Category Archives: competition

Rocket Bicycle Studio offers a welcome twist on the bike shop experience

Posted on November 19, 2018 by

Back in June, 2015 I wrote about the remarkable team talent of Jessica Laufenberg and Peter Oyen, owners of Rocket Bicycle Studio in Verona, Wisconsin. Since that last article, they moved the company a couple blocks east into a wonderfully … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, competition, cycling, cycling the midwest, swimming, trail running, tri-bikes, triathlete, triathlon, triathlons, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Rock solid values, allowing for sandstone

Posted on October 29, 2018 by

This weekend I drove up to Decorah, Iowa to visit friends and conduct some business on art and writing with former professors at Luther College. The weather was pleasantly gray in that Decorah way, often threatening rain. That only gave … Continue reading →

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Life tectonics in a sweet season

Posted on October 25, 2018 by

This is the fifth in a series of articles about the Sweet Season of 1978, my college senior year when our Luther College team placed second in the nation in NCAA Division III cross country. To follow the chronological narrative … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, competition, cross country, track and field, training, triathlete, triathlon, we run and ride | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On the day your father dies

Posted on October 17, 2018 by

Three years ago today I visited my father in the hospital for the last time. He’d lived with the effects of a profound stroke for more than 15 years. My mother died in 2005 and that left me in charge … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, competition, Depression, healthy aging, Uncategorized, We Run and Ride Every Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A taste of bittersweet early in the sweet season

Posted on October 4, 2018 by

This is the second installment of eight blogs about a cross country season forty years ago. On Thursdays, I will recount a most significant period in life, a senior year in college. That’s when hard work paid off, self-belief took hold … Continue reading →

Posted in 10K, Christopher Cudworth, competition, cross country, running | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

That’s why they call it a criterium

Posted on September 30, 2018 by

A criterium, or crit, is a bike race held on a short course (usually less than 1 mile), often run on closed-off city center streets. Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time, in which case … Continue reading →

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One Sweet Season: Volume One

Posted on September 27, 2018 by

This will be the first in an installment of eight blogs about a cross country season forty years ago. Over the next eight Thursdays, I will recount a most significant period in life,  entering a senior year in college. That’s … Continue reading →

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Wearing down the competition, and not yourself

Posted on September 11, 2018 by

So many endurance events come down to a contest of attrition. In a distance race, the matter of who wins and who loses often comes down to the competitor that can hang on the longest. During one of my triathlon … Continue reading →

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Hitching a ride

Posted on September 4, 2018 by

In 1979, the summer after I graduated from college, I moved temporarily back to Illinois from Iowa before starting work that fall as an Admissions department counselor for the college from which I’d graduated. My girlfriend was staying on campus … Continue reading →

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August light

Posted on July 31, 2018 by

For many people it is the light of autumn that seems romantic. As the sun courses lower in a September sky, shadows grow longer and trees take on a tinge of color. Come October, the light grows clear without the … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, aging is not for the weak of heart, Christopher Cudworth, competition, cross country, running | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment