the first enduro of the year

The 2 hour endurance kart races have started up again at G Force Karts in Richmond.  I think the season consists of one race a month for six months.  Its a team event.  You are required to make 3 driver changes so it makes sense to have a team of 4.  I've been running their enduros for quite a few years now.  

Whoever qualifies is required to start the race and I think that has been my job all but one or two events.  You only have 5 laps to throw down a quick lap and usually I can put us in the top 3.  This wasn't my best showing and I ended up putting us 5th out of 6 on the starting grid.  Usually we have 8 teams racing.  My first stint lasted for over 30 minutes and I only gained one position after trailing the guy for probably 15 minutes (~35 laps).  We ended up 4th in the race.  We did well though because we had a slow kart and any slight disadvantage is huge over a 2 hour period.  Running 35 minutes wasn't as difficult as usual but it impacted me physical more than ever.  My lower back is super sore which isn't all that normal after karting.  And I have an open wound on my back.  There is a high speed turn on the track where you pull a good couple G forces each lap.  Imagine having to work against twice the force of gravity (twice your weight) every time you take a turn every lap for 30 minutes.  It's an extremely physical task.  It's a clockwise track with mostly right-hand turns so I rubbed the skin off my back just to the left of my spin as my weight was pushed against the seat.  The first pic is from a few hours after and the second is from this evening.

Its a clockwise track so most of the turns go towards the right and therefore my wound is on the left. 

UPDATE: The scab is almost gone 12 days later. I don't heal like I used to.

NYC, beer in Boise, and hangin' with the homeless

I'll throw down a quick synopsis of the last week or more.  Kirby and I took off to hang out with her friend Lisa in NYC.  We left at 11:30pm on the chinatown bus and the trip to NYC was about the same price as the cab ride getting to the bus.  We stayed in Brooklyn and we saw a decent exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.  On Sat night we hung with some of her Nicaragua trip crew.  We got down in Harlem to a samba band in one bar and a hip hop band with horns a few doors down.

I then spent the week in Boise for a project I'm on to develop a thin client solution for fire camps and other emergency response.  I was staying in a sweet new Homewood Suites decked out with a full kitchen and flat screen TV.  The free breakfast was nice but the free food and beer/wine from 5-7 was better.   While there I stopped by TableRock Brewpub to sample their offerings.  Not too bad a swill.

And then don't ask how it happened but after 3am on Friday night I ended up passing out in a wet tent pitched ilegally in a park in downtown DC as part of a protest with homeless people.  Yeah you can bet that the eco-terrorist was involved.

I haven't slept in my bed in almost 2 weeks.

Caps Rookie Game

Sarah scored "sold out" tickets to the Washington Capitals rookie game against the Philadelphia Flyers. It's our up-coming season prospects veruses theirs.  Tickets were free but you had to have one and they were gone weeks ago. Sarah's family has season tickets to everything so she dropped her uncle's name and wha-bam! she was hooked up. The game is at their practice rink which are rather new facilities not far from me. 

It was a full on game, people were getting in to it and lots of heckling to the opposing rookies. The crowd was fun because it was so small you could hear everyone and people could directly yell at the players or the refs (or the scoreboard guy when he forgets to acknowledge yet another Caps goal). And being that the crowd was mostly die-hard season ticket holders they were quite knowledgeable and adept at heckling. These guys were playing hard for their jobs. There was a ton of hitting and lots of fights. And there were some sweet plays.  Of course the Caps rocked them 7 - 0 but a good time was had by all. 

Except the Flyers, and the fans made sure they felt it. In fact Sarah was getting uncomfortable and feeling bad for the losers. She even wrote a positive cheer up note to her favorite Flyer when he was boo'ed in the penalty box.  That was funny.

Image stolen from Caps website.

urban road warrior

I bought a road bike a bit ago. First I bought a real clunker. I knew I wouldn't be happy with the weight and lack of smooth drive train so I kept looking and finally got a 2006 Cannondale SR 500. It was about $100 more than I wanted to spend on a bike I'm going to lock up in the city but other than that its perfect with the granny gear, B-lever brakes, and rack mountable frame.

I spent a bunch more money and got a new helmet, lock, hand pump, tool bag, rear rack, rack bag, and lights for the front and rear. I'm all set to tackle the paved trail or night-time city streets. Surprisingly I still have not gotten a flat on my thin tires. I've found I can get around in DC in much less time than the metro takes. Its been quite convenient and has gotten me a bit of exercise.

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Potomac River run

Sarah and I opened the summer on Memorial Day and coincidently finished the summer in similar style on Labor Day. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend. The river wasn't even that crowded. And we were only an hour and a half late to the pick up.

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