Friday, August 3rd, 2007
From the MCF board:
I have recently been diagnosed with Scarcoidosis of the heart.
This has left my heart in a severely damaged condition.
I will be having a defibulator/pacemaker implanted this next week, followed by heavy prednizone treatment and assorted other treatments.
I will no longer be able to actively ride or do heavy physical work.
At this time I am going to step away from day to day activities at the velodrome and reassess things.
I will try to maintain some organization so that those who are willing to step up are able to present a fairly professional program.
It will take some time before I can tell to what extent if any that I will remain active in the sport.
Please take it upon yourselves to make the sport better by taking some initiative to move it forward.
No emails or phone messages nec. at this time.
You will see me around from time to time.
Thanks
Bob Williams
I am sure that I am not the only one who would credit Bob with single handedly keeping the velodrome program on the rails over the past decade and a half.
I am sure that I am not the only one that wishes Bob all the best.
Our cycling community owes Bob a tremendous thanks for everything he has done. Next time you see him, make sure he knows how much he is appreciated.
Thank you Bob, from the bottom of my heart.
Posted by Smithers at 9:12 pm in Local Cycling | Permalink | 8 Comments »
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
MSNBC:
Cell-phone providers acknowledged that the call volumes overwhelmed their networks in the area around the bridge collapse, but they took issue with the idea that they’re not up to dealing with a crisis.
The networks got so congested in Minneapolis after the bridge collapse that Verizon and T-Mobile brought in mobile network stations, mounted on trucks, to handle the extra capacity. But many still were not able to get through.
So what to do when you need to let someone know you are ok and can’t get through with a call? Text messaging.
Cell-phone networks are set up in such a way that text messages can piggyback on the streams of voice data traffic bouncing around the system. The digital messages, which amount to mere dozens or hundreds of bytes, can be slipped into the gaps in that stream.
“I’m ok, will call soon.”
That’s all you need to send to let someone know that you are alive.
Of course, unlike Super-Rookie’s brother, you have to remember that someone out there might be worrying about you and turn on your damn phone.
Posted by Smithers at 4:31 pm in Electronical | Permalink | 11 Comments »
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
Not really what you would call a going concern right now.
(sent via mobile)
Posted by Smithers at 12:27 pm in Mobile Post | Permalink | 7 Comments »
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
Volunteer soldiers are one of our most valuable resources.
Look and listen to what we are putting these guys through.
Day after day, week after week, month after month.
Posted by Smithers at 11:37 am in Politics | Permalink | No Comments »
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
It’s amazing how the lack of training and racing can affect ones fitness.
I still have some top end speed but the endurance is not there right now and I am suffering big time in the longer races.
I am not going to post heart rate data for this race because it was so pathetic.
I don’t have that much to report about my racing, I was 4th in the 15 lap scratch race and did not place at all in the Belgian Win and Out when the chairs ran out. Skibby and Super-Rookie were smart and took the early places in the BW&O but decided to hang back and see if my sprint would get me a higher placing. Unfortunately Kruser took off and nabbed 3rd, Skidsy took off and took 2nd and Big Dubay took off and won. I should have been more heads up and tried to go with Big Dubay when he jumped but I didn’t and by the time he made his move it was too late for me.
Skidsy and I teamed up for the Ken Wood Memorial Madison and things were going well for us early on. There was an unfortunate crash involving The Little Guy and Little Dubay and while their team mates were trying to figure out how to stay in the race Skidsy and I were able to win one of the sprints and take the lead in the race. Big Dubay did an amazing job of staying in the race by himself until his team mate Little Dubay was able to recover from his crash and get back in the action. Little Dubay broke his shoe in half in the crash and had to spend a few laps cobbling it back together before he could get back into the race. Little Guy was not able to recover and so Skibby rode the entire balance of the race himself. The officials kept trying to pull Skibby out of the race after he lost a couple of laps but each time rode by the finish line he would hide behind another rider on the track so the officials would not be able to see that he had not pulled off.
The pressure of trying to maintain our lead caused me to over work a little bit and I cracked big time half way through the race, just about the time that a couple of teams rolled off the front. These guys, including Mehus and Kruser, would eventually gain a lap on Skidsy and I which left us in 4th place for the race. I was riding so slow that we would have finished 5th if The Little Guy had been able to get back into the race to relieve Skibby. There was some speculation after the race that Little Guy crashed out because he was tired. We all argued about it for a while and then went over to ask Little Guy, who was still lying in the same spot where he landed after his crash sleeping. We could not wake him up to get his opinion on the issue.
I am hoping that now I am back from vacation I can spend some more time hauling Toddler Smithers around in the trailer and get some endurance back in the legs.
JimmerC and his son Jorgan joined us on the infield for some exciting spectating. Jimmer’s son is actually named Jordan, but he is so tough on the bike that his name should be Jorgan because Jorgan sounds like a dude that could drop your ass at the drop of a hat. And I am pretty sure that if Jordan is not Jorgan yet he soon will be.
So Jordan was all excited to meet me since he is an avid reader of this site. By avid I mean that he looks at it once and a while, when there is nothing else interesting on the rest of the internet to see. I could tell that he was totally pumped to meet the one and only Smithers but once we were done with the introductions and conversations I could tell, as he walked away puzzled, that he was significantly less excited. Sorry to let you down kid, it’s sad for sure but I am much more interesting on this site than I am in person. You’re not the first to discover the truth. Mrs. Smithers found that out a long time ago and much prefers reading my website to having an actual conversation with me.
Anyway, I kept bugging Jimmer as to when he is going to get back on the track for some real bike racing and he demurred each time finally saying that his wife did not want him on the track due to the fact that the last time he raced a mass start event on the track he got knocked off his bike and had some dudes chainring roll across his face.
Phtt! Jimmer is out doing those road races and criteriums all summer long and track racing is totally safer than racing on the road. I see dudes getting their faces run over with chainrings all the time on the road but it’s only happened to one guy ever on the track. Just because Jimmer is that guy does not mean that he should never race on the track again. If another dude had his face run over by a chainring on the track sometime, and that dude happened to again be Jimmer, track racing would still be about a thousand times safer than racing on the road.
Besides, Jimmer’s face looks totally fine now. Fine as in normal, not fine as in I want to go on a date with him or anything.
So get that hockey goalie mask out Jimmer and come out and race track.
After the racing wrapped up for the night Big Dubay and I talked about the Coon Rapids Senior High cross country ski team and all the local XC ski personalities that I knew and he still knows. I was amazed to hear that, 20 years later, a lot of the same names are hanging around the sport. Give it another 20 years and global warming will take care of XC skiing and these people can go back to leading productive lives. Maybe they will all join Jimmer at the track for some real competitive sport.
Posted by Smithers at 9:02 am in Race/Ride Report | Permalink | 8 Comments »
