Category Archives: Tarsnakes

Tarsnakes, like the namesake tar patterns on roads across America, are in the context of this blog any allegorical event, thought or other phenomena that can trip you up along the way, or cause you to swerve or even crash. While tarsnakes are usually best avoided, at times they are unavoidable. And so, we discuss how to deal with these “life events” that either affect or stem from your running and riding.

Still, a tarsnake or other road or surface feature when viewed up close can reveal hidden beauty and perhaps even wisdom.

The Three Bitches and Twenty Bastards meet at the Horribly Hilly 100

“Isn’t this pretty?” I asked my companion Sue at the 30-mile point of the Horribly Hilly 100 ride. “It’s a valley,” she responded. “So it’s not that pretty. It means we have to go back up again.” And that, my … Continue reading

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Gratitude goes a long way

Last year for the Batavia Triathlon/Duathlon it was my honor to work the course as a volunteer. Our club Experience Triathlon hosts the race and it takes multiple dozens of workers to make the race go forward. From course marshalls … Continue reading

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, competition, cycling, duathlon, Tarsnakes, triathlon | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Hitting the bricks in more ways than one

I have a relative that lives in Wilmette, Illinois. The side streets there are wonderfully paved with bricks. They are lumpy and bumpy and noisy to drive on, but they work. There used to be tons of brick streets, but … Continue reading

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, cycling, running, Tarsnakes, triathlon, We Run and Ride Every Day | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Is drinking Coke an acceptable thing for those who run and ride?

After my own family doctor warned me that caffeine was the enemy in more than one way, I became a zealot for the anti-Coke habit. I told many of my friends about the relationship between a bad prostate and too many soft drinks. I even shared my anti-caffeine knowledge with female friends who admitted they had yeast infections or candida*. I was out to save the world from bad scenes Down Under. Continue reading

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, cycling, half marathon, marathon, running, Tarsnakes, We Run and Ride Every Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

On spring days and a sense of loss

Heading into the outdoor track season my sophomore year at Kaneland High School in 1971, I was in a strange position. My father had announced to our family that we would be moving to St. Charles, a city ten miles … Continue reading

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A childish fascination with endurance training and bodily functions

In order to get your Monday off to a rollickingly childish start, you are invited to click and view this scene from an Austin Powers movie in which our hero engages in a prolonged urination session. Yes, it’s childish. And … Continue reading

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, cycling, marathon, running, Tarsnakes, triathlon, We Run and Ride Every Day | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

You do your best with the body (and brain) that you have

As children we imagine that all things are possible. You can be what you want to be. That childlike innocence has its purpose. It enables the mind to grow unhindered. We explore through play. Some of us take up that banner … Continue reading

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It’s a cold, cold world and that’s snot funny

Sometime late yesterday afternoon I choked a bit on a section of Clif Bar. Immediately after my throat felt funny. I’d upset the equilibrium somehow… By evening there was a familiar tingling in my nose that told me a cold … Continue reading

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On Sports Illustrated, Victoria’s Secret, tattoos and other not so secret displays of self

As a devout liberal and Progressive thinker, I’m all for people being and doing what they want with their bodies. Yet something in me recoils at the manufactured imagery of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Or for that matter, the airbrushed models in … Continue reading

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50 Shades of Grey in Cycling

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