Category: sports

>speed record fantasies

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>We all have our fantasies. Mine include such things as climbing Everest, racing the Baja 1000, and going for a speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats. None of these things will I ever achieve, but I still love the dream.

In that light here are three clips of speed record attempts at Bonneville Salt Flats:

450 MPH run
http://videos.streetfire.net/flash/SPlayer.swf

197 MPH on a motorcycle

…and for all of you who ride around on those 50cc scooters that only have a top speed of maybe 30 MPH, how about taking that little engine up to 140+ MPH?

>Americans summit Everest

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>On this day in 1963 Mount Everest was submitted for the first time by an American.

I find this interesting in part because of how times have changed since then. That year there was only one expedition on the mountain. Today there may be many, with a thousand climbers on its slopes. No longer do climbers plant their country’s flag on the summit, and many since have reached the summit without the use of bottle oxygen. Expeditions are typically much smaller than they used to be, and many climbers are actually clients who have paid their way onto a climbing team. Also, the typical location for base camp is now considered the world’s highest garbage dump, from past expeditions leaving their used equipment, and is often packed with people. In 1963 there would have been few places on earth as wild and pristine.

I first became aware of the 1963 American expedition by reading a copy of Everest Diary John D. McCallum, based on the diary of Lute Jerstad. I mentioned this in an earlier post. For me those early Everest expeditions have a wonderful romantic quality. Although I have climbed several minuscule mountains by comparison I used to think maybe someday I would climb in the Himalayas. Alas, now I hope maybe I will someday get a chance to just see them for myself.

Here is the first three minutes of the documentary made of the expedition:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-3937648226832477292&hl=en&fs=true

>free solo

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>Fear of heights is a good thing. It’s kinda like fear of great white sharks. If you are in the ocean swimming near great white sharks it does not mean you are going to be eaten. But your chances of being eaten are probably greater than if you are swimming with some otters.

Climbing shear cliff faces without using any ropes or other safety equipment is a little like saying, “Hey look, there’s a whole bunch of great white sharks in the water. I’m going swimming!” If you don’t get eaten still no one will praise you for making a good decision to go swimming. If you do get eaten, well… I guess you won’t care what they say.

Still there is something thrilling about watching someone free solo El Capitan, a 3,000 foot cliff of polished granite. 3,000 feet is really high up. If you want to see what it looks like to look down from about 2,000 feet on El Capitan, click here. If you want to watch Dean Potter free solo El Cap, watch this video:

Now if you think free soloing is just something one or two people do, then watch this video about a Siberian community where everyone does it.

Some people go on nature walks, some bird watch, others paddle around in small boats, and others take the family to the cliffs and say, “Okay kids, up you go!”

>Those were the days: LeMond, Hinault, Fignon, and my introduction to the great race.

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>So the Tour de France is on! Yes!

I love the Tour, it’s one of the greatest sporting events anywhere. It is a crazy festival of sport and speculation. The Tour has been racked by doping the last few years, which is unfortunate. I suppose doping has been a part of processional cycling for decades, but nothing like it’s been that last ten years.

I became a fan of the Tour, however, in the 1980s when Greg LeMond was the great American hopeful and doping was a minor issue. LeMond, the first American to even win a tour de France, eventually won three Tours.

The 1986 Tour de France was LeMond’s first win. Here LeMond races with his teammate Bernard Hinault (five-time winner of the Tour and one of my cycling heroes) up the infamous Alpe d’Huez:

Hinault had set an almost suicidal pace and only Lemond could stay with him. They crossed the line together hand-in-hand. LeMond let Hinault cross the line slightly ahead of him, so Hinault was credited with the stage win. But there was a lot of tension between LeMond and Hinault, which played itself out in the French newspapers. Hinault had apparently said he would help LeMond win that year, but then he raced like he was going to win himself. LeMond whined. I always appreciated how great a cyclist LeMond was, but I thought he carried too much of a victim complex around with him. Regardless, I was hooked. Cycling was the bomb.

Then LeMond was in a hunting accident. He was shot by a shotgun fired by his brother-in-law. He almost didn’t make it and his recovery took a long time. He still has pellets in his body. He came back and won Tour again in 1989, and again in 1990. To me that’s nearly as remarkable as Armstrong’s victories after fighting cancer.

That 1989 Tour had the closest finish in Tour history. Laurent Fignon, the great French cyclist, was ahead of Lemond by only 50 seconds going into the last day of the Tour. That day the race organizers decided it would be an individual time trial rather than the typical group finish. Here is that finish:

LeMond won the Tour by only 8 seconds! That’s after 22 days of racing. Never again has the Tour finished with a time trial.

Go to Track Meet, shake Obama’s hand

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Friday night we got three free tickets to go to a track meet. We love track meets. If you live anywhere else in the U.S. then you might not know how a local, low-key track meet can still be an exciting event that even produces world-class results and brings out over 5,000 fans. It helps that the location is the famous Hayward Field – site of the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials.


That’s Carrie Vickers leading the Women’s 3,000 meters steeplechase, which she won in a meet record of 9:51.08. It takes a time of 10:00.00 to qualify for the “A” field for the Olympic trials.


The East grandstands – where I’ve sat through many track meets, including three previous Olympic Trials (1972, 1976, 1980 – yes that dates me), and watched the marvelous Steve Prefontaine, amongst other greats.


That my friend Jayson with the steadycam asking me to call him to see if I’m available to help him. I wasn’t. Family and friends took precedence, but Jayson did a great job on his own anyway.


Lily juggled the binoculars and the stopwatch before we met up with friends. Then she mostly ran around and played.


Wilder didn’t really know what was going on, but she liked clapping for the runners and eating all her snacks.

So then . . .

About mid-way through the track meet several big buses and a string of police motorcycles passed by on the street behind us. We immediately knew it was Barack Obama (he was to speak at the UofO later that day). After a few minutes Obama came out onto the opposite end of the track from us. As any political candidate would do, he shook hands, congratulated some athletes, held babies, and waved to the crowd. Then he began to leave, which took a while.

My wife asked if I would go back to the car and get the stroller. Wilder was getting tired. I carried Wilder in the kiddie backpack and Lily asked to come along. When we turned the corner of the grandstands there were the buses. Lily said maybe we could see Obama. So we hurriedly walked down and stood in the crowd next to the bus. Here’s the picture: People crowding around, police and secret service everywhere, I’m holding Lily in one arm as high as I can get her, my camera is in my other hand, Wilder is in the backpack. We stood there for 15-20 minutes, with my arm going numb and Wilder beginning to fuss. But then Obama came by.

He shook my hand, he shook Lily’s hand, and then he looked at Wilder and then said something like “Who is that beautiful baby?” or “That’s the cutest baby!” We can’t remember exactly what he said because we were in a bit of a daze.


Obama looking relaxed.


Action shot. That’s what I call an off balance, out of focus, blurry shot.


My final shot turned out okay. Card full.

Overall a fun experience and a great memory

I am rather cynical about politics, but I will say this: There is something different about Obama than Clinton or McCain. He seems to be more easy going, less divisive, more hopeful, and somewhat visionary, at least in his tone. He seems to speak beyond, or above, the normal talking points of the left/right political split. I don’t know if he really has the ability to affect positive change, I don’t know if he can actually get anything done, and I don’t have many delusions about what politics and politicking really means. But I will say on the surface he exudes a kind of character decidedly different than his opponents. Quite possibly that is the kind of character this country needs in its leader right now.

One other thing: Seeing a person up close and shaking their hand creates an interesting perspective. I only had a few seconds to see Obama up close, but I was close enough to look into his eyes and get a very brief sense of the man. He exudes confidence without arogance, and strength without desperation. Sure, every politician wants power, but some seem to be desperate about it and others seem to seem to know it will come when it’s time. I can’t see into his heart, but Obama appears to have a good one. I hope he is not merely a great actor. That would be a tragedy for us and for him. And I have to say, what we don’t need is another actor in the White House.

We missed his speech, but here’s an amateur clip of some of the event:

and another:

In the presidential campaign it appears Obama is the rock star. But I have to say the best part of the day was being with my family and friends on a beautiful day at the track meet.

>wife/mama runs, family cheers

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>I am so proud of my wife. Yesterday she ran her first ever half marathon – that’s 13.1 miles! (Yes, 13.1 miles all at one time, in a row.) Amongst all the other amazing things she accomplishes she found just enough time to train and get ready for this race.

We, that means me, Lily, Wilder, our two bikes and one bike trailer, waited at the 9+ mile mark to cheer her on. (Lily had already run her 1 mile kids race.)


At mile 9+ looking great.

We then waited at a hundred yards from the finish. When we saw her coming down the stretch Lily ran out to join her and run with her to the finish.


Lily runs to her mama.

Overall the day was a good one – long but good. I hope my wife keeps going (she wants to do some triathlons next). I am thinking of running the thing next year. We’ll see.

>gone skiing

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>On Tuesday I took my daughter downhill skiing for her first time. I grew up skiing and spent many years as an avid skier. But I have not been for years and my daughter had never been, so I figured it was about time to go.

She did great! If we can afford it I see her doing a lot of skiing in the future


Lily the skier

The skiing was excellent. It snowed the night before, stayed cold during the day, and we had some sun at times. Plus, Tuesdays are great days to go because prices are cheaper and there are no lift lines.

I think it has been around 20 years since I skied last. I was surprised by how I was able to pick it back up without any problems. But, boy am I out of shape! My legs were burning when tried to ski some of the harder runs.

As we left the ski area we had a beautiful view of this Cascade peak glowing in the sunset.


Three Fingered Jack, late afternoon

>urban athletic trangressions: buildering & parkour in cinema & life

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>I’ve done this before and I’m doing it again. I’m blogging for my own collected thoughts and to wrap my brain around old and new.

I recently watched the Pierre Morel/Luc Besson film Banlieue 13 (2004), and it got me thinking about related and somewhat-related things – mainly things having to do with urban athletics.

First: the somewhat-related . . .

When I was a young man I became fascinated with the idea of buildering, the climbing of buildings as though they were rock cliffs. This interest was spawned by an early 1980s Outside Magazine article profiles Dan Goodwin (Spider Dan) who had illegally climbed the North tower of the World Trade Center using those suction-cup devices that glaziers use when moving large panes of glass. He did so while wearing a Spiderman suit and was arrested as soon as he reached the top. He had also climbed the Sears Tower a couple of year before.


Dan Goodwin passing the 83rd floor of the Sears Tower in 1981

Many others have followed. Here’s Alain Robert:

Buildering was first documented in the 1800s by the amazing Geoffrey Winthrop Young during his days at Cambridge in his humorous The Roof Climbers Guide to Trinity.

Others joined in, including Harry Gardiner.


Harry Gardiner climbs the Hamilton Bank Building on November 11, 1918 to celebrate Peace Day. He wears ordinary street clothes. He is the one who looks like a white lizard just passing the sixth floor.

And of course, one of the most famous images from the history of cinema is of Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock high up on a building that he has been climbing from the film Safety Last (1923).



You can see the entire Safety Last building climbing sequence here and here.

Second: the related . . .

We’ve all seen opening chase sequence from Casino Royale (2006). I remember being rather stunned by how great a chase sequence it was.

What I did not know is that that chase was derived from an old, but new, form of urban activity known as parcours, or parkour, or free running. This style, or philosophy, of urban travel was featured in Banlieue 13, two years before Casino Royale. Here’s a clip from B13:

Recently I was watching some kind of extreme sports show on television. On that show they profile a group of young New Yorkers who were working toward establishing competitive free running in the city. I looked it up online and that brought me to B13.

Needless to say, parkour is not limited only to narrative cinema. Here’s some rather great free runners showing off:

I am, as you are, amazed and the physical capabilities of these athletes. I think of parkour as, in part, a response to the hegemonic force of urban design and dominant structures of power.

…and then sometimes parkour is just a learning experience: