Continue reading “Epic Green: How I Can’t Say No.”

Yep. She’s out. Going to stretch her wings for a serious run in 2012?

Random collection of headlines as follows…

- In Big Shocker, Palin Resigns As Governor: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

- Palin to Resign as Alaska Governor on July 26: washingtonpost.com

- Palin Quits as Alaska Governor: foxnews.com

- Palin’s Foolish Resignation: voices.washingtonpost.com

- SNAP ANALYSIS: Why is Sarah Palin resigning as Alaska governor? reuters.com

They call it a circular firing squad for a reason, you know.

The latest Palin flare-up began in Vanity Fair with a lengthy article by Todd S. Purdum examining the Alaska governor’s past and her potential future. The controversy migrated instantly to the Web and the blogs — it was, in fact, made for the viral communication that dominates today’s politics — and became even more intense, nasty and personal.
washingtonpost.com

Think it may have had a bit to do with this blazing little piece in Vanity Fair called, simply enough, It Came from Wasilla? Odds on affirmative.

Oh, what wonders do appear…

Make of it what you will, but have a safe and happy 4th of July.  Me? Taking the wife and dogs camping. So, what better way to check the msr stove than in the kitchen this morning. After a quick safety check I had no qualms about setting ‘er up on the kitchen floor. Meh. A little too much white gas filled the base, producing an immense flame. WOw! Tried to calm it down only to spill that shit on the floor. Errrr, flames now lapping at the gas bottle I freaked. Grabbed that flaming camping stove and bolted out the back door. Waved to my neighbor as I extinguished the fire with the hose. Quick check back inside revealed I scorched the kitchen floor. Fuck me.

My fireworks came a day early and now I gotta explain that burnt floor to the wife.

DVR caught the Versus LA: A Look Back. Whatever you think about LA, I was just stoked to see some old racing footage of doped out robots drilling it on the climbs. Caught the following little gems painted on the road. Funny shit.

And about 60 yards up the road…

Weblogs are like fixed gear bikes. And fixed gear bikes are like weblogs.

It used to be that to have either, it took some work. You had to code html in something like notepad and upload it. Everything was code. It took an awfully long time. And it usually came out looking like shit. Now it is as easy as sending an email.

You had to tear down an existing road bike, or build one up from scratch. Usually took only a sort out of the rear wheel – not in and of itself a particularly high hurdle to clear. But, still, a fixed gear bike wasn’t something that appeared in every major bicycle manufacturer’s catalog. It was offered by very, very few. If you had one, it meant you had to go out of your way to obtain it. Now it is as easy as buying a loaf of bread.

Do I mind that everyone on the planet has a blog at their fingertips and a fixie beneath their legs? No. Not in the slightest. More people online. More people on bikes. We all win.

Times change. Things change. We are no longer what we once were. That is a good thing, truth be told. No one lives in a vacuum. Actions have consequences. Time marches on. Rust never sleeps. In the end, it means nothing, as the worms will feast upon us all.

From: Big Dick McGee
Subject: O, the humanity
… even the porn industry suffers in this downturn:

siliconvalley.com

Can the crucial PBR and Cheetos sectors be far behind?

Yrs., etc .,
Big Dick McGee
Tunnel of Love, LLC

Even the world’s oldest professions are not immune. May god save us, if only from ourselves.

Link dump:
Got stimulus? flickr.com
Straw: slowlydownward.com
Girls with slingshots: daniellecorsetto.com
This is your country on drugs: huffingtonpost.com
Graham Watson Ventoux 180-degree panorama: velonews.com/media

Kent Peterson may not know what is wrong with him, or even what that something is. Just that he is different. Different is as different does. He’s signing on for the Tour Divide in 2010.

I first read about him, in his own words and in other’s, when he rode in 2005. I posted a link to his write-up on this site back then, and again just a few days ago. Definitely worth your time.

I wish him well. For whatever may be “wrong” with Kent, is wrong with us all.

I haven’t been following this event, really, at all until today. Pretty damn cool web presence though – I’ve got to give ‘em that. You could lose a half hour there quick. I just did. And then some.

Check out the leaderboard. Now, before you get your panties up in a bunch telling me the race is over because one dude already finished, let me say this: There may well be eight million stories in the Naked City, but there are half as many worth hearing at the back of the pack. If there is one thing I know, is this simple truth.

You can listen to phone calls in the competitors here: tourdivide.org/blog2009. A few I thought interesting were, in no particular order, as follows: Chris Plesko, who is on a single speed. There are a couple people from Arizona, neither of whom I know, put there giving it the business: Deanna Adams (Prescott, AZ), who is riding it fixed, and Brad Mattingly (Flagstaff, AZ). Jill Homer, who blogs at Arctic Glass (we’ve linked her for years off this site), is in there as well. Pretty emotional phone call from yesterday, one of her compatriots was injured in an accident and was in an ambulance when she came up on it. I wouldn’t wish a moment like that on anyone.

I can’t imagine I’d ever “race” something like that. But I sure would like to “finish”.

Continue reading “Green, White, & Stoked All Over: Images from Tuesday’s ride & hike.”

Continue reading “Draft Beer Jesus: How the ¡Cabra! Went Down”

image: isteroids.com

Ever repentant Kohl discusses the horror of living a double life as a doper: 

Interviewed in the Swiss newspaper nzz.ch, the Austrian said that not 100 percent of the peloton doped. “There are a few riders who are clean, that may well be – but it’s not very many.”

“You have your good friends in the field, and you know what they do – and they have friends, too. There is a fairly large circle of riders that you know about.”

cyclingnews.co

Interviewed in the Swiss newspaper nzz.ch, the Austrian said that not 100 percent of the peloton doped. “There are a few riders who are clean, that may well be – but it’s not very many.”

“You have your good friends in the field, and you know what they do – and they have friends, too. There is a fairly large circle of riders that you know about.”

cyclingnews.com

Continue reading “Tuesday? Let’s talk about some dope, some long rides and a little utilitarianism..”

Playboy had it up. Then they pulled it down. Screen caps preserved the magic & got posted at a variety of sites. Some of these sites even called this “nsfw”. I don’t know what kind of sites they’re running, but I consider not safe for work to involve, at a minimum, full frontal nudity. Trust me. We had it right here for years. And, it was “not safe for work” by any stretch of the imagination.

Now, “fun at work” is a different story all together. A story for another day, perhaps.

But, anyway, the word “fuck”, in and of itself, is no big fucking deal. Not around here. Not by a long shot.

So, here you fucking go.

I get the weirdest email. All the “wanna bigger penis?” ones plus “pain meds!” and the like. Some offer no text other than the nonsense that hopes to clear the spam filter. Some make it through. Some don’t.

Some are simply shared as I know not else to do with them.

From: Kerri T.
Subject: who must perforce perceive
to create a little flower is the labour of ages.
i love to rise in a summer morn, but she comes to the man she loves,

Reads like a beat poet. Ends with a comma. I feel, unsatisfied. Is there more? I’m totally handing over here.

The subject line is from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Constantly Risking Absurdity. The first line of the email proper is William Blake. But, I have seen it written more as follows, in four lines rather than one.

To create
a little flower
is the labour
of ages.

I prefer it in four. Although, to be honest, I’ve no idea in which form it was first written.

I have no idea about the second, and final, line. Seems familiar, but a google search brought up nothing. There is more poetry out in that great big world of ours than any of us have time to read. Go figure.

“We live in a culture where there’s so much focus on façade and presentation. Every rapper needs to be cool and tough, every indie rocker needs to be aloof and ironic, every speed metal punk rock guy needs to be tough, and after a while it’s exhausting.”
Moby
Source: suicidegirls.com/interviews/Moby

He said it well.

Link dump:
Poetry from Iran: npr.org
Billy Mays dead too? huffingtonpost.com
When gays went boom: cnn.com
Kids takes damn nice photos: lacemine29.blogspot.com
Oh, now I get it: flickr.com/photos/two-eyes