Tag: Sports

The Worst 2nd Place Zwift Race Result Ever

3 years ago, I finished third on a Zwift group ride. Yes, it was a group ride and not a race, but nearly 200 people participated so I felt it was a good result. I never did so well again until a few days ago.

I finished 2nd place in my group (B), 3rd overall in a field of 20. I should be thrilled, but ZwiftPower only recognized 6 total competitors and in my group I finished last. Thus I didn’t even get positive ranking points.

So still waiting on my first true podium finish and good result.

My Only Thoughts from the 49ers Super Bowl Loss

I couldn’t do enough to offset the curse. The 49ers lost anyway in what has felt like an extremely long week. After a painful loss (playoffs) to one of my sports team, I disconnect completely from information or analysis around the team. In this case, I’ve decided to disconnect from all sports news completely for at least a month. Over the past 5 years, I’ve disconnected from tech / startup news, and then news, including politics. Basically, I don’t know anything about anything and it’s been great.

On to my notes, and I’ve never read or listened to any other thoughts about the game or events surrounding it, though I accidentally heard that Steve Wilks had been fired and someone died or got shot during the Kansas City parade?

  • It was a hard game to watch, but it was a great game. I don’t know if there’s still doubt about Purdy, but he played fine relative to Mahomes.
  • Purdy was a bit low on a number of throws and I wonder if he felt rushed on them or was trying to avoid takeaways.
  • The McCaffery fumble reminded me a lot of the 49ers red zone interception vs the Ravens. They were on their way to a great start to the game and instead gave the other team a chance to reverse momentum and lead a route the other way. The 49ers survived it, but there’s still a what if the 49ers had led the game with a big score, given the offense’s inability (I assume credit the Chiefs’ defense) to push consistently.
  • The big decision I didn’t understand was with under 2 minutes to go and a third down with 4 yards to go, the 49ers went for a pass instead of run. The run would have cut another 30+ seconds from the clock or forced a Chiefs timeout. The Chiefs pass rush was very good at creating pressure in critical situations and that’s what happened here – Purdy had a quick incompletion. The Chiefs got the ball back and had extra time and timeout to go down the field. Which forced OT. Even if the 49ers had run for 1-3 yards, you set up a great 4 and short decision that could have put the game away. The thought surely should have been we have to keep the ball away from Mahomes to close the game.
  • Special teams return fumble. I don’t understand why McCloud went after the ball in a crowded situation like that.

The Loser’s Curse of Wearing a Jersey

I have a fairly extensive collection of sports jerseys from various sports, thought I rarely actually wear them. Of all sports, I think the soccer jersey is the best for wearing in normal every day life, especially as jerseys in other sports tend to be oversized for the average American male. Player-level (what they wear) jerseys tend to go as small as 40 (men’s medium), and I’d normally wear a 36 (small).

That said, I do like to wears jerseys to support my fandom, either going to a game (rare now) or watching key games from the team on TV. Unfortunately, I’ve convinced myself that my jersey wearing is strongly correlated (if not causal!) to my team losing.

I don’t remember a win while watching a game on TV with a jersey. Some of the brutal losses:

  • Warriors lose to Cavs in 2017 Finals, Game 7
  • 49ers lose to Chiefs in 2020 Super Bowl
  • 49ers lose to Ravens, this past Thanksgiving, the only time I wore a jersey this year.

I am sure there are a few more, because this guilt has been building over time. Am I typically superstitious? No. But last night went too far.

I wore my Patrick Willis jersey watching the 49’ers fall behind 24-7. I decided to take off the jersey, just in case.

The 49ers went on to overcome the largest half-time deficit in NFL conference championship history. It didn’t even take the full game, it took 12 minutes, less than a quarter. to overcome the curse.

No jersey wearing for the Super Bowl.

The Outdoors is Expensive

This year, our family committed to doing more in the snow. Lake Tahoe is about 2 hours away, and we wanted our kids to take advantage of winter activities that neither my wife or I were in a position to do from our youth until really, now.

I wanted my oldest son (5 years old) to start snowboarding so that I could learn as well, but little did I know what I was actually getting into. – I thought cycling was expensive, but it turns out most of the outdoors is expensive. Here’s a breakdown of the equipment we had to buy:

Keep in mind I spent over $2k for myself and him, even after over 30% in combined off-season discounts. This also doesn’t include the family pass ($450 for a season, considered to be a bargain) and one time private lessons at $200.

1000 Miles: Luke Prescription Cycling Sport Sunglasses from Optical Factor

Seven months ago, I wrote Finally: Cheap Prescription Cycling Sunglasses with Optical Factor, giving early impressions of their Luke Prescription Cycling Sport Sunglasses.

I’ve now used them for about 1K miles, including 12+ hours on the Davis Double Century. Photos from that event during different times of day below. My rides this spring with them have span from 50F to 90F. My takeaways:

  • TLDR: I’d buy them again.
  • They’ve been great. While the Davis Double Century ride was cooler (85F) than in most years, I still felt very hot in spurts during the climbs (close to 9K feet total). I didn’t feel distracted by the glasses despite reduced air flow. This might change as the weather gets warmer and I do more stressful (peak power) climbs. My helmet doesn’t have a good spot for holding the glasses, otherwise I’d take off my glasses during hot climbs.
  • I thought that the outer lenses picked up a lot of scratches but I learned these all came off with lens cleaner. I just applied some and the lenses look brand new again. I’m still using the original wraparound outer lens but the glasses come with multiple replacements of various tints. The glasses do pick up fingerprints / blemishes like crazy – I don’t know how expected this is for Oakleys or other premium cycling glasses.
  • Prescription vision has been great, no headaches or other issues. Again, these were $50 per pair (I bought two).
  • The only area of improvement I’d like is a stopper against the forehead – you can essentially put these glasses into your eyes – this sounds worse than the reality. The glasses don’t really move during riding, sometimes I’ll push them slightly up so they’re covering more of the vertical vision area.