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While Clarke wasn’t my first foray into sci-fi, he was the first author I really devoured, back in my early teens. The library was well-stocked with his works, and I tore into them: 2001, 2010, the Rama series, Childhood’s End…you get the idea. He really helped hook me on science fiction.

I’m still hooked, really. Writing it now, too. I’ve kept a little mental list of authors I’ll be sending copies of my first published work to, with a little note of thanks for nudging me to that point. The list really focuses on the authors that I enjoyed in my teens, and Clarke was at the top of the list.

This posting will have to serve as my thank-you, and my send-off to a guy who was, by all accounts, as classy a human being as you could hope for. Thanks, Mr. Clarke, for starting me down this strange little path.

Things are plodding along methodically with the writing of the novel. I’ve been, as I mentioned, using the Novelist’s Boot Camp as a way of keeping myself on-task and moving forward, rather than scurrying from half-formed idea to half-formed idea like an A.D.D. squirrel on crack. So far, it’s working. I’m at the stage where I’m writing biographies for my major characters, and have started with my main protagonist.

I’m learning things about the dude, and it’s going pretty well.

During the process, I’m going to sneak in some time for some research. Since it’s a s.f. novel, and I’m setting it on a planet with a known geography (Mars), I need to rustle up a good map of the planet and start figuring out where these bases are, and where the connecting road will travel. Maybe I should tinker with Google Mars and try and create an overlay? (See? Squirrel on crack.)

I may spend some time after I get off the bike tonight, see if I can’t get half these bios done. I’ve got a few cycling posts that I need to write for this, too, and I can probably wrap those up tonight, as well.

I’ve often wondered why so many bike companies ship their time trial/triathlon bikes with such crappy wheels. I suppose that if I’d really thought about it, the answer would have been obvious — low quality wheels are great for training purposes and help keep unit costs down. In addition, entry-level triathletes will get great performance out of this bike and all they need to do to make the bike more capable is to upgrade the wheels at a later date.

The P2C (Ultegra group) shown above might well be one of the best values in the TT/triathlon space. Read the rest of this entry »

Minneapolis, my hometown and place-of-residence, of the 50 largest cities in the U.S., is ranked #2 for bicycle commuters, with 2.5% of the population choosing to ride to work. We’re second only to Portland, Oregon.

By comparison, the national average is 0.04%. Pathetic, especially when you compare the rest of the country’s climate to Minnesota’s harsh variations.

For more on the awesome that is Minneapolis: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles

I’ve been working on fleshing out the novel, using Novelist’s Boot Camp. I bought the book because I figured that with my military background, a structured approach would be a good thing for me. I was right! I’ve been unlocking really fucking cool ideas and scribbling notes in a Moleskine for the last few days.

I still don’t have a title, but I’m thinking that THE MOST AWESOMEST FUN YOU CAN HAVE WITH YOUR VERY OWN ALIEN STARSHIP AND P.S. IT’S GOT A LOONY A.I. RUNNING MOST OF THE SHOW might have to be relegated to the subtitle.

Photo by drocksays. Licensed under the Creative Commons.

[This piece is the third in a five-part series in this blog about how to effectively commute by bike, as other articles appear, there will be cross-linking between them. For Part I, click here.]

Contingency Planning

The most important thing you can do as a bike commuter is to remain mentally flexible. As long as you hope for the best and prepare for the worst, you should be fine. That said, there are things you’ll encounter on the road that require a certain set of behaviors, and can ameliorate negative situations.

Drivers. You need to understand one thing — Read the rest of this entry »

So I’ve got my account over at Trainingpeaks.com, and I officially started on Tuesday. It’s probably a little late to be starting, but better late than never.

Compared to last year, this is a world of difference. Last year, I didn’t get my new bike completed until around June 1st. I didn’t have a plan, except to “race myself into shape”.

Doing that in July is a really, really bad idea. Seriously, don’t ever try it. That’s the time of year when everyone’s flying, and if you go out there you’re going to get lapped, puke up a lung, and have an aneurysm. None of which I’d recommend. Read the rest of this entry »

1 GNC Ultra-Mega multivitamin
3 500mg tablets of Vitamin C
3 tablets of EP-NO
3 tablets of Optygen
2 tablets of fish-oil
2 tablets of glucosamine-chrondroitin
1 tablet Bayer Heart Health

Fifteen pills.

Plus the heaping teaspoon of creatine in a glass of juice I have after my workouts.

I feel like a walking chemistry experiment.

Photo by Mrs Magic. Licensed under the Creative Commons.

It’s amazing how easy it is to procrastinate, even with a life that includes a full-time job, part-time job, girlfriend, writing, training, and so on. Fighting the procrastination has been part of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2007 and 2008. (The resolution was/is “be more awesome.”)

A few years ago, I was on the GTD (Getting Things Done) bandwagon. The thing is, GTD requires a complete overhaul of habits and it demands them all at once. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo courtesy of givepeasachance. Licensed under the Creative Commons.

I got my first surreal phone call of the year at the bike shop this weekend. It was way after hours, and a guy who sounded like he was in his forties and moderately drunk and/or high, called to ask about books covering training for track cycling. I told him that I couldn’t think of any track-specific books (and I still can’t), but I referred him to Joe Friel’s Cyclist’s Training Bible, which should be your go-to for any sort of cycling training. He asked where to buy it and I explained about these places called “bookstores” where they sell books…places like Borders and Barnes & Noble. I then advised him that if he wanted to save some money he could probably buy it on Amazon.

“That’s that computer thing, right?” he slurred.

Read the rest of this entry »