Preparation series #2 - Old La Honda bike climb

This week I raced a well known hill climb in the biking community named OLD LA HONDA. This is the benchmark climb in the region. It is neither terribly steep nor long, but the beauty of its narrow switchbacks and generous shade make it extremely popular. Almost all local riders know their best times up this hill, from the bridge to the stop sign.

Here are the statistics on Old La Honda: (courtesy of Lucas Pereira and Dan Connelly)Max. grade: 15% (18% inside switchbacks)
Avg. grade: 7.2%
Length: 3.37 miles (5.42 km)
Climb: 1290 feet (393 m)



My previous PR on this climb was 24min and 47 sec. The race started in time trial format, this means every minute a biker leaves to chase the biker ahead and trying to stay ahead of the bikers behind. My start time was 7:59am and it was friggin cold.

It was right around freezing temperature and that is very cold to warm-up for a time trial, also so cold that a large group did not even show up to race. When the feet turns numb during the warm-up, the biking community in general sees that as a bad sign. However after a full year of leg 'training' with Pete Kain using his Midevil Torture methods the results glooming.

I was able to improve significantly with 20min and 13 sec.

This looks to be a promising season!!!

This is what I do for work....

This week was a big week with the acquisition of SkyStream by Tandberg but also with a big customer announcement that we were waiting on for a while.

This is a project I worked on for the past 3-4 years and it finally went on the air.

My team sold the software for this project as the secret sauce to make it happen. It allows consumers to watch their movies without going to the video/dvd store. Really exciting and guaeranteed to get a lot of attention in the press world-wide.


So if you hear of it wherever you may be in the world ... let me know!!!!

Parks in the US

Different than in the Netherlands, it is quite common in the US to take your kids to the park and spend hours. Some families bring food to BBQ and make it a whole day event, similar to Dutchies going a day to the beach.

In the US however this can happen every day of the weekend (or both) and even during the week at the end of the day.

The parks are build to host these family events with minor attractions and ammenities such as BBQ's, play structures, creeks, and so on. We are fortunate enouhg to have Vasona Park close to our house where they run a miniature train through the park which Luke and Nikki love.

On the weekend when Maureen spends some quality time tennis, squash, dancing, and/or yoga I take them out. It is typically several hours spend jumping on the train, having Luke keep up on his bike, buying popcorn, messing around in the creek, playing in the sand box, and me chasing them down.

As we return from this trip, both of them fall asleep for hours, Maureen comes home revitalized, and I feel like the Dad I could not be during my weekday trips. So everybody's happy.

JOB SUCCESS: SKYSTREAM BEING ACQUIRED

GREAT NEWS Starting 7 years ago the journey at SkyStream is nearly complete. SkyStream is currently under acquisition by Tandberg Television out of Norway.

Link to biz journal news
Link to SkyStream PR
Link to Tandberg Presentation

What does this mean for us?
(i) This is a great things for SkyStream as its new parent relates very well to our business, customers and products

(ii) It is very satisfactroy to me personally as it was a very long and hard job to get this accomplished

(iii) In the US to be able to put on your resume that you were a major part of making the company profitable, and subsequently being acquired is a positive boost for ones career

(iv) As for the future, I am cautiously optimistic that this will have great impact! With around 50-60% of the overall revenues till date coming out of my area of responsibilities I am quite certain there will be a role for me somewhere moving forward ;-)

(v) And last but certainly not least there even might be a little extra in it for a kids scholarship program. Where at one time SkyStream was nearly bankrupt this is an unsuspected bonus.

Maureen and Yoga

Just came across this pic of Maureen doing Yoga outdoors. Wow!