Winners and Losers

I haven't had much time for blogging (or even training) this past two weeks. I've been busy at work and haven't managed to keep the big training going simultaneously.

Last Saturday I took Scott to the state chess tournament for elementary students. When he was about 3, he insisted I teach him to play. I'm not actually a good player, and in fact don't know all the rules, but I taught him the basic moves and was quite surprised when he picked it right up. We have played occasionally since then, and when he started at Alta View this year, he joined a chess club that plays at lunch a couple times a week.

When he came home and announced he wanted to sign up for this tournament, Kim insisted he pay half the entry. He payed his money, and last Friday night I was up late, surfing the web to find out what he had signed up for.

We arrived at the 'U' at about 7:45 AM. They had literally hundreds of chess boards lined up, side by side, on long rows of tables. Every board already had the pieces set up. It was an impressive operation. Each student (and I think there was about 1000 of them) plays 6 matches, each game's opponent chosen based on results earlier in the day. The rounds started in about 75 minute intervals.

As I watched the kids compete (and most were quite gracious in winning or loosing), I thought about a phrase my granddad once used to describe somebody -- "life's losers". It was harsh, but was in fact accurate of the people we were discussing. Sometime early in life we start competing. Humans have this interesting natural duality -- a need for sociality and cooperation, coupled with a deep desire to compete with each other. Here were some 50 first graders, all volunteering to get labeled -- "loser" or "winner". The tough thing about chess, mountain bike racing, running, etc. is that the label is individual and objective. There really isn't any room to say, "well, I didn't really loose". There isn't any team to diffuse off some of the disappointment on, and there isn't any judge to blame for a subjective ruling.

This evaluation can be tough, probably even damaging, so since perhaps the introduction of Sesame Street, it has become increasingly popular to encourage kids to not think in terms of competition -- everyone is a winner by encouraging 'group participation'. It has been noted that Gen Y-Z kids think less in these terms than Gen X or baby-boomers. In endurance sport, I think this is part of the popularity of marathon and ultra races. A few people race to win, but everyone else is accomplishment in finishing, without the pressure of trying to win. Basically anyone can run a 5k if they don't care about speed. Not everyone can ride an Endurance 100.

While I certainly recognize the desire to win can be taken too far, a problem with avoiding competition is that the best performances are almost always accomplished by extremely competitive people. Lance didn't weigh his food every day just to finish. When I'm riding at the front, most of the time I'm not thinking, "ah, nice day to be out on the bike." Instead I'm thinking, "Uh-oh, there's Brad 5 seconds behind, better push harder." Almost no one time-trials as fast in training as they do in competition. They try, but they just don't.

A second problem with competition avoidance is that it is impossible unless one is willing to accept major compromises in life. Human nature drives competition. An obvious example is in business, where some people will be competing. Accept the challenge, or accept relegation. Some people think academia should be different, but no professor would seriously claim this. Have an opinion on how government and society should run and changes that need to be made? Politics is how we get these things done, and politics is a combination of individual and team competition.

So somehow I want to teach my kids to compete, but use competition as a challenge to strive. Learn from a loss, and enjoy victories, respecting and appreciating competitors because they provide the opportunity and motivation for the performance.

After the tournament I stopped in at work for about an hour, and then home to put the kids to bed. Kim was tired from doing a triathlon, so she went to bed early. By 10 PM, I was still up and hadn't ridden, so I decided to do the obvious thing -- light up and go mountain biking. I got a nice 90 minute ride in. I don't like interval training in the dark, but just going out for a ride is very enjoyable.

Powder Keg

Today was the annual Power Keg, this year both starting and ending at Alta. No, I didn't do it. It is a little hard to think much about skiing when it is 70 F outside. OTOH, I bet it was fun conditions for it. I'm sure people were dressed very light and able to keep a nice sweat going.

Ever wonder what the most popular MTB trail in SLC is? Well, I think it must be the Bonneville Shoreline trail from Dry Creek to City Creek (pick your direction). Hit the trail Thursday night, riding from Work at Research Park down to the flats in Bountiful and back. This used to be my commute when I lived in Bountiful. It really hasn't changed, except it sure seemed crowded (and the end of the trail is covered with new houses). In the course of a few hours, I saw Orange Leader, Shawn C, another guy who's name I'm not sure of but I should know from racing him, Drew J (I think, but didn't get a good look), and Dan S. Apparently BZ was going to show as well, but didn't make it. It was a good time. Dan S is heading to the United Bicycle Institute in a couple months to build a single-speed. If I wasn't going to be racing in April, I'd jump in with them.

I did a lot of bike commuting this week -- Hooptedoodle would be proud, except all he's thinking about right now is surf and fruit. The ride from my house to work (or back) works out to be right about two hours if I do a little canyon climbing along the way. The canyons are also a good place to do some threshold work, but I haven't actually started doing that yet.

As I was riding up the canyon on Friday, I heard a story about some studies that have been done on obesity and its causes. A lot of people like to say, "simple thermodynamics...energy in+energy stored=energy out". While obviously true, I've also thought this over-stated the simplicity. Some of these studies back me up. One researcher has found that the strains of bacterial flora found in our digestive systems have a significant impact on how effectively we pull nutrients (energy) from our food. Turns out over-weight people tend to have a different balance of the various bacteria in their gut than slim ones. In mice, it was additionally shown that as weight changed, the flora did as well. Another researcher found that chickens who contract a particular virus put on weight. I don't know how the virus effect a weight gain, but anyway he also found that many humans have evidence of this same virus (I would also like to know how he tested for the virus, in humans or chickens). For some reason I didn't get from the story, he thinks the virus was introduced to humans in the late seventies, which is supposedly when the weight "epidemic" burst upon us. Anyway, another observation they made is that with air-conditioning and (relatively) cheap heating, people tend to leave their houses, workplaces, and cars set at about 72 F. When environmental conditions get less comfy, we expend more energy regulating our body temps. So...maybe it isn't just McDonalds, Doritos, and TV afterall. For the record, this was a normal week in that I watched 0 hrs of TV, ate 3 Doritos (people bring them to work), and never stopped at McD's (I did work there once upon a time), but I did eat a rather large steak Friday night when Kim and I went out...yummm. (I'm not saying I eat healthy all the time BTW. I ate 2 donuts and the better part of a box of Fig Newmans). I burned a little over 10,000 food calories on the bike this week (this is based on powermeter measurements, but makes some assumptions on metabolic and mechanical efficiency). If I were sedentary, the recommended calories/week would be about 13,000 for my height and weight, so I'm eating almost double what I would need if I didn't exercise (I have not particularly been loosing or gaining). The last couple years I've given into the temptation to try and loose some weight for climbing, and it always sets me back with less energy on the bike and generally unhappy feelings, so this year my goal is to not get too hungry too often. Think I'll leave that sort of thing to the pros. They're a lot faster anyway.

Spring Forward in Spring

If you didn't ride today, you blew it. What a day! I rode home from work, starting at about 4 PM (went in early this morning). There is still snow in Mill Creek Canyon (pic 1), and, yes, still snow in Little Cottonwood (pic 2), but warm and nice, even up high. My legs felt great too, which definitely doesn't hurt things.

Saturday Bp, Bs (sorry Bob, unfortunate initials, but is StupidBike better?), and I did a fun 4 hour ride on the MTB's in Corner Canyon. Trails were not quite dry, but overall pretty good, and fun to get out in the dirt with some buddies. We had visions of 5-Mile, but the weather looked spotty and this worked out great anyway.

Sorry for the boring entry, but I gotta get to bed.

Holy St. George

Last weekend was the Annual Desert Rampage in St. George, Utah. For several years this race has marked the beginning of the Intermountain Cup race series and, for that matter, MTB racing in Utah.

The last two years I have come into this race feeling good physically, but then had mechanical problems spoil the day, so this year I was more careful in making sure everything was ready to go. I Stans'd my tires about a month ago so I could ride them a few times, built my new bike earlier than in past years so I wasn't racing an old bike, and gave everything a good check-over.

We took the whole family down on Friday with the trailer. It was a snow storm here in Draper, but sunny and cool in St. George. Scott and I pre-rode our courses and then Kim did a long run with one of her Triathlon team-mates. Next year that course might be largely built over with houses so it is likely to change, but for this year is was the same as it has been for a few years.



Saturday morning Ian insisted he wanted to sign up and race, so both he and Scott did the race. He's only 3, but with some rests, he was able to ride the 9 and under race just great. Scott had a fine race, but his chain kept falling off. I don't know why he doesn't want a new bike, but as long as he's happy with what he has...



Reed and I are both racing Expert this year, but he is going for Team Mad Dog. The 19-29ers started one minute behind the Pro's, and we were a minute after the 20-somethings.

We took off, with Chad Harris jumping out to the front. I was feeling quite comfortable next to him, so I just slid back behind till we hit the end of the flat, and then moved into the lead as we reached the first single-track. He rode well the first lap, with Brad Pilling and Brian Jeppson right there with him. I believe Scott Allen was also in there for a while, and this Brandon Cunningham (I don't know who he is) must have been there too, but I was really only aware of Chad and Brad until Chad dropped off, and then it was just Brad. I spent the first lap expecting Brad to catch right up, but it became evident it wasn't quite his day. Brad and I yo-yo'd around, sometimes he was right behind, sometimes further back. His lower three gears were not working right, and his seatpost slipped about an inch, both of which certainly slowed him down.

In the end, I was happy to finish in the lead by about 45 seconds -- a great start to the 2007 season.



Meanwhile, Reed double-flatted out on the course, the first flat due to I don't know what, the second because mini-pumps don't really work. I've yet to use a mini-pump that was even worth carrying after it was even a couple months old. CO2 (or Propane) is the only real option.

Lynda Wallenfels was also at the race, broken bones and all. She didn't ride, but her son did the race with Scott and they became buds. She spent much of the day chatting with Kim, who really enjoyed meeting her. I spoke with her a little. I already knew she is a strong rider, and now I'd add she seems like she'd be a good coach.

After the race Kim went riding for a few hours while I played in the dirt with the kids and packed up. When we got home, the snow on the driveway was so slippery that we could not get the trailer backed up into the garage, so at 1 AM we spent about 90 minutes chipping ice and spreading snow-melt so we could get it put away.

It was a great weekend. Glen Ames did an excellent job running the race, there were lots of great prizes, the weather was good, and the course was fun.