roadskater.net

It won't be long now.  The much anticipated Roadskater.net 2008 jerseys should be here fairly soon.

What color will they be?  Any guesses?

Will the mysterious Blake give any clues or will he continue to play it close to the vest like an enigmatic world series of poker player, wrapped up in infinitely stealthy 'Blakeness?'

Only time will tell.

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Noticed a link to this editorial in the "Speedskating" sidebar:

Published August 25, 2008 10:30 pm - Heiden's accomplishment merits discussion in greatest-ever debate

EDITORIAL: Famed Lake Placid Olympian Eric Heiden overshadowed by Michael Phelps

[...]Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Pavo Nurmi, Bjorn Dahlie and Mark Spitz among others, have all been mentioned as those Phelps has surely surpassed.

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Bicycle Toy & Hobby Sales gaves us a great skate and ride last weekend, even considering some rough road (not the worst gatorback by far, but not as great as the rest) on the spur out to and around Abbotts Creek. We had nice skaters, 4 veterans of T2T and 5 who have yet to experience the glorious weekend...but most plan to.

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A week or two ago I happened to find a couple of blogs that are being kept by local bike guy Ian Joyce: Veloblog and Manage to Experience. The first is mostly about cycling and the second is more about his professional work in the area of marketing and the Internet.

I'm a couple of weeks slow in getting this up, but there's a video clip online of Olympic ice speedskating champion and Greensboro native Joey Cheek talking to Stephen Colbert about human rights abuses in Darfur and why his visa to attend this summer's Beijing Olympics was suddenly revoked. I thought that he came across very well.

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US Olympic distance runner Shalane Flanagan was coming off some sort of stomach bug in the first week of the games, and found herself back mid-pack after the start of her 10,000 meter race. To get through the tough effort of working her way up through the field, she imagined herself back on the trails that she trains on in the NC Triangle Area, including the American Tobacco Trail:

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Blake and I saw a little bit of this video clip as we were eating yummy pizza after skating on Tuesday evening. A man from Frankfurt gets into the Guinness Book of World Records by skating 208.4 km backwards in 24 hours.

It's pretty rare to see inline speed skating on a nationwide cable network (MSNBC) any time, and it's too bad that it takes a gimmick like this to get on. But he looks like a pretty decent skater and at least he was legitimately skating.

I know it's been a while since I've done any trip reports, and I'm blaming my new job on that!  :-)  It's easy to make time to write when you hate your job and are looking for any excuse to procrastinate.  But I actually like my job now, and care about the product I'm working on.  So the extra hours I had during the day to write have pretty much evaporated.  But I'm sitting on a plane right now, so it's a good opportunity to do some writing.

I ran across this today, talking about what Michael Phelps is eating to fuel his olympic swimming performances.  A whopping 12,000 calories every day!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/14/michaelphelps.swimming1

I know athletes at that level need a lot of fuel in the tank, but I would never have guessed that much!

- SM -

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Paul's Cycling & Fitness is hit or miss, I guess I'd say, over the years, when it comes to Tour to Tanglewood Training Rides. I have to say it has mostly been a good experience, but with some exceptions that make it hard to get out of bed and go there for the training ride. A few years back, the route was so disappointing we quit early and drove back to Greensboro Country Park to skate. Usually it has just been one or two signs that they don't see this as the same opportunity that some shops seem to.

Have been thinking about, and after talking with Craig today, decided to do a skate from downtown Gibsonville into eastern Guilford and western Alamance County this coming Saturday morning at 8:00am. Craig, Blake, Tim, Eric Scott, and I have done this loop before. The roads are rolling hills with some great long cruising straights, plus they are all in good to excellent condition.

Good stuff from Velonews about Team Garmin-Chipotle and how Dr. Allen Lim improved performance and recovery by keeping the riders cool:

The team believes dealing with heat is more than just an issue of comfort.

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Paul's Bicycles training ride began on a beautiful summer's day with temps in the low 80s and a moderately sized group starting the 25, 36, and 50 mile loops. There were 6 skaters, who in the end splintered into individuals or pairs. Each, guided by their partner or own internal drive. The course, in my opinion, was the most demanding in terms of road surfaces which at times were very rough with some great climbs thrown in for good measure. A solo downhill at 39.0 mph prompted a whoop as the thrill of the day.

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We had a great time at the Paceline Bicycles Winston-Salem Tour to Tanglewood training bike ride and inline skate. New skate friends came out and veterans of the tour we hadn't seen in awhile joined for a nice day of sun and sweat.
Here are links to the photos and thumbnail route map for Google Earth:

Yesterday I skated 100 km from the Banff Gate (west of Canmore) to Castel Mountain Junction Hwy #1 and Hwy 93 in 4 hrs and 10 min. It was a beautiful day and the view like always spectacular. (Check out the pictures on Google Earth.)

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Here are the photos for the Spinz Bike Shop training bike ride and inline skate in Archdale, High Point and surrounds. Hope you love 'em. Here are the links to Roadskater.net Classic (http://RSN1.net):

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The Clemmons Bicycle Tour to Tanglewood Training Ride is my favorite route by a slimmer margin than in years past, but still a great one. Click below fo...

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Hi All: My name is Marianne and I am a new member of roadskater.net. I live in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. I will be skating A2A for the first time. From all the things I read on the web it sounds like a very exciting journey. Unfortunately there are not many inline skaters in this town. We have quite a big ice speed skating community, but they all train in Calgary in the summer.

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The Paceline Bicycles Greensboro Bike Ride and Inline Skate was a fun, if relatively short (around 28 miles or so...I turned my Garmin Forerunner 305 on a bit late), training ride for the Tour to Tanglewood.

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Today's skate and ride was moderately hot and covered some familiar territory, if in a different way.

I made the usual speed map, but also an altitude map and a heart rate map, the latter for your fun and amusement. I hit 179 at one point, but wasn't interested in staying there.

I neglected to start my Garmin Forerunner 305 so the start is not included, but we started where we finished, as you might expect.