Post 66

I'll be brief today as we just hammered out a 66 miler (Chilly Hilly X2 for you locals) and I need to eat, watch my Netflix doc on Steely Dan and get my tired booty to bed early in order to make the wake up call for tomorrow's 90 min spin. This is what happens when I try to be brief, sentences seem to run on a bit......

Randomly noted, however, before the curtain falls:

The new Seattle Transit (photo of the main entry) light rail from Pioneer Square to Sea-Tac (requires a last leg & free shuttle bus) is in keeping with European public transportation standards. Meaning, it works. $2.50 (!) gets you there in 30 minutes. And again for you locals, it's just an easy three block walk from the ferry terminal at 3rd & James.

Stephanie did the 66 today without breaking a sweat and is fully prepped for RSVP next week. I stand in full adulation mode of her prowess.

The Phase 126 studio project got a much needed shot in the arm yesterday as Brother Michael and Nephew Joe, crafted out the new arched portal. Pix on that AND Joe's ultra-cool soccer commercial coming soon.

We have some sweet deals/promos in the works for Kona this year. Allow me to be the first to let the kitty peek from the bag by leaking one clue: compression.

The UW Huskies will win 5 games this year. (Coming of an 0-12 campaign). RCVman, a UW football booster since 1977 (think Warren Moon, Blair Bush and Dave Browning) has seen it all since then, from Rose Bowls to the toilet bowl. Still I bark purple and gold. Go get 'em lads. All other team sports are a waste of time.

All for today.

Next weeks topics (outside of triathlon and training):

Why I am vegetarian,
Why I am Buddhist,
Why Goldman-Sachs sucks.
Why the sky is blue (on occasion), and,
Why I am single.

If you care to venture an early guess to any of the above, have at it and sleep well.

0my

Training, with apologies to Mike Mac and Confucius,

More is more, until
Less is more. Then,
More is less, until
More is more. Then
Less is more, because
more is more.
More-less.

RCVman 08.05.09.0my

Music

Many people have inquired about my music selections for the RCV videos. Excellent!!! I can break it down into three broad, yet concise categories:

1) Music I own, have licensed, created, produced or been given permission to use. I usually hammer my talented musician friends with requests until they throw in the towel and agree. This also includes "music" I have created via Apple Garage Band. Of the 71 scores currently accompanying RCVman moving images, a somewhat embarrassing 9.7% fall into this category. PLEASE note, that if (and when) I have the time, I will significantly increase this ratio. As a perfect example, I wrote a rather 'interesting' little number yesterday. Three chords, key of A, with a twisted minor 7th bridge that defies logic. The difference between me on the couch with my Yamaha acoustic, and mastering to today's quality standards is about 50 hours of studio time. No got amigo. Additionally, PLEASE let me state here and now my philosophy on the next category. "Using" other people music. This may stimulate serious debate, but here it is, without a net. There is no charge for watching RCVman videos. I am not making a profit off of some one else's music. MOF, in most cases what I really doing is promoting obscure, forgotten, little known or previously unheard tunes to an altogether new audience. Is that a service or a crime? Do you think that Bela Fleck would object to me using one of his beautiful tunes to show young, healthy folks having wholesome fun and being good role models to an audience that otherwise would have never known of him? The real issue is that while Bela wouldn't object, his record label might. After all they are in it for the gold, and feel that this use deserves a royalty payment, sometimes into the thousands of dollars. No can do, senor.

2) iTunes from musicians other than Warmer Music Group (WMG). These slimy bastards actually spent millions of dollars developing software that detects one of their licensed acts when used on YouTube and automatically disables the audio. This has caused quite a stir as you can imagine. To be fair, the jury is still out as to who is really to blame in the power struggle for pennies (actually millions), WMG or Google themselves. The point being that if you are going to post to YouTube DO NOT use a WMG artist or song. Sony, otoh, has the right idea, they (developing similar software) ID the tune and artist with a clean little lower third drop down box and ask if you want to buy the song at iTunes. Wow, everybody wins! I have many times had comments saying 'thanks for using that old (pick one) song, I forgot what a great tune that is, and yes, I plucked down the .99 and bought it'. How cool is that? How fascist is WMG?

3) I use the second method 90.3% of the time because, well, I am a guitar/drum/banjo/piano/synth/kazoo hacker with limited time to produce music and there is so much good stuff out there just waiting to be heard. By you.

As another perfect example, here is an absolutely incredible live performance by contributors to the Calgary 70.3 piece posted just yesterday, Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer. I would have used this song instead of Big Country, but this true musical gem is not available ANYWHERE.

Don't you feel better already? And hey, there is no charge. Thank you Bela, Edgar and Sony.

CVid

Here is the first take on the Calgary 70.3 video. After a couple of days in post I decided that I can do better. MUCH better. But it will take some time. So, while you get a glimpse of the course and the energy of the event, I am going (as we say) back in to do some tweakage. Might be major tweakage. Either way, YOU, the loyal and demanding VBA, will be first to know. Ye-Haw.

CPix

As I sit and render the Calgary video, here are some of the pix mentioned in earlier posts. I guess I need to upgrade my road tech as having a slow connection in Canadian towns seems to no longer be a valid excuse. Perhaps so.

Cpix: Part of the run course. Weaselhead Rez at North Glenmore Park.
Seventh Avenue, downtown, (big) oil art.
More public art; Check, mate.
My kinda car.
Swim start into the prairie sun.

Video tomorrow. Goodnight.

Calgary Drama

Danger is inherent in drama. There needs to be some type of conflict for heroic action or profound cause/effect. Hollywood knows this, as did Doyle, London, Grey, and Tolkien before them. Woody Guthrie knew it as well as Billie Joe Armstrong. It goes without saying that it is a pre-rec for Professional Wrestling. Triathlon has it on occasion, and often to wildly varying degrees. Consider the yearly drama in Kona as the best in the biz go toe to toe for 140.6 miles in less than 9 hours in the red hot Big Island sun. Much, much further back in the pack the drama is no less intense as age groupers struggle not so much against the time-clock as against the age-clock. It can be a war zone back there, with one foot in struggle just to follow the other.

It was a battlefield in Calgary yesterday as the inaugural Calgary 70.3 made it's debut. The drama began on Saturday when high winds, thunderstorms and driving rain added to the mix. Debris was blown off the Calgary Tower, killing a three-year old innocently walking several stories beneath, and the same tornado force winds took down a music stage during an outdoor concert, killing one and injuring hundreds. Kevin Costner's Band was about to go onstage when the storm touched down. I was riding on the downtown train heading back to the motel and the winds came thru the open upper windows strong enough to rip plastic advertisements off the walls and send them flying towards the rear of the car. The sky turned black and I saw quaking aspens bend at unnatural angels, grabbing for soil with their straining roots to hang on. The girl opposite me on the train hopped to my side and buried her head in my chest looking for protection. I truly thought the light rail was going to quickly become airborne. And then it passed. The girl apologized for being scared, the sky returned to it's washed out gradient and I thought how much fun it would be to have that power BEHIND you on tomorrow's bike leg.

Saturday night we got thunderstorms that filled the cheap motel room with five second strobes and sub woofer rumbles that rattled the walls. Each raindrop hitting the window sounded like an explosion. The TV went black. We lost the ethostream. And I wondered if the race would be scrubbed as a result. Just before midnight, after one last mental equipment and time schedule check off, I fell into a deep, anxiety filled dream. I dreamt of being alone, behind enemy lines in a battlefield reeking of sulfur and gunpowder. A mortar shell exploded close-by and in a slow motion flash back, a girl held me close, providing ample reason to persevere. My iPhone alarm's marimba sounded at 0400. It was the darkest hour before the light of the new day and I was a touch shell shocked, and anxious to get out and access the damage. The girl was gone.

After all that the race itself was a bit anti-climatic. The bus ride out to Ghost Lake took an hour, rattling already frayed nerves, but allowing fresh conversations thru chance meetings. Once there, things settled in pretty routinely. We've done all this before, still I am always impressed with the zeal and enthusiasm of first time, first event volunteers, who seemed to be everywhere. Swim was into the rising red prairie sun and 1,600 athletes were off on a grand adventure. The bike leg, of which RCV fans are primarily concerned, was, as advertised, rolling and scenic, with only a few "tense" sections on Hwy 1 where the usual vehicle-bike bottlenecks made life interesting for a klick or two. I think it will go for a most enjoyable RCV, and will quickly dispel the myth of all 70.3 bike legs being a standard distance, as this one Garmined out at 58 miles, rather than 56. And, yes, there was a section or two with significant tail winds.

I liked the run best. Through North Glenmore Park, down into the Weaselhead reserve and on a cliff above the winding Elbow River. No cars, no city streets, so four way intersections, no noise other than the rhythmic breathing of athletes under stress and fans shouting encouragement. Lot's of good, clean dramatic fun.

Colorado had a good day in Calgary as Mirinda Carfrae (nee OZ) and Tim O'Donnell took the top pro spots. It was a great day for 70.3 racing in Calgary. I think this event has the potential to become a regular on the circuit, with even the possibility of handling a full Ironman.

But that might be more drama than 1.1 million Calgarians can take just now. Give 'em some R&R and we'll talk after the Stampede.

Pictures and the Calgary highlight video coming within 72. Signing off from Alberta, Canada, on way to YYC.

RCVman, out.

Calgary 1

First look at the city of Calgary. 1.1 million Canadians here, with a good 70% wearing cowboy hats. Cool by me. A touch on the expensive side, cab from the airport to downtown was $40 (no shuttles), dinner for two was $50 at Old Spaghetti House and this morning I had to pry Kurt away from a $5.50 cup of coffee at the Westin. I will faux cheerfully drink Happy Hour Guinness Draughts for $6.25 BUT I WILL NOT DRINK A $5.50 CUP OF COFFEE. A guy has got to have some standards, eh?

Expo was a bit on the light side considering there are 1,700 athletes racing in the inaugural event tomorrow. Logistics are a nightmare, as most multi-point tris are. Spent the better part of the afternoon meeting with my moto guy and going over the check points and meet times. It's gonna be a test, but the weather should hold so we'll get out there, mix it up and see what we can do. From what I have seen and heard so far, the course should be picturesque and demanding. A good combination in any province.

A few pix from today's wanderings: Chess in a downtown park. The Weaslehead canyon where the run travels, and the downtown core's 7th avenue, pretty snazzy street sign! (Note: The internest service here at the Ramada is slow as molassas, so I will post the pix later-sorry)