FInished the MS150

I finished the MS150 last weekend. Not that I was worried about finishing, but I'm pretty pleased with how well I did, especially on day two. (Ow - arm sore from patting myself on the back).
I actually got a late start on Saturday, since a co-worker was going to join me for the ride, and pulled an ultimate asshole no-show and no-call move, making me miss the connecting train (Yes, I rode the train to a bike ride - why not, it started at the train station) and consequently, the beginning of the ride. I hopped a ride on a bus, caught the sag car at about the 10 mile mark, and pulled the last guy in the MS150 for the next 15 miles so he could make the first rest stop before the deadline. He was really struggling, riding a heavy hybrid and from the looks of it, hadn't really trained for the ride.
He hadn't ever ridden a pace line, and was amazed at what a difference it made sitting behind someone. We were only going 17 MPH or so, but that was a lot faster than he was going before I came along, and unlike before he wasn't wheezing. We passed a road side "Your Speed" radar trailer and I picked it up a bit until it flashed "20" at us. The guy on my wheel seemed pretty impressed by that number, and asked if I could do 20 MPH "all the time". I really felt like Ricky Racer at that point.
After the first rest stop I managed to hook up with a couple of faster riders, and we formed a pace line that ranged from 4 to 10 bikes depending, and kept our pace up above 20 MPH most of the way. I called my wife from the last rest stop and discovered I was going to beat her into Ocean City by about a half hour, even with the late start.
After a couple of hours on the beach, boardwalk, and a roller coaster ride with Evie we hit dinner (pasta, of course) and I hit the hay.
Or tried to. Kids sharing a hotel room with you? No. Sleep. Day two on 3 hours sleep? Rain? Sure!
Luckily the rain passed, and I was left to deal with 50 degree temperature readings for the first couple of hours, but it could have been worse. Cold is better than wet and cold in my book.
I hadn't had much of a chance to ride back-to-back days this summer. Two kids will do that to you. Wasn't sure how my legs would react to a second 75+ mile day, but they felt fine to start. I managed, again, to hook up again with a decently paced line of bikes after the initial traffic jam getting out of Ocean City. Unfortunately, the group couldn't maintain the initial pace, and I wound up sitting in a long line going 17. On a fairly busy two lane road, so I wasn't about to hop out and try and pass the long line on my own, would have been dangerous and ultimately, pointless.
Luckily, a faster paceline rescued me. I heard those wonderful three words "On Your Left!" Last guy in line? Riding a full-suspendered Cervelo in XXL - had to be about 6'7" tall - man did I love hopping on that wheel! Dude threw a wake like the Titanic! He waved me by and dropped off after another mile, and I congratulated him on keeping up with the line, knobbies whirring the entire time.
At this point the line was up over 23 MPH, and after another couple of miles the lead switched. When the second guy in line took over he started stomping, and the pace picked up over 25 MPH. I followed up a rise, which dropped the guy in front of me, and continued at that pace for another few miles, before seeing a sign announcing 39 miles to go. I realized I couldn't do 25 for 40 more miles, and waved goodbye. Another couple of miles and a paceline (with the guy that got dropped on the rise sitting on the back) passed by, and I hopped on for a more reasonable 20-22 MPH pace.
Got back to Philly before the wife and kids (theme of the weekend), picked up Chloe at the kennel, and tried to nap.
Wife and kids arrived home. Oh well.
Not sure if I'll do it again next year, but really glad I did it this year. Fun ride, and it served as a "moving goalpost" for my riding this year. Finish the MS150 was my original goal. Easily finish the MS150 became my goal as my fitness improved. Goal met.

Sununu Wants You To Sit Up and Beg

Why else would he blow that dogwhistle?

Training for the MS150 in September. Tonight was not my best night, but I have a lot of time to get up to snuff.

Too Stupid To Realize You're Stupid?

According to science we really do get what we deserve in the form of leadership.

The research, led by David Dunning, a psychologist at Cornell University, shows that incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people's ideas. For example, if people lack expertise on tax reform, it is very difficult for them to identify the candidates who are actual experts. They simply lack the mental tools needed to make meaningful judgments.

Or, as it was succinctly put in another article from the Life's Little Mysteries site: incompetent people are too ignorant to know it.

According to this study you can get 1.9 billion dollars! worth of software for free. Free. Nada. What's the catch? Well, there really isn't one. The license of the software itself is designed to grant the user certain freedoms, in marked contrast to many commercial licenses. So do yourself a favor - head on over to the Debian website and download a billion dollars.

We're gonna need a bigger boat

I stumbled across this article while researching the Fedora /usr merge/move and have to say it really funny. It's geek funny. But it's still funny.

Best Pr0n Viewer Evah

This Privacy Monitor Hack is one of the better uses of recycled 3D glasses I've seen. Wonder if there's a market for pre-made privacy monitors? Hmm.

You can get anything you want ...

Georgia Judge Dennis Blackmon has rejected a petition from U.S. Bank to throw out a complaint from a homeowner whose mortgage the bank refused to modify, without explanation. The judge didn't mince words on his opinion of the bank's motion: 

I have to say a judge that starts his opinion with "apologies to folk singer Arlo Guthrie. . ." is a jurist after my own heart. Thank you Judge Blackmon. Further info is here:
Judge exercises extreme sarcasm on US Bank « Boing Boing

Lest we forget

I was reminded by this piece in Forbes of a conversation (more of an argument) I recently had with some acquaintances. They were insistent that the real cause of the financial crisis in 2008 was a law passed in 1977. When I called them on that (how can a law passed in 1977 cause a crisis in 2008? Shouldn't it have kicked in before that?) they changed the meme. It was passed in 1977, but it was changed in 1997.

So it wasn't Carter's fault, it was Clinton's fault. I was beginning to sense a pattern, as they skipped over all POTUS with (R) following their names.

When the raw math (see the piece in Forbes for starters) was presented to them, they then said the amount of lending didn't matter. Regulations on the financial market caused those involved in said markets to develop a mental block. Regulation causes stupidity. Not short-term greed. Regulation.

These folks with no connection whatsoever to the derivatives industry were convinced they had insight into the psyche of that industry, and claimed to be able to divine the motivation of random bond traders they have never met.

It was an amazing bit of cognitive dissonance - no matter what, it was the fault of a) Democrats and b) Government. No amount of evidence confirming the greed and stupidity of Wall St. caused them to examine their beliefs, rather it just pushed them further down the road towards daft conspiracy.

Wash, rinse, repeat

I just finished reading about Our Oil-Constrained Future and was struck by the following statement:

If this model is accurate—and if the ceiling on global oil production really is around 90 mbd and can be expanded only slowly—it means that every time the global economy starts to reach even moderate growth rates, demand for oil will quickly bump up against supply constraints, prices will spike, and we'll be thrown back into recession. Rinse and repeat.

So our economic future, perhaps the global economy going forward, depends upon alternative energy. You'd think the leaders in Congress who are most concerned with economic growth might be in favor of this?  You'd be wrong.
They have more important constituents to look after.

Starbucks CEO to DC: You've been cut off

Starbucks CEO to DC: You've been cut off

I am imposing a one week personal moratorium on mocking or otherwise deriding the Buckys. Well done, sir. Well done.