Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Another nice day out, supposed to hit 53F, got up to at least 54F, but didn't feel quite as mild as it was, at least not while biking, partially because there were some fresh breezes sweeping the valley and partially because very thin clouds were occasionally dimming the sun. Only passed by one other biker on the roads while I was out. Big views of the prairie once I was outside of town though since I was on the south side of town where numerous ranchettes have sprung up, it didn't have the same feel you have at all as up around Bosler.

Then I skied and ran. While running, I had one of those "small world" experiences that can be so neat. It was dusk and the ski trails had already emptied out, let alone the ungroomed trails that I was running on. And then, up ahead I saw a snow biker with 3 dogs coming towards me. I recognized the biker, a guy named Bryan, whom I had met earlier in the winter in the middle of a veritable windstorm. It was so windy that it was hard to hear over the wind, and I didn't catch his name when one of the other bikers with him then introduced us. But he had been calling me by name the other times we had met on the trails since then, until, growing more embarrassed that I hadn't got his name, I admitted the fact. He said no big deal, told me his first name, and then when I went home I did a few minutes of research--mostly just to help iron in his name in my brain--to find out who he was, and when I figured it out and googled his name, it was apparent he did lots of bike racing.

Anyway, when I ran into him today, we said hi and talked for a bit. I knew he had done a (24 hour) race down in Arizona earlier this year, and asked him about that, and then I mentioned that I had seen on the internet he had quite a racing background. Bryan said that I didn't know the third of it, that most of his races would never show up because most of his racing had been done pre-internet. It turned out not only had he raced a lot, he had raced at a pretty high level and had spent a few years racing in Europe in the early 90s, mostly in Italy.

That led to me asking him about doping, and if he had seen any of that. He laughed and said--paraphrasing here--that if you hadn't seen or been aware of doping over there back then, you would have had to have been brain dead. He related a story of one race where he had finished third, and the guys that finished 1st and 2nd had been two domestiques who normally had problems just keeping up with the peloton, and how, after the race, other riders congratulated him on the "win" as it had been widely known the domestiques had been doping prior to the race and that there was no other way they could have performed at that level. He mentioned another race at the end of a season where he had finished 11th, and there had been then a surprise doping check, and 9 of the riders of him tested positive and were disqualified, so he ended up on the podium as 2nd. He added that back at that time and place penalties for doping were laughable and that in this case, the penalty for the riders caught was they couldn't race until the next season, which amounted to essentially no penalty at all since the current season was done. These weren't really big races, there was little, if any, money involved in most of them and he said he never really understood the motivations. We talked about doping some more, about whether or not people would dope under what circumstances and so forth, and I told him a little various doping suspicions that had come up now and again in our little (comparitively, at least in the US compared to cycling) nothing sport of orienteering.

And I also mentioned an article I had seen a link for--in someone's log within the past few months, though I can't remember where it was--about some masters cyclist in NC that had been caught doping, and before I could finish, Bryan said: "I know that guy, he was my hero! You're talking about LeDuc." Not only did he know all about the guy, he had raced against him, going way back to his junior years. He told me about one race he had been with LeDuc, a crit, and LeDuc went off the front and he (Bryan) went with him, and struggled for all he was worth to keep up. 20 laps later, they had lapped the field and Bryan figured that was the race and that LeDuc would just settle in with the peloton and ride the rest of the race out for the win. But that's not what he did. Instead, he wanted more and went off the front again! Bryan said he was more than happy to finish 2nd and so he did stay with the peloton while LeDuc rode off.

What are the odds? I don't look at many logs at all anymore, I very rarely follow any links (unless they're well explained and sound interesting enough; it seems more and more the trend has been for people to simply post a link with no explanation whatsoever of what the thing is), and then to run into this fellow on the empty trail up at Happy Jack last night and it turns out he had actually raced this masters cyclist? That's a small world.

C • Wait 9

Any day in March when the temps are above average and the sky is blue is pretty darned nice! Went out to run an errand to the Post on my bike, thinking that bike shorts would be enough for that short trip, and ended up biking for the better part of 2 hours, it was so nice. Then home for a presto-change-o for a change in gear/clothes, and headed up to Happy Jack for some skiing and running. Didn't see any turkeys or hear any either, but that will come in time.

It's funny what you see in the newspaper sometimes. I was reading the paper and eating some waffles (you know you are in a refined house with highly intelligent people when waffles are offered) and listening to the Talking Heads when the first thing caught my eye: Denver releasing the certain-to-be Hall of Famer Champ Bailey. Champ must be one of the best liked guys in football; I've never heard anything even mildly critical of him other than he once played for the Washington Redskins for a few years. Of course, that was back when Washington had a football team.

Some people might wonder what it's like when your name is "Champ". I wonder what Champ thinks when he wonders what it's like to be named Swampfox. He's probably really glad his parents named him Champ instead.

Goodby Champ--we hardly knew ya!

But there was more newspaper to read, so I continued reading.

I finished up by looking over the legal notices. Sometimes there's some good stuff in there about re-zonings, foreclosure notices, name changes, whatever. And then, out of the blue--whoa!--I saw something so surprising I almost fell out of my chair: a legal notice that mentioned the Laramie Range Orienteering Club! A 30 day public comment period was commencing.

No wonder getting permitting takes as long as it does.

C • Public comment 5

Wow--they moved quicker than I thought! I went for some grocery re-supply after breakfast, and much to my amazement a work crew had already removed the giant Safeway letters at the store and were in the process of getting "Cerberus" put in place.

Inside it was a total mob scene. People were frantically throwing anything in their carts that had "Safeway Select" or "Lucerne" and most especially "O Organics" on it. I almost turned around to walk right back out and go to K-mart instead.

Not really; it was bad, but it wasn't K-mart bad.

In the end, all I managed to find were a couple of cartons of Refreshe Seltzer water, and I felt pretty lucky at that.

I sure hope Cerberus doesn't buy Walmart.

I recovered from the shopping ordeal by skiing in 3" of fresh snow at Happy Jack, and then I ran under the decidedly semi-full moon, with stars out, too--a pleasant change from what had been a 100% socked in, gray day down in the valley.

The weatherman said we would be good for 53F, and we were--54F, actually. But it never felt that mild, because of wind and many clouds for much of the day. A little wind and a few measly clouds did not get in the way of another bike/ski/run trifecta, however. Time for a little change in climate now though, with snow expected for tomorrow.

Goodby Safeway--we hardly knew ya!

C • Safeway Albertsons 2

It's 6 o-clock day in Laramie today. Here comes the Sun!

C • 6-o-clock day 4

Biked in the early afternoon, then went up to Happy Jack to ski on top of the new snow that fell overnight. Finished up by running and watched the sun set at 6 o-clock while I was doing that. Perfecto! Trifecta.

No robins (yet), no moose, one running snow shoer.

Much snow was blowing across the Happy Jack highway on my way back home.

It was the kind of day that either felt like there were extra colors in the rainbow, or else all the usual colors were there but more intense.

The newspaper reported that enplanements at the Laramie Regional Airport were up dramatically in 2013, with the most likely reason given being the repeated success of the Yellow Pine Concert series (aka Laramie Daze), though the article mentioned it is also within the realm of possibility that extensive marketing efforts by the Bosler Tourism Board during 2112-2013 began to bear fruit.

Whatever the case, it's gray outside, because it's snowing again! ; )

A couple of inches of snow fell this afternoon on the trails, which were mostly untracked when I went up, and not much more skied out by the time I left.

It never fails to amaze me how many skiers there are on the trails when it is dark and cold in mid-winter compared with how few there often are in March/April when the temps are milder and the days longer.

As a bonus, there was almost no wind to speak of.

C • May have answered your own question 2

Way more than nice enough to head outside for a bike ride, with some friendly westerly winds as an added bonus. Much melting, though the river remains frozen for now. Never made it out during February for a bike ride due to cold and snowy roads, so the change is pleasant, especially considering that a week out, the forecast for this week had been for another pretty good dose of chill. But the chilly temps stayed east over on the prairie and never made it up and over the Laramie Range.

More skiing with spring skiing type conditions. Skied late enough so that any risk of sunburn was considerable dampened. Ran some, too, for the early March trifecta! Should have pizzaed afterwards, but didn't. Maybe tomorrow.