Well I'll be....

It had to happen, but why wasn't I the one to think of it first?
I think I got a little tear of joy upon reading this.
God Bless America!


PoleRider

PoleRider is a new invention that unites two great things that are even better together: bicycles and pole dancers! Our mission is to raise awareness of the immense potential of pedal power and to bring pole dancing to the streets where dancing belongs.

Pass the Kool Aid

Resistance is futile, Josh Ritter is amazing. I resisted him for years- when everyone was hyping Animal Years as one of the greates albums ever, I was unimpressed. When The Historical Conquests on Josh Ritter showed up on everyones best album of the year lists, I couldn't figure out why. But over the last few months, songs have been popping up in my playlists... It started with Lawrence, Ks, then Harrisburg, then Me & Jiggs, the Girl in the War, and now I'm just pretty much hooked.

He played at the Great American Music Hall last night. It's really hard to compare shows. The Rock and Roll orgy put on by the Truckers and The Hold Steady was something I'll never forget, Pela at Bottom of the Hill blew me away, as did Lucero, and the first time I saw The National. But last night, in it's own way, was as good as any of those shows. I really feel priveledged to have seen it. The arrangement of Girl in The War was something I was actually moved by, something that's hard to do.

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Tonight we go to my favorite midwest city to make fun of. Lot's of airport BS and snow. But I'll be with E, and it will make her happy, and we'll get to see Jason Isbell.


I believe I've found my cycling team. More to come.


The Belgian classics start this weekend Het Whatever tomorrow and KBK on Sunday. Should be awesome

Another Tour Come and Gone

Levi wins another. No doubt it was a very enjoyable race, I hope it continues to grow into an early season classic. For years I've tried to like Levi, I really want to. He's a local guy, by all accounts really nice, but... Something about him is just kind of annoying. No doubt he did what it took to win, but to hold up three fingers after the TT as if victory was assured... weak. If he didn't have the strongest team in the race, Nibali's break doesn't get contained and Levi doesn't win. Yeah, yeah; if this happened, blah blah blah. Next week the Classics start, the next couple months are just going to be fun to watch.

Race clinic yesterday went well. I need to chose a team, I have a couple of choices now. I'm thinking of doing a tactics based one on March 8. We'll see, I need to get my fitness up a bit, at least my endurance.

How is it that this story was picked up all over the globe, and no one thought a picture was a good idea? Brazil is just awesome.

So tell me, is this a gun control problem, or a parenting problem?
Who could have ever predicted that giving a shotgun to a kid would turn out bad?

Prawo Jazdy

Is one dangerous dude.

Friday

Big Time Trial in the Tour of California today.
My heart is going with Dave Z, but my head says Levi.
What a great race it has been to watch.

I'm going to a skills clinic on Sunday. I don't really know what to expect but I'm sure I'll learn a lot. Who knows? Maybe I'll find a team...

The new Jason Isbell album kicks much ass. I'll be catching him here and here.
Great review of the album here.

In other news.

This bike is a pipe bomb

Abstinence isn't realistic? The hell you say?

Geek alert. Maybe some hack can turn it into a really bad movie.

Krugman hit another Home Run.

Cycling Poetry

That's what Stage 3 was. The Cervelo team played it to perfection. Granted they were helped by Columbia's mistake, but I'll say that only changed the distance that Thor won by. That lead out was amazing. Cervelo has put together a very competitive team and so far this season their tactics have been outstanding. After three days slogging through rain and wind and mud, it's nice to get the reward of a well earned victory.

Well Done

Tour of Cali

Saturday was great. Standing in the cold rain and wind, waiting for a glimpse of cyclings finest is probably not for everyone. But I loved it. The womens race was great, and the mens race was epic.

The new camera clearly needs some getting used to, but it's waterproof, so I was at least able to use it. I spent all the time lugging my big camera around and I never even took it out of the bag.

Big time fun!


The Early Break



The Podium


Your Winner, Emilia Fahlin Basking in the Glory



The Day's Hero


The chasers



Damn Right That's Thor!

It's Friday

Go Wild

Cold

It's really cold today. I woke up cold and haven't got warm yet. This makes me tired. I need to get motivated for tonights training session, but right now I just want some scotch and a nap.

Lot's of cool stuff happened yesterday, but that will have to wait.

I saw this today:

Another Monday

Went to the Cherry Pie Crit yesterday. I was on the waiting list, so we drove up to Napa hoping I'd get called up, I didn't. E and I went for a ride instead. It was wet, and cold, but it was good to be on the bike. The two of us riding together is sometimes challenging, and I think we both get a little frustrated at times. But it's fun to do it together. We both know that it's something we need to work at, more so when, like now, I've been riding/racing quite a bit and she hasn't.

Garmin was scheduled to show up at the race, and there was a rumor that Astana was going to show up as well. But I didn't see either one. We left around 2:00- the Mens Pro race was scheduled for 3:00, but it was cold and we both wanted to get home into some dry warm clothes.

Next weekend is the Tour of California. It's been a long time since the US has seen a bike race with the level of talent that has been assembled here. I can't wait to see it.

Random Links:

Is George W Bush President?

And this is what is considered fun?

Israel; doing it's part to make us look good

NPR; Just the least evil?

Bush + Prison = Justice

Coulter + Prison = Too good to be true?

Fare Ye Well Maggie!

Magnus Backstedt retired today. To me this excerpt from his website tells me everything I need to know.

Favourite Stuff
Race: Roubaix...are there other races on the calendar?

The only race the man cared about for himself was the hardest of the hard

I'll definately miss seeing him this year.

Zero Tolerance

I'm generally pretty open minded. Many are the rules in our uptight society that I think should be either legalized or, at least, ignored.

But when it comes to lighting strippers on fire, then it's time for Old Testament "Eye for an Eye" justice.

Seriously, WTF? Lighting someone on fire?

A woman and a man called the 27-year-old dancer outside around 1 a.m. and then doused her with a flammable liquid next to the Babes & Beer sports club in the San Fernando Valley, police said.

Police identified the suspects as Rianne Celine Theriault-Odom, 27, and Nathaniel Marquis Petrillo, 22, both frequent patrons of the club.


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Godspeed Frederiek Nolf

"A fine is a cost of doing business."

Obama bringing his A game

So let me be clear: Those ideas have been tested, and they have failed. They've taken us from surpluses to an annual deficit of over a trillion dollars, and they've brought our economy to a halt. And that's precisely what the election we just had was all about. The American people have rendered their judgment. And now is the time to move forward, not back. Now is the time for action.

Peanut-allergy panic has spread across the nation

Bike v. Car

Of course, it's never really Bike v. Car, it's not much of a competition. The car wins, the cyclist's only victory is to come out of it uninjured. It happened to me again yeterday. Some old guy in a Volvo either didn't see me or was a jackass. I was in a traffic circle, he was at a Stop sign, about the time I got in front of him, he punched it. We ran together and my right foot/pedal hit the left front of his car. I'm hoping it left a nice scratch to help him remember the moment.

Great article here. Cars are weapons, and there is not nearly enough training given to the drivers that operate them. And there are not nearly enough deterrants to keep people from behaving like asshats. Case in point.

a white SUV pulled through the red light, but stopped short of them. A second car ignored the red signal and darted around the SUV, slamming into Asrir, knocking her up on the hood of the vehicle, and launching her to the pavement... According to witnesses, the driver had been talking on her cell phone. Later, she was not allowed to leave in her car.

To God the Glory??

I'm not much for football anymore. But I did enjoy the second half of the SB, and this made me laugh outloud.

Kurt Warner: "God Is To Blame For This Loss"

Clearly, however, Jesus let me down. And so I am not responsible for tonight's loss. If you want someone to blame, this one is 100% on the man upstairs."

Better

Yesterday was installment three in my return to bike racing. To recap, week one was a little better than I expected, week two was a lot worse. Going into week 3 I wasn't sure what to expect. It was a beautiful day, none of the wind that made week 2 so difficult.

The race before mine was held up 30-40 minutes because of crashes in the previous race. Our race was then held up 15-20 additional minutes because of crashes in the race that was held up by crashes in the previous race, yes there were lots of crashes.

Finally our race got started, and it felt like there was a lot of nervousness in the pack. I think it was the second lap when the rider in front of me worked himself into a position he shouldn't have, then got skittish and started to panic, then crashed. At least that's how it looked to me. Fortunately (for me) he fell to his left, had he fallen to the right he would have taken me out as well. There was a lot of contact in the group this week, but most everyone handled it well.

The laps were fast, but not blistering, and they were fairly predictable. Fast enough that no one seemed like they'd be able to get away for long. I felt pretty comfortable hanging out towards the rear of the pack and watching the laps tick down.

With one lap remaining, I decided to move up to position myself better for the sprint. Moving up was a little easier than I anticipated and I found myself at the front going into turn 2, coming out of turn two I could see by the shadows that I didn't have anyone on my wheel. At this point I had two options, sit up and wait to jump back in the pack and try for a bunch sprint or put the hammer down and see what happened. I went with option 2. About half way down the back stretch I saw someones shadow coming up on my wheel and knew I was doomed, but I couldn't tell if it was one guy or if he brought the whole pack, so I kept it going. At least I was going to make some people work, and it would likely string out the pack to ease congestion going through turn four and to the line. Coming out of turn three I was still driving things but knew I couldn't keep it up to the line. Then someone came by on the right, when I tried to jump over to him, there wasn't much left and a group came by on the right and I knew I was done. I probably crossed the line somewhere in the 10-15 range.

It wasn't a win but at least I could leave the race knowing I was a part of it. I'm fairly sure I influenced the outcome. It's a great place to build from.

Big thanks to Velo Promo for putting on the Early Bird series and to all the mentors and volunteers that made it possible.

I'm on a waiting list for next Sunday in Napa, we'll see what happens.

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Reading through Salon.com, this article caught my eye. And for some reason it made me think of this: