named for the winds that blow in from the northeast and drive the storm up the east coast along the Gulf Stream, a band of warm water that lies off the Atlantic coast.
This does zero justice to the ferociousness of the storm last weekend. Being on a barrier island off the coast of New Jersey, my buddy Dave and I got to see it first hand. His grandfather build this cottage back in the 30's when it was a real island. Now it's more of a parking lot with massive houses on every square inch. It's sad to see what was obviously once a major ecological gem so over developed but we still go every Spring and Fall to open and close the old place. I can't imagine how hectic it gets there in the summer (it's always rented out then).
This is LBI now.
This is Dave getting fired up to rake and clean the pebble lawn. That's a game-face.
After Dave cleaned the lawn and I polished the windows inside and out we took a break to hit the surf - Dave chose to fish while I got some much needed surfing in.
The swell was getting big and the winds were just starting to blow. I brought an arsenal of windsurfing gear to handle just about any conditions while Dave brought his 'cart' with enough bait and beve's to slay a few hours on the beach.
Dave's golden, Tommy Boy, found a good place to chill out.
That night the winds really kicked in. I always get pretty fired up when I know the wind is going to blow. Long before cycling took over my life windsurfing was my main passion. It's a sport where you have to catch the conditions - unlike skiing or kayaking when you go you know the mountain or river will be there. With sailing you don't know - it can change quickly and leave you stranded off shore or not blow at all and leave you hating the wind or lack thereof - so it gets almost addictive chasing what never seems to be enough - I always want more. And when you know that for sure it's going to blow and blow big - the excitement is hard to quell at bed time. I had to pop in ear plugs to sleep from all the noises of wind bullying the trees & branches breaking & landing on the roof. Even the old single pane windows were rattling. I sat in bed smiling...
Come morning the pebble lawn had an inch of puree'd leaves on it. It was raining sideways, winds screaming through the streets swirling debris around in mini-tornadoes. The windows I perfected the day before were a mess. We walked down to see the ocean...me like a kid heading to the tree on Christmas morning...
Richter. Liquid insanity. And for a few minutes I actually thought about going out there...
Click on the photo for a larger view.
Toms face says it all...
And anytime you can lean back into the wind like it's a lounge chair, it's honkin. This day I did not want more, I actually needed about 30mph less!
It's hard to see but the shore break was huge and the outside was well over 15' - photos just cannot do the scene justice.
The winds were gusting close to 70mph so I opted for the bay to test my big wind sailing ability. Only my 2nd time out all year and I felt the rust...
but I pulled it together for a few runs - barely holding on and getting a solid fix of thrashing. The problem is sailing on the bay just isn't the same. I had wanted to get on the ocean so bad but it was death on a stick out there. It's exceptionally hard to explain the feeling of being on the ocean when it's heaving and moving vertically - shoving up and down in lines of quasi-organized swells and waves. Standing on a tiny board that's whipping over the tops of the waves, up and down them, around and over them. It's a delicate dance fueled by adrenaline and wind. Alas, I digress...So the bay was going to be it that day.
It didn't take long until my hands just were not working (the water was somewhere in the 50°s) and I felt bad for Dave standing in the rain shooting photos of me out having fun. I came in and packed up looking forward to some time in a hot outside shower back at the cottage.
The drive back got sketchy - the streets were flooding quick.
This was only after one day of this Nor'Easter. Sometimes they can sit off shore sending waves and wind to batter the coast for days. Makes me wonder how anyone can get insurance in such places. And to think people are so surprised when storms knock out entire sections of coast including palatial beach houses. "How God, how did this happen to us?" Uhhh, yea. Damn I can be a contradictory person sometimes. Don't worry - I know, I'm right there enjoying the beach house too. I guess I just wish the government was smart enough to set is all aside back in the day. Even if that meant not having Dave's cottage.
The dunes took a beating that day.
I'll get some video uploaded here in a day or two.
In conclusion, I think that if man, with all our technology and wisdom, can't find a way to harness the raw power of nature - and instead we continue to rely on the current crude industries to provide our power - we are not only doomed but pathetically blind and uncreative. To be out in those conditions and feel the raw power that is there - makes me wonder what the hell are we doing burning gas? It's lame to say the least. Yes that's right, I can turn just about any subject into a rant against the oil industry. Thanks for stopping by!
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