You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August, 2006.
how are these 2 items related? i’m about to write a rant about them in this post - that’s how!
first off…what is up with this whole “web 2.0″ aesthetic??? i understand that some features of the latest generation of websites are great and all (blogging, ajax interactivity etc etc etc) but why must they be designed based off of some cookie-cutter guidelines? some features - like the clean appearance - i’m down with, but aside from a few creative-looking ones (momono is one… hundenanny is very cute), but most of them: YAWN!!..why so boring? and why the gigantic font size? they look like friggin’ eye charts! and lucida and trebuchet are nice fonts and all, but with their recent overuse, people are going to grow sick of them…5 or 10 years from now, they’ll be associated with being “so 2006″….and tagclouds??? they just look like throwup on a wall - yiiiicccchhh!!! didn’t toyota use that type of thing in their ad campaigns 25 years ago? ok, so it’s retro but not in a good way. anywho, hopefully this trend will crash and burn just like the spice girls…moving on…
second item i have a few choice words about…drafting: a form of strategery often seen in bike races - it’s when a rider gets behind another rider (or riders) to conserve energy. illegal in most triathlons, such as the one i did yesterday
the rule is you’re supposed to be three bike lengths away from the closest person to you - and if you decide to pass, you must do so within 15 seconds…pretty simple - but yesterday, i noticed blatant drafting from the women -
first off, one woman that i know, very fast on the bike, passes by me..then a group of 4 or 5 others follow…yet they continue to draft off her - this goes on for about 15 or 20 minutes - eventually the woman i know shakes off most of them, but there is still one woman, from a local team, who was less than a foot away from the woman in front of her for half an hour longer - and not only was she drafting, but she would not rotate through - the draft-ee kept pulling off to the side and looking behind her (something that probably slowed her time by a few minutes) in hopes that the drafter would either a/ pull through or b/ bugger off…but no…she would just stay on her wheel and follow her - i was behind them for the legal length of 3 bikes watching the whole thing go down - it was ridiculous…it’s like yah my bike time could have been 1:13 instead of 1:16 had i done that, but then i (and all the people around me) would have known it was by cheating and not because i was that fast - the thing is, in local olympic triathlons, the penalty for drafting is only 2 minutes…in other words, for someone of my speed, not likely a deterrent since we could make up at least 2 minutes, more likely 3 or 4, from our non-cheating time by drafting - and people likely to do that, those with no shame, probably don’t care if others see them - so self-consciousness of being considered a cheater wouldn’t phase them either - i say slap’em with a 5-8 minute penalty or give them some sort of a warning
ok getting late now - so till next time
pam
2 great events of my life have happenned lately - first i finished an ironman and then i got engaged. when i returned from germany, i felt very relaxed, focused and (gasp) happy…that took a few weeks to wear off…then the usual started again. i was busy all the time and had trouble focusing. i could not get a grip on what i was supposed to do - i was freaking out about not working out and gaining weight - i was freaking out about being so busy with work. i know i really need to return to doing yoga - that seemed to help a lot when i would get anxious, but it just seemed like didn’t have enough time for it. then i got really depressed - even though things in my life were going well, i was/am still sad all the time. how annoying. trying to find a moment to breathe.
it’s gorgeous out. my friend rebecca is riding the kanc today. i’d love to be out riding too. i can’t. it’s tuesday.
