Unexpected Chills

This is how the National Anthem should be sung (listen through & thanks go to Sue Jones at her blog).

A Short But Righteous Read

Howard's best girl, BalticTiger, is a technical editor in the daylight hours and a writer at night. One of her books was published a few years ago, for which she receives nice royalty checks every January. More recently, she has had five fiction short-stories published this year and she finds time to write a weekly column for a local newspaper.

But Howard can't tell you her name else his own secret identity would be compromised.

However, he CAN give you a link to a recent short-story of hers where she used a pseudonym, Cara Lietuva, instead of her real name... which is NOT BalticTiger, in case you were wondering. (By the way, Lietuva is the Lithuanian word for Lithuania, which is one of the Baltic nations. See the connection now?)

Anyway, here is the link to her short-story:

A Letter from Han Solo

Like I said, it's very short. But righteous.

Running vs. Cycling: Caloric Burn Rates

Howard has calculated that at his current 194 pounds, riding his bike at 18 miles per hour without wind or hills burns the same number of calories per hour as running an 8 minute-per-mile pace. These are his standard sustainable paces for each activity, though he can go 10-20% faster on his bike for a few hours, while he can't run faster than that for more than a couple minutes before dying.

And bicycling DOESN'T hurt nearly as bad at 18 mph as running does at 8 min./mile, that's for sure!

Retired bicycle framebuilder Dave Moulton has broken down the scientific comparisons between cycling and running for those interested in caloric burn rates. You can read about it in greater detail at his blog here.

Howard's take-away: How can people run so much when bicycling seems to be the better option?

Happy (Late) Anniversary

C,

We've had quite a year, wouldn't you say?

Let's hope for many, many more.

Love, C

Record-Breaking 2007 Tour de Fat

New Belgium Brewery, located in Fort Collins, Colorado, sponsors an annual Tour de Fat bicycle parade in nearly a dozen cities each year, and the largest one of them all is in Fort Collins, of course. The 2007 parade on Saturday, September 22nd drew approximately 4,800 bicyclists, making it the new Largest Bicycle Parade in the World as judged by the Guinness Book of World Records.

And Deadhead, BikePrincess, SuperNana, Popeye, BalticTiger, and Howard were part of the record-breaking fun.

The annual parade starts and stops at New Belgium Brewery's mothership after wending through town at incredible speeds of up to 8 mph for over 8 miles. The organizers are fond of saying, "we don't bend to traffic -- we ARE the traffic!", and it is true. Even the police officers at the intersections insisted we hoot and holler out our presence as cars had to wait for an end to the parade that never came.

What a blast! Most riders wear... um... VERY eccentric clothing. Some even wear very little clothing. The Hypoxians in attendance chose an Hawaiian theme.

So by the inevitable popular demand, here are Howard's photos from Saturday's Tour de Fat:

Who are these people? Why are they wearing Hawaiian outfits? And is that guy wearing... coconuts?!


Popeye, Deadhead, BikePrincess, SuperNana, and BalticTiger getting ready to rock 'n' roll. Looks like someone's displaying a modified Zman thumbs-up!


Deadhead, BikePrincess, Popeye, BalticTiger, SuperNana, and Howard displaying their motivation for the day -- Fat Tire Ale, 1554, Mothership, & Sunshine Wheat.


Howard and BalticTiger pretending to ignore the coconuts ("hey you, eyes up here!")


SuperNana and Popeye doing some pretending of their own (his coconuts look smaller than Howard's, right?)


Deadhead and BikePrincess looking waaay too comfortable in Hawaiian clothing.


Deadhead, BikePrincess, Popeye, SuperNana, BalticTiger, and Howard at the end of long & hard day of beer drinking.

Finally, here's a little video whipped up by Howard featuring the LARGEST BICYCLE PARADE EVER!...

Hypoxian Labor Day Weekend Trifecta

Labor Day for most is a three-day relaxfest. For some hardy souls, it means painting or maintenance around the house, getting ready for fall and then winter. Those people are just sick and need the best the psychiatric industry can provide.

For some of us who ride bikes, the Labor Day weekend is one of the last chances to use and stretch those fully-engorged leg muscles one last time before cold-weather atrophy begins to set in.

My Hypoxian buddies and I, inspired by out-of-state visitors from Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Illinois (the land of flat), went for four ginormous bike rides during those three days plus the following Wednesday. Screw work, and all that -- let's ride!

Day 1 was a 100-mile (century) ride from Boulder, up Boulder Canyon, along the Peak-to-Peak Highway through Nederland and Meeker Park to Estes Park, then back to Boulder thru Lyons via Highway 36. Long and scenic and lots and lots of fun!

On Day 2 we climbed Mt. Evans like we already did two weeks earlier, only this time with a batch of fresh meat -- namely the riders from OK and PA -- as well as a few locals who didn't ride with us two weeks earlier. To remind you, Mt. Evans is at 14,268' ASL, and has the highest paved road in America. You don't think we'd climb without pavement, do you? Well, maybe. We did have to hike up the final couple hundred feet along a foot path, where the OK visitor and Howard signed the register making us all official-like. Then it hailed on our descent. Again.

Day 3 took us from Loveland up Big Thompson Canyon to Drake, where we turned right and went thru Glen Haven, home of the world's best and stickiest cinnamon rolls, to Devil's Gulch, the second worst climbing road in Larimer County. (Rist Canyon, closer to Fort Collins, is first worse.) We ate Subway in Estes Park, waited and waited out a rainstorm that never wanted to end, had to buy rain jackets for $33 each because we Coloradans didn't bring ours while the four Illinois riders DID! That was a tad bit embarrassing. Trip distance was 100km (62.1 miles) for a metric century.

On Day 4, we worked (which means we rested.)

On Day 5, Deadhead and Howard regrouped with the four Illini at Howard's house and we climbed Buckhorn Canyon Road, aka Stove Prairie, to the Poudre Canyon at Highway 14, then rode back to home. Three 16% grades nearly killed the Illini. Deadhead and Howard just smiled through the pain. Trip distance was 100km (62.1 miles) for another metric century.

Everyone is already talking about doing it all again next Labor Day weekend. Harumph!

Anyway, here's Howard's video...