Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyle

Loop around northern 2/3 of LW. Here are a few amateur pics from Iceland; I made the requisite visits to the waterfalls, geysers, and church. I had hoped to go to the Blue Lagoon as well, but turns out it's a high-maintenance deal where you have to reserve a spot online probably like weeks in advance. This was surprising, as all the other tourist attractions (actually, pretty much the rest of Iceland) had little to no supervision or regulations and you just sort of show up and wander around. They should monetize these better; no doubt even, say, a token parking fee could generate revenues enough for vast armadas of Viking invasion boats.

I can tell that I'm in better biking shape, because the hills (for instance, Big Finn today) don't seem as arduous as they used to be, and 20+ on flats now often seems pretty chill. However, I think I'll soon be running into specificity issues. My legs were abnormally sore and beat-up in weird places after the "long" in Iceland; the unusually rocky terrain was no doubt partly to blame, but I also suspect my lack of running. I have been training relatively well - for my standards at least - since April or so, but other than the week in France and the odd local o-event, 95% has been cycling. As such, I will cautiously add some running back into my training. I also need to be more religious about stretching, rolling, and doing a cool-down jog after riding.

C • Pics 1

Home -> Starfire. Cognitively, it feels like this should be further than 11 miles.

Cruising the streets at night...in a river of darkness





Night riding always puts me in the mood for some dope af 80s retro synth pop

Conditions humid. I discovered two things concerning bikeability: firstly, that another stretch of the Interurban is now closed, this time from Longacres Way to 180th, which is the most useful stretch for my purposes; secondly, that Boeing has some giant pipeline situation going on blocking the entire southbound Logan Ave bike lane pretty much the whole way adjacent to the plant.

On my ride home, I witnessed a head-on collision between a motorcyclist and a car. I was absentmindedly waiting at a red light, and the car to my left was turning left (away from me) presumably on an unprotected green, and apparently just never saw the motorcycle coming through the opposite direction (from my right). The car turned directly into the path of the motorcycle, which then hit it dead-center probably going 20 or so, caving in the entire front grille and hood, and no doubt doing damage to the engine, as there was a lot of fluid leaking.

The motorcyclist was thrown into the air up and over the car, did a flip/somersault, and landed hard on his side and back, while the momentum of the car carried it through the rest of the turn to the side of the intersection opposite me, and the bike lay in the middle of the intersection. I stared in disbelief for a beat or two, before moving my bike to the sidewalk and going to see if the guy was okay, as did two or three other people (including the driver of the car). Incredibly, he said he was fine, and looked and sounded as though he hadn't suffered even as much as a concussion. We then tried to move the motorcycle out of the middle of the road, but this proved very difficult as both wheels were completely locked.

A police officer soon arrived, followed quickly by a fire engine. At that point I waited for a few minutes while the officer talked to the parties, then gave him my contact info and a brief statement before heading out.

C • Yikes! 1

Home -> Memorial



VAR was used for the first time in EPL this past weekend; this goal was disallowed for offside. There are only certain instances where VAR can be used, one category of which is "factual" (objective) decisions such as offside, ball in/out of play, foul in/out of penalty area. There is also a "clear and obvious" rule, where VAR can be used to overturn a referee's decision - but this can only be used in "subjective" situations, not to review offside. However, in my opinion an instance as close as this *is* subjective - it is not factually clear to me that the player in black is offside - for all intents, purposes, and appearances, the two players are even - and in the absense of an clear offside violation even using VAR, this goal should be allowed.

C • VAR 2

Memorial -> home