The Lucky Number

Wondering why this post is about "The Lucky Number 7"?
Let me clarify.

Lately, on my bike racing world of results, I've been placinf in 7th many many many times. In fact, just this past weekend I placed 7th twice: Saturday at Watsonville Crit and then again on Sunday at the Albany Crit.
While for some these are good top 10 placing for me this means not good enough: they are neither top 6 placing nor wins.

However, I heard this past Sunday, probably the 7th time, that 7 is a lucky number. So, today, with this crazy heat outside, I decided to seat back and do some research about this mysterious Lucky Number 7.

Here's what I found:

1. Number seven, is a very cabalistic and used number thru history. It is considered lucky among other reasons for being the number of perfection.

God, the Bible says, created the Universe in 7 days. Thus 6 is the imperfect number, this is why 666 is the number of Satan or the Beast.
On dices, where seven is a winning number, to get a 7 you need one dice on 6 and a 1 on the opposite side on the other dice. All opposite side numbers adds to 7.

2. Seven more sevens:

• Pythagoreans called it the perfect number, 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, the perfect figures
• Seven ancient planets - the sun was the greatest planet of the ancient seven and next to the sun, the moon, changing in all its splendor every seventh day. Seven visible planets and luminaries (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).
• Books ...The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T E Lawrence, Enid Blyton's Secret Seven series ... Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ... Reiki and the Seven Chakras ...
• Seven Deadly Sins
• The Trumpton fire brigade (Pugh, Pugh, Barney, Magrew, Cuthburt, Dibble and Grub)
• Seven Seas
• In Chinese culture, the seventh day of the first moon of the lunar year is known as Human's Day to be celebrated as the universal birthday of all human beings

3. Those who carry the Lucky 7 with them may experience:

• A dramatic turnaround of events in their favor
• Increased Lucky Streaks
• A noticeable reduction of bad luck, depression, lack of confidence
• A knack for being in the right place at the right time

4. If you believe numbers play an important role in your life, the number 7 may have special meaning for you.

Throughout the ages the number 7 has defied the law of averages, the science of mathematics. For many of the powerful and wealthy, the number 7 is a symbol of luck, of good fortune.


THINGS I LEARNED FROM ECH FIND:

1. Perfection! Voila! I don't really need to place in 7th to know that. Ask my parents, my husband, and my friends...I am perfectionist.

2. The Pythagoreans "were an Hellenic organization of astronomers, musicians, mathematicians, and philosophers who believed that all things are, essentially, numeric. The group strove to keep the discovery of irrational numbers a secret, and legends tell of a member being drowned for breaching this secrecy (see Hippasus)".

3. These events do not necessary apply to bike racing (read them again and see for yourself: if the race is in your favor, your luck to streak is greater, you have confidence, and you are in the right place in the right time, then, you should be winning the race and for that, be number 1 (UM - UNO), which when you read the next item it all does make sense.

4. I am an average racer who is fortunate to be part of such an amazing group of women called The Bellas! And this is why I keep placing in 7th.

Watsonville Criterium

Date: July 22, 2006
Category: Women 1/2/3
Distance: Many, many laps - 30 something...
Average Temperature: 80s F
Winner: Jenni Tafoya (Palo Alto)
Place: 7th

I was planning on going to Livermore Hills RR, as this is neither a hilly nor a flat course. Just perfect for me!
However, no matter how much I love the heat, I was told, by Bruce "The Almighty", that I should not go to this race due to the extreme heat. I was bummed but once I heard in the radio that Livermore hit 109 F, I was quite impressed and relieved that I stayed home. At least for awhile....

So, I went to Watsonville Crit instead. And the weather was quite pleasant. At least for me. And, from last year's result I thought we would have a great number of racers....boy I was wrong.

There were only 15 of us; of course, which race I go that has racers more than 15 racers anyway?! NONE!

Anyhow, the race started and the pace was fast from the beginning. With Palo Alto sending flyers on every lap. Amazing how much you can accomplish with you have so many team mates. They kept the pace high enough to drop riders from the start. I hung in there and with 20' into the race Stacey (Palo Alto) hit something into the turn right in front of me. She managed to be safe enough and move outside but I lost my momentum and let a small gap happen in front of me. Another gal from Morgan Stanley came in front of me and I thought we would bridge back but she sprinted and I couldn't respond.

I looked back and there was no one. So, once again, I rode by myself for about 2-3 laps trying to bridge back when Ann F., another gals and 2 other from the same team, caught me. We worked together to not get lapped and we could see the leading pack (6 of them) every time we were in the final stretch and they were making turn number 2 for quite awhile. But among the 4 of us, Ann and I would do the most work.

The referee gave us a prim lap, "Strawberries!", he yelled, and I decided to go for it so I could see how long/hard I need my sprint up that little hill to be. So, I got it! Easily; as no one seemed to want them. Oh well...

Still working together, we managed to drop 2 gals and eventually we lapped some other racers. I think that with 3-4 laps to go we could see the leading pack in front of us but with only 2 out of 3 of us working catching them seemed to dam hard.

At the last lap, this gal came to the front and pushed the pace, Ann sat behind me and I new once we hit the last turn I had to GO! So, this is exactly what I did. And, for my surprise, I almost caught Stacey (Palo Alto) and I even saw the Jen lifting up her arms once she crossed the finish line. This is how close we got to catch them.

And, back to my sprint, I got it. Ann was behind me just for a small fraction on a second.

All in all, it was a great race and, I came back home with a huge box of fresh giant strawberries!

I FOUND HOME ...

THINGS I LEARNED FROM LIESELOT

!! SUPPER SECRET !!
I am not allowed to share without Lieselot's permission.

Well... there is one thing I can share with you:
I will miss having Lieselot pulling me for a 2hrs bike ride while listening her singing:

"where'd you go....
I miss you so...
It seems like has been forever since you've been gone...."

Now it is my turn to sign it....

Wondering how the Brazilians felt about ....

... the Brazilian Soccer team loosing at the World Cup?



"There, now everyone can go back to reality"














"Disappointing 180 millions of Brazilians' hearts"








... how the French Team scorred against the Brazilian Team at the World Cup?



Ronaldinho: "Roberto Carlos, did you see my new Tiara with an "R"?"

Roberto Carlos: "Just a second, let me fix my socks first."