Back in the saddle
It has been more than 10 years, if not 20 years, since I was serious again about getting on the bicycle. I grew up on a bicycle. I restored an old bicycle. I went on vacation throughout Europe on my bicycle. When I got to the US, I immediately when for the big challenges and climbed Mount Hamilton in San Jose. However, it has been a while. I got into running and other sports instead.
Throughout this period, however, my interest and love for the cycling sport has only grown. I became a fanatic spectator. I would wake up very early for the pro cycling races and follow many racers and teams. (Go team Wout, and team Remco!)
Now, I finally invested and got a nice ride: a Trek Checkpoint SL5 gravel bike, and cycling shoes.
I dusted off my cycling pants and still fit into my Vlaanderen 2002 Eddy Merckx jersey.
(By the way, that’s Johan Verstrepen in 1995 wearing the same jersey. Johan raced with the team, and was one of my neighbors in Belgium.)
During my 10 miles inaugural ride, I had to nibble at the mighty 9.4% 3.6 miles Sierra mountain in our backyard. Rather than take Sierra Road, I road up Suncrest Avenue - at least a decent part of it. Wow, what a view of San Jose and the Bay. But also what a %$#!! climb!
May 7, 2021
Overcast out-Appled Apple
After a recent blogpost by MG Siegler about the stagnation of Apple’s Podcast app, I decided to try out Overcast.
I’ve been a very early podcast listener. No, not from the Odeo days, but not much thereafter. In recent years, Apple’s podcasting app served me well. Though that seems to be all relative. After spending a day with Overcast, it is clearly the better app to listen to podcasts.
The user interface is simpler. The controls are bigger and right there. It is easier to configure the number of episodes to keep. It is easier to set a sleep timer. I have a better overview of available episodes. Etc.
A lot of these things are subtle. For the same subtle beauty that we praise Apple, Overcast out-appled Apple.
If I have to point out a shortcoming, it is a lack of controllability of the episodes to download to my Apple Watch. When I go for a run, I don’t want to bring my phone with me.
May 1, 2021
Liege - Bastogne - Liege 2021
It’s a wrap. The classic season 2021 is over, and we are gearing up for the multi-stage tours. It was therefor fitting that Tadej Pogacar, winner of the epic 2020 Tour de France, won this year’s La Doyenne. “Get ready to see me a lot more!”
The reworked route for this race is an improvement. Several years ago, Cote de la Redoute was only an amuse-bouche. You had to wait a long time for the main course. The real race only used to brake open on the St Nicolas. And then it was over before it really got started.
The new route brought a bit more of cat and mouse games. Carapaz attacked on the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons. Then, the other big boys woke up, and went in the counter attack. It wasn’t at all clear whether he would be caught. Ultimately, a group of the strongest handful riders went to the finish line to sprint. It was an exciting last 20 kilometers. The last part of the course also has gotten a lot nice, as they wind through the greener areas around Liege, rather than the industrial area of Seraing.
What do I expect from the upcoming Giro and Tour de France?
First of all, I wish all the best for Remco Evenepoel. He has to impress nobody. Not every recovery will result in the stellar year as Wout had last year. So, it is better it keeps building in the Giro. And if he really wants to win a top tour, save it for the Vuelta.
The Tour de France will be a lot more tactical. Jumbo won’t make the same mistake as last year, and expect UAE to do their role. Of course UAE has a stronger team than last year. Ineos will be back, yet they seem to lack great coaching from the car. The Wolfpack of DeCeuninck-Quickstep will pick their stages, though will probably use this as a practice year to build out their very young tour team.
It will also be time again to dial into The Move podcast with Lance and the gang.
April 25, 2021
Unchartered
I haven’t been a big fan of Gordon Ramsey. The British know-it-all chef perfected the art of indignant screaming. “I can’t believe you are willing to serve this to the guests of Hell’s Kitchen!!!!”, or “Is that what your failing restaurant puts on the menu? Send it back!!!”, in Kitchen Nightmares. Yelling, screaming, and that indignant laugh had become his brand. It is a brand which made him very rich.
With Masterchef we saw a more gentle, a more understanding side of him. Masterchef Kids was the cherry on top. It started to change my opinion of him. It was as if he had had a heart-to-heart with a public relationships firm: Stop the angry act.
We have been enthralled with National Geographic’s Unchartered. The premise is simple: Gordon travels the world, meeting up with a local top chef. He has to learn about the local food and cooking methods. At the end of a week, he goes into a friendly cook-off with the local chef to demonstrate he has learned about the native cuisine. He travels to New Zealand, Norway, Morocco, Peru, Alaska, etc. From local harvesting mushrooms, to diving for fresh seafood, to climbing trees for yummy berries or shepherd’s beard, to hunting maggots, he does all his own stunts. The dishes are intriguing and makes your mouth water (most of the time - not sure I would eat the peanut-tasting maggot in New Zealand or the fermented fish in Norway).
The show is a lot of fun, and in true Ramsey-style energetic and fast moving. What I like most is that you get to know another side of Gordon Ramsey: a humble chef learning from others, a friendly and laughing guy, and one not afraid to lose at a competition he knows is stacked against him.
We are almost finished with season 2 and can’t wait for season 3.
April 24, 2021
Vaccination #1
April 17th - I got my first covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer) at Levi’s 49ers stadium in Santa Clara. My wife and our daughter also got their vaccine today. Our son already received his first covid-19 vaccine a few weeks earlier.
I was only intending to make this post public much later. Many of my family and acquaintances around the world do not have access yet to a vaccine. It feels first-world-showoffy. Yet, nobody really reads my microblog.
I had feared that once they allowed everybody older than 16 to get the vaccine, that there would be a huge rush to the vaccination centra in the Bay Area. On April 15th, in Santa Clara county alone, one million more people became eligible. At a rate of 25,000 vaccines per day, it could take a bit. I was not in a rush. Luckily, my wife was able to secure an appointment fairly quickly.
The vaccination site at Levi’s Stadium is very well run. There is plenty of parking, obviously. After completing initial forms while queuing, you are ushered into an area where they validate your registration, your identity and insurance information. This is all by barcode and image scanner and only takes a few minutes. You then go upstairs where there are a large set of vaccination stations. Lights indicate to the ushers which stations have an open spot, so they can move it along. After the shot, a follow-up appointment three weeks later for the second shot is scheduled right then and there. You are asked to wait 15 minutes in a recovery area to ensure there are no immediate negative side effects. Within 45 minutes or so, we were in and out. That’s not counting taking some cool pictures with the stadium as the backdrop.
I didn’t experience any negative effects, beyond a little soreness in my shoulder in the evening.
April 18, 2021
For the Amazon narrative to work, you need two additional elements
Amazon’s 6-page narrative is hot in the news again. It is one of the many stories the authors of the book Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon tell while promoting their book on the various podcasts, or in newspaper or blog articles.
I’ve been a fan of the narrative for years, even just for my own process. By writing out the idea, I create better ideas. My process starts with an outline, a bulleted list, or a slide or two. As I collect data or craft a chart, I add additional slides. However, those slides or the bulleted list aren’t the end goal. They are the equivalent of a storyboard in the movie business. As I tell the story I realize I miss some data, or that there is a hole in the thought process. Eventually, I will write out the narrative, while I have the storyboard on the side. The narrative almost writes itself by then.
Also, Netflix has a big Memo-culture. A lot of important work starts in prose.
Yet, while the memo or the narrative provide 80 or 90% of the system, there are two important elements to make the system really work:
- The pre-read: share the document sufficiently in advance, so people can prepare and ponder the proposal. The idea that we all read in silence the narrative during the first 20 minutes of the meeting only works for some. However, most often it can result in a shoot-from-the-hip commentary. It also doesn’t allow participants to consult others prior to the meeting.
- The rebuttal: avoid fly-by comments. After reading the narrative, ensure folks write down their viewpoint in a similar narrative manner. It will clarify where the major conflicts or disagreements are with the narrative. This will set you up for a more focused meeting.
April 16, 2021
De Ronde is too hard
Kasper Asgreen beat Mathieu van der Poel in a mano-a-mano sprint to win De Ronde. Both had escaped on the penultimate climb, the Kwaremont, and stayed together on the Patersberg to barrel down to Oudenaarde for the sprint.
De Ronde is a very hard race, over 250km long, over many steep climbs with only a handful kilometers in between to catch your breath. And therein lies the problem. The current trajectory, “De Ronde New Look” as it is referred to, is too hard. While the strongest rider typically wins, the race is often too much a closed race, with little cat and mouse game throughout. After a brisk attack on one of those steep hills, you may see the strongest racers separate themselves from the rest. But that’s it.
I long for the days where a few riders would slip away on the Muur van Geraardsbergen, or de Bosberg and are being chased by a bunch. They get caught. Then another few riders break away, and so one. Think De Ronde 2011 with the opening shot from Chavanel early on, the counter-attack of Cancellara on de Leberg, the regrouping on de Muur, the escape of Chavanel, Cancellara and Nuyens on route to Meerbeek, and a final desperate move of Boonen. What a spectacle!
It is time to redraw the route and make it a bit easier. Bring back the unpredictability! Bring back the excitement.
April 4, 2021
We are ready, again
Every year I rewatch the video “De Ronde Van Vlaanderen, We zijn er klaar voor” (“We are ready”, in English). The video is over 13 years old but gets me every time.
The video depicts how people in Flanders are getting ready the morning of the most important cycling race of the year: De Ronde, De Ronde van Vlaanderen, The Tour of Flanders.
I start my preparation about an hour after the Gent-Wevelgem race has crosses the finish line the week prior. I rewatch previous editions. I watch behind the scenes coverage from previous years. I catch every talkshow throughout the week about the race or racers. I read interviews. I am ready for tomorrow!
Wout Van Aert is also ready. Mathieu Van der Poel is ready as well. Julian Alaphilippe likely will be ready, although he was struggling a bit in earlier races. Peter Sagan makes you think he is not ready, but make no mistake, he is ready.
I am looking forward to see the tactics to beat the top favorites. If AG2R wants to win, with Van Avermaet or Naessen, they will need to play it smarter. That is also the case for Lotto-Soudal. Even Trek with Jasper Stuyven will need a better plan than “let’s go mano a mano.” I predict that also Deceuninck-Elegance-Quickstep will not want to bet it all on Alaphilppe: they will send Yves Lampaert ahead. Lampi will be extra motivated now that Paris-Roubaix has been postponed to the fall. He is not strong enough by himself, but with a few willing riders, who knows how far they will get.
My only wish for tomorrow is that the riders do not wait until the last passage on the Patersberg to attack.
April 3, 2021
E3 Harelbeke
In the World Cup soccer, the half finals are always more exciting than the final game. Today, the same was true in cycling. The E3 Saxo Bank Classic (aka Harelbeke) provided lots of spectacle with many attacks and counter attacks.
Team Deceuninck-Quickstep masterfully controlled the race when they sent Danish champion Kasper Asgreen on the attack at the Boigneberg. Mathieu van der Poel (MVDP) was strong, but was quickly isolated. Wout Van Aert foolishly squandered his energy and had to let MVDP and others go. A flat before the Taaienberg didn’t help either. Zdenek Stybar was probably the strongest today. And the AG2R brothers, Naessens and Van Avermaet, contrary to popular commentary, played it smart at the end. Many believed that in the final 10km they should have countered an attack by Asgreen, when he went for a second time. I beg to differ: that would have served primarily MDVP. Let him or Langeveld solve it. It was also good to see US hopeful Quinn Simmons present again.
In the end, that second attack by Asgreen was the right one and ultimately a robot handed Kasper Asgreen the winner medal.
There was other cool new technology in this race: a new and safer type of pillar protection and shock absorbing sprint bumper.
Sunday: Gent-Wevelgem. No MVDP. Yes, Van Aert. But also Has Pedersen, Sam Bennett, Tim Merlier and many others.
March 26, 2021
Apple Fitness+ is for the pudgy anti-gym-rat
I joined Apple Fitness+ on a whim (read, great advertising by Apple). I lacked motivation to work out during the pandemic and missed my running group, the MVARCs, and the sweat of my fellow Orange-Theorists.
My first workout was a 10 minutes Core exercise, and a 5 minutes cool-down. After an outdoor run, I went again to Apple Fitness+ for a 5 minutes cool-down.
A month later, I still go back to Apple Fitness+ regularly. I especially enjoy the 20-30 minutes dance workouts. I put on my headphones and dance outdoors in the backyard. I pray my neighbors are not watching or sending in a video submission to America’s Funniest Videos. They are guaranteed a laugh. But I don’t care. I am having a lot of fun.
Apple Fitness+ is not for the gym rat. It is not for the serious runner nor the weekend sports fanatic. It is for the busy and somewhat overweight parent. It is for the person who wants to work out but may not be able to find the time or arrange childcare to make a trip to the gym. They also cater to a large group and provide a good beginner level of exercises.
It is also for the person who got suckered into an expensive gym membership before and doesn’t want to fall for the same trap. At $80/year, Apple Fitness+ is a much better deal.
It is for me: bite-sized, on my schedule and at my level. The Time to Walk series are a change of pace for the podcasts while I go on a walk.
I want to try different exercises: HITT, strength and yoga.
There are still a few things which need perfecting. Occasionally Apple Fitness+ does not connect with my Apple Watch, even though all fine Bluetooth-wise. The fact that Apple Fitness+ doesn’t integrate well with Roku Apple TV app is disappointing. I am limited to follow along on my small iPhone screen.
March 21, 2021