I remember the great SARS pandemic of '03. Worldwide, there were 774 deaths attributed to the disease, 50% of those deaths were individuals 65 and older. I didn't dive into statistics much further because based on US Census Bureau World Vital Events, an estimated of 152,505 people die . . . every day!
Not to make light of such grave matters . . . (pause here to allow eye closing laughter to pass) . . . I am having a hard time stomaching the media's presentation of this deadly, deadly threat to the populations of the world. I started into this article in the WSJ, but stopped reading just after, "Nearly 2,000 people in Mexico have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia since the first case of swine flu was reported two weeks ago." I'm going to have to file that one under 'S' for sloppy. Given the statistics above, should have gone for ultra, but conservative, scare tactics and said that over 1.8 million people have died since the first case of swine flu was reported. It is a fact, do the math. Using similar logic though I bet more than 2,000 cars have been sold by private party owners since the first case of swine flu was reported two weeks ago.
The death pandemic has been out of control for centuries, according to well known news sources:
Death, a metabolic affliction causing total shutdown of all life functions, has long been considered humanity's number one health concern. Responsible for 100 percent of all recorded fatalities worldwide, the condition has no cure.
All kidding aside and my sympathy to all victims of the pig flu, I make a simple request to the media; please report the news, don't make it. In other important world news, I raced bikes this weekend.
On Saturday, we did ourselves very few favors as a team by missing the break of the day. Zac put in a good effort to bridge the gap, but since he's coming back to form from a variety of injuries, he wasn't quite able to make it across. Chuck and I spent the rest of the day working away, getting some good training time in the wind, trying to bring the race back together. In the end, I gained a lot of fitness and Chuck took advantage of his finishing speed honed on the track to take the field sprint and 8th place.
Sunday, I headed up to Boulder for the Haystack ITT and TTT. Getting motivated and ready took some doing. I got to Chuck's house in time to sit around for a few moments before getting kitted up and ready to go pick up some race numbers. From there, we had enough time to pin up numbers, roll around a bit and get to the start. Chuck used that time to get a flat, find a wheel to use (a nice borrowed Lightweight Disc, retail value - $2,670), and get to the line with enough time for the official to say, ". . . 2, 1, go!" That's perfect timing if you ask me, no standing around getting cold. I tried to relax since the first leg was wind aided and I knew the third leg was going to be into the wind with a couple slight rises. I kept trying to turn over the biggest gear I could and focused on catching the next person in front of me. It worked pretty well, I finished 4th behind Peter Stetina, Kevin Nicol, and Ben Day.
Our team time trial team was stacked, stacked to the point that I had concerns about my ability to hang on and not slow everybody down. The team was Chuck and myself representing the Subaru-Vista Auto Group side of things, Ben Day (2003 Australian National Time Trial Champion), Chris Baldwin (2nd 2006 USPRO Time Trial Championships), and Alessandro "Baz" Bazzana. We got going fairly smoothly, taking advantage of the tailwind section to get settled in. After the first turn, things started to come apart. We gapped Chuck and Baz and backed off a bit but only managed to get Chuck back. Shortly after the second turn, we lost Chuck and I lost the ability to pull through. After the third turn, I was starting to struggle to hang on and my ability to recover between minimal efforts just to keep a wheel was gone. I know I slowed Ben and Chris down, but we had to finish with three. We made it across the line and took the win. Results haven't been posted and since it was starting to get colder, windier and wetter, we decided not to stick around to study the results sheet.
I was fairly happy with the weekend of racing. Again, I'm working towards being fastest in August so 4th place in the ITT was a pleasant surprise. There might be more racing coming up next weekend, if it doesn't decide to snow again prior to the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb. It wouldn't be the first time that event has been postponed in my racing career. There is also another TTT opportunity with the Rabbit Mountain event on Sunday.
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