Activating Randy Pausch's Lecture of a Lifetime

What would you say about the lessons of your life to 400 people in a packed lecture hall if you had just a few months left to live? For Carnegie Mellon professor Dr. Randy Pausch, 46 years old and the father of three young children, this was not a rhetorical question. "If your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favor to me, let 'em do it," he says. Wall Street Journal story and video.

Dean Karnazes Runs 5 Marathons in 24 Hours

He did it on the first day of summer and I finally saw the clip on the last. And Accelerade made it happen!

Summer Travels XI

Rain at Wrigley Field: You have been Deactivated.

Destination: Hincapie Village

Buy a million dollar home in Hincapie Village and Big George will give you access to his network of road courses winding through the Blue Ridge Mountains.

"Pla d’Adet is a unique, one-of-a-kind resort community for families desiring a lifestyle of health and fitness. Pla d’Adet Village will feature a state-of-the-art fitness center providing highly sophisticated training equipment, many of the world’s most knowledgeable and experienced fitness professionals, an exceptionally pleasing climate ideally suited for year-round fitness activities and three-hundred plus acres of graceful mountain wilderness."

Welcome to Pla d'Adet, which sounds like a cool idea on paper — but I'm not sure I'd want to be living among a bunch of Type-A, Racer X-ish, beautiful people.

Spin Rage Against the Machine

'Spin rage' perp and victim: You have been Deactivated. Story.

Cycling Elba With Andy Hampsten

"Two decades after winning the Giro d’Italia, Andy Hampsten still believes there’s nothing sweeter than biking the open roads of Italy. His clients rarely disagree." Outside Go Magazine story. Love this sentiment on riding from Davis Phinney: "When you get down to the bare bones of it, just being on the road with some of your buddies, no matter how old you are, you never lose that boyish feeling. That is what cycling's all about."

Activating the First Bike Commute

Tour of Missouri Photo Gallery

What an awesome display in St. Louis on Sunday. Congrats to Big George.

Tour of Missouri Flickr photoset.

Big George Hincapie rides to the start:



Alberto Contador looked relaxed. It boggles my mind that the 2007 Tour de France winner's wheels were rolling on pavement in my hometown, where my wheels have touched:



The recalcitrant Levi had a bodyguard-type blocking for him:



No, thank YOU, sign girl!



Buzzing through midtown St. Louis on a beautiful September day:

Activating Cycle Chic: Copenhagen Girls on Bikes

"'Social Documentary in High Heels', is one way this blog has been described. It's about bicycle culture in Copenhagen, Denmark. 35% of the population - 550,000 people - ride their bike to work or school each day. Bicycles are such an integral part of our culture and there are many aesthetic aspects on the streets at any given moment." Contrast that with the United States of Wal-Mart / Four-Car Garage (perfect for Hummers) nation of lazy suburban drivers we have become. Welcome to Copenhagen.

Treadmill Hurdles

Anonymous Racer X's new top-secret workout for Ironman Pakistan:

28 Non-Doping Cyclists Finally Finish Tour De France

"A small but enthusiastic crowd of several dozen was on hand at the Tour de France's finish line on the Avenue des Champs-E�lys�es Tuesday to applaud the efforts of the 28 cyclists who completed the grueling 20-stage, 2,208.3-mile race without the aid of performance-enhancing drugs." The Onion story.

Tour of Missouri's Second Stage Marred by Armadillo Collision

Wayward armadillo: You have been Deactivated. SI.com story.

IRONMEX Team Gives Ironman Wisconsin a Mexican Flavor

Slightly bizarre: Nearly 400 of Sunday's 2,000 Ironman Wisconsin competitors are Mexican. Viva, Mexico! Capital Times story.

Lots more Ironman Wisconsin info and links in this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog entry.

Summer Travels X

A "trail run" at Great Smoky Mountains National Park:



Running on the beach at Hilton Head Island is incredible — if you get out early in the morning, before the crowds and heat. One early morning I ran alongside a pair of porpoising dolphins, just 50 feet out in the Atlantic Ocean, for almost two miles.



Fantastic riding (packed-down sandy beach and trail network) too:

Finish Line Fiasco

Triathlon finish lines that literally "fall down," forcing a FOA to slowly step around the debris and then later find out that he lost the race by less than one second: Guess what? You have been Deactivated.

If You're Not Passing Get Over...

That's a bumper sticker/life philosophy that many of us (including GFOA Jamie) can buy into. It seems many inconsiderate walkers, including charity group entrants who stretched across the entire width of the road, made racing difficult for many runners at the Disneyland Half Marathon.

Desiree Ficker on the Cover of Runner's World

"Get legs like this!" exhorts Runner's World, highlighting the muscular legs of U.S. triathlete Desiree Ficker without noting that she must have built them up over thousands of hours on the bike.

Over on her web site, Desire writes: "It is unbelievable to witness the amount of work that goes into getting this one picture. The shoot took place in Santa Barbara, CA. We began the day at 8am and didn’t finish shooting until 7pm! Everyone onboard was so nice and professional, we had a great time shooting and the scenery was breathtaking. This issue is on the stands now and compares my Ironman training with the training I will be doing this winter for the marathon trials." More shots from the Runner's World session are in Ficker's photo gallery.

Labor of Love

Amateur Photographer Friend of Activeness (APFOA) Marshall made his annual trip to the St. Louis Gateway Cup Labor Day race in University City.