Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

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Ron Mc
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Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Ron Mc »

Jonathan P. Kring wrote:Haven't seen any of your biking posts lately. Did your daughter take up wrestling to fight off the boys? Jon
My daughter is captain of her HS wrestling team. Overheard her girl team-mate telling a boy team-mate, I hate to wrestle her, she throws me around. He said are you kidding? She throws me around.

For a taste, here's my daughter in her quarter-final at State Junior Freestyle championships two month ago, where she silvered. Two weeks ago in National Championships, she doubled out in 4th round, but her bracket fell tough - two World Team members - she still has another year of this, I expect her to get 20 scholarship offers. 10 points in 35 seconds for a technical fall win.

Chasing her keeps me busy from Thanksgiving through July, but I figure after next year, I can renew my fishing license.
I'm still running Trout in the Classroom for Texas, but gave up my board position on GRTU.

I am bicycling. Try to make 100 mi/wk (40 mi is an extra day's calories), and sometimes make 150.
Nice thing about my job - don't have to be in the office all the time.
I turn 60 this month. My at-rest pulse is 42, and BP is the same as when I was 19.
On our Sunday crack-of-dawn sprint from uptown into downtown, I'm the guy to beat for all the kids on new road bikes.

Here's my latest bike. The frame is a 1957 Raleigh Lenton Grand Prix, bought as bare frame and fork, where the previous owner had parted out the bike. It was Raleigh's flagship, and the best production club racer of the late 50s.
The top of the bike is basically correct to original. The bottom is entirely custom, with custom hubs and alloy rims, gearing I designed. Originally, the bike would have a "suicide" front shifter, which is a hand-operated rod parallel to the seat tube. I knew I could build a better custom for the same money it would take to hunt down the original parts, and this bike is a joy.
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Jonathan P. Kring
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Jonathan P. Kring »

Wow that.s great. I remember what a pretty girl she was when you posted bike pictures. The scholarships will help "Ol" Dad out immensely. I'll go back and see if I can delete the post. Thanks for the update. Jon
Cast your cares upon the Lord. Psalm 55:22
Then He said to them, "follow Me and I will Make you fishers of men". Matthew 4:19
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john elder
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by john elder »

Clapclapclapclap! Congrats to both you and your daughter, Ron!
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Specializing in saltwater reels...and fly reels...and oh, yeah, kentucky style reels.....and those tiny little RP reels.....oh, heck...i collect fishing reels!...and fly rods....and lures
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Ron Mc
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Ron Mc »

thanks friends
ps - I'm a fan of her whole team. Wrestling kids are great - they're all National Honor Society in their academics, and the amount of work their sport requires is more than you can ask of anyone - it all comes from inside.
My daughter's edge is she likes the training the way some of us like to bike, fish, and collect reels.
And off the mat, she's not a monster - sweetest person you could ever want to be around.
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3 Champs at UIL Region tournament
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by bettybarr »

You both are admirable. I love the bike. Looks like a triple, I consider that mandatory especially on lots of hills. And the bell!!!
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Ron Mc
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Ron Mc »

Hi Betty, it's a 400' climb to get to my house at the end of a long ride (taller than the state of Florida), and the grade hits 14% in four spots.
I'm a weenie at drivetrains.
Here's the half-step + granny on my Lenton (the granny ring is more politely called a bail-out or escape.) The two big half-step rings split the difference between each of the rear cogs, giving narrow-spaced gears even with fewer, wider rear cogs. This allows you to pace with anyone on a modern road bike with many narrow-spaced rear cogs.
One thing that is special about the Lenton is I didn't alter the 60-year-old frame, and built the entire bike as bolt-on. The custom hubs I designed and Phil Wood manufactured are 114mm rear axle width and with 8mm axles.
Most modern bikes are 130mm rear axle width with 11mm axles.
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Three of my four bikes have low gears in the mid-20" - I need a 30" gear to get home, and it's nice to have something lower in reserve. (I can stand on the 39" low gear on my Italian road bike and make the climb, but the spin-climb on the grannies is easier after a long ride.) Two are half-step + escape triples, and the 3rd is a wide compact-double with a custom 9 sp cassette.
The wide double functions more like a 1x9, 5 narrow cruising gears and 4 wider climbing gears, and narrow climbing steps on the granny ring.
I approach the steep climb home in a 50" gear on the bail-out ring, then can shift down and up in the narrow steps as the grade waxes and wanes. This essentially works the same for either the triples or the wide double.

The big difference in the half-step triples with fewer and wider rear cogs, is at cruising speeds, either up or down, you always shift first up front, then go to the rear if you need more (I've gotten really strong by not giving myself more...).

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All our bikes also have bells. We have a huge deer herd here, and they stop dead in their tracks at the sound of a bell - very helpful when dropping that 400'
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Ron Mc
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Ron Mc »

Updating my daughter's new UIL wrestling season for my friends. Though two weeks behind, my daughter finally got on the mat at a tournament last weekend. It's understandable and wise that a coach won't put their injured wrestler on the mat with my daughter, and will give up a forfeit, instead. Her goal was to win the tournament in 60 seconds, and she did manage to win it in about 90 seconds total mat time in three matches plus a first-round bye.
She took the tournament championship match in 14 seconds, weighing 124, and wrestling G-128 - she also took the Outstanding Wrestler Award for the tournament, first time it's ever been given to a girl. Here's the semifinal round, which lasted just over a minute and shows a few more of her skills, especially her run from the top start to finish.
She plans to be the first State gold-medalist from her high school at the end of February, and the state championship is not a discussion to her, it's just a fact.
There's a back story and a controversy behind the weight.
Last Feb, Texas University Interscholastic League State championships made national news. G-119-lb gold was taken by a transgender athlete taking female hormones, who had previously wrestled as a boy.
My daughter's school program is very good, not buffing wrestlers to the top of the weight class or to the top of the next weight class, but working on skills, and meeting weight by controlling muscle mass.
The transgender athlete may be moving up to G-128 this year, and my daughter does not intend to go head to head with this athlete for the state championship. She's closely watching the tournament results, and plans to move down to G-119 within the next two tournaments, depending on which weight class the state champion is qualifying.
Still the sweetest person you'd ever want to meet, and a howitzer on the mat.
NHS, perfect score in AP biology, and recently accepted to Texas A&M to study Biomedical Engineering next fall.

And yes, I'm a total wrestling bore, and having great fun at it from now until March.
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Jonathan P. Kring
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Jonathan P. Kring »

Nice!!
Cast your cares upon the Lord. Psalm 55:22
Then He said to them, "follow Me and I will Make you fishers of men". Matthew 4:19
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Ron Mc
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Ron Mc »

we're having fun yet, Jon

I'm lucky, I'm not a mylanta-drinking blood-sweating wrestling parent. I love watching them, and they're family. But I have so much fun as a fan of my daughter and the team. However, stepping up to a personal pressure notch - I've volunteered a 4-hour-shift at a mat-side clock/score-controller for the tournament her school is hosting in January.
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Midway Tommy D »

The transgender athlete may be moving up to G-128 this year, and my daughter does not intend to go head to head with this athlete for the state championship. She's closely watching the tournament results, and plans to move down to G-119 within the next two tournaments, depending on which weight class the state champion is qualifying.
What would be really cool would be for her to go head to head with "it" and whip "its" butt. :mrgreen:

Good luck to your daughter! :cool
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Ron Mc
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Re: Reply to my friend - wrestling, bikes

Post by Ron Mc »

thanks, I understand that, but she's thinking gold - it's her year.
She has always shot to maintain 125, so easing down to 119 isn't so bad.
Her team-mate who graduated this past year dropped from 128 one year to 119 the next and took the G-110 bronze last year. She's the girl in the center of the 3 Region champs photo above. The girl on the right is also a senior with my daughter this year and has a great shot at G-102 gold, but there are some tough little girls in that class.
At the lower weight, my daughter will also be shoe-in in NCWA 121-lb in college.
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