TweetStats is a simple but very useful web app for tracking your Twitter stats. Nice graphs and charts.

Video I saw on JNS. I have them in my blogroll. Classics goin at it. Check the Yellow S30 & the black G-Nose

Kataoka Racing Service set it up.

A Frosty Trail

I am back on track. Today I went for a 4.08 mile run. It was just below freezing, not cold really but cold enough to make me worry about sucking in cold air when I am trying to get over a cold. As usual the run started off a little chilly, and ended up warmer. As I was warming up I remembered a story my grandpa Chub used to tell me.

Grandpa Chub was a real old cowboy. He had the hat, and the horse,  and he always had a lit cigarette hanging off his lip. Our cattle spent their summers in the mountain pastures, and we would ride our horses in to the cattle to check up on them. These rides could last 16 hours, and we covered a lot of ground. When it got colder, I would sit up there on my horse and freeze. I would have rather froze to death than missed a trip to the mountains, so I never complained. Grandpa would finally noticed I was cold, and  give me some advice.

He said ” When I was a kid, Old Mr Matthews used to tell me that I could sit up there on my horse like a man and freeze, or I could get off my horse and run behind like a dog to keep warm.”

So I would get off my horse and hand him the reins, and trot along behind the horses with my slippery riding boots on the frosty trails. Soon enough I would be warm enough to get back on the horse. I think I was 18 before I had the courage to complain about the cold, but I never missed a trip because of it!

There are some new photos of the Gates Carbon Drive Argon Road and BMXTB being tested by the Gates Nicolai Team riders.

Click here for more photos via the Gates Nicolai Team blog!

Want to know if the webmaster of a site is managing a few others? Then you can spy what he’s doing by tracking his Adsense ID.

Example with the site EcoGeek.org:

- With ServerSiders.com: Domains using the same Adsense account as ecogeek.org
http://serversiders.com/ecogeek.org

- With DomainCrawler.com: in the story of ecogeek: “The Analytics/Ad-codes pub-0578044100560991 and UA-385778 is also present on the domain, which it shares with 10 websites.”
http://www.domaincrawler.com/domains/view/ecogeek.org

- Ownerspy http://www.ownerspy.com/

- AdsSpy.com http://adsspy.com/search.php?q=ecogeek.org

- Google http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=pub-0578044100560991&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Note 1: Domains hosted on the same IP-address can also give clues, but you have to filter the results if it’s a shared hosting. Can do a reverse ip search with Bing:

- MSN Bing Reverse IP Search

Note 2: Quantcast, Alexa Google analytics and ad networks id other than adsense’s can also provide with clues, don’t ignore those tidbits of information!

Do you have other tricks to stalk and track a webmaster?

We have just gotten word that the 183rd St. track frames will be available to us for custom orders.  We are thinking of bringing some in for regular stock as well so if anyone has any interest in a new track frame and fork set in the $600 range that is a little different let us know.  I believe they are using some fairly nice Columbus tubing.

Let me know what you think!

Track Workout

Warm-up
Run 800 meters – easy pace
Sprint Work Drills – High Knees, Butt Kicks, Karaoke, A-Skips, B-Skips, Broad Jumps
Dynamic and Static Stretches
1 100 meter strider
2 10 meter starts

WOD:
10 100 meter sprints
90 seconds rest

Notes: this sucked!! hamstrings and legs were shot about halfway through, need to drink more water during workout. Felt slight pull at number 5 or 6. Nutrition is gonna play a huge role in how hard these types of workouts are- that and actually doing them with some frequency. Possible AM / PM split of rowing / running sprint intervals in morning, strength WOD or Oly work at night ala Mikko??

Post WOD meal: 1 1/2 scoops of whey in water, 1/4 tsp of salt. 6 oz orange juice, 2 clementines (1 block C each for reference)

Total time – 1:05 min

Well as I have said before Lady Gaga scares me a little bit.  But, I takes courage to go out and wear what you want to wear.  This is about the music not the physical appearance.  ”The Fame Monster” is not really a new album it is more of an extension of last years release “The Fame.”  The latest installment is like Gaga’s previous work which is very pop and dance club related music.  It is  definitely more upbeat music for seven of the eight tracks.  But I do tend to have a soft spot for artists that include a string section in songs.  The song out of the seven that does include this is “Speechless.”  For some of you who watched the AMA’s, this song was the ending song in her performance.

So it really depends on who you are.  If you really like the dance club music you should buy all eight tracks.  But if you don’t really like the dance music then just get the “Speechless” track.   If you get the deluxe edition of this album “The Fame” album is the rest of the tracks on “The Fame Monster.”

Convicted felon and former world record holding track star Tim Montgomery on Friday talked about why he started using steroids, as well as his life with former Olympic champion Marion Jones.

Tim Montgomery says he started taking performance-enhancing drugs because he wanted to beat American sprint rival Maurice Greene and become the fastest man in the world.

He states that Maurice Greene really …”got in to my head”…and he became obsessed with defeating him for the title.

Montgomery, the former world 100m record holder, has served 18 months of his sentence for dealing heroin and handling counterfeit cheques, crimes he was convicted of after being banned from athletics for doping in 2005.

“I destroyed myself,” Montgomery acknowledges in an interview with The Times, conducted in the Alabama prison where he spends his days earning 12 cents an hour sweeping leaves. “I’ve been trying to be a man all my life and now I’m in here treated like a kid.”

Montgomery admits he never had any second thoughts about crossing the line that separates clean athletes from drugs cheats like himself and his former partner, Marion Jones.

Montgomery admits he never had any second thoughts about crossing the line that separates clean athletes from drugs cheats like himself and his former partner, Marion Jones.

“I’m not going to sugar-coat it, there wasn’t even a second thought that I was cheating,” he said. “It was all about getting one over the system and if I could, I would.

“That was what I learnt on the streets. But I tell you, if I’m cold, Marion’s even colder. Marion didn’t care about anything.”

On January 11, 2008, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas sentenced Marion  Jones to six months in prison and 200 hours of community service for perjury relating to her using of steroids and for a check-fraud scam.

She has since that time been unapologetic to her relay team members who had to return their medals because of Jones’ cheating, and she has continued to lie on many national TV programs most notably the Oprah Winfrey show.She always comes off as very self-centered, and she appears to be willing to say anything given the chance to weasel out of taking full responsiblity for taking illegal substances to cheat her way into a championship title, that she did not ever deserve.

She was also sentenced to two years probation following her prison term. Jones reported to the Federal Medical Center-Carswell prison facility in Fort Worth, Texas on March 7, 2008 and was assigned prisoner no. 84868/054. She was released from prison on September 5, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Jones

Tim Montgomery insists he never thought of the consequences of his actions.

“Maurice got in my head real bad,” Montgomery, who used to keep steroids in the fridge, told the AP. “I wanted everything that he had.

“I would give anything to be the world’s fastest, Montgomery declared.

He did do something, and that was to leave his long time coach Steve Riddick and joined doping-tainted coach Trevor Graham. “I wouldn’t let anything get in my way.”

Montgomery criticizes Greene for “clowning the other athletes.” And it was after the 1999 world championships in Seville, Spain, that Montgomery decided do something.

Montgomery never tested positive for drugs, but he was linked to the BALCO doping investigation and has admitted that he doped before the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He retired after the ban was imposed in 2005.

Montgomery said he and Jones became an item in 2002 after spending several hours talking on a flight to Rome.

“Two hours later we were alone in a hotel room together. Two weeks after that we were crowned the world’s fastest couple. And six months after that she was pregnant,” said Montgomery, who added that Jones could make herself cry for the cameras.

“Her best work was when she passed a lie detector test.”

American athlete Marion Jones tested negative more than 150 times before her courtroom confession that she had taken a cocktail of drugs before the Sydney Olympics.

“It is still easy to circumvent the anti-doping policies and procedures in place today not only in professional sport but Olympic sport,” a doping agency official says.

The issue of drug-test evasion has been partly addressed by the introduction this year of tough new rules requiring athletes to provide constantly updated information about their whereabouts, despite protests from some that they infringe civil liberties.

The Balco scandal that Montgomery and Jones participated in, has also opened up a new front against the cheats by showing the value of investigative techniques to complement old-fashioned testing, with evidence gathered by federal officers being used to prove drug violations by athletes such as Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.

The World Anti-Doping Agency,WADA, is celebrating its 10th year in existence , and are the agency credited with outing cheaters like Tim and Marion.

The American law enforcement agencies have agreed to work in partnership with the WADA and are primed to pass on any relevant information.

Such co-operation between sport and government would have been unthinkable before 1999 and is perhaps the greatest achievement of WADA’s first decade.

Doping is no longer just a sport problem. Now everyone is in it together.

On May 1, 2008, an indictment was unsealed that accused the 33-year-old sprinter of dealing more than 100 grams of heroin in the Virginia Beach area over the past year, according to The Virginian Pilot, the daily newspaper in Virginia Beach, Va. Montgomery told the newspaper he knew nothing of the accusations and that his arrest was a “total surprise.”

In October of that year, Montgomery was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail.

Source…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Montgomery

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifH4_O8wmBW00fomXuFqoznPNjvgD9C7S1980

As promised I have compiled some more preview photos of Felt Bicycles 2010 lineup that we will be selling exclusively here at the shop.  Pictured here is the Felt Canvas Frameset which comes as seen allowing you to fully customize and paint the bike from the frame up.

More bikes after the jump.

Can’t wait!

On the day of  November 25 2009 i’ve finished the first song in colaboration with Dj Allias.

Soon i’ll add a video and a player with the track and future ones, but till then you can listen it by clicking here:

http://www.myspace.com/kallimndorsmoon

http://www.the-djs.com/profile/DeejayNdark

http://www.myspace.com/djallias

Thanks for visits and enjoy.

Thumbs up for green Julian’s!

Runners come in two distinct models.  There are the ripped, muscular sprinters that generally run 400 meters or less, and then there are the waif-thin endurance specialists that dominate anything of a mile or more.  There are obvious physiological advantages that come into play here, and no amount of training is going to completely over-ride the capabilities that are hard-wired into our genetics.  Hence a superbly trained muscular guy like Lance Armstrong struggles to finish a 3-hour marathon.

In endurance sport circles the big guys are jokingly referred to as “Clydesdales”, and many races have separate divisions and awards for these larger entrants.   There is no official definition of this weight class, but it’s generally in the 175-195 pound range.  To get an idea how thin most endurance athletes are, in some races the Clyde division starts at just 165 pounds for men, and 135 pounds for the women (aka Fillys or Athenas).

While the exact weight of a Clydesdale may be subject to debate, the term very clearly tells you all you need to know about large runners.   They’re better equipped to be towing wagons than running fast for long distances.  You’ll get no argument on this point from me.  For as long as I can remember I have loved anything strength related (sprinting, jumping, weightlifting) but loathed those occasions where I had to push myself for longer periods of time. 

I think that I can remember just about every long run (more than a few hundred yards) I ever had as a kid.  Most were timed runs in PE class, and the pain and misery made a lasting impression.  I have a vivid recollection of struggling in high school to finish a one-mile run in under 6 minutes (I barely missed), and this was when I was on the track team.  Yes, I was definitely a sprinter and field event guy.  In my two years of Varsity track the longest I ever ran in training was one lap— 440 yards—and I only did that one time!  I always managed to hide whenever the running got serious.

Fast-forward 30+ years, and I’m competing again, but now it’s in masters track & field competitions.  I’ve decided that the multi-events (pentathlon, decathlon, heptathlon) are going to be my strong suit, but there’s a problem.  There’s always one distance race included in the multis.  Indoors it’s the 1000 meters, and outdoors it’s the 15oo.  So that means my days of hiding were over…I was going to have to start doing some intense running workouts… the dreaded speed intervals. 

I’ve written about these runs on multiple occasions.  They’re tough, they hurt, but they do the job and help me to maintain my speed over a longer distance.  In the past most of these runs have been in the 400-1200 meter range.  However this fall I decided to increase the volume of my workouts and to stretch the distance of my longer intervals up to a mile.  As these mile times began to drop I remembered back to my high school days and started thinking about giving that sub-6 minute mile another shot.  I’d actually gotten down as low as 6:07 last year, so I knew if I put my mind to it I could do it.  Then late last month I happened across this blog post that challenged readers to set goals for November.  So that’s when I wrote it down and got serious about breaking that barrier.

Now I know that for just about any average “runner” a 6 minute mile is nothing more than a warm-up.  But for me, 51 years old, 185 pounds, and with lungs I swear must be the size of walnuts, it’s a big deal.  Just getting to the point where I can think about attempting it has taken many months of intense training.   And if I can get it done, it means I’m more fit cardiovascularly than I’ve ever been in my life.   That’s huge in my book. 

Today is Thanksgiving, and a few days ago I tentatively selected this as the day I would make my attempt on the record.  I figured that if something went wrong  I would have a few more days to give it another shot before the end of the month.  I ran some  500 meter intervals on Monday, did an easy 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical on Tuesday, and took the day off yesterday.  I woke up this morning feeling rested and strong, headed into HealthQuest, then spent the first couple of hours getting some work done and getting myself mentally prepared for the assault.  I knew I could get through the first 3 laps (our treads can display a 400m track) without too much trouble, but the last lap worried me.  Even if I was successful it could very well prove to be a miserable, painful experience.  And failure would be all that and depressing too.

Finally around 10am I got warmed up and decided to go for it.  My plan was to go at a steady pace (10mph) for the first 15oo meters, then if all went well I would bump it up a notch for the last 100 to make sure I came in at under 6 minutes.  So off I went.  At the halfway mark I was still feeling remarkably relaxed and my confidence started to build.  After 1200  meters I knew I had it in the bag.  I’ve run enough laps now to know how much I have left in the tank, and I was sure that I had plenty.  Just as planned I kicked up my pace for the last 100 meters and cruised across the finish line in 5:57.  I immediately hit the “pause” button, caught my breath, then grabbed my camera to document my accomplishment.

While it was a hard run, I definitely didn’t push as hard as I have in some of my previous training runs.  In fact after a short rest I was able to run two additional 1000 meter intervals at 9.5 mph.  And while it felt great to finally break that 6 minute barrier, I think the best part was that I was able to do it without killing myself.  I don’t think it took any more out of me then any other hard workout, and I’m pretty sure that tomorrow I can just fall right back into my regular training routine.

It’s also more evidence that I’m further along in my training than I was last year at this time.   I guess that’s the one positive about being so slow when I started my training.  I can continue to get faster even though I’m getting older.  That’s always a nice boost for the confidence.

November has been a good training month for me and I’m feeling pretty darn happy with the direction I’m heading.  Writing down some short-term goals was the key that got me re-focused and re-energized.   Thanks Maria for that reminder!

If any Madonnaphiles say that she is not cashing in on something horrid, they must be institutionalized.

It was approaching mid-day as the butterflies began to make their voyage. The sun began to beat down. Harder, and harder, hotter, and hotter. I went to kneel in the grass, and closed my eyes. I could feel the butterflies floating on with a greater surge. Our foursome was called, and at once a sense of calm came over the flapping wings. A calm from confidence. Nothing gave me strength more than having those three fellow teammates by my side, ready to receive the baton and help lead us onward. Waves of heat left the rubber, distorting our view. The gentle sound of our spikes tapped on the soft rubber. A sound much to our liking. One that was familiar to us, and one that brought success. Eventually, the time to lead our team to victory was upon me. Creeping into the blocks, sweat dripping off my nose and singeing on the ground, all I could think about was doing my job. There was a reason we were number one all year, and it was our time to prove it. BANG, the first muscle fired, as the last butterfly left. Quickly, the nervous flock of butterflies turned to a fearsome pack of wolves, on the hunt. My teammates and I had never felt so alive, even as time seemed to slow. Coming down the straight my blood felt full of energy, despite the fatigue from earlier. In less than a minute and a half, it was over. Hugs and cheers ensued, and a school first had been achieved. From the days of effort, the long hours of training, on weekends, and even holidays, I was able to pull from deep inside me the heart from all the grueling times, to win. This moment was full of great contributions, talents, and qualities that made success so easy to come by. That was my secret. I realized however, that it was not my doing alone, we as a team did something great. It was knowing that I trained harder than anyone that made this so special. Two years straight I had fought over every hill, work out, and weight, tooth and nail to get to this podium. That time led to great talents. Those talents led to great contributions to a team that worked harder than any in the state. The qualities I achieved through the years of training were not just physical. Mentally, I overcame more than what was previously imaginable. In a bound, the limits set before were crushed. With my team, I became a leader. Young, but strong. I took on responsibilities I would have never thought of, even beyond the track. Through my experience I left with a quality, of a greater sense of inner strength, to take care of myself, and lead others. Lead others not to mediocrity, but to something great. It makes me proud to know that I entered this assent as someone I thought was good, only to come out, as someone other people think is great.

what yo’ name iz? julia hafstrom, sharon kavjian & kamila filipcikova

the triple set of females seen here appear editorially for the latest issue of vogue nippon. i love the usage of hair pieces & tracks. i think this would’ve been a prime opportunity to, again, used colored models. i really think it would be dope to see our favorite colored females for this piece. all three females are represented by IMG model management. creative hair & make-up with this piece but the lack of color for this theme edit is clear & is still a very large problem for females in the modeling game. images for this edit were shot by daniel jackson. didier mange is to credit for the hair while gucci westman did the make-up.

imagesource | tfs

Feb 12, 2009
Location: Fuji Speedway
Lap time: Mines R35 GTR recorded 1.49.782 s
Driver: Mr. Eiji Yamada (Professional race car driver)

On February 12th the Mines GTR broke the 1.50s barrier at the Fuji Speedway. With a 1.49.782s time on the Fuji Speedway and considering that the Mines GTR has been tuned as a Street car with stock tires their recent time is an amazing feat. Mines had further developed the exhaust and boost up system along with modification to the computer to improve the GTR’s performance. Once again the highly advanced expertise that Mines has developed for the GTR has proven their dominance in the performance of the GTR.

This is 7s quicker than a stock R35 GT-R and 1s quicker than a Mines R34 (ref. July 2005 – J-Tuner).

Spotted at Gucci Life.

I posted about the transformed broken Rossin Ghibli a couple days ago and here it is again but now complete with an added extra.

Damn son that brake bridge is off the hook!

Via.

Olivier Pasqual.

Activating star power in Guitar Hero by throwing a mean shape is fun and all, but can you imagine your avatar going bat-shit crazy in real-time, copying your moves as you jump around like a lunatic to the end of Free Bird? If anything it’s a funny image, but one that could be a reality in Guitar Hero 6.

In an interview with the Seattle Times, Guitar Hero founder Kai Huang confirmed that Neversoft were exploring the possibilities of integrating Natal into the next game, which will be due for release next Autumn.

Check out some choice quotes below the jump and a scoop on what rival series Rock Band will be up to for its third instalment. (Cheers to VG247 for the initial find!)

Here’s the short-short version of what Guitar Hero founder Kai Huang said in the interview:

“We haven’t made any specific announcements of what we’re doing with new technologies in Guitar Hero 6 and beyond, but one of the areas we’re exploring certainly is camera technology and what you can do — track your movements and maybe have your characters on the screen do certain things you’re doing, or personalize it more so it can look more like you on stage rather than just be an avatar,” he said.

“There are a lot of possibilities that technologies like Natal will bring, and we’re definitely exploring those possibilities.”

Meanwhile Dhani Harrison, told the Chicago Tribune that Harmonix were going for a much more realistic feel with Rock Band 3:

“I’m working on Rock Band 3 and making the controllers more real so people can actually learn how to play music while playing the game,” Harrison told the paper. “Give me a couple years, it’s going to happen”.

All together now – ‘WHEN TWO TRIBES GO TO WAR!!!’ Is that in Rock Band? No? Ah well….