Marching About

I was in San Francisco on non-biking related business. But I am still happy that I was able to get a couple rides in with a good friend of mine. Cameron the Trail Master I was eager to show Cameron my "Berlin legs." No, that's not some sort of strange innuendo about the shape of my thighs, but I suppose they are still kinda sexy. The point is that Cameron taught me a lot about mountain biking when we went to school together in Colorado. He used to crush me going up hills and then tear down the mountains while I braked and braced for a catastrophe at every pebble. But now after biking over 100 miles a week for the past year I wanted to show him my adherence to the axiom, "Foolish is the student who does not surpass the master." The first thing that I immediately noticed about biking around Marin is that the elevation profile is pretty much the exact opposite of Berlin's. I think I gain a total of about 20m (~50ft) on my standard 13km (8 mile) ride to ...

After some harrowing weeks of using my legs to walk everywhere, I finally got back to moving them in circles to get from point A to point B. The winter finally went away while I was gone and the trees have fully regrown their leaves and everything is starting to flower. Countdown to pollination release in which spores will cause my eyes to seal shut. But until then.....party! My parents are visiting me in Berlin so I took them on an organized bike tour of Berlin. We went around and saw the highlights of Mitte including several remnants of the wall and some older historical sites, churches, and parks all of which have been rebuilt. This was fun to do, but didn't really fit into my training plan, so I still had to work out afterwards :) The line of Fat Tire Bikes under the TV Tower in Berlin. Comfy beach cruisers. No relation to the New Belgium Brewery though On the weekend I had a little time to do a short trip. It ended up being longer than usual but I should have expecte...

I stumbled across this recipient of one of Google's philanthropic funding initiatives: Amongst underpriviledged schools and non-profits , this personal pod-based cycle system got a 7-figure dollar-shaped injection. But really, what purpose does a pod-based pedaling system serve? Well, I think the purpose is just to look cool. Maybe it's my lazy-American talking, but if you want to go somewhere by guided transport, do you really want to have to work for it at the same time guiding yourself through a rollercoaster-like course from your house to the club? Also, you are enclosed in a plastic pod, if you exert any kind of physical effort in even a short amount of time, this thing will collect your sweat at the bottom and then smell terrible. That being said, it does look cool and hell yeah I want to try!