George Costanza Cyclist

Not everybody knows George Costanza is an avid cyclist. Fortunately he was packing his wallet on his last ride. I saw this new story in today's LA Times:



Wallet Protects Cyclist in Drive by Shooting

A bullet fired at a man riding in South L.A. is deflected, but a second cyclist is fatally shot.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
12:28 PM PDT, April 29, 2008

A wallet in a man's back pocket shielded him from injury early this morning in a drive-by shooting in South Los Angeles that left a 37-year-old man dead, authorities said today.

The uninjured man, whose name and age have not been released, was riding a bicycle alongside Travon Lee Gentry, in the 200 block of East 52nd Street about 1:40 a.m. when a blue Chevy Malibu pulled up alongside them and two men inside began shooting, said Los Angeles police spokesman Richard French.

Gentry was shot in the back and neck and died at the scene, Los Angeles County Coroner's Capt. Ed Winter said.

The other man was shot in the buttocks, but his wallet stopped the bullet, French said. Authorities did not immediately have further details about the type of wallet or how it deflected the shot.

No arrests had been made this morning in connection with the shooting, and police had not released descriptions of the gunmen.

Oklahoma!

Fred M. recently flew to Oklahoma, picked up a new BMW, then drove pretty much non stop back to SB. That reminded me of a website, If Celebs Moved to Oklahoma.
I thought it was pretty funny.

Long Hot One

We've been having a bit of a heat wave in SB over the past few days so for today's bike ride I chose between the cool breeze of coastal ride or head up into the hills of un-godly temperatures. I ridiculously chose the later and suffered plenty. Here's a pic from the ride in honor of next weeks Wildflower triathlon.

The Chuck

I really enjoy reading Chuckie V's blog. His training is very scientific. A lot of adaptation, sub threshold, threshold, lactate tests... All sort of stuff I don't do. My training has been a bit willy-nilly. I blame that mostly on work and life in general, and perhaps a tad of just being lazy. So now I live vicariously thru Chuckie, thinking yes, I could do that too. But then again, being willy-nilly has advantages too.

The Summit

The Summit is on top of the Ojai Valley or coming from the other direction, Santa Paula. From Santa Barbara it is a great ride up the Casitas Pass, thru Ojai, up the Dennison Grade to the Summit. You can then drop down a nine mile descent to Santa Paula and then on to Ventura and back home for about a 100 mile loop. I turned around at the Summit, discouraged I wasn't able to get my double cheeseburger and fries.

Daily Observation

Have you ever noticed that guys who ride recumbent bicycles all have beards and are probably engineers?
Mike T. once told me during a Lance Armstrong press conference a gentleman asked Lance why he didn't ride a recumbent bicycle in the TDF. Lance politely answered the question. Mike didn't say whether the questioner was bearded or not.

Ironman SUP

Here's Paula Newby Frasier leading out the swimmers at last weeks Ironman Arizona. Everybody's getting into SUP. I heard its Scott Tinley's new sport. I guess its the new thing for beat up old triathletes

Reality Check

As I struggled thru last nights track workout I came to the terrifying reality that Wildflower is a mere two weeks away. This morning at Masters swim workout, Duncan Thomas was bemoaning how out of shape he is for Wildflower. Of course, Duncan, who is a freak, will breeze thru the race, easily winning his age group, while I'll be curled up under some bush half way thru the run.
Last night's track strugglefest: 10 x 800 @ 3:15

Busted!?

Buster Martin pauses for a smoke half way through the London Marathon. Buster finished the marathon in a little over 10 hours however there is a bit of controversy. Apparently race officials say Buster is actually 94, not 101 as he claims. Never the less, that is still pretty incredible. Just like Vic.

Mr. Incredible

While I was cruising around this weekend doing a little biking and running, my buddy, Vic Britalan, easily won his age group at IM Arizona. So now Vic qualifies for Hawaii for an amazing 11 times in a row. Incredible!

Good Luck at Boston

This is dedicated to my friend, John Nelson, who will be running Boston this week.

Another Brick in the Wall

I've been taking a liking to heading out to the Valley for my major workouts . Today, my first brick, cycled 70, ran 9 miles. It was also the first warm day of any note so heading out for my run in 80 degree weather was a bit refreshing. Tomorrow is the London Marathon. I'll be pulling for my friend Buster Martin to finish.

Way cool

Check this out from the Honolulu Advertiser. I'm heading over to the Big Island in June for the Honu Half Ironman but I think this looks way more fun.

Squeaky Wheels

One thing I've noticed as I have gotten older is my legs have become two squeaky old rusty pegs. Maybe I need to drink more water or do yoga. But I find yoga is so damn boring.

Shadow Divers

Another book that shows you are not as tough as you think you are and getting the bends sucks big time.

Picture Perfect

Ellen asked me the other day what the heck I think about when I'm riding my bike all day. I told her I take pictures. I guess this shows the level of intensity of my rides lately. Here's one from Drum Canyon.

Big Valley

It was off to the the S.Y. Valley today. I wanted to see if I was fit enough to ride 100 which was probably a bit delusional. I finished, which is all I have to say about that.

Top of the World

Or at least Santa Barbara. It was foggy all day in SB, but bright and sunny on top of La Cumbre Peak. Great ride today.

We are people too

Funny Nike SB commercial - Watch more free videos

Question of the day

How many people would have an Ironman tattoo if you also had to tattoo your finishing time? Brian Cook and I often ponder this question and have decided this is the ultimate in geekyness. Enjoy your Ironman, but please, no tattoos.
Last night at the track: 4x1 mile @ 6:36

Be Like Mike

No not that Mike, I'm talking about Mike Smith. Smitty raced as a pro triathlete in the early 90's and all these years later shows he still has it by winning overall at this past weekend's UCSB Triathlon. I asked him after the race how he keeps motivated. "I love triathlons. I'll do this forever. It's in my blood."