Category 5

My legs are yelling at me. Though they are telepathically sent, oxygen deprived groans, I hear them loud and clear. If this is a Category 5, what is a Category 1?

Don’t worry, I get this question a lot, “Wes, what the hell are you talking about?” It’s 6:50 a.m. and I am biking up Bake Parkway to meet with coworkers for the Metrolink bike car launch.

I’m biking up a 2 mile hill that barely qualifies as a 3% grade and I’m suffering. To provide some context, Category 5 hills were invented recently by casual cyclers who wanted to quantify their weekend triumphs. Professional races only record climbs that are category 1-4. Plus, there is a “hors category”, which means beyond categorization. A 1 percent grade means a road ascends 1 meter (3.28 feet) for every 100 meters (328 feet) it advances. Beyond category climbs ascend at least 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) from start to finish and have an average grade of at least 7% for at least 15 miles.  

Let me translate this information for you. I am a wimp. What is my point? I love experiencing a challenge that upon completion, instantly gives you a new respect for a greater task. Ever try to bake a cake, carve something out of wood or make your own bed? Neither have I, but I bet doing those things would give you a tremendous amount of respect for people who turn these tasks into art on a daily basis.

I have thoroughly enjoyed juxtaposing cycling to everyday life. You may come to a very steep hill, filled with suffering, pain and a strong desire to quit, but rest assured that when you get to the top, the other side will propel you to exponentially faster speeds and the confirmation that the journey was worth the effort.

First Long Ride!

I thought I was just simply receiving a salary and a nine-to-five grind, but since joining OCTA's Marketing department, I have gained something wonderful, a new hobby. Initially I had one goal in mind: don't embarrass yourself at bike events. I just wanted to be hip with the jive, cool to the touch and a bunch of other sayings I don't understand. You see, the cycling community, is an isolated one. They feel that they are disrespected by traffic engineers, motorists and people who don't wear Lycra. Isolated communities often build high fences and  quite frankly, I wanted to do some breaking and entering.

So I got a bike (1980's Univega Gran Rally) and took to the roads. I was a little hesitant at first, but OCTA's Urban Cycling Workshop (shameless plug) helped me feel safer on the roads and more at ease from a mechanical standpoint.

My next step was commuting to work. The 12 mile journey is made more difficult by a few school zones and stretches that lack bikeways. Nevertheless, it's a pretty easy ride, and with a shower on-site, its surprisingly not a logistical nightmare. On a similar note, this is something I would highly recommend. I have been a little lackadaisical on doing it lately, but exercising before and after work makes you feel pretty great all day.

Finally it was time to embark on a team ride. I accompanied (read: slowed down) my coworker Charlie and his team on a 40 mile trip through Santiago Canyon. We left Jax Bike Shop Irvine and headed through Lake Forest to Mission Viejo. From there, we headed up El Toro road to Santiago Canyon. At this point, I began to cramp a bit, lost my balance and took a slight tumble. I had failed rule #1, "Don't embarrass yourself". It was definitely a low point, but I was wearing a lycra suit, so I shouldn't have expected much. Fortunately, it was a minor set back and we were back on the road in 5 minutes.

The most interesting part of the journey was our stop at Cook's Corner. I will set the scene: A crowded patio where old men in leather jackets fawned over $10,000 motorcycles. A crowded patio where old men in lycra fawned over $10,000 bicycles. The juxtaposition of these two groups was hilarious and surreal.

We continued onward, albeit slowly, up the canyon. I really enjoy the varying speeds of cycling. We were suffering up a hill at barely 5 miles per hour. Then at the top, we screamed down at 37 mph! The last half of the journey was mostly downhill and we were back at Jax Bike shop in no time!

I was exhausted, my throat hurt and I sounded like a poorly aging Kermit the frog, but I had survived! It was a great overall experience and I am poised to attempt it again soon.

Bike Snapshot

Had to do this exercise for an upcoming bike workshop
Snapshop of getting your first bike-

"I received my first bike in 3rd grade. It was a black and orange Mongoose BMX bike. It was a single speed bike with pedal breaks. To me, it epitomized freedom and independence. No longer was I reliant on mom and dad for trips to the park, market or school. I had instantly expanded my grasp of the city. I could go the sports parks that once belonged to a strange and far away land. I felt as though I had this machine that provided me with limitless possibilities and also great responsibility. Recently, I received my uncle's old Univega Grand Rally as a gift. While it was in the shop being tuned-up I was overwhelmed with the same feeling of excitement. Receiving the old bike, as with riding it, gave me a calmness and levity that is rare in the fast-paced, twitter filled, energy drink fueled world of today."

San Dieguito Half Marathon

Last week, my lovely girlfriend Annapurna and I headed off to San Diego to run in the San Dieguito Half Marathon. Although I say run, it may be not the right word. Instead, you spend two hours talking to yourself, hoping your knees hold up, and quietly singing the words to whatever is on your iPod. Despite my description it is surprisingly enjoyable. The Rancho Santa Fe area is absolutely beautiful. The area is lined with homes, or more aptly, estates with corrals, tennis courts, iron fences, and stunningly paved driveways. 

The day before the race we ran a bunch of errands. We did however have an awesome lunch at Café 21!  Anna had a ham, apple, and swiss panini

with greens and strawberries I had a delicious spicy monte cristo sandwich with their homemade potato chips. It was a REVELATION (I believe that is what your are supposed to say about good food). But anyways, the place was seriously awesome and I highly recommend it.

Fast forward to race day, we arrived around 7:00 a.m. to San Dieguito Park. The place was already popping with activity and the first twinge of nerves began to build. We made our way down a ridiculous dirt hill that wound back and forth. I couldn’t help wonder who was going to drag me back up after the race. After an hour of pre-race warm-up, which mainly involved trying to huddle together in the sun, we were ready to race! As the gun sounded it was remarkable to see the impulse of nearly every runner to immediately manipulate an electronic device rather than start running. The first mile Anna and I ran together, but as we neared the first turn, we parted ways. During the Long Beach Marathon, we ran together longer, but one of my first few songs was Eye of The Tiger, so I couldn’t contain myself.

1 hour and 52 minutes later…

To make a long story short, we finished the race. Although I felt good throughout, as I was given my medal I started to feel a bit dehydrated. The feeling was similar to waking up on the floor in a frat house. I had a bad headache, my eyes felt sunken into the back of my head, and after I started eating a banana my neck began to cramp. In hindsight, I probably should have asked for an IV from the medical staff foreshadowing), but I figured a few bananas would do the trick.

We get home Annapurna’s house and the most exciting crime-detective-drama case was unfolding outside of her house. There were cop cars everywhere! A guy had stolen a car, driven it nearly off a canyon cliff, and ran down into the canyon to evade the police. Rather than solve the case myself, I felt like I should probably lie down.

After a nap, a little lunch and a ton of water, it was dinner time. It was no ordinary dinner mind you; it was Valentine’s Day eve! We went to Sea Rocket Bistro and although I didn’t eat too much, it was great. We ordered a variety of different tapas, clams, cheese, meatballs, meats.

We left the restaurant and I still wasn’t feeling great. We get back to her house and in two seconds BAM I throw-up everything! I will save you the graphic details, but at midnight on Sunday, I was just checking out of the hospital. Thankfully, I had Annapurna, her family, and my family to come hang out and make sure I was ok. Once I had an IV in me, I felt a lot better. There were no serious problems and I was told to hydrate better, what a concept. In the end, Anna and I are retiring for a while with the half-marathons and in search of a new hobby. Any suggestions?

“Whoever controls the media controls the mind”

Informed citizenry is an essential component of democracy. If the people are truly in the driver’s seat of the American political machine, naturally, you hope they have their license. In America, educating democratic citizens on political issues makes them more capable of electing representatives who will serve their interests. Given its importance, is it working?

American media is a for-profit industry, where large organizations compete for your readership, viewership, and support. More accurately, these large media corporations are more focused on selling advertising than unbiased news coverage.

This for-profit model is not without drawbacks.  Corporations have learned that the news is often boring. As a result, they have discovered that entertainment is the true source of profit. Your modern “political” news source is heavily focused on political scandal, outrageous sound bites, and extremely polarized viewpoints.

Authoritarian regimes on the other hand, have state run media, which means that all news is filtered through state bureaucracy. As a result, there is no watchdog searching for government corruption or wasteful spending. The citizens of this country are subject to the indoctrination of their government.  Often times, a political voice, one that disagrees with the ruling party, goes unheard.

Now the question must be asked, are we informed as citizens or is our media failing us? Although it’s quite obvious that America does not have the most informed citizenry, I don’t think we are destined for peril quite yet, but the consolidation of news media is not helping. If the media is controlled by fewer and fewer sources, fewer and fewer people are having an influence on our political minds.

How can we be saved by news? News is everywhere! You can read 10 regional newspapers, watch local, national, and international news on 10 channels, and scrounge the web for smaller news sources. But, where do you go for solid information? Facts and analysis on one channel may be are extremely different from another. One source paints a candidate as the villain, while the other hails him as a hero. 

The invention of the internet has changed the way news media is delivered, hopefully for the better. People have access to media voices that they may have never heard. This diversity of news media, which can reverse or halt a trend of consolidation, seems to be a great push for democracy. As long as fresh voices are being injected into a realm of media, all sides of the political argument can be waged, leaving it up to the voter to decide

Go Greek

All realms of politics begin with a question. Here is one that I would like to explore: how do babies learn to speak? Babies learn to speak by taking in information, recognizing the patterns within them, like their own name or the sound of the mother’s voice, and then adapting to those sounds. Eventually, they understand the complex patterns and intricacies of their native language and begin formulating their own speech. Most importantly, babies come into the world with the ability to learn any language in the world, only their environment dictates which one they take up.

At this point, I expect you to be thinking, what the hell are you talking about? Political socialization, or how we form our political views, works in the same way. Our political views are indoctrinated into our minds by the world around us. We take in this information from a number of sources, our family, our school, the media, and our religion. We naturally become deeply ingrained in our political beliefs. There is a reason you are advised against arguing politics with people, you are unlikely to find much success.

Why then, do people get so mad when talking politics? In my view, just as you don’t have much influence over the language you speak, your favorite foods, and your sexual preference, you don’t really have too much control of your political beliefs. Agree to disagree becomes the only possible solution. Instead, the rhetoric turns derogatory and no resolution is made.

Instead, go Greek! By that I mean be like Plato, who always tried to see understand things from the opposite point of view. So before you go crazy in your next political argument, remember to go Greek.

An Era of Your Choice

In honor of the current book I am reading, Howard Zinn's A People's History of The United States, I decided to write about the era I would have most liked to have lived through. The book essentially tells history from the perspective of the victimized, the losers, the extinct. It is a harsh, but true examination of how people have risen to power in our country. The book is a strong reminder that power flows from the barrel of a gun. Whether right or wrong, just or unjust, the powerful have always won over the masses by force.
Winston Churchill commented on the idea that war doesn't solve anything with the remark that, nothing in history has been solved by anything other than war. I believe this was never more true than during the era of the Wild West.  Not to say this was a time of great leisure or complete justice, but it would have been an interesting time to have lived. It seemed to be an era where good an evil were clearly defined. It was a lawless frontier and people had to decide for themselves whether morality and justice would guide their lives.
Today on the other hand, the line between good and evil, between public servant and criminal, is harder to differentiate. Politicians, lawyers, businessmen, and policeman can be a saint to some and the devil to others. In the Wild West, a cheating poker player would be shot on sight, leaving the profits to those who were wronged. Today, computer hackers in remote locations steal money from online bank accounts. In the Wild West, a corrupt businessman would be found and brought to justice. Today, banks are bailed out and businessmen sit high atop skyscrapers, shielded from justice and accountability. The Wild West was not perfect by a long shot, without twitter, facebook, or modern fashion. Nevertheless, it would have been a pretty interesting time to try to live, to survive, to make life in a brand new world!