Yay! Winner!

OK, not quite, but I'm still pretty chuffed. SACM magazine have been holding a photographic competition, with projects assigned every month, and my entry was adjudged runner-up in the B&W catagory. Here's my entry:

Click here for an enlarged version.

And here's the winning entry. I would love to say that I deserved to win, but this photo is superb. I love the contrast and lighting - very professional.

I am a little bummed though, because I already have a printer (2nd prize) and would love a good, compact P&S like the Canon SX100 IS PowerShot (1st prize). Guess I'll have to do something special for this month's entry: panorama. Anyone go any great ideas for the Durban area; a seascape seems too obvious?

Thanks for reading.

Something different

It's not well known, but I'm a big Google fan. I use Gmail, Reader, Docs, Calendar, Picasa and Blogger regularly. I love the idea of working in the cloud; having your data available wherever you have access to the internet. And I love that the apps are constantly developing and improving, and I believe this will be the future of computing.

Google development does seem sporadic sometimes, but in the last few days they've been releasing revisions and new tools daily. It's been incredible.

On Gmail, they've added offline functionality, a revision to tags to make them more like folders, and today they added multi-inboxes. On my gmail page I've also got a Twitter gadget and recently added Google Tasks. If you compare that to the UI of Webmail.co.za, the awesomeness of Google is put into perspective.

On other applications, Latitude allows you to see where your friends are on Google Maps, and Google Earth 5 allows you to visit the ocean depths from the comfort of your desk.

However, not all Google apps seem to be getting the same attention. Blogger, for example, has been stagnant for ages. There have been no improvements or additions for ages. Gadgets on their layout page that are more than 6 months old are still marked as 'new'. It's no wonder people are moving their accounts to Wordpress and the like.

One of Google's acquisitions, GrandCentral, has been dormant months. This app allows a user to have a single phone number, and when that number is dialed all or any of the phone linked to the account will ring. This can be set up based on time of day, groups, etc. I think the potential for this is enormous, but Google either doesn't see it's potential, or hasn't figured out how to montise it yet. Google bought the company in July '07, but invitations were only available from existing users (like Gmail in the early days). However, no new invites have been issued since early 2008. 

I remain a Google fan, but please Google, give all the apps a freshen-up and spread the awesomeness around.

Glad to be Alive

Cycling is a habit. Break the habit, and it’s extremely difficult to get back into it. 

If you asked a cyclist what the most difficult part of their sport was, most would probably say the climbing; dragging yourself + bike up a seemingly never ending bi-atch of a climb requires one to look deep within oneself to keep going when every fibre of your being is screaming out for you to stop, is tough. For me though, it’s getting out of bed in the morning. That’s tough! Once I’m up I’m fine, but every day when my alarm goes off (3:45am) I question my sanity. 

It’s been 3 months since I rode on a Saturday; traditionally the day for LSD (Long Slow Distance). LSD helps build endurance, without which a cyclist is nothing. Since my return to training it’s rained every weekend, and that’s all the excuse I’ve needed to remain in bed. This Saturday was the day; the day to break the habit, and make Saturday mornings about my return to fitness. 

The point of the exercise wasn’t to try and do a century first time out; I merely wanted to break the habit of sleeping in on Saturdays, so I set out with only a single bottle of water, and no food. And wouldn’t you know it, I hooked up with an awesome group, riding a really nice slow pace, and they were planning on doing about 60km (about 2:30 riding time). Even the weather was perfect; cool and overcast. But there was no way I would make that distance on water alone; certainly not with my current level of fitness. And so I turned at Umhloti Bridge, to give me a 40km ride, and did the return mostly on my own. Looking down at the ocean, and the view of Umhlanga with Durban in the distance, I felt sorry for those still in bed. 

Thanks for reading. 

A Road Well Travelled

Those that know me will recognise the pattern: an enthusiastic return to early morning training for a couple of days, and then at the first opportunity I give up. I don't know how many times this has happened in the last 2 years, but I swear I'm committed this time.

Except it's already happened. But I have a good excuse - it's been raining since Saturday, almost non-stop. 

And my butt has been sore.

After 8+ years and God knows how many km's, it's not fair that I should have to go through this pain again!

So I've had a few days off, but tomorrow I'll be back, so look out for me, and if I'm fidgetting uncomfortably, you'll know why.

Thanks for reading.

A Couple of Nice Surprises

Surprise Party I've never been thrown a surprise party before, so when Candice started preparing large quantities of food as soon as we arrived home on Friday evening, a surprise party was the last thing on my mind.

When my brother and his wife arrived for a drink and to wish me for my birthday last Monday, even Candice was surprised, as it was a complete coincidence. However, half an hour later and the guests started arriving, the penny finally dropped. And I had been hoping for an early night...!
I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did, and Babes, thanks a million. I can't believe you managed to organise everything without me catching on!

Greg Minnaar - World Cup Champion

From http://www.canadiancyclist.com:

The World Cup Final for the Downhill in Schladming, Austria, was expected to be the most hotly contested final of the weekend, with upsets possible in both the men's and women's races. However, both Rachel Atherton (Animal Commencal) and Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate), the leaders coming into Saturday's races, were able to successfully hang on to the top spots in the overall standings.

Atherton did it by decimating the competition, while Minnaar had a little bit tougher time of it - finishing fifth behind first time World Cup winner Sam Blenkinsop (Yeti-Fox Shox).

The long and steep course was demanding of both skills and nerve to do well. Rain during the week leading up to the races also meant that large ruts were carved into the track, making it both bumpy and slippery - a tough combination.

In the men's race it was a newcomer to the top ranks who finished number one, in the person of the young Kiwi Sam Blenkinsop. Prior to this win, Blenkinsop had a fifth in Andorra this season, and a silver medal in the Junior ranks at the Worlds in 2006. However, he was consistently the strongest rider, winning both the semi-final and final. In the semi-final, both Minnaar and his rival - defending champion Sam Hill (Monster Energy-Iron Horse) stumbled, with Hill taking fourth and Minnaar sixth.

This meant that Minnaar went into the final with a 116 point lead on Hill, and had to finish no lower than seventh to guarantee that he would win his first major title since 2005. Neil Donoghue (Bike Radar) set the fast early time, which stood up until Andrew Neethling (GT) lopped off two-tenths of a second, followed immediately by Aaron Gwin (Yeti-Fox Shox) doing the same thing. Gwin kept the lead until his team mate Justin Leov took a more significant three seconds off, with seven riders remaining.

Fabien Barel (Subaru) was next, but couldn't take the lead, followed by Minnaar, who took the top time for a couple of minutes before his team mate Steve Peat bumped him to second by almost four seconds. Then it was Hill, who knocked another second and a half off the leading time. At this point, with three riders remaining, Minnaar could finish no lower than sixth, and so the pressure to win the title was over.

But the battle for the final big win of the season was still underway. World champion Gee Atherton (Animal Commencal) slotted in just behind Hill, and Hill's young team mate Brendan Fairclough was fastest at the halfway point, but crashed further down. So it was up to Blenkinsop, and he proved decisively that his semi-final win was no fluke, beating Hill by over a second and a half to record his biggest victory and moved up to the final podium spot for the overall World Cup.

"It feels good to be back on top," agreed Minnaar. "I had a feeling that a lot of people were writing me off, but I got through some injuries, got healthy and now I'm back." "Today was hard, but I did what had to be done. I didn't start to have a conservative run, I was pushing hard. In the fifth corner I washed out a bit, so at that point I backed off a little bit. Honestly, I'm not particularly happy with my ride, it was a bit of a crap ride for me. That was disappointing, but to win the overall is pretty fantastic."

Blenkinsop was at a bit of a loss to explain why everything came together so perfectly. "Something must be working! The training has been better, and I'm on a way better bike now, so it has made everything awesome for me. This is major for sure." "I had no idea that I could even win the semi, it was weird ... I was hoping for a top-5 if I was lucky. But I love coming to this place [Schladming], it's always good for me. In the final I had a few little mistakes, but nothing major, and I knew it was going good coming to the bottom, so I just 'let it go' to try and gain any extra time.

Well done Greg!

Thanks for reading.

Dedication

This morning someone came up to me as I was loading my bike back into the car. It was 5:45, and still only about 11°C, and he said to me "I don't know how anyone can have such dedication for something that doesn't earn them any money". I'm never sure how to respond to comments like this; those were his words, but his tone said "you're an idiot to be out here at 5:45, when it is still only 11°C, prancing around in lycra".

Normally I would dismiss him and his attitude, but recently I questioned this dedication myself. I didn't ride for 8 weeks, and after a while I didn't think I was missing it. I was enjoying the extra 2 hours sleep in the morning, and some late night TV watching on occasion.

It was only when I got back on the bike that I remembered what I was missing. I love how I feel when I'm on my bike. I love the sense of freedom and solitude, and the exhilaration of taking a good line on a fast corner. I get time to plan the day ahead and think about life in general. It's a great stress reliever.

So what did I say to this guy that approached me?

"I need the exercise!"

He didn't look like he really cared.

Thanks for reading.

Best Laid Plans

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." So my plan to take a couple of weeks off the bike to recoup somehow turned into 8 weeks, and as time went on, the harder it became to get back out there. Well on Saturday that all changed, and I made the first few tentative steps to getting back into shape before summer. A gentle ride out to Umhlanga was all I was capable of, but at least it was a start.

Capsized!

Last weekend Candice had to work, and I took the boys on a cruise around Durban Harbour. The weather was fine and we were having a great time until, on the return leg, I witnessed a small fishing boat overturn in the distance. I alerted the skipper and we sped to the rescue. The pictures tell the story:


Another fishing boat arrived on the scene, and they and ourselves managed to maneuver the capsized boat over to a sandbank where the guys in the water could get far enough out of the water that they could climb into our boat, but it took time, and I reckon they were in the water for at least half an hour. All's well that ends well, but this could have been serious. Three of these guys appeared not to be able to swim, at all, and fully clothed they could easily have drowned. As it was, one of the guys couldn't hold on, and we had to throw him a life ring to keep him afloat!

The boys were understandably quite upset by all the goings on - I hope it doesn't change their love for the water.

Thanks for reading.