Today I raced my first cyclo-cross race; fortunately for me it was hands-down the most badass/gnarly race ever to have existed. ProCity hosted this most epic of races so I decided I would head out there and represent with my new ProCity team kit... however in the end I don't know how well I "represented" (I got lapped out at lap 5 of 6) but I had an INSANE amount of fun, got ridiculously muddy, and learned a whole lot. I have a new found respect for the pros who can maneuver their bikes around obstacles like the ones at the race with such speed and elegance... RESPECT. However I have a lack of respect for the large majority of the group that dropped out of the race because of the conditions/course. There were long sections that required you to trudge through (I kid you not) knee-high deep mud. I probably crashed 20+ times; one time in particular was really bad when I was descending this super muddy embankment and lost control on a big lip at the bottom, landing face first in a huge mud puddle. It took me a while to get going after that because I couldn't see and my eyes stung. In retrospect if I hadn't had biffed there I might have managed to finish before getting lapped out. Oh well, it was a seriously good time regardless. This is definitely something I could get good at with a little bit of practice.
In other news, training is going great. I am getting ridiculously ripped (I wish I were kidding... I'm not) and improvements (in the water especially) just keep on coming. My every day short-term goal of quality and consistency is really paying off (go figure). I have only been sick once since September, which only took me out for a day. I have also just recently started pumping-iron (weight-lifting), which I think will really contribute to my level of jackedness... and overall fitness/power. Anyway, that is all I will write for now in accordance with my new self-imposed rule to write less per post and as a consequence (hopefully) post more frequently. Until next time!
Peace and Love.
PS I will post some pictures when they surface.
time flies when you're training hard!
17 hours ago
1 comments:
Here's a complicating (simplifying) thought that has to do with the conditions from which poverty grows from Thomas Malthus. If a community of 100 is engulfed in starvation because the population cannot support itself on the land it can control (being essentially unconnected to other food sources, refrigeration etc) and you support them by paying for food and medicine to be airlifted in, and the population blossoms to 500 as a result. This serves to exacerbate the overexploitation of the region. Assume that, perhaps because of a depression, you are unable to support the region any more, and as a result an additional 400 people starve, is that an evil act? In your short-sighted attempt to do good can you multiply suffering in the long term? Would it be better to allow disease and starvation to return the population to a sustainable level, without interfering? Is Western support nothing more than a crutch to African suffering, where we pay for our own feeling of self-righteousness with the tears of the poor? What if money that you earmark for the honest poor is intercepted by warlords and embezzled (Mobutu Sese Seko anyone?) by the billion, or used to wage ethnic cleansing campaigns? The point is what is a good 'act', and what an evil one? Or what is a good 'non-act'.
Glad to hear that you are getting ripped (weren't you already?) and enjoying Cyclocross - I need to check some of that action out. How is school?
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