Thursday, June 21, 2007

Did you know the average American eats 5 pounds of pesticides a year!!! Does anyone else want to sign up for the organic challenge?

1. Nectarines – 97.3% of nectarines sampled were found to contain pesticides.
2. Celery – 94.5% of celery sampled were found to contain pesticides.
3. Pears – 94.4% of pears sampled were found to contain pesticides.
4. Peaches – 93.7% of peaches sampled were found to contain pesticides.
5. Apples – 91% of apples sampled were found to contain pesticides.
6. Cherries – 91% of cherries sampled were found to contain pesticides.
7. Strawberries – 90% of strawberries sampled were found to contain pesticides.
8. Imported Grapes – 86% of imported grapes sampled were found to contain pesticides.
9. Spinach – 83.4% of spinach sampled were found to contain pesticides.
10. Potatoes – 79.3% of potatoes sampled were found to contain pesticides.
11. Bell Peppers – 68% of bell peppers sampled were found to contain pesticides.
12. Red Raspberries – 59% of red raspberries sampled were found to contain pesticides.

Source: usda.gov ; http://www.ewg.org/

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Finally I have something to blog about. Training has been ok as I did a mock triathlon on Saturday. The heat is definately coming on strong here in the south.

As for some inspiration. Check this guy out he is racing across America in 12 days on a FIXED gear bike! His speed is definately slowing down, but I think he will make it!

Spurgeon is no stranger to challenges. Last year he became the first person to ever complete the 538 mile Race Across Oregon on a fixed gear (that event has 40,000 feet of climbing).

Monday, June 18, 2007

Interesting Quotes
"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live." ~ Mark Twain, Taming the Bicycle
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"The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart." ~ Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green
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"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle." ~ Ernest Hemingway
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"Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world." ~ Grant Peterson
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"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of mankind" ~ H.G. Wells
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"Melancholy is incompatible with bicycling."~ James E. Starrs

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Sometimes a disappointment is a blessing. I say this as last night I didn't win the lottery into the NYC Marathon

I say this is a blessing because everyone that knows me knows I'm a complete tight wad and know that I can now save more money going into the Christmas season.

I haven't been training like I should and haven't even registered for the waterfront triathlon or the atomic man half ironman, but things should kick into gear once I start paying to use the pool, which is next month!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Friday, June 01, 2007

From the Chattanooga Times Free Press

Signal Mountain man to be in ultimate triathlon
Friday, June 01, 2007



By Jaime Lackey
Staff Writer

For the past 15 years, Sheridan Ames' dream has been to compete in one of the world's toughest athletic events.

He found out in April that it would finally become a reality, but the 46-year-old Signal Mountain resident still can't believe his name was one of 200 selected from a drawing to choose competitors for the Ironman World Championship triathlon.

"It was excitement beyond belief," Ames said. "It's the luck of the draw, so I've just been biding my time. I'm still beside myself. This is the Super Bowl of triathlons. No other race is more prestigious. Plus, the setting isn't bad either."

The event consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run will take place Oct. 13 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. More than 6,500 triathletes from around the world submitted their names for the random lottery that selects participants to join the more than 1,500 who qualify through their finishes in other Ironman events.

Ames was the only athlete chosen from Tennessee this year, but his longtime friend and training partner Bruce Novkov competed in 1999. Also selected through the lottery, Novkov said the Ironman is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"The average person that has a wife, kids, job, all of those things, is not going to be able to put the time in you would need to be able to qualify," Novkov said. "The everyday man is probably only going to get there via the lottery. They created this way in so there's always the hope that anybody can compete.

"It's absolutely unbelievable. You literally get to start and compete with the best in the world. The average person doesn't get to go catch a pass from Peyton Manning. There aren't a lot of sports where a regular person gets to go compete in the world championship. But it's still highly competitive."

Ames is spending about 20 hours a week training to make himself as competitive as possible. He began his regimen the day after getting the news, and his training will increase steadily as October approaches.

"It seems like a long way off, but realistically, the last couple of weeks before the race you can't do much of anything," Ames said. "The race takes anywhere from 10 to 18 hours. That's a long time to be out there, so it takes a long time for your body to get ready for that duration of an event."

To prepare for the intense physical demands of the Ironman, Ames said he runs, swims, bikes or does some combination of the three six days a week. In a typical week, he does at least two six- to eight-mile runs and 3,000-yard swims, plus two bike rides of up to two hours.

He does even more training on the weekends but said none of it would possible without the flexibility in his job as a project manager with the Hudson Construction Company.

"In the job that I do, it's not about the hours, it's about getting the job done," Ames said. "That's the luxury I have, and I have a very accommodating employer who has helped tremendously. Without that, it would be difficult."

A New Jersey native who moved to the Chattanooga area 16 years ago, Ames started out as a youth swimmer and high school runner, picked up cycling in college and has done triathlons regularly since 1986.

Since then, the Ironman championship race has been the pinnacle of his hopes, and Novkov said Ames will relish every moment of it.

"It could not have happened to a guy that wants it any more than Sheridan does," he said. "There's nobody more deserving who will embrace the whole event any more than he will."

E-mail Jaime Lackey at jlackey@timesfreepress.com