Randomness and Chaos

It has been awhile, and now, it's campaign season...

2012-01-22T10:07:00.000-05:00

"To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine,"

Newt Gingrich, at the republican primary debate on 19 Jan 12 in South Carolina.

Sorry that this story made it inconvenient for you Newt. See, here is how it works. The press gets a story, in this case, an interview with your ex wife, who, let’s not forget, you were cheating on for a LONG time, and broadcasts it. We knew you were a scumbag cheating adulterer before, this interview just sort of reinforced it really. Of course, the audience applauded and cheered, because they believe the Mainstream Media (who we’ll call the MSM from now on) unfairly maligned your “good” reputation and or standing in the community. Which, of course, is laughable, because once again, you were cheating on your second wife with the woman you’re married to now. For 6 years. Is it really that much of a reach that you’d want an open marriage? Not likely.

This was a big story when this interview came out. Did you expect the panel who were lobbing questions at you guys to just, you know, ignore what she said? Remember, you’re a member of the Republican party. The party that tells us they are the MORAL party, the party who are religious and the more moral between the 2 parties. Of course they were going to ask the question. To think otherwise is ridiculous. You could have played this one better of course, answered the question, without the snotty attitude, but then again, the republican base LOVES that because they’ve been told for many years that the MSM just maligns republicans. If a former wife of a democrat had done this, they would have totally ignored the story. Except for, of course, that they don’t. The media loves a scandal, they don’t much care who it is. And let’s remember, what your wife said, wasn’t, or isn’t even a scandal, she’s just detailing bits and pieces of your life together.

Another quote from Newt last night, "I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama." Are you really going to go down THAT road Newt? Really? Let’s just run down a few things that YOU’VE said about President Obama while you were a member of said Elite Media, when you were working for FoxNews. Here we go…

“The president of the United States, the most radical president in American history, has now thrown down the gauntlet to the American people. He has said, "I run a machine, I own Washington, and there's nothing you can do about it." Now, that's where we are”. C-SPAN, 4/8/10

Of course, the above quote is a familiar refrain from anyone who has listened to what Newt has been saying since he started his campaign. He likes to say that Obama is the MOST radical President. EVER! Of course, any objective review of his record as POTUS would reveal that not only is Obama NOT radical, but he’s probably more in line with President Bush’s political ideology. Definitely in the realm of the military and foreign policy. Little has changed since Mr. Bush left office, and Mr. Obama took over in terms of the wars we’re waging, and the expenditures on the Armed Forces. And, Mr. Obama, as he said during the campaign in 2008, has increased the amount of military personnel in Afghanistan and stepped up drone attacks inside of Pakistan, which is even more traditionally right wing than what President Bush did whilst in office. Radical Newt? No, not really. Not even close. He’s slightly left of President Bush, and slightly right of Clinton in his first term in office. What you said above, about him being a “radical” is just flat out wrong, and a lie, and you know it. Where was your outrage of the media falsely claiming something here? Oh, that’s right, you were part of the media then, and you were attacking Obama, so that is OK. Attacking with falsehoods that is.

This one below is from the National Review from 11 Sep 2010:

“Citing a recent Forbes article by Dinesh D'Souza, former House speaker Newt Gingrich tells National Review Online that President Obama may follow a "Kenyan, anti-colonial" worldview. What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?"

Newt. What does this even mean? I’ve heard the charge thrown about that Obama is some sort of anti colonial Kenyan something or other because his father was. First, do you know who else was anti colonial? Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, and so on. Yeah, our Founding Fathers. If they had NOT been anti colonial (as we all know, against the British, just like the Kenyans were) we’d be drinking tea and hailing the Queen. Kenya was anti colonial because they wanted to be free from the loving embrace of Great Britain. Why do you have a problem with freedom Newt? Seriously. Also, to suggest that Obama had any sort of influence from his father is ridiculous. Why you might ask? Mostly because, the man never really knew his father. Sure, he spent a couple of weeks with him, once, but that was about it. How much influence does a father have on a son when said father is not around? I reckon, not a whole lot. See, what Newt was trying to do here, was trying to introduce Obama’s “other-ness” into the conversation. As in, Obama is NOT one of us! His father was Kenyan! He’s got a weird sounding name, and Hussein is his middle name! Quick! Panic!

Here is a great one from the O’Reilly Factor on 14 November 2008.

“Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. And, frank -- for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite, of what you're taught in Sunday school.”

Oh Newt. Here is what this boils down to. Gay people in this country just want the same rights that everyone else in this country has. That’s it. They don’t want anything more, and they certainly don’t want anything less. They want the SAME rights. Hear that? They’re not a threat to religion, as a lot of gay people are also believers in Christianity and other religions. They just want the same exact rights that you have. That’s it. As far as secularism goes, do you know who else thought that was a pretty good idea? The guys who wrote the Constitution. The laws of this country are not supposed to be religious, or based on religion. What violence are you talking about? Gay people glitter bombing you and your fellow bigots? Yeah, that’s a real attack on you. I am a secular person Newt. I, am an Atheist. I don’t want to impose my views on you in that regard, I don’t begrudge anyone their religion, they’re free to do as they choose. What we do constantly see though is the Christian Theocracy in this country really actively trying to ram religion down our throats. From trying to get prayer back into public schools, to the stupid thing about Intelligent Design which is creationism with a shiny coating on it, to not allowing gay marriage, to not allowing a woman to choose what to do with her own body, and so on. The only people in America actively trying to force their ideas on other people are Christians. OK, maybe not the ONLY, but they are definitely the most vocal, and the most public about it.

Let’s just bask in the glow of a bunch of Newt quotes to end this off.

"The secular-socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did."

“This is not about the right. First of all, there are over a hundred mosques in New York City. So people have the right to free religion if they want it. I've said it openly: If they want to build this mosque in the South Bronx, I'm all for it. Governor Patterson has offered them state land -- which interestingly, I don't know of any state that's offered a church or synagogue free land. But he's trying to solve the problem by getting them away from the site.

The folks who want to build this mosque, who are really radical islamists who want to triumphally prove that they can build a mosque right next to a place where 3,000 Americans were killed by radical Islamists. Those folks don't have any interest in reaching out to the community. They're trying to make a case about supremacy. That's why they won't go anywhere else, that's why they won't accept any other offer. And I think we ought to be honest about the fact that we have a right -- and this happens all the time in America. You know, Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There's no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center. Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/16/10

(Remember, of the above quote, the people who want to build this community center – it’s not a Mosque – condemned the 9/11 attacks repeatedly as being atrocious, and the group is NOT a radical Islamic group.)

"The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up" to vote, Gingrich said. The former Georgia congressman, who is considering seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women.

"The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. . . . We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," Gingrich said, drawing cheers from the crowd of more than 100.

"Citizenship requires passing a test on American history in English. If that's true, then we do not have to create ballots in any language except English," he said. AP 1 April 2007.

So, why did I write this and collect the Newt quotes? Well, mostly because Newt keeps attacking the media saying that they are attacking him every chance they get because they’re liberal. Newt, these few select quotes I put up here are you, working in the media, attacking Obama and democrats with outright falsehoods and lies. The thing that got your underwear in a wad was that your wife detailed things that went on between you and her. Are they true? Based on your past behaviors, I actually have no doubt. Stop attacking the media Newt, you’ve done a lot worse things in the media than ABC did with the interview with your ex wife.

Oh, and guess what else? Politics is kind of a blood sport. You know this. It’s just that everytime you get hit, you cry, whine, complain, and then want to take your ball and go home. Doesn’t work like that Super Chief, unless of course you want to just quit, which I suggest you do, because you’ll never beat Obama in an election.

Damn, it's been awhile...

2010-10-03T09:32:00.000-05:00

Looking at the last time I posted something on here, it was February. Needless to say, I'm wayyyy off the pace. Ah well, fuck it. Life happens sometimes. Quick updates. I now live permanently in Alexandria, VA. Yep, I'm now a Virginian instead of a North Carolinian. We sold our house in Asheville, NC, a place I was sad not to spend more time in. But hey, job is a job, or well, this job is a much better job than the last job that's for sure. That's about it though.

Anyway, reason I'm writing today is to point out THIS GUY. This dude needs to get fired from his job, and fast if you ask me. Why? Let me explain.

Here is a grown ass man, protesting a college student who is student body President at the University of Michigan. Really? Honestly? Sir, you don't have anything else better to do with your time than to protest a college kid who, in reality, holds very little sway and or power in his elected position at a University that you went to? You sir, are an assistant attorney general for the State of Michigan. I'm pretty sure you've got some cases to work on. Also, don't you thin this might look, well, a little bad for your office, and your State in general? Of course you don't. Why? Because your bigotry knows no bounds. That's why. How are you supposed to represent the State of Michigan, and her citizens without prejudice if, well, you're highly and publicly prejudiced against at least one type of citizen from Michigan. Yes, I'm talking about teh gays.

From the story linked about,

Earlier this week, Attorney General Mike Cox defended his assistant's constitutional right to wage the internet campaign against Chris Armstrong, even though he said he considers Shirvell a "bully."

So let me get this straight Mr. Cox. If you think he's a bully, fire his ass. Why? Because, he's a bully. This doesn't have one thing to do with his first amendment rights. Nobody is taking his blog away from him. Nobody is passing a law saying he can't say the repugnant things that he's saying, and doing (protesting in front of the student's house). He's just a class A douchebag, and doesn't represent the State of Michigan very well.

Another quote from AG Mike Cox

"Here in America, we have this thing called the First Amendment, which allows people to express what they think and engage in political and social speech," Cox told Anderson Cooper on CNN's "AC 360" on Wednesday night. "He's clearly a bully ... but is that protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution? Yes."

Yes sir, it is protected under the 1st, but his employment is not protected under the 1st amendment that's for sure. On another note, someone should probably fire Mike Cox for allowing this to go on as well. As soon as Mr. Cox heard about it, this guy should have been tossed into the street. No, I'm not worried about him finding employment again. Why? Oh, he'll go and work for some hard core right wing Christian Taliban legal group, yelling and screaming about how teh gays are messing up the country (without one shred of proof of course), and how we shouldn't allow them to get married, or maybe even kiss in public, because, you know, that's yucky. Oh, I'm sure he'll find another job right quick. Maybe with Focus on the Family, or some other somewhat militant Christian worldview organization.

"Mr. [Andrew] Shirvell is sort of a frontline grunt assistant prosecutor in my office," Cox said. "He does satisfactory work and off-hours, he's free to engage under both our civil service rules, Michigan Supreme Court rulings and the United States Supreme Court rule."

This might be true, but... Isn't it also true that for a lot of places where people work (myself included), you CAN get fired for any number of reasons. Like maybe testing positive for drugs. You do those things in your own free time, and yet can get the heave and the ho for that. I know that in NC, school teachers who act inappropriately during off work hours can get fired as well. Why? For not representing their school systems in a graceful manner. Why isn't it the same for the AG's office of Michigan. Do you guys WANT this clown representing you in court? What if he had to prosecute a hate crime against someone who beat and killed a gay man? I'm pretty sure, that he would not give a case such as that his full attention and time.

On "AC 360" on Tuesday, Shirvell made no apologies for his blog postings, which include a picture of Armstrong with "Resign" written over his face. The same picture also had a swastika superimposed over a gay pride flag, with an arrow pointing toward Armstrong.

And really, here is where the real stupid starts (not that the other stuff wasn't stupid, but this takes the cake). Maybe Mr. Shirvell should go back to school somewhere, and study, you know, history. He superimposed a swastika over a gay pride flag. This, doesn't even make sense? Why? Umm, for Mr. Shirvelli's education, Nazis KILLED possibly millions of people as part of the Holocaust. Why? Because they were G-A-Y. This guy sounds like just another tea bagger with no idea about what really happened in history.

"I'm a Christian citizen exercising my First Amendment rights," Shirvell told Cooper. "I have no problem with the fact that Chris is a homosexual. I have a problem with the fact that he's advancing a radical homosexual agenda."

You may be asking yourself, what is the radical homosexual agenda that this student body President has been pushing that is going to destroy the University of Michigan?

Armstrong has supported gender-neutral housing at the university for transgender students who haven't had sexual reassignment surgery.

Yeah, I mean, it's not as if those group of folks don't get singled out or anything.

Also, according to Mr. Shirvell,

...engaging in "flagrant sexual promiscuity" with another male member of the student government; sexually seducing and influencing "a previously conservative [male] student" so much so that the student, according to Shirvell, "morphed into a proponent of the radical homosexual agenda;" hosting a gay orgy in his dorm room in October 2009; and trying to recruit incoming first-year students "to join the homosexual 'lifestyle.' "

Oh noes! Flagrant sexual promiscuity probably equaled making out with his boyfriend somewhere in public. Again, if he weren't gay, this jackass would have no problem with I'm guessing. If the other guy was enjoying it, it's not an illegal act. And he "converted" a student to teh gay radical lifestyle? Really? I'm pretty sure you can't be "converted" to gay. And wait a minute. I thought you said you didn't have a problem with him being gay? Because according to the quotes you provided above Mr. Shirvell, you DO have a large problem with him being gay. You don't want him flaunting his sexuality. You don't want him maybe encouraging another member of the gay community to come out of the closet and embrace who he is. And of course, no gay orgies in his dorm room (again not illegal), because things like that are only allowed in Republican circles possibly.

This section of the article at the end is probably my favorite,

Armstrong told CNN he has hired an attorney and is pursuing legal action against Shirvell.

Mr. Armstrong, I don't know you, but take this asshole to the cleaners, and make him pay for smearing and degrading you in public. I can only hope that Mr. Shirvell ends up broke, and out of work, due to his rampant bigotry against you.

Winter training set up...

2010-02-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

Yo, when it looks like this (see to the left) outside, it's time to ride the trainer damn it all. I hate the trainer. I loathe the trainer. I'd rather do nothing than ride the trainer, but since I have been doing nothing for like a month (or more), and the snow is piled up outside, and I don't have anything else to do, I might as well ride the accursed trainer. I already did my laundry for the travel I have coming up this week (Lansing, MI, and then Burlington, VT), I've already cleaned my bathroom. I suppose, I could always watch a million hours of Super Bowl pre-game, but that will only interest me for so long. So, again, trainer ride.

Here is the trainer set up right now, as it stands, in my tiny bedroom. Not optimal, but I've got the TV in front of me, iPod close by, and if I get really tired, I can hop off the bike, and jump into bed. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather ride outside, but currently, I've got no knobby tired bikes in DC with me, and to ride the road bike out in the crap out there right now, that would be, well, bad isn't the word for it. I'm sure there would be pain and suffering, and NOT the good kind. Continuing on the cycling path of things, I was sorry to see that Franco Ballerini died in a car crash in a rally where he was navigating for the driver. Gone too soon I think. He won some races himself, and then coached the Italian team, and sometimes even got them to stop fighting amongst themselves, in order to pull in a few world championships and not to mention, a gold medal from Bettini in Athens. He had a good career on the bike, and off. I'm sure he'll be missed. I'll leave you all with this little snippet of the 1994 Roubaix with Ballerini throwing it down...

Ballerini throwing down in PR.

Another one bites it...

2010-01-31T10:51:00.000-05:00

Zirbel's B sample also positive from Velonews. com. Oops, looks like someone tested positive 2 times now, and will be banned for a couple of years. Say goodbye to the career you never really had doper. Don't let the proverbial door hit you in the arse on the way out. Seems as though, he has read the excuse list though, because just like everyone else who has ever gotten busted (well, almost everyone), he's got several excuses, all of which are 99.9% lies. Sure there is a small, very small, almost miniscule chance he's telling the truth, but those chances are not very good. I think it goes back to the old slim and none, and instead of slim just leaving town, slim and none both RAN outta town. Anyone have the over and under on how many doping positives we'll get this year during the race season once it gets cranked up? How many more times will Boonen get busted for recreational drugs? He does seem to like to snort the powder. My wife has officially jumped off of the Boonen fan wagon, after she found out he was dating a 16 year old girl (well, she's probably 18 or so now I guess, or getting close to that age). Now, she finds him creepy. She's moved over to liking Cavendish, or Millar. She has a thing for pale lanky Englishmen. How she ended up with me (swarthy, dark, hairy, Frenchman) I'll never really know, but I'm not going to question it. She pretty much rocks my world.

Anyway, regardless of doping going on, I'm still pretty psyched for the real season to start. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, spring classics are where it's at. This is where the hard men (or the best dopers) come into their own. I think I read somewhere the Lancey-poo is going to be riding the Classics this year, which makes me like him, just a little bit. I know, another Lance hater. Don't get me wrong. I completely respect what he's done on the bike, and I respect what he's done off the bike (Livestrong and cancer stuff and things like that), it still doesn't make me a fan of him though. That's all I will say about that for now. But, get out there like you did in the old days Lance, and get in the mud, it'll be good for you. Ride some cobbles. Taste some cow shit from the roads in Belgium. It's going to be another great Spring season.

Cross Worlds happened this weekend. And I'm disappointed and sad for one Katie Compton, who had cramp issues this weekend, and didn't finish the race. I feel sad, because she's is one fucking super fast woman out there, and she's not yet gotten her World Championship, and this year, she was on FIRE. Vos won, again, which doesn't surprise me, because after Compton, she's got the goods as well. Here is hoping that Katie can figure out her leg cramping issues, and come back again next year, and put the smack down on the women 'crossers of the world. Maybe she needs to pull a "Page" and just pack up camp, and just stay in Europe from late August until World Championships, because it does appear that her cramping issues come up with lots of travel. She doesn't need to come back to the US to ride National Championships, she's already proven, time and again, that she can kick the shit out of the women's fields here (most of the time) without really trying. Stay in Europe Katie, and bring home the rainbow jersey. What I hope she doesn't do though, is give up, because she seems to be getting stronger every single year (when she's not cramping). Good luck Katie, here's hoping you come back stronger next year, and kick the ass that most of us know that you can.

Team Sky cracking the whip early...

2010-01-17T23:35:00.002-05:00

Bike racing season has just started, and already, Team Sky are cracking the whip. Seems as though Greg Henderson took a win in the warm up the Tour Down Under at the Cancer Council Helpline Classic in Australia. Not too shabby, actually, they went 1-2 in the finale with Henderson's last lead out man taking second, over the guy Henderson was hired to help out last year, Andre Greipel. Talk about sweet revenge/irony, or whatever it is you want to call it. True enough, Henderson did not win over Cavendish, who is still the best sprinter out there in my opinion, but, this bodes well for the young Team Sky, and will keep their "made a deal with the Devil" owner Rupert Murdoch happy at least for a little while. Now, I'm not going to hold Sky accountable, just because they're owned by a raging maniacal egomaniac, just pointing out that they're owned by such a man. Or is it his son? Anyway, what it boils down to, is Murdoch is in the driver's seat. Also what it boils down to, they had a good opening race of the 2010 season.

Now the other thing I found amazing about this race, was the size of the crowds. I mean, seriously, check this picture out. We're seeing 3, 4, 5, and sometimes 6 deep out there to basically watch a parking lot crit. Fucking awesome really. Then again, the Australians seem to have a better sense of these things anyway, and or, are more into it. Oh, and Lance was there too, always a big crowd draw, no matter how you feel about him. He brings it. Same for his silly "little" tweet ride the other day. 6000 people showed up? Again, amazing the drawing ability that guy has. Would I have gone and done a ride like that? Hells yeah! When would be the next time you could ride along with 6000 people (clusterfuck no doubt) with a full police escort an closed roads? For many of us, that time would be never. I'm sure, like with all other large scale rides of this nature, there was shredded skin, and carnage on the roadways, but this is the price we pay.

Anyway, all of this early season shit only gets me more excited for the main event. Yeah, you guys know what I'm talking about. Flanders - GW - and then PR in April. For me, there is no finer time of the year. The smell of mud and dog shit is in the air from everything thawing out from its winter freeze. Cobbles are hammered over. Belgians are drunk off of their asses at 0800 on a Sunday morning. Frites are being consumed in mass quantities. There isn't any better time of the year for bike racing, and for those of you who think that there is, you're fucking absolutely wrong. Just accept it. Those 3 Spring Classics (and 1 semi classic) are what it's all about folks. OK, I'll throw in LBL as well, but that week of racing can't be beat. I'm definitely going over there for vacation some year, just to take it all in.

Anyway, it's mid January, let the racing begin. Seems as if it were just a couple of days again when he harkened the end of the race season with Lombardy. Time to crank it up again on the roads.

Mulsim Obama hates Charlie Brown...

2009-12-06T12:51:00.001-05:00

Turns out, the mayor of Arlington, TN thinks that he really and truly knows the reason for Obama's speech the other night on Afghanistan. It was to pre-empt the Charlie Brown special, because, you know, Obama is a dirty Muslim, and doesn't believe in the Lord our Savior, Jesus H. Christ (does anyone know what the H stands for anyway??). Check out the link here on the story itself. Oh, of course, it was all much to do with nothing. Have people lost their ever loving minds though? Seriously? Obama is an evil Muslim who doesn't want people to see the Christmas Charlie Brown special? And this guy, is a mayor of a town, sure, it's probably a small town, but still. He's supposed to be a leader, and he's a fucking moron. Turning towards Afghanistan though. Obama pledged more troops. I don't know how I feel about this really. On the one hand, it's probably overdue, and on the other hand, I'd rather have all of our men and women back instead of in harm's way. So what do we do here? In speaking with some of the guys I work with, they're behind this troop escalation (it's not a surge, since the word surge indicates that there is some sort of plan for "winning" whatever that means). They have thought for a long time that we needed more guys on the ground in Afghanistan, and they are also proponents of letting them get out there, do their jobs. The Big A Army is good at blowing shit up, and killing bad guys. This much is true. Maybe, they're one of the most proficient groups we have at doing this, although, the Marines are right there with them. Our Army and Marines were never meant to be out and about within the people, building societies back, and doing counterinsurgency efforts. Our Green Berets, and SF soldiers though, are very good at this. It is a key component of their training. I believe what we need to do though is to kill as many of the bad guys as we can, and make it a price that they're not willing to pay any longer, again, remember, we're good at destroying things, and killing bad guys. We need to bring in specialists, being SF soldiers, or civilians that can show folks in Afghanistan how to create a society, and we also have to learn that, what functions as a government, or what functions as a society in Afghanistan is not even remotely going to be like what we have here in the United States. They're not going to have a Starbucks, and a Target on every corner in their country, and there is going to be a certain level of chaos almost always, but they are also a tribal nation. Run by local leaders, more so than a central government. We have a hard time wrapping our heads around that paradigm. Anyway, like I said, I just wish we could get all of our troops home. Garrisoned, and safe stateside. That might put me out of a job, but then again, that's a hit I think I'd be willing to take, if it meant, no more fighting for us. I also have come to believe that eventually, some guy in Pakistan is going to rat out Bin Laden, yeah, more than likely, he is somewhere in Pakistan. They're going to get sick of Predators dropping bombs on houses and people around them, and they're going to finally give him up, sick of his shit, and the trouble that he brings along with him. We'll probably snatch him up then, or kill him, but what will that really solve? Nothing really. At this point in time al Qaeda has been basically wiped out, and or spread out around the globe. We're looking at an organization that doesn't have a "central command" any longer so to speak, but what we have to be vigilant about is smaller cells, of 1-10 guys plotting smaller scale attacks against soft targets. Which means, that yes, battling terrorism is probably going to become more of a police action, than a military action. Why am I writing about this? Not sure really. It's that time of the year when cycling is in its down cycle, except for 'cross, and well, there are only 2 words I've got say about cyclocross. Katie. Compton. That woman is fucking hardcore no doubt. If she doesn't win the world championship this year, she's cursed, or something like that. Because really, she's on a tear, and she would be only the 2nd American to be a world champ in 'cross, the first being Matt Kelly. Whatever happened to that guy anyway? Didn't he just burn out, and disappear? I seem to remember him making a "comeback" so to speak at some point in time, but haven't heard from him since then. He was a world champ, and then, gone. Why do our young racers all seem to end up in that situation anyway? Going back to Compton, she'll be on the top step of the podium this year at the world championships, I can only hope. She's been killing it so far this year, and I'm pretty sure she'll keep on that path. If she doesn't, I'd be surprised, since she is head and shoulders above the rest of the women in the US at least. None seem able to keep up with her at all. She's a few gears higher than the rest. We'll see, we shall see. Good luck to her.

Sometimes, someone hits it on the head...

2009-08-01T19:22:00.003-05:00

So, every once in awhile, I read something that makes good sense, and I just read something of that nature, and wanted to share it with you.

Alter column on health care

Read it, it's good, I promise, and makes too much sense, so it will probably be ignored.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that I know a lot about health care, but what I do know, is that republicans are trying to scare Americans into not reforming the system, and they're doing a pretty good job of it. Talking about senior citizens getting euthanized, and of course, bringing up the dreaded "S" word, that being SOCIALISM!! I've got a list right here folks, and on it, are the names of KNOWN socialists that reside in the Congress of the United States, and of course, they're all democrats! God forbid that we have health care for all of our citizens, that would be downright un-American by God! Hey, like the article link says, I've got mine, to hell with the rest of you!

Seriously though, if my taxes go up, by just a little bit, to help provide health insurance to my fellow citizens who don't have it, I'm all for it. Really. I think it could be one small thing that I could do for my country, and my fellow citizens that could make a better country for ALL of us.

These last few weeks have been silly. I thought republicans, and their talking mouthpieces on the radio and TV were bad during the Clinton years, but folks, they have gone off of the rails. Just this week, as mentioned above, we had conservatives (including lawmakers) talking about how the health plan reform would euthanize senior citizens, and then we have the "birthers", the growing number of conservatives who honestly believe that Obama is NOT a citizen of the United States (not a natural born citizen) even though he was born in Hawaii, and the government of Hawaii has said, repeatedly that he was born there. Then we have Glenn Beck calling Obama a racist, and that he doesn't like white people (forgetting of course that he is half white, so he must slap himself every morning when he wakes up). And so on, and so forth. Damn, we're only 6 months into his first of second terms, and we're already getting the crazy shit. I know that this is a strawman argument, but think, just THINK if a liberal commentator had called Bush a racist. Think about what happened when Kanye West said something to that effect, the conservatives went fucking NUTS! Think about what happened when the Dixie Chicks said that they didn't like George Bush, the conservatives went FUCKING NUTS! And, most country stations wouldn't play their music, being good patriotic Americans that they are.

All of a sudden, even in the absence of evidence, a mainstream conservative commentator calls Obama a racist, and everyone is OK with this? We have Lou Dobbs calling for Obama to show his birth certificate, because there are "questions" about where he was born (bear in mind, this was actually put to rest almost a year ago when this first came up by Hawaii, and Obama himself), and that's somehow OK? That's a legit question? It smells folks, it freakin' smells of racism to me, especially coming from Lou Dobbs, king of TV racists (see his past tirades about illegal immigrants for good examples of how he hates people of color). Throw in, again, people like Glenn Beck advocating for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of the United States, and that's OK?

We need to call these assholes out for the misinformation, and outright lies that they sow on a daily basis. They'll cry about censorship (it's not), they'll cry about freedom of speech (it's not a freedom of speech issue), but it needs to be done. Honestly, I'd be just as angry if folks were doing this to a republican President, but since the media is in the pocket of the conservatives, this would never happen.

Days of le Tour...

2009-07-19T08:20:00.000-05:00

Of course, le Tour is going on. Everyone on here no doubt knows this, and if you don't, pull your head out of your ass, and start watching. It's been, eh, not too bad so far. I'm watching it as I write this now. I was in California last weekend for a wedding, and there is something to be said for waking up around 7, watching the last little bit of the race, and starting the day. West coast knows where it's at.

Anyway, I've got some comments on the Tour. Mostly about yesterday. As folks undoubtedly know, Hincapie got douched by Garmin and his old "friend" Armstrong and Astana. Look, George is a class act. Even today, he's not talking shit about what happened yesterday. Is he disappointed? Yeah, no doubt. Is he talking about it with those in the media? Nope. Why? He's all class. He's had many a disappointment over the years in bicycle racing, and yesterday, would have been a great way for him to take yellow (no doubt for probably just a day, maybe 2), and have the peloton show some love for the man from South Carolina. Did they let it happen? No, no indeed. And really, I can't see why. As mentioned above, George, class guy. I don't know too many people in the sport of cycling, and or who follow cycling who don't like the guy. I've met him many different times over the years of riding and racing in the Southeast, and he's genuinely a decent fellow. His brother is also a decent fellow. And their parents are decent people. Also, there are some people in the peloton (cough-Garmin-cough) who shouldn't have just made enemies big time with the strongest pro team in the sport right now, that being Columbia. I can see it now. Stapleton will do all he can to fuck up Vaughters' program and I can say, I'm all for that. Fuck that guy. He sucks.

Moving on to Vaughters, or JV. We get it. You're supposed to be "the smart guy" in the world of team directors. I like what you're doing with Garmin, and I like a lot of the riders on the team, but you sir, are a grade one douchebag. Stop being such a dick and acting all superior. The argyle was nice for a little while, time to find something new. Those sideburns, fucking shave that shit. You're not in college anymore after all, and they make you look like, well, I don't know what they make you look like, but you look freakin' ridiculous. I know you don't like Hincapie because he wouldn't give your team free clothing back a few years ago, but Jesus H. Christ, get over it. Seriously, stop concentrating on just the team time trial. Sure it's nice to show yourself out there, and show you can be the best team in a time trial, but that's only one stage. I'm very impressed with Farrar as well. The kid has got the goods, and needs a little extra something, and he'll be winning stages shortly. But Vaughters, stop being a dick. Your guys should have been nowhere near the front yesterday. No reason really. The only reason I can think of is to screw Columbia, and in turn, Hincapie.

Then we have Astana. Lance throwing up his hands basically saying we didn't do anything to take away from George. Bullshit you guys didn't. You had a bunch of your boys riding tempo on the front when the gap got up to 8 or 9 minutes. AG2R should have been the team doing it, and instead, it was you guys. Amazing really. All of those years Hincapie toiled in the mountains and the flats for Armstrong and Johan, and what does he get in return? Fucking hosed. Nice play boys, nice... I can't wait until Vino comes back shortly, and gets the 2 of you fired, and you'll be racing in the US under the Mellow Johnny's banner.

As you might be able to tell, I think the group should have let Hincapie wear the jersey. They didn't. They'll pay for it I believe in the near future. It's sad really, again, because Hincapie is all class really, and has had some bad luck over the years (broken bikes, ditches, stronger teammates, no sprinting ability, bad tactical know how, and so on). I think yesterday really just made me a bigger Columbia fan. Cavendish is brash, and I like that. He's kind of a dick as well, which also makes me smile. As someone once said, it ain't bragging if you can do it. Cavendish makes it look easy taking wins. Now, since he's making no doubt a ton of money, let me put 2 words out there for you: Dental Hygiene. Use some of that money and get those baked bean teeth fixed up a little bit.

Rant, over...

He's making a list, and checking it twice...

2009-04-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across this story this morning, and thought that I would share it with you guys. It appears as though we are heading right back to the 1950's where a lot of republicans would like to take us. Yes, Spencer Bachus representative of Alabama has a "list" of his colleagues, who are, "GASP!" SOCIALISTS!! He puts the number at 17 exactly. How he came about this list, and or the people on it, I think that he is the one and only person who might know. As in, much like McCarthy (who a lot of conservatives these days are defending, and saying that he was correct 95% of the time - not kidding about that), he has probably made this list up out of thin air with little to no proof, aside from his craziness creeping in on him at night while he creates such crazy things in his Mom's basement.

Mr. Bachus, since you have this list now, where do you want to go from here? Should we have hearings led by yourself and Representative Bachman from Minnesota as to who is, and who isn't pro-American (in your view) working in the House of Representatives? Bear in mind, back during the election cycle, Ms. Bachman also made a statement to the media, on FoxNews of course where she wasn't challenged, that she knew for a FACT that there were communists, and socialists in the House, and that the media should do a complete and thorough investigative report on who was, and who wasn't pro-American in the House. I am thinking, just when you think that some conservatives can't get any crazier, along comes items like this. Seriously, GOPers, do you condone this?

On the one hand, if this were coming from say, talk radio, or even from Mr. Crazy Kook himself, Glenn Beck, that might be one thing. But, we have this coming from elected officials. This wasn't OK in the 50's when Joe McCarthy did it, and it's far from OK at this point in time. I mean, these people that they're talking about ran for, and got elected to Congress. How un-American can you be to want to serve your district and your country? Not very I would think. Even though there are some good perks being in Congress, it's not as if it's not hard work. And I sincerely believe that the vast majority of people IN Congress do it because they believe that they can make a difference, and help the country along. I even believe that about Bachus and Bachman, in their own twisted little way. Call it naive if you will, but that's just where I come down on this one.

The other thing recently that has been driving my crazy are these so called Tea Parties that are supposed to be held on April 15th in protest of the Obama administration's spending plans for the future. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty hard core liberal (I'm sure you would not have guessed that at all), and I really don't have an issue with anyone criticizing the President, not at all. If you have some valid issues that you feel need to be brought up, please, do it. And using a protest as a vehicle to get noticed does work, so please, again, do it. The heartburn that I have with this crap though, is that FoxNews is not only covering the news of these events, they are overtly promoting them, and taking charge of them. This is not the job of a so called news organization. They're not there to promote these events. The response that I've gotten from some folks is something like this, "Well, the mainstream media (for some reason FoxNews, even though they are the highest rated 24 hour news channel never makes it into the so called mainstream media) covered the war protests and anything against George W. Bush, so why can't Fox cover these events?" Again, they are more than welcome to cover said events, but please, show me a case of where a media source promoted war protests, or any protests at all? They didn't, and shouldn't. That's not what news sources are for, but then again, we do know that FoxNews is just the televised propaganda arm of the GOP and the republicans anyway. I mean, just look at their venom spewing forth about anything Obama. Being critical is one thing, but berating every single little thing the man has done, or will do is quite another. And it is far from being, "Fair and Balanced" as they proclaim to be. Or their other slogan, "We report, you decide.." they're not really reporting, they're promoting.

So what about this stupid socialist list? What the fuck is that all about anyway? Get a grip republicans, you're circling the drain, and doing things like this, is only going to make the flush go faster. I mean, I really should be supporting these crazies in their efforts, mostly because it's going to make it a lot easier for the guys on my side (democrats) to win more seats in the mid-terms in 2010, but I do hate to see a once proud political party who had real ideas, and real criticisms (even though I disagreed with a lot of them) go the way of the Dodo bird. It's kind of sad, and doesn't help us along the path of recovery.

Is it getting crazy out there???

2009-04-06T10:29:00.002-05:00

Over this past weekend, we saw a man in Pittsburgh call the police to his home, only to be laying in wait for them inside. When they arrived, he shot 2 in the head, and killed another officer at the scene, wounding 1 or 2 more during his onslaught. There is still an on-going investigation into these killings, but one of the main reasons coming out as to WHY he did this? He was afraid that Obama was going to put into control a fascist government in the United States, and that they were going to come and take all of his guns away from him. Why is this scary to me, when this sounds like some fringe individual doing this? It's not so "fringe" after all, because if you go onto FoxNews lately, you hear a lot about the fascist state of our government under Obama from the screech monkeys broadcasting on that station. Now, I'm a big believer in the freedom of speech, but one has to wonder if what they're doing is not somehow endangering people out on the streets, like this policemen, and or if it is endangering our President?

Turns out, this individual who did the shooting (Richard Andrew Poplawski) was a big fan of FoxNews, and also a big fan of a gentleman named Alex Jones who is a severe right wing conspiracy theorist, and radical talk show host. Where has Mr. Jones been making appearances lately to ply his new talking point of Obama being a fascist? Yes, FoxNews. He has been telling anyone that will listen (and lately, that's a lot of people) that Obama is starting to work on his program of gun confiscation. Why? So that he can rule the country, without fear of violent reprisal from its citizens. I kid you not. Among some of his other theories is that 9/11 was done by our own government, yeah, he's one of those 9/11 truth type people. Whatever that means. I'm sure that he could tell you maybe better than me. Check out his website, if you dare, at: Info Wars.

Now really, the thing that worries me the most about this, is the fact that here we have one guy, who, don't get me wrong, is completely responsible for his own actions, but who has prescribed to a radical ideology that is not even remotely close to being based in, something that most of us like to call, truth. These guys are projecting this idea, and these "facts" as if they were happening as we speak. Now, we've always had these types out there, but the thing is, is that places like FoxNews are now giving them mainstream exposure. In other words, the most powerful and most watched 24 hour a day new network is promoting these guys, and their ideas, and seldom to you hear them disagree with them. What worries me the most is that someone might get the false idea that Obama is usurping our Constitutional rights, and that someone might take into their own hands, "dealing" with that issue. I firmly believe that voices like these, give rise for the potential of increased amounts of danger to our President. And yes, even though I am a self avowed liberal, had these things been said and or televised about Bush, I would have the same concerns. There were plenty of left wing kooks out there proclaiming Bush to be the 2nd coming of Hitler, but that is stupid rhetoric, and I've always firmly believed that calling ANY American leader equivalent to Hitler is totally insane. The biggest difference, is that we didn't see these left wing loons given airtime on mainstream media outlets, and rightfully so. They're allowed to say, and propose theories all that they want, but should national news stations be giving them coverage and or exposure? I would think the best answer for that is no. Definitely, they should not be. FoxNews is doing just that. Not only are they doing it, but they have almost entire shows on it. Check out the new Glenn Beck show on FoxNews for a good example of the craziness. The man breaks down almost on a daily show, cries on air about how much he loves this country, and how we're going down a road towards socialism, and or fascism. Lately, his talking point has been fascism. He also claims that this is not directed towards any particular individual, but towards our government as a whole. Funnily, and strangely enough, when George W. Bush was actually usurping our Constitutional rights, Mr. Beck was silent on this matter. It was only when a democrat took the White House did he decide that he'd "had enough". Funny how that works.

Just a story to relate, and to show that this isn't just a few folks yelling this out loud. Last week, I went to the local Asheville gun show. I'm a hardcore liberal, but I like guns. I like shooting them, and I would like to own some. I think shooting is a fun activity, and when the gun show comes to town, I go and see what they've got. Anyway, I went, and ran into various people hawking their wares, and the common refrain that I heard from almost everyone manning a booth at the show? Obama was plotting and scheming to enact legislation to come and get their guns. Yes, the evil democrats were planning to come and get everyone's guns in a matter of possibly only weeks. And hence, I was offered AR-15s at almost every booth I stopped and looked at (for those of you who don't know, the AR-15 is the civilian version of the M-16 or M-4 assault rifle used by the United States military - only it's semi automatic, and not full auto). Why were they offering these so hot and heavy? Well, turns out, according to them, Obama is coming to get those guns, and you won't be able to buy them ever again. I also had a talk with the local militia folks, and the local folks who are part of the Glenn Beck 9/12 Project, which is a hoot to read through their website. Why? Mostly because all of their alleged values are values and things that the people talking about them (ie, Glenn Beck) say that they believe in, but they don't live those values. Check out the 9/12 Project website: 9/12 Project.

The thing that makes me laugh the most, is that they are trying to mimic what our founding fathers did. The best part about that, is that if our founding fathers were around today, people like Glenn Beck would be calling them fascists, socialists, treasonous, and traitors to their country. I have no doubt about it. What he wants to do is bring America back to 9/12, when we were all supposedly united in the wake of the terrorist attacks on our country. And here are his 9 principles:

1. America Is Good.

These folks seem to think that there are a bunch of Americans around who think that America is not good. He is so wrong, it's utterly amazing on this one. What he's really trying to get at, is people in America who love their country, and who points out its flaws, and where we can make things better. These folks want to believe that America can do NO wrong. Which is absurd, especially things that we've seen in the last 7-8 years. America is great, I love this country, and I don't think I'd want to live anywhere else, but to put on the blinders, and make believe we don't do anything wrong is bad, very bad. What is it they always say about those who don't study history are prone to repeat it?

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

I don't really have a problem with this, although my belief in some all knowing and all powerful deity is dubious at this point in time in my life, I have generically no problems with others who do worship a God. Whether it be God, Allah, Buddha, or some other being. Thing is, these folks are Christian only. I guarantee it. They are planning some sort of demonstration here in Asheville shortly, I might show up, and claim I'm a Muslim, and see if they take me in. Chances are really good, they will turn their nose up, because the way I take this, is that it's a Christian only kind of thing. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

Again, no problems with this really. Except that the man espousing this point (Mr. Glenn Beck) essentially lies and embellishes for a living, meaning, almost every new day, he's telling more and more whoppers on the air.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson

I left the quote in here because he references Thomas Jefferson, and talking about the family being sacred and all. Funny, TJ had an affair with one of his slaves, never re-married after his wife died, and basically ignored his children. Sure, you and your spouse are the ultimate authority, as things pertain to the family. Who is saying different? Nobody really. Nobody at all. They like to make pretend that the government is telling you how to raise your children.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

This is fine as well, except when people start talking about trying to prosecute certain members of the Bush administration, folks like Glenn Beck get apoplectic about it, and start calling it a witch hunt, and useless, and pointless. Of course, because it is someone that they like.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

Of course there are no equal results. But, please show me where in the Constitution the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is found? It's not in there. It always makes me laugh with these guys who talk about these things that they want government shrunk down to be just small enough to, fit into our bedrooms. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is great, unless you're, for example, gay. Then you're shit out of luck according to the folks forwarding this.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

This is obviously a comment towards you know, having to pay taxes. You want a great country guys? We've got to pay for it. And right now, we're in a gigantic fucking mess leftover from the previous administration, and we've got to fix it. What is going to fix it? Probably lots of money. Nobody is forcing you to be charitable at all. It is totally left up to you as to whether or not you want to donate time and or money to worthy organizations. I would ask these folks, who is MAKING you be charitable? Nobody. Absolutely nobody.

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

I'm glad that these folks finally say this. Thing is, when I have disagreed with them before, I've been called un-American, traitorous, treasonous, and so on and so forth. It's amazing to read this, because even now, if you disagree with what Mr. Beck is saying, you're called un-American, or worse.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

Of course the government works for us. This is why we have elections. This is why elections have consequences. You don't like someone who is either a Senator for you, or a representative, or the President? You campaign against them, and get them removed from office. Of course they work for us.

Look, 9/12 Project folks. America was founded as a secular nation, because our Founding Fathers saw what religions did to people, and or to governments. The Constitution made sure that religion was as far from our laws as possible, as in, there is no mention of religion in the Constitution other than the fact that you can practice however you want. It's also funny to me that these folks are now coming out of the woodwork, now after a democrat has taken office, when during the reign of Bush, they were silent about all of this spending, about infringements on our rights. They had nothing to say. Thing is, why don't they just come out and say, we don't like democrats. We don't like Obama. It's better than trying to portray yourself as some sort of reincarnation of our Founding Fathers, which, sorry Mr. Beck, you're not even close. They would have tarred and feathered you, and ran you out of town on a rail.

Flanders, frites, and beer...

2009-04-06T08:57:00.001-05:00

As we all know, yesterday was the Tour of Flanders, like Mr. J I turned off the phone, didn't read the internets and their series of tubes, and basically ignored all media until the race started at 5PM on OLN (I refuse to call is VS). I was NOT disappointed in the result, that much I can say. Stijn is one hardcore bad-ass. He rode away from that small group like they were on fire, and he was trying to save his own life. He put it down, never looked back, and rode that shit solo to the end. I loved it when he had a teammate with that other guy from Liquigas, and the green rider looks over, and gives a look like, "Help me man, he's going to win!" Quick Step guy looks over, gives him a little push on the butt, and is like, "Sorry man, you're fucking on your own. We're going to party tonight!"

Out of all of the classics, I like Flanders the best. I can't help it. To that effect, what I do every year is peel and fry a bunch of potatoes (10 pounds this year), make the best frites you've ever had, invite a bunch of other mindless bike junkies like myself over, and we gorge on frites, mayo, and Belgian beer. This year, it was no different. Turnout was kind of low, because most of my riding friends tend to still race bikes (what they hell are they thinking), and there was a race out of town this weekend. Their loss my friends, their loss. I did almost lose a finger in the process though, got to watch out for those mandolin slicers, they'll take a finger off, it almost got mine.

By the time the race was over on TV last night, I had eaten about 2 pounds of frites, drank a few Chimay's, and was feeling all good. Which was a good outcome because earlier in the day, I set off for what I thought was going to be a 2 hour ride, which turned into a 4 hour I got lost ride. I do hate it when that happens. Luckily, I got some directions from a good old boy in a pick up truck somewhere in the mountains of Western North Carolina, and made it back before I heard something like, "Squeal like a pig boy!"

Back to Flanders though, my wife, seriously disappointed that Boonen didn't win, although she claims that her love for Tom Boonen dissipated somewhat after he started dating the 16 year old. Kind of creepy now isn't he? If we don't keep an eye on him, he could end up like Vince, the Sham-Wow guy. I'm just saying. Anyway, if Flanders is any indication, GW in the middle of this week will be a battle, as will the Hell of the North this coming Sunday. This is my favorite time of the year without a doubt. 3 big races, all in a week, for a bike racing loving asshole like myself, how and where could it get any better? And no, the Giro, nor the Tour is as good as the Classics in my opinion. Stage racing = boring most of the time. Bide your time, ride great in the TT, don't get dropped in the mountains, and you win... Yeah, super. It's almost predictable stage racing is these days. It puts me to sleep. But, I still watch it. I can't freakin' help myself.

What is the call for Sunday? Who is going to take Paris-Roubaix? Any guesses out there?

Things that make me laugh...

2009-02-21T02:31:00.001-05:00

Herein, are just a few things that I just read this evening that kind of made me chuckle, or made me think about a few things, maybe they did for you as well, eh, then again, maybe not. You decide. Deride, if you will.

Part the first:
O'Grady's recent tirade.

As I normally do, I laughed at Mr. O'Grady's latest throwdown on the sport that apparently too many people take way too seriously. How do we know this, well, fast forward to the letters section on Velonews and we have this response from an irate reader of O'Grady's recent outburst:

"Editor,

I read Patrick O'Grady's on-line article, unfortunately.

Was this called for?
"The others, belonging to Janez Brajkovic, Steve Morabito and Yaroslav
Popovych, are indistinguishable from the jillions of other Madone 6.9 Pros
ridden to mid-pack finishes in industrial-park crits worldwide by
potbellied masters racers. "
Sure, we may have never been god-like pros, but describing what is probably the MAJORITY OF YOUR RACING SUBSCRIBERS as "potbellied" was inaccurate, unnecessary and demeaning. This subscriber would suggest that you choose your words a bit better.

John Strasser"
Actual link to letter section at Velonews.com.

Alright, first of all, it looks like someone touched a nerve with Mr. Strasser eh? Did someone eat too much food over the holidays and hasn't been riding since about that time and has a bike that is oh so average, but really highly extremely overpriced? Hey, nothing wrong with the Madone, as long as you don't actually have to pay for one. I'd ride one all day, if it was given to me. If I'm going to part with my hard earned greenbacks, or in the situation that I'm in now, my lack of hard earned greenbacks, sorry, it's not going to be for a Trek. I'd much rather ride the Pinarello Prince that I have now, but I digress.

Second, Strasser, seriously, get a sense of humor. Most pot bellied mid pack master's racers know what they are (it's what O'Grady has been for, well, many years now, and what I ASPIRE to be), and they apparently don't take themselves as seriously as you do. I know lots of master's racers, and guess what? Those are normally some of the coolest cats out there, mostly because the ones I know have been racing bikes since the days of toe clips and wooden bottom shoes, and didn't just discover the sport when Lance rolled around le Tour in 1999 (or later for the late bloomers).

I can picture Mr. Strasser now. Rolls up to the "Saturday Morning World Championship ride" (you know which ride I speak of, there is one in almost every town where there are, well, people who like to ride bikes), on his shiny new Madone, matching Nike shoes, matching Giro Atmos LiveStrong edition helmet, Astana kit (he's already upgraded from the old Disco kit), a $400 pair of Oakleys, embrocation on his newly shaved legs, and not a speck of dust nor dirt anywhere near his visage. As the group rolls out of town, he's yapping away about how he's been doing some zone 3 this week, and maybe a little zone 4, and that his new SRM Dura-Ace crank (he has to use this crank because they don't make a SRAM crank - yet) is giving him great power files that he can upload to his training blog so that his coach can see them, and his friends can be amazed by a ton of squiggly colored lines that only maybe about 3 people in the world really understand anyway.

As the group makes their way into the "meat" of the ride, you know, where the shit normally starts to get thrown down, he sticks in the middle of the ride for a little while. Talking less now, trying to keep the legs turning over, and talking the game gets harder when you suck, and your gut is getting in the way (I ought to know, my gut is getting in the way more and more these days). As the group approaches the section of road where the shit really goes down, all of a sudden, Mr. Madone is no longer seen. Where the hell did the annoying guy go? A few minutes later, we all know the answer.

He took the side road about a mile back so he could take a short cut, catch his breath, and intercept the ride up the road where it's a little flatter, and he can tuck in behind everyone else.

Over the flats we go, and we're grinding it out. Mr. Nike New Shoes is sitting at the back, huffing and puffing, and just barely hanging on for dear life. Ah, a stop sign. He can catch his breath again, and then more flats, same sitting at the back. Finally we reach some climbs, OK, they're not huge, but they are a little bit of a bump, and it normally separates the strong from the weak. Mr. Oakley goes shooting off the back like a caboose separated from a runaway freight train, and as he fades off the back, you hear, "Coach told me to take it easy today anyway, this is supposed to be a rest day..." Yeah, you all know THAT guy, you've seen him. You've ridden with him, thing is, he's not done yet.

After you ride over hill and dale, chasing attacks down for the workout, having fun with your friends, on the run back into town, you see him. Again, waiting, and soft pedaling up in front of the on rushing pack. Approaching the "sprint" line at the end of the ride, he gets back into the line, surprisingly fresh for someone who got dropped about 40 minutes before. The sprint starts to break loose, and I don't need to tell you what that's like on a group ride. You've got yay-hoos all the way from folks who have never raced, to folks who are local strong cat 1s and 2s and 3s trying to actually mix it up, and here comes Strasser again. He jumps into the sprint, and starts going for it. Despite himself, he's an OK sprinter, but he's not that good, in order for him to "win", he slides slightly to the left, therefore running you OFF the road, so that he can "win". Thing is, he starts turning squares 50 feet from the line, and 20 people go rushing past him anyway, and he almost killed you. All in a fine day for guys like this.

You have all had this experience, I know that you have. And there might be some of you out there who ARE this guy. If you are, stop it. Knock it the fuck off. Nobody thinks that you're cool, and really, nobody likes you. What we want to do is toss a tree branch into your spokes, and given the right chance, and opportunity, that's what we're going to do. It would be better for everyone else if you just didn't show up. Seriously, stay at home, or ride alone. Nobody. Likes. You.

Oh, and did I mention? Get a fucking sense of humor.

I was going to write about something else, but I seemed to have forgotten what that was exactly during my above tirade. Sorry about that. More later. Adios.

In 'ze weeds again...

2009-02-01T08:35:00.000-05:00

And yet again, I've been in the weeds folks. Ah well, this working 80 hours per week (I shit you not), is not good for the soul, let alone, just some overall mental health. Reminds me of the days of when I thought that maybe at some point in my life I could be a pro bike racer. Sleep. Work. Ride. Repeat. Except now, it's sleep. Work. Sleep. Repeat. See, being in the automotive biz, we had a round of layoffs right before Christmas, which then put the department that I work for down 3 people. We didn't have any less work to do before the layoffs, but now, we have far less people to do it with, and hence, 80 hour weeks, but I digress.

I did spend the week before this one in Washington DC, for the Inauguration of our 44th President of the United States. Yes, I was one of the millions of people that was there for this historical event. And I have to say, even though there was a lot of waiting in line, and a lot of hassle, and a shit-ton of people, damn it, it was worth it. Even though I was swarmed by thousands of people at every turn that I took, I remained happy, as did just about everyone else (my wife said fuck it and went home after waiting in line for 4 hours to get to our ticketed location near the Capitol). That was the overall vibe. Lots of people, and hardly a one was angry about, well, anything. I've got to tell you though, the security in that place on that day, in0fucking-credible. If you looked around the building rooftops near the Capitol, there wasn't one that didn't have a sniper team on top of it. There were about 10-15 helicopters all hovering over the city, and not just regular helicopters, nope. We're talking Blackhawks with door gunners, Super Cobra gunships, and AH-64 Apache Longbows. Then orbiting above the slow movers, there were a bunch of fighter planes flying high cover. That place was on lock down. In order to get where my tickets put me, I had to go through an airport style security check. Shoes off. Belt off. Empty all pockets. Go through the metal detector, get back dressed, and run to the field. I started standing on line at 6:30AM, I didn't enter the lawn until 11:30AM, just as Diane Feinstein started the "official" program. I made it just in time to hear the VP sworn in, and then Aretha, Yo Yo Ma and his buddies, and then the BIG show. I got to hear Chief Justice Roberts fuck up the oath (and I stood there saying to myself, that wasn't right), and then got to hear the speech. Again, even with all of the hassle, it was still worth it. It's true though, as soon as Obama got done talking, it was mass exodus from that place, and then, human gridlock on the streets. There were probably 15-20 minutes where I couldn't even move, let alone walk somewhere. Being that I'm not from DC, and sort of only know my way around a little bit, I got lost trying to find a Metro stop to take the train back to my sister in law's house. Well, I really didn't get lost, per se, but the 2 stations that I knew the locations to, were closed. I did end up walking around for 2 hours trying to find another one, but I was still in a good mood when I got back.

That evening, we got to attend the Southern States Inaugural Ball, which was just like prom. They even held it in a big gym at the DC Armory. Drinks were not free, which pissed me off, and then, they had a piss poor selection of beer on hand (Bud products only). The entertainment sucked. The food, was little, and not that good. But, we did get to see Biden and Obama before the night was over. Joe made his appearance first of course. And about 10 minutes later, I looked behind me, saw a guy in a dark suit talking into his jacket sleeve, and saw a sub machine gun slung over his shoulder, and decided that Obama was about to show up. He rolled onto the stage about 5 minutes later. We got a little speech, a little dance, and again, as soon as he left, the place cleared out, even though there was a second band getting ready to play (they sucked worse than the first one). The man has some serious drawing power, that's for damn sure.

That's what this kid has been up to. I have more to spew forth, but will save that for another time. It's Super Bowl Sunday, and it's almost time for the pre-game to start on the East Coast.

Paging Page...

2008-12-29T20:46:00.008-05:00

No doubt, most of you out there have seen this little item about Jonathan Page missing a drug test post race after a recent outing. When reading the article, you see that, the Page’s have a ton of excuses about “why” Mr. Page missed his doping test after the race. He crashed. He didn’t finish the race. Nobody came and told him he was due to be tested. None of his friends didn’t tell him about his test. And so on and so forth.

Look, I’ve got to believe that this is NOT Mr. Page’s first time at the rodeo as far as large scale UCI cyclocross races go. Meaning, he’s done this before. He knows, as does just about everyone else racing in these races, that he might get pulled for a random drug test, and if he does well in a race, he will get tested after he finishes. OK, sure, he didn’t finish this race. He crashed hard, and was feeling the ill effects of said crash as he went back to his motor home to call his doc, and wait for his support team (mostly his wife Cori) to head on back to the motor home to see how things were going.

Now, again, he’s been here before. He’s done these races. In this situation, Mr. Page has nobody to blame for his missing his required test, other than himself. He had plenty of time to head back, change, call his doctor, go over things with his wife and friends, and then head back towards the finish line to see or to check the testing list. Apparently, he even went and collected his travel money for the race, which is presumably somewhere near where the testing list is posted. Wouldn’t you think, maybe, just a little due diligence would have been a good thing? Walk over. Check the list, and if you’re on it, go and pee in a cup and get it done and over with. Now look, I’m not casting any aspersions towards Mr. Page. I don’t believe that he’s a doper. Nope. Not in the least. I don’t think he was trying to dodge the test on purpose. I think he was just stupid in not following up, and again, there is nobody to blame except for one person. Jonathan Page.

He goes on to say his “entourage” isn’t as big, or even as close to as big as other racers. Sure enough. Sven Nijs no doubt has hundreds or maybe even thousands of people hanging around him before, during, and after his race, but again, you couldn’t blame his supporters if he missed a doping test. Again, only Nijs would be to blame.

I see this recurring thing with Mr. Page, over and over again. Bad things happen to him, but those things never seem to be his fault, or he never makes himself accountable for what happens. He has a falling out with sponsors? Not his fault, nope. Someone else. He doesn’t get good support during races? Not his fault, must be someone’s else’s. Can’t find new sponsors? Must be some sort of conspiracy against him. Thing is, when something bad happens to Mr. Page, it appears that the only connecting factor to the bad things happening to said person, is Mr. Page. This latest incident is no different. Except this time, it could very well affect his living, the way he makes his money. Why? Because a missed test is an almost automatic admission of guilt of doping, whether or not you have doped or not. Meaning, it’s pretty likely that Mr. Page is going to get suspended, and won’t be riding his bike for money in the near future.

Here’s the thing. Even though I just excoriated him, I don’t think anything should happen to Page. Why? He’s not a doper. I think that he can prove it. I know that he can prove that. I’d love to see USADA excuse him for his missed test, take the blood that was taken from him the day after the race, test it, and find him innocent of doping, and then we can move forward, and let him continue to race, and be able to support his family in the way that he has been accustomed to, and that they have come to expect. I think it dumb of him to have missed his doping test, but it happened. We need to move past it. We need to let him race. Slap him on the wrist, and move forward. Will that happen? Knowing the inflexibility of USADA, probably not. Meaning, he will see some suspension time no doubt. He won’t be racing at World Championships this year, and we probably won’t see him again. For America’s most successful cyclocross racer in Europe, he has said that he’d retire, and not be seen racing bikes again. It’s a shame, but, it is ALL HIS FAULT.

For your high level racers out there, make sure you personally check the drug test board. If your name is on there, go and pee in the cup. It makes things SO much easier.

I digress...

2008-12-22T18:59:00.005-05:00

Now, normally I would be in here writing about something cycling related, or drinking related, or politics, or maybe all 3 at once (some have told me to stick to one subject, but sort of like the title above, I digress). I’m going to veer of the singletrack here for a minute. Being that the wife and I are going to be in Maine for Christmas this year, we decided to open our Christmas gifts from her family last night, mostly because they were at our house, and because neither of us has any patience to wait, and lastly because our 2 dogs “unwrapped” most of our gifts for us already, as in, at the paper off of the presents.

Look, here’s the thing. Even if you cook at the house, just a little bit, do yourself a favor, and get a really good chef’s knife. Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking about sharp objects in your household. Sure, if you have a significant other that might be on the side of lunatic fringe, maybe it’s not a good idea, but if you have a stable relationship, or if you’re not currently living with someone else either of the opposite sex, or same sex, and you can trust them around sharp instruments, get yourself a really nice knife. First, for the most part, whatever nice knife you get, is most likely going to last a lifetime, because most of us will never fully use it to its potential anyway. Why do I bring this up? Well, this summer for my birthday, the wife bought me a Ken Onion Shun 6″ chef’s knife. That thing is beautiful. It’s razor sharp, has folded metal (like Damascus steel), and well, it’s just stunning if you’re into such things, and I am, so there. Which leads me to yesterday. My in-laws in there infinite wisdom bought me an 8″ Shun, followed by the 4″ Shun, and the wife got me the Shun paring knife. I have, almost a full set. Oh, and they got me the Shun steel to go with the rest of the set. Now, I’m not a person to have too much “stuff” and normally I wouldn’t splurge on something like these knives for myself, I’m what they call, a bit of a tightwad, unless we’re talking about bikes (yeah, I’m in the Pinarello owner’s club), and the wife. I love to spend money on those 2 things. Myself? Not so much. Clothes? Forget about it. Cars? Driving the same one for almost 5 years now and absolutely thrilled about it. Shoes? Only cycling shoes. Anyway, check out the picture attached, I think you’ll mostly agree that these things are freakin’ top notch, and downright sexy. Yeah, that’s right, I said sexy. We’ve got a set of Henckel knives that the wife had from the time before I met her, and those are some nice knives, but the Ken Onion’s make them look pathetic when they’re next to each other.

Oh, and the other thing I think that all cyclists should have? An electric griddle. Why? Think about the fried meats you can make on this thing. MOUNDS of bacon. HEAPS of sausage. TONS o’ pancakes. I’m not sure what I did before owning this stunning little piece of 1940’s technology. Well, I know what I did. I cooked breakfast items in small frying pans, and it took forever to cook and entire breakfast. If you don’t have one, run out, get one, and use it today, or tomorrow. You won’t regret that decision.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’m off to see the in-laws in a few minutes, which is always a good time. No, really, it IS a good time.

Seriously???

2008-12-19T20:26:00.000-05:00

I have been in the weeds for the last week or two, hard core work things going on (we’re talking back to back to back 70 hour weeks), so I was a little dismayed to see a brawl broke out at cross nationals. Seems like some dumb ass was heckling Page during his post race interview, and his bro in law told him to stuff it, and pushing and wrestling ensued (of course there were no punches thrown, these are cyclists after all - remember the Bobby Julich slap fight awhile back??). The worst thing though, these bunch o’ hooligans (I’m including everyone here), trampled on some of the Richard Sachs’ bikes. Sacrilege I say. Pure unadulterated sacrilege. Bear in mind, I don’t even like steel bikes, but I can see and take pleasure in art when I see it. I have a friend of mine that rides for Sachs, and that cross bike of his, drool worthy. It’s a damn shame you have to have a couple of dumb asses (I don’t care who started what) wrestling around a bunch of art gallery worthy bikes. Seems though like the Page family is a bit sensitive when called out on something. Page’s brother in law could have just ignored it as a loudmouthed asshole at a race (there are all types). But no, he took it into his own hands. Just let it go man. Just let it go.

This does remind me of a group ride that I was on once. There is a local ride in Chapel Hill, leaves every Saturday morning like clockwork at 10:15AM from the Performance Bike Shop in Carrboro, NC. Over the years, the route has more or less remained the same, but it has been added on to in recent years, just a little longer of a route these days then when I first started riding it. One day, a few blokes from over Raleigh way came over for the ride. Somewhere around the first “hill” in the loop, someone cut someone else off, and the on the bike slap fight was on. I was sitting behind the 2 when this happened, but needless to say, it was fucking hilarious. It all started with something like, “Don’t cross my line DUDE!” and a retort in the vein of, “I’ll do what I want this is MY ride…” A few more choice words, a shoulder thrown to push the other guy into the oncoming lane of traffic (there were no cars coming thankfully), and then hands off the bars, with a slap here, and a slap there, and some cussing. If it wasn’t so pitiful, it would have been really funny. 2 skinny wanna be bike racers slapping each other while trying to ride up a hill. Look folks, most bike racers, and bike racer wanna bes should A. Never get into a fight, because, B. They have the upper body strength of a 9 year old schoolgirl. There was this one exception to the rule though. See below for an explanation.

Back in my younger cat 3 racing days, there was this HUGE guy racing bikes. He was freakin’ fit, and fast, and by big, I mean, like wrestler bike. He could climb, he could sprint. He could pretty much do it all, and suffer like nobody else. He had long hair, and was unshaven, and a teammate of mine knew him from Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. Yeah, this guy was in the Army. The United States Army. He would never really say what he did in said Army, but from the appearance of him, he was an operator. Meaning, Delta Force, the baddest of the bad US special forces. I saw someone start some shit with him once during a race, just some back and forth smack talking, and he mentioned something about seeing him, “After the race.” He did. The other guy got taken down in about, 0.25 seconds and was literally crying in the parking lot, See, when a guy who is a decent racer, and has guns bigger than fucking Hulk Hogan tells you to shut the hell up, maybe you should, especially if you’re a 145 pound “climber type” with a mouth writing checks that your ass can’t cash, and especially when the other guy is a member of an elite special forces unit that regularly kills a lot of people. He’s pretty much going to fuck your shit up, and there really isn’t anything you can do about it. Last time I saw the guy from Ft. Bragg, was about 1 week post 9/11. He mentioned that he might be “going away for awhile”, and I haven’t seen him since. I hope he’s all good, ’cause he was a bad ass, and a nice guy.

Sure, we’ve all almost had our conflicts out on the road, mostly with drivers, but how many of us have actually gotten into the shit with someone? I’ve come really close a few dozen times, but in the end, the guy getting out of the car really didn’t want to do anything anyway. He thought he was being “tough” but if they’re not going to throw a punch at you in the first 10 seconds, pretty much nothing is going to happen. That’s happened to me a bunch of times. Someone buzzes me, gives me the horn, flips me off, and when I give them the single finger salute back, for some reason, they take major league offense. Like a guy in spandex can’t flip them off. They stop, get out of their pick up truck (it’s always a pick up truck it seems), get all in my face, and then, do nothing, and drive off. I actually told a guy once that unless he wanted to get his ass kicked in the middle of the road, in the middle of town by a guy wearing spandex, he ought to get back in the truck, and drive away. Sure, I was talking tough, and probably would have gotten MY ass kicked, but he thought about it for a second, and then realized, hey, maybe he didn’t want to get his ass kicked by a guy in spandex (even though that was a remote possibility), and got back into his large scale pick up truck and drove off. The old heart rate was racing then, and my teammate Curtis at the time, had already ridden off (thanks for the back up). I’ve since calmed down a lot, and try, really really try, not to flip anyone off, unless I get it first, and even then, I just smile and wave. It tends to make them more mad.

Been MIA...

2008-12-14T02:34:00.000-05:00

Look, been out a few days, turns out that working 70+ hours per week puts a crimp in my posting style, and or writing. Ah well, momma said that there would be days, or in this case, weeks like these. Let's just say that sometimes being an automotive supplier, is, well, interesting. Well, actually, I don't work in the pure automotive supply chain any longer, such as making parts for the Big 3, no, I moved on from that field this past summer, and moved into turbo chargers for large equipment. Sometimes though, it's just as demanding. Been in the trenches taking grenades this week, and part of last week. The wife and I went away last weekend though, to a little place in North Carolina called Beech Mountain for a short getaway, but on the return, I had a shit week at work. And this, my friends, is why they pay me the medium bucks.

Enough with the job bitching, you all don't need to be reading that bullshit. I'm sure that everyone has a story like I do, or has a week like I did. All part of living the life, living the dream. I did go in this weekend, mostly because, if I didn't, or if I don't, I won't be able to leave for Christmas break on Tuesday. If I leave on Tuesday, I'm off until the 5th o' January, which is pretty much going to kick a lot of ass.

This week, as most of us know, is cross nationals. Who do I not want to win? Jonathan Page. I'm tired of him now. He's been chasing the dream over in Europe for what now? 4 years? 5 years? More? I don't even know, and lost track somewhere over the last couple of years, and don't really care, nope not at all. Look, I watched his podium finish at world's a couple of years ago, and it was a great ride, but since then, and actually before then, he's top 10 sometimes, top 15 most of the time, and sometimes out of the top 15. And do you know anyone who has more "sponsor" problems than this guy? He has so many "sponsor" problems, that it's starting to look more like HE'S the problem. I don't know the ins and outs of things, but there are plenty of folks riding for the teams that he used to ride for, and they've never complained. I'm just saying. It does seem as though the common denominator here is, well, him. He quits teams. Trades bike sponsors. Sort of whines and cries about in in the press. The man is a good rider, and a good competitor. Is he ever going to be top notch week in and week out in Europe? Nope, probably not. Can he still hang in the top 20? Sure as shit he can, but really; is that really something to bank on and be proud of? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

Who do I want to win? I'm pulling for the Tree Farm. Why the hell wouldn't you? First, the man is tall. Second, he used to be from around these parts here in North Carolina. I used to ride some races on the road against him. Kona seems like a pretty good bike company, and I'd MUCH rather have him beat down Page out on the course. Then again, a Steve Tilford win would pretty much kick ass as well. That just ain't gonna happen, but that would kick some ass. Saw that guy race a few weeks ago, and he's still killing it out there. I am ABP (Anyone But Page) this year. I prefer some Trebon winning skills out there, but I'll take anyone over Page.

Over on the women's side of things, let's face it. Compton shows up, ready to ride, the other ladies out there lining up might as well just start figuring out who is going to be second. Why? Compton is probably the most dominant women's cross rider I've seen since the years of Allison Dunlap. And I'd even say, Katie Compton is a MORE dominant rider than Dunlap was in her prime. What I'd really really like to see is a Compton win at nationals tomorrow, and then a win at world's, so we could see here strutting around cross courses in the US next season with a rainbow jersey.

No matter what shakes loose out there in Kansas ( who knew that there was a big cross scene in Kansas), I will be tuning into the world's when they run them. Cycling.tv kicks ass. Another thing, locations for cross nationals. Forgive me middle America, but cross nationals should pretty much be held either somewhere in the Northeast every year, or actually more specifically, New England, or in the Pacific Northwest. Why? Mostly because those are the cross crazy parts of this country, and Kansas? Really? Next thing you know, we'll be seeing cross nats in some location like, Florida. That would blow. And by blow, I mean, suck.

Bikers down makes me sad...

2008-12-07T19:34:00.002-05:00

Yeah, seeing stories about bikers down makes me sad. Makes me sad because they're our 2 wheeled brothers, and we all brave riding on the road lots of times, and it could happen to each one of us easily, and it has happened to some of us. Big J for one, me for another.

Back in October of 2007, I had left work early, it was an Indian Summer day, about 75 degrees, and it was easy to decide to get a few miles in before heading to a funeral. I've got to take the good with the bad over here. As I was about, oh, 2 miles from the house, I came across a set of railroad tracks, where there was a dirt driveway to my right, and opposing traffic coming at me. I saw a car coming approaching the tracks, no turn signal, and as I came across the tracks, the young woman driving her car turned right in front of me. T-bone style I went into the passenger's side door, taking out the side view mirror, and leaving a "me" sized impression in the door itself.

As I crashed into the car, and then the ground, I did the "status" check as soon as I got off the ground. You all know what I mean by the status check. Stand up? Good. Left leg? OK. Right leg? OK. Left arm? OK. Right arm? OWW! Mother fucker, that hurts. Try again? Ooh, that really hurts. I've crashed plenty of times to know when I've really fucked myself up, and this, well, I had never felt this way before. There was something definitely not right going on in the shoulder.

In the meantime, traffic had stopped, a guy a few cars down who was also a rider, got out, and got my bike and other stuff out of the road for me, the young woman who had been driving the car that turned into me was crying (and not doing much else, she was more concerned with the bright red blood coming from the road rash on my knee than the fact that I couldn't move my right arm very well, or, make that, at all), and everyone was wondering WTF was going on.

After cussing out the driver, a LOT, and getting her to call the wahmbulance for me, the paramedics came, strapped me down to a background (not comfortable at all), and drove me to the hospital. Sadly, the only thing I could think of was that I was hoping that I had just separated my shoulder, so I could get it set straight, and I could ride some more that weekend. I had planned a couple of 5 hour rides since the weather was supposed to be spectacular that weekend, and I love me some riding in the fall. Leaves changing colors, crisp air, yeah, it's pretty great shit.

Anyway, they roll me into the hospital, and bear in mind, the only thing I'm wearing is my cycling shoes, and a pair of bibs. They had removed my jersey at the scene to make sure nothing was sticking out. My second concern here was I was freakin' freezing to death. The pain, fine, not that bad actually (more on this later), but the cold? Get me some blankets please!!

I finally got some of those nicely warmed blankets, that was pretty nice. The attending in the ER, after they had cleared me to get pain meds, asked me what I wanted? I had a choice. Percocet, or Morphine. Hmm, let's see. As one who has never really used anything much stronger than say, Advil, and having seen how nice things were for my then fiance in the summer when she had her appendix out and she was on the Morphine, and also since Morphine was offered to be injected into the IV, I got the Morphine.

OK, first of all, I can see how people like to take drugs now. Again, never did anything much more than Advil in my days (never even smoked the weed-no, it's true), and when that shit hit my bloodstream. Whoo boy, that was nice. And, the best part, they kept giving it to me when I needed it. Even better. Now, it never did make the pain go away, but it did make me not care at all. I was laughing, and joking, and having a good old time, of course, that was until the orthopedic guys came in.

For some reason, I think the ortho guys (and in my case this evening, they were all men) used to be powerlifters, or some other strong guy. Former linebackers, maybe a few offensive linemen, that's how big these jokers are. When they come in, and there again was a string of them (this is what I get for being brought to a teaching hospital, UNC in Chapel Hill) they each in turn take my arm, lift it, move it around, grind things together, and make things, well, feel a hell of a lot worse, until they put it down. Once down, and in the "sling" position, all is well.

I get MRIs, cat scans, x-rays, and a bunch of other stuff, and what was the end result? Well, they know for sure that my scapula is broken, they're just not sure how bad. They're going to call me tomorrow to let me know. Oh, did I mention, that my fiance at the time, was out of town for her bridal shower? Yeah, I didn't really have anyone to pick me up. I had to call her, at her parent's house, and she then had to make about a dozen phone calls. Luckily, she got in touch with some of the guys who lived downstairs from us at the time, and one of them came and scooped me up, and brought me home in my drug addled state. They did send me home with some percocets, and some muscle relaxants for sleeping that night. Which again, you drug addicts, you know what you're talking about. Good stuff.

Turns out, the scapula was busted up, and not only busted up, but the socket portion had been flipped over inside of me. Surgery was the cure. They cut me open, and according to my surgeon, it looked like kibbles and bits in there when he went in. He had to suck out a bunch of bone fragment, and then threw in a few pins, and a small plate to hold everything together. I think I was in there for about 3-4 hours. After I came out, they gave me a nerve block which essentially made everything from my neck through my arm numb for about, oh, 10 hours. Think of it like this. You look at your hand. Your mind tells it to move. It doesn't. It's weird, and I imagine, this is what it's like to be paralyzed. That would suck, but I digress.

After that, many months of recovery, many months of rehab, and finally, today, all is well. There is no pain any longer in the shoulder, and the range of movement is totally back to what it was before, and the strength is back. I, was lucky. The woman didn't get charged with anything major, something like, failure to yield I think. I did take a big chunk out of her as far as insurance, and lawsuit settlements go. Let's just say, it was enough for the wife and I to put a decent down payment on the house we live in now. I got a new bike to replace the trashed one (went from a Giant TCR advanced to a Pinarello Prince, again, not bad). Essentially, it was a long and painful road back, but I got back. Others, like in some of the stories we see on here, aren't so lucky.

Make sure that the people you know who drive watch out for us. I hate to see my fellow cyclists get hurt, and even more so now that I'm one of the many who has been run the fuck over. As I said, luckily for me, everything pretty much worked out. I have a new bike, a house, and a kick ass scar on my shoulder. Keep an eye out.

Just because...

2008-12-03T06:54:00.003-05:00

Yo...

So I was perusing one of my more favorite blogs on the internet the other day, that being Drunkcyclist.com and I saw a posting up there about how the main man Jonny is in law school, doesn't have much time to write on there any longer, and things like that. Well, I volunteered my services, and am now a guest writer on that page. I'll be listed as "giantcu92" so drop on by, and check it out. Whatever I put up on there, I'll put up on here as well.

Over and out, and oh, head on over there to check out my post from yesterday. It's morning, and I don't feel like cutting and pasting.

Dear sweet little 8 pound 6 ounce Baby Jesus...

2008-12-01T19:59:00.003-05:00

This is the story that is going to make me stay so far away from any cycling related forums on the internets, because now for the following, oh, I don't know, 7 months or so, all we are going to hear from the Lance Fan Boys that have been absent for a few years now is how the old great one is coming out of retirement to ride the Tour. Again... Yawn... Wake me when le Tour de France is over this year, and let me know who won, and if it is Armstrong, gouge my eyeballs out so that I won't have to see him riding down the Champs once again reveling in his ego maniacal self.

Sure, I was OK with him coming back, especially since he was going to leave le Tour alone, and ride the Giro, and maybe a few other races. Maybe what he should have done (yeah, I know, Monday morning quarterbacking over here) is to ride a full Spring schedule, as in, Flanders, GW, Paris Roubaix, Fleche Wallone, Amstel (so maybe he could win it, at least once), and the list could go on from there. And then go and ride the Giro d'Italia, and maybe even win the damn thing. That could top off his career nicely, and stop making people like me, say that he was and always will be, a one trick pony (and yes, before anyone says it, I know he won Fleche before, and the World Championships, and some Tour DuPonts, and other craptastic races), but the man has never won a monument, and he has done all that there is to do, as relates to the Tour de France. OK, he could win 8, but at this point in time, with nobody near his record of 7 in a row, what's the point? It's all about ego stroking at this point in time, and if I didn't believe it before, now I definitely believe that he's the biggest psycho ego maniac out there in the world of cycling, hell, in the world of sport in general, nah, I take those both back, maybe in the whole wide W-O-R-L-D.

But do you know what I really hate about this guy coming back the most? The questions that I'll get when I arrive at work, oh, the week after le Tour starts. Because, most of the drones that I work with, if they know anything at all about the sport, they know one word. Lance. I usually brush them off with answers not revolving around Lance Armstrong, mostly, I say that I respect what he's done in cycling, but I'm more of a one day race type of fan anyway, and don't pay much attention to what Armstrong is doing in France in July (OK, that's a lie, I still follow the damn race regardless of who is racing in it, and have been since my introduction to the sport during the Lemond reign, where I quickly found the one day races were more exciting). Usually, if I give them an answer like that, they leave me alone, but most of the time, they don't. They keep asking me, and asking me, and asking me. It's sort of like being Cameronin Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where Ferris keeps calling him, and he finally answers, because if he doesn't, "He'll keep calling, and calling, and calling..." That's how I feel. Luckily, and mercifully, the race is ONLY 3 weeks long, and since the 4th of July week usually falls in there somewhere, it's more like 2 weeks, and I can gut out anything for 2 weeks. OK, maybe not anything, but you assholes know what I mean.

Look, Lance, my cycling career is over, for the most part, actually, it never really started, but let me give you some sage advice. Let the younger guys battle it out for le Tour. You've been there, done that, and come back with the jersey more than a few times. Go where you haven't been before, as in Italy. Battle with Simoni and Basso in the high, and steep, mountains there. Hardly any good time trialists show up for the Giro, you'll beat them down, and then you can have a nice pink jersey to match the yellow ones you've got hanging around. I know that this puts a crimp on your yellow Livestrong style and all, but couldn't you add a pink edition as well? Don't be a douche for crying out loud. Help Contador whip everyone else's ass while in France, and make him your heir apparent, since that whole Tom Danielson thing didn't work out so well (psst, turns out that kid, oops, I mean middle aged man, is more fragile than fine china, and a psycho to boot). Thing is champ, you've got nothing to prove really. If you want to race, fine, I don't doubt you can do it, but I just wish you wouldn't, mostly because of the chumps that you bring out of the woodwork.

Does this mean that Robin Williams is going to be as well? God, I hope not. I can't handle anymore one ball jokes.

American victory...

2008-11-30T09:55:00.003-05:00

Here is something that kicks ass. Why? American Katie Compton won a world cup cross race this weekend in of all places, Belgium. Why is this a big deal? I'm not aware of any other American ever winning a World Cup Cyclocross race in the history of the sport. I do remember a bunch of years ago, maybe 8 or so, being at a mountain bike race somewhere in Pennsylvania, probably in Philadelphia, and watching the women's race. I was wondering who the really fast woman was racing for Trek-JBL at the time, turns out, it was Miss Compton. She was fast then, and I think she is faster now. She does have a pretty good little back story to her racing success.

Not too long ago, Compton was racing bikes, but as the sighted captain of a blind tandem team. She competed at the highest levels of that sport on the track with her partner, and I believe, if I remember correctly, that her and blind stoker won several gold medals at the paralympics over the years. During that time, Compton was living in Colorado, and riding cross races with the cat 2/3 men, and either winning those races, or being in podium positions most of the time. Take it from a guy who has been "girled" in several races in his career, those guys did not like that happening, but I'm sure, just like me, she earned a grudging respect from those guys during those races, and they also probably realized, that indeed, that woman was fast. She was bound to do some damage. See, thing is, she wouldn't race UCI women's cross races, because then she wouldn't be able to pilot the tandem as the sighted captain for her blind stoker. So for a number of years, she would just race the local cross races, beat the boys, and also beat the women (she would double down on races on a given weekend).

One year, she showed up for the US Cyclocross national race, looking to take the national championship jersey. She showed up, and the women who didn't know her, were wondering, "Who is this woman? She's going to get smoked.." See, women's bike racing, at least in my experience, can be very "catty". In other words, when you have core group of women who are racing against one another, week in, and week out, they are nice to one another, but if an "outsider" shows up to spoil their fun, and arranged pecking order, they seem to take offense at this. I'm sure Compton showing up to nationals looking for a big win was really no different. They started her in the back, since she had no points from the year's racing, and the race started.

Compton surged to the front in the first or second lap, took a look behind her, and then dropped the best women cyclocross riders in the US, and took her first national championship. Again though, she didn't bother competing the following year in the UCI races, for the same reason that she didn't want to lose her eligibility for the paralympics. And again, she showed up at the start line of nationals the following year, and again, starting in the back row, and yes, again, surging through the mass of women, and winning another national championship jersey. I think since that time, she's pretty much won the national championship every year since then.

She has now moved on to Europe. She took that win yesterday, took 2nd last year at World Championships, and I believe we may see her in the rainbow jersey before too long, or actually, possibly, at the end of this year's season in Europe. She's been close before, and I can foresee her winning the "big one" in the coming months, and if she does, we'll have another World Champion in cyclocross, I believe Matt Kelly was the first for the US, having taken the U23 title a number of years ago at Poprad, and hence the naming of the LeMond cross bike after his win there. Kelly though faded into the "where are they now" file after his win, and I believe Compton, will be winning for a few years yet to come, and I'll be happy to see that happen.

Processing...

2008-11-28T11:00:00.005-05:00

Here I sit, on the couch, the morning after Thanksgiving, and I think that I'm still working food through my gut. It was an extravaganza yesterday. We didn't go the normal route, well, the normal foodstuffs route. We did go the normal route of stuffing ourselves silly, but alas, it was not with turkey and the usual stuff. Here is what we had for our Thanksgiving:

Cheese Ball

Various Marinated Olives

Pate

Sausage Balls

Peppered Salami w/ Bleu Cheese

Relish Tray

Various Pickles

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Various Cheeses and Crackers

Champagne and Wine

I've got to say, it was pretty damn good. Sure, I'm a little sad about not getting turkey, but the sausage balls and cheese ball more than made up for that stuff missing out of our day. Instead of feasting in a huge amount once, we put the stuff out on the table, and then just grazed, more or less, for hours on end. The other thing we did other than eat, was to watch part of season 3 of Bones, or some of the episodes. We did end up heading towards bed around 8:30, after a long day of eating, drinking, and lazing about.

Today, we're going to head out, and battle the masses on Black Friday. First, we've got to get Steph's new watch sized, but the thing is, we don't need to purchase anymore gifts. Steph did all of our Christmas shopping weeks ago, which is fine by me. We decided to divide and conquer this year. I got the easy part. I had to purchase the tickets for us to head home to Maine for Christmas, and she got to buy the gifts for everyone. I'm glad she did the gift buying, mostly because I'm not that good at it, and I would have put it off for far too long, and would have been rushing like a day before to get everything done and bought, and wrapped. Now I don't know if she likes getting all of the gifts, but she's good at it.

We have our 1 year anniversary coming up, on Monday. In a fit of compulsion buying the other night, I got her a somewhat fancy watch (see above) for our anniversary. I figured it would be something that she could keep for possibly a long time. So I was glad to get it for her. Me, being me, and not being able to wait to give gifts to my wife, almost as soon as I got home, I busted out her gifts. First, we had the watch. Then, I figured since I was already at the mall, I would get her a fancy dress

from Banana Republic, and gave that to her for Christmas / her Birthday (which is on the 8th). Now, all of my personal shopping is done. Also in the plans for the anniversary, is to go to the Richmond Hill Inn, just outside our hometown of Asheville for a fancy dinner on Monday night. I'm pretty psyched about that. The place looks great, but we'll see how much I like it after we eat there. I seem to have this issue about fine dining, meaning, I'm seldom really super impressed by someone's food. I guess I'm just a harsh critic or something like that. Don't know for sure.

Tomorrow, tomorrow starts the fitness plan for myself. I've not really had much of a chance to workout, or to get into good shape since this Spring, mostly because the new job got in the way, then the move, then the house buying, moving into the new house, putting in the fence, doing work at the house, and so on and so forth. It's been a busy year of turmoil. Good turmoil, but turmoil nonetheless. It made my normal pattern and way of doing things pretty much not able to be done, and so, we start all over again. It's OK though, I plan on being at my planned "race" weight by March, or April. I've got a goal (which I'm going to keep to myself for now), and I plan on making it. I'm definitely not afraid of hard work, and sacrifice in the pursuit of fitness, so we'll grind it out, and see what happens. I've thought about racing again, but we'll see how that shakes out. Living now in Asheville, it is going to be easy to do a bunch of training races right near my house, and also there is always a bunch of racing in Greenville, SC, which is but a short drive away for me. So who knows, I might do some. We'll see how it all shakes out come March.

Good stuff.

2008-11-26T21:06:00.003-05:00

Good stuff, and oh so true. See below...

Everyone repeat after me...

2008-11-04T23:02:00.005-05:00

Everyone repeat after me...

President Elect Barack Obama. Hell yes!

He did it. He won. We have wrested control of the White House from the republican death hold that it has been in here for 8 years now. I hope that Obama can bring the country back together, and lead like I know what he can. And really, to think, just a short 40 years ago or so, black people couldn't vote in most parts of our country, and now, we have an African American President of this country to the world. I do believe that we'll see a turn and an almost immediate change in how the world perceives the United States starting tomorrow morning, and moving forward through the next 4 years.

And now, I want to see how many electoral votes Obama actually accumulates before this is all over and done with this evening.

Great job Mr. President Elect. You've earned it. Take a few days off, and then, get to work, and don't let us down. Don't let us down as a party, as a country, and as a citizen of the world.

Not that's cross...

2008-11-02T09:02:00.004-05:00

Check out that picture. Now that is cyclocross my friends. I'm glad to see Sven Nijs still kicking ass and holding it down over there in Europe. There have been a few chinks in his armor in recent races, but the man still dominates the sport. Adding to the hardcore type nature of cyclocross, this race was run up the famed Koppenberg, in less than desirable weather conditions (as can be seen from the picture). Amazing. These guys are as hard as woodpecker lips. Just thought that I'd share this with you.

Dear Senator McCain:

2008-10-19T10:30:00.003-05:00

Dear Senator McCain:

There once was a time that I had a ton of respect for you. That was about 8 years ago. You ran a great campaign to try to get the nomination of your party to run for President of these here United States of America. What happened during that time was a travesty really. The person opposing you (George W. Bush) and his cronies (mostly Karl Rove and host of other shady characters) ran deceitful ads against you. Making horrible robo calls saying that you had fathered an illegitimate black child out of wedlock, and they attacked your character. Sir, you stood up to them, and would not stoop down to their level. You lost that campaign, but you did gain the respect of a lot of people outside of your party who wouldn't have thought of voting for you before. I was one of those converts, and might have voted for you if you had gained your party's nomination.

Sir, this holds true no longer. All of the dirty tricks that were played on you by those operatives, you have turned them against your foe Senator Barack Obama during this presidential campaign in 2008. You hired the same goons that usurped your good name, and ran nasty vile ads against you. Seeing the latest rounds of political ads from you, tells me that you're running the same playbook that George W. Bush ran against you 8 years ago. Here's the thing; it's not working this time around. Why? Mostly because now you come across as an old coot who doesn't know how to run a campaign. Stop with the "straight talk express". That bus rolled down a hill a long time ago. You attack Obama on character, not policy, and the sad thing is, is that the man has more character in his little finger than you have in your entire body. I'm certainly convinced of it, and there are a lot of other people who are convinced of it as well. You claim to want to put the country first, and that you're a man who believes that he can make great bi-partisan efforts once he is elected President. Senator McCain, you are not that man. Why? Mostly because you keep attacking the people that you say you can get along with. Your shameful ads recently talking about Congressional liberals and how bad they are is just a bunch of bullshit basically. You lie through your teeth. Your VP pick lies through her teeth. Hell, you've even got your wife in on the lying bit. You talk about Obama "palling" around with terrorists, which is supposed to invoke fear in people in the US. Thing is, again, it's not working because people can see right through your little charade.

Senator McCain, you have become what is horrible in politics in this country, and yet we keep hearing that you don't want to run this type of campaign, and you have even said so yourself before, thing is, it is your campaign, and it's utterly, and totally a piece of shit. You tell the American people that Barack Obama would do ANYTHING to become President. Isn't that what you're doing your senile imbecile? Why would you run for President if you didn't really want to win and take that awesome responsibility on your shoulders? Of course he's doing everything he can to win, and so are you, which is driving it straight into the gutter.

You talk about Obama hanging out with William Ayers, like they're old time chums. Guess what? I know that this won't surprise you, but they're not. Sure, they know each other. Sure, they served on the same board to do educational work (started by one of Ronald Reagan's best friends by the way), and sure he once donated $200 to him for his first State of Illinois campaign, but guess what? They're not pals. Not even close. Do they know each other? Sure. Are they bestest friends? Not even close. When you talk about Ayers, people seem to forget that you, just as recently as the other night, claimed that you were proud to know G. Gordon Liddy. I don't know why someone doesn't call you to task for this. Why? Well, let's review some of the things that Liddy did. First, he broke into the Watergate, causing the downfall of Nixon. He went to jail for that, for a number of years. A few years ago, he talked about how to kill federal ATF agents by shooting them in the head. This man had a party for you, AT HIS HOUSE, and has donated the maximum amount of money that he could to your campaign. You're proud to know this man? If Obama has an Ayers problem, then YOU have a G. Gordon Liddy problem. See, thing is, is that, I don't care that you know that scumbag, and I don't care that you are proud to know that scumbag. Why? Because it is a stupid game of guilt by association. Since you're playing it, it should be played against you as well. Obama though, he's too good to do that. He hasn't brought it up. Not once. Mostly because I think that he can see that the American people can see right through you and your craziness.

Senator McCain, you would be horrible for this country. You once were a "maverick", maybe. But those days are long gone. You voted, just this past 2 years, with what Bush wanted 95% of the time. Since Bush took office, you voted with him 90% of the time. You want to continue the destructive administration that has taken our country down quite a lot since 2001, and you actually think that this is a good idea? You talk about change, as if that's possible, considering the people who you most want to change, are the people in your own party, and your platform sounds just like George W. Bush redux.

To end this, you sir, have lost the respect that you had once gained from me. I respect you for your service to this country during a time of war, but that's it. And even that last little bit of respect that I have for you is starting to fade because you use your POW experience now as a campaign tool. Sir, you are going to lose in November, and you are going to lose horribly. You can't stop Barack Obama now, so maybe you should just lay down, take a nap, and get out of the way. In another 4 years from now when our country has gained back the respect that it lost, and its standing in the world, you'll see that I am right, and that Obama was the actual change for good. We can't survive even another 4 years with you, Senator McCain, leading this country. Rome is burning, and all you care about is calling a man a terrorist. You sir, are simply, a disgrace.

Goodbye sweet Chloe...

2008-08-30T17:04:00.007-05:00

Today, the wife and I lost one of the members of our family. After many visits to the vet, medications, and finally a surgery performed on Friday, we decided to let Chloe stop suffering, and we put her to sleep. Over the past month or 2, she had been sick several times, she got better, and then re-lapsed back into illness again, and last week, she had urinated on the floor, and it didn't look good. She had been losing weight again, and she was just not her sweet normal self. She didn't appear to be suffering, but she didn't look too well either. We entrusted her to our vet at All Pets hospital in Asheville, who gave her the very best care, but in the end, it was our vet's recommendation that we put her down. Biopsies had been sent out to see if she had lymphoma, but again, she was a sick little girl. We did get to go over to the vet today, and spent an hour and a half with her, rubbing her head, seeing if she would eat some food from us, and basically doting on her like we normally would. We spoke to the vet, and we decided, together, that the best thing to do would be to put her down, and end her suffering, and unfortunately knowing that even if we didn't put her to sleep, she would probably not recover, and she would probably not come home again.

Chloe was a recent addition to our family. After our friends had a baby, they found out that their new child was allergic to cats. Of course, we decided that we would take her in, and make her at home in our house with our other 2 cats, and 2 dogs. She fit in pretty much from the start of things. She was a little shy at first, but after she got used to all of the new additional pets, she adapted quickly to the house. She enjoyed sitting on the back of the couch at night with us as we watched TV, and she loved to have her head scratched. Often at night, she would get into bed with us, and sleep basically on the top of our heads at the tops of our pillows, purring all of the time. She was doing that right up until the other day. She would chase paper balls through the house, and tackle our other cat when he wanted to play. We came to call her, affectionately, The Chubby Nub. Mostly, because she was a Manx cat, and she didn't have a tale. Chloe had little paws that sort of looked like a white rabbit's feet, and generally, she was just a super sweet, super nice cat, who we grew to love in a very short amount of time. Chloe truly enjoyed her life, and she enjoyed being around us, and the rest of our pets. We will miss her greatly, and will always cherish the time that we had with her, even though it was far too short. We love you Chloe and we'll miss you forever!

Many things going on...

2008-08-17T07:25:00.010-05:00

It's been awhile. Again. Things have been moving along well out here in Asheville, and by well, I mean, lots of things have been cranking up.

First of all. We moved into our new house (I'll add some pictures below). This process took about, oh, I don't know, 2 weeks to really get complete. And after we moved in, we did some painting, some other stuff (put in the mailbox, hung up the bathroom hardware, hung up the knife strip, working on installing a ceiling fan, and a whole host of other jobs, not to mention, just plain old unpacking, and putting things away). Now, we're pretty much done with moving in, which is nice. We've had some time to kick back this weekend, and just be in the house without having to do any major, or even minor projects, which again, is nice. At some point in time, I will ride my bike again, it's just not happened this weekend is all. Ah well, maybe some day I will ride again. Don't know when that's going to be, but at some point in time no doubt.

The wife and I did have an interesting weekend. First, we went to get some Indian food in downtown Asheville. The couple of simosas that I had were good, but it's interesting that we went to an alleged Indian restaurant, and they had things like Reubens, pasta, and other things on their menu that weren't, well, so much Indian. I have seen this several times throughout this area. Such as, the Greek restaurant that I went to, that really didn't have much in the way of actual Greek food. I don't know what the deal is with that. Anyway, we finished off our semi Indian food, and then walked across the street to the old Woolworth store in downtown Asheville. Which has been turned into a local artists' place where a ton of locals sell their artwork, and other handmade goods. There was definitely an interesting mix of things in there. And yes, there was some just plain old crap as well, well, at least I thought that it was crap. Then again, my artwork is nothing to praise either, not that I have any artwork, but if I did, it would be crap too.

Our last stop of the afternoon was the Asheville gun show. Yes, I said gun show. I have been sort of pining for a handgun for a long time now, and we had talked about potentially getting a shotgun for skeet shooting, and also for potential home defense, should that unfortunate day ever arise. It was actually the first gun show that I had been to, and I've got to say, that's a section of the population that I've not had a lot of contact with over the years. But you could get just about anything you wanted there. They had .50 cal sniper rifles for about $15000. They had used old guns for about $100 or less. They had night vision goggles. They had silencers, which apparently are legal to purchase, and, this best part of all, they had a booth for the North Carolina Citizen's Militia. Yeah, I said militia. I thought about joining up, but then realized that I don't have the 2 required items. 1 being a gun, and 2 being a lot of camo gear. Oh, and number 3, a severe paranoid distrust of the government. Me being me, I walked out of there with a hand stamp for my entry fee, and nothing else really. I saw a few things that I liked, and felt like I wanted to get, but then again, I didn't want to spend the money at this point in time. Maybe the next gun show, I'll get something. They did have some nice stuff there. Ah well.

Check out the pictures of the house as it is now (more to come later, this was during the moving in phase):

Rest day reflections...

2008-07-21T18:46:00.005-05:00

Rest day reflections on le Tour de France...

I haven't written much about this year's Tour de France, mostly because I haven't felt incited to do so, well, except the other day when Ricco got taken down for doping. And then come to find out, Piepoli got taken down as well. Turns out, 2 bad apples do make a bunch, as their sponsor is going to pull out because of the 2 doping cases, and the team has suspended their racing schedule pending, well, whatever happens next. Way to go you ego-maniac! You almost, by yourself, took down your entire team, and will probably put a bunch of people out of work just because you wanted to win a bike race. Your support staff, your directors, your fellow riders, they are all probably going to be out of a job. Talk about downsizing. I think therein lies the real bad rotten end of doping. Someone on your team takes some PEDs to win a bike race or 2, said person gets busted, and then the entire team either folds immediately, or ends up folding at the end of the year because of it. Then you have 30 something riders looking for work, one less top end team to take any of them in, and a bunch of not very well paid support staff looking for jobs as well. Even if doping did just affect the one person doing it, maybe you assholes doing it should just think of someone beside yourself before jabbing a needle into your vein to make you go uphill faster. Maybe you ought to think about the other people around you, who are, like it or not, going to be affected by your actions. That's the insidiousness of doping right there. Not the guy taking it, but everyone around him who gets screwed to the wall at the end of the day. You don't really see this with other top level sports. Say, someone in pro baseball gets busted. Their entire team doesn't get suspended from playing. Just the one player. Their team sponsors don't pull out, and stop paying everyone, maybe just that one guy, and maybe only for a month or so. It's different for cycling. A lot different, and it affects a lot more people. So to you dopers out there, think about it before you go doping away. Think about your soigneur's infant child, whose mouth you'll be taking food out of. Think about your teammates, who won't have a team come this time next year. And above all, stop thinking about yourselves.

Moving on from that little blight on my otherwise great day. I've got to throw out props, big time, to Garmin-Chipotle. Here you have a team that has taken upon itself an internal doping program like almost no other in the world. There are other teams out there who are doing something similar, but Garmin-Chipotle I think came down with this first. Their riders are tested at least once every 2 weeks throughout the year, and sometimes more. All of this information is contained in their dossier, and is available for review at any point in time by the powers to be if and when it is required. This is not to mention the other testing that is carried out on these athletes, for example, by their own cycling federations, at races, and other random controls that pop up every once in awhile. This is good. This team is transparent, and they can be proud of that, and maybe even a little smug. Having that program got them into the Tour de France. Their early season results didn't hurt too much either really. They seem to have a great thing going, and as far as sponsors wanting to be involved with them, I think that they are only going to grow from here. Why? Well, we've seen sponsor after sponsor dump their teams because of doping. Here you have a squeaky clean team riding, and winning some races, and riding at the front, and doing well for the most part, and they are as transparent as Caspar the Friendly Ghost. They're doing it right. If you have been watching/reading the Tour coverage, you will also seem something else about them. They are getting involved. They are in the breakaways,

Danny Pate made the final selection yesterday, and almost took a win on a tough alpine stage. Christian VandeVelde is sitting in 5th place overall (only 39 seconds back from the lead), and they are doing it without doping. As far as we know. They are showing the rest of the cycling world that you can be competitive, and you can be strong, without doping. It's inspiring to me and it makes me want to watch the sport more now. I dread and fear what would happen though if one of their riders currently in the Tour de France got busted for doping. I fear we'd see that team come tumbling down around Jonathan Vaughters' sharply pointed sideburns. I do believe in the sport, but the last few years have made me very cynical about it as well. As I said, Garmin-Chipotle gives me great hope, but I'm also waiting for the house to come down. Let's just say that nothing would surprise me anymore. For the time being though, go Garmin-Chipotle! I want to see Christian VandeVelde attack tomorrow. Why? Because if he wants to win, he needs to attack, and he needs to be able to ride away from the other leaders, or maybe bring one or 2 of them with him, and then kick them in the ass during the TT. I believe he ought not to protect his position, on the other hand, he should lay it out there. If it works, it works, and he might win the biggest race of his career. If it doesn't work, well, you can't say he didn't try. And the best part about his efforts thus far, he's been pretty much doing it all alone. CSC had 3 or 4 guys on the final climb yesterday, and they were yanking it. Christian? Nope, he was alone. Sure, Pate was up the road, but he wasn't coming back, well, that break wasn't coming back. VandeVelde is basically doing it alone. If he could get just a little help from Millar, Lowe, or Ryder, he might be able to attack better up the final climbs of the day. One thing is for sure, this Tour has been exciting. It's been great to watch, and to take in. The race favorites, at the head of the race, kicking each other in the nuts every chance they get. It is also inspiring to watch, and to see. This is the way it should be. Not one entire team riding TTT style into the final climb of the day, and then burning everyone off, giving a springboard to their team leader. Sure, that works, and it led to many victories for Armstrong, but it's also boring to watch. I enjoy seeing these guys, pain faced, clawing up the climbs, attacking each other, coming back, attacking again, helping one another. It's great race drama. It's been a great race so far, and tomorrow, we have a killer day, and the day after that, we have l'alpe d'Huez. It's going to be very interesting to see who rises, and who falls, and who gets taken out of contention.

Now, if only I had cable so I could watch the race on TV at night. I don't right now, and that's disappointing, so I have to read the blow by blow accounts on Cyclingnews.com, which suffices, but I do like to see the pictures. Next year I guess I'll be able to watch it. Next year...

Ricco suave???

2008-07-18T05:52:00.003-05:00

Turns out that Ricardo Ricco, for all of his swagger, for all of his shit talk, and for his running of his big mouth at an almost constant pace is just a straight up typical doper and a cheat in the sport of professional cycling. Turns out, his amazing wins were just that, amazing. Meaning, he took a couple of big wins, and then tested positive, and then was carted away in the team car with a Gendarme in the back seat with him therefore leaving the Tour even a little more tarnished. Not only that, but his entire team picked up their EPO filled ball, and drove on out of France, and they have also apparently suspended all racing activity for the near future. Oh, how the mighty have fallen indeed.

I should have known when I saw Ricco attack on stage 9, from the back of the pack, and as he passed some of the greatest riders and climbers in the world as if they were standing still. That was the rate of his acceleration past what remained of the peloton at that point in time. I think I'm still naive, because I wanted to believe that he had this great ability, that he had this huge forceful attack in him, and I sat there and watched him do it in awed silence, and I didn't think twice about him getting popped for doping. Nope. I just let the race unfold before me, and watched, what I thought at the time, was a great performance. It was at that point in time, that I decided to stop hating on the man as being arrogant, cocky, and overall just not a great person, and decided that his attacking style of racing was a good thing. In short, I sort of became a fan of Ricardo Ricco that day, and now, I have to shun him as he should be shunned. He's a doper. A cheat. And not even a smart one. Apparently, there have been rumors swirling around the peloton this last week or so specifically about Ricco, and how his abilities seemed to have taken on an even greater depth and shape, and now, we all know why. He was juicing on a new form of EPO, and probably thought he would get away with it. Over the last couple of years that he's been racing, Ricco has repeatedly stated that he idolizes Marco Pantani, probably one of the most infamous dopers who never really got caught doping (although in a sort of OJ Simpson way, we all knew that he did dope, it's just that at the time he was racing, there were no tests for EPO, and when there were, the man was but a shell of his previous racing cyclist) and now the circle is complete for him. His idol was a doper, so it stands to reason that Ricco would be one as well. What a dunce. The thing that really fries me about this, is that he'll get suspended, spend 2 years on the sidelines, and then, someone will no doubt hire him once his suspension is over, and since the ProTour has imploded as well, he could race for a top tier team after 2 years of suspension. And Ricco is young, young enough so that this will be but a blip in his career. By the time he gets back to racing, he'll still only be 26, or 27 years old, and will still have many good quality years of racing ahead of him, but for now, he's tossed away his career. What would be a fitting end to this, is if no team would have him back, but we all know that this isn't true. If VDB can get second chance after second chance, something tells me Ricco won't have a hard time finding someone to race for in 2 years, or less, depending on what CONI (Italian cycling federation) does with him.

Not leave Ricco out there hanging in the wind himself, we did have another no named guy from Barloworld who also tested positive for EPO. His name was Moises Duenas. Like I said, no named rider, but still. The other one hanging out there though that is even more damning in my eyes, is Manuel Beltran. Why is Beltran's positive more damning? Well, we can add him to the list of guys who used to be teammates with one Lance Armstrong, and who helped him to win 7 Tours de France in a row. It also starts to show a pattern of doping that existed on that team, and as it surrounded its main guy, Armstrong. Look at the list of guys who used to ride with him, and have either been caught and busted, or admitted that they used some PEDs, or have been named in other doping investigations:

Tyler Hamilton

Floyd Landis

Manuel Beltran

Roberto Heras

Ivan Basso

Frankie Andreu

Jonathan Vaughters

And I'm sure that there are more in there that I'm missing somehow. I just can't remember them all currently. This looks bad for the past champion, but he's retired. Nothing will happen in hindsight. Riis came out last year, and said that he doped to win his Tour, and the ASO ranted and raved that they were going to take the win away from him. Well, they haven't. Far as I know, he still has his yellow jerseys hanging over his mantel at home. And probably will for a long time.

I would like to be one of the people who, every single time someone gets busted for doping, pronounces professional cycling dead, but it just won't happen. I've decided to take the optimistic approach. As in, we're catching the bad guys, and we're nailing them to the wall. Show me another pro sport that suspends someone for 2 years for a first positive test for PEDs. There aren't any. 2 years in other pro sports would spell the end of a career, and for some in cycling, it does spell the end of their careers. That's good if you ask me. There really is no room for doping in any pro sport, although we all know it goes on, and will continue probably unabated for as long as there are pro sports (amateurs are not immune from this either, believe me), and hopefully we'll continue to catch the bad guys. I for one, will continue to watch pro cycling, only now with a more and ever increasingly jaded eye on the riders who are flying up the mountains, and riding people off of their wheels. I got caught up in the excitement last week, and forgot the "jaded" part when I was watching Ricco stomp down on his adversaries. I won't make that mistake again.

I couldn't resist...

2008-07-15T20:35:00.000-05:00

House pictures...

2008-07-09T19:31:00.010-05:00

Here are some pictures of the new house. There should be more to come later on down the line I hope. Some of the other pictures that I took got corrupted somehow. Ah well, try and try again I suppose.

Thing is...

2008-07-06T18:22:00.003-05:00

Thing is, the wife and myself, we bought a house last week (pictures forthcoming after I go over there for the inspection this coming week). Yeah, we finally did it. We're all grown up now, we'll have a mortgage, a house, and actual furniture and stuff like that. I can't think of a better place to do this though. Asheville is a great place to live. Actually, it's horrible. Everyone should just stay away from here, and run as fast as you can. No, but seriously, it's great. I just don't want more people like myself moving here is all.

Just a few quick updates:

1. The wedding season is finally over for myself and the wife. We went back to the homeland this weekend (Mexico Maine), and my parents had a great party for us to celebrate our marriage, since we did have a very small wedding in the Caribbean, not everyone got to come. The folks who didn't get to come, came on over, we had tons of food, drinks, games, and a good time was had by all. I got to see a few folks from my class I haven't seen in probably 10-15 years, and caught up with some old friends from around town, and they all got to meet the wife, which was good as well. We had a great time, and thank everyone for coming out this weekend. It was much appreciated.

2. See first paragraph above. We bought a house.

3. The new job is going well thus far. Can't complain. It's much like the old job, except not covered in a layer of crap all of the time. Meaning, this place I'm working at now, at least for now, has their act together, and things seem to be working out pretty good for me so far. I'll start traveling soon for work, and we'll go from there. Of course there will be some rougher times, I have no doubt about it, but for now, I'm working normal 8-9 hour days, getting to ride the bike after work, and can't complain at all really, nope, not at all.

And I think that's about it for now, like I said, just some quick updates. I'm thinking about starting up another blog. The next one is going to be all about things I get from my suppliers during business trips. Just the physical things, oh, and maybe I'll drop a few pictures in there of extravagant dinners they get for us as well. Actually, I might just make that an on-going project of this blog as well. No need to start up yet ANOTHER blog for something like that right? Yeah, probably true. Stay tuned for useless shit I get from my suppliers.

Do you really think that this helps???

2008-06-29T16:21:00.003-05:00

Atlanta Critical Mass...

First the iReporter (CNN's naming of regular folks who file things with them and then they use for content on their website) on this little story calls himself the Shelbinator. Strike one my friend, strike one. No grown man should be called the "fill in the blank"-inator, unless your name is Arnold, and you're the governor of California. Strike 2, you're having or taking part in a critical mass ride. Strike 3. The cops busted things up a bit, and hassled everyone, as I think they should. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a cop lover or anything like that, but critical mass rides are stupid, and don't help anyone. Why you might ask? Let me answer.

First, critical mass rides were devised to try and show the people of "insert name of your favorite big city here" that cyclists exist, and should be recognized, and while I applaud that effort, there are better ways of doing it. Throwing a bunch of people on bikes, and clogging up city streets for hours at a time hardly endears cyclists to motorists, and actually, it ends up making them hate us more. Why do critical mass rides continue then you might ask? Well, mostly because the people doing them aren't the people who ride their bikes a lot. They're normally hipster kids, or older adults (people in my age bracket) who need to find some sort of "cause" to champion. The hipsters do it mostly because they know it's a form of civil disobedience, and they're begging for the cops to get involved with it. The other adults, as I said, are looking for a cause, and they think that this is a good one. I'm glad that they think of cycling as a cause, but from those of us who are out on the roads riding 6 or 7 days a week, will you knock it off? Why? Mostly because you guys in your khaki shorts, skinny jeans, and capri pants are not helping people like me who do ride a lot. You're not helping us at all. As mentioned before, when you create this mess called critical mass (normally from what I've seen the rides tend to go down roads that cyclists don't tend to use much at all, but rather are used for this ride to create the biggest traffic back-up possible), drivers get really super duper pissed off at the people doing it. Hell, when I'm out riding and training people get pissed at me for holding them up for 15 seconds, let alone minutes, or hours while a bunch of people who barely ride bikes go out and make motorists more and more angry.

Here's the thing. I'm convinced that critical mass rides have the direct opposite effect of what they're supposed to do. They do make motorists pay attention to cyclists, but in a bad way. Next time they see some guy riding down the side of a road, they remember being held up in traffic because you critical mass punks wanted to "protest". You talk about cyclist deaths on the road, and while tragic, yes, most of them are accidents, and accidents, when you put fast moving 3 ton vehicles up against something that weighs maybe 180 pounds with rider and bike, is going to make the vehicle the winner. What we need are more community outreach programs. What we need is cyclist awareness training, if you will, for motorists. We need to work to make recognizing cyclist rights on the open roads something that is impressed upon drivers in your home state when they receive their license to drive. We need communities to approach and embrace cyclists. We need more cycling travel lanes (like in Europe) where you can ride your bike fairly safely, or even just wider roads. We need cycling activism, and critical mass isn't it.

Critical mass doesn't help, it hinders, and it also makes people who ride and train all the time, targets for those who have been angered by your actions. Before taking part in a stupid critical mass ride, think about what you could do that would be a better use of your time and how that actually relates to cycling, and not just because it's something "cool" to do. Write your local department of transportation, write your local senators and representatives to your state Congress. Do something worthwhile. You, who do these stupid critical mass rides, are endangering me, and the people I love more when do it, so please, knock that shit off.

How many???

2008-06-28T11:06:00.004-05:00

How many different ways is this video wrong? Let me count them shall I?

1. Hipster glasses (black rimmed, and sort of thick Buddy Holly style).

2. No shirt.

3. He's indoors.

4. Messenger bag with all the accouterments (all of that crap hanging off of it).

5. Rollers.

6. Chopped bars with Oury grips (I hate that the hipsters discovered Oury grips about a million years after they came out on mountain bikes, you hipsters ruin everything, and you know who "you" are).

7. Helmet on his head (remember, he's inside trying to ride some rollers).

8. Improper bottom wear. Where are his capri pants and skinny jeans with a pegged leg?

9. And just overall, no sense of balance.

In hindsight, after watching the video, it's probably a GOOD thing he had his helmet on because there is no doubt he's an absolute moron who is lucky to remember to breathe during the course of a day. We don't want him to get any inner cranial bleeding or something like that, which would make his hipster condition worse. I long for the day when fixed gear bikes were for off season training, and NOT for riding to the coffee shop. And with that, I bring to you, the video that I'm bleating about above (see below).

Went racing...

2008-06-23T21:31:00.002-05:00

So I went racing last week. Yeah, I should have written about this before, but hey, oh well, you'll get over it in the end.

There is a local sort of velodrome here in AVL, well, actually it's just an old short track that they used to race cars on. I'm not sure exactly how they did that, because it's hard getting a bunch of bikes on there, can't imagine cars, but I digress. One of the local bike clubs, the ABRC, holds a bi-weekly race series out there. It's sort of like a short crit race more or less. I decided to pedal over there, sign up, and take a few laps. I also decided, why prolong the suffering? Hell, I'll do the "A" race, or the race that is supposed to be the hardest, and the longest (60 laps). It said that to do the "A" race, you had to be a cat 3 or better, and that I am, at least on my racing license. I laid down my 10 bucks, took about 16000 warm up laps (it was nice to ride somewhere totally flat for once), and then lined up for the start.

I got into the field about halfway into the line up. Not on the front, not on the book. Whistle blows, we're off. Acceleration goes up to about 30, and stays there for awhile, like, 10 or 15 laps. There are sprints every 5 laps. Nope, not getting involved, or trying to get involved in any of those for now. When the sprint time comes though, there is a surge, and everything gets strung out. I'm hanging on the back, punching tickets, but keeping in touch with the wheel in front of me, and even though we're trucking, I'm not really super duper out of breath, or hurting that bad. The accelerations for the sprints hurt real bad, but everything else was just pedaling through the corners, and staying tight. I'll say this, it was some good speed work.

The first time I look up at the lap board as we come through the start finish, it say 30 to go. Yeah, we ticked off 30 laps, and it didn't even seem like we had been racing for that long. I started to think to myself that I could finish this race off, and finish it on the lead lap with most everyone else. 4 guys took a lap on the field, which effectively ended the race for everyone else (this was based on points, not who came across the line first, and since you only get points for the top 3 for every sprint, and points for the top 3 at the finish, you get the point - no pun intended). I look up again. 10 laps to go. Yeah, I can finish this race, and will finish this race. Last 2 laps we pulled at around 35 MPH (according to my friend Brian who has a computer on his bike, I do not - it clutters the bars and disturbs the line and form of the bike. We all come across the finish line, race over. We averaged just over 29 MPH for the 60 laps, and I hung on to finish with the majority of folks who were out there. Not bad for not racing much since 2005. Sure, there were no turns really, and it was pancake flat, but it was still as hard as woodpecker lips, and I felt good in completing it.

Next race out there, 2-Jul-08. I'm going to be there for sure.

#250...

2008-06-22T20:59:00.005-05:00

This is posting #250 for me since I started this little project. Thought I would put that out there.

I got hailed on today. This is really a first for me. I've been snowed on. Iced on. Rained on. Spit on. And just about any other "on" you can think of while pursuing outdoor activities in my lifetime, but today, was the first time I got hailed on. Truth be told, it hurt like a mo-fo. Bear in mind, these were not big hail stones, about the size of say 2 pencil erasers taped together. Add in the rain, the thunder, the lightening, the hail, the wind, and the sudden temperature shift (I'd say it dropped by about 20 degrees from warm and somewhat humid to, holy shit I can see my breath in June in NC in about 2 minutes), and you have a pretty miserable one mile's worth of hiking.

I went out for a 10 mile trek through the woods in and around Boone, NC today. I've been hiking almost every weekend when I go to see the wife, and this weekend, I decided to do a little extended hiking. 2 miles of my normal 5 mile loop. When I started out at the campground, the sky was blue, the sun was out, and there were little white puffy clouds all around. I figured, hey, don't need the rain gear. Big mistake methinks now. I got around to about mile 10, it got really dark, and really quiet. I stopped, put my iPod deep into the recesses of my bag, busted out the built in rain fly, wrapped up my pack, threw it back on, and started running through the rest of the trail. It was the typical, "Drop. Drop. Drop. KABOOSH!!!" when the bottom dropped out. I really couldn't see maybe only 4-5 feet in front of me. Luckily, I was only about a mile from the car. By the time the bottom dropped out, with the rocks, and roots in the way, it wasn't really safe to run, so I slowed to a really fast walk. As I emerged out of the woods near the start of the campground, I could see people ducking for cover, grabbing small children, and scrambling for the sanctuary of their cars. I, on the other hand, had to keep walking in the rain. Then, about 4 minutes out from my goal, that's when the hail started. Damn, that stuff hurts when it hits you in the head, and there was plenty of it. By the time the storm settled down, there were huge piles of it on the grass. It looked like someone had dumped out their large cooler full of ice onto the lawns of the park. It was crazy looking. After I get near to my car, I took temporary shelter in the women's bathroom with about 7 other folks who were also out hiking at the time, and a couple of nice dogs. I had also mistakenly just worn a t-shirt, which was now soaked, and with the temperature dropping, it was getting sort of chilly. There were a couple of times when the storm let up a little bit, and I thought about making a dash to the car, and then it would strengthen again. It was pretty damn amazing watching the pellets of ice fall and hit the ground, and the plastic roof of the bathroom. It was freakin' loud.

Lessons learned from this hike. Bring rain gear. You never know when you'll need it. Get some sort of synthetic fiber shirts to wear hiking. I've got the quick dry shorts, I don't need to be wearing t-shirts when I could use something more breathable, and faster drying. And maybe bring a helmet for next time. I've seen worse weather though, like the time I was on top of Mt. Washington in NH, and the clouds rolled in, and it started snowing. In August. I actually had proper clothing then though. But that was pretty wild.

The really cool thing about driving to Beech Mountain on the weekends to see the wife (well, other than going to see the wife of course) is to drive through the little tiny, and twisty mountain roads that I have to take to get there. This is where the WRX tends to really excel, and by excel, I mean, I can rail that car through there at high speeds, tires squealing, and it LOVES it. I swear it does. I always try to not get behind anyone going into the mountains, because then I can wind it up, and have some fun driving through there. The best part is that the road surfaces are really well maintained, and the pavement is looking good. I highly recommend getting a car like mine out there on these roads. You'll see what they were built for in the first place. Other acceptable cars in this category would be something like a Mini Cooper S, Lancer EVO (IX, or X would do just fine), STi, VW GTI, and I'm sure there are a few others in there that I'm forgetting. It's fun, really super duper fun. Try it. You won't be sorry.

About group rides...

2008-06-20T21:20:00.002-05:00

After speaking to my friend Jason the other night about this topic, and how these things sometimes brought out the worst in us (group rides), I decided to write down some thoughts on this. I think I've done this before, but with the summer heating up, and the local wanna-be hammerheads starting to show up for the group rides during the week, and on the weekend, I thought a little refresher on the etiquette of group rides was in order. Please, if you're heading out for a group ride this weekend, follow these sage words of advice, people will appreciate it.

1. Do not attack at a stop sign, or at an intersection where half of the group is left waiting for cars to go through. This not only proves that you're a toolbag, it will earn you many enemies. Aside from that, it's just a douchebag of a thing to do.

2. Do hold your line, and try not to be too sketchy. I say this because if you are sketchy, you will soon get that moniker affixed to your person, and nobody will ever want to ride around you, and this makes it tough when it is windy out there and you're trying to catch a draft.

3. Do point out things in the road that might take someone down. Little things such as gravel, or a crack, don't bother with it. Large things like say, a tree branch, you might want to point that out. Do it subtly though. Don't yell about it, or make noise, just take a hand off of the bar for a moment, point down, and be done with it.

4. Number 3 brings me to my next point. Calling out of cars. Such as, "CAR BACK!!!", or "CAR FRONT!!!", or even, "CAR ON THE SIDE!!!". Hey, yelling jackass, we know that there are cars out here. Why? It's a freakin' open road. Get a grip, and shut the fuck up. We don't need you Mr. Johnny Information yelling about cars. As with most regular riders, we just assume that there is ALWAYS a car, or cars, in back of us. It makes it safer. Aside from that, it's just annoying, so stop it.

5. Number 4 brings me to number 5 (crazy how that numbering system works isn't it). But this goes along with the yelling of things. When the whole group is coming to a stop sign, or a red light, stop yelling "SLOWING!!!". We know that we're slowing down, and hence why the speed dropped. If we know the route we're riding, we know where the stop signs and stop lights are, we don't need you Mr. Stop Sign to tell us about it. This trait is also annoying.

6. The only ONE acceptable thing to yell about when riding in a group, is the ever dangerous, "DOG LEFT!!" or "DOG RIGHT!!". This is acceptable, only because it does actually serve a purpose. Sometimes those lovable pooches out in the country side are silent killers, and if they're creeping up on a group of say, oh, 40 or so guys in spandex, and bright colors, they like to give chase. I can't tell you how much pain one can go through if taken down by a dog, but let's just leave it at the calling out of dogs, as loud as you can, is NOT annoying, and necessary for the well being of the herd.

7. Do crack jokes. Sure there are some serious assholes out there who think that the Saturday group ride is the end all, and be all of competitive cycling, but. Don't. Be. That. Guy. Be Jokey McJokester out there. People appreciate that more than the ultra serious uptight roadie prick. At least I do. And if someone tells you to shut up, put a frame pump in their spokes just to show them how serious you are. OK, kidding about the frame pump in the spokes, but it is tempting from time to time.

8. Be kind to newbies, and try to teach them the ways of the herd. You too were once someone who didn't know what the fuck they were doing, so try to coddle the newer ones out there, give them some friendly advice, and hope to hell they listen. If they don't, frame pump, in the spokes. That'll show 'em.

9. Don't bring your TT bike out on a 50 mile group ride. There is a time and a place for a TT bike, and that's, yes, in a time trial. Another acceptable use of your shiny and aero TT bike is when you're training and riding alone, or maybe with just one other person. This is absolutely no reason at all to ride your TT bike on a group ride. If you're feeling like doing that, either don't do it, or go and do your own ride. We don't need some asshole who thinks he's Fabian Cancellara riding in his aero bars, not being able to see very well in front of themselves, taking down a bunch of people. Aside from that, if you're riding your TT bike, you MIGHT just get pegged as a tri geek, which is a fate worse than death itself. If you are a tri geek, either don't ride your aero bars, or get a regular road bike, oh, and ditch the 650 wheels, they're not faster. Oh, and one more thing, if you are a tri geek, put a shirt on, you know, one with sleeves and pockets in the rear. They're called cycling jerseys for a reason.

10. If you have a road bike with clip on aero bars, either take them off, or don't use them AT ALL on a group ride. Seriously. If I see you riding in your aero bars, I'm going to smack you in the back of your helmet for being stupid.

11. Do wear a helmet on all group rides. You never know what cat 5 wanna-be is going to show up, and take down about 40 people in one fell swoop.

12. If you don't have a helmet on, and you run into a group ride, and want to tag on, sit on the back. Don't get in the middle, don't get on the front, sit at the back. It's safer back there punching tickets.

13. Don't wear your iPod when riding in a group. Don't get me wrong. I'm a HUGE fan of riding with an iPod blasting in my ears when I'm on the bike. Alone. Don't do it when riding in a group. You look stuck up, and pretty much like a dick.

14. Don't answer your cell phone during a group ride. Yes, I have seen this. And I hate people for it. Matter of fact, if you're in a group ride, you don't need to have a cell phone with you at all, there are a bunch of other like minded individuals with you, and can take care of you should something bad happen. OK, maybe bring it with you, but keep it in the "OFF" position until it's needed for use. Exceptions can be made for say, Doctors who are on-call or some stupid silly bullshit like that.

15. If the front part of the group is riding a rotating paceline, and you don't know what one is, stay at the back with the other people who don't know how to do it. It's better that way for those of us who DO know how to ride one. Watch. Learn. And then try it out the NEXT time you're on a group ride.

16. Don't cross over the yellow line in the road. Why? There are cars coming the other way, and you'll get killed, and possibly might could get someone else killed in the process. Stay on the right side of the yellow. This is especially important when going for those all important town line, and or county line sprints. Cross over, and you deserve that Mack truck that just flattened you like a pancake.

17. If you don't know the route, either ask someone who does, or be fit enough to finish with the group. Simple as that. If you get lost, it's not the group's fault, it's yours for not being strong enough to hang.

18. If you see another cyclist on the side of the road, as you sweep by, ask him/her if they need help. If they do, stop, help them, and continue from there. Karma will be kind to you for this, and aside a fellow cyclist in need is a friend you want to make, because you don't know when you might need the same help.

19. If you are in a group ride, and have several teammates there as well, and one of said teammates gets into a "breakaway" on said group ride, and you're left back in the bunch, do not, I repeat DO NOT go to the front of the group, and block other people from riding hard. This is a common race tactic in cat 5, 4, and 3 races, and it's a fine form of douchebaggery that actually does really deserve a frame pump to the spokes. Look guys, this is a group ride, a training ride. If you've got 6 guys clogging up the front of the group, nobody gets a good training ride. This isn't a race, and even if it WAS a race, this would still not be acceptable. I have seen people who made "the break" only to get caught later yell and scream at their teammates as to WHY they weren't blocking the forward progress of others, and that they would have won if they had done their jobs. Yep, these are the same guys who don't race much, or haven't raced much in their lifetimes. You do that blocking shit in an actual race, you get a reputation really quick as a team that is good to attack over and over again until their last rider is shellacked out the back of the bunch. Just don't do it people. Don't.

20. If you must spit, or hork a booger while riding in the group, either do it on yourself, or do it so that it doesn't get on the person behind you. For spitting, in between your arm, and your leg works great. It hits the road, and nothing else normally, well, maybe your bike, but it's your bike. Spitting off to the side, only gets into people's faces, and that makes for mad people. Same for snot rockets. If you must, and you're in a group, turn your head towards the middle of your person, and blow one on yourself. Gross? Definitely, but again, better than hitting the guy behind you.

21. Don't attack up every little knob on the route like they were Alpe d'Huez. Nobody is impressed that you can climb really fast on a 250 meter long bump in the road.

I think that's all I have for now. Review these rules. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Do you want to add some addition rules of your own (that's what the comments section is for). You let me know, but I think these do pretty well cover it. Oh, and you're welcome.

Fix pushers...

2008-06-19T17:10:00.002-05:00

I love this video and the not so subtle swipes that it takes at hipsters, and specifically hipsters who ride fixed gear bikes.

And now, for comparison...

2008-05-22T18:10:00.002-05:00

And now, for comparison, check out Riis bike toss from the 1997 Tour de France.

I think Millar has it all over Riis in this case. They do have something in common though, they both doped with EPO.

David Millar bike toss for distance...

2008-05-22T09:24:00.002-05:00

I've got to give this guy credit. I didn't think a scrawny armed bike racer could toss his bike so well for distance, AND rotation. It is probably the best "I hate my bike" toss that I've ever seen from a pro bike racer. But then again, Riis toss was good, but this one tops it if you ask me.

Millar, he is so whiney. This time might even be worse than the time he walked across the finish line of the Angrilu during la Vuelta, threw his bike down (no toss that time, he must have been working on his arm strength since then), and quit the Vuelta, because that stage was too hard. Hey, Millar, guess what? It's pro bike racing. It's supposed to be hard you dolt.

Check out the video, it's pretty good. Millar is on the left hand side of the road in the white kit with the Union Jack on his jersey.

The job...

2008-05-04T05:58:00.003-05:00

Frequent readers of this blog (hey you 2, knock that off), may have heard me complain about my job somewhere along the line. How my boss is a complete and utter dumb ass, and or how I was working slave like long hours with little thanks.

Well, I'm happy to report that a couple of things happened this week that will make that work situation that much better.

1. My un-holy turd pile of a boss was removed from his position. He could no longer achieve, well, anything, and they took him out, and moved him to another location. Ding dong the freakin' witch is dead and all of that good stuff. It's not that I wish horrible things for people, but this guy had every single chance, and then some, to make the most out of what he was doing, and he failed miserably. As a consequence, most of the people in our organization think that the quality department, of which I'm a member, are a bunch of incompetent douchey McDouches. And here's why. During the reign of my now former boss, a certain style of overlording, and or micromanagement came into effect with the quickness. This hardly ever allowed anyone to get anything done. Why you might ask? Well, he would have to review everything, and make little tweaks and or changes before anything went anywhere, and after many revisions, you'd kind of just give up, and not do whatever it was you were doing. See, thing is, this guy when he first started at the company, was trained by yours truly, and at that point in time, he was a horrible quality engineer, and well, it carried over. The other thing that really makes me mad about this whole thing is that myself, and everyone else in my department have been working their asses off for a long time. Hell, myself and another guy I work with have been doing between 10-14 hour days consistent for months on end now, and do we even get a thank you? No sir, not from this place. What we get from our staff people is this, "Quality is horrible for this plant, and it's your fault". Of course, they forget about the turnover, lack of training, lack of good parts coming from our vendors, running our floor personnel 7 days / week for months on end, the closing of 2 other key sister company vendor plants, new projects coming in, and so on and so forth. And instead, what rolls out of it, is that you guys suck, instead of looking at the real root causes, which are lie at the feet of upper management. It was pretty simple actually. A few years ago, they decided we needed to cut headcount to save money (which never works). So, they did. What they did was to get rid of most of the experienced operators out on the production floor (you know, the people that make the product that we sell for profit), and replaced them with temporary workers. I'm not saying temporary workers are bad, but you place anyone out on the assembly cell without training, I'll give you 3 guesses as to what is going to happen.

Anyway, I digress...

Getting back to things that were a cause for improvement this week at work.

2. I received a job offer, that looks really good, and I'm going to take it. Which means that in a few weeks time, myself, the wife, the dogs, and the cats will be moving out to Asheville, NC. Which just might be one of the, if not THE most beautiful place in NC. It actually reminds me a lot of my hometown, the surrounding mountains and such, the topography if you will. The town has a great vibe going for it though. There are lots and tons of people around our ages there, it trends late 20's, and or early to mid 30's in age, has great restaurants, has great beer drinking establishments, has a great culture going on out there, and so on. It's a prime place to live. Also, just about any outdoor activity that I either like to do, and or used to do is readily available. Almost limitless road riding, limitless mountain biking, climbing, hiking, running, and on and on runs the list. It's an outdoor paradise, and it's gonna be awesome.

In the future, I won't complain about the new job, well, at first, but it does look promising and challenging, and I think everything is going to be a-OK.

Sort of new dog...

2008-04-20T07:26:00.005-05:00

About a month or so ago, we took yet another step towards becoming crazy pet people, and we got another dog. We really did need another dog, as our current dog had a companion in our neighbor's dog, and they moved, and hence, she was sad and lonely. The wife scoured the local animal shelters during her Spring Break (WOO HOO!), and we came up with a dog named, of all things, Hercules. Immediately after getting him home, we re-named him Grover. As in Cleveland, not the Seasame Street character, and no, he's not blue (see pictures). Anyway, he's become a part of the family now, and we don't have any plans to get any more pets. We are on a pet moratorium (of course, we said this before). The count now stands at 3 cats, and 2 dogs, and a house full of pet hair. Pet hair all of the time. Ah well, they are fun to have around, so it's worth it. Check out the pictures of Grover.

Haven't posted in awhile...

2008-03-26T08:03:00.005-05:00

Things have been sort of busy, but yeah, I know, this is not really an excuse. OK, the real reason, haven't felt like it much, that's all. A few things on my mind.

Thing the first: Bike racing.

This past weekend was Milan - San Remo, which to me is the real opening of the Spring race season. Sure, there is Het Volk, KBK, and a few other miniscule races going on (Paris - Nice, but then again, I don't much like stage racing all that much), but MSR is the big one. La Primavera. It's the race that just about everyone, especially corn rowed Italians (I'm looking at you Pozzatto) want to win. It's a dream for many, and many lose that dream somewhere out there on the 300 km jaunt made in this race. It's a race for the sprinters normally, as the hills that come late in the race, Poggio and the Cipressa, don't seem to really slow anyone down much these days, or split the pack as they were meant to do, and make it a hard man's race, instead of a sprinter's race. Ah well.

This edition though was slightly different, in that we saw one Fabian Cancellara make a move with 2k to go, and held the rest of the pack off. What happened was, he attacked, shot away, and all of the rest of the small break that he was with (16 or so guys) all sat around looking at each other with their dick's in their hands wondering who was going to go after him. Sprinters being what they are, not wanting to chase anyone kind of people, they all sat there, and watched victory go on up the road. Don't get me wrong, I love me a sprint (since I sort of am a sprinter, or was, or something along those lines), but watching Cancellara drill it, and watch as nobody can bring him back, made my heart jump a little. He did the same thing last year when he was wearing the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, and that allowed him to keep the jersey for a few additional days. Anyway, look, guys, I'm not master tactician about bike racing, but I do know a thing or 2 about a thing or 2. Here's the deal. When the WORLD CHAMPION in the TIME TRIAL gets a good sized gap towards the end of a race, you CHASE HIM DOWN, unless of course you want him to win. I've got to say, Fabian is on some smoking form. I hope he can kill it a few more times in the following weeks, and then take some downtime for le Tour in July. He's got Flanders, Paris Roubaix, and a few other races where he could possibly win, and coming off of this win, if his form holds, he's got to rank up at the top of the list for another monument win sometime this Spring. He's already won PR once, can he do it again? Possibly so, possibly. He's got the team to support him, CSC, and they also have other options in there should be not be feeling so well, such as last year's winner, Stuey O' Grady, so we'll see. Could be another interesting Spring Classics year.

I do know one thing though for sure. If Quick Step gets shut out again, there's going to be Hell to pay in Belgium.

Thing the second: The Obama - Wright "thing".

I frequent a few political boards here and there, and have seen how most of the right wing type people are falling all over themselves to paint Obama as some sort of black separatist / America hater because his pastor had a sermon or 2 that was, well, fairly high energy, and fiery. I would tell these same folks that apparently, they have never been to a black church, anywhere, and don't realize that in a lot of black churches around the country, this is how preaching is done. Then they will counter with how "racist" and how "anti American" he is and of course, he must be a bigot as well. I ask for examples of his racism, which they can't show to me. I ask for examples of his anti-Americanism (bear in mind, Pastor Wright served as a US Marine for a fair number of years), and they can't provide those. I ask for examples of his bigot speech, and one last time, they've got nothing. Of course, people on the right are harping on and on about what he said, but they didn't really break it down much, and or actually heard what he said, because in his sermon that has been playing endlessly for weeks now, there was no racism. There was no anti-Americanism, and there was no bigotry. Someone once told me that race plus power = racism. Where, or what power does Wright have? Is he part of the power structure of this country? Was he calling out white people just because of the color of their skin? No. He was calling them out because of the things that they have done to black folks over the years. And of course, we keep hearing that this must be the tip of the iceberg. This man must be this unhinged all of the time, and shame on Obama for attending his church for 20+ years and exposing his children to this awful man.

Of course, on the other side of the aisle, you have republicans who regularly attend churches that bash homosexuals, not for any particular reason, other than who they are attracted to. They bash atheists, and call them Satan worshippers (which is funny, since atheists don't worship, well, anything). They rail on about how America needs to be a theocratic country, and that if America doesn't take steps to make it a Christian nation immediately, that Christian soldiers should rise up, and overthrow the government. I'm pretty sure that last example is about as ANTI-American as it can get, and yet, nobody calls out politicians associated with these jerks for their association with them. No. What do we do? We hold the people who SPOKE those words accountable, and speak out against them. This guilt by association bullshit is just that. Bullshit. But of course, I don't expect right wing whack jobs to think this way. Oh no. Even though they've been trying to paint liberals as anti Christian jihadists, now all of a sudden Obama is under the spell of his Christian pastor? Come on people. If all you guys have is one sermon where Wright talked about the ills perpetrated on the black race by white Americans, I'm feeling pretty confident about the democratic chances in November.

It's also kind of pathetic, because what they're really doing is being incredibly racist. They show this man preaching from the pulpit, and he appears angry. He SOUNDS angry. It's more of the old timey "lock up your children there's an angry black man coming for them" that permeated this nation for far too long, and still does to this day. The people railing against Wright, want people to fear him. Not for his views, which were mostly in the right, but because he's fire and brimstone, and because he's black. That's what it really boils down to. And if you elect Obama, this is what you're going to get.

OK, I don't think I have a part the third, and aside from that, this little tirade has gone on long enough. Also, I need to eat some breakfast so I can go and ride my bike in the sun.

Bumper sticker...

2008-02-23T16:14:00.002-05:00

Bumper sticker seen in Portland Oregon:

"Fixies are the new rollerblades - Fruit Booters Unite!!"

Damn, that's funny.

Quote of the week...

2008-02-16T13:29:00.002-05:00

In what was no doubt, at least for me, the quote of the week, here we have John Boehner (being from Ohio how does this guy have a perma-tan anyway??), minority leader Congressman from Ohio stating the following on the floor of the House about democrats wanting to, you know, actually look into this FISA bill update that will allow the US Government to spy on its own citizens without a warrant:

"We will not stand here and watch this floor be abused for pure political grandstanding at the expense of our national security,"

John, of course you're going to stand there and watch it. Why? Because you've done far worse on the floor of the same House than these guys are doing. Here we have the democrats, who unlike in the Senate, are looking into this bill. Exploring it. Reading it. Looking at the information behind it, and then they'll address. This is something that doesn't need to be taken lightly, since indeed it is essentially about allowing the federal government to wiretap our phones, and read our e-mails without getting a warrant, as is required by that whole, you know, Constitution thing that resides in the National Archives in Washington DC and all. Of course Boehner forgets about national security back in the days when he and his cohorts were busy trying to oust Bill Clinton from the presidency for having the audacity of being a democrat in the White House and in the Presidency. Because, remember, back when Clinton was going through his impeachment, he was also trying to kill Osama Bin Laden, except at that time, the republicans in Congress were complaining that what Clinton was doing was trying to "wag the dog", referencing a movie of the same name that showed a President embroiled in scandal who created a war in order to take the emphasis off of his scandal. We know now that Clinton was not making this up, but at the time, there sure were a lot of republicans who didn't know what Bin Laden was about, and didn't care. They were busy ignoring their Constitutional duties to try and take down a sitting President. But hey, let's make sure we allow Bush and his boys to spy on Americans without having the proper warrant. Never you mind that the FISA laws already provide for this. Bush keeps saying that democrats are making American "less safe" by not passing the bill that he wants, and how he wants it. Good lord, when are democrats in Congress going to stand up to this 30 percenter and put their foot down? Apparently, never.

Look, FISA already provides for the allowance to wiretap and intercept communications for up to 72 hours before you actually need to get a warrant. There is a special secret court that can be called into session literally at any time to get warrants issued for this purpose as well. And since FISA was established the court has denied warrants I think a total of 2 or 3 times total, out of thousands that were requested. Are you trying to tell me that our government doesn't have the ability it already needs to legally pursue people? Bush talks about how they need more latitude to pursue the bad people, but of course, they can't provide examples of where some sort of immediacy has prevented anything from happening, and something that the 72 hour part of the law wouldn't have covered. And, this is the kicker. The Bush administration also wants immunity for the telecommunications companies who did these wiretaps to prevent people from suing them for infringement of their privacy, and that's the whole sticking point right now. Hello? I would imagine that these large companies would have, you know, rather large and well paid legal departments. How is it not possible that their lawyers didn't tell them that indeed, you shouldn't do wiretaps without a warrant. The laws are pretty simple that way. No warrant, no wiretap, or e-mail. I often also wonder aloud what the reaction would be of republicans currently in Congress if say, Al Gore were President and was asking for this to happen. You can be sure that they would be screaming bloody murder, and we'd have another impeachment on our hands for crimes against the Constitution, in which case, they'd be right. I don't want ANY President, or government agency to be able to wiretap AMERICAN citizens without a warrant. It flies in the face of what we're supposed to stand for. Doesn't it? How many times does this current administration have to step on our rights, and our laws before they're called out on it?

The Bush administration is smug, and sound in their reasoning that they can pretty much do whatever they want, and Congress isn't going to do a damn thing about it. Look at Congress now. As I said before, George W. Bush has little to no support within the country as a whole, and the WORLD as a whole, and yet, the democrats in both the Senate and the House keep rolling over and giving the Chimp in Chief whatever he wants. He wags his finger, calls democrats terrorist supporters and sympathizers, and then they give him exactly what he wants. What a joke. And then you have the minority party in the Senate, the republicans, who have held up literally every single piece of legislation that the republicans didn't bring themselves into that hallowed chamber, and or didn't like, and nobody calls them obstructionists, when in fact, they have obstructed, or stopped more legislation than any other Congress before them. Look, democrats, time to get tough, take a stand, and start leading, instead of letting Bush and his buddies continue to do whatever it is they want. Stop being such pansies for Christ's sake. Do something to show us that you want to actually lead, and that you actually care about this country, its laws, and its Constitution, because so far since you took back the House and the Senate, we haven't seen it.

Jason Darden's new shoes...

2008-02-10T09:44:00.000-05:00

I have found the perfect new pair of cycling shoes for one Jason Darden. See attached picture to the left...

These are the Sidi special edition Bettini shoes. I know Jason is going to run out, lay down his 500+ dollars for a pair of these bad boys and I mean really who wouldn't? Well, probably me, mostly because I'm not Italian and can't pull of "style" such as seen here in there them shoes. Come to think of it, Jason isn't Italian either. The person most likely to purchase this pair of shoes would be one Curtis S. Staples. I'm sure that he's actually pining away for such a thing as we speak. I do take these shoes to be another silly example of how much money some folks will actually pay for cycling gear. Meaning, I think the retail on these bad boys is going to be about $550, which, come on seriously? Over $500 for a pair of cycling shoes? It's dare I say, crazy, or ridiculous, pick your adjective, they will all apply. But then again, this is the world where people will pay $600 for a ceramic bottom bracket that overall, ain't gonna make you faster, but dang, it says that it will. Also, the same group of people who will pay $400 for a pair of bib shorts. Don't get me wrong, I like me some nice cycling gear, and will pay some money to get some nice cycling gear, but I'm not absolutely insane, and absolutely know where to draw the line. Bear in mind, for this particular pair of shoes, I once owned a pair of the top of the line Sidi road cycling shoes. The SRS Energy 2 I think it was. This was way back in 2001. At the time, they were expensive, retail was about $200. Can someone honestly tell me what they've done over the course of 6 or 7 years that would make these new shoes over double what my shoes were? Nothing. Oh sure, they might have added some carbon fiber to the sole and all, but that's about it. Incredibly ridiculous. No thanks for me. I'll stick with my $15 specials a friend of mine got for me, and the only reason they were $15 is because I felt like I needed to give him something for the shoes. He was going to give them to me for free.

Coming to a head...

2008-02-09T09:12:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, after reading some of the things that I've written about my place of employment, things where I work aren't the best. Things came to what I would like to call a head yesterday. This is when my dumb ass of a boss decided that we needed to start working weekends on a rotating basis. Yep, weekends, you know, the time that I used to have free to do, well, things. No more.

See, the thing of it is, is that I wouldn't mind coming in on a weekend here or there, if I weren't already working 60+ hours every week, but I am, and I would like to have some time off on the weekends to do something for myself, or with my wife, which would be even better. Yet, now I'll have to make the drive to my place of employ once every 3 weekends, and do MORE work. Yeah, good times.

In lieu of this new announcement by this Lumberg wannabe, almost as soon as I got home yesterday, I started sending out resumes to various other businesses around where I live. Yes, I started the process, and continued it this morning by sending out more resumes to various other corporations and or companies. The place where I work is going to go down in a big ball of flame, and I don't want to go down with it, and I don't want to work weekends, so the job search begins. We'll see what shakes loose and what comes of it, I don't know for sure, but just about anything has GOT to be better than what I've got now. You know how they say the grass is always greener? Well, in this instance, I'm sure that it really is.

About the working weekends thing, we (my department) basically told our boss that we weren't going to do it unless we get some sort of compensation. Meaning, extra pay, or extra vacation time, because as stated above, not only have I been working 60+ hour weeks, everyone in the department has been doing that, for quite some time now. We all need a break. The mechanical engineers that I work with, they have also been tasked to work weekends. After all of these pronouncements were made yesterday, the entire office region was buzzing with loathing for our bosses, and there wasn't really a happy person in there. Oh, yeah, and the material and production planners are going to have to come in on weekends as well. Basically, everyone is going to be working weekends. Talk about a morale boost eh?

I keep hearing from our managerial staff that "things are going to get better". Oh yeah? When is that going to happen? We've been hearing this same bullshit for well over 2 years now, and guess what? Yeah, it's not getting better, it's getting worse as we speak. And now, they're going to lose a lot of people because of this weekend business that's for sure, and from just the basic reasoning of nobody likes it there any longer. What would really suck for my department is if I left. Right now, I am the most senior person in my department, with over 7 years in at the company. I have a seriously sold base of knowledge about what goes on there, what happens with our products, how to review products, how to do our job, and I believe deep down that I do it well. Folks in my department, including my boss, come to me to ask me how to do things, or to explain things to them. When (not if) I leave, they're going to be in a world of shit. In order for me to stay, they're going to have to pony up some serious cash, or a change in title and cash, because barring that, it isn't worth it. Hell, even with that, it might not be worth it. Say I told them I was leaving, and then they wanted me to stay, and that they would bump my salary up a bunch. I might stay another year, cash in, and THEN leave. Who knows? What I do know though is that the place is getting the flush, and I, along with about 400 other people, are completely and totally unhappy about what is going on.

Turns out...

2008-02-06T22:03:00.000-05:00

So it turns out, in a previous post about the "line up" (see it below) I was talking about this woman that I work with Kara, and the other guy I work with Jamie lurking around her desk day in, and day out. Wondering probably if she was going to throw him a crumb or not, and I said, probably not in a million years. Well, turns out, I was wrong. Indeed, they are doing "laundry" together (I might call it laundry, but other people would call it doing the hibbity dibbity). Anyway, turns out that they're both heading for the big D, and I don't mean Dallas, so they have apparently found one another at work. How quaint. It makes me want to hurl. It's like a freakin' junior high in that place lately. Oh well, to each their own I suppose. Even if I weren't married, you'd not catch me dating someone at work. To hell with that.

Anyway, there are other things afoot at work. The plant manager who is what I like to call a tool bag, has been ousted. Yeah, they sent him back down to the minor leagues, back to the plant he came from (another one of our places unfortunately), but he's only been there for about 6 months, and he's been yanked. Too much. They should have never put him in there, he was not ready to do it, plenty of energy, but no experience, and well, he pretty much just sucks anyway. Yeah, I am a hard critic, but hey, it's my career just as much as his. If the plant manager keeps fucking up, then it could be my job as well.

My boss, I would like to report has not endeared himself to me at any point in time after the New Year. Instead, he keeps really pissing me off to no end. Let's just say, since I came back after my vacation, and the New Year, there haven't been too many days as of late where I was able to come home before say, oh, 8PM. Sure, there were some exceptions to that, but overall not much really. And today, the bastard has the gall, the nerve I dare say, to call me into his office, and ask me as to why this one thing didn't get done, and then dressed me down about it. Bear in mind, I have been working my ass off for his little projects every single day, and haven't had the time to do really anything else except for Toyota stuff, and we were told, that it was the top priority, stop and drop everything else, so I did. And if someone asked me to do something else, I would tell them, I would do it, if I could find the time to do it, because I had been told that Toyota was top priority. Well, someone needed something done, he asked me, I gave him the above answer, he went to my boss, and that's when I got in "trouble". Now, if I had been sitting around for the week, not doing anything, I had not done this little task, fine, yell at me for that, I would deserve it. But, on the other hand, when I've been working 70+ hour weeks, and slaving for a place that I don't even like that much, is just a touch of respect too much to ask for? I don't think so.

Here's the thing. What he could have done in this situation would be to come over to my desk, and say something like, "Hey, I know you've been working super hard on all of this stuff that we've been asking you to do over the last 4 weeks, but could you take a few minutes and take care of this?" Did he do anything like this though? Nope, he wanted to be a dick about it, and then bring up something else that I was "late" getting over to another customer last week. In other words, he asked me if I could send this report into our customer, and I said yes, but tell them I will do it by COB on Thursday. So he tells them that I would get it to them first thing in the morning on Thursday. I didn't get it in first thing in the morning, and he flipped out about that. Funny thing is, the customer was fine about it. No problem with them. They liked the information I gave them, and closed things out on that one issue.

My boss is worse than Lumbergh, I guarantee you that. He's just quite simply, a dick. I don't even think he can help it really. I don't think I'll have to worry about him for too much longer though, as he keeps screwing up left and right, so his days are numbered, and he's another one in way over his head. Funny thing about my boss. He was once in the same position I was, and when he interviewed for the position, myself and another co-worker said that no, we don't want him in our group, we don't think he knows what he's doing. Funny, we were right. Too bad nobody listened to us then.

Hey, Republicans...

2008-02-05T06:53:00.000-05:00

Guys, for the love of God, stop trying to "out-Reagan" each other. Do you really want to be tied back to a senile own man, through the admissions of his most trusted staff basically told the world that as a President, he didn't know what the hell was going on most of the time during his 2 administrations? Do you really want to be tied back to a man who supported death squads in South American countries for years on end? Do you really want to be tied back to a man who sold weapons to terrorists, and Iran? Do you really want to be tied back to a man who sold WMDs to Saddam? And the list would and does go on, and on, and on about Reagan's foibles, and his insane amount of mistakes. Did Reagan take down the Soviet Union? In all reality, no, not really, nothing he did brought that about, but he gets "credit" for it because he was in office when the nation started freefalling. I wonder if 20 years from now George W. Bush will be viewed in a similar light? Hell, I hope not. Old President 43 has done possibly even worse things than Reagan.

Rock Racing and VDB???

2008-01-24T06:46:00.000-05:00

Everyone else has written something about these guys, why not me? And no, it's not what you think, that Rock Racing has hired VDB, read onward...

How is it possible that that VDB is still riding a bike as a professional bike racer? This is something that I just don't get. The man not only has 9 lives, he has about 20 lives as it pertains to being a pro bike racer. He has found yet another team that will carry his sorry ass for this season. Granted, they are a smaller team, with a smaller budget, but he's still riding professionally. I think between the suicide attempts, his craziness, drug sanctions, health issues, and everything else he's been through he's raced about 3 times in the last 4 years, mostly dropping out before hitting the hard parts of the races he was riding in. It's insane really, totally, and completely and utterly insane (sort of like VDB himself). This is a man that when investigators found EPO in his fridge at his house, he said it was for his dog. Yeah, a new level of doping proclamation, it was for my dog. Just when you thought that pro bike racers had made up all of the excuses you thought entirely possible, we get the "dog" defense. VDB should not be allowed to race bikes just for bringing the dog excuse into the cycling vernacular.

For instance, we have a solid pro rider like Allan Davis. He's won some races, has a great work ethic, and works hard for the teams that he has ridden for. The problem is, his name got brought in Operacion Puerto, which he was then completely and fully cleared of, and yet he has a hard time finding someone to ride for. VDB who has taken more drugs than Timothy Leary has a team to ride for. Again, a smaller team, but a team nonetheless. Allan Davis is left sitting on the outside looking in and wondering if he'll ever be a bike racer again. That's not a good place to be in. I'm hoping that Allan Davis has a ripping Tour Down Under in Australia, and then a team realizes, hey, we've got room for this bloke, let's hire him. I don't know why I've fixated on Allan Davis, it's just some recent things that I've read about him is all. I'm sure that there are plenty of others out there as well.

Look, for those European teams out there thinking about hiring VDB in the future, just knock that shit off. Let the man go completely loco crazy, and lock him away for the good of the cycling community in general. I don't hate him, I enjoyed watching him race when he was doped to the gills (Paris-Nice, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the like), but his time has passed him by. He's 33 years old, and ready to be put out to pasture. Maybe he'll do something this year, but I doubt it. He doesn't have a team to support him, so if he does do anything at all on the bike, he's going to have to do it alone. Having a bunch of kermesse riders supporting you in the Spring Classics is not ideal for anyone. Good luck VDB, you're going to need it you psycho bastard.

Moving on now.

Rock Racing. Yes, the favorite subject of most in the cycling realm of the US these days. Rock Racing, being run by Michael Ball of Rock and Republic Jeans (most famously) is catching a lot of flack these days. Reading an interview with Floyd Landis (where he was portraying the ANGRY Mennonite) on Velosnooze the other day, he did bring up some good points about Rock Racing. People are giving him a hard time for hiring Botero. For hiring Hamilton. For hiring Sevilla. They say that he can't seriously be anti doping if he has hired these guys. Bear in mind, the only one of the 3 who was ever sanctioned for doping was Hamilton, who "served his time" and can now race again professionally, if someone is hardy enough to give him a job, and Ball is that man. Sevilla, never sanctioned. Botero, never sanctioned. I find it ironic that the same people who are yelling and screaming about Ball hiring these guys to ride for him are the most ardent supporters of David Millar, a known and sanctioned doper. But they say, it's different for Millar. He came clean. Look people, the only reason Millar came clean is because he pooped in his khakis when the Gendarme busted into his flat in France and started searching the place for evidence of doping. Also bear in mind that it was what? 7 or 8 months AFTER he had doped to the win the World Championships in the TT that he finally "came clean". I guarantee you that if those French cops hadn't busted into his place, and they hadn't found his empty EPO vial, he never would have said a word, and would still be wearing his world champion rainbow stripes on the sleeves of his jerseys. Don't fool yourselves kids, the only reason Millar came clean is because he got caught. As with the others, he served his time, and now has a nice new life as a pro bike racer, so good for him. Why can't Hamilton, Botero, Sevilla, and others like them get the same shot? They should, and they will with Ball. Why are people so concerned that Rock Racing will get blackballed because they have Hamilton on their team? Millar still gets to ride the big races, and nobody says a word. There is no difference between the 2 folks, no difference at all. And I also ask you to consider this. When Hamilton got busted, I found myself in the distinct MINORITY of people who were chastising him for being a doper, and for calling him out for being a doper. I got beat down in cycling forums that I frequent as being a "hater" and all. Now though, these folks who were yelling at me for calling Hamilton a doper are now the same people, more or less, who are saying he should be burned at the stake. My how times turn around. Again, the man served his time, let's let him race again if someone is willing to give him a spot.

Rock Racing is also bringing some serious "noise" to the US peloton. Cycling in general, is so catty. I'm sorry, I don't know how else to explain it really. I say that it's "catty" in the sense of, when something new comes along, the people who have been there for awhile, or the established teams always poo-poo the new guy on the block. It happens EVERY SINGLE TIME. The US peloton doesn't like change. They don't like something disturbing their nice little world of US pro cycling. Something like Rock Racing comes along, with a team owner like Ball who is brash, egotistical, and a little maniacal, and the end of cycling as we know it is pronounced, and immediately people dismiss Ball and his team as some sort of flash in the pan, and everyone buries their noses and talk about how we don't need a team like Rock Racing. I think we do. Why? We need some press about our sport. Look, just because you, and 20 of your friends are racing a crit in some un-completed cul de sac in the middle of tobacco fields somewhere downeast in North Carolina doesn't mean that people understand, or even want to think about cycling as a sport. Most people in the US considering cycling a nuisance, and something to be done by kids who don't have a driver's license. Ball can bring the noise, and the promotion that nobody else in the cycling world in the US can do. Why? See the list of reasons above (brash, egotistical, and so on). The man runs a multi million dollar business, and is from what I've seen, not prone to failure at any point in his life. Sure, he's a little crazy, but don't you worry. He's going to be just fine, and his team, is going to win some pretty big races around the US I think. He's going to be out front, promoting his team, promoting cycling, and get over it. He's here to stay I think. Why? Mostly because of you assholes discounting him, and dismissing him. He's going to stay in your face so that in every race you line up at, you're going to have to deal with him, and his team. And let's look at his team. A bunch of great guys. Who else is going to let David Clinger race for them in the US? Seems to be, someone already fired him because he tattooed his face. Clinger has talent, Clinger has the drive to be a great rider. Just because he got ink on his face, he got blackballed. If for no reason other than to give David Clinger a place and a team to race for, I will support Rock Racing. What about Bahati? Possibly one of the best crit riders in the US, and a great track rider as well, but alas, he's not "mainstream" enough to apparently ride for a pro team, and now he's got a place to ride as well. Again, I'll support Rock Racing just because they gave Bahati a place to race.

Buckle up people, and buckle down. I think Ball and his merry band of strong racers, and misfits are here to stay, and they're going to be in your face, winning your bike races, and you're going to be crying about it. Me? I'm going to be laughing mostly because I told you so.

Riding...

2008-01-20T20:08:00.000-05:00

I went riding yesterday and today.

Yesterday, I left the house, it was gray outside, and threatening to snow. I figured, eh, what the hell. If it starts to snow, I'll just turn around and come home. 2 hours later, I came in the house, covered head to toe in the white stuff, and with cold water. Turns out, the thing that happens in North Carolina is that the road crews go out, and brine the roads before it snows, so when it hits, it melts. Which makes for, yes, some wet roads. Add snow, you get me, riding out in it, and almost as cold as I've ever been on a bike. There was only one other time when I was colder.

March, 2002, Greenville, SC Spring Series race. It was the first race of the season, and as we arrived at the race site, it was cold, and gray. I paid my money, get my number, kitted up, and almost as soon as I did, it started raining. Since I was out "warming" up, and getting soaked anyway, I figured, might as well start the race. Holy Hell what a mistake that was. 14 miles into the race, I had to stop, and then pry my hands from the bars. Why? I was so cold my hands were locked onto the bars. I went to the car, changed in the downpour that was going on, got into my car, started it, turned the heat on high, and sat there for about 2 hours, and never warmed up. I had several people who had raced get into my car with me, and they all had to leave in about 2 minutes or less, because it was too hot in there. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't get that cold, ever. 2 hours, and I still wasn't warm. I didn't properly warm up until I got into the shower that night, for about an hour, in the hotel room. The upside, is that I slept like a rock that night.

When I got home from the ride yesterday, I had to do the pry the hands of the bars thing. Got undressed on the mat in front of our side door because I was soaking wet, put on my flannel PJs and hoodie, and then sat on the couch arms wrapped around myself for about 20 minutes. Why did I wait? Well, my feet were so cold that I had to wait for them to thaw a little bit before I got into the shower, or else, immense pain would have ensued. The wife came home, saw me on the couch, and wondered if I was OK. The shower yesterday, took about 30 minutes, and even though we're in a drought, I ran out the hot water. Sorry about that. I had to do it, and when I got out, I was more or less warmed back up. Good times when it's cold AND wet.

I did ride today again, and it was around 25 degrees or so this afternoon when I left, but it was dry, so, it wasn't that bad. The feet got kind of cold, but that's par for the course for me, even with booties, and shoe covers on there. Not a problem. I'm used to it. It was nice out there though for the most part. Sunny, and a little icy in spots, but overall not bad. Compared to the day before, it was downright plush out there.

Tomorrow, don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. It'll probably be on the trainer tomorrow night. I hates the trainer.

The line up...

2008-01-18T19:38:00.001-05:00

Yes, there is a queue at work on most days, and the lines start at the desks of the women that work in my office who are, shall we say, more attractive than your normal everyday manufacturing employee?

We have 2 women that work in the office area who are relatively attractive women. I can't deny that. The thing is, there is a line around them constantly while they are here. And by line, I mean a circle of men hanging around their cubicles, shooting the shit with them, throwing a little flirting action their way, and basically chewing the fat. It's kind of funny. You can tell in this place when a new woman comes to work in the office. How can you tell? The floor traffic going by the cubicle where said woman is sitting increases exponentially, and the guys who stop and talk also increases exponentially. For instance, this morning, I was heading off to a meeting. To get to said meeting, I have to walk by Kara's cubicle on my way over there. Bear in mind she shares this cubicle with another woman and a couple of guys. She had just breezed into work a few minutes prior to my walking down the aisle, and yet as I approached, I could hear the laughing, and the giggling, and tee hee-ing going on in the cubicle. As I came upon the scene, I almost had to laugh out loud. Why you might ask? Well, there was one guy talking to Kara, and there were 3 more circling waiting to talk to her. Bear in mind that the work that Kara does in no way, shape, or form relates to anything that these guys who were in her cubicle do on a daily basis. Kara works for the planning department. The guys doing the circling were 2 maintenance guys, and a quality assurance technician. It's laughable. It's almost like these guys haven't seen a real live woman in years. You'd almost think that they'd either been away at an all boy's school (which manufacturing is for the most part), didn't have wives (they all do), or had just never seen a halfway attractive woman and don't really know how to act. It's actually quite funny to see them fall all over themselves trying to be coy, and charming, and trying to distract Kara with their wily male ways. I'm almost certain that she's picking up on this, because if she isn't, she's got to be the most oblivious person in the history of the world. Being that she's a fairly intelligent woman, I know she's picking up what they're laying down, and she has them all eating out of her hand. Good for her I say. It's fun to watch 40 something's falling all over themselves, and yet, it's kind of sad in a way as well.

Then, there's Stacey. Our attractive HR woman. While Kara draws a crowd from the maintenance guys and other folks from the production floor, Stacey draws in the salaried personnel. I swear, if our plant manager spent half as much time you know, plant managing, as he does standing around cracking jokes around Stacey, our company would be a WHOLE lot better off. Every single time I walk by the HR office, and Stacey is currently here working, either the plant manager is in there talking to her, or the production manager is in there talking to her, or the plant supervisors are in there talking to her. It's an endless stream of men lining up to try and crack wise, and make her laugh, and try to get their "swerve" on, which again is funny, and yet tragic. Once again, all of the men involved in this little charade are all married. And unlike Kara though, Stacey is not. I'm thinking that somewhere in the minds of these grubby men, they're thinking, "Hey, she's single. I'm in a position of power here at this plant. I have a good income. I've definitely got a shot!" This is what they tell themselves. It's more than likely not true, or even remotely true, but still, they line up outside of her door, outside of her office, and circle like vultures looking for carrion on a road somewhere. It's actually gotten to be a standing joke with myself and a few other guys I work with. Seriously though, if these guys circling Stacey's cubicle would put as much effort as they do into flirting with her as they would their jobs, damn, we'd be a first rate operation here. But alas, they don't. They're living out their fantasies of being the big men on campus, when in reality, they're choads. Yeah, I said it, choads (sorry if you don't know what a choad is, look it up somewhere).

Look guys, these women are not going to sleep with you. They don't think you're funny, they actually think that you're kind of creepy. Stop leering, and cracking stupid jokes that are supposed to be funny, they're not. Stop trying to act all charming, you're not. They smile, and fake laugh at your jokes because they're nice women, and don't want to make you look like a total fool. Get over it, and go back to work, again, you're not going to get into their pants. They're not interested in you. Sorry, that's the reality of the situation.

I like to bring realism crashing into their world once in awhile. It keeps them, you know, possibly more grounded. Now if only I told this to them for real. A man can dream can't he?

I got more...

2008-01-07T20:04:00.001-05:00

More updates. It's January, and the weather yesterday on the 6th of January was beautiful. By the time I got done riding yesterday, it was a full on 65 degrees or possibly warmer. I was riding with just some arm warmers on, and that was it. For January, even in North Carolina, that's pretty sweet. Even though I missed a couple of days of riding during the mid-week this past week, I still managed to get in some good days of base riding. All told, about 13 hours of riding for the week, which isn't too bad coming off of the injury and all. I'm starting to feel better on the bike, and have been able to do several 3+ hour rides in a row. I am thinking about pushing it up to over 4 hours on Saturday next weekend just to see how spent I feel afterwards. We'll see how I feel come Saturday, and what the weather says of course. Many variables to judge in there for certain.

On the bike front, things got even better this weekend. I got my property damage check from the insurance company, so now that is all taken care of finally. I wasn't too mad at the insurance guys, since I was kind of dragging my feet along in the process, and got into contact with the insurance company a little late anyway. After the adjuster came over, reviewed my bike and stuff, it went pretty quick from there. I'm happy with how that all turned out as far as property damages. I think I got a pretty fair deal with everything, and the things that were broken, or suspect, did get covered, so no problems at all for me. Now we move on to the "human" damage, meaning my shoulder with the insurance company. Luckily, I don't have to work this angle of things at all. This is why I've got a lawyer to take care of the more complicated tasks. I think what they've told me is that they'll basically wait until all of my treatments are done, so that they can get a "grand total" of expenditures, and then they'll go out, and get that money back for bills paid, and other items. This could be a much longer process just because of the amount of treatment and physical therapy that I am getting for this surgery. As I've said before, I'll just let the lawyers take care of all of that, and will sit by, and just get updates from them as they come across.

In a quick note about politics. I'm excited about tomorrow's primary in NH. I was just reading, a few minutes ago, how Obama has opened up a double digit lead in the polls on Clinton, which after this weekend (that had them almost even) is pretty amazing. I'm hopeful that the democratic party will finally get around to nominating someone who can be elected, and I think Obama is the cream of the crop in this case. Well, as I've said before, I think Kucinich is THE MAN, but alas, he's never going to get the nomination. I do like that guy a lot though. He is my kind of kook. But since my man Kucinich has basically said that if you can't go for him, go for Obama, I'm sure I'll be taking up my second choice here in a little while. I can't wait to see the returns tomorrow in the primary, and to see Obama beat the crap out of Clinton. Don't get me wrong, I like her, but I think she's wrong for the job at this point in time. And she's not nearly liberal enough for me. Not even close actually. She's a little too pro business, and pro-Israel. I do think that if she gets beat down tomorrow, Obama is going to have tons of momentum going into Super Tuesday, regardless of what happens before that day. This could get interesting tomorrow for sure.

That's about it from here. Except that I'm back at work. This whole vacation thing was NOT overrated that's for sure. I thoroughly enjoyed the almost month that I had off of work. You can believe that. I had forgotten about work I had been gone for so long. It was nice. Now if only I could win the lottery I could do that on a permanent basis, or at least work a fun job. Meaning, go work at a bike shop for about 15 hours per week, and get good deals on sweet bike gear. First though, I have to win the lottery, and then we'll make some moves beyond that. Ah, we can all dream can't we?

It has begun...

2008-01-04T19:09:00.000-05:00

The silly season has officially started now after the Iowa Caucuses that took place last night. On the democratic side, Obama took the night over Edwards and Clinton. Clinton and Edwards were pretty much ties, with Edwards taking a few extra delegates than Hillary. Of course, this was heralded around the country as Hillary being defeated big time in Iowa, which is really laughable, mostly because even though Obama received slightly more delegates, Clinton and Edwards were essentially tied, and Obama wasn't that far ahead at the end of the night. The top 3 candidates each took about a 3rd of the vote.

Now over on the republican side we had Huckabee romping all over Romney, which I liked to see happen actually. Why? Well, even though every single Mormon I have ever met has been a super nice person, Romney seems to be the exception to this rule. And I just found it ironic that he dumped a ton of money into Iowa, and was beat down by someone who spent a mere fraction of what he spent in the same State, and has only really been campaigning for a short while now. There is something in me that just wants to see Mitt get the beat down and not win a single primary in any State. Well, he might take Massachusetts, but by that point in time, it might be a moot point anyway.

The thing that makes me laugh, being originally from Maine, and sort of knowing how our neighbors to the West in New Hampshire think, is that all of these pundits are talking about how Mitt is going to probably take New Hampshire because he's from Massachusetts, which as we know, borders New Hampshire. Apparently, these people spouting this misinformation don't know anyone from the State of New Hampshire (Live Free or Die), or have even really talked to anyone from New Hampshire. Because aside from the Red Sox, and the New England Patriots, people from New Hampshire HATE people and things from Massachusetts (except for the aforementioned 2 things, oh and maybe the Celtics, and the Bruins, but that's about it). Mitt is going to get beat down again in New Hampshire, and will probably fall to McCain, and then Mitt will come in far behind McCain, but not that far ahead of Huckabee. Am I discounting Rudy G? Of course. I think people in New Hampshire are far too smart, and classy, to vote for that snake. Rudy is banking everything on Super Tuesday, and I can't wait for that to blow up in his face. It's going to be astonishing to watch really.

For the Democrats, I think that it's going to be tight again in New Hampshire. Clinton, or Obama will take the State, and Edwards will roll in second place no matter who wins. There's a good chance that Edwards might just finish second right on down the line, which will place him in a good position to once again run in the VP slot in the general election. I wouldn't be surprised if Edwards TOOK New Hampshire though. Wouldn't surprise me at all. His talk about "the working man" and the middle class should resonate around New Hampshire, being that they are a fairly middle class State, and there are still a good number of unions up in the Northeastern part of the country, and I think his rhetoric will resound with a lot of voters in New Hampshire. We'll see what shakes loose come next Tuesday for sure.

All I can say is that I'm glad this process has started, and that maybe we can get down to the real issues, the real things to talk about, and we can get a President who can start cleaning up the mess left by the current occupant of the White House.

Updates...

2007-12-30T08:32:00.000-05:00

Things are moving along nicely at this point in time. And by moving along nicely, I mean the following items:

1. My shoulder is getting better every day, although, there is still pain every day, it's just not as bad as it was even say, oh a week ago. I can actually roll over on it in the middle of the night and there isn't a shooting pain through my body that wakes me up. Believe it or not, this is progress my friends, this is progress. And I haven't taken a serious painkiller in well over a month, which is also a good thing. Therapy on the wounded wing continues to this day, and I will actually have another appointment on Monday morning with my PT Beverly. I haven't seen her the last bunch of times that I went in there, so I think she'll be surprised at the progress that I've made with the range of motion and all, there is still much to go though, as I still can't really reach behind my back that much, but even that has improved a bit. It's been a couple of months, and I still probably have another 2 months of appointments and therapy, at least. We'll see what my doc says at my next check up, which is in February.

2. Since the shoulder has been feeling OK, and since I have a new bike (see previous post about bike), I have been able to ride the bike in the great outdoors once again, which has been redeeming for my soul I think. I didn't realize how much I missed just riding outdoors (not for the fitness, or for training, or for anything like that) over the last couple of months, and in actuality, it improves my attitude a lot when I'm able to do this. So far, I've had a few 3 hour plus rides, which isn't too bad, but the pace and fitness is, shall we say, not so good, but hey, what do you expect? I haven't been able to really do anything for 2 months solid. Anyway, the legs are coming around pretty quick, and consider this. My first ride I did about 2 hours, and was wiped out. Only a week later, I did back to back 3 hour rides, and felt pretty good when I got done. A little tired, but not falling down on the floor tired. As I said, progress. I am still nowhere near where I have been in the past, but that shall come as well I hope. I plan on being able to do 4-5 hour rides within a few weeks, and start piling up training miles. Not so much because I need to ride that long to get fit, but because I like seeing the world from the saddle of the bike is all. Oh, and in talking to other folks before my accident happened, and talking to folks after, pretty much everyone has said that when they got back on the bike on the open road, they were very cautious about traffic and cars, and were wary of everything that drove their way. I'm happy to report that apparently I've suffered no such psychological scarring from this episode in my life. In other words, I just ride along sort of like nothing happened (except my shoulder sort of aches when riding), which I consider lucky for me in the sense that I'm NOT riding along thinking about if a car is going to hit me or not. I just ride.

3. It's been almost 1 month since I got married, and I've got to say, it's the best decision I ever made in this life. I love my wife more and more everyday, and I didn't think that I could love her more than I already did. Well, I was wrong. Sure we're still in the honeymoon phase of getting married, but hey, as James Brown said, I feel good.

4. After speaking with, and working with, the insurance agent for the young lady that hit me back in October, we've got everything taken care of that needs to be taken care of. Meaning, I got some estimates for him, some pictures, and some other documentation of the bike damages, and he has submitted it to his claims guy, and he has backed up basically everything I said, and or claimed, so they should be paying that off for me soon, maybe as soon as next week. Which means, I can now give Curtis his money for the bike that he sold me, although he hasn't asked for it yet, but I just need to cut him a check anyway. I feel good about the deal that they gave me for my damaged bike parts, and it should make everything OK in the end. So I can't argue with that. Now the rest of the claims that my lawyers are putting in is of course, and entirely different story, and a different channel. They're still working on that end of things, and apparently, they really need to wait until all treatments and appointments are over and done with before they can go and seek whatever it is they're going to seek out on my behalf. Basically, right now, they're collecting bills and documents. Everything should be fine there as well in the end. I'll save further comment on that until everything is over and done with.

5. The New England Patriots last night capped off the perfect undefeated season. 16-0 ain't too bad, and I'm pretty sure that they would kick the ever living crap out of the 1972 Dolphins easily. Randy Moss has become a new man in New England, and has toned down his asshole-ishness, and has become the really great player he was probably always destined to become. I guess Coach Bill seems to have a way with guys like that. I think he probably sat him down, and told him, hey, come play here, behave yourself, and you'll catch a record number of passes and touchdowns. Well, after last night, mission accomplished for that man, and for Brady, and for the whole team. It was fun watching them play this year, and it'll be fun watching them run amok in the playoffs. I won't jinx them by talking about the Super Bowl and all, we'll leave that talk for if and when they make it there again this year.

6. The last thing is that in a few more days, I'll be headed back to work for the first time in a couple of weeks. I have to say, getting married, and then having a bunch of vacation at the end of the year has done me well in terms of mental well being. That being said, another one of my co-workers has resigned, and she'll be leaving the company on the 10th, which will unfortunately place us back in the dark dark recesses of probably a lot of work, but I'm not going to think about that for right now. I'm going to just kick back for the rest of my vacation, and hang out until I have to go back to work on Wednesday, January the 2nd. Soon enough, I think, I'll start searching for another job. There are a couple of little things I need to take care of at work, and until I can get those couple of things cleared up, I need to just stay there for a short time longer. I can see the end of my reign of terror at my current workplace though, and I can't wait for that to happen. We'll see what shakes loose in the next few months for sure.

For some reason if I don't post again until after the New Year, Happy New Year to everyone! We'll see you on the frontside of 2008. Hard to imagine that it actually IS 2008 now. Seems like yesterday that I was just graduating from college, when in fact, it was 12 years ago now. Yikes. This kid is getting old, or something like that.

Who's the obstructionist again???

2007-12-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

Think back if you will a couple or few years ago. There was a battle going on within the Senate over some of George W. Bush's judicial nominees. It seems that even though the Senate had confirmed a record number of judicial nominees for Bush since he took office in January of 2001, there were just a few more that he wanted in judgeships that were so out of what with mainstream America, the democrats in the Senate finally found what was left of their spine and put the smack down on the last handful of nominees. I think there were maybe between 5-10. This sent their republican comrades in the Senate into a tither. There was talk of a so called "nuclear option" which would change the rules of the Senate so that the republicans could basically ignore the filibuster that the democrats were throwing up, and force through Bush's nominees. The democrats were called obstructionists by the republicans, and Bush was yipping and yelling about this whole business as if the fate of the world depended on it. He was calling for the democrats to allow for an "up or down" vote on his nominees, which he knew would mean that they would be confirmed because the republicans still controlled the majority in the Senate.

Anyway, with that little background information, take a look at this link here. Turns out, basically the same republicans that were yelling and screaming about the democrats being obstructionists have indeed become the masters of it themselves. Since they have filibustered the most legislation EVER in the history of the United States Congress, I think a round of applause is due to them, since now they have become the largest hypocrites (yet again) in the known Universe. The thing about it though, is not that they're using the filibuster. No, that is their right to do that in the Senate, that is how the minority party can control, and or how the minority party can have some influence on the proceedings. I'm not mad at them for that, or for how many times they use it. What really pisses me off, and takes the wind out of my sails is HOW this is portrayed, a majority of the time, within the media itself. Think back, democrats were obstructionists, and not doing the will of the people who had elected the President, and they were not confirming his nominees and were holding up some pieces of legislation. Look at the stories about Congress now, and stalled legislation. All of a sudden, it's not that the republicans are the all time leaders of obstructionism and use of the filibuster. Oh no. The stories read along the lines of how the democrats can't get anything done in Congress, and how the democrats are not doing what they promised when they took office and the majority back in 2006. Once again, the media are ignoring, and or are not reporting completely on WHY the democrats can't get anything done. That's what really makes me mad about this whole thing. It's not that republicans are hypocrites, we know that a lot of them are, and that is clearly shown a lot these days. And it's not that they're using this tool of the filibuster. It's how the media is reporting it that makes me really mad.

What Harry Reid should do, instead of just letting the republicans say, "You can't get cloture on this because you can't get 60 votes, so let's just drop it." What Harry Reid should do is actually make the republicans do a proper filibuster. Meaning long nights on the floor. Cots, long books, and things like that. I think if they actually made them do what they're supposed to do with a filibuster, then there is a good chance that they wouldn't do as many of them as they have been doing, and would show the people of the United States who is actually holding up what in Congress, and specifically the Senate. Of course, for some reason the democrats won't do this, and won't go running to the press talking about republican obstructionism like they should be, and for some reason, they just don't do it. I don't know why. If the shoe was still on the other foot, you can be sure that the republicans would be no holds barred, and would be blabbing about this all over the place. Harry Reid and the rest of the Senate democrats don't owe their republican friends in the Senate anything, they should toss them under the bus as soon as possible.

The other thing that they need to do is when Bush threatens to veto something that they actually can get passed in the Senate and in the House, then they need to keep sending that same bill for him to sign, and make HIM the bad guy. Don't give in to that 20%-er. I mean, his ratings are so low, why do they keep giving into that guy? I don't get it. They send up a funding bill with timelines for troop withdrawal from Iraq, Bush complains that he wants a "clean" bill and won't sign anything with timelines attached to it, he vetoes, the democrats tuck tail, give him what he wants, and we're still in the same spot. If they kept sending him funding bills that he keeps vetoing, then it is going to be Bush's fault that the troops aren't funded properly, not the Congress'. My friends the democrats in the Senate and the House need to start being a little more hard core, and a little more venomous towards their counterparts, because again, it wasn't so long ago that republicans were accusing democrats of supporting terrorists, and "emboldening" terrorists, because they were speaking out against some of the things that Bush was doing. Take off the gloves girls and boys, and start punching. We're waiting for it, and we're tired of waiting for you to stand up to Bush.

A tale of 2 pictures...

2007-12-24T08:28:00.000-05:00

First, the good. See picture to the side. The only thing I can think of when I see a picture like this, or this picture in particular is one thing; don't mess with The Badger. Sure, the man might be all smiles now when he is on the podium at the Tour de France these days acting as a sort of ambassador for the race and all, but I don't think I would have liked to have raced with the man when he was racing. He was mean, and brutal, and would do whatever it took to win. In other words, he was the ultimate and complete bad ass, and he was French. Hinnault was pretty much the man. I mean, he never raced Paris Roubaix before this race, and never raced it again after this race. Essentially, he decided, hey, I haven't won this race, and haven't done it, I guess I had better head out, ride it, and win it. I don't doubt, not for a second, that the man, if he had decided to, could have won it again, and possibly again, and again if he had so chosen. Instead, he won just about everything else out there. We just don't have bike racers like that too much anymore, which is a shame, as I know for myself, I'd love to see the top guys out there slugging it out throughout the season, but I also understand the whole "specialization" thing these days that basically Armstrong brought forth, but I don't have to like it.

And now we have picture number 2. Now I know what people are going to say about this picture, that hey, at least they're out riding bikes and all. I don't care. I'm kind of a bike snob myself, and this picture just reflects everything that is wrong with large sized group rides out there on the roads of the United States, and why a lot of motorists hate cyclists. You've got 2 people on tandem bikes taking up the entire left lane of the road, not riding as far to the right as they can. You have a guy on a recumbent bike taking up the rest of the lane, plus various other riders behind blocking once again, the entire lane. Now look way back. You have a car, sort of crossing the lane, trying to get past these tool bags. Are they going to let this guy go around? Probably not. What is going to happen is that the person in the car is going to get mad after a short while of not being allowed to pass, and he's going to give the riders the horn as he moves past. The riders, in turn of course, will give the driver the finger, as if they have the right in this case to do that, and then they'll get mad because the driver speed past, even though, it's their fault that they made the driver mad for taking up, not just the entire travel lane, but the opposing lane as well (see picture again, you have people going across the yellow line, which is bad for business, very bad for business). Not only is going across the yellow line just a silly stupid thing to do, it can lead to something we like to call death. You see, it is the weekend warriors seen in this picture that make it harder for folks like myself (who often train alone on the back roads of where we live) to ride our bikes safely, and also it turns motorists into assholes against everyone who rides a bike. Drivers don't know the difference between some choads out for a group ride, and someone out training to be able to race their bike, and they don't care either. All they know is that there is another bicycle in their way. This, I think, is one of the reasons that we now have cyclists getting run over more frequently, and also we have cyclists getting run down on purpose. My whole point in this? Folks, if you're on a group ride, and you find yourself in a small group such as this, get your ass over to the right hand side of the road as far as possible, and stop impeding traffic. I know, and you know, that there are larger group rides where this isn't going to be possible because the group you might be in is going to be larger, but when you have a handful of people, play it smart out there. Get your asses over. You'll be safer, and in turn make the rest of us safer as well.

New ride...

2007-12-23T12:24:00.001-05:00

Due in part to my friend Curtis and his willingness to sell me his race bike from last season, I now have a new bike to ride post accident. I finally was able to get it, and take it out for a spin yesterday, and I've got to say, I love this bike already. It seems to be a bit slower steering than say, the Giant TCR, but then again, what bike doesn't steer slower than the Twitch-master 2000 that the Giant TCR really is (which is one of the reasons that I loved that bike, and that frame design for many years now). Anyway, Pinarello, I think I'm hooked on it already. We'll see how I feel about in a month or so from now, but I suspect that I will feel the same way even next year at this time. Chances are good that even though I'll most assuredly get more new bikes, I might be keeping this one for awhile. I always need to have a spare, or find it a good practice to have a spare hanging around. I imagine that after serving duty under my butt this season, this bike might go into the "Sunday Ride" bin of use, meaning, keep it clean and super shiny, and only break it out once a week for a slow Sunday rider, where there will no doubt be a coffee shop stop somewhere along the way. Anywho, check out the picture of the new ride.

Now there are some of you out there (ahem, Jason) who will no doubt criticize the now existing Sram component group that is on the bike, and the future Dura-Ace components that will be going on the bike. Some will be yelling for Campy to be placed on the bike, mostly because it's Italian damn it all, and deserves, and actually demands Italian components. I would love to have a full Record group to place on this bike of course, but since I don't, and don't want to spend the coin to get said Record group, I will put the Dura-Ace group on there. Which in this case, I am assuming that it's going to be OK. Why you might ask? Well, let me tell you. This frame, even though it comes from an Italian company, is indeed built in Taiwan. So, technically, the Shimano Dura-Ace group, produced in Japan, is a lot closer to where this frame was made, as opposed to Campy components which are still made in Italy, at least for now. That being said, I wouldn't have a problem placing a Campy Chorus group on there as well. Another nice component group that is probably the equal of Dura-Ace as it pertains to performance, and about the same price, but it does have that Campy carbon look. One group that won't be gracing this bike will be SRAM Red, mostly, because it is incredibly and ridiculously expensive for a bike group. But hey, if you want it, and have the money, don't let me dissuade you from paying your hard earned dollars for the SRAM Red group. I think though, that unfortunately, the SRAM Red group falls into the same state of mind of Serotta frame purchasers, which is, more money than sense.

Yearly Christmas Video...

2007-12-19T20:53:00.000-05:00

And here again, Steph and I present our yearly Christmas Video. Check it out when you get a chance.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our friends, family, and anyone else who might wander in to see this video.

Possibly the 11th commandment?

2007-12-07T19:56:00.001-05:00

As I was walking around downtown Christiansted one day during the honeymoon, I found this sign outside of the local Lutheran church. Yeah, that's right. They have a pretty good sense of humor methinks when it comes to parking in the incorrect place in front of their church. I found it pretty funny actually. Sort of like one of those no parking signs you might have seen somewhere along the way where it states something like, "Don't even think about parking here." Except that this one is much nicer, and brings a tint of God into it, to really make you feel guilty for parking in the wrong place, well, maybe it doesn't make everyone feel guilty. Maybe that's just the Catholic in me trying to get out and make me feel guilty about even thinking about doing such a thing. But then again, why would I even think about parking there, since I didn't even have a car on this trip. Anyway, no matter, it's funny. Sort of like Turd Ferguson, because, yeah, that's funny.

I've got a ton more pictures, and they'll be going up here as I can get them all taken care of, and fixed, and as Blogger will allow me to post them up here. Sometimes, the interface can be, shall we say? Tricky? Or possibly glitchy? Those of you who use this site, probably know what I'm talking about. I can't complain, once again, as mentioned before, it's free, so it can't be all bad really.

Island Tour...

2007-12-07T14:55:00.000-05:00

Today, we had the chance to take a tour around the island with a local driver / tour guide. I've got to say, this was probably the best money we've spent on this vacation so far as far as activities go. Buck Island was pretty sweet, but getting to drive around this island with a local guy for 5 hours as he explained almost everything to us was amazing.

We made a stop at the local botanical gardens, at which point, he got out of the van, and walked around the gardens with us showing us different native and non-native plants, explaining the history of the place we were walking around (it was an old sugar plantation), and telling us what plants and trees we were looking at. Now, I don't know how long this guy has been at this tour guide business, but he basically told us about everything, and his depth of knowledge about the local fauna was pretty deep. I mean, the man knew everything. The different palm trees, the different ferns, the different plants, and so on and so forth.

Now, it was not just the plants this guy knew everything about. He knew everything about everything on the island. Buildings, when they were built, when they were re-built, when this thing happened, when that thing happened, and I mean, for 5 hours he pretty much talked to us non stop. Again, it was pretty great. Being a history kind of dork, it especially appealed to me. When we decided to come down here for this wedding and honeymoon/vacation all rolled into one, we were going to rent a car, and do this little tour on our own. That would have been a bad mistake I think. We would have missed about a million things that our driver was telling us about. Aside from that, driving on the left hand side of the road, with a left hand drive car, is still a little freaky to me, but I digress about that. I'm sure that I could handle it if I needed to, no doubt about it. I just have a hard time seeing cars coming towards me.

After the gardens, we motored over to the Cruzan rum distillery, where we got a quick run through of the rum making process, and like most alcohol making processes, little has really changed since people started making these spirits. Well, technology now makes it a little easier, but the process is the same really. Molasses, sugar cane, water, and yeast makes up the rum, and that's it. Sure there is some fermenting and cooking going on, but basically mix them all together, add some heat, and then let it sit. And by letting it sit, I mean letting it sit on wooden barrels from 2-14 years, depending on what kind of rum they want to crank out. The storage rooms for the barrels were pretty impressive. Large racks holding 10,000 barrels of rum, and that was just one storage shed. I think that they said there were 10 more on site somewhere. So, somewhere out there, there was 100,000 barrels of rum sitting around waiting to get un-bunged and bottled. The most interesting thing they told us was that a lot of the rum they make there doesn't even get bottled there. They take the basic alcohol mix, pump it into huge tankers, and then ship it to the US, where other distillers will age it, and then sell it as either Cruzan rum, or something else. Next time you're looking at a bottle of rum, check the back to see where it is made. If it says that it was made in the Virgin Islands, or the West Indies, then it was Cruzan who actually made it. Yeah, it's pretty damn good stuff. Best part of the tour of course, was at the end, where we get free drinks. Only one drink unfortunately, but hey, I'll take free drinks any day of the week. Also, if we had been so inclined, we could have purchased 6 bottles of really good rum, for $43 bucks. We don't have enough room probably to pack up, and take home the stuff that we DO have already, so we decided that maybe it was best that we didn't buy any rum at this point in time.

We made a sweep through Frederiksted as well. It's a much smaller town than Christiansted, but still nice. They do have a deep water port, so the big cruise ships can dock there, and belch forth their passengers onto the shores. There weren't any ships in harbor when we got there, so it was pretty darn quiet for the most part. Something else interesting about Frederiksted, and Christiansted is that they are preparing down here to basically refurbish the 2 towns completely, and to restore all of the buildings, or as much as possible, and to bring them back to their original or better shape than when they were built. I'm pretty sure that this is going to take awhile, but I think it would be great if they did. They have a lot of old buildings down here, that hold a lot of historical significance and it's kind of sad to see them crumbling and falling down all over the place, so hopefully, they can get that done over the years.

There was also a tour through the rain forest section of the island. There was not a lot out in that section of the island, but it's plush, and green. And what was really kind of weird to me, was that there were bars out there in the rain forest areas of the island. We were driving along this sort of rough dirt/paved road, and we came upon a couple of bars. One where there were beer drinking pigs. Yes, I said beer drinking pigs. Apparently, what happens is that they start serving beers, and they bust the pigs out, and the patrons purchase beer for the pigs as well as themselves. From what our guide was saying, a pig can down about 2-3 cases of beer, each. Now that is some good drinking people, some really good drinking. That's almost as good as a frat boy on a Saturday night.

Anyway, the day was pretty sweet. The tour, even sweeter. If you ever come down this way, get a guided tour, it's worth the $45 we paid, and then some, and as I mentioned before, there were tons of things we would have missed had we not gone out with a guide, he was essential to the enjoyment of this little tour for certain.

Travel to Buck Island...

2007-12-06T16:57:00.000-05:00

Today, we took a short hop over to Buck Island to do some snorkeling, and to hang out on the white sandy beach that appears over there. Also, the guys who took us over there said that on the far end of the beach, there were or are some lemon sharks that will come in, and grab food from the shore. Having just finished reading Devil's Teeth, a book about white sharks that inhabit just outside San Francisco for a good part of the fall, I was wanting to see some sharks up close, but not too close if you know what I mean.

The trip to Buck Island took about 40 minutes or so in a powerboat. Apparently, there aren't that many groups, or companies that are allowed to take people out there, and since it is a national monument, or national park sort of like Joshua Tree, and also since it is an island, you can't just take your own boat there. You have to be permitted to do so. We found a company called Caribbean Sea Adventures who takes people out there. We signed up, and rolled on out. This was the first time that I have actually snorkeled unless you count paddling around in my Aunt and Uncle's pool with a leaky snorkel, and a leaking swim mask, so this was a little adventure for me.

I've got to say, and for people who really know me and know about my "fear" of all things in the ocean, this was a great time. Tons of coral, and coral formations, tons of brightly colored fish, the surf moving around, and seeing things on a living reef was pretty sweet. During the course of the snorkeling trip, I actually saw a barracuda. And while the guidebooks, and the guides themselves tell us that they won't really do anything to you, unless you provoke the barracuda, I gave this guy a wide berth anyway, just in case. You could see the sharp little point teeth coming out of his mouth, so I would not like to get chomped down on with those little daggers. We got to swim around the reef for about an hour or so, and then they loaded us up, and took us over to the beach. The best part about the reef, and everything there, there was a little path mapped out on the floor of the ocean with large blocks of stone, that had plaques on them indicating the direction, and different things that you might see while snorkeling around down there. If you ever come down this way, to St. Croix, I recommend taking a half day trip out there to see this. It is pretty damn amazing what you can see underneath the water over at Buck Island.

I almost never do this...

2007-12-05T14:02:00.000-05:00

I almost never do this, but check out this link:

Do you know where your civil liberties have gone?

It's scary, because there are those among us who think, or who defend whatever the Bush administration has done to "protect" us post 9/11 and all, but it has been going on since before that time anyway. There are also those that constantly say that their personal civil liberties have not been infringed, so they're not worried about. Well, I'm pretty sure that once you infringe on one person's liberties, the others can't be too far away. This little timeline just makes it easier to read through what BushCo has done since about taking office, and trying to grab as much power as they can while shredding the Constitution while they've been at it. I ask those who would defend what Bush and his minions have done over the last 7 years this one question. What would your response be if it was Hillary Clinton was doing the same thing? I know what my response would be, and I'm pretty sure what your response would be, so why is it different for George W. Bush? It shouldn't be, should it? This man should have been impeached a long time ago, but yet again, my democratic allies in Congress are pretty much gutless, except for a rare few, and of course, they get no backing when they do bring it up. Kucinich comes to mind, which is why he's the horse I'm most cheering for in this election, but let's face it, for the majority of folks, he's way too crazy to vote for. For me though, he's just crazy enough.