{"id":1792,"date":"2010-05-17T19:51:09","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T19:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2010\/05\/17\/cyclist_win_is_scientist_fail\/"},"modified":"2010-05-17T19:51:09","modified_gmt":"2010-05-17T19:51:09","slug":"cyclist_win_is_scientist_fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2010\/05\/17\/cyclist_win_is_scientist_fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclist WIN is scientist FAIL"},"content":{"rendered":"

As many of you already know1<\/a><\/sup>, I’m currently in training for a 260 km (160 mile) bike ride<\/a> from Vancouver to Seattle. Having my parents in town has hampered my training efforts somewhat, but they were bobbing around somewhere off the coast of Alaska this last weekend, giving me the opportunity to head out for two nice long rides.
\nI managed just over 90km on Saturday – my longest ride to date – and felt fine until the final few hills. (Why oh why did I ever think it was a good idea to buy a house at the top of a big hill, just a few blocks away from the highest point in this very hilly city? Every damn ride ends with a steep climb).
\nGetting back on my bike the next day, I felt significantly less fine. The first descent was OK, but then I had to haul myself up another hill before I could start coasting down to the lovely new skytrain \/ bike \/ pedestrian bridge over the river.
\nAt this point, I got stuck behind two slower cyclists who were having a lovely chat about their dogs. You know when you’re behind someone who’s going slowly enough that it feels frustrating, but not quite so slowly that you can pass them quickly and safely? It was one of those situations, which are a constant source of minor irritation on my daily commutes and weekly training rides. With all those kilometres ahead of me still to cover, I knew I had to step it up a notch and push past them. But, ouch.
\nAt this point, I became aware that the two men were talking about a phantom pregnancy. In a dog.
\nNow, this was interesting stuff! I didn’t know that non-human animals could have phantom pregnancies! I thought it was a human psychological condition, not something strictly biological! How fascinating! (And how convenient!)
\nThe following debate ensued:
\nCyclist brain:<\/b> “hurry hurry hurry! Get past them! What are you waiting for?! Gotta cover those kilometres! And think of your average speed!”
\nScientist brain:<\/b> “but this is interesting! I’m a scientist, damnit, and I want to listen some more!”
\nCyclist brain:<\/b> “no pain no gain! Gotta train, gotta train!”
\nScientist brain:<\/b> “a phantom pregnancy! In a dog!<\/em> I want to know what happened next! This is SCIENCE!!!<\/em>
\nLegs:<\/b> “I agree with the scientist”
\nCyclist brain:<\/b> “Shut up, legs!”
\n\"\"
\n(photo link posted on Facebook last week by my crazy Ironman triathlete friend)<\/em>
\nLegs:<\/b> “NO! Scientist brain needs science! And why do you have to be such a bee-hatch?”
\nScientist brain:<\/b> “word”
\nCyclist brain:<\/b> “dude. 260 km. In five weeks. You are gonna DIE out there if you don’t do what I say.”
\nSlower cyclist:<\/b> “Oh, do you want past? Sorry, I was too engrossed in my conversation”
\nMe:<\/b> “me too2<\/a><\/sup>”
\nSo I got past them, did 63km in total, and never did get to find out how or why a dog would have a phantom pregnancy.
\nDoes anyone know of a t-shirt I can buy that says “shut up, scientist brain”?<\/p>\n

1<\/sup> and are no doubt sick of hearing about. Sorry! Don’t worry, just another 33 days to go!<\/p>\n

2<\/sup> I didn’t really say that. But I should have. I thought they might think I was crazy – it’s an easy assumption to make when I’m all red faced and sweaty like that, with unruly hair flying around my face. I’ve been too busy training and hosting guests to get a hair cut!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As many of you already know1, I’m currently in training for a 260 km (160 mile) bike ride from Vancouver to Seattle. Having my parents in town has hampered my training efforts somewhat, but they were bobbing around somewhere off … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","category-silliness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}