i just got off a 72 hr shift at the ambulance this morning. friday morning to monday morning. this had to be the strangest shift i've ever worked (and thats saying a lot.)
friday...
friday night i went on a call where a 12 year old kid rode his bicycle off the cement dock in the harbor and landed on a smaller wooden dock below that raises and lowers with the tide. the tide was extremely low, so the dock sat about 25 feet lower then the main dock. the kid hit the wooden dock so hard he was knocked unconscious and fell into the water. luckily, some fisherman saw the whole thing and jumped into the water and pulled the kid onto the smaller wooden dock.
when i arrived the kid was still on the lower dock, unconscious, but breathing. there was no way to get onto the lower dock as there is no ladder or stairway. i had the local fire department rig some ropes up so i could repel down to the kid. needless to say i don't have much repelling experience, so i f'ed up my arm on a rusty, barnacle ridden metal pole while trying to get to the kid (on reflection i probably should have gotten a tetanus shot afterward.) anyway, the kid was seriously injured with a broken pelvis with a distended, rigid abdomen. we had a boat come and take the kid and myself back to land and on to the hospital. the kid was quite combative, so treatment was tricky. he kept trying to take off his c-collar and pull out his IV's. the kid was flown away and fixed.
on to saturday...
we were called to a dirt-bag hotel for a man not breathing from an assault. when we arrived there was a man detained by police and a very dead-looking dude in a small hotel room. apparently the dude was being choked-out in a head lock by the other guy when the cops arrived. we tried to revive the guy and shocked him a few times, but he did not make it (obviously.) so now i have to deal with some homocide bs. hopefully i won't have to testify to anything. i estimated the guys age to be 40 and my partner thought mid-40's, but we later found out that homeboy was only 23! meth and the dirt-bag lifestyle had definaltely taken their tolls.
sunday funday...
last night we went to a house with police on scene where a guy was stabbed by his girlfirend with a 5 inch long serrated steak knike. all the way to the hilt in the dude's abdomen. this guy needed immediate medical attention, but waited 3 hours to call 911, and when we arrived he didn't want to fo to the hospital. we finally convinced him to go, but it took a while. amazingly the guy was fine.
i went on numerous other calls too, but these were the highlights. got some good workouts in on the trainer this weekend too. i'm racing up in portland again this weekend. pics and a report will follow.
-brooks
10.24.2005
10.19.2005
hump day
i had a day off from work today. i've had a bad head cold so i didn't really do anything today. i looked at some wierd-ass shit on the web, took a nap, watched baseball, and blew my nose 287 times. here are some links to the "interesting" stuff i found while occupying my time, and oddly, none of it's porn...
http://www.petcarerx.com/affiliate_product.asp?upi=0&ezid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&id=582&product_id=10373&updp=3&upsd=302
EPO!! thats crazy! if your dog wants to win the xc skiing gold medal in the 15k, or maybe try for a record accent of l'alpe d'huez he doesn't even need a Rx. if you search this site hard enough they also sell nandrolone so your hampster can effectively train for the world's strongest man. the EPO is tempting though.
http://pazeme.lv/hilarious/
i don't know what to say
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule
this made me laugh
http://www.pizazz.info/pizazz.mov
pizazz, we're gonna give it to ya
well that was my day. i try to keep my mind sharp by looking at this crap. tomorrow i need to get a good workout with LT intervals and dismounting/mounting technique thrown in. i haven't ridden since the race on sunday. my life is exciting.
-brooks
http://www.petcarerx.com/affiliate_product.asp?upi=0&ezid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&id=582&product_id=10373&updp=3&upsd=302
EPO!! thats crazy! if your dog wants to win the xc skiing gold medal in the 15k, or maybe try for a record accent of l'alpe d'huez he doesn't even need a Rx. if you search this site hard enough they also sell nandrolone so your hampster can effectively train for the world's strongest man. the EPO is tempting though.
http://pazeme.lv/hilarious/
i don't know what to say
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule
this made me laugh
http://www.pizazz.info/pizazz.mov
pizazz, we're gonna give it to ya
well that was my day. i try to keep my mind sharp by looking at this crap. tomorrow i need to get a good workout with LT intervals and dismounting/mounting technique thrown in. i haven't ridden since the race on sunday. my life is exciting.
-brooks
10.18.2005
PIR pics
here are some pictures mary took of me during the race. she should really be a professional photographer by looking at the quality of these :) picture one is the start line (obviously.) you can't even see me since i'm at the back. the second pic is my sweet ass. the third pic is the battle for 3rd place over the last set of barriers. for some reason i couldn't get the pictures in the right order (i'm retarded.) the last pic is me over the barriers after the run-up. i'll try to post some more pics from the professonal photographer's website.
Veloshop CX race at PIR
well my first cross race is in the books. all in all i'm quite satisfied with the result. here's how the weekend went down...
mary, sampson and i got up early on saturday and drove to portland. sampson was awsome in the car. sometimes i'd forget he was with us until he'd move around. we stopped and had lunch in eugene, which was delicious. got to portland in the midafternoon, checked in to our hotel, and drove to portland international raceway to see if they had the course set up yet. they didn't, but it was nice to see the race was only about 10 minutes from our hotel. it had been raining off and on friday and saturday in portland, so a muddy race was expected. we ate some dinner near PIR and went back to the hotel. i didn't sleep really well in the hotel room, i was starting to get a head cold and i can never sleep well in hotels knowing all the nasty people slept in the same bed before me ( i know they wash the sheets, but its still nasty.)
woke up early on sunday and ate some breakfast and headed to PIR. got to PIR around 8 o'clock, registered and did some recon laps before the start of the beginners race. got on the trainer when the beginners started and warmed up for about 45 minutes. i ate a clif bar and some gels, and downed a gatorade and some water. rode the course a couple more laps with the race wheels, and put the back-up wheels in the pit.
i got to the start line a little late for the mens C race, so i was stuck on the back row. i was a little annoyed with having to start from the back, but it was my first race, and i didn't know what to expect. at the start i passed about half of the 60 man field on the long flat paved section leading into the first turn, which was a 90 degree left hander onto a loose gravel path. i held my position until the first set of barries which were the normal 40 cm high double barriers, but right after the barriers was a large cement slab that doubled like third barrier. at the barriers i passed quite a few other riders and held my position for a couple hundred meters. about half way through the lap the course was very fast and not very technical at all. about 3/4 through the lap there was a short, steep downhill section that immediately turned and went up the same hill with another set of barriers at the top. the course was so wet and slick with mud that riders where going down all over the place. i dismounted at the top of the hill and ran until after the barriers. i used quite a bit of energy working my way through the field on the first lap. i think i was in about 20th place after the first lap. my legs were screaming, and i glanced at my HRM and saw 198 bpm. the first lap took about 7 1/2 minutes to complete.
the second lap was a lot less hectic since the feild was strung out nicely. i rode pretty hard and passed a couple more people. i crashed hard in the mud befere the second set of barriers on an off-camber downhill corner. i only lost one position, and myself and the bike were unhurt ( i was quite muddy though.) the rest of the race went very smoothly and i kept passing people and was feeling really good. on the last lap i caught 3rd place during the high speed flat section and stayed on his wheel until the last set of barriers. i passed him over the barriers, but he got inside of me on the last corner and retook the place coming out of the corner. i jumped on his wheel and the sprint was on for the finish. my calves cramped up bad, and i was unable to pass him, and i settled for 4th place. i immediately vomited as i crossed the finish line.
after the race i looked at my heart rate monitor again. my average HR was 194, and my max HR was 203. for 45 minutes thats pretty incredible! i think if i had a better start position and was on the front row where i belonged, i probably could have podiumed. i was surprised at how good my cyclocross skills were compared with the other cat C's. i seemed to make up a lot of time on guys during the dismounts, run-ups and over the barriers. weird. teh bike worked flawlessly, but i seemed to get an awful lot of mud caked on my shoes which made cliping into the pedals difficult. i had to tap out the mud often on the side of the pedals. as i'm writing this my left shoulder aches something fierce. i can only assume its from my crash.
when we got home i checked the obra website, and it had my offical place at 8th. the announcer said 4th place, and i know there wasn't 7 riders ahead of me, so who knows what place i got. i know i was competite though, and that was my only goal going into it. my next race is october 29th. my goal there is a top 10 finish. they limit the feild sizes to 100 racers, so a top 10 would be impressive.
till later,
brooks
mary, sampson and i got up early on saturday and drove to portland. sampson was awsome in the car. sometimes i'd forget he was with us until he'd move around. we stopped and had lunch in eugene, which was delicious. got to portland in the midafternoon, checked in to our hotel, and drove to portland international raceway to see if they had the course set up yet. they didn't, but it was nice to see the race was only about 10 minutes from our hotel. it had been raining off and on friday and saturday in portland, so a muddy race was expected. we ate some dinner near PIR and went back to the hotel. i didn't sleep really well in the hotel room, i was starting to get a head cold and i can never sleep well in hotels knowing all the nasty people slept in the same bed before me ( i know they wash the sheets, but its still nasty.)
woke up early on sunday and ate some breakfast and headed to PIR. got to PIR around 8 o'clock, registered and did some recon laps before the start of the beginners race. got on the trainer when the beginners started and warmed up for about 45 minutes. i ate a clif bar and some gels, and downed a gatorade and some water. rode the course a couple more laps with the race wheels, and put the back-up wheels in the pit.
i got to the start line a little late for the mens C race, so i was stuck on the back row. i was a little annoyed with having to start from the back, but it was my first race, and i didn't know what to expect. at the start i passed about half of the 60 man field on the long flat paved section leading into the first turn, which was a 90 degree left hander onto a loose gravel path. i held my position until the first set of barries which were the normal 40 cm high double barriers, but right after the barriers was a large cement slab that doubled like third barrier. at the barriers i passed quite a few other riders and held my position for a couple hundred meters. about half way through the lap the course was very fast and not very technical at all. about 3/4 through the lap there was a short, steep downhill section that immediately turned and went up the same hill with another set of barriers at the top. the course was so wet and slick with mud that riders where going down all over the place. i dismounted at the top of the hill and ran until after the barriers. i used quite a bit of energy working my way through the field on the first lap. i think i was in about 20th place after the first lap. my legs were screaming, and i glanced at my HRM and saw 198 bpm. the first lap took about 7 1/2 minutes to complete.
the second lap was a lot less hectic since the feild was strung out nicely. i rode pretty hard and passed a couple more people. i crashed hard in the mud befere the second set of barriers on an off-camber downhill corner. i only lost one position, and myself and the bike were unhurt ( i was quite muddy though.) the rest of the race went very smoothly and i kept passing people and was feeling really good. on the last lap i caught 3rd place during the high speed flat section and stayed on his wheel until the last set of barriers. i passed him over the barriers, but he got inside of me on the last corner and retook the place coming out of the corner. i jumped on his wheel and the sprint was on for the finish. my calves cramped up bad, and i was unable to pass him, and i settled for 4th place. i immediately vomited as i crossed the finish line.
after the race i looked at my heart rate monitor again. my average HR was 194, and my max HR was 203. for 45 minutes thats pretty incredible! i think if i had a better start position and was on the front row where i belonged, i probably could have podiumed. i was surprised at how good my cyclocross skills were compared with the other cat C's. i seemed to make up a lot of time on guys during the dismounts, run-ups and over the barriers. weird. teh bike worked flawlessly, but i seemed to get an awful lot of mud caked on my shoes which made cliping into the pedals difficult. i had to tap out the mud often on the side of the pedals. as i'm writing this my left shoulder aches something fierce. i can only assume its from my crash.
when we got home i checked the obra website, and it had my offical place at 8th. the announcer said 4th place, and i know there wasn't 7 riders ahead of me, so who knows what place i got. i know i was competite though, and that was my only goal going into it. my next race is october 29th. my goal there is a top 10 finish. they limit the feild sizes to 100 racers, so a top 10 would be impressive.
till later,
brooks
10.14.2005
Rainy, Rainy
well, i just got off of a 48 hr shift on the ambualnce. we were pretty slow, not much going on. i rode the stationary trainer to keep the legs loose at work in anticipation for the race this weekend. i washed the cx bike this morning and mounted tires to a second set of wheels. it started raining just as i finished washing the bike, so its good i didn't put it off. its been raining in portland too, so a muddy race is expected. i'm doing the mens cat C race. there is a beginner class also, but i think my cycling skills and fitness level are higher then a beginner. who knows though since i've never raced cross. we'll see.
no word back on any jobs...the closing date for the colorado springs job was today. they received all by paperwork and resume, etc on tuesday. the hr guy said there was still some positions open, so keep your fingers crossed. it would be so nice to race in your own town instead of driving 6 hours. i might post again tonight, if not i'll post again on sunday night with a lowdown of the race and some pics. thanks for reading.
no word back on any jobs...the closing date for the colorado springs job was today. they received all by paperwork and resume, etc on tuesday. the hr guy said there was still some positions open, so keep your fingers crossed. it would be so nice to race in your own town instead of driving 6 hours. i might post again tonight, if not i'll post again on sunday night with a lowdown of the race and some pics. thanks for reading.
10.12.2005
Cross bike
here is my new cyclocross bike. i call her "cortez the killer" after the neil young song. i name my bikes after songs i like to rock out to on the ipod while riding.
its a trek xo1 framset with dura ace 9sp, chris king headset, pauls brakes, ritchey pro cockpit, selle italia slr saddle, crank bros candly sl pedals, and sweet-ass ritchey carbon wheels with tufo tubs. its a pretty sweet ride. my first cross race is this weekend in portland. i haven't been training as often as i should (big surprise.) it should still be a fun time if not a little painful. i'll post some pics of the race next week.
First Posting
this is my first post of my new blog. i'll try to keep everyone up to speed with what i've been doing and thinking. i'll post pictures and links to some of my favorite things to look at online.
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