The thing I like about this feature from 1942 is the hint that Triceratops are doing their part for the defense of America.
I want to see that movie now, of course.
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Inject and infect
The thing I like about this feature from 1942 is the hint that Triceratops are doing their part for the defense of America.
I want to see that movie now, of course.
If you decide to go for a cycle beyond midnight in the woods do not, I repeat, DO NOT listen to Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3.
You’ll be all fine and dandy whilst cycling into the woods, then you’ll get about a mile or 2 in. That’s when the 2nd movement starts. All well and good you think,…
French cyclist champion Pierre Trentin speeds on the way of the gold of the Olympic cycling 1000m time trial event 18 October 1968 in Mexico City. During his career, Pierre Trentin captured two gold medals, tandem with Daniel Morelon and 1000m time trial in 1968, and seven world records- kilometre and 500 metres. (via Photo from Getty Images)
Two weekends ago I did the 100 Miles of Nowhere. You know, where you pick a nowhere route - usually on a trainer because that’s an easy nowhere - and ride it for 100 miles. I made it intentionally more intense this year. Because I was making a video. And because I knew there were a handfull of people who had been inspired by the first video to do the event, I figured the second 100MoN needed to be something special. After it was done, I talked about why I did the nowhere I did and figured… well, I figured no-one would question it.
I did it.
Done.
I failed by four miles, but done.
But here’s the thing.
People, it turns out, think I am insane this year. INSANE. Horses galloping in the top paddock of my mind. Screws loose for riding up Thomas Grade 45 times, a climb that averages 8% for 1 mile. Insane.
I’m confused by this.
A few weeks prior, the people in my department (Global Marketing at Specialized) found out that I’d once ridden 100 miles on rollers. They told me that was nuts. Jokey jokey nuts. That there was something inside me, broken. And I laughed, because it just seemed like a funny thing. And honestly, it WAS nuts and I’ve pretty much decided that I will never do that again.
I remember the precise moment in my interview with the Big S where I said I was addicted to riding my bicycle. There was nodding. But it occurs to me now that perhaps people say that and don’t mean it in interviews? I don’t know. I guess they thought I was joking at the time.
So in a totally unrelated incident, I went and rode 45 times up Thomas Grade and FAILED at the 100 Miles of Nowhere - seriously, four miles short. Suddenly people won’t look me in the eye. Nuts has become not joke nuts, but actual nuts. And I’m scared.
Because I’m not nuts. It didn’t seem like such a big deal. Particularly since I failed. By four miles.
I feel so disconnected from the reality of cycling right now. I can’t ride fast. Fast doesn’t seem to be my thing. I can’t be serious on the Specialized lunch ride and keep up for any period of time because it is and has always been a seriously fast thing. It’s actually gotten worse for me since I started - the Strava climbing challenge made me change my priorities in terms of speed verses ft, and lets face it I’ll always be slow with that extra person I”m carrying in body fat. So I can’t ride fast. That’s established.
But boy, can I ride insane.
I went and rode the last two laps of Thomas Grade a few days after the 96.2 miles attempt. Just rode them. Didn’t think, just rode. The second time up, I accidentally rode the third fastest I had ever done it. Eight and a bit minutes compared to the 12 minute average I was doing on the 100 miles day. Felt good. Felt pleasing. And then I got on the van after work and someone jokingly said “hey, whadya do today Janeen? Ride 60 times up Thomas Grade?’”
People think I’m nuts. Lost it. There’s a fine line between admiration and ‘you’re a frickin’ nutball’, and I guess I don’t know how to straddle it.
Am I ok with being thought of as insane?
11 hours and 53 minutes on a bike for 96.2 miles. 19,500 ft of climbing. For no reason but I just wanted to be part of something. Yes I failed, but did I? Did I, really?
life:
In 1944, LIFE’s Alfred Eisenstaedt captured a private moment repeated in public millions of times over the course of the war: a guy, a girl, a goodbye — and no assurance that he’ll make it back. By war’s end, more than 400,000 American troops had been killed.
See more photos here.
Behind Photographs – The most famous photographs presented by their photographers
by Tim Mantoani
(via rhaasta)
Blur - The Universal (by emimusic)
Listened to this on the way back. So good. I remember being amazed when I first saw the video.
“It really, really, really could ‘appen.”