bartape.net

Livestong is happening at the end of the month. I am headed to Austin to ride in the Ride for the roses. Donate at

http://austin09.livestrong.org/jwbender



One guess as to who rides this bike.


Uncle, me, and "I dont own a collared shirt" Jeff

Dream bike.

As most of you know, last week I traveled to Vegas to Interbike, visit with Uncle and Jeff, interview with SRAM, and race.

Uncle, Jeff, and I scored an amazing steak dinner. We ate at N9ne steakhouse and had surfnturf. I'm not sure Jeff loved it, but I did.

Interview with SRAM went well. The MBA I spoke with wanted me to think more about what I want to do next year. I think he's right. I need some focus.

Interbike was silly awesome as the pics indicate. Just look at all that craziness. I witnessed it all. I scored some sweet shimano PRO gear for the cross bike (and watched cross-vegas). So cool.

My race brought great satisfaction. We raced in the mandalay bay parking lot. IT was more or less covered in silty-slick sand. So there were many crashes. At one point, I was gased and was taking a breather near the back. For no reason other than carelessness, this guy low-sided and then another guy just barreled into him. I avoided that crash. There was the usual lull through the 5th to last corner and I used my momentum to push up to 3rd wheel. This was a perfect position as there were 4 corners to go. The guy on the front was pinning it and I thought he left a little early. I jumped with 2 corners to go and had the choice line through the last crash-prone corner. Just as I had imagined, I felt my rear end start to slide and by the grace of God, I managed to hang on. By the time I caught traction and started going straight again, two guys got around me. The guy who went early won. I managed to get back in the fight and pick up 3rd in the 2/3 USA Crit finals. Thats a result to hang my hat on for the season. I was pumped.

I also won two primes and scored 2 pair of radars. If anyone wants a brand new pair of Livestrong radars, let me know! I'm selling em cheap.

Today I finished my work at a respectable hour and had 90 mins until my late evening meeting with my new product development team. The cleaning lady was vacuuming and I wanted to enjoy my dinner in peace. So I went to my room. I happened over to bartape.net to watch the Cervelo test team ride the early season. I have a new found respect for those boys. Wow, what a tough life. I highly encourage anyone--even non riders--to go spend some time watching the 8 min episodes.

The stories of Hausler and Hushovd are simply inspiring. I'll never forget watching Henrich get pipped at the line for Milan-San Remo. I hope he gets another shot. When I saw him at interbike, I decided that I absolutely hated his hat. But I forgive him. He also wears double diamond earrings. But he's one tough bitch on the bike. And I respect that. He knows how to suffer, and that skill will serve him well. He might be my new Jens Voight.

She took a couple years off to have a couple kids. But God bless Jen Garner's return to hotness. Are you serious? Approved. YEs, this one if for Jeff K.

Monday class is almost over. Happy to have talked about improv and observation

3rd in the vegas finals 2/3 crit! Finally a result. Could have won but my wheel slipped coming out of the last corner. It was a crash fest. I won two pair of Oakley glasses in primes

I have pinned a number hundreds of times. But never on the bed in a 3
room suit in Vegas. Pray that I keep the rubber side down.

In a cab with mountain bike movie star Paul basciglotta. He'll jump off anything. Sacrifices his life for very little pay. Check out née world disorder mtn bike movies

Jamie driscoll beats world cup champ, Canadian champ, and American champ to win cross Vegas. Awesome fun. Crazy alley catters after the race almost killed themselves in Vegas traffic

At crossvegas (cyclocross). This is nuts. Trebon and wicks are 7 feet tall. 14lb cross bikes. Thousands of fans. Such a better choice over the walk out of class that will happen at uc Berkeley tomorrow

At crossvegas (cyclocross). This is nuts. Trebon and wicks are 7 feet tall. 14lb cross bikes. Thousands of fans. Such a better choice over the walk out of class that will happen at uc Berkeley tomorrow

Interbike, uncle and jeff, interview with SRAM, cross-Vegas, cat2/3 USA crit finals, then back to berk, international biz dev debrief, then Annapolis 10 year. No time for class in there

design and system's thinking blog entry

This past weekend I read Bill Buxton's Sketching USer Experiences. A fantastic book, it took me on a thinking journey through avalanches, tribal norwegian navigation, ipod development, trek top fuel mountain bike design, and convergent vs divergent thinking. I enjoyed the manner in which Buxton used historical quotes and relevant products to help me better understand effective design. In a sentence, iteration and pencil on paper design produce amazingly fruitful results. Buxton is not afraid to pound his chest claiming that few can design in the way that he can. But by the end of the read, one starts to believe him.

My takeaways are that design can be hard and is paramount to the success of products and processes. Attempting to design solutions before the problem has truly been defined will cause headaches. However, taking the time to sketch the entire process will pay dividends in cost savings and quality. Moreover, truly understanding the challenge is usually the greatest design deliverance.

Lastly, the most important takeaway: simple is beautiful. So, make your blog entries short. 6 words on a power-point slide is more powerful. Brevity is next to Godliness.

Tour of Oakland

Already been up for 90 mins as I watch the sun comeup today. Silly bike racing. Headed 180 miles to Chico for the last crit of the year

Awesome ride with stads, Bernie murph, & @kentnewman. Ahhh MBA life. However, taking my life in my hands by eating on telegraph

Just got a surprise paycheck from cisco for pto (paid time off). What a blessing

Your voice sounds like a mix of fergie and Jesus--step brothers

Wick nasty flew out to ca for the weekend. He's still a mess

Placed 4th in the time trial yesterday. Raced like a little girl today. Would really like to have a team at some point

Wick Flew out to CA

Kid flew out to Berkeley and surprised me. He brought his new addict and built it in my garage while I took a solid nap. We are racing in the Folsom City Omnium this weekend. I'm a little nervous about the kid riding my TT bike before me tomorrow. Pray he doesnt crash. I'd like to have a fast bike for my race.

Looking forward to a great weekend. We'll keep you posted here, FB, and twitter.

What do you think of the new flip video camera? Cisco purchased Pure Digital earlier this year. THe HD video camera is super easy to use. I am still working on uploading and data management. I'll keep you posted.

Just learned in power and politics class that 5:1 is the optimum positive interaction to critical feedback ratio. Husbands take note!

Had a great metromint tour of San Francisco. Was third wheel with two corners to go. Scored a flat tire and had to sit up. Heartbreak

'Nana Bread

Yesterday was a great day. I rode 45 miles with Scott Sowry of the Brian Maxwell Fellows program. We started from his place in Marin and enjoyed a 43 mile jaunt out to the Point Reyes. We pedaled over some good sized hills and past George Lucas' place. We left early and enjoyed cooler weather. On our way back we must have passed at least 300 riders. Very cool.


I came home and "crashed hard" as my mom would say. Translation: I took a nice nap.

Then I went over to Brooke and Ryan's for a nice evening of Cal Football. I was pumped to learn that Navy took the option offense to within 2 points of beating Ohio State. Thats good for Navy, the perennial underdog.

I also booked my tickets to my 10 year Annapolis reunion. Wow. 10 years? Where did that time go? Have I really progressed at all since then? The "what next" question has been weighing very heavy on my lately. Say a prayer that I'll figure it out.

Plus, say a prayer for all those effected by cancer. I signed up to ride in Austin's Ride for the Roses in October. Basically, its a 100 mile ride to raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I would love it if you could throw $10 (or more) to my fundraising effort at:

http://austin09.livestrong.org/jwbender

Lastly, I was delightfully surprised to learn that Brooke spent the morning putting old bananas to good use. I ate the entire loaf of banana bread in one sitting. It was absolutely awesome. God bless the Browns!



I am racing the San Francisco MetroMint Giro tomorrow in the city. Its kind of a goal for me in that I want to score well. I just need a "W."

What a morning

Esquire Tuesday

Vera Farmiga

Was Matt Damon's love interest in The Departed. At the time, I wasnt sure that if I loved her for hotness, or hated her for beign into Matt Damon. Time has passed since I've seen the movie and I have decided that I will forgive her for the Damon misstep.