kevinnowak.com

Road Id.

I've set this post to go live today as I'm on my way back to NJ from Boston after having ridden in the 105 mile Climb to the Clouds bike ride for the 2nd year in a row this past weekend. 

Recently when I ride I've started using a new product that I wanted to let you all know about.  It's one of those things I hope I never have to use, but one that I'll be glad I have should the situation arise.  I'm talking about a relatively new thing called the Road Id.  Here are a few photos of mine:

   

    

What this does is provide my name and important medical information should I be in a bad accident out on the bike.  Like I said, hopefully that never happens, but you never know out there.  This way the medics will know who I am and how to get in touch with Kelly and others.  For around about $20 it's a very good idea to pick one of these up. Cyclists, runners, or anyone who's into outdoor sports could benefit from wearing one of these. Medics can call the 800 number on the band or log onto the web using the serial # and pin on the back of the band and they'll instantly have all the information at thier fingertips. 

The Move.

Although many of you already know about this decision, this could potentially be the biggest post in the history of KN.com.  Life changing in fact, and it's about time we made it official here on the blog.

First things first though.  Several disclaimers that need to be clarified before I even get started.

#1.  No, I will not stop rooting for the Patriots and start supporting the Eagles.

#2.  No, I will not stop rooting for the Red Sox and start supporting the Phillies.

#3.  No, I will not stop rooting for the Celtics and start supporting the 76er's.

#4.  No, I will not stop rooting for the Bruins and start supporting the Flyers.

#5.  No, I will not stop rooting for the Revolution and start supporting the...oh, nevermind.

#6.  Yes, I will continue to ride the PMC every year!

Now that we've got that all cleared up...the big news is that we're moving.  Yep...boxes are being packed as we speak.  The location you ask...the greater Philadelphia/NJ metro regional area.  I'll let that all settle in for a bit.

Okay.  So, what do you think?  Some folks have said we're crazy and others think this is a great time for a big change like this.  We hope there won't be too much risk.  I mean we don't have a house to sell and a mortgage to worry about, we don't have any kids, and our biggest expense is a $500 car payment. We'll be bunking up down on the "farm" with Deb and Steve, so our biggest potential expense, housing, is taken care of.

This certainly isn't the best of economic times to be doing something like this, but the way we see it, is there ever a great time to quite your job, pack everything up, and move to a city 300 miles away?  Probably not.  So why not now?  Sure we're going to miss our family, friends, and jobs here in Beantown, but we're also very excited for the new opportunities and challenges ahead of us. 

Now for the wrinkle...before we settle down in NJ we're going to take a trip.  It's a trip that you don't take all too often in your lifetime.  We'll be gone for 6 weeks, backpacking through 4 countries in Europe.  Italy, France, Spain and Portugal are all on the itinerary.  How about that?  We'll be gone most of May and return mid-June, just in time for the Sox/Phillies series in Philly. 

I'll post some more info on the trip in the next few weeks but with packing, planning and studying for an exam I'm not going to have a ton of time to spend here on the interweb.  You'll understand, right?  I will of course try to provide some updates of our European adventures from the road, so you'll have that to look forward to.

Oh, and if you know an architect in Philly who's looking to hire, be sure to pass along my name!

ToC.

Be sure to catch some of the Tour of California, which begins in my birthplace, Sacramento, CA, today  on Versus.  The 8 stage race will begin in Sacramento and make it all the way down towards LA and even San Diego by next weekend.  With defending champ Levi Leipheimer and a little known guy name Lance Armstrong on the squad, Team Astana is set to have a good showing!  Don't be suprised if you see Lance try and win the prologue this afternoon.

Oh yeah...Happy Valentine's Day too!  It's going to be Lobster Fest tonight at the Nowak Household...can't wait.

Lance Comeback.

As I'm sure you know by now, one Mr. Lance Armstrong is due to make his comeback to cycling later this month at the Tour Down Under  in lovely Australia.  Currently he's in Hawaii to adjust somewhat to the time change and to log some miles in the saddle before getting back to his first stage race in over 3 years. 

                         

Photo taken on Wednesday in Hawaii [not by me, unfortunately]

He has a blog  that he and others update regularly and the other day he posted what a typical day for him in Hawaii is right now as he trains and prepares for the race:

5AM - wake up, drink lots of coffee.

6AM - eat breakfast.

7AM - start the ride.

Noon – finish ride.

12:30 - lunch.

3PM - massage.

4PM - 6 holes of golf.

6PM - dip my beak in a frosty beverage.

7PM - dinner.

9PM - Bedtime.

Sounds great to me, except that 5 hour ride is probably a full bore effort and would put me to bed immediately afterwards!  I do like his description for "happy hour" at 6pm.  "Dip my beak in a frosty beverage", I may start using that line myself.

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[We're off to NJ later tonight, but I do have a post set to go up tomorrow morning that has some more great photos in it.  Be sure to stop by!]

He's Back!

What was only a rumor on the internet yesterday [and of course covered here on kn.com] has been officially confirmed today. Our man Lance Armstrong has decided to come back to professional cycling for 5 classic races in the 2009 season.

He gave an exclusive interview to Vanity Fair magazine which you can read here and you can also check out a quick little video he posted on Livestrong.org.  [read that article...it's great]

There will be more specifics about the comeback released later in the month, but for now he has only said that he's back to training, submitting to any and all drug tests and gearing up for the 2009 season. 

How awesome is this going to be next summer.  I can hardly wait.  How many professional riders over there in Europe just went "Awwww shit" when they heard about this? 

“I don’t like to lose in anything. Anything.”

Yeah...I think he's going to do just fine!

Breaking News: Armstrong to Race the 2009 Tour de France?

Holy Cow!  A friend sent me this information this afternoon and it totally caught me off guard.  At this point I never thought h'ed try to mount a comeback but I am giddy like a schoolgirl at the thought of him powering up the French Alps again next summer.  While it's still only a rumor, it's a really good rumor at that and there are plenty of notable names who are leading on that its true. 

http://www.velonews.com/article/82892/sources-lance-armstrong-coming-back

With all the bad news swirling around about Tom Brady [more on that tomorrow] this is certainly some awesome news and brought a huge smile to my face as I read about it. 

PMC 2008; The Recap + The Photos.

It's hard to believe I've completed the Pan Mass Challenge three times now. And believe me...it's still always a challenge to ride 192 miles in two days no matter how many miles you train Thankfully this year the weather cooperated with us and the temps stayed relatively cool on both days making the effort much more bearable than day 1 of 2007.

So, where to begin with this "recap"? I think one of our riders, Brian, may have said it best when he sent a quick note out to our team earlier today saying: "Without a doubt, PMC is a very special weekend marked with a great sense of achievement but moreover an experience that triggers a wide range of emotions within each of us. I believe those feelings are heightened by the camaraderie experienced being part of Team Xaverian" I know I couldn't have said it any better myself!

3 years in a row this weekend, the first weekend of August every year, has become a part of who I am and it'll take a heck of a lot for me to miss a ride. That I can assure you of! Sure getting up at 4am on both Saturday and Sunday is something I'd rather not do, it's all part of the PMC experience and something I gladly do for the PMC. You all have done the fundraising so it's my time to do the pedaling.

There's much coverage on NECN�and in the papers about the various riders and their stories, and of course all the volunteers who are so vital to the very existence of the PMC, but the one group you don't hear enough about is the plethora of spectators who line the route all the way from Sturbridge to P-Town. Each and every mile of the way they're out there cheering loudly. Heck, there are even people waiting for us atop the Bourne Bridge�at 5 in the morning, cup of coffee in hand, letting us know how much the appreciate the effort. How awesome is that...people cheering us on at 5am. It definitely gives you the chills as you crest the top of the bridge. Well guess what, it's a two way street folks and we certainly appreciate those people who route for us along the way. Of course that brings me to our traveling display of crazy spectators. Led by 3 year PMC spectator veteran, my lovely wife, Kelly helps to organize an amazing crew of supporters who don't just wait for us at one spot along the way, but pick up and move mile after mile just so they can catch a glimpse of us a few times during each day.

The entire PMC weekend is filled with emotions starting with LIVE opening show on Friday night all the way through the finish line in Provincetown. It's really a roller coaster of a ride, except we're the ones providing the power! There are so many great feelings you experience during the ride and as soon as it's over you want to start all over again. I know that the 2009 edition will be here before we know it.

Back to 2008 though, our Team as a whole still has a long way to go before the October 9th fundraising deadline so please help out if you can...and know that any donation, no matter how small, or how huge, is very welcome and appreciated.Follow this link if you'd like to contribute.

I know you're all anxious to view the photos from this weekend, so please feel free to follow this link or click on the 2008 PMC icon over on the right side of the page. Kelly, Kathy and so many others did a fantastic job in capturing the spirit of the ride with their cameras. I'll add more photos as I get them from some of the others and be sure to check out the thousands of professional shots on the PMC website.

Please leave a comment here and let us all know your thoughts and feelings on the weekend and I love hearing from the spectators and especially those rookie riders!

Col de Wachusett.

While Wachusett Mountain is technically only a mountain by about 6', it's still a mountain and it's still a bitch to climb up on a bicycle.  Especially when its unbearably hot outside!  Myself, Jo Jo and Brian Murph all took part in the Climb to the Clouds training ride Sunday, all 105 miles of it!  This was perhaps one of the hardest physical activities I've ever done and it took everything I had in the tank to finish.  It was one of those rides that absolutely sucks when you're out there, but once you finish and get off the bike you're really glad you did it and I'm sure it'll pay huge dividends come PMC weekend in 2 weeks time.  About 2 of the 105 miles were flat...that's it.  The rest was all climbing and descending.  It seemed like around every corner and every bend there was another climb.  They were all nasty and all steep.  At a few points I actually thought smoke was going to start shooting out of my quads as they were burning so bad. Some of the steepest parts on the mountain were at about 9% grade...a horrible slope to ride up!

The route took us through towns I've only heard of a handful of times before; Sterling, Westminster, Bolton, Stow, and Princeton.  Beautiful country out there in western, MA.  The route was extremely rural so we didn't have many cars around us at all. 

Overall the ride took Jo Jo and I just over 7hrs to complete, which is a ton of time to be in the saddle...but what can you do [Brian "the Hammer" finished in just under 6hrs].  Just for some comparison, the riders in the Tour de France tackled 110 miles today, and went up two legit mountains, in around about 5hrs time.  That's why they're the professionals I guess!

Towards the end of the ride the sun finally broke through and it got even hotter than before.  Thankfully with about 10 miles left a huge cloud settled over top of us and unloaded its cargo...we got soaked.  It felt great and actually provided some much needed energy for me.  It also cooled us down a good bit too which was nice. Too bad it couldn't have happened like back at the 50 mile mark or something!

A few photos from the summit:

       

     

A funny story from the ride: On one of the first really hard hills I was in my grove and setting a tempo to get me over.  Some dude rolled up alongside me and asked what I had for mileage on my computer so far.  A bit annoyed I looked down and told him...trying to get back to the matter at hand.  I did notice his bike though...a sweet hand-made Serotta.  Then I recalled that the voice sounded a bit familiar....so I looked at his face.  It was none other than our junior senator here in the Commonwealth...John Kerry.  I then said hello and we chatted for a bit before he, his long legs and his expensive bike all moved ahead.  It was good to see him out there logging the miles and gearing up for the PMC too.  

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Semi-related:  If you only watch one stage of the Tour de France this year make sure it's this Wednesday...as the riders will go over two famous climbs...the Galibier and L'Alpe d'Huez.  This stage will probably decide the winner.

Totally un-related:  A big shout out to Bob-Dog-San who is in Hong Kong this week.  I'm sure he'll be checking in at some point. 

Why Cheat?

You may have heard by nowthat a 3rd rider in this years Tour de France has been thrown out for using enhancement drugs.  Riccardo Ricco is the biggest name by far and had already won 2 stages.  There was a great deal of talk about him being a major contender for the overall race victory in a few years.  Yet he decided to throw it all away and take a gamble that eventually he knew he'd lose.  Not only has he been tossed out of the race, but so has his team.  The sponsors are so embarrassed that they've already proclaimed that they too are done with cycling. 

I don't know what else its going to take to make these guys realize that cheating isn't' worth it.  The sport in general is going after this problem with an iron fist [exactly the opposite of what we see in pro baseball or football] and while you may pass a few test eventually it'll catch up to you.  You will get caught and you will ruin your career.  Simple as that.  I understand that winning is important, it's everything, but is it worth that much?  I really do feel bad for all those guys out there who race cleanly and get cast in a poor light because of this nonsense. 

That's all I got on this...just very disgusted. Say your piece down in the comments if you want.

Monday Items.

1.  When we got the new ride earlier last month it came with a 3 month free trial of XM Radio.  At first I really didn't know how I was going to like it, but after the trying it for a while I do think it has some merits.  Especially on those trips to places where we don't know the radio stations and want a break from the iPod.  I will say that it's great for listing to the Red Sox or Celtics [playoff run] while we were on some of our trips down to NJ.  In fact, just yesterday I listened to the entire Sox/Astros game on our way home.  No way I could have done that with regular radio.  So...the free gig is up at the end of August...we'll see if we keep it, but as of right now I think we're leaning towards it. 

The one thing that does annoy me about the XM is that every time you go underneath of an overpass the signal gets fuzzy and you hear static for a half second.  This really sucks when trying to pay close attention to a ballgame!  Anyone else experience this with their XM or could this be an issue with my antenna?

2.  A couple weeks ago I was told about a new site/blog affiliated with Boston.com called The Big Picture.   You've got to check it out.  It's a collection of some amazing photo journalistic shots that a group has started posted and linking too.  It's a great way to see what's happening in the world and will often time put a face with many of the stories you hear about on the news.  Hopefully I'll be able to take photos similar to what you see up there!

3.  As I mentioned a while back...I signed up and ran in the 3.5 mile JP Morgan Corporate Challenge.  Me and 12,000 of my closest friends.  No joke!  I finished with a time of 30:53 which is respectable.  And you can probably shave a minute off of that time if you knock out the parts where I had to walk around some of the turns or under the Mass Ave underpass because there were just too many people to run!  I ran with a crew from the office down the street, most of whom I have worked with in the past.[hence why the t-shirt I'm wearing doesn't jive with the office name at which I am currently employed.  I know all you detectives out there would be curious as to that issue]  Here are a few shots from the night.  Of course the best part of the evening is after the race when all 12,000 people cram into every bar in the city and get the party started!

       

        

4.  Not sure if any of you have heard the new Coldplay album Viva la Vida as of yet, because if you haven't you definitely should.  Whether you like it or not doesn't really matter I guess, but if you want to read an amazing review of it, including a song by song breakdown on par with Chris Berman breaking down the Sunday afternoon games on ESPN, check out the post that MWP did last week by clicking here.  He really did a great job. 

5.  A good friend of Kel's family, TJ,  just got hitched a few months back and bought a house in the greater Ft. Lauderdale area.  The place is a bit of a fixer-upper, okay...it needs a lot of work, and TJ decided to start a blog to share the process with everyone.  I've linked to it in my sidebar and you can also get to it by clicking here.  Check out it...he's called it It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere.  Lot's of good stories up there already and a slew of photos you can check out. 

6.  This past Friday we made a rare early morning departure for NJ in order to arrive before Tommy and Heather's engagement party extraordinare. They rented out a hall, blew up more balloons than you can shake a stick at, and everyone had a great time.  There must have been 100+ people there as the two families came together.  I'll create an album for the photos later tonight once I sift through and edit.  Lot's of good "keepers" on the memory card, that's for sure!   Too bad I don't have any of Papple when he tossed his cookies, not once, but twice in the same night.  Made for a difficult time out on the bike the following day, ha buddy?  Check back for the link to the photos later  [Most likely on Tueday].  UPDATE:  Photos are up and ready for your viewing pleasure.  Follow this link or click on the Tommy and Heather folder to the right.  And be sure you don't miss the second page!

7.  On this coming Saturday the 95th riding of the Tour de France kicks off.  Yet again there is no clear favorite in the field and it really will be any mans race at this point.  There are a lot of issues going on in cycling now, many of which you could probably care less about, [ Contador not being allowed to race, race organizers squabbling, Landis being officially stripped of the 2006 titltle] but one thing is clear; never before has the Tour needed a squeaky clean race more than this year.  I hope that the riders step up to the challenge and police one another to make sure that no one is getting an unfair advantage.    For these 3 weeks in July the eyes of the cycling world, and even people who aren't huge cycling fans, focus on the Tour.  Hopefully they'll get to see its pagentry, teamwork and skill instead of its blood-dopping and pill popping side.  I know that watching the race every night on the Tivo really gets me fired up to be out on the bike the next day so be sure to tune into OLN [now called Versus] and watch a stage or two! 
 

8.  Our good friend Louie at Tuck-a-Buck has informed me that he'll be trying to ressurect his defunct blog over the next few weeks.  I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I won't hold my breath!  Follow that link and you can see for yourself. 

9.  Lastly, at Tommy's party on Friday night I spoke to a whole slew of people who told me they were regular readers here at KN.com, just that they never leave comments.  Either they don't understand how or are just too nervous.  So...comment away people.  You know who you are.  The comments make this place a heck of a lot more lively!