Palomar Mountain Fun w/ IBR by 4kammer at Garmin Connect - Details

Palomar Mountain Fun w/ IBR by 4kammer at Garmin Connect - Details

We chose the hottest day of the year (so far!) to climb the beast: up south grade, water stop at the store, down east grade, turn around and climb back up east grade and finally down south grade. Air quality was also pretty bad: was wondering why my chest hurt and thought it was just dehydration. Either way, an honest day on the bike and good enough climbing to get ready for the e'tap next month!!!

From IBR: Derek Cowling, Vince Pandes, Peter Plaissance, Georgina Kress, Reggie Pineada, Mark Flunker, Dan Bridgman and me. Dullie Malikyar and his friend Eric also joined in.

Thor speaks with Albertino about Team Raceplan

Which supplements work.... the bigger the bubble size, the more searches on Google. The higher the bubble, the more scientific proof it works.

Qik - IBR crew heading to Red Trolley by Kam Zardouzian

Cycling in Tehran, Iran popular dating back to the 1940's

FIFA.com - The battle of Tehran

This is a lot of read just to point out the first sentence in the third paragraph!
I'm so proud of my people!!!


The Tehran duel between Persepolis and Esteghlal may be one of multiple derbies in Iran, but it is the one that engrosses the country like no other. Known locally as the Surkhabi derby, it is regarded as one of the biggest in Asia.

Given the two teams’ stature, it should come as no surprise that many of Iran's finest all-time players have graced the fixture with their presence. This roll call of star names includes Hossein Kalani, the leading marksman at the 1972 AFC Asian Cup, as well as Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia and Ali Karimi, three Iranian winners of the AFC Asian Player of the Year award. The likes of former Persepolis icon Mehdi Hasheminasab and Esteghlal favourite Ali Vahedi Nikbakht, meanwhile, have both risked the wrath of their old faithful by later turning out for their clubs’ fierce rivals.

The origins
Founded in 1945, Esteghlal were originally known as Docharkheh Savaran and were a multi-sports outfit with an emphasis on cycling. That was until the year 1949, when the club turned its focus solely on football and changed its name to Taj, going on to gain huge popularity with victory in a number of tournaments, including the 1970 edition of the AFC Asian Club Championship (now AFC Champions League).

Iranian local league winners three times and victors of six Iranian titles in the professional era, the last of these in 2008/09, the blue-shirted side have also claimed five Iranian Cups and added a second continental crown in 1991.

Persepolis, for their part, had to endure many years of struggle before establishing their current fan base, believed to be the largest in Iran. Founded in 1963, the club started life in the third division and failed to make much of a stir until they incorporated several talented players from Shahin after their dissolution in 1967. That helped kick-start their meteoric climb to the summit of Iranian football, a journey that has featured eight league title wins and attracted vast numbers of followers.

The first official meeting between the two took place on 5 April 1968 at the Shahid Shiroudi Stadium, ending in a 0-0 draw. Meanwhile, as is so often the case, the fact that Persepolis's red-shirted supporters traditionally come from the country’s working classes, in direct contrast to those of Esteghlal, only serves to heighten the pair’s intense rivalry.

Facts and Figures
Over the next 41 years since that first encounter, the pair have met on another 66 occasions. Esteghlal currently have the edge with 20 wins to their arch-rivals’ 16, with a further 30 draws underlining just how tight and tense these games invariably are. Indeed, the last six meeting have all ended 1-1, with the last outright victory a 2-1 Persepolis success in 2006.

Persepolis’s tally remains hindered by their sluggish start, having lost three of the first four meetings and failed to claim victory until Surkhabi derby number eight. They have, however, scored more goals than their enemies, finding the net 66 times compared to Esteghlal’s 62.

As far as individual records are concerned, Ali Parvin has made 20 appearances as a player and 22 as coach for Persepolis, closely followed by the 18 derbies played by Afshin Peryovani. On the other side of the divide, Karo Haghverdian and Ali Jabari have both played 17 derbies in the blue of Esteghlal.

Sifar Iranpak is Persepolis’s top derby scorer with seven, just one ahead of Hossein Kalani, while Jabari, Gholam Hussein and Hasheminasab have all notched five goals for Esteghlal in Surkhabi action.

Tales of derbies past
Esteghlal may be leading in terms of derbies won, but it is their rivals who have enjoyed the most emphatic victories. On 15 November 1972, Persepolis achieved their first Tehran derby win by a convincing 4-1 scoreline, following this up less than a year later with a record 6-0 success, which remains the highest-scoring meeting between the two sides.

They have also endured leaner times, however, including a run of nine derbies without victory between 1990 and 1996. Yet this was followed by a similar barren period for Esteghlal, which continued through until 2001.

Perhaps the most controversial meeting came back in December 2000, which followed Hasheminasab’s close-season switch from Persepolis to Esteghlal. Hasheminasab’s late strike for his new club was cancelled out by a spectacular last-gasp effort from future Bayern Munich man Karimi in a 2-2 draw.

The rivalry today
Going into derby number 68, the two sides are level on points in third place in the league, though Esteghlal have a superior goal difference. Victory for either team will bring them closer to leaders Sepahan, though the pacesetters do currently enjoy a healthy 12-point cushion.

Appointed as coach in December, Persepolis idol and legendary Iran striker Daei will be keen to extend his winning run to three games, having presided over recent victories over Rah-Ahan and Peykan. His opposite number Abd Al Samad Mervawi, for his part, will be determined to lead his team back to winning ways after consecutive draws. Spearheading the Esteghlal bid should be Arash Borhani, whose ten-goal haul has him in fourth place on the divisional scoring chart.

Cigarette litter hotline gets a makeover - SignOnSanDiego.com

LOVE IT....it's about time for this. 

I would love it even further when this expands to help report belligerent motorist, especially those who endanger the lives of cyclists.

Cigarette litter hotline gets a makeover - SignOnSanDiego.com

Cigarette litter hotline gets a makeover

By Mike Lee, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Friday, January 22, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
Cigarette butts are the most-littered item in the world, particularly on beaches.

/ Nancee E. Lewis / U-T 2006 file photo

Cigarette butts are the most-littered item in the world, particularly on beaches.
CIGARETTE LITTER LINE

To report someone tossing a cigarette butt from a vehicle, leave an anonymous message at (877)-211-BUTT.

An anti-littering campaign that nearly flickered out two years ago has been revived with a makeover that allows for better tracking of motorists who toss cigarettes out of their cars.

The Cigarette Litter Hotline also has expanded from San Diego County to Orange, Riverside and Imperial counties.

“Once established, this really is a model that can be rolled out regionally, statewide and even in other states,” said Ken David, a spokesman for the local chapter of the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation, which operates the program with volunteers.

The group took over the hotline in July 2008 after county officials discontinued it, said local Surfrider chairman Manase Mansur.

Cigarette butts are regarded as the most-littered item in the world and are found on beaches by the hundreds of thousands nationwide. During rainstorms like those that battered the region this week, they are swept by storm drains to the ocean, where they harm sea life. They also can cause fires if they are tossed into dry brush.

Surfrider announced its upgrades yesterday. The improvements allow the California Highway Patrol to more easily send warning letters to people who have been anonymously reported to a toll-free number. The system relies on residents spotting “litterbutts” and calling in a license plate number along with the time and place of the incident.

The new electronic reporting program developed by Surfrider replaces the time-consuming process of tracking calls with paper records and handing them to the CHP, which then issued the warnings.

“We’ll be able to have more accurate information and send out more letters than we were able to before,” said CHP officer Mary Bailey in San Diego.

CHP doesn’t issue citations to people who are reported on the hotline, but officers do hand out tickets if they see people flicking butts from cars or trucks. Penalties can include a fine up to $1,000 and eight hours of community service picking up litter. Tossed cigarettes that cause fires may lead to felony charges.

“We need the eyes of the public to identify smokers that are endangering public safety by tossing lit cigarettes from vehicles,” said Chief Gary Dominguez of CHP’s Southern California division.

The hotline started in 2004 as a cooperative effort between county health officials, the local chapter of the American Lung Association and others. It averaged about 1,100 calls a month for at least three years, in part because concerned motorists programmed the old phone number into their cell phones to make reporting easier.

“People are very passionate about this,” said Debra Kelley, a top official at the lung association office in San Diego. “I think it’s the whole concept of careless, irresponsible smokers … who think the world is their ashtray. It’s just an affront.”

The hot line closed in mid-2008. Surfrider adopted the program and quickly opened up a new line.

“Once it became apparent that there were no more government funds, our Surfrider executive committee said this is just too important of an issue and too important of a tool to let it drop,” Mansur said.

He said the county had been spending about $50,000 a year on the program but he expects Surfrider can run it for about half that cost using volunteers and the new reporting system.

The number of calls dwindled to about 700 recently while Surfrider slowed its advertising and upgraded the system. Mansur expects calls will increase now that the program is back in the public eye, and he’s looking at installing a voice transcription system that will speed processing.

Kelley thanked Surfrider for taking over the program. “We were one of the parents of the baby and we gave it up for adoption,” she said. “It’s in a happy home now.”

Daredevil Space Diver To Leap Toward World's First Supersonic Free-Fall From 120,000 Feet

Or, I found my next sport....

Daredevil Space Diver To Leap Toward World's First Supersonic Free-Fall From 120,000 Feet | Popular Science

By Bjorn Carey Posted 01.22.2010 at 1:49 pm 3 Comments

Felix Baumgartner: Sven Hoffmann / Red Bull
Here’s Felix Baumgartner’s plan: Float a balloon to 120,000 feet. Jump out. Break the sound barrier. Don’t die. Simple, right?

If Baumgartner, a world famous base jumper and skydiver, pulls off the feat, he’ll set the record for the world’s highest jump and become the first person to break the sound barrier with his body alone. During the jump, he’ll also collect data on how the human body reacts to a fall from such heights, which could be useful for planning orbital escape plans for future space tourists and astronauts.

Dubbed the Red Bull Stratos and sponsored by the energy drink company, the jump will send Baumgartner to the stratosphere in a small space capsule, lifted by a helium-filled balloon. Once he reaches 120,000 feet after three hours of ascension, ground control will give him the “all clear” sign and he’ll pop open the door and jump, as video cameras on the capsule and his suit record his descent. Within 35 seconds or so, Baumgartner will hit supersonic speeds and break the sound barrier. No one really knows what will happen at that point, but the scientists seem confident that he’ll maintain consciousness. He will free fall for roughly six more minutes, pulling his chute at about 5,000 feet and coasting for 15 minutes back to solid ground.

Just what happens to his body as it goes from subsonic to supersonic and back to subsonic speed is of great interest to scientists, and so he’ll be hooked up to an electrocardiogram monitor during the jump. He’ll also be outfitted with accelerometers and GPS units to confirm his acceleration and speed, and from that the stress on his body. But that’s pretty much it for gear—because he’s wearing a pressurized suit filled with 100 percent oxygen, his crew is rightly wary of putting too many electronics and power sources in his suit that could accidentally set him on fire. Any data they collect will then be made public and turned over to the military and NASA.

The plan is to make the jump sometime in 2010. After they complete test jumps at 25,000, 60,000, and 90,000 feet, they’ll watch the Doppler radar and wait for calm weather and then pick the launch location, which for now they can only say will be somewhere in North America. The goal is to drop Baumgartner near the launch site, but even with low wind conditions he could drift some 150 miles away.

But first they have to test all the gear to make sure that it will work as it transitions from the freezing, no-pressure environment at 120,000 feet to the extreme heat of the dive. It’s the same as with any other flight test program, says Jonathan Clark, the team’s medical director (whose work in high-altitude space jumps we profiled in 2007). “Only in this case, Felix Baumgartner is the aircraft.”

Red Bull as put together this video, putting everything into perspective:


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