Newton’s Revenge and World Cup

2010-07-11 15:36:06.000 – Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer

Tom Danielson – Winner!

Today is quite an exciting day for a few reasons. First off, the Newton’s Revenge bike race was held this morning. In this race, bikers climb the 7.6 mile Mount Washington Auto Road, one of the hardest hill climbs in the world on a mountain with some of the worst weather in the world. The race was scheduled to be held yesterday, but was canceled due to driving rain. Today that weather did not prevail as large, fluffy cumulus clouds surrounded the summit, but failed to engulf it as winds were quite light. The first person to cross the finish line was Tom Danielson. He completed the race just a few seconds behind the all-time course record of 49 minutes 24 seconds, which was also set by him back in 2002. After Tom, some 599 other riders followed him up the hill. I’d like thank all these riders for their hard work, for in doing so not only are they striving for their own personal goals, but they are also helping to support the Observatory.

The second event going on today is the World Cup. This is no other sporting event that excites me more than this and today is the final game, Spain vs. Netherlands. As I type this, the game is being played out, but I am not watching it. We are one dedicated bunch of weather observers and we cannot stop looking at clouds, not even for the World Cup, which comes once every four years! Or is it that we are a dedicated bunch of soccer fans and we cannot stop watching the game, not even for a really cool cloud, which could dissipate at any moment! Maybe it is a bit of both. For this reason, we are taping the game and will watch it this evening, cheering and celebrating without interruption, as is appropriate for such a momentous occasion. The difficult part now is avoiding the results of the game between now and then!

Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer