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One happy, fun, nice guy
“Man, isn’t this embarrassing?” the mountain biker said as he pushed his bike up the steep hill to where I was already leaning over my bike, sucking air. I thought he was referring to being with me this far into the race.
“I lost my water bottle,” I said, making conversation by way of commiseration. I [...]
Attacking a goal (before it attacks you)
1. August 2010
I was afraid it was about to happen three miles into the ride. I had grave concerns at Mile 24, became concerned again at Mile 51, was taken by surprise by the short climb at Mile 63 and thought worried it might happen then, and was surprised that it didn’t during the long pull between [...]
Continue reading...Competition: Victory stolen … or won?
26. July 2010
Steve uttered an annoyed grunt and pulled off the trail. “My seat,” he said. “It slipped.” Instinctively, I pulled over to take a look. He gave me a funny a look, gave the seat a quick shove, and hopped back on. Moments later, another annoyed grunt, followed by another trailside stop. “I need to get [...]
Continue reading...Scenes from a Huck-A-Buck
25. July 2010
Today was the 9th running of the Huck-A-Buck, the longest running (I’m pretty sure) mountain bike race in the Triangle. The race is run by Happy Fun Racing, a local bike club who’s tongue-in-cheek catch phrase is “Nothing But The Best.” Tongue-in-cheek because the race is known for it’s laid-back attitude. Laid-back, but well run [...]
Continue reading...Coaches: A two-sided tale of why they help
19. July 2010
“Let’s see,” Alan said thumbing through his small white book of eclectic statistics, “he’s got Beech Mountain rated as the sixth toughest climb in the Southeast. It’s three and a half miles with an average grade of 9.2 percent — and a maximum of 17 percent.”
I flinched. “That’s the one we’re doing today?” My grip [...]
Programed to succeed
14. July 2010
I looked up the road to the next street sign. “That’s it, right?” I asked. “Smallwood Drive?”
“That’s it,” Gavin confirmed. “Now we just have a couple hundred meters to go.”
Not what I wanted to hear on this steamy (92 degrees, 85 percent humidity) evening training run. We’d already done three mile-long fast tempo miles; this [...]
Gavin Coombs: Getting paced by the best
7. July 2010
I figured Gavin was a good runner. He was, after all, one of our coaches. But it wasn’t until Saturday’s training run that I discovered just how good he was.
Gavin Coombs and Sean Kurdys coach the half-marathon training program I’m in. Like other running programs that have sprouted the last few years, it’s intended to [...]
Bike race on the bottom of the sea
4. July 2010
Thursday, I mentioned in passing a bike race on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. How, you might wonder, could one mention a bike race on the ocean floor in passing? An oversight on my behalf, so I’m back today with a rebroadcast of a story I wrote for The News & Observer in 1996 [...]
Continue reading...Team Bandwidth.com’s 3,004-mile sprint
28. June 2010
The following post on Team Bandwidth.com’s winning of this year’s Race Across America originally appeared in the Work & Money section of The News & Observer on Sunday, June 27. I’ve written more on the team’s experience here.
In 2004, Bandwidth.com had the kind of experience that sends shivers down the corporate spine. The Cary [...]
More on Team Bandwidth.com’s sprint across America
27. June 2010
In today’s The News & Observer, I write about Team Bandwidth.com’s experience in Race Across America, the 3,004-mile bike race from Oceanside, Calif., to Annapolis, Md., that TB.com won (competing in the four-person team division), covering the distance in 6 days, 3 hours and 9 minutes. Here are more details on TB’s experience. (Probably makes [...]
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22. August 2010
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