Hard work is a talent. — Gary Kasparov
July, 2011 Monthly archive
What is probable is not always right; what is right is not always probable.
Reading The Indicator: 101 Things I Didn’t Learn in Architecture School, pushed me over the edge to purchase and read Harry G. Frankfurt’s On Bullshit. The Indicator and Frankfurt’s short book are well worth your attention.
Here’s a quote I pulled from the Frankfurt’s book. Frankfurt troubles over a all-too-typical-tendency for people to prize the ideal of sincerity over the ideal of correctness:
“It is preposterous to imagine that we ourselves are determinate, and hence susceptible both to correct and to incorrect descriptions, while supposing that the ascription of determinacy to anything else has been exposed as a mistake. As conscious beings, we exist only in response to other things, and we cannot know ourselves at all without knowing them. Moreover, there is nothing in theory, and certainly nothing in experience, to support the extraordinary judgement that it is the truth about himself that is the easiest for a person to know. Facts about ourselves are not peculiarly solid and resistant to sceptical dissolution. Our natures are, indeed, elusively insubstantial—notoriously less stable and less inherent than the natures of other things. And insofar as this is the case, sincerity itself is bullshit.”
Frankfurt’s books starts with the claim that “one of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.” I’d like to think that I am not a contributor to this problem … yet I have at times misappraised the relevance and importance of my own bullshit.
I raced the Rev3 Portland earlier today. I won’t get into things too much, but I had a disappointing race. No point reporting times . . . they were all ridiculously slow.
Felt great leading up, but had some weird stomach issues the morning of the race and throughout the swim. I lacked power and pep on the bike, struggling to maintain a decent speed on a course I should have killed. The run literally had me crying out in pain as the muscles around both my knees (right first, then left followed suit) tightened to the point that I couldn’t run. I literally would run 20 or 40 steps, nearly fall over, walk a bit, then try to run again. Good times.
I want to put more distance between my performance at this event before I report on it in detail. It was a solid pro field and I look forward better representing my athletic capacity in the future. Suffice it to say that finishing was a real accomplishment today. DNFing was a real option, but I have a great deal more to learn and the hard knocks I took at this race will give me lots to ruminate on as I move towards being a competitive pro.
Congrats to Adam O’Meara who has a strong bike and good run.
I’m headed to Portland tomorrow to race at the Rev3 Triathlon Series against some of the top long course pros in the world. Wild!
I wanted to highlight the EVOC Bike Travel Bag. Like many other triathletes, I’m a little bit OCD when it comes to transporting my bike. Travel bags are really important to triathletes simply because we all want to protect our bikes during travel so that we can make good on the training we’ve put in. Packing up a bike is part of the ritual of preparing for important races (or training blocks).
After doing my research, I decided EVOC were the best bags on the market (can’t beat German engineering) at a good pricepoint. After approaching EVOC, I was fortunate enough to get some sponsorship from them (thanks EVOC!). You can checkout EVOC bags in Victoria at Oak Bay Bikes, in Vancouver at Westpoint Multisport, and in Calgary at SpeedTheory.
I am 6’3 and I ride a large TT bike with long aero bars. As you can see from the photos below, my bike fits into the bag without any problem. There’s tonnes of space for all my other tri gear and travel stuff too. So, if you are smaller than a giant and want to protect you triathlon bike/tt bike, do consider EVOC.
Here’s a quick list of why I like EVOC’s bike travel bags:
- Bags are sturdy but light, so they are easy to transport and handle (there are tonnes of handles and spots to grab/grip the bag)
- Bags aren’t overly bulky, so they can fit in a cab or backseat of a small car
- Bags are designed to stand upright easily, rather than lay flat. I’m convinced that this helps them get handled and packed into places more respectfully (as opposed to hard shell cases are treated as bomb-proof/airport-baggage-ape-proof, and get stuff stacked on top of them)
- Because the bike is secured by straps and velcro strips to the bag, customs agents can easily open up the bags, look inside, and close everything up without disturbing the secure position of your bike. This is much different from when I had a hard-shell case, which exploded open upon inspection and then was none-too-carefully packed back up by some unknown agent (shudder)
- The case looks nice
- I tell myself that the bag is German engineered to protect the whole bike from hasty cabbies, airport baggage apes, curious custom’s agents, and other monsters. This helps decrease my worry when travelling.
This weekend, I’m flying down to Portland to race the Rev 3 Triathlon Series.
It is a super flat course, so I am borrowing a disc wheel from Dave S. from the Triple Shot group. I’ve never ridden a disc, but if there was ever a course for this wheel, the Rev 3 Portland is it. If nothing else, I’ll certainly look the part on race day (as if that makes any difference).
Rev 3 boasts a stacked international field, so I’m excited to test where I’m at. As importantly, the organization of this race is the best I’ve ever experienced. They communicate clearly (but not too much). They are responsive to athlete inquiries. They’ve helped me find a homestay (with no cats). I am completely impressed by the Rev 3. They are clearly on the positive path to growth and well worth making a destination race.
Following the Rev 3, my season might take a slight detour into the world of gainful (and flexible?) employment and financial stability. At my current level, living as a pro athlete has many advantages, but I’m not yet at the place where I’m drawing a consistent, livable wage. As much as I’m trying to convince Laura to work harder, I need to pull my weight too. That said, I’ve still got many years of racing pro ahead of me. I just need to make some prudent decisions in the present to set myself up for success in the future.
Depending how things shake down, I will likely race Sooke rather than the Ironman 70.3 Muskoka. Regardless, I’m going to work my tail off at the Rev 3 and hopefully attract some attention to my athletic pursuits. I am getting a better and better sense of the half-iron distance and, this weekend, I aim to make good on all the lessons from my past races.
I’m pleased that my fellow PT Performance Training athlete, Adam O’Meara, is also down at Portland for the race, as well as Stephen Kilshaw. It will be nice to see some familiar faces suffering alongside me.
Thanks to my sponsors SOLE, Dynamic Footworks, Oak Bay Bikes, Pen Run, Sable Water Optics, and EVOC for each of their assistance with my training and racing.
Up next: post on the EVOC Bike Travel Bag, which I am using to transport my bike to and from Portland. The EVOC bike bag is an amazing product, so I’ll post some photos of how it works with a TT/triathlon bike.
Play the game that is being played—not the game you wish were being played.
Re: No Egos
Frankly, no egos is rather an impossibility, but I get the point of Comprehend’s core motto and value. Also, I don’t want to read too much into a quick, high-level blog post; it’s not fair to over-parse posts like this. It is a blog, not a philosophical proposition.Egos certainly cause many silly problems that waste precious, and often limited, resources: time and money.I’m tempted to refashion their core principle as: “Don’t be an asshole and don’t let the fact that you’re an asshole get in the way of your work.” To create a culture that allows people to put aside their egos is a major feat indeed. This must exemplified by leadership, but it should also be reflected in the hiring and HR policies and processes.
