I killed a black snake today; I know, terrible isn't it? I like snakes, but this one happened to be six feet long and was meandering slowly along my winding route home. As a general rule, I do not swerve to miss animals and don't get in my way when I'm driving home from work. I'm pretty sure that I got it with both tires, though I don't think it died quickly.
As I drove away, I could see it writhing in pain in my rear view mirror. Flopping and twitching on the hot tarmac, this snake was destined to suffer a fate of: slowing being cooked on the South Carolinian asphalt, being eaten by buzzards, possums, or wild boars, or getting the mercy-kill from another passerby. I contemplated turning around and doing the latter myself, but that would've delayed me from getting away from work as quickly as possible. So as I raced for home, my contemplation soon shifted to that snake's fate. That snake was snuffed out early.
While I don't think wild animals' life expectancy is anything like that of domestic animals, I doubt that Mr. Black Snake awoke on this morning thinking "today is a good day to die." In fact, I'm sure it was quite the opposite. One wrong move and nature's course of history was changed forever, but are we that different from the snake? Sure, we're our own sort of wild-domesticated animal; engrained with preserving ourselves, but no longer hell-bent on survival. We're all going to die sometime and hopefully we can make our peace beforehand, but what if we happen to be as unlucky as the black snake?
I first became aware of my fate at a young age. I pulled the string on my sister's explanation of the dinosaurs' extinction and the ball quickly unraveled. I wasn't going to be six years old forever and, as it turns out, I wasn't even going to be around forever. I've recently become more conscious of my own mortality and, quite frankly, it sucks. I'm never going to get to do all of the things that I want to do. At some point, my being will abandon those that I love and leave them with only memories.
Live life to its fullest, leave nothing to chance, and have no regrets.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Piedmont Triad: An omnium in four acts
I'm a little late in reporting on this, so rather than boring the three people that read this blog with details (details which I have largely forgotten at this point), I will briefly summarize my weekend in four acts. Not so coincidentally, The Piedmont Triad Omnium is a great weekend of four races in and around the small, barbecued town of Lexington, NC. The Omnium, which benefits local charities, has grown since my first participation two years ago, and continues to be one of my favorite races and venues. Here goes.
Criterium
Your basic rectangular course, wide streets, and a nice little uphill through the start/finish; very straight forward. Leave it to the race organizers to throw some twists: a nighttime crit with just enough rain to make the roads really greasy. Racing in the dark was actually pretty cool--the greasy streets were not. The bike's rear end was getting a little squirrelly in the bumpy turns, but I was able to hold it together. I sat in the front of the field most of the race and managed to avoid some early carnage, but wasn't so fortunate on the final lap. The peloton was bombing hard into the final turn and two guys in front of me went down hard. I lost only a few spots, but I was stood up behind them in way too big of a gear and I was totally gassed; so gassed I didn't (couldn't) even sprint. Though I was still able to finish sixth, in retrospect, the crash and lack of sprinting probably cost me a top five in the overall.
Time Trial
The time trial (or TT) is often referred to as the "Race of Truth"; sometimes the truth hurts--this was one of those occasions. Having never done a TT before, I wasn't sure what to expect. All that I kept hearing was, "it's going to hurt" and "just go out and make yourself hurt." Okay, I guess I can do that. Fortunately, a friend let me borrow his TT bike, otherwise it may have been even uglier. At the four miles point, I was making some gains on the guy in front of me and feeling pretty good; feeling pretty good until being passed by my 30-second man, then my minute-man, and finally one more. I knew I was now conceding at least a minute-thirty to these guys, but no matter. I finally caught my lead-out, and knowing he was right behind me, motivated me to go even faster. Where I had been deflated earlier, now I was inspired--not even dropping my only water bottle would dissuade me now. I finished with a strong uphill and a sprint to the line for thirteenth. Not too horrible and not too good.
Street Sprints
This was another interesting first for me. Start from a dead stop, sprint 300 meters up a slight incline, and if you finish high enough, you get to do it again! Did I mention that the "World Famous" Hooters' Girls hold you and your bike at the start? Okay, well my Hooterette had a little difficulty holding me and I damn near fell over. The concept was great, but having a chick two-thirds of your weight, wearing white Reeboks, leg-warmers, '80's-style pantyhose and who doesn't know their left from right trying to hold you is a bad idea. The track-stand start was by far the most nerve racking portion of the whole event. Though I didn't make it to the finals, I did advance to the second round for a ninth place finish and more points toward the overall. Timing for this event is everything and something that I won't forget for next time.
Road Race
I felt pretty good heading into the final event and with a good result, had a decent shot at finishing in the top five for the omnium. Having friends in a race can do a lot to ease your nerves, boost confidence, and motivate you. The plan, as we discussed in the hotel the night before, was to play it cool for two laps, attack on the final climb of the third lap, and work together for the next fourteen miles. Plans as crazy as this often work, particularly in the realm of CAT 4 racing, but you have to be both mentally and physically tough. After two laps, everything was going as planned (albeit for a bit of sketchiness on the first lap). The three of us (Joachim, Taylor, and myself) held strong positions near the front and then it happened; an attack launched the base of the climb and Joachim had no choice but to go with it. In a second I had lost twenty places, my mental and physical spirit had been broken and I was being unhitched at the back. I spent the next five miles trying to close a 200-yard gap to the peloton and teetering on the brink of quitting. I finally regrouped and started pulling myself back together. Disappointed as I was to not be able to stick with the break, I knew that within the remaining group, I would have a good shot at the field sprint; but it was going to mean that I wouldn't do any work until I had fully recovered. So that's what I did. Sixth place. Good enough for twenty bucks and good enough for seventh in the omnium.
We finished out the weekend riding through the Triad in the blistering heat (I'll spare you the details of such lackluster towns as High Point and Thomasville) and then hanging out with the team. Overall one great time.
Criterium
Your basic rectangular course, wide streets, and a nice little uphill through the start/finish; very straight forward. Leave it to the race organizers to throw some twists: a nighttime crit with just enough rain to make the roads really greasy. Racing in the dark was actually pretty cool--the greasy streets were not. The bike's rear end was getting a little squirrelly in the bumpy turns, but I was able to hold it together. I sat in the front of the field most of the race and managed to avoid some early carnage, but wasn't so fortunate on the final lap. The peloton was bombing hard into the final turn and two guys in front of me went down hard. I lost only a few spots, but I was stood up behind them in way too big of a gear and I was totally gassed; so gassed I didn't (couldn't) even sprint. Though I was still able to finish sixth, in retrospect, the crash and lack of sprinting probably cost me a top five in the overall.
Time Trial
The time trial (or TT) is often referred to as the "Race of Truth"; sometimes the truth hurts--this was one of those occasions. Having never done a TT before, I wasn't sure what to expect. All that I kept hearing was, "it's going to hurt" and "just go out and make yourself hurt." Okay, I guess I can do that. Fortunately, a friend let me borrow his TT bike, otherwise it may have been even uglier. At the four miles point, I was making some gains on the guy in front of me and feeling pretty good; feeling pretty good until being passed by my 30-second man, then my minute-man, and finally one more. I knew I was now conceding at least a minute-thirty to these guys, but no matter. I finally caught my lead-out, and knowing he was right behind me, motivated me to go even faster. Where I had been deflated earlier, now I was inspired--not even dropping my only water bottle would dissuade me now. I finished with a strong uphill and a sprint to the line for thirteenth. Not too horrible and not too good.
Street Sprints
This was another interesting first for me. Start from a dead stop, sprint 300 meters up a slight incline, and if you finish high enough, you get to do it again! Did I mention that the "World Famous" Hooters' Girls hold you and your bike at the start? Okay, well my Hooterette had a little difficulty holding me and I damn near fell over. The concept was great, but having a chick two-thirds of your weight, wearing white Reeboks, leg-warmers, '80's-style pantyhose and who doesn't know their left from right trying to hold you is a bad idea. The track-stand start was by far the most nerve racking portion of the whole event. Though I didn't make it to the finals, I did advance to the second round for a ninth place finish and more points toward the overall. Timing for this event is everything and something that I won't forget for next time.
Road Race
I felt pretty good heading into the final event and with a good result, had a decent shot at finishing in the top five for the omnium. Having friends in a race can do a lot to ease your nerves, boost confidence, and motivate you. The plan, as we discussed in the hotel the night before, was to play it cool for two laps, attack on the final climb of the third lap, and work together for the next fourteen miles. Plans as crazy as this often work, particularly in the realm of CAT 4 racing, but you have to be both mentally and physically tough. After two laps, everything was going as planned (albeit for a bit of sketchiness on the first lap). The three of us (Joachim, Taylor, and myself) held strong positions near the front and then it happened; an attack launched the base of the climb and Joachim had no choice but to go with it. In a second I had lost twenty places, my mental and physical spirit had been broken and I was being unhitched at the back. I spent the next five miles trying to close a 200-yard gap to the peloton and teetering on the brink of quitting. I finally regrouped and started pulling myself back together. Disappointed as I was to not be able to stick with the break, I knew that within the remaining group, I would have a good shot at the field sprint; but it was going to mean that I wouldn't do any work until I had fully recovered. So that's what I did. Sixth place. Good enough for twenty bucks and good enough for seventh in the omnium.
We finished out the weekend riding through the Triad in the blistering heat (I'll spare you the details of such lackluster towns as High Point and Thomasville) and then hanging out with the team. Overall one great time.
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