pace clock math

You would think that a university graduate would know how to read a clock. Sunday's swim was refreshingly silly (push-up pyramids, widths underwater, treading water etc.) but yesterday I couldn't follow the clock for the life of me. Often times I like to just follow whomever is leading the pack, but barely into the set, I got pushed into the front. We had sets of 50's and 100's, on 1:15 and 1:55 respectively. First 50, I go on one minute, soon enough I'm catching up to the tail of our group. Next set, I'm being yelled at for waiting too long. I'm pretty sure I can follow the hand...

The yellow second hand is always the worst to follow - but sometimes when I'm halfway through the pool I have to re-think, did I leave on the red? or the blue? And of course, with these weirder set times, if we're starting on the red 45 I get confused when I hit the wall at the 17. I'm like was that 17-15=1:58? no that's too slow, 17+15 =1:32? Whoa I'm going way too fast etc. And then next thing I know I have to go and I have to reset any notion of which color hand to follow. Maybe I'm just an idiot.

Today was my first day out cycling in sub zero temperatures; and second time out this year. Brrr... the forecast called for a high of 1C but it felt a whole lot colder + the 30km/h winds facing me while coming down Mt.Royal was kind of hairy. (At least the horsies were out at the police station.) Climbing CamilienHoude took foreeever. I was on my 25 (lowest gear) before I even started, and just chugged up. The backside was easier but quite slow too. From there on I went up to Summit Circle, which felt a lot quicker, but climbing from Greene Ave. was just slow. I've got a lot of catching up to do... After riding my junk bike, I can't fathom owning a cheap mtn bike. My 105 drivetrain feels so smooth -anything similar would cost too much (ie. XT, or XTR level .... :P ) Definitely need to change the brake pads though... these knock-off brakes are terrible...

"All this computer hacking is making me thirsty. I think I'll order a 'TAB'"
[Homer proceeds to push the TAB key.]