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dream road bike

2005 Trek 5.2 Madone SL

This is the same road bike as below but with my new paint job and lots of stickers removed. Also has the Ritchey Carbon WCS Evolution bar, an X2 Thomson stem, Chris King headset, Fizik Arione seat, titanium water cages. The rest is the same from before, Ultegra double, Bontrager seat post, Aeolus 5.0 wheels, Keo carbon pedals, Mavic computer.

Definitely my dream set-up. Only other upgrades I can think of is to get a Thomson seat post and change out the Ultegra set when that's worn down. I think it looks just as good as the new 2008 Madones.

2005 Trek 5.2 Madone SL Bike w/ stock paint job. Ultegra double. Bontrager components. Keo pedals, Aeolus 5.0 race wheels. Did four Ironmans on this ride.

2004 Trek 5200

My first road bike. Road my first Ironman on this one. Ultegra Triple. Bontrager stock parts. San Selle Marco seat. Frame busted because of chain suck.

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core workout program

Here's a core workout program, takes about 30 minutes. You can do these in the living room, don't need weights. Just need to be disciplined about doing them. If you do them right, and you do these consistently, you'll be in pretty awesome shape. The cliff notes version i.e. if you have only have time to do some of the workout, just do the squats or lunges and then sit-ups and push-ups.

Core workouts target the torso, or stomach, back, hip/upper thigh area. This is where all the power is in your body.

I quit my gym membership a long time ago because I've been swimming at the local pool and running or biking outside. And then doing these core workouts at home makes that $80 gym membership pretty pointless.

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some RFE's for Evite

It's party season and some Web 2.0 start-up needs to put Evite out of their misery (maybe it's smokethatass.com, j/k)

I'd like Evite to do two simple things:

1)  Create a click to add to Google Calendar (and Yahoo! Calendar needs to step it up w/ an AJAX version, maybe this is the Zimbra team)

2)  Just make it simple to copy and paste the event information so I can stick it in a blog post or an email or in a calendar.  The mark-up and tables are really messy.

It seems like Evite is in maintenance mode.  And if they stay in maintenance mode too long, they're going to turn into MapQuest.

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running in Oakland, observations

Fortunately, I have a full range of run routes with the house as a starting point. I can run into Berkeley towards the College or the hills, I can run towards Emeryville (and then into Berkeley or Oakland), I can run into the foo foo Oakland neighborhoods like Rockridge, I can run through the 'hood, I can run towards Lake Merritt, or I can run to downtown Oakland.

Running downtown into Oakland requires me going down Telegraph or Broadway.

What I've noticed, or thinking:

  • There are a lot of condos and I mean a lot of condos popping up in downtown Oakland.
  • The art deco buildings in Oakland are gorgeous and some just need to be polished. I hope some of the new buildings get some character too instead of looking San Jose-ish.
  • A lot of people seem to be coming back to urban centers from the boonies. The commute I think has just been killing people.
  • There needs to be a few more grocery stores in downtown Oakland. I'm guessing the new Ferry Plaza like market in Jack London Square will be it. But hopefully something pops up near the Sears building.
  • Downtown Oakland was hit pretty hard with the '89 earthquake. I think we're just turning the corner.
  • Temescal is really nice.  People will start taking notice as more businesses pop up.  Temescal is like an early phase Rockridge/Elmwood/Piedmont Ave.
  • Every store in Emeryville should also be in downtown Oakland. And Downtown Oakland needs a few anchor tenants — Sears is not it. We need to go the urban boutique route to make some inroads. The Sean Johns and the Ecko need to set up shop downtown.
  • Not downtown but new.  Trader Joe's just opened up in Rockridge near Zachary's Pizza.  Very cool.

Clearly, I love Oakland. Probably because, like me, we've got a chip on our shoulder to prove that we're actually not bad. We got a lot more going on than people think.