…or aspiring to be like Lance.
These last three weeks of watching the Tour De France were simply amazing.
Lance Armstrong, back to win his seventh record setting Tour De France, was just an unconquerable force in the Tour. Looking at the man, it wasn’t all just brawn and power; it was strategic thinking and brain usage that also won the Tour for him.
It’s true that the guy is a freak of nature. You should see his power output on Lance Armstrong’s Website and note that he scores way above my average wattage output on any given ride. He has gone as high as 450 watts on a 30 min time trial, performed to predict his finishing time during the Tour. (It’s why one of my goals is to see how close I can get to his power output…before I die….! But also, one aspect that is also important is his power to weight ratio, so being about 157 lbs. I am about 6 lbs lighter than him…helps a little but not much in reaching his power to weight ratio.) He can definitely generate more power on the bike than just about anyone else out there today.
However, it isn’t just raw power which lets him win. He paces himself, notes who are the true rivals from a time perspective, and rides to keep ahead of them, knowing that he probably could win the entire Tour without dominating a single stage. This knowledge of how the game is played and strategizing around how the Tour is won, which makes him unique amongst the other cyclists. He uses his brains as much as his power to win the Tour.
Yes we can all look at the controversy surrounding the guy. Arrogance, divorce, cancer, lazy this, not enough training that. What do you expect when the tabloids get hold of anyone?
We are all human. We have our foibles. Some of Lance’s are exploited by the tabloids and that sucks.
But I would argue that we all need more heroes. I push aside the controversies and think about what makes Lance great. I take his power output and make it my goal. I think about his conquering a health condition which could have killed him. I think about his melding of intelligence and strength to win the most prestigious bike race in the world. And I do see the unforgiving grimace on his face as he powers to the lead when I’m racing to the finish line. The mystique of Lance drives me and gives me something to aspire to, something impossible to strive for. Yes, Lance is human, but he is also my hero.
If only I could find a rock star girlfriend too….

OK so I’m doing this “living in 3 places” thing and I’m discovered that in order for me to keep each place supplied, I need to shop for one of my living places in the other 2.
How strange that is, in a world where you would think that globalization has made every product available every where else, and especially in the U.S. The reality is that it ain’t true…OR…it’s just too hard to go and find.
When I’m in NYC, I was looking for aerosol contact lens solution. But the Duane Reade drug store across the street from me doesn’t carry any. Neither does any other Duane Reade that I’ve visited. Now, I’ve noticed there are other pharmacies around, like CVS and maybe some local ones. But am I going to truck around NYC looking for some damn aerosol contact lens solution? No way. I’ve become the quintessential lazy New Yorker – it’s too much effort to walk beyond a 2 block radius to go and get something.
So I go to California to buy it and throw it in my rollerboard and bring it back with me to NYC.
There is a Cingular store around the corner from my apartment in NYC and I find this cool Motorola Bluetooth Speakerphone HF800 which I desperately need for my stick shift PT Cruiser. Without something like that, I am really really risking crashing because I don’t have total control over the car while I try to talk on my mobile phone. But with this doodad, I can just talk freely. BUT….it’s too easy for me to get this thing in NYC and truck it back to California with me. In LA, I have no clue where the nearest Cingular store is. In SJ, I do, but then I gotta take some time to drive over there and get one, which I do anyways because now I love it so much that I want to leave one in LA.
It’s definitely a time thing as well. Not being in one place for long means I need to do things for that place while in my other 2 places. But I still can’t help wishing that I could just get what I need in that place so I don’t have to cart it around thousands of miles….

Some kind of nerve thing in my right trapezoid is sending pain down my right arm.
How this could happen when I’m not sitting all day in the office typing away on a keyboard, I have no idea.
But it is limiting the amount of time I can publish to my blog. Stay tuned. I may try to type some stuff up soon….