I Am Not a Doper!

About a month ago Mark had a Vuelta de Espana contest. I follow pro cycling a little, but I'm clueless compared to Mark and other true fans. But, I thought, it doesn't hurt to enter. So did a little web searching, read a few pre-race articles and picked some names I liked. Checking his blog yesterday I was shocked to learn I had won! I selected some Izze beverages and thought that would be the end of it. But then Forrest had to throw down this little gauntlet in the comments:

I claim foul, Kris is doped.

Of course I had to answer this accusation! And this is my official statement:

With regard to the recent doping accusations, I attest that I operated within the parameters of the contest and have not been proven guilty. No one has shown that my winning wasn't simply a rare stroke of good luck, even though it falls outside my historically low WLR (Win-to-Loose Ratio). And I deny the allegations that I used a luck enhancing substance. The French newspaper report that I ordered HLA (Hyper Luck Amplifier) from an internet store is false and I am considering suing them for libel. Thank you, that is all.

In other news, I've been sick since the Try-athlon. Nasty crud. My wife caught it last week and is still weak and coughing. I took Monday off work and was in bed all day. Every day this week I go home and collapse into bed. Every day gets a little better, but this is one stubborn bug. I miss riding my bikes.

Lastly, I got an e-mail from the Kokopelli Triathlon organizers. They expressed regret at having to cancel the event and cited safety as the main reason. They offered $75 off the Pumpkinman Triathlon in Las Vegas October 14. I was interested, even though it's a longer drive, but my two neighbors can't go so that's that. They also offered $30 off the 2008 Kokopelli Triathlon - I'll have to see if I'm interested when it gets closer. For now my plan is to make the Salem Triathlon my first - it's only a few miles away and it's cheaper.

Try-athlon

I tried to do my first triathlon (Kokopelli Triathlon) today, but it was cancelled due to weather.



On Thursday the weather forecast was looking grim - heavy rain for St. George, and pretty much all of Utah. But when I got up this morning at 6:00 am the ground was dry. I drove out to Sand Hollow with my wife and headed to the staging/transition area. The water was warm (last report was 75 degrees) and I considered going without the wetsuit, but I put it on and it wasn't too restrictive so I kept it on. The sunrise was nice and I was getting excited to go. They started the first group of intermediate distance swimmers at 7:30 (was supposed to be 7:00) and then they started the first group of short distance swimmers around 8:00. But then the storm front hit bringing strong winds and rain. Evidently the water safety people were concerned about their ability to monitor and help swimmers in the chopy water with the wind blowing the boats around, so the race director made the call to cancel the event. My mind was set on this race and it took a while for it to sink in that it was over before it began. I was disappointed. But slowly packed up my gear and headed back to the car. My wife was suportive and disappointed as well.



I'll probably try to do a Triathlon again, but probably not until next year. I'm still a bit annoyed that they didn't postpone to see if the weather would improve. And I'm not happy about spending $90 for no race. In general this is yet another instance in support of my growing dislike of organized events. When it's just me, and maybe a few buddies, we can usually do a fairly fun plan B even if plan A doesn't work. But with these events it's all or nothing, go or no-go. Sure, I like the comraderie, competition and palpable energy of events with 100s of participants, but I'm leaning more and more to the low-key, small rides for the convenience and purity (i.e. just ride, no other fluff).

Blogger Hacks

So far I'm impressed with Blogger. They make blogging and changing the layout and look of your blog easy, yet they give you access to the "guts" if you want to tweak. Recently I removed the Navbar, added my own search, added stats, and changed the favicon.

The Navbar is removed (hidden, would be more accurate) by adding some code to the Template. From the Dashboard click on Layout, then Edit HTML then look for the body { line in the template code and add this code before it :

/******* REMOVE THIS WHOLE BLOCK TO SHOW THE BLOGGER NAVBAR ********
** **
**/ #navbar-iframe {height:0px;visibility:hidden;display:none} /**
** **
********************************************************************

The Navbar has a search function, so with the Navbar gone I created my own. Click on Page Elements, then click on the Add a Page Element link in the area you want the search to be. Select a HTML/Javascript element and name it Search and put the following code in the box, but change "kanyonkris" to the name of your blog:

<form id="searchthis" action="http://kanyonkris.blogspot.com/search" method="get">
<input name="q" size="15" type="text">
<input value="Search" type="submit">
</form>

Save and View the blog and the Navbar should be gone and a Search box should appear.

Adding stats (Google Analytics) takes a bit more work, but is still pretty easy. I followed these instruction.

Changing the favicon takes some work, but it's a nice addition. The favicon is that little image next to the website address. Here's the favicon for Blogger:
First you need to create the icon. There are many ways to go about this. There are some web-based favicon editors, but I used Paint.Net to start with a 64x64 pixel blank canvas and created the image with the tools available. Then I converted the image to the icon (*.ico) format using FavIcon from Pics, which also gave me an animated version. Then I uploaded the images to some webspace I have and added some code to the Template - here's the code I used:

<link href="http://www.somesite.com/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut">
<link href="http://www.somesite.com/animated_favicon1.gif" rel="icon" type="image/gif">

If you don't use an animated icon, just use the top line. Replace the URL path above with the one where your icons are stored and you should be set.

Mountain Biking - Then and Now

I'm in denial that time has past. In my mind I'm just a year or two older than 24. Even though the logic side of my brain notes that the ages of my children make this impossible, I still feel like a young man. But nothing slaps you out of this delusion like a relic from the past - undeniable proof that you've changed. And so I present a photo of my wife and I mountain biking the Moab Slickrock trail for the first time - the year, 1990:



There's plenty to laugh at, so let's start with the clothing:

• No helmets (what's a helmet?)
• T-shirts (OK even today, but there are better alternatives)
• Jeans (I'm sporting acid washed, no less!)
• Pant leg clip (don't want any chain grease on those sweet jeans!)
• Tennis shoes (actually OK for Slickrock, but still ...)
• Sweatshirts tied around the waist (I call it urban yuppie)
• Gloves (we got something right! Technically road gloves, but the only full-fingered gloves back there were purchased at the IFA)
• Glasses (I look like the smartest guy on the trail)

OK, let's move on to the bikes:

• Schwinn Mirada (both - we match, isn't that cute!)
• 1.5" wide knobby tires (that would be great for cyclocross today)
• Above-the-bar thumb shifters (friction on the front, indexed on the rear)
• 8 speed (who needs more gears?)
• No suspension front or rear (well, you're rear, legs and arms were the suspension)
• Reflectors (check)
• Cantilever brakes (if you have forearms like Popeye, you'll stop, but not if the rim is wet)
• Toe clips (was there anything else back then?)
• One water bottle each (it's not like it gets hot in Moab)
  

That was then, this is now:



Dressed up and ready to roll on our full suspension bikes. (OK, full suspension is one tiny sign I'm getting older and not into taking a hardtail beating anymore.)

I look at that old photo and cringe. But you know what? Even with that primitive gear we had a great time riding. And we still do today, but in bit more style and comfort. :-)

Update: Todd posted his own "way back" photo and recollections.

Three Good MTB Rides

I'm still writing up some of the better rides I've done this year - this time some mountain bike rides:

Mid Mountain Double-Dip

Thunder Mountain

Blog Style Change

The first style for this blog was an HTML template I found. I liked it, but as I looked into Blogger's new Layout system and how easy it made customization, I had to switch to it. I think this style looks OK and it has a number of functional improvements. I'll probably tweak a bit here and there, but I doubt I'll make another big style change.

Springville to Mona Loop

This morning I rode a 70 mile loop with the Utah Velo Club. We started at the south Springville exit of I-15 and rode around West Mountain then south through Genola and Goshen to Mona then north through Santaquin, Payson and Spanish Fork back to the start (map). It's a good route with plenty of lonely roads.

The forecast last night mentioned wind and I feared the worst, but it turned out to be an excellent day - moderate temperatures, some cloud cover, and no wind while going out then a nice tailwind coming back. Yea, pretty sweet. We did have a good number of flats on the ride - I had one from a Goathead thorn in Genola. I tried to stay with the leaders at times and pushed into anaerobic on a few hills - it hurt but I didn't get any cramps. For a 70 mile ride the pace was pretty brisk.

A friend, DJ, showed up and we rode together at times and chatted. DJ took some backroads in Santaquin and missed the pack stopped at a gas station. Stan, the ride leader who was the sweeper, told me he didn't see DJ coming in. I got worried and stopped at my brother's house in Payson and we went back over the route to the last time I'd seen DJ, but we didn't find him. When I got back to my brother's house DJ called my cell and told me he was in Spanish Fork (I'd tried to call him, but he didn't have his phone on then). So I rode to Spanish Fork and met him and we rode together back to the start.

A few mishaps, but overall a really nice ride and a great 4 hours on the bike.

While I was out riding, my wife took some of the gals she raced with up American Fork Canyon to ride some of the sweet single-track up there. They all had a great time.