Insight from BKW

Padraig from "Belgium Knee Warmers" waxes profound.

http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2008/05/well.html

This Week...

I've been working in Virginia & Maryland. We've had rain in bucket's it seems and everything is so green right now! Earlier this week I was out on the bike (rides of 30 & 50 miles) and was amazed at how fragrant the Gardenia and Honeysuckle is right now. Those scents are a blessing from God as far as I'm concerned!

I met with some wonderful people in Charlottesville and Buena Vista. Then drove up the Shenendoah Valley to Hagerstown, Maryland. What a beautiful drive! I brought my bike with me on this trip and did about 12 miles around Hagerstown before it started pouring rain. I hadn't cycled in rain like that in quite some time! Happily, it didn't bother me a bit. I was enjoying suffering on the hills around Hagerstown and the rain just seemed to make it "cool" for some reason. I had to wash my kit in the sink when I got back to my hotel room.

My evening appointment cancelled. So I drove down to D.C. and met a colleague who's on vacation. We bought some tickets off a scalper and watched the Nationals and Phillies while we "talked shop". Great ballpark! It has an old school feel to it. Too bad the Nationals are such a crappy team. They were shelled 12-2. Ryan Howard hit a couple of absolute bomb's for the Phillies.

Capital to Capital Century

On Saturday I did my first century! The ride was from Virginia's modern capitol, Richmond, t0 Virginia's first capitol, Jamestown and back. Riding 100 miles is amazing to me in a couple of ways. First, back in the mid- 80's to mid- 90's I was a cycling fanatic. I trained constantly and raced cat 4's off and on. However, I can't remember ever doing a 100 mile ride. It's possible, as I didn't have a computer at times, but I'm fairly certain I didn't. Second, I've been recovering from a bad lower back injury that occurred in February so my mileage hasn't been what I'd like.

During the week I did rides of 30 (Sunday), 40 (Tuesday), and 42 (Thursday) and planned to do the half- century Saturday. After Thursdays ride my legs felt great so I decided to try the century Saturday morning as I registered. The routes I ride around Chesterfield County are somewhat hilly, and when I saw that the century course was pretty flat I knew I could do it. The only thing that concerned me was my back.

The weather was great! Mostly cloudy, starting in the low 60's and warming to the low 70's. The route was mostly down beautiful picturesque back country roads! Passing farmland, historical plantations, and Civil War battlefields.

Hundreds and hundreds of cyclists turned out riding everything from department store clunkers to top of the line professional road bikes on routes of 25, 50 & 100 miles. There were even a couple of recumbant's (ugh!), but to each their own. I love my fellow cyclists. I really do. There are very few that I've found intolerable. You can't hang with a nicer bunch of people. Old and young. Rail skinny and fat. Male and female. Vet and newbie. I respect them all. Why? Because they're trying something I love dearly. Riding a bicycle. I don't care what the distance or reason is, it's the act of riding itself that I respect.

I mostly ride solo, so I knew virtually nobody there. I hoped to jump into a pace line of some sort and work with others. I had a plan in my mind as to how I would pace myself so as to finish in half way decent condition. I broke it down into 25 mile increments, stocked my pockets with Fig Newtons, a few Power Bars and Power Bar gel packs, and started off on my own. There were several well stocked stops along the way. These were manned by volunteers from RABA, the Richmond Area Bicycle Association, and they did a wonderful job!

The first 25, absolutely no problem. I stayed in the small chainring for about 10 miles and warmed up, then jumped into the big ring and just cruised along. Mostly flat, with some very small climbs and descents. I made a note of those. I knew that they'd feel a little different on the way back with 75 miles in my legs! I rolled into the first rest stop (which would also be the last rest stop) and refilled my water bottles. I could've jumped into a pace line of about 20 people, but I noticed 3 or 4 were using their "Tri- bars" in the pace line. Stupid and dangerous unless you've got some serious experience. They didn't look experienced. I'll pass.

The second 25 was great! I worked with 3 or 4 other riders for awhile, then tried to bridge up to a pace line of about 20 riders. I chased for about 7 or 8 miles, but there were a number of cars that were in between me and the tail end of the pace line. The traffic made it impossible to safely bridge so I had to stop chasing, plus I didn't want to over exert myself knowing I still had quite aways to go! At the 50 mile mark, I rolled into the parking lot of the Jamestown high school rest stop feeling very good.

By the end of the third 25 I started feeling it a little bit. I got into a pace line of 9 or 10 riders and we were flying! Much of this part of the route back was entirely different from the route in. There were some small hills that I wouldn't have noticed at 25 miles that hurt at 70 miles and on one of the hills, I dropped off the back of the pace line along with a couple of others guys. I worked with them for a bit, they faded and I found myself alone, except for the occassional rider I would pick up every now and then.

At 75 miles I rolled into the last (first) rest stop, refilled my bottles, ate a little, grabbed a free Red Bull for my post ride celebratory drink, and headed out. The last thing you want to do at this point is stand around and let your muscles get stiff. You need to keep the legs moving!

The last 25 were exactly what I was expecting. Pretty painful! Especially the last 10. Those very small descents within the first 25 I mentioned now felt like HUGE climbs. My legs were in fuego! My neck and shoulders ached! However, I had absolutely no problems with my lower back! I took turns working with this guy on a sweet Cannondale (he did most of the work to be honest). He was quite impressive. He looked to be about 6'4 or 6'5 and had calves Thor would envy! I lost his wheel with a couple of miles to go and rolled in like I rolled out. Solo.

When all was said and done I did my first century in 5 and 1/2 hours, for an average speed of just over 18 mph. I was thrilled! I sat on a park bench for awhile and watched as dozens of my fellow cyclists rolled in. Old and young. Rail skinny and fat. Male and female. Vet and newbie. It made me smile to see them smiling. I really feel a sense of accomplishment, and look forward to doing another century soon.

Mrs. Roadie insisted. It'll be 10 times worse by the end of summer!

Fresno Giants Baseball

I was born in Torrance, California and lived there until I was 10 or so. In the mid 70's my dad decided he wanted to live closer to his parents, so we moved to "Lowrider Country" aka Fresno, California. I've not lived there in almost 20 years and although it's "home" in a sense, nowadays it has few redeeming qualities. It's blazing hot in the summer. The Tule fog in the winter is so thick you can't see across the street. It lost its farming community charm some time ago and can now claim high crime, ghastly smog, and high unemployment as its modern day charms. In fact it seems that the only time Fresno makes the news is when something horrible happens. How sad.

For several years when I was growing up we lived right around the corner from Euless Park; home of the California League Class A Fresno Giants. Now I've always been a die- hard Dodger fan, but this was our local team. So while I hated them in San Francisco, I loved 'em in Fresno (even when the Lodi Dodgers were in town). My dad befriended the head groundskeeper, Tony; and he gave us several season passes every year. We lived so close we could walk to the games, in fact we were there just about every night.

Minor league baseball in the 70's and 80's was really something. Back then the stadium smelled of a mixture of dirt, grass, cigar smoke, spilled beer, hot dogs, and Old Spice aftershave (as for the Old Spice, I sat next to my dad). It was a glorious odor! That's how a ballpark is supposed to smell as far as I'm concerned. Euless Park had the best snow cones as well! I used to love watching the grounds crew water down the infield and lay the chalk lines. Crass, classless heckling was the norm! In fact I remember a third baseman, who'd been the recipient of some real "Olympic Class" jeers, give our section "the bird" while using his glove to shield anyone else from seeing "his digit"! Classic!

We'd get there early, watch BP and infield, get autographs (some of which I still have) and talk to the players. It was heaven for a young baseball fan. During the game, if you got a foul ball you could turn it in for a free ticket or a hot dog/ soda. The usher would try to hunt you down to get the ball back, so we'd stick it under our shirt and hope he didn't notice who'd picked it up. We'd also hover around the dugout during and after the game in the hopes of getting a cracked bat. We managed to get bats from Bob Brenly, Mike Aldrete, and Rob Deer. I also had bats from Minor Leaguers Wayne Cato (a catcher, who later managed the Fresno Giants), and Jim Elrod. Usually, we'd wrap the handle with silver duct tape and use the bats to hit tennis balls to each other.

Fresno had some great players pass through over the years, Chili Davis, Dennis Littlejohn, Bob Brenly, Mike Aldrete, Tom O' Malley, Joe Strain, Dan Gladden, Will Clark, Robby Thompson, Chris Brown, John Henry Johnston, John Burkett, Rob Deer, Gil Heridia. I remember managers John Van Ornum, Jim Maloney, and Wendall Kim as well.

Rival teams and various players were...

The Lodi/ Bakersfield Dodgers - Fernando, Alan Wiggins, Mike Marshall, Greg Brock, Doug Rau, Rudy Law, Mike Piazza, Eric Karros, Hideo Nomo, Candy Maldonado.

The Visalia Oaks (Twins)- Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbeck, Rich Becker, Jay Bell, Joe Charboneau.

Modesto A's- Eric Show, Ricky Henderson, Dewayne Murphy, Walt Weiss, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Mike Gallego, Dave Henderson,

Stockton Ports (Brewers)- Gary Sheffield,

San Jose Missions (Mariners)- Kevin Bass, Bud Black, Kelly Downs.

Reno Silver Sox- (Padres)- Ozzie Guillen, Kevin McReynolds, Benito Santiago,

Salinas Spurs- (Angels)- Leon Durham, Tom Brunansky, Gary Pettis, Mike Witt,

I saw some great players pass through, but I also remember many of the guys who didn't get very far with the Giants. I remember a shortstop named Mike Rex and a third baseman/ Power hitter Bill "Yogi" Young. A pitcher named Steve Wilkins stands out in my mind as well.

Occassionally they had "The King and His Court", a traveling softball team of sorts, for pregame entertainment. The team consisted of a fastpitch softball pitcher who could really bring it (almost unhittable), a catcher, a shortstop/ outfielder and a first baseman. They'd challenge some of the Giants hitters and never lost from what I can remember. Other than that, the entertainment was the game itself. No mascots, racing hot dogs, blaring, crappy music, etc. Just the game. Doubleheaders were very common!

One time we were sitting, waiting for the game to start and my dad says "I see somebody you need to meet". We walk down a couple of aisles and sit down next to an older gentleman. My dad says "Hello Mr. Spahn, if it's not to much trouble, can we chat for a few minutes until the game starts"? It was Warren Spahn! Mr. Spahn didn't mind chatting at all and was a teriffic fellow! Apparantly he was doing some scouting for the SF Giants. I still have my Fresno Giants program that he autographed.

Man, those were some great times!

Steve's Tag

As a regular reader of From the Pew (and From the Bleacher's) I was very flattered to garner an honorable mention to share some info about myself. So here goes...

1) Four jobs I've had in my life: Bike shop, Propane delivery, Field rep, Fundraiser.

2) Four places I've lived: Fresno, CA; Nashville, TN; Tacoma, WA; Richmond, VA.

3) Four TV shows I love to watch: Baseball Tonight, The Office, King of Queens, Dirty Jobs.

4) Four blogs I read regularly: BSNYC, From the Pew, Belgium Knee Warmers, Maynard.Net.

5) Four favorite foods: Fish tacos, North Carolina BBQ, Fried Chicken, Grapes.

6) Four places I've been: Bahama's, British Columbia, Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico.

7) Four places I'd rather be right now: Riding my bike, Europe (It's racing season!), Just about any ballpark (It's Baseball season!), A lively pub.

8) Four living people I'd like to spend an afternoon with: Ron Paul, Greg LeMond, R.C. Sproul, My high school buddy Tom Connolly.

9) Four things I look forward to this year: Growing in Christ, Fenway Park in August, Hopefully- a trip to Cooperstown, Trips to Virginia Beach with my family.

10) Four best city's to spend a week working in: Nashville, TN; Memphis, TN; Austin, TX; Washington, DC;