Schoolhouse Rock Lesson

This week's "quote" is the lyrics to "Three Ring Government". If you have been following the news lately, you know why.

Gonna have a three-ring circus someday,
People will say it's a fine one, son.
Gonna have a three-ring circus someday,
People will come from miles around.
Lions, tigers, acrobats, and jugglers and clowns galore,
Tightrope walkers, pony riders, elephants, and so much more...

Guess I got the idea right here at school.
Felt like a fool when they called my name,
Talkin' about the government and how it's arranged,
Divided in three like a circus.
Ring one, Executive,
Two is Legislative, that's Congress.
Ring three, Judiciary.
See it's kind of like my circus, circus.

Step right up and visit ring number one.
The show's just begun. Meet the President.
I am here to see that the laws get done.
The ringmaster of the government.

On with the show!

Hurry, hurry, hurry to ring number two.
See what they do in the Congress.
Passin' laws and juggling bills,
Oh, it's quite a thrill in the Congress.
Focus your attention on ring number three.
The Judiciary's in the spotlight.
The courts take the law and they tame the crimes
Balancing the wrongs with your rights.

No one part can be
more powerful than any other is.
Each controls the other you see,
and that's what we call checks and balances.

Well, everybody's act is part of the show.
And no one's job is more important.
The audience is kinda like the country you know,
Keeping and eye on their performance.

Ring one, Executive,
Two is Legislative, that's Congress.
Ring three, Judiciary.
See it's kind of like my circus, circus.

Gonna have a three-ring circus someday.
People will say it's a fine one son,
But until I get it, I'll do my thing
With government. It's got three rings.

Quick Update

Saturday was marked by a huge wind storm lashing Western Washington. Sustained winds up over 40 mph and gusts up to 60+ mph. Not a good day to be on the bike, so luckily I had a power test on the schedule that would be accomplished on the indoor trainer. I spent most of the day watching and filming an old 80 foot tree in our neighbors yard rock and sway. The root ball was causing the ground around the tree to heave as if the earth were breathing. I noticed some stress fractures form in the bark and wondered out loud while filming whether the root ball would let go or the tree was going to crack about 15 feet off the ground. I was taking a break from filming when SLR and I heard a loud crack followed by a rumbling boom. The tree had given up the fight and I missed it. Luckily, it fell in a place where it only took out power lines and did no damage to homes or fences.

With that excitement out the way, I commenced my power test. The test involved one five-minute maximal effort, two one-minute efforts, and two fifteen second efforts. The results create a power profile. Those durations reflect power at maximal oxygen uptake, anaerobic capacity, and neuromuscular power. The results were very encouraging. I put out a personal best for the five minute interval. This is very exciting, because I have not even begun my build phases yet. During build phase, I will include some lung searing intervals to build up sustainable power at the various durations. Bottom line, I'm faster now then ever before and I can expect to get faster!

On Sunday, Hayes and I did our Tiger Mountain climbing day. We were on the fire roads early so we could get back in time to watch Seattle do battle for the Lombardi trophy. We hit the climb to West Summit, Cross Over Road, and the power line cut. Total ride time was in the neighborhood of three hours. The beautiful thing was that the sun was shining and the skies clear. A drastic change from weekends past when we were battling snow, rain, and wind. The legs were a little cooked from the power testing the day before, but any day on the bike is a good day.

Unfortunately, the Seahwawks came up short on their dream season. A valiant effort and hopefully a harbinger of good things to come for the team.

Blue Star