Inspiration from Baron Pierre De Coubertin

I was doing laps around the Veterans Memorial Park in Culver City, CA and came across a monument adorned with a plaque containing this quote:

"The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
--Baron Pierre De Coubertin

After further research I found out that the quote is actually an excerpt of the Olympic Creed written by the Baron based on a speech of Bishop Ethelbert Talbot at a service for the Olympic Champions during the 1908 Olympic Games. The Baron was one of the key founders of the modern Olympic games. Los Angeles and nearby environs (such as Culver City) have many Olympic artifacts around town due to the fact that it is one of the few cities to have hosted the games twice. In fact my office building is located on Olympic Boulevard. I think the only other cities to have hosted the games twice are London and Athens. For more on the history of the Olympic games go here.

Relegated to the Garage

When I first found out that I would be receiving a new CycleOps Fluid 2 bike trainer, I wanted to set it up in my living room so that I could ride my bike while watching DVDs. Biking on the trainer can get aweful boring and something to watch would certainly help. But now I realize that the living room is really not the right place (not that my wife would have stood for it anyways.) See, the living room isn't really my spot. It really isn't my wife's spot either, even though she decorated it to her specifications with a new leather couch and beautiful custom drapes. No, the living room is my daughter's. She has accumulated a broad array of accouterments and they all seem to end up in the living room. Basically the living room is her play area. I did not think it would be a good idea to put the trainer there because I don't want her fingers to get caught somewhere while she is having fun turning the wheels. So I put it down in the basement/garage.

There is a storage spot in the basement in front of where our cars park that I have basically converted to an office. I have a computer, bookshelves and a fridge for beer and wine. The only problem with it is that the ceiling is really low. I am six feet tall, and I have about a half an inch of clearance. In addition, right in the middle there is a large wooden support beam where I constantly hit my head.

Here is a photo of my setup. I had an old TV in the garage that has a distorted picture (everything in the top of the screen, like people's foreheads, are huge), but it will have to do. I'll get a cheap DVD player for $20 and be all set. Above it I have a fan to keep cool. On the left out of view is a large mirror, that I also had laying around. I can now use it to check my form and positioning. All in all, it is pretty sweet.

I was concerned that because of the low ceiling I would not have enough clearance, but actually I have enough room so long as I don't sit up. I guess that is just more incentive to stay aero.

In training news I ran 4 miles on Monday, swam 1500 meters Tuesday and today I biked for 32 miles today. I can tell that I have lost much of my biking fitness as my legs are very sore. Got to use that trainer!