TAMU stepped it up this past week by winning back-to-back games against Texas and Oklahoma. They have a couple road games coming up so I hope they can keep their momentum rolling. Keep it up guys. Boulder (or just me) is behind you.

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A little event called the Super Bowl happened this past weekend and it proved to be a great game. I wasn't particularly rooting for either team, but I did think it was unfortunate that the Patriots did not get to realize their pursuit of perfection. Those of us who saw the game took part in a piece of sports history which may or may not be special to you based on your feelings about sport. I personally find it to be very special when you get to view the actual moment/game itself and not simply hear about it or see the highlights.

Some others that stand out in my mind (that I WATCHED):

*1994 Colorado versus Michigan (at MI). Stewart threw a 10,000,000 yard pass on the final play of the game that was tipped and eventually caught by Michael Westbrook. That was the winning touchdown as time expired.

*1996 Game 1 of the NBA Finals; Houston versus Orlando (at ORL). Orlando was up by 3 with a handful of seconds on the clock and XX was fouled. He missed both free throws and Houston rebounded, went down to the other end, and missed a 3-point attempt. Orlando got the rebound and XX was fouled again. He missed both free throws AGAIN and Houston got the rebound and called a TO. With a couple seconds on the clock Kenny Smith hit a deep three sending the game into overtime. The Rockets won comfortably in overtime.

*2000 AFC Championship; Tennessee versus Buffalo (at Buffalo). The Titans returned a kickoff with time expiring to win the game and go the Super Bowl. This was the famous (or infamous depdning on how you view the replay) cross-field lateral pass kick off return play.

*2004 Summer Olympics in Athens 4 x 200 Men's swim relay. The U.S. held off Ausatralia with Thorpe in the Anchor Leg to win Gold. I've never been that fired up watching a swim race in my life.

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This weekend Boulder county started to look a little more like summer; at least in terms of the number of cyclists on the road. It certainly didn't feel that way considering it was overcast and in the 30's, but I guess everyone is starting to anticipate what it might feel like to be too unfit in April. It was one of those "tweener" weekends as my roommate pointed out; you could ride or you could ski. Those that went skiing were clearly smarter than me and slurred speech.

Even my own little crew seemed to be perking up as my legs were starting to feel a little loaded on the rollers running out highway 36 on the Saturday ride. Denny (aka D Meeker 1, aka Mayor Meeker; aka Bossman) claimed he was simply "testing the new guy," but I was probably tested more than anyone else.

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Last Thursday and Friday the Endurance Corner crew hosted a bike fitting clinic with Dan Empfield. Most of you all that read this blog likely know who he is, but even more of you know his website, http://www.slowtwitch.com/, and the company he launched in the 1980s, Qunitana Roo (which he later sold).

I really appreciated Empfield's approach to positioning athletes on a bike because it seems to follow logic and reason and that, in turn, creates a (consistent) science. It isn't a science that tries to impose an inappropriate angle created on a computer or elsewhere. It starts and finishes with the rider and his/her preferences.

Empfield normally hosts up to 15 athletes during these clinics and ours only had five in attendance. As a result it really allowed all of us to address more areas of interest than just bike fitting. We had several interesting tangents which really showed off Empfield's range of interests in our sport and beyond. I get the same enjoyment when I'm around Molina, Friel, etc: anyone who has been along for the triathlon ride since (or near) its inception. These are the folks that had to create their own norms because there were none. Their search for answers is always what I find to be the most interesting and entertaining component of our conversations.

Until next week,

-jd