• 

  I just made a donation to #Movember, pls support the fight against prostate cancer which strikes 1 in 6 men – http://ca.movember.com/donate #

• RT @nhandcock: Support me growing a Mo this #Movember. Help fight prostate cancer which strikes 1in6 men: http://www.movember.com/r/8955 #
• RT @MarathonTim: Record Attempt Sailing Solo Around the World by inspirational teenager http://bit.ly/1BB03g #
• RT @zerofootprint: UN calculates that ave AC unit in Florida is resp for more CO2/yr than a person in Cambodia is in a lifetime! #zfpfact #
• RT @MarathonTim: Unusual travel #adventure as parents #homeschool kids as they cycle 20,000 miles http://bit.ly/t2wLG #
  

  Vogel Family Adventure: 2.5yrs, 20,000 miles

• RT @girlwithnoname: Peel a pomegranate without making a huuuuuge mess!! http://flablinks.com/pomegranates #
• RT @girlwithnoname: Do you eat pomegranates? Here are some reasons you can indulge it more often! http://flablinks.com/pomegranates #
• If you’re a regular coffee drinker, fear not: coffee isn’t dehydrating! http://bit.ly/2WJxwo #
  

  

  Debunking the Dehydration Myth

• I’ve fallen off the Twitter map – nose in a txtbk all day. Keep hydrated w/black coffee + water + grapefruit juice. No study wt gain for me! #
• My #metabolism is revved-up so high today! Eating every 2 hrs. Must be recovering from my tough 12km run yst’day. #

Road to Gavarnie

November, 2005

It’s early November when author and ESL teacher, Jeremy Taylor and I head off on another cycling adventure through southern France. It was a last-minute decision – I threw a random collection if winter-weather gear together (ski gloves, layers of sweaters and hiking boots) and hopped a flight from London to Pau on Ryanair for about 20quid. This time, our journey is a short 3-day bike ride up to the Cirque de Gavarnie, a 3,000 metre amphitheatre-like mountain about 100km south of Pau, France.

I’ve been steadily cycling uphill (or, rather, up mountain) for two hours when I experience the psychedelic effect of cycling under so much exertion: the beginnings of a bonk. I’m no longer grinding up through the Pyrenees range between France and Spain, but rather, floating through an old crushed-velvet picture. The landscape pops out like a giant 3-D miniature, all carefully crafted and delicately placed, but certainly not real. The colours appear florescent, tinted with autumn’s black brush. The art teacher in me wrestles with the cyclist and it isn’t for another half an hour that I realize I’ve been looping this thought, repeating with awed realization, that I am cycling through a black, fluorescently crushed-velvet painting. After that, I pull over to give my over-stimulated brain a break  and my body some much-needed nourishment – baguette, brie and saucisses.

Brain aside, it’s my body that takes the biggest beating that day. We covered roughly 60 kilometres from our journey’s start in Lourdes to the only hotel open at Gavine. 60-km is nothing miraculous or particularly tough. That is, unless it’s the “8-hrs of climing up a mountain” kind of 60 kilometres. In altitude we gained nearly a kilometre. Picture taking a straight stretch of road and yank one end so it dangles from the clouds. Then imagine cycling up that for a whole kilometre. Of course, in reality, it’s not straight-up, it’s a much more gradual accent, so move the cloud in your imagination 60 km away and you get the idea: a giant, twisty ramp.

Of course, it’s not really like that or else I might as well stayed home and cycle at the gym. The rewards, besides the physical exercise of cycling, are the breath-taking view of the Cirque at the top, the delightful little village to explore, and the ability to experience something I’ll vividly recall for the rest of my life.

• 

  Cycling from Departure Bay to Parksville (nearly – flat tire a couple kms from the city)

  Took the old hghwy 19 north of Nanimo & even tho it was 6 yrs since I rode it, I remembered the route – specfic turns & bends…& where my dad got a flat.#

• Made it to Parksville moments before the rain & sunset. Hard grind! Enjoying a much-deserved #Starbucks #oatmeal. http://yfrog.com/0qxmimj#
• I’ve become an expert at changing a flat in the pouring rain. Using C02 cartridges makes it a breeze. #
• 
  
• Decided last-min to bike from Nanimo to Qualicum beach. Translink sure makes it easy to get me & my bike from dowtown Van out to the island! #
• RT @nikitapscott: 4 canadians make the Times of London “50 Big Thinkers List” Way ta go @dtapscott!http://tinyurl.com/yz2flc3 #

• 

  Fitness Testing for Coaching Science Course

  #V02 Max testing at the UBC Osbourne centre. Wicked fun! Full details to follow http://yfrog.com/9gfa4lj #

• RT @newser Sick photoshopping from #RalphLauren. Insulting when the model was fired for failing to meet “obligations” http://retwt.me/W16X #
• Getting excited for my fitness testing session tonight – VO2 Max testing, wind-tunnel, body composition, etc. etc. #
• Finished my wrk day w/a relaxing trip to the pool. 30 easy laps to help my muscles recover from Sunday’s 21km race. They’re less sore now! #
  

  

  After a cold 21km race, what could be better?

• I am so stiff after my #Half-marathon. Thank goodness I have “The Stick” it’s like a toothbrush for your muscleshttp://is.gd/4hNQK #
• Ha ha ha! This video is RAD! Cross country snowboarding is the next biggest thing.http://is.gd/4gGoo #
• I am very thankful for Thanksgiving dinner after this morning’s race. So tasty and filling & delicious!! http://yfrog.com/5rvzxj #
  
  

• 

  Inspiring Runners

  Helen’s birthday marathon run – New age category. 4hrs18min & 2nd place!! (Time later adjusted to 4hrs15min!) What an inspiration! http://yfrog.com/5nz1ej #

• Sweet run Bruce! 1st 10km race in +15yrs w/a time of 50:21:00. 3rd place in 60-69 age category!http://yfrog.com/164qtmj #
• Great race! Sub-zero temp but dressed warm & high spirits. Waiting for our marathoner to come in.http://yfrog.com/begioj #
• Nite all – race time comes early tomorrow (#Okanagan #Halfhttp://bit.ly/18myZi) #
• $15 long-sleeved #Marino wool base layers at #Costco, no less. So cool & hot! #
• Just got a good luck from John #Stanton (Founder of the #RunningRoom) before the Okanagan #Half tomorrow. #
• Sipping peppermint tea (plain) in bed. Early nite in prep for Sunday’s early Okanagan morning #Half-Marathon. #
• Just downloaded #tweetie for my #iPhone. Like it! #
• Have you ran TWO #half #marathons in 1 month? Have some advice to share? Would love to hear it!http://lightfooted.ca/?p=121 #

• I just registered for the New Balance Fall Classic in the 21k run . http://tinyurl.com/ckl3v8 (Sweet, love the integrated tweet on reg form) #
• RT @lululemon: What are everyone’s running goals? My long-term Half goal is to run a sub 1:35:00 race in the next 2 yrs! #
• RT @alexismac: RT @ZoomJer: “I’m dreaming of a white Hallowe’en…” A little snow in Edmonton.http://twitpic.com/kpogf Gasp!! #
• RT @lululemon: What are everyone’s running goals? I have a Half this wkend & 1 next mo. Goals: this Half -1:40:00, next month’s – 1:37:00 #
• RT @lululemon: What are everyone’s running goals? The team here is signing up for a half marathon. So am I! Want to train together? #
• RT @jefftippett: FTC Responds to Blogger Fears: “That $11,000 Fine is Not True” http://idek.net/YbVReally interesting stuff #
• New breakfast favourite: homemade whole wheat pancakes with grapefruit and a drizzle of maple syrup. Delish & tangy! #
• 45min bike to school, 30min swim after studies & bike home again. It IS totally possible to incl exercise in your day if you make it a priority! #
• Yellowed note stuck to cubicle. Wonder who put it there: The quiet temple pond…A frog jumps in…Plop #

• Looking forward to riding that route regularly, seeing my rpms increase & my time decrease. The ride home is my reward! #
• Took 41min to ride the 14km to UBC campus. It’s the 4km of hills at the end! Burnt 733km, a HR ave of 160bpm, aved 76 rpm & 19.8km/hr. #

• Just signed-up for the Okanagan Half marathon this Sunday. Excited! http://bit.ly/18myZi #
• The tweet that reached 45 000 people http://retwt.me/y8t6 Check out the comment – someone has a twisted sense of humour! #
• Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #vancouver_british_columbia #running #health #fitness #blogger #adven #
• Best response to a blog post EVER: http://lightfooted.ca/?p=37 #
• Enjoying a nice cuppa soy tea misto before a run w/Trish from http://www.bikehike.com. Literally, networking on the run! #

On August 12 at 8:47 pm PST a friend I’ll call Liz posted on her FaceBook profile on a little YouTube video called Performance by MC SpandX, otherwise known as YouTube user Robin Moore. How Liz stumbled upon it, I don’t know, but this discovery initiated a chain of events that help pushed the video to ‘viral’ status.

At 10:20 pm that evening, Liz sent a ‘tweet’ to Lance Armstrong, who is a very active member of the Twittercommunity, having 2,051,935 followers (today’s count) and tweeting several times a day.

@lancearmstrong Hey Lance, you might want to check out this video: Performance http://bit.ly/s3XnP

The next afternoon, at 4:44 PM, Lance posted this simple tweet on his profile:

It’s all about performance. http://bit.ly/s3XnP

When tweeting, it’s common practice to shorten website address links (URLs) in order to get the most from the 140 character count maximum, so most likely Liz used a program called Tiny URL to reduce the video’s address from its original 43-character URL – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4 to a unique 19-characters URL – http://bit.ly/s3XnP.

Since each Tiny URL is a one-shot deal, meaning that a new unique Tiny URL is generated if you were use shorten the original URL again, we can see that the Tiny URL in Liz’s tweet is the same one Lance used – a simple cut & paste job. Someone over at @lancearmstrong had indeed watched & retweeted Liz’s Performance link. Since then, Twitter has been responsible for generating 45,364 views (on last count), many, if not most, originating from Lance Armstrong’s August 12th post, according to the video’s statistics. Performance has now been viewed 897,822 times – by far the most popular cycling-related music video of our time.

It’s all about Performance, that’s the name of the game….

I pump up my tires and I oil my chain…