Bike Ride: Monday, July 21, 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile round trip. Did stomps, 7 sets. Very good ride, although I feel like I didn't push hard enough.

Song in head: 'Crocodile Rock' by Elton John

Bike Ride: Sunday, July 20, 2008

Rode the beach loop. Kind of wiped out from Saturday's work marathon, so cut the ride short. Not a good ride, but I got 21 miles in.

No song in head that I remember.

Bike Rides: Wednesday and Thursday, 7/16/08 and 7/17/08

Wednesday, July 16 2008: Couldn't ride until the evening, so did the quick beach loop before the rain hit. I only got in 14 miles and did speedplay. Good workout, but I don't think I pushed myself hard enough, as I felt pretty fresh by the end. Did get my heart rate up pretty high, so maybe it was a good workout.

Song in head: 'Reason To Believe' by Rod Stewart

Thursday, July 17 2008: Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile round trip. Did cadence ride, spun circles at about 90 rpm. Good workout, heart rate in 85% range.

Song in head: 'Ghetto Child' by Shemekia Copeland

Bike ride: Wednesday, July 15th 2008

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile roundtrip. Did big gear workout today, legs felt fine, heart rate was elevated, good workout. I really need to either upgrade the Moser, or get a new one. The Moser just isn't performing well, and it probably needs an overhaul.

Song in head: 'Games People Play' by The Spinners.

Bike ride: Monday, 7/14/08

Rode at Flatwoods at lunch time, 13 mile roundtrip. My legs were a bit tired and sore today, must have been all the tennis over the weekend, along with the long ride on Saturday. Did stomps today, 8 sets of them. Feeling a bit tired, but good.

Song in head: 'Venus' by Shocking Blue

Netflix: 'Mr and Mrs Smith'

If you like the stars in this movie, you'll like this. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are interesting, attractive, clever, and adversaries, even though (or perhaps due to) they are married to each other. This is entirely predictable, but it's a decent ride.

I didn't love this, but there are a lot of blow-em-up scenes.

3 stars out of 5

Netflix: 'Hell On Wheels'

I liked this a lot better than I expected to. This documentary was filmed during the 2003 Tour de France, where the eventual winner was Lance Armstrong. But the primary focus of the filming was on the lesser riders and how they have to sacrifice themselves for their team leaders, but yet they still have some chances at glory.

This is something I had been wondering about for many years. Sure, it's easy to admire the winning riders, but there are so many domestique type riders where they are simply part of the team, but just as important to the overall team focus.

The reason I didn't think I would like it is because I've seen other cycling movies and they are just not well edited or well documented. 'Stars and Watercarriers' comes to mind, which I liked, but there were so many dead spots. In this flick, one really got the sense of how difficult the ordinary rider's job is, and the filmmakers made us care about the riders.

4 stars out of 5.