CafeChatNoir

Well, the Tour de France sure got interesting all of a sudden – all cyclists who have been implicated in a Spanish doping probe are OUT for the tour – these are the big names – Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla…

Personally, I don’t think this is a bad thing. I think it’s going to bring some good attention to the remaining cyclists who are clean but had been in the shadows up until now.

I realize when this is your livelihood (pro cycling or any other sport), it can lead to taking desperate (and frankly, stupid) measures. But it’s bad for the sport, it’s bad for the fans, and it’s especially bad for aspiring athletes. IMO, it sends a message that you can’t be great without doping or other outside means. I’d rather see athletes that might not be quite as “incredible”, but at least it’s ALL them.

Granted, if caffeine ever becomes a banned substance, I’m screwed. ;) (Cause you know I’m the one the officials at my races are looking at & thinking, “Yeah, she’s juiced up.”)

Off to ride.

You know, had they not shown it on Armed Forces TV when we were overseas, I’d probably have never developed an appreciation for “I Spy” – still an enjoyable bit of escapist entertainment.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dta/

Tax is still due 10/5, but you don’t have to worry about the stickers anymore!

So, we’re getting bits & pieces of Mike’s IMCdA experience from his girlfriend (I think he’s still in a post race coma.)

The water temp is 60 degrees, and the swim is 2.4 miles long. This is not the time to have a wardrobe malfunction in the form of a busted zipper on your wetsuit, (2 minutes before the swim start) and yet, that is exactly what happened. So, what do you do? You’ve trained for god knows how long, dropped a decent wad of cash on the registration, you’re not injured, dropping out just ain’t in the cards if you can avoid it. You really can’t go without the wetsuit, and swimming w/it unzipped just defeats the purpose.

The answer?

Packing Tape.

I saw pics of it – looked pretty good to me. I wonder if duct tape would have worked as well? Something else to toss in the transition bag, just in case…

Cause I’m in for Colonial Beach on 7/9. 1K OWS in the Potomac, 40K on the bike and a 10K run. Managed to find a room less than 2 miles from the race site this morning so I made my reservations and registered. I will have my Oly done before the beach!

Someone who did the race last year says it’s a good course – longest leg of the swim goes with the current, not too many hills on the bike and the run is flat. Works for me.

Did a 2 mile run today. Well, mostly running. It’s 75 degrees with 95% humidity, so I didn’t push it hard and stuck tight to my run/walk pacing, and I am not dead for it. :) Halfway through I passed a woman hosing out her trashcan in her driveway (No, I don’t know why she couldn’t just leave it out in the rain…) and she apologized for the water running down her driveway and the ensuing puddle. Pointed out to her that I didn’t think I could get any wetter anyway. Rain thankfully kicked in about the last half mile and the thunder held off until I was back in the house.

Dog just came in, shook himself off – right next to the cat. I don’t think I’ve seen Snoopy look quite so offended in a long time.

If you look on the back of a $20 bill, there is an Elm tree to the right of the White House. 140 years old. That tree came down in the storms last night.

OK, so there is Colonial Beach… To go or not to go? I’d have to get a room, the host hotel is already sold out, the nearest is Doc’s Motor Court, so I think I’ll call tomorrow and see if they have any openings – I’d prefer not to be too terribly far away if at all possible, since I can’t tell from the website what the parking situation is like.

If I can get a room, I will do it. It’s only a 1000M swim, which would be much better for me I think. Ernie said he’d give me the lowdown on it since he ran it last year. I think I let the mental games get to me WAY too much for Montclair, sick or not.

Who knows, maybe I can find a swim angel. Or wouldn’t it be a freaking hoot if I was someone else’s swim angel? :)

I need an Oly and I need it sooner rather than later – I don’t want Reston to be the first go at it.

I could still get my regular workouts in, drive down on Saturday morning which is a rest day anyway, and kick ass on Sunday. Even cutting out the taper, the workouts next week wouldn’t be too bad to screw me. Yeah, I think I’ve talked myself into it.
So much for, “You won’t get my ass into the Potomac River…”

88 year old great grandma loves triathlons

She entered her first triathlon in Beloit in 1993 at age 75, joining her son Bruce — who has competed in several triathlons himself — and her granddaughter in a three-generation team. Each one competed in one leg of the race.
…
She entered her first triathlon on her own in 1995. She’s done 10 more since.

So, the weather ticker is showing…

– Flash Flood Statement
– Flash Flood Warning
– Flood Statement
– Flash Flood Watch.

Yeah, we’ve gotten just a little bit of rain lately… I had to rescue a frog from the window well in the basement – I couldn’t just leave him there, and there wasn’t any way he could get back out. Got fairly well soaked for my efforts…

BT’er comment on frog rescue: For someone into guns and military stuff, you’re just a big ol’ mushy bucket o’ love.

OK, so the DC Metro area is about to float away, so if I no longer update, it’s because I am halfway down the Potomac River. Flash floods all weekend, now we have a coastal flood warning for the river, and apparently there are tons of roads underwater around here. Was out running errands earlier and there were definitely some roads that could become impassable at the rate things are going.

The sun also just came out for a while, and there was steam pouring off the wet deck – somewhat disconcerting at first glance.

I’m also not getting any email comments, so it’s taking me a while to go back and find things that were left – so if you’re expecting a response from me, I’m still going through the comment list to see what I missed.

CNBC is talking about Warren Buffet’s $37B gift to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – they’re trying to put that much money into perspective – the one I liked the best was, “It’s a big ol’ truckload of money” :) They’re also talking about how a charitable group deals with such a large donation – first I’d say make sure you actually GET it – there have been a few instances of large donations being pledged and the donors not coming through with what they promised.

So – if you could run your own charitable foundation, to help whoever or whatever you wanted – what would it be? As for me, I think it would end up helping random people/organizations in need – no stated target group, just help where it’s needed.