Showing posts with label Sport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sport. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Service after the Sale. Part 1.....

By: Brent

I had a very good holiday season. VERY GOOD. I would imagine so did Garmin. I know this because between gifts and gift certificates, I got TWO devices to feed my running / biking / geeking habits. The Edge 500 I have spoken about which sits on my bike and is an amazing little creation. The second item I bought on my own will with a gift card to Best Buy. The Garmin Forerunner 305. This little critter handles it all, in a wrist mount version, but unlike the Edge 500, it can handle multiple sports so when I am running, it talks to me in minutes/mile and when it is in biking mode it is in miles per hour mode. This 305 is MANY triathletes go to devise because of how easy it switches from sport to sport. I love this devise a lot, yet for different reasons than my Edge 500. Other than being in a Tri, I doubt I would use it on the bike because it is a bulky piece to have on the wrist while riding the bike. I also love it because as far as GPS watches, no matter what amount of sport you are doing, the 305 can cover it, for "only" $150 dollars. It really is a great watch.


I have used it 4 times. 2 training runs and 1 trail race, then I also went out on Sunday for a training run, getting ready for the Indy Mini in May. The weather called for snow to start up in the late morning so I chose to get out before it all started. I thought I would shoot for a 6 mile run or so. All was going well. A bit windy but until I made the turn back on my out and back route, no issues. Well as the turn was made to head back, the big FAT flakes started in, but the best part of running outdoors, now I had to finish. Again nothing really amazing to report, but all went well. As I was finishing up my route I stop at the same point every time and walk the last 1/4 of a mile for my cool down. On this last stretch there is a little half circle road that adds next to nothing to the distance, maybe a 1/10th of a mile, but since this was the longest I had gone in a while I figured the extra cool down would be good for me. As I was wrapping up this little bonus cool down, I started to slide on my left foot. I rushed to get my right foot down and thought, "Okay, everything melted and I am on the smoothest ice ever created" So I safely stepped to the right to get off the ice and started to repeat the process. As I was doing the boot scooting boogie, Gravity decided to get involved and hurled me to the ground.


As I stood up I did a quick dust off and glanced at my beloved Garmin Forerunner 305 watch only to see the display was smashed. I hit some buttons and heard it was still beeping telling me it was on, yet I could see nothing. I was just a short walk from home, and while evaluating myself and deciding I was fine I was really annoyed with myself and what I had just done.

This morning I hopped on garmin.com and sent the service depatment a letter to see what can be done. The good news is it still works, I just have no idea what it says until later when I log it into garminconnect.com but on the run, I would much rather know what is happening.

Yes, I am okay. Yes, I will be better when garmin gets back to me in "3 working days"
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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Quest for 1,000 and Holiday Cheer

Milestone km 1000 on the SS16 road (closer look)Image via Wikipedia
By Brent:

Happy Holiday's everyone! I hope all is well and the cold isn't keeping you down to much.


As November turned into December I caught a nasty flu bug that really set me back and working out really didn't feel like the thing for me. I knew that I could hold off the holiday binge eating and that should be good enough. Well time kept passing and I kept not working out so finally on the 14th of December I finally mounted back onto the stationary bike and logged 8.3 miles. I did my monthly tally of what I had run and walked in November and honestly it wasn't bad, but the numbers didn't "wow" me. 107.48 miles biked and the ever impressive goose egg in the running category. All I could do now is total up my year and see if that makes me feel any better. As I did that I realized how close to the 1,000 mile marker I was. 900.07. Well now to settle at 9XX miles seemed like a real disappointment so I sat down to figure out with the days left what it would take to hit 1,000.


6.2 miles EVERYDAY. 6.2 was kind of a interesting number. 6.2 miles is known as a 10k in the running world. Why all of a sudden we decide to go metric, I will never understand, however, it is what it is. So after thinking 6.2 miles isn't that big a deal, then realizing that that has to happen EVERYDAY for 16 days, it starts seeming a bit worse. My game plan was trying to do no less than 5.0 miles on bad days, try for a longer (like 12.0 miles) 1 day a week and rest 1 day a week. If I had the ability to get out I wanted to add running back into the mix but with the bitter cold, I knew that was going to be few and far between.


At this point I am sitting right on target. I managed one (blistering) cold run. It was the kind where when you finally get back to the house after 4.91 miles you realize your breathe has turned your goatee into an ice sculpture. Everything else has been done on the bike. I have taken 3 days off total so far but after last nights 8.06 miles my grand total is now up to 976.36 miles moved. What this means is somehow I must have missed a day that I thought I had covered on a previous workout and now with 3 days to go I must average 7.88 miles each day. The good news is tonight is a "group ride" night at All About Cycling for an hour so I should be able to rack up some good mileage there, the bad news is I can feel the head cold rushing into me quickly.


Part of my motivation these last couple nights is my new toy. The Garmin Edge 500 cycling computer. I will be writing a review of it soon but I personally must tell you the 2 reviews that I used were by fellow bloggers, the always funny Fat Cyclist here, and the always overly informational DC Rainmaker here.


3 days to go! I'll post when I break 1,000 miles of moving. Current tally, 388.02 miles run, 588.34 miles biked. Man were cutting it close!
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Monday, September 13, 2010

The Newest Fit.

By: Brent
I love running. I am really loving biking. I really love my family.
One of the hardest things about the marathon training was the 18 and 20 mile weekends. You have been working all week, over 45 hours in my case, and now you get settled for a nice long weekend and you have to head out for 3-4 hours. Kids don't get that. Other adults might not even get that. As a runner, you want to deny that. Maybe I could skip the really long runs.... fat chance. Running is a great sport. I love it. Biking is as good. Maybe better. I know one thing tricky about it is when you are out on a ride, it can be hard coming back in. You know you can cover so much more mileage, you always feel the need to add a little more distance. It's all great stuff to do but it all comes at an expense, not being home.
My oldest daughter Layla is 6 and at the age where the youth sports are really being offered. Tee ball, swimming, hot dog eating contests, gymnastics, and of course soccer. She wanted to do gymnastics. She wanted to do swimming, she of course wanted to take a cheerleading camp. Soccer took a little talking into. She agreed on one condition, that I tried to be the coach. So I said yes. Being sneaky, I signed up for an assistant spot. Little did I know, Concord Youth Soccer did not know my sneaky ways and I was the newest coach for the first grade division.
My back ground is extensive when it comes to soccer. I had a flourishing career in first AND second grade where I managed 2 successful campaigns in snack delivery at halftime. I still remember the time I actually kicked the ball DURING a game. I did watch the world cup 2010 this year when I thought about it. I may or may not have stayed at a Holiday Inn express also. "Seems like you should have more experience" you think? How about this, I bought a soccer ball to have at home! Ladies and Gentlemen, let the season begin. Whats the worst that could happen. CYS has a large meeting at the beginning of the year. I'm sure they will give out all sorts of helpful coaching tips and we will watch film and we will be overwhelmed in the knowledge that is pertaining to SOCCER.
Coaches meeting No. 1. We are handed a packet and told, go call your players. End meeting.
So with a lot of research on the Internet I have assembled (been given) 9 wonderful kids to coach. We had 4 or 5 practices before our first game. Having no idea how we rated compared to another team I was a bit gun shy. I know I have 3 solid players. You can tell. You can see it in them. I have 4 that have good aggressiveness. I have 2 that are just having fun (one being Layla).
Game 1. We get all set up. Whistle blows. Score. Score. Hmmm. This seems to be going well. Score. Score... you see how this is going. We win 10-1.
I am not going to recap every game, but we are doing REALLY well. After this weekend, we are 6-0-1. We have now outscored our opponents 46-9. This weekend we play the last place team 0-6, and we are in first place right now. We have 3 more regular season games and then the tourney starts.
As far as the fitness goes, it is as much as you want it to be. I personally am out running with the kids as much as they are. I don't think that I have seen another coach as involved as I am with the team (not that that is wrong or right) but its my personality, and honestly, I think my kids see me running and that moves them a little bit more. I have great parents, but they have not just offered to step onto the field and help out during practices so I am grabbing pylons and directing bodies and getting people here and there for the next exercise, so again, I am in motion a lot.
I never expected to have this much fun coaching it. Winning doesn't hurt the fun factor, and these kids would be 6-0-1 with or without me. Layla and I fell into an amazing team. I hope Layla plays again next year, but I can see her trying more gymnastics or swimming but for me this has been great time spent together, getting fit.
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Thursday, May 27, 2010

Lance @ Leadville vs. Brent @ E-Town.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong visiting the NIH (Nati...Image via Wikipedia
By: Brent

There is a movie out called "Race Across the Sky" that tells the story of the 2009 Leadville 100. A very exciting story about the 15th running of the 100 mile mountain bike race from Leadville, Colorado, up a total elevation change of 14,000 feet and back to Leadville. The movie is outstanding even in its "low budgetness". Some very big names in the biking community appear, including doper Floyd Landis, accused doper Lance Armstrong, 6 time winner Dave Wiens and others that have proven themselves in the sport of Cycling.


*Spoiler Alert*


Lance is a winner. This is something that I just can't deny, but as I am watching this movie for the first time, with 7 miles to go and the movie still giving you that feeling that he has people hot on his trail something happens. Lance gets a flat rear tire! 7 miles out. No mechanics. No support. LA dismounts and starts to inspect the tire. He decides that rather and waste the time to fix it, he will just ride to the finish on a flat. For 7 MILES! Lance goes on to win by a landslide, but it only adds to the excitement and you walk away from the movie in amazement.


After watching this (a handful of times) Jeff and I adopted the phrase "WWLD". What Would Lance Do. Did we have a reason? No. It was just so impressive, it made sense. Whatever it takes. WIN. Maybe not the race, but a P.R. or a finish, or be the first place winner to the fire hydrant and be the only competitor. Who cares. Get the job done.


FAST FORWARD to Monday. I arrive into work to have the feelings of stress magnified over and over again. My family is dealing with 2 people fighting cancer, one so fatally serious we are feeling blessed for the days we have left with him, then add a broken hip in an 89 year old Nana, and on the lighter side, my computer hard drive dies. It just added that much more stress. So this week is "Ride Your Bike to Work" week. I needed the break. At lunch I grabbed the normal PB&J and headed out to the garage. I grabbed a G2 (Orange), one water bottle, one Clif bar (Crunchy Peanut Butter) and swapped out my shirt for something sweat wicking. Out in the garage I topped off the tires with as much air as I could get into them. It was a third voyage out on new street tires on my beloved mountain bike. I headed out ready to let out some steam.


The ride from home to work is a 8 mile ride on back country roads with a 2.5 mile stretch on a wide shouldered State Road right in the middle of them. As I hit the 5 mile mark and was turning on to the next county road the front end slid a bit and my first thought was "Man, these new tires are like slicks!" but as I ventured forth I could tell bad things were happening. I was deflated. Literally. The front tube had given out with 3 miles to go and I already knew the greeting I would be getting from a certain boss of mine if I was even remotely late. I never stopped pedaling, but there was that "Lance moment", one in which you have a coupel of thoughts run through your mind...


1) This is going to be an awesome story.

2) WWLD

3) Wait til Jeff hears this!

4) My boss is going to yell at me.

5) When my wife notices "WWLD", she will know I am a geek.


It was my Leadville moment. It was almost exciting to think that now, without choice, I too could ride a flat tire. WHY IS THAT AWESOME!?! you ask. I have no idea, but let me tell you, it was. I instantly thought how this could be tricky as the resistance was obviously a lot more and the solid high noon sun was beating on me the thought of ditching the bike and walking leisurely was a solid option. I pedaled on and hatched a plan. I would ride the next 2 miles up to a house I knew I could safely rest the bike and helmet and with a mile left, I could run out the rest running down a grass runway. Without any flaws, that was just what I did. Just like Lance would.


It cleansed me that day more than I think anything could have. In the moment I never got pissed and gave up, but I almost welcomed it and enjoyed it. After picking up my bike after work, I noticed that BOTH tires had gone flat, not just the front. Now I was twice as impressive.


And yes, I was greeted by my boss the way I had expected.


WWLD..............
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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Glass City Marathon Reveiw.

Res a good panoramic stitch togetherImage via Wikipedia
By: Brent

I have run plenty of races. I started small and graduated up. I ran my first 5k at age 30 after having my second daughter and realizing I wasn't getting any smaller, or younger, or healthier. I weighed in at around 238 lbs. My first race was at an 11:30+ mile. I was pleased to know I could finish, but knew I had more in the tank. I ran a couple more and always saw progress. Then I stepped up to a 10k. This was a road/trail race. I honestly thought they had mismarked the course. I knew somehow they had sent me on a 10 miler and everyone was laughing at me. Nope, it appears it had been marked as expected. I then ran a couple more 10k's and again, always saw progress. I finally got down to under an hour and felt pretty good about that. I then stepped up to my first half marathon. 13.1 miles amongst 35,000 others. I honestly didn't enjoy the crowd but I was okay with the length. It was 40 minutes of waiting from the time the gun fired to the time I finally started the start line. That alone put me in a funk and I just never shook that. I entered 2 more half marathons and again, always saw improvement. I started flirting with a 2 hour half marathon and I liked the sound of that. I figured that since I was so close to the 2 hour point, I should step up again.


4/25/10. Glass City Marathon. 26.2 miles. Toledo, OH. 700 Marathon runners. Dead flat. The weather made for tricky game time decision as far as what to wear. It was 50 degrees and had rained hard the night before. The forecast was still pretty spotty looking as far as what would happen, but it was rain or shine and the most important thing was that it started. Elizabeth went to the race with me and as they are saying the final announcements I change my mind. I'll drop the long sleeve shirt and just go short sleeve. She helped me change my bib to the short sleeve and about the time I got my hat on, the gun fired. As always the crowd pushes and you feel that instant adrenaline, then it bottlenecks and you feel like a dope walking for 15 seconds, then you take off again. Its like detonating a bomb, then stopping to tie your shoe. So the race began and for the first mile and a half it takes me a little bit to get in a groove. Then you sink in and left right left right just seems to be an after thought. You forget breathing and you just coast. I remembering looking around in some of the subdivisions that it trekked us through thinking, "I have never been to Toledo, but this is a wonderful city" So around mile 4 I thought, "hmmmm. I gotta pee." But I was coasting along nicely at a 9:30 pace and I really didn't want to break that. I pushed on. At about mile 6, I was started chatting with another lady who was running her first marathon. Very pleasant lady who was the overly positive thinker. Very nice. Just a little over the top with the whole "everything is sooooo wonderful". Either way we got in a great pace and both had 4:10 on the brain. We coasted along with no complaints (not that she would have heard them anyways). We hit the halfway point and it was roughly 2:05. I knew that was good and bad. Good that I was on pace at about my half marathon pace, and bad knowing that I had to maintain it all over to not lose my 4:10.


Pee was on my mind. It was getting worse. I had that thought. Yes I did. "How bad is a wet sock?" Then it dawned on me... I will not be winning anything. Zero. No amount of urine in my shoe was going to be worth it. At mile 16 we were still kicking along at 9:30's but I saw port a potty's and it felt like it was going to be the right move. I checked my watch before going in. No line, but the "process" felt like an eternity. Come on, come on...... Okay! ...get back to it! But it was tricky. That stop felt very rewarding. it gave the muscles time to tighten and the lactic acid some time to set in. Even if this wasn't true, in my head, it happened. I knew I was doomed. From 16 on it was a struggle.


For about 10 miles I mixed running and a strong willed walk. It wasn't what I wanted but it wasn't rolling over and letting the marathon win either. I passed each mile marker and always felt a bit of relief with each pass. When I hit mile 22 I thought, you did it. Your going to make it, push on. I thought with 3 miles left, you can run it out to the finish... but I couldn't get the body to agree. With 1.2 left I thought okay, we can finish this. You could see the stadium that you would be finishing at. But I couldn't get it going, still mixing short runs with longer walks that were still spirited no doubt. At mile 25 one volunteer yelled "Water, Gatorade, Beer!" With the iPod blasting, I flinched. BEER!?!?! I grabbed one thinking this will be the best story ever! I took a college gulp of the coldish Coors Light and instantly thought, this was a horrible idea. I still needed to juggle my guts another 1.2 miles so I dumped it (Sorry Beer Gods, just poor timing!) Just after the 25 mile marker the 4:30 pacer passed me. So I knew I could hang in there for this, the last mile. I mixed my pace and we switched back and forth until we finally made the turn in to the stadium. I knew I could finish with a run. No questions. I looked good, as I always do at any 2 given moments.. 1) Camera man 2) Finish line. Never let them see you walk in the newspaper. You have to be ready to pick up the pace and you never know when the camera man will hop out from a bush. Race camera men are like ninjas but at the finish of my first marathon, I knew I would be lookin' good.


At the end of the day I ran a 4:31:57. A PR (naturally). Did I have that feeling of okay, when is the next marathon? Nope. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to cry. I wanted a hot tub. You do instantly think about the pee break and think "what if..." But I really didn't care. I won't say I will never run another, but the marathon isn't my favorite distance. I love the bike. I want to get into Duathon's and I am thrilled that I completed a full marathon. I knew if I did a duathon first (run, bike, run) I may never do a full marathon so to me I have now graduated on to do another sport.... Multisport.


Overall thoughts of the course. Very pretty. Lots of nice grassy, forest area's. The downside, the course was frequently on 6 and 7 mile straight sections. Wind was tough but then you do it for 6 and 7 miles straight, it gets really boring. If I could have hung with that lady, it would have helped having someone to pass the time with but overall, I was very pleased with the course.


4:31:57. PR.
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Friday, April 23, 2010

Training, when will I get to end?

New York City MarathonImage by Pabo76 via Flickr
By: Brent

The Glass City Marathon is this week. I have prepped as well as I can. I run, I run, I run.






The Runner's World program gives you options for training for how long you want to work at it. They also give you options as far as how many miles you want to average. I chose the 16 week option with 3 days of running. In that time I have logged 256.92 miles prior to my marathon. Along side my training I have also put in 50+ miles on the bike.






16 weeks is a long time to train. I am thrilled to be at the end of it. As week 14 was starting I was beginning to get severe pain in my left foot and what seemed to be a strong head cold. Week 14 I really laid off the foot. I talked to other runner friends and read up trying to figure out if I had messed something up severely but I think it was just strained from a long run and a lot of yard work and labor that the foot wasn't used to over a long weekend. I tackled the head cold with more Tylenol Cold medicine and Vitamin C than any cold I have ever been through. Mentally I was shaken. I called my good friend Jon and talked out a lot of my concerns. He reminded me how much I have done and that he still is in such shock that I can honestly call myself a "runner". We are both of similar build. I call him Dr. Phil and he calls me Oprah. I don't know if in my entire time of knowing Jon we haven't picked at each others weight. Both of us at 6' plus and in the 190+ weight class. We got started running around the same time so we have been through a lot of the same feelings on running. I also reread a book that really gets my mind on the best part of running. "My Life on the Run" by Bart Yasso. Great book. And that is from a guy who does not read. Bart Yasso is a Runner's World top dog. He has one of those jobs that runner's would kill for. He is C.R.O. Chief Running Officer. He travels around to different races and meets and greet and helps race directors and give speeches but from my standpoint, the most important thing he does is motivates. Talking to him or listening to him, you just want to jump up and GO RUN. He is one of my "Face Book friends" and I have posted a couple things on his page and he has always responded and even his wife has chimed in. He may rub elbows with the Ryan Hall's of the world but he is just a friend of people. He himself is amazing. So at this point I feel very good about where I am at, what I have done and how well I have prepared.






So again, The Glass City Marathon is this weekend. the Half Marathon is sold out at 1,500 runners. The marathon is 94% sold out at about 650 runners right now. There is a 5k that I think has about 700 people entered into it also. I am very excited. There is really only one concern and it is one that I can't focus on. I have no control. Weather. Weather.com is calling for NASTY storms. 80% chance. I have stopped watching the weather. Living in the Midwest, I have learned that there is no predicting what the weather will really do. I have no idea what happens when a race gets rained out. I assume it will just get REscheduled, but that remains to be seen. Toledo is about a 2.5 hour drive. The plan right now is my family of 4 along with my mother and father will go Saturday and make a weekend of the happenings of Toledo. I guess worst case scenario if it gets rained out, I grab a buddy and sucker them to go along with me so I have a driver on the way back because I'm sure my legs won't work when I am done.. Again, I can't worry about that until it gets here.




In marathon training, and really any training, I think the part that gets the least amount of acknowledgement is the support you get. I need to thank mostly my wife for the time. Jeff, Rael, Andrea, Jon, Roger, my parents, Bart Yasso and anyone who has inquired about this marathon which gets me excited just talking about it


4/25/10. 26.2 Miles. Bring it on.
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Monday, February 22, 2010

Finding your motivation....anywhere you can get it.

Fear of the DarkImage by stuant63 via Flickr




By: Brent



The competition is out there. She is training when you are sleeping. He is doing speed work while you are catching your breathe. Mine is out running while I can see him pass my house from my couch. He is a good 20 years older than I am. We have never talked. I don't know where he lives. He is known in my house as "the competition".


When we moved to our current home over a year ago, I started seeing him quickly and often. He seems to do a lot of running right as I am getting home. He has a funny little stride. Not powerful or graceful or anything pretty. Elbows at 90 degrees with tiny little swings. As a passerby I would probably giggle if I saw him out.


Last summer I was headed back to the house from a 4 mile out and back. As I approached the last intersection before my house, leaving me .7 miles to go, "the competition" had just turned onto the same stretch of road. He was about 20 yards in front of me. The race was on! I upped my tempo. Increased my stride length. I knew right then no "oldie" was going to beat me back to my house, but as he got smaller and smaller I thought, "this guy came to play today." It was not my day. If I recall correctly, this was the day he was nicknamed, "the competition".



Fast forward to 2010. This past weekend I was in the middle stretch of my 16 week marathon training and my schedule called for a 14 mile run. I broke it down into one loop at 9.x miles and a second loop of 4.x miles. The first 13 miles went great but as with all long runs, when your done, your done. As I approached the final intersection to make the home stretch, I spotted "the competition" only this year we were in the opposite locations. I was a bit closer and going to make the turn before he got to the intersection. I had a disadvantage compared to him circa 2009...I only had maybe an 18 yard advantage, not the football field 20 yards he had, yet I would not let this hinder my performance.



I make the turn and instantly start the push. .7 miles to go. 3,696 feet of victory. I instantly increase my focus on the "finish line", a single white and orange gas pipe that sticks out of the ground that tells me when I should start my 3 minutes of walking that cools me down before I get to the house. By removing my headphones like a ninja I was able to listen for his heavy feet to be beating into the ground or I knew I would at least hear him panting trying to catch me. Knowing I had already finished 13 miles I decided at every phone pole I would push a bit harder to make up for my inevitable slowing down. As cars would pass I payed close attention to if they shot back over or if they stayed out, informing me that he was hot on my trail. I could not tell one way or another but refused to look back and show my concern. As I approached my "finish line" gas pipe, I knew there was no way that I could let him pass me as I was in my "cool down walk" so I decided to push past my cool down. I came collapsing to a halt 2 houses in front of mine, I slowly turned to see how badly I had destroyed him in my secret race of 2010. Nothing. He had turned off at the intersection and was never behind me at all.



Obviously I scared the crap out of him and he didn't even want to attempt it. I understand.
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Monday, January 18, 2010

Keeping Track

A parking lot for bicycles in Niigata%2C_Niiga...Image via Wikipedia
By: Jeff

When I began riding my bike into work last year I decided that I would log all of my miles.  I wanted to do this for a couple of reasons.  First to provide a sense of history.  Looking back on what I have achieved provides me motivation for the future.  The second reason is to see progress.  I want to see if I am improving in my times, distance, overall fitness.  So as began to keep track of this I stumbled upon Bicycling.com 's training log.  This was very useful in accomplishing the tracking that I wanted.  It even has a place for runs and other cross training activities.

So that brings me to this year.  I have decided that I would keep logging on Bicycling.com, but that I would also try a couple other sites.

  • Bicycling.com - Provides a nice log for cycling activities.  Secondary logging  for cross training activities.  Provides day, week, month, year, and total summaries.  Also includes tools to share information on a blog or website.
  • RunnersWorld.com - This is managed by the same company as Bicycling.com.  For the most part this is the same as Bicycling.com's log in reverse.  More emphasis on running, with cycling include in the cross training logs.  Again it includes tools to share information on a blog or a website.
  • Active.com - This website has a general log that includes several different activities.  This site seems to be more social in nature, as in you can become friends with other members of the website.  I have not found any tools in here to share information outside of the site.  The nice part about this site is that several events, such as marathons and cycling events, use this site for registration and for posting times.  When they post times you can than link them directly to your training log.
I have also looked at Mapmyrun.com and Livestrong.com.  Livestrong is good if you also want to track what you are eating.  For now though I am going to stick with the three above sites.  At what point does all this tracking become to tedious?  Are there any other sites out there that you use or would suggest?
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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Genesis

Standard Issue BikesImage by ldandersen via Flickr

by: Brent

In the first half of 1977 two boys were born. By age 7 both boys had become best friends spending way too many hours together. Most of their time was spent riding bikes in never ending circles on driveways, parking lots, wooded areas and even into cemeteries. Listen, cemeteries are curvy and that makes for good race tracks. That and our parents told us not to so…yeah, we were DEFINITELY going there!


So what happens? We get drivers licenses. We meet girls. We have families. We get desk jobs. We get fat. FAT. So now we work to do something about it.


We are making a blog to do a couple things. 1) Remind us as we get older what we have done. 2) Share our experiences, good or bad with what we are working on. 3) Review product whether it be a $3 light or a $5000 bike and also races and trails. 4) Make friends that share our interests.

We look forward to the coming months and please feel free to comment and share your reviews with us. Thanks.




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