Author Archives: Ben

Dog Days

Crutches are the devil. Well, maybe they’re better than the alternative of hopping my way around town, but they’re certainly no substitute for the use of my left leg. With crutches, you can’t carry anything. For instance, if I make a sandwich for lunch, I either eat it standing like a flamingo, or else I […]

Stressed

The last couple weeks have been pretty quiet on my blog. I didn’t even write a full race report for Austin. Partly that’s because I read Ethan Brown’s race report and thought it was well written and pretty much covered my race as well. What Ethan didn’t talk about in his race report is how […]

Peeved: White Necks – the Urban Idiots

White Necks are the most dangerous people in the world. Everyone who has tried cycling knows the dangers of red necks on the road with their jacked up pickup trucks and tires that tower over you head. They try their best to scare the poop out of you when they come by on the highway, and will honk and yell things (i.e. “get off the road”, “nice ass”, or “WOOOOWEEEE”) out their open window. Luckily, those giant tires warn us from 5 kilometers away that they’re coming, and the drivers are actually paying such close attention to us that, while obnoxious, they’re far safer in their actions than the citified, wannabe civilized, overstressed, under-slept, all-organic idiots you find in any urban area of America. I’m referring to what I call “White Necks”. It includes the lawyers, doctors, soccer mom’s, and all types of business people who seem to think that their hurry gives them rights over the highway, and permission to risk the lives of everyone around them so they can get to their next appointment.

Life Time Fitness

This week I scored a 7 day trial pass to the South Austin Life Time Fitness center. It’s working out really well. They have two 25 meter pools (or at least I hope they’re 25 meters, ‘cause otherwise I’m swimming really slow), and some other stuff I don’t use. Actually, I was all prepared for […]

Austin is in Texas

A few weeks ago I was thinking out loud at the dinner table, “Maybe I should drive to Austin from Oklahoma.” My sister unintentionally quoted Tom Green from the movie Road Trip, “Massachusetts is probably a 20 or 30 our drive from Oklahoma, why not just fly?” I did what any bratty little brother would […]

Boathouse Triathlon – The Pan-American Championships in Oklahoma City – Race Report

Last Saturday was the OKC Pan-Am Championships. The US has not hosted this race in several years, so it was no surprise to see all the USA Triathlon representatives bubbling with excitement before the race. It’s quite an advantage to the country which hosts, because the continental championships is worth 400 points – twice that […]

SEA –> OKC

After the lynch mob started their march to my house in Seattle I decided I’d better high tail it out of there and let things cool off a bit. Off to Oklahoma City for the weekend! Now, I have never been to Oklahoma, which is good because it means nobody here wants me dead, but […]